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 Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 3:15 pm
The sad journal of Valik and his dragon, Raith.
This journal is for keeping track of what Valik's and Raith's current status is!
And plots. All the juicy plots. [ Current Status ] Still Keller's loyal lap dog, though now with a bit more freedom to wander around Benden Weyr, but with someone watching him at all times.
Raith is not allowed to travel with him, however.
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 3:18 pm
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 3:26 pm
History :
Before his life was turned completely over and thrown to a pack of wher's 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 rider's 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 rider's 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 rider's, 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, to 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 brew 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 curse. 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.
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 3:28 pm
Blue Rider Name : Valik (formerly V'lik)
Age : 27 29
Gender : Male
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.
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 metal 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 then Thread itself. No matter what Raith says - or that shaffing woman - Valik can no longer see himself as anything above wherry meat.
Other: Valik when he is let out of the cave~
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 3:31 pm
Age: 12 14
Appearance: A dark, deep blue that lightens only a shade along his upper body. Tiny markings of a lighter, almost silvery blue, scatter his body in what appears to mimic a lightning storm. He is about average in size for a blue with a lean body that is nicely muscled. His wings are larger than average but not starkly so. They are also frayed along the edges from flying low to the ground or in tight places. As if to compensate for the larger wingspan, his tail is longer than the usual for a blue of his size as well. He is lithe and his movements seem similar to that of a feline when he walks or flies. In the air, he is very graceful and almost acrobatic. There are scars that scatter his body from the different 'errands' he's been on. Or not quite making it around an object quite fast enough.
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 wher's or dragon's 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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