In The Dark Of The Night...

[Deleted]

The Skittish Sweetheart Opal  wasn't really sure it was going, other than away from its probably murderous sister. It was still hungry and tired, and had a vague idea that it needed to find another guardian, or it was going to be in deep trouble, but that didn't mean it had any sort of plan. And really, if there just happened to be a cat in its way, well, oops? Curiously, its head turned towards Luna when she shouted, and the little Opal eyed the confused looking girl. Shy and a little unsure, it wasn't quite sure what to do, but it took a few steps towards her, making a lost little noise.

And then there really was a cat in its way. Tinker was talking to it, and the Opal had to crouch a little, a tad unsure of everything going on around it. It wasn't sure if it should go over and check out Luna, or stay with the cat, or what. It was, however, hungry and tired and missing behind held. But at least there was nothing trying to eat her, at the moment, and she could be grateful for that, right?

But see, things never stayed quiet for long. The Big Baby Sapphire was just, well, a big baby. It most certainly didn't like being hissed at by his bonded sibling. Ophyra was doing her best to keep another mauling from happening, and the Sapphire was thankful for that, but things got pretty scary there for a moment. He really wasn't all that sure that the meat he had was worth it. And sure, maybe there was a moment of eyeing Mumford, wondering if he could eat that, but the Big Baby Sapphire was a giant big baby and a kitten could probably beat him up.

He could maybe try to hide behind Ophyra, but that was probably dangerous, too, with the Sulphur right there. With other quieter places in sight, the Sapphire abandoned his food to go slink off towards other parts. Unsurprisingly, he gave Mixie and her new bond a bit of distance, because that was even more trouble, but his tiny little Opal sibling didn't look like it could hurt a fly. Plus, there was attention on it. With Luna and Tinker there, and Mixie with her problems, and Alice wandering over, and who knew if Ophyra would follow...well, so much attention in this one spot. And so the Sapphire flopped down in the spot that he felt was the middle of all that attention, and started to kick up another whining tantrum. What did he want? Attention. When did he want it? Right now.

"Someone should shove a bloodied hand into that thing's mouth before I duct tape it shut." Len complained, as he got closer to where everyone seemed to be gathering. "I think you deserve more than a smoke, but that's all I got on me." He told Alice, digging out his cigarette case and just sort of tossing it to her. Like hell he was getting close to her with her new bond being that mean. "You can give it back to me later." Hopefully without the Agate in tow.

He was mostly following a little bit behind Aurelir, as he wanted a better look at the Emerald. "Maybe? Some creatures are born with names. Maybe that's it?" He really didn't know. "I guess she's going home with you, if she's tellin' you her name." Did that mean they talked? Probably questions for another time.

The Sweet Sadist Emerald wasn't too happy with the attention, but she was far too worn out to protest too much. Though she took a rather great deal of offense to the tone he was using at her. She was, however, not stupid by any means, however young she might be. She needed someone to help her and feed her right now, and she might not particularly like anyone at this point, well. She didn't have to like them or trust them to use them to get what she wanted. Fool her once, shame on her, fool her again.....there would be no second time.

Dripping blood was the lifesaver she needed, and Aurelir wouldn't understand just how in over his head he was until she got her strength back. Getting a bit of second wind back, the Emerald lunged and latched onto him, before spitting out her name. Juaraisk She hissed, all anger and hunger and pain.
Bond! Sweet Sadist Emerald to Aurelir!

Len hummed a bit. "Hey, you probably should give me some files or somethin' about your biology. So I can patch you up later. You're probably gonna need it." The doctor pointed out, just watching how things went and so not getting involved.

[Deleted]

Aurelir, distracted as he was by the confusion of why the dragon behind him was in his head and the worry for the green one, still glanced back at the wailing blue one when it set to a new tantrum. He quirked a browplate for those closest to the screeching thing, then snorted a metal-sounding laugh for Leonard, turning back to the injured green dragon. "Spirits, if somebody doesn't, we're going to have bigger problems on our hands than cannibalistic infants." The turian added, glancing up into the desert a little warily. Could the predators smell the corpses? How close were they? How many here were armed? The one human had a knife, but, well...he was in his pajamas. Not so good for fighting off predators from babies.

