[Touching] Once Upon A Time

[S'yal]

Farrox quivered and quickly backed away from the egg, thoroughly creeped out. Oh gawd, it was going to eat him!

~~~~~~~~~~

Julian was much more chill then Farrox. Having finally roused himself he ambled onto the sands, holding his gift for the Queen. It was a large seashell, similar to the conchs found on earth... and he'd polished it so it was nice and shiny. Maybe he cared more then he let on? Naw, he wanted to get out of work! He left the egg on the ground and bowed easily, his firelizard clinging to the back of his head.

Then he ambled off, giving the freaking out albino a strange look as he chose his own pile and crouched, setting to digging... with Bell's help, naturally. The little firelizard was just burrowing into it! He wanted to find it first!

(( 2 ))

[lithle]

Oh, goodness, that's not an egg at all! It's... a basket? Yep. It's a basket alright. Buried just under the sand with a closed lid. Upon flipping open the lid, a terrible sight. There, curled up in the bottom of the basket was a small, fluffy orange kitten. Extremely fluffy. Almost excessively so. It must be dead though, right? Buried in the hot sand like that?

But no. After a moment's stillness, the feline uncurled, looking up at Julian and mewing pathetically. Poor creature. A traumatic way to start a life.

---

It was at this point, that Leshta realized the full extent of Semith's michief and gave an exhausted sort of sigh.

Semi, prisoners aren't supposed to have more than one pet. She sent, stroking the dragon's leg.

They are presents! They have to keep them. A keel from the dragon, her eyes beginning to whirl yellow. The clutch was not completely without effect on the queens emotions. Don't you take them away. Please? Please!

Leshta bit her lip, shook her head, and finally, gave in. Very well. You may tell them.

They are for you! Semith's voice, chipper again, but a little anxious, echoed through Julian, Ever, and Tanyrion's minds. And you can keep them. Mine says it's okay.

((Second number picking now open!))

[nozomi]

Semithpretty, you were keeping a kitten in a basket? Mordanth actually took the time to sound rather surprised. How could he be, though? Semith happened to be involved and as much as he adored her, even Mordanth could admit that Semith could be a bit -- interesting. He adored her never the less, she was a lovely little creature. Oh yes. Ah, well. It's a very cute kitten, Semith, and -- I think one of Ours scared the little one. He's running.[/color]

The blue leaned his head down and across the small amount of sand and eggs between them to blink at Farrox. His head cocked and Mordanths voice, chiding, amused, cheerful, slipped through to the young Candidates mind. Don't be afraid! Are you afraid? It's alright. Mordanth will protect you if the little one inside gets upset when it hatches. Go touch another? Don't run.[/color]

Lookit that, little Farrox being comforted.

"Lesh!" T'di stopped his winking for a split second to hiss towards his longtime friend. "Lesh, is that a kitten? An orange kitten? I think I lost a kitt--"

Mine.[/color]

"Or not. Still. What? And are those firelizard eggs? Your dragon is awesome, Lesh."

[S'yal]

Julian gaped at the kitten he found in the sand, and Bell trilled curiously. Julian quickly snatched it up, dusting sand off of it while crooning comforting words to the poor dear. Had... Semith BURIED it!? He felt the need to scold the Queen for doing something so stupid, but Bell crooned reassurances that had him relaxing. He was quite happy that the little thing was still breathing, and he cradled it as it meowed pathetically up at him. Poor dear! He turned to nod shakingly at Semith, holding the frightened kitten close to his chest.

The kitten had decided two things. One: He hated dragons. Two: Dark, enclosed spaces were TERRIFYING. The poor kitten shivered and shook as Julian tucked him into his jumpsuit so that the kittens front paws and head were popped out but he was not in danger of falling so Julian could keep his hands free. "Should we go dig up more eggs, or take you back to the barracks?" He questioned, and the kitten simply meowed at him. "Well.. I don't want to offend Semith after er... giving you to me... I'll dig up one more and then give you a bit of food and water, hm?" He was the first prisoner with a cat! Ha!

