Name: Dan Torrence

Gender: Male, pan

Age/DOB: 26 / 2254

Origin: Vault Earth, Nuka World

Family: The Pack were his family

Other: Melissa wants to shove him together with some other more actively Vortal people, there will definitely be children coming from this guy

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 175, quite strong and fit with astoundingly broad shoulders and muscular biceps; if you can get him out of those furry pants, his legs are very well proportioned as well

Hair: black, kept short now, but he admits that he used to have it quite long

Eyes: hazel brown, mostly browns, intense and under strong brows

Appearance: Dan is remarkably attractive, and he knows it; he has lightly tanned skin and a number of small scars that only serve to make him more desirable; he has kept the Pack gear from Nuka World's gangs, and 'cleans up well' when put into a suit or... anything else; his voice is just as sultry as his smoky stare

Genetic Abilities: it's possible that he has some amount of sense or control over plant matter, given that he very much prefers farming and gardening to hunting or other duties. Even mold and fungus seem to work with him instead of against him. Dan talks to plants, perhaps they talk back? Come to think of it, he smells of citrus and roses, and they don't HAVE citrus or roses at this settlement...

Icarus Processing: none, but Melissa is adamant that if he doesn't have it done, or something similar at Rapture, that if he has any children... they must. She would like to mix him up with Jade or Autumn, frankly, she's convinced that he is this valuable.

Image Credits: Bethesda
Skills or Profession: though he grew up with the Pack, or at least the people who became the Pack on arrival to Nuka World, his job was usually feeding and tending the animals, rather than running around like a lunatic gunning people down or screaming for attention like a rabid ghoulrilla. He is exceptionally talented at getting plants to grow strong and healthy, and the fruits and veggies that he farms seem to taste better and provide more nutrition than other farmers'. Dan can sniff the air around a place and determine whether there are good or bad influences in the soil, or if cross-contamination may be a problem due to winds, and plans accordingly. He is the one the settlement relies upon for preserving and storing food, as meat seems to remain safe to eat after sitting out as long as he's there to casually brush away whatever bacteria or mold is trying for it. The settlement's plant life has not suffered in any way from blight or even the effects of radiation, and Dan is working with Avery to perhaps make some good new foods.
Personality: Dan is remarkably pleasant and though he's clearly vain about his looks, he knows he's not all that bright? So he doesn't try pushing his nose into other people's business. He was always careful to mind who was in charge in the Pack structure, and stayed well away from the bullshit politics of Nuka World before Levi and Aretha subsequently straightened it up (read: killed all the raider gang members who wouldn't cooperate or change their alliegance). This kept him alive through the changes there, and since there were plenty of other people coming in and doing the farming - and less need to keep... really weird pets fed, he did the sensible thing and started off to this other settlement. He wants to fit in, and does like attention, so he's almost always on hand for group events. Doesn't mind being known as the fluff-headed stud, because... well. I mean. Stud. (waggles eyebrows, puffs up, has a gaggle of hangers-on.)

Events or History:

"I don't remember you being there," he said, "but it was pretty busy then." Dan spoke quietly, but Trinity noted that he was also slightly distracted with a small sprouted rootlet in his hand. Dirt acted as a contrast to it, but she saw the bright tan lines of the plant actually growing in the few minutes they sat under the shade tree and spoke.

"I wasn't there, myself," Trinity admitted. "I'm glad that you decided to take the option to join up though."

He shrugged, and Trinity wanted to throw herself at those shoulders. She blinked away that thought, it would return every time he spoke. "It seemed stupid to start shooting. The whole point of having the place settled was... y'know. To settle? Too much fighting and not enough nesting."

He referred to his cot and blanket up in the second floor of the Vault as his 'nest', and it was adorable. "Not that you can't handle yourself in a fight," Trinity reminded him. He gave a semi-bashful smile.

"Yeah I mean. I can take a feral's head off if I need to."

"I've seen you slice a stingwing in half with it," she indicated the shovel he had leaned up against the rocks. "That's better than I can pull off, and I'm good at that shit."

"It takes a steady hand," he said, "but you have to be ... what's the word, de...decisive? Just get it done." He turned his gaze toward the gardens and crops that were now starting to poke up across the hill. "No pest in here will last long chewing these plants," he made a 'shovel chop' motion, "when you know just where those little buggers will run."

Obviously his experiences with the Pack meant he had to deal with molerats and other burrowing animals, and Trinity had no doubt that they'd be eating molerat stew now and again thanks to his patrols of their gardens. She wondered: did he sense their movement through the root systems? Maybe. That was worth looking into, but she wasn't sure that he even registered that other people didn't have that same 'sense' of the plants around them. The way he casually sparked life into a half-withered shrub as he walked past it, or removed a layer of fungus from a rock they needed to dig up? If others noticed it, they said nothing.

"Oh hey, I hear that song, did someone get the radio working?" Dan perked up and looked toward the Vault.

"Yeah, probably Amelia or Leia, they want some kind of distraction while they work." Trinity looked at the farmer as he stood, stretched, and picked up his shovel, and thought the better of announcing how much of a distraction he would be if he walked in there...

"Well, back to work for me, then? Maybe we could get a speaker out here, Nuka World's were always playing that same tune..." He strode back to his section of the farm plot, shovel over his broad shoulder, humming 'what if there was a place with all the zip of Nuka Cola'.

