#the summoner dreaming: ff aku hcs

[mystical-strawberry-sheep]

🍓– FF Aku Modern Fantasy Verse –🍓

🍓 Aku is a free spirit that travels all over the world and takes odd jobs wherever she can find them. She also runs a summoner's service on the side, to the well-informed, in which she uses her powers of summoning to help people with various problems such as collection of magical items or supernatural pest control. Whatever job she is doing, she is hardworking and friendly to her clients, doing her best to make as much money for herself as possible.

🍓 As per her main verse, she doesn't really enjoy much interaction, however, and when she isn't working, she tends to be polite but silent, only speaking when absolutely necessary or when spoken to. She tends not to bother anyone that she doesn't have to, and she can suffer from intense social anxiety in situations in which she isn't having to put on her marketing face.

🍓 Aku keeps her summoning book close on hand, and if anyone asks her about it she just says it's something she's in the middle of reading, and she won't elaborate. Also just as in her original verse, she has no problem using the book itself as melee weapon and she can get a good swing behind it, RIP.

🍓 Aku grew up in the southern US and has an accent, but she's learned to speak many languages over the course of her travels. She had a fairly normal childhood besides the fact that her family were summoners, and she picked up the craft from her parents. They keep their business local, but at an early age Aku decided to branch out, and she's been travelling ever since.

[mystical-strawberry-sheep]

{Aku loves being called "little lamb". It's especially potent on Spirit and Tera Aku who are both some type of sheep humanoid. That being said, none of them will ever ask to be called that by anyone because it feels super weird to request it.}

{But just know that if your muse calls her that, she gains an immediate +100 affection and will probably follow that muse to the ends of the earth.}

[mystical-strawberry-sheep]

Aku and Manipulation

Okay, so the last post got me thinking about how Aku handles being manipulated and I really wanted to talk in depth about this.

Obvious TW here for sensitive topics but I'm... Not sure what to tag it as? Y'all help me out.

So the TLDR on this is that it is very easy to get what you want manipulating Aku most of the time, but she is aware that she's being manipulated, and if something pushes her over that line of "I absolutely cannot do this," she won't. Equally, she can and will use her own manipulation tactics to get what she wants from someone else, as long as she can convince herself that it's not hurting the other person that much.

To go into detail with this, Aku is very susceptible to praise and some forms of flattery, and if someone is acting really nice to her, she will become more and more willing to do whatever she needs to do to make sure they're happy. So being nice to her regularly will almost undoubtedly ensure that she'll be easy to manipulate. But she is also very critical of herself, even when someone is praising and complimenting her, and so if it happens a little too often for comfort or if she notices that it always comes with the caveat of a favor, she'll immediately pick up on the fact that she's being manipulated. However, her noticing this probably won't make her put distance between herself and that person. If she likes someone that's manipulating her enough, she'll continue to play along and allow them to run her narrative, because at the end of the day the most important thing to her is that person's happiness. And she will only draw the line if and when that person tries to ask something of her she simply isn't willing to give to anyone. She does have her limits, and she's not going to overstep them, no matter how important that person is to her.

Equally, Aku isn't afraid of using manipulation to get what she wants from someone provided a few conditions are met. That person has to be someone she is close to, that she feels comfortable enough around to not hide herself or her personality. They have to be someone that has proven they're already willing to give her what she wants and/or needs under the right circumstances. They also need to be someone that Aku has already determined what kinds of interactions make them happiest (for example, she might gas up someone she's learned has a big ego).

If she's found someone that meets all this criteria, she'll be more likely to provide them with what she's determined to make them most happy in order to make that person want to provide her with the things she most desires as well (such as praise and attention). Usually, she justifies doing this by telling herself that since she isn't trying to get anyone to hurt themselves or others, it's okay that she's using them to get attention and/or affection. She further justifies it by making a rule not to do this to anyone she isn't already deeply attached to, i.e. people she wouldn't also provide attention and affection to if asked.

Idk I just think about this particular trait a lot since like, actually tricking Aku for an extended period of time is kind of difficult because she's always paying attention to how people behaved around her, but she'll probably still go along with it anyway. I think that's so interesting.

[mystical-strawberry-sheep]

Specific Muse Tags Pt 2?

