Geranium

Coding by Searing



 Appearance Everything about Geranium speaks of quiet rain. His eyes are a mellow brown with flecks of green, and his ears are large and droopy. His horns are long, black and covered in peonies and baby's breath in glittery pale blue. He has mid blue scales that fade out to green and purple on his colorful ruff, legs and tail. The tip of his tail is a dark purple that fades to black. All across his body and multicolored wings are black spots, which are small and leopard-like. His smile is lazy, and he walks at a shambling pace.

When he is excited, he changes completely. His scales turn a light pink and his horns are bright white. The peonies turn magenta and he speaks wildly, barely able to get anything across. His ruff flares and he can be the most annoying dragon on the planet. Too bad he becomes excited over flowers.

 Personality

Geranium is a pretty laid-back dragon, not caring much about things most of the time. He loves his flowers, and glitter too, which he puts everywhere he can. Most of the time, Geranium is fine with talking to other dragons and likes to go on and on about things. His mind isn't as slow as Coconut's, but sometimes it gets pretty close.

Really, Geranium is hiding his true self, knowing about mindreaders. He actually is a crafty and sly dragon, who hides what he wants behind his laziness. He has used his plant powers to intimidate other dragons without hurting them, growing poisonous plants that are painful but not deadly and raising small venus flytraps to use later. Being comfortable around him only means that he learns your secrets, good and bad. He isn't the type to manipulate dragons too much, but he always loves to know his friends and enemies.

 Backstory

He grew up in the Rainforest, normal enough. His parents were strange for RainWings, and raised their eggs together as a family.

He was born without venom, but it was never a problem then.

Geranium was the oldest of all the squabbling brothers and sisters, and was always a leader no matter what. Unfortunately, he was also the leader in everything that had to do with trouble.

If there was crushed fruit dropped all over a venom tutor? Blame Geranium. If someone's hammock gives out the moment they lie on it? Geranium.

He was a dragonet with too much spirit and too much energy, something that was frowned on by the queen and all the other RainWings that crossed him.

So, the moment he became old enough, his parents dumped him into JMA, saying it was a great honor and BLAH BLAH. He knew that they really just wanted him out of the house.

When Geranium reached the school, for once in his life he felt awkward. There were those elegant IceWings and NightWings, strong MudWings, graceful SeaWings, fierce SkyWings, and then there was him.

Part of the lamest tribe ever. A stupid and lazy RainWing.

He became desperate, someone had to see him as something else. He wasn't dumb and jumpy like Kinkajou, he wasn't slow and stupid like Coconut, he was smart! He was the fastest! He was great!

Geranium pushed himself to commit greater and greater acts that broke the rules. He would take vials from the Science Lab and sneak them into food. He would throw rocks at Stonemover without anyone knowing. He would put spines into Tsunami's bed.

And afterwards, he gloated and bragged, he was a different RainWing. He was cool.

But he never felt cool. Not when the other tribes looked at him. Not when he felt their sneering eyes.

He became angrier. There had to be something somone would care about! Something for once in his tiny and freakin stupid life!

And then, he figured it out. What if he snuck something no one else had ever seen to the school?

Something that would make him famous in a night.

Rhododendron
At night, he quietly crept out of his Winglet's quarters. The moonlight playing over his intense blue scales.

He flew away from Jade Mountain, stealthily invisible then, laughing under his breath.

After an hour of flying in the slightly windy sky, he landed down on the rainforest floor, brown eyes shining.

The grass rustled beneath him, but not enough to alert the other dragons, the NightWings, living there.

He slowly walked, hardly breathing, into the grandest looking hovel. This one was it.

Geranium moved, talonstep by talonstep, quietly inside, wincing as the door creaked.

There it was.

Faintly gleaming in the moonlight, freshly cleaned.

One of his knives.

He didn't see the NightWing anywhere. Good thing he was with Glory.

Geranium sneaked forward in anticipation, and carefully lifted the knife off of where it was lying inside of his hammock.

It felt heavy in his claws.

He realized that he didn't think it through too well, but hoped he could pull it off.

With extra care, he left the house and shifted his scales to look like a NightWings', dark with silver scales on the undersides of his wings.

When he got far away enough, he shifted to become invisible and almost laughed out into the sky! Stupid NightWing! He was way smarter than him!

The next day, he could hardly wait to show it off.

He told every dragon he knew that he had something cool to show, something that the teachers wouldn't even believe. Most of them gave him shocked, uncaring, or scolding faces but he didn't care.

They were going to meet on top of the school.

That night, he kept the knife safely hidden beneath his wing, which hurt terribly. He pretended it had got cut and it was already stitched up. For the dragons who even cared.

Geranium grinned maniacally at the dragons who did come, a pretty good-sized group.

"So, you think I'm a lame RainWing, right? Well I'll show you I'm not! Step right up and fight! I promise I won't use my claws and fangs at all. Come on, NightWing, I don't need to be a mindreader to know you want to claw my face off." he laughed.

