[G] [P] [EVENT] 735.03.17 | Bright Lights

L'taaaaaaaaai! Tiatiath shrieked as she bounced on the spot, dancing impatiently while all around, dragons began the tell-tale task of humming excitedly: the eggs were preparing to Hatch! "Collect the Candidates, you crazy girl!" L'tai laughed, giving his dragon's nose a solid shove out of the way as he came bouncing and skipping out of the kitchens, grinning happily and laughing at the sight of some of the confused looking Searched. They'd all been told what Humming meant, but clearly some of them were rather befuddled by the actual event!

Hatching, hatching hatching! Tiatiath sung, not really restricting her enthusiastic voice to just the candidates; anyone within the area could hear her excited comments. No, you can’t go on the sands yet! She laughed, reaching out to nose against an excited looking candidate. Baths first! You all stink! Which was probably a pretty relevant remark, considering the late summer heat, heavy muggy nature of the day, and the fact that the candidates had been helping wash the dragons in R’nya’s wing, the non-murderous golds, and the assorted older Weyrlings.

After they had bathed, each Candidate was forced to walk past a laughing Tiatiath who would sniff them all dramatically and either send them back to scrub some more, or allow them entrance into the Hatching Sands. As each of them passed her test, L’tai directed the boys left or right, so that each of the white-robed individuals formed a loose circle around the twenty-nine eggs. It was a large group – sixty four candidates – but L’tai was very pleased; it would give the dragonets the best possible choice for a lifemate, and should (hopefully!) mean that there would be no deaths and, if they were lucky, there wouldn’t be too many maulings.

Of course, once the first few Searched had caught sight of some of those who had been mauled in the past, notably Indivara, there had been a lot less talking during his classes instructing on Sands behaviour!

Good luck! Remember what we’ve said and you’ll be fine!

---

Okay, so everyone was bathing dragons that morning lol. Hopefully no one had any threads doing otherwise hahaha. It’s not a big deal, but it struck me as a fun way to occupy everyone, and with over sixty assistants, bathing the Weyr’s wing and weyrlings should have been pretty entertaining!

Hatching post will be up in a second XD Actually, I'll let people get a post up first XD

Everyone is present and accounted for when the first egg cracks!

For lack of anything better to use Firah used his already damp tunic to wipe the sweat off his brow. The humming had interrupted his work and though he knew what it meant he had finished what he was doing before disengaging himself. Baths? Really? Tiatiath was certainly picky. Even though he complained mentally to himself the Beastcrafter jogged off to comply with the Green's wishes. Not wanting to be turned away right off the bat to go soak again a generous amount of sweetsand was used in quick but rough scrub down. While bathing some of the more spirited weyrling dragons he'd been dunked a few times much to his consternation as it meant that he had come away from the experience completely soaked. His water logged clothing had been drying quickly thanks to the heat when Tiatiath contacted them. Holding his breath Firah slid under the water, rubbing any remaining residue from his hair. Quietly extracting himself from the bath he shed himself of water then donned the white robed he'd brought.

Despite the refuge that the bathing pools had given the heat of the day returned to pound down on their shoulders. Frowning as a over eager candidate scampered past him and nearly tripped Firah rolled his eyes. It would do them no good to hurt themselves right before entering the stands. Though honestly he wouldn't mind seeing one go face first into the dirt. Trotting up to the line that was forming in front of Tiatiath he slid into place. Walking up to the Green when it was his turn Firah sighed as she let him pass. Well at least he didn't need to go back. Nodding to L'tai as he followed his directions, the older candidate made his way over to the area the Weyrlingmaster had indicated.

He could feel the heat of the sands through the soles of his shoes, the feeling was familiar and bid unwelcome memories. Those were pushed back as quickly as they rose to greet him. He'd been forced to stand many times almost always against his will. Now he stood among the sea of white on his own accord. There was no one but himself whom he could push blame or hate on. This was the life he had become used to and possibly dependent on. For the first time he stood with the intention of Impressing a dragon. Folding his arms across his chest, Firah glanced out among the eggs, eyes lingering momentarily on the Gold who had mothered the clutch. The clutch was strong and large, he assumed the Riders hoped that all of the eggs hatched without incident. Well, incident to the eggs. Maulings and other accidents almost always happened among the humans during a hatching. He took a deep breath letting the air escape his lungs with a sigh. Alright babies, time to dance...

Oslanis cocked his head slightly to the side, jabbing a finger into one ear as a rising buzz filled his head. He thought some left over water from the dragon bathing session was causing the problem. Tiatiath's helpful words finally clued him into as to what was causing the sound. He scrambled after his fellow candiadate, unsure just how long they might have before the hatchlings appeared. Minutes? Hours? This was all excitingly new and he enjoyed not quite knowing what he was suppose to be doing. The Green's comment about their odor had him taking a careful sniff of his own, after which he readily agreed with he assessment. if he was to meet his dragon today he wanted to make a better first impression than his sweaty and grimy state currently would.

His white robe flapped about him as he jogged back toward Tiatiath and dropped into place in the the line that had formed for her inspection. Oslanis gave her a quick bow and wide grin as he was deemed fit to stand, breaking back into a jog as he headed out onto the sands. He dropped back to a walk as his feet hit the warm sand, following  L’tai's directions and joining the growing circle around the eggs.

The eggs looked pretty much the same, except that some had begun to shake and rock as the dragon's inside sought their escape. Over sixty candidates for twenty-nine eggs. Oslanis wasn't so naive as to think his chances to impress was guaranteed. There were plenty of young men just as eager, and some maybe even more so than he was and like better qualified as well. That didn't mean he wasn't going to enjoy himself today no matter what happened. An expected grin settled over his face and he made a private wager as to which egg would hatch first.

Jesazek glanced around with an annoyed scowl, preparing to demand what the fuck the annoying noise meant. His knowledge of dragons was limited, though the day's bathing chaos had added greatly to it. The hum throbbed almost painfully in ears and after the day's activities his patience was wearing thin. Tiatiath's familiar voice clued him in before he could take further action and his scowl turned into a pleased smirk. It was about time! Lessons with L’tai were already growing tedious. it wasn't so much the lesson, but the jocular man who usually taught them that tended to rub Jes the wrong way.

