#wol!dhael. . . .

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"Were you going to ever tell me?"

It was another trip to the ward, another trip to see her father in between routine checks from the Chigureons.

At this point it'd become a routine of it's own - every few moons he'd push himself a little too far, or his legs would give out on the field and something would crush him underfoot. Never anything as bad as the time Hardin attacked, but on rare occasion it came close.

This moon was one of those occasions.

Hardin struck again, maiming his left leg into disrepair and still scarring his right. Typical of the man to strike where he knew it'd permanently impact her father.

O'dhael remembered the look on Urianger's face when they brought him in. The way Thancred went from a playful jest with Alphinaud to chilled worry. O'miz couldn't even stand on his own two paws, blood caked all over his legs, mangled left leg twisted at an off angle, with the knee bent.

And yet all she could do was freeze. Stand there as memories flooded in of when she found him herself with Sylphie, groaning on the ground with a foot in the grave and the other on it's way. Her heart plummeted as she stared, and it sank moreso when she saw the guilt on his face - the knowing.

He was rushed to the ward, and once they were allowed to stop by, there was an achingly long talk about how he needed to step down, lest he perish. He was stubborn insistent that he hold the position, before reluctantly coming to a compromise. He'd retire Eleos, but still follow round as a healer.

Sighing to herself, she pushed the door open. Part of her knew the conversation to come - though his agreement to step down had been several sunrises ago, she knew Yargui stopped by some bells ago to carefully drop more news on his awaiting lap.

She knew the question waiting on his tongue the moment she saw the look upon his face.

"Were you going to ever tell me ?"

There was pain in his weary eyes, mixing in with the twinge of fear in his voice. She knew he was just as his father; fear of losing his child crushing all else.

"You know of my Echo," she started, stepping closer to sit by him and place her tail over his hand, "my plan, for several summers, was to step up and take the World upon my shoulders should you ever take it off yours. That time has come."

There was already blood on her hands, she wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him she heard all the whispers of her being some 'secret' warrior of light, or that some people almost expected her to take the torch. That the fact that she was his child - the heart she was bestowed to by him was bound to this.

She took it in stride. She wanted to help, since she was a little miki'tten, and this was how she decided to do that.

O'miz seemed near frozen as he tried to speak again. "Dhael. . . I - are you certain of this ?" there it was again, that fear dripping from his lips. "You know it's a taxing task. . ."

"I promised Yargui several summers ago. I'm not inclined to break it."

"But you were just a child when you made it ! Surely she'd understand if you changed your mind !" a poisonous desperation joined the fear, as he pushed himself up slightly, gritting his teeth when pain shot up his body.

Speaking through clenched teeth now, O'dhael did her best to keep composed. "Young as I was, I was certain on my decision, just as I am now."

He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. It was clear his mind was rushing as he tried to figure out what to say.

"I already know of all the toils to come. Who wouldn't, if they've also seen the pain you went through ?" her voice cracked as she mentioned it - the memories of her father's torment were always too much- but she knew she had to reassure him she knew what she was getting into. . . somehow. "I've seen so much of it, Papa."

It was agonizing, watching how quickly his desperation turned to defeat. Seeing the echoes of a father just wanting to keep his child safe at all costs just as his own father did, knowing it fought with the need for acceptance that she had already left the nest and was more than capable of this. A whine escaped his throat as he fought back the tears, laying a shaking hand on her arm.

All she could think to do was place her own onto his and cast healing spells under her breath passed down to her from her fellow white mages.

She always knew this was inevitable, but she never prepared for the swift defeat - or the pain of it.

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There's blood on my hands / caked under my nails / and I've begun to realize it cannot be washed before it seeps within

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If you can't tell i just cannot stop thinking about just. how it must be being related to the wol. Not just in the "they who shine the brightest casts the darkest shadow" and probably having to live in said shadow aspect but just in that. Having a loved one constantly putting their life on the line / being in constant danger can't be a very pleasant experience.

How many times do they run the risk of being harmed when just doing everyday tasks ? do they ever truly get a break ? and what of when they visit you ? what's the risk they be harmed by another in your own presence ?

