Name: Yahzeeth (YAH tsee th, because I rolled 123456 a couple times :D -TH ended name for traditional Pernese)
Gender: Male (+preference as desired)
Size: 6'5" s/l/ws
Build: Slinky, hip heavy
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: Body bright silver with point markings of high black on face, wing fingers, feet, and tail tip; wing sails mist with complex lightning markings in silver; crest and tail spade porcelain white with festive graphite dots; claws light; red-violet faceted eyes
Stats: Strength 3, Speed 6, Endurance 2, Agility 5, Health 1, Intelligence 4
Abilities: 6 local teleport; 5 nexus teleport; 4 telepathy; 3 multibond accepted; 2 nonhuman bond accepted; 1 assisted firebreath
Parents: Ancheoth + Tehndarinth
Bond: Litas Arvelle, Impressed
Meeting Notes: It was still early in the event, around 4 hours until midnight struck, and Litas had been enjoying himself more with examining the surroundings and artistic styling of the venue than cutting it up on the dance floor or gambling in the casino. (Though the casino did have very fancy looking frills and paintings, and the port-hole styled windows along the walls looked out onto an undersea city that was absolutely impossible given the layout of this location...) He found himself wondering what all the black and white clothes would look like with different trim, not that the people showing off their fancy duds didn't already look fabulous.

Do I look fabulous? I think I look fabulous.

It was an unfamiliar feeling, like someone had tapped his shoulder or leaned in close from a crowd and whispered directly into his ear. He glanced around, blue eyes darting next to him, but he didn't see the source of the voice.

But he did hear both an audible sigh, and the same voice letting off an overly-dramatic dejected huff. Both? How?

When he spotted several people who were bending over and picking up small dragons, he realized...

Yes, that's it! That's it! Come look at me, I know you'll love my style. It was a dragon's voice, in his mind? Of course, where else would I speak to my chosen? I suppose its my one failing, another dramatic sigh, I cannot speak your words. I suppose I could try.

When he heard a creeling warble quite nearby, Litas at last looked downward rather than eye level, and saw a striking black, white, and silver dragon posing without difficulty near one of the banquet tables. With his wings folded in front of his face like a fan, then moved to highlight his proud crest, this dragon was nothing if not fancy!

I am Yahzeeth, and you know I can do more than just be pretty.

"We'll have to sort out what you'll be best at when we get home," Litas chuckled, "but I can certainly appreciate your style!"

Name: Spinteyth (spin TAY yeth, -TH ending common to Pernese descendants)
Gender: Female (+preference as desired)
Size: 5'9" s/l/ws
Build: Sturdy, burly
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 solid silver; wings transparent plain diamond white; crest and tail spade unmarked flat black; claws and horns dark, eyes faceted red
Stats: Strength 5, Speed 1, Endurance 5, Agility 2, Health 4, Intelligence 2
Abilities: 6 telepathy, nexus teleport; 4 unassisted firebreath, verbal speech; 3 telekinetics, emotion control; 2 local teleport; 1 flitter control, time teleport
Parents: Laeurath + Juth
Bond: Ks'uiy Zhiag, Voluntary Multibond
Meeting Notes: This was a decent party, Ks'uiy felt pretty comfortable among all the similarly colored dragons and guests in shades common to his own body. He'd been asked to help with the stage productions - he could produce sparkling lights and make reflective surfaces dazzle, and he'd done just that a little earlier. Now it was three hours until midnight, he'd been given currencies to play with in reward... it was time to gamble!

He was neck-deep in a complex card game that a Zekiran had taught him earlier, when an extremely skinny girl whipped around behind him, scattering his cards and ... oh, heh, she had been going for his pouch? That might have been amusing to watch as she discovered it was all these weird localized vouchers in use here... She apologized, sped off in a bit of a daze, while the others at the table reset their own hands to politely back up a turn. No one wanted him to lose just because some thief almost pickpocketed him. Ks'uiy got on with the betting!

He'd been doing this for a while before he realized that he needed to get some food into him. With his lower arms he pulled in his winnings (pretty much all of those coin bits on the table, it looked like a couple others there were relieved he was going his way now), with his upper pair he waved at one of the dapper little dragons for help in getting all this exchanged.

That dragon (was it a dragonet? hatchling? new clone? it couldn't possibly have been a full grown dragon) chipperly led him over to the booth at the entrance to the casino, and then tilted its long head. It continued to lead him around, the buffet table was vast and packed with good food! He heard it creeling and assumed that it was going back to its work station in the casino. He was wrong.

Instead, the little dragon pushed into the dance hall, vanishing quickly among the tail coats and dresses and other dragons. Ks'uiy chuckled, found a plate, a big mug for a drink, and started in on that lovely looking food. Right before he was able to sit at one of the smaller tables by the exotic windows to the deep sea, that little tuxedo-marked dragon reappeared and gave a chittering, incomprehensible speech before rushing away again.

"Wonder what that was about," the Zeddian muttered, and tried to take a bite of the salmon... But it was gone. In its place, there was a shiny silvery-grey snout. Connected to a very shiny silvery grey dragon. Though catlike in most respects, it certainly pulled a good 'puppy dog eyebrow twist' at him. "I... guess you can have that fish, I got more..."

"You had more," a strange, high voice proclaimed on his other side. The third chair at this intimate table was now filled with a very bold white-winged silver dragon. Who had the last of the ham slice he'd been about to eat, gulped it back, and tilted her head in a very similar fashion to the other one opposite.

Wait, how did he know that was a she?

Because you are our bond, the catlike one announced. His voice was very silky, when he added, "can I have some more?"

They have buckets of the stuff over there, the slightly larger female told him. But I like plates! Ooh can I have that one? The smaller bowl that Ks'uiy had taken with 'Swedish Meatballs' in it lifted off the table, tilted, spilled onto his salad, and one of the balls rolled into the dragonet's open mouth.

"I would like to introduce Spinteyth, and I am Duteth'Alkar," the catlike one said, using his double-thumbed wing wrist to snag another piece of sushi.

"You were taking too long, we didn't get any food yet." Spinteyth said, around another gobbling of meatball mixed with lettuce. At this rate, Ks'uiy would never get to eat!

Name: Minbrath (MIN broth -TH ending for Pernese descendants)
Gender: Male (+preference as desired)
Size: 9'8" s/l/ws
Build: sturdy, even
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 shiny light grey; wings flat silver; spikes, horns, and claws flat high black; webbing shiny smoke grey; eyes faceted green
Stats: Strength 4, Speed 3, Endurance 1, Agility 4, Health 2, Intelligence 5
Abilities: 5 local teleport, assisted firebreath; 4 verbal speech; 3 telepathy, foresight, nexus teleport; 2 time teleport; 1 empathy
Parents: Thaljath + Olelikoth
Bond: Kovill, now K'vill, Impressed
Meeting Notes: Kovill was pretty surprised at having been asked to attend this party, but it was his duty as the Lord's son to do such things. He just... had no idea where they were. He knew they had somehow gone underground and that was to be expected of a party with dragons and riders. The place was packed with formality and revelry in equal amounts, which was pretty typical for any given Gather day. This was something he'd been doing since he was young, socializing and looking for rank badges or a servant to fetch something. It was a party, and they were fun, right?

But - they were under water. There were people that were clearly not humans, speaking in languages he'd hardly imagined could come out of mouths, and dragons of such incredible descriptions that he just gawked. How would he possibly explain all this to his family when he got home?

No need, a voice asserted itself. There was a strange feeling of relief, and he was hungry as all get-out just now. Kovill looked around, the big clock showed just less than two hours until midnight whatever that meant (he'd gathered it was an important turn-day festival or something), but he didn't see the source of that voice.

Find me, then, the voice replied. I don't care for all the bright light either.

He put the last bite of a strange spicy meat into his mouth, and was halfway chewing it when he just rose from the table, and staggered away. He had to assure one of the other people nearby that he was fine, he just needed - to ... find something. That something was in a quiet corner of the massive room, where long black and white tapestries blocked a few angles from the open dance floor beyond. That something. Was a dragon.

It had to have been hatched only recently, there had been lots of dragons coming out, but as he hadn't specifically been instructed to attend a hatching, this came as a bit of a surprise to him. He thought he was here just to party and mingle? Maybe get his father some new contacts.

Wait. Wait.

The dragon, smoothly grey and metallic silver, gazed at him with pleased, glittering green eyes.

"Wait, the- there was a tall man, he commented how much like him I was... that..."

Was a search rider, I think you call them. The dragonet grinned. I am Minbrath, you are mine. Then you can try explaining that to your family.

Name: Situth (see DOOTH, traditional -TH ending for Pernese)
Gender: Female (+preference as desired)
Size: (green) 8'6" s/l/ws
Build: lanky, long
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: body light grey with soft black marking on underside from chin to mid-tail, with iridescent sparkles; wings gradient graphite at body and arms to light grey at edges, with iridescent sparkles; ridges light grey; claws dark; eyes pink-violet faceted
Stats: Strength 4, Speed 5, Endurance 5, Agility 3, Health 6, Intelligence 3
Abilities: 6 search; 4 nexus teleport, telekinetics, local teleport; 3 unassisted firebreath (allows fertile flames), telepathy
Parents: Maranth + Minath
Bond: Zyminul (now Z'minul - wait, what about Z'ymi?), Impressed
Meeting Notes: They were twins but they weren't really similar beyond their basic appearance, and their voices - which they used to confound their instructors and parents. Not that they did this when any important things were going on! Even if Zy was the smarter of the pair, Zum was clearly the more clever. Zum was also the more adventurous, though that tattoo that he convinced someone to give him when they were twelve had definitely seen better days. They had no idea why they'd been asked to come to this weird and wonderful place, but here they were, in their borrowed formal wear, and watching all the people... plus the dragons!