His new mood lasted until Tiatiath ordered them all to bath. He growled under his breath, if some uppity Green made him miss the hatching because a little honest sweat and dirt bothered her he wasn't sure what he'd do. He bathed quickly, forgoing modesty for speed as he lathered up with soap sand and rinsed off with a quick dunk back into a pool. His hair received a cursory scrub with a dry towel, enough to stop the dripping but the dark locked still cluck wetly to his face and his pulled on his candidate robe. The fabric felt itchy against his skin and he ran a finger around the collar and he found a spot in line.

Once allowed to pass onto the sands he moved quickly, joining the circled surrounding the clutch. The rocking eggs were much more impressive than at the touching as they actively showed signs of life within. Jesazek's confident smirk returned as he examined the eggs. He had no doubts that he was dragonrider material, the only question was whether or not his dragon was in this particular clutch. All he had to do was show up and keep out of the way of any of the lesser hatchlings. Sure some might be head over heels for a Green or Blue, but he wasn't going to settle for anything but the best.

Ameris had not taken well to being confined with Mizeath once the gold had clutched a rather nice sized brood. She’d tried, how she’d tried, to emulate Rhaedalyn and Kahleena in their calm as they waited for the dragonets of their golds to hatch but nothing she’d done had actually helped. She was horrendous at stitching and knitting so that had been a complete bust, though she had managed a cap for Rislan, if you could call it a cap.

She had gotten so bad in her pacing that the irritable Mizeath had kicked her out of the hatching grounds several times, the gold mumbling about errant riders and obnoxious actions. Mud, the traitor, had opted to stay with Mizeath every time, the brown firelizards obsession with the much larger gold never ceasing. Ameris had welcomed the reprieve and had sought out Vaelya and K’ton for company, usually with her young son in tow.

The closer the hatching came, the more irritable her dragon became. It was highly unusual for the generally placid, Mizeath, to snark and snarl at people but she had none the less. So much so that Ameris herself had scolded the dragon more than once. With a delicate promise to be on her best behavior the touching of the eggs had gone off without much of a hitch and the excitement Ameris had begun to feel had heightened as she watched each of the young candidates touch an egg here and there. She remembered her own touchings and the feelings of excitement and wonder and she couldn’t help but grin at each a grumbling Mizeath beside her.

Thankfully the time between the touching and the hatching would be brief. When the humming began at a right decent hour, Ameris had nearly jumped up and down with her glee. The babies would be hear soon and they’d decided an afternoon hatching was much finer than a hatching in the middle of the night. Mud’s little hums were lost in the deeps rhythms of the larger dragons as Mizeath’s rough hum joined the others. Finally they decide to see the world, the gold chuckled before growling slight as the first of the candidates began to file in. Do stop that, Mizeath! They’ll neither harm the dragonets nor each other! Ameris calmly told the gold as she side eyed the circle of people.

Here he was, once again, beside his very proud bronze, settled down amidst the other dragons. It seemed his dragon was determined to have the most hatchlings regardless of who he flew and won, as there were quite a few ready to Impress. He, of course, was quite proud of his dragon too, but was still rather grumpy about the entire ordeal, though he and Ameris were on better terms again, after the awkwardness that had come the day after Torath had won her flight. That seemed quite a long time ago, and being unable to hold a grudge against the girl, settled for shamelessly teasing her from time to time, just to fluster her and remind her of how she had bruised his pride. Torath chastised him for it, arguing that if he kept it up he would not get to see her little one anymore. Torath knew N'kal liked the little child as much as he himself did, human children were so much less complicated than the adult ones.

N'kal sighed heavily as he looked up at him deeply humming dragon, who paused his humming only long enough to echo Mizeath's growling when the candidates entered the sands. N'kal grunted and elbowed his dragon's paw before climbing up on said paw easily. What?, Torath questioned lazily. They were his children as much as they were Mizeath's, why shouldn't he warn the beastly youngsters as well? He had every right to protect his eggs, didn't he? N'kal shook his head ever so slightly and settled himself on Torath's paw. Just settle down you great beast. There is no need for all that growling. Torath rumbled and pointedly ignored him, but returned to humming with the rest of the dragons present.

As he often did while waiting for a hatching to commence, he thought back to his own Impression. He watched the candidates form a circle around the waiting eggs and imagined they felt the same excitement and nervousness that he himself had, that nearly every rider before them felt. So will you stop being so grumpy now?, his dragon teased even as he continued to watch the candidates and eggs. Oh hush and watch your eggs.., N'kal answered gruffly, though he was amused no less. 

There were so many things that Sezmidae had never expected to learn, and so very many things he had never expected to ever see; a large part of that was obviously the dragons and all that they entailed, but the firelizards went along with that, too. He hadn’t managed to secure a firelizard egg for himself, and with the Hatching so close, he wasn’t willing to pick one up now – not if there were a chance he could Impress an actual dragon at some point in the upcoming days! A firelizard could be very useful, but Sezmidae was by and large far more interested in the dragons themselves!

The flying and the oiling and the bathing were all marvellous, and Sezmidae had found a niche in life that he truly wished he had been born into. Even the sticky southern heat could be bearable, when one was soaking wet and trying to wash a dragon, or flying through the air faster than Sezmidae had ever known anything could move. He had never experienced anything as magnificent as flying on a dragon, and honestly, could not imagine having to go through his life, now, without one. So, when the sound of humming interrupted the exuberant bathing of large and small dragons, Sezmidae stopped, and stared, before throwing his hands into the air with a whoop of delight.

Tiatiath had to send him back to the baths twice before he finally stopped and took his time with washing himself, grinning sheepishly at the older Candidates that had laughed at him as they took their leisurely time. One of them had been kind enough to let him know that the eggs would probably take a couple of hours before they actually started to break shell and that Tiataith would let them all on the sands without a fuss if they were that close to Hatching. Sezmidae relaxed (a tiny bit) after that, but was still bouncing with excited enthusiasm when he finally scrambled past the laughing green dragon, his robes fluttering around his legs and his hair still dripping wet.

