Welcome to Gaia! ::

Wild-dog Egg
Endless curiosity pours from this egg when its shell is touched. It eagerly digs through the candidate’s memories. Oh, what’s this? Who are these people? How does this work? Will you show it? It would very much like to see. Energy creeps up and infects the candidates, making it difficult to stand still. There is so much to see and to do. Wild-dog is not allowed to see these things, but one day they will! Will you stay and talk with them until then? Tell them about the things you have seen and the people you’ve met. With it's patchwork shell of browns this egg wants to know everything about you.

Pangolin Egg
There is immediate surprise when candidates touch shell of this egg, followed by sudden blankness as the inhabitant ducks away from them. Long moments pass before there is any sign of movement and when it comes it is small. Are they gone yet? Eep, no. When the creature inside the egg notices that the candidates have not left its side it simple freezes, cautiously scooting away again. A sound drifts across the fringes of their minds, like a nervous giggle. Oh, silly Pangolin, it didn’t expect you to still be there. Well it’ll just be going now, i-if that’s alright with you? This brown egg's shell is broken up into triangles, each one edged with a bright streak of bronze.

Serval Egg
This is a mischievous egg if ever there was one. Darkening toward the center the shell is covered in spots making lines around it. From the moment candidates approach this egg it is obvious. This is an egg with a fondness for tricks and games. Are you like that too? Come on, this egg is certain that you could come up with some choice tricks if you set your mind to it. Just take a look around; there are so many easy targets. It wouldn’t take much from you. A snicker and the image of a sharp-toothed grin accompanies this eggs insidious whispers as it encourages the candidates that visit it to put their own wicked sides to good use.

Vulture Egg
Standing at the back of the clutch in the shadow of its mother, this egg at first would appear to some as one to be avoided, due to the suspicious mark splashed across it dark brown and pink shell. Those brave enough to venture to the eggs side will discover its true nature. It is not a slithery, cruel, creature at all. The egg wraps its visitors in a protective cloak of warm, shielding them from whatever they might be avoiding, be it cruel words or harsh actions. Come, come, it’s alright. Vulture is here, it will look after you. There is no need to worry. There is a strong conviction in this shadowed egg, none shall come to harm whilst in its care.

Fur Seal Egg
Hmm? Whassat? Oh, hello. It didn't see you there. This egg is polite enough, but it seems to feel as lazy as it looks. A dull brown egg, lounging on its side, the inhabitant is no better. Really it would just like to rest and sleep some more. Oh no, you don’t have to leave, it didn’t mean that. Please stay. Come and sit with it a while, surely you must be tired too. It is all very trying isn’t it? Fur seal will give you a proper greeting soon enough, but for now just sit with it a moment. It’s perhaps just a little too tired for this today.

Black Mamba Egg
What do you want? Go away! Leave it alone! Aggression explodes out of this egg when it is touched; though it is a marvel anyone would touch it. The egg simply radiates its want to be left alone. Candidates need not even be heading in its direction to feel it. No, do not come here. Black Mamba does not want you here. Go bother someone else. This egg does not want company and since it is not capable of going anywhere, then you must. You heard it. Get lost! This smokey grey and purple egg just wants to be left alone.

Honey Badger Egg
Yeah, what do you want? There’s a feeling of disdain from this black and white egg when it is visited. This egg seems downright bored with the candidates; they are not nearly interesting enough. Each candidate will receive a cursory look over before the egg seems to almost give a grunt of disapproval and turn its back on them. Really, it simply cannot be bothered with you. It doesn’t actively shoo candidates away from it, who actually has the effort to do that, no, Honey Badger just ignores them until they get the message. It really doesn’t care.

Wildebeest Egg
This dull, grey, egg is silent and still, lying to the side of the clutch. It gives no reaction to being touched, no movement is detected and no feeling is felt. It is as though the shell were completely empty. There will be many candidates who will turn away from this egg when it does not immediately give them some sign of the life inside’s existence. But those who wait long enough, are dedicated enough may catch the slightest shift or the smallest flicker of life. Whether this egg does not want to communicate with them or is simply too weak to answer is a mystery that is left to the candidates to solve.

