Swithin of Blue Swisk

[Ivy]

Name: Swithin
Age: 32
Turnday: February 17, 2991
Gender: Male
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Weyrmate: Yoalla of Green Yosk
Rank: Support Wherhandler

Baseball Stats:
Swithin; 32/male; 6'5"
Toned, muscular; Brown hair; Brown eyes
Blue Swisk
Green Firelizard Dessa - DECEASED

Physical Appearance:
Finally out of his gawky and awkward adolescent years Swithin has filled out to be a decently muscular young man. Tall (6'5") with broad shoulders, he carries the muscles he has from turns of blacksmithing and caring for Swisk well. He has the appearance of being somewhat thin still, but that is more so due to his height more than anything. His hair is cut short most of the time, a neutral medium brown tone - his eyes are a few shades darker than his hair. His facial features are not especially noteworthy; he is considered neither attractive nor unattractive, simply unremarkable. Being a big man his feet and hands are also big, his hands are rough and strong - calloused from blacksmithing work. Tanned and scarred skin covers most of his arms, hands, and neck. Swithin favors practical clothing in neutral shades of beige or brown, not being one who enjoys showing off in flashy colors.

Personality:
Swithin is a steady and blunt-spoken young man. He is often believed short on intelligence because of his lack of tactfulness, but he simply doesn’t like to waste the time or energy on sugar-coating things. He is practical and not prone to dreams and wishes. The only real wish he has is to not be a disappointment to either of his parents. Unfortunately, he is stuck between a hard-working, strict, practical father and a dream-loving mother, and while he isn’t especially close to either parent now, he hates to not be the child they want.

Quick to annoyance but slow to anger, it takes a great deal to move Swithin. He doesn’t like to react; it wastes precious energy that he could spend doing something useful. He does not actively seek attention but isn’t one to say no to company. He is a loyal friend to the few who can put up with his brutally honest way of stating things. Unfortunately, his steadiness can sometimes transform into stubbornness, so he can be rather pigheaded at times. It takes an exceedingly good argument and a great deal of force to get him to change his opinions.

Early life: 2991-3007

Swithin’s parents were a Joined couple in Hyphen Hold - Thynia and Swin. His father was a miner, his mother a kitchen worker. Being strong and large for his size, even as a child, made him seem destined to work in the mines. His father delighted in that and spent much of his precious free time in educating his eldest child about life in the mines. To him, earning an honest living through hard work was the best a man could make of his life, and Swithin took that philosophy to heart - though it was mostly lost on his younger brother Oraru who prefered to avoid hard work. Oraru was mostly interested in getting something for nothing, and often caused trouble around the hold as a child.

As Swithin grew, it became painfully apparent he would never be able to work in the mines - before he was even ten turns old it was obvious he'd be too tall for the mines. He would have had to bend over so far to work that it would have been incredibly painful and he would have been crippled within a precious few years. His father was extremely disappointed, and the attention that he had showed toward Swithin started to be more scarce. Saddened by being such a disappointment to his father, Swithin took to hanging around the blacksmiths of the mine. He was a bit of an awkward child, being as tall and thin as he was, but he was strong enough that the blacksmiths took pity on him and let him stay close to watch and learn. He proved to be useful enough, carrying wood for the fires or ferrying materials or finished tools about.

Not long after the disappointment, Swithin’s father surprised him by obtaining two small firelizard eggs, one for him and one for his Oraru. Swithin’s egg hatched into a green whom he named Dessa, and she gave him all the affection he could have wanted. The good mood lasted for a short time, though, as their father took Oraru into the mines to see if the fussy younger brother could make it in the mines where Swithin could not. It was a disaster, to say the least, and Swithin felt vindicated by this. He and his younger brother never saw eye to eye, and for Oraru to be able to be the favored son when Swithin was unable (by no fault of his own) would have been devastating to the older boy.

He continued with his lessons and worked more regularly with the blacksmiths. As he got older, he became an apprentice, helping them to forge and construct much of the mining equipment used. He thought that, perhaps, he would be less of a disappointment to their father since he was still working hard to make a living, even if he could not work in the mines.

Swithin heard vague rumors of a clutch at Selenitas Weyr but gave it little thought. After all, his father had scorned upon the idea of dragon-riding, as he saw little use for it. Since when did dragonriders do work?! Swithin dismissed the idea with little thought, until Oraru approached him to ask if he could become a dragonrider. Swithin looked down at his little brother and bluntly informed him that he was far too finicky and fussy to ever work with something like a dragon. Oraru hadn’t seemed to be deterred by this and had made himself very much known and heard when the Searchrider came. To Swithin’s shock, both he and Oraru were Searched.

