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[Revolution!] - Character Contest - HAD Woman + Mystery Blue

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Dragonflight Pern
Captain

PostPosted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:00 pm


Character Contest


Runs from June 23 to July 14. Closes at 11pm PST

Many wondered where the dragon that appeared just after the murders
came from and why, despite calls from other dragons, the individual had not
answered. The mysterious blue, silent and shadowy like a specter of death,
almost seemed a story… a hallucination but the truth was far different.

The Blue Dragon had once belonged to Malvren, he and his rider marked
Missing in Action when the Time Riders bent time and space to their will.
They fought Thread while searching for the cure for infertility in the modern
world… and not all made it back alive. Scars are worn with pride by the
veterans and the memories of the lost are all that remain for those that
disappeared in the distant, tumultuous past.

However, this Blue did not suffer such tragedy. He and his rider survived a
serious injury, their Betweening altered by their pain, and they were found
by a young woman. She took them in, hid them away in the mountains…
and clapped the rider in irons. She called them Signs, gifts for the
Wherhandlers and from that day forth, the woman forced the Blue to action
– hurting the rider whenever they refused. Even their thoughts were not
their own for she could Hear All Dragons, a curse and a blessing, and any
effort to seek help was met with punishment to reign in the dragon.

It soon became clear why such misfortune had befallen the rider and his
dragon for the woman served Masterhandler Keller and believed in his
revolutionary ideals. A common sight around Benden Weyr, her talent
was a secret between only them… she was the perfect spy, able to track
the intrigue, the drama, the plans of all dragons in the Weyr that had
become his center of operations, enabling him to keep one step ahead.
The Blue became transport for the murderer Flynn and carries the burden
of guilt for his part in the death of leaders.

Now that the revolution has sprung, each has a place to take… but what
is it? And what are they to each other? Three years of captivity heals
some wounds and deepens others.


This contest is being held for the characters mentioned in the description above.
The Blue Rider and the HAD Woman were crucial in the behind-the-scenes events of the Revolution but their story is yours to tell.


Rules

1. This is a paired event – meaning you must enter in groups of two (one for each character).
2. Respond to the above prompt with an RP’d scene at any point in their history, this will become canon story. When RPing as these two, please keep in mind the events of this metaplot arc.
3. The HAD Woman is devoted to Keller’s cause; she is loyal to him. For the purpose of this contest, this is non-negotiable. However, shifting loyalties is a valid but heavy plot line and must be confirmed/approved by SkieBorne PRIOR to embarking on it AFTER this contest.
4. The Blue Rider has been scarred and disfigured by the Time Riders event, all other descriptions are up to you.
5. Explore these characters in your scene. What is their relationship like? There is not absolute good and evil… why does the woman want the Whers to take charge? Have the years of capitivity changed the rider’s opinion of responsibility? What has the burden of guilt done to all those involved? Consider these questions and their effects on the characters.
6. To enter, submit the form below.
7. The Prompt Response can be an AIM Log, a PRP in a private guild, etc, but MUST be prose form. Not chat-style RP logs will be accepted. There is no minimum or maximum on length.
8. Winners will be chosen based on quality and depth of thought in answer of the prompt. These are metaplot characters.
9. One entry per person, choose your partners well.


What HAD Means
HAD is short for Hear-All-Dragons. These are rare individuals who are able to hear all dragons speak regardless of whether they are being spoken to specifically. Dragons speak via a form of telepathy and people with HAD abilities can hear this mind-chatter in much the same way as one would hear the noise of a room full of people - without the distortion of perception.

It is a powerful ability but those with it often suffer head aches or are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of chatter between dragons. With no real way to stop 'hearing' the dragons one must learn to 'tune out' the voices. For this reason most HAD people choose to live outside the Weyrs, away from the noise and distraction.

In Dragonflight, HAD characters will have this ability but in terms of game mechanics will suffer from the chance of a paralyzing headache that impedes the ability to talk, hear, or see via dice rolls.




Entry Form

Usernames:

=====================================

Player:
Blue Rider Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Gender: Male
Personality:
History:

Blue Dragon Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Gender: Male
Personality:

=====================================

Player:
HAD Woman Name:
Age:
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Personality:
History:

=====================================

Prompt response:

Anything you’d like to note:



Entrants


Partner 1 - Partner 2 - Link to Entry
PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 9:11 pm


DONE!

Usernames: Revel1984 and Thaliawen

Player: Thaliawen
Blue Rider Name: A'temi (Formerly Artemi)
Age: Twenty nine
Appearance: With his drawn in, slight build, A'temi doesn't find himself much to look at. He has shaggy brown hair that just covers his ears, and either has the natural trait to be messy--or the man simply does not care enough. He is tan and freckled from spending so much time outdoors. His eyes are a wet looking brown.

A'temi doesn't seem to care much what he wears! As long as people don't bother him, he is perfectly fine whatever he looks like.

A'temi has scars running on his hands. He claims these are from when he was first starting to make guitars and pipes, if ever asked. He has a long, thin scar running from his elbow to close to his wrist. He doesn't like talking about how he got that one. He was mauled as a candidate upon Impression to Relith.

Further scars are from captivity; his face is often bruised. He has scars on his arms, legs and stomach from a barbed whip. His back has stripes.

Gender: Male
Personality: A'temi is that still stubborn patch of ice that remains long after winter's end. The ice that makes one wonder if the constant reminder of winter's bitter chill will ever leave. Though relatively young, A’temi is a reminder of the past. At twenty nine turns old, this man seems to stubbornly resist change. If encouraged, A'temi will reluctantly assist in bringing about changes, but don't expect him to like it! He would much rather things stay as they always have been. He resists even the smallest changes in routine. Expect a fuss if there's a sudden change in what food is available. Nothing upsets A'temi more than a change in plans.

Unfortunately for A'temi being in his current situation means constant change. Not that he's adjusted to it. No, even being thrust into something he has little control over; this man refuses to allow his plans--his goals--to be altered.

This dislike of change means A'temi isn't very flexible. A'temi likes to keep to his plan, never veering once from it. If you want someone to plan constant, daily events, A'temi's your man! If you were looking for someone who will happily follow what everyone else is doing at any given time, however--well, that's another story.

A'temi considers few people his friends. He considers fewer people to be his enemies. He deals with people only because he has to. He is slow to say how he feels on any given matter; preferring to express his opinions through actions rather than words. When encouraged to speak, however, one may wish they had allowed him to remain silent. A'temi can be terribly blunt. He can and will speak with the tongue of a skilled (albeit rather rude) trader.

It's difficult to receive a (verbal) emotional response from A'temi. He avoids most interaction (if at all possible) with others. He tends to become awkward in emotional scenarios. When around those expressing strong negative emotion, he is never sure whether to comfort, or to make fun. Perhaps this is a good thing. In certain company, either could get him killed. He is not quite desensitized. He expresses his emotions through music and actions. One can typically make an accurate observation from his body language concerning how he is feeling at any given time. This holdbred harper finds that there is a lot to be said--in what isn't said.

A'temi is easily pleased! As long as things go the way he likes them to (which is more difficult), that is. He doesn't like being flattered, being insecure with his own abilities. He enjoys observing others rather than interacting with them. He finds he can learn quite a bit about people without saying a word to them--and vice versa. A'temi finds great pleasure in observing others. If allowed to do so, he would write concerning his observations. If asked, maybe he'll share a few with someone. He shares with his few friends. He shares with Relith.

A'temi rarely smiles. His smiles are saved for friends (and he has few) and his dragon, Relith.

A'temi is a hard worker! When he wants to be. While his stubborn behavior may cause his work ethic to shrink at times, if given a task he enjoys, he will do it, and do it well. He is rather focused and hates interruptions, preferring to finish a task before starting another one. Never ask this man to do more than one thing at once. He becomes frustrated easily.

History: A'temi was born Artemi, of Malvren hold. He was the son of a bluerider and a reluctant holder mother after his father's blue lost a particularly involved greenflight. He was quickly fostered off to a harper residing in Malvren at the time; and from her, learned his knowledge of the craft. Artemi was a quiet boy, eager to do well in his craft (but not receive praise, surely none of his work was worthy of that.) He learned all he could from her; how to recite, to make and play pipes. He learned to observe people.

