Leitmotif

Leitmotif is a character created and designed by Lucy, originally for the Minor Contest hosted by Pikachu151mew. The prompt was as follows: The character has to be slightly outgoing, and a flamesilk in hiding.
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In one of the spacious, grandiose ballrooms within Jewel Hive, a young HiveWing plucks away a new melody on aer harp. She dresses plainly, a neat cloak draped over her wings as she weaves together a rhythm for the dancing dragons below. No one knows much about her, but in the whispers between the partygoers, the gossip spreads in a slow moving tide.
Ae is the daughter of Countess Velvet. The daughter she had hidden away for years. The dragons dance and laugh, but every now and then one tilts their head up at the balcony, at the dragon perched there, aer glasses balanced over aer snout, eyes focused on the strings between aer talons.
Yes, the whispers agree. There's something off about this one.
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:Appearance
Leitmotif is tall for aer age, but thin, almost as if malnourished. Despite this, she stands proud, tall in the way HiveWing nobles are taught to. Her wings, although HiveWing in shape are small, far too small. Ae holds them close to aer sides, the translucent membranes gray and unused. She has feathery antennae, but they're always furled up, hidden away even at home.
Her scales are dark red, layered over a black underbelly. Aer horns fade into a dark purple, just like the sharp spines that fall across aer back. Black scales freckle aer snout, and run down aer sides. Her antennae, in the rare moments they're unfurled, are a wispy lavender, as if they aren't really there. 
Her eyes glitter dark brown, often slightly narrowed as she regards the world through the panes of black rimmed glasses. A purple cloak wraps around aer shoulders, draping over aer back and shrouding aer wings. For someone who lives in Jewel Hive, she's lacking in jewelry.
Her movements are always careful, practiced. Ae's often smiling, aer eyes bright as ae laugh and joke with friends. However, the tension clings to aer shoulders, as if ae can never truly relax.
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:Personality
For someone with secrets to hide, Leitmotif seems a little too open. Always surrounded by friends, she always seems to have a comment to say, a joke to make, perhaps a personal anecdote to share. Despite all this, ae is careful not to reveal too much, that slight tension always there, careful not to say something that could make it all unravel.
It hurts a little, having to hide. Ae, after years of practice, always has the consistent lie to fall back on. She's perfected the awkward smile that signals not to push, the way to dance around the question and bite back words before they could spill everything out for the world to see. She wants to be open, she wants to trust others the way others always seem able to. Yet, she simply can't.
Ae's very respectful towards those they don't know, with an impressive memory of names and faces that makes others always feel seen around aer. The little details ae manage to catch can be a little unsettling, but ae always comes off as caring and thoughtful.
Leitmotif approaches things logically, for the most part. Feelings get messy to quickly, and it's easier to file them away in the back of her brain than think about them too much. To succeed, ae needs to think straight. Ae's able to focus easily, thinking things through with the practice of someone who spend aer dragonethood reading.
When the emotions take over though, it always seems to manifest as spite, this odd need to prove others wrong. The kind of anger that's twisted into a motivation, one that pushes Leitmotif forward. Ae wants to prove aerself worthy of aer life, to show that aer heritage won't hold ae back. 
None of these are feelings she will share. She smiles with her friends, and that strain on aer thoughts never leaves - until it comes to music.
Music was a passion that bloomed fast, and for good reason. It was finally a way for ae to express aerself, spinning all of the messy thoughts and feelings and secrets into melodies. Music gives aer a way to vent, a way to breathe properly.
Then the song ends, and her secrets are sealed once more.
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:History
Thirty-two years after the Tree Wars, a SilkWing named Festoon graced the halls of Countess Velvet. Wasp's instructions were clear: he was to mate with one of the servants there, Brimstone. Things don't always go according to plan. Whether it was fueled by true love or not is unclear, but before Festoon was whisked away, Velvet had an egg.
She divorced her husband mere months after Leitmotif hatched. Ae doesn't remember him, but sometimes the memories take root and flashes of distant shouting cross aer mind, of being curled up cold and awake in aer room as biting words lace sharp and angry up the halls. Then her mind brushes the cobwebs away, and he becomes nothing more than the shadow of someone no longer in her life.
For the first two years of aer life, Leitmotif was kept hidden away in one room, visited only by Velvet. She brought food from various merchants and book from Jewel Hive's expansive library, even a couple glitzy jewelry pieces from the Glitterbazaar. She spoke endlessly about how important it was that Leitmotif stayed there, that ae learned how to curl up aer antennae and tuck them away as if they didn't exist. That her wings were too small, and the ways to drape a cloak over her form so they wouldn't be seen. Then the lessons would end, and Velvet left, leaving Leitmotif to squint at the marks swimming over the books, under the dimming light of a flamesilk lamp about to go out.
Ae learned quickly that ae was a hybrid. Velvet had never hidden that fact, although she never talked about the SilkWing that fathered ae. Leitmotif simply accepted this fact, not yet understanding its significance.
A few moons after her second birthday came and went, Velvet finally deemed her ready to leave the room. It was overwhelming at first, to see so many new dragons, to step out into a hall where the light was bright and strong, to finally see the tapestries just outside her room in all their glory. Leitmotif was stuck in place at first, aer antennae safely hidden, pushing down the urge to stretch aer vestigial wings into this new open space.
Velvet introduced her to the SilkWing servants, showed her quickly around the house, and let Leitmotif slowly match the world around her with the black and white illustrations in her books.
Velvet warned the young hybrid about Queen Wasp's influence, pointed her to hiding places to disappear into when the HiveWings turned stiff and black. She brought in more books from the library, continuing to teach. However, Leitmotif started to turn her eyes outward, towards the windows she was too short to reach. Within a year ae wanted to go out further, to explore the buzz of people beyond the walls - and met aer mother's wrath head on for the first time. It was an innocent question, ae thought - why wasn't ae let outside? But Velvet responded with a cold voice, one with undertones that sent her back into the memories of the cold and the shouting in the dark.
Absolutely not. Didn't she remember? The dangers, the taboo that was her existence? Everything that was wrong with her, that she needed to hide? She wasn't ready. She simply wasn't, there wasn't a chance she would survive out in the marketplace. Look at how much Velvet had sacrificed. Look at how hard she worked to keep aer safe. ow could ae ask? How could ae think that aer mother could ever, ever be wrong?
The words stung, and Leitmotif quickly backed off, going back to aer studies. This time however, the silence in which she studied was filled instead with the first prickles of bitterness.
The next year passed peacefully, and ae slowly got to know the servants around the estate. Ae quickly grew close to Riodinidae, the old SilkWing cook who seemed to know everything When she had the free time, she'd curl up in the kitchen as he worked, listening to his droning voice telling grandiose tales of the Temple of Clearsight, or the garden in Cicada Hive that had art nearly as impressive as Jewel's. Sometimes, if ae was lucky, his voice would grow soft, and whisper dusty lullabies he learned from his mother, from a time when the continent was covered in trees.
Every word made the longing in her increase, to see the world outside the old inkstained drawings from the library, to walk along the gossamer bridges between the Hives, or fly out to see the vast expanse of the sea in Dragonfly Bay. Or even to simply see the ballroom her mother owned filled with dragons.
She asked Velvet again, finally, with words carefully picked and ordered together. It'd be good, aer insisted. Velvet couldn't hide ae forever, and ae surely was responsible enough at this point not to get discovered. Velvet turned her down again, but this time the words were gentler, and there was more give behind them.
Neo paid aer a visit one day. Ae had gotten the sense that aer half sister didn't like aer very much, and avoided her for the most part. There was no ducking away this time. "Thinking about going outside again, aren't you." She said flatly, watching as aer struggled to pull aerself onto a windowsill.
Leitmotif responded with a careful nod.
"Well, give it up." Neo muttered. "Mother does everything for you. You wouldn't last a second out there." Her wings buzzed, the sound grating on aer nerves. "Can't even climb onto a windowsill. I don't know what she likes so much about you. You made father go away, and she can't even spare a second for me. You ruined my life and here you are, wanting to to go outside like you haven't been pampered all your life."
Ae had flinched back at this, aer wings shaking flimsily under aer cloak. "I..."
Neo growled. "If you go out, you'll get yourself discovered and it'll just make everything worse. We were all better off when she hid you in that room, and it should stay that way."
She had cried for the rest of the day, curled up in her blankets back in that hollow room where she had spent the first two years of her life. When her tears finally dried, it was like all her pain and sorrow had sunk away into the soul, nourishing a seed of anger that had already been planted years ago. It wasn't aer choice to be born like this, ae couldn't control what Velvet did and didn't do. Most of all, Neo's final implication tore red streaks across her vision.
She was wrong. Leitmotif could go out. Her hybrid nature wouldn't be discovered. She knew how to act, she knew how to shift her cloak so her wings would always stay tucked away. Her antennae hadn't stretched in years, she knew she wouldn't be discovered - and she was going to prove it.
The next few weeks were calculated, careful questions. Ae brought it up at every chance with Velvet, pointing out that ae couldn't stay at home forever. They could excuse the wings as an accident when ae was younger, or just a genetic quirk. Velvet didn't know everything, she couldn't keep teaching Leitmotif forever. She'd had so much more time, if she just sent ae off to school. Besides, ae really, really wanted to go.
She's not quite sure what finally convinced her mother, but shortly before her fifth birthday, Velvet enrolled her into Beetle Academy. The next couple weeks were a flurry of activity, watching Velvet signing papers with words Leitmotif couldn't read. Aer received a new cloak, and glasses, after the eye doctor chewed out Velvet for not coming in for regular checkups earlier.
With her newly improved vision, going outside was like stepping into a different dimension. All the other dragons were so much crisper now, and closer. Ae could see how the lights glinted off their headdresses, the sheen along their scales, the subtle gradients in the scales of the SilkWings. The first time they entered the school, Leitmotif almost wanted to start spinning, to stretch her wings and explore the enormity of the hall, but she held back. Her wings twitched under her cloak, but then stilled.
The first few days were overwhelming. Ae got lost several times, having to sheepishly ask the teachers where to go next. Ae sat out awkwardly during flying classes and found aerself dangerously squeezed against others in the hallways. She mentally gathered up little nooks and crannies in her mind, in case Wasp started controlling the other students. She could feel the danger in the air, the hundreds upon thousands of ways things could go wrong. Ae refused to give in to the fear.
The introductions went surprisingly well. It was like saying hello to the newest SilkWing on the estate - a little respectful nod of greeting. Ae had soon introduced aerself to everyone in the school, trying to hold onto each of their names and faces in aer head. Ae soon became acquainted with everyone, but the first one ae would truly consider a friend was Halictidae.
"I know I chose a super long name." He immediately said, with an awkward laugh. "Just Halic is fine." Leitmotif didn't process what he said at first, too distracted with his scales. The yellow was normal enough, but they were splotched with the most beautiful shade of metallic green ae had ever seen. 
"You... chose?" She questioned, after a pause that lasted far too long.
He seemed to freeze at that. "Yeah," he ducked his head. "I didn't like my old one. It was uh... it didn't match. Who I was, or uh. Am." The conversation ended there, but in later talks he'd open up a little. He was trans, a word that tasted odd on aer tongue. It wasn't something that Velvet's books had ever mentioned, but ae accepted it. It was nice, hearing him talk. It seemed like Halic knew everything about this sort of thing, and just like with Riodinidae, she listened.
She ended up collecting a little circle of friends, without realizing it at first. All the ones that were a little weird, and everyone seemed to have something to share. Aspid spoke about her pet snake with incredible excitement every day. She wanted to get a whole collection of them, she said. At least ten. Fruitfly, like Leitmotif, was a voracious reader, and seemed ready to spout off all his theories about the Distant Kingdoms as soon as he could get a word in. Ae felt a little awkward about them, about how readily they shared... everything.
Aspid mentioned how cute she found a SilkWing dragonet that lived across the street from her. He visited her snake all the time, she said, but she thought he loved her more instead. It was like she didn't know - or didn't care - about how forbidden that love would be. Fruitfly told dramatic stories about his family line, telling anecdotes about the time his second cousin once removed tried to eat a bee. Halic was just... so open with his emotions.
Then there was Leitmotif. Ae shared a space in their conversations, but danced carefully around questions about aer family, about why aer horns were purple or the reason ae didn't fly. Ae nearly did tell Halic one day, as the two walked around the enclosed garden of Beetle Academy. "I don't always feel comfortable in my body." Ae had admitted earlier, on the tail of a conversation ae no longer remembered. 
"Like me?" Halic asked. "I feel all wrong sometimes. Like my scales are too tight, and then I just want to lay down and cry. And all I can do is wait for it to get better."
"Not... really." Leitmotif paused. Ae wanted to talk about how aer antennae, always furled up, felt suffocated, or the way ae could never stretch aer wings. Instead, she latched onto a different emotion. "I don't really get why you're a boy." Another pause, as she tried to word it better. "I mean like... I know it's what makes you happy, but I'm not trans and if i got to choose I'd be a girl. It just seems so much nicer."
She glanced over at Halic, worried she had said something wrong, but the HiveWing only gave her a slight smile. "Let me know when you figure that out." There was a laugh in his voice, but Leitmotif didn't push, and the conversation lapsed into a comfortable silence.
In aer classes, Letimotif excelled. History came easily to her, and the simple analytical nature of math. Art was a bit of a struggle, as was gardening. Classes that required that sort of precision with aer claws left ae feeling awkward and clumsy. Then she had a semester in music.
The first few notes the music teacher played out immediately had her enraptured. As the class progressed, aer learned the orderliness to the notes, but also the freedom, the possibilities. The first time Leitmotif sat up at that harp, her claws felt too large, always getting in her own way. There was that little twinge of anger, like when Neo had talked down to aer. That same frustration, matched with the determination to get better.
Soon enough, she did get better. Her coordination improved, and by the end of the semester she was composing and playing, to a level that earned her applause from the teacher. "You'll be a fantastic musician one day." They said, prideful. She beamed back, the praise blooming in her chest.
"I will." Ae replied, and it was a promise.
The next two years passed in a joyful rush. Ae excelled, and in gardening aer plant even tentatively opened up into a small flower. Her artistic skills were still tragically lacking, but her talent in music had blossomed, enough for Velvet to notice. The smile tugging at her lips was enough of a reaction for pride to once again spark.
Then her wrists started glowing. When it didn't go away after the first day, she went up to Velvet, who froze. She started speaking, but the words washed over Leitmotif's head, leaving her with only one ringing in her head.
Metamorphosis.
Velvet told the school she was sick, or something - Leitmotif stopped paying attention over the next few days, her head spinning. Ae had always been aware of aer hybrid heritage, but it had never occurred to aer that metamorphosis would be a part of that. It all consolidated into a single, heavy worry that laid unmoving in aer stomach. Everything could go horribly, horribly wrong. There was no telling how the drastic change would affect a HiveWing hybrid. There was no time. They couldn't get doctors involved, couldn't reveal her secrets after all these years. All she could do was let it happen, and hope for the best. 
On aer seventh birthday, Leitmotif closed aer eyes in the small room, where ae had spent the first years of aer life, and let the glowing gold silk swallow aer in its warm embrace.
Ae emerged a week later, blinking eyes open to see that nearly nothing had changed. Her wings were still short, although the translucent membrane had taken on a fresher sheen, like a rug that had finally been cleaned after years of use. For the first time in years, she let her antennae out, to explore the air and let her aching body stretch. Then, finally, ae remembered the silk, and let a strand gently fall from aer wrist.
It was warm in her palm, a gentle light emanating from it that illuminated the cool brown walls of the room. Flamesilk. She dropped it in the lamp, watching it fill the room from the carved glass chamber. Her wrists seemed unchanged, otherwise. The insistent glow was gone. She took in a breath, then folded her wings properly, curling her antennae away once more. Almost nothing changed. It was fine.
The rest of the year went quick once more, Leitmotif filling up the days with aer friends and the music ae so loved. As she grew fully comfortable in her secrets, a little itch in the back of her brain made its presence clearer and clearer, until she couldn't ignore it anymore.
Halic helped, a lot. He listened to aer complaining about these feelings, about that uneasiness that fluttered more and more often. It felt good, to finally be able to share this odd trouble, to explain it to someone who wasn't Velvet. A secret she could finally share. Halic never pushed it too much, but the implication got brought up several times in their conversations, until Leitmotif finally admitted that it was what made the most sense.
She was trans. Perhaps not in as strictly binary of a way as it was for Halic, but still, trans nonetheless. Aer certainty only grew, as ae told Aspid and Fruitfly, then the teachers. Slowly, everyone started using those new words for ae, and for the first time in aer life, ae felt a little more comfortable in aer scales.
Graduation came. As they waved goodbye to Beetle Academy, Halic reached over to Leitmotif. "Promise me you'll keep in touch, 'kay?" She had responded, but her voice was swept away by the cheers of dragons in the background. Finally, she gave him a firm nod, the gesture a promise she intended to keep.
Her next stop would be in Tsetse Hive, to the well known academy for musicians there. Velvet had refused, at first, sparking an argument that lasted days. However, Leitmotif was an adult by then. It was her choice what to do. She left for Tsetse Hive when the time came.
Cicada Academy. There, she worked with others who were equally passionate, and her skills improved rapidly. Every few months, they'd visit Splendour, a retirement home for old HiveWings, and play symphonies for them. Aer loved these performances, seeing the harmonies weaving together into a beautiful song. For the next three years, she would spend her time at this academy, expanding her craft. Ae still read of course, still had those skills of reading that ae held onto, but music was clearly what ae was meant to do.
Halfway through aer stay, ae received an unexpected visit. Neo. Leitmotif nearly closed the door in her face, until she asked, in an almost defeated voice, if she could come in for a bit.
The next conversation was weird, too uncomfortably open for the siblings that never spoke to each other. Neo spoke, a lot. Her words spilled over each other, as if they were an ocean held back for too long, and the dam was finally breaking. It was about Velvet. About Neo's frustrations over how much time she dedicated to Leitmotif, the effects of the divorce, all of it. Years and years of resentment, all laid out and explained in front of Leitmotif. She had gotten into a fight with Velvet, Neo concluded, almost embarrassed. And now she was here, until she felt like going back.
Leitmotif spilled aer flamesilk into a new lamp and gave it to her. Ae let her stay. Thinking about Velvet hurt too much. Thinking about the arguments, about the words that stung in a way that no one else had managed. Also about how much Velvet helped her - there was no way she'd be here now, safe and sound, without her mother to help her along. Ae ended up shoving those thoughts into the back of aer mind, and continued to work on music.
She graduated from the Academy at 10. After the concluding ceremony and Splendour, ae returned to Jewel Hive, aer head held up high.
Ae found aerself a little flat, along the lower levels of the Hive. It wasn't as large and expensive as Velvet's home, but it was aers. She picked up freelance jobs around the Hive, helping perform and compose music wherever she was needed. It was busy work, one that required connections and lots of travel around the Hive, made difficult by her flightlessness.
She even played at Velvet's parties, finally able to see the dancing dragons like she wished to so many years ago. She still stays over at the estate sometimes, supplying Velvet's lamps with flamesilk. In return, the HiveWing provided more contacts for ae. It was almost a business relationship, something that Leitmotif considered with a hint of humor.
Then, at the end of the day, she returns home, and lets her antennae out, letting them float and sense the gentle vibrations of her harp as she practices. She abandons her cloak at the door, her wings free to stretch. She never imagined this life for herself, back in that little room. Yet here ae was.
And Leitmotif knew there was so much more ae could do.
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:Relationships
Velvet: Leitmotif's mother, and the most prominent figure in aer life. The tension between the two is always palpable, although Leitmotif gives her the thinnest semblance of respect. Velvet is her mother, after all. She did protect aer and give aer the most privileged life ae could have. Yet that resentment still coils bitter in Leitmotif's heart, something she still struggles to explain to herself.
Termite: Velvet's ex-husband. Leitmotif never met him, not properly, but the influence of his presence is ever present in the house. His portrait, tucked deep into a closet, the way Neo glared, the dusty trinket filled room that hadn't been moved in years. Ae learned much later about the horrendously complicated process that divorce was, and occasionally wonders how bad his relationship with Velvet had to be for the two to separate.
Festoon: Her birth father, whose name she doesn't know and never thought to ask. He was gone before she hatched. She tried learning about him, when she was younger, but even Riodinidae could barely offer up the color of his scales. The urging of aer curiosity has long since abandoned aer.
Neoptera: Aer half sister. She insists upon being called Neo, a wish that Leitmotif only started respecting once she pointed out that ae would hate being deadnamed. As a dragonet, Leitmotif avoided her, since Neo always only had sharp words and angry glares to offer. Their relationship is odd, the conversations between the two stilted and awkward. However, despite the tension in their earlier years, the two are starting to reconcile. Perhaps that's good enough.
Riodinidae: The old SilkWing cook, who remembered a time from before the Tree Wars. Leitmotif absolutely loved his company, often spending time with him to hear his stories. Ae considered him a very close friend, and mourned him when he transferred to a different Hive. Ae never properly learned to pronounce his name.
Halictidae: A friend, perhaps more than that. After returning from Tsetse Hive, Halic had seeked her out immediately, much to her surprise. He's a healer now, and often comes to visit aer home. Ae still hasn't told him aer secret, and he seems aware that ae's hiding something from him. He doesn't seem to mind, though. She likes his company. It's good to see old friends again.
Aspid: A friend from Beetle Academy. The two had lost contact over the years, but Leitmotif remembers her fondly. They used to talk about nothing of importance, just gossip and funny stories. Ae had never quite understood her obsession with snakes, but admires the way Aspid chased that dream so relentlessly. Leitmotif hopes she's doing well.
Fruitfly: Fruitfly's a librarian now, working alongside Neo. Unlike Leitmotif, he never found a new passion, and spends his days sorting through books. She still visits him sometimes, reading stories with him and spending hours discussing the contents. It's fun. Leitmotif likes the little breaks from music, dabbling in the stories that once consumed aer life.
Queen Wasp: A dragon Leitmotif has not met, but is horribly afraid of. It's her influence that forced aer to hide, her odd ability to control other dragons that made aer constantly on edge, always planning out the right escape route were something to happen. Ae hates to admit it, but the HiveWing queen's very name sends chills down aer spine.
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:Trivia
* Leitmotif is aer chosen name, ae was given a different one at birth that ae no longer responds to
* Due to never having her antennae out in the open, Leitmotif cannot reliably detect vibrations
* She loves the rhythmic noise of falling rain
* Ae relies on the safeguards put in place for SilkWings to travel, something that annoys aer immensely
* Enjoys telling her friends absurd tales about why she can't fly and adds embellishments upon each retelling
* She strongly dislikes wearing jewelry, she feels like they weigh her down too much
* Ae is extremely nearsighted, and cannot see very far without aer glasses.
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:Gallery
 
Leitmotiflucy.png|Lucy
Leitmotifsunset2.png|Bee
Motheatencrow-halicleitmotif.png|motheatencrow
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Category:Characters
Category:Content (Mezepheles)
Category:Non-binary
Category:LGBT+
Category:SilkWings
Category:HiveWings
Category:Hybrids
Category:Occupation (Artist)
Category:Occupation (Performer)
Category:Subtype (Flamesilk)
Category:Disabled
Category:Status (Nobility)