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 Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:23 pm
Alanna was so sure that the entire Weyr had felt the rage of the angry Queen and her rider the moment it had been discovered, via whispers of one who couldn't keep her mouth shut about her idiocy, that the eggs had been touched. They weren't even hardened yet, but they had been touched. This was actually the biggest bit of drama that had happened in a long time, and probably the biggest event that would have been happening in a while.
It was just something that had been going around amongst the candidates too -- the possibility that one idiot may have harmed the dragons inside of the eggs. If one of those little hatchlings was for her, she would certainly hope they were strong enough to not be killed off by the hand of a moron...
...
then again, she'd wish that for all of the dragons regardless!
But there she was, wringing her hands together and making a point to avoid the bowl at all costs. Alanna was better off alive than dead, she'd never amount to anything if she had pieces ripped off in two swell swipes from the angry Queen.
In fact, she wasn't sure what was worse, the Queen who was staying put where she was or the Rider who was seemingly just-as-prepared to kill everybody who even looked towards the bowl the wrong way. At least that was the vibe she was getting.
God, would the Queen even allow for the Touching for this Impression or..
....
....
Dammit, she'd have to think up a way to make that stupid robe armored or something.
"How many of us are going to get hurt because of one idiot?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:24 pm
"Too many," Rinfala stated flatly, pulling up one pant leg until the fresh scar was clearly visible. "This is what happened when people were dropping like flies, people were yelling, and others were just being stupid. That clutch had the benefit of a Touching." She glanced around, keenly feeling the lack of Shim's familiar weight on her shoulder. The young queen had laid her first clutch herself, and was cloistered with the warming eggs. It was hard not to feel faintly jealous.
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:26 pm
Well, this certainly blew the wineskin theft out of the water, Mal had to admit. At first, he hadn’t been quite certain what all the fuss was about. So someone had touched a few of the eggs early. Big deal. They were going to be touched eventually… but then he had heard some dragonhealer----more than one, actually---ranting about it, how the eggs had only been a few days old and didn’t have hard shells to protect the unborn dragon inside. Then it all made sense…
Having been around Aeron’s clutch was quite an education. No wonder the firelizard was so defensive about his eggs, if they could be so easily damaged. And a drgaon egg, well, that was more important than a firelizard egg. Aeron screed his disagreement and flapped his wings against Mal’s head.
Mal ignored him and simply scratched the Bronze firelizard’s eyeridges. It was a rare moment that Aeron managed to take himself away from his clutch long enough to be social with his actual owner, so Mal wasn’t going to hold any grudges.
Well, except against this girl if she hurt any of the dragons. Was it really that difficult to wait a few extra weeks for the shells to harden? Really? Hearing a question, Mal immediately assumed it was not rhetorical and answered.
“Oh, I dunno. Last Hatching, there were three maulings. And that was with a Touching. And that was just the one hatchling. Isn’t that right, Rinfala?”
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:31 pm
"Yes," Rin replied, letting the cloth drop back over her leg, concealing the scar. "I just caught it in the leg, but one of the girls was hit hard enough she had to be carried out. I haven't seen her since." Honestly, that realization was faintly worrying. Rinfala hadn't known or cared about the girl herself, but it couldn't be a good sign that she was no longer here. Had she died of her wounds?
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:40 pm
Hanya was shocked. When Kyllae had told her that she had touched an egg, she had thought it was ridiculous. Nobody would do that. Only the very stupid or the clinically insane (or possibly the suicidal) would attempt to do something like that. Kyllae hadn't seemed to be any of those, not really. So it was only natural that Hanya had called her bluff.
...Too bad it hadn't been a bluff; there would be so much less trouble now. Honestly, Hanya felt faintly bad for mentioning it at all, but she had been so angry about being lied to that she hadn't thought about the repercussions.
Because she hadn't thought there would be any.
The small group gathering had attracted her attention, though, and she wandered over just in time to see Rinfala's scars. She winced. That mauling had been terrifying and...ohfaranth, that's what the Touchings were for: to prevent that.
"Stand toward the back during the Hatching," she advised darkly, no hint of humour in the comment.
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:46 pm
The tale of the assaulted candidate (both the one in her company and the one that had been carried out) earned a frown from Alanna. That had happened with a touching? Well ********! Her first standing and she was starting to wonder if she'd be leaving in a body-bag or not! That would definitely not be something that would be pleasant in the least.
Damn. Did they have enough candidates to allow for that?
So the current tally was.. "So right now we have possibly dead dragonets, candidates who are going to get mauled....." she trailed off, a good chain of swears running through her head to try and put together a coherent sentence. Dammit, yes she'd wanted to be in on all of this FASCINATING gossip and get a little bit of time to show off, but fj;sldk..
...
.....
Hmm? The new words of advise caused Alanna to frown a bit. Okay, now that was advise she wasn't sure about following or not.
"I'd rather just not stand in front of anybody. I would imagine the quickest way to mauling is to stand between a hatchling and it's rider." Nnngh, that wasn't a pleasant mental image either.
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:52 pm
Veyes had remembered what L'thor had said that someone else would surely do something to make them forget what he had done...and now it had happened in far grander proportions that two measly wineskins. Oh shards...this incident was so serious that it could affect the entire Weyr. Veyes couldn't believe that anyone would be that brave and take such a chance on the little dragons in the shells.
He had to wonder...would there be a touching? Had this ever happened before? He already had bad things happen around or in the only two hatchings he had attended so what now? Would these dragons even impress because one person couldn't wait for the touching?? Or maybe they were...dead. That thought made his eyes widen at the thought of possibly such a loss! If they did make it to the sands, would the dragons be sane? Or would this be a rough hatching. He took a deep breath and steeled himself in his own mind. He'd handle it somehow.
As he walked into the area he noticed other candidates had gathered and he could only guess what they were thinking....the same things as he was. He looked about the room for anyone he knew then saw Mal, his roommate.
"Hey Mal." he said with a bit of concern at the edge of his breath. "Any word of things?" He didn't have tell or ask Mal if he knew because his roommate was usually in the know far more than he.
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:59 pm
“Yep! Danger of mauling, possible mental scarring, not to mention our lovely overcrowded quarters… and yet, somehow, people still want to become a dragonrider. Nice, isn’t it? Really makes you think about human nature.” Mal paused for a moment, scratching Aeron on top of his eyeridges again. “Course, I’m not quite sure what it says, other than we’re really, really stupid.” Huh. So Rin had been one of the mauled ones, huh? He hadn’t known that, but he kept that little bit to himself. No wonder she had seemed so familiar.
He nodded at Hanya’s words, agreeing completely. “The way I understand it,” he said in the ones of one who didn’t understand it completely, but would totally continue to pretend he did, “A dragon will go through anyone and anything to get to its rider. So standing at the back shouldn’t affect chances of Impression. My only concern is that everyone will be standing at the back.” Which rather ruined any chances of having a meat shield.
“Oh, hey, Veyes,” Mal commented, nodding at his roommate. “Look who’s actually here for once. It’s Aeron!” The Bronze firelizard had, naturally, been secluded with his dear Shim and their clutch. The large Bronze hissed at Veyes, which probably meant ‘hello’ or perhaps ‘stay away from my man’. Either way, the firelizard took off, presumably to go back to Shim. “I haven’t heard much yet. Mostly just demands for this girl’s skin. Kyllae. The dragonhealers have been especially raging lately. And never mind Favan… last I heard, she was trying to get Kyllae thrown out of the Weyr.”
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 12:49 am
"Off to the side might be a good idea," Rinfala suggested, toying with the end of her braid. She didn't know about anyone else, but she didn't want to be the one that caused some other poor sod to get mauled. It was foolhardy to assume she'd Impress, but it wasn't like she needed to make enemies. Faranth knew it was hard enough to feel charitable towards the green that'd swiped her.
She glowered at the mention of Kyllae. "It'd serve her right. Her dragon might have been in one of those eggs, and she might have killed it."
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:10 am
Firyal, passing by, could not help overhearing this fascinating conversation and quietly seated herself in a shadow to listen. For once she was actually abreast of the news at the Weyr. Not that it was likely anyone alive was unaware of what was going on. Favan was in a fury and Cheoth was said to be worse. Even Numenor and Chance had been subdued since the queen's wrathful outburst, which was a marvelous thing. Marvelous in the sense that it invoked marvelling. Numenor perched on her right shoulder and Chance cautiously landed on her other shoulder. He'd been trying to negotiate shoulder space practically since hatching, and with the recent all-around subduing he'd been somewhat successful.
Firyal had never met Kyllae, to her knowledge, but she was torn between being extreme irritation at her for hurting all the other Candidates' chances and feeling sorry for the girl for being exposed to Favan's wrath. Slowly irritation was winning out as she heard the others' speculations about what might happen now. The chances of a Touching did seem slim to none, and considering how past Hatchings had gone, that could be disastrous. Except...
"Isn't this Cheoth's first clutch?" she asked, a little surprised by herself for speaking up. "The other clutches other dragons' and it's possible Cheoth's children won't be so violently inclined."
Or maybe she was just being naive, but she would rather not have people actually killed on the Sands. Assuming Cheoth let anyone near the eggs for the Hatching, even. She couldn't believe anyone would touch the eggs without permission, particularly not when they were still soft. The risks, as Rinfala mentioned, were great. It also begged the question of how Kyllae had made it onto the Hatching Grounds to touch the eggs without Cheoth noticing at the time.