He, the firelizard, and the kitty set off to the next mound, and he crouched to dig this one up with one hand while bracing his new fluffy friend.

(( He wants 11! ))

[Mikki]

As grains of sand fell away from her chosen egg, her eyes began to widen in shock. Was she seeing things? Was what was in front of her actually real? The healer blinked a few times just to make sure, then barked out a small laugh. So much for needing a bronze to father a gold! Those hide bound morons were probably rolling in their Weyrs, at least they would be when they found out about the Golden egg.

Still, she didn't get her hopes up too much. Golden as it was, the egg was still on the medium size when it came to a dragon egg. Maybe fate was screwing with their heads a little. In any case only time would tell them if what was inside was actually a Queen. For now, it didn't much matter to Milune. What mattered was the dragonet inside. The poor thing seemed to be scared, but putting up a brave front so it didn't look like a coward.

Feeling bad for it the healer lass leaned down and pressed her cheek against the shell of the egg. Her hands framed either side of her face and she closed her eyes to better concentrate. A swirl of emotions rose to the fore, love, acceptance, encouragement, and eagerness to meet the dragonet. She projected them to the creature within the shell, letting it know that no matter its color it would be loved. A dragon was a dragon was a dragon, no matter its shape or pigmentation. All of them were needed, all of them should be loved.

For a good minute or so the candidate remained prone like this, trying to reassure the egg. But sadly, her time with it was coming to a close. There were others who probably wanted to have time with Semith's precious shiny. With gentle hands she gave it one last pat then leaned back, looking up at the gold mother as she did. "They're beautiful! Mordanth is such a good daddy too, helping you protect your eggs." Grinning up at the gold, she got to her feet, brushing away some of the sand on her knees.

"I'm going to go look at your other babies now. Your shiny was very pretty." Adding that last bit in, she waved to the gold as she moved away to go look at some of the other eggs. However, she paused when she spotted someone she knew. Wasn't that the man from the beach that Glint took a liking to? Why yes, yes it was. Good for him, coming to the touching! He seemed like a down to earth fellow. There was a good chance he'd impress, at least in her opinion.

Walking passed him she caught his eye, smiled, and waved to him as she moved on to another mound. Hmm, well she had braved the mother, why not the father? Besides, it was probably within her best interest to get on the protective blue's side. So the healer sauntered on over to him and his rider, bowing to the sires of the clutch when she got there. "Hello Mordanth. You are doing such a wonderful job with your babies. I just wanted to commend you for siring such a lovely clutch ." The healer wasn't just blowing smoke either, she was actually sincere. She did think he was doing a good job. Shards, he'd managed to sire a clutch hadn't he?

Bowing to the blue again the healer then waved, bidding him good bye as she went to go inspect another lump. Hmm, there were still options left. One of them caught her attention off to the side and she carefully wove her way over to it. With as much caution as she had taken with the Shiny, Milune knelt down and began to excavate this egg. Let us see what wonders were hidden in this one, shall we?

((Eggy 16 please!))

[nozomi]

For Julian:

Finally, an egg for poor Julian. The egg radiates an energy that can only be called 'rebellious and loud'. Confidence of the greatest sort is the dominant emotion coming from the egg and when Julian's hand touches it, there will be an underlying current of '... right?' after that blast of confidence.


An egg rounder than it is tall, the Grandmothers House Egg is various shades of brown melting into one another. For all candidates, it will try to impress its greatness onto them, whether they want it or not. The quieter, gentler candidates will receive the kinder reaction, while the stronger willed ones will be pushed away (so to speak. It is, after all, an egg).


For Milune:
Another little egglet for the young girl. With Mordanth blinking at her idly, Milunes fingers will brush against a disturbingly cool egg. Not to say it's a dud, oh no, but the feel of the little one inside of it rings of cold. Along with the skin-tingling cool will come tendrils of quiet hopeful hope, a small innocent soul inside.


The Flickering Flame Egg hides in a lump nearer to its parents, further from the other eggs. A smaller shape deep in the sand, this egg will give the same general feeling to all - an outreached mental hand of hope and a childlike innocence.

[S'yal]

Farrox jumped at the voice in his head, eyes widening as he quivered with momentary shock. That was... the Blue? He smiled shyly at the great beast, ducking his head as he headed for yet another egg. He certainly didn't want to upset Gold or Blue, as they'd both been so kind! The Blue had even comforted him after he'd been frightened by the baby! Now he felt guilty for making the Blue think he'd leave. He put on his biggest, brightest smile for him... and was off to the next mound!

The albino passed Julian who had left his egg and bowed his head to Semith, muttering apologies and how he needed to get his kitten water. He nodded to whoever was near, so long as they were a girl and not utterly terrifying men. Oh, men were so scary! Except men-dragons. They were very, very nice. He loved dragons. They were so... dragony!

Picking another mound, he gently crouched in the sand and set to scooping away the grains of sand that covered the egg. He was very careful and gentle, as he'd been before. Hopefully this egg wouldn't be as scary as the last! That one... reminded him of bad people who stared at him.

(( 9! ))

[lithle]

The moment Farrox's fingertips brushed the shell of the egg, a feeling of affection and encouragement would hit him. It seemed to be cheering him on. 'C'mon, move that sand. That's a boy. You can do it!'



The Skinny Dipping egg radiated a sort of managerial friendliness, as if dealing with a shy, but promising employee.

[Lesa]

Love, joy, happiness, all seemed to spill from the egg in front of her. Gwynell had to laugh quietly at the color, and the joy the color sent out. Such happiness and love of life and joy, like a child secure in its family's love. On the reverse, it was an obnoxiously bright pink. It was a pink she never would have thought of wearing (though one that her family gifted her with on occasion), brighter than sunrise, more pink than sunset. There was no way to describe it, except pink. Even with that, she enjoyed the egg, resolving to go back to it once she'd visited them all. Though, if she thought of it, instead of her visiting it, she might just drag Farrox over to it and leave him there. Who knows, the egg might help him, even as an egg.

It seemed Semith was more of a trickster than Gwynell had given her credit for - a number of the lumps weren't actually eggs. They were firelizard eggs, from the looks of it, and, wait, she turned and looked at the creature with Julian. Was that a kitten? She shook her head, chuckling.

"My queen," she commented, "I applaud your creativity in gift giving, beauty," a smile lit her face as she stood, brushing sand from her knees before going to another egg, walking with easy steps across the shifting sand.

She knelt in front of another egg, gloves much too large on her small hands, but they kept the heat away, something important for her, with such value placed in her hands.

((Egg 10, or 14, depending on which is left.))

[lithle]

Gwynell:

After a bit of digging the object under the sand began to take shape. Not... in fact, an egg like shape. No, this was another basket. Flipping open the lid didn't reveal a half dead kitten, though. Probably for the best. Instead, wrapped neatly in cloth was a bubbly pie, fresh and kept nice and warm by the sands. The scent of sweet berries wafted across the sands as this particular little 'surprise' was revealed.

Apparently Semith had decided that some of the candidates might get hungry from all that digging.

[Wren]

In the back of his mind Sheraz was dimly aware of the other candidates entering, greeting the parent dragons and choosing an egg to unearth, but his attention was fixed on the egg he’d chosen for himself. His immediate reaction was that it was rather smaller than he’d expected, but still very large compared to the eggs of other creatures. The next thing he noticed was its strange colouring, half snowy white and half pitch black. He’d always envisioned the eggs as being sandy brown, possibly or mottled or speckled like those of some birds, but this was clearly different. He looked up briefly at some of the other candidates who had come in and started digging, but none of them had yet revealed enough of their shells for him to make them out.

He put the question aside; what did it matter what the egg looked like? And, with a mingled sense of trepidation and excitement, he pulled the glove off his left hand, and gently laid the bare palm against the hardening shell. A strange sense of nervousness came immediately from the egg, as if it recoiled in fear from his touch, and his surprise, Sheraz recoiled as well, drawing back his hand and staring hard at the egg. He hadn’t really expected the egg to notice his presence, let alone actually respond. He tried again, just touching the shell with the tips of his fingers, but the same thing happened.

Perturbed, Sheraz rocked back and frowned a little, uncertain of how to proceed. Obviously the egg, or rather the hatchling it contained, was scared of him. Logically, he should therefore try to soothe it. He bent in closer to the egg, not touching it this time, and whispered, “S’alright little dragon baby, I’m not gonna’ hurt you; I’m here to… to make friends.” He tried to really think the words as well as say them, because he wasn’t sure if the dragonet could hear him through the shell. “My name’s Sheraz.” He reached out again and petted the shell, this time patting and stroking it as he did with his little dog, Silence, when the creature was agitated or nervous. He tried to think happy, soothing thoughts. These were in short supply, from one who’d lived his life first on the streets, and then in gaol, but a few occurred to him; happy days of his youth spent playing with the man who’d raised him, afternoons at Warden’s filled with happy banter with the other prisoners, cool, sundrenched fields in spring where he could stand in the shade with friends and look out over the world. He wasn’t sure whether the egg was taking any notice, but he liked to think that it was.

Sheraz jumped as he heard a voice in his head. For a moment he thought it was the dragonet, but after a moment he realised it must be Semith. He turned to look at the queen, who was not far away, and nodded to her politely. He looked up again, at the other candidates and the eggs they’d uncovered and saw that most of them were brightly coloured, and so he assumed that this was perfectly normal for dragon eggs. He saw that one girl had also dug up what appeared to be a firelizard egg, and he stared in confusion, then he saw that a young man had as well. Sheraz blinked, then stood and turned to another lump, yet untouched. Pulling his glove back on, he began to dig again.

---

((Egg number three, please!))

[Zen]

(( Zen stole numbers 8 and 14 ))

The moment Ever unearthed the firelizard egg, her mind shot straight to Bailey, whom she had instructed not to follow her today and was probably napping on her cot, blissfully unaware of anything. She wasn’t allowed to have a firelizard, at least another one, and she wasn’t allowed to have a female firelizard at that. This egg wasn’t for her. This egg was for someone else, and Ever felt that she needed to recover the mound so someone else could find it.

The moment after Ever unearthed the firelizard egg, she was startled by a loud keel from the Gold, and her head shot up to see what was wrong. Casting a worried glance at the Gold, she was starting to unconsciously pull the sand back over the little egg when the voice of the Gold shot through her mind. It was happy, almost too happy, and Ever blinked in a daze. They are for you! And you can keep them. Mine says it's okay. Came Semith’s voice, the first time the Gold had spoken to her for she had not chosen an egg before Semith had spoken to them the first time.

Ever looked back at the egg and cradled it in her hand, a bit uncertain as to what to do with it, as the jumpsuit she had didn’t exactly have pockets. Then she had an idea and she pulled one of the gloves out of her pocket, pulled one open, and put the egg inside. The glove was warm from her body heat and she wrapped the gloves’ fingers around the inside of the glove to provide more cushioning before pushing it back down her jumpsuit. This was not stealing; this was keeping the egg she had been ‘given’ safe. Still, it made Ever uneasy about having another firelizard. She’d have to talk to Warden after the touching.

The blond stood and shook the sand off of her knees before moving onto another mound.

