Road Signs [Eceph's Second Clutching]

[Bre]

And sometimes it's good . . .

Eceph moved silently. Considering her state, that was quite an impressive feat. She was swollen with eggs, her slim body no longer so proportionate. Despite that, she still had strength and she rose with ease that fine night, though her purpose that evening not quite what it had been the past season. She glided across the canyon and landed in the nesting cavern. She was short of the sands, but she waddled forward as best she could. The sands were hot, but they felt better than the cool autumn air outside. The snows would be coming soon and that wouldn't do at all for her children. With scaled feet, she scratched at the sand, fidgeting with it as the moments passed. Her logic and sense remained, but her clutching was upon her and it made her antsy. She could wait it out, but she wanted everything to be ready for her eggs. She wanted them safe.

Ro'za came on running feet. She had been awake, but Eceph hadn't called her. The gray didn't need too, of course, but a little warning would have been nice. She wasn't a fan of clutchings, she found. The end results were exciting enough, but they gave her more things to do. They meant she had to put up with G'len as well and he wasn't her favorite person. After a flight and weeks of a gravid Eceph, he tended to sink low on her list of favorite people. In fact, he tended to slip right off the bottom of it. Damn G'len and his stupid black. Climbing the steps to the nesting sands, she slid to a stop on the slick stone of the entrance. Eceph raised her head and shot her rider a look. Panting and blinking in the dim light of the cavern, previously prepared but not yet lit, Ro'za returned the look. Then she sat down on the floor, legs crossed, and waited.

It was a long wait. The night, previously just an evening, in truth, became pitch black. Clouds kept it from growing too cold, but it was dark and dismal. Ro'za was vaguely cheered by the length of time that passed. It meant that there would be plenty of eggs. Hopefully, there would at least twenty or a few more. She wasn't really sure how few or how many a gray could have. She knew they could have a lot, but the possible lower extreme was a sickening stone in her gut. As she went about laying her children, precious bundles of hope hidden by her body and the dim lighting, Eceph shifted about. They needed to be arranged in some sort of order, though much was left up to them and their different shapes. They had to be placed where the sands could handle their individual burdens. It was a tiring, meticulous task for Eceph, but finally she finished and stepped back.

With a careful eye, Ro'za surveyed the clutch. No gray egg lay on the sands, but it was a fine clutch of twenty. She briefly held out hope for one of the larger eggs, a grayish giant with a greenish top. However, it wasn't to be and she settled with what she found, receiving a harsh look from her protectively placed simourv. It was at least twenty. That would give them seventy fighters when they were grown. With seventy, they could do a lot. It wasn't quite enough, but it was getting there. They could protect everyone. Their world would survive. Nodding her head, Ro'za lay back, occupying the entrance to the sands with her lean body. She was tired. Clutchings taxed her emotionally and her body begged for sleep, a luxury she wouldn't give it. She stared up at the stone ceiling and pushed sleep from her mind. Eceph settled, laying in wait to protect her unborn young.

. . . and sometimes it's bad.

[Bre]

ECEPH X ALIANPH

THE UPPER CLASS

The Yellow Light Giant - The Yellow Light Giant is the largest of the clutch, yet it sits nowhere near the center. Nor does it sit anywhere near its larger clutchmates. Instead it is off in a corner by some of its smaller brethren, leaning over on its side as if to play with its siblings. Particularly close in its crowd include the Slow Children Core, the Divided Dwarf, and the One Way Dwarf. The four are huddled together in their little patch of the world, snuggling with each other as if that was all they needed for protection. Other than its size to discern it from the others, its black colorings mixed with dark amber and yellow make it stand out against the brighter colors of its kin. Yet, it seems unaware of this fact, simply happy that it is surrounded by those it loves.

The Green Light Giant - Standing tall and proud in the center of the nest, the large Green Light Giant seem well aware of its status and placement. Bright, luminescent green at its top, it melts down into a bright white-gray that further illuminates its form. The second largest of the clutch, it watches over all its peers as if with a keen and discerning eye. The only other egg that dares to stand near it is the No U-Turn Giant and even it is in the Green Light Giant's shadow, which the larger egg seems thoroughly irritated with as it leaves even then a small gap in-between itself and its sibling. Yet, for all its pride and ego, there seems to be something more to this egg than meets the eye. While it watches over its brothers and sisters in silence, perhaps in action it would do more for them.

The Red Light Giant - While adorned in a flamboyant gradient from scarlet to crimson, the Red Light Giant seems oblivious to this fact. It stands off-center, like a mediator between the giants and the smaller cores and dwarves. Leaning away from its larger kin, it seems perfectly happy to try to get closer to its smaller siblings, as if it is eager to help wherever the need is greatest. While its color lends itself to warning and danger, the Red Light Giant radiates no ill feelings of the kind. Instead, there is something comforting in its soft gradient and its unassuming nature. Still, it is a giant, and as such it journeys not incredibly far away from the center. It knows its place, and the way it leans almost seems to encourage its peers to perk up and organize themselves.

The No U-turn Giant - While its coloration isn't particularly flashy, the No U-turn Giant is definitely bold. Near its larger sibling, the Green Light Giant, it sits proudly and confidently, seeming to be happy even though it takes up space only in its larger sibling's shadow. Yet, unlike the Green Light Giant, the No U-turn Giant is tilted a bit, as if trying to lounge on its larger sibling although the distance between them is slightly too great for that. Other than this, it seems to have no inclinations for anything in particular. It likes being near its fellow giants, bold in its size and associations, yet the No U-Turn Giant seems to be simple with no need to stand out. Starting with red on top, it melds in a slow gradient to a band of white-gray, then back to a slightly lighter shade of red on the bottom.

The Yield Ahead Giant - This egg is the deepest shade of black, with thin, jagged pink stripes and large green patches on it. It's set at a peculiar angle - jaunty and cheerful. It's canted steeply toward the egg that sits next to it, and is indeed almost touching it. Striped with its dull, pale pink, and splotched with light green, the Yield Ahead Giant even has a cheery appearance. It sits on the edge of the clutch but appears to be quite happy there; it looks almost like it's trying to socialize with its clutchmates. The sand is heaped up comfortably around it, and some is stuck to its sides, speckling the black, pink and green egg with still more color. Whether or not this was desired is debatable; either way, the egg seems quite content to be speckled with sand. Though it leans towards the other eggs, it doesn't seem to need their company.

The Don't Stop Giant - A very bright, outrageous yellow egg, pied with big, irregular purple patches in several shades. It's very cheerful-looking, and hovers annoyingly close to the Yield Ahead Giant. Its bright presence is both happy and irritating; the large purple splotches on it are pretty, but in glaring contrast to most of the other eggs. Whether or not it means to be, it's nearly touching the other eggs, and most of the sand around it is heaped onto the other nearby giant. It almost looks like it's chattering mercilessly at the other eggs - it's probably a good thing that shells don't have feelings because if they did it's almost a guarantee that the Don't Stop Giant would annoy them.

The Sharp Turn Giant - The smallest of the giants, the Sharp Turn Giant feels it has a need to set itself apart... literally. Yet, unlike some of its kin, this is not from a need to be noticed. A kingly purple zigzagging all the way down to mingle with a white-peach color at the bottom, by its placement one would say it wasn't royal at all. Off to the side of the center, tipping over as if silently brooding to itself the demise of all others, it shuns not only its giant neighbors but all of its siblings regardless of size. It's almost as if the poor thing wished it had never been clutched in this land. Seriously... have you seen the other eggs out there? Radiating a mood of irritation and cynical contemplation, it seems as if it weren't by mere chance that all it siblings keep a wide ellipse away from it.

THE MIDDLE CLASS

The Flashing Core - The Flashing core is nestled rather nicely in its group of neighbors. Closest to the Winding Road Core and the Caution Core, among its neighbors there is also the Slippery When Wet Dwarf and the Speed Limit Dwarf in a sort of outer circle that isn't quite as close as the inner set of cores. Yet, with itself in the center of the little bundle, the Flashing Core seems like its collected all of its neighbors like some sort of odd scavenger hunt. Yet, of those it's collected it's far flashier. Its black background is littered with ostentatious splotches of yellow, green, and red, mirroring the colors of the three largest giants. Perhaps it is colored like that unintentionally, but it certainly says something about the egg's sense of style. It likes to fit in to the "now".

The Winding Road Core - Resting benevolently beneath the weight of the Caution Core, this sunny, colorful egg seems not to mind the weight of its sibling one bit. Rather, it leans gamely into the weight of its slightly smaller kin, obediently supporting it while at the same time managing to be somehow closer to the other members of its small circle. The Winding Road Core's powder-blue surface, criss-crossed with a lacework of white lines, seems to draw attention, as if it were calling to the other eggs. Why not? It wants to get to know its siblings! The nearby Flashing Core is particularly eye-catching, as well as the Slippery When Wet Dwarf. And who could blame the little egg if its attention wanders a bit; after all, there's just so many things to look at.

The Prohibited Core - This egg is not too impressive when compared to its siblings of varying sizes and colors. Its shell is entirely a simple white, but a thick band of bold red encircles the eggs tapering point at an angle. The strikingly stark mark looks almost like a crooked crown, or a sash of some important station. Despite its lacking color palette, the egg draws the eye. Compared to its siblings it's of average size, and sits off to the side of larger more tightly knit groups of eggs with its two companions, the Slow Moving dwarf, and the Uphill Traffic dwarf. It sits upright with the two eggs crowded behind it, as though it were shielding them from the eyes of curious onlookers and the rest of the clutch.

The Flammable Core - This average sized egg sits alone toward the back of the clutching sands. Leaning on its side, it sits partially buried in the sand around it, blanketed in warmth and slightly obscured from view. At first a sympathetic sight, a poor forgotten egg. Closer consideration however, makes it seem deliberate, suspect even. Its shell is a mottled whirl of white and misty gray in tangled complicated patterns like smoke in the wind. Peppered along these wavering tendrils are brilliant speckles of orange and red flickers of color that look like embers carried along a smokey breeze. Compared to the gray-scale that dominates the eggs shell, these bright dots of color almost seem to have a glow, as if from some inner furnace.

The Caution Core - The Caution Core rests lightly against the Winding Road Core, having toppled over onto it at some point after its placing on the sands. The position of the two eggs, in the midst of a cluster of other smaller cores and dwarves, seems quite accidental, as if the Caution Core quite unwittingly tripped over its as yet non-existent feet. And yet, while the gray-splotched egg remains in its clumsy pose, there seems to be an oddly protective air to it, as if the egg had chosen to be there. A deep maroon gradient marks its shell, shading towards black on the bottom; serious colors for a serious purpose. The Caution Core seems quite determined to watch over its more brightly-colored brethren, though it seems as if it might run into a few tangles along the way.

The Slow Children Core - The Slow Children Core sits nestled among its friendly siblings and seems quite happy. It's the only core in the little patch of the world, and as such would seem quite ordinary and easy to overlook between its two smaller siblings and its large giant sibling. However, it has a fun color scheme to tithe it over. As colorful as a child's imagination, the Slow Children Core is a mixture of odd-angled shapes of golden yellow, happy pink, and playful blue. Its vibrant coat and its friends seem to be all it really needs, and as such the Slow Children Core seems to be very low maintenance. Forget it or love it, the Slow Children Core subscribes to the statement that "friends with friendship will always be friends" and huddles as close as it can to its bundle of love.

THE LOWER CLASS

The Closed Ahead Dwarf - Despite being dressed in a heady swirl of red, blue and purple, the Closed Ahead Dwarf somehow manages to fade quite successfully into the background. Shyly, the little Dwarf huddles closest to the Red Light Giant, on the side away from the stands and also away from the majority of its kin. The clustering of its siblings makes it feel uncomfortable, though there is no doubt that it loves its siblings dearly. It's just that the Closed Ahead Dwarf does not do well with crowds, and would much prefer the company of just one or two of its siblings. It keeps good company, though, as the small egg seems almost in tune with the feelings of its nestmates; like it listens to their feelings, despite the shyness of its temperament.

The Slow Moving Dwarf - One of the larger dwarf eggs in the clutch, it sits to the left of the Prohibited Core partially hidden behind the larger egg's bulk. It's tilted out and away from its larger sibling, as if somehow straining against its presence and current position. Its shell is a ponderous pattern of bright pumpkin orange and white spirals that bleed indistinctly into each other as they traverse the eggs surface. Staring too long at the pattern with an unfocused eye creates an illusion that these markings are slowly spinning. It is a clever and noticeable design compared to the egg almost hiding it. Colorful and bold, almost a defiant statement against the neutral colors of the sand. Despite its position, it seems to have some sort of intention wholly its own.

The Divided Dwarf - The Divided Dwarf sits nuzzled particularly close to the One Way Dwarf and seems to enjoy the proximity like a small mammal would enjoy its mother's warmth. Other than that, it seems sort of shy of the other eggs, as if it didn't feel like it was quite ready to be on the sands. It also is sort of leaning off to the side, like it's unable to bear its own weight and is slowly falling over. Also, with its light colors of light blue interlocking with light orange, it sort of gives the sense that its very fragile and prone to break at any moment. Yet, for all its delicate appearance, it seems strong among its friends. Almost trying to hide itself behind them, it is using them as a shield like a child might use its mother as a shield when meeting someone new.

The Slippery When Wet Dwarf - The Slippery When Wet Dwarf is, first and foremost, rather busy and flashy. Collected by the Flashing Core, it certainly lives up to the idea of something that should be collected. Predominantly a medium yet vibrant blue, it is surrounded with what appear to be little ripples of gold and gray radiating outward from little points, much like the pattern of a pond during the rain. While not particularly close, the Slippery When Wet Dwarf doesn't seem to mind. In fact, leaning away from the others, it seems to be interested in different things entirely. Much like its colorings, the dwarf egg doesn't seem to want to sit still and sometimes its swirling pattern seems to almost move out of the corner of one's eye. Yet, of course, such a notion would be entirely silly.

The Speed Limit Dwarf - Out of all the eggs that its larger sibling has collected, the Speed Limit Dwarf seems most out of place. It is neither vibrant nor showy nor at all stylish. In fact, it's rather gray. Different shades of gray, in rings starting dark at the bottom and getting lighter at the top. In fact, if it were up to the Flashing Core, it might not even be there at all. Yet it is, and is leaning toward the others like it's sharing in some great inside joke that no one else seems to know about. Even if it may be unwanted, it seems to like it there among its superficial friends being an eyesore in its own muted way. It seems bright, even, despite its drab colorings, and holds its own although it's one of the smallest eggs in the clutch. Even if its colorings may cause it to fade into the background, it in the smallest way has found an ability to stand out.

The Uphill Traffic Dwarf - One of the smallest eggs of the clutch sits nestled comfortably behind the Prohibited Core, leaning forward and against the other egg's shell as if peering curiously out from behind its bulk. The bright spring green tapering point of the egg is instantly noticeable among the trio of eggs. This neon color melts into a slashing diagonal band of dark forest green that suggests motion, and looks almost like a drape around the eggs shell. This deep green eventually melds into a warm and earthy chocolate brown around the egg's base. It is simple but elegant, breathtaking even. All its colors match wonderfully, and though it may be small its definitely an egg that's going to turn some heads.

The One Way Dwarf - Snuggled up close to the Yellow Light Giant is the little One Way Dwarf, the smallest of the eggs resting on the sands. Its bright green shell nestles right up against its much larger sibling and the Divided Dwarf, as if the proximity is the best thing in the world, and the little Dwarf simply could not imagine anything better. The One Way Dwarf's shell is mostly an even, bright green in color, capped by an even brighter splash of sunflower yellow. The bright colors are fitting for the egg; it has a lot to keep up with, since almost all of its siblings are larger than it, but that doesn't really matter because the egg loves them all anyway. It just laments that it cannot be closer to more of them, really, spread out as all of them are.