Approved by Tawny

Name: Brynja

Age: Fourteen

Gender: Female

Sexual Orientation: Gay [She’s not entirely sure herself yet, but she’s heading this way]

Craft/Rank: Fishercraft/Apprentice

History: Brynja claims that the story of how her parents met is an epic tale involving buried treasure, villainy, betrayal and doomed romance. In actual fact, Bryndan and Tajana are about as staid a pair as you can imagine, and would find this account of their meeting about as far from the truth as you can imagine (but not entirely unexpected from their youngest daughter). Their marriage is a matter of mutual convenience and affection, fuelled by friendship rather then anything deeply romantic.

Brynja was the unexpected and unlikely youngest child, born a good ten turns after her second-oldest brother and a subsequent sequence of miscarriages, and was rather coddled by their mother as a result. As a baby and toddler she was her little darling, dressed up in the prettiest clothes her mother could make and watched like a hawk for any signs of illness or trouble. This was something which as a child she grew to resent a little as smothering to her growing need to be out and running around, preferring to follow her father and brothers about as they did their more exciting work instead (household chores were never appealing). Wherever Bryndan could be found, there would be Brynja – hanging off of a rail, or holding the net for him to mend, or bouncing up and down as she explained to him all about the firelizard she saw yesterday while he worked solidly. If her father was unavailable, she’d follow her brothers instead… frequently much to their annoyance – what sixteen or eighteen turn old wants a six turn old sister following him and reporting on everything he does? Still, they usually put up with her (barring the one time she was shut in a cupboard, the retelling of which gets more elaborate every time), and she has a lot of happy memories of fishing for spiderclaws off of the harbour walls with them and helping them with their grown-up chores. In short, she had a fairly happy childhood, unmarred by major tragedies or any sort of real misfortune – although she frequently fell off of, into, and out of things, she was apparently made of rubber and bounced or was lucky enough to hit water.

The second-best day of her life so far has been the day when she was old enough to take a place on the family fishing craft (much to her mother’s exasperation), her immediate ambition being to get herself sent to Tillek to learn everything she couldn’t at home and maybe (maybe!) one day be the Captain of her own ship. Until a few days ago, she had never even considered dragon riding except in the sort of vague abstract wouldn’t-that-be-amazing way that all children do when playing at that sort of thing. The best day, subsequently, was the day that a green rider, visiting the small fishing hold to see family, told her that she could be a rider. It took Brynja approximately ten seconds to enthusiastically rearrange her goals in life and (after making sure that the rider was going to wait for her, swear it!) run off to tell her family and pack up her few possessions. Her mother was deeply upset to lose her daughter so soon, but her father and brothers supported her. While Brynja regrets upsetting her mother like that, who’d turn down that sort of chance?

Description: Brynja is pearshaped – or rather, bottom heavy – with relatively slight shoulders and torso but wide hips. She isn’t obviously muscular, but she’s definitely no weakling either – her arms and legs are wiry rather then anything else, and she stands at about 5”6. Her already dark skin is tanned hard from a life spent almost entirely outdoors. She has longish black hair, which is usually braided into a couple of dozen tiny plaits and then tied back again, although without her mother to maintain this elaborate hairstyle she’ll probably give it up and stop resisting the sheer frizziness of it, or crop it short. Her hair is almost the same colour as her eyes, which are set in a slim face with a snubbed nose and strong jaw. Her ears are pierced, and though usually filled with studs, if given the chance she’ll make things like brightly coloured wherry feathers into dangly earrings. Brynja has a tendency to roll when she walks as if she’s on deck and compensating for the movement of the waves, and it’s easy to tell that she’s a fishercrafter. She also has a tendency towards flashy and pretty clothing when she has the opportunity, and adores pretty dresses (one of the few traits her mother managed to instil in her), although she usually restricts herself to more practical wear to withstand surf and spray. There’s no point wearing something pretty if it’s only going to be ruined the moment you take it out somewhere! Her most treasured possession is a silver pendant, which belonged to her paternal grandmother and she only wears on very special occasions.

Personality: Brynja is a very, very good liar - but then she practices a lot. She is infamous for her tall stories, loves being the centre of attention and will play to her audience, making them even more absurd or epic if they seem to be enjoying them. It is apparently incredibly difficult for her to tell a story completely straight and to not embellish it, and not something she'll do often – her mother frequently declares that if she’d had any musical talents whatsoever (her singing voice has been likened to a wherry being strangled) she would have made a good harper… and seriously, why tell the story of how you caught a couple of fish when you can tell the story of how you caught GIGANTOR, LORD OF ALL FISH? She doesn’t expect to be taken especially seriously, and would be surprised if anyone did – before happily taking her tale further to see if they’ll still believe her.

She also has a tendency to pick up and fiddle with whatever is nearby when she's chattering or bored - something that might be seen as indicative of lying (or at least not telling the whole truth), but it's when she's telling the absolute truth that she has a tendency to drop this habit.

She's fairly smart - she has to be, to keep track of what she's told to whom - even if her intelligence is more frequently routed into telling more elaborate tales and counting cards then anything more practical. If she ever turns it to genuine consideration of something, it's certainly a fairly bright intelligence. She’s a quick learner of physical skills and ways of doing things when they’re demonstrated, with good muscle memory and a firm knowledge of her own body, but is rather slower then average when it comes to book learning. This is mostly because she is almost incapable of sitting still for long periods of time – she’d far rather be out there doing things and on the move, and will quickly begin to fidget and lose her concentration when put in a purely academic situation.

She is frequently hampered by an overconfidence in her own abilities and intelligence and a tendency to jump to conclusions, which can lead her into trouble when she thinks she can outsmart other people – although she may jump to the right conclusion, it’s just as likely that she’s hared off down entirely the wrong track at the speed of light.

Brynja is also incredibly nosy - she wants to know everything. You could describe it as a keen sense of curiosity, or as just simple prying - and once she's found out, she can't help but meddle. She isn't quite so deluded that she thinks she knows what is best for everyone, but sometimes people are so stupid and all they need is a little nudge in the right direction to hook up with that girl who would be perfect for them. She does have a fairly solid grasp of human nature, being a keen gossip, and sometimes these nudges are incredibly successful - but more often, she's made a misjudgment and the results are not quite what she was expecting... or even positive.

In any sort of close relationship, she is prone to bouts of insecurity, especially if she feels that someone has been ignoring her or putting her off for other things; she tends to make up for this with elaborate showy gifts and extra attention to the person concerned, which can be more then a little smothering, although it will quickly fade if she feels wanted again. More then once this has had the opposite effect to the one she desired, but she hasn’t quite managed to work out the cause-and-effect here yet.

In a stressful situation, she will almost always demur to the nearest authority figure – the discipline of shipboard life is pretty firmly imprinted into her – and expect them to be both competent and knowledgeable. If they aren’t, and she comes to know this, she’ll be a little unsure of what to do next, but may well go off on her own initiative rather then continue to listen.

Other: Is a strong swimmer