Blue Rider D'rough

Name: D'rough
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Rank/Craft: Blue Rider
Residence: Ithaca Weyr

Description: At 5’6”, D’rough (pronounced Duh-ROO) is a bit on the short side for a dragonrider, but his slender body has almost 0% body fat; he is basically solid muscle. Dark brown curly hair frames an appealing tan face out of which stare a pair of brown bedroom eyes.

Personality: Tenderhearted, kind, and gentle are apt descriptors for D’rough. Unfortunately, so are passive, naïve, and maudlin.  He is easily taken advantage of because of this, and has a tendency to trust the wrong people. Tears come easily to him. The good news is that recent events in his life have hardened him somewhat, and he has begun to develop both common sense and a spine.

Background: Damekrough was born and raised at Keroon Hold. His family carried out a thriving trade in runnerbeasts and fully expected that their docile and obedient son would follow in their footsteps. No doubt he would have had he not been found on Search by an Istan green rider when he was seventeen. This was the chance that the young boy had always hoped for, but only partially because he dreamed of becoming a dragonman.  Mostly it was because he knew at his home hold he would never be able to openly show how he felt about other men. Not wanting to disappoint his family (and not having the courage to stand up to them), he would have followed their wishes, chosen an appropriate spouse, and settled down to live a comfortable, if thoroughly unsatisfying life.

It took two tries on the sands before Damekrough became D’rough, but the delay didn’t really bother the young man. Life at the Weyr was far too exciting. His amiable nature won him a number of friends and acquaintances. He also possessed a good singing voice, which made him a particular favorite of the Weyr’s harper. After Impression, he remained at Ista for 6 Turns before transferring to the south. There he fell in with four other riders, two green, one blue, and one brown. They became friends and spent all their time with one another; they even sang together in the evenings in the dining hall and at after-Threadfall parties.

At this point, D’rough began to find himself growing more and more attracted to both of the green riders in his clique. The one, D’son, had a dark and dangerous demeanor that D’rough found both a little frightening and exciting. The other, C’ter, was a blond pretty boy who, sensing the competition, decided to make a play for D’rough first.  Falling for C’ter’s sweet talk, D’rough paired up with him while the other blue rider of the group, a closet alcoholic named M’klen, paired up with D’son. The respective relationships lasted for the next two Turns, but as time passed both became increasingly rocky.  C’ter, unbeknownst to D’rough, was always far more interested in the chase than the actual catch.  He began to cheat on D’rough on the sly. Naïve, as well as wilfully blind to the situation, the blue rider ignored the tell-tale signs. Meanwhile, M’klen’s alocholism became more and more pronounced, to such an extent that D’son could barely stand to be with him, and began to seek solace in the arms of other men himself.

Everything came to a head in early month 6 of Turn 36. D’son’s Veekith was flown by M’terek’s blue Kohdeth for the second time in a row instead of M’klen’s Ajith.  Hurt and emotionally overwrought from the lost mating flight, M’klen sought out a friendly shoulder. He found C’ter, who tried to “console” him by both badmouthing D’son and plying the blue rider with drink in the hopes of getting him into bed. The next day, a still-drunk M’klen died in Threadfall. C’ter immediately and vocally blamed D’son for the blue rider’s death. B’rok, the group’s sole brown rider, had always been very close to C’ter and, despite the fact that D’son was his blood-cousin, he followed C’ter’s example. This put D’rough right in the middle. Weyrmated with C’ter and not being possessed of anything remotely resembling a backbone at the best of times, D’rough sided with his lover. The three of them shunned D’son and did their best to continue their association with one another, but the group dynamic was broken, and a pall of guilt hung over their heads:  it was, after all, not only D’son who had stood by and done nothing while M’klen’s alcoholism got out of hand. Everything fell apart when D’son, upon encountering the three riders in a corridor one day some months later, hurled their hypocrisy in no uncertain terms back into their faces. He also revealed the fact that C’ter had plied M’klen with drink the night before he had been killed in Fall.

This was too much. B’rok began to separate himself from his two remaining friends, and D’rough, confronted with his own cowardice and disregard of a good friend, began to re-examine his life. All too late he came to the realization that D’son had been the only one of the four who had really been a true friend to him, and all too late he came to the realization of just how unfaithful C’ter was being to him. When he walked in on his lover and a lower cavern’s boy, he ended the relationship and put in for a transfer to Ithaca Weyr.

Now in the cold north, D’rough is working hard to face his past, and turn himself into a person who he can actually face in the mirror. Haunted by his failure to help M’klen or support D’son, and angry at himself for not seeing C’ter for what he really was, it is a rare day that D’rough is not racked with guilt and self-recrimination. His task has not been made easier by the fact that D’son and his new lover R’kar are here at Ithaca as well. Not wishing to intrude in any way on his former friend’s newfound happiness, as well as dreading a run-in with the volatile green rider, D’rough spends most of his time outside of Wingmeetings, drill, sweep, and Fall in his weyr.

Dragon's Name: Howeth
Color: Blue
Age: 9
Age of Rider at Impression: 18

Physical Description: Howeth’s color is basic blue. The webbing of his wings is a little lighter than the rest of him.

Personality: Howeth is a very sweet-tempered and affectionate dragon.  Although he is currently very concerned about his rider and doing his best to comfort him through a difficult period, he is generally a happy and playful beast.