Tieler, Dragon Candidate

[Zane]

If it's not real,
You can't hold it in your hand,
You can't feel it with your heart,
And I won't believe it.
But if it's true,
You can see it with your eyes.
Oh, even in the dark.
And that's where I want to be, yeah.

Name: Tieler. {Tie.}
Age: 18 turns.
Season Born in: Winter.
Gender: Female.
Sexuality: Homosexual.

Appearance: Unfortunately enough for her, she’d hit her growth spurt a while ago. Therefore, she was cemented in at 5’2”. Her lean form and showy way of dressing tend to make up for her lack of height. Her wear mostly consists of mid-riff clothing from shirts she’s torn, and baggy pants that she sees fit to comfortably trudge around in. She’s clearly some-sort of tomboy, or simply an out of control teenager. Her hair is a vibrant red, a darker shade with highlights that catch in Rukbat’s rays. Her eyes are a piercing blue-gray, and often her gaze cannot be met comfortably. She has a small “button” nose, and a more squared jaw, making her face appear fuller. Her lips are rather full as well, but always pale, much like her complexion. As clear as her complexion is, it never seems to have much color, even after sun exposure.

Usually Tieler cropped her hair short like a boy, but now a day’s she permits it to grow to a medium-length (a little ways past her shoulders.) She tends to have her bangs hanging in her eyes, whilst her hair is always straight and somewhat unkempt. She is said to have runner’s feet, for she can run long distances; it comes in handy for Tieler seeing as she finds herself having to run away from things a lot of the time. She has rather small feet, a size seven shoe. Tieler has a small chest, something that she doesn’t at all care about; instead, she’s pleased over it. She knows that guys tend to gawk and stare at girls who sport a large chest, and she wishes to be spared from that. Her front teeth, at times, seem to be either too pushed forward or not well-sized for her mouth. Needless to say, she has an overbite. Though her insecurities aren’t shown through her actions, or even known by others, she does possess them. Her body is rather straight, though she has a larger ribcage that sticks out. Some do think her fairly flashy, and she’s been called a tease on more than one account, which is by no means a positive thing.

Tieler is in good shape, and even though she tends to dress like a boy, revealing that she knows little in the way of fashion, she likes to stay true to herself. Whoever that happens to be. She’s strong, although she’s come-up against her fair share of one’s who throw their weight around and gain the upper advantage. Being so short and lean has its disadvantages, though usually no one ever sees her coming. Her legs make-up most of her height over her torso, though her body overall is height-to-weight proportionate. She weighs in at a meagre 110 lbs. She has a fast metabolism, so she burns off practically everything she puts into her mouth.

The pendant gifted to her by her deceased father is one that had formerly risen up some controversy. The pendant hanging on the end of the tough brown leather is of the full-body of a dragon. Its limbs are drawn into its body, as if it’s in a laying down position, and its tail is wrapped up and around its hind haunch. Its wings are extended, however, revealing bits of color that scatter all over the dragon’s body, from muzzle to tail-tip. Her father wore it as a symbol of accepting that more than the original Gold, Bronze, Brown, Blue, and Green would populate Pern. If anything he considered them to be a blessing.

Tieler has never taken it off since she’s gotten it, except to bathe. To her it’s simply a trinket, or at least that’s what she wants everyone to believe. It may very possibly be the one true thing she really does cherish.

Personality: Tieler is one little rebellious, up to no good, wild child. Wherever she goes, trouble is sure to follow in swarms! She’s known for causing havoc all over the place, with enough time to spare for the perfect getaway. It’s her forte. She’s not big on rules, which really isn’t hard to tell. Her twisted view is that the more rules there are the better, because then there are more rules for her to break. Her ideal day of fun is watching other people suffer from the horrendous pranks she’s pulled. To her fun is also stealing and leaving others empty-handed. She’s been spotted with a wine bottle in hand, eyeing passing girls like slabs of fresh wherry meat. In her drunken states she makes it very apparent that her sexuality is for her own sex. It’s a shame really, the time she wastes doing harmful things, for she is quite a creative girl. If only she could put her creativity to good use.

Tieler is a huge flirt, and as much as she tells herself she’s going to keep her sexuality a secret, she fails at doing so. What she hopes to gain from her flirtatious ways is more to boost her already existing ego with. Oftentimes she’ll flirt with the boys, just to have them be sorely disappointed by publically shooting them down. She has a very sadistic nature, if it hasn’t already been made clear. Its best that people keep their guard-up with her around, you never know whether or not she’s planning on toying with your emotions. She’s a genius of deception, and knows how to con like a pro. She can’t be trusted, unless you know how to play her game, then you can consider yourself one of her gang. Be careful; just remember that everyone takes the backseat for Tieler knows nothing but the lead. She hungers for power, and no one can figure out exactly why. Her dominating personality is very intimidating to most; she’s a damaging soul.

She’s been known to get into a fist fight or two, with boys and boys only. She doesn’t carry a weapon on her, liking to keep it real by using her physical strength like a true soldier. By doing so she figures she’s proving a point. Her sexist nature is no secret. She believes in survival of the fittest, where the weak are left behind while the strong prosper. Like every other human-being Tieler struggles to hide her “human-side.” She tends to feel for those that are in an abusive situation, or are being beat up on when they’re unable to fight back, and as out-of-character as most think it to be, she beats the stuffing out of their attacker’s. After such a heroic act she’s known to disappear for the day, making herself non-existent.

She despises chores, with a passion, so don’t expect to get her to lift a finger. She’ll pawn them off on someone else without a second thought. She always has a trick or two up her sleeve to get out of things she doesn’t want to do, she’s a very convincing liar. She can look a person straight in the eye and tell a full-blown lie, and most believe her due to her whole “look-at-me-I’m-so-innocent” act.

She hates it when any guy thinks they have a chance in hell with her. Some try to pin her as a possible “play thing” but she sooner rather than later has them realizing they’ll have to go home playing with themselves and themselves only. Tieler stands as a symbol for woman’s rights, or so she likes to think. She believes that the world should get it right by putting woman on top, while men wait on them like well-trained pets. Perhaps that’s why she tends to have some masculine mannerisms? She’s attempting to be the guy within’ a girl, so to speak. Stereotypically most would think her at least a tad butch. Her deeper voice adds to this common theory.

She’s not big on reading, nor is she big on writing. Deep down she enjoys a good book, but she hates to be made to sympathize with another human-being. A game in the form of kicking a ball around with your feet, was what she spent most of her time doing before she was searched. She is very good at the game, and loves to play it, for competition is her thing. It’s the only constructive means she uses to get out her anger. Another thing that Tieler is good at, which she does her best to keep secret, is singing. She’s worried it’ll ruin her image as soon as others picture her singing ballads. By necessity, and due to her skill, she was dragged into the Harper Hall. She let on that she hated it there, when really she loved it, it was the one place she felt at peace with herself. Singing didn’t completely weed-out her looming depression, and the Journeyman Harper assigned to her “case” became quite concerned by her destructive behaviour.

Strengths and weaknesses: Tieler's strengths are her weaknesses. Her greatest downfall is her lack of emotions and yet its the only thing getting her by at present. She's reckless, and impulsive, and it gets her into the majority of the trouble that she manages to get into. Regardless, she needs her backbone to keep up the walls protecting her from further damage. She's quite like a puzzle, too many pieces for most to bother trying to put anything together. Its easier to ignore her than to not. Tieler provokes others far too much to either: A. prove a point, or B. because she can. If she'd listen sometimes and not just get carried away then she'd save herself a lot of heart ache in the long-run.

Extra tidbits: Women, women, and more women. She's a flirt to the nth degree, with little to no shame. She's bent on having fun, and her reckless behavior is what often times gets her into the most trouble. She's a rebel, and yet... not? Its hard to describe unless one gets to know her character. Her rebellious behavior is her greatest facade, and she pulls it off wonderfully, leaving the world none the wiser to the fact that she longs to show her hidden emotions. She is still very much into Harpering, but she supposes its a life she's left behind and can't ever go back to. At this point she doesn't care what happens, or doesn't happen even. She feels as if her life is just going through the motions, nothing more. Her interests, even to her, are invalid and unimportant.

Family (if any): Unknown...

Location: From Fort's Harper Hall, now at Trelis Weyr.
Rank: Dragon Candidate, Apprentice Harper.

History

Early years:
Yeah, so maybe she was a whiney child. Maybe she was clingy and cried a lot, so shoot her, aren’t all toddler’s supposed to be the bane of some mother’s existence? Tieler often feels like she would’ve abandoned herself too, no doubt. She was one of those children that’s head didn’t quite match-up to their bodies right off the hop, and one side of their body was much more noticeably larger than the other. But what the heck, it’s not like she was butt ugly or anything. She’d popped-out with a head of red hair, which oddly enough no one had expected.

From an infant she had a real temper. Her mother only ever paid her the mandatory attention right from the get go, always handing her off to some random around the hold when she didn't feel like dealing with Tieler. The girl loved to throw things, chew on just about everything in sight, and her first word was: “No!” Yes, with the exclamation point. It took her single mother all of five days to find a new home for her. She'd never wanted to be a mother in the first place, and the lack of affection shown toward her daughter had been clear. Then she took off, who knows where, and frankly, Tieler didn’t seem to really care. Its not like her mother had been there very much anyhow. Her foster parents weren’t half bad; they had a kid of their own, one that she loved to make the centre of her attention. Tieler bit him a lot of the time; he didn’t really seem to take to that all that much. He generally tended to cry whenever she was around. And even though he was older than her by a full year, when she was two and he was three, she still managed to make him cry. She was jealous of him, because he got paid more attention than she. She couldn't understand why she was everyone's second. It was then that another home was needed for her, seeing as she was ruining the mental development of their biological child.

From the ages of two to five Tieler was in a home with no other foster children. She had play dates that were set-up, but she continued to chuck things out of sheer delight. Then, at age three, she realized that she could use her fist instead of a solid object to inflict pain. Here was when her dislike of men really began. It was her foster father after all that had shown her just exactly how someone's fists worked. Her biological mother could be thanked for her earlier sadistic nature, but her third foster home packed it all in with a force.

Her abandonment issues started from early on. It’s like she knew, straight from the womb, that she hadn’t been wanted.

At the age of five she had every curse word known to every man, woman, and teenager on Pern down pact. She was the meanest, rudest, and most unkempt child in Fort Hold. She was a total and complete head ache to her foster parents, and just before she turned six Tieler was passed on to, of course, another foster situation. If only her foster mother had really known why the child was such a mess when she returned home, and what had caused an even greater decline in her behavior.

For the next four turns she was put in her last home. Her situation had been noticed, and it was said that the child would be put in the care of the Creche. So, therefore, that's precisely what happened. The foster homes were done with, and she never felt as if she'd ever had any 'fake family' to speak-of.

Let’s skip to the more important information, shall we?

More current years:
So from eight to ten turns of age, Tieler was starting to get real good at sports. It became her passion; the only way to release the huge bursts of anger that she constantly had welling up inside of her. All of the kids had learned to avoid her, because no one wanted to get into a quarrel with the relentless one. Everyone said she knew not what justice meant, and her mother must’ve abandoned her due to the holy terror that she was.

It was by this time that mommy syndrome started to kick in. She began to wonder what her mother had really been like, and whether or not it was true, that she hadn’t been wanted. Why else would she have been given-up? She dared not speak about her concerns to anyone, too worried that she be teased and made fun of for having a worry/fault. To her seeming flawless when it came to her emotions, was so important. She couldn’t bear to be hurt, not again, for her biological parents had hurt her far too much just by not being there. In reality, she felt as if she'd never been good enough for anyone, and spent all of her time either having outbursts because of her imperfections, or acting like she just didn't care. Each turnday that passed on by since, she thought of her parents, and wondered if they’d randomly show up to take her away to somewhere better, or they’d show up proclaiming to be poorer than even she, nothing more than a pair of drudges taking care of the dust and dirt in Fort Hold.

When she turned ten, it was a real chance to turn her life around, because she was dragged into Fort’s Harper Hall kicking and screaming. It was per the request of Master harper Yendev, though she wasn't told this right away. The Master harper Tieler had been assigned to, urged her to sing, for she was supposedly “good.” Though it was clear that there was an underlying reason as to why he’d willed her to come. So, just to get him off of her back, she did. And to see tears in his eyes, well, it was weird. To see any full grown man cry was weird for her; to see anyone cry at all was weird for her, especially since she only did so in private (if ever.) To reduce the awkward tension in the room she thought about the kid she’d left back at her sports game with a bloody nose. She was sure he’d regret ever calling her “Red” again. Yep, it didn’t take much to set Tieler off; she was guessing that’s why she’d been sent here. It was some-sort of punishment, right? Back to what had just taken place, she was most certain that it couldn’t have been her singing that had brought him to tears. She knew that she was phenomenal at nothing, but merely average, in all that she did. So, she had a bit of talent, everything she was talented at needed sufficient work for her to be “good.” The fact of the matter is that he knew her father, quite well. He had been an old friend of his, and in his passing he’d requested that the old harper watch over his daughter.

Punishment or no, by her standards, she attended there regularly. She had her own digs, which consisted of a bunk with a chest to store her stuff in. It was actually a closet/storage space, because they didn’t want to put her in the Apprentice’s barracks with the rest of the well-behaved kids. Apparently they knew she was a holy terror too. The Master harper did not mention a word concerning her father at that time, wanting her to train as an apprentice before making the decision as to whether or not she wished to stand. It was her right-being born as a dragonrider’s child-to stand at a hatching. However, the Master harper felt that she’d need much more development then what they could yet give her at Fort Weyr, to be able to appreciate what it truly meant to be a dragonrider.

Closer-to-now-days:
“Tieler?” a voice woke her from her restless sleep.
“Mm, shells and shards, early, no light,” Tieler groaned, covering her messy head of short red hair with her pillow.
“Get up!” the voice snapped, and her eyes shot open. Tieler whipped her pillow against the far wall and sat-up, giving an icy cold glare to whomever it was that had disrupted her short-lived sleep.

“Clearly, I’m up now,” she scoffed, sinking her teeth into her lower lip.
“This is going to be a very important day for you Tieler, it’s going to change everything, and give you a purpose, a title.” She was listening now, mainly because she’d been waiting to get out of the closet/storage space for years now.
“So I get an upgraded pad?” Tieler joked, rubbing her eyes with her fists groggily.
“You get more than that Tieler, you’ve been blessed my girl, you’ve most certainly been blessed.”

She raised an eyebrow at whom she now recognized as Master harper Yendev.
“Okay, I’m lost,” she sighed, getting to her feet. Tieler rummaged around for yesterday’s clothes. ‘I really should have taken the time to wash something,’ she thought to herself bitterly.

“Tieler, focus!” he snapped, and she turned around, faking attentive. She stood up, tall-‘er-short.
“There are search dragons coming about, and after this morning’s ceremony for the older apprentice’s, I’d like you to make sure you’re there once they arrive.”
“Search dragons, here? What a waste, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, Toberin can barely hold a drum. Me standing out there to make him look pretty won’t do a thing.”

Master Yendev rolled his eyes, tapping his foot rapidly against the stone floor in an irritable fashion.
“Whatever shall I do with you? Oh, yes, that’s right; send you off to a Weyr!”
Tieler’s jaw just about hit the floor, but that was mentally, of course. She could keep her composure much better than that.

“Me? The eighteen turns old screw-up? To a Weyr? By the first egg, whatever for?” she complained, looking Yendev directly in the eye. “I didn’t know you wanted to get rid-of me this badly Yendev that you felt the need to have a horde of dragons dispose of my body!”

“You’ll be out in that court when I tell you, no sooner and no later. Final word.” He then turned and left, leaving her completely confused, well, mostly. She had a good feel for what he was talking about, seeing as they’d had many past conversations about how it was inevitable that one day she’d be sent to ‘a’ Weyr, somewhere. It had just been a matter of when. From the Weyr’s viewpoint she was an eligible Candidate, and as touching as that was, Tieler wasn’t fond of the idea of moving to another place.

Everything aside, if she was to think for herself, and be given the chance to make a decision (which she was) what would she end-up choosing? Could she picture herself becoming a Candidate? Standing on the hot sands, on the hatching grounds of whatever Weyr she was sent to, in a non-fashionable white robe? Is it where she belonged, like her father, in the world of Kitti Ping’s dragons?

~*~

In his own private quarter’s, after his encounter with the rebellious apprentice harper otherwise known as Tieler, the Master harper sat down at a dark table in the records room. In his right hand was a glow basket, in which he set up on the worn out surface wood of the table, while in his left was a neatly tied scroll. He placed it down before him, untying it in the dim light. There he proceeded to read, not aloud, but in his own head.

The scroll read as follows:

My old, old, friend,

First-off, do not be offended by my having called you old. You and I both know that your youthful years have gone and past. It is time that you fell into the title of “wise old master harper.”

Secondly, as much as this letter was a means for me to say good-bye to you, without any emotional face-to-face talk, too it is about another certain individual. One that we have seldom spoke of as often as we should have. My daughter.

With my passing, I cannot help but feel that I have failed her, in more ways than one. I did not give her a father, or the knowledge that she had one whom knew of her existence. I could have done a lot more for her then sit back and listen to you tell me the odd tale of her coming of age. I wish I would’ve gotten to see her, at least once. Being a Harper is a sure privilege, one I am glad that she has gotten the taste for. Regardless, I’ve often sat and wondered if she’s ever thought of riding adragonback. Her mother, selfish creature that she is, was a strong-willed rider. She was born for the skies. She and her green had been a beautiful pair, just sadly not in soul. The fact that she could abandon that little girl... well, I guess I cannot be a hypocrite. After all is said and done, I’m no better a parent than she was. It’s just, after holding her; I don’t understand how she could so quickly give her up.

In any case, I had wished any child of mine to be raised in the Weyr. To know that she was simply passed around from Holder family to Holder family, it’s enough to make me ill all over again.

Tell her Yendev; tell her about me-will you? I know I asked you not to, but I’ve had a change of heart. Tell her as little or as much as you want, just... let her know of me. Perhaps encourage her, if you see fit, to look to the skies and tell you what she sees, what she feels, as dragons fly overhead.

If you do not wish to introduce her to this world, by all means... I know you know her better than I. I am only hoping for her to be dragonrider material, in the end it’s all up to the dragons and the Weyr. She was not raised as a Weyrbrat, so they shall not judge her as one.

Dear, old, master harper? Do me a favour? Either the day my daughter walks the tables, or the day she is searched, give her my pendant. I am proud of her, no matter what course she takes. Have her know that as well.

In any case, I grow tired; I’ve not much time left. And as such, either does Rykenth. I will spend the remainder of my time in affectionate conversation with my bonded.

Thank-you Yendev, for all you’ve taught me and all that you’re now teaching Tieler.

Thank-you, also, for the many years of friendship. It will be sorely missed, wherever I end-up.

Signed:

Your dear friend, always,
Wingsecond T’van, proud rider of Brown Rykenth.

~*~

Once the ceremony had ended, and there was barely a morsel of food or klah left in the dining-area, Tieler headed on back to her room. She kept listing off in her head what reasons she really had to be out in that court when the dragonrider’s came about. Who cared if her father was a dragonrider; that meant nothing for her, she was a different person, with a different future. ‘If I even have a future at all,’ she reminded herself oh so kindly. Even after years spent at the Harper Hall, she doubted everything, as if it was all-new and she was incapable. She ran a hand through her hair, remembering when it had been so short, and she’d been mistaken for a boy on more than one occasion. This was cause for her to smirk, before her expression was recaptured by the disconcerting thought of going out to greet the dragonrider’s. ‘They choose you, not the other way around,’ she knew.

Were dragonrider’s allowed to be mouthy, short-tempered, and disagreeable? Were they allowed to start-up fights just for the heck of it, and make others feel inferior? Tieler sneered, deciding there was no point in going.

Just as that thought entered her head, a young man was tapping her on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, sorry to just barge on in like this. Really, I wouldn’t usually, but I was told you wouldn’t have let me in?” It was more of a question rather than a stated fact, giving Tieler leeway to correct him, if she so wished, or not, if she so wished once again.

“Sounds about right,” she said, not even turning around to gaze at him, she simply kept on rummaging through her unwashed clothing.

“Well then,” he said, clearing his throat, at which Tieler assumed he was getting ready to go all business guru on her.
“I’m here to inform you of some possibly good news, though judging by your lack of a greeting, you might not think it to be so... good.” He was trying to keep himself from chuckling, for she still hadn’t turned around, making it clear that she was dead-set on being stubborn. “So, the good news that I’ve wished to share with you may not surprise you. I say this because Tefrith has an awfully large mouth, and likes to spew things before they ought to be spewed.”

