Rufus - Candidate (Wher/Dragon)

NAME: Rufus
NICKNAME(S): Don't even try
GENDER: Male
ORIENTATION: None of your Business

AGE: 25
BIRTHDATE: Spring 2653
OCCUPATION: Noble Heir, Candidate
WING/SQUAD: N/A




HAIR COLOR: Platinum Blond
EYE COLOR: Blue
HEIGHT: 5'11
PLAY-BY: Rufus Shinra (FF7)
EXPY CLAIM: Rufus Shinra (FF7)




PERSONALITY TRAITS: Cold, Calculating, Rebellious, Independent, Strong-willed, Commanding
FULL PERSONALITY:


Rufus is a strong personality, and not everyone meshes well with it. He does not give a shit. If people are annoyed or scared of him, say he's mean or cold, he doesn't care. They're too weak to be worth his time, in that case. While he surely has a sense of humor somewhere, he's also a bit of a sadist, and the kind to laugh at a child falling over. Not that's he exactly supervillain levels of evil, he's just...a bit of a jerk. He's smart, dangerously so, and has never been challenged enough to let this stop him from doing what he wants, when he wants, how he wants, because Roscosk has always been around to snarl at his shoulder and glare her way into getting him what he wants. He wields his father's wher like a weapon, and does not hesitate to use her to get his way. He has actually become a little TOO comfortable with her at his side, the assumption he'd be allowed to bond her next queen egg or Roscosk herself one day making him, in his father's eyes, too complacent. He has grown lazy in assuming his name and father's name will get him places in life, and it has landed him in hot water recently.

Rufus is cold and chilling when angered or annoyed, eyes glinting like ice and chill as the grave. He tolerates no weakness, and will drill the soft edges out of people almost cruelly, working his retainers and guards hard and demanding perfection of them- however, there's a certain few of his guards that he is somewhat soft on, more willing to allow human error and failure when faced with the impossible. He only shows his vulnerable core to a select few, allowing almost no one to know his true thoughts or feelings. And yet, if you CAN get in to that inner sanctum of his, he's warm, almost loving to those he cares for, and would do anything for those he claimed as his own. His people are fiercely protected and defended as needed (rarely, however, do they need it, cut to diamond perfection by Rufus himself) and he would kill for them in a heartbeat. He is DEEPLY possessive over HIS people, almost childishly so, angry and petulant when they stray or want to leave him. He does not take betrayal or lying well, and he's intuitive and smart enough to very quickly tell when people are messing with him, and he HATES it. Games are something he wins, you see, not something he gets a participation trophy in.

He has a rebellious streak, one who wants to conquer and rule, but not...exactly? He doesn't need to be a despot, but he has heavy weights on him, expectations that bind and chain him, and he wishes, in many ways, to break free. He might seem like a giant unrepentant asshole, but he's not EVIL, just intense. He doesn't WANT Pern to perish, or the riders to die out, and he knows, with the right leadership, riders can become the saviors once more, and conquer threadfall like in the 'old days'. He's got the spirit, but doesn't quite understand, and that's fine by him. Besides, he's pretty much set on a wher, anyway. He thinks, perhaps, he could be a handler to rival or surpass his father, and that suits him just fine. Even if he's still irked that he was dismissed so easily like a child.



RELATIONS: Roscoe of Gold Roscosk - Father
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single
BIRTHPLACE: Bitra
FULL BACKSTORY:


Rufus was born to a goldhandler and random wher handler woman. Roscoe was bonded to a strong battle-gold, and his one night stand with the woman was of no consequense, at least, until she dropped the baby at his doorstep and told him to screw off. His mother didn't want him, but... Roscoe took the baby in. He was sure it was his, or sure enough, and alongside his other two sons, he raised Rufus to be a strong, proud wherhandler.

Or...he would have. Things changed when Rufus was very young, barely five turns old. The weyrs fell, and though Rufus was a mere child, he remembers the dragons disappearing. The tension in the air. The fatal threadfall many people didn't survive. Not well, mind you, but with a hazy, dreamlike quality of childhood, with a lingering sense of fear and worry. Still, Rufus himself didn;t have his life change terribly much, the chosen heir to Roscoe and Roscosk's hunting and trading empire. Roscoe had made his wealth and power in trading his wher's eggs, in making sure who she chose to run with and mate with were top specimens of battle and guard whers, and her eggs were in high demand. She was an old wher, one with many handlers before Roscoe, none who ever lasted particularly long, until, of course, Rufus' father. She chose well in him.

Rufus always wanted her to be HIS wher, especially as the gold was particularly fond of the boy, and he spent many a day trying to convince her to bond him instead of his father, coming up with schemes and plans to run away with the gold and start his own little empire. It never worked. (In truth, Roscosk was never intending to bond to the boy, or break her bond with his father, but she found it easier to allow him to think as such to control and use him.) Rufus grew up under the best tutors and teachers money could buy, in the fall of Pern, really, and he could have entered the Harpercraft, perhaps, had he ever felt inclined. But he had his heart set on a gold. Even if not Roscosk, one of her gold eggs, surely.

