Cypress

-- Cypress

* Art
* Reference

**Cypress** is an adult male IceWing who lives in the SkyWing Kingdom as Queen Cuprite's assistant and with his adopted daughter Thrift, a young SilkWing dragonet. He is responsible for the creation of the Rite of Passage.

## Appearance

Cypress is a well built IceWing with mainly off-white scales, with his spikes being a pale blue-violet. His claws aren't as sharp as most IceWings', but he makes up for it with his animus magic. He has pitch-black eyes, as well as dark blue talons.

## Personality

Cypress is assumed to be a cynical, stuck up, smug IceWing who cares too much for the safety of himself to most who meet him. That couldn't be farther from the truth - aside from the cynical part. He's rather silent, and considerably soft-spoken. Cypress does in fact have a kinder side to him, where he's a generous and compassionate dragon to those less fortunate than himself. He's kind to young dragonets, and refuses to leave one in distress.

However, that doesn't mean he has no cruel side to him. Ever since being hired by Queen Cuprite for his animus abilities, he's been allowed to make whatever he's wanted with the SkyWing queen's consent. He's constructed the most dangerous obstacle courses for Queen Cuprite, including an array of various death traps that make use of electric eels, dragonbite vipers, etc. His more imaginative and creative side comes out in an unfortunately dangerous way due to this. He's one to bottle up his emotions and lash out later, which isn't healthy for him, and he knows this- he could care less, though.

## History

### Pre-*Rite of Passage*

In the Ice Kingdom
Cypress was raised by two low ranking IceWings, Paste and Calcite. He was genuinely loved by them, and they always tried to be supportive of Cypress, even if they didn't agree with him. However, they have had their bouts of arguments from time to time, specifically when regarding the history of IceWings and their rulers.

"*Why do our rulers have to be so strict on the subject of the circles?*" He would always ask. "*It's like they're trying to make sure only they can have the good things of life!*"

Of course, Calcite and Paste were worried when their son had said that; it seemed like he could very well become a traitor to the kingdom, and already being low ranking IceWings was bad enough in the eyes of their tribe. Cypress never listened to their concerns, and was intent on challenging the circles.

"*All the circles have done are just make sure royalty and nobles more intolerable than before, and keep reminding us that we'll never have what they do.*"

He was outwardly rebellious until he remembered meeting a high ranking IceWing dragon- first circle. Cypress was intentionally slandering the circles and the tribe's society, just to prove his point and to get a rise out of this dragon. Later that day he found himself in the alleyways in the pitch black night, cornered by older and stronger dragons- all because of what he had said.

Cypress remembered getting beaten up, just barely surviving- if you were to ask him what happened, all he would be able to recall was being heavily bruised, maybe bleeding. However, that was the night he first showed signs of being an animus- all when he secretly willed for his pouch to drive the dragons away, do something to stop it. It worked, and Cypress was frightened with what he saw, so much so that he ended up passing out, only to be found by his parents later. He was consoled by Calcite and Paste, though Cypress was still upset because of what had happened.

'What happened to those dragons?' He had thought. But he didn't dare ask it out loud. No one would tell him anyways, and he was likely already going to be reported for attacking a high ranking official or be reported for being an animus. Cypress didn't want to leave his parents. He didn't want to be in the IceWing society anymore.

He wanted *freedom*.

Cypress vividly remembered what had happened the night he left. He remembered the concerned looks on his parents faces, the scornful looks of his former tribemates (though they always had that look on their faces, he had thought), how suddenly empty it felt to consider that to be his home. How quickly dragons would turn on him for one thing- and how greedy some dragons were for power. He left without much else happening - finally, he was free. He had headed for the town of Possibility, hoping for a fresh start.

So as one could imagine, it was unfortunate that he got captured by SkyWings quickly after leaving the Ice Kingdom.

Captured
Cypress wasn't entirely sure what they wanted from him at first. Word of his animus powers wouldn't get out *that* quickly, would it? Or were they going to use him to bargain with the IceWings? He had found himself a prisoner for a few weeks, give or take. During his time there, he hadn't found it much better than the Ice Kingdom, but Cypress wasn't going to complain. *'At least there aren't any circles,'* He'd thought more than once. After what had felt like an eternity, he was soon summoned to see the current Queen of the SkyWings - Queen Cuprite.

At first he was confused. Why would the queen want to see a *prisoner*, let alone an IceWing one at that? Upon meeting her that day, he quickly pieced together why she had taken any interest at all - his magic. Cypress wasn't all that surprised, but he did wonder how she had found out. Perhaps she had found out at one of the meetings with the IceWing Queen? He shuddered at the thought - maybe his tribe was now hunting him down.

Of course, Cypress declined her offer at first - he wasn't entirely too sure if he could trust her. It had made the queen furious with him and after what had been mostly bickering, she had sent him back to his rock spire. A few days had passed, and instead Cuprite came to him with a deal - knowing fully well that Cypress had nowhere else to go, she had offered him a free place in the Sky Kingdom and protection from the IceWings as long as he would use his magic for the SkyWing tribe. Not having many other options, he agreed to this deal, becoming her assistant.

The Trials
Cypress still wasn't sure what exactly Cuprite wanted with animus magic. He had been working alongside her for years since, and it was clear to him that most SkyWings wanted nothing to do with animus dragons, let alone *IceWing* animi. And it didn't help that most of his tasks had been made the most ridiculous of things to do - most of it didn't even require his magic. Cypress was growing frustrated with Cuprite, but hadn't said anything - he wanted to keep his place in the Sky Kingdom, and Cuprite was likely the only one standing in the way of him staying or getting thrown out.

WIP section

## Relationships

### Paste and Calcite

Paste and Calcite are Cypress' mothers. Cypress loves his mothers dearly and wishes them the best, despite leaving the Ice Kingdom.

## Quotes

*"Thrift was rather distracting, but I- we pulled through."* - To Cuprite

*"Did you actually think I was joking? I wasn't lying when I said that I cast a spell so no other dragon could find us here, unless we invite them."* - To Cuprite

*"Oh? What did you find? Another pebble?"* - To Thrift

## Trivia

* There is no hidden meaning behind Cypress' name, considering he's an IceWing. I just think it sounded cool
* He is an IceWing animus because I disregarded canon and Thrift already threw that out of the window because she's an animus SilkWing
* He is one of the first OCs I made for WoF.
* His theme song is *Doubtback* from the DQMJ2 original soundtrack.