Kagora, Apprentice Master

Character

Kagora's tall and slender. Her hair is long, silky, faded black with silver glints when she's in the sun. Her bearing is graceful, her rich blue eyes sharp, her movements confident. Kagora's silky black hair is wrapped in a pale lavender scarf to keep it back from getting in the way.

Kagora is wearing a day work dress, a simple cotton garment has been batiked in black lunar and fleur de lis designs. Crescent moons and stars have been dyed into bands of darker color. Over the dress is a second piece, that appears to almost be a scarf. It is actually the second piece of the bodice, draping soft fringes and gentle material across the shoulders and arms of the garment. An elaborate shawl covers the shoulders, deep rich purple with black designs over the back, detailing a coiled black dragon chasing its tail. The dragon has a lilly blossom in its coils and a crescent moon turned upside down over his back.

History

Information about Kagora:
OOC Notes: At the very end there's a condensed timeline of Kagora's apprenticeship.

+ Initial Personality and Childhood

Kagora is, or likes to think she is, a lot more mature than her younger siblings, we have Aoriya, a hot headed Brownrider at Igen who has a talent for making jewelery, we have Kaian; (he swears up and down he'll impress and be a better rider than Aoriya ever will be), there's Rindan, he at least behaves but he's so quiet its annoying. And she has her older brother Hanabey, whom she once whacked over the head multiple times with a fan after he tormented her over her crush on one particular guy.

Just about the only thing that calms her down is the loom, or the needle and thread, or the spinning wheel. Since she lived in the Telgar smithcraft, she was able to find a sibling willing to make a loom for her, and she had plenty of needles and scissors to use in sewing. She liked to draw, secretly keeping a book of designs under her mattress. They weren't very good to her, even though they looked perfectly alright.

When she was nine, Kagora was taken to Landing by her uncle D'men, and taught how to use a computer. The stay was to influence her, her cousin Sarai, and her twin cousins Kushira and Asura. Kagora saw some of the absolutely elegant and sumptuous gowns worn by the Ancients living in a place called "Japan." That was it. Kagora wanted to make one of those gowns. The girls wearing them looked so…… so…… beautiful.

Kagora didn't see herself as beautiful at all. If other girls were the fabled Venus, she was Hephestus, the ugly hunchback of the forge. By the time she was fourteen, she'd made up her mind to join the Weavercraft. She had talent in sewing and needle work, doing mending jobs that were almost like new in half the time it took others, but her motivation for joining at first was incredibly selfish. She wanted to be popular, and she wanted to look beautiful. Okay, she made up a story. And she never told anyone about it, though the then apprentice master noticed she seemed overly preoccupied with physical appearances.

+ Kagora's Early Apprenticeship and Experience as a Telgar Candidate

Kagora's insecurity came out not as bullying, but more of a meek, shy apprentice. She had, when at home in Telgar, attempted to be both selfish, gracefull, and casually cool about her dealings. While she was still growing up she'd help Aoriya with her hair, shrill at Kaian when he caused trouble. But she always thought she was too small. She was too scrawny, and when she began to fill out from a little girl to a teenage girl, she started becoming critical of her body. Exercise and a healthy appitite seemed, to her, to be the perfect combination to make her body more full and curvy in the right places. She was actually rather beautiful, but these two behaviors lead to serious rumors, and almost derailed Kagora's progress in the craft completely.

The situation was simple, Kagora was shy, insecure about how she looked, and to try and remedy that situation, she near obsessively exercised, not to exhaustion, but to the point where she finished sore all over, and ate a little more than an apprentice should. Apprentices, especially girls, will talk. And the rumors wrongly accused Kagora of self destructive behaviors. Due to this, the Masters called her to the office for a concerned talking to. The younger Kagora was pretty furious at what was going around about her, she hadn't been doing any of that. The Journeyman Harper and Journeyman Healer at the hall discussed the situation with the masters, and Kagora felt humiliated at having to prove her innocence by a visit to a local mindhealer and a physical that showed no signs of self inflicted injury. Shrills of outrage and frustration rang through the apprentice's quarters, the Masters offices, the dining hall, and even the bathing rooms at intervals over the next two sevendays. Even with her innocence proved, the damage had been done. If Kagora's self confidence didn't show any improvement to disprove the rumors going around about her habits, she would never be more than an apprentice.

If Kagora hadn't been Searched for a Telgar Weyr clutch, she would never have gotten the chance to show her true colors. For the first time, it was character, not beauty that counted. Kagora's personality came to the forefront as a slightly rebellious teen with a merry attitude towards other girls, a wry and sardonic sense of humor, and the willpower to continue verbally slugging with an angry bully of a fellow candidate over three days of arguements anytime either met. Her vanity came to the forefront towards the end, as she squared off against the stuck up niece of Benden's Lord Holder in a contest to see who could come up with the most fashionable outfits in the barracks. Said Lord's niece had been a thorn in the side of nearly every female inhabitant of the barracks, and a few of the male ones as well. Nobody could stand the young Ladylet, and everybody but the Candidate Coordinators caved to her, everybody but the CC's and Kagora that is. In the end, Kagora's defiance of said bitter rival resulted in everyone else starting to stand up to her. She learned important lessons about confidence, strength, and willpower.

But appearantly Kagora's new found confidence had no effect on the Telgar Weyr hatchlings come hatching day. But the Benden Lord's snotty niece did get a nice mauling by the blue that she impressed. And in the end, for Kagora to see her bitter rival sprawled flat on her back in the sands, bleeding from a not so serious wound that seemed to be the end of the world was hilarious. And watching the snotty Lord Holder's niece howling at her lifemate and the weyrlingstaff made the hatching experience entirely worth it; even if Kagora didn't get a lifemate of her own. Kagora walked away from the hatching grounds, laughing uproariously. Later that night, she boarded her uncle D'men's blue for a return trip to the Weaver hall, without a single look back.

