[stats][story][hatching][rider]

name:  Mr. Snuffles

species: Firelizard

sex: male

pet of: holder girl Lima (at least at first)

age: well, about two pernese turns when he arrives at firestone, differs throughout story

birthplace:  Dragon Fang Weyr

dragon: Male Green Limath

description:  Mr. Snuffles is a small, pink male firelizard, the runt of his clutch, but with extraordinary abilities no other firelizard could dream of.   He was hatched at Dragon Fang Weyr, and given to the daughter of a Lord Holder visiting there as a pet.  No human suspected his abilities, or his evil motives to put them to use...until too late.  In addition to evil schemes he rather enjoys bird watching.

An egg split open.  It was in the back and it was one of the smaller eggs, so no one really noticed it.  In front of them, the largest of the firelizard clutch that had been found unexpectantly, deep within the Tralaway Mountains surrounding the Twin Weyr, rocked slowly.  Lord Voldley of Calean Hold clung to his daughter's excited hand and his wife's disapproving one and watched, along with J'ran, the bronzerider who had found the clutch, the egotistical Searchrider K'tay, R'san the young Weryleader, and assorted other hopeful impresors.  Slowly the large egg rocked, until finally it split open to reveal a dazzling queen firelizard.
    "Isn't she a beaut Relana?" Voldley asked his wife. Relana hmphed and smoothed her daughter's hair, backing her away from the firelizards slightly.  She did not like dragons, she did not like weyrs, and she did not like firelizards. She did not like many things really. Her daughter Lima, seven, ignored her mother's gesture and moved closer.
    "What about that one in the back?" Lima asked, the first to notice the small pink hatchling firelizard pitifully struggling to remove the shards of egg adhered to its hide.  It looked funny to her, but she liked things that were pink.
    "Don't pay any attention to that runt Lima, and look at the queen." Her father said.  He hoped that the queen would impress to him, a firelizard was a useful thing. (and it would annoy his wife)
    "Here sir, offer it some food." J'ran offered him meat to feed the queen, which he took and held out to her.
    There was a squawk as the small pink firelizard in the back suddenly moved forward with lightning speed towards the meat. He bit at the queen's neck as he passed her.  Surprised, she flew upward and disappeared between.
    "Ahh!" Voldley surpressed a cry.  The queen was gone for good now! He jerked the meat away from the pink firelizard in anger.  The firelizard, still not very agile on its small wings, overshot and fell to the ground.
    More eggs hatched, and no one paid the firelizard any more mind.  Yes, pink was a rare color, but such colors were common at Dragon Fang, and that firelizard was small, a pitiful creature.  Relana pulled at Lima's hand as she dove down to look at the pink firelizard, but was distracted when a brown firelizard alighted on her shoulder and chirped at her.
    "Oh..my..." She stammered, forgetting her daughter for a minute.  Impression was made, and there was nothing the Lady Holder could do about it now.
    A green found its way to Voldley, much to his dismay.  He waited irritably for each egg to hatch, hoping for a bronze, or a rare color, to go along with is green, but no more came to him.
    As the hatching dissipated and the newly impressed and disappointed cleared away, no one really noticed the runt firelizard.  The weyrfolk might have, but they doubted it would live.  Sometimes they hatched like that.
    But the small pink firelizard had noticed them.  He, for it was a he, and not a she, had noticed them, and he would not forget.  He was different, and not in the way that they thought.  With a chirp he fluttered more surely on his wings and bit the retreating Weyrleader hard on the ear.
    "Ow!" He exclaimed, looking at the lizard.  Surely it was not trying to impress now.
    It wasn't.  It flew away, leaving the Weyrleader, in search of other things.  For this firelizard had intelligence, intelligence and instincts no other firelizard could dream of having.
    Down the halls of Dragon Fang Weyr he flew, searching for he wasn't sure what, just searching.  For that tall human male, yes, him.  He who had called him a runt and taken his meat away. He couldn't have gone far.
    "Daddy I want a firelizard."
    Voices.  The pink firelizard turned towards the hall where the sound was coming from.  The small female  had been with the male who had called him that, perhaps she still was.
    "I'm sorry honey, but the firelizard for you wasn't there this time." The voice! That was him! The pink firelizard darted through the halls until the humans came into view.  There was the male!  He swooped towards him.
    A green firelizard was perched on his shoulder.  She squawked, but the pink firelizard hissed at her.  Stupid unintelligent green.  He could tell that she did not have the comprehension that he had, neither did the brown perched on that female's shoulder.  The green pitched a fit, but he sent images to her mind, violent images.  She didn't seem to understand him.
    "Daddy! Its the pretty pink one! Ooh look she's come back can I have her! Can I have her pleeaseeee." The small female was saying, jumping up and down in excitement. Could she have her? First, he was a him, not a her and what right did the male have to give ownership of him to anyone!  Anger filled the pink firelizard and he attacked the man, biting at his ear and scratching with draconic claws.
    "Yoooow!" The cries were pleasant, they pleased the pink firelizard greatly.  He decided that he liked inflicting pain.
    "Get it off!"  The other female with the brown was also yelling. "Shoo! Shoo! Filthy creature!" Filthy creature!? She had a filthy creature perched on her own shoulder.  The pink firelizard sent violent images to it as well, browns had a bit more intelligence, but this one didn't have much. He turned from the male and moved to her, slashing at her hair.
    "AHHHHHHH!" Her scream was more high pitched, and it quite hurt the pink firelizard's ear. And the way she waved her hands around, she might hit him.  The pink firelizard circled low, out of the way of the female and back by the male.  He would attack him again, make him sorry he ever insulted him...
    The pink firelizard stopped in mid-air, and felt himself being pulled.  Before he could think he was being suffocated by the young female, gasping for breath as she hugged him to her chest and shouted with joy.
    "I got her Daddy, Mommy look I got her! I have a firelizard too now yay! And she's so pretty too! Pretty pink! Oh please let me keep her now please please please please."
    Please please please let me go, the pink firelizard thought vaguely.
    "Oh, all right I guess." The male replied, feeling his face wit his hands and getting blood on them.  "Maybe it will settle down some.  Though I think dear its a he, not a she."
    "A he! What a funny color for a he, isn't it?" The girl asked, smiling at him and squeezing him more. "Aww, that's cause your just a big softie at heart, isn't it? Yes. Well now we need a good name for you don't we.  What do you want your name to be? How about Mr. Snuffles!  I think that's a good name. Don't you? Yes, you like that name. Yayy, I love you Mr. Snuffles." She chattered as they walked, and the newly dubbed Mr. Snuffles screamed in his mind.
    The green and the brown just looked at him with laughter in their stupid eyes.
 

