Warden M'onk, Zamanateth has been languid these past few days. While this has kept her out of trouble, this means that she is proddy. I estimate that it will be three or four days before she rises. You have seen her flights. I will try to ensure that she does not cause more trouble than can be contained, but I am sure you will make the necessary preparations. I regret that we did not have a chance to meet properly before this, but perhaps soon, after she rises. I will be busy making my own preparations.
Respectfully, Weyrwoman Ai
Ai had sent that letter out a few days ago, and the time was close at hand. Zamanateth had been quiet, too quiet, as she often was before she Rose. Preparations had been made. her door was locked, the key safely placed under the nice vase on her shelf. All sharp pointy things had been removed from her room. Things were ready. Now it was time for the storm to break, and Ai had that tense feeling. It would be soon.
She felt Zamanateth stir from her lazy state, felt the first coil of hot emotion that the dragon had felt in days.
It was starting.
Ai shuddered a little as the dragon took her time uncoiling. She hoped so. She hoped she could keep control. She could easily see this going horribly.
Zamanateth's voice held a smirk that seemed filled with her usual fire and a bit more
She launched herself into the air, her hide unmistakably gleaming, her eyes threaded with her usual red and orange, but dark with purple. She landed at the feeding pens.
Ai hesitated as Zamanateth took down a herdbeast. She made a decision. she said, hoping she wouldn't regret it, Zamanateth roared once before blooding the herdbeast, and then another, broadcasting the taste and flow of the hot blood to all dragons- and some unbonded humans- in range. She loved blooding, actually. She loved the taste of blood, the flow of blood down her throat.
she broadcast in a low, cruelly laughing trill, looking around with a bloody grin before returning to her fuelling, her voice filled with hunger and something beyond that,
Ai sat down on her bed. This would be a long day.
~~~
Quote:
RULES (yay)
1. Warden's has doors with locks. None of this nonsense with lurking around the queen rider, waiting to jump her. Ai is behind a locked door AND guards. You do not want to try that.
2. Queenrider chooses the winner, and there's no forced catching here. The winner is selected by the queen, they don't latch onto her against her will.
3. No injuring another dragon without permission of that other dragon's player, please. This counts for me and Zam. The game mechanics are OOC only and actual injuries are up to individual players.
4: Ground characters of all types and flyers are allowed to post. Flyers must have their own post and have their names in bold at the top of their post so I can stay sane.
5: Ground characters can post all they like. Flying dragons get one post to every one of Zam's.
6: Also, a note, ANY ADULT DRAGON MAY JOIN IF THEY WISH. More than one dragon per player, including NPCs. Lets make this a populated race to glory!
HOW TO WIN:
This is going to be a CYOA point game. I came up with this last night when I couldn't sleep.
I will be listing prompts, which are actions your dragon can take. They have advantages and disadvantages.
Points are both the closeness to catching Zamanateth AND the favor she and/or Ai has for that particular dragon this flight. The goal is to try to get to 10 points, and the game will last until someone gets 10. If two dragons get 10, I'll... figure it out.
Wounds are the opposite to points. They represent stress or injury and at 5 wounds the dragon has to drop out for reasons, or their rider pulls them out. This is just a game mechanic. What this means ICly is up to you. Perhaps they are injured, perhaps they got tired, perhaps their rider pulled them because they were worried. Wounds are an antagonistic game mechanic open to interpretation, and there to provide some suspense. When a Wounds option is used, there is always an option to dodge. Roll a 1d6. If you get a 6, you take 2 fewer wounds. If you get a 5, you take one less, to a minimum of 0. 3 points of wounds is the maximum that will ever be offered in a prompt option, and I will usually give a range. Just as wounds don't necessarily mean you are injured in character, 'no wounds' doesn't necessarily mean that you are uninjured. I will say it again. Wounds are an antagonistic game mechanic- How they translate into IC anything is up to you.
Getting points and wounds is based on the prompt selection. Everybody starts at 0 points, and different prompts give different things. Usually, higher values will be riskier and associated with wounds. I will always tell you how many points of either type an action will give you.
