Name: Nuvani Nye'aynn (new VAW nee nye AYY ann Since they are supermutt with Legend Drak bloodlines they have a given name, a clutch moniker (in this case nye standing for New Year's Eve/nt for several different pairs), an ' elide, and a parent-determined last portion (in this case females get nnay, males get aynn). If they breed with further Drak like lines, or those which have naming conventions of some sort, this should carry logically, though the complexity of the Legend Drak naming has been simplified a bit for this clutch)
Gender: Male (+preference as desired)
Size: 10' s/l/ws
Build: muscular, not burly
Physical Features: Drak-like supermutt, four legs with heavy claws, fluff on back legs; four wings two main and two butt-wings, with claws on the fore and Shatternak-styled wing barbs on hind; head has two horns, ear floof, a silky mane, multicolored sclera with pupil; tail has floof and a sharp (poison?) spine; they are furry but they are also egg-layers
*Colors: body burnished high white (white with faint metallic sheen/speckling); wings flat black with clouded high white markings; buttwings shiny silver (metallic speckled); mane and tail floof gradient from graphite black to platinum; horn, wing strut, and claws platinum, horn, wing struts and spike flat black; ear floof flat black; pupiled eyes rainbow goldenrod; note that he can make the 'clouds' and 'sparkles' on his wingsails move around, though not really change color so much as position or intensity
Stats: Strength 5, Speed 4, Endurance 6, Agility 2, Health 1, Intelligence 4
Abilities: 5 portal to specific location, sting (strong, choose effects) 4 nexus teleport, geneshift (offspring only), color shift*; 3 local teleport, telepathy; 2 verbal speech, acid spit (weak)
Parents: Merajanay + Bales apa Larsis'Iann
Bond: Shan, Voluntary Companionship (not bonded, not really sponsored, just 'hi, friendo')
Meeting Notes: The party was certainly ... a party. Not where he wanted to be, to say the least. He had to admit that everyone who'd forced him to come was doing their level best to keep him either distracted, occupied, or otherwise not attempting to flee. Was he supposed to be grateful for them for that?

He saw Shy around, but... it was just too crowded around him to bother approaching, at least just yet. Early in the evening, energy was high with those who actually wanted to be in that press and surge.

The food was pretty good, he enjoyed it. And the view of - well, everywhere that you could see from those grand ballroom windows? There were multiple worlds in sight, not merely the undersea venue's exterior. Fascinated by this, he did spend quite a bit of time ignoring the dancing going on behind him on the big ballroom floor, and instead looking through each of them in turn. This one had the sea floor - and a fair few dragons looking into the windows with curiosity - this other had a foggy beach as seen from under a long, old, wooden pier. Another still showed deep space, at least until someone yelled something on the Stage nearby and that view overtook the rest of the windows with space moving rapidly to another location... Were the windows just projectors?

No, he held his hand on the glass, it was very solid and definitely a window. But what they showed was certainly affected by magic, technology, or perhaps something else. He heard Ilaerios shooing away some folks who appeared to be heading over to drag the man to the dance floor. Earlier, he'd done the same thing when a bunch of dragons hatched and people thought he was among the hatchlings, or something.

About three hours until midnight, however, his bodyguards and friends vanished into the dance floor and ... more than one came out of it with a dragonet held aloft by their strong arms or vanishing into the crowd with new cohorts. Great. That left Widget to distract him, and a much bigger grumpy barrier between him and the dancers and revelry was needed. Shan decided to abandon the big windows, up close anyway, and head to one of the balconies with another plate of dessert. Up there it seemed a lot quieter though no less stunning of a view.

In fact from there, he could see the patterns and formations of the dancing, which did distract him a little. He drew in a long breath, sighed it out.

I remember you, bespoke a voice. It was quiet but sure, feminine, familiar, but in a distant manner.

He didn't exactly bristle, because the voice was pleasant. Shan turned and then did a double take. He definitely recognized the outline, the fluff, the spines. "I... I don't know you but..."

We were both ... young, she gave a rumbling chuckle. This one, you missed him when I brought my clutch out. He wants to meet you, you know.

Under the silvery dragoness' main wing was a small very brightly white dragon with big paws. He'd be big, surely. He was fluffy, and - oh, now he remembered that clutch as it was brought across the dance floor, they were more... wet? Not really freshly hatched but definitely not fully preened and alert like this one. His mother nudged him with her lower wings. Go on, introduce yourself, she encouraged.

The dragonet took a few steps, not too many because the balcony booth was suited to humanoid-sized creatures. It's nice to meet you, he bespoke, I'm Nuvani, I wanted to go watch the whales with you earlier but everyone was in the way.

That caused Shan's eyebrows to go up, "Really? Well... I ... suppose?"

Don't just suppose, go do that! Alarith suggested, but from where, Shan wasn't sure. He thought he detected something in the mental background... dragons ... playing dice games? Wait, it was a Bunkers and Badasses game? What was that?

Merajanay's gentle chuff brought him back to the present, he'd become used to 'being asked to do things' after Alarith came to him. He dedicated his attention to the brightly white and black dragonet, wove down to the windows once more.

Name: Tribirth (TRY birth, those with a -TH ending to their name take more strongly after their Pernese mother, though markings and powers may carry in the offspring and allow for 'word names' to also pass)
Gender: Female (+preference as desired)
Size: 6'4" s/l/ws (sturdy green)
Build: Sturdy, strong
Physical Features: Pernese/Pyrrhan, four legs, two wings, all with claws; strong neck; spaded tail with double row of spine/nubs; hide with scaled armor (spliced features carry as-is to any Pernese, may lapse to scaled with similar pair); face sharp with back-pointing horns, external ears, spike crest; eyes may be faceted or pupiled
Colors: body marbled light and dark grey; belly marbled light grey and white; face and limb armor marbled large speckles of high white and high black; wingsails marbled high black and soft white; spines and body ridges marbled high white with light grey; horns marbled black and dark grey; claws light; pupiled eyes red
Stats: Strength 5, Speed 2, Endurance 6, Agility 2, Health 6, Intelligence 5
Abilities: 6 nexus teleport, stealth; 4 local teleport, verbal speech; 3 unassisted firebreath*;2 telepathy, lifespan *firebreath is fully natural and requires no ignition, nor would it cause this female to have reduced clutching potential
Parents: Amrith + 50 Shades of Grey
Bond: Ilaerios, Sponsorship (potentially will multibond to dragons that are around Ilaerios, as she is half Pernese after all)
Meeting Notes: Why wouldn't Shan just... participate? Oh well, Ilaerios knew full well that tonight would be challenging for everyone. When the Death Court dragons showed up, particularly, but... He, like others, held his tongue and held his hand clear of his weapons. There might be time for that later.

What was disturbing to him, was that those Death Court dragons... would be bringing their own bonds or sponsors home. What then? Would these beautiful hatchlings that were being brought out fall to his sword and strength some day? That idea made him a little queasy. Because they were quite amazing, all of them so far. It was at three hours until midnight when a rather unusually disparate pair brought their offspring out - he recognized that one of them was scaled and the other had hide, so their mixing must have been scientific or magical.

You are correct! A mental voice pierced his own, they said we are 'modestly spliced' and I do not know what that means, but I know it means we're here now! She was all shades of black and white and grey, speckled and marbled in a fascinating variety. Her mottled white face had the beginnings of small black horn nubs, she would be ... really quite dramatic when she grew up.

The dragonet seemed to be proud of that thought. May I come with you? I can help hunt, I can hide and spring from the shadows! To demonstrate, she darted behind a dancer, who tripped, and then showed up again behind Ilaerios with a nudge to his hip.

He picked her up, she'd be strong for sure, "I will be happy to show you around when we get home!"

Name: Gyocada (GEE oh CAW dah, as above)
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 3'9" s/l/ws
Build: slinky
Physical Features: (as above)
Colors: White Pawn 6, light grey body with mottled black point marks on face, headknob ends, paws, tail tip, and wing fingertips; wingsails rich shiny black on backs, high contrast checkerboard undersides, and on tail tip; neck ridge shiny black; claws and horns white; faceted dark red eyes
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence (as above)
Abilities: (as above)
Parents: donor clutch Calietosth + Dairruinth
Bond: Shion Sponsorship, Multibond with Niocada and possibly others
Meeting Notes: Now this was a party! Shion entered the big ballroom and passers by could have sworn he had stars in his eyes. He had to pace himself as he wandered the floor. There were people he wanted to talk to, tilted an ear to their corner and waited for a good moment to nudge in, got the information he wanted to tuck away, and moved on. There were dragons aplenty, and as each clutch of them were paraded across the ballroom he greeted them in his draconic form. And food and drink? Covered, amazing, outstanding.

