Gharen

He gives Eva a look, "She is supporting th' actions o' a man tha' claims te want te bring change te Uldah, a noble goal, dependin' upon how one goes about it." Unfortunately I believe th' methods bein' used may only help te push things te a tippin' point, incitin' more violence in a place where anger is jus' below th' surface." "She swears there will be no bloodshed. But I cannae help but wonder if this man's actions will tear th' city apart." He looks about the camp at the people going about their day, the children playing nearby. "These people would not survive if'n th' city turns upon itself."

He nods thoughtfully at her statements. "Those are all commendable things te do Miss Primrose, nae all monetarists wish te step upon th' backs o' th poor, ye've chosen a path te be proud o'. One tha' does nae make things worse or result in bloodshed. I imagine tha' ye an my sister would get along well." "She is much like ye, wish'n te help th' refugee's, though she see's my philosophy o' balance as doin' nothin' as bein' part o' th' problem. I believe tha' she wishes fer th' same, fer there te be no bloodshed, but.." He stops, opting not to get into details. "She spoke te me as if I did nae understand th' harshness o' this life, as if I lived a privileged life in my time here. I don' know how best te reach her an' make her understand."

He blushes slightly at the compliments, "I.. I Thank ye Miss Primrose." He pauses for a moment as he considers just how much to tell her. "I've been travelin' a bit regardin' a few things my sister has some involvement in. I came here te meditate an' reflect upon a disagreement we recently had, an' my time as a refugee myself in little Ala Mhigo." "I think I'd enjoy a bit o' trainin', though, I hope ye don' mind my askin' Miss Primrose, ye expressed hopes o' helpin' th' refugee's out o' their situation when we first met. How do ye plan te bring those changes about?"

He turns to look at the familiar voice and is surprised by the sudden show of affection and begins to turn a shade of red. "M.. Miss Primrose! A.. Aye, I must apologize fer neglectin' yer lessons." It had taken this long to for what Evangeline said regarding the ball to register. "W..what? Oh, no, t'was nothing like tha'! Miss Grimsong an' I are acquaintances, she asked me te attend with her regardin' a bit' o'.. ehm.. business." When she releases him, he stands, adjusting one of his gauntlets as he does. "Nothin' o' th' sort, I crafted it myself over th' moons since my time in' tha' cavern in Coerthas, If'n one means te be a paladin o any sort they should look it as well."

Gharen kneeled quietly in meditation near one of the campfires amid the refugee camps. He stood out amidst the Refugee's that were moving about beginning their day as he wore the white and blue armor of a free Paladin. He drew occasional inquisitive looks from them, and children dared each other to touch him and run away. He meditated on recent events, an argument with Roen, his sister acted as if he did not know, or understand that which the refugee's within Ul'dah's borders suffered through. Her assumption had angered him and when the siblings parted, it had been less than amicable. He quietly pondered what his sister had said that day, and the words of a student of his, this is until he heard someone approaching accompanied by the sound of chain mail.

Gharen is kind of has a mix of issues when it comes to love. On one hand he pretty much feels as though he is broken and disfigured due to extensive amounts of scars and burns, and isn't worth a woman's affections, as such he doesn't go looking for love, it's literally the last thing on his mind at any given moment. He is also notoriously oblivious to subtle hints and flirtation as a result. On the other hand, when he is in love however he is all in, but there is always a part of him that doubts his worth, and will wonder upon reasons of his significant other, he has a difficult time fathoming that someone could actually have an emotional interest in him despite assurances from them, and will generally be confused as to why they might. His first and only relationship to date having ended abruptly he is slipping back into old habits of self isolation and keeping others at arms length.

So, I'm just going to play some devils advocate here, perhaps so the OP examines part of the reason why they might feel this way. We've never spoken before this, or RP'd, but as an outside observer perhaps this viewpoint might assist in making things better for you here. Perhaps you should go back and objectively take a look at some of your recent posts? They come accross as catty, spiteful, and rude, as if you're going out of your way to be personally offended by perceived slights. I'm fairly certain that you don't want to hear this but perhaps this is a self inflicted wound? If you'd like for things to get better with the community as a whole you might want to evaluate how you interact with the people here and how those interactions are perceived.

Gharen Wolfsong was leaving the small home in wards of Mist in the evening, he had promised to do work on the home for the woman that owned the property from time to time as she was a friend of family. And she had lost her husband some moons ago, so it was the least he could do to help her. He stepped outside and looked out over the ward, the sun hung low in the sky giving off a red hue to the clouds. He glanced down and took notice of a package that sat to the side of the door. Kneeling down to pick it up he saw that it was addressed to him from his sister, Roen. Leaving the yard with the package in hand to leave the district, he plucked the attached letter from the package, opened it up and read it quietly as he walked. After reading it he folded it up neatly and and placed it in a pouch upon his tunic, she had been correct of course, after Ala Mhigo survival had become all he'd known, that was of course until he'd returned to Thanalan almost a cycle ago, and met the likes of Miss Jara, Roen, and others. He began to open the package, unwrapping it methodically. When he reached the Gates of the ward, he stopped and stood there as he stared at the picture, stunned. His parents had been targeted and killed during the occupation when he had been but only five cycles of age. Time passed, and he'd forgotten the sound of their voices, not long after that he'd forgotten their faces, they'd become wisps within his memory, ghosts that frequented both dreams and nightmares alike. And yet there she was, the face of his mother, alongside a grandmother he never gotten to know, drawn in loving and meticulous detail years before he had been born by Aylard Greyarm, a man that when they had met had been Gharen's only link to his family, a link that had been lost when Aylard had died. Soon after, Nymeia had seen fit to return a link, in the form of Roen, his sister. He smiled softly and began walking back to his camp as he did he occasionally gazed upon the piece of art, memorizing every feature, he would not forget his mothers face again.

The links are looking a little spread out, just so they're all together now. Au Ra: http://a.pomf.se/ltwexc.webm Dark Knight: http://a.pomf.se/xqdbbw.webm Astrologian: http://a.pomf.se/jktuif.webm Machinist: http://a.pomf.se/numrwy.webm

Sloetide Venture Co.: Mist Ward 6, Plot 24 - Star-topped

So.. As one of the founding officers of the original Grindstone FC and former overseer, I'll throw my 2gil in. (disclaimer: I am no longer affiliated with, or have anything to do with the Grindstone in it's current form and anything I talk about is regarding the Grindstone as it was before I left.) This was something that people have asked about since almost day one, and have even purposely gone out of their way to have been personally offended about. Cause heaven forbid we were not all inclusive. The fact of the matter was magic was never included as part of it or as even a separate function for several reasons, first of which the grindstone premise was meant for fighters to sharpen skills of a martial nature and meant to be non lethal. Magic no matter how you look at it doesn't have a non lethal "tazer" setting outside of sleep or stun, put simply? fire burns, lightning kills, stone crushes. And, one person's imaginary fireball could be the size of a baseball compared to another persons that leaves craters and scorches earth. With martial weapons there is none of this, "This is my lance, fist, sword, axe." etc. There is no imaginary B.S. to deal with as it is clearly defined. And then you have man power, We ran 2 tourney's a week, I Oversaw every other weds due to work, and because as Roleplayers, we tend to be long winded by nature, it was regularly 5+ hours to get through all the fights. Even at every other week I often wound up Overseeing alone or having to pull in outside assistance if we got more participants than anticipated. These are the primary reasons we never catered to magic users and made it's use in the fights against the rules. The amount of work required to create and maintain a system that was fair, while dealing with the eccentricities of Rper's of all types in not one, but two different events, was simply too much, we had people leave due to burn out over just having to deal with Overseeing one day a week in the events we were having. Now that's all said, we were always fine with someone else running something if they could make it work and no one has been willing to put in the time or effort to do so to date.

Gharen Moves just enough so that her kick is absorbed by his thigh, "Gods damnit." Once he's satisfied that she not going anywhere quickly He grabs the drake's forelegs and begins to Help move it. The acrid smoke burns his eyes, to the point of making them water and he begins to cough. He pats the Drake on it's jawbone to stir it in hope of getting it on it's feet and leading it away. "Come on' ye big lump, I dinnae hit ye tha' hard." As they move the drake away from the screaming huntress he scans the crowd blinking hard against the effects of the smoke to spot the other potential enemies within the crowd. He Glances over to Eva, "Tha' girl know ye?"

The fact that you had add this means you probably will.

Gharen swears under his breath at the actions of the irrational Miqo'te. He drives the twin blades of the lance deep into the ground, one on either side of her neck, in an attempt to pin her in place. He was quickly beginning to lose his patience with these individuals. He reaches down and attempts to remove her grip from the beast and use the leather strap he'd used previously to blunt his weapon now to hastily bind her wrists. This situation had spun out of control and quickly so, the cover of the acrid billowing smoke would not last for long, he motioned for Eva's assistance in getting the groggy Drake freed and led away.

Gharen returns the glare at the huntress, a low feral growl unconsciously rumbles from within his chest. He launches a flurry of swings and thrusts at the huntress perched atop the sundrake, meant to force her off and away from the beast and ultimately putting himself between them, "No deal!" He gives a quick glance to Eva, "Get them away from here."

Gharen darts forth, stripping the leather strap from the lances bladed end, placing himself between his student and the Sundrake. Upon reaching his chosen ground he plants his right foot and pivots, redirecting his forward momentum into a spin, and using that force in an attempt to drive the butt of the lance into the side of the sundrake's head, hopefully stunning, or knocking the scalekin out cold. He falls into a defensive stance afterwards, the look on his face is is clear, daring any others to make another foolhardy attempt to harm those behind him.

>Continued from here< "Seems we be startin' with a practical lesson lass." He motions for Evangeline to follow, and promptly begins to move in the direction of the scream. He weaved through tents and the refugees emerging from them in response to the cries with a nimbleness that belied his size, the lance in his hand remained peace bound with a strip of leather as to avoid injury to his student, for now though, it remained in place. He skidded came to a stop when he arrived at what he assumed to be the scene.

Gharen grins in return as he walks over to his makeshift table. His sword and shield lay there, though today a lance accompanies them, he picks it up and quickly inspects it, ensuring that it is straight and balanced, he begins to wrap the dual silvered bladed heads with a leather strap. "Le's jus' call this sparr.." Gharen was cut off by a sudden scream emanating from within the refugee camps, his head snaps in the direction that it came from. >Continued Here<

For some assistance, the timeline: https://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/pages/Lore:Timeline I wrote Gharen's story as the occupation of Ala Mhigo as 20 years prior to now. Gharen being age five at the time. And It was hardly an invasion, the populace was happy to see that empire be let in the gates as the king had pretty much in his paranoia become a murdering tyrant. There is an Ala Mhigan historian that hangs out in the goldsmith's guild that is related to the Monk questline if you speak to him you can choose several topics one of which is the occupation. He seems to put his own personal spin on the history regarding what he thinks or feels about it because he lived through it.

A slight grin crosses his face as she speaks, "I thank ye Miss Primrose, I'll be sure'n te try an talk sense into ye when yer in need. Far as trainin' goes? Lets begin, t'will help ye focus." He pushes himself to his feet He turns toward the makeshift training dummy and puts his hand on what could best be called it's "Shoulder" and gives it a shake to make sure again that it's stable. "An' another thing Miss Primrose? "Family" needn't be only those related by blood, tis a bond tha' can be forged, they'll gather te ye o'er time, an' ye'll know th' ones worth havin'." Satisfied that the training dummy would be able to take a beating he gave her a look, "Today's lesson Miss Primrose is goin' te be one o' defense, this here'll be yer ward, and tis yer job te protect 'im or 'er.

Gharen listened to her story quietly, and when she finished he remained so for a moment as he sought the words that may aid her and unfortunately they did not come to him easily. "Yer right, tis easier said than done, we all have our own ways o' dealin', some take te drink, others te solitude, as a Paladin yer expected te stand strong against those tha' would cause harm, te be th' hand tha reaches out when hope seems lost." He pauses as he considers his words for a moment. "..an yet, we are every bit as fallible as those we wish te help, so who helps us then?" He stops for a moment to both to let her consider the question, and choose his next words carefully. "Ye'll endure best by surround'n yerself with people ye care fer, family, friends, an loved ones. Tis those people tha' will remind ye o' who ye are, an th' path ye've chosen. Do tha, an time will take care o' th' rest lass."

Gharen looks up to his student, remaining in his kneeling position, the request was sudden, it's tone, the look upon her face, and demeanor whether she knew it or not spoke volumes. For as oblivious as he could be for social cues even he could see that something was the matter. It was a look that he was also possibly all too familiar with. "Well, fer starters, what's happened? An' what are ye lookin' te endure lass?"

For the third day in a row Gharen waited for his student on just the outskirts of the refugee camps, as he did so, he sat quietly in meditation. A makeshift training dummy stood behind him made out of the barrels scavenged from the day before. Filled with the plentiful local resource of rocks and sand for ballast it wasn't going to be moved easily. He thought about how he might best tailor todays lessons to Evangeline's particular approach to things, he would need a way to distract her from over-thinking things so much, a task he surmised would be more difficult to do than with previous students.

Gharen inspects a couple of old barrels that had been cast out in the refuse pile while she speaks "Oh, I've seen this tendency te overthink tha ye have, might have te work on ways te destract ye from tha'. Otherwise I'm jus' brainstorm'n ideas fer tomorrow." He picks the barrels up and sets them aside and checks that they sit level. "I think we'll be workin' on yer skill with a shield tomorrow, perhaps some other things as well. We shall see how th' day treats us."

He nods, "Be well Miss Primrose, I will be here on th' morrow." He heads toward the makeshift table, then stops and looks at her as if an idea had just come to him. "How are yer skills in manipulatin' aether?"