They were starry-eyed, but also a little weirded out. This place, it was deeply under the sea? How? Zy stayed well clear of the windows, did his best to avoid looking in that direction. Zum dragged his twin into the casino: there, at least, they could sequester themselves for the most part, from the visible danger. What if those big windows broke?

Zum didn't mention that he'd seen ... what looked like a dragon outside of the window. No way was that true. They spent a good while in that noisy room, even joining in one of the small stage acts, when they realized that throwing their voices - even by faking it like they did - would definitely be a hit among the patrons here.

They came off the small stage and finally braved the ball room once more, with a few drinks and a good meal in their stomachs they were a touch more prepared. What they weren't prepared for, was that there were a pair of stunning dragons following them to their seats. One was long and dark, the other a bit chunky and pale, both of them shimmered with rainbow overtones under the dazzling light in the ballroom. The smaller white one nudged their dark companion when they realized the twins had noticed them.

Finally! We thought you'd never come out of there!

It's time you fed us, we're really hungry.

You had a snack already!

... So did you!

The dragonets bumped into one another's shoulders, and finally swaggered up to the twins. The white one, hardly 'white' with all the shiny rainbows coming off his speckled white hide, rested his head on Zumorl's knee. The dark one tiredly flopped at Zyminul's feet. It wasn't half a minute later that a pair of smartly-dressed... wait, smartly marked?! dragons came bearing two pails with freshly cut meats for the dragons, with a note that Zy read as their dragons gobbled their dinner.

"It... it's from Weyrleader S'xon and Weyrwoman Kira of Dragonhope Weyr, do you know where that is?" He asked, and as Zumorl stuffed his own face he shook his head. "Well anyway it says that they're proud we've finally completed a-" he squinted, "wait, they say we were searched? When was that?"

Zumorl shrugged, confused. "I don't know, but I guess... I suppose that father kept it from us, remember he wanted us to marry those girls from that other island."

"Well I don't need to marry a girl," Zyminul grinned, looking at Siduth at his feet. He muttered thankfully under his breath. "And neither do you unless you want to, now, I guess."

"I ... I guess that's true, isn't it Undoth?" He asked of his now-slumbering white dragon. "Are we supposed to... go to that weyr?"

His brother nodded, and then added, "it says, for training, but then we're to be moved to a 'more appropriate location', whatever that means."

I like it right here, Siduth bespoke, joining her partner in crime to sleep.

Name: Nerrasa (neh RAA sah, Moonshield is the clan's name for this event and clutch, taken by full Pieces, however Knockoffs receive -RASA as their name component, they may add the family designator if promoted to full Piece)
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 3'8" s/l/ws
Build: slinky
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: White Pawn 7, a light grey body; wingsails, head frill, and tail spade brilliant checkerboard; horns and claws pale, eyes goldenrod yellow
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence average 3 in most, with 1 in one and 4 in another
Abilities: 5 telepathy; 4 local teleport, empathy; 3 and 2 average in most including Firebreath, nexus teleport, verbal speech; 1 moon magic (not functional)
Parents: Donor clutch Rakki + Sasazik
Bond: Lomola, Voluntary Bond
Meeting Notes: This event was one of the few times that Lomola felt a little intimidated to be on a stage. It wasn't that there were so many more people than she'd performed in front of, but they were... different. Very different people indeed. And it wasn't really the location of the venue - she'd traveled with the Guild for her entire life, and been to some truly incredible places. No, it was more that the Stage - she had learned to 'pronounce it like it's important' - was basically alive, and it had moved her from one smallish backwater Hold into this huge Turn-Day event somehow all by itself. While it might have been enough to just be performing her traditional ballads, this all prompted her to do something a little different.

She improvised, a wordless but staggeringly pretty series of notes that brought the house down. She bowed deeply, and exited the main Stage, mingled for a bit. It was nice to know that even people who had horns or tails and wings - or were whatever that one man was with all sorts of not-right going on - they still enjoyed her voice. Even several hours after her performance, people still came up to her to shake her hand and thank her for the song. She spent the massive midnight bell cheering with a hundred other guests as they rang in "whatever new year it was" - how ... perfectly vague?

