If soulmates do exist, they're not found, they're made. You have to put in the work to fit the pieces together. That doesn't happen by accident.
BASICS
NAME: M'love
GENDER: female
PRONOUNS: she/her/hers
ORIENTATION: Bisexual
BIRTHDATE: Fall 2744
AGE: thirty as of Fall 2774
LOCATION: High Reaches Weyr
OCCUPATION: former Junior Flightleader, rider, wrangler of the dramatic, devoted weyrmate, soon-to-be doting mother
WING: Raindance
APPEARANCE
EYES: pale blue
HAIR: strawberry blonde, cut very short
HEIGHT AND BUILD: six feet and one inch when she stands up straight
PLAY-BY: Deborah Ann Woll
FULL APPEARANCE:
M'love looks like a rider that's been to the Red Star and back. She has massive scarring on the left side of her head that distracts from the fact that her face and neck are long. Her strawberry blonde hair is still cut very short on the sides, though she's allowed the stuff on the top of her head to grow out further. It does little to distract from the fact that her scars extend to her left ear, which she cannot hear out of at all. Her hair used to change color with the seasons, but now that she wears head coverings whenever she's in the sun, it stays her a brighter, wintery red.
Her frame is slight, and she's never had much weight to lose. In fact, gaining weight back after her long convalescence has taken her several Turns. She has finally started to put muscle on, and now that High Reaches is on the other side of the famine, she's building to a healthier weight.
And to be honest, even at the start M'love was one of those faces that only a mother could love.
Okay, that's not actually true. M'love has her own charms. But it is true that she's tall and gawky, and a little awkward looking. Her face and neck are long, and she's more skinny than slender. While weyrling training has gifted her muscles, they aren't anything terribly impressive in conjunction with her height. In any case, her complexion burns before it darkens, and she is highly protective of her skin. If only because it hurts like the dickens to burn.
Her hair changes color with the season. In summer, it bleaches out to a reddish blonde. She wears it in a single, tight braid, but that doesn't protect it from the effects of the sun. In winter, it darkens to something definitely more reddish than blond. She used to wear it down to her waist, but since Impressing Skyloth and learning the misery that is long hair and helmets, she keeps it shorter these days.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY:
The awkward and lonely child is a thing of the past. M'love will always prefer to return to her weyr with only her weyrmate and their dragons at the end of the day, but during the day she's out and about seeking social connections. She'll never be a social butterfly, it's not in her nature. She sure fakes it convincingly, though. Far from her weyrlinghood spent apologizing for her dragon's dramatics, she finds ways to showcase him. He, in turn, has settled down now that he has his 'leading lady' in Masreith, which has made life a whole lot more bearable for both of them. He no longer has to act out to get decent attention, which means that she no longer lays claim to the title 'wrangler of the dramatic'. (She still uses it, though, because she shares her life with some vibrant personalities.) Her weyrmate, her partner in all things, is definitely her favorite person.
[s]M'love was an awkward, lonely child before Impressing Skyloth, and that still shows in many of her habits. She does not seek social interaction unless pushed or forced. She has high aspirations, though, and she wants the stars. Her cunning is a little lacking, though, given her relative social isolation, but as she grows with Skyloth, she learns.
With Skyloth, she has gotten better about being more outspoken. Paired with such a dramatic dragon, she's learned how to step into the spotlight from time to time. No need to hide from the wrath of gold riders, no longer. And while she spends a lot of time wrangling around Skyloth's dramatics - either indulging them, getting people to turn a blind eye to them, or circumventing them - she doesn't mind. Someone has to take center stage.
HISTORY
FAMILY: A tanner and a vintner at Benden Weyr, a few siblings at various crafthalls
Psuedo-adopted Little Brother-in-Law - Dobby of Brown Kersuth, Early Fall 2750, High Reaches Weyr, Stormlight Wing
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: [http://thepeacekeepersage.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=93]D'ark of Garnet Masreith[/url], Late Winter 2744, former Senior Flightleader as of 2770
BIRTHPLACE: Benden Weyr
HISTORY:
M'love was not named M'love, nor anything that could possibly shorten into such an endearment. M'love was born Tanlek, and she was the daughter of a tanner and a vintner. Tanlek was all thumbs, though, and she grew so quickly that her spatial relationships with the world were in constant flux. She didn't have any particular aptitude for a craft, but she could do chores and run errands around the weyr. That's right, Tanlek was a drudge.
And that would have been her whole life, until the Senior Weyrwoman of High Reaches got herself and most of the bronzes in the weyr wiped out. A footnote in history. Benden's weyrwoman donated a clutch to the rebuilding High Reaches, and Tanlek volunteered to go help. After all, they needed plenty of hands, and while Tanlek wasn't the steadiest, she was reliable. And, best of all, that put her in a position to take her birthright as a candidate, which she hadn't felt confident enough to take at Benden. At High Reaches, who would know the difference?
Skyloth certainly didn't.
Tanlek? Ta'lek? T'lek? Tan'k? We'll work on it. Where are my people? Why is no one cheering for me? M'love, don't they know who I am?
Skyloth never found an elision that satisfied him, and started calling his rider exclusively by a flashy endearment - M'love. Tanlek found that she liked this constant reminder of affection, and eventually went through the formal process to change her name.
And they learned to work together. Skyloth proved to have a serious side, but they discovered that M'love's general steadiness could be egged to ambition. M'love learned that dragon riders weren't all so bad, although some of her fellow weyrlings tested that theory sorely. She became close to a few of them.
The High Reaches Murders worry her more than the Fort Poisonings. M'love was never meant to rise above her station. How long until the murders turn from badly behaved riders to unworthy riders?
It's better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you aren't.
