Pollux

Pollux looks a lot older than he actually is, and his larger than normal size doesn’t help that. He has mostly dark brownish-purple scales, always shined to perfection so that they’re nearly like glass, along with a bright golden underbelly. There is a small line of bright tan scales running down the length of his body, with small hook patterns jutting out of it. He has lighter purple horns with small gold markings and claws going down his back to for a two-spiked tail in place of a SandWing’s barb, which also has some gold markings. Around one of his bright blue eyes is a large tan colored blot, with the stained scales reaching out to form points all across the edge. His wings are nearly black towards the front, then fade into a dark purple as they move towards the back, followed by streaks of sandy tan which make up the rest of his wings. The top of his wings are entirely sandy tan with streaks of darker brown throughout. He also normally wears a pair of glasses when working to help his vision, or goggles when he’s doing something specifically physical and doesn’t want to worry about breaking or losing them. He also has two scars on each side of his face, just behind his eyes where his teardrop scales used to be. The imprint of the scales still shows though, with an area of slightly lighter pink flesh that can be seen by most dragons much to Pollux's discontent, although he will wear makeup on some occasions to hide them if the situation requires. He also has numerous long, thin scars along the top of his back from the short time he spent on the sea caravan, as well as many, many other small scars from practice fighting and exercise injuries across his body.

Pre Hatching > Lyra was a NightWing astronomer and researcher, sent to the Sand Kingdom by Queen Supernova in an exchange program between the two tribes to share information on their knowledge of astronomy, and work together to discover new objects in the stars. She was a black as the night, with weirdly few spots on the bottom of her wings, and her bright blue eyes being on of the only bright spots on her. She was very cheerful though, hopeful to work with the SandWings and see their programs, as well as the city that she got to work at. It was the large SandWing trading city of Darasiya, an ancient city famous for its old universities and scientific discoveries, located on the southern coast of the Sand Kingdom. Her journey to the city almost ended before it even started through, when a few hours after she’d crossed into the desert and in the middle of nowhere, two bandits attacked and robbed her by surprise. She weirdly didn’t hear their thoughts before the attack, and that combined with her complete lack of fighting skill had left her completely vulnerable. Still though, she put up a fight, but the robbers easily overpowered her, slashing her shoulder and stealing all the money that she had. They were almost about to murder her to cover up any of the evidence when suddenly, out of the darkness came another SandWing, this one brandishing a full sword and charging at the bandits. There was a brief fight, but the thieves were extremely outmatched by the other SandWing and fell back into the darkness, both wounded. By then, Lyra had passed out from her injuries, only catching a glimpse of her savior before she fell into unconsciousness.
She woke up in an unknown house later, her wounds bandaged up and cleaned, and a small amount of food He revealed himself to be a SandWing named Dubai, a successful blacksmith and weapons seller who was famed throughout the Kingdom for his legendary and deadly weapons, and was just heading back from a deal with an important aristocrat when he’d seen her being robbed, and rushed to help with his own new weapons. Once he was finished fighting the robbers, he’d brought Lyra to his house and fixed up her injuries, recovering some of her things as well, which were polished next to her bed, most of them in near perfect condition. They talked for a while as she recovered, and Dubai told her his history about how he’d served a time in the SandWing royal guard, from which he’d all of his fighting skills, but had left with an honorable discharge a few years prior due to wanting to settle down, and not liking the way that Queen Khali was starting to take her Kingdom, seeing it firsthand. Lyra was fascinated by him, and the NightWing stayed there for a few days in which she found out, to her surprise, that his house was just outside Darasiya, that she was supposed to work at. She could even see the skyline, filled with old palaces and astronomical towers. Dubai offered to let her stay with him in his guest room while she did her program, to which she gladly accepted, living in great conditions at his home. The two dragons found themselves with an egg a few months after, and soon got married.

Baby Dragonet > Pollux was hatched on the extremely hot summer day of June twentieth, and was immediately loved by both his mother and father, fully solidifying their new marriage. They’d said that he was the cutest dragonet that they had ever seen, and was given wonderful treatment as a young dragonet, his mother teaching him basic academics and other such things, as well as astronomy so he could be ahead in school once he got into it and the hope that she could maybe even make him into an astronomer like her, to her husband’s disapproval. She also showed him how to hone his own mind reading powers, learning how to limit them and block certain dragon’s minds off so that he didn’t have overwhelmed, as well as sneaking into other dragon's minds and breaking through blocks. His father showed him weapons and forging equipment, teaching him some basic skills and how to use them, with much disapproval from his wife. It was a friendly competition though, and they still loved him and each other and him. As the first year of Pollux’s life finished, the family continued to live very happy lives, despite some conflict between Dubai’s rough and “sort it out yourself” nature conflicting with his mother’s much more caring personality due to the vastly different areas that they were raised in. Even better, his father’s business was only growing within the Sand Kingdom due to a growing need for weapons, and the family lived in a large, secure house at the edge of the city with great food, and lots of money flowing in.

