Lan
Weyrlingmaster 
lanct[M:-1025]
Nomming ALL the kidpets!
Posts: 1,266 
|
Post by Lan on Jan 10, 2009 0:47:15 GMT -5
 
Name:
C’lin (Calin)
Gender:
male
Age:
29 (Fall, 174th Turn, 10th Interval)
Sexuality:
bisexual
Location:
Dalibor Weyr
Rank:
Dusk Wingrider
Personality: (people-pleaser, charismatic, neat-freak, emotionally turbulent)
C’lin fights hard to gain a good reputation for himself around others. He is charming, sophisticated, eloquent, a perfectionist and a neat freak, and has a good head on his shoulders when it comes to matters of traveler’s smarts. All of his good qualities he often uses to his advantage, while trying to play down his bad qualities to the point where (he hopes) they're rarely noticeable. With a sharp wit, an eye for trouble, and an almost brilliant mind for getting out of said trouble, he has a way of making himself known in a new location very quickly. He also loves any opportunity to show up at any gather and will often go out of his way to attend each one. This young man knows how to make an entrance and how to instantly capture hearts with a few well-placed phrases and a flashy grin.
Yet this façade is just the surface of this charming lad. Being a people-pleaser invariably has its downfalls. He doesn’t just want people to like him, he NEEDS people to like him. When someone doesn't fall prey to his magnanimous charm and witty conversation, he can get very defensive. In this way there are no in-betweens in how a person's opinion is of him... he is either well-loved or utterly despised. Yet when someone is around him, they always have his full attention in mind. C'lin is not the kind to go babbling off about a romantic interest from turns ago. Also, he never has a reaction or emotion that is watered down, preferring to go to extremes with everything he does.
About his past, his inner thoughts, and even his sexuality, C'lin is a very secretive young man. This is partially because he is still in denial about his feelings for other men. Because of this C'lin has trouble accepting himself and is often depressed. He puts on a happy face for other people, of course, and tries to act completely normal. This show works for nearly everyone, including people close to him. Other than Reyith, who knows C'lin's every thought intimately, the only people who truly know what's going on inside the young man's head are those he allows in by leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, so to speak. These hints that he leaves he does not always leave wittingly, but are rather his subconscious trying to deal with what he is going through.
When in love, C'lin is often the rose to the other person's gardener. He'll shower the person with affection, of course, and make cute little comments here and there, but when it comes down to it he is the one that needs to be taken care of. His mental state is very rarely what one would call healthy and often the other partner can feel as if they're being forced to give up their own self to make sure he is okay. Yet C'lin is very protective of those he loves, particularly in trying to protect them from himself. It is not rare for C'lin to pretend for his partner that he's perfectly chipper in order to keep them from worrying about him or stressing over him.
The healthiest relationship that C'lin has is with Reyith. The black beast understands his rider's quirks and feelings of inefficiency and is the only living being that has been able to drag C'lin out of his spirals of depression with near 100% success. Often Reyith does this without even talking, knowing that his rider holds little emotion in someone's words. He loves Reyith more than he may ever be even close to capable of loving a human being, and Reyith fills the role of protector and caretaker of C'lin better than anyone else has ever been able to.
Appearance:
C’lin is a short man in a tall boy’s body. While his energy level, demeanor, face, and approach toward others is that of a wiry, short lad, he is a six-foot-two, slightly stocky young man. The majority of his mass is in his torso and his strong legs, and his ratio of upper body strength is less than what is usual for his gender. At the same time, he has weight and reach on his side when it comes to most physical encounters. He is also built for endurance, especially in running. He may not be the fastest, but he is driven and determined.
Of course, the most noted feature of C’lin is his beaming countenance. His dark green eyes are set pleasurably in his head and have a way of twinkling and growing brighter when he is overjoyed about something. More often than not there is an infectious grin set on his face and, even at this young age, lines are beginning to form around his mouth. He has a strong jaw line and his complexion is generally clear except for one dark freckle over his top lip on the left side of his nose. The dark brown hair that adorns his head is always unruly, even when it is cut short.
When on one of his emotional highs, C’lin is very animated. To accompany his flamboyant voice and his vibrant eyes and charming smile, his eyebrows go high into his forehead and his entire face looks a bit like it is being stretched out. In contrast, when he is in a depressed mood and around people he trusts, his face grows long and ages turns. It is those times it appears as if his skin is literally hanging from his skull. His eyes also turn darker, like distant thunderclouds of an impending storm. Also, when he is nervous about something, he tends to scratch unconsciously at his arm with his left hand (his dominant hand).
Family:
mother- Lindal (healer @ Eastern hold) - 54 (149th Turn, 10th Interval)
father- Canur (harper @ Eastern hold) - 59 (144th Turn, 10th Interval)
half-sister- Carilla (from previous fling of Canur, lives with mother at Tillek Hold) - 33 (170th Turn, 10th Interval)
half-brother- Jaren (from previous marriage of Canur, mother dead) - 40 (163rd Turn, 10th Interval)
Pets:
none
History:
Birth and soon after ##
Calin was born to Lindal, the resident healer at Eastern Hold, and sired by Canur, the journeyman harper stationed at Eastern Hold. Lindal was Canur's second wife, his first wife having passed away nine turns prior to their own marriage, and she had lived in Eastern hold for her entire life, having trained under the healer that was stationed there before her. Their courtship was a rather brief one. Many people accused Canur of asking for her hand so quickly because he was still lonely from the death of his first wife. He had already had one fling in between his first wife and Lindal, which produced a child, and would have married the woman except that she would not accept his hand. So Canur was just dying to have someone to share his life with and would accept any female human who would have him, or so the rumors went.
Canur had brought one son with him to Eastern Hold, Jaren, who was the child of his first wife. Jaren was eleven when Calin was born, and as such the two had very little in common. Jaren was being taught the ways of harpering by his father, and as a newborn the only thing that interested Calin was being fed, getting his naps changed, and absorbing all the attention. Needless to say, Jaren was upset with the newborn, regardless that he was conceived in wedlock. He hated the babe for having a chance to know his mother, like he had never had. Grudgingly he would watch his father and his new wife attend to the baby and, half the time, he entertained thoughts of throwing the baby in his skiff, sailing a little ways out, and dropping the revolting, squirming thing into the ocean.
But Calin grew quickly into a stumbling, five-turn-old toddler. He was wide-eyed, mischievous, and generally a typical child. Or... he would have been if his mother had been a different woman. Lindal suffered terrible mood swings and was quick on her feet to argue with Canur and yell at Calin for everything she could think of that he was doing wrong. Yet, not a moment later, she would be apologizing and mothering the boy as if nothing had happened. It had started slow, as it always did, until her mind would practically snap on a moment’s notice. And, since Calin was with her most of the time, he received the brunt of it.
So the now sixteen-turn-old Jaren took a sympathy to Calin and would take him out on his skiff whenever he could. Whether his half-brother was an infidel or not, he wasn't going to let any child take such undeserved punishments, which Canur had conveniently turned a blind eye toward. At first, even while doing the boy a favor, he was intent on not liking him at all. Then, as time moved on, he grew to find that Calin had a delightfully inquisitive mind and could pick up on things very quickly. Too quickly, thought Jaren as he one time had to jump in the sea to swim after a boat that Calin had untied from the dock. Still, he took pride and pleasure in being able to teach Calin things. He would sing his half-brother the teaching songs and took great joy in hearing the boy sing in tune when he would finally pick up the melody. The days Jaren spent with Calin were some of the best in Calin's life.
Childhood games ##
Still, Calin would eventually have to go home. When Jaren was in lessons and Canur was off harpering, Calin was left to take the wrath of the bipolar Lindal. When he was seven or eight she was having him help her set the table for supper, when she was convinced he was doing it all wrong. She would tell him to position the plates and utensils one way, which he would follow precisely, and then she would give him a completely different set of instructions and become frustrated that he wouldn't do what she said. After many repetitions of this disastrous cycle, Lindal finally threw her hands up and yelled at the boy, lecturing him in a stern voice and asking 'why was he so incompetent'?
That was the first time Calin ran. While his mother had her backed turned and was preoccupied with something, he grabbed a glow from the hold kitchen and slipped into a dark, musty, little-used closet. Then he waited, his knees curled up to his chin and his eyes clenched shut in the relative darkness. He stayed there long after the sun had slipped below the horizon and all the time he heard his mother hysterically calling and traipsing back and forth about the hold. Calin didn't come out. He ignored her cries with his fists jammed in his ears. His eyes began to grow wet and irritated. But he didn't stay because he was afraid. Of course he was timid, but fear was not his main driving force. He wanted to get back at her. Calin wanted to make her suffer for what she had put him through.
The next time he took off was his last. He was ten or eleven. Jaren was no longer there to protect him, having been sent to another hold to be an assistant Harper. Canur, his prodigy now out of his hands, had spent more time with his family, but was still unaware of the situation with Calin and his mother. He knew Lindal was no longer the woman he married, but he dealt with her loving and affectionately. After all, she may have her moments, but she hadn't done anything in his eyes that was too morally wrong.
Canur had been outside, fiddling with his gitar, when he heard a sudden, loud whack. There was a pause where all was still and even his wandering harper's hands had stopped their tuning and fiddling. Then, like a crack of lightening, Calin ran out of their small hut and to the shore. 'Calin!' Canur had called out to his son, rather anxious and befuddled as to what had taken place. Yet he didn't go after him. Canur returned to the house to see a bawling Lindal as a sobbing heap on the floor. It took him precious minutes to soothe her to the point where she would sit in a chair and moments more to get her to a point where she wasn't too deep in hysterics to speak intelligably.
'I hit him!' She cried between upheavals of tears and estranged breaths. 'I hit him! I'm a horrible mother!'
