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Under Your Skin [TOUCHING]
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Post by Scorch on Sept 10, 2013 19:31:26 GMT
Bellonath had been unusually tight-lipped about this clutch. Usually she was happy to brag about her children to whatever dragon had wandered in to feed her or to some poor human that had come a bit too close to the hatching sands. Not this time. She was being secretive to a maddening extent and it was starting to get on L'oke's last nerve. He never would have thought he would miss her waking everyone in the Neath up at the small hours to announce that one of her eggs had twitched but here he was, wishing she would just talk to him.
More than twenty turns into their relationship and she chose now to start acting all mysterious. Typical dragon.
"Bellonath." L'oke said, swiping an oil-sodden rag over her foreleg. "Isn't today the Touching?" Maybe that would get her to talk. At least give him a little hint about what the eggs had been telling her. "The candidates will probably start showing up soon." He already knew that, of course. Why else would he be wasting his time trying to make her look presentable? Not that there was much of a point since she seemed to be insistent on making herself sandy all over again.
Bellonath gave him a baleful, orange eyed glare and swept her tail pointedly through the sand. L'oke scowled. He'd just finished oiling that. Yes. She hissed. The vermin are coming to dishonor my children with their filthy hands. I would rend them limb from limb if such a distasteful ritual were not a necessity. She sighed, resting her chin upon her forepaws. Such is the burden I must bare as a mother. I hope that the little slimes have at least washed their hands.
L'oke barked out a laugh at her dramatics, roughly stroking her snout. "It's not that bad, Bell. Anyway, if they upset you I'll give them a quick stabbing and they'll know to respect you and your spawn." He scratched at her eye ridges, ignoring the crimson glare she was giving him.
I do not think the Masters would like that. Bellonath said reluctantly. I would, however. Only a little stabbing. They'll be okay. She shuffled her wings. I suppose I should call them so the more foolish among them do not forget. I pity my offspring. They, unfortunately, do not have a good selection to choose from.
"You say that every time."
Humans are scum.
L'oke laughed again, pushing himself up and jogging to the entrance of the Sands. By the time he reached it, Bellonath was already sending out her call. Candidates! In case your mental faculties have completely abandoned you, I am reminding you that today is the day of the Touching. Wash your hands first, only Ruth knows where they've been.
L'oke waited semi-patiently for the candidates to begin to arrive, and then launched into a quick explanation of the Touching. "You've probably already been given this talk but I'll give it again just in case you're new. You touch the egg, it communicates with you, you move on. Don't upset them or Bellonath or we'll have problems. Be respectful to my dragon. She'll probably like it if you bow because she's got her head up her ass but you don't have to."
L'oke paused, a sharp smile spreading across his face. "Crying is against the rules. Have fun."
[Rules
1. The Touching will run from today until the day of the hatching. Don't worry about your candidates being late as they can wander in whenever they want.
2. The Touching is not mandatory. It's suggested that you have your candidates attend if you have the time, however, as it helps us finalize matches and maulings.
3. Only one egg per candidate at a time please. Please bold the name of the egg that you are touching so that we don't miss it. Once you get your response you're free to touch another egg.
4. No crying.
5. Candidates only.]
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storm
A New Face
Posts: 17 
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Post by storm on Sept 11, 2013 0:21:22 GMT
Morrigan didn't like having voices barge into her head - particularly a voice like Bellonath's, scathing and imperious, like a regal whipcrack. Nevertheless, the reminder was useful - and since she had no intention of rousing the dragon's ire more, she did go in search of a place to wash her hands, the better to not get knocked over or snarled at later. It wasn't that she was scared of that, precisely, but...
But even thinking about the Touching, or the Hatching so much farther off - it was the first goal she had had in a while, and that in and of itself was so strange. She had drifted, before, secure in the knowledge that she was bad luck. She had stolen, a little, to help when times were lean, and she had done a hundred small tasks for the other roof-dwellers when she had needed food. Eventually she had worked out her own way of living - not a terribly involved or interesting life, but it didn't need to be.