    "Where is my bracelet?" Relana mused, searching her chambers in Calean Hold. She was sure she had seen it earlier.  It was gold with little emerald designs in it, her husband had given it to her for her birthday and she rather needed to find it.  Something that valuable shouldn't be lost so, and she had liked it.
    Twilly, her brown firelizard, fluttered into the room and landed on his bonder's shoulder with an affectionate squawk.  Relana winced a little still, even though she had come to accept and even love her little brown pet, she still disliked draconic things.
    "Firelizard!" She exclaimed, nearly dislodging Twilly. "I'll bet it was that little pink terror! Oh that thing is nothing but trouble! Who knows where the beast has it hidden."
    Her assumption was correct.  Though the family had grown used to the two calm firelizards, Mr. Snuffles, as he was called was a holdwide nuisance.  Mischievously appearing and disappearing, taking things, sometimes attacking people, they had been sure he would settle down at first.
But he never did.  Relana would have loved to rid herself and the hold of the thing, several of the ladies had complained about him, but her daughter loved it and would be heartbroken.
    Right now the little pink terror was sitting at a table, a very unnatural position for a firelizard, wearing a dress, an even more unnatural thing, and being served fake tea in little china cups.
    "More tea Mr. Snuffles?" Lima asked, holding a china teacup with nothing in it. "That's a good ole chap. Now be a good gentleman and eat the rest of your cake."
    Mr. Snuffles did not want more tea, nor was he a good gentleman who wanted to eat the rest of his cake, which was not cake at all but wadded up hide.  That girl and her games.  It was enough to drive a firelizard mad. Her games, and then the hugs, and...Mr. Snuffles fought against the girl's restraints in vain.  Half a turn he had been forced through this, over and over and over again, and it was enough to make him insane.
    "What about you Georgy?" Lima moved on to an inanimate object, a few pieces of cloth stuffed and sewn to the likeness of a bear.  How stupid humans were, if they actually believed that creature to be alive.  But Lima was not the only one to treat it so.  He had seen her come to the older ones, upset about losing "Georgy", and the older ones would comfort her, assure her that he was still alive, and help her search.
    Crazy beings. And all they did was inflict torture upon him.
    There was a knock at the door.
    "Its Saren!" Lima jumped up, nearly dropping the tea kettle, and ran to the door.
    There were voices at the door, women's voices. Mr. Snuffles couldn't figure out what they were saying, but soon the door had closed again and a new person was in the room.
    Oh shards. Mr. Snuffles thought, having picked up on the family's expressions. It was another girl, the same age as Lima most likely, with dark hair and skin.  On her shoulder was a firelizard, but a different firelizard.  It was odd looking,  stone colored, and there was something in its eyes...
    Lima was gawking at it. "Wow Saren that's really pretty! Where did you get it?"
    Saren said nothing, her face getting red.
    "Its okay Saren, you don't have to be shy. Here, I'll introduce you to everyone." She indicated the gathering of stuffed animals and her pink firelizard.  She introduced each stuffed animal, and Mr. Snuffles, and offered Saren some "tea". Saren took some politely and sat down next to Lima.
    "Everyone, this is Saren. She is our friend from a Weyr!" Lima said, as if she expected them to talk back.
    "Falas Weyr." The shy Saren said suddenly. "This is Mardrin and I got her at Falas Weyr. She's a special firelizard, she speaks."
    "Speaks!" Lima gasped. "Wow, that's amazing. Mr. Snuffles doesn't. Don't you Mr. Snuffles? Oh but that's okay, I love Mr. Snuffly anyway." Mr. Snuffles sensed a big hug coming, and shuddered, but it did not come. He fixed his gaze on Mardrin.  It talked eh?
    Hello, It said to him, as if it had heard its thought. Mr. Snuffles. The name was with obvious amusement.
   What are you so happy and perky about? He shot back, then started. He had spoken! In words! Of course he could think, and he knew he was special for the ability to do that, but he didn't know he could speak too! Stupid rock colored beast. He added.
    Hey, that's not very nice. Mardrin shot back. Oh brother, thought Mr. Snuffles. His first encounter with another intelligent one of his species, if intelligent that could be called, and it was a moron.
    Neither is your appearance. You look like a rock, not a firelizard!
   At least I'm not bright pink.  That's a girls color you know.
   Fuming, Mr. Snuffles lunged for the firelizard, with a strength grown from anger breaking the restraints Lima had wisely put on him.
    "Mr. Snuffles!" She yelled, but he didn't listen.  He attacked the sandstone firelizard, sharp claws aiming towards her soft wings.
    Saren screamed.  Lima screamed and tried to catch her firelizard. Mardrin's scream was only heard by her impressor and Mr. Snuffles, and to Mr. Snuffles it was good.  He tasted blood and enjoyed it.
    Lima grabbed Mr. Snuffles.  "Mr. Snuffles you naughty naught boy! What's wrong with you! Do you have no manners!" Her face was livid. Mr. Snuffles tried to twist in her grasp to bite her too, but there was something about her grasp that he never could. "No I think you have been a naughty naught boy Mr. Snuffles, and you need to be put in time out! Yes, I know, I'm sorry, but you brought this on yourself you know,there you go, that's a good boy." She opened the door to a small closet in her chambers and shut him inside.
    No! Not this! Well, it had to be better than the tea party anyway, but Mr. Snuffles was mad. He flew into the door, screeching and yelling.
    Let me go! He screamed with his newfound "voice". Lima gasped.
    "He...he...talked!" She said. "He talked!" Her eyes grew wide.
    So did Saren's.
    "No, your firelizard can't talk!" She said. "Only firelizards impressed at Falas Genetic Program Center can talk! That's where I got mine, its special! Yours is just an ordinary one, your making that up. Your jealous!"
    "No!" said Lima, fearfully. She had a right to be afraid.  With his newly discovered talent her impressed firelizard was telling the seven-year-old all sorts of violent things.
    "Your a spoiled little Lord holder's daughter! Your jealous so your trying to make me believe that your firelizard talks too! I hate you!" Saren yelled. "Your Mr. Snuffles hurt my pet! I hate you both!" And she fled the room.
    "Wait! Saren!" Lima called. "Don't leave me alone with it!" The poor child, she was mortified.  Her gentle Mr. Snuffles, her beloved pet, was not so gentle after all.
    Let me out now you insolent fool! You'll pay for this! I'll make you scream for this!  Lima stared at the door in horror.
    "Shut up!" She yelled. She had no real idea what insolent fool meant, but it sounded evil. "Mr. Snuffles you are not being nice!" and with that she fled the room.