It was only then that Canur had remembered the young boy streaming past on light feet, his mind clearly set on a purpose. He scrambled out the door and down the worn path to the docks. His heart he had nearly regurgitated from his body by the time he had reached the shore. With purpose he didn't slow his pace as he reached the docks, his eyes frantically counting the small boats. One. Two. Three. Fou-... The last boat was missing. Shock settled in like a knife to his chest. There was a storm coming. The fishermen had felt it. Yet he couldn't spot the little boat in the vast water and his shouts for his son to come back were lost to the waves.
A day passed before they found the boy along the coastline not too far from the hold. He was shaken, his eyes darkened, and no one could get him to speak of what had happened to him. He didn't remember. For several weeks he was mute and in bed, assumed sick. Then when he finally would speak and was free to move about, he would pick up his father's instruments but not make a sound like he used to. Whatever his mother told him to do, no matter how silly, he did promptly and without complaint, speaking a constant stream of apologies if something was not up to her standard.
The charming young lad ##
When Calin turned thirteen turns old he showed an extreme ability to weasel his way into getting early snacks from the women cooking for the hold. He had learned all of the teaching songs at age ten, but now he was able to pick up a tune on the gitar as soon as he heard it played once. Also, he had developed a wonderfully persuasive way of speaking that could prove to anyone that the sky was as green as a proddy green dragon without them having the opportunity to give a second thought to it.
That boyish wit that had endeared him to his half-brother and the ladies of the hold when he was younger now had developed into a wicked cleverness that often got him into trouble, yet right back out of it as well. He had an impossible way of being, never taking anyone's word for anything, and always filing little things that people said away to be used against them at a later date. Calin was fearless when it came to talking to his peers or his elders and he had a grin that could melt the anger from anyone's heart. Yet there was one thing that Calin did fear: the ocean. Since the incident he had not been on a boat or even five feet from the water. People had assumed it was just a natural timidity. What no one had truly expected, living at a hold by the sea, was that it had become an irrational phobia.
This was discovered when some of Calin's peers, tired of Calin always being able to whittle goods out of the cooks and not ever saving them any of the booty, took great offense and ganged up on him. They not-so-stealthily slipped a net over his head and began dragging him away from the hold. Of course, Calin kicked up quite a ruckus at being roughed up by his peers. Then he saw where they were taking him. The dock. His cries turned from those of discomfort to hysterics. He beat and flailed his arms around him, blinded by his fear, and then blacked out. The next thing he remembered was sitting on a chair in front of his mother, having some scratches on his face and scrapes on his arms mended. One of the aunts told him that he had fought the boys off and that they, and she said the next part with a tone of bemusement, were even more banged up that he was. So the boys afterward kept a comfortably safe distance away from Calin, a distance which grew the closer Calin was to the sea.
The search for meaning ##
Meanwhile, Canur had grown wary of Lindal’s fading mind. He had begun to take Calin’s side in every argument (and there were many, caused often enough by subtle, incidental insults from Calin). This did not do much to endear Canur to his wife, however. She became paranoid, flighty, and increasingly capricious. She was convinced there was no one at the hold who wasn’t against her and her healing work suffered for it.
It wasn’t long before a message was sent to the hold reading the very thing that Lindal was most afraid of. The Holder of Eastern Hold had sent an earnest message to the main Healer Hall at Fort, explaining their situation and how it was getting to the point where many of his people were not getting the treatment they needed. Lindal was one of the only trained healers at the Hold with enough experience to mend and heal more than minor ailments and first-aid cases. And, with the weather about to get rougher with the change of season, the Hold could not afford to have a shortage of competent healers. The Healer Hall had sent back a message saying that of course they would fill the need… but could Eastern Hold wait a bit longer for a journeyman healer to return from an unexpected trip?
The letter was supposed to remain a secret from Lindal, but the circle of gossip she had stuck her toe into got the message to her sooner than anticipated. At first she seemed to be taking the entire situation rather well. If her hold needed more, better healers, then it would be what was best for her hold and who was she to argue with that? Lindal had grown up in Eastern Hold and, as she boasted, she was more loyal to her home than even some of the Holder’s children. She even began to focus more on her healing and her work ethic improved. Then things took a turn for the worst. In what started off as a civilized conversation, Lindal forthright accused her husband of telling the Holder, even the Masterhealer himself, that she was unqualified for the job, a slanderous action in her opinion.
‘It’s infidelity!’ She shouted without a single pause for Canur to repudiate the charge, ‘And I won’t have it in MY house! No, no, no!’
‘Then stay here!’ The statement was out before Canur could regain control of himself. The sardonic glare that followed from his wife pushed him even further past his limits and that night he packed up his and Calin’s belongings and they moved to new lodgings in the main hold.