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I'll probably elaborate even more once i get home but i am once again thinking about how O'dhael eventually steps up in O'miz's place. (putting under a read more because i babbled)

Not even very far from the current timeline, either. After Miz gets attacked by Hardin and half his body gets burned, leaving him bedbound for the rest of shadowbringers and Yargui taking over as the sole wol for the msq, Dhael swears she'll step up once he steps down, and stand by Yargui's side.

They both know it's coming soon. As much as Miz denies it. If he doesn't step down once that time comes they may try to talk him into it for the sake of his health- andeven then they don't realize the due time is in just a few years.

Dhael is well into adulthood when Miz can't hold himself any longer and steps down, deciding to simply be a healer for the scions - if they're still together, and if not, still be a healer for their group either way, as the family will likely still stick together-

Honestly when O'miz finds out she's stepping up he's torn. This is one of his greatest fears come to life, something that ate away at him since they discovered she had the Echo, but she's adamant on her decision.

Following in her father's footsteps and all. She's persistent about it, and eventually, reluctantly, he allows it, though he clings for a while as to keep her safe for quite some time. (often he's comparable to his father in this honestly. He just wants to keep his daughter safe y'know)

Obviously eventually he backs off, as she's a well capable enough White Mage, but he still worries quite a bit (sometimes to sickness) while he sticks around with the scions / whatever the group becomes at that point. Worried father. . .

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Can I request further O’Miz and Fray rambles if it is something you are willing to share?

Stares you directly in the forehead bc I'm bad at eye contact I am being enabled . good

Spent ages trying to articulate this bc I have the words in my head but I cannot let them free easily they're stubborn.

But like. I just think oft about how, like, Fray knows the ins and outs of Miz. His ups and downs. They've seen him laid bare every which way. And I think there's a deepset trust there . I know I mention trust oft but it's just . So important to me.

It's like I've mentioned before; O'miz picks up DRK right at 5.4. He's in a horrible space mentally, gone non-verbal, and now the corpse he just saw is taking the position of his mentor. Ok . Whatever, he's seen weirder. But like. I don't kid when I say they've seen the ups and the downs. O'miz was. Not doing well mentally during that point. And Fray saw it all. Learned and understood the pain and the agony. Not to mention the guilt. I'm sure that's an obvious one, especially since Miz blames himself for a LOT - doesn't help that Suilosaux is enraged for a good while because of him - so it's definitely. Sure is a fuckin' TIME.

God. The iconic DRK line. "Listen to my voice. Listen to our heartbeat." Forever resonates with O'miz. It fucked me up as the player and it fucks up my WoL I've decided. holy shit DRK has so many good lines.

-

Honestly though . A lot of the thoughts though are after accepting the Darkness. Like on the whole cryptid ways of making sure he takes care of himself- that post lives rent free in my head now btw; O'miz is self-destructive as all hell. Somebody's gotta make sure he's takin care of himself. Sometimes it's calling up to him when he's laying in a tree and refusing to speak to anybody. Stuff like "You mustn't continue this. Drink some water. You are going to become incapacitated. Rest. The darkness will consume you if you continue this. Get down and eat the sandwiches G'raha made."

Hell. They probably get along pretty well with his daughter. This is running under the assumption that they physically manifest and can be seen/heard and touched by anyone/anyone can be touched by them instead of the WoL being the only one.

But still it's kinda cute to think of Dhael joining Fray in making sure Miz takes care of himself.

Though I also like to think sometimes they just. Spend some down time together i guess ? I know it's probably very mushy and cheesy I just think they deserve to spend some time and peace and quiet. Miz leaning against Fray and the two just. Appreciating each other's company in silence.

I can dig into songs too and explain all my thoughts on them and how I can connect it to Miz and Fray But That's A Lot and I'm already getting embarrassed.

This is of course. Assuming Fray is willing to manifest physically after the closure of the DRK questline - which iirc does specify they Always Are There but you get my gist I hope . idk I get rlly shy sharing my rambles w/ these two specifically but I do think abt them oft.

And ANYWAYS I've chittered for too long and I'm very embarrassed bc I fear I might sound Weird or smthn here but . waves my hands

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『 𝙰 𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚁𝚁𝚁𝚈 𝙳𝙴𝚂𝙲𝚁𝙸𝙿𝚃𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝙿𝚁𝙾𝙵𝙸𝙻𝙴 𝙾𝙵 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙼𝚄𝚂𝙴 』 .