I will be really, really generous with bonus points. These are given out based on your actual post, IE, your roleplay. If what you do In Character in your post is particularly appealing to either Ai or Zamanateth, you get points. If it is unappealing, you may lose points, but often the two characters balance each other out in preferences so losing points is less frequent. Aside from these in character favor points, I will give out bonus points based on the 'rule of cool' and good writing. For these OOC posts I will probably find an outside observer to help. As I said, I'll be generous with points. Wounds are NEVER given out in bonuses. You always choose if you are going to get them or not based on the prompts themselves.
I will be posting bonus points and the current scoreboard at each round.
A note on when I'll start: to give everybody time to post in this busy time of year, The first round will start at least two Zamanateth posts in to allow for her to say hi/ acknowledge her suitors before she claws at them. I'm going to say, oh, at maybe 10pm EST today (Wednesday)? Just to give everybody a chance to enter? If you don't like this time, PM me and we can talk. Rounds will occur every 5-6 hours or so. This is flexible.
Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 7:24 am
A'tsu and Brown Disuth
A'tsu and Brown Disuth were not Warden's residents. They had come down with the guard patrol, temporary intruders on a very broken situation. Not exactly the sort of situation that A'tsu preferred, but he was a man who did what he was told.
Mostly. Provided his husband agreed with those orders. Because K'yne's orders came first.
Mmm. Nice. Talk about a wake up call. Disuth's rough voice fell into A'tsu's mind like a rockslide, stopping him mid-stride in his late morning run.
He sent a questioning pulse of emotion in his dragon's direction. Even with Disuth, he wasn't prone to a lot of conversation.
No time to talk. Zamanateth wants to ********> The brown got to his feet, stretching out his wings and lifting his head to bugle a greeting toward the gold. Alimanth, get your sexy a** in the air. We're Chasing.
He pushed himself into the air, flying to the feeding grounds to admire the blood stained Queen. Lady, I'm afraid of nothing.
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Shaddaling
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Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 8:14 am
Ki'en and Bronze Solzeth
Ki'en wasn't truly sure why the ******** he agreed to escort Ai and Zamanateth considering he had a relative behind bars. Saain seemed to be doing well enough and impressed a green and hopefully would be coming home soon. And of all things.. ********.
Solzeth roused from his sleep, amusement and gleeful want bleeding into his rider. The bronze rumbled and stretched, claws scrapping.The bronze launched himself into the air, bulging out his answer to the queen's call and circled before diving down and pulling himself up, giving a reptile like grin.
'I love you to Sol,' Ki'en sighed and shut himself in his room.'Try to keep out of reach.'
The bronze rumbled, and looked at his competition. Oooh, this was going to be fun.
Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 8:47 am
L'iv and Brown Howlith
Ma'am.
"What."
Zamanateth.
"Get out there now, Howlith!"
And that was the exchange, L'iv clenching her fists for a moment at the fact that she had been busy (paperwork was the one thing that was worse about being a Secondary) before the sharding gold decided to take off, while Howlith stood up and stretched. He could hear others responding, now. Brown. Bronze. He was brown, didn't know if he had a chance against a dragon whose violence was as legendary as Zamanateth's, but he would try. For L'iv's sake. Weyrleader conferred no power at Warden's, but...well, if L'iv's dragon had flown and caught a gold, not failed like Howlith had the last time, then there would be clout. She would have leverage. And Howlith wanted L'iv to have that leverage as much as L'iv did.
He moved on the ground first, walking rather than flying to the feeding grounds, an awkward sort of rolling jog that conserved his wings for the Flight itself. The gold was bloody already, and he watched impassively, eyes threading through with equal parts purple and red as she fed. He would not once have thought to dispute an order from L'iv, but as he looked at Zamanateth, he silently weighed the possibility of injury from this Flight. It was high. Not from the chasers, but the gold herself. Well, they would see. He wouldn't put himself through more punishment than he could handle; even L'iv would not have asked that of him.
You'll find I fear very little, Zamanateth, he said simply, eyeing his competition as he paced the perimeter fence on the feeding grounds.
