Once Upon A Time [TOUCHING]

[Zen]

R'zon, Candidate Master S'bol

S’bol enlisted some help from a few other riders and their dragon in order to get his small group of candidates up to the hatching cavern. R’zon and his massive Brown Leviath carried about a third of the group up themselves. R’zon was rather happy to help. Another clutch for Mavros and Zal’s first clutch wasn’t even that old yet. It was pretty amazing, all things considered. Things were looking up, finally. They had four Golds… FOUR! Two of them were still too young to rise, but Mavros had never had four Golds before. Three… but not FOUR. More Golds meant more dragons for Mavros, more riders, more land they could protect and gain from.

R’zon stuck around after all the candidates had been brought up, ready to take them back down after the Touching was over, but for the most part tried to stay out of the way as he watched them gather around S’bol at the edge of the sands.

“All right everyone! Exciting times! We’ve got another clutch on the sands that should be hatching in the near future so it’s time for you get to your first glimpse! Those of you that were here for Zalmaranth’s clutch should already know this, but I’ve got to go over everything for our new candidates’ sakes. Aerroth could order any of you off the sands at any moment if you aren’t respectful and polite, so remember that, and no rough-housing or other foolishness while you’re here. Touch the eggs, spend as much as or as little time among them as you wish and just get used to the idea that there are baby dragons in them and one of them might be yours come hatching day.” S’bol rocked back on his heels, smiling around at everyone encouragingly, “Go ahead then!” He stepped aside and waved them all forward, toward the 13 eggs awaiting them on the sands.

The Beauty Egg and the Beast Egg
These eggs sit together in stark contrast to each other. The Beast Egg towers over its much smaller companion. It is the darkest egg in the clutch and bears a dull, grayish streak that makes it seem scarred. The Beauty Egg, in contrast, is one of the smallest eggs in the clutch and has a slightly golden tinge to it. The two sit near the center of the clutch, but still seem somewhat isolated from their siblings, as if they are in their own little world.

The False Queen Egg and the Arrow Egg
At first glance, it appears Aerroth has given Mavros a fifth Gold! However, upon closer inspection, this golden colored egg has no shimmer to it whatsoever and would appear positively dull to those who remember the twin Gold eggs in all their glittering glory. It IS one of the largest eggs in the clutch, though, not much smaller than the Beast Egg or the Rogue Egg. Sitting close to its sibling, the Arrow Egg bears a dark mark vaguely shaped like a stubby arrow, giving it its name. It is clearly smaller than the False Queen Egg and leans against its larger sibling, though it is overall average sized for the clutch. These two sit at what appears to be the center of the clutch, with the False Queen Egg of course more centered than the smaller Arrow Egg.

The Stone Egg
Sitting about equidistant from the Beauty and the Beast Eggs and the False Queen and Arrow Eggs, the Stone Egg is so named for its dull grayish color, reminiscent of the grey tinge sick dragons take on, and also for the fact that it seems so much colder than its siblings, like stone rather than something carrying a living creature. It is about average size for the clutch.

The True Love Egg and the Small Egg
About average sized for the clutch, the thing that sets the True Love Egg apart and also gives it its name is the dark heart-shaped mark it bears near its top. It seems to be leaning protectively over the Small Egg, which is undoubtedly one of the smallest eggs in the clutch, if not the smallest. It’s hard to tell its exact size with the True Love Egg looming over it and blocking part of it from view, though the True Love Egg is only slightly larger than average. The True Love Egg faces the False Queen Egg and sits a short distance away from it, blocking the Small Egg from the False Queen Egg’s ‘line of sight’.

The Powder Egg
This egg sits alone, closer to the False Queen Egg than any but the Arrow Egg. It is so named for the pale white-ish splotches upon its surface that look like some sort of white powder was dropped on it, like flour for instance. It is a bit larger than average.

The Fair Egg
This egg sits a short distance from the True Love Egg and the Small Egg and the reason for its name is readily apparently. This egg is most certainly the fairest of the clutch, a pale cream color as opposed to its siblings’ darker tans. It is about average sized.

