Smirch and Nekeel Void Shaman

Size comparison Piece and Knockoff/Pawn

Pyrrhan/Myrsilk, remarkably long, four legs, two wings with very large ice-cutting claws on all; long head with external ears, sharp back-pointing horns, cheek horns, and paired curved neck spines, end of long skinny tail also has sharp spines; pupiled eyes; scaled hide (found in only some of this clutch), armor, will breed similarly to other types accordingly

Naming: father's naming convention indicates location or clan, in this case 'nye for New Year's Eve/nt; further generations should follow local tradition or family name for this addition; note also that ^markings indicate strength of magic or inherent abilities, following father's line, not all in this clutch are strong enough in those powers to show and this may weaken over generations of mixing

Knockoff stats: average 3 in most, 5 speed, and with one 2 and one 4 your choice; powers: speed and nexus travel are their strongest points, verbal speech but no spellcasting or summoning, more likely to be ice-nightwing heavy and tolerate the cold very well, also good with localized prediction

This clutch is shown off in the middle of the 2nd hour until Midnight

Bond: Indigo Lovelace
Meeting Notes: These were huge dragons, Indigo breathed in slowly, glancing at the clock: two hours until midnight. The dragonets glanced around, as they walked out of one of the bigger archways sequestering the hatchling dragons from full view. Their parents both were quite large, even the small mother. They were spiky and sharp, but both of them also friendly and reasonably gregarious.

There were other spiky dragons present, but... They definitely were neither friendly nor approachable, not by people anyway.

The little hatchlings - if you could call these long tailed creatures 'little' - wove their way around the venue like silk ribbons. It looked like some of them were trying to be more serious and important than others, a couple just obviously enjoying themselves among a crowd of people. Indigo watched each one with interest: their claws could actually do damage to the marble floor, what might they be good for outside? Clawing easily through rock or wood, certainly!

A grey wing moved in front of Indigo, but she could have sworn that she saw the night sky shimmering, as though nearly dawn, or just after sunset. She recognized those star patterns, somehow.

Are they good? I think they're good, the mind was chill but smooth, like ice under the moon. He altered his pose, the dragon moved his other wing to show Indigo, do you think it's weird that they're dark on top and light underneath? The stars are the same, though... Your stars! We can hunt under them, when you show me the real thing.

Stunned for a moment, Indigo nodded, "I agree, and yes, they... they are the same, I can remember their names and the patterns they make. How did..."

The dragonet merely gave a twisting posture, one which Indigo would learn how to interpret at a distance. Baqli'nye introduced himself to the others, at the end of the evening.

Bond: Mahogany, Voluntary Companionship
Meeting Notes: the portal to this odd event opened to a semi-natural cavern passage, with equal amounts of stone and foliage visible for most of it. The light was dim but obviously meant to guide them toward the much brighter area that ... opened to a fascinating scene indeed. Brightly lit, dazzling in fact, the venue for this party was a marvel. It did all look a little ... small, to him of course. Because of his size.

And because of his size, he could see quite easily and clearly, when his opponent Jade entered behind them. How had she gotten a... hm. Well, perhaps that was all part of the Game. Perhaps she'd copied it. Maybe one of her spies had stolen it. It didn't much matter, his heart wasn't ready to get angry, he had been invited and that was important enough to blot out any ire at his opponent's presence ... for the time being.

There was still quite a bit of resentment in him, he'd lost the Game and was still stinging from that. But at least there was this place, this respite. The teams of small dragons had to work overtime to get drinks and food for him and his group, but it looked like everyone's plate and mug were the right size, the foods well prepared and in plentiful supply.

And the performances... How many of these amazing tricks and songs would have been performed on his grounds for his people, had they only won the Ton-Seraph? He saw how captivated Ash was with the bold splashes (sometimes literal) of the 'potions' performance; he watched his retinue mingle and even seem to start enjoying themselves. He also spotted Jade's people, her court overtly more energetic and cheerful though in a strangely cautious way. Like they knew she'd swiped that invitation, perhaps?

Perhaps. A couple hours before the Midnight hour, however, there were plenty of small dragonets rushing about the room. From up in the rafters, along the balconies, behind pillars, and on the dance floor they scurried about with their newly found bonds. They went from feeding to sleeping, running, to crashing into servers and causing a brief but entertaining ruckus... But there were some now that came out from their magically opened archway, that held Mahogany's attention entirely.

Stately, precise, long and lean. And marked in the most amazing black and white - like all of them were, but... One of them in particular seemed to be watching him, with faint round marks making her eyes look wider than they were. She was bigger than most, and bigger than all but a couple of her own siblings - placing her perhaps among the largest hatchlings of this event.

It seemed therefore somewhat proper to guess that she would be attending to him, among the many she could have chosen. There were clearly other leaders here, some making deals on the balcony, or even running bets in the casino and wasting their hardly-earned fortunes on cards. But this one...

She paused on the marble floor, standing quite precisely at the corner of one black and one white square. The dark front of her body stood upon that white one, the brilliant white tail swishing across the black behind her. And her wings, mixing both silver and darkness, sparkling of stars. She was beautiful.

"You are in need of reminding," she said, calm and clear. "You were once as proud as they came, without arrogance or jelousy."

Her words stung, and rang deeply true. He lowered his gaze, and his head followed, then his shoulders. But she had more to say, more kindly.

