[Hatching] Wounds Healing

[nozomi]

"Shae!" Okay, so, T'di liked the kid. He was amusing! He drew - even if they were blobbish lines at some point that he'd never seen finished. The bluerider grinned at his friend, fingers wriggling a cheerful greeting. "Mordanth is good. Nervous as all hell for Semith and the clutches - he's not even forgetting it, even - but he's alright otherwise. What about you? How've you and Kitath been?"

T'di leaned in, shoved a shoulder gently against Shae's - and then there were purple dragons. Purple dragons dragging young men in white robes they apparently weren't Impressing? Poor Sh'lon was ignored save for a small hand grabbing at his elbow. "Hey - hey! Check it - there's a purple dragon! What the-- And it's dragging that little healer guy. Kitath didn't do that to you, did she?"

----

Siata was actually caught off guard when the huge sharding Bronzerider came up right beside her. The wherhandler flinched inr eaction before turning that bright grin to her now-friend, and clapped him on the shoulder. "Hey there, you sexy beast! It's good to see you again. And yeah - actually. A lot of excitement. We have a - yep."

She squinted out back to the sands, leaning over to see who'd Impressed when the purple darted into the crowds. Not Lostris, that was for sure. They'd have seen flailing limbs if the wounded guard managed to get knocked off her canes by a rampaging puppy-sized dragonet. Siata rubbed her eyes with the meat of her palms, lips pursed.

"Actually, I think the purple thing shoved one of the healers down? I think? Gotta admit, not super familiar with the healers unless I chop my fingers off or something. But it looks like the eggs are okay. Er." She glanced to him, face twisted into a rare expression of concern. "At least, except for that one. Were their purples at the last one, and I just missed it?"

No.

Shut up, you weren't alive, go to sleep.

[puppetmaster]

If Howling Moon were sarcastic, it'd say something like 'baaawwwww, my name is Ralvyn, and I have to be a big DragonHealer baaawwww'. Luckily, this was no such egg. It rocked weakly under Ralvyn's fingers until that cool chisel touched it's shell. It seemed to shudder under his touch, under that first initial clink-clink of the small hits. For a few more moments, while Ralvyn worked away the thick shell, the dragonet inside lay deathly still.

It stretched after a moment, when the chisel moved away for Ral to hit again, because he was tired - for whatever the reason, the dragonet streeeeetched within it's egg, and the touch shell split apart. Ral and his chipping did the job, worked enough so that the dragonet could escape the near-fatal bindings of it's shell.

A limp white body flopped into the sands, small and delicate, wings crumpled down against it's back, almost transparent skin tight against the tiny bones of it's wings. The Wolf's Head Hatchling drew in a single deep breath, releasing it in a soul-deep sigh.

Until, of course, it scrambled to it's feet. Weak and unsteady, the white stumbled for a moment, creeling in frustration of it's too-skinny limbs and the fact they would not obey him. Shards, the white raised one leg, hissed at it, and set it back down when he began to totter precariously. His tail, nearly as long as his body, thrust straight out to keep his balance, and the dragonet stared at Ralvyn.

His eyes burst into rainbow swirls.

RalvynMine, you did not like your Dexeth before. But you will! I am big and brave, you see? We will be the best, and fly high, and you will not be sorry you saved me. Dexeth puffed out his skinny chest, teetering to collapse against Ralvyn and croon affectionately up at him. See? We will do awesome things.

Name: Dexeth
Color: White
Flower: Wolfsbane
Hex: CCCCFF

Desc: Being born a white dragon, Dexeth will not be born with the best of health. Slightly underformed wings, thin, prone to illness, the pathetic little creature comes into the world with a big attitude and so white he almost shines with it. For all his initial physical ailments, Dexeth is a bright white, with splotches around his eyes that are an off-white with a blueish tinge, same with the socks of his feet.

He will be middling size for a white - but considering there's only been maybe two in the history of Pern, it's safe to say 'very small green' or 'very large gray'. His wings will strengthen with time to a wingspan that is impressive for his size. While he will never be super duper healthy, Dexeth will grow to be a sleek dragon, not overly muscular, but healthy looking at the very least. His eyes are large for a dragon, his teeth a little longer, and his tail is long and slim. He's a handsome boy! If only he cared about chasing. Or could.

Personality: Ever know that super smart nerd kid who thought he was as built as the local jock, and was totally wrong about it? Yeah. Dexeth is sort of like that.