Carefully skirting the grumpy looking parent dragons and taking his place as indicated by the Weyrlingmaster, Sezmidae peered around curiously at his fellows, waving exuberantly at the few he was better friends with. His gaze then shifted from the rocking eggs, to the Weyrfolk that were gathering, with dragons being used for seating arrangements. He spotted the girl with the awful scarring with a couple of guys and what looked like half the Weyr’s blues (and a stray bronze?) but quickly looked away less he be caught staring and get hit – he’d heard she broke one of the other rider’s noses! He was not sure if it were true or not, but he supposed a girl that rode a boy’s dragon and had her face that screwed up couldn’t be a flower petal, could she? His mother had always said that girls should be respected because they did a lot more work than was first seen.

Having seen the state of his father’s room after his mother died, Sezmidae definitely agreed; he had never realised how much cleaning she did in the house until no one was doing it!

Shaking his head, Sezmidae refocused on the eggs just in time for one of them to finally split. Really, it had felt like no time at all had passed, though it had truly been almost an hour since the dragons first began to hum before that eggshell fell away. Wide eyes watched with fascination as the first dragonet made a show of falling out of the egg, and was not the only one who gave an oooh of surprise and delight as Bronze001 fell out of the Iridescent egg, and lifted himself quite slowly and purposefully onto his feet. Nasty looking red eyes peered around at the gathering, and Sezmidae wasn’t sure, but he thought he wasn’t the only one that seemed to step back and withdraw in on himself. The dragonet looked awfully mean, and the boy wasn’t interested in becoming dragonet fodder!

As the bronze began to stroll across the Sands, heading vaguely in the direction not directly towards Sezmidae, two other eggs seemed to give way to the contents within them, with a little Green001 falling out like a proper little princess. With her nose tilted towards her chest as she peered around at the world coyly, Blue001 face planted heavily, and proceeded to have a coughing fit, spitting sand in every direction as he attempted to find the required breath to breathe.

Sezmidae watched in awe as a young man took the initiative and sprang forward, falling to his knees in order to assist the young blue up, and using his hands to wipe sand away from the poor creatures nostrils. His efforts were rewarded with a lick, and a nuzzle, that had the boy laughing. Sezmidae gave a cheer, clapping delightedly as the Impression was clearly made and the two began to move off towards the very excited L’tai and Tiatiath; Sezmidae hoped he Impressed – they were truly a fun set of educators and he could only imagine that Weyrlinghood would be a blast under their tutelage.

Sezmidae’s head whipped around as a sudden sound from the crowd – half shriek and half hushed terror – echoed through the Hatching Grounds, his dark eyes widening in horror as the bronze dragonet slapped the green around the face, sending her tumbling, creeling in distress. The moment one of the young men swayed forward, as if to take a step to go to her, the bronze pounced, snarling and slashing the young man over the chest, his back claws digging into the bare thighs. Sezmidae’s head spun as he realised that the sudden additional colour was blood and he flailed mentally, too horrified to move. Would the young man die?

The question many had was answered, however, when a strong voice rang out and the dragonet seemed to pause, before sauntering off the heavily injured Candidate, to peer up at the one who (in Sezmidae’s opinion) was unlucky enough to have such a horrible creature as a life mate. There was no way being a bronzerider could ever justify being mind-buddies with something that took such clear pleasure in tormenting someone else.

As the bronze smugly went off to stand by his human, the little green creeled in horrified apology for the injuries the other boy had obtained for trying to protect her, her little nose reaching out to brush against his cheek as she skirted the healers who were attending him. The bond was clearly made there, too, and Sezmidae wondered if the circumstance in which their bond had been born would affect the relationship the pair would have for the rest of their life. He’d heard stories, of course, during lessons about how some riders and their dragons had amazingly strong bonds, how some seemed to confuse their fellows on a daily basis about why they were bonded at all. But, mostly, it seemed that people fit into the middle ground of being solemates, without being exemplary.

Sezmidae hoped he would be exemplary (and he liked that word, it sounded cool) and blow people away with the amazing bond he would have with his dragon! They would have to create a whole new word, for how brilliant he and his dragon would be! It would be beyond anything anyone had ever imagined before, and – Sezmidae gasped and was drawn out of his thoughts as another egg Hatched, spilling out another Green002, this one quite a bit bigger than her predecessor, and Sezmidae gave an appreciative nod as she very literally flounced across the sands, reminding him very much of Tiatiath, to curl around the legs of one dazed looking young man.

As the pair set off through the centre of the Hatchign Sands, instead of around the event like they had been told, Sezmidae barely refrained from raising his hands so that he wouldn’t have to watch. No one had said why they were to go around, but the youngster assumed it had something to do with getting eaten by the gold (or her grumpy mate) – so he was rather shocked when the dragonet tripped over her own too long limbs, and went sprawling, taking her young rider-to-be with her… who landed with a crash and a crunch right on top of an egg. Sezmidae gawked in horror.

There was a symphony of shrieking, so much so that he had no idea from whom the sound was coming! There was a loud roaring noise that was either the blood pounding in his ears, the gold, or the bronze, or someone – there was the shriek of the little green who was scrabbling to stand up. There was the horrified sound of the young man’s heavy breathing as he tried to find his feet, and there was the sight of what looked like a squished Blue002 under him, wriggling and squealing for freedom.

On the one hand, Sezmidae was amused, but mostly that was because it was apparent that the little blue dragon was quite fine, as he finally gained his freedom and started screeching and hissing at the young man, who was defended by his screeching and hissing green dragonet who had her wings puffed up and her eyes that hot bright red that Sezmidae had learned early was not a good sign. When the Candidate that was her lifemate stepped forward, Sezmidae was relieved, though it didn’t put a stop to the bitching – that took Tiataith’s intervention.

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Okay – some babies will be assigned to a character, but all Impressions will be done as open ended as possible, so if you really like something and you want that baby for your character, please feel free to grab it, just do make a note in your post so I can edit the Hatching tag!

Hatchling images do not have to be an indication of what they’ll look like when they grow up. I’ll be making a heap of adult images for people to pick through when the Hatching is done, so you’ll be able to choose how the adult dragon looks.

This Hatching is far more for the fun of "yay I got a green~" than that green actually coming with anything more than a picture, and sometimes a name XD I hope you'll enjoy it none the less!

Hatching Order: Bronze001, Green001, Blue001, Green002, Blue002
Impression Order: Blue001, Bronze001, Green001, Green002, Blue002

I have PSDs of all the images, so will add names in exchange of the colournumber when/if they are adopted.

– Humble
– Manipulative Sirbuth, to Jesazek. His name is literally 'Hubris' backwards, which means "excessive pride or self-confidence." which we thought would make a very amusing pair up with Jesazek.
– Coy; smaller sized green baby.
– Vivacious; normal/larger sized green
– Obnoxious

The first of the hatchlings to grace the world was a Bronze. A mean, vicious looking one but a Bronze nevertheless. Historically if one hatched first it meant good luck for the rest of the clutch though he had never really put any belief into the idea. Lifting a hand from his chest to his face Firah rubbed at the closely shaven stubble on his chin. He winced with empathy as a boy was all but tackled to the ground by the Bronze as he attempted to assist the Green he'd been bullying. Of course he had never been mauled by a Dragon but he knew what it was like to be attacked by animals. The thought had him subconsciously rubbing the tail end of his scar. He hoped that the GreenWeyrling would heal well enough to still be able to preform the duties he'd be assigned. For some, it would be the end of the world if they could not become a full rider just after having Impressed.

When the Bronze was reigned in and the injured Weyrling had been looked after the Beastcrafter turned Candidate switched his attention onto the others who had spilled out onto the sands. Blue, Green and... He shifted slightly trying to see past the boy who had foolishly brought his new mindmate through the sands. Blue? Yes, Blue. It looked well enough despite being temporarily flattened like a corncake. Spirited too. He watched as the Green and Blue fought among themselves though he quickly lost interest. They'd sort it out or an older dragon would sort it out for them.

What he was more worried about was anything that moved in his immediate vicinity. If he had a choice he'd rather not end up like the GreenWeyrling. Letting his hand drop back to his chest as he shuffled his arms slightly, Firah shifted his weight slightly. His leg was falling asleep and standing around wasn't helping at all. Rotating his ankle in an attempt to get the blood circulating again he made sure to keep an eye out for any wayward hatchling. Being caught unaware would be embarrassing at the very least, if not deadly.

R’vi was in a good mood as he settled into his spot on the sideline of the Sands. It felt good being on that side and not because he was too young or because he was boycotting the Hatching because he was worthless and would never Impress. He was there because he had Impressed to a wonderful blue not too long ago and it still made the twin beam brightly when he thought about that moment. Watching a Hatching without worrying about anything when he was so used to always standing by hoping a dragonet would want him time and time again was actually a bit weird but it was something R’vi was more than happy to adjust to and the fact that he had his friends and brother with him now made it even better.

They hadn’t exactly rushed in since there wasn’t a real need to anymore but R’vi wondered how quickly V’ler got there to claim is perfect viewing spot so he could document the event again. Not that it really mattered since they all took advantage of spot-claiming and crowded in around him, dragons and all. Veeth and Vydoriath got along splendidly and it took a lot of concentration to keep the jealousy of that at bay. It wasn’t Veeth’s fault that his rider was bedmates with Indivara but it was still a bit frustrating that Vydoriath so easily became buddies with V’ler’s dragon. He just had to keep reminding himself that they were all friends and he had resolved to be supportive of the relationship since he wanted Indivara happy – even if that came from spending time with a boring Harper.

When the eggs finally started to crack, R’vi was surprised to see he was still a bit anxious. It was hard to know who would Impress, what would hatch, and if it would be a clean experience. Sadly, they found out too quickly whether it would be smooth sailing or not when the first to hatch bronze showed his temper. R’vi held his breath when the green was batted at but it was when the foolish boy tried to intervene that the blue weyrling knew history was about to repeat. He quickly grabbed Indivara’s hand in support, knowing without ever truly discussing the issue that she feared bronze dragonets due to her own attack. He wanted her to know he was there for her and that she was safe.

Only, it seemed V’ler had the same idea and when the boy was on the ground and bleeding, V’ler had Indivara pulled into him to keep her from looking, his writing equipment forgotten and scattered. Of course he would be the one to keep Indivara safe and from looking. It was his right. His duty. What he had been doing since the golden egg incident. Quietly and without a fuss, R’vi slid his hand free so he wasn’t in the way and turned back to the horrible sight on the Sands. Indivara was being taken care of and so was the wounded Candidate that seemed to have Impressed to the green. It’d be interesting to see how that bond worked out and how the classes would go with the green and bronze near each other.

As he started to think everything was calming down and the boy would be fine, more drama appeared, this time in the form of stupidity borne of bliss. He could understand the disbelief and happiness after Impressing but R’vi held his breath as the pair didn’t follow the common sense rules and strutted through the eggs and landed on one. Again, he turned to check on Indivara, knowing it would bring up memories of when she knocked on the gold egg but V’ler had the situation still well in hand and R’vi focused back on the mass of limbs. Vydoriath had a moment of panic when the collision happened but he noticed before R’vi that the inhabitant was fine, if a little pinned down. The little blue was adorable in his squealing and wriggling free though the hissing that followed between the dragonets was less so. At least it was all contained and dealt with soon enough.

R’vi was starting to worry about the Hatching and while he was definitely thankful he wasn’t on the Sands for this one, he couldn’t help but wonder if that really made him any safer.

Jesazek tugged irritable at his robe, shifting his weight from one sandled foot to another more out of impatience than because of the warmth of the sands. Slender fingers pushed his almost dry hair back away from face. The warm sands and the South's humidity were working together to reform the sweat he'd washed away earlier. He not yet adjusted to the change in climate and doubted he would ever really adjust to the near constant muggy damp that seemed to pervade the South. Give him a cool mountain breeze any day rather than this unnatural heat and humidity. 

All the candidates had been long since gathered and there had even been enough time for the rest of the population to wander in to watch the event. Assuming the eggs eventually did hatch, though judging by the faces of the spectators a bit of a wait was not that unusual. Just standing and waiting though was not easy for someone like him, someone use to doing something productive. Lazy Southerners might not mind sitting about and doing nothing, but he hadn't been brought up that way. 

Eventually his impatience was rewarded as an egg cracked and a bronze dragonet fell out onto the sands. Jesazek straightened, standing squarely on both feet as the hatchlingly slowly stood, staring around at the gathered candidates with an intimidating, red eyed glare. He could appreciate the dragonet's apparent dissatisfaction with his choices, Jes felt only a handful of those searched actually had any real potential. He smirked as a number of candidates shrank back from the red eyed Bronze, at least they had enough sense to know they obviously weren't worthy of the creature, though he was more interested in seeing who was worthy than who wasn't.

The Bronze's hatchling selectivity gave time for two more eggs to hatch and Jesazek glanced away from the first hatchling to examine the second and third. The Green and the Blue that followed didn't impress him, especially after the Blue fell face first into the sand and proceeded to have a coughing fit. He didn't bother to hide his derision as a candidate fell forward to help the creature and was rewarded with an impression. The first of impression of the day, but hardly worth the cheer that followed it.

Jesazek's attention was whipped away from the Blue and his new rider at as a pained shriek pierced the air. He watched the Bronze smack the Green hatchling about the face, sending her stumbling away. She'd obviously strayed too close and the Bronze had enough sense to keep the clumsy Green away from him. That wasn't enough though and the young man that swayed after her was quickly pounced upon with a snarl and crimson flash of torn flesh.

Jesazek's lips curled upward in an enraged snarl. How dare that boy come so close uninvited, who did he think he was daring to approach?! Jes blinked, confused by the anger that had suddenly welled up within him. He gave his head a quick shake before he took a confident step toward the snarling Bronze, he knew what to do. "Sirbuth. Leave him be." Jesazek called out, raising his voice to be heard above the sounds on the sands. The Bronze paused, giving the candidate beneath him a disdain filled glare before he moved off, head held high as he sauntered over to Jesazek.

Sirbuth peered up at the dark haired youth. I was enjoying myself, and he deserved ever bit of it. He said in an annoyed tone before rubbing a blood splattered snout against Jesazek's robe. Jesazek grinned and shrugged wordlessly, still adjusting to the sudden shift his entire world had just taken. He ran his eyes over the perfection that stood beside him, taking in the glorious color and features of his dragon. Even with only a handful out of their eggs he knew Sirbuth was the best of the lot. Of course I am. A smug voice agreed. His Bronze was getting some fearful glances as nearby candidates edged away from the new pair, likely unwilling to risk being the focus of the dragonet's ire. Jes watched them move off with a pleased leer, resting a possessive palm against Sirbuth's hide. Yep they'd better watch out.

Jes looked back toward the candidate Sirbuth had mauled, more curious than concerned and observed without any guilt as the healers tended to the new Greenrider. Stepping out onto the sands was a risk and it was his fault not Sirbuth's that's he'd been mauled. Sirbuth head butted Jesazek's shins, none to gently. Stop worrying about the riff raff I'm hungry. He demanded. Jesazek nodded moving toward the outskirts of the sands were buckets of meat were waiting for them. Sirbuth stepped boldly beside him, snarling at those who didn't move out of their path quick enough. Jesazek just smirked, not bothering to stop him.

The pair stepped up to the Weyrlingmaster, "Sirbuth and..." He looked down at his Bronze, raising an eye brow. J'zek He supplied with an impatient flick of his tail. J'zek pursed his lips thoughtfully for a moment before nodding in agreement, "I like it." He looked back at L'tai, "Sirbuth and J'zek." With their names taken care of he went and retrieved a bucket of meat from one of the helpers, striding back to where Sirbuth now waited. Not bothing with table manner the young bronze plunged his muzzle into the bucket, dragging J'zek downward. "Better slow down or you're going to choke." Sirbuth raised his head giving his rider a dangerous look, I'm not some stupid little Green, I do know how to eat. J'zek rolled his eyes, but made no further comment as the hatchling sated his hunger.

Indivara trembled, from head to foot, as she clung to V’ler. The girl had been frozen from the moment the bronze dragonet had cracked his shell. At first, it was just her fear tickling against the edges of her mind and forcing the girl to lift her chin proudly where she was sitting casually on Venseth’s leg, twirling a charcoal stick she had stolen off V’ler and throwing playful quips at R’vi. When that red-eyed gaze had trailed over the crowd, Indivara had not even been aware of dropping the charcoal, or the way Venseth shifted uncomfortably and was poking at her mind with mild worry, confused by her sudden fear. When he had thrown himself at the candidate, Indivara had whimpered softly, though she did not hear the sound herself, and then she was wrapped up in warmth and safety.

Venseth swayed anxiously as he stood up, moving forward just enough to make sure that nothing would be able to reach Indivara while he tried valiantly to get through the clouding uncertainty of fear. Indivara so rarely feared, and the young dragon had never been subjected to such terrible and consuming fear that he was having trouble finding the girl within the mountain of mental walls she had put up. Under all the mental protection, though, Indivara had turned off. With her face buried in V’ler’s shirt, she was oblivious both to R’vi holding her hand, and then to his dropping it. She probably would have stayed like that for all of the remaining Hatching, but Indivara had ever been a proud girl, and while it took a bit of time for Venseth to get through to her, the girl did slowly extract herself from V’ler’s chest as the Hatching Sands quietened down following the end of the first few hatchings.

Indivara did not bother to remove herself entirely from V’ler’s lap as she turned anxious blue eyes down towards the remaining eggs, leaning back against comfortable familiarity of his chest. Venseth continued to hover anxiously, shifting to be a little more behind the pair, but he stood up and proud and his eyes were coloured a combination of relief and defensive warning. It was not in dragon nature to eat their younger brothers and sisters, but Venseth certainly gave every appearance of being quite prepared to change that rule, if anyone – and especially that little bronze – came too close to his rider-to-be. On his head, as if keeping watch, Queenie stood tall, one paw resting on one of Venseth’s headknobs to keep her upright. Saph, on the other hand, finished winding his way down Venseth’s side and over Veeth to sneak into Indivara’s lap with a low purr of comfort, and nuzzled at her stomach before curling up quietly. Indivara petted him vaguely; another egg was cracking.