I enjoyed your song too, a quiet but confident sound came into her mind. I want to hear you sing, always. Oh - and you have a mark like I do!

Where was it coming from? No, no, who was it coming from? That was in her mind, and there were dragons here... She knew suddenly what this was all about. The Stage had brought her here to this amazing place, with all these wonderful performers and guests - but that was only the tiniest thing now.

"Wait, how do you know about that tattoo?!" Lomola said, pretending to be shocked. After all, that checkerboard tattoo she had was hidden under her sleeve!

I know many things! I am Nerrasa, do you think you want to bring me with you?

"Wherever I go! I promise!"

Name: Moiamsh (moy AMSH, -amsh is the knockoff family designation, though these dragons use a combination of -TH pernese and word-names otherwise, and this will only be notable if they are promoted to Piece, and bred)
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 4'2" s/l/ws
Build: muscular
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: Black Pawn 2, dark asphalt body with medium grey belly from chin to mid-tail, alternating black and white shiny armor, dark neck and body spines, dark claws, horns white with black edging; wingsails and tail spade bright checkerboard, pupiled green eyes
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: Munita, Voluntary Bond
Meeting Notes: Whether they wanted her in there or not, Munita was going to check that kitchen and ask them what was in those tarts and fresh crusty bread. It was magnificent! Her mother would absolutely kill for the chance to bake something like this, it would rocket her family to culinary stardom! Well, maybe. But she had to compete with a ... a green man vying for the cabinet where those ingredients were stored, though he looked a little more official, like he and his friends were 'supposed' to be here in the big kitchens.

Munita had grown up around a busy kitchen, she knew how to weave around the others carrying trays or reaching for a pan without bumping them. And in that manner she discovered that there were spices that had names she'd never heard of - but they sure smelled like they belonged in those biscuits and cakes. She bit her lip, thought about slipping the shaker of 'cardamom' into her bodice, but then went to place it back.

It was there, on the shelf. Her hand, still full with the shaker. She closed the door to the cabinet, reopened it, still there - and in her hand. So she just went ahead and tucked it into her pocket and hoped that no one would notice.

Oh they noticed, but they just don't mind. She didn't know who said it, but it wasn't the man standing there chopping carrots.

It was me, I said it! I am Moiamsh, you did not see me come in but I saw you go in here!

It was so excited, Munita couldn't help but get a little too. "Where... um, where are you?" She said, and then a white armored face poked out from behind one of the steel counters. It was a dragon?

A ... a dragon talking to her?

"I am also a talking dragon!" Its voice was eager, "I like my food raw though," it tilted its head, "can we get some of that?"

"Ahem," a much deeper voice said, from a much higher spot, and behind her. A man who was not quite twice as tall as the girl (and not quite three times the size of the dragon she'd just... apparently, bonded?) stood looking down with his eyebrow crooked and a grin on his lips. "It looks like you have a dragon to care for, ... outside," he scooted her through the double doors, and nodded toward the dragon feeding area. She sheepishly tugged at Moiamsh, and headed that direction. She heard him say, "you can keep the spice, use it well!"

Name: Edasheva (edd AHH 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: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 7'2" top of head biped/l/ws
Build: muscular, burly
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: Black Pawn 1, richly black body, face and tail marking in checkerboard; wings, buttwings, and webbing checkerboard; horns and claws light, pupiled green eyes
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence all average 3 with one being 2 and one more 4 your choices
Abilities: while the knockoffs are less skilled than their full size Piece siblings, Black Pawn siblings are adept (6) with Infernal and Void powers; with 4 for Telepathy, local and nexus teleportation; and 2 for magic breath and poison stingers; they cannot pass the White pawn spirit powers
Parents: donor clutch Sheng Stac'ver + Vassago Thain
Bond: Peter Prideman, Voluntary Multibond
Meeting Notes: Though he was part of the 'delegation', if you could call it that, from Carramba, Peter was apt to hang with the other crews that were on the Stage and behind it - he was part of the big drag show (not dragon show, that came on later!) that professor Hidalgo and Miss Sanguine put on. It was an absolute hit, there were so many headdresses and sometimes headwings, feather boas and sometimes feathered boa snakes... He was the youngest on the stage at that time, but there were others that were around his age aside from the students he knew. He did know when to cut out of the group activity, since they were heading to one of the more 'mature audience' bars scattered around the venue to schmooze. Peter let them, he knew he'd be getting so much extra credit for this bash... Hidalgo was quite happy with his performance.

Peter heard strange words, accents that he'd never encountered on campus (which was saying something, given that it was a nexus world) so he listened in on the exotic speech. And though he did spot one of his professors among the crowd, he realized that the other was not 'in costume' - and he was one of the few who could say he knew that Nachos California was also Keenan Lane. Approaching the always-formal Lane, Peter was greeted with that quirky smirk the old man often displayed. "Impressive work out there," he said, "but the night is young. Don't wear yourself out, you might need the energy later."