Back in her weyr, L'iv considered possibilities for a moment. She would do paperwork for as long as possible, but a flight like Zamanateth's, where she could already feel the gold's savage desire to bite and tear and <********> (ooh, this one was going to be fun)...well. She doubted she'd hold out long. Crisply, almost primly, she rolled up the scrolls she had been working on, shoved them and a few miscellaneous things into a bag, and slung the kit over her shoulder.
The pair were often alone, when they weren't working, and this morning was no different. He was keeping her company while she folded her clothes, though the young brown was restless.
"You alright love?"
The queen is blooding her kill. His tail twitched in aggitation, his eyes whirling.
"Do you want to chase?"
This would be their first flight if he did, and Zareen wasn't sure how she felt about it. Especially with all the rumors about the gold that she had heard, about how the queen had killed during flights before, but she wasn't sure how true that was. But on the other hand, she had been sent here. Yeah.
If you do not mind.
The girl was silent for a moment, thinking. Zyxth could be hurt, but then again, so was their job. Why shouldn't the brown fly, to try his wings out on a queen? It was unlikely that they would catch her, as they would be up against dragons who had flown millions of times, but maybe it would be a good experience. Zareen smiled, and then patted the dragon's hide. "Go on then. But try to stay safe."
I will try. The brown exited their weyr, flying to where the queen was blooding her kill, joining the rest of the dragons waiting. There was blood and craving, the threat of pain, danger. The queen sounded cruel, dangerous, something that intrigued him. There was no way that Zyxth was going to turn down this challenge, and he bugled back at her. I am not afraid. Foolish perhaps, but not afraid.
Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 11:06 am
Ra'jon and Bronze Ulfriskth
Ra'jon was a big man with big hands and zero talent for any domestic chore that required finesse or talent. He had no idea what had possessed him to try and fix the rip in his shirt himself but it was too late now. He held up his handiwork to the light and inspected it. It looked like a spider had farted half a cobweb over it and when he gave it a small pull the hole still gaped beneath the loose thread. He glared at the offending mess and hunched back over it, drawing it in to try and improve upon his failure.
"Ra'jon!"
"ow!"
The shrill of excitement and pure joy from his dragon was so out of character for the arrogant bossy bronze that it jolted Ra'jon physically causing him to stab himself in the hand with the needle and rip the ineffectually mended shirt practically in two. He stared blankly at the ruined shirt now beyond his level of skill to repair.Understandably his response to the bronze was a little short.
"What?"
The light of my life, my beautiful guiding sun is blooding her kill. She's rising!
oh great he was getting poetic again. "Try not to damage anyone too badly this time." Ulfriskth didn't have an answer for him apart from a derisive snort. That wasn't a good sign.
As usual Ulfriskth was already on the wing, he wasn't the lounging round in the sun sort and he had spotted the flash of golden hide during one of his customary patrols. After that it didn't take the large male to much time to figure out what was happening. He waited at a respectful distance for the queen to blood her kill and then swooped down upon a fat herd beast of his own. Consuming the energy that would be needed for what was to come.
He thrilled his adoration in response to Zamanateth's challenge For you my golden flame, I would happily burn while I paint the sky with all those who dare think they are worthy of you to prove myself.
Ra'jon groaned, well this was getting awkward fast.
Ulfriskth ignored his riders discomfort, all focus on the prise of the rising queen. His wide wings beating enthusiastically at the ground, he was quivering with energy and ready to get going, until he spotted the other challengers also taking to the field to blood their own kills. He snarled and directed his voice at those nearest.You are not worthy, stay on the ground if you wish to keep your eyes. He snapped and flashed his talons at them but for now his main focus was Zamanateth.
Sinders Path
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Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 11:07 am
K'yne and Bronze Alimanth
Alimanth slept in that morning. He liked to sleep in most mornings, actually, especially since he did not have to get interviews or conduct himself as a proper Watchmember. He came with a hide, not skin, and it came down to the other three to worry about things such as the first six on the clock of the day. He coiled himself against Disuth and rumbled at the interruption of his sleep, knocking his large head against the browns.
