"KnowutImean?"
BASICS
NAME: Worrell
GENDER: Male
PRONOUNS: He/Him/His
ORIENTATION: Demiromantic asexual
BIRTHDATE: Summer 2738
AGE: 38 as of Summer 2776
LOCATION: Semaca Weyr
OCCUPATION: Wherhandler, Squad member
WING: Chopin Squad
APPEARANCE
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Light blue
HEIGHT AND BUILD: 6'5" and scrawny.
PLAY-BY: Jim Varney
EXPY SOURCE: Ernest P. Worrell (Ernest Scared Stupid, etc.)
FULL APPEARANCE: Worrell is a man of very few muscles. He's built like a match stick - limber enough to move quick but nowhere near strong enough to haul several bags of firestone. He'll definitely try, it's just going to end with him defeated by gravity. His skin is only slightly bronzed by sun exposure where it's granted. When his clothes are off - shield your eyes! Bright white like lye! Clearly he could stand to be naked in the sunshine more often. His eyes are a pale, icy blue that contrast sharply with his dark brown hair. Worrell wears some form of a hat to contain his monstrous curls even though they aren't really all that long or unruly. He prefers to don simple attire: tough long pants despite the heat, tunics with short sleeves, and a blue vest made of thick herdbeast hide.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY: There's eccentric, and then there's Worrell. He's a goofball through and through and has no qualms about interrupting whatever important conversation you were having to prattle on about something completely irrelevant like it's the best thing on Pern next to whers. He doesn't do this out of disrespect, though. He's just highly excitable ... and thoroughly annoying. One might compare his maturity level to that of a child, which is fitting considering those are the folks he gets on with the best! Worrell could very easily be a creche caretaker if his shenanigans wouldn't put the young ones in jeopardy all the time.
Worrell's self-esteem is a fire that's nigh-impossible to snuff out. He is keen to stick his neck out for others and is always willing to open his quarters to folks in need of a place to crash for a bit - no funny business, we assure you! He hasn't even the most miniscule desire for sexual interactions. When it comes to problems, Worrell likes to leap before he looks and he isn't quite the best at finding his own resolutions to issues. That's where his eccentric nature comes into play, as he likes to put himself into other's shoes - literally! When he asks, "What would Auntie Nelda do?", he queries himself while donning spectacles, a sun hat, outrageous jewelry and a dress reminiscent of what she would actually wear. Worrell doesn't seem to comprehend how unusual that is. He has a wardrobe full of 'costumes' for different 'characters' (who are actual family members from his hayday in High Reaches Hold), and is also not beyond wearing them as disguises to get himself out of sticky situations.
HISTORY
FAMILY:
Retch - great-great grandfather (†)
Davey - great-great uncle (†)
Lloyd - great uncle
Davey - great uncle
Ace - great uncle
Ma - mother
Pa - father
Astor - uncle
Nelda - aunt
Stephanie - aunt
Coy - younger brother
Bunny - older sister
Boogie - cousin
Ernest - stepson [12] -- Open Tie
SIGNIFICANT OTHER:
Sharkey - first wife (†)
Edna - second wife -- Open Tie
BIRTHPLACE: High Reaches Hold
HISTORY: Worrell was born into a huge family in High Reaches Hold. He was the middle child. The entirety of his lineage was a patchwork of ragtag individuals with similar personalities and charisma that burned so brightly it put Rukbat to shame. It didn't matter if he was brought into the world during a war. They managed to see the good in everything, although some of the family did make tracks to High Reaches Weyr to join the ranks of dragonriders. Not Worrell. He held no interest in fighting a-dragonback even when he reached the age of candidacy. That was all well and good anyway - no dragons ever thought him as anything special.
From a young age, Worrell helped as he could around the home. Be it tending to the jointed farmland shared between his family and a few other holderfolk, or running errands for his mother, father, and various aunts/uncles with whatever craft they were in, he grew to be a 'jack-of-all-trades'. Interested in everything, glued to nothing. He never liked politics and kept his head low with all the war nonsense.
He was 17 when the Interval War finally came to an end. The Red Star made its ugly face known just a few turns later, smiting his great-great uncle Davey out of the sky during Fall. There was a great period of mourning for the family whereupon their neighbors came to show their support and revel in joyous stories of their felled kin. That was when Worrell met the 'love of his life' - a young apprentice Healer by the name of Sharkey. The pair were absolutely smitten. They became wed in the spring of 2762.
Not two turns later, a plague struck Pern. His lovely wife was on the front lines in providing care to those stricken down with the disease. Inevitably, she also contracted the illness and perished within a fortnight. Worrell was stricken with a horrible grief. Though many would take the heartbreak as a sign that it was time to find a new location to live, to cast the old into the horizon and seek the new, Worrell loved his family and his home with a passion. He nursed the hurt by devoting himself to his relatives.
In 2763, one of his newer neighbors was raising a litter of hunting dogs. They were being trained to go after small game - grounded wherries, groundhogs and vulpines. There was one pup among them that just couldn't take a hint and was terrible at his job. Worrell overheard the family discussing what to do with the dog, and he offered to take it in under his care. Though the little Rimshot was no bloodthirsty hunter, he was a likeable companion that adored his new owner and continuously showered him with affection. Worrell's wounded heart began to mend.
In 2766, Worrell met another woman - Edna, who had a 2-turn old son from another man. Edna had broken from a rather abusive relationship with the child's father and left River Bend Hold with Ernest in search of a fresh start in High Reaches. Worrell took it upon himself to make them comfortable. He used his various disguises to make Ernest laugh. Within a turn, Worrell and Edna had gone from friends to lovers within the confines of a hard, fast hurricane. Perhaps Edna was rebounding off the first partner she felt comfortable with, but Worrell was a golden nugget amongst chunks of nickel. They became official in 2768. There were no biological children in their future, for Worrell had no interest in sex and Edna, considering her past, was clearly okay with the lack of physical intimacy. But Ernest became Worrell's heart and soul next to Edna. He raised him as if he were his own.
Interestingly, it was Ernest who spurred Worrell's sudden fixation with whers into being after the toddler became enthused about those whers partnered with some High Reaches holderfolk. A miner, retired due to physical ailments, became fast friends with the little boy primarily because he was so sweet on his bronze wher. In part to keep Ernest entertained and in part duo to his own wonder, Worrell began to really scry for details on whers and handling them. Meanwhile, Edna was filling his head with wondrous tales of her former Hold and the lands beyond. Worrell had always been a homebody. Traveling was not his forte. But now he was finding his eyes glossing over at the prospect of travel.
And why not? Semaca had been established close to a decade ago, and those lands were ripe for exploration. Plus it was a tropical paradise (if you subtract the cats ... and the floods ... ). He hatched a plan with Edna to travel there by boat. Ernest was ecstatic. Packing the bare essentials and enough marks to provide safe travel and then some, Worrell and his family hired a caravan to bring them to the northern territory's limits. Once to the shore they boarded a ship manned by 'probable' traders. Sea's the limit!
With their arrival completed, Worrell began the second phase of his plan. He presented himself to Semaca Weyr as a potential wher candidate. The man had an array of skills at his behest and an adaptable personality. It was apparent he would be useful. Edna and Ernest were also allowed in - there was no shortage of tasks requiring additional hands, and Ernest could potentially stand for Impression at a later date.
2772 arrived. And thereupon the Weyr was a clutch of wher eggs. It was almost as if Worrsk waited for her handler's arrival before being laid. Worrell became part of the Vignettes. He graduated into Chopin Squad.
Worrell had initially sent an invitation to his family during his open planning of moving to the Summerlands. It was a plea that was denied until 2773. Crop blight struck down their tandem farm, causing a fair amount of struggle within the hold. Worrell inspired them, in letters, with tales of abundant fruits and exotic foods. His family packed up and arrived in Lominsa Hold the following turn.
