Post by Briarwind on Dec 2, 2010 13:56:41 GMT -5
Harper, tell me of the road...
Username: Briarwind
Character Number: 5th (purchased)
Name: Teimiche ('Miche)
Age: 19
Birth Season: Winter
Gender: female
Location: Bivium Weyr
Rank: Weyrling, ex-bodyguard
That leads beyond this hold...
Appearance: Standing neither exceptionally tall nor remarkably short, 'Miche's height can only be described as "middling". Her complexion is pale, speaking of a northerly heritage, its milky tones marred by faint, white scarring along her arms, shoulders, back, and legs and callouses on her feet and the palms of her slim, long-fingered hands. Her figure is trim and fit, the athletic lines of wiry, whipcord muscle betraying the strength in her narrow form. Sandy brown hair falls straight to the middle of her back, typically hanging in an unbound spill. Her jawline is strong and stubborn, her cheekbones high and pronounced, and her nose narrow and sharp, giving a hard-featured quality to her face. A full, soft mouth, up-tilted brows, and wide, long-lashed eyes serve to soften this quality, making her features something of a study in contrasts. Her right eye is a brilliant tealy green, an engaging, bright colour, but the left is nothing so lovely, vision greatly diminished by the scarring cataracts of an old injury that have left it nearly white.
That wends its way around the hill...
Personality: 'Miche's demeanour, attitudes, and behaviours, if they had to be lumped, could best be described as "sharp". From her wit and mind to her actions and decisions, there is a razor edge to everything about this young woman, and it is so pervasive to her nature that it seems to cling to her like a palpable air surrounding her and weaving in and out of her demeanour.
Quick-witted and sarcastic, there is a wry, biting quality to Teimiche's humor, a sharp, razor-like sting to her words that isn't always altogether deserved. Indeed, she often doesn't even realize the impact or implications of the things she says, delivering biting lashes without actually intending to do so. When she is of a mind to turn her tongue to harsher pursuits, her barbs are witty, cold, and subtle, veiled by a small, amused smile and steeped in innuendo that often doesn't penetrate until later, sometimes much later.
Much of this inability to recognize the impact her more casual words have may be born of the aloof distance the young woman maintains. It is not a disinterest in social interaction that births this pushing away, however, but rather a desire to protect both herself and others coupled with a general feeling of discomfort at the idea of letting someone else too close. Trust is too easily turned against a person, too sharp a double-edged sword to dally with idly, and any intimacy can not only betray someone, but can, even when loyal, be used to harm. Teimiche has seen altogether too much of that to invite it. Besides, that detachment is familiar and comfortable, and there's nothing anywhere that says she can't bend, now and then.
Strangely, however, she is at her most distant when she is most intimately involved in the welfare of others. Stemming from her father's teachings and her time as a guard, herself, Teimiche understands all too well the dangers of becoming too personally involved with those one protects. The defended is that and nothing more, and she, the guard and only this. Such a relationship is absolutely, completely professional, detached, and abrupt. After all, a man will argue with his friend, but it is a rare day that he argues with the near-stranger charged with protecting his life, and that argument or lack of argument can be the difference between life and death.
Of course, this sort of position does not come without a price, and for Teimiche, that price has been extracted in the form of a sense of distinct responsibility for those she perceives as "hers", though most, if not all, are absolute strangers. It is to her that they turn for protection, and so, she gives it to them. When she fails, some part of her bleeds. In that light, she simply makes very sure she does not fail, and if that means sacrificing a bit of her humanity and being a petty tyrant now and then, so be it. She has cultivated a sufficiently powerful demeanour to invoke an extraordinary amount of authority that she very often does not truly possess, and this sure, confident ability to issue commands with a tone that not only expects but demands obedience has served her very well.
It's just a good thing, with that sort of demeanour, that her ability to make decisions under pressure is swift and sure, if not always right. High-pressure situations are not resolved by the most well thought-out answer, but by the swiftest action, and it must be admitted that 'Miche excels at that. Quick to make decisions and quicker still to act on them, Teimiche has cultivated a body and mind honed for speed.
Ultimately, the problem with being what she is, for Teimiche, has not been the responsibility for others' lives, the necessity of combat, the detachment from others, or even the complication of being a woman of unremarkable stature in a field dominated primarily by large men. For Teimiche, the greatest problem has been the need for these snap judgments. A sharp wit is a wonderful thing, but it has slowly begun working its way into other facets of Teimiche's personality, until she finds that her fondness for philosophy, deep thought, and long, involved discussion is losing much of its edge. She is unquestionably intelligent, but sometimes, she fears that her capacity for complex, involved subjects has been betrayed by her need for snap decisions. What worries her most, however, is having that fear betray her and leave her unable to make those calls when they need to be made. Her nature is at war with her conditioning, and that is a very dangerous state to be in.
Does it go farther on until...
