psyche · she/it · sea/rain · architect / guitarist
| name | |
|---|---|
| creator | luci |
| artist | radar |
| coder | luci |
| code base | himmalerin |
| attribute | snark |
| element | glowing substances |
| color | violet |
| animal | firefly |
| song | . |
| character | |
| age | 5 (11) mentally & physically, over 2000 chronogically |
| gender | female |
| pronouns | she/it |
| orientation | aroace pan |
| occupation | architect / guitarist |
| tribe | sea / rain |
| residence | rediscovery |
| relatives | tropic (father), angeler (mother) |
appearance
Despite her small size and round stature, Psyche definitely stands out in a crowd. A gentle violet paints her scales, darker shades streaking down her spine and arms. Her face is that of a RainWing, narrow and pretty, framing light powder blue eyes. These eyes come in not one pair, but three, with two smaller eyes below each main one. She keeps all these eyes open most of the time, enjoying the attention. A thick violet mane encircles her head, much like that of a lion; the fur of this mane is tended to carefully until it's smooth as water. When Psyche is afraid or angry, the mane puffs up in response.
personality
A snarky and rebellious individual, intent on doing things her own way. Psyche isn't a very easy dragonet to like, years and years of different mentors numbing her to the whole process. The hybrid is also amazingly stubborn, and the sheer lengths she went to avoid leaving the mansion would shock just about anyone. Most of the mentors Kingfisher sent often left not long after, not being able to stand Psyche and her disrespectful attitude.history
Psyche hatched in around 3050 A.S., to Angeler of the SeaWings and Tropic of the RainWings. Both came from wealthy families, and even though their marriage was an arranged one, they were a peaceful family for the most part. When Psyche was around one, Angeler and Tropic decided that they'd grown tired of their former home and moved to an abandoned mansion near the peak of Jade Mountain. Legend had it that the mansion was haunted, filled with spirits who lost the way to the afterlife- it was not long after Darkstalker was trapped, after all- but Psyche's parents insisted that it was just a myth and settled down there. Sadly, a week after officially moving to their new home, Angeler and Tropic were killed by a landslide, leaving poor Psyche alone in the huge mansion.
Psyche didn't know whether the death of its parents was a curse or fate. But it soon found out the legends... were real. Instead of starving or freezing, it was raised by the spirits of the mansion- not ghosts of the dead, but beings who had been there since the beginning of time. A notable one was Kingfisher, an arrogant spirit who presented herself as an elderly SkyWing.
Psyche never saw another living dragonet like her in the mansion, but she was told that there was multiple presentations of it scattered over Pyrrhia, to offer shelter to dragonets who couldn't have it, for the spirits to raise until they reached four years old. Then they were each given a mentor- the ghost of a dragon who did great things in their lifetime- to prepare them for the outside world. Once the badge pinned on their chest lit up, they could leave.
Kingfisher told all this to Psyche when she was three. One day, the spirit said, Psyche would have to leave the mansion and truely live among others.
But Psyche didn't want to leave. She was safe in the mansion, and while it wasn't the most exciting existence to lead, she didn't want to go. Over the centuries, the spirits gave her multiple mentors, all from different tribes and different backgrounds. Nothing worked; the hybrid simply drove them away with her constant pestering and stubborness, and was left alone once again. Not always; at one point there were a few other rebellious dragonets that lived there, but they all left, their badges lighting up cheerfully as if taunting her.
After two thousand years, her badge was still dark and empty, its edges digging into her scales. But that was fine; she didn't need a mentor, and she didn't need to leave. It wasn't like she'd be any good at living anyway, and if she was the only one who couldn't get her badge to work, so be it. The problem was, the spirits wouldn't give up on her. She had to make sure she could officially skip leaving.
The answer came in the form of a scraggly SeaWing. His name was Saltwater, and he'd arrived at the mansion after an accident. He wasn't dead, strictly speaking; but his body was in a critical state and he could be at any minute. He became her new mentor after being mistaken for a ghost, and Psyche struck a deal with him: they'd work together to get her badge to light up. That way he could take it and return to his old life, and she could stay inside forever, just as she wanted.
But no matter what they tried, Psyche's badge stayed stubbornly black. Eventually Psyche discovered another exit in the back of the mansion, a portal to the world beyond, but in Saltwater's haste to return he brought Psyche with him.
It was too much. The rush of color, the dragons flying overhead, the neverending mountains and sky... it was too much for Psyche to handle. Saltwater managed to coax her into going back to the mansion to fix things, and they began a long flight back to Jade Mountain. In the meantime, despite having thousands of others to keep track of, Kingfisher had noticed that Psyche and Saltwater were gone and volunteered to go bring them both back.
As the time slipped by, Psyche began to get more used to Pyrrhia, and even began to like it. She loved the feeling of wind on her wings as well as the smells and tastes of the world beyond. She even didn't mind when someone yelled at her for getting in their way; she'd never been yelled at before. And she realized she didn't want to go back, now that she knew what she was giving up.
But all good things must come to an end. Before Psyche and Saltwater could set things right, Kingfisher found them and dragged them both back. Psyche was upset to leave the world that she'd grown to love, but Saltwater was even angrier when he heard that she didn't want to give her now lit badge to him after all.
He kept on telling her that the badge was his, that she didn't even want to live freely and he did. And he... he was right. Psyche didn't want to, not before. And if all those mentors gave up on her, proclaimed her a lost cause, maybe she really was one.
Psyche threw the badge at Saltwater. He was the one who really deserved it. Then she fled.
The hybrid didn't know where it was going. It just knew it had to get away from Saltwater, from Kingfisher, from the other spirits, from them all. She didn't deserve that badge in Saltwater's talons, the badge that other dragonets like her worked so hard to get. There must have been a reason she couldn't even earn the right to live in thousands of years, she... just... didn't have the strength to find it anymore.
Later, Saltwater found her curled in her room. He managed to calm her down enough to get her to talk, but she still wouldn't listen. Finally, instead of trying to give her the badge, he pressed something into her talons. Psyche looked down to find a seed pod that she'd picked up when they flew through Pyrrhia's forests. She remembered how much she'd loved this continent, how she never wanted to go back to the dark mansion where she was safe and indulged but never free. That...that was when her badge had lit up, wasn't it? When she found that she wanted to live after all?
Saltwater, he... told her that they'd both been wrong. It wasn't purpose or destiny that brought new life to her badge, it was the will to live.
Then he gave that very badge to Psyche. Even though that meant he'd have to stay a ghost forever, when he wasn't dead, when he had an amazing new life waiting for him outside. He said that he'd lived before, and now it was her turn. It took a huge effort for Psyche not to cry as she took the badge, and, looking back all the while, stepped out the door into the world beyond, leaving her first and only friend behind in the dark.
Unbeknownst to Psyche, Saltwater was later given a second chance at life by the spirits, who were impressed by what he'd done.
Now, Psyche is studying to be an architect, as she finds it interesting. She's also learning the guitar, an instrument she heard played during that very first time on Pyrrhia. For the first time in thousands of years, she's able to live a real life.
And she'll savour every moment of it.
relationships
Kingfisher (leaning -)
A control freak, that one, and so full of herself too. Psyche supposes that Kingfisher probably cares about her if she was willing to risk being seen to come get them, if only out of trying to set things right and not because she cared about Psyche herself. Still, she doesn't like the spirit one bit.
Saltwater (++)
The one who helped her truely live, if not on purpose. She owes so much to him.
Other Spirits (-)
They never cared about her. They just saw her as another subject, a lab rat in the grand scope of thing, except she kept failing.
playlist
- Lifted Up (1985)- Passion Pit
- Happy Pills- Weathers
- Those Who Carried On- Ghost & Pals
- Ghost City Tokyo- Rachie
- Champion- Fall Out Boy
- Alone Together- Fall Out Boy
gallery
trivia
- based off of soul no. 22 from Soul. I love that girl.
- named after the Greek goddess of the human soul.
- yes, she does live in the same universe + city as larkspur and the others (is that really how i'm referring to the waystation now? god i need to get over my larkspur centric obsession). they have never crossed paths, though (and even if they did psyche would probably get scared and steer clear).