"I will show you a path you may have forgotten, my friend," she butted her head up against his thigh - all she could reach even if she was on the biggest end of this hatching. She had spotted horn buds, her claws mixing black and white, the only color in her was her eyes, a brilliant green that might match the finest foliage... or ... Jade's gem tone. She'd chosen him though. He cautiously reached out and she clung to his bark-like arm. She wouldn't weigh as much as he thought she might - slender, lean, she'd be quick, she was already clever.

Bond: ... The Drift?!
Meeting Notes: She had been named by her parents, Borlo'nye, it carried little weight for this newly hatched dragon. Except it did have weight - 'nye, 'nye... In the separate space and distinctly not time of the venue's hatching sands, this nest of long, slender, dramatic dragons had a little time to grow from weak and helpless, into toddling dragonets. No one batted an eye at this, not even the dragons. Not even their strong Void Shaman ranked sire. It was magic, it was beyond magic actually.

The strange triumvirate of the Den, the Stage, and the Labs had invited its own new companion to take a look at the goings-on. Or maybe it was birthed here, it wasn't unlike these hatchlings that spent time-not-time growing outside of the passage of any form of time. It existed for decades, but it would only be named recently.

The Drift, then, came into full being at almost the same instant that this young starkly black and white dragonet realized she needed a home. It was a vision, it happened nearby didn't it? Well, close to these weirdly muddled venues anyway, they were outside of time and space, everything was 'near'.

In that vision, Borlo felt the chill air, and it was refreshing - like her mother's breed enjoyed the snow and ice, and like her sire knew the Void was... dark and chill beyond words. She didn't really have words yet, not so much anyway, even though some in her nest were already chatterboxes. She knew what words meant, and what they could mean, just wasn't interested in blabbering them at her clutch mates. Her heart had been free there, her vision clear even when there would be deepest fog and cutting blizzard winds. She could soar on those winds as easily as her mother might, she could breathe the frozen air, take in the depths of the night surrounding it. Borlo'nye's real eyes blinked, clearing the vision from them to discern reality from prophecy. She stood with purpose, avoiding the chattering and romping for the moment, of her siblings.

Her sire Nekeel'akel stood patiently as Borlo approached. "I have seen something, and I want to know if it's all right for me to be there."

Curious, the Myrsilk shaman looked at his daughter, and realized something important. While she was in many compelling ways much like her mother - with that chill following her everywhere, and her penchant for flash-freezing her clutchmates' feet to the floor when they were playing chase games... She was also colored in a way that screamed Myrsilk, without the added markings that some of the clutch had. But she had those stockings like he did; only against her incredibly black body, they were piercingly snow white. Her wings, equally snow-white with liberal marbling of void-black. She belonged to both worlds, the Icewing's and the Myrsilk's.

But she belonged to another, now. Even before the Ball truly started, before the guests arrived and the events began rolling... Borlo'nye knew where she would be. With confidence then, Nekeel nuzzled his daughter and encouraged her to seek this place out. She wasn't quite ready to do it alone, however. Nekeel glanced up to see one of the hosts or at least one of the assistants that had helped assemble all of this. And yes 'up' because even at his massive size, Iaa'bis could look him straight in the eye.

"She would be easy to care for in the right setting," Iaa'bis, the dramatically black and white lemur dragon, said. "I can help move her, or at least help make her comfortable for the journey with food packed for it, if you like."

Smirch, the dragonet's mother, had noticed this interaction, and excused herself from watching the antics of those clutch siblings. "Already?" She didn't seem particularly surprised, truth be told. "Well, my dearest child, that's probably a record... None of your siblings have seen such things yet."

"They will," Borlo asserted.

She, like her siblings, seemed to be 'old enough to start wandering', but was still... so young? When the Ball finally began, Iaa'bis had collected the items that would aid this dragon in her future: meat that was going to remain fresh probably indefinitely thanks to the chill it would be stored in; a strange compass - it was more like a pocket watch, but seemed to serve to point to places in time? and a thick woven blanket, one which had been created using dragon fur (some from Iaa'bis herself) in black and white, a memento from the Ball itself... That she never even attended.

Because Borlo'nye thanked her parents for understanding, nuzzled each and every one of her siblings - even the weirder checkerboard ones - and headed off in a puff of snowflakes, to wait for the Drift to have its own event.

Bond: Jamiel, Voluntary Companionship
Meeting Notes: The dancing and celebration was definitely not for Jamiel. Well, celebrations did have their place. They didn't know what this one was really 'for', had there been a big battle? Jamiel supposed so, given how a few of the hosts looked. The food was good though, very good, in fact. The big man in the elegant suit who prepared it (apparently) seemed quite happy to see lots of people enjoying their meals. In fact Wilson made sure to do the rounds while the main meals were being served.

But he definitely had the look of someone whose job description had included 'pummeling the snot out of other people' at some point in his past. No one had that build and wasn't at the very least a bodyguard. Jamiel glanced back up at the dance floor when the music changed: it was usually when dragons were being brought out. The clock said two hours until midnight, but there had already been so many dragons... How many were there?

Three hundred eighty eight give or take, a voice came into Jamiel's mind; it was a pleasant one, sure and snappy.

"That... is a lot of dragons, isn't it? I mean, isn't it?" Jamiel said, apparently to no one in particular. But several people still nodded and cheered, agreeing with that statement because it could have been said at any time during this event.

Most of them are still here, it's a good thing that we're small when we're hatched... That mind again, and this time, Jamiel followed it to its source. a handsome jet-black dragon, all but those brilliant white nubs on his neck and head (and claws, and tail... wow) and that strangely glowing sparkle on his wings.

Jamiel flew down from his balcony vantage point, landing near this dark slightly-snarky dragon. Proudly that dragon returned the gaze.

"Giny'nye," he introduced himself. "You're going to have to show me around. When we get back."

"So it's 'we' is it?" The angelic youth said, head tilted.

"Of course it is. Wouldn't be speaking to you like this if it wasn't."

Jamiel gave a slow, broad, and increasingly pleased grin.

Bond: Artok, Voluntary Companionship
Meeting Notes: He was so glad they came to this ball. Even if his legs wobbled a bit (walking was such a chore for an aquatic person!) he did wander the whole venue. Somehow the words on the pamphlet and souvenir baggie could be read by anyone, they clearly had magic everwhere too. But he'd caught some interesting things on the list of events that night. And even if he was a little ungainly he realized there was time to catch a few of those demonstrations. The Stage had barely cleared their first act of the evening (a rather more colorful group with flags and a routine changing them into a vast field of greys, clever), but the casino held more interest early on. Drinks suitable for people his size, delightful and well prepared seafood? What more could he ask? He even got caught up in dancing in between main shows - a bit of space made for larger bipeds like himself so they didn't squish the little'uns?

And there were dragons? Dragons! They were shown out from magically-sealed archways throughout the night. Was this why they were here? Because it looked like a great many dragons were milling about with new caretakers.

What grabbed his attention around two or maybe three 'hours' until Midnight was the 'tour bubble' - this venue was amazingly under the sea after all and who could possibly resist a guided tour of the area? The littler humanoids and whoever that couldn't withstand the depths and chill of the sea were carried around by a lovely dragon. As their metal and glass tour ball (a 'bathysphere' whatever that meant) splashed into the airlock's chute, he arranged with the tour guide to accompany it - without needing much more than a deep breath. They did outfit his head with a small device allowing him to hear the ongoing description that the guide gave, and down they went. Ah it was so refreshing out there! The pressure was greater than he'd been in before, certainly, this was deep ocean and not merely a lake or inland sea, but still it wasn't going to harm him - and such sights! His curiosity at the landscape and half-ruined city was piqued when they got to do a low pass over the 'dragon half' of the venue, where just as they were ending their exterior tour, the dragons themselves were organizing a sea-creature hunt! They came bursting out from their own airlock, what magnificent creatures!

Not beasts, definitely not animals, these dragons. And he knew that for certain, not an hour (according to the big ballroom clock) later. A pair of rather large dragons - maybe even the largest and certainly among the longest dragons of the event - carefully showed off their new brood. When one of them stepped toward him, as he watched from the edge of the ballroom floor (gazing out at the sea once more through the big windows), she had to make a polite little cough to get his full attention. Though all in shades of various greys, her hide sparkled, and then he realized it was because she had scales, tiny ones, that caught the light. Her wings danced with black star patterns, which were surprisingly echoed on her horn buds and claws? She - ... how did he know it was a her? - sat purposefully and wrapped her long long tail around her paws.

I should like to see this place you call home. I am Curry'nye, and I can make it so you're never surprised, just like now. Her red eyes faded to a strange muted pink tone and then snapped back to darker colors, you will want to move away from the Stage here, a battle of the bands will be occurring in a moment or two.

"A.... a what?" It took Artok a moment to realize that she'd spoken into his mind, but less than a moment later for him to accept that she knew what she was saying. Prophesy? Or just listening in on conversations? Well, either way she was right, and as they went over to a nearby 'dragon feeding station' fit for the young hatchlings there, sure enough several different groups of young people started doing a well-received mock dance fight!

Bond: Nekeel, Sponsored
Meeting Notes: "He is clearly the showoff," Smirch chuckled, watching the hatchlings bumble about on their expansive nest. The dragons like these, ones which took some time to mature enough to be ready for this event out there... They knew that time passed differently 'here'. Wherever 'here' was. Though both Nekeel and Smirch were strongly attuned to magic, it was the darkness of the Void that would be the dominant type in this one specific hatchling.

They instantly knew it was male, for instance, because of those tail diamonds... But the chest and face marks were variations, everyone would know he was not pure. The stockings of silver would be considered typical, but his contrasting belly and face? Definitely not the same as most Myrsilk. And... those wings. As the dragonet dramatically fell over in the nest's faux-battle, his mottled wings also showed his mother's stars, glimmering, actually moving and glowing, in the dimness of their nesting area. Echoed on the short but budding horns on his neck and tail, which while not unique to the one hatchling... definitely odd for either breed of parent.

"He'll also be the biggest," Smirch nosed toward the group, who now pretended to mourn their 'fallen king', all but one of them, who had been the 'villain' in their little pageant. She was right, Lure was a full paw-span bigger than even the next largest of his siblings, and nearly twice the size of the smallest among them. Their 'knockoff' additional dragonets had started coming around too, though they had been brought in only after these had hatched and were safe and sound. Among those, a few were brave enough to join in, but they would be no bigger than a quarter this one's size.

But he seemed to know that, Lure was attentive to the needs of all of his siblings equally, and that set him apart too. It would be another... longish time span, until the Ball would start for this nest. Perhaps 'months', maybe even 'years', but the dragons knew time meant virtually nothing. Beyond this place, there was Void, the Outside, the Nexus, and they could return or move freely through any of those. Well, Smirch would need a little help, but she had plenty of help from the Rookery dragons or even their people to move around the Nexus. This dragonet would need no such help.

***

When the Ball finally started, the dragonets were old enough to make their minds up, to have their own personalities beyond their childlike hatchling era. Only a couple other nests worth of dragons had had to be sequestered as long, but everyone's presentation would be here for the one long night's party. Dragons and bonds alike bustled around, preparing for the fun, and truth be told both Nekeel and Smirch were ready to leave. Even if their cavern nest had openings to a variety of worlds to hunt in or visit, it was time to get moving. It was time for the hatchlings, dragonets, and young to move on.

Lure'nye had become quite the dashing dragonet in the meantime. He'd even followed in a hunt or two, proving himself adept at being in just the right place at the exact moment to help Nekeel take down lunch.

When the guests began arriving, and Smirch went to watch some of the demonstrations, Lure padded quietly around the draconic portion of the venue, watched as one of the females from the clutch went off with an attendant lemurdragon to who knows where. He wasn't restless, himself, he was quite sure of what he wanted.

But for appearances sake, he strode around the venue, looking. Sniffing, sampling the food and taking a good long drink in the fountain of fresh water (which one of his siblings briefly froze over, thanks, Baqli) but also dutifully entering the biped's side of things to take a long look around. Not that any of their nest needed to do so, he'd been told by Nekeel much of the history of their breed. Smirch's own family unit had visited a few times, they seemed to have left their own world behind in favor of this Rookery thing. She needed no bond, but had taken one anyway. But even though plenty of people stared and gathered around at two hours until Midnight over there, Lure chose none of them.

Nor any dragon on the draconic portion of the venue. Not that they didn't interest him; he'd struck up conversations with a fair few before moving on. He had already made up his mind.

"Father, show me your world," he said, and Nekeel'akel proudly did so.

Bond: Motif Trana Kasaita, Voluntary Companionship
Meeting Notes: Even if she wasn't here to 'work', mingling led to so many potential outlets for Motif's energy. The three headed ambassador sent her along to have some fun, though here she was at the draconic buffet table putting effort into arranging the bigger cuts of meat into directions and piles that would be easier to grasp and gobble down.

At least they seemed to appreciate this, the dragons working this area were just as overworked as any humanoid in a kitchen! According to her, anyway...

A good number of dragons attracted her attention over the course of the next few hours. Not just in the form of hatchlings that came through the large draconic chambers, but when they began performing on that big multi-dimensional stage. How did they manage it? Some of them were actually outside, swimming in the deepest waters and provided deep rhythmic booms to the warbling and chanting on the stage. There were even performances of smaller flighted dragons in the big domed area they all lounged around in!

While she was busy helping pick up a spilled bucket of hatchling-feed she missed the group of dragons that were being presented around two hours before midnight. They were among the biggest of the dragons at the event, too! One of the hatchlings, however, noticed right away. Nudged on by his sire with a rumbling chuckle, the scaled dragonet stood tall as he could, angled his wings in just such a way, and walked up behind Motif.

She did spot him peeking around, on tiptoe and with his long neck extended.

Motif pushed the meat into the fallen bucket, and with a draconic grin, slid it toward the dragon. "Ooh, yes please?" He was able to restrain himself long enough that Motif could get out of his way, and then he gently nosed into the bucket. It wasn't gentle in a moment or two, he hadn't realized just how hungry he was!

But Motif realized he'd come to her specifically when he finished up and gazed at her. "Am I too messy to mingle with you?"

She chuckled, "I can get you cleaned up and we can go mingle!"

Bond: Jonah, Voluntary Companionship, she chooses to remain with him though it is not a bond
Meeting Notes: He was patient, and did not like being here. Too many people, too much noise. But he was bidden to be here, by the king and queen. His paranoid and thoughtful nature hadn't gotten him away from any of them, but maybe it was time to just... let it happen. Dragons were everywhere, magic was in the air. Food was on the table, lots of it, and drink. He avoided both, picking at the chicken salad and sipping water carefully. Old habits died hard. Even if he'd accepted his role, perhaps to encourage Alan and get it over with, Jonah was still apt to be deliberate and careful. He sat with his chair angled, with a good view of the ballroom. Above, a clock struck - but it was a countdown, he'd heard six bells when they arrived, now it was two.

Two hours to midnight, though what would that even mean? He'd been convinced to dance, once, by an attendee he didn't know and wouldn't ask her name anyway. Returning to the table and his ... King and Queen... something felt a bit odd. One of those tall arched openings framing the area had turned bright white with black framing it - magic, because black was the absence of light, how could 'black' be 'bright'? And from it, came a remarkably tall dragon, holding his wings high and proud. In front of him, a much smaller and spiky black and white female. And under their shared wings...

How did they even manage to drag themselves across the floor with tails that long? Held high, or in one case held in their mouth, the dragonets coming from that arch looked to be much older than mere hatchlings. Keeping his glance angled, habit, he caught the expressions on those at the table: Regina's was almost one of avarice. But she had her dragonet resting calmly beside her. Something told Jonah he ought to rise, so he did. He walked toward the edge of the dance floor where room was being made for these dragons. A dark one kept moving closer, though it seemed she was interested in looking at quite a few others in the process.

