#nel vc: you're killin' me smalls!

[sealrock]

2/3 of the 'dream team' as I dubbed them, achille's friends back in the shroud during the early days of 1.0: nilo'ya zhwan & nel dubois

as of now they're still in the shroud as adults (the pics are of their teen selves), but they write to achille as often as chiron does, and they consider ul'dah as the 'big city' compared to the small, backwater village of boughbury

random facts under the cut:

nilo'ya—

was originally born in the west shroud. youngest child of ten children (seven brothers, two sisters). as his name suggests, he was the eighth son

his siblings were all older than him and by the time he got old enough to remember them, most were out of the family home as adults

a few of his brothers got involved with poaching, but the others went on to be wood wailers and quivermen in gridania. nilo'ya heard from them rarely as he grew up

his father was hardly around. his mother passed when he was a child, but before she died she sent nilo'ya to be raised by his grandparents in the south shroud

being the baby of the family, nilo'ya felt left behind by his older siblings and secretly held grudges against them for not being with him when their mother passed. he started acting out as a teen but mellowed with age

he had dreams of being an airship pilot as a kid from watching the ixal, but was discouraged from his passion by his family

when the calamity struck, the entire west shroud was destroyed. his brothers who stayed behind as poachers likely perished in the destruction

he eventually became his grandparents' caretakers as a teen when they became too old and sick to look after him. nilo'ya would wander around the shroud and stir up trouble in his free time. he was often the target of xenophobic bullying from the other teens in the area

nel and nilo'ya became friends as children when he moved into the village. a few years after that, nilo'ya was the first person to approach achille. achille didn't like him at first, but nilo'ya was persistent and it's how achille joined his little group with nel

as of now in the present, nilo'ya works in the mun-tuy cellars, but he continued to dream about flying an airship. he wishes to visit achille in ul'dah once he saves up enough money to make the trip

nel—

middle child of three sisters, she lived underground with her family in a more inhabited part of the gelmorra ruins nearby boughbury. her family, one of the few hundred duskwights still residing inside the caves, strived to restore their homeland as their ancestors wished

nel got her first taste of the outside world when she snuck above ground as a little girl. it would become part of her routine to explore the forest, against her parents' wishes, so they forbade her to talk to 'the outsiders'

she met nilo'ya by chance as a child. having never seen a miqo'te before, and vice versa for nilo'ya, he became her first friend despite being an outsider

the other kids, and some of the adults, in the area treated her with scorn and bigotry. she wasn't allowed to enter the village as a result

one night above ground, a thirteen-year-old nel was seriously burned and disfigured in an event that her family deemed intentional by the outsiders. nel wouldn't discuss how she got her burns, but the nerves in her fingers and arms were damaged to the point of numbness

after the incident, nel didn't wander too far from home and tried to avoid other people besides nilo'ya, and eventually achille

she would teasingly, if not affectionately, call achille 'smalls' or 'baby ears' because of his halfling ancestry and otherwise short stature. she and achille would butt heads the most, but achille would fight anyone who disrespected her

her nickname for nilo'ya is 'moggie'

she was originally the one to craft the trio's friendship bracelets

now as an adult, nel continues to live underground, but she always looks forward to hearing from achille and his tales about life up above