    "No I don't want to go back there!" Lima screamed. Relana rolled her eyes at the child.  Something was wrong with her, she was refusing to go back to her room.
    "Lima dear, you have to get some sleep."
    "No! I'll sleep with you! He'll hurt me mommy. Make him go away mommy! I'm scared."
    Fear for her daughter's sanity and safety filled Relana.  Was her child insane and seeing things? What could cause her to be so upset like this?  She hugged the bawling girl close, whispered words of comfort, but fear filled the mother as much as the child. She had never seen her happy, full of life daughter so disturbed.
    "Get rid of him mommy! I hate him! I don't want to ever see him every again!"
    "Who, Lima, who? Do you see dead people?"
    "No! Mr. Snuffles! He's scary mommy! He's evil! He talks to me, he says scary things." She sobbed. "Get rid of him please."
    Gladly. Thought Relana.

    The door open. Finally! Freedom! Now that I am out you will pay! Mr. Snuffles exclaimed, rushing out into the light.  And into darkness again.
    Relana closed the bag over the pink firelizard, still wearing the dress Lima had put on him.
    "Come on Mr. Snuffles." She said. "We have places to go."

  res  Darkness. Darkness and suffocation. He fought vainly against the restraints of whatever he had just been thrown in, crying out with his mind. (though only his bond could hear him, and she was in no mind state to do anything about it) He had no idea what was going on, his sense of direction was completely gone.  All he knew was that he was moving, or rather, what held him was moving.  This feeling went on for a long time and he finally gave up his fight.  Perhaps he was dead, perhaps this was death, this being shut tight inside cramped darkness while your body wasted away. But only before he had seen light, and the woman...
    The woman, she would pay for this! She would suffer! She would....but he could do nothing, especially if he was dead.
    After a while the sensation of moving grew rougher and different, and the traint around him became very cold and wet.  He picked up speed, and there was a roar now, and he felt himself being thrown against hard things and washed along at a breakneck speed.
   He wasn't dead, which was a surprisingly lucky thing for the small creature, as he was being washed down a raging river while trapped inside a wet sack, and still wearing a dress. The odd creature did seem to have quite a bit of luck, for after being washed down a river where Relana had dumped him in such conditions for a while, banged into rocks and branches, and finally being washed up onto a muddy shore, he was found half alive by a kindly old gentleman and taken back to a comfortable cothold to be healed.

       Twarek lived with his wife in a small but homey cottage inside a cothold outside of a Firestone Weyr.  The people there were mostly honest, hardworking people, with a few exceptions and village idiots.  Twarek and Haley were among the older people there and had never had a child of their own, though they had wished one.
    When Twarek brought Mr. Snuffles back, his wife was delighted. Finally, something to spoil and dote on! She was regarded by some as a good healer and gave the firelizard her best care. In a few days, he awoke.
       His first thought was that this was different.  His second thought was, he could feel Lima in the back of his mind, but she was different than she had once been.  Instead of being bright and full of life she was paranoid and fearful, he could sense it even if she was nowhere near.  Mr. Snuffles did not know where she was, and he did not care, so long as it was far away.  He laughed at what he had turned her into, but wished he didn't have to be constantly aware of her.  Perhaps one day he would kill her, and thus be free of that bond, later, when he was stronger.
    He didn't know where he was, but he knew that he was free, free at last from his life of captivity.  A smiling human woman spoke to him in a funny voice and offered him something to eat.  He took it because he was hungry, and the woman smiled broader and went to stroke his head. He snapped at her hand.

    The first weeks of his stay at the place aren't really remarkable, nor are they important enough to the story to describe in detail. If one did go on to describe them it would be mostly about how he was cared for, spoiled way beyond his deserving, and how as soon as he was able he would find something to steal or someone to inflict pain on becoming a general nuisance.
    This behavior began to annoy even the caring pair that had rescued him and it was evident that something must be done about it.  Since they were not bonded to him, they could not control him, though he did not leave simply because they supplied him food and the village supplied him victims.  Even if they were annoyed, when people complained about their new pet they claimed that he was just being a firelizard and would refuse to do anything. In truth more than a few people were angered.
    Foremost among these was Lwarek, brother of Twarek who had broken his leg recently in an unfortunate accident (caused by Mr. Snuffles, though his brother refused to believe this) and was forced to stay with his brother to be cared for. The seemingly harmless pink firelizard had not hesitated to greet his fellow patient.  Unfortunately for the both of them, Lwarek had never been all together upstairs and had a terrible temper.  So what was fun for Mr. Snuffles was creeping insanity for Lwarek, and soon the crazed, limping madman had wrought a plan for the firelizard's death.

    The daylight shone through the rafters, but it was a sound that woke Mr. Snuffles, and the rest of the hold for that matter, from its peaceful slumber.  The bugle of dragons.
    Dragons! As the news spread throughout the cothold the people rushed out to see the sight, two Searchdragons from the nearby Firestone Weyr. They were looking for candidates, the riders said, but for a very special clutch.
    Mr. Snuffles had his own reasons for wanting to see his draconic cousins.  He had felt them before he had heard them, being a firelizard, and now he yearned to converse with them.  He had had precious little conversation besides with the sniveling girl at the back of his head, and dragons would be fresh meat.  Perhaps his intelligence would surprise them.  Good. How would they like that, a lowly firelizard as smart as one of them!
    He went between and appeared right next to them, and it was a good thing that he did, because at that point in time Lwarek was about to jump out of the corner where he was hiding and attack Mr. Snuffles.
    The dragons were a bronze and a blue, and Mr. Snuffles perched on the head of the bronze. He spoke with it, and he seemed mildly surprised and doubtful at his intelligence.  He told him that they were there on Seach, there was a special clutch at Firestone Weyr, and they needed special candidates.  Mr. Snuffles had lived a very sheltered life, even though he was born at a weyr, so he didn't quite understand all she was speaking of.  He seemed to take this for stupidity, which angered him as much as the dragon's carefree manner, and he gave up and went back to the home of Twarek.
    Lwarek was waiting.  Angry for missing his chance, he threw his knife at the wall and muttered to himself.  He would kill that...he lost his train of thought as that whatever he was going to call it appeared in front of him. For a moment they just looked at each other, Mr. Snuffles beating his wings to stay aloft, then Lwarek leaped into action.
    He lunged for Mr. Snuffles, but Mr. Snuffles outmaneuvered him. Fear filled him with one look in the crazed man's eyes and he flew towards the doorway.  A knife wizzed by his head and he squawked and fluttered sideways, nearly hitting the wall.  He tried to fly around the room again and back towards the door in a panic.  Lwarek grabbed the knife from the splintered wall and readied for another attack.  This time he lunged at Mr. Snuffles, caught his tail, and spun him around.
    "Hahaha, watch who you mess with this time firelizard!" He laughed, raising the knife above his head with his free hand, ready to bring down. "Only I'm afraid there won't be a next time."
    Dread filled Mr. Snuffles.  So this was how he was going to die. By the hands of some madman who couldn't take a few practical jokes.  Well they weren't just practical jokes but still.  He saw the knife come down...saw his life flash before him...
    And then sometime truly amazing, improbably and basically impossible happened.  As soon as the knife touched Mr. Snuffle's hide a hole ripped open in the space-time continuum in just that spot, destroying the knife instantly and sending the matter of both out into zero-space and disintegrating it into little particles.  A shocking experience to say the least, and so unlikely it seemed impossible.  Just as suddenly the hole closed and their particles of matter were sent back to pern and rearranged themselves into two figures.  Because of all the shifting through zero-space and a slight alteration in the location of the hole in fabric of time, however, the two figures did not rematerialize in the same forms they had disintegrated from.
    What stood there in that small building were two mutants like nothing Pern had ever seen.  When only a moment ago he was sure of death, Mr. Snuffles was now startled, to say the least, to find himself with a whole new molecular structure, facing an equally frightening mutant.  He was much larger now, but still a good deal shorter than your average human, with a humanoid body.  Mostly.  His skin was very pinkish, and he had large wings where his arms should be, an in fact no other type of arm at all, though a small hand on the fold of his wings would have to do.  He still had his draconic tail, though it looked slightly odd coming out of a human back, and though his face was now a very pointy human face, his eyes were still entirely draconic. He resembled a mythical gargoyle to some extent, though gargoyles were rarely pink.
    His opponent was equally strange looking.  He had a mostly human-sized pink firelizard body, with a rather flat head for a firelizard and human hair on top of that.  Human eyes peeked out, and he had a pair of completely human arms as well as a pair of firelizard forearms.
    For a moment they stood there, staring at each other in shock and disbelief, which under the circumstances was understandable. Actually they stood there and stared at each other for quite longer than a moment, but after the period of time for which they stood staring at each other, something happened which caused them to stop doing so.
    Twarek's wife entered.  Twarek's wife screamed.  Twarek's wife ran away screaming. The two looked at each other.  Both knew that they had to leave before the whole cothold was raised against the two mutants.  Both wanted each other's blood, but there were more important things at hand.  They ran out of the door.  Lwarek's final thread of sanity snapped and he ran off into the surrounding forest, never to be heard from again except by the occasional traveler, and whose existence turned into a legend used to scare naughty children into bed at night.
    Mr. Snuffles was immensely relieved to find that his oversized wings still worked well to get him into the air and used them to do so.
    Another advantage, Mr. Snuffles realized as he flew, was that in the reconstruction of their molecules the bond to the holder girl had been lost or destroyed.  Now he no longer had her whimpering in the back of his mind, now he was truly free! Free of her, free of that cothold, free to do whatever he pleased, wreak whatever havoc he wanted!  In his joy he did a few loops in the air, but quickly found that he was not as agile as he had once been. That was all right, he had other abilities now.
    He had no aim really, but he tried to jump between to somewhere with lots of people to harass.  He found that he couldn't.  His betweening ability was gone as well.  This angered him, for it would be something very useful to have. This put him in a very bad mood, so he flew down to harass the next person that he saw.
    That person was a lone traveler, older, and weary.  He spotted the mutant coming towards him and screamed.  He tried to run, but the mutant laughed.  The laughter sounded terrible, something not much practiced, and indeed it wasn't since Mr. Snuffles was not used to having human vocal cords.
    "Wha...What do you want?" The man asked fearfully. Mr. Snuffles landed.
    "G..ive. meee youur money." He attempted to speak.  It was more difficult that he had thought it would be, but a wonderful ability to have.  Now he could communicate to people besides the girl in the back of his mind and other draconic creatures.
    "I have none!"
    "I thiink youu are lying."  Difficult as it was, he got the hang of it quickly and stepped towards the man.  The man took a step back, pulled some coins out of his bag, flung them at Mr. Snuffles, and ran. Mr. Snuffles tried to pick them up, but found it hard without arms.  His small hands on his wings could lift the money, but then where to put it?  He sighed, dropped it, and flew on.
 

