Name: Moak
Age: 29
Sex: Female
Sexual Orientation: Pansexual
Weyr: Other(Stops by Zanoma Camp and also kinda Southern Weyr)
Rider Rank: Explorer
Previous Rank/Craft: Apprentice Tide & Currents Keeper
Physical Description: Dark skin, wild hair, and hazel eyes that tend towards gold give this island hopping explorer a distinctive appearance when seen in a crowd. Dark brown hair flies loose from her thick knotted braid and bangs are often swept back by the wind, styled stiffly upward by the salt spray. Facial features darkened by sunlight show evidence of freckles and scars skate down her right cheek to a square jaw as strong as that of any man in a fight, and she has been in fights. Moak's face generally cracks into an easy smile during flight or a brawl, but her heavy brows and full lips can morph into an impressive scowl given the correct circumstances. No one wants to be caught in the hazel eyed glare if they can help it, as it usually acts as a precursor to a swinging left hook.
Though she stands a modest 5'7" she has never been intimidated by larger men or women and has been known to sweep at legs intentionally to drag them down to her level if insulted. Every scar on her dark skin was received in fights and they litter her arms and shoulders alongside white crystallized patches of ocean salt. Her patched and darned clothing bears the same salty proof of her exploring ways and over the years has become quite sun bleached from days spent abroad a dragon or on scorching sands. If Moak cared for such trivial things she might actually try and replace her clothing, but the only thing that she has ever bothered to keep even remotely intact was a single cloak that still hangs from her shoulders and has served as everything from a rain cover to a sail for a boat.
Personality: You would be forgiven if you first met her and thought of Moak as nothing more than a violent thug that enjoys not taking regular baths, drinking far too much alcohol, and getting into fights with little provocation. Mostly because she does do all of these things without a thought to the judgement she may receive and has never once cared to worry about watchful eyes. Complete truth told, Moak is also vibrant, helpful, and selfless when put in the right situations. If you were caught in Threadfall she and her swift blue would be the first to pop out of Between to try and help save you, if they were in the general area of distress of course. For as much as she cares and does her best to help, she can't help everyone and her wild nature distracts her into disappearing for extended periods of time while she's following a current or school of fish. Sometimes it's something as simple as a breeze that drifts her way and she's off to follow where it blows, heedless to danger that may present itself.
Moak's love of water drags her out and away from many continents but also has her finding many islands and places off Pern's official map. She tends to stock up for a week or so on things she cannot get access to on the islands and stays there for extended times taking notes about the currents tides at certain times of the day and week.
Due to her wandering nature and the explorations she takes out over open water, Moak has taken to drawing locations to use as compass points for her hops Between and has had great successes using them as memory devices. Though there was never really a chance for her to do anything with it in Tillek Hold and certainly no one that could teach her how to use her skills, she practiced alone to further her own artistic talent and has many times caught the attentions of even a traveling Harper with her incredibly realistic sketches. These sketches are usually of places and landmarks but she can also draw people well enough to sell when she is in need of a few spare marks to get her from Hold to Hold.
Even if she has a tendency to be in a predominantly good mood anything that goes against her general nature can cause her eyes to narrow and her fists to fly without much provocation at all. In fact she enjoys looking for the odd fight when the right mood catches her and has gone out looking for one in some of the rowdier Holds like Bitra and even Zanoma Camp's constantly changing location. Moak's rules in a fight is that nothing gets broken other than bones or teeth, no respectful or disrespectful business operator should have to constantly be replacing things due to her rows and she only uses her own fists and body in a fight despite what her opponent might employ. If someone wants to fight inside she'll kick them outside and stomp them into the dirt to remind them to respect the establishment!
Many a Weyr and Hold has reached out to the rider and her blue with the return of Thread but authority and rules don't fit her well and her memories of being kicked out of Tillek Hold often foul any attempts anyone makes to bring her into fighting formation. Moak does not want anything to do with Weyrs that want to keep her from exploration but she has helped Zanoma Camp more than once on raids that put firestone into the hands of those riders and dragons that need it to keep the small and mobile camp safe. However she does not show any allegiance to the group outside of occasionally utilizing them during Threadfall and helping them to move from place to place when necessary. Certainly she would never admit to helping them steal even if she has used the firestone before herself, if only once or twice, but she does admit to finding them helpful as she is a fellow blue rider.
Positive Trait List: Adventurous, Creative, Helpful, Vibrant
Negative Trait List: Wild, Extremely Violent, Anti-Authority, Easily Distracted
History: Tillek Hold could never hold her! At least that's what Moak tells everyone that'll listen. This girl was found on the edges of Tillek Hold staring out towards the water around the tender age of two or three and to the horror of everyone involved they truly believed that she might be the daughter of a pirate. In fact it's quite possible that she is, but this she wouldn't find out until much later in life, long after Tillek and Southern Weyr were behind her. Always drawn to the water and ocean from a very young age she wanted nothing more that to explore every inch of it's surface around Pern and made her desires known to everyone. Moak could be found swimming even on the most cool of days and as a child was plucked up from the water lest she become sick. These moments planted the seeds that would one day become the roots of her displeasure and sometimes outright hatred for any figure of authority.
Months bled into years within the strict Hold and the adventurous girl was shoved into the lifestyle much like a square peg being battered into a round hole. Flaming anger began to burn beneath her skin and where she had once been a friendly often smiling child Moak had become an angry prepubescent that only participated in any teachings or duties if forced. Hauling buckets of fish, sweeping, mopping, and scrubbing the decks of any boat or ship that paid her 'so called' adopted parents was her only life and if she stepped out of line she was punished with a fist to the head. If she ever once dreamed that opportunity would land in her lap she kept the thoughts close to her chest and well out of her heart, pain and a deep pining ache to explore the oceans and lands outside the walls of her Hold was all she knew.
Opportunity did come to the doorstep of her miserable home though. One night after her 'father' laid a hand to her in public with witnesses all around a man appeared in the doorway to their home with not so much an offer as a demand. Release the girl into his service as an Apprentice or be thrown from the Hold with their crimes to forever follow them in disgrace. The couple acquiesced, the only favor that they had ever done for her. Once free of the pair she was forced into a new life somewhat against her will, but in this case she at least was free from the physical punishment she had endured for nearly five years. The man's name was Ramez, he worked as a Master Tide and Currents Keeper for Tillek Hold and had been keeping an eye on the girl that had shown such an interest in exploring the waters of Pern. Apprenticed to him now and for what Moak believed might be forever, the girl did her best to develop her skills in the craft even if she were still tied to just one place and Turns passed under his tutelage.
Flourishing under his teachings was easy, she soaked up anything that had to do with the water and kept meticulous records that rivaled her masters own. Keeping herself out of confrontations that had lead to more than one fight on the deck of her master's ship was altogether harder. Reprimands and punishment of a brutal sort followed her fights that became more and more frequent as Turns passed and her master finally sat her down to explain why she would be kicked from the hold if she continued to behave violently. Though brilliant as an apprentice and certain to walk the tables to a journeyman, her constant need to fight with anyone that made her even lightly frustrated could cause her to lose everything. Ramez did not wish that on her, knowing the lifestyle that she had been raised in likely was the culprit and that the ghosts of her painful past could still destroy her future for her. To her credit Moak did try to keep herself restrained, more than once slamming her bleeding fists into the mast of the ship rather than a face, but it only lasted a few months before she finally struck out in anger once more.
Removed from the ship and then removed from Tillek, though she was still young and had no place to go, Moak's violence mixed with the suspicious circumstances that first brought her to the edge of the Hold was what dismissed her in exile. Nowhere to go and certainly no one around to help a teenage castoff, she was alone for the first time in her life and unsure where to go. Unsure feet took her down the only road she could see towards the southern part of the continent, following the heat and the ocean's edge until she bumped into a caravan willing to take her further south to Southern Boll. Despite her confusion at being taken into another Hold she tried to blend in with the locals, taking odd jobs and drudgework that enabled her to eat even if it flew in the face of her general beliefs.
Her years in the apprenticeship as a Tide and Currents Keeper found her working aboard more than one ship that traveled between the Continents, taking her on brief but life changing explorations that would turn her into the island hopping adult she was about to become. Her skills grew and grew with each passage she took but her skills and blossoming good looks drew the attention of those that knew she was alone and suddenly wild lifestyle placed her in a dangerous position. Taking a job offer while in Rivercrest from a captain that promised to take her to some of the eastern Islands, Moak's excitement turned to horror when she was taken captive while on the open waters and unable to escape, no amount of fighting could save her from an entire crew. Her life from that moment onward was different and colored by the inexcusable treatment she endured and the despicable things forced upon both her mind and body. Even though they made port four times in the two years she was held captive she was never certain of what happened around her, two years had forced her into her own mind and despite being aware that she was not the only woman being used this way aboard the ship, she felt alone.
