#ch: cinaed doyle

[tiredassmage]

I think, if your OCs were in a dating sim/romancable game, Shay would be the first to catch my eye, but Cin would definitely be the one to catch my heart ❤️

AH!! I mentally replied to this after a work shift and then didn't PHYSICALLY, I'M SO SORRY.

[If my OCs were romanceable companions, who you going for?]

This one is so, so amusing and beloved because by the beautiful power that is XIV and shards, Shay is the Source, and Cin is technically is iteration on the 13th - that was made all before the Void stuff in the 6.x patches properly dropped, teehee, but!!!

The other fun part is Cin ended up... getting an AU where he meets Airi (@fatewalker-phoenix) on the Source anyway because even though I knew Cin's story was never meant to end well, I... fell in love with him, anyway, lol.

But honestly so understandable and very relatable, lol. Shay's definitely kind of like taking on a home renovation project, but Cin is just... a very wholesome good boy. Cin will respect both that you may be able to best him in combat, but also he'll still treat you as his royalty. He'd hold your hand, hold the door for you, go out on walks and picnics and take you to watch the waves crash against the cliffs and the beaches. Him and Shay are opposites in that way where Cin is warm like a comforting firelight and sun-kissed skin and Shay will always resemble more of the icy cliffs that overtook the Hinterlands after the Calamity and cold steel, but what they share is devotion.

[tiredassmage]

prompt: ❝  when your eyes are on me,  i feel like something worth seeing.  ❞

Preface: I worked solely on the vibes off this prompt. I had like five different ideas when I first got this in and every time I've sat down to do something with it since, it's turned into one of those "what do you want for Christmas?" "I have suddenly never wanted anything, ever, in my entire life" moments.

So, my apologies that this doesn't directly appear in the final product, but it is one of the many snippets of fluff I have been rotating in my head to the tune of this prompt since it came in, so I hope it is enjoyable anyway <3 Featuring pure fluff friendship between my Cináed (there's a name you rarely hear here) and Airi belonging to @fatewalker-phoenix

x-x-x-x-

The growing darkness of night always made the glowing runes decorating Cináed’s sword more distinct. He hummed an unfamiliar tune with ember-toned eyes half-lidded as his hand moved slowly over the blade, the gentle glow of aether flowing between him and the enchanted blade.

Airi scootched on the blanket, shifting how her legs were tucked beneath her and idly warming her hands by the campfire. The Lominsan breeze could be surprisingly biting for a girl that’d spent most of her life in the blazing heat and oddly cool nights of Thanalan’s scorched deserts, but Cin seemed most at home here.

She frowned faintly. Cináed’s dilemma of memory still troubled her, though it did not seem to bother him nearly as much as she imagined it would her. Even the scars - ranging from a faded clip at the left corner of his mouth to the more tangled web that sprawled across his torso - that should have told tales of his life as an adventurer before their meeting couldn’t seem to shake him, though he could not tell her the stories himself.

It… troubled her, though she couldn’t help but admire his spirit, nonetheless. She hoped they would one day find his family that he spoke so fondly of - another terrible loss of the Calamity, though she dared to hope this one would not fall under the most dire of tales.

She blinked as a low chuckle washed over her, drawing her back to the campfire. Cin was smiling back at her, whatever ritual maintenance he’d been performing completed and warm eyes sparkling with amusement. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said with a shake of his head. His smile widened. She was cute with that pout pulling at her lips. Beautiful anyway, really, but… “Sweet daydreams?”

Airi rolled her eyes and scrunched her nose, though a playful smile slipped easily across her lips all the same. He was a bit contagious, she’d found. “Something like that.” She shrugged her shoulders. She nodded to the sword across his lap. “What were you doing?”

He tilted the blade, letting the firelight dance off the obsidian black metal and highlight the burning runes that seemed to dance like the flames. “Elemental charge,” he said. “This was a gift from my eldest sister when I came of age.” He carefully ran a finger down the middle length of the blade. “Reapplying the enchantment every so often keeps it strong.”

“You can do that?”

Cináed nodded. “I may have told you my family always preferred spellcraft,” he said. “I learned enough from them, but I preferred a little less range. So, I studied how to marry the two, weave them together. I know enough to get by.”

Modest. “Always finding new ways to fascinate me.”

He shrugged. “I’ll count on you to keep me honest,” he said with a smile. “Don’t let all this hero business go to my head.”

Airi laughed, as she found herself so often doing in his presence. Cináed burned like a candle in her life since the day she’d met him; something in those firelight eyes pulled her in, sang to her like the familiar strains of a half-forgotten lullaby from childhood.

She could not name why her trust always circled back to him, despite his half-told stories and mysterious appearance.

Something about this lost boy felt a little like coming home. And Airi had always loved reading a good mystery.

[tiredassmage]

dot’s oc masterpost

By popular demand!! Reorganized to give you just the basics here, you can visit my individual character pages on the desktop view of Tumblr for a more in-depth view of what I’ve individually developed for them! Or feel free to browse their linked tags below!