When Rufus finally cottoned on to the fact he was being strung along, and was never going to earn or win his place at his father's side, he was furious. He raged and in a teenage fit of pique, tried to hire someone to kill his father, stupidly (in a rare moment of hot-headed rage, not thinking ahead or of the consequences). Roscoe obviously found out, and retaliated in kind, writing his son off and calling him stupid, childish, a worthless heir. He would never lay a hand on Rufus, he was not a crass or abusive man, but what he did cut Rufus to shreds in ways nothing physical ever could. It broke his spirit, realizing he'd been lied to and coming to terms with his own failure.

So Rufus began to actively, surreptitiously, try to usurp and bring his father's empire down. He sabotaged trade contracts and stole marks, bribing others to do his bidding. He began to cultivate the loyalty of his guards carefully, making sure they were loyal to HIM and not Roscoe- those who were at all still loyal to Roscoe suffered strange accidents, or failures that cost them their jobs. Rufus began to invest in firelizard eggs, a thing Roscoe found useless and paltry, whers obviously being the creatures that would rule Pern once dragons finally died out. Rufus even managed to get his gold, after long turns, even if Shinra was a firelizard and not the wher he coveted so. He began to stockpile marks, planning to buy his OWN wher egg eventually and rival Roscoe.

Of course, Rufus once again failed. Roscoe found pout, and sent his son away, stripping him of everything he could and sending him to the Weyr, sneering and telling him to come back with a gold or not at all. Dragon? Wher? He didn't specify, but it was clear enough that he meant for it to be an impossible task, one Rufus could never succeed at. Little had he paid attention, queens now impressed men, and there was a gold handler at the Weyr that could possibly clutch a gold with his wher. Rufus wasn;t deterred in any way- this was just one more hurdle to surpass before he could take his father down for good. So.

Dragon. Wher. It doesn't matter, as long as it's powerful.

(Rufus doesn't quite understand bonding, and that may be his downfall- he doesn't know a human does not influence the decision of a dragon or wher, and this may bite him in the ass.)

Color: Gold
Gender: Female
Species: Firelizard



Vicious, deadly, controlling, demanding, nasty. A total bitch. Bullies Darkstar and Umbra. She's the queen bee, and will DEMAND that you know this, usually by way of screaming, biting, or screaming AND biting. She's the newest of Rufus' flitts, but easily made herself the top dog, and does not appreciate anyone touching her human without his express permission. He uses her to ensure his personal bubble is respected at all times.


A lean and sleek gold, she's surprisingly spiny, with a long whippy tail she uses to grab on to Rufus possessively. Her hide is a pleasant buttery yellow, with deeper dark gold along her extremities in points, and some thick striations along her wing undersides. She's large and in charge, easily able to take off a finger if she so chose with powerful, snappy jaws.



Color: Brown
Gender: Male
Species: Firelizard



Ferocious, Mean, Protective of Rufus, Possessive of him. Umbra is Rufus' attack flitt, and while most don't think of browns as particularly aggressive, Umbra is. He wears a little collar with spikes on it to keep from being bitten at the throat, and is particularly mean and nasty. He is incredibly loyal to Rufus, however, and adores the man.


Bearing no markings, this brown is a deep umber, rich and dark and strong. He's more muscular than many browns, packed full around the shoulders and upper body, with a weirdly slender lower and hind end, and massive, broad wings he uses to coast around, spying for Rufus. He has heavy, thick jaws and swept back headknobs with sharp, spiny ridges and deep set eyes.



Color: Green
Gender: Female
Species: Firelizard



Defensive, Prickly, Thorny, Combative, Covetous. She's a greedy, mean little bitch, and even Rufus finds her somewhat temperamental. She likes to collect things and bring them to her human, especially shiny things, or marks, having realized how much Rufus likes those. She is equipped with a little leg harness for messages to and from his retainers and guards, and most of those messages are bloodstained by the time of return. She bites the recipients.


Darkstar is so named for being both dark, rich forest green, and her bright starlike marking on her muzzle. She's thin and whippy, shaped like a sight hound with a high waist and thin build, and spiky, thorny ridges. She is lean and small, but with long limbs and an almost comically thin body. She hisses and squeals a lot, vocal and loyal to her human.

Candidate Preferred Colors: RUFUS expects only gold or bronze.
Player Preferred Colors: Legit anything interesting, a contrasting or weird bond would be fun.
Queen Eligible: Yes
Personality Preferences and Concerns: Contrasting or VERY similarly vaguely antagonistic personalities would be fun
Mutation Eligible: YES
Anything You Absolutely Won’t Take? Nope! All good