Hyacinth

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Indigo Mimosa Plant A sour bloom that leaves a dragon with a blue tongue. 30 3

——— HYACINTH ——— he/him shadegarden - head gardener quiet, thoughtful, nurturing, needy, ruminating

Satin Violets Plant The petals of this flower are super soft! 17 2

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The organizer of Shadegarden, a soft-spoken and tender Fae who cares deeply about others... to a fault, because he's tended to lose sight of himself for the sake of others' approval. Kind as he may be, however, as the project has grown in scale, he's started to retreat further and further inward. He's in this weird state where he wants to move on from the past so badly he's forcing himself to, but corners of his mind still lament what happened. He should open up at some point, but he keeps his maw shut.

His feelings on his former mate Firefly remain conflicted even now - while he mostly knows that it wasn't all his fault and resents them, tiny parts of him still want their forgiveness, groveling. He and his son Phlox, the only dragon that stayed with him when they parted, have a good bond, but it has started to become quiet and strained with Hyacinth's unwillingness to talk about the past that Phlox wants addressed. But at least it's easier for him to know how he feels regarding those he met after starting Shadegarden. Hyacinth feels a fatherly sort of affection for Morgan and Tsuyumi, for example.

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Born a Guardian, Hyacinth was uncertain when he set out on his Search. He felt shaky on his own, away from the community that he had spent his life in since his hatchday, and he simply wanted it all to be over with. Perhaps he would end up spending his life providing, caring, tending to something greater? It was a comforting thought to him, but in the end he was still willing to rush such a process.

The trajectory of his life was set in rubble when he met Firefly. He quickly fell head over heels for them: they fascinated him and he felt deeply for their plight. He was thrilled when she told him she was willing to stick with him. His infatuation got the best of him; he convinced himself that this was his charge. But when he told them that... they didn't seem all that thrilled for him.

Well, he did not mind that too deeply for a while. He tried to suck up to Firefly, listening to their rambles and frustrations, growing the clan the two shared, doing all they asked, trying everything he could in an attempt to get them to look back at him even once. Spite started to build up in his heart as his attempts ended in futility, but he just kept staying, certain that things would be better eventually. All he really wanted was for Firefly to overcome her insecurity regarding her lack of magical ability and for the two of them to live happily together, and the part of him that knew that they were not really his charge after all tightened its lips.

In his final and most drastic effort to speak to them, to get on their level, to appeal to them and earn the approval he desperately wanted, Hyacinth found a way to change himself into a Fae. To forsake his background and his Search all for their sake. He hoped that maybe it could fix everything. But Firefly was not happy. Not in the slightest.

They argued, they fought, and the realization set in for Hyacinth that Firefly would never return his feelings or even dare look away from the ones that already preoccupied them as he tried to reach out to them one last time. She left, taking the rest of the clan - all that they had built together - with her, leaving only his son remaining by his side. Crushed, destroyed, he left what used to be the home they shared.

He did not look where he was going much, but still Phlox remained by his side as the two of them wandered southward to the border of the Hewn City. He did not listen to the guards' warnings as he found his way in, wandering on an aimless search. Little of the ruins intact interested him in his grief that he should have known to process much, much earlier; rather, he ended up among a wrecked alcove of rubble. (Were he, say, an edgier dragon, he'd have described the state of it as much like that of his broken heart.)

Something stopped him from quite leaving that place. Something deep inside his mind. And a moment's lingering, his eye was caught. From between two desolate, cracked tiles that would have once glowed pale with light, a little sprout fought its way up. Its tiny, dark leaves reached for any light they could find in this dark, dark place. It struggled, but even among the shaded ruin it lived.

His heart stirred with a feeling he thought he'd never feel. He was not a Guardian anymore, but the idea of a charge lingered in his ears. Even in the body of a different breed, in the middle of shade-cloaked ruins that no dragon would find any reason to protect, deep in his mind... he knew this was it.

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awakened

Dark-Tufted Sparrowmouse Familiar A terror to any dragon who gardens. 1500

12/30/23