Things managed to be a little more organized when the call went out announcing the Destiny's second clutch was hatching. The white-clad ushers remained in place to help people get where they needed to go, but there were fewer complaints about having to report to the ship rather than to a public hatching bay--the opinion seemed to be growing that the dragonets Schroeder was capable of creating were worth the deviation from the usual routine.
The four fathers of the clutch stood attentively by the large clutch of eggs--well, except for Sihho, who was playfully romping about with the little purple female who had been made and hatched before her siblings to make sure they would all be healthy--watching as would-be bonders and sponsors made their way down the stairs to the floor of the bay, and arranged themselves into groups under the guidance of Schroeder's assistant, Devika. Schroeder himself moved among the rocking eggs, giving each little mind one last check with all the attentiveness of the grandfather-role commonly ascribed to him. Then, as he passed one egg, its tip shattered and a rich brown dragonet tumbled out onto Schroeder's feet.
"They're definitely ready now!" the doctor laughed, bending to help the newborn to her paws as she blinked at the world with bright pink eyes.
She was a furry little thing, with the heavily beaked mouth of her Tavrayn and Geperna parents, stubby golden horns above perky lupine ears, a line of blunted spikes down her neck, an arrowhead-shaped blade at the tip of her stubby tail, and armoured plates along her neck and belly. Once on her feet, she spread her wings, showing that they were an odd mix of leathered and feathered: the wing-arms were fully feathered, but otherwise the wings were leathery, with the wing-leather stretched between three digits that each had a single, long feather covering them on the dorsal side of the wing.
The little purple--who by Lantessama standards was actually a "nebula" and not a purple--looked away from playing with Sihho at the sound of more eggs breaking open, and forgot all about the game. Giving her canine father a farewell nuzzle to his chin and getting a lick in return, she padded over to the group of Sponsor-Candidates, looking over each with a thoughtful expression in her blue eyes. Finally she went to the double-winged and double-eared dragon-anthro, who stood slightly separate from the main group, still made somewhat nervous by the humans in the cluster.
"Bawaru!" the nebula called, snaring his attention before she sat at his feet. "Even if I'm not your bond, I want to help you free your people. I'm Ahina'Sitawi."
As the rest of the furry little dragonets broke from their shells, they revealed a far wider range of colours than the catdragons who had been the last to hatch. Along with the nebula and the brown, there was a gold-winged orange, a blue with the streaked wings of a Lantessama rain, and a leafy-winged Lantessama foliage that shook off his egg and started to glow like his father Wildfyre!
"Thanks, Grandpa," smiled the little brown Schroeder had aided, and trotted off for the candidate-group. "No worries, Imthald!" Mazel'Sitawi called to the man who--with his sister--had come in search of allies to try and turn the tide of a war. "I'll do your fighting for you!"
"I'm not sure how much help just two dragons will be in your war," added orange-gold Sivas'Sitawi as he scampered up to Tial, "but you can bet I'll do my best!"
A black rolled out of his shell, spreading wings that were marked with stars--another Lantessama colour: obsydian. He blinked bright red eyes at the world, and then watched closely as his glowing foliage brother and rain sister approached the candidates.
The foliage, his hide glowing softly, veered towards the bonding-candidates. The one to attract his attention was the lone candidate that had been passed over by the catdragons of Synth 01: Bellor Calla Cordo.
"Will you tell me your stories?" Peyel'Sitawi asked, sitting at the tecii's feet and looking hopefully up at the large, blind creature.
The rain, on the other hand, went towards the sponsor-candidates. In fact, she danced over, merrily flicking her tail and wings and singing tunelessly. "La la laaaaa!" she sang, and then plopped at Silvaie's feet with a grin. "I'm Llaaaaaanen'Sitaaaaawi!"
More pups broke their eggs into shards, this time revealing a batch that included a simple yellow, a brown with grey wings, and a silver with speckled wings--another Lantessama colour: moon.
The moon knew exactly where she was going, prancing towards the bonding-candidate cluster just as soon as she figured out how to work her paws. But suddenly she balked, looking up at all the hopeful faces looking down at her. She changed direction, scrambling back a step, but then dropped her gaze and spotted a candidate as grey and doglike as she was, and all her enthusiasm came back.
"Lost! Lost! I found you!" exclaimed Kysal'Sitawi, trotting over to the canine whorling, not at all disturbed by the glimpse of exposed skull she could see inside the hood of the cloak Lost wore. "Hee, that sounds funny, doesn't it?"