The Wood Egg and the Moss Egg
These two eggs lean companionably against one another not far from the True Love Egg and the Small Egg. The Wood Egg is darker than most of its siblings and more brown in color, with darker markings that give it a vague, wood-like appearance, giving it its name. It is larger than average. Beside it, the Moss Egg is one of the smaller eggs in the clutch and bears a dull greenish smudge at its top which gives it its name.

The Mad Egg
Sitting off to the side some distance from the True Love Egg and the Small Egg, the Mad Egg bears a somewhat unsettling pale marking that gives it the appearance of a not quite sane grin. The egg is one of the larger eggs in the clutch, though still noticeably smaller than the False Queen Egg, the Rogue Egg, and the Beast Egg.

The Rogue Egg
Far off from any of the rest of the clutch, this large egg sits by itself. The closest egg to it is probably the Beast Egg, though it is so far away from any of its siblings it’s hard to tell exactly which one is the closest. It bears no discernible marks and is rather unremarkable looking other than the fact that it is one of the largest in the clutch.

Killos

Killos wandered forward onto the sands, pausing for a moment after a few steps to survey the clutch, smaller than Zalmaranth’s. He let his gaze travel over each one, scrutinizing. Finally he settled on his first visit for this Touching and ambled forward, toward the Mad Egg. As he crouched down beside it, he reached out his hand to lay his palm flat against the shell.

A tendril of thought reached out, probing, and exploded into his mind in a tumult of emotions. The one that ran strongest was excitement. Aloneness was where it was, alone, alone. It did not want to be alone anymore. It wanted interaction, like THIS.

Killos almost fell back at the rush of sudden emotions, but instead settled onto his knees in the sand, “I s’pose it would get pretty lonely in there huh?”

An answering tendril of deep sadness coiled around his mind in response. Aloneness. It seemed to cling to Killos as if it could not bear for him to leave.

Killos patted the shell in response, “But I can’t stay here for long. Besides, you’ll hatch soon, then you won’t be lonely ever again. You’ll have a lifemate.” He stood, brushing himself off and glancing around, wondering which egg to visit next.

But that tendril of thought was not done with him yet. It clung, attempted to tug him back, a burning sort of rage shooting through it. It did not want to be alone again! Killos couldn’t just leave it!

Killos visibly winced at the force of rage exploding outward from the egg and shuffled back, “Sorry egg, I’m sure someone else will visit you soon.” With that he hurried away, glancing back nervously as if he thought the egg might pursue him.

OOC: Okay, so the way this Touching is going to work is that you can choose up to three eggs to interact with in detail (if you so choose to, if you do not want to participate in this more interactive Touching you can feel free to just have your candidate go through and touch all the eggs with no real reactions from them).

Choose one to start with and have your candidate approach and do whatever you’d like them to do, then I will PM you a response from the egg. It will be ‘secret’ (though PM) to simulate the fact that you only know what’s going on with the eggs your own characters are interacting with. Through this, you’ll get a glimpse of the personality of each dragonet within the eggs you choose to interact with, but remember, you can only interact with three in this manner, so choose wisely!

After I’ve PM’d you an egg response, you can reply to the thread with how your character responded to what they experienced with the egg. Depending on the dragonet’s personality, it might respond again, or it could ignore you, which is your queue to move on to another egg. In this way, your candidate can have quasi conversations with a couple eggs and the Touching becomes a much more interactive thread.

Above I’ve posted Killos’s egg responses (for just one egg, won’t be doing anymore with him) to allow people who don’t have candidates to get in on the action a little and also to sort of show you how it will work.

[Deleted]

Disclaimer: Laci had no idea what she was doing when she posted, so her original post was not what Zen had in mind! She went back and edited it and things should look close-ish to the admin's desires.

Thiis stood at the edge of the sands, leaving S'bol and the others to do as they will. She surveyed the eggs, decided to stop at each one. She wasn't sure if she wanted to Impress or not. Her parents never really talked about Dragonriders. While yes, they owed their farm to the Thread-fighters, they weren't really brought up in conversation.

Yet here she was.

She took a step forward into the soft sand, feet sinking slightly. Each egg beckoned to her, so she figured she would make a circle around the grounds. The large gold ever present in her mind, she knew her first goal should be keeping the mother happy. If she didn't Impress, so be it, but she could at least walk out of the grounds intact.

