welcome

[Azumi]

If almost anyone but Sh'ard had called her 'Sweetheart,' Grace would've beaten them to the floor with harsh words and David's chair. But, since that wasn't the case, the botanist pursed her lips for a moment before giving a smirk at the Lieutenant. "Shepherd," she replied. She was obviously not as enthusiastic, but she was still being friendly, albeit also being a little happy with the offhanded compliment. Of course she had sense, and of course they needed more people here with it. Luckily Shepherd had some, though Salvador and more than half of the nitwits touching these eggs certainly had zero percent.

"I trust things haven't gone completely awry yet..." she commented, her tone even enough until the end where there was obvious skepticism. Things would hit the fan. Eventually. Whether it was shit, brains, or Salvador, something would snap.

She readjusted her arms folded over her chest and looked back out at the group of candidates around the eggs... or well, actually, her attention very quickly strayed to those figures nearest her. The main one was David, whom she had seen enter and had somehow controlled herself while talking to Sh'ard to not spin him around and wheel him right back through the doors on that damn chair. Another person was Bernard, and he seemed to be just as flustered as Grace thought he'd be. She decided to keep an eye on him, as well as an eye on Maggie.

Grace curiously watched the girl, not sure what she should be thinking as she watched the anthropologist stand so quietly next to that egg. She didn't fail to notice the way the girl acted, either, when she came by and talked to David, like how the world was very slowly only re-catching up to her. Very odd... Yes. She opened her mouth to say something to Maggie, but then the girl went off to another egg and suddenly some mere kid started screaming while flailing around on the floor, having a fit.

"The hell...?" Grace said to herself, her eyes narrowing as she took a half step forward. Before she could offer some sort of reprimand and totally unhelpful words to the guy, he darted out the door as if the devil himself were after him. Maybe he was just mentally handicapped -- of the serious variety. Full on.

Settling into herself again, Grace snorted and looked at David, who was intently staring at Jax (OH great, Jax. ....Lord). "I wouldn't worry much, David," she said offhandedly. Was she being comforting? Perhaps.... But then another candidate let out a shriek and suddenly left the room, though not in such a hurry as the other had. Now this was ridiculous. And intriguing.

"Well fuck. Congratulations, Shepherd, Salvador, you have managed to mentally fuck up more people in the past ten minutes that I have in the past month. Now we'll have even more psychotic morons running around. David, maybe you should just continuing watching Jax; he might go Full Retard too, if he hasn't already." Her voice was dripping with annoyance and non-humorous sarcasm. She also held on to the back of David's chair should he decide to suddenly gallantly charge off towards Jax and thus proceed to knock everything over.

[AlmightyMoof]

The egg spoke to him. The egg spoke to him. Bernard jerked his hand back as if he'd been burned, a tremor that shook his entire torso, but only just; his fingertips remained firmly planted on the garish, staring shell for several seconds longer. And suddenly he disconnected, lifting his hand just a fraction to free it from the egg's grasp before turning, wide-eyed and shaken, to David's question. "Yes... I...Salvador a-asked me," he explained rather lamely, not once meeting the other man's eyes though, for once, the Doctor was looking up to him.

He was distracted, and obviously so; the echoes of laughter bounced around his mind, gradually fading away in the time since he had left the egg. Bernard was unsettled, but not for fright; there had been no malice in that tone. Well. But. He wouldn't think about that. No, on the whole the egg had been...friendly? Positive? Which apparently was not the norm.

Somewhere off to his side, a young man screamed and collapsed to the ground, then made a hasty retreat from the room. Another man followed suit, and even Maggie seemed dazed and subdued, certainly not herself. Bernard licked his dry lips and quickly noted which eggs had provoked such severe responses; he would not be going anywhere near those. "A-are... Are you here for the eggs, Doctor?" Words, he decided, were an excellent way to drown out the giggles still lingering in his head. He hadn't regained all focus, however; Bernard, in his daze, was distracted enough that he joined Taavi near the OuhrdomZ Ouriel egg without so much as a nod for the young man, reaching a hand for the pockmarked shell even as he continued to address the Doctor. "Or just...satisfying your curiosity?"

As long as he didn't focus on the egg, as long as he didn't think about it too closely, he could handle this Touching. Besides, if the other man could touch the egg without wetting himself, it wasn't likely to send Bernard into a fit either, right? ....Right? He may have been holding his breath, but he did gingerly set his hand on the dimly glowing shell.

[giftwrapped]

The voice was momentarily horrifying. Scratch that - even after he had gotten over the fact that it had spoken in his head, the coldness of the voice was horrifying. But Jax wasn't about to let the horror surface over the rage and the wall. Whatever was in there was good. Very good. Probably too good for a half-developed experimental dragon/wher fetus. This wasn't just a mental invasion, the way dragons could be. This was a full-scale mental takeover. And Jax did not like it. He did not like it at all.

Rage. Wall. GET OUT OF MY HEAD.

He made one last pointed shove, summoning up every memory of pain he could imagine and forcing it at the thing in his head. Maybe he could distress it into backing off, because yelling at it hadn't worked yet.

[Mira]

Well, at least this egg did not want him. Strangely enough, he found that reassuring. That was one less Pernese animal to worry about poking around inside his head. It was still a creepy sensation. His head was his, a private place, and even the simple-minded intrusion of the fire lizard bothered him.

He passed through several other eggs after this, and they varied widely in response. Overall, though, the impression he got from this group was nothing if not unsettling. He didn't join in to the talking trying to lighten the grim atmosphere, though he did nod and give a polite, if curt response to Samus's address.

He just wanted to get this over with and mend a bridge, it wasn't asking much.

Jax's sudden jerking caught his attention.

"Something wrong?"

There could, honestly, be a variety of things wrong right now. This clutch was a sick bunch.

[Dragonfire]

She hadn't quite known what to expect, when she had put her hand on the shell. The sensation of the hatchling sifting through Samus's thoughts and memories, though, was not entirely unexpected. Presumably they were psychic, just as their two progenitor species were. That it was this powerful and still technically in the 'womb', though - well, it was a slight cause for concern, in her books. Still, it wasn't unpleasant. There was that taste of camaderie, there.

A warrior or hunter, in a shell? It was strange to think of.

I will stop thinking of shooting them when they prove they are not a threat, she thought back to it, before withdrawing her hand and closing the lid. She was fairly willing to suspect that she needn't fear that this one would prove itself a danger, however. Oh, it wasn't to be taken lightly, no - but it seemed to have its head on straight, for a young creature.

Unlike some of the others, she thought, as she turned to survey the other candidates moving amongst the eggs. She'd heard at least one scream - and noticed that one of the Pernese had left the room in great haste. And Jax, over there - what was he doing, having a staredown or a shoving match with the egg?

She watched him, silently, for a moment, until the Chief stepped in. Hrm. Perhaps best to aviod that one, for now.

Moving amongst some of the other incubators, she brushed her fingers across three more shells. One of a garish mass of colours, almost mask-like, where she got the faint impression of laughter. At least someone was having fun. Another, metallic and reminiscent of blood, gave no response at all. She suspected that whatever was inside wasn't a particularly sociable creature - or, perhaps, didn't find her mind interesting. Either way. The coppery, almost rusted egg was likewise quiet. Sleeping, perhaps? It wasn't as if developing hatchlings had much more to do as they waited and grew. And then, she placed her hand on the almost eerily inorganic Nice Job Breaking It, Hero egg, marvelling at the shape of it. Did this contain a hybrid thing, or a robot?

[Ferret]

What? No! Those were Taavi's thoughts and they were not for the egg! Mentally, he scrabbled and tried to keep the invasive egg away from, but it was like trying to hold back water. It was in Taavi's closet, no one was allowed in Taavi's closet, why was it in there?!

The egg didn't seem to mind. It didn't ignore his attempts to keep it out. No, it seemed quite interested by those as well. The attempts just didn't bother it. And then it went right back to exploring the metaphorical closet.

And, oh, what a closet it was. It even had plenty of space for shoes and all the glittery S'ass could want. (Although Taavi didn't really care much for clothes beyond making himself look good). Old memories, locked away carefully, bleed under the door. And the proverbial doorknob was rattling.

Taavi withdrew his hand from the egg quickly, but it was far too late. Twelve year olds could be so judgmental, especially towards those who showed even the slightest sign of being different than they were. Broken legs could be such a bother.

Anyone who said that children were innocent was full of shit.

Rubbing his fingers together, Taavi abruptly became aware that Vityai had gone somewhere. And... had there been a scream? Searching back into the past few moments, he remembered the noise and then the other Baker rushing out. Still looking slightly shell-shocked, he gave a numb nod to Sh'ard and Salvador, only vaguely aware of Grace's angry rant.

All he really wanted was a big drink.

[Ferret]

Something was deeply wrong. There was something very important missing from the conversation.

David made noise. It was just one of the constants in the universe. Fish had to swim, people had to breath, and the Doctor was amazingly loud when he was delighted. Normally, silence from the Doctor just meant he wasn't in the room.

"Salvador, if I find out that you knew this would happen, if you meant this to happen, you'll have something far worse than even Grace here to deal with." He didn't know what he would do, but he would go through some pains to find something horrific and do it. If he could find out. If these people were hurt.

If Salvador meant it to happen.

Abandoning the chair to Grace's attentions, David walked over to Jax and put a hand on his shoulder. "Jax? Come on, talk to me."

It was too much for Alonso. With a frightened whimper, the blue firelizard huddled closer to David's neck, curling his tail around his human. This was a Bad Place, but he didn't dare leave his human alone. That would've been Wrong.

[Dragonfire]

Samus pulled her hand away from the white egg, considering it with a frown. Well, odds were high that that was not the creature for her. If any were for her. What was it going on about, about how the eggs could not speak? ...Well, certainly the eggs themselves couldn't vocalise. But...

Feh. She wouldn't have wanted that one, anyways. It clearly eschewed any attempts at 'talking' straight. No, thank you.

She did take the other piece of advice it had given her, though, and approached the egg with the nigh-glowing lines. She considered it thoughtfully, wondering if it would be any more compatible - but a hand on it, and the terror that accompanied that, spoke to a 'no'. Well, maybe not entirely. She knew paralysing fear, as much as she hated to admit it. Perhaps the white one had a point, after all. But what, then, was the cause of its fear?

She put it out of mind, going next to the blistered-looking egg. And, ah, shit, another wave of... uncomfortable things. What, by the stars, were wrong with some of these things? What was she getting into? At least the jade-like egg, next in line, was another that didn't exude particularly terrible things - oh, a huge sense of curiousity, but at least she could understand that. And the almost disgusting, fleshy one... It needed something. Judging by half of this bunch, whatever it wanted so badly was nothing fantastic.

Two left. Two and she'd be done, and could go back to her bunk. Take a pill. Sleep. Or maybe go have a drink. A drink might be nice, for once.

She touched the No One can Hear You Scream egg with, finally, no hesitation. Chances were fifty-fifty that something awful was about to occur. By this point, the mercenary was largely uncaring as to which it was.

[Azumi]

For .... several moments Kaylee's face still showed her smiling, cheerful to meet this egg and to find it as misunderstood as the previous one. But ever so slowly that smile started to falter, sliding into awkward embarrassment, then to total confusion, until the poor mechanic's mouth was hanging open in frozen terror. Kaylee wore her feelings on her sleeve, and right now both sleeves were screaming.

She didn't utter a sound for a good minute, and instead her eyes were wide, her hand seemingly glued to the shell of the No One Can Hear You Scream egg. It felt like something alive was wriggling in her stomach, moving up through her chest and along her neck, and then in her head. A numbing sensation followed suit, starting at her toes, then behind her knees, her finger tips and elbows, up and up it went. Everything was tingling and her heart was starting to buzz.

"Noo..." she whimpered, hushed-like. It was after that did she move a little, bending over slightly and then clamping her eyes shut tight like a child. With her free hand she gripped her other shoulder, as if there were a pain there.

She didn't like the malicious voice, its words so pleased and its tone and intentions resonating of the worst intent through every fiber of her being. She tried to pull her hand away, but it was as if it were stuck, as if the egg was holding it there and refusing to let her go. Let me go, you hear!? she whined, gritting her teeth.

Eventually her hand flew off. What allowed it to do so was unknown. The egg had certainly been winning the mental fight, but somehow Kaylee got free. Wriggled away. Slipped. Moving backwards until her back hit a wall, she sucked in air like she hadn't breathed in minutes while holding her hand that had touched the egg tightly to her chest. She continued to stare wide-eyed at the thing. yes....THING. That's what that was. There was nothing in there that she ever wanted to deal with...

"Oh god... Oh god... oh god..." she whispered at each release of breath. God had nothing to do with this...

[giftwrapped]

There.

There. It was gone. Jax pulled his hands away from the egg like he had been burned. And around the same time the creature withdrew, dropping words into his head like lead weights, he came aware of someone speaking to him. He glanced to Chief just as David's fingers touched his shoulder, and the ex-con jumped slightly, turning to face David with a smile that was weaker than it should have been, in a face that seemed pale, almost grey. "David," he said quietly, and his voice was shakier than he had realized it would be. He took a deep breath before speaking again. "Hey."

For a minute, that was all he said, just hello. The words of the creature in the egg still echoed in his mind, and the feeling of something trying to completely overtake him wouldn't quite go away. Summoned by his uneasiness, Rose popped into existence, landing heavily on Jax's shoulder and running her muzzle through his hair. As she wrapped her tail around his neck and crooned in low notes of horror, Jax relaxed somewhat, reaching out to clap David on the shoulder. "I'm all right," he said, and then he glanced back to Chief. "Just...a little shaken. That's all. Nothing to worry about."

