Art by Tinnunculus
Medicine is the only profession that labours incessantly to destroy the reason for its own existence.
Rider
Name: Bereck
Age: 49
Gender: Male
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Rank: Wingrider / master healer
History: Bereck, born at Malvren Weyr, enjoyed the love and care of two doting (if rather young at nineteen) parents; Berina (gentle bright blue eyed healer journeywoman), and Vireck (proud passionate dragon candidate). Time in the creche was needed so that they could both keep up with their work, but for the most part they took care of their son and learned a great deal of things damn fast. When Vireck was twenty he impressed a handsome clever silver named Uktith, who doted on the baby whenever it wasn't smelly or crying or anything unpleasant like that. Uktith was a silver of sensibilities!
As Bereck grew he didn't really get on with most the other children. Where most of the weybrats were interested in playing loud games he preferred to sit in a corner with a book. He was also always the one with his hand up in lessons with the Harpers, and wondered why this seemed to make some of the other kids hate him. On the plus side it made some of the other kids like him a lot, and he happily helped them with their homework when they came to him stuck with something. Often they were stuck right at the start of it, but because they were nice he didn't really mind working through with them even if he'd already finished the work himself. As might be guessed, many of the children who sought his help had no interest in being his friend and just wanted him to basically do their work for them. Bereck worked this out eventually and stopped helping them, which didn't help his popularity much.
When Bereck turned eight, he became a healer apprentice. His parents had spent the last half turn or so discussing what he ought to do with his life; Berina wanted him to be a healer, like her. V'eck wanted his son to start intensively studying dragon lore so that when he inevitably Impressed a bronze, silver, or perhaps brown he would be prepared for his destiny as a wingleader at the very least. If he Impressed bronze or even brown of course V'eck expected he would one day be Weyrleader. V'eck won and started drawing up lesson plans. Unfortunately for said plans, V'eck had not quite counted on his small son being as stubborn as he was. Bereck did not want to be a wingleader or a weyrleader, he wanted to be a Healer. Bereck did not turn up for his first lesson with his father, instead he went and reported to the Weyrhealer. V'eck was furious and went on a long eloquent rant about respect for elders, obedience, duty and so on before taking away the apprentice knots Bereck had been granted. This resulted in one of the few serious arguments between V'eck and Berina, during which Bereck hid under Uktith's wing with his fingers in his ears. For all his stubbornness however V'eck couldn't stand to have his weyrmate so angry with him, and after a turbulent hour or so he gave in and returned the knots along with a vague mumbled apology. Clever Bereck took well to his craft, but failed to get much enthusiasm out of V'eck for it and although Berina was very proud Bereck felt the sting of parental disinterest and worked even harder in search of approval. Unsurprisingly it didn't work and father and son became somewhat cool with one another, though Bereck remained close to Uktith.
Life took an abrupt turn for the worse when Bereck was eleven. Berina, rushing down a flight of stairs because she was late for her shift, tripped and fell. She struck her head on the corner of a step and lost consciousness. It took a week for her to wake up, and when she did she was... not quite right. Her moods swung quite wildly, and she seemed to be having trouble remembering anything that was said to her after whoever she'd been speaking to left the room. Days passed with no change, and then weeks, and eventually the Weyrhealer grimly informed Bereck and V'eck that she would probably be this way for the rest of her life. Her memories ended at the moment of the accident; she simply could not lay down new ones anymore.
With the news that his weyrmate was essentially lost to him V'eck couldn't stand to look at his son whose eyes were exactly like his beloved Berina's - could barely even cope with looking after himself let alone a distraught eleven year old anyway - and so Bereck was moved into creche, where he hadn't been at all since he became an apprentice. Bereck convinced himself that this was just temporary, that V'eck would come around and want him back soon, but months passed and that didn't happen. The silver rider turned in the opposite direction whenever he happened to see him around the Weyr, and Uktith remembered to speak to him less and less. Perhaps, Bereck thought, he just needed to impress his father by excelling at his craft. With nothing else to distract him he worked harder than ever, burying himself in his work to hide from the pain of essentially losing one parent and feeling abandoned by the other. Perhaps, he thought, if he learned enough he could learn how to make Berina well again.
