"Some of my cousins, they call me the Lopen because they haven't ever heard anyone else named that. I've asked around a lot, maybe one hundred...or two hundred...lots of people, sure. And nobody has heard of that name."
BASICS
NAME: (The) Lopen
GENDER: Cis male
PRONOUNS: he/him/his
ORIENTATION: Heterosexual
BIRTHDATE: Early summer 2749
AGE: 22 as of fall 2771
LOCATION: High Reaches Weyr
OCCUPATION: Wherhandler
WING: Sunburst Squad
APPEARANCE
EYES: Dark brown
HAIR: Dark brown
HEIGHT AND BUILD: 5'9", wiry
PLAY-BY: picrew by sleazyjanet
FULL APPEARANCE: Lopen is, undoubtedly, a small man. He has little in the way of height, and he's rather skinny. He's surprisingly strong for his size, wiry rather than merely thin. Aside from his smallness, he has dark skin, dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes. He's usually found grinning, when he's not talking, that is. He's very fond of the color blue, incorporating medium to darker blues into his wardrobe wherever he can.
A past injury has left him without full use of his left arm. Though the arm is outwardly normal, he finds it weaker than his other arm, and sometimes without full range of motion at the elbow. He still finds it useful for most things that aren't very heavy lifting, especially making rude gestures.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY: Lopen is a gregarious, optimistic sort, friendly to almost everyone he meets. He's able to make light of basically everything, including his arm and even the various tragedies of recent history. This tends to get him in trouble, but he takes his punishments in stride, often making jokes about them too. When insulted, no matter if it's by authority figures, friends, or strangers, he is fond of replying with crude gestures instead of or in addition to words. He is certainly self-assured, even arrogant, over-exaggerating his accomplishments without blinking an eye. He likes to call himself "The Lopen" out of a belief that there is no one else like him on Pern. Plus, he's never heard of anyone else with that name, so as far as he knows, he really is The Lopen.
When it comes down to it, Lopen is more than willing to help people. He has a great sense of community and is deeply loyal to his fellow wherhandlers and extended family. He is capable of learning from his mistakes, taking it to heart when someone is genuinely hurt or upset by his jokes and aiming to avoid similar jokes in the future. He does forget sometimes, but he tries. Despite his nonchalant attitude, if he says he is going to do something, he gets it done. It might not be quite as fast as others might desire, but he does finish what he starts.
HISTORY
FAMILY: Parents, several siblings, a great number of cousins
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: N/A
BIRTHPLACE: High Reaches Weyr
HISTORY: Lopen was born as one of the middle children to a large family of weyrfolk at High Reaches. The odd few went on to become riders, wherhandlers, or crafters, but most were content to stay as weyrfolk, aiding the Weyr in its daily tasks. Weyrfolk were not treated well under Golre, but the family kept on trucking. There was work to be done, and they would do it, Golre or no.
Lopen had a fairly happy childhood given the circumstances. He was raised almost as much by his aunts and uncles as by his parents, and befriended many of his cousins. He got on well with most of his siblings, except the very youngest and very oldest. He found the former annoying, and the latter found him annoying. He didn't mind much. There were plenty who found him a nuisance, and not much to do about it than keep on being his annoying self.
The events of Pern had little effect on him, other than being conversation topics for the adults. He was twelve Turns old when Golre died, old enough to know what was going on but not quite old enough to understand the full ramifications. His older cousins who were already riders and handlers seemed happier with her gone, most of them having bonded chromatics, and Lopen was happy that they were happy. He was fifteen when the first Weyr Council was elected, and thought that the idea was better than having regular Weyrleaders but could still let stupid people be in charge. Not that Lopen wanted to be in charge, no, too much playing nice.
He became a wher candidate at seventeen, more on a whim than anything else - one of his cousins had become a wher candidate on his seventeenth Turning-day, and Lopen figured why not. He often got in trouble with the candidatemaster, but somehow not enough to be kicked out of candidacy. Just a Turn after he became a candidate, he and his cousins finally saved up enough money for him to buy a wher egg, much to the consternation of the wherlingmaster.
Lopen and brown Losk did not immediately get along. Losk was also a kind soul, but did not like Lopen's antagonizing others and making light of everything. In turn, Lopen found the brown a bit of a downer. Losk's chiding had more of an effect on him than any human's had due to the bond. They found their rhythm eventually, Lopen beginning to be less acerbic and Losk giving Lopen more leeway.
The pair are content to do their duty to the ground crew for now, fighting Thread and making their opinions known.
