Post by giftwrapped on Jul 3, 2011 13:16:38 GMT -5
Heston
Name: Heston
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Prisoner: W-what? Oh, F-faranth, no!
Crime: ---
Craft/Rank: Telgar Hold Heir, temporary guard
Appearance: Heston might someday be handsome. Maybe. But as it stands right now, all that's there is the potential. Standing at six-four but weighing only a hundred-fifty-three pounds, he's lanky to the max. Most young men his age have grown out of that stage where it appears that they're all arms and legs, but Heston's beginning to worry that he's never going to fill out. He's actually focusing on gaining weight, but it's not working quite as well as he hoped. Despite this, he's not a weakling. He's got enough wiry muscle to get by, and as his metabolism slows, he's putting on more.
Fair of complexion, Heston has actually tanned brilliantly these past several months in Southern. Unfortunately, he also freckles intensely - which means that at the moment, he is speckled over the golden-brown tan. His eyes are blue-green, a clear bright turquoise that seems almost unnaturally light but highlights his bright expressiveness. His hair, too, is light - naturally darkish auburn, it has lightened in the Southern to sandy-brown with an intense, reddish undertone. He wears it just long enough to pull back into a tail, which, while it used to make him look silly, is beginning to make him look handsome.
As a Hold Heir, Heston tends to dress well. He doesn't flaunt his rank, by any means, but all his clothing is well-made, usually in Telgar red, white, and blue. That said, he's no fool - here in the South, where red equals prisoner, he's taken to wearing Telgar Blue with red and white accents - when he's not in a guard uniform, that is. The getup hides a long set of claw scars slashing across his torso and curving over one hip. For the most part, they don't pain him anymore, but he does have some mildly restricted flexibility.
Personality: Heston has rarely known hardship. Perhaps that's the reason he's turned out the way he is. This is not to say he's spoiled, by any means - Heston is the exact opposite of a spoiled brat. He's courteous, thoughtful, anxious to learn, and easy-to-please in a way that's occasionally embarrassing for a young man of his status. There is none of that grave seriousness that is embodied by his father the Lord Holder, but it's largely assumed that Heston will eventually grow into that. Rather like his looks, the seeds are there - he's got a bookish, thoughtful side and a tendency to be very serious about his work when it comes to listening to Holdfolk - but it will take a lot of cultivation before he hits the point where he will be ready to take over the Hold from his father.
Which suits Heston just fine. He doesn't want to be the Lord Holder yet - not only because that would mean his father was gone, but also because, Faranth, he's terrified of people! Sure, he can listen to people with complaints and do what he can to make their lives better - but beyond that? Giving speeches? Strutting about as if he owns the place? Heston doesn't even know how to coordinate his own limbs, yet! How the shards is he supposed to administrate the running of a Major Holding? So while he's perfectly eager to learn anything and everything he needs to know about the job he will someday take, he's secretly (and not-so-secretly; his father does know, after all) quite relieved that his father is only forty-seven and not at all prepared to step down any time soon.
It's not just responsibility that Heston is afraid of, either. He's a naturally timid creature, one of diverse uneasinesses and phobias. The main of those is watchwhers - uneasy around large animals to begin with, an attack in his younger days has left him pretty much unable to deal with the species unless he is in complete assurance that a handler has control of his animal. He's all right (usually) with wherlets and some well-mannered adults (usually greens), but the larger ones, or badly-controlled ones, or nasty-tempered ones send him into a minor panic. He's not as bad with dragons, though he's nervous around all of them and mistrusts metallics without a lot of time and effort expended to convince him that they can be dealt with. Firelizards, he has no problem with (if his own growing flock isn't evidence enough of that), and canines don't bother him. Runnerbeasts, on the other hand...he's never been a good rider, and runners tend to notice his nervousness and get tense in turn.
Other than animals, Heston is intimidated by crowds, public speaking, and naturally forceful or intimidating people. He's not a particularly strong personality, for all his mild calmness, and tends to get steamrollered - but that's something he's working on. He is easily flustered, though, and when he's flustered, he tends to stammer. It's charming, in a way, but not something appropriate for a Hold Heir. He has gotten better about it, and like the rest of him, he and his father have faith that he will grow out of it. Now all he needs to work on is a last, significant little detail: the fact that he has no interest whatsoever in any of the women his father is looking to match him to. He has other interests, and alas, they aren't Hold alliances that the Lord of Telgar will approve.
History: Heston was born in Telgar Hold, to the then Hold Heir, now Lord Holder. The second child, he was not intended to be the Heir. That was for his sister, Hannel. Three years Heston's senior, the girl was bright, ambitious, charming, and a born leader from the time she could walk and talk. So for the first twelve turns of his life, he was raised as the son with freedom, the one who would be expected to someday become a Craftmaster or Dragonrider. When his father became Lord Holder, eleven-turn-old Hannel was declared Hold Heir. And then four turns later, Hannel got Searched, ran off to Telgar Weyr without her father's permission, and Impressed a green dragon.
Which meant that of his three remaining children, Lord Holder Astonil needed to choose a new heir. He bore his daughter no ill will - he had tried to do the same when he was her age - but he had been banking on Hannel sticking around. Heston was the logical choice; for all his softness, there was potential in the boy that Astonlil liked. He set about raising Heston up right. Heston took to the tasks well enough, devouring everything he was taught with rapt attention. But he was a timid little thing, easily cowed. When four turns' tutelage hadn't cured him of it, Astonil made a change.
He had planned to send Heston to visit Hannel at Telgar, thinking that perhaps a stint with his sister would improve Heston's timid dreamy tendencies. It might have worked if things hadn't gone terribly. But Heston, wandering outside the Hold as he was apt to do, milled just a mite too far and found himself in the clutches of a wild wher. She wasn't hungry, just protecting an egg, and while she mauled Heston soundly, she didn't bother killing him, simply left him on the rocks. He probably would have died, but as luck would have it, he was rescued. A pair of good samaritans stumbled across him and managed to haul him back to the Hold Healer.
It was a good month before Heston was really able to move again, but as soon as he was, he sought out the pair who had helped him - a young man named Gerren and a girl about Heston's age named Caroline. Heston was eager to repay them somehow, though he did not think his father would appreciate him giving away holdings without permission and made no extravagant promises. At the time, he simply clung to the pair, developing a fast admiration for Gerren in particular and becoming friends with the girl, who called herself Caro. With time, the wounds healed and Heston was lucky enough to get off with just scars - and one or two emotional issues. The fear of whers he developed was understandable, and the attack had served to solidify a burgeoning fear of large animals.
It was Lord Astonil who recommended they invite the pair to a Hatching at Telgar Weyr as repayment for the good deed - although when Astonil returned with Caro and Gerren to Telgar, he left his son behind for that long-delayed visit to Hannel. Heston bade his friends goodbye and spent a turn with his sister at Telgar Weyr - because his father thought it would build character. It wasn't long before he lost contact entirely with his friends; he had family to catch up with and even more fears (and some physical impairments) to overcome. A turn at the weyr didn't fix things, and when he came home, he threw himself entirely into his work, barely coming into contact with Gerren and Caro anymore.
The next two turns were more of the previous, and Heston did everything to become the best Hold Heir he could. But though the lessons stuck, the confidence didn't grow the way it ought to have. Heston remained quiet, awkward.
And so Astonil made a decision. Heston needed to be toughened up, and the hard work they were doing together was making slow progress, if progress at all. So he arranged to have Heston sent to Southern Hold for a turn - and arranged that three months of that would be spent doing good, honest work at Warden's Weyr. Despite protests, the nineteen-turn-old was shipped off to stay with friends at Southern Hold, and then a few months later (just after his twentieth nameday) has found himself sent over to Warden's. He has proven himself quite capable of work as a day guard, and has been helping in the prison, mostly as an auxiliary guard or help in the detox area. He knows little about the breakout, less about the whereabouts of his friends, and nothing at all about any peculiar machinations either of the former might have led to.
Other stuff: Heston is not currently publicizing that he's the Telgar Hold Heir. There are a fair few who will recognize him, and he looks quite a lot like his father, so some Northerners might recognize him, but I would prefer you clear it with me if you want your character to recognize him for his rank.
Pets
Name: Pearl
Species: Firelizard
Color: Green
Appearance: A funny shade of extremely pale sage green, with an oddly pearlescent sheen. A strangely-shaped green, she prefers shoulder-perching but has an unusual tendency to sit ramrod-straight with her wings mantled, so she mostly resembles a falcon.
Personality: Pearl is the eldest of Heston's firelizards, and certainly acts it. She's all about manners and propriety, to the point where Heston often assumes that his tutor trained her to be his nursemaid. She considers herself his chaperon and will intrude if she has decided he's too close to someone - and she follows him everywhere. She also keeps the other two of 'the ladies' in line.
Name: Annette
Species: Firelizard
Color: Green
Appearance: Deep forest green, skinny, and unusually long for a green firelizard, she's not particularly pretty. That doesn't seem to bother her, though, and while she rarely comes in direct contact with Heston, she tends to prefer clinging to his belt.
Personality: Annette is the most distant of the trio, with a bit of a nasty temper. She prefers to leave Heston to his own devices, but if he gets himself in a scrap she's not afraid to go beat up his problems. She herds him about very much like an older sister would, but tends to get in squabbles with Pearl.
Name: Cornflower
Species: Firelizard
Color: Green
Appearance: Inexplicably named after a blue flower, Cornflower is very green. She's an eye-smarting shade quite similar to a lime - with the odd patch of yellow-green. Her build is heavier than her other two sisters, with silly little wings that don't quite fit her body, and she tends to claim whichever shoulder Pearl isn't sitting on.
Personality: The best-natured of all Heston's firelizards, pretty much nothing fazes Cornflower. She's a cuddly little beast, who pretty much trusts everyone. Though she's the peacekeeper of the trio, she isn't the brightest of the lot and does tend to get herself into tight spots, which generally have to be remedied by way of Annette and Pearl.
