[2014 Easter Event] Hoppy Happy Hatching

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

A rather simply painted egg was lying on its side near the center of the clutch, giving a leisurely twitch and rock every now and again. It didn't seem in too much of a hurry to join the hustle and bustle going on outside its shell, more content to nap for a while. However its relaxation was shattered however as its blue brother tried to climb over it on his way to say hello and put a foot right through the egg. Drawing his foot back the blue chirruped and then continued on his way. A pair of forefeet appeared out of the hole and slowly began to haul out yet another blue hatchling. The blue looked around, but looked down as he heard a cracking sound. What was that? He sniffed at the cracks forming around his feet. That was stra-oh! The shell cracked and gave way, dropping the hatchling back inside his egg.

The young blue paced forward and chirruped again. He noticed someone looking and smiling at him and gave a happy wiggle. He liked her. Hey, wait! What was she doing? The blue let loose a confused whine. Meanwhile the gold hatchling, who had yet to get up, noticed the girl and looked up at her. Rolling over she stood up, stepped forward and stretched out her neck toward the piece of meat, sniffing at the morsel. No! The dark blue darted forward and hissed, chattering angrily at his larger clutchmate. No, no, no, no. No! He forced the gold to back up and away from the girl until the hatchling turned her back on him and walked away. It was then when he turned angry little eyes onto Ryala. Why did you do that!? She looked at him first! Did she think that gold was better? Plonking himself down the blue sat down and huffed. Sticking his head up and to the side he pretended to ignore the girl. After all she had been very insensitive.



It seemed that the bronze wasn't really the kind to stick around and pose. When he walked however there was a definitive strut to it. Head up, wings mantled, it was hard to believe the firelizard was only a few minutes old. He was clearly already very confident in himself as he lithely jumped down from the trough. He glanced to the side and noticed a girl with a green firelizard. Well, the green was hardly a concern of his. She wasn't exactly a threat now was she. Turning himself in a graceful arch he came to stop in front of the girl. Well? What was she waiting for, an invitation?

 

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

It seemed that the time the sands would go without a green was going to be an exceptionally short one as a small egg burst open and revealed an eye catching green. The newborn looked around with interest. The green was startlingly dark, with patches lining her legs, body, wings and face. She chirruped at the sight. Seemed she wasn't the first one here. There were lots and lots of firelizards already around, some in the trough, some not. The ones further from the trough seemed to be getting fed and were happy about it. She was hungry too! Clambering out of her shell remains the green eagerly approached the humans stood around the clutch. There was enough for her? Yes? She was so terribly hungry after working to get out of that shell. Somebody must be willing to feed her.

A dark egg with awkwardly painted stripes and wiggly lines gave a sudden jump. The eggs in this clutch seemed intent on waiting quietly before suddenly jumping into action. The egg rolled and jumped, cracks forming here and there across its surface. The firelizard inside didn't seem able to understand they would have an easier time of getting out if they focused on one area. Instead they rolled and bounced haphazardly until, by chance, they hit the same area and a brown hatchling went tumbling out of the side of the egg. The brown was a simple looking fellow, simply two clear cut shades, a paler band wrapping around his front. A darker patch remained on his head, which he shook slightly as he climbed to his feet. That had been a bit rougher than he had expected.

The newest blue of the clutch seemed to be having some trouble getting out of his shell. Each time he worked to get up more of the thin shell collapsed under him. His floundering lasted several minutes before finally he actually ran out of shell to have collapse on him and was left in a pile of shards and egg fragments. With the obstacle gone he could finally step out of it, however he was feeling a little embarrassed after the spectacle. Lots of people were looking at him and he didn't really like it all that much. He'd been trying to stay out of the way and then this happened. Hunkering down the blue scuttled to the side, jumped from the trough and scampered off into the crowd. He didn't really want to be in the thick of it and right at the front. A little way back he stumbled across someone holding some food. There weren't already feeding a lizard and seemed less intent about the whole thing. Walking up to the human the blue chirruped a cautious greeting. They could be friends, right?


The brown on the ground carefully picked himself up out of his shell pieces, glancing down at the mess he had made. Oh dear, he hadn't meant to do that. It was an accident. What did he do now? Should he just leave it there? Was there any way for him to fix it? The dark topped brown did his best to slink off while the people were all looking at the firelizards still on the sand. The firelizard was large for a brown, but being young and with a bronze and gold still wandering around he found it easier to escape the gaze of those usually looking for a bigger firelizard. Once he had journeyed a bit away from the trough and gotten among the legs of the crowd the male was bolstered, nobody was staring at him down here. He sped up and began to twist between and around feet, glancing up at the people he passed. Spotting a rider the brown tilted his head to the side and paced closer. He seemed familiar somehow. He continued to peer up at the rider curiously.

