Handler
Name: Serdek
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Technically bisexual homoromantic, functionally ace/aromantic
Former/secondary Craft: Stonesmith
Rank: Journeyman
History: Serdek had a rough upbringing. Born to a mother who foisted her off immediately, the early turns of her life were spent with foster-parents who didn't want her in a small cothold outside Crom. Whatever the details are, Serdek keeps them well-hidden, but suffice to say that plenty of her scars date back far earlier than her work as a Stonesmith and she will never, ever refer to the man and woman who raised her as her "mother" or "father." She ran away at fourteen.
At fifteen, she stumbled into the Minercrafthall at Crom and petitioned to be allowed to work as a drudge. She was accepted quickly.
Though she began as a drudge, Serdek was quick to start listening in on classes and learning what she could about the craft. Mining wasn't something that had ever run in her family, but it was interesting, and it captivated her. Three turns after her arrival at the Hall, she petitioned the Master Miner again, this time to be allowed to study as a formal apprentice. Again, the permission was granted, and Serdek became a Minercraft Apprentice. She took to it like a duck to water, learning mathematics and geometry as quickly as construction and geology and progressing rapidly. By age twenty-three, she was ready to walk the tables. The Hall granted her Journeyman rank, and for once, everything was looking up. With her newly-discovered free time and ability to branch out and specialize, Serdek began exploring Mining subcrafts. She fell in love with the craft of the stonemason.
Cross-crafting with smiths, Serdek spent the next six turns studying masonry. And she also found love nearly five turns into her studies at Smithcraft Hall. The woman was beautiful, intelligent, not a Miner but a Smith, a jewelry maker with the most delicate hands. Serdek was immediately enamored, and the pair began a cautious flirtation that blossomed into something more. Serdek thought it was love. For nearly thirteen months, she was hopelessly devoted to the woman. They spent every waking second of their free time together, eventually moving into shared quarters. It seemed serious, and things were going well. Until one day Serdek came back to the quarters they shared and found a Miner in bed with her smith. A male Miner, and an unapologetic Smith shrugging her shoulders and telling Serdek with a sad smile that she wasn't very interested in women, after all.
Serdek left, but not home to Crom. Rather, she transferred to Malvren Weyr, to fill a recent vacancy. Masons were always welcome to ensure proper Weyr maintenance, and it was easier to forget her problems there among the dragons than it would have been to languish at the Hall. For a time, things again looked up. Serdek was happy. Perhaps six months after her arrival at the Weyr, she met D'krel. He was charming, full of spirit and adventure and partnered with Hastath, a brown dragon tender enough to make up for any sweetness D'krel may have lacked. Rebounding and awkward, Serdek was slowly won over. She began a romance with D'krel, one that picked up speed more rapidly than she had expected. For the most part, she maintained her distance. But then one evening Hastath lost a Flight, and D'krel found Serdek alone. The inexcusable happened. Serdek, in a panic, reported D'krel to his Wingsecond, only to find it was her word against the brownrider's - and the riders knew who they were siding with. Nothing would be done. D'krel would not be dealt with.
Serdek fled Malvren Weyr to Eura Hold, where she found herself among humans, rather than dragons, and where she discovered she could allow her own hatred of the dragonriders to fester. She worked where she was asked, and found her own niche working in the Wherhandlers' quarters. Since the 'handlers slept during the day, when Serdek did the brunt of her work, the job was quiet, and it turned out that many wherhandlers were just as quiet and asocial as Serdek was. She forged a few relationships built around mutual friendly silence, and eventually even came to know a few of the whers. They were helpful in her work, and she began slowly looking into acquiring one for herself.
Her suggestion was met not with hostility from the 'handlers, but rather cheerful encouragement. She was trained and prepared, and when one of their golds clutched, she was given an egg. Her first wher was a charming blue named Serdesk, Impressed two turns after she began working with the 'handlers. For a long time, it was a good life. Serdek and Serdesk proved quite adept at their work, and Serdesk was helpful both as security and in Serdek's own work as a mason. They settled into life's rhythms, finally finding a pattern that made sense.
And then came the whispers of revolution - the possibility of overthrowing the dragonriders. The call for wherhandlers went up, and Serdek was among the first to answer. She transferred back to Malvren, desperate to join a cause she felt would be meaningful. When it came time to strike, she was at the forefront. She didn't kill D'krel, unfortunately - as far as she knows, the man made it out alive - but she did cause her own fair share of bloodshed. Serdesk did the same - but unfortunately, a tangle with a brown wher on the side of the dragonriders mortally wounded him. It was better to put him out of his misery than to attempt to heal him, and Serdek was the one who sent him to the grave with soft words and a knife.
She was introduced to Regask half an hour later, in the cleanup after Malvren's overthrow. The wher had lost his handler in the attack, and was half-crazy with bloodlust, half-crazy with the loss of his former bonded. Serdek, grieving and not thinking beyond a desire to heal her own mind and the mind of the hurting wher, blooded him immediately. He became Sersk, and eventually calmed enough to properly listen to her. It wasn't a perfect bond - not healthy enough for that, to be quite frank - but it strengthened, and since the overthrow, the two have come to an understanding. They're a unit now, and though Sersk remembers Regan, he accepts Serdek as his handler.
Description: Serdek's one of those people who gives the impression of being big, even though she's really not. A bit above average at five feet, eight inches tall, she's solid, with broad shoulders and a muscular build solidified through decades as a stonemason. Any curves she has, she hides in men's clothes several sizes too large for her, layered in spite of the Ista heat. Still, hidden or not, there's something about Serdek that gives off a definite air of femaleness. Every move she makes is confident and straightforward, but graceful, like a feline or a gold wher. Serdek has a purpose and every move she makes furthers it.
She's not pretty, but she's striking, with a sharp, square jaw, defined cheekbones, and thin-bladed nose. She shaves her head, her baldness only drawing attention to her dark eyes, thin lips, and tendency to scowl. If she were to grow her hair out, it would be grey. Her complexion is clear, but her skin is weather-beaten and wind-burned; Serdek looks her age, with heavy lines on her forehead and around her eyes and mouth. She's also heavily scarred. While it makes sense for woman of her age and occupation to bear the marks of it, Serdek's scarring is extensive. In addition to bites, the odd knife-wound, and various nicks and scars from work in the mines, her back is crisscrossed with faint, long scars, and her arms bear similarly long, similarly faint marks.
Personality:
Strengths:
- Loyal: Once you have earned Serdek's trust, it's just about impossible to lose it. She is fiercely devoted to the people she loves, and will do anything they ask of her - even if it's wrong.
Collected: It takes a lot to get Serdek to snap. She keeps her insides bottled up pretty well, and generally doesn't allow herself to express emotion in loud or emphatic ways. Losing her temper or having a meltdown hurts worse than staying calm, so Serdek stays calm.
Independent: Serdek doesn't need to be supervised. She gets things done on her own terms, and rarely needs to be told to do something more than once. She's a great solo worker, surprisingly good at prioritizing, and can generally be relied up on to get the job done.
Patient: Serdek doesn't mind if something takes a while - she's perfectly capable of sitting quietly and waiting for situations to become more favorable. She doesn't expect instant results, nor does she seem to want things to happen instantly. Serdek likes taking her time.
Sensible: Serdek doesn't like dealing with the abstract, the intangible, things that don't have definitive solutions. Give her a problem, and she will generally try to find a simple and concrete way to fix it. She hates grey areas, and prefers the simplest solution to a given problem.
- Unsociable: Serdek doesn't like crowds or parties or dealing with people. Given her druthers, she holes up alone and keeps herself to herself. One-word answers and curt replies are her forte - small talk is her downfall.
Bitter: Serdek wants dragonriders dead. Her life has been rough, and she's hit too many hard spots, and while she pretty much agrees that wherhandlers are in the right when it comes to the Revolution, she blames them for the loss of her wher. Serdek is angry almost all the time.
Insecure: Serdek gets nervous, second-guesses herself, and constantly worries about whether or not she's measuring up to the standards she sets herself. She's surprisingly anxious about what other people think of her, to the point where she rarely socializes for fear of making a bad impression.
Selfish: She looks out for Number One. Nobody matters to Serdek as much as Serdek does, and she will always take care of her own well-being and the well-being of her wher first. If that means opposing the Revolution, you can bet your a** she'll oppose them. She's not loyal to the cause so much as she's conveniently allied to it.
Misanthrope: Point-blank, she hates people. People are unpredictable, untrustworthy, irrational creatures and they offer more danger than a wher ever could. If Serdek can get through life interacting with others as little as possible, all the better for her.
Serdek tends to keep herself to herself, and she likes it better that way. As far as she's concerned, there's not a lot she can offer the world that other people aren't already offering, and she doesn't see any reason to put herself out there unless she's literally the only person that can help. She’s bright and has good ideas, but tends to hold back when there are other people there to take charge, sometimes to her own detriment. She’ll take the helm if she's the most qualified, but she often holds back among her peers, and it can be hard to coax information (no matter how essential) out of her. With the inexperienced or those of inferior rank, though, she is surprisingly patient. She's especially fond of children.
A loner by nature, she tends to be fairly selfish, preferring to put herself over others and deal with other people after she’s looked out for number one. People in general make her nervous; Serdek's past hasn't exactly been kind to her, and she's not particularly trusting. In general, she assumes that humans are going to act in unpredictable, vicious ways. She hasn't been disappointed yet. The dim, misanthropic viewpoint doesn't exactly make her easy to live with, and neither does the fact that her own behavior is surprisingly erratic. She startles quickly and can be roused to anxiety with little apparent outside stimuli, occasionally driving her to quick, vicious behavior in response to slights that don't seem apparent to anyone but Serdek.
While she doesn't anger quickly, when she does, she goes for the kill: harsh and unforgiving, Serdek isn’t going to mince words and doesn’t care if she’s hurtful or not. She goes to great pains to avoid physical violence, but she can get verbally nasty if an argument heats up. She speaks to wound when she snaps, generally crossing lines left and right. She'll bring up old wounds, family, lovers, anything if it brings the fight to a standstill and gives her a chance to escape. And if that doesn't work, she's not afraid to sic a wher on someone, or go after an assailant with a knife if necessary. Luckily, over the turns, Serdek has learned to keep the majority of that rage under control. She puts on a collected façade, sometimes almost to the point of emotionlessness. Inwardly, though, she is cripplingly insecure. She worries constantly about past transgressions and blames herself for everything. Aware of her talents, she nonetheless tends to second-guess herself and ends up staying silent in order to protect her reputation.
She craves social contact, which is compounded by her general anxiety about other people. Serdek wants friends, she just finds it incredibly difficult to interact with other people and generally can't relax unless she has complete control of a situation. People persistent (and maybe unlucky) enough to befriend Serdek find themselves in possession of an exceptionally devoted ally. Her loyalty is unwavering; secrets will always be safe with her, and she will always be there to help her friends - up to and including lying for them. When she lets her guard down, she is a surprisingly gentle creature, friendly and soft-spoken, eager to please and willing to do just about anything asked of her. Serdek takes devotion seriously, and worries enough about rejection that "legal" or "right" come in second to "requested by a friend." She would be easy to manipulate, if it weren't so difficult to befriend her in the first place. In general, she's socially avoidant, preferring to fill her life with animals. She's particularly fond of irascible, nasty ones.
Other:
Wher
Name: Sersk
Age: 8
Colour: Brown
Description: Sersk is big, though not in the sense of height or length. In both those senses, he is completely normal. Rather, this stocky monstrosity is heavy. He's big and round and when he's lying down, looks more or less like he was crudely carved out of a boulder - odd protrusions, slightly-gnarled limbs, and vaguely-misshapen body included. He’s not at all handsome, but he makes up for it in sheer bulk and chiseled appearance: his close-cropped wings seem unusually small even for a wher, his head is enormous, and his neck is ridiculously thick - reminiscent of a bull herdbeast. He has a face only a mother could love: jutting underbite, thick brow-ridges, and small triangular eyes that make him look threatening despite the fact that they're almost always whirling blues and greens. He's also hefty, really not a surprise, judging by the way this little monster eats. Despite this, when he moves, he is oddly light-footed and graceful, with a bit of a roll to his gait that makes him look like a landbound sailor.
[[In terms of color/pattern, think chow chow or akita or some mix of the two.]]
Personality: Don't let the short name fool you; Sersk's bond with his handler might be weak on a technicality, but Sersk is no ill-controlled, wandering beast. He doesn’t need the tight bond because his loyalty to Serdek is undying. In many respects, Sersk is like a canine: eager-to-please and constantly excited and looking to Serdek as the be-all, end-all of his life. There is nothing Serdek can ask of him that he will not do, and he is fiercely loyal, if a bit playful and prone to confusion or disobedience when he gets overexcited. Obviously he would never deliberately go against Serdek’s rules, but…well, he’s only recently re-bonded and he’s still learning, so it’s no surprise he has a tendency to still get overexcited. Though Serdek is quite confident in his obedience, she doesn’t like taking chances.
He is a happy creature, and a bit of a glutton—his major weakness is food, and Serdek prefers to motivate him with it as often as possible in order to avoid disobedience when she can. He is not picky and will eat literally anything, but he does possess a particularly keen sweet tooth. If it has sugar in it, he wants it. If he isn't given it immediately, the odds are good that he will attempt to get it. He’s excellent at begging, and does it indiscriminately when he encounters it - regardless of how recently he's been fed. And he can't be trusted with unattended meals, either: when food is left alone, Sersk eats it. Period. It’s not something Serdek has been able to train out of him, so she simply takes him with her whenever she can so as to avoid leaving him in the presence of anything he might steal. She sees him as her “darling,” but she knows not everyone feels that way about him—however, Sersk doesn’t.
Since Serdek went to great pains to re-socialize him, he’s surprisingly good with other whers and extremely eager to befriend nonthreatening humans, though this wasn't something Serdek needed to train into him. While he will snap at other males that get into his space and tends to be quite reactive if another wher offers aggression first, he has surprisingly good recall and no longer starts fights. Unfortunately, he’s not really that bright. He takes orders quickly enough, but complicated concepts like human feelings and most strategic plans just confuse and upset him. Because of this, Serdek has trained him primarily for work as a stone-hauler, rather than any more complicated tasks. Genuine personal protection is probably well beyond his grasp, since detecting the difference between friend and foe is nigh impossible for him without constant instruction.
He's a good ambassador to wher Candidates, as he lacks many whers' aloof mannerisms and genuinely wants to befriend people. That said, he's not a pushover. He's a seasoned fighter with combat experience, and will snap if put under too much pressure. His drive to hunt down and kill animals smaller than him is intense and unparalleled - and when it comes to threats to his owner, he is emphatically aggressive to humans. He'll take on dragons, if necessary. Long story short, Sersk is not a safe wher in intense situations. Serdek has high hopes for his eventual complete rehabilitation, and he's showing a great deal of promise already, but there's a long way to go before he's ready.
Other:
