Name/Nicknames: Bryce Kelly
Gender: Male
Rank/Position: Sailor
Age: 27
Birthplace: Francine: near-system, developing colony

Physical Description: A well-muscled 6�1� with skin richly tanned from a life outdoors, Bryce exudes physical masculinity. A burly upper body barely tapers to a waist packed with muscle, curving into a generous bubble butt and legs well defined from riding and swimming. Deep green eyes laugh beneath his expressive brow, and short sandy hair is either in windblown disarray or is sweatily matted from his cowboy hat. His nose is quite prominent, and his roguish, somewhat uneven smile can often seem just a bit threatening, perhaps due to slightly elongated canines. Except for his cowboy hat, clothes are decidedly an afterthought to him (particularly as he has �nothing to worry about�) He typically appears in well-worn jeans and long sleeve, button up shirts (in various degrees of buttoning and sleeve rolling).

Personality: Headstrong and a huge flirt, Bryce is the kind of guy that doesn�t easily back down once he�s started something, even if it�s wrong. His stubborn streak is a mile wide and he is horrible when it comes to compromise. Not one to sit by and let others do the work, he wants to be right in the thick of things, taking matters into his own hands and getting them taken care of. A man of action, he�d rather be �doing- then thinking, a trait that has gotten him into more then one sticky situation. Largely through inexplicable good luck, he has managed to survive all his trials, despite coming away a little scarred by the experiences.

Bryce often seems goofy and immature, as if forever stuck in the mindset of his mid-teens. Likely due to this, he was a favorite and extremely effective teacher amongst the youngest Dolphineer apprentices, despite his shaky scholarly skills. He has empathy for animals and youngsters that likely stem from his own childlike sense of fun and wonder. When it comes to interacting with �other� adults, Bryce operates on somewhat of a frat-boy level. He�d probably enthusiastically say that his favorite things in life are women and beer, (not necessarily in that order). He likes hanging out with the guys, drinking, and doing stupid things like riding broken ship-planks down cliffs. A somewhat cheesy courtier, he is an enthusiastic and attentive lover, though his affections are usually short-lived. Romantic love is a concept foreign to him. Despite typically coming off as reckless and self-centered, Bryce is an incredibly loyal guy when it comes to helping people he cares about. He�s the kind of friend who�d take a bullet for you without a second thought. And while he may laugh at the shortcomings of others, he laughs the hardest at his own.

Background: Bryce was born on Francine, a small hot world relatively close to First Centauri. His grandfather had been one of the first colonists, and had staked an extensive ranchland on which Bryce grew up. His mother died when he was three, leaving his father and two older brothers as his primary caretakers. Spending most of his time out on the range, Bryce never really had a proper education nor much interaction with his peers. His life consisted of the outdoors, the herd, his horse, and the cattlemen who were his role models and friends. The first infringement upon his peaceful life was his eldest brother�s departure to the war. Being on such an underdeveloped world, the Kelly�s only contact with the fighting were Cliff�s infrequent letters. Bryce never saw his brother again, since Cliff ended up settling on Earth after the war with a woman he met while serving in the military.

As the war wound down, it meant more changes on Francine. The small planet became a popular place for retiring military and people wanting to get away from their own war-torn worlds. The population boomed, and Chip started receiving numerous offers for part or all of his grandfather�s land. Too old to change his way of life, Chip deeply resented the development that threatened to abolish the range. Realizing there was no stopping the modernization of Francine, he finally sold his land to an Officer who had included a charter on the Pern expedition as part of his offer. Payton, the middle Kelly boy, choose to stay on his home world and became part of the budding government. Bryce went with his father, the thought of a new world with plentiful open land and the promise of no modernizing intervention appealing to him.

Over the course of landing, Chip fell in love with Nadia, a war widow with two young children. Bryce might have been upset by this had he not found a new love of his own � the ocean. He had seen nothing like it on Francine. With his father setting up a sprawling ranch with his new wife and family, Bryce struck out on his own. He joined the dolphineers and helped explore the Perneese coastline. In his work he formed a close bond with a young cow, Nalta. A notorious trickster of her pod, Nalta was brave, energetic, and a perfect match for Bryce. Even when he joined the spunky Halieh in a ten-year marriage contract, their relationship came second to that of dolphin and man.

Bryce�s idyllic life came crashing to an end one dark afternoon not long after his 23rd birthday. Bryce and Nalta had been out monitoring a large school of fish when the storm whipped up. Receiving the alert of a capsized ship, the pair was first to arrive at the wreckage. In the course of valiantly rescuing a number of trapped sailors, Nalta was trapped herself and pulled to the dark depths, never to return. Bryce went into a stage of numbed shock, and after a month or so of moody depression decided to escape to his father�s ranch. Halieh, of course, had to stay with her ship on the ocean, but Kyle went with his father as Bryce returned to the range.

He had barely gotten back in rhythm with the herd when Thread came. Warned a few hours in advance, the Kellys had enough time to attempt gathering their cattle. With the deadly fall close on their heels, they managed to round up most of their breeding stock as well as some of the herd into a cave. Though their home and barns were largely destroyed, the family survived intact. That is, until Halieh decided to go north with her parents. Never one to back down from a challenge, Bryce was determined to stay in the south. The two parted rather bitterly, Halieh leaving Kyle with his father with the intent to �start over� in the north.

After a number of harrowing falls on their land and the loss of more cattle, the Kellys reluctantly joined the New Landing settlement in order to have their herd under the dwindling sled protection. Since the penned cattle didn�t need much looking after, Bryce fell back on his seafaring skills and joined the fishing fleet. He also joined New Landing�s ground crew, and soon made his way to crew leader.

New Landing also provided a wider dating pool then he�d ever experienced before, and he took full advantage of it. When one of his most frequent liaisons, the young and attractive Stacy Dane, told him she was pregnant and brought up marriage, he eventually agreed to a contract. She recently gave birth to their daughter, Haylee.

It was Chip who first became interested in the dragon project. Not only would it enable large landholdings to be protected, but also would likely create a greater need for large cattle herds. With a decidedly pro-dragon stance, Chip was definitely the initial influence in Bryce�s decision to apply to the project as a candidate. Quite pleased with his fire lizards, Bryce was intrigued by the idea of a more functional dragon. He was highly in favor of the chance to protect his colony and his children from the menace in the sky.

Arriving almost an hour after the call went out for the candidate�s return, Bryce entered the egg room. About another hour passed when a bronze broke shell, the first male dragon to hatch. The infant confidently rejected the pressing crowd around him, making a galloping charge to his chosen.

Needless to say, things have been a little different since that fateful moment. The most obvious changes have been in work and the move with his family up to the Plateau. With a growing dragon to contend with, Bryce had to give up his ground crew as well as take shorter shifts on his job. Now that the bronze has grown too large to easily fit on a ship, Bryce has gone back to teaching a few beginning dolphineering classes. He�s teaching �Fleet Duties 14A: Harbor Skills� as well as assisting with Intro. Dolphin Signs and Intro. Water Rescue.

Yet perhaps the more important effects of becoming a dragon partner are showing up in his family life. Caring for a young dragon means Bryce has been less available to his wife and their infant daughter. His son Kyle also felt the effects, resenting both the move away from his friends and all the time Bryce spends with the overgrown fire lizard. Additionally, his connection with Marduth is starting to make him question the nature of relationships on levels he�d never explored before. When the bronze sneakily took his maiden flight, Bryce got a dose of what it was like to be shut out by someone he really cared about. Though he hasn�t quite faced up to the implications yet, his self-serving, self-sufficient paradigm has been challenged.

Family/Friends:
Father: Chip Kelly/61/ cattle rancher/ New Landing
1st contract: Halieh Trubrek/25/ sailor / North
Kyle Kelly/ 5/ New Landing
2nd contract: Stacy Dane/ 18/ wait staff/ New Landing
Daughter: Haylee/infant/New Landing

Hobbies & Skills: He has a number of skills related to being a self-sufficient rancher. Though no expert, he can do basic leather and metal work, shoe a horse, ride like he was born to it, perform minor veterinary tasks, and basically survive out on his own for extended periods of time. Since arriving on Pern, he has added seafaring skills and is a very strong swimmer. He knows dolphin signs, basics of charting, and shipboard duties from his time as a dolphineer. He also picked up one of his biggest hobbies � surfing. He is a bottomless drinker, an uninhibited dancer, a wonderful masseuse, and has the most annoying good luck.

If your persona were a song, the title: �Kryptonite�

Pets:
Brown Jake- Coloring much like a blood bay, mainly reddish brown with dark black-brown shading around the bunching skin at his joints, sweeping over his ridges, and darkening his wing sails. He has black claws, disturbingly small eyes, and has been obviously overweight since his first meal. It is a tribute to Bryce's oiling that his hide has not cracked. A very lazy brown, his rotund form is typically found draped over something or other. He flies laboriously, hardly ever rises after anything, and is likely to perch on a sled in order to flame at Threadfall. He enjoys rolling in sand... in pretty much anything, really. Hopefully not dinner or manure. He doesn't like to be disturbed when dozing, which is often, and will snap at anything that awakens him. When he is awake, he is reasonable useful and is a good messenger and watchdog.

Blue Gremlin - A dark royal blue with a somewhat milky heterogeneity to his coloring of more subtle dusty blue. He has smoky gray, almost pearlescent claws and very angular lines to his very small body. His eyes are set high on his head, giving him a somewhat crazed look that his frequent licking of lips doesn't help. He spends a lot of time creeping around and hiding, but has periodic bursts of hyperactivity and will go careening recklessly about. He is quite bold, whether it is chasing queens, flying Thread, or poking his pointy snout into something new. He�s good at acting as a lookout.

Brown Spunk- The golden-brown color of a well-roasted marshmallow, with a light creamy brown (almost white) coloring his claws and in a spider-webbing design stretched over his muzzle and wing sails. A menta of medium size and musculature, Spunk is a nervous and clingy dragonet. Though many things may frighten him and prompt him to flee, he gets visibly upset when separated from his person so tends to cower behind Bryce. As a result, he is the most likely to be seen with the sailor. While he is helpful in Thread fall, he makes a poor messenger, as he is reluctant to leave Bryce�s side.

Brown Strafe- A vibrant cinnamon-brown shade with a dusting of reddish pigment across his wing sails and underbelly. Large and stocky with coppery claws and prominent neck ridges, Strafe has a cocky fly-boy attitude. He flirts shamelessly with anything female and has courage bordering on recklessness. He sometimes makes a nuisance of himself by bringing �his ladies� offerings of fish and other dead things. This is not always popular with the people whose rooms he stinks up by his kind gifts. The most intelligent of the fair, he is very well trained and is therefore the most helpful to Bryce.

Dragon's Name: Marduth
Age: Youth (8.1.11)
Color: Bronze

Physical Description: Marduth�s physique is drawn in regal lines, suggesting a developing structure that will be as graceful as it is powerful. While growing he appears a bit scrawny and bony, like a leggy young racehorse. His wings have a relatively moderate length to width ratio, well suited to the high speed and narrow turns of a load-carrying predator. His sculpted narrow snout rises in handsome lines to artfully carved eye ridges, arching somewhere between haughtiness and chortling glee. Head knobs are broad and low-set, hardly marring a smooth profile as head curves into a neck set with low and smooth ridges.

The dark snout that heralded Marduth�s arrival is a deep, molten brown-bronze, as if the impetuous hatchling had dipped his nose into a cauldron of the liquid metal. If so, he had proceeded to fling his head back, for drizzles of the deep color splash across eye ridges and drip down the crest of his neck, leaving wispy trails all the way to wing bases. Toes, too, have been dipped in the cauldron, and claws are drips of near black-bronze.

Molten spattering smoothes in hue to a creamy, perfect balance of gold, brown, and green. Dusting sprays of frosty gold, rich brown, or mellow green pigment highlight the nooks of his form where skin is most supple. The long span of delicate wings is a beautiful shade of lightly tarnished gold, a color that would be fitting on one of his queenly sisters. Yet as light shines through the thin membranes it invokes the green of a filigree of veins, returning a more bonze cast to the large sails.

Personality: Eager and adventurous, he is likely to bound into anything that draws his curiosity. He�s not easily fazed, and even at a young age tends to do the male thing of putting on a strong face. Recently, flying has consumed the majority of his focus and given him a considerable ego boost. Confidant and just a tad pushy, Marduth is a dragon that wants things done his way. That said, he tends to be quite accommodating towards his gold and green counter parts. It is unclear whether this is his own gentlemanly nature or his rider�s flirtatious tendencies beginning to rub off. While he tends to enjoy the company of other dragons, he is much more reserved when it come to people