Minmairi

Character type: Dragonrider
Rank: Wingrider
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Sexual Preference: Bisexual

Appearance

Minmairi (min-MY-ree) is a fairly petite young woman, shortish and slight of build, with slender limbs and only modest curves. She’s healthy, and reasonably fit for someone of her build, but she’s not really built for strength or anything incredibly athletic — she’s perfectly capable of doing her job, she’s just not necessarily /optimal/ for it. She would like to keep her thick black hair long, but after spending a few turns fussing with shoving it under a helmet, and constantly having to untangle it because of either the wind or the sweaty confines of her helmet, she has learned to compromise by keeping it about shoulder-length. She has dark bronze skin, big dark brown eyes set in a long face, and a bit of a hawkish nose. She has a love/hate relationship with it, really, occasionally singling it out as the one feature she likes about herself the least, and then other times thinking fondly that it gives her (in her opinion) otherwise rather plain face a bit of character.

Personality

Minmairi is a confident young woman, but her strength is a quiet sort of strength. She’s not strident or demanding. She’s not shy about sharing her opinions, but neither does she feel a burning desire to make sure everyone hears what she has to say. Then again, she’s also not an incredibly opinionated person — she’s very easygoing, willing to go along with what other people prefer, because most of the time it seems to matter more to them, and she honestly doesn’t mind. She doesn’t like arguing, but she rarely needs to, because she’s just naturally a very flexible person with a very flexible mindset. There are things she personally doesn’t enjoy or believe in, but it doesn’t bother her when other people /do/ enjoy or believe in those things, so long as they’re not hurting anyone. There are so many things that other people take very seriously… she doesn’t always understand it, really, because to her there seem to be so few things in life worth getting angry or upset over, but oh well — she’s sure they have their reasons, and if she can help soothe ruffled feathers by just letting them have their way, or helping out, she feels obligated to do so.

She’s just one of those people who seems born to be a follower. She’s responsible and takes her duties seriously, but she doesn’t stress over them unduly, either. Being a greenrider suits her incredibly well — she enjoys being one of a group, a contributing member of her wing, someone who takes pride in being good at doing what she’s told. She’s not especially intelligent, but that doesn’t bother her too much, since she’s not in a position where she needs to be, and she naturally assumes that those who are in those positions /must/ be smart enough and capable enough to handle them — how else did they get there, right? She trusts her superiors implicitly unless or until they give her some specific reason not to, and she believes very strongly that everyone has a part to play, and that all parts are important in their own way. She has wants and needs just like anyone else, but ambition isn’t really a factor for her — she’s very happy so long as she has her part, and feels appreciated for playing that part. It doesn’t have to be any grand gesture of appreciation, or even any words spoken — just being included in the group, accepted as one of them, is usually enough. It wouldn’t be quite right to say she likes having a lot of friends — it’s more like she likes being a friend to a lot of other people who are more “life of the party” than she is. She’s a bit of a social butterfly, perhaps, but not a very loud or colorful one.

In her personal life, Minmairi also enjoys the perks of being a greenrider. She looks forward to Sabeketh’s mating flights, and enjoys a moderately active sex life outside of flights. She’s sexually confident, knows what she wants, but doesn’t advertise — she dresses relatively (but not overly) conservatively, and she absolutely does not chase those she’s interested in. She prefers to be approached by a stronger personality, male or female, who has a clear interest in her. It would be fair to say she enjoys playing the part of the weaker partner, accepting the help or attention of someone big and strong, and she has a bit of a thing for partners who take the reins confidently. She’s an uncomplicated lover — she won’t pretend she never met you or never slept with you (because why would she be ashamed of that?), but she’s not going to attach any strings beyond that.

There’s still a strong part of her that would like to experience motherhood… and yet another strong part of her that recognizes that having a child wouldn’t actually be the fulfilling experience that her other half probably wants it to be. She knows that no child could ever compete with Sabeketh for her affections, and that mothering isn’t really her job, but rather the job of the crecheworkers (she trusts them completely even here at Ista, assuming them to be largely the same sort of women as those she grew up with and the same environment that nurtured her in her formative turns), but even though she knew she was giving up the chance to mother her own children when she stood for Impression, a childhood full of expectations and fond wishes is hard to shake. She’s well aware that the frequent /betweening/ required by her job has likely caused her to lose several pregnancies before she was even aware of them, but she’s decided to take fate as it comes — she doesn’t actively try to achieve or avoid pregnancy, but neither does she actively try to avoid /between/. It’s better to just let the cards fall as they may, and if a pregnancy happens to take, and survive long enough for her to become aware of its likelihood, well, she’ll re-evaluate then.

History

Birthplace: Igen Weyr, Month 6 Day 14

Minmairi’s entry into the world was not an easy one. Her mother, a crecheworker at Igen Weyr, had already brought seven other children into the world by the time Minmairi came along; at 46 turns, the pregnancy was more difficult this eighth time, and the birth was hard on both mother and child. They both pulled through, but it proved to be a long road for them both: Minmairi was born weak and struggled for her first few turns, and it was months before her mother was fully recovered. Maybe it was sentimentality at her age, or the fact that she knew this would likely be her last child, or maybe it was the extra time spent abed with her ailing, needy baby, but for whatever reason, Shanrin was closer to her youngest daughter than she had been to her previous children. Minmairi, paternity uncertain and siblings ranging from six to thirty turns older than she, seemed happy enough to cling to her mother anyway, and despite a rough start in life that caused her to lag behind her peers in hitting her early milestones, she grew in health and spirit with each passing turn. As a small child she was one of the most familiar faces among the creche-children — she followed her mother’s skirts everywhere, a thoroughly happy and agreeable child who loved to help, and she showed an avid interest in nurturing. Maybe, being small and vaguely remembering a time when she was weaker than her agemates, she gained a feeling of relative strength and satisfaction from tending to the babies; whatever the reason, she spent her early turns lovingly tending to her dolls, and helping the crechemums take care of the infants and any child still smaller than herself.

It was a surprise to everyone when, at 15, she decided to claim her weyrborn right to Stand as a candidate. She had never really left the creche — had gone straight into working there (officially) without missing a beat as most of her peers had moved on to candidacy or crafts or other areas of the Lower Caverns — and had seemed quite happy there. Sure, she had brought up the possibility a couple of times, but what weyrchild didn’t consider the very real possibility of Impression every so often? Her mother didn’t really think her daughter was quite cut out for dragonriding, but she was cautiously supportive, expecting that, like some Weyr youngsters, she just needed to get one good Hatching behind her just to dispel any worry about what might have been.

Sabeketh, apparently, had other ideas. She picked her way gently but inquisitively through the candidates as if deliberating on which delicious muffin to purchase from the baker’s counter, until she came to Minmairi, and Impression was made. They performed acceptably well in Weyrling Training — no more than that really — and graduated into the Wings on time, where they developed a reputation for being obedient and dependable, a trouble-free and drama-free pair who got along well with most of their wingmates and performed competently, if not exactly outstandingly. They made many friends, and spent over ten happy comfortable turns in the same wing.

When Thread returned, they survived their first couple of ‘Falls with only some very minor scoring… but Ista didn’t fare nearly as well. The call went out for the other Weyrs to send relief to the ravaged island Weyr, and Minmairi was among those sent by Igen — good biddable Minmairi, not an enormous loss in a Threadfighting sense, but still a potentially helpful asset to their sister Weyr, and a rider not likely to throw a fit or complain about her orders. Torn between sympathy for the Istans’ plight, a strong sense of obedience to her superiors’ orders, and a fear and reluctance to leave the Weyr where she had been born and raised in, all she could do was reluctantly obey — hoping that she could at least take satisfaction in the fact that she was helping, and that she’d be able to rekindle that lost sense of family once she settled in at her new home.

Relationships

Family

Father: Unknown
Mother: Shanrin, crecheworker, Igen Weyr

Siblings: 7 older siblings, Igen Weyr

MINMAIRI'S DRAGON: GREEN SABEKETH

Dragon Name: Sabeketh
Colour: Green
Age: 15
Weyr of Origin: Igen Weyr

Appearance

Minmairi lovingly describes Sabeketh as a quiet stunner: one of those understated beauties that doesn't usually dazzle on first glance, but somehow manages to worm her way into the viewer's consciousness, to be recalled only much later, sometimes only after knowing her for days or sevendays - "oh hey, you know that Sabeketh is really a lovely dragon, isn't she?". She's a large green, but lithe and leanly-muscled, with strong but graceful movements, long limbs and narrow wings. The bridge of her muzzle is slightly convex, almost like a roman nose, the curves of her face just delicate enough to soften features that might otherwise have been sharp in her long face. Her hide is a light but bold shade of green, like wet, freshly-budded leaves on a hardwood tree in the springtime. Her only markings are sets of small darker ripples on her chest, up along the line of her shoulder muscles and on both hipbones.

Personality

Sabeketh is definitely the stronger half of the dragon/rider pair, personality-wise, though she does share a lot of traits in common with Minmairi. For the most part, she’s even-tempered, friendly enough, though always primly in control of herself even when fighting, or when quietly smouldering with passion. She tends to mother her rider and wingmates a bit, fussing over them when they’re hurt or upset and gently but insistently nudging them towards the decisions she thinks are best for them. She’s not the type to make a scene (perish the thought), but she /is/ very opinionated, and very stubborn — she’ll obey, but she’ll make certain you know that she disagrees as she does so. Minmairi readily admits that Sabeketh is smarter than she is — or /sharper/, at any rate, with a natural curiosity and keen sense of observation that her rider lacks — and neither of them have a problem with this. After all, they operate as a pair anyway, so what does it matter?

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License