Darien Cadell

Qhora's also okay with being stolen from, so can add her to the whitelist. As an ex-burglar/trained Shroud bandit, she's a bit too savvy to carry real valuables or even stand out from the crowd enough to be that great a mark, but a bump in the marketplace and suddenly missing coin purse is more likely to make her laugh than rage, and getting involved in any sort of skullduggery is A-OK in my book (less in hers, since it's supposed to be behind her, but more than happy to run with it). While she technically still does the lockpicking/safecracking/climbing up drainpipes thing on occasion, these days it's in the interests of upstanding moral clients as an investigator, so not sure what sort of contact she'd make, either. But fun is fun, doesn't have to be the best fit.

I think death is to some degree a desensitized thing in a world where being old is a rarity because people die to violence more often than they don't. That and each character's background would affect how they view death and killing. A first kill could be a simple rite of passage in one family or a nightmare-inducing trauma in another. For someone playing the mercenary- help the city deal with bandits, help the Grand Company deal with Garleans -type of adventurer who has willfully chosen that type of work and knows what's involved, killing another person who has been deemed "in the wrong" is probably less of a big deal than for characters who stay out of that line of work. But if a young person who's never killed anyone before chooses to do that kind of thing, if they have any empathy at all and haven't had their choices directed by their past (vengeance, hatred, whatever), I think it probably should affect them at least the first time they kill someone, however briefly, while they work out if it's something they're capable of doing regularly. As for my character, she lost part of her family the usual Calamity way. That didn't get her down too much, but it did drive her to a mercenary type of lifestyle. While she would have valued most lives very highly, she probably cut her first other-person kill on Garleans in the Shroud, who to her would have been absolutely worthy of any death she could have handed them, and probably viewed killing them as no different than culling an overpopulation of morbols. When she was later forced into a situation where she had to kill people she knew and loved to make it out alive, she went off the rails and lost all sense of value in life, including her own. She worked as a straight up assassin, killing any target for the right price, because she was good at it and every kill seemed to keep her alive. She came out the other side of that and has regained her sense of "every life has value," but not entirely intact and undamaged mentally. She still does mercenary work, but is much more careful about which jobs she takes, avoiding murder entirely and probably only accepting kill-type jobs if rescue is involved. So she's been dramatically affected by her life as a "killer," but not at all in the same way as, say, I would be.

I'd like in to this, too. I'll poke one of the leaders and see how things are sitting next time I'm in game.

That was the problem. The thing that hid her identity was the most recognizable thing about her. She looked like a burglar. Everyone would expect it from someone who looked like she looked. If she walked into a party, people would hide the silverware. She didn't mind, though. She walked into the party anyway. When it came to her work, she only left witnesses when she wanted someone to hear about it. Otherwise, she was careful, very careful. Everyone might have seen her waltz in the front door, but no one would be able to prove she'd been involved in the untoward happenings in the cellar. "W-why are you doing this?" the Lalafell whimpered. "I kill parents to get to their children. I kill children to get to their parents," Qhora offered by way of explanation. "B-but killing me won't get to anybody," the victim cried. "I know. You're just a loose end." "W-what?" "Finished. Used up. Done with. Done for." Moonlight flickered across the murderer's sharp [align=center]~~[/align] Qhora turned the page and paused a moment to admire the beauty of temporarily untouched parchment, the placeholder of so much potential, an enchanting gold by candlelight. An odd, lavender glow at the centerfold caught her eye. "What...?" A falling meteor symbol suddenly flashed bright from the blank page, blinding Qhora, and she slammed the book shut. "Really?" A voice came from behind her. "Godsdamnit, you... blasted... loser," Qhora hissed. She snatched up the book from her desk and whipped it at the offending voice. The book bounced off a man's shoulder. "Ow. I'm hurt. By both your words and your words." He picked up the book and waved it around, wiggling his eyebrows at his own wit. "Huh. I didn't think that would actually hit you." "Just because I'm dead, doesn't mean I'm incorporeal." "Isn't that... exactly what it means?" The ginger-haired Hyur shrugged. "How did you even get in this locked room if you're... corporeal?" Qhora demanded. He shrugged again. "Ugh! Do you have any idea how much I hate your stupid guts?" "You don't tell me often enough," he said with a grin. He opened the book and leafed through the pages. "I knew you were thinking about taking up writing, but autobiography? Isn't that a bit, I don't know, tame?" "Hey!" She grabbed the book out of his hands and wrapped her arms around it, pressing the volume against her chest. "Did you just call my life story tame?" "Well, yeah, compared to the visions of identity stealing shadows you were actually--" "You were spying on me there, too?!" Qhora tried to sound as offended as she could possibly manage. "Oh, honey. I'm always spying on you." "I hate you so much!" Qhora shrieked the start of the statement, then grumble-yelled the end of it. "You're going to piss me off so much, I'll wake someone up." "That's what you get for writing in your Company room instead of your house." "Aargh! Get out! Just get out!" She wielded her book two-handed and smacked him about the head and shoulders. "Okay, okay!" he said, laughing between the strikes of the book. "I'm never really gone, you know." "I know! But at least if I don't have to see you and hear you, I can pretend I don't have the biggest loser jerk corpse in the entirety of Eorzea tailing me everywhere I go." "Such a fantasy--" "Get out!" she shrieked again. He laughed some more and stepped back against the wall. Despite his theoretical corporeality, he vanished through the wall, leaving amused laughter to reverberate around the room. As Qhora stood fuming in the center of that laughter, there was a gentle knock on her door. "Everything all right in there?" "Yeah, sorry. Nightmares," she offered by way of explanation. "Okay," said the voice. Footsteps moved down the hallway.

Qhora wiped her bloody knife on her victim's tunic as she let the Miqo'te woman's body slump to the floor. The open door suddenly filled with shadow. Qhora hissed and backed instinctively up against the wall. She'd had a few close calls since starting Syndicate work, but she had yet to be caught. She didn't want to find out what that was like if she didn't have to. "You do good work." Iron Falcon's voice was calm and serious as he surveyed the scene, extremely tidy but for the blood pooling underneath the target he'd given Qhora a matter of hours ago. Qhora let out the breath she was holding. "This isn't exactly a great place for a chat," she snarled. "Of course," the Roegadyn said. "You should get a table this time." "I--" "Don't take credit. I know. Or whatever else it was you were going to say." He waved a hand dismissively. "Do it anyway." He left, and soft light fell back into the room. Qhora left through the window, the way she'd come in. [align=center]~~[/align] Qhora sat awkwardly at a small table when Iron Falcon thumped his considerable weight into the chair across from her. "You didn't order anything?" he asked. "That's a bit conspicuous." Qhora rolled her eyes at him, then took a sip of water, holding the cup with both hands. "So is dressing like a cat burglar," he added with a smirk. "I'm not laughing," she said, scowling. "How did you end up working for Giyu anyway?" he asked. She sat up straight. "You get right to the point." "Yes." "It's..." She looked away, staring at the floor. "Complicated." "I see." "I doubt it." "You know why I'm asking." "No." He gave her a look that questioned her intelligence. "I'm trying to suss out your loyalty." "I'm not loyal to Giyu," Qhora said flatly. "You're not?" He seemed taken aback. "I'm loyal to the gil." "Ah, that explains things," he said with a grin. "She does have a lot of it." "She's also the only contact I had." Iron Falcon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So if I could promise you more gil, would you be willing to do private contracts?" "Mmhm." Qhora nodded, then took another sip of water. She tilted her head slightly, then finally made eye contact. "You think Giyu won't like it?" "Have you talked about it with her?" "I try not to talk to people," Qhora explained. "Ha! As long as you haven't promised her you won't, she probably already thinks you do." "Fine then." Falcon reached across the table and patted her shoulder with a meaty hand. "Great." She flinched, rubbing at her shoulder and leaning away from where he'd touched her. "My rules stay, though." "Right. You work alone and you don't take credit. I might have to give you a little credit here and there." She scowled. "Then if I get caught, I'm taking you with me." He laughed heartily. "Understood."

Qhora will approach a stranger: 1) Out of sheer curiosity. She'll approach people if they say, do, or look something, anything, that piques her attention, for a wide variety of reasons. This is the basis for almost all the things I do, when I do them. Unfortunately, it often turns into a one-sided interrogation. 2) If she's looking for an answer to somebody else's question. For example, she's been hired to do a PI-type job that directly or indirectly involves said stranger. Sometimes I'll invent the question and the somebody else, so that she does actually happen to be looking for said stranger. Sometimes I'll know she has the wrong person, but let her do it anyway, for the sake of the game. 3) If she's afraid they might know who she really is. It almost never comes up, because the people who run in the circles she used to don't usually talk about it in public, but if someone did mention thievery and assassination, especially in organized terms, she might try to insinuate herself into the conversation to try and determine the possible level of danger to herself. 4) For help, of the mercenary and mundane varieties. If she needs help finding something at the market or with some upcoming Grand Company chore. 5) For fun. If people are doing or saying something amusing in a relatively objective way, she'll often stop and watch. She makes a good crowd/audience. She's maybe less likely to interject if she's just there to be amused, but she will offer compliments when particularly impressed. She may also interrupt a stranger if she thinks she can stir up a situation that will amuse her, possibly to said stranger's chagrin (think gentle pranks). Qhora will accept being approached when: 1) Oddly enough, someone asks personal questions about her. She likes to talk about herself, but she also likes to play the game of deciding how much to give away, how much to lie about, how much to make sound more mysterious than it really is, etc. 2) Someone disparages the women in their lives, especially mothers and sisters. Wives and daughters are also good. She would be happy to commiserate in such a circumstance. 3) Invited to take part in something that seems like an adventure. If she can twist it in her mind that any given invitation might lead to fun or interest, she'll hop on the bandwagon easy as pie. She's not afraid of the unknown. 4) Someone waxes poetic. She likes words and the power they have. She'd drop what she's doing to listen to a speech (or even someone's manner of speech) that she finds particularly artistic or to converse with someone on the topic of lyricism. 5) Someone mentions ghosts. In particular, actual, for real hauntings, the dead that somehow return to pester the living in various ways. She's not that into the spooky side of the world, but has a bit of trouble with her own ghosts. She'd be unable to resist getting into that conversation.

I don't know. Babies are pretty parasitic, especially early. They attach and feed like any other separate yet internal creature. If a person can show up on the other end of a teleportation spell with all of their fleas and worms and lice and biological entities separate from themselves that cause harm and/or keep them alive like intestinal bacterial colonies, they can probably show up with their baby. So then there's the question of whether teleportation works like a decontamination and every "life" separate from the teleporter is subsequently removed.

Well, there ya go. I'd never looked into it as I'd simply been told the male miqo was doing the female emote, and I'd never questioned any of my own (female miqo) animations in any cutscenes. I'd wager there's more than a few cutscene animations that don't exist out in the game, but one that's clearly a reaction might be expected to be attainable when it's not. Very cool information.

Yep. When a friend saw his male miqo character do the female /shocked in a cutscene, he was very surprised. It's a "bug," somehow giving the male model the female's animation. I mean maybe it's intended, but it's not usual. (/surprised for femqotes is hands flat in front of mouth, /shocked is the curled like paws)

Mass Effect Andromeda. And it's soooo far away. ; ; I'm renowned for my general raging hate-on for sci-fi things. There are a notable few exceptions (Firefly, Deep Space Nine - enough operatics can get me past my distaste for giant black ocean vacuums), and Mass Effect is the greatest of all my exceptions. I adore it to pieces. Not even 3 could ruin this series for me, and I need more of it. In my veins. Right now. I should play through them all again. Except then I'd never be in XIV.

I did FFXI a bit while waiting for Heavensward launch. I picked up the WoW 7-day free thing for this week, but... I just don't think I'm going to do it. Without the expac, there isn't any new content to see, and I'm sure as heck not paying for it, and unless they give me a way to server transfer characters en masse for a reasonable price, I'm probably not playing it with any seriousness again. (Also, they need a content patch schedule that isn't a trainwreck.) I have TERA on hand if I get bored, but I usually hit up single-player stuff for burn-out reduction, rather than other MMOs. I would play GW2, but... reasons. As is always the case with MMOs for me, there are a lot of them that I would play if the one I'm playing right now didn't exist.

Yesssss, I love the one-piece look, and am glad to see swimwear that's not itty bitty. It's true, the pickings are slim compared to previous years, but I'm still glad of these particular additions to the wardrobe.

I love Iceheart's character, but I'm not a big fan of her character model, which makes me a bit sad. I like most elezen female models, but that one has this lack of chin thing I get hyperfocused on. I think Merlwyb's the only lady who really comes close to doing it for me, and even then, ehh, but then I'm a Kinsey 1, so getting hot for ladies only happens once in a blue moon. My dude list would be fairly long, but that misses the other team point.

Similarities - emotional volatility (mercurial) - experience with loss that's significantly affected mental state (hers is far more extreme) - preference for solitude - love of travel (but she actually gets to indulge and I just dream), lots of childhood traveling - teetotaling - minimum spirituality, but not non-existent Differences - Qhora refuses to have a family - Qhora's killed people, and will probably continue to do so - Qhora can fight - Qhora has significant criminal history - I have zero - Qhora's an orphan - Qhora's into science, or at least alchemy, and it's never been my cup of tea - Qhora likes fishing, yaaaaaawn - I like fishing in-game, but RL fishing is the worst

That kind of blows my mind. Having a racial bias or prejudice based on a character's experiences and encounters with other characters (PCs or NPCs) seems completely justified, and especially if it's mild, why is there any backlash? Especially if it's out of character? It's difficult to predict how any given character will react within their world, and IC taking some offense at being greeted with a reaction the character doesn't agree with does seem legitimate, but we can and should have common OOC courtesies. My character has significant prejudices regarding miqo'te, which she is, and has led her to some arguments, but she has very few extreme opinions regarding other races. Foreigners to her are just foreign, not inherently good or bad. That's because of the way she grew up, with internal family conflicts shaping her ideas about the way she wants to live. And as a travelling merchant's child, being constantly exposed to foreign strangers not as something to fear but as a useful and everpresent part of the environment. If your character has met such-and-such and thus developed an impression that they expand to cover the "race" whenever a new member of said race is encountered, isn't that perfectly logical and even fun to play with? If your character has never even seen such a being, and is then either terrified or intensely curious, isn't that perfectly logical and even fun to play with? Any time my previous character met a Garlean who admitted their Garlean-ness, as an escaped Ala Mhigan, he would have to start the discussion of when was the soonest they should appropriately be killed. My current character? Is definitely wary, because the totality of her experiences with Garlemald have been less than pleasant, but she knows Garleans buy things, and she isn't going to care about planning a murder. I do feel like adventurers don't need to be held to any "average day-to-day life in Eorzea is just like this" statement or ideal. But I don't feel like there should be shunning or disapproval in either direction. Conflict is good. Curiosity is good. Why can't we all just get along? *dramatic*