{Detailed Interaction #1 seeing as I already have my PM because I'm an idiot}
The first egg she approached was lonely, the Rogue Egg. She stopped to kneel by it, placing a hand on its shell. "Hello, lonely," she spoke softly, surprising herself. Ever a woman of few words, she expected to go through the whole process quietly. She gasped, feeling the mind inside connect with hers. "Show the world, little one?" she murmured, head close to the egg. "I will show you the world." She reminisced, bringing up the happy feelings and strong emotions from her life.

Thiis stayed there a while, marvelling at this mind within a shell. "I hope that you impress someone who will appreciate you." She paused, not wanting to leave. She wanted to stay with this egg.

[Deleted]

"Oh little one," she spoke quietly, still connected to the egg's occupant. "There many others here like me. All of them waiting to find a dragon just like you. I have to leave now; please forgive me. When you hatch, you will find a lifemate who can give you even more than I can now." She pressed both of her hands and her forehead to the shell in a silent goodbye, sad to leave the egg alone. She almost wanted this one, right now, but she knew she had the rest of the clutch to see to. This dragon would be made happy by another more worthy than her.

She stood and moved to the next egg, stopping at the Mad Egg briefly. Wishing to visit all and not leave any out, Thiis struggled to stay for long with this egg. She touched its shell and paused for a moment, letting the egg register her arrival. However, she moved quickly to the next eggs.

The Wood and the Moss Eggs drew her, named for natural elements that she found comfort in. She thought the Moss contained green and the Wood contained brown, but she was no more versed in dragonlore than she would be able to play a tune on a lute. She laid one palm flat against each egg, admitting herself to their occupants before turning to the next dragon.

The Fair Egg sat elegantly before her, a pale beauty. Thiis knelt fully before it, but not touching it. She didn't feel a calling to this one; beauty was not her style. Her next stop, the Powder Egg, also held no interest to her. She did stop, waiting for a moment, but felt no tug, leaving her free to drift to the next egg.

The True Love Egg and the Small Egg sat before her in welcome. She did not like the Small Egg. Small was not her type. She imagined a small green, unable to hold her weight. The Egg lashed out to her in protest. "I'm sorry!" she whispered quietly, laying a hand on the smaller egg in front of her. "I am merely being practical." She touched the True Love Egg's heart briefly before moving on.

{Detailed Interaction #2}
Thiis dropped before the Stone Egg. She felt the same as she did towards the Rogue Egg. "You might be misjudged, little one, but all dragons are equally important." She laid both hands on the grey shell, waiting.

[Deleted]

Thiis was left waiting for a while. She felt nothing from the Stone Egg. Absolutely nothing. But surely this egg couldn't be empty! Her determination as a farmer swept into her. You did not let your crops die. She would get something out of this dragonet. Something. She racked her brains, the only thing coming to mind being a song. But Thiis wasn't a singer. She wasn't even sure if the dragon would be able to hear her if it wasn't already connected to her mind.

She settled back, sitting down fully in front of the egg. She laid her forehead against the cold shell, bringing her mind closer to the being behind the barrier. She wanted to hear something very, very bad.

[Zen]

Killos wandered around to the big Beast Egg and the Beauty Egg, sliding fingers gingerly over the smooth shells of each. The Beast Egg seemed rather intimidating and he removed his hand from the shell after just a quick brush, but he squatted beside the Beauty Egg for a while, marveling at it. It seemed so much… nicer. Especially more so than the Mad Egg and its angry outburst! Glancing up from the egg briefly he looked around at the other candidates visiting the eggs. He hoped this clutch contained his dragon, at long last… but Zalmaranth was due to rise again soon… so he supposed he could wait a little while longer. Still, sooner would be better!

S’bol came to stand beside R’zon at the edge of the sands for some company as he watched the candidates to make sure no one got too rowdy around the eggs. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. I can have Nesporth call Leviath if you have other things you could be doing.”

R’zon looked at his old candidate master and shook his head, “No, this is okay. I like seeing the eggs, and the candidates, and how they interact. Especially first timers.” He chuckled lowly and folded his arms over his chest, “It’s just nice to actually HAVE eggs on the sands….”