Eventually she passed hands to a very different type of captor, the dragon rider made certain that she was bought with complete freedom and upon arriving in Southern Weyr she was left in their care and the rider disappeared. It took months for a mind healer and the kindness of others to draw Moak back out from the nightmare she'd been living and longer yet to come to grips with the fact that she had been saved from that place. Her violence during her healing came back swiftly but the gentle kindness of the riders and Lower Caverns workers in the Weyr brought her from the edge her forced pain and insanity back to herself and away from her past. Fragile for months afterwards she was taken in by a rider that was willing to help her and teach her, willing to feed and comfort her when she became so angry that she lashed out at the world. Knowing what was coming, knowing how she needed help from a source outside humans, the rider that helped her took her to the Sands when a hatching began, hoping only to show her what it looked like to see someone Impress to a dragon. Never knowing that her partner, the soul that would drag her from the darkness of her own, would break through his shell that day and scream.
Itharath spilled onto the sands of Pern screaming in anger that he couldn't find her nearby. Responding to the screams by blinking and looking down at the angry little dark blue dragon, Moak felt something move within herself and she laughed for the first time in almost three years. The seventeen year old girl bent over double laughing and laughing as the screams met her ears and began to make sense to her as the cheers of freedom that they were. Her heart responded instantly to her new hatchling and from the moment they were together they were inseparable, but they were also incorrigible in their need to explore every inch of the Southern Continent and break every rule the previously out of work Weyrlingmaster had. By some blessing they weren't kicked out of Southern but their desire to explore everything took them out of any training rotation that they might have put her in after her initial Weyrling training, rendering her useless to any wing that might have taken her in. Luckily Southern in those days was merely a place to relax and communicate with other riders who were, in some cases, exploring as much as the pair were.
After meeting a few of those riders that suggested the western Continent and island chain to her as a good place to explore, Moak and Itharath took off to see them and plot out any points they could use by following the Continental Currents she knew so well. Once landing on the western continent they found a brand new side of Pern they hadn't seen yet and they went completely wild mapping out every edge of the coast and tide they could. The two often stop in Zanoma Camp and after the return of Thread have been known to return to it more and more often in order to help the members move and defend it. However Moak is still looking for someone or someones that are moving about the Western continent ahead of her, a person that once saved her from a living hell that serves now as only a catalyst for her actions.
Other: The rider that saved her is the one she's looking across Western for and they're open to grab for now. Though that might change in the future.
DRAGON
Name: Itharath
Age: 12
Color: Blue
Size: 26'
Physical Description: A ropy dark blue dragon with even darker blue wings, Itharath is blessed with an odd assortment of spots along his upper back and sides that resemble bubbles to some and eclipsed moons to others. His dark coloring and odd markings make his ability to disappear as if never there an odd trick but one that he pulls off effortlessly non-the-less. His almost squatty height makes him look all the longer and it seems that the dragon is all thin chest and long tail when he's in the air, short wings pumping to keep his twining body aloft. But that long body gives Itharath the ability to slip into places impossible for larger dragons to enter as well as making him fleet in the sky with the ability to fly quickly and twisting in the air. This ability comes in handy now that Thread has returned and the two continue their explorations.
Personality: Nothing, nothing at all is fast enough for this blue dragon who has a tendency to get extremely angry when he's held back and forced to do something that he deems slow and boring. Itharath wants to be flying all the time, he even gets irritated if his rider oversleeps and keeps him from exploring more and more of the world. Every morning is a blessing and every day is a chance to see something new and chase after the edge of the world as fast as he can. Don't hold him back, you won't get bitten or attacked but it'll be one of the last things you'll ever do before his dark wings pull him away quickly. He hates being held in one spot for more than necessary and generally views authority as the reason that he was stuck in a Weyr for so long as well as his egg. Moak has tried to tell him differently.
With a bad habit of racing currents and getting them lost thanks to his going so quickly he has become incredibly adept at popping between with only a drawing to go off of to trigger a memory. The first few times the pair tried it there was fear that they might actually get lost forever Between but the more they do it the better Moak gets at drawing and the better the images they have to use in order to remember landmarks and settings. Drawings have saved them many times and gotten the pair away from Thread and back to help Zanoma Camp move just in time on more than one occasion as well.
Though his rider has a violent temper and a need to get in a fight more often than not, this blue does not. Instead he'd rather pull her away from such things and take off but he knows full well that her fights are not over until she either wins or loses but he'll try all the same. Even if it's just thoughts of discontent and comments about how drunken fighting is useless.
Dragon Art or Proof of Obtainment: Link
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