---

The mound just kept giving him sand, and for a moment, Tanyrion wondered if all it was was a sand mound piled up to look like an egg just for Semith’s convenience. But then his hands struck something. It was small, too small, and for a moment Tany thought it was a rock or something. But no, it was an egg, a firelizard egg. Hidden under sand. With furrowed brows, Tanyrion picked up the egg and looked at it; what was it doing here? Was Semith playing a trick on them?

They are for you! And you can keep them. Mine says it's okay. Came a voice in Tany’s head, and the blue-eyed man stole a look at the Gold. A gift? Wasn’t this a Touching? Then, with another glance, Tany saw another person unearth a kitten. Huh, gifts. Well what a strange Touching this was! Tany piled up some sand and dropped it into a pouch of his belt along with the egg in an effort to keep it warm.

Then he moved away from the previously curious mound and toward another one. Shards, they all looked the same, what was to say there wasn’t another firelizard egg beneath this one? Tanyrion set himself to digging….

[lithle]

Sheraz:
Wow, that's a lot of sand. Maybe it's just sand? Maybe there's no real anything underneath. No, wait. There's something. A small leather belt pouch finally comes to the surface. Opening it up reveals six marks and a round, shiny pebble.

Ever:

Ever didn't have to dig far. Just under the surface something bright waited. This was an egg alright, and the moment the candidate's fingers touched it, she would feel pure, vicious hate. Not generalized, random 'hate the world' hate. No this egg hated Ever.



On the small side, the Poison Apple Egg still managed to have a lot of presence. The feeling of ire continued even after Ever removed her hand. Might be best to back away from this one.

Tanyrion:

After a bit of digging, the first flash of an eggshell was revealed. And with it, as Tany's fingers brushed the eggs surface, a sound? Yes, somewhere in the distance, an echo of pipes, and a feeling of serentity.



The Sweet Music Egg, in competition for the tiniest egg in the clutch, seemed to draw people in. Anyone touching the shell hearing that distant music would feel an urge to simply sit by the egg and listen.

[twisting]

Kuriel stood at the edge of the hot sands, her face a hesitant mask as she watched the others scurry around digging up sand piles. Kuriel had never participated in a touching before, and wasn’t sure how to react. Every candidate was being watched closely, Kuriel couldn’t afford to make a mistake. She plucked nervously at the cuff of her glove, and flicked her eyes from one candidates face to the next. The nervousness was an act, and it bought her time to study the reactions of the others. She soaked in their emotions, and settled on what her reaction would be.

Concerned that she may have waited too long, the woman watched the guards out of the corner of her eye as she stepped up to the last mound. Kneeling on the hot sand she bit her lower lip and painted her face with anticipation. She pushed the sand away gently, almost tenderly, much like the others had.

Beneath the surface Kuriel’s thoughts were far removed from the tightly held excitement she attempted to portray. She was curious, in her cold logical way. She had impressed a firelizard before, and the tiny echoes of its simple feelings had been interesting for a few days. What would a dragon be like? There must be something to touching these eggs, or the others wouldn’t be so enraptured. She knew that riders shared their dragons emotions but how so? Would it be like a Dust high? Her hands trembled and she closed her eyes, breathing slowly she let the deep aching need pass. These people didn’t know what they had taken from her. Dust wasn’t a drug for her, it was medicinal. If a man lost his leg they would give him crutches. If he went blind they would help him see. How was her case different? She shook her head, driving the thoughts away. Now wasn’t the time for that argument, not again. She would think about that later.

Her mask back in place she continued to push the sand away. Her clinical curiosity once again wondering what the egg, if there even was an egg, would hold.

(12)

[lithle]

Kuriel:

An egg of middling size lay just beneath the surface of the sand. As fingertips reached it's surface it projected first, a sort of mild curiosity, as if probing in turn. As fingers remained in contact with the shell, curiosity was replaced by a swaggering self confidence.



The Jam Sandwich Egg might have been putting on a show. But if Kuriel was to believe what the egg's projections were telling her, she'd found the biggest, baddest egg in the clutch.