Character sketch (freewriting)
Oct. 3rd, 2006 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mary_j_59David, here's the character sketch. Worth going on with? click below to see it:
"Thoughts before cadet training' - Kiril Tesurik, age 15, Telanan, a farm outside Dry Rivers, a town on the high plateau of the white mountains.
He's nearly 16, and it worries him that he isn't promised in marriage to anyone. Not that it surprises him. His is an old family, but poor, and their lives entail a lot of hard work and few luxuries. He's also not particularly handsome - not as tall as he would like to be, and a bit too thin, though he's strong for his size and a good sprinter. He wins races at the games in school, and no one has been able to beat him in a duel for the past three years. But he's a little too pale skinned and light eyed to be conventially handsome, and his hair is too straight. Behind his back, he knows some of the nastier boys whisper that he is a half breed. It doesn't bother him too much, both because he knows none of them would dare to say it to his face, and because he knows it's a lie. He's also starting to wonder if it would matter if it were true. Would he be a different person? Kiril doesn't think so; he is who he is, and he can't imagine being anyone different. But he does wish he weren't so shy around girls.
He was in love once, but it was a disaster. Well, probably most things like that are a disaster when you're 13 or 14. He fell in love with a girl who didn't like him at all - wouldn't even look at him - because she liked a younger boy. And Kiril went out of his way to pick fights with that boy - Zhoskan, that was his name - and make his life miserable. Zhoskan wasn't a bad person; they could have been friends, if Kiril hadn't been so jealous. He doesn't like to think about it now. Doesn't like the person he was then. People have told him he is very mature for his age. When he was only 10 or 11, his auntie Thanike startled him by saying so; she said "You look out at the world through old eyes, don't you?" But there was nothing mature about him the year he was in love. And now that pair will be getting married, next year, before Zhoskan starts his military training. Kiril wonders about that. Isn't 15 far too young to marry? Do you even know who you are at that age? He knows who he is, and knows he is not ready to be betrothed. Really, he is only worried about betrothal because it's expected of him as the head of his family. But there is time yet. Military service will be enough to cope with - he wants to go into space, if he can - and, as the head of his household, he also has the farm to manage. It's probably no wonder most girls think him too serious. And then there is Kenneth, his little brother.
Since they have different mothers, most people would say Kenneth wasn't his brother at all. Kiril and Kenneth belong to different clans - Kiril's family is Tesurik and Kenneth's is Kelesta. Tesurik is a noble house, but Kelesta - their father's house - is not. Kenneth is nearly 8 now, about half Kiril's age, and he follows Kiril everywhere. Wants to do everything his big brother does. Kiril grumbles about this a little, but not much; he is the person who looks after Kenneth and teaches him, and he knows he will miss him when he goes to Newport, on the peninsula, to start his military training. And who will look after Kenneth when Kiril is gone? Their father acknowledged Kenneth by giving him his clan name; usually you have your mother's clan name, but Kenneth's mother was a slave. Unlike Kiril, he really is a half-breed. Their father ignores Kenneth most of the time, but, then, he ignored Kiril, too. When he thinks about it, he was alone a lot of the time, too, when he was 8. Well - as alone as anyone can be, in their compound. Kenneth will be all right. He hopes so, anyway.
He loves his home, and the thought of going so far away sometimes feels like a blow to his stomach. The sky is so open, here. When he's standing on the ridge behind the house, it seems to him, sometimes, that he could step right off it into that sky. You can almost see the winds moving above you and around you, holding you up. Besides, everyone in Dry Rivers knows him, and his family, and their history. Here, he is a man to be respected. When he goes away, he will be no one until he proves himself all over again. Yet, in spite of all that, he wants to go. He wants to see the forests of the peninsula, and the ocean, which he's never seen except on vidscreens. And, most of all, he wants to learn to fly. He has wanted that since he was younger than Kenneth - to meet other people, not from Dry Rivers or even from Telanan, and know how they live and how they think. He wants to learn. But he will come back, after his service, and spend the rest of his life here, on the farm that his family has owned for seven generations. He is quite sure of that. He wants that, too, and he supposes people usually get what they really want.
"Thoughts before cadet training' - Kiril Tesurik, age 15, Telanan, a farm outside Dry Rivers, a town on the high plateau of the white mountains.
He's nearly 16, and it worries him that he isn't promised in marriage to anyone. Not that it surprises him. His is an old family, but poor, and their lives entail a lot of hard work and few luxuries. He's also not particularly handsome - not as tall as he would like to be, and a bit too thin, though he's strong for his size and a good sprinter. He wins races at the games in school, and no one has been able to beat him in a duel for the past three years. But he's a little too pale skinned and light eyed to be conventially handsome, and his hair is too straight. Behind his back, he knows some of the nastier boys whisper that he is a half breed. It doesn't bother him too much, both because he knows none of them would dare to say it to his face, and because he knows it's a lie. He's also starting to wonder if it would matter if it were true. Would he be a different person? Kiril doesn't think so; he is who he is, and he can't imagine being anyone different. But he does wish he weren't so shy around girls.
He was in love once, but it was a disaster. Well, probably most things like that are a disaster when you're 13 or 14. He fell in love with a girl who didn't like him at all - wouldn't even look at him - because she liked a younger boy. And Kiril went out of his way to pick fights with that boy - Zhoskan, that was his name - and make his life miserable. Zhoskan wasn't a bad person; they could have been friends, if Kiril hadn't been so jealous. He doesn't like to think about it now. Doesn't like the person he was then. People have told him he is very mature for his age. When he was only 10 or 11, his auntie Thanike startled him by saying so; she said "You look out at the world through old eyes, don't you?" But there was nothing mature about him the year he was in love. And now that pair will be getting married, next year, before Zhoskan starts his military training. Kiril wonders about that. Isn't 15 far too young to marry? Do you even know who you are at that age? He knows who he is, and knows he is not ready to be betrothed. Really, he is only worried about betrothal because it's expected of him as the head of his family. But there is time yet. Military service will be enough to cope with - he wants to go into space, if he can - and, as the head of his household, he also has the farm to manage. It's probably no wonder most girls think him too serious. And then there is Kenneth, his little brother.
Since they have different mothers, most people would say Kenneth wasn't his brother at all. Kiril and Kenneth belong to different clans - Kiril's family is Tesurik and Kenneth's is Kelesta. Tesurik is a noble house, but Kelesta - their father's house - is not. Kenneth is nearly 8 now, about half Kiril's age, and he follows Kiril everywhere. Wants to do everything his big brother does. Kiril grumbles about this a little, but not much; he is the person who looks after Kenneth and teaches him, and he knows he will miss him when he goes to Newport, on the peninsula, to start his military training. And who will look after Kenneth when Kiril is gone? Their father acknowledged Kenneth by giving him his clan name; usually you have your mother's clan name, but Kenneth's mother was a slave. Unlike Kiril, he really is a half-breed. Their father ignores Kenneth most of the time, but, then, he ignored Kiril, too. When he thinks about it, he was alone a lot of the time, too, when he was 8. Well - as alone as anyone can be, in their compound. Kenneth will be all right. He hopes so, anyway.
He loves his home, and the thought of going so far away sometimes feels like a blow to his stomach. The sky is so open, here. When he's standing on the ridge behind the house, it seems to him, sometimes, that he could step right off it into that sky. You can almost see the winds moving above you and around you, holding you up. Besides, everyone in Dry Rivers knows him, and his family, and their history. Here, he is a man to be respected. When he goes away, he will be no one until he proves himself all over again. Yet, in spite of all that, he wants to go. He wants to see the forests of the peninsula, and the ocean, which he's never seen except on vidscreens. And, most of all, he wants to learn to fly. He has wanted that since he was younger than Kenneth - to meet other people, not from Dry Rivers or even from Telanan, and know how they live and how they think. He wants to learn. But he will come back, after his service, and spend the rest of his life here, on the farm that his family has owned for seven generations. He is quite sure of that. He wants that, too, and he supposes people usually get what they really want.