As the turns passed he kept on visiting his mother in the infirmary, but soon enough his presence started to distress her; he looked just like her son, but her son was eleven not thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen.... Bereck started to wonder if there was a point to him visiting her given it only hurt them both and she forgot almost the moment he left anyway, but he couldn't bring himself to just close the door and never go back. Despite the distance that had grown between himself and V'eck he still found himself wanting the man's approval, and missed him. As all his father had ever wanted for him was to be a successful rider, once he had walked the tables at eighteen he started to stand for clutches; he might not plan to become a wingleader but maybe just being a rider at all would do. He refused to compromise his work for this however and juggled his healing work along with the chores he was assigned and candidate lessons, learning in the process to multi-task, do with a bit less sleep, and also developed his abiding love of klah.
In his very first clutch, his efforts were rewarded. She came out of a large strong gold clutch, and when she burst out of her shell the first thing that massive green did was charge at a bronze that was bullying a meek little blue. Her opponent was bigger than she was but the green was just as muscular and at least twice as pissed off; the bronze was sent rushing over to his rider with his tail between his legs. The big chunky green hatchling then made her way over to the slightly scuffed up blue, licked his wounds, and nudged him off towards the male candidates. When he refused to go she honked at him loudly and gave him another nudge, which earned a creel. After a few moments of apparent conversation they set off together towards the girls, where the blue joyously met with his rider. The green huffed in a satisfied manner and plodded back to the unhatched eggs. Every time a shell cracked she went to meet her sibling, and chivvied of guided them if she thought they needed it. Eventually she was the last unbonded dragon on the sands, and after looking about to ensure that this really was the case she made her way slowly over to the boys and flopped down at Bereck's feet. //They are all safe now MyHealer. We can go.//
By most standards Berath was probably the least lovely dragon in the clutch; she didn't fit the ideal conformation of her colour, or any dragon really with her short thick legs neck and tail, and though she was a pretty enough moss green colour unlike her siblings she had no intricate markings. Bereck didn't care in the least though: as one would expect from a rider he thought she was the very best of the bunch; no silly frippery for them thank you, and a solid healthy build could only be a good thing! Proud as could be he made his way up to V'eck's weyr with the two day old green plodding solidly by his side and knocked at the door. He was allowed in. He and his new bondmate were inspected for a few moments, and then dismissed. V'eck had work to do, he did not have time for a child, and any rider who thought they did was a fool. Besides, a green could never amount to anything important, and was no dragon for a real man anyway. Bereck departed furious, stung and incensed by the words, and just as much by the fact that his father hadn't met his eyes even for a moment. Understanding V'eck's wish to avoid pain at a reminder of his living and yet lost weyrmate didn't make Bereck able to forgive it.
After a few more days the weyrlingmaster wanted to know how Bereck was going to elide his name, for the records. If he hadn't decided of course he could have more time, there was no rush but it was something to think about. Bereck informed the man that he had decided; he was going to stay Bereck. It wasn't an overly long name, and his mother had chosen it, and if he cut it short he would sound more like V'eck and less like Berina. He preferred to be like Berina thanks. Although this was unorthodox the Weyrlingmaster accepted it; women didn't have to if they didn't want to after all, and so he saw no point in forcing the young greenrider to comply with tradition. Some of the other weyrlings took issue with it of course, boys and girls who had never got on with Bereck, but he ignored the jibes as best he could and got on with caring for his dragon.
Eventually they became wingriders and Bereck returned to his craft, still refusing to compromise his studies for his riding or indeed his riding for his studies. When Berath started to rise he went along with the Flights because he felt it was The Done Thing, and while not enthused by the idea it didn't really bother him; going with the flow seemed like far less effort than going against it. When he was twenty five however he decided that he was done with Flights. The decision was made very abruptly and very decisively when he woke up with a large handsome young blue rider (hold born, it had been his dragon's first flight) who made the assumption that as a greenrider he must like men and therefore must want him again before they parted ways; he was sure that 'go away' was just the sweet little green rider being coy! The blue rider was mid self-congratulatory observations about the impressive bite mark on Bereck's shoulder, the scratches on his own back, and suggestions of what he was going to do next when Bereck picked up a broom and swept him out of his weyr. Bereck then threw the blue rider's clothes off his ledge into the ocean and went to have a long hot bath. From then on he just locked his door when flights came around, and found himself much happier with the situation; dealing with idiots the morning after had always annoyed him.
