Approved by Tawny

Rider
Name: Merrill
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Previous craft/rank: N/A

History:
Merrill is the daughter of the Headwoman at Arcon Hold, a by-blow from a passing bronze rider. She was raised along with the Lord Holder's own children, and it was always expected that she would take over for her mother one day. At a very young age, Merrill was expected to take on a lot of the smaller, more menial duties of a Headwoman - it was thought that she would spend her childhood and adolescence preparing and training, taking on more and more duties and responsibilities as she proved able. Merrill therefore has a decent background in a lot of little things. She knows a bit about cooking, a bit about sewing, a bit about healing... but she does not have a huge amount of knowledge or skill in any of these things. As a child, Merrill was not one to accept her fate quietly or easily. Being a girl who loved attention, be it positive or negative, she had a tendency to act out and was punished often. Everyone assured her mother that this was just a phase. She would grow out of her tomboyish attitudes and behaviors. Perhaps she needed to spend more time with the Lord Holder's daughters, a demure and obedient bunch. Oh dear, she threw their best Gather-day dresses in a vat of brown dye? Maybe if she had a task to focus on, such as weaving. Thats supposed to be soothing. What? Her weaving was found adorning the stall floors of the runner beasts? Well that was quite naughty.

When Merrill was twelve, her mother sent her to Malvern weyr to see if her father could make something of the wild girl. At least, that was the reasoning she used to assuage the guilt of the truth - she couldn't control her daughter anymore, and the child's behavior was threatening her position as Headwoman. Of course, being a dragonrider, Merrill's father had no time for her, nor did he want anything to do with a random b*****d child from some far off hold. The girl had been incredibly impressed by the dragons, and eventually a bluerider recognized that she had some potential to her. Merrill officially became a Candidate. Finally, she had a place of her own - not her mother's place as a slave to a Holder. Perhaps, as a Candidate, her father might recognize her and want something to do with her. Unfortunately, she was just as badly behaved as a Candidate as she had been at Arcon hold. Merrill discovered that her father's rejection hurt her more than she would care to admit, and her aversion towards authority grew to a focused dislike of those dragons and riders in positions of power, specifically the queens and the bronzes. She also began to notice a significant hierarchy within the hold, and the difference in the way people were treated, especially by those arrogant metallic riders, chafed. But she was young, there was little she could do. So she continued to act out and be punished, all the while her frustrations continued to build. During this time she did make a friend or two, however. Candidates who were just as frustrated as she was. Most notably was L'roh. The older woman became a sort of big sister to Merrill and where the younger girl's distrust of authority may have faded under a calmer mentor, L'roh fanned the flames of the youngster's passions.

Midway through Merrill's fourteenth turn, she stood on the Sands for her first Hatching. The experience was overwhelming and highly emotional, the girl watched as others Impressed and yearned for a companion of her own. She yearned for the status and attention a dragon would bring her. She yearned for the power she would find with a dragon by her side. She yearned for the closeness of that fabled bond. And when a beautiful silvery-green hatchling made her way towards Merrill, the girl's breath caught in her throat. It was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen, and she was firmly convinced that it was the prettiest hatchling on the Sands. So when it spoke to her... her! Merrill! Her heart nearly burst with joy. In that moment, all of the rejections of her past were lost as her heart opened up and was flooded with this new, beautiful presence.

"Merrill Mine! Close your mouth! Your Amaranth knows she is beautiful, but she is also hungry. You can adore me while you feed me!"

Amaranth quickly became Merrill's whole world. The young dragon healed so many of the emotional hurts that Merrill hadn't even realized had been festering inside her for so long. The two were completely devoted to each other, and it could have been that Merrill would have forgiven and forgotten all the injustices and slights that she had perceived in the past. All could have been well... but it wasn't. Merrill soon discovered that becoming a dragonrider did not suddenly change everything when it came to functioning in a social hierarchy. At least, not in the way she had thought it would. As a brand new greenrider, she found herself the lowest of the low in the echelon of dragonrider society. She wouldn't have been so prickly if the predjudice and scorn had only been focused on her. She had Amaranth, and that was all she needed. But the scorn of the other riders, especially the metallic riders, fell onto her beautiful little dragon as well. And the metallic dragons were no better, they pricked at Amaranth's pride and vanity, and every little p***k and insult hurt Merrill five times worse than her dragon.

Feeding upon each other's pride, the duo became determined to prove themselves better than all other riders, regardless of color. It was during this time that they fell in with the group that would become the Bolts. Each member of the group had their own reasons and their own hurts to nurse. And each member of the group had their own wild ambitions and pride. It didn't take long for Merrill and Amaranth to know that they had found, in the the Bolts, their true family. The family of their hearts.

As an added insult, though it proabably wasn't intended as such, Merrill was assigned to her father's wing once she and Amaranth were deemed ready enough. In all fairness to the bronze rider, her tried to give her a fair shake. She might be some random by-blow, but she had managed to Impress a dragon, even if it was only a green. As he had never paid a great deal of attention to his daughter beforehand (something that was not uncommon with dragonrider's children but that hurt Merrill nontheless) he wasn't as aware of her reputation as, perhaps, he should have been. He soon found out how willfull and disobedient she was, and Merrill found herself in almost constant trouble. The hurt her father had unknowingly inflicted upon her by his rejection was compounded by this new tension within the relationship. Additionally, his treatment of her influenced the other riders in their wing and Merrill found herself very much the black sheep. When Keller's agents approached the Bolts, Merrill was more than ready to take up his cause and argued vehemently for the revolution from the get-go.

During the fighting, things finally came full-circle for Merrill as she met her father on the battlefield and witnessed his final and greatest betrayal of her. It was at his hands that L'roh perished. (see prompt)

Description:Portrait
Merrill is tall and slender, with a beautifully thick mane of auburn hair and dark green eyes. She knows that she is a beautiful woman, and she is not likely to let anyone forget it. Merrill does not dress in frilly dresses, however. She prefers trousers and tunics. Her clothing is always exquisitely tailored and she dresses in shades of green and silver that compliment her coloring as well as that of her dragon's.

Personality:
At best, Merrill is unpredictable and at worst she is vitriolic. She prefers to always be the center of attention and she doesn't necessarily care how she manages that. Merrill is one of those people who always has to be noticed for something. She prefers it when people pay attention to her beauty and the amazing way she and Amaranth and the Bolts work together. She loves to be praised and complimented and showered with admiration. However, Merrill will also act out negatively if she feels she isn't getting enough attention from others. She will interrupt, show off and do wild and reckless things that put herself and Amaranth in near-danger just for the sake of being noticed. Her biggest fear in life is to be overlooked, as she was as a child. And so she is willing to go to great lengths to prevent that from happening. The adoration and fame that being a part of the Bolts brought her has been both good, as it has built up her confidence in herself; and bad, as it has made her become more reckless and sometimes downright arrogant.

Merrill is a skilled and passionate speaker, and she is graced with a decent amount of charisma. She has the potential to be a real leader, were she ever to apply herself. Merrill is not, however, interested in the responsibilities of leadership. In fact, Merrill is not interested in responsibility in general and she is always coming up with excuses or picking petty arguments just to get out of doing an unpleasant chore. She has a way of winning friends to her side, but she doesn't often make lasting relationships with others. It's hard for people to come to terms with the way her moods fluctuate. When she is sweet, she is very sweet. But when she is in a temper she is not someone most people want to be anywhere near.

Merrill's passionate temperment bleeds over into many aspects of her life, and once she has deemed a person a friend she is fierce in all aspects of the relationship. She is loyal, she is protective, and she will never waver from someone she has decided that she likes. She will give all of herself to her friends, and when betrayal or loss comes, it hits her very hard. This is not a woman who does anything by halves - she loves, hates, mourns and celebrates with every fiber of her being. This can make her a great deal of fun to be around, if you can put up with her reckless and risky behavior. She likes people who can keep up with her, or at least who have a healthy sense of adventure. There are few things she's not willing to try at least once.