Their father was especially displeased, wanting his sons to work hard, as he had, and not go off to the weyr chasing foolish dreams. Their mother, ever the dreamer, encouraged them unceasingly. Dismayed by both of his parents’ reactions, Swithin was at first reluctant to go, but after his mother implored him to go if only to keep an eye on his little brother, he yielded. He had no expectations about Impressing, and thus, when he failed to Impress at the Hatching, he planned to return home and return to blacksmithing. The only good thing that had come from his visit to the Weyr - in his opinion - was that Oraru was also left standing. He hoped the blow to his ego, being left there without a dragon, would make Oraru give in and finally find something he was good at and work for a living. No such luck. Oraru insisted they stay longer - even for the next clutch, whenever that may be.

Swithin refused to stay and was set to leave by the end of day, however when there was the mention of a wher clutch he paused to re-consider. He had always enjoyed the company of the wherhandler at Hyphen Hold, and whers were much more practical creatures than dragons. With his father encouraging this plan of action, he opted to stay for the wher hatching. He could not go back into the mines, but perhaps he and his wher would find better use outside, working with the blacksmiths and helping to guard the hold at night. For once in his life, Swithin decided to invest in a foolish dream. Unfortunately for Swithin, Oraru decided if his older brother was good enough for a wher hatching then he must be too - he would be attending with Swithin.

Selenitas Weyr: 3007-3016

That foolish dream paid off - for when Swithin attended the hatching of Selenitas' first wher clutch he found himself the one a frail young Blue looked to - Swisk. Of course, Oraru Impressed a Bronze out of the clutch - and was sure to rub it in whenever he ran into his older brother. Especially since Swisk was bound to always be the weakling, never fit for fighting or anything very useful - though Swisk didn't seem to know that, he didn't let his physical state get him down.

Swisk enjoyed the company of his clutch siblings, which meant Swithin had to spend more and more time with his brother. Still the other wherhandlers were not a bad lot, and he gradually grew closer to Ellanie - of course it helped that Swisk adored Ellanisk and that Ellanisk found Swisk interesting despite his physical problems. The two wherhandlers became somewhat of an 'item' for awhile - until Ellanisk had her first mating run. Swithin had been visiting Hyphen, his mother had taken ill and he felt it was his duty to help care for her even though his mother insisted he should be at the Weyr. Swisk gave a good effort - well as good as he could - but he just couldn't keep up with the stronger, healthier whers. Kedsk caught Ellanisk and while Swithin was away, in the heat and passion of her wher's first run, Ellanie fell into bed with Kedan.

Returning to the Weyr, Swithin was met with this news. Completely heartbroken, despite knowing deep down it wasn't her fault, he distanced himself from Ellanie. Swisk did the same with Ellanisk, spurred by his handler's hurt feelings.

Nocturnal in nature, the pair of course knew of Sera's death and Shmee's rise to Senior Weyrwoman. However it did not effect them very much - dragonriders owned the day, and wher's had the night. It wasn't often the two worlds intermingled, despite the fact both groups lived in the same Weyr. Shmee did change some rules in regards to the wher runs - but since Swisk had already proved he could not handle participating in runs, it was a moot point to them.

Despite the Weyr being broken into two different 'worlds' - the world of the day and the world of the night - there were a few notable, and tragic, times when Swithin and the other handlers found themselves effected by the day-goers' actions.

The seige of Selenitas by Benden was one such time - the losses suffered by the dragonriders was sad, but Swithin and Swisk felt the losses suffered by the wherhandlers much more. Swisk was devistated by the loss of his clutch-sister Neisk. The pair were of course not actively involved during the attack - Swisk was not fit for fighting.

More losses came when the plague hit - though none of the wher's or handlers from Swisk's clutch had been killed by it. The hardest loss for Swithin to take was that of his younger brother when Fort attacked Selenitas - Ellanie was also lost during the Fort attack. While he and she were no longer close, Swithin's heart ached when Swisk told him she was gone. He managed to get word back to his mother and father about Oraru's death - and his father blamed him for not taking better care of his brother. Swithin took this hard, it wasn't his fault he couldn't help - Swisk wasn't able to handle fighting. Depressed for a good month, maybe even longer, the pair kept to themselves. Swithin unable to get his wher out of their weyr - Swisk realized he was the only survivor of his clutch. And his survival was only because he posed no threat and was not there trying to defend Selenitas like they had been.

