RHIA
Welcome to Ista Weyr — and congratulations!
*****************
Sire and Dam: Gold Tajiath and Bronze Syrth
Hatching Date: Sunday, March 26, 2000
Theme of Clutch: Circus Things
Theme of Dragonets: Circus Personalities
Dragonet’s Name: Ahzraelth
Ring: Center Ring
~~~ Egg
Cirque du Soleil Egg
Rings of fire master this egg, encircling the wide girth of leathery white in red, in gold, in fire-burnt orange. This fiery disregard commands attention, carousing as carelessly as if Rukbat itself played across the shell, heedless of the distraction of earth's dancing coppers and the flittered greens which fleetly fly along every curve. Where umber lurks like smoke, night's colors coil and crawl to darken the ravaged edges of bright color with the mystery of its shadows: dark, darker, darkest in contrast to the Light.
~~~ Hatch Message
Cirque Du Soleil Egg falters, sent askew as the balance of its shell is torn asunder. Death-black claws make their first appearance, rending the egg further into ragged pieces of reality as the domineering dragonet takes charge: shards fly this way, shards fly that way, shards fall till there is nothing left but a circle of fallen sunlit-eggshell in a ring around the skinny shadow of this large dragonet. She has been born into Interesting Times.
~~~ Hatchling
Egotistical Ringmaster Turtle-Green Dragonet
She wears the darkness, wears it well, with only the vivacious glimmer in those eyes to lighten the shadows skulking along the linear severity of her lean and drawn-out form. The cloak of her turtle-green hide weights her, cowling her head in inky-dark before it shrugs over those narrow shoulders and pools like dribbly candles down to death-black claws. The whip of her tail is more carefully controlled, a gleeman's trick to maintain the order lost among the chaos of tortoise-shelled wings and their brilliant, starlit spars. Those self-same subtle green colors – the color of magic – variegate patterns along her back and tail in uneven rings: such fantastic light serves only to heighten the arrogant play of shade and substance that ruthlessly deepen her leathery hide.
~~~ Impression Pose
On the sands, Egotistical Ringmaster Turtle-Green Dragonet has nowhere else to go, and pushes her dark-cowled head towards Rhia, demanding the attention that is her due. Come, Harper, Harper no more.
~~~ Impression Message
The world descends into shadow, your consciousness blackened to nothing, till you are nothing, completely subsumed into the sudden darkness of Her. She leaves you with little more than a dream of this afterlife, her arrogance so fierce it burns away any semblance of yourself and replaces it with her own as if this were ‘The Way things Are’: the itch of new hide, the comforting burn of the Sands, and the growling ferocity of a Hunger so deep you want to cry with the hurt of it. And then there is a slim glimmer of stars, a shift in the shadows, a turtle-shaped hole in your consciousness as Green as the hide beneath your hands. You fall through time – universe unending — till suddenly you are returned to the world you know as if she had not just harvested your soul. » AHHHZRAELTH « purrs the dragon as she gives you back to yourself with a soul conjoined to hers.. » I AM CALLED AHZRAELTH, AND TOGETHER WE WILL CAN RULE THIS WORLD. If we wanted to. « There is a considering pause as shadows turn the bright red of hunger. » FOOD. FOOD NOW. I AM SO HUNGRYHUNGRYHUNGRY. «
Ahzraelth
RHIA, MAY YOU RIDE IN INTERESTING TIMES! «
Ahzraelth (aka the Great A'tuinth) is the Defeater of Empires, the Ultimate Reality, the Harvester of Rhia, the Assassin, the Ultimate DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE. She is a large, skinny dragon with a penchant for BIG MALES, soul music, and an EGO THE SIZE OF DEATH. She is yours, dear Rhia. Faranth help us if you cannot contain her. The apocalypse rides on her wings, destruction reigns between her talons, and her stare can throw the world out of alignment or set Weyrlingmasters on their ears. She is YOURS! SO WATCH OUT. Oook!
