Lairae’s Squeeful Dolphin Green Surayath

To Feed the Hunger Egg

A conflagration of color consumes the shell of this small egg, the epitome of excess wrought in a panoply of garish shades that makes a flight of proddy greenriders seem tame. Reality blurs as paradigm shifts and ghastly figures take shape within the charred confines that delineate a slender circumference, the horror of life beyond held in check only by this frightening homage to tastelessness.

Hatching Message

To Feed the Hunger Egg splits down the middle, the ghastly horrors emblazoned in pattern over its shell cracking and shattering into nothing but shards. Leaping from the wreck of her eerie prison, the Squeeful Dolphin Green Hatchling shakes out her egg-wet wings and stumbles on her very first step.

Squeeful Dolphin Green Dragonet

Oh, the glory of her silver-green hide, sleek and shining over a dancer's long-limbed frame. Teal's capricious splash crashes pell-mell against rounded headknobs and along her neck's delphine arch. Ever-widening, ever-changing, ripples of that bright-dark hue spread in playfully undulating patterns across pale haunches and down the slender sweep of her tail. Wing's spread is elegant and evenly proportioned, shimmering green touched in moonlight and struck with occasional hints of starshine.

Public Impression Pose

Squeeful Dolphin Green Dragonet has a moment's remorse as a candidate goes down by her tail, but it is short-lived. She is still moving, seeking, following that pull of mingled joy and hunger – this candidate, that candidate, thi— no. Wait. /That/ candidate. She turns back toward one of the girls in white, eyes whorling red and green and purple as they lock with Lairae's. A bright, baby-dragon bugle later, and the former nanny is butted gently in the stomach.

Private Impression Message

Do you hear bells? They are distant at first, glimmering in the back of your mind, shimmering and tinkling — and then followed by sudden splashing love and elation. « There you are! » Her voice is silver-shot springtime, a fresh stream splashing over you, drenching your whole self in cool delight in direct contrast to the uncomfortable heat of sand beneath your feet. « There you are, my Lairae! I knew I would find you. I am your Surayath! »


Lairae, Lairae, Lairae! You’ve escaped the brat caves now for something bigger and better – weyrlinghood, that is. High Reaches born, High Reaches bred, we’re thrilled that you’ve decided to explore riding with us as well. Here’s to hoping that your Surayath brings the sunny side of things to light.


Egg Inspiration

In China, the full moon of the seventh month is called The Hungry Ghost Moon. During the entire lunar month, the Chinese believe the gates of Hell are opened, freeing hungry ghosts that wander the earth in search of food. In remembrance of the dead, families burn joss sticks and offer food to appease them, in order to prevent bad luck. Other tribute offerings are made in the form of burning colourful paper objects, such as houses, cars, television sets and even mobile phones, in the belief that these items will help the ghosts live comfortably in the afterworld.

We picked this egg largely because the irony of hatching a dragon as wholesome as Surayath from something as horrifying as that was simply too good to pass up, especially in conjunction with where her sister Szarabhayanath and her brother Aerulunth hatched from!

Theme Inspiration

Squeeful Delphinus, the dolphin, your dragon! Poseidon's chosen bride was the nereid Amphitrite, but she didn't much like the idea and fled to the distant mountains. At his master's behest, Delphinus the dolphin sped to Amphititre and succeeded in persuading her to accept the sea-god's suit for her hand. Poseidon was so grateful for this service that he hung an image of the dolphin in the stars to honour this messenger. The dolphin was also traditionally depicted as the steed of Thetis, who rode naked on its back through all the seas. Plus the dolphin is a friendly, spirited animal that we think has the brash cheer you're looking for without spinning off the deep end into too much fluff. Dolphins are smart and keen, playful without excessive irresponsibility. We hope you find Surayath similar and enjoy her!

Name Inspiration

Surayath's name flows like the water elements drawn into her personality. It is also drawn from an Arabic name (Suraya) that comes from an Arabic word (Thurayya) that means 'the Pleiades'. The Pleiades (in addition to being another constellation) are the seven sisters, daughters of Atlas, nymphs in the train of Artemis: beautiful and wild, but neither so chaste nor as dangerous as the goddess they serve. Most of them have affairs with and bear children to other gods at some point or another (either Zeus, Poseidon or Ares). The sisters were bound by the bonds of love and family to the point that when their sisters the Hyades met their end, they joined together in mourning killed themselves and became stars. In their grief Pleiades became a symbol of the union of sisters beyond all differences to the bonds of love that make them the same. On account of the relationship between Saohlai, Lairae and Lysai, we thought this was both funny and appropriate, although there have not been seven of us and hopefully we will not actually all commit suicide at the same time!

Mindvoice

Surayath is light and fresh. There is something of spring’s breath to the touch of her mind: fresh and green and airy. But her dominant note is water, not stagnant still water or the repetitive cresting rhythm of the ocean, but the bubbling, burbling run of fresh water streaming over stone and cutting through meadow. She is silvery, watery, swift-spoken, crashing unstoppably through sentences and concepts and thoughts and dreams.

She is not afraid to use bright colours. She splashes them for emphasis with words, or uses them alone to communicate emotion. Surayath is not married to words; sometimes feelings and colours and sensations will do ever so much better. When she speaks with a voice, she sounds across a range of bells, from tiny silver jingle bells to the throaty rolling toll of the enormous brass church-bell.

When she is angry or agitated, there can be a sense of the oncoming spring storm - water rushes swifter, fuller, torrential; the scent of acrid ozone; the salt spray and swell as fresh water charges to meet the sea; the flash of colours becomes sharper rather than soft, and the bells in her voice deepen and sound flatter, harsher, as though they are striking through tarnish.

Physicalities

In describing Surayath, we tried to evoke the play of water and light and shadow across the ocean floor, or the back of a dolphin as it cuts through the water — that pale, shimmery grey-green, slick and sleek, combined with splashes of darker colour. Like the sea, the ripples of teal across her will never look exactly the same two times in a row — not anything Young Frankenstein-ish, but very subtly different. When she's proddy, she glows more silver than green, and the 'rippling' effect becomes more pronounced.

Physically, she is a dragon in proportion to herself — no over-large wings or -long tail, no awkward limbs for her!

The fluidity that encompasses her looks carries over to her carriage. While Surayath is built more for speed and grace, and her stamina is not that impressive, her agility in the air is unquestionable. She is at home in the air as a dolphin is in seawater. On the ground, she is something of a fish out of water — instead of the thoughtless ease of a creature of the air in her own element, there is a clumsier imprecision of movement, a tendency to flail in quest of balance or waddle in something of an ungainly fashion. She takes to the water near as natural as she takes to the air! Like a sea-bird, in air or water she is smooth and easy grace; on ground she is not so much. This will be especially evident when she is very young, before she puts her natural flying instincts to use or learns to compensate with caution for the unwieldy nature of moving on solid ground. She is likely to misstep often, so have a care!

Personality

There's a dark and a troubled side of life
There's a bright, there's a sunny side, too
Tho' we meet with the darkness and strife
The sunny side we also may view

[cho:] Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life
It will help us ev'ry day, it will brighten all the way
If we'll keep on the sunny side of life

The storm and its fury broke today,
Crushing hopes that we cherish so dear;
Clouds and storms will, in time, pass away
The sun again will shine bright and clear.
Let us greet with the song of hope each day
— From Keep on the Sunny Side – The Whites

"I don't believe there's a power in the 'Verse that can stop Kaylee from being cheerful." - Mal Reynolds, Serenity

Surayath is your sunny-side girl, always able to find the good in any given situation. Like Kaylee, it isn’t an /intrusive/ sort of optimism, empty and bubble-headed. Rather, it is the bright kind of energy that can buoy up flagging spirits with a word or a laugh or an observation. It is not that she isn’t grounded, oh no! It’s just that your Surayath can see the way to come out on top of even the most adversarial of situations.

You and Surayath are equals, neither wholly opposite nor wholly the same; she buoys you where you falter, and you center her where she falls. You are complements of each other. Her personality is water to your earth: flowing and flexible, embracing and adaptable. But she needs your direction as much as you need her flexibility.

"Don't ride in anything with a Capison 38 engine; they fall right outta the sky!"
- Kaylee, Shindig

Know how we said that Surayath is not ungrounded? She has an eye to the pragmatic approach to life and to duty. She is too good for nothing; she’ll try anything, and that means getting your hands dirty as often as hers. As a dragon and her rider in an interval, what tasks there are to be done are often unglamorous – and Surayath will find the value in the lowest of the low. She is never too proud. Ferrying passengers? Digging for shellfish? Dredging mud? Whatever it is, if it’s asked of her Surayath will do it … and she is not designed by nature to be frippery or frivolous. She’ll want to be useful as much as she can. She is not a hood ornament. She is an engine of industry!

"Oh, look at the pretties!"
- Kaylee, Shindig

Surayath is a girl’s girl, without being a girly girl. As much as she is unafraid to get down and dirty when something needs doing, she still has a genuine appreciation of the finer things in life. While not exactly distractible, she tends to notice things, and bring them to your attention, often enhancing or playing up your feminine side.

« Lai. Lairae. Look at that dress – no, not that one! Yes, yes, that one – wouldn’t that be perfect for weyrling graduation? »

She also has a tendency to lean a little toward the romantic; it might not always be for her, necessarily, but she can see it and encourage it in others. She won’t nag, rather – instead of harassing people about it, she will seek to gently guide them toward each other. A little push here, a little nudge there – not always metaphorical, either! – until people notice what seems so obvious to her. She might use you to further this as well, dropping hints in your ear until you are the one doing suggesting that maybe a more private lunch is in order, how about a picnic in the meadows?

"Up until the punching, it was a real nice party."
- Kaylee, Shindig

Surayath’s key is emphasis on the positive, not the negative. She will find the sunshine and roll in it rather than dwelling on the drear. She's not an unending fountain of positivity, because that would be annoying, but rather, she is good at finding the silver lining and gently pointing it out. This goes for you as well as for life itself: she will buoy your spirits most frequently of all, shoring you up against insecurities and flagging self-esteem.

Flights

"Have good sex!"
- Kaylee, Jaynestown

Surayath’s outlook on flights and the inevitable result thereof is one of refreshing positivity: she doesn’t calculate leading up to them like Neasiursath, but neither is she completely disinterested. Some might see her cheerful good nature as innocence, or naiveté, but nothing could be further from the truth. Like she enjoys everything in life, Surayath enjoys flights – she throws herself into them, revels in them, but when they are over, well! That’s that, then. Her chasers are her friends, her partners, her co-conspirators; she is just as comfortable falling back into those familiar relationships as she may be in try to create something more, should some particular suitor capture her fancy for longer.

Credits

Name: Sao
Egg Desc: Shazi
Dragonet Desc: Siannen, Sao tweak
Messages: Sao
Puppeteer: Siannen
Inspiration: Sao, Siannen

Clutchmates:
C'mero and Monster of the Briny Depths Cetus blue Aerulunth
Chey and Enthroned Cassiopeia gold Mynwiyath
Il’ad and Soul Sister Gemini green Szarabhayanath
Khalai and Liberated Libra green Neasiursath
M'rak and Unbridled Pegasus bronze Kyrioth
Xayna and Not Leo Enough brown Luileeuth
Y'an and I’m Too Sexy Pavo bronze Aojadinth

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