--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I Love the '80s


Date:  September 14, 2008
Place:  Igen Weyr's Living Cavern
Game:  PernMUSH
Copyright Info:  The World of Pern is copyright(c) to Anne McCaffrey 
l967. The Dragonriders of Pern(r) is a registered copyright.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kassi's Note:  I worked longer on this '80s-music-themed FL clutch than 
I want to think about--or admit to.  It turned out worth it, with so 
many of the attendants at the Hatching recognizing the songs and 
snickering along with me. ;)  Thank you, everyone who came!  Thank you,
too, awesome '80s musicians who provided *endless* inspiration!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Log:

You amble out into the Weyr's Living Caverns.

Kaveshun ambles out from the inner caverns.

Hector tries to stifle a laugh for a moment, but then he finally breaks
down, imagining K'tel wearing leathers covered in an orange floral design.
"What? But I'm sure I'm sure it would look great! Zmeth would like it if
you matched, wouldn't he?" Now Hector is going to far with his teasing.
Still, he nods agreement with Kayara's suggestion. "Orange gear would look
good. Of course, isn't orange Ista's color?" he says, mostly to himself.
"Still, I'm sure it would look very flashy."

K'tel eyes Hector, darkly, trying really hard not to show any amusement,
"Ista is starting to sound better and better."

R'din comes in from the Bowl.

Enter Kassima, a long ruby-bright sash tied around her head as a band again
for goodness knows what reason, making straight for the basket of eggs to
deliver the regular poke and prod. Zabreneva isn't of a mind to allow this
today--she nips at the greenrider's fingers. "*Stop* that. Make m'fingers
bloody and they'll be slippery, slippery fingers and I might drop one, then
we've got a dead hatchling and 'tis all your fault." The testy queen is
somehow unfazed by this logic.

Kayara wasn't even sure why she was trying to convince him, but she didn't
see anything wrong with the color orange. She then breaks out in laughter,
"Ah, the things dragons cause us to do. Nothing is too good for the
dragons." She mused before shaking her head. She then leaned back in her
seat slightly, "Nothing wrong with orange. It's a resprectable color. If
you want tacky, look at the guy over there in that neon pink shirt." She
pointed to some random person who was walking out of the living cavern. She
only laughed harder at Hector's teasing of K'tel. She quickly silences it
when an Assistant Weyrlingmaster enters and sits stiffly in her seat. She
always felt a little uneasy around those of rank. She nods a greeting to
her but doesn't trust her voice not to waver slightly.

Kaveshun was just slipping out of the kitchens, either having gone in there
earlier or just leaving chores... who really knows. But he has a hot meal
of shredded wherry, a warm bread roll, and tubers piled high on a plate
along with a fresh glass of juice with him. This he carries in carefully,
making sure to avoid the crowd in case of dropping even a bit of his food.
He aims for familiar faces, giving them a smirk and a head bob since his
hands are full. "Hey, y'all," he says, taking a seat.

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Okay, y'all--I'm going to pop downstairs for a fresh
Sunkist, and when I get back it's about time for the hatching of doom and
death and dismay. ;)"

IGEN-> Kaveshun woots. That's only the best kind. :D

Beli ambles out from the inner caverns.

Hector gives a little wave to Kassima and the others when they wander in,
but when he spots the nipping firelizard, he instantly becomes worried.
Even though the 'lizard wasn't paying any attention to him right now, there
was no telling when it might turn on anyone. "Ah, right. Well, I should get
going. It was nice meeting you, Kayara. Hopefully I'll see you around soon.
Good luck with the orange flowers, K'tel." That pot of eggs in the corner
seems to be getting an awful lot of attention right now, and Hector
definitely does not want to be in here when a bunch of the baby things
start running around. He gets up, edging towards the exit.

IGEN-> R'din says, "And a green hatches instantly, Impressing Hector!"

IGEN-> Hector says, "Noooo!"

Josilina comes down the stairway.

IGEN-> K'tel grins.

Beli edges in as Hector is edging out, and so she greets him, first:
"Hello, Hector." Then, with a glance at all the attention-getting eggs, but
seemingly only a passing interest herself, "Oh, are they cracking, then?"

Chaton ambles out from the inner caverns.

K'tel's brows go up as Hector flees and Kayara stiffens. He looks around to
see what's causing all the fuss.

Hector strides through the passageway into the Inner Caverns.

Tannusen ambles out from the inner caverns.

A slow stream of blues and greens with one brown among them like an island
flows in from the Bowl, angling for Kassima and settling in places
conveniently near the clutch. Kassima takes this as a Sign. "Right," she
says, "it must be--" And she picks the basket up, eggs and all, hissing
queen and all, to transfer it somewhere more hospitable, namely one of the
round tables in the room. "Hector!" Uh-oh. "Do me a favor, would you, and
go in the kitchens and tell 'em we're going t'be needing lots of raw meat?"
To prove the point, this is when the resettling swarm of fire-lizards
begins their multi-voiced hummmmmm. Kassi wiggles her 'lizard-scratched
fingers in belated greetings to everybody, but her eyes are on the eggs.
"...Oh, shoot. Missed him, didn't I? Beli, could you?"

IGEN-> Kassima sniffles. He got away. ;)

IGEN-> R'din says, "Sneaky little bugger! ;)"

IGEN-> Hector says, "Sorry :)"

IGEN-> K'tel says, "We'll have him ringed in on the sands next week. ;)"

Earrings the Size of Kansas Egg is the first to twitch, jittering in the
sandy nest.

Josilina comes in from the bowl, an empty glass in her hand, cheeks flushed
from heat. "I hate the Sands," she declares to noone and everyone, tweaking
the strap of Beli's overalls as she passes the girl. "Beli, we must get you
a nicer shirt," she notes, making for the meal table. "Juice... My Weyr for
some cold juice." As for the commotion and cracking eggs? She seems oblivious.

IGEN-> Hector says, "I've got to take off anyway. the SO will be coming
over shortly."

K'tel sits back, glancing over at Kayara to smile, "Can't resist a hatching."

IGEN-> Chaton says, "I'm trying to figure out the bands. I think I've got
number 4, because I like the lead singer"

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Some are band-based, some are imagery from the videos
for the particular song."

Kayara looks over to see all the fuss as well and smiles once she sees what
is happening, "Neither can I." She agrees, having attended a few in the
past. She then shifts onto her feet, her remaining klah growing cold and
forgotten as she takes a step forward to get a better view.

Kaveshun was already stuffing his food the moment he sat down, but he looks
up and watches as Hector makes a run for it. He actually gulps down his
mouthful of food and he turns towards the commotion. "What in the flamin'
Faranth is going on over there?" His brows perk up at the humming and the
rocking and he sinks into his seat as the basket gets closer. "Lizards? I,
er.. shouldn't be here, should I? Never been 'round eggs when they go
a-crackin' on people an' all." He pulls his plate closer, possessively, and
scoops big forkfulls of tubers into his mouth.

Chaton walks into the living cavern, and pauses to look around. "What's
going on?" he asks, to anyone who cares to answer, standing on tip-toe to
look around.

A'riste comes in from the Bowl.

Gwinevra ambles out from the inner caverns.

Lyse is at a table out of the way for now, keeping to herself until things
get busy and the firelizards start up their chorus. She smiles and reaches
up to scritch her own, getting comfy to watch.

Kassima waggles a finger at Kaveshun--then sticks it in her mouth, the
motion having made the scratch from Zabre's claws sting. "Mmph," she says.
"A'course you should be here. All the Candidates should be here! And anyone
else who'd like t'please ensure I don't Impress any more, please, please.
Look at how many there are, I'd go *insane*. Come one, come all, bring meat
and *spare* me." She pulls out a chair and plunks into it: just a
spectator, she.

Beli murmurs something that sounds a lot like, "Must be overwhelmed," and
then nods to Kassima. "Certainly." Before she can go, she's tweaked, and
she sticks out her tongue at the Weyrwoman, without even the slightest
hesitation. "I like this shirt." And then she disappears into the kitchens,
returning moments later with a meat-laden tray threatening to topple, which
she brings over to Kassima. And the crowd.

Teolyon comes in from the Bowl.

K'tel shakes his head at Kassi, "Like I need any more." He makes no move to
get closer, in fact, after a smile at Kayara, he gets up and skirts around
the crowd to go refill his juice.

Scarlet-Lipped Sexbots Egg does a little shimmy-shake and knocks into its
nearest neighbor. The Shadow Strings and Light Egg doesn't react--it just
sits there, brooding soulfully or something.

Tannusen enters the living cavern, distractedly hauling another blond boy
in by the arm. "Don't worry yet, I'm not going tunnelsnake hunting
without--ah," Blink, blink, he pauses mid-haul to eye the chaos. "The
firelizard eggs are hatching?"

R'din comes crawling out from under one of the tables, stretching out
widely as he peers over at K'tel, "Are you absolutely certain you're not a
greenrider? Flowery straps." Chuckle, making his way over into the crowd.
All the firelizards get a noted "Hmm. Hey, those are mine..." He points out
his own 'flits, peering at the eggs.

Kaveshun furrows her brows, confused, at Kassima. "If ya like the little
beasts, why don'tcha jus' keep 'em all? It's a shame, I only brought 'nough
meat fer me." He smirks to his mound of wherry on his plate, enough to feed
two big guys, and makes sure to make a show of chewing it happily, but his
face falls when Beli returns with the meat. "Shells... Ya think they'd take
those eggs ta the wild, what with all our other duties."

"They are," Dali pipes up, grabbing for a handful of meat from Beli's
supply. "I want a big bronze one. He'd bite all the tunnelsnakes in the
hind end and they'd run off *screaming*."

"Impudence," Josilina mutters, as well as, "You would." She fills her glass
with juice, and rests it against her face, turning to observe the cavern,
hip leaning against the table. "Shards, just what we need." She finally
spots the eggs. The moving eggs. "Baby firelizards, when we'll have baby
dragons any week now." Then, overhearing R'din, she can't help but wonder,
"Who's got flowery straps?"

Teolyon, carrying a bundle of hides under an arm, enters. But he stops,
blinking to survey the huge amount of firelizards and people gathered
around something. "Oh..." Curiousity gets the best of him, and Teolyon
manages to squirm his way closer, having to stand on his tiptoes to peek
over a teenager's shoulder at the source of this commotion.

Earrings the Size of Kansas Egg rocks forward... backward... forward...
backward... and thankfully, before the hatchling within can get seasick, it
cracks!

Earrings the Size of Kansas Egg cracks open, and a Walk Like an Egyptian
Green Hatchling tumbles out.


Nothing but nothing can keep her still. She moves, this pretty little
green, she glides and sways and dances through her life, never caring
whether she looks silly to others--what do their opinions matter anyway, so
long as she's having a good time? And with her looks she may be able to get
away with it. Sharing a color with fertile riverside plants at the very
beginning of summer, rich, cool, and deep, she pairs an attractive shade
with a serpent's build and grace. What she doesn't have is a serpent's
cunning. Her affection is real--if absentminded--and her enthusiasm equally
unfeigned, as the person she chooses for her dance partner will soon discover.


K'tel finishes pouring his juice and was in the process of heading over to
the food. Hearing R'din, he pauses to give the other rider a cheerful
glare, if there is such a thing. He then continues over to look over the
offerings, finally deciding it's just easier to accept some rolls that are
being passed out to everyone.

A'riste is dragged by Tannusen. "Oh, good," says he, his pleasant tenor
filled with relief. "Because I hate tunnelsnakes. The first thing Fort had
me do, you know, was hunt tunnelsnakes. Me, can you imagine? Fighting all
those little legs and those big sharp teeth! Of course, I acquitted myself
admirably enough between all the screaming and flailing, but I'd really
rather just let you do your chore without interfering. You can be the hero,
I'll just be the, er intrepid Harper who stays well in the ba-- er, who
observes impartially lest his recording of history be tainted!"

Having come in for something to drink, Gwinevra can't help noticing the
commotion. She wanders up just close enough to get a look at eggs. "Uh oh,"
she says, brows raising and a grin slipping across her lips. "This spells
trouble for sure," she finishes. Holding her glass of juice in both hands,
she hangs out there to watch. Gwin notes the fellow near her standing on
tiptoes and tries to get his attention. "Psst...over here a little. You can
see between these two," she offers to Teolyon.

Chaton blinks and joins the crowd of people excitedly. "Oh! Are they
hatching? Cool! Hey R'din!" he grins big, nodding. "Are you going to go
after one too?" he asked, wrinking his nose.

IGEN-> Iesia is back! OMG people!

Kayara has a few firelizards herself, a green and a blue. Still, she loves
the creatures and it wouldn't hurt to have one more. It wouldn't hurt to
try anyway, and if not well she wouldn't have lost anything. It was all a
matter of chance anyway. She looks over her shoulder just in time to see
K'tel skirt off. It was quite obvious that he didn't want another. Her eyes
glazed off as she bespoke Zimarath for a moment and she made the decision
then to try. She ducked into the kitchen for a moment and returned shortly
after with a small bowl of diced raw wherry. She makes her way around the
edge of the crowd and as close to the edge of the basket as she can. At
first she simply watches, leaving as much room as she can around her for
others. Her attention seems to be upon to eggs for a moment, although a
smile curves her lips in amusement as she hears another rider teasing K'tel
about the straps. When she looks back to the basket her eyes widen to see
that a green has hatched. She watches with an expression of admiration the
form of the tiny green. She then lowers one hand over the edge of the
basket with a piece of meat between her fingers, although a bit hesitant as
to whether it is okay to do so.

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Iesia! Hatching in the LC, if you weren't aware."

IGEN-> Iesia says, "Ahh"

Iesia ambles out from the inner caverns.

IGEN-> Iesia will come watch!

Salitra ambles out from the inner caverns.

Beli does spare a studying glance for the eggs as she drops off the tray of
raw meat, but doesn't take any of the strips for herself. The little green,
so new to the world, also gets a glance, but then she turns, heading back
towards Josilina. "Do you still have just that one of yours? The one that's
always asleep?"

R'din jerks his thumb over at K'tel, "K'tel. He was discussing about having
some made for Zmeth with..." His eyes squint to find the other person,
"Kayara, I think." But soon enough, the newly hatched green gets his
attention, "Oh, purdy." A strip of meat is stolen from the meat that Beli
brought, flicking it around at the baby 'lizard. "C'mere, you!"

Kassima beams her thanks to Beli; she doesn't pick up any meat, no she most
certainly does not. "I like 'em," she tells Kaveshun, "but I've got more
than anyone with sense ever would. A 'lizard would be a bit of training,
aye? A little taste of what 'twould be like t'have a dragon in your mind,
and all a dragon would demand. Stress *little* taste. Fire-lizards don't
leave dung everywhere."

"Uh-huh," Tannusen rolls his eyes at his friend, his grip on A'riste's arm
remaining just in case the, ah, /intrepid Harper/ decides to pull a V'trel
and make a break for it while the breaking is still good. "You don't have a
firelizard yet, do you A'riste?" Uh-oh.

Walk Like an Egyptian Green Hatchling is certainly not leaving dung
everywhere! Good grief, what an idea. She is a... well, perhaps not a lady,
but she has her own kind of dignity. Quick flicks of her wings shake off as
much goo as she can. Quick nips at her claws, and they're ready for
walking. She scrabbles out of the remnants of her egg towards these large,
milling shapes with no sign of fear.

Josilina's brows lift at Beli's question, "Blitz? Sure, he's... somewhere."
She waves a hand, vague. "Probably sleeping. You should go for one," she
encourages, complete with a nudge to the girl's shoulder. "Get a blue. It's
tradition." She follows R'din's thumb, and it's all smiles and sunshine for
K'tel, "Flowers! That's a lovely idea. Are you going to do it? And Kayara?"
She peers into the crowd, picking out the greenrider, "And her, too? Oh!
You should do different flowers, for different wings. It'd be so striking."

IGEN-> Lyse says, "I will -not- dive in after a particularly favourite
record. :)"

Chaton giggles at R'din and his manner, reaching out to the plate for a
piece of meat as well, taking a deep breath and trying not to think of what
he was holding by the tips of his fingers. "I think I'll wait for one of
the others to hatch..."

IGEN-> Gwinevra says, "The theme rocks..."

IGEN-> Kassima grins! I'll give just one clue as to future hatchlings--I
didn't repeat the same artist twice. ;) Thank you!

IGEN-> Gwinevra says, "Err, pun not truly intended. But it does!"

Teolyon drops back to his heels once he's whispered to by Gwinevra.
Following her offer, he sidesteps over to where he can better see, "Wow.
That's a big clutch..." Then he notices everyone taking some meat, deciding
to try his luck as well by taking a few strips. "I might as well try...
I've always wondered..." About what, Teolyon doesn't say. Simply holding
the strip of meat out, wiggling it slightly.

IGEN-> Chaton says, "I really want the one with the scarf on the microphone
name.XD"

Love Symbol #2 Egg rolls rather casually towards the rim of the basket.
Almost a saunter, if eggs could saunter.

K'tel gives R'din another /look/ before smiling at the Weyrwoman, "Zmeth is
insisting, I'm afraid." He shakes his head, looking over at Kayara, "She
said Zimarath is happy with her current straps." He ahs at R'din, "But
perhaps Daianth would like some?" He can't resist trying. He innocently
looks back at the hatching.

"No," replies A'riste, freezing. Maybe he will indeed try to bolt. "Oh, no.
Absolutely not. They make loud shrieky noises." His own voice starts to
rise. "And they want to be fed all the time. And they want stuff like love,
and attention, and commitment. A lot like girls, really. I'm /really/ not
good at that sort of thing."

Kaveshun was hovering protectively over his meal as the first egg breaks,
and he snorts at the green little hatchling. "Training, right. But they
sure are followed by lots of noise." He looks up towards the bigger
firelizards that were humming around the cavern. Taking a drink, he goes
back to stuffing himself, not even inclined to looking like he wanted to
share at the moment.

Beli makes a face. "I'm surprised Blitz isn't blue. He's not nearly cranky
enough, I suppose. If you're so eager for tradition, you ought to try."
Apparently something about blue firelizards gets under this one's skin;
she's lost all her oddball good nature, all of a sudden. It returns as she
does allow, "The green was pretty. I haven't seen them so little. Wort's
always been old." Heavy emphasis on that last word.

Scarlet-Lipped Sexbots Egg is by now swaying up a storm. Every jiggle and
bounce makes that lip-like imprint move, and one could imagine the egg is
talking, if one is given to fancies like that.

Kayara glances over to R'din and nods in confirmation, "Yes, I was the one
discussing it with him." She confirms, not paying too much attention to the
meat dangling from her fingers. She then glances back to the firelizard,
"She is very pretty." She agrees before introducing herself, "You've
probably heard my name before but I'm Kayara, green Zimarath's rider. I'm
not sure we've met before. And you are...?" She prompts. She's been so busy
lately that she may have forgotten some faces. She then glances over to
K'tel, "Yes, Zimarath is fine with the ones she has."

R'din continues to wildly flick the bloody strip everywhere, causing blood
droplets to spray about. "Nah, thanks a ton, though, K'tel. Now, if you
made me straps with real fruit added, I'd proudly fly it. That way I could
just pluck a fruit off and eat it while flying." Now that's a thought! "I
really should do that..."

Gwinevra beams at the stranger and steps aside, urging him even closer in
the spot and actually elbowing someone a little to help him get in there.
The man gives her a scowl but the girl ignores it. "Need me to help hold
the hides while you try?" she offers him. "What's your name, anyway?" she
asks as an afterthought, peering around him to watch the eggs and the
little hatchlings.

IGEN-> Salitra says, "I think i'll just watch for right now..."

Iesia stalks into the Living Caverns and finds... a crowd. Lovely. She
scowls as she makes to walk past them, but something catches her eye. Or a
someone, rather. Aconite on her shoulder trills happily, and with a roll of
her eyes Iesia turns on her heel and makes for the crowd. "Chaton! R'din,"
she calls as she gets closer. Aconite has eyes only for the former, bobbing
her head on Iesia's shoulder as she begs for a treat. Food?

R'din adds to Kayara, "Oh, R'din."

IGEN-> Beli idles for dinner, have fun everyone :)

Walk Like an Egyptian Green Hatchling fans out her wings for balance, and
that she thus shows off their delicate, gleaming sails for her audience is
sheer serendipity. Opening her mouth, she *creels*. Loudly! If nothing
else, she has a voice. If those orange-red eyes are much to go by, she has
an empty stomach, too.

IGEN-> Naara says, "Oh my..."

Scarlet-Lipped Sexbots Egg cracks open, and a Addicted To Love Brown
Hatchling tumbles out.


While this brown's eyes are as red with hunger as anyone's, he's reluctant
to move. He has needs, they gnaw at him sharply, but he just sits there. He
doesn't trust self-indulgence somehow. His burly body carries plenty of
hatching fat--does he really *have* to have food? Does he? Of course he
does, but he struggles with that craving in an attempt to prove his
willpower that's ultimately doomed to failure. He hisses with real
frustration even as he gives in, spreading wings the same dark chestnut as
his body that look too blunt and short right now to carry him, sinking his
tiny claws into the sands and not so much walking as stalking into the world.


But Tannu is stronger than he looks, and makes to haul the other boy over
anyway! "Valioth doesn't seem to be suffering from your attention," he
comments cheerfully enough, "And you could use a messenger. Then you won't
have an excuse to not visit!" And he makes to pluck a piece of meat up with
his free hand!

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Hatching is going on, Naara, if you were interested. ;)"

IGEN-> Naara isn't too late to slip in? Napped longer than I meant to. :)

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Nope, no Impressions yet, two FLs out. :)"

Naara ambles out from the inner caverns.

Teolyon smiles at the nice lady, "Thank you." The scribe quickly checks his
hides to make sure he hasn't lost any of them, counting them with his eyes.
Once he's certain he has all of them, he looks back up at Gwinevra, "I'd
appreciate that, yeah. I'm Teolyon. I was sent by the Weyrharper at Telgar
to deliver these..." The bit of meat is still hopefully dangled

"We could have a straps fashion show," Josilina's barely speaking to K'tel
anymore, though she's still turned at least partway toward him. "It'd be
fabulous. I wonder if the Weavers would be at all interested. Zmeth," and
now she's talking to him for sure, "sounds like a very wise dragon. Please
pass him my compliments on his taste. And I'm sure," she projects for
R'din, "Daianth would look just marvelous with some light pink flowers."
Beli's words get her to crinkle her nose, "One's enough for me." She looks
surprised at the girl's tone, "Did Wort do something to you? He's not
/that/ old. Rorret's older."

K'tel stays on the other side of Josilina from R'din so he doesn't get any
blood on his clothes. He does have to comment though, relaxing now that
there is someone else's strap ideas to talk about, "I would like to the
fruit harness." He inclines his head to Josilina, "My thanks, Weyrwoman.
I'll pass that along." He sips his juice, relieved that Josilina's
attention went to Beli.

Salitra walks in to see a crowd and her eyes get a little big at how many
people are here. "What's going on in..."She stops in mid sentence, looking
at the baby firelizards and laughing slightly, Salitra smiles."How many are
in that clutch?It looks like a lot..."Salitra asks, more for herself than
anything.