The man then smoothly turned to one of his strange companions and that conversation was over. Peter wondered what he meant. Spending the next two hours mingling and showing off - there were other superheroes in training, and even a couple fully-licenced ones in attendance - he did get a strange itchy feeling later. Like something was watching him. He kept his cool, kept his mouth full with the insanely good stir-fry, and looked around for the source of this oddity.

With abilities like his, he had to know who to select for either duplicating powers, or negating them. If he did the wrong one, or choose a team mate, that might mean disaster in the field. Odd though, the feeling vanished when he tried looking for its source. Like it was hiding. Hm. He rose from the group table, excusing himself politely, and headed around the dance floor. He'd already done the dancing, lots of it, his legs were feeling it. No, this trip around the room was to get any 'ping' responses from his mental energy. Peter yoinked another stick of dango dumplings, and ate them (stick and all, he wasn't picky... he could eat anything)(those fangs weren't just for show... and Miss Sanguine was quite intrigued by them... having her own) while looking casually at some of those now-dim archways. They had brightened and opened during the course of the evening, with the dragons that hatched for the event coming from them and distributing themselves among the patrons of the party.

It was getting kind of late, an hour until midnight, when he felt the ping again. This time it was two-fold: he got a buzzing like tinnitus or the way your mouth felt during a dental numbing... Weird. This time, however, he spotted a location that seemed to be the sensation's source. Up on one of the balconies, he hoped he could reach it in time. He was getting a bit weary, wouldn't want to miss the next hour's events.

We don't want you to miss it either, he heard. He knew from experience that this was telepathic speech, even though it sounded like he'd been whispered to.

Well I know I don't want to miss it, but I still don't know what the 'it' is.

Well you'll see, won't you?

So... there were definitely two of them. And, from what he could tell, it was ... two dragons. Those two dragons, who had seated themselves up in one of the smaller private booths overlooking the entire ballroom. It was only designed for about five humanoid shapes, but then they were hatchlings, and neither of them was going to be tremendously large like some at the event. The one, dark, sat with its chin on its thick-clawed hands (they were hands, they looked much more like hands than the paws on the other one) looking down at the event. The other, brightly white, held its head up and watched as Peter approached.

Dun dun dunnnn! He arrives! At last!

With that, Peter chuckled and bowed with a flourish. "I have arrived! And ... who might you both be?"

We decided that you would be good to go with, and each other.

We might not be as powerful as our big sibs, the dark one announced, but we will do our best to show off what we can do.

I am Yencada, and this is Edasheva, your shoulder angel and devil, at your service.

Now how did a dragon that was barely three hours old even know what that was?!

Name: Daus Dumanish (DAY ush doo MAN ee; Dumani is Turkish for 'smoke' and their names reflect their appearances; knockoffs are smol, so they are ... Dumanish )
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 3'8" * s/l/ws *may change up to 4'6" temporarily
Build: even, lean
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: Grey Pawn 4, a medium grey body; wings, crest, and tail smoke all somehow manage to be checkerboard colored; foreclaws black, hindclaws white; green faceted eyes
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence average 2 in most, with one 4 and one 1 your choices
Abilities: average 3 for typical powers in their family including becoming larger at the expense of their wings vanishing, choose one of vapor, or shadow, or particle control to be at 5, the others then cannot be used (but may be passed to future generations if promoted to Piece)
Parents: donor clutch Dantinath + Dymati
Bond: Lothair Lawton, Multibond with Ebbu Zwitterion
Meeting Notes: It was absolutely all Lothair could do to not ask how to get outside. They wanted to swim out there, with the fish and the dragons and whatever the heck else it was that floated on by the huge windows outside the ballroom. But no, they were tapped for the event for their skills in electronics, keeping the big bank of computers that ran all the event security and room lighting running smoothly. Not that they were meant to watch the security cameras oh no no that was someone else's job, and they took this seriously. They were passing Beck's 'Ethics' course with flying colors for a reason! Someone tried getting in to the security depot without a passport once, only once, while they were on this assignment...

I know you want to, but we have to get you fed first!

It was the strangest little voice, loud and clear in Lawton's ears even though there were a dozen other people in the hallway.

I do want to eat but... but I want to find them!

I know how! The voices got really quiet suddenly, but Lawton still caught the gist of it. Oh! Well this should be fun! There were definitely two voices, conspiring.