 

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

An egg began to twitch near the edge of the clutch. This egg seemed of particular interest to the firelizards watching from above. Anyone who had been in the Dining Hall the day the fair had come swooping in to find their eggs may remember why. The egg was in fact the first one found by the gold after her clutch had been stolen. Several pairs of whirling eyes peered down at the medium sized egg as it rocked and wiggled around. The pressure didn't seem to get to the egg as cracks appeared and a cheerful chirruping could be heard. Foreclaws tore at the shell as a nose tried to force its way up and out of the hole. A dark face forced its way out of the shell and a similar coloured body slid out after it. The blue firelizard pulled himself to his feet and whistled a greeting. The blue flit was dark for nose to tail, but as he moved areas seemed to catch the light and show different shades, that however was not what seemed to catch attention. Instead it was the scores of tiny pale specks the covered his torso in an organised wash.

If one cared to notice, they may have heard a quiet, yet repetitive tapping sound. It was coming from an egg; painted blue with bands and marks in yellow, but the egg didn't move. The tapping continued despite the shells breaking and firelizards going past it. Nobody would perhaps even pay it any mind until the egg tipped slowly onto its side. The egg fell silent for a short while before the tapping resumed again, just as insistent as before. Gradually a small chip appeared on what had been the top of the egg before it fell. The chip grew larger as the tapping continued until finally the tips of claws could be seen occasionally poking out of the side. The tapping continued, the opening getting bigger, the claws showing more and more. The hole finally grew big enough that the hatchling could shove its dark brown nose partly out of the gap. His feet however were trapped along with his nose and waved ineffectually as the brown tried to force his way out of a space far too small. The egg, however, what not hold fast forever and there was only a moment to see the crack form above where the hatchling's eyes would be before the egg broke and the brown flew forward. Thankfully with only enough to get his head and neck out before he stopped. Stopping the brown looked around a moment before hauling himself out. He was surprisingly small for a brown, but that didn't seem to matter to him as he looked around at the many people, firelizards and dragons that had gathered in the Dining Hall.

Tottling forward the dark green hatchling looked around for something to eat. She was so very, very, very hungry. Didn't any of them notice? They were offering food to those other firelizards. Why not to her too? She was nice. She was pretty. The young green hurried forward in her quest for food. She wanted to eat now and nobody was coming to her so she would have to go to them. She was very confident in this fact. Of course, then there was the question of who to get food from? Who should she go to? This green however was not one for overly complex thinking and decided that she would go to the first one that she happened to see with food. True, this one was already feeding her brown brother, but she was sure that he wouldn't mind. She looked up at Lathis and did her best charming face. She was sooooo hungry.


The bronze and blue had sat together a long while trying to get all of the sand off of the blue hatchling. Sadly their efforts were not too successful. The young bronze kept trying to lick the sand off, only to then become upside by the amount of sand in his mouth, and the blue kept trying to rub it off with his feet or the ground, which did not help. So very minutes after their adventure began to two were no more better off than they had been at the start. Clearly for the blue this was too much and picking his sandy self up he stomped off and out of the trough, leaving the confused bronze behind. The blue began to rub himself on the stone floor once out of the trough and found that this was far more useful. Shuffling forward he rubbed all of himself against the ground whilst pushing himself forward with his hind legs. It'd do no good to rub against just one spot, the sand that came off would just stick back on. He moved on and on, past people and away from the clutch, leaving a sandy trail running along behind him. Once he felt that all the sand was off his hide the blue came to a halt. Picking himself up he gave a final shake a looked around. Oh, he was quite far away from the rest of them now wasn't he? He spied a young boy not too far away with an older firelizard. Older firelizards knew where to get food, even if the boy wouldn't feed him, the older firelizard might help him get food. Scurrying over the blue called out to the pair.


Well, that had been most unpleasant. First her egg had tipped over and she'd had to work her way out of that predicament. Then, when that human had offered her food her blue clutchmate had gotten all defensive and snapped at her. It was just not her day today. Still, there were plenty more humans out there to get food from and as she looked up she spied firelizards poised with morsels in hand so they were always an option too if she chose. Still the humans had more and they seemed to be treating the ones already with them very nicely. It would be nice to be treated that nicely. The large firelizard jumped down from the trough and looked around. Many of her clutchmates had already laid claim to several humans. Some she could feel did not want to share and other humans seemed to have so many with them that she wasn't sure they would be able to give her anything if she did go to them. She noticed a girl just ahead feeding one of her smaller clutchmates and being very gentle with the young green. Yes, she seemed kind. Surely she would be happy to have her tag along with them. The gold firelizard paced quietly forward, noticing the girl talking to someone. Giving a gentle chatter she hoped to catch her attention. She didn't want to be rude, but she was awfully hungry still.