She hadn't searched for anything, let alone happiness, or money, or comfort. Contentment had been enough - more than enough, sometimes, when the nightmares her parents had hated so much descended, and she found herself wondering if only those who dreamed so vividly believed what she knew to be the truth.
The Neath could keep its secrets - she didn't want them. It just soothed her to know that they existed - and so did she.
But now? Now she had something to consider, to look forward to with trepidation and uneasiness and curiosity - and rather than it anchoring her, she felt more lost, more intangible, like once the Hatching was over, she would completely disappear. Still, she kept those thoughts to herself, and when she had reached the Sands and had the Touching briskly explained to her along with the others, she bowed - in Bellonath's general direction - and moved off carefully. The biggest eggs drew the most attention, and she didn't want to bump shoulders with anyone else, so perhaps one of the smaller ones first....
Her eyes fell upon Hidden Threat, so small and pushed to the back so she had almost overlooked it. It helped that she knew well how to hide herself, or perhaps she would have walked right past it. Hesitantly, she brushed the shell with her fingers, ready to flinch away at need and unsure if this was really how she was supposed to do it. Still, it... she couldn't quite say she liked it, but the colours, how it was hidden... they appealed to her, just a little.
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storm
A New Face
Posts: 17
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Post by storm on Sept 11, 2013 2:04:17 GMT
At first, she barely noticed the egg's presence - and then suddenly it crashed down, terrifying in its intensity. Morrigan was not used to wanting anything, let alone feeling anything close to this level of desire, dragging at her as if the dragon inside the egg wanted to drown her in sheer feeling and greed.
She snatched her hand back, of course, taking a few steps away to distance herself from that savage croon. That egg might have been small and unobtrusive, but whatever was inside was vicious, and it had wanted her to stay with it with such strength that she felt shaken. Were the others like that? Any eagerness she had felt was draining now - what kind of dragon could this turn out to be, so filled with hungry purpose?
She hoped it stayed far away from her. If it clung to her like that again, trying to get her to stay with it -
She didn't want to know what would happen. She didn't want to know if she'd have the strength to tear herself away - especially from a dragon, even a newly hatched one, and not just an egg. Slowly shuffling away, Morrigan went for an egg plainer in colour, without any sort of shadows on it - her touch on Shaking Earth's shell even more hesitant now, and wary.
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storm
A New Face
Posts: 17
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Post by storm on Sept 11, 2013 13:14:15 GMT
Why did these eggs hurt? Again, Morrigan felt herself almost pushed over this time, and wondered at how she could still be standing firmly on the sand when the egg felt like it was charging at her, desperate for - for something that she couldn't grasp and that only made her more frightened. This clutch - was it because of her? Were they all acting like this, lashing out in her head, because they sensed what she was?
That made the most sense. That both eggs would be so strange - it had to be because of her, because she was bad luck.
But the first had wanted her to stay -
No, she didn't want to think about that.
This egg wanted something as well, but it didn't want her, it wanted... what, an answer? But she didn't know the question. Swallowing hard, she shook her head, forgetting that the dragon was in an egg and could hardly know that she had moved at all.
"I don't know," she murmured, as much to herself as to it, already shrinking back from that dull shell. Turning away from it, and the confusion that still roiled inside her head, she lurched for the Ancient Terror - perhaps it would be calmer, less overwhelming despite its size.
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storm
A New Face
Posts: 17
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Post by storm on Sept 12, 2013 1:36:44 GMT
The next egg was - well, it didn't push or tug at her, no imagined claws and teeth and need hooking into her and pulling her down. Instead it rambled through her head - but not in a painful way, even if it made her feel faintly giddy. And besides, it was far preferable to the first two - it left her feeling... warmed, which was outright foreign after so long on her own. The egg had - had approved of her? Even liked her, maybe.
So, two were terrible and one was not. Those weren't the best chances, but it was better than all three being completely terrible.
Maybe one of these - not Hidden Threat, because she didn't want that vicious greed turned on her once again - would hatch the dragon who would Impress to her. Soothed by that thought and Ancient Terror's rough encouragement, she waded back into the clutch, weaving between eggs and trying to decide which seemed the least unnerving. And in a display of blinding ignorance, she reached out to the Rotten Teeth egg next. Ancient Terror had been intimidating but gentle enough - perhaps this one, with such an odd appearance, would turn out to be the same?