Kayara laughed at what R'din had said and shook her head, "It would be fine
at first but it would make a very smelly harness once the fruit began to
rot. Especially in this heat." She remarks in an amused tone. At last her
attention goes back to the meat in her hand and she wiggles it before
twisting it back and forth between her fingers. A grin spreads across her
face at the loud demanding creel the green makes, "Zimarath was every bit
as demanding as this one when she hatched." She commented before looking
over at Josilina at the mention of a dragon fashion show, "Now that would
be something to see!" She agrees with enthusiasm. When R'din introduces
himself she smiles, "Well met."

"Aaagh! No! I'm pretty sure he does need me. He hates it when I'm out of
his sight, you know--" But A'riste is dragged along relentlessly by
Tannusen, even as his voice edges higher and higher. "--Absolutely hates
it. Really!"

Gwinevra reaches out with both arms to help him with the hides. She eyes
him up and down, seeming to size him up and then giggles. "Telgar, huh?
Well you arrived at the right time!" she says. "Have you ever had a
Firelizard before? Better reach in there and keep dangling! My mother has
two, but neither my sister or I have one yet," she chatters through the
buzz of the crowd. "I couldn't bring myself to try for one without Gwen
here," she says, sighing and rolling her eyes.

Addicted To Love Brown Hatchling is in no hurry to move towards the
delicious things he smells, even if each bit of twitching meat gets his
head turning that way--then that way--as his determination to master his
impulses fights with... well, starvation. At least it *feels* like
starvation. The sound he makes is even more unhappy than his sister's,
caught in the dilemma he's made for himself.

Kaveshun winces at the loud firelizard. "Shells. See, loud buggers," he
grumbles, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. He glances around at the
growing crowd instead, as if unsure of whether he should make a run for it.
But caged in at the table, that wasn't likely. Instead, he catches
Salitra's arrival, waving his fork to at least another familiar person.
"Too many in the clutch, I think, but 'least there're lots of people 'round
for 'em 'stead of me." He makes sure to pull his plate back, too, always
keeping an eye towards the firelizards.

R'din peers at Josilina, "Flowers die. Fruits are forever." He informs the
Weyrwoman confidently. Iesia gets a wink, shrugging at Kayara, "Maybe make
some sort of bag to keep fruits in it? It'd have to be very secure, what
with his stunts..." The thought of losing fruits in the middle of the sky
has R'din shuddering, "Those poor uneaten fruits, all lost..." His strip of
meat slowly goes pathetically limp at the thought.

Walk Like an Egyptian Green Hatchling noses a bit at this bit of meat, then
that, but it's when a drop from a twisting scrap happens to hit her nose
that her absent focus narrows. Hey! She slinks as best a hatching can,
drawing her head back to look at the offering and the one who makes it...
and then deciding, lunging forward to take a bite. Of the meat, thankfully.

Walk Like an Egyptian Green Hatchling stumbles towards Kayara.

Love Symbol #2 Egg cracks open, and a When Doves Cry Blue Hatchling tumbles
out.


He's a tiny scrap of a thing, although such is his confidence and force of
personality that his size is likely to fade to the back of one's mind until
some larger green perches beside him and it's suddenly clear again that he
is *little*. His narrow frame and dark hide do him no favors in that regard
either. His coloring is beautiful, give him that much; a deep, cool blue
that almost, almost looks purple on his wingspars, setting off the baleful
red of his hungry hatchling eyes. Each motion of his is predatory, and
someday his clumsiness will become slow feline grace. Bold he is, and never
satisfied. His beloved human will discover his vulnerability--all his pride
and assurance will fall before their displeasure.


"Josilina," the Weyrwoman corrects K'tel, but absent-mindedly. She's
looking encouraged by Kayara's enthusiasm, "Wouldn't it? I think it'd be
great fun. Maybe the Candidates could help decorate straps, too. If there's
time. Fruits?" she blinks in confusion. "D'you have fruits on his straps?"
she wonders of R'din. To Beli, she merely gives another nudge.

Slipping in the back way, as per usual, Naara--and Riike, for once--is
trying to worm her way through the crowd to get to the drink table. Her
overlarge and clumsy blue, however, has other ideas. Humming in that
attractively tuneless way that his kind has, he flaps and jumps,
effectively escaping his bonded and gallumphing his way to a better vantage
point. Such interesting things, Hatchlings... Almost as good as /Bowls/.
This, of course, means that poor Naara is left to try and find him. In this
crowd. That should be...fun.

IGEN-> A'deth XD

Chaton listens to the chatter going on, and between them and watching
R'din, he's giggling to himself. He sticks out the bloody meat between his
fingers and puts it out, wiggling it timidly at any hatchling that may be
interested. He turns his head so he won't have to watch the blood drip off
of it. "Here, little hatchling, hatchling, hatchling."

IGEN-> Kassima says, "If nothing else, it's easy to come up with mood music
for this. ;)"

IGEN-> A'deth XD

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Yes!"

IGEN-> A'deth <33333333333 Kassi. Best music decade ever.

IGEN-> Naara says, "Amen to that!"

IGEN-> Chaton says, "HERE HERE! Aerosmith rocks."

IGEN-> Gwinevra says, "Heck yeah!"

Teolyon edges a bit away from Gwinevra as he's eyed up and down. "Are you
one of the girls my mother warned me about?" He outright asks, expression
turning thankful as his hides are helped with, "Thank you. No, I haven't...
Closer?" Following her instructions, he decides to brave the firelizards,
dangling it dangerously close... "What's your name?"

"And fruit doesn't rot?" Iesia wants to know, arching an eyebrow at R'din.
There's a brief glance for Chaton, but as he seems distracted, she forgoes
another attempt at saying hello and just looks over his shoulder. "Oh," she
says, looking a little wary. "Firelizard clutch. Keep 'em away from me."
Aconite trills happily once again, and eyes that wiggling meat. Hmm.

K'tel looks at Josilina and agrees, "Josilina, of course." He hushes up,
definitely not wanting to discuss strap fashion shows, then smiles as he
watches Kayara and the green.

IGEN-> R'din says, "When Doves Cry... that reminds me of a song from Romeo
+ Juliet"

"Shush," Tannusen chuckles at him, "no one can hear you complaining in all
this noise anyway, here--" and he pushes a piece of meat into A'riste's
hand! And hauls his arm out to dangle it!

IGEN-> A'deth says, "That was a remake."

Salitra waves at Kaveshun and tries to get a closer look at the clutch.
"You're right, there are too many!"Laughing, she watches the eggs and
everyone around her, but hesitates to take a piece of meat and decides it's
better to go get some fruit to eat instead.

IGEN-> R'din doesn't know a thing about music. :P

A'riste eeps at Tannusen, and flails just a little, unable to extricate his
hand. "What is it with you," he demands, wide-eyed, "Wanting me around
reptilian things that want to feast on flesh?"

Gwinevra stares hard at him with a serious expression on her face, then it
cracks and she laughs at Teolyon. With a toss of her read hair and a
playful wrinkle of her freckles nose, she replies, "More than likely. But
you're safe in a crowd." The girl tosses him a wink and then turns her
attention to the hatchlings along with him as he moves closer. "My name's
Gwinevra," she says from behind him. "Just call me Gwin," the redhead adds,
sounding resolute.

IGEN-> Gwinevra switches music along with the hatchlings.

When Doves Cry Blue Hatchling is having none of this sitting still that his
brother bothers with, no, there are persons out there and they are perhaps
more interesting to him than the food. Surely they won't leave him standing
alone in a world that's so cold. He stands sloooowly from the sprawl that
hatching left him in, he stretches out a wing towards them, in fact because
it was dragging awkwardly but it almost looks like an entreaty or command.

Kayara ponders R'din's problem in regards to the fruits, "Yes, I'm certain
that there's some sort of bag that could seal them well enough that they
wouldn't go bad. That might be something to look into." She comments. Her
attention is stolen by a sudden tug on the meat held by her fingers. Her
eyes widen in surprise and an expression of joy crossed her face. She let's
the green have the piece that was in her fingers, which quickly dissapears
down the hatchling's maw. She coaxes her onto her arm with more meet,
careful to feed the hatchling with only small bites. Josilina's words
finally registed and she looks up, "Yes, it would be wonderful." She
replies. She then backs away from the crowd with the firelizard resting on
her arm, feeding it more pieces of meat.

Kaveshun looks just the tiniest bit relieved when the green seems to have
found someone else to attack, but he wasn't free yet. He nods back towards
Salitra, frowning. "Ain't gonna try for one, I imagine? I imagine they're a
free fer all, whoever can attract one." He scowls towards the hatchlings,
putting his best angry face, maybe to scare them off, and then chews
thoughtfully on some wherry. Just getting a bit full himself, but he wasn't
about to stop. "An' this is why I don't eat in the caverns often," he
mumbles to no one in particular.

IGEN-> A'deth prances around in platforms. "Mah name is Prince! And ah am
funky! When it comes to funk! I am a junkie!"

"Maybe I think fear is sexy?" Tannusen offers with far too much
cheerfulness. "Now here, dangle the meat at them, you know how to do /that/
don't you, bronzerider?"

IGEN-> Tannusen :P

Plush Purple Pirate Egg spins around and around and around. Sand spills
from its vivid curves, leaving the bright, tawdry color all the clearer for
all to see.

IGEN-> Gwinevra says, "I just want to know one thing...who told him he was
good looking? >.<"

R'din shakes his head at Josilina, "No, not yet. Though I should come up
with a way of keeping some. It'd certainly save me the trouble of
dismounting." For Iesia, he holds up a finger to his lips, "Sssh! Don't
spoil it..." But Kayara the Problemsolver is stolen by that little green.
Frowning briefly, R'din sighs and resumes his vigorous thrashing of the meat.

IGEN-> Tannusen ohdears XDDDDD

IGEN-> Lyse says, "Nooooo."

IGEN-> Tannusen says, "You spin me right round baby right round~"

IGEN-> K'tel laughs, "Fun!"

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Like a reccord baby right round round round."

Chaton looks up. "Oh! Hey Iesia." he says, still twirling and dangeling the
meat. "I think I have more luck at fishing than I do at enticing
firelizards." he says to Iesia.

IGEN-> A'deth says, "I want your looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove~"

Addicted To Love Brown Hatchling is going to have to move, isn't he? The
hunger isn't going away. A testing, hopeful creel, just in case that will
solve anything... but it doesn't. All that happens is that Zabreneva
flutters down onto the sands to nudge her stubborn offspring into
motion--after all, if he refuses to find a human she might be stuck looking
after him. The little brown has no choice but to approach the humans
warily. And their meat. He'd like to think he's immune to the stuff, oh yeah.

IGEN-> N'ren eyes A'deth for a few moments and takes a couple of steps
backwards... ;)

Teolyon blinks at the hard stare, fidgeting a bit under it before grinning
a little uneasily at the girl. "I thank the crowd." He half-teases, smiling
as he eyes the crowd. "Gwin. Okay, and you said something about a Gwen? Is
that your sister?" The purple egg grabs his attention, looking closer at
the egg but Zabreneva's fluttering scares him back a bit. "Is that the
mother?"

IGEN-> A'deth eyes N'ren back, and then opens up his loving arms. "I've got
my sights on you, and no one else will do."

Looking over at Kaveshun, Salitra replies, looking over at the clutch, or
what she can see of it with all the people standing around."I don't know,
it would be cool to have a firelizard, but I don't think I should try for
one. But we'll see, maybe I will make up my mind..." Sitting down, Salitra
takes some fruit, watching the commotion.

"Riike, /Riike/!" Naara hisses under her breath, slipping through the
outermost parts of the crowd wtih ease. Being skinny and short has to be
good for something, right? The blue, gleeful and adding the occasional
pleased churr to his constant hum, makes his roly-poly way towards
the--oof! That's a leg. Sitting back now on his haunches, Riike peers
upwards. That's a /big/ leg. Comparatively anyway. Oh, wait. That's a
/familiar/ smelling leg. Fruit? /Bowls/?

IGEN-> N'ren says, "The phrase that comes to mind, A'deth, is... 'tough
noogies'. ;)"

"Congratulations," Josilina offers to Kayara, then nodding to R'din.
"Carrysacks generally work. Unless you're trying to -decorate- your straps
with fruit. Which would be..." she considers, "wasteful, but probably
pretty. You could probably string berries with a needle and thread. But it
might get messy."

IGEN-> K'tel chuckles, "Poor A'deth."

IGEN-> A'deth bah. You cannot resist the gay pirate jpop mullet.

"I do fear," A'riste assures Tannusen, "But I do /not/ do sexy. I also do
not dangle meat. Not every bronzerider dangles meat, you know!" Though he
is, but only under duress. "You're a sick person, you are. Now, unhand me,
and we can just..."

IGEN-> Naara can! :P

IGEN-> A'deth hey! ;.;

IGEN-> Naara luffs on A'deth to make up for her resistance to gay pirates?

Kassima confirms, still watching everything but sticking to the background
lest hatchlings get Ideas, "Zabre's the mother. Watch out, she'll take your
hand off." The greenrider's still nursing her scratched finger.

IGEN-> A'deth purrs! Naaraluff will make up for the lack of appreciation
for his fabulosity.

Gwinevra bobs her head in a quick nod to Teolyon. "Right on both counts,
really. My twin sister is Gwen, but we don't really look much a like. And
that is the mother. She's been really protective," she informs him. Gwin
frowns at the Telgari messageboy now. "Come on, man! Wiggle that meat!
Look, see the little brown and the blue? Which color do you like best?" she
rambles.

"Hello Chaton," answers Iesia, smirking at him. "It appears so. Although,
to be fair, I have never seen you fish..." She's eying those firelizards
warily, and a hand raises to keep Aconite firmly on her shoulder and away
from the scraps. "With the way Daianth flies, R'din, I doubt you could
safely eat fruit while on his neck."

Kaveshun pushes the food around on his plate, looking down on it before
moving on to his juice. He downs that, as if hoping it will clear up some
room before turning back to regard Salitra. "No cute little thing fer ya? I
thought all gals would be throwing 'emselves for a baby... thing. Well, if
ya want one, that is. Better ta take 'em 'way from the people that would
rather they get dumped in the desert." He eyes the rest of the eggs,
actually ignoring the two hatchlings on the table, as if not fearing them.

IGEN-> Naara beams. Naaraluff. I like that. Can I sell it to the
affection-starved masses?

IGEN-> A'deth nodnods. :o

IGEN-> Kassima hees. It occurs to me I should say--if you'd like one but
your character isn't posing for one, you should let me know. I'm so far
only considering people who pose directly for a specific hatchling. :)

IGEN-> R'din will take one for 1,000 twenty-fourth billionth marks!

K'tel snickers at Iesia's comment then puts on his best bland look,
commenting to no-one in particular, "That little brown looks a bit shy. I'd
have never thought it of one of Kassima's gold's hatchlings." He takes
another bite of his meatroll.

"Can just, what, go hunting tunnelsnakes?" Tannusen asks innocently, "And
of course you don't." One can take that however one wants! "But I'm going
to drag you hunting sometime, so--" he makes A'riste's hand sway back and
forth with the meat! "Sooner or later?"

Chaton sticks her tongue out at Iesia. "Hey! None of that! I'm a good
fisher. Just 'cause you haven't seen something doesn't mean it isn't so."
he looks over at R'din. "How is your luck?" he asks, swiching the meat to
her other hand and wiggling it around for the firelizards.

Plush Purple Pirate Egg cracks open, and a You Spin Me 'Round Blue
Hatchling tumbles out.


Slender, narrow of bone, royal blue and summer-sky wavering together across
his hide, this young 'lizard doesn't give his egg a second thought once
he's escaped from it. All he knows is that to him this world looks like
it's lots of fun; so wiggle all that wherry meat! Watch out, here he comes!
He's eager to sample all Pern has to offer--starting, naturally, with
food--and if he can do so with a lifelong friend, so much the better. Even
so newly hatched his joyful heart is obvious. He skitters and lunges over
the sands without the grace he'll have in adulthood, but never minding
dignity when it gets in the way of a good time!

Kayara looks back up to Josilina once more after having backed away from
the large crowd, "Thank you very much, now I just have to come up with a
name for her." She comments, looking down at the green with a fond smile.
She then nods in agreement, "Yes, a carrysack would work from the sound of
it." She replies before making her way over to K'tel. She then looks at
him, "Any suggestions for a name?" She asks. Her attention goes to R'din
for a moment and she smiles in encouragement, hoping that he will get one.
A tug of meat from her fingers alerts her to how hungry the firelizard is
and she continues to feed it.

R'din holds up his shoulders in some sort of gesture at Iesia, "Only one
way to find out." He grins, shaking his head at Chaton, "Same as yours.
Sucky." Grinning, "Now that's a idea, Josilina. I could eat the berries and
clean out my teeth at the same time. You're smart." Nod.

"I paid my dues," A'riste glooms to Tannusen, his hand -- and the meat --
bewaggled. "I swear I did. Tunnelsnakes after my /flesh/, man. And the
beady little /eyes/, staring at you like they want to eat out your heart.
They run after you, you know."

Teolyon furrows his brows, "How can you be twins if you don't look much a
like?" He asks, a bit confused but. "Oh, right! Wiggle! I like that blue."
And the little blueling promptly gets a faceful of the strip of meat,
wiggling it with more energy at Gwinevra's encouragement.

When Doves Cry Blue Hatchling eyes his new blue sibling. Competition? With
him? Oh, this isn't to be borne. It takes him a moment, but he abandons
pride to stalk on over to the rim of the basket--where his brown brother
is, coincidentally. And *nudge* him. Just a little. If the brown doesn't
particularly want the meat, he'd be happy to take two shares!

Chaton oohs and dangles his piece of meat in front of the newly hatched
Spin Me 'Round hatchling, hoping to test his luck in another side of the
basket. "Yep. Sucky luck. Hope to have better on this side of the basket."

Josilina takes an extra step back as a blue hatches, nudging further up
against the table. "Is she your first?" she asks Kayara, adding, "She's
real pretty." She arches her eyebrows at R'din, "Not what I was thinking -
but it's an idea, I suppose. Get gross pretty quick, though."

A look is given towards Josilina, but it is far from being harsh, her being
the Weyrwoman and all. Iesia's nose twitches. "You're impossible," she
tells R'din. For Chaton, she simply rolls her eyes. "I didn't say you were
/bad/," she tells him frankly. "I simply said I had never seen you fish."
She scoots back a bit more, putting a little more distance between herself
and the firelizards, regardless of the fact that she has no meat. "Be my
shield," she tells R'din.

Gwinevra just shrugs. "I don't know, I guess so? We were born at the same
time and all," she explains, shrugging helplessly. Gwinevra peers around
him, shifting the hides she holds. "Wait, I see two blues," she mutters and
then follows his waggling. "Blues always have such pretty coloring," she
says so seriously it might sound funny.

Well, if a lump of a blue firelizard running into your leg doesn't grab
your attention, one that's on his haunches and creeling just might. Funny
to see large Riike in the same position as these young hatchlings, sitting
near R'din's foot and making quite the spectacle of himself. This makes it
much easier for Naara to find him and so it's very little time at all
before she appears to grab him around the middle and pull him into her lap
as she sits, sparing the bluerider one of her shy smiles before returning
her attention to her squirming blue.

K'tel looks over at Kayara and her green. He peers down at the small green
and chuckles, "I'm bad with names." A glance back at the hatchlings and a
sigh, "Oh, very well." He sets his juice down then takes a bit of meat from
a nearby platter and moves in closer, offering it to the hatchlings.

Chaton blinks at the creeling outside of the basket. "Oh! Hey Naara! Oh!
And Riike. Long time no see." he says, then looks back to the basket and
shaking the meat at the hatchlings.

You Spin Me 'Round Blue Hatchling is curious enough about this little clump
of color on the edge of the basket, it distracts him from hunger... or
cleaning up his hide... or that egg shard stuck to his hind end... or
anything, really, and he scatter-scrambles to his brothers. Heeeey! Of
course, being an awkward newborn thing he runs straight into them, and some
hissing, creeling, and generally unhappy 'lizard-sounds ensue until Kassima
reaches in with a careful hand and a, "Hey!" to separate them. Probably
picking up some more scratches for her trouble. This isn't her day.

R'din smiles bravely at Josiling, "And what's wrong with that?" Iesia's
request has him blinking before the sounds of something much closer to him
than the other flits earns his attention, "Oh! Riike!" The fat blue gets a
beam, willingly giving up his strip of meat for the baby hatchlings to the
obese blue. "I felt something bump into me and I thought it was a foot. It
was you, eh? Well, here ya go." And the meat is given to Riike.

Salitra finishes nibbling on her cookie and stands up, winding her way
through the crowd till she gets a piece of meat. Once she has a piece of
meat in her hand, she tries to get closer to the unhatched eggs and waits,
smiling at herself.

Chaton rolls his eyes at the blues. "Ah, well. I think the meat's bad or
something." he knew that he wouldn't eat it. He sighs and looks over at
Salitra. "I think you have a good idea. These are more interested in
falling over each other rather than eating.

Teolyon nods several times, "Now I got it. I'm sorry, I'm not used to this
commotion." But her muttering has him stopping his wriggling. "Two? How am
I supposed to pick one?" He frowns, deciding instead to try for both,
wiggling his meat at one, then moving it over to the other one, going back
and forth. It's a lot of work and the young Scribe soon has sweat beading
his forehead.

Kayara shakes her head in response to the Weyrwoman, "No, I have two
others. A green and a blue. I've loved firelizards since the moment I
impressed my first. I'll make sure to take very good care of this one." She
assures her before handing over another small strip of meet to the creeling
hatchling. She then nods in agreement, "Yes, very much so. A name isn't
coming to me at the moment but I'm sure that I can think of one." She
muses. A sudden movement catches her eye and she looks over to see what is
happening. She chuckles when K'tel goes to join the others, "Good luck."
She calls after him, finding it amusing that he couldn't resist them either.

Addicted To Love Brown Hatchling grumpily extracts himself from what
remains of the three-way pile up. That was absolutely unacceptable. It did
have one beneficial side-effect, though: it distracted him from his inward
conflict, enough that he turns and grabs for a scrap of meat that's just
been presented without undue angsting about it.

Addicted To Love Brown Hatchling stumbles towards Salitra.

Scarves On the Microphone Egg quivers and trembles towards the back of the
clutch, where it may perhaps go unnoticed.

Beli has resisted Josilina's nudges enough times to just slink away, but
pretty soon she finds her way back. She's eyeing the table and its activity
a bit warily - that blue hatchling, specifically, with outright caution.

Kaveshun's plate is still generally full, having gotten too much food for
himself. Even though he was still picking at it, none was going in his
mouth, and he was leaning back in his seat now and enjoying the show. "Can
'lizards end up killin' each other instead?" he asks as he looks at the
bickering blues with a frown. "Crazy wild things," he grumbles, spearing a
bit of wherry and chewing on one end of it.

Ooh! Meat! Not fruit, and not in a Bowl, but still good! From his new
vantage in Naara's lap, the stocky blue snaps up the offering with a
contented 'gulp'. Now somewhat satiated, he settles to watch the hatchlings
and eggs, a spectacle which Naara has been watching already for the minutes
she's been sitting.

