2022/05/11 Gold Malvayth has Flown, caught by Bronze Xyxyth of A'tay. Their Hatching will be PC, and take place in Telgar in August around the 20-22nd! Update your Candidate Applications and prepare for some fun!
2022/04/21 New default layout! I hope you enjoy it! If you find any bugs, please report them in the discord #bug-squishing channel!
05/JUL It’s Hatching time!! Come take part in the shenanigans here
30/JUN Gold Thallyath of Ista Weyr has laid a clutch! More information here
27/JUN A bluerider, and then a greenrider, are found dead. More information here
30/MAY After the Touching, many Candidates found themselves preyed upon in the form of their food. More information here
18/MAY Another goldrider - Ameris of Benden - is attacked. More information here
05/MAY Multiple individuals are attacked whilest out of the Weyr! More information here
04/MAY Take a chance OOC and guess who you think the murderer is! You can win prizes! More information here
03/MAY Goldrider Cazan and her twin brother Cazelarias are attacked. More information here
24/APR Goldrider Ashara of Fort is murdered by two brownriders. More information here
12/APR Searchrider B’jin was attacked at Telgar Weyr, surffering a slash to his throat. While in Benden, bluerider B’dor is found dead in his weyr. More info here
05/APRMore attacks occurred today. More information here
03/APRMultiple individuals found their death this day; more information here and here
28/MAR Tragedy has struck again! Across all the Weyrs, multiple people - primarily dragonriders - have fallen ill after eating muffins. There have been multiple deaths, and others are in criticle condition. More information here
24/MAR Weyrwoman Ameris and her son, Rislan, poisoned! More information here
18/MAR Benden’s Weyrleader M’ris and his children have been poisoned! Resulting in sickness and death. More information here
18/MAROn 18.03.742 Bronzerider A’dris of Vyaniorth was found dead in his personal bathing pool. He appears to have drowned after drinking an excess of alcohol. Afterwards it was realized that Machiya of Gold Cameth from Telgar Weyr had disappeared. Having never arrived at her destination, it is suspected she had an accident between.
11/MAR Gold Racoth of Donmaline went between taking Bronze Beruth of T’rel with her shortly after she had been caught, due to T’rel strangling Donmaline. He did not survive. more info
25/FEB Congratulations and thank-you to Guest for taking on a moderator role! <3
Welcome to the Month of Lovetm! This month's Monthly Event is all about Romance, whether it is asking someone out on a date, or getting sweaty between the sheets! Anything and everything counts, if it even looks sideways like it could be related to Valentine Day -- including lover's spats, or breaking up, Flights Wins (or Flight Losses!). Honestly, this month has a huge opportunity for interpertation, so go wild!
Ahh, the fresh snow, the crisp air, the naked trees... welcome to Winter! Or, just the Colder Months for those in the more Northern Weyrs, while Ista is just... not as hot. But it is time to enjoy the end of the Turn, so folks should get together, spend some time gossiping, and drinking Hot Chocolate (alcohol and marshmallows opional)... does Pern even have marshmallows????? (they do now!)
Hair Blonde and wavy, Tazikel wears his hair so that it ends a little past his ears. Due to the wave, it's a bit longer when damp. He's at that age where he can finally sorta grow a beard but it never really gets anywhere, so he keeps it fairly stubbly so it looks very intentional (even if he can't grow a proper beard).
Tazikel stared open-mouthed as Mylorah walked off the sands with the gold dragonet. She Impressed, he thought, a little dazed. Mylo’s Impressed a gold dragon. It didn’t feel real yet. Tazikel was sure it would sink in soon enough, when he thought to invite Mylorah somewhere or considered getting a ride to visit her and realized things were more complicated now.
Because as happy for her, as proud of her as he was—and Tazikel was both—it still felt a little bit like now that she’d Impressed, that she was leaving him. Which he knew was just him being stupid, but after all the Hatchings he’d attended where she hadn’t Impressed, Tazikel wasn’t emotionally prepared for her to finally do so.
It’s fine, it’ll just be a few months until she’s graduated and then— And then things would be different forever, but it would be okay. They’d talked about it. Tazikel took a few deep breaths as he watched Mylorah feed her new dragon, reminding himself of all the reassurances he and Mylorah had given each other previously, and all the explanations she had given him of how weyrlinghood went.
Self pep talk given, Tazikel was ready to be fully there and excited for Mylorah.
“Do we go down and see her now, or—?” he asked T’ryn. Tazikel trailed off as he saw K’dar go up to Mylo and hug her. Clearly people could go see her, but T’ryn shook his head. Tazikel glanced back to Mylorah and K’dar to see K’dar was crying as he held her. Ah, fair enough. Not the right time, that particular brother needed her all to himself for a minute. When K’dar rushed off, Tazikel gave T’ryn another questioning look. Was it their turn now, or should they give her and the baby dragon space?
Ah!! Did he see? Chironhes grabbed Sironar's shoulder and shook him a little as he spotted Mylorah Impress the little gold. Now that she was out from under her egg, the boy could see the beautiful striping along her sides. Again, he was reminded of Felines and their coat patterns. While he'd never seen one that color before, it was just the sort of camouflage that worked well in a sun-dappled autumn forest.
His smile fit to split his face, Chir knuckled at the corner of his eye. Goodness, why was he even crying?! He'd never actually been moved to tears before and felt silly for it. But as soon as he spotted K'dar come forward and hold his sister tight, he felt something suspiciously lodge in his throat and turned away. Despite the public location, that was a private affair. He felt wrong watching, so turned to focus instead on other candidates tending to their new dragons.
Oh, wow. Some of them really knew how to gorge themselves. Chir snorted when one of the blue hatchlings so forcibly shoved his snout in the bucket his new rider held that both rider and pail toppled to the ground. This was such a wonderful affair! Siro had said Hatchings could be dangerous, but he really hadn't seen anything to worry about. It was a shame they didn't happen more often!
Siro grinned, nodding as his friend kept excitedly shaking him. "Yeah, I saw Mylo get the gold. It makes sense really. All of her brothers are on bronze, so of course she'd end up on Gold." He followed Chir's gaze and also spotted K'dar and quickly turned away to try and refocus. It sucked, there was nothing else about it really. Siro had lost his mother and his brother only a year apart, but he hadn't lost a lover, definitely hadn't lost a baby that he was so excited about.
He wasn't sure if Chir had noticed or if he was going to, but he nudged his friend anyway and gestured back to the remaining eggs on the Sands. "What color do you think the next one will be? I bet it's a green." It was a cheap and safe bet really considering how large of a percentage the greens were, but he wasn't sure if Chir knew that yet or remembered it if he'd heard it.
Though with Chir being unable to talk, and this not being the best place to try and write anything, Siro decided to settle on a different distraction. "After the hatching maybe we can go hiking, get some berries to bring back for Mylorah." He surprised himself with that since it actually seemed like a good idea. That and it would probably be a nice snack for Mylo while she was dealing with the early weariness that came with Impressing babies.
He was shifting from foot to foot when the eggs finally started to actually start hatching. His head was still throbbing, dull now but the pain was there just behind his eyes. How idiotic would it be to have to leave the hatching because he was stupid and didn't drink enough or eat enough? He didn't think he was getting sick and he definitely wasn't ill like other people had been, like Benden's weyrwoman.
Fuck that was awful...
His interest and attention was caught when an earthy brown broke shell, he wouldn't mind impressing brown. They weren't all that bad no matter how some people felt about them. He'd heard the stories about S'kef so he supposed he could understand some other their disgust with the color but did the rider make the dragon or did the dragon make the rider? Landen didn't know how to answer those questions so he watched the hatching instead. He snorted when the gold hatched next and immediately started to make a fuss and playing with pieces of her shell. A chip off the old block, he thought to himself.
A green and a blue next, the brown impressing before being followed closely by the blue and green. He yawned as he continued to wait for the rest to break shell. The gold finally made her impression, after what seemed to be forever and Landen chuckled when she took the shell she'd been playing with along with her. Another hatched and like most, couldn't tell if they were a green or a blue. He squinted at their coloring, chuckling softly as the dragonet grabbed the long tail trailing behind them in their mouth and marched along to come to a stop right in front of him.
L'den, the blue said, for he was definitely a blue, What's a headache and why do you have a headache? Maybe you should get someone for it or something right? But maybe you should feed me first or maybe second. But I am hungry like nothing else ever.
"I suppose that would be the best thing, Ziggy," he told the dragonet as he glanced around for a way out. Ziggy... Hmm... Maybe... Yes. Ziggy is good enough, L'den
"That's a relief," he murmured and led the blue away.
A jolt of excitement shot through Cazan as she saw Mylorah walk up to the gold and she turned to grin at A'tay and then back around at T'ryn only to see K'dar get up and walk off. Her smile faltered for a moment. "I hope he's okay," she said softly to A'tay. Turning around did give her a chance to spot Kor'is though and she gave him a smile too before turning her attention back to the hatching. I'm glad your baby picked Mylo.Me too! I told them all stories about my favorites, it seemed some of them listened! Cazan had no idea effective those stories actually were, it was entirely possible that the babies just happened to like the people for the same reasons that Malvayth liked them and the stories were completely unnecessary. But just in case she gave Mal a pat and smiled. I'm glad you tell them stories.
Another egg cracked, this time to reveal Green 3. She seemed quite clumsy as she kept slipping and falling and landing back in her shell. Eventually she managed to fully escape her egg, and after looking around trotted off (with frequent clumsy trips) towards the low wall that separated the spectators from the candidates. Cazan immediately felt a pang of old familiar dread as she stared at the little thing as it kept trying to hop and climb at the barrier. Green 4 had hatched by then and curiously went to see what all the fuss, hopping partially up with her front legs on the wall to try and se what her sister was so obsessed about on the other side.
Blue 4 managed to hatch while his sisters were being distractions, tumbling out of his egg to stretch and let out a warbling cry before prancing around to inspect his options. Green 5 hatched shortly after, taking a few clumsy and stumbling steps around before she seemed to get the hang of walking before going to check on her sisters. Cazan's dread grew and she could only stare as Green 3 pitifully chirped at her sister, but Green 4 seemed to grow bored of the wall and turned to wander off back towards the candidates. That would have been a relief except she was quickly replaced by Green 5 who chirped curiously before using her head to shove Green 3 up and over the wall with a startled chirp so she could go find her person.
"Oh no..." Cazan was starting to feel almost dizzy for a moment as she watched everything turn to even more chaos; she completely missed Green 4 calmly trotting off to find her boy so that she could go eat. Blue 4 also chose that moment to find his boy, enthusiastically circling him for a few moments before they headed off to the sidelines for food. And then Green 5 gave a small wiggle of her tail and leapt up, landing on top of the wall in a startling display of balance for a moment before tumbling across the other side and crying to someone for help and comfort.
Taking advantage of the enormous distraction his sisters had caused, Blue 5 quietly escaped his shell and circled around behind a group of boys to loudly squawk behind his chosen to announce his presence. Once his boy had calmed down the two trotted off together. Blue 6 hatched shortly after that, taking a moment to scratch at himself before walking over to a group of boys to impress his mate without much fuss.
After the onslaught of blues and greens, Bronze 1 hatched, taking his time as he paced around to study the candidates. Taking a page from his sisters he slowly stalked along the wall, occasionally clawing his front up to peek over the side at the people there curiously. Cazan didn't realize she was holding her breath until the bronze turned around and walked back to the candidates, walking straight to a boy and giving him a firm nudge with his head before walking directly off to the food buckets he'd spotted earlier in his rounds.
Egg 1 - Green 3 to ???
Egg 9 - Green 4
×
to NPC male
Egg 15 - Blue 4
×
to NPC male
Egg 4 - Green 5 to ???
Egg 10 - Blue 5
Hair Blonde and wavy, Tazikel wears his hair so that it ends a little past his ears. Due to the wave, it's a bit longer when damp. He's at that age where he can finally sorta grow a beard but it never really gets anywhere, so he keeps it fairly stubbly so it looks very intentional (even if he can't grow a proper beard).
Before he could decide if he should run down to congratulate and check in with Mylorah or not, a green hatched and started trying to climb the wall between her and the Stands. Tazikel held his breath, and he could tell most of the people around him were doing the same as she tried to scramble over. There was a low murmur of whispers too, and it intensified as a second green hatched and came over to the Stands barrier.
Tazikel had been to a number of Hatchings since he’d met Mylorah—was it really three Turns ago? And dragons Impressing people in the Stands was relatively rare. He’d seen a handful—Cazan, who was the rider of the gold whose clutch was hatching, had Impressed from the Stands herself, even. Tazikel had been there for that, Kor’is had Impressed the same day. And Healers seemed to keep Impressing, though they tended to mostly be on the Sands already and didn’t have dragons clambering over walls to reach them. Today there were two. No, wait, only one, the second green wandered back onto the Sands, but the first one was still trying to get over the wall.
Someone should help her, Tazikel thought, listening to the sad little chirps she made. If she was that determined to get into the Stands, preventing her would only make things worse, right? She might not find her person?
Another, third green seemed to agree with Tazikel, and while he watched the first green’s continued attempts she took one look at her distressed sister and boosted her over the wall.
Yes! Tazikel cheered internally, egging the little green on as she got to her feet after her sister’s assist. He grinned at the helpful sister, and watched in shock as she, too, decided she needed over the wall. Except she didn’t need a boost, and made it to the top of the barrier all on her own power. Tazikel was truly impressed as she stood proudly on the wall for a few seconds—but the moment was quickly over and she was falling, though only the shorter distance to the ground on the Stands side, which was where she wanted to be. Still, she’d banged her wings around a little in the tumble and had the wind knocked out of her when she’d landed, and Tazikel couldn’t believe no one was checking she was okay, and before he’d realized he was doing anything he found himself vaulting over the seats between them to crouch down next to her.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he whispered, running his hands over her flailing legs as if he’d be able to tell if anything was truly wrong. She didn’t hurt enough for anything to be that injured, he didn’t think.
I hurt plenty, Seravath said. Tazikel could hear the slight pout in her voice and laughed, even as she whacked his leg with her tail.
Someone started trying to get him to take her out of the Stands and towards where the food was. Seravath stilled as she realized food was an option and bounced up, giving herself a perfunctory shake before leaping back to the top of the wall.
Food! she said. Let’s go! And she hopped back down to the Sands, only almost falling onto her face. Tazikel followed her a second later, leaping up and over the wall to the Sands himself. He was halfway to where the food buckets for the baby dragons were when he saw Mylorah and her gold, and everything snapped into clarity for him.
“Oh. Oh, fuck,” Tazikel whispered, stopping dead in his tracks. Seravath trotted back a few paces to butt her head agains his thigh.
Z’kel, Z’kel I’m hungry, she whined, and Tazikel—Z’kel, apparently—mechanically started walking again, eyes locked on the speckly little green prancing in front of him.
Mylo Impressing apparently wasn’t the most life changing thing to happen to him that day.
Kor’is did see that and didn’t need Sh’ran screaming about it in his ear. He was smiling but didn’t cheer loudly like a lot of people did. Damn, did Mylorah really know all the excited people or was that just the general excitement from a gold finding her mate? In her case, it was probably both since he’d never seen such a social and friendly person before in his life—and that included knowing Yfris. That thought had him watching the lords in front of him and both seemed happy for her and Kor’is suspected Tazikel hadn’t clued in yet to how much would change for their relationship now.
Or maybe he had been wrong, Kor’is amended sometime later when the greens started trying to break free and get to people in the stands. People near him. Directly in front of him. He reached out to stop Tazikel from moving, just like T’ryn tried as well but the lordling was focused and Kor’is held his breath. He already knew what had happened but it couldn’t be real. Except that it was and Kor’is started laughing when he saw the moment it sank in for his ditzy friend. “I think you missed your chance to flirt with a lordling tonight, Misha.”
He had no idea how he felt about this Impression. He knew on a political side it would be a mess but on a personal side, he would see his friend a lot more. His green is so cute, Kor’is! Look at her prancing and her markings! Can we greet them later? Kor’is nodded but his attention was back on the other green that had been in the stands and he winced at the Impression she had made. These were definitely Malvayth’s babies.
Mylorah clung to her brother. Her own emotions were still a mess and she knew she was happy and now fully understood what everyone meant when they said they felt complete, but there was also fear, worry, and sadness she needed to digest later on. For now, she focused on K’dar, holding him, and letting him sob as her own tears silently fell again. She remembered losing their mom and little brother in the landslide and how often she cried but he never did, at least not around her. But K’dar was always there to hold her and now she returned the gesture, trying to be the strong one for him. She didn’t judge him for breaking down during a happy moment because she also remembered how she had done that as well. Sometimes the tears just needed to flow and her brother needed the release.