S’bol gave his shoulder an agreeable pat and turned back to watch his charges. The candidate master laughed, "Jumbria! The hatchling isn't about to jump out and bite you. Give the egg a nice pat already!" He wrapped his knuckles lightly against R'zon's shoulder, "I don't understand how some holderborn girls seem to be so fearful of an egg. The hatchlings themselves is another matter, they can be a little intimidating I suppose from a holder's eyes, but an egg?" He chuckled again.

[madb]

Aerroth could order any of you off the sands at any moment if you aren’t respectful and polite, so remember that, and no rough-housing or other foolishness while you’re here.

Vahguel snorted, discretely as he could. For some reason, he had a feeling that had been directed at him. Not quite fair, considering he'd basically been forced to grovel before he was allowed, grudgingly, to walk around as a candidate in this place without a thousand suspicious eyes on his back. You slip up and strangle a girl once...

Still, the short time between the first clutch he stood for and this one, had done the youth some good, in that Vahguel was now quite decided that he wanted a dragon for his own. The beasts were powerful protection in and of themselves. Not just because they could shoot flame -- for the amount of time he'd studied them, the beasts didn't seem to want to hurt anyone, which was confusing -- but because even the slightest of them offered position in society that Vahguel would never get a chance to achieve otherwise. Certainly not as a pillowcrafter's son. If he had not been Searched, likely he would have followed his mother's footsteps... better or worse than the life as a drudge his hold had offered him? Who was to say. Vahguel would never go back to that.

This being said, he was feeling less and less positivity towards the greens. Beyond getting rained on by threadfall to protect holders--not something Vahguel could ever get behind--their riders were, it appeared, the equivalent of pillowcrafters for the weyr. 'There to ease the frustrations of better riders' -- was that what the bronzeriders he'd spied on said? Something to that effect, at the least.

Hmm. If he wanted any control in his life, any freedom, perhaps he should carve his own. Vaguel eyed the Beast egg, one of the bigger fellows on the Sands.

"If I might, miss," he offered a slight bow of his head to the gold, even as he crossed over.

He placed a hand on the egg.

[madb]

The slithering response moved up his arm, and the candidate almost withdrew his hand. Sheer willpower was all that kept him steady.

To say the Beast egg's response was interesting, would be an understatement.

He was nearly glaring at the egg near the end. Vahguel felt both intrigued and wary, even a tad violated. How could an egg act as though it knew him, or anything at all? Yet he was drawn to that whisper of power, drawn even to the feeling of being taunted; that this yet unborn creature could know anything at all about him. As if!

Vahguel smirked. "Bluffing, little dragon? What could you share with me but what it is like to be trapped and swimming in egg goo?" He tried to hide how shaky the experience had left him, and would likely be successful to any other candidate walking around -- to the Beast egg, perhaps not.

To stay would be acknowledging that this ... strange creature inside, would be in some way right, that it would have power over him by virtue of understanding Vahguel, knowing that he'd been drawn to that deep, enticing whisper. To be right would be to have power, and to stay would be giving an unborn dragonette power over him. That was unacceptable.

"No infant inside a shell knows or tells me what I should do," Vahguel murmured. He took a deep, steadying breath, and stepped away.

Before he could weaken and change his mind, the candidate turned sharply on his heels, and walked briskly over to the False Queen Egg. He'd bet his marks on it being a bronze and here was a chance to see if it felt right.

More cautiously this time, Vahguel touched the shell lightly.

[madb]

Scared of an egg! As if! Was the last thought Vah had before the False Queen egg interrupted him.

Speaking of violation.

Vahguel snarled, forgetting to school his expression to keep those around him -- the other candidates, S'bol, or any of the rest -- from thinking him anything other than a dull drudge boy, mistakenly chosen by a Searchdragon on an off-day. Why, how dare it!

He threw up resistance instantly, attempting to block the probe, but not willing to give in and look weak by removing his hand. What was with this clutch? He could have sworn the last one wasn't so aggressive. It wasn't as if Vahguel was accustomed to fighting back psychic bullying, not having so much as a flit to practice on, but he knew how to be stone. You had to learn that quick, with what he'd had to deal with.

But it wasn't enough just to throw up a mental shield. No, he was angry now. The parting comment from the Beast egg especially had him on edge. Afraid? No, he'd show he wasn't scared of some slimy unborn creature playing intimidating with nothing to back it up.

He pushed back. Hard. See how the dragon liked it!

