Ixora

Ixora is my (Feathered Dragon's) first ever OC! I would like it very much if someone was willing to read this just to make sure I have not screwed it up, thanks! 
== Appearance ==
Ixora is a large female RainWing.
She is more muscled than the average RainWing and could easily pass as a SkyWing. She had a long, graceful neck and tail, and elegant stature. She is very fit.
Ix's horns are delicately curved and pearly white. Her eyes are a lovely shade of lilac. Her claws are lightly bloodstained. She has a small, thin scar over her heart.
Ixora often keeps her tail straight like a SkyWIng's, a habit she had to learn when she was with the Talons of Peace.
Her wings are ripped and tattered in several places along the edges, as are her frills, which she often keeps hidden. This is another habit picked up from the Talons.
She usually keeps her scales charcoal-grey coloured with pale grey underscales and black wings with stars that look like they're falling off her wings (gathered around the edged) in memory of Skullcrusher. Sometimes they shift subconsciously to maroon red and fire-yellow wings and underscales. 
RainWing.ix.2.jpg |Ixora's SkyWing disguise.
Ixora.jpg
== Personality ==
=== Before Skullcrusher ===
Ixora used to be cheerful and easygoing. She is dedicated and is a master at persuasion. Ixora is often quiet, but isn't afraid to raise her voice. She's quick-witted and very intelligent. Very courageous, loyal, and trustworthy.
=== After Skullcrusher ===
Hollow. A shell of what she once was. Ixora was very irritable at first. Very gloomy and anti-social. With time, Ix regained most of her old personality traits, but was now very cautious. She spoke even less than she used to, but was wise beyond her years. Having experienced more before adulthood than the average dragon did in a lifetime, Ixora knew many things.
She hovers in the shadows like a ghost most of the time.
She is still really sweet and kind if you give her a chance, but she will usually not talk first.
== Abilities ==
Average RainWing stuff.-------->Venom (She doesn't like to use her venom on living things, too), colour changing scales.
Non-RainWing stuff-------------->She is smart, she has mediocre fighting skills, can read and write
== Backstory ==
=== Short version ===
The long version has more details. If you have the time, I recomend reading it because this makes less sense.
Ixora and her friend Coluro were gathering fruits for a party. They ran into a NightWing, who chased them out of the Rainforest. They escaped, but soon found themselves surrounded by a group of the Talons of Peace. They wanted to kill the RainWings, who were compromising their secret mission, but Ixora talked them out of it. They ended up joining the Talons for a long time, until one day Ixora and Coluro were captured by SkyWings and brought to queen Scarlet
Ixora convinced the queen not to kill them, but the only way she would agree was if Coluro had to stay at her palace and Ixora had to spy on the Talons of Peace for her. They agreed, but eventually the Talons discovered she was working for Scarlet. She ran away and hid in Jade Mountain, but Scarlet sent an assassin. She was injured but escaped. She fled to the Rainforest after spending a year hiding with MudWings. She lived there for a while, but was taken from her home to the NightWIng island to be experimented on. She was among the first to be captured. But Ixora met a strangely kind young NightWIng called SKullcrusher. They fell in love and escaped together, but Skullcrusher was recaptured and brought back. She never saw him again.
==== Long version ====
Please don't be intimidated by the length! 
=== Four years old, four years before the Brightest Night ===
When Ixora was four, she and her friend, Coluro, were gathering fruits for a party the new RainWing queen was throwing. They never returned. Ix and Coluro ventured farther than they ever had, But their fruit gathering expedition was cut short when they ran into a NightWing stalking around the Rainforest. They were chased out of their homeland and were lost for a while in MudWing territory.
The pair found themselves surrounded by a hunting patrol of mixed tribes. The Talons of Peace wasn't too happy to meet them, since they were RainWings. The Talons didn't want to be associated with them, but they couldn't risk the secrecy of their mission. They would have killed the two if Ix hadn't convinced them to take them in.
"Are you sure you want to kill us?" Coluro asked them, her tail drooping. 
"We can't have any stupid RainWings blabbing about our mission," the Talons told her. 
Ix frowned. "How do you know that we're stupid?" 
The Talons laughed at her and replied "you're a RainWing" as if it was obvious why they thought so. 
A SeaWing with swirled black marks on his scales stared down at her. "Peace is more important than any one dragon," he said gravely. "And you two are in the way of that goal."
But Ix, as always, had a plan. Fear had it's ways of sharpening one's mind. 
Ixora told them that she and her friend were different. They were raised among idiots, but it didn't mean they had to stay that way.
