[Rider] A'yral of White Venjeth [Approved]

[Zaikt]

Name: A'yral
Age: 28.
Nameday: 3548.06.14
Sex: Transman.
Sexual Orientation: Gay.
Weyr: Western Weyr.
Rider Rank: Wingrider.
Previous Rank/Craft: Holdbrat.
Physical Description: Tall, gangly, pale, and with all the physical presence of a handful of twigs, A'yral seems to have more in common with a slightly decrepit scarecrow than most people. He stands at roughly 6'2" by sheer luck that he sees as more of a curse than a blessing, and is practically skin and bones; he tends to hunch over or otherwise slouch when out and about, seemingly trying to reduce his physical presence as much as possible. His hair goes a bit past shoulder-length and is a largely unkempt sheet of dark brown that obscures most of his features, already speckled with some gray streaks here and there; it's used to hide his face, coupled with carefully-placed scarves when needed. What's under there, you might ask?

Scars. A lot of scars.

A'yral bears substantial damage from threadscore over a good half of his face, having looked up at just the wrong moment during his first Threadfall--his left eye is blank and white, and some of his teeth are permanently exposed due to the deep rends that gouge down his cheeks and onto his neck. Beyond that, there's a few long, trailing scores slipping over his collarbone and across his chest, looking almost like they were simply poured down his body. The one eye that still works at all is a sharp, almost feverishly bright gray, set deep within a darkly-ringed socket and nigh constantly flicking from one area of focus to the next. Those who've gotten close enough to discern his features under all of that would often describe them as thin and long, with a peculiar upward tilt to his brows that makes him look constantly worried or on edge. There's a faint dusting of freckles across his skin where the threadscore hasn't destroyed it, but considering how prone he is to sunburns, it's more common to find them obscured by swathes of red.

He prefers to wear utilitarian clothes in dull earth-tones, specifically chosen both to be as useful as possible and to attract little attention. They're usually at least a little baggy to better obscure his figure, considering how thin he is; the only common exception to this comes in regards to his hands, which are almost always exposed unless he's in his riding gear. He's got long bony fingers that are surprisingly quick, and he finds that covering them often just makes it harder for him to make use of his innate dexterity. Curiously enough, he's got plenty of scars across his knuckles, as though he's been in plenty of fights in his relatively short time on Pern--but with how skittish A'yral is, that can't be right, can it?

Personality:
A'yral is a quiet sort, one who prefers to stick as far out of the limelight as is possible and simply carry on his duties outside of the center of attention. He's extremely focused on his tasks, enough to the point where sometimes he lapses in taking proper care of himself; these slips are often remedied by Venjeth's brusque chiding, but he's been known to go for a week at a time without listening before his dragon all but forces him to stay with him and rest. A'yral is remarkably keen-witted, and when he's comfortable enough to operate without the majority of his ever-present anxiety trying to rear its ugly head, he's an excellent problem solver, not to mention almost unshakably dedicated to his work. He can very accurately be described as a workaholic, insisting on finishing everything he needs to do before he lets himself relax; this is also a way he can avoid interacting with a large number of people, instead limiting his exposure to only a small handful that he's at least worked with before.
While he's nervous and on-edge around most people, once he's managed to get comfortable around you, A'yral is a stalwart, supportive friend who won't let you down. He's available at just about all hours of the night, considering the how little he sleeps in general, and has no issues with being summoned to lend a hand with anything, no matter how small. At his best, he's almost ridiculously patient, considerate, empathetic, and strongly focused on making sure the people close to him are both safe and happy. He has problems with putting himself way too far down on his own priority list, and will readily sacrifice his own wellbeing in order to ensure that others won't have to suffer even the slightest inconvenience. As a Dragonrider, A'yral thinks that part of his duty is to ensure this kind of security for others, and adheres to this aspect of his role very stringently. What he can do for others is of the utmost concern to him, and he has little concern for his own suffering when someone else is on the line.

He's very much concerned about being a problem--his low self-esteem means that he often thinks of himself as a burden despite Venjeth's insistence otherwise, and he's quick to blame himself for any kind of issues that arise. He's absolutely terrified of any consequences for his perceived faults, and will do whatever he can to try and solve the problem before it becomes noticeable; sometimes, this has quite the opposite effect, resulting in him making an issue out of something that wasn't even one at all. A'yral has a tendency to drastically overthink just about everything, checking and rechecking and rechecking again before he takes that first step--as a result, when he's thinking on his own and not within the framework provided by a set list of tasks, he can be very slow to start, and is sometimes frustrating to work with. He's not good at taking initiative for his own sake, which is where Venjeth comes in most of the time; however, if he's to act in someone else's defense, he's often moving before he's thought about it, personal consequences be damned.
When stressed, A'yral can be...an issue. Rather than outright showing his displeasure, disapproval, or any other negative emotion, he resorts to something a little more underhanded--and more importantly, deniable in the event of any genuine trouble. He digs his heels in and sticks to his own ways, and gets remarkably passive-aggressive when confronted about just about anything, regardless what it may be. He's quick to get defensive, although never in the public eye; in private where he's comfortable enough to not walk on eggshells all the time, however, he's been known to vent his frustrations to the point of tears. A'yral truly hates being brought to such an emotionally vulnerable point, and will do everything he can to try and bottle up his feelings until he literally can't anymore. Despite being so ready to offer his own support to everyone else, it's very hard for him to accept the offer of a shoulder to lean on, in part because he doesn't think he's worth the trouble. Aside from the matter of his own self-worth, A'yral doesn't want to trouble anyone else with his problems, and also simply wants to hide how much of an emotional wreck he is whenever possible.

Since Impressing, A'yral has actually gotten better, though. While he's still far from being in a completely healthy state of mind, he's come a long way from the mess he was when he first stood on the Sands, and he's doing what he can when he can to try and continue that progress. Being injured knocked him back plenty of steps, particularly considering the fact that he's now almost paranoid about what's just out of his range of vision, but he's doing his best to become more comfortable with himself and everything around him all the same. A'yral wholeheartedly wants to stop being so stressed and worried about everything, and Venjeth certainly wants His to be happier, but accepting the fact that he's worthy of this kind of progress in the first place is the hardest part for him. He knows that he should take better care of himself, as well as understanding that it's okay to accept the help he's offered; even then, his earlier life has made it difficult for him to come to terms with it in practice rather than as just a theoretical idea. Opening up to others is a terrifying unknown that he's not sure he's ready to face, and A'yral still can't bring himself to trouble people with his presence in such matters.

Positive Trait List Dedicated, kind, gentle, resourceful, perceptive, quick-thinking, supportive, protective, empathetic.
Negative Trait List Anxious, self-conscious, fearful, low sense of self worth, skeptical, stubborn, passive-aggressive, high-strung.
History:
[preemptive tw for mild transphobia/fairly strained familial relations in here]

Amyral was a quiet, attentive youth, born the child of a courtesan in training at Rivercrest and a wandering outlaw, slipping into the Hold to take of its bounty as he saw fit. His father was a charming, smooth-talking thief, and his mother fell for him far too quickly; by the time Amyral was born months later, she'd been left alone, her flame vanished into the night on some pirate's ship that came to port. His mother was forced to find drastically different work in order to support her burgeoning family, and became a rather skilled cook instead. Shortly after Amyral turned one, she found a much more steady husband from Western Hold to replace the man that fled, and she moved there to rebuild her life anew. For a time, they survived. It was what they did best, after all, not to mention the only option.
The first few rocks fell into place when Amyral began to feel...different about himself, the uncertainty setting in at a relatively young age. He was not the delicate daughter his father seemed to think of him as, and despite his best efforts to prove him wrong, Amyral never could seem to get that through to him. As he got older and his father expected drastically dissonant things of him, tensions rose, with Amyral frequently clashing with the man--which invariably brought his mother into the mix as well. Confused about what Amyral meant, but with good intentions all the same, she did what she could to mediate these arguments, although she often had so little to say that she might as well have not even tried at all.

