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Name: Dalini
Age: 17
Nameday: 3559.10.07
Sex: Female
Sexual Orientation: ????
Craft: N/A
Rank: Trophy Wife Candidate
Location: High Reaches Weyr
Physical Description: At an average height, Dalini holds herself up with a proud but quiet demeanor. She has a thin frame, with little curvature to any bit of her. She holds herself up with confidence, chin high; no matter her more softer personality. Her hair is a softer, dry-earth color; a muddy blonde that borders on a tan. It’s rather thin, hanging down to her mid-back and typically in a braid or tied up. Dalini’s eyes are a dark brown color, cool and kind. She’s a pale little thing, without a scar or callous to be seen -- much like a perfect, porcelain doll.
Personality: A highly sheltered upbringing has left Dakini without much sense in the world. Certainly she has some basic life skills; how to mend small things, how to wash. But these aren’t proper social skills, good or bad intentions of those around her, or to have a basic sense of what may be dangerous for her. Yet beneath that naivety is a strong desire to change. Dalini wants so badly to prove that she is good enough, that she is strong and able to hold her own. For turns she desired to live up to her family’s--in particular, her mother’s--expectations of the young girl. Though she doesn’t have that exact same superior expectations of her, this sense of desire to learn and adapt hasn’t diminished. She may not be the smartest girl, and it may take her a few tries to get something done, but never will Dalini stop from trying to get things done in the best way she possibly can.
A gentle girl to her core, Dalini never has a harsh word or rude thought about anyone she meets. Anyone she comes across is a possible new friend. Yet Dalini is not terribly proactive at broaching a possible new friendship. She is quiet, especially in the presence of someone stronger or louder. She makes for a good quiet support, happily backing someone up or cheering someone on, though she struggles to make her own problems known even after listening to someone else’s for hours. It’s easier to put on a happy, friendly, nothing-is-wrong smile and be there for others.
With such a sheltered upbringing, and her mother’s desire to keep her sheltered and put on a shelf, oftentimes Dalini doesn’t have much of a thought in her head. She’s certainly no scholar of Pern. It sometimes takes a time or two of explanations for a concept to even partially set it. It’s not something that she’s proud of, and in private gets quite frustrated with herself with her struggles to understand what other people can catch onto so quickly. Yet Dalini isn’t one to give up over her shortcomings. She studies even past her classes, using her free time to try and tackle whatever she may be stuck on -- and never is she afraid to ask for help! Pride comes nowhere near her drive to be better, to want to make people proud of her.
Being in High Reaches Weyr was a dramatic shift to the once-pampered girl. Where she could try and finish mending a simple shirt and be waved away, chores were a different kettle of sweetsand. Yet despite her pushing need to be seen as flawless, perfect -- she had rolled up her sleeves and set to her chores with staggering effort. Some she found easier than others, and those she struggled in, she tried twice as hard. If she lamented her chipped nails and stained hands in private, well. No one needed to know. But the pushing weight of failing her family pushed her to want to succeed at being part of a Weyr, even if it's oftentimes very obvious she hasn't the slightest clue what she's doing.
Positive Trait List Protean, Friendly, Efficient
Negative Trait List Vain, Naive, Vapid, Docile
History: Born the youngest child of three, Dalini was easily the coddled baby of the trio of children. She was third in line for the cothold, with no responsibilities falling to her with her elder brothers being more concerned with the state of the cothold. Her father, Lanil, saw to the education of his sons and was mostly hands off from his daughter, which left her at the mercy of her mother, Idali.
Her childhood was a wild affair. A young, happy child, she wanted nothing more to do but be a free little spirit, make friends and play. Her older brothers ignored her for the most part, and she turned to try and make other friends -- to little to no avail. She’d even taken to talking to the herdbeast and runners just to chatter at someone and call them a friend. Her mother was tolerant of it to a point, but her patience for her daughter’s free, wild nature drew thin at points -- and she wanted Dalini to stay inside, to learn how to be a lady instead of some holdless feral child.
Dalini had no interest in things and lessons her mother tried repeatedly to cram into her brain. After all, Dalini was to be a lady, and someone’s pretty wife. It’s a fuzzy memory, somewhere in her 10th turn, that Idali had squashed an argument with the unruly child that her marriage was already arranged, and would she truly stop fussing about so wildly? What would her future husband think of her, so immature and mud-stained?