Until she spotted Jonah, and strode carefully, head in a slightly protective dip. Horns would grow on her head and neck, he could tell they would be black as night like her dark scales. His eyes narrowed.

"I know I am dark," she said, voice clear and deeper than he expected for a young female. "But you see, I am light on the inside too, like you." She opened her wings, a splash of metallic silver and pale mist dancing over them, and as she raised her head up, it wasn't just her muzzle that was blinding, blizzard-white - her neck and belly, halfway down that long long tail, were also white. She would be strong, he just knew that.

"Are you implying that I'm a little dark on the inside?" Jonah countered, but the dragonet just gave off a ringing laugh, knowing that he liked riddles.

Bond: Ait' Rao-taj, Sponsored Companion, may drift apart after adulthood but equally enjoys Rao's presence
Meeting Notes: He had been watching for signs of their quarry, all evening. It wasn't hard to locate the man, Shy by name (he'd heard so many people say it, too); but it was much more difficult to find him isolated or even momentarily alone. Either it was by design, or the man was simply able to pad himself with onlookers to ensure he was safe. Not that Rao would be doing anything terribly untoward - but his curiosity was piqued, not sated. People talked about Shy like he was a celebrity here, though not everyone seemed to think that was a good thing. He spent most of the evening milling about catching pieces of gossip or glimpses of those who surrounded Shy. Some of them laughed with gusto, others danced with passion, most though seemed... somewhat normal? And none of them yet displayed that distinct molten-gold color he was hoping to capture as evidence. Of what? Well, that remained to be seen. It was two hours before midnight according to the large silver and black clock above the stage.

It wasn't at the hour exactly, when trumpeting everyone learned to associate with a new dragon clutch blared. They were not freshly hatched, the long dragons that slunk around the main ballroom, looking into different sections of the Event's venue. Those with the checkerboard patterns seemed energetic and much larger than most of the other 'knockoffs' that had been cloned from the main nests here. Rao had seen a good number of them strutting around, keeping their long tails out of the way somehow - it was one of them that distracted him from his prey, and he lost sight of Shy. It was, however, in favor of a dragonet who kept circling toward Rao; he could sense her trying to attract attention - his attention. How did he even know that? He was hardly an expert in dragon mobility or communication.

No, it was her expertise, though. She flicked her tail just so, moved her shoulders a little, shifted her weight. Look at me, she said, I'm better than any two-legged creature in this room...

"Not including me, I hope," Rao said, when he approached. Though still quite young, it was impossible to tell just how long these dragons had been out of their shells. It might have been days, or months. They were going to be very big, long, slender... And powerful. This one had round markings on her face, chest, and tail end. When he looked around he spotted another dragon with similar facial and body markings, though that one was much more extensive: her sire, proudly watching his young make their way. The dragonet before him cleared her throat.

"Not including you, of course," she confirmed. She blinked, the marking over her eye making it look like she hadn't, save for those eyes being red and the marking over them bearing fascinating stars-on-black. "What can you teach me?"

The question caught him off guard a bit. "I... don't really know, I hadn't thought of it. The Pillar would certainly know better than I."

"She is not who I am asking," the dragon kept her eyes on his. "But you respect this one," the dragon spotted his Matriarch, his Pillar, in the side room feeding a young hatchling. "I hope that she respects you as well."

Rao breathed out carefully, maybe tonight was going to be a lot more complicated than he expected going in...

"What will I do with you," the largest and darkest of them said, quietly. Tavu'nye tilted their head and snugged their long body around the small pair of other dragons. All three of them were very, very tired. It had been a long night, though longer slightly, for the slinky Tavu'nye. The 'night' that lasted from the moment all of the Pawns of their clutch had been created and carefully placed with the spliced parents and naturally-laid eggs... That was effectively long enough ago to have matured out of the shell and learned how to control a bit of their magic, a lot of their movement, learn speach, telepathy... History and even a little science.

The science said 'this clutch was not quite natural'. But then the magic said that too.

To Tavu'nye, they'd watched their much larger and more 'natural' siblings mature, their small sized pawn-clutch broke shell in fits and starts. Tavu always watched. They'd seen flashes of things in the shell, things which came to pass later. So they knew: when the time was right, there would be others to take care of and nurture.

But they were still just little, young, inexperienced beyond the strange cavern where their parents and sort-of-siblings resided for the duration before the Ball proper. It was time at last, and Tavu knew that one of their potential visions, one of their potential friends, was already hatched and waiting.

Best to catch up with them before they were trodden under the great feet of all the dragons here... So Tavu'nye had slipped out into the Draconic side of this huge venue, blinded a little by the magic and the stunning displays of fire breathing or lightning magic, until they spotted the little grey and checkerboard dragonet they knew they'd find.

"We have something in common," Tavu'nye had said, and it was instantly obvious what they meant. Both of the hatchlings had a parent from a particular world, even of a particular breed there! They would grow horns in the same way too. Vaiamsh tilted their head and blinked their wide, green eyes.

"I wondered why I didn't feel like leaving with them," the tiny dragonet looked toward the archway that connected the biped and draconic venues. "Did I dream about you?"

