Argentavis (Skywing)

Argentavis is a gigantic, grumpy skywing and the protagonist of Sky of Blackened Ash (to be written). He is the foster father of Startouched and a former bounty hunter. He lost his wing in a fight and while he isn't able to fly, he has extremely hot firebreath and is a great runner.
== Appearance ==
Argentavis has dark red base scales that fade to a brighter red and a near-black color. His sharp talons are a bright shade of red, described as ruby-like by Startouched. His tail goes from his usual blood-red to black like a burnt torch and his underbelly has an orange tint to it with a flame-like pattern. He has a diamond pattern on his forehead and is described as having black leopard and splotch patterning on his neck, shoulders and backside. His black horns are twisted with carnelian tips.
== Personality ==
Argentavis is almost constantly grumpy, his face being stuck in a near permanent frown. He has a short temper, snapping at Startouched when she first approached him with fiery anger. He's also very biased, easily falling into tribe stereotypes and assuming she was a fraud when Startouched asked for help. When he loses his wing, he opens up a bit more, admitting that those beliefs were pushed onto him by the bounty hunting community he resided in.
At the beginning of his story, he's overly confident and arrogant, fully believing himself to the the greatest flier of all time. He's also very greedy, willing to hand over a dragonet to Astralmist for profit.
== Backstory ==
Argentavis was born to skywing nobles, one of them being half nightwing. They went their separate ways due to.. differing opinions, but that was after his egg was laid and abandoned for his own safety. He had heard tales of hybrids doing the impossible and challenging those who believed their lies, but Argentavis thought he could never live up to those expectations. In his childhood he would frequently gloat and trash talk other dragonets.
When he became an adult, he got into bounty hunting, catching dragons who would refuse to pay debts and even actual criminals on occasion. Despite his nightwing genes, all his natural skywing stats were boosted, making him very effective at catching those who refuse to obey. One day he was approached by a silvery nightwing dragonet, who asked for since someone was going after her, he initially brushed her off, trying to go for a bigger bounty, but hearing that she'd pay him in gold, he accepted, reluctantly allowing her to stay in his cave for the time being until he could find a safer place for her, though he planned on just handing her to an orphanage or hatchery.
He discovers why she was running in the first place, the nightwing queen herself, Astralmist, wants her back. She was basically a pet to her, being a thrice moonborn nightwing, but she was just an item to get dragons to confess horrible crimes and to predict futures that didn't need predicting. The reward was huge, and Argentavis was fully willing to give her up, but she quickly finds out and isn't happy about it, but unable to really protest, she went along. Argentavis made some conversation, beginning to crack out of guilt after learning she's beginning to forget her own past and her memories replaced with new ones. Eventually, he turns back, realizing this was stupid and sending a messenger to tell the nightwing queen that he's going to officially take Startouched under his care until someone else can come and take better care of her.
That would mark the worst mistake of his life.
The nightwing queen, Astralmist hired a deadly seawing assassin known as Estuary to kill Argentavis and get Startouched back, Argentavis easily fended them off the first few times, they were too predictable at this point for the bounty hunter, so they switched to dirtier tactics.
They set his cave ablaze with Startouched inside, and while she safetly got out with Argentavis's help, but that then helped them with their second method incase of failure, an arrow. Not pointing towards his heart or his skull, but his wing. With the help of Argentavis's own fire they had made an arrow that would tear and burn and explode when it made impact to the ground, successfully tearing off his wing in a single strike. He fell to the ground from the cave, Startouched successfully getting away as he passed out. When he woke up, that's when he realized that his wing had really been torn off.
== Gallery ==
File:Argentavis ref.png|art by Fischlich
Category:Characters
Category:Males
Category:SkyWings
Category:Occupation (Other)
Category:NightWings
Category:Disabled