Ariane ❧ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nophicascounsel) wrote2022-01-01 10:18 pm
nophicascounsel) wrote2022-01-01 10:18 pm
Entry tags:
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Ariane Auravert;
remember that you can't save everyone / remember that you have to try
BASICS
pronouns: she/her
race: wildwood elezen
age: 28 (as of Endwalker)
dob: 13th sun, 3rd astral moon (may 13th)
job (occupation): adventurer
job (class): bard/botanist(/dark knight)
APPEARANCE
❧ Short by giraffe elezen standards, but tall by human ones at roughly 6'2"/189cm.
❧ Physically fit, with a characteristically elezen stretched-out, slender build.
❧ Long red hair with heavy bangs, typically braided out of her way and/or tucked inside a hat, except for a section of loose ringlets on each side.
❧ Vivid green eyes. Fair skin, scattered with freckles.
❧ Typically dressed for travel, preferring shades of green or deep red. Rarely seen without earrings or ear clasps.
❧ Physically fit, with a characteristically elezen stretched-out, slender build.
❧ Long red hair with heavy bangs, typically braided out of her way and/or tucked inside a hat, except for a section of loose ringlets on each side.
❧ Vivid green eyes. Fair skin, scattered with freckles.
❧ Typically dressed for travel, preferring shades of green or deep red. Rarely seen without earrings or ear clasps.
PERSONALITY
positive
compassionate. warm. resilient. doesn't panic easily.
compassionate. warm. resilient. doesn't panic easily.
neutral
music lover. curious. people person. thrill seeker. needs time outdoors. cries easily (to her dismay).
music lover. curious. people person. thrill seeker. needs time outdoors. cries easily (to her dismay).
negative
mildly gullible. tries to conceal negative emotions (and isn't very good at it.) self-sacrificing, asks too little for what she gives.
mildly gullible. tries to conceal negative emotions (and isn't very good at it.) self-sacrificing, asks too little for what she gives.
LIKES/DISLIKES/FEARS
likes
♡ small, cute, fluffy things ♡ ginger cookies, rabbit pie ♡ lilies-of-the-valley, carnations, Azeyma roses ♡ stories and storytellers ♡ children (wants a big family) ♡ deep forests ♡ heights ♡ collecting souvenirs
♡ small, cute, fluffy things ♡ ginger cookies, rabbit pie ♡ lilies-of-the-valley, carnations, Azeyma roses ♡ stories and storytellers ♡ children (wants a big family) ♡ deep forests ♡ heights ♡ collecting souvenirs
dislikes
✗ deserts ✗ Ul'dah in general, tbh ✗ coffee, milk (lactose intolerant), most alcohol (can't hold her liquor) ✗ rude mammets ✗ lying
✗ deserts ✗ Ul'dah in general, tbh ✗ coffee, milk (lactose intolerant), most alcohol (can't hold her liquor) ✗ rude mammets ✗ lying
fears
☠ spiders ☠ Ixal ☠ losing loved ones ☠ dying with regrets
☠ spiders ☠ Ixal ☠ losing loved ones ☠ dying with regrets
ABILITIES
the echo / the blessing of light
TBA
TBA
bard
TBA
TBA
dark knight
TBA (note: applicable to Ariane as a/the WoL only; as a regular adventurer she wouldn't go through the events that lead to her picking it up)
TBA (note: applicable to Ariane as a/the WoL only; as a regular adventurer she wouldn't go through the events that lead to her picking it up)
BACKGROUND
❧ She was raised in a small village in the northern Black Shroud by a single mother, Marielle. She never met her father, an Ishgardian lancer who skipped town when he learned Marielle was pregnant. While she at least knows what he looks like by now thanks to the Echo, Ariane has never made an effort to seek him out. The thought has crossed her mind a few times, but she isn't sure what she would say to him or if she'd be okay with him deciding he wants to be in her life after all. She doesn't know whether he's even still alive.
❧ Marielle never married, despite the hardships of providing for her daughter by herself. Ariane sometimes speculated on whether she was afraid of getting hurt again, unwilling to accept anything less than a love match, or just too damn busy running the household by herself. (The answer is a bit of all three with a side of "might have had something going on with the woman next door".) As a result, Ariane remained an only child, and as a young girl she longed for siblings.
❧ "It takes a village" strongly applied to Ariane's childhood and she learned much from her neighbors, but she and Marielle remained close right through the end of the latter's life. She grew up learning botany and household skills from her mother, how to play the lute from the local bard, exploring the surrounding woods and, once she was old enough, honing her skills in woodcraft and the bow to bring home food for the household. Having always dreamed of travel, she would likely have set out a few years earlier than she did if not for the Calamity; unfortunately, the combination of Elf Puberty and cleaning up after the disaster put things on hold, and then her mother fell ill, never to recover.
❧ The Calamity awoke her Echo, though it rarely activated and she wouldn't know what it was until years later. She didn't mention what few visions she got to anyone, even her mother, for fear of how people would react, until finally meeting someone who recognized the phenomenon. (Yda and Papalymo if she's the WoL, a minor/background Scion if she's a regular adventurer)
❧ Her fear of Ixal stems from an incident not long after the Calamity. She and two others from her village were out on a hunting party when they stumbled across an Ixali logging camp. The inhabitants, knowing what would happen if the Wood Wailers learned of their presence, attacked, intending to capture them for Garuda or at least prevent them from carrying word back. Ariane and one of her companions got away; the other took a mortal blow covering their escape.
❧ After Marielle's passing from her long illness, Ariane couldn't bear to remain in her childhood home alone. Her first destination: her grandparents' home in Gridania; her second: the Adventurer's Guild, which seemed a perfect way to feed her wanderlust, help people, and further improve her skills as an archer. (The Botanist's Guild would be her third stop, WoL: somewhere between ARR and Heavensward / regular adventurer: once she was settled in in Gridania.)
❧ WoL Ariane: Events go forward as in canon, with her returning to Gridania between storylines. She picks up the Dark Knight jobstone immediately after the events at the Vault.
❧ Adventurer Ariane: While on a job in La Noscea she encountered someone who recognized one of her Echo visions for what it was and introduced her to the Scions. She joined them, but in a background role, going on less-dramatic adventures and missions that thankfully had her away from the Waking Sands at the time of the ARR massacre.
❧ Marielle never married, despite the hardships of providing for her daughter by herself. Ariane sometimes speculated on whether she was afraid of getting hurt again, unwilling to accept anything less than a love match, or just too damn busy running the household by herself. (The answer is a bit of all three with a side of "might have had something going on with the woman next door".) As a result, Ariane remained an only child, and as a young girl she longed for siblings.
❧ "It takes a village" strongly applied to Ariane's childhood and she learned much from her neighbors, but she and Marielle remained close right through the end of the latter's life. She grew up learning botany and household skills from her mother, how to play the lute from the local bard, exploring the surrounding woods and, once she was old enough, honing her skills in woodcraft and the bow to bring home food for the household. Having always dreamed of travel, she would likely have set out a few years earlier than she did if not for the Calamity; unfortunately, the combination of Elf Puberty and cleaning up after the disaster put things on hold, and then her mother fell ill, never to recover.
❧ The Calamity awoke her Echo, though it rarely activated and she wouldn't know what it was until years later. She didn't mention what few visions she got to anyone, even her mother, for fear of how people would react, until finally meeting someone who recognized the phenomenon. (Yda and Papalymo if she's the WoL, a minor/background Scion if she's a regular adventurer)
❧ Her fear of Ixal stems from an incident not long after the Calamity. She and two others from her village were out on a hunting party when they stumbled across an Ixali logging camp. The inhabitants, knowing what would happen if the Wood Wailers learned of their presence, attacked, intending to capture them for Garuda or at least prevent them from carrying word back. Ariane and one of her companions got away; the other took a mortal blow covering their escape.
