Grey is the New Black Egg

Small, squat and grey, this egg seems to be the same all over. Not that it's uniform in color, as it has blurred streaks of black that line up and criss cross perfectly, but one spot of the egg seems like the next a few over. It's like you can see the whole of the egg in just a small sample of its shell. Nothing changes - the routine of this shell is monotony exemplified and just as it imprisons its dragonet, so too does the shell imprison the imagination of anyone looking for an imperfection, a variance in it.

Hatching Message

Grey is the New Black Egg ruptures with a single fissure, two halves of shell falling away to reveal a darkling dragonet. He prowls forth from his place of birth, moving with an uncanny fleetness for one so young. Glinting and damp yet moving with uncanny sure-footedness, he steps forth from the shattered remnants without hesitation. His head cocks inquisitively for a moment, learning his surroundings before he stalks toward the white-robed prey before him, his eyes already beginning to hone in on their eventual target with single-minded focus.

Sleek as a Demon Blue Dragonet

Sheathed in dark blue and made of sleek muscles, this dragon is a blend of elegance and power, the raw strength given to all dragonkind tempered by forceful grace: not the lissome and dainty doe, but the muscular and trim jaguar that stalks her. Strong shoulders taper gradually toward narrower hips, slimming their way back to a slender tail, his build one that pushes for forward momentum rather than perfect balance. Glimpses of silver chromeplate the cruel arcs of his talons, highlight the fine shape of his eyeridges, and tip their way along the midline of his neckridges and spine, a fashionably subtle nod to sumptuous affluence, tasteful embellishments that eschew gaudiness in favor of artistic understatement. His belly is a blue so dark, so deep in color and shine as to approach blackness when shadowed, only glinting here and there with shimmers of midnight that promise blueness in the depths of that darkness. He is luxury, finesse, speed, and elegance captured in draconic form, every movement slickly precise, chic and potent.

Public Impression Pose

The Sleek as a Demon Blue Dragonet has delayed the moment not because of hesitance or uncertainty, but because it is that much richer upon ripening. He has stalked his way through the Candidates with his sharp gaze now fixed upon a single target, and that target is Chloe. The girl smiles - not the radiant smile of bliss, but a smile tinged with dark delight even as she runs a hand along the blue's muzzle. "Indeed we do, Valmoth," she answers an unheard thought, gray eyes transfixed by the dragonet now moving closer to her, slender tail curling possessively around her feet.

Private Impression Message

Egg Inspiration

Jeremy Bentham came up with the idea of a prison where order would be run because any prisoner could be viewed at any time - cells were in rings around the central column of the guard tower, and small slits in those tower walls meant the guards could look out but the prisoners were (meant to be) unsure if a guard was watching them at any time, which would instill good behaviour. In theory.

Theme Inspiration

Valmoth (and Chloe herself) is heavily inspired by that lovely book-play-film (and its many reprisals), Dangerous Liaisons.

The Vicomte de Valmont, played by John Malkovich; Xie Yifan, played by Jang Dong-gun; and Sebastian Valmont, played by Ryan Phillippe - all slightly different takes on the classic character.

I originally thought his themesong would have to be, of course, "Bittersweet Symphony" by the Verve, but - on account of I like Imagine Dragons so much (and they have the name dragon right there in the band!) - I think it's probably:

See, quoting in the whole song totally helps pad the length a little, go me. \o/

Originally, this was going to be "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons, but then I thought hard about the relationship that's bound to exist between these two, and I think this works even better. This is a song that speaks to that sort of fucked up love: you want that person to save you but, at the same time, you don't want to drag them down with you.

There's also a little of Machiavelli in him. Fun with meta: Loe's PB is Holliday Grainger, who played Lucrezia Borgia in The Borgias; she was the sister of Cesare Borgia, a figure in Machiavelli's book, The Prince.

Description Inspiration

The 1956 Jaguar XK 140 Roaster, notably featured as Sebastian Valmont's car in Cruel Intentions. Because this car is total hotness.

(Hannah): Nah, rly, it's:

(Hannah): VAL VAL!!

Mindvoice

The whisper of silk. A ripple of blues that shimmer in shadows and softness, all promising a delicacy of temperament that he does not otherwise embody. Valmoth cloaks his thoughts in lushness, sheathes them in sumptuous softness, so that they touch a mind like a lover's caress. He is a dragon of few words but many implications. Perhaps he does not come right out and say what he thinks, what he implies, but he certainly knows how to veil the suggestion in sinfully sleek brushes of his thoughts.

Here and there, a lavish filigree embellishes his few actual comments. 18-karat gold sparkling with glimpses of diamond - faberge, lush, dramatic, heavily wrought. When he speaks, rarely one given to actual words but it does happen, his voice is tinged most notably in a color that can only be described as Tiffany blue:

His thoughts manifest not lazily, exactly, but without rush. Valmoth will not be hurried through his deliberations, but will savor every notion like a matron at her afternoon tea, enjoying all the ceremony that attends it. Sometimes a little sweetened, sometimes bitter as if steeped for too long, there hangs in the background of his thoughts the soft sounds of silver spoons tapping delicately against porcelain, the almost unheard tink of China clinking carefully, cup to saucer. The entire pomp and precision of his voice is exacting and well-honed, laid out by attendant servants who want to ensure his every nuanced thought goes off without a hitch.

Scents of cigar smoke waft through the delicate draperies of his mind, rich and fragrant throughout his thoughts. Curls of pale, wraithlike wisps drift among the luxury mindscape, bringing whiffs that vary from pungent burning to fruity aromatics. His mental cologne is a varied cigarbox of indulgences, penetrating the soft silks and slips of satin in which he bedecks his implications.

(Good job to me-player! I writed a mindvoice all by myself! *tics it off the bucket list*)

Personality

I don't feel like writing a full-on personality, but here's a little bit that I dreamt up to give him some immediate flavor.

Valmoth is fastidious, even moreso than Loe herself. She may have made peace with certain aspects of candidacy and the weyrlinghood that will follow - hair out of place, sweat-drenched, facts of day-to-day life by now - but Valmoth will bring his considerable powers of persuasion to bear regarding these issues. He doesn't like to be untidy himself, doesn't tolerate messiness in his space, and he's going to take issue with Loe if she lets her appearance slide. Thankfully, she's prissy enough that it shouldn't create too much friction, but still. Keep it in mind.

Also, for all his… let's call them… proclivities, he's actually rather conservative in his political ideals. Valmoth may not believe in chastity and virtue and all that stupid nonsense, but he is a strict respecter of the class system as it exists among dragonkind. He's not a social climber the way Loe could have been if she'd achieved that desirable marriage. He seeks not for elevation among society, but to infiltrate its underbelly. If everyone understands their place, their tier, it's that much more intriguing when something upsets the delicate balance.

And by "something," I of course mean, "Valmoth."

Tying him in with his brethren… Valmont would be a Sidhe from the House of Eiluned, a creature that thrives on shadows and secrecy.

Like Loe, he has a chameleon quality to him. He throws on a glamour that suits the occasion, although he is not quite as willing to veil himself in sweetness and light as his rider. Valmoth is conscientious about how others perceive him but not necessarily deceitful. Can dragonkind outright lie? Likely not, but he toes the line pretty closely.

Uhm, let's see, what else… Let's cover likes and dislikes.

Likes:

• Well-dressed people
• Intelligent people and dragons
• All things elegant
• Tidiness
• Ice and cold things - finally a reason to go to that cold-as-dicks Hold!
• Girly girls

Dislikes:

• Dirt and disorder
• Rude people
• Bad language
• Weakness
• Heat and the summer
• The goddamn beach

Not that Chloe spent her life lookin' for love, but she's sure as hell found it in Valmoth. Like all my characters, they need to have something weird about their dragon-rider relationship, and this one will probably be the subtlest to play. Sometimes like siblings, sometimes like friends, sometimes like lovers, they're thick as thieves. He's possessive without being jealous, if that makes any sense: her heart, soul, mind, spirit, these are his properties alone, closely guarded. Thankfully, she is uninclined to share those things, so it makes it easy. They will idealize each other, see in one another all the things they most prize and hold in highest esteem - cleverness, intelligence, beauty, ruthlessness.

Rather than awkward or uncomfortable, it just somehow… makes sense… for Loe to open her heart to this other half of her soul. Often, it's a struggle - a battle - a war when a rider and dragon have to figure out how to accept the melding of minds. For Loe and Valmoth, though, it just happens. It just works.

Credits

Name: Loe
Egg Desc: Chyrean
Dragonet Desc: Loe
Messages: Loe
Puppeteer: N/A
Inspiration: Loe

Full Clutchmates: Hannah's gold Dhiammarath and K'ane's Bronze Dhioth
 

 
Other Clutchmates: Bailey's gold Khalyssrielth and T'zaim's Bronze Denivoth
 
Clementine's Eye of Rukbat Gold Nemekhath, R'ik's (Ulrik) Summer's Wild Hunt Bronze Hrykeluth, Z'ok's (Zolok) Death Before Dishonor Brown Varaeth, Keelie's Puritanical Protector of Innocence Brown Gruffith, Xia's (Xiamina) Illusion of Time and Space Blue Zafroxth, Hegiana's Heir to a Young Kingdom Blue Khenwyth, Halia's (Mahalia) Whither Way Walks What Wicked Green Kabrianth,  Tia's (Tiala) So Say We All Green Lyracith, Ilissea's Thunder's Gentle Romance Green Minucovith, J'ran's Eternal Flame of the Sky Green Yerenath