Dexeth is nothing if not persistant. Despite any physical ailment he may have at the moment, Dexeth is determined to prove that not only is he just as good as any other (larger, shinier) dragon out there, but better. It isn't due to any illusions of granduer, thankfully, rather then it is knowledge that he is a dragon and dragons are fantastic no matter what color they are - or aren't. He is extremely stubborn in his beliefs that you can be this, that, or the other, and finds the knowledge that anyone can be anything at Warden's delightful

Even though his slightly idealistic senses may give off the aura of childish cluelessness at the world around him, Dexeth is a complex dragon. Brutally intelligent, his memory far surpasses what most consider a good Draconic memory, able to recall things he knows he probably shouldn't. He knows it may unnerve people to have a dragon tell them not only what happened the day after his Hatching, but tell them what they were doing when in his company, and is courteous enough to not bring it up on a frequent basis. Little facts he throws around, bringing up a mask of random dragon memory, but strives to keep his smarts to him and His.

This leads to a complete and total lack of social tact. Dexeth, for all of his intellegence, absolutely fails at interaction with other creatures and humans, falling into silence and flustered stuttering when caught off guard for whatever reason. When it comes to females, forget it. He's done. It's not that he wants to Chase them (at all), but they are so far off his radar of Knowing What To Say that it's ridiculous. Males he can at least file away in 'Kind of Like Me' but being a male identiffied white... Females are not his forte. If his rider expects anything to be done around them, His would have to take control of the situation. Sad, that. All stammering and lack of social grace, Dexeth likes people and other dragons. Maybe he'll listen for a majority of a conversation, but once involved, he is involved and good luck prying him away until well and truly finished. While His may be a wee bit of a shy recluse, Dexeth is not.

Not only is he horrid when it comes to small talk, let's throw in the fact Dexeth desperately wants to be able to fly like the others. No, he isn't ill! He didn't bruise anything! He has no cough in his chest! He can fly and play tag, he can chew Firestone like any others! When grounded for any various reasons, he will sulk. Unlike Iiateth, Dexeth luckily has no belief that he is going to one day be miraciously as healthy as the other colors. Blinding oneself to faults would do no good, afterall.

Always a sensible dragon, Dexeth, if a wee bit pouty.

Why Me? First of all, fucking adorable.
In all seriousness? Dexeth needs someone who will take him seriously, a person that finds his oddities and intelligence interesting rather then a thread or something bad. He is a smart dragon, to the point where he overthinks himself and has to have a rider that will think things through before they're said, and knows how to handle situations (albeit awkwardly). While in the egg, Dexeth and his exuberance turned Ralvyn off (he was very sad about that, by the way), he can narrow in that energy to getting Ralvyn a social life, further confidence, and he has himself his very own constant study. He'll know how to care for Dexeth, and always have a little assistant.


((OOC Note: Life ate Noz. All dragons will get images, but they may be a bit! <3 They are to come.))

[Inkwell]

Orren, because he was Orren, just went right on talking, whether Senar replied or not. Talking his way through this very strange hatching was a good way to not only be nice to the poor ailing kid, but also to calm his own nerves, small as they were.

"Right, so, he's got a healer's bag now and I think he's doing something to the egg, probably to-- yeah, see, there, it's just broken apart. It's a pretty light color, I think... yeah, it's a white. So that makes one white and one purple. Jeez. Lots of tiny dragons in this clutch. Watch the whole thing turn out to be whites and purples." He laughed. "That'd be a sight, wouldn't it? A color there's only ever been one of before and a totally new color, suddenly the most common dragons in the weyrling class. I wonder what L'vey'd say."

L'vey would probably take it in stride, Orren was sure.

"So since we've got two colors to choose from, which do you think you're going to wind up with? Personally, I'd like a purple. She'd be about the same size as my flit, it'd work out just fine." Little did he know that winding up with a purple would mean a dragon bigger than the legendary Ramoth. He and the rest of the weyr would find out as soon as Violeth started growing, though.

[giftwrapped]

...Purple. And then white.

Serdek said nothing as the dragons hatched, though she gazed thoughtfully after Violeth when she - there was no reason to say 'she,' but purple was...far from a masculine colour - chose a guard (what was the purpose of the Candidacy and the robes, then, if dragons would most likely waltz off to whoever they chose anyway?) and cast a long, tense look at the healer-boy as he went to work on the egg. She recognized him as the Masterhealer's apprentice, and also as one of the people she encountered on a frequent basis.

So while she was not ecstatic for him (though a white! she recognized that as being impossibly exciting) for Impressing a dragonet, she applauded politely. A glance over her shoulder showed her that Siata had come after all, and while Serdek wasn't the 'grinning and flailing' type, she did lift a hand to the greenhandler in the Stands. But then her attention was attracted by a low drone she'd been hearing the whole time. From the angle she was standing at, it came to her as words. Someone over in the boys' section was babbling. What about?