Shion spent a while gazing out the big arched windows that framed the Stage, baffled at the way the dimensions blended together seamlessly on the outside as well as brought together such a staggering array of beings on the inside. Those beings... well, they did include some dragons that any sane person might have carefully excluded. But then he realized: no, no, neutral ground was neutral ground. They weren't stirring the pot, it could have gone badly if they hadn't been allowed to come. He did keep his eye on them. After all, they certainly were keeping their eyes on everyone here.

As he did a pass around the casino and karaoke bar he had the opportunity to also chip in on the sly to a conversation regarding another attendee - someone in another part of the ballroom thankfully - and delighted in the chittering gossip and speculation. He didn't even know them; he didn't have to, they had described that guy perfectly.

He realized there was a tattoo parlor or something nearby, he could smell that oddly distinct aroma of antiseptic on a few passers-by, fresh ink was very distinct in its whiff. At least in his semi-draconic form, it was easy to detect. His humanoid nose, not so much. He did smell more of those amazing fajitas being prepared when he was closer to the ballroom's bar, and hung out while that was piled onto the buffet table. He'd have to work off some of this stuff - maybe he'd fly around the ballroom's big ceiling area, there were people and dragons doing it already. As long as they didn't decide to drag him down to the dance floor, that was a nope.

Why not dance? Inquiring minds want to know!

He glanced around mouth half-full of beef strips and red peppers.

You'd look so cool dancing! It's not like other dragon people aren't doing it.

Two minds, distinct but... not. He swallowed the spicy food, unabashedly licked his lips and face clean (advantage: dragon), and gazed around. His practiced eye caught the presence of new dragons on the ballroom floor, but as had been the case for quite a few of these presentations, the dancing never really stopped for them, just got out of their way.

The clock says it's almost two hours until midnight! But you don't want to stay that late, why? Can we meet this person? Are they fun? Are they a dragon, or not a dragon? Why aren't they here? Can we come?

The endless barrage of questions - he'd heard such a thing before, mostly while shopping or dealing with tourists and families. Finally he saw the sources of these chipper and amused voices. Two dragonets in specific - two knockoffs if that's what they were calling these smaller-sized ones. Both shades of grey, one shinier than the other but they were still obviously from the same genetic line.

Gyocada, one of them said, with their black-nosed head held high.

Niocada, the other replied, butting their own white-marked face into their sibling's air space. But instead of starting a squabble as Shion had seen plenty of times ("he's touching me!" "you started it!") the other one pressed up against their cohort and they presented themselves as a team.

... A good team. Shion's eyes narrowed with a grin. As he led the pair to the hatchling feed area, he began answering their questions one by one.

Name: Funaar Sheva (foo NAR she VAH, a mixture of the parents names, as apparently is now tradition for the dad's line; if bred into more complicated naming, readopt mother's ' or any other changes)
Gender: Male (+preference as desired)
Size: 11'11" hip biped/l/ws
Build: very muscular
Physical Features: Azon/Halloween Mutt, bipedal though often can run on all fours, with four legs and two main wings, with large claws on all; small hip-wings (nonfunctional), split-ended tail with spikes and poison stingers; angular head with external ears, sharp back swept horns, webbed head and neck spines; pupiled eyes
Colors: Body medium grey with high white markings at shoulder and rump, face marked in a mask of flat black; wingsails gradient between high black and medium grey; spines silver, webbing flat black, claws and horns black; eyes pupiled rust orange
Stats: Strength 6, Speed 3, Endurance 6, Agility 5, Health 4, Intelligence 2
Abilities: 6 local and nexus teleport; 5 telepathy, infernal senses; 4 void portal; 3 flight strength, magic breath weapon (average strength, you choose effects), verbal speech; 2 chameleon colors (inactive) poison spines (weak, you choose effects) 1 (spirt magic inactive )
Parents: Sheng Stac'ver + Vassago Thain
Bond: Sapphire Tide Serenade, Voluntary Companionship
Meeting Notes: It had turned out that Shan didn't actually require the bodyguards for the whole night. Well, everyone kept their eye on him, because that's what they were actually here to do, but.

That got to be a bit difficult when each of them started pairing off with dragons here and there... Both for keeping an eye on him and keeping an eye on their coworkers. In fact most of the night had gone by in a whirl of music, gambling and winning, gossiping in the balconies, gambling and losing, and watching all the varied clutches of dragonets being brought out.

Most of the night. But not all of it. It was around an hour to go, though what an 'hour' felt like here was definitely not the same as any they'd known - and they'd known a lot of hours. In that last hour before the black and silver clock struck midnight, Seren got the strange feeling that they were being watched. It was supposed to be the other way around!

They helped raise a toast to the newly minted dragon pairs, and were going to head back in to the casino after hearing there would be another stand-up act on the small stage. Offworld standup was quite telling of their social systems, after all, you could tell a lot about a world or their social climate by what jokes were in circulation.

Serenade did not reach the casino. Because a sleek strong form with wings and tails got in the way. The eyes were like copper pieces without tarnish, under a mask of black and grey.

What is 'stand up comedy' and why are you interested in it? When there's me? The dragon then proceded to sniff Sapphire Tide Serenade up and down, thoroughly, even going as far as lifting their arm, pushing under their knee, snuffling behind their ears. The dragon... stood up and reached those ears with ease. Even as a freshly hatched youngling.

Seren let a grin spread on their lips. "That, my friend, could be stand-up comedy all by itself..." They held the masked face of the dragonet in a strong hand, "but let's go watch it anyway, you might learn something new."

Everything is new, the dragon commented. I'm new. Funaar Sheva is my name. I'll be interrupting you to ask questions.

If only there was a way to record that conversation for later, Seren laughed to themself!

Name: Frevanath (freh vah NATH, -TH ending for Pernese descendants)
Gender: Female (+preference as desired)
Size: 11'4" s/l/ws
Build: burly, taut
Physical Features: Technically Pernese, four legs and two wings, horned head with small external ears, faceted eyes, sharp spikes with webbing between on neck and hips/tail, tail fin similar, large conical claws
Colors: body noise-laced high black; wingsails unmarked chrome (highly reflective white, sharply shadowed black); spikes flat high white, with webbing of chrome; faceted red eyes
Stats: Strength 6, Speed 4, Endurance 1, Agility 5, Health 4, Intelligence 4
Abilities: 6 local and time teleport; 5 telepathy, assisted firebreath; 4 nexus teleport; 3 foresight (localized prediction); 2 verbal speech; 1 empathy
Parents: Thaljath + Olelikoth
Bond: Ritual Hunter In Ivory, Impressed
Meeting Notes: If it could be said that this was a hotbed of potential disaster, Ivory would probably have said it. She kept a perch on the balcony overlooking the main dance floor, moved to the side of the room as a few groups arrived on foot and watched them for any suspicious items or posture. Headed back up to the balcony and watched with very keen eyes and a faint sneer as those Death court dragons arrived. Weirdly, though... It really looked like the human mage and her friends were the ones ready to start shit with those spike-covered dragons and not the other way around. Not... this time.

Several of the hosts defused that situation nicely, long before anyone got near her charge. Not that Shan even seemed to respond to a lot of that. Distracted properly he'd be just fine. Ivory didn't want distractions in the wrong sense. Didn't want him feeling like he needed to bolt.

There was a brawl with laughing, drunken participants off to one side of the casino room - no need to break that up, it was not going to interrupt the events on the ballroom floor. Also she faintly heard ... explosions? Mad, cackling laughter and gunfire? What the hell kind of party was going on back in that one hallway?

The noises tended to come and go over the course of the evening, and she did certainly detect the smell of gunpowder (and booze, lots of both, what a great combination...) on a few of the revelers. But it was reasonably early in the night when several of her own peers went and hooked up with dragons? It looked like each of them was proud or pleased or confounded - even Shan. They were here to...

Were you not here to find me? The voice in her head seemed a bit sad, but still confident. Ivory bit her lips together, furrowed her brows.

