Name: Lanakirene
Age: 24ish?
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Gay
Rank: Wingrider / Apprentice Dragonhealer
History: Lanakirene’s mother, a Holder who spent a turn as a Candidate at Trine before returning home to resume her life, was seventeen when La was born. Perhaps a month after her return from the Weyr, she learned that she was pregnant. This was a momentous shock; apparently, a single night with a handsome brownrider toward the end to her time at the Weyr had resulted in a baby.
La was raised in Iteos Hold by her mother and grandparents. As soon as she was old enough, she was brought into the kitchens, where she learned next to nothing. Ditto for the weaving rooms. When her lack of skill with both those typical tasks became apparent, her mother sent her off to work with the healers. La enjoyed it, and she seemed to have some affinity for it. She would have been content to be bundled off to a Crafthall to study under a Master-Healer, but her mother (and possibly fate) had other plans.
When she was almost fourteen turns old, she was Searched to Trine Weyr. While La was all in favour of politely declining and becoming a healer, her mother insisted that she accept. So did the Searchrider, a pleasant enough person, but it was not the rider but the dragon that eventually sealed the deal. La, though she had heard countless stories from her mother about dragons, had never seen one in real life, and as soon as she was actually introduced to the rather handsome blue, she agreed to come to the Weyr wholeheartedly.
Not long after her arrival, she stood at a Hatching for the first time and failed to Impress. She was briefly crushed, but bounced back quickly and she decided to learn as much as she could about the Riders’ craft to have an advantage the next time around. She fell into Dragonhealing quite naturally and ended up loving it so much that she actually elected to miss Standing for a few Hatchings to give herself more time to learn the craft. When she was eighteen and another clutch was hardening on the sands, she decided to attend one last Hatching. It was the make or break moment for her: if she Impressed, she would have to leave behind Dragonhealing to become a rider.
She Impressed. With her hands full of a black twice as mischievous as she was, La threw herself headlong into weyrlinghood, but more or less managed to keep herself under the radar.
She would have become a Time Rider if she hadn't been too young - and also if her behavior hadn't marked her as cagey and unreliable. It was her ultimate rejection from the roster for behavior, rather than age, that made La take a step back and re-evaluate her behavior. The search for mystweed went on around and without her, and La let it, set to soul-searching. She continued her work as a dragonrider, but with redoubled efforts to prove herself both responsible and adult. She stayed quiet, for the most part, and when the assassinations shook Pern, she kept her head down and stayed out of it. The world was changing, and La was terrified, but there was nothing she could do about it.
Threadfall came as a surprise, an unwelcome one that La and Viath nonetheless had no say in disregarding. They took to the skies with the rest of the dragons, seared the encroaching death, did what they could to save Pern. But when the Fall was over, La was among the first to run to help injured dragons. The need for more dragonhealers solidified her old ways - La wasn't going to keep giving up the one thing she had been most passionate about. The next day, she arrived in the Infirmary, begging the Healers to take her on again. They agreed, and La learned. She learned quickly, too - applying her knowledge of dragon anatomy to the study of dragonhealing and proving herself a capable apprentice, though she never had formal training at Healer Hall. Again, she kept her head down, out of politics, oblivious to anything but her work.
And then came the Revolution.
La stayed at Trine. Not out of any sense of loyalty to the color hierarchy, but because La didn't believe in the Revolution's no-holds-barred bloodshed. She stayed to heal those she had grown up with, refusing to flee because if she had gone to the Revolutionaries, she would have violated her belief that it was the core position of a healer to do no harm. She could not support the work that the Revolution had done because of the number of people they had killed. Had things been different...she might have changed her mind, been swayed to their cause. But no amount of murder and assassination could make her leave Trine after the attack.
And so it was that Lanakirene grew up fast - far too fast - and found herself living and working as a Healer, with her own status as a dragonrider an almost secondary position. It's all right with her - she has blossomed under the eye of the Healers, and is well on her way to establishing herself as an adult - and she still fights Thread when it falls. But she and Viath have a place in the world now, even if it's not the one they ever envisioned.
