With a Cherry on Top {Flit Hatching/Open}

[Mango]

Valee looked up as Batavia moved next to her. She gave a small, sheepish grin at the other girl's comment. "I didn't have time to clean up after chores..." she admitted, looking slightly embarrassed, "But, hey. Maybe it'll give me an advantage." She laughed and smiled, but a cracking sound turned her attention to the eggs. She smiled at the first out, a blue, quickly went to hide behind his mother, quite unsuccessfully.

The next out was a hyperactive green. Valee had to hold back a squeal. They were both so cute! The gold urged them along and Valee held a piece of meat forward, trying to tempt one of the critters to her. The green seemed to know which one she wanted and ran to Zan. Well, that was good. If only the blue would come out of hiding.

Meta watched the eggs hatched and grinned, getting on her knees. Nevermind the hot sand, she wanted to be closer! She held out meat, but the blue seemed more intent on hiding. What a silly thing!

She felt a brush against her mind as Metask awoke slightly and suggested she make noise. That'd make it better for sure. She felt the brown fall back asleep after that. She giggled at his suggestion. Noise would probably scare the blue more. And the green that hatched had already picked a boy. Well, maybe she would make some noise for some of the other hatchlings.

[Thorney]

Smiling as the little queen allowed her to come closer, Raelwyn turned her head slightly to face the brownrider, noticing how flustered he became when she mentioned Toll. Now, her smile slowly stretched into a grin, and her green eyes flashed with amusement. Oh ho, she had heard some rather interesting accounts of the weyrling’s behavior from her friends, and no doubt that was flashing through the shy boy’s mind at this moment. It was actually rather cute to see just how embarrassed he was by the whole thing, and the last she would have done is tease him about it. “Well, I’m sure they both are, and they have every right to be.” The candidate replied gently, easing him from the burden of further words. Turning as the sound of a shell breaking was heard, Rael focused her attention upon the eggs now, excitement welling within her. Oh, she was certain they would be utterly adorable, and couldn’t wait to see the little ones.