Turns passed and Bereck worked on towards his Mastery, still visiting his mother and still hoping to make her well. As he got older the visits were easier for her at least; she could comment with cheer that he had eyes just like her son, and ask him every time just what had happened to her. Every time he told her that she had hit her head, but she would be fine, and her son and Weyrmate would be visiting her very soon. Every day for turns and turns she started the same wonderful book, until it had to be replaced by a new one because the first section had fallen out, worn by repeated use. Everything he felt about the situation with his mother, with his father still ignoring his existence, Bereck locked deep inside himself and refused to confront; he had work to do, shardit, and no time to wallow in self pity. The times when it all overwhelmed him and he cried into his dragon's neck are a deadly secret; aplomb and self control in front of the world became all important to him. He would be strong, capable, dependable in all circumstances no matter what V'eck and some other idiots might have to say about men with greens. He was a Healer first and a rider second in any case, and didn't healers need to be calm no matter what?
Bereck didn't have too much time for women during these years; a few lovers came and went but most went sooner rather than later when they realized that yes he really was a workaholic and no he wasn't ever going to put them first. When he was twenty eight however Bereck met a woman after his own heart; a dedicated career woman, Alina was a clever talented Starcrafter. The pair shared an interest in old technology, discovery of new things, and banter. They were together for about a year, making things work despite their schedules, but eventually the pressure of that last scrabble to reach mastery (each was arrogant and ambitious enough to want it in their thirtieth turn) proved too much and they parted. Then Alina found out she was pregnant, but too far along to terminate by going between. She carried the child to term therefore, named the boy Aleck, and planned to hand him to the Weyr's creche. Remembering the time he had spent in the creche after his mother's accident with loathing however letting his son stay there was simply not an option for Bereck, and he decided to raise him himself. This how he began experiments on the human sleep pattern, re: how much can one warp it in order to get more hours out of the day, and ended up with an even deeper love of klah and polyphasic sleep schedule, generally sleeping in a block of three hours and taking three twenty minute naps throughout the rest of the day and night. (This, the Everyman, is not the most insane sleep schedule anyone has ever kept.)
Despite the pressures of riding and child-rearing, Bereck's insane sleep schedule and dedication saw him earn his mastery when he was thirty one; later than he had wanted but pretty damn good all the same. When he was thirty two Alina left for Landing; a rather nice position had come up there for a master starcrafter and she had nothing tying her to Malvren after all. He watched her go with quiet regret, wondering what might have been if they had both been a little less obsessed with their work or if either of them had made the move to speak to the other again once they had their Mastery.
Regret soon enough faded to the back of his mind however, and he threw himself into his work, and into raising a very smart boy who got into a lot of things he ought not to. Aleck had to spend some time in the creche of course but Bereck came to pick him up every afternoon without fail (except when Berath was proddy, when he had to stay there or with a friend for a couple of days), and he was dropped off in the morning with a lunch packed for him. Bereck went out of his way to make sure there was time for Aleck in a way he never had for any of the women that had drifted into and out of his life. He devoted a lot of said time to teaching Aleck things that weren't covered by standard classes, and generally keeping his bright mind engaged so that he didn't wander off and start doing Experiments. A lot of the time when Bereck was busy with practising his craft Berath looked after Aleck, a task she absolutely adored; it always had and has saddened her that she can't clutch, so having Aleck to mother and fuss over was was wonderful for her. Whatever Aleck needed they did their very best to provide, and each took it hard when they felt they had failed in some way.
Aged forty five Bereck became Malvren's Weyrhealer. When the mess of the mystweed began he was thoroughly annoyed that Benden's Masterhealer Givon refused to cooperate with him, and even more annoyed that he couldn't work out what the man was up to. He strongly supported the mission to seek mystweed when it came along but did not go himself, rather he remained in the Infirmary and treated those wounded in action as they returned. When the murders started Bereck was totally at a loss for who to blame, and listened to theory after theory trying to find some logic in it all. He completely failed on this score and retreated further into his work, disgusted by the crimes and disturbed by the lack of answers. The destruction of the First Fall saw him working harder than ever in his attempts to save those injured riders who made it back to Malvren; for some time the only thing he did was work, with sleep and food snatched where he could. This desperate initial rush didn't last too long however and once all patients were stable his life drifted back to something like normal, or normal for him at any rate.
When the Dragonlights were suggested Bereck may or may not have spent weeks geeking out with Aleck over the idea of this awesome new technology. They attended the demonstration together, and were having a really brilliant time until the s**t hit the fan. Bereck returned immediately to Malvren, ordered Aleck to stay safe and hastened down to the infirmary, where he was grievously wounded by a wher. He missed out on the desperate weeks spent trying to save Malvren, being mainly unconscious, and delirious with fever when he was awake. When Malvren finally fell and was evacuated Bereck was taken to Trine, where he is now slowly recovering from his injuries.