Asks and whatnot are always open about any of my beloved gremlins! I’m also definitely opening to playing around with verses/storylines with others if you want to chuck them into a playpen together and see what happens, lol. What is included on their profiles, for the sake of my sanity, is their main version of events and any relevant alternate universes/editions of events I have developed for them solo/based on game events.

Listing below the cut because I have too many blorbo. >.>

STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC

Main Crew - Imperial

TYR DECKARD ;; Cipher Nine / Imperial Agent. Saboteur. Blorboly beloved. Tagged ch: tyr ;; character page

SAVOSTA ;; Formerly the Empire’s Wrath / Sith Warrior. Alliance Co-Commander alongside Rhystyl Delavast. Emotionally struggling blueberry son. Tagged ch: savosta ;; character page

LENSAN RYALDAR ;; Grand Champion / Bounty Hunter. All around jackass pretty boy. Tagged ch: lensan ;; character page

OLTIYO KALLIG ;; Darth Nox / Sith Inquisitor. Heiress of rebellion and haver of class but also violence. Tagged ch: oltiyo ;; character page

HELEDA LOSWYND ;; Shared Legacy Empire’s Wrath / Sith Warrior. Beast tamer. Tagged ch: heleda

Alternatives / Background - Imperial

NIKIHLUS DARKMOUNT ;; Ex-Cipher, “Snakebite” / Imperial Agent. Freelance underworld assassin & enforcer. Tagged: ch nikihlus ;; character page

ALUCREN ELLERY ;; Cipher Eleven / Imperial Agent. Former delegate of Imperial Ministry of Propaganda turned field operative. Tagged: ch: alucren

Main Crew - Republic

RHYSTYL DELAVAST ;; The Hero of Tython / Jedi Knight. Alliance Co-Commander alongside Savosta. Tagged: ch: rhystyl ;; character page

SATIA LERANN ;; Barsen’thor of the Jedi Order / Jedi Consular. Dedicated, studious, playful teacher. Tagged ch: satia

CALISTE “CEE” NIGHTSPAN ;; The Voidhound / Smuggler. Republic privateer - gold heart, spunky words. Tagged ch: cee, vs: king and lionheart

OLIVER DAXTON ;; Defected Cipher turned SIS operative / Smuggler. AU for Tyr Deckard. Tagged vs: king and lionheart

LEO ASHOLD ;; Shared Legacy Voidhound / Smuggler. Ex-Imperial medic turned Republic smuggler. Tagged ch: leo ashold

Alternatives / Background - Republic

BARRETH MAUDE ;; Jedi Diplomat / Jedi Consular. The gentle firecracker. Tagged ch: barreth

MALTAF ORATHUSE ;; Jedi Shadow & Battlemaster of the Order / Jedi Knight. Mentor to Rhystyl Delavast. Tagged: ch: maltaf ;; character page

ASTSERSES ;; Barsen’thor of the Jedi Order / Jedi Consular. Healer with his heart on his sleeve. Tagged ch: astserses

FINAL FANTASY XIV

Main Cast

ASTOR CAULFIELD ;; Main. Sage. Midlander Hyur. Tagged ch: astor caulfield ;; character page

SHAY DELACROIX ;; Dark Knight & Reaper. Wildwood Elezen. Tagged ch: shay delacroix ;; character page

Additional Cast

BAS SILVERBLADE ;; Reaper & Samurai. Veena Viera. Tagged ch: bas silverblade ;; character page

CINAED DOYLE ;; Red Mage. Wildwood Elezen. Tagged ch: cinaed doyle

[tiredassmage]

the strangest sense of deja vu, here in body and spirit, but almost adrift in memory...

something is... not quite right... so familiar, yet... not.

[tiredassmage]

Gasp! It’s after midnight! And I’m still in front of a keyboard!!! You know what that means????!!! Unprompted and possibly wholly unhelpful headcanons! Okay, they’re unprompted, but... all hcs good, sO

- Theo is the dps that pulls before the tank. HE is the tank now. Hope this helps. :)

- Also has he told you that you look lovely today? You look lovely, fantastic, amazing, slaying, he winks at you probably flirtatiously with his one good eye and shoots you finger guns. Theo platonically flirts with all of his friends who express consent. Less a man and more a chaos good time entity given flesh. Theo’s a walking Vine, basically. I love him. One day I’ll finish HW for him and he’ll finally be fuckign FREE and maybe I’ll actually finish the damn game for him. He deserves that.

- Astor makes worried healer noises at you regardless of his current job. He’ll do his damnedest to keep you alive at all costs. Yes, that gives him stupid disease sometimes.

- Shay is also always the tank. He doesn’t just go ahead to the next set of mobs. He IS the tank. If dps had a provoke, Shay would be that. Shay exists with a constant state of increased enmity. He calls it his personality. We all know by now he’s not exactly as much of a bitch as he constantly pretends he is, but we also all know he’s definitely a bitch, right? Please, don’t trust him. I’m begging you.

- Bas is a patient dps. Bas would study optimal dps rotations. Too bad me, his player, is a delighted almost casual who maybe looks up things for about 5 minutes to get the gist and goes brrrrrrrkRRRLRRLRJKLSANFLSKF. But Bas is a good boy.

- Cin is a good tank. You may trust Cin with your life. He’d also be way better at PLD than I ever could be, so if you see him make mistakes as PLD, no you don’t <3 That’s all me, baybeee <3 His beautiful little sparkle blob who is making this incoherent post at midnight because the later it is, the less my brain to finger filter restricts teehee :P

... I think that’s the TED talk for tonight... You’re welcome :D

[tiredassmage]

unintentionally cool battle couple be like

[tiredassmage]

[tiredassmage]

18- What’s something you associate this character with? E.g. a certain colour, object or scenery?

Character association my BELOVED. I have so many blorbos, so here's just a few of my favorites.

Astor usually goes with forests, deep greens, wine red (as my favorite glamour dye, oops). Earth, nature, and warm, calming teas.

Shay is associated with dragons, wolves, black, and the color violet. Daggers, shadows, and fierce loyalty. Dark nights, swords, lips bloodied from a fight.

Cin, because he's been on my mind a lot lately, is associated with fire, orange, sunsets, the sea, clean, white buildings standing on the cliff side, a port town. His is warmth, compassion, ideals, and adventure. A sort of innocent love for life and it's small moments. The sword he has that's enhanced with magical runes from his large family of mages and glows with the elemental fire energy he often draws upon. An elegant duelist.

Tyr I associate most with his bigger concepts/emotions: duty, his strange relationship with acceptance, almost resignation. He still favors blacks and grays, and sometimes reds, even though his loyalty to the Empire has faltered and faded. Choice. Moving on from the past.

[tiredassmage]

Sir, who gave you the right? Yeah, Aurum Vale lighting is still shitty, but he’s pretty, so fight me.

[tiredassmage]

At first glance, one would assume naught was different. Another young, bright-eyed adventurer full of life and eager to conquer the horizon.

And they may well have been right, except, for a young man so few knew, he carried quite the sword, and with a familiarity that hinted at far more experience with it than some fresh-faced types usually met filling the streets and taverns glamouring for their first proper taste.

[tiredassmage]

20. Does your character trust Alchemy or Magic more?

Thanks for the ask! I actually got this one last turn with this set, so here are answers for Astor, Shay, and Isaac to this! I was a lil stumped who else to really poke for this since the majority of my characters lean pretty similarly to the rest, but Cinaed has been bothering me this week and I'm toying with the idea of actually letting him out and about in his own story instead of keeping him just as an element of Shay's, so I'll delve into him a bit here!

To establish a bit of backstory for him that I've yet to do so on the blog, I think, Cinaed was originally created as one of Shay's other shards, like Ardbert is to the WoL on the First. So, Cinaed is actually from the 13th! And that's where the story should end, if I hadn't gotten attached to him and offended at myself for making such a good character that I knew didn't meet a good end from the moment I started, lol.

So, tldr, I also have a little brainworm where, instead of meeting his end in the futile efforts to stay the Darkness from consuming the 13th, he finds himself in the Source a little lost and confused with a vague sense of deja vu, but... no exact knowledge about how he's there or even that it's an entirely different star. Let him live in blissful ignorance for an expansion or so.

Anyway, with that bit established, onto the actual question! Cinaed is a paladin from a large noble merchant family filled with notable magic users. While he shares their capabilities for potent magicks, Cinaed had a taste for adventure and favored physical steel over sheer magical force. That said, between his parents and four older brothers, the house was filled with those versed in a variety of magical and alchemical subjects and techniques, I'd imagine, so Cinaed is comfortable with both, though his personal knowledge definitely favors the magical in how to pair bladework with spellcraft.

So, ultimately, he'd trust himself better with magic, though he still finds alchemy quite impressive and fascinating. Just maybe don't ask him to partake in the making of alchemical solutions. His knowledge of it isn't really all that technical.

Nothing should explode, unless it was meant to... He can follow instructions, he'll say. He's just not an expert. And that feels like something he should leave to experts.

[tiredassmage]

No matter what they lost, what went wrong... I remember him a hero...

Because he fought to his last. And he fought because he loved.

[tiredassmage]

[tiredassmage]

Palette/outfit swap for the best babies that deserved way better than what we gave them, featuring my own dear Cinaed and the lovely Azaba, from @eden-azalea

Top set is their own, bottom is the reverse!

[tiredassmage]

The Fallen of the 13th - Cinaed Doyle

[tiredassmage]

Wandering along, walking through a land

A land they’re calling Doubt

A long, long time ago, this land was colorful

Filled with love and joy, where no one felt alone

Side by side they go, off to their desires

Although they were still down, down in the hot fire

Fire - Nomi