SALAMANDER HATCHING -- New Salamander Acquisition Thread

[Blinded By Silence]

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... ilence.gif[/imgleft][blockquote]Rolled 5d25 : 16, 22, 9, 20, 23, total 90[/blockquote]

"There," She sighed, stepping back and looking at their handiwork. What do we do now, they asked her, to which she chuckled, "Now it the hardest part! We must wait. Run along now, little ones. Finish up your chores and walk the border. Guards, keep a close eye on your sister, now that's a good lamb."

With her children reluctantly gone, the blue dusted doe settled into the soft grass nest she shared with her kids. Waiting was hard, yes, but being tired could be mistaken for patience, and so, she drifted off to a half-sleep, her ears flicking here and there, waiting ready should her children need her.

[109 words]

[sheepcakes]

3. You doze off and mischievous floxes steal and hide your egg in a pitcher plant not too far off.

Danced wakes with a start, head jerking up and blinking rapidly to remove sleep from her eyes. She looks at the nest for several moments before she understands what she's seeing. A hole in her nest mound, the egg is gone!

Hearing bushes rustling, Danced looks over and sees a flox vanishing into the foliage. Maybe the small critter took her egg.

Getting up, she first examines the bush it jumped into. Nothing but leaves and branches. Maybe where it came from?

Danced spends the next few minutes searching the area the flox ran from. She turns over every stone, looks in every bush, even digs up a few mounds. Nothing.

She's about to go back to the bush and try a new location, when she sees a pitcher plant big enough to hold her egg. Going over, Danced looks into the pitcher. With a relieved sigh, she plucks her egg out of it.

Taking it back to the fire, she cleans it off as best she can. Then she sets it back into its spot, and covers it up again.

((Word count: 181))

[Blinded By Silence]

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... ilence.gif[/imgleft]

Spoiler

16. Howling winds blow through your nest and keep knocking your egg out of place.
22. Just at the edges of your chosen nest, you find some delicious berries to help keep your stomach from grumbling.
9. A heavy lighting storm rolls in suddenly, and a fierce bolt splits the ground not far from you ominously.
20. Waking up from a nap, you and your egg are covered in frog eggs. Mama frog glares on protectively.
23. To help your egg grow, you sing it a quiet song and imagine that it responds.

She woke from her nap as the sound of a frog croaking echoed through the Hallow. Her bright eyes blinked open, bleary from sleep, but suddenly went very wide. Just in front of her nose sat Strawberry, her frog. CROAK, she went and Set felt laughter bubble up from inside her. She stood and shook the grass from her fur and went to check on the egg. Much to her surprise, it was no longer alone! On some of the larger leaves, it seemed that Strawberry had laid some of her own.

"Oh my! Congratulations, Strawberry! So many little ones, how exciting," She smiled and carefully readjusted the laden leaves.

Afterward, she stretched and yawned. Where the Sun Sleeps felt a bit peckish after all the excitement and was sure the egg, now eggs, would be just fine for a few minutes. As she stepped outside, ducking beneath the lichen curtain that bordered the entryway, she tutted under her breath. The sky above was growing darker with heavy rain clouds.

"Children!" She called, ears pressed forward until she sighed with relief at their returning call, "It's going to rain, come on home now!"

It did not take them long to scamper back to the Hollow, their eyes bright and heads held proudly. They had brought back a bough of fresh berries, how thoughtful! "Thank you, children. Here, we'll eat inside today. Come along now," And she ushered them inside.

Not half an hour later did the first fat drops of rain begin to fall, pitter pattering against the lake and the wide leaves of the home tree. Soon, it was pouring and the winds began to whip themselves into a fury! She tucked the children into the furthest part of the nest and spent most of the coming night covering and recovering the leaves that protected the eggs, doing her best to keep them warm and dry. Outside, lightning flahsed and thunder rolled. The storm raged well into the deepest hours of the night. She was dozing as she stood, leaned up against the wall of the tree, shielding the egg from any wind when suddenly a loud CRACK shook the earth around them all and the children screamed! A lightning bolt struck the ground so close to the tree, she could hear the sizzle of the rain putting out the sparks!

"Hush, shhh," She ran to calm her children, pulling their shaken forms close to her body. Quietly, she hummed and sang a sweet, gentle tune that she had often used to lull them to sleep. It still worked, and soon the children were back to sleep. Set stood and quietly tiptoed her way to the egg, nudging it gently back into place with her nose. Into the early morning, she continued her song, wondering if it could hear her.

[471 words]

[Blinded By Silence]

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... ilence.gif[/imgleft][blockquote]Rolled 2d10 : 10, 3, total 13[/blockquote]

The three rose the following day to bright sunlight and the happy chatter of morning birds. Set lifted her head from the wall and looked around, bleary and yawning, as her kids stretched and bid her good morning. She smiled as they ran outside, probably to explore the scorched earth she imagines they'd find after last night's storm. As she chuckles, she sniffs, scenting the thick smell of smoke. She turns and gasps as the leaves begin to smolder! Panicked, she pulls them out as quickly as she can and tries to gently lat them on the dirt floor, pawing to find the eggs. To her surprise, two little lizards lie smoldering like embers, licking up the last of poor Strawberries brood.

"Salamanders! Why, what a surprise." She watches them in wonder, clearing away anything that could likely catch fire, wondering what to do with them.

[146 words]

[sheepcakes]

5. A territory dispute between two lynxes comes close to where you're protecting your egg.

Danced hears growls, and they sound like they're coming closer. She's pretty sure there are at least two, lynx? maybe lions. Definitely not cheetahs.

She builds the fire up, hoping the flames will keep the cats away. Moving the shell away from the mound, so she can make it larger without setting the nest ablaze.

Just in case, she gathers several stones, and the driest branch she can find. If they come too close she'll have to scare them off. She lines up the stones so she can kick them, and sets the branch into the shell to make a torch.

She watches as two lynx come her way, fighting for territory probably. They don't seem to notice her, or the fire, and Danced isn't sure if she should be worried or relieved.

After watching for some moments, she decides it'll be better to scare them off before they realize she's there. She grabs the branch from the shell, the end isn't blazing as big as she'd hoped, but there should be enough flame to give any animal second thoughts about charging her.

Danced turns to her line of stones, giving one a swift kick. A half step and she's kicking the next stone in line. As she kicks the third stone she starts to wave the branch, and screams as best she can.

The smaller lynx is scared off by the first stone. The other lynx looks like it's considering the dangers of attacking a kin, when the third stone hits it's hind leg. The lynx gives a yelp and limps off.

Danced feels slightly bad, she wasn't trying to hit wither animal, just scare them. She didn't the the crack if bone though, so she hopes its nothing more than a slight bruise.

She turns back to her nest, setting the branch into the shell again, and checking the temperature of the mound. A little chilly maybe? She nudges the shell closer, keeping a watchful eye on the fire.

((Word count: 331))

[sheepcakes]

9. A heavy lighting storm rolls in suddenly, and a fierce bolt splits the ground not far from you ominously.

It felt like dawn was just moments away, but Danced was sure that was wishful thinking because it had felt like that since the lynx. But it must be close. In the distance, she hears thunder.

"Again? Really?" Danced isn't even aware she'd spoken aloud. With a sigh, she gathers as much fuel for her fire as she can, piling it up beside the nest mound. Then she finds the large leaves she'd used as cover the last time.

They still looked good, so she held them over the mound, and fire as best she could. Soon after the first drops of rain fell.

This time, the rain was colder, but not as heavy. It felt like the droplets were far enough apart for her to dodge them. Each raindrop did feel fuller, like it had devoured it's siblings.

Its not until the crash of thunder gets close enough to rattle her bones that she starts to worry. Lightning won't strike twice, will it? She had dismantled her lightning mound for the stones, and branch. What if lightning struck her nest?

She doesn't have much choice, if she leaves the fire will go out and her egg will go cold. Finding every uncovered stone she can see, Danced kicks, or pushes, them as far away as she can.

She's pretty sure lightning is more attracted to stone than plants, but she could just be making that up to feel better about the situation. Either way, doing something is better than nothing.