~~~ Name
Ahzraelth!! (aka ‘Ahz’, like Oz, from Buffy, Arooooooo!). This is not the Azrael from the Smurfs, Gargamel's cat, but the Azrael of Discworld, the Ultimate Death of the Universe! A'tuin was also considered, but seemed a might too passive for this particular dragonet, and Death was taken. So Ahzraelth it is, the ‘h’ for a bit more softness in sound, though it also serves to make the name look spikier. And Ahzraelth is a very spiky sort of dragon, very ‘Spike-y’ indeed. Grrrrr,
The spines on his back are too sharp for a man
They'll give you a pain in the worst place they can
The result I think you'll find will appall:
The hedgehog can never be buggered at all!
— The Hedgehog Song, by Nanny Ogg
~~~ Mindtouch
Like the cats she loves, Ahzraelth prowls about in your head on soft, soft paws. She curls up into the warm nooks and crannies, shakes her little paws clean of the colder, wetter bits, and purrrrrrrs till your head feels like it is vibrating with the pleasure of it. Oh sure, sometimes she prowls around hunting the shadows, and surprising you with leaping thoughts and commentary on absolutely nothing at all.
NO I SAID SIDEWAYS. «
…? Don't bother trying to figure her out, Rhia, I have come to the conclusion that that is quite an impossible undertaking. But that is how she feels, all sleek and warm and soft and stretchy. Her presence in the gestalt is so much more malleable and smooth than her physical stuff. Of course she is still loud.
I HEARD THAT YOU INSIGNIFICANT PILE OF FRECKLES «
Like all dragons, she has a taste, or flavor, left in the links when the human mind tries to comprehend the alien nature of Dragon. For Ahzraelth it is the familiar smell of sweet-sap and resin, a token reminder of your days at Harper Hall. And underlying that sharp sweetness is the riper rush of the redolent rainforest just after the monsoon: thick and wet and heavy. Those same colors lace her touch: as green and green as the jungle, as the rosy reddish gold of Harper's rosin. She sure is pretty, despite being loud.
I HEARD THAT TOO. YOU JUST WATCH YOURSELF, SMALL CREATURE. SOON I WILL BE LARGER THAN YOU. «
~~~ Inspiration
The arrogance and self-confidence of Ahzraelth – tall and dark – seemed well suited to the roll of Ringmaster. As well as her penchant for control, and egotistical show-offy sort of antics. I also had a friend who spent a summer as Ringmaster for Quebec's Cirque-Du-Soleil, and she has this same affable and charismatic nature I see in you, Rhia, and through you, Ahzraelth.
One can only take the Ringmaster bit so far, so I melted that together with A LOT OF DEATH from the Discworld books, and a touch of Buffy's Spike. There is not very much vampirish about Ahzraelth, no, but a sort of timeless darkness that keeps the world in balance. She is not an EVIL dragon, as DEATH is not an evil incarnation, she is simply straightforward, pragmatic, arrogant, direct, and honest in a bluntly, brutal sort of way. AND SHE REVERTS TO TALKING IN CAPITALS OFTEN ENOUGH TO BE ANNOYING ABOUT IT.
WELL? WHY SHOULD I USE THE SMALLER LETTERS, WHEN BIG ONES DO JUST AS WELL ? «
There is a dark underbelly to her humor, because she has no sense of humor, which only makes her funnier. Like Prachett's Death, or Buffy's Spike, they are most amusing when they are not trying to be amusing at all. It is simply The Way Things Are.
