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Post by Flamewolf on Aug 1, 2008 19:09:11 GMT -5
((Before I respond with Sun Yew, Kitari, was your charrie talking to him or...?))
Another person joined the rest of the group to the sands. He walked into the caverns without a flinch of the heat, purposeful and calm. Icy blue eyes stared forward, cold waves seeming to precede him. He bowed low to both Penna and Pilanth, giving an equally polite nod to L'kas and Seath, before slowly approaching the eggs. A slight smile touched his lips and the candidate, Kyeidahel, decided to pick out the first one to touch.
~Hel, let me-~
*Shut up, Ky, or you won't come back out,* Kyeidahel's more harsh personality snarled silently to the rather gentle Ky, whom immediately disappeared in his corner of their mind. His gaze settled on one egg and he slowly approached it, picking his way among the clutch. As he got to the egg, Ky's part of his mind shuddered at the harsh air around it.
~Hel, not that one!~ Ky begged, but was lashed at by Hel's mind. Kyeidahel squatted down and gently rested his hand upon the Hailstorm Egg. It was strong, a fighter, and Hel respected that. Ky muttered in annoyance but remained rather quiet as his alter ego continued on to touch the Monsoon and Hurricane eggs.
((And now Hel's prominant. Ky will probably come out to touch a few. This will be interesting, to see how he impresses...*wicked grin*))
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Post by Skye on Aug 1, 2008 21:50:38 GMT -5
Seath crooned softly to the Queen and moved back, giving her eggs plenty of room and settled down near her as she snacked. He looked over the eggs with pride, and he had a right to be proud he had sired a fine clutch!
L'kas had watched Plianth with held breath, knowing no one would make it in time if she decided to snap at the candidate. She breathes deeply when she finally decides to calm down, rubbing at the back of his head.
He glanced over at Penna, nodding at her words. "Yes, it was," he agreed. He reached out and placed a hand lightly on the woman's shoulder as he turned to watch the candidates on the sands.
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Post by meah on Aug 1, 2008 23:38:45 GMT -5
Iraink sighed. He really didn't want to be in a room with this many thread-droppers, but A'tair had forced him to come with his reminders that he had to behave like the other candidates. Sidhka had reminded him that if he went to this "touching" then he could find the egg that would be his dragon, and when he received a dragon he would have something to fight the threads with.
He looked around the room, expecting to see all the boys from his dorm and an equal number of girls lined up, but instead found them in various states of total inattention throughout what looked like a nest. There were eggs everywhere.
After a quick glance at the dragon who had mothered them all, and a slight bow to her induced mostly by Sidhka nipping the back of his neck, he allowed his eyes to drift among the eggs. He would only spend time with the egg that seemed to be his.
There was a particular egg that seemed to be calling to him--he just wasn't sure which one yet. He walked slowly among them, Sidhka on his shoulder, until he felt something reach out to him. Sidhka was off him in a flash, and went to hover over the Whirlpool Egg. He stared at her, shocked. She wasn't supposed to touch them; he knew that much. He could only imagine what the queen would do if she saw a flit touch her eggs. If she was anything like him, she would automatically assume that Sidhka wanted to hurt the eggs. But maybe she wasn't very smart, because she was letting all those thread-droppers touch them.
When he looked at the egg his flit was looking at, he was drawn to it like a bug to a light bulb. Taking a deep breath, he touched his hand to the shell.
Rhea giggled. She was so excited to finally see the eggs. One of them would be hers. She'd wanted a dragon for as long as she could remember. Now she would finally get one, and she wanted to know which one it would be.
Dashing onto the hot sand, she tiptoed across the ground to where the eggs began and curtsied to the queen. It was the polite thing to do, and being raised a servant's daughter, she automatically curtsied to anything that moved. Besides, a magnificent creature such as that one deserved the respect of her curtsy.
It was then that she noticed how wonderful the eggs really were. She suppressed the urge to squeal and walked in the direction her heart took her. Something told her that she would know which egg was hers. When she noticed herself walking in a direction she hadn't planned to go, she went with it. Her egg was calling to her.