+ Growth to Serenity

A newly returned Kagora nearly glowed as she threw herself with newfound strength into her studies as an apprentice. No longer did she think of her apprenticeship as a way to look beautiful. No longer was she worried about her physical appearance, it was just fine, especially after seeing how behavior could be just as ugly as a person's physical appearance. To her, now design was art. She learned how to paint stretches of cloth delicately, working with her newly apprenticed cousin Sarai to create a beautifully painted screen for her mother and father's anniversary. This was a screen that would later follow the family to Xanadu Weyr. Her design class was easily the most brilliantly inspired creation she'd made. It was a variation on the traditional kimono. It was adapted to cold climates such as high reaches and telgar. The folds were a little cumbersome, but it was elegant, and it was warm. It was carefully set away for Kagora to wear and to duplicate the design later.

When her father requested a transfer to Xanadu Weyr, Kagora agonized over whether or not to go with her mother and father, and got permission for a temporary transfer. As an apprentice, she worked carefully on studying her craft and assisting with mending, making clothes, and making sheets and curtains for Xanadu Weyr. These activities built up patience that Kagora wouldn't have had otherwise.

Then Aoriya was Searched for Igen Weyr. And Kagora was once again longing for the crafthall. She was seventeen, nearing the age where she could try for the Journeyman's exams. She presented her portfolio and took the required tests, earning her position without any protests. Kagora had finally come into her own.

That's not to say her family didn't still have its own drama. Kaian remained at Igen Weyr to pester Aoriya, taking a job as a stable boy and messanger there. Hanabey sold Kagora a green firelizard egg that he /knew/ wouldn't hatch. Aoriya complained that her young brown Omasuth was a pest and a show off. Sairen was, for the fourth time, rejected for Mastery as a smithcrafter, despite his skills as an explosives expert. And life goes on for her family and extended family.

+ Summation

Year one, nasty rumor results in a sting to what little pride Kagora has. She throws what could nearly be called a tempertantrum for two weeks over a rumor of her being anorexic (later proved false) and having to be subjected to a physical and a visit to a mind healer to prove her innocence. She has some talent, but doesn't have the confidence to put it out in the open. She's fourteen. And considered very immature with little potential.

Year two She's searched for a Telgar Clutch, and instantly butts heads with a niece of Benden Weyr's Lord Holder. She gets into a design contest with the niece and gains a thicker skin than she had previously. Her design skill is strengthened even if she can't sew very much while she's there, and while Kagora does not impress, the Lord Holder's niece is mauled quite nicely by the blue that said Lordlet later impresses. Kagora doesn't get a dragon, but learns that living well is the best revenge and has become far more confident and mature than she was.

A little over age sixteen, she returns to the hall and throws herself into her studies for her third turn in the apprenticeship, getting extra lessons in both designing patterns for cloth and designing clothes. She even makes a screen for her mother and father's anniversary.

Age 17, year four. Her family at the smithhall transfers to Xanadu Weyr. Kagora is reluctant, but follows to Xanadu in a temporary transfer to assist in things like making day to day clothes, curtains, etc. She learns patience and the practical applications of her craft.

Age eighteen, year five. One final year to develop Kagora's skills, though she could have taken the tests for Journeyman right then, she insists on spending an extra year honing her talents at design.

Age 19, present. She is promoted about three IC months prior to Ro and Rhadamanth's recent hatching.

Speciality

Design/Dyes

Commissions

Logs

Firelizards

Shepard
Big and brown, the hatchling appears and seems quite as solid as a rock. Pickiness is obvious by the way the hatchling holds his head high, tilted ever so slightly when it casts it's judgement. He's a deep brown color, hues of chocolate brown and murkiness drift through in gentle swirls along his body. His figure is cut firm, neat, and crisp. His angeled head appears as almost a triangle and his eyes cut into perfect circles. Despite his large and angel-like shape he is agile, his build making it easy for him to dart about here and there.
Shepard is banded in the colors of his owner's home.
Shepard is 4 Turns, 2 months, and 13 days old and is 55 centimeters in length with a wingspan of 88 cm.

McKay
Plump and round is the little green. She has almost rosy tints behind her green, making her seem almost blushing. Her wings are quite large for her small body in which she uses to hide her form now and then. Her round body makes it hard for her to flit and flutter about. Round head with beady, small eyes she has a keen watching eye, always mindful of anyone who may take her food.
McKay is banded in the colors of her owner's home.
McKay is 4 Turns, 2 months, and 13 days old and is 45 centimeters in length with a wingspan of 73 cm.

Weir
While overall she's a little on the pale side for a green, and a little small, she is in the peak of health and as agile as any green can be. This green is all about grace and movement, quiet pride and lots of action. Pale jades and spring greens cover her from the tip of her long, pointed, muzzle to the tip of her equally as long tail, the two hues broken up by the equally as diluted or faded hues of other greenish tints. Covering her narrow shaped head, yellowish green flows over her angular features like a well carved mask, ending just a bit behind her sharply curved head knobs. The same hue spreads out over her chest, angling up to reach her shoulders and sliding down to a stop just above her belly's underside. Darker greens, much like the hues of summer leaves, cascade over her back, wings and most of her tail, reappearing only along the slender, but lithe contours of her limbs. Her talons, ridges and the membrane of her wings carry the darkest of all greens, the hue now set at a dazzling emerald that stands out against the paler hues of her body.
Weir is banded in the colors of her owner's home.
Weir is 3 Turns, 12 months, and 25 days old and is 42 centimeters in length with a wingspan of 68 cm. width="200px"]]||

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