"I protected you."
BASICS
NAME: Baze
GENDER: male
PRONOUNS: he/him/his
ORIENTATION: Demisexual, stupid old married
BIRTHDATE: Spring 2702
AGE: seventy-four as of Spring 2776
LOCATION: Semaca Weyr
OCCUPATION: dragonless, father, grandfather, silent protector, wherhandler
SQUAD: Chopin
APPEARANCE
EYES: black
HAIR: black, left long and braided
HEIGHT AND BUILD: six feet four inches, built like a brick house
PLAY-BY: Jiang Wen
FULL APPEARANCE:
In short, Baze is Beefy.
He's tall, with broad shoulders and a build to go with them. He is shaped like a barrel, everything designed for power and strength rather than dexterity. His shoulders are wide, atop a thick middle. It's not fat, though.
Baze is a tank with Ears. His weyrmate claims that he grew his hair long to hide his prominent ears, but if that's true, then that's an awful lot of commitment. His hair, unbraided, reaches halfway down his back. Normally, it's braided in several spots. What isn't braided has an unusual natural curl to it.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY: With a weyrmate like Chirrut and a daughter like Z'zae, Baze errs on the side of caution. He prefers his role as back up, the muscle behind the threat. Not as vocal as his loquacious weyrmate, or as lithe as his daughter, Baze is quiet. He does not like to brag, unless it's on his family.
Somewhere along the way, Baze became Cynical. It happened before he lost his dragon, possibly even before he became a father. Baze believes only in what he can verify. Faith and trust are nebulous concepts; he trusts his hands, his body, his weyrmate. He has faith in nothing, trusts few.
HISTORY
FAMILY: Chirrut, Z'zae, grandchildren. Possibly a few other Flight kids?
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Chirrut (affectionately also known as 'fool')
BIRTHPLACE: Fort Weyr
HISTORY:
[size=150]Trigger Warnings: Bullying, death, pregnancy issues[/size=150]
When Baze met Chirrut as a child, it was expected that Baze would be a good influence on Chirrut. After all, Baze was solid, dependable, and not very active. He was a studious boy, not an acrobat. But Chirrut grabbed hold of Baze and whisked him off on adventures. They were an unlikely pair, but were quick to claim each other as 'best friend'.
Alas, all such things must pass. Baze was set to dragon candidacy at fifteen, and Chirrut was pressed into wher candidacy at seventeen. They kept in touch with infrequent letters - hardly enough contact.
When Baze Impressed brown Malbuth, he was more or less a stripling. A quiet, studious boy with - it was said by the less kind candidates - less brain than muscle, Baze was not favored to Impress at all. Only the dragon who Searched him thought him worthy to Stand at all. The blue was proven right when the Seething Sands egg hatched a brown who made a beeline for Baze. After experimenting with a few name changes - B, B'ze, Ba, etc - Baze decided to keep his name intact. And so began the saga of Baze and Malbuth.
He reconnected with Chirrut, now of brown Chirrusk, once he and Malbuth graduated weyrlinghood. They became weyrmates quickly, despite their opposing schedules, and Baze couldn't be more content.
Until Malbuth Flew a green, and her rider became pregnant. She had no interest in being a mother, and didn't tell Baze. He heard about it, months later, as bit of tired gossip. The incident was small - she had every right to do as she did, but it set Baze to thinking. He presented the idea of children to his weyrmate.
Chirrut was friends with a bronze handler, Zeara of bronze Zearask, and when he mentioned something about wanting children, she offered to become a surrogate. As it turns out, Zeara has a Type, and Baze fit it to a T.
While the pregnancy progressed just fine, tragedy struck elsewhere. Someone poisoned a number of herdbeasts with something that didn't actually affect the animals, but which had a rather nasty effect on whatever ate the meat. Chirrusk and a number of other whers fell victim to this. Chirrut lost his parents, his vision, and his wher. He threw his efforts into getting ready for the baby. Baze turned down a promotion to wingsecond.
Fatherhood agreed with Baze, much as it did Chirrut. He was transferred to another weyr before Zerabazae was one, but he made sure to stay in contact with Zeara.
Their daughter was everything they had ever wanted, and more. Baze always thought that Zera would one day rise to Rank in the weyr, if she ever decided what she wanted to do.
Malbuth Chased often, and Baze usually spent the time with Chirrut. He was content to be a wingsecond, having accepted the promotion when his daughter was ten. He spent a great deal of time chasing over Zera, smoothing things over with the candidate master, and consoling her when she was banned from the Sands. Her rebellious streak delighted both Baze and Chirrut.
And then Malbuth took off after the junior queen of the weyr, and won.
Baze became Junior Weyrleader, and he convinced his daughter to Stand, one more time. This time, she Impressed, and Baze couldn't have been more proud.
Z'zae gave birth to a healthy son in 2757, and Baze found that being a grandfather was every bit as stressful as being a parent. But his daughter didn't have to go it alone after her weyrmate was chased out of the weyr, and Chirrut latched onto their grandson. Things were good, for a time. He became a grandfather twice over when Z'zae fostered another child, and Braefen was just as beloved as Zortane.
Baze and Malbuth had been scored before, but the third Fall of 2760 was unlike any other they had flown. Now wingleaders, they had to coordinate the rest of their wing. Malbuth popped between to rid himself of a stray piece of Thread. When he emerged, he came back in the wrong place. Baze fell, caught by Z'zae and Ryloth. Malbuth fled back to the cold sanctity of between.
After that? Nothing went right for several Turns. Baze was dragonless. Z'zae nearly died trying to deliver her second child. But Z'zae recovered, and she devised the plan that would ultimately lead to her fathers' second chance.
Z'zae led her fathers to Semaca. Baze went out of a quiet hopelessness, convinced by his weyrmate to give it a try. What did Baze have left in the world, besides his family? Chirrut found hope. Baze became Stressed.
Less than a Turn after the founding of Semaca, mere months after the transfer to follow his daughter, Baze's life turned upside down again. He had been out with his oldest grandchild, and the girl that might as well be his second oldest grandchild, Z'zae's foster daughter. But Semaca was a dangerous place, so even for something as simple as a nature walk required a guard.
They set off with Owain and his garnet Owask, on the very simple quest of finding three different shapes of leaves, and three interesting stones to bring back to the weyr. It was great fun, even for quiet Baze, until the spotted feline decided that it didn't like the look of them. The little group had strayed further than intended, and Owask didn't see the feline downwind of her until it had landed on Owain. Owask bit Baze's upper arm to restrain him before she leapt to grapple with the feline, getting his blood on her teeth.
In the aftermath, with Owain dead and the children delivered back to their mother, Baze and Owask regarded each other. Baze know grief. Baze help Owask - Owazesk - Baze help Owazesk grieve Owain. No one replace Owain. But Owazesk help Baze, too.
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