    His next few days he spent in the wilderness and were not pleasant.  He had to re-learn how to survive with his new physical features.  Having no arms made things difficult, but the wings helped greatly.  Sometimes he would scare village children into leaving him food, other times he would swoop down on small rodents and attack them with his feet, which still had enough of draconic claws on them to work.  He survived, but this wasn't really a pleasant life, and Mr. Snuffles found that he was lonely.  Not that he wanted a friend, he didn't like friends, he liked hurting people, but...he was lonely all the same.  He couldn't live like this forever.

    Then one morning he came upon Firestone Weyr.  He had heard of it often, and the dragons to which he had spoken that fateful day were from there, but it was different to actually see it.  There would be lots of people here, and lots of his own kind, (though he didn't really have a specific "kind" anymore) and lots of dragons.  Fresh meat, but he had to be careful.  The Weyrfolk were not like village folk, they would not frighten so easily.
    It was early in the morning, so the weyrbowl was mostly empty.  The watchdragon bulged at the sight of him as he circled closer.
    Oh shut up stupid green. He shot back, the first he had spoken in that way since "the incident".
    There was one human in the Weyrbowl, a female, and near her another green dragon, probably the one she had impressed. She was staring at him, so he circled down to land in front of her.
    She did not look afraid, which unnerved Mr. Snuffles.  He was used to people screaming at the sight of him, and here this young human female was staring levelly at him, as if he was no more than a human child.  It must be because she had that dragon to protect her.  That wasn't fair! He wanted a dragon too! It was the first time the thought had actually crossed his mind, being a firelizard, but now that he was humanoid, it was something to consider.  A dragon would be a partner, a dragon would have to do as he said, a dragon would stop the loneliness and perhaps help him.  Yes, he wanted to impress a dragon, just as that girl had impressed to him, and he would get this girl to let him do so!
    As he was thinking these things, the girl's dragon, who was a Searchdragon, was telling her bonder that she felt something about this strange apparition.  Perhaps it wasn't that he actually had any candidacy potential, and with Mr. Snuffles' evil schemes making him a candidate might turn out to be a grave mistake, but it was that, or the fact that Mr. Snuffles had a lot of draconic in him that convinced the green that he should stand for their special clutch.
    "I am Mr. Snuffles." Mr. Snuffles said, annoyed by the silence.  He instantly regretted saying that, he had meant to get rid of that name and find  himself a more respectable one, but too late now.  "And I wish to be a candidate.  If you do not make me a candidate, I have my ways of forcing you to let me."
    Her stare did not change.  This was not going to be easy.  Mr. Snuffles searched his mind for ways of forcing her to let him stand.
    "Yes." She said.  "Come with me.  You shall be a candidate, strange as you are, you are lucky because we except and encourage such strangeness.  I am not doing this because you threaten me however, I am doing this because my dragon tells me that you are worthy of standing." She gestured for him to follow her.  Dumbfounded, Mr. Snuffles followed.

    The people of the Weyr generally stayed clear of Mr. Snuffles in the days that followed, and with good reason.  As if his new appearance wasn't frightening enough, he found new ways to make a menace of himself in his form.  His ability to speak to dragons was extremely useful--to his own ends, of course.  When the Weyr learned of this ability they weren't sure what to say, shouldn't they consider him of the rare Hear Any Dragon type? But he wasn't human, so perhaps not.  Some feared letting him impress, his trouble would be doubled if he had a dragon with him, but some beleived that the dragon would calm him down.  At any rate, they couldn't deny that his ability would be useful, and once a candidate they couldn't tell him he couldn't impress.  They were also a little afraid of what he might do to them.

    Hatching! Mr. Snuffles heard the cries of the dragons in his mind even before they bugled aloud.  He had also heard the mother dragons saying that some of the eggs were glowing, and that they wanted the candidates, if any of them were worthy.
    Mr. Snuffles knew that he was worthy.
    The hatching awaits, Mr. Snuffles And they still had a hint of amusement at his name.  He would change the damn thing, somehow! Perhaps something like Snuff the Evil Lizardman, that had a nice ring, but it was hard to change your name if everyone still called you by your old one.
    I know that you dense green. I'm not deaf to dragons like all the humans.
   No, but you sure are rude to them.
   If you weren't so stupid then I wouldn't have to be so rude.
   You watch yourself mutant.  It will be interesting to see what decent minded dragon would actually want to impress you.
`Fights with dragons was a common activity that Mr. Snuffles engaged in.  The dragons knew he was half firelizard, and thought low of him for that, which angered him to no end. Firelizards did have intelligence!  Well, they didn't, but he did!(the real reason they thought low of him was that he was a jerk)
    Watch you proddy wench, just watch. He replied in anger and hurried out to the sands. He wasn't even sure which green that had been, just one that felt like bespeaking him.  He knew that comment had angered her, but his anger could be just as great as that of the dragons and most of them let it slide with him to avoid an ordeal.
    Now on the sands, he could see the eggs rocking.  This was his time.  Soon the loneliness would go away, soon he would have a dragon to command...Soon he would truly become Snuff the Evil!
    No one seemed to be paying him any attention at this glorious moment.  Why not?
       He tapped impatiently, resisting the urge to cry out to the dragons and to the humans that he was here, ready to impress, let it begin.
    Finally, it began.
    The first strangely glowing egg hatched to reveal a strangely glowing dragon, blue and green.  Mr. Snuffles watched it, but somehow he knew that that one wasn't it.  It went to a girl in the corner, a girl who had been rather rude to him a few times.
    He watched each dragon hatch. He had imagined himself pouncing on the first one, demanding it be his lifemate, but now he hadn't.  He just watched, tense all over, and waited. It seemed like the one he wanted would come to him.  He didn't want any of the sissy dragons, he wanted a real companion, a strong tough dragon.  Greens, as he had learned that this was an all green clutch, were female, yet there were some male greens hatching here.  Good.
    There was a bit of dismay and amusement coming from the dragons and the crowd, Mr. Snuffles noticed, as one dragon went not to the candidates, but to a flower.
"HOW CAN A DRAGON IMPRESS A FLOWER?" The weyrwoman yelled. Mr. Snuffles couldn't hide his laughter.  Well, the egg wasn't a dud, but as far as intelligence, the dragon might have been.
    He was distracted by an explosion of shards.  A dragonet stood from a crouching position and snapped its wings shut, glaring around the room with his yellow eyes. His, not hers.  He was dark green with spikes, and a bit of pink on his tail.  Pink, just like Mr. Snuffles.  He glared at the tail in disgust, then looked right at Mr. Snuffles, the same pink color.
    You stuck with the aweful color too eh? He asked. The "voice" didn't surprise Mr. Snuffles, he often was addressed by dragons, usualy not in the most friendly tones, but it took him a moment to realize what happened.  He had been impressed before to a human child, but the experience was only a fraction of this.  The dragon, Limath, began to walk towards Mr. Snuffles, snapping and glaring at the other candidates as he went.  Mr. Snuffles and Limath shared laughter in their minds as the people backed off, frightened. He could almost feel the tension coming from the weyrleaders, well they had let him impress-an evil dragon to match an evil rider.
    "Hello Limath. Something tells me we will get along quite well." He said aloud, so that the people could hear too, and be afraid.
    Oh yes we are. The pair walked off the sands, laughing evilly, noting the releif in everyone as they left.