When he works out that he won't be Weyrhealer anymore and will actually have to answer to another healer again, he is not going to be happy in the least.
Description: Standing just between 5'7" and 5'8" Bereck isn't exactly tiny but he's certainly notably smaller than most of the men around him, not that it bothers him much besides the annoyance of neck strain. He's a fairly stocky man with broad shoulders that are still powerful despite his age. Fitness is of course demanded of him in general as a rider, even if he sees his healing as far more important than drilling; he does have a little body fat, but nothing that stops him keeping up with what is required for his duties.
The most striking thing about Bereck is his colouring; his skin is a fairly average pale tan but he has startlingly intense bright blue eyes, and though his hair is naturally white these days (it was ruddy auburn once upon a time) he dyes it to a lovely bright red with henna. Yes he does dye his eyebrows too; meticulously. He has a widow's peak hairline, slightly receded now but still mostly present. His hair is kept quite short and very neat without fail, in fact he's a very fastidious man all over; people don't trust a scruffy healer! High fancy fashion is certainly not his thing though; he goes in for simple, smart, and practical wherever possible, and generally avoids very bright colours. Trademark accessories that he is seldom seen without are rectangular glasses (that he generally only takes off to sleep, or to put on reading glasses) and a golden timepiece.
A long life very full of deep thought and stress has left Bereck with a quite heavily lined countenance, but facially he's pleasant enough to look at all the same. He possesses a good strong jaw without it being insanely square, good cheekbones and no unfortunate features, though a beauty spot just above the righthand corner of his mouth could be considered either a plus, minus, or neutral aspect depending on personal taste.
At the moment however he doesn't quite look like he usually does; thanks to an encounter with a brown wher during the uprising at Malvren his complexion is deathly pale, and he has multiple wounds from the beast's claws and teeth. His stocky solid frame has already wasted considerably, and his usually sharp intelligent gaze is distant and unfocused when his eyes are open at all.
Personality: Bereck is an essentially decent though not always friendly man whose main interests in life seem to be his work, discovering new things and drinking klah. A lot of klah. The amount of klah he drinks can mainly be attributed to his obsession with the first item on the list; he doesn't seem to know how to 'have a holiday' or 'take it easy', or anything else of that nature. His work as a healer means just about everything to him; he demands the best from himself at all times and can never forgive himself for a mistake or failure. Even if there was nothing he could have done to save somebody's life or limb he feels personally to blame if he can't make somebody - dragon or human - well again. Losing patients sends him deep into a melancholy gloom during which he questions his ability as a healer, and works even harder to compensate for his perceived failings. No matter how many people he saves it's the ones he loses that he remembers, and no matter how much he does he always despairs that he couldn't do more.
As he has been healing a long time and thus lost a lot of people there is a certain worn air to him a lot of the time; he has brushed shoulders with Death on countless occasions, and he knows far too well that there is no justice in who He takes. Bereck doesn’t believe there’s much justice anywhere in the world come to that; he’s rather cynical about human nature, and how the world is ordered, and about who gets ahead and why. In his slightly cranky and sometimes snarky way he struggles to make his corner of the world slightly better through his healing and through standing up for things and for people when it matters, but he fears that he makes little difference in the end. It’s not just in healing that he’s a perfectionist; in all aspects of life he feels he could always have done a better job.
Bereck is a calm pragmatic man in a crisis, raising his voice only in order to be heard over a hubbub and offering a steady strong presence to panicked patients and or friends, dragons, riders, and significant others. Outside of a crisis he's certainly not volatile but he is short on patience with idiots, people he thinks are idiots, arrogant people, loud people and bullies. Not given to physical violence or cussing streams he tends to deal with such people either with short barks or snarks to get out of his hair, or with long lectures about why they're idiots (and why they should then get out of his hair). Yes, he is a bit of a stick in the mud, and no an amusing string of practical jokes will not get him to change, it will just lead to a longer lecture. Once something has annoyed him he tends to stay in a grouchy mood either for the rest of the day, or until somebody cheers him up. The cheering up isn't actually hard to people that know him, a cup of klah made how he likes it or a similar small gesture will usually do the trick; he appreciates being thought of, and people paying enough attention to know the things he likes.
Egotism and rank grubbing are both slightly baffling and very annoying to Bereck. As goes with his cynicism about the world, he tends to be suspicious of those who have gained a rank before one would expect them to be able to, and of anyone who makes a big deal of their rank. Do you care more about the knots, he wants to know, or the work? He respects the chain of command in a crisis and expects others to do so too, simply because it's not practical to have everyone trying to make the decisions when time is critical. When time is not critical however he will question his superiors bluntly, but doesn't tend to take it well when other people - save a very select few - question him or make suggestions contrary to what he had in mind. His immediate response to this is to snark or scoff at whoever has contradicted him, but if they persist and their point turns out to be a good one he'll champion it (with a good dose of embarrassment if it goes against something he thought/said beforehand). If on the other hand it's bollocks he will explain exactly why it is bollocks, or why he thinks it is in any case.
Tending towards the reserved, Bereck prefers to keep strong emotions to himself. He's hardly a flawless actor so observant people around him will probably be able to tell if something is bothering him, but good luck getting him to talk about it; he likes to keep private things private thank you so much, and trying to persuade him to discuss something he doesn't want to will earn you only Grump. Even with those he's close to he avoids discussing problems; he'll usually brush enquiries off or dismiss issues as unimportant, and once again prodding him only results in grouchiness. If he ever does want to talk about something he will do so in his own damn time, though that time is usually 'never' due to a combination of quiet pride, habitual self-reliance, and just not wanting to burden the people he cares about. While in general he tries to avoid getting overly enthused around people he's unfamiliar with too, he's not especially good at it if something awesome is present/being discussed. Try though he might he tends to geek out and ramble excitedly over things that fascinate him, only to realize he's doing so and trail off looking faintly embarrassed. People he's close to however can expect him to keep going on about whatever it is for a very long time, whether they're actually interested or not.
Other:
Dragon
Name: Berath
Age: 30
Colour: Green
Description: Size: Huge. Build: Bodybuilder.
...That has to be a green, right? It's very very green, so it must be. Umm.... Well she's certainly an impressive lady. She's big, as big as an average blue, and her build is massively powerful. Her legs quite short, and her tail and neck aren't exactly long and sinuous either which only adds to her compact, stocky appearance. Wingspan however is something she doesn't lack; her wings are long and broad giving her excellent lift and good endurance in the air.
As well as not being a dainty lady, this dragon is clearly not a young lady. She remains fit and powerful (very powerful), but her once rich mossy green hide has started to fade somewhat on her face, legs, and wings. Her eyes are bright and clear though, her teeth are still strong and white, and she is still more than capable of keeping up with the younger dragons. Also notable are Berath's injuries; her mossy hide is crisscrossed with lacerations and bite marks, and one of her eyes is covered by bandaging. Her wounds appear to be healing well, however, and will no doubt leave her with some very impressive scars.
Personality: Berath will look after you, Berath will look after everyone! As is perhaps fitting for her massive build Berath is a mother bear; woe betide anyone who harms one of hers, or one too weak to defend themselves! There is nothing she would not do to make sure those she loves are as safe and happy as can be, discounting of course her physical inability to willfully harm a human. She will fight a bronze dragon for you, she will take Thread for you, she will give her own life and even endanger her rider’s life to keep another safe, because she knows he shares her desire to keep people from harm.
Though roused easily to anger by attacks on those she loves and those she thinks need protection, in other circumstances she is a calm and steady sort. Stress is something that happens to other people, mostly her rider apparently; a great portion of her life has been spent trying to keep him from getting so stressed he explodes. She also spends a lot of time making sure that he does occasionally sleep and eat, and does the same for anyone else who she thinks takes too much upon themselves. She generally has a solid, straightforward and even blunt approach to this though so despite her best intentions it doesn’t always work and she can come off as being rather rude or bossy. If she is accused of this she will be mildly hurt, and say she was merely trying to be helpful!
If there is something one of hers or somebody who fits her ‘needs looking after’ category wants or needs, she will go to great lengths to get it or to see that is it got. No matter how much it puts her out, no matter if they could have got it or done it for themselves, she will do it for them. In this instance she is rather like a mother again, the one who will drop three children off at three different things of an evening having just been at work all day. She doesn’t see it as being taken advantage of even when somebody blatantly is just using her good nature to get away with being lazy; she is happy to help, and just wants to see people happy. Whether you want her kill that she was about to eat, or just to hug her silently without being pestered by questions she is more than happy to oblige.
It should be noted that Berath is slightly resentful towards golds and clutching crimsons. She tries very hard not to be, and feels guilty for feeling as she does, but she cannot help her jealousy. They can have hatchlings of their own, and she cannot. If a gold or crimson clutcher needs her help she will still be there for them, but she has never yet formed a friendship with a dragon capable of having eggs.
Other:
