Niavi
"So you can say ‘have a nice day’ and that’s considered polite. But you can’t say ‘enjoy the next 24 hours’ without sounding extremely threatening."
BASICS
NAME: Niavi
GENDER: Feminine-aligned nonbinary
PRONOUNS: they/them/theirs
ORIENTATION: Bisexual biromantic
BIRTHDATE: Early winter 2738
AGE: 34 as of winter 2772
LOCATION: Fort Weyr
OCCUPATION: Wingrider
WING: Daylight
APPEARANCE
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Dark brown, almost black, kept short
HEIGHT AND BUILD: 5'10", slender
PLAY-BY: Image created on Artbreeder
FULL APPEARANCE: Niavi has nothing commonly considered out of the ordinary about their appearance. They stand at 5'10" and are on the slender side but aren't underweight. They keep their wavy-curly dark brown hair cropped to chin-length to minimize the hassle and because they don't like the way they look with longer hair. They have unremarkable features, but they almost always look at least a little disgruntled. They prefer plain, relatively loose-fitting clothes in lighter fabrics when not in their riding leathers, hating the texture of thick garments.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY: Niavi was raised with the idea that a Weyr was led by a woman who rode gold and a man who rode bronze, and sees no reason to question this. That's just how things are, and making greenriders lead is just weird. They don't have strong enough opinions on the matter to join some outspoken traditionalist faction, though. If people want this whole democracy thing, fine, they can see how badly it goes.
They have very little genuine respect for authority despite their general preference not to have chromatic riders in leadership, liking to blame things on people who are actually "qualified" to take the blame. If Niavi messes up a formation during drills? Clearly it was the wingleader's fault for not communicating clearly enough. If Niavi doesn't watch where they're going and fall, spilling hot stew on someone else? Entirely the other person's fault for getting in Niavi's way.
Niavi doesn't blindly take individual metallic riders at their word despite their faith in the institution. Niavi will stand up for their fellow chromatic riders if they believe that they and their fellows are truly being mistreated, calling for another metallic rider to take over. It's a good thing that they trust Tuckal, given Fort's recurring troubles with golds.
Niavi doesn't spend all their time complaining. They genuinely enjoy spending time with their dragon and listening to music, finding it relaxing and absorbing even if they don't have the penchant for making music themself. They have few friends, but are loyal to the ones they do manage to make and keep.
HISTORY
FAMILY: Telgar weyrfolk (Viannis - mother, Quernian - father)
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: N/A
BIRTHPLACE: Telgar Weyr
HISTORY: Niavi was born as what would end up being the only child to a pair of weyrfolk in Telgar and had an unremarkable childhood. Their parents were on the traditionalist side, and Niavi saw no reason to go against them. Tradition seemed to serve Telgar well enough, Weyrleaders presiding over the dragonfolk and the headwoman presiding over the weyrfolk, and the family was quite content with that.
Niavi was far from the only nonbinary weyrbrat, and their pronouns - expressed as soon as they comprehended the concept of personal pronouns - were taken in stride for the most part. There were a few naysayers, but between the majority of the Weyr being accepting and their parents protecting them, they experienced little discrimination.
Niavi was not an especially popular or social child, but they were content with the friends they did have. The group wanted to Impress dragons, and while some of the girls talked excitedly of gold, or the boys of bronze, Niavi was content with their more realistic options as they saw them - brown, blue, green, or white. They had no aspirations to leadership, and the Weyr needed every dragon.
As Niavi's peers reached fifteen, they began to sign up for candidacy, and Niavi followed suit. A couple of Turns went by, with some of them Impressing and some not, as expected. Niavi themself Impressed to a green when they were eighteen, and couldn't have been happier.
Niavi found weyrling training fulfilling, appreciating how the agility of their fellows' greens and blues complemented the steadiness of the bronzes and browns to flame Thread from the skies. They were impressed by their first wingleader, a seasoned veteran bronzerider, and his second, an equally capable (more capable in the eyes of some other than Niavi) brownrider.
The one thing that did rankle them about their time at Telgar was Vanity's near-assured position as Weyrleader. Vanity was fine, Kaworth was fine, but were they really leaders? Phalanth was guaranteed to never clutch a gold again. On its own, this situation wasn't enough for Niavi to up and transfer, but combined with some of their old weyrling class as well as some friends leaving for Fort? Niavi put in for a transfer. By all accounts, Serapheth had the good sense to choose browns and bronzes.