Post by Mandy on Jun 14, 2013 20:05:30 GMT -8
Name: Calyx Helios
Pronunciation: Cal-icks Heel-ee-os
Gender: Female
Age: 17 turns
Turnday: 3058-03-17
Weyr: Rainbow Mists
Rank: Dragon Candidate, Apprentice Beastcrafter
Family: Callyn Helios (father), Selex (mother, deceased) T’lex Trencavel (grand-uncle, lives on another weyr)
Friends: Not very many, yet.
Pets: Daxtryn (large canine, similar to an Irish wolfhound but not nearly as huge, only reaching 28" tall and 80lb)
Appearance: Calyx would be considered by most as beautiful, with big doe-eyes of a pale bluish-green hue and softly curling sun-kissed brown hair that, when not twisted into a rude knot at her neck, reaches a few inches past her shoulders. Her face is somewhat round, with a slightly large nose and attractively supple lips. She has very youthful features, causing her to appear younger than she actually is. She has a tendency to neglect her appearance however, meaning she is likely to be found coated with a layer of dirt from mucking stalls and tending after the runners or herdbeasts. Her 5’4 frame possesses a slender, yet reasonably shapely figure, although it's nothing really to boast about. She likely still has filling out to do, and for her sakes, hopefully will gain a more feminine physique. Years of farm-filled life have crafted lithe sinewy muscles over little to no fat, fat which would very unlikely exist even if she’d never worked a day in her life; thanks to inheriting her mother’s fast metabolism and a general distaste for red meat and bread. Her skin is fair in winter, but a light tan forms and freckles appear darker on her shoulders during the summer. She has distinctive canine bite-mark scars on her right forearm.
Calyx dresses very much like a tomboy, not that it was really her choice, she’d just never had a chance to own a dress or skirt. She usually wears one of two old pairs of her father’s pants she’d happened to get tailored by a generous old woman on a passing caravan, who couldn’t bear to see a girl with pants that constantly fell off her; and they fit her decently. When she was young she wore her father’s old shirts, but now her tops usually consist of her late aunt's blouses, which don’t fit her ideally, usually baggy in the chest and long in the arms, but she couldn’t bear to throw them away and figured they’d fit eventually. She also inherited a pair of riding/working boots from her aunt as well. She prefers to wear dark colors; greys, blues, browns and tans. Her sleeves are almost always torn and therefore kept rolled up above her elbows. She also wears a leather belt equipped with a rather nice sheath (compared to the rest of her outfit) and small dagger, both of which she stole from her father once she discovered they belonged to her late mother. Upon arriving at the Weyr, she received her candidate robes and sandals, but those are kept folded and tucked away until the occasion comes to wear them.
Personality: Calyx had mastered the art of acting by 10 turns old, after the accident she had grown tired of everyone asking “how she was doing” or “how’s your father?” when witnessing such a forlorn look on her face. Why couldn't they leave their well wishes and gifts of not-so-delicious food at someone else’s door? They had never wanted to help her before her aunt died. Nobody but Tallyn could tell her why her father treated her the way he did, and she was gone. Crying and self-pity were unacceptable in her father’s eyes. So, after a while of trial and error, she began to put on a fake smile and lie straight to the faces of anyone who asked her a personal question. Pretty soon, nobody seemed to be bothered. Who would, when everything seemed fine? She enjoyed being left alone, or with the only beings that seemed to truly know how she was feeling, the farm animals. The barns were where she’d always escape to on the really bad days, hiding herself between the bales of hay that lined the runner stalls, Daxtryn curled around her legs, large grey head in her lap. That was where she always felt safest. After a few turns, she learned to build up an emotional shield and eventually ignore the harsh words of her father.
Being around such a volatile person however, plus the small amount of weyr-blood coursing through her veins, provided her with the weak empathic ability to “read” people and predict certain behaviors. She uses this ability to mold a slightly different persona for each person she meets. This way, life has almost become a game to her; constantly figuring out what personality traits caught people’s attention, which didn’t or which were unacceptable. She enjoys some attention, but only as long as it is in a positive light. She quickly discovered that ‘keeping to herself’ wasn’t very acceptable. There was no way she could get away with her act without being somewhat confident. To a stranger, Calyx may not seem like a ray of sunshine but nothing would strike them as ‘off’ about her. She smiles, and sometimes laughs if the occasion calls for it, but most of the time she tries to blend into the background. Of course, anyone with minor empathic ability would be able to see through her many façades, if they were able to get close to her for long enough. She loves animals more than people however, enjoying being near them whenever possible and can almost always be found near the runner or herdbeast stalls.
History: [It’s really long ^^; feel free to skim it! XD ]
Calyx was born in the spring on a very small farm located in Stormy Plains Beast Hold, the first and only daughter of ex-dragonrider Selex, and Master Callyn Helios, Beastcrafter. However, for her father, her birth would never be a day full of joy, and this child would not be perceived as a blessing or gift, but a constant painful reminder of the life she took upon entering the world.
Selex had already been a frail woman. Her body condition had slowly deteriorated after the death of her dragon and the pregnancy had not been an easy one, the healers and midwives warning of potential, possibly life threatening complications. But the strong-willed woman had insisted on bringing a baby into this world, even if it was at the cost of her own life. She knew it would be her only chance. Her child could become a rider one day, and knowing this kept her strong during the entire nine months. Having loved Selex more than life itself, it was this selfless thought (which he believed more as selfish) which began to turn Callyn sour, filling him with resentment before the poor child had even taken her first breath. And then the fateful day arrived.
Screaming and bloody, the baby was immediately whisked away; the healers could do no more for her mother. Callyn gently stroked the dark sweat-laden locks off of Selex’s pale face, her breath weakening with every intake; she had lost too much blood. “Is it a boy or girl?” She gasped, eyes flittering open for a moment. Callyn frowned, not wanting to even think of the child. “A girl.” He replied curtly, his voice cracking toward the end of the word. A small smile curled her lips before vanishing quickly, her life slowly fading away. “Call her Calyx… please, take care of her.” Her voice was weak, the words barely audible. Callyn’s dark eyes steeled, anguish twisting his features as he squeezed her hand tightly. “Don’t you leave me, I can’t raise a child alone Selex, you can’t do this to me. To us. She needs you… I need you-” the words were cut off as he saw her begin to fade and emotion took over, uncontrollable sobs now shuddering through his broad-shouldered body. Her trembling hand reached to touch his face one last time. “You have each other now...” were the final, breathless words of Selex Helios.
Callyn roared with pain, grabbing the nearest large object and throwing it across the room. The sound brought the healer back, who rushed over, forcing Callyn out of the room and into the living room where he had taken Calyx. A mid-wife was sitting in a rocking chair with a bundle cradled in her arms, humming softly. When she saw Callyn, she stood and walked towards him. He fought the urge to turn and run. He wanted to tell her to keep the child. He never wanted to see the child again. But before he could speak, the bundle was offered, forcing the broken man to finally look at his child for the first time. His heart dropped; she looked exactly like her mother. He selfishly hated her, for killing his only love, but at the same time he couldn’t bear to hurt Selex any further by abandoning her.
He glanced at the midwife who could only offer an understanding half-smile, having witnessed the anguish he was experiencing before, and took the bundle from her. “I guess it’s just you and me now.” His words were empty and he scoffed. His loss was so overwhelming he was numb to all but the feeling of pain and sorrow. Fortunately his older sister, Tellyn, burst into the room, fresh tears staining her face as she met the eyes of her brother. “Oh Callyn… they wouldn’t let me in the room. I’m so sorry.” She could see the agony in his eyes, and it scared her, she had never seen her brother this destroyed before. Tellyn then gazed down at the baby in his arms, reaching out to take her from him, genuinely worried for the child. Callyn could not be trusted to properly are for her in this state of mind.
Tellyn had never had any children of her own so she made an offer. “Let me help you brother, you need help with the farm… And she’ll need a woman’s presence.” He handed Calyx to her without protest, nodding silently and walked away. During the next few years, Tellyn stayed at the house and pretty much raised Calyx alone, while Callyn continued working in the beastcraft hall. She taught Calyx to walk, talk and even read a little. She never spoke of Selex’s cause of death, only telling stories of happiness, though Calyx couldn’t help but begin to notice the sudden change of subject whenever Callyn was around. When she reached 10 turns old, Tellyn gifted her with a canine pup from an accidental litter between two of her hunting dogs. Calyx named the dark grey, floppy eared, coarse-haired pup Daxtryn.
Only months after receiving her new best friend, another tragedy befell the Helios family. It was only a minor earthquake but as the ground beneath them shook violently, their shabby home groaned with resistance, the worn beams threatening to splinter at any moment. Tellyn had been home, and Calyx was supposed to be home as well. Of course, she had snuck out on this day, wanting to follow her father to work and see the herdbeasts and runners. She had been running back to the house, Daxtryn at her heels, just as the building she had called home for ten years began to collapse. She desperately screamed for her aunt, hoping she had been able to escape. She wanted to run inside to find her, with Pern still quaking, but a frightened Dax wouldn’t let her, the canine sinking his teeth into the flesh of her right arm as the house collapsed into rubble. Her attempts to free herself from him were in vain, even after she’d tried kicking the beast. Tellyn Helios had been trapped inside, a beam had broken and knocked her unconscious, and she was buried alive. At ten turns old, with a father who’d rather she not exist, Calyx was now forced to raise herself.
