Mirage (Animals1778)

MIRAGE
WARNING: this page contains (usually brief) mentions of verbal ab*se, abandonment, starvation, grief, and similar topics. If these topics are triggering for you or make you uncomfortable, please leave the page, proceed with caution, or avoid the history and relationships sections. 
This page coding is not F2U and was coded entirely by Animals1778. Mirage is very special to me and anyone caught stealing him will be reported. The background art and all other images, unless specified otherwise, were drawn by Animals1778. Thank you for checking out the page! It's not quite done yet. 
SYNOPSIS
NAME 	Mirage
AGE 	22 years
STATUS 	Alive
TRIBE 	SandWing
GENDER 	Male
SEXUALITY 	Very, very gay
ROLEPLAY PLATFORMS	Discord and thread
CREATED BY 	Animals1778
ROLEPLAYED BY 	Animals1778
THEME SONG 	<spotify uri="https://open.spotify.com/track/4ylE1Sl2wohbCvToD1fHsl?si=5a8bf925e8eb4154" height="80" width="80" />
(The image collapsible just stopped working, you'll have to click on the tiny "expand" button.)
 Mirage is available for private roleplay on Discord or message wall! 
IDENTITY
APPEARANCE
Mirage is a tall, friendly-looking SandWing. His scales are mostly black, though some have flecks of pale yellow and red. These lighter colored scales are especially noticeable on his face, wings, and shoulders. Mirage's chest is crisscrossed with many small, barely visible scars. His left wing is a bit on the tattered side, and there are burn scars at the edges of the tears.
Mirage wears many pouches around his neck. They contain food, supplies, folded-up scrolls, stolen goods, and small objects that serve as mementos from his dragonethood. 
Some of Mirage's pouches also contain makeup and small accessories he uses to make disguises, as well as a list of his fake identities, counterfeit certificates and IDs, and small bottles of perfume. 
PERSONALITY
Mirage is a snarky, sly thief who has little guilt about stealing. He has a good sense of humor and can be charming. He isn't very intimidating and is very forgetful. He's not the most responsible dragon, easily losing track of his items and duties. He's very bad at making up lies on the spot and needs time to practice them. Mirage is awkward around other dragons and falls in love and jumps to conclusions too easily. He usually means well, but when he tries to help someone he usually ends up doing more damage. He doesn't know how to comfort dragons when they're upset, and he struggles to express sympathy. He can be overdramatic at times, probably a side effect of being a theater kid. Mirage is also rather eclectic, taking on skills, ideals, and outfit inspirations from the many villages and kingdoms he visits. He's a poor planner and even worse at making puns. He does have some tendencies to keep objects he doesn't need, because he's worried that someday he will need them. Mirage is careful not to waste any supplies. His struggles to find food as a dragonet put him in the mindset that he has to save and use everything. 
Mirage is exceptionally clumsy, and he isn't very careful with his tail. He falls down stairs, falls up stairs, knocks things over with his tail and wings, and steps on other dragon's talons or tails. 
He's is usually on the run, so he's quite good at acting, creating fake personas, and using disguises (if he practices them). He can imitate almost any accent easily and can take on the personality of any character he's posing as. 
He's trying his best to raise his adopted son, wanting to give him the childhood he never had. He's overprotective and worries about his son constantly. 
HISTORY
Mirage grew up in poverty in one of the worst parts of the Scorpion Den. His father, Gila, was verbally abusive. Gila was rarely home and, when things got difficult, he would disappear for weeks at a time. One day Gila went to the market to buy camel's milk and never came back. This came as a shock to Mirage's mother, and she slowly went from a less than ideal parent to a terrible one. She, like her husband, was rarely home and didn't even bother to feed her dragonets. She died in a SkyWing raid on the city, trying to escape their house (after locking her children in the cellar). 
After she died, being the oldest, it became Mirage's job to care for his two younger siblings, Emu and Serval. Because Mirage was too young to work, and resources were expensive and scarce because of the Skywing/SandWing war, he stole food and supplies whenever he could get away with it. This is where he picked up his habit of stealing, and the reason he views stealing as justified and necessary for survival. Despite his efforts, Emu died from malnutrition. Mirage never forgave himself for Emu's death. Serval and Mirage survived, but barely. While living on their own in the harsh Scorpion Den, they developed a system for living. Every day, Serval would go out to beg for food and supplies, while Mirage would sneak off to pickpocket and raid empty houses. 
One day, Serval went to a village to beg for food and was captured when SkyWings bombed the village. Mirage never saw her again. Another bombing destroyed their house, and Mirage lived on the streets for the next few years. He continued stealing and ended up in prison a few times. A SeaWing noticed his flair for drama and recruited him to work in a theater troupe. Mirage traveled around Pyrrhia for a brief time. However, during Mirage's time in the theater troupe, the SkyWings allied with the SeaWings agains the SandWings. The manager stopped trusting him and kicked him out. Mirage uses his acting skills to get away with petty theft in various convoluted ways. 
RECENT EVENTS:
Relationships
Emu/Brother/90%
"You shouldn't have died. I really, really wish I had been able to get food in time. I hope you can forgive me. It's okay if you can't. I can't forgive myself, either."
While Emu was alive, he got along with Mirage incredibly and they were inseparable. They rarely argued and Mirage was fiercely protective of his younger brother. Mirage was devastated when he died and never forgave himself. Mirage is torn between wanting to forget what happened to Emu and feeling guilty about trying not to remember him. 
Gila/Father/???%
"I don't know where you are or if you're even still alive. You abandoned us. You left us to die. I hate you... at least, I think I hate you. I.. uh, I'm supposed to hate you, but... I don't think I can. Anyways, uh, you don't deserve to have a family."
Mirage doesn't quite understand how he feels about his father. He can't bring himself to completely hate Gila. He suspects part of that is because, growing up, he was always told he had to love Gila because he was family. Gila severely damaged Mirage's self-esteem, insulting him regularly. He told Mirage he would never be good enough, and said that Mirage's mother's poor mental state was all his fault. Gila left Mirage with are a lot of negative emotions to sort through that he prefers to keep in the back of his mind instead of dealing with them properly. Mirage was always looking for approval from Gila that never came. Even so many years later he still falls into his old habits of trying to make Gila proud.
Serval/Sister/80%
"I... I owe you a lot. It's my fault the SkyWings captured you. Are you still alive? I really hope you are. You and Emu were the only ones who were really nice to me."
Mirage didn't get along too well with Serval, but he still cared about her a lot. They argued frequently because of their very different interests and Serval's bossy personality. Truth be told, Mirage wouldn't have survived without her. She helped him care for Emu and always helped him find food and water.
Sidewinder/Mother/40%
"You abandoned us, too. You locked us in the basement when the SkyWings came so that you could save yourself. I really... I just don't know what to say. I just hope you're a bit happier wherever you are now."
Sidewinder always seemed to ignore her dragonets' problems. Whenever her husband was bullying his kids or the family was starving, she seemed not to notice and never stuck up for anyone, including herself. She was distant and hard to reach, and Mirage was always desperate for her approval growing up. 
She was paranoid and believed that dragons from her past were hunting her down, wanting to destroy her. She taught her dragonets that bad, scary dragons were trying to kill them for them and that they had to hide. At random times throughout the day, she would ring a bell and force them to hide in the cellar so that they would be safe from the ghosts of her past. Some of them were drills, and other times she thought that she saw a glimpse of one of the dragons approaching the house or heard a familiar voice. 
When the SkyWings attacked, Sidewinder desperately hid her dragonets in the cellar, thinking they would be safe. Mirage, due to his trust issues, misinterpreted her final act of kindness as an attempt to stop them from escaping so that she could escape herself. For the first few years he spent on his own, Mirage lived in constant fear of the dragons who were coming to get him. Eventually, he realized that he was safe and realized that during the "drills" nothing had actually happened, and he slowly got over that fear. 
There is much, much more to Sidewinder's story, but the tale may never be told...
TRIVIA
-Mirage secretly loves poetry.
-He's a terrible singer. 
-Mirage once had a pet parrot, but they were forced to eat it when they were starving. He still feels guilty about that and doesn't trust himself to keep pets. 
-Mirage's favorite word is "fabulous". 
-Mirage isn't very good with reading, writing, and math because he only went to school for a year. He can read basic scrolls and do a little math, but can't write. 
-His favorite scrolls are Goodnight Moons and If You Give a Scavenger a Cookie because they were his favorite stories when he was growing up and always made him feel safe.
-He's really bad at puns but tries his best.
-Mirage has melanism and overheats very easily. He's a bit self-conscious about it and has been mistaken for a NightWing hybrid in the past.
-His first crush was on an IceWing in his theater troupe, but the IceWing turned out to be cruel and snobby. The crush only lasted for about 5 minutes, but it was fun.
-He loves snakes and boops almost every snake he sees. Mirage would love to get a snake, but he doesn't trust himself to care for it. 
-Mirage likes to think that Serval is healthy, rich, and somewhere safe now, and he wants to find her. Unfortunately, that's impossible because, unbeknownst to Mirage, she was killed by SkyWing guards during an escape attempt.
-His favorite weapons are coconuts and his heavy book of poetry. 
-Mirage once tried to boop a venomous snake. It did not end well. 
Category:SandWings
Category:Males
Category:Characters
Category:LGBT+
Category:Occupation (Criminal)