Feravel

Gender: Genderfluid
Pronouns: He/she/they
Place of Origin: Droseran Domain, Everbloom Gardens, Viridian Labyrinth, Sornieth
Occupations Held: Personal guard
Current lair location(s): Founding Family Estate, Central Rosette, Droseran Domain, Viridian Labyrinth, Sornieth

Physicality:
Feravel was a rich medium blue. They had a dark underbelly and rippled cyan wings. Their digits were long but blunt, with strong claws. Their ears were small, and their green eyes always looked a little tired. Their tail alone made up a lot of their length.

Personality:
Feravel was smart, but not at everything. Communication was a major failure point for her. She had ideas, and they were often good ideas, and she knew it! But she was awful at using words to get them across. She tried, and they came out so poorly that people just assumed she was kinda stupid. That frustrated the hell out of her, she really hated it. But in her frustration she'd just get flustered and find it even trickier to verbalise things. She could be impatient, especially when she felt like other people were watching and judging her, and it made her angry and clumsy and scared.
She both didn't want eyes on her, but wanted to be valued and appreciated and seen as special. Whenever anyone actually lavished her with any praise, she would get flustered and shy. But it warmed her heart. Especially because she was a deeply lonely person... she was sensitive, and with her messy speech was easy for others to tease. She'd react badly, get defensive, and others would be put off, not seeing what the big deal was. So she'd be left alone. It happened enough throughout her growing up that she became reluctant to even try and make connections. It just seemed like a waste of time; but still, she deeply craved companionship.
She channeled her feelings of isolation and fear of being misunderstood into a hopeless romanticism that she kept fiercely guarded. She really hoped that one day she would meet someone and they would see her for all she was, and at first sight they'd immediately be in love. She wanted that kind of fairytale, or even if not, just to have someone to fiercely be in love with and be loved by in turn. She thought that kinda thing was normal for just about everyone to have as their ultimate goal. In her head, she knew that this wasn't true; that people had all kinds of diverse relationships. But she couldn't understand it, herself.
Her lack of understanding of things outside herself and her wants was another thing that hurt her socially, and made her come off as stupid. She was ignorant of a lot of things, felt so strongly about what she wanted that other people wanting contradictory things was genuinely confusing. When she asked question, in good faith and earnest though she was, she would come off as judgemental by accident. And then, again, she'd get defensive when confronted on how she was coming off. It frustrated her because she really didn't mean it that way... and she was just so used to being misunderstood that she had trouble separating her anxiety about being misrepresented from miscommunication that she would do well to reflect on and apologise for. It just set off her fight or flight reflexes, and she naturally went for fight...
On the outside, she came off as tough. She was quiet and bold, preferring action over plans she knew she could never sum up the words for anyway. She came off as fearless, even reckless, but confident and skillful enough in her movements for it to be impressive rather than just foolish. But people didn't think there was a lot going on in her head. That she was small minded, or just immature.
She was a mess of contradictions, hard edges and soft cores. She really just wanted to be understood.

History:
Feravel was born to Etchuan and Rianon, alongside their brother Isaniah. They were the last nest hatched in the original location of the Droseran Domain in the Everbloom Gardens. It was with their hatching that Cerise announced it was at last time to go. They were too young during the westward journey to really remember it, though.
Rianon mostly approached motherhood as comprising the duty to pass on her skills as an acclaimed huntress and warrior. Etchuan meanwhile assured his hatchlings that they could pursue whatever they wished, any passion, and he would never protest it. This single minded focus on a skillset from one parent, and complete lack of rules from another... well, Isaniah thrived that way. He took up hunting as his primary drive and committed himself to it completely. Etchuan was pleased he had something he was so passionate about, just like him and his mushrooms.
Feravel... did not take as well to these conditions. He also learned well from Rianon, and found hunting and fighting to be good energy sinks that allowed him to burn off frustration. But he felt empty for not having a more connected relationship with either parent. He wasn't really given a lot of dedicated attention. He was a sensitive child, and other hatchlings didn't always understand; especially considering he was so tough and into fighting, that trait plus his high level of sensitivity just didn't register. He didn't seem the dainty kind, so they found it out of place. Enketta or Azurite would tease him, he'd get defensive, and ended up not really having friends. Periwinkle didn't have anything against him, but her siblings steered her away- even telling her Fera was a danger to her, though she knew it wasn't true.
His brother didn't tease him, but also didn't care much about relationships at all, so was no support. Really, having Isaniah to compare to only made him feel worse, just because he was so unbothered by it all. It made Feravel feel like ultimately it was all just a him problem. His isolation became a self fulfilling prophecy. People reacted badly so he didn't try. He'd feel isolated, get scared, push people away, and make no progress.
He was good at hunting, but Isaniah was less distracted by internal issues so ended up getting the role of Chief Hunter. He was interested in tech, but Enketta had that field covered, and was the same age group but even younger, so it'd be humiliating to be her apprentice. He was a good fighter, so ended up landing an apprentice position under Medarel, at least.
Medarel was a caring mentor. He had just the right patience and understanding to be able to really help someone like Feravel. But ultimately, Feravel was wound too tight, too unwilling to let others in and try to open up about his issues, by the time they began working together. Medarel was willing to give him time though. And Feravel did appreciate that, even if he had a hard time trusting him.

To Feravel's horror, he was paired with the transferred soul of his punished kin, Azurite, as a familiar... neither of them were happy about this. It especially sucked because, while Feravel wasn't actually being punished, he became a pariah by association.

Current Situation: Unable to let go of her anger at the dragons of the Domain for isolating her and Azurite, Feravel has taken up work as the personal guard for the new ambassador Quivetel. She travels with the wildclaw and Mochet, who handles the financials, across Sornieth in search of allies and trade deals. Feravel is hardly any kind of negotiator, but makes sure nobody tries anything against the small team that's started to feel more like a family to him than anyone back home.

Character Interaction:

• Rianon: Rianon was Feravel's mother, and never understood her. She taught her as she did Feravel's brother Isaniah, but she while she proved herself skillful, she was distracted and unsatisfied. This displeased Rianon, who concluded Feravel's purpose was elsewhere, so she stopped training her as much since it was, in her eyes, a waste of time. From Feravel's perspective, however, she was unhappy that all her mother seemed to care about her for was fighting, and when she expressed a desire for a closer familial bond, she abandoned her entirely. It left her with a bitterness that Rianon didn't understand or even really notice.
• Etchuan: Etchuan was Feravel's father.
• Isaniah: Isaniah and Feravel were siblings from the same brood. If you asked Feravel, he'd say they were not close growing up. In Isaniah's eyes, however, this was quite different. They trained together, hunted together, and slept in the same lair. Isaniah thought highly of Feravel, and considered them to have a strong sibling bond. It just... never expressed this verbally. As far as Isaniah was concerned, the greatest sign of fondness and respect was always extending Feravel an invitation to join his hunt and work closely to take down game. Feravel didn't get this at all, and didn't bother talking about the distance he felt from his brother to him, so they really both contributed to this completely lopsided relationship.
  When things happened as they did with Azurite, Isaniah felt sorry for Feravel, and made sure to keep asking him to come on its hunts. Feravel accepted a few times, but saw other dragons in the pack avoiding him, so stopped coming along eventually. As he became closer with Azurite, tumultuous as their relationship was, he also came to really dislike how Isaniah despised the trapped dragon. As far as Isaniah was concerned, Azurite was something unfairly pushed on Feravel, as well as the one to injure their sister Velehn. Its hate of Azurite was in part an expression of love for Fera, but again, they simply did not communicate well with one another.
• Medarel: Medarel was Feravel's grandfather through Etchuan. Medarel was interested in knowing his grandchildren, but was unsure what kind of parental situation Etchuan classified himself as having. Anytime he tried to ask, Etchuan shrugged and said he wasn't sticking to anything strictly. It left Medarel not knowing what he place was in Feravel's life. Still, he asked after him from time to time, and remained interested.
  Eventually, Feravel became Medarel's apprentice. Being a personal guard to Yvel, it wouldn't generally be the case that Medarel would take on an apprentice for the more general guard duties. But he recognised Feravel was becoming isolated and angry, and felt he had the potential to step in and help. He also thought it was a good way to form a relationship with his grandchild without worrying too much about taboos. Feravel was unsure of the skydancer at first, not taking his amiable nature at face value. It kind of reminded Medarel of Ebrejia, that same 'I can see through you, this isn't real' reaction. But Medarel was willing to be patient and slowly earn his apprentice's trust. Lo and behold, with time, Feravel came to appreciate Medarel, and even really like him. While Medarel would point out where he has weaknesses, he would give advice on how to work on them, and let Fera step back when he needed to.
  Medarel came to really care about Feravel. He took him on in part because of his noticing the growing pattern of family founding members suffering from listlessness and isolation; he wanted to see if he could do anything about that wider problem by seeing if he could help Feravel. Eventually, though, Medarel came to regret approaching his apprentice as an experiment, and things became a lot more genuine between them. Medarel was proud when he saw Feravel do a good job.
  But his regret came back full force when Cerise made Feravel the guard of Azurite after he had his soul transferred into a familiar. She did so specifically because Medarel was his mentor; Feravel was trained as a personal guard, but had no one to guard. Now he was assigned Azurite. Medarel couldn't help but feel responsible for this, and for Feravel thereby becoming a pariah rather than just a lonely kid. He worried that Cerise had targeted his apprentice as a direct threat, too. Medarel continued to visit Feravel, though he was officially no longer his apprentice, as he was now a fully trained personal guard. Still, and despite the talk, Medarel refused to abandon his apprentice. Feravel was grateful, but also didn't know everything going on in Medarel's head... he did visit less often, and Feravel worried he was just easing out of their relationship. It scared him, which made him snappish at his master. Medarel felt he deserved it, thought Feravel was rightly blaming him for getting him into this situation, so figured his ex-apprentice might not want to see him any more, so made his visits less frequent. It was a bad cycle.
• Azurite: Feravel and Azurite were kin; Feravel's father Etchuan was the child of Azurite's mother Madeleir's sister, Yvel. Despite having this blood relation, however tangled, they weren't close. Both of them rather kept to themselves, and didn't seek one another out when in need of companionship. They were forced together, though, when Azurite was punished for his lying by having his soul transferred into the body of a common podid in Domain care. Cerise didn't think Feravel was up to much, but was obedient and respectable enough to handle the duty.
  Being forced together was not a happy occasion for either of them. For Azurite, it was a horrifying enough experience to be disconnected from his body and forced into a strange and alien creature, to be humiliated in front of everyone he knew, and punished by a member of his own family. This occurrence was a horrifying thing for the Domain as a whole to bear witness to, to understand the threat it meant Cerise was willing to doll out on even her own kin. Having this forced into her hands was terrifying for Feravel.
  Azurite was hardly made kind by his misfortune too, in his misery becoming snappish and rude. Feravel quickly became fed up with this, ultimately seeing Azurite's fate as a result of his own actions, and returned his nastiness in kind. It wasn't a hateful relationship, they didn't truly despise each other, as both knew the other was not at fault for the situation they were in. But they annoyed the absolute hell out of one another, and bickered constantly, taking out whatever frustration they had on one another. It actually became something useful to them both, to have someone who they knew could take the snide comments without really being hurt. That understanding did draw them into an appreciation of one another, but god forbid either of them admit as much out loud.
• Mephistopheles: Feravel was Mephistopheles' great grandchild through Etchuan.
• Periwinkle: Feravel and Periwinkle grew up at the same time. Perwinkle was nicer to her than most, his patience and positivity easing the way. But he was so bloody nice and sweet and perfect that it made Feravel insecure, feeling like a meaner, more negative person by comparison. So she let them kinda be friends, but could never bring herself to let him get close. She never opened up to him. That made him sad, but he accepted it.
  When Feravel became Azurite's keeper, Periwinkle would come to visit him. She was grateful that someone else could be responsible for dealing with his crap, but also genuinely happy that someone still cared for him. And herself, now that she was outcast by association. The three of them would hang out, til Fera and Azurite agreed she couldn't be forced down to their level, and tried to push her away. Fera was happy that she arranged to just send letters instead.
• Istian: Feravel and Istian saw each other for a time. They first really started to talk when the Ambassadorial Trio would travel back to the Domain and stay at Outpost 7. They didn't really need to stay, but Feravel often preferred to do so than go back to The Founding Family Estate and inevitably run into his dad. Istian was always happy for the business, and the two would chat. Istian found the fae pretty, but had a habit towards teasing that Fera didn't really gel with. Istian just couldn't stop sticking his foot in his mouth in attempts to be charming. With his daughters' help however, he set up a super romantic dinner and was able to finally sweep Fera off her feet.
  Fera was very excited for her first relationship even if she hadn't been too into Istian to start with. She was very hopeful, especially after he'd shown himself capable of great romance. Istian was happy too, but became complacent when they became official. He was very domestic, but not very romantic. To Feravel, it felt like as soon as the relationship started, the honeymoon phase ended for the goaler. He also had an expectation of Feravel helping out with the hotel despite her having her own job that took her far away for so long. When she was home she just wanted to relax. Istian also grated against her being away so much, even though he had known that would be the case from the jump.
  They'd fight, Istian's daughters would help him with some big romantic thing to mend all wounds, rinse and repeat. But Feravel got tired of it. He knew that it was really Cherrywood and Hotspur who were getting Istian to do this kinda stuff, and it didn't feel like his own effort. Fera stopped feeling flattered, excited, and swept up in the romance of it all; rather, he just felt tired. So he broke it off.
  From then on, Feravel made full use of his role requiring him to take little time at Outpost 7. He'd rather stay at Mochet's with her mum or Quivetel's humble lair, or even the Estate. Istian really wanted to be on good terms with him after the breakup, but Fera just avoided him. It didn't help that when he broke things off with Istian, the goaler was still very much in love and took a long while to get over things afterwards. Despite everything, Fera was grateful to have had the experience and learned to set more realistic expectations going forward.
• East: Feravel and East saw each other for a time.
• Aeoden: Aeoden and Feravel were partners.

Extra:

• He loves speed flying. If aerial acrobatics was something the Droseran Domain valued under Cerise, that's what he'd have wanted to do as a fledgling.