Alyna’s In Deep with the Lily Cartel green Haquith

Bright chartreuse overwhelms this voluptuous dragon's form from tip of her dainty muzzle down over her sinuous neck between her shoulders and then travelling over her ample hindquarters and generous rump to end its journey at the whiplike tip of the thickly powerful tail. Headknobs and neck ridges are dusted with a deep verdant emerald while faint tendrils of crimson insinuates themselves down her neck and over her back. Underbelly gradually lightens to a pale lime, matched in the delicate translucent wingsails. All four claws darken to a jeweled leaf green, tipped by earthen mossy green at their very sharp tips.

Dragon Inspiration

I was walking around in a botanic garden one day, absolutely glorious out, perfect temperature, and I came across a pond just COVERED in lily pads. Geek that I am, all I could think of was, "Damn, this would make for an awesome start to a dragon inspiration." I wasn't currently in need of a dragon, but, why not write it and see what happened?

So it all started with a scene like this:

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Super peaceful, lots of colours and shiny objects to play around with. The dragonflies added a ton of movement, as did the waterfall back there.

Diving deeper I found what I thought would be the PERFECT backbone of the inspiration: Heqet, Egyptian Frog Goddess.

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But even then, it seemed a little cliche, you know? So as I was playing around with the title the word Cartel sprang up and I was like, "Oh WHAT IF…" And thus I stumbled upon the beautiful Sandra Ávila Beltrán.

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She'd started university when her boyfriend kidnapped her. That led her to dropping her university degree, and instead getting in deep with Mexico's Cocaine cartels. She eventually became known as the Queen of Cartels which underlined her rise in fame. What better juxtaposition for a peaceful setting like a lily pad than a fiery latina who knows what she wants and will do whatever she must to get it?

Description Inspiration

I've always had this thing for lily pads on ponds. They're just so freaking COOL. They're leaves, that grow on water, are strong enough to hold shiz, come in all shapes and sizes plus FLOWERS. They have flowers. So Haquith's skin started here:

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Dark aquatic greens with brushes of reddish-green stripes? Yes please~ A rounded body that tapers to extreme points, you get the idea right? Plus, a little frog, just for the extra green.

Plus,

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I mean, just LOOK at those big eyes, and the shiny details on the toeses. So completely adorable! But also, like, poisonous if ingested wrong. So be careful~

Name Inspiration

Wikipedia has the Heqet article starting thus: Heqet (Ḥeqet, Ḥeḳet; also Ḥeqtit, Ḥeḳtit) Everything about those letters had me in love, but they were also so completely gross. Look at the hieroglyphics though! THEY HAVE A LITTLE WOMAN AND A LITTLE FROG.
hieroglyphs.jpg (Wikipedia screenshot)

I couldn't abandon it, so eventually I settled on Haquith. Not too long, not too short, rolls easily off the tongue, and still has some passing resemblance to the name that inspired it. DONE.

Mindvoice

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It'll never be quiet again. NEVER. Not when you sleep, or eat, or, um, well, you know what else people do. Behind every action comes the faintest of buzzes like a pair of gossamer wings flitting a thousand beats a second.

You think it'd get annoying right? That constant sound? And maybe at first it is, but as you and Haquith settle in together it becomes routine and comforting. It doesn't really matter if you're irritated, Haquith will wear you down with time!

It's a world of colour that she explodes you into as she claims you as hers, a world filled with flowers, lily pads, and an ever present sense of action.

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She darts from thought to thought like a frog jumping from lily pad to lily pad. She alights upon one before jumping on to another as quickly as she came to the first. Under each bounce of thought is a slight splash, the thin layer of water upon the lily pad disturbed by the moment.

It almost seems like solid ground, the way that greenery is spread about, but never let it fool you. Under the illusion of solidity there is only water. That water is apt to betray her as quickly as it would save her. Sometimes her thoughts get derailed and OFF she goes…

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SPLASH INTO WATER. It's a dead end for thought, and also a way to retreat when she knows she's been backed into a logical corner. Not an awesome place to be, but if it's where she's got to go to be safe, IT IS WHERE SHE WILL GO.