Elephant Egg
There is an unshakable calmness to this egg. It gently slips into candidates’ minds and handles the contents with an unexpected delicacy for the size of the egg. The large grey egg seems to sense what parts of themselves the candidates don’t wish to show, whether it a thought or memory, and will leave those things alone. It’s okay, it reassures them all, you have your boundaries and that okay. You need not share anything you don’t want to with it, this egg is not offended. Hopefully one day the two of you will be friends, maybe then you will be ready to share those parts of yourself with them.

Secretary Bird Egg
Perched beside the Elephant egg is a smaller egg that is much bolder in its colours. Touching the white, black and red egg drops the candidate into a word of chaos, so many thoughts and bit of information rushing by. The mad jumble however comes to a standstill when the inhabitant realises that it has company however. The business stops for a moment as the young creature seems to rake over the candidate’s appearance. Before rudely diving straight inside their head. Digging around it rummages about, not looking for anything in particular; just gather information here and there. This egg may share its company with Elephant, but it certainly doesn’t share its manners.

Hippopotamus Egg
Touching this murky blue egg will instantly give the candidate a feeling of floating in a soothing warm. It feels secure at first, with no real feelings toward negative or positive. Then it comes. It begins as a pickling sensation, wandering up the candidate’s spine: They are not alone in this place. Somewhere in those warm secure depths there is an immense force, watching and waiting. No challenge comes from the Hippopotamus egg; it does not need to prove itself. It knows completely what it can do. There is only one option: flee. It is giving you this one chance. Run. It will not offer you this chance again.

Lilac-Breasted Roller Egg
Standing straight and tall this brightly colourful egg calls the candidates to its side. Come, sit with it and bask in the beauty that adorns it. Laying a hand on the shell opens up the candidate to a flood or pride and arrogance. Do stay with it, what possible reason could you have for going anywhere else. What could possibly be better than them? Despite its encouragement however there is a less than pleasant edge to the egg’s feelings. It seems to be looking down at those that touch its shell. Really they should be privileged that it allows them the honour of its company. After all, they’re hardly anyone important.

Cheetah Egg
Well hello there! A bright greeting leaps to welcome those that lay a hand on this sandy shell. How are you today? Good? That’s nice. Cheetah? Yeah, cheetah’s fine. Absolutely fine. Wonderful in fact. Phew, there’s a lot going on today isn’t there? Busy, busy, busy. All these new people that have arrived, This spotty egg is absolutely rushed off their feet trying to say hello to them all. The small egg resting near the Queen egg is an energetic little thing, there’s no doubt about that. However, perceptive candidates will notice that behind the bright, bouncing, behaviour is weariness. A want to just stop for a little bit. Cheetah is so very tired.

Spotted Hyena Egg
Sat in the center of the clutch, under the watchful gaze of the clutchmother sits the gold egg. It is not alone however, with both the Lilac-Breasted Roller and Cheetah eggs nestled close. This egg seems to be endlessly laughing, though how it laughs depends on who is touching its shell. That nervous little candidate frightened of getting in trouble? A light tinkling laugh and a pat on the head for her. That cocky swaggering young lad? Well the laugh is a little more condescending; think you’re all that do you? Spotted Hyena will set you straight. Each candidate is bound to get a very different feeling from this egg, but what will that feeling be?

One last nudge here and perfect. Calith hummed happily as she raised her head again, one of her little ones had needed to be nudged back into place and she had been happy to comply. The dragon's head swung slowly back and forth over the clutch, checking them carefully, paying no mind to the candidates that were gathered at the entrance to the cavern. She was far too pleased to be put off by them today. Her chosen was in high spirits and so was she. The mother crooned softly to the clutch she was curled around, knowing each growing individual personally Calith was immensely proud of each of the little lives that she carefully minded. Some so playful, others not quite ready to journey out of their shells and meet the world yet. Their little minds were becoming so strong and the time had finally come for them to meet the candidates. Calith was still of the opinion that none could possibly be good enough for her babies, but she thought while brooding all her clutches. She'd been proven wrong before and knew she would be again.

Turning her head the dragon rumbled as the candidate's customary talk came to an end. The Candidatemaster preparing them for what was in store, telling them the rules they must follow. Bow to her and her rider, standing tall and proud beside her. Be respectful of the eggs at all time and don't linger too long in any one place. This last rule applied especially to those female candidates who were hoping to impress the large golden egg that sat in the center of the clutch. It was Calith's first gold egg and she was feeling particularly protective of this clutch. She would have nobody upsetting her eggs today. The candidates were given the all clear to approach the eggs and Calith watched with keen eyes as they moved further into the cavern.

Dwarfed by the dragon beside her, Ticene stood with her hands on hips and a bright grin on her face. Ha, a gold egg, take that Benden. Ticene had been walking with a defined spring in her step ever since Calith's eggs had been laid four sevendays ago. The combination of Tiry sleeping longer at night and Calith having a successful clutch had put the young woman into a very bright mood. The infant was constantly smiling and giggling, which never failed to bring an answering smile from Tic. She had left Tiry with R'yn today, having just put the baby down for a nap before leaving to prepare for the touching. It hadn't been that long, but still she missed her dark haired little girl.

This was so exciting she thought to herself as she stood to the side with the other Candidates, waiting for the time before they were to go onto sands to meet with the eggs that contained dragons they might end up forming a bond with. They were many and ranged in color from really bright, to really dark, something that fascinated the girl like nothing else. Once they were given the go ahead to step onto the sands, to meet with the large clutch, she drew in a deep breath to steady her racing heart. Alright, first things first she reminded herself as she started forward. She had to pay her respects which meant bowing before Caylith and her rider Ticene which she was quick to do so as not to insult either of them, "A good afternoon to you Weyrlady, Caylith." She said as she gave her bows to them, rising up and gave a smile before she moved toward the eggs. Wow! That was exciting! She was surprised that she was able to speak given who it was that she had been greeting, glad too. She would have felt a bit on the foolish side had she stuttered out her greeting to them. Surely that wouldn't have been any way to make a good first impression.

Taking in the various different eggs, all of them patterned differently, some with people already going to see them, she couldn't help but to marvel over them all. To think that she would be so lucky as this and might have a chance to fly with her best friend who had impressed the last time this had happened. Breathing in deeply she tried to decide which egg to reach a hand out to first. There were so many after all, but after a moment she decided to go to meet with a dark, black colored egg that seemed to be sitting all but its lonesome off to the side. Well, seeing that one seemed to be all by itself, both set apart from the other eggs and without someone greeting it yet she would go and see that one she decided after a moment. Never fun to be all alone she thought as she squatted down next to the dark colored egg.

"Hello there." She murmured to the dark colored egg, pushing her long braid back over her shoulder so that it was out of the way before reaching out to rest a hand against the egg's dark surface, "Aren't you pretty?" From a distance it seemed to be a bit plain compared to some the other more brightly colored eggs but up close she realized how wrong she was. In fact it reminded her a bit of a chunk of onyx which she'd seen T'dej work with in the past while he was still making pretty jewelry under the guidance of his father.

Ameleia lifted her gaze from the black egg, her hand still resting on the smooth, warm shell as she turned to look at another of the Candidates, Zofer she thought his name was, when he suddenly cried out. She starred for a moment at him, realizing he'd had a strong reaction to the egg that he was interacting with, "That's... odd." She murmured, the one that she was touching didn't seem to give much of a reaction at all, maybe the slightest little flutter which filled her with a bit of worry. Was this one alright? Was there something wrong with it? Leaning over she pressed an ear to the shell, "Are you alright in there?" She asked, knowing that with some eggs, like those of Wherry you could sometimes hear scratching around and peeping sounds when they were near to hatching.

After a moment she lifted her head back up and turned to look toward the others, "Ahh... is... is this one alright?" She found herself asking of whoever might hear here, wondering if one of the other Candidates might join her, to check on the black egg. Maybe it was just her that it wasn't interested in and someone like Zofer or one of the others might get more of a rise out of it? She sure hoped so, she would hate to think that maybe the little one inside of the black egg wasn't feeling well... especially since there wasn't any real way for a healer to tend to something that was surrounded on all sides by shell. She knew she shouldn't fret, should check on some of the other eggs, but she couldn't help but to worry about this one since the one inside of it seemed to be so very quiet.

