So these are our saviors... [touching] [Full]

[firebird]

Yekemi was restless. He knew very well that he and the other outlaws were in a tenuous position. The prison would be putting everything into recapturing them, especially after the theft of half of their eggs. They would undoubtedly succeed in capturing someone, and he seriously doubted that any of his ...cohorts would not give away the location of the camp in return for a lesser sentence.

They needed muscle if they were going to stay free. They needed whers and dragons. Especially whers, since dragons had that silly not-hurting-humans thing going on, but dragons could at least counter the other dragons. It wasn't as if they had wher eggs, in any case. He sometimes wished he could Impress dragons, but the beasts were just too picky. Why should it matter whether they met him now or twenty years earlier?

Yekemi found himself at the hot springs where the eggs were busy hardening. Frankly, they didn't look like much. It was hard to believe that these things could become such huge beasts. The man knelt down by the Golden Starburst egg and gave it a light pat. "With our luck, you'll all die," he said to it in a dry voice.

[S'yal]

"How cheerful." A deadpan, dry voice muttered. Iris swept into the area, blue eyes drifting over Yekemi. Her voice was hoarse- she didn't use it often. Iris's eggs hardened as they swept over the eggs, her spine stiffening. It was times like this she wished she was a sociopath. In her own, strange way she had grown attached to the eggs while stealing them... one in particular.

She skirted the group, trying to find the Widow's veil egg. Upon locating the shell, she crouched to gently caress it, as one might stroke a cat. "Hello again." A dark smile appeared over her face, ice blue eyes narrowing in thought. I worked very hard to get you. Don't die. Or else.. Iris was attached to this egg, shard it. It wouldn't impress her- faranth, she hoped not, it's behavior was pathetic- but if whoever got it didn't worship it as a prince or princess?

There would be blood.

"Perhaps they'll die from fear of you." Iris told Yekemi, her face and voice toneless. That was a joke. Haha.

[firebird]

Yekemi actually chuckled, albeit very slightly and without much emotion in it. "I haven't had that happen before. I've had someone act like it, the cowardly snot, but it wasn't fear that did him in." Why yes, he will talk about his hobby to you if you'll let him. No, he doesn't care that it might affect the poor, impressionable eggs all around him.

He turned to face Iris better, giving the Golden Starburst egg another pat as he did so. "Is that the one you brought?" he asked in the same dry tone he had used when talking to the egg. "Interesting pattern. Before this mess, I had been under the impression that dragon eggs were all rather dull except for golds." Of course, the circumstances under which these eggs were laid were quite unusual. A gold-blue matching and a unique color... He supposed the only thing he shouldn't expect would have to be something like cube eggs or the sort.

He rose up from his crouching position and peered about to see what had happened with the egg he had stolen. Someone had apparently seen fit to keep it steady with a thick covering of mud at its base. Huh. "That's mine, the small one there," he said, pointing at the Holland's Pride egg. "Hope it's a bronze. Status for the thief if it makes a good dragon."

[S'yal]

"It works if you tell them exactly what you'll do." Iris informed him 'helpfully'. Isn't she sweet, trying to teach people how to make people die from fear? She rubbed the shell of the egg she'd stolen, a true smile lingerin for a moment. The infant dragons made her think of her son, the precious bit of life that'd been taken for her.

She would destroy the watch. Ichor would rain from the skies, and their blood would stain the world red.

"Yes, this one is mine." Her voice stayed quiet, though despite her usual personality Iris was happy to talk to him. A fellow murderer? He was a respectable, proper man! About time- Iris was tired of weaklings. "Easily startled, I think. I'd say a green." She seemed disappointed, her shoulders slumping.

Iris regarded 'his' egg with fascination, deciding she would touch that one later. Instead, she drifted to the Golden Starburst egg. "Maybe this one will be opal." Not that she wanted one of those. She'd seen the opal at Warden's and it was pathetic. Iris wanted something strong and bloodthirsty. "We need a broodmare."

[tiamat]

Ragniel limped up behind Iris and Yekemi, not even attempting to hide the sound of her approach. “So I see we have some advice going around the murderers' rumor mill. I’ve always found scaring people to death to be dreadfully inefficient, personally; a knife wound or twenty and a smashed skull always seemed to work so much better. Faster, too.” She smiled (if you could call a half-feral baring of teeth a smile), and continued as if she had brought up what weather they were having that day. “I don’t think the eggs will die from fright. Starvation or between, perhaps, but not fright.”

Such a classy lady, our Niel.

She knelt by the Call to Action egg, brushing a hand over the slashes of black on its shell. Poor pretty thing, stuck between a rock and a hard place through no fault of its own.

She gestured dismissively toward the River Blue egg with her other hand. "That one was mine; it seemed confused by me. You might have better luck with it."

[lithle]

((Alright. lith got confused by all the bolded eggs, but is assuming, for this round, that firebird picked Golden Starburst, s'yal went for Widow's Veil and Tiamat chose Call to action. Any other eggs mentioned will need to be rementioned after the admin part. Also, Noz and I are handling our eggs in separate clutches. We apologize for any confusion that causes.))

For Yekemi:

Boredom. That's the impression that the Golden Starburst Egg gives Yekemi. Think breaking things makes you cool? How droll. There's an edge of amusement, bitter, bored amusement there. Run along, sir. Go break something if it makes you feel so clever.

For Ragniel:

The Call to Action Egg surged into Ragniel's mind, a bright flare of energy. She has a goal? Good. The egg admires that. But how is being here helping her? Is she compromising her beliefs in this company? The very idea that she might be fills the egg with disgust and it pushes her mind away almost as quickly as it first rushed into it.

[nozomi]

For Iris:

If an egg could tremble, the Widow's Veil Egg would have. Poor Iris gets a mind-ful of nervous concern, promptly followed by the dragonet rudely shoving it's mind where it had no business prying at! You think it may die? Oh, no! Stop it from dying! You took it far, far away from it's home, it knew it! Iris should make sure it was okay. Keep petting, keep it warm, bring meat to the Hatching. Don't leave it alone.

[S'yal]

Iris hesitated at the pathetic feelings coming from Widow's Veil. When she would have left to touch another, she instead sat and pressed her hand against the shell. Such a tiny, trembling creature. She should smash it. She should end it. What use was it, if it lived it's life in fear and terror? She shifted her hand, eyes narrowing.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't break the shell and end it's life before it started.

Instead, she spoke to it.

"I won't let anyone harm you." She told the egg, softly. It wasn't pure, maternal feelings that inspired this. No feeling of duty. As with all things having to do with Iris, obsession reared it's twisted and ugly head. This was her egg. It wasn't her dragon, mostly likely, but she'd stolen this egg. It belonged to her. In her own, messed up way, she loved it in the way someone would love a pet. Iris, after all, had the ability to love others.

That was her problem, wasn't it? It was obsession that had dragged her into her career as a murderer. It was obsession that had landed her at the prison. It was obsession that had driven her to break out of the prison. The urge to protect, to possess, to love was strong in Iris. Widow's Veil was something to protect and love. Unfortunately for it, Iris was one very, very messed up young lady.

No one will hurt you, darling. She wouldn't let them. Widow's Veil belonged to her. Not even your rider.

One will have to pity whoever gets the timid infant. They'll have a dark and psychotic woman following them every step of the way. So she kept her hands on Widow's Veil, stroking the shell.

Iris raised her voice below the typical whisper. "If you want to touch this one... be gentle. Be very gentle." A dark promise joined her words. "Be respectful. Be nice." Or she would make them pay.

"You aren't doing it right." Was all Iris said to the woman who had joined the group, even as her hand stroked the shell of Widow's veil. "How are the eggs reacting?" She asked, dead eyes falling upon the other eggs. Interesting. Were they braver then her egg?

Well, Widow's Veil belonged to her. That meant it was better then the others.

(She stayed at Widow's Veil. Feel free to have it react to how BATSHIT she is, or just not post it reacting again. I don't mind)

[firebird]

Yekemi frowned at the Golden Starburst egg before deliberately giving it another pat. "This one doesn't seem to care for me. Maybe you'll have better luck," he said as an aside to the two women before continuing the conversation. "I've tended to finish them quickly since they usually run out of reactions. Most don't even give a token resistance by that point." Frankly, for some of them it was a mercy to cut their throat and dump the body out where felines would find them.

"I think I'll leave that one to you," he said with a nod at Iris. He walked over to the Lurking Stare egg and lightly rapped its shell. It was a decently large one, so hopefully the trip to the caves hadn't hurt it much. "What about you? Are you going to live until you hatch?"

[tiamat]

Ragniel jerked her hand away from Call to Action in surprise. She hadn’t expected that response, even if it was something that had been bothering her ever since the theft. She carefully pat the egg, a genuine smile on her face; she approved of the unborn dragon’s reaction to the thought of going against ones beliefs. That mindset deserved a reward, although she wasn’t sure what she could do to reward an egg. Cover it with more dirt?

Ragniel shrugged at Iris' statement. "Quite possibly. I've never had the chance or desire to practice that particular method." Why should she learn how to use a sadist’s trick? Much better to just go for a quick kill and get out, and much less… distasteful. Her face contorted into a snarl briefly when Yekemi spoke, but quickly covered it with a bland not-expression. She would be able to take them down later. Yes, later…

“This one…” She trailed off, uncertain how to describe the egg’s reaction to her. “I don’t think it cares for me.” She didn’t say why and wouldn’t until she had a way to survive on her own, or at least with the few outlaws who weren’t marked as needs to die by her long-standing system. She left Call to Action, and poked at Golden Starburst. Curious little thing.

[nozomi]

To Yekemi:

Rage. He rapped at the eggshell?! No! No, the Lurking Stare Egg would not live if such lazybones like him continued to do that! Maybe it didn't want to come out of it if people like him were the only one out there. Lazy! No-good! Do something worthwhile and make it more comfortable - you're useless otherwise!

[firebird]

Yekemi actually yanked his hand away from the shell like it had been bitten. After a second, he rapped the shell again just to rile up the dragonet some more. Careful, there, you don't want the dragonet to hold a grudge against you when it grows up. "Well. It would seem that I am not popular with dragons. This one is quite temperamental." He wasn't stupid enough to attack a dragon egg when there were witnesses around, but really. If an egg didn't want to hatch, then it would be better off fed to the whers.

"I would be surprised if any of them liked me," he continued as he picked his way through the hatching area. His main goal was simply to check for any obvious damage on any of the eggshells. He certainly didn't expect all of them to have arrived in good condition, especially considering the contempt he had for a few of his fellow escapees. He wouldn't have been surprised if one of them had run off in the wrong direction, losing the outlaws a dragon and meat-shield both.

One more egg, then. If the next one also rejected him, then he would go back to securing his cave space. He had plans for trapping the entrance dancing around in his head, and it would do good to perfect them. "You. Are you in good condition?" he asked the Fresh Perspective egg as he felt it for any cracks or soft spots in the shell.

[lithle]

For Ragniel:

The Golden Starburst Egg greeted Ragniel with the mental equivalent of a throaty chuckle. Oh, aren't you the cutest thing! You've got morals and you actually think they make a difference. How precious! No. Wait. Wrong word. Pathetic! That's right. How pathetic! The sense of superiority the egg projected was almost absolute. Oh, there was the slightest tinge of something else, something deeper. But with an egg so deliberately unkind, who'd take the time to see what might be tucked away so deep?

For Yekemi:

The response from this egg wasn't exactly emotional. Oh, there was a sense there, the Fresh Perspective Egg certainly projected curiosity. But mostly, it seemed determined to thrust itself into Yekemi's mind, to see the world that he was seeing, to know what was going on around it. Its world was very small and it very much wanted it to be bigger.

[nozomi]

For Iris:

When Irish continued to stubbornly not leave the eggs side, her hands on it, that determined little mind, something akin to curious wonder popped into her head. Oh, there was still that nervous undercurrent but a little push of go explore and look at others, it's okay, really it is. Just come back to Widow's Veil later, don't let it be taken again. Stay close. but. others were taken too. they might want to meet her.

[S'yal]

It... wanted her to leave? Iris hesitated, looking down at the little egg.

"Fine. I'll be back." She promised, before looking to her temporary companions. "You can touch it now. Be gentle." She instructed them, with all the aura of a paranoid mother. Widow's veil wanted her to touch the other eggs, so she would.

The petite woman made her way to the other eggs, a her face drifting back to that wonderful impassive, bored look that usually masked it. Of course, she wasn't really bored. She was interested, wanting to know more about the fragile lives in the egg. They were her only real chance of getting her son back, after all. If one did not choose her, she would rot in this jungle.

Never to see her baby again.

Her hands drifted to the shell of Hero's call, blue eyes falling on it. "Let's see what you think of me." She murmured out loud, ignoring those who also occupied the makeshift hatching sands.