With a Serpent's Kiss [Crucith's Clutching]

[PhazonDragon]

Though not particularly fond of the fact that the green was confined to her weyr for the last few sevendays of her pregnancy, Crucith did take full advantage of the service offered to her. On Pern, Crucith had been allowed to do what she wanted, without a care in the world for her unborn children. No one minded--and who wanted a dragonet from the green that wasn't in the right state of mind, so to speak. Not to mention that there were the golds to pop out healthy and perfect children. Why couldn't Crucith have a little fun harming her own? 

Rocky Weyr was a different matter. Weyrwoman Faizah said otherwise. Same with the doctor. Crucith was not allowed to leave her weyr. She did earn the use of candidates though--candidates for her clutch (and that sharding green Jadavath's clutch) to cater to her every need. Under the radar, Z'volm had managed to pull in a few gullible and naïve candidates who though doing chores for the green would earn them a better spot at the hatching. A secret, underground operation, which Crucith was more than happy to endorse.

As such, Crucith was stuck in her weyr. She laid on her side on her bed, gravid belly extended and preventing her from lounging in a more comfortable position. Don't forget about the growing pain in her belly--as the pain spiked for a moment, Crucith growled, and rolled to stand up. I go, she commented simply, and waddled to the weyr ledge. The green spread her wings and took off in a controlled glide to the hatching sands. 'No strained flying' she was told. With a short laugh, Crucith beat her wings once, and angled downward to land on the sands.

Groaning, Z'volm fell forward to thump his forehead on the desk. He shifted in his seat, clamping his arms around his midsection. Crucith...! the greenrider moaned. Yeah. It was time. Stop that! Z'volm protested against Crucith's transversal of her pain along with the mental link. Of course, the rider pair took enjoyment from each other's pain, but Z'volm had to get down to the hatching sands to be with Crucith. At least let up I can get down there soon. Once that had happened, Z'volm didn't worry too much about his attire to rush out of his weyr, and through the hallways to the sands.

Don't take too long, the green mother commented dryly, landing on the warm sands with a skid. She kicked up a wave of sand that gently rolled over, and came to rest. Crucith growled, pacing on the sands. Jadavath's clutch was there--whether or not the other green was, she didn't care. Shuffling away from the green's chosen spot, Crucith picked out her own section of the sands for her eggs. She grunted, eyes spinning bright red shades, and began to dig holes for her eggs to rest in. The green had tried to block the pain from escaping over to Z'volm's side, but upon seeing Z'volm run shirtless onto the grounds, she let her pain travel. She crouched over the sand furrows, and waited for Z'volm to be by her side.

Entering the sands, Z'volm was immediately bombarded with his green's pain. "Crucith!" he hissed through clenched teeth. "Not funny!" Ignoring Jadavath, the greenrider was quick to be at Crucith's side, rubbing her foreleg affectionately. While anyone else this close was sure to missing a limb or two after a couple of seconds, Z'volm was sure that even in her rage, the green wouldn't harm Hers. She had yet to lay a single egg... The rider peered at the green's extended belly as it rippled with contractions. Though he should be compassionate and worried for his dragon, no complications looked to arise, and Z'volm gave himself a moment to take pleasure from the green's pain.

Hunched over, Crucith's head was low, and hovering eye-level. I'll show you pain, she chuckled, and scratched at ground, her claws digging up sand and making deep grooves. Seeth... The call for the father of the clutch was low and soft--unsure if Crucith wanted Seeth here yet. See-- Pain cut the green off as the first of her eggs struggled to enter the world. Crucith growled, stepping to the side, away from Z'volm's touch. She shuffled for a moment before pausing, grunting, and pushing. A soft, cream-colored egg slid out and landed on the sand with a low thump. Pleased at the single egg, Crucith twisted around to look at it, then half-bury it in the sand.

He felt inklings of the pain, but as Crucith lay her first egg, Z'volm was instantly glad all over again that he wasn't his dragon. "Good... Good..." he praised the green stepping over to her side again. "Are you going to call Seeth?" he had to ask, knowing that Sennia would probably come along as well. Wouldn't that make for awkward conversation...? Only if she bothered to talk to him--not that he cared. Her dragon did mate with his. Shouldn't he get a little recognition in return? Z'volm raised a hand to place it gingerly on Crucith's  forearm. "I'm here," he whispered, rubbing the green's sweaty hide. "And no, I'm not going to leave, no matter how many times you tell me to put a shirt on," Z'volm protested quickly, making sure Crucith wouldn't have a chance to.

A low and gravely growl escaped Crucith's lips. Of course I'll call Seeth. The green lifted her head to let loose a thundering roar, surely keeping anyone awake. She had to choose the end of the day to have to clutch--no one was going to get any sleep if the green kept roaring like that. Seeth! Come see your children! Crucith beckoned before lowering her head to try to rest against the pain. And I don't care what you're wearing, Z'volm.

[Wolfy]

Seeth, being the darkenned and depressed Seeth that he irrevocably was, had decided to occupy a shadowed corner of the Weyrbowl to nap as his Rider, Sennia, being the now extensively bored and scarred Sennia that she was, went about harper business and practiced playing her pipes in the sharply contrasted weyr that was their's to share while they went about their long stay in this strange world. Overall, the dark brown concluded, reviewing his beliefs of this world, dragons and dragonmen and - women were not meant for this boring world but rather for the more exciting world of Pern where one was almost always busy doing something or another. The only excitement came during a Flight, and that hardly counted seeing as he had partcipated in the only one that had occured since he had arrived. Maybe Clutching and Hatchings were other pionts of interest in this bleak Weyr where he'd been exiled. He wasn't sure. Whichever the case, Greenriders and the Weyrling and Candidate Masters had the only work to do here. Everyone else was doing their own boring tasks that they went after personally. Hah!

Yes, maybe the Flights were the only pionts of interest around here. He'd soon discover whether that particular belief was right or wrong, seeing as Jadavath's clutch had already been laid and Crucith, the beautiful - if sadistic - green that he had proudly caught, was to lay their children's eggs anytime now.

She had been confined to her and Her's weyr since that amusing incident those weeks ago when she had went to have their children checked upon while they were yet unclutched and inside her, a procedure he knew his Sennia did not fully understand though she knew the general concept of it. Ah, it was wondrous what certain dragons could do to what was generally thought of as their superiors! Crucith, with her fangs sinking into Gorth's wing, his blood spilling across the floor and she tugged continually on it.... He should probably be jealous, both of her audacity and her interest in that disgusting bronze, but what could he do or say that would change her mind? Engrossed in the dark thoughts, he did not, at first, hear Crucith calls to him.

Sennia, however, did almost immediately. They were faint, as if she was unsure whether or not she should be calling to him. When she started to repeat the call for Seeth once more, Sennia stopped blowing on her handmade pipes and listenned. Silence reined for several moments before Crucith's mental call increased, calling him to see the eggs she was undoubtably Clutching at that very moment.

Seeth, darling! she called out to him, breaking his thoughts free from their gloomy walls. Crucith has been calling you, or have you been to preoccupied to answer? In response he snorted and listenned himself, and much to his dissatifaction, he heard that what his rider said was true. She was calling for him. Her eggs were being Clutched!

He had known for several weeks now that her time was drawing near to Clutch. That much was rather obvious.

Mine, do you wish to come?[/color] His voice held an odd ammount of sincerity that she had not heard since before IT happenned. Sincerity and formality. Smiling slightly, she spoke both mentaly and with her voice. "Why yes, dearest, I'm coming whether they want me to or not." She placed her pipes carefully on her chair as she stood, so that they would nt fall and break if that case arose, and changed into something more suitable: trousers, soft and warm, and a long sleeves shirt beneath a light green tunic, as well as her usual boots and wherhide jacket. She looked rather nice, she thought.

Seeth growled deep within his long throat and quickly glided to the ledge where Sennia now waited. Climbing abroad his wide shoulders, she held on as he quickly flew up and toward the Hatching Sands.

Crucith was already there, a bare-chested Z'volm beside her. Convulsions shook her pale frame as her body struggled to rid itself of the eggs that were trapped within her. Much to her delight, Sennia realized that one egg had already been depositted onto the sand.

Crucith. I am here,[/color] he grumbled when they arrived, landing with a dull thud on the whot sand. Seeth paused on the ground only long enough for Sennia to climb off of him before he strade as best a dragon can toward the green he had mated with. Stopping several yards away, he lowered his head slightly and surveyed her shaking hide and her half nude rider.

Sennia walked more slowly behind Seeth, taking her time to reach the area where Crucith was kneeling in pain. She was thankful, very thankful, that Seeth was brown, not green or gold. To go through that pain was probably very, well, painful; even thinking about it was painful. She was equally glad that she would not bear any of her own children for a while yet to come. She raised her amethyst eyes, surveying as Seeth was the duo that was the Green and her rider. Z'volm looked somewhat glad at his dragon's pain, whih she though was incredibly barbaric. But, she reminded herself, they're both well known to love the pain of others. I suppose "others" includes their counterpart. It certainly made sense. "Crucith, Z'volm," she murmured quietly as she completed transversing the distance between them.

[PhazonDragon]

Crucith. I am here.[/color][/b]

She heard the brown's words, but a bout of pain kept her from replying. Crucith's lips lifting in a snarl as she shut her eyes and pawed at the sands with a long claw. Z'volm, beside her, rubbing her hide in a reassuring manner. More of her children were on the way, she knew it. There would be little time to rest right now. Crucith's snout nudged the sand as she lowered her head farther. Seeth, she hissed, cracking one eye open to look at the brown that was gingerly standing off to the side. Come, don't stand so far away. Come see the first of your children. Crucith called, in an almost taunting tone. Her body gave her a momentary relapse, and Crucith's sides heaved with the effort of laying.

At the green's side, Z'volm heard the brown land, and already knew his rider would be with him. His thoughts were confirmed when Sennia muttered a low "Crucith, Z'volm" to them. The greenrider glanced over his shoulder towards the Seeth and Sennia. He gave them a flick of his head to show that he knew they were there. "Seeth and Sennia," he responded, feeling that he was in a better mood than he was back in the infirmary. Z'volm continued to rub Crucith's hide, unafraid of what she might do in her current state. Though she would lash out at the wrong person, Z'volm was not such a person. Crucith wouldn't harm him intentionally. "Well come on over here!" Z'volm raised his other arm to motion for the brownrider pair to join them. "It's fun, come on!"

You're not the one with a belly full of eggs, Z'volm dear. Crucith opened her red-tinged eyes and raised her head. She twisted her neck to face Seeth. Don't keep me waiting. Don't keep out children waiting. The green growled, and lowered her head again. She scratched at the sands before shuffling around to face away from the watchers. Z'volm took his hand off her leg, and stepped back, cautiously. Crucith felt another egg coming. She grunted and pushed, forcing another cream-colored egg out of her body. Making a noise of satisfaction, Crucith buried the egg next to its sibling, and scoot away from her meager pile of two eggs.

She wasn't done, not yet; far from it. She knew that. Panting, Crucith settled herself onto the sands, her bloated belly distended and making it hard to lay upright. She huffed, resting her wings against her back. The rest wasn't long though, and Crucith soon felt the contractions again. Mrrrg... the green rumbled, pulling herself up again only to crouch over her sand mound again, and with hardly a sound, deposit into the sand, possibly the smallest of her eggs thus far. Seeth, she crooned again, an odd and motherly tone creeping into her voice.