The familiar burn of hot hatching sand through the soles of her thick leather boots caused a shudder of Déjà vu to trail up Emora's spine like the tickling touch of truddlebug legs. She had listened patiently her expression impassive and guarded as the Candidate master explained the same old song and dance to them only to watch the chaos that was always a touching erupt the moment he let them loose. Like leaves to the wind they scattered dashing head first into what was supposed to be considered a sacred ceremony in their haste. One girl even had the gall to run right up to the Queen egg, but that didn't really surprise Emora. In fact it didn't surprise her in the least. While her last hatching had lacked a gold egg she'd heard plenty of complaints about what gold clutches were like with every girl vying for a piece of the shining metallic hide and it's golden occupant. Snorting in disgust Emora turned arching a brow as she heard one candidate crying out in worry over a silent egg. Either the dragon was ignoring her or it was a dud. Either way she didn't see the reason to make such a fuss over something they couldn't do anything about.

The hopeful looks on the other candidates face's left a bitter taste in Emora's mouth and for a brief second she wished she could be as carefree as they were once again. But her scars were more likely to sooner disappear without a trace then the likelyhood of that happening.

Turning Emora took a moment to bow to the Queen before striding out in search of a egg to touch. Spying the neglected Vulture egg she reached out resting her palm gently against it's warm surface. The color was a dark bruise like purple with a darker stain across the front that reminded Emora distinctly of how her side had looked when she'd first woken up. For a moment she was overwhelmed with a feeling of nausea at the comparison before shaking it off. She was so much stronger then that and surely the dragon inside the egg could no more help it's shells color then she could help her scars.

Mairin had listened attentively as the candidate master explained how the touching was meant to work. She had only been at the Weyr a short time and there was still so much to learn about the proper protocol and behaviors of candidates when eggs were on the sands. While Mairin was normally good at hands on lessons but this was a little different than what she was used to. Still, a small part of her belly twisted and flipped with anticipation. This was a unique opportunity, the chance to feel what a baby dragon's mind was like before it even hatched. She had stroked the belly of pregnant animals before but not even dolphins with their increased intelligence had been able to communicate with her before they were born.

An excited smile upon her face Mairin stepped out onto the sands and made her way towards Calith and the Weyrwoman. She paused to bow respectfully to each. This had to be such a strange time for them with Ticene having had a child of her own not that long ago. Weyr history was not Mairin's strong point and she had no idea exactly how common or rare the occurrence really was though.

After paying her respects to the females who lead the Weyr the young woman made her way over to the Wild-dog Egg . It just made sense to start at one end of the clutch and work her away around. Mairin reached down eagarly to pass a calloused hand over the multi-coloured egg.

Alara & Evzen

"It's really not that weird unless you fight it." Alara said as she stepped out onto the hot sands. Trailing just slightly behind her was Evzen, a fellow candidate and weyrbrat six turns her junior. She had found the young boy a strange on and off again companion over the years. He seemed quite interested in watching her sometimes and then suddenly out of the blue he'd be too busy to spend time with her or come off grouchy for some reason or another. She never pried into what caused this sudden standoffish mood since he always came back eventually.

Now was a great time for her to earn and keep his attention again. Alara had stood for multiple clutches in her time and this was Evzen's first. She was therefor more used to the brief sensation of another mind settling over her own while makings it's presence and desires known. Not every mind was pleasant or gentle with the candidates but Alara had never touched an egg that made her truly concerned or want to leave the sands early.

Evzen nodded and took a calming breath, he was anxious and cautious at the best of times, something as momentous as his first touching was an extra stress on his young mind. He had to try and calm down a little though lest he distress the dragonets inside their eggs. There were always many more candidates then there were eggs and so the baby dragons had far more people poking at them and he would have dragons poking at him. Still, he wished he could see inside the eggs, he was always so much better at reading a person and situation when there were visual clues in addition to other factors.

The pair moved forward and swiftly paid their respects to the the queen and Weyrwoman before moving on.

Alara directed them toward the center of the clutch where she herself reached out to skim her fingers over the golden shell of the Spotted hyena egg. The unborn queen inside deserved respect too and maybe someday she could perform for her. There was something extra special about the laughter like rumble dragon's gave when they enjoyed something. It didn't hurt that their shorter memories meant they were often amused by a trick they had seen before and could no longer recall.

Sticking close to his sometimes friend and occasional mentor Evzen opted to lay a hand upon the much smaller cheetah egg. The young boy chewed nervously on his lower lip as he waited for a response.