The first firelizard to be seen was a multi-hued blue with mottled variations of his color dancing across his hide. He was too cute, and the girl giggled lightly. Adorable! Then, he made to hide behind his mother, which made Raelwyn grin. Aww, it seemed as if he was scared, poor little guy. Then, yet another egg hatched, revealing another adorable flit, this time a speckled green. She was not scared in least, it seemed, for she stared at them all and darted about in an excited manner. The green was just too charming, in Rael’s opinion, and the candidate smiled as she found Zanalorin. What a fitting pair that was! Quickly, the girl refocused her green gaze upon the blue and the other eggs, curious which would hatch next.

~~~~~

Laughing in reply to the brownrider, Dastan smirked and shrugged. “At least you get to go back to sleep tonight.” The wherling replied, grinning at the other boy. He and Dassk would have lessons to attend to as the sun set, after all. “Thanks.” He said, grabbing some of the proffered meat. It seemed there was plenty for everyone, and so he didn’t feel so bad about having to borrow it. Laughing as well, the wherling smirked at L’cin. “I guess I’m a glutton for punishment, then. You’d think I would have learned to stop when I’m only at one partner.” Grinning, the former holder then shrugged again, leaning down as the little queen gave a cheep to allow him closer. “But Dassk is a riot, and I think he would probably like one of these little ones, if I bring one home.”

Blinking as an arm was thrown around his shoulders, the wherling glanced over to see Meta there, grinning at him. Chuckling at her words, the former holder quirked a brow, his eyes dancing with good humor. “I can’t help it if I could sleep through a hurricane.” He shrugged, effectively bumping her arm teasingly as he did. Despite his generally flirtatious nature, Dastan couldn’t see the brownhandler in that light, and he doubted she felt that way about him either. “A party, huh? It would have to wait until after dark, aye?” He asked slyly, winking at her. To be honest, Meta really seemed like one of the guys to him, which suited the bluehandler just fine. He needed a bro here, didn’t he? Kneeling alongside her, Das watched the hatchlings, grinning at the eggs. The blue and green were cute, even though the latter had already bonded to another candidate he didn’t know. Still, there were plenty left for him and his buddy, hopefully.

[Kristin]

Did L‘cin just say that K‘vin was fine? That was um... Yeah... But K‘vin was sure that He didn‘t mean it that way, it was just a normal slip, that was all. He was a brownrider and they normally leaned more towards women, didn‘t they? Anyway, Toll was a safe subject. „Yeah... The eggs and Brilla have been all he‘s able to think of those few times he has visited me. He was very angry when I didn‘t come to the clutching. Um, by the way, I‘m sorry that I didn‘t come. I was... um, busy.“ K‘vin winced, apparently Toll wasn‘t a safe subject nowadays when he was inevitably linked to Brillia at least until the eggs hatched.

More people were arriving and it was becoming clear that there would be more people than eggs. K‘vin was of the silent opinion that the people that were bonded to no one deserved the little fire lizards more than those that were bonded to a dragon, wher or a fire lizard. But the knew that the newborns wouldn‘t be thinking of that when they impressed someone. And oh, S‘ren was here and not to impress, only to look it seemed. She seemed nice but K‘vin didn‘t really know her that well. And He was her brother so he didn‘t think that it would be a good idea to be around her, because He could be there. Oh. She definitely wasn‘t as nice as she seemed. K‘vin‘s blush that had been slowly disappearing, came back full force and he hastened to look at something that wasn‘t S‘ren or Him.

Raelwyn arrived and K‘vin couldn‘t help wishing that her Tydus would have won the flight. Everything would be so much easier. The likelihood of Toll winning the flight had been low, but yet the small brown had managed to win over bronze Tydus. He nodded stiffly at Raelwyn‘s question. „Yes. He‘s very proud.“ And left it at that. K‘vin was glad when eggs began to hatch so he could direct all his attention to the critters and forget about the humans, for the time being at least.

----////----

Oh this wasn‘t good, there were so many people now at the sands and F‘ren would really have to try hard to impress. He had to roll his eyes when Mikovren arrived. Did he seriously think that he had a chance of a firelizard? F‘ren was pretty sure that firelizards generally didn‘t choose people that were a bit crazy in the head, like Mikovren was. That man just wasn‘t normal.

The queen seemed to like his manners and she let him step closer. F‘ren smirked, his confidence growing, and went down on his knees with meat ready in his hand. A blue and a green hatched and F‘ren immediately held his hand out with the meat in it. When the green decided to impress Zanalorin instead of him, he was slightly put off and tried his hardest to keep his mind and expression open and friendly to invite the blue and his unhatched siblings to come to him.

[Kira]

L'cin smiled at Raelwyn and grinned impishly at Dastan before returning his attention to the eggs. He'd ask about this Dassk of Dastan's after it was all done. What drew his attention away next was K'vin replying to him, and he smiled shyly. "Ah, that's okay. There wasn't much to see I guess except the eggs that you saw now anyway...and the process - which was weird," he admitted. K'vin...wasn't a very good liar, but L'cin could understand where he was coming from. Even if he was a greenrider, that didn't mean that he'd have wanted L'cin and...yeah. L'cin pushed down the little bubbling feeling of disappointment in that.

When K'vin randomly blushed and focused elsewhere, it took L'cin a moment to figure out why. Tossing a piece of meat up at his meddlesome sister earned him a rather satisfying squeak. He hoped it had landed in her hair. "Quit that! ...Whatever you were doing," he hissed up at her. He just knew she was doing something, the nuisance. Shooting K'vin a sheepishly apologetic look, he scratched his head in embarrassment. Steeling himself, he took a little bit of a leap of faith. Leaning closer and whispering so that no one other than K'vin would hear him, he intoned, "I'm...really sorry if I've made you uncomfortable. I...didn't mean to. Really. I...well...you seem nice, and I liked talking to you in the kitchens, and...I wouldn't mind talking to you more. If, um, you're okay with that and, y'know, aren't too...um, embarrassed, and stuff." The last of his words came out with a floundering of his brief courage, and his face heated and eyes lowered to mirror that. He bit his lip and peeked up at K'vin through his lashes, wondering if he was going to get shot down or brushed off on that.

Oblivious to her bonded's plight for the moment being, Brillia was ecstatic. Oh, one of her babies had bonded! That was goodgood. The other was still being silly, so she reached out and nudged him a little in encouragement. The Cookie Crumbles Blue peeked up over the Hot Fudge Egg curiously, but didn't move just yet. The Caramel Egg was still rocking away, almost indignantly, but no fault lines were seen just yet. The Nuts Egg started to twitch a little, and the Hot Fudge Egg began to shake - earning a startled little sound from their shyly-curious blue brother.

