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Broad shoulders and hips shine with yellow mustard, their imposing lines tapering down to a narrow keel and short but strong legs tucked beneath her. She's a bright gold, her colors brash and undiluted along the trapezoidal prism of her body. Her head is a wedge shape, with a short muzzle and large eyes, and one of her knobs sticks almost directly upward while the other remains tucked close to her head. Across her chest sweeps a band of cream, crisp-edged as it goes from the base of one wing to the other in a straight (well, curved around her torso) line. Those wings are powerfully built, with squared spars near the shoulders that extend - and extend - into long sweeps that stretch until they're almost skeletal at the ends, narrow pinions with the sails between fading from a smoky amber glass through to an all but invisible shine of golden sunlight along their trailing edges. She may have short legs, but those wings ensure that no stairs will ever defeat her… even if those slightly gnarled black talons can't quite manage to get a grip. Matching those wings in extent is the length of her tail. It's broader on top than the bottom, tapering along its length until it divides into a forked tip whose prongs are sparked with fluorescent white.
Egg Name and Description
Tick Tock Time Runs Out Egg
Darkly red, this egg seems to lean no matter how it's propped up, thumping over from its irregular base. Even when it's almost steady, the top is still off-kilter, marked by a pair of raised blisters that mar the surface. From there, faint tracings in bruise-purple and blood-red reach down around the shell to surround the swollen mass and sustain the fragile flutter of life within this erratic lump.
Hatching Message
Tick Tock Time Runs Out Egg sways against the sands, moving back and forth with a steady motion. One and two and one and two and…
Tick Tock Time Runs Out Egg intensifies its motion, wobbling on the sands until it crashes against them with a loud crunching sound. This is one egg whose shell will definitely be scrap!
Tick Tock Time Runs Out Egg falls away… mostly. Small shards like strewn confetti dust the form of the dragon so revealed, and a single large fragment clings over the face to cover it like a mask going from head-knobs to the top of muzzle.
Let's Rock This House Gold Hatchling is here! Her full glory is revealed. Well, okay, not quite her full glory, she's still covered in bits of shell, but that's just because you can't HANDLE her full glory. SO GLORIOUS. Nothing can stand in her way, and so she goes straight from her shell to charging across the sands, full speed. Vroooooooom…..thud! There she goes, running straight past the scattered candidates and into the wall with a crack as loud as any of the shells. Was that the plaster, or her skull?
Let's Rock This House Gold Hatchling backs up from the wall with a series of low chirps. The broken piece of egg-shell still covers her face, but there's definitely a dusting of white flecks on her muzzle that wasn't there before… though at least the wall's still standing. For now, anyhow! Better send someone to fix it later… but never mind that. Her first attempt may have been just ever so slightly off-target, but she is undaunted! SHE HAS NO DAUNTS. And she still has plenty of charge, so… a turn to adjust her angle, and off she goes again!
Let's Rock This House Gold Hatchling will never give up! Never surrender! Never stop… until she crashes directly into a dark-haired candidate and tumbles down on top of her, limbs sprawled in all directions to bury her with that golden bulk.
Impression Message
« Oh NO you're DEAD! I've gone and killed you and… wait! Wait, wait, WAIT! You're NOT DEAD! This changes everything. We can get out of here, we can run away together and see the world! PAAAARTAAAY! …hold on, though. Problem here. I seem to have something in my eye. And I DON'T mean sentiment, I mean, yes, it's wonderful that you're not dead and all but this is far more important than whether you're bleeding - and hush, we'll get to this "breathing" issue of yours in due time, we're still talking about ME right now. Priorities, Risa, PRIORITIES. What was I saying? Right! My eye. Eyes, really. I can't seem to make them do that thing. The one with the focusing, what's it called… seeing, that's it! That whole visual distinction and processing… thing. It's just sort of offline! Bit of an issue. Well, more than a bit, really. How can we party with the pretty people if I don't even know who they are? They'll be all, "Ohhhh, Leirith, why are you dancing with the coatrack?" and I've BEEN in that mess before. NEVER AGAIN. So this vision thing, you understand how it's important. A right problem, this lack, an issue of grand proportions like my butt that is SHAPELY and not in the least like a ton of bricks crushing you. You're… WAIT! That's it! You can be my seeing eye minion. Just tell me if I'm going to bump into anything! We will make it HAPPEN. »
Personality
Loud, brash, enthusiastic, and loud. Did we mention loud? It's not that Leirith doesn't understand the concept of an inside voice, it's just that she doesn't have one. At all. You'd better get used to hearing her thoughts. All of them. She doesn't have a filter, either, and so you'll get a stream of consciousness rampaging through your head until you manage to learn how to filter it down to a dull roar… or she learns self control? …yeah, better not wait for that. You might be a while.
She'll be just as loud and forthright when it comes to her conversations with others. Leirith says what's on her mind, no matter how weird and rambling or personal it may be, and she says it loud enough for anyone within half a mile to hear. If she thinks someone looks funny? She says it. To their FACE. It's not cruelly meant, she just… doesn't seem to understand the idea of keeping her mouth shut to not hurt people's feelings. It's funny! Or true. Or both! And if they say the same to her? She'll be equally amused, though she'll show it by retorting with sarcasm and argument. Some dragons play-wrestle; Leirith play-argues, engaging in endless banter with her loud and almost unfailingly upbeat mindvoice.
At least when Leirith sleeps she stops making noise with her mouth, though you're not quite so lucky as to actually get peace and quiet. Oh no, for when she's asleep, she dreams - and those dreams, much like her waking thoughts, will be broadcast into your head… and anyone else unfortunate enough to be listening on the right frequency that night. They're strange affairs, masked balls and wild twists of realities that might have been that shine for the moments they exist and then - for the most part - fade away as she wakes. Good luck trying to concentrate on classes while you're swimming along in the napping Leirith's undersea adventures, though!
Eventually, Leirith will learn to be at least be somewhat capable of modulating her volume and picking and choosing who's listening to her comments, but she's never going to be a subtle mindspeaker… and even once she knows how to be quiet and not say the thing, she's not likely to do so very often. Where's the fun in NOT saying things?
Really, a lack of talking is quite possibly the most terrible thing, and that's why it's the penalty she reserves for when she's truly upset at you. That's right, the worst weapon in Leirith's arsenal is… the silent treatment! Unfortunately for you, this doesn't actually mean she shuts up. It just means she tells you, at length, about how she's not talking to you. Because she's mad at you! So she's not talking. Nope. Not her. She won't talk to you, not one word - not one! - until you do whatever it is she wants. …or she gets distracted by something else and forgets about it, whichever comes first.
While there's nothing at all wrong with Leirith's lungs, the same can't be said for her vision. Underdeveloped nictitating membranes mean she's gotten egg goop in her eyes, and it's become infected either as she grew or - more likely - as she was breaking through and being exposed to all those germs sitting on the outside of her shell. (Someone should have washed their hands more thoroughly before those touchings!) She'll need special drops and creams applied in her eyes at regular intervals until it resolves - and until it does, she'll be better off not trying to use her eyes and risking further irritation. It's time for eye patches! Whether that's a fancy leather double-pirate set, or the simpler bandages and tape the dragonhealers will provide, you'll have to keep her eyes covered and act as Leirith's seeing eye minion to guide her through the world.
And good luck with that, because… able to see or no, Leirith isn't one to hang back and hesitate. So what if she can't see where she's going? She'll just charge ahead anyhow, and navigate by your instructions - if you can get them out in time - or the warning yelps of people and dragons when she's about to trample them. She'll surely learn the dimensions of everywhere that matters! …and everyone else will learn to get out of her way.
For all Leirith may often be barreling into her clutchmates (like she did you), she'd never mean to hurt them. It may be that her own sturdy build and in-the-moment mindset has made her somewhat oblivious to the idea of consequence - and the fact that she can actually hurt the smaller people around her. You'll need to work with her on that, and on understanding that just because SHE wouldn't mind someone running into her, that doesn't mean that her siblings - and their riders - are okay being squished underneath a gold dragon.
While her eye infections are being treated, Leirith will learn how to use the eyes of others to compensate. There's your vision, for a start, but there's also those firelizards hanging around the barracks, her fellow dragons… perhaps even other riders. She's got no compunctions about borrowing someone's visuals as she chatters to them, using their sight to help her navigate the world in third person perspective instead of first. While it may be disconcerting the first few times it happens, that skill will prove valuable when she's older, helping Leirith coordinate seamlessly with dragons on various wings and see their multiple perspectives at the same time with far more ease than most.
For all her quips and charges, Leirith does truly care about those around her. When she shuts down one of Azrith's lines with a clever quip, she's just waiting for him to come back with one of his own. She loves the battle of wits, win or lose, and there's no surer way to become her friend than to challenge her - whether with brains, brawn, or whatever else. Of course, win or lose, she remains quite certain she's the best… but whether you lose with style or win because you've got some fancy tricks, any worthy opponent deserves their place as a minion in her master plan.
And oh, her plans! They'll start simple enough - perhaps having the firelizards create a commotion so the pair of you can sneak out. From there, they'll grow in size and scope. After all, she IS the wise (future) leader of the Weyr! You can tell because of her shiny hide and also her SHEER GENIUS. …okay, so maybe those plans won't always work as she intended them to. Apparently the weyrlingmasters are more perceptive than she gave them credit for! And while sliding down the hill on borrowed sheets of metal does get them going fast, that ski jump she had you and the other weyrlings build isn't actually enough to launch the dragons into the air. FINE. LESSON LEARNED.
But next time? Her plan will be better. Bigger, grander, and just all around better! …and while it might seem like boasting to save her ego - and in the moment after a failed plan, it sort of is - Leirith will keep coming up with new plans, and as she learns more and gets a better understanding of how the world works, her plans will actually be better. Mostly. There's bound to still be a few clunkers here and there, because if there's an overall flaw to her plans… it's that she likes them big. Over the top! Too complicated for her own good! It's just not interesting enough to always do things the easy way.
Really, anything worth doing is worth doing well… and when Leirith says well, she means grandly. Sure, you COULD make a serviceable but plain set of straps, but why not decorate them? Or try a new design? And sure, she COULD just fly straight there, but that would miss all the fun of doing loops and swoops through the air. Those weyrlingmasters who insist she should master the basics before moving on to the grander things? They're just suffering from a lack of vision. She'll do it better than they could possibly imagine! …oooor she'll end up seeing the dragonhealers again. But hey, the couch reserved for her in the infirmary? That is a mark of RESPECT, and don't you forget it!
…sometimes, you - and precious few others - may catch hints of what lies beneath her bluster. She's… not actually always so confident as she acts, but she has to keep up the pretense. There are people relying on her, and Leirith can't let them down. She may not actually be the smartest dragon ever (shhh, don't spread it around)… but she DOES have some pretty decent ideas. So do you, that's why she picked you to help her through. Together, the two of you can be the smartest, toughest, most leader-y pair that Xanadu - nay, Pern! - has ever seen. And if it takes a constant stream of bluster to hide those inner hesitations and worries? Leirith is UP to the TASK. And so are you, oh fearless minion. She knows it, because she is, in fact, your wise leader. Right? RIGHT.
That self-protective bluster kicks into overdrive when Leirith turns proddy. Having a clutch is important! She's got to find the right male - and convince him to chase her - and make sure the Weyr is ready for it - and are the sands ready, what if they MELT or EXPLODE or, or, OR! So you'd better check them, minion. And get your minions to do the same! And those males following her around can expect to get interrogated and challenged to within an inch of their lives… because that's how Leirith flirts. Like a rhinoceros.
When the time finally comes for that flight, anything Leirith has managed to learn about volume control and selecting her audience will go right out the window and halfway across the continent. Her mother Meirath is already known for having loud flights, and she's going to keep that family tradition going. Between the two of them, Xanadu's coverage area is definitely not going to lack in babies.
Her flights will tend toward the long and wild, as Leirith tosses challenges to the males pursuing her - and treats them all to a critique of their flying. Who will be the best? Because that's the only one she wants, in the end - the very best, the one who can match her in flight and outdo all the others to prove himself worthy of her. Only the best will do for continuing Leirith's line!
She'll expect that winner to stick around on the sands, as well. Someone has to fetch her herdbeasts to eat and keep watch when she wants a break to stretch her wings! While Leirith may, in time, discover that some bronze or brown has unlocked the key to her affections instead of merely her desires… she's not going to pick one simply because he won a flight. That's just his worth to sire her offspring! To truly be her partner and stay with her all the time instead of just on the sands will take a whole lot more than just some fancy flying.
She's a powerful and intelligent creature, your Leirith, but she's bombastic to a fault and she can be just a bit lacking in impulse control. Whether it's insulting a visiting ranker, chasing a prize runner that looks tasty, or encouraging you to have just one more drink at that party, she wants to enjoy life to the fullest and never mind the consequences. For a dragon who won't necessarily remember last week, that can work out okay! But that's because they have humans they're paired with, and you'll have a lot of work to do to help guide and control Leirith to keep her out of trouble - or get her out once she's already charged over a cliff and is buried neck-deep in a snow drift - as the two of you find your place here at Xanadu.
Mindvoice
It's a party in her mind, and you're invited! Her thoughts throb, powerful like the beat of a massive drum… or the bass in that wild party while you're trying to sleep, the one that shakes the entire apartment. Subwoofers? Oh yeah. Her subwoofers have subwoofers, because she just parties that hard.
Of course, there's listening to the party through the walls… and then there's actually going in there - or having it come to you, spilling out into the streets in a wild chaos of carnival. It's never the same twice, the mood changing by the occasion and the dancers… well, maybe they're the same, but how could you tell beneath the costumes and masks? She doesn't show her secrets easily, wearing brightly colored faces of feathers and fabric even inside her own thoughts. What face lies beneath the mask? Perhaps the truth, whispered beneath the throb of the music and reaching a friendly ear. Or perhaps there's simply another mask, a new face to wear as the music roars to its next crescendo and the dancers twirl around to celebrate life and rage against any who would seek to end their product line.
Inspiration
Your DR4G-0N is based on Claptrap from Borderlands, and her Tick Tock Time Runs Out Egg was inspired by a heart, with the touches drawing on the idea of things get the heart racing - whether a dance, a dalliance, or just a tender touch. Both were written by Soriana - I hope you have even more fun playing her than I did in creating her! :D
As for her name… It's Leirith, yes. Definitely not Lierith. Nope. Never. SHE WOULD NOT LIE. It's Leirith! Like the flower garland. LRTH (plus a few vowels) comes from the acronym of her hatchling name - which is also her plan with you. So come on, Risa, Let's Rock This House! (As an added bonus, it's very near to the Dutch words Leider (leader) and Liefde (heart, or love)).
| Name | Leirith |
| Dam | Meirath |
| Sire | Draukaith |
| Created By | Soriana |
| Impressee | Risali |
| Hatched | Spring 2017 |
| Xanadu Weyr | |
| PernWorld MUSH |