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Tufira @
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Insectoid @
Cinderspark @
bfkitsune
I had so much writer's block with this
And @
Phoebici : I can't wait for the egg to hatch! What a special single baby :3
The eggs hatching has always been exciting and eventful, but never like this. This was eventful in all the worst ways.
Debris and her small clan had gathered with the other two couples in the nesting grounds; a skydancer pair with two eggs and a fae and spiral pair with three eggs.
A violent storm was raging outside. Rain pounding, wind whipping, lightning flashing and thunder cracking. It made everyone gather around nervously to be as close as possible, despite the fact that all the smaller groups only knew each other in passing.
"This is the worst storm we've had in a while,"
Liliana, the blue skydancer, said with a worried quaver in her voice. "Usually we can anticipate them, especially ones this big, but this..."
"This is nuts," Fiona finished/agreed with a nod, looking out the door at the savage rains.
"We'll be fine indoors though, right?" The small fae,
Ighte, asked, orange eyes squinting in the dark.
"Yeah," Oculus replied, though he didn't sound certain. No one was certain they would be safe; the structure was spelled bamboo and wood and leaves. It would stand up to a lot, but this storm might be more than a lot. They all wanted to believe it would be fine, though, so no one dared say a word against his claim.
"I can't believe the eggs had to choose
now of all times to hatch," Debris said fretfully, curled loosely around her three eggs. "Like they choose now to be at their most fragile and easy to injure." Debris craned her neck to turn towards Liliana, who was curled up with her mate. "You two are lucky you're set for tomorrow."
"Yeah, one more day of hard, protective shells," Liliana replied with a weak smile, playing with her purple, fluffy coat nervously. "I don't envy you right now."
In space of a reply, thunder cracked overhead, and almost everyone flinched as lightning lit up the grounds at almost the exact same time. The parents' to-be hovered even closer to their eggs, and the friends present all fluttered about with nerves.
"It's right on top of us," Ephraim murmured, crest stiff and twitching with worry. "There were storms in the shifting expanse of course, but this... We aren't prepared for this."
"We should evacuate when the eggs hatch," Elovance said, looking troubled. "But we can't very well move them with their shells so brittle right now. This is an important time, and we can't disturb them." The blue nocturne looked to the other two couples. "But with your eggs still hard-shelled, you should be able to leave. It might be best to get to the caves."
As the group began to discuss the idea of evacuating and how they would do it (Ighte the fae was worried about leaving given her and her eggs' father small size and the wind speeds), when the air started to feel a little heavier. The talking stopped. Debris' first egg cracked a bit more and bounced in her gentle grasp.
Ephraim's head snapped over to Liliana and Heald's direction as the fluff on the skydancers started to rise vertically in the air. Their heads then snapped to him as panic wafted off of him in waves they picked up on their jewels.
"Lightning," he breathed out, sounding petrified even in monotone. "Lightning!" He said even louder, zipping around the group even faster.
"We have to go!" Oculus exclaimed, taking to the air as well as everyone started to move all at once. The metal gear on Debris and Ighte started to ring and shake violently, and both of them leapt away from their eggs in terror.
"It's too late!" Ephraim shouted, diving at his mother. "Get down!"
And suddenly, everything was too bright. The loudest sound Debris had ever experienced shot through her head and her whole, huge body shook as the thunder ripped through her. But nothing hit with the thunder.
When everyone opened their eyes, they were all safe.
Elovance, straining his entire body and glowing ever so slightly, had thrown up a barrier that shielded them all. The roof had been struck and fallen, and chunks of flaming rubble surrounded them, but nothing penetrated Elovance’s barrier. Debris whipped her head over to the eggs and found Oculus crouched over them, eyes wide. Well, crouched over two of them, and one small guardian boy.
Debris felt her heart clench looking at the small, terrified guardian. Her attention quickly turned to Elovance again though, as he ground out an order to her.
“Rubble,” he hissed, pain dripping from his words. “Clear it… Can’t… Maintain… Forever!”
Casting one longing glance at the group and her eggs, Debris saw no one else fit to do the job but her and Oculus. Fiona took over looking after the cracking eggs and the small guardian wordlessly as Oculus got up to join Debris, and the two of them set to work.
Rain chilled them to the bone and winds didn’t help, but no more thunder boomed and no more lightning cracked, and the two of them made quick work of the rubble, blowing it away with strong, controlled gusts of wind magic. In between powerful flaps of her wings and chunks of burning rubble sliding down the shield, Debris spotted a second small guardian, a purple girl, huddled against Fiona and one remaining egg.
In a few more minutes, the barrier was finally free of any more falling rubble, and what was left of the nesting grounds no longer seemed like it would fall at any given moment, and Elovance finally dropped the barrier, gasping aloud and collapsing to the ground as he did. Liliana hurried to help him to his feet as her mate kept their eggs warm and protected from the comparatively softer rainfall, and Debris landed next to Fiona as the bogsneak covered her children from the rain.
“Everyone’s alright over here,” Fiona said softly, wings wrapped around three small, skinky guardians, all mewling and squeaking in hatchling alarm. The third egg had hatched into another small girl, blue like her brother.
“Good,” Debris all but whispered as she slowly laid down.
Elovance was lead over by Liliana and ended up collapsing against Debris chest, looking like he had just run a marathon whilst carrying the whole clan on his back. Oculus gently landed next to him and pulled the tired nocturne over, carefully laying over him but not on him, and Ephraim wordlessly landed on Debris’ head as she coiled around Fiona and everyone else and draped her wing over the party, rain pattering harmlessly down on them as they all let the night sink in.
Later, all three were named. The boy became Storm (after the night they were in, how could he not be), while the purple girl became Lissa and the bluer girl became Ellie, after Oculus and Elovance, whom Debris felt stepped up the most. This way, they would always have the nocturne boys with them, in her mind at least.
AGH I'm sorry I had such a hard time writing this! IF ONLY they were actually born today, they could have had the eyes!!!! THE EYES!!!!!
But omg, I'm just glad this is finally done. Sorry the small naming ceremony is kinda lame, I realized after it drew to a close that I hadn't mentioned how they all got named and needed to do that. So anyway, thank you all for reading, and the three guardian babes are available, along with Ephraim.
<--- Fourth Mate
