#ch; riki zoleil

[avoidingcertaindoom]

Must reblog all at of ace characters I have on this blog brb--

(Also just gonna add some under the cut since I have them handy)

[avoidingcertaindoom]

July Break Bingo

It has been a month ^^;; I did want to do more but I airways get tied up irl whenever I get excited for a writing challenge! Luckily I was able to knock out several prompts in this one entry but I think that'll be it for me. I don't regret it when it got me to write!

Dearest Mione,

I feel like I ought to lose count of how many years I’ve missed your annual visits. I know to get ahold of your former guardian is as possible as moving water uphill in a sieve, but is there no one willing to travel with you so you can come and stay in much more befitting accommodations while you wait for them to return? I would like to do so myself if my family weren’t so flippant about it!

Forgive my frustration, I didn’t realize it would be so disheartening not to see you for so long. There have been traveling stars that have made their way back to Trufulla sooner than you have me, and I think I’m sick of hoping. At least those important to the temple are treating you well, I’d hate to think you were surrounded by any other disappointments as I am.

Mama has heard from Ihui’s counselors that another space has opened up at the academy, and they are pushing me to take the entrance exams. Do you think it insolent of me to hesitate? My abilities over the elements have only grown in the six or so years since your last stop with us and I know I should be honoured for the opportunity to further hone my skills with scholars… but Elemental Magic bores me. Truly bores me. I have three siblings, surely my parents will survive if just one of us were to stray from the path traced by our bloodline.

I suppose… sometimes I feel trapped. Trapped by the expectations of my parents, trapped by the mountains I call home that separate us, just trapped in the mull that this is my life and I half expect that this is all I really have to look forward to. Life isn’t long enough to give me any sense of appeal towards this. I’d give my left leg to be able to do something else.

Please do tell of something in Cyklam that can be called endearing. We can’t both be bored to tears.

Yours,

Tlalli Corax

PS; I preserved some of the sulfur shelf fungi from one of my last hikes. If the package isn’t included, report the delivering courier, I am not one for sharing and especially with strangers

Dear Tlalli,

I do believe the High Priestess has spoken fairly often of whether or not to send me to one of the former places Nini and I have stayed, but the outcome is often the same. I don’t suppose there is really any place I must be, and so here I am to stay. To ask them it seems much more befitting to house an aasimar in a house of the gods.

Things are… the same, I would say. They have allowed me to look into healing classes so I can get the sense of being useful, though translating Cantrellian Cant seems to be what they really wish I were interested in. It wouldn’t be so dull if you were here to help me piece together all the in between and the meanings, and I’m sure you would have much more constructive commentary than the archivists I’m compelled to do so with.

Your parents are vexing, but perhaps toeing the line to their wishes and taking the exams could have some use to you. If nothing else to show that you have no need for further studies, perhaps high enough scores could get you a reference to someone who has exactly the intrigue you are looking for. A more mischievous person might even suggest sabotaging your scores, but I know you wouldn’t be interested in looking quite so foolish.

Little in Cyklam seems as interesting as Yuzcal sadly, though I have enclosed an anklet I was able to make while experimenting with weaving. Did you know people could make beads with flower petals and ash? I believe the pink ones are zinnias, though the brown ones seem to be a much simpler clay. Not very exciting, but it’s kind of charming.

All the best,

M.

PS; I think of changing my name, but it’s hard to find much that resonates. Suggestions would be much appreciated.

Dearest Mione,

I appreciate you thinking better of me than to seriously suggest I make a fool of myself. My family already treats me like an idiot, I don’t need to give them a broader target. Perhaps playing along until I find someone like minded is for the best. If it works for you surely I can find something of value. Until then, I might have to satisfy myself by outdoing the lot of them.

Healing classes? There’s no doubt you’ll take to them well, but you don’t think they’re a little… lowly for your abilities? I know you have little to do, but surely something more befitting is attainable, no?

Cantrellian Cant would be loads of fun to decipher! If I had more of a natural bent towards it I’d enlist as an acolyte myself to have a chance at a scroll or two. If you run out of texts, maybe a few from here could be moved along. I’m not as familiar with the books they keep with the Adyriz temples, but I do hear whispers at Solange’s near the colleges that I’d love to sink my claws into.

I did notice a hum of energy from the beads, and they are quite easy to use as a charm for abjuration. Especially with water magic. Was the clay from one of Ljuba’s springs perhaps? The pink ones were rather fragile, so I might have to repurpose the remaining ones for something useful. Though I will say the cloud nymphs were envious.

Yours--

I almost forgot about your last request. I’m not sure honestly, Mione suits you so well. I’ll have to think on it while awaiting your next letter.

Yours,

Tlalli Corax

Dear Tlalli,

I do quite enjoy the healing classes honestly. They get me out of the temple, and it is much more grounding than translating in my opinion. How lowly could it be when people are so grateful for the effort?

The Cant may be more interesting at Solange’s temple, but I just don’t see it as all that stimulating. It might be different for others, but I’m often called upon for it because the words are clearer to my eyes without having to channel any divinity, and it just feels odd. Maybe I’d have more reverence if it didn’t feel taken for granted.

I hadn’t even considered the beads could hold magic, though I suppose that makes sense. I’m sad to hear the ashen ones broke already, I’ve grown quite fond of the colour. Perhaps transit did them poorly, if I send you any other projects I’ll be more selective about the materials.

I appreciate your honesty. I guess I’ll have to keep looking on my own. Maybe even in these old scrolls since that’s where my use evidently lies. I hope you find what you’re looking for when your own classes start, maybe we can compare notes on what counts as fitting then.

M. Z.

Dear Mione,

Do they appreciate you so little in the temple? It makes even less sense not to let you move on from there. I hate to think of you being wasted like this.

If you like, I can help draft a request for Solange’s texts? I'm sure there's some legends that intersect between the two, such as the passing on of the Night's Veil. Or even the older texts about their relationship before the Great Conflicts. Maybe I ought to take more notes during the next week of Memoria.

Perhaps suggest that the colurant could be added to the wellspring clay if you'd like them sturdier? I think that would weaken the bonds, but you hardly need charms for your bent of magic.

Speaking of which, I don't actually hate my lessons. As limited as I thought they'd be, some of my professors are quite open to helping me look into other subjects. There's a course on abjuration in talks that I might be allowed into rather than free period--which would cut into my time for letters, but you've always been more patient than I. If I'm lucky this letter won't miss the next messenger in the market.

I have given some thought to other names, such as Aurore or Soledad or some such. But I must confess they still do sound odd to me, I doubt you'll ever be anyone else other than Mione to me. My own dear friend and delightful penpal.

Yours,

Tlalli Corax

Dear Tlalli,

Waste is a strong word. I think I'm the only one with sense in my classes considering how careless my peers are, I'd have thought you could relate.

I don't believe the Priesthood needs more work to give me. If it weren't for Grace Terran I think they'd kick me in the archives. I'll kindly take that in moderation and pray to Adyriz and Solange both that their mysteries find a more suitable conduit. There's a reason I went for healing rather than continuing down the paths starting as an acolyte.

The beads suit me as they are. I've used a few in my hair alongside the bracelets and I'd rather not add wellspring clay to the opalite, amber, and other blessed stone everyone keeps suggesting. At least not at this time.

Speaking of beads… someone offered Riki when I brought up names. It's a lot more simple than others, old orcish if I was told correctly. I think I'd mind it less than Zoïe.

Please do focus on your classes, I'm not going anywhere and if you like I can simply write more often without waiting. All I've got outside of the Healer Center is time to myself after all, if you don't mind hearing from me even More.

Regards,

R. Z.

Dearest Mione,

If you're satisfied with the Healer Center, I won't needle it further. I'm thinking like a bookworm, the archives would be a delight to me, but you've always been of a more hands on sort. You'll probably be good for the other healers in training anyway, who else is going to hold the lot of them accountable?

Opalite is an odd choice… I mean, not so odd considering Adyriz herself prefers them. Just ironic. I'll check the marketplace for beads when I post your letter to give you more variety.

Let me know what you do end up settling on. “Riki” will do as well as anything else.

I promise I'm paying attention! Last week a Teaching assistant brought in a charmed box and I was the first to figure out how to unlock the magic binding it locked. It was almost like the escape room attractions at festivals, I don't remember the last time I felt so pleased. Professor De Sylvan says I have an eye for this sort of thing, I might ask if she's open to independent tutoring to focus on more like it. I sense a brighter path ahead, I simply MUST find a way to see you to show it off.

Yours,

Tlalli Corax

[avoidingcertaindoom]

Temples

Temples in Trufulla are predictably places of worship and home to Clerics and Acolytes of the deities they are built in the name of. Certain temples, particularly that of Adyriz (Deity of Life and Goodwill) can also be considered something like shelters or hostels to travelers, while other temples like that of Ljuba (Deity of Love and Strength) or Solange (Deity of Knowledge and Fealty) occassionally open their walls for athletes and scholars respectively. In the temples of every living god, often near the entrance, a shrine to the lost goddess, Velyana, can be found,

Clericdom isn’t a religious commitment to celibacy or a rejection of marriage, courtship, or even casual physical relationships. So long as the tenants of the gods are followed, a cleric is legitimate in the eyes of Trufulla and all who live in it.

Anyone can become a cleric given they undertake and complete their teaching in most parts of Trufulla, but there are certain areas that forbid the ascension of certain species such as Aasimar to the Higher positions out of distrust or prejudice regarding the reputation of being God touched or something similar among the rest of the people.

Riki, as a Cleric of Adyriz, was brought up in the Temple of Adyriz in the township of Cyklam in Olwen. 

The temple of Adyriz in Cyklam, like many others that share it’s deity, has a shelter built onto the grounds for travelers along with wings in the main building for Acolytes, Clerics, and Initiates. It is headed by Terran Tulsmith, a hill dwarf who has overseen operations for the better part of a century. There have been many initiates of Adyriz who have stepped down for the path as a means of penance or repayment for being sheltered in hard times. Those who do stay have a tendancy of being closely knit and at the point the story takes place some of the oldest initiates turned acolytes have developed into cliques.

Riki was a rather introverted child and they were taken in under circumstances of abandonment, and as such wasn’t so popular with others. They often overheard whispers or taunts about their progression in lessons being favoritism on part of the instructors or specist as they are one of the few aasimar who allowed themselves to be raised religiously. As such, while they advanced to the level of Cleric, they typically chose to offer services to healing centers and avoid socializing with their fellow acolytes, giving them a reputation of aloofness and unpopularity.

[avoidingcertaindoom]

Hello, dear! You've been visited by the random character question fairy! :D ~☆

Are there any in-universe rumors about your character? Who started this rumor? What does your character think about this rumor?

Riki is the subject of a ton of rumours, both by their peers and by mere acquaintances. It’s largely due to the way they’re perceived as standoffish and haughty, as well as them being a fairly public and well known Aasimar. Most families in Olwen particularly don’t advertise it so broadly, but while they were abandoned and people sought after their parents everyone found out and thus everyone knew that they had remained at the temple.

So rumours range everywhere from them being hand picked by Adyriz themself to them being such a wild nightmare of a child that they were left at the temple to be sorted out. It depends on how much the gossip actually favours them to determine which is spread