To round it all out a scent lingers, it's strength a hint to Haquith's feelings.

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It's called Lily of the valley, and it's a precious commodity. It's a scent that can knock a man on his knees, or twine about him till he wants to just come closer and see what Haquith wants to say.

Physicalities

Oh baby, Haquith doesn't walk. Haquith SHIMMIES. Watch those hips move to-and-fro as she works her way across the ground.

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Shake it to the left… shake it to the right… shake your booootttyyy….

ANYWAY, that's just the start. Her shimmy comes naturally and it'll only get more ponouced as she gets older. Sometimes you might want to be all, "JUST WALK IN A STRAIGHT LINE," but no. This is her STYLE BABY.

Part of why she does that little dance though is because of her skin. It has a tendency towards… warts. Kinda in unplesant places. Usually she can hide them easily because MOST of her skin is super pure and beautiful, but sometimes…

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At least you won't have to oil her a lot. She soaks in liquid super easily and doesn't expel it. You might watch out if she stays in super cold temperatures for too long (the three breaths of between don't count as long), that oft-damp hide of hers is super susceptible to cold. She'll let you know though, so don't be worried about not being aware.

In the darkness she doesn't exactly GLOW… but she does have a really weird way of reflecting glow-light off her skin. It's almost like her hide soaks in extra colour and reflects back what looks SUPER neon green. It'll be QUITE a sight if she's in view of glows when she decides to, y'knoq, GLOW.

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She also is SUPER EFFECTIVE at getting into the sky. SEE HOW SHE JUMPS? SEE SEE SEE?

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Of course, the first few times she'll jump super high, get your expectations up, then SPLAT. She lands right back on the ground. At least she caught a lot of air.

Also, good luck keeping her on the ground. Maybe you should try to tie her wings down? Just to be safe.

Personality

From the second that Haquith breaks shell you've got a WHOLE TON OF SASS in one green body. It doesn't matter that she isn't the biggest green out there, she's got the most attitude.

Honestly, she probably should have been born a gold. It was just an unfortunate accident that left her green instead. She'll be the queen of what little domain she's given though. Heaven help you if you ever weyrmate, she's going to run that other dragon RAGGED. If you happen to attach yourself to a non-rider she'll just accept them as her doting servant too, even if they aren't quite a fan of that particular idea.

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Haquith loves herself some shiny. The more shiny and gold the happier she is. When you're a poor weyrling she MIGHT let you get away with costume jewelry, but as the pair of you get older, damn if she's not going to demand the REAL STUFF.

You: » But dragon's don't wear earrings… «
Haquith: « Don't care, MAKE IT WORK. »

So good luck with figuring out how to retrofit some earrings for your vain green. It's a thing that has got to happen. Maybe you'll eventually be able to persuade her that it'd be easier to just add the sparklies to the straps and everything rather than right into her actual hide.

She'll keep her Queen Bitch to a minimum around the LEGITIMATE queens of the weyr. She knows well enough to keep her trap shut. Her friends and compatriots are the ones who get to bare the full brunt of her attitute and tantrums.

Because she'll have a LOT of tantrums. Her oil is too cold, her blankets aren't big enough, her straps are too scratchy, she's too hot, too cold, whatever. There are SO MANY THINGS in this world that she can complain about. Sometimes she'll sprawl downwards onto the ground and firmly refuse to get up again until someone more powerful than her says gtfu, or you cave into whatever demand that she has laid at your feet.

Violence doesn't phase your Haquith. It's like she was born without that particular all-important empathy for life gene. She can be more than a little cold when it comes to life-or-death. IT makes her a GREAT threadfighter, because she doesn't get all triggered when a dragon goes down, but it also means you're going to have to be careful letting her near people who have had significant losses in their lives. She gets when you're hurting but… seriously, you have her so shouldn't that be enough?

=Ávila made a point to never use cocaine herself. “If you do it, the men think you are just another disposable woman, you won’t be respected,” she said.