Being so intense all of the time can be exhausting. Most people can't take her for long periods of time, and sometimes Merrill herself gets too restless and will dissapear with Amaranth for a few days without telling anybody where they are going or where they have been. She doesn't get taken by these moods often, but when she does she finds that she needs a great deal of open space and solitude - just her and her dragon. During these times Merrill sometimes has crying fits or falls into a pit of melancholic depression. She doesn't like for others to witness this aspect of her, because she views it as a weakness that she'd rather keep hidden. Largely, these incidents occur because she has so many unresolved issues regarding her parents, both of whom she feels rejected her. Merrill is deeply afraid of being rejected again, and when her intense personality has burnt itself out temporarily she falls prey to her fears.

Merrell is the "pet" of the bolts, she is everybody's little sister and she adores the attention that this role provides her with. In the Bolts she has found the family she always wanted, but never had before.


Age: 8
Colour: Green
Size/build: Amaranth is average in size, and is slightly slimmer than your typical green. Though this beauty will be the first to tell you that there is absolutely nothing typical about her.
Description: Concept
Here is a concept sketch I did of Merrill and Amaranth as weyrlings to give a basic idea of what her coloration and markings would look like. The artist is welcome to take the concept and play with it!

Personality:
Amaranth is a playful and sometimes silly dragon. She always seems to be in a good mood and life is one big wonderful game to her. She loves to fly in daring formations and show off her skills, the excitement and adrenaline rush keep this dragon happy. Because she looks at everything as some sort of tool for her own amusement, Amaranth does not do well with authority, especially when it comes to flying in a boring old wing formation. While she loves the adrenaline rush of fighting thread, for example, she would much rather do it her way - with panache and sparkle. When she absolutely has to do something by the book, she will try to add tiny little touches of flair to every day boring activities to keep herself entertained.

Amaranth is a beautiful dragon, and she is well aware of the fact. She enjoys attention and will preen and prance and show off to anyone willing to watch. She is a stickler for keeping well oiled and in perfect physical condition - no scaly skin for this beauty or you risk a scolding. Amaranth will be the first to tell you that other dragons most certainly pale in comparison to her beauty, and that the Queens have nothing on her. Those gold dragons are nothing but breeders and while their metallic shine might be pleasant, it's nothing compared to her delicate silvery markings and her physical grace and agility. Her vanity is usually fairly good natured, and most people smile tolerantly at it. But Amaranth's opinions of the Queens has been known to ruffle a few feathers and offend people - a fact that the dragon more or less ignores. People who don't recognize what a fine specimen she is are not people she particularly cares to associate herself with anyways. Amaranth is generous with her affections, she doles out compliments more often than not, but her compliments are almost always aimed at other greens, though she has been known to admire a handsome blue or brown. She never compliments a metallic dragon and other females who are not green she looks at with disdain.

She is a curious creature, and she always wants to know what this is, or who that is, or what those things over there are doing. She will stick her nose into business that has nothing to do with her, and had she and her rider been more inclined to obedience they would have made an excellent Search pair. In fact, it is not entirely unheard of for Amaranth to Search a candidate spontaneously when they have been flying around performing with the Bolts. Unfortunately, on the rare occasions that this has happened the Candidates are often returned to the Weyr a little worse for wear, as Amaranth also enjoys toying with her passengers and will commonly execute flips or rolls just to terrify them. She thinks this is an immensly hilarious thing to do and will gloat a great deal over how badly she frightened some poor passenger.

Amaranth has an odd fondness for whers. She likes to watch them and is absolutely fascinated by their vocal range. She is more vocal than most dragons, and she has been known to amuse herself by trying to imitate some of the noises that the whers make. Her predjudice against metallic dragons does not carry through with the whers, she has no problem with metallic whers. Her fondness for the whers is looked down upon by many other dragons and their riders, and people have come up with some fairly creative insults for her. Amaranth shrugs these insults off, as the people who cast them are not worth noticing as far as she is concerned. The slights bother her rider a great deal more, however.