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storm
A New Face
Posts: 17
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Post by storm on Sept 12, 2013 2:53:03 GMT
What -
What was this?
She was getting used to the pangs of loneliness every time she touched an egg, because that seemed normal enough - she had never considered herself lonely, but that plaintive search that each unborn dragonet had was familiar, in a way. But she was bad luck, she didn't need other people - and they most definitely didn't need her. The fact that she was here expecting to have a dragon Impress to her - there was no hypocrisy there.
That had just been a whim. To see what would happen - what it was like.
Apparently what dragons were like was really terrifying.
At first, she had thought the egg was dead, its silence almost complete - but then, rather than any actual sound or a twitch beneath her fingers, the hunger started - insatiable and relentless, like a dull ache at the back of her mind. She took her hand away as if the shell burned, as deeply unnerved as she had been from Hidden Threat's advances - and the hunger remained. That scared her.
Morrigan paused. She could leave, couldn't she? Just... walk away from the clutch. She had touched half already. Surely it would be allowed, right? But Bellonath was scathing and quick to lash out at perceived insults. She didn't want to earn her ire - but she also didn't want to touch any more eggs, not with that hunger slowly sinking, like it had found some place to lodge in, gnawing at her bones -
Shrinking away would have been too easy. Dredging up some resolve from somewhere beyond the hunger and her fear, she swallowed, mouth dry again, and placed a hand on the sandy, leathery shell of Perfect Imitation. Maybe if she just kept at it, the hunger would go away, and the fear, and everything could be distant and safe again.
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storm
A New Face
Posts: 17
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Post by storm on Sept 12, 2013 3:46:26 GMT
This time - this time, her touch lingered, though Morrigan couldn't quite say why.
Out of all of them, she would have thought this one the... the calmest, the quietest. Well, at least compared to the others of the clutch, all so distinct - her skin crawled, just a little - this one was almost a reprieve. This, she could understand, almost.
Out of all of them, she could hardly say she felt drawn, but... yes, she understood. Just a little.
Most of her round of the eggs had been done in almost complete silence - not out of any true sense of whether this was some sort of special rite, or out of respect, but because Morrigan had always found it easier to stay quiet, overlooked. But she couldn't hide from the dragons that probed clumsily at her mind. Would they remember her, when they hatched? She didn't want that - even if now, she lingered at the last egg she had touched, answering an unspoken plea.
At last, she moved away again - only three left, she noticed, clinging to that. Three, and then she could be done, and go away, and - and rest.
Far from the hunger and the avarice of the two she feared most.
With that in mind, Flea Bitten was next, chosen out of a halfhearted hope that it would prove to be as pleasant as Ancient Terror had been.
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storm
A New Face
Posts: 17
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Post by storm on Sept 12, 2013 15:00:16 GMT
She wanted something pleasant - but not quite like this. The egg was exuberant and too loud, chasing away all her thoughts in a tide of sheer joy that she hadn't expected or braced herself for. Overtures, friendliness, someone wanting to be close to her - that was strange, almost entirely foreign. So Morrigan winced, not quite flinching away - but she didn't stay long either, even if the egg would likely have whined after her if it could.
Still, it hadn't been absolutely terrifying, or sad, or confusing. Brash and intimidating in its own way, but... she supposed it was better than most of the others, though Ancient Terrors blunt encouragement and affection had made it her favourite.
This clutch was admittedly pretty terrible - not that she could ever voice her unease and fear of half of the dragons waiting to hatch, not unless she wanted Bellonath to do - well, to do something unpleasant. Best to just keep her head down, stay quiet, finish this - and leave.
Playing God's bright colours had made her cautious before - but out of the two left, it seemed perhaps the easier choice. Morrigan approached it with the air of one enduring a great struggle - a not entirely inaccurate comparison, given how half of the clutch had reacted.
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storm
A New Face
Posts: 17
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Post by storm on Sept 12, 2013 22:34:50 GMT
"I'm not done yet," Morrigan murmured - in response to the egg, even though her skin was crawling again. She glanced up at Bellonath, a watchful presence that intimidated her more than the eggs did - maybe only just, but still. And this one, at least, was simple. It might have been an unformed dragon, but she had met people on the rooftops who were equally savage. Children - sometimes the leaders of gangs, sometimes a step below and waiting for a chance to rise - and adults, zailors. There were enough of that type in the Neath.
Predators were predators regardless of what they looked like - she just hoped this dragon wouldn't even look at her once it had hatched. Of course, that was her hope for most of the clutch. If all of them passed her by and less terrifying eggs were laid next time, she'd be more than willing to sign up for those.
Backing up a safe distance, she turned to the last egg - finally, the last one, and then she could leave and hope her sleep wasn't haunted by hunger and vicious, clawing voices. She laid a weary hand on Deadly Purity's shell.
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storm
A New Face
Posts: 17
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Post by storm on Sept 13, 2013 2:28:28 GMT
There had been, this whole time, a gathering cloud of - of well, fear, and the lingering hunger, and a constant unease and suspicion that the ones she feared would be the ones to Impress to her. Never had Morrigan hoped more for her ability of being overlooked to work, so the dragons would hatch, and forget they had ever skimmed the surface of her thoughts, prodded at flaws and weaknesses.
This egg blew it all away - not scornfully, but scalding nonetheless, leaving her blinking in awful clarity and the unpleasant feeling of being judged. The urge to hide increased, even as the egg - well, it didn't quite snap at her. It was something like encouragement, if it hadn't also felt vaguely like a threat, or an ultimatum. To prove herself, because otherwise there would be no place for her.
That was more than enough. The girl straightened up, took a deep breath, and carefully started to work her way clear of the eggs. So carefully that she didn't actually pay attention to where she was placing her feet so much as to how far she was from, say, Rotten Teeth -
And, to foil her declarations of how she was misfortune, and thus exempt from the bad luck she carried with her, she stumbled, instinctively stretching out a hand to keep from falling. And, as if it had been fated - by a particularly malicious, cruel fate - her fingers brushed against Hidden Threat once more.
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Post by giftwrapped on Sept 13, 2013 3:01:26 GMT
Loud.
The dragon in her head was loud and Kennes didn't like the feeling that something was invading her mind. It grated as she fidgeted outside the Sands, lurking awkwardly while she waited to be let in to try her hand at her first Touching. She didn't know what any of this was like, really - dragon Candidacy was new to her, and the possibility of being an Enforcer still fresh and uncomfortable in her head. Would she have to crack down on her own kind if she Impressed a dragon? Could she turn a blind eye? Would that be corruption?
Was she even responsible enough for another young life to be put in her hands?
She was inclined to say no, and continued to think so as she edged nervously out onto the Sands. L'oke's explanation was met with a cold look at Bellonath, and Kennes briefly considered bowing. But...why should she expose the back of her neck to a dragon and her rider that she barely knew? Absolutely not. Bellonath got a brief nod, respectful but not fawning the way a bow would have been. And then Kennes was moving further onto the sands, frowning at the eggs around her.
Was this...all right? She wasn't going to hurt anything? Well, other people were touching them. She might as well try.
She didn't really think beyond gravitating to the largest egg in the clutch, reaching out and resting her fingertips a little awkwardly on Ancient Terror's lumpy shell. Was this...how you were supposed to do it? One hand or two? Did it matter?
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Post by giftwrapped on Sept 13, 2013 3:33:47 GMT
When the egg finally roused to her touch, and that vastness reached out to her consciousness, Kennes almost froze, preparing to jerk her hand away and run. She was aware that dragons were like that, but somehow she hadn't been expecting it from eggs, and the realization that every shell on the Sands would be able to see directly into her brain and read her thoughts...it was suddenly terrifying. Her heart was racing before she even realized what was happening, but by the time she mustered the strength to snatch her hand away, the egg had already made its way into her head.