If Tavu'nye could smile like a human, they would have, "well I dreamed about you, so probably!"

That caused Vaiamsh to giggle and bounce a bit. The size difference of the pair was already evident, when one of Vaiamsh's clutch siblings wandered past on their own way around this area.

"You're so little," Tavu whispered. Then more loudly, "Do you want to see the other events? Oh - look they're doing something on both stages!"

The pair lingered around the edges of the vast cavern stage, but watched as dozens of dragons and their smaller humanoid-like counterparts interacted with musical stings and bright cast-magic backgrounds. Whether there was a story weaving around their dancing, neither of them knew. By the end of it, it looked like the draconic stage would be taken up by more calm story telling.

"I'd like to listen to those, a little," Vaiamsh asserted, "we're waiting for someone new, aren't we?"

"It's okay I'm here!" Another voice rang through the noise, startling both of them. They trotted on paws quite precisely, stood with their head raised high, and butted that head into Tavu's shoulder on arrival. "Story time is boring time, but I guess..."

So they rested, Aqa ahlTahnhadaa and Tavu'nye and Vaiamsh, as dragons told histories and embellished tales, adding magical imagery or using song to emphasize bits here and there. They watched the feats of strength that much, much larger dragons participated in, Aqa seemed very interested in those!

They ate, they conversed, they dodged as big and little dragons ran around the venue. It had started thinning out a little, there was a huge show on the stage that everyone cheered and - that clock thing lit up, ringing the midnight bell whatever that was.

Tavu'nye had held up the longest, they were much older than the hatchlings. But still tired, it had been quite the evening. Curled around their new friends, even their magical foresight was dim from exhaustion.

We will find a way to bring you where you're needed, Tavu felt a mental voice, black as night but warm. The dragon that the voice belonged to was hardly bigger than Tavu'nye would be (in fact he would be smaller), but he was obviously grown up. I will get my bond to move you when you're ready. We'll probably keep an eye on you to make sure you're all right until settled.

Denhadarvahth swished his spaded tail a bit, communicating with his bond whoever that was. They must have been human because they didn't 'get' to come here on the dragon's side. So eventually, their new home would have a trio of mostly-disparate dragons! Aqa would probably get them into trouble, Vaiamsh might be their voice of reason, and Tavu... would see any danger on the way.

Bond: Ruvyn Inaro, Voluntary Companionship
Meeting Notes: There was so much water, and so many fish. He was absolutely in his element, and Ruvyn made the most of it. Even if he wasn't the one in charge, he did bark a few orders to the folks slicing up the fish: stop smushing it, be gentle, delicate, it needs to be preserved properly to form on the top of the rice! Press it just enough to make sure it won't just fall off, don't put your whole thumb print on it!

Wilson Carver looked on with a quirked eyebrow but said nothing, seemed to shrug with agreement, and moved on to another station while the cooks rushed about. Ruvyn could sense the lobster in the big tank nearby. But they seemed a little odd, compared to the lobster that scuttled around on the sea floor actually outside. In fact they weren't from the same dimension, but Ruvyn didn't necessarily know - or care - because they were destined to become a very delicious butter-drenched delicacy. To be served with heavy bread and savory vegetables, for best effect. Wilson went off to make sure that the biscuits were browned just so.

The lobster went well, served to those who were up on the balconies overlooking the ballroom floor. The buffet table was stuffed with lots of other things, but obviously the discerning palate of VIPs and choosy eaters would always come first for Ruvyn. After serving the dinners up there and making sure that the folks who ordered it were satisfied, Ruvyn went down to the ballroom floor to gaze out at the endless depths of the ocean. (And not, as someone else did, stare out at the endless depths of the Void or Xen, as those windows were quite nearby.) There were long eels and an eel-like dragon out there just now. Ah, he also spotted some pale shelled crabs, picking up the flotsam from whatever had been devoured hundreds of meters above and slowly made its way to the sea floor.

Amazing how bottom-feeders seemed to also taste quite good.

"I think it would be hard to catch those eels, eels is the right word, right?" A strangely thick sounding voice asked. It was a dark dragon, easily visible against the white marble floor; head tilted, eyes blinking and refocusing on the chef beside them. "I bet I could swim like them. Not all the way down here, though!"

Ruvyn looked out at the sea, "yeah, you... don't want to be unprotected out there, it's miles down and the weight would crush you. You... can't really breathe under water can you?"

"Can you?" The dragonet asked, "I think I would be okay in the cold water but you're right, I like air just fine."

Could he? Breathe water? Had he ever tried? It would have been instictive to do that. While he pondered, the dragonet remained, and would remain by his side for the foreseeable future. They called themselves Jinu'nye, proudly, and also announced that it would like to sample some of that lobster...

Bond: Zanam Bashyr, Voluntary Companionship
Meeting Notes: Zanam hadn't arrived to Carramba on purpose, but he'd enjoyed being accepted by the school administration and given a place to stay while he learned how to control his dimensional travel ability. Thing was: he learned almost instantly how it was done, when the group of students were transported to the Checkerboard Ball by way of one of the school's instructors. Apparently he was a bigwig here, too, that Lane guy - spooky, with eyes the same color as Zanam's skin. But friendly, protective, and when they arrived he actually offered to help Zanam focus that power even without being in a class for it.

"We don't want our students getting lost in the multiverse," he'd said. But that wasn't going to be a problem any more for the antenna bearing boy. For two reasons. One was that the moment an 'expert' in the travel power took him along, his own power simply gelled into a very strong focus. The other... Was the dragon that tagged along beside him now.

They'd instantly hit it off, standing near an ice sculpture that had sprung up in one of the side rooms. There was punch, and lounge seats, and a big screen television that showed a better view of the Stage's acts over the course of the last few hours. A crash room, basically. And Zanam was built for speed and agility, not for endurance. It was one of the few things that he was a little embarrassed about, while the Paintball class was lots of fun and he hardly ever got hit, Zanam didn't often win matches because he'd speed around and wear himself out, get tagged when his guard was down.

"But now I have your back," the dragonet said. Though it was still quite young, and definitely a little on the bumbly side of graceful, everyone said that these dragons would be 'the biggest' at the event... even the little ones, with their weird checkerboard pattern wings, were twice the size of most of the others. Which was awesome, because now Zanam's lost surfboard wouldn't matter as much: he would have put a checkerboard pattern on one to replace it, but now he didn't need to!

"That's right," Zanam said, snugging the dragon's shoulder and dropping another piece of fish into its waiting mouth, "and I can feel your powers too, I guess it's instinct, to find others that travel."

"And make ice!" Sufy'nye proudly stated, and they both gave that icy whale-shaped blob a little more depth with a blow of their breaths combined.

Bond: Lumada, Voluntary Companionship
Meeting Notes: She didn't like that trip over the desert; their hovercraft blew a plume of dry, sandy dust behind them and reminded her that even if it was 'merely the scrub desert' they were hardly anywhere to her liking. Her home island was rainy almost year round, with a peak high enough to have snow all the time, and marshlands and rivers crossing the rest. She felt truly out of her element on the trip.

Until they reached the party itself. At which point she could simply feel the presence of all that water. To others it might have been oppressive: they were kilometers under the surface of the ocean, at the floor of the sea. Lumada felt alive. She waved her hand at Siji when he bolted off, continued distractedly waggling her fingers at the other two while they headed toward the tables, and just kept walking over to the huge arched thick window nearest. Several of these framed the Stage - how that worked she didn't know, but she could sense that a couple of these windows weren't looking out to the same sea. Nope - nope - one of them was actually showing stars, so yeah that was certainly some hefty magic at work. Still she could sense the water beyond even that strange star-filled display; they were physically here at the bottom of a sea that was not on her birth planet and not even close to her ancestors' world.

Lumada stood near the window she'd stumbled up to, watching the dark waters move with the tide. Creatures passed by on the regular: many fish, a couple sharks, octopuses, that kind of thing. Crabs scuttled away from a shark, unsuccessfully. Then ... then the dragons moved past, and she held her breath. There were half a dozen of them, various different breeds (she did have the sense to flip through the pamphlet that everyone got on entry, but none of them matched up with the clutch parents here)... It was when one of them was towing a big metal ball behind it, floating on what looked like a pillow of bubbles, that Lumada knew she had to go take that undersea tour.

And it was worth every single moment stuck in that weirdly smelling ball. The windows weren't big, but they definitely served to show all the wonders of this place, Rapture by name. A city built under the sea! Well, built not very well, as most of it was in ruins, but still they had said it was 'being renovated' by refugees... And dragons. She spotted the bigger dome where the dragons had their side of this event, oh they were breathing fire and light and ice in a contest! She wanted to keep riding this bathysphere but knew that others would want the space. So reluctantly she got off in the airlock chamber, and when she did...

There was a dragon standing there with its dark head tilted, looking right at her. Other people scooted around it, on their way back into the dance hall. But this one kept scootching left or right as Lumada attempted to pass by. She laughed, "well, little one, is there something on your mind?"

And the dragon replied, "I want to ride with you next time, can I?" It lifted its paws one by one, claws already long and curved, and plopped them back down in the puddles that formed where the splashing went over the floor. "I want to get wet. I don't think I can hold my breath outside like that yet though..."

When the Bathysphere had descended once more, carrying new passengers out for their circuit around the area outside, leaving the airlock mostly empty (there were attendants of course, to make sure that no one ... did what she just did then), Lumada glanced between the human and... whatever that one brown-skinned fellow with the four big red eyes was, and they backed up to the walls a little. The Waterbender then gently moved her hands, leaning a tiny bit, swaying with the tide. Bringing water up and around herself and the dragon with her power. She suspended the dragon with a bowl-shape, water wobbly underneath and with the dragon's tail poking out - because that was one long tail! Then she settled it back down on the floor, splashing them and the attendants, who were both open-mouthed and excited to see such a display.

Yes, it got her lovely embroidered dress wet! But it also got the dragon wet, which was apparently the most delightful thing it could possibly have wanted!

"I am sure you're the right person to go home with, now," the dragonet asserted. "I am Aita'nye, do you have ice too?" It glanced at the next group that were starting to line up and one of them had a glass with icewater in it... well, had. The ice overtook the glass, formed an arc, moved through the air thanks to the dragon.

"We do, and wherever we do wind up even if it's not there, I'm going to make sure that there's plenty of it for you to play with!"

Bond: Oadicaeth, Voluntary Companionship, see also DUMANI
Meeting Notes: The evening was nearly overwhelming to Oadicaeth, but she took it in stride. After all, she was royalty, and had to act like it! There were many things to do and see here, though, and she was particularly fond of the 'rasslin' event... So much strength in some of these dragons! She wandered over to their main observation dome, and unlike the biped-side of the place, the windows here were more like hexagonal shapes, fit onto one another like pieces of a hive. But still, many of them didn't show what was beyond in the waters outside! Some had brilliant sky, others deep space. This place was positively filled to the brim with magic.

She wanted to learn some of it. Perhaps there would be time. A bunch of dragons were practicing magic over there... oh. Did she feel a little weird sneaking into the demonstration that Myrah'care was giving? Yeah, a little. She didn't know Mystic personally, but wow Naxi'im's responses to the woman when they got here were... something. Even if he held it together like he did, she learned from that moment: that was how to phrase things with a sting, this was how to give a sorely wounding backhanded compliment.

It would be best to avoid mentioning that she was actually learning a little extra magic from Mystic's dragon bond to anyone else. Right? She blended in with the other young (and older) dragons watching their elders weave spells or demonstrating how to block out unwanted magical interference.

I can see why that would be desirable, a voice spoke into her mind. I hope you don't mind my intrusion... Wouldn't want to block out someone who wishes to return home with you. And others, they distractedly faded out from her mental ears.

Oh. That was because the dragon itself was somewhat... hazy. Even with the brilliant checkerboard looking wingsails and tail, they weren't solid enough to be called 'leathery', and sort of... drifted here and there. Never losing continuity, but also never quite sitting still. It was actually a bit entrancing.

"Pfff," another dragonet made a disparaging noise, "spells are for brainacs," they said.

That is your opinion, an incorrect one but yours to have I suppose. The first replied, and why were they allowing her to hear this?

Because we are going with you, you ought to know us, the smoke dragon bespoke more clearly, as their wings grew more solid as well. Odd that its mental voice followed suit.

"I want to see some action," the other dragonet said, the improbable splay of tiny checkerboard on the backs of its wings was dizzying. "I know some of my kin can do those things, but not me, it's not in here," they tapped a long, curved claw to their dark head, "but that's okay. That just means I don't have to worry about learning how to control it."

Might learn to control your mouth, the smoke dragon muttered, but it didn't appear to faze the other one. They were both confident and assertive, that was for sure! But they weren't apt to snipe at each other, which was good - because they would also need to not snipe at her, nor the other queens, nor most importantly at Naxi'im.

"Oh I'm not dumb enough to anger anyone important, like you," the bigger, white-socked one said. "Just point me at the thing you want to ruin."

We will be able to mess up whatever you like, privately or... loudly, not to worry. By the way, I'm Gunn Dumanish. And the loud mouth is Gatt'nye. Independent contractors. It bowed, the smoky crest on its neck faintly billowing around a little.

"Where do hatchlings learn such complicated notions," Oadicaeth muttered, "you'll both do well as my personal guard, if you like."

Bond: Open (Yakima has unbreedable AU)

Bond: Tien Zera, Voluntary Bond, potential Multibond
Meeting Notes: Tien had spent quite a bit of the party mingling, listening to other people's animated conversations, and schmoozing with a couple people that she absolutely knew were part of the event's organizers. Several of them made a clear point of doing the same: they wanted the connections that Kynn did, too. It was in no small way Tien's doing, that at least two disparate dimensions worth of trade agreements might be set up, one right 'here' in the Rookery, another somewhere distantly connected over on Paniya Island. If her discussion with Lord Holder Engel was any indication, he was as eager to establish (or, he used the term 're-establish') contacts properly with Alabaster there. It went without saying that Baeris and her Healing Den ambassador suites were gearing back up for business, but that wasn't something Tien needed to deal with herself at least not at this event. She liked speaking with the pale-haired man whose silvery white dragon was a parent at the event, he was... softer than the other: Lane was imposing even if he wasn't much taller than Engel, they were not necessarily opposites but she got the feeling that there was friction between them. It was eminently clear that no friction would interfere with their dealings with Kynn.

By nearly an hour and a half until midnight, quite a few of the delegation from Kynn were gathering their own dragons here, whether they were just 'going home to see what was fun' or, apparently, deeply dug into their soul to become permanent bonds. And that made Tien wonder: how would she deal with either? Would a dragon find life among the deals and businesses and lawyers boring or entrancing?

"I'm going with 'entrancing'," a strange pipe-like voice said, and Tien jolted, looking around. Wait - was she talking out loud to herself? "Nope, I just kinda heard it..."

On finally looking past the wide buffet table and around some of the dancers on the ballroom floor, Tien noticed that a pair of very large dragons had released their brood into the fray, and one of them, one of the engineered anyway, had found its way to Tien. Still large, bigger than half the full sized dragons in fact, but this one was narrow and long, slender and not at all pudgy like some hatchlings seemed. It had checkerboard pattering on its wings, which meant that its 'parents' weren't really the ones responsible for this.

".... Wait, um." Tien tried to backtrack. "You're saying you like what I do for a living?"

"I saw you talking to them," the dragonet nodded their long face toward that pair of men, who were chatting and drinking in a more or less friendly manner, "you all sound so smart, I think I'd like to keep listening in." That brought Tien's eyebrows up. "I don't know that I'll be any good at doing it myself," they asserted, "but I still... can I go back with you?"

"Of course you can! There are plenty of people and dragons to help get you settled, too."