Sao's Minions of the World Unite Blue Viverrath

Dust Bunny Egg

Grays, browns, and… is that crimson? squiggle, wiggle, and otherwise encapsulate this egg, upon which not a single bit of white can be seen. No, this egg has been thoroughly overtaken and seems to almost vibrate with laughter at the very concept. Fluffy, cottony poofs of heather dot the egg, seeming to be one place then zooming to hide in another, almost taunting the viewer with the thought that you can't catch them.

Hatching Message

Dust Bunny Egg pries open with a shivery series of cracks, and a pair of blue wings juts upward, spars flinging shell bits in a chittery shower to the ground. Minions of the World Unite Blue Dragonet steps out of the destruction with unbothered briskness, his head held dripping and high. Well, hello.

Minions of the World Unite Blue Dragonet

Petite is the best descriptor of this dragonet from the frisky lines of his tail to the roguish shape of his head. Sinuous lines sculpt his features into an amorphous shape, though in no way does he appear unfinished - no, this delicate creature is merely supple to a great extent. Shimmering blue glitters over 'sails, flowing into a smoky sapphire. Similarly shadowed limbs slope into sharp slate-gray talons. Flares of deep azure circle around his headknobs and arch around depthless faceted eyes, mischievously peeking out from a diminutive form before trickling down into a softer, almost pastel blue, which dominates the dragonet as a whole. Thin neckridges accentuate his slim build and taper off at the short tail, its forked tip touched ever so slightly with a cerulean glow, adding a starlit majesty to otherwise unassuming features, agility encompassing beauty in the flowing lines of form.

Public Impression Pose

Minions of the World Unite Blue Dragonet slows to less of a rolling sprint as he grows closer, then stops even his slip-saunter, his clumsy ease, to suddenly splay his forelegs outward to balance him as he stops. At first, he seems to be reacting to something invisible on the sand in front of him, and then his head turns in a slow revolution, his eyes raising to meet Saohlai's. Something essential is there, some catalyst, along with a necessary similarity in class, and the dragonet's legs pull back in to allow him to step toward Saohlai with purpose.

Private Impression Message

A shadow alights on the underside of your mind - the brown, soft shadow you cast walking through the caverns at mid day. « Interesting. » The shadow moves with sudden rapidity across your mind, in light and gentle touches. Then, its exploratory foray ends with a fond, more sedate wrap of its consciousness around yours. The shadow ceases to be shadow and glows a warm gold . « First, I was one, and you were one, but now we are together. Sao and Viverrath. We have so much to do, but don't worry. We have all the time we need. You can trust me on that. »


// Saohlai! Or, rather, Sao. We hope you’ll enjoy Viverrath and that he’ll be great fun to play and good (or bad. In the good way!) for Sao. The following inspiration is largely riffing off of the idea of a patient joker, with a hint of Marxist theory, and William Blake’s delightfully disturbing The Marriage of Heaven and Hell for atmosphere. Why, indeed, you’ll find the quotes either supported or subverted by the inspiration, in turn! //


Egg Inspiration

Dust Bunny Egg…oh, I love this one. I found it adorable. It fits Viverrath's curiosity and wonder. It's sneaky, playful, and just so darn cute. I know I hate having dust bunnies everywhere (they're so sneaky to find!), and I thought a sneaky little dusty bunny egg would add a lot of flavor to the eggs as a whole.

Description Inspiration

The description for Viverrath came from the ferret concept - he's small, supple, and wiry just like a ferret - and playful, too! I particularly love the part in the desc that comments about the dark markings he has circling his eyes and striping his back; quite mischievous, I think. You wanted simple, and simple you got! I tried to veer away from crazy words or anything that would make him more than just… well… blue (except for those eye markings, sorry!).

Name Inspiration

Viverrath came from hunting for information on ferrets (which I know nothing about, except they're really cute!) and discovering that Plinius originally called ferrets 'viverra' (though it's now used as a genus for the species). I thought the name was adorable, spunky, cute - and so is Viverrath!