That was when the drinking started. With his sister’s death being the last proverbial straw for Callyn, the man could find no other solution to numb his damaged heart. He wanted to blame Calyx for her death, just like her mother’s, but inside he knew she was no more at fault than he was. Who knew the ground could shake so violently, so suddenly... So, instead of blaming her for Tellyn, he drank a whole bottle of wine every night and one night, on her 13th turnday, he openly blamed her for her mother’s death, and continued to from then on. Up until that night, Calyx had no idea her birth was the reason her mother had died. At her age, she could barely comprehend the thought of killing her own mother, as her father so nicely put it. As soon as she was old enough though, the cold, sickening, reality of it struck her, and something inside of her felt as if it was killed as well.
How could a child even live with the very thought? Somehow, Calyx did. Perhaps it was a form of self-preservation, the shock of it somehow enabling her to lock that painful piece of knowledge away, in the depths of her mind somewhere. Instead she replaced it with the more pleasant memory her aunt had told her so many times before. So, besides continuing to put a dismal amount of food on the table, which Calyx was expected to cook, Callyn did nothing for the girl but cause grief. His increasing taste for wine was slowly draining his marks. And she was required to stay at home for five turns, every day. Her day consisting of tending to what pathetic crops were left during the daylight hours while avoiding her father’s malicious, acid laden words and sometimes the random objects thrown at her, during the night hours.
At 15 turns, she could barely handle it anymore. The lack of care had decimated whatever was left of the crops and she eventually had to take up work elsewhere. Callyn had been banned from entering the beastcraft hall after drunkenly getting into it with another Master and was now slowly sinking into a depression. He could be found either aimlessly stumbling around the farm doing nothing, usually with a pitchfork or sack of wine in his hand or slumped on his bed recovering from his daily overindulgence. Ever since age 12, Calyx knew she could try for an apprenticeship at the beastcraft hall at the Weyr. Her only problem had been how she’d get there, her father would never let her leave, she was the only source of income now, and he’d never let her use his runner. She thought about waiting until he’d passed out one night, steal the beast, and never come back. But that would make her a thief if he ended up reporting her, and big, black Bacchus wasn’t a very inconspicuous animal, she’d be caught too quickly. So she waited patiently, for her opportunity to arrive. She had no idea when it would be, or that it would happen so quickly.
A turn passed, Calyx struggled to make little marks she could, working on neighboring farms or trading items from what was left of the house with any caravans passing through. One day, while Rukbat was slowly setting, she had been finishing up her work at a farm close to Stormy Plains Hold when she saw what could only be her father’s runner galloping towards her, haltered and trailing a lead rope, nostrils flaring, frothing at the mouth, the whites of his eyes flashing. The beast almost ran her over as she scrambled to grab the rope and pull him around to a stop, the black animal’s muscled body shaking with fatigue. She attempted to soothe the runner with words, stroking his neck as he anxiously pranced around her. Something about her familiarity seemed to calm the animal a bit.
But, where was her father? She didn’t even think twice as she pulled herself on his wide back and whistled for Daxtryn who followed closely as she drove the runner into a gallop toward the direction he’d initially come from. She kept her eyes open as they loped slowly back towards the house, figuring he’d fallen off somewhere, but found nothing. What had spooked the animal? Fortunately she had slowed their pace as they came up on the house when Bacchus balked; nearly causing her to fall as she felt the runner’s muscles tense up beneath her. Something had scared the life out of him here and he didn’t want to return. She dismounted, leading the protesting animal behind her towards the farmstead, she noticed the door to the house was open, its rusty hinges creaked as a breeze blew by, which spooked the already nervous runner-beast, and he reared up, forcing Calyx to release the rope and leave the frightened beast to run off.
What on Pern had scared the creature so? He was normally extremely docile. Daxtryn growled a low rumbled sound deep in his chest, the hair on his shoulders bristling up as they neared the door. She felt her pulse start to quicken, the aura of fear rubbing off on her and her canine. What was here? An icy shiver ran down her spine, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. There were massive tracks in the dirt, the likes of which she had never seen, and as she rounded the side of the house she was abruptly faced with a enormous whirling green eye.
