Post by Desert on May 19, 2009 15:08:12 GMT -5
Weyr: Atlanopolis
Name: Iryss [pronounced 'iris']
Gender: female
Sexuality: hetero
Rank: Searchrider
Age: 20
Appearance:
Iryss is a bit on the short side -- roughly half a head lower than the norm for women her age -- with a fairly average build, though her body is toned, wiry and strong from having grown up around the water and learning to swim even before she could quite walk. She has an acceptable-looking physique and face; attractive enough, but not beautiful by most standards, though she is athletic enough to keep herself from losing her lean profile, of which she is quietly proud.
Her hair is also an average enough color: a dark brown, wavy almost to the point of being curly, with a lustrous sheen that makes her hair stand out as one of her better features. It could be used to its best effect by leaving it long so that it formed a silky dark mane about her head and shoulders, but Iryss prefers a more practical cut that falls to the nape of her neck; easy to pull back and to keep untangled, but not so short that she looks tomboyish.
Her eyes, from a distance, seem to be a fairly uniform shade of faded aquamarine. In actual fact, several colors all come together to create that impression: around her pupil is a ring of medium gray, like slate-colored rainclouds. Touching the whites of her eyes is a thin band of cobalt blue veined with malachite green; these two colors fade into each other in the center of her iris, making up the bulk of the hue and providing a smooth transition from the vivid blue and green into the gray.
Personality:
In general temperament, Iryss is easygoing and laid back. She is difficult to annoy unless one knows her buttons; flexible, with a go-with-the-flow, tolerant outlook on life. She does, however, have a clear set of principles from which she is not willing to deviate. If someone violates these principles, Iryss can and will hold a grudge against that person, and she has a very long memory. She wouldn't physically hurt anyone, but she uses a more passive method of simply acting as though the person doesn't exist.
Iryss loves animals of any kind, especially young animals. Young humans, on the other hand, she considers to be obnoxiously noisy and annoying. At first blush she is sociable enough, but a tiny bit suspicious of adult humans, until she gets to know the person, at which point she lets down all her walls and behaves as if the person is a long-lost sibling.
Iryss is affectionate and caring toward her loved ones. She is still very much a child at heart, and if given the slightest chance her mischievous side comes out, displaying an impishness at odds with the aloof cordiality she usually cultivates. She can act a bit childish at times, if caught at the wrong moment -- petulant and a bit egocentric -- though this is fairly rare. Still, sometimes her moods can be a bit mercurial, especially if Skai is close to Rising.
Iryss has an active, clever mind and loves to learn. She soaked up every dribble of information she was given as a girl, and still avidly pursues a topic when it catches her eye. Thanks to this she has an extensive, if rather superfluous, cache of assorted trivia in her mind.
History:
Iryss was born near the old Half-Circle Sea Hold on the Tillek peninsula, to a pair from a long line of fishermen and sailors. Her father was a dolphineer and her mother an expert in her own right at the tiller of a boat, so she was brought up practically in the ocean. She had a natural aptitude around the water, able to swim like a fish from a young age, steady on board her parents' skiff and adoring of her father's delphinic partner and Herc's pod. For the first eight years of her life, Iryss could think of nothing better in life than being able to spend it near the sea.
Her older brother was Searched by Crystal Caverns, and the rest of his family naturally attended every Hatching at which he stood. Iryss was immediately struck by the grace and majesty of the dragons; the notion of being bonded to one of the magnificent creatures, the freedom it would allow her, was intoxicating. But she was stuck: if she did attain her newest dream of Impressing a dragon, that meant that she couldn't live and work by the ocean. She could barely imagine living life without being able to smell the salty tang in the air. The opposing goals held her immobile for several more Turns.
Then, one day, she was out on her parents' skiff with only her father and Herc for company, when a sudden squall came down on them. The storm pushed them far off course before finally capsizing the small vessel, dumping her into the raging seas, where all her swimming skill wouldn't help if the waves kept her from drawing breath. Little did she and her father know that a few of Atlanopolis' inhabitants were lurking nearby, attracted by the new dolphin in their stamping grounds. The severill of the group had tried to stabilize the skiff and correct its course, but of course between his attempts and the storm, it tipped the boat over and damaged the hull. A megalaodin, feeling sorry for the weather-battered humans, hauled Kilynn and Iryss back to shore. The now thirteen-Turn-old girl was alert enough to register the big dragon's odd appearance befor the megalaodin slipped back into the waves, and after that encounter she became fascinated with the tales of sea monsters the sailors in her Hold brought back from fishing runs.
However, all her curiosity was in vain, at least for four more Turns. Sailing just out of sight of the shore in a small boat of her own, suddenly she saw a sleek orchid-purple head emerge from the water. Her breath caught at the dainty creature's beauty. She heard its silky, irresistible voice in her head, and that was that. Iryss had been consumed with interest in these mysterious denizens of the ocean, and now one was presenting her with an open invitation! Even without the siryn's charms, she would have gone without hesitation, just to assuage her curiosity.
The world of Atlanopolis opened up to her, and to Iryss it was like heaven on earth. Here she could be surrounded by her beloved ocean, and still ride a dragon! She couldn't believe her good fortune, and willingly adapted to the unique way of life in the undersea Weyr. It seemed she was well suited to her new home, for the first Hatching she attended, a siryn hatchling paddled right up to her as if drawn by a magnet. As soon as Skaila's rainbow eyes met hers, Iryss was smitten. When she and Skai graduated, she recieved a staff of dark, oily-looking wood, carved with patterns like the dappled webs of light reflected off of water and tipped by a creamy shell curved much like a harpoon blade.
Father: Dolphineer Kilynn
Mother: Delemme
Siblings: older brother P'laern of ruby Tyaszelth
Pets: none
Dragon Name: Skailaranth [Skaila or Skai for short]
Dragon Color: siryn
Age: 3
Personality:
[[side note: this personality is actually one i'd use with a raven, but since i've got Dharth and suchlike i wouldn't monopolize ravens too. since siryns are similar enough to ravens, i can use this lovebug i've been itching to 'play for a while. and yes, i did just say lovebug.]]
Typical of siryns, Skaila is a gentle, affectionate being. Maternal and loving, the young of any species appeals to her, though probably not to the extent of some springs. Under most circumstances she is quite soft-hearted and forgiving, willing to give anyone a second chance; but like her rider, Skai does draw a line, and if that line is crossed the person will be ostracized. This is the most severe punishment Skai can think of, since while she is not precisely an extrovert, she can't stand to be isolated from other living things for too long. She thrives on the company of a select few friends to whom she is as close as family.
Also like Iryss, she is a child at heart and loves a good play. An incorrigible prankster, Skai will dish out ribbings to anyone, including herself. She has a sharp wit, and does not hesitate to use it. She never does anyone intentional harm, though; all of her pranks and ribaldry have the most innocent of intentions behind them. Even when she is getting close to Rising, her temper doesn't fray very much; most of her reaction to the hormones center around becoming flirtatious, and her mind can slip into the gutter when she comes into season.
Skaila is proud but not vain or arrogant: proud of Hers, proud of her Weyr, proud of their collective accomplishments. She doesn't have so big an ego that she swaggers about boasting, nor does she take offense when the joke is turned back onto her. The trigger-points of Skai's quick but fiery temper are hard to pinpoint, and until you do it seems like she is nigh on unflappable.
When her temper is flared, however, this siryn digs in her heels with perverse belligerence. She doesn't have it in her to be spiteful, even at her worst, but Skaila in a peevish mood is not cute in any way. On a bad day, like Iryss, her moods can be slightly finnicky and she takes on a particularly petulant attitude.
Appearance:
In coloration, Skai runs a bit darker than most of her sisters. The base hue of her hide is a rich indigo, though on her knuckles and the skin over her keelbone is a soft lavender, as of her skin was dyed by ink and overuse had worn away some of the color. The two psuedo-horns arcing back from her skull are lavender as well, keeping with the appearance of being faded as the hue shades gradually into indigo through a few finger-widths at the base of these protrusions. Vivid magenta is painted over her chin, throat, chest and belly, tapering off just at the dock of her tail, also coloring the spindly digits on the underside of her wings, and part of the membranous web radiating out from the fingers, stealing the furthest into the indigo closer to the knuckles.
Markings unique to Skailaranth, like the spots of lavender, are places on her body where the indigo gives way to a dark navy blue. This midnight hue is flecked over her shoulders, speckling her dorsal ridge, and spreading out again across her haunches; also dotting the upper surface of her wingsail. This same hue surrounds her eyes and streaks down from the inside corners in a curving tear-trail to the corners of her mouth. One final mark to make her stand out all the more: on the flattened paddle-like part of her tail, the blue alternates with indigo to form a series of broad vertical stripes that, when she swims, makes her seem far longer than she really is.
In most other respects, Skai is a fairly average siryn: large green-sized at the hip, though with an elongated, serpentine body, and a beautifully sculpted physique that seems as if it were carved by a master artist.
