INTRO
Valentine's day is starting a little early
at Lantessama Isle. Somewhere in the shallow parts of the oceans on Syl'Neriss
nekrats have found strange eggs. The eggs seem to be porous in nature so the
nekrats will not move them as they seem completely fine in all other ways.
Nestled in coral reefs they are safe from predators and incubated by the warmer
water temperatures.
Coral Dragon Information
Coral Dragons are shy dragons that start out small but keep growing (feeding on micro-organisms
and plantmatter). As youngsters they need someone to care for them and a safe
place to hide in, as adults they'll become more daring and be able to fend for
themselves. As years go on they might grow enough to become a safe haven for
smaller creatures that will hide in their presence. They are a friendly sort of
dragon, and will maybe seem a bit slow/naive to others. Though they technically
can survive for a short time outside of water, it's highly recommended to have a
large supply of salt water for them to live in. They can take some pollution but
of course prefer a clean environment (who wouldn't?).
Note (since I was asked before): feel free to have them procreate freely.
Natural, Magical and Scientific means can be used to breed, merge or
splice these. I also wouldn't be opposed to having another clutch of these
in the future ;-)
Hatching
Story
Spring had settled on Lantessama Isle and the waters were stirring
with life. Candidates had been found, others had just shown up as destiny
had a way to bring the right people where they needed to be. Nekrats had
tried as best as they could to mark the location of all these porous eggs
and dragons, people and mers had kept a close eye on them over the past
months. And it seemed that they were now ready to hatch. Soft scratching
could be heard coming from the inside of the eggs. Tremors rippled the
surface. And the ocean was awash with excited chatter. It didn't take long
for the gathered candidates to receive a map and be sent on their treasure
hunt. Most of the candidates were oceandwellers. They could swim to the
indicated places. Those who were not as agile or fast in the water would
be flown to locations near the shore. Although the only one who might need
to take advantage of that offer could perfectly fly her stormy self to
where she needed to be.
A stray bunny dragon came out to peek at all the commotion but didn't care
to follow the candidates as they set off into the deeper waters. The
morning sun illuminated a few stray tails as they splashed the surface to
dive deeper and then the waters around Lantessama were calm again. Though
the Bay would have provided a secluded place, none of the peculiar eggs
had appeared there. Most likely because it was too crowded. In the past
months no-one - neither human nor draconic - had admitted to have had a
hand in the appearance of the coral eggs as they'd come to be called.
No-one had spotted strangers and no-one had heard any clues. It seemed
like the eggs had just popped up right out of the planet. Maybe the coral
reefs had spawned them. Maybe it was a recurring, though rare occurrence.
Only time would tell.
It was the Eel dragon Unagi who
managed to bond first. The electric blue and yellow dragon was sleek and
fast and wasted no time with leisurely sightseeing the Lantessaman Oceans.
She zipped through the waters and staked her claim to one of the closest
eggs. The egg was a pearly white with a million soft purple dots. It was
absolutely beautiful and quivered in response when the Eel dragon caressed
it with her tail. Bolstered by the outside encouragement, the little
dragon within managed to poke a paw through the shell, showing a bright
violet foot to the world. A second followed and then the egg fell apart to
reveal the coral male within.
"Cillopor." he yawned and
then snuggled close to the eel dragon who protectively wrapped her body
around him.
"I'll keep you safe." Unagi whispered and smiled.
The Atlantean Mermaid Odjured was
being pulled along by her far more handsome and far more noble companion Nestor,
who didn't seem to realise her reservations about the situation. He just
dragged her along with a strange sense of urgency. He'd never felt more liberated
in his entire life then here and now, being his own man and not being
bound by protocol. Nestor imagined Tinnin felt similar though they had
lost sight of the Pacific companions early on in the festival. A small tug
on his hand caught his attention.
"Over there!" Odjured motioned to the two eggs that seemed
to be resting against a sandy slope.
"Are they ours?" Nestor wondered.
"If not they'll just go look for their bonds, I guess." Odjured
guessed.
She wasn't exactly worried of not bonding, you couldn't miss that which
you had never known. And there were plenty of eggs, so they could try
again. The blue-skinned mermaid brushed her hand across the surface and
hastily pulled it back when the shell shattered. A bright orange female
dropped out and rolled against her tail.
"Oomph." she thought, "Glad
you aren't a rock."
"Same here, Nephtya." Odjured giggled.
"What's so funny?" another
small voice asked.
When Odjured turned, Nestor was cradling a bright purple dragon with
lighter markings.
"Girls like to whisper about the most peculiar things." Nestor
confided in his new bond.
