Age: 29
Sex: Male
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Weyr: High Reaches Weyr
Rider Rank: Weyrlingmaster Assistant
Previous Rank/Craft: Apprentice Miner
Physical Description: Z'rik has darker skin, scruffy black hair, and dark brown eyes. Tall, fit, and fairly imposing, he has several prominent facial scars, one cutting across his cheek and nose the other across his forehead, left over from the hatching. Perhaps most obviously, Z'rik is missing his right arm below the elbow. He has several prosthetics, some hooked, some that look like regular hands, but often times just goes without.
Personality: Z'rik is the kind of person to turn tragedy into comedy. Obviously there are things he finds frustrating about his situation, but he's rather laugh about it than spend his time bemoaning his lot. He has a dark sense of humor, and often will intentionally make people uncomfortable in order to ultimately put them at ease. He's jovial and good spirited, surprisingly personable when he tries to be, with the easy charisma of a harper. He forgives quickly and always tries to think of things from the other person's view.
Because of his disability, people often tred lightly around him, afraid they might upset him, but he is pretty hard to accidentally offend. He doesn't mind the awkward or difficult questions, and once poeple realize this, he finds that they often open up quite quickly. How do you do this? What about that? Everyone is naturally curious about people whose circumstances are different from their own, and he doesn't mind indulging them.
Z'rik works insanely hard. In his situation, he doesn't really have much of a choice. Things that other riders can do with little to no effort take him months or more to learn. Even now, twelve turns on and working comfortably as an assistant to the weyrlingmaster, Z'rik still spends every night training and practicing. He's lucky his dragon shares his ambition or else he might feel bad about it.
Both in his dedication to his work and his desire for independence, Z'rik tends to isolate himself from those around him. Though he bonded with his clutchmates, he was often separated from them as well. He's never had a permanent wing to call his comrades, only an endless stream of ever changing weyrlings to be whipped into shape. Z'rik will say this doesn't bother him. He's kept himself so busy that the turns have simply flown by. He can get to all that once he has time..But while he's happy enough as he is, even his antisocial and protective dragon is a little worried about his lack of social interaction or deep emotional bonds, hoping he can form more lasting friendships, or spend more time on the ones he has, as long as they've been carefully vetted of course...
He's traditional in his viewpoints, but less aggressive about pushing them on others. He a one armed dragon rider, who is to tell anyone that their dreams are silly? His answer is always the same: work hard, and who knows? Once thing he cannot abide is complainers. Anyone who whines about how they're not treated fairly because of their color will get no sympathy from him. No one made them come here. If they didn't like the way the Weyr is run, they shouldn't have been Standing. He doesn't give nor tolerate pity, for anything, and self pity especially.
Positive Trait List Jovial, Dedicated,
Negative Trait List Dark Humor, Unsympathetic,
History: Z'rik's was that classic tale; an orphan in Nabol, saved from a life of hard labor by a and swept off to the Weyr as a Candidate. It was the kind of story they used to tell themselves at night, but nobody really believed it. At High Reaches, Z'rik was fairly popular. Though uneducated and unworldly, he gave off an ease of confidence as if he had been doing this is whole life. He figured if he'd made this far, he could bluff it the rest of the way. He was always good at joking about the hardships in his life, making sure people were laughing about it rather than whispering behind closed doors.
It was only his second or third hatching when all hell seemed to break loose on the sands. Unusually violent for a hatching, one girl had already been killed by the time a careening hatchling got ahold of him, pinning him to the ground by his shoulder and raking its claws across his whole right side. He figured that would be the end of him, but the baby blue was just lifting its leg for another strike when a newly-hatched bronze screamed from across the sands. Charging towards Z'rik, it none-too-delicately threw the hatchling off of him before it could do any more damage. Everything happened so fast that you might have blinked and missed it. But fortunately, there were many eagle-eyed riders who noticed that something was very wrong
Z'rik wasn't moving, and Azmodioth was lying across of him like a barrier, shielding him from view. It took a great deal of convincing to get the baby bronze to move away from his newly impressed rider, but once he did, it was clear why. From shoulder to wrist, Z'rik's arm was a mess of muscle, bone, and ligament, torn open by the other hatchling's claws. They rushed him to the infirmary and were able to keep him from bleeding out, but his arm had to be amputated and he was more or less unconscious for the first few days after the hatching. It was touch and go for a while whether Azmodioth would even make it. Z'rik was confined to the infirmary and barely able to get out of bed, with the weyrlingmaster and his assistants having to take over much of the hatchling's care. Though Z'rik eventually recovered, all of his arm below the elbow was lost, and he had extensive injuries covering most of his left side.
Weyrlinghood was, understandably, not a fun time for Z'rik. He had to figure out everything involved with having a dragon, while simultaneously learning to cope with the loss of his dominant arm, not to mention coming to terms with the fact that he was now permanently disabled. Though he put on a brave face, there were moments that he got extremely frustrated. By the time Z'rik made it out of the infirmary, he was a full month behind his peers, and already at a disadvantage. Even simple things like washing and oiling his dragon were a challenge. He frequently had to miss drills and practices because he couldn't finish the basic things needed to keep his dragon healthy. His injuries hurt for a long time, and he would often fall 'ill himself from pushing himself too hard. After the turn was up, it was clear he was not ready to be put with a regular figuring wing.
For the first turn, 'weyrlingmaster assistant' was just a nice way of saying 'had to stay behind a turn because he couldn't finish in time to graduate'. He helped V'mel prepare for the incoming class, while continuing to study and practice on the side, learning ways to compensate for his injury and perform the same tasks as other riders. As it happened, though, Z'rik enjoyed the job. He enjoyed being the first line of defense between new wings and the weyrlingmaster, giving them warnings and trying to help them succeed. But, ultimately, he enjoyed watching V'mel tear them a new one as well. It was nice being on the other side of things for once. It was a little awkward at first, with V'mel being such a traditionalist and Z'rik riding a bronze, but they figured out or. Honestly, Z'rik didn't kind following V'mel. He wasn't decisional, he knew the loss of his arm devalued him in the eyes of many of the Weyr. And while he may not have been the nicest person to help someone through a difficult period in their life, Z'rik respected him for the role he played in helping Azmodioth while he was out.
Meanwhile, he continued slowing finding new improvements and regaining old skills he once thought he would never be able to do again. It took him two turns to learn to write again, but by tracing over letters every night, he eventually was able to write as well as with his right hand, though admittedly much slower and with slightly worse handwriting. As part of his rehabilitation, he took up swordplay with his left arm. Though clumsy at first, he soon surpassed where he ever was with his right arm when he didn't take it so seriously.
For many turns, Z'rik was happy exactly where he was. If thread never returned in their lifetime, theirs was arguably the more important job. They were preparing the future for for when that day would finally come. But thread did return in their lifetimes, and now Z'rik is desperate to get back on a regular fighting wing. After many turns of practice, he's found more than enough ways to compensate for his injury that bring him back to the level of any other rider.
Other: Anything else you want to add?
DRAGON
Name: Azmodioth
Age: 12
Color: Bronze
Size: 42
Physical Description: Azmodioth is a medium bronze, with darker rings of color around his legs, neck, and tail. He has signs that he was supposed to be larger but that his growth may have been stunted. He came out of the shell simply massive, and has big puppy-like paws that he never really grew into. His wings too, seem larger than the rest of body suggests they ought to be.
Personality: After the events of their hatching, Azmodioth is extremely protective of Z'rik, often to the inconvenience of his rider. If he ever senses any negative emotions coming from His, he will be at his side in an instant, sometimes even enveloping him in his wings and trying to literally, physically shield him from the outside world. He is automatically mistrustful of strangers. And though he's friendly enough to dragons in the air or at a distance, as soon as any of them get anywhere near his rider, Azmodioth will be eyeing them up suspiciously with a near aggressive amount of vigilance.
His suspicious nature has given him a warped view of the world, and in particular with regard to its rider. No one respects him as they should. No one protects him like that should. He feels that Z'rik is constantly being slighted but is just too good natured to get angry about it. He is incredibly stubborn too, and Z'rik often finds his protectiveness difficult to deal with, jumping in to defend him when he would rather he not. He does not share his rider's ability to make light of things, and he definitely holds a grudge.
However, one thing Z'rik is never lacking in is his dragon's unwavering support and confidence in his rider. His protectiveness never crosses the line into pity. He knows absolutely that his rider is capable of anything, and though he feels they've been slighted by the world, he still won't talk about what they 'could have' accomplished or how great they might have been- it's what they will accomplish, and how great they are. His devotion knows no bounds, and he has no problem doing anything at all his rider needs to help him. Late night training sessions to extra drills, Azmodioth has never complained once. His patience with his rider is endless.
He's remarkably good at taking whatever negative emotions Z'rik throws at him, or himself, and turning them back as something good. If Z'rik is angry, it is only because he is righteous and noble. If he is frustrated it is only because he is so careful and holds his work to such a high standard. If he is frustrated at Azmodioth, it is just because he is too good-natured and kind to see that that nasty blue was mean and bad and deserved to hissed at.
Like Z'rik, Azmodioth hopes to return to the regular wings in time. He has ambition, but he keeps it mostly hidden, not wanting to burden his rider or in any way imply that he's not doing as much as he should as his rider.
Protective, Loving, Patient
Worrisome, Untrusting, Stubborn
Dragon Art or Proof of Obtainment:
