R'van / M / Wingsecond of Gin Karaith

Name: Rouvan (given name)
Honorific: R'van
Age: 26
Season of Birth: late summer
Gender: male
Rank: wingsecond, Gin rider, sr. apprentice healer (prior to impressing)
Dragon/Wher: Gin Karaith
Pets: n/a (yet)




Play-By: Kitsh, Taylor
Eye Color: hazel
Hair Color: brown
Height: 5'11"
Build: moderately muscled, athletic, flexible
Overall Description: Just think, R'van used to be a short skinny dude with almost no body hair. How things have changed! He's taller than some guys at least and probably outweighs at least as many due to his muscles and heavy bones. He keeps his brown hair cut so it frames his face in what he thinks is a charming way, but that face sports an unshaven beard more often than not. Some mates don't like that. His face is made up of narrow chin, broad cheekbones, and a wide forehead that can wrinkle up like a badly washed garment when he is worried. When he bites his lips, and it tends to happen when he doesn't catch himself, he can puncture the thin tissue and draw blood without even noticing.

He likes dark comfortable clothes that contrast prettily with his dragon's hide and long sleeves and pants legs that cover his burn scars. Broad shoulders, narrow hips, and an almost too-graceful stride definitely imply things about him that somebody might not be able to tell from his otherwise nondescript bearing. He isn't some Prince Charming, that's for sure! Usually he keeps an emergency kit on hand so he can tend some of the most common types of wounds right away while a more experianced healer is found, but he also keeps heavy fingerless gloves around in case he has to defend himself. He would hate to have to use a knife or something worse to defend himself, those things are really a last resort.




Likes: exploring, reading, drills, flying, acrobatics, swimming, starry nights, misting rain, thunderstorms, socializing, sweets, peace, sex, humor, fun, entertainment in most forms

Dislikes: boredom, doing absolutely nothing, feeling too alone, getting in trouble, whiny little kids, snobby people, angry type drunks, fighting, the smell of burning food, the smell of blood, all work and no play

Strengths: physically strong and flexible, good with tasks involving his hands, friendly, professional on-duty, isn't scared of much besides Thread, leads by example, organized, hand-to-hand combat *but doesn't like fighting, can't stress that enough,* devoted to his dragon, doesn't take himself too seriously for a good time, good with first aid attempts 

Weaknesses: poor judgement when drunk, can be impatient, sweet tooth, impulsive, bad memory, doesn't take kids seriously, prefers fun to work *but has a weird definition of fun sometimes,* bad at math, chases a lot of tail

Overall Description: R'van would explore all of Pern if he could. It doesn't matter that other people have charted it, they aren't him, and he likes to see for himself. Why read about a real waterfall you never go to? When his duties as a wingsecond aren't holding him down he might be found hanging around socializing in a dining area, practicing acrobatics, swimming, climbing up tall things just to say he did it, and so on. Some people think he takes too many risks. They just don't understand that he's one of those people whose body no longer surprises them, he knows his limits and how to stretch them, but doesn't toe that line too close. Getting hurt wouldn't be fun and would totally keep him from being able to do that type of stunt again. Sometimes he can be guilted into doing extra chores and duties, but they usually just aren't fun. He'd say, leave them to the candidates!

He's not too old to wish he had a pet he could hold in his lap, but R'van doubts any of them could keep up with him anyway. His Gin is all he absolutely needs, and if someone asks him how he got along without her before she came into his life, he honestly, truly can't remember much of it. It just doesn't seem all that important now, like so many other things. His bond is a drug to him. Sometimes he just sits in the dark loving the feel of that connection he never felt with any of his mates in his life and never will unless shared with a weyrmate and their dragon. Klah can make him jittery if he drinks too much of it, and he has a real addiction for sweets, which doesn't seem to matter to his waist line since he exercises a lot. He doesn't like to clean, so he keeps things organized and orderly instead to avoid letting things get out of hand. He doesn't much like children that aren't old enough to be candidates since he considers them whiny and annoying, but if one can prove that they can act like a real person he'll treat them like one. Also, he had head lice when he was younger, so he has a habit of franticly digging at his scalp if he thinks he feels something crawling, which can be a great chance for someone to mess with him if they know about it and poke at his hair or something. Pranks in general are fun to play on R'van, he'd be put out at first, but get a good laugh out of it afterward as long as nobody got seriously hurt or anything.

He'd much rather make love than war and sometimes enthusiasticly chases anyone he can get into bed. Romance is something else, but he's never fallen in love for real so he has no idea how he would react at that point. Actually that describes him a lot personality wise - he just doesn't know much about himself inside, being less prone to thinking about why he does something than how. He'd rather read than think about himself, but sometimes it can't be avoided. He can be a real jump first and ask questions later guy under the influence of drinking, but watch out for his weird moments of clear and rational thought when his intuition kicks into high gear and gives him a clue. His sense of humor leans more toward rude body noises, bad puns, and innuendo than storytelling jokes, which he's most likely to mess up or forget the punchline of. On duty, he's a lot more serious and tries to encourage wing mates to work themselves as hard as he works himself, to the fullest mostly unless they genuinely have a reason not to. He embraces weyr hierarchy fully when he thinks it's important. Finally, he's a really easy guy to get along with, as long as you don't insult or injure his dragon or people he regards as friends.




Mother: Rettaly (journeyman healer at main healer facility, 25 turns older than him)

Father: Atavar (one of the kitchen staff at the main healer facility, 29 turns older than him)

Siblings: Talva (sister, 4 turns younger than him, journeyman beastcrafter and equine breeder), Retavar (brother, 7 turns younger than him, apprentice harper), Attaly (sister, 10 turns younger than him, apprentice healer)

Children: surprisingly none

Background: Rouvan was born at the healer facility to a loving couple that doted on all their children. Oldest of four, he did his best to watch out for his siblings and friends but discovered early that he really hated fighting. Everything was more fun when people got along. So he tried to be the diplomat when toys got snatched and quibbles over who should stand first in the line for meals started. He also discovered early that he was interested in healing, what was that awesome stuff that made his booboos stop hurting? His mother started idly explaining one day and it just never really stopped. Unlike his sister Talva and brother Retavar, there was no question what he wanted to be when he grew up.

Puberty hit hard for Rouvan. He noticed cute girls, cute guys, even cute instructors that were definitely not age appropriate and would have been horrified to know his fascination. There were a few semi-romantic involvements that were more fumbling than fantastic as time went on, his first time drinking that made him swear off it for a few turns because he pooped in a public place to the embarassment of his family, and of course a few demerits for falling asleep during instruction time that could have been avoided if he had more self discipline about going to bed at night. Otherwise the turns of apprenticeship flew by and just a few weeks before he expected to be allowed to walk the tables, a dragon came to screen the apprentices and younger journeymen for the empathy needed to welcome a dragonet into their heads. The Sakura search dragon chose him and a much younger girl that time, just barely old enough to be acceptable, then wouldn't stop bragging about her picks on the way back to the weyr.

Weyr life was way different from anything he might have expected. For one, there were many more dragons than he thought he would see, maybe not as many as in past generations but still more than enough to be impressive. From what he understood they were on the decline, but at a glance it sure didn't look like it. The chores were hard sometimes and usually on the unpleasent side. When it was time to stand for a hatching, missing his family and journeyman rank was all worth being able to see such precious new life join the world, though he didn't actually impress that time. He thought about going back home, but a different clutch was baking on the sands and would soon be ready to hatch also, so he told himself he'd wait and see. This continued for three more clutches, each time an honor but not in the way that Sakura dragon had led him to believe. He visited her before his fifth hatching and she told him very firmly that he was not allowed to leave the weyr until he had a dragon in his head or was too old to be suitable, or she would eat his leg. Not that she really would, but it sounded ominous enough that he half believed it. And it was true. The fifth hatching revealed a wisp of a Gin that paused to clean herself on the sands before sashaying his way and turning his life upside down all over again with the love she filled him with, head to toe. He couldn't help but announce her name like he'd seen the other impressed people do. "Karaith! She is Karaith!" He was right on the edge of turning twenty by then.

Weyrlinghood was about making friends and learning more about dragon care than what the very basic candidate lessons had ever covered. He learned about strained wings, overeating, how to feed firestone, and came to understand more about why some females chewed and why others didn't. They covered mating etiquette and he blushed to think that such connections were possible at such an intimate time. Sooner than he wanted, it was time for the real duties to start, and the real test of everything they'd learned in a wing. Karaith's maiden flight was an odd experience since the one whose dragon won had a stand in, but it didn't matter as much in the moment as her joy.

Many mating flights and drills later and one clutch of which both are very proud, R'van was tapped to fill a new rank, wingsecond. It's still new to him one month later, but exciting to feel like he was contributing more to the future of the weyr. He loves Sabishi, and with the stolen candidates and soon Thread to worry about, vigilence and hard work is necessary now more than ever. Karaith wouldn't have it any other way.