Remembering how bright the flash was, Danced keeps her eyes shut as much as she can, opening them only to check where her leaves are when she shifts. It wouldn't do to set them on fire, or let the nest get soaked by rain.

Even so, when lightning strikes not far off, Danced has to blink several times before the lights stop dancing in her eyes. She thinks it was closer than last time, but it didn't hit the nest so she doesn't much care.

The rain stays after the thunder and lightning stops, fat cold drops hitting her hide and bouncing off the leaves. But, the nest stays dry, she's pretty sure at least, and her fire doesn't go out. And dawn is coming, its nearly time for the egg to hatch, she thinks.

Just as the sky goes grey with predawn light, the rain let's up. Danced rests the leaves on the mound, to keep out dawn's dew, and picks through the sticks to find anything dry enough for the fire.

((Word count: 424))

[sheepcakes]

If you placed your egg in a warm and dry area to hatch, you will produce a Fire Salamander.
Roll 1d10 for every salamander you hatched and continue to step 4.
As a reminder, when rolling do not edit or delete your post.
Your roll will correspond with the color of your salamander(s):
- 1-4: yellow fire
- 5-7: red fire
- 8-9: black fire
- 10: blue fire

Dawn had come, and the sun started to warm the morning, at least as much as it does in winter. Danced uncovered her nest, sure that the egg was close to hatching. As she watched, one baby salamander chewed, crawled and clawed its way out of the egg. She was giddy with joy, she had done it, and now all she had left to do was name it. It needed just the right name, so Danced decided to give it careful thought for a day or two.

((Word count: 87, grand total wc: 1886))

[blockquote]Rolled 1d10 : 5, total 5[/blockquote]

[lolternative]

Blooming Mad & Sap had been travelling for some time together. While most of her garden was dormant, Sap had convinced the other doe that it was the perfect time to travel. It took a lot of convincing and promises of taking care of all the weeding (though Blooming would never leave the care of her garden to another and so the promises were moot anyway). Still, Sap enjoyed travelling and Blooming enjoyed making her happy so they set off. They had gone quite a ways away from Blooming's garden into a rather lush part of the swamp. The air was damp and cool and her hair stuck to her neck. Everything smelled fresh and healthy and they were spending some time resting.

"I'm a bit hungry," Sap complained as her stomach growled.

"I think I saw some berries near by, wait here."

Blooming shuffled off to the direction of the berries and found them easily enough. As she was nosing around, she touched something.. odd and recoiled before poking her head further in for a better look. It looked like an egg and she called Sap over.

"What should we do? If someone or something else finds it it could mean bad news for the little guy.." Sap worried.

Blooming's lips pursed and she gave a nod. "Well, hopefully its mother isn't far off and we can just watch over it until they return." With their minds made up, they settled in and prepared to guard the egg.

[lolternative]

[blockquote]Rolled 5d25 : 18, 17, 24, 10, 12, total 81[/blockquote]

[Kinu]

Ill Met moved softly through the swamp, his hooves trained to avoid sticks and anything that might make noise underfoot. He made his living hunting so it didn't do to scare away the prey before you had a chance to get close. The soft sunlight beat down, diffused by the foliage above and casting dappled patterns across the slightly muddy earth. But something caught his eye. It wasn't prey. It was something.. else. Something egg shaped, almost completely obscured by a pile of leaves. Ill Met paused and cocked a brow quizzically. Huh. Strange place for an egg. Was it a Kins? He'd seen Acha eggs and all manner of eggs/sacs around the swamp but, moving closer and lowering his head to puff away the leaves which moved begrudgingly given their slime coating, this was not a Kin egg or sac. A strong breeze ruffled his mane as a large golden eagle set down on a branch overhead and gave a rough screech. Ill Met looked up and shook his head. "I have no idea. What do you think?"



The eagle cocked an eye and gave a low burble which sounded as though he were anything but interested. In fact preening sounded more interesting and so he began to clean his feathers while the Kimeti Buck inspected further. "Some help you are." Ill Met chuckled, leaning down to remove the last of the leaves. "It definitely looks like some sort of egg. Sight, you're a bird, why don't you give this little guy some warmth, hm?" The eagle stopped preening abruptly and glared down at Ill Met, ruffling his feathers. How DARE. He was hardly the broody type. The Buck laughed and felt something strange pulling at him. He felt like he couldn't just leave it. This wasn't a Kin egg but.. there was something special about it.

Looking around he sighed. What to do. Ah, maybe get it out of this shade. It was rather chilly in the shade at the moment and the egg didn't look very happy where it was. As happy as an egg could look anyway. He spotted the perfect place. A small, dry, area in the sun a few feet away. That looked perfect. Brushing away the debris he rolled some small, warm, stones onto the spot and made a circle, then found some dry leaves to line the bottom with. The egg was really.. gooey. The normally tough buck felt his stomach flip. It was a gross sensation as he gently picked it up in his mouth and plopped it as carefully as possible onto the nest. From there he settled next to it. Something told him he should keep an eye on it. It was a weird feeling. He wasn't exactly the maternal type.

Wait, how was he supposed to keep this thing warm? Looking around the hunters gaze was drawn to the puffball in the tree. Whistling he gestured at the egg. "Sight! C'mere. I need your help." The eagle looked quizzical but dropped from the branch and alighted in front of Ill Met. "Come on, friend. I know this isn't normally your thing but.. it needs us. Can't you just sit on it for a bit?" Sight looked horrified. He leaned his head forward, his pupils contracting and dilating erratically, before giving a very angry screech. "Ok, noted." Ill Met pondered the matter for a moment before smirking. "What if.. you sit on this egg and I give you a WHOLE rabbit all to yourself, hmm? The next one we get. All yours." Sight tilted his head to the side and seemed to consider. Finally, after a few minutes and with much grumbling, he plodded over to the egg awkwardly and fluffed his feathers out. Settling down on it like a broody chicken. The sight caused Ill Met to snort. The golden eagle's head whipped around to glare menacingly at the Kimeti. Not. One. Word. "Ok, ok. Sorry. Point taken."

[Kinu]

He wouldn't lie. It was rather boring lying by an egg. Sight looked absolutely miserable so he couldn't complain. He wasn't the one playing hen. Sighing deeply he looked around the area. It was a quiet spot, nothing on the wind or that he could see that made him feel wary. The golden sun beat down through a hole in the trees above and warmed his very soul. This was a good spot.

Luckily he and Sight had eaten or he would have to leave to get them food. Who knows if Sight would stay at that point. Though he doubted the Eagle would risk losing a rabbit all to himself. He loved them. Absolute favorite meal when he could get one. It was like trying to pry away a mouse from an Owlcat. Truly horrifying. The breeze rolled by, rustling Sight's beautiful feathers and causing him to hunker down further over the egg. He was obviously taking this task very seriously with a tasty meal on the line. Ill Met smirked. What a fierce predator.

[blockquote]Rolled 5d25 : 19, 25, 6, 14, 20, total 84[/blockquote]

[Kinu]

Spoiler

19. An amorous sugar glider has mistaken you for its long lost love. It is glued to your side and won't stop chattering, barking, chirping, or sneezing its love song to you.
25. The flesh of the egg shifts and moves, and you are certain for a moment that a salamander is about to emerge.
6. A crane with its sharp beak considers you its sworn enemy. Fend it off!
14. A band of misfits wants to see the egg and are ready to rumble.
20. Waking up from a nap, you and your egg are covered in frog eggs. Mama frog glares on protectively.

Ill Met was just starting to doze of under the warm sun when he felt something rustling his tail. An eye snapped open and he glared at his backside. What on earth? Whipping his tail up he felt it grow heavy, weighted. Frowning even deeper he leaned over, Sight gave out a warning grumble that he wouldn't take any nonsense, but Ill Met ignored him. Leaning as far as he could he saw it. A sugar glider. And Ill Met didn't like the look in his eye. The thing looked.. enamored. If that's how these animals looked when they were in love. Leaning back the Sugar Glider advanced. Chattering up a storm and climbing across his backside, over his back, across his ribs, then finally into his mane where it settled. What. Was. This. Ill Met was a bit unsettled but the animal wasn't attacking or.. consummating its feelings, so he let it nest there happily barking and chattering away. It was lucky Sight was so preoccupied or this love affair would have been over fast.

Suddenly Sight burbled awake and gave a low screech, moving to the side and glaring at the egg which had begun to move. Ill Met leaned over, his new fan also peeking out to see why its new love was disturbed. All eyes turned to the egg as it began to writhe and roll within itself. Any second.. any second now. Suddenly Ill Met was smacked hard in the face by a furious set of wings and claws. He felt a sharp beak stabbing at him and he bowled over backwards. The sugar glider clung tightly to his mane. WHAT NOW? A crane had appeared suddenly. Apparently it did NOT like what it saw and was letting the buck have it. Sight had been knocked off the egg and stood as still as a rock. As he hunched to begin attacking the crane he heard Ill Mets voice "Stay there! Protect the egg! I've got this." Looking from the egg to the very angry crane Sight toddled back to his post and puffed over the egg. Watching the madness unravel.

Ill Met was stunned but he didn't want to risk the egg getting hurt. The wings of the large crane hurt, almost as much as the claws, and ALMOST as much as the beak that was currently trying to impale him. Getting to his hooves he began to buck and shake the bird free. It had a death grip on him. He was pretty sure this egg wasn't the birds. Bird eggs were harder. But SOMETHING was ticking it off. Could it be jealousy? Maybe for his superb nest building skills? Or maybe it was in love with the sugar glider and this was some weird love triangle? He'd rather not know honestly. He just wanted the thing off. Continuing to buck he spotted a rather large tree. Maybe ramming it would work? He hated to hurt the bird but what choice did he have? Running full speed at the tree he side swiped the bird, scraping it off himself. The crane landed in a pile of feathers looking rather stunned. Ill Met watched as it got to its feet and kind of, dazed, shook its head. Glaring at the buck the bird took flight. Satisfied it had showed him. And disappeared into the sky. "Good riddance." The Kimeti snorted. "WHAT A SPECTACLE THAT WAS!" Came a voice from the swamp. Ill Mets ears perked. What now?

A small group of three Kin trotted out from.. who knew where honestly. He felt his body go rigid. He didn't like strangers. "We saw that crane come outta NOWHERE and BAM!" The leader, he supposed, grinned unnervingly. He didn't get a good vibe from these Kin. One of them seemed to spot Sight and began trotting that way. "HEY y-!" Ill Met began as the leader set himself in-between the two. "What'cha got here then, aye?" He chortled. "You got food?" Sight blinked and whipped his head up at the oncoming Kimeti doe. He puffed up even bigger, apparently forgetting he was NOT in fact a hen, and made a sort of growling noise. Warning. No-one was wrecking his chance at getting a rabbit. "This looks promising. I've never had eggs before. Haven't seen them either. They must be HUGE!" Ill Met had a bad feeling, but not because of the vibes these kin were giving off. Sight was a formidable predator but when threatened he was violent and terrifying. "I uh, I wouldn't do that." He warned as all three of the Kin turned and snorted at him dismissively. "Let's see 'em. Might have a nice dinner tonight if we can get this dumb chicken off them."

Chicken... CHICKEN?! That was the straw that did it. The grumble began to rise in pitch, Sight got as big as he possibly could. Last warning. The second one of the Kin pushed a rock out of place the Eagle screech. It was a massacre. Feathers exploded, Kin screamed, the world was ending. The eagle was on them light a monster from a nightmare. The ruffians fell over themselves trying to get away as talons flashed and found purchase on bare hides. Ill Met had never seen anyone run as fast as they did. Snorting in laughter he trotted back to the egg and settled down in his original spot. His new fan peeked out of his mane with adoring eyes. It hadn't shut up the entire time. The chattering was mind numbing.

About a half hour later he heard wing beats and Sight dropped from the sky in front of the nest looking rather proud of himself. "Did you show them whose boss?" He laughed. The Golden Eagle made a dismissive sound. Obviously he didn't find it much of a challenge. But yes. Absolutely. He was the boss. Without prompting he fluffed his feathers and resumed his sitting of the mystery egg. Ill Met was honestly shocked and wondered if he perhaps had a little more invested in this egg than just a rabbit reward. The day had really flown and night was coming on fast. With a soft sigh he curled around the nest. "We'll take watches, you can sleep first." The eagle burbled his agreement and settled in for the night. He was asleep in minutes. Chasing away the egg bandits must have really taken it out of him.

The night progressed peacefully, his adoring sugar glider companion finally shut up and passed out at some point. It was lucky it was kinda cute or he'd have tried to scrape it off like that Crane. Finally it was his turn to sleep. He gently nudged Sight, making sure to get his eyes out of the way in case the eagle forgot where he was. Luckily Sight awoke pretty calmly and blinked up at Ill Met, giving a yawn. He settled in for his watch shortly after. Ill Met yawned back and closed his eyes. Some rest would be nice. It felt like he was asleep for quite a few hours when he felt.. something. Frowning his eyes fluttered open. Wh- what now? He felt a little chilled... and damp. Blinking against the haze of sleep things came into focus and he honestly wished he was still sleeping. A frog. A frog had COVERED them in eggs. Everything was covered. Him, Sight, the egg. WHAT THE HECK?! "SIGHT! Why didn't you wake me up? This is a disaster! WHA-" He stopped mid rant when he spotted a pair of glaring eyes watching him from just outside the ring of rocks. A mama frog. She was NOT amused. "Uh.. sorry. Umm.." He had no idea what to do. Sight looked unimpressed with the entire situation but refused to move. Probably why he hadn't chased the frog away. She wasn't a threat to HIS egg. Ears lowered Ill Met groaned. Great. Now he'd have to figure out how to get them all up AND not squish a single egg. That frog looked menacing.

[Kinu]

[blockquote]Rolled 1d10 : 8, total 8[/blockquote]

[Kinu]

Ill Met was so busy trying to figure out how they would get everyone up and out of here and not squish these eggs that he didn't notice Sight fussing. When the eagle gave an urgent screech and smacked Ill Met by opening his wings wide and standing up the buck growled "Please no-" but he stopped. The egg was hatching. His expression lit up in excitement. "Oh man! We did it, Sight!" The golden eagle tilted his head, his eyes dilating and expanding in his excitement. He absolutely was more invested in this now than he had been at the start but he was still getting that rabbit. The egg writhed and rolled until one side split open and a slimy black tail flopped out. Within moments of being exposed to the air the tail lit on fire and the entire egg went up in a plume of smoke to reveal the most beautiful, black, fire salamander. Ill Met and Sight were astonished. They stared, mouths agape, at the tiny creature. It blinked up at them with large, oil drop eyes and began to clean it's eyeballs with its tongue. Looking at one another Ill Met smirked at his companion. "Good job, buddy." The eagle gave an approving screech when, suddenly, it spotted the sugar glider peering out of Ill Mets mane. The rodent also spotted the eagle and the love spell was broken. It leapt off the buck and vanished into the trees, the eagle, shaking itself free of frog eggs, hot on its trail. "That's not good." The buck mused. Poor thing.

The salamander seemed preoccupied going after all the eggs to which the mama frog croaked, loudly, and took off. What a mess. He also felt slightly sorry for her but what could you do? It was nature. Hmm, what to call this little beauty. "How about we call you Ashes. Looks like you did a number on your egg little guy." The salamander blinked up at Ill Met, licked his chops, then proceeded to climb the Kimeti in an effort to continue his quest to eat all the eggs he could find. Ill Met laughed and started off after Sight. "Sounds like you're happy, lets go find your father." That joke would probably be his new favorite. He could probably get away with that safely. Calling sight a Hen would likely result in injury.

(Word Count: 2,582. Claiming 5 RP points for Ill Met By Moonlight.)

[Kinu]

(*2,581 word count. Not sure where the 2 came from lol.)