Character Name: Pavel
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual but open minded.
Craft/Rank: Bakercraft Journeyman (Pastries)
History: The son of a Trine brown rider and a healer, Pavel has spent almost his entire life at Trine and, like most weyrbrats, became fascinated with dragons at an early age. His parents were not close. Raised by his mother, he rarely saw his father. He regrets not making the effort to know him better now. For the last few turns his father fought a painful disease and recently blinked Between with his dragon, after the pain became too much for either of them to bare. His mother, having grown tired of weyrlife, now lives in one of Trine's environs.

Growing up Pavel was best friends with a slightly older candidate named Tatanya. Her parents, both harpers, had also been born at Trine. When Pavel and Tatanya were ten turns old they had a brief relationship, if you could call it that. It was simply puppy love. While Tatanya went on to become a crimson rider at the young age of fifteen turns, Pavel remained a candidate until two turns later when T'anya's crimson took a fateful flight. Since they had been friends for so long T'anya felt obligated to tell him the truth: although T'anya's crimson failed to clutch, Pavel was not so unsuccessful. After Pavel learned T'anya was pregnant with his child he begged her to keep the baby. She agreed and Pavel retired from candidacy to pursue bakercraft so that he would have more time for his child. He was seventeen at the time (and would be eighteen by the time his child was born) and believed his odds of Impressing were too low to continue his canadicy when he had a child on the way. Besides, if he couldn't have a dragon, what more could he ask for than a son? Pavel took most of the responsibility for raising Baltorix, as their son was named. His relationship with T'anya became more distant but she still stopped by when she could to see her two men. For a while Pavel tried to strengthen his relationship with T'anya. They had a few on-again off-again romantic interludes, however, there was no room for love in T'anya's busy life and after several turns the two of them gave up on being any more than friends.

Pavel has had few relationships since then. Up until recently most of his time was spent raising his son, whose only dream is to become a dragon rider like his mother. Now that Balt is older Pavel finds himself being pushed out of his son's life. Without his son to look after Pavel feels lost.
Description: A tall, lanky man with coarse dark hair, a stubby chin beard and a wide brow worn by the lines of an emotional life. He dresses simply but always keeps his clothes looking nice. He would be an elegantly dressed man, if he could afford it.
Personality: Pavel is a man who has settled with what he's got. His dreams of being a dragon rider have died and now his only focus is on being a good baker and the best father he can possibly be, which is a bit of a problem since his son no longer seems interested in him. Even so he loves his son dearly and would never trade him for anything, not even a dragon. Although he tries to act as though he's happy with his life the way it is and never bothers anyone with his problems, deep down he wishes a few things had turned out differently. Well, more than a few things.

He's an exceptionally neat guy and is always on the other cooks' backs about keeping the kitchen clean and organized. A dirty counter is one of the few things that still gets him riled up. Although some might not consider his job 'important' he takes a great deal of pride in his work. He talks a lot about becoming a master one day but hasn't taken the first step in that process, even though he knows Trine's kitchen better than most. Other than that he's a fairly easy-going guy, though his mellow attitude hints of apathy. Before he became a baker Pavel was the sort of guy who would shed a tear at the sunset. Now he keeps his emotions bottled inside. When he's not in the kitchen he likes to whittle. Most see him as just a simple guy. The truth is he’s actually quite sharp, he just keeps his thoughts to himself. Being a baker is relatively easy but requires enough creativity to keep him interested. Besides, when he had his son, he realized he’d rather have an easy job with a lot of free time than a challenging job with no free time, but now that Balt's nearly grown and no longer allowed in the kitchen he's beginning to feel unsatisfyed with his craft.

He has many friends, most of them cooks, but isn't particularly close to anyone. He has a strong paternal instinct and loves to mentor young bakers. He looks out for the candidates volunteering in his kitchen, always ready to offer them a pastry fresh out of the oven. Quiet, considerate and cautious, he seems to have little in common with his tenacious son.
Other: I might custom T’anya later if I get the chance. Also he's the father of my Trine character, Baltorix. smile