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Shards... what a time for the eggs to decide to hatch. Sammis rubbed his eyes, not for the first time, the urge to curl up and go back to sleep fighting with the excitement of the hatching, though the excitement was slowly winning. He flashed a sleepy grin at the other Candidates as they filed out, catching glimpses of Ifari and the familiar tower that was Vessali.
On the plus side, any hatchling destined for that boy was going to find it sharding hard to miss him, he thought, with amusement.

He wasn't above taking advantage of Vessali's generous offer to allow shorter boys to edge out in front of him, since he -was- one of the shorter boys.

Candidates were filing in and there was still no sign of Whitemaster J'aro. It was not uncommon for him to waltz in last minute, and since there were still guests arriving, he wasn't technically late yet.

The Wingleaders were armed with hidden weapons -- knives, mostly -- so many of them felt they didn't need him there at all. These eggs would have no whites, being clutched by a gold and sired by a bronze.

It was then a strong wind blew past, knocking many of the glowbaskets out of the hands of their keepers.

(What to do OOC: Make a post and randomize a number 1-10. If your number is 1-5, your character has had their glowbasket blown out of their hands and is unable to get it back. If your number is 6-10, your either character manages to keep a hold of it or has it blown out of their hands but manages to catch it before it gets too far.

You have until 5 PM EST (roughly 1 PM EST at time of this post) to post your roll or the mule will roll for you.)

The burst of wind was surprising, and a startling wake up call, probably not just for Sammis, but for others on the sands. He squinted his eyes against the sudden gust which briefly snatched the glowbasket from his grip, but he scrambled quickly and managed to catch it back from the air, shifting his grip to hold it more securely.

"Shards and shells!" He cursed, under his breath, embarrassed as well as surprised, but others had lost their baskets entirely, which made him feel just a hair better.

Nothing like a little Schadenfreude to make you feel less foolish about your own mistakes.

And...there went Jerishude's glowbasket. It was picked up by the wind and carried away somewhere off into the distance, somewhere that he wouldn't be running after it to catch it. Oh well, it wasn't like Jerishude really needed the glowbasket to enjoy the hatching. There were plenty of people around him still being able to hold onto their own baskets.

Of course though he wanted the eggs to hatch soon and the sharding wind to stop blowing. It was late, he wasn't really tired, but he was growing impatient. Of course good things came to those that waited, right? Maybe Jerishude should move over and bother one of the other candidates and share their light. He knew how much people enjoyed having him be so close to them.

"Oh Adestu~"

He only really knew Adestu's name. Hopefully the boy held on to his basket.

Kaeyne held on to the sharding glow as tight as he could without it flying from his arms and popping him in the face. That would be a funny thing, wouldn't it? His fingers curled tight - just as that harsh gust blew through the hatching grounds. Glows flew. Kaeyne's actually jerked in his hold, and his hands tightened further. The glow almost popped free, almost smacked him straight in the head, but Kaeyne managed to get a grip. It'd not been something to be expected, the harsh breeze and the sudden darkness.

He took a quiet step closer to Adetsu, angled his shoulders to cant towards the other man. A few people ran for their glows and some just laughed or shrugged.

... or walked over.

With Adetsu on edge and himself not in the best of moods, the minute that blasted candidate called out Adetsu's name, Kaeyne prickled. The only ones (he assumed) who would know the other mans name would be other white candidates - someone far too low on his list of likable human beings to waste his time on. He disliked his own uneasy feelings, how things were too dark, how tense Adetsu stood beside him.

How the damned white candidate walked right on over.

His eyes narrowed into tight slits, jaw set hard, lips slim. Kaeyne said not a word but glared cold at the too close white candidate and kept his space next to Adetsu.

It appeared that Mairin had not had as good a grip on her glow basket as she thought. When an unusually strong and unexpected gust blew through the group her fingers loosened of their own accord and her source of light went rolling off into the dark. There was absolutely no point in chasing the thing down, as not everyone around her had failed to hold on to their baskets. Mairin edged her way closer to those still bearing light, grateful it was dark enough no pen could see her blush. The athletic teen was normally incredibly steady handed with quick reflexes but it seemed that tonight she was simply meant to be out of sorts.

At least she wasn't alone in that respect. There seemed to be quite a few other candidates including the males who'd been taken by surprise as well. Mairin wasn't sure if she should be wryly amused at this turn of events or concerned as to how anyone, candidate or dragonet was going to be able to navigate the grounds properly like this.

While other candidates might have hustled to the Hatching grounds, Roxyn seemed to be in no great hurry. Why, you might ask? Well, the tall weyrbrat was quite certain his dragon was not in this clutch. When a bronze caught a gold, no new colors could be expected and the brunette had no interest in the resulting Hatchlings. After all, he was to be the next, newest whiterider. His father was sure, J'aro was sure (actually, J'aro was not sure at all, but Roxyn liked to pretend he was), and most of all, he was sure!

He even had his rider named picked out already: R'xyn. (Just like dad!) And he was going to name his white Raith. See, he had it all planned out. He had absolutely no doubt!

So why did Roxyn even bother Standing? His grandmother wanted him to, first of all. But, more importantly, everyone else was Standing, and the young man hated to be left out of anything. So when everyone else lost their glowbasket, the youth was delighted when the wind ripped his basket away, too.

"Come on, now. Everyone knows a gather is way more fun in the dark." Roxyn shuffled towards the sound of Adetsu, Kaeyne and Jerishude. "C'mon boys, play nice!" He glanced towards where the masters stood. "Does anyone see J'aro here yet?"