*** INSPIRATION: K'DEN'S KOHATH***

Dragon: Kohath
Color: Brown
Egg: Shiny-Pated Man Vanity Egg
Egg Desc: D'nara; Gamma/Idris tweak
Hatchling: Jumbled Euterpe Brown Hatchling
Hatchling Desc: D'nara; Gamma/Idris tweak
Messages: D'nara; Gamma/Idris tweak
Inspiration: D'nara
DragonSong: "Hakuna Matata" from Disney's Lion King

Clutching Message: Spectreth does not tire, but continues with her task as any proper queen would. Slower than at first, she relaxes then tenses her well-defined muscles, tail lifting slightly off the sands from the effort. Two eggs are pushed forth near-simultaneously, one dark and one fancifully colored. The golden dragon turns to give Shiny-Pated Man Vanity Egg a gentle push into an indention in the sand, while the other is left sitting higher on the mound.

Egg Name: Shiny-Pated Man Vanity Egg ("The Bald Old Man" by Aesop)
Egg Desc: Salt and pepper swell in waves around a cranial egg, striating into base's fringes of gray and black save a patch of polished fleshtone gleaming from the apex, stained pink as if irritated; beneath, creases of worry furrowed across the surface, haunted cast of faint indentations where eyes ought to be. Sparkling white sand crowds against the gray fringe, while the black edge leans against a vein of darker rock; both extremes assume the tint of their surroundings, but the mirror-buffed brightness atop shines in its own way.

Hatching Message: Shiny-Pated Man Vanity Egg's forehead creases deepen. Staying together is hard, and it has to remember how to do it. Forgetting, it shakes itself in resignation, allowing contrasting forces to pull, to push, to pluck off tiny pieces of shell, black and gray. Shinier and shinier it throbs, snarled with the mother of all migraines, and then comes relief: a ridiculously large bronze-brown hindpaw crashes through the forehead, kicking and squirming until it reveals all of Jumbled Euterpe Brown Hatchling. He is, of course, upside down, but with a playful wiggle, he straightens himself, bright eyes peering around at this brave new world.

Hatchling Name: Jumbled Euterpe Brown Hatchling
Hatchling Desc: Natural grace in movement lends a certain beauty to the overlarge, tarnished paws and lithe, sunburnt body of this wheaten brown, all in all an ill-matched assortment of playful parts. His spindled legs crook all knob-kneed slimness before swelling into the muscle of his shoulders and the length of his serpentine neck with its overbalanced, heavy-jowled head; lengthy, narrow wings stick out at untowardly sharp angles, the duller right one always crooked at a slightly different angle from the left. Excess energy sparkles in the whimsical facets of his eyes, infuses the line from shoulder to talon in a pounce's preparation, while the constant flick of his sun-drenched, stubby tail promises play, as well as fair warning.

Impression Message: Aha! Jumbled Euterpe Brown Hatchling sights the perfect person, nose twitching as he examines from afar. Yes, yes, must not reveal to the poor boy that he's perfect. Not yet. Gotta spring it on him. Surprising. Relishing his knowledge, the dragonet literally smirks, relishing the secret he alone knows. Except... That blue is /looking/ at that perfect human. No, Jumbled Euterpe Brown Hatchling can't allow that. Hindlegs bunch as he readies for a spring, while sparkling eyes check this way and that. Nobody sees him. Nobody sees him about to ambush this perfect boy. *sproing* *pounce* Poor Kaeden...he must make him better. *slurp*

Impression Name Message: << I've gotcha where I wantcha and I think I'm gonna eatcha! >> The extremely self-satisfied voice makes itself known inside your head, accompanied with a cloud of smugness. A pause, and the speaker continues to hide from you. << Nanny nanny boo boo, you can't catch me. >> More smugness, more smirking. << But I'll catch you! >> And with a mighty thud, a dragonet slams into you. Not hard--he does damp it a bit--but definitely a jolt. << Oooooops... K'den? K'den? Hellllooooo? Are you there? I'm Kohath. >> Indecision, confusion, chagrin, and a scratchy-wet tongue against your face: your first experience of many with Kohath.

**************************************************

Name Inspiration
Kohath. You suggested it yourself. :)

Muse Inspiration
Euterpe: (you-TUR-pee) My favorite muse--music, lyric poetry, and in this day and age, probably good descs as well. :) She was always depicted with a musical instrument, usually the flute, and is said to have invented the double flute. (If you know what a double flute is, good for you. :)

For a little more info and some nifty paintings click here!

Egg Inspiration
The Bald Old Man is a folktale that I've seen in at least three different forms--an Aesop version, one by Jean de la Fontaine, and a Korean version--all at http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/bald.html. Basically, a middle-aged man has two lovers, a young woman and an old woman. The young woman doesn't want him to look too old to be her lover, so she pulls out all his gray hairs. The older woman doesn't want him to look too young, so she pulls out all his black or brown hairs. Eventually he gets completely bald.

Aesop's version A middle-aged man had two wives, one who was old and one who was young. Each one desired to see him like herself. Now the man's hair was turning gray, which the young wife did not like, as it made him look too old for her husband. So every night she used to comb his hair and pull out the white ones. But the elder wife saw her husband growing gray with great pleasure, for she did not like to be mistaken for his mother. So every morning she used to arrange his hair and pull out as many of the black ones as she could. In consequence the man soon found himself entirely bald. Moral: Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield.
Source: Joseph Jacobs, The Fables of Aesop (London, 1894), no. 63.

The Bald Old Man (Korea) Long, long ago an old man had a young mistress, though he kept the affair secret. He let her pull out all his white hair, so that he might not look so old. His wife noticed that he had less white hair, and guessed that he must be keeping a mistress. So she abused him roundly for deceiving her. Her husband feigned ignorance and protested, "Certainly not! I would never do a thing like that." Then to prove his innocence he let his wife pull out his black hair. In her jealousy she pulled it all out, so that he might no longer be attractive to his mistress. And so the old man became completely bald.
Source: Zong In-Sob, Folk Tales from Korea (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1952), no. 88, p. 191. No copyright notice.
Zong In-Sob's source: Told by Gim Du-Ri; Tong-yong (1950).

Desc Inspiration
He's a bit like a teenager and a bit like a puppy. You know how, when a boy hits his teen years, different parts of his body grow at different rates? Particularly, he'll have these big old hands, enormous ears, and gorilla arms, while his shoulders haven't widened a bit? Kohath will /always/ be like that. And then again, he'll always be like a puppy--claws wiggling, tail waggling, nose sniffling, constant motion of all sorts.

Mindvoice
Kohath's voice is ever-changing in K'den's mind, lilting and weaving back and forth, now light, now dark. The only constant is that amused air that permeates even his expressions of sympathy. In 'color', his mindvoice comes across as shades of chocolate and almond, dusty rose and colonial blue, soft jade and pale cerulean. No bigot when it comes to a particular color, he uses them all on a whim, blending them in a diverse, if tasteful, rainbow. In pitch, he's nothing but a tenor, a reedy voice which tends to crack under pressure, but can often modulate to the most soothing of cushions if necessary.

Scent
Hot chocolate with almonds and cinnamon. Sugar cookie dough baking in the oven. Warm, comforting, /sweet/ smells.

Personality
<< Tra la la! Tra la lee! >> Such is Kohath's attitude. The world will end tomorrow--yeah, well, so what? There's a green rising today! Callou, callay! His motto is, of course, "Eat, drink, and have fun, for tomorrow, if we don't die, we might at least have to do some work." Not that he's exactly a flake--well, okay, he is a flake. But he's an endearing flake, an eternal optimist. Did K'den break his leg? << It won't even leave a mark! Let's go hiking tomorrow! >> There are, of course, times when this is helpful, and times when it's a bit out of place. Kohath doesn't know the difference, so his rider has to help him a bit. << Legs? You have two of them! >> He's not heartless, he just doesn't understand that anything could exactly come in the way of his fun. Once he's made to understand the specific impediment (and each separate one will have to be explained fully to him) he's all solicitous attention. << Did I do that? I'll go get a Healer! Wait. You're a Healer! What a wonderful Healer you are, K'den. You're the best Healer I know. >> K'den will have to gently remind Kohath that he /is/ supposed to go get a Healer, and a different one from K'den. << Why would you want one that's worse than you, love? >> Facts are, to Kohath, insubstantial. << You can't reach your own leg? Oh, okay, I'll go get a Healer. >> No matter whether it's a good excuse or not, if K'den says it, it must be true. And happily he'll rush off to gather up Healers--in claws if he must--and shower them about K'den.

He's not gullible, by any stretch of the word. However, he accepts K'den as Pern's Almanac Of Facts and will never contradict anything he says, unless motivated by his own lightheartedness to do so. For instance, if K'den gloomily says, "Nobody's ever going to want to sleep with me!" Kohath will chirrup, << That's not true! Everybody wants to sleep with you. I would too! >> But if K'den explains the idiom 'sleep with' and details the slight size difference, Kohath swallows it all. << Oooohhhh, you meant like /that/. Well, everybody still wants to sleep with you. >> And he'll do his best to prove it, by trying to persuade pretty Lower Caverns girls to look at that handsome rider over there.... On the other hand, if K'den were to say, "The sky is purple," Kohath would believe that that color was to be called purple forevermore. << Lagoonth is an ugly shade of purple today. I wonder if G'day is bathing him? >> Since K'den is the Foremost Authority On Everything, Kohath naturally avails himself of his rider's knowledge about everything. << Why's this rock sparkly? It's pretty. >> "I don't know." << Oh. Okay. Why is water wet? >> Stream of consciousness. << I like herdbeasts. Why do they look like shrimp? Their eyes do, look at them! Have you noticed F'lipper never cleans off his ledge? It's covered with dead lizards. >> And he's always ready with a comment whenever dragons near him are having a conversation. For example, << I like wherries too! >> Or << He did what with his firelizard? >> Or maybe, << I don't think she's proddy. I think she's just naturally unpleasant. >> And even, << Oh, my rider will help her clutch if she really wants to. >>

Kohath is never devious. He's the type that would turn to his neighbor at the feeding grounds and say, in all innocence, << You sure are an ugly shade of purple today, Lagoonth. Did your rider bathe you this Turn? >> He'll grow a bit more tactful with age and reminders, but he'll never be a diplomat. This can be helpful, but mostly it'll cause trouble. However, in Fall, he's spot-on about every detail. << Flimth was scored through the left wing and Flamth through the right wing...Ruffth is taking Flamth's place. Shodth and Dyth are covering for Flimth. They're not doing a good job--too many big clumps falling through. >> He'd be a good leader if only he wanted any responsibility. << Let's go have a party instead! >>

He's not a serious party animal, though he's not averse to having a bit of fun. However, his preferences for 'fun' run more to the "Have a picnic with K'den and bring along some girl who rides a cute green, without K'den knowing anything about it" style of entertainment. Embarrassment! How entertaining! << But it's so good for you. I hear she's got plaid underthings on. >> His primary mission in life is to get his rider laid. Along the way, though, he wants to get as much fun out of life as possible. Healer lessons are a great place for him to make wholly inappropriate remarks. << Isn't it funny how Journeyman Plonk says 'trapezius'? Like it's some new kind of bubbly or something. >> "What's so funny, K'den?" << Maybe it's one stuffed with prunes! Don't you think that would work wonders with his character? >> "Apprentice K'den! May I remind you that this is highly serious business?" << Wouldn't it be funny if he slipped on a mango peel right about now? Do you have any slimy specimens in jars you could slip onto the floor right about now? >> And all in such an innocent tone of voice. His sense of humor is absurdly good, but sophomoric in the extreme. 'Slapstick' could well be his middle name. Despite all this, he's truly a loving lifemate, never making fun of anything K'den holds dear to his heart. No matter what he may think of his poor rider's affection for that loose bluerider, he'll never betray it, and will even defend the girl's honor if other dragons start making fun of her. And if their jibes turn to K'den, he'll hear no more. He's not below a firm << Shut up >> or two if the occasion warrants.

Physicalities
Kohath is, and always will be, a complete grab bag of dragon parts. For instance, his feet are all different shades of brown, and though his legs are at least all the same golden tan color, they're way too knobby and scrawny for his big feet. The effect is comparable to a skinny toddler wearing his dad's big bear paw slippers. Then his body is long and skinny too, though more lithe than knobby. Still, the effect is that of a piece of hair with legs. Except that his tail's so /short/! And stubby besides. It's good for maneuverability but not keeping him on balance, so he ends up constantly twitching and jumping around on the ground. Then his wings are different colors and fold up funny, so the lightest gust of wind can overbalance his lightweight frame. Hop, hop, scrabble for balance. He takes it all with equanimity, bouncing around even a bit more than necessary to keep himself upright. In the air, however, he's graceful. The paws fold up out of sight, the tail turns into a short, sturdy rudder, and the wings are actually the same size. When the sun shines through them, they assume an equal share of golden glow. Small wonder, then, that once he learns to fly, he'll be hard to keep on the ground. << Just once around the bowl before bedtime? Please? >> And if he decides to take a short side trip to the lake--without landing on the shore--well, hey. << It was so inviting-looking! You can swim, right? >> In the air, he's /fast/. Zip, dart, zoom, he's more a firelizard than a full-grown dragon, and he watches firelizards at play in his quiet moments (of which there are very few) to get new ideas for stunning aerial displays. "Watch OUUUUT!" << Ooooops, I skimmed too close, didn't I? >> They don't always work the way he intends them to, but he can out-maneuver any other brown and most blues.