"She's definitely going home with me." The turian couldn't even begin to describe why he felt exceedingly protective of the little red dragon still cowering behind his spurs, making uncertain noises about his proximity to her sibling. He didn't have a word for the feeling, or any certainty of why or how or any other thing he probably should know. He just knew that he'd protect the sweet little dragon with, well. Whatever he had. "I suppose you're right. I've never met a baby that knew its own name, but I...am discovering I've seen little of the galaxy. Or wherever this place is." He made a noise that could have been a laugh or a verbal grimace, running his free hand anxiously over his fringe. Maybe he shouldn't think about where he was, why none of the stars were right.

He was distracted. The pain of the tiny green dragon lunging at his hand and latching onto it wasn't the worst he'd ever endured, but it was sudden, and her little teeth were sharp. "Ah." The captain didn't yelp, exactly, and didn't jump, but he did turn sharply to stare at the dragon. She glared up at him, gnashing her teeth harder for the attention, snarling as much as she could without much breath, too busy biting to breathe. "Easy, Juaraisk!" Aurel ordered, a hair off of sharp, but he didn't fight her. She could have his hand, if that's what she needed, right now. There would be time for attempting proper manners later. Once he regained feeling in his hand. Maybe it wasn't great that he couldn't feel his central finger.

"Hah!" Aurelir turned his head a little to flash a grin very full of teeth for Leonard. "I would prefer to keep use of this hand." He ceded, mandibles flaring out wide in brief, genuine amusement. "Too late to send her packing with you instead, I believe." For all that she was currently doing her best to saw down to one of the tendons, he felt the same sense of protectiveness towards this one, too. That didn't bode incredibly well for his future. He'd never had a pet before. Was this normal? Did humans feel this way when they got one of their...cats? The small felines. Maybe it was. Perhaps that was why the crew human was so devastated when they'd failed to retrieve the feline from one recently-ravaged outpost. Distantly, the turian reconsidered his previous bafflement over her despair. "I don't believe my medigel will repair with skill a tendon half gnawed-through. Jauraisk, that's my appendage."

The little green dragon snarled, fuming still, but quickly losing energy. He'd collect her eventually.

[Deleted]

"Seems it's a custom," she answered Mumford in a dry tone. It was a weird custom- she threw Yvalm another look here, who took a keen interest in Ophysk again- and that was when the Big Baby Sapphire decided to go for a stroll. He abandoned his bowl of meat and left for the rest of them. She stared after him, even as he disappeared over the crest of the dune; and then he sighed. "I'm going to regret this later," she informed the kitten. She picked up the bowl of meat the sapphire had left, took the bag of meat from Yvalm while ordering him to keep the sulphur in check, and followed the sapphire. The elf hoped Mumford followed her, but you know. He could stay with Yvalm if he wanted.

She hadn't quite been prepared for the sight that she walked in on. There were a lot of injuries, snarling and angry whers, injured rats- poor Meow Mix- and everything was a mess. The elf sighed, but she had committed, so she walked into the fray. It was the blown-out speaker of Mixie's mecha suit that caught her attention first; she approached Meow Mix and her gold, placing the bowl at a safe distance from the gold's jaws. "There should be enough meat in here to give you some time," she said to the rat, and then she quickly vacated Iyrisk's range.

She ended up approaching the Skittish Sweetheart Opal. Luna, who was close by, was given a glance, but not more. The opal appeared the least likely to maul out of the ones here, so she dipped her hand into her bag of meat and offered one to the little wher, crouching down so she wasn't looming over her. "Go on, you're probably starving," she insisted, keeping an eye out for any unwelcome visitors- or attackers. Hey, you never knew.

[Deleted]

As soon as the suit was screeching and crackling Alice was wincing and moving away from Mixie. Nevermind she didn't need to share Alicsk's name that bad, or find out if the Opal had one or not. Not if her ears were going to be assaulted with the kind of noises that made her teeth ache.

At least Leonard was offering her another smoke, she took it happily, tucking it behind an ear for now. "Oh really now?" She looked him over for a second, "Buy me dinner some time, you can have more than a smoke." She kept her tone light and friendly, he could take it as seriously or as jokingly as she wanted.

Alicsk, on the other hand, apparently though the screeching was some kind of challenge and had started trying to squirm away from her bonded to go and meet said challenge head on. Alice clamped down hard on the Agate, "That's enough." She hissed, and abruptly the Agate stopped moving, but was clearly not pleased about it. Alice raised an eyebrow at the little creature, whatever seemed to protect them from her Bane didn't seem to work once they had wormed their way into her mind. Well that was certainly convenient.

So she turned her attention to the little Opal, obviously nervous and afraid and confused by all the yelling. Between the cats and the strange girl yelling and Mixie's screech-y suit, Alice was mostly remembering the way Alicsk had suckled on her foot. So she did the obvious thing, setting Alicsk down since the Agate was incapable of movement, and driving a fingernail into her wrist. She left it there, wriggling it a little bit to let some of the blood flow but keeping the nail in her flesh to prevent it from healing up, and she offered it out towards the Opal.

"Here little thing, you hungry?"

[Deleted]

Luna was surprised, to say the least, when the cat (Tinker) talked. Not that she should have been, necessarily, as she'd been here for enough time that she'd heard some sort of animal talk in one way or another. She'd probably be surprised by any of this for a little bit. But when the Skittish Sweetheart Opal stopped running, and looked at her with a weirdly cute expression (something so scared-looking couldn't be dangerous, right?) she paused her running, looked around a little bit at flailing mechs and people dealing with other damaged and bleeding babies, to take a few, significantly calmer steps towards the dragon (Wher).

She had nothing in the way of food, not that she even recognized that the poor Opal was hungry, anyway, but she did squat down at the noises. "What do you want?" She looked up at Ophyra and Alice and "Oooh"'d. These were babies! Of course they were hungry. Even with all of the violence and whatnot, but when she looked down at the Opal, it didn't look so bad! I mean, sure, she'd missed all of the attacking and injury and bloodshed (blissfully ignorant one might say), but maybe this was just like the thing where Pitbulls were only mean and angry if they were scared or something. And babies were probably scared of a lot of things! Right? (No.)

There were a lot of people around the Opal now, but meat-less and clueless, she looked over at the Big Baby Sapphire who was now kicking up a storm of a tantrum, and looked at the elf and the woman. "Is that one hungry too?" Now sort of assured that the baby Opal was mostly okay (and it looked like the talking cat was okay too), she looked over at the Sapphire and held up a finger at the Opal, and anyone around really. "Just a sec, lemme get that one over there." She didn't know about the avoiding, or the fear of his siblings. Luna had a lot to learn.

"Hey there little guy," She tried not running towards him, offering a big grin because maybe that made her look less-scary. She didn't know if he was scared of her. She didn't know a lot of things. "Are you hungry too? You're not hurt are you?"

[Deleted]

Though she'd have a very difficult time expressing it right now, what with the ruined speaker and snarling baby and all, Mixie felt a powerful surge of gratitude towards Ophyra as the woman brought her over a bowl of the meat that her companion had produced. "You're a lifesaver!" she tried to squeak out, but the speaker just wasn't having it. More static and feedback for everyone! The tiny gold recoiled from the additional outburst of noise, and promptly struggled her way out of Mixie's arms. Food! It was OBVIOUSLY hers, and only hers. With a warning snarl and hiss towards the other hatchlings that were far too close- like the Sapphire- she dragged the bowl a little closer to her new bonded before digging in enthusiastically. All hers.

Freed from draconic invasion for a brief moment, Mixie assessed her situation. There were a few red lights on her dashboard, but most of them were informing her that the cockpit door was ajar- no shit, Sherlock- or were related to the mangled speaker console. Nothing appeared unfixably broken. It'd take her more than a few hours, and a few spare parts that she would rather have put towards something to sell (maaan, and she almost had that radio working! Dangit!) but she was confident she'd be able to get her external voice working by the end of the week. The suit's mobility had, at least, not been compromised, and Mixie made quick use of that fact by getting back on her feet. From there, it was easy to take a look around. The opal seemed safe and sound, surrounded by several people... and a cat? Wait, there was another cat? And another one? What? Why were there CATS here all of a sudden?

If she happened to turn a brief, accusatory glance in Alice's direction, well. Who could blame her? That WAS the source of all things feline earlier.

But still, the cat wasn't nearly big enough to be much of a threat to even the tiny Opal, and there were multiple others looking out for it, too. There was a howling blue dragon-thing making a dramatic fuss in the middle of everyone, but other than those two, she saw no more babies that didn't seem attached to someone. Nor, a second thorough look around the area revealed, did there seem to be any more movement or other signs of hatching. She honestly hoped these were all of the little ones, and that there weren't any other eggs that had been buried in blowing sand, like the opal's had been. It was horrible to think that any babes would be left starving and alone out here because they'd been missed.

Who knew a rat could be such a mother hen?

[Thane Hampden]

Thane gave the baby a strained smile as it scrambled out of the egg and rubbed against his leg, taking gesture as a sign of thanks. He was rather less pleased when the Wher made a beeline for his left hand, gabbing it gently and sucking on his fingers. "Whatever, buddy, just don't bite down," he grumbled as the Sulphur lapped at the fresh blood, a little startled when a bond formed between them. Well, better the one than the green baby.

"Oosk, huh? Let's go home." Picking his new Wher up with his free hand and tucking him close to his chest, Thane stood and signaled to Kalla. The pale bird hop-stepped away from the others and fluttered over to the teen's side. It took a little work, but he manged to set Oosk on Kalla's back before pulling himself up and grabbing onto the Sulphur again. Kalla crouched, then rose into the sky with a few wingbeats, Twistering away to get them home faster. It had been a rough night, and Thane needed to tend to his hand and get some sleep.

[The Legion]

Mumford was blissfully ignorant of the Big Baby Sapphire's brief consideration of him as a potential foodstuff. The kitten was perfectly happy to trail after Ophyra, since the witch had all the food, and as a growing cat he was always, always hungry. Always. He waited semi-patiently as the witch offered food to Meow Mix's gold, dancing in place and showing enough self preservation to not dart in and steal food from the gold's bowl, but when Ophyra then offered food out to the Opal he couldn't stay put any longer. The white cat rubbed along Ophyra's other arm, nosing at the food bag, and commented, It really is good. Have some, as he snatched up a bite from it. He backed off with it, laying down to worry at the strip of meat with his teeth, but kept an eye on the bag of meat. The food was really all he cared about, didn't you know?

Tinker's admittedly wonky instincts said the right thing to do in this situation was snuggle.  Purring made her feel better, and being cuddled while purring was the ultimate in soothing events, so surely, surely!, that would work for the Skittish Sweetheart Opal too.  Right?  So she continued her approach, purring at maximum volume (and sounding surprising like a two-stroke motor, rumbledyrumbledyrumbledyrumbledy) while exuding reassurance.  Easy now, little love, it's alright.  You are safe.  Look, there is food, she nodded toward Ophyra's offering, and briefly gave the witch a look of adoration for helping, and there is warmth.  There is nothing to fear now, the cat murmured, mental voice as warm and snuggley as her chubby marmalade body.

Alabaster heaved a sigh.  If Tinker was determined to give the Opal some love, he wasn't going to stop her, and would even help out in the hopes of this being done and over with that much sooner.  She needs blood, he observed, sharing his memories of the other whers bonding off with his mind-sibling.

Tinker's purring stuttered, then resumed (possibly even louder).  Well, he must be right, since there was Alice offering a bloody wrist out. With a mental and physical wince (though no sound other than her continued purring), Tinker extended a razor-sharp claw and, for lack of any other place she could scratch through her own fur, laid open the long ridge of her nasal passage.  It took a moment, but warm blood started to seep into the white and orange fur, and Tinker extended her head toward the Opal.  It would be brave if she had the good sense to be scared.  Alas, the idea that the Opal might take her whole nose off never occurred to her.

[Deleted]

The doctor just grinned at Alice and gave her a wink. "I'd buy you dinner, even if it got me nothin' but your charming company." He told her, sincere and laying on the charm. Hey, if he could come out of this complete cluster of a night with a few people that tolerated him, well. It was a good night. And a potential dinner later was a lot better of a thing to look forward to than the medical care he had to do on some of the babies here.

But Leonard was pleased to see that the little Emerald was latching on to Aurelir. It definitely made her easier to care for, in the future. "Looks like you're stuck with her, buddy. You have fun with that." They were going to be an odd pair, that's for sure. "If you need help with her leg, let me know." Did he know how to set a wannabe dragon bone? Nope. He'd figure it out before they got back to his clinic, though.

There was a lot going on around it, and the Skittish Sweetheart Opal was feeling a little overwhelmed. There was Ophyra wandering over, with soft words and an offering of meat. And then there was also Alice, inching closer with blood dripping for it. All of it smelled wonderful, and it just kept looking back and forth between the two of them.

They were not the only ones, though, as Tink was still close, and purring, and warm, and very much reassuring. And the smell of fresh blood came from the cat, too. Hungry, exhausted, and very much wanting to get away from everything to find a quiet place to sleep, the little Opal knew it needed to make a decision.

With a huff, the Sweetheart turned to the closest one to it. Blood was already seeping out of Tinker’s scratch, and that was tempting enough. With a huff, the Opal licked over the cat’s face, getting drool everywhere. Oeztesk It muttered, sleepily.
Bond! Skittish Sweetheart Opal to Tinker!

The Big Baby Sapphire was very much Not Happy that he was being totally ignored. Which just meant the tantrum kicked up even more, because hello, he is here. Pay attention to him. There wasn’t even anything that was wrong, he just needed all the attention and babying in the world. But hey, his tantrum finally drew someone’s attention!

He quieted almost instantly as Luna came up to him. She wasn’t offering anything tasty, but the Sapphire wasn’t too picky, right now. Whining a little, he picked himself up off the ground and shuffled closer to the clueless girl. There was a moment of silence, and then without warning, he lunged towards her and clamped down on her ankle. He was gonna get blood, one way or another.

Zyask He told her, his tone almost sounding cheerful. And then he just flopped down on her feet and peered up at her, whining softly.
Bond! Big Baby Sapphire to Luna!



(And that’s a wrap. <3 Ya’ll have until the 3rd to claim your babies. Make sure to post here ICly to claim -- if you don’t, they will be made wild, or will be rebonded.)

[The Legion]

To say that Tinker was happy when Oeztesk licked her nose and snuggled into her side (after snatching up the offered meat, of course - it was there and the Opal was hungry, and even if it had picked someone else it would never, ever ignore a free meal) would be an understatement of epic proportions.  The tubby marmalade cat's purr softened - not growing quieter, exactly, but taking on a new tone, as the cat welcomed the shivery warmth of the Opal's bond into the vault of the hive mind shared between the cats.  With exacting care, Tinker returned the Opal's lick, ignoring the drool coating her own face in order to tenderly groom one exhausted Wher.  The entirety of her fluffy self was focused on caring for the new baby in her life, and that presence in their hivemind warmed her from dainty, deadly claws to the tips of her ears and twitchy white tail.  A yawning chasm of long-repressed pain was, ever so slightly, eased, and Tinker set to caring for her new baby with a will.

Since Tinker was busy ignoring the entire rest of the gathering, it fell to Alabaster to address the others gathered around the tabby and her precious baby Wher.  The elderly feline rose, stretched, and trotted forward, sitting beside the warm ball of purring love to regard Alice and Ophyra. I believe Tinker has the little one in hand, he said to Alice, mindvoice polite yet firm, before he switched his attention to Ophyra. If you could spare us some of that meat - whatever Mumford has not stolen, at any rate - I think Oeztesk could use a proper feeding. 

Mumford, for his part, was going to finish up his current bit of meat, then disappear, because it started to look like there might be actual work coming up and he wanted nothing to do with it.  Besides, his head itched with the presence of a new member in the hive mind, and he really needed some time to figure out how that even worked.  At least he got some food out of the day.

(OOC: *flails* I love her, thank you so much!)
Opal Oeztesk -- The Legion

[Deleted]

As the Opal made it's way to the cat and seemed content to stay there, Alice shrugged. Drawing her nail out of her arm she rubbed the blood away as the wound healed over nearly instantaneously. As she did so she side-eyed Alabaster warily, responding to the cat in the feline tongue. "I don't care man, so long as the little thing has somewhere to go and something to eat."

Man what a weird cat.

Instead she collected Alicsk, who was stubbornly starting to slip the bane and looking rather upset with Alice about it, a fact she would make known by latching her teeth into the womans arm as soon as she was picked up. Alice rolled her eyes and thumped the wher on the nose, but otherwise ignored her. Instead she turned her attention to Leonard, offering him a coy smile. "You just say the word babe, I'm sure I could make time for you." Not that she actually had anything else going on, being trapped here in the Faewild and all, but that didn't have the same ring to it, you know?

And hey, hadn't he said he was a Doctor? Maybe she could get a meal out of him and then some.

Alisssck. The Agate hissed at Leonard, obviously less keen on the idea than either of the two humanoids.

[Deleted]

At first, Luna thought she had done something good. The little baby Dragon (surely she'd be corrected eventually, right?) was quiet as she approached, and that was good right? He was probably making lots and lots of noise because, well, she didn't really know why. Attention must have been part of it. It made sense with young things, ya'know, they usually wanted attention or foo--

"Ow!" She couldn't let the expression leap out of her when the Sapphire went and clamped his little jaws around her angle. Between the force and the teeth breaking her skin, she almost kicked him right off of her (and would have likely fallen right on her ass in the process) before he released his grip and flopped right beside her and squeaked out a noise. Dragons could talk?

"Zyask?" She asked, snappy from the pain. Pain, she wasn't used to pain, and she felt herself cowering a little bit, only to feel foolish immediately. This thing was tiny compared to her. She'd faced large monsters before, for fuck's sake. And then there was something that clicked in her head, and she understood immediately, then, that Zyask was the Sapphire's name. And that somehow, he was a part of her now. He looked like he was feeling way better than he was thirty seconds ago, all crying and throwing a fit. Maybe it wasn't the attention at all. It was the blood. And this connection that they had, suddenly. She looked at her ankle that was now release a steady stream of blood where the young Dragon's teeth had pierced her skin. It stung, yes, but she'd live she thought.

Everyone else seemed to be leaving. It seemed the rescue mission was over, though a part of her was wondering if maybe this was a trap all along. Was it really the baby Dragons that needed rescuing? She looked down at Zyask skeptically, still not understanding the bond that had forged between them. When she moved in one direction, Zyask followed, imprinted onto her in a way because he was certainly not going to take on all of the demands of the world all on his own. After not many steps at all, he flopped down again, crying out until Luna hushed him quickly, picking the squirming bundle up in her arms, avoiding teeth and claws and feeling considerably more lost and confused now than she was when she first got here.

(Thank you, thank you. <3 I can't wait to see how Zyask terrorizes Luna. >D)