So now it was her turn, was it?

I hope so, that voice again. So it was reading her thoughts? Was that typical?

Well it is typical for me, the dragon bespoke, now more mockingly snide than offended, and with a distinct feminine strength.

Ritual Hunter In Ivory had to make her way back to the ballroom floor from the balcony, it was definitely coming from there. Had another clutch been released? Apparently, though there had been little fanfare.

We are making our choices carefully, we did not want to be overwhelmed. There was a pause, Ivory felt like this dragon was plotting. Come find me. Make me think you're worthy of me.

She had to move carefully around the room, avoiding being grabbed by the dancers, particularly the batch of rabbit folk who had inexplicably expanded their number over the course of the evening doing that loud 'thump dance' of theirs (something something breeding like rabbits maybe, but there were definitely more of them in their circle now than they'd had at first). Ivory took her time, scanning around the area. There were clumps of people gathering around some new dragonets, but none of them were unattached. Oddly she felt compelled to give a little ping as a query. It felt right, like something you'd do if a dragon had latched on to your mind, right?

There was a faint giggle, which rapidly changed back to a more collected It is, a good observation.

Sure enough, Ivory was able to then determine, not by the windows, not on that side of the room at all. Behind the buffet tables? There was that bar with the raccoon woman tending it, and oddly enough she had a broad grin as Ivory passed by.

She almost missed the biggest sign of all, the fact that the black and white 'tapestry' behind the counter ... was moving. Ivory nodded to get permisison from the raccoon to head behind her bar. And as she did so, that tapestry fluttered downwards with a relieved sigh. My wings are tired now, I'm sorry.

"... Why are you sorry? You did a great job of blending in, and you challenged me to ... well, to use senses I didn't even know I had."

The dragoness was very boldly marked, with brilliant shiny chrome metallic looking wings, and deepest night body. Her red eyes glimmered.

I think I have chosen well. I am Frevanath, she introduced herself with a polite, if slightly tired, nod. Bright horn buds were spaced down her neck and upper tail, and her claws were already thick and sturdy.

"It's a pleasure," Ivory said, "I... think you're very hungry. And... are those your wings that ache? I can feel that?" She would eventually learn how to filter out the dragon's mind and emotions from her own, but would always now enjoy its presence.

Name: Eadberht Zwitterion (EED burt zwi TEE ree on, last name for the entire clutch regardless of status; name is from chemistry, a molecule or ion having separate positively and negatively charged groups)
Gender: Male (+preference as desired)
Size: 12'6" s/l/ws* bipedal form 6'3" at shoulder, just under 8' full head/fin height
Build: Long, ferret-like
Physical Features: Hathian-Whorling, with four legs the front two having wing struts, long sharp claws, very long bare tail, long angular face with eye armor blending into neck fins, a fluffy mane, shoulder armor with similar fins; their mane can stand up if needed; humanoid / bipedal form is pretty much that same dragon only on more plantigrade styled feet and legs, a shorter head/face is the only other notable change
Colors: Body high white shiny with markings on face and down neck and belly, to mid-tail, of extremely reflective chrome; grey wingsails; soft white mane; high black shiny fins; flat black armor; chrome colored claws; faceted yellow eyes
Stats: Strength 4, Speed 2, Endurance 5, Agility 4, Health 6, Intelligence 4
Abilities: 6 local teleport, sleep breath (very strong, can induce hallucinations or cause coma if desired), telepathy, sonic manipulation (adept at 'speaking' by modifying their own chirps and draconic voice); 5 shapeshift^, computer control; 4 nexus teleport, acid spit (strong, you choose effects) ^ note that this dragon is able to shape shift, and while their siblings may be able to size-shift, none of this dragon's offspring can inherit that trait from his side (not saying they may never inherit it from another parent, just that it is not present in any way in his dna now)
Parents: Evocation Zone + Errick
Bond: Mister Black, Voluntary bond, will begin picking up other dragons to form a posse... a pack, um, a group? a following, a mob, take your pick
Meeting Notes: Even if 'Mister Black' had spent some of the night actively enjoying the music or casino hijinks, or people watching from the balconies, or looking outside at mind-boggling distant worlds, something kept nagging at him. He kept seeing, mostly in the corner of his eye, but then outright visibly in the hallway beyond the casino, an older man with a broom. His appearance kept changing, though; at first he thought he was wearing a tux, but that flickered briefly into a plaid flannel unkempt shirt and work overalls, then to what looked like a much younger man in a dark suit very similar to his own. But always with that broom, always in his hands, and almost always shuffling with it either in motion or as if he had to lean on it. It was odd that he could lean on this broom, since it was seemingly a typical house-wares upright bristle broom; a T-bar broom would make more sense than just falling over with a tuft, but still he could easily rest his elbow on the end of the bar, and give himself a breather.

At last Black really couldn't stand the suspense any longer, and when the man appeared both 'young' and 'sweeping', Black moved near him. He was almost afraid that the guy would vanish or be angry at an interruption. But he really didn't look like he was staff here. There were other, younger and busier attendants who rapidly cleaned up spilled ashtrays or drinks, and chased whatever footprints might have come in from the entry areas away with their mops or whisk brooms. Clearing his throat, Mister Black stood patiently, and was at last rewarded when the man straightened, tamping the broom a couple times before turning.

The man muttered something, he didn't look like he minded the interruption, but his voice was old and a bit tired. "I'm sorry I didn't ... catch that?" Black said, "but erm. Did ... you need help?" He did have his own mop held at the ready in a sling on his back... With that, though, the old man gave a genuine round-cheeked smile. His shake of that frizzy head was followed by a nod toward the hallway's darker end. It was dark enough that the dragon standing there was positively glowing.

Black suspected that the grunt that followed meant something like, "no but they might," so that's how it took it. Carefully moving toward the hallway, he saw that white shape begin to move toward him as well. Shining, blazing white, with black fins and grey wingsails, the dragon seemed almost the polar opposite of Black's traditional namesake. It was when he stood up on two legs and nearly reached Black's chest even as a hatchling that the suited man was pretty impressed.

I can help you keep things nice and tidy, the dragon spoke telepathically. Don't worry about raising me, I'm pretty self sufficient already. I've even collected some friends.

It did seem a little odd that this dragon, his shape echoed in the helpful ushers and guides running around the ballroom all night, wasn't as chipper and eager-sounding as those smaller ones, but instead was confident and sincere. When the damargons appeared from behind the white dragon's wing-arms, Black knew that this dragonet was absolutely going home with him...

Name: Dexo'nye (DEX oh nye, 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, knockoffs and promoted pawns also carry the naming regardless of their breedability)
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 6' s/l/ws - note that these knockoffs are the largest of the hatching, running almost the same size as a smallish Pernese
Build: long and lean
Physical Features: 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
Colors: Black Pawn 8, a medium grey body with gritty scaled black face, and underside neck, chest, and upper tail, and sparkly white legs/feet; backs of wings are tiny checkerboard, undersides larger checkers; horns and claws shiny grey; eyes pupiled blue
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence average 3 in most, 5 speed, and with one 2 and one 4 your choice
Abilities: 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 (most powers 3 average with one being 5, and another 4)* note that this dragon specifically does travel via the Void, and can 'soak' darkness-based magic from an area
Parents: donor cluch Smirch + Nekeel
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."

Name: Zilan Turun (zee LAN TOO roon, Turun namesake will inherit in offspring or be modified by partner's naming convention accordingly)
Gender: Female (+preference as desired)
Size: 5' s/l/ws
Build: average, long
Physical Features: Tattoo/Kijana mutt, four legs, two wings with feathers and membranes, head has small horns and external ears, pupiled eyes, lots of sparkly floof, paw pads and claw feet, long tail with feathers, orb with magic; requirement of being tattooed (or... temporary tattooed)
Colors: body shiny smoke grey; wing membranes shiny eggshell white, feather leading edge shiny smoke grey, main feathers shiny high white, wing primaries iridescent light grey; floof sparkly high black; horns and claws light; orb eggshell white; eyes pupiled indigo blue
Stats: Strength 3, Speed 4, Endurance 5, Agility 4, Health 4, Intelligence 6
Abilities: 6 divination (localized); 5 verbal speech, light breath weapon (strong, choose effects); 3 sense magic, plane shift, spellcasting; 2 construct, telepathy; 1 paradise (note that Paradise and Construct are both weak, so they will rely on it only to heal or rest, and can only offer her bond Caetal glimpses into it rather than 'fully inviting' her inside it)
Parents: Sta Turun + Shiyo
Bond: Caetal Peregrin-Valar, Voluntary Bond
Meeting Notes: Oh how magical this place was! They'd arrived as a group, humanoid in appearance, even though two of them were anything but human. Tien almost immediately started working on those interdimensional deals, and that was their cue to do so as well. But they'd hardly gotten ten strides into the venue (enough to see the brilliant gleam of the ballroom beyond the entry) when Caetal felt a strange tingling mental ping. Go to this hall, go ahead, check it out. She nodded gently toward Raren, urging him to continue into the main chamber without her. It was as if a gleaming lure continued to flicker in her mind's eye: take the long hall, enter this chamber.