And Ahzraelth is not an unkind dragon. In fact she can be exceedingly indulgent, especially regarding her Rhia. She indulges herself first, of course, desires and demands driven by a ego so large there is no room for the minor concerns of anyone else. This is » MY SUNLIGHT «, » MY NAP « » MY RHIA «, mine mine mine mine mine. It is a greed anchored in Ahz's inability to bother herself with anything more than what she herself wants. And Rhia, right, Rhia too… except when she forgets Rhia. And, when she /does/ forget Rhia because she is off following a BIGGER and/or OLDER Dragon off towards the feeding pens (Ahz really really /really/ likes the feeding pens: death and blood and gore and food!!!!!! /Heaven!/), she'll come rampaging back in desperately clumsy leaps and draggles, bellowing at the top of her voice. » RHIARHIARHIARHIARHIA « And when she finds you again, well. » WHERE DID YOU GO? WHY CANNOT YOU KEEP UP? YOU ARE SLOW. SLOWER THAN ME. I AM NOT SLOW. I AM VERY NOT SLOW. I AM HUNGRY. HURRY UP. «
Ahzraelth is like this huge needy creature, with a huge needy mind that devours whatever she can reach. Be that with talons or tail, or those the insidious inky oily tendrils of her mind, she draws things in and gobbles them all right up. She will need your strength, Rhia, and your kindness. Your heart, and your awareness of a world that is not, in fact, centered on Ahzraelth no matter how often she tells you it is. She will need you to teach her that No, means No. And Thank-you is, though not necessary, a polite comment that others do in fact appreciate. Like Seven of Nine, from Voyager, Ahz needs to learn what it means to be human. She will need you to teach her what it means to sing, and how music and laughter and love are as important as the warmth of good food in her belly (though she does seem to have an instinctive understanding of Soul Music, oh /yeah/.)
And she needs you to scratch down along that green-splotched back where her hide always seems to be /itching/. And when Ahzraelth itches, she ITCHES. » RHIARHIARHIA! GET THE BRUSH. « Otherwise she has to wriggle and squirm with her back to the wall in an attempt to ease the itchiness. This makes her look Silly, and Ahzraelth does not like to look Silly.
Like a Ringmaster, she will try and command you around, dear Rhia. Do not let her make all the decisions or you will end up living in a refuse pit beside the feeding pens with the randiest of Ista's larger dragons. She will also try and force her will on others, especially if they are doing what they should be doing, she wants the credit for anyone doing anything.
YES, CAITH CAUGHT THAT OTHER GREEN BECAUSE I TOLD HIM TOO. PERHAPS I WILL LET HIM CATCH ME TOO ONE DAY. «
When she eventually does get around to Rising, Ahzraelth only becomes, well, more Ahzraelth. And manipulative. And sneaky. And loud. And dark. And hungry. And, if possible, more self-centered than she was before. Oh, and she likes BIG MALES, regardless of color. The bigger they are, the better.
WHY FLY A SMALL ONE WHEN A BIG ONE WOULD DO AS WELL? «
Your own exploits Rhia, in this regard, mean nothing to Ahzraelth. But if they help scratch her itchy bits, they can stay.
A fish is refreshing, although a bit wet
And a cat or a dog can be more than a pet
Even a giraffe (despite being so tall)
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.
There are bound to be endless characteristics Ahz will keep you aware of, endlessly challenging your knowledge of who and what she is, though she has no trouble figuring out Rhia. Her only other distinguishing feature right now is an almost obsessive relationship with cats. Felines of all sorts intrigue her to the point where she might spend hours following around the bowl, nose to the ground, oblivious to anything but following this creature of fur around the Weyr. Eventually they are likely to collect in your weyr, herded there by whatever means Ahz has at her disposal. Next to sleeping with you, Rhia, Ahzraelth likes curling up with any bit of feline she can find.
~~~ Physicalities
Ahzraelth looms, as much as any Green dragon can be said to ‘loom’. She can, when she wants to, give the impression of a dark tower of green capped in sharp spikes and dangerous pitfalls and traps. Or, alternatively, curled up asleep or at rest in a moment's sun, she is as naturally timeless as the tortoise watching the world go buy. But she is not squat, or short, or slow. She is long and lean and deathly quiet, her frame decidedly thin and whippy. At first a mere skeleton of bone and hide, she will probably smooth out with sleeker curves as she puts on a bit more bulk (HUNGRYHUNGRYHUNGRY), but she will never be large in a bulky way. Only she can /look/ large, when she wants to, by sheer will and arrogance alone. » I AM AHZRAELTH. MOVE OVER. « (Rhia you really will have to work on her manners).
She also has a bit of witchiness about her, being so tall, thin, and craggy. With that dark mossy green of witch's hair adorning her neckridges and tail, she can have a lurky look about her when she wants to. But overall she is a lovely shade of dark tortoise-shell greens and greens and browns and greens. A real leatherback. A salt-water loving creature who looks greenest in the sunlight when it catches the patterns of her sails and the odd-rings of green marking the rest of her. Like the turtle, her belly pales to yellowy-green only where no one can see it. The rest of her is dark, green and dark, dark and green, green and dark and green and dark and, well, green. And dark. Her head and muzzle have subtle shadings of green in vaguely octagonal patterns, much more intricate than the broad markings on her back, or the lighter, brighter sets adorning those bat-like sails.
Azhraelth will be as you wish her to be, Rhia, growing till she is done, and finally settling into that inky-black cowly hide she now wears like a too-large cloak. Just be careful of her sharper bits, be sure to keep her well oiled and clean because her leathery-hide dries out quickly, and she likes her claws kept clean. (This could be difficult given her love of the Hunt).
As to the rest, we on Search know that only you can make your dragon ‘real’. Let her grow out of anything you do not want to play, and grow into whatever we forgot that you really want to be a part of her character, and if you are happier changing something, change it. :> She is your dragon, and what you want is what should be.
It was indeed a pleasure to inspire Ahzraelth for you, dear Rhia. (Harpers unite!). We hope you have many happy turns together, and continue to delight Ista Weyr by sharing your time with us.
~~~ CREDITS
Egg: Keria
Hatchling: Keria
Hatcher: Keria
Name: Keria
Messages: Keria
Inspiration: Keria (with help from Vae)
~~~ CLUTCHMATES
Fiora and green Paniliath
S’fina and green Yebanth
Kr’lin and blue Saironth
M’ydd and brown Seienth
N’ikos and bronze Camenath
~~ FUN TIDBITS
The Hedgehog Song
by Nanny Ogg
"Bestiality sure is a fun thing to do
But I have to say this as a warning to you:
With almost all creatures, you can have ball
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.
CHORUS 1:
The spines on his back are too sharp for a man
They'll give you a pain in the worst place they can
The result I think you'll find will appall:
The hedgehog can never be buggered at all!
Mounting a horse can often be fun
An elephant too; though he weighs half a ton
Even a mouse (though his hole is quite small)
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.
CHORUS 2:
The spines on his back are so awful thick
you'll end up with naught but a painful prick.
He has an impregnable hole when curled up in a ball,
Hence the hedgehog can never be buggered at all!
Screwing a cow while she goes moo-moo
Will be entertaining to both her and you
Or you might try a tiger, if you have enough gall
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.
CHORUS 1
A fish is refreshing, although a bit wet
And a cat or a dog can be more than a pet
Even a giraffe (despite being so tall)
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.
CHORUS 2
You can manage a snake, though its poison might kill,
It's amazing how humping a camel will thrill
You can go with a snail if you slow to a crawl
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.
CHORUS 1
You can ravish a sloth but it would take all night
With a shark it is faster, but the darned beast might bite
We already mentioned the horse, you recall
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.
CHORUS 2
You can roger a skunk if you can stand the smell
Or even an oyster, should he let go of his shell
A troll can be rocky if down you should fall
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.
CHORUS 1
For slippery fun, you can cornhole an otter
Or pego a pig after parting his trotters
Or tumble a tapir, though the prospect appall
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.
CHORUS 2
For prosimian fun, you can bugger a lemur
To bolster your name as a pervert and schemer
The lemurs cry "Frink!" as a coy mating call
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.
CHORUS 1
Antipodean pranks — you can futter a wombat
Or strive with a 'roo in venereal combat
Or hump a goanna — go on, do it all
But the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.
CHORUS 2
A moose is amusing, a squid quite confusing
Or try on a rhino if you fancy a bruising,
Or mountin' a mountain goat (careful, don't fall!)
but the hedgehog can never be buggered at all.
CHORUS 1
That was The Hedgehog Song, v1.4 Reconstructed by Matthew Crosby and alt.fan.pratchett from the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett
