Eden

WIP
like, incredibly so. this is just to get some rough ideas out there before I refine the stuff I've got down already. if you're somehow seeing this when it's still the biggest WIP known to man, hi!! and I'm sorry!

some notes:

• a popular entertainer in The Tangled Wood; technically a magician, dancer, and singer if you break it down; heavily incorporates magic such as illusory magic into displays of dancing & singing

» personality:
• he's very much so a showman at heart; his friends will tell you that his personality on stage isn't an act, that's just how he is. all the time.

• just about nothing in the world he loves more than attention; knowing all eyes are on him or that people are paying close attention to his words is exhilarating for him and inspires him to do his best for them

• his love of attention precedes him; even though he loves people and loves collaborating with fellow entertainers, his charisma and endless drive to do his absolute best to win the crowd over & make them proud often ends with much of the attention inadvertently being drawn away from his colleagues and to himself instead, a habit that has lead to him opting to perform alone or with people who're comfortable acting as accessories to his performances rather than expecting most of the attention

• very charismatic; has an air of confidence that's difficult to ignore and often ends up shifting into leadership positions in any group he's put into, whether intentionally (on his part or other's) or not

• very comfortable in leadership roles; he loves helping others become comfortable with their craft & feels accomplished just from knowing he took the stress of leadership off of someone else's shoulders

• can't understand how anyone could want, or willingly lead, a life devoid of fun and spontaneity; a great many of his decisions have been made seconds after thinking "well, why not?" and/or "what's the worst that could happen?"

• always pays close attention to his crowd when he's performing; he'll note whether they seem unhappy or not, what they seemed most amazed at, and most importantly, if there're any new faces that time around; he loves greeting them after the show is over, and he'll often inquire with people who seemed dissatisfied with his performance in order to gather what was off and how he can improve for next time

• his fashion style is heavily influenced by his mom Vega, which becomes abundantly clear when they're next to each other. she brought him along on her shopping trips ever since he was little and he quickly took an interest in all the jewelry, clawpolish, and flowy clothes she always bought for herself, which lead to her buying the same things for him.

his absolute favorite clawpolish color is Wisp Blue, which he's been wearing ever since he could sit still for long enough for his mom to paint his claws.

• he prefers to avoid confrontation, but he's been known from time to time to hassle larger dragons with a bad attitude and promptly retreat to his allies if they tried to fight him. he's gotten into some very dangerous close calls but has always avoided getting into a true fight, not insignificantly due to his much bigger and stronger friends protecting him. he's had to hold himself back on this front since having children, but being a massive nuisance is both fun and more than justified to him when it's in response to someone seemingly dedicated to making other people's lives worse unprovoked.

• he's been known as "the funny friend" for as long as he can remember and he revels in it, but that unfortunately means he struggles to reach out when he's feeling emotions that're... less than fun. that's not why they're his friends in the first place, is it?
- performing is his lifeblood and never fails to cheer him up when he's down, so that's what he turns to each and every time.
unfortunately, that in and of itself is the issue: the intensity of his performances and his propensity to do them all alone have taken their toll on his body time and time again.
- but he doesn't know what to do without a stage to turn to— the first and thus far only time he was away from it for long was to be there for his children. why would he waste time resting when he's still got it in him to keep going?

- he's always been one for a drink, whether to match the energy when he's out or just to enjoy the taste while he's alone. somewhere down the line, it became what he defaulted to; when he starts to ache enough to make performing difficult, he takes another drink.
when he's dizzy and struggling to dance without falling, he takes another drink.
when the pain gets so bad that he can't even crawl out of bed without tearing up, he drinks— until the pain prevents him from lifting the bottle at all.
- it's then that he hits a wall; unable to perform, numb the pain, or even sleep, he's left to confront how the life he lives may not be feasible, that maybe he's doing something wrong.
but the stage is his home and first love; he adores his crowd, adores the attention, the rush, the excitement of knowing he made someone else happy. what would his fans think if they saw him like this, yelping in pain as he struggled to so much as roll onto his side?

- he doesn't think he has a problem.
It's just a sip! he'd laugh, gently twirling the bottle he was holding. My head hurts a 'lil today, that's all.
...What?
This has been my drink for centuries! You want some? Here! You'll like it!
- his wife knows otherwise, but she also knows him well enough to know that there's no alternative. she knows he does his best not to worry anyone and that his worst fear is the positive memories he gave to others being stained by how he acts in a less positive state. she has no plan, no course of action in mind to get help for him— he wouldn't think he needed it.
- and so she lets him be.
- it's not constant, at least, and for what it's worth, he never does seem affected by how much he drinks; he acts the same as he always does, if not.. sadder.
- she wishes she had a better solution.

• despite everything, he's a very responsible man, husband, and father; he took a long hiatus from his beloved performances in order to be there for his hatchlings and went above and beyond to keep them and his wife out of the limelight, knowing his wife was uncomfortable with attention & believing children shouldn't be forced into such a potentially stressful environment

» abilities & skills:
• has very highly potent magic that he opted to use for entertainment value rather than combative purposes; it often manifests as an ethereal bright blue smoke-like substance that he forms into various things, such as paws capable of grabbing & holding things, architecture that can support fully grown dragons, and mystical beings that can be touched and interacted with; is also able to exhale what appears to be blue smoke at will, and has blown this smoke into empty lanterns and other light sources in order to light them up; the flame/smoke/whatever doesn't seem to go out unless he wants it to

•

» relationships:
• husband of Senka [...]

• he's the extremely proud father of his two gorgeous and talented daughters, Willow & Sonja.
- he chose the name Willow for his eldest after the willow tree where he took Senka for their first date and later proposed under, and chose the name Sonja for his youngest as a unique spin on naming her after her mother. the latter turned out to be an exceedingly fitting name, as she turned out just like Senka.
- his little girls are his world. the one closest to him is Willow, who inherited his love for performing and excitement about life. he does his best to teach her how to be a performer in spite of her lack of Shadow magic and frequently spends time practicing with her, occasionally performing with her as well.
- his youngest, Sonja, has always lacked interest in performing. he more or less expected this; he and his mate were very different people with very different interests, but they make do by taking time out of each month to indulge in each other's interests. this was a trend they continued with their children, with Senka and Sonja coming to Eden and Willow's performances and the latter two taking days off to read with the former two.
- still, Sonja didn't seem particularly interested in that tradition, either, and much preferred to be alone or with her mother only. not wanting to upset his baby, he left Sonja to her own devices, but always extended invites to her whenever he or the others were going out just in case she changed her mind and was having trouble speaking up.
- she never did take him up on any of his offers, but that's fine! she seemed content with her mom and grandpa, so as long as she didn't mind, he wouldn't mind, either.
- on the surface, at least. he desperately wishes he could be closer to her, but he knows that forcing a relationship isn't the way. if she one day reciprocates that desire, he'd be more than happy to indulge her.
- just about the second she turned an adult, she moved out to live in the Wasteland instead. this in and of itself wasn't a shock to him— Senka's family has been composed of Plague & Shadow ancestry for generations and each generation tended to move from living on the border of one land to the other, Senka herself being no different as she grew up in the Wasteland but permanently moved to the Woods as an adult— but what threw him off was how early she did so. maybe it shouldn't've, given how independent she's always been, but.. well, what father wants their baby to leave when they're still so young?
- she hasn't sent any letters or gifts back home since she left, which, again, shouldn't be surprising.. but honestly, he's getting worried about her. he knows the very last thing she would want is for him (or any part of the family, most likely) to pay her a surprise visit, and he knows that could damage their relationship permanently, but what if something's wrong?


in truth, Senka was pretty neutral about having children; if her mate wanted them she'd be happy to have them, but if he didn't, she wouldn't mind going without. his unbridled enthusiasm about starting a family with her came as a shock to her at first, but when she looks back on everything she knew about him, she doesn't quite understand why she was surprised.

• only child of Sin, a stay-at-home dad and former circus performer specializing in dangerous stunts, and Vega, a mesmerizing dancer who incorporates seemingly reality-bending magical illusions into all of her shows

» history:
• his decision to be a father one day was made when he was still just a teenager, and while he initially spent long nights pondering over that future, he soon chose to live in the moment instead; when he was to settle down with the person he'd spend the rest of his life with, he'd follow the call.

• before he fell in love, his mantra of living in the moment lead him to flit from partner to partner, occasionally having multiple at once who were aware of yet unaffiliated with one another; each of them shared the mutual understanding that what they had was just for fun and that while he did care for them, he wasn't looking for or expecting anything serious.
unfortunately, his charisma wasn't solely a skill utilized in his performances, and his partners struggled against developing deeper feelings for him in regards to how romantic and considerate he was with them. he certainly treated them like they were meant to be long-term partners, and it wasn't rare for his partners to grow jealous of others receiving the same treatment, despite how he was always upfront with all parties involved if they weren't the only ones.
this didn't escape his notice, and it was... unfortunate. it did nothing to deter him, however; he didn't have forever on Sornieth, and he knew there were so many interesting and beautiful characters he wanted to spend his days with before his time was up. to others it seems like he's had countless partners, but he remembers every face and name and quirk— which is precisely what made him both so attractive and so hard to pull away from.

• as a teenager, he fell hard for a guy he started dating. it was a very unexpected feeling for him: their chemistry together was perfect and, though he originally planned on having several partners before settling down, he could see himself having a perfectly happy and fulfilling life with his new love being his one and only.
after several years together, his partner abruptly broke off their relationship, and Eden... struggled with that. it was both his first real love and very first heartbreak, and to get such sudden news delivered so tactlessly from the person he had loved for so long completely wrecked him.

he clearly remembers a moment when he was cuddling with his mom at their home, crying softly into her feathers and only just beginning to calm down when his dad came home.

in came his dad's panicked questions about why his son was crying, and when his mom quietly responded with a solemn "Love", not wanting to upset her baby further by reopening the wounds, he felt the tension rising in the air as his dad put together the puzzle pieces.

"Where is he?" came the next bite of words, struggling to keep his anger from seeping into them. Eden managed to wrench his tear-stained face out of his mother's now-damp chest to look at his father just as he began to say, "I'll kill that bas-"

"Don't." Eden managed to sob out, and his father immediately went silent, his tense shoulders lowering and ears pinning back at the sound of his son's wrecked voice. exchanging a quiet glance with Vega, Sin then joined the little cuddle pile, apologizing to his son with a kiss on the head as he protectively wrapped his arms around him.

the comment was never brought up again, but Eden never forgot it.
it was for that reason, and that very reason alone, that he made no mention of Senka until they were already married.

» misc.:
• tongue is a bioluminescent blue

• wears his wedding ring on his horn



--

hatched at around 3:42 PM, 6/15/23!

applied Capsule at 8:07 pm on 6/15/23
applied Python at 8:08 pm on 6/15/23
applied Butterfly at 12:45 AM on 4/7/24



Vista: Feral Visage