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Going to be combining the various sessions so I can make the number be 4 instead of 8 posts by doubling down the cuts.
Could work on the spacing a bit more but eh.
What brings you joy?
Taking a bit of a general approach for this one.
Beet’s the type of person who’s always cheerful so she always manages to find a lot of things that bring her happiness. Her general happy go lucky disposition even pops out when she’s doing something like fighting in dangerous situations, which comes off as a bit jarring to people who don’t know her well.
For someone like Bon, his approach to finding out what brings him joy has been slow, especially since he’s been running around with no memories. So it’s been a trial and error of sorts. He’s not a fan of crowds or fighting, but he’s found that he gets enjoyment in communing with nature and also through helping people in need as long as they aren’t too loud.
For M'ari, the answer of what he finds joy in is a bit unexpected because of his current much more calmer demeanor. He actually enjoys doing a lot of more lively activities like going crowdsurfing and getting involved in watching (and then participating) in fights! As much as he claims to have turned over a new leaf, sometimes his former pirate occupation still shows up.
As much as Pepper spends time being an odd job adventurer who bombastically uses his skills, he actually finds enjoyment in communing with nature like Bon does. Sometimes they both go out together hiking around in the shroud.
Lily attempts to seek joy through mastering Triple Triad and gaining cards to fulfill a gap that was pointed out to her because someone once said she was hobbiless and only focusing on her thesis more than being social. It’s been a great deal of frustration for her but it seems like she’s happy from playing it, because she keeps coming back…?
Another frequent Gold Saucer visitor in this case is Rene, which is pretty much the only place anyone can see him be less stoic in comparison to his work as a Serpent Lieutenant . The difference between his actions then and in this place are like night and day. He’s the type that will play all the minigames and run about and be almost lighthearted over the entire thing. But then it’s back to business as soon as he leaves.
Sage has an incredibly simplistic answer, and it’s that she attempts to seek joy wherever she goes. Whether that be through trying new foods, helping out the locals, and crafting whatever is necessary, she never stops traveling and won’t stand to be settled in one place for long.
Pen is a man who is constantly on the move like Sage, but for him, happiness is secondary and not the priority. He doesn’t work himself to the point of exhaustion, but sometimes tunnel vision prevents him from realizing that he’ll be in the midst of working for someone else and coming to the conclusion that he’s not happy doing such a thing. But he wasn’t taught to complain, so he’ll do whatever he’s told to do. He’d honestly be happy in the company of companions, but he’s a bit lacking in that department. (He’s also a bit dense and doesn’t realize there are people who want to be his friends and not just use him to their advantage.)
13. If your muse could eat only one (1) kind of food for the rest of their life, what would it be?
· I’d say it’s probably cheating to just list off favorite foods and drinks that I put down for them, but I’ll go ahead and list them anyways!
M'ari: Antelope Steak and Apple juice, one of the orders he’d put down whenever he visited Gridania.
Bon: Takoyaki and Matcha Tea to snack on.
Sage: Dodo Omelette and Spiced Cider.
Pepper: Shakshouka and Orange Juice. Probably not both at the same time, but he’s greatly unpredictable.
Rene: Salt Cod and Ishgardian Tea.
Pen: Pearl Chocolate and Eggnog! Or Hot chocolate. He’ll try to lie about it but he has a sweet tooth.
Lily: Mashed Popotos and Peach juice. Something simple she can make while she’s training.
Beet: Scallop Curry and Thavnarian Chai tea, because curry’s become one of her favorite meals to try no matter the flavor
🎄What is the best gift they have ever received?
· I’ve actually never really considered Starlight presents, haha, so I suppose I’ll have to write something out for everyone on hand… Maybe I’ll just make them some hypothetical gifts?
I think Pepper’s best gift would probably be new equipment for his thaumaturgy since for most of his interactions he’s still wearing old level equipment which makes everyone not take him seriously. (From a meta standpoint, it’s basically him going from level 5 mage gear to BLM gear that hopefully won’t have a silly hat.) (I know it’s a feature but I want him to still have expressions if he ever emotes in photos…)
M'ari’s favorite gift was his first fishing rod he received (read: possibly stole) from the fisherman’s guild when he decided to put his old life behind (read: when he witnessed the previous 1.0 WOL who may or may not have been Pepper running against the pirates who kidnapped Wawalago.) . It’s old and broken now but he still keeps it around for memories sake.
Sage’s best gift is also an older one she received, being a wooden axe given by M'ari when she was a child. It’s also obviously old and broken, but it’s the one thing she always used when she was pretending to be an adventurer and she used it while she initially went out adventuring.
Beet’s favorite gift was a book on alchemy that her merchant parents bought for her which she memorized from cover to cover. It’s the book that inspired her to become an alchemist so she could help other people with medicine.
Pen’s best Starlight gift is when he was pardoned of his massive debt. Serious. That was the one thing making his life miserable so when it was removed he was finally able to become an adventurer full time.
Lily’s favorite gift was also a book! It was a published sharlayan book of older theses that inspired her to become a scholar as well. (More or less. Regardless she would’ve been a scholar, but unfortunately for her her real reason is because when it was found out the book was made of stolen work it was burned.)
Rene’s gifts ranged from blankets and old torn up books until he aged out and ended up adopted by another family. He didn’t really receive many gifts growing up, which is why as an adult he mostly ended up making purchases for himself. The one thing he appreciated the most as a gift was this lyre given to him by an older bard, but that broke as well. So he’s sort of a grouch when it comes to presents, but he obviously doesn’t let it show.
Bon apparently had never celebrated Starlight beforehand and said cryptically that his best gift was “living a currently long and healthy life.” The starlight gift (2021) with the snowball food and deliveries with Rudy was the closest thing he ever had to dealing with Starlight and he holds it dear to him. (Well, there’s this year’s too.) That’s why his minion is still specifically that squirrel.
What are their relationship with their parents? Are they still alive? How do their parents live with the risk their child has taken to help people/save the world?
Well, for my main WOL/adventurer type character, Sage and Pepper’s parent in question is also a character I focus on, M'ari!
It’s sort of an interesting relationship considering that he’s a seeker of the sun while his kids in question are a moon keeper and hyur while also having different colored hair, but he will always consider them his children because he’s the one who raised them. They are also primarily a large source of stress for him considering the times they’re across continents or doing absolutely insane feats and he only gets to hear about them from the rumor mill.
Rene’s parents were dead a long time before he started his journey. Being an orphan made him increasingly bitter to his own parents to people who do have good relationships with their parents but he hides it well enough. If no one wants to be raised uncomfortable by it, then he hides it. He always does that.
If they were alive, they’d probably try to use his feats in order to raise their own meager social positions. His brother and cousins probably wouldn’t get involved but… there’s reasons he doesn’t associate with the rest of his family.
As for the rest, Bon doesn’t consider himself having a mother or father or anything of the sort and is sort of confused as to why people put so much emphasis on family bonds. Beet has a pretty average family in her hometown that would probably be surprised as to hear what she does if she didn’t send letters to them all the time. Rin has definitely tried to hide the whole “associated with the warrior of light” thing from his mother because she’d definitely try to exploit it for money. Lily’s parents would be perplexed as to how she ended up in such a position and probably wouldn’t believe any rumors until she ended up back in Sharlayan.
What popular social media platform would your OC be most likely to use?
unfortunately pepper is a redditor and uses it exclusively to troll people because of his previous /v/ days Sage uses a Twitter/Instagram Rene lives under a rock when it comes to social media and most of his previous accounts are dead older people use Facebook still so unfortunately. M’ari.I think the rest of my OCs have nothing on social media unless LinkedIn counts pen would also have a Twitter account and people would think he’s just larping because of his dialect so no one ever replies to him
How does your OC celebrate starlight?
Right, said I’d put an answer and here it is!
Past times are between Rene celebrating Starlight by getting drunk and passing out while Beet’s probably out like volunteering at shelters or something. This year’s starlight focused on reindeer magic which I feel like would be Lily’s place to be. Last year’s was the “snowballs” and Bon would be out delivering those because being not-Santa (Saint’s helper?) last year was fun for him. (It’s why I still use the Starlight Squirrel minion on him.)
Sage would definitely worry herself over making sure every detail is perfect for a starlight party to invite people over to only for the part timers to completely forget it happens and come over. (Not to mention varying presents of quality.) M’ari is always nervous he’ll end up with coal but at some point he should probably get the hint that he’s off the hook for his former pirate lifestyle (considering that he barely did anything extremely criminal there.) For once, Pepper is being a good citizen and singing in choirs! Never mind the fact he’s definitely not supposed to be there but it’d probably be rude to chase him off.
Pen probably has it the worst considering that his birthday is on Starlight so people have definitely doubled presents for him.
When was the last time your OC cried?
· - You know, that’s a good question. For the most part in my writing I don’t think I’ve had anyone really cry outside of deaths and misfortunes that tend to happen more in the side of the WOLverse than anything I’ve heavily written for my part timer Verse (one day I’ll explain them alll…)
- Alternatively, despite Sage being a powerful fighter in her own right she’s still a crybaby so I could say “yesterday.”
25. How does the gang act in stressful situations?
· I guess it depends on what sort of stressful situation it would be? If it’s like a fight or flight situation then it’s probably fight or flight:
The less non jokey situation is that it’s basically extreme improvisation on everyone’s end.
Answering with the fight response would likely be: Sage, M'ari, Beet, Lily, and Pen.
Answering with the flight response would be: Bon (but he probably doesn’t even get that the situation is stressful), Rene (who’s likely panicking while he’s stressed), and Pepper.
Regardless, I think everyone tends to try and avoid stressful situations unless it’s really something necessary.
What is the most useless skill or talent they have? (ex: guessing the right numbers of beans in a jar, folding a fitted sheet right every time...)
I’d say that the useless skills currently range from ‘could be useful but are utilized incorrectly ’Rene can whistle and sort of mimic birdsong Bon can sense peoples auras but he cant properly identify what it is M’ari can tell different clouds apart Beet knows cartography (how to make maps)
This session seems to be heavily Rene focused.
5. What was your first impression of your job mentor(s) and companions (whether canon npc or headcanon), whatever profession(s) you started with? Did these change over time?
Oh, this one is definitely going to vary a bit. So I’ll mostly place it by city state.
Ul’dah
Pepper had initially started off in the Tharmaturge guild and basically ended up getting semi-involved in that questline but not enough to know that Cocobuki’s brother got possessed by a voidsent, only that he went missing for a bit. His impression was that Cocobuki was an incredibly cool guy and mage and that impression has not changed.
Pen very much stumbled onto the gladiator’s guild by sheer coincidence after losing some of his bet money due to the champion he picked (Aldis) quitting out of the blue. He heard of the entire poison the sultana plot too, but didn’t put the dots together that it was a Monetarist scheme until he also stumbled across Jenlyns and also became a free Paladin by accident. Weirdly enough, Pepper was also frequenting with the gladiators guild. He doesn’t really have an impression of Mylla because he mostly trained with Brass Blades in his free time and also was busy with his work as a goldsmith, (Note: I’ll probably make a follow up post regarding Disciple job quest instructors.) so it’s less to say he doesn’t have an impression but that he never had the time to make one. As far as he recalls Mylla just gave him the blade and armor that he uses and that’s it.
Lily recalls the pugilist guild as being… eccentric. She saw the man known as holyfist get owned by a squirrel and was thoroughly unimpressed. To be honest, she never followed up on the guild because she met Erik who has a thorough history of Ala Mhigo and spends most of her time doing work for him involving measuring aether. A very impressive and studied man, but she wishes he didn’t call her a brute.
Limsa Lominsa
Sage and M’ari both ended up dealing with the Arcanist guild as their first job post calamity* (technically Arcanist was a 1.0 job but only Urianger had it.) and for the most part both have a similar conclusion that Thubyrgeim should go ahead and take the guild leader position already since K’hrid is basically wandering the world.
Technically Sage also wielded a marauder’s axe but recalls none of what the instructor told her. She’s also never met Curious Gorge. (That’s a good thing.)
M’ari does however have a scholar stone which he uses to ensure that Sage has a healer while she does run around wielding an axe. He knows a bit about Tonberries and he helped out Alka Zolka for a bit. In his speech time he sometimes tries conversing with his Fae companions.
Gridania
Bon has an unnaturally large amount of aether that also seemingly multiplies over time, so the entire time he’s been doing conjury and healing he’s been unwittingly using his own reserves of aether instead of asking the elementals for help. Slyphie has also been trying to emulate him sometimes much to E-Sumi-Yan’s dismay. Bad enough that they’re encouraging each other’s bad habits, but now for some reason they also see each other as rivals. Bon does hold E-Sumi-Yan with a lot of respect due to his age (even if he doesn’t look that old) but still struggles with why he needs the elementals help to begin with when he’s doing fine on his own.
Beet didn’t exactly join the lancer’s guild in a sense but showed up at some lessons in order to learn self defense while she’s gathering herbs and basically for the most part is self taught. She had run into a lancer named Foulques at some point while training by herself and he began teaching her too. Lately though, he hasn’t been showing up at all while she wanders the shroud. She wonders if he’s alright sometimes.
Rene was part of the archer’s guild for a brief moment in time but totally lost all motivation due to a lot of insults to his technique as a beginner. (Beet and Bon were both trying to learn there as well at one point but both saw some of the hostility towards Rene and decided to try out other guilds.) He did manage to complete his lessons but simultaneously wishes Luciane would’ve spoken up for him at least once. Most of that is water under the bridge because his job as a Twin Adder doesn’t have him anywhere near the archer’s guild any longer. Lately he’s had a longing to get back into playing poetry and verse, but it’s hard to try explaining that to anyone or finding an instructor…
#31 for the ask meme?
What is your oc’s sense of humour like? What do they find funny? Do they try to be funny? Are they actually?
This one’s sort of a grabbag on my XIV OCs but I’d say for the most part there are those that are unintentionally funny, trying to be funny but failing, and those that have no sense of humor. Regardless, it’s hard to tell if they’ll get a joke or not unless it’s blatantly obvious or slapstick.
For Category 1: Pen, Rene, and Bon, but all for varying reasons. Pen’s unintentional humor is from him trying to act to the utmost seriousness but no one takes him as serious in universe past a few select moments and because he also has moments where he ends up looking goofy. Rene and Bon are both socially strange in some areas but Rene is more on the morbid side while Bon is bad at reading social cues. Sometimes what he says isn’t exactly what he means.
For Category 2: M'ari has an awful sense of humor because he keeps trying to do dad puns or worse, cat puns. Sage will try to tell jokes but they’re mostly stuff like knock knock jokes or even worse, jokes that don’t make sense outside of in group jokes.
Beet’s jokes mostly involve stand up comedy which doesn’t hit, usually.
Lily is immensely stoic and doesn’t get most jokes unless they’re academic. In which case, no one laughs.
Pepper is the only one who’s intentionally funny because his entire gig as a magician is more or less him acting goofy to get off guard.
One day I’ll write for my original characters again.
What is the character’s go-to drink order? (this one gets into how do they like to be publicly perceived, because there is always some level of theatricality to ordering drinks at a bar/resturant)
Alright! Let’s see here…
I think for people who could care less on their public perception, they’d definitely order something that could potentially get them drunk. I’d say the types to order drinks like that would be M’ari and Bon. Sage is the type that only orders to get drunk when she’s feeling particularly emotional and has definitely gotten into a few bar fights she’s had to be bailed out of (mostly after everyone’s been fought already.) I want to say that Pen also tries drinking to be seen seriously, but he’s a lightweight.
For the types to be seen as boring, it’d definitely be water or juice. Majority would go here like Rene, Pepper, Beet, and Lily. I want to say that Pepper and Rene are the types that only drink in privacy while Lily has abstained from drinking entirely.
Answers to an Q and A (Rene)
Cleaning through my computer and typing out for my Neocities site, which I promised I’d have finished by the end of the year (I’m pushing it!!) Managed to find this list of answers for a Q and A that was going on twitter on the meantime, so I’m reposting my answers.
Favorite Vegetable
1. Eggplant. Like the breaded kind.
Blankets in Bed?
2. Three blankets of varying thickness, but he ends up taking more because he’s a blanket hog.
Table Setting
3. He knows how to set a table the proper way but despises doing things he deems needlessly fancy.
Hair Dye
4. Pink!!
Restaurant Tipping
5. He’s the type that ends up giving out incredibly large tips.
Gas Station Foods
6. Something simple like chips and a soda/pop.
7. Same answer to 6, Maybe with some type of candy as a bonus.
Worst Smell
8. Manure.
Teeth?
9. He may or may not have slightly sharp teeth, like fangs.
Pyramid Scheme
10. I think he’d fall for a recruitment scheme.
Soup
11. Clam Chowder
Least favorite instrument
12. The Lyre (I should write out the backstory for this.)
5 Grocery purchases
13. Snacks, Water bottles, fruit, vegetable pack, and a fish
Thermostat?
14. idk. Probably warm.
Dressing Order
15. Underwear pants shirt socks in that order. probably while also doing something like brushing his teeth.
Favorite Tree?
16. Apple Tree
Gift wrapping skills?
17. Good enough at wrapping presents. The problem is trying to not get him to spoil what the present is.
Allergies
18. No allergies or cilantro gene.
Kissing Style
19. He gives like… quick pecks or on the cheek to his partner.
Handling Awkward Moments
20. He probably makes the awkward moment worse by saying something silly.
Weird habits
21. He wears shoes until they’re visibly in need of repairing. 21 Alternative. Sometimes he wanders down onto witchdrop to talk to himself.
Parking Skills
22. He cannot parallel park.
Niche Youtube Genre
23. Those cooking videos of street food.
Making fun of someone by poking at?
24. Their attitude, most likely.
Favorite Swear
25. Fuck
Least favorite book read
26. Pride and Prejudice ( he thinks Mr. Darcy is still a jerk.) He also loses interest super easy in long winded books so if he feels it’s a time waster he drops the book.
Partner dislikes but loves them anyways for
27 will be determined when he gets a partner. He keeps bouncing off the ones I attempt to write (or maybe that’s my lack of writing confidence) I guess I’d say it’s their almost marriage to their duty he sees as a flaw but still cares about regardless of them needing to balance between loyalty and him.
Of course, that's only based on his percieved persona. His real problem is a lack of trust issues.
Favorite jewelry to wear
28. Necklace
Least favorite texture
29. Anything itchy
Describe them using fast food
30. Tall French fry at the bottom of the bag that went unnoticed.
Does your OC have a dream job? If yes what is it?
What is a weird food combination that your OC loves?
Does your OC have feelings for someone?
Does your OC have feelings for someone?
- Sage and Pepper both had feelings for Haruchefant regardless of what verse I’ve written for them. It never went well.
- Lily’s too busy being an academic to have a crush on anyone.
- People think that Beet and Pen have feelings for each other but it turns out Beet has zero interest in Pen and Pen’s too busy larping as a knight to realize that anyone could have a crush on him.
- Rene once thought he felt something for the conjurer that nursed him when he was found washed up in Gridania but it turns out she didn’t care the minute it turns out he was an outsider so that quickly blew up in a bad way.
- There’s no way Bon is emotionally mature enough to be romantic or crush on anyone.
- M’ari’s love is for fishing.
What is a weird food combination that your OC loves?
- Lily actually likes eating Archon Loaf and puts it to substitute for regular bread while everyone else dies from the lack of flavor
- Pepper actually enjoys pineapple on pizza
- Bon has zero discernible tastes so he tends to try combining condiments with all sorts of food he tries to eat so people have to stop him.
- Sage carries around honey so she can put it on nearly everything because she likes things to be sweet
- Beet eats her curry with coffee and chocolate, which Sage tried once and immediately burned her tongue on both the meal and the drink
- Rene puts salt in his coffee. Upon being asked if he carries around a salt rock he smacked Pepper’s hat off.
- Pen would enjoy hypothetically eating eel pie alongside wine, which is a weird combo because it’s placing something common to something that’s probably worth more than him.
- M’ari is normal enough minus the one meal he creates which is just a combo of multiple random fish and seaweed that he fishes up and then cooks on a fire, which is less weird and more just unconventional considering that he’ll do it in the middle of civilization. He’s had to be stopped by guards a few times.
Does your OC have a dream job? If yes what is it?
- I’d say yes, and a lot of them have already gotten their dream jobs like Sage, M’ari, Pepper, and Lily.
- Pen kind of hates his job but he copes with it by being a “knight” which he’d basically love to do full time.
- Bon is happy with any job he gets, until he eventually finds a job he doesn’t like, in which he’d promptly leave.
- Rene used to have his dream job as an adventurer but due to increased primal threats went full time into being in the Twin Adders. He needs to work on balancing his life but knows if he gets any leeway he’d never go back to his post.
Could work on the spacing a bit more but eh.
What brings you joy?
Taking a bit of a general approach for this one.
Beet’s the type of person who’s always cheerful so she always manages to find a lot of things that bring her happiness. Her general happy go lucky disposition even pops out when she’s doing something like fighting in dangerous situations, which comes off as a bit jarring to people who don’t know her well.
For someone like Bon, his approach to finding out what brings him joy has been slow, especially since he’s been running around with no memories. So it’s been a trial and error of sorts. He’s not a fan of crowds or fighting, but he’s found that he gets enjoyment in communing with nature and also through helping people in need as long as they aren’t too loud.
For M'ari, the answer of what he finds joy in is a bit unexpected because of his current much more calmer demeanor. He actually enjoys doing a lot of more lively activities like going crowdsurfing and getting involved in watching (and then participating) in fights! As much as he claims to have turned over a new leaf, sometimes his former pirate occupation still shows up.
As much as Pepper spends time being an odd job adventurer who bombastically uses his skills, he actually finds enjoyment in communing with nature like Bon does. Sometimes they both go out together hiking around in the shroud.
Lily attempts to seek joy through mastering Triple Triad and gaining cards to fulfill a gap that was pointed out to her because someone once said she was hobbiless and only focusing on her thesis more than being social. It’s been a great deal of frustration for her but it seems like she’s happy from playing it, because she keeps coming back…?
Another frequent Gold Saucer visitor in this case is Rene, which is pretty much the only place anyone can see him be less stoic in comparison to his work as a Serpent Lieutenant . The difference between his actions then and in this place are like night and day. He’s the type that will play all the minigames and run about and be almost lighthearted over the entire thing. But then it’s back to business as soon as he leaves.
Sage has an incredibly simplistic answer, and it’s that she attempts to seek joy wherever she goes. Whether that be through trying new foods, helping out the locals, and crafting whatever is necessary, she never stops traveling and won’t stand to be settled in one place for long.
Pen is a man who is constantly on the move like Sage, but for him, happiness is secondary and not the priority. He doesn’t work himself to the point of exhaustion, but sometimes tunnel vision prevents him from realizing that he’ll be in the midst of working for someone else and coming to the conclusion that he’s not happy doing such a thing. But he wasn’t taught to complain, so he’ll do whatever he’s told to do. He’d honestly be happy in the company of companions, but he’s a bit lacking in that department. (He’s also a bit dense and doesn’t realize there are people who want to be his friends and not just use him to their advantage.)
13. If your muse could eat only one (1) kind of food for the rest of their life, what would it be?
· I’d say it’s probably cheating to just list off favorite foods and drinks that I put down for them, but I’ll go ahead and list them anyways!
M'ari: Antelope Steak and Apple juice, one of the orders he’d put down whenever he visited Gridania.
Bon: Takoyaki and Matcha Tea to snack on.
Sage: Dodo Omelette and Spiced Cider.
Pepper: Shakshouka and Orange Juice. Probably not both at the same time, but he’s greatly unpredictable.
Rene: Salt Cod and Ishgardian Tea.
Pen: Pearl Chocolate and Eggnog! Or Hot chocolate. He’ll try to lie about it but he has a sweet tooth.
Lily: Mashed Popotos and Peach juice. Something simple she can make while she’s training.
Beet: Scallop Curry and Thavnarian Chai tea, because curry’s become one of her favorite meals to try no matter the flavor
🎄What is the best gift they have ever received?
· I’ve actually never really considered Starlight presents, haha, so I suppose I’ll have to write something out for everyone on hand… Maybe I’ll just make them some hypothetical gifts?
I think Pepper’s best gift would probably be new equipment for his thaumaturgy since for most of his interactions he’s still wearing old level equipment which makes everyone not take him seriously. (From a meta standpoint, it’s basically him going from level 5 mage gear to BLM gear that hopefully won’t have a silly hat.) (I know it’s a feature but I want him to still have expressions if he ever emotes in photos…)
M'ari’s favorite gift was his first fishing rod he received (read: possibly stole) from the fisherman’s guild when he decided to put his old life behind (read: when he witnessed the previous 1.0 WOL who may or may not have been Pepper running against the pirates who kidnapped Wawalago.) . It’s old and broken now but he still keeps it around for memories sake.
Sage’s best gift is also an older one she received, being a wooden axe given by M'ari when she was a child. It’s also obviously old and broken, but it’s the one thing she always used when she was pretending to be an adventurer and she used it while she initially went out adventuring.
Beet’s favorite gift was a book on alchemy that her merchant parents bought for her which she memorized from cover to cover. It’s the book that inspired her to become an alchemist so she could help other people with medicine.
Pen’s best Starlight gift is when he was pardoned of his massive debt. Serious. That was the one thing making his life miserable so when it was removed he was finally able to become an adventurer full time.
Lily’s favorite gift was also a book! It was a published sharlayan book of older theses that inspired her to become a scholar as well. (More or less. Regardless she would’ve been a scholar, but unfortunately for her her real reason is because when it was found out the book was made of stolen work it was burned.)
Rene’s gifts ranged from blankets and old torn up books until he aged out and ended up adopted by another family. He didn’t really receive many gifts growing up, which is why as an adult he mostly ended up making purchases for himself. The one thing he appreciated the most as a gift was this lyre given to him by an older bard, but that broke as well. So he’s sort of a grouch when it comes to presents, but he obviously doesn’t let it show.
Bon apparently had never celebrated Starlight beforehand and said cryptically that his best gift was “living a currently long and healthy life.” The starlight gift (2021) with the snowball food and deliveries with Rudy was the closest thing he ever had to dealing with Starlight and he holds it dear to him. (Well, there’s this year’s too.) That’s why his minion is still specifically that squirrel.
What are their relationship with their parents? Are they still alive? How do their parents live with the risk their child has taken to help people/save the world?
Well, for my main WOL/adventurer type character, Sage and Pepper’s parent in question is also a character I focus on, M'ari!
It’s sort of an interesting relationship considering that he’s a seeker of the sun while his kids in question are a moon keeper and hyur while also having different colored hair, but he will always consider them his children because he’s the one who raised them. They are also primarily a large source of stress for him considering the times they’re across continents or doing absolutely insane feats and he only gets to hear about them from the rumor mill.
Rene’s parents were dead a long time before he started his journey. Being an orphan made him increasingly bitter to his own parents to people who do have good relationships with their parents but he hides it well enough. If no one wants to be raised uncomfortable by it, then he hides it. He always does that.
If they were alive, they’d probably try to use his feats in order to raise their own meager social positions. His brother and cousins probably wouldn’t get involved but… there’s reasons he doesn’t associate with the rest of his family.
As for the rest, Bon doesn’t consider himself having a mother or father or anything of the sort and is sort of confused as to why people put so much emphasis on family bonds. Beet has a pretty average family in her hometown that would probably be surprised as to hear what she does if she didn’t send letters to them all the time. Rin has definitely tried to hide the whole “associated with the warrior of light” thing from his mother because she’d definitely try to exploit it for money. Lily’s parents would be perplexed as to how she ended up in such a position and probably wouldn’t believe any rumors until she ended up back in Sharlayan.
What popular social media platform would your OC be most likely to use?
unfortunately pepper is a redditor and uses it exclusively to troll people because of his previous /v/ days Sage uses a Twitter/Instagram Rene lives under a rock when it comes to social media and most of his previous accounts are dead older people use Facebook still so unfortunately. M’ari.I think the rest of my OCs have nothing on social media unless LinkedIn counts pen would also have a Twitter account and people would think he’s just larping because of his dialect so no one ever replies to him
How does your OC celebrate starlight?
Right, said I’d put an answer and here it is!
Past times are between Rene celebrating Starlight by getting drunk and passing out while Beet’s probably out like volunteering at shelters or something. This year’s starlight focused on reindeer magic which I feel like would be Lily’s place to be. Last year’s was the “snowballs” and Bon would be out delivering those because being not-Santa (Saint’s helper?) last year was fun for him. (It’s why I still use the Starlight Squirrel minion on him.)
Sage would definitely worry herself over making sure every detail is perfect for a starlight party to invite people over to only for the part timers to completely forget it happens and come over. (Not to mention varying presents of quality.) M’ari is always nervous he’ll end up with coal but at some point he should probably get the hint that he’s off the hook for his former pirate lifestyle (considering that he barely did anything extremely criminal there.) For once, Pepper is being a good citizen and singing in choirs! Never mind the fact he’s definitely not supposed to be there but it’d probably be rude to chase him off.
Pen probably has it the worst considering that his birthday is on Starlight so people have definitely doubled presents for him.
When was the last time your OC cried?
· - You know, that’s a good question. For the most part in my writing I don’t think I’ve had anyone really cry outside of deaths and misfortunes that tend to happen more in the side of the WOLverse than anything I’ve heavily written for my part timer Verse (one day I’ll explain them alll…)
- Alternatively, despite Sage being a powerful fighter in her own right she’s still a crybaby so I could say “yesterday.”
25. How does the gang act in stressful situations?
· I guess it depends on what sort of stressful situation it would be? If it’s like a fight or flight situation then it’s probably fight or flight:
The less non jokey situation is that it’s basically extreme improvisation on everyone’s end.
Answering with the fight response would likely be: Sage, M'ari, Beet, Lily, and Pen.
Answering with the flight response would be: Bon (but he probably doesn’t even get that the situation is stressful), Rene (who’s likely panicking while he’s stressed), and Pepper.
Regardless, I think everyone tends to try and avoid stressful situations unless it’s really something necessary.
What is the most useless skill or talent they have? (ex: guessing the right numbers of beans in a jar, folding a fitted sheet right every time...)
I’d say that the useless skills currently range from ‘could be useful but are utilized incorrectly ’Rene can whistle and sort of mimic birdsong Bon can sense peoples auras but he cant properly identify what it is M’ari can tell different clouds apart Beet knows cartography (how to make maps)
This session seems to be heavily Rene focused.
5. What was your first impression of your job mentor(s) and companions (whether canon npc or headcanon), whatever profession(s) you started with? Did these change over time?
Oh, this one is definitely going to vary a bit. So I’ll mostly place it by city state.
Ul’dah
Pepper had initially started off in the Tharmaturge guild and basically ended up getting semi-involved in that questline but not enough to know that Cocobuki’s brother got possessed by a voidsent, only that he went missing for a bit. His impression was that Cocobuki was an incredibly cool guy and mage and that impression has not changed.
Pen very much stumbled onto the gladiator’s guild by sheer coincidence after losing some of his bet money due to the champion he picked (Aldis) quitting out of the blue. He heard of the entire poison the sultana plot too, but didn’t put the dots together that it was a Monetarist scheme until he also stumbled across Jenlyns and also became a free Paladin by accident. Weirdly enough, Pepper was also frequenting with the gladiators guild. He doesn’t really have an impression of Mylla because he mostly trained with Brass Blades in his free time and also was busy with his work as a goldsmith, (Note: I’ll probably make a follow up post regarding Disciple job quest instructors.) so it’s less to say he doesn’t have an impression but that he never had the time to make one. As far as he recalls Mylla just gave him the blade and armor that he uses and that’s it.
Lily recalls the pugilist guild as being… eccentric. She saw the man known as holyfist get owned by a squirrel and was thoroughly unimpressed. To be honest, she never followed up on the guild because she met Erik who has a thorough history of Ala Mhigo and spends most of her time doing work for him involving measuring aether. A very impressive and studied man, but she wishes he didn’t call her a brute.
Limsa Lominsa
Sage and M’ari both ended up dealing with the Arcanist guild as their first job post calamity* (technically Arcanist was a 1.0 job but only Urianger had it.) and for the most part both have a similar conclusion that Thubyrgeim should go ahead and take the guild leader position already since K’hrid is basically wandering the world.
Technically Sage also wielded a marauder’s axe but recalls none of what the instructor told her. She’s also never met Curious Gorge. (That’s a good thing.)
M’ari does however have a scholar stone which he uses to ensure that Sage has a healer while she does run around wielding an axe. He knows a bit about Tonberries and he helped out Alka Zolka for a bit. In his speech time he sometimes tries conversing with his Fae companions.
Gridania
Bon has an unnaturally large amount of aether that also seemingly multiplies over time, so the entire time he’s been doing conjury and healing he’s been unwittingly using his own reserves of aether instead of asking the elementals for help. Slyphie has also been trying to emulate him sometimes much to E-Sumi-Yan’s dismay. Bad enough that they’re encouraging each other’s bad habits, but now for some reason they also see each other as rivals. Bon does hold E-Sumi-Yan with a lot of respect due to his age (even if he doesn’t look that old) but still struggles with why he needs the elementals help to begin with when he’s doing fine on his own.
Beet didn’t exactly join the lancer’s guild in a sense but showed up at some lessons in order to learn self defense while she’s gathering herbs and basically for the most part is self taught. She had run into a lancer named Foulques at some point while training by herself and he began teaching her too. Lately though, he hasn’t been showing up at all while she wanders the shroud. She wonders if he’s alright sometimes.
Rene was part of the archer’s guild for a brief moment in time but totally lost all motivation due to a lot of insults to his technique as a beginner. (Beet and Bon were both trying to learn there as well at one point but both saw some of the hostility towards Rene and decided to try out other guilds.) He did manage to complete his lessons but simultaneously wishes Luciane would’ve spoken up for him at least once. Most of that is water under the bridge because his job as a Twin Adder doesn’t have him anywhere near the archer’s guild any longer. Lately he’s had a longing to get back into playing poetry and verse, but it’s hard to try explaining that to anyone or finding an instructor…
#31 for the ask meme?
What is your oc’s sense of humour like? What do they find funny? Do they try to be funny? Are they actually?
This one’s sort of a grabbag on my XIV OCs but I’d say for the most part there are those that are unintentionally funny, trying to be funny but failing, and those that have no sense of humor. Regardless, it’s hard to tell if they’ll get a joke or not unless it’s blatantly obvious or slapstick.
For Category 1: Pen, Rene, and Bon, but all for varying reasons. Pen’s unintentional humor is from him trying to act to the utmost seriousness but no one takes him as serious in universe past a few select moments and because he also has moments where he ends up looking goofy. Rene and Bon are both socially strange in some areas but Rene is more on the morbid side while Bon is bad at reading social cues. Sometimes what he says isn’t exactly what he means.
For Category 2: M'ari has an awful sense of humor because he keeps trying to do dad puns or worse, cat puns. Sage will try to tell jokes but they’re mostly stuff like knock knock jokes or even worse, jokes that don’t make sense outside of in group jokes.
Beet’s jokes mostly involve stand up comedy which doesn’t hit, usually.
Lily is immensely stoic and doesn’t get most jokes unless they’re academic. In which case, no one laughs.
Pepper is the only one who’s intentionally funny because his entire gig as a magician is more or less him acting goofy to get off guard.
One day I’ll write for my original characters again.
What is the character’s go-to drink order? (this one gets into how do they like to be publicly perceived, because there is always some level of theatricality to ordering drinks at a bar/resturant)
Alright! Let’s see here…
I think for people who could care less on their public perception, they’d definitely order something that could potentially get them drunk. I’d say the types to order drinks like that would be M’ari and Bon. Sage is the type that only orders to get drunk when she’s feeling particularly emotional and has definitely gotten into a few bar fights she’s had to be bailed out of (mostly after everyone’s been fought already.) I want to say that Pen also tries drinking to be seen seriously, but he’s a lightweight.
For the types to be seen as boring, it’d definitely be water or juice. Majority would go here like Rene, Pepper, Beet, and Lily. I want to say that Pepper and Rene are the types that only drink in privacy while Lily has abstained from drinking entirely.
Answers to an Q and A (Rene)
Cleaning through my computer and typing out for my Neocities site, which I promised I’d have finished by the end of the year (I’m pushing it!!) Managed to find this list of answers for a Q and A that was going on twitter on the meantime, so I’m reposting my answers.
Favorite Vegetable
1. Eggplant. Like the breaded kind.
Blankets in Bed?
2. Three blankets of varying thickness, but he ends up taking more because he’s a blanket hog.
Table Setting
3. He knows how to set a table the proper way but despises doing things he deems needlessly fancy.
Hair Dye
4. Pink!!
Restaurant Tipping
5. He’s the type that ends up giving out incredibly large tips.
Gas Station Foods
6. Something simple like chips and a soda/pop.
7. Same answer to 6, Maybe with some type of candy as a bonus.
Worst Smell
8. Manure.
Teeth?
9. He may or may not have slightly sharp teeth, like fangs.
Pyramid Scheme
10. I think he’d fall for a recruitment scheme.
Soup
11. Clam Chowder
Least favorite instrument
12. The Lyre (I should write out the backstory for this.)
5 Grocery purchases
13. Snacks, Water bottles, fruit, vegetable pack, and a fish
Thermostat?
14. idk. Probably warm.
Dressing Order
15. Underwear pants shirt socks in that order. probably while also doing something like brushing his teeth.
Favorite Tree?
16. Apple Tree
Gift wrapping skills?
17. Good enough at wrapping presents. The problem is trying to not get him to spoil what the present is.
Allergies
18. No allergies or cilantro gene.
Kissing Style
19. He gives like… quick pecks or on the cheek to his partner.
Handling Awkward Moments
20. He probably makes the awkward moment worse by saying something silly.
Weird habits
21. He wears shoes until they’re visibly in need of repairing. 21 Alternative. Sometimes he wanders down onto witchdrop to talk to himself.
Parking Skills
22. He cannot parallel park.
Niche Youtube Genre
23. Those cooking videos of street food.
Making fun of someone by poking at?
24. Their attitude, most likely.
Favorite Swear
25. Fuck
Least favorite book read
26. Pride and Prejudice ( he thinks Mr. Darcy is still a jerk.) He also loses interest super easy in long winded books so if he feels it’s a time waster he drops the book.
Partner dislikes but loves them anyways for
27 will be determined when he gets a partner. He keeps bouncing off the ones I attempt to write (or maybe that’s my lack of writing confidence) I guess I’d say it’s their almost marriage to their duty he sees as a flaw but still cares about regardless of them needing to balance between loyalty and him.
Of course, that's only based on his percieved persona. His real problem is a lack of trust issues.
Favorite jewelry to wear
28. Necklace
Least favorite texture
29. Anything itchy
Describe them using fast food
30. Tall French fry at the bottom of the bag that went unnoticed.
Does your OC have a dream job? If yes what is it?
What is a weird food combination that your OC loves?
Does your OC have feelings for someone?
Does your OC have feelings for someone?
- Sage and Pepper both had feelings for Haruchefant regardless of what verse I’ve written for them. It never went well.
- Lily’s too busy being an academic to have a crush on anyone.
- People think that Beet and Pen have feelings for each other but it turns out Beet has zero interest in Pen and Pen’s too busy larping as a knight to realize that anyone could have a crush on him.
- Rene once thought he felt something for the conjurer that nursed him when he was found washed up in Gridania but it turns out she didn’t care the minute it turns out he was an outsider so that quickly blew up in a bad way.
- There’s no way Bon is emotionally mature enough to be romantic or crush on anyone.
- M’ari’s love is for fishing.
What is a weird food combination that your OC loves?
- Lily actually likes eating Archon Loaf and puts it to substitute for regular bread while everyone else dies from the lack of flavor
- Pepper actually enjoys pineapple on pizza
- Bon has zero discernible tastes so he tends to try combining condiments with all sorts of food he tries to eat so people have to stop him.
- Sage carries around honey so she can put it on nearly everything because she likes things to be sweet
- Beet eats her curry with coffee and chocolate, which Sage tried once and immediately burned her tongue on both the meal and the drink
- Rene puts salt in his coffee. Upon being asked if he carries around a salt rock he smacked Pepper’s hat off.
- Pen would enjoy hypothetically eating eel pie alongside wine, which is a weird combo because it’s placing something common to something that’s probably worth more than him.
- M’ari is normal enough minus the one meal he creates which is just a combo of multiple random fish and seaweed that he fishes up and then cooks on a fire, which is less weird and more just unconventional considering that he’ll do it in the middle of civilization. He’s had to be stopped by guards a few times.
Does your OC have a dream job? If yes what is it?
- I’d say yes, and a lot of them have already gotten their dream jobs like Sage, M’ari, Pepper, and Lily.
- Pen kind of hates his job but he copes with it by being a “knight” which he’d basically love to do full time.
- Bon is happy with any job he gets, until he eventually finds a job he doesn’t like, in which he’d promptly leave.
- Rene used to have his dream job as an adventurer but due to increased primal threats went full time into being in the Twin Adders. He needs to work on balancing his life but knows if he gets any leeway he’d never go back to his post.
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