Vineyard

creator 	Scorch
coder 	Moonwatcher908
playlist 	hiding in the blue- thefatrat
those who carried on- ghost & pals
in the end- linkin park
aesthetic 	text
color 	dark red-purple
tribe 	LeafWings
gender & pronouns	Female (any except he/him)
orientation 	
sun sign 	Cancer
job 	Student
hobbies 	Art
family 	text
mbti 	INTP
Morality At The Cost Of Happiness
"How can I be myself without you hating me?" -Vineyard
Character © ~warmbluevanilla~, do not use without permission. Credit: Himmalerin's Image Coding Guide, Moonwatcher908's Free Formats.
Vineyard is my ventsona and my most accurate dragonsona. This character is very personal to me, and if you steal her, well, it won't be pretty.
:
please keep this
four lines
so the format
doesn't get messed up!
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appearance
* i'm not good at describing my dragons help
:
i'm alone here on my island
floating in the sky, i'm
high above the world i used to know
personality
* is somehow socially anxious and has a large ego at the same time. she wants others to talk about her but is terrified of what they might say
* a bit too sensitive
* not good at reading other dragons. is literally blind in that aspect. sometimes wishes she could be a mindreader tbh.
* is deeply uncomfortable with displays of emotions such as grief and anger from her family. often tries to lighten things up with humor and cheerfulness
* hates helping others and being helped. only helps other dragons to increase her likeabilty
* tries to maintain a carelessly happy facade, at least for the sake of others
* is terrified of being watched and judged
* will happily vent to strangers in anonymity
* is sadly prone to guilt tripping to... try and get what she wants, to fill the void in her.
A strange dragon, quiet and nervous, what she does say coming out in stuttered whispers. She's kind, that much can be said- but her movements are erratic and stiff, her words hissing through her teeth as if kindness doesn't come naturally to her. Can often be seen making excuses to escape from her interlocutor, then breathing a sigh of pure relief.
:
and i'm far from any danger
safe from any failure
guarded, i found shelter in the storm
:
abilities & weaknesses
abilities
* sharp hearing & eyesight
* fast reflexes
* normal leafwing powers. is a good gardener but is unsure whether that's leafspeak or not
* fast runner and flyer. can do both for long periods without tiring
weaknesses
* sensitive to critique
* can't put a lot of effort into one thing for a long time (especially if she doesn't like doing it)
* isn't good at reading the room
* sometimes blind to the needs of others
* is always terrified of what others think
:
the world's passing by and
i lost sense of time, i've
gone numb, i miss the days when
we were making legends
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history
Vineyard hatched roughly ten years after the LeafSilk Kingdom took root. Only a week or so after her hatching, she had a frightening disease that involved terrible red rashes all over her body and labored breathing. Her parents, terrified of losing their only daughter, took her to nearly every healer in the kingdom hoping to find a cure. Finally, it came to an end. The illness either got bored of toying with the frail dragonet, or succumed to the many treatments designed to fight it. Leaving its host a heat sensitive skin to remember it by.
* her parents nearly lost her when she was very young
* grew up coddled as a result
* is too sensitive to her enviroment. other dragonets might make her sick
* she can't go to elementary school whoops
* is homeschooled (read: treated as a fragile doll by her parents and not given a proper education)
* sick of it
* was determined to prove herself to her parents. often dressed herself up as a fierce poisonwing warrior
* disliked female dragonets her age. they were obsessed with sappy romance novels and always told their parents they love them before bed
* (vineyard was uncomfortable with expressions of love and affection from her family and friends, because to her love meant being chained to another dragon, namely her overprotective parents
* vineyard preferred to play with the male dragonets. they understand her thirst for adventure and she always has the best time with them
* always looking for a fight. her claws were always sharp, her limbs marred with scars from scratching itches
* she met snakeroot, a young drake her age, when she was three. he was a good friend, but they've slowly grown apart
That was what it was. An innocent dragonet playing rough with her peers as leader of the pack, soaking up the power and awe she never had with her parents. But somewhere along the way it turned into something else. Maybe she met the wrong friend, picked up a bad influence.
Vineyard knew all along that wasn't the case. She was always desperate to prove that she wasn't her parents' precious shy baby to be fawned over and protected from the world. And what better way to do that than being a merciless bully? Protect herself from the world? Pah! The world would have to protect itself from her.
She went out of her way to crush insects under her talons. Spiders, millipedes, and the stinkbugs she so despised were her primary victims. Time moved on, and so did she- to birds, throwing stones at them to practice her aim. She also remembers clearly chasing a pair of swallows to permanent wing muscle damage for fun.
Maybe, then, it was inevitable, what happened next. Insects to birds. Birds to something bigger.
Vineyard was four when she targeted her first, and last, dragon victim.
Her name was Tangerine, and she was a SilkWing. Vineyard had built her latest group of friends, two drakes and a little dragoness younger than her. Tangerine had been the last addition, and Vineyard had been hesitant to accept her, as she was about all dragonesses her age. But Vineyard's parents took to Tangerine instantly, praising her good grades and sweet personality, asking why Vineyard couldn't be more like her. So Vineyard fought back, taking out her anger on the SilkWing. She made petty digs at Tangerine, always making sure they were on opposing sides whenever the group competed in any way, encouraging the others to root against Tangerine in dice games. The dragoness and one of the drakes supported Vineyard; the other drake seemed quite indignant, but the LeafWing figured she could do without him.
It culminated in Vineyard rudely brushing the tip of her tail across Tangerine's face when the latter announced her victory in a beanbag race. Tangerine left without a word.
She never came back. The rest of the group disbanded quickly after that.
Vineyard's parents weren't happy that Tangerine had left. They berated Vineyard for the way she treated the SilkWing, and asked her why. Vineyard managed to convince them that it was because she felt jealous of the affection Tangerine recieved. It wasn't that, not really. In truth Tangerine was everything Vineyard's parents thought their daughter was- sweet, kind, modest, dignified. Vineyard hated her at first glance.
Vineyard's parents must have either realized that or felt their dragonet had gone long enough without a proper education, because one spring evening they announced that Vineyard would be going to middle school the coming fall.
Pheonix Middle School. That was its name, a rather odd one supposedly from its history of reforming the most timid dragonets into top of the notch scholars. Unlike most of the other schools in the area, it was not Pantalian exclusive- a bit of diversity would do the narrow minded Vineyard some good.
Vineyard was terrified. She knew nothing about how to interact with others, what to say or how to make friends. She knew none of the things that were popular with dragonets her age, never mind the fact that she was terribly behind on her studies. She'd never manage.
So she did her best to fit in. She observed what the dragonesses her age were doing, and copied their calm and kind demeanor. She got rid of all the dark jokes she used to love telling, brushed off all the vocal and physical tics that might make her seem out of place and immature. She rarely talked to mask the fact that she knew very little compared to her peers. She buried the real her beneath a polite and clever facade. All to try and fit in.
And she did. She didn't know how, but she managed to somewhat catch up in her studies, even achieving a medium level of scholary competence. Nothing could replace the three years she'd lost, but two semesters of studying and perfect attendance were a close second. Vineyard even met dragons who liked her. A goofy and open-minded RainWing by the name of Persimmon. A straight spoken and funny HiveWing called Stag, also an excellent listener. There was one dragon that stuck out, though. 
Her name was Gingko. Gingko was there on the very first day, and she seemed to follow Vineyard everywhere she went. Slowly Vineyard accepted her as a friend, despite her own doubts about the RainWing. 
The doubts were because of the whispers. Vineyard was not exactly well liked, but her new friend was even less so. The thing was, Gingko was annoying. Her smile looked odd and babyish, and she had a way of bobbing her head randomly and giggling that got under one's scales. And she didn't know so many things, things that everyone knew. Dragons got sympathetic glances if she approached them. As for Vineyard, she could reluctantly have added more to the pile of reasons why Gingko was an outcast. Her bizarre rooting through the trash for pretty trinkets. Her nonstop teasing of her least favorite dragons. Her breath that somehow always stank of thyme leaves, earning her the nickname 'Stinko'. 
But Vineyard couldn't call Gingko a bad friend. She listened, even when she didn't always understand. She always approached Vineyard after their first class to chat. She was immature, weird, a rather off-putting mystery. But she wasn't that bad of a friend. And it wasn't like Vineyard could stop being friends with her, because all her other friends were, in truth, friendly accquaintances. Apart from Gingko, nobody would go with her during break, eat with her willingly, or take the time to talk with her. Gingko was all she had. 
After a whole semester, though, Vineyard noticed something. Nobody would go near her willingly except for Persimmon or Stag. Or if they did, it would only be on a dare with their friends. She always knew it was because of Gingko. It would stop if she stopped being seen with Gingko. 
Could she, though? Could she stop? Could she lose the only friend she had, however uncomfortable Gingko made her feel, in favor of a possibilty of making better friends? One bird in her talons would be worth two in the bush, wouldn't it? 
Ultimately, it was Persimmon that decided her. The RainWing had been hanging out with some... other dragons and Vineyard had been eyeing up their friend group for a while. She envied the way they laughed and joked without a care in the world, the way they stood up for each other and the patience they had for shy individuals. Gingko didn't like them, often followed them around and annoyed them, but Vineyard didn't think they could be too bad. 
She approached them one day, as a test run, and eventually found herself chatting away happily, her guard down for the first time since going to a proper school. She was still smiling as she left for home. 
In the next week, she took them up as new friends, drifting further away from Gingko in the process. The latter approached her one day. Said that Vineyard wasn't the nice dragon she was when school started, demanding to know what happened. 
Vineyard was left reeling. The thing was, she wasn't very sure of herself when school started. She had tried to be kind, tried to act properly when she didn't know anything. Now she was becoming more self-assured, both in studies and personality. Yet Gingko said she had become worse. 
And Gingko wouldn't stop. She compared Vineyard to her least favorite dragons. She constantly accused Vineyard of 'being mean', the expression on her snout making Vineyard want to claw her. She became clingier, pulling Vineyard away every time she tried to approach Persimmon and her friends. She brought Vineyard into her childish games, games of pretend that made the LeafWing uncomfortable and earned her disgusted looks from her classmates. 
Once, Vineyard and Gingko were in a line for a P.E. assessment when someone cut in front of Vineyard just as she was about to take her turn. Gingko screamed and stomped her foot, and Vineyard snapped. She snarled at Gingko to stay out of her business and that not everything was worth a dumb childish fit. Gingko ran up to her when classes were over, wanting to know why Vineyard was angry at her. The LeafWing didn't reply; she didn't even look back. Vineyard quickly forgave Gingko for that incident, but only because she didn't have the strength to stay angry anymore. 
One day, after finals were over, Vineyard was doing her homework at her desk when Gingko came up to her and tried to drag her to play pretend. Sandcat, a member of Persimmon's friend group, noticed Vineyard's visible discomfort and told Gingko to back off. Gingko was just protesting that she wasn't doing anything wrong when Vineyard, boosted by Sandcat's rebuke, gave her former friend a death glare. Gingko's bottom lip trembled and she ran off crying. Sandcat advised that Vineyard stay away from the unpredictable RainWing, and Vineyard was all too happy to oblige. She didn't care whether Gingko had good intentions or not. She just wanted to hurt Gingko, hurt her for all the damage she'd done to Vineyard's social status and mental health. 
Gingko tried to talk to Vineyard every day for what remained of the school year. Every time, Vineyard ignored her. 
Summer came. Summer vacation was a chance for Vineyard to kick back and relax, to be herself after two semesters of taming her temper. But she couldn't. She couldn't be herself anymore. Maybe it was Gingko's constant gaslighting, maybe it was her own terror over what others thought of her. Or maybe it was both. But she kept herself indoors most of the time, only going out twice at dawn and dusk. When no one could see. 
Maybe it's her punishment for everything she did as a dragonet, she thinks. For all the fights she started, animals she killed or maimed. She knows she should have been punished. Why wasn't she punished? These days, she feels like every stranger she passes by is glaring at her. But she deserves the glares. She can only hope for their forgiveness.
Maybe, one day, she'll be able to forgive herself too.
:
the days come and go, i'll
wait through sun and snow
for you to come and take me from
this place and bring me home
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relationships
Parents
Vineyard does love them, but she also wants them to be happy, and that means acting cheerful and funny to maintain a positive family enviroment. That's the only way she feels she can be happy these days. They're among the few dragons Vineyard shows her true wild self to.
There's so much they don't know.
Tangerine
That- that infuriating SilkWing. Always kind and thoughtful. Things Vineyard is thought to be and now wishes she could be. Vineyard knows it was unfair to hate her- she saw her own fake facade reflected back at her in Tangerine, except as a genuine personality. She wishes she could apologize to her, but she also doesn't feel very sorry.
Snakeroot
A friend, and a good one at that. They had the same sense of humor and thirst for adventure, but they've grown apart as most childhood friends do. Vineyard wonders how he's doing. She wants to reach out again but is terrified of what he'll say at what she's become.
Gingko
She hates the RainWing for what she's done. She doesn't care whether Gingko genuinely thought she was a good friend, because she wasn't. She hopes Gingko won't be in her class next semester, but she also wishes for more chances to hurt Gingko in retaliation.
:
i'm hiding in the blue
safe between the clouds
in the blue
where i can't be found
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trivia
*Vineyard can whistle through her teeth, a party trick she sometimes demonstrates to her friends.
*She can also flare her nostrils on command, though she's only shared that particular tidbit with her parents due to it looking unslightly.
*Vineyard can understand math easily and has thus taken a liking to it. She finds that she's the only one in her class that struggles with history, though, and isn't particularly fond of it.
:
i'm hiding in the blue
in the blue
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gallery
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for reference! by artist
VineyardMezepheles.png|Mezepheles
Placeholder.png|artist
Category:Characters
Category:LeafWings
Category:Content (~warmbluevanilla~)
Category:Females
Category:Work in Progress
Category:LGBT+
Category:Occupation (Student)
Category:Dragonsonas
Category:Dragonets