Why did she simply and blindly obey the urge? Something felt very right about it, perhaps, rather than feeling 'wrong'. It was almost as if lines of power were drawing arrows toward a specific place. But ... also this place? Her senses told her that it didn't really exist, it wasn't as ... solid? Permanent? as the rest of the oddly assembled and equally magical venue. Yet here it was, a space more or less suited to a humanoid's size and configuration, with a sturdy looking chair that was probably the most mundane thing she'd seen so far.

She had to 'turn off' her more magical senses, it became almost overwhelming pretty quickly. So with more physical eyes she saw coalescing matter or energy in the form of slender arm-like extensions from the walls. With physical ears, she heard ... chanting? not song-like, but ritual magic, words that eluded her but the sound was soothing; there were other fainter sounds, echoes of a sort of machine clicking. With her human-like nose, she detected a tang of medical alcohol, but also very strongly scented incense and herbs for healing. All of those things combined to make her aware that as she sat in that chair, long sticks and a pot of ... ink? appeared nearby. She was sitting for a tattoo?

Well wouldn't that be something to see when she wasn't humanoid? Her dress's arm somehow wasn't in the way, but would cover the area when put back down.

She would have to wait a while, there was exquisite but momentary pain as the long bamboo-rod needles pierced skin and then embedded ink. But it was all magical as well, she didn't need to defend from this invasive process. Caetal wondered what it was, what would it look like? On her left arm, a smallish palm-sized image formed. It was a simple shape, an elegant upright cone with a bulb on top, and above it, a sphere. It was more dark than pale, but the white ink somehow managed to show on top of her pale skin. Some slight filigree around it indicated a base, delineated edges.

When it was finalized and wiped clean, refreshing salves put on and a strange plastic bandage over it for healing, she made note: this was a chess Pawn, wasn't it? Well, the Checkerboard Ball certainly was keeping with its theme!

**

She'd walked back into the ballroom with confidence though favoring her left arm a little. She'd hold a drink in that hand but swapped out, thanks to the ache. But that didn't really stop her from enjoying the night! There were drinks and dining, and so many people to talk to. She caught a glimpse of some of the hosts, noting how the black-haired woman kept having to shoo her tall and dark skinned partner's hand from her rear. Tien happily proclaimed she'd set up appointments for arrivals to discuss their trade agreements, the evening was already proving very profitable.

Time ticked by, somehow - it was as if no time at all had elapsed while she was getting that tattoo, but still passed here in the ballroom with a somewhat regular pace. The dancers on the ballroom floor would part now and then to allow dragonets to walk through and find their friends or companions. One even found Tien, and by the time it was nearly midnight, so had Raren!

More magic pings alerted her to something, strangely familiar magic. Her arm itched like mad, she'd never even felt something like that before. (Plus in her draconic form she could just... y'know. scratch it with her hind foot.) Now though, it was shimmering in her eyes, and the pawn tattoo ... became a dragon. The same shiny grey shade, with brilliant white feathers (huh, familiar!) and sparkling black fur fringe. It almost felt like... like a drained tub, she'd been the tub, or maybe the water.

"You were my power supply!" The dragonet said, chipper and happily as the clock began its countdown. "I chose you for your open heart, and open mind. I think you understand things better because you listen to different opinions. I am Zilan Turun, if you'll have me I would love to come with you." This dragon was still young looking, still 'freshly emerged', but definitely not as tiny and fragile as the hatchlings that surrounded many new bonds. Together they watched the clock strike midnight, and celebrated with their companions!

Name: Cynna Moonshield (SIGH nah, Moonshield is the clan's name for this event and clutch, taken by full Pieces, and will inherit as a family name or be modified based on partners if needed)
Gender: Male (+preference as desired)
Size: 7'7" s/l/ws
Build: slinky, noodle
Physical Features: Drakkari / Dragonstake mutt, high bodied and long legs, four legs and two wings, with claws on legs only; conical face with small horn on nose, and fanned head fins, otherwise smooth until the tip of very long narrow tail in a small spade; hide that is very shiny, pupiled eyes
Colors: body metallic blue steel grey (yeah it's pretty blue innit), wingsails sparkly burnished silver, fins and tail spade pearlescent white; claws and horn white; blue eyes
Stats: Strength 2, Speed 6, Endurance 1, Agility 5, Health 3, Intelligence 4
Abilities: 6 share magic, freeze breath; 5 local and moonlink teleport (can move longer distances under moon light), unassisted firebreath; 4 empathy; 3 moonmagic, nexus teleport; 2 verbal speech; 1 telepathy
Parents: Rakki + Sasazik
Bond: Raren Tuhlael, Voluntary Bond
Meeting Notes: Raren had wondered where Caetal had gone off to early in the evening. They'd barely even gotten there and, what, she had to pee already? He wouldn't say that out loud of course! But she showed back up smelling a touch odd (maybe they were smoking in the girls room) (which was kind of funny if he'd known the tune that one of the performing groups were playing just then, "Smokin' in the boys room" it was by name) so they got back to business and fun for the rest of the evening.

It was grand, though a touch on the intimidating side, even if he was built to impress and there to guard his partner. She did the talking, he did the watching. And watching dazzled him time and time again when dragons came walking through the main ballroom. Eventually he would politely excuse himself to watch as they were shown off, that one time from the balcony as Caetal was talking to Baeris and Mystic, and another when they were coming out from the casino for a short break, oh how lovely these shiny dragonets were! Quite a few of them had those bright checkerboard patterns, similar to those framing many of the banners and the tablecloths around the chamber.

By the time the big clock had nearly reached midnight, it seemed that hardly any of the tables or groups scattered through the venue lacked a dragon or two or three. Even some people arriving from their own delegation, that would be fun sorting out when they went home.

"Well you can't go home without me," the voice was inexpert, high, and followed by a bit of a hissing whine. "I'm hungry now!"

He hadn't missed their entrance, no, it was practically minutes before midnight and one of the final clutches had been presented, they would be so gorgeous and shiny, big wings and long bodies. And one of them sat before Raren's feet, slightly leaning over to catch himself with his floppy wing imbalancing him. He was unsteady now, but he was just freshly hatched, wasn't he?

"I was, and I'm hungry," he asserted again. He hardly followed the black and white rule, here, with that brilliantly blue-steel shade to his hide, but when the light hit it the color went nearly white, or the shadow into deepest grey.

"What a handsome young thing you are," Raren said, "I'll help you find that food, do you think you can wait for another ... three minutes?"

The dragonet tilted his head, "why?"

"Everyone will be cheering and celebrating, and we can celebrate by getting you fed!"

Name: Bokeyneth (bow KEY neth, standard -TH ending name for Pernese dragon, name is a play on his appearance)
Gender: Male (+preference as desired)
Size: 5'10" s/l/ws
Build: lanky, strong chested
Physical Features: Pernese with embellishments, four legs and two wings all with short sharp claws; long muscular tail with spade; dished head with knobs having short horns, and a tall segmented crest, faceted eyes
Colors: body graphite grey with brilliant sparkling silver dot markings that almost seem to move like champagne bubbles; wingsails strong silver metallic with high white speckling that also... seem to move with light, underside is more dull than dorsal; crest and tail spade diamond white speckled with tiny obsidian bubbledots; claws and horns light; eyes faceted yellow
Stats: Strength 6, Speed 1, Endurance 2, Agility 2, Health 3, Intelligence 5
Abilities: 6 telekinetics; 5 time and nexus teleport; 3 unassisted firebreath, verbal speech, local teleport; 2 flitter control; 1 emotion control, telepathy
Parents: Laeurath + Juth
Bond: Tyrnus, Voluntary Multbond
Meeting Notes: Even if he hadn't been specifically invited, or at least, he hadn't thought so, Tyrnus wasn't one to pass up the opportunity to mingle and enjoy a grand party. There were definitely forces at work here that were well beyond his typical 'delivery location' expectations, the place absolutely reeked of magical mixtures. What didn't reek? Dancing with exotic people, whose own appearances varied as much as his from virtually anyone he'd had regular contact with. Unlike quite a few of the attendees here, who obviously gravitated toward each other due to status or employment, Tyrnus came at it all as though it was a grand vacation.