The yellow dragonet walked between both groups of candidates, eyes wide and jaws gaping up at the various humanoids, apparently too amazed just in looking at them all to decide what she wanted to do with them! The brown-grey, on the other hand, sat in the remains of his eggshell, shivering with nerves as he too stared at the different candidate clusters, equally indecisive but for different reasons.
As more shells broke open, the yellow finally figured out what she wanted, and bounded over to Gale of Relic. "Hi!" chirped Cantal'Sitawi. "I'm a dragon! You're a humanoid! Let's learn about each other!"
A large male, also vibrantly yellow but with silver wings, walked towards the bonding cluster. Wait, walked? Sorry. Fought his way to the bonding cluster. Fought, not by shouldering aside his clutchmates, but by snapping, kicking, and clawing at a series of invisible foes that appeared to be in his way. It wasn't a show that made the pup look crazy… but like an action-flick hero rehearsing his choreography.
"Faster than a speeding gryphons!" he cried, darting a quick zig-zag across the moss. "More powerful than a ten-headed hydra!" He hopped to his hind feet and did a double-punch at the air with his forepaws. "It's DYNAMO DRAGON!"
The hatchling froze, striking a dynamic pose in front of the candidate who was clad in spandex and sequins that matched the pup's own bright colouration--Mags, otherwise known as Magnificent Man. As the superhero looked at the pup in amusement, "Dynamo Dragon" glanced right, then left, and then put a paw beside his muzzle and addressed the man in a very loud stage-whisper. "But my secret identity is Sygon'Sitawi!"
The next dragonet to move forward…Schroeder had to double-take, spotting her. The colours that appeared in his Synths were always random, for even if he carefully constructed the physical form in his laboratories, he liked to leave some elements up to chance. But this…was a chance element he hadn't even known was possible.
The tiny pup was pink. Hot pink. And had inherited Wildfyre's glowing gene. She looked like a little neon sign, strolling across the mossy "sands". Her name was Elefa'Sitawi, and she homed in on Kaere, an anthropomorphic wolf whose eyes were wide as the painfully vibrant hatchling latched to her legs.
A dark blue dragonet with silver wings tugged on the hem of Schroeder's labcoat with his teeth, and the doctor looked down at him with an attentive smile. "Yes?"
"I'm Eryni'Sitawi," said the pup. "I'm gonna go with her, 'kay?" Eryni extended a wing, pointing at a lady in the sponsor-candidate cluster. Schroeder recognized her as Temaie Laeranir, herself a bond-candidate for the Synth 03 clutch, but in this case standing as a representative for the Ring of Fire.
"Alright," Schroeder nodded, still smiling, and Eryni happily trotted off to join the so-called Unorthodox Slayer.
Another glowing dragonet, this one a simple blue male, singled Briella out of the sponsor group. "Controlling plants sure sounds like a neat ability," mused Sairi'Sitawi. "Think it's anything like controlling fire? I should be able to do that when I'm older. Maybe you can help me learn."
One of the eggs had divulged a dragonet that was by far the brightest and most colourful… at least for a non-glowing dragonet. His body and limbs faded from yellow to orange, and through red to purple: that lovely effect known as "sunset". When he moved towards the bonding-candidates, his motions completely lacked the clumsiness of a newborn finding its paws. Instead, he moved with a grace and confidence that strongly suggested he would be poetry in motion when full grown.
Ironic, then, that he headed straight for Lucia, that most infamous klutz of the Warren! "Don't you worry, Lucia," smiled the pup, and even his smile was elegant. "I'm Nirej'Sitawi, and I'll help you keep in order from here on out."
The last three eggs all broke in succession, and being suddenly surrounded by other pups rolling to their feet sent the hesitant brown-grey shuffling towards the sponsor-candidates with his stubby tail between his legs. "Um… hi?" was all Maros'Sitawi said as he sat at Lestrie's feet, shyly looking up at her.
The remaining dragonets were a white, a red, a red-gold, a mottle-winged "rayant" bronze, and another glowing pup, this one a speckle-winged "sun" gold. Things seemed to be going just fine, though Schroeder found his attention going back to the starry-winged obsydian pup that was still lurking off to the side, watching everything with disgust clear in his crimson eyes. Then, as the latest bonded pair walked towards the feeding tables, the black lunged to his paws with a snarl and started stalking towards the staircase that led up off the bay floor.