Lothair had a feeling they knew just where to go. Cutting these mysterious personages off at the pass so to speak, the student quickly headed back to the security office. No one even batted an eye when they arrived, and even though it felt a little strange to be there while the shift had already ended - this was important. And not a moment too soon, because shortly from above, in what looked like a fancy grill-covered air vent, a certain bumping and scratching could be heard.

The other two in the office, a pair of security guards, glanced up, then at Lothair; one of them gave a nod and turned back to their observation of a dozen monitors.

Leaving Lothair to stand, hands on hips and with the wide footed stance that they'd learned in their martial arts class, waiting.

From the grill, those noises were louder, and finally a skinny dragon nose wiggled the grate loose. It clattered to the floor even as the pair of dragonets tumbled out of the vent. Though they were both shades of grey and had distinctive checkerboard markings on their wings, they were quite different indeed!

But Lothair could instantly tell which voice had belonged to what dragon. The hungry one was the wispy-winged smoke dragon; the sneaky one being the tuxedo-marked... and masked attendant.

"Stop right there!" Lothair said, assertive. Doctor Beck really liked that voice because it was the one that Lothair used when they were training to 'stop workplace disasters' in the Ethics class! It would have been fitting for either of the guards in the room as well, and they both straightened up as though they'd been caught napping.

The dragonets did freeze in place, the one tuxy oddly had a bunch of scales on their shoulders that shivered like a cat's would puff up.

"I'm sorry! I just wanted to find you!" The smoke dragon said, hiding their face under a transparent and billowing wing.

It was my idea, the other finally admitted, standing with a sulk.

"Why did you want to meet me? I'm a--"

"You're our bond! Ebbu and me, we wanted to come with you!"

They're Daus, and they just hatched not too long ago. We should get you fed, the dragon told its companion, and then looked back up to Lawton. We really should, because little dragons need food!

"Well... I'll let you get away with it this time," Lothair smiled, "I'm not sure how I'm going to explain this to my moms..."

Name: Sufy'nye (SOO fee nai; 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, this name also applies to Knockoffs even if they are not promoted to Pieces)
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 6'6" s/l/ws (the biggest of the knockoff groups, about the same size as a small Pernese!)
Build: muscular, smooth
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 3, body richly dark graphite with scaled speckling on black belly and face, white speckled paw markings; wingsails are tiny-checkers on backs, bigger checkerboard on undersides; horns and claws light; pupiled blue eyes
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: Donor clutch Smirch + Nekeel
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.

Name: Skormeba (score MAY bah overall 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; Knockoff names end in -MEBA but if promoted for breeding purposes they may choose to use nye' nnay or aynn depending on their chosen gender)
Gender: (choose+preference as desired)
Size: 4' s/l/ws
Build: sleek, tail heavy
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: White Pawn 3, body is speckled pale grey, wingsails are small checkerboard patterned on fore, and larger checks on buttwings; mane, foot, and tail floof grade from black at the head to silver at the tail; horns and claws white, one horn and some parts of wing spines black, ear floof white, and pupiled violet rainbow eyes
Stats: Strength, Speed, Endurance, Agility, Health, Intelligence 3 average with one stat at 2 and one at 5 your choice
Abilities: most abilities (telepathy, verbal speech, local teleport) at 3, but exceptionally strong specific-location Portal (6) and 5 choose what kind of spit/sting they produce; do not use or carry the color shifting or genetic abilities of full pieces regardless of promotion from knockoff
Parents: donor clutch Merajanay + Bales apa Larsis'Iann
Bond: Kreeordsun Mirrhen, Voluntary Multibond
Meeting Notes: The name tumbled from her lips numerous times, but she had yet to hear it repeated correctly more than once or twice. But then she was used to that. The Mirrhen family did tend to choose ... well, stupidly long names for their children. Of course they were the types that consulted with Peridian who could sense all their powers and mutations in advance of birth, and in compelling ways choosing a name became a way of nudging their kids into specific niches. Her half-sister for instance was Ohm'rix, the 'glitterstone lure' who true to her name had become rather rich from the shiny stuff she dug out of their family land holds.

But Ohm'rix wasn't animal tuned. Almost everyone else in the family had some kind of power over them, some folks even felt sorry for the stone-shaper. Even when one of the Mirrhen clan didn't choose to enter the Pelatih field and raise or train animals, they often dealt with them, betted on races, or did good business deals while hunting them. But it didn't matter here, this place was far better suited to those who had abilities like her own, Kreeordsun ran a communications array down in the offshore belt. This spot had technology coming out of its ears.

It also had dragons. Which was simply delightful for Kreeordsun, because she heard their minds singing and chittering all night long, right up until the 'one hour till midnight' bell. It was music that she preferred over the stage presentations, anyway. A few of these dragons really pulled at her powers, too. While most Zekiran dragons were... well, beasts, these were absolutely not animals. They were not to be trifled with, nor bartered, nor ordered around into battle. They might wind up in battles - those big spikey dragons that showed up and collected a batch of young hatchlings would certainly be training their brood here for dangerous combat missions. But Kreeordsun considered that many would be excellent for... well, subterfuge.

People could tell when she was listening in on things, her ears would give it away easily. But... But a dragon, in the shape that a few of these had? Oh, how people would underestimate just exactly how smart some of them were! Secrets could be told, thinking that a mount like one of them was 'merely' like a Steed.

"What is a 'steed'?" Asked a strangely muffled voice. The fact that it was asked out loud, where she'd merely been thinking on the matter, was of great importance.

Kreeordsun looked around, down, and saw not one but two small dragons... Both of whom were absolutely Steed-based!

"Why, something like you, and your friend!" She replied, and sent a mental image of one of her own prize winning show Steeds to them. The pair perked up, the one with ears tilting their head, the one with horn buds doing the same in the other direction. Kreeordsun definitely detected Zekiran genetics in the one... how interesting...

"She thinks I am interesting!" That one said, and the other butted its head against them. "Okay okay she thinks you are too," they added a moment later.

The other dragon, with four wings and two horn buds in an unusual arrangement on their forehead, curled its very long tail around its feet and looked proud of itself. Much more quiet, except for the distinct clicking of those already big claws on the marble dance floor. She caught their names, Bos ahlTahnhadaa (oh that was definitely a Zekiran name wasn't it?) and Skormeba, as they proudly strutted around with her.

Kreeordsun realized she'd need to start looking into carnivore diets, when she introduced them both to the feeding area... She couldn't afford to lose any of the animals she bred or trained, to these two hungry ones...

Name: Vilo Turun (VEE low too ROON ; Turun namesake will inherit in offspring or be modified by partner's naming convention accordingly)
Gender: Male (+preference as desired)
Size: 7' s/l/ws
Build: limber, flexible
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 pearl light grey; wing membranes mist off-white with strong iridescent sheen; wing leading edge pearl light grey, main feathers shiny silver, primaries shiny soft white; floof pearl high white, horns and claws dark, paw pads dark, orb mist white, eyes pupiled red-violet
Stats: Strength 5, Speed 2, Endurance 1, Agility 2, Health 5, Intelligence 5
Abilities: 6 construct permanent (others can visit Paradise), planeshift; 5 verbal speech, divination; 4 telepathy, life magic (nearby creatures); 2 paradise (healing self only), 1 light breath weapon, sense magic (close only)
Parents: Sta Turun + Shiyo
Bond: Ykhaek ahlVahh, Voluntary Bond
Meeting Notes: Where that one Pelatih showed up barely wearing 'good' riding leathers, as a Penjagan and a Peridian and a representitive of the Vahh clan, Ykhaek stood out as the high class man he was. At least that other's outfit was a shade of dark grey... His own was richly black with white feather accents, a robe with daring slits on the sides that had he been willing to swirl around on the dance floor may have put a blush on his partner's face. He left the dancing to Vahh himself - wait, that wasn't his Vahh, it was another, there were several and Ykhaek counted himself lucky he could tell the difference. It was in his blood, after all, so if he didn't know which world that specific example of their other-worldly kin was from, he at least knew that it wasn't his.

They'd arrived from the heat of the Kiran desert and blissful coolness of the Ski'nahket facility, sent by Vahh, to this other one's side in this deep-sea structure. Ykhaek had seen this location before, sensitive to the places where his spliced ancestor had investments even if they weren't the same dimension.

What he hadn't seen was this interesting side corridor. The night was quite young, not all that many dancers on the floor yet, and he wasn't hungry enough to head straight into the buffet. This dimly lit, but brightly powerful hall positively beckoned him. He was well aware that this wasn't exactly part of the whole building, in fact it seemed like it wasn't even in the same dimension. (Then again, that one room down at the bottom of the facility in the desert wasn't attached to their Zekira either!)

Quietly walking on slipper-shod two-toed feet, Ykhaek didn't spend much time walking, he spotted the brighter room at the hall's end and ... was there. Like a dream, or a vision that was fully realized, the room absolutely did not exist when someone wasn't in it. He was sure of this. Again, because it was in his blood. So was it someone's construct? Was it one of his own ancestor's creations? It certainly felt like it, but ... there was more to it than just Vahh energy. It was too black and white, not enough turquoise and teal.

The seat that was in the center of the room had nice enough padding to make up for its rather barbaric looking frame. Well, if one was here it must be for his plush bedecked rump, so there he sat. The dark shoulder of his robe flopped a little, and instead of returning it to its proper spot, he realized...

