Tsubasa

Tsubasa is a dragon whose hoard consists of the most perfect, beautiful flowers he can find. His primary powers consist of being able to transmute almost anything into non-living materials (such a stone or gems), so it's not unheard of for him to randomly pick up a rock, turn it into gold, and drop it into someone's hand and go "TRADE?" for their bouquet of posies. He's not quite sure why humans always seem to gape at him afterwards, but they almost always give him the pretty flowers that he desires so he counts it as a win all around.

His lair is filled to bursting with flowers of all shapes and sizes and colors, each one delicately encased in a time-stop spell so as they don't wilt or wither away. The spells keep a low, constant drain on his powers, so he always doesn't register as powerful as he really is. Tsubasa also keeps much of his time in human form, as they allow him to be more delicate and careful around his hoard that does have a tendency to bruise easily. While he does obtain a lot of flowers, he doesn't necessarily keep all of them, as only the most prized and perfect get their special place in his hoard. The rest he just keeps for the brief periods of time they remain pretty and then discards them.

He is very much naive about humans and the world outside of his lair and so can get swindled quite easily by humans just by them offering a pretty plant. That said, Tsubasa also does not understand why humans desire gold or gems and such things, as Tsubasa can just create any of these things with a blink of his eyes. But he puts it all up for a strange human quirks and is perfectly content with how things are at the moment.

Of course there have now been rumors swirling around amongst the humans about a boy who can create gold...

Tsubasa is a dragon. That he spends most of his time as a human is another thing altogether. Tsubasa as a human is very androgynous—people frequently mistake him as one gender or the other, not that Tsubasa cares much for humans and their dull perception. A good deal of power lies in a dragon’s horns, so at times they manage to peek themselves out even when Tsubasa is in human form. While Tsubasa can generally change his appearance at will he usually does not, as his current human form is the one that is simplest to maintain and hold. If Tsubasa became human in truth then perhaps he would be much similar in appearance to what he parades around in. But Tsubasa is a dragon.

In either human or dragon form Tsubasa is liable to be decked out in a dazzling array of flowers. Much of the time he forgets about the flowers in his hair or mane, in a pocket, or maybe curled around a horn. He frequently carries them around in his arms—where flowers are Tsubasa follows soon after.

Personality

Tsubasa does not understand much about the human world, nor does he really care to know. He spends much of his day in a bubble (albeit, a bubble of sheer power) so his life is very infrequently touched on by the outside world. Therefore, he is rather naive about humans, their motivations, why they act the way they do, and, perhaps unfortunately, Tsubasa does not much care about learning. People he views as curious beings who are sometimes useful or sometimes a hindrance—he does not see them much different from a cow or a dog (though smarter sometimes). He tolerates them as a necessary species, but he has no particular like or dislike about them.

But even with other dragons (of which there are fewer and fewer in the world) Tsubasa keeps himself rather apart from. Dragons are not all that sociable to begin with, but Tsubasa is even more distant than most. There are a few he would maybe call a good acquaintance, but none are really friends. Tsubasa lives a quiet, almost lonely life, except he does not view it in that way at all. He spends a lot of time with his head in the clouds, admiring his hoard of flowers or just being rather peaceful with nature in general.

Now flowers on the other hand… All dragons have their hoard, and their hoard can be of many varied things. Tsubasa loves flowers and how pretty they are, how ephemeral they are, especially when compared to him. He spends much of his time scouring the world, looking for a new species or finding the perfect specimen to add to his collection and he has several of them—one is his Hoard, with the most beautiful and perfect specimens that are encased in a time-stop spell, and then he has smaller, lesser collections that are not covered in that spell, as time magic is hard work and to wield it as Tsubasa does is almost laughable.

He fears nothing. There are few things in the world that can take down a dragon, let alone a dragon as powerful as Tsubasa (even if he looks otherwise). It can make him rather reckless at times as Tsubasa assumes that nothing can ever really hurt him. He is, however, more fragile in his human form, a fact that he forgets frequently (to be fair, not that much more fragile).

History

There was no real birth for Tsubasa. One day he just was, a being born from the ether to roam the planet. Though almost none know this, Tsubasa is perhaps one of the oldest living creatures on the planet and part of the first dragons—the one who arose out of nothing to give birth to what most consider the dragon race today (which is also shrouded in much lore as dragons are a dying race). His first memories are vague and formless, he remembers some of moving around, of drinking in the sights with his new senses, but much of what he remembers are only fragments of a time long past.