She drifted surreptitiously closer to Orren, trying to avoid drawing the young man's attention but wanting to get close enough to hear what he was saying. Her lips twitched at the reasoning, and she shook her head slightly, crossing her arms over her chest and turning back to the Sands. All right, then, little eggs. One surprised guard and one lucky healer apprentice. What next?

[Zen]

So the purple Impressed. At least Ever thought it was purple. It was so small, it was like a firelizard. So very, very small. And yet it had Impressed. Or perhaps it was just a very small blue and purple-colored. But then again it had Impressed to a woman. And yet blues Impressed themselves to women as well. This was no different. What was different was the purple thing had dragged Ralvyn to another egg.

Curiosity gripped Ever's stomach. Was that the Howling Moon egg? What was in that egg? When Ralvyn started chipping it away, Ever took a step forward as if to help him. Then she stopped herself, her hand automatically flicking to touch the healed scars of her left hand. She wasn't afraid... was she? The thought suddenly hit her and she gulped almost, as if she were suddenly asphyxiated.

'Think about your father.' She thought to herself, 'He'd want to see you fail. He'd want to see you stop just in the nick of time, just in time to make sure you don't Impress.'

She didn't step forward any longer, but now she stood resolutely and firmly. When Ralvyn's careful tapping of the egg revealed a while, which promptly Impressed to him, Ever clapped calmly. She didn't know Ralvyn personally. And so far no one had come to talk to her. Then again, she'd been separate from most of them. Her others were... well, they were either escapees or they were riders. And she would be one soon. She had to believe that she was going to be one now.

[tuathade]

Lucky that Howling Moon wasn’t a sarcastic dragon, or Ral would have probably given it a smack on that tough shell and told it exactly where to take that attitude. Who is a tiny unhatched dragon, and who is in imminent danger of getting eaten by a clutchparent if he screws up, here? Fortunately that was not a thing that happened. Instead, Howling Moon only gave Ral a heart attack. This might or might not be a better outcome!

…White. It was white. And it wasn’t moving. The fragile little creature lay still and unresponsive, pale skin translucent over the tiny birdlike bones – stretched once, just once, enough to free itself from the shell, and then flopped onto the sands like that single effort had drained the last of its strength. While Ral was frantically inventing cardiopulmonary resuscitation for dragons in his head, it drew a single breath, then released it, and Ralvyn found himself breathing again too.

The white scrambled to its feet. The healer apprentice found himself scanning the crowd of Candidates, looking for the little dragonet’s bonded. The oddly-colored little creature was so frail, it would most likely need to be carried over to them. It would be easier, though, if he had some indication of who it was. Perhaps the little creature would call out to them, now that it was out of its shell. He reached an arm out to scoop up the tiny struggling white, at the same time that it flopped forward against his chest and crooned fondly up at him.

RalvynMine, you did not like your Dexeth before. But you will! I am big and brave, you see? We will be the best, and fly high, and you will not be sorry you saved me. See? We will do awesome things.[/color]

…This one was… His? It wanted him? No, no – I don’t dislike you! I… thought you were making fun of me before. But I don’t dislike you – wait, hold on. His brow furrowed as he realized something Very Strange about this situation – and not just the normal Very Strange of oh hello surprise you just saved the life of and successfully Impressed a SHARDING WHITE DRAGON.

You remember that? Meeting me at the Touching, I mean?

Dexeth trilled, butting his head up against Ral’s chin. Of course! Is that weird?

Add that to the list. Saved the life of and Impressed a SHARDING WHITE DRAGON with impossibly long memory. Have we reached the upper limit of surprises for the day? Can the little voice in the back of Ral’s head going eeeeeeee take over now? Okay? Okay. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

…You are very strange, Mine. But I like you!

Ralvyn scooped up Dexeth in his arms, cradling the white carefully to support him. Then he followed the guard with the purple off the sands, towards where the meat was waiting. He’d need to feed and oil Dexeth, of course – and he’d need to read up on his records about whites, surely there was something in there about any special care they needed. And, oh, so many things to do so little time!

[Lesa]

Amisi was late to the Hatching. She'd gotten too good at ignoring Stripe and Spots as they hummed for Hatchings at Fort, and yes, Ordith was loud in her head, but again, ignoring a common occurance. Of all things to wake her, it was her Pappi.
"Amisi, you're the one who decided to Stand for the Hatching," he called to her from the curtain giving her a private room in his weyr. The thirteen Turn old grumbled for a moment before his words actually hit. Hatching? Oh, fardles. She scrambled upward, scattering firelizards and sheets, lunging towards D'ji as he held out her Candidate robe, slipping it over her head before undoing the buttons on her nightdress, letting it fall to the floor as she put her arms through the appropriate holes of her robe.

Stripe sat on her head, humming, so she didn't bother attempting to brush the top of her hair, or the rest of it as Spots proceeded to wrap himself in the rest, curling around her shoulders. D'ji stood waiting for her as she came into their main weyr. Her father smiled, hugging her tight, ignoring firelizard chatter as he pressed a kiss to her hair.
"Go on, Sisi, best of luck," he said, pressing a handful of jerky into her hand as she dashed out the door, down towards the Sands. The bronzerider followed his daughter at a slower pace, submitting to the search for weapons while watching as she fed Stripe and Spots, the blue and brown getting waved away after being fed half her breakfast. His daughter was summarily searched by a female guard he'd had some pleasant talks with and let onto the Sands as he merged into the crowd, Ordith sounding shocked in his head as the curly-haired man took in the... purple?! and white?! on the Sands. Huh, imagine that.

Amisi bowed swiftly to Semith, Kith and Willoth before staring openly at the purple and the white. Woah. The Violet Brush egg had been right, as had the Howling Moon. Cool!

[firebird]

Senar listened intently to Orren's commentary, occasionally trying to force his eyes to work right. Nope, everything was still blurry and painful. Sharding egg of Faranth... He hated it when this happened. Well, nothing to do what wait it out and not make it worse.

So there was a tiny purple dragonet that Impressed a guard? Purple... Senar was still mulling over that bit. Purple was a new color, wasn't it? And a boy with a healer's bag had helped a white dragon hatch. That was good, that the egg had gotten help. He didn't want Semith to go through having one of the babies die.

Right, it would probably be good to answer the man running commentary for him. "I'm probably not going to Impress," he said with a sad smile. "I'm too nervous and timid for a dragon to want me. If I do, I'd like a grey or a green. They're small and not very intimidating. I'd be able to ride it easier, too." Remember your manners, Senar. "Um, and thank you for describing things for me. You really didn't need to go to the trouble..."

[puppetmaster]

Such a sweet, chipper thing, the purple. Such a fragile, beautiful thing, the little white.

Precious tiny creatures.

A new egg was rocking now. The Nightmare Images Egg shook with an almost distressingly steady rhythm, as if the dragon inside was somehow timing its movements. Left. Beat. Right. Beat. Left. Beat. Right. Beat. Left.

And then, as it shudder again to the right, the egg splintered allowing the hatchling to escape. The Stuff and Nonsense hatchling was a particularly unpleasant shade of green. Her hide was mottled, some of it a sickly, brownish green, other parts an oddly offputting almost yellowish shade. The colors melted into each other without any sense of order or design.

She screamed.

It wasn't a shriek of pain, or of sadness. She sounded neither frightened nor aggressive.

She was just screaming. Loudly. Piercingly.

Her gaze was fixed on the candidates as she made that obnoxious noise. Watching them. Waiting to see what they'd do.

Hello, world. What do you think of her now? Or more to the point. What do you think, period. There was something piercing about the Stuff and Nonsense Hatchling's gaze, as if she could see directly into minds.

[nozomi]

When Serdek decided to wave at her, the poor innocent thing, Siata clasped her hand to her mouth and blew the prisoner a big, wet air-kiss. That's what you get for greeting Siata! You get affection. Serdek just had the bad luck to not have realized it before. She waved back after that, at any rate.

That was about the time that the white Impressed (Yay!) and the green came tumbling down. C'ross, well, the bronzerider had to put up with Siata leaning closer to him, and pointing. "Shards - look! A normal color - and fuck it's screaming why is she screaming." Two large hands went up and over her ears, the Smith crafter wincing. If she'd wanted to go deaf at an early age, she would've become a sharding HArper.

[Inkwell]

"Now, come on, that's no way to think. I bet you'll Impress. There's still so many eggs that haven't hatched; one of them's got to be for you, right?" He tried to make his voice convey the smile he would have given Senar if he could see, and wasn't sure how well he managed. "Me, personally, I agree with you. A green or a grey would be nice. I'm friends with a greenrider, you know, and his dragon is very nice. Helpful and friendly. I don't think I could manage a bronze, too much... I don't know... too much of a spotlight? Especially when the queen rises. Runs, in our case."

"And it's no trouble, really, telling you what's happening. Besides, repeating it to you means I've got a witness that I'm not just, you know, hallucinating the purple and white. Well no, actually, I guess I could be hallucinating, since you can't see so you're just going on my word, huh?" He looked at Senar thoughtfully for a few moments, and then added, "I promise I'm not. Hallucinating, that is. I mean, I'd know if I was. I think."

Orren, just stop talking. Stop talking and pay attention that egg that just hatched and woah what the sharding hell is going on here.

"Well!" he said, voice slightly raised to combat the Stuff and Nonsense Hatchling's screams, "As you can tell, we've got another baby on our hands, and this one's a green! Kind of mucky hide. Also very loud."

[Evadne]

Screaming. There was screaming coming from the sands!

Lostris had her back to the action but all it took was one voice raised in distress to bring the woman around again. It's funny how fast she could move on those canes when she put her mind to it. She hobbled forward a step only to stop immediately thereafter as she clapped eyes to green. That wasn't fear or pain, was it? She had no real experience with the cries made by babies. At least not dragon babies. But it didn't seem truly distressed.

But why wasn't it moving?

Lostris hesitated. It was not in her nature to rush and so she looked at Kitath, looked at Semith and the dragons around her. Then she looked back to those on the sands, including the woman who'd carried the bag out towards the...oh, nice, a white had Impressed, good on that lad.

She set her jaw and breathed through her nose. They had not covered this situation in how to be a guard class.

[giftwrapped]

........Siata. Wat.

For a moment, Serdek stared. Then tilted her head to one side, expression the typical one of mild annoyance she wore whenever Siata did something stupid or surprising or off-kilter. But after a few seconds, she shook her head and gave the smith the slightest of smiles. Then she turned back to the sands, just in time to catch the dragonet hatch. And then start screaming. And Serdek's slight smile faded slowly. Why was it screaming? It didn't seem to be in pain (but it was ugly as sin, Faranth) and it wasn't attacking anyone....

Well. This was something. For a moment, she took a few steps forward, like she was going to go thwap the dragonet on the nose and tell it to stop that nonsense. But dragons were neither children nor puppies. So this would probably be a silly idea. So instead, she propped her hands on her hips, frowned at the hatchling, and then called out, loudly and clearly, "That doesn't fardling impress anyone, princess. Find a better way to get attention!"

---

WHY WAS THIS NOISE HAPPENING? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

For a moment, Kaskirk jolted upright. Then he clapped his hands over his ears and crumpled slowly, sinking into a crouch and making a noise that sounded vaguely like an animal being tortured. After a moment, he realized he was making the noise and stopped. Shortly after that, he realized he was sunk into a crouch. Opening one eye slowly, he glanced sideways at Lostris. ...Aww, shit. He was making an idiot of himself in front of a pretty girl. Good job, Kaskirk, you are a failure.

A failure whose pounding head is not helped by the fact that there is a dragonet on the sands shrieking without stopping. Straightening up slowly, making sure not to lose his balance and pitch face-first into the sand, he glanced sheepishly at his fellow guard. "Um. Are they. Is it making noise because it's trying to kill anyone, or can I keep letting it drill holes in my skull from a distance?" he asked. He tried a cheerful grin, but he kind of lost it in a grimace of pain as he tentatively tried to take his hand off his ear and realized that the ugly green was still shrieking.

"....this sucks."

[Zen]

Screaming. Oh, horrid, disgusting screaming. It was coming from that green. Now Ever wasn't the sort to dislike anything, but the moment she saw that green hatch, she thought of Reeva's green. Invidith seemed to stare at her with those eyes. While the green hadn't screamed, she sure as shards had done worse. Ever's fingers flexed.

The green was staring at her. No, that wasn't right. The green was staring at all the candidates. And she was screaming about as loud as kingdom come. She winced, her ears ringing. Her ears were echoing with the ringing, actually... actually echoing. She shrunk away from the sound. Where she'd stepped forward to try to help Ralvyn before, now she took two steps back and hunched over just a bit, her hands fleeing to her ears.

Ohgeeze, she was loud.

[tiamat]

Wait. The little purple was bringing Ralvyn to an egg… that had stopped moving. It wasn’t moving and the anxiety came back a thousand fold because if there was ever something he didn’t want to do it was watch a dragon hatch and die immediately after.

Thankfully for his nerves, the white got up after flopping out of its shell and… Impressed Ralvyn? Which made sense, since Ralvyn was the one who helped it out of its shell. He clapped as Ralvyn walked off the sands with his tiny new dragon.

Then Stuff and Nonsense hatched. And she screamed. It didn’t sound like she was scared or in pain, it sounded like she was just screaming for the sake of screaming (and he had quite enough of that with Pest). He clapped his hands over his ears and tried to think of anything but the horrific noise boring into his skull.