[First Clutch]

[modtheskies]

[The Hatching Sands carved out of the hollow mountainside are clear, hot with the sun blazing down onto them. A small circle of eggs stands in the middle, in a thick mound of sand, but there is no one in sight, human or dragon, no proud gold hovering over her precious clutch. The eggs stand on their own, half-buried in the sands.

...and one egg wobbles, the first dragonet struggling to break the thick shell. It wobbles again, and cracks, ever so slightly.

And all at once, out of nowhere and for the first time in who knows how long, there are people on the Sands.]

Comments

[sky_shark]

[Woah what-

This...this was not where he was two seconds ago. Matter of fact, Agito's pretty damn sure he's never seen this place before, period. Akito's just as confused in his head.

There's other people around, but hell if Agito's going to ask them anything really. Demand maybe, but...the cracking sound is getting his attention though, staring at the...eggs? Wut. Big eggs. What the fuck is going on?]

[crayonwitch]

[stumbles back into Agito and whips around, eyes wide] S-- sorry-- [drawing uneasily away from him, too]

[sky_shark]

[Stumbles a little and whips around to glare at the girl] Watch it, tch. [Akito mutters at him and he growls, looking around again] What the fuck is going on here...? [Mutters that]

[stratagem]

[To say that Lelouch was shut down would be putting it mildly. He stood there, numb and unresponsive, barely even registering confusion at the sudden change in his surroundings -- the bright sun and the blasting heat -- or the row of shaking eggs. It was so hard to care about anything that happened to him.

[Nunnally.

[He slowly dropped to his knees in the sand and raised a shaking hand to his face.

[The crack of the first egg caught at the fringes of his attention, making him look up, numbly, reflexively. What-- is going on?]

[kishin]

[ He didn't even notice the other people on the Sands at first, so he can be excused for not immediately processing that familiar purple and black costume in his peripheral vision.

But when he does, he stiffens, distracted completely from the eggs by the fact that Zero

is

standing right there. ]

[stratagem]

[He doesn't notice Suzaku either, lost in his own thoughts and a torrent of feelings. The sand is so hot against his legs, but he doesn't even notice, couldn't even begin to find out how to get back to his feet. Just staring blankly and trying to rationalize what's going on here. He's on a beach? He was above the Tokyo Settlement -- there are some shores near there, not hot beaches like this. These eggs? Ostriches lay the biggest eggs in the world, but not this big. These are more like... dinosaurs eggs. What...]

[perennial]

[The first thing Cheza knew when she opened her eyes was how utterly, completely alone she was.

[There was no Kiba, brushing against her hand with a warm touch of his head. There was no Tsume, with a voice that made her think of gravel and steel fences and the noble's world.

[The world had lurched; changed.

[(There were trees, whispering their song into her head. There were plants, leaves bending in hopeful reverence for a single touch. There was the sun, to sate her. ...It was almost enough.)

[Cheza began to walk forward, each step like the prick of a pin on the soft sand.] "Hello?" [Light shaped waves of red in the darkness of her vision.] "Is anyone out there?"

[monkey_thief]

[They were on a beach, which was weird, and there were these big rocks that looked like eggs, but Zidane wasn't going to think about that until he figured out where he was or at least vaguely what was going on.]

[He looked around at the other people--teenage guy, teenage guy, old guy--hey! Pretty girl! Might as well start there.]

[Zidane walked up to Cheza.] Hey. Don't suppose you know what's going on, do ya?

[modtheskies]

[A green dragonet struggling loose of its shell catches sight of the solitary flower and turns its head to her, the whirling shades of its eyes slowing for a beat, a faint hint of pale green entering their alarmed colors.]

[monkey_thief]

[When the bright light hit him, Zidane's first thought was that someone in the lighting booth was messing with the spotlight--until he looked at Blank, who seemed utterly terrified of what was happening. After that, he had enough time to try to grab for Blank's hand before the light whisked him away and he landed with a yelp on a sandy beach.]

Ow.

[sky_shark]

--the fuck? [faffsa almost landed on what. Backing up a bit and scowling slightly]

Tch...the hell is going on here? [Glancing at the kid as if expecting an answer, though he doubts he'll get one]

[modtheskies]

[A recently-hatched dragonet with a deep blue hide is stumbling around on the sands, seemingly unhappy. It lifts its ridged head and makes a plaintive cry, instinctively searching for something it hasn't quite found.]

