Rik Tharand

[avaenavalerian]

running: rik + kira

[riktharand]

avaenavalerian

Avaena put away her gun, but Rik’s declarations that he was unarmed did little to soothe her fears that he was telling the truth, and she kept it within reach.

It was freezing: the shelter had shielded them from the wind and the snow, but not the cold. They’d need a fire if they were going to make it through the night. It made her uneasy as Rik made his way around the wreckage, with a confidence that showed that he knew the place better than she did. She didn’t offer to help; choosing instead to watch him from her vantage point.

He’d asked what had brought her to Karth. “Survival,” She answered, simply.

Her actions had always been motivated by her need to survive. They’d fled Reva with plans to stay on Byssya, but it had proved too dangerous to gain entry onto that planet when they’d received an encrypted message from Adria Tark, warning them that the Quasars would be there. So they’d turned around, but they’d only had enough fuel to make it to Karth. It hadn’t been ideal: winter was coming. They’d always tried to avoid Karthine winters, if they could, but that they hadn’t a choice. This wasn’t the first time they’d been stuck here during a winter storm and she doubted that it would be the last.

She should have known that the pirates were the ones who had gotten to it before them. There’d been nothing of value left and it had been torn apart carelessly. She and Aurra had always been methodical when they scavenged through wreckage, moving quickly and efficiently. The pirates had a much more destructive and absentminded approach. But that would always be a striking difference between them: she and Aurra survived, but they lived. She and Aurra carried the weight of the entire universe on their shoulders, and the pirates hardly had a care in the world.

“Maybe you should just hand it all over now,” She teased dryly, but did not smile, “It would save us both time.”

When he asked for a truce, she nodded. She didn’t want to have to hurt him if she didn’t have to. She could keep to it, if he could. But agreeing didn’t mean she trusted him. She took a seat on the other side of the fire he had built and pulled her pack off from her shoulders, but kept it close. She wanted to trust him: it would make the night easier. The truth was, she didn’t. She doubted that she ever would.

Trusting others wasn’t something she did lightly.

And the truth was, she couldn’t really blame him if he took everything she had and left her for dead. Velorum Nocate wasn’t always like this, but the Quasars had made the universe a place where every man was for himself. If you weren’t, you’d end up dead.

As he moved about, building the fire, Rik quirked a grin towards her.  “That’s a damn good reason,” he responded, lightly.  “That and ‘it was the right thing to do,’ usually are...but I think we can both acknowledge that winters on Karth are never the right thing,” he quipped.  Rik took very little seriously, but he also didn’t appreciate the tense mood here.  His reaction was an to attempt at lightening that mood.  

“For us it was - you’ll be shocked by this,” he added with a twist of ironic humor.  “Just a stupid mistake.  I know, I know, us of all people.  Even we mess up every once in awhile.” he supplied with a wink.  He chuckled softly, certain she was gazing expressionlessly at him if she was paying attention at all.  “We were just passing through, picking up what we could and we, uh, absolutely weren’t counting on this weather.  Or meeting you two here which...probably means we’re screwed to hell,” he added, picturing being trapped on Karth for the rest of the winter as a result of no fuel.  It sounded like hell.  He bit the inside of his cheek as he focused on striking stones together for a spark.  When it did spark, it lit right up.  Raising both his arms with a bright grin, he laughed.  “Ta-da!”

Returning to his side of the fire, he sat by his pack with a resigned air.  Unlike Kira, he had no ambitions to actually keep it.  He felt confident that, when morning came, both Kira and his pack would be gone, leaving him only enough supplies to make it to the next most convenient spot.  Afterall, she had a gun: he did not.

Smirking as she quipped at him, Rik shook his head.  “Not a chance.  If it’s the same to you, I’d rather keep my pride - and my loot - as long as I possibly can.  Don’t worry, though, I won’t put up a struggle when the time comes.  I have no illusions about how that would go,” he added with a wry grin, resting his head against the back of the ship.

“Ok,” he said, after a moment, breaking the silence - a silence he didn’t care for, since he had nothing to occupy his time or thoughts besides worrying about his friends.  “If we’re going to have a truce, I actually have something for you...You hungry?  I’ve got, uh, a loaf of bread and-” he broke into a chuckle as he rummaged through his pack- “A bottle of whiskey.  Interested?”  Without waiting for a response, he tore the loaf in half, and pushed half her way.  She’d raced here for shelter, just like him.  She had to be hungry.  “No glasses so,” he shrugged and took a swig directly from the bottle before offering it to her with a wince.  “Careful, that’s some powerful stuff.”

Tearing off a smaller piece from his portion of the bread, he started eating, fairly certain that - since she and Aurra tended to skew closer to paranoia - she’d want to see him eat and drink it before she tried anything.  “So, where’re you from?” he asked around the food.  “I’m from Arvor.  You know, pre-Quasars,” he added with a smile.  “It was nicer then, beautiful even...So you can thank the Quasars for that fire.  Without them, I might not know how to make a fire out of random scraps and trash.”  He laughed humorlessly.  

Rik gazed into that fire, thinking of frigid nights gone by, spent in the open streets.  After the Quasars had come, Arvor had burned and it had burned and it had burned.  The Valerians might have had the worst of it, but it had been over for them pretty quickly.  The poor had endured and continued to suffer.  He’d been better off, off-world, but he wondered from time to time if he’d ever see Arvor as it once was again.  Somehow, he doubted it.

He played it all off with a smirk, but Rik would miss Old Arvor, he was sure, until the day he died (which, admittedly, probably wasn’t that far away).  “But, if we’re being honest, I’m pretty sure the Valerians wouldn’t have have liked my kind, either.  Things were a little more honest on Arvor, back then.”  He shrugged.  “So here I am, giving them a common enemy: uniting the empire,” he joked.  He probably never would have been a pirate, at all, if it hadn’t been for the Quasars, but he didn’t know what his other life might have been, either.

“You go.  Tell me something.”  He wondered if she would.  If she didn’t, he decided, he’d just go on talking.  He didn’t like the silence and it wouldn’t be the first time he’d worn someone down, anyway.  “Something I don’t know,” he added, teasingly.  “How’d you get to be such a badass?”

[lizzydobbs]

# rik + avaena (yknow in an au/if they have those sorts of things...)

haha omg she’s so dumb he’s probably in her phone like ~pirate #3~ or something like she keeps people at such an arm’s length that it probably took her a really long time to even add him in and then she was probs like “~sigh~ he did save my life i guess he deserves to be a contact smdh

she definitely does not have time to put in pictures for her contacts so he doesn’t have one at all 

same for ringtones tbh 

last text: “shut up” or “stop texting me” #facepalm

[lizzydobbs]

Rik Tharand & Kira Zareen: “hey, whoa, you alright there?”

“Hey, whoa, are you alright there?” Rik asked, brow furrowed as he gently grabbed her other arm, trying to stop her.

She quickly pulled away roughly from his touch, like an animal in a cage. “I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding,” He said, gesturing to her arm. The blood had soaked through the sleeve. “A lot. I think you’ve been shot.”

“Yeah, I was,” She replied, “And I’m fine.”

He scoffed, “Yeah, of course you are,” He shook his head.

The six of them had run into each other on Reva. They’d been arguing after Rik and Jax had been caught trying to steal fuel back from Aveana and Aurra, when guards had found them and that’s when they all ran together. Rik and Avaena had been cut off from the others and they headed to Opilor’s. He was a bar owner who also had a cellar with a hidden entrance. He’d hide fugitives and stolen goods there … for a price.

“C’mon, we need to get that out,” Rik was saying, “We can’t go anyway until the soldiers clear out.”

Avaena barely heard him. She was already rummaging through her pack, pulling out water, a needle, bandaging and other supplies. In another moment, her jacket was off and she’d started to remove the bullet herself.

“Whoa, what are you doing?” Rik asked. “Hey, let me help you.”

This hadn’t been the first time she’d done this. She and Aurra had been patching each other up for the past decade and a half, but she knew how to do it herself. It was one of the first things Aurra had thought her. They both knew that it wasn’t likely that Aurra would see this to the end. ”I’ve got it.“

“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to let other people help you sometimes.”

Avaena stopped and, looking up, her eyes found his for the first time since they’d come down here. This hadn’t been the first time that they’d gotten stuck together and she doubted it’d be the last. But she didn’t trust him. She likely never would.

She trusted Aurra.She trusted herself. And that was it.

