Smarts/Greymatta     4
Bod/Feets    3
R.W.P.    5
Luck/Nuts    4
Driving    3
Looks    5
Cool/Mouth    3
Bonk/Meat    3

Powers
Talk to - Computers!

Knacks
Walk and chew gum +4; Sparklies +3

Skills
Computer Graphics and Programs +3; Attract Cats +2

Clusters
Tech and Gadgets +3

Smarts/Greymatta     6
Bod/Feets    5
R.W.P.    6
Luck/Nuts    3
Driving    3
Looks    4
Cool/Mouth    4
Bonk/Meat    6

Powers
Lose It; Family Ties

Knacks
Artistic Design +2; Boots and Army Stuff +2

Skills
Sports +3; Sports Scores and Trivia +3

Clusters
Crash Study +4

Smarts/Greymatta     4
Bod/Feets    3
R.W.P.    3
Luck/Nuts    5
Driving    5
Looks    5
Cool/Mouth    6
Bonk/Meat    5

Powers
Gang (the Goths); Telephone

Knacks
Appropriate Swearing +2; Put Downs and Comebacks +4

Skills
Dress Casual Perfectly +3; Dress Everyone Else +2

Clusters
Musical Aptitude +2

Smarts/Greymatta     5
Bod/Feets    3
R.W.P.    4
Luck/Nuts    3
Driving    2
Looks    5
Cool/Mouth    3
Bonk/Meat    2

Powers
Filthy Rich

Knacks
Naive +3; Fully Poseable +2

Skills
Manipulate Peers +2; Manipulate Anyone Else +1

Clusters
Get It All Whenever She Wants +3

Of course there are Goths at Carramba. Where would we be without them? Without their endless gloom, doom and abject adoration of all things both dark and cute?

This particular batch of Goths have carved their niche in the Junior class. Drawn toward one another by the light of a sputtering candle, and the scent of clove cigarettes. Beryl, Kendra, Ivy and Olga are not nearly as mismatched as they might appear if they were outside their Gothic attire.

Beryl - or BRB as she's often called, since she spends most of her time online in chatrooms making 40 year old men cry out loud - sports a love of electronics and literature. Her superbly blue-green eyes are the source of her name, they've never changed since her birth. Her parents adore her, even when she's in her moody states.

Kendra, a contradiction in name as well as parentage, is an adopted child in a family who knows no racial boundaries. Her desire to get a tattoo sparked a bit of controversy in her house, but eventually everyone got over themselves and let her have one. Since she's a high achiever in classes both mental and physical, no one can complain.

Ivy is the slick tongued, sharp witted girl who always has a retort. She's the first to defend her friends, and the last to back down in an argument. While her own name has gotten her into trouble - being mocked as the V girl when she was younger - she defends her Spanish heritage as fiercely as any other facet of her life.

And then there's Olga. One might expect a girl whose names betray a truly International cast of grandparents to be a bit less naive, but then that's Olga's charm. As an only child she was pampered with money but not attention, and she loves the attention she gets when her friends come over to play 'let's dress Olga as a Gothic Lolita doll'. She's not dull witted in the slightest, in fact she's rather manipulative, but in a supremely sensible and sweet way.

But how did they meet? And when?

In a vinyl record store, where local hip-hop dj's and techno priests mix with the Deadheads and Motley Doods, of course. Two summers ago, during their Freshman year of Carramba high. Two of them were headed to the latest release from Cure Me, a Cure cover band local to the area; the others were picking up tickets - sold out - to a show at a small venue nearby.

After that no one could separate them. Clubbing at the 16 and up dance parties, posing for the artists at school, getting into Cosplay events just by looking like they slipped out of an Anime movie... That's not to say they don't have their own occasional squabbles.

They don't bother with boyfriends any more, not since that problem between Kendra and Ivy. They decided that they're young enough to wait to have a decent boyfriend maybe in college, or even later. Let people think they're lesbians, that's all part of the charm - because none of them are. They just value each other's company and friendship much more than some zitfaced boy...

Money too is the other dividing line between them. Kendra's family, while they're large and fun and varied, usually can't afford to pony up cash for events or items. She has a part time job on campus, working at the sports equipment stand. Olga on the other hand can afford to buy the whole stand and then some. She's never had to worry a day in her life about having a roof over her head, or posh food to eat. She buys the clothes that her friends insist she wear. She often buys them theirs. Ivy and Beryl enjoy a moderate and middle class home life.

But aside from those things, they're so similar it's ... spoooooky. They write poetry - in fact they write poetry so similarly that they've turned in each other's assignments to no one's knowledge. It's usually about velvet and the sky and nighttime, vampires and the chill of the grave, dark embraces, and chocobos.

They each know how to turn on the charm, if they want to toy with someone at the mall or a club. They've never brought any of these poor saps home - though that one time the bouncer was hitting on them, they had to pull the 'but we're grounded after 10 pm' line and skedaddle home.

They've played each other at chess so many times they could just call out spaces and moves, it's faintly disturbing to the chess club. (They won't join, why bother? It's filled with geeky boys, and the last thing they need is MORE oggling.) When any of them would hae a particularly hard test, Kendra would help them cram.

When they snuck into the Magic studies building - and got inside it - the administration had to take a good hard look at their security measures and double them.

So when, during the summer before their Junior year, the four of them found themselves looking at the handsome and gothically-pale albino Dragonry arts teacher Hollis Blackstone, they weren't all that surprised. But when he told them they would be standing and then expected to come back during the summer for brush up classes in dragon care, they all kind of balked.

"I mean how in the world are we to evolve, as people," said Beryl, "if we're forced to sit around listening to adults drone on about cleaning up dragon poop?"

"Indeed," Ivy chided, "I wouldn't mind being a dragon rider or whatever they're called nowadays, but isn't it more like learn as you go anyway?"

"It's --" Hollis tried to interject but the foursome weren't finished.

Kendra said, "it's hard work, I suppose, but if we learned it together it'd be easier."

"I could totally have my folks build an enclosure in the ranch," Olga said dreamily. "But back to school in summer when we've aced our classes?" She rolled her eyes. "I don't know."

Hollis held his hands up, "girls, please. This is a trip of a lifetime, and it would mean a lot to the whole community if you come along."

Kendra stood there without even bothering to sneer, while Ivy said, "oh yes, yes, the... community... How darling that they need us..."

But they packed up anyway. Hollis in the meantime sped off to Cy Dragonstake, where the latest Bipedra was being held. There he met with G*non, the harried leader of roughly the same rank and certainly the same level of duties that Hollis had once had.

"But they're all just girls?" G*non said, looking at the webcam picture of them talking to Hollis. "Aren't they a little... delicate? I mean, this hatching's going to get a little rough."

"Well I think they can handle it," Hollis said. "Trust me, G, they'll fit right in..."

***

They didn't make it to that Bipedra after all... but instead found their way to Darkling Dawn's sands... Hollis kept close attention to the dragons there, but he also seemed to be consulting a data pad and glancing at the dragons. They didn't realize what he was actually doing. Maybe he'd arranged it all with the locals before now, but maybe... he was going to do something very, very sneaky.

***

"Are you sure this is going to happen?" Ivy sighed, looking at her friends, "I mean, we've..."

"Shh," Olga nudged her. "We're here now... and ooh look!" She excitedly pointed, there were in fact ... whole bunches of dragons, she could hardly even believe her eyes.

Kendra appreciated the hatchlings for their strong features: their legs were still chubby and 'newborn', but they were sure, they planted where they wanted to be, and that would mean confidence in the future.

Beryl too looked at these dragonets and spotted how many amazing colors they came in, even if they were mostly limited to greens, blues, browns...

"Oooh I like that one," she said of the sleek black dragonet... but that one didn't even look their direction! Rude?

No, it was just finding the right person to live with for the rest of their life. Because they knew now, this was it, they were in it to win it. A shy green with mottled forest and grass green wings showing a faded color on their undersides made her way toward the group, and snuffled her muzzle into Ivy's open palm.

I'm sorry I am not black like that one, your friends all looked like they wanted to meet her... I'm not dark enough for that.

Stunned, Ivy realized that her friends didn't hear this soft and meek voice in their heads! It was for her alone! "P...Preth! You're absolutely fine the colors you are! Look at you!" She knelt to hug the dragon, who apologized for being covered in fine sand...

***

Name: Preth
Race: Pernese Dragon
Gender: Female
Color: Green
Size: 25' long
Parents: Gold Mirheth x Bronze Atreyuth
Abilities: Telepathy, Teleportation, Assisted Firebreath
Personality: Preth is nervous and very sensitive to rejection; as a result, she's very shy, and prone to apologize for anything that might even vaguely be considered her fault. She's nonconfrontational to the point of being a pushover, but at the same time, her sweet optimism and puppy-dog eyes are strangely endearing.
Bond: Ivy

Shortly, a sturdy two-toned blue could be heard from nearby, as he paced around some still-shaking eggs. He seemed to spot this group of girls, one of them had just befriended his sister! He gave a hum, surpringly deep for such a young dragon, and bumped into Olga's leg.

Don't think you can outwit me, I'm already yours to keep... Your friends love you, you should let them have their way sometimes.

Olga drew in a long breath, she wasn't able to formulate even a single word to tell the dragon what she felt. Nor did she have to, because he eminated a feeling of 'I know you better than you know yourself' to her that she could not deny. Finally she did utter his name, "Ipanyth," to the record keepers and to her friends.

Name: Ipanyth
Race: Pernese Dragon
Gender: Male
Color: Blue
Size: 26' long
Parents: Gold Mirheth x Bronze Atreyuth
Abilities: Telepathy, Teleportation, Assisted Firebreath
Personality: Ipanyth is deeply passionate about music--it's not unusual to hear him humming a very deep bass accompianement to whatever song is currently being played; he's even written a few lyrics of his own. He's a serious, level-headed dragon but prone to depression at times.
Bond: Olga

It was a very dark green that stood on her hind paws, wobbling, and stared Kendra in the eye. (Admittedly she was still having to crane her muzzle upwards to do that!)

I am not sure what 'football' is, can you paint it? Are they always the same color as that dragon? She nosed toward the other who was approaching their group.

"I can do better, Segolloth, I can play it with you when you're bigger!"

Name: Segolloth
Race: Pernese Dragon
Gender: Female
Color: Green
Size: 22' long
Parents: Green Ylirienth x Blue Tanauth
Abilities: Telepathy, Teleportation, Assisted Firebreath
Personality: clever, artistic, and easy to read
Bond: Kendra

That brown dragon was quite dark, almost sooty in his mottled hide, and if they were in a darker cavern it would be hard to see him. He had snuck around behind the girls, while the green was distracting Kendra, and almost bowled Beryl over when he butted his head on her knees.

Gotcha! He gave a dragonic giggle, both mentally and verbally. You're mine, can't get away from me.

"Why would I ever want to get away from you, Sareth!" Beryl laughed with him. He would be bigger than the others by a good bit, they could all tell.

Name: Sareth
Race: Pernese Dragon
Gender: Male
Color: Brown
Size: 34' long
Parents: Gold Yuneth x Brown Ujanforth
Abilities: Telepathy, Teleportation, Assisted Firebreath
Personality: solid, steadfast, and rebellious
Bond: Beryl

... Names by Seventh Sanctum ... . .. :(

Darkling Dawn Giveaway!

"I told you, they'd be ideal for this," Hollis nudged his companion and noticed that it was not G*non.

The look on his face was of confusion but he recovered quickly enough. The rider he had elbowed backed away just slightly, but Hollis continued to smile when he watched the girls impress and move off the busy sands.

One by one. Well, two that first time. They did not realize it because he had friends in sneaky places indeed. Since that clutch had occurred some two years before the last one did. They hadn't noticed that the sands had refilled with different candidates, that the dragons moving around them were very different when they all had impressed. If the people in the viewing stands noticed an extra pair or so they didn't say, nor did the records keepers.

Obviously that was because of some heavy mental gymnastics that Hollis pushed on people.

But in the long run, they all showed up to Carramba's dragon classes with hatchlings, not three different age groups of them! They would eventually find out what really went on, but by that time, the girls were young women - and could handle that information with less surprise and more slow nodding.