THERON: Corporate espionage is my second greatest passion.

LANA: What's the first?

THERON: Gelato.

K'shi, K'shi, K'shi… you're our favorite. Don't tell the others. (Don't worry, Zeke will tell everyone for you. He's kind of an asshole. WONDER WHO HE GETS IT FROM…) — K'vre, Vosji & Divale

Underhood Meows Egg

There’s nothing to see here. It’s just an egg - an unobtrusive egg, an egg that has done it’s job, an egg that takes a lick and keeps going, an egg who has had responsible servicing and perhaps even has had its shell of very serviceable Super White clay-barred last turn. There is no reason to think there’s meowing coming from this egg. None at all. Carry on, now, children, this egg has things to do. (Things like responsible commuting and maybe, if everyone is very good, a trip to go get ice-cream.)

Mindtouch

Kevashi stares, dumbfounded, at the egg beneath his hand. Uh - wha? Shaking his head several times, he steps back, glancing once more at his hand before studying the egg with a frown. And this is how we find out Vash really is more of a cat person. Or at least a Shiba person. "Yeah." Rubbing the base of his spine - phantom tingles playing against his coccyx - he backs away slowly, hands splayed before him as if to prevent the egg from rushing him. It's not until he's a safe distance away - and has at least one Candidate between him and the egg in question - that he unwillingly turns his back on it and searches out his next tormentor for today's session: Underhood Meows Egg.//

You're doing something important. (meow) You don't know what it is, precisely, but you're doing SOMETHING. It's time-sensitive. And then… something happens, and you are derailed because … is that a wagon? (meow) It looks like a wagon if a wagon were made out of metal, but it purrs like an overlarge cat, a buzzing of technology beyond what Pern could expect to have in this age. And then - the reason you were interrupted! Under the purring there's again that sound of a tiny meow. (meow) AHAH! There's a cat somewhere in that, Kevashi, and you are filled with a huge dread of some poor kitten trapped away in a place of suffocating heat. Only you can save the beast, Vash. (meow) ONLY YOU. The kitten is wee and tiny and then… suddenly you're you, you're Vash, back on the Sands trippin' balls staring at an egg who has transported you across time and space. Maybe you imagined it all. (meow)

Hatching Message

Underhood Meows Egg seems to have been transferred from location to location. No, seriously — wasn't it just on the other side of the Sands? How'd it get OVER here? Did it hitchhike on Jaehnieseyth's obviously-velcro legs? Or… did it drive itself, with steady, sedate speed, the inhabitant internal to such activity stealthily getting itself into far greater trouble than before? Because indeed — Underhood Meows has made it almost to the very wall underneath the galleries, and when one sensible and Super White side bumps up against it, that seems to be the cue. The egg breaks down, crumbling into parts as if someone opened a hood, leaving Too Big For His Bolts Bronze Dragonet in his wake.

Too Big For His Bolts Bronze Dragonet

Intrigue inks irreverence into being, as if snark itself has manifested into a dragon of wits and weapons, puffed-up vainglory and space-dark shadow. Not likely to be mistaken as a brown, this imperial-class agent is brawny in build and bright with starfire aggro, with the potential to pull the galaxy itself by the sheer magnetic force of tractor-beam wings glittering in crushed-spice allure. Should such happen, this intelligencier is not without self defense: he dual-wields wicked wingspars and coruscant curved claws tipping broad, capable paws. Notwithstanding his sharps, every other element seems revised into well-rounded glory; compact rather than sprawling, his masculine mass effect redoubles, sinking into a gravity well of darkness between dreadnaught-heavy neckridges and the Sith-damned shadow of his haunches, grievous and darth-dark. The rest of his details are lost to the red-chased sheen of his hide: under the ruddy brillance of those starflung sails, he's a raw-umber train riding the tracks of muscular physique and swaggart self-confidence.

