#Kym'a Thavma

[kyma-thavma]

The woman with the greatsword began to surge forward, as duplicates of the Elezen surged for the other Miqo'te. While the ginger mage avoided the grappling shade, the fiery fighter wasn't so lucky; he drops and screams in pain.

His scream echos and reverberates through the kit's body, joined by a chorus of long-dead phantoms crying out for succour.

And then, there was darkness.

No longer was the arcanist within the halls of the Raven Collective, its sparring ring barely a whisper in the kit's perspective. Voices dimmed into droning background noise, save for the scream of pain.

The barren battlefield littered with the dead and dying, mortal and dragonkin alike.

Above, blackened skies with amber stars falling through them like rain.

In the distance, the churning waters lap at the edges of the darkened lake.

Standing amid the carnage and chaos, a circle of seven mages assembles atop the highest hill. Their grimoires are in right hands while their left stretch outward, towards the mage that stands across from them, as if reaching for the other's hand. Most look at stratagems that decorate the pages of their tomes, but the youngest instead looks to the skies.

White hair flowing into the raging winds like a thick mist swirling away from the young Miqo'te woman. Her crimson gaze locks upon their target - the massive shade of the fallen dragon lord. The stratagem begins to form before her eyes, entwining with the flying abomination, as if to bind it.

And that's precisely what the group of summoners attempts to do. Without much consideration for the others, the mage wrenches control of the casting. Her hand lifts skyward, drawing all of their aether with it, draining them of their essence.

There's an echoing roar as the spell tightens about the form of the draconic shade drowns the screams of the dying, and the woman tightens her fist. An aetheric leash forms between her fist and the behemoth creature as the last of her companions' aether drains into the spell, leaving their corpses to fall to the ground.

"Bachámout," she screams into the skies as she tugs both physically and aetherically on the leash, "you are mine to command! Turn your devastation upon those seeking to destroy Allag!"

Stepping over the dead bodies, the woman shackling the primal delicately steps over the remains of the deceased, leading the draconic shade back towards Meracydia's borders. Groups of smaller draconic figures burn beneath the hellfire the reborn Bahamut reigns down, the creature gathering more and more aether from the land below.

Pointing towards the incoming hordes that the shade once led, the woman screams, unleashing a flare of immense proportions. Raging against her restraints, the primal's power decimates its former followers, scattering them to the winds.

"I'll protect you," she fiercely swears, fist raised skyward, "I promise."

Before she can enjoy her success, something unseen strikes her form, cutting through the memory. Chaos envelopes her as the leash snaps, freeing the dragon as she falls to the ground, clutching her torso.

And then, there was darkness.

[fulcrum-agent]

Spinel: Are they a worry-wort or are they carefree?

CLAIRE

While she always has a contingency plan for the contingency plan, Claire’s not as big of a worrier as people think she is. She’s just meticulous and far-thinking, considering ramifications across at least the next decade. Most of the time, she does have limited blind-spots, as people are starting to see with the current stories.

ASHLA

There’s always a little underlying worry for her, but that’s somewhat natural for the Dalmascan people. She does her best to remain as carefree as possible, by using meditation to quell worries.

KYM’A

I wish I hadn’t had my hard drive crash, because I’d just insert the comic @sedatayuun did of Kym’a floof'ing at max. Because his anxiety makes mine look obscenely tame - and I have to have emergency anxiety medication!

ASHE

Due to her station and work, she worries a lot. Such gets worse when her brother’s interfering with her life.

Thanks for the ask, @charm-in-spades!

[darkfae-xiv]

My characters and their Moonfire Faire shots (some of them, anyway). I managed to get the event done on all my characters, which is work - I have several NPC alts that I had to get the stuff on too, but these four are my main set of characters.

[fulcrum-agent]

Are they witty and quick with come-backs when insulted or provoked?

Claire has a masters in snarky replies at all times, but even more so when in an argument of any type.

Ashe’s retorts tend to be laced in diplomacy, and a lot of people miss the fact that she’s landed any sort of return.

Kym’a rarely manages to make quick comebacks, because he’s just not that type of person.

Ashla is fairly quick-witted, but there’s a lot of things she’s still naive about, so her ability to make a sharp retort varies from situation to situation.

Thanks for the ask, @yokasaris!

[fulcrum-agent]

10. Is your character street-smart, book-smart, intelligent, intellectual, slow-witted?

My characters all lean towards having intelligence and being intellectual, though their specific veins of such very. I just…can’t play stupid - all of my characters trend towards being philosophically inclined, even if they don’t do much in public 24/7.

**Claire** learned a lot from books as a child but also has learned in a manner that would be considered ‘street-smart’.

**Ashe** also learned from books initially, but the war in Dalmasca has lead to a form of ‘street-smarts’ learning.

**Kym’a** is all book-smarts, and often lacking in common sense.

**Ashla** is pretty well balanced between street-smart and training-based learning.

Thanks for the ask, @mai-takeda!

[fulcrum-agent]

THE TRUST SYSTEM

Your character has been converted to an NPC for the newest trust sytem. What is their job class/role/and AI behavior? Who is in your trust team? (From the G&G Discord prompt channel)

Claire

Role: Support DPS Class: Whirling Corsair (too much pain for good name) [RDM/DNC/MCH hybrid] AI: - Lets the tank pull, but they'd better be damn good at seizing aggro because she might wait for them to get 2 abilities off before going full throttle. - Doesn't seem to trust healers much, and will toss a heal or three if anyone (especially the tank) gets below 50%. - Uses pistol(s) at range, aetheric blade upon Corps-a-corps. - Dance partner's RDMs first, but will swap partners multiple times during the fight to keep on the highest DPS. - Might shoot party members if they annoy her. - Doesn't take gil or non-purple/non-blue treasure, makes comments about not having a need for gil, but liking relics. - Definitely steals your LBs, especially LB3s.

Kym'a Thavma

Role: Support Healer w/some DPS Class: High Arcanist [SMN/SCH/ACN mix] AI: - Overheals: if you don't have an Adloquium or Succor shield on you, Ky panics and puts a new one on you; always casts Succor as shields fade, won't let the tank drop below maybe 80%. - All the Summons: - despite its dangers, Ky keeps a SCH fairy (usually an Eos) active along with an Emerald Carbuncle, whilst cycling through the Egi and Demi-Egis as needed. [Adapted for new SMN off older Ky qualities] - Timid Unless Panicked: Largely, the boy is quiet and observant, until things go sideways, at which point he gains something of a frenzy bonus to healing and DPS, at the cost of a DoT-like effect upon his person. - Stuttering Eorzean: Although he speaks many a dead or foreign language without trouble, he stammers frequently in Eorzean. - The Sacrifice: Although he hesitates at using an LB if things are going well, should shit hit the fan, the boy's LB3 is a near-arena wide AoE spell that damages and paralyses the enemy whilst raising (if necessary), healing, and shielding the party at the cost of all of his active summons (ACN constructs present at location and elsewhere are used in the sacrifice and cannot be summoned for 30 minutes, and then may only be summoned one at a time every ten minutes till full compliment is replenished).

Ashe of Dalmasca

Role: DPS w/Ruler traits (Ruler from FGO) Class: Rebel Princess [RDM/DNC w/scattered abilities from other classes] AI: - Rebel, Rebel: Ashe gets a DPS bonus against Garleans. - Rebel Yell: Ashe can extend that bonus to allies on the long off-cooldown timer. - Rebel Waltz: A channelled ability that grants the dance partner a buff to crit hit, that stacks up to three times. Charges of Rebel Waltz can be traded for an attack by Ashe that lunges at the target before performing a series of targetted slashes and thrusts with her blade as she dances around the enemy. Damage bonus if the target is Garlean. - Rebel with a Cause: Temporarily summons Jurien Ashur to her side (if not in the party), who will either shield Ashe from one attack (which causes the summons to end) or delivers a series of Samurai attacks for ~10 seconds. - United We Stand: Highest level limit break requires Rebel Yell and Rebel with a Cause to be available. Once the LB bar is full, Ashe can cast RwaC followed by Rebel Yell to unlock this ability. This ability raises all allies on the battlefield with 10% health and the Rebel Yell buff.

Ashe’s Trust Team

- Relsar Manasse: DRK w/some PLD abilities. - Saber: Shikari [NIN variant] - Vieno: Seer of the Mist [AST variant]

[Note: United We Stand is based off an LB3 Ashe was given by the group I first started RPing with after making her. Side mention to @jurien-ashur for being a Trust ability. >.>]

[fulcrum-agent]

What’s your OC’s response to being asked for money by a homeless person?

Every character except Vaylin would give them gil or assist somehow. But there are variations as to how the gil or assistance is provided between each character.

**Ashla** tends to give homeless/poor people some sort of food or gift certificates for food or make some sort of pre-paid tab for them at a restaurant. It decreases the chance they’ll be outright mugged and gives them safe places to eat while assuring her gil doesn’t get used for illicit activities or the like.

**Claire** will make the person work in some fashion for the gil, usually figuring out what the person’s proficiency is, and giving them something that plays to their strengths. Most of her static employees have been acquired this way.

**Kym’a** doesn’t tend to have a whole lot of liquid assets, so he’ll give them something like potions or the like. He used to give out jewellery, till he realised most of them sold it.

**Ashe**, **Rel**, and **Saber** all tend to just give the gil outright. The first two out of noblesse oblige with the latter doing so just to get the person to leave them alone.

**Vaylin** is more likely to threaten to kill them, or if she’s in a particularly nasty mood, she just kills them and continues about her business.

Thanks for the ask, @halcyonic-aether!

[fulcrum-agent]

How often does your OC “zone out” or do things on autopilot and how severe have the problems that have arisen from that been? from K.V

ASHE

This doesn’t really happen to her all that much. She pays a lot of attention to her actions because she either knows others are or because she suspects they are. So this makes her actions all very deliberate.

CLAIRE

She tends to go on autopilot when filling out paperwork. It’s tedious and boring, which is why she usually shoves it off to other people in her company. The only problems she’d had arise from it are accidentally starting new businesses that her employees want to be funded.

KYM’A

In some respects, he zones out when he’s studying. He’ll lose track of time, not just on an hourly scale, but days and weeks. Sometimes even months. Eventually, he realises he’s been doing nothing but studying, sleeping, and eating after a while, and will finally zone back in.

ASHLA

The only time she really zones out is during meditation, so far.

Thanks for the ask, @kazexvoss!

[fulcrum-agent]

13. Are there any moments of their past they keep secret?

ASHE

95% of her past she keeps secret, due to her current assignments for the Dalmascan Resistance.

CLAIRE

She doesn’t disclose that she’s Sharlayan, nor that she spent most of her childhood and teenage years in the island nation. She also doesn’t disclose how prominent a researcher her father was, or how prominent a craftswoman her mother was. This also means she doesn’t reveal the amount of inheritance she and her sister stole when they fled to Eorzea.

She also doesn’t really discuss the fact that she was betrothed from a young age to another merchant’s son, despite that being one of the major factors in her fleeing Sharlayan.

KYM’A

Given how trusting he is, the kid doesn’t really have anything he keeps hidden about his past.

ASHLA

She generally tries to keep much of her past obscured, due to the fact that the Kiltians are being hunted down by the Garlean Empire. There are also several incidents near the end of her time in Dalmasca that would strike most people as discrepancies, so she doesn’t bother getting into them all that often.

Thanks for the ask, @a-wanderers-sorrow!

[fulcrum-agent]

hellraiser: do u have any tattoos/piercings? do u want any?

ASHLA

She only has just the standard lobe piercings at the moment.

CLAIRE

She has the piercings I had for several years - 3 on the left and 4 on the right. I got the middle one on the left was done by one of those places in the mall before I knew I had EDS, so it ended up not healing right, and eventually, I had to let it close up. Whenever I can get the money to get it re-done at a piercing/tattoo parlour, I’ll get it done.

Thankfully, none of my other piercings had that issue, but most were done before the EDS shifted into the shitty stage of the disease.

She also has a belly button piercing.

KYM’A

He’s got the Miqo’te equivalent of standard lobe piercings. He also wears the girliest earrings out of all my characters. Most have a cartilage cuff with hanging chains.

ASHE

She’s got two piercings on her right ear, and three on the left. She’s also got a belly button piercing.

SABER

He’s got a lobe piercing on his right ear, a set of 3 eyebrow piercings on his left eyebrow, nipple piercings, and other piercings.

Thanks for the ask, @halcyonic-aether!

[fulcrum-agent]

something your muse could never forgive.

ASHE

She’s likely incapable of forgiving anyone who betrays the Dalmascan Resistance. While she understands the in-fighting that’s happened in the wake of the Garamsythe slaughter, and she can understand non-combatants keeping their head down and following Imperial laws, she can’t understand someone turning their back on the kingdom entirely.

KYM’A

Thinking about it, I believe Kym’a could forgive pretty much anything. He’s very soft and kind-hearted, as well as incapable of even moderately short periods of anger. He’s also forgiven people who’ve tried to kill him.

CLAIRE

She can hold a grudge for a long while. I think something she can’t forgive is manipulation that culminates in betrayal - whether to herself, those she cares for, or those she considers under her protection. It’s one of the few things that can lead to her killing someone without a second thought.

ASHLA

Due to her experiences growing up, betrayal of any sort is something she can’t find herself capable of forgiving. Fairly recently, she’s learned of rumours that someone within the Order of Kiltia betrayed them. While she’s no confirmation of such, the very concept has made her realise she can’t forgive betrayal.

Thanks for the ask, @a-wanderers-sorrow!

[fulcrum-agent]

how your muse responds to danger! - Miqojak

Nearly all of my non-NPC characters are often in situations that are considered dangerous broadly, so I’m going to narrow this to cases where the danger is a matter of life or death, or nearly so.

CLAIRE

She’s got some severe PTSD. During combat and/or dangerous situations, she will dissociate to some degree or another. When there’s mortal danger, her dissociation becomes extreme, and she becomes very detached from herself and her surrounding. In some ways, she shifts to almost a 3rd person view, which gives more of a command over the field of combat.

Primarily, she won’t retreat from a situation unless absolutely necessary, to near-fatal detriments.

ASHLA

Due to her training, she goes into a battle trance used by the Kiltians. Such a trance is almost second nature to her at this point; however, the more mortal the situation is, the more difficult it becomes to maintain the trance.

While she leans more towards avoiding retreat, she’s learned that sometimes retreating is more worthwhile than endangering everything and everyone.

KYM'A

Not surprisingly, he panics severely when in danger. His first instinct is to flee, though that shifts if he’s with allies - especially if those allies are in more danger than he is.

He’s got a high level of magical potential, though he’s got trouble using even a fraction of that most of the time. This comes from his severe lack of confidence. When he’s panicked and trying to help or save his allies, however, he becomes so focused on the terror that his lack of faith in himself doesn’t manifest. In this state, he’s capable of tapping into more of that potential, though he rarely reaches his full potential yet.

Unfortunately, he also loses track of how much aether he’s using, which frequently leads to him exhausting himself in the process. Most of the time, he immediately passes out once the danger has passed, for at least several hours, if not the rest of the day.

ASHE

Although it makes a lot of people in the Resistance nervous, her reaction to danger is to distract the threat while others escape - whether innocent bystanders, allies, or friends. Unless forced to, she’s one of the last to retreat, though she’ll call for a retreat the moment the situation is clearly too overwhelming for those present.

Thanks for the ask, @miqojak!

[fulcrum-agent]

Cat’s Eye: What sorts of things soothes them when they’re worked up?

CLAIRE

Escaping to her airship usually soothes her the fastest. It’s a full-fledged vessel, not a personal one, and having to do the work of three or four men to keep the thing in the air is plenty distracting.

In another life, she might have made a profession sky pirate, instead of having such be a side-hustle.

ASHE

Though there’s no one to do such now, she finds having her upper arms or back caressed repeatedly calms her down. Now, she’ll cross her arms and absently stroke her biceps as an alternative.

KYM’A

Tea. Definitely tea. Especially if he has to make it himself.

ASHLA

Meditation is her go-to for when she’s worked up, though if there’s too much energy to be stilled, she’ll do combat practices first.

Thanks for the ask, @halcyonic-aether!

[kyma-thavma]

The tranquillity of his little research site doesn't last the night. Another set of broken stone parts from the Labyrinth fall during the evening, waking him from his slumber. Although he is sure that it's more stone debris falling, he gets out of bed to check on the site itself. His inspection starts at the front of his camp and was to end at the back.

Although he did reach the back of the camp, he didn't get to check on everything there before the strange sensation started again, that odd tugging at his soul that causes him to collapse to his knees as a something akin to migraine washes over him.

He begins to collapse on his side, curling up into a ball as a hand pulls the disc from the pocket of his robe, clutching the device as that familiar voice begins to speak within his mind once more.

"Good, you're still there," the voice comments, as he feels a harder tug on his being. "I apologise for any unpleasantness you experience, I truly do. Don't be afraid, Kym'a - please trust me."

The boy knew that voice, he knows who it is, despite how confusing the situation was. There wasn't any way he couldn't trust the voice - above all, he trusts those that share a similar lineage as he does.

He didn't have the ability to reply beyond dully nodding his head, clutching the device.

"Stay with me, Ky. Focus on my voice," his kinsman echoes from...where? The sensation of his entire essence being pulled away intensifies, but he does as asked, focusing on the familiar voice.

The voice takes on even more of an authoritative tone, one the boy hasn't heard it carry in ages, and despite the pain and confusion, such brings a faint smile to his lips.

"Let expanse contract, aeon become instant," the intonation rings through his entire being, as the pull becomes inescapable. "Throw wide the gates that we may pass."

The last thing he hears is the sound of the disc falling onto the stones he had been all but laying on.

[kyma-thavma]

What Actually Happened

He didn't believe in coincidences, not after aeons of occurrences that proved otherwise.

When he first saw the caravan in the Shroud, he thought nothing of it, until he caught their attention; the sudden gazes of unfamiliar people and their movements towards him caused his earth Egi to become a little too defensive. It led to all the herbs and stones he'd been gathering to scatter on the ground, which caused one of the members of the caravan to approach even more directly.

He knew the man, despite having never met him in this lifetime. Memories sparked to the forefront, and he'd even called him by the name from centuries upon centuries ago. The man had responded, not precisely in word, but in expression.

If it had been any of the other members of the caravan, save for perhaps their captive, he would have continued back to Mor Dhona on his own, as it would have been far faster than waiting for the carriages and walking members.

Despite how long it had taken them to arrive at the Toll, and the misadventures that had occurred along the way, there was but one person he was comfortable within this crowd, even after the pair of clones had joined them three or four malms before the gates to the aether-infused land. When they arrived at the Toll after a fight with a nasty morbol, they were informed they would be required to use the communal baths - and he was ill at ease at such an idea.

Rather than join the Gold & Glory caravan members at the Salt Water Sulfur Baths, he elected to return to his research outpost in the Syrcus Trench, where he's spent nearly a year working on his project. The trench gave him relative privacy so that his fellows in the Sons would have fewer questions about his work, and he was desiring that privacy a bit after the Toll guard ordered them all to bathe.

Someone, somewhere, finds his using Silvertear Lake as if it were any other lake to be heresy, but the boy has little care of that himself. To him, the lake is but another lake, as it had been so during his prior times upon this star; sure, it's aether-rich and eventually contained a draconic guardian, but it isn't precisely the source of all magic the way people of this era tended to think it was.

The waters are pleasant enough, but he doesn't stay in them overlong. He wasn't directly involved in the incident with the morbols, due to having to convince the pair of clones to stay with at least him, if not the greater party. The boy doesn't smell much at all like the void-tainted vomit others smelled of.

As he makes his way out of the waters, an overly large, fluffy towel is retrieved from the shoreline before it's wrapped around his emaciated form. His disease barely allows him to retain muscle, let alone fat, and the somewhat skeletal appearance of his form is his reason for retreating at all. The over-large towel is another way to hide his form until he can put his robes back on.

His travel robes float along the shoreline, while a fresh set of robes waits further away from the water. The boy gathers the now washed garments, laying them on the crystalline ground, so he can dry himself off. Fresh robes are donned, the towel used to carry the freshly washed garments back to his little research site, where they all are suspended on a clothesline near the back of the camp.

One of his socks is missing, and once the rest of the garments are on the line, he starts heading back to the shoreline. The sock rests a little ways away from the area he'd set everything down, and with a brief wiggle of his tail, the Keeper picks up the stray sock and turns to head back to camp.

The trajectory is different this time, as he doesn't aim for the centre of his little home away from home, but for the clothesline itself, causing him to circle around the side of one of the large tents that make up the camp. His crimson eyes remain on the line itself, ignoring much of the terrain between the canvas and the wall of the Labyrinth, and therein he makes his mistake - a common mistake for the boy.

Foot connects with crystalline rock, sending the sock flying, the boy falling, and the rocks dislodging themselves from one another. Unsure of whether he's tripped on his robes or something else, he struggles to shift onto his side, to prop himself up on his arm, crimson gaze drifting down to his foot with the expectation of finding nothing.

Instead, he finds something.

Perhaps it was beneath the now dislodged rocks. Perhaps it's what he actually tripped on, but his eyes fall upon a strange looking disc. Though it takes him a moment to adjust his position, rising to his knees awkwardly, the Miqo'te boy manages to right himself take a closer look at the device.

Much to his surprise, he discovers it's a tomestone, but its shape differs from that of any tomestone he's ever seen - even the colours are unlike those familiar to him. Without much caution or hesitation, he picks the disc up, staring at what was the upright surface of it.

And that's when the odd sensation hits him, causing him to fall to his knees as the world distorts into an almost shattered view.

"I have-- YOU?!" a voice echoes through his mind, familiar yet somehow off from what it should be. "Unexpected, yet I could make use of this, I suppose. Your assistance would be welcome, but it will take some time to adjust everything. Don't stray too far from the Tower!"

As suddenly as it began, the strange feeling evaporated, leaving the boy shaking, his body curled up around the disc as he lies on his side. He'd toppled over during the encounter, his weakened form unable to remain upright. For a long moment, he stares at the disc in confusion, wondering if the incident was triggered by the device. He considers standing up and tossing it aside but...

...the voice was all too familiar.

Shaking his head, he manages to right himself fully, the stray sock is forgotten about in the aftermath of the experience. Wide, crimson eyes flicker from the disc in his hand to the site as he makes his way towards his workbench, which sits beneath a long awning jutting out from the front of the main tent.  The disc is placed on the workbench for a brief moment, as he reaches for one of the strongboxes filled with tomestones and broken devices before there's hesitation.

Hand reaches for his linkpearl, with the intent of calling the lost man who was once his college, and often times his mentor, meaning to inform him of the safe little research site and invite him to wait out any of the more powerful aether storms there, only to find that he'd never gotten the blacksmith's frequency.

The disc is slipped into one of the inner pockets of his robe before the strongbox is stashed back inside the great tent with the others. Different magical and technological measures to keep the place locked down while he's away are enacted, and the boy begins to make his way out of the Trench.

The Toll is technically still close to the Tower, and he needs to at least get a handful of linkpearl frequencies before anything else happens. He shouldn't be away long, as twilight nears and he intends to sleep in his own bed.

"H-hey Rammbroes... I um, I n-need to head back to the Toll," he murmurs into a different frequency, making his way to the shore at the end of the Trench once more. "I-- I forgot something."

[fulcrum-agent]

While I haven’t been able to snag a limit break III on Ashe as DNC yet...

...of course, I was able to snag it with Kym’a, who isn’t even close to being DNC IC yet.