Finally, one bulky looking hybrid stepped up. He was scrawny, but had scary looking orange eyes.

"Yeah you. Come on. Take me."

The hybrid rumbled, his voice strange and deep, "You'll regret it, RainWing."

He breathed fire at Geranium's face, and he dodged quickly, quick from his time in the Rainforest. The other dragons backed up, so far unimpressed.

The hybrid was drawing closer, taking his time. Geranium waited and waited.

Then the hybrid struck out at him with his claws, but Geranium was faster. He slipped out the silver knife and in the blink of an eye, slashed his leg with it before darting back out, hiding the blade again.

"ARGHH!" He roared, staring at the blood on his leg.

"Wanna try it again, buddy?"

The fight became quicker and fiercer, and the dragons in the background became more and more surprised, unable to fathom how he was attacking.

As Geranium felt the thrill of battle rage around him, he laughed harder, feeling sweat bead down his face. He drove his opponent back while hardly getting hit, delighting as gashes began to appear all over his body.

When mid-laugh, it went all wrong.

His enemy swatted the knife out of his claws, and it fell from the top of the school to the ground below, glittering silver as it dropped.

Geranium couldn't process it.

This wasn't happening.

The hybrid smiled, his face covered in blood.

"Not so strong now, huh RainWing?"

The hybrid went in for one last blow and tore his claws through sensitive wings. He advanced and fearfully, Geranium dodged, before realizing that there was nothing beneath him.

He plummeted wildly, just as his knife did seconds before, flapping ripped wings.

"HEL-"

Yellow carnation
Expulsion.

The stack of scrolls flew down onto the desk, dropped from Tsunami's talons angrily.

"You NO GOOD DRAGONET," she breathed harshly, trying not to yell. "I CAN'T BELIEVE that you would EVER GO AND STEAL A KNIFE FROM AN ASSASSIN, and DARE to show your FACE in this school to HURT other DRAGONETS!!"

Geranium lay in the infirmary, his scales a pale color, wings in a splint. "I'm injured can you sav-"

"NO!! WHAT IN THREE MOONS WERE YOU THINKING YOU MOONBLASTED DRAGONET!! YOU COULD'VE KILLED SOMEONE WITH THAT KNIFE! OR YOU COULD'VE EVEN DIED! THIS SCHOOL was made FOR THE HARMONY OF ALL DRAGONS!" she roared, unable to contain her temper.

Geranium paled even more. Principal Sunny walked in, her small golden form shining in the light.

"Tsunami," she said quietly, "I have to speak to him. Alone."

Tsunami, fuming, cast one last glance at the RainWing before stoming out, her stripes flickering madly.

"I'm sorry Geranium, but we have to expell you. You put students in danger, and brought a weapon to the school. You are a threat to our safety."

He flinched as if he had been slapped. Tsunami was one thing, but Sunny was another Guilt pooled in his chest. "Fine, I'll go. I don't give a frick. I can take care of myself."

He ripped off the bandages and flexed his neatly torn wings before jumping out the window.

With enough force, he managed to fly. The edges were only ripped.

Sunny called after him but he flew away as quickly as he could, leaving the Academy behind.

Begonia and Tansy
He stayed in the disgusting border of the Mud Kingdom for a while, eating the fish that swam up the creek and living alone.

After a year, and after his wings were healed, he took flight, but ended up captured in the Kingdom of the Sky. He was thrown in prison without a second thought. The guards jabbed him with spears, laughing at his clamped wings and strange colors. He cursed, wishing that he had venom. "Oops," the guard chuckled as he got an especially hard jab.

"You know, every since the arena left, we have places for dragons we want to fight with, right?" "Yeah," grunted the other. "Actually, this guy could use a stay in a place like that." They shoved him on top of the spire, and he sat there, shackled to a bunch of other dragons. He curled inwards, feeling cold. "Hey," a dragon greeted, tugging on the chain. He ignored them. "Hey!" they insisted, sounding more upset. "What is it?" he turned over mopily, to feel his heart freeze. It was that terrible dragon.

The hybrid. Scars were now criss-crossed over his snout and he had a torn ear. "You're the beast who shoved me off the roof! Do you know how long it took to heal?" "Oh yeah," he growled, "take a look at this."

He spread his clamped wings to show old scars on his sides and his legs.

"That was all you, RainWing." "Well I'm sorry," Geranium grumbled, "if I hurt your feelings, but you challenged me!"

"Whatever." There was a silence.

"You're smarter than you look." the hybrid noted. "For a RainWing."

"And you're stronger than you look," Geranium added, "For a NightWing." "What about a truce?" He offered. "Fine, but only until we get out." "What's your name, RainWing?" He rumbled. "It's tiring calling you that." "Name's Geranium. Yours?" "Painsplitter."

Arborvitae
Geranium and Painsplitter began plotting together, until they had a good plan.

Geranium acted savage, trying to tug Painsplitter's cuff so that he fell of the platform. The guards eventually broke them apart.