[madb]

It seemed his attempt was successful. Vahguel smirked, as for the briefest of moments he was allowed within the creature's mind. Beneath his fingertips radiated something... dark, spiteful. And something else, something unexpected. Before he could grasp any further, the surprise of his attack was gone, and the dragon blocked him.

Ah, well. Vah had surely proven that he was not like the rest of the candidates, and he would not be so easily pushed around.

Surprise at the hatchling's reaction flooded Vah, momentarily distracting him from his typical wariness. At first, his own ego was soothed, boosted by the unexpected praise. Except... except it wasn't quite praise, was it? The little sharding infant would have itself Lord of the Sands and Vahguel was supposed to be pleased at the feeling -- like the creature inside the False Queen egg was patting his head after he'd fetched some kind of stick for it, or some such nonsense.

The delicate features of Vah's face wrinkled in disgust, before he schooled it to something far more dull and ordinary. Sheer arrogance. Lust for power. Surely, Vah was correct. There was a bronze within that shell. At the very least, he would earn his marks on that bet.

"You would dismiss me? You, whose fate is nothing more to be harnessed and ridden as a beast of burden into Threadfall? Who is the drudge and who is the Lord Holder, egg," he hissed under his breath, careful to keep his outward expression calm.

Fardles to that. He had enough of both those creatures -- the one in the Beast and the one in the False Queen, both.

As much as he would like to send a jagged spike of wrath at the hatchling, Vah calmed himself. He doubted that it would hit, now that he could not surprise the infant trapped within. No, better not prove himself a fool and have the creature win in any way. The only advantage he had over it in this battle... was the ability to leave it, cold.

Vahguel stepped away from the egg.

Third time's the charm? Vahguel decided he'd had enough of those eggs he'd labeled as 'bronze'. He would have no dragon Impress to him that thought a beast could be above him. But perhaps one of those he'd marked as brown... the Mad Egg seemed a decent choice.

This time he kept a mental guard up. At the very least, both the Beast and the False Queen had taught him a valuable lesson. The candidate placed the edge of his fingertips on the shell of the Mad Egg.

[madb]

“Ugh,” Vahguel physically flinched at the neediness which the Mad egg exuded. How awful. Perhaps he was already rethinking his dislike towards the more powerful hatchlings. To have something this dependent was… quite disgusting, really.

Ew, ew, ew. Vahguel withdrew his hand as quick as he could, wiping it on the front of his shirt. Like being licked over and over by a stupid canine. No, that was must certainly not what he wanted to Impress. He could only imagine the horror of being tethered to such a creature.

He could imagine a few people he’d like to watch that happen to…

Stepping away from the Mad egg, he made his way through the rest of the clutch in this order; Rogue egg, Stone egg, Arrow egg, Powder, Fair, Wood, Moss, Beauty, and finally True Love. This sent him down a rather weird path that curved and turned and went far distances at times, but Vah went through preference by what little could be gleamed about the hatchlings inside via the traits of their eggs. Near the end, he felt quite cross.

If he could admit it to himself, he had rather enjoyed the first two personalities he had encountered. And another couple of eggs along the way hadn’t seemed too bad. As long as that silly fool in the Mad egg didn’t come anywhere near him on Hatching day, Vah was sure this time around would be his time to shine.

[Deleted]

Lihios paused for a moment before she was quietly shooed onto the sands for the touching. Her feet were bare as her body tensed seeing the other Candidates before she forced herself to relax. There was no telling what a clutch mother could do. Being from High Reaches, Lihios already knew the basics of a touching (When one was permitted), so she arrived just in time to hear the Candidate Master finish his speech. She watched the other Candidates as they moved to touch the eggs and waited until they were finished. She was nervous on the inside, not that she'd ever let it show on her face.

Soon it was her turn. Lihios slowly approched the Clutching Dragon, but made sure to stay easily out of her reach before she gave a low, respectful bow. Even though it was not required of her to do so, Her Father had fully instructed her how to approch a clutching dragon during a touching. "My Lady Queen, Your clutch is as fair as you, if I may have your permission to touch your eggs?" Her voice was low, soft, reassuring. She held this bow until she was hopefully given permission to interact with the eggs. Once permission was given, the Candidate slowly stood and moved to the first of her choices. The True Love Egg. Most of the Candidates seemed to be going for the larger, stronger looking eggs.

