The Feeding Buckets (2/4)
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Sia, Shawna, Iluva, Heather, Halyonix, Corrin, Aaron
Date Posted: 25th November 2024
Characters: C'uren, A'ris, M'thos, Lyndana, E'kirim, Sybana, M'rhas, Z'renh
Description: A ruckus occurs at the new weyrlings’ first feeding. Passively. With no discernible cause.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 3, day 22 of Turn 12
Galgaith arrived, a hulking mass of baby fat, determination -- and hunger.
The scent of meat and blood in the air had called to her like a beacon, stoking her primal instincts and giving the wobbly young hatchling a burst of strength. The sausage on the Sands hadn’t smelled quite right, but this-- this was perfect. She saw the fallen bowl and pounded towards it with all the finesse of a runaway cart. Adamanth was big, but Galgaith was bigger still and she barreled into the bronze, thundering }:MINE.:{
Sybana had the briefest mental warning before Galgaith took off, but she hadn’t recognized the feeling for what it was and so the dragonet’s sudden dash caught her by surprise. She came running into the feeding area to see her lifemate body checking a bronze and snapping desperately at the chunks of meat that came spilling from a bucket she’d sent spinning crazily across the crowded floor.
The candidate lessons, the few Sybana’d had, came screaming back to her as she saw the gold crouched over the spill with every intent to inhale what she could, her thick tail sweeping dangerously close to knocking over another bucket. “Chew!”
Alzaryth darted between Norrianth's legs, startling the bronze and making him shuffle in place in a confused dance. He'd been feeding carefully from his own bucket under E'kirim's watch, though now distracted as the fight broke out nearby. Norrianth twisted around to make sure the smaller blue was no longer underfoot, unfurling his wings a little to cover him. He rumbled indignation as his own bucket tottered after a strike from Galgaith's massive tail and it upended too, spilling even more scraps of meat into the fray.
"Whoa, whoa!" E'kirim called uselessly as Norrianth stomped forward to protect his meal. There was no halter nor leash to grab, no way for E'kirim to try and pull the bronze back.
“My friends, my friends! What is all this commotion?!” C’uren brightly bellowed as he strode into the fray. He wore an even bigger grin than usual. Roeth was calmly trotting by his side, sweeping his gaze from dragon to dragon in an effort to understand what his clutchmates were doing. “Surely there’s enough food for all of us, right?”
}: Surely they left some for me, :{ Roeth remarked hopefully as he sniffed toward a few chunks of meat that had been tossed out of someone’s bucket.
They’d been second to the feeding buckets (well, maybe third, because Lyndana had dawdled, but Veralinth had been too hungry to count), and Veralinth was finishing the last few pieces of her meal when the ruckus actually began. Her hunger was already starting to give way to tiredness, and other than muttering something about rudeness, she ignored the beginning of the brawl. When Galgaith stormed her way into the fray, however, the green gave a huff and looked towards her rider. }:Her! You preferred that to me? I’m much prettier.:{
**You can’t say that**
}:But you think so too, I can tell!:{
Denying it would be a lie, at least from what little Lyndana could see in the chaos, so instead she distracted her dragon by asking her to call the unlucky blue in the middle of the brawl over. }:Alzaryth, why don’t you come over here so you don’t get trampled,:{ the green said.
In a manner more befitting insects than dragons, Alzaryth scuttled toward Veralinth with his empty stomach grazing ground, darting out of the way of their clutchmates’ snapping mouths and huge limbs in the mad scramble for meat. Leaping over another sibling, he tentatively curled in close beside her, grateful to finally have refuge. }: I don’t know what to do. :{ he whispered.
Luckily, M’rhas did. He knew long ago that he was ready to strangle Z’renh. “Did you _hit me_?!” He bellowed disbelievingly. Did he think he could act like that didn’t happen?! At least own up to it! He glared, first at the gold, monstrous as she was, and at then C’uren’s face saying something. Just great. This guy. Of all the guys.
Then at Alzaryth.
Alzaryth softened him instantly. Alzaryth, now apologetically starting to panic, also made everything from every direction doubled, tripled, amplified by anxiety, the world shaking beyond their point of preference. Implicitly and as one they knew one of them was about to hurl, and it was going to be bad. M’rhas felt so light-headed that he knew he only had one shot. For Alzaryth. He summoned the wherewithal to lurch forward and land a blow straight to Z’renh’s throat, whatever brief smirk of satisfaction he had lost the next second as he stood vomiting a violent spew all around their feet.
Z’renh had been halfway to trying to figure out what was happening when the blow landed. His eyes bulged, and he dropped, gasping for breath and clutching his throat.
Adamanth had been prepared to step aside for the monstrous golden lump -- she was golden after all -- when the panic set in.
}:You must breathe!:{ he commanded Z’renh. }:You must breathe!:{ He spread his wings, ran toward his rider, and then promptly slipped in the puddle of vomit and slid directly toward M’rhas.
Still clutching his stomach as the cramping leveled off, M’rhas’ eyes were still blurred with water, the color high on his face and ears as he breathed somewhat shakily. He briefly registered Adamanth’s color dominating his vision, but he never stood a real chance. What felt like a massive water-laden log smashed into him, sending him flying forward into a puddle of vomit, now with a tinge of blood.
The chaos of the feeding room was everything A’ris had feared of Weyrlinghood and more. The conversation he’d had with Tiyo about dreading to Impress with some of the other boys now rang in his ears. Kyllavath was, thankfully, watching the unfolding events with equal amounts horror and disdain.
**Should we… should we _do_ something?** A’ris questioned.
Kyllavath surveyed the situation for a moment longer. }:I think not. Best to just mind our business in this corner.:{
That was a good strategy, probaby, if the chaos didn’t spread to said corner….
But chaos did spread to his corner in the form of blue Wevreth whose wingsail somehow became snagged in his own hind talons. This sent him barreling into Kyllavath, who knocked into A’ris, who fell into the smeared remains of vomit.
Veralinth awkwardly tried to put her wing over Alzaryth. }:Just stay here, surely someone is about to put a stop to this.:{ The green waited approximately two seconds, then demanded of her rider, }:Make them stop.:{
“No. You're green, which means I’m not in charge of anyone,” Lyndana said tartly, even as she moved to put her dragon between her and any more flying meat.
In M'thos' defense, when disaster struck he'd been on the other side of the room, helping an overwhelmed and sobbing twelve turn old with his blue. He felt Fianwyth perk up into alertness, but he was so focused on the weyrling in front of him that he didn't 'hear' her prompt him until he heard the crash of bowls. He looked up just in time to watch his son drop R'enh's kid and immediately lose his lunch dangerously close to the dragonets already scavenging for floor food.
"All right, children. Control your dragons! Your will _must_ be stronger than theirs. Get the cleaning crew backed up before they choke. Sybana! Before Galgaith moves onto M'rhas' breakfast."
He hauled M'rhas up and out of the mess like he was nothing. It wasn't the first time he'd dealt with this kid covered in sick, and likely wouldn't be the last. "Go get Alzaryth, right now."
Last updated on the December 10th 2024