Post by giftwrapped on Mar 24, 2011 23:36:03 GMT -5
Lanakirene
Name: Lanakirene (La)
Age: Forty
Gender: Female
Prisoner: No
Crime: :\
Craft/Rank: Master Dragonhealer, also WEYRLEADER???
Appearance: The best way to describe Lanakirene would be storklike—she’s tall, just barely below six feet, and slim, and nearly all of her height is absurdly long limbs. Nonetheless, she walks with confidence, if not grace—she might look like a sixteen-year-old boy in the middle of a growth spurt, but she’s in much greater control of her body than one. She wears her hair short and messy. Once upon a time it was vibrant auburn, but now it’s mostly silver—she started greying early. Her features are still youthfully impish and her smile is just short of wicked most times, but her face, particularly in the eyes—an unusual shade of cinnamon-brown with luxurious lashes—is kind. The years have added more laugh lines than frown lines, though if the situation requires it, she can manage a fantastic pensive scowl.
Devoid of curves in all the places women should curve, she has dressed like a man her entire life. While she favours warm colours, particularly reds and oranges, she always makes a point to wear something, be it sash, shirt, or headscarf, in Healer violet. She carries two things with her at all times. The first is large shoulder-satchel: her version of a doctor’s bag, it contains everything she might need for emergency first-aid on both humans and dragons. The second is a walking-stick: the handle is carved in the likeness of her dragon and the neck is wrapped in Healer violet cloth. This is for show; La walks just fine without a cane. Nonetheless, there is no mistaking this woman’s craft, though since she often forgets to wear her knots it’s entirely possible to get her rank wrong.
Personality: If there is any Healer who could make it to Master rank by sheer force of will and unflagging enthusiasm, it would be Lanakirene.
Luckily, she has a talent for the craft as well, so she never needed to.
Healing is her passion. Every aspect of it, whether it be working with dragons or working with humans, is wonderful to her. Though dragonhealing is her area of expertise, you don’t get to where La is without knowing how to fix up both the dragons and the riders, and she’s the sort of person who attempts to learn any new skill she comes across. She’s picked up a great deal of knowledge about the craft in her time. They don’t hand out Master ranks for peanuts, you know. This has led to a slightly eclectic knowledge base. La’s personal area of interest? Holistic medicine. Lanakirene is irrationally interested in mixing oils—both for dragons and for humans—and is working quietly to develop Pern’s very own branch of aromatherapy.
She puts great stock in alternative medicine, but she’s not stupid. A firm believer in the use of the proper drugs at the proper time to enhance the body’s intrinsic healing abilities, it’s simply that Lanakirene is just as likely to prescribe massage as she is to dose a person with fellis. Everything she does is tailored to the individual patient, be they human or dragon. No patient of Lanakirene’s goes off without something special, be it a tea for nerves or a specially-mixed oil for a particularly difficult itchy patch behind a wing. She cares deeply about each of those individuals who comes to her for help.
It could be said La enjoys her work a bit too much, to the point where it is the crux of her identity. For better or worse, she is almost entirely defined by her rank. She hasn’t had much time for other things—she doesn’t mind; training as a dragonrider and becoming a dragonhealer is more important than starting a family—and seems perfectly content to live her entire life with just herself, her dragon, her firelizard, and her patients. The words “settling down” fly right over her head. Why would she need to settle down? She’s doing what she wants to!
In some ways, it’s almost like La hit age twenty and decided she was never going to grow up. She’s full of the same vibrance and excitement that she was half a lifetime ago, and though she tempers everything she does with the knowledge she has gained over the years, there’s something about her that will always seem young. Perhaps it’s just her enthusiasm for the job. Or perhaps it’s the fact that she is an utterly shameless flirt. This was occasionally problematic in her youth, when La would indiscriminately approach anything female and almost undoubtedly offend everyone in the Weyr. Nowadays, she’s much more discreet (though just as persistent), but she has never lost her taste for women, nor developed one for men.
Fairly romantic, she’s not particularly good at committed relationships, but does her best to treat any current partner she acquires as well as she can. She likes to consider herself a bit of a gentleman, and though she’s no longer quite as dapper as she used to be, she hasn’t lost her wry charm. She doesn’t consider herself ‘droll’ anymore—that requires more wit than she has, and she knows it, but she’s still playful and maintains a strong sense of adventure that will probably never leave her.
This cheerfulness carries right over into her bedside manner—she’s comfortable and pleasant with patients of all species. That’s not to say that she will tolerate bullshit—she won’t at all, and has no qualms about hitting people or dragons with her cane if they start giving her trouble—but she’s much less inclined to lose her temper than some of the other high-ranked healers. Perhaps it’s just because she doesn’t consider herself an “old codger” like the ones back home, but kids are a favourite of Lanakirene’s.
She also absolutely adores apprentices, and tries to keep at least one on-hand.
History: Lanakirene’s mother, a Holder who spent a year as a Candidate at Ista Weyr before returning home to resume her life, was seventeen when La was born. Lanakirene’s father? A handsome Ista bronzerider named K’ren, who wanted nothing to do with his illegitimate daughter. She was raised in Ista Hold. Kitchen-work ran in the family, but it was obvious even at the young age of six that Lanakirene would never have an aptitude for it. By age eleven, she had been shunted from craft to craft, and it was only with the healers that the energetic young child was even slightly pacified. She would have been sent to Healer Hall at twelve. Instead, she was Searched. Immediately charmed by the Searchdragon, all aspirations to Healing fell away in favour of Candidacy.
Within weeks, she was on the Ista Sands and prepared to Impress. She failed. Briefly crushed, Lanakirene bounced back quickly and she decided to learn as much as she could about Riders to have an advantage. She fell into Dragonhealing quite naturally. She fell in love, so much that she actually elected to miss standing for Hatchings to give herself more time to learn the craft. When she was seventeen and another clutch was hardening on the sands, a Healer convinced her to Stand one last time. It was the make or break moment for her: if she did not Impress, she would turn to a life of healing forever.
She Impressed. With her hands full of blue dragon, La temporarily gave up her life as a healer. But as soon as Kith was old enough to be separated from La for any amount of time, La returned to the Weyrhealers. When they Graduated, she would have left for Healer Hall, but instead found herself face-to-face with a Master Healer who, for whatever reason, decided to take her in as his Apprentice. Three turns formal training under him left her wise to the world, and though when she returned to Healer Hall she needed another turn of formal training to catch up to the rest of the Senior Apprentice class, she was more than ready to walk the tables. Eleven turns after her Search, at age twenty-three, she was promoted to Journeywoman Healer.
Initially, her journeyman years were spent stationed at Ista, working again with the Master Healer who had taken her on as an apprentice. But it wasn’t long before she fell in with the dragon-watch. Every pair of hands was needed in the high-risk profession, and though Lanakirene never formally enrolled in the organization, she gladly supported the men and women she viewed as Pern’s primary protectors. Though she did not ascend in ranks, there are people you meet as a Healer that you would never meet as a wingrider. La befriended high-ranking riders on occasion. News of a strange new prison-weyr piqued her interest. When Warden’s Weyr was founded, she volunteered to accompany the riders. She was needed more on the mainland, and so she stayed.
Another two turns’ work with the dragon-watch, and La finally felt prepared to return to Healer Hall for her examinations. She passed with flying colours, and the newly-promoted Master again offered her services to Warden’s Weyr. Again, she was refused. The mainland still needed her more. And though she still wanted the chance to travel out where she could make a real difference, she gave it her all stationed at Fort Weyr.
But then something strange happened. The crippled queen at Warden’s clutched, and the clutch produced irregular beasts of the strangest caliber. Suddenly, the mainland was interested. And Lanakirene saw her break. Gladly volunteering herself, she finally took advantage of the situation and called in a favour. She would install a pair of her journeymen in her place and head over to Warden's to inspect the new colours. And finally, finally, she was allowed to go.
She arrived three days ago. All right, Warden’s. Let’s see what you have to offer.
Other stuff: If you wouldn’t mind filing her under Crafters rather than dragonriders? La views Kith as a sort of permanent Apprentice without thumbs, and Kith thinks pretty much the same way.
PLUS: if anyone would like to have a character that La hauled over from Fort as an extra pair of hands (could be either apprentice or journeyman. She was adopted by a Master Dragonhealer as an apprentice so she thinks it’s only fair to do the same), feel free to PM me. I’d love to plot with you!
Pets
Name: Trouble
Species: Firelizard
Color: Bronze
Appearance: Big burly bronze, larger than some small golds, with unusually powerful forequarters and a strange slope to his back that makes his gait incredibly silly on the ground. Pretty much shaped like a hyena—with the pot belly and goofy spots to match. Big mouth full of horrible teeth.
Personality: Trouble is, oddly enough, exactly the kind of firelizard that you’d want with you if you were venturing into a terrible prison weyr where the odds are good that you might at some point be attacked. He’s utterly devoted to and fiercely protective of his mistress and unafraid of delivering the odd nasty bite to person and dragon alike. Lanakirene has him trained as well as a flitter can be, and he’s in top form on both message-running and fetch-and-carry jobs. Of course, nowadays La has apprentices for that, so Trouble serves as a small bodyguard. Particularly while she’s here at Warden’s. Also he eats everything. Everything.
Name: Jackass
Species: Firelizard
Color: Brown
Appearance: Skinny, lightish tan brown spattered with mahogany across his head, neck, and forequarters. Very large wings for his size.
Personality: ruthless, resilient, mysterious, manipulative, controlling
Name is pretty much indicative of what he's like - nasty-ass little piece of work with a penchant for biting people and a tendency to beg. Not very well-trained. Very, very self-centered and hates it when La gives other firelizards attention. With the exception of Trouble, who can kick his sorry ass.
Name: For now he is just "New baby"
Species: Firelizard
Color: Brown
Appearance: Steak and Potatoes is such a deep brown that he is almost red -- his color is that of a medium-rare piece of meat. All except for his wings, of course, which lighten to nearly white at the tips and are dotted with black and white speckles both above and below (the salt and pepper that would go on the potatoes were he actually the dish of food he is named for). He's also quite large for his color, about on par with a good-sized bronze, with a full chest, strong shoulders, and large feet for excellent grounding.
Personality: Steak and Potatoes can come across as a bit gruff sometimes, but don't hold it against him. He means well, and honestly does just want to comfort and give advice. He is, for lack of a better word, fatherly, in that way that some fathers truly love their children but bumble through showing it and can, in fact, be annoying hardasses a lot of the time. Given time and a bit of patience, he can become a rock for his bonded as well as a source of sincere comfort and warmth. Of course he also has a tendency to worry about his bonded and extended family needlessly and will try to stop them from doing things he deems 'dangerous', whether they are actually dangerous or not (and let's not get started on his ideas about manners).
Kith
Name: Kith
Color: Blue
Age: 23
Appearance: From a distance, Kith looks like a very, very confused green. There is no possible way a blue dragon can be that tiny. Not only are large greens larger than Kith, but many average-sized greens are as well. This little dragon honest to Faranth looks like a green who painted herself blue as a bit of mischief. Luckily, anyone who has the fortune to hear his mindvoice (most anyone who has ever had an injured dragon or managed to injure themselves or wonders why there is a dragon’s muzzle in the infirmary window) will realize the error of their ways quite rapidly. Kith might look like a tiny female, but he sounds like a man. A rather large, muscular, baritone man.
Some people assume upon seeing him that he’s a half-grown Weyrling. Of course, a glimpse of his rider is more than enough to let those mistaken observers know that he is, in fact, quite adult. And just like his rider, he has begun greying early. Originally a mostly-uniform royal blue, mottled with broad patches of deep navy along his back, he has begun to lighten, particularly on his face and around his joints, to a light slate colour. He still moves as smoothly as he did in his youth, though, as gracefully as a feline and without any interest in slowing down. Whip-fast and ridiculously agile for a blue but lacking in stamina, he’s never going to do well as a combat dragon. All for the best, really, since Lanakirene is about as noncombatant as they come.
Personality: Look at your dragon. Now back to Kith. Now back at your dragon. Now back to Kith. Sadly, your dragon is not Kith. However, if your dragon is smart, s/he will sit down, shut up, and let Kith's do her job.
Kith is a bronze-sized personality that somehow got stuffed into the body of an itty-bitty blue. It's not that he's loud or brash. He does not raise his voice, either out loud or in mindspeak. Shouting is for people who have let a situation get out of control. But Kith is the kind of blue who thinks nothing of looking a dragon several times his size in the eye, and matter-of-factly telling them to stop fussing so much. A certain amount of self-assurance is necessary to his job: healers have to deal with injured and stressed dragons, upset riders, and general chaos on a regular basis, and Kith considers it his responsibility to be Lanakirene's unfailing support.
He’s always been naturally calm, and decades of working with a healer hasn’t done anything to make him edgier. He seems to think more like a human than a dragon, working as a four-legged, two-winged extension of his rider more than a separate entity much of the time. He’s simply the part of Master Dragonhealer Lanakirene that gets to all the difficult places the human bit can’t. So, yes, Kith thinks he’s a dragonhealer. That’s because he pretty much is. So seriously does he take his job, when his rider walked the tables to Master, he quietly requested his leathers be accented with Healer violet. There can be no mistaking this blue’s job, just as there can be no mistaking his rider’s.
It helps that both Kith and Lanakirene are in a sense cut from the same cloth: easygoing right up until enough is enough. Even when pushed over the edge, though, Kith doesn’t lose his temper. Blowups are for Lanakirene when she’s reached the end of her rope and then fed it out some more. Kith might growl once in a day of fighting with troublesome injured riders. And because it happens so rarely, it need not be loud or violent.
Outside of work, Kith is friendly and approachable. It's much easier to do his job if he's at least passing familiar with all the guard dragons, and Warden's is small enough that he can do just that if he likes. You can bet that he's always got his ear to the ground, so to speak, when it comes to goings-on in the weyr. It's not that he's a gossip; patient-healer confidentiality, sacred trust, blah blah blah, Kith would never share any information he got from La. It's just that he sort of assumes that everyone else's problems would be easily fixable if they just had a certain clever blue dragon to help. And he is quite straightforward about poking his nose into other people's business. One thing's for sure, he will never lack for confidence.
Besides, the little blue adores socializing with other dragons. Especially the ladies. All the ladies. La has no interest in settling down, and Kith likewise has no interest in catching the same green twice if he can help it. He will quite casually chase anything that flies.