"Oh."
A little distance away, Lubomir, the
chocolaye brown Ikthy drake with cream-coloured markings was swimming just
above the sand. He kept his eyes open, looking for eggs. But it was the
swish of a shapely, swirled, violet tail that caught his attention.
'What took you so long?" the chubby, confident female coral dragon
asked, "I was waiting."
"Are you talking to me?" Lubomir asked.
"Coerulia is my name, please use it a lot,
Lubomir." she grinned.
Xiadani and Rayen,
the two Kynnese Dahkala - or scaled mer- had tracked halfway across the
globe by now. Rayen was recounting a tale while Xiadani nodded. The flashy
mer was actually miles away lost in though, looking for sharks and other
predators. This deep in the water there could very well be some dangerous
creatures. The scar on the left side ached though the wound there had long
since healed.
"I doubt there are eggs this deep. The map they gave us indicated
that the eggs were all located in coral reefs." Xiadani said to Rayen.
"That's what most of the candidates would think." Rayen agreed,
"But I saw a couple of dots... oh right about there." he added
and pointed to two eggs that lay right in front of them.
The two of them approached the eggs carefully. There didn't seem to be any
living creature in the vicinity but the waters were eerily calm. The water
was also cold and the eggs didn't stir.
"Maybe they need to warm up some more." Rayen said, optimistic
as always.
Before Xiadani knew it, an egg got egg dumped into their arm and got
shoved along toward the surface.
The closer to the surface, the warmer the water became until suddenly the
eggs showed signs of hatching. Xiadani's split neatly in half and Rayen's
formed hairline fractures all over, becoming soft enough to peel away.
"That's much better." a
teal-green male sighed as he basked in the heat. The hatchling seemed
pretty carefree as he started swimming right away. Lacking a tail or fins,
he wasn't as fast as the Dahkala though.
"Hurry!" the pale green
female called to him.
"Rayen won't leave him behind, don't worry, Actinir." Xiadani
assured the new life they cradled.
"Atygyr will learn to swim fast soon." Rayen added with the deep
faith of a proud parent.
"One day I'll be faster than you!" Atygyr
called back and caught up where they waited in the water.
"For now I'll just hold on tight." Actinir
decided and latched herself onto Xiadani's back.
The Koi Demon Icar had had the same
idea but arrived to only shards when he reached the depths of the ocean.
He did a quick scan of the area and realised there were no other eggs
here. He was just about to venture to the surface when a spot of red
caught his attention. The formidable blue-green shifter went to
investigate and easily caught up with the - for now - slow red coral male.
"You caught me already." the
hatchling said dejected.
"I missed you all through my inspection." Icar offered though he
had been looking for eggs, not dragons.
The hatchling picked up his thoughts effortlessly, his mind quick and
empathic: "I'll need to train."
"That will help." Icar agreed.
Near one of the coral reefs to the main continent, Lothan
was circling his mistress Tinnin. The
pureblood noble merwoman was getting fed up with his protective behaviour
when she so clearly had other plans with the beefy protector. She decided
she could tease him a little and cloaked herself in a concealment spell.
She'd never told anyone she'd been practicing this and normally nobles had
very little magic. But this she could manage and it would rattle Lothan.
She hastily shimmied away and pushed herself against the coral edge to
hide. Only she miscalculated and the coral gave way under the pressure and
she suddenly found herself in a secluded bay with a number of eggs.
Dropping her spell, she popped her head back out and called: "Lothan!
here!"
All thoughts about teasing were forgotten when two of the eggs cracked
open and a yellow male and pink female appeared. The yellow male was
chubby and slow but seemed strong while the pink female was small and
lightning fast. It was no wonder then that she was the first to make a
move. She jumped into Tinnin's hands and snuggled under her the woman's
shawl.
"You smell nice, of seaweed. My name is
Meandrina, nice to meet you." she said.
"It's Nori n°5." Tinnin smiled, "I'm quite fond of that
scent as well.
Alongside them, the yellow male trotted over to Lothan, sat down in front
of him and extended a front leg: "I'm Porit."
"Lothan" the merman replied and took hold of the small paw.
Above them, the storm elemental Lehua
Tempestweaver had watched the bonding as the coral only
sheltered the little clearing from the sides. She didn't wait for the
others to clear but dropped unceremoniously down on the other side of the
eggs. Another egg cracked in half and out came the deepest indigo-blue
hatchling the clutch would see. Lehua didn't know that but she approved of
the unusual colour that so matched her element.
"What's your name?" she asked the hatchling.
The little female puffed out her chest, stood up proud and said:
"Tumusi."
"I think we'll get along well." Lehua nodded.
Looking through another sheltered reef that had been indicated on the map
where the two Zekirans from Five Hills Island. Vioq
Raum, a bright yellow, blue-ringed man with 8 legs and Almae
Sabu, the young woman with the large octopus tail were swimming
along. Vioq had propelled them toward this distant place, but now Almae
was showing of her own skills. Using the suction cups on her tail, she
bravely barrelled on ahead and squeezed through openings. Vioq easily
followed her with his flexible body. And suddenly they happened upon a
secluded and sheltered spot. Three eggs lay there together. All three of
them hatched together.
A bright blue male excitedly ran up to Vioq and hugged him, seemingly
unperturbed by the man's skin. At the same time a red female had cosied up
to Almae.
"I can fish, I can fish!"
the blue male repeated over and over as if to make certain the octopus
Zekiran would approve of their bond.
"I think you're great." the
red female confided to Almae.
"Can I come too? You seem great
people." the third, a purple female asked a bit
uncertain.
"I think we can manage three, right?" Almae suggested.
"We have the space." Vioq agreed.
"So what are your names?" he asked, standing upon the custom of
introduction.
"Giidae!" the blue called
excitedly.
"Gonia." the red said
sweetly.
"Gricia." the purple added
modestly.
Spemomac had taken their time to
depart. They were a passionate though unusual being and had gotten a lot
of attention while waiting for the festival to start. It had been quite
thrilling to visit someplace new and extending the wait a bit longer only
heightened the exhilarating tension in their body. The tall, pink Hanar
had finally departed and got comfortably in the water where their body was
truly home.
"This one might need to hurry a bit." they chuckled.
"This one got tired of waiting." a
rosy pink male added as he swam up to the Hanar.
"Ah, Leptogor." Hanar said, tasting the new but familiar name in
his mind.
"Spemomac." Leptogor
answered, "I'm quite hungry from the long
swim."
"Understood."
Though they didn't know it, all of the other candidates had already bonded
while Belang, the orca shifter and Bexez'Rodu
the blue dragon, were still searching. Though the blue dragon could swim,
he wasn't as good at swimming as the other candidates. Though Belang in
her orca form could swim well, she couldn't reach the shallower waters
where most of the coral eggs had been placed. they'd come across shards
that indicated eggs had hatched and presumable hatchlings had bonded. The
only thing they could do was search on.
"That bay over there seems nice to take a rest." Bexeze'Rodu
said, pointing his tail.
"Let's take a break." Belang agreed.
She could keep going, her body fit and able, but a break might be just
what they need to catch a lucky break. It seemed those thoughts had been
prophetic because when they approached the shore, the bay revealed a small
patch of reef that sheltered two small eggs.
"Are these coral eggs?" Belang wondered.
"What else could they be?" Bexez'Rodu said and nuzzled one of
them.
"Hey!" Belang called, wondering if they should carelessly touch
the eggs like that when a crack rippled out in the water.
A male pink hatchling poked his head up and nuzzled the larger blue
dragon. Next to him, the other egg hatched only seconds later, revealing a
red female. She blinked twice before making eye contact. A few seconds of
very busy, very chaotic mindspeak later, the two hatchlings had conveyed
their wish to join the pair. They did not claim either of the two nor did
Belang and Bexez'Rodu lay claim on either or both of the hatchlings but
the consensus was reached that they belonged together.
"Cervicor and Acropora will be well received." Belang thought as
they headed back to Lantessama Isle for the continuation of the festival
which would have food, drinks and entertainment.
Almae
Sabu (f) and roughened Red Gonia (f)
Icar
Blundyth
(m) and frosted Red Pennatu (m)
Odjured
(f) and Orange Nephtya (f)
Lothan
(m) and roughened Yellow Porit (m)
Xiadani
(nb) and White Actinir (f)
Rayen
(m) and cracked Green Atygyr (m)
Vioq
Raum (m) and frosted Blue Giidae (m)
Lehua
Tempestweaver (f) and swirled Indigo
Tumusi (f)
Nestor
(m) and frosted Purple Virgul (m)
Unagi
(f) and Violet Cillopor (m)
Lubomir (m) and
swirled Violet Coerulia (f)
Spemomac
(nb) and cracked Rose Leptogor (m)
Tinnin
(f) and swirled Pink Meandrina (f)
Sponsors
roughened Pink Cervicor (m) and cracked Red
Acropora (f) to Belang
& Bexez'Rodu
Purple Gricia (f) to Vioq
Raum (Five Hills Island)