And the smile he offered this time was closer to genuine, though not entirely back to normal. "Be, uh. Be careful with this one," he said quietly, gesturing at the egg without touching it. "It's a trip." Understatement of the year award, but there wasn't exactly a polite way to say, 'this egg is terrible and I think the thing inside it should be killed immediately.' That wasn't polite. His gaze wandered to Salvador, who was watching the goings-on with an expression of intense studiousness and the barest hints of occasional surprise.

If it was enough to make Salvador show emotion, he hadn't been expecting it. Whatever was happening had not been planned. Jax wasn't sure if that made him feel better or worse. "Wasn't expecting it...but now I know what to expect, I guess."

He paused, glancing at the rest of the eggs. He didn't really want to do this anymore...

[tuathade]

It was going from bad to worse. Sh'ard took a step forward, one hand half-raised, as if she were going to move to Jax's side... but no. He had the Chief, and he had David. They were plenty capable of seeing to it that he was all right. And it was Kaylee's whimper that distracted Sh'ard and pulled her away.

"Hey..." The Weyrleader reached out, rested a hand on the mechanic girl's arm. "Relax. They're just eggs. No matter what they show you, it's all just in your head. You're safe." Her voice was steady, even, masking the worry that the silverrider privately felt.

No one knew precisely what it was that the hybrids would seek in a partner - so they'd taken a variety, all with unique strengths. Optimism to balance the grimness of the clutch, scientific talent to understand the complexity of the hybrid process, mental fortitude to resist being overpowered... Hell, Sh'ard had even allowed one younger Candidate, in case younger ones adapted better. And that baker boy - the one existing hybrid insisted he was up for it, and no one felt like arguing with the Searchterribling.

But what if, despite all their precautions, they'd still been wrong? More and more of the candidates were looking unsettled by whatever the eggs were showing them.

Curiosity overcame caution. (Caution? What caution? If Sh'ard believed in prudence she wouldn't be on an alien planet with a fucking psychic dragon permanently attached to her brain.) She took a step towards the egg that Kaylee had so recently vacated, the No One Can Hear You Scream egg, and rested a flat palm on the surface.

[Mira]

"I'm always careful."

This was only sort of truthful. The Chief was always careful... by super soldier standards. This involved considerably more faith in his own abilities and training and trust that they'd get him through than actual assessment of the odds.

He furrowed his brow, staring at the egg for a moment, before placing a hand on the shell. He concentrated, mind clear and solid as a sheet of new battle plate.

Bring it.

Assuming Direct Control had a challenger.

[Mira]

The soldier's frown deepened as the hatchling retreated. It was defiant, but whatever it had done to Jax had spent much of its strength. It didn't like to move back, but it did.

He didn't know much about communicating with dragonkin, but was aware that they could take directed thoughts.

He warned it. This crew was his, this ship was his, he may not command them or own them but he was bound by duty to defend them and no experimental genetic toy would threaten them without having to go through him first.

[Mira]

Oh, so it was not done yet.

He was giving the little bastard a chance. It would be extremely inconvenient for him to kill this animal now, so he would not challenge its life. For now.

But if it gave him reason, he would do his damnedest to see it put down like a mad dog. And he felt sure that he was not the only one. Who owns me? Good question. Not one for you to know the answer, kid.

You might be valuable to the science team for now, but there's eleven of you little bastards. I wouldn't recommend making yourself expendable.

[Ferret]

Well, he was getting a response. That was... good, David decided, even if Jax still seemed pretty out of it. Then again, who really knew what touching those eggs was like? Oh.

Right.

Nearly everyone in the room knew, at least now. And several of them were leaving, looking thoroughly spooked by what they encountered. It would be hell trying to convince them to get back into the room, or so David guessed. Supposedly, everyone had been selected specifically for... for what? Hell if he knew what R'ley, Sh'ard and Salvador looked for in hybrid candidates.

"Well, now that you've assured me that there's nothing to worry about, I'm really concerned," he said, only half joking. The clap to his shoulder did more; it was just unnatural of Jax to not interact with people. David allowed his hand to slip from the other man's shoulder.

"Right. Let's go get a drink," he suggested. "Very, very soon. I want to check out one thing first..." scientific curiosity was a powerful force. Cats were probably safe from their own curiosity. Cats were, after all, intelligent beings. The Doctor, however...

He clearly did not learn quickly, at least in this instance. It was horror movie logic, it was. 'Oh, look, all of my friends have mysteriously vanished when going into this dark and creepy house that is compeltely devoid of a proper lighting system and probably hasn't been explored since the late 1800's. I'll go check it out after leaving behind all possible weapons and also flashlights'. With that in mind, he gently touched the Paint the Lines egg.