To say that Dalini reacted well was a far cry from the truth. An arranged marriage? To some boy she didn’t even know? When was she to meet him??? Tomorrow?!
No, she wouldn’t meet him until her sixteenth nameday. But Idali was cold to her for days, with only quick, venomous questions to shut down any attempt at Dalini reaching out for what little warmth she used to get from her. Would she continue being such a let down to her cothold and her family? Would she come inside and stop speaking to beasts and rid such silly thoughts from her head?
It took maybe a week for Dalini to finally break down and listen to her mother, wanting to please her, wanting to make everyone happy and play her part. So she was to become a bride at 16, and with Idali at the helm, she did become one. Perhaps leaning a bit too hard under her mother’s words. She stayed inside more, instead to work on her manners, her posture, her poise. Idali helped her to learn skills such as mending, washing, weaving, proper handwriting only fit for a lady. After all, Dalini would have little use of cothold dealings -- that was a man’s work. Even cooking was thrown wayside, for her intended came from a wealthy family, and certainly Dalini would have no use for practical skills.
Dalini took it in stride, thriving for every smile and tidbit of praise that Idali threw to her. She cared for her body, always meticulously fretting over her own appearance and ever-conscious of how she may be perceived. She was growing into a polite young woman, even if time was crawling on by.
At the age of 14, a searchrider would swing by the cothold as her father and brothers were out tending to the crop. A quiet little green and her rider, out on search for an upcoming clutch. Lanil had proudly paraded his sons to the front of the gathered crowd. Yet the dragon’s gaze passed over them as with everyone gathered. She ducked behind the shelter of a curtain, her mind running wild with potential possibility. Her! A possible dragonrider! She had drunk in the lovely dragon’s appearance from small glances, eyes with near child-like wonder as her mind spun a fantasy to latch onto. Yet, Dalini let her gaze drift back to Idali, to see her mother watching her with that hard, emotionless gaze.
It was hard to reject the sudden bloom of possibility, of taking even the chance to see if she was worthy. Her tongue wanted to trip over every word as she let go of the newly-spun fantasy with each syllable, asking if her mother needed help sorting the laundry -- a task that would take her to the opposite side of the cothold. She was betrothed, after all. Her home was reliant on her bride price that had been settled turns ago.
That night, Idali had hugged her daughter so fiercely that she actually was lifted off the ground, and Dalini had cried herself to sleep. She dreamt of dragons.
Suddenly, the day was descending upon her -- her 16th nameday. Something that she was equally looking forward to, and equally fearing. Her intended, at first meeting him, looked… less than interested. His eye kept glazing over her, though they never spoke a word. Instead, she was only looked over by her intended father-in-law with the eye of a jeweler looking for the slightest imperfection, and he found plenty. Her hair was too thin, too wispy; her hips were narrow, did Dalini’s parents expect her to carry heirs with such a thin, flat shape? On and on, until he was angrily dismissed by Lanil -- not for the criticism of his daughter, but for backing out of an arrangement made for over a decade. The family was cold and quiet to her after that, with Dalini feeling ever more lost than before. What had she done wrong, besides not having met his standards? Was how she looked her fault? Dalini had behaved perfectly, had done herself up just as her mother taught her. No, her flaws had cost her family so much. She set herself to doing small tasks about the cothold, though most she would be shrugged away from before she could truly accomplish.
It was halfway through her 17th turn when another searchrider would end up at their cothold. This time, Dalini had snuck out to see the large dragon, to admire her just as she had the green those turns ago. But when this dragon’s eyes found hers, when the friendly rider had come to talk to her, Dalini hadn’t looked around to find her mother and see whether there was disapproval in her eyes. Let her old path of being a gracious wife stay in the cothold. Instead, she graciously accepted the offer to go to High Reaches Weyr.
Other: Anything else you want to add?
Candidate Specific Questions
Do you want them to have an official Search RP? No
Do you understand they will age every passing year regardless if you're there to RP the or not? Yes
Do you want them to have a possible Stands Impression? No
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