❧ After Marielle's passing from her long illness, Ariane couldn't bear to remain in her childhood home alone. Her first destination: her grandparents' home in Gridania; her second: the Adventurer's Guild, which seemed a perfect way to feed her wanderlust, help people, and further improve her skills as an archer. (The Botanist's Guild would be her third stop, WoL: somewhere between ARR and Heavensward / regular adventurer: once she was settled in in Gridania.)
❧ WoL Ariane: Events go forward as in canon, with her returning to Gridania between storylines. She picks up the Dark Knight jobstone immediately after the events at the Vault.
❧ Adventurer Ariane: While on a job in La Noscea she encountered someone who recognized one of her Echo visions for what it was and introduced her to the Scions. She joined them, but in a background role, going on less-dramatic adventures and missions that thankfully had her away from the Waking Sands at the time of the ARR massacre.
ART
commissions from lovely people
❧ boyfriend hoodie, by luc
❧ in the style of Okami, by cidate
❧ a shared dance, by sib
❧ bnuuy edition, by alba
❧ dragon AU reference sheet, by QV
❧ [strums aggressively], by luc
❧ boyfriend hoodie, by luc
❧ in the style of Okami, by cidate
❧ a shared dance, by sib
❧ bnuuy edition, by alba
❧ dragon AU reference sheet, by QV
❧ [strums aggressively], by luc
![[strums aggressively]](https://nophicascounsel.dreamwidth.org/file/3700.png){kind=link}
DC . PST (UTC-8) . ![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
insanityprelude . permissions
Notes: Dragon AU
self-indulgent PSL things, if you're not![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
personalinterest this isn't going to come up anywhere
Half-dragon form:
- Not unlike a Ryslig gargoyle or a more dragony/heavily scaled Au Ra.
- Most of her body is covered in off-white scales; face, ears, palms/inner wrists, breasts and a strip from sternum to navel are bare. The scales on her back, shoulders and outer thighs are thicker and more armored, while the smallest, softest scales are on her joints and stomach.
- Her shoulders and lower back have a scattering of gold speckles, similarly colored to her horns and claws.
- Horns: Swept backward from her face, lightly spiraled (think some kinds of antelope), gold in color. A shorter, straighter pair sits beneath.
- A few inches taller than she was originally, making her 6'6" or so
- Claws: same color as her horns, kept short and dull
- Taloned lizardy feet
- Fangs
- Slitted, reptilian eyes with very little white visible. Still the same shade of green as ever.
- Long, sinuous tail with spikes at the end, like that one au ra tail option
- Feathered wings; mostly a similar red-brown to her hair, but dappled with gold and brighter red: the colors of autumn foliage. Instead of a dorsal ridge like the husbando got, she has thin, downy feathers all along her spine, the same color as her scales. (And yes, all of it molts every so often. RIP.)
- Forget about wearing pants with this tail and these talons. It's skirts all the way, and tops she's gotten Tataru to make to accomodate her wings.
Full dragon form:
- Long and lanky- built for speed and flexibility, not tanking. Not unlike the noodly build of the First Brood wyrms (see Hraesvelgr below) though of course she's smaller and doesn't have their second set of wings.
- Horns are longer, thicker and have a more pronounced spiral, with frills from the lower set down to her jawline.
- Coloration is basically the same as above: cream base color, spattered with golden-brown "freckles" on her muzzle, shoulders and haunches.
- Wing coloration is the same as above.
- A "mane" of thin, downy feathers along the full length of her back- similar to Vrtra or Hraesvelgr's.
ramblings on trauma from plurk
[spoilers through 6.0] making myself sad thinking about Vrtra's "the attrition wrought upon thy companions" line and how by the time EW comes around Ariane, on some level, does feel a bit like her companions would be better off without her
full of bones
https://images.plurk.com/5tiiRA4GynkqZne6MgvjDb.png like, obviously she can't blame every ally death or injury upon herself (the massacre at the Waking Sands would have happened one way or the other, for instance) but:
- she does blame herself somewhat for the Bloody Banquet; okay my memory of ARR/post-ARR is fuzzy, I should really get back on my alt, but like
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she's definitely thought "I should have talked Alphinaud out of forming the Crystal Braves" at the very least
the Monetarists would still have found a way to shoot their shot eventually, probably, or if she hadn't been at the banquet they would have framed someone else, but. being the pawn they used means to some extent she blames herself for the Scions
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being exiled, Y'shtola and Thancred's disabilities and Minfilia's "death" as a result of the escape, idk it was rough for her
- obviously there's the fact that Moen and Haurchefant very much did specifically take the bullet for her
(she absolutely had a sobbing breakdown on someone, probably Aymeric, after the latter. "what makes me worth dying for")
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- Ysayle sacrificing herself shortly afterward didn't exactly help
- I can't think of something for her to blame herself for about Stormblood- like, Zenos becoming obsessed with the WoL ultimately caused a lot of death and destruction by Endwalker, but even she knows couldn't have predicted him *coming back from the dead*
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- the Scions only got gatcha'd to the First because G'raha was trying to get ahold of her. And like that turned out to be a good thing really, because she couldn't have saved the First alone, but there's an itsy bit of guilt there
- And then there's fucking. Ultima Thule.
... Basically, there are lots of reasons besides "if you keep this up you won't get
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to enjoy the world you saved" that she quits WoLing after 6.0.
(I say that now, but I'm sure I'll find an excuse for her to continue being the WoL for Dawntrail, especially since I'll be playing through it on her and not my Dynamis alt)
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bonus: Moenbryda wasn't even the first person she saw die taking a hit for her! shortly before the Calamity, she was out hunting with a couple others from her village and they were ambushed by Ixal. (or stumbled upon Ixal loggers who tried to take them out before they could go back and call for the wailers?) one of her hunting companions basically went
full of bones
"you're the youngest, you have to make it" and got between her and an attacker, but took a fatal blow in the process
she never really gets over her fear/hate for the Ixal afterwards, although once the Alliance is on better terms with the tribes post-ShB I guess she's gotta learn a grudging tolerance for them. she did not do the Ehcatl Nine quests, obviously
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speaking of sobbing breakdowns, the solo duty in 5.3 really got to her- the one where Elidibus has the WoL fight through copies of NPCs from throughout their journey
i'm looking that quest up like wow, i forgot how much it has in common with parts of the DRK storyline. weapon of light yada yada
Catgirl Crimes
God that was rough doing it lol
howlchefant
given that Meteor takes on DRK as the flagship class for ShB? yeah, i'd say that was 100% intentional on Ishikawa's part
full of bones
yeah and Ariane picked up DRK during HW so some of Elidibus's taunts were ringing *very* familiar
Fray had to take the reins a few times to get her through it, and it was absolutely the subject of recurring nightmares afterward ("killing" the Scions and Aymeric, especially)
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just ugh the fact that if you've played the DRK job quests he's throwing the same things in WoL's face that they've already thrown at themselves
despite it all though, she told Venat her journey had been worthwhile, and she meant it
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Pardon my Undertale, but "despite everything, it's still you" feels apt here.
howlchefant
considering that Venat still remembers you as Azem... yeah, that does seem apt
full of bones
I mean I literally have that line tattooed on me, I may as well shove it into relevancy wherever I can lmao
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("Despite everything, it's still you," I mean, not the "has your journey been good?" bit)
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thinks about ariane breaking down crying on aymeric after the vault and then apologizing to *him* because she thinks he doesn't need other people's burdens rn- dude's injured after all, recovering from torture most likely!
even though haurche's death is a *shared* burden
this is really where the valuing other people over herself too much starts, isn't it
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itching to get some of this into a thread
5.3- or ultima thule-related nightmares would be good h/c fuel just saiyan (i'm just a sucker for "character has nightmare, partner soothes them back to sleep" in general)
plurk meme q&a- july 2023
12: Music was a hobby well before she became a bard! She's been singing pretty much as long as she's been speaking, and first learned to play an instrument (a harp seems most Gridanian, even if it weren't associated with BRD as a class) from a neighbor who used to play in/around the village tavern, after she got up the nerve to ask if she could try it. She also finds sewing strangely relaxing, though canonically she hasn't picked up WVR.
13: DPS. Her "canon" classes are bard and dark knight, but sheeeee isn't really that much of a tank? DRK is there more for the story aspect if that makes sense.
14: Singing, again. Her voice is suited to it and she has a strong ear for music. 🤔 what else, first thing that's coming to mind is "good sense of direction" but is that really a talent
16: Ariane grew up with a single mother. Her dad was an Ishgardian who had come to Gridania for something with the Lancers' Guild; Marielle (her mom) thought their relationship was a serious romance, he... didn't. He skipped town when she revealed she was pregnant. Marielle ended up leaving town too because blahblahblah reasons, if I think about it too much I'm like "... that wouldn't really work in vaguely-medieval-era would it?" but I'm attached to it now.
So let's say the Botanist's Guild needed someone for a project in the North Shroud and Marielle was embarrassed, going through a rocky patch with her parents due to getting pregnant out of wedlock (though they would eventually reconcile, and Ariane headed straight to them when she set out to start adventuring), and eager to leave.
"It takes a village" definitely applied to Ariane's childhood, as a result! Marielle never married, despite the hardships of running the household herself.
Ariane has often wondered what having siblings would have been like- the Leveilleur twins basically fill that role for her now.
Marielle passed away around five years after the Calamity from an unnamed illness (ie cancer.) This was the direct impetus for Ariane to set out as an adventurer- she'd always wanted to travel, but then the Calamity happened, and then her mother fell ill, and now... what else was there left to do but finally get going?
She also passed on her interest and a fair amount of her knowledge in gardening and botany. c: The Botanist's Guild was Ariane's second stop, after her grandparents' home.
Thanks to the Echo, she knows what her father looked like, but she's never sought him out. Part of her wants to ask why he did what he did but... she's pretty sure she wouldn't appreciate the answer, and it feels too late to try and bring him into her life, assuming he didn't get himself killed by dragons when he went back to Coerthas anyway.
/checks the info post i wrote a while back
oh I guess I had her joining the botanists' guild after ARR actually, adventuring first
anyway after endwalker when she decides to hang up the mantle of WoL the guild is what she goes back to as her main thing
10: Ginger cookies for desserts, [looks at culinarian log for ideas] her mom's rabbit pie for main dishes; she's tried to replicate the recipe as best she can but feels like it still doesn't match up to what she grew up with. Fun (well, not for her- looking at Ishgardian food here) fact: she's mildly lactose intolerant. [playdead] Dairy is uncommon in Gridanian food bc pastures piss off the elementals, so I figure lactase persistence might be less common among their population
24: Her mom, Miounne, Fufucha. In a way, her memories of Haurchefant also, but that comes into #26 when I get to it.
25: She'd have trouble picking just one. Haurchefant revealing the room he had set up for her (and what followed 😏) is way up there!* So is bringing home her first successful catch back when she was learning to hunt; the pride in knowing that she could help put food on the table, and her mother's praise as though she'd brought home something much more impressive than a scrawny rabbit.
I think there's gotta be a memory pretty high up the rankings involving the twins, too. Just goofing off with them like the siblings she always wanted.
*this was referring to a thread with the player I was talking to
26: Fray helps somewhat, but like. Points to the entirety of ShB and EW. Ariane is not her own first priority and it's a problem.
She took "a smile better suits a hero" way too much to heart- the fact that she's easily moved to tears is actually really embarrassing to her, because it conflicts with the image of strength she wants to project.
She bottles things up as best she can and saves them to break down over in private; she takes on too much because if she doesn't, who will?
It took the end of 6.0 for her to finally say enough was enough, she's done all she can for this star and if she keeps this up she's not going to be around to enjoy the world she saved.
(This is where Rael comes in, "canonically," although in truth leveling an alt isn't really for me and so I'll always be playing through story content on Ariane lol.
He and Ariane are both shards of Azem, I guess, because the crystal needs to vibe with him for him to take over the WoL role.)