Indivara sat stiffly in V’ler’s lap as the eggshell was fought against by the youngster within, relaxing only when a small Green003 head poked out. After a moment more of wriggling and struggling, the shell shattered around the dragonet, and she toppled onto the hot sands with a crow of victory. Indivara gave a small, ghostly smile that only tugged up one side of her lips as she watched the little one clamber to her feet and peer around curiously.

In the process of looking around, the young green’s attention was captured by another sibling, and she trotted towards the egg with very obvious curiosity, to sniff at it as it wobbled. She gave a little squeal of surprise when one particularly strong rock caused the egg to tap her on the nose, and was rewarded with a soft chittering from inside the egg. Eyes wide with delight, the little green sat back on her rump to watch the other seek freedom. The sibling within the egg alternated between chittering conversation, and active silence as it attempted to gain freedom and life; the green seemed content to wait forever for that freedom to be obtained without offering any particular assistance – something that Indivara personally felt was a good thing, considering how such attempts were usually met.

It took some time – ten, fifteen or maybe twenty minutes – before the young one finally managed to do some real damage to the eggshell, and he came out in a very real explosion of eggshells, squealing victory, and a deep eye catching body of blue. Indivara managed a smile at the little blue003’s antics, though she wasn’t game enough to make a sound with the events of her own past far too fresh in her mind. Instead, she leaned back against V’ler in a much more relaxed manner, and shifted herself slightly so that he could continue his note taking albeit having to work around her in order to do so.

She did hold her breath as the two dragonets faced one another, stretching ouse to sniff the nose of their sibling, but with more squeaky chittering, the pair apparently decided they were friends, not foes, and bounced closer. Nudging and head butting one another, it was a few moments before the little Green003 turned suddenly and gave a blissful squeal of delight and bound over to where a Candidate was watching everything with a sloppy smile on his face.

The little Blue003 considered the results of his sister’s Impression before deciding that was a fantastic idea! Bouncing, skipping and frolicking, the little dragonet fluttered around the various Candidates, eyeing them up curiously and rubbing against legs as he wove between them. Brushing heavily against the back of one set of knees, the youngster sent a candidate sprawling forward… and then pounced on him with a playful trill of delight, crying ‘got cha, got cha!’ for all to hear as he slithered  off, and then pranced back and forward before the young man.

---

Time frame: 2PM to 2:30 PM

Hatching Order: Green003, Blue003
Impression Order: Green003, Blue003


There is supposed to be two more in this batch, but I’m asleep on my chair. I’ll add them to the next lot. Sorry for the heinous delay :(

[IMG width=250]http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a598/SPWeyr/CLUTCHES/Bright%20Lights%20235%20AL/Green003_zps6645a51b.png[/img] – Courteous
[IMG width=250]http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/a598/SPWeyr/CLUTCHES/Bright%20Lights%20235%20AL/Blue003_zps4cec3b93.png[/img] – Energetic

The first five dragons had hatched with some speed, relatively one after the other. But it seemed like the next few were going to take their sweet time. The next to make an appearance was a Green who, after some struggling, managed to shatter her shell and free her limbs. A cute little thing to be sure. While she became fascinated with one of the rocking eggs Firah took the moment to crouch. His leg was now fully asleep. Using his fingers to dig in to the muscle he attempted to get the blood flowing again. It was fortunate that the length of time between hatchings was a long one as it took most of it to wiggle feeling back into his leg. He was finally able to put weight on it comfortably when the next dragon sprung from his shell with a victorious squeal.

A Blue. Shifting so he could see past one of the taller candidates Firah couldn't help but admire the young male. His color was vibrant even for a hatchling. At least, some of him was. The brightness seemed contained to mostly his rump, tail, and wings. Firah wondered if the rest of the male would catch up with the vibrant blue or if the darker patches would stay dark. In the lessons he managed to stay awake in he remembered something about the hatchlings having slightly different colors at birth than they would have upon adulthood. Not that it was an unusual concept in animals, it helped camouflage them against potential predators, but he had to wonder why the Dragons had something like that.

He shrugged. That would probably be addressed in Weyrling training. If he ever got there that is. If he didn't, well he could probably ask someone like B'jin to explain it to him again. Quietly he watched the Blue weave among the candidates in his search to find his Mindmate. The Green had already Impressed and once the Blue did so as well they'd have to wait for the next wave of hatchlings to make their rounds. Returning his gaze out to the unhatched eggs Firah tried to guess which one would be the next to hatch.

Ameris watched the rocking and shifting eggs with an anticipation that had her shifting back and forth with growing impatience. They were certainly taking their own sweet time in greeting the world. Patience, Ameris. They will crack their shells when they are ready, the gold rumbled between hums, voice heavy with amusement. With the impending appearance of her brood, the gold’s earlier agitation had seemingly melted away, leaving her with her usual calm. Yeah, yeah, Ameris replied with a wave of her hand. And nearly jumped in place when the first egg cracked.

Ameris shook with glee when the first dragonet fell from its shell. A bronze! The first hatched was a bronze, a good omen they always say and Ameris could only hope. She watched with interest as the bronze strutted around the gathered candidates. So focused on the red eyed dragonet, Ameris had missed the next hatching of a tiny green, followed by her clumsy brother. She felt the chuckle of the dragon next to her and looked quizzically about, eyes falling on the sweet sight of the young man wiping the sand from his blue’s face. With a grin, Ameris turned to continue her watch and scowled heavily as the bronze dragonet slapped his tiny sister around.

She gasped and wanted to run to the young man the vicious dragonet began to maul. Horrid little creature. Misguided, not horrid Mizeath admonished her rider. The gold would not believe the bronze had done any such thing on purpose, clumsy creatures hatchlings were. And look, he has impressed. Now his rider shall keep him in line. The boy who had impressed his bronze would have his hands full with that little dragonet, Ameris had no doubt.

