Welcome to Gaia! ::

It hadn't taken more than banging on the pot to get Inaari launching from her bed, her wealth of hair frizzing around her body. That was unimportant and a scarf was yanked from around her waist to hold back her hair. Holding on her outer gown was unimportant as well as the white robe of a Candidate was thrown on and the freckled young woman shuffled onto the burning Hatching Grounds. At first, the girl had been distressed that the genders were separated into two sections, but like all humans, they tended to coalesce in the center of the sands. It wasn't hard for the Holdbred girl to slip up on the fringe of boys and girls, a hand slipping into Therion's nervously.

"Good luck." She whispered to both him and his best friend, eyes not looking away from the already cracking eggs. Greens had paired off which made her heart warm and yearn, the fighting blues causing some distress. It wasn't good at all, weren't they going to hurt themselves?! When the gold burst, Inaari all but stood up on her toes to get a better view of her. It wasn't necessary to try and find her, however. She called attention to herself, screaming orders at her clutch mates in a way that reminded Inaari of her own home and her own siblings. The tension both eased and grew as the girls almost all longingly gazed at the glowing of the little gold, happy that the fight had broken.

Inaari was one of these, but she tried hard to keep it from her face and her body language. She would do anything to stay in the Weyr, dragon or no dragon. But shards, she wanted to Impress!

Ralae had heard from a very reliable source that Feynath was practically chewing her tail in anticipation of the eggs hatching. Her successful venture with Wykla to the beach had netted them each a flit, with gold Cheer currently snuggled around her neck. She was finally starting to feel sleepy, mostly with Cheer's influence, when the Candidate Master came through the weyr brat barracks banging a pot. All those who were of Impressionable age were immediately alert. Leaping up and unintentionally dropping her gold into her bed covers, Ralae tried to breath. Cheer, now awake and grumpy, gave hers an angry hiss and then went promptly back to sleep.

Unabashedly, the tween girl stripped down and grabbed her Candidate robes. This would be her first time standing and she was shaking with excitement, fear, nervousness, any emotion that could be thought of was running its course. Her hair was a tumble and grabbing a piece of cord, she tied it up. Just the excitement of her first Impression was enough to put her in a good mood. "Don't worry Cheer! I will be back to you soon. It's my first time standing, what are the chances of me getting a dragon anyways?"
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The walk to the stands was an imposing one. Ralae was taking in everything along the way. She was near Wykla and tried to motion to her and wish her good luck. The Sands were hot even in the cool of the night and Ralae was doing her best to keep her feet moving. The group was a rather large one with boys to one side and girls to the other side that was closest to the gold. Of course, they would be for to have a gold go /between/ would be unthinkable.

And so, Ralae watched, brown eyes wide and trying to take everything in. It wasn't before long when one of the eggs in the trio that had been so pleasant was shaking and then bursting forth.

Oh! A green! And what a darling she was, looking around and trying to see everything at once. Ralae wished that she could remember when she was younger and what she experienced. There must be so much she missed. Sighing, she stood on her tippy toes to the dark green trying to look at everything and everyone. Surely hers was not in the way high up part of the Stands. That would be such a pain.

Ralae tried to keep up with which way the first hatchling was going that she forgot to pay attention to the others. Not that it mattered because suddenly, a big pair of swirling green eyes was staring at her with love... Love? And... OH!

Isn’t it beautiful mine? But your Zabreth is awfully hungry. Feed me? A draconic smile met Hers as the first of the clutch Impressed.

Putting her hands to her mouth, Ralae started to cry. Was she...really... Impressed? To the most beautiful and amazing green who just had to share the whole world of Pern with her? "Oh Zabreth... It is beautiful. More than I could ever have imagined. Let's go and get you that food."

Belatedly, she wondered what Cheer would think.

Zeren gaped as the blues started fighting, one seemed more unwilling as the more domminant one started things off, *like canines fighting for leadership* he thought. taking a half step forwards *someone has got to make them stop* ran through his mind when the Green hatched, he gasped, she was really rather fetching, but only served to rile the blues up even more. Bunching his fists up he tried to not get involved, after all, the only outcome of getting between the three would be him, getting seriously hurt, therefore severing his chances of Impressing. He stepped back and watched as the Queen Egg hatched, "oh!" he squeaked as she roared at her siblings, then he coughed, embarassed his voice had broken.

"Mmmmh..."

Sharajan had been having a very nice dream, even if he couldn't remember it all too clearly. Something about lying in the back of the family wagon as they crossed northern Lemos, and his mother laughing at something his father said in the front seat. Ah, yes, bliss. The quiet of the travel between holds, with nothing but him, his parents, the wagon, and the open road.

The only thing making it *less* blissful was that weird hum rising up from the back wheels, like a stone was grating in the mechanisms and causing everything around him to vibrate. Father was going to have to get that fixed, that could shake the wagon apart....

As the dream went on, it kept getting louder and louder until the trader boy was wondering how his parents DIDN'T feel it.

Wait. NOT a dream.

The candidate's eyes snapped open, the tree covered fields of Lemos resolving to the darkness of the the Candidate quarters. Now lit by a single hurriedly open glow as everyone darted to and fro, grabbing their white robes. And that hum was making his bones rattle. Shards!

Muttering imprecations under his breath, Sharajan heaved out of bed, grabbed his robe and yanked it on. Didn't they normally do this during the DAYTIME? Would make more sense, but beggars couldn't be choosers, and there would be nothing to choose from if they didn't get DOWN there!

He stumbled out of the barracks with a cluster of other candidates and was still blinking sleep out of his eyes as he hit the sands. At this time of night for him, the heat of the sands just made him sleepier, but he stubbornly held to staying awake and fixed bleary eyes on the rocking clutch in front of him.

At last the fighting was over. Azuran watched with a sense of relief as the two blue males found Theirs. Good, neither seems too seriously injured. His blue eyes then turned onto the green female who was wandering about. She seemed to be taking her time in searching for Hers. I wonder who she'll Impress to...

When the green lingered too long among the boys, the gold started to pad over to where her sibling was teasing potential riders but paused when she walked by the Teal Swirl egg the new queen growled with irritation and forcefully shoved the egg up right. It didn’t respond to the manhandling and Feynath growled at the abuse, causing the queen to hurry along. The effort was wasted, however, as the green had sauntered over to the girls now, having seemingly grown bored with the boys. She churred at a few of them before sashayed over to Rhilira and reared up on her hind legs to look the girl in the eyes. They’re all so slow, aren’t they, Mine? Your Galianth cannot wait to play your games but she is so hungry. Let’s eat!

Alurel watched 3 more dragons find their riders and it was a good sign. At least no one had gone between for not finding a match. Really for Alurel that mattered more. As a Weyrbrat, inwardly it really disturbed him to see one go away...while he would have done quite a bit to make that dragon happy. But it was something he couldn't really ponder about right now considering the last two dragons had tempers. He couldn't envy the folks that became those two's riders. It seemed both were a special breed of trouble.

Although, he had to smile broadly when the gold turned the other egg upright. However, just like any young boy, that sense of rebellion even if quiet in its expression left him thinking, Roll back over and show her who's boss. He'd keep an eye on that egg for sure. Just because if it did roll back over, then indeed it would be a special personality within.

While the gold prowled the Sands, apparently more intent on having her way then in finding Hers quite yet, another of the eggs began to crack break. This was one of the larger eggs, the Half and Half egg, and at first the dark foot that poked out seemed like it might belong to a brown but as the eggstuff came free and the rest of the Hatchling appeared, the coloured lightened a little to reveal a bronze. He shook himself all over, splattering the nearby eggs with birthing fluids, before he took a moment to look around. Meeting first the golds’ gazes, both the new queen and Feynath, he then nosed his sibling egg as if thanking it for its support.

However, he didn’t really move towards the Candidates and Eirlyn frowned. A queen that was absorbed in the Sands and a bronze that was reluctant to move? That was not good…. She glanced to H’trel who simply gave a mild shrug as their dragons communicated for them. Patience, hope. These dragons would not go between!