Moonbird

Moonbird. Once a circus performer, now a soldier: driven to find his brother in a world that changes around him...
When determination turns into despair...
== Appearance ==
Once an acrobat, now a soldier...
Moonbird's a lithe enough dragon, best at maneuvering through densely packed forests and outpacing larger, more muscular opponents. He's got his acrobatic career to thank for that: tricks once used to entertain the masses are now saving lives (including his own).
His scales are a sort of dusky gold, but his horns are white, as are his claws. Webbed across his forearms and his lighter wing membranes are intricate tattoos, all in black ink and arranged like flowers: a tribute to his time in the Blatherskite Troupe.
As for his looks...well, Moonbird doesn't care that much about his appearance, especially not now...but dragons tend to agree that he has a more pleasant, more open face than his older brother, Operose (not that Operose cares).
Back to his build. His wings are large and powerful, but they make him look a bit gawky and triangular when they're folded against his body. His tail is usually curled in a tight spiral behind him (safety first y'know), and you wouldn't catch him dead in a tail band. That goes for other jewellery, too: it weighs a dragon down, makes it harder to move. He much prefers scale paint; inexpensive, colourful, and enjoyable to work with.
As for other accessories: Moonbird typically wears a dark garment (complete with a hood) and a satchel made of coyote skin.
If he'd been hatched a RainWing, if he'd lived another life, he would've been a gardener...but life has a funny way of putting you in places where you don't belong.
== Personality ==
I think everyone has their monsters. But having monsters doesn't make you one yourself. Just remember that.
* carefree
* spontaneous
* enthusiastic
* follower, not a leader
* uses his heart to make decisions
* not a logical thinker
* improvising!!! procrastination
* often waters truth so as to not offend anyone
* views the world around him with wonder
* would love to have a friendly debate
* extrovert (enfp??? not sure yet :3 )
* dreamer and campaigner
* supportive
* he doesn't care much about what dragons think of him
* he doesn't worry over a lot of things
* optimistic outlook on life
* not much for romance tbh
* respects RainWings' choice to be vegetarian
Hopefully I can flesh out his personality a bit more in the future. <3
He has this immutable way of looking at the world: dragons, each their own individual, each leading their own lives, with their own thoughts, their own emotions, their own wants and needs and futures...
== Background ==
=== Dragonethood ===
Oberose always looked out for him. <3
Moonbird hatched in the poorest sector of Crustacean, a coastal desert town in the westernmost part of the Sand Kingdom. His mother had been waiting for him, breathless, crouched over the makeshift nest to greet him with open wings.
The saddest part is that Moonbird no longer remembers what she looked like, nor the name that she'd given him on that day. In fact, he'd only lived with her for a few short moons: wobbling around the tattered tent as she sat outside, begging for food and spare coin.
Then came that night. With the last of the candle stubs glowing from their places on the ground, a mother wrote her last words to her son on a spare bit of parchment...when he woke, she had stowed him in the cupboard with the letter stuffed between his claws, the tent in ruins, the place ransacked, and the little coins they had gone.
And she wasn't there.
Several hours past. Moonbird stayed in the cupboard, because he felt safe there: he hadn't known that his mother was gone, and he was too busy playing with the nice crinkly sound the parchment made when he crumpled it in his stubby little claws. When the first pangs of hunger started, he began to nose his way out of the cupboard...and came face to face with Oberose.
Oberose was a full five years old at the time, and he towered over Moonbird--both were astonished, but Oberose more so...he hadn't thought that the dragoness who lived here had had a dragonet. But there you go.
When Moonbird started crying, Oberose gingerly picked him up and (super confused???? what to do now?????) tried his best to calm the little one down. He was sure that Moonbird's mother wouldn't be returning...he'd seen the dragons who'd dragged her away from his place behind the fish barrels, and they hadn't looked like the friendly type.
Mind racing as he fed the dragonet several crumbles of bread, Oberose eventually settled on bringing Moonbird home with him, to his grandfather (a SandWing named Iguana). They could come to a decision then...
Iguana was grudging to have another mouth to feed--especially when it was the mouth of a dragonet who wasn't even a year old, who was too busy playing with his own claws to have a care in the world. They took Moonbird each morning to the tent, to see if his mother had returned; they searched for any clues as to where she could've gone. But there was nothing. Eventually the tent was thrown away by a fruit vendor who sought to expand his wares, and the belongings within were trashed and sold by looters.
The crumpled letter from Moonbird's mother had been neatly pressed and sealed by Iguana, to be presented to Moonbird when he was old enough to read it for himself. It was kept in a watertight jar made of ceramic at the back of Iguana's shop.
Oberose and Moonbird grew alongside each other as brothers for several years, though things got a bit strained whenever someone mentioned Moonbird's mother. Although he's not an overly insecure dragon, he's especially sore over that--the thought that he and Oberose aren't really related, and that Oberose might not even see him as anything more than a glorified acquaintance...and that something unspeakably terrible happened to his mother...and that he couldn't even remember her face.
Iguana named Moonbird after a constellation.
When he was three years old, Moonbird read his letter for the first time.
Little one,
If you're reading this letter, then that means that I'm not with you anymore.
I wish only that I could've watched you grow. I wish that your father could've seen you, and that I could've shown you the stars and the moons and Pyrrhia...and above all, I wish that I could give you a hug, and tell you how much I love you.
I beg of you to not try to find me. It's safer for you that way--do not worry about me. If I can, I will do my best to find you again. But don't let me worry you.
As I look at you now, sleeping next to me--oh, little one, I know you'll grow into a dragon to be proud of. Be strong, take life by the wings and fly above it; don't let anyone tell you that you're less than you are.
Love, Mommy
The letter, now weak at the creases, continues to reside in a hidden pocket of his satchel. He's read it so often that he's memorized it, and it almost feels as if he could reach out and touch his mother in those moments.
Category:Characters
Category:SandWings
Category:Occupation (Performer)
Category:Occupation (Soldier)
Category:Work in Progress
Category:Males