Public Impression Pose

TBA Post-Hatching

Private Impression Message

« I've had this nightmare, » someone's telling you, someone with a rich and resonant voice like chocolate on a cold winter morning while wrapped in the most luxuriously comfortable blanket: a brief frisson of delight just at hearing this remarkable voice is acceptable, Kevashi. « …you're walking away, and no matter, how fast I run, I can't catch up. » It's deeply reflective, and somehow you know without a doubt that it's the one time — the only time — you'll ever hear it so thoughtful, so… stationary. With some difficulty you realize the face-full of Sand is because there's a dragonet on your back. WHY IS THERE A DRAGON ON YOUR BACK? « I'm Zhikanikoth, » K'shi, didn't you know that already? « And can you get up? » comes with the first flavor of impatience, the steady pull of Zhikanikoth's mind quite like a gravity well to bring you along with him, a train just picking up speed: « I think I'm hungry. »

Egg Inspiration

first: https://www.reddit.com/r/aww/comments/f7v7br/a_very_vocal_kitten_being_lured_out_from_under/



STORYTIME, so I used to be a service advisor for Toyota in another life, and we had a lady bring in her Prius saying she thought she was going crazy but she thought her car was? like? meowing?? at her? and yes, turns out her very sensible Super White hybrid had a kitten in it. The car was very disgruntled. The cat went home with the technician who found it. (We ended up not even charging her.)

Theme Inspiration

Theron Shan.

kshi01.jpg

Whatever, we're not describing him, you know him WAY better than we do.
Zhikanikoth comes DIRECTLY from the VERY FIRST introduction we had to Theron, by-the-by:

kshi02.jpg

SUBTITLE: "You're a droid that's gotten too big for her own bolts. How's that for an astute observation?" - Theron Shan, SWTOR

Description Inspiration

YOU WANTED THERON SHAN? WELL YOU GOT THERON SHAN!

Okay, he might be a little more muscular than Theron is, but… he's what Theron THINKS he is. He's brilliance and red-washed bronze. He borrows a little bit of inheritance from dear old dad with that swaggart self-confidence which, uh, Zhikanikoth shares in spades with Dhazkyth.
It's less visual and more wordplay that created your boy: sly usages of coruscant in the adjective form, an easter egg of mass effect BECAUSE K'VRE LOVES YOU DEARLY AND HOPED YOU'D LAUGH SEEING IT, and the utter ridiculousness of having a spy that looks like THERON SHAN.

He's memorable.

Hopefully you find Zhikanikoth the same way.

(PS the train from Umbara makes a highlight too. Don't judge me.)

Name Inspiration

kshi03.jpg

What inspired us? WELLLLLL…

Not to sound like we're beating a dead horse here, but… yes… Theron Shan. Of course. Then we played around with "Bastardry Spy" because it seemed apt? And "Zidrog Adegan" because holy hell that's a cool name. What about "Valkorian"? And oh, OH, "Iokath" was a big one. But maybe nothing more than "Ngani Zho" which gave us the starting letters to bring it ALL HOME.

Zhikanikoth. You didn't actually give us a guideline on names and we MAY HAVE BEEN TEMPTED to make him just Theth but… bad joke is bad? ;) Seems like you like rolling names that have some Z's and K's and such in them, and Zhikanikoth just… seemed right.

(We also call him Zeke for short, 'cause spies should always have some kind of use-name, right?)

Mindvoice

At first it seems as if he's simply all voice and void: there is none of Qiyarth's eternal humming engines to Zhikanikoth's voice, none of Tissavyth's filtered light to spill over, not even the blue fireflies of Psiosynth to give the darkness depth.

No, there's only pressure and gravity, and the intoxicating delight of Zeke's voice, deep and rich as the tractor-beams of his attention.

Zhikanikoth is… different.

Perhaps it's because he's so damn intense about everything, but he doesn't have the time for all of these mental senses that everyone puts so much time into creating. He has a voice and uses it; what else is needed?

The pressure of his attention will grow like miniature black holes or gravity well projectors brought online from the engines of an Interdictor-class Star Destroyer. That's when he's wholly focused; for small thoughts, here or there, it could be the rickety tractor-beam of a Republic tugboat.

He'll drag out elements of others' mindvoices with the same tractor beam, to better assimilate facets of these things: for yes, he IS Zhikanikoth and at some point in his growth he'll realize that in order to truly blend in with the native population, he's going to have to be a spy pretend to be something he isn't.

It's okay, his voice is MORE THAN ENOUGH to make up for his immediate lack of a mindscape:

But eventually, he'll determine that he NEEDS a mindscape. Everyone else has one. He should have one too! His first attempts at a mindvoice beyond that of his mind and his voice (SEEMS LIKE A WINNING COMBINATION ALREADY TO SOME OF US!) will be really wretched, K'shi. We're sorry. We're so sorry.