He pulled his arm free from it, and made sure that the white feathers weren't going to get broken or messy, tucking the wrist hem and shoulder together behind him. With his oddly sensitive mind, he felt more than saw the energies around him now. Almost shaped like hands, not-quite-visible to the normal eye, but there were definitely tools held in those nimble spectral fingers. Very real tools, it seemed, because he shortly felt pressure gripping his upper arm, firmly but not painfully, and then.

Then painfully, oh my yes. But Ykhaek knew pain, both because he'd caused it, and because others were feeling it. He realized with a bit of a start, that tattoos, while quite common in Zekira, didn't tend to last as long as they might on other creatures. Zekiran skin was quick to heal and regrow, he knew a couple tattoo artists in fact, he helped them work on strange limbs - there was that one woman with the bat-like arm wings, for instance. He had to make sure that her hollow bones could take the pressure applied, that the skin would sustain the colors and not rip. And about ten years later, they would make another appointment for when that clever splash of color and design had grown dull and hidden in her skin once more.

So... why did he have the distinct impression that this tattoo was far more permanent? There was more going on than just some kind of psionic energy, in here. After a while, his nose caught whiff of the antiseptic common among tattoo shops, but also a clove-and-citrus smell, incense? And a thrumming, vocal chant that his pointed ears should have detected much earlier. Maybe it was just that he knew the bulk of the energy here was recognizable power? But what was the other stuff? 'Magic'?

It was indeed.

When the ghostly hands finally wiped the design clean and applied a thin layer of healing gel, then a clear plastic bandage over the hand-long image, Ykhaek got a good look at it. Against his darkly copper shaded skin, it looked quite brilliant, a shiny silver with white bits, what looked like an elegant tower design, with a sphere above it in white. The design seemed.... Very oddly familiar.

**

He learned later, that design was called a 'Chess Rook'. They had a game similar to this 'chess' on Zekira, and he learned how to play it while he was in the casino area. He didn't show this tattoo off much, after all he paid a lot for this robe, he wanted to wear it properly and not slung halfway around his chest like a swaggering fool. It was the theme of the party, too, and more: Rook was the name of his home Zone! Was that a coincidence? Vahh's holdings there were massive, after all, his own included.

How did a room know any of this?

Well - it didn't. It wasn't the room, of course.

As the party went on and he gambled (very successfully, even against that tall four-armed lad who seemed all but enchanted with his dice and card play!) then went out to the buffet to sample all the fish and sweets. They had several kinds of Zpara - and other things, teas and 'coffee - it's not the same, but it does what Zpara does' - which were quite nice too. Never let it be said that any descendant of Vahh would refuse a good cup of Zpara! So sipping said cup (it was a Ruby variety, more mellow than the Red in flavor, quite comparable to that 'hazelnut columbian' roast that they also served here), Ykhaek enjoyed the stage shows after they started really rolling, particularly the one with all the fancy dressed men! They knew how to doll themselves up!

Toward the end of the clock's countdown, however, the Zekiran's senses seemed to be getting a little weird. It wasn't the press of the now-drunken and exhausted crowd, he'd been at and held enough big parties that this wasn't going to tilt his emotional stability. It was more that the place seemed glittery around the edges, his eyes tried to focus but had some difficulty. And that tattoo itched something fierce. As a Peridian he had been trained in many biological subjects, and he knew that this tattoo couldn't have been healing that fast. Itching, according to Vu'du Rl'ish his tattooist friend, was supposed to kick in around five or six days later?

But before the midnight bell, before everyone lost their collective minds yelling and hollering happy new year, Ykhaek moved himself to one of the more private booths on the balcony overlooking that big ballroom. It was slightly quieter, and... There was room for the dragon that materialized near him. So shiny, it looked like moonlight on ice, in fact it looked like it had the same silvery reflections in its feathers, as on that tattoo. When he looked at his own energy, it was being drawn in a line, gently but visibly, from his own aura into this dragon's.

"I hope you don't mind," the dragon spoke with a soft but sure voice, "I chose you for many reasons. You're very strong inside."

Ykhaek blinked a couple times, absently following the energy back and forth until he realized...

"You ... came from this?" The tattoo arm was still covered by the perfect plush and feather robe, but still it was easily visible to both dragon and man.

"I did, and I can return to it, so I do hope you don't mind, but I've made it a little more... permanent. You won't need more ink on your skin unless you ask your odd friend to do it for you..."

They chatted a little; Vilo Turun, the dragon, wasn't fully grown but seemed far bigger and more mature than merely a 'hatchling' like the scores of them that had passed across the dance floor all night. His powers would complement and add to Ykhaek's very nicely. But they were interrupted by the midnight cheer, and joined in eagerly.