But Calin couldn’t escape his mother. He was now fourteen turns and, on top of his father’s instructions for his harpering (Canur refused to let the boy attempt for a spot to train at the main Harper Hall), he had many non-ocean-related tasks to do around the hold. And Lindal always knew how to find him. From the morning after he and his father left to the afternoon the new healer came to the hold, Lindal stalked her son continuously, asking how Canur was doing and when oh when were they going to move back? She was lonely, for the First Egg’s sake!
When the blue dragon bearing the new healer landed in Eastern Hold, Calin wasn’t sure that even that was going to silence her. If anything, he reasoned, the appearance of the new healer would only make her worse. So as he watched the graceful beast come in for a landing right in the middle of the path he was treading, he was less than thrilled. His knuckles tightened until they were white around the pails he was holding. As much as he was honored to see a dragon so close, he just wanted the thing to be gone. He was tired, dealing with his mother was enough of a chore already, and it would be hard enough dealing with welcoming the new healer without the bluerider chatting up the Holder! Yet, when he grudgingly went moved his way around the unwelcomed obstacle to continue with his set chores, he found himself face-to-eye with a swirling vortex of brilliant color. That he hadn’t been ready for. The strength left his arms and he heard the filled pails drop to the ground and spill out their contents.
‘Wotch wot yer doin’, boy-‘ The Holder began until he caught sight of the somewhat absurd and mildly frightening scene. There stood Calin, already growing to be a tall lad, who was completely stupefied as the blue dragon’s head was right in front of him, the entire creature dwarfing him in size. As the rider tried unsuccessfully to call his dragon to order the bewildered Holder tried to get an explanation as to what was going on. All the while Calin just stood, wide-eyed and afraid to move or do anything to further upset the dragon or his rider.
‘I don’t know sir,’ The bluerider gasped, trying his best to get his dragon’s attention. ‘He just won’t listen to me!’
‘I didn’t mean to walk so close…’ Calin shouted, finally finding his voice. He gulped, took a deep breath, then told the dragon in a small, child-like voice, ‘I’m sorry.’
The blue dragon, as if on cue, then swung its great skull out of the way and turned an eye to his rider. The frenzied swirling in his eye had calmed to a gentle whirling and was now a tranquil, thoughtful blue. After a moment of paralysis, Calin struggled in vain to rescue the pails he had dropped and as much of their contents as he could. The Holder was silent, but clearly anxious for an explanation for the interruption of the lad’s chores around the hold.
‘I’m real sorry, he’s never done that ‘cept one time before, when-‘ The bluerider stopped and gawked at his life partner, as if noticing some weird quirk for the first time. He mouthed something that looked to Calin as “eggs on the sands”, and all four of the awkward gathering were silent and still. Then, after a couple of moments, although seemingly forever to a confused Calin and the perturbed Holder, when the rider and dragon convened in their special, telepathic way, the bluerider finally spoke so all could hear him. But his gaze was set firmly on Calin. ‘I think you’re to be a candidate on the Eastern Weyr sands.’
Impressions of the weyr ##
It didn't take as much persuasion as the bluerider had anticipated to receive permission to take Calin as a candidate to Eastern Weyr. The Holder didn't seem to care if the rascally fourteen-turn-old was taken off of his hands to get in trouble somewhere else and, ultimately, be someone else's problem. Lindal was, of course, in hysterics about her beloved, only son leaving her forever, but no one really paid her any mind as far as making decisions. In fact, the only person who seemed genuinely distraught that Calin was leaving was Canur. After protecting the boy from his mother the past few turns and getting to know the lad, he had become very attached and didn't want to see his youngest son leave. Yet, after telling himself over and over that it would be a better life for Calin to live with the dragonriders, he agreed that he should go.
So as the bluerider prepared to take off, Calin was putting together the things he was going to take with him to the weyr. His heart pounded clear into his ears as adrenaline saturated his blood. He was going to go to the weyr and... and be a dragonrider. Calin had always been a realistic lad, not given to chasing fantasies and dreams that would never come true, but it would be a lie to say that he hadn't, like all other boys his age, dreamed of riding a dragon. And now he would have his chance! Even if he didn't impress, although he was confident that he would, he would still be around dragons at the weyr. And the high quality of food wouldn't hurt either, he thought to himself as his stomach rumbled for something other than the usual fish.
He had nearly run out of the hold doors and to the blue dragon and his rider. Then, noticing how reckless he was being, he instantly stopped with a sudden jerk and stood at a respectful stance and distance in front of the blue dragon who had noticed him. He bowed, hoping that was the proper way to greet the dragon that had possibly changed his life. The bluerider laughed jollily at him, took his things and bundled them in the saddle bags on the blue dragon. After a couple of embarrassing moment trying to mount the great blue creature, Calin looked out at the hold with some sorrow in his eyes. Now that he was gone, there would be no one to protect his father from Lindal. How would his father survive without him?
