Green-rider: Melisande
Character Name: Melisande
Age: 28
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Craft/Rank: Rider
History: Melisande was born in Marsitas Hold, the daughter of a fisherman and a weaver. From the get go Melisande seemed to display the manipulative tendencies that hold sway over her life as an adult. As the youngest child in a family of three children, Melisande found herself to be at the bottom of the pecking order. So the child let her siblings continue to believe they were more favored than she was all the while Melisande merely focused on her parents, worming her way into their good graces. She charmed them with her willingness to do tasks her brothers refused to do and when that didn't manage to land her in her parents' favor she turned to manipulating her brothers. She egged them on, pushed them to fight and squabble with each other thus making her parents frown at them and smile at her. By the time she was ready to begin her apprenticeship as a weaver at the age of ten, Melisande had become the favorite child in the household and her brothers stood somewhere at the bottom of the pecking order where she had been when she was younger.
Melisande's apprenticeship as a weaver only served to nourish her cold manipulative attitude. She strove to do everything just a little bit better than her peers in an attempt to gain favor with her teachers, in some cases it worked, in others it back fired on her. Over the course of her seven year apprenticeship she'd managed to gain as many enemies among her peers as the amount of tapestries she'd woven over that span of time. There was one other girl among them that Melisande saw as a genuine friend and rival, possibly because the girl was almost an exact mirror of herself. Together they schemed and plotted ways to get ahead of their peers and sometimes the schemes worked, sometimes they didn't, it was all the same to the duo of devils. When the Searchriders from Malvern descended upon Marsitas Hold, the girls were both searched, Melisande at the age of 17 and her friend at 16.
Over the course of their years as Candidates in Malvern the girls began to drift apart until finally Melisande simply ceased speaking to her friend. The next time she saw the other girl was when she stood for the first time. Two years had passed since Melisande had first set foot in Malvern Weyr and at 19 turns she was dangerously close to being too old to Impress. Sadly Melisande didn't Impress, her former friend did and that severed what may have been left of their friendship. When the girls finally confronted each other it was anything but a joyous reunion. This was possibly the first time that her true nature had ever been revealed so candidly for the other Candidates to see. The next clutch that came around saw Melisande barred from it due to her previous behavior. This banning shook the teenager to the core and it was then she realized she needed to be more discrete in her actions. So she returned to the one tactic that had always worked for her. She slipped into a state of sweetness to hide what bitter resentment she felt at all those who had been allowed to stand and impress. At age 20 when she was allowed to stand again, Melisande was one of the last to impress but impress she did. Her Chasilanth was a near polar opposite of herself but that didn't mean Melisande didn't love her little green all the same. Eight years later and Melisande is still at her tricks, only she is careful to be a bit more discrete than the last time her temper got out of hand.
Description: Standing a little under five foot eight, Melisande's elbow length black hair is usually kept in an assortment of braids to keep it out of her face and out of the way. Her skin bares a healthy sun-kissed tan and her eyes are dark brown to almost black.
Personality: A lover and a fighter, a manipulator but always the voice whispering in your ear from the shadows never caught in the spotlight of whatever chaos is caused. Melisande prides herself on her silver tongue and her talents of persuasion. In the presence of Malvern's Weyrleaders and the other riders she puts on a mask of painful innocence and sweetness. After all who could ever hate such a sweetfaced, innocent little lady? Melisande holds herself like a perfect picture of poise and class. She may not be Weyr born but hell will freeze over several times first before she allows that little fact to get her down. To Melisande outward appearances are everything, which is why she would go so far as to publicly sever all ties to anyone and anything that could possibly marr her almost flawless weyr reputation. In private however, Melisande's calculating nature is revealed. To avoid disgracing herself publicly she cannot be seen with anyone that she doesn't deem fit but behind closed doors she could careless. A little wine to loosen her tongue and Melisande will make it quite clear to her chosen bed warmer or even a close circle of friends what she thinks of the people she's marked as enemies. Wagging tongues among those she considered opens up to often find themselves on the other end of Melisande's wicked mind.
Other: N/A
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