And became quite good at it. That was what he had been doing at the age of fifteen turns, when he'd been Searched from Malvren Hold. He never did like to call it "spying"; keeping tabs on people was something he'd always done. The greenrider had been friendly; or had attempted to be, for to share a conversation, one must have someone responding and receiving messages. Artemi didn't care one mark what the dragonrider had to say. He'd been watching. The rider was interrupting his observations!

The greenrider was patient with the quiet boy. He explained that Artemi could become a dragonrider, he could come to Malvren Weyr. He told the young harper--whom at the time was attempting to leave, fully intending on returning to his master--that his dragon seemed to like him. Wouldn't Artemi come? The rider's persistence convinced him.

That was the day Artemi decided he would never quite like flying. He changed his mind not long after; but his first time a dragonback frightened him. When they landed (much to the boy's relief) the greenrider took it upon himself to introduce Artemi to other candidates.

He decided he didn't quite like other candidates; and that never did change.

But never mind how the apprentice became a candidate; what Artemi likes to focus on is how the candidate became a dragonrider. He didn't Impress his first hatching, much to his disappointment. Well, he didn't quite expect to. He'd hoped to. He'd been picked on by other candidates. He was quiet, and didn't like to be involved with what others were doing. His behavior caused him to stand out. He was an outsider.

And so--he had figured the dragons at that hatching thought so, too. He was different. He stood again, a turn later. At the age of sixteen, he Impressed. Malvren had had a large clutch then. Surely he would Impress! He did. But not to the dragon he'd hoped for--oh, he knew color shouldn't have meant anything to him--but wouldn't it have been nice if he could Impress a brown? Or maybe a bronze! The others would see then!

You would not like them, Mine. They are loud and do not see your worth. Stay with your Relith! We will show them together. We will be the best.

He'd Impressed a blue. Relith, wonderful Relith! ...Annoying, bossy, pessimistic Relith. After their initial meeting, Relith seemed to take great pleasure in complaining to his rider. Oh, the other dragons weren't quite right in their formations. They could not fly as well as Relith. He was much faster than they were. Could they not see their greatness? Could A'temi not see how great they were?

Turns passed. A'temi was twenty five, and had fallen in love with a rather attractive greenrider. She was beautiful, she was perfect--she was his reason to voice his thoughts. They Weyrmated; and for a while, A'temi's otherwise comparatively bland life was beautiful. His beloved lit up his life; just as Relith did. She helped him open his lips, and mind.

That ended close to nine months after a particularly long flight from Halle's green Leith. Halle had chosen to carry their baby to term, despite constant resistance from A‘temi. They weren't ready. They couldn't take care of it. It'd have to be raised in the creche. Halle was a small woman. The birthing took a terrible toll on her body. She died along with the baby.

A’temi blamed the healers. He believed with his whole heart that if they had done more, they would have been able to save her. He returned to his quiet, lonely ways, vowing he would never care for--anyone. He'd lost his Weyrmate; and the unwanted babe. He never truly recovered from the loss of his Weyrmate. Nor did he ever truly forgive himself for being the reason Halle had died.

Not a turn later, he was sent to find a cure for infertility. (Mystweed). Thread fell; the young man had watched in horror as the ancient enemy consumed fellow riders. His attention on companions rather than evading Thread himself was what caused him his trouble. Though at Malvren he had been known for noticing much; in the air--with Thread, he failed to dodge. The pain was indescribable; with the knowledge as Relith took them between that the pain his dragon was experiencing was his fault. He hadn’t been watching. He’d caused this!

Relith had taken them somewhere he considered safe. With his rider’s cries of pain and lack of any coherent thought, the blue had been on his own. That was what had gotten them captured. A young woman had found them. Had cared for them. As soon as they were strong enough, she took them away to the mountains. She shackled A’temi; controlling Relith with pain caused to his rider. He would do what she said. Or his rider would die.

Blue Dragon Name: Relith
Age: 13
Appearance: Colorist's choice
Gender: Male
Personality: Relith is pessimistic. He's a malcontent. It is difficult to get him to show outward signs of approval, though inwardly he may admit to himself the value of something. From the moment he hatched no one, nor anything, was safe from his snippiness and cutting wit; for despite his complaints, Relith is an excellent speaker; if only his rider would repeat what he said, exactly!

It's not uncommon for him to leave a conversation with his rider staring open mouthed after him - never argue with Relith, because he can twist his words and the meaning of words around cleverly. On top of his attitude, Relith, like his rider, is stubborn. When he makes his mind up about something, he sticks to it; that is, until he forgets. He may not be very good at making friends. For one thing, his first impression is almost always set for life - if he decides he doesn't like you--he's not going to like you. He's not exactly malicious, despite the fact that he's unpleasant. Rather he is most always condescendingly amused and cynical: a patronizing critic observing the antics of lesser dragons (and their riders).

If as a Weyrling Relith was stubborn, as an adult he has mellowed down to a quiet slyness that seems to permeate the air around him. Only in the most tender moments with his rider does this aura leave him and show the love that he is capable of feeling. To all others, meaning everyone but his rider, Relith presents an abrasive, somewhat obnoxious, face. He's refined his gift of cutting wit to the point where he can create a truly mesmerizing effect with his voice if he chooses.

Wherever he goes, Relith loves to stir up a bit of conflict - for entertainment purposes. He enjoys setting the stage for an argument, but not being involved himself. He'll sit on the side, adding an instigating comment now and then to keep things flowing. He regrets little.

Relith is unlikely to be a very popular dragon. He loves his rider; but does not seem to care much for anyone else. He may grow to tolerate others (especially greens). The flights he joins will be purely for the thrill of a chase and capture. Ah, the game of lust! This blue loves to put on a show. He does not seem to plan to keep those greens he flies, however. He may resort to driving them off. He wants space! They should be grateful he flew them at all!

Relith is different when he's around A'temi. The lack of patience and compassion he shows towards other dragons is made up for in his love for his rider. He complains to him frequently, making snarky little comments about the happenings of the Weyr, in general or specific things that annoy him. Relith, despite the tendency to tease A'temi, would do anything for his rider.

Player: Revel1984
HAD Woman Name: Myra
Age: Twenty eight
Gender: Female
Appearance: Myra is a rather thickly built woman She conceals her build under dresses though, as much as she loves getting her hands dirty with the boys, she's very feminine. She's not a beautiful woman but she's fairly pretty. She's slightly taller than average which helps with her build as if she were shorter she could be considered fat. Her hair is a mousey brown with slight natural lighter highlights. Her eyes are a dark brown, so dark that they almost appear black. She almost always dresses very feminine, wearing things that suit her average skin tone. The only time she doesn't wear her dresses are when it's not practical to when she's working.
Personality: Myra has never been the most pleasant of people. Growing up, if anyone got into trouble for cruel things, Myra was often right in the thick of it. As she grew she learned to hide her nasty side. Hitting puberty was hard for her as it was when she began hearing dragons, the crippling headaches making her downright snappy most of the time. In all her time growing up because of her cruel streak no one really befriended her. She's a rather lonely woman, she says she doesn't mind but deep down, she would like someone there for her though she would never admit it, she'd rather stay alone than trust anyone that far.

She doesn't deal well with emotion, preferring to resort to violence or snappy behavior rather than get emotional. When others are emotional around her Myra just clams up, not knowing what to say (nor wanting to say anything). When it comes to kids Myra has a slight soft spot for them, keeping an eye on them when they're around so that they don't get into trouble but if anyone was to point it out to her she'd just come back with attitude and walk off so that she wouldn't hit the person. She'll never admit to having a soft spot for anything.

Myra enjoys causing pain. Making people flinch, making them wince at her very presence. It's a powerful feeling; being able to frighten someone into submission. Having someone know that if they do not obey, pain will be delivered. Still, despite her love for pain and apparent suffering, Myra feels that killing is going too far. She prefers to keep her victims alive.

Myra's found that it is easier to keep to herself. She doesn't want to show signs of weakness, and so hides her crippling headaches. It's easier to act than attempt to be social to make people like her. She feels no real need to be social.

Myra doesn't actually have a Wher, she just helped Keller train them, helped others raise them. She didn't want another creature in her head, Dragons were enough. She has no interest in keeping Flits as pets either, unless perhaps a Gold that she can breed and sell the eggs from. Otherwise she deems them pretty much useless things and is not bothered at all in pets.


History: Myra was born in the Weyr, a common occurrence between a pairing caused by a Green or Gold Flight, her mother wasn't a rider but it appeared her father was. Her mother admired the riders and wasn't really bothered at finding she was pregnant. Myra grew up in the creche with other younglings, not really having a 'mother' or 'father' to speak of, except ALL of her carers. Her mother's milk had dried up early so hadn't even been able to bond even slightly with her daughter through feeding her in her early months. This didn't particularly bother Myra as from an early age it was clear she liked to be alone. Keeping away from the others in the creche as much as possible, not very affectionate when picked up for cuddles. She never really liked being cuddled or anything either, preferring just to stay away.

As she got older it was clear that Myra wasn't a sweet little girl, despite punishments and reprimands. Quite often she would be caught taunting the 'pets' of the Weyr, often Firelizards, drawn in by food, would get tied up, unable to even Between due to the rope tying them in place. More often than not they were hidden away, only their cries in the darkened places alerting others to them. Myra has never tried to actually ... kill anything though, she just enjoyed being mean to it. As she aged she learned to hide her inner workings better, mainly keeping them to herself, pretending she was normal.

She hit puberty late, after Standing a couple of times and being passed over by dragons, this never really bothered her, she only Stood because it was 'the done thing' rather than any real want to have a dragon. In fact most of the time she was just plainly bored, unless a hatchling mauled someone, that's when Dragons got interesting. Oh she knew that hatchlings were the only point a dragon could harm someone but the thought of PERHAPS having something like that under her control was tempting. When she did hit puberty though it hit her hard, her stocky body gaining curves in the right places gaining her attention that she didn't want. As well as those, she began hearing voices and getting blinding, crippling headaches that often caused her to pass out. The taunts she got from the other young people of the Weyr, plus the fact she was reclusive anyway, only served to alienate her from her fellows and she no longer felt the want to live at the Weyr. One night, after secretly packing her things (or rather, those things she wanted to take), she left the Weyr and began living among the Holdless. It was there she learned that the voices she heard were actually dragons and she spent a long time with the Holdless learning (secretly as she never revealed hearing the voices to anyone) to close out their thoughts to the point she could function normally again, even when there were dragons present.

She still kept to herself, even among the Holdless but someone figured out her secret, cornering her one night. She'd ended up fighting with him and killing him by accident, forcing her to flee as he'd been well liked among the people she'd been traveling with, she was sickened that she'd actually killed but the fight, where she'd hurt him before killing, had her blood pumping. It was not long after that, she ran into Masterhandler Keller and his Wher. She knew what Whers could do and had begged Keller to take her in and train her. It wasn't until she suffered a terrible headache when a Gold Flight, with her entourage of Bronzes passed over the place they were staying, that Keller guessed her secret, the incident leaving her sweating and verging on the point of blacking out. She was incredibly grateful to Keller, who apparently had showed her nothing but sympathy for her 'terrible curse'.

Some time later, after Keller revealed his plan (after realizing just how loyal the young woman was to him for helping her, for showing her that hearing dragons was a curse, for enforcing her distrust of dragons in general) that the miracle occurred. A badly injured Bluerider and his dragon had practically landed in their laps. Myra called it a Sign that the plan was right, that their way was RIGHT and Pern was providing them with the answer. At first she had tended to the pair, pretending she was a simple Holdless woman trying to do her part. Getting them both on-side until they were well enough to be moved to her 'home'. Once there she ordered the rider to be placed in a cell, the whip she carried at her belt coming into use when the Blue had tried to get to his Rider, first against the Blue to force him to back away, then on the exposed back of the rider, showing both of them exactly what she was capable of if they disobeyed her. They must have consulted each other because both man and dragon calmed enough to be led to their 'prisons'. Torture was fun to her, forcing the Rider and his Dragon to comply, to help in their plans. She'd laughed when the Blue brought news that Benden's Weyrwoman was dead. She was less amused at the apparent failures of the next attacks, One attack only killing the Weyrleader, the last, failed attack leaving Flynn dead. She'd cursed that, had raged and took her anger out on both rider and Dragon but it was like whipping an already beaten dog, and gave her no satisfaction. In fact it had made her stomach churn afterwards when she'd come to her senses and saw what she'd done to the two. Dragon scarred with lash marks, the rider had been in worse shape. She'd left them alone for a few days after that, giving them some semblance of peace from their regular torture.

Now she's just keeping the pair captive, under instruction. She hears the input from the Weyrs and was pleased that Benden was taken rather quickly, but is less pleased about the loss of life at the other Weyrs, both Wher, dragon and human alike. She liked causing pain but the killing was just a step too far for her and it rankles her but all she knows is that they must overthrow the leaders, the Weyrs to gain all what she and Keller... and others... had worked for.

Myra doesn't actually have a Wher, she just helped Keller train them, helped others raise them. She didn't want another creature in her head, Dragons were enough. She has no interest in keeping Flits as pets either, unless perhaps a Gold that she can breed and sell the eggs from. Otherwise she deems them pretty much useless things and is not bothered at all in pets.

Prompt response:

Myra stared into the darkened cell guarded by Whers. She smiled somewhat nastily at the captive within. "So Dragonrider, enjoying your new accommodations?" she sneered, gesturing to his shackles and cold, bare cell. The man inside was laid out on a bare floor, fresh bruises showing up on his face. Myra was a big woman and strong for having grown up handling Whers under the Masterhandler, Keller. She wasn't a beautiful woman by any means but she did have a pretty face, her muscles hidden under her dress. The first mission had been a success and Benden's Weyrwoman was dead, throwing the Weyr into turmoil. She chuckled as she remembered the plan, smuggling the Assassin in had been the easy part, the hard part had been co-coordinating with Wherhandlers that were loyal to the cause, allowing him movement around the Weyr to find the Weyrwoman alone.

She glared at the rider inside "The fall of your precious rider system is well on the way to completion, Rider, and YOUR Dragon at the heart of it... Does it gall you? That your creature can be controlled? That your oh-so-precious bond can be corrupted?" She laughed and waited for his answer, not really interested, but she liked to taunt the rider. “YOU can stay where you are now you've returned Dragon," she sent to the blue outside... Oh yes, she could hear all dragons and she hated it.

She stared at the bruised face, bruises caused by her own hands, and smiled in satisfaction, feeling the presence of the Blue, hating every moment of contact with the creature but knowing it was important she controlled it.

A'temi did not respond. It was perhaps a foolish decision, but what else could the woman do to him? She had separated him from Relith. Caged him in a cold, dimly lit cell; shackled him so even if he had had the energy to attempt to escape, he would not have been able to. He had been laid out on the cold floor, shivering. The small movement did nothing to warm the chill that seemed to be in his very bones. He looked up at Myra, stubbornly. Though his strength was all but spent, the man showed a certain determination. She would not win.

She might have the ability to command his beloved Relith to do everything she wished--terrible things. Her taunting only deepened his regret. How could this have happened? His bond with Relith had somehow slipped. He had asked Relith not to obey. He'd told him to go back to the Weyr. Get help. How such a woman could have gotten his blue to obey her... He knew Relith listened only for desire "You may have control over all dragons," he glared up at her. He would have shaken his head if he had the strength. "But not over their riders. You can torture as you will. Our bonds cannot be broken."

He had been a hold bred boy. Taking what he could to survive, learning to steal at an early age. He had always been good at sneaking around. His small form ensured that.

I have done what you asked. Let my rider go. Relith's voice was broken. The once proud blue was resigned to his fate. His rider was being hurt! He had to protect him! He would. If that meant ignoring the wishes of his rider--he would.

Myra laughed at his attempts to be 'brave' "Oh really? .. of course the riders can be controlled, what if I forced your precious Blue to stay grounded and let my Master's whers tear strips out of his hide?" she said, she would do it too, if it helped their cause. She had no compunction about harming a Dragon, or a rider. If a few Whers were lost to the cause, so be it, she would mourn in private but for the greater good, anything was worth it, even contact with the hated Dragons.

She opened the door to the cell, eyes glittering as she moved closer, the whip she held tightly now slack. She cracked it, loud enough for the dragon outside to hear, right by the rider's face. If she caught his cheek with the bladed tip, that she'd put on it especially for her 'sessions' with the Rider, then so be it. It would knock some of that arrogance out of him.

“You be quiet, you do NOT tell me what to do!" she snarled at the blue, both mentally and verbally so that the rider knew she was talking to his Dragon. "Now... if you both prefer to be uncooperative, I’m sure we can change that. Maybe I’ll just go outside with this whip instead of using it on you" she said to the bluerider, her tone mocking. "THIS is why Riders are weak," she added with a snort. A bond with a Wher was strong yes, but it could be remade. "Useless creatures that would rather kill themselves than find another rider... Just... Stupid really, you pick your leaders based on who's shiny dragon catches another shiny dragon." She shook her head, "You riders need to know your place... and you will." she said, cracking the whip once more, aiming for the man's body, not really caring where it hit.

A'temi attempted to keep his expression composed as she threatened Relith, but couldn't quite manage it. The determined light in his eyes seemed to fade, and his bruised face fell slack. He couldn't challenge the woman. Declare that she would not dare to injure a dragon--he knew better. He had been in her presence long enough to know that this woman would not stop at anything to get what she wanted. He made no response, only stared at her in horror. How could any human have been broken like this? That she would break ancient laws--that she would do this?

He flinched when she opened the door of the cell. In a trained response, it seemed, the man began to sweat. He knew what was coming. Sweating did nothing to ease his chills. He braced himself when he spotted the whip in her hands, flinching as he heard the crack. As he felt the vibrations it created, running through his spine. He had expected it to hit. It missed his cheek only narrowly.

I will do as you ask. Do not hurt my rider, Relith's response was soft. If his rider was safe--it was worth it. He could not disobey this woman. It was not like obeying a gold--for a gold would not have threatened her Weyr's riders.

"Don't!" A'temi protested weakly, when she suggested using the whip on his blue. Didn't this woman have any compassion? Didn't she know what it was like to have something you could relate to? Something to love? Relith was quite literally, A'temi's life. Their bond had formed the day A'temi had Impressed--and it would end the day they died. "Please don't. He hasn't done anything! He's done anything you've asked him to!"

Was that what she had against riders? She felt they were weak? A'temi had always believed the bond between dragon and man made one stronger. "They're born knowing who they want," he said. "The dragon chooses. It's the way it's always been." He couldn't change the system. He didn't want to. A sharp pain in his stomach told him her whip had struck home the second time. He bit his lip to prevent the scream from escaping his lips. He could feel the warm liquid trickling on his skin; though shackled as he was, he wasn't able to do anything about it.

Myra laughed as he begged her not to hurt his Dragon. "Tell me again that we can't control you riders!" she mocked. Looking him up and down, "Fundamentally flawed Rider... that a Dragon cannot function without a rider... well I've disproved that" she said, not adding her thoughts that it was only through keeping the rider locked away, alive but under threat of hurt.

She saw him bite his lip and frowned, oh no... That would not do. She cracked the whip again and again and again, aiming for vulnerable parts of his body. She was enjoying this, oh she would make him cry out, let his Dragon hear him. Show that blue that he wasn't in a position to make demands, or requests. As long as she had the rider under her thumb, the dragon would do as he was told.

They needed the blue still, and she would continue this for as long as Master Keller told her that she needed to. Some small part of her not liking the fact they needed a Dragon, wanting to just toss him aside, though if she had her way, she'd take out the problem at the source. "Then it's high time for change then isn't it... Rider." she sneered at him. She had never loved anything, except perhaps Master Keller, but she had never really been shown love, so it was a pretty twisted version of it, if love it was, perhaps more of a loyalty, a gratitude to him. She lashed the whip again, this time aiming for his face. Oh they'd get the healers in if she went too far, they needed the man alive.

A'temi was silent, still biting at his lip. He knew if he opened his mouth to respond to the woman, he would cry out in pain. No, his pride had too strong of a hold on him. He would not allow this. He would not let her win. He looked away from her when she mocked him. She was right. She could control riders. The pain caused by the mere idea of his beloved blue being tortured by this woman... He knew he would never have been able to forgive himself, if he allowed that to happen. He wasn't sure he would be able to last through it.

He was unable to withhold the scream as she cracked the whip down on him again. His breath ragged, he forced himself to stare up at her. Would someone come save him? Would someone realize he wasn't the assassin? Had Relith been recognized? Would they think he had murdered the Weyrwoman? His skin was starting to burn with the pain. It felt as if tiny prickles were adding to the whip's strikes. He didn't agree with her--he was too far gone in pain to make sense of what the woman was saying.

"What..." he rasped, having attempted to avoid the whip aimed at his face. It had marked his cheek. "What do you want from me?"

Myra cracked the whip again and again until he cried out, stopping as if it was his reward for doing what she'd wanted. She grinned as he attempted to speak. "What do I want? ...Oooh rider, there is only one thing I want..." she tossed the whip out of the cell and bent close to him, grabbing him by his bleeding face. "I want the downfall of the Weyrs... I want the whole of Pern to realize just how useless Riders really are, the constant taking of resources... just to maintain their lofty positions... Well, times will come... Where the color of a creature's hide means nothing... "

She shoved his face aside, pushing him away at the same time. "Perhaps... if you weren't so useful to me here... if you survive the aftermath when it all comes to fruition... Perhaps even one such as you could be Weyrleader..." She burst out laughing at the idea, turning her back on the man. "Oh look... your dinner is here" she said, eyeing the tray a drudge brought, she grabbed it, taking the bread roll "Hmph... i don't see why they insist on feeding you up…" she said, eyeing the contents with disgust, it was a decent enough meal, if he wasn't going to do much. Bread, a little meat, gristly meat though, the worst cuts. Some... fiddly extras... Myra turned to him and bit into the roll, she was tempted to toss the tray on the floor, force the man to eat off the filthy ground but no, she couldn't have him getting too sick... Shards... She realized she'd probably used the barbed whip too much. "Eat," she said, putting the rest of the roll on the tray and hading it to him "Eat and behave, or I'll tell our healer not to bother seeing to you," she added, eyeing him harshly, her face disgusted.

Shackled as he was, in pain as he was, A'temi hardly had the strength to do as he was told. He was disgusted by the sight of the food--some bread. Meat that had been too close to the bone. Meat not even suitable for one's firelizard, let alone a grown man. Still, he slowly pushed himself up off of the floor. He shuddered visibly at the pain the movement brought him. Shards! Just the thought of eating with his blood making its way down his body--it made him sick!

He took the tray hesitantly, convinced this was some sort of trick. He had expected her to eat the roll; leaving him nothing but the meat he knew he would be forced to eat. He thanked her quietly, and began to eat. He focused on his food, chewing slowly. He would have to make this last. He couldn't be sure when the next meal would be. Not with these unreliable people. They were likely to let him starve, he thought.

Myra held still as the rider took the tray, it would do her no good to weaken the rider further than she had. She was a little annoyed that she'd lost control of herself and over-used the whip.
"I'll get the healer... Just sharding eat!" she snapped.

Annoyed by his nervousness, "So much for a proud Dragonrider... Snivelling wherry!" she snarled. She knew what he didn't... Although it wasn't an ideal meal, he, and his dragon, were to be fed decently enough to keep them alive. "Your dragon is next," she said, her voice just slightly gentler, or rather, less snappy. "We won't hurt him as long as he does as he's told." she added, sort of hoping that they would both argue, she kind of wanted to hurt the dragon.

A'temi ate slowly, ignoring the woman's words. The healer would care for him--but what point was there? After what felt like turns of this-- turns of her controlling his blue, turns of surviving the pain he was dealt daily--what was the point? Why wouldn't they let him go? Why couldn't they let him die?

Why did they have to care for his wounds when he would be dealt more in less than a sevenday? It was a waste of supplies. He nodded vaguely in her direction, swallowing.

"Thank you," he mumbled, taking another bite and chewing just as carefully. For letting him live another day. For providing him with food. For not hurting Relith. He hesitated for a long moment. Relith. It felt like it'd been turns since he had been able to properly see him... Perhaps... Perhaps she would let him?

"...Can--" did he dare ask? What would she do to him if he finished the sentence? What could be worse than what she had already done? "Can I see him?"

Myra watched him eat, to make sure he actually did, eyeing his injuries. She let him suffer, let him bleed for a while; before summoning the healer. She turned away and locked him up, waiting for the healer to arrive. She was actually surprised when the man thanked her... Really?... He THANKED her? ...Who had just dealt him those wounds, that had hurt his Dragon once or twice when neither wanted to cooperate? ... If it hadn't been so dreadfully sad and pathetic, Myra might have laughed at him.

She frowned at his question and instead of answering him, she turned her back, perhaps the cruelest thing she could do, and went to exit the cell area. She stopped by the whip, eyeing it then looked backwards at the Rider, picking the whip up she smiled a very nasty smile but didn't say a thing, just turned towards the exit.

"No, don't!" A'temi begged her, instantly regretting his question. He shouldn't have dared... Now Relith would pay for his desire to see his dragon. "Don't hurt him!" He wouldn't ask again. Relith didn't deserve that. Pain like that--no one deserved it.

Even as she turned towards the exit, the bluerider was still begging her to put the whip down. To hurt him instead. Relith didn't deserve it. He'd done nothing wrong. "Don't hurt him, please!"

Myra turned her head. "No, don't!" she mocked, repeating his words, twisting them to sound pathetic. "And why shouldn't I?" she said, turning round again. She could hear the pain behind his words, not physical pain, that she liked to draw out of the rider but the emotional pain, some small part of her tugged, no one thought that highly of HER.

Even Master Keller only found her useful because she could hear Dragons, as much as she was loyal to the man, she knew that. She fought to keep even the smallest trace of pity from her face. She hooked the whip to her belt securely, "I'm not about to leave it lying around for anyone to use." She snapped, turning her back once again and moving off, wanting to get far away from the man and his shaffing emotional plea.

A'temi stared at her, wide eyed. Why shouldn't she hurt them? She'd found them. Cared for them--tricked them. "You can't," he pleaded. He wasn't entirely convinced that she wasn't taking the whip to injure his dragon, despite her words. "He hasn't done anything!"

He watched her leave. He sent a mental reassurance to his blue--everything would be alright. Someone would find them. Someday. They would no longer have to suffer. The Weyrs would put them in a place of honor for what they had gone through--they would be taken care of. Everything would be fine. Perhaps his reassurance would have been more convincing if the man had believed them himself.

He'd lost faith sevendays ago.

Thaliawen

Cute Fairy


Tinnunculus

Spacey Spark

PostPosted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:02 pm


Usernames: Kyrieko and Tinnunculus

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Player: Kyrieko
Blue Rider Name: Valik (formerly V'lik)
Age: 27
Appearance: At one time possibly considered a handsome man, Valik now suffers from a spinal injury that doesn't allow him to stand up straight, instead having a slight hunch to his posture. At most, he is probably around 5'10" in height. He also has a difficult time walking, relying heavily on a cane. His leg is heavily scarred and never healed right since the sharding Time Jump. Scars mar his entire body from the beatings and torture he undergoes, the most notable being the permanent marks from where shackles were once placed around his ankles and wrists. His once nicely toned body is nothing but a lean, willowy and fragile husk of it's former self. Long brown hair tends to hang down to mid back when brushed out, though it's typically full of snarls and oily from lack of bathing. Typical attire is rags of clothing since nothing lasted long. Once bright green eyes are dull and sensitive to light, having been stuck in darkness for so long with very little light. His skin has grown pale and almost sickly in appearance, save for the times he's allowed to sit in the sun.
Gender: Male
Personality: Once quite the arrogant man, Valik is now quite stoic and hardly the feisty thing he was when younger. And freer. But ever since his return from that blasted trip between Times, Valik has never been the same. Of course his captors have made sure of that. He doesn't give them the pleasure of seeing much emotion from him, internalizing almost everything and not sharing it with anyone - including his own dragon. It's the safest option he had available to him. Those that know him call him a b*****d for his cold exterior. In actuality, Valik has learned - through physical and mental pain - that not having any emotions in the first place tend to keep one alive much longer. Then there is the fact that if he allowed himself to fall prey to emotions like he once did, the guilt and sorrow from all that he had been forced (and in some cases willingly assisted) in doing would just about overwhelm him and destroy his mind.

His mind is not fully there anymore after all his ordeals and the drastic shut down of his emotions. Valik isn't sure what's real and what's just a dream. Especially after any episodes of beatings or torment he undergoes by his captors. Though he's learned to take the pain and not react as he once did, in an effort to protect himself. However Valik is no longer sure if this or that mission his dragon and Keller were sent on really happened, or if it was just something his mind created out of hidden fear. He knows that there are crimes he's assisted in committing that could never be forgiven and loathes himself for it. But after so long of having to follow those bastardized orders and do the things he had, they all began to blend together and make it almost impossible for the rider to discern fact from fiction.

What was, at one point, a ridiculous stubbornness evolved into a way for Valik to survive. He was forced to learn how to deal with the pain dealt to him when he and his dragon tried to defy those that held them captive. It took two turns to develop this barrier of the mind, but he believes, somewhere deep down, that it was because of this that allowed him to survive as long as he had. Even when his own dragon would have understood suicide as the better option. Valik no longer registers injuries unless they are severe, almost life-threatening. He wasn't always that good at it, however, and he as well as Raith suffered for it many a time. But Valik had always been stubborn and that stubbornness pushed him beyond his limits and into the state he is now. Traces of his stubbornness can be seen in the fact he has not given up yet. Even if his limbs are broken or his leg no longer straightens properly.

Valik deeply loathes himself. He is ashamed of everything he's been a part of and the murders he knows he helped commit. Some even willingly. He considers himself a traitor to dragonriders and unworthy of even being called one. Valik no longer uses the honorific that he took when Raith chose him the day he hatched. Too disgraced, he sometimes questions why Raith ever chose someone like him. There is a lot of guilt burning through Valik's veins, and he lost faith in ever being able to redeem himself in any way. The man despises what he's become. A mere husk of what he once was. Looking back, he's even more disgusted with how arrogant and a sharding dimglow he was. Perhaps that's why he fell victim to this fate that was possibly worse than Thread itself. No matter what Raith says - or that shaffing woman - Valik can no longer see himself as anything above wherry meat.

History: Before his life was turned completely over and thrown to a pack of whers to tear apart - almost literally - Valik was the proud son of a smithcrafter that worked directly for the Hold Lord's men. He apprenticed under his father, pride and arrogance growing with each successful craftmanship of a fine sword or hitch for a wagon. Probably the beginning of his downfall, that pride of his. Even though his mother warned him to be careful of who he flaunted that arrogance in front of, Valik never listened well. And soon he found himself taking on some of the work his father would do for the Hold Lord's men. Which was how he came across the chance to speak with one of the two messenger riders the Hold kept. The old man and dragon called him a spoiled brat, yet they both saw some potential in the young Valik. However neither rider or dragon brought him to the Weyr's attention right away, opting to watch the boy grow a little more instead.