Florid florals twine and twirl in colorful and bright profusion, a bold pattern on cheap fabric. The sense builds and builds, until you're quite sure one of the Auvergne is going to come and tell off this lifemate of yours for being too tacky. Before you can start to ask what in good heavens he's up to, Zhikanikoth has helpfully transmuted all the air around you into humidity, and recast you as the hot one in this little duo. It's obviously a farce, though, since he's obviously the idiot spy boyfriend. Except not now. Now he's the retired spy sidekick! HE CAN PLAY THIS ROLE. REALLY.

kshi04.jpg

BURN NOTICE.

Except maybe that one doesn't work out. Maybe the Auvergne come to torch his, um, clothed mindvoice out of tacky existence! Or maybe he just realizes it's not giving him a whole bunch of mental camouflage and drops it in a huff of void and voice.

But that's just the first attempt. He's got more. A spy gotta freakin' spy, after all.

The prevailing sense that you should quite be ashamed for all of your unseemly and unsightly impropriety comes bubbling forth from the reversed tractor-beam of Zhikanikoth's mind, and you would be entirely correct in laughing out loud at the sheer ridiculousness of THIS dragon trying to say ANYONE ELSE is 'improper'. He's just trying out a role again: this time he plays a little closer, casting himself as the spy… the old spy, the correct spy, the mentor. You'll be the mentee in this little act of his. Ready to go save the world, K'shi?

kshi05.jpg

KINGSMAN.

… but why did he make you LOOK like that? It's like he's just trying out different spy movies to see if he'd rather be cast in one of those rather than the RIVETING spy material of intrigue within the… fantastically nuanced environment of a Pernese flight of dragons!

Erf.

He's got to find one that works!

Okay, now this just feels… like you've been here before somehow, because he is very big and you are very small, and by now surely he's outstripped you in overall bulk. BUT WHY are you the brave one? Why… wait, is he the brave one? Why does he suddenly seem like that one weyrsecond from Southern? WHY ARE YOUR HANDS UP!? Some things we just will never understand.

kshi06.jpg

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE

It's not our fault. Eventually, like all great things, he'll settle on his very own secondary mindvoice — probably the inevitable pull of a train fired on the tracks, smooth with constant movement, all kinetic energy and momentum — but until then (and until he gets bored with it which may be never!), he'll try to find his exact space as an intelligencier in the riveting arena of dragon politics… and drag around a thousand different variants of classic spy themes and visualizations as he tries them all out. Just to make sure. He's just being THOROUGH!

Plus, it's REALLY FUN to jack around with stick-up-his-ass Qiyarth by stealing his holodeck and trying out different things. Even dragons can cross the stars, after all.

Physicalities

It's not our fault he's the hot guy. That's all your fault, K'shi. Yours and all of the incredible artists of the SW:TOR fandom…

idiot spy boyfriend

kshi07.jpg

kshi08.jpg

Now that we've gotten that out of our systems and off our chests, let's talk about your Too Big For His Bolts bronze. Spoiler alert: he lives up to his name!

He's not the longest bronze by size in the clutch - that would be Ak'hi's Psiosynth - but he outweighs Psi by an impressive amount of solid, workaday muscle. Even Qiyarth with his impressive chest will seem like a skinny lamb next to Zhikanikoth once they reach full growth, the latter rippling and thick next to his brethren.

In bulk he will only ever have Ixzhulqvoth to compare, and they are quite, erm, different in their overall compositions.

Fresh-hatched it will seem a little foolish for a dragonet to already have muscle, but it's skinny-clad muscle… which will be the very last time that you ever use the adjective skinny in relation to your boy, K'shi.

Because Zeke will figure out QUITE EARLY in life that he LOVES FOOD and you're going to waste your last few stubborn braincells trying to keep him from running himself into thicktail in early weyrlinghood. (See! Another thing he shares with Ixzhul! This is the beginning of a great relationship with Khu, Vash.)

It isn't that Zhikanikoth is stupid — he's not. He just has a lot of impulse troubles as a baby, and they're mostly centered around over-indulging. Food tastes good; oil feels great. Just wait until he gets to flights, but that's, uh, that's a different story. (It's not, really. It's going to go exactly how you think it's going to go!)

It's not something that you'll have to deal with forever, but it's a challenge… and makes your dragon a roly-poly guy for much of junior weyrlinghood. It's not helped along by the fact that he grows very lackadasically throughout his early life. At some point he'll have more rolls of hide along his spine than neckridges, just from all his flesh bunched up on a frame too small to hold it all. Then he'll start growing out, about the time he catches the wind.

He's deft in the air, having a flair for the flashy even for a dragon of his size. He'll never be as nimble as even the heaviest of his brown brethren, but he works what he's got and — more importantly — works toward higher flexibility to help his aerial acrobatics.

He won't have Qiyarth's obsession with staying in the air, or the amazing agility that Iandeleoth's wings bring him, but he finds the skies to be another useful tool to put into his eternal striving.

And in senior weyrlinghood you will finally — WITH RELIEF! — watch him shed his baby weight and become the muscled monster he was always destined to become. That roseate-bronze hide of his will burnish out deeper, the brights getting brighter and the darks deepening. His hide is the type to dapple in good health, along his dark flanks: he'll look like nothing more than some strange appaloosa at times, fit as a fiddle for a boy from Keroon.

It will be a gorgeous sight to see Elszerath's restive and fine-boned glory against his more massively-muscled beauty.

Eventually you'll make it through to Threadfall, where he will be every bit as strong as he needs to be: he comes from a blessed bloodline of Threadfighters, and though he has a bit of — er — insousciance and irreverence about the actual killing of Thread, he applies himself with an almost disgusting ease. He loves moving, loves going, and there's nothing quite as fantastic as fighting Thread, now, is there?

Theron Shan: Should I say it like a spy? 'Target eliminated'.

Even before you finally see him in Threadfall, you both will realize something that's probably fairly crushing for your spy-boy of a bronze:

He's not stealthy.

At all.

It's amazing that he gets anywhere that he wants to get into, really, because there's absolutely no stealth to the game of an effing giant bronze dragon. But somehow… perhaps it's that undeniable charisma (well, HE calls it charisma and it's been at least a sevenday since a green tail-slapped him across the face!) but at least two out of ten times he actually manages to WORM HIS WAY into wherever he wants to be. (The eight failures are way more fun than the two successes, unsurprisingly.)

But when he DOES get there?

He'll make you go, too.

That's what lifemates are for.

Personality

You're in for a wild ride, K'shi.

Zhikanikoth is gonna get y'all in a lot of trouble.

What? Did you think that life with a son of Dhazkyth would be anything less than… thrilling?

kshi09.jpg

« That's future-Zeke's problem, » you'll hear him say… a LOT. He doesn't mind hard work, and he doesn't mind effort, and he doesn't mind work work, and he doesn't mind spending all of your candlemarks trying to get things done, and… have we mentioned that he doesn't mind work?

Yeah, he's going to drive you crazy with it.

So maybe it's not just future-Zeke's problems. It's current-Vash problems too!

» Zhikanikoth, « you'll try to reason with him, » It's two in the morning. And you're the size of a canine. We can't try our flying skills. You can hardly walk. «

« That's what they would TELL US, but are you sure? I think I can carry you. It doesn't seem as though it should be so hard. I think I heard Alyzandriath say that SHE already flew YESTERDAY. »

Conspiracy theorist, Zhikanikoth? Oh, never.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahem.

It doesn't help that he's a little bit… (okay, a big bit) snarky. He gets it honestly! He's just weak when it comes to throwing out a well-timed jib, or being the one to say the thing that everyone is thinking. The timing and drop of it seems to please him the most: he doesn't just sling snark after snark after snark, instead enjoying that pop of surprise when taking someone off-guard.

kshi10.jpg

But yes: those first few months will cement Zeke's personality. He's not so overlarge as some personalities in the barracks (DID YOU SEE QIYARTH'S TEMPER TANTRUM LAST WEEK?!), but K'shi will find him intense and reckless and hilariously snarky, borrowing his bloodline's irreverence in fresh new ways. He's confident in himself without being arrogant, a true mark to his favor! He doesn't go about it to deliberately piss people off - he isn't a Rhovvth - but he might upset the balance here and there when one of his off-the-rails one-liners comes back to bite him in the ass. He's not afraid to be unheeding in his humor, especially within those first few months of weyrlinghood as he starts to sort himself out.

