Let the Stories Unfold {Touching}

[King Walrus Jackson]

Geso looked around at all the other candidates, trying to put names to faces. He didn't really know anyone here, although he did recognize Linda from the lesson on numbweed. Shrugging, Geso turned and walked over to another egg, one that was black and yellow. He looked at the egg closely, and then set his hand on the Giver Egg. Feeling what seemed the par for the course, with the egg summoning his emotions, Geso just sighed and patiently waited for the judgment. After a time, he shrugged and decided to go look at the other clutch.

As Geso began to walk towards Kayath's clutch, avoiding a couple of the candidates as he walked. About halfway to the clutch, he jerked to a stop as he heard the raging voice of the Garnet up on a ledge above him. Looking around, Geso scowled as he spotted the issue. Grumbling beneath his breath about idiots almost getting everyone killed by angry dragon, he moved over to a silver egg that actually showed him his reflection. Surprised, he reached forward and placed his hand on the Looking Glass Egg. While he was doing so, he looked at the Topaz mother, and whistled under his breath. While he didn't much care for physical beauty, he was willing to admit she was a stunning color.

[Sad Geso post is sad, sorry for terrible quality )

[Bellatora]

Asaara

The Lion
The Lion egg seemed to almost hiss at the touch. It was getting tired of being disturbed by such... such minds at this that thought themselves worthy! They knew nothing! Nothing of what she knew! nothing of what she should know to be able to touch its shell! It rejected her immediately.

The Peaceful
The egg pushed at Asaara's mind quietly, but withdrew after the short time it spent there. No... It didn't think she was right.

Liam

Soaring King
Oh! Another one! What was this one like. It cast around in his mind, pulling at the painful, the things that would cause him discomfort, just as it had before with Geso. And left him as empty as he ahd come. He was not worth any more time.

Theault

The Ocean
The egg cast around in his mind. This one... This one was interesting. This one was great in his own right. This one had potential.... he had much that the little one inside liked.

Giver Egg
The Giver seeemd to turn towards Theault, sizing him up i na way before pushing further, its progress slow. Hmm... this one was different. Special in a way. But... Not right. No... not right for this one. It pulled away rather quickly and turned away again.

Geso

The Giver
Everything had to be exmamined. These little... weaklings that thought themselves great enough to touch its egg. This one was no different. He was not right. Not what ti watned. Too.... too... soemthing violent.

[Zirin]

J'dol chuckled at the warm welcome from Dalrian, easily returning the gesture before glancing out over the candidates and easily finding Hanako, throwing out a happy wave to her before getting dragged off by Dal. They are wonderful aren't they. Nothing will ever be as pretty as me though, even if they are beautiful. She reached down to nuzzle at Dalrian, always happy to see him. You'll touch one won't you? You better touch one before you go to queen snoodypants over there. She spoke privately to him.

"Hanako! Don't count yourself out just yet, there's lots of eggs out there." He called back at her, not wanting any candidate to think they didn't have a chance. So thoughtful! The sand is making my tail itch terribly! At a mention from Kayath, J'dol glanced up to see Eliitra waving and send one back. "Dalrian... your girlfriend is waving... she doesn't still want to kill me does she?"

Kayath looked at the stands once more, seeing more people gathering there now. How many times must I say it. I don't care who you are, you should be touching my beautiful eggs!

---

J'degar let out a brief, tiny smile as he felt Anna run into him and immediately glanced down, ruffling her hair softly as Assaila drew close. He would have wrapped her arm around her, or given her a kiss in return, but J'degar was a man of appearances and he hated public displays of affection, barely tolerating her kissing him and only because he loved her.

"It's the second most exciting moment in a candidate's life. To touch the eggs and feel the life within them... it's just something else." His tone was soft, his look far off as he recalled his own experiences with Touchings.

---

Firogel grimaced as the first egg tore through his mind, feeling violated in a way he just didn't like. Although... he felt oddly calmed at the apologies and, when the egg had withdrawn, he was left kneeling there for a moment before he had moved on to the second egg. This egg had a much different feeling... it was almost too gentle. He didn't really know how to feel about it, but he did know he wanted to touch more.

Standing and brushing the sand from his knees he glanced about at the eggs again before settling near the Chaos Egg and pressing his hand against the shell.

---

Cayin grinned warmly at the egg as he felt its presence in his mind, keeping as relaxed as possible, not wanting to disrupt the feeling in any way. It was a strange feeling, having something else in his mind, but it was so gentle he couldn't help but feel comfortable with it. Was having a dragon like this?

"Thank you, little egg. That was wonderful." He whispered to the egg as he felt it pull back. He remained where he was, remembering the feeling and almost loathe to touch another egg. He knew he needed to though, this potentially a once in a life time opportunity. He walked slowly among the egg, looking for another that truly drew his attention. Finally his eyes, and a hand, rested reverently pn the Stream of Life Egg. Would he feel something here as well?

[Zirin]

For Tesla
Puff of Smoke
A curious tune enters your mind, pressing gently into your thoughts and memories. In you, the egg seemed to feel a kindred spirit. The tune changes to one of happiness as it learns your love of music. There was something missing, but even as the tune fades out you are left with a feeling of curiousity.


For Geso
Looking Glass Egg
A quick, sharp push is all it takes for this egg to break in and rampage through your thoughts. It's curious at first, no doubt intrigued by your fear of being backstabbed. A sense of laughter runs through you, as if the egg is mocking you for such a silly fear. No, you weren't the one either, it pushes at you, demanding you to get away from it as it withdraws.

[Bellatora]

Linda

The Black Cat
The Black Cat egg pressed against her mind, its touch gentle, searching, probing. It was quiet in its ways, though it was still strong and ever present. It was almost as if the touch was loving and yet distant at once.

Soaring King
Oh! Another one! With a seeming hiss the soaring king shoved its mind into Linda's and began to tear and rip and shred through her memories, looking for those things to that would cause pain. The more pain she could withstand, the better. She wasn't right! Where was that first Candidate! He had been fun!

Ooma

Chaos Egg
OH! Oh! Someone was visiting it! the egg seemed to wiggle excitedly and pressed its mind against hers, moving so quickly from one memory, one thought to another that it was almost impossible to keep up. Maybe they could have fun one day! But for now... The egg withdrew, waiting again for the next Candidate.

Firogel

Chaos Egg
The Chaos egg was very excited to have the young Candidate touch its shell, its mind bounding about for all the happy things and the dreams taht he had. Oh! This one was interesting! So young... but so much hate and... and! Oh no! he needed love and fun!

Cayin

Streams of Life
A confident mind pressed against Cayin's, searching, looking for something in him. He was a good Candidate. He was promising... but was he right? Was he the one... the questions rolled through Cayin's mind, pushing gently but insistently... until the egg withdrew.

[jovia]

A little smile had spread across Linda's face as she felt the gentle, almost timidness of the Black Cat Egg... A fond caress and gentle pat from her hand while a swift mental good luck. Something tugged deep withing Linda, her want to protect these precious Dragons. The same tugging happened to her with fire lizards, huntyres, and the rest of the non humans.... But also her siblings, especially her oldest brother. Yet another egg she would be watching out for... Well in fact she might be trying to watch all the eggs, or tell her fire lizards to wait outside of the sands and watch from there to show her images when possible.

However... Well maybe she shouldn't have touched the large king egg that some others had. Not knowing what to expect, and not even ready for such a painful and vicious thing... Every memory that he painfully brought up... ones she remembered and ones she didn't? Had she repressed them somehow from the trauma? Linda didn't even have time to think anything like that as all the emotions washed over her. Visibly one could probably tell she went extremely pale, and her body swayed from side to side.

Once the Soaring King Egg released its grip pretty much on the young candidate... The young girl had hit the sands out cold, not even twitching or moving beyond shallow breath. Deep within her blacked out mind, fragments of memories started to mix and weave amongst the other in a dizzying roller coaster of emotions all brought up from the depths of her subconsciousness. Hana was the first to react and arrived at the entrance to the Hatching grounds with a Cry. Terribly Distressed as she flapped there not willing to go in since well... she hadn't gotten permission from the two mothers or anyone. Rorce, Cad, and the three others were seconds behind the gold, but a quick scolding from her stopped them from entering as they just landed at the side outside of the entrance... Pacing and looking frantic.

[Zirin]

Cayin was an easily distracted fellow, so it stands to reason that Linda suddenly dropping drew his attention. He wasn't far from her and, worried, he didn't even think twice about leaving the egg behind. Linda had his attention now, that was all there was to it. He dropped beside her, placing a hand against her shoulder and shaking gently, not wanting to scare her.

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly, giving her another shake before lifting his arm up trying to get someone's attention. "Is there a healer?" He called calmly. He might not know how to deal with the potentially injured girl, but he knew to stay calm. Though really, was he ever anything other than calm. The mother dragons caught his attention and he wondered briefly if they would be bothered by this. Perhaps he should get her away from there.

Without a second thought, he moved to scoop her up with the intention of finding a healer. All thoughts of touching eggs gone from his mind for the time being.

[twitchie]

Ooma turned to see Linda hit the sands, luck she hadn't fallen on an egg!
The candidate gave the Choas egg one last pat before running to kneel next to Linda and Cayin.
"Hey, let me help."

Ooma's tone was firm yet not entirely unfriendly. She motioned for the boy to set Linda down off to the side of the sands, under an out cropped ledge.

"Where would we get her a wineskin? I bet between the excitement and heat...."
Ooma trailed off peering at Linda's face

"Sorry.... I just need you to follow my directions. That's why I sound so... bossy."

Now was not time for a heart-to-heart....

"Call me Ooma."
She added curtly. Now, did you raise the head or her legs for better breathing? Head...
"She needs some wine or cold klah. I think between the excitement and heat...."
Ooma trailed off tapping Linda's cheeks gingerly.
"Wake up. Come on. Everything's ok now..."

Her flits popped in for a moment and chirped comfortingly at Linda's crew. Yim quivered in the air and Val danced around the other flits. Atleast Gretchen wasn't here!

[Zero]

Thormyth snarled and his tail gave a final lash as he watched the amethyst take off from the sands and quickly move to a ledge. Good! She had listened and not only that, she had complemented him as well! Smart little thing. The garnet slowly began to relax and settled down once more and returned to his task of watching over the proceedings. Truth be told though he had rather been hoping for the opportunity to remove her from the sands himself. It had been far too long, it seemed, since the taste of another's blood splashed over his tongue.
Rest assured that next time I will not be so kind as to allow a repeat of these events. His swirling, and permanently red streaked, gaze moved to regard the young female.

Vl'kan sighed in relief as he watched, and felt, his companion calm down and remain firmly glued to his ledge. An angry dragon tromping around the sands, that was the last thing they needed right now. H was distracted for a moment as a tiny hand reached out and grabbed at his stubbly chin and he grinned. Feeling Iirla's hand on his arm he turned and gave her a slightly worried look. "If you're not going to go lay down then at least sit down in the stands. You can still keep an eye on Iz from there. We don't need you passing out on the sands."

---

Theault smiled at the reaction felt from the Ocean egg. Well it certainly seemed as though that one had liked him. The second egg however, he wasn't too sure about. It had poked and prodded his mind and for a moment he thought it had found something in him it liked but as quick as it was there it had gone again. Well, this was certainly different than Wher eggs. Nonetheless it was exciting. Thinking quietly to himself, Theo almost didn't realize the gold Izanycorth was speaking directly to him. Rising from his knees he brushed the sand away and cautiously looked at the egg. Why was she talking to him, of all people?

Traylor, on the other hand, latched himself to his uncle's leg as the queen spoke to him and asked him to come closer. Eyes wide he regarded the very large dragon before looking up at Theault and tugging at his shirt. "Uncle...Uncle, she..she talked to me. What do I do?" His voice practically a whisper, he looked back at the gold dragon. Theault subconsciously tightened his grip on the boys hand, a little wary of allowing him to wander too far from his side and especially when he was supposed to stroll right up to the queen herself! "It's okay, she wants to talk to you so go talk to her. Nothing bad will happen, I promise."

Gulping, the young boy reluctantly let go of his uncles hand and tugged at his tunic to straighten it before slowly, cautiously, walking towards Izanycorth. "H-hello Queen..." He stuttered a bit, nervous, before taking an exaggerated breath and continuing on. "My name's Traylor."

Theault kept a wary eye on his nephew before walking a few steps away to meet another egg. He decided to give the Death Egg

[/b] a shot. It was interestingly colored and deserved as much attention as the other, more brightly colored eggs, so why not? As with the other eggs he took a knee and examined the egg before reaching out to place his palm against the shell. What sort of personality was hiding within?

Moving on he glanced at Kayath's clutch and decided to give them due respect and looked for one to meet. Why not go for the brightest looking egg in the bunch? What could it hurt? He shrugged and strode over to the Burning Branch[/b] and knelt before it. It was a big one, that was for sure and....hot? He pulled a face and stared at the egg. Without even touching it he could practically feel the heat radiating off of it. Well if nothing else this egg was going to leave him with a scorched palm. Taking a breath Theo reached out and let his hand brush against the egg, instantly feeling the warmth wrap around his arm from the contact.[/center][/font]

[jovia]

Linda did not even wake when two people came over to try to get her out of it... Not even when she was picked up by a GUY of all things and carried off the sands to her waiting Fair. The coolness, along with the many insistence pokes and emotions and fright of her fair however started to rouse her. People were talking around her? They didn't sound like anyone she knew... where... what... The memories started to slip to the side slightly, but they were far from gone. The repressed ones really stuck out and stabbed painfully in the reopened wounds.

Linda frowned as she blinked a few times up at Cayin and Ooma. "w... what.. ran me... over?" She frowned a bit, not really figuring out what happened yet... She was touching eggs yes right over there... As she thought however she reached up to gently hold each and every one of her little ones to start to soothe them. agitated and fearful noises slowly moving into soft crooning. Other fire lizards, not hers, were even there, were they one or both of these two people? Part of her recalled seeing them before but right now she couldn't think all that straight.

[King Walrus Jackson]

Geso was admiring Kayath when he felt what seemed like laughter cross his mind. He wasn't sure how, but he just somehow knew it was the baby in the egg was laughing at him. Geso felt a flash of rage at the little egg's mocking laugh, but kept his face schooled so the mother wouldn't get involved. Feeling disgruntled, Geso was tempted to turn away and leave the entire clutch and just go back to the gold mother's clutch, when he saw another egg within just a couple steps distance of him.

'That egg looks sharp.' He realized, wincing in imagined pain from the thought of giving birth to a sharp object of that size.

Geso walked over to the egg he had spotted, and ran his thumb across one of the sharp edges, which made easy work of cutting his skin. Raising one eyebrow, a smirk crossed Geso's face as he placed his hand on the edge, and put his other hand on top of the Secret Stone Egg. Geso decided not to get distracted by the Topaz dragon laying nearby, and just tried to focus on what the egg's response to him touching it. he was somewhat fascinated by it, and wondered if the sharp shell was a warning that the little dragonet was a vicious fighter, or if it was a sign the little one inside was scared of the world, and trying to hide behind a dangerous exterior to keep itself safe from harm.

[Zirin]

For Geso

Secret Stone Egg
The feeling of the egg takes no time in forcing its way into your mind, poking and prodding without hesitation. A strange sort of approval can be felt as it discovers your rebelliousness, then a shriek of alarm. Again with the hate! Why? WHY?! It seems to yell at you, the feeling as sharp as its shell. The egg seems to recoil, almost removing itself from your mind before hesitating. What was this? A fear of being backstabbed? The feeling seems to stay in your mind for a moment, contemplating, before pulling away as quickly as it had come, disgusted by and afraid of the hatred.


Theault

Burning Branch Egg
A gentle warmth fills your mind as you touch the egg, slowly spreading through your body as it begins its search. It takes its time, enjoying what it sees within. A quiet person, clearly thoughtful, it seemed to say. The warmth grows warmer in approval as it senses your protectiveness. It pulls away with a gentle caress.

[Wish]

Mine...you may want to wake up. Kayath's Own is down there at the touching alone. Come on AraMine, up you go.

The Green chirped as Hers groaned against the pillow, unhappy to be woken up. Still, once the message had successfully gotten through her foggy mind it did actually make sense. J'dol probably could use some help. Pulling back the covers she slipped into some actual clothes, tying her hair back into a braid and leaving their weyr.

Perhaps for Miyaka and Tikrin they were lucky that she happened upon them on the way down to the hatching sands. At first she just blinked at the two not entirely sure why they looked familiar, but within a moment or two she beckoned them over. "Come on you two are late for the touching." The male candidate gave a sigh and pushed his hands into his pockets, his eyes already becoming over cast with boredom. As for the healer she simply nodded her head and followed.

--

"Hey, thought you may like this..." Ara moved to touch the Topazrider lightly on the shoulder, a cup of iced Klah in her hand. Looking over to Vl'kan and Iirla Ara shook her head. "You should be in bed." Her voice was soft though, somewhat understanding of the situation. "Anything interesting happen so far?" She watched the two candidates move toward the eggs; Tikrin to The Giver Egg, Miyaka to The Looking Glass Egg.

[phantomofthewolves]

After being rejected by the minds of not one but two dragons whose eggs she touched, Asaara moved on, her mind wandering. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a boy, but not just any boy... it was Ka'mond! She rushed up to him and hugged him. "Ka'mond! I thought you were with the Rebellion!" she told him, tears of joy streaming down her face. She wiped away her tears, grabbed his hand and dragged him to the smallest egg in the gold's clutch, the Life Bringer Egg.

She really had to squat down to stroke it because it was so small, her fingers tracing the butterfly-like patterns on its shell. After a few minutes, she dragged Ka'mond to the topaz's clutch to touch the Secret Stone Egg, the largest of her clutch. It felt rough and bumpy to the touch and there were multitudes of color, which she enjoyed. She spent a minute or two following each color swirl with her hand. When she got bored, she dragged Ka'mond to whatever egg she wanted to touch.

[Zirin]

Tag: Ara

At the touch on his shoulder, J'dol spun around, grinning as he saw it was Ara who had come to speak with him now. Stepping away from Dalrian for a moment, he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a light spin and a peck on the cheek before letting her go, quickly taking a sip of the cool drink.

"Now that hits the spot. You are a lifesaver Ara, I keep forgetting how hot the sands can get. I'm boiling out here! I was beginning to think I'd have to start stripping soon." Okay, so he would have kept his clothes on for the sake of the candidates, but he sure wished he could take some clothing off. He glanced over at Iirla as Ara spoke to her, but he had full confidence that she knew how much she could handle. "Oh leave her be, I don't think she'd miss this for the world." His voice held a strange sort of reverent awe. He knew he could never miss out on watching the candidates touch Kayath's eggs, it was simply too interesting to watch.

"One of the weyrlings brought a dragon in here," He commented with a sigh, wondering which weyrlingmaster had been in charge of that pair; he'd have to talk to them and make sure they taught their candidates proper Touching ettiquette. A repeat event would not be good. "Hm... looks like a candidate's having some trouble over there... do we have a healer available?"

---

Tag: Linda, Ooma

The young man placed her gently on the ground in the cool shade near the edge of the sands, propping her up as Ooma had suggested. He placed a hand on her shoulder and shook slightly, hoping to wake her up. Now, Cayin was no healer but he certainly didn't think giving the girl wine would be a good idea. "Um... maybe just water would be a better idea?" He shrugged, glancing about for a healer again and hoping one would show up soon. Whistling lightly, he summoned Lehr from where he was hiding nearby, silently requesting the white to go find a healer if he could. The white soon blinked between, though there was no guarantee he'd do the given task. He glanced back down at the sound of a voice. Had she woken up?

"Well good morning beautiful," he smiled, "It seems you fainted. We're waiting for a healer to come by... but are you feeling any better?" He was genuinely concerned despite not really knowing her.