Post by khealis on Jan 5, 2011 22:51:00 GMT -8
Name: L'lan (Laflan)
Age: Twenty-four (born in late autumn)
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Bisexual
Rank: Winglet
Location: Eyrie
Personality:
If someone were to spend a day with Laflan, they'd more than likely assume he's a quiet and restrained, if slightly condescending, young man. He's polite, although in a distant way, almost as if he's going through the motions of a lesson he was taught but never truly learned. Usually quick to give at least a small, polite smile or nod, Laflan still seems to prefer to keep to himself around people. He tends to speak a bit on the quiet side, although certainly not softly. Rather, his voice has a firmer edge, and he tends to express his emotions more through body language and tone than facial expression.
As the second child out of five born to a horse breeder and his wife, Laflan grew up firstly helping his mother and elder sister around the house and garden, and later with his father and uncle breaking in the younger horses. Having been around horses his entire life, and spending more than half that time training and handling the animals, he sometimes finds it difficult to interact with people. He tends to fall back on the lessons on the manners his mother taught him as a child when in the company of new or little-known people. Sometimes Laflan seems condescending to others, mostly because he wishes people were as easy to deal with as horses.
Having been raised in a family where a hard day's work is a reward in itself, Laflan quite expectantly takes after this philosophy. However once the chores are done with, he's more likely to find a quiet place to enjoy the sky, or a peaceful bit of shore and a handful of smooth stones to skip. He enjoys his private time, and prefers to spend it outdoors.
Appearance:
At first glance, Laflan seems to be a quiet, almost brooding young man. His dark hair near-constantly threatening to fall into his eyes, despite the efforts of a thick cloth headband across his forehead, not enough to hide his seemingly-brooding dark eyes. His hair could be called a disaster, hanging past his shoulders and usually looking quite unkempt. He never seems to pay it much more attention than a quick run-through with his fingers each morning before tying his trusty bandanna on. His face is what some might call chiseled, his cheekbones standing out sharply and his face somewhat long. He`s rarely seen without stubble across his chin and cheeks. His skin holds a healthy tan thanks to his time spent outdoors. He often carries a small hunting knife, the blade no more than six inches.
Laflan`s frame is somewhat lanky. While he`s not what one would call skinny, there is definitely muscle on his frame, his height of 6`3`` keeps him from seeming overly-muscled or bulky. His arms and torso are littered with scars. None particularly stand out more than the next, and most have some sort of tale behind them, although nothing more serious than the usual sort of youthful gallivanting any teen might have gotten up to. Most, in fact, are from working with the animals, or even an occasional burn from standing too near a forge.
Two things Laflan is never without are his bandanna, wrapped about his head as if its helping keep his untamed hair from his face, and a leather band about one wrist. The small piece of clumsily tooled leather obviously holding some sort of value to the man, its straps showing signs of the wear and tear of its owner never removing it. In fact, the original ties to the wristband have long since fallen off, short pieces of twine holding the band to his wrist now instead. The inscription on it has long since been worn smooth.
Family:
Mother - Caitlyn
Father - Geoffrey
Uncle - Laflan
Sisters - Marcia (26), Jesselyn (23)
Brothers - Kial (20), Jaelan (twin of Kial, deceased)
Pets:
None
Simourv Name: Fauneteph
Simourv Color: Green
Simourv Age: 0
Personality:
Fauneteph is, as far as greens go, pretty well between the lines of normalcy. She's far from the brightest of her kind, but this certainly doesn't mean she's not intelligent. Rather, she makes up for her lack of cleverness with her warm heart and caring spirit. Attributes some would think more highly of than a keen mind.
She's a hopeless romantic, and will sometimes maintain a non-stop chatter to Hers about who would go well with whom, which couple would be so cute, the endless, boundless, unending love in the very air of the Eyrie. Of course, when others disagree with her, or seem unenthusiastic to her passion, she's apt to pout and possibly whine. She may remain adamant on her stance, but she won't try to change the others' mind. Of course, she will also privately believe that they need a hug and secretly do agree with her. Of course because of her very romanticized view of the world, Fauneteph is also rather naive.
Despite her size, Fauneteph is very gentle, both in spirit and body. She's careful when she moves about, not wanting to hurt any of her kin's people, since they are very special and dear to their simourvs. She would never want Hers harmed, or squished by a much larger simourv by accident, and neither would her siblings. Very open in her affection of her person, she frequently bestows gentle nuzzles or hair-preenings on him.
Appearance:
Large for her colour, Fauneteph's careful gait is most likely a good thing, especially for a fast-growing young simourv. The plumage of her chest is a dull off-white, nearly gray and flecked with snow white, the feathers of her shoulders darkening into a murky green with lighter flecks across her back. Her still-unfledged wings hold a dark shade of green, the color paling closer the tips. The dark green of her back and wings spreads down over her hind legs, mottled with lighter green flecks. Her tail is a simple affair, the feathers darkening steadily until they're near-black at the tip.
Her face holds the same off-white as her chest, but with a flowing pattern of white flecks surrounding her eyes and beak. Two streaks of darker green cut a path from her eyes down either side of her brownish beak, completing her face. The plumage of her head and large ears is a pale green, completing her overall colouration with an odd sort of balance.
Parentage:
Gray Eceph X Black Alianph
History:
Laflan was born the first son, and second child to Geoffrey and Caitlyn. At the time of his birth, his parents and uncle had already made quite a name for themselves in the city of Sayaie and the farms surrounding it as breeders and trainers of horseflesh. With his elder sister Marcia two years his senior, and sister Jesselyn barely a year behind him, Laflan`s father was ecstatic to have a son. By the time Laflan was walking, he was helping his mother with chores about the house. After being repeatedly shooed outdoors by her, Laflan discovered the odd, six-legged lizards that occasionally hid inside their woodpiles. By the third incident of Laflan hiding said lizards in Marcia`s bed (and once, placing one carefully on her shoulder so that when she turned her head she`d scream at the lizard so close to her face), his mother suggested it was time for him to learn some of the work involved with running the family business. And so at the age of five, Laflan started learning all there was to know about the breeding, raising, and training of horses.
Laflan was nearly nine years old before he began working with the horses alongside his father and uncle. He was taught reading, writing, and mathematics by his mother in the mornings, alongside his sisters and brothers (the twins Kial and Jaelan), and in the afternoons he would watch and listen as his father and uncle worked with the horses, and later taught him how to do so himself. They started him out firstly with the foals, and he learned quickly how to handle the young animals. He learned how to speak to animals, to keep him voice pleasant and, most importantly, he learned to be patient. His parents and uncle saw how well he worked with the horses, and within a few years he was working with the mature horses.
Spending his entire life with his family, Laflan sometimes found himself wondering about life in the nearby city of Sayaie, or even in the seemingly far off cities of Chydyn or Itnala. So at the age of seventeen, when his father sprained his leg and Uncle Laflan asked his namesake nephew to come along on their twice-yearly trip to Sayaie to trade and sell some of their herd, he jumped at the chance. The three week long trip was one of the most exciting and eye-opening experiences of Laflan`s young life. The sights and sounds of the city, his uncle bartering with farmers, other horse merchants, all of the exotic stalls in the market place. Even the small tavern the pair stayed at. It also put the world into stark reality for the young man. His family had been fortunate, he and his siblings hadn`t faced the hardships of some. Koxi, to Laflan, were nearly fairy tales, bedtime stories to frighten children. Now he could see some of the devastation they`d wreaked. The disparity and poverty some people lived in cried out to him and he withdrew into himself on the ride home, becoming quiet and contemplative.
Arriving home was the first time in his life Laflan had ever wished he were dreaming. The horses they`d brought back with them, some old and some new from the trading, buying, and selling in Sayaie sensed it first. They became nervous, near-panic, the closer the pair got to their home. Rounding the last corner revealed a bloodbath. The herd that had remained were slaughtered, any livestock that had lived long-since fled. The house and stables were in shambles, along with the horse`s corral. Uncle Laflan only uttered one word, his face ashen and his hands trembling on the reigns, Xymokoxi. Elder and junior Laflan both ran into the ruin, searching for their family.
Only one of the family had fallen to the koxi. Young Jaelan had been in the horse corral when the koxi had slipped from the distant trees to come barreling across the grazing field. The panicking horses nearly trampling him, and hindering his escape. Geoffrey kept his wife and children quiet, limping out the back door of their house to hide in the cellar while the wretched beast ripped their lives apart above them. They remained hidden for three days in the cellar, eating the food stores and praying. Kial lost his other half that day, and all of them lost the peace that had stayed with them throughout the years.
The family rebuilt quickly. There was little time to spend before the winter set in, and they needed shelter and food. A few of their herd returned to them after their fright, and chill, damp, miserable day, winter looming with promise over all their heads, Laflan and his father road into the woods to round up the few stragglers of their herd. They would survive, their livelihood would continue. Years passed, and the family was ever-ready for another up-rooting of their lives. Laflan began to make the trips with his uncle into Sayaie every spring and autumn, each time bringing back more news of the rumours and hopes swirling about the cities. Simourvs bonding to humans, watches and even sweeps being conducted to keep the cities and their outlying settlements and farms safe. Kial in particular lived to hear the stories Laflan brought back with him, often staying up late into the night enchanting the youth with over-exaggerated tales he`d heard in Sayaie.
It was on one of these trips when Laflan himself was searched. A massive red simourv and his rider, the opportunity of a lifetime. The day he returned home with the news, his mother`s eyes shone with tears, his brother`s with admiration. Kial gave him his wristband, the rough scrap of leather Jaelan had made for him one particularly hot summer day years ago, and made him promise to visit.
Some time after his arrival at the Eyrie, when the day of the hatching finally came, Laflan stood out on the sands with the other candidates. He watched as the young simourvs tumbled and kicked themselves into the world, a smile touching his lips at their play and already distinctive personalities. As each hatchling made his or her way across the sands, his breath nearly hitched in his chest, but each time they passed him by, bonding with another. Even the girl who'd been injured, which was a relief to him; he wasn't sure if he should have helped her or not. It was becoming increasingly difficult to hold down the biting feeling of disappointment.
So when a larger hatchling with dull green feathers paced in front of the group of candidates, he assumed she would pass him by like all the others had thus far. But when she reached the end of the line of candidates and paced back, Laflan's eyes fell on her again. The large hatchling paused in front of him, looking up at him with wide eyes, and then she was nearly on top of him, chirping happily and nearly singing into his mind with her glee.
With a wide smile, Laflan, L'lan as his Fauneteph had called him, lead the green from the sands, ready to begin a new chapter in his life.