Dragonet > Soon though, it was time for his parents to turn their focus on to other things, and once he was the eligible age, Lyra and Dubai enrolled him in a SandWing public school at the city so that he could be taught further and with more advanced topics. He was good at school and got very good grades at first due to his mother’s good teaching of him, and However though, many of both the teachers and students disliked and resented him, both due to being a partial NightWing and because of his mind reading powers, of which he was accused numerous times of cheating off of other students. His grades began to fall, and he’d come back home crying and telling his parents about the teasing and attacking. They were furious about this, and immediately went to the teachers, who did nothing. They even considered moving back to the Night Kingdom, but his father couldn’t move with his job and keep them in these good if conditions so they stayed, trying to find their son different schools. Pollux, seeing his parents stress and worrying over him decided to not tell them of any of it anymore, covering up any minor injuries and faking stories of fun times with friends at school. This period lasted for a few years, with Pollux coming home, sometimes with injuries covered up, telling his parents fake stories about school and how he got along with the other dragons there. But soon, a few months passed, and they started to see things, a small uncovered cut here, a tear in his eye there, and they gradually got the full story. His father started to teach Pollux some basic combat skills and how to defend himself, and once he was eligible, Lyra immediately took him out of the school and Dubai set him up with one of his rich business friends, the SandWing magistrate of Darasiya, an extremely powerful dragon who could be said to “rule” the city.

Young Adult > Once he got out of school, Pollux started to work as a low servant in the Magistrate’s Palace, overlooking the city, for an old dragon named Omdurman. He was a wealthy, pureblood SandWing who showed his disapproval about Pollux’s hybridage and mind reading skills the second that his father left after dropping him off at the palace. He seemed to be extremely paranoid about mind reading, and told the hybrid that the use of it was forbidden throughout his palace, punishable by being kicked out, or worse. As Pollux continued to work in the palace, cleaning and preparing small appetizers for guests at large parties, he started to get a bigger picture. Omdurman wasn’t just a judge, and an extremely corrupt one at that, but he was also a secret leader of one of the most powerful gangs in the city. Gradually as he worked, he noticed that Omdurman seemed to be getting more anxious and strict, having everyone searched as they entered the palace and barely ever leaving its walls himself, always making edicts from the safety of his own office. But he still treated Pollux reasonably well, as he mostly tried to stay under the radar. The all changed though one day, while he was simply cleaning one of the large hallways of the palace, Omdurman came into view, screaming unintelligible obscenities at his and brandishing one of his father’s swords. He slashed at Pollux, merely nicking his arm as the hybrid ran away, fleeing the palace as Omdurman’s guards searched for him. He tried to make it home as fast as possible, while trying to figure out exactly what had happened. He soon figured it out through, reading all of the dragon's minds as he passed through the streets running back to his home. All the dirty secrets of Omdurman had been released, spreading through the city like wildfire, and he blamed it all on Pollux and his mind reading. He’d apparently sent most of his gang to hunt him and his family down, and he had to leave the city immediately, along with his family or that all be killed.
But, it was too late. Pollux arrived at just the right moment for him to survive the attack, turning the corner on to his home’s path just as he heard the screams. He ran away, running and ducking through alleyways in horror, thinking that around every corner there would be another attacker, just waiting to do to him what had happened to his parents. He ran until he couldn’t any longer, until he was on the complete other side of the city and ducked into a dark, secluded alley with no other dragons nearby, and curled up on the ground, hidden from view. He blamed himself and his own mind reading powers for his parent’s murder, wishing that he’d never had these stupid powers, or never even have been hatched. In his rage, despair, and hatred towards himself, Pollux clawed the pure white teardrop scales right out of the sides of his head, permanently scarring himself. He went to sleep that night on the dirty ground, silently sobbing and partially covered in his own blood.

