Name: Grumioll (Prefers “Gru”)
Age: 23
Sex: Male
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Craft: N/A
Rank: N/A
Location: High Reaches Weyr
Physical Description: This man’s black-eyed gaze is always intense, and can easily unsettle more sensitive folks. He watches like one used to threats appearing from any direction, yet is unafraid. His hair hangs halfway down his kite-shaped face in a curtain of wavy, lustrous black. His nose appears to have been broken at some point, bent slightly inward from the bridge to the tip. His chin is weak, its frail appearance only emphasized by a thick lower lip.
Though of average height, Gru is fairly small of frame and can appear deceptively petite. His wiry muscles are distinctly defined, though a bit less so than when he was actively fighting. He has scars all over his body, the most notable being a grotesque healed-over wound on his right shoulder that required expensive surgery to put back together—the kindest thing his former master ever did for him, though in truth it was no more than a business decision to protect an investment.
His face, miraculously, seems to be unscarred. Whether that's due to luck or as a result of his captor attempting to keep his future employment options open is uncertain. He was eventually sold off to a brothel, after all. Fortunately for him, he was too volatile to do anything more than manual labor while he was there.
Personality: Grumioll lives in a simple world of black and white: You’re either right, or you’re wrong. Strength is one of the clearest indicators of right. Strength also keeps you alive and functional, which is the most preferred state to be in.
With this mindset, he has developed a tendency to conserve his strength, never wasting it on actions such as pacing or conversational gestures. He can sometimes appear lazy or weak as a result of this apparent slothfulness, but when he wants to move in a hurry, he moves fast. This can be hazardous for anyone on the receiving end of a right hook given without fair warning. He’s been better about this in recent turns, but it still happens from time to time if the right “button” is pushed. Striking him, by purpose or accident, is almost guaranteed to cause a fist to fly. He can also be triggered seemingly at random if he comes to the conclusion that he is somehow in immediate danger.
Guilt is a new feeling in his repertoire, coming from a world where survival was the only goal, and he still has difficulty with it. In his old life, the responses that others now consider overreactions were justified by life or death situations. The idea of thinking about other people’s feelings and opinions was also completely alien to him. He has come a long way since returning to “civilized” society, but is still pretty apathetic. While most of his thoughts and actions center around himself, at times, there’s a sort of gurgle in the pit of his stomach, a small flutter of warmth for another living being. He’s never quite sure how to express such sensations, so more often than not, he doesn’t. If he does, he may express himself through notably childlike acts, as the right words for such an occasion are a mystery.
He is not one for a lot of words in general, especially when they concern his past. When he does speak, there is usually a purpose for it. Small talk is not easy, and he tends to get a bit snippish if it goes on too long. He prefers to say what needs to be said, as harshly as necessary to get the point across, and leave it at that.
For all of his chaotic tendencies, Grumioll is surprisingly obedient to recognized figures of authority. The structure of High Reaches Weyr, for example, has made it clear that the strong are in charge—these leaders being the riders of the largest and strongest dragons, and those they appoint for other superior qualities.
Positive Trait List Dogged, self-reliant, straightforward, obedient, childlike
Negative Trait List Apathetic, ruthless, legalistic, aggressive
History: Grumioll was born in Nabol to a couple of apothecaries who lived on the darkest side of their craft. A bad deal resulted in the murder of his father and the kidnapping of their boy. Six-turn old Grumioll was taken to an old storage building, where the kidnapper threw the him into a pit in the floor and he was forced to fight for his life barehanded against a deadly venomous tunnelsnake, under the watching eyes of a jeering crowd. Bets were taken, and his kidnapper walked out with a hefty sum of marks when the boy managed to avoid its fangs by pinning the creature against the wall of the pit with enough adrenaline-driven force to kill it. From then on, he was enslaved as a fighter against all sorts of opponents in Nabol’s illegal underground arenas.
Ten turns later, he had grown and his matches were no longer as gripping and therefore lucrative as they were when he was small and weak. Grumioll was replaced and retired—thrown away for a pittance to Dame Felixa of the Silver Gate Inn. At the time of sale she seemed hard and apathetic, but in private Felixa revealed herself to be insurmountably kind. She offered work as a general laborer with plenty of food and rest days. It was not an easy adjustment. Every little startle, every little mistake, every little look on a person’s face that he didn’t like, resulted in violence. Gru was one of the few who were liberated only to then nearly get himself dismissed from the Silver Gate. One of the Gate’s workers, a girl named Iria, was central to his timely recovery. She had a gift for pacification and was often the only one who could bring him down from a rage. There were a lot of concepts that he struggled with, such as trust and friendship, that she tried to help him feel or at least comprehend, but achieved only middling success.
He stayed on at the Gate for five turns until Felixa approached him with a request: There was another slave who could be liberated, but no position at the Gate was available for them to fill. She had a safe place for Gru to go, if he would give up his. After a long discussion with Iria about human decency and imagining himself in another’s shoes, he made his decision and was brought to High Reaches Weyr under the pretense of Search.
Oddly enough, in contrast to the overwhelming (to him) independence offered at the Silver Gate, the militaristic structure of High Reaches has so far been good for Grumioll. It gives him clear boundaries that both help him control himself and also give him a net of safety, while simultaneously allowing him to stretch and grow little by little as he is ready to do so. Felixa was very up front with the Searchrider about Gru’s difficulties, so when he first arrived at High Reaches, for his own safety and that of the dragonets, his candidacy was preemptively suspended to give Gr’del time to watch and educate him. His behavior has improved immensely, with “accidents” being more of an exception to the rule nowadays. As of his nameday in 3574, he has been reinstated as an official Candidate.
Other: Iria is still living/adoptable, his mother is most likely still living.
Candidate Specific Questions
Do you want them to have an official Search RP? No
Do you understand they will age every passing year regardless if you're there to RP the or not? Yes
Do you want them to have a possible Stands Impression? No