    The female green was pretty. She was young, strong, she had nice wings.  Wings that he doubted could outfly him. Go away Limath. She was proddy, not just towards her rider, towards everyone.  She would rise soon.  Go away?  That was rude.  Who was she to be rude to him!
    Stop that Arisiath, you are just being proddy.
   Don't you have better things to do than bother me?  Aha, there was an edge of fear in the attractive green's voice.  There was nothing Limath liked more than fear.
    Ah, don't be afraid my sweet.
   You are abnormal.  Look at you, your are half pink!  Greens are supposed to be females you know.  And just look at that twisted freak that you have for a rider.
   Hey, thats not nice.  I don't go insulting your rider because she sleeps with a different human male each night--
   DO NOT insult Kerian.  Arisiath spreak her winds and roared in anger.  A nearby blue saw the flight and spoke sharply to Limath.  Limath knew the blue, Reath, he'd had his eye on Arisiath too.
    Leave the green alone.  He pratically growled. She's about to rise, you have no right to upset her.
   Upset her, I was merely making conversation.  Limath laughed at the anger of the blue and green.  Arisiath looked ready to kill.  She was practically glowing.    He could sense the feelings rising in her, they were rising in him too.
    Her rider came running onto the feeding grounds.  She had realized it too.  Arisiath was rising!  Her vision locked on Limath, she lunged at him.  This was a rare event, dragon's never attacked each other.  Limath was caught a bit off guard and jumped sideways.
    "Blood! Forget the mutant male green, go after the heardbeasts!" Kerian yelled.
    Arisiath turned away from Limath and attacked a heardbest with ferioucity.  But something was wrong.  Instead of blooding it, despite her rider's pleas, she ate the flesh.

    What in Farranth?  M' Snuffles cried.  His dragon was pleased with himself, he could tell that much, but then he heard the angry cries of the green.  Hurredly he took off in the air and headed for the sands.
    Impressing Limath had been a huge plus for M'Snuffles.  The loneliness had vanished, and living in a Weyr was definently better than his previous existance.  There were lots of people to harass, and it helped thet he had a dragon equally as evil, if not more so. Plus, his elided name was a little better than Mr. Snuffles.  A little.
    Weyrling training had been hard.  M' Snuffles took his "respect through fear" rule to heart with his peers, but the Weyrlingmaster was another story.  The man refused to be afraid, refused to be manipulated, and in the end it was M' Snuffles who bended.  But M'Snuffles had learned much about fighting thread and weyrlife.  Oh, they said he would fight thread, expected his help because his ability to communicate with both dragons and humans would be useful, but he had no plans to do so.  As soon as his dragon was grown, he had planned on leaving the Weyr with Limath and causing havoc and destruction all across pern, or so he thought.  Limath was grown now, yet the pair hadn't left yet.
    Limath was just as evil as M'Snuffles, but one thing that was different about the two was that Limath was a very amorous dragon.  This was not the first time Limath could be found harassing females, especially before their flights.  M' Snuffles couldn't really understand this, since he himself was frustrated as to females.
    For one thing, he wasn't sure who to go after, firelizards or humans.  Neither speices were attracted to him in the slightest, which was understandable.  Really M'Snuffles wasn't very attracted by any of them either.  Maybe it was that he had lost some vital parts during his molecular switch, people certainly joked that way (when they were positive he was far away) or maybe it was that he just hadn't found the right person yet.  Either way, though his dragon pursued the female dragons eagerly, M' Snuffles was indifferent.
    M' Snuffles landed beside his green and pink dragon, who was hungrilly watching the green blood her kill.  She had eaten the first, but her rider had finally gained control.
    I want to chase her. Limath informed his rider.  M'Snuffles guessed as much.  He also had to laugh a little.  He knew that the prescence of his Limath in her flight would frigthen the already tense and broody green.  It would be interesting to watch.
    Have at it.  He told Limath.  Other male dragons were assembly on the sands, mostly blues, one brown.  M'Snuffles sighed.  He doubted his dragon would have much chance against them.  Not to insult his Limath, who was far superior to other dragons, but he was a male green and thus the size of a green, smaller than any of the other males.  He did have much more maeuverability though.
    Arisiath jumped into the sky.  The males, Limath included, flew after her.  She saw Limath and flinched visibly.  Limath and M'Snuffles laughed together.  M' Snuffles saw Arisiath's rider looking at him.  He grinned at her.  She took, flinched.  Arisiath outflew the male dragons easily, darting aside as they tried to get closer to her.  But she was distracted, nervious.  Limath laughed.  He darted under the clumsy brown and tried to get to her, but was knocked aside by the blue.  Startled he beat his wings to keep himself aloft and dropped back a bit.  Arisiath saw this.  Distracted, she didn't see the blue sneak up on her until he wrapped his neck around hers.  She had been caught and the flight hadn't even lasted five minutes.  Curse that half pink dragon!  Most of the Weyr did, because most of the Weyr knew it was his fault.
    Limath was dissapointed and angry with himself.  M' Snuffles remained indifferent. Its your own fault, you should have tried harder.  He told the dragon.
    Shove between, firelizard.  The partnership of evil did not always contain friendship.  They would soon get over it, they were bonded to each other after all, and understood each other as no one else did.  Soon M' Snuffles would have anothe evil sceme to entice his lifemate, soon Limath would have another female dragon to bother.  Maybe they would get themselves ready to leave the Weyr as they planned some time soon.  For now, life at Firestone Weyr for the pair was as it always was.