The Chocolate Chips Egg began to crack then, and little claws could be seen squabbling as little bits fell away. A pause - almost like it was catching its breath - and a little eye surrounded by tan could be seen briefly before it began squirming again. Finally, the shell broke enough to send the fire-lizard withing tumbling out. He was massive for a hatchling, and a very dark brown all over except for a few tan accents.

Stumbling forward, the Chocolate Chips Brown looked like he might fall face first into the sand, but at the last moment his body turned a spun him in another direction instead. He cheeped in confusion, then stood wobbling for a moment to figure himself out. Once he seemingly figured things out, he set off to explore(!!!). First there were his siblings eggs and discarded shells. He paused a moment to croon happily at the tiny Nuts Egg, as if thanking it for keeping his own egg from falling over. Andandand there was his (tiny) big brother! Nosing the much smaller blue affectionately, he then looked to his mother and made a happy little chirpy noise. Then he spun again, doing the same seeming-to-trip-over-himself motion. Moving back and forth between the various people with curious eyes, he seemed unable to walk in a straight line but still managed to get exactly where he wanted to go. Finally, he came up to a hand and sniffed at it happily. He'd been drawn by the clinking of the weirdthing on her back. Hopping up onto Batavia's hand, he trilled lovingly...around a mouthful of food. Hihi, His! He'd get to seeing what the weirdthing was in a little bit.

Bolstered by his curious brother, the little blue finally began creeping forward. His hiding place was all moving anyway. And he was HUNGRY. Creeping low to the ground, he looked up at all the bigbigbigones with sweetly shy eyes. Well, that one looked friendly, right? Carefully, he crawled up to F'ren and snitched a little piece of meat from his hand. When it was half-eaten, he tentatively crawled up his fingers and twined his inordinately flexible limbs and wings about F'ren's wrist - looking like an odd little bracer.

While the Cookie Crumbles Blue was impressing, the Hot Fudge Egg ceased its steady rocking and practically exploded outward in a rain of shell. She was a lovely dual-toned green, bright shades along her limbs and underbelly, and a much darker hue seeming to almost drip down her hide along her back and neck. She perched majestically with one paw affectionately resting on the Caramel Egg and the Nuts Egg respectively. She sent a beautiful little trill to her newly-impressed brother before leaning down to croon sweetly at the Nuts Egg. Serenely, she looked out at all of the twolegs that were holding out meat for her, making a very pleased noise.

[Rouxy]

There were lots of people vying for hatchlings, and Zan had taken the opportunity offered by the tiny gold to advance further forward so he'd have a better chance of getting a little beauty of his own. Kneeling down so he'd be even that much closer, the candidate took only a brief moment before sitting cross-legged on the warm sands. The bowl, he nestled in his lap, a smallish piece of meat thrust out in his hand in tempting offer to the shaking, cracking eggs.

As two hatchlings broke their way free, he inched just a little bit closer on his rear, the sand crunching inaudibly beneath his legs, though he could feel it. A blue broke shell first, and promptly hid behind his mother, and next a green! He'd have one for certain! The green was peering around with her large, adorable eyes, and the blue was shooed forward, only to hide amongst the eggs. The green scampered as if shot from a bow, straight towards him, and he was rewarded with a sudden bright spark lighting in his mind as the green began gulping at the meat he offered. Giggling in a decidedly unmanly way, Zan brought the green up to the bowl, reminded in time that she'd choke if she ate too fast. He carefully began feeding her the smallest pieces, but she wouldn't keep eating in a continuous stream like he'd heard newly hatched flitters did.

First a fluttering piece of cloth tugged by the breeze caught her attention, then a leaf, and next a bird. Each new thing brought a bright spark of color to his mind, a small piece of her joy and wonder. She'd eventually be brought back to the meat in his hand, but it was never for long. It only took a few moments for her tiny belly to bulge with fullness, and Zan was thoroughly and well in love. "You perfect darling. My sweet sweet angel." He cooed, completely heedless to who might be close enough to overhear. The green chirped, her wide eyes staring at him as he spoke, her attention captured by his voice for about a second before something fluttered by his shoulder and she began crawling up to find whatever it was before spying the small bag at his waist and promptly slithering back down and inside with ease, so small she could fit within with the last several inches of her tail poking out.

Zan laughed, and gave an affectionate pat to the bag, hearing an answering chirp from within as she shuffled and rummaged around before breathing deeply in a contented, sleepy sigh, situated amongst small pieces of driftwood, shells and small well-tied bags of nails -hardware for dock work and small treasures he'd found. "Angel, you are, Angel it is." He said, a soothing wisp of blue smoke trailing through his mind, agreeing to the name.

Naoko watched the hatchlings with awe, inspired as she'd not been before impressing to Naosk. She enjoyed life more, and she actually considered attending more hatchings for the sheer happiness of doing so. She shifted closer to the bowl of meat the gold's owner had brought -L'cin she thought she remembered his name was. She wasn't certain if she'd be truly disappointed if she didn't impress, there was Naosk now, constantly with her except when he slept. She never wanted for companionship, but there was something so... happy about firelizards. Even the grumpy ones.

[Kristin]

Thankfully He didn‘t seem to be offended that K‘vin hadn‘t come to the clutching. Which was good because K‘vin would hate it if He had any bad feelings about him. And He scolded S‘ren which made K‘vin feel all warm and fuzzy inside for some reason. And then He was leaning closer? K‘vin found himself actually holding his breath nervously, waiting to hear what He would say. And after He had finished K‘vin‘s face broke out into a wide grin and for five glorious seconds, K‘vin was the happiest guy on Pern. Because He liked him too! And it wasn‘t just K‘vin! And then he took a moment to process what He had actually said and his face fell. Liked talking to you... Wouldn‘t mind talking more... aren‘t embarrassed...

And it all clicked. He – no – L‘cin now if they were supposed to be friends, knew that K‘vin liked him that way, and was kind enough to offer his friendship if only K‘vin stopped acting like that around him. And if K‘vin couldn‘t be with L‘cin that way, he‘d take all he could get and he definitely wanted to be friends with L‘cin. K‘vin forced a smile that was nothing like the earlier, face-splitting grin. „Sure, I liked talking to you too. And I would like to talk to you some more.“

Sure, K‘vin had always known that he had no chance with L‘cin and had therefore accepted that fact, but when he got hope, only to lose it again, well it was disappointing to say the least.

Toll took a moment from watching the eggs anxiously to croon worriedly at his bonded who was feeling sad. Toll had no idea why he was sad, why should he be sad when all the lovely eggs were hatching? Toll quickly forgot about His however when a brown hatched and Toll puffed out in pride. What a big healthy brown it was! And he found his bonded fairly quickly which gave Toll‘s blue son incentive to go find his twolegs. Good good, three of his children had already impressed humans. Everything was going so well and Toll crooned his affection for Brillia for being the mother of such lovely children like his brown and blue sons and green daughter were. And then there came another green daughter and Toll watched her intently, waiting for her to find her twolegs.

Asileth too was busy watching the darling little ones hatch and find their bonded ones. When Hers started feeling sad she checked to see if Hers was sadsadsad or only sad. If he was only sad it could wait until after the hatching. When her bonded quickly assured her that he was only being silly and she should continue watching the hatching, she happily did so.

--//--

F‘ren laughed a little at the newly hatched brown‘s antics. That hatchling was huge and seemed much more sure of were he was going than his tiny blue brother. Unfortunately the brown passed him and settled instead on Batavia. F‘ren only felt a little disappointment, there were still plenty of hatchlings left and one of them was sure to pick him. And sure enough, the little blue finally went looking for a mind mate and settled on the bronzerider.

F‘ren first thought was that his blue had got to be one of the cutest things he had ever seen, his second thought was how incredible it was to bond to even a mere firelizard and his third thought was: Oh no. Eneth is going to be madmadmad. He simply didn‘t have time though to think about his dragon now, not when he had just joined minds with his wonderful little blue. He quickly took his blue away from all the mayhem surrounding the clutch and settled down a little ways off, quietly feeding the blue with small pieces of meat, a smile full of wonder on his face.

The blue for his part was very, very happy with his twolegs. He was very nice and was feeding him so he wasn't hungry anymore and he had taken him away from all the noise and scary twolegs. Yesyes, he had chosen well.

[Maykat]

“Well if it works, I’m rolling in a pile of fish before Trith’s eggs hatch,” Batavia said with a grin. More eggs shook, but the little blue just didn’t seem ready to find a person. Hopefully he wouldn’t go wild. That would be a waste. She let out a low whistle when the Chocolate Chips egg hatched an enormous brown. “Look at the size of that thing.” He was uneasy on his feet, making Batavia smile.

She crouched down, shifting her bag further back and holding out a scrap of meat. She wiggled it in what she considered an enticing way. It worked, as the little, actually giant, brown wove his way towards her and jumped in her hand. Batavia locked eyes with the brown and immediately felt the Impression. She sucked in her breath, feeling his emotions, mostly hunger but also love and…acceptance? Despite research all she could about Impression, Batavia knew she would never have the words to describe it. She rocked back on her heels, nestling the bowl of meat scraps in the sand to give her a free hand.

The brown gobbled up meat as fast as she would give it to him, even catching the tip of her finger once. Eventually he slowed down, his big eyes blinking slowly as tiredness replaced his hunger. Still, there was food left and he didn’t want to leave any bit behind. Grinning, Batavia held up the bowl so he could lick the juices in the bottom. When he was finally done, he curled up on her chest, nuzzling his head against her neck. Batavia smiled from ear to ear as she slowly stood and shuffled to the back of the crowd. She stroked the brown’s neck, watching the rest of the hatching while thinking of names.

[Lothyna]

Watching the drama between L’cin, K’vin, and S’ren, the young dragon healer was distinctly amused. Oh, the foibles of young love-lust. It was definitely something he was going to keep an eye on-more so because it seemed like there was an interesting back tension beyond the normal fear of rejection. Hmm… Casting a glance at the brown.. Toll? Clutch father, then to L’cin’s gorgeous gold Brillia, Miko frowned. The two of them obviously had no issues-but what would cause a queen to chose a brown over a bronze such as the ones obviously in attendance? While not unheard of, it wasn’t very common…

Shaking those musing away, since he was here to observe and hopefully gain a loving companion of his own, the dragon healer sighed, and then grinned at the curious eye peeking out from the Chocolate Chips egg, before the little brown rolled free. He coughed to hide a laugh at how very curious it was, keeping a strip of meet in hand as he watched. The brown certainly had personality, watching the blue be nosed before it’s impression to…. F’ren?!

Miko shifted a bit forward onto his knees, eyes tracking over the rest of the clutch even as he smirked, hearing the croon from Zanalorin over his little green beauty who seemed rather inquisitive-and sweet, as all new things were. The other five eggs were his new focus, even as he tried to ignore F’ren. That, unfortunately, failed, as he saw the little blue, so shy, climb atop the bronze Weyrling. Interesting. He still wasn’t sure how the boy had Impressed a bronze-but then again, he was no dragon. Still, F’rens superior attitudes would not be helped by this, he’d bet.

Ignoring that for now, Miko returned his gaze to the clutch in time to see a gorgeous little green hatch, as the brown went to his colleague-which made him smile. She was definitely a bit imperious-without the over the top tones of some golds. Very gorgeous too, he noticed, eyeing her shading. Still 3 eggs left to go, and he was curious to see who of the lot here would Impress, and wondered privately why he'd come. Then again-the joy of the adult fair was wonderous to behold, and he did love their voices.

[Kira]

V'taph rather liked knowing every nook and cranny of a Weyr. That was why, despite the knowledge that he'd probably never set foot there again, he was currently winding his way through the tunnels around the Hatching Sands. He'd only sat for one Hatching ever, fully intending to pay attention to the lordling he was spying on instead of the eggs. ...And then he'd gotten his Veneth. And he was the most wonderful thing to have ever happened to V'taph, and the only reason why V'taph didn't notice the two dud eggs left over after that clutch. Not all clutches had duds, but it was common enough that he knew he'd never be able to safely sit through one. And the idea of watching a dragonet hatching and then going between... He let out a shudder, despite the mild weather.

Turning out of a tunnel and into the actual stands, he was astounded by the sheer number of fire-lizards draped everywhere. Was this what the Hatching Sands were like here in the South? But wait, there seemed to be a congregation of people gathered around...something along the wall. Walking over curiously, he grinned when a young Weyrling b- girl peeked up at him from her supine position of watching. She grinned back, then returned her attention to what was going on below. Which was...

...A fire-lizard Hatching? Funny, he thought that usually they just gave out the eggs if the flit was domesticated, and sometimes people just found them in the wild. Well, it explained the other fire-lizards draped about the place. He'd always liked the little nuisances, so he plopped down next to the girl and decided to watch. After all, it was just a flit Hatching. Might be good fun!

.o0O0o.

L'cin couldn't help the hopeful smile the bloomed on his face when K'vin grinned widely. Well, that went better than he thought! Maybe he should give this courage thing more of a try if- Oh, his face was falling now. Why? Oh shards, had he misspoken? Now the other boy was noticeably forcing a smile... Oh, perhaps L'cin had thought too soon. He wouldn't force anything on K'vin, definitely; Fall, there was a little voice just telling him to give it up now anyway. But...well, maybe they could at least be comfortable as friends at some point. It would suck for L'cin, since K'vin was kinda the one that finally made him be honest with himself about his attractions to both genders, but he would willingly suffer in silence to not have to give up the ability to spend time with the other. His own smile dimmed a little, but he didn't let it fall too much. Maybe...maybe in time. Who knew.

In the meantime, though, they could at least spend some time getting to know each other, right? Neither of them were overly comfortable around crowds, so... "Um, well, maybe on one of our free afternoons soon... Well, um, Queth likes to explore and also to swim so we found this awesome lagoon not too distant from the Weyr," he babbled out, trying to find the right wording. "It's a short way, so Asileth might be able to fly, but we found it walking so we can walk there if you prefer... Er, I mean, would you like to go swimming?" Feeling like an idiot, and realizing how that could be construed as that sort of outing, he panicked and tried to rectify it. "I mean, to talk and stuff, 'cause there won't be anyone else around to interrupt." Okay, no, that was worse. Oh Fall. "It'll be fun for the dragons, too," he tried to add, just giving up and facing the Hatching now, cheeks tinted a bit darker. He didn't really want to see K'vin's face as he thought of ways to brush him off, certainly.

He was able to smile a little as Zan cooed over his baby green, and then the smile grew slightly larger as F'ren walked away a bit in a daze. Hopefully Eneth wouldn't be too upset with him...or with L'cin, for that matter, for 'letting' him Impress one. Batavia had Impressed too, and he was happy for her. The smile on her face reminded him of when he'd Impressed his own perfect little gold. He was able to melt into a truly happy smile again at that thought. Everything would be okay as long as he had Queth and Brillia. And S'ren and Feynth, to a different, very slightly lesser extent.

The hatchlings so far had all been so sweet and cute. It really was rather fitting for both Brillia and Toll, it seemed. L'cin had gotten a chance to get to know the little brown during the couple weeks of he and Brilli invading L'cin's bed while Brill was egg-heavy. Another pretty green was there, calmly surveying her surroundings, and two of the three eggs were moving. The Nuts Egg was still just giving a gentle rock now and then, while the Caramel Egg was shaking in a way that made it look angry. And, well, it was the first to move and still hadn't hatched, so maybe it had a reason for being angry.

At that thought, the Caramel Egg made a few little sick crack-popping noises, bits of egg-goop starting to seethe out of the rapidly forming cracks. The Hot Fudge Green removed her paw from the egg, only to reach back and start helping to pull at a little piece of shell. Finally, the largest egg came busting apart and spilled out...a surprisingly small fire-lizard. As it first knocked off some of the larger shell-bits that stuck to it, the first thought was that it was a bronze. But no, that was impossible, for a brown had caught the queen. By some instinct, both Brillia and the Hot Fudge Green quickly raised a wing to shield themselves as the Caramel Brown violently shook off bits of shell and egg-goop in every which direction. The surrounding hopefuls were probably not so lucky.

With some of the shiny goop off now, the fire-lizard was revealed to indeed be a brown - and a tiny one, at that. His hide was a lovely golden-brown color, and he was a sight - even still covered in the sticky egg-bits. Apparently there was a reason for the delayed hatching: the flit had had to fight its way through quite a bit of membrane in order to get out of his giant egg. He showed no interest in the waiting hopefuls, instead sitting back on his haunches and attempting to contemptuously divest himself of the mess. The Hot Fudge Green spent a bit of time helping her finicky brother pick off some of the bits stuck to areas he couldn't reach, then gave him an affectionate nuzzle and moved forward.

Her slow walk could only be described as a saunter as she paced the distance between her and the food-bearers. She brushed against a few different fingers, sniffing her way along. Finally, she came to one she liked the smell of - there was a hint of something rather interesting to his scent. She sensuously snaked her way into that hand, curling her tail around Dastan's wrist and planting her feet in his palm in a firm snuggle. Daintily, she nibbled at the meat contained in the palm, pausing now and again to nuzzle or lick the fingers of Hers.

Finally as satisfied as he could get about being clean, the Caramel Brown finally graced the hopefuls with a baleful stare. Well, they had food, and he was hungry, so he would go. Nudging the Nuts Egg with his nose briefly, he began his trek forward. His tail flicked out to whap the previously still Whipped Cream Egg, almost like he was telling it to wake up already. He got about a foot before he stopped and looked down at his feet. They were now all encrusted with sand! It had stuck to the remaining goop and was now caked on! Frantically, he shook his limbs, twisting this way and that, but only succeeding in getting even more sand stuck to more places on his body. Creeling in distress, he started trying to flee the evilevilickyscratchystuff(!) and flapping his wet wings ineffectively. Dashing to the side and falling down, his whole side got covered in sand, and now it was in his eye. His eye! Running to the first thing he saw from his stillcleaneye, he butted up against Raelwyn's legs and cheeped plaintively. It was gross! And now his eye hurt! Getitoffgetitoffgetitoffffffff!!!

For those who weren't paying attention to the brown's plight, they would see that the previously still Whipped Cream Egg was giving a few little decisive shakes. Hairline cracks formed rather evenly over the whole egg, and then the shell just collapsed. The hatchling plopped down out of it with a little squeak and gave a big yawn. Looking around curiously, its stare was rather dreamy as the squat, pastel baby blue flit looked around himself. He seemed rather content to just sit there for the moment being, watching.

[Mango]

So much had happened so quickly! Valee blinked as her friend Impressed one of the brownsthat had hatched. There were also more greens and another brown and a new blue or two. And multiple Impressions. She blinked gently, shaking her head, sending curls flying everywhere.

With her mind striaght, she turned to Batavia with a huge grin on her face. She really hoped to Impress one too. "Congratulations!" she said, keeping one eye on the Hatching, "What are you going to name him?!?" She was curious, but she wanted even more to pay attention to the Hatching. So, for that reason, she hoped Batavia wouldn't want to talk of the brown too much.

Meta was concentrating hard on the Hatching, but it was easy to get lost when it was in the middle like it was. She held out her pieces of meat to the firelizards that passed, but none seemed interested in her. Shards. Suddenly, the Caramel Brown shook the egg goop off of himself. Of course, being crouched, Meta was hit with a lot of it.

She cursed quite audibly and fell back onto her bum, cursing again when the hot sands burnt through the seat of her trousers. She quickly stood up and began fanning herself, the hatching momentarily forgotten. She, unfortunately, missed Dastan's Impression in her antics and did not get to congratulate him, but her butt (even if it was more a flat surface that went past her back) was a little more important right now.

((Sorry, studying for my italian test))

[Kristin]

K‘vin smiled fondly at L‘cin‘s cute babbling. Obviously the brownrider was still a bit uncomfortable being around someone, a boy, that liked him. But he was obviously trying, while making it absolutely clear that they were only going to talk and K‘vin shouldn‘t get any ideas. K‘vin frowned a little at that, did L‘cin really think that K‘vin had so little self control that he‘d jump on the unwilling brownrider? He was going to have to be extra careful to be manly and hide his interest in L‘cin, otherwise he probably would think that their friendship wasn‘t worth the hassle.

He cleared his throat and tried to look suitably disintrested without L‘cin thinking that he didn‘t actually want to go. „Yeah, yeah, sure. Asileth is always looking for opportunities to practice flying. It‘ll be fun.“ K‘vin was quite pleased with his sentence. He had managed to not stumble over his words and made it wound like he was thinking of his dragon first and foremost, giving no indication of the squeeling going on inside him about the fact that he would get to spend time with L‘cin alone. There would be no annoying bronzeriders or a whole firelizard clutch hatching to distract them. Of course then there would be nothing to distract K'vin from looking at L'cin all the time, which might be problematic if they were going to try out this whole friendship thing.

[Thorney]

Blinking slightly at K’vin’s reply, the candidate slipped quickly back into a smile, turning away to leave the two boys alone. Raelwyn bit her lower lip, wondering why he had answered her so stiffly. Had she upset him somehow? Of course, she was certain Tydus had been furious at Toll for winning, and doubtlessly very sore at the brown, but she didn’t think K’vin was the type to hold a grudge over something like that like. He had always seemed like a very pleasant person, if a bit shy, the few times she had spoken with him. Perhaps the clutch was a raw spot? It was possible his mood was caused by something else entirely, and wasn’t directed at her at all. Sighing, the girl shook her head, clearing those thoughts from her mind. It wouldn’t do to worry about it, she supposed.

Returning her gaze to the eggs, the harper grinned as the brown chose a fellow candidate. “Congratulations, Batavia!” Raelwyn said enthusiastically, happy for the other girl. The healer had always wanted one, that much she knew, and was glad to see her bond to one. He was a cutie, too. And now the blue had also decided to move out, inspecting those gathered shyly. He seemed like a sweet little thing, and the girl grinned when she noticed who he had chosen. Ohhhh, she knew that bronzerider. “Congratulations, F’ren!” Rael said quickly, watching as he stepped away to feed his new pet. Oh Faranth, Eneth wasn’t going to be happy about that. The harper knew the bronze hated the little flits.

The next to hatch was an utterly lovely green, and the girl smiled again. Oh, Brillia and Toll had done themselves proud, indeed. However, as the Caramel Egg hatched, the harper barely had time to raise her hand before pieces of goop went flying all over her skirt. Luckily, it missed her shirt and face, but the fabric on her skirt was soaked. For a moment, Raelwyn merely stared, then she burst into light laughter, shaking her head in amusement. Ah, she had plenty of skirts lying around, and it was worth it to see the adorable little brown. And little he was, she mused, watching with a smile as he began to clean himself. Meanwhile, the green sauntered off, looking among those gathered before finally choosing a boy she did not know, a wherling if she judged his knots correctly. Oh yes, Rozsk had clutch recently!

As the Caramel Brown began approaching them, her lips curved sweetly as she watched him begin twisting and shaking, trying to get the sand off him. Biting back another laugh, the candidate suddenly gasped softly as he took a tumble and got sand all over his side, hoping he hadn’t gotten hurt. Raelwyn watched anxiously as the brown stood, then began to blink in surprise as he butted her legs. Her? He had chosen her? Suddenly, colors and emotions washed over her that did not belong to Tydus, and the bond was confirmed. “Oh, you poor love.” The harper cooed softly, quickly reaching down to scoop the flit up and cuddle him in her hands. Grabbing the clean portion of her skirt that wasn’t covered in egg goop, Rael made calm shushing noises while she moved away from the others and began gently cleaning the sand off his little eye.

As she did, there was one certain flit nearby that suddenly squawked indignantly, watching as HIS girl picked the small-stupid-brown up and moved off with him. What? What!? The small-stupid-brown wanted Tydus’s girl? Hissing, the bronze was about to zip forward until he caught a flash of gold from the corner of his eye. Oh…probably not the best idea, to hiss at one of the lovelygold’s hatchlings right in front of her. Instead, the firelizard quickly betweened and appeared above the girl, eyes narrowing on the new little ‘addition’ to their group. Landing rather possessively on Raelwyn’s shoulder, Tydus hissed at the brown while curling his tail around her, quite clearly saying, ‘This is mine. Get the Fall away. Now.’

Glancing over at her bronze, the harper sighed, shaking her head. “Tydus, behave yourself.” The girl said, her voice soft but stern. She had expected this the moment the brown bonded to her, and had steeled herself for a fight. “There you are.” Rael said gently, having finished cleaning the sand out of his eye and off his hide. Her skirt was now covered in egg goop and sticky sand, of course, but that didn’t matter. Not when she had her sweet little brown. Now clean and able to see, the hatchling glanced up at Hisgirl adoringly, then suddenly cheeped as he noticed the meat she had sat down. Oh, he was hungryhungryhungry! His needed to feed him now, oh yes! Then they could cuddle afterwards. “Oh, what to name you.” Raelwyn mused, glancing over at her bronze. “What do you think, Ty?” She asked, then quickly frowned as he sent her a very vivid picture of…ok, well that was rude. “Tydus!” The harper said sharply, slightly mollified when he gave a resentful cheep of apology. Returning her green gaze to the cute little brown, she quickly picked up the meat and started to feed the ravenous flit while considering. For whatever reason, a name suddenly flashed into her head, one that seemed to stick despite it’s seemingly pointless nature. “Cloud.” Rael said decisively, smiling when the brown cheeped happily. Cloud it was, then.

~~~~~

Grinning as the flits hatched and bonded, Dastan couldn’t help but think they were all such cute little buggers. Of course, Dassk was the most amazing, wonderful, and perfect creature that ever moved, but these adorable little ones were pretty wonderful too. The blue, though shy, was extremely cute, and that brown was a handsome creature indeed. They both bonded, and the wherling felt a quick little stab of disappointment before the Hot Fudge Egg hatched. The green that followed was a lovely, lithe creature who moved fluidly, more graceful and poised than any hatchling he had ever seen. Grey-blue eyes focused on her, the former holder watched as she began to help the Caramel Egg, smiling slightly at the two. That green seemed lovely. As the Caramel Egg finally broke, Das grumbled as egg goop quickly covered him, splattering against his breeches and boots. Shards and shells, he had planned on wearing these clothes to lessons! As Meta fell back then quickly hopped to her feet, Dastan did his best to cough and hide his laughter, but some chuckles slipped through nonetheless.

However, his attention was quickly taken by the approaching green, her saunter rather mesmerizing. She moved in an unhurried manner, her body graceful and undeniably lovely. Breath catching as the exquisite flit curled up in his hand and began to nibble delicately on the food, nuzzling him occasionally while she did, Dastan smiled. He could feel her conscience slowly slide over his own, a smooth, luxurious sensation, and the wherling stood and moved away from the others, unable to keep his eyes off her. “You’re beautiful.” He said softly, feeling a thrill run up his spine as she trilled sweetly in reply. Shards, if she had been human…Grinning, the former holder stroked her back while she ate, admiring her delicate, sensuous movements. The green was lovely, and moved with a graceful air, almost like an heiress of a mighty land. Heiress… “What do you say, my love? How does Aeris suit you?” Curling her tail even tighter around Herboy’s wrist, the green gave a soft, warm trill of pleasure, agreeing that it did indeed suit her just fine.

[Kaemi]

There seemed to be, surprisingly, a numerous amount of his wherlings here. Most surprising was that they were awake at this candlemark. Toven knew that he had had a terrible sleeping time for the first month of his wherlinghood, unhappy with the new sleep-pattern despite his euphoria of Impression. Apparently, this batch didn't experience that. He shrugged, intrigued more by the hatching than by the habits of the wherlings. So long as they showed up to their lessons on time, and lights were out by the appropriate candlemark, he didn't care when the slept and awoke. He would pay extra attention, however, to how they and their hatchlings were affected by the new Impressions (if they did Impress) later that evening.

Dastan, with his blue Dassk, had already Impressed- a little green flitter. That was the only one so far, out of his wherlings... he thought. Toven forced himself to, again, focus on the hatching, and forget that he was Wherling Master. They were just random kids (except for Naoko, who wasn't a kid... but that was besides the point) who were also vying for the little creatures. Watching the various hatchlings bond to their chosen, a small smile came back to his face. They really were quite cute, despite being a bit annoying and a bit useless. Just a bit.

((argg sorry, two tests tomorrow. alliteration. XD))

[Kira]

The Hatching seemed to be winding down now. Only one more egg and a rather sedate-looking blue left. L'cin smiled at the ones who had already bonded. They all seemed so enamored - he was certain they'd take care of the little ones well. He'd felt a pang of sympathy for the tiny hypochondriac brown when he'd fallen, and only just managed to keep himself from rushing forward to help. Thankfully Raelwyn was taking good care of him, though.

Brillia preened at her latest lovely baby. He was a little round, but that just meant he was healthy. He was just sort of sitting there staring off though. Wasn't he hungry? Or was he so round he wasn't hungry yet? He certainly didn't seem that round, and she wanted him to stay healthy so he needed some foodbits. Her children were so silly - they had needed reminders to go get foodbits! She was just about to chirp a reminder to the pastel blue when his tummy gave a surpringly loud (for his size) little rumble.

The Whipped Cream Blue looked down at himself and chirped in confusion. Why was his tummy making weird growly-noises? It happened again when he caught a whiff of the air around him. Oh! He was hungry! Silly tummy - why didn't it just say so? ...Or was that what the growly-noise meant? Pondering that, it took another little rumble to remind him that he hadn't actually fixed the problem. Following his nose, he sniffed his way over to where something smelled goodgood. There was another yummy smell all over, but he liked this one lots and lots.

Slowly, he balanced himself up on his haunches and pulled at Valee's fingers. Heyhey! She smelled good, and she had yummythings in her claw. Wouldn't she please lower her hand so he could have some of the yummythings? Making a rather pathetic little creel, he sent pleading thoughts her way.

And with the Whipped Cream Blue bonded, L'cin and Brillia's attention went back to the remaining Nuts Egg. It had been gently twitching before, but it was still now. Brillia chirped at it. Why wouldn't it hatch? It needed to hatch, yesyes. Looking to her humanpet, she asked him why it wasn't hatching yet. Her little one needed to eat and bond to a humanpet!

Dread began to fill L'cin as he looked at the tiniest egg of the clutch. He had hoped there wouldn't be one, and especially for Brilli's first clutch. Brillia had almost been a dud herself, but L'cin and Queth's encouragement had given her the strength to keep squabbling at her shell instead of giving up. This one though...this one had barely even moved. Biting his lip, he scooted more toward his slowly-panicking flit and the lone egg. He sent as encouraging of thoughts as he could toward the egg, but it didn't even twitch again. "Brilli...I'm sorry, lovey... I don't think it's going to hatch..."

