Orion

[WIP; 1st draft]

Orion has always been one to keep a map of Sornieth's stars on-hand at all times, if not for the spells he casts using the knowledge he gleans from it then because it reminds him of his old clan in the Focal Point of Starfall Isles. Memories of gazing up at the sky as lookout for his old clan still ring fresh through his head, as well as the sense of peace he always felt from seeing the stars always twinkling overhead despite the mysterious threats from among their glowing ranks.

It took him a long time to decide whether or not to leave, but truth be told, he wanted adventure. He knew that there was more to life than just sitting around, waiting for the next strange asteroid creature to appear. After voicing his request to explore Sornieth to his clan's leader, he was met with approval. His request granted, he began to roam the land in search of new faces and unfamiliar places to see for himself.

One such expedition brought him to the Astrolodome's library sanctums, where he soon stumbled into a dragon who looked like the very night sky had come to life. Since this sparkling Fae seemed busy with caring for a small clutch of enthused dragonets (including two Coatl hatchlings, to his brief surprise), he simply passed them by. Not wanting to make them feel uneasy by lingering too close for too long, he found a place to rest in a pile of pillows and cushions by an elaborate window. A sense of tranquility soon blanketed across his entire body, and he ended up accidentally falling asleep.

What felt like mere seconds later, his eyes fluttered open to reveal the same little class of dragons bathed in the fiery orange hues of sunset. They blinked owlishly at him as he stirred from his oddly exhausting slumber. Confused, he raised his head upright and began to ask them what they wanted from him, but he didn't have enough time to get out a single word before the frosty-gazed Fae simply set down a paper in front of him. As he looked more closely at the details of the paper, he realized that it was a somewhat rudimentary and inconsistently-composed drawing of himself from when he was asleep. In the drawing, he looked somewhat like a large semi-circle with wings tucked like sheets over his body and a tail that curled around to rest on the tip of his nose (he had no idea that his tail did that while he slept). The detail was clearly rendered with careful attention despite some sloppy execution here and there, and the eyes were a little bit overdone and somewhat... shiny? Nonetheless, it was horribly endearing to him, so of course he had to ask who had made that picture. Everyone claimed a little bit of credit, but it became increasingly obvious that the most talented contributor was the voidlike Fae. Him and this stunningly talented creature of the fine arts began to strike up a conversation, where he learned that the appropriate name and pronouns for them were Nisha, and that she had a preference for she/her but finds they/them to be a surprisingly (but not unwelcomingly) comforting set of pronouns as well.

As time continued to pass, Nisha needed to bring her clan's hatchlings back to the lair, and Orion needed to return to his room all the way back at the inn near the central plaza of the Astrolodome. When he mentioned in passing that he was in search of a new clan, the dragonets with Nisha looked at her excitedly. After a bit of discussion and three sets of large, gleaming eyes, Nisha turned to face Orion and offered to let him join her clan. He told her that he'd spend two more nights at the inn just to make sure that he's getting the most out of the treasure he'd spent (after all, he did book a five-night stay), but that he'd gladly join their clan as soon as he could. He told her to seek him out at the sanctum in two days, and that she could lead him back to her lair. He'll never forget the way that the dragonets skipped around excitedly when he said that he'd join their clan.

Today, he's a proud member of The Nebula and helps manage the ever-growing mass of scrolls that the clan's writers are creating and collecting. While he's not reading or sorting through texts, he's spending time with Nisha and helping her record the names of stars and make new runes or meditating in the Starwood Strand with Bittyboo and Duilin. He's also known to be a master player of Tic Tac Toe, even though his skill at most card games is greatly overshadowed by Duilin's newfound prowess at games of chance.