Should it have surprised him that the casino accepted his currency? On looking around, that would be 'nope'; imagine the disaster if they had to do conversions? Whose gold was worth more than someone else's latinum? It was weird seeing the money that left his own pockets change into another coin on being picked up by the winner of that one dice game.

There was music, he liked some of it, other pieces not so much. The dance floor was broad and active, and because it was still around three hours until midnight, people weren't yet too tired to join dance circles or energetic jigs. They did have to pause a little now and again, and this time it was because a massive number of small (some downright teensy) dragonets were being shown out from one of the arched hatching areas. That a ball room had hatching areas, that too was weird and wonderful.

His eyes had tried to concentrate on how those hatching areas - or the other hallways, or even the massive windows - connected to the rest of the ballroom, but in that process he wound up getting a touch dizzy. It wasn't the booze, though he'd enjoyed plenty of that along with the finger foods and even a nice plate of stir fry. But now, he looked around as his pair of dragons seemed to be snickering at each other behind his back. "What, what is it?" They said nothing, acted like nothing had happened, nope nothin here but us chickens.

Chicken was sounding pretty good right then. And not one of those chicken-strip or bbq-hot-wing buckets they had over at the one buffet table. No, a chicken, whole, raw.

"Why am I so cursed hungry?" Tyrnus grumbled, and then had to do a double take. A dragon was sitting by his existing pair, emulating their postures and they were encouraging him. Him? "Oh."

"oh!" The dragon squawked, beak-like muzzle dancing with bright spots. In fact, everything on this dragon was dancing with bright spots. Or dark ones, there was not a single place on the dragon's hide, wings, or other leathery space that was just one color. This hungry little guy seemed like he was keeping himself silent with difficulty, as if he heard a joke he knew the punchline to. At last, he blurted out, "I'm Bokeyneth and I want to eat! I mean I want to come with you! Please? Your friends already like me!"

If you squint you can almost make the dots come into focus, Ahina commented. Their companion gave a draconic chuckle.

We do like him, he's shiny.

Tyrnus did squint, almost on command when the dragon said it, but it only served to make the already-dappled dragon a blur of silver and grey. "I suppose if you've already adopted the little guy we have no choice but to find some chicken..."

Name: Zangesu (zawn GUESS oo, indicating the knockoff version of a Pernese -TH ended dragon, even if promoted to full Piece, they will retain the GESU name)
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 3'3" s/l/ws
Build: a touch chonky
Physical Features: Pernese, four legs, two wings, all with claws; head knobs and soft short neck ridge, tail spade, faceted eyes on some, pupils on others
Colors: White Pawn 2, brightly white body with a hint of grey, and bold checkerboards on wingsails and crest/tail spade (bigger on wings); claws light, faceted dark blue eyes
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence average 2 in each, with one 5 and one 1 your choice
Abilities: can basically use all of the standard Pernese parent set, modest but varied, max 5 power level for teleportation, 2 otherwise for nexus senses and communication, telepathy, and unassisted firebreath
Parents: Gertith + Surrith
Bond: Zellarel, Impression
Meeting Notes: The troupe had been enjoying both the main Stage performances and ballroom dancing, as well as the more intimate casino venue. The 'rock and roll' played in the smaller stage was intriguing, occasionally raunchy, sometimes touching. Zellarel was complimented numerous times over the course of the evening, and not just because of her striking appearance. She'd joined in an athletic dance (it wasn't quite a mosh pit, there was too much magic preventing that kind of slosh and rumble of bodies here) and left it laughing and a touch exhausted. She would head to the main banquet area, that would certainly hit the spot.

She, like the others, had definitely seen numerous dragonets being brought through the area, but had been in the casino singing with a drunken but skilled man in a ditty that had lyrics that transcended dimensions for a while, and the dragons didn't usually head toward that area. So she nearly tripped over a very small, rather... broad pale hided dragonet when she left the hallway.

"Oh I am so so sorry," she said, and it was likely her innate grace that allowed her to not trample the dragon or even bump it.

I heard you in there, but I did not want to interrupt! A voice came into her mind, clear as the moon's light on a dark night. May I come with you? I am Zangesu, and you are mine. I have been waiting a little while. I'm hungry!

This young dragonet had been sitting here for how long?! "Oh I'm so sorry little one!" She scooped it up, heavier than it looked and ... did look a bit heavy... She felt in her mind and the pit of her stomach that the dragon was hungry - and had been there... for at least an hour, by the image in its mind of that clock on the wall. It was now around three hours to midnight, and most of the troupe had indeed missed the entrance of this one's brood.

I will help you keep on your toes, and keep you strong, the dragon assured her as she brought it to the feeding area, I like how well you dodged me.

Name: Mizmami (miss MOMMY, the -MAMI name replaces the parental Pernese -TH, regardless of promotion to full Piece)
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 4'3" s/l/ws
Build: sleek, muscular
Physical Features: Pernese, hide skin with possible iridescence resembling scaling, four legs and two wings with large claws on all, boxy head with knobs and a low neck ridge, fleshy ridge on rump and high tail, split ended tail, faceted eyes
Colors: Black Pawn 1, main body is incredibly rich shiny black, with medium subdued grey underside from chin to mid-tail; wings have checkerboards larger on the back and smaller underneath, and back/neck ridges in small checkerboard; eyes are faceted peachy-pink, claws white
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence average 2 in all, with one at 4
Abilities: average 3 in all normal Pernese powers; though unless promoted to full Pawn they cannot use special clutch abilities (search, time, verbal) and only will ever have one of those three (so choose wisely what you write about :) )
Parents: Maranth + Minath
Bond: Minviah Cemi, Impressed
Meeting Notes: They'd danced, they'd sung, but it was a foregone conclusion that they should bring Minviah to the casino - and just let her bet. And bet. And play games that relied on more luck than skill, like those dice games and roulette. For the most part, her luck seemed to keep going as they'd planned... After a time though, she smirked at them and nodded to the little dragon attendant that announced her presence was desired elsewhere. It didn't seem like anyone else was being summoned, that was a bit odd. Two hours until midnight, there were some very interesting dragon-based musical groups planned this hour so no one really wanted to miss those, right? She headed out to the main hall.

The attendant dragonet vanished in a speedy burst of checkerboard and black whoosh lines, and Minviah's eyes followed that blur into the crowd on the dance floor. Of course she could keep looking in slightly different directions, which she did, catching the startled glances of others around her at times. There was a bunch of dragons out there, apparently freshly hatched or close to it. She felt... like she needed to see them with all her eyes.

And it was a good feeling, rewarded, because one of the smaller and obviously-altered ones came slinking up to her. But its wings were so brilliant against that black hide, what a magnificent little dragon!

I won't be too little, not like some! The dragon's voice came to her mind, not really piercing but definitely confident and bold. I mean, I need to grow bigger, and to do that I need food!

"So this was just a ploy to get me to find where the meat is?" Minviah chuckled. The dragon definitely wasn't going to be tiny, even as a hatchling was at least the same size as that helper dragonet that had brought her here. The dragon introduced itself as Mizmami, and seemed to already know just exactly how to put its wings up to do a fan dance (or maybe it was guarding its share of the meat from prying eyes...)!

Name: Aeu ahlTahnhadaa (ey-yoo awl TAWN hah daa, Knockoffs are 'ahlTanhadaa' meaning 'family of tiny colorless ones')
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 4' s/l/ws
Build: slinky, poised
Physical Features: Perneseish/Zekiran/Zebra-kin, slightly furry hide; 3+thumb / claw paws, +wrist finger wings; mane and tail tuft hair; back pointing straight horns - slight Pernese influence no knobs though; horse-like face; no external ears but hears fine; pupiled or faceted eyes
Colors: White Pawn 6, body tiny checkerboard black and white, with soft white evenly spaced stripes over that; wingsails and mane/tail are medium grey; claws and horns grey; eyes pupiled blue
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence average 3 in each with one 1, and one 5, your choices
Abilities: cannot use family shifting abilities at all, though they may be coaxed out in splices thanks to flexible Zekiran DNA; average 3 for Telepathy, Verbal Speech, Telekinetics, and local teleport; 2s in fire/tk, nexus teleport, and longevity
Parents: Evugith + Fadhila
Bond: Shaenera Faralei, Voluntary Companionship
Meeting Notes: She, like the others in her group, had enjoyed the evening immensely. Passing the time dancing with her troupe - and lots of other people too - and listening to the main Stage performances. But also, wandering the back areas. She'd made her way to the casino and caught a glimpse of the rock band that had been performing literally non stop on their side of the venue since they got there. They'd played some amazing music, obviously improvising some parts as soloists got their time under the spotlight.

Aha! That was it! She'd noticed something odd about the group when they would do that. Normally a solo gave time for others in the group to take a little breather, it was a well practiced feature of most bands. This time, a woman was singing a passionately smoldering 'Black Velvet' as the rest of them gently got drinks of water and... swapped out for other people. So that was their trick! But the people looked so similar when they picked up the bass and stood by the guitar resting beside it. A raven-like bird person slipped in and picked up that guitar and began seamlessly strumming when the incredibly pretty grey-furred feline woman hit a long, high note. The bald-headed black woman at the drums had little to do, but she'd been... well, there had been an almost exact male version playing them not a minute before her. The tall perfectly-made-up pale human at the keyboard didn't have much to do during this performance, but Shaenera had caught them doing 'trumpet' and 'sax' sounds earlier.

It is a clever trick, some of my .... relatives (?) could get away with it I think. The voice was in her mind, warm and fuzzy, and close by with the feel of it. The way it had questioned the word relatives made a certain amount of sense, when Shaenera turned to look for the source. A checkerboard-marked body? That meant it wasn't one of the 'natural' types, but instead a crafted mini-version. If this was 'miniature' though... wouldn't be small!

"Haven't seen too many dragons in here," Shaenera said, "but I'm glad there's room."

The dragonet butted up against her, and announced that they were named Aeu. They put in a request for a plate of that meat found in the main hall, when one of the serving dragonets came by, and enjoyed the rest of the show together.

Name: (ED zwi TEE ree on, last name for the entire clutch regardless of status; name is from chemistry, a molecule or ion having separate positively and negatively charged groups)
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 3'8" s/l/ws
Build: petite
Physical Features: Hathian-Whorling, with four legs the front two having wing struts, long sharp claws, very long bare tail, long angular face with eye armor blending into neck fins, a fluffy mane, shoulder armor with similar fins; their mane can stand up if needed
Colors: White Pawn 2, shiny white body with dramatically black face and belly / underside, black claws, black shoulder armor; eye armor white, mane chrome; checkerboard wingsails and webbing; faceted red-violet
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence average 2, with one being 5 you choose
Abilities: average 2 with 6 in 'singing' (sonic manipulation and perfect pitch), cannot shift in any way, but they do display adept ability with computers and electrical items
Parents: Donor clutch Evocation Zone + Errick
Bond: Arshor Morleth, Voluntary Multibond
Meeting Notes: The band that played in the casino (and apparently also out on the main orchestra pit sometimes? he wasn't sure but they definitely had been in the main hall at least once) was quite good at emulating a great many styles. While Arshor wasn't all that fond of some of the pieces, their variety was admirable. And he found himself swaying along with a crooning tune that he'd have to remember for his own adaptation, 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes' seemed ideal for a nice romantic slow dance. Taking notes on that, Arshor discovered it was around two hours until the midnight bell, there was plenty of other stuff to do and see before then!

Well, there would have been. He intended to head over to the buffet table again and grab one of those sushi rolls, and then move over to the orchestra pit next to the big ballroom floor, maybe flirt a bit with the groups of dancers. There was a dragon review going on the main Stage, there was no way he could possibly produce the sounds they made, but wow they were actually... really impressive! As he slipped between a bunch of rabbits, having to dodge their wild feet and flailing arms, he nearly tripped over something.

That something turned out to be a dragonet! Ow, that was my bad, I'm sorry!

Don't be sorry, they could have looked where they were going. Another mental voice crowded into Arshor's mind, and he realized that both of those voices were draconic.

Arshor had to pick himself up off the floor, and worried that his perfect appearance might be ruffled, weren't there people watching? How embarrassing. But they weren't watching him, in favor of the group of very dark dragonets being moved from their hatching chamber into the main venue. Well, that was okay, but...

But what about these two little dragons right here? They had the markings of those helper-types, wing-arms with bright checkerboards. One of them was dark, the other light, and they were similarly disparate in terms of bulk and current size. Something told Arshor that they would remain 'small' all their lives, but still be a bit different from one another. He knelt by the little white one, and helped right it onto its feet.

"There, hopefully no harm done?" He asked, and the darker dragonet nudged his nose into view.

Well, none that can't be fixed with a little lunch, am I right?

Oh I am pretty hungry, that sounds great.

Then they both stared at Arshor with the same violet-tinted eyes.

Where are our manners, the dark one blurted out mentally. I'm Ego, this is Ehd, we already know who you are, that's why we were waiting for you.

Yes, we'll be able to help you prepare for your shows!

And nothing grabs attention like a dragon by your side, right?

We're two dragons, twice the attention! They seemed to be waiting for him to get up again, so it was with a bit of a daze that Arshor did so... They weren't wrong - and they would definitely prove to be useful on a stage, the sounds they seemed to be making were fantastic!

Name: Halkasi Dumani (hall CAW see doo MAN ee; Dumani is Turkish for 'smoke' and their names reflect their appearances, thus Halkasi is 'smoke rings')
Gender: Female (+preference as desired)
Size: 6'8"* s/l/ws height varies based on density, see main notes for breed standard
Build: lean and narrow
Physical Features: Pernese/Smoke, four legs and two wings, claws on feet only, long neck and tail, beak-like face, faceted eyes, smoke based webbing and crest/tail that may vanish entirely
^Colors: body gradient light to dark grey, lightest at head and shoulders and darkest at tail, with markings on back, back of neck, and wing fingers in oily black with pale grey rings; wing sails are pale grey on the back, and silver underneath - yes they're super transparent but you can still detect a strong difference between the sides; tail smoke is oily black, neck crest is solid (not smoke) and is also oily black; claws black, eyes faceted violet; note well that the markings on her back, neck, and wing fingers actively move when she is using any particulate power
Stats: Strength 3, Speed 3, Endurance 3, Agility 6, Health 2, Intelligence 5
Abilities: 6 particle^ and vapor manipulation; 5 density control*, shadow teleport; 4 nexus teleport; 3 local teleport, verbal speech; 1 assisted fire breath, telepathy
Parents: Dantinath + Dymati
Bond: Selanar Mae, Voluntary Bond
Meeting Notes: The kitchens were his haunt of choice, of course, during this big festival. But his expertise would be reserved for a little later in the night, when the delicate pastries and delicious desserts would be added to the rotation at the buffet and on plates for the formal dining upstairs in the balconies. So that did mean he had a little time to mingle and take a good look at how people responded to the other foods, before diving back into the kitchen. Selanar was suddenly dragged over to the dance floor by an enthusiastic Human girl, and had to give credit where it was due: she didn't seem to mind his feet occasionally dodging when they should be following along... Working in a kitchen after all made for a lot of missteps that could be dangerous - best to avoid those!

The girl seemed to perk up when a boy of her same appearance of dark skin and brightly white kinked hair showed up, nudging her, and they both wore huge smiles as they vanished in puffs of smoke. Huh, well, some magic, then! That left him at the edge of the ballroom floor and wanting to head back into the kitchen. Selanar deftly managed to not trip over the long tail of a dancing dragon-person, and carefully eyed the kitchen entry to wait until that last server came out - in with the swing of the door, well practiced.

But no amount of practice could possibly have saved him from the burst of activity just as he was getting back to the work stations. A girl, a canine morph, came rushing through the doors heedless of the danger that would pose to those in the kitchen, and smacked straight into the overseer of the food preparation area, Wilson Carver. A lot of people did pause and hold their breath, including Selanar. What would he do?

Rather than being angry or doing anything abrupt, the big man escorted the girl through a door (that ... door hadn't been there a moment ago, had it? it wasn't there when he glanced back to the others in the room and tried to find the master chef again) and didn't come back for a bit.

Unfortunately in that stunned moment, someone's pan caught fire, and began billowing thick dark smoke into the room. There were no fire alarms, no sprinkler systems, but... The smoke stopped almost as quickly as it had begun forming. Might have been magic in the room, Selanar thought. Something designed for safety.

But that wasn't it at all, was it? He realized that there was a dragon in the room with them - unusual at best, since this area wasn't really made for dragon-sized movement. It wasn't a very large dragon - yet - and wouldn't be huge by any standard. But why would he even know that? He just did.

Some of the other prep workers and one of the senior staff waved their hands around, "this smell isn't going to help the dishes rest..." one of them commented. Selanar then saw the dragon look up, around, and... the smell just sort of vanished. It looked like her tail was on fire, or had been - it was smoking gently. No wait.

Wait. No. That... was her tail. The smoke. She turned to look at Selanar, and tilted her head toward him. "I want to know what your fruit tart smells like, not smoke tarts." She spoke directly to him, and Selanar realized... this dragon knew his dishes? Though it was hard to tell with her beak-like muzzle, the little hatchling dragon gave a nod and a grin to him. "I do know I want to sample it, but I doubt it will be as good as nice raw meat for me."

Without hesitation, Selanar grabbed one of the boneless steaks sitting nearby, and offered it to her. "Well... I mean, they can smell good too, to the right nose?"

She introduced herself as Halkasi, and Selanar realized he was in for a great partnership with a dragon that could whisk away smoke or even steam in a kitchen!

Name: Jahazh Stoirowth (ahlHadaa) (jaa HAZH stoi row-th, 'evening clouds'; those who are biped shifters or who want to carry the name ahlHadaa may do so, meaning 'family lacking colors'; each given name has a meaning)
Gender: *Male (+preference as desired)
Size: 8' s/l/ws
Build: slinky, flexible
Physical Features: Perneseish/Zekiran/Zebra-kin, slightly furry hide; 3+thumb / claw paws, +wrist finger wings; mane and tail tuft hair; back pointing straight horns - slight Pernese influence no knobs though; horse-like face; no external ears but hears fine; pupiled or faceted eyes
^Colors: body light grey with large widely spaced graphite stripes across both body and back of wings as well, high black paws markings; wingsails under only dark grey with high black similarly spaced stripes; mane and tail high white, soft white claws; eyes faceted light green
Stats: Strength 4, Speed 1, Endurance 2, Agility 6, Health 4, Intelligence 5
Abilities: 6 Telekinesis (very strong!); 5 *Gendershape, nexus teleport; 4 verbal speech; 3 ^shapeshift (patterns only), fire production; 2 telepathy Notes about special abilities - this dragon is capable of both siring and bearing offspring but they will need to remain in a female form to lay eggs; they can also shift their markings around though only in the same coloration as shown, they can be basically 'all dark' or light, or do this on the prowl which aids in their stealth capability greatly
Parents: Evugith + Fadhila
Bond: Galan Thesyas, Voluntary Companionship
Meeting Notes: Though they'd prepped some of the dishes, and helped make sure that all the deviled eggs were just-so, Galan was exceptionally proud of the hot egg-drop soup. The big man who obviously ran the kitchens was delighted by it, and that meant the world to Galan - this event would be a terrific way to test out those new spices and techniques. After a few interruptions, even a dragon or two drifting through the kitchen, it was finally time to exit and head around to the ballroom.

It looked like most people were enjoying the dishes, picking most of them up from the buffet table, but a few had opted to dine upstairs and enjoy a meal brought right to them. The smells in this place were amazing.

The clock showed a little under one hour left until the midnight celebration, and Galan was busy attempting to avoid getting dragged into the fray of dancing. Not that they didn't or couldn't dance, but they'd been on their feet all night already! Time for a break! A few of those youngest-of-the-ball kids (who brought children to an event like this? well they were decently behaved, and not all that young) sped through the area again and nearly caused a tumble by one of the tables. It all played out in slow motion, to Galan's eyes it looked like that perfect storm. Someone tripped at high speed. Hit the side of the round table, tilting it abruptly. The far side had plates and glasses and a very surprised looking attendee with a glass of wine and a set of cutlery in their other hand, and they disappeared as the table upended in front of them. A high arc of tableware, salt and peper and spice shakers, napkins, tulip-and-violet floral display, and ... three plates worth of sushi, soup, and steamed veggies all went flying.

And they stayed there. Flying. Well, hovering, in the air. The expected dousing of hot soup and rain of broccoli never hit the onlookers, and pieces of that sushi were close enough to Galan's face that they could all but taste it... Everyone was surprised, stunned even. What was going on? Was this the venue, the magic of the place? People muttered, facsinated.

"Nope! It's me!" A chipper voice said, near Galan. They looked down, a dragon that was part of the recently-displayed group of equine-like ones sat with bright eyes staring up at his work. He seemed to be smiling. "Can't have all that food go to waste!"

Carefully, the dragonet waited until the table was put back on its legs - all the non-essential things could be gathered by the cleaning staff, but the dishes and food and drink? They were going right back where they belonged, thanks to this little dragon and his very strong telekinetic ability. One which he seemed quite proud to display.

"There! Right as rain! I've never seen rain. Have you?" The dragon looked directly at Galan when he was saying this, why? What was...

"I've seen plenty of rain," Galan said, hesitating. "And even snow, and hail."

The dragon tilted his head, "ooooh that sounds fun!"

"Glad it wasn't a rain of stew," Galan chuckled, and the dragon gave off a chuffle.

"I ate earlier, my food doesn't need all this work. I bet I could find you some good meat when we go out hunting."

".... 'We'?"

"Of course, we! I'm going with you! I am Jahazh Stoirowth ahlHadaa pleased-to-meet-you!"

Name: Jinu'nye (GEE new nie; father's naming convention indicates location or clan, in this case 'nye for New Year's Eve/nt, will continue in line if promoted to Piece)
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 6'4" s/l/ws
Build: snakey, noodle
Physical Features: 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
Colors: Black Pawn 2, shiny black body with sparkly graphite-black belly and face marking, sparkly white-silver socks on legs; wingsails are checkerboard patterned, very tiny checks on backs, larger on underside; horns and claws all shiny silver; eyes pupiled blue
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence average 3 in most, 5 speed, and with one 2 and one 4 your choice
Abilities: 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
Parents: Smirch + Nekeel
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...

Name: Silbeth'Alkar (SILL beth AWL kar, naming convention thanks to dad's side of things since mother is basically Pernese the first name is -TH ended, if bred to another with a last name, modify it accordingly or use Alkar)
Gender: Female (+preference as desired)
Size: 4'3" s/l/ws
Build: Sturdy, strong
Physical Features: Pernese mutt with highly cat-like qualities, including four legs and 2 wings all with sharp large claws, wing wrist has two claws; split-ended tail; head has external ears, and long back-pointing horns; offspring are split with either faceted or pupiled eyes
Colors: body shiny silver, wings transparent shiny grey, claws and horns black, eyes faceted orange
Stats: Strength 5, Speed 2, Endurance 5, Agility 6, Health 5, Intelligence 1
Abilities: 6 nexus teleport, planeshift, (existing) fire manipulation; 5 speed burst; 4 verbal speech, local teleport; 2 telepathy; 1 unassisted firebreath, blood magic (sense/empathy, etc, too low a level to be functional)
Parents: Kelirith + Baniar'Alkar
Bond: Gaerradh Ellis, Impression
Meeting Notes: Gaerradh, Rasnala, and Lost Distance were in the rafters, what passed for them anyway, at three hours until midnight. Their performace was awe inspiring, if not as impressive as they might have done outdoors. Obviously they needed to modify their moves, but they were still equipped to perform indoors. It was much safer than falling from a greater distance, though as she swept over the audience below Gaerradh realized that the marble floor would be just as deadly as any ground or water outside if she hit it hard enough.

Twirling, leaping from one banner to another, trading places with Rasnala on thick corded rope and then flipping over Lost Distance's spinning form, they got oohs and ahhs aplenty. It felt good, it was nice, though not the performance of a lifetime they might have done outside on the surface. Shortly before the ballroom floor and airspace had been their performance stage, it had been cleared for some dragonets - and a few of those were still present around the fringes. Maybe waiting for their one, maybe just watching with the same awed eyes as the humanoids in attendance.

She'd sat there all along, golden colored eyes glittering and wide. The shiny dragonet patiently rested with her long claws the only indication that she was nervous - they tapped at the marble floor, and the tips of her split tail snaked a little with anticipation. When the dancing resumed on the big ballroom floor, with some number of fliers still up above enjoying themselves like the troup had done, that troupe finally had a break and got themselves settled at a wide table near the banquet line. Still the dragonet sat, watching, staring, until Gaerradh and her friends moved past.

"It was amazing! I wanted to be up there!" She said, and Gaerradh looked around for which of the many 'fans' had said it. But there were no more people - they were all dancing, there was... a dragon. Who eagerly fidgeted now, grey and silver, like sleet and rain-slicked pavement.

"Wait, well - you could be up there some day," Gaerradh suggested, smiling weakly. The dragonet stood and seemed almost giddy.

"I'd like to be up there with you," she said. This dragon was small, a hatchling not more than a few hours old - and of a very tiny build, if the others scattered around the area were any indication. "We could make a good team!"

Could they? Gaerradh wondered... Would this small dragon be capable of even rising into the air with a rider even when full grown?

I could! I would try - and I would do it!

The voice in her head was the dragon's, and it was extremely intense. Gaerradh wasn't quite prepared for that, along with the ... the need that was expressed along with it. But there was also the hint that the dragon wasn't in any way lying or even fooling herself: she would be strong, tough, maybe a little dragon on the shorter end, but still!

I am Silbeth'Alkar, your new partner, she introduced herself properly, forming a tight bond whether the Sahnga was ready or not. We will take to the skies! Not like under this water, indoors!

"That... is true," Gaerradh pondered as the dragonet butted up against her leg, "with space to move, I bet a small dragon wouldn't be half bad for stunts..."

Name: Hunante (who NAN tay; -ANTE is the knockoff ending for a more normal -TH Pernese pair, and will carry even if promoted to Piece)
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 3'9" s/l/ws
Build: quite bulky chest, tremendous wing stregnth
Physical Features: Pernese, four legs and two wings all with short claws, long neck with boxy head, prominent fangs, high crest, faceted eyes; slender tail with spade tip
Colors: Black Pawn 3, rich deep grey body; wingsails, tail spade, and crest brightly checkerboard; ... claws also checkerboard... Faceted aqua eyes
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence all average 2 with one being 4 and one 1 your choice
Abilities: as their full sized clutch mates the knockoffs have average skills in Telepathy, Local Teleport, and can breathe fire after chewing a little stone; these have good Nexus teleportation, and may bond to nonhumans or each other but do require bonding
Parents: Donor Clutch Ancheoth + Tehndarinth
Bond: Rasnala Trewen, Multibond
Meeting Notes: It was clear that the dragon had been waiting, sitting beside others that watched in rapt attention as the stunt team swung or dove overhead. As another group of hatchlings came out, a fair few of them scattered to their new friends and bonds, but one of them strayed closer to this dark dragonet and plopped down beside them. The more speckled grey with white shiny wings was possibly going to be the same mass as the darker checkerboard-winged one, but was clearly a very different shape.

"What'cha waiting for?" The grey one asked. The black dragonet gave a sigh, forefeet nervously shifting around on the marble floor.

My bond, the strong one, with the feathers, she is so high, and I can't fly yet. I would join her if I could.

The sleeker and more modestly marked grey tilted his head at them, "are you sure you can't fly yet? I mean. Your wings are gonna be big." And it was true, those heavily marked wings already said volumes about the potential of this hatchling. And it appeared that the dragon barely realized it. When it looked like the long winged one was about to try actually ramping up and flying, however, the grey intervened.

"You might want to still wait?" He winced as the long wings flapped and cleared out a few of the other onlookers a couple meters.

Why?! You just said--

"I think they have a pattern they want to finish, don't want to break their concentration."

I wouldn't want to see her fall! The dragonet suddenly realized. They plopped their butt back down on the marble floor, though their wings were still up in a prepared posture. I am Hunante, I already know my one's name. It is Rasnala.

"I'm Spaanth'Alkar, do you think I could come with you?"

To meet my bond? Of course! Oh, and she will too, the dragonet looked over to another of Spaanth's brood, all but opposite in her light and dark values.

"It's good to have family with you," Spaanth pinged his clutch sister who looked up curiously from the other side of the ballroom floor, and knew that she too was absolutely entranced by the performance above, waiting. There was a third, more patient, who had arrived just before the Alkar brood, with their eyes upon the other member of that crew. Oh the trouble they were all going to get into once they grew up!

It didn't take too long for that performance to end, the crew gathering their long ropes and trapeeze equipment. Obviously eager, Hunante definitely wanted to find their place at Rasnala's side, Spaanth followed suit, and looked for the other - ah there they were. This would be quite the group!

"And... and who are ... you?" Rasnala said, still breathing deeply from her performance efforts. The dragon had all but bowled her over when she was attempting to shake hands with a more humanoid onlooker.

Hunante announced themself with a strong and proud flapping, and then Spaanth nudged his way under those big wings. "And I am Spaanth'Alkar, I would love to see what my friend here does... and keep track of you all, if that's okay."

Rasnala looked around, quite surprised at not one but two dragons. She only felt the adoring gaze of the dark one in her mind, but on its fringes, yes - there it was, almost a web woven between several dragons and now the stunt team. "I don't think I have any choice but to vote you in," she replied.

Name: Tayamsh (tay AMSH, though the main clutch may have -TH Pernese ended or word-based names, the knockoffs have -AMSH as their designation; this will follow even if promoted to Piece)
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 4'0" s/l/ws
Build: even, strong
Physical Features: Pernese/Pyrrhan, four legs, two wings, all with claws; strong neck; spaded tail with double row of spine/nubs; hide with scaled armor (spliced features carry as-is to any Pernese, may lapse to scaled with similar pair); face sharp with back-pointing horns, external ears, spike crest; eyes may be faceted or pupiled
Colors: White Pawn 7; a light grey shade of body, with medium grey belly from face to mid-tail; armor is alternated black and white, face plate white with black edges, horns white, claws black, neck spines shiny black; tail ridges dark grey; tail spade and wingsails brightly checkerboard patterned; eyes pupiled green
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence average 3 for most, 4 for one and 2 for one your choices
Abilities: 3 average ability with most things available to the clutch Pieces (Telepathy, Verbal Speech, local and nexus teleport, firebreath), however no added longevity and Stealth limited to 2
Parents: Donor Clutch Amrith + 50 Shades of Grey
Bond: Lost Distance, Voluntary Bond
Meeting Notes: Oh they'd absolutely seen the others waiting with their eyes fixed on the team above the ballroom floor. The dragonet's face armor made them look like they were more bored than interested, but that was far from the case. Up above, there was a tingling sensation in Lost Distance's gut and it was not because of the complex move that he had to do just then.

He didn't let it interfere with the performance, but wow he was getting super hungry. As he spun in the air, tail tucked until the last moment when he needed the balance on the rope, he actually heard his stomach rumble. He also heard Rasnala's chuckle. The trio wound their performance down - literally, winding down the long black and white ribbons that they'd fixed to the ceiling for the performance, and landed gracefully on the floor at last.

It was a good show, though nothing like what they'd be able to do outside, in the skies... with a dragon or two or three. And. There were - two or three... Maybe more now, he caught something in the corner of his eye as Gaerradh was approached by one of them. Dragons? Yes!

Oh! There you are, you are finally done and can help me find my first meal. Not that I don't know where it is but you need to be there!

Lost Distance furrowed his brows, squinting. "I... okaaaaay, I suppose I do?"

At that, the confident if a little odd dragonet stood and marched them over to the meat tables, oh and you'll need to get used to the others, but you don't have to feed them. Only me. The Tahrim glanced around and sure enough there were not two but three others, the team had found their bonds!