Naunet

There is a terrifying number of murderers in Eorzea!

Every time someone actually pays SE for horribly inconveniencing them, I cringe.

As the girl walked ahead, shifting her tail behind her pridefully, a shadow eased out from in between some of the great stones that ringed the pool. It looked Thal over, and its thin lips smirked. "You have wandered great distances and gone nowhere at all, it seems." Thal's only apparent reaction to the voice in the shadows was to turn his ears, and then his head towards it. He paused walking, though, and frowned. "Don't sound so pleased with yourself." "With myself? With you, god of death. You are learning the ways of the wanderer. I am proud." The Elezen could be discerned in the shadows, but only just barely. He spread his arms and bowed to show his appreciation, still smiling. "Tell me: are you hungry?" Blue eyes flicked ahead, towards the girl he walked with. "Hey, kid, wait up." Then towards Megiddo, eyeing him in silence for a moment before twisting his mouth. "Not much green around here." "That's what the mask is for," The dark man said, and lifted a fingertip to the lines on his face. The girl stopped and turned to watch Thal, confused. She couldn't see the man in the shadows. It looked to her like Thal was speaking to the stones. "Do you wish to know how to use it to feed?" The elderly Duskwight spoke with a smile, as though he were beginning a joke. "Eh? I thought it was for protecting? Or... absorbing. Whatever." Still, he freed the mask from the waistband of his pants, glancing down at it. "On the surface it is but a simple woodwailer's mask, yes." The Duskwight nodded. "But inside," he traced his fingertip over his tattoo, "I have carved these lines for you. I will not waste your time with the spiritual technicalities. My guess is you have studied neither Thaumaturgy nor the Fist of Ralgr. Let it be this, however: any living being you kill while that mask is on your face will be sacrificed to your vitality." "Living... oh hey." He flashed a grin at the shadows. "Animals, huh? Kid! How about that hunt..." The girl looked confused, her head tilting and her eyes narrowing. "Animals are good for base sustenance." The Duskwight retreated a step. "But if you ever must needs kill in self-defense, or feel like bringing someone down who has it coming, make sure the mask is on your face when you do. You won't regret it." Thal grimaced at that, rocking back on his heels and running the fingers that didn't hold the mask through his hair. "Yeesh, old man, just put it out there why don't you..." He shook his head, bangs swinging, and then just tossed the mask up, catching it against smoothly. "You always were a bit creepy. Anyway... thanks, I think. Someday I'll repay you for all these favors, heh." The old man chuckled, "Thal judges Oschon for suggesting the taking of lives? I think you'll come around. And, yes." He stepped back towards the shadows. "you will repay me. But don't worry. I'm every bit as humble as I appear." The green-haired girl, losing patience with her confusion, turned and began walking back towards Thal. Lifting a hand towards the shadows, Thal just shook his head, a mildly humoring smirk on his lips. Then he turned away towards the girl and blinked at her approach. "Right, so, I'm thinking we should find something to eat." She frowned at that, and blinked. "How?" "Well..." He flashed her a grin and then set the mask over his face. "Weren't we just talking about all the animals around? Let's see about getting us an orobon. We're by water, after all."

A voice from behind the cover of nearby rocks complained, "Dammit, Phil! You promised you weren't going to miss this time!" There was a movement of yellow and red, the colors of the Immortal Flames. The girl on the ground didn't have the presence of mind to pretend to be dead. She tried to push herself up. From the arrow lodged in her back, fire began to spread over her skin, burning away even the tattered remnants of her dress. Thal spun, moving his body over the girl's on instinct, body wound up and defensive. Then he saw the fire and, after a moment's flash of worry, pressed her back down into the dirt. "Don't move. Smother it!" As he said this, his head shot up, ears swiveling, eyes darting around before locking on the flash of color between rock and shrub. "Don't fire! We have nothing!" He didn't expect them to obey, but he could maybe buy some time to figure out what to do... A voice could be heard over the rocks. "I'm sorry! I just got scared! They're zombies, doncha know that?" "Exactly!" A large- shoulder man jumped from behind the rocks, his yellow-and-orange smock blowing out around his dark-armored body, his cascading hair and bronzen skin shining in the desert light. Her presented himself with the strength and certainty of a hunter, knocking back another arrow. He sneered. "But they die just the same as anyone." "Actually they don't." The other peeked over the stone. "See, look." "Wait, what?" The man squinted at the green-haired girl, watching her try to get up and then get pushed back down. "Oh, that's... Huh. Oh, wait, yeah. That's what the fire's for!" He took a flint from his pocket and began to scrape it against his arrowhead. "Come on, Phil!" "But the man in black said they don't feel any pain. And they haven't stopped to eat or drink or rest or anything. And look that guy is mad now. He's going to use dark magic." As they had this exchange, the green-haired girl shifted on the ground, trying to grab the arrow from her back. When she couldn't reach it and she could still feel the fire burning, she called quietly, "The arrow! Get it!" Thal grimaced, hands dropping to feel between the girl's shoulders without dropping his gaze from the uniformed man. Blue eyes narrowed as he wrapped his fingers around the arrow shaft, set his other hand on her back, and pulled hard. The arrow slid free with a sick squelch that he determinedly ignored. He rose then, solidly between the girl and the soldiers. "I don't wanna hurt you," he called out. "Just leave us alone." As soon as the arrow was free, the girl rolled onto her back to smother the fire. She lay there, staring up at the sky. She didn't breathe. Her eyes shook with shocked confusion. "Got it!" The man smiled broadly when the arrow in his hands lit up. "As I was saying. They may be zombies. But, once they're on fire..." He knocked the air and shifted his head, his yellow-orange smock blowing out around his dark-armored body, his cascading hair and bronzen skin shining in the desert light. "They die just the same as anyone." The man behind the rock began, "I still don't think that-" "Shut up, Phil!" The bronzed man lifted his flaming arrow and fired a well-aimed shot directly at Thal's chest. The miqo'te had jerked to the side as soon as the soldier's arm pulled back to release the arrow, but it still found a mark, knocking him back a few steps with the force of it as it buried itself in his shoulder. Mouth twisting, he grabbed at the wood and, deliberately not thinking about the action, yanked it free to toss it away before any flames could set in. "Fine," he muttered. "I'm about done with people wanting me dead again." Then he bent his legs and, in a fluid motion, sprung forward at the bronze-skinned hyur, barreling into him and sending him to the ground. "Ah!" The one behind the rocks jumped up. "Hank! Oh, no!" "Do something!" The man shouted. He was not a small man, but the miqo'te had him pinned anyway. He held Thal off of him and tried to punch its head. "He's gonna eat me! Do something!" The concealed man, a thin Hyur, hopped up on top of the rock he'd been hiding behind and drew an arrow, knocking it, preparing to shoot Thal at point-blank range. A sharped, earthen missile to the face stopped him, however, throwing him into the dirt with a pathetic wail. A line of dust hung in the air, trailing behind that stone back to the green-haired girl, standing now with her stick in-hand. Tail whipping behind him like a ribbon, Thal pressed down on the hyur beneath him, locking his legs against the other man's and bringing his forearm down against the base of his neck. His other hand grabbed at one of the man's arms, trying to hold it back. The hyur's blow to his head landed, but it didn't do much other than jerk him to one side a bit, dislodging his grip on the man's arm. "I'm not gonna eat you," he barked. "Just leave us alone!" The man didn't appear to be buying it. He felt along his belt for a knife, and pulled it. He lifted it to stab Thal, but a piece of weaponized stone struck his hand, and his arm snapped violently away, likely broken. Thal pushed away from the man, springing back several fulms before spinning around and sprinting towards the girl. "We're leaving, now," he said, grabbing her arm. She sputtered, but didn't argue. The rags of her dress slipped down on her body so that she was barely wearing them anymore. The very thin girl was now mostly burned flesh, cut and stabbed and bleeding. The man on the ground writhed and grabbed at his damaged arm, and did not stand up. Thal ran with her, and then a few steps later scooped up the girl in his arms and ran faster. Looking bewildered at Thal for a moment after being picked up, she eventually curled her limbs up and looked around them, her eyes searching every shadow and rock warily. "Will more follow?" "I don't know," Thal grit out. He wasn't about to look back, either, just pumping his legs as hard as he could make them go, westward. "We'll lose them, don't worry." She was quiet for a brief time, and then said. "I don't like that town." "Neither do I, kid. We won't go back." Fully silent then, she eyed the stick in her hand. She waited a long time, still worried that someone might be following them, but when they were far enough and it had been long enough, she reached up and put a hand on his shoulder. "You hurt?" Thal blinked, sparing a moment to tear his eyes away from his path to glance down at the girl. "Huh?" Then back up to watch where he was going. "It's fine, just a scratch." He smiled. "Doesn't even hurt." She frowned. "Maybe it should? Mine does." "Eh?" His steps faltered, slowed. "... Why didn't you say so? I'll find a place to hide in the rocks." "It's okay. It isn't bad." She shook her head and blinked up at him, unphased. "I can handle it." Brow lowering, Thal picked his pace back up. "I don't like you in pain. I'll keep an eye out for a place to duck into." "What I need is food." She said this firmly, but not sternly. "And I like you carrying me." "Right," the man breathed out. He chanced a glance behind them but could smell no hint of the soldiers' scent, or catch any sight of their colors. That didn't mean they wouldn't return to town and get others, though. He pressed on, moving in the direction he'd been originally wandering, before Megiddo had interrupted. "I'm starting to think the answer is 'no'." The girl said, conversationally, as Thal carried her. "I'm not the one who buried you." The frown deepened. "Green hair, young girl. Given the circumstances, kid... it has to be you." "I thought so, too. But I..." She appeared vexed, and looked down at her hands. "I remember feeling very sad. But sounded angry. I remember mud on my hands. Feelings of burying..." She put a hand to her throat and rubbed it. "But I would not... do what I... she. What she did." Adjusting his grip on the girl, Thal banked around a number of rocks jutting out from a cliff. His ears relaxed slightly as he spied a familiar pool of water on the horizon, complete with giant toads. His frown doesn't ease up, though."I don't know what to tell you, kid. I..." He faltered, hesitating over his words. "I can understand why you might've been upset at the time. Not thinking straight." She shook her head. "That's not it. I remember doing lots of things. Mean things. Angry things." She blinked and looked unsettled. "Things that made me sick. Things I didn't want to do. But I did them anyway." Dry shrub and sand crunched under Thal's feet as he ran. The lake ahead bobbed in and out of sight as he moved over a few, low dips and rises across the ground. His mouth twisted at the girl's words. "If you didn't want to, then why did you do it?" "I did not have volition," she answered. "I did not decide. I did not speak. I was moved and words emerged from me. They were not mine." "You didn't..." His steps slow a bit, until he's just ambling across the sandy ground. Then he sighed. "What does it change, kid? You can't do anything about it now." Her tail shifted, lifting to curl around his arm. The fur was matted and burnt in places. "It matters." "I'm not one to hold grudges, but... well, yeah. I guess it does," he sighed and slowed even more until he was walking. The ground became softer the closer they got to the lake, and he angled his path to walk around it. "You okay to walk on your own?" She nodded and waited to be put down. "I'm not... I did not do anything wrong. But that's not my point. My point is. I was not before, and am now." Lowering her feet carefully so she wouldn't stumble, Thal kept a hand on her back once she was on the ground and quirked one ear towards her. "I'm not sure I'm following." "I'm not sure." She lowered her ears, and then she shook her head. "I am sure. You were alive, but do not remember. I was not alive, but remember a life." "Let's keep moving," he murmured, urging the girl onward further along the lake. He wasn't about to take the chance that those soldiers might catch up to them, not until they'd put a few days between themselves and that town. After a moment, he spoke again, "What's done is done. I won't pretend to understand what went on before, kid, but I'm not sure what good it would do to try and figure it out beyond causing more grief." "But I..." She walked with Thal at his urging, following his lead dutifully. "But I care! About people. That I remember." Blue eyes closed for a moment, then opened to look down at her as they walked. "That's why you can't go back to where you want." His feet sunk into mud as they neared the lake's bank. "They know you as dead. Showing up... it would only hurt them." "Not if I explain!" She leaned forward, turning wide blue eyes on Thal. "And I can explain away the bad, too. And someone needs to do something about K'ile!" Thal frowned at that. "The guy's just protecting his family. I can see that much pretty clear." Then he shook his head. "But you don't understand, kid. They've grieved, moved on. It's not fair to pop back up in their lives, especially when... you're--well, we're not actually... that." He shrugged slightly, half-heartedly. "And what's fair to me?" She managed to whine through the grating in her throat. "What was fair to me?" He countered, not happily. "That's not my fault!" She started, and then trotted forward to turn back and look at him. "What do you want me to do?" "Keep walking, for one. We need to put some distance between us and that town." He swung his arms, rolled his head back and around. "... And just try to move on." She turned to walk a bit faster, putting some distance between herself and Thal, actually. "No. I can't move on. I never lived." "Can't you just... ugh," he let out a frustrated breath, though the emotion was half directed towards himself, just as much as it was towards the girl. "Look, I don't know, kid. I just know that going back 'home' is not a good idea. You saw how that one guy reacted. They'll all react like that." "We'll go to Ul'dah then!" She spun once more and pointed at her head. "I remember now. That's where mom is." Thal's steps slowed and then stilled completely, arms hanging limp at his sides. "Mom?" He blinked and then seemed to slump before saying reluctantly, "Right... uh. I think that would be the last person either of us should see." The girl stopped and put her hands on her hips. "Well I disagree. Mom won't care." Blue eyes frowned. "Because you can explain it all away? That's not how these things work." He let out a groan then, rubbing roughly at his face, pulling fingers through his long bangs. "Mom. Your mom. Which, if I've been understanding things right, would make her my... uh. Someone. Yeah... I'm not going to do that to her." "I am." She stated this proudly, lifting her nose. This also showed off the gash exposed by the listening cloth on her neck. "She still loved... her. The bad person. So. I should be easy." Thal grimaced at that. "I don't think you quite get it, kid. You died. Just... let her be in peace." "And I don't think you get it, dad!" She had one hand on her hip, and leaned forward, pointing at him with her other hand. She didn't sound angry, just insistent. "Family is important. And alive or dead, I'm still around. So I'm going to find my family. That includes you." "And what happens when she sees you? You're a ghost to her. And me... I don't know you. And I don't know her. I don't feel anything for her but pity, kid, and that... that is not fair." "You're not fair!" She stood up straight and shook her head. "No, family's stronger than that. You would've said so once. You'll see." "I'm not doing it." He started walking again, then stopped and groaned, combed through his hair, rubbed at the back of his neck, paced to one side. "Why can't you just let it be. I'm trying to protect you." She walked back towards him. "Because I know what I'm talking about. Why can't you just give it a try?" He paced some more, feet splashing into the shallows of the lake, then back out. He did this for several minutes until finally throwing up both arms and then letting them drop back to his sides, swinging a few times from momentum. "Let's just keep walking for now," he said at length, jaw working on a heavy thought, brow wrinkled deeply. His tail spun and twisted behind him. She scoffed, the sound like a cough from her ruined throat, and grated out, "Fine." She began walking, not waiting for him. Thal watched her back for a moment, and then let out a heavy sigh, muttering under his breath as he followed.

He'd left the girl a good ways back from the town, amongst a stand of rocks and shrub. It took him a good fifteen minutes to walk back, during which time he found the weight of K'ile Tia's words pulling heavier with each step. He wondered if it was strange that the rejection from someone he didn't even know hurt more than the accusations leveled towards the girl, and frowned at the thought. "Kid, you still there?" He called out as he approached the cluster of tan stone and tan plants. Everything was brown here, and it was starting to frustrate him. The green-haired girl looked up at Thal's approach, blue eyes blinking at him. The red tatters of cloth shifted on her charred body as she stepped away from the stones, turning towards him and trotting directly towards him. She still had concern on her face. Her face looked so innocent, he thought. If one ignored the gore exposed along her throat. He put on a smile as she approached. "Good, you seen anyone pass by here while I was gone?" Before she answered, she trotted right up to him and tossed herself against him. She pulled curiously at his bandages. "Eh? Oh, they insisted. Told them it didn't hurt, but... guess you don't say no to healers." He shrugged, and then dropped the smile. "So, K'aijeen, is it?" She nodded, and stepped back, looking up at him. Blinking. "Right... I'll remember that." One hand ran through the hair at the back of his head as his ears shifted. Then he heaved in a breath and out a heavy sigh. "Y'know, that guy didn't exactly... no, that's not the right way. Hrm." He took a step to one side, scratched at his ears, and then turned back to K'aijeen. "Are you the one who brought me back?" She took a step back, eyes snapping wide at the question. She pursed her lips, looked to the left, and muttered, "Don't know," in a voice that, while still very scratchy, seemed to come easier. "Yeah... I'm not so sure about that," Thal muttered and then shook his head, tail swinging. "Are you the one who buried me in the Shroud?" She spread her arms and turned her eyes off to the right. "Complicated." Craning his neck back so he could look skyward, he pulled at the back of his hair. "That's not an answer, K'aijeen." He glanced over his shoulder, back towards Drybone. "I'm not going to be taking you 'home' - at least, not the place you wanted me to go." Her eyes narrowed, and she shook her head, looking like she didn't understand. "But. Our home." "No," he sighed. "That's the thing, kid. You can't just die, come back, and... go back to how things were before. Why do you think I stayed in the Shroud? Er, aside from the whole not knowing any better thing." "But I never-!" She choked, groaned, and put pressure on her neck. Her shoulders shook. Her wide eyes pointed at the ground in front of her, shaking. "No!" "I'm sorry, kid, it's just... how it has to be." Thal frowned, rolling his shoulders in frustration. "If even half of what he said was true, they're not going to want you back. And they won't want me." She shook her head harder, and made a hard sound deep in her chest. "It wasn't me! He's... It's complicated!" She couldn't manage to say more than a few syllables in a row without pausing to recover, and her voice was deteriorating. She gestured wildly as she continued trying, her tail whipping behind her and shivering. "Look, it's not... well, it's not the end of the world. How about we just go... elsewhere, huh?" He shrugged, but it was half-hearted. "It's a big world. I think." "But home." She put her hands on either side of her head, staring forward without seeing as though she'd just been told that... Well, she wasn't allowed to go home. She was on the verge of tears, and her fingertips dug into her hair. Muttering a curse he didn't really mean under his breath, Thal stepped forward to pull the girl into a hug. This was why the robed man had wanted to burn her, he thought to himself. "I'm sorry, kid. It'd be easier if... well. I guess it's not easy." She lay herself against him and shook. "Where?" "I don't know." Her small weight against him pressed an object against his hip, and Thal suddenly recalled the mask. It was a wonder it hadn't fallen out during his scuffle with K'ile Tia. "Back to the Shroud, maybe. Or... I don't really know what else is out there." The girl called K'aijeen released a grating groan. A moment later, she