Lihios kneeled slowly, burying her toes in the warm sands as she willed her body to relax. Closing her eyes she lightly laid the palm of her hand flat against the smooth shell of the egg. "A pretty one, Strong too..." She whispered a soft croon, quietly talking to only the egg she was focusing on at the moment, she slowly relaxed even her mind. Letting even her guard slip a bit. She was curious about this egg. "Your little sibling has a loving knight."She mused. Unsure if she would get a response at all. Her fingertips slowly stroked the shell of the egg, as if reassuring it, or rather, reassuring herself.




_{ooc:
(If the Clutch Mother Did not give permission Lihios would have left the sands immediately. Sorry for the formalities, old habits die hard)}

[avon]

Rat waited impatiently for the Candidate Master to finish his speech, shuffling back and forth on the hot sand. Once they were let loose, he approached the clutch and bowed deeply to the Gold before weaving his way through the eggs. He wanted to get a good look at them all before touching them.

He brushed his fingers lightly over the Wood Egg and the Moss Egg before pausing at the Fair Egg. "Hello there..." He knelt beside it, letting his palm lay flat on the surface. The shell felt warm, and definitely alive. He wondered if the baby inside could hear him.

[Deleted]

Lihios chuckled softly as she opened her mind slowly to the True Love egg. The hatchling within was bored ey? "Ah little one, Soon you will come into the world, then you will not be so confined and can do as much as you would like. But you have to grow for a little longer~" Lihios crooned softly to the egg, continuing to let her fingertips gently caress the shell.

Lihios allowed what images she could trickle to the egg from her mind, showing it the current happenings and her arrival from High Reaches. "I'm afraid that's all I know, Hopefully it will quell your boredom?" She spoke soothingly. She wasn't bothered at all by the eggs rambling. She sent another image to it, one of a story-scroll she had read once about an adventure taken on the seas and pirates. Maybe that would also give the hatchling within something to dream of.

Lihios had to chuckle at the guardedness of the Egg. She knew how that was. "It's alright, I only thought to offer some company. You'll make someone a very fine dragon with how loyal you are. I'm going to go and see a few of your siblings, I'm sure another will soon come to greet you. Stay Vallient, my friend."

With a few more gentle caresses, Lihios slowly withdrew from the True Love Egg with well wishes and fondness. Dusting off her knees, Lihios moved over to her second choice of egg. The Powder Egg. Lihios's fingertips slowly smoothed over the shell of this egg as she released a slow hum from her throat, closing her eyes as her palm laid flat against the shell to feel the warmth within.

[Deleted]

Kylixia hung back while the others ventured forward. She observed and scrutinized all with a vaguely hesitant expression on her face. Vixen was confined to her room and anyone who didn't know any better might think the young woman was suffering from nerves; very few people at Mavros knew any better. She could count on a single hand the people that even suspected her dual nature. Only three knew for certain that she wasn't some sweet innocent and two of them were already mingling with the eggs. After several minutes when someeone finally noticed her hesitation, she moved forward. She didn't approach a single egg at first, instead picking her way through the clutch, the hem of her gown dragging in the sand. Eventually she followed Vah's lead and approached the large egg with the streak then turned her attention to the smaller faintly golden hued egg beside it. Once more she paused and the reached out and splayed a hand over the eggs unblemished shell.

[Deleted]

Thiis moved on to the False Queen and the Arrow Eggs, disappointed at the silence from the Stone Egg. She stopped, marveling at the coloring of the False Queen. I cannot imagine what a queen egg would look like, she wondered. This egg is so marvelous by itself. The Arrow Egg's point gave her a guide to her hand. She laid it on the shell briefly before moving on to her final stop.

The Beauty and the Beast stood before her. Saving the larger egg for last, she knelt before the two and focused her attention to the Beauty. The smaller egg seemed quite boring to her, honestly. She felt no pull or attraction to the golden sheen. Perhaps her simple farm life left her unable to enjoy the finer things around her now. The Beast, however, drew her in. She lightly traced the grey scar, feeling along the smooth convex shell. She stopped, laying both hands on the egg and listening to the thought that grabbed at her.