Name: Florian
Age: 22
Sex: Male
Craft: Healer Craft, with an emphasis on animals
Rank: Journeyman
Song: The Islander
Physical Description: Florian is lanky, with rich golden skin and a thin face with high cheek bones. He has shoulder-length, straight, silky, chestnut hair and gray-green eyes. Not much too look at upon first blush, Florian does possess a striking pair of well shaped eyes, though he hides them rather irreverently behind a pair of outdated wire frame seeing lenses. It is important to note that he does not actually need those spectacles aside from working in the stillroom, but he prefers to wear them all the time. His walk is straight and purposeful, though he does tend to bunch his shoulders a bit due to his frequent habit of carrying heavy teaching hides in a wherhide satchel wherever he goes.
Personality: Straightforward to a fault, Florian does not pull punches, and has few pulled from him in return. He was never a favorite apprentice, nor will he likely change his course in life to make himself more presentable to dragonriders. His thoughts have always, and will always be for his patients.. but once they are up and able... he moves on both emotionally and mentally.
History: Raised in a small hold outside the limits of one of the major holds, Florian took to the tutelage of the local Healer like a fish takes to water. Often his parents would find him ferreted away in a corner reading old teaching scrolls as best he could in the dim light provided by glows, but never would he outright ask them to sponsor him to the Healer hall itself. Perhaps he thought he just wasn't worthy, or perhaps the thought of receiving real training never occurred to the boy, whatever the case was, the local Healer DID eventually bespeak his parents and without fanfare, Florian found himself shipped off to the Fort Hold Healer Hall for formal training.
A natural bookworm and a quick study, Florian quickly distanced himself from his classmates academically, but in terms of social adaptability, he was woefully unprepared. Almost immediately those of his age group sectioned themselves off into smaller friendly groups in a flurry of bizarre behavior that left Florian more then a little confused and disjointed. He made himself an outsider through ignorance, but his eventual behavior when approached was what finally made him a social outcast. Never one to expressly hide what he wanted to say, Florian made no bones about how bizarre he thought the rest of his classmates were for spending so much time worrying about each other rather then their studies, and in return, they ridiculed him and labeled him an eccentric.
Not to surprisingly, the Craftmasters found his attitude more then a little daunting at first, especially when it was combined with his formidable intellect, but over the course of a year those same masters found themselves warming to the boy. Florian is as honest as the Dragons that protect Pern, and given time and a little patience, the more charitable souls of the Healerhall figured he would come around and become a great healer. Naturally, they kept these opinions to themselves, and drilled Florian just as ruthlessly as they would any other apprentice.
Three years after coming to the Healerhall, a strange thing happened to Florian. First, his yearmates stopped teasing him as much as they had been. Maturity apparently struck those prospective Journeymen early, or they just grew tired of pranks that always worked and hurtful words that fell on deaf ears. Florian didn't particularly care what the case was, but he did accept a few tentative overtures of friendship when they were offered. Fourth year was always a difficult one for apprentices, since they were expected to act more like adults and keep up their good marks. Everyone also knew who the best apprentice was when it came to academics, and few were still so immature as to continue ridiculing the best study guide ever to take a breath. The second strange thing was the appearance of a dragonrider amidst the apprentices. The strange man was a Brown Rider, and he claimed to be both on Search and in need of advice from the Healerhall.
Since Healers were rarely Searched, (their office was too important, and when the Weyr needed a new dragonhealer, the Hall usually supplied them one anyway) few of the apprentices held out much hope on being chosen. They all went about their duties throughout the Dragonrider's four day stay, and most stayed away from the dragon himself out of respect. Florian, however, was fascinated by the man's brown dragon.
For three mornings he would rise early to go out and study the beast, imagining what his skeleton must look like, marveling at the way he drew breath and spread his wings. That the dragon had a name and a mind eluded him at first, until the brown's rider caught him one of those mornings.
The rider, a gruff oldster named H'shan, didn't have a whole lot of patience with kids, but his dragon Girenth had one of the finest Search noses in the Wing, and Girenth bespoke him to come out and chat with this particular boy. Girenth apparently thought there was something about the kid that needed inspecting, though the brown would not outright demand the boy be taken back to the Weyr to stand for a clutch. Curious by the unusual behavior, H'shan acquiesced and met with the kid unexpectedly during one of his illicit early morning dragon-study sessions.
Being a bright fellow, Florian did not try and lie his way out of 'trouble' and instead answered the dragonrider as honestly and forthrightly as he would any of his Craftmasters or peers. He was interested in dragons, very interested in fact, but not in the typical star eyed way of most teens. Impressed, H'shan introduced both himself and his brown, and was further surprised by the boy's reaction to Girenth's intelligence. Almost immediately, Florian treated Girenth like he would any human he was dealing with, whether as a patient or a visitor. H'shan may have been a gruff man, but he was never one to share in the feelings of superiority that other Dragonriders felt towards the average Pernese. He liked that quality in the boy's demeanor and how he did not disrespect Girenth by treating him as a pack beast or someone to be spoken of but not too. Girenth seconded his rider's feelings, commenting only that the boy would be good for the Weyr.
So Florian found himself Searched, though unbeknown to him it was in a rather nontraditional manner. H'shan openly Searched him, but later requested from the Healer Hall Master that the boy receive continued training from the Weyr's dragonhealer, and be allowed to return to the Hall to take any tests needed. The Master agreed, but was left wondering what was it about Florian that seemed to attract so much unusual attention.
Upon his arrival at the Weyr, Florian found himself both amazed and besieged. With dragons everywhere, he could learn all he'd ever want to know about them, but their riders and the Weyrfolk were a force he was not totally prepared for. For starters, the Dragonhealer was a GIANT old man who boomed when he laughed and told everyone he knew about his great new apprentice. Then there was the women of the Lower caverns... they cooed over his overly skinny self and his penchant for assisting them with cleaning dishes. Honest as he was, he made a great effort NOT to tell them why he always tried to be around during cleaning time, since he was quite certain the kind women would not be so kind when they found out he didn't trust THEIR cleaning skills.
Around that time a clutch of firelizard eggs came to the Weyr and became the duty of the Weyrhealers to tend and eventually distribute. Florian was understandably drawn to the event, and found himself immediately recruited in the egg-turning effort. When the small hatching took place, Florian Impressed his little brown Roco completely by accident when the rider who was supposed to get the egg didn't show and the egg ended up hatching super late when all of the other hatchlings were finished eating and happily resting with their new owners. To his credit, Florian just accepted the fact that he was now the caretaker of the little brown, neither crowing about the fact nor being overly apologetic. To him, everything happens for a reason, and Roco's appearance was just going to be another one of those 'strange things' that kept happening to him.
His mentor, the burly dragonhealer, was privately pleased by Florian's behavior, but at the same time a little worried about the boys future prospects as a healer. He was due to stand as a candidate at the next clutch, and given his overall steady nature and obvious skill with dragons and their lesser kin, the old man was worried Florian WOULD be chosen.
But he shouldn't have worried, when the time came, Florian was left standing not just once, but twice over the course of the year.
Eventually, when the time came for his Journeyman status to be tested, Florian found himself back at the Healerhall, though only for a short while. H'shan had promised to take him to a different Weyr to stand at one more clutch, but this time if he didn't Impress, Florian decided enough would be enough.
Pets: Brown Firelizard, Roco.
Other/Talents: None.
Will this character be a candidate? Not anymore.
Picture: Roco
