Post by Foxfrost on Jan 17, 2010 21:55:17 GMT -5
Name: Iechi (I-e-chi)
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Rank: Candidate
Appearance: Iechi cuts a very attractive figure, in his effeminately beautiful sort of way. Eerie ice blue gems, the outer iris sapphire blue, the center nearly a white blue or silver, are his eyes. Silken hair so pale blond that it seems near white in brighter lighting frames a face with a porcelain complexion, a hue of skin only possible for someone who has spent his entire existence in the far North of Pern. Full lips and pale eyebrows of medium thickness arch at a slant over these eyes, which have startling black lashes, out of place against every other aspect that makes up his features. A smooth, angular jawline only adds to his femininity, only beautiful can properly describe someone who manages to be attractive in such an eerie way.
His body is very lean, lending aid to this effeminate appearance, toned but gently so, giving him a soft appearance. Standing at 6'1" he has a long torso, a certainly slender look about him. Any body hair save his eyebrows is so pale that it is barely seen, his chest and back remain free of any hair at all. Even a straight man will have to begrudgingly admit, even if only to himself, that Iechi would have made a beautiful woman, and can not be called anything but a lovely male. Man, somehow, seems too masculine a word. His hands, though not necessarily small, have a delicate and rather tapered appearance, as though they were meant to stroke hair or pluck flowers rather than do any real work. The whole of him, in actuality, appears very streamlined. Those men who prefer others of their gender often find him irresistible.
He does not aid himself in drawing away from this picture others see him as at a first glance. He likes to wear two rings on the right hand, one on the left, and a silver necklace with a red gemstone in it, hanging from what appears to be a canine collar. This was a gift from the Masterweaver whom he apprenticed under the day he walked the tables. Strange is his sense of style, and often he receives looks as though there is something not quite right with him. However, when he speaks, it seems all that is forgotten. His voice is higher in pitch, but lovely to hear. It is playful and musical all at once, and he could reel in just about any catch with it. He sports the regular scars of childhood, but they are so pale against his skin that they look like white marks drawn or painted on. This is fortunate, for he sports one on his back, from the left shoulder blade to mid back. He had stood once, and it showed. It is a pale reminder from two turns ago that young dragons can be dangerous when you are in their way.
Personality: Some claim that they can judge a person's character simply by seeing that person, or by outward appearance. Those who try this with Iechi will, undoubtedly, fail. For there is nothing about his outward appearance that could possibly allow for his personality. He is, for one thing, very intelligent. He seems to possess a partially photographic memory, able to recall things he has only heard or seen once, no matter that some of these things seem to be irrelevant or unimportant to him. He is very tactical and yet prefers to use this only to his advantage. Yes, he is a wary sort of person, distrustful of others and perhaps rightly so. Still, those who think him weak or feminine have much to learn.
He has a keen love of dress, believing one's style to be a form of self expression and art. It was this that led him to become an apprentice weaver. His flair for it had him reach the Journeyman status by sixteen turns, and some commented that he ought to have been a Master for all his skill at it. His attention to detail, another part of his perceptiveness along with his memory, is so very keen. He is capable of seeing things before they are made, and is a fine artist, able to paint and draw with a frightening accuracy. For all of this, his mathematical skills are base. His musical skills, save his voice, which is eerie due to the octaves that he is capable of reaching, are non-existent. His strengths lie within the arts, not the sciences. He has no patience for biology nor astrology, though it is true he enjoys star gazing. He is not a writer, either. His forms of art are simply those which require hands such as his, skilled in crafting things or drawing. He may be capable of tactics, perchance because he can 'see' things before they are down on paper, or made. Hence he can plan ahead, and would be superb at something like chess.
A fair assumption on Iechi's personality would be that he is akin to a fox. Cunning, sly, and with a silver tongue. He is not unwilling to tell a white lie or two to get what he wants. He will say what someone wants to hear, flattery and flirtations are simply all part of the game he plays. An actor he would make well, for he has the ability to show no emotion, an exterior as icy as the Northern land from which he came, or give the pretense of being something he is not. What he is, however, even he is not entirely sure of. For in acting like something we are not, we tend to lose who we are, or might be. To himself, he is clever, and witty. He is not vain, but he believes he is very lovely to look at. It is, in fact, somewhat of a paradox.
He enjoys anything involving art, and yet he is somewhat lax and lazy. Never having to do any hard work, he has only the basic amount of exercise. He does not tend to eat much, rather, he snacks whenever he wants. This has him eating all through the day, but never settling down for a whole meal. It is to this, and a young body, that he owes his trim and slender figure. This, and genetics. He rarely goes out into the sun, and even when he does go outdoors, the North is not a place where sunburns are earned, where the light turns a pale complexion into a tanned one. He is less out of doors than most, for he dislikes the cold, even though he seems to often match the ice and snow outside in attitude.
It is safe to say that in his distrust of others, he has become very selfish. He looks out for himself first and foremost, and then his friends, which are less friends than acquaintances. He spends most of his time alone, and no one could tell anyone what he is like, save that he is strange, and lovely. He is graceful as a feline, and everyone agrees the youth is eerie. Some avoid him, for his gaze is as cold as the color of his eyes. Others are charmed by his seeming charisma and charm--all a facade, perhaps, but undoubtedly there. He has a way with words, and considers knowledge a weapon.
He is somewhat of a coward, for he doesn't let anyone in, and he has nothing to live for but himself. So it is that he has become unreasonably afraid of dying. What he is not aware of is that he is more afraid of dying alone, without purpose. Of dying with no one who will care that he is gone. He has never known love, and therefore does not know how to love. He can not even love himself, for all that he seems to care for himself more than anything else. He will do whatever necessary to get what he wants for himself, and if he does not he is prone to brooding, like a child sulking because they have been chastised. He has much growing up to do, but the Northern Hold is not the place to do it. He needs a large change in life.
So far as relationships, he is very straight. Not beyond flirting with a man to get what he wants, but secretly he is repulsed by the idea of same sex relationships. It is safe to say he is somewhat homophobic, but that he will use anything to his advantage, even the apparent appeal he has to men. With women, he plays the 'silent and mysterious card'. He will flirt mildly, but is a tease. The truth is he has no real interest in them beyond a tousle in the furs, and he has found no one he cares to embark on that step with. The girls seem stupid to him, with the way they giggle and stare. In his Hold, they are all like this. There are downsides to being from such a small, remote place.
It is safe to say that Iechi needs to leave the situation he is in. He needs to see that there is life beyond the cold walls of his Hold, and to go elsewhere to find a purpose and discover who he is and what he wants. Only when the acting stops can reality begin. It is unlikely he will ever completely cease to play the part of the frosty fox, however.
History: There are realities in the world that are even colder than the far Northern Hold where Iechi was born. There is still evil in some men, men who would carry out this evil with no regard as to the after effects it may beget the person whom they have done a great wrong. Such a man is the father of Iechi. A man his son had never met, and would never meet. Nor should he want to.
A bandit broke into the house of a young woman, a young woman by the name of Haille. She was not supposed to have been present, and yet she was. She was, and he took something from her, as well, on that cold night. Then, he left with what few valuables she had, and some food, leaving her trembling on the floor, too afraid to do more than hug her knees to her chest and shed tears of bitterness and remorse. She did not know that while he had taken something from her, he had also left something to her. Something she did not want.
When Haille discovered she was pregnant, it was a total and complete shock to her. She had, in the past six months since, tried her utmost to move past it. The bandit did not return, and she had spoken to the Lord Holder, who kept guards with their whers on the alert. They did what they could, but she had not spoken soon enough. He had escaped. It is a rarity for a woman to not know she is pregnant, but it does occur. So it was with Haille. She did not show, save a little extra weight that she attributed to eating more, which she attributed to depression regarding what had happened to her. Then, she felt something strange within her when she was nearing seven months, and went to see a Healer, thinking she was ill or with parasite of some kind.
When told she was pregnant, the young woman who was an attendant in the Lord Holder's home, as a drudge, began to immediately sob, and demand they 'take it out of her'. There was no joy in this pregnancy, for how could there be? Who would want the child of a man who had taken them by force? Haille did not, and yet she was too far along to abort the child safely. She was forced to carry it term, and thus Iechi was born. Iechi, for a thorn in the side, that itches until gone. Iechi, whom she felt tied down by, forced to raise, and saw nothing of herself in, only his father. He had the man's eyes, and she could hardly bear to look at him.
Much of Iechi's childhood was spent with a woman not his mother. He knew from a young age that something was wrong with him. His mother did not treat him like the other children's mothers did. When she looked at him, he did not sense that feeling of love. He hardly understood what it was, but part of him sensed something was missing. She never hugged him, or tucked him in at night. She was often irate with him for nothing and though he tried very hard to be a good child to her, she always ignored him. She never praised him, rarely spoke to him. When she did it was to scold him or it was cold in feeling. Iechi was never told why, but by the time he was eight Turns of age, he knew that his mother did not love him.
No one would tell him who his father was. Where he was. All he knew was that that man was gone, and he blamed that man for how his mother was towards him. Hated that man, with all his being. He grew cold, had problems making friends, and grew to be a reclusive child, always an outsider. That was before he learned he could pretend. Pretend to be someone he was not, and they would pay attention. They would listen if he spoke flowery words, if he pretended he was as good as them, had confidence like they did. Yes, he was cunning and could act, and who cared about them besides? He had only himself to care about, and he was who counted most!
At twelve Turns he apprenticed under a Masterweaver, and found something he could love other than himself, whom he only thought he loved, but did not. He had always had a fine eye for detail, and had always been somewhat of a perfectionist. With nothing else in his life, he excelled at this craft. So much so, they debated having him walk the tables a turn early. Still, it was voted against, and he walked the tables when he turned sixteen. The only gift he had ever been given was got on that day. A silver necklace, with a red gemstone. It was from the man whom he'd at least come to respect--the Masterweaver. However, he was sixteen still, when a dragon stopped to drop off some supplies, and he was Searched.
He did not have to think about what he would do. Damned be the place where he had suffered in loneliness for sixteen long Turns. He wanted to Impress, and convinced in his heart it was for the power and prestige being a rider came with, refused to acknowledge his desire to be alone no longer. He did not think for a minute about the responsibility that came with it. In truth, he was not aware of it. Still, it would not have stopped him. He was looking out for himself, and that seemed an easy way to obtain something for himself that could not otherwise be got. He did not want to stay in the North, however. He wanted to go South. So South they would send him, all the way to the Weyr called Dark Moon.