🍓Final Fantasy Aku:

#weaving a spell: ff aku ic #she has a job to do: ff aku open #spells woven from aether: ff aku musings #the summoner dreaming: ff aku hcs #the summoner's garments: ff aku aesthetics

🍓Tera Online Aku:

#off to battle: tera aku ic #heaps of sidequests: tera aku open #the lamb daydreaming again: tera aku musings #when she speaks to titans: tera aku hcs #their kind have a peculiar dress: tera aku aesthetics

[mystical-strawberry-sheep]

🍓 Muse Specific Tags 🍓

🍓Spirit Aku:

#sweet dream singing: spirit ic #gate invitation: spirit open #little dreams: spirit musings #world in her head: spirit hcs #bright eye visions: spirit aesthetics #staring through her gates: spirit aku desires

#meadow lamb: main verse

#lost lamb: crossover verse

🍓TWEWY Aku:

#kicking through the day: twewy aku ic #scanning her mind: twewy aku open #in the corner of her room: twewy aku musings #on her day off: twewy aku hcs #she likes a certain brand: twewy aku aesthetics #merch drop: twewy aku desires

#daydreamer: unaware verse

#still so far to go: pre twewy verse

#a little older a little stronger: post twewy verse

#the daily grind under the eye: neo verse

#third eye open: aware verse

#new game: reaper game verse

🍓Kingdom Hearts Aku:

#state of her heart: kh aku ic #exploring new worlds: kh aku open #keyblade keychains: kh aku musings #the darkness in her heart: kh aku hcs #item shop gear: kh aku aesthetics #seeker of worlds: kh aku desires

#her memory: pre kh verse

#displaced heart: kh verse

#missing memory: post kh verse

#empty heart: kh2 verse

#wandering heart: kh3 verse

🍓Pokemon Aku:

#vast vast regions: pokemon aku ic #meeting at the crossroads: pokemon aku open #daydreams on the route: pokemon aku musings #not one for a battle: pokemon aku hcs #the idea of a contest: pokemon aku aesthetics #contest trophy: pokemon aku desires

🍓Final Fantasy Aku:

#weaving a spell: ff aku ic #she has a job to do: ff aku open #spells woven from aether: ff aku musings #the summoner dreaming: ff aku hcs #the summoner's garments: ff aku aesthetics #the summoner's art: ff aku desires

#magic merc: main verse

#crystal confusion: general verse

🍓Tera Online Aku:

#off to battle: tera aku ic #heaps of sidequests: tera aku open #the lamb daydreaming again: tera aku musings #when she speaks to titans: tera aku hcs #their kind have a peculiar dress: tera aku aesthetics #whispers to seren: tera aku desires

#valkyon adventure: main verse

#empty dreams: crossover verse

[mystical-strawberry-sheep]

{FF Aku's greatest strength is her fighting prowess. She feels just as deeply as any of her counterparts, but among all of them she is the most withdrawn. She speaks only when absolutely necessary and almost never makes friends. She draws her strength from her summons, and from the creature companions that she makes as a summoner. Her summons will always be her closest companions, and she fights with them as if they were one person.}

{That being said, however, what few friendships she makes, she is very attached to. Show her even an ounce of kindness and you'll easily win her heart.}

[mystical-strawberry-sheep]

{Getting to play with friends and (mostly watching) rping in chat has started to maybe establish some things about FF Aku, so I think I'll either redo her to fit this FFXIV iteration or I'll mostly use a verse for that specific game. In any case, I'm tossing out her current design in lieu of her FFXIV model because as much trouble as it is taking screenshots is still way easier than drawing icons from scratch. (Though I will miss her fluffy hair)}

{So the new thing to spawn from this is that Aku is an incredibly quiet sort, and will really only speak when required to. Ooc this is because I don't have a keyboard and trying to type in chat with a PS4 controller is torture, but I think it works for her. Also I discovered the dozing emote so she falls asleep a lot. Daydreaming, dozing, and cat naps. She finds sleep when she can.}

[mystical-strawberry-sheep]

{Actually, I didn't think about this until I watched her do it again, but I think it's probably really fitting for Aku to space out a lot. Given that she has the Echo, she does that a lot anyway. Daydreaming that hard makes sense for her.}

[mystical-strawberry-sheep]

{"Are you alright? Your eyes seem to have glazed over for a moment." Meant to imply Lamberteint is boring your MC to tears with his talk of science, but actually I'll take it as something else because honestly I think the crystal stuff if very interesting. But I think it's actually very on-brand for Aku's eyes to glaze over during any kind of conversation. Because she just spaces out so much and goes into her own head. At any given point you might lose her and not notice until you realize she looks like a dead fish in the eyes.}

[mystical-strawberry-sheep]

{It is not difficult for Aku to grow extremely loyal to her allies. If she respects someone enough, she'll gladly serve them as an underling. Her loyalties lie with the individual over the collective. The only exception to this is if the individual is threatening the lives and wellbeing of innocent civilians. She could be manipulated, but not easily. In all other cases, however, she loves and she serves very special people.}