[crayonwitch]

[Namine stumbles back, half-blinded by the searingly bright light, hands flying to her face to flinch against it. She's used to the darkness, or to sterile pale environments, but this sort of raw light is something she's rarely experienced before. As she recovers her footing she realizes there's hot sand in her sandals, and Namine looks up, looks around, eyes wide.

[What happened? This isn't where she was supposed to go--

[An egg cracks open with a startlingly loud sound and she gasps, stepping back again. There's a creature inside, prying its way out, and she panics suddenly, thinking, Is that a monster?]

[modtheskies]

[The biggest of the eggs rocks ominously, rocks again, and finally tumbles over, cracking fiercely after most of the others are already empty. The dragonet that claws its way out of this egg is a pale glistening gold, and it makes a little defiant shriek as it pulls loose from the egg. It crawls out onto the sand and looks around expectantly.]

[solarflare]

[Tidus met his new surrounding with... a startling lack of surprise.

[Waking up on strange beaches--or rather, just suddenly being on strange beaches--was beginning to become hilariously routine. Minus the hilarious part.

[The last thing he remembered was Yuna's soft voice--"thank you"--and his father's calloused hand; a congratulatory clap. Teammates.

[Tidus' gaze traced along the curves of the landscape before coming across several eggs.

[Food?...]

[cards_and_blueprints]

[Reeve sees a young man looking a bit too curiously at the clutch of eggs, and walks up to him.]

I wouldn't investigate too closely, if I were you. With eggs of that size, I'd be worried about what might hatch.

[modtheskies]

[An energetic dragonet clambers out of its shell, moving unsteadily but gaining more confidence as it moves, wobbling across the sands to some of the candidates. It seems driven, searching for something.]

[kishin]

[ The first step sends a shock through him, and he staggers, falling to his knees with a gasp. Suzaku lifts his head, darting his gaze in all directions, taking in the bizarre -- sight.

Sand. Where did all the sand come from? Where did Lancelot go. What are those eggs--

Even through his gloves, it only takes him a few seconds to regret having fallen on his hands. The heat is intense. He needs to stand up again, and does so, breathing out.

--Was that a crack? He jerks his head in the direction of the eggs again, and stares with wide eyes. ]

[ex_invulnerable965]

[Aisha is a little disoriented. She looks around warily, one hand in her pocket gripping her Noor Stone. Noticing the man next to her she starts to ask,] Hey, what's-- [But the sound of an egg cracking draws her attention as well.]

[cards_and_blueprints]

[The ruins of Midgar were one thing, and the wastelands of Edge and its surroundings were another, but when Reeve saw the perfect, unspoiled beaches and oceans that stretched on for miles, he knew that he was farther from his city than he'd ever hoped to be in his life.]

[He cast around for a friendly face among the strangers. They were children, for the most part, and seemed as confused and disoriented as he was.]

[modtheskies]

[The last egg to hatch is the lone brown, its hide dark and mottled. It seems confused, stumbling out of its shell and pausing, looking around and pausing...]

[neverforgets]

[ He'd thrown out the possibility of the Ark malfunctioning almost immediately after he'd taken a look around. Unless it'd had transported him back in time to Babel post-God's wrath, that is. Not the Ark, not a Noah -- he hoped; given he'd been surrounded by Crow and at New Headquarters a half second ago, recording really shitty news.

... and best not to think about that right now. Catalog. Inventory. Examine and commit to memory. Better uses of his time, anyway. Man, his inner voice sounds a lot like that damn old panda.

An egg a few steps away from him starts to twitch and crack, catching his attention. He turns and approaches -- hand wrapping around Iron Hammer's head, just in case -- as what he'd thought was a petrified dinosaur egg breaks in half. ]

[modtheskies]

[One of the rapidly-cracking eggs opens to reveal a dragonet, bright blue, shoving its way out of the broken shell. It pauses when it's clear of the debris, ignoring its brothers and sisters heading blindly for the line of canidates and looking around as if lost.]

[protagonistic]

[Initially he had looked around attempting to find some way to get off this damned island but there was nothing -- and whatever sort of nest was nearby was definitely hatching. This was bad news. At least he had his swords. His first reaction was to take a stance and be ready to draw one if he needed to; when he saw the others and the dragonettes racing towards them it had been his immediate instinct to want to protect them. However -- they didn't seem overly aggressive. That was perplexing... they were also different colors than what he was used to. Where the hell was he...?]

[modtheskies]

[One of the bronzes that's been searching through the line is getting particularly desperate, making increasingly loud displeased sounds, growling and moaning. It starts heading for Cloud.]