Finally though Swithin managed to pull himself and his wher out of his depressed state and they co-mingled somewhat with the other wherhandlers, some of which were from a clutch Neisk had prior to her death. Swisk felt it was his duty to watch over them and the others born from following clutches since he is the oldest wher in Selenitas. Unfortunately many of the younger whers seem to either ignore him or flat out show no respect for him due to his weak and frail presence.

Swisk's attitude definitely had a positive impact on Swithin - helping to boost the man's confidence enough to start bringing him back out of the shell he withdrew into after the death of his brother and the woman he loved. Unfortunately every time he gets a step in the right direction something pops up to push him back. Example: The Wasteland take over of Selenitas. Sure, it didn't directly effect him - more so the dragonriders than he himself. But he sure as shards wasn't happy about the presence of the Northerners in Selenitas. The few run ins he had with them had been rather, unpleasant - to say the least. If Swisk had been up to it, he may have disappeared with the 'exiles' when they fled Sel - but Swithin knew the frail Blue would have only slowed them down. So the pair stayed in Selenitas Weyr, waiting and hoping to hear from those who fled - waiting for things to return to 'normal'.

And for the wherhandler they did - as long as no fighting occured he was mostly uneffected by what the dragonriders did. Did he know what was going on in the Weyr? Of course he did. He knew the tithes were being stolen, and heard the rumors it was those who fled Selenitas that were behind it. He didn't choose sides though, he had friends who were among those who fled and he wouldn't condemn them for their actions. More time passed, Hyphen hosted a Gather - a rare event. Being Hyphen bred, he should have gone - but it had been turns since he last contacted his family. So instead he stayed in Selenitas, all for the better though as some of the exiles were found at the Gather and deaths ensued.

New Selenitas Weyr: 3017-present

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A new turn brought about a new outlook for Swithin, via Swisk. A younger Green had a Run and though the odds were stacked against him, Swisk chased. Surprisingly enough, to Swithin as Swisk had no doubts in his ability, he won. Swithin found himself running into Yosk's handler Yoalla more often after the Run. Swisk virtually had hearts swimming around him anytime the Green was around. It was a nice change of pace for the wherhandler, whose life had consisted of a lot of loss over the past few turns.

The state of happiness was bound to be interrupted though - as the exiles of Burimyu Weyr stole more tithes, and this time they were caught. Dragons fought dragons. Some of the supplies were recovered but Burimyu managed to get most of it. Still Swithin only halfheartedly cared, his lot was with whers not dragons.

Things continued along - the day walkers causing problems for one another while the night walkers kept to themselves and fended off felines in the darkness. Things settled into a mundane routine for Swithin and Swisk, that is until the quake. It came without warning in the middle of the night, earth shook and cracked - the Weyr practically fell in on itself. The pair managed to escape unharmed, just a bit of a scratch to Swithin. Then they were assigned to help find others, though not much importance was placed onto them as Swisk was not as capable of digging out any of those trapped.

Losses were suffered - riders, handlers, children, and weyrfolk alike. Everyone felt the losses but struggled to keep it together. They were vulnerable now, very vulnerable. Their wings were scattered, people were still trapped, and there were many with injuries. It was during this time that Burimyu came to Selenitas' aide. Injured were taken and treated at the infirmary. Those not injured were set to the task of moving as many supplies as they could to Burimyu Weyr. A few tense sevendays passed and then it was decided the Weyrs would merge, this would be the New Selenitas.

They rebuilt. Old friendships long strained by the separated Weyrs were patched up. New alliances were formed. Millieth's clutch hatched, bringing forth the first Weyrlings of the New Selenitas. Things were looking up - until a mysterious illness that effected both firelizards and salamandyrs hit. Thankfully Swithin's favored (and only) pet, Dessa, was spared.

As the new Weyr recovered from those losses, they gained something - or at least the handlers did. Eikask's clutch hatched and brought eight new wherlings forth, a great gain for the handlers whose numbers were dwindling. Unfortunately, as life gives it also takes - and only a few months later, at the start of the new turn a creature reared its head in the middle of the night and stole Darmosk and Darmori from the Weyr.

It was felt when Darmosk passed, and the whers were immediately on alert. As a support wherhandler Swithin's job was to protect the wherlings - a hard task as many of them were hard headed and wanted to be a part of the action. The night took another handler as well, and injured some others. Many of the creatures were killed though - not all of them though. Day came and left the injured with nothing but more questions and yet no answers.

At night the handlers spent time now not only fighting felines, but also the 'monsters' as many of the others coined them. Swithin and Swisk stuck to their roles as part of the support group - helping with the wherlings where needed until they graduated. Paperwork. Busy work. None of it was satisfying for Swithin but he never complained.

The following turns continued much as the ones before - something good would happen for the Weyr (or specifically for Swithin) then something bad. In terms of bad, it hit home for Swithin. Dessa, his beloved firelizard of 17 turns passed away. She had been in the jungles surrounding Selenitas when suddenly he felt her panic and then she was gone, victim to an attack of some sort he imagined. In terms of the good, Selenitas had allied with Benden to put a stop to the wars in the North. They were to take out Fort and a plan was made. They needed some night ops done and the North did not have many trained whers and handlers. Given Swisk's age it was deemed he would be one of the better whers for the job, he and Swithin were a good team and even though Swisk could not actively fight he could help. So the pair betweened North - for the first time in both their lives. A dangerous task but they made it in one piece. With their help, and that of a select few other handlers and riders they found the best ways for the dragonriders to infiltrate Fort Weyr.

Back in the South, Swithin and Swisk waited. Their role in the war had been successful, with the information they helped to provide the Dragonwars were brought to an end - finally. Pern began to recover from the long war and a Summit was called. Many were displeased with the Summit's decisions - Swithin would not have been relocated anyway, but just in case he moved in with Yoalla so Yosk and Swisk would not be separated. It was difficult at first getting used to Yoalla's mindmates - especially since their presence reminded him of the loss of Dessa. Still it worked out well for the pair and their whers so he learned to deal with the pets.

Life was working towards normal once more, and this time on a global scale.

Family:
Swin - Father - Assumed to be Deceased
Thynia - Mother - Deceased
Oraru - Brother - Younger - Deceased

Mint Blue
Sticky Sweets Clutch
Name: Swisk
Color: Blue (#27408B)
Age: 13 turns, 10 months (March, 3009)

Egg: Mint Egg
A solid, ghostly color of white, this egg is creepier than anything else. Its small size makes it seem even more spirit-like, with the grumpy feelings that emanate from it making it seem even more like an odd poltergeist. The shape of this shell is wrinkly to an extreme, to a point where there is no more than a square inch of smooth shell left on the egg. Perhaps this egg is a true wraith, and a sour one at that. Yet it’s possible that it wouldn’t mind someone of a happier disposition…

Appearance:
Doubtlessly coming from an egg that would’ve died, Swisk is a frail creature, and always will be. He is small in size, about the size of a green wher, and extremely weak even in appearance. His hide stretches across his bones, making him appear wraith-like and haunting. He is very bony because of this, and almost may look like a very delicate statue that might break at the slightest touch. In a way, that might even be true. He has difficulty holding himself up on his thin legs, so probably one ill-placed poke could topple the poor blue over. Neither endurance nor speed will come to Swisk easily because of his physical weakness, but fortunately, his personality can definitely make it up.

His color is a pale shade of blue, a shade that matches his disability. It isn’t near the color of white, but the blue is so lacking the bright vividness of other blues that it matches his ghostliness perfectly. The shade is sickly, so even if one didn’t realize his bones were prominent out of his body, they still might think of the color as a chilling one. However, his tail has a splattering of darker blues spots, the one reassuring physical feature that seems to say that he has any healthy bits at all.

Personality:
Though his body is weak, Swisk’s personality is not. Strong-hearted, is believes himself powerful, even with his physical limitations. Though he will always follow others and never be a leader, he is a staunch believer in doing what is right. He hates bullies, and if he had the strength to, he would fight every one he saw. It disgusts him. Being little himself, he knows how it feels to be picked on, so seeing others suffering the same fate appalls him. He also is very stubborn. Vocally, he could argue for days on end with others. If only he had the strength to be physical! Then he may actually fight tooth and nail. But fortunately for us, the likelihood of that happening is very slim. He will never become very strong.

Despite his hard-headedness, he has a soft side. Swisk loves to cuddle with his bonded in the privacy of his den. His size makes it a lot easier for him to topple on top of his bonded and cuddle that way, whether by force or if his bonded is willing. He even likes sleeping in human cots, and it is common to find him climbing in with his bonded late in the day—particularly when he hears a strange noise in the middle of the day that frightens him.

Name: Dessa
Color: Green
Age: DECEASED
Clutch: Unknown - bought from a trader

UPDATED: 4/21/2012