A dragon[/b]. Her heart nearly stopped. The blue dragon rumbled a soft apology for startling her, the sound reverberating in her chest, but to her surprise Calyx felt herself relax a little. Daxtryn whined softly, tucking his tail and slowly backing away from the massive beast. She was about to reach out and touch the ridge above the dragon’s eye when she heard voices from behind the house. It sounded like her father and someone else, perhaps this wonderful creature’s rider. She motioned for Dax to follow, slowly and unsurely heading toward where the voices came from. “I’m telling you T’lex, she ain’t even worth your time… she’s nothing special. Nothing like her mo-” The word caught in her father’s throat, he was obviously drunk, again. He cleared his throat and waved his hand dismissingly in the face of a rather intimidating looking older man dressed in what could only be riding gear. “What do you want with her anyways?” He snarled. How could he speak so disrespectfully to this man, a dragonrider nonetheless? Were they talking about her? What in Pern’s name was he even doing here? She didn’t step out into the open, listening from a safe distance; they were too busy with each other to notice her approach. Apparently the dragon had alerted his rider to her presence though, because the man quickly turned away from her father and caught her gaze. He looked so familiar…
“Ah, well, there she is… my lovely grandniece.” The older man smiled warmly at her, but Calyx just stared in disbelief, her gaze instinctually moving to her feet. Grandniece? This man was related to her? She was related to a rider? Why hadn’t her aunt ever mentioned this? Perhaps father hadn’t allowed it. Her mind was swimming with so many questions she began to feel dizzy. She swallowed nervously, taking a few steps towards the stranger, not wanting to seem rude. “I’m sorry sir, but I don’t know who you are.” T’lex shot a disapproving look at Callyn, who glared back, “s’not my problem.” He grumbled defensively and stormed inside without a second glance, the clanging of objects following shortly as he most likely began to search for another sack of wine. So that explained her father being so rude, this was her mother’s uncle. There were too many painful memories associated with him.
“He’s hasn’t improved much.” T’lex scoffed, shaking his head and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I am your great uncle T’lex, your mother was my favorite niece.” His eyes sparkled. “Has he treated you well?” He cocked an eyebrow, his features growing serious. She felt her chest tighten at the question but her defensive instincts told her to lie. “Yes, sir.” She answered quickly, still staring at her feet, the toe of her boot digging into the dry earth. T’lex eyed her suspiciously but decided not to question further. He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and looked to the blue dragon who had been quietly watching the whole time. “What do you think of Demeroth?” He asked, changing the subject and inclining his head towards the huge creature. Calyx lifted her head, her gaze moving towards the brilliant blue creature as a smile formed on her lips.
“He is beautiful.” She said breathlessly and allowed herself to meet T’lex’s sparkling grey-blue eyes again, the gentleness within them eliciting a feeling that was quite new to her. Demeroth rumbled softly, arching his long neck. “He says thank you.” T’lex chuckled, and smiled warmly at her, another unfamiliar emotion filling his eyes. “You look so much like your mother…” He murmured nostalgically. “You know she was a rider, yes?“ It felt as if the ground fell out from under her then, and it took everything she had not to pull away from this man, the denial causing unbidden emotions to creep up inside her at the thought. Nobody ever talked about her mother since her aunt died, and she had never breathed a word of her being a rider. The concept was so overwhelming, she felt her stomach churn and her head felt very light. What did that even mean? T’lex felt her weaken and reached out his other hand to support her if she fell. “I’m sorry Calyx, I didn’t know..” He spoke softly and led her over to a bench so she could sit. She couldn’t even begin to wrap her mind around the concept as her great uncle kneeled in front of her and looked to the ground. After a few minutes he spoke. “Do you know why I’m here?” His words were soft, tentative, the sound of his voice forcing her whirling mind to halt momentarily. She bit her lip and shook her head, watching as he twirled a few circles in the dirt with his finger. The question allowed her to come to a few conclusions before he even spoke again, but his next words were inconcievable.
“I’m here because Demeroth has told me you are meant to follow in your mother’s footsteps.” He let his words sink in for a minute and gently lifted her chin to meet her eyes, his wrinkled features full of seriousness.
“You are to become a rider.”
| Preferred Colors | Moonlight, Dream, Sunlance, Darkblue, Sunset & Brick | Moonlights, Dreams, Darkblues and Sunlances really seem to match her personality rather well. But I also think a a Sunset or a Brick would be a nice challenge for her to become less introverted and happier and it would be fun to rp! |
| Cross Impression? | Sure. | I think it could be good, but a female dragon would be good too, seeing as how she could benefit from a positive female bond.. |
| Preferred Type of Dragon/Rider Pair | Any! | I would be happy with either complementary or an opposite pair, tho I am leaning towards a somewhat opposite kind of thing x) |
| Preferred Personality Traits | Either similar traits to hers, such as; slightly manipulative, introverted and shy. Or the opposite; extroverted, trickster or flirty, which could help her change in a positive way. | Its not very important, I'd really be happy with anything  I love a challenge! |
| Mauling | Yes | A small one is ok.. Perhaps a broken rib or two and bruising, some scars possibly...just no brutal facial scars please, lol.. |
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