It is much too early. He yawned regardless and stretched slowly in the ground. The bronze reached for his rider. K'yne.
K'yne paused in his jogging as well, if only because he ran into the back of A'tsu's shoulders. He saw the man stop, though A'tsu didn't take on a fighters stance, and had assumed he'd start right back up. No such luck. What, Alimanth?
Zamanateth and Disuth are being crude. The bronze lugged himself up and shrieked a challenge to his partner. He flew after him, landed near, and shrieked again - it's what handsome lads such as himself did, wasn't it? Privately, to Disuth, he murmured Ain't is not a proper word, Disuth.
To Zamanateth, Alimanth called out to her. For you, lovely queen, I would gnaw a mans foot off.
K'yne grabbed A'tsu's wrist and tugged, once. "Weyr."
Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 11:21 am
A'stor of Bronze Damith
<Mine. Zamanateth Rises.> The voice was prim and proper; he sounded as though he were commenting on no more than the weather. In Damith's mind, he wasn't. <I will ********. s**t - ******** ******** <********> A'stor wasn't ready for this; his fingers knotted, viciously, in on one another, creating a tangle of flesh and bone and joints. He stared at the door of his weyr, hesitant to either walk outside it or lock it now. <Must you?> His voice sounded strained. Damith knew why, of course, but he also didn't care very much. If A'stor was to ruin everything, that would be his own decision, but Damith would not ruin his.
<I must.> There was a faint note of apology in his tone, but no hesitation or reticence.
Nothing more than the bare minimums. As it always was. Perhaps this thought wasn't as private as A'stor had meant it to be - or perhaps it was Damith showing his nerves as best he could - because the familiar voice reappeared only a moment later.
<Do you think blues like scars, mine?>
At least it brought a smile to his face; A'stor felt as though his face might crack when the expression was unavoidable. <The quality ones, surely.>
A'stor paused, and gave thought to what he wished to say but had no words for. Damith, from the years between them, understood what was needed of him.
To Xenath, he spoke softly. <Mine wishes yours to come to his Weyr, if such a thing is possible.>
To A'stor, he gave a short, curt, <What you wish is done.>
With his business done, Damith removed himself from A'stor's weyr and took himself to the feeding grounds instead; he sized his challengers up, quietly, giving each their due. When he had decided that he would still fly, that he had not been frightened off, he called to Zamanateth, <To scar and be scarred earning your favour is the least I could do.>
Back at their home Weyr A'vin made it a point to have to run some kind of errand or something whenever Zamanateth was starting to get proddy. Although he always wished he could be the one guarding his mother's weyr, he knew that would be impossible. Plus he normally convinced Seth that flying his mother wasn't the best idea. However here at Warden's Weyr Seth had different plans. The pair had been arguing for days, and this morning was no different.
'But mine A'vin, the dragons here are not right. The last time a queen flew she died! Maybe it was the unworthy male. Surely no one but me is worthy of Mother. I will not kill her like that blue did to the last queen.' Seth insisted from his ledge. He had been there all morning, trying to watch for his mother. He knew it was happening soon, he just had to wait.
"She is your mother. You don't mate with your mother Seth. We've talked about this before and you've always agreed. Why are you fighting me now? Do you question her judgement? There are others out there we know, she could pick them." A'vin said from his cot. He was sitting with his hands on his heads, hoping that today would be the day that Seth agreed with him finally.
'Mother deserves the best. I'm the best.' And with that Seth seemed to go silent for a moment causing A'vin to look up. Lately Seth had a lot more too say then two sentences. And then he felt it, the lust. "SETH!" he warned before feeling the bronze push off the ledge and towards the feeding pens.
'Soon you will be Weyrleader.' was all Seth said as landed, looking over at all the males. None were worthy of his mother! How dare they even try! 'For you I would do anything, I will bleed as you wish and make sure the others are far worse. For there is none so willing to please you as I.' Seth called to Zamanateth.
