Post by giftwrapped on May 14, 2011 1:27:01 GMT -5
Kaskirk
Name: Kaskirk (Kas)
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Prisoner: No!
Crime: -
Craft/Rank: Guard
Appearance: Overall, Kas is a pretty good-looking guy. Blessed with a barrel chest and trim waist, he cuts a very attractive figure in a guard uniform - and that's just the way he likes it. His hair is sandy brown, cut fairly short and worn swept back and to one side, always out of his face. Overall, he has a fairly handsome face, with masculine features that are nonetheless not quite as 'rugged' as many of the other men at Warden's. He's slightly baby-faced and has a peculiar tendency to wear distant, intense expressions. They are, he claims, quite popular with the ladies. Really, Kaskirk considers himself flawless - with one rather unfortunate exception: he's short. And not just short compared to other men at Warden's (although the fact that he's surrounded by burly six-foot-plus types doesn't help him any). Standing at five feet, seven inches tall, Kaskirk is just short in general. It's really too bad; he'd be the paragon of masculinity otherwise. At least, that's how he sees it.
He is in possession a fair collection of scars that he's amassed over the past few years - nothing major, but with Kaskirk, everything has a story, and his scars are no different. The ones he is proudest of are a set of teeth-marks on his left shoulder (from a gold wher, he'll tell you), a long cut along his right forearm (from a knife-fight with a dangerous fugitive), and a handsome set of claw marks on his left thigh (from the first and last time he stood as a Candidate).
Personality: Kaskirk is daring, ingenuous, sly, and crafty. He likes to think that he's characterized by his courage, wit, and incomparable charisma - and while a few of those might be true, it's probably not a good idea to hang your hat on anything Kaskirk says in reference to himself. In addition to his supposedly-infallible instincts and cheerful wit, he has an ego that does bear occasional mentioning. Not that he's too proud to ever fess up to his mistakes - because he does make them, and fairly often - but rather he puts a lot of stock in himself and honestly thinks he's doing the right thing and others should, too.
That's not to say Kaskirk is in any way a bad man - he isn't. He's a good guy who wants to do what's right for people, but unfortunately he does occasionally come to the conclusion that he knows what's best for everyone and he should be in charge of things. His moral compass is in the right place, but his leadership skills are occasionally lacking; if you follow him due to his wild charisma (he does seem to leak this from his very pores, and he's not bad at keeping a group balanced and in line) you're likely to end up in the occasional bad situation. And while Kaskirk will be there right alongside you, the odds are good that he probably doesn't have any better solutions than you do. A man of action, he would go crazy sitting quietly by himself doing Craftwork somewhere, so honestly, it's for the best that he's made his way over to Warden's.
He is a shameless flirt - any woman in the area will likely be subjected to Kaskirk's own terrible brand of smarmy flattery, and while he can be charming when he wants to, he also tends to lay it on a little thick. He loves attention more than he loves the ladies, so even if he doesn't end up bringing anyone to bed, he's perfectly content earning praise, or laughter. He doesn't like conflict, so if he upsets someone he's probably quite likely to back off - he endeavors to be a gentleman, for the most part. He loves a good drink, and though he's by no means a lightweight, it's not terribly difficult to ply Kas with enough hard stuff to get him sloshed. He's a happy drunk, though, and will hit on literally anything in the vicinity - human, dragon, he even told a gold wher she had lovely eyes once (and has scars on his shoulder to prove it).
The main problem with Kaskirk is that he always, always acts before he thinks - if he ever decides to think at all. A bundle of barely-contained impulse and intuition, it's lucky that so many of Kaskirk's hunches tend to be correct, or he'd be wearing a lot more scars than the ones he already has. He's a guard, certainly, but he's not the sort they let fraternize one-on-one with prisoners; undoubtedly, someone would end up in the infirmary if that were the case. Kas doesn't have much of a fuse on him; it's lucky that he's rather like a half-assed firecracker - goes off fast and makes a loud noise, but fizzes out pretty quickly. Otherwise, he'd be a liability.
As it stands, he's not much more than a headache for the head guard and a lot of paperwork whenever there's a fight - or whenever a fellow guard bothers to complain that Kas is hitting on them while they're on-duty. He's not a bad person, he's just...not very bright, sometimes. Intellectually, he was never a heavyweight. He's just intense, extremely lucky, and entirely lacking in terms of impulse control.
History: Kas grew up with the Dragon Watch in his blood. He was born at High Reaches Weyr, to a blueriding father and a mother who worked with the Weyr's weavers. His father enlisted with the organization the same year Kas was born - as soon as it was formed. Kas did not see him often - or really at all - but such was the life of a Weyrbrat. Raised in the crèche, he never saw anything wrong with the Weyr's way of raising children, and fully intended to grow up and Impress a dragon just like his father.
It didn't work out that way, of course. Aged twelve, Kaskirk stood for his first Hatching. It was overwhelmingly exciting - he eagerly awaited the moment a dragon would approach him and become his forever. He was lucky; the fourth egg hatched a massive brown who fixed his eyes on Kaskirk and headed straight for the boy. To this day, Kas can't tell you what he was thinking. But whatever it was, it kept the starstruck boy from noticing that the dragon's whirling eyes were red and orange, not rainbow, and he didn't get out of the way. Until the brown dragged both sets of foreclaws down his leg and took him out for the count.
Kas wasn't the giving up sort, with the exception of one thing: those claws hit a little too close to home, if you catch my drift. And there's nothing a hormonal twelve-year-old is more terrified of than losing his manhood forever. He was put off dragons for good. Or at least as "for good" as the decisions of any twelve-year-old can be. He decided he was going to do something else, as clearly he was not cut out to be a dragonrider.
He had no interest in being a weaver, though, and his mother's craft was much too girly for him. Instead, he decided to go into minercraft. It was a noble, manly profession, after all! Except for the bit where he ended up hating every minute of it. A kind of scrawny, funny-looking kid from age twelve to fifteen, he wasn't exactly cut out for the heavy work that miners did. It was during that time that he got comfortable with whers and independence, though, so when he was fifteen and a Trader caravan came by, he asked if they'd take him on as an extra hand.
They agreed, and Kas joined to do manual labour and generally make himself useful. And since he was sprouting up (or rather, sprouting out; even with his growth spurts, Kaskirk tended to only put on muscle bulk rather than height), the Traders decided to teach him important things. Like how to knife fight and how to be a good caravan guard. And how to drink. That one was important. But Kas wasn't always a good drinker; a painful lightweight and an absurd flirt, his early forays into serious drinking tended to end in hilarity - and once in tears when he got totally trashed and hit on the caravan's resident gold wher.
But he learned to hold his liquor (although the caravan developed a new rule of thumb: if you're not so drunk you start hitting on whers, you're not properly drunk at all) and hold his own in a fight, and he learned how to deal with dangerous folk and Dust addicts and all manner of craziness. But Kaskirk was cursed with itchy feet; even as a Trader, he began after a time to get tired of his routine. By age twenty, he was looking for something new. And by age twenty-two, something new had presented itself: Warden's Weyr. The mysterious new place was in need of guards, and Kas was in need of a change in scenery. He didn't have much thinking to do about the whole thing, and enlisted immediately.
He's been at Warden's ever since, getting his work done and generally making a pest of himself in his downtime. The Weyr has rekindled his interest in dragons, and he's recently been spending his time curiously sidling up to riders to ask them questions and re-learn all that gobbledygook you're taught as a Candidate. Just for research purposes, of course. And about six months ago, he acquired a dog. To help him guard. And/or to help him pick up chicks. One of the two.
Other stuff: Tl;dr huge troll.
Pets
Name: Little Brother
Species: Canine
Appearance: Huge-ass brindle mastiff puppy
Personality: Assertive, protective of Kas, slightly shy around strangers, trained to beg for belly rubs from pretty girls.
Cordyth
Name: Cordyth
Color: Pink
Hex: FF11FF
Flower: Dragon's Tongue
Egg: Taste of Fire - Iiateth x Willoth
Appearance: it's true that Cordyth is not the largest of his pink brothers, but nor is he the smallest. A middling sized boy, the pink is pretty much a lion in a dragons hide - a male lion, thick legged and large claws, square muzzle with a lean middle, long slim tail. He carries himself as if he were the king of the wild as well, though he would rather show then tell.[
His hide is near maroon, unmarred except for the bright splashes of color along his muzzle and chest. Even his nails are the deep pink, solidifying the "wholeness".
Personality: While not the largest specimen of his color, Cordyth has command over a presence. He does not front or attempt to boast about his accomplishments, or even about how utterly masculine he is, because Cordyth is a dragon that shows and does not tell. Does he think he is big and bad? Of course he does. This doesn't mean he expects you to just believe him. Only fools trust without being shown! If he thinks he can fly the quickest of his clutchmates, Cordyth will be damn sure to practice, practice, and practice some more because he is going to prove himself to others.
Hand in hand with that is honor. It has nothing to do with upholding the laws of every single bossman/bosswoman he and his rider may have, thank goodness. No, Coryth's honor is more along the lines of keeping promises he makes, or even vague insinuations that he may do something. It has to do with guarding any eggs he may sire, and making sure that the children are kept safe and sound until they are adults. This pink will obey the person his rider views as a leadership figure, and if they are a rider, will not hesitate to flirt regardless of color until told to stop it. Respect means love, shardit! Or at least grudging show of falsified love.
With his insistence of keeping up with his promises and responsibilities, it's lucky that Cordyth has such a high tolerance for complete and utter wherryshit. Others may spout off random news and stupid opinions, and Cordyth will simply listen. Why bother to argue? People won't learn. They will keep their opinions of idiocy, and he will have to prove them wrong, is all. Undeniable proof may just be the sanest way to shut people up. Annoying weyrlings (especially his own) may annoy without worry of being snapped at. His rider whining will get nary an eyelid twitch, save for perhaps a mild remark or scolding for not being as ready and willing to believe Cordyth as they should be.
Because Cordyth loves his rider. He wouldn't have picked them if he didn't, and didn't know they would love him back. He is a dominating presence, very affectionate to those he deems worth protecting and caring for, and his rider should expect cuddles more often then not. He is a protector, even when he knows the rider in question can more then care for themselves. Once it's discovered an atyp can harm a human... Well. Watch out humans, if you ever hurt His. Cordyth will not kill, or main, but few things can be more frightening then a large, brightly colored dragon with teeth and an intent to hurt you - with the ability to do so.
Why Me? If asked, Cordy would probably lie and say he didn't know WHY Kaskirk. There were other, smarter humans, more mature and actually wanted a dragon. They didn't ignore him or tell him to scoot! (He may be paraphrasing.) However, he knows why Kaskirk - underneath it all is a capable leader that just needs to be... helped. Kas has a big mouth and a wandering gaze, and Cordy can show him how to walk the walk along with his attempts to talk the talk. Kas is the mascuuline presence Cordy needed, someone of (somewhat hidden) strength. Despite being an atyp, Cordy knows he and Kas can rise in the ranks of others respect.