The thought had just begun to settle in his mind when the blue dragon lurched upward, snapping Calin's head back and forcing him to take a strong hold on the bluerider's waist. As the dragon climbed higher and higher Calin buried his face into the wherhide jacket of the rider in front of him. The musty scent of dragon and weyr that clung to the rider's clothes, Calin was surprised to find, was enough on its own to calm the anxieties associated with a person's first dragon ride. He took deep breaths of the soothing smell and slowly his heartbeat began to settle into a more regular rhythm. When they had reached a substantial height where they could look over the entire hold, the bluerider looked back at him with an amiable chuckle and kind smile.
'You don't have to hold on so tight, you know,' He teased, although the jest was lost on Calin. Then the rider's grin slackened and he spoke in a serious, encouraging tone. 'We're about to go between. You ready?' Calin didn't have enough time to respond before the blue dragon winked out and the cold, black nothingness of the enduring between pillowed all his senses. Once again his heart beat like a roar in his ears and he felt impossibly alone. His mind worked into overtime until, in an attempt to calm himself, he went over a teaching ballad in his mind. The words and chords swung over him and blanketed his mind from his fears of the terrifying blackness. Then, before he knew it, light shined red behind his clenched shut eyelids. What Calin saw when he finally hazarded to open his eyes was the greatest sight to him in all the world. The great Eastern Weyr.
Calin, with his charm and way with people, fit in almost immediately to the hustle and bustle of weyr life. He made friends easily, worked hard in his chores, and was able to even smuggle his way into the hearts of the cooks enough to get himself pre-prandial snacks on most days. Soon he managed to remove his mother and his life at the old hold from his conscious mind. Yet, at the same time, subconsciously he was having more trouble dealing with his roots than ever. He had become a perfectionist and a neat freak and always had to have his things in a certain order. His cot was always made neater than the other boys, partially because he spent such time and attention to making it just so. He also began to exhibit minor mood swings. When Calin was happy, he was enthusiastically so, and when he was angry there was little that could calm him down. The need to keep things clean and organized had become a way for him to relieve stress.
Calin didn't impress at his first hatching. Nor did he impress at his second. This did little to help his confidence. Yet he began to pretend. People liked him better when he was happy, he noticed, so he did his best to give them what they want. They wanted a charming, eloquent, clever young lad who was always a ray of sunshine. And who was he to deny his peers and elders what they wanted from him? The more trouble he had keeping up his facade, the more work he did. People began to attribute his random snappiness to the fact that he was always tired from work. Most of the time, after all, he was such a pleasant lad.
It wasn't until he was sixteen that Calin finally lived the dream that had been placed in his mind as fact two turns ago. He was standing on the hatching sands again, how many times he had done this before he couldn't recall, in his white candidate uniform with the searing hot from the sands seemingly burning holes through his shoes. So many times he had seen the dragonets burst forth, all wet and wobbling and careening for the partner of their souls. So many times had he been denied the experience of the emotional, loving, instant bond between dragon and rider. The faces of the boys next to him over and over again had lit up with a deep, radiating glow as they announced for the first time the name of their beloved life partners.
So many times, in fact, that picking out what dragonet would look to what boy had become almost a game for Calin. He would look at the way the boys stood, the way they reacted to the first loud crack of a baby dragon bursting forth from its shell, even the way the surrounding boys reacted to the first impression made. It had become something of a science for Calin and he had a tendency to be right nearly three-fourths of the time. Which, in his mind, was pretty good, since one could never quite tell who would impress which color dragon.
This hatching was no different for Calin. He stood there, a complacent expression worn nonchalantly upon his countenance, and he watched the dragonets burst forth from their now hardened shells. There was something slightly twisted about his grin when, one by one, the dragonets all went to the humans he had claimed for them. During his first couple of hatchings he might have been sad, even envious, of all the newly paired weyrlings. The truth was he still had some form of jealousy, he just chose not to let it show. After all, no one likes someone who's envious of everyone else all the time. So he watched them until almost all of the dragonets were paired up, until once again that familiar sinking feeling of rejection in the pit of his stomach dragged his very heart to the fiery sands. The only infant dragons that were left were a brown and a bronze and they were practically on the other side of the hatching ground. No luck for him there. He had given up hope, yet again, and was about to go lurk in his cot in a state of rejection until he heard a high-pitched cry behind him.
Obviously someone needed to take better care of their new dragon, he thought sullenly for a second, until he felt a pair of sharp claws at his back. Suddenly the feeling of rejection deepened to a near unbearable level that brought him to his knees. Didn't he like him? Wasn't he good enough? Did Calin wish for a different dragon, a better one? Considering in some sort of disbelief at the incorporeal thoughts, he turned his head slowly to look behind him. It was then his eyes met the whirling, fluorescent ones of a small, black dragonet. Reyith and C'lin had finally found one another.