It had been trust that had killed her family; it had been trust that had thrown Velorum Nocate to the Quasars. Her parents had trusted their advisors with their lives; their secrets and all of Velorum Nocate had suffered for it. She wouldn’t make the same mistake.

“No. That’s exactly how you get yourself killed.”

[wearethelyons]

not all treasure is silver and gold, mate

[avaenavalerian]

running: rik + kira

The dark snow clouds on the horizon threatened Karth with the first storm of winter. The warmer months on Karth were brutal enough, but the colder ones were rarely braved by anyone who wasn’t born here. It was said that the Karthians have fire burning in their veins to keep them warm. But Aurra and Avaena were Arvor born and while they had survived a Karthian winter storm before, it wasn’t something either of them were especially eager to face again, if they didn’t have to. They would return to Reva or risk sneaking onto Vaane rather than attempt to brave the harsh elements of Karth. 

It was a rare thing that would separate them, but there wasn’t enough time to gather the supplies they needed and still outrun the storm if they didn’t split up. They were far from the capital of Karth, however, and there wasn’t much likelihood of running into trouble in this small town that they wouldn’t be able to handle on their own. 

Avaena was exiting her final stop when she saw it: a small fleet of Quasar ships were in the sky and beginning their descent for the landing bay. Whether they were here because they were looking for someone or because they didn’t care to risk the storm on their way to Karth’s capital, Avaena didn’t know … but either way, they would cut her off from Aurra and their ship and she didn’t know if she could sneak around them and outrun the storm in the time she had. 

She sent an encrypted message to Aurra with her intentions and the next moment, she bolted. There was an abandoned ship on the outskirts of town. It was old and beyond repair, but she and Aurra had come across it on their way into town and tried to salvage anything they could. There hadn’t been anything useful left (someone had gotten there before them), but the doors could be closed and it would provide her with shelter until the storm moved on. 

When she reached it, the winds had already started to pick out and the snow had started to fall. She sent another message assuring Aurra that she had made it and that she was safe. Aurra herself had reached their ship, but it was too dangerous to take off in the storm. Avaena was looking around for something to bar the door (which no longer locked) when someone was at the door and in another instant it was open. 

Instinctively Avaena reached for her gun and spun around. Even in the dim light she knew who it was. She and Aurra had had enough run ins with the pirates to know them anywhere. There was no time and she had to act now, but she didn’t know whether she could trust him or not. If she simply sent him away, he would die and she might as well pull the trigger. They’d stolen enough from each other over the years that trusting wasn’t exactly the first word that came to mind when she’d describe her relationship with him, but if the situation was reversed, would he leave her to die? Avaena never wanted to ever take a life when it wasn’t necessary, but then the entire fate of five worlds rested on her survival and was she willing to risk all of that for the life of a pirate? 

But then needless killings and the constant fear of being betrayed were House Quasar traits and if she wanted others to trust her, she’d need to trust them now and again. Even if they were pirates. She dropped her gun and stepped back. “Get in.” 

[riktharand]

Jax said the colors of House Tark were white and black and, having been to Karth, Rik could understand why.  Well, the white anyway.  It was the color of their entire planet.  The ground was covered in a perpetual blanket of snow while the skies reflected the surface back.  On and on and on it stretched.  This wasn’t Rik’s first stint on the planet, nor would it be his last, but he wasn’t particularly happy to be there.  Nevertheless, the lure of more potential ships had drawn him outside the warmth of the tavern.  His scavenging had been brought to a sudden halt, however, when Owen sent an urgent message of an upcoming storm.  He’d only had time to retrace his steps to a ship he’d pillaged the previous night before it hit.

Winds buffeted the pirate as he staggered against the door, ripping it open despite the winds pinning it in place - only to be greeted by the muzzle of Kira Zareen’s pistol.  “Why do I even bother being surprised?” he drawled, resignedly, as he held up his hands.  “I’m not armed, you know.”  That wasn’t entirely true in the realest sense, but in Rik’s mind it was.  At this point in his life, he didn’t expect a few knives to count as being armed.  At least, not when he’d so blatantly walked into a gunfight.

A few tense moments of silence followed and he was about to tell her to just get it over with and shoot him already when her voice cut through the wind-rattled silence with a command.  He didn’t question it, yanking the door back against to the wind, again, to a closed position, before producing from his clothing and sliding a long steel bar he’d scavenged earlier that day through the handles to bolt it shut. 