All dragons have a hoard, but they discover what they desire and then hold fast with a fierce tenacity. Tsubasa can remember the first time he saw a flower, one he still has, a delicate jewel of a plant of pale red petals and gold laced veins. He remembers stopping and feeling his soul lurch, as well as the rise of the quiet single-minded focus as he realized that this is what he wants and will always want. Throughout the centuries he has collected a truly massive hoard, a beautiful rainbow of colors, and if anything could make him feel content it would be that.

Tsubasa, however, was not awake the entire time. Even dragons get tired, or bored, and Tsubasa is no different. Periodically he would enclose himself with his hoard and slumber, for days or years or centuries even, enough for the world to turn over into something slightly newer.

Humans are a more recent development, and while Tsubasa does not think much of them, he does have to admit that they make things a bit more interesting. He finds himself taking advantage of the human form as it lets him be more delicate with his hoard and he’s able to move around easier without the fear of crushing the flowers, or puncturing them with a claw. His last hibernating sleep was long, so very long, and he has found himself in a world with a dragon population that is more of a myth than reality, where magic is coveted and feared. Where humans has risen up and become rulers of their own right, even if most of what they have is just numbers.

There are also even more new species of flowers than ever before and humans even breed new ones all the time. Tsubasa finds this aspect the most interesting about humans and so spends more time than ever among them, even though most humans are just trying to live their day to day life instead of growing flowers. Tsubasa finds it a bit funny that humans are so willing to trade the flowers for some shiny rocks, but in a tiny portion of his mind, he thinks humans are like dragons in in that way—perhaps gold and gems are their collective hoard.

Now unlike the past where Tsubasa has gone years without seeing anyone else, he has been venturing among the humans and it has not gone unnoticed. Both humans and other dragons, the few who remain, have started to keep a closer eye on Tsubasa’s movements…

Lair

As is stereotypical for dragons, Tsubasa’s lair is a cave, or rather, a cave system whose entrance is nestled deep in a valley that has less been forgotten as made to be forgotten. While the majority of it is underground, part of it spreads out from the mouth of the cave, where Tsubasa has claimed dominion over the lake nearby and the surrounding forest. Each room in the cave system is much larger than one would initially assume, as each has been modified to be able to fit Tsubasa when he is in his natural, dragon form.

The first room of the cave is one of the sunniest—massive reflective mirrors and gleaming pools of water magicked to both absorb and then reflect sunlight when needed has bathed the entire cavern in golden light. If the forest outside could be casually called green, then inside the first cavern would be better termed as an explosion of green. Leafy plants have been carefully placed upon almost every imaginal surface of the cavern. Trees have also been planted inside, all of them species not native to the area of Tsubasa’s home. To the far right of the entrance is a pool of water that sinks so deep the bottom cannot be seen, the tops of which has water lilies. Vines twirl around stalagmites, reaching so high they crawl across the ceiling as well. This is Tsubasa’s room where he keeps the plants he enjoys, but does not love, casual in his care.

There are a few more minor caverns much in the same way as the first one, if smaller and more haphazard. There is a cave that is just a vast lake, and the lake is home to an underwater series of caves that remain largely unexplored. Tsubasa has carelessly filled the water with all manner of marine life.

Then there is this one cavern that branches off from the main one, a subtle barrier placed that one needs to push past, and blinking into the new space is opening one’s eyes to a riot of colors. This cavern could barely be called thus, as the roof has been mostly removed to expose the sun. Flowers of all shapes and forms curl here, each one in perfect, full blossom. There are none on the ground as Tsubasa can not bear to trample on them, instead they are placed along the walls and are suspended in the air. Tsubasa specializes in time and space magic, so each flower has been frozen in full blossom, each one perfect and resplendent. The ones that hang in the air do so because of his will, almost as if on a trellis, except there is no framework. This cavern holds what Tsubasa considers his hoard.

Only recently has Tsubasa converted one of the caverns into something more human friendly. This contains a pile of clothes in one corner, a rather large bed, and various couches and desks scattered around. It holds what Tsubasa needs to pass off as human, though there is little order to the mess. Large shaggy rugs in various colors take up most of the floor, and interesting light fixtures are a little too plentiful. Lying in a heap at the foot of his bed are about twenty different travel bags. There is a large wooden desk off to the side that has a large map on it, one that Tsubasa has been filling in himself when the mood strikes.