At night, the two guards who spoke to Geranium earlier came to collect him. Painsplitter made sure to look riled, so they choose him too.

It would be fun watching the two of them fight.

They were transported to the strange place, dragged along by the guards. They were careless and took off their cuffs, thinking that they could hold them off with spears.

"Welcome to the Snake Pit," one of them laughed, casually shoving the prisoners into the arena. "In here, only the strong survive. The weaker ones...well.."

There were enough bloodstains on the rocks in it to give them an idea.

Geranium and Painsplitter pretended to fight, dealing savage-looking blows. Until they shared a look. Painsplitter body-slammed the guards while Geranium snatched the keys, freeing them of their wing clamps.

And the two of them flew into the night.

Lavender
Painsplitter, tired and grumpy, settled with the RainWing in the MudWing kingdom for a few days, before they continued to fly.

They didn't leave each other, even if they got annoyed. After all Geranium found the hybrid's strength useful, and Painsplitter needed his cleverness.

Eventually, Painsplitter went to make his own hideout, and Geranium decided to tag along. They sticked together for a while, and more and more dragons came. Outcasts, bored ones, dragons who were hybrids, or dragons who plain had no where else.

During that time, he met many dragons.

Most of them came and went, leaving.

One of them stayed.

Her name was Aloe, and she was a RainWing, but had a strange mark on her back.

The mark of a dark eye. She talked to him for hours, and they became friends. That's when it started.

She talked about how hybrids were a mistake, and needed to be treated well.

He'd see Painsplitter in his mind, red bleeding from scars.

She talked about how they would change the world, and teach them.

He saw a young dragonet, sitting at a table, unpunished, unexpelled.

It was enough. He became one of them.

The Phoenixes.

The Eye was marked on his palm, a small reminder of what he stood for.

Pink Rose
After the mission, the one where he had sunk his claws into the SandWing's flesh, after he had pretended to have venom and throw acid into his eyes, he was done.

The Phoenixes were only trying to kill hybrids, not give them a better life.

He had nightmares of himself, slaughtering his friends and family, covered in blood.

It was all his fault.

A shell of who he was, afraid of who he was becoming, Geranium quit and fled back to Painsplitter's hideout.

He almost gave up on life.

And then it was something simple, something like a flower that brought meaning back

A tiny pink rose, slowly growing out of the earth

He could be like the rose

Small, delicate, and beautiful, but tough with secret thorns.

He decided he would.

Hydrangea
Ever since, Geranium has lived in Painsplitter's hideout and became a full-blown florist, an expert in all plants. He is a pacifist in war, and doesn't like to use violence.

Every once and a while, a crazy show comes along. Cirque de la Luna. And he might do a magic trick or two.

He no longer cares about not having venom, or being popular.

But it doesn't hurt to have a little power.

Relationships

Painsplitter
His strange aquaintance, now friend. The two of them are not sure exactly what they are. At first, it was enemies. He was the one who ruined Geranium's try at impressing the other dragons of the school and caused his wings to scar. Then, they were allies, both wanting to escape the SkyWing prison and plotting together. And after that, as they grew more used to each other, they slowly became friends. Geranium doesn't approve of how violent the hybrid still is, and wants him to learn how to heal from his past instead of hurting others. When the two of them talk, they end up playfully teasing each other over things. He thinks that Painsplitter might have a crush on him, but he isn't sure about his feelings.

One moment, the two of them can be playfully shoving each other into the surf, and the next moment, he could be challenging a dragon to a fight.

Gage:
He pretends not to mind when he is called 'flowerboy,' but he does mind. A lot. It isn't the name, but the way that the mechanic says it drives him crazy. He tries to ignore him most of the time unless he asks about something important. Whenever they talk, Geranium makes sure to be very polite, even when Gage is being rude. Once, he got angry at Gage, which caused the SandWing-NightWing to start howling in laughter. He didn't get what was funny. Another time, Gage handed Geranium a terrible picture and told him that it was a picture of him. He saved it to shred it later.

The one time that Geranium exploded at him was when he made a machine that managed to burn all of his flowers. He turned bright red all over and started bellowing at the top of his lungs until the blacksmith got the idea to never mess with them.

Thrice-Cursed
He enjoys her company. Thrice and him are both quiet, but appreciate flowers and nature. The two of them spend their time together taking naps near the bay and sometimes he makes flower crowns. He can't give them to her, since they'll freeze on her scales, but he wears her favorite flowers for her, and lays them around where she sleeps.

She told him the story of her mate and dragonet, and he gave her a shoulder to cry on. At the moment, they're good friends. Strangely enough, he also has the slightest feeling that she might have a crush on him...

Sunny
Geranium thought that Sunny was plenty nice, and since she was the principal, he wanted to impress her too. It made him feel crushed when he disappointed her.

Tsunami
He hates Tsunami. What right did she have to yell at him when he was a dragonet? She never even thought about why he'd do anything. Whenever the SeaWing line of royalty is mentioned, he remembers her and feels frustrated.

 Trivia