NAME.   O'miz Tia

AGE.   28 and some moons.

SPECIES.   "Keeper of the Sun" Miqo'te (mixed keeper/seeker)

GENDER.   Demiboy

PRONOUNS. He/Him, They/Them, It/Its

ORIENTATION.   Cinthean. Boykisser. He likes guys. Gay shit.

INTERESTS.   I FORGOT HIS INTERESTS ! art aand music, as well as goldsmithing and weaving/leatherworking ! he's also super invested in the stars/space, it's his special interest uuu

PROFESSION.   He started off as a lancer; After 5 years of Isolation (inwhich the calamity happened during) he became a White Mage - dropped by the Vault, he takes up Astrologian, and soon Dragoon, before dropping Dragoon around 5.4 and juggling Dark Knight and Astrologian. He can be ur tank or ur healer baybee

BODY TYPE.   Lean and muscular, with slightly larger hips and thighs; partially built up with dragoon work.

EYES.   A warm yellow.

HAIR.   Pink ! Pink boy with lighter pink highlights as you go down. By 5.0 his hair has gone a completely cream white, including his eyelashes and eyebrows; an aftereffect of the sineaters. For a while he tried dyeing it like his natural color, but by the end of 6.0 he gave up.

SKIN.   A light peachy tone.

FACE.   Pure white freckles - also an aftereffect of the sineaters. Not shown in the photograph is a large burn scar over his right eye, covering most of the right side of his face. His right eye is slightly paler than his left. A small scar lashes at the corner of the left side of his mouth. His nose is ever so slightly red, and his cheeks always seem to be a little flushed.

HEIGHT.   4'11 - he stopped growing at a very young age, and is significantly shorter than his family - all of whom go over 5'8.

COMPANIONS.  When he was young, it was practically just his siblings- Shele, Oh'dax, and eventually Cherie'li- his parents- O'naruho and Cherie (before she passes)- and his two friends, Hardin and Kanifoix. After some time, D'hmitria briefly takes his companionship, before a nasty split. (His time with her happened before he found out he was gay. This is, again, projection on the mun's part.) Eventually, he travels with Shele and Oh'dax, carrying around his daughter O'dhael. -By the time ARR rolls by he considers Thancred a brother, and does eventually find a sibling in a viera Than also saw as a sibling- named Nix; He grows very close to Haurchefant as well ! And by SHB he's romantically involved with Aymeric, Estinien, and G'raha. He still visits his father(s)- Naruho eventually weds Bertennant- and O'dhael and Cherie'li when he can- and frequents the final resting place of Oh'dax and Shele, oft with flowers and plenty of stories. -Also important to mention; he takes in Foulques under his wing and sees a brother in him as well, and pretty much adopts Sylphie as his daughter. Dhael loves them both quite a bit, as does the rest of Miz's family.

ANTAGONISTS.   Ywain. Lahabrea. Fourchelnaut. The unending guilt and pain that follows him.

COLORS.   Typically pastels of any sort. Bone white especially is a favorite.

FRUITS.   Peaches !! He cannot get enough of peaches.

DRINKS.   cocoa pretty much any sweet teas. He's not one for bitter drinks.

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ?   He doesn't really indulge in drink until after the events of 5.3 . While it's not extremely often, he's basically been recognized as a frequenter by the Forgotten Knight's barkeep, drinking himself into a silent state. He's an alarmingly quiet drunk, choosing to simply lay about once he's been dragged out a bar by Thancred or G'raha.

DRUGS ?   "Stoner Mizzy" has been an ongoing joke w/ me and my friends because I decided the catboy does weed . or Eorzea's equivalent . He doesn't do it often, and it's pretty much always when he's chilled out, but.

DRIVERS LICENSE ?   unfortunately no

snatched from @yloiseconeillants ' open invite .

Since I'm a bit too anxious to tag anybody else I'll be doing an open invite as well !

btw, nixie is @pygmybird 's WoL !

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20 for the wol meme!

"When in the story was their highest point? When were they at their lowest?"

Ohh boy.

Might well start with the highest point; I'd say probably post-ARR, right after Praetorium. What with having Thancred returned safe - something he was desperate for, cited in another entry right after the Lahabrea reveal;

"[. . . ]There was no way. I knew Thancred, and the man who laughed in our faces was not Thancred. The man who ripped off that hood and proved he was the one who betrayed us all was not Thancred. The man with the cruel grin was. Not. Thancred.

He will never be Thancred.

And by Nophica's grace, I will get him back, even if I have to die trying.

I will get him back.

It doesn't matter to me what it'll take."

Post-ARR was also, despite stock full of primal fights and it's own share of agony, probably where he felt the safest. He let his guard down, even. Like, before ARR, there was the incident that led to the loss of his older siblings, Oh'dax and Shele. in the 1.0 area of the story he was in total isolation, spent the calamity alone, and was scared. Frightened. Lonely, really.

ARR obviously had . All That leading up to Prae.

I feel it's also important to note he saw his family the most in this time period - as he starts distancing themselves from him post-dragonsong, insisting it's the only way to keep them safe. Sorry for a cut from another entry, I just thought it was cute and wanted to share- from when his father brought along his younger brother and daughter to meet up with him.;

"It feels like it has been many winters since I saw them last, and I felt I was bursting with joy when I first caught sight of them. Poppa said I ran so fast he couldn't even see me, and I barreled into Cherie'li to embrace him, before lifting Dhael into my arms.

Oh, it has been so long since I've heard her giggle so joyously. I swear my heart swelled when I heard it, and I near cried knowing she was even here. . . That I was able to hold her in my arms again."

Stuff starts going down from there, and, well, I guess that leads up to the lowest point. So. Some shb spoilers below the cut . And prepare for a verrry long ramble because I think about this often. Also putting the cut bc this post is long enough already.

If that intro to this part doesn't make it clear; 5.3-6.0 are his lowest points. He thought it was HW, right after the Vault, for a while; Zenos beating his ass brought him down some pegs. But good lord by Shadowbringers he's already ready to burst at the seams, and then just. . . Everything falls apart.

This may sound a bit messy as I'm not the best at recounting events, but weh.

Emet's a pretty big part of it all. I've rambled about it before (not here, though) about the whole Shard ordeal and how Emet would twist him around and cause him to feel like he's been thrown for an Entire Loop. And he's so fucking conflicted about it; outright stating that he doesn't know whether to embrace him as an old friend, stab him through with his lance, or just leave and never allow him to bother him anymore.

The shard thing inofitself really fucks with his head. Finding out about Amaurot, the Final Days, the truth about Hydaelyn and Zodiark. . . By the time the Hades fight crops up he's ready to give up.

And boy . After Emet dies it's just agony. O'miz never. Asked for this. He was just some silly Miqo'te boy in the lancer's guild when he first started his adventure, the last thing he expected was to be seen as some Warrior, to lose friends, so on and so forth.

And those last words.

"Remember us. Remember that we once lived."

He'll never forget that. Ever, for sure. After the fight, once he's brought G'raha to safety and presumes he's alone he collapses. And that's not even the last thing the First can throw at him !

The Exarch crystalizing is the breaking point. That's when he finally shatters. Even once they're safely back on the Source and G'raha is okay O'miz cuts his hair in a meltdown after already going out and getting his ass kicked in the same meltdown. He gets a huge scar, then. And he picks up DRK after returning to the Source. Suilosaux grows bitter, cursing him for killing Emet - his partner - and cursing him under the assumption that O'miz killed Fray. At this point Suil doesn't know that's untrue, but he's got nothing but distrust for the guy after Emet. He refuses to let Miz near Sidurgu or Rielle unless they're training, and it takes ages for him to finally warm up to Miz, to trust him, but it isn't a cure-all for his guilt.

That's a breaker, really, of it all. His guilt has ramped up so high, and he's just exhausted, he wants a break, he wants to go home or run away and never look back. He can't keep doing this, it all hurts, it's all digging into him and breaking him down and ripping him limb from limb and he's had enough of it.

He's numb by endwalker.

I don't know nearly enough to go into detail. I only know about one group who shows up, and I still can't formulate enough thoughts to be cohesive. But after it's all over, he starts working to collect himself. Hopefully by 6.1 and beyond he can start getting better again, right ?