But he was still too stubborn to fully let it happen. “K’dar, wait! You don’t have to leave, you didn’t do anything wrong…” Mylorah trailed off, knowing she couldn’t rely on him forever and that he was still entitled to grieve alone. Saying she needed him would be a cheap shot that would guilt him into staying and that was just nerves talking. Everyone else got through weyrlinghood so she could as well. Hopefully. She watched Amagrith tip over the now empty bucket and examine it from a new angle to confirm it wasn’t hiding more treats. When she started to bop it with a paw, Mylorah jumped in and gently removed it and traded it off for a full one.
“While you eat, I’ll start oiling the itchy spots, okay?” Amagrith snorted in agreement which had Mylorah giggling while she knelt with the cloth and bucket of oil that had managed not to be kicked over by an excited gold or upset brother and began working on the pretty hide. But when the audience in the stands started making more noise than usual, she glanced over at the Hatching and saw some greens at the wall. Oh no. Maybe they were just playing around? Back on her task, she focused on a particular bad spot that had Mylorah continuously attempting to itch at her own skin.
The next time she looked up, she smiled as she saw Tazikel heading her way. Had he been able to pull some rank as well and sneak his way over to her? Sneaking around can be fun but Seravath is probably too hungry for such games, Amagrith stated now that her head was out of the bucket and she could also watch the pair make their way over. The pair.
The pair.
Mylorah shot to her feet, the rag falling from her grasp as she did so. “No. Nononono, oh no,” Tazikel had Impressed, but not only that—to a green! Lord Tillek might possibly have her killed for this because surely this was her fault. She kept inviting him knowing he was of age and attractive to humans so dragons would want him as well. And hadn’t she kept hoping to find a way for them to stay together? “I just… stay… back in a moment,” she tried to talk to Amagrith but words were failing her and she was suddenly rushing to Tazikel and throwing her arms around him.
“Tazicurls! I’m so sorry but also so happy?” Before she could say more, a nose was nudging her leg and Mylorah let go of Tazikel so she could see her dragon giving her a look. I still need to be properly cleaned up and you’re not watching my shell and Seravath needs to eat. Amagrith nudged her again and Mylorah nodded, taking Tazikel’s hand to finish leading him over to the new round of chaos of tending to their hatchlings. “Take care of your beautiful girl and we’ll talk again soon.”
Cazelarias didn’t relax until he and N’reh were seated silently in the stands. He’d waved shyly and subtly to his sister before ducking down and doing his best to remain hidden. He still felt like everyone knew about what had happened between himself and N’reh when Malvayth flew, even though both Cazan and N’reh told him that wasn’t true. N’reh knew because he was there, of course, but Cazan had been informed by a slightly hysterical Cazelarias a few days after the fact. She’d had to work hard to calm him down, almost literally off the ledge, but between her and N’reh, Cazelarias had at least accepted what had happened, even if remembering it and the flashes that came back, caused the young man to writhe in mortification.
Blushing, head still ducked, Cazelarias quietly took N’reh’s hand and laced their fingers together, squeezing gently before shifting his gaze to the rocking eggs. Their relationship or… whatever… it was that they were. Well, Cazelarias was ridiculously uncomfortable with it all. Honestly, he had no idea what he was doing, and that made him feel even more awkward and stupid. He was good at being stupid, he figured, frowning down at the eggs as the first one finally Hatched, the little beasty seemingly full of personality. Cazelarias glanced towards his sister and A’tay, watching them curiously to see what they made of this first baby. He remembered that it was best when a higher colour hatched first, and Cazelarias knew brown was the second ranked, so that was good, right? Cazelarias was about to turn his attention to N’reh to confirm this, when the gold egg toppled over and that baby presented herself. He blinked, frowning as the little gold monster played with … her eggshell?
More of the miniature monsters appeared, each of them finding a human companion whose life they could ruin. Cazelarias chewed on his bottom lip, wishing he could have just stayed in N’reh’s bed, where it had been warm and comfortable, and he hadn’t had to pretend to be excited for his sister’s monster’s baby monsters to find their human companions. Why did the monsters even need a human companion? Cazelarias’ inner turmoil was interrupted by N’reh’s mumbling something, and he glanced at the bluerider, then followed his gaze to where a little green monster was coming towards them. Cazelarias leaned back in his seat instinctively, even though there were a few rows between them and the wall that separated them from the sands.
Then there was another green monster peering over the wall, and then a third. What was going on? Cazelarias glanced anxiously towards N’reh, his mouth opening to ask what the fuck was happening, when suddenly the first green one – it was boosted up by one of the others. Cazelarias felt his eyes widen as the dragonet toppled off the wall and into the foot area of the first row, people scrambling out of her way. Cazelarias whimpered slightly, eyebrows furrowed together and bottom lip clasped firmly between his teeth, eyes trained on the bright little green. This all felt like a close up déjà vu from when his sister had Impressed her monster. Of course, he had been on the opposite side of the sands then, from the action, and he would much prefer to be far, far away from the monsters now, too.
What is a ‘monster’? The gentle, feminine voice washed over Cazelarias and he drew back further, spluttering. He’d been so locked up in his own thoughts, he’d forgotten how loud and impatient the hatchlings could be; now he was back in reality, all he could hear was the babbling of loud babies demanding answers to the stupidest of questions. There is no such thing as a stupid question though, right? The warm and sweet voice washed over him again, and Cazelarias watched with horror and a small – tiny – ember of awe as the little green dragon pushed herself up over the benches, crawling up towards himself and N’reh, and finally perched herself casually and very neatly on the bench in front of them. Cazelarias whimpered again, eyes wide as saucers and breath puffing out shrilly between his teeth.
It took an elbow to the side from N’reh for Cazelarias to do more than stare in abject terror at the dragonet. The little green monster. Spotty green monster. Oh, oh no. No. No. “No,” Cazelarias whimpered, but he wasn’t sure if it was in answer to the dragonet’s question, or in retaliation to the apparent Impression. Cazelarias turned a gaze of pure betrayal upon his sister, who was staring back at him, and he bit his lip again. Desperately, Cazelarias squeezed the fingers that had been twined with N’reh’s, but found his hand empty. His gaze shifted to look at the bluerider, begging for help without uttering a word, but didn’t get a chance to ask or demand anything because the green monster spoke again.
Are you going to feed me? Harakath asked; and she was exceedingly polite, her head tilted slightly to one side and Cazelarias felt himself trembling, and probably would have just sat there like a total idiot if N’reh hadn’t elbowed him again. He jerked, mumbling out a soft ‘oh’, and watched as Harakath’s gaze shifted to look at N’reh curiously, before she turned her attention back on Cazelarias. He tried not to flinch when she settled that serious expression on him, but he didn’t really succeed. He definitely flinched, gaze darting away, looking for someone to rescue him. Someone? Please?
Hmm. Harakath hummed softly, still watching Cazelarias thoughtfully. Come, I need food. You need to take me, over there, and she turned her nose towards where her siblings were being fed and oiled. That seemed like it would be nice, too. Standing, Harakath stretched elegantly, arching her back and flaring her wings out, before stretching her nose forward and licking Cazelarias’ chin. Shall I lead you, or will you lead me? she asked playfully; it took a moment, but finally Cazelarias stood up, and Harakath trotted ahead of him, stumbling often as she went, leading the way back down to the sands, and across them, so she could be fed. Cazelarias walked with his head ducked, and his shoulders high around his ears, trying with great intensity to be invisible.
While it was nothing new, T’ryn’s attention was pulled in multiple directions. He made sure Yfris and Tazikel weren’t getting into any trouble on one side of him, kept watch on A’tay to make sure his brother didn’t faint, greeted M’quel and caught up with her when she arrived and sat on his other side, warmly greeted K’dar when he sat beside M’quel, and gave him a pat on the shoulder and told him how good it was to see him out before checking on how Tiberuth was doing. Then he had an urge to check behind him and found Kor’is and added him into the rotation of keeping tabs on people. All of that before the action on the Sands truly started.
When it did, T’ryn could only sigh and remember these were Malvayth’s babies. Xyxyth was outgoing and energetic as well so even his contribution to it all didn’t do much to calm the antics, like the gold playing with her egg shell. That was cute but he hoped she had found her bonded already. They didn’t need the shock of her loss so early into the event. But he didn’t need to worry long as she moved toward an area with several girls, including Mylorah and Zelana. He held his breath and it felt like their little group did the same until someone behind him started cheering for Mylorah and it confirmed what he was seeing. His sister Impressed! Both of his big sisters were now goldriders to complement his and A’tay’s bronze. While he smiled and cheered for Mylorah as well, T’ryn couldn’t help but feel bad for the three siblings still on the Sands and the pressure they no doubt felt now. Another sibling Impressed and to another shiny. He’d talk with Cazan later about what, if anything, he should say to them if they didn’t Impress that day.