"Pathetic!" he barked, though in the organized chaos of his siblings bonding and finding their sponsors, his outburst was mostly going unnoticed. "I don't need a stupid biped bond! I am… I am… Battleworn Claw!"
Schroeder frowned. A name like that… that was a Wyld name! That was unexpected! No one had thought the wolfdragons' Geperna sides would be strong enough to drive any of them to go Wyld. He'd have to be very judicious in deciding what to do with that one…
He started towards the little black, motioning for one of the ushers at the top of the stairs to be prepared to intercept the hatchling… but someone else got to him, first.
The obsydian hatchling had just put a paw on the first stair to start going up, when he was suddenly met by a dart of white coming down. Suddenly there was a ball of white and black fur rolling across the moss, half of it yipping and half of it giggling. Schroeder hurried after it, and when it came to a stop, the black wolfdragon was wriggling under the paws of the firstborn of Synth 03.
"Callidei!" the hatchling squawked.
"Where you think you're going, Cyris?" the little Fire/Light giggled, letting him up and padding a little circle around him as he rolled to his feet.
"Away from all the stupid bipeds!" he huffed, and then spotted Schroeder standing nearby and bared his puppy-teeth at the scientist.
Callidei was quick to cuff him--albeit playfully--with her half-furred wing. "Well I like the bipeds, so if you're sticking with me, you gotta stick around the bipeds, too."
Claw glared defiantly at the crossbreed, but shut his mouth when she threateningly wagged a wing at him again, and settled for just glaring sullenly as Schroeder dropped to one knee beside the pair.
Callidei beamed up at the man, spreading her wing over the smaller wolfdragon's back. "Hi Grampa! This is Cyris'Sitawi!"
"Hello, Cyris," Schroeder smiled, though the deepening of the hatchling's scowl was expected.
"My name is Battleworn Claw!"
"No it's not," Callidei chirped.
"To him it is!"
"Claw it is, then," Schroeder chuckled, giving Callidei a pat--and getting snarled at again by Claw for it--before standing up again and turning to see how the rest of the hatching was proceeding.
Apparently he'd missed a pairing while watching Callidei and Claw. The red female, Berec'Sitawi, was being accompanied to the feeding tables by the young half-elf sponsor, Trejan.
He was in time, however, to see the red-gold male pad up to Tyrnus, the tatter-winged Malakym. The young man was clinging tightly to the arm of his companion, Uliri, and had been doing so for the entirety of the hatching. He watched uncertainly as the red-gold pup carefully approached him, and then stretched his little muzzle up to Tyrnus without saying a word, but with hopefulness clear in his pale blue eyes.
After a long moment or two, Tyrnus cautiously bent down just enough to put a hand on the pup's head, while keeping his other hand on Uliri's arm. At that Rakun'Sitawi smiled and gently wagged his stubby tail, still without saying a word.
As Tyrnus petted the little duo-tone pup, the glowing sun hatchling went up to Uliri and gently nudged her leg. "If I go with you, will you teach me how to heal? With your herbs and medicines and stuff?" asked Wenyn'Sitawi.
The white, meanwhile, was padding towards Moriko, a dragon of divine origin. "If you're Earth," the pup mused aloud, "then I, Reghan'Sitawi am Air!"
"Actually, that would be my brother," Moriko replied amusedly.
When superheroes and gods come to you as candidates, Schroeder thought with amusement of his own, that's got to be the pinnacle of achievement.
The rayant-bronze was left as the very last pup to make up his mind, but when he did, it was to pad towards the sponsor-candidate group. When he stopped at Sevale Chalildan's feet, however, the man's expression exploded with shock. Being the power psionic that he was, Schroeder could tell why even before the hunter exclaimed: "But I'm not here to bond!"
"Well if I'm going to be helping you in all your missions to come, it only makes sense for me to bond you!" Xeron'Sitawi replied, smirking amusedly.
With the last pup thusly bonded, Schroeder smiled at the final scene: wolfdragon pups everywhere, with their bonds and sponsors, and the four fathers looking on with various degrees of pride and amusement.
"Well there's another success to mark," the doctor chuckled to Valentine, always present and close at hand. "Now, someone better go find Dread and let her know the Bay will be ready for her within the next few hours. She's probably eager to get her eggs clutched at last."