Vesper

---

Vesper has always had a fascination with other dragons -- a purely intellectual fascination. It was a sort of curiosity that he would test, observe, and never quite be able to grasp, even as a hatchling. For a long time, it had been something of a hobbyistic endeavor: observing action and reaction to various prompts. He never enjoyed it. He never felt anything. Anything. That was part of what made his observations so fascinating.

Dragons expressed things that Vesper simply could not understand: happiness...sadness...loneliness... He researched their definitions, and looked up descriptions of what it was like to experience them. They were abstract, surrounded in metaphor. Vesper would try acting the emotions out sometimes when he was alone, looking in a mirror. He didn't feel anything. It was such a big part of others' lives...but eventually, Vesper came to the conclusion that seeking to obtain such things as emotions was pointless. So, he stopped trying. The effort never yielded any progress, and even if it did, there didn't seem to be much point to them. It wasn't as though not having emotion truly impaired Vesper.

True, he didn't understand how others "felt," but there was just as much misunderstanding on the part of those with emotion as well. "Hurt feelings" often exaggerated conflicts that could have otherwise been worked out logically. The emotional would also inaccurately assume Vesper could "feel" these things, too. The more he observed -- fascinated as he was -- the more he agreed with his conclusion: emotions only impaired. They continuously distracted one from getting things done, or swayed dragons' judgements away from what would otherwise be logical conclusions. Those who had them could not help but "feel." That was acceptable, and Vesper couldn't very well hold it against them. He did not care one way or the other on that subject. He didn't care about anything. Not on an emotional level, anyway.

Early on in life, Vesper learned of a disease called the Nosos virus. He also learned that he had it. He wasn't alarmed. There was no reason to be, even if he had the capacity. Thus far, no ill effects had appeared. He was perfectly healthy, despite the disease being evident within his blood. It was acting...dormant. Vesper, despite his young age, had been the one to calmly pose the question to the doctors about the virus' behavior. If others could omit alarm and sympathy, they would have more quickly posed the question, themselves. But, of course, it wasn't their fault that they had to live with something as cumbersome as emotion.

It had been assumed for a long time that Vesper was shy. As he grew, it became more and more apparent that his preference for solitude went beyond normal shyness. He had no anxiety about being with other dragons. He simply preferred to do more productive things, such as study or... Well, everything was a study in one form or other, whether that came from reading a book or observing other dragons. How curious their behaviors were... Erratic, governed by that elusive oddity, emotion.

Whenever Vesper hurt himself, he did not cry like other, young dragons. He acknowledged the pain, and, in fact, was fascinated by it, thinking about how his anatomy functioned as an independent body. When asked, he simply answered that he saw no reason to cry. It would have accomplished nothing. This wasn't to say that his body did not have pain reflex. He could feel physical pain as well as anyone else. He simply never sought excess attention, felt sad or afraid as a result of pain, was surprised, or saw any other reason to continue a display beyond the initial reflex.

As Vesper grew older, the Nosos virus began affecting more Coatl. Dragons began dying. Vesper saw the suffering the virus caused. He decided that the disease needed to be stopped. Vesper went to the doctors to aid in their research, both as a contributor, himself, and as a curiosity of the disease. He still had no ill effects. Attempts to find why the disease wasn't activating in Vesper's body failed. Attempts to create a vaccine, likewise, failed. Vesper was a medical mystery.

After much testing, the conclusion was reached that Vesper was immune to the disease. There was something about his genes that kept it from fully activating. While still a carrier, Vesper only showed this by his gloomy coloration. And, according to many, by his lack of emotion. Vesper, himself, found the latter conclusion preposterous. A lack of emotion was a boon, as far as he was concerned. He would never be encumbered by superfluous joy or desire. He would never suffer the pain of heartbreak or disappointment. Of course they could not understand, however, bound by emotion as they were. How curious, though, that he could carry the virus while remaining healthy. How curious that he, unlike those suffering from the virus' effects, had no emotion. How curious...

The answer was clear. Perhaps it was Vesper's destiny to destroy the Nosos virus. He seemed the perfect one to do so, anyway. After all, the virus had no cure that could be provided by conventional treatments. Clearly, there was only one way to put an end to it. Only one way to keep it from afflicting the Coatl progeny...

All who had the Nosos virus had to die.

And so, Vesper set out, now a young adult. Callously, he hunted down Coatls who may have had the virus -- fact or rumor, he killed them, unwilling to risk the virus' survival. Claws and fangs were such vulgar weapons, however. The cold of his natural abilities as an Ice dragon helped, but archery proved to be the most practical way to kill a fleeing dragon. Such emotion... If they were ruled by practicality, they could see that their selfishness would not only lead to their eventual deaths anyway, but also the spread of the disease. It would have been easier if they would have just let themselves die, or joined him in the hunt. But as always, Vesper could not blame them. It wasn't their fault that they had emotion, even if it made his task more difficult. Impractical, but that was the way of it. He just had to be persistent. And he was.

The virus could not live on in the dead. It was impractical to waste resources, and the feathers of the fallen were safe once the host had been dead for enough time. Vesper harvested the feathers of his victims and provided them to the fletchers who sold him his arrows, to gain a discount on them. Resourcefulness otherwise avoided by the emotional, he was sure. He also sold them to dragons who used them in their craft. Some, he kept as mementos of particularly interesting encounters, and replaced as he continued his hunt. For even if the dragons he killed were cowardly, they deserved to be remembered. It wasn't their fault, most likely, that they contracted the virus. They were merely unfortunate victims.

If he ever managed to kill every dragon who carried the Nosos virus, he would kill himself last. If he could not achieve this daunting task, then death would come for him eventually. Culling the numbers of an afflicted -- even if he could not kill them all -- still had its merit: ending the suffering of those he killed, and preventing any virus-spreading encounters they might have otherwise had. He would be ending the Nosos ripple effect for many, this way. But no one else would do the job, he was sure. Sympathy stymied them -- an unwillingness to perform necessary evils for the good of the many. So, until his death, it was his duty to hunt down the afflicted. And he would do so with the fortitude provided by his emotionless condition.

---

---

Doggopalooza thinks he's the scariest dragon in my lair. I figured he'd be chosen for that. XD

Billygoatsgruff thinks he's the edgiest dragon in my lair. I can see why, but personally, I think that Edgar's the edgiest. :P Probably because I take Vesper here more seriously than Edgar's angst.

Vesper has interacted with a clan called The Omens.

Vesper was on the front page! :D My first dragon to be on the front page!