K’dar took off before T’ryn could react but he didn’t chase him down. K’dar needed a moment with their sister and as Second, he could go pretty much anywhere he wanted, when he wanted. But T’ryn did keep Tazikel from following. They all wanted to see her but they could go later. He did his best to focus on the hatchlings making their debut and, boy, was he glad he did when the greens started their break for the stands.
When the first one made it up and over, tumbling not too far away from them, T’ryn had to hold M’quel back from rushing over to help. It was like watching her dash off to save Zezeth but this time he managed to keep her away from danger. “Give her space and a chance for her mate to help her,” he whispered, knowing M’quel’s desire to assist wherever she could would be driving her insane right then. But the little green decided she needed to go to her mate and T’ryn watched in horror as she made her way to Cazelarias and he was struck with more déjà vu as the dragonet and the twin of his mate stared at each other.
“Not again,” he mumbled, head sinking into his hands as he hunched forward. He didn’t want to look up and see how Cazan was taking the news. He assumed the answer would be ‘not well’ with a heavy dose of blaming herself as the reason her brother was even there. He knew that latter feeling well and sometimes still felt it when Cazan and Malvayth were having a bad day.
He didn’t get a chance to further wallow in that moment of guilt as a noise in front of him drew his attention back up to stare at another green standing on the wall. His eyes were wide but somehow went even wider when Tazikel was out of his seat and attending the green hatchling before he could catch up to what was happening. And then it did catch up, apparently faster than it did for the lordling himself and T’ryn groaned as he repeated himself, “not again!”
And he knew exactly who was going to bring the news to Lord Tillek as well. “Fuck me sideways,” T’ryn groaned and put his head back in his palms as he all but huddled in on himself. M’quel was rubbing his back and promising everything would be okay but he could hear the smile she was probably trying to hide. Maybe he’d find it amusing later on. Much later on. After he survived the trip to Tillek Hold and helped Cazan through her brother Impressing.
Well this Hatching was certainly exciting! Leave it to his favourite gold dragon to put on such a spectacular event! Yfris didn’t care about which colour hatched first but did know enough people on the Sands to be invested each time a dragon moved toward one of those people. Like Mylorah! An excellent match and possibly that alone was worth being awake after only an hour’s rest. There was also an odd mix of interest and disappointment when someone attractive caught his eye but then walked off with a dragon, meaning they were off the market for a while. The new bluerider that Impressed shortly after Mylorah seemed like he could be fun.
And suddenly there was an explosion of greens that were heading directly for them. That was kind of thrilling! He admired the way they worked together to get one up and then another making a nimble leap up afterward. He’d feel like he was being stalked by some clever girls if it wasn’t for the fact that they were staring at entirely different people. “Oh shit,” Yfris stated with a stifled laugh. One was headed for Cazelarias. He kept glancing between the twins, watching their expressions mirror each other as the seconds ticked by before the green politely asked him to feed her and they departed. That was going to make for an interesting few days in their little happy home and Yfris started thinking about ways to help his wife get through the new surprise in her life.
He was going to bounce some ideas off of Tazikel but he was rudely interrupted by Tazikel leaving him. For a dragon of all things! “Rude,” he muttered and then choked on a laugh. “No fucking way!” his friend did not just Impress! She was a cute little green, but what the fuck? “You never even accepted one of my party invites and now you just got yourself a permanent invite to a den of sin? Not sure if I’m impressed or disappointed.” Yfris was disappointed that it didn’t seem like Tazikel heard anything he said—though that was sometimes normal with his delightfully airheaded companion—but at least he wasn’t Impressed like so many lordlings around him seemed to be catching.
Wait.
Yfris turned to stare at T’ryn who was clearly having a mental breakdown and everything fell into place. The bronzerider was the catalyst! Yfris quickly scooted down the bench several spots which was enough movement to catch T’ryn’s attention. “Lords and Ladies that sit too close to you end up with a dragon. Not for me, thank you very much. What would a dragon even do with my name? That alone should make me immune but I’m not chancing it.”
If Orgailian had to place a bet on which one of the remaining R’nd Kids would Impress next, he would hope it was him but he’d actually place marks down on Mylorah. She was older, everyone knew her, and she had a good personality. That seemed like a good list of reasons to him and it proved accurate when the gold stopped playing long enough to make a bond. Still, it was shocking and he barely returned the hug before she was bouncing her way down the line of their little group. And then she was walking away, helping to drag the damned egg shell.
“Well… shit,” he didn’t know what else to say. He was genuinely happy for her but it was still such a shock. Truthfully, he was also kind of hoping she’d break the shiny pattern in their bloodline and Impress to blue so he and Zoremet wouldn’t feel as much pressure. Mylorah had such bluerider vibes and she always joked about being the outsider in the family because of her dark hair so it would make sense she’d get a blue dragon and no one would find it odd. But no. She was just as shiny as the other ones. He gave a small glance at Zor, sharing a moment with him in knowing he had to be thinking the same thing and then shoved it all aside to grin at Zelana.
“I figured you would be hot on a blue, maybe green, anyway.” Zelana was a mystery like them and even Mylorah. She could be shiny or on a lower end colour and it wouldn’t look too out of place no matter what she Impressed. But Orgailian did think Zelly would be better on green or blue. They gave a lot more freedom than gold and he hoped Mylorah would be comfortable with what she was given.
Considering her lordling lover was now walking away with a green dragon, Orgailian had a feeling Mylorah would cope just fine with her gold after all. This was turning into a weird night. He spared a glance to the newly Impressed and smirked when he saw Landen and used it as a chance to poke fun at his brother again. “Sorry about your loss of Landen, Zor. Maybe N’noa will bump into you again for a distraction.”
At first it had been nice to see Caze coming out to support her. Then it had been too cute to watch him sit next to N'reh. But now she was having uncomfortable flashbacks to a different hatchling struggle to climb up a wall only this one had help and oh no. Oh no. It couldn't be happening again right? Not to her twin. And then the dainty thing was on the bench and clearly chattering at Caze and he was responding and she gave T'ryn an all too familiar panicked glance before looking back at that echoed bit of panic in her brother's eyes. "A'tay... uh... oh what the fuck."
Her voice trailed off into a whine as a second green stole someone from the stands, another lordling, another second son if she recalled correctly. Fuck. Maybe it would be easier if she went instead of T'ryn? Mal seemed excited about a trip but... oh shit these were greens. There's nothing wrong with my green babies, Mal said with a huff. "No of course not. A'tay keep an eye on things for me I'll be right back."
The bronze about gave her another heart attack as she saw him take a speculative peep, but at least he changed his mind. Cazan moved to try and intercept her twin at the feeding buckets, pulling him into a tight hug before glancing down at the rather bright little hatchling who he was now attached to. "I'm sorry, he's just... I... he'll need a lot of help." Oh fuck what was she going to tell mom and dad? Lady landed on the closest section of wall to chirp inquisitively and Caz shook her head. "No, I'll write them in the morning just... I'll explain it and let them know and if they want to visit I can bring them. If you want. If you don't..." she sighed squeezing her brother again as she glanced down and eyed the green. "You'll have to take good care of him for me."
Gangleri wondered just how common it was, if one ran all of the numbers of all the hatchings, to have a dragon decide to finds its person from the audience. He knew it happened to healers on occasion, but they were out there on the Sands itself. And it had happened to a Harper who was there to record from what he'd heard, but he wasn't sure about the overall chances. One happening already seemed like quite the rare thing, but two?! That would have made for some interesting betting odds he was sure.
And there was T'ryn, one of Mylorah's brothers, left all alone as Yfris abandoned him. Gangleri smirked in amusement and gave Geric a nudge. "Let's go down there. Come on." Gangleri plopped down into the seat that Yfris has fled from and gave the bronzerider giving Yfris a quick smile and a wink before turning to give his new blonde friend a pat on the back as the man looked quite sullen. "Your friends seem to have abandoned you, so Geric and I will keep you company. I'm not entirely we've met before, but I'm Gangleri. I hope my old guitar is treating you well. Sorry about it being incomplete."
He went through the names that Mylorah had given him, little tidbits about her family she'd shared in the past. "You're T'ryn right? And the lovely lady down... well she was there next to the gold dragon, that one's your mate yes? And the other dashing blonde is A'tay, I'm fairly sure I recognize him. Either way, it is a pleasure to keep your company."