And...oh that...that wasn't so bad. It was actually almost...nice. Smiling slightly, Kennes brushed her fingers fondly against the shell before straightening up again. Yes, that wasn't too bad at all. It had possibly wanted her to leave, but it had been...polite about it. Weird, she hadn't been expecting polite, really. Maybe this wouldn't be as weird as she thought it would be, after all. Her attention turned to other eggs.
Movement drew her attention, and she approached the Flea Bitten egg slowly, suddenly feeling some of that anxiety return. It had been shaking a second ago, hadn't it? Well...wasn't that not that odd? Babies moved in the womb, and dragon eggs contained very large animals. It must just be the sign of a healthy baby, right? At worst, an impatient baby. Reaching out carefully, she laid her hand on the top of the reddish-brown shell. "Hello," she whispered.
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Post by giftwrapped on Sept 13, 2013 3:46:11 GMT
And then there was an explosion in her head as the dragonet in the Flea Bitten shell burst into her mind with all the enthusiasm of a half-grown puppy. It was happy, she could tell it was happy thoughts in her head, but the happy thoughts came with an explosive cacophony of noise that made her eyes water and her head throb with each over-excited mental bounce.
"Okay - okay! Okay! I'm happy to see you, too, but you don't need to be so loud." She was speaking quietly, a slight laugh in her voice, but she was still wincing a little bit as she withdrew her hands and shook her head. Okay, so that was...well, it hadn't been trying to give her a headache, at least. That was good. But...still. Wasn't exactly pleasant.
Okay. Time to move on. She paced away from the reddish-brown egg, instead turning to a large, sand-colored egg a bit away from it. Eggs were interesting, she was starting to learn. The dragons inside them had weird brains that didn't interact with her brain right, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. It was...unpleasant? No, not necessarily. Just...very strange. Yes, strange was a good way to describe it.
Slowly, and rather more timidly, she reached down and brushed her fingers against the Shaking Earth egg's shell.
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Post by giftwrapped on Sept 15, 2013 2:47:00 GMT
No.
No no no no no no no!
Kennes jerked away, stifling a scream in her shoulder as she stumbled away from the Shaking Earth egg, tripping over her own feet and landing heavily in a sitting position in her haste to get away from the screaming in her head. "No," she said in a hoarse whisper, staring wide-eyed at the egg and realizing a little awkwardly that she was shaking. "No."
That had been awful. This was bad - was awful. The first two eggs had been...well, the first had been nice and the second hadn't been trying to destroy her brain. But that one...she looked suspiciously at Bellonath. Why had that happened? What the shards had that been? Were the rest of the eggs like that, too? She wanted nothing to do with it, if that was the case. "No," she repeated again, getting herself under control slowly. "Good luck to whoever impresses that," she muttered, feeling at least a little better for spewing that venom.
But she was sitting on the Sands, wasn't she? Without thinking, she reached out to the sand around her, going to push herself to her feet. Her fingers grazed the shell of the Playing God egg before she realized what she was doing, and though she pulled her weight off that hand almost immediately, she had already touched it. It was too late to stop it.
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storm
A New Face
Posts: 17
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Post by storm on Sept 15, 2013 15:55:03 GMT
Morrigan froze as soon as her fingers touched the shell, hardly daring to breathe, somewhere torn between anger and a despairing wail at how could this happen. She had been done, why had she tripped - that she had been shaking, overwrought by the Touching was one thing, but she was so rarely clumsy....
And then the egg clung to her again, as desperate to hold onto her as she was to leave. That made her hesitate, just for a second, because this time there was no savage assurance - but it was still trying to stop her, to get her to stay with it, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. Was it selfish, to want to keep herself apart from it? Maybe a dragon could be different - that was what they said, wasn't it? That it was a part of you - maybe then it wouldn't be terrifying to have something dragging her down, weaving its way into her head.
But right now, all she wanted to was to run, get away from this, and somehow find her way back to the truth that could calm her. Bad luck - she was bad luck. If she remembered that, everything else would make sense again.
So, walking quickly, Morrigan left the Sands without a backwards glance.
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