"Really..." A'vin said rolling his eyes. Gosh Seth was horrible. He had been in flights before, even some queen flights, but none would be as bad as this one. That he knew. But hey, what the heck, he was going to fly Zamanateth no matter what, so A'vin might as well make sure he had the best chance possible. 'Shards Seth, if your gonna do it do it right. Blood the biggest beast out there. You know Zam is going to make you work for her.' he told his bronze. He stood at his door unsure if he wanted to lock himself in or find a partner to ride out the flight with. Feeling especially lusty he left his weyr in search of a partner.
Seth flashed at the others, as he snatched a large herdbest and started to blood it as well. Pretty soon there was blood all over his muzzle and talons. 'Bloody, like you like it.' he sent to his mother proudly. He watched her, prepared to launch himself into the sky after her but also prepared to blood another beast if there was time. He was going to win, at all cost.
Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 12:23 pm
It was perhaps bad luck on Blyte's part that he had been down at the feeding pens with Voc when the queen had began to hunt, and then to blood her kill. It was even worse once he realized just what was going on, and the prisoner weyrling knew that he should probably get back to his room before Voc did anything stupid.
I will make them bleed for you! He chirped, his voice loud and clear. He didn't really know what was going on, except that the queen wanted violence, and if those were her wishes, he'd be more than happy to oblige.
Like that.
The grey sat down on the ground, his meal temporarily ignored. I am going to watch, he declared to his rider, watching the older males as they postured for the queen. They do not look as if they are preparing for battle.
Blyte sighed. Silly little dragon. He wasn't sure if he should bother to explain things to the grey or not, and right now, he was leaning towards the not side of it. Maybe it was better for him not to know what a mating flight was, and hopefully Voc would lose interest once they had taken off flying, at least for long enough that they could get back to the weyrling barracks.
He’d been expecting this, naturally. Zamanateth had been sent to Warden’s with full knowledge that she was due to Rise, and that she would Rise normally in a way that the unfortunately departed Brakiheth did not. It didn’t trouble J’car much. Regardless of what happened, when the Flight was over he would remain a wingleader and the new “Weyrleader” would be afforded nothing but a figurehead position in the hierarchy of Warden’s.
Tauvolanth, on the other hand, was taking this very seriously indeed. There was the potential of eggs in the making. For all his various commendations and achievements, the big bronze had yet to sire a clutch in his lifetime. What Warden’s needed was a new generation of strong, fierce-hearted, brave dragons; surely the combination of Zamanateth’s passion and his own levelheadedness couldn’t help but create an ideal match. So he paid attention to the queen, to her changing moods. And when she began to grow languid and complacent, Tauvolanth made sure that he was alert and ready.
The big bronze landed heavily at the perimeter of the feeding grounds, hungry and red-violet-eyed and already rumbling a low savage growl deep in his chest. Zamanateth. Pleasure to see a proper Queenflight around here. Let’s show these Warden’s folks how a real dragon flies, shall we?
One of the bronzes, Ulfriskith, seemed like he was about to jump the gun any second now. Shells, the queen hadn’t even taken off yet, and already he was snapping and showing talons and screaming at everyone about how he was going to rip out their eyes. Flight or no, I’m still your wingleader, you sharding fool, and you don't speak for the queen. If you try to tear out my eyes I’m going to take chunks out of you that you’ll really miss.
Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 1:12 pm
Gold Zamanateth
Zamanateth was pleased at the turnout. No sissies hoping to get off easy? Good. Lots of big, tough, brawny males to toy with. She'd make them bleed. She'd make them work. She blooded another herdbeast- she wanted to be in the air, but she also wanted one more rush of delicious blood down her throat- and responded to her suitors.
To Solzeth she laughed.
To Disuth, Zyxth, and to Howlith she growled. She smirked, sucking the herdbeast dry. One more? Well, now they had quite a following. They would have to give these dragons a run for their money. Ai, despite herself, was getting wrapped up in this. She was grateful she had hidden her key where she wouldn't find it when she wasn't in her right mind. One more wouldn't hurt. Zamanateth took another kill.
To Alimanth, she nodded in approval. she said, joking a little. The approval was carried over to Damith.