As much as she wanted to Cazan couldn't linger with her brother forever. So after one more hug and squeeze she returned to her position on the Sands next to A'tay and their dragons. She glanced up at Mal who seemed entirely too pleased with herself. “Do you also tell them stories about-” Yep! Cazan sighed and ran her hands over her face as she took a few deep breaths. Look! The goldrider lowered her hands and saw another egg had begun to wobble. With a twitch and a shake, Blue 7 broke free from his shell, looking around and letting out a soft chirp in the direction of a group of boys before he yawned and settled back down comfortably in the remains of his shell. Once it was obvious he was going back to sleep his boy rolled his eyes, walking over to gently shoo him out of the way at least.
Green 6 popped out of her egg nearby, stretching and taking her time to look around. She was followed quickly by Bronze 2, a rather thin looking hatchling who climbed up on a neighboring egg to look around. That egg soon began to crack though, sending Bronze 2 down and off of it to make way for Brown 2. But while he was making his great entrance, Green 6 was spinning about, looking around curiously and then turned to accidentally crash into her newest brother.
There was an angry roar as he took offense, and Green 6 began to run, fleeing into the middle of a group of candidates to cower behind her boy. Even with the barricade of candidates between them, Brown 2 was undeterred in his rage, preparing to charge straight through them if he had to. Cazan let out a soft gasp as she realized that one of the candidates seemed frozen with fear but another shoved him out of the way at the last minute. That only caught the hatchlings attention as he changed course slightly to go after that bit of movement. With a feral roar of his own, Bronze 2 suddenly tackled his brother, knocking Brown 2 down and back. With a crackling hiss, Bronze 2 kept himself between his boy and the pacing ball of anger unwilling to back down..
Cazan wondered if Mal or Xyxyth would have to intervene but after a few angry turns of his pacing, Brown 2 spotted his boy in another group and stalked off to go complain to him, leaving Bronze 2 to be calmed by his boy. With a sigh of relief Cazan reached over to take A’tay’s hand and give it a comforting squeeze and pat. “See, that was fine… just fine.” She wasn’t sure if she was reassuring him or herself.
Egg 18 - Blue 7
×
to NPC male
Egg 7 - Green 6
×
to NPC male
Egg 3 - Bronze 2 to ???
Egg 21 - Brown 2
Of all of the eggs, Chironhes found his eye drawn naturally to the rich, dark hide of one dragon in particular. He was the most wonderful coloration he'd ever seen on any before, and spots similar to his siblings were a polished, light bronze. The way he climbed up on top of another egg made him seem like he was surveying his domain with pride! Chir felt like he could feel that pride thrumming through his own soul. Whoever Impressed that dragon was lucky indeed!
The egg beneath the dark dragon cracked, sending the little male down to reveal another, this one a tawny male. With the hatching of another, chaos began.
A series of roaring and chases sent the brown hatchling racing straight at Sironar, apparently intending to barrel through the boy to get at his sister. Unwilling to let his friend be trampled, Chir leaped forward to shove the older boy out of the way and reared back himself, barely managing to avoid injury himself. Thinking himself in the clear, Chir let out a breath of relief too soon. His daring rescue apparently drew the ire of the tawny brown who redirected his aggression towards him.
The freckled boy didn't even have time to consider how to react before Pardrith roared out a challenge to his brother and raced forward to Chir's defense. Despite his thinner frame, the bronze slammed against the brown, sending his brother sprawling into the sand while he stood as a proud guard in front of Chir.
By the time the brown had gone off with begrudging growls, Chir rushed to the front of the dark-skinned dragon and immediately pressed his forehead to the dragon's snout. Thank you, Pardrith! Are you okay?
It didn't seem to occur to his boy that he was his, earning a chuff of amusement. I am well. And you are mine, Ch'es. Mine to protect.
Ch'es blinked in shock. Surely, this was a dream. Had that brown hatchling taken him out after all?
Gently, Pardrith knocked his head against Ch'es with force just shy of bruising. Dreams don't hurt. I am not a dream, his dragon informed him matter-of-factly.
You're mine? Even with an aching forehead, he still had to question.
With more tenderness, Pardrith rubbed his face against the young hunter's. And I am yours. Can we eat now?
Cupping his dragon's face in his hands, Ch'es kissed his muzzle tearily before nodding mutely. Yes, let's go get you something to eat!
Sironar couldn't help but keep staring back to where the lordlings were feeding their brand new greens. Greens! They both looked young enough that he wondered if their fathers were going to be sending angry letters to the Weyr, and how his father would deal with it. He wasn't sure if it was funny or sad quite yet. He knew a lot of people had low opinions of greens, though really any dragon was better than no dragon. But did he really think that? Siro supposed he did, even though he was still a bit terrified, and maybe part of him had blamed the dragon for taking his brother away.
Maybe that was why he hadn't impressed yet? He frowned at the thought and then heard the commotion of an angry hatchling, turning just in time to see a green whiz by and stare at an enraged brown heading straight for him. Siro froze, unable to do anything for the moment except stare. And then he was suddenly being shoved to the side onto the hot Sands. He saw the brown turning to go after Chir and once more found himself just powerless to move, to do anything. He couldn't even help the friend who had just helped him. And then the darker bronze launched himself at his brother and fended him off and Chir was...
Oddly enough, Siro found his own voice mute as he realized his friend had impressed, and on his first try! He couldn't help the pang of jealousy, but he was also happy for the boy. He managed to get up and brush himself off in time to sneak a quick hug in with his roommate, former roommate now, before the pair went off to go get food. With one more brush of sand off his pants he glanced up at the Stands towards his father who gave him a smile and a wave. Siro forced a smile on his own face, and he was glad that S'far wasn't close enough to see that it didn't reach his eyes. Between the jealousy, his lingering feelings about his brother, and his failure to help his friend, did he really deserve to be there?
T’ryn was gawking at Yfris and his ludicrous statement that he was cursed. Mostly ludicrous, because it did sort of feel like maybe he was at least always in the wrong place at the wrong time. M’quel seemed like she was still amused by all of the shenanigans but was biting her lip to keep from teasing him too much. But he didn’t get to reply to the odd lord—if he even knew what to say—before two men were joining their rapidly shrinking group. It took a moment but T’ryn’s eyes lit up in recognition over the name when the guitar was mentioned. “Yes, it is. Thank you so much, Master Harper Gangleri. Greenrider B’jin used to be a Harper and finished it for me and he’s going to give me lessons.” T’ryn had the basics from spending too much time with N’mor but more training and assistance in learning songs didn’t hurt. B’jin was beyond excited when he was asked and T’ryn looked forward to their lessons.
“And yes, I am, and you’re also correct in that being A’tay and my mate is Cazan. Her brother was one of the new surprise green Impressions,” T’ryn added as a way of excusing Cazan’s disappearance from her spot and pointed her out with the weyrlings when he found her there. “Mylorah mentioned you were here conducting interviews. If there’s anything I can help you with, please let me know.” He was actually surprised S’far hadn’t already assigned him to help Gangleri in some way as one of his mentor tasks but the Weyrleader had been using him a bit more since K’dar was out of commission again and probably didn’t want to share him. But T’ryn felt it was rude not to offer.
His attention was drawn back to the eggs when a bit more commotion was made and he smiled at the bronze standing on another egg. Just as he was thinking that would likely end in helping the occupant escape, an angry brown appeared and the amusement was replaced with fear. Another fight? Will Candidates be involved this time? Almost. Thanks to Chironhes’ quick reflexes, Sironar was shoved aside in time and then—
“Did Chir just Impress?” T’ryn asked aloud in wonder and then was standing and called out his congratulations to his new friend. They were back on track to normalcy and with a sweet kid getting a bronze! I have passed the news on to Tiberuth with an image of the pair together. That may help K’dar. For the moment. T’ryn thanked his dragon as he sat back down and turned to Gangleri and Geric to start offering an explanation over his excitement. “This was Chironhes’ first time Standing. He joined us not too long ago.”
A’tay had tried to slowly back away from the chaos that was taking place in the stands but Xyxyth blocked his path with his tail. He knew he had to stay and at least watch what was happening since there wasn’t much he could do but what if everyone turned to glare at them and blame the quartet for everything? The babies were all healthy, if a little quirky and very particular in who they wanted. But he was slowly starting to think that maybe N’reh and Faxxonth had the right idea about avoiding all Flights forever after all. Xyxyth snorted in amusement and A’tay didn’t like that. Why did he feel like his dragon was on the complete opposite side of that idea?
Because Flying is fun and so is this part. But even though greens don’t have clutches, I think it will be fun to Chase them sometimes as well. They deserve affection just as much. A’tay’s horror of the Impressions was replaced with the horror of what his dragon had just said. You’re serious, aren’t you? A’tay groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. Fine, but please don’t be like Veeth and Chase every single dragon. Just the ones you really like, okay? Wait, no. The ones we agree on. He saw the trap as soon as he spoke and quickly amended the rule and Xyxyth seemed to accept it.
He nodded when Cazan took off to check on her twin, though he still didn’t know what exactly he was doing or supposed to do but nothing happened in that time and he took Cazan’s hand and held it tightly. It was mostly done to help balance himself and steal some strength but also to show a united front. He heard Malvayth’s huff of annoyance and knew Xyxyth was just as proud of their clutch so he felt showing the humans were also proud and not that worried about the shenanigans of dragonets seemed like a good idea. “They’re good babies, Malvayth,” A’tay softly assured her. “Striking hides as well.”
A’tay didn’t know how much truth he was speaking until another bronze arrived to show off his dark colouring. He stared, wondering how many other bronzes were in such dark tones and couldn’t think of that many. Maybe more had been around in the pre-plague times but that hatchling was going to stand out if his adult hide came in like that! He smirked as he felt a wave of jealousy from Xyxyth and reached with his free hand to pat the beast. You’re handsome and wonderful, Xyxyth. I wouldn’t trade you in for any other dragon. That seemed to please him, but it was short lived as a chase broke out and headed toward a group of Candidates that weren’t moving fast enough.
Chironhes reacted first to help Sironar and A’tay held his breath as he waited for the inevitable mauling as payback for being selfless. But it didn’t come. Instead that second-ranked handsome bronze intervened and A’tay exhaled. Only to quickly inhale again when he realised Chir had Impressed that dragon. He actually glanced at Xyxyth because the wave of pride increased and he saw his dragon watching Chir as he left with the little bronze. The two had spent a lot of time together over the last few weeks and it didn’t surprise A’tay that Xyxyth had taken a shining to him. You will have to ask his little one if I can still speak with him afterward. It is rude to enter his mind now without invitation. A’tay nodded and would make sure to ask when he congratulated the weyrlings. Given there were only a few eggs left, he knew that would be coming up shortly.
Cazan wanted to go congratulate Chir when she realized he'd Impressed the very striking bronze, but she had some other things to deal with first. Malvayth nodded in agreement. There were more babies left after all!
With the tension winding down from the prior little tiff between brothers, Green 7 seemed to feel safe enough to stick her head out of her shell and let out an angry, hungry cry before running immediately over to her boy. She almost knocked him down with her insistent nudges, but finally seemed to settle as he started to lead her towards food. Meanwhile Green 8 had popped out of her shell and scurried off towards a healer stand, immediately stretching up to drink some of the water from the top of a barrel. Bronze 3 made his appearance then, taking his time to languidly stretch before turning around and surveying his surroundings with a discerning eye only to be interrupted as his brother, Brown 3, hatched and hissed at him only to be ignored. He gave a startled jump as Green 9 burst out of her shell, immediately flopping onto the sand to squirm and roll and flail around in it.
Suddenly there was a shrill frightened series of chirps as Green 8 tried to climb into the barrel only to have it tip over and send her tumbling down with water spilling everywhere. She let out a petulant cry as she pawed at the wet sand, then turned to the healer to scold him before lifting her nose to the air and marching off to complain to her boy. While that was happening, Bronze 3 seemed to have come to some sort of decision and began to move. He was headed straight towards a large group of candidates who seemed eager to find out which of them he had chosen, only he paused to glare in annoyance at a few candidates until they stepped out of his way so he could keep moving without deviating from his path. Cazan frowned and quietly asked herself, “Where is he going?”
Once he’d gotten the last candidate in the group to step out of the way it became increasingly obvious that he was headed straight towards the exit. Brown 3, taking advantage of the distraction his brother was causing, circled around to stealthily approach his chosen boy from behind, gently nudging his mate and urging him to feed him. Green 9 lifted her head and suddenly realized her brothers had abandoned her and she was all alone with only two remaining eggs for company. With an embarrassed squeak she hopped up onto her feet and headed off to find her boy in the crowd that her brother had just walked through, nudging her bonded before flopping right back into the sand to squirm and dig and play a little more.
Cazan turned to A’tay and quietly whispered, “Should someone see where that bronze went?” To his mate, obviously, said Malvayth with a huff. And there are still two eggs so we can’t leave. Caz sighed and turned, spotting T’ryn and raising an eyebrow as she gave a subtle nod of her head in the direction that Bronze 3 had headed in.
Egg 17 - Green 7
×
to NPC male
Egg 8 - Green 8
×
to NPC male
Egg 14 - Bronze 3 to ???
Egg 19 - Brown 3
So far the Hatching had been a rather thrilling show, and Gangleri couldn't wait to let Quil know about Mylorah's new mate. He'd even considered sending her a note, but even being a few hours ahead of Fort, he knew it was possible she could already be asleep. Best wait until morning. Even better, he could try to just finish up his remaining interviews, spend a little time with Orgailian unless he impressed at the last minute, and then head back early to finish putting together the crib he'd started on. Hopefully by having Geric help him, his younger brother could pick up a few things that helped in his own little journey into fatherhood. Whenever those negotiations wrapped up and they actually had the baby in hand.
And speaking of babies, the Master Harper realized that more had hatched while he'd been lost in his own thoughts. He chuckled at the thirsty little green, then glanced over at the tarnished bronze that had hatched. Despite his stomach having settled earlier, he suddenly felt almost nauseated as his head began to swim. Maybe he hadn't thrown up as much of that poison as he thought he had? Eh, he'd be fine once he got some sleep, but for the moment he sharply shook his head and stood up. "Pardon, imbibed something earlier that disagreed with me. I'll be back soon enough. Geric, let me know if I miss anything."
Gangleri pushed himself up without further hesitation and made his way to the exit to at least get out into the cooler night air. There was an oddly dizzying sensation at first, almost as if he had double vision but could also see himself. It reminded him of a party drug he had once tried and he wondered if maybe the wine had also been spiked with a bit of that too. He took a deep breath and ran through the fingerings of an arpeggio to try and focus; by the time he'd stepped out of the Sands he was feeling much less dizzy and disoriented.
He saw Tiberuth lying just outside the entrance to the Sands with K'dar curled up miserably on the dragon's forelegs as if he were a boy cuddled up under the great looming head of a protective mastiff. He considered talking to the pair, to wish Tiberuth well on his speedy recovery and commend him for his valor in trying to slow his partner's fall, and tell K'dar that he also knew what loss felt like and would be willing to talk if the bronzerider wanted.
Only he was interrupted by a gentle nudge before he could get there. He turned around and saw that the baby bronze had followed him out. Gangleri smiled, tilting his head curiously as he studied the thing. "Now you don't belong out here. Who are you looking for?" L'ri- "Ah! Well then let's go find him shall we?" The bronze huffed in annoyance at the interruption but the harper just gave him an idle wave before he could respond, "Oh now don't be like that. You'll feel better once you find this L'ri fellow and eat something I'm sure."
He headed back towards where he'd seen the other baby dragons getting fed, the baby dragon trotting at his heels, and spotted Mylorah and her brother T'ryn, giving them both a cheery wave. "Hello! First of all, congratulations, your new companion looks as lovely as you are, Mylo. Second, this little guy here is lost and seems to have misplaced his rider. Some fellow named L'ri? Do either of you two know..." Gangleri's voice trailed off and he frowned as he caught their expressions. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
They don't know how to react to my magnificence. Gangleri raised an eyebrow and turned to glance down at the dragon. "While you are quite the dapper fellow, Oncaeth, there's no need to flaunt it right now. There's a time and place for such posturing and right now we have to find your person." Gangleri turned back to Mylo and T'ryn, shaking his head in amusement. "Youths right? And... no really. Is something wrong?"
T’ryn caught Cazan looking at him and she gave the ‘what is your child up to now?’ nod toward a wandering bronze and the frown he was already wearing deepened. He was already worried about Gangleri’s sudden departure due to something he ingested given the poisonings had started again and he debated if he should follow the Master Harper or not. Geric seemed concerned as well and now he had a bronze hatchling heading in that direction. He asked M’quel to stay with Geric since leaving anyone that was new alone with Yfris was always risky and then darted off.
He had just reached the weyrling section when Syrendryth calmly interrupted his chaotic thoughts, Tiberuth informs me of another twist. That Gangleri fellow— Syrendryth cut off as the man in question headed towards where he stood accidentally near his sister. He hadn’t even looked to see who was around him but when she said his name, he looked at her and they looked back at Gangleri. He raised an eyebrow at his statement and then looked back at Mylorah who looked just as shocked.
He knew what Syrendryth was about to tell him, though it had been obvious the second he saw Gangleri with the little bronze beside him. Seriously, a third time? Yfris was right; he was cursed! He’d schedule time for that breakdown later. There was a Master Harper that needed some blunt truth because all of the clues weren’t working and Mylorah seemed like she was having her own breakdown. “I am just going to say this bluntly, Master Harper Gangleri. Congratulations on Impressing bronze Oncaeth, L’ri.”
Amagrith had finished eating and was now sitting contently in her eggshell as another compromise. She needed to be cleaned up and finished with the oiling but Amagrith wanted to play some more. Sitting in her shell was a good start to that end goal. It was also a good distraction from the very real fact that Tazikel was not too far away doing the same to his own dragon. What had she done? Wishing on stars didn’t actually work! Maybe when two did it at the same time with the same wish it did? She was losing her mind. It couldn’t be her fault.
She looked up when a new pair entered the area and she jumped to her feet with a happy shriek. “Chir! You didn’t! Look at him! Congratulations!” Mylorah squealed again as she ran over to hug her friend and gush over his bronze and promised to catch up soon and let him get back to attending to his dragon so she could return to Amagrith. “He’s another friend. We met recently and he’s super sweet,” she started and then went into how he was a different kind of friend than Tazikel and why her reactions to their Impressions were different.
By the time someone came rushing over and stopped near her, Amagrith was chasing her tail inside the eggshell. “T’ryn?” Mylorah asked and then looked to where he was looking and saw Gangleri. She started to smile but then saw he was being trailed by a bronze hatchling. After exchanging glances with her brother, she was yet again left in shock as Gangleri obliviously went on about the sweet little fellow looking for a L’ri. Again? Her other holder lover had also Impressed after she had? She truly was some kind of sorceress like her Master Harper said!
She let T’ryn break it to the man because she couldn’t find the words as her lower lip trembled as she fought back tears. Gangleri was a Master in his craft, married, and about to have a baby! She wanted to be greedy and be happy that she was able to keep both of her men with her but they both had lives and important people and positions to return to! But you need them as well, Amagrith stated from where she was now sitting up in her shell, watching the humans speak. She chirped at her sibling in greeting and then went back to watching the humans. And Oncaeth clearly has good taste if he picked someone you like so much. This all seems perfectly acceptable to me.
Mylorah stared at her dragon, trying to find the logic unacceptable but it did kind of make sense to her. Tazikel and Gangleri were just as important to her and made her feel complete almost as much as the golden ball beside her did. It didn’t matter anyway. They couldn’t take it back and have Oncaeth pick someone else. She went for a hug that was a bit more subdued than her usual ones but the shock everyone was still in seemed to call for slower movements. “I’m so sorry, Master Harper,” she finally whispered, “and congratulations. I’ll help you however I can.”
Ulliendis had tracked Gangleri and Geric moving to sit with T’ryn, M’quel, and Yfris which wasn’t too odd since he knew the Master Harper had some kind of relationship with Mylorah and probably knew her brother in some way. And then his gaze followed Gangleri making a swift exit due to possibly stomach or head issues with a baby dragon slowly following along. When Gangleri came back inside with the bronze still tagging along, Ulliendis started to get a very clear picture. The siblings he was speaking to had their backs to him but he was a bit too far away to read their lips anyway but it wasn’t needed. Gangleri was now a bronzerider.
What the actual shit.
Gangleri was old! And he definitely didn’t seem to have the qualities of a bronzerider of all colours. That was a touch unfair since Gangleri did have good leadership skills in the classroom. Mylorah landing on gold only made the Impression more fascinating. Was this a sign of things to come? He’d have to keep track of them for several reasons now. But nothing he could do about it right then so he turned his focus back to Geric and saw his friend in the midst of a panic attack. That seemed about right and was a definite invitation to get the man drunk to forget his troubles for a bit.
He was about to comment on the odd emphasis that T'ryn placed on his name but stopped short to just stare at him for a moment then at Mylo to make sure her brother wasn't joking, and then down at Oncaeth who steadily stared right back at him. The bronze hatchling was hungry but patient, and somehow he knew that just as much as he realized he'd known Oncaeth's name without an introduction. "So... I'm L'ri now huh? I guess that's fine. I've certainly been called much worse."
L'ri was still studying the little bronze, trying to sort out the odd sensations he was feeling when he heard Mylorah's gold speak and turned in surprise. Was he one of the people that she claimed Mylo needed? It seemed so as she went on to compliment Oncaeth who returned her chirp and nodded. Of course I have good taste. Gangleri couldn't help but marvel at how much self confidence something so young could have. He was very quickly distracted by the hug from Mylorah and eagerly returned it though he frowned as she apologized. "Why are you sorry? Sure Quil will be a little surprised but..."
He pulled away from the hug to stare down at Oncaeth again, then peered around to get a look at Geric who was definitely not taking things well. "How long... how long until I'm allowed to go home?" His head was spinning again as he barely heard someone give him an answer. "But my wife... she's having... I need to be there when she's giving birth. I need-" To feed me. Your stomach already hurts and it's making mine hurt more and I'm hungry. Oncaeth huffed and gave his bonded an insistent nudge. Gangleri blinked as he took a bucket of meat that was handed to him to hold for the bronze. This wasn't a good time to panic. He had to just think and he'd figure something out, he was sure. You will figure something out, it's part of why I picked you, the bronze said confidently, You get things done.
There was something about the way that the bronze said it, or maybe some other feelings he picked up around the words, that made L'ri almost suspicious. But the dragon, his dragon, was right. He'd figure it out. He just had to remember that. He turned his gaze to T'ryn. "I'll want to speak to Weyrleader S'far as soon as he can meet with me." He didn't expect that it would be an immediate meeting, but he had a feeling he wouldn't have to wait too long either.
Oncaeth let out a chirp as he finished his frantic and sloppy first feeding and L'ri looked down at him. "So... until that meeting happens... Mylo what am I supposed to do now? I'll give you some extra music lessons if you just give me a primer here."
Orgailian found the Hatching to be one of the better ones he’d been at and certainly wasn’t bored with some of the antics going on. He even found Tazikel’s Impression amusing but that was mostly because it didn’t directly concern him, though it seemed like T’ryn was taking it personally, probably due to politics. But by the time a brown started chasing a green, the thrill of it all was wearing off and Orgailian was starting to feel faint. It was his own fault for not drinking water before getting there or even leaving to get some while the Hatching proceeded. He didn’t know if it was a pride thing that kept him rooted in place or simply the fear of missing out if he turned his back for a second.
Whatever the reason, Orgailian did not want to faint on the Sands again and casually stepped closer to Fetch and leaned against him for the support he knew the man would give without complaint. Orgailian didn’t care if anyone noticed and thought him weak. At least he was still on his feet and he had to make it to the end just in case because the egg he was far too fixated on still hadn’t hatched.
When a green finally emerged from egg 17, Orgailian was shocked. He thought it would at least be a blue. Would he be the one to break the trend after all? They weren’t going to find out that day as the adorable hatchling went directly to her boy that was in the opposite direction. He felt that hope and excitement drain right out of him and his shoulders slumped. He should be relieved that he wasn’t now a greenrider but that had been the best connection he’d had at a Touching and he had started to nurture a genuine belief that it was his time. What if that was the closest he’d ever get?
He needed a good distraction after this. Maybe with Gangleri now that his bed would be lacking a mate thanks to Mylorah’s Impression. What the fuck? Orgailian saw the Harper join T’ryn but now both men were gone. What had he missed while he was pining over a damned green? He looked around and finally spotted them both with Mylorah and the bronze he recalled briefly acknowledging the existence of. It didn’t look like his boy was around… “fuck me,” or rather, Gangleri wasn’t going to be fucking him any time soon.
“Looks like I jinxed myself, Zor. You lost Landen and I lost a playmate that was going to keep me company after this. Might be time for us to team up for a pick up later,” he tried to keep it light to show he wasn’t devastated over failing again. Not even a green wanted him.
Gangleri truly was in shock if he couldn’t remember the basics she had shared about weyrlinghood. Then again, the handful of months of being celibate was usually what she remembered to bring up before every Hatching, just like she had done before they left his bed. It really was a good thing they had that quickie since it would have to last them a while now. That also reminded her she needed to get some herbs to avoid pregnancy since a trip between couldn’t happen pre-Hatching like she normally managed to have.
Mylorah frowned at Oncaeth and gave the new bronzerider a look that said she wasn’t happy about his stomach pains but wouldn’t voice them out loud. But he had told her he was fine and wouldn’t bother him for long. Then again, that really hadn’t happened all that long ago no matter how long the night already felt. She wanted to point to several Healers in the area to make him talk to them but he had been so secretive about some of his extra training and skills that she knew it wouldn’t matter. And stomach cramps were probably at the bottom of the list of worries for the married expecting father that was now a dragonrider in a whole other region from his family.
T’ryn agreed to talk to S’far and was about to leave to do just that but Mylorah stopped him. “Tell everyone that if they want to go right to bed, I don’t mind waiting until morning for them to meet Amagrith,” she saw the moment her dragon’s name registered and collided with good and bad memories and she nodded, purposely mentioning her name for that very reason. “I know. Maybe warn them about her beautiful name as well.” She tried to explain to the gold why her name made her smile and sad at the same time because of an energetic green that was no longer with them but they both kept getting distracted by everything around them so she knew they’d have to try again when things were calmer.
After T’ryn left, Mylorah crouched beside Amagrith and wrapped her arms around her for a hug while they watched Oncaeth have his first meal. “You don’t need to bribe me, Gangleri. Uh, pardon me, L’ri,” she switched to addressing the bronze with a little dip of her head to show she didn’t mean to disrespect the honorific. “I meant my offer. I’ll help you and share everything I know but this is also my first time with a dragon so some of it will be a new experience together.” And she didn’t think the extra lessons would come for quite a while with how exhausted new weyrlings always looked.
“Let’s start with how itchy you are and where.” Mylorah proceeded to explain the bond between rider and dragon and how open it was in the beginning so paying close attention to itchiness and hunger were very important. Once they got through that, she’d break the news about his new living accommodations. She had a feeling he’d never had to share before and would be in for quite a shock. Maybe she should save that until she could grab Tazikel so she wouldn’t have to repeat a lot of the important information while also providing dragon-approved comfort to her men.
Hatching day! It was a bit crazy to Kelian that the eggs were already hatching, the touching had just been yesterday and why on Pern was it so cracking early? Kell crossed her eyes slightly in an amused manner as she, like the other candidates, had been gathered up and rushed off to the hatching grounds. It never seemed to matter to Kel, how many hatchings she attended, she was always caught up in the excitement. Yes, it hurt to a degree, that she was always left standing, but it was what it was. She did her best not to let it bother her too much.
She had taken her place near the gold egg with the other girls, the heat of the sands and the humming washing over her was as familiar to her as many of the other candidates. It was as comforting as the spicy scent of her father's dragon. Blue eyes did a quick scan of the grounds around her but she didn't have long before shells had started cracking, including the gold egg. Apparently the little queen wasn't quite ready to make herself known as dainty claws scraped along the inside of the shell. What the gold had been doing, Kel didn't know, but she hadn't been bothered coming all the way out of her shell.
She watched with amused pleasure, the antics of the other hatchlings, while keeping an eye on the gold egg as well. When the little gold dragon finally emerged from her coveted shell Kel smiled with amusement. She was beautiful, as all gold dragons were, but she was entirely too amused with her shell and far more entertained with it than concerned about finding her bonded, until she did. Kel offered her congratulations before Mylorah and the little gold went off with the bit of shell.
With the gold hatchling bonded, Kelian only slightly saddened it hadn't been to her, spent her time watching the antics of the other hatchlings as they broke free of their shells, caused havoc, and found their mates. She had some growing concerns over the greens that went for the stands, she had been afraid they would injure themselves too much but apparently they did just fine. The two the greens took them to eat and Kelian turned her gaze to the remaining eggs and hatchlings on the sands, shifting her very warm feet from one to the other. Shoes or no, the heat started coming through and was uncomfortable no matter how many times one stood on the sands.
She really did enjoy a good hatching and she really liked the ones that were exciting like this one, when there were hatchlings that had such a wide range of personalities right out of the shells. Lost in her thoughts she had missed a couple of the pairings but that was normal for her, she never did catch them all until after when she realized some of her friends were missing from the dorm.
N’reh cheered internally when Faxxonth passed on A’tay’s dinner invite—which he immediately had Faxx respond yes to. For obvious reasons, A’tay had been pretty busy lately, and now that they lived at different Weyrs they saw each other less often in passing, too. It would be nice to have time to hang out and catch up properly. Faxxonth would like spending time with his favorite brother, too.
That was for later, though. For now, there was a Hatching to watch, and it was turning out to be pretty entertaining, as Hatchings went (and Cazelarias initiating physical contact in public was always a nice surprise). The playful little gold was fun, and N’reh cheered when she walked off the Sands with Mylorah. Like many of the Katila-born weyrbrats, N’reh was fond of Mylorah, and pleased she’d finally Impressed. She’d be a great goldrider, even if he’d kinda been hoping she’d end up on blue. Join the tiny club. Clearly not meant to be, and N’reh wasn’t going to be disappointed about it.
The entertainment really kicked up when greens started trying to get into the Stands.
Maybe too entertaining, actually, N’reh reconsidered as one of the Stands-bound greens ended up right in front of them. Right in front of Caze.
’You know, this will probably be good for him,’ N’reh said to Faxxonth. ’In the long run, anyway,’ he added, as Faxxonth made a somewhat dubious noise, and he elbowed Cazelarias to knock him out of one of his anxiety freeze-ups and get him to respond to his fucking dragon.
It took another elbow and a lick from his dragon to get Caze moving. After a few seconds, N’reh got up himself to act as something of an escort for the new pair out of the Stands. He didn’t think Caze really noticed, which was fine. N’reh didn’t want to get in the way of the early dragon bonding; he just felt better making sure Cazelarias got down to the Sands alright. He stayed in the Sands himself, trusting Cazan and the Weyrlingmaster’s team to make sure Cazelarias would be fine—or as fine as Caze was capable of being under stressful circumstances.
’Do you think this is a good sign or a setback to Caze figuring out the whole sex thing?’ Faxxonth snorted and N’reh grinned at his dragon’s response. 'See, aren’t you glad you came to this Hatching?’
Hair Blonde and wavy, Tazikel wears his hair so that it ends a little past his ears. Due to the wave, it's a bit longer when damp. He's at that age where he can finally sorta grow a beard but it never really gets anywhere, so he keeps it fairly stubbly so it looks very intentional (even if he can't grow a proper beard).
Tazikel was so focused on the dragon who’d changed his life so completely he didn’t even see Mylorah until her arms were already around him. He leaned into the hug, because being hugged by Mylorah was something familiar. Of course, it didn’t last long at all, because there were two baby dragons who wanted their individual attention. Seravath glanced between him and Mylorah’s gold, eagerly trotting after them as Mylo led them to the food.
“Guess the dragons thought we shouldn’t be separated either, huh?” he laughed, deciding now wasn’t the time to think about why she felt a need to apologize to him. Z’kel let her hand go when she had to move off to tend her own dragon, and turned to throw himself into tending to Seravath.
He looked up a bit later to see Mylorah talking to her Harper friend, who—apparently also Impressed, if the little bronze next to him meant what Z’kel thought it meant. Huh. The dragons seemed determined to let Mylo keep as many of her favorites as possible. Z’kel knew he’d probably overthink that later, but for now that feeling could get shoved to the back of his mind with all the other things he was avoiding thinking about like ‘oh fuck, how will my father react,’ ‘oh no, what about Theri and Ithikel,’ and ‘obsessively going through all the things I’ve ever heard about greenriders.’
At least Batenkel would probably be delighted at his brother’s Impression. Z’kel wasn’t sure if that was a positive or a negative, but it was probably true.
Why would it be bad he’ll be happy we’re together now? Seravath asked, pausing in her devouring to look up at him. Z’kel was pretty sure dragons could talk and mindspeak at the same time, but maybe she was too little for that sort of multitasking.
Am not too little! Seravath insisted, and immediately started eating again—thankfully distracted from her original question, at least for a minute. See! she said, her face scrunched up in concentration as she managed to say a single word while chewing. Z’kel could not at all stop himself from smiling.
Hello loves! While I haven't been writing, I have been working on updating some issues that have been hanging around on the layout! The Character change box is now at the bottom of the page, beside the up/down arrows! Green and Gold dragon flight dates have been shifted to the bottom of the page, where the (useless!) discord widget was located. Where the dragon flights were in the header, is now replaced by a Monthly Event box! This will be updated at the start of each month, with a fun mini-event you can take part in, if you want to! Thistle!
