New entry for the legends contest.
Based off of the Japanese legend, Yoshie Shiratori, who was sent to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. He escaped four prisons, two of which nobody had escaped from before.
Appearance
Elegant, stark, aware, but swift as a leopard and tough as a tortoise shell. A Swan? Indeed. A fitting name, Swan himself thinks, as he likes keeping an odd wing posture, tucked into his side instead of holding them up. His neck is held at an angle, curling down so he always looks up at you instead of raising his head high.
A weaker appearance gives you the complete wrong impression of Swan, a jittery yet smart dragon, strength hidden behind his stark, rainforest green eyes and bright scales.
A smile, biting lips, or a nervous line of an inside panic attack are common expressions you’ll see him wearing, his eyes inevitable in terms of picking out an expression. Curled claws may catch your eyes, nervously tightening together, or standing straight, unmoving. He’s not quite a fidgety dragon, but a more confident one.
Spikes line his ordinary RainWing form, supposedly sleek and elegance that should allow him to glide through the rainforest. He has horns that smooth out into three consecutive curls, and spikes that follow through his back, down his spine, and shrinking as they reach the tip of his tail. Yellow circle scales dipped with oily black press into his menagerie of plated scales, standing out against the dark pine.
Green, yellow, black, a few colours to describe Swan’s jail appearance. Camouflage encourages the hues of his mainscales as well as fear, as well as self-regulated cold feeling of... no emotion. That’s where the black comes in.
A slick, fat tail lolls behind him uselessly, the weakest part of his body. When most RainWings hang from their prehensile beauties, twitch the tip or lash them when angry or irritated, or curl them like a chameleon, Swan prefers to climb using his claws and power in his forelegs rather than his tail. He doesn’t show much emotion either, and lets his tail be free. He gets cramps easily in his tail too.
Personality
Swan may look like a swan, but doesn’t act like one. A jittery follower he is, doing whatever his friends are doing and allowing them to push him around, unwilling to defend himself. Maybe he doesn’t care, or is too nervous to speak up for himself, but Swan was also being ignored by his closest friends around the gang he’d joined.
At school, he rarely smiles and tries focusing on his work. A focused mind helps him calm down when he gets frustrated, especially since he was in an era of loud dragonets.
He has a kind, good heart that keeps him stable and helps him through school, being one of the dragonets that acts rude, all pushy and hanging with his friends, until someone gets actually injured. That’s when he’s helping them up, or asking if they’re okay.
Swan is simple. He’s just hard to figure out. His personality changes around every different group he hangs with, acting like a nerd in front of teachers and authorities, a kind spirited dragonet around his mother, and shy and stealthy when he’s with his friends. Even Swan doesn’t know if it’s purposeful, but maybe he has shaped himself this way.
History
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
A lovely cottage smells of rosemary and lavender, located just south of the Rainforest Kingdom. The ocean breeze whispers to the house calmly. A perfect place to raise a dragonet.
Lots of dragonets think they are special. You may think this too. But not Swan, no, he is nothing. Special? Definitely not, he wants to be normal, become a gardener, work with his mother and grow vegetables.
A few single friends helped him get through school, which is anything but difficult in the Rainforest. Intrigued by learning and teaching, another dream sets into place. Possibly becoming a teacher?
Blood red leaves whirling up into the air is what will always remind him of the worst day. The day he would either become a legend, or die trying.
It was a normal day, he went out with his gang, stole some dragonet's lunches, then kicked some leaves around. They were blood red and orange.
Unlike any other day, a second gang arrived. They wanted their meeting place, because it was a better hangout. Swan wanted to just let them have it, there were many other places with maples and shaded areas, but his friends had other plans. They gave each other triumphant looks, and approached the enemies.
It was a bloody fight, and Swan stood back, horrified, as the largest of the group fell, and never got up. Obviously, the royals and a few other soldiers came to take care of the situation. The second gang’s remains had fled, leaving a diminishing trail of blood behind, as his friends held the blame... to him.
A terrible negotiator he was, eventually confessing to the crime he didn’t commit, and was brought to his first jail. The easiest escape.
It was moons. He’d studied the guards’ routines the whole time, with the knowledge that he had to escape. He spent his time in prison well, behaving all up to this time. Of course, he was falling into depression, because the thoughts of never seeing his family again were a crucial part in his inspiration to escape.
He knew there would be a gap in the patrol guards as they passed his cell, and so, as soon as their clacking claws had faded away, he took out a metal wire from the corner of his cell.
He had found the wire attached to the bucket he was requested to wash himself with every half moon, tore it off, and was on his way. He took it out, beginning to twist the wire into the lock until click, the lock fell off, and Swan was running. Now, this wasn’t the end, for Swan still had to pick his way through the remaining locks, and he wasted no time doing so.
Finally, Swan was out of the prison. But he was only half way there. He still had to make it past the search perimeters to finally exit the first prison.
Back in the place Swan had come from, the two guards returned. Idle talk followed them past everyone’s cells, until they eventually peered between Swan’s bars to find a small, sleeping figure, curled in cloth to prevent some of the wintery cold to chill his scales.
But they actually were looking at some loose wood, tore from the floor, in order to trick the guards. But the next morning, they found the truth. Swan was gone.
Unfortunately, not everything ends up in a prisoner’s favour, and Swan was caught stealing healing herbs from a healing hut just a day’s flight away from the weak guarded RainWing prison. But this time, Swan was given the life sentence, and would therefore never be with his family again.
As the war began between the RainWings and the SandWings, Swan found himself being transported to Akita Prison, just in between the IceWing and SandWing borders. And they had trained dogs.
Special fennec foxes and arctic foxes had been highly trained in a building still within patrolling range, used to sniff breakouts, sickly, or find prisoners who have escaped. It was called the Akita Prison after the main breed they used. He was not good with animals at all, and had a faint allergy to the dogs there, and was constantly bothered by the cold of the IceWing’s tundra they bordered.
Scared is the only way to describe the lost and desperate Swan as he was brought to a colder prison and with dogs. The longing to be with his family was tugging at him all the time now.
His cell was confined and kept away from any socialization, with walls that went straight up and were too smooth to climb or get any grip. They were even too tight for the RainWing’s wings to spread out. The only light was at midday, as a single, metal-barred skylight illuminated the small space Swan had.
The guards, completely aware of Swan’s last attempt and, mostly, failure, teased him about it consistently except for one of the head commanders, Kingfisher. He seemed to take pity on him, checking in on him often, or bringing him extra food.
Swan was in a trusting state, and was happier then he’d been in awhile, with decent rations and the cold wasn’t completely unbearable yet. Despite the torment and daily beating, Swan was already planning for his next escape.
And that’s what he did. One day, the guard opened the door and no dragon was to be seen. How did he do it this time?
Every day, he would take the cuffs that the guards had put on him off, but without destroying them, and climb all the way up the sheer wall of stone with his insane climbing abilities. He would then loosen the the skylight he was given with a small tug, until one day, it finally gave. It turned out that the frame of the skylight was of soft fir wood, very common and not a hassle to cut down.
So Swan had escaped. He’d found a way to lock pick the cuffs with a loose wire he found one day when he was brought out to be beaten. He’d felt something sharp, and found the perfect contraption to lock pick.
The night had been stormy, with blizzards raging across the land and making the dog’s senses inevitably mute to their surroundings, with only touch and the little sight they had guiding them. It had been perfect for his escape.
So he’d escaped yet again. And this was only the beginning of Swan’s legacy, while he was oblivious to the future and his impact on it. With one friend he knew he could trust, he thought everything would be alright. He stopped by at Kingfisher’s to tell him what he was doing next.
Swan’s “Friend,” or so he thought he was, was stunned as he knocked on the door, asking to come in. Amazed that the prisoner that had escaped only a few moonrises ago had showed up at his small home was incredulous to him. Swan let him in on how he wanted to change things, like the constant bullying and abuse by the guards and how cruel it had all seemed in there, all the while gaining freedom to be with his much thought of family.
Kingfisher looked quite interested in his plan, meanwhile was planning to arrest him once more, which was stupid on his part. You have a prisoner, willing about hand himself over while coming to the main officer’s house to tell him what was happening. Then you arrest him. What a tail-feather, as Swan would say.
So as Swan went to just take a drink from the spring out back behind his house, Kingfisher took his chance to run, and run, grabbed the guards and ran back. Swan was just walking in as Kingfisher was standing there, and said, “I’m sorry,” then the guards grabbed him fiercely and dragged him back to prison, where his death sentence was set in place.
The guards went to put handcuffs on him while he was in his cell, but Swan merely broke them in two. They marvelled at his strange abilities, then began to create an indestructible confinement to fit only Swan and his abilities.
The wall were made of an incredibly strong rock, with granite as the roof and a small window that only his head could fit through. The floor was made of tough wood and there was a strong reinforced lock on the door so picking the lock would be one of three he’d have to pick, though he could only reach one. The window on the door was bigger then the window outside, but not much.
So was Swan daunted by this? Of course not. It’s Swan. But then they realized they should put handcuffs on him, just in case, but this time they were way different then Swan could imagine.
This time they were made of solid stone, on his talons, front and back, with no way to unlock them. He could barely move, and two specialists in the stone the cuffs were crafted of came once every two weeks to take them off.
This definitely daunted Swan, not to mention the fact they’d sent him to an even further north prison that was just kinder then the Ice Bars, one of the horrific prisons sitting underneath the Ice Kingdom.
For awhile, Swan was worried. And he didn’t think of a plan yet, believing it was inevitable that he wouldn’t escape before his death.
But then spring began rolling in, and after a long winter, this was all Swan could possibly need to set his plan completely in place. He was actually happy in his cell, besides the fact of his large cuffs bringing his talons to the ground.
But we know the drill. One day, a guard peeked into his cage. Swan had gone once more. And just because Swan didn’t have a straight plan yet 5 moons earlier doesn’t mean he hadn’t started one.
Every day when the guards brought in his seal soup and rice rations, he’d splash some of the seal soup onto his talon and leg cuffs, as well as the window on the door to his cell. He was hoping the salt from the seal soup would rust the metal until it’s breaking point. It worked.
He got out of the cell through the window on his door with his other strange ability to dislocate his body parts at will, putting them back in place properly. So Swan escaped from a nearby broken window, running into the Wild while war raged in the cities between the RainWings and SandWings, while half of the MudWings joined in, allied with the SandWings.
But the guards believed that Swan was no longer their responsibility, as how could anyone, especially Swan, with his weakness of cold, possibly survive outside in the dead of winter?
But he had gone through all sorts of training, from getting put into the Wild on his own for 6 days to having to feed himself in the forest. He knew, by research, which berries were bad, made you sick, or even a cause of death, and ones that were safe to eat. He couldn’t make a shelter, that was always his weak spot. But Swan didn’t need a shelter, because when he found an abandoned Underground Railroad, he found his temporary shelter for the next 4 years.
One day, a lukewarm break in the February weather, he decided to follow the Railroad to the end, curiosity driving his will forwards until he reached the end...
It was the Kingdom of Sand. Of course, extremely far away from it, and it was terribly hot, overwhelming to Swan who’d been in the cold mountains for several years. He had no need to follow the tunnel back to the mountains, as he must have been near the Rainforest Kingdom.
As he started on, Swan suddenly tumbled into a hidden sinkhole, and landed hard on his tail, shaking away sand. He hadn’t fallen far, and he’d discovered yet another underground tunnel, and decided to follow it to the end. Which wasn’t far, actually, and in less then an hour made it to the end. Yet it was impossible. He was in the Rainforest Kingdom.
Swan couldn’t believe it. He knew right away that it must have been animus, but didn’t think much if it except happiness at the fact that he was home for the first time in 27 years.
The one thing he noticed when he went there was a quite strange looking RainWing. She had less of a spike and more of a frill going down a large portion of her back, and only a few scattered scales were yellow with joy and her wings swimming with teal for confidence. Or was it the other way around? He realized his scales were yellow with hidden happiness, finding the answer immediately.
Puzzled, he realized, seeing more of the strange frills, that the RainWings were part SandWing. It wasn’t until he saw a rather pretty SandWing heading to the store with her very small dragonet that he was convinced.
He pondered about the war being lost, but not before long, he had to eat. So he wandered across a field and picked only a few tender peaches from a peach tree, and was about to go on his way when he found himself in a bad position. The farmer cane out, mistook him for a thief that had come around occasionally, and grabbed his shovel as a weapon.
There was a fight, but when the old farmer ran at him, Swan took the nearest thing, and it happened to be sharp stick, and ended up puncturing his stomach. He bled out... and died.
So Swan was back in jail. But this time, the windows were too small for the entire length of his tail, steel bars reinforcing the already invincible walls. Guards were outside of his cell at all times, and Swan might actually have to stay in jail this time.
But not before long, only two moons later, Swan used his floorboard trick to tear them off the floor and dig underneath of the jail until he made it to freedom. A simple escape.
When Swan escaped once more, he was... exhausted. He was now 41, he was getting older and had wish to settle down and find his love again, if she was still there.
So he sat down on a bench, outside a place called Siegebringer’s Bakery, when an officer happened to take a seat right beside him, carrying extremely expensive limited time only berry bread that had berries from the Mud Kingdom, growing underneath the clean water if the Diamond Delta Spray and sold to other Kingdoms.
He started some casual conversa with him, just discussing how nice it was and the peace of the rainforest, since he’d just come from Akita, the jail Swan had been sentenced to, where he’d been working with the dogs.
Suddenly, the officer offered him a small slice of the bread. Swan couldn’t believe it. An officer had offered him a piece of the rare, expensive bread, just out of kindness. This touched Swan enough to encourage him the the officer his real name.
Maybe it was because he’d willingly handed himself over, or because he was older now, but Swan was set free. In court, he’d pointed out that none of his escapes had injured any of the guards at all, and the killing the farmer had been simply an act of self-defence. He could find his cottage again. He could be with his long lost family, and finally see Lily once more.
He finally found his home once more, and Lily, beautiful as ever, still looked young as the small wisteria she watered in the front garden. It had definitely all overgrown, but when Swan called out Lily’s name, they went bounding into each other’s talons. Crying, Lily and Swan waited for Olor, as she called Oh Oh, to come home from school. It wasn’t before long that she did, and obviously less excited though still acting so, she hugged her daddy, everyone swimming with pink, yellow, and blue.
//closes book// so that’s Swan’s story. Enjoy much? I’m sure you did. Of course, Swan died one peaceful night after we stargazed together. I could see it in his eyes. But Oh Oh has had two eggs since then, and named one Trumpeter. The others name is Swan.
Abilities
Dislocation
Oddly enough, he can dislocate his body parts at will, putting them back together when he wants.
Super-Strength
Super-strength? Yes, he can break through metal, he just finds a weak spot in the handcuffs he was given and yanks his arms the opposite ways.
Lock Picking
Excellent at lock picking. He learned in an after school event, and practiced often after that.
Climbing
An excellent climber, with daily sharpened claws and great strength as to get him above the walls of his prison cell in Akita Prison.
Weaknesses
Winter
When he was told he was being sent to the dungeons under the Ice Palace instead of the warmer Kingdom of Sand’s prison, he knew he was doomed. Unable to stand extreme cold, he especially couldn’t stand this.
Anger
When he gets angry, he hates it, and tries to stay calm. Sometimes it doesn’t work, making him even angrier.
Distrust
This effect of distrust was caused by Kingfisher, who he trusted, but would never trust again. Not anyone.
Animals
Swan is not good with animals. He just likes eating them, but when his girlfriend got a sloth, Swan made firm rules that he wasn’t allowed in his house.
Relationships
Lily
Girlfriend|Very Positive
Lily was always there for Swan, making sure everything was alright and keeping him stabilized. She accidentally had a daughter though, just realizing she was pregnant after the whole incident.
Olor
Daughter|Neutral
He didn’t know she even existed until Lily sent a message to him about her. They had a wary relation after Swan was released.
Kingfisher
Guard|Very Negative
The guard Kingfisher was the only kind guard that Swan had ever met, and decided to ask him for help as soon as he escaped from Akita Prison. When he called the police when he got a drink, his trust was forever broken.
Trivia
Shiratori means “Swan,” therefore giving Swan his name.
Swan in Latin is “Olor” and the scientific name of a mute swan is “Olor,” therefore giving Swan’s daughter her name.
Tail-feather is a mere swear word to Swan and his family.
Here is a video explains the real Yosie prison escape.
Gallery