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:12 am
"I don't want anyone to get hurt, but Faranth knows I'm not going to be the one stepping forward when the eggs start cracking...if they start cracking," Hanya said absently, nodding agreement to all the speakers even as she realized that Kyllae's recklessness could stop a Hatching in its tracks if she had done it wrong. She spared a sweet smile for Veyes, even as he spoke to Mal instead of her (she was fairly certain that Mal and the Veyes probably knew each other better than she and Veyes did, so it was excusable. Boys needed boy time), but then she returned to her somber silence.
"If the fact that she Impressed to Favan, and the way she's been handling this entire situation, is any indication of her personality, then I'd say that Cheoth's offspring are likely to be even less kindly toward humanity," she pondered aloud, looking over at Firyal and sparing another wan smile. There wasn't even the drive for competition in her at the moment; this was too serious an occasion.
"I just hope everyone's going to be all right...especially the eggs."
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:46 am
Alanna sneered a bit at the simple 'get kicked out of the weyr' thought. Ugh, she really needed to get some strings or something around there to pull before too long -- note to self, GET SOME OF THAT DAMN AUTHORITY YOU DESERVE FROM THE RIDERS. Yep, she'd jump on that train as soon as she could.
For now, however..
"If we just fed the idiotic sack of flesh to Cheoth, maybe the Queen would back off enough to allow for a touching." she suggested, leaning back in her spot and folding her arms behind her head with a frown. "Otherwise they better get her out of here before Impression, at least if they want to get her out alive."
She then tapped the sides of her temples.
"Because I imagine each and every candidate who gets mauled at the next impression is going to be VERY UNHAPPY because the touching got skipped - which if it doesn't, I will be suprised. All we can wait for now is a miracle of some sort.
I don't see a miracle in this case coming easily."
She massaged her forehead a bit following this, frowning. "If the eggs aren't OK, we'll have a whole new boat of worries to deal with."
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:19 pm
"Unfortunately," Rinfala drawled, "As we've had drummed into our ickle Candidate heads since we hopped off the dragon, they do not kill. Maulings are usually accidents, often our own fardling faults. If I'd been paying attention to the eggs instead of the dipshits yelling, I'd have been able to dodge." Oh. Shards, she hadn't meant to let that last bit slip.
...Oh well. You couldn't put a dragon back in the shell.
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:31 pm
Veyes smiled at Aeron even as the bronze hissed at him. He kind of wanted to think of that as a "greeting" rather than a "stay away" considering he did live with the flit and Mal in the same alcove. Although, he could never be too sure when it came to Aeron. However, some nights the creature just was up to no good except when he caught him snoozing with his marble. Aeron at those moments actually looked....cute.
"So her name is Kyllae...the girl that touched the eggs." he nodded and frowned a bit but kept his mouth shut on his own thoughts considering he didn't want to be too quick to throw in harsh words as others had done to him in the past. "Yeah.. I feel sorry for the dragon and her rider. I can't imagine how hard this is on them." He could feel heart felt sympathy for the two because that one girl could have cost the queen her first children's lives. He'd rather focus on the two that probably needed support than the one that caused the harm.
Soon he heard another couple voices that he knew - Firyal and Hanya. Turning just a little he nodded to each girl. Normally, he might have smiled but he was too deep in thought about today's event to feel comfortable with that. "Hello...Hanya...Firyal. Nice to see you both...even though, it's not under the greatest of circumstances. Yeah, it is Cheoth's first clutch." he answered trying to consider what he could do as candidate to make any of this situation better. It seemed so way of his league at the moment even as his imagination started to try to work on the problem.
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Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 5:48 pm
"I'm surprised you've never heard the name before," Hanya said, raising an eyebrow at Veyes. It wasn't like the girl was inconspicuous or anything; she had been fairly infamous even before this...fiasco (yes, that was a good word for it).
"Honestly, I don't think it's up to us to think what sort of punishment she deserves," she said quietly, again feeling a twinge of regret that she had brought this entire disaster down on Kyllae. The voice of reason in her head kept pointing out that Kyllae undoubtedly deserved what she was getting (clearly the tall girl had been incredibly stupid), but Hanya was more worried than angry. There would be time for anger later, when the eggs hatched.
"If they let Kyllae Stand, it will be the same as feeding her to Cheoth," she said thoughtfully, chewing on her lip. After all, the fury of the Queen dragon upon seeing Kyllae could easily be enough for nervous, unhappy Hatchlings to focus into. There would be more blood than the typical unheeding clawmarks.
"There's not much we can do. We just do our best to keep ourselves and anyone else we can safe, and hope that whatever she's done hasn't hurt the eggs."
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