i know love is real because you exist

i like cursing my blorbos with yearning and i blame myself for listening to hozier’s “would that i” and “like real people” on repeat.

Let's begin by saying that Orlando was born, as it says on the ref sheet, from an affair. So, basically a guy that cheated on his wife with another person. Their love was so strong that Megabird, who determines the new lives of Skykids, decided to give them a baby 👍

Being born out of disloyal love is not good in general. People talk behind your back and give you the fault of actions that weren't yours.

Now, imagine this, but in a village where love is hugely believed in. Love is considered a strong force, guided by the goddess Aurora ( -> she is the goddess of Love in my au), so people will dislike any form of betrayal towards the loyalty of it.

... Let's just say that, for this reason, Orlando was never appreciated. Or loved. He grew up in the household of a mother that wasn't really his. The original wife of his father (who was sent away from the village after his actions), but not his true mother. He felt the hurt from her cruelty towards him and was abused by her hand.

That was until a shard attack came to the village, situated in the Prairie Peaks: a place where, following my au, there have been various villages that have all been destroyed by shard storms before and after the corruption of the Kingdom. So, before the birth of Skykids and also during our current days.

While the historians are unsure about how many shard attacks there have been in the Peaks before the corruption... It is known that there have been only 3 after it and the birth of Skykids, and these are the important ones for this yapping session.

His village fell victim of the second shard, which took the lives of his family.

Remaining the only survivor of them and left alone, he had to begin his journey at eleven years old, two years before the average age of actual Moths. He explored all around the first three realms and took two years to do so because 1) people kept abandoning him around as soon as they heard of his origins or just for fun, and 2) he lacks orientation skills.

It was at his thirteen years of age that he was found at the Sacred Pond, in the Hidden Forest, by Sentinekka and Ojtaro, two more important characters in the fic (Senti is the main character, Ojtaro is a side character). Orlando joined them and ended up being safe from the evil around.

With Senti, he reached the Village of Dreams, where they're both still living under the care of Sentinekka's cousin, Isan.

Orlando has dealt with struggles that came from his traumas (the abuse of his mother, the hatred around him and the darkness of shards): these struggles were habits of self harming and not eating (-> this particular habit of lacking food has of course brought him to lose weight, which is why he seems skinnier in his fourteen and sixteen year old shape).

Don't worry, though. Orlando has left those habits and is now healing, with time, enjoying life the way it is. He's loved and adored. <3<3

He has a strong passion for nature, every shade of it. He likes to take care of plants, mostly flowers, and loves manatees. This is connected to his original birth realm, which hosts tons of manatees. He grew up watching them but was never allowed to stay near them.

Therefore, he has been madly in love with the Season of The Two Embers - Part One because during this event, Orlando managed to have his own manatee for the first time. The creature's name is Eda, and it now rests in the Last City as a memory of a distant past.

He even has a partner now, a boy called Helios (a Messenger who will also have his own ref sheets soon). They're in love and all, but their relationship won't last. Helios will be venomous towards Orlando. And, drained of his own energy, Orlando will have to leave him.

"I Love You But I Love Me More" by MARINA style, if anyone gets it.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for participating to my yap yap yap session! Have a wonderful day, peeeeeple