Description: La's not exactly the kind of person anyone's going to say is pretty right off the bat. Tall at five feet, ten inches, she's one of those people who is just never going to grow into their build. Lanky and thin in all the wrong ways, La in essence looks more like a stork than she does like a grown woman. This might have bothered her at one point, but nowadays she has much greater issues to worry about. Though she went through a few 'feminine' phases in her youth, she eventually settled on an androgynous visual identity: men's trousers, blouses and tunics that fit well over the curves she doesn't have, sashes and headscarves in bright colors, and Healer's knots worn proudly over all of it. She favors earth tones and warm colors.
Her features are less androgynous; La has a heart-shaped face with a pointed chin, delicate, pixie-ish features, large eyes and a positively enormous, mischievous smile. Her eyes are cinnamon brown, ringed with thick, dark lashes, and her hair is a slightly more subdued auburn. She keeps it cropped short for practicality's sake, often hiding it under vibrant scarves.
Personality:
Strengths:
- Passionate - La doesn't believe in half-assing things. Everything she does, she does 100% and keeps doing. She loves life, and she loves the experience of living. When La likes something, she makes a point to delve into it as fully as she can. Life is about the experiences, and La intends to experience all of it.
Dedicated - Right along with that, when La makes a commitment, she follows it through. She made a commitment to being a healer and followed it through even after she Impressed a dragon. La is that rare breed of person completely willing to devote her entire life to the things she loves, and does so with astonishing regularity.
Approachable - Unlike certain other healers who will not be named, La gives off an air of easygoing friendliness that makes her very, very easy to talk to. She does actually like people and wants them to like her, so she cultivates an air of likability in order to put patients at ease.
Romantic - She might not be any good at commitment, but when La takes an interest in someone, she really does know how to court. She's not exactly poetic, but she does have a knack for tiny, thoughtful gifts and beautiful secluded locations for picnics. She likes making people happy, especially when she's dating those people.
Easygoing - La's not particularly easy to ruffle. She tends to take most things with a grain of salt, preferring to hang out and enjoy the ride rather than lose her s**t over situations outside of her control. This isn't to say she's lazy, just that when something goes wrong, she tries to fix it instead of having a meltdown.
- Emotional - La wears her heart on her sleeve. When she's feeling something, it'll be obvious to everyone around her. Whether it's good or it's bad, she's incapable of masking it. It's not necessarily a weakness, but it does leave her open to manipulation.
Impatient - To say that La doesn't like waiting would be roughly the same as saying that the earthquake that destroyed Landing was a "minor inconvenience." La loves instant gratification, the less effort she has to put in the better, and will complain incessantly if she has to wait for something to come to her.
Socially-Inept - More accurate to say "selectively socially graceless." La has learned the age-old technique of finding out all about a place's customs in order to carefully discard them, generally in her case by playing the "Healer" card. If she doesn't feel like going to a meeting or attending a wing drill, she will simply "forget" her social obligation and come up with some excuse at a later date.
Afraid of Commitment - As far as La is concerned, romance is about the thrill of the chase. Once she's made the catch, there's only so long the relationship will stay interesting before she's off and running again. She doesn't mean anything by it - it's not malicious - but La doesn't date seriously. She does it for fun, and doesn't seem to realize that this might hurt some people.
Busybody - OMG WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? It is imperative that the gossip be filtered through La. She's not one for rumors, really, but she loves knowing what everyone is up to. Working in the infirmary helps - you get an idea of who has a rash, and who's getting fancy new oil for private things, and who's pregnant. She doesn't tell other people, though. She just likes having an idea herself.
Lanakirene fancies herself a great deal of things. A dashing, no-nonsense capable healer, a gentleman of distinction, a brilliantly droll wit - oh, yes, La likes to think she has all those qualities. Unfortunately, she doesn't. At least, not in the way she thinks she does.
She's a capable healer - that much is true. Driven and enthusiastic about the craft, La is the type of person who could get by in the Hall on sheer force of will and unflagging optimism - but luckily, she doesn't have to, because it turns out she's got a knack for it. Healing is her passion. Every aspect of it, whether it be working with dragons or working with humans, is wonderful to her. Though dragonhealing is her focus, La makes a point to learn anything and everything she can about every aspect of the craft she encounters. Her personal area of interest? Holistic medicine.
As new-age and ridiculous as it sounds, La firmly believes that the best way to care for a dragon or rider is to treat the pair as a single organism and ensure their broad health - and puts great stock in the old saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." She's also irrationally thrilled with mixing oils—both for dragons and for humans—and is working quietly to develop Pern’s very own branch of aromatherapy.
As for everything else? Well, at least you can say she tries. Hard. But La is just not cut out to be an intrepid gentleman spy. Sure, she's friendly and enthusiastic - she loves people and has a keen knack for remembering names and faces (which helps a lot when you're doing Infirmary work and people come in for sensitive prescriptions). But she's not smooth. She has a low bullshit tolerance and tends to call people out if she thinks they're being ridiculous, she tends not to listen when it comes to other people's (non-healer-related) problems, and she often tunes out social cues that she doesn't feel like following at the time. Her sense of humour does tend toward the dry, but she's not exactly the pinnacle of wit..
While she does try to be good with the ladies, La is...it's not that she's clueless, she's just...it would be fair to say that La just doesn't quite get how relationships work. She's flirty (excessively flirty sometimes) and gets along well with people, but she tends to miss the bit where people want something more than superficial attention and romance that fizzles out once the initial spark is gone. Or rather, it's not that she misses it, but just that she's currently unwilling to give anything more than that first flare of infatuation. Life's too short to be tied down! Unfortunately, becoming a fairly well-recognized serial monogamist does not tend to win the hearts of the masses. Also flirting with your patients gets you in trouble with your superiors. When she does take a shine to a particular lady, she's a sweetheart, always looking for new ways to surprise or delight them.
And she's astonishingly tactful when she needs to be. Again, it comes of the healer training. La knows exactly how much to say and when to say it - at least when it comes to healing. She's not always quite as good at it when it comes to social interaction or her friends; she tends to get quite blunt when people annoy her or she has a strong opinion on something. She's a physical person all around, unafraid to cuff the odd irascible patient or threaten to hit people with her broom - thus far, there have only been threats.
Other: She is a master of broomcraft. Like Star Wars Kid only with more hitting people.
Dragon
Name: Viath
Age: 6ish? I think?
Colour: Black
Description: [Jr. Weyrling] [Sr. Weyrling] [Adult] [Updated]
- Size: Average
Build: Average
Personality: Viath is a very cheerful dragon, inquisitive and fun to be around. Like any small child, his early years seem driven by the question 'Why?' but unlike the majority of tiny humans, this behavior continues into adulthood. Even if His enjoys providing answers to Viath's barrage of questions, the dragon must be taught that there's a time and a place for such queries and it's not during lessons or at midnight.
Much like most other dragons of his color, Viath loves a good joke, but is rarely the instigator of a physical prank. He prefers light teasing and spoken humor to the planning necessary to carry out an all-out practical joking assault. He is charismatic and chipper, casting a positive light wherever he goes. It's hard to stay mad when Viath's around.
Being carefree and unconcerned all the time might seem like the way to live, but his attitude can occasionally cause Viath some problems. He tends to jump into bad situations he might not be able to get himself out of, always expecting that someone will be there to stop things before they go too far. This task often falls to His, but if Viath's rider is preoccupied or in trouble, the dragon must fend for himself, which he is not very well equipped to do. Viath is also highly unreliable, preferring to embark upon a spontaneous mission to relieve boredom rather than engage in important activities.
Why me? Black Viath wanted a partner, a partner in crime, a partner in queries, and above all, a partner in the fabulous adventures of social encounters. He’s a jovial and pleasantly playful black and Lanakirene’s own sense of friendiless and humour drew him to her. Lana’s sarcastic humour amuses this one, if for no other reason then it doesn’t require an action to be superbly funny. Really, the best audience for her will be her dragon and vice versa. And don’t forget their wry comments at the back of the class or witty observations when the opportunity presents itself.
One interesting point between the two is that where Lana might head into something without thinking, Viath is almost certainly there beside her. This intrepid duo is likely going to get into all sorts of trouble and yet out on top and with a funny story (or dozen) to boot. Viath’s curiousity and need to know why will only cause the two to investigate things further, push further and it is Lana’s cool head and leadership skills that may be the key to pulling them through some sticky situations.
All in all, beware Trine!