And he's a little obsessed with Jaehnieseyth. We don't know why. But he remembers her, retaining her status as his mother, imprinted on his brain in a fundamental way that hardwires past the typical boundaries of draconic memory. (It's a unique twist, but he's as devastatingly normal in all other senses of memory as one could ever expect: the third time he tells you one of his own unique jokes you might have to refrain from groaning. It's like dad jokes BUT WORSE!)

Jaehnieseyth, though… he'll be low-key obsessed. We're leaving it up to you to define that, because we don't want to make it any weirder than it already is.

He just REALLY needs her love and acceptance, okay?!

As he develops through weyrlinghood, his dynamic with his fellow clutchmates will start to adjust. He enjoys Tissavyth's high-spirited self-confidence, and enjoys prickling Qiyarth into tantrums, and enjoys the burnt-magic dynamism of Elszerath's mind…

And he rather enjoys even more finding out things they'd rather him not know.

If only he wasn't so terrible at it at first.

« Oh, come on, Qiyarth. You can tell me. M'kai wouldn't mind. »

Like anyone who works on a skillset, it will take time and effort for Zeke to hone his craft. He'll find in the end that it's not sly humor or cajoling that gets him the best results: it's putting forth this concept of himself as an earnest… if a little dumb… bronze.

« Beau, » he'll say to Beaumerath, « Can you explain this again to me? I just don't think I get it. »

Being underestimated is an incredibly useful skill, you see.

He's every dumb blonde joke rolled up into one when he needs to be, imminently happy to poke fun of himself (and smart enough to take great humor out of it) if it gets him what he needs. It's okay. He's very confident in his masculinity draconity. Whatever gets the job done, after all. The truth of the matter is that a snarky, larger-than-life dragon cannot be a good spy, and if he has to choose between one or the other, he's happy to make himself smaller in order to fit in the (mental) spaces he needs to be in order to get the information that he's addicted to.

Once again, you'll find he's a very functional dragon at the core.

K'shi's own tendencies towards drive and work ethic are amplified against Zeke's own: the bronze is an enhancer, not a foil, amplifying those healthy things into unhealthy obsessions. Well. Not REALLY. But potentially. Zhikanikoth simply doesn't stop; he doesn't comprehend rest in the same way others do. He'll never be thought to be a lazy dragon… unless he needs to be seen as a lazy dragon to get some morsel of truth he thinks he might need. And Faranth help anyone who tries to engage him honestly, for a deeper conversation than the levels he finds interesting!

Theron: I'm not great at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?

Knoxtroth, though? He'll have an unbelievable relationship with Knox… if they don't try to absolutely kill one another. In some ways they might be a wee bit too much when contained in one room.

Back to the point, Zeke pushes Vash to be MORE than he is. K'shi's own father ascended to weyrleadership, and while Zhikanikoth personally might not ever desire that level of responsibility (how can he spy on people from such a high-demand career?), he wants more than anything his lifemate's success in all endeavors. Even if it's something you want that he doesn't. Though that doesn't mean that he can't try to anticipate and push you toward what he thinks you want!

Expect to get pushed towards dragonhealing by the end of junior weyrlinghood.

YES, we know you can't be a dragonhealer then.

But Zhikanikoth doesn't know that.

Upon maturing out into a full adult dragon, Zhikanikoth will pick up… a select tendency for disaster.

HE DOESN'T MEAN FOR IT IT HAPPEN!

It just follows him around.

kshi11.jpg

It has largely to do with Zeke's intolerance of being caged in or strapped down. It's one thing for him to willingly go into something that keeps him stalled out; it's another when something prevents him from being on the restless move.

Holy hell, the first time he gets injured?

You'll need every bit of your Healer aplomb to keep your shit together, because he'll be the WORST. What do you mean he can't fly? He HAS to fly! He's a dragon! And no, he's not as obsessed with the skies as some of his clutchmates, but any creature of wings is given to the boundaries of the air and aether, and Zeke is no different.

Don't take the sky from him.

But it will probably be his own actions that do it, the first time and possibly the times after; he lives something of a disaster life as an adult, meaningfully from his adrenaline-junkie addiction: he just needs ONE MORE HIGH, K'shi! One more barrel roll. One more attempt to sneak into the weyrleader's weyr and find something out.

Pro tip: he won't fit.

The one problem with having a disaster spy dragon is that sometimes, what comes up… comes down. The fallout from Zhikanikoth's roaming and attempts to get into things will inevitably fall upon K'shi as well as his bronzen brethren; Igen's a weyr in pass, and Zeke's glory in Threadfall will give him a little leeway, but you'll find your father least tolerant of all when it comes to unnecessary hijinx. Future weyrleaders might be easier to fly under (or SPY under)… but that's a benefit for future-Vash-and-Zeke.

He is, in many ways, a loner.

Unerringly loyal to K'shi, and then the weyr, and Pern's protection, and then his wingmates… well, some other dragons will chafe to find themselves thought to be expendable, should conversations ever veer so far and Zhikanikoth brought to be honest. There will be the natural internal distance from those dragons he works with, much like a spy in deep cover. You are his companion, his agent, his handler, his other half.

There's always the chance that one or two glowing souls will break past his covers and defenses and clever personality to become something more to him — but these will be few and far in-between.

But once someone cracks into his innermost sanctum?

He'll go to the end of the world for them.

He'll risk everything for them.

Except, perhaps, the most precious thing of all:

You.

Flights

How do you spell flamboyant?

Z-H-I-K-A-N-I-K-O-T-H, of course.

In some ways, the entirety of his training, of his pushing, of his work is for this — well, for procreation, as Zeke will be driven by that as he ages into his full maturity. He'll chase all the golds! ALL OF THEM! He might even make you go to Telgar, Vash. TELGAR. Do you know what they do to people in Telgar? Telgar's a hellhole!

Er… backtrack. He won't chase EVERY gold.

Because there's no way he's ever, ever-ever-ever, EVER chasing after Jaehnieseyth. That's his mom, Vash! You can't expect him to chase his MOM!

But, Jaeh aside, he does enjoy going up against the challenge of a gold flight, pushing himself to his full extent, earning scars from his competition and perhaps even someday collecting eggs himself. Should he ever sire a clutch, he'll be only perfunctorily interested: that seems like a great delegation for you, Vash, because he's got other priorities, like NEVER BEING TIED DOWN.

In the same vein, he's not much of a cuddler after flights, his thirst for adrenaline slaked: a nice little sleep-cuddle is all his mates will have to look forward to, and then he's off to find something else to get into, always on the move, always restless.

Golds aren't the only thing he chases, though his green chasing seems to be more based on some internal barometer that senses exactly when chasing a green would be the worst thing to do. In the middle of senior graduation, if he takes off in a precocious spiral? Well… welcome to life with Zeke, buddy.

It'll always be interesting, at least.

-~-

Kevashi… K'shi… VASH! We hope that you love your Zeke as much as we loved putting him together! We grew rather fond of the concept of a disaster spy boyfriend bronze and hope that he is everything that you wanted. We can't wait to see what you do with him. <3

Credits

Name: K'vre
Egg Desc: K'vre
Dragonet Desc: K'vre
Messages: K'vre
Puppeteer: K'vre
Inspiration: K'vre, Divale, Vosji

Clutchmates:
Ak'hi (Akhiqar) and Coalescing Vision of the Void Bronze Psiosynth
M'kai (Maikah) and To Boldly Go Bronze Qiyarth
Ze'ran (Zefran) and No Dishonor On My Cow Bronze Iandeleoth
S'hius (Sophius) and Scepter of the Scarab Lord Brown Elszerath
Khu (Khulan) and Beyond the Broken Barrows Brown Ixzhulqvoth
M'zti (Meztillian) and Where the Roadway Ends Blue Knoxtroth
Zafi (Zafina) and When Goats Fly Blue Beaumerath
Aylee and Everybody Gonna Shine Green Tissavyth
Neeva (Jeneeva) and Like A Shiny Leaf Upon The Wind Green Alyzandriath

Harper's Tale's 85th PC Clutch
Igen's 31st Clutch
Casla's gold Jaehnieseyth and R'kyr's bronze Dhazkyth
March 25, 2020