Josilina misses Iesia's look, instead she notices Naara chasing after her
blue, and flashes the girl a smile. "Hey there, Naara. After another?" She
shakes her head at R'din, "Nothing, except that it's, you know, gross. To
each his own, and all." She mutters 'a blue' in echo of Kayara, "I've
always found blues to be... loud," she sneaks a glance toward Beli. "But
greens seem nice enough. You could wait and see if she names herself? Takes
to socks or something, you could call her socks." More quietly, she wonders
of Beli, "You going to try for a... not-blue?"

K'tel glances back at Kayara and shrugs, still holding the meat by the
basket - not that the hatchlings are paying attention, "What can I say? I
still can't resist hatchings." He looks back in time to smile at Salitra,
muttering, "Maybe these will all find someone...else."

Salitra smiles at Addicted To Love Brown hatchling and feeds it the meat,
leading it away from the crowd, making sure to feed it small pieces.

Chaton sighs. "See? She /did/ have the right idea." he mumbles, and moves
away from the basket and jockeys for a new position in a fresh spot near
the unhatched eggs. "Hopefully better luck here." he mumbles to Salitra.

Gwinevra laughs again. "You know what? I like you. You're a funny guy!" she
tells him, placing her free hand on her hip and seeming to again try and
edge the poor fellow on her right over. The man scowls and then actually
leaves. Gwinevra offers him a look of feigned surprise and innocence as he
leaves and then moves into his spot. "I suppose you can't really pick
anyway...just get a shot. And if yah like blue, might as well try for both.
Good plan," she tells him.

Kaveshun catches Salitra on the other end of the table and grins. "Seems
like ya found yerself a lil' buddy, huh?" he calls out to her, nodding. So
long as it wasn't him, afterall, that was putting it that effort.

When Doves Cry Blue Hatchling is not much more pleased about the situation
than his brown brother, but his reaction is far more dignified. In his own
mind, anyway. He crouches, carefully cleaning off the sand clinging to his
hide and pretending to ignore the humans... and their meat... that lovely,
delicious-smelling meat... the sound that escapes him is far more warbling
than the adult, mature bugle he'd prefer. This is what it sounds like when
stomachs cry. It's a good thing for him that someone has a remedy.

When Doves Cry Blue Hatchling stumbles towards K'tel.

Scarves On the Microphone Egg cracks open, and a Janie's Got a Gun Brown
Hatchling tumbles out.


Sure, he's young now, and sure, he's vulnerable, his hide still damp from
the egg and his tiny newborn limbs refusing to work quite right. This is
one little brown who refuses nonetheless to be anyone's victim. His eyes
are more red than orange, and he isn't about to go near *anyone's* food
offerings until he's satisfied himself they're not a threat! It's not the
worst outlook for one who's only the size of his green clutchsibs and might
have a life of being picked on to look forward to if he weren't such a
fighter. Since he's more drab than handsome with that dark mousy hide and
delicate wingsails toned in sepia, his looks won't protect him from
cruelties... but temper and a vengeful spirit just may.


IGEN-> Auste aaaahs, I'm not terribly late, am I?

Beli says to Josilina, not really joking, "If one did find me, I'm afraid
Wort would eat it the first time I sent a message off to Sherri."

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Nope! Still plenty of eggs. :)"

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "Ohh, that's now?"

Desdinova ambles out from the inner caverns.

K'tel blinks, surprised when his offering is actually taken. Then he shakes
his head at himself, chuckling, "There you go, small one. Here's some more..."

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Congrats, Salitra and K'tel, you Impressed Robert
Palmer and Prince respectively. ;)"

IGEN-> A'deth XDDDD

IGEN-> K'tel dies! ;)

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Robert Palmer rocks."

IGEN-> Desdinova lol.

Salitra keeps feeding Addicted To Love Brown Hatchling and moves farther
away from the crowd, smiling at Kaveshun a bright smile."Now what shall we
call you?" She asks the firelizard, not really paying attention to anything
else.

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Doctor, Doctor, gimmie the news, I got a, bad case of
lovin you!"

IGEN-> Salitra says, "Thanks! :)"

Kayara nods in agreement at Kassima's comment about blues, "Oh they
certainly can be. Neji was quite loud when I first impressed him. He's
settled down now but then he was quite noisy." She admits before nodding,
"You have a point. I shouldn't rush it...a name is a very important thing."
She comments before looking back to K'tet and chuckling, "Well maybe they
will feel the same towards you....congratulations K'tel." She cheers, happy
to see that he has impressed.

Better late than never - and news travels fast, in a weyr, even to those
/without/ dragonic companion to pass on the news. Auste barrels through the
doors to the living cavern, an old hand to this whole fire-lizard thing:
she wastes no time in locating a small tub of meat, plopping some into a
bowl of her own, and sliiiiding into the crowd already gathered. Me? I was
already here!

"Yes yes yes, I know, very scary," Tannusen chuckles, swinging A'riste's
hand slightly back and forth, back and forth, with the dangly bit of meat
swaying along belatedly with. This is more amusing than it should be, and
he picks up a piece in his free hand to dangle as well. Might as well, even
though he's got one! "There, see," he comments, "now I get to play tasty
target as well."

Teolyon's meat-wriggling stops at Gwinevra's newest information, causing a
red flush to creep into his cheeks. "Aw, thanks..." He's so flustered by it
that he doesn't notice the man being edged away until Gwinevera's given
that dirty look, frowning. "What was he looking at you like that for?
Really? Have you lived here your whole life?" And he dutily re-continues
the wriggling of his meat at both blues, trying harder.

Kayara nods in agreement at Josilina's comment about blues, "Oh they
certainly can be. Neji was quite loud when I first impressed him. He's
settled down now but then he was quite noisy." She admits before nodding,
"You have a point. I shouldn't rush it...a name is a very important thing."
She comments before looking back to K'tet and chuckling, "Well maybe they
will feel the same towards you....congratulations K'tel." She cheers, happy
to see that he has impressed. (repose for error)

Desdinova makes her way into the bustling living cavern, barefoot and with
wet hair. While she has a distracted air when she enters, it's hard to
ignore the chaotic sounds that come with a firelizard hatching, and so is
quickly focuse on that knot of people and approaching it. "They're
hatching?" She asks of one of the others, straining to stand on the balls
of her feet to see over people. "How wonderful!"

You Spin Me 'Round Blue Hatchling is rather nonplussed to see his playmates
disappear into the arms of others! He stares up at the meat strips with
wide, wondering eyes, not seeming to understand what's going on. There was
*fun* and now he's all *alone*. Won't someone give him their loooooooooove?

Torn away from her avid flitter-watching by the sound of her name, Naara
turns to look at Josilina nervously, her bangs for once smooth and
untangled and /mostly/ out of her face. "Uh, n-n-nn-no, ma'am." She tries
for a smile but it comes out as a watery sort of grimace. "J-just err, came
in f-f-for a um, a drink." She heaves a sigh. "N-not gonna ah, get it for
a-a-a a /while/ now I uh, I don't think." Her quiet voice may have trouble
carrying through the din around her, so if some words are missed, hey. It
happens.

K'tel moves back out of the crush, just in time. His older, larger bronze,
greens, and blues pop in to eye the new addition before swooping out again.
He shakes his head ruefully and continues feeding the young blue. He
glances up to give Kayara a quick grin, "I'm out of my mind. Seriously."

Chaton sighs and catches Auste! "Auste!" he hollers. "Took you long enough
to get here!" he says brightly, switching the meat in his hand yet again.
It was tiring to wiggle the same wrist all the time!

Janie's Got a Gun Brown Hatchling *hisses*. Someone, something took the
safe world of his egg away from him and replaced it with this... chaos.
Someone will *pay*. When he slinks towards the gathered humans, it seems to
be less with food on the mind and more a fight.

A'riste eyes the lonely, lonely blue hatchling. "No," he says firmly.
"Don't do the big moist eyes thing. You're not fooling anyone. You are just
a little blue ball of longing and need and insatiability."

"Ya can name 'im brown, or lizard, or flitter," Kaveshun offers helpfully
towards Salitra and her new friend. Creative, as always, was this
candidate, and he waves towards some new candidate arrivals, stuck in his
spot at the table. It was too crowded behind him, though he was too stuffed
on his meal to even consider bolting.

Josilina's 'brows lift. "He's never eaten Blitz," she points out to Beli.
"You could even get a brown and he'd be bigger." She grins at Kayara,
"That's good. My sister's blue... he screeches. And apparently my
sister-in-law's eats other firelizards," she shrugs. She squints, catching
perhaps half of Naara's response, but nods all the same. "Good, good," she
replies, purposefully generic. "Have fun."

R'din chuckles at the overweight Riike, "I know people call firelizards
flying bottomless pits, but that one /really/ is." He tells Naara
cheerfully before reaching to pick up another strip of meat, albeit this
one is a bit smaller and bloodier than the previous one, due to it being
from the bottom of the bowl. And once again, the bloodier bit means /more/
flying bloodlets as he thrashes the meat again. "So are dragons eating." He
tells Josilina, "But do they clean out their teeth? Nope. At least I'd be
cleaning up."

Meat, yeah? That's the ticket. Auste, having ducked and nudged and wormed
her way past some of the less pushier contenders, scoops up a little
handful and settles right down on the flagstone, feet crossing underneath
and fingers pushing through a forest of legs to jingle-jangle dangle a
handful towards - oh, hatchlings in general. None in specific. Especially
difficult to focus on just one of them, what with Chaton hollering and
going on and such, and the redhead shoots the boy a Look. "Y'never heard
you're supposed to be all - quiet, and loving, and stuff? Pipe down!"

White Lace Draperies Egg begins to show spidering cracks down the hitherto
smooth surface. Nothing more ostentatious than that, and with its delicate
patterning this sign of hatching may be missed entirely.

IGEN-> R'din says, "Dear lord, this is the biggest FL hatching. o.O"

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "Hehe"

You Spin Me 'Round Blue Hatchling is indeed a little blue ball of longing
and need and insatiability. It makes him a perfect partner for a
bronzerider, doesn't it? He brightens when A'riste addresses him, and
whups, there's that dangled meat gone, and the little blue is gazing at
A'riste like no one else will do.

You Spin Me 'Round Blue Hatchling stumbles towards A'riste.

Beli shakes her head. "Blitz isn't a baby. And Wort is large." She says
that as if it means more. "And fat." She glances toward Kayara as Josilina
explains, and adds, helpfully, "I've never actually seen him eat another
firelizard. But he might try."

Salitra coaxes the firelizard on her arm more and smiles at it. Laughing at
Kaveshun, Salitra ponders over those names he just listed off and keeps
feeding Addicted To Love Brown Hatchling.

Chaton blinks. "Quiet and loving?" he can do that, as long as it isn't
required to be too mushy. He tries again, dangling and twirling the meat
and thinking bright thoughts of love and kindness (and food!).

Gwinevra just shrugs helplessly and frowns. "I don't know why he left," she
says, smiling maliciously when his attention shifts back to the little
hatchlings again. "And no, not really. My family has been here for a turn
or two. My mother is a Harper here, for the time being," she explains and
then eyes the crowd. "Keep shaking, man are there a lot of people," she notes.

Deciding that she can't see enough from where she is, Desdinova follows
Auste's example and wriggles and elbows her way through the crowd towards
the front. That she almost knocks a boy over in the process does cause her
some consternation, and she helps him right himself. In thanks, he lets her
take a little bit of the bloody meat he has in a bowl, and so when Nova
reaches the front lines, she is not unarmed. "Shards, but it's crowded in
here." She murmers, beads of sweat on her brow.

Tannu lets go of A'riste's wrist and beams at him! "You're doomed now; big
moist eyes and longing and need and insatiability, and he's all yours!"

K'tel pops another piece of meat in his blue's maw and looks back just in
time to see another bronzerider impress. He shakes his head, looking down
again, "I am so thankful I've never impressed a gold. I'd have these things
coming out my ears."

"..Oh, fardles," mutters A'riste. "Tannusen, look at what you've done!
Help! It's hungry! ...I hate you. Get me some meat."

Kassima mutters, "Tell me about it," although with three scratched fingers
stuffed in her mouth now it's a little muffled.

Kayara grins at K'tel and smiles in amusement, "Nah, it's not insane to
like firelizards. And they obviously like you very much if you have so
many. Just think of it like a new addition to the family. Do you have any
ideas to name yours yet?" She asks curiously, as a name for hers yet
escapes her. Her attention than turns back to Josilina and she chuckles,
"They all have such vivid personalities. You never known what you'll end up
with. I'm not sure what kind of personality this green will develop over
time but I'm looking forward to it."

Naara giggles softly at R'din's observation, nodding in silent agreement.
"He uh, d-doesn't even err...like to f-f-f-fly much." With half an ear to
the conversation behind her, she perks up and smiles a bit brighter.
"Daianth's m-m-mouth was ... /b-big/." Josilina's generic response is just
fine by Naara, it means she can get away with a smile, a nod and brief
eye-contact with the Weyrwoman before turning back to the show--er...hatching.

R'din's reply cause Josilina to laugh, "I'm pretty sure Lhia would clean
her teeth, if she could. But they can't help it." He, her tone implies,
can. "Well, yes," she's forced to admit to Beli, "he is pretty large. And
they're troublesome, anyway." The look she casts both Kayara and K'tel
holds shades of being impressed, "I don't know how folks handle more than
one. Personalities, yes - sometimes too much of one. I feel I'm lucky, at
least Blitz sleeps all the time."

Teolyon is crestfallen when the blue chooses someone else, jaw dropping
slack. "After all that work... Well, that helps me out." He wipes at his
sweating forehead with an forearm, focusing his attention on the remaining
blue firelizard, "He's handsome. Maybe this one will like me. How about it,
buddy?" He smiles, holding out the strip of meat at the blue, following the
advice to be quiet and think loving thoughts. "Really? My parents are
Harpers too! They go to the farthest Holds."

Beli overhears something interesting, it seems, and sidles over to Naara,
where she has a better angle for talking to Auste. "Supposed to think
loving thoughts and all that, too, isn't it?" More to herself - or to
Naara, since she's there - "Same as trying to get anything to come your
way, really."

Grunt. "Quiet and loving," is repeated firmly, for whoever's benefit, even
as Auste's brow wrinkle as the girl makes an effort to imitate those
selfsame emotions. Somehow. She manages a vaguely sort of fond expression
even as Desdinova scrabbles nearer, and with another low noise the redhead
offers her bowl of meat - less drippy, thank you - to the other candidate.
"You run out, I've got some too, yeah?" See? Auste can be loving! Loving to
that cutsey wootsey little bluesy! Loving and dripping and meaty!

Janie's Got a Gun Brown Hatchling rethinks his whole vengeance against
mankind thing by the time he reaches the basket's edge. Maybe it's the
emotions of all these people, watching him and his siblings, hoping to feed
them (or that they stay away). Maybe it's just that you can't eat vengeance
no matter how you try. Whatever the reason, he slows to a careful walk,
picking his way, looking not just for the best meat but for some quality
only he knows.

White Lace Draperies Egg cracks open, and a Angel of the Morning Gold
Hatchling tumbles out.


Mellow, warm gold, decidedly metallic--the newborn queen could have been
mined from the ground or fished out of a river somewhere. The color curves
in organic ways across her long and rangy frame, though. Soft-edged swirls
of deeper shades mark her wingsails in particular, and the bright gold
tumbles around them like shining ringlets. She hides herself with her wings
as a young woman might with her hair. Not in shyness. Not this one! She
just prefers to eye the world sidelong. If a fire-lizard can be cynical,
she is: aside from the person she claims for her own, she never expects
things to be as bright as they appear, and never, ever makes herself more
vulnerable than she must to life's disappointments.


Kaveshun can't help snickering at the firelizard-woes of others, though he
tries not to be too conspicuous in laughing at Kassima's troubles. That was
one greenrider he ducks his head to, staying low in the crowd. "What'd it
take ta get a refill here, I'll have to leave my seat an' all that." And
for now he had a good view. Out in the open, possibly, but he still had his
meal that he picks at, not quite as enthusiastic as before.

IGEN-> Kassima sings, "Just call me angel of the morning, angel; just touch
my cheek before you leave me, darlin'...."

Gwinevra quirks a brow at him, freckled face flipping back from smug to
cheerful again. "My mom, too. We don't see our dad much. It was sort of a
fluke, really. Us that is," she comments without explaining further. "Ooh,
look, a little gold," she says, pointing and then planting her hand on her
hip again, making sure to keep people back with a sharp elbow.

Tannusen cheerfully passes some meat scraps over to A'riste with his
now-free hand, mostly forgetting about the dangling piece hanging from the
other for the moment.

K'tel considers, examining the little blue who gives a loud creel when
K'tel doesn't feed him fast enough. K'tel winces, "He's certainly imperious
enough." He gives Josilina a quick smile, "They are turns apart. Only one
hatchling per decade works for me."

R'din chuckles at Naara, nodding, "I'm surprised he can even get himself
airborne. Just don't let him suddenly burst into smithereens." He laughs at
her comment about Daianth's mouth, "Anytime you want to clean his mouth
out, you're more than welcome to." The Candidate is given a wink and
Josilina gets a bright grin.

IGEN-> Lyse says, "Juicy."

IGEN-> Iesia hides.

Such a show! Beli's appearance beside Naara earns her a quick glance and a
shy smile even as the young Candidate tries to shake her bangs further into
her face. Oddly enough, at just that instant a little firelizard babe is
doing much the same--though for admittedly different reasons. The
similarity there--accompanied by a misunderstanding on her part--has Naara
laughing joyfully to herself.

Desdinova shoots a grin at Auste, and purloins a piece of meat rom her bowl
- variet might matter, after all. "Thank you. Quiet and loving, you say?
That's a hard one. I can do quiet, but I've never been accused of being
loving." She wnks at the girl, and then turns back to watching the eggs
hatch. "It's always fascinated me how they all just seem to go at once.
Same with dragon eggs. Their development is so precise with their siblings,
down to a few minutes apart. Yet two humans who get impregnated on the same
day, you'd be lucky if they labored within a week of each other." She
waggles her meat vaugly at the hatchlings, perhaps not as enticingly as she
could.

Creepy, *Creepy* Eye Lights Egg rocks persistantly in the basket. No, this
does not make the eye lights less creepy. At. All.

A'riste gathers up his own little blue, and the tribute Tannu's amassed for
him, and proceeds to feed, feed, feed the little ambulatory stomach. He
also positions himself so that Tannusen is stuck between him and the table,
mostly-- if he himself is going to get this torment inflicted upon him
(though his new charge is awfully cute, even if he is missing a proper
eyepatch), he's going to make sure to return the favor. "Hrmph!" Now, he's
got time to look around, eyeing the crowd more than the hatchlings.

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "Creepy eye lights? Total Eclipse of the Heart? :)"

Beli tilts her head, considering. It seems from this closer vantage point
she feels comfortable studying. Maybe because there aren't any blues
wandering around at the moment. She glances between the little gold and
Naara's laughter beside her, and smiles. Infectious, perhaps. "You should
try for one, Naara," Beli decides, gesturing toward the strips of raw meat.

Smiling, Salitra keeps feeding her firelizard, which she named Flitter,
thanks to Kaveshun, till he gets full. Standing up, Salitra thinks it's
best to get out of here before it gets too loud.

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Just possibly. ;)"

Chaton sighs and puts the piece of meat back into his bowl and trades it
for another, more bloody piece. He starts the twirling and wiggling of the
new piece of meat, sending bits of blood twirrling. He has to concentrate
hard on love, comfort, and caringness, (and he's got food! Fooood.) He even
hums a little merrily while he dangles.

Kayara nods in agreement to Josilina, "It isn't easy handling more than
one. It takes a lot of time and patience but the end result is worth the
effort. Of course it may not be so to some. I work as hard as is needed in
order to keep them all happy. And in return they behave quite well. So it
works for me." She explains before looking to K'tel's blue, "He's a very
handsome one. You said he was very imperious. Maybe Imperial? That would be
a neat name. It's just a suggestion though, you could probably come up with
something better..." She trails off, "By the shard...a gold just hatched."
She comments, having always wanted one. But then again who hadn't?

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "That is awesome. I <3 that video. Football players
versus ninjas!"

Jingle-jangle, Auste's meat was fairly singing! For the brown, for the
gold, for whoever she might attract with it (fire-lizard or no!), even
craning her neck up to catch a glimpse into the basket - that rocking egg
recieves a bit of a grimace, and Auste pokes her tongue out at it. "Gross."
The egg? The gooey sticky hatchlings? Remember, we're thinking positive,
people! "I mean, uh... Nice? Pretty?"

IGEN-> Naara thinks she may die of happy.

Janie's Got a Gun Brown Hatchling likes blood! And love, comfort, and
caring, too, if he can believe in them, but blood conquers all. He
positively runs towards Chaton. Gimme!

Janie's Got a Gun Brown Hatchling stumbles towards Chaton.

N'ren ambles out from the inner caverns.

Teolyon nods again to make sure that Gwinevra knows he's not lying, "Can
you sing? I think it's sad that both of my parents are Harpers and sing
beautifully, but I can't. If I started singing, I'm sure this place would
be empty before I could blink and the eggs refused to hatch out of fear."
He tells her in confidence, blinking at the gold. "Ah... I think I'm bossed
around enough..." And he keeps his meat away from the gold firelizard,
still trying for the blue.

Kaveshun snorts at the sight of the little gold, still more interested in
locating a drudge or some other with his empty mug raised. Nothing. So he
sets it down loudly and crosses his arms. "Loving thoughts an' all that?"
he says, picking up on some conversation from closer to the hatchlings.
Plate's out in the open for once, but by the look of him there probably
weren't many loving thoughts flittering across his mind. If anything, he
was glaring at his glass, as if expecting it to fill with juice sometime.
"I think it'd be quieter if everyone just takes an egg an' goes, nah?" He
waves after Salitra, at least.

IGEN-> Lyse says, "Fun theme and neat eggs. :) Can you shoot me a list of
them tomorrow, please?"

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Sure! I may +bbpost, some other people who couldn't
make it were curious. :)"

IGEN-> R'din says, "But then you would have to go the ER to be treated for
a listshot wound."

Chaton giggles and hands the bloody piece of meat to the Brown. "Here ya
go." he says, wrinkling his nose and reaching for several strips of meat in
his bowl.

Josilina shakes her head at K'tel, "I don't know that I could even handle
that much. They're useful, but too much like babies who never quite grow
up. But," she adds with a slanted smile, "good luck with yours!" Such
encouragement. She reaches over to grab a roll off the table she's leaning
against, tearing a bit off. "That fellow," she indicates Kaveshun with a
jerk of her chin, "looks put out. D'you suppose he hates firelizards?"

Angel of the Morning Gold Hatchling has the caution to stay very still
until her volatile brother has left the basket, and only then does she fold
her wings in as tight to her body as she can manage given their wetness and
heft. She faces them all with a high head. They offer her things, she takes
small steps forward, but she's far from eager--she doesn't understand what
catch there might be in these gifts of meat and until she does, she's
loathe to take them.