She was a little shocked when she came upon the Dawn's Breaking Egg. It was so beautiful, she didn't even know what to say. So instead, she stroked it, running her fingers along the patterns on its shell and whispering to it. She was convinced that her dragon would hatch out of this sweet, attractive egg.
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Post by D'gellin on Aug 2, 2008 0:35:03 GMT -5
Q'tris was trying very hard to hold back a weary sigh. Rounding up the candidates had turned out to be a much more stressful task than he'd originally anticipated. It would have been so much simpler to herd them all to the Hatching Sands had they all been in one place. Instead, Q'tris had spent his morning snapping candidates to attention and sending them off, getting the word out. It struck him suddenly that he should have fore-warned the candidates, but having the eggs on the sands, soft or hard, meant he had a limited schedule to get these young men and women into top form for the big day. He was a mental wreck. And to top it all off he hadn't the time to stop for his early cup of klah.
In this tired, ruffled mood Q'tris steered a particularly unruly candidate to the edge of the sands. "Do not test my patience, boy. If you pull any stunts..." He let the threat hang, his voice considerably more menacing than usual. The taller Fallen narrowed his dark eyes in reply, calculating for the dozenth time what the consequences might be if pinned his Candidatemaster to the wall. Q'tris was short; scrawny even in comparison to the other seasoned riders. But another glance at the Candidatemaster's daughter, following innocently behind them, quelled his temper just a notch. Somewhere in his stubborn head he did have a soul; a soul that did not want to see the look on her face if he punched in her father's nose.
Maybe she'd thank him. "No stunts." Fallen assured him roughly. In any case, he'd never considered touching the eggs, let alone tampering with them. He'd have been very content to sit this event out, and told Q'tris so. But as soon as he'd fought back he'd unwittingly sealed himself in. Now the Touching had become a punishment. He stubbornly held the Candidatemaster's surprisingly severe gaze. "I'll hold you to it. I won't be the one with your head if you pull a dumbglow move." Q'tris replied with a harsh smile before looking up at something and finally leaving the younger man's side. Following Q'tris' gaze, Fallen found himself shuddering at the sight of the massive queen. Yeah, no stunts today, he thought, leaning decidedly against the wall by the entrance. He still had no desire to approach those eggs. Certainly not while knowing what lay growing inside them.
Trilia was almost positive she'd pass out from the excitement. It wasn't a Hatching, but it was a close second on her list of favorite events. Not that she'd ever been to a Touching as a participant before, but that made this all the more exciting. Her too-big boots she'd borrowed from her father threatened to fall off her feet with every step and looking absolutely silly with her pretty casual dress swirling about her ankles. But her light bright eyes gleamed with such excitement it might be hard to look away from her face. Hectic red flushed her cheeks as she brushed a loose lock of hair behind her ear, feeling the weight of an unfamiliar braid. All this because she'd seen a clutch of eggs.
Abandoning all calculatory precautions, Trilia jogged clumsily to the queen and bowed as low as she could without toppling over, a task made difficult with the weight of her braided hair flopping over her shoulder. When she looked back up she was a face made up of a smile. "They're beautiful!" She cried, her thoughts euphoric under the pressure of so many close and eager minds poking curiously from the shells. "May I, oh please, please, touch one?" She asked, stumbling over the words in her eagerness. Without entirely realizing it she'd come very close to the great queen, clenched hands pressed hopefully to her grinning lips.
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Post by **Auria (etc)** on Aug 2, 2008 8:30:32 GMT -5
Plianth, satisfied with her snack, and feeling slightly more secure (after all, no shells had broken so far), was watching the candidates with interest. She was still on alert, but not overly so, and her eyes shifted from person to person as the young people wandered about the eggs.
The only one, currently, she was watching with slightly more suspicion than curiosity, was the boy whose expression kept shifting, and whose emotions seemed to war with themselves. Yes, she'd keep an eye on that one for certain.
It is not so bad, Mine, she said to Penna, just as her attention was drawn first by one, and then another, new candidate to enter. Both of these felt different, one even odd, the other seemed so much a child that the great gold dragon rumbled with uncharacteristic affection when she saw her.
The former, a boy, with an air of fear lingering about him, who had had the audacity to bring a flitter into the grounds. Normally Plianth would have gotten quite angry about this, and would have roared in the flitterling's face and chased it off. But there was something about the boy ... something almost ... fragile ... that caused her instead to feel slightly protective of him.
She reached across the clutch to Iraink, very slowly, cautiously, her head tilted to the side in what was, for Plianth, as appealing as she ever looked. She touched him lightly with her muzzle in approval and encouragement ... puzzlement sifting through her thoughts, for she really didn't understand why she felt the need to do so.
Then, the little one. Plianth had always liked small children almost as much as she liked food ... though not for the same reasons. As the little girl bowed to her, so excitedly, so cute-silly in her big boots and with the hair that was trying very hard to overwhelm her, Plianth gave a rumble of amusement and leaned forward to bump the child playfully ... and very gently ... in the tummy.
Penna stood and stared, casting L'kas a side glance and a shrug. Her life partner of so many years was surprising her more and more on this unusual day.
Then the great dragon noticed the young man who was hanging back by the entrance. She watched him for a moment and spoke a request to her rider's mind.
Penna startled slightly, for she hadn't even seen the boy till Plianth pointed him out. "You, young man by the door.... Your presence is requested by the Queen," she called out, beckoning Fallen over.
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Post by Monkeyfuzz on Aug 2, 2008 14:02:52 GMT -5
Jermashi and Aylana
The beast helper was standing off at the entrance of the stands, quiet and calculating. She'd finished her chores and was just watching, looking. Although Aylana normally wasn't one to be in a place that technically she wasn't supposed to be, she couldn't help but be curious as to how things went around here. She was leaning against the door frame of the entrance, just inside, not hindered at all by the heat. Her gaze was roaming around the candidates, how they reacted to the eggs, and to Pilanth, how she seemed to notice all of them, even though there were quite the number. Her hands were clasped and resting on her stomach.
The male candidate noticed her by the doorway and his gaze hardened. What was that good-for-nothing girl doing, standing there in the way of the candidates? Didn't she know that she wasn't supposed to be here? Lowly stable hands didn't have the right to take up space and stand in the way of everyone! Annoyed, he marched right over to her. "What do you think you're doing?" he growled at her, towering over her small frame, eyes glaring daggers at her.
Calmly the girl glanced over to the annoyed candidate. "Observing. Is that a problem?" Her blond hair waved in front of her eyes for a moment, obscuring her view.
"Yes, it is. You have no right to be here."
Aylana gave him quite the calm smile. "Yes, I believe I do. Or at least, nobody has told me to move yet. If you want to go and touch the eggs, however, I suggest you hurry right along before Pilanth shoos everyone out," she said idly and returned her gaze to the clutch.
Jermashi stared at her in astonishment. "Since when do you have the right to call the gold by her name?!" He exclaimed.
"Tick tock, tick tock," she continued on, ignoring his last comment. He glowered at her before giving up, stalking off and muttering under his breath about stuck-up females and idiotic blonds who thought they knew everything. Aylana just laughed and he whipped around to give her a short glare before continuing on.
He gave a generous bow to both L'kas and Penna, as well as the two mated dragons, before coming over and easily placing a hand on the Earthquake Egg without hesitation. After a moment, however, a shock of power and unstable-ness washed over to him and he jerked his hand away, eyes wide. Back near the entrance, Aylana burst out laughing.
Those two certainly didn't get along.
[Hope you don't mind Aylana coming in.]
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Post by D'gellin on Aug 2, 2008 20:18:34 GMT -5
Trilia was all smiles of gratitude at the queen's approval. She might have been a little unnerved by such a large dragon, being so accustomed to her father's dainty little Minth, but she was still high on excitement and the human wariness was wiped clean away. She giggled and reached a hand out to rub the soft hide. A bold move, she was vaguely aware, but Trilia had no trepidations about dragons. "Thank you." She murmured then turned to Penna with a sheepish smile, remembering her manners late, and curtsied to her as well, her boots catching together in the process and nearly sending her sprawling. Those boots would be the first things to go once she was off the scorching sands...
It was only after this that Trilia took a breath and turned to give the eggs their due attention. Focusing now, she was nearly overwhelmed by so many minds. Some came clearer than others, some less forcefully, but she wasn't sure who to turn to first. How could she decide among them all? So she turned instead to the one closest to her, intrigued by the vibrancy of emotions. It was proud, Trilia thought with a grin. But she couldn't bring herself to touch the Radiant Sun Egg, much as she wanted to. Fear? Her stomach was doing somersaults. Trilia had never touched a dragon egg before. Uncertainty? What if the egg didn't care for her? Trepidation? Would this change who the dragonet inside Impressed?
But that mind glow was just so welcoming, and the confidence flowing from it was simply too intoxicating to leave her muddling through conflictions. She tentatively reached a hand out to touch the surface. All at once the emotions inside seemed so much louder. But this only emboldened Trilia. She needed that last surge of encouragement. As she rubbed her thumb gently over the surface, she found herself smiling again. Best day ever.
Arms crossed, Fallen observed the Touching from behind a mental partition. He couldn't quite wrap his mind around why all the candidates seemed to react the way they did to different eggs. His foot began to tap an impatient rhythm. How long was this going to take? He cast his gaze around, looking for something to occupy his attention. There was something about this place that unnerved him. It felt like something was pressing against his thoughts, just out of range, and it made him distinctly uncomfortable.
That was when he noticed Penna's beckoning. Her call to someone by the door sent a shock of awareness through his system that one might get when caught doing something wrong. He glanced to his sides, confirming what he'd been wary of. She was calling to him. So much for laying low...
He started to unfold his arms and push away from the wall but his mind suddenly froze as he registered something. The Queen requested his presence? The Queen? Tutored only in the ancient harper ballads, Fallen was woefully ignorant of just how intelligent dragons really were. Summoned by a beast. Dragon or no, this was perhaps the oddest thing he'd encountered in some time. And he couldn't imagine what would possess the gold to single him out. Fallen stopped as far as he could from the talons without being blatantly rude.
"I hope I haven't done anything to offend?" He said at length with a sincerity that was only half genuine. He had no designs to upset a clutch-mother, but apologies weren't his usual choice for negotiation. And he had no qualms with fighting back against Dragon Rider tyranny. His eyes flicked back and forth between Penna and Plianth, unsure who he should address.
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Post by **Auria (etc)** on Aug 3, 2008 8:44:44 GMT -5
Penna nodded politely, though with some confusion, to Jermashi as he greeted them, for Plianth was puzzled by this one. She had noted the tension between the candidate and the girl at the door (whom neither Queen nor Rider recognized). She was going to ask the boy if all was well, when little Trilia nearly fell over in her curtsey, and Jermashi moved on to join the touching.
The queenrider was about to reach out and catch the little girl, but the child caught herself, and moved on to touch the eggs. Penna's brows raised in slight surprise when she saw which egg the child had begun with. She wished she could remember the little one's history ... for she appeared to be more comfortable among dragons than some of the other candidates.
And then the young man by the entrance responded to Plianth's call.
"I hope I haven't done anything to offend?" he queried.
The goldrider turned to her dragon. The expression on her face fogged in the familiar way that riders' did when they were in deep commune with their mounts, and Penna turned back to Fallen with a slightly worried shadow in her eyes.
"Plianth would like to know why you don't like her eggs," Penna said quietly, attempting to be respectful of the boy's privacy, while reflecting the hurt feelings of the Queen. "I saw you among the other candidates, so am aware that you're not just an observer. She's very proud of her clutch, and your apparent ... reluctance ... troubles her."
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Post by .K.aci on Aug 4, 2008 16:09:17 GMT -5
/ooc/ watch my mad lazy posting.
Kal blinked up at the queen, slightly startled, but the fear went away when he realized she was just reprimanding him.
"He should though!"
Hauze slipped in and did his gentlemanly thing where he gave no egg any more attention then the other.
Crown sulked in the kitchens the whole time, REALLY mad that she didn't get to go touch them because the headwoman was getting really pissed off at her for ditching work.
Kan and Dev ignored the whole thing, sulking because they really weren't here to Impress and the whole thing was stupid.
/ooc/ -counts- alrighty, everyone came and... sorta fondled eggs.
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Post by Shikai on Aug 4, 2008 19:19:55 GMT -5
Aclaryn’s eyes widened as he entered the hatching grounds. He had seen firelizard eggs several times before, and they were lovely, of course, but this was something different entirely. The eggs were massive, and all with such exquisite patterns and myriad colors. It was enough to catch anyone off guard. Vaguely, he was conscious of a strange sensation in his feet, and he was suddenly dragged out of his state of amazement as the heat of the sands seeped through his boots, causing him to look down in surprise and start walking forward. Shards, they weren’t kidding when they warned about how hot the hatching sands were! He was glad indeed that he had worn his boots, noticing the especially pained expressions of some who had worn thinner-soled footwear.
Unlike Treylis, he had quickly given up his resentment toward dragons and dragonriders in general, although it would take something extraordinary for him to give up his negative views of the weyrleaders. Becoming a dragonrider wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. Really, how could one live here and not long for the bond shared by dragons and those lucky enough to be called riders? He was nearly overwhelmed by the promise and possibilities held by all the eggs. What if one chose him? What if one of these brilliantly colored orbs contained his sleeping future dragon? But was he really good enough? A voice nagged at the back of his mind. Would a dragon really want him? The weyr certainly had a good number of candidates for the dragons to choose from. What if none of the dragons wanted him?
He dismissed these thoughts, shrugging his shoulders. Perhaps he would be chosen, perhaps not. Only the hatching day would tell. For now, what would be the harm in enjoying his candidacy, reveling in the excitement and possibilities for the future? He moved toward Penna and golden Plianth, giving them each a respectful obeisance before proceeding toward the eggs themselves.
Aclaryn passed the Crisp Autumn Evening egg, smiling at the happy, playful feelings that emanated from it, touching his consciousness. He paused, his hand lifting hesitantly, and then he reached out and placed his hand against the shell. It was smooth, hard, and warm, and he could practically feel the life and energy within. The emotions it had been sending out intensified. Aclaryn ran his fingers gently over the surface, tracing the little lines of color and patterns. How truly extraordinary! However, there were other eggs to examine, so he reluctantly pulled his hand away, and proceeded onward.
He glanced at the Clouds at Dusk egg as he moved past it, although he did not stop to more closely examine it. He smiled softly, almost jealous of the peaceful innocence it radiated. Yet as he moved nearer to the Scorching Sands egg, he was taken aback as its emotions hit him, surprised by their intensity. He stopped, looking at it in amazement for a moment, before quickly moving on. The Hailstorm egg proved to be equally intimidating, although this time he decided to approach it rather than pass it by in search of a less fierce egg. Maybe they weren’t so bad up close…?
Aclaryn gently touched his hand to the shell, and nearly pulled it back at once. It’s fury only seemed to intensify as he made contact with it, so he drew away and left it. He knew better than to stay where his presence was clearly not wanted, after all! He would leave this egg in peace. Aclaryn’s next stop was the Sandstorm Egg. It was hardly inviting either, but didn’t seem quite so angry as some of the others, somehow. He reached out to touch the shell, placing first his fingertips on it, before following with his palm. It seemed to begrudgingly tolerate him, and he smiled as he stroked the egg’s surface. “There now, I’m not so bad, see? Why are so many of you afraid of company? We’re not going to hurt you, you know.” He muttered, not really caring if anyone thought it odd of him to be talking to an egg. Perhaps because it wasn’t quite as vibrantly colored as the others, it wasn’t receiving much attention at the moment, so Aclaryn decided to linger beside it for a while. Besides, it seemed to be tolerating him a bit more the longer he stayed there! Intriguing indeed. Now, instead of antipathy, he sensed a much more calming influence coming from it. It wasn’t a bad egg to hang around at all.
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