Post by sammykins on Oct 14, 2011 4:54:47 GMT -5
Name: Riza
Age: 18 (bordering on 19)
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Rank: Blossom Holdfolk/Journeywoman (Lvl 1) DolphineerGo ahead and say goodbye; I'll be alright
Go ahead and make me cry; I'll be alright
Physical Appearance:Yes, yes, we all get those 'beauties' who are just so ravishing and raving and...ahem. Indeed. When it comes to Riza, though, the best description for her is 'comely'. She's pretty in some aspects, and somewhat above the bar in that she's rather attractive, yes, but she's not breathtakingly beautiful. If you catch her standing with her shoulders back and her chin lifted, dressed up nicely for a Gather or some such, you might even call her 'striking'.
At the age of eighteen, she's leaving the final stages of awkward adolescence, growing into her form and losing the humiliating mixture of skinny limbs and a stocky, mild pudge to make way for wiry muscle tone and a still solid, but curvaceous figure, though she's never quite been able to lose her broad shoulders. They're less of an issue for her these days, though, as unlike some girls, she prefers knowing that she's strong enough to give herself some fighting protection if need be, especially in the setting she's grown up around. The broader shoulders also mean a stronger back, which is handy for an active Craft like the Dolphineer Craft is. On a more humourous note, they fit better with flared hips anyway, and it also means she's less likely to get a sore back if her ample enough breasts are unbound and jouncing around; they've actually got something useful to hold them up.
Riza's colouration is fair, faintly freckled across her round cheekbones, but not so fair that she can't tan during the summer time. Which she does, provided she takes slow steps in doing so. She's been known to burn if she throws herself out into the summer sun too early in the season unprotected, and a sunburnt Riza does a very cranky Riza make.
Her hair is also fair - a dark blonde in colouration, though highlights can be seen in the heat of summertime.
She has the front of it cut in the manner of a sweeping set of bangs, though on occasion, she'll be tempted to sheer the whole lot off when it gets in her eyes, especially if it has the temerity to poke her in said appendages. The rest of the time, though, she likes it as it is, as it's one of those little things she likes to hide behind when she's feeling a little less than completely calm.
As for the rest of it; she spent the majority of her young life with it cut short. Barely reaching past her collar, and almost boyish in appearance, she cared little for it beyond knowing it needed to be neat and clean and maintainted - that was, until she was told boy a boy - yes, a blasted boy, of all things - as a sixteen Turn old that it could actually suit her round face real nice if she grew it out. As such, it now falls to her prominent shoulderblades, and though she will often wear it out when she's relaxed into the atmosphere she's in, she prefers to wear it in a wipsy plait, which can be down, but is usually held up in a sort of barette style bun, the tufts sticking up just so in their own odd little way.
Cliche as it sounds, her eyes are probably the better of her physical assets, purely because if you learn to read her, you can get a good idea of what she's thinking or feeling by breaking down whatever's going on in said eyes, even if the rest of her looks deliberately calm. In size and shape, they're quite large, and in a thinner face, would be too large to be termed attractive, lest you've a fondness for bug-eyed and innocent. Not that they're particularly 'innocent' in shape - while Riza's eyes are large, the fold of her eyelashes gives the corners of her eyes a rather birdbeak-like sharpness, and though their colouration is, for the most part, a warm brown, the general stillness of them, the almost cool calm, and in certain lights and moods, the appearance of them almost looking black make them look far less than innocent. This still blackness adds to the intensity of her gaze, which is compounded by lips that, while surprisingly dark for her fair appearance, are usually slightly pursed in determination or concentration, and on occasion, displeasure if she feels disappointed in herself or others.
As for other miscellaneous things, like clothes - Riza's not particularly fussed by colour or cut, so long as what she's wearing is clean, mostly neat, and comfortable enough to move around in. She's not particularly fond of tighter makes of clothing, though she doesn't like anything too loose (too easy to get caught in things). Unfortunately, her broader shoulders and chest can make it a little hard to find things particularly tailored to her build, and more often than not, she'll have to deal with a tunic that is loose about the waist, but tight around her shoulders. The same applies to her lower half - fitting well enough to her legs, but a tad tight around her hips and rear.
Amusingly enough, though, if there's anything she's oddly fond of, it is her rear. It's not small and petite, but it is muscular, as are her thighs to go with the blasted wide hips, so it's not too bad to look at in her very humble, very quiet opinion. She's less fond of the burn scar found on the mid-left side of her back, though - a bad accident as a child pushed into an extremely hot stone oven, and probably the only thing she's particularly self conscious about. As for any other little quirks - her only real adornment is that she has her ears pierced, and will, on occasion, wear various types of 'ear-ring', though she tends to prefer the easier kept smaller hoops.
Personality:For her age, Riza is a surprisingly calm, collected individual. She is quiet but fairly courteous, serious but never deliberately rude in her interactions with people. Well, she tries not to be, anyway; she's still as human as everybody else, so, on occasion, she may offend someone without realising or meaning to.
She is quite firm in her decisions and from a young age, was often tasked with keeping her more rambunctious age mates, and later Apprentice mates, in check. She is also quiet, not one for idle chatter, and doesn't mind her own company. This has unfortunately set her apart from her peers in a less than positive light, as she finds her agegroup's usual tendency for gossip to have little worth to contribute, and because of this, both her firm, no nonsense nature and whatever opinions those she's grown up with cultivate tend to make her come across as a little cold and tense, even snobby in nastier cases.
Those who actually know her, though, or make the effort to look past materialistic impression, will find that Riza is in fact not as cool as she can appear, and she's certainly not a snob. They know there is more to her than her no-nonsense attitude; that beneath her watchful exudence is quite a kind soul with enough empathy in her core to understand the difficulty of carrying the burdens in life. Really, when you think about it...would she have been half successful thus far as a Dolphineer if she did not boast some kind of compassion?
Riza's gentler side tends to manifest, if she's not with her few friends, through how she interacts with young children and, of course, the dolphins. She seems to appreciate their unabashed natures, the simple way the two simultaneously view the world despite its hardships, and it isn't unusual to see her treating her preferred dolphin partner, Thalut, with sweetness and a smile, gladly deigning to answer his conversation and swim with him when time permits, though she is still firm enough with him that she will not tolerate needless nonsense or dramatics. The same applies to children; she is patient with them and will humour them, offer them smiles where those older are less likely to be graced with, but tantrums or dramatics tend to be met with silence and a complete lack of sympathy until it's over.
Because of her reticience and lack of fondness for frivolity, though, Riza suffers for it in that because most people don't attempt to settle for her as is and get to know, she's lacking when it comes to relationships that aren't any more than friendship. In fact, bar friendships and a once pull of strong but passionate attraction to a boy years ago, she hasn't had a relationship at all in that respect, and she contents herself with the opinion that what she doesn't experience right now, she doesn't miss (she's foolingh herself, if it isn't obvious). Of course, this doesn't look particularly encouraging should she ever become a dragonrider, but when all is said and done...it's not that she wouldn't like another relationship, or be in one for the sake of something or other...it's just something that is yet to happen.
Of course, with a soft side hinted at before, it's expected that the rest of her nature should be elaborated on. Riza has her moments of sweetness and empathy, which hint at a girl with the potential to be a very loving and considerate friend and potential mate once the initial stages of trust and materialism are passed; it's just something in her that no doubt needs to be awakened. She has also been shown at times to possess a deep rooted sense of integrity and loyalty, though both will sometimes clash with the other, as while she has a strong sense of morals and what is right and wrong, once her loyalty and devotion is one, she can be loyal literally to a fault, preferring to shoulder more burden than she needs to and sacrifice more than is wont if it makes the life of her few loved ones that much easier.
History:Born in the year of 2997, Riza was born to the Lake Dolphin on an early summer morning, one of those where the air is brisk but not unpleasant with the dawn approaching, perfect weather for the dolphineers to interact with their charges. Save her Journeywoman mother, who, after a long, weary night, beheld her daughter that first time. As for her sire, it is uncertain as to who he is, as Mizakinu never did reveal much of him to her very young daughter before her death, save that he was a dragonrider, and a bronze or brown rider, if what she vaguely remembers her mother imparting is anything to go by.
At best, Riza assumes that his name began with the letter "R", as per the norm for children on Pern to be named for both their parents, though her rather short name makes it rather hard to discern. She also assumes he was fairer-skinned and blonde haired, like herself, as her mother was dark-haired bordering on black, as is her grandsire, the man who would live to be the one who'd raise her.
Really, though, she's not particularly bothered by it. On that, her normally robust, forward mother's disinclination about it has always put a niggling sense of unease concerning the matter to the back of her mind. So, though curious to this day, it'll hardly kill her to never find out, as she often reasons. He's probably dead anyway, what with the War of the Weyrs and the bloodshed that has ensued from the events following. In that count, Riza has never been a stranger to bloodshed, not even from a young age, though she has not been too exposed to it just yet either, on that note.
Living in the Lake Dolphin Hall for the first three Turns of her life provided a fairly idyllic existence despite the unrest and disaster unfolding planet-wide - protectors turning to conquerers, comrade on comrade, dragon turning against dragon - blissfully unaware as young children are beyond that small sphere of parental care, food, getting into every little curiousity, and of course, learning to swim, as befitted a *future Dolphineer*, though she displayed a tendency to segregate herself from her peers a little, accidently at first. She just liked her own company, or that of older people.
Fate certainly had a hand in protecting her in the Turn 3000, though. Whether it was actually known or not that the Hall would be attacked is unknown to her, though she wonders if her mother had some terrible maternal premonition prior to the attacks. Mizakinu had decided earlier in the Turn that her rather solitary little daughter would profit from some time spent in the main Blossom Hold with her grandsire, an ex-Master Dolphineer who had retired to the main Hold when he'd begun to grow blind.
Thus, exactly the day before the attack on the Hall happened, Riza was detached with one part unwillingness and three parts curiousity from her mother's presence, and travelled to Blossom Hold to be with her doting grandsire.
Mizakinu was killed during the attack on Lake Dolphin Hall, as was her usual dolphin companion, Shmuu. Though still too young to understand at the time, Riza was instinctively aware in that way many young children are when it comes to their parents, and despite her grandsire - Furizo - and his best attempts to couch the news, she knew her mother wasn't coming back. The little girl was inconsolable for a good month, crying for her 'mama' often during the night and certainly knocking scant Turns off Furizo's life in his attempts to care for the child while dealing with his own grief at the attack on his beloved old home and the death of his only child and daughter.
Riza eventually quieted, much of it coming from a slow attachment formed with the Headwoman of Blossom Hold at the time. Due to her youth, she became a fosterling holdbrat to the Hold, though her grandfather was adamant in having a large hand in her raising and education. Determined to see her a Dolphineer in the future, he took pains to teach her what she could as she grew older, and even as the Dolphin Hall was unapproachiable for some time, he still took her to places he knew the dolphins frequented, though such excursions became severely limited with the arrival of the 10th Pass. It was perhaps for this reason that Riza never quite slotted in with the other holdbrats and copped her fair share of snide rumours and the uninformed cruelty prevalent in children, especially girls, though her own somewhat precocious nature likely didn't make it any easier.
Still, she had her "Pa", and even as the world around her was painted in blood and war, Riza was fairly content. Probably not happy, as her tendency to listen in on adult conversation made her more aware of the darkness prevalent on Pern than any nine Turn old child should know. What she learnt - through fact and rumour - disturbed her quite a bit, but despite her reticience, it bolstered her somewhat idealistic child desire to learn and mature in a way that might help somehow, someday. It was a desire not discouraged when she was finally sent to the Dolphineer Hall as an Apprentice at age eleven, where amidst her studies, she met the passionate son of a trading caravan long dead. Royamuru was some Turns her senior, and a touch arrogant at his best, but for some reason or other, Riza found her first real friend in him.
It was through the ambitious lad that Riza learnt more of the world amidst their studies - the weyrling assassination, the kidnap of Shmee, and closer to home, the flitter plague, which took the life of Royamuru's bronze firelizard, Whit.
Her grandfather would also die in the Turns she was studying for Journeywoman, something which came close to shattering the heart of the then fifteen Turn old and her casual stoicness. Her forming relationship with her own dolphin companion and the companionship of Royamuru became her strength during that time, though it was during this time that her friendly companionship with the dark-eyed lad became something rather less 'innocent' than the closeness and affection of mere friends. Of course, being Riza, she preferred to keep it to herself and not risk what was a deeply valued - and for her, one of the very scant few - relationships she held dear, wholly convinced it was one sided for quite a long time.
When she was barely sixteen though, and he almost nineteen, Riza found herself proved rather ironically wrong. With his rise to Journeyman, Royamuru intended to take advantage of his trade roots and travel, though he did intend to return. He did so, though it wasn't before Riza lost a good chunk of Turns off her life - losing contact with him during the time surrounding the Siege of Selenitas, made worse by the fact that her last letter from him had come from around that area. Royamuru did return, though, if some days late. Perhaps it was this fear of being broken apart and never seeing one another again, or that irrational fear in young people that brooked it, but in a rather cruel twist of fate, Riza's initially thought to be one-sided feelings were reprocated mere days after Royamuru's return, and it was during this time that Riza experienced her first taste of passion, and to the present day, her currently only physically (and emotionally, truthfully) relationship.
Yet if you need a place to run to
For better, for worse; I got you
Thankfully, said relationship slipped mostly under the radar until she reached Journeywoman at the age of seventeen and a half, a reward resulting from plain hard work and responsibility. It was then that the relationship became somewhat public knowledge, but in another cruel twist of fate, Royamuru was posted to a minor holding further down the coast. Riza bore it as stoically as possible (probably a little better than he did, as he'd always been the more passionate one), and they parted on affectionate terms, though Riza was and still is a little heartsore at the lack of her old friend and lover's cocky grin and presence. Unfortunately, the unrest has caused her to lose quite a bit of contact with him through letters and the like, too - the fact he never did quite recover from losing Whit, thus never procured a firelizard, didn't help - and at present, Riza doesn't know where he's at, though she tries not to think along the lines of "alive or dead", or anything close to it.
At the present time, Riza remains as aware as she can of what is going on around her, though on some level, she wishes she didn't, as none of it ever seems good anymore. Thus, she pushes back that sense of unease - and the fact that not knowing where Royamuru is not helping too, especially since the earthquake and the mass exodus of the Weyr - with her usual casual stoicism, putting her mind almost singlely to her studies and her job, and of course, her work with Thalut, her young and rather rambunctious dolphin companion.
Candidates Only
Queen Only? (Females Only): No.
Desired Dragon Color:Whatever colour of the five you deem fit.
Dragon, Wher, or both?:Prefer dragon, but I won't chuck a tanty if I get Wher too.
Name:
Color:
Age:
Physical Appearance:
Personality:
[X] By checking this box, I am saying that I have read the Rules and History, and will follow them.
**Note: I couldn't find who might have been/is the Headwoman at Blossom Hold, so I'd love it if someone would point me in the right direction. I'm sure they'd understand the forming connections with people when you've older characters, especially on a place like this. But if they mind, I can fix it accordingly.
**Note Two: Yes, I might have been listening to like, Lips of an Angel when I wrote the last part of her History. Bite me. xD
**Note Three: I only have MS Paint, as I can't afford Photoshop and GIMP won't WORK ON MY COMPUTER JESUS, so my wallpaper/photo work is shite.
**Note Four:
**Face Claim: Julia Stiles[/size]