One fight led to another, and another, each rising in intensity until he was far more often found outside of his home than he was in it. Amyral struggled with the thought that his family didn't accept him for who he truly was, but rather kept clinging to the idea of who they thought he should be regardless of his own identity. Things came to a head when he was sixteen, at which point Amyral prepared to leave his mother's home, uncertain of where he'd go, but absolutely refusing to stay where he was to live in fear of his father for the rest of his life. He knew who he was, and he knew he simply couldn't exist as the stranger his family wanted him to be.
It came as no small blessing that he was Searched the next day, scooped up early in the morning with little fanfare by a keen-eyed Green and her still somewhat groggy rider. Amyral did not inform his family, leaving much of his belongings behind in the process; they were little more than dead weight to him now, and any sentimental attachments he'd had were long since severed.

By the end of the Hatching, there were only a few eggs left, including a few smaller, somewhat sickly ones that required outside help to hatch properly. Amyral had braced himself for disappointment, prepared for what he thought would be the inevitable conclusion: he'd walk off the Sands alone, and he'd have to find his own way in the world from there. A Brown passed him by and Impressed, followed by a Blue--and then the first White to escape its shell made itself known with as loud of a bugle as its tiny lungs could manage, and his entire world changed in a heartbeat.
A'yral doesn't think of himself as the same person as he was before he Impressed. As far as he's concerned, Amyrral died on the Sands the moment that connection was made, the moment Venjeth announced that he was here, and that no one would ever get the opportunity to hurt him again. His A'yral, his, would always, always, always have his Venjeth by his side, and his Venjeth knew who he was more than anyone else could.

With Venjeth's fervent support, A'yral began to find his own footing, bit by bit. He started coming out of his shell, becoming more accustomed to anything sociable--it was slow going, but together, they helped each other become more than they'd ever be alone. A'yral needed Venjeth's backbone, his unshaking confidence, his willingness to make himself known no matter who was listening--Venjeth in turn needed A'yral's quiet reassurance, his understanding, and that gentleness to soften his edges down from lethal to merely protective. They had time to grow, and although it took them both plenty of effort to learn their duties properly, they became a model pair, doing their best to go above and beyond where possible.

And then Thread returned.

With the Weyr scrambling to protect Pern from its ancient enemy, there was so little time for A'yral and Venjeth to well and truly prepare themselves for what was about to happen. They knew what to do--it was what they'd been trained for, even if it had seemed somewhat pointless at the time. Hadn't Benden defeated the Enemy once and for all? They'd still trained all the same, of course, but their inexperience and uncertainty would be their downfall.
One wrong adjustment, and A'yral's goggles were shoved out of place. They didn't have time to fix it in between flaming what little they could, and when he looked up at exactly the wrong moment, he caught a clump of Thread to the face, silver strands burning through flesh far too quickly for him to react.
A'yral screamed. Venjeth went between, and the crushing cold knocking the breath out of his lungs is one of the last things he remembers before waking up in the infirmary the next day.

Recovery was difficult--A'yral had had the misfortune to lose the use of one eye, and the pain from the scoring was difficult to handle at first. With Venjeth constantly hovering as close nearby as he was able, he began to push himself through the obstacles he now faced; it quickly became clear that he was considerably shaken by the experience, however, and even when he was given a clean bill of health from the healers, he was never quite the same. A'yral maintained his duties, and, in fact, adhered to them even more fervently than before, but he quickly grew skittish, always worried about what might be lurking just on the edge of his now significantly reduced vision.
Now, it was Venjeth's turn to offer a gentle hand, coaxing his rider's nerves down to more manageable levels when he was able. His success meant that they were able to resume their work as wingriders, spurred in part by the sheer necessity of dragons to fight Thread--A'yral couldn't bear to sit by when the threat of Threadfall was constantly on the horizon, emotional scars or no.

A few turns have passed since then, and A'yral has taken the time to process his trauma as best he can in the meantime. He's become almost singularly dedicated to fighting off Thread in spite of his own fear, spurred by the importance of his own duty to Pern and its people; he's still withdrawn and awkward, but he's as reliable as the sunrise when it counts.
Everyone knows what a dragonrider must do, after all, and A'yral is no different.

Other: i've had him for two days but a'yral is my son already



DRAGON
Name: Venjeth.
Age: 11.
Color: White.
Size: 17.2'
Physical Description: The first thing most people notice about Venjeth is that he's rather large for a White. The second is often that he's very close to A'yral in spite of his size, an almost ever-present shadow that's more inclined to loom and glare than any simple shade. He's got a few noticeable scars from threadscore, but nowhere near as bad as his rider; still, he wears them as a badge of honor, showing that he's risen to the challenge of protecting Pern. He holds himself with all the swagger and presence of the largest Bronze, and sees no reason why he shouldn't--he's just as capable of any of them, even if he's smaller. He does his part, too. Why shouldn't he be so confident?

It's not at all uncommon to find some kind of sneer or snarl on his face, sharp teeth bared to the world; similarly, his eyes usually whirl varying shades of red, although other tones can periodically be spotted if he's in the right company. His body is a sparkling white that fades into soft gray around the edges of his wings, head, and tailtip, with his neck and tail ridges displaying a similar gradient from gray to white depending on how close they are to his torso. Venjeth has white teardrop markings on his wingsails, tail, and face, each with a small dot at the rounded bottom edge of the shape; additionally, he has two thin white rings around his headknobs and the upper portion of his wingsails. He's a very handsome dragon to be sure, even if his temper leaves something to be desired.
Personality:
Venjeth is a gruff, foul-tempered dragon who tolerates little and has the patience for even less. He's more than willing to make his opinions clearly known, and his blunt delivery means that his thoughts often carry the same impact as a sledgehammer. Venjeth is absolutely not the kind to sugarcoat anything, save for in the most delicate of situations, and sees little reason to hide the truth behind so many layers of unnecessary niceties and beating around the bush. He has very high standards for both himself and others, and seeks to push them to their full potential whether they like it or not--they can thank him later once they figure out what's good for them.
When Venjeth decides to be in someone's corner, he will stop at nothing to ensure they get whatever they need. Although he's fond of only a few others, the ones he's grown to care for will never have to wonder where they stand with him, and they'll never be without his support. Venjeth may even show them a somewhat softer side of himself, complete with plenty of dry humor and surprising gentleness; by and large, however, this behavior is reserved for A'yral.

Venjeth is absolutely brimming with confidence and is his own number one fan, aside from his rider--he knows what he does, and he does it very well. This unshakable self-assurance provides the foundation for much of his personality as a whole; it's what drives him to want to succeed bigger and better than ever before, what makes him want to handle other people's problems, and what keeps him standing strong as the first and foremost pillar in A'yral's life. He's made a point to be as comfortable in his own skin as is possible, reasoning that he can hardly help his rider or the precious few he's grown to like if he's too worried about something as inconsequential as his own image. Venjeth doesn't doubt himself, instead relying on experience, prowess, and practice to chase away any of those minds of thoughts should they arise. Generally speaking, they don't have much of a chance to.
He's fiercely overprotective of his rider, acting as an additional set of eyes and ears to ensure that A'yral never finds his way into trouble. Venjeth has a tendency to vet people trying to befriend the man as well, gleaning whatever information he can from any reliable source to determine well in advance if they have any malicious intent. He doesn't trust easily at all, and half the struggle of getting to know A'yral is getting Venjeth to stop thinking of you as a temporary annoyance. Once you manage to get through that prickly outer shell, however, Venjeth will be there for you regardless of what happens. His friends are very dear to him, and they are granted his protection without a second thought.
Dragon Art or Proof of Obtainment: [ starter pack derg!]  

[Uta]

I'm going to approve this! Looks great!

Just a minor note in case it's not clear: Western Weyr actually didn't train their weyrlings to fight Thread. The only Weyr that ever kept up those practices was High Reaches Weyr, up until Thread returned. Western Weyr's weyrling training was primarily teaching them how to fly, how to jump Between, how to care and feed ones dragon, and that was about it. Flaming with firestone was maybe an extra-lesson they learned close to graduation, and was more of a "just for fun, in case you need to" sort of deal.

Western Weyr (and the Western Continent in general) doesn't have a firestone mine, so any firestone they get is imported. Before Thread, firestone wasn't much needed as it is with Thread falling, so it was a much more limited supply. Mostly just a side-note so you know that A'yral's training was likely even more shoddy than what it sounds like in his profile! :joy:

High Reaches Weyr basically was jumping all over Pern trying to help keep Pern alive, but yeah, it's no wonder A'yral got nommed on. Western Weyr was royally screwed early on and all their riders had to go through re-training under High Reaches guidance. /

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