Quetzal (Ribbon)

== Appearance ==
"How do I look? Pretty, right? Of course I am, I based my scale colors off of the most beautiful bird in existence!" - Quetzal
To any other Rainwing, Quetzal looks absolutely normal, if not a bit on the dull side. However, to other tribes, she sticks out like a sore thumb.
Her scales were deliberately made to resemble a Resplendant Quetzal, showing her massive amount of respect for the bird. He underbelly is a crimson or scarlet red, which seems to clash a bit with her emerald green scales. A little bit of blue mixes seamlessly with the green towards her neck. 
Physically, she is a bit different from most other Rainwings. Her tail is much longer than usual, and isn't held to be prehensile, though that was her own choice. Quetzal is rather small for her age
== History and Background ==
"What do I look like to you, some kind of storybook? The past is in the past, no need to get tangled in the details." - Quetzal
Quetzal is a completely normal dragonet, with nothing strange or odd about her. She has a lot of friends and grew up as any Rainwing would. Her life almost seems to be a bit too perfect, as if she is actually trying to look as normal as possible. If one were to look a bit closer, you might find that there is a bit more to Quetzal that meets the eye.
When she was younger, she always knew she had a special kind of power, and was proud of it, even if dragons often didn't believe her. She used to use it all the time to mess around with people in secret, and had great fun, quite frankly, abusing it to do all sorts of things. She would later learn that this power she had was in fact not unique to her, but was possessed by some dragons, and was relatively well documented. She learned she was an animus dragon.
At first she was fine with it, it was just a name to something that she always had. Though as she continued to use and abuse it, her mind did begin to wander. She wondered why she had it, what was the fullest extent of her power, and if it ever had a limit.
Wanting to pursue her curiosity, she enchanted something to write down everything that dragons knew about animus powers, and something to help her actually read the words on the paper.
What she read made her stomach churn and head spin. Written on the very paper she had enchanted, it said that every time you enchant something, a bit of your soul is taken from you. Every time you enchant something you grow more and more evil, until you eventually snap. 
The first thing she did was count on her talons how many enchantments she had made. Her eyes started to well up with tears as she eventually could not count how many enchantments she made with all her talons. She tore up the scroll paper and melted it with her venom, desperately trying to pretend she never saw the warning in the first place.
From that day forward, she never casted another spell. She lived in fear of her own power, and felt safety only when she thought herself to be completely normal. However, no matter how much she has buried it, whenever she is alone, she thinks about it again. 
== Personality ==
"Ah, my favorite subject, me!" - Quetzal
Quetzal is a very sarcastic and light hearted dragon down to her very core. She always seems to have a witty remark in store, and seems the ridiculous ability to make fun of virtually anything. She always seems to find a way to lighten the mood or crack the ice, even in situations where it is inappropriate. For this reason, some dragons might find her annoying and disrespectful more likely than not. However, this is usually do to the fact that she feels everything is disconnected and unrelated to her. In the event that you started to get serious about her and her past, she actually becomes serious and defensive.
Quetzal has a strange fixation on being normal, and has an irrational fear of standing out and being the center of attention in a bad way. She's perfectly fine with being the center of attention if standing out is considered the norm. That meaning, her actions are heavily influenced by the expectations of the people around her. If she were to find herself in a pay where it was expected that you drink alcohol, she would do it in a heartbeat, despite fully knowing the negative consequences. In a sense, if everyone were to jump off a bridge, she'd do it too, despite knowing full well that jumping off the bridge is a really bad idea.
There is one exception to this, that exception being Dreamcatcher. Quetzal feels comfortable around him despite knowing him for a relatively short time in comparison to her other friends. Though that might have something to do with the fact that she can actually relate to Dreamcatcher. In a strange sense, Dreamcatcher is the only dragon who has ever really "met" Quetzal. Everyone else simply met a reflection of the crowd around them, no matter how long they've known her for.
That being said, to others, Quetzal is actually quite extraverted, and isn't afraid to talk and make friends.
Quetzal is a bit narcissistic. Especially as you get to know her better, you often find that she sometimes doesn't think very highly of others, and talks up her own mental ability. Even to someone with vastly more experience than her, such as Dreamcatcher, she thinks her views and beliefs to be better. Though of course, she would never actually say anything like that to Dreamcatcher or anyone else.
Despite thinking herself more wise than a great majority of dragons, this is not necessarily actually true. When compared to someone like Dreamcatcher, she is a lot more vain and a lot less smart. That isn't to say she isn't smart either though. Quetzal is inherently rather intelligent for a Rainwing, and has a natural curiosity about her all the time. Over her short years, she managed to sketch and research every single rainforest bird, and hopes one day she might leave the rainforest to see more.
Quetzal is incredibly energetic, and you'll find it a rare sight to ever see her tired. If you ever hear her say that she is tired, either she's angry at you, she wants to end the conversation, or the world is ending. Though in comparison to the other options, the first one is the most likely.
Quetzal is a bit irritable and hotheaded, which is probably due to her missing suntime almost constantly. While she isn't one to start a fight or scratch your eyes out, she does have a habit to start raising her voice and asserting herself. At her worst, Quetzal becomes one of the most toxic dragons you will ever meet. She becomes incredibly snarky and dismissive. She becomes unusually verbally aggressive and is abnormally good at coming up with unqiue and hurtful insults for a dragonet.
Quetzal has an extreme aversion to tight spaces and feelings of being trapped. So much so that she starts to hyperventilate and panic when in tighter spaces. When trapped or locked up, she often becomes listless and without any energy to speak of. Her scales turn pale white and it often seems as if she fades in and out of consciousness. Her aversion is actually so strong that she starts to develop physical symptoms akin to legitimate and fatal diseases. Keep her captive for too long, and she might actually die.
That being said, it's no wonder that she treats freedom as a precious and sacred thing. Her belief is that no matter who the dragon, they deserve freedom, an absolute right of life. It's this belief that can get her involved with the wrong people. It hasn't happened yet due to the nature of Rainwing society, but it is an inevitable when she finally leaves the rainforest.
As per normal for Rainwings, Quetzal is incredibly sheltered, and is almost completely unaware of what lies outside of the rainforest. She has a very set view on the world, and if she ever came into contact with anything outside of the rainforest, she would be shocked. Though as shocked as she would be, she is actually very receptive to change and new information.
Quetzal is naturally a very curious dragonet. She has a natural curiosity about her, and is not afraid to confront and discover new things. In the rainforest, that is all she spends her time doing. Ironically, she spends a lot of her time doing what most Rainwings would not do, albeit in relative secrecy. She spends huge chunks of her time doing nothing but studying and learning about the rainforest. Due to the amount of time she has spent in the rainforest, she has many strange stories to tell. Everything from being chased away by overly territorial monkeys, to accidentally eating mysterious rainforest mushrooms. However, after all the time she has spent exploring the rainforest, she almost knows all there is to know about the rainforest, and desperately wishes she could leave the rainforest, often saying that she wished Jade Mountain would hurry up and select her for their program.
Due to her time in the rainforest, she has developed an affinity to birds of paradise, and often goes bird watching when she isn't exploring the rainforest. Over the years, she has grown more and more in tune with the feelings of birds, and has learned to blend seamlessly with her surroundings as to not disturb the birds. It isn't an uncommon sight to see one or two birds perched on top of her at her best.
She is usually an optimistic dragonet, but because she can be easily swayed by dragons around her, this can easily start to change when other people are being pessimistic. When a situation seems to be favorable, she will give it her all with enthusiastic vigor, but when things start to look bleak, she flops over and gives up.
== Abilities ==
Quetzal has all of the regular Rainwing powers, and can use them as well as any other Rainwing can. However, she often finds herself to lag behind others in terms of flight capability. No matter how much she seems to practice, she always finds herself to have less stamina and less flight time than others, even while gliding. It doesn't help that often, her long tail gets caught in trees and branches as it trails behind her.
However, Quetzal possesses a power that has never before been seen in a Rainwing. Quetzal is an animus. Despite being an animus and knowing it, ever since she learned the truth, it has become a major point of embarrassment for her. She rarely ever uses the power, and desperately tries to conceal it, no matter the cost. The only situation she'll ever use her animus powers is in a life threatening situation, or one where a true friend is in danger.Category:Characters
Category:RainWings
Category:Females
Category:Content (RibbonRaptor)
Category:Work in Progress
Category:Occupation (Student)
Category:Dragonets
Category:Animus