Haquith has more than a little feminist streak to her. She wants to be held to the same standard as ALL the boys, while also being respected for her pure feminine nature. When the boys start to get chauvinistic, she's going to be right there throwing it back in their faces. It PISSES HER OFF when they can do something that she can't just because they're bigger than she is. Honestly, she'll get known as one who is more than willing to nip at a dragon who gets on her bad side by making her feel inferior.

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RESPECT is a huge theme with Haquith. Not her towards others, of course, but them towards HER and towards her SISTERS. Gold, green, human, firelizard - name the female and Haquith is on their side. She will OH YOU DID NOT any guy that she sees as showing disrespect. Their downfall will begin to be planned right there with the help of ANY conspirator that will sign on to her way of doing things.

Alright, so she does have a few redeeming qualities. For one, she kinda loves you. Like, a lot. She's your fiercest champion in anything you do and will always be pushing you along. If you really hate something she's gotten into she'll reluctantly pull back, even if she has to mutter to herself with angry buzzing in the background.

Haquith also loves to see others well off. When she's decided that she's BFFs with someone (especially another girl), she will go ALL OUT for them, even giving them her stuff.

Haquith: « Those earrings would look AMAZING on you. Give them to her, no, they're perfect. It's perfect. »

Haquith is also an unabashed gossip. Not that she SPREADS gossip, but she collects gossip. She wants to know everything about those around her, especially their secrets. When other dragons air their laundry for everyone else to hear Haquith will sit and carefully take it in. It all gets filed back to you so that you can keep hold on it. She knows she forgets stuff, but that's why she was given someone to be impressed to!

Thread

Haquith's opinion can be summed up in two words,

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This blight was PERSONALLY set upon Pern so that she had to face up to the fact that she doesn't have the stamina to last a full fall, wasn't it? She can't help but take Thread SUPER PERSONALLY. She does not have to like this, and she is sharding NOT going to like it. AFter thread is over Haquith's either going to be in full on bitch mode, or she's going to go sulk in a corner and hope everyone forgets that she doesn't have the same staminia as a bronze or brown.

Her way of fighting thread is much like the cartel queen she's based off of, quick, choppy gunfire. She is really good for sweeping into those spots where the larger dragons might miss stuff and cleaning up their messes. It sooths her vanity in a way, to be able to do something their bigger flames cannot. Damn the blues that can do the same thing though, they can do the same thing she can. It ruins her special alright?

She's going to cause some strife within her wing when she first joins it until she finds her NICHE in their movement. Maybe if she had a female dragon to look up to it would go a little easier on her. But if that's not possible… just get ready for some bumpy roads, and perhaps some thread scores either on her or on her wingmates until trust gets established between them.

Flights

Oh baby baby baby. FLIGHTS. FLIGHTS EVEN THE PLAYING FIELD OUT.

Haquith's inferiority complex gets smoothed away during flights. SHE is the QUEEN BEE during her time. Even a gold isn't going to get her way when those hormones fly. She's going to make those males DANCE TO HER TUNE. They're going to shimmy their ases in the way she wants them, and if they don't, she's going to absolutely make them pay.

Some greens lose their cool during flights, but not Haquith. She's laser focused. No unworthy jerk is going to win one of her flights. Even if the lust isn't quite used up yet, Haquith will let someone catch if she's determined that they are the right one, just because she wants to deny herself to those who are NOT the right ones.

Leading up to her glowing time (which we covered in physicalities right? Her EXTRA SPECIAL GLOW IN THE DARK?) she'll get even more demanding than normal. Her ledge needs to be arranged just so, and all of her hide has to be cleaned till it practically shines. Everything has to be perfect. Even when she bloods right before going up - IF she bloods, she's going to make sure that as little of that blood gets on her glowing hide.

In the air she is one for taunting her pursuers. She'll pull out her best tricks and try to trick them into revealing themselves as unworthy. One wrong word from them and it's oh HELL NO on mating with that bastard. The criteria for what she's looking for is constantly changing too, and is hard to pin down from flight to flight. Just because someone has won once doesn't mean she'll let them win again.

Credits

Name: K'vvan
Inspiration: K'vvan

Igen Weyr’s 2nd NPC Clutch
gold Elicheritath x bronze Hzrath