Approved by Con
Name: Zarike
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Rank: Dragon Candidate
Appearance: Zarike already bears the broad shoulders and long limbs of a man born for an active lifestyle. Candidacy has filled him out quite a bit from the scrawny youth he had been. His light brown hair, blue eyes and fair skin are fairly typical of the area, though he has a habit of letting himself get sunburns from spending too much time outdoors no matter what the weather.
He's a little self-consious about how he looks, not in a defensive way, but he's definitely attentive to how he appears to potential romantic interests. He bathes quite often do to an uncanny ability to find the best ways of getting dirty during any task he's set.
Personality: Zarike's fearless, nothing intimidates this young man. You can't bully or threaten him into doing what you want. Instead kindness is the best route to take. Be kind to him and he'll return the favor, be cruel and watch out. Zarike doesn't tolerate bullies no matter how big. He has a noble heart and will always stand up for the little guy, the underdog, even if he himself is no match for his opponent. He believes the world should be fair to everyone.
Zarike will try to talk two parties of a problem more often than not but if people don't get his point quick enough for his tastes he will resort to violence in defense of who he sees as the victim, uncaring of the odds. From a young age he was not at all hesitant about adopting the dragonrider's tradition of Dueling. He tries to wait for his opponent to make the first 'move' but his definition of that can be hazy once he gets riled up. In the end, the scraps are short lived, whether he wins or loses, and he'll almost always forgive the other party once they catch their breath.
As he aged and progressed through his candidacy, he worked on his ability to use words first over fists. He's less prone to breaking out into a fight now, though it does still happen.
Zarike has a thirst for knowledge, he loves to learn about almost any topic. He likes watching crafters at their work and helping if he's allowed. If not he'll ask questions for as long as his subject holds his attention. Which sometimes isn't long unfortunately. He tends to jump from subject to subject, unable to focus on just one at a time. More often than not in the end what he learns amounts to little more than 'trivia'.
Zarike hates being kept waiting. Things should happen Now, not Later. He'll get frustrated and even angry fairly quick when something doesn't happen fast enough for him. Zarike will dive headlong into something recklessly rather than wait for a solid plan or more information. Sitting still and quiet is hard if he's not being entertained by something.
He's not afraid to talk to anyone be they human, dragon, wher, or even the Weyrleader's and Lord Holder's themselves. Some might find it annoying or other's amusing, but he's very earnest and serious when doing so.
He wants to trust others, to believe that everyone's a good person but he's coming to accept that sometimes it's just not possible. For his safety and for that of those he loves, he can't just blindly put his faith in strangers hands. It hasn't stopped him from getting into trouble, finding at times that someone has taken advantage of him yet again.
History:
Raised in the creche, Zarike was a relatively normal youth. He had the normal friends, got into the normal amount of trouble, had average health growing up. Really, nothing much stood out about him until he was taught to read and write. He took to words like dragons to air (with some 'crashing' in the way of bad poetry for a turn or two during his early candidacy). It didn't take him long before he was making friends with various crafters and weyrfolk just to coax them into stories and to hear them discuss their crafts.
He enjoyed legends and ballads well enough but it was factual history and technical information that really interested him. Zarike would learn something knew, then go to his friends and try to explain it too them, even if it was beyond their learning level or if he barely understood it himself. If he hadn't been a weyrbrat destined for candidacy, he would have done everything in his power to get a harper apprenticeship.
He may have been around 7 or so when the dragon plague struck. Kept sheltered in the creche as he was, he didn't see much of the sickness or death first hand, but he remembers the sound. The cries and keens of the dying, as well as the near constant keening that marked each passing. The overwhelming miasma of sadness and fear in the weyr definitely left it's mark on the young child. He developed a strong desire to protect and comfort everyone he could. In particular, he wanted to protect the younger children. The toddlers who couldn't understand exactly what was happening around him. He himself barely understood the abstract concept of death at the time, though he learned at a very young age.
Despite his desire for knowledge he became a dragon candidate once he came of age because that was what was expected. Not that he was going to complain! Not about the opportunity at least. As a rider, he would be able to indulge in that need to protect on a much broader scale. You can be sure there was plenty of good natured complaints about the hours, the intensity, and the possibility of the candidatemaster's assistants being the spawn of a tunnelsnake or a wher depending upon the day. Venk gets's a pass.. Hiraeth and all.
Zarike's penchant for fighting certainly got him into trouble on and off growing up. He would defend his actions, but apologize and show honest remorse if someone got injured in the process. Zarike rarely argued his inevitable punishments, though often his superiors would find them completed in a rushed manner.
He eventually squired to Four-two. He'd been hoping for first wing, or at least second but his penchant for trouble made him a less than desirable target for either of those. He accepted his squiring at first as just another 'punishment' but it didn't take long before Zarike felt himself at home and enjoying the tasks set to him by his squiremaster. Even if it wasn't his first choice of wing, he gave his best efforts to the wing. He still held out just the smallest whisper of hope that maybe, his efforts here would be noticed by first or second wing once he Impressed.
Reply