Brillia gave a quiet keen. She didn't have to fully understand her humanpet's words to understand the thought behind them. Nonononono!!! Her babies would all hatch and they would all be happy and get foodbits and bond twolegs like Hers and this one would be just like the others. This one was special!!! She didn't know why, it just was. It had needed lots more heat, yesyes. It's why she put it in the middle, and turned it lots and lots. Brillia was restless on her perch, shuffling back and forth, flaring her wings. She tried cooing and humming and trilling at the little egg to the point of desperation, but it still didn't budge. Keening loudly, she looked out around her and chattered at them. Her baby just needed help, that's all! She had needed help and Hers helped her so that must be it!

V'taph had felt his hackles raise the moment the little egg stopped its gentle twitching. Nonono, not a dud. Okay, fine, a dud. But it shouldn't break his heart like that. This wasn't a dragon Hatching! They were just fire-lizards - cute, sometimes sweet, and often annoying, but not even all that intelligent! shardit, THIS was exactly the reason he didn't attend Hatchings. He couldn't stand the idea of any youngling perishing.

Finally, the golden queen's shrieks were too much for him. Thunking his head solidly against the railing and chastising himself for being and idiot, he deftly levered himself over the end and landed gently on the Sands. The poor kid bonded to the flit looked like he was about to cry and didn't know what to do to help. "Hey kid," V'taph said gently but sternly, crouching on the other side of the wailing mother. "It's possible to help it along a bit, if you want. Sometimes dud eggs are just...weak. If you help them crack the shell, they can sometimes survive." He knew his stories well. No Harper would ever forget white Ruth, and V'taph was certain that fire-lizards were similar to their adult cousins in that respect.

L'cin was torn. On one hand, Brillia wanted her baby hatched. On the other, what if it didn't survive or was horribly underformed? It might not be, but was it worth it? And if he tried to crack the egg, what if he pressed too hard and ended up killing the little thing himself?! Nono, he couldn't. He couldn't even take that risk. This was nature, right? Perhaps it was kinder to let it sleep in its shell than to drag it out and make it die in a panic. L'cin bit his lip and shook his head, shying away from the egg. "I-I can't. What if...what if it's not...right? I could kill it anyway. I can't." He could feel tears forming, and knew that only half of it was from the backwash of Brillia's emotions.

Sighing V'taph rubbed his forehead. Ohh, he really shouldn't be doing this. But the poor kid was freaked out as badly as the clutchmother. He knew he shouldn't, but he also knew he would. Cold, hard Harper spy - hah! he thought to himself. He knew that he was secretly a softie for younglings. "If you'll allow me, I will." The kid seemed to mentally argue with himself for a moment before his compassion for his bonded won out and he shakily nodded. "Calm her, then, so she doesn't attack me."

L'cin reached over and ran a hand down Brillia's back. Her distress-yellowed eyes whirled at him, but he tried to press back to her that the other twolegs was going to help. Brillia stopped her racket and most of her fluttering, turning whirling eyes back on the older twolegs. She chirped at him imperiously, motioning to the Nuts Egg, as if wonderin what was taking so long. V'taph nodded his head at her, biting back a small chuckle at the queenly behaviour, then reached for the egg.

Gently, he applied pressure to the sides. He just needed to crack it a little. If he squeezed without restraint, his fingers would hurt the flit. So he kept them steady, slowly closing the distance between the fingers instead of pressing. Small cracks ran along the egg, and he could feel a tiny jerk. With hope now, he made a few more cracks before the egg half-crumbled. Weakly, the little creature within unfurled herself in his palm.

She was absolutely tiny - that was the first thing he noticed. The second was her color. She wasn't white, but nor was she gold or green. Sickly yellow, she was definitely not fully developed. She was alive, though. And whole, as far as he could tell from a quick inspection. Grinning up at the kid, V'taph made to hold the baby fire-lizard out to him. L'cin smiled back at him, but shook his head. V'taph was a little confused at first, until he felt a tiny brush of something that wasn't a dragon. And then L'cin held out a tiny piece of meat to him.

Oh.

Staring down at the anemic little flit in his palm, he saw her try to wrestle the last little eggbit off of herself. Feeling his regard, she let out a frail little creel. She was hungry! Taking one of the tiny meatscraps offered, he slowly began feeding his new little beauty. So maybe she looked a bit odd - he didn't care. He'd had to take her to the infirmary right after this and let one of the Dragonhealers look at her for sure. Maybe they could make heads or tail of her color too; she lacked any of the luster of a gold, but she wasn't quite tinged green either. Perhaps she was indeed like the dragon Ruth - not developed enough to have found a color.

Brillia, now, was ecstatic. She let out a loud trill, happily shooting into the air and turning over a few times. She landed on V'taph's shoulder and snuggled him. She liked him! She was glad her last clutchbaby was with him - he would take care of her, yesyes. Flitting over to Hers, she attached herself happily to his shirt and chittered to him excitedly. "Thank you," L'cin said, hugging his Brillia. It was good to have her back - and happy. "I'm L'cin, by the way."

"I'm V'taph. And...thank you," he said softly. Peering down at his little one, he just barely managed to stop her from choking, then continued the feeding. This was going to take some getting used to!


((So...everyone got Nuts wrong! XD She was a dud! But I'm giving everyone the points for it anyway, as a freebie. :3 Honestly, when I first was planning her, she wasn't going to hatch. Then I sketched out an outline, just in case someone forced the hatching. And then I fell in love with the quirky little thing. XD So...yes. >.> Hahaha! Hope you all had fun!!!))