History: As long as there are still two men alive on Pern, someone will want someone else dead and be happy to pay to make that happen. As long as that remains true, someone will always need to have someone else watching his back. It is an unfortunate state of affairs, really, but it can never be said that Cosiche was one to deny necessity or opportunity. A large, powerfully built man, Cosiche was the son of a pair of riders, and, as a child, had expected to follow in his parents' exalted footsteps, but when the dragons passed over him for search, he abandoned that dream to follow another, taking up the mantle of his grandfather and falling in with the Holdguard.
It was just too bad that Holds were such dreadfully small, dull places, or he might have stuck with it for his whole life. Instead, boredom swiftly drove him to seek a more involved, active, gainful employment, and by the time he was twenty-two, he'd abandoned the Holds to sign on with a trade caravan. Pretty little gems like that didn't roll from Hold to Hold past bandits and holdless without getting attacked. It would finally be Cosiche's chance at a little real action, and he was not about to miss it.
Of course, when he'd been planning for action, he had not planned on the caravan master's pretty, tiny, delicate daughter. Her soft features and fragile build stirred every protective instinct the man had, and when they were alone, it swiftly became apparent that she stirred other things, too. It was convenient, perhaps, that Anteima had such a soft spot for the strapping, handsome guards her father hired. Then again, perhaps it should have come as no surprise. Certainly Cosiche could not have cared less what brought the delicate creature into his arms, any more than he cared overmuch when it became apparent that he was not the first guard whose arms she had tumbled happily into.
When she turned up pregnant, he started to care very, very much, but the brown-haired baby girl had sported a pair of stunning teal eyes the exact shade of his own, and there was no denying her parentage, so Cosiche had shrugged and once more made the best of a difficult situation. He dubbed the girl Teimiche in the fashion of his parents' naming conventions and took her off her mother's hands as soon as she was weaned, a state of affairs that made Anteima's father very, very happy. He did, after all, have plans yet to marry his daughter out, and a bastard child was hardly going to encourage her suitors.
once more, Cosiche found himself working the Holdguard while his tiny daughter grew, learning to walk and talk under his dutiful supervision. He had never imagined himself as a father, and when he thought on the matter, he still didn't feel it was altogether wise to leave a child in his care, but he had to admit that the first time he heard Teimiche call out, "Da!", his heart had melted. Perhaps it wasn't the life he'd have chosen, but there was no denying that he loved his daughter.
As the girl grew older, she made a point of involving herself in her father's life. She simply didn't fit in well with the other children, and her propensity for youthful beligerence often made it a fight to get her to spend time with them. As she grew, Cosiche found he had less and less patience for the fight and gave in more and more quickly to letting the girl trail after him like a silent shadow.
It should have come as no surprise, then, when he caught her, at the tender age of eight, inexpertly fumbling her way along with the training drills his trainees were being pushed through. For a time, he considered forbidding her any such thing. She was already a misfit. Turning her into a miniature guard was only going to make matters so much worse. It was memories of numerous arguments, of her small jaw jutting stubbornly out and her arms folded crossly over her stomach, a grim scowl set into her features and silent reproach in her eyes following after him until he caved and let her have her way, that ultimately convinced him not to bother. Instead, he set one of his more advanced students to helping her along and made it patently clear to her that if she failed to do as she was told, he would forbid her. Pleased to have won before she even argued, 'Miche immediately agreed, and was as good as her word, studying dutifully and obediently under the young man.
The guardsman, and then another after him, drilled the small child in basic hand-to-hand until she had a firm grasp on the situation, and though she couldn't hold her own for more than a heartbeat if her opponent managed to clinch her, she quickly grasped at a pattern of swift hit-and-run attacks, taking advantage of her smaller size and greater agility to evade her opponents. By ten, she was good enough a student that Cosiche pulled his guardsmen away from the special instruction and let the girl fall into the normal regimen with the rest of them.
There was just one problem: for all her wiry muscle and adeptitude with barehanded fighting, the polearms and heavy weaponry the guardsmen trained in were altogether too heavy and burdensome for her to use. Oh, she tried, struggling through the training as best she could, but it didn't take even half a turn for it to become clear that she would never master such weapons. A heavy depression began to settle over the child.
Concerned, Cosiche purchased a firelizard egg by way of gift for her, in the hopes that it would lift her spirits, and for a time, tending and training the small brown hatchling did wonders to help her, but by the time the firelizard, Turis, was a full turn old, Teimiche was back to the same problem she'd had before, and Cosiche found himself at a loss.
Finally, he turned to the guardsmen he'd met during his days with the caravans and beseeched them for help and ideas, and it was from among them that a lean, wiry man called Alandyn gave him his answer. Alandyn was small, himself, albeit still larger than the eleven-turn-old girl, and his chosen weapon, a slender fighting chain, was well suited to his size and build. In light of this, he offered Cosiche a deal. Alandyn was starting to get on in years. Camping out underneath caravans in caves was getting hard on him. If Cosiche could make a place for him in his ranks, he would happily train the child in his style of combat. Cosiche was swift to agree. Making room for one more guard was hardling an onerous task, after all, especially one with Alandyn's history.
Alandyn found Teimiche to be an adept pupil, committed to her learning such that she willingly forewent idle comforts to put in extra time training when she struggled and diligent in her attentiveness to his instruction. The aging guardsman warmed to the girl, and she slowly transformed from being a favour to a friend to being a genuine pupil of whom he could be quite justly proud. For two turns, he drilled her and trained her until, in her thirteenth turn, he declared that he had nothing left to teach. That was not, of course, to say that there was nothing left to learn, a distinction he made achingly clear to her, but those lessons were lessons taught only by experience, and Alandyn was of the firm opinion that it was high time Teimiche earned some.
Cosiche immediately objected. She was too small, yet, too young, not ready at all. She was younger than his guardsmen recruited, for Faranth's sake! Alandyn stubbornly stood his ground. His style was never intended for Holdguard, whatever he was doing, and no Holdguard would have taken her, anyhow. Besides, she was old enough to marry, and she looked harmless. She would be a perfect bodyguard! Cosiche balked at the thought. Bodyguarding was dangerous work, work that he did not want to see his precious little girl doing at such a tender age. Besides, who would take a thirteen turn old girl as a bodyguard? Nobody was going to take her seriously. That, however, was precisely Alandyn's point. Nobody would think twice about a Lady Holder or her daughters bringing a thirteen-turn-old girl with them as a maid, but a bodyguard would be stopped. The best bodyguards, Alandyn protested, were the most difficult to spot.
It seemed very much as if the fight would end the friendship between the two men before Teimiche herself interceded. Alandyn had already spoken to her of his plans for her, and she had known exactly what her father would think of them, so, rather than let him make the decision, she had taken matters into her own hands. Kesiana was the second cousin of the Lord Holder of High Reaches, and her father disliked letting her travel alone. She was off to be wed, herself, in three weeks time. Teimiche had already gone to her father and applied to be her bodyguard. Her abilities were easily proven, and her utility as difficult to identify as a guard was unquestionable. Further, there was no chance, with Teimiche in close attendance, that Kesiana would arrive for the wedding in anything less than the condition her father sent her in - or anything more. It would be a comfort to the groom if their first child came early.
Cosiche looked ready to kill when Teimiche told the two men of what she'd done, but it was too late then, and it didn't take long for Cosiche to realize that arguing with her would get him nowhere, so he grudgingly allowed her to go. It was the beginning of a career for the girl.
Teimiche sustained several injuries during the course of her service to various patrons, injuries born of assassinations stopped, bandits faced, pirates squared off against, and any of the other all-too-human hazards of Pern, and she earned a number of scars to show for her efforts, including the substantial damage that nearly cost her the vision in her left eye, and certainly diminished it considerably, but the role of sentinel suited her well, and she could see herself in no other.
Eventually, Teimiche was hired by Lord Delant to serve as a guard for his sister, Aurum. The task proved considerably more difficult than she had anticipated, though she had to admit, the excitement was a most pleasant experience, if not altogether good for her health. That excitement came to a head when Aurum was discreetly searched by a bronzerider named D'skel and wove a clever deception for her brother, passing off her standing as a visit serving as the Delant representative at the hatching. 'Miche found herself forced to badger, cheat, and cajole her way past D'skel to reach the sands and fulfill her obligations to Lord Delant over Aurum's safety, an activity which bafflingly resulted in the dissolution of those duties upon her impression of the diminutive green hatchling, Eikenauth, moments after Aurum's own impression.
Now she just has to figure out how in the world they're going to explain this one...
It ends in sunset gold?
Pets: brown Turis
Pet Name: Turis
Pet Appearance: This brown is, simply put, massive. Huge and muscular, he runs easily as large as most bronze firelizards, with broad, long wings and a broad, heavy tail. His neck is serpentine and lean, and his wedge-shaped head is narrow and keen-eyed. His hide is an ashy brown, faded at his head and fading from pale to dark along the length of his tail. The trailing edge of his wings are dark, and the surface of the wingsails themselves are mottled, patterned almost like feathers on the supple, soft hide. Near the leading edge, this mottling gives way to the same pale hues as cover his head, softening his appearance somewhat.
Pet Personality: Of all the many traits that may be ascribed to a firelizard, the first and most fitting for Turis is 'obedient'. Arduously trained, this firelizard is keenly obedient to commands. There is no question who runs the relationship where he and 'Miche are concerned, and the small creature is quite unflinchingly reliable. Quite intelligent for his colour, he understands most simple commands swiftly, grasping new concepts after only a few dozen repetitions and taking direction like the greatest of followers. For all of that, however, it cannot be said that Turis is without flaw. Turis is a very harsh, violent creature. Prone to lashing out with tooth and claw, the firelizard does not tolerate interference in his life by any but his beloved 'Miche, and, quite frankly, is as ornery as an old mule, and as prone to biting as that very creature is to kicking.
