#Y'shtola went to Ishgard to discuss it in person with her

[missazurerose]

There is no time limit on this post. Even after the poll is over, please continue to share pieces of your WoL(s) and OCs in the tags and comments. It's been a lot of fun seeing where people have placed their characters within the narrative. I don't care if the poll's been over for a month, if this floats up your dash and you want to share, do it. There is no deadline on when you can share the story of your character

[dragons-bones]

🌹 How easy is it for them to connect with others and make friends? On the flip side how easy is it for them to make an enemy of someone? Are they the kind of person who hangs around the food table at a party and never talks to anyone or are they the type who can talk to anyone?

Synnove generally has a little trouble; she's naturally reserved (and was outright shy when she was younger) and very rarely is the first to initiate idle chitchat. (In fact, she hates idle chitchat.) She's such staunch friends with Rere and Heron because these older girls took one look at the tiny slip of a girl and went, "this one is ours." (Alakhai had a fairly similar reaction.) It's much easier for Synnove to relate to others via shared interest, and that's usually arcanima/aetherology. With the Scions, Synnove already knew Y'shtola since the other woman was a familiar face from Limsa Lominsa who frequently stopped by the Guild to talk shop, and the moment Synnove met Urianger and Papalymo, the three near immediately descended into a heated debate about a recent aetherology article.

How easy it is to make an enemy...well. She doesn't often work in cargo assessment these days, but any arcanist can tell you it's frightfully easy to make an enemy of a merchant captain. It certainly didn't help Synnove that she took pride in her work and Galette's success rate and she's terrible at stamping down her pride.

And then of course she's an academic. Academia is a bloodsport. There are arcanists she is not on speaking terms with (usually over in aetherochemistry, but there's a few aetherophysics colleagues on her shit list, too), but the Guild will close ranks when it comes to anyone else. If there's anything left of Bahram Zarir when she's done with his corpse, the Guild is going to do nasty, nasty things to the scraps.

Synnove's probably in the middle of "don't talk to anyone" and "talk to anyone." Guild functions, she's perfectly capable of mingling and networking; the topic of discussion is usually work or magic theory, and Synnove has no issues with these type of gatherings. She is much more uncomfortable in other social settings, however. She is not fond of accompanying Aymeric to various functions in Ishgard and prefers to stay quiet while on his arm; she absolutely, one hundred percent loathes being the focus of attention at these type of parties, and she gets noticeably frostier and painfully polite the longer she stays in the proverbial spotlight. (Part of it is she's well aware there are a ridiculous number of layers to Ishgardian social niceties and politics that, as an outsider, she's never going to quite grasp; similar gatherings in Limsa Lominsa or Ul'dah she can actually navigate fairly well because she intimately knows all the movers and shakers and current rumors.) If she can't stay in Aymeric's shadow at a party or ball, then Edmont or Artoirel will act as a social buffer for her. Most of the regular attendees at these gatherings have at least learned if they want to engage Synnove in conversation, asking about the Restoration, Ehll Tou, the carbuncles, arcanima, or a side project she mentioned off-handedly a previous time are the safest topics to result in a slightly-more-relaxed Highlander.

[ Jumbo Ask Meme! ]

[katzenkrieg]

Loredump: Cam’s thoughts on Y’shtola

I have a massive loredump (see link in my bio) I work on updating occasionally, recording all kinds of details on my WoL, paladin Camille Delane, and his journey to date. Got Y’shtola’s updated just now! So if you like reading other people’s thoughts on their characters and on NPCs, here you go.

Spoilers through all of the ShB!

Y'shtola (canon, Scion; 23 at start, 27 before ShB time jump, 30 after; 31 at end of ShB) – For most of their fight against Gaius, Camille was deeply curious about Y'shtola; he suspected she had a complicated past and a lot of deeply-rooted beliefs and values that she rarely articulated but always acted on. He respected and found intriguing her commitment to understanding and valuing the beast tribes, and turned to her, hesitantly and diffidently, for insight on their cultures, histories, and their relationships to the city-states of Eorzea. Of all the Scions, he trusted her most to give him thorough, accurate information untouched by nationalism, stereotypes, or old grievances, on both the beast tribes and Eorzean leadership.

Whenever she seemed open to spending time together or being joined in her studies (even if it just meant he sat quietly in the same room and worked through reading and taking notes on something), he would join her, though he always kept to himself. Y’shtola was the first one to notice Cam’s reading/writing/learning disorder and to begin making accommodations for it without any fanfare (reading texts out loud when the Scions were discussing them, making sure there are note-taking materials available at meetings, etc.).

In a lot of ways, though Cam himself hasn’t really realized it and would be a bit mortified if he did, Y’shtola reminds him of his mother--crisp, uncompromising, incredibly competent, driven, an unconventional scholar and magic user, devoted to family and friends in her own way but also difficult to reach. In the same way that Cam held his mother in something like fear and awe and simultaneously felt like he was always a bit of a disappointment and a mystery to her, Cam always feels insufficient around Y’shtola but not in a way he really even notices or holds against her. He just accepts it as fact (though it would be good for his personal growth and self-esteem if he noticed and began to work to get over it).

During his time as a fugitive in Ishgard, Cam didn’t have that much time to think about the other Scions--and that was a good thing. Though it didn’t affect his relationship with Y’shtola greatly when she reappeared, his time working as an equal with Ysayle and Estinien helped him value and trust himself more.

With Y’shtola’s recovery from the Lifestream, Cam quickly went back to treating her as the de facto leader of the Scions, especially in the light of Papalymo (the other Scion Cam regarded as a senior)’s absence and then death. He did notice her blindness before the plot canonically has him do so--he has his own disabilities, after all, and is sensitive to them in others--but didn’t press her about it. It took him more than five years to feel comfortable with his own muteness, after all, and he’s *still* not comfortable with his learning disabilities. He gets needing time and space.

When Cam finally met Matoya, it explained a *lot.* Cam understands growing up with a mother figure you just can’t seem to be good enough for, although he wouldn’t easily articulate that fact to himself or anyone else. If Cam’s intimidated by Y’shtola, he’s near-superstitiously terrified of Matoya. 

Losing Y’shtola to unconsciousness when the Scions’ souls were being summoned to the First left Cam much more uncertain and lost than the loss of any of the other Scions--except for Alisaie and Alphinaud, of course. Without Y’shtola’s knowledge and directness, Cam had no idea how he could possibly figure out what had happened to his friends and how to get them back. (True, he could have tried working directly with Matoya, but, honestly, that thought never occurred to him. *Talking* to Matoya is something that Cam hardly thinks he’s capable of.)

Finally meeting Y’shtola again in the First left Cam in an interesting emotional spot--he simultaneously continued to find her intimidating and also began to be concerned for her. Taking Matoya’s name and, in many ways, her role directly made it hard for Cam to look away from the fact that Y’shtola, too, likely shares Cam’s struggle to live up to an image of a parent figure--and after she jumped into the Lifestream a *second* time in order to save others she’d decided she was responsible for, she made it clear she valued herself much less than she should. Throwing one’s life away recklessly to save others leaves a burden on them and makes them feel like you didn’t understand what you meant to them--it’s not a gift. It’s not something Cam would ever do, if he could help it.

As the events in the First drew to a head and finally concluded with the final banishing of the Light, Cam had finally moved beyond thinking of Y’shtola as a superior. Though he still will default to deference around her, he’s, uncomfortably, realized this probably isn’t good for either of them. Cam’s made a point of getting to know Runar better and encouraging Runar in getting closer to Y’shtola; Runar is one of the only people, if not *the* only person, Cam’s seen get anywhere close to breaking through Y’shtola’s distance. He’s talked to Runar about Y’shtola and about his experiences with her quite a bit by this point. Runar’s shown Cam how to make certain teas and snacks that Y’shtola really enjoys, and Cam makes sure to make them for her now and then, and to remind her to take breaks from her work.

Cam is *incredibly relieved* that Y’shtola finally gave her true name to the Night’s Blessed. Y’shtola needs family that she doesn’t feel like she has to keep up walls around. If the Scions can’t be that for her, than at least, possibly, the Night’s Blessed might be, some day. 

Cam was stunned and horrified when Y’shtola didn’t recognize him when they first met in the First. To have his aether and soul altered so much that someone that smart, in Cam’s estimation, and who’d known him that long couldn’t recognize him and to not have even felt the change himself left Cam very, very lost and confirmed his growing feeling since arriving in the First that events would, inevitably, erase his identity and turn him into something he would no longer recognize. And that his friends would eventually have to kill or imprison him. He very much appreciated and was surprised by the fact that she made a point of telling him about his condition directly and that she continued to confront Urianger about it. To have her respect him enough--and even care for him enough--that she would let him know what was happening and continue to advocate for him was a surprise to him, and one he was grateful for.

Cam appreciates that Y’shtola’s more forthcoming about her blindness now and has tried to talk to her about it--and has definitely talked to Urianger about it, to see what Urianger’s learned that Y’shtola might not yet have revealed to Cam. 

Cam wants to know what Alisaie, Alphinaud, and Y’shtola did and talked about while Y’shtola was claiming mom time with the twins during their work distracting Eulmoran forces in Amh Araeng :| DID THEY TALK ABOUT HIM. WHAT DID THEY SAY.

Following events in the First, Y’shtola is the *only* Scion Cam thinks would be able to keep cool enough to lead the Scions and kill or imprison Cam if the transformation Cam still half-suspects is inevitable, even after being purged of the Light, ever happened. He’s also been surprised by the fact that now, he thinks she might try to save him, first. He wouldn’t really have expected that from her. 

Following events in the First, Cam is also less cagey about his learning disabilities around Y’shtola and publicly and openly uses some magical tools she gave him much earlier that can make reading more accessible for him--particularly a small device that can read out many printed texts (and can make a go at written texts). What Cam *doesn’t* know is that Matoya gave Y’shtola this device without any prompting and told Y’shtola to give it to “that boy of hers who’s terrified of books.” It took Y’shtola a few moments to figure out who the hell Matoya was talking about… (The device is actually one some Sharlayan institutes give students with learning disabilities like Cam’s, specifically to help them have access to higher learning.) If Cam knew it came from Matoya, he’d probably throw it right across the room. It might do something! Weird! And scholarly! :||||| Why would Matoya be nice to him?

Prior to events in the First, Cam would have sworn Y’shtola and Thancred were going to get together eventually. How that broke down and Thancred ended up with Urianger is still a story Cam’s not sure he wants to hear…

Cam and Y’shtola both have an unspoken agreement at this point to regularly butt into Urianger’s life and private business to make sure he’s not up to something secret, tragic, and unnecessary *again.*