Why did this dragon choose their rider?:
In Merrill, Amaranth saw a bright flame of passion and intensity that drew her to its heat. She recognized that Merrill was the type of person who would be game for anything, and Amaranth could tell immediately that the two of them would have grand adventures together and that their mutual desire for excitement would only grow as they pushed themselves to greater heights. She liked the rebellious nature of the young Candidate, it appealed to her own sense of superiority and individuality.

Amaranth is much friendlier and easier to get along with than Merrill, and her influence makes Merrill less abrasive while Merrill's ambitions and passion help to focus her dragon. Their combined sense of pride in themselves and each other inspires them both to push and challenge themselves, which has resulted in them becoming an amazing flying duo.


Prompt #2

The sounds of shouting could be heard at a distance, muffled by stone. Lamplight flickered eerily on the walls, occasional pools of light that were broken up by long stretches of darkness and danger. There was no telling who, or what, was lurking in the shadows. Merrill only prayed that they were on her side. She had gotten turned around in the warren or tunnels, distracted briefly by her connection with Amaranth who was fighting in the sky. The dragon was exultant, far too fast and agile for the bulkier dragons to catch she was in her element. And revenge tasted oh, so sweet. Merrill wished she were up there with Amaranth, she didn't like the close dark quarters in the tunnels. All the stone seemed to surround and crush her, and the darkness was unnerving. Thus far she had managed to survive, but she was too far from the fighting. She needed to find her way back, she needed to show them that even a lowly greenrider was as fierce and terrible as anything they could imagine. Fierce, terrible and quiet. She heard a scream come from a corrider to her left, a scream that was somehow familiar and therefore left her covered with icy chills. Clutching her knife, Merrill crept down the dark tunnel until she saw the source of the scream - one scream among many and yet... Her stomach turned over painfully. Lying in a dim pool of light lay a crumpled figure that was so very familiar to the young greenrider. Ah, no! Merrill could feel the answering shudder of sorrow and loss from Amaranth, and then was bolstered by a wave of anger. Her anger, her dragon's anger, the emotion was intense and bracing. Despair was burnt away and replaced by sheer hatred for the figure that stood over L'roh's still form. Merrill's knuckes were white as they clenched her knife and she crept forward. The figure raised his head and saw her.

"You!" Her father said, eyes widening in surprise. "Why aren't you fighting?" He asked, kneeling down to wipe his blade on L'roh's tunic. He was covered in sweat, the same as everyone else in those damnable dark tunnels. There was a fierce cut across one cheek. Merrill hoped that L'roh had been responsible for it. "Those damned rebels are getting the upper hand, girl. You'd better go and do your part!"

He doesn't know... The realization came to Merrill slowly. Her father, so caught up with himself and his precious hierarchy, didn't realize that she was not on his side. It was the oddest feeling, Merrill would realize later. She felt as if she were floating, looking down upon herself. Disjointed from the action she was about to take. There was a huge pressure that seemed to build inside her, all the insults and the abandonment from both her parents - but mostly from him. And on top of that, L'roh's death at his hand. The pressure filled her and filled her and filled until suddenly... pop. It wasn't until she felt the heat of his blood and heard Amaranth scream triumph in her mind that she realized she was standing in front of him, her knife shoved up under his ribs and into his heart. She found herself thinking that it was a good thing she'd taken a longer knife as she stood there, the dead weight of her father leaning against her, the two of them connected. It took Merrill a full minute of standing there in shock before she finally let go of the knife and stepped aside, allowing his body to fall heavily to the ground. It was almost another full minute before she came back enough to realize that Amaranth was calling to her insistently.

"Merrillmine! You have avenged L'roh. You have avenged yourself. Now come, my beautiful warrior! Come Mine! We have more work to do! There is more vengeance to be had! We will show them all how fierce we are! It will be such fun!"

The greenrider shook her head, a deep sense of peace filling her. It eased into all the little cracks and crevasses that had been left by her sense of abandonment and all the slights that had ever been piled on top of her. It soothed her spirit and she found herself grinning. There was no guilt, only vengeance. In her head, Amaranth screamed joyful triumph once again.