ARE YOU READY, GUYS?
BASICS
RETIRE INFO: retire Hizashi, adopt Azurdath
NAME: Hizashi ('zashi, Loud One, Sunshine)
GENDER: genderqueer, AMAB with a hand wiggle and a very loud shrug
PRONOUNS: he/him/his
ORIENTATION: hoo boy, yeah
BIRTHDATE: Spring 2741
AGE: twenty-nine as of Fall 2770
LOCATION: Semaca Weyr
OCCUPATION: rider, extra pair of hands, knower-of-the-gossip, former Harper, specializes in communications
SQUAD: Chopin
APPEARANCE
EYES: bright green
HAIR: blond, brassy, garish
HEIGHT AND BUILD: six feet and two inches, slender
PLAY-BY: Yamada Hizashi (Boku no Hero Academia)
FULL APPEARANCE: As befits his flashy personality, Hizashi dresses flamboyantly. There is a lot of leather, yes, as most riders are wont to wear, but Hizashi takes it up a notch. When questioned, he will claim that if he doesn't have to match colors, he might just look pulled together enough to pass as a reasonable human being. Nothing matches leather better than leather, baby!
Of course, he has to sabotage himself. How could he not?
Hizashi has an undeniable love of gaudy things, and that includes the colors he paints his nails. He could be perfectly pulled together, Conclave ready, and sporting the most obnoxiously bright green nails Pern can offer. He doesn't paint his nails as much these days, what with cosmetics being a low priority luxury item in the wilds of Semaca, but he does have a small selection besides the kohl he uses against the glare of the southern sun.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY: Loud. Louder. Loudest? Somewhere in there is the perfect combination of descriptors for that which is Hizashi. He's good at being the center of attention, because when everyone is focused on the spectacle of himself, they are less likely to notice his shortcomings in interacting with the rest of the world. He's loud and exuberant, with an overwhelming desire to narrate the world.
It hardly comes as a surprise that Hizashi loves to talk, then. He'll fill silence with inane chatter, and even when he's actively trying to be quiet, he's usually humming. Or tapping a beat. He might not be a Harper anymore, but rhythm has a hold on his soul. He has a tendency to call people 'listeners', with youngsters getting the term 'little listeners'. He usually knows a good deal of gossip, even if it seems that he hasn't shut up long enough to learn it. He hides a great deal behind the veneer of his voice.
He's such a chatterbox that it may come as a surprise that he's a hard worker, and will keep going long after good sense should have told him to take a break. There's not enough hours in the day to do all the things he wants and needs to do. Why sleep when he can catch up on tomorrow's work? Hey! He's on a roll! Hizashi is turned up to eleven, all the time. If he isn't reined in, he'll go until he drops. That's a trait that his dragon certainly doesn't help. He's less likely to start a fight compared to the blue, but just as easily and woefully bored to tears.
HISTORY
FAMILY: Mother, Harper, Father, rider
six sisters of varying ages, mostly older
one brother, younger
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: aha, just you wait!
BIRTHPLACE: Fort Weyr
HISTORY:
Hizashi didn't start life as an over-exuberant loudmouth. He was a quiet kid, initially, who gravitated towards the Harpers whenever he wasn't busy with other chores. Formally apprenticed at ten, he was consistently told to 'speak up' and to 'project'. Little did the masters know what a monster they unleashed. Hizashi's gift turned out to be his voice, exercised and improved at all hours of the day or night. He had some skill with instruments, but he preferred instruments like the gitar that allowed him to accompany himself. By the time he was nineteen, he was ready to walk the tables.
When he was twenty, he was posted to a slowly rebuilding High Reaches, where he was asked if he wanted to Stand. He had turned down the opportunity before, preferring to focus on his studies, but the spirit of good will gripped him on this occasion. He agreed, provided that he could continue his Harpering in his spare time. (Spare time, what spare time? His master lamented the loss of a potential successor when he was told of Hizashi's decision. Hall gossip said that the disappointment led him to transfer over to Benden for a 'change of scenery'.)
The first clutch Hizashi stood for was also his last. He Impressed blue Azurdath from Lutrath's Judge End clutch, near the end of the hatching. It wasn't the most noble of Impressions for either blue or rider. Hizashi tripped on his own heel and made a valiant effort to remain upright. Gravity won in the end, though, and Hizashi met Azurdath from the sands instead of on his own two feet. How embarrassing.
It was a good match, though, boundless enthusiasm tempered only by ambitious duty. The blue pair got the nickname 'Loudmouths', which Azurdath wasn't sure about being a term of endearment. Hizashi loved it, though. No, they hadn't slept in two days. Keep the party rolling! It didn't help that Azurdath's best friend in the entire world was also one of his clutchmates, blue Genjirouth. Between the two of them, there was certainly never a dull moment.
After graduating, Hizashi had the opportunity to take up his studies again, if in a limited fashion. It was slower going, what with his wing duties and Thread. Impression had put an end to his ambitions of being a Master Harper, but there was no rule that said he had to completely give up his craft. There had to be something he could do, as a rider and a Harper, that would suit him. The idea of doing nothing but rider duties - while noble, and important, and all that jazz - didn't bring him much joy. What was his purpose in life?
To discover that end, he transferred over to Benden Weyr, where his former master taught. He buckled himself in for a long road, filled with sleepless nights and self discovery. Work had never scared him before, though Thread did. Their transfer coincided with Genjirouth's own transfer, as their lives took different paths.
It was with the weyrlings that Hizashi and Azurdath found a place. He hadn't thought it was a good idea to put Azurdath in charge of a bunch of impressionable weyrlings, but harpers were the teachers of Pern, the sharers of the news. Hizashi, though, found purpose in guiding the next generation of riders forward. These riders would not have to repeat the sins of the past. They could go on to a brighter tomorrow! He was happy to serve as an assistant, stepping in to teach the classes by himself only when the Weyrling Master was sick.
Hizashi's life long quest for purpose came to a screeching halt when it was revealed that Benden's leadership had managed to keep a queen captive. The entirety of his time there, Wyzeth had been hidden and Alayna drugged into complacency. How could he continue to call himself a Harper - who taught, spread news, and pried open secrets - when he hadn't even known of such a tragedy? The fact that most of Benden - all of it, in fact, aside from a select few of the elite - had been kept in the dark didn't placate him.
People respond to trauma in strange ways sometimes, and Hizashi was consumed with guilt. He had taught the hatchlings of a hidden gold, which horrified him. He felt like he had been complicit in such a horror, even though he hadn't known. He turned his back on his Harper titles and resigned his position of Assistant Weyrling Master, retreating into the unremarkable life of a mundane blue rider. (It should be noted that he was never particularly good at disappearing into a role. Hizashi was loud and gaudy, and even trying to tone himself down he rocked the boat. Azurdath, too, never did well with trying to tone himself down. That was boring, and wouldn't it be nicer to party? No? How about a nice fight?)
When Benden's leadership was later, um, persuaded to step down, Hizashi took the opportunity to transfer down to Semaca. Surely the land of second chances had a place for an exuberant loudmouth and his equally exuberant dragon.
Well, it certainly did. Hizashi arrived to Pern's southernmost weyr to find it in need of a weyrlingmaster. Their weyrlingmaster had passed away unexpectedly, and her assistant had been holding lessons without stepping into the empty role. Shortly after Hizashi transferred, their assistant transferred away, and a grounded white rider stepped up to train the next generation. And by then, enough time had passed that Hizashi found he missed his weyrling charges more than he felt betrayed bu Benden's secrets.
