Approved by Tawny

Name: Zifea
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Craft/Rank: N/A (She has Smithcraft training but she’s not an official apprentice)
History: When Rea became pregnant with her first child, she knew it would be a boy. Not so much out of any intuitive sense, however, as out of the sheer hope that if she wanted it enough, it would happen. Truthfully, Rea wouldn’t have minded a daughter, but she knew that Zifeng not only wanted, but expected sons, and wanted them as soon as possible. Both had come from a very small, traditional hold, and only recently relocated to Benden Weyr , and the Journeyman Smith wanted sons to train and assist him with his practice.

Unfortunately, Rea’s wishes were for naught - Zifea arrived on schedule as a healthy baby girl. While Zhifeng was initially very disappointed - they had picked out a male name and everything - he soon got past it and grew to love his new daughter. She grew to be a hard-working and responsible child, bright and eager to help, but she surprised both her parents when she took an early interest in Smithcraft. Zifeng and Rea had continued to try for sons since Zifea’s birth, but Rea had yet to be pregnant again, and with Zifea at seven turns of age, they were starting to fear that she never would.

Though Zifeng was hesitant about it, he began to teach his daughter the basics = mostly working in theoreticals, and certainly never letting the young girl actually use any of his tools or craft anything. He never seriously considered taking her on as an apprentice, but he didn’t mind indulging her interest a bit. He assumed it would likely just be a phase anyway, and she would grow bored of tools and metals soon enough.

She didn’t, but her lessons soon enough came to a stop all the same when her mother became pregnant again, and gave birth to not one son, but two. They were overjoyed, and Zifea herself was happy to be a big sister. This was a good thing, because her mother was eager to enlist her help in the more traditional feminine task of caring for the two babies. Zifea missed learning smithcraft from her father, but found that even though her new brothers were often frustrating, she liked kids, and reasoned that her mother needed her help much more than her father did anyway.

It was harder to take when Zeifen and Rhenge began their instruction in the Smithcraft, while it was made clear to Zifea that she was not going to join them. Rather, she was expected to continue helping her mother, and to learn skills that would be “useful to her” in her “future married life.” Still, she would listen in on her father’s lessons when she could, and picked up a good amount of knowledge even if she never gained any hands-on experience.

Though she was a weyrbrat, Zifea “chose” (at the extreme persuasion of her mother) to never stand for any Hatchings. She wasn’t learning all of these life skills to toss them all away because of a dragon! Rea knew that female riders sometimes “took care” of unwanted pregnancies, and even then if they actually birthed the babe they would just toss it into the crèche to be raised by strangers! She couldn’t imagine her daughter doing such a thing to her own grandchildren. As a product of being raised in the Weyr, Zifea was naturally curios and enthralled with dragons, but agreed to not stand to appease her family.

Despite her disappointments, Zifea was still very close to her family. Particularly so because she had never had great luck making friends with the other kids – her mother kept her busy with menial “woman’s work.” Even though, Zifea spent much of her childhood seen as something of a tomboy, more due to her “non-girly” interests and more “masculine” logic-oriented thinking than due to her behavior. This wasn’t really a problem for most of her life, until she entered her mid-teens. Her parents began dropping ever more frequent hints that she ought to be finding a suitor, and while initially she was able to shrug these off as expected teasing from traditional Holder parents, she began to notice that most of the girls her age had boyfriends, or at least casual partners. Zifea, who had never been particularly close to those outside her family, did not, and she soon became anxious that this was due to something wrong with her.

Her social issues didn’t do her any favors when she began her efforts to get to know some of the hold boys better. Neither did the reputation she’d acquired as being “boyish,” whether or not it was accurate. She began trying to emulate the girls she thought of as most feminine, wearing skirts more often and trying to be coy, but not nervous, when talking to others. It didn’t work. At least, not in the sense that she attracted the interest of any of the hold boys. She did, however, catch the eye of one of the girls.

Her parents had not grown up in the Weyr, and though they had lived there for several turns, Zifea knew their mindsets were still traditional and they would not approve of her being romantically involved with another woman. While Zifea didn’t necessarily think that was fair, she had no desire to estrange herself from her family by choosing a life so contrary to what they wanted from her.

Unfortunately, fate would take care of that. Benden Weyr was thrown into chaos as the wherhandlers revolted. Zifeng was sympathetic to the cause, and joined the fight. The dragonmen were going to stop stepping all over the real backbone of Pern; hard workers like him! He urged his family to evacuate to his and Rea’s home hold to escape danger. Somehow in the chaos, Zifea was separated from her mother and brothers and pushed into the refugee group bound for Trine. She was not brave enough to speak through the crowd, and before she knew it she was in Trine and halfway across the world from the rest of her family.

She has tried unsuccessfully to contact her family. In the meantime, she is attempting to adjust to her new life in Trine as best as she can. This is the first time in her life she has been away from the controlling grasp of her parents, and though she misses them sorely, is already finding her newfound freedom quite refreshing.

Description: Zifea is average all around. Average height, average weight, average build. Her hair is black and curly, and worn long—though it’s almost always kept back in a ponytail, out of the way. Her skin is quite dark by Pernese standards—a solid dark brown—and her eyes match, though they are light enough to be clearly brown. She usually dresses quite practically and doesn’t mind a little dirt, though she likes being clean when the day’s work is done. She wears skirts often as part of her effort to seem more feminine, but is actually more comfortable in pants.
Personality: Zifea, deep down, is a dork. She loves anything and everything to do with numbers, logic, and puzzles, to the extent that she will frequently make up her own math problems and solve them for fun. She finds this practice especially calming, and if she’s ever upset, it’s a safe bet that she’s off scratching away at a sand-tablet. Numbers and puzzles are logical, always make sense, and perhaps most importantly, there is always a right answer if you’re willing to work at it long enough.

And Zifea cares a great deal about Right Answers. She is a bit of a perfectionist and tends to have very steep expectations of herself for every task she might need to do, and takes it pretty hard if she fails to live up to them. She is, however, quite persistent, and will bounce back quickly enough and be ready with a new strategy to try again. She is always thinking about the best way to do this or that, trying to process all situations with her much-beloved logic, and her bright and eager mind certainly makes her a good worker. It is much less helpful, however, in the social spheres.

Zifea is certainly always friendly, and tries to stay upbeat, but it isn’t especially difficult to tell that she does not possess a great deal of self-confidence. She finds the nuances of conversation to be difficult, but rather than assuming everyone means just what they say, she tends to assume the opposite—reading into things and usually overanalyzing. This carries over into her ability to express herself as well, as she can often have trouble finding the right words if she is nervous, which she often is when interacting with people she doesn’t know very well. She is considerably more at ease with friends and family than with strangers, and can usually be quite relaxed and articulate with them—but she is horribly self-aware when talking to others, and the ease of conversation disappears. Emotionally charged conversations, even if they are with those close to her, have a similar effect.

She is fond of jokes and humor, quite ready to laugh at anything that sounds like it might have been a joke (even if it wasn’t) but her own attempts at humor usually fall flat. That doesn’t stop her from trying, though. While she may not be the most adept conversationalist, Zifea has a definite maternal streak and a good deal of empathy. She does her best to be there for her friends in times of need, and even if she doesn’t always know what to say, she’s certainly a good listener and gives it her best shot.

Though social situations may make her nervous, Zifea is generally very level-headed when there is work to get done, and has little tolerance for nonsense or slacking. She is a bit more conflicted about enforcing such a work ethic on others, however. While she’d like to, she would usually be too nervous to do so unless it’s her brothers, or others she feels suitably comfortable bossing around. She can actually become a bit bossy with those who will let her, as she usually has ideas about the most logical way to organize everyone and get things done.
Other:
Strengths: Logical, hardworking, empathetic
Weaknesses: Insecure, overly self-critical, inarticulate