At 15 turns, the rider finally brought him to the Weyr for the first time. Just in time for a Hatching. Valik was so excited and didn't miss the opportunity to rub in that he had been chosen to Stand whenever he spoke with his 'friends' at the Hold before leaving. His father wasn't any help either, beaming at having his son chosen as a Candidate! And of course, no matter what color dragon chose him, Valik knew it would be the most amazing of them all. Possibly the only thing where his arrogance didn't get the better of him, Valik truly didn't have a care as to what dragon would choose him, so long as it was his. He threw himself into learning everything he could about dragons in the short period of time he had before the eggs were hard enough on the Sands. Valik never was a slacker, and he did quite well in all his lessons.

When the day of the Hatching finally came, Valik stood with all the other boys and watched as Candidate after Candidate Impressed. He began to doubt himself a little, fear trickling in that he would not find a dragon for him that day. That is until one particular blue burst out of his shell. His eyes were whirling a dangerous red and he made sure to crunch the egg shell under his feet a little more. With a huff and a bellow for good measure. And then he proceeded to waltz up to the boys, knocking a few off their feet until he butted his head against Valik.

Valikmine come now. My belly growls and your Raith does not like it!

Thus, Raith Impressed to Valik, who took the honorific of V'lik. And the young weyrling quickly learned that not only was Raith the most amazing dragon ever...he was also the most cranky sharding beast in all of Pern as well. The two would butt heads and argue, with the ending result being one or the other chuckling. They worked well together, Raith's competitive nature mixing nicely with V'lik's arrogance. The two loved challenging themselves and other weyrlings, which evolved into challenging fellow riders when they were finally out of weyrling hood. Raith truly was everything V'lik had ever expected and more.

Though they developed some enemies among the other riders, they also had friends and even Wingseconds that respected their skills. It was, possibly, because of this, or maybe just some form of karma finally catching up to a man that fell victim to pride. After having just barely passed his 23rd turn of age, a special task was asked of those that were willing and strong enough. They were to make a Time Jump to try and find a plant. Mystweed, they called it. A plant that supposedly would help with the infertility problem of the dragons. V'lik was asked to accompany the group from Trine. And of course, he accepted.

It was a disaster. They safely made it back to When they needed to be. But they were attacked by no other then their oldest enemy. Thread. V'lik's group fared terribly, arriving just in time for a large clump of the silvery menace to sear viciously through parts of their crew. Raith did his best to avoid it, demanding firestone that they did not have. V'lik failed to spot the thread that came from directly above them, too busy shouting at a fellow comrade to get out of the way. He and Raith were seared by unbelievable pain that assaulted their entire left side. Raith's screams rang in his ears, V'lik's mind not able to see much beyond the white hot pain that he swore would engulf him, until the blue took them to blessed between.

Some days, V'lik, now Valik once again, wishes they had not ever appeared back out of that cold oblivion. If they hadn't, he never would have met her. Terene. A nightmare wearing the face of an angel.

The once proud man lost all dignity in the coming turns, appalled and disgusted by the crimes he and Raith assisted in committing. The pain he felt from Thread that day was nothing compared to the constant burning he felt deep in his being. Through torture and near death beatings, the blue pair was broken down until they began to do the b*****d Keller's bidding. Hate brewed a dark and foul creature within him that dragon and rider fed on and attempted to use against their captors. It failed, and Valik suffers for it ever since. He's lost count of how long it has been now, his only reason for remaining 'sane' the bond he shares with Raith. For it is the only thing that has not been taken from him. Both a blessing and a cruse. And neither dragon nor man are sure how much more they can truly take. All Valik knows for sure is that Terene is the only one he and Raith have in their lives now.

Blue Dragon Name: Raith
Age: 12
Appearance: [Something like a thunderstorm!]
Gender: Male
Personality:This dragon has an impressively strong will to him. He does not cower under the gazes of his larger bronze brothers, respecting them for who they are more so then what they are. He especially shows his 'hard head' when it comes to tasks he is expected to do. Not necessarily a lazy creature, but Raith doesn't jump right up and tackle a task with one hundred percent momentum. He would rather determine why they must fly from point A to point B when he already knows how to do this and memorized the points the first time they did this jump. Or perhaps it's something he does not quite understand how to accomplish. Raith will keep at it until he's figured it out and solved the puzzle. Recently, however, this particular trait has been one of the only things keeping this blue going. With the burdens that weigh him down constantly and a rider he can do nothing to protect, there is very little Raith has the desire to put effort into. Except for one single thought: He WILL make things right again, even if he has to pay a high price. That strong feeling keeps him going and keeps his rider going on the lower days.

Probably a knock off trait from his obnoxious will power, Raith has a tendency to be quite competitive. He is not a fan of losing and will work hard to come out on top. Though he doesn't consider anything a 'game'. Raith just doesn't like to appear weak. At least weak for a blue or maybe a brown. Which happen to be his favorite dragons to challenge and try to 'one up'. This can also be seen when flying with (or more recently...against) other dragons. He'll try to appear faster and more agile then them, maybe showing off his abilities if feeling really feisty. With the way things have completely turned upside down, this competitive side has surfaced in a new way. Raith wants to be better and much more valued then his wher cousins. They may have more freedom then he does, but he is a dragon and will show them that he's not so worthless. Even if he's a traitor to his own kind.

He was just not one of those happy hatchlings to come bumbling out of his shell. More like the annoyed hatchling stuck in his egg and finally losing his temper to explode out of said shell. Raith gets annoyed easily. Anything that causes him distress and or he can't solve, and he'll get pissy to the point he might break a cot with his tail or shove that dragon out of his way so he can go brood somewhere he's more comfortable. He and His used to butt heads constantly over little things, and shardit! Valikhis would get much amusement out of it all. Which would just irritate the blue even more. Yet His was always there to tell him he was being a sharding wherry and needed to Get Over It. Now, unfortunately, Raith is like a ticking time bomb at times. Which seems to be directly linked to his rider's mental state. The more pain and despair Valikhis feels, the more likely Raith is to snap at those that he must deal with. The ending result of such actions always wound up with his rider getting hurt in some way because of him. Raith tries exceptionally hard to keep his anger in check, relying heavily on what energy his rider has to spare in calming him. Though he does not lash out quite as much as before, it is highly cautioned that no whers or dragons approach him when he's being forced to cater to the needs of those that control his rider.

Despite his more negative aspects, Raith is a smart and cunning dragon. He knows how to think quickly while in the air and maneuver through difficult terrain. Something that has increased greatly with the number of 'missions' he's been sent out on. And succeeded in. He's also learned how to fly with passengers that aren't his rider or who have no experience (or very little) with riding a dragon. Though he hates not being able to have his rider, Raith has resigned himself to learning ways to keep him and Valikhis connected enough that it feels as if His is there with him. In addition, the blue has learned through trial and error how to communicate with his rider without using 'words'. Instead he has mimicked his lesser cousins, the whers and firelizards, using emotions and imagery - though only on rare occasions - to speak with Valikhis. It pains the blue to have resorted to such means, and every now and then he will speak directly to his rider when he can't stand it.

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Player: Tinnunculus
HAD Woman Name: Terene
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Appearance: A slim woman of 5'7", Terene has dark flyaway hair and even darker eyes. She has what could be described as a dancer's build, or 'rectangular' - lean and long, built on straight lines with little in the way of hips or breasts and a short torso. By no means is she up to that or a rider's standard of athleticism, though - there's an undefined softness to her curves that with more weight could be flab. Her face is rounded with a snub nose, small bowed lips and expressive double-lidded eyes under soft, flat brows.

She keeps her hair long and plaited and ascribes to a style of dress befitting a modest Holder - long sleeves, unrevealing necklines and full skirts, no matter the season, sometimes adding a shawl or headscarf. She owns little jewelery and her Gather finery is, in a word, restrained. Her one concession to many turns at Benden Weyr are the trousers worn under her skirts when going into the mountains, only for reasons of warmth and practicality.

Closer inspection reveals faint ink stains under her fingers, which tend to be dry and lightly callused.

Personality: To the Weyr, Terene is a momentary curiosity and an afterthought - an aged-out Candidate who lingered on as one of the many women of the lower caverns, her constitution and occasional severe migraine spells prohibiting her from heavier physical labor. Though shy in a doe-like way, she has a demure, straitlaced quality that's at odds with the liberal lifestyles of weyrfolk and a quiet intensity that can leave people feeling slightly awkward when she interacts with them, like running into the one person at the Gather who doesn't quite get the joke.

To herself, Terene is a sweet woman who does her best to be kind to everyone and live a proper life of hard work and modesty as a good person ought despite the trials of existence. She tries hard to overcome her sensitivity and shyness and though the world and individuals have wronged her, to forgive them and earnestly wish them the best.

To a careful observer in possession of all the facts, Terene is something else entirely.

The woman is a curious mix of entitlement and humility, the product of a rare ability and a conservative upbringing. Raised with the traditional Hold image of the virtuous woman, she strives to be kind and docile, servile and chaste, and were it not for her born talent and early years of coddling she might.. have been a little closer to that ideal. As it was the lessons layered onto a girl who had been treated as special and then learned she was. So she absorbed the letter of the law, not the spirit, and lives in a state of false humility, believing her sanctimonious outlook is a true demonstration of virtue.

The proper term for this is 'victim complex.'

Poor Terene, gifted with the talent of Moreta and Lessa but beset by painful headaches. Look at her, such a good girl, such a weak constitution, yet she remains kind and cheerful despite her hardship and puts others before herself. So humble, so moral, so sacrificing to stay in the Weyr for the Master's sake, for the sake of all Pern. She deserves better. It's not her fault.
Nothing, in fact, is ever Terene's fault.

Perhaps it might be if she truly felt wicked while committing an act - her world is a black and white concept and actions are either evil or good. She may have been rude, said an unkind word, but she's always apologized and never done something truly bad. Grand magnanimous gestures will wipe out the small everyday selfishness she exhibits. She's never learned that intent and effect are two different creatures; so wrapped up in her own perspective, she fails to recognize the truly horrific nature of keeping a wounded rider captive in a cave, of inflicting pain on him to compel his dragon. To her the acts are a necessity done in the service of good, and if Valik would just do as she asked in the first place, they wouldn't have to happen. It really is his fault, when you think about it - he's the one making her hurt him, and it hurts her as well when she can't be as kind to him as she can. Doesn't he care about that?

It should be said that Terene is not a terrifically independent thinker. Having a head full of voices tends to get in the way of critical analysis, and the inability to examine her own actions prevents her from facing uncomfortable truths and decisions that could lead her to greater resilience and social aptitude. She craves direction and purpose, significance and meaning, desiring an ordered world where things are the way they are for Reasons.

This wouldn't be so much of an issue (there are plenty of people who feel that way) except for the matter of scale. Terene believes that her destiny lies on a grand scale - as a HAD, she has a responsibility to change all of Pern for the better, and devotes all her attention and energy to the cause she feels will accomplish that: Keller's. It's a comfortable feeling - no action she performs in the service of good can be bad.

And for Keller, she'll do anything.

History: Terene was born in a Minor Hold that tithed to Benden Weyr - big enough that it was of some significance, but not so much that her family was disconnected from tending the land. There were six of them in all - her parents, her three brothers and Terene, born last among them. A sickly baby and the only girl to boot, she received the bulk of her parents' attention and was kept from hard tasks as she grew older and stronger, for they feared too much strain might bring on a relapse of her ailing condition. In this way she spent most of her time indoors, busying herself with housework, handwork and other such domestic tasks, but more and more frequently she began to hear.. voices.

They'd come without warning, never the same twice - whispery, booming, masculine, feminine and everything in between, one-sided snippets of conversations. Young Terene brought it up once, but the prospect of her daughter needing more special attention from healers for a new condition upset her mother so that she resolved not to do it again, attributing the occasional headaches and blindness to her weak birth constitution. Still, she was curious - they spoke of strange matters, many too complicated for her child mind, but also firestone, flaming.. flying.

She remembers time spent shuttered tight in the Hold, hearing Threadfall in her head.

It was when she was about eight Turns that she tentatively asked the Hold's Harper after a lesson if there was ever anyone who could hear dragons. A history buff eager to share his knowledge, he told her stories of the great weyrwomen of Pern's past - of Lessa and Moreta, of how they saved the Perns of their times from destruction. And Terene thought, I'm just like them.

This was the destiny of those who heard dragons.

From then Terene's path seemed clear - she was to go to the Weyr. She was a shy, unsocialized Hold girl who clung to her father's arm after her mother's skirts and the prospect concerned her, but against her discomfort she made herself present for Search, let herself be taken to Benden Weyr, home of Lessa and Moreta so many turns before. Because despite her misgivings of the Weyr's wild ways, despite a brother before her being taken from his work in the fields, despite her firsthand experience of being pinched by the tithes, she would be Weyrwoman, and she would save Pern.

What from, she didn't really consider. It was the wrong sort of question to ask.

So she came, and Stood. And Stood. And Stood again, slaving as a Candidate in the times between and never speaking of her ambitions, as she'd been raised a humble, modest girl. The physical labor was difficult for her but she got full marks for effort and diligence in the times she was able, for the headaches had intensified ever since she'd arrived and some days were a blank space of blindness and pain. But this was as it should be - this was sacrifice, this was destiny. It would pay out, and her queen would come.

It didn't.

The brave face she'd kept up for Turns broke as she left her last Hatching, dragonless. It was purely by chance that it was Keller who found her, curled up in a corner near the wherhandler tunnels and sobbing her eyes out. She spilled everything to the slightly bemused man - her illness, the headaches, the repeated failed Standings and her inability to understand why, when she was like Lessa and Moreta and Torene..

A light went off in the Masterhandler's head.

Keller offered an alternate interpretation, playing on her Holdbred sensibilities and despondent state. Moreta and Lessa were great in their time, but this was a new Pern - perhaps there was a new path. Terene ought to think - it would be unwise to disregard her discomfort with the Weyr's way of life, for there was something truly wrong. Was that a system she would truly want to continue?

Of course not.

There were other, better ways for those brave enough to embrace them.

Terene fell in completely. Denied from one dream, she was promptly handed another, never taking the chance to reflect on her own disappoint or evaluate the implications of Keller's ideas. All was not lost. She had a Path.

So she stayed on at the Weyr, despite her headaches, for the Master, for his Cause, for the Pern that was to be. She could read and write and had a neat hand, so Keller used his connections to find her a position as an assistant to one of the assistant stewards - not high up enough to be noticed, not low down enough to be a drudge, with just enough freedom to move about on the pretext of errands if she chose..

And one day, on a rare walk away from the Weyr as a brief reprieve from the constant voices, she saw a tattered blue and its rider appear from between and fall out of the sky.

That was the beginning. You know the rest.

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Prompt response:

These were the mountains, exposed to the elements. Snow-covered and inhospitable for half the year, their tumbling slopes were coated by a thin film of vegetation after spring thaw. Such meager, transient resources supported only a few Holdless, unable to seek a more comfortable lifestyle from the Weyr whose heights could be seen on a clear morning in the distance.

This was the mouth of a cave, dank and low to the ground like an animal's burrow. A shallow, cloudy stream threaded into the darkness, fed by the rain during storms and obscured in the summer by scraggly bushes. Lichen grew on calcite formations at the entrance like the earth's neglected teeth.

This was a woman, a gray and brown shape traveling across an equally gray landscape. She paused just before the cave mouth to tug her scarf over her dark hair and scan the sky, then ducked inside.

When the light gave out after twenty paces Terene paused, feeling her eyes dilate and adjust as she listened to the water echo around her. She smiled as her fingers found a crude carving etched in the wall and kept moving, roaming blind in the darkness as sought-after shapes met her carefully questing hands. Go left, go right, find the big rock at the turning, and.. ah.

Here.

A match scraped on stone and light flared, illuminating the small side chamber. Someone had scattered a thin layer of rushes over the floor and left a pile of furs and old blankets in a natural shelf in the wall for the inhabitant of this cave.

Terene's eyes shone as she looked on him.

"Valik. Benden fell."



Darkness.

Quiet.

Blessed silence. It was about the only thing he felt Faranth blessed him with. Not that he deserved even that much. The rocks beneath his lean and weak body radiated little warmth. He shivered, curling into a tighter ball, trying to retain as much heat as possible. Very little was ever truly warm for him. Not this wretched 'cage' he was kept in. The company that occasionally graced him with their presence. The soft sounds of his dragon letting him know he was still there for him and always would be until his last breath. And especially not when She was there.

Another shiver. More adjusting against the uneven rocks below him. The furs he was allowed didn't do anything to help. Aside from constantly remind him, yet again, of what he had lost long ago.

Drip. Drip. Drip...

Valik focused on the soft trickle of water he knew was somewhere close by. Just out of reach to him. It's sound was like music to his fractured soul. Pathetic and not worthy of anything. Or anyone.

A snort, somewhere in his weary mind. :: Worthy of ME. :: That deep voice rumbled briefly before retreating once again. Raith. Dear Raith.

Valik felt the sting in his eyes that always seemed to accompany the rare times Raith bespoke him. Him, a disgraced rider that had broken every vow that being a 'rider' entailed. Why did Raith have to suffer his pride with him?

A sound. Soft and odd compared to all the others he heard. Yet familiar. The sound of footsteps. Someone was coming. The scarred and deformed man curled tighter, listening hard to determine how many came this time.

One. Only one. Her...

The sudden onslaught of light pulled a cry from the man as he ducked his head beneath his arms to protect his eyes. Shardit! Why did She have to come here?! He didn't want to deal with her! And yet....he craved company. Like an addict that couldn't give up a drug, Valik couldn't turn his back completely on her. Even as her words shattered more of his fractured soul.

"....I see." His voice was a whisper, rough and not used to speaking often. "Then....we have done well?" He risked peeking out from under his arm partially, just to see her face.



"More than well." Her voice was breathy and soft, resonating with excitement as she set the torch in the wall and knelt beside him, sinking into her skirts. "Everyone came to the demonstration - everyone, all three Weyrs almost empty. They're taking Malvren and Trine now; the Master has done it, Valik, he's done it, just as he said he would."

A laugh bubbled up, delighted and bright, the frothy crest of the wave of excitement and words that poured out of her. "Your blue even saved Archimonde, he did so well." She smiled on the scarred man fondly, reaching out to smooth his lank hair. "Your hair's tangled again. I'll cut it for you today."



He hated that voice. Yet loved it and craved it at the same time. She was the only one that ever spoke with him like that. Really, the only one that ever spoke with him period. He felt the shift in the air as she came closer, the space feeling heavier. "E-Everyone...?" He croaked out, eyes closing in shame. "The...demonstration was.....wise in idea." He murmured, the sound half choked out.

"What....does He plan....for us next?" The man asked warily with a hint of fear yet resignation at the unavoidable.

A shudder raced through him at that laugh. By the Egg he loved it. The sweet sound that it brought to his darkness. And it angered him so. But between silence and her laughter, he'd choose her laughter without question.

Valik tensed for a moment as her hand came in contact with him. It was a natural reaction to always expecting a blow to come. "I...would be ever...thankful....Lady Terene." He said softly, eyes closing at her gentle touch once his mind calmed and no strike came.



"Everyone. ..well. Everyone who could be spared, that is," she amended, reluctant to spoil the statement with reality as she slipped off her leather satchel and extracted a pair of shears. "They left some older riders, most weyrlings, people in the Lower Caverns.. not really many at all. Oh- there's a bubbly pie in there for you," she gestured with the blades, flashing him a shy smile. "I thought you'd want to celebrate."

"I'm glad you think it was a wise idea," Terene went on, setting the separated shears aside. "You're getting better - we're finally getting the last of the dragonmen's poison out of you, I think. Three turns! But everything was over in less than a candlemark - the Master was right to wait." Her voice brimmed with pride for the smooth execution of Keller's plan. "Let me see your shoulder? You bled the last time I had to kick you, and.. you can call me Terene," she suggested gently, chiding, "I keep telling you."



He winced and could just barely picture what she said. It did not surprise his unnatural mind, warped by the turns of his captivity. Valik moved on shaky arms, sitting up as much as he could to allow Terene access to his hair. "Aye...the old and the young. Those they though' might be too weak should something 'appen." He murmured in a bland tone, like he was reading from a slate he had memorized and spoken over and over again. Valik tried not to think too much on what he had assisted in. Even made suggestions to help them improve their chances.

"....r-really?" Valik risked looking over his shoulder, wincing at the dull pain there. "Ye..did?" Bubbly pies. Faranth his memory of what they tasted like was like a whisper at the back of his mind. "Thank you. For yer...thoughtfulness." He said with what was close to genuine meaning.

Making a face, the man chose to wisely keep his mouth shut about him losing the 'dragonman' in him. Shards, he'd lost that long ago. When he'd allowed himself to be captured and beaten into submission. As he was submissively pulling his rank shirt down over his injured shoulder mechanically for her to see and treat. Or inflict more damage to.

A sound that could have once been a laugh but was now more like a whooping cough escaped him. "I know....guess I jus'....keep forgettin'." He teased as much as he could.



"I did," she averred, beaming in pleasure at his pleasure, hesitant as it was. She tilted her head curiously when he didn't reach for the treat himself, then slipped a hand into the satchel and slid out the pie, still slightly warm within a wrapped cloth. "Go on," she prompted, as if coaxing a frightened animal to eat. "It's all for you." Why Valik might doubt she'd lie to him was beyond her; she meant to make him happy - make everyone happy, yet he acted at times like a broken thing, as fearful and cowering before her as he'd be of some monster. There was little she could do, but be as kind as she could to the one who'd helped them so much.

"You'll be a hero, you know," Terene went on as she leaned in to inspect his shoulder, running her fingers lightly over the puffy edges of the wound. It was shallow but red with infection, weeping from under the scabs; she frowned as she would at a badly copied Record, and found the little jar of salve more by feel than sight. It was for whers and had a sharp, herbal smell - easier to acquire such things from Keller than the infirmary healers, who would ask inconvenient questions. "Brave Valik and Raith." Her tone was light, slightly teasing, but without mocking intent as she daubed the waxy stuff over his wound. "You know, we couldn't have done this without you. But we did. Just think - no more tithes. No more Flights. No more Searches and Impressions without choice." She smiled softly up at him. "I'm so glad we found you."



Hesitantly, hand shaking, Valik reached for the pie and carefully dragged it where he could see it easily. Yet he didn't bite into right away. His dull gaze just stared at it. One really couldn't blame him for being suspicious, yet she'd brought it as a gift for him to celebrate with her. His fingers broke off a piece and slowly, he raised it to place in his mouth. The sweet and tart taste was almost enough to make him weep just from the sheer pleasure the tastes brought him.

"T-Thank you....Lady Terene." He said sincerely, contending himself with quietly eating the pie and allowing her to do as she pleased. It wasn't as if he could have fought her anyways. All that would entail was yet another injury to make sleeping uncomfortable.

He tensed as her breath ghosted against the back of his shoulder. Distrustful. Or someone that had suffered one too many beatings. Valik paused in his eating of the bubbly pie, stomach feeling acidic at her words. "Y...you're...much too...kind ta me." He whispered with what hopefully sounded like tears and not the seething rage that began to kindle in him. Again. He swallowed thickly, trying to push it back down. The man closed his eyes, inhaling a raspy breath. "I..." Valik coughed, trying again. "I am...glad. As well." He replied, shoulders shaking with a mixture of grief and anger. With effort, he resumed eating the small morsel from a world he no longer belonged to.



"You forgot again, Valik," teased the woman who heard dragons. "It's just Terene. I'm no one special."

As he ate, she took up her shears and snipped greasy knots out of his hair.

Anything you’d like to note: Terene creeps me out but I promise I myself am not so creepy. I'm so sorry, Valik, I have no idea where she came from. Seriously. o__o -- Tinn


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