“Cozy,” commented Rik, glancing over his shoulder towards the young woman.  “I don’t want to make any sudden movements,” he added, eyeing her sheathed firearm.  “You seem a little jumpy.  But I think we’d both ultimately appreciate it if I built a fire, huh?”  He didn’t wait for her to respond - if she was going to shoot him, she was going to shoot him - as he gathered a number of flammable objects - he clearly knew where to find them, already - and got down to it.

“So, what brings you ladies to Karth on such a pleasant day?” he added sarcastically as the wind moaned outside.  It was on these moments that Rik most missed the Arvor of his childhood.

As the fire sparked to life, he settled into a sitting position, opposite her and gestured around.  “You’re not going to find much here.  I already stripped the place.  But don’t worry,” he added with a wry grin.  “You’ll get your hands on it next time you rob us blind.” 

It was an odd kind of nod, perhaps, but Rik had respect for Azyriah and Kira.  As someone who’d had to live off what he could take for most of his life, he couldn’t help appreciate efficiency.  There was something so professional in the way they worked, it engendered respect.  Of course, he’d generally spend the next few weeks cursing them as he eked out what he could from the engines to get to their next destination, but there was always enough - barely, but enough.  The pair wasn’t out to screw the pirates; not completely.  Rik had known many who would leave those from whom they’d stolen to die, but Kira and Azyriah had never been that.

Still, Rik wasn’t above jabbing her for it.  He wasn’t above jabbing anyone.  If he ever met a Quasar, he’d probably find something to mock him about.  That was just Rik.

“So, Kira, huh?” he shrugged, holding up his hands once again in a gesture of peace.  “What do you say to a truce for the night?  It’s gonna be a long one and, I don’t know about you,” he added with a slow, wry smile, “But all I really want out of tonight is to not die on Karth.”

[jaxpeerce]

the run and go: rik + jax

They’d taken on a merchant ship last night. It had been risky and they’d underestimated how well guarded it was, but in the end they’d scored double the supplies Azyriah and Kira had stolen from them. 

Still, it had been messy and nothing had gone according to their plan (Jax had been part of the problem when he heard that there had been priceless imports headed to Arvor for the upcoming wedding of Leck Quasar to Xia Tomak. While they’d fetch a high price being sold on the black market, they hadn’t – arguably – been worth risking one’s life for. They had been short of supplies and it was that alone that they had been after, but Jax wasn’t satisfied and couldn’t resist the challenge of swiping one of the more heavily guarded items.)

Zara and Owen had already boarded their own ship when Jax decided to make a go for it and bolted, with Rik calling after him. Jax made it and pocketed some rare jewels before the guards caught up with them and chased them back to the ship. Jax had made it back unscathed, but Rik had gotten the worst of it with a bullet to the shoulder. Thankfully, Owen was just as good at taking out a bullet and sewing you up as he was manning their ship. 

Post-surgery, Rik came into the common area where Jax was seated, feet propped up on the table. Jax smirked, mouth full of breakfast. “You look like shit.” 

[riktharand]

“Yeah, you can thank me later,” Rik arched his brows, pointing at his friend with his good arm, (the left shoulder still wrapped up like a mummy,) but despite his words, he was grinning.  “Wouldn’t want to risk that pretty face,” he added sarcastically.  (He enjoyed teasing Jax that Jax’s head and Rik’s shoulders were of a height, seeing as Jax was just under six foot and Rik was a few inches over the mark.)

Sinking into the seat across from his friend, Rik winced and rolled his neck.  Rik had no problem fighting, running, stealing - but one thing he couldn’t stand was surgery of any kind.  Zara had had to hold him down while Owen extracted the bullet and sewed him back up, all the while ignoring Rik’s threats and pleading and his oaths that it was a flesh wound.  Fortunately, it really hadn’t been a very serious injury, afterall, but they were all quite used to ignoring his medical self-assessments by now.

In truth, Rik was more worked up that he’d endured any kind of medical treatment than that he’d been shot in the first place - or even that his own best friend had put him in that position. 

Glancing up again, Rik made a shrugging gesture with his one hand as he cracked a small smile.  “Well?  Was the take worth it?”  Rik shook his head.  “You think our lady friends will regret the fact that they ran into us last week instead of this week, now?” he added, leaning forward to grab up one of the jewels on the table between them.

“I knew you were gonna go for it,” he added, lightly, glancing around as he listened to a faint gurgling sound coming from the engines.  They were just as grateful for the renewed supplies as the pirates, themselves.  “Did you?”  Rik chuckled softly.  He could appreciate Jax’s impulsive nature - he had his own streak of the same - but that never really stopped him from cracking jokes.  Nothing did, as a matter of fact.

“What is this anyway?” he asked, finally, in frustration, as he held up the odd adornment.  “Is it a collar?  Or a torture device?  Who would wear this?”  Rik knew his life had been completely different from the one Jax had had, but some things he hoped were incomprehensible to them both - like a completely black bejeweled collar that seemed as though it would strap up tight enough to choke the average person.  But then, maybe Leck didn’t have a normal throat.  Rik had heard whispers on the streets that Leck had almost been killed.  Some sacrifice to his gods or something had ripped out his neck...or something.  The details weren’t especially clear on the streets.  But Jax had seen the emperor’s brother.  “Hey, is it true that there’s a huge chunk missing from Leck’s neck?”

[jaxpeerce]

ooc: jax + rik

KATE I LOVE THESE IDIOTS SO MUCH!!!!!! anyway do you think we’re ready to start them?????? I feel like we’ve figured them out enough, yeah??? 

[riktharand]

OUR CHILDREN yesssss lets do it!!!! Let's start them!!! Would you like to do the honors or shall I?

[avaenavalerian]

ooc: rik + kira

the space!pirates and azyriah/kira are basically my ot6: ew you again. ;DD

[riktharand]

OTP: EW YOU AGAIN ALSKDJ FKLJkl fjkldsajfkljdksljfjKLJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But saaaaaame!  Also Rik watching Kira run off with thier supplies all impressed and amazed bc ‘wow she does space stealing so much better than i ever did she’s like the james bond of scavenging’ basically smh and then subsequently getting annoyed bc he can’t now do x and can you hear those poor engines????

Also idk about you but I want them to asp in the past, present, or future to have to put their differences aside and have to work together bc CAN YOU IMAGINE <3333333  (Cue Azyriah rolling her eyes so hard they fall out of her head tbh)

[araniemos]

ooc: ariki

Recalling somewhat from our brief text conversation about these two…

Both Arani and Rik…

were orphaned

have greasy mechanic aesthetics

scavange(d at some point in their life)

are both just trying to get by

I def. think we should give these two a long history, and naturally (because I’m me), I’m getting sad vibes from them. Here’s a possibility: they could have kind of grown up together. Arani was orphaned when she was eleven. I don’t know relative to that moment that Rik was orphaned but… Maybe they kinda teamed up for a while? I just watched Les Mis with my roommate, so of course I’m getting barricade imagery of these three (Arani, Akiva, and Rik) ragga-a-muffins running around, just trying to survive the day. Insert all the moments of being an adolescent and then a teenager together. Fast forward to Rik meeting Owen. Why did Rik go with Owen, but not Arani? How could Rik leave her? Did he not have a choice? Did they get split up? IDK!!!! HELP CHAOS

Depending what we decide went on there, there are a lot of possible routes their relationship went and whether or not they have stayed in touch. But we mostly talked about what they would be like now aka Arani selling Rik space junk (I forgot about that until now… wandering brain…)

I threw out a major element of their relationship, so I’m fearful of pitching much more incase what’s written above doesn’t work with your vision of Rik. Regardless, these two are cool. I foresee lots of epic moments, probably involving sheet metal, thievery, wavering morals, and grease. 

[riktharand]

Sad vibes are the best vibes lbr ;DDDD  I’m always here for angst.  Always.  ;DDDD  I love the idea of them having grown up together!!  Ok, now for the truly terrifying exciting adventure known as Kate Does Math!  ;DDD

Alrighty.  So Arani is 27 and Rik is 24, making her three years older.  So if she was 11 when she lost her parents, he was eight.  Rik lost his last remaining parent when he was 10, so she would have been 13.  Rik went to the orphange where he was mistreated and after an unspecified number of years - I’m guessing 3ish? - he ran away.  Tentatively saying that he was 13, she’d have been 16.  I also know that Rik lived on the streets Aladin-style until he was 15 when he met Jax Peerce, who caught him stealing and instead of turning him in gave him tips, and sailed away to be a space pirate.  She would have been 18 at the time.  That’s the point at which you said she left Arvor, right?

So maybe they met at the orphanage and kinda banded together bc it was a shit hole and they needed allies, and Arani and Akiva are amongst the kids who ran away with him?  And he knew all the underground tunnels and such and they were able to get away and wreak havoc on unsuspecting tourists ;DDD  And maybe the tunnels were their version of the barricade????  And allowed them to come and go and literally disappear when they were being chased like a whack-a-mole game from hell hahahah

Here’s what I had for him in his bio, regarding that period (and I’m def willing to make changes it’s just to get thoughts rolling):

He misses his family, esp his dad (who lived longer so he remembers him best tbh) a lot

After his dad died, his life went to hell

At the orphanage, he was regularly starved and beaten until he ran away with a group of others

For a time, a few of them stuck together but they kept loosing members – some were recognized and drug back to the orphanage, others drifted for their own reasons, some were imprisoned, still others died on the streets

Only six months in, Rik was the only one left

He made it just fine on his own – given his dad’s background and Rik’s resulting knowledge of the city, he had a distinct advantage

Ok, so there are a couple possible other things, too.  First off, Rik has some srs issues related w loss and abandonment (how shocking from me, I know) and his amazing coping mechanism is running *confetti*  So I can def see him waking up beside Arani, realizing he has feelings!!11!!!!1!!!1 and running the hell away #facepalm  Alternately, she might’ve had this idea for her new business and Rik was like, “I can’t leave Arvor!  This is my home!”  Or something along those lines.  (And then realized too late, after they were gone, that it’s not anymore and from thence took off w space pirates.)  Yet another potential plot point is that he was like ‘hey, arani!  let’s be space pirates!!!111111!!!!’ and she was like, ‘...are you batshit insane?’ and he was like, ‘well, i’m going.  come if you wanna, don’t if you don’t wanna,’ and yeah.  Ummm, I also had another potential idea?????  But I can’t remember what it was rn...hahahah

Anyway, any of this sounding good?  I’m open to basically anything tbh!!  Feel free to add, subtract, or start over completely!!  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[riktharand]

u asshole - arani

Don’t tell me you missed me? ~Rik, probably smh

[riktharand]

RIK THARAND

Name: Rik Tharand Age: 24 Occupation: space pirate Home World: Arvor Relationships (if any): Owen Varik (captain), Zara Sand, Jax Peerce (crewmates), Dorn Legasi, Aeron Kain (heads of smuggler organizations) Portrayal: Liam Hemsworth

Free thinking, bold, brash, out-spoken, flirtatious, snarky

Rik has a ridiculous amount of swag for an orphaned street rat turned pirate tbh

He’s actually proud of his heritage tbh and of the fact that he’s a survivor

Knows the tunnels and roads under Arvor like the back of his hand, def thinks this knowledge will come in handy asp – it already has on numerous occasions lbr

He doesn’t have a whole lot to which to be loyal, but he actually is an intensely faithful person

Would put himself on the line wo a second thought for someone or something in which he really believes

That’s def true of his weird little space pirate family

His birth family is dead but he has these losers

He actually adores them all, even when he does bicker with them

Fun-loving but also attentive – more so than he probably seems

Likes to come off like nothing really matters to him

Also poking fun at something and/or pulling a prank it’s like calm down dude you’re literally a wanted man?????

He’s determined to enjoy what he’s got bc he came from nothing so he knows how bad it can get

Rik fully expects that he’ll die young and probably horribly so he’s     determined to make the most of the time he does have

Doesn’t really care who’s ruling bc obv he lives outside the law, anyway

Pr sure the Valarians would be just as disapproving of space piracy as the Quasars (here’s where he probs makes some dumb crack about ‘hey at least they have something in common now we’re uniting the empire’ gdi)

Pr irreverent tbh there’s nothing he wouldn’t joke about

“If the gods didn’t want us to laugh, they wouldn’t have given us a sense of humor” ~Rik, probably (after making fun of the gods in front of a priest tbqh)

Speaking of the gods, Rik isn’t 100% sure they exist but then again he’s not 100% sure they don’t exist but tbh he doesn’t think about it that often except when he thinks there’s a real chance he might die at which point he tries to take precautions smh

He’s never really thought about ‘too little, too late’ I guess

If you’re a lady, he’s gonna flirt at you, you’ve been warned

But he won’t be super pushy about getting you to do something you don’t want to, so don’t worry about that

It’s more a lifestyle thing idek

On the plus side, he doesn’t mean to be an ass – on the other hand, he still kinda is

His heart’s the right place overall even if he is a space pirate

Still, he can def be ruthless when the occasion calls for it tbh – again, space pirate

It’s also a direct result of having been in so many near-death situations so often

Def sleeps with a weapon under his pillow, literally 24/7 ready for a fight

It’s not just being a pirate – being a street rat effectively prepared him for this life since in a lot of ways it was just as dangerous, if not more so

At least he has a safe place to sleep on the ship

Ngl he does sometimes miss Arvor – or Old Arvor at least

It was a bright, beautiful city not like it is today

Space is so quiet and so empty

Still he loves adventure like little else and admittedly has a wanderlust so he def doesn’t mind

It’s just different

Wants to see and do everything tbh

Knows how to have a good time even if it’s just with what little they’ve got

Mostly he uses humor and the good times to move on from all the bad in his past

Everyone’s got a bad past what’s the point in dwelling?

Lives in the moment

Can’t afford to do anything else tbqh

Still he’ll surprise you bc you’d never think he’s capable of a serious     conversation – yet, he is if it’s necessary

Has his own weird ideals and sticks with them

Still obv a morally grey figure ~space pirate~

Tells these completely ridiculous stories, but the most ridiculous thing about them is that half of them are actually true???????

He likes to make ppl guess

Looooves food a lot like feed him something tasty and he will love you forever probs

Actually a puppy dog someone left out in the rain

He misses his family, esp his dad (who lived longer so he remembers him best tbh) a lot

After his dad died, his life went to hell

At the orphanage, he was regularly starved and beaten until he ran away with a group of others

For a time, a few of them stuck together but they kept loosing members – some were recognized and drug back to the orphanage, others drifted for their own reasons, some were imprisoned, still others died on the streets

Only six months in, Rik was the only one left

He made it just fine on his own – given his dad’s background and Rik’s resulting knowledge of the city, he had a distinct advantage

Rik has a photographic memory btw

Even though he doesn’t care who rules, he doesn’t like the Quasars bc he blames them for the changes that took place on his world

Still, he knows the truth of it is that Arvor stopped being his home when his father died, even if it stopped being that for his friends when the     Quasars arrived

If they ever take prisoners, Rik always makes sure they’re humanely treated – he knows what it’s like to be trapped and mistreated as a result – but he’s gruff enough to usually seem like he doesn’t care smh

Isn’t as carefree as he seems in general though

Looks/acts like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill you

Owes everything to his pirate bros and knows it

Esp Jax, who found him and vouched for him to Owen

If Owen is like Rik’s surrogate cool uncle/father, Jax is his surrogate     brother

Rik’s got it good now, and knows it, and if you think that’s made him sit back on his laurels; if you think for even a moment that he wouldn’t fight tooth and claw for what he has, you better think again

Rik will joke around with a stranger all day (and pick their pocket ofc), but it doesn’t mean for a moment that he trusts them

Rik can enjoy a challenge, but take it too far and he will get angry (fire and blood, bitches)

Angry Rik is pr out of control

As someone who tends to be impetuous as is, Rik will completely throw caution to the wind if he’s emotionally engaged it’s ridiculous

It goes back to the fact that he def thinks he’s gonna die horribly and soon anyway #whoops

Sometimes though it has the effect of really freaking ppl the hell out (who would behave so rashly if they didn’t know they could win? Blah blah blah) so it’s worked to his advantage on occasion – it’s also gotten him really, really hurt and put his pirate bros in a bad position on occasion too

Like the rest of Rik, it’s really a mixed bag

Worst medical patient ever, btw, will sit and grumble about how he’s fine and omg stop that wtf man you’re way overreacting it’s obv a flesh wound meanwhile he’s basically bleeding out

The truth is Rik is actually scared of medicine and that’s how he deals with it smh

The doctors tried their hardest to stop Rik’s father from dying but all they managed to do was prolong his agony

Rik would rather just have a clean death and call it an end

But he’s so extreme, he makes a huge fuss over wanting ppl to like not stitching him up and stuff that gets problematic???????  (Usually he gets talked into it and/or held down on a table whichever works)

Weirdly proud of the fact that he’s wanted on five worlds?????

Def pulls a Flynn Rider and gets upset when they don’t draw him right esp if they don’t draw him attractive enough smh

He’s kind of a big idiot despite the fact that he’s reasonably intelligent

Fair  warning, if he’s charming you, he’s probs also stealing from you *thumbs up*

But that’s probs true anyway tbh

And he’s ~always charming

Believes in always fighting fair and in using your brain

Hella resourceful hence his survival tbh

Still ngl his education is def lacking I mean consider how he grew up

He does his best to remedy that by reading anything he comes across (his dad taught him before he died) but ngl that’s not much (it’s also a good way to spend the time when they’re just sailing through space with nothing else to do)

Can’t really stand to sit still for very long though tbh so he’s almost always up to something anything from scrubbing the floors for the     562983794083284902389567th time to pulling an elaborate prank it’s kinda ridiculous

A little ADD but it’s mostly bc he’s smart and his brain is always craving something to do

Plus he believes in staying active ‘use it or loose it’ and that includes time

Has familiarized himself with every weapon he’s come across and knows all the controls in the craft, even though there are other people in charge of those things

Rik’s the mechanic

His dad taught him a thing or two about mechanics and so he often passes the time by tinkering whether trying to make the engines more efficient or find a way to move a little faster so that just kinda became his job when it turned out he actually had a knack for it????

Sometimes things backfire horribly ngl but that’s what happens when 90% of your life is actually one big experiment: “if I do x, I wonder what will happen!” ~Rik everyday tbh

Also really, really protective of the ship

Rik @Owen/Jax whenever he hears the engines making a weird noise: “What’re you doing to my baby?!”

Def knows all the engines’ little sounds and purrs and tbh has trouble     sleeping when he doesn’t hear them going atp

They soothe him but you didn’t hear that from me

Knows every twist and turn of the ship and every little wire and how it all interconnects its pr absurd

Talks about the ship like it’s his gf half the time smh

Tall and strong and handsome and knows it I’m really sorry about him

Lives a life of adventures, wouldn’t have it any other way

Since even Arvor isn’t the same, he’s kinda glad they don’t stay in one place too long

It’s dangerous and it’s a great way to avoid getting attached to something you’re gonna end up loosing

That’s Rik’s secret, really.  He doesn’t. get. attached.

He’ll joke around with you, be nice to you, look after you, but you’ll wake up one morning and he’ll be nowhere to be found

In fact, if he starts to realize he’s getting attached, he’ll usually run for     the hills

The only people he lets himself care about are his fellow space pirates

He’s adamant about treating people like human beings (unless they’ve proven they don’t deserve it) but he’s equally adamant that he can’t let them in

He doesn’t think he could bear to loose anything else ever again

So he sticks to his guns and gets the hell out

His life suits him just as is

[velorumnocate]

RIK THARAND | LIAM HEMSWORTH

✝ Age: (25) ✝ Location: Traveler ✝ Relationships: Owen Varik (captain), Jax Peerce, Zara Sand (fellow crew members) ✝ Description: Rik grew up on Arvor. His father was the chief maintenance engineer for Arvor’s underground transportation system and Rik learned everything about how it worked at his side. His father grew ill, however, and when and when he was ten, he died. Rik was then sent to an orphanage where he was mistreated. After staying there a few years, he ran away. When the Quasars took over, they implemented a faster above ground transportation system and the old one was left in disrepair: so that’s where Rik went. He knew the tunnels and secret chambers better than anyone and he was able to live there on his own. He would steal for his food and clothes, but only as much as he needed to live on. When he was fifteen, he met Jax Peerce when he was trying to steal some fruit from a stand. Jax stopped him – but only to give him some pointers. In the end, the two became friends and Rik joined Varik’s crew of space pirates where he’s been ever since. Rik is in charge of maintenance and does all the technical and physical repairs and upgrades on the ship.  TAKEN BY KATE AA.