Adult > After his parent’s murder, Pollux jumped from job to job, trying to find something that he really liked to do, and disliked nearly every single job that he’d gotten, only keeping one job for more than a year, which was was his first job in the SandWing military. Pollux was still absolutely terrified that Omdurman would track him down and kill him, and he saw the military as the bear was to protect himself with what he could do. Due to his already previous training and strength, as well as his ability to read the minds of others, he excelled at the military, quickly rising up through the ranks, even with his hybridage dragging him down. He didn’t really like it though, the SandWings were too undisciplined and inexperienced for his tastes, but his opportunity came once the Sand Kingdom decided to have an exchange program with the highly militaristic Sky Kingdom, and he was on of the first to volunteer, with him getting even further away from Omdurman and the Kingdom being the cherry on top.
On his first day in the Sky Kingdom, he and his Squadron were brought to the Palace to have an audience with Queen Ibis herself, and Pollux immediately liked the dragoness. She was fierce, imposing, disciplined, and ruthless, all things that he believed that the Sand Kingdom and its military lacked. To his further delight, she’d even complimented him while he stood in the throne room, despite being a hybrid. He enjoyed every day for the time that he was in the Sky Kingdom, training with their military and living in the barracks with their regular army. He was even lucky enough to get to be able to view one of Ibis’s famous gladiator competitions within her massive and newly rebuilt Colosseum, and despite seeing the loss of life slightly unnecessary, was still enamoured with it. He eventually became the leader of the small exchange squad, rising up to the rank of Captain by the time his mission was over. He sadly had to go back to the Sand Kingdom, as despite being impressed by him and his skill in fighting, Ibis was apparently much less interested in the SandWing Kingdom now that she’d seen a lot of Phaedra’s soldier’s laziness and indiscipline up close. The Sky Kingdom also discontinued to bring the soldiers of other tribes into their country a few weeks after, including the SandWings. A few days after he’d gotten back though, Phaedra offered him a position as a permanent Captain within her army, a very powerful opportunity. But to everyone’s shock, unlike his father's military career before him, he declined to join, and instead resigned from the military to go into civilian life and possibly travel away from the Kingdom for good.
Soon, he made his way to one of the Kingdom’s other bustling port cities, now not going anywhere near Darasiya for fear of being recognized, he found his opportunity. A large merchant ship was offering out jobs to strong dragons that were willing to spend a long time away from the Kingdom on far off trading trips, and he gladly signed up, under the promise of good food and living conditions. It was a sham though, and Pollux soon found out that the conditions and treatment of the crew members on the ship was absolutely horrible, far worse than in the army. They were giving cold gruel with a small piece of bread and fish as food, and were made to sleep on the floor, even unable to get a simple hammock, basically made into slaves. At least the SeaWings were able to take small swims and fish for food, and he soon brought up a small friendship with one of the SeaWings, and they’d bring him food in exchange for him doing other minor maintenance work aboard the ship. But the sleeping conditions and food wasn’t even the worst part, as whenever Pollux or an of the other crew members messed up or got too tired and unable to go on while working, the Officers in the barge would lash them with painful whips, and even though the hybrid had a lot more pain tolerance than the other crew members on the ship, it still took a large toll on him. The barge was just off the coast of the Isle Mezzo, going back towards the Sand Kingdom when he’d finally had enough. He’d gotten slightly tired and was starting to slow down when the Offer went up to hit him with the whip but instead, Pollux grabbed it out of the dragon’s talons, quickly pulling free of the ropes and striking the dragon of the head, hard. Unconscious, the Officer plummeted into the ocean, but Pollux wouldn’t see that, as he’d already be flying to Mezzo, his back turned on the ship for good.
When he’d arrived on Mezzo after a flight of a few hours, the hybrid was exhausted, dripping wet, and extremely weak. He was quickly administered into the Hospital where the nurses diagnosed him with severe malnourishment, as well as cuts all across his back from the whip. He then spent a few days in the hospital, eventually getting released and looking for another job. He jumped around from job to job for a little while, never really feeling happy in any of them. After a few months of not finding any, the hybrid found out an opening for a blacksmith, and with his options exhausted, he regretfully signed up despite the constant reminder of his parents. He was treated well in his job, the owner offering free bed and food, of which was in good condition, and Pollux already had been trained by his father and had a knack for the job. He even started to improvise and make his own weapons, showing particular skill in forging Damascus steel, growing the business further. He even rose up to become the owner of the shop once the prior owner had died of old age a few months later. He stifled his bad memories and went to work as the new owner, making new deals and expanding his business. Soon, he was even able to make a deal with the Masters of the Alliance to become their primary outside weapons supplier, and he proudly took the deal, smiling happily for the first time in years.