Growing up dragon ##
C'lin soon learned, in the midst of his weyrling drills and taking care of his new life partner, that Reyith often chose to communicate in mental images and complex emotions than in telepathic speech. These abstract ideas at first bewildered the young man and he had some more difficulty communicating with his dragonet at first than the other weyrlings in his same barrack. Even when he had first impressed the impossible, lovable beast Reyith had not chose to speak his own name. C'lin just knew it, as if it had been a part of him since the day he was born. Only once in the first three months did Reyith ever actually speak to him, dubbing him with the properly contracted name of C'lin. But with everyday matters, such as the need to be oiled or the need to eat or the often unwelcomed wakeup call, Reyith seemed more to be inhabiting C'lin's own mind and relaying what he was feeling than specifically asking his rider to feed or oil him.
When it came to their drills, though, the two were top class. As soon as Reyith was able to fly and they joined the weyrling flying drills, C'lin experienced first-hand Reyith's amazing ability to turn virtually on a dime. Where the other young dragons were a bit awkward and, often, obviously inexperienced, Reyith took to the air like a fish took to the ocean. He could judge the different air currents as accurately as a bird. Also, C'lin found that while riding with Reyith he often lost the ability to differentiate which consciousness was his and which was the black dragon's. So the two were able to anticipate each other's actions brilliantly and moved in the air as one entity, instead of like the primitive relationship of rider and runnerbeast.
As Reyith grew older he began to use telepathic speech to communicate with C'lin more, if only for the comfort of his rider. C'lin also was able to turn on and off, with some concentration on his part, the weaving of consciousness the two shared while flying (for it wouldn't do for passengers to have a completely oblivious rider that was unable to comfort them). Reyith also grew very close to his rider, choosing C'lin's company over the company of other dragons. He quickly became intimately familiar with the inner workings of C'lin's mind. When C'lin was angry, Reyith knew how to calm him down. When C'lin was upset, Reyith knew how to make him feel better. These were things C'lin could get from other people before, but the company of other people would never bring him out of his bouts of depression as frequently as Reyith could. Reyith became a familiar, warm presence in his mind that was always with him, and C'lin carried it as a security blanket.
Throughout the two turns the two were together at Eastern Weyr C'lin had other relationships with humans, all of them female. As much as Reyith encouraged C'lin that his feelings for other men were not something to be ashamed of and that he would love him always, C'lin was unable to shake his hold mentality and, although he accepted other homosexual relations between other riders, could not bring himself to accept such emotions within himself. A majority of the females he wooed were actually covers for entirely different emotions for a fellow wingmate. Yet, even with the relationships that were genuine, C'lin was unable to give himself fully to the woman he loved. He always remained the one who needed to be cared for, instead of half the time being the caretaker as it should be in a healthy relationship. Still, it broke his heart when every relationship ended, often with him being told to grow up. But Reyith was always there as a shoulder for C'lin to cry on and was never far from his beloved's mind.
The beginning of an adventure ##
As the Holders were striving to expand into the Western Continent and complete the work on Western Hold, there was talk of a new weyr being built to protect that part of Pern. When D'bor, rider of iron Stelinth, organized a small group of dragonriders (with many dragons of new colors) to found a new, Western Weyr, C'lin was quick to make known his urge to be a part of a group founding a completely new weyr. But, with a two-turn-old dragon that had just barely reached sexual maturity, he knew he might not be one of the first selected, even with his ability to make his presence and Reyith's acute flying skills known.
Although not selected in the first group, during the development of the weyr C'lin was able to weasel his way into helping out with the construction ('the very least I could do' he explained cheekily to those in charge when they discovered his presence). With his increasing absence from his own weyr and his vigor in helping with the establishment of the new Western Weyr, it was agreed by the leaders of Eastern Weyr that, perhaps, he belonged at the new weyr and formal arrangements were then made for him to stay there. C’lin had never been so excited since he was first told he had a shot at being a dragonrider.
So ever since he has stayed… through the death of the two founders of the Western Weyr, confirmed as Dalibor weyr in tribute to the ironrider who helped to found it, and the confirmation of Fajra, rider of copper Kalith, as the new Senior Weyrwoman. All the time Reyith acted as a constant pillar of support through the ups and downs and all the time C’lin’s bright, if not slightly chaotic, personality shone brightly to each person he met. By the time Dalibor Weyr had finished construction, C'lin had made himself very well known for a wingrider of his status to nearly all of the weyr's occupants, if only by the cheap talk of his reputation as being a somewhat cheeky, fun, quirky, yet hardworking young man with a perfectionist attitude who was just as interesting to be around as he was impossible to deal with.
At Dalibor ##
At the first Gather of the year C'lin found favor with a saucy yellowrider named P'nay. The two spent the gather together, but afterward quickly fell out of contact. C'lin remembered him only when P'nay became the weyrmate of a pinkrider named R'ish. Reyith felt C'lin's emotional turmoil and, as a result, he flew wth R'ish's pink rose to mate. He lost and both he and his rider backed off reluctantly. For much of the next turn he was completely in ruins and an emotional wreck. Reyith's lost flights didn't help.
Then he met a fresh face; there was a young boy named Ezra. He was a candidate, young and small and so full of life. Being around him made C'lin feel alive again. The more time he spent with the younger man the more he felt his previous joy and happiness bubble up. Sometime after the boy impressed a yellow dragon C'lin made a move to show the boy of deeper, growing affections. It wasn't enough for the blackrider, though. He wanted more. Toward the end of E'ra's weyrlinghood C'lin avoided him, sinking back into a depressed stupor. Only when E'ra visited him after his graduation did C'lin finally show him the full animation of his affections. However, he did not commit to a weyrmateship. Not yet. As this happened Reyith and Ocouth, E'ra's yellow dragon, formed a tight bond and friendship.
After his enlightened experience with E'ra and Pandemoniuth's happily ended flight, C'lin met up again with P'nay and the yellow Annith. They renewed their friendship as if no time had passed between them now and the Gather so many turns ago. Together they traveled around Pern looking for gathers and bubbly pies. The encounter made C'lin further uneasy about his relationship with E'ra, although he didn't let on about this to the boy.
Dragon Name:
Reyith
Dragon Age:
13 (Winter, 190th Turn, 10th Interval)
Dragon Color:
black
Dragon Length:
20ft
Dragon Personality: (silent, watchful, loving, patient)
To fit the general stereotype of his color of dragon, Reyith is a quiet dragon who tends to keep to himself, only talking to C'lin or the Weyrleaders. Either way, he is a dragon of little words, even with his own rider, and prefers to communicate with his rider in larger abstract thoughts, emotions, or ideas than with actual speech. He is also reticent around other dragons, preferring the company of his rider or a quiet, high ridge to sunbathe and watch the action going on below and around him.
Reyith is passive about all the little inconsistencies and unexpected events in life and, unlike his rider, doesn't mind a little disorder now and again. He takes what he calls small things in stride (or in wingbeat) and accepts them as being one of the more interesting things about life. As such, he tends to be more spontaneous than C'lin, who tends to have his days planned out and, often, full. Reyith also is able to help C'lin see the small, beautiful, wonderful things about life that he often misses in his daily run-around. He also tends to be more empathic and merciful than C'lin, forgiving people of little mistakes before his rider would.
Yet there are also personality traits that Reyith has picked up from C'lin (like dragon like rider). While he is more discerning of people's intentions, he is capable of holding harsh grudges for serious offenses against himself or his rider. He also has a certain streak of vengeance in him, with a skewed vision of justice that himself and his rider shares. An eye for an eye, for serious offense, makes perfect sense to Reyith and, if he senses his rider's emotions are the same about an individual, he will not hesitate to execute such an action.
Dragon Appearance:
Reyith, true to his color, is a small dragon. He has a whispery, lithe build that allows him to outmaneuver most of the larger dragons in the weyr. He has what would be called a runner's build on a human. Endurance, speed, agility, and dexterity are what he has been bred for... and he expresses that breeding as a prime physical example for what is meant for his subspecies of dragon. The only exception is his hide. Instead of being a perfect, all-absorbing black, it has flecks of cosmic purple and royal blue mixed in that gives him the look of something that has flown in from some extraterrestrial place. His eyes also, unlike those belonging to others of his species, are of muted colors. Where other dragons' eyes reflect much light during the dark hours, his have a slightly duller glow to promote stealth.
Reyith does not fluster or rouse easily, and as such his actions are slow and deliberate when on the ground (in stark contrast to his ghost-like maneuverability in the air). He is graceful, elegant, and almost regal in his movements. Yet he is not aggressive in appearance in the slightest, like the King and Queen dragons of the weyr. This is partially because he takes no interest in humans other than his rider. Unless they have a strong emotional connection with C’lin (be it negative or positive) he will not even acknowledge another human’s presence with a sniff or a nod of his head, although he might watch them if he is particularly bored.
Dragon History:
(taken from the last two sections of C'lin's history)
Growing up dragon ##
C'lin soon learned, in the midst of his weyrling drills and taking care of his new life partner, that Reyith often chose to communicate in mental images and complex emotions than in telepathic speech. These abstract ideas at first bewildered the young man and he had some more difficulty communicating with his dragonet at first than the other weyrlings in his same barrack. Even when he had first impressed the impossible, lovable beast Reyith had not chose to speak his own name. C'lin just knew it, as if it had been a part of him since the day he was born. Only once in the first three months did Reyith ever actually speak to him, dubbing him with the properly contracted name of C'lin. But with everyday matters, such as the need to be oiled or the need to eat or the often unwelcomed wakeup call, Reyith seemed more to be inhabiting C'lin's own mind and relaying what he was feeling than specifically asking his rider to feed or oil him.
When it came to their drills, though, the two were top class. As soon as Reyith was able to fly and they joined the weyrling flying drills, C'lin experienced first-hand Reyith's amazing ability to turn virtually on a dime. Where the other young dragons were a bit awkward and, often, obviously inexperienced, Reyith took to the air like a fish took to the ocean. He could judge the different air currents as accurately as a bird. Also, C'lin found that while riding with Reyith he often lost the ability to differentiate which consciousness was his and which was the black dragon's. So the two were able to anticipate each other's actions brilliantly and moved in the air as one entity, instead of like the primitive relationship of rider and runnerbeast.
As Reyith grew older he began to use telepathic speech to communicate with C'lin more, if only for the comfort of his rider. C'lin also was able to turn on and off, with some concentration on his part, the weaving of consciousness the two shared while flying (for it wouldn't do for passengers to have a completely oblivious rider that was unable to comfort them). Reyith also grew very close to his rider, choosing C'lin's company over the company of other dragons. He quickly became intimately familiar with the inner workings of C'lin's mind. When C'lin was angry, Reyith knew how to calm him down. When C'lin was upset, Reyith knew how to make him feel better. These were things C'lin could get from other people before, but the company of other people would never bring him out of his bouts of depression as frequently as Reyith could. Reyith became a familiar, warm presence in his mind that was always with him, and C'lin carried it as a security blanket.
Throughout the two turns the two were together at Eastern Weyr C'lin had other relationships with humans, all of them female. As much as Reyith encouraged C'lin that his feelings for other men were not something to be ashamed of and that he would love him always, C'lin was unable to shake his hold mentality and, although he accepted other homosexual relations between other riders, could not bring himself to accept such emotions within himself. A majority of the females he wooed were actually covers for entirely different emotions for a fellow wingmate. Yet, even with the relationships that were genuine, C'lin was unable to give himself fully to the woman he loved. He always remained the one who needed to be cared for, instead of half the time being the caretaker as it should be in a healthy relationship. Still, it broke his heart when every relationship ended, often with him being told to grow up. But Reyith was always there as a shoulder for C'lin to cry on and was never far from his beloved's mind.
The beginning of an adventure ##
As the Holders were striving to expand into the Western Continent and complete the work on Western Hold, there was talk of a new weyr being built to protect that part of Pern. When D'bor, rider of iron Stelinth, organized a small group of dragonriders (with many dragons of new colors) to found a new, Western Weyr, C'lin was quick to make known his urge to be a part of a group founding a completely new weyr. But, with a two-turn-old dragon that had just barely reached sexual maturity, he knew he might not be one of the first selected, even with his ability to make his presence and Reyith's acute flying skills known.
Although not selected in the first group, during the development of the weyr C'lin was able to weasel his way into helping out with the construction ('the very least I could do' he explained cheekily to those in charge when they discovered his presence). With his increasing absence from his own weyr and his vigor in helping with the establishment of the new Western Weyr, it was agreed by the leaders of Eastern Weyr that, perhaps, he belonged at the new weyr and formal arrangements were then made for him to stay there. C’lin had never been so excited since he was first told he had a shot at being a dragonrider.
So ever since he has stayed… through the death of the two founders of the Western Weyr, confirmed as Dalibor weyr in tribute to the ironrider who helped to found it, and the confirmation of Fajra, rider of copper Kalith, as the new Senior Weyrwoman. All the time Reyith acted as a constant pillar of support through the ups and downs and all the time C’lin’s bright, if not slightly chaotic, personality shone brightly to each person he met. By the time Dalibor Weyr had finished construction, C'lin had made himself very well known for a wingrider of his status to nearly all of the weyr's occupants, if only by the cheap talk of his reputation as being a somewhat cheeky, fun, quirky, yet hardworking young man with a perfectionist attitude who was just as interesting to be around as he was impossible to deal with.
At Dalibor ##
At the first Gather of the year C'lin found favor with a saucy yellowrider named P'nay. The two spent the gather together, but afterward quickly fell out of contact. C'lin remembered him only when P'nay became the weyrmate of a pinkrider named R'ish. Reyith felt C'lin's emotional turmoil and, as a result, he flew wth R'ish's pink rose to mate. He lost and both he and his rider backed off reluctantly. For much of the next turn he was completely in ruins and an emotional wreck. Reyith's lost flights didn't help.
Then he met a fresh face; there was a young boy named Ezra. He was a candidate, young and small and so full of life. Being around him made C'lin feel alive again. The more time he spent with the younger man the more he felt his previous joy and happiness bubble up. Sometime after the boy impressed a yellow dragon C'lin made a move to show the boy of deeper, growing affections. It wasn't enough for the blackrider, though. He wanted more. Toward the end of E'ra's weyrlinghood C'lin avoided him, sinking back into a depressed stupor. Only when E'ra visited him after his graduation did C'lin finally show him the full animation of his affections. However, he did not commit to a weyrmateship. Not yet. As this happened Reyith and Ocouth, E'ra's yellow dragon, formed a tight bond and friendship.
After his enlightened experience with E'ra and Pandemoniuth's happily ended flight, C'lin met up again with P'nay and the yellow Annith. They renewed their friendship as if no time had passed between them now and the Gather so many turns ago. Together they traveled around Pern looking for gathers and bubbly pies. The encounter made C'lin further uneasy about his relationship with E'ra, although he didn't let on about this to the boy.
|
|
