Xara

From Strikehedoniak.
Bogsneaks are notorious for their solitary nature but... not like this.

Xara had made a mistake, she'd wandered off from her clan, and before she knew it she'd gotten turned around and found herself hopelessly lost in the Abiding Boneyard. For days she tried desperately to find her way back, tried to scrounge up food and water, but she simply grew hungrier and thirstier, and she was so scared.

It was a miracle that Esten and Rydian found her when they did. With masks over their faces to keep out the foul air, the tundra and fae dragon had descended to her and comforted her, gave her food and water, and offered to bring her someplace safe. She was wary and nervous, but hesitantly she nodded. She wanted her parents, but she was old enough to know there was no way to find them in the vast expanse of the Boneyard.

When they came back, Xara was given a thorough cleaning in the Driftwood Drag's river, making sure she wouldn't get anyone sick with some bug she picked up in the Scarred Wasteland. She swore she could feel everyone's suspicious eyes on her, staring into her own crimson orbs. The clan caretakers, Bahram and Lyra, allowed her to stay with the other hatchlings, but Xara simply chose her own nest, far away from everyone else.

That was where she was most comfortable.
Xara knows full and well she's... okay. 'Not welcome' isn't the right word. Every dragon in this clan has been so welcoming and kind to her. But she can't help but feel an undercurrent of tension; she's a plague dragon, after all. The elemental magic she was blessed with has few applications beyond causing harm, and specifically causing harm to living things.

Maybe the wary glances and the people sitting distant from her is all in her mind. It's possible.

Well, maybe it's for the best. Xara loves her solitude; even just being around any of her clanmates, bless their hearts, has her scales crawling and her head buzzing through no fault of their own. At most she can sit through the occasional meeting, or the nightly feasts - and she loves those, she really does! - but mostly she likes to go wading into the Driftwood Drag to bring back fish and plants. Alone.
Deeper into the Tangled Wood. Further from the Scarred Wasteland, from the clan of her hatching. A part of her yearns to return, with a compass and ample food and water, to find them. See how they're doing.

Another part of her knows that this is her home now, foraging by day while sitting awkwardly, but still smiling, at the nightly feasts while she bleps out her tongue to taste the air. Despite her knowing better, though, she's been practicing her magic. Xara tells herself she'll never need it, never need to make anyone rot from the inside and make their organs melt. But watching the sickly green/red auras flicker around her claws soothes her.

It makes her feel strong.

12/7/17: Bred with Bahram.