Mindvoice

He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.
—William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

Viverrath has a warm, luminous mindvoice, like the early end of dawn in the summer. A little wet, maybe slightly chilled under the surface, but arresting to the eye and sustaining in even its surface heat. Even the Artic looks forward to the first crack of sun over the snow. When irritated, the chilled aspects of Viverrath’s voice will predominate, the glow will dim blue, and the wetness will increase from dew to drizzle. When delighted, the light can be overwhelming, if the warmth, thankfully, never reaches the scorching level. If the mindvoice does turns a lurid orange red, like the low end of a fire.

Viverrath’s tones, though, rarely match his voice. He’s not so much illuminating as cheerfully opinionated, not so much soothing as focused on rechannelling energy, not so much warm as removed, and even his jokes are often rather intellectual in tone. Nonetheless, at the faintest hint of serious upset, he’ll wrap you around with empathy and care and whisper comfort until you’re comforted.

Viverrath prefers words to images – but only just. He often ends up accompanying words with sometimes clarifying, sometimes abstract images, as if creating an auditory picture book with every other speech.

Physicalities

Viverrath is slight and will remain slight. His apparent fragility is not altogether just apparent … he will be prone to hurting himself during weyrlinghood and you and he might become a little more familiar with dragonhealers than you might like. Like a ferret, he’s twisty, and may well strain his body in ways that most dragons wouldn’t attempt. This may serve him well when he’s older, more experienced, and more likely to know how far is too far. He is, after all, more a thin dragon than a long one, and his agility works best in broader maneuvers than « Shall I stick my tail in my mouth? I think I shall. »

Fortunately, Viverrath does learn quickly from his mistakes and, many of them, he’ll tell you about before he quite accomplishes them. « Sao, I am now attempting to put my tail in my mouth. Feeling some mild pain in my side … if you could maybe talk me out of this … » If you end up with the same curiosity about how that particular adventure will turn out, well, at least he’ll be a wiser dragon in the aftermath. And have you take notes, just in case you need to remind him.

This physical impulsivity will largely wane after early weyrlinghood, as Viverrath gets more of a sense about how his body works. Although he’ll still want to try unique things from time to time, they’ll be more carefully worked out and usually less painful. And with you on his back, he’ll tend to be a lot more cautious in general (unless it is a particularly excellent idea and he fields it with you first).

Viverrath’s littleness doesn’t prevent him from taking life at a bit of a cock-of-the-walk strut. He walks clip-strided, his gaze often directed forward. When he wants to look at something not directly in front of him, he turns his head with an almost languidly casual turn to let his eyes just glint at whatever and whoever it is.

In the air, he’s swift and graceful, but his endurance isn’t the greatest. He’ll tend to do well in short exercises, drills, or sweeps, but start lagging behind in the longer ones. He’s a sprinter, not a marathon runner.

Personality

Energy is Eternal Delight
—William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

From the moment he presses out of his egg, Viverrath will be all smug rollicking good-nature, and most of his interactions will have the mental edge of a half concealed smirk. He holds himself with a sort of unstated superiority — why state it? He's fast, he's smart, and you and he are quite sufficient unto yourselves. Viverrath's drive to prove himself is pretty low, at least on the surface. He's willing to take things at their own rate, on his own time, and, from the beginning, he'll be urging you to take things a little easier, too. « Sao, seriously. It doesn't matter if Tatasith's rider makes such a point of memorizing the anatomy hides so quickly. Even if she rubs it in your face. You know we're just as good. Why hanker about it? »

The busy bee has no time for sorrow.
—William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

Most flare-ups, even if they seem justified, will be gently countered by a smiling reason why it's really not worth getting all riled up about. Which isn't to say that Viverrath is a passive lump. Give him something to do or nothing to do — he will always, always be active, whether on the micro or the macro level, whether he's nosing over a rock or trying out a dive over the meadows or inquiring after your ideas about klah (why klah? Why?). Most things, most events, seem to have equal weight with him. What he discovers or doesn't discover under a rock or about his agility or lack of (in said dive), are equally important.

The cistern contains: the fountain overflows.
—William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

Of course, Thread (while it lasts) and you get the position of being more important than, say, everything else. Especially you. But Viverrath's energies are channeled toward action and planning, rather than brooding, no matter how bad or confusing things get. Nothing is so difficult, so confusing, so painful, that he can't agilely figure a way around it in time. Even if it takes a lot of time. He'll ease you along with him — through distraction, through sympathy, through cheerful encouragement (« Yes, you tripped on that dismount, but look how excellently you caught yourself. With your elbows, no less! »), through humor.

Certainly through humor. Viverrath's sense of humor is that of snide commentary, of gentle deflation. He isn't bothered by enough for his humor to classify as edged, but it's often at the expense of others, especially the pompous or the bland. Especially the people who upset, anger, or irritate you. Viverrath will ever attempt to take them down a notch in your mind. « Oh, let him talk. As if I'anex isn't all talk. » Dragon will phrase with the utmost confidence in his conclusions, without encouraging you to repeat them. Unnecessary. Ever, you two are sufficient unto yourselves. « Why validate him by snarling back? We don't need to. Save that for when we're really offended. »

Exuberance is Beauty.
—William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

He'll also find inanimate objects terribly amusing. His first encounter with a chair may well involve an adventuresome trek around it, giving you a play-by-play of what he sees, or what noises the chair makes when he bumps his flank into it. He'll, of course, have to make strained metaphors about his experience, which he'll find hilarious. In fact, Viverrath may well occasionally regale you with miniature epics about his day in a dry, understating tone, although he'll wait until you're not occupied before launching full narrative. A joke's a lot less fun if the audience is distracted.

He'll love to be an audience, too. Your funny stories, anyone's funny stories, will catch his interest and, if it's particularly good, he'll ask you to write it down, so you can read it to him later. (Mind, if he comes up with a particularly good one, he'll want you to write that down as well, seeing as he won't remember it for long.) However, although he enjoys and encourages funny gossip (no matter who it's about!), he'll be more wary about telling a joke about someone to their face. It's less that he's a coward and more that such are the ultimate audience, and such jokes are the toughest ones to sell. Before such a joke is presented, it must be at highest possible effectiveness, perhaps edited for content, or edited toward higher content. The higher the rank, the more work necessary. One simply cannot walk up to Weyrlingmaster Tatia and insult her hair. It has to be sophisticated.

If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
—William Blake, Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Other dragons might find him a little bit … incorrigible. Perhaps Viverrath is a little more confident in himself than in you (why, never!), but he doesn't always follow his own precepts about sophisticated insu— commentary about other dragons. He has no compunction against sidling up against Nvokath and asking her something like « Oh, aloof little green, you’re just trying to hide that you don’t have any personality, don’t you? ». Or sliding over to Oljeitukhodath with a smirking « I realize all blues can’t be fit and trim, but aren’t you giving up a little early? ». Worse (perhaps worse), most of the time, he’ll speak without any ire whatsoever. Viverrath is nearly impossible to provoke … he just loves to share. He’ll be in the middle of some conversation with Nyokath, completely unrelated, get a “joke” in his head, and just spout off. As if he were, say, making a funny comment about the weather. Then, he’ll keep going, completely ignoring anything like outrage, confusion, or demands for justification. Unless he can make another joke out of it, of course.

He’ll never tell you about these things, though, and will outright, calmly deny any accusations to the contrary. So he’s a little two-faced? That’s not the only thing he’s a little two-faced about.

Now the sneaking serpent walks
In mild humility.
—William Blake, Marriage of Heaven and Hell


Expect poison from the standing water.
—William Blake, Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Viverrath isn’t the type to refuse direct orders. He’ll do what he’s told and encourage you to do so, also. Hey, it’s no bother. But, he may sometimes phrase his adherence to the rules as part of some larger framework – that, one day, certain rules will no longer be necessary. This will always be phrased in an off-hand, taken-for-granted way, and Viverrath will rarely follow it up with, say, reasons why they will no longer be necessary, or ways to make them unnecessary.

What is now proved was once only imagin'd.
—William Blake, Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Still, albeit rarely, Viverrath will occasionally pass into a more inward working state, where he’ll become less communicative – save for sudden moments where he’ll blat into your mind with a « Quick, write this down for me! ». He’ll rattle something off about lines of power or something the rock taught him by not just falling over when he nosed it and did you ever, ever notice that greens don’t lay eggs? Then, he’ll withdraw back into himself – leaving you with a page of half coherent notes with no cohesion whatsoever. This will pass within a matter of a few days, and Viverrath, of course, won’t remember or won’t know what he meant, even if you read it to him. Or, perhaps, he’s not telling you. Yet. The time will come!

Thread ranks in second importance in Viverrath’s activities, but it won’t be around long. Interval will strike him as part relief and part disappointment, as if Thread marked all kinds of opportunities and experiences that will now be beyond him and you. After Thread, he’ll urge you to fill the void with something purposeful. Which is not to say that he’ll urge you toward rank – indeed, he bears a certain disdain toward antsing after named, knotted positions. « Do they think they’ll get anything by drooling after it like some incontinent canine? » he’ll sniff.

If the lion was advised by the fox, he would be cunning.
—William Blake, Marriage of Heaven and Hell

No, although he’ll insist you receive promotions if given (« Of course we can handle it »), Viverrath is most comfortable working a little outside the system. He might suggest you counsel the older weyrlings, without being, say, an Assistant Weyrlingmaster. Or give the Weyrleader some friendly advice without having any ranked reason to do so. Naturally, if these are not met well with, Viverrath will encourage backing off with a « Next time, our ideas will be so polished that they can’t refuse! » and then move onto the next thing. Or, he might even have you take up an entertaining hobby – but turn it into something solidly productive. A return to hats, save, hats must be made for all the weyrfolk, and scarves, and some of the babies could use blankets …

Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.
—William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

At his core, you will find Viverrath has an interest toward the “lower folk.” Lower cavern girls, stable mockers, children, even the very animals he, well, eats. You might find him near the pens (when he’s not hungry), contemplating the mighty herdbeast and why its life must be dependent upon his and others’ appetites. He may even make it rhyme. Then, he will turn to you with that internal smirk, suggest you extend your knitting efforts to herdbeast blankets, and meander off merrily.

Flights

No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.
—William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

The one time that Viverrath will quite discard his « We will excel when we excel » attitude is, of course, flights. Which isn’t to say that he suddenly turns suavely sensitive, but the insults are replaced by back-handed compliments. Sometimes, they are even real compliments! You might well wonder if Viverrath’s sardonic good nature and easy confidence isn’t a front for some terrible draconic insecurity. Or … or sense of inadequacy. If so, again, he is not telling. But he oft seems more concerned with impressing the women with his cleverness than his sensitivity. Or concern.

But oh will he regale the proddy. Although he often won’t ask you advance advice on his phrasing normally, in this case, he will poke in whenever you’re unoccupied for opinions on this and that. After all, you’re a girl. Tell him – do women like it when you come crouching close? When you put more colors in your mindvoice? Do you like this color? Oh, come on, why aren’t you more help?

When the green actually rises, though, he’ll insist on flying alone. Which will be fundamentally impossible – but he will turn to that uncommunicative, self-concentrated state during a flight, similar to the state he enters while “working.” His emotions, higher than usual (because he is just so above wild emotions), however, will feed right into yours. Flights might be a little bit … intense.

His flight patterns will be erratic, daring, but Viverrath will often fly lower than anyone else, as if expecting the green to come down to him, thank you very much. If she doesn’t, though, and the others look like they’re about to catch, Viverrath may well make a sudden dart for the top. If he doesn’t catch, he’ll let you know in exasperated tones how ridiculously desperate the others were, but be completely recovered within an hour or two. If he does catch … you might get some very strong overtones of smug, smug, smug for a day or few.

Credits

Name: Ashli
Egg Desc: Ashli
Dragonet Desc: Ashli
Messages: I'anex
Puppeteer: I'anex
Inspiration: I'anex

Clutchmates:
A'rai (Akasha) and green Nyokath
Sao (Saohlai) and blue Viverrath

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