#i only have one of those (Okhi)

[sezja]

.................should I put LeFox The OC in ffxiv.

[umbralsound-xiv]

Prompt #15 - Portentous

Character: Zhav The Black Shroud, 1558, Sixth Astral Era

The cool, black substance makes contact with her skin, stinging as it skirts over a still fresh wound at her cheek. Zhav's gaze lingers outward, a crowd of eyes through shade lined trees watching the anointment.

Her ragged breathing wasn't attributed to nerves. She knew this day would come eventually. She'd prepared for it, spent cycles in doing so, learning every art and skill Yohn had offered her in naming her apprentice. Zhav just... Hadn't expected it so soon.

Dim candles flicker at an altar made from the stump at a recently felled tree, where Zhav's head rested. They did similar things at executions; it was symbolic. The loss of a life, or the beginning of a new one. In Zhav's case, it was both.

Yohn was gone, as were two others of the Warband. Zhav hadn't even been present when it happened, but was the first to hear the news. The fallen had already been burned. And Yohn's ashes now scattered and mixed into the black paint that now adorned her.

"Stand." Khuri bids her. The taller and much older Keeper dons the facepaint of a healer, long green hair greying at the tips with age. Only the way she carried herself painted her as Matriarch.

"Zhav, Warmaiden of Clan Karahli. Under Menphina you begin this life anew. As our Warmaiden from this moment until your last, what vows do you pledge us?"

Upright, Zhav's learned but youthful features regard those watching her. Her eyes had brimmed with tears for Yohn's loss, but so many were looking up to her now. She speaks, unwavering and full of fire.

"I pledge t'protect you. To do m'duties to th'best of my ability." Zhav clears her throat from the grief that had welled in it, speaking in a rare, clear tone. "I know 'm young. But that jus' means i've got more cycles t'give t'you."

Dipping her head to the Matriarch, she turns to her people; still red-eyed from the funeral only bells ago. The last they woke, their previous Warmaiden still yet breathed. One woman with a cross on her face inclines her head at Zhav's gaze, a sharp nod in response.

"Alrigh', you got weapons that need maintainin', bring 'em t'me. We'll start plannin' at sunset t'morrow, an' i'm gonna keep watch in case them bastards try somethin' else. Whara, Okhi, y've had most rest; y'on watch with me. Rest've you, get y'heads down."

The orders flowed from her lips as easily as breathing, and despite being only fourteen cycles and far younger than many of the Warband, people fell in line immediately. Yohn had trained her well enough.

And from Khuri's expression, a better choice for Warmaiden could not have been made.

[a-forlorn-soul]

Prompt #28: The Burden of the Khan

FFXIVWrite2019

Prompt #28: Attune

Rating: SFW

Warning: None

Timeline: Present

After Kaidu’s accident of dropping the crates because he was too busy showing off to handle them correctly, Kete remained close to the encampment they had just stormed. Half buried in the ground and set afire were the ten crates that had been the goal of this entire mission. In retrospect the mission had been a complete success. Only two were injured and Jyaki had managed to handle them with a surprising burst of aether. Yet a bitter taste was left in Kete’s mouth over the whole thing.

It was taking him time to become attuned to the way those in his tribe needed to be handled, but perhaps that was because he was looking at it too much as a leader of a military force. With the way it acted perhaps he should just adopt an older father like stance in dealing with them. Between the way Icarus and Kaidu acted on this mission, and how Kaidu acted period, it would make the most sense. Maybe he would even be able to find a way to make Chabi and Xaxiana stop arguing all the damn time.

A soft sigh escaped him at the thought of those two. While Chabi was easily the most mature out of the bunch, and of course his mate, she still could not help herself in responding to Xaxiana’s taunts. The way they quarreled often reminded him of his sisters back on the Steppes, though if he were to say that he was certain both would attempt to stab him. He needed to find a way to make them respect one another but he couldn’t even begin to think of how.

<”They all make me feel older than I am,”> he grumbled to himself as he kept a careful watch of the blaze, <”Thirty one winters and I am the only one with any sense of experience and tact.”>

His mind turned to the others of the tribe that weren’t so problematic but each had their unique quirks. Despite the fact that Jyaki was inexperienced, and possibly beset by nonstop anxiety, she still seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. ‘Kaidu could definitely learn a thing or two from her about how to handle himself,’ he thought with an amused chuckle. If any had a chance at becoming a respectable hunter and mercenary it was that one. She just needed to get a feel for it and accept the burdens of taking a life.

<”Well I should say normal and respectable,” he audibly corrected himself, <”Ohki and Syf could both be considered respectable mercenaries. Their issues are a bit different.”>

A shiver ran through his body at the thought of Syf. At first he had regarded the woman as childish and perhaps a bit too open. Yet she had more than proven herself to be a capable fighter with a cool head in the field. The problem came when she went ‘odd’. Another shiver ran through him as he recalled the times she started to seem off to the others and use an aether that was both confusing and terrifying all at the same time.

<”I cannot even say that it is fear that I feel. She just randomly becomes a thing made of nightmares, and then goes back to her normal self,”> he muttered, unable to quell the series of shivers still coursing through him, <”At least Okhi’s oddities are a bit more manageable.”>

He couldn’t deny his opinion of the woman was a bit skeptical at first with the way she came in with a rather large opinion of herself. Not to mention the way she attempted to carry herself like a Knight of Ishgard rather than a Xaela warrior. Maybe she was proof as to why most Xaela shouldn’t worry too much about learning to read, especially not when they are impressionable. Still she was a fierce fighter that he could rely on, and knew he could trust her to always remain loyal to the tribe.

<”If nothing else that oddness makes her someone I do not need to worry about in the field and can trust to have my back.”>

A crack in the fire drew him from his thoughts about those he surrounded himself with to realize that the goods in the crates were beyond recovering. Just like Chabi he did not want to run into any man eating trees so he quickly moved to start smothering the flames by pushing dirt into the dug out pit. If they managed to tackle this war they found themselves in without a loss of life, perhaps he would work on shaping the entire group up into a proper mercenary unit.

A smirk suddenly tugged at his lips. <”I can already see Kaidu pouting at the idea of more training.”> It was this thought that helped him get along with less weight on his shoulders to finish putting out the flames and then head back to the Haven.

[abyssal-drain]

8

You think you're getting a feel for someone, and then they drop a fucking bridge out from under you.

It was a training exercise!

Yes, I was going a bit hard, but would the Empire go easy? Still, if she'd gotten too hurt to fix what she'd done, there's a marked difference between accidentally nonfatally hurting an ally, and doing millions of gil in property damage. Even yet it's probably a couple hundred thousand to smooth out the seams where she put it back, like.

What the fuck.

I should've maybe gone a bit easier, but when casters are involved, I feel like I don't really have a choice. That shitty puddle of violence knocks the wind out of my sails every time, and it's almost all I can manage at once.

Fuck me sideways.

So, I talked to this hyur mechanic last night, for something that's only sort of related.

I could've gotten seriously hurt during all of that, and only so many mechanics are around who can repair something like my arm. Put plainly, Winter lives in Gridania, and Book (why is she called Book? Does she throw them at people?) kind of scares me a bit. Plus, I don't want to be a burden on the company's resources. I've no idea where Winter got her hands on that much Garlean steel, and being honest, I'd rather not ask questions like that. I'll be paying for repairs if I don't go to either of them, which feels - better, to me. More equitable, somehow.

Anyway - the hyur lives in this place nearby, Ward 11, a lounge called the Gaze.

It's nice enough, but I wasn't there for the bar, you know? Decent food, tea and a steak, while I waited - let me back up though, because I actually spotted the mechanic outside. He's got one of those fancy guns, like the machinists out in Ishgard do - loud as fuck, though. A real loud, screaming and banging sort of fuck, you know? LOUD. Anyway, so in between shots I asked him if he might be the mechanic, because that kind of a gun, that specific kind, takes a bit of mechanical know-how, or so I've heard.

It turns out he is. He's also - focused is a word for it. 'Ditz' is a less polite word for it.

So, it's not that he's stupid in the least. It's that he's only really interested in the one thing - it's like how Dad was.

Dad used to go after a project so hard that nothing else matters, so things us lesser mortals need like food and sleep hardly matter - until he's literally unable to go on, passed out in a pile of tools and scraps. Looking back, it's endearing how silly Dad used to get. At the time, I just felt real lonely, and a bit like he didn't care. I mean, the third time he sent the Wailers out and burst into tears when they brought me home unharmed, I sort of figured it out, at least, but I still had to spend a lot of time finding something to keep myself busy. Me taking up with the Lancers was a blessing for both of us, I think.

I had the suspicion that Sable is like that just from talking to him, a bit, but it turns out he's got a cat that sort of acts as a keeper to him and their whole group.

This guy, his name's Min'to, is something else. Did you know that fairies are apparently from Nym?

I don't know how this fellow got his hands on a soul crystal from a dead civilization, but apparently Nymian 'Scholars' used a more advanced sort of arcanima to make fairies, somehow. I guess it's probably like carbuncles, he compared the principles anyroad. We had a long chat on that topic, because he had her following him around, his fairy friend. He confirmed that Sable's absolutely how I figured he was, that over-enthusiastic sort, and he's used to looking after the hyur.

Mint - he appreciated the pun in my name because he understands my pain, I think - Min'to handles business affairs and making sure people actually eat. I guess they've a whole company organized out of the Gaze. I sort of offered my services as a registered adventurer. Sure, I've got the Pearl, and it feels good to have a set, steady place to work, but an extra job or two can't hurt, financially, so long as I don't get too injured or waste too much for resources, you know?

I'm still not entirely sure if Mint was joking about taking me up on my offer to punch every Ishgardian who'd ever hurt his friend - being honest, I'm not entirely sure if I was joking. It's altogether too tempting to go up those fucking steps and just punch every elezen I come across, and having a reason and specific targets would just make that more tempting. The great thing about being crotch height to half the other races: they fold like a house of cards when you hit 'em just so.

Fuck Ishgard, and fuck Halone's frosty tits. If I never go back it'd be too soon.

I wonder how Fao's doing? 

OOC: Hey look, it’s an Okhi Journal, post all-natural retcon polish.

@shotsfiredxiv

@blind-eye-xiv