She surveyed them all. Yes. She liked this. Wait. Was that... her laughter was fierce and cruel, That wasn't her only surprise of the day. Little Vociferoth the grey's voice in her head. Aww, it was cute. He wanted to fly and rip and tear with the big boys. Now she had to make it really good, just to show off. A real bloodbath. Mmm...
To Ulfriskth she sent a wave of glee. She gave Tauvolanth a nod as she dropped the blooded carcass, she stretched like a cat.
She was ready.
With a loud whooping shriek of delight and anticipation, she leapt, taking to the air with powerful wingstrokes.
prompt 1
Quote:
This one is pretty open. The 'lady' is taking off! There is even more lust and violence in the air than before. Go forth! To Glory! (+1 pt)
Or... you can try this:
Quote:
It's early on! In the chaos of taking off, maybe you could claw your way ahead! That's what the queen wants, isn't it? Even a little advantage at the start could be good, even if it is a bit risky! (+2 points +1 wounds, roll a D6 in your roll to see if you have to take them or not)
If you have questions about the rules, ask me because I'm crazy and I know I'm confusing.
Damith did not like quite a few of these boys - for Seth to chase his own mother, for Ulfriskth to already be threatening (and to boast of his ability to do so, instead of simply proving himself; most boorish, really) - and his mind was made up. He was usually quite the passive dragon, quite the pacifist, prefering sharp words where others might result to talons or teeth... But perhaps Zamanateth was bleeding off on him too. When the queen took off, Damith shrieked, loud as he could, and took off in a flurry of wing-beats and lashing tail.
Damith would win. He had lost and he had lost and he had lost but he would not lose this; he could not, not on his honour, not on A'stor's. He would sire a clutch no matter what he lost in the meantime. No matter who else lost what. He struck out at any colour that was not his own as he worked his powerful wings to rise after her. He was aware, vaguely, that A'stor's voice was concerned, that A'stor was begging him have sense and restraint, but now was not the time. Damith cared naught for this queen, nor for any queen at all, and the lust that consumed him was not of the sexual kind. His eyes whirled a fast, bright red.
<I would not wish to disappoint you, my queen,> And yet his voice was touched with such... civility, almost; it was certainly at odds with the ferocity with which he acted, with the ferocity that was apparent in his eyes. <I would hope my offering pleases you.>
Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 1:56 pm
A'tsu of Brown Disuth Taking the Safe Option
Oh, go ahead, correct her grammar. That's what all the ladies love. The words are a thin whisper, directed only to Alimanth, a snickering little fall of pebbles as he bloods his own kill. And then, as the feeding ground fills with dragons and the compliments start flying her gives a little snort of disgust.
Ugh. What is it about Flights that makes everyone think they're a ******** poet? The comment, though directed primarily at Alimanth is projected loudly enough for everyone to hear. Sexy, if you start spouting on about golden suns, I swear I will knock you out of the sharding sky. Now, lets go catch ourselves a queen.
Disuth, a brown who looks like he was chiseled out of granite by a one-eyed stonesmith with dull tools, is not the fastest in the pack. He knows that. He's big, he's bulky, and he's not going to try for speed. He's just going to plow his way forward and hope for the best. At worst, he loses. It's not like anyone expected a thick ugly brown like him to win the queen.
Don't worry, lady. This directed toward Zamanteth with a chuckle like an earthquake. No one's going to notice a few scars on my ugly hide. You go ahead and do your worse.
A'tsu, meanwhile used that tug on his wrist to pull K'yne into his arms. He slid his arms around the other man's waist and buried his face into his neck. "Weyr's pretty far," he whispered. "We're alone, here."
Their run had taken them a good distance from the populated spots in the Weyr.
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TawnyAngel rolled 1 6-sided dice:
1Total: 1 (1-6)
TawnyAngel
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Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 2:04 pm
C'tis and blue Malcarreth Wound option
Malcarreth landed with a thump amongst the other males and gave a rumbling chuckle. They dwarfed him, every one, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try.
As the gold took off the scarred blue grinned, unfurled his tattered wings and sprang into the sky. proven that he can claw his way through the odds against the best of them?>