"RainWings aren't naturally stupid," she told them. "We have no way to escape it. But we can be just as smart as any other tribe if we're raised around the right dragons." 
Besides, if they only gave them a chance, if they taught them properly and trained them like any other dragon, they could be the best talons they'd ever had. She showed them how she could turn invisible, and explained how it could make them assets.
The Talons of Peace reluctantly took the pair in, but with time and training, they were valued among the highest of the talons.
However, the group thought it best to keep the RainWings' tribe a secret, so Ixora and her friend were always disguised as SkyWings whenever they were around Talons who didn't know about their true identities.
=== Seven years old, less than a year until the Brightest Night ===
To Her Majesties, the Queens, Burn and Scarlet,
I write to inform you of plans I overheard earlier this evening. The Talons are sending someone to steal a SkyWing egg tonight. They mean to send either a SkyWing or an IceWing, but I am not certain. Be on guard. 
I encountered minor difficulties so I wasn't able to send this letter on time. When you receive this, it is likely that the talons have already infiltrated the hatchery. 
Unfortunately, I was unable to deliver the message myself. I was nearly discovered eavesdropping on the big meeting. I think that one may have discovered me, but I doubt he'll tell anyone. Regardless, I suspect I had better lie low for a while. This will likely be the last news you hear from me for some time. 
May I always live to serve you and your crown,
Ixora
Three years later, Ixora and Coluro were captured by SkyWings in another hunting patrol. Queen Scarlet wanted to kill them for being associated with the Talons, but Ix persuaded her to let them live.
But Scarlet would not let them go for free.
She would allow them to live on one condition: Coluro had to stay at the SkyWing castle until Scarlet had decided that her job was finished. Ix would spy on the Talons and report back to the SkyWing Queen whenever she had news. If Ix failed to send information or the queen was displeased with her service, she would kill Coluro (who had to live in her red scales, because Scarlet did not know she was a RainWing, and they didn't want her to find out incase she decided to kill her after all).
Ixora returned to the Talons of Peace camp, bruised and bloodied, claiming she had escaped a SkyWing patrol. She told them her friend had not been so fortunate, and didn't survive. She brought with her a young MudWing spy, Broomsedge, who's job was to keep an eye on Ix and help her out, who was posing as an escaped prisoner she found while on the run. Of course, everyone believed her. Ix sent her letters to Scarlet, and would receive letters from her delivered by a SkyWing messenger informing her of her next task or bringing updates.
Ix was trapped in a desperate situation. Betray the Talons, her family, or betray Scarlet and never see her friend–the only dragon in the world she ever truly trusted, and the last piece of the Rainforest she had–again.
Her last message, quickly scribbled down as she fled the camp, was:
To Her Majesty Queen Scarlet,
I regret to inform you that my previous letter explaining the whereabouts of the SandWing egg was intercepted by another member of the Talons of Peace. I have been discovered and they have the egg. I have fled the camp and will not be able to send any more news of the Talons. I am sorry. 
At the moment, I am hiding within Jade Mountain.
Faithfully,
Ixora
The SkyWing queen's response was to send an assassin to kill her. Ixora barely escaped with her life, by turning invisible and attacking the assassin. Her attacker gave her a scar over her heart when they threw a knife at her and missed.
As for Colugo, Ix assumed the worst.
The MudWing had stayed with the Talons, so Scarlet had continued using her as a spy.
Ixora's hate towards the SkyWing queen was sparked then, and to this day, has remained a flaming rage.
=== Nine years old, two years after the Brightest Night ===
Over the next two years, Ixora had been mainly jumping between various rebel groups and led a few attacks on queen Scarlet. She tried to rejoin the Talons of Peace and redeem herself, tried to warn them about the MudWing traitor among them, but was chased away.
Ixora even sent a letter to the Talons' leader.
To Nautilus, 
I am sorry about all the messes I have created for you.
I should tell you what really happened that week I was gone. 
Colugo and I were going flying that evening. We had to hide when she saw a wing of SkyWings. But they saw us. We escaped, but later they snuck up on us. It was a hunting party loyal to Scarlet. They captured us before we could do anything about it. When we met the queen, she wanted to kill us after finding out we worked for the Talons of Peace. We talked her out of it, but she would only spare us on one condition. 
I would spy for her, and Colugo had to stay behind. One wrong move from me and she was dead. She sent with me one of her own spies, Broomsedge, to keep an eye on me. If she is still with you, do not trust her.
I am no longer serving Scarlet. She sent an assassin, so I believe she killed Coluro. 
I don't expect you to forgive me, but I thought I owed you an explanation. I shouldn't have done it. 
After all...peace is more important than any one dragon. 
Regretfully,
Ixora
=== Ten years old ===
The young RainWing took refuge in MudWing territory, invisibly spying on the queen, keeping updated with the goings on of Pyrrhia. She lived this way for a year, but when she was ten, she wondered what it would be like to return to the Rainforest. She hadn't seen it since she was four. But she remembered the days she was carefree, happy... and clueless.
She had no desire to return to that mind-numbing state, and doubted anyone would even remember her, if they had noticed she was missing at all.
But... she wanted to see what had become of her home. Maybe it would be nice to not have to think. To eat fruit all day instead of meat. To be able to change her scales to whatever colours she wanted. She wouldn't have to listen to all the "lazy RainWing" comments and pretend she didn't care.
=== Fourteen years old, a year before the Dragonets escape ===
Ixora did end up going home. She settled there contently for four years. Except that at the end of the four years, she was captured again, this time by NightWings. She was brought to the NightWing island and experimented on.
She failed to persuade the NightWings to release her, but miraculously, she did manage to convince an unusually kind young NightWing, Skullcrusher (who's name was ironically not-so-friendly sounding), to allow her a nightly flight. He would accompany her to make sure that she didn't try anything, but as long as she kept her scales black and nobody caught them, they would fly every night.
In exchange, Ixora would tell him stories. She had had many adventures in her short lifetime, so it wasn't hard to entertain him each night.
Now, you've probably already guessed what happened next.
They began to fall for each other. Within the next six months, Skullcrusher would spend every spare minute he could with the RainWing. He brought her fresh meat when he could, but couldn't help any of the other captive RainWings or he'd be discovered for sure, even when Ix was practically begging him.
One evening, Skull came to visit Ix with a proposition.
"We have to get out of here," Skull said with a flurry of wings as he landed in the small room.
Ixora scoffed. "We should. Then we should go and throw a party with some scavengers," she said flatly. The thin charcoal grey NightWing frowned at her.
"I'm serious. I'm sick of this place. We should escape," he said. Ix snorted skeptically. 
"Alright," she said carefully. "How are we doing this, exactly?"
Skull grinned."I have a plan..."
He had one condition. If they escaped, Ixora would convince the RainWings to trust Skull, and then they would return with an army to rescue the rest of her tribe. The NightWing hated how his tribe treated the RainWings just as much as Ix did.
=== Fifteen years old, less than a year before the Dragonets escape ===
By the time Ixora's fifteenth hatching day rolled around (or around then, since she didn't have an exact date), their plan was complete.
And then they escaped.
They were free at last! Or so they thought. At that point, Ixora was convinced that she was either cursed, or bad luck had made her it's permanent residence.
Someone had followed them. They brought back a small army of NightWings to recapture the escapees. They were separated during a chase and Ixora never saw him again. She made it to the RainWing village safely.
She guessed he had been captured, but every day she thought she saw the sleek, handsome NightWing appearing at the edge of the village. But it was only ever a dream. He haunted her dreams often.
She would never know if he had been killed, if he had been brought back to the island, or if he was now lost in the Rainforest.
For a long time, Ixora fell into a dark depression. RainWings knew to avoid her, or risk loosing an eye to a randomly aimed volley of tiny, sharp wooden knives. She became very skilled with knives until her tribe clued in that she wanted to be alone.
It wasn't until the Dragonets of Destiny showed up unannounced months later–even if they were't supposed to be saving the world yet–that she finally woke up for real. She wasn't surprised that she was the only RainWing in the place who knew who they were.
She was surprised to find that there was no SkyWing. She knew that the egg had been destroyed, thanks to her, but Ixora had assumed it had been replaced by another. They must have gotten one out before they had all been destroyed.
Ix had never even thought about what would happen if they hadn't stolen a SkyWing egg. But now there was a RainWing standing in front of her.
She could tell she was more intelligent than the average RainWing right away. Glory was like Ixora: and outcast in her own tribe.
The older RainWing was glad to see her become queen. But mostly, she was very, very annoyed that the Talons hadn't appointed her to be a guardian. She could have looked after Glory like no other Talons could. 
She had betrayed the Talons, but they must have replaced the egg with Glory's before they found out that it was her.
Ixora helped rescue the rest of her tribe from the NightWings. She tried to find Skullcrusher during and after the attack. Ixora searched for days and asked all who would listen if they knew where he was.
Ixora never found him.
=== Present ===
Now, she cycles between helping out with the Jade Mountain Academy and exploring the tribes of Pyrrhia. She spends a lot of time at the RainWing village, and never gives up her search for Skull.
Category:Females
Category:RainWings
Category:Characters