K'tel listens to Kayara as he concentrates. At Josilina's comment, he looks
up again to chuckle at her, "Thanks." He tilts his head back down to peer
at his blue consideringly, "Imperial is too big for this one." He grins
suddenly, "Imp, it is."

Salitra climbs up the stairway onto the balcony.

Desdinova waggles her meat a bit more at the hatchlings; unlike her
companion, Desdinova has no squeamishness about the blood, or the gooey
hatchlings. "I've wanted a firelizard since I came to Igen." She says to
Auste, sidling closer to be heard over the din. "I think it was the morning
after I arrived that I saw my first one, and I have been fascinated ever
since. They grow so fast! I'm always awed by how fully functional they are
when they come out of thse shells." She looks at the little gold, and gives
a slight grimace. "She looks like she's as wary of the crowds as Naara or I
would be."

Golden tail wrapped around her "owner's" neck, Aura nips at N'ren's ear.
"All right already," he mutters, heading in the direction of the meal
table. It doesn't take much to notice that a firelizard hatching is going
on, but the brownrider knows better; he gives wide berth to the new
'lizards and their new pets. He has enough in his fair as it is, and his
Queen has started getting even more possessive than usual lately.

Creepy, *Creepy* Eye Lights Egg cracks open, and a Total Eclipse of the
Heart Green Hatchling tumbles out.


A pretty green baby, long and lithe enough now she'll likely grow to be big
for her color. Her peppermint silk wings have the span to carry her, and
her conformation is naturally graceful: the arch of her neck, the tiny
muscles beneath hide the color of mint iced cream... nothing about her is
flawed at birth, so why does she tremble so? For every two confident steps
she takes forward, there's one step backward made in insecurity. She
herself is impatient with it and forges on despite her fears. All her life
she may have these moments when she needs comfort. To the one she loves,
her company will surely be worth it.


Oops. Auste's jangling meat sings a note of siren's call, but to the wrong
lizard! Excited and still hungry, Riike leaps from Naara's lap to try and
snap at the dangling treat. Unfortunately for him, getting his bulk off the
ground takes more effort than he'd planned and ends up sprawled on the
floor next to Naara. Leaning over to heft her blue back to her and
reinstate him in her lap, Naara hums thoughtfully at Beli's suggestion.
"B-b-but there are...s-so /many/ uhm...people. I umm, I w-wouldn't want
to..." Maybe get in the way or worse, have to /talk/ to someone. But that
little gold /does/ look pretty, and an awful lot like Aconite. With no meat
to offer, she simply extends her hand. A foolish and rather naive gesture,
but then again, it's /Naara/...

Lyse turns a yawn into a smile and decides that's time to leave before one
of the hatchlings gets lost and heads her way.

Iesia walks out to the Bowl.

IGEN-> K'tel says, "Aww!"

Lyse walks out to the Bowl.

IGEN-> Naara says, "Aww...?"

Gwinevra just shrugs. "How much bossing can a little 'lizard really do?"
she asks him. "My mother has two browns and they're sweet as a bubbly," the
girl continues on. "Sing? Oh, sure! My sister and I both sing, though I
know I've met lots of Harper's kids that can't. It is a strange thing. We
each sing better in different ranges, too. My sister is better at lower and
I'm better at higher," she admits.

IGEN-> K'tel says, "I like the green. She's cute."

Tannusen moves to take a step back from the table, only to thump into
A'riste, dangling bit of meat swaying with the sudden stop, "Ah-ha," he
sort of half-laughs over his shoulder at his preoccupied friend, "I see
what you're doing, here." Just in case A'riste had wondered.

Chaton grins and feeds his new firelizard and heads back towards his bunk,
estatic.

Chaton walks out to the Bowl.

The crowd's getting to be a bit much for R'din to handle, deciding to give
up. "Here, Naara. Maybe you'll have better luck with me." He tells the
young Candidate, giving her the little strip of meat that he has. Then he
turns around, wrestling his way out of the crowd, escaping into the Bowl.

R'din walks out to the Bowl.

Beli looks at that darling, newborn green, and turns to Josilina to say,
"That one. /That/ one, Wort would eat." Turning back, she notes, "Poor
thing. Look at her color." Naara gets a smile, and Beli leans over to pluck
a few strips of meat from the tray, which she then offers to Naara's
outstretched hand. "Might help."

A'riste nudges Tannu right back. "If I have to, you have to. Now wiggle
that thing like you mean it." Somehow, he says it primly, though each word
is underscored by the ravenous omnomnom munch smack glorping of his new
little friend.

There's a narrowed-eyed look up at that gold as Auste's dancing meat pauses
in its pretty steps and then slowly redirects to a different focal point.
"No thanks, Princess." To the green, though? Hmm. Instead, the redhead
turns to Desdinova: "Oh, me too. Wanted one - forever, really. My ma's got,
oh, one, two, I don't know, but it's just not the same as having one of
your own." For nefarious, mischievous purposes, of course!

Kaveshun wasn't about hating firelizards, but he wasn't eager to get one
either. He just sat there, whining about his lack of a drink for a bit. He
pushes his chair back, only to bump it against a tall man that grunts and
glares down. "Sorry," he grumbles. He leans his elbows on the table, chin
in hand now as he pokes around on his plate with his fork. "They sure do
take their time, these critters. I ain't ever been picky on eatin when 'm
hungry. It's there, ya eat, ya feel better." To prove his point, he sticks
some mashed tubers in his mouth, not even chewing it down.

Of course, there's a dearth of firelizard-sized meats at the meal table
area, but that's to be expected. The older rider flashes a smile at one of
the headwomen and gestures at the Queen on his shoulder helplessly. The
smile transforms his whole face; even with the lightening of his hair, and
even with the nasty threadscore that mauls him, it's easy to see why he's
had a reputation as a charmer for decades. And, of course, it works here
too. The junior headwoman smiles and begins slicing up some additional meat
for the crooning Queen - the one whose focus is on the hatching. For now.
Until she decides that filling her bottomless stomach is more important, at
least.

Total Eclipse of the Heart Green Hatchling has one early impulse: hide. If
there was ever a moment to fall apart, surely it's at birth when everything
is frightening and strange? Yet she can't quite do that--she'd like to,
but... it wouldn't get her anywhere. No. She may progress slowly and may
hunch a little in on herself, but she keeps going until she's right
behind--no. Right *beside* her gold sister, staring up at the humans almost
defiantly.

Josilina can't help but concede to Beli, "He might, that one. Even Blitz
might manage, with her." She watches Kaveshun another beat or two before
slipping through the crowd - giving the hatching proper avoidance - and
then she's there, settling to sit at the edge of his table. "Not a fan of
hatchings?" she wonders, sans preamble.

"Oh..." Naara's face turns a heated pink as she's offered not one, but two
sources of meat. R'din's ends up straight into Riike's stomach, a
distraction to keep him from the other bits offered his bonded. Closing her
hand around Beli's gift, Naara smiles softly and lowers her hand to the
ground, watching the adorable little green amble about with a sense of
comradery. Shy ones stick together? Such a contrast to her golden sister,
made even more stark as the two come to stand side by side in an
interesting comparison shot.

Beli pauses, as R'din's anticipated her offer to Naara, and as her fellow
candidate's supplied, she smiles, eyes the meat, glances toward the lovely
mint-shaded green, and the gold beside her, and the eggs that might have
dreaded blue in them, and then seems to hold her breath and hold out her
hand, too, one more strip of the raw stuff up for the taking.

Teolyon looks at Gwinevra, "A lot. I remember one girl who had a gold, and
she let the gold boss her around a lot. She was almost as fat as that blue
over there." He points at Riike, having given up trying to get a firelizard
for now, limply holding the meat strip. Teolyon smiles at Gwinevra, "You
two must make a wonderful duet." The green firelizard is barely noticed.

Tattered Red Leather Egg slides across the sand somehow--sent rolling by a
clutchmate, maybe? Whether by its own momentum or another's it glides
smoothly some two inches and then spins violently on its axis.

K'tel carefully moves a bit farther out from the basket. He smiles at
Kayara, "I'm going somewhere quieter. He's going to sleep soon but it'll
still be good to be away from the crowd. I'm sure we'll see you soon." He
makes sure Imp is securely in hand and that he has plenty of meat in the
other before he turns to weave his way out towards the bowl.

"Yes, but I already /have/ one." Tannusen protests, "Erynion, you know? Do
you really want me to have /two/ to scratch up your hands?" See, it's a
valid arguement! Though he doesn't drop his hand with the dangling meat, he
doesn't do much in the way of enticing, either.

Kaveshun grumbles from around his fork, still stuck in his mouth as he
shrugs both his shoulders in reply, without looking up. "Ain't ever seen
one 'fore now. But the first one hatched, the rest are all the same. Fun,"
he says, sarcastically, before his amber eyes roll up towards Josilina, and
he suddenly sits back a bit straighter and pulls the fork from his mouth.
"Uh, ma'am," he says awkwardly.

K'tel walks out to the Bowl.

IGEN-> Naara rolls! Best IC mav moment ever, Kave! ;)

IGEN-> Kaveshun eeps? ^^;

Gwinevra snorts derisively and rolls her eyes. "I don't know, we're okay
and all. Sometimes mother has us sing with her. But honestly, we don't like
to sing as much as she does. It's her passion, you know? For us, it is just
something we -can- do," Gwin admits. "Oh, that green is the cutest thing
ever! Wiggle at her, wiggle at her!" the girl squeaks all of a sudden,
hopping up and down and pointing. "If you don't, I'm taking the meat and
wiggling for you...or me...or whatever!" she exclaims.

A'riste nods agreeably to Tannusen. "The more of these you feed, the less
snakes you'll be hunting. Therefore, the less /I'll/ be hunting. I find
this an acceptable compromise. And wiggle your hand more, you're slacking
off. Nobody loves a man who doesn't wiggle it right."

IGEN-> Tannusen dies

"Woo!" That spinning egg recieves a little cheer from Auste, a lifting of
her hands before clapping them (accidentally mushing the meat between her
fingers while she's at it) in delight. Now /there's/ an egg she can get
behind! Go, go, little egg!

IGEN-> A'deth XD

Angel of the Morning Gold Hatchling tilts a glance up at Auste as though
she not only heard the girl, but understood: no? No. Very well, then, she
accepts this decision without argument. She doesn't need to go
begging--there's someone out there who'll feed her, and she has a choice to
make.

IGEN-> Gwinevra O.o;

While meat is being sliced, N'ren considers the table itself, beginning to
put a plate together for himself as well. Hey, he's got two hands - he can
hold his meal (and juice) in one, and the bowl for Aura in the other. The
meal he selects is balanced, nutrition-wise. It doesn't seem as if he's
even conscious he's doing it either. There's meat and breads, fruits and
veggies, and all that good stuff. Once the plate (and bowl) are ready, he
carts off the things to the far side of the cavern, though close enough to
watch. People-watch, and hatching-watch. Or both. Watching people at a
hatching is always interesting.

Josilina appears entirely unphased by Kaveshun's informality, and following
awkwardness. She just smiles, "C'mon now, they're different colors.
Different sizes." She casts an assessing glance over to where the
hatchlings are prowling. "They do mostly the same stuff though, that's
true. Hungry, crying..." her gaze settles on Kaveshun's knot. "Good
practice for you to watch, actually."

Wiggle, wiggle, goes Tannu's... ah, meat. "Better?" he asks A'riste,
amused. "And shouldn't you be busy trying in vain to ignore your blue's big
moiste eyes, or something?"

Desdinova winces at the sudden clap from the girl next to her and gives a
slight elbow in the side. "Don't do that." She murmers. "Sudden loud noises
get meat thrown at you. Don't think I won't do it, either." She looks back
at the hatchlings with another little wiggle of her offering. "I feel silly
just sitting here holding it out. But, seems to be the way it's done, so I
am doing it." Wiggle, wiggle. She looks over and spots Naara, offering the
timid girl a bright grin and motioning her over before turning back to the
sisters before her.

Well, this isn't so bad. Perhaps one of these tiny figures will take the
meat and toddle off with it and that would suit everyone just fine. Beli
keeps an eye out for any screechy blues that might sneak in and attach
themselves further to her family, but at this point, perhaps she wouldn't
even mind so much. She lifts her eyes from the little female hatchlings to
say to Josilina, "Maybe Wort wouldn't eat another blue, though. Hasn't yet,
after all."

Teolyon blinks at Gwinevra, nodding, "I guess we Harper kids've grown up
listening to songs so much that we get sick of it. Or obsessed." He
decides, jumping a bit at Gwinevra's enthuasism at the green firelizard,
"You can have her." And a strip of meat is picked from the pile then given
to Gwin. In the process of doing so, his own strip of meat is accidentally
held out very close to the gold firelizard while leaning over.

"Yelling, biting, scratching," Kaveshun adds lowly before he remembers just
who was next to him. He drops the fork on the plate with a clatter, still
full of meat and tubers and everything. "'Cept these eggs I can step on,
ma'am, an' the others are 'bout my size. But still quite the same?" he
questions her, turning to look at the gold and the green wandering about
with a curious expression before looking up. "Firelizards ain't as useful
as dragons, either."

Total Eclipse of the Heart Green Hatchling is abandoned by her sibling! She
wants to run after her, but after one step she refuses to go further. She
can take care of herself, can't she? Of course she can! One bold step, two.
Three. Fooooour... maybe not four. She stops and trembles.

Tattered Red Leather Egg cracks open, and a Thriller Bronze Hatchling
tumbles out.


He's out to get you! This hatchling closes in on every sound. He will
possess you, unless you stop waving that food around. Don't close your eyes
and hope that it is just imagination; 'cause all the while, the little
'lizard's sneaking up behind, and you're out of time.... Dark, burnished,
and only too agile, the small bronze is suited to stealth. So fresh from
the egg he's still hindered by the long sisal-soft wings dragging damply
behind him, and the world surrounding him is nothing he can understand--but
he refuses to let anyone see him shiver! He'll slink right out into the
spotlight if he must and pursue what he wants all the way to the grave if
need be, mesmerizing in his shadowy beauty and grace, and the human he
chooses as companion will find in him a most determined if sometimes
eccentric friend.


Laying the meat on the ground in front of her, Naara returns Nova's smile
timidly and focuses for the moment on her own blue, who would love to
devour the meat in front of him.

"Shuddup." A'riste is doing a very poor job of ignoring his lizard; he
keeps feeding it, for one, and looking down as it happily pillages away at
his love... well, lovingly tendered meat. He's soooooooo cute. "He looks
floofy. What am I going to do with a floofy lizard? He looks like he'd hug
everyone I sent him to deliver a message to."

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Just make sure he Impresses somebody who's over
twelve, Kassima."

IGEN-> Kassima dies.

IGEN-> Beli groans!

IGEN-> Lanisa rolls!

IGEN-> Desdinova chokes

IGEN-> A'deth says, "No means no."

IGEN-> Kaveshun facepalms!

Kayara keeps her eyes on the gold but also keeps her other arm up high to
make sure the little green isn't disturbed by the crowd. After some more
debating of the name it comes to her at last, "Yes, Uadjet is your name. It
suits you." She murmurs to the little green. She then grabs a larger chunk
of meat in her other hand and dangles it lower. She lowers it to the point
where to tip of the meat is almost touching the sand and wriggles it like a
fish. She looks up and around for K'tel but it looks like he has left, or
is hidden by the crowd. Her hazel gaze rests upon the golden firelizard
once more and she hums under her breath in encouragement, much as the
firelizards had done earlier when the hatching began.

Auste pffts at that elbow, though she does quiet down; that dismissive look
from the gold fire-lizard goes either unnoticed or uncontested, and the
redhead just sort of shrugs before sitting forward - there's that exciting
red egg! And... "Oh, a bronze." Disappointment? Maybe not. Maybe it's just
poorly-concealed love. Right. And affection. And even that poor, sad,
little green is encompassed by a vague motion of the candidate's meat.

IGEN-> Chaton says, "What's the name of this one?"

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Don't leave me out of the loop!"

Angel of the Morning Gold Hatchling sees the perfect moment--someone isn't
looking at her, will not see how she lunges for the meat, or witness that
moment of vulnerability on her part. Perhaps when Beli looks back at her,
she will see only a little fire-lizard in control of herself and her
destiny, who offers her love with all the pride and poise befitting such a
gift.

Angel of the Morning Gold Hatchling stumbles towards Beli.

IGEN-> Kaveshun says, "Thriller Bronze Hatchling"

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Oh Jesus. X_X"

IGEN-> Kaveshun snickers. XD

IGEN-> Chaton is glad he didn't impress that one.

IGEN-> R'din says, "Da Thrillah! ;)"

IGEN-> A'deth XD Just make sure you don't let him chase his sisters (and
brothers) before they're at least a year old.

Gwinevra gives a startled squeak of protest when she finds the meat thrust
at her. "Oh shells, my sister would be so upset at me for getting a
hatchling without her," she protests. Then she spies the bronze and grins.
"But you know, he is pretty cute," Gwin notes, chewing her lip with
indecision and then shrugging. "What've I got to lose," she says, sliding
forward and offering her free hand with the meat out over toward the
bronze. The girl still holds Teolyon's hides in the other arm.

IGEN-> Gwinevra says, "I can just see everyone doing the dance now..."

IGEN-> Auste says, "Dudes. DUDES. MJ /just/ started playing on my random
playlist."

IGEN-> Gwinevra says, "It's the new thing to do at Gathers. >.<"

IGEN-> A'deth XD

IGEN-> Kaveshun says, "Awesome."

"You can't ride them," Josilina agrees with Kaveshun. "But the dragons
/act/ mostly the same, when they're just out of the shell. They'll scratch
you up, if you don't stay clear, and lots of yelling. And they're bigger,
so it's a bit more, erm, adventurous. I'm guessing you've never seen
dragons hatching?" She's been keeping half an eye on Beli this whole time,
smiling when the girl extended the meat, and now: "Beli!" Yes. The
Weyrwoman just squealed. And then, recollecting her composure, but still
grinning: "Pretty sure Wort won't eat that one."

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "Fate, Auste. :)"

IGEN-> Josilina dies.

Thriller Bronze Hatchling bares his little hatchling teeth at everyone!
Strangely enough, there doesn't seem to be malice in it. He's just
posing--putting on a show, and Faranth knows he's good at that. He whips
his head back around to face forward, for him, and starts to walk towards
the people... backwards. He's gotten himself the wrong way around somehow,
but far be it from him to admit it.

Beli doesn't, in fact, witness that vulnerability whatsoever. Suddenly the
meat is gone, and there's this little thing looking at her. "Oh! - oh,
well," matter-of-factly, "Wort won't eat /you/, at least." And there's more
meat coming her way, too. "Hello, then."

IGEN-> A'deth XD

IGEN-> R'din dies

Desdinova watches the little Gold mak her way to Beli, and shoots her
friend a pleased smile. "Wonderful!" She says. She looks back in time to
see the bronze spill from his egg, though it's the abandoned green that
really gets her attention, and she waggles her meat towards it. "You go
after him, he looks too spirited for me." She comments to Auste. "There's
something to be said for the quiet ones." She glances at Naara again with a
grin. "Right Naara?"

Kayara watches the gold impress another but she can't really complain,
since she still has Uadjet. She glances at the meat in her hand and
debates. Stay until the meat was either stolen or dropped, give it to
someone else to feed the one they had impressed, or just get rid of it? She
notices a flicker of movement on her arm and realizes that Uadjet isn't
completely asleep yet. So she could always feed that last fat scrap to her.
But from the bulging belly she doubts the firelizard can hold much more. So
she decides to dangle it over the edge a little longer, thought to what
purpose she isn't sure.

Colors Against the Sky Egg manages to get airborne for just a fraction of a
second with the force of a bounce.

Kaveshun smirks towards the latest hatchling and nods. "Nah, first
firelizard hatching. First dragon hatching. Ain't been to a Weyr before,
so... All my first time, ma'am," he says, sparing a glance again, only for
his smirk to disappear and his face to go pale. "Scratching? They do, too.
But... they're /bigger/." As if it wasn't obvious with the bigger eggs and
all. He plucks up some wherry with his fingers this time, shredding the
messy stuff in his fingers nervously even as his eyes were focusing elsewhere.

Surprised at the sudden stillness and then the forceful /lunge/ from her
blue, Naara barely restrains him and looks up to see the source of his
turmoil. "Oh B-b-bb-Beli... She's v-very, very pretty..." Quiet,
understated but honest is the awe in her voice. Desdinova's comment earns
her a smile, a giggle and a nod. Nothing else out of her mouth would likely
be heard in this din. Still, the meat sits in front of her, though she does
pause to arrange it better. There, looks like more meat than it really is,
now.

Teolyon eyes the bronze, "Is he smiling? Or grinning? I can't tell." Both
of his eyebrows go up at the backwards-walking, "/And/ he's walking
backwards. Something's wrong with his head... maybe he thinks he's a blue?
He might require skin color reassignment..." Now, why the son of Harper's
saying this, he has no clue, all he knows is that that bronze spells trouble.

Congratulations go out in the form of a tight, quick smile to Beli and that
little gold fire-lizard, though Auste's attention is quick back on the
bronze - and behind him, that jumping, twitching egg. Can't rule out all
your possibilities, even though offering meat to an egg would be just plain
/silly/. "Quiet, pah," the girl manages between all that meat-shaking,
though the words are low enough that it's not quite disparaging and more
playful.

Total Eclipse of the Heart Green Hatchling has one of those moments again:
she's angry at her own fear, exasperated with her reluctance, and not
inclined to put up with it one moment more. She hops up to the rim of the
basket. She leaps *out* of the basket. Past the meat being dangled before
her, wanting to make her own choice, stake her own claim on someone's
pretty arrangement of meat bits. Somehow she doesn't think Naara will give
her reason to stay afraid.

Total Eclipse of the Heart Green Hatchling stumbles towards Naara.

Josilina's still smiling, shooting Beli sidelong looks, but she manages to
look contrite as Kaveshun goes pale. "Yes, they're bigger," she's aiming
for a reassuring tone, "but if you stay out of their way, you'll be fine.
Don't go... charging them. They tend to just walk around, find their person
and, well, they're not going to bang up their lifemate. Best is to not
panic." She shifts on the tabletop, "Never been to a Weyr? Where're you
from, then? I can't," she admits, "place the accent."

"Ha, there's a quirky one," Tannu comments of the bronze, but doesn't
wiggle the meat in his hand any more than before! "And maybe a little...
insane, perhaps you should go for a second one, A'riste? /He/ doesn't look
all that floofy."

Gwinevra wrinkles her nose at the backwards bronze. "I don't think he's
smiling...looks more like he might be growling or something," she tells
him. "Spunky, perhaps?" Gwin says, shrugging helplessly. "And he'll get
himself sorted out after a minute," she notes, wiggling the meat playfully.

A'riste's little blue lets out a prodigious belch, and then collapses into
the sleep of the well loved drag quee-- er, the well-fed hatchling. So his
new human has a hand free, now, to grab Tannu's wrist, and give it a shake.
"Insane suits you fine. Look, he shuffles around like you do after you've
swallowed too much water."

Between bites of his own meal, N'ren lifts pieces of meat for the Queen on
his shoulder to snag. His face contains an expression of long suffering and
mild exasperation. But what are you gonna do? When a Gold gets picky and
wants to be fed, they *get* fed.

"You could try it a bit and see." Desdinova teases Auste back. Then the
little green she has been focusing on chooses, and she is torn between
dissapointment for herself and pleasure for Naara. "Now you've a pretty
pair, Naara!" She says, opting for pleasure. "Make sure you take care of
her and don't let Riike steal all her meals!"

Thriller Bronze Hatchling can't see the meat or the humans with his behind,
and that's a problem. It must be resolved. It must be resolved with style!
He attempts a *spin* like his egg managed, and yes, he's facing forward
then but he tumbles over and has to pick himself up hastily so they all
know he meant to do that. Just in case they have any doubts, he roars!
...Well, he thinks he roars. It's more of a baby, breathy squeak, but, you
know. It would be cruel to burst his Bubbles.

IGEN-> Desdinova groans.

IGEN-> Celane says, "What's wrong?"

IGEN-> Kassima says, "I know, I'm sorry. I've behaved myself mostly with
the rest of them but for some reason this time it's hard. ;)"

Kaveshun wasn't looking comforted, but he does shake his head quickly,
returning his focus on the Weyrwoman. "I ain't gonna go chargin' at 'em. Ya
don' have ta worry 'bout that. Stay well out of their way, is what I'll
do." He bobs his head at his own advice, feeling just a bit better... and
then his jaw drops. The wherry stays dangling in his fingers for a bit.
"Me? 'm from..." Lie? "'round Fort. Not the Weyr. Went 'round with some
Traders an' got picked up in Bitra, though."

"Oh!" Naara exclaims, distracted from her view of Beli's new gold by a
flying green missile. Reaching out with gentle fingers, she softly caresses
the drying hide with just their tips before reaching to the tray behind her
for more meat. "Shh, there, pretty one. No f-fear..." Easier said than
done, since that fear--as well as the hunger--are clawing at her own stomach.

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "Puns are an irresistable pull. :)"

IGEN-> R'din says, "You're not the only one, Kassi. That dude Teolyon made
one too. ;)"

Colors Against the Sky Egg cracks open, and a Free Fallin' Green Hatchling
tumbles out.


It must be coincidence, and unfortunate coincidence, that paints this
lady's small but narrow body the same blinding lime green that splashed her
egg. The color isn't much improved by being on a living creature, though at
least on her it has a silken, shining texture. She doesn't mind! Beauty
isn't very important to her when she doesn't need it to get what she wants.
For that, she has wit, guile, manipulation, and absolute selfishness. When
she grows up she'll charm people into feeding her, but never become fond of
them, never show them more than shallow and false affection. That isn't so
obvious just now, and perhaps that's as well; so young and still confused,
she has a chance to stumble into the only true bond of love she'll have in
life.


Kayara glances down to Uadjet again only to see that this time she really
had fallen asleep. Her head jolts up when she hears the squeaky roar from
the bronze and she smiles, "Now, that one has a very strong personality,
you can tell." She comments to nobody in particular. She smiles to see a
woman impress a green hatchling and nods to Naara, "Is she your first?" She
askes curiously before turning her attention back to the bronze. Luckily
Uadjet was sleeping soundly or all the noise might have disturbed her. She
kept a close eye on the bronze, jigging the meat up and down to the point
where it seemed funny. Fishing for firelizards anyone?

"Hey!" Tannusen exclaims, but he puts up with the shaking anyway.
"Shouldn't you be using /both/ hands back there?" Wiggle wiggle wiggle.

Beli smiles over to Desdinova and Auste, and Naara, too. "She is, isn't
she. Hmm." She collects the little gold, now, grabs a few bits of meat, and
regards the new being as she feeds her. "Fascinating, too," Beli remarks to
Naara, just in time to catch that green's stumble, and then she seems a bit
amused. "Good." She seems to tell that to her little gold. "Hmm." Balancing
the little firelizard, who's really doing just fine without the candidate's
effort to do so, and continuing with the endless feeding process, Beli
scoots back a bit from the crowd. "She's going to need a name."

Pastoral Greenery Egg seems to waddle in the sands as its perambulations
carry it forward a little with wiggly, wobbly motions that aren't quite rolls.

Teolyon can't help but chuckle lightly at the bronze, "Yes, he looks like
he has a lot of spunk." At the new green, Teolyon notes her, "Look, Gwin,
there's a green for you. You seemed to really want one." He points at the
green. The hand he points with just happens to also have the strip of meat
in it.

What? Quiet? Please. Auste spares a tooth-bared grimace Desdinova-wards,
but it's halfhearted at best and instead amended to one of (sort of)
delight for Naara. "Good job," spoken breezily, as though it was anything
more than, you know, just pushing meat at dumb ol' hatchlings. Hmph. It's
easy, look! The candidate redoubles her efforts; bob, bob, dangle!

Gwinevra tries to nudge Teolyon. "Shards! Did you see him spin!" she
laughs. "Wow he is a character!" she notes, looking to see if her new
friend is watching him. "Oh, and yeah...Harper families...strange bunches.
But hey, we're the same kind of folk, you and me," she tells him, her
splotchy face commical with the silly grin she is wearing. This said, she
goes back to wiggling the meat at the bronze's proper end.

Desdinova smiles sweetly back at Auste, settling down into a more
comfortable kneel and watching the hatchlings. For a moment she isn't
waggling her meat, since Auste clearly has her interest on the bronze, but
a flash of blinding green makes her wince, either for the hatchling's
tumble free, or for the gharish hue of her hide. "Oh, my." She says, at a
loss for anything more substansive.

Josilina's no idiot, and that's skepticism in her face, but she nods
anyway. "Fort's a nice area; chillier than here, certainly. Bitra's..." she
thins her lips, "well, it's chillier too. Tricky place to be, though. Are
you liking Igen, then?" And that half an eye on Beli proves useful, as she
overhears, and she calls out to the girl, "If you name her Rukbat, we are
no longer family."

A'riste catches a snippet of conversation. He calls over in Gwinevra's
general direction, "Harpers are not strange! We're, ah... unique.
Marvellously /unique/. And quirky. Magnificent specimens of quirkiness.
It's all the singing. Addl- er, /inspires/ our brains." And to Tannusen, he
adds, "I'm only using the one now, he fell asleep."

Free Fallin' Green Hatchling is free! She kicks off every scrap of
egg--every bit, because nothing can be left to weigh her down. Nothing! She
has needs, she knows vaguely what at least one of them is--food--and
unencumbered, she goes forth in pursuit of it. Ignoring her bronze brother
all the time, thank you. It's really the safest thing.

Gwinevra, turns her head to A'riste and flashes him a cheesy grin. "Yeah,
you...they...are all of the above!" she returns, eyeing him up as she
checks his knot. "I just hope I didn't inherit too much of that to try and
squeeze into another job," Gwin says before turning to watch where she is
dangling her meet. "Oh, you're right Teo...can I call you Teo? That's a
pretty little green," she says.

Thriller Bronze Hatchling can live with this, as there's someone else
paying him attention. Someone with good sense and taste. Someone... who's
over eighteen. Oh, well, you can't have everything. He grabs Gwinevra's
offering with one more flashy flare of his wings.

Thriller Bronze Hatchling stumbles towards Gwinevra.

IGEN-> Iesia coughs.

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Woo!"

Pastoral Greenery Egg cracks open, and a Safety Dance Blue Hatchling
tumbles out.


This little blue is a fool! An absolute, capering imbecile! And perhaps
because he's very clever, he's happy to be so. He doesn't spend any time
cleaning egg bits or sand from his hide, not him, although that's a pity
really since its bright and joyous color would be aesthetic if it weren't
mucked up. He's all right with his wobbling limbs, too. Being clumsy's
okay, he'll still run and leap and pounce--if he doesn't reach what he's
aiming for, he'll try again, and again, until something interesting
distracts him. Right now his interest is food, so he's going to get him
some... and along with it, a friend who dances.


Teolyon is nudged, body tilting at Gwin's effort, grinning. "Yeah, and he
breathed weird." He agrees with Gwin, nodding. "Sure you can call me that."
At her Impression, Teolyon's meat leaves the green flit, trying to clap the
other Harper offspring on the shoulder. "Congratulations!"

IGEN-> Auste laaaughs and laughs. Safety Dance.

IGEN-> R'din says, "Halls will help that cough."

Kaveshun shrugs his shoulders again. "Sure, it's cold. Bitra's got good
weather, too, though colder," he adds. He tilts his head curiously towards
the hatchlings, barely keeping his attention, before his eyes turn back up.
"Uh, sure am, ma'am. 'm used ta workin' 'round an' all. Weather ain't too
bad, different, an' plenty ta... uh, see 'round here." The wherry finally
slips his fingers back to the plate, and he wipes them clean on the bottom
of his shirt. Lovely.

There, that's much better. Food now resting in a distended belly, the
Heart's Eclipse green is content to curl up against Naara's chest and
sleep, pointedly ignoring the square blue muzzle that's investigating her
with blind enthusiasm. Naara, satisfied now that those immediate pangs have
been sated, realizes that /she/ is hungry and looks around her for a bowl
of fruit. Or at least a plate of meat that's been /cooked/.

Whaa..? There goes that bronze, and Auste gasps, almost indignantly,
tipping her head around to sniff up at his impressor. But, never fear,
there's more where he can from, aren't there? Nothing gained, nothing lost,
and the redhead pushes herself off the flagstone for a moment to streetch
her legs out in front of her, lean forward and get right back to all that
enticing meat-waving. Green, blue, no matter; they're both waved at with
equal enthusiasm - pretty pretties!

Sneering Peroxide Spikes Egg jerks spasmodically. There aren't so many eggs
left for it to bounce against, but it grinds a few delicate bits of shell
into the sand.

Kayara laughs upon hearing Josilina's comment about naming the gold Rukbat.
With the bronze gone she's decides to call it quits. She doesn't like to
keep the newly hatched green out and exposed to the crowd. She could get
scared and end up going /between/ or worse. She should have thought of that
before actually. The greenrider ends up winding her way out of the crowd
once more, having decided the green really was enough for her. She nods to
others as she navigates through the press of bodies. At last she reaches
the edge of the crowd and it out in the open. A nod is given to the
Weyrwoman as she passes. A smile curves her lips as she leaves, for Uadjet
would make a nice addition to her small group of firelizards.

Gwinevra blinks, her bold and easy going nature seeming to freeze for a
moment as she suddenly finds the quirky bronze going for her meat tidbit.
"Well...shells," she mutters, shifting the hides up under her arm to try
and scoop him up. "Thanks, Teo. Hey! Don't look at me! Keep wiggling!" she
demands of him with a mock frown. "You know what, I know just who you are,"
she says in a sing-song voice as she lets him have the bit of meat she was
holding. "You are Mikal," Gwin tells him matter-of-factly.

IGEN-> N'ren blinks. There's a Draco Malfoy egg here?

IGEN-> Desdinova is thinking Madonna

Beli grins, as she glances over to Josilina. "I would never do that to her.
But she hasn't quite told me what it /ought/ to be, yet." 'Told' apparently
being figurative. Hopefully. She rubs one finger along the little gold's
tiny neck. "I'll figure it out soon, I think."

IGEN-> Kassima says, "No, no, neither quite. ;)"

IGEN-> N'ren says, "Yes, yes, I know. It's a Billy Idol egg."

Celane ambles out from the inner caverns.

IGEN-> N'ren says, "But Malfoy was the first person to pop into my head.
Followed by Spike/William the Bloody from Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Desdinova is still squinting at the neon green hatchling when her brother
hatches, and it's a much easier thing to look upon him. "He's cute." She
says quietly, though her gaze flicks back to the green. "That really is an
almost violent color. I didn't think firelizards could even be that bright.
You'd certainly never lose her in a crowd, that's for sure."

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "Or maybe David Bowie, but he's not that sneery"

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "Just a few different levels of yum. David Bowie is
<3 :)"

"You can call me Josilina," the Weyrwoman notes, off-hand, to Kaveshun. She
eyes his wherry-dropping with some concern - first his fork, now this?
"Would you... like a napkin?" she asks, hesitent. "Is the wherry not good?"
She, unsuccessfully, hides a grin from Beli, "Would you never? Ah. Well, do
let me know when she tells you," she says, taking Beli's phraseology in
stride.

IGEN-> Meilyn says, "Am I too late?"

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "No, Mei, c'mon out!"

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Nope."

Safety Dance Blue Hatchling bounce bounce bounces away from his egg. Hi!
Hello! Hi there! He greets the world with a far better bugle than
newly-named Mikal managed, of all the indignities. Look at his wings,
aren't they big? Look at his feet! He has feet! ...And a stomach! That's
growling right now, actually. Maybe he should do something about that.

Meilyn comes in from the Bowl.

Celane has been here throughout the majority of the firelizard hatching,
watching as the miniature dragons burst from shells and oohing and aahing
at all the appropriate moments. As a few people leave she makes her way
forward through the crowd slightly, grinning at those she recognizes nearby.

"Oh! Right! Keep wriggling!" Teolyon quickly realizes it, spotting the new
blue, "Another blue!" And that promptly gets his slightly-dry and warm meat
strip thrusted into the firelizard's direction, "I hear your stomach,
little guy. Won't you come over here?" He beams at the little firelizard.

Free Fallin' Green Hatchling is briefly tempted to hide her head beneath
one technicolor wing. If it's not one idiot man in her life, it's another.
Well, well... there's an easy way out of all of that. She needs to pick out
one of these people, just one, who'll be better company than her idiot
brothers. She cranes her neck to peer up at them all. Surely this won't be
hard.

"I'll agree," Tannu chuckles back to A'riste, "you're all of the above."
Dangle, dangle, wiggle, wiggle, goes the meat in his hand, undoubtebly with
the other's assistance.

Sneering Peroxide Spikes Egg cracks open, and a Rock the Cradle of Love
Brown Hatchling tumbles out.


Shy. Self-conscious. Even as young as he is this little brown displays
those traits, reluctant to step away from his shards and out into a crazy
and colorful world. He has no visible reason for such insecurity; if he's
thin for one new-hatched, he's still long in body and elegantly made. The
dark, dark mahogany of his hide gleams richly beneath its birth dampness.
Nevertheless, he abandons safety and security with quivering
reluctance--wary of every step, yet unable to fight the hunger that compels
him.


Gwinevra cheers him on as she feeds the little bronze, perching him on the
hides now. "You get that blue!" she says, grinning. "Oh man! I can't wait
to show mom and Gwen!" she bubbles and gives a little bounce. The bronze
doesn't approve, squarking at the jarring.

No fruit? No cooked meat? Okay, time to go in search of greener pastures.
Hefting both 'lizards with her proves to be quite the balancing act, but,
after a few aborted beginnings, Naara does manage to get to her feet.
Offering a smile to Nova and a nod to Beli, she turns and weeds her way
through the crowds at a much more sedate pace than when she arrived.

A'riste beams at Gwinevra, and then shakes Tannu's wrist again, and
therefore the meat within his hand. "You can eat if you want to," he
remarks. And to Tannusen, "That better be a compliment."

Kaveshun blinks in surprise at the Weyrwoman. "Right," he says, without
actually calling her by name. "S'alright, ma'am," he says with a grin, only
to quickly correct. "Er, Josilina. Was great, jus' waiting to pack it in
some more. I've never had so much good food in one place, what with the
stuff the Traders were feedin' me." He pats his full belly and grins, eyes
going around to the crowd this time.

IGEN-> Naara smooches Kassi. Thank you for my darling baby green! Had a fab
time, but alas, RL calls my name. Night Igen!

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Night!"

IGEN-> Josilina waves, Night Naara!

IGEN-> Kassima says, "You're welcome! I'm glad you like her! :)"

IGEN-> Lanisa wavers Night :)

Naara strides through the passageway into the Inner Caverns.

IGEN-> Naara grins. She's like Naara's twin. Only smaller and green...er. ;)

IGEN-> A'deth XD

Rattle, jangle - here's another little brown, and here's Celane! Auste tips
her bowl towards the other candidate, offering the same as she did
Desdinova prior: "Meat?" She's got lots! "I've got lots," is said slightly
more enticingly to the hatchlings than Celane, as though they might
understand that lure. The brown is inspected with slitted eyes before the
redhead pronounces, "Scared."

Desdinova looks up to spot Naara's departure, and Celane's approach,
offering a grin to both of them and waving Ce over to where Naara had
departed, "Hey, you! C'mon over and see if we can entice one of these
hatchlings. We're not having any luck so far, but maybe we just don't have
the right company." She looks over to Auste next to her, "No offense to my
current company, who is a good girl, of course." She looks back to the
now-three hatchlings and waggles her meat again. "The brown's handsome.
'Nother timid one, though."

Gwinevra smirks at A'riste, furrowing her brows at his shaking of the
candidate's wrist. "Do you often help him shake it?" she can't help but
asking. "Were you training to be a Harper?" she asks, pointing at his outfit.

Celane coos towards the newly hatched brown, struck by the shyness already
apparent in his brand new-to-the-world demeanor. A comforting sound? Maybe.
Or perhaps the tall girl is just another thing for him to be afraid of in
this new, big world, as she crouches down, pats her hands against her legs,
and calls out, "Heeeey, little one!" And then-- meat? As Auste offers some,
and Nova beckons over, Ce makes her way closer to her fellow candidates,
grabbing a handful of the cut meat. "Thanks! Who knows? Maybe you're right.
Might as well try!"

Beli waves as she spots Celane, though she's mostly engrossed with the
little gold firelizard in her lap. The little firelizard who is eating her
way through every bit of meat Beli has on hand. "You cannot still be
hungry." The gold looks up at her, and Beli, of course, relents, standing
up. Then catches herself: "They do hold sway, don't they?" she remarks to
Josilina, and, with a smile, "I will." Caught herself or not, she continues
with the plan, heading into the kitchens for more food. Perhaps some
non-raw food, too.

Headbanging and Acidwash Egg tumbles violently forward, then back again,
and repeats this motion several times without managing to crack.

"/All the time/," Tannu replies cheerfully for A'riste, at least on the one
count. Wiggle wiggle, goes the, ah, meat!

IGEN-> Tannusen says, "If A'riste had a rep, Tannu's fine with dirtying it :P"

IGEN-> A'deth XD Tannu.

Free Fallin' Green Hatchling eases on over towards some wiggly meat.
*She's* not timid. With that color, how could she be? She steals
Desdinova's offering quite brazenly, and even while she's bolting it down
she peers up, obviously expecting more!

Josilina grins in response, "Luckily, we just got tithes in, so you can eat
as much as you want," she tell Kaveshun, teasing a little. She watches Beli
exit stage kitchen, and pushes herself to her feet. "I'm going to go get
that girl a shirt," she decides. "Do excuse me," she wiggles her fingers to
Kaveshun. "Enjoy the rest of your dinner. I'm off to see the Weaver." And
thus she ducks through the crowd, and out.

Free Fallin' Green Hatchling stumbles towards Desdinova.

S'lek comes in from the Bowl.

IGEN-> Gwinevra grins lots.

Josilina strides through the passageway into the Inner Caverns.

Sunika comes in from the Bowl.

Beli wanders into the Weyr's kitchens.

Tipping up her chin to inspect this new egg's movement, Auste absently bats
her heels against the flagstone, quite tired out by all this dangling and
jangling, and instead props an elbow in her opposite hand and allows the
meat-holding end of it to slump, the stip of meat lifeless between her
fingers. "Way to go!" That's for Desdinova and her little green, though by
now the candidate's voice is almost-but-not-quite put out. Hatchlings. Who
wants them, anyway?

IGEN-> N'ren says, "I'm guessing that Auste wants 'em. ;)"

Safety Dance Blue Hatchling chirps after his sister, entirely pleased to
see her find a friend, not caring much whether she's paying any attention
to him. Whee! He needs one of those! There are people wiggling meat here,
that should be just the ticket. He dances forward, nudges at one scrap...
nah, not quite... how about this? He seems more interested in batting
pieces around than actually *eating* them, at least until he reaches
Auste's--here's hoping the answer to that question is, she does!

Safety Dance Blue Hatchling stumbles towards Auste.

Meilyn ambles slowly into the living caverns, stopping abrubtly at the
sight of the crowd around one of the tables, eyes widening in surprise.
Unsure of how to proceed, she stands on the spot, swaying slightly before
approaching the crowd with the cautiousness and curiosity of a feline.
Catching sight of the eggs and the firelizards her breath catches in her
throat with a slight 'oohh' and her eyes soften at the sight of all the
joyeous people. A wave of familiarity is given to Kav as she slips through
the group behind the other familiar face of Celane, the curious look having
returned. Not much caring for the other girls preoccupation, she asks
softly, "What's going on?" As if it wasn't obvious!

IGEN-> Auste laughs! You'd be angry too if you lived your whole life at a
Weyr without Impressing one ;)

Teolyon wriggles his meat more vigorously in the hopes that it'll look more
enticing to the little blue. Deciding on a new stragety, the old strip of
meat is tossed in the general direction of the hatchlings, picking out a
fresh strip of meat, making sure it has a little bit of blood dripping from
it so it looks more juicy. It is then dangled close to the blue,
crestfallen again as it goes to Auste instead. "I shouldn't have picked up
a fresh one..." He tells Gwin.

Emerging from outside would be Sunika, her hand resting on his offered arm
with all the dignity of a lady -- albeit a slightly limping one. She'll
concern herself with her ankle later; for now, she simply tries to pick out
a face from the crowd, lower lip being chewed steadily on. "Not here, not
here, but oh! Maybe over there, where all the people are?" Of course, she
has no clue what's going on -- oblivious, thy name is Sunika.

Salitra ambles out from the inner caverns.

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Auste: D< D< D<... :D"

IGEN-> N'ren says, "Sorry. I can't claim to have that experience. Noren
impressed his first firelizard within... I think it was two days of his
pcreation."

Rock the Cradle of Love Brown Hatchling doesn't want to leave his
half-broken shell, does he have to? Couldn't he just sort of stay in here?
It's safe in here. He can peek out from its shadow and see all those moving
shapes without actually approaching them. None seem inclined to toss meat
his way, unfortunately for him. His tiny head finally peeps up from behind
a jagged edge.

IGEN-> Auste is angsty at best, anyway! XD

S'lek helps Sunika in, solicitous. "Oh, look," he says to her, being tall
enough to see what's going on. "Firelizards! Maybe they'd let you try for
one? If you got one, you could send your friend messages and things."

Desdinova looks startled to find her hand empty, and a lime-green
firelizard staring up at her. She takes up another piece of meat from
Auste's bowl and quickly feeds it to her new companion. "Oh, my." She looks
over towards Auste with a silly grin, just in time to see the blue choose
her. "And doubly so! See? All we needed was Celane, Auste!" She grins at
her friends, then quickly finds more meat for the Free Fallin' hatchling
she now has.

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "But we love you anyway. :)"

IGEN-> Austeaaawww <3

Headbanging and Acidwash Egg cracks open, and a You Give Love a Bad Name
Bronze Hatchling tumbles out.


Don't be fooled by his tender age. Yes, this baby bronze hasn't been out of
the shell a minute yet--and yes, he's a lovely specimen of his kind, all
sinuous grace under a blackened bronze hide dark along his ridges, his
claws, his wingsails so translucent-thin, but shining with classic luster
on his body. Looks can be deceiving. He knows already what he wants and
what's required to have it. With confidence, assurance, and a scheme in
mind, he stalks across the sand. Perhaps he will tolerate some human's
company for awhile; perhaps, just perhaps, for a lifetime, but it would be
foolish to trust him with too much love... or your half-eaten sandwich, for
that matter.


IGEN-> R'din says, "Where's Meatloaf?"

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "In the table."

Celane grins broadly as both Auste and Desdinova find themselves little
mouths to feed. "I'm good luck!" she says brightly, laughing. But then she
twists her mouth into a concerned expression, looking at that poor, scared
little brown. And she scoots a few steps forward, crouching down towards
the ground, meat held in offering in the palm of her hand. "I knooow," she
coos, elongating the vowels in a soft sound. "It's scary out here. You're
in the big, wide world now, little mister. But you'll be okay."

Gwinevra laughs at the candidate's return comment and then sighs at the
crestfallen Teolyon. "Don't give up hope, Teo! Look, that is a pretty brown
there. And hey...that new little bronze has style!" she notes. "Oh no, I
wasn't watching the time. I have to get going. Here, I'll put these right
at your feet. It was nice to meet you!" Gwin calls, grabbing a bit more
meat and hurrying off.

"Oh, really? Is that what it is?" She tries to stretch up and see, but to
no avail. "Oh, I have never seen such a thing before, S'lek. Would they
allow it, do you think?" Sun wonders, looking up at the bronzer with wide
eyes. Hopeful eyes. Totally and utterly clueless eyes. It's all the same
with her.

"Oh, my," is echoed by Auste just shortly after Desdinova as that little
blue makes his way towards her, and the girl spares a moment to squint
suspiciously at Celane. "Thanks," maybe for luring this little fellow her
way? But there's no time for further consideration, because the blue
hatchling is butting and nudging at the redhead's hand and she's
simoultaneously scuttling backwards (with that bowl in hand, sorry Nova!)
and shovelling food into that blueling's hungry mouth.

Myriad Mannequin Masks Egg develops a large black crack right down its
center. Despite this, though, it stays mostly stationary as the hatchling
inside regathers its strength.

S'lek guides Sunika closer to where the others are all clustered around the
eggs. "I don't know, but it sure can't hurt to ask!" he says confidently.
"Fort's duties to Igen," he greets the gathered folk with a nod, looking
around and trying to work out who's 'in charge' of the clutch.

IGEN-> Auste idles to fetch herself something to eat!

A'riste snorts softly at Tannusen. "I see what you did there," is all that
he mutters. He finally releases his friend's wrist, and his own arm falls
limp at his side. But he warns, "If you stop wiggling that, I'll sing
really annoying love songs. More than usual."

Teolyon chews his bottom lip, sighing at the bronze and brown, "But my
problem is I can't decide! I can't seem to keep my meat in front of one of
them." Deciding to /stick/ with the bronze this time, Teolyon nods, smiling
his thanks at the hides, "You too, Gwin!" She's waved after with his free
hand, wiggling the meat strip close to the bronze hatchling.

You Give Love a Bad Name Bronze Hatchling was there a moment ago, a little
scrap of blackened bronze tangled up with pale blue shards. Now he's over
*here*, stalking circles around the timid brown. It speaks well for the
speed he'll have as an adult but perhaps not that well for his manners. Is
this one food? Thank Faranth there are far better smells than egg-gooed
'lizard to tempt him away.

Sunika is guided along, echoing his sentiment with a gentle, "Fort's
duties." And then she glimpses the wee lizards and her mouth pulls into a
rounded 'oh' of awe. "Oh, oh! Look at them! They are positively
/gorgeous/," she breathes, her free hand coming up to rest at the hollow of
her throat. She's not yet noticed /how/ the creatures are lured in, but
that'd due to happen soon enough.

"Hey!" Desdinova's protest is more an indignant squawk, and it is echoed by
her firelizard as the bowl of meat moves away with Auste. "We need that
too, Auste!" She scuttles after her friend, trying to secure another strip
of meat from the girl's bowl for her ravenous new friend, heedless of her
own abandonment of Celane.

Rock the Cradle of Love Brown Hatchling is for some reason rather uneasy
with this situation; perhaps the thing to do is get *out* of this basket.
He has to choose. Quickly. He doesn't have time to think. That's probably
for the best, it circumvents his timidity, and his instincts are sound: he
moves towards a soothing voice belonging to someone with no interest in
*eating* him.

Rock the Cradle of Love Brown Hatchling stumbles towards Celane.

Myriad Mannequin Masks Egg cracks open, and a Self Control Green Hatchling
tumbles out.


It's not night yet, so she's sluggish even though hunger chews her belly.
She'll always be that way: preferring to drowse away the daylight hours,
but once the sun sets she'll be at her human to bathe her, oil her, and set
her free to hunt. The rangy build lurking under egg goo and baby pudge will
probably serve her well in that activity. If she ever has the chance to fly
through forests her coloring will do her favors too, for she's the deep and
cool green of a leaf canopy under her beloved night sky. Whether her inborn
courage will be a blessing is harder to tell because while the lack of
inhibition that leads her to saunter out fearlessly now can only help her
win a friend, she's apt to approach large prey just as directly--it may be
up for argument whether she's brave or a fool.


"We can't have that," Tannusen mock-sighs, jiggling and wiggling and
shaking the scrap of meat in his hand as though all a-feared of the
horrible fate that awaits otherwise!

Meilyn looks slightly hurt at the other candidates ignoring of her, but
brightens slightly seeming to think she just wasn't heard above the
background din of the hopefuls. Slipping under a much taller weyrfolk's
arm, she manages to reach the edge of the eggs, looking up and down towards
the others to find out what to do. Seeming at a loss, she asks aloud to no
one, "What are we supposed to do? Who are these little dragons for?"

S'lek reaches into his belt pouch for some jerky; he halves it and hands a
piece over to Sunika, leaning over to speak quietly to her for a moment
before he waves his piece of jerky at the bronze, whistling to try to
attract his attention.

Kassima hasn't been greeting anyone; maybe that's understandable when she's
watching the clutch to prevent cannibalism. "Anyone who can get their
attention," she assures Meilyn with a quick grin.

N'ren remarks, from quite a bit away, where he's feeding himself and his
own Queen (who has a strangehold on him). "I imagine that they're pretty
much for anyone who can lure them to you. Though, I don't generally
recommend it for candidates. As far as luring them, your best bet is meat
or other kinds of food - as you see the others doing there."

Celane doesn't notice the fact she's been abandoned at all, as the little
brown hatchling makes his shy way towards her. "Oh!" she squeals, a
shocking sound compared to her soft cooing a moment earlier. And by far the
opposite of eating him, she feeds him the meat in her hand as quickly as he
can gobble it up. And then he wants more. "We'll get you fed," she
promises, scooping him up carefully and only then looking for the friends
who have left her behind.

Kaveshun waves as the Weyrwoman moves away and then towards some new
familiar faces arriving, just having caught sight of Meilyn in the crowded
caverns. "An' no one to refill," he grumbles with his empty glass. He
pushes off his chair again, squeezing between the crowd that was behind
him. Taking his plate with him, he manages to escape the chaos for a better
spot. With juice in hand, he moves to be behind the crowd of candidates
with those that recently impressed, too. He puts his plate down, satisfied
with his drink for now. "Ain't ya getting one yourself now, Meilyn? All the
gals seem to have one."

Sunika blinks at S'lek with a moment of fleeting confusion and then her
expression brightens, delicate fingers gingerly taking the jerky and
tearing it further into pieces. "Oh, well, if you are certain," is all she
says to him, her smile going a little lopsided. Whistling? Well, she won't
go /that/ far, but she will murmur encouragements of utter nonsense to the
creatures, while wiggling the bits of jerky timidly.

Teolyon dangles his strip of meat ever-so-slowly, hoping that it'll
hypnotize and memerize the little bronze, "Yess... come to papa..." He
almost sings out, the first note ear-jarring, wincing as he quickly
readjusts his voice, swallowing briefly. "Sorry." He apologizes to anyone
who's listening, bringing his meat a bit closer, venturing...

Eostarra ambles out from the inner caverns.

Self Control Green Hatchling yawns a great jaw-cracking yawn as she
stumbles out, nearly tripping over her tail. It's so *bright* all of a
sudden. She ducks her head, trying to find a dimmer place while her eyes
adjust. Everything's heat and motion and sound of a sudden, and while she's
not afraid of any of it she's not quite sure where to begin.

You Give Love a Bad Name Bronze Hatchling pretends not to notice that he's
been deprived of one potential meal; the meat's more interesting anyway.
But... this stuff being dangled. No. It's too obvious, and if he chooses
someone who clearly wants him that isn't much of a conquest. He slinks out
of the basket entirely, onto the tabletop--it's cold by comparison! For a
second he freezes--and starts a protracted amble, in search of a theft.

Shadow Strings and Light Egg bangs against the edge of the basket
rhythmically; it becomes a slightly irregular rat-a-tat-tat.

Meilyn gives a small start as her question is answered by the greenrider,
the young girl seeming to have thought the words were quiet enough to be
rhetorical. The expression given clearly not one that would be taken as
thanks for the helpful comment, Meilyn fixes her features into a soft smile
at the rider, a nod given before she turns back to the Firelizards. The
familiar voice of the spiky haired candidate gets a faint turn and smile,
her greeting offered, "Hey Kav, I don't see why not?" Imitating the others
around the table she grabs some meat tidbits and holds them out towards the
Firelizards, looking suitably awkward.

Desdinova, once she has recovered her supply of meat and is able to relax
while feeding Lime, is ale to look back overthe crowded throng of people.
And now she spots Meilyn, and offers her a bright and encouraging smile.
"Give it a try, there's still a few left!" She says, raising her voice to
be heard over the din. Celane's Impression gets an even brighter grin and
she motions her over again. "You really are good luck!"

S'lek grins at Sunika, amused by her attempts to lure the firelizards. He
eyes the roaming bronze and the green, and halves his jerky once more,
setting one piece on the table in front of him, and holding the other in
his upturned palm, a few inches away. "That bronze reminds me of Kannanth,"
he tells the younger woman. "See him strut? They're all cute, though, really."

Celane finds Desdinova in the crowd, mainly thanks to the sound of her
voice, and crosses towards her, grinning. "It seems to be so!" She nuzzles
the little brown happily, even though he's creeling not-so-happily, his
tummy still rumbling. "Think you have enough meat for another?" She asks.
"I have a feeling this little one has a big stomach."

Kaveshun looks at the female candidates around him before smirking back to
Meilyn before shaking his head a bit. "Ya definitely will attract one over.
Wimmin an' baby-things an' all. They can't resist." He tips his glass back
as he gulps his drink down noisily, nearly finishing it all that time. With
his thirst satisfied, he glances back down to the table where he left his
meal, picking up his discarded utensils while he was at it. This candidate
ate big meals. Slowly, but he ate them! Even if he was back to picking
wherry bits.

Sunika notes what S'lek does and does likewise with her varied strips,
perhaps trusting that he knows exactly what he's doing. She certainly
doesn't. "Oh, oh, he is a proud one, isn't he?" she ventures, flashing him
a smile that's extended to the firelizard in question. "They are all lovely
things." She fusses a bit with the placement of the jerky scraps on the
table, meticulously rearranging them. This way? No, this way.

A'riste just hrmphs at Tannusen, and just finds himself a seat to watch. "I
will. You'll cry."

Left still holding the strip of meat, Teolyon finally gives up, putting
down the meat in front of him on the table. Then the scribe leans down,
picking up his sheath of hides. Turning his attention from the firelizards
to the hides, he begins to scroll through them. Though one eye is kept on
the hatching.

Auste has the grace of looking appropriately shameful for taking away all
that meat from Desdinova, but it seems her little blue has settled down;
the redhead shuffles nearer to the two candidates with a small grin for
Celane. "Guess y'are good luck," it's finally admitted as she lifts her
hatchling, and then bobs her head at the other two, whether being cradled
or fed or what-have-you. The blue's just looking dazed and confused and
/interested/ in everything, though his lids are beginning to droop and his
curved neck to sag. "Guess they need names, uh?"

Self Control Green Hatchling decides the first thing to do might be to go
over there to the tapping egg and give it a *push* with all her hatchling
might, just to shut it up. It works. Perked up somewhat by that triumph if
still sleepy, she turns to the humans, searching for... something...
without being conscious of it she stalks like an awkward feline, in hunting
mode even so young.

"Of that I have no doubt," Tannusen teases, and to further avoid his fate
he starts jiggling the meat in his hand around in a little dance. And his
hips shift side to side in a matching beat, too, while he's at it! Oh, the
anonymity of a crowd, abused!

You Give Love a Bad Name Bronze Hatchling finds the remains of an entire
meal left all abandoned, all for him, hah, maybe he'll get out of
Impression entirely and become a wild terror! Only he's not sure that would
suit him. A partner in life could get him so many things. Could be used for
so many things. Could--never mind, his quandary's solved: here comes
Kaveshun to collect his utensils, and the little fire-lizard sniffs his
wherry-bitted fingers. *This* one will have plenty of food to steal.

You Give Love a Bad Name Bronze Hatchling stumbles towards Kaveshun.

Shadow Strings and Light Egg cracks open, and a Every Breath You Take Blue
Hatchling tumbles out.


This young blue shares his color with a pale clear sky. The sails of his
wings and underside of his body are both a shade or two deeper, a richer
shade, hinting just a little at infinity. It's a beautiful color for hide
to be, and it makes up somewhat for his lack of grace. He has none.
Subtlety in movement or anything else is not something he understands, and
where another might approach with delicacy or caution--he lunges. Where
another might be coy, or try charm, he seizes what he wants and simply
refuses to let go. The human he chooses will be *his*, and he's likely to
make a pest of himself always wanting to ride on their shoulder, sleep in
their bed, never let them out of sight, until it could drive a person half
mad.


IGEN-> Celane loves that song XD

IGEN-> Auste laughs, does too!

IGEN-> Desdinova loves all these songs, but my musical taste notoriously
stalled in the late 80's or early 90's. :)

IGEN-> Kassima does too. This whole clutch is a bit of a peek at my
favorites, though. ;)

IGEN-> Celane's favorite songs are all from the 80's.

"I already have." Desdinova says, grinning at Auste. "But mine's easy, what
name could possibly fit her more than the citrus she looks like?" She
strokes Lime's neck gently, the green similarly sated and sleepy after the
ordeal of hatching. "I can't believe she chose me! I can't wait to show
Naara and Hector." She grins as Celane joins them, scootching over to give
her room. "A brown, a blue, a green. Beli got a gold. We've almost got the
full spectrum!"

Inexplicable Laurels Egg doesn't fiddle around, dancing or twitching or any
such nonsense. It breaks all at once in a shard shower.

Inexplicable Laurels Egg cracks open, and a Tainted Love Green Hatchling
tumbles out.


Not a minute in the world and already she's showing her fangs--both
literally and figuratively, baring her hatchling teeth and hissing at dam,
clutchmates, and humans alike. It's as well she's startled into giving that
glimpse of her true nature. Once she's oriented herself, she acts with as
much discretion as a hatchling can muster... picking a delicate path across
the sand, flirting her serpentine tail and pausing to try and shake goo off
a lushly grass-green body that now is plump with baby newness but someday
will shift into elegant curves over sculpted bone. Maybe her change in
manner will deceive--maybe some of those looking on will believe she's
changed--but she is vicious, and she is sly, and there can be no hiding
either for long.


IGEN-> Celane says, "Was there a Don Henley egg/hatchling?"

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Nope--might be an idea for if I ever do another of
these! And David Bowie too, I've been told by more than one person that
lack is a travesty. ;)"

Meilyn regards Kav with a raised brow, replying curtly, "I don't think I've
considered myself a 'wimmin' before, and I don't think these little things
much care about that anyways." She looks back towards the wandering
hatchlings and the folks around her, waving the pieces of meat in what
those around seem to think is an enticing fashion. Noticing the bronzes
attentions on Kaveshun, the candidate can only smirk back.

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "I agree. :) And Nena! 99 Luftballoons ftw."

S'lek snaps his fingers as the bronze goes to someone else. He nudges his
spare piece of jerky toward Sunika to bolster her chances, still idly
holding some in his hand, but not going out of his way to attract the
hatchlings' attention.

IGEN-> Celane would have been soo jealous if someone else got the Boys of
Summer hatchling XD

IGEN-> R'din says, "No BSB?"

IGEN-> R'din says, "Ah, wrong band. NKOTB"

Sunika makes a sympathetic noise when the bronze goes elsewhere, a look
being briefly shot to S'lek. Eyes widen just a little when he slides the
extra jerky over and then she smiles, head dipping gratefully to him for
it. She's still trying, though timidly; unsure of these creatures as much
as she is of her chances. "Oh, S'lek," she finally dares to ask during a
lull, "if I may ask ... have you ever done this kind of thing before?"

Self Control Green Hatchling is very still a moment. So still; that meat
will never see her coming, will mistake her for... for... she's just
hatched, so let's excuse her for not realizing she doesn't blend in with
the decor. At last she leaps, spreading her damp wings and for one second
gliding, airborne, until her claws sink into Tannusen's meat and she's
dangling from his hand just as it is. That'll teach him to wiggle his hips
so much, huh?

Self Control Green Hatchling stumbles towards Tannusen.

IGEN-> R'din says, "New Kids on the Block. Ah, of course Tannu gets a
green. :P"

"Impressed a firelizard?" S'lek asks Sunika. "Sure. I mean, it was a while
back. I've got two blues and a brown. With this many people around, it's
mostly luck," he tells her. "They're not as smart as dragons, they usually
just - go for the first food they see."

"Alright, a gal then," Kaveshun corrects towards Meilyn. "Not fer 'em, but
the gals sure like 'em. Me? I like my food-- Hey!" He stares down at the
bronze on his plate of food. Just stares. "It's infested now," he grumbles,
and prodds at the bronze carefully, but he recalls his wherry-smelling
fingers and he huffs. "Fine, there's 'nough fer both of us, ya little
thief." He even manages to take some of his food from the side where the
bronze wasn't eating, but he was careful to let him fill his belly.

"Oh, it's true! We do!" Celane says, sounding pleased at this revelation.
"Lime is a wonderful name. I suppose you could be..." she pauses, grabbing
a fistful of meat and helping sate the poor brown's creelings before
musing, "Well, you're brown. Something to do with the color brown?" So
creative, really. A flash of a grin towards Auste as she says, "Well, maybe
not always. But tonight at least."

Every Breath You Take Blue Hatchling gulps for breath. Breaking out of his
prison wasn't easy. Now he's out here, a sister hissing in his ear, a
mother crooning above him in encouragement, and *people*. He feels a
powerful draw towards them. One of them, and all their meat, he can have
for his own.

"Oh." Sun nods slowly, thoughtfully, to S'lek as he speaks. The green's
impression is peripherally noted from the corner of her eye and she fusses,
yet again, with the order of pieces on the table and swaps jerky-wiggling
hands. "Oh, well, if it is about luck," she tries not to frown, but it's
hard not to at this point. She settles on chewing on the inside of her
cheek. "I suppose the experience is worth it almost as much as impressing a
firelizard, isn't it?" she hazards.

Auste, on the other hand, appears a little less-than-excited at the
prospect of having to name another living, breathing creature - not being
terribly graced with a name worth saying in its entirety herself. "Um." She
considers Celane's brown after a little smirk for Lime's name; appropriate,
at least! "Klah? Name him... Klah?" That's about the extent of Auste's
experience with colours. And klah is brown, isn't it? Her own blue is
inspected, or at least as much of him visible from the crook of her arm,
and Auste makes a displeased little face. "Gee. Could just as well name him
Stupid for all he'd care about it."

N'ren smirks at hearing Auste's last comment. "Wouldn't be the first person
who did exactly that."

Tainted Love Green Hatchling makes a show of preening herself and even
hiding her head from everyone, because she's shy, oh, yes, a delicate
flower, the essence of fragile femininity. That hissing as she was born,
that was the aberration. Young as she is she still has a vague sense that
she'd rather charm and wheedle her meal than grab it openly.

S'lek interjects into the conversation about naming, "I've got one called
Mudlump." To Sunika, he explains, "All I mean is, don't take it personally
if one doesn't take your food, you know?"

Teolyon continues to read his hides, half-listening to the conversations
going on around him, mostly keeping his focus on what he's reading.
However, every-so-often, his eyes flick to the corners to peek at the
firelizard, the raw strip of meat still lying on the tabletop in front of him.

"And I thought I was bad at naming." Nova says, stroking a now mostly
asleep Lime. She points at the blue, "Cyan." She says, naming a shade of
blue that doesn't quite match with his hide, and then turns her pointing
finger onto Celane's brown. "He's ahrder. Bark? Dirt? No, hmmm. Umber?" She
cants her head, giving the timid brown a speculative look. "Call him Timmy,
cause he's so timid?"

IGEN-> A'deth snickers.

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Bowie's best work was in the 70s, 90s and 00s anyway."

Sunika can't help but stare at S'lek. "Mud ... lump?" Blinkblink. She
shakes her head, wigglewiggling the jerky in her hand still. Tiring work,
all this wiggling! "Oh. Oh! I see. Oh, no, I would not dare to get my hopes
quite that high." Which might be believable, if she didn't sound like she
were trying to convince herself of that very fact, if only a little bit. Of
course, looking at what's left, it's hard not to understand what he's
getting at.

IGEN-> Tannusen says, "Re of course I got a green: she'll ballance out
Erynion a little :P maybe XD Either that or Tannu is doomed twice over..."

"Well... he's brown," S'lek says, sheepishly defensive. "And I was, I don't
know, maybe six when I got him? He's old. Plus, my dad always called his
dragon that." He wiggles his jerky tentatively at the green, but seems more
interested in seeing if Sunika can lure her.

Eostarra trundles in from the kitchens, looking worn and haggard. And then
she sees the hatching in progress. "Great," she mutters under her breath.
"And I wonder who gets to clean all /that/ up..." She slumps down into a
chair out of the way, practically oozing into it as all the tension drains
from her tired body. The hatching is watched with an expression of mild
interest and resignation.

"Personality is one of the ways that I name firelizards," N'ren says,
agreeing with the Fortian. "But there's also physical characteristics. I
have a brown named Giant and a bronze named Bantam, for their respective
sizes. I have a green named Nettle, because she does that, getting under
your skin. And this is Aura, for her coloration. I have a blue named
Majestic, simply because there isn't any other word that fits him. And yes,
you can name a firelizard stupid or idiot or the like, and some do, but...
a lot of the time, in those cases, the firelizards don't stay with their
'pets'. They can go Between, after all. If they don't feel treated
appropriately."

"I didn't know wiggling yourself attracted lizards," A'riste remarks
bemusedly to Tannusen. "Maybe I shouldn't've struggled so much."

"Firelizards aren't stupid!" Celane protests. "But, hmm. Umber. I like the
way that sounds." She turns her head slightly, wondering, "Umber? What'dyou
think?" But the brown is munching contentedly, and doesn't seem to have
much opinion on the matter-- perhaps as Auste predicted.

"You should all name them something starting with K," Kassima offers
hopefully.

IGEN-> Celane XD

Chaton ambles out from the inner caverns.

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Are they still hatching firelizards?"

IGEN-> A'deth says, "About to run out."

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Two left, both on the sands, yeah."

IGEN-> N'ren says, "Geez, Kassima, if they do that, how the heck are they
gonna sort all the mail that comes addressed to "K. Firelizard.""

IGEN-> Chaton says, "God. It's been... three hours!"

IGEN-> Kassima says, "They bribe me to do it, of course."

Meilyn gives a nod of satisfaction at Kaveshun's change of word, much more
content being a gal than a wimmin. His further assumation gets a shrug, "I
don't really think you can -dislike- them. They're nice to look at and
pretty useful I've heard? But I guess you could do it just to be
contradictary." She turns, having said her piece to the other candidate,
eyes much more interested in those still around the eggs. She gives her arm
a shake, grimacing at having to hold it uproght for so long.

IGEN-> A'deth <3 z.z <3

IGEN-> Chaton says, "please don't tell me the dragon's hatching doesn't
last this long."

IGEN-> R'din says, "They last half a day."

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Usually not, less to Impress."

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "They've been known to run long."

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Depends on the Hatching, but no, usually not. More
people running them, too. This is all me, part of the problem. :P :)"

IGEN-> N'ren says, "Dragon Hatchings don't take this long, but they *can*
run to this length."

Sunika slants an apologetic look at S'lek, "Oh /no/, I did not mean- I
mean, it just seems like a rather unorthodox name, that is all. Very
quaint, but unusual." As if she's one to talk about the unusual nature of
'lizard names. Her apologetic mien transitions into bafflement at something
and then she nods again, focusing her efforts anew. For the sake of
conversation, she asks, "What are the others' names, if I may be so bold as
to ask?"

IGEN-> A'deth says, "You're fine, Kassi."

Chaton walks out to the Bowl.

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Most dragon hatchings don't have to Impress fifteen
critters. :P"

S'lek laughs. "Squirt and Speckles. I guess they're not much better, come
to think on it."

IGEN-> N'ren says, "I think the fastest dragon hatching I've seen has
been... 45 minutes? And the longest is, like, 3-4 hours. Or maybe it was
just that long before I logged off."

IGEN-> Desdinova was in one once that was about 5.5 hours. I was stand
only. Ick.

Tainted Love Green Hatchling flicks out her wings, content that she is
beautiful, proper, all a young hatchling should be to the eye, all set to
impress the perfect Impressee. Now to find them... unlike some of her
clutchmates who've bypassed the meat that wiggles, she takes a particular
interest in it. Her little claws sink into a particular piece. Meilyn can
stop wiggling it now--she'll take it, thank you.

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Yeah. Right now I'm just hoping that I'll be able to
make it. X_X"

Tainted Love Green Hatchling stumbles towards Meilyn.

IGEN-> Iesia says, "I have to ask, of these super log Hatchings, was there
something behind the scenes that held things up? Code glitch, etc?"

IGEN-> R'din heard of one that lasted 12 hours.

IGEN-> Iesia peers at R'din.

IGEN-> R'din is lying, naturally.

IGEN-> N'ren says, "At this point of the game, running a hatching, even for
newbies, is pretty well figured out. If it's running long, either someone
is a really slow typist, or is having net problems, or the entire game is
lagging. (By the way, the last one is *common* during hatchings. Or was, at
least.)"

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "Sometimes. Sometimes they are just long."

IGEN-> Iesia knew. You're such a brat.

IGEN-> A'deth says, "They never run so long nowadays."

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Nowadays, it's usually between one to two hours."

IGEN-> Iesia nods.

IGEN-> A'deth says, "People don't pose each individual dragonet like seven
times each."

Tannusen erks! And pauses mid hip-swing to stare bemusedly down at the
little green dangling /off/ the meat in his hand. He blinks a few times,
then thinks to slip his free hand under the little lizard and lets her have
the yummy bloody food. "Perhaps so," he says to A'riste, a bit confused at
that as well! He cradles the scarfing firelizard in one arm and snags some
more meat scraps with his other hand before moving to join the bronzerider.

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "Two hours is a good time. A lot depends on the size
of the clutch, too. :)"

Every Breath You Take Blue Hatchling doesn't pace, he edges; doesn't walk,
he sidles; he stalks the meat he's decided on, and the person who's
attached to it. Does Sunika know she's watching him? If it surprises her
when he gently tugs the jerky from her fingers with his teeth, he won't
mind so long as she gives him more and becomes his person. His. Only his.

Every Breath You Take Blue Hatchling stumbles towards Sunika.

IGEN-> Kassima says, "There!"

IGEN-> Eostarra applauds.

"Cyan." Auste considers this offering, rolling the name around before
tweaking her lips and shaking her head. "Nah. I don't like - names that are
things." If that made any sense. "Was thinking, like - Kington or
something." Kington? Surely not. Her head swivels back and forth at all
those names flying - and finally she just kind of shrugs at Celane. "Nah,
they're not stupid. They can be pretty oblivious, though."

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "Thank you, Kassima. It was fun. :)"

A'riste beams at Tannusen. "Now, we can't go hunting lizards today!" And he
beams at Kassima, too. His own little blue's been set in a pocket of his
vest, and sleeps soundly there. "Were these yours? Thank you for delivering
me from onerousness."

IGEN-> Eostarra gets whiplash.

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Aye! It was loads of fun!"

IGEN-> Meilyn thanks! Even if I was late it was still a lot of fun :D

IGEN-> Auste says, "Thank you, Kassimaaaa!"

IGEN-> Kassima says, "I wish I could've done more, even though when I was
descing them fifteen seemed like more than enough."

IGEN-> A'deth says, "It's never enough. XD"

"I like Umber." Desdinova says to Celane, trying not to look too proud at
the name. "It's different without being weird." She looks back to Auste,
and reaches over to give her little blue a pat. "He's very pretty." She
says of the blue. "Kington?" She screws up her nose. "No, no. That won't do
at all. Starlight?"

IGEN-> Eostarra says, "Another Song to use - Never Enough?"

S'lek beams at Sunika. "Will you look at that! Here, give him this, too."
He hands over his last bit of jerky; he doesn't need it now. Neither does
he look particularly unhappy about not getting a firelizard for himself.
Just pleased for Sunika.

IGEN-> Kassima says, "It does seem like you're either doubling up because
not enough people came or running out and wishing you had more. Everybody
who came was awesome."

IGEN-> A'deth :3

Sunika bursts into helpless, unladylike giggles that she's not exactly
quick to stifle when S'lek recounts the names of his. "Oh! How delightful!"
she all but chirps. Thus is the green's impression missed, with her
attention fixed, if only for now, on poor S'lek. And then -- "Oh!" Oh,
indeed. Because as soon as that jerky is plucked from her fingers, all eyes
are on the wee blue that's now eating it. More jerky is offered, though she
doesn't dare touch that blue hide just yet. "Look! Oh, yes, thank you, S'lek!"

Celane turns her head again, regarding the little brown. "I like it. But
I'm still not sure. I think I'll have to take my time in naming him."
Suddenly, she realizes, "I think we need more meat. Shall I fetch some?"
And off she goes to find more, one arm still cradling the newly hatched brown.

Meilyn was looking at another girl just down the table, not noticing the
little green hatchling until the meat in her hand gains a fair bit more
resistance. She turns to look the little dragonet in the eye, a look of
delight on her face at getting the green's favour. As the first piece of
meat disappears in an instant, she quickly entices the green with more
small chunks of the raw beast, taking it into her hand in imitation of
those who impressed before her.

Kaveshun snorts, not looking quite convinced. "Useful? I doubt it... Well,
maybe to steal something, this one might be. Thief." HE glances around
towards all the naming of the firelizards, rolling the word in his mouth.
It seems to ring, and the bronze was too interested in eating all the meat
from his plate before Kav can get anymore. He picks up the plate,
firelizard and all. "I think 'm gonna take my little Thief here back to the
barracks. Maybe he'll run 'way later." Not likely, but the candidate was
taking him with him, anyways. Eventually he removes the bronze, leaves the
plate, and waves as he walks back to the barracks.

IGEN-> Kaveshun says, "Thanks for the hatching and all, t'was fun! :D Gotta
run for now, though"

IGEN-> Iesia says, "Night to those leaving!"

Kassima sighs in relief to see the last of the hatchlings Impressed and no
longer a menace to *her* fingers. Their Impressees', that remains to be
seen. "They're Zabreneva's," she tells A'riste with a nod towards her smug
little queen. "And Kazander's, and you're very welcome. Those they went to
seem pretty happy about it, aye?" This clearly pleases her. "I'm glad t'see
it."

IGEN-> Kassima zhaiwaffles to those leaving too! And thanks everyone, and
thanks everyone for the thanks, and makes inane sounds because her brain is
fried. ;)

IGEN-> A'deth <3 <3 Blblblblbl.

IGEN-> Desdinova thinks you did a great job! It was a lot of fun. =)

Chaton ambles out from the inner caverns.

"Starlight." The word is dripping with disbelief, and Auste's eyes widen at
Desdinova. There's a giggle burbling up somewhere, and the redhead can't
suppress it before it's bubbling out from her lips. "No - no, I couldn't
ever call him Starlight. I'd break out laughing halfway through every time
and he'd think his name was Starli-ha-ha." So, like Celane, maybe Auste
will take her time in naming the little blue. And after all that
excitement, this pair appears quite drowsy - so, with a word, she excuses
herself to slip out to find a dark corner where she can curl up with her
new friend.

"Pick him up and keep feeding him," S'lek advises, leaning back against the
table behind the one the lizards were on. "You've got him now though. Well
done! And of course you're welcome. Now /you've/ got to think up a name,"
he adds with a smirk.

IGEN-> Auste blahs, also brainfried. Thank you, all! Hatching /rocked/.

IGEN-> A'deth says, "It better, considering we had Prince, Billy Idol, and
Bon Jovi there."

IGEN-> Auste grins.

IGEN-> A'deth all nostalgic now. God, I miss the screamin'.

Tannusen's new lizard is fast asleep after just a few scraps -- it's
daylight, after all! -- and the blond keeps her cradled in the crook of one
arm. "You're still going to have to hunt tunnelsnakes with me," he informs
A'riste with a smirk, "just not today."

IGEN-> Tannusen XD

IGEN-> N'ren says, "You mean, "MORE! MORE! MORE!" :)"

Sunika gingerly scoops up the blue, who happily wraps his tail
oh-so-possessively around her wrist, and pulls him in closer to keep
feeding him. "Like this?" she asks of S'lek, suddenly fretful. And, oh.
Naming. Her eyes widen, the corners of her mouth suddenly pulling down with
dismay. "Oh, oh. I- oh, whatever /will/ I call him?"

Chaton wanders in, sleeping Destin in his arms. He goes up to the meal
table, pushing his way through the people. He balances the 'lizard in one
arm and pours himself a glass of juice one-handed and sits down the
pitcher, taking his glass and ploping down in a seat.

And suddenly, Desdinova is alone with litle Lime. "Fine, then." She says,
stroking the green's head. "If they don't like my names, I won't offer
them." Lime gives a sleepy churr, though doesn't actually wake up. Nove
manages to stand without disturbing her. "Now, how am I going to pour
myself juice with you sound asleep?"

S'lek nods encouragingly. "Just like that," he says, and grins at her
dismay. "Ah, you'll think of something."

A'riste shudders. "I'm going to find your schedule. I'll come visit on..."
And he has to ponder that for a while, because all Candidate chores are
pretty lousy. "Grinding klah day." And he eyes Kassima. "Should I give him
a name with a lot of syllables?" His tone is dubious, and he's been
cranky... but he's smiling faintly, and he looks rather pleased.

Sunika strokes a thumb along a curve of blue haunch, her other hand busy
with the process of getting jerky and feeding it into that greedy little
maw. One set of the blue's lids have already shut, however; impending
sleepiness slows his jaws, but doesn't slacken his hold. "I do hope you are
right," is directed to S'lek, herself not terribly certain.

IGEN-> Auste flops off for sleep. Congrats and thank you to all!

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Goseepies. ^^"

"I'm not sure why everyone is trying to name them on the spot," Tannusen
comments bemusedly, "It took me a few days before 'Erynion' popped into my
head and fit..." And speaking of, the Elvish Grace Bronze pops out from
/between/ and flits over to inspect the newcomer curled up in /his/ spot!
Of course, anything on Tannusen is /his/ spot, so...

"Of course I'm right," S'lek says with jaunty confidence. "So, this friend
of yours you were going to see, what's her name?"

Kassima folds one curled hand in the other and props her chin on the joined
fists. "Nay if'n you don't want to. You can name 'em whatever you like,"
advice she offers to the group at large, or at least those near enough her
to hear it. "After things, or something that sounds good t'you, most of
mine went that way. I happen t'like lots of syllables." She returns the
Fort rider's smile. "Pick a letter you like and go from there."

IGEN-> K'tel says, "Just now done with the hatching? :)"

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Yep. :)"

Chaton drinks his juice quickly and sits Destin down on the table and rubs
his forearms. "They're small, but they get heavy after you carry them for a
while." he says to nobody in particular.

IGEN-> K'tel says, "Egads! :)"

IGEN-> Kassima will make up a +bbpost listing who got what.

IGEN-> R'din got a purple, much to the obvious jealousy of everyone on this
knot.

IGEN-> Desdinova is pliotting his demise as we speak.

IGEN-> K'tel grins.

IGEN-> Eostarra says, "He was only purple when he choked on the scraps you
fed him."

Sunika cants a look to S'lek, nodding a little to his former assertion and
then proceeding to blush at his latter question. "He. I- I came trying to
find someone I knew. He rides for Fort, but I heard he might be here,"
which doesn't answer his request for a name. That comes a beat later as,
"D'vae."

"Oh, you didn't say it was a /rider/," S'lek says. "He'll be easy enough to
track down, then." His eyes go unfocused, as he converses with Kannanth.

Having caught her breath, Eostarra pushes to her feet and moves from her
chair towards the now-mostly-abandoned table the hatching took place upon.
As she nears, she looks to Kassima and asks, "Want me to clean up, Ma'am?"
She seems to be much less crabby now that she's rested a moment.

Desdinova looks between Lime, the serving tables, and the remaining people
milling around. "Maybe they had the right idea." She muremers. She offers a
vauge wave to the people she knows, and a polite smile to those she
doesn't. Then she turns and makes her way back towards the caverns and the
barracks beyond.

Sunika nods with a muted, "I- oh, I am sorry. I should have-" and then her
fingers are being nipped at by the blue for attention and she delivers it,
rubbing along that sky blue neck with wide-eyed wonder. "Oh, do be patient,
love," is murmured to the flying stomach.

Golden Aura, her stomach filled for now, unwraps her tail from around
N'ren's neck and takes to the air, swooping out towards the bowl proper.
Why isn't she going Between? Who knows? Maybe she just doesn't want to go
there on a full stomach or something. But, in any case, she flies out of
the cavern, leaving the brownrider to finish his meal - what part of it
that hasn't gone cold, at least.

Desdinova strides through the passageway into the Inner Caverns.

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Who got the gold?"

It takes a few minutes, and then S'lek looks sidelong at Sunika, sympathy
showing in his expression. "He's, um..." a pause, "busy, his brown says."
The bronzerider decides on discretion. "Sorry, Sunika. We probably should
head back. When you're ready, I mean."

IGEN-> R'din says, "Beli."

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Aww. Lucky Beli"

"Kassima," Kassi automatically corrects, "or Kassi, please, nay ma'aming!
You don't have t'be doing that. I'm thinking I might keep the shards,
actually, have 'em put in some sort of jewelry." She eyes the small
fragments left in some cases. "If'n there's enough... I'd nay say nay
t'help getting the meat bowl back to the kitchens and the table wiped down.
If'n there's any meat left I'm thinking m'fair will be more than glad
t'dispose of it." Two blues and a green take this as a cue to descend on
the small fragments of scrap remaining. The rest of the large swarm follows
suit in short order.

Meilyn follows Desdinova's example, the green 'lizard squawking in protest
at the noise of those still crowding about the caverns. Still occasionally
stifling the protests with a dripping piece of meat, Meilyn makes her way
towards the exit, a smile towards the greenrider for the advice that let
the girl get her little green.

"Oh." Sun's forehead creases, disappointment outlined clearly on her face.
"Oh, well I- I suppose we should, if he is busy," she finally murmurs, a
note of distant confusion registering in her tone. No doubt she's heard
that before; it's confounding. The blue is moved to her shoulder, where he
quickly makes himself comfortable. Her jacket is shrugged on carefully,
allowing the creature to curl in the collar of it. "I, um. Thank you,
again, for indulging my request, S'lek."

"Yeah. Sorry," S'lek repeats, and shrugs awkwardly. "I mean, you're
welcome. It was no trouble, or anything."

Eostarra smiles tiredly. She actually /knows/ better, but is still somewhat
on autopilot. "Sorry, Kassima," she offers in reply. "Long day for me." She
gets a wash rag and begins to scrub the table clean of blood and meat bits
around the feasting horde. "Looks like it was a big clutch," she notes.
"Everyone seems happy. Congrats."

Kassima flashes a quick smile back to Meilyn, waving to her and the small
green as they go.

Chaton stands up and inches over to Kassima. "Um... hey, Kassima? I just
wanted to say thank you... for letting me have a go at the 'lizards and
impressing Destin." he nods back towards the table where the brown is
curled, sleeping. "Just... that's all.." he says, his ears turning a shade
of red akin to his hair.

All Sun can do is nod a little, a hand curving up to touch her blue --
perhaps if only to make sure he's still there. She smiles at S'lek, a small
but genuine thing. "Well, whenever you and yours would like to leave, I am
ready." A sheepish look is given to all the others still gathered in the
cavern, as if suddenly aware of her 'stranger in a strange place' status.

"Yep," S'lek says. "Well, I have to check Kannanth's harness anyway so...
meet me out there whenever you're ready." He smiles at her, and out he goes.

S'lek walks out to the Bowl.

Sunika walks out to the Bowl.

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Everybody's lucky, they were all fabulous. :3"

Kassima shakes her head, the tails of long red sash tied around her head
for whatever reason swaying. "Just don't do it again," but there's a hint
of teasing. "Oh, thankee. 'Tis Zabreneva and Kazander deserving the
congratulations, 'twill accept 'em anyway on their behalf." That happy pair
of 'lizards are celebrating their new parenthood by--napping in the basket.
Sensible creatures. Kassi picks up the big bowl, mostly empty now, and
balances it on a hip without yet moving to leave, grinning at Chaton
instead. "You're very welcome! Take care of him, aye? And 'twill be
well-thanked. They're demanding little things, but worth it in the end."

IGEN-> R'din says, "That word is sooo chick. "Fab! Fabby! Fab-u-lous!" ;)"

Chaton nods. "I can't see it any other way." he said, grinning. "He's
adorable, though he's already nipped me twice. I hope he grows out of it or
something." he rolls his eyes. "Do you need any help cleaning up?"

IGEN-> Kassima hugs A'deth tight. I'm so glad people enjoyed them.

Erynion settles in his usual place across Tannu's shoulders, and sniffs
down at the newly-hatched green, who briefly half-lifts her head to peek up
at him before drowsing off again. Tannusen smiles at this, and then
headtilts over at Kassima. "Can I get a shard of her shell from you later?"
he asks, "I've got some of Erynion's, too." And he glances at A'riste, and
his blue, too.

A'riste blinks at Tannusen, and then looks to Kassima, too. "I hadn't even
thought of something so sentimental," he remarks bemusedly. "I suppose I'd
like one too, then."

Eostarra continues to scrub the table as the feasting horde moves on to
other sections, cleaning up behind them. "Never," she promises Kassima with
a grin. She glances over her shoulder at Chaton and shrugs. "Grab a rag.
Plenty of table, here."

IGEN-> A'deth purrs.

IGEN-> R'din says, "Somehow, I just know that you are going to be a feline
in your next life, A'deth. ;)"

Kassima laughs under her breath. "Here's hoping. That sort's good at
guarding, usually, if'n he ends up vicious for keeps." The feasting horde
is nothing if not efficient; the table is clear of meat bits in short
order, if not dislodged sand, blood, and other such decorations. Kassi
considers and then sets the bowl down, picking the basket up instead to
transfer it gently to a table where it won't be in the way. "Thankee,
Eostarra. Certes, Tannusen, rider; wait a minute, 'twill dig 'em out now.
If'n Zabre's nay laying on 'em. Your green came from the one with the
*faces*, I remember."

IGEN-> Meilyn says, "Does the :3 give that away?"

Chaton nods and grabs a rag, swabbing the table down, being careful not to
watch too closely. Bits of blood freak him out just as badly as freeflowing
blood, and if you look closely, you can see the skin on his forefingers and
thunbs is raw from him scrubbing them with soapsand after holding the
bloody strips of meat.

IGEN-> Desdinova hopes we are all so lucky.

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Here, here!"

IGEN-> A'deth kitty!

IGEN-> Kassima says, "So long as I'm not still allergic in my next life. ;)"

IGEN-> Eostarra says, "Being allergic to yourself would suck."

IGEN-> Tannusen used to joke that Gizmo is allergic to cat.

IGEN-> A'deth is allergic to humans, so can assure one that it does suck. XD

"My name is A'riste." The rider in question seems to suddenly remember his
manners. He sits up very straight. "Fort's duties to Igen and her Queens."

IGEN-> Tannusen seems mostly allergic to BS. Humanity is easier to avoid
when you're a shut-in :P

IGEN-> A'deth ^^

"Masks, I thought they were," Tannusen agrees with a very faint smile and a
glance aside at A'riste, "thank you, Kassima."

Eostarra watches Chaton out of the corner of her eye, thick lips curling in
amusement at his determination not to look at the blood. "Some of the blood
stains make interesting designs," she notes to no one in particular. "Far
less blood than there is when dragon eggs hatch, though. Then there's a
lot. Buckets." Poke that button, Eostarra.

Chaton shudders at the very idea. "It's not nice to poke fun." he mumbles
pathetically, paleing so that his skin looks the colour of wherry-eggs and
his freckles stand out more. "I'd rather not think about it." he said,
putting more vigor into his scrubbing. "How about we talk about the
weather? Nice day isn't it? Think I'll go for a swim later, 'cause the
water'll still be warm in this heat." anything but blood.

"You could mayhaps help clean away the plates people left, Chaton?" Kassi
asks after a minute of watching him. "--A'riste!" Almost a double-take,
that second look. "I know that name. You're the second I've known t'bear
its original version, I'm thinking. I'm Kassima. Green Lysseth's. Igen's
duties t'Fort and her queens, naturally." Dig, dig, dig, and at length she
turns up a fairly large shard with those shadowy face-shapes printed on its
glossy side. "Yours was... one of the purple ones, A'riste. D'you remember,
the dark or the bright?"

Eostarra smirks but falls quiet, leaving the poor boy alone. But then she
just cannot help herself. "This one candidate, a few turns back - about
your age - he got in the way of a charging bronze... Took a claw straight
across his neck. Bled like a waterfall." She straightens and wrings bloody
water out of her rag. "Swimming? Maybe."

A'riste eyes Chaton, his gaze lingering on the Candidate's knot. "They're
probably going to have you butcher meat for your own dragon, if you
Impress. You'll be swimming a lot." And he looks sidelong at Tannu, and
gives him a little smile, and then back to Kassima. "The original was
probably my uncle. He looks like me. I'm told he sounds like me, too. I let
out one squeal after I was born, and it sealed my fate forever." He rolls
his eyes and then turns back to her. "The one with the pale gold and the
naughty pink."

Chaton nods and ditches his rag, but not quite fast enough. He shudders at
her description, and now looks more green than pale white. He puts the back
of his hand against his mouth and swallows. "'scuse me." he says to anyone
present and hurries out of the room, looking... ill.

Chaton walks out to the Bowl.

IGEN-> Eostarra winz!

IGEN-> A'deth XD;

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Fail."

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Good job. You made a 13 year old sick. Congrats. Bet
you feel all good about yourself."

IGEN-> Eostarra does!

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Wait until he's given a big bucket of bloody meat and
guts. XD"

IGEN-> Eostarra is 15, so not that guilty. :)

IGEN-> Desdinova says, "Sweet!"

"A'riste is A'deth's grand-nephew," comments Tannusen helpfully, since the
connection is about to be made anyway! "And are you sure it was /one/ squeal?"

Destin looks up, waking up from his nap, and glances around for his
companion. He chirps irritatedly, annoied that his friend wasn't in the
immediate vicinity. He ruffles his wings and sits back to watch, quiet for
now.

Eostarra blinks, watching the boy run for the open air. "Now /that/ was
just /too/ easy. No challenge." She finishes cleaning the area Chaton
abandoned with a look of satisfaction.

Torn between sympathy and a sort of morbid amusement, Kassima bites her
lip. "He'll get over that if'n he Impresses," she says. "I *devoutly* hope.
...I have nay idea if'n Aeriste's a squealing sort, but I've heard him be
fair shrill. Your uncle once offered t'show me his scalpels if'n I'd show
him m'knives. Alas, he was too young." That lingering amusement puts the
sincerity of 'alas' in question. Dig, dig! Finally a scrap of purple-pink
comes up. "I know your grand-uncle too, a'course. He told me about your
Impression. Here you go. He's probably gone t'vomit, y'know," she observes
to Eostarra, crinkling her nose--it's not a chide, however.

Eostarra beams up at Kassima, the rider easily a full foot taller than the
girl. "Probably!" she agrees cheerfully. Already feeling better after a
long slog of work, she seems quite revived. "But it /is/ a Weyr, and he
/may/ end up on a dragon. That was nothing, really." Somebody has to
toughen them up! Who better than a rider brat?

A'riste just shakes his head. "That side of the family's all reprobates,"
he sighs. And, "He did? I didn't see him. Well, I didn't see much of
anything, I was too busy hoping I wouldn't get my throat slashed or my
tender flesh eviscerated or something like that. It's really disconcerting,
seeing all those pointy bits flailing around." And to Tannu, he sniffs, "I
don't remember! I was just born."

Chaton walks out of the infirmary.

Chaton walks back into the living cavern, his body trembling lightly and
his face sweaty, his red hair plastered down with his sweat and held back
so it wouldn't get ickly. He approaches the table and grabs a glass of
juice and sits down beside the awakening Destin. He drinks shakily and then
rests his forehead on his palms.

Tannusen just looks serenely cheerful as he takes the masks-covered egg
shard and looks it over curiously. Erynion chirrs, peering at it too, as
the blond candidate headtilts at Chaton's re-entrance.

"If'n I end up assisting again, I'd nay mind nay cleaning up someone's
vomit, again," Kassima admits, then after passing the pink shard to A'riste
holds up a finger in a one-minute gesture to her various conversation
partners. She jogs off to the kitchen with the bowl. It doesn't take a
minute to hand it off to someone there, she's momentarily jogging back.
"Pointy bits flailing around. I'm nay going t'ask about that, 'tall, but he
was there. I suspect he may have been proud. I suspect he'd deny that
either way, so 'tis hard t'be sure." She greets the reappearing Chaton with
a wry smile. "Want a mint stick?"

N'ren finally finishes up his meal and stands, taking his mug and
miscellaneous things to where they are supposed to be handled/disposed of.
Then he heads out, a slight frown on his face - more one of thought than of
disapproval.

A'riste hrmphs at Kassima. "That dried-up old saggy grey prune! He didn't
even stick around for dinner. Or say hello. He never does, you know." And
he eyes Chaton again. "I thought /I/ had a delicate constitution."

N'ren walks out to the Bowl.

Eostarra finishes cleaning the table and tosses the rag in with the others
to be taken back to the kitchen for washing. She pulls out a chair and
takes a seat, admiring her work - the clean table and the shaken candidate.

Chaton nods at Kassima's offer and holds out his hand for the offered stick
to get the taste of hot bile out of his mouth. He glares at A'riste and
Destin hisses warningly at the rider, his eyes swirling red.

"You realize you've befriended someone /else/ who plays with sharp pointy
things, right?" Tannusen asks, amused. "Not as big of sharp pointy things
as my sister does, mind you, but still." His fellow candidate's glare at
the boy next to him earns Chaton a charming smile, as does the hissing
firelizard.

Kassima protests, "He's nay dried-up, old, saggy, grey, *or* a prune! He's
tall, silver, and the model of greenrider virility. Here, Chaton's met him.
He can confirm this. Chaton, tell A'riste how studly A'deth is!" Arguably
this isn't Chaton's night. At least Kassi's wink should let on that she's
joking. Maybe. She digs in an inner pocket of the riding jacket slung over
the back of her chair and comes up with a silver case, filled with mint
sticks, one of which she gets up to give Chaton. "'Tis all right, y'know.
W'adru threw up when we got t'firestone."

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Mess with me and next time I'll have him faint on your
toes, Eos."

IGEN-> Eostarra says, "Sweet!"

IGEN-> Desdinova thinks she's gonna like Eostarra. :)

IGEN-> Beli says, "If Des approves, I probably do too :)"

IGEN-> Eostarra looks innocent.

"No, really." A'riste seems undaunted by both the glare and the hissing.
"You should've seen me after my first latrine. I almost fainted, and then I
whimpered like a little girl for hours. Days. Sevendays!" He then beams at
Tannu. "Since you're my friend, you probably won't use them on me because I
hate pain, and you like it when I visit. You don't want me to cry, do you?"
And to Kassima... well, then, he looks horrified. "I do not want to hear
about how studly my decrepit and ancient
great-great-great-great-great-/great/-uncle is! Absolutely not. That's like
incest by proxy by proxy and that's only okay when it's dragons doing it.
And even then it all sounds kind of dodgy. Don't you think?"

IGEN-> Desdinova awwws and snugs Beli. You're sweet. ^.^

Chaton takes the stick and puts the tip in his mouth, sucking on it and
letting the flavour fill his mouth. He takes it out of his mouth and nods
enthustically. "Yeah. A'deth. Studly." he nods, rolling his eyes. "The only
thing that could make him better is if he found a cure for me." he shrugs,
though, and swallows. "And I do /not/ have a weak constitution." he frowns,
and sits his hand on his 'lizard's head to shush his hissing, which earned
him a sharp nip on the fingers. He jerks his hand back and sucks on his
fingertip. "You've got to stop that!" he admonishes.

IGEN-> R'din says, "Beli = very sweet. R'din = pure malice."

IGEN-> Beli thinks R'din is secretly a teddy bear.

IGEN-> Eostarra says, "You might like me, then, R'din."

IGEN-> Desdinova doesn't think that's really a secret. And wanders off to
taxi. Back in a couple hours. :)

"I solemly swear to only use the sharp pointy things on you if it's
necesarry," Tannusen vows with very little actual solemnity. He seems quite
cheerful, in fact, as he twirls the mask-covered eggshell between the
fingers of one hand, careful not to break it. "The rest, is a topic I am
obligated to go nowhere near at present, which is probably just as well for
your weak constitution, considering."

IGEN-> Iesia snorts.

IGEN-> A'deth tosses his hair, like Fabio. Grips a rose between his teeth.
Rrr.

IGEN-> Iesia peeers at A'deth.

IGEN-> Tannusen leers

IGEN-> A'deth beams at Iesia and Tannu.

IGEN-> Iesia scoots away. He's /all/ yours Tannu.

IGEN-> A'deth often has that effect on women!

IGEN-> Eostarra says, "He looks just like Fabio, too. Only old and gnarled."

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Like that commercial."

IGEN-> Lanisa snickers :)

IGEN-> Iesia is reminded of that commercial... "life comes at you fast:

IGEN-> Iesia says, "HEY! My brain >.<"

IGEN-> A'deth XDDD

IGEN-> Tannusen is more reminded of http://www.spreadairborne.com/, if you
click on the "who is Sebastian?". Many lols.

Eostarra quietly watches Chaton's recovery out of the corner of her eye.
Best to keep a low profile, for now.

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Smart B****** Trashy Books for the win. ;) (Where I
saw that Sebastian link!)"

IGEN-> Tannusen says, "Yep XD"

Chaton looks up at Tann. "Thanks... I think." he frowns. He takes another
sip of juice and puts the mint stick back in his mouth to prevent saying
anything harsh to Eostarra, though his 'lizard is giving her 'the eye'.

IGEN-> R'din dies and cannot be revived!

Kassima actually snorts with some real amusement at Tannusen's words. To
A'riste, primly, "You're lying about the greats. He's *extremely* studly.
You don't have t'be wanting t'sleep with him t'know he's studly, you can
just... bask in awe of the studliness. Or write songs to it, or
something--hey!" Oh, no, she has an idea. "You could write a song about
him, couldn't you? Nay a serious song. But something with, I don't know,
five different choruses all praising his masculine attributes." She beams,
beams brightly at this genius idea. "Wouldn't it be great, Chaton,
Eostarra? I'm thinking that's a perfect gift for any man."

IGEN-> Iesia says, "Oh. Hm."

A'riste just shakes his head at them all. Yes, even Eostarra, because
someone that quiet is probably plotting something. "Fine! I will sing a
song about his saggy gray crotch. And everything else." And he raises his
voice, and sings quite operatically, "'His chest hair was as curly and
white / as the fluffiest of clouds, and it / was quite a sight. It grew
down to his--' no, I can't sing that. That's disgusting. Ah... 'It
overwhelmed his whithered physique--'"

IGEN-> A'deth is going to kill his grand-nephew someday.

IGEN-> Kassima says, "I picked up the weirdest in-laws when I married you."

And a voice calls from the Infirmary quite loudly back, "And is likely
enough to make you shriek / Should you see it, dear nephew of mine. Don't
make me do it, you'll cry, you will!"

Chaton blinks. "Wait a second. He's family, isn't he?" he askes Kass,
pointing at A'riste. "No comment." he says, answeing her question. "I
wouldn't know nothing about what sort of gifts to give a man." he sighs,
then giggles at the sound of A'deth's voice comming from the Infirmary.

IGEN-> A'deth says, "My whole family's stark raving mad, my love. Wait
until you meet my dad. His chest hair's down to his ankles."

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Great. I married Chewbacca's son."

IGEN-> Chaton says, "At least you don't have to do body-shots off of him."

Tannusen shakes his head at A'riste's song, but then just laughs at
A'deth's response. "Oh good, I don't have to try to defend anyone's honor
with their wife looking on!"

"He doesn't have chest hair!" That's Kassima's first protest. Second, "I
didn't mean *those* attributes! I meant... his voice. His walk. His flowing
hair. Masculine attributes." Her definition of masculinity explains a lot,
doesn't it. "I could write a song about m'father's flowing hair. I'd
admittedly feel very odd doing it, but we're nay talking father, we're
talking great-uncle, far less creepy. What sort of gifts would you like
t'get? Songs, right?" Because it has been a good evening, and she is in a
very good mood, she raises her voice to then sing out, "You're so sexy when
you make grown men weep, m'love!"

IGEN-> A'deth XD

Chaton throws his hands up. "This is just as bad for my tummy as blood." he
said, making a face. He pulled the protesting firelizard up into his arms
and rolled his eyes. "I think I'm going to turn in. Thanks again, Kassima."
he says, and smiles. Destin gives a parting peep and then both of them are
out the door.

Chaton walks out to the Bowl.

IGEN-> Kassima says, "Poor Chaton. It's a rough night. ;)"

IGEN-> R'din says, "At least he doesn't have to watch or hear a
herdbeast/wherry being crushed under a dragon's weight. :)"

A'riste nearly falls right off his chair at the reply. "YOU DESSICATED
HUSK! YOU WORTHLESS REPROBATE EXCUSE OF AN UNCLE!" he hollers back,
seemingly outraged. He even gesticulates with a fist, pointless as that is.
"YOU DID NOT EVEN CONGRATULATE ME. NOT ONCE." The reply, of course, is as
dry as a shout back can be: "I couldn't congratulate you and drink to your
health at the same time! And then I was too drunk to remember!"

IGEN-> Eostarra leaves bloody scraps in Chaton's cot.

IGEN-> A'deth <3 Chaton.

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Yes. All gray clouds have a silver lining. This one
just happens to be razor-blades rather than silver coins."

IGEN-> A'deth says, "...That's pretty good. o.o"

IGEN-> R'din says, "We didn't know you were a poet, Chaton!"

IGEN-> Chaton gives A'deth a very heterosexual hug.

IGEN-> Iesia dies. Best. Hug. Ever.

IGEN-> Chaton says, "I'm not. I'm a novelist. I suppose they do have
something in common, though."

IGEN-> Tannusen lols. Guyth, you are scarinth the straiths.

IGEN-> A'deth beams, and hugs back in a manly way. "Bosom buddies, then?"

IGEN-> R'din snickers

IGEN-> Eostarra says, "Every gray cloud has a silver lining. Each year,
hundreds are strike by lightning trying to see it."

IGEN-> Chaton says, "Aye!"

"Don't flail too much, you'll wake up your lizard's big moist eyes again,"
Tannusen points out amusedly. As it is, the green in the crook of his arm
stirrs a little, turning on her side sleepilly with a big long streeeeetch...

IGEN-> A'deth says, "Whilst bringing sexy back tomorrow / though I'm a
heterosexyal guy~"

IGEN-> R'din says, "Who looks like Sebastian / not that old fart Fabio!"

IGEN-> A'deth now has to look that video up.

IGEN-> Chaton says, "I'm a hetero guy in a metero world."

Kassima offers, "That's probably true. When he gets drunk... well, I could
tell you stories, but you don't want t'hear them. Unless 'tis as fodder for
the song."

"Wow," Eostarra murmurs after Chaton leaves. "Is /he/ in for a rough time
if he Impresses." She shakes her head at the singing family feud, rubbing
her eyes. She looks up at Kassima when she mentions stories. "Do tell!"

A'riste hrmphs quietly at them all. "I think I just got defeated at my own
game." This disconcerts him quite plainly. His own lizard sleeps on. That's
what a good round of lovi-- er, feeding does to a man, right? Zzz. And then
he adds quickly, "No stories!"

Tannusen just beams at everyone, tucking the shell bit somewhere safe and
climbing to his feet. Erynion snorts after Chaton, or rather his very hissy
lizard, and lays his head back down again. That's what he thought!

"Youth and indignation never win against old age and drunkenness," Kassima
says, attempting, and failing, to coin a proverb. "Stories. There was one
occasion after three bottles of brandy--which he hogged for himself, mind
you!--that he put on one of m'gather gowns, although he couldn't get the
bodice up, and he did the dance with the high kicks on his Infirmary desk
in it, nay wearing a stitch beneath let me add, and he fell *off* the desk
and onto one of the aides. But the aide was a woman, so he screamed and ran
away barefoot like a wee lassling. Strangely, he doesn't remember this
incident." She pauses. "Probably because I made it up."

A'riste looks quite disappointed. "Hmph." And looks up at Tannusen. "Snakes
at midnight, then?" he inquires. "I'll bring the flamethrowers, you'll...
well, you'll use them while I cheer you on?"

Eostarra rises from her seat and stretches. "Well, I need to go wash up.
See you all around." She turns and ambles off towards the inner caverns.

"Flamethrowers? For tunnelsnakes?" Tannusen blinks down at A'riste, amused.
"/Flamethrowers?/"

Kassima asks the pair, while waving after Eostarra, "Will you please nay
burn down Igen's stores, or halls, or... flamethrowers are excessive unless
tunnelsnakes absolutely drip from the walls. Even then, burned tunnelsnake
meat on everything isn't that big an improvement."

Eostarra strides through the passageway into the Inner Caverns.

A'riste nods emphatically to them both, though he waves after Eostarra,
even if she was mean and encouraged terible, terrible stories of iniquity.
"Flamethrowers."

"No, no flamethrowers," Tannu chuckles. "Midnight, sure, and you can -- ah,
cheer me on, sure. And hold the bag."

"You realize with flamethrowers, the ash will blow back at you and you'll
be covered in 'snake, whereas with a good knife, the 'snake stays dead over
*there*," Kassi tries as another effort to save Igen from flaming death.

"You realize with flamethrowers, the ash will blow back at you and you'll
be covered in 'snake, whereas with a good knife, the 'snake stays dead over
*there*," Kassi tries as another effort to save Igen from flaming death."

"Lies," A'riste sniffs stubbornly. "All lies. I will be on the other side
of the fire. Fire kills snakes. Snakes cannot defeat fire. And Tannusen.
Whilst I hold the bag behind him. I'll be safe."

"Fire also kills people and random inanimate objects," Tannusen points out,
far more amused than he should be at A'riste's plight.

Kassima squints a dubious look at A'riste. "Did a tunnelsnake scare you in
the latrines too? He's suggesting you get all the 'snake ash," she points
out to Tannusen. "There you'll be, covered in cremated tunnelsnake. There
he'll be, holding the bag. That naught will go in. Because the ash will be
too greasy t'scrape off you."

"Yes, but we will be on the right side of the fire, whilst they will not."
It all sounds reasonable to A'riste!

"If I /was/ silly enough to go with that plan, I'd just have to share the
greasy ash afterwards," Tannu says cheerfully, "like water, but greasier.
Which reminds me, did you bring my pants back, A'riste?"

There are some questions a Candidate Coordinator must ask. "...What does
A'riste having your pants have t'do with greasy ash?" Maybe not the
question they were expecting, but!

A'riste blushes, and then turns to Kassima. "He dripped on me."
Unfortunately, this kind of explanation only garners more questions.

And Tannusen, ever-so-helpful, just laughs.

"He dripped greasy ash on you." Kassi gives them that much benefit of the
doubt. "*Do* tell."

A'riste shakes his head, and raises his hands, as if she were /his/
coordinator, too. "Erynion scratched me by accident while Tannusen was
swimming, and he dripped water on me after he got out to fix me up."

Tannu's mirth remains, though he stops laughing long enough to ask Kassima,
"Do I dare ask what you thought it was?" No, no, he doesn't! Because that
line of questioning could go into dangerous territory /very/ fast. "And I
sat on you so you wouldn't flail around so much," he adds to A'riste, "one
would think you've never had a cut cleaned in your life!"

Kassima attempts to sort out this tangle. "Tannusen was swimming; Erynion
scratched you, so Tannusen, wet, dripped water on you, and somehow this
ended in you having his pants. Oh, you *sat* on his pants. Then gave him
yours. This gets better and better," she says dryly, but although one hand
rests on her hip she's more entertained than worried by it all--as yet. "I
can't even imagine how and why you'd drip greasy ash, Tannusen, that's why
I want the story."

"It wasn't greasy ash. Just water. Besides, I wouldn't lead a candidate
astray." As if A'riste would! "He got my pants wet, so gave me a pair of
his. ...You're tormenting me, aren't you?"

"Just a little," Tannusen affirms. "And if I was to get covered in greasy
ash from /your/ idea, I'd just... well, I think I'd have to give you one
big, clingy, /greasy/ hug out of pure gratitude for your brilliant
strategy. I'm generous that way."

"I suppose 'twould just be tactless t'keep asking questions about your wet
pants," Kassima sighs. "Only mayhaps a little bit. If'n Candidates are
taking their pants off and giving 'em t'someone else, you can understand
why I'd be interested--if'n it got back to the Weyrleaders and they ask me,
'what d'you know about these bronzeriders in our Candidates' pants,' I have
t'have something to tell 'em!"

"Hey, this shirt was expensive! It cost me a third of a gitar." A'riste
eyes Tannusen with his hands still up, and then he turns to Kassima.
"Everyone assumes bronzeriders want to get into everyone else's pants," he
grumps. "Now, Tannusen's pants are perfectly nice pants, but I did not come
to the Weyr to get into them, and I will return them freshly laundered and
not at all contaminated by various iniquitous substances."

"It's usually assumed that I want everyone /else/ in my pants, so don't
feel too bad," says the slightly older blond, cheerfully enough. "But I
only have so many pair, you know, so I can't lend them out too terribly
often." Which has a grain of truth to it; most of Tannusen's clothing has
the distinct hand-me-down look to it, and already did two turns ago when he
showed up at the weyr!

Kassima acknowledges the hit with an amused tilt of her head; "Many
bronzeriders I've known have," she says, "but since I hate it when people
do that about greenriders--you're right. Bronzers do nay by default try and
get into every pair of pants around. Some of 'em stick to just one person's
pants. Or their own pants. I'm nay asking about your pants preferences, I'm
being mean enough t'be teasing you when we've scarcely met." Of course,
she's not going to comment about who Tannusen wants in his pants. "You
should mayhaps look for new in Stores," that's safer.

A'riste rises, too, and looks from one to the other. "It was a pleasure to
meet you, Kassima of Igen," he says with quiet sincerity and a brilliant,
genuine flash of a smile. "But that's a very good idea. I think we'll do
that." His voice, though it's shaded toward the shrill tones tonight, is
suddenly soothingly smooth: a Harper's tricks, but meant less to manipulate
than to assuage any tension. Or try to, anyway.

Tannusen headtilts at them both, and then shrugs. "If we're to be hunting
tunnel snakes -- and no flamethrowers, A'riste -- we should be going
anyway. Besides, we need to find a place to deposit these two," a glance at
both of their new aquisitions, "long enough to do anything like that at
all, if we even do so tonight." The green in Tannu's care blinks drowsily
at the lot of them, and gives a tiny little yawn.

"A pleasure likewise, A'riste of Fort, grand-nephew of m'beloved." Kassima
again inclines her head; acknowledgment too, of another kind. The smile she
gives him is both bright and warm for a new acquaintance. "M'regards t'your
wee lad when he wakes up. Enjoy the pants--both of you--but for Faranth's
sake, don't set aught on fire in there, and don't be dripping either."

A'riste beams at her, salutes, and begins to drag Tannusen off. "What is
it?" he inquires very softly to his friend as they depart, "About girls
being preoccupied with... dripping?"