***

Dan and others sat watching the newsreel-styled information about dragons again. Some of them did it just to gaze at the dragons shown in their glory, with wings outstretched and flame coming from their gaping mouths. Others wanted to pick out differences in the dragons that they spied - that one had scales, but those others clearly had fur? Wingsails, head adornments, tails... all those varieties!

Dan likened it to strains of plants, or breeds of dogs - there were short haired and long haired dogs, there were red roses and red potatoes. Each had their role, their niche in the world. (Far be it from him to really know the word 'niche', though...) So after a while he decided that he'd be good with a specific place, Dragonhope - that sounded pretty good to him, dragons meant hope, right? For travel to a hatching.

He wasn't fearless in the air, it required bravery to even approach the big shiny bronze colored Serianth with his bags slung over his shoulder, and with Gadget the Ghoul beside him among others - Skye, Aspen, Logan, Ruben, Gabriel, their names wouldn't really need to be recalled, as they would be splitting up apparently, going to other worlds, other dragon hosts. But Gadget and he would return when - if - they impressed at this 'weyr'. Since Dan knew he wasn't the brightest bulb in the lightshow, he was diligent about memorizing things. Animal parts translated easily into dragon parts.

But dragons.... Still, they were always going to dazzle him. Even when they would return to Wakefield and have others of many breeds nearby, Dan could tell that these dragons were stunning even in their own settings. He had to shake his head and concentrate, when the instructor - the 'candidate master' sorry - tapped at the chalk board showing anatomy. Dan knew the right words for those weird parts that didn't come on Earthly animals, and he actually asked compelling questions - did the dragons require just meat, or did they also eat foliage to help clear their system like some predators do? Did they have the ability to vomit, some creatures didn't, after all, and he knew that lizards and snakes were among those. But these weren't reptiles, and Dan nodded deeply with that knowledge. They weren't exactly mammals, either, they laid eggs. The dragons ate meat and bone, and consumed 'fire stone' to breathe their flames, and even that didn't go over Dan's head; combustion was something that happened when two gasses or a substance hit another just the right way. Eating up that stuff and then blowing hot air out? Flames! like a flame thrower! They had those at Saugus Ironworks, Dan kind of gave a shudder...

(continued below!)

Dragon

Name: Birryth
Gender: Male
Size/Shoulder/Length: Medium-large 12' s
Colors: Black winged Brown
Features: pernese old blood, but with high chances for unusual colors and off-gendered offspring particularly if paired with another of such lines
Powers:
Parentage: V2Y1 Brown Female Hildemeceth + Black Theurth
Origin: Dragonhope Weyr giveaway 2021, original art by Falora of Talor Cliff Weyr
Other Info: big and strong, in fact surprisingly big and very strong. He is bigger than both his parents, which seems odd, but there he is. He is a sweetheart, attentive and curious as Dan noticed, and makes for exceptional guard duty. That 'wall' he helped build serves as a perch lookout, where he or other dragons can stand poised for duty.

When the time came, Dan hadn't even really noticed that people still glanced at the parents of the clutch a bit weirdly. A brown and a black dragon, so what? A brown female, and black dragon mate? Apparently that was a bit odd to the locals. Oh well! Dan knew that these dragons had some kind of ranking system, but since he wouldn't be expected to use it at all once they got home to Wakefield, he slacked off a little in grasping their color-based knowledge.

So he was merely dazzled by the brown with black wingsails that came to him, because Birryth spoke into his mind, not because he was a combination of those unusual parents coloring! The hunger, the relief at being outside his confining shell, exhaustion and sensations that Dan didn't realize you could feel 'for the first time'... It was both hot and cold, he'd come out from that shell sticky but was drying and the egg goo was crisping and falling off with every movement. Dan remembered to tell the attendant the dragon's name, but he was still in a daze, a hungry one, as he found the dragonet his very first meal!

Birryth grew steadily and strongly. Everyone expected this, 'brown dragons were the workers' was the general feeling that Dan got from the whole group of riders. But Dan also knew that this dragon was confident, curious, alert. He would make such a great guardian of their Vault, he practiced with other dragons, and creatures like flitters - did they spring out from the ground? He'd stamp on them and mantle exits with his big broad wings. Did they run at him from rocks? He could dodge so well already! He could even smack something flying right out of the air with his tail, and that surprised everyone, particularly the owner of the addled flitter that had gotten in the way of his practice that day...

And once it was finally time to head home, Dan didn't regret it, but he was a little sorry that he couldn't easily keep up with those people who he now counted on as friends back at the Weyrling hall. But their dragons were big, some had already moved on to their new homes, Dan wanted to make sure that his dragon was prepared for tough fights with raiders or the odd appearance of the Brotherhood, so they took up a little sky fighting and trained there before going back home once more. Dan knew that their home was on another planet, he never did quite get his head around it being 'in a sky that you could never see its star' because it was in another dimension entirely.

But none of that mattered at all, really. The only thing they needed to know was that Birryth was strong and healthy, and could help uproot dead trees or move boulders with ease, and helped assemble a bit of a perimeter wall. He was also very good at hunting, traveling with the other fliers overland until they could easily spot herds of mutant deer, even bringing back two-headed moose carcasses at times! The dragons would hunt for themselves first, then bring back the spares for the Humans, and that seemed to work just great given that Dan would then inspect the meat, make sure nothing nasty was hiding in it, and put it in their cold storage below in the deep Vault.

Of course, Birryth also helped win the ladies, or the gents, on those long cool evenings in Autumn. He was just as much a charmer with a heart of gold - or a bronze maybe - as his rider.