R'selli

Character Type: Dragonrider
Rank: Wingrider
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Sexual Preference: Homosexual

Appearance

R'selli is good-looking, but the kind of good-looking that he points out makes him a /stud/, not a pretty-boy. He has a masculine, if slim, face, with expressive dark brows over bright blue eyes, a nose with some character to it, and a nicely formed jaw perfect for a little rugged stubble. He spends maybe a minute tops on his black hair, just enough to keep his Wingleaders from saying something about it, because any longer is just primping.

He’s on the short side — not so short that it’s necessarily comical, but short enough that most men are taller than him, and he stands eye to eye with most taller women. It /is/ a little comical at least in the respect that the way he swaggers and throws his weight around, you’d expect him to be larger than life. Even if he doesn’t have intimidating stature, he does have a very toned, respectable build, and he’s happy to show you how he can kick your ass if you want to make some more jokes about it.

Personality

Loud mouth, cockly little prick, asshole — they’ve all been used more than once and with varying degrees of exasperated anger to describe R'selli. Most of the time R'selli seems like he must be allergic to things like sensitivity or tact, and he doesn’t hesitate to say whatever happens to cross his mind about any given situation — usually loudly, with utter disregard for who may be in hearing distance. He has opinions on most things, and most of those opinions are far from positive, optimistic, or upbeat, so there’s never any shortage of potentially offensive things for R'selli to pop off with.

When you’re as confident and self-assured as R'selli, though, why /would/ you ever second-guess yourself about sharing your thoughts, and how people might react to them? He just naturally assumes that everyone will agree with them. He’s actually surprised almost every time, or confused, when he’s met with less than impressed reactions. What? He was just telling it like it is! It’s not that he doesn’t care that he might hurt someone’s feelings; he’s just honestly surprised that what he says would ever be a problem.

R'selli /knows/ he's faster, stronger, /better/. He's seen it time and again, out-performing his peers, watching them fumble things he can do in his sleep. So what if he wasn't really born into a family of dragonriders — he was born for this, meant for it. He's not even phased by impressing a green like some brash young men might be; he's on a spitfire, they're a rapid-response team, not tied down by leadership responsibilities or hidework. They're the perfect dragonriding team, and as he loudly proclaims this, it's all the more annoying for others because he's not that far off the mark.

He's not known for his patience or self-restraint. The turns leading up to Thread were at times torture for him as he chomped at the bit for the opportunity to finally get up there and do battle with the enemy he'd been training to fight all that time. He was happy to take part in search and rescue operations, or other emergency response incidents, but he cursed and muttered and sulked his way through the slower duties, visiting the holds and ferrying passengers. He'd look for ways to entertain himself, because his brain would utterly disengage from anything he didn't think was worth his time, and he got himself into trouble more than once when he'd get into a fight with that holder, or sleep with that search candidate, or laugh at that crafter when they fell trying to dismount from Faisokath with no help from R'selli. He's never been very high in his wingleaders' good books, despite how amazing he is in all the other aspects of his work, because he's always, always bringing trouble across their desks.

Unfortunately, that happens to be what people take away from being around him. It’s a very rare few who stick around long enough or try hard enough to actually get to know the rest of him. Because R'selli is a genuinely good person, one who is absolutely loyal to a fault, caring, and would go to any lengths to look after those he holds close. R'selli is never going to be the person who responds sympathetically and gently when told someone's problems, but he absolutely is the person who will be at their side the whole way through, who will bury bodies, who will do what it takes to come up with the desperately-needed marks. He's capable of ridiculously sweet, thoughtful gestures, but he likes to pretend he isn't, that they were coincidences or they played out differently than people remember them, because he tries too hard to keep that masculine front that he can't admit to being nice. Try to call him out on it, and he'll just be purposefully offensive in return.

History

Birthplace: 8.417.6.16

R'selli is the son of a rider who’s the son of a rider who’s the son of a rider… or at least that’s what everyone assumes, and he’s never made a point of correcting them. The truth is, R'selli isn’t aware of any other dragonriders in his family, despite being born at the Weyr; in fact he thinks his family has only been at the Weyr for a couple generations. He knows his great-grandfather was a smithcrafter, and figures a transfer to the Weyr was probably how it all started. Everyone else has been support staff, a few other crafters here and there, but they all moved off across Pern.

R'selli doesn’t bother correcting anyone or sharing his real story, because most of what he remembers about his childhood was crap. He grew up in one of the cramped family living quarters in the lower caverns, where it was all too easy to hear his parents shouting and slapping more nights than not. He spent most of his days as far from ‘home’ as possible, getting into trouble around the Weyr, pestering riders to let him help with their dragons, even taking on extra chores voluntarily, as long as it kept him out of certain areas. His father was an ass, bottom line — always angry about something and letting the whole world know about it at top volume or with clenched fists.

He’d have loved to take on a craft when he was old enough so he could journey around the world, but R'selli never did all that great at his harper lessons — too distracted, too much other junk clogging up his head, and usually just too impatient and antsy to sit still and pay attention. He did just good enough to qualify for candidacy, and dragonriding became his one dream and one passion.

It might have been better for everyone if it’d taken some time for him to impress, so he’d have had a chance to grow up and mature a little, but Faisokath found him at the very first hatching he stood for once he turned twelve. Young R'selli was ready to show the Weyr and all the rest of Pern that he was the best damn rider they’d ever seen, so good he could teach all the rest of them a thing or two, loudly proclaiming that he couldn’t /wait/ until Thread started falling so he could kick its ass.

It probably didn’t help there were more than enough other young weyrlings happy to throw him some good-natured shit for impressing a green instead of the big bronze badass he'd always insisted he would have. R'selli… shall we say, overcompensated just a tad in showing just how badass he and Faisokath were, taking each teasing comment or joke waaaay too personally. Through the years he’s been in trouble with his Weyrleader more than a handful of times for ending up in brawls, and had complaints follow in the wake of Faisokath’s flights about how much of a prick he is as soon as the afterglow wears off. He even developed an unfortunate habit of getting into trouble while visiting holdings in the protectorate, starting arguments and using his authority to get away with being an ass.

Everyone at Ista has their stories about how they survived the first few disastrous Falls. R'selli’s is simple: he was too stubborn (or too stupid, some might say) to die. He’s not going to talk about how sometimes he breaks out in a cold sweat and his hands shake when he hears certain noises that remind of him of those days, or how he carries on so much about going and fighting more Thread than they do because if he shouts about it long enough, maybe he can ignore the screaming inside him about how he just /left/ all those others to die.

Family: Handyman Reesoni (father, douchebag), Laundry worker Anjanel (mother, maker of bad decisions), Layabout Mykauni (little brother, ne’er-do-well)

R'selli's Dragon: Green Faisokath

Dragon Name: Faisokath
Color: Green
Age: 23
Weyr of Origin: Ista
Weyrling Class: 8.429.4.14

Appearance

Faisokath is strong and sturdy. She isn’t mannish or bulky; there’s still a distinctly feminine grace to her, but it’s clear that she’s built for business. She’s a very good size for a green, able to shoulder around even some of the blues and definitely not afraid to do it if they get under her hide. The light, almost desaturated color of her hide shouldn’t be very fetching — especially not as compared to the emeralds and jades and bright grassy greens of the others, but somehow it fits her so well that one imagines she’d only look awkward if she were more of a flashy hue.

That’s not to say she’s not occasionally self-conscious, and prone to gazing at the prettier, delicate little greens wistfully, but R’selli is quick to point out a super femmy dragon would only drive him crazy, and as far as he’s concerned she’s perfect. Anyone who wants to say otherwise, he won’t hesitate to punch. Faisokath tries not to let on how this charms her every time.

Personality

At first glance, it’s hard to understand how Faisokath ever could have chosen R’selli, and how they could ever have become the well-matched team that they are today. Faisokath is steady, reliable, and responsible. She considers consequences, and rules, and unless something really manages to get under her hide (which is rare), she’s going to push to follow them. She’s kind, and considerate, with a very maternal demeanor. Faisokath has a gentle, soothing interaction style. She’s not known for being one of the super fun dragons, or particularly exciting, but she /is/ the one others go to when they’re feeling down or need something.

She scolds R’selli frequently and often ends up exasperated with the things that come out of his mouth and his apparent inability to sympathize with anyone but himself. She tries to talk him around, and when that fails she resorts to growling and making demands, refusing to budge unless he at least comprises a little, gives her /something/ to work with. She does it because she cares; she knows how good at heart he is, and it drives her crazy that he won’t let anyone else see it. She just wants to keep him out of trouble. Of course, when he gets into it despite all her best efforts, she’s not going to hold back from laughing at his misfortune.

When it’s go-time, Faisokath is almost an entirely different dragon. She works seamlessly with R’selli, zero hesitation, laser-focused on the task at hand. She turns blood-thirsty and fierce, to a point where sometimes it’s actually R’selli holding /her/ back.

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