She clapped as another green made her appearance and impressed her rider without much fan fair, a good impression. She gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth as Mizeath’s sudden roar echoed about the grounds. She would eat them! EAT THEM ALL! Mizeath! Ameris screeched within her mind as she struggled with the sudden rage that filled their bond, Peace! Look! They’re fine! It took all of her strength of mind to keep the gold from doing the unthinkable and finally Mizeath calmed enough to see the young blue and green march away with their own riders.

The gold grumbled and grumped through the next two hatches and impressions. Another green and blue, whom made very fine impressions. Ameris was pleased with the matches the small dragons had made so far. The little bronze would find his match in Jesazek she was sure. Hopefully the young pair would not give L’tai too much trouble, but who was she really kidding? They looked like trouble already. She caught N’kal’s eye and grinned at the man as another shell began to crack.

The dark cream egg rocked and wobbled on it’s round bottom, the occupant in a rush to greet the world. A crack and then another crept along Blinding’s round shape and Ameris held her breath. Perhaps another bronze! But it was the egg that held Blinding in place, Radiant, who’s charge burst shell first. A sharp crack accompanied the dragonet as the Green bounced in place, the shattered remains of her shell crunching beneath her paws. Small touches of ichor flowed from the cuts received from the fragments but unperturbed by the pain the small Green leapt into action, dancing and prancing her way to a laughing young man, her eyes shimmered with the rainbow of impression.

A booming sound thundered through the sands as simultaneous hatchings took place. Where the Splendiferous and Promising eggs had stood, a Blue and Green could be seen, confusion at the world plainly seen on their faces. Glancing at each other, the two trotted off. The small Green sniffed and snuffled at the sand that covered the ground, in no apparent hurry to find her lifemate. A loud sneeze followed by wide surprised eyes had Ameris chuckling.

The Blue tripped and trotted around the remaining eggs, bumping into the Ablaze egg, sending the plain white egg rolling away. The occupant of the Ablaze squealed in irritation from within it’s shell and a single paw burst forth. With chatter, the Blue began running amuck through the rest of the eggs, scattering them here and there with a zealous glee. Eyes bright with his amusement, the Blue knocked into the Brilliant egg before whipping his tail at another. A shout rang out, sending the Blue running towards the waiting ring of boys, rainbow eyes signaling impression as the newly impressed boy gently scolded his young charge for his actions.

A quiet snap and the top from the Blinding egg lifted, a Brown head beneath. The small brown’s eyes glanced about the area with a sullen look to his draconic face. He had tried so hard to be first! Why hadn’t he been first? Another pout and the body within stretched sending egg fragments flying and he was finally free. The petulant Brown stomped his way around the sands, sniffing and snorting at the eggs the Splendiferous blue had scattered about. The Brown kicked out at the Flash egg, bringing a low growl from Mizeath. Fortunately or unfortunately, however you wanted to look at it, the kick connected and the shell of the Flash egg fell away to reveal another Brown.

This brown made no effort to be lost in the shuffle and quickly sought his lifemate. Eyes flashed rainbow and the happy pair moved off the sands. The Blinding Brown gave an outraged shriek as his brother found and impressed his lifemate before he had even had a chance to look. How dare they?! He charged forward in a rush to deliver a blow to the retreating back of his brother. A young man stepped forward before the blow could land on the hind end of the Flash Brown. Shriek turned to a distressed creel as the blow instead landed along the thigh of the boy who had stepped forward, the Brown’s eyes flashing rainbow as impression was made. The boy gave a grunt as he landed on the ground, thigh wide open and creeling dragonet circling him with anxious nudges.

The healers were quick to assist and moving swiftly they retrieved the boy and his dragonet to treat his wounds. Ameris shook her head, so much for having a nice quiet hatching! First the bronze and now a brown mucking things up with such violence!

Look there, Ameris! Mizeath shouted to her rider, pride thick in her voice and Ameris turned to look at the scene. The Ablaze egg had finally brought forth it’s cargo and a gentle eyed Bronze stood surveying the crowd. To his right, the Brilliant egg shook and shuddered to spill another tiny Green to the floor. The small Green cried at the sudden light that momentarily blinded her. Concern rattled through the Bronze’s eyes as he moved to nudge his sister. The Green struggled to her feet, kicking a small shell fragment from her paw.

With another gentle nudge the Bronze trotted towards the waiting boys, Green sister following quietly behind. He skittered to a halt before the boys, nudging his sister forwards again and stood waiting as she took her time looking through the crowd. Finally after what seemed hours she made her selection, eyes rainbow and the young man she’d chosen crouching in front of her to gather the Green in his arms. The Bronze gave a satisfied snort and pushed through the boys to find another shuffling his feet near the back. Impression was made and the pair moved off, boy grinning from ear to ear.

The commotion of the impressions had some how left the Promising Green to her own devices. She’d romped and kicked, rolling about in the sand with not a care in the world. Shaking the sand from her body, the small dragonet cavorted about the sands until her eyes happened to slip along the boys waiting with anxious smiles. Blue eyes suddenly sparked into the shimmers of rainbows and a sweet looking boy ran forward to collect his wayward dragonet.

Ameris watched with a smile as another impression was made. She could feel the pride her dragon felt along side her own and watched as another egg cracked shell, the Reverberant shell sliding to the ground, revealing yet another Green. Much like her brown brother, she made no bones about who she would chose and made her choice quickly and without preamble. The boy’s smile was sweet as they made their way to the meat buckets and Ameris went back to being on pins and needles waiting for the rest to finally hatch.

---

There’s quite a few hatched this post and holy whoa, it got long hahaha. The hatching will be finished up in the next few days. 

Hatching order: Green004, Blue004 Green006, Brown002, Brown001, Bronze002, Green005, Green007.

Impression order: Green004 to Male008, Blue004 to Male009, Brown001 to Male010, Brown002 to Male011,  Green005 to Male012, Bronze002 to Male013, Green006 to Male014, Green007 to Male015.

  -  Keyword: Zealous

  -  Keyword: Joy

  -  Keyword: Voracious

  -  Keyword: Sullen

  -  Keyword: Trustworthy

BLGreen005 -  Keyword: Brilliant
BLGreen006 -  Keyword: Promising
BLGreen007 -  Keyword: Courageous

At least this hatching was proving to have an equal number of violent and calm Impressions. It would have been a terrible sight if the majority were inclined to mauling. Interesting though that most of the injuries had been caused by the dragons who could claim rank one day. He watched the healers deal with the boy who'd been slashed by the Brown. As far away from the boy as he was it was hard to tell whether he'd been seriously hurt. Hopefully he'd just need a few stitches and some rest to heal up. Folding his arms across his chest Firah watched with amusement as one of the Greens who'd just broke free frolic around. A moment was spared to watch the Bronze, and the Green who followed him, pick through the candidates before Impressing.

Eyes turned back to the Greens that were left among the unhatched or broken eggs. While he had no burning desire to impress a Bronze, he equally did not want to impress a Green. There was something about riding a female dragon that did not sit well with him. The ones on the sands were cute yes, but not enough to make him change his mind about it. What then did that leave for him. A Blue? A Brown? He shifted with a sigh. Either would be fine he supposed. Though, if he looked at the ratios of colors, it'd be more likely that he ended up with a Blue. He nodded slightly. A Blue would be fine. A fighter. A color he didn't have to worry about all the pomp that came with higher colors.

Firah clapped as the last of the hatched dragonettes Impressed, happy that she had not dawdled and lollygagged about. The Green had hatched then went straight for the boy she'd call her's for the rest of their lives. While they waited for the next of the dragons to make an appearance he struck up an idle conversation with a candidate who looked to be near his age. It was better than waiting in silence even if the topic was lacking in excitement.

K’ton watched most of the proceedings with his usual smirk. He watched a couple bronzes hatch, browns – the very best of colors – and of course blues and greens. The hatching wasn’t the only thing he watched. Vee was a constant sight from the corner of his eye from where she stood on the sidelines with Ironth and her little bronze firelizard. Not for the first time the brownrider was glad he’d given the egg to her, certain the small firelizard helped with still be dragonless. He knew Ironth assisted the woman where he could.

There will be more babies very soon, the dragon in question inserted and K’ton turned back to the rocking and rolling eggs.

The Penetrating egg  shook and shuddered with such fierceness hairline cracks grew swiftly and a small green dragonet burst from her shell to cry piteously when her nose sucked up hot sand. Sneezing the grains from her nose, the green flounced to the boys waiting. A few inched away, unwilling to take the chance that they caught the eye of a green. It was apparent that the dragonet was unperturbed by their movements as eyes suddenly flashed rainbow and her boy scooped her up.

It wasn’t long before another egg cracked and split, the halves falling from the Burnished egg to reveal yet another green. She was delicate in appearance and did not rush about in the usual manner of dragonets. She strode with purpose to a young messy haired boy, eyes shining rainbow. The boy gave a glad cry and moved them to the buckets of meat. K’ton nodded with approval before catching Ameris’ eye to shoot his friend a wink. He approved of most of the impressions the dragonets had made and the new set of riders would be fun.

The Fortunate egg and the Gleaming eggs began to show the strain of trying to contain the bodies within. Lines appeared here and there along both shells, growing larger and large when the Fortunate egg burst apart with a resounding crack! Another green tumbled out with what could only be absolute joy in her eyes. She danced about the boys, sniffing and snuffling at feet and legs, stopping to peer at one and then another before darting away to rub her body, much like a feline, against a different boy and impression was made.

The Gleaming egg dropped it’s shell piece by piece until the blue form of the next dragonet could be seen, still in his huddle. K’ton chuckled at the sight, the little blue didn’t seem to want to move in any fashion and it wasn’t until Mizeath gave an encouraging croon, did the blue move. His feet moved awkwardly, stiff from being cramped for so long. He shuffled in his gait as he moved from boy to boy, stopping to sniff at Firah looking up at the boy with a cocked head. With a snort the blue moved away, tripping over his tail before falling at the feet of a boy, eyes rainbow and impression made.

---

Hatching order: Green008, Green009, Green010, Blue005
Impression order: Green008 to Male016, Green009 to Male017, Green010 to Male018, Blue005 to Male019

Keywords:
Green008: Dramatic
Green009: Conservative
Green010: Cunning
Blue005: Awkward

He knew it probably wasn't a good idea for him to daydream, in fact it was a possibly fatal one, but he couldn't help it. The sands were hot, he was tired from preforming both his candidate and journeyman duties, and the bath earlier (however brief it was) had done a more than applaudible job at loosening some of the tension in his back. Firah at least had had the good foresight to step back a few paces in case he really did loose focus on the hatching. Gritting his teeth the beastcrafter rubbed at his eyes in an attempt to rouse himself. It wasn't like he was disinterested in a chance at Impressing, he didn't want to send off that sort of vibe, but with the long periods of inactivity between waves of hatchlings were rather boring. It was hard not to think that way after having stood multiple times, it took away the wonder that most people felt when standing for their very first. For those  who were there voluntarily at least. There certainly hadn't been any warm feelings coming from the Beastcrafter when he stepped onto the sands for the first time near to five turns ago.

Using the tips of his fingers Firah aggressively ruffled his hair trying to stimulate his brain into working better. Opening his eyes he froze as he locked eyes with a very real and very present hatchling right at his feet. Yep. This is how he died. Wasn't his life supposed to flash before his eyes? The edges of his mouth twitched as he watched the Blue. There didn't seem to be aggressive posturing. No bared teeth or claws, no red eyes... If he wasn't going to get mauled then, was this it? Was the Blue going to choose him? He didn't feel any different. When the hatchling snorted and moved off Firah sighed, drawing a hand down his face in relief. Sure the Blue hadn't Impressed to him, but he hadn't deemed it necessary to injure him for any reason.

The upside of the encounter was that his body was back on full alert. No baby would sneak up on him now and if they did, well, it wouldn't be due to his drifting off. Blinking as he watched the remaining eggs wobble, crack, and what have you, the beast crafter struck up the conversation that had petered off due when the Greens had hatched. A different topic of course. He needed something more interesting than mundane conversation to keep him active. While most of his attention was captured by the eggs he did occasionally glance at his companion.