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Name Pronounced: kuh-BAY
Character type: Dragonrider
Rank: Wingrider
Political Alignment: Neutral
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Sexual Preference: Bisexual
Appearance: C'bey is what we would call Nordic-looking on Earth. He's particularly tall, but tends to slouch a little without realizing it just because he doesn't feel right looking down at people. He's slender but proportionate with his height so that he doesn't come across as awkward or lanky. His hair is pale blonde and thick, kept roughly ear-length. His eyes are pale blue, nose narrow and aquiline, and his skin is fair enough that he has to be careful of sunburn turn-round thanks to the amount of time he spends outdoors as a dragonrider. Taken together, his features are nice but unremarkable, and he doesn't tend to garner a lot of notice -- particularly since he's almost always taken in comparison to N'vandro and J'raster, his most frequent greenriding companions, and they both happen to be exceptionally attractive. J'raster in particular has similar fair blond/blue coloring, but the shades are so much more vibrant that he makes C'bey look pale and washed-out by comparison.
Personality: C'bey is just a sweet guy, a shy gentleman who doesn't want to hurt anyone if he can help it. He doesn't like to attract too much attention, or make too much of a fuss, or inconvenience people. He'll say please and thank you, and even manages to make his protests sound polite, when he bothers to voice them. He's not overly fearful and isn't one to cower even in the face of a beating, but he'll accept it quietly (he's surprisingly practical that way), and then will try to hide the bruises from his friends because he hates upsetting them. He always tries to do the right thing, and so often (naively) has trouble believing that others mean deliberate harm. He'll give the benefit of the doubt the first time every time -- and even when he learns better, he still prefers to think of people as misguided, or mistaken, or simply confused rather than believing that they're mean or selfish or outright rotten. It takes a *lot* to make him angry, and he's particularly forgiving of friends, but that just means that it almost always catches people off-guard when his temper does go off. He can't stay mad for long though, and will almost always apologize first. He loves kids, and fathering some of his own one day is a dream he still clings to.
What he can't quite hide, however, is his craving for everything that he is not. Despite his dislike of the spotlight, he almost always gravitates towards people who are naturally more outgoing or showy, who always seem to drag him out into the spotlight by simple association. While he denies any interest in anything that's just "not right", and frets about the things they get him into, he just can't say no to a little dose of daring, a little bit of something wild and uncouth. What's true of his friends is especially true of his lovers -- he may *like* gentler men, but it's the bad boys that really get his blood running. He'll blush and stammer and deny if accused, and would certainly never *ask* for it, but if given the opportunity, a bit of kink in the bed furs would drive him crazy.
It's always the quiet ones, isn't it?
Birth Place: A cothold in the Ruatha mountains
Parents: Cotholder Colbrenel and his wife, Beylin
History: Colbey was born in the Ruathan mountains at his father's rather successful, if remote, cothold, where the extended family raised sturdy mountain caprines for their meat, milk, and cheese. He was the eldest son, with one younger brother, several sisters, and a handful of cousins, all of them put to work at a young age like many children in remote holds. Despite the fact that he was the eldest son, Colbey was never the favorite -- no, he was too sensitive, too emotional, never really able to live up to the expectations his father had for the boy who was supposed to be his heir. He was the one who tried to avoid being the one to kill the runts or sick beasts for the good of the herd, who stayed misty-eyed all through slaughter time, and even though he always struggled through and forced himself to do his duty, the very fact that he had to struggle at all disgusted his father, who knew that one had to be hard and practical in this business.
Despite all this, Colbey was still shocked and hurt when his father very quickly, and angrily, gave him up to the Weyr the moment the riders from Fort informed him that the dragons found his son acceptable. There was no real discussion or choice on Colbey's part -- "Take him and get out of here," his father said, sending his younger brother into the cot to bag up his things for him. What confused Colbey was clear enough to N'vandro, whose Hazlimenth had done the Searching -- Colbrenel obviously had long suspected that his son was "one of those deviants", and had taken his Search as rock-solid confirmation of this fact. Colbey was shaken to his core. He had never even considered liking men -- had never really considered any preference at all, in fact, because the idea of getting married and fathering children was just the way things were done. It had never even occurred to him that there was a *preference* involved in sex. Without anywhere else to turn, he didn't really have any choice but to accept the Search and move to the Weyr. His only comfort was that N'vandro had taken pity on him and promised to look out for him however he could.
He was shy and uncertain, anyway, suffering from a bit of culture shock, and still reeling from his family's abrupt abandonment of him when the Hatching rolled around. Colbey didn't expect to be worthy of a dragon at all -- but no one else was overly surprised when a tiny green bounded right up to him and practically dragged him off the Sands. True to his word, N'vandro kept his eye on young C'bey, taking him under his wing just as soon as the weyrling could socialize with the rest of the Weyr again. He taught him how to survive as a greenrider at Fort, introduced him to some friends, and helped him to develop into a well-rounded, if soft-spoken, young rider.
He was attracted to R'gandal from the moment he met him, but would never have had the self-confidence to act on his attraction even if the bluerider hadn't been weyrmated at the time -- and he certainly would never have hurt his friends by showing his interest while K'jier was still in the picture... or even after, when the messy break-up was more or less through. It was R'gandal who made the first move, and C'bey just wanted to make him feel better and smile again, that was all... and somehow they ended up more involved with one another than either had bargained for. He hates how upset and angry K'jier is over it -- and even more hurtful is the way N'vandro is reacting. His best friend should be happy for him, shouldn't he? He knows N'vandro is only looking out for him, but that doesn't make the bickering between his friend and his lover any easier to take.
He isn't aware of N'vandro's attraction to him -- after all, his friend has said often enough that he's not interested in settling down with anyone, and if he were truly interested, he'd have done something by now, right?
Information about C'bey's dragon
Dragon Name: Erelanth
Colour: Green
Age: 6
Wing (Weyrling Group): None
Appearance: Erelanth is a tiny green, but she's far from delicate. Her body is strong and lithe like a gymnast, muscles tuned to fit perfection, always ready to spring into action. She moves with a little bounce to her step, fluidly from one step to the next, as graceful on land as she is in the air or water. Much to her rider's chagrin, her hide is the sort of bright, eye-catching green that makes her almost impossible not to notice, and combined with her tendency to stay in constant motion, *everyone* is likely to know when Erelanth arrives on the scene. The only stray marking she has is a single streak of dark green pasted right across her eyes like a mask -- slightly unevenly, upon closer inspection, as if someone took a paint brush and just casually swiped it horizontally across her eyes from right temple to left.
Personality: Erelanth is a happy little thing. She's always in motion, though it doesn't give the impression of nervousness so much as just enthusiasm. When she moves she does it quickly but fluidly, as if she's been waiting all day for the chance to do something -- anything! Even when she sits still, she tends to bounce a little, and one gets the impression that to bottle her up for too long would be to invite an explosion eventually. As one might expect from watching her, she's as positive and peppy as she appears to be. It would be a mistake, however, to assume she's a fool simply because she's content with her lot in life. She's perceptive when it comes to others, and can be quite wily and mischievous when it comes to getting what she wants. She dislikes being talked down to or underestimated, and can be a little bit spiteful when wronged, getting back at the offending party in silly little ways.
She also has a bad habit of doing what she thinks is best for her rider, regardless of what he tells her. If he really wants to keep something that bothers him secret, he'd best keep it from her, because she'll blab to all his friends' dragons if she thinks that what he says isn't what he really needs.
Weyr of Origin: Fort
Abilites and weaknesses: Erelanth is an acrobat who revels in performing stunts that make other dragons blink and look confused. She has superb reaction time, and can twist and bend herself in ways that boggle, zipping around to catch those stray threads that make it through the rest of the wing as if it were nothing. She loves to "seek and destroy" those strays, but predictably, she burns through her energy very quickly if C'bey doesn't forcibly restrain her. If he doesn't put serious will behind it, she has been known to disobey him and go her own way, which has gotten them into trouble in 'Fall a time or two.
All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are copyright© Anne McCaffrey 1967,2005, all rights reserved, and used by permission of the author.
The Dragonriders of Pern® is registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, by Anne McCaffrey, used here with permission. Use or reproduction without a license is strictly prohibited.