Aaron// Soleil// Jesse// Dylan// Brendan// Tasha// Bianca
candidates//hatching//weyrlings//adults//Ryslen Weyr

The scream had been Bianca's, but she was not the one bringing down the theatre. When Aaron and Jesse reached the stage, Bianca, Tasha, Dylan, and Soleil -with Brendan trying to be a manly-man and hug them all at once- were clustered at the back of the theatre, gawking at something onstage. Aaron raked a hand through his hair closed his eyes, walked onstage - and ran smack into a leathery post that hadn't been there last night.

"Holy shit it's a..." Jesse's words faded out into a gape as he walked out on stage. A huge version of Diva with blue skin and a young, rugged looking man perched at the base of his neck. The man looked confused, but the lizard looked very pleased with himslf.

"It's a huge firelizard!" Bianca squeaked. "Jesse, can you talk to this one too?"

Soleil had already recovered and looked right past the huge lizard to the man on top. "Get your arms off of me Diva, I don't need to be protected from a big lizard," she protested and calmly started down the aisle. To the amazement of the rest of the cast, she took the stairs and walked right onto the stage as if she had seen a million giant blue lizards destroy a stage.

"Do you want to explain why you and your... lizard are on our stage?" Soleil asked, craning her neck to look up at the man.

The lizard's eyes whirled and everyone in the cast heard I am not a lizard, I am a dragon! in their minds.

"Amitath!" the man scolded. "I'm sorry, we're, sort of... lost."

"Uh huh," Soleil said slowly. "So uh, where did you come from, exactly?"

"Pern," the man replied.

"You live on porn?" Bianca asked. "That's not very healthy."

The man looked confused. "Where?"

"No, no," Soleil tried to calm both of them down, "not porn hun, Pern. Only Diva can live on porn, and porn doesn't make dragons get any bigger."

"We're not from your world," the man explained. "On Pern, Amitath here is pretty small." He gave the dragon's neck a slap with the same affection Jesse used when talking about Diva.

"Whoa, back it up," Dylan protested, gaining courage enough to join Soleil on the stage. "Are you talking like that star trek, sci fi crap? Because if this is some sort of sick joke."

"Star trek?" the man repeated, completely clueless.

"I don't think this is a trick," Jesse said slowly.

"Oh god oh god oh god," Aaron moaned. "Where the hell are we going to rehearse now?"

"Oh yes, that is the thing to focus on right now!" Brendan scoffed. "Maybe we need to think about the big blue liz-DRAGON sitting on our stage!"

It is really close quarters in here, Amitath commented and stretched his wings, effectively destroying every light on the stage, including the worklights. The theatre was instantly plunged into darkness.

"Ok, what happened?" Bianca demanded. "I can't see anything!"

"Stay where you are hun, I'm going to go switch on the house lights!" Tasha called back. A blue light from Tasha's key chain illuminated the seats as she picked her way to the back of the house and then out through the doors.

"Jesse!" Soleil called out in a suprised half chuckle.

"...yes?" Jesse replied from the other side of the theatre.

"Eew what the hell was that that just brushed up against me?" Soleil shrieked.

The houselights flickered to life, revealing Bianca standing stock still in the center of an aisle, Soleil near a curtain, Jesse leaning against the dragon, Dylan looking very pissed off on the ground where she had landed after tripping, and Brendan and Aaron making out on the stage left stairs.

The cast watched for a few moments, more amused than suprised by the situation. Tasha leaned out of the booth. "The lights are on!" she yelled.

Brendan and Aaron were up off the floor, clothes and hair straightened in five seconds flat. "I uh a fell and then uh," Brendan began stammering out an explanation.

"And your open mouth with your tounge sticking out just happened to connect with his open mouth and his tounge sticking out," Dylan finished.

What'd I tell you, they'll be perfect! Amitath crowed happily.

"Perfect for what?" Aaron demanded.

"I should have mentioned this before, but we're here on Search, and Amitath wants to take you guys back to Pern with us for a chance to Impress a dragon like Amitath."

"That's nice, but we're in the middle of rehearsing a show here! We can't exactly hop on and fly away," Aaron protested.

"Aaron, when that dragon leaves, the theatre goes with him. He's the only thing holding it up. We have to get out," Tasha pointed out.

Aaron rubbed his head. "Why me?" he wondered hopelessly. "Alright, everyone on the dragon, I cannot believe I'm saying that."

"Yay we're going to be on porn!" Bianca sang as she walked towards the stage.

"Pern hunny, it's Pern," Tasha reminded her and pulled herself up in front of the man and twisted to face him. "What's your name, by the way, now that I'm practically giving you a lap dance?"

"I'm J'rin," he replied. "What's a lap dance?"

"Soleil'll be glad to show you when we get there," Dylan replied as she climbed up to sit behind J'rin.

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