~I take offence to that Mine, I was not at all going to tell her that I have searched her. I was leaving that up to you-oh, wait-well... We sort-of told her together, now didn’t we?~

The young rider rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger afterwards whilst hanging his head in mock shame.

“Perhaps you won’t want to have to deal with this in the future. They can be quite a pain.”

Through out this whole time, having heard every word of their conversation, Tieler proceeded to rummage through her clothes more and more slowly. It came to the point where she was placing clothes she’d already put into one pile, back into their former pile.

Finally she gave-up, turning around. It was plain to see that it would take more than the cold shoulder to get the Bluerider to leave her be.
“Okay, listen. And listen real well,” she began rudely (which was the only real way she knew how to begin anything.) “I am not interested in your little volcanic settlement that you call a Weyr, meaning I have no interest in standing on burning sands to ‘impress’ a creature that takes far too much time to take care of. And personally, I don't feel like having an overly nosy creature in my head.” She crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a withering stare.

And with that, he’d turned to leave. “Fair enough, no one forces upon another person what should be considered as a privilege. But,” and he stopped, “before I go. Let me ask you one quick question?”

“Which means I don’t have a say in the matter, go ahead.” Tieler could hear Tefrith’s rumble of amusement, which made his rider tense.

“Why not?”

Tieler sat down on the edge of her bed, right in one of her unorganized piles. She looked all around, and the Bluerider was betting that she had something witty to say. It seemed to be all she was really good for conversation-wise, if you could even call it that.

“Because I enjoy living in an enclosed space.”
And there it was. The golden egg.

“Wouldn’t some bigger bathing pools be nice? Perhaps a better view? Better food? I don’t know, what else tempts a teenage-girl?”

Tieler shrugged her shoulder nonchalantly. She’d never considered herself a normal teenager. Not once.
“I honestly wouldn’t be able to tell you.”

He gave a half-smile, and then made to leave. Once he was near the exit, Tieler was staring down at the ground, biting her lip uncontrollably.
“Wait!” she called out, cursing herself for being so weak. For letting him weaken her.
“How much bigger are the bathing pools, exactly?” A smirk tugged at the corner of her lips as she rose to her feet, and the Bluerider winked at her, giving a thumbs-up.

“Welcome aboard!” he hollered.
Out in the courtyard, after Tieler had gone and packed all of her belongings, which was very little once she’d left behind some of her rattier wear, Tieler was preparing to mount blue Tefrith.
Yendev watched, grasping tightly in his fist a pendant that he’d made a promise to his old friend to deliver.

“Tieler,” the Master harper called out. “Take this, will you?” Tieler looked confused for a moment before taking from her teacher’s hand the pendant, shaped in the form of a dragon with a rainbow-coloured hide. She studied it very carefully, the curiosity not having fled her gaze once it went back to him.
“It’s from him,” was all he needed to say to make her nod simply. She couldn’t keep the frown off of her face, no matter how hard she tried, so she gave-up and just didn’t bother.

“Thank-you,” she mouthed to him as she was aided up on to the dragon’s sturdy neck.

He waved her off, watching her study the pendant some more, as if it was something foreign to her. Perhaps it was. He knew her thank-you had not been just for the pendant...

Thus was the beginning of her journey to Trelis Weyr.


Craft: Harpercraft.
Ranking: Apprentice.
Strengths: Singing and writing. She has a strong voice and a creative mind for coming up with ballad's and the like.
Weaknesses: Making instruments and having the patience to learn how to play them. Well... having patience for anything really.

Pet N/A.


Name
Pronunciation
Age Again in turns
Type Are they a firelizard/huntyre/feline/etc...
Rank For firelizards/huntyres only *basically what color they*
Size How big they are, for Firelizards/Huntyres *look at the colors thread to find they sizes* If it's another kind of pet, then state for instance that it's a large/small/medium sized animal.
Color Codes

Personality/Appearance 1 Paragraph at Least

Dragon/Wher Preference: I definitely want something challenging and fun for her. xD Tieler is very apt to being a pain in the arse and causing trouble, a similar dragon might be fun, or even one that tries to set her straight and throw her into a world of responsibility! Surprise me.~

[Lark]