Approved by Tawny
Rider
Name: D'ei (formerly Denei)
Age: 35
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Lesbian
Craft/Rank: Wingrider
History: Denei came about as the result of a Flight: her brownrider father and bluerider mother participated in the same Green flight over in High Reaches. She had the traditional Weyrbrat upbringing right down to getting into scrapes and causing mischief for the creche workers. She grew up on stories of dragonriders, of old Thread and Impressions. Sure, all the weyrbrats went to classes to try to learn to read and write, but those were boring and she did the bare minimum to not get scolded.
At age five, Denei decided she would Impress a gold dragon. She’d be the best weyrwoman ever and keep High Reaches safe always. They would uphold the very conservative values of their Weyr and everyone would love them. When she stole a kiss from a girl her age in the creche, Denei realized those dreams would not be coming true. She could hope for a blue but all chances pointed to a green. Atypical dragons were whispers but no one wanted to Impress one, especially not a girl like Denei. She was supposed to be the newest lifeblood to Pern, to be someone strong and good. A greenrider couldn’t really be anyone.
Denei remained angry for two turns, lashing out at the slightest pushing just to be able to hit someone. Once she hit the age she could Impress, her crap was very suddenly Not Tolerated. One of the Candidatemaster Assistants pulled her off to the side, demanding she explain herself. After two turns of bottled-up self loathing, Denei poured out her pre-pubescent tale of woe: she liked girls only, no Gold, how is a green supposed to make history, they can’t be leaders, everyone knows that.
The assistant listened in silence during the rant. It ended with the Weyrbrat nearly in tears. She touched Denai’s shoulder and said, gently, “There is only honor in being a good person and, if Impressed, a strong rider. Do your best and you’ll be valued.” Denei cried.
At thirteen, she Stood for the first time. The clutch bore mostly blues and greens, three browns, a single bronze. In the midst of the Impressions, suddenly dragon all up in her way. Rainbow eyes and a voice announcing his name as Lycath followed. That was that and all hopes of being an important member of the Weyr were dashed to the side. Impressing outside of the norm at a conservative Weyr typically led to isolation and teasing. High Reaches didn’t stray much from the past to begin with, so why bother now?
The social stigma of Lycath stuck to her. D’ei changed her name out of defiance and set out to be the best damned rider they’d ever laid their stupid eyes on. She studied drills, did her chores, cared for Lycath... and was mocked from the sidelines. When a Weyrling, you can’t fight. She learned how to keep her rage in check, retaliating instead by putting trundlebugs in their beds or putting salt in their klah. She decided if they disliked her, she would dislike them right back.
That... that didn’t go so well.
Previously outgoing, fierce, emotional D’ei turned into a woman made of stone as she grew older (but no taller). She pushed back her anger and upset so as to not give people what they wanted to see, pushing herself twice as hard as she normally would in order to show them that she was a good rider, better than they were, that women could ride browns too, and all of that sort of rebellious stuff. It all came to a head when she was twenty. Her Wingleader went too far in his mockery and made some crude insinuations about whether or not she was actually female biologically (though it is up for debate whether or not words longer than two syllables are known to him). When he grabbed her arm after wing drills, D’ei turned around and kicked the living crap out of him.
Rather than making an example of the one female brownrider in their Weyr and looking intolerant, they gave her a choice: transfer or Holdless. She requested Malvren. They went. Malvren had it’s fair share of side-eyeing but the people as a whole were more accepting. They had atypical colors and welcomed all sorts of people! Life was good. She dated casually, concentrating more on her work than anything else. When she was thirty, D’ei met a lovely bluerider named Shiza. She charmed the brownrider and they laughed, got along. For half a turn they dated and D’ei could say that she was honestly pleased with life up until the bluerider’s other girlfriend walked in on a mildly racy kissing session.
V’ell asked her out, D’ei agreed, and they both dumped Shiza. At first it was all in good fun; D’ei admired V’ells spirit and her opinions, she was fun to have around and could drink like the fish she used to catch. Lycath caught Zarth, things fell into place, and even gun-shy D’ei had to admit she had feelings. They became weyrmates. And again, she was very pleased with her life until dragons started screaming and the Revolution began.
The two women and their dragons fled rather than die. Trine was said to be quite like Malvren, more tropical than not, but accepting. D’ei hoped that things would change now that the powerful saw how beating down the many ended. V’ell wanted to leave once hearing from her brother, to head back to Malvren and start again there. D’ei argued - she didn’t want to go and start a third time, things would change. Things would change. V’ell left her. Nothing changed.
Description: She's...plain. that isn’t to say D'ei is ugly but simply unremarkable. When a person looks at her, it's doubtful their thoughts stray to 'wow, she's gorgeous'. D'ei disappears in a crowd through looks and practice. That is just how she likes it.
The brownrider stands at about 5'4" on a good day, her hair shaved to a dark brown stubble all year round. Her face is oval, tan with a golden undertone, and set by small dark eyes. While her mouth is bow shaped and delicate, it's hidden by near constant Stoic Face.
She is short. That does not mean she is a thin little princess. A person can misunderstand this due to her small frame and they will be immediately corrected when the clothes come off. She has tight packed muscles from years of physical labor and dragonriding, no ounce of fat on her outside of what her body needs for secondary characteristics. D'ei has been called blocky more than once.
Her hands are like the rest of her: small and work roughened. Her knuckles in particular have been messed up: turns of knuckle pushups and punching hard things calloused her first two knuckles into permanent knobs of scar tissue. She wears fingerless gloves often so they are generally covered while in public.
Clothing mostly consists of fitted leather breeches and sensible shoes. Her top depends on the weather. In summer and spring, she tends to a wrap around vest-shirt. Winter brings long sleeved tunics with sleeves That can be tied back with a cord while working. Cold doesn’t bother her overmuch. After all, life in High reaches brought much more of a chill.
Personality: D'ei has an anger problem. She'd deny this as she hasn’t punched someones face in for months. It's an improvement. Really. Being out of High Reaches has done wonders for her self control; where in the past the feisty girl went off and coldcocked someone for the faintest slight, she now stands there, glares, jaw tight and waiting. She does her best to match wit and words but she is not the best at snarky, snappy comebacks. At that point it is either punch or walk away, the reactions depending on the person she's dealing with. All this repression and outside hostility has made for an introverted D'ei. Shes tried the kicking and screaming before, it didn’t work. Now she still has loads of feelings but funnels them through dry comments. At least she understands jokes and can find humor in them... she just fails at cracking her own too often. When it happens it is unintentional.
Her past damaged D'ei to a good extent. She is proud of her accomplishments and, for the most part, enjoyed her life. She has a weyrmate that loves her, the dragon she always wanted, and a place. Malvren is much more accepting then High reaches but... she grew up small, emotional, and not much to look at instead of a valued bit of Weyrbrat. The teasing of others (and later harassment) hammered a fierce defensive attitude about her position of life as a brownrider. She's learned to run cold in her anger rather than hot for the most part. She'll not stand for slander about herself or her loved ones and especially not her Weyr. They are Hers. This can lead to complications in a very large Weyr when you are just One. She's painfully aware she is different, often bristling under what she may consider an insult, though Lycath keeps as much of the hostility as he can under wraps.
She relaxes around familiar people. They don’t need to be friends, just those she's met more then once and knows how to deal with. The only exception has been V'ell; the moment she met the other woman, all bets were off. Come on, have you met V'ell? She's passionate, charming, and has no shells to give. D'ei admires that.
Fleeing from Malvren threw her off more then she'd like to admit, pushing her into a world of the unknown and once again surrounded by people like those in her childhood. She resists change - D’ei shuts down when big changes are suggested and instead of trying to explain with words, she resorts to different versions of 'no', pulling back, and eventually yelling. Punching comes later. V'ell is especially good at pushing her buttons. The Revolution threw her life upside down. Her feelings are mixed. D'ei understands why they would want to have fair treatment; her and her weyrmate were subject to bias everyone else had. She understands unfair. What she doesn’t understand is the bloodshed on top of claiming her whole life at the Weyr was wrong. She finds the killings disgusting, hurting innocent Weyrfolk for 'glorious change'. They fled. She isn’t proud of it.
For all her problems, she tries to be a good person. She only wants to do her Best and show the world her Impression isn’t a mistake. Her life has been devoted to being a good dragonrider. Thats all she ever wanted.
Well, and V'ell. Compared to her lifelong desire to be the best rider ever, V'ell is relatively new.
Other: She has a small gold firelizard named MiniCath she calls Mini and uses as a messenger for everything in life.
Dragon
Name: Lycath
Age: 22
Colour: Brown
Description: Lycath is a brown of contrasts. The majority of his body is the light brown of klah and cream. At the tops of his wings, the color turns to an almost gray-brown, seeming to melt down the thin skin of his wings. The same color is seen splashed over his muzzle as if it were a flame, streaking on his headknobs and top of his head as well. A darker brown covers his chest and back, almost in the shape of a heart.
Size/build: Whers aren't the only weird looking ones in town. Lycath is an oddly shaped beast, middling length for his color with a short, thick neck, long legs and a barrel chest. His tail curls slightly up, constantly moving and twitching this way and that. Lycath's head is larger than the average dragons, his lower jaw heavily muscled with a slight under bite, eyes large and staring at whatever he can.
Personality: Like his rider, Lycath does not want to be a leader, he just wants to be good. This brown is a beta-dragon, equipped and able to take over if the situation called for it, but he'd much rather fall back and take orders. He is also aware that according to stereotypes, he's supposed to be attached to a man. No regret is felt for failing this stereotype. Lycath's idea of 'success' and being ambitious can seem skewed to others; he believes that if a person is happy, they are successful. It has always been his goal to see D'ei happy and settled, the brown being well aware that much of his riders upheavals in life have come from his hide color.
What he and D'ei are doing make them both happy, or at least contented. They have their weyrmates and their wing drills. Sure, they may get picked on every so often but that doesn't mean he'll le them get him down - Lycath takes all the hits with good grace and a mild 'mmhmm'. If Zarth is a lady, he is a gentleman, even if he's a rather talkative one.
Unlike D'ei, Lycath does not hold grudges. His rider is more than equipped for that sort of thing, he just rides along for damage control. No apologies are made for behavior, no excuses, no attempts to reason with. Lycath knows His better than he knows himself and sometimes it is just better to let her vent instead of keep it all bottled up inside. He is highly posessive of D'ei, acting more like a protective older brother figure when she gets upset. If the person has a dragon, he may attempt to snap but once it's done, let bygones be bygones.
Lycath Chases. A lot. The only time he aims to win is when he Chases Zarth but, as a favor to D'ei, he frolicks after any female that catches his eye even if it's to linger in the back of the crowd. She enjoys Flightlust, he enjoys being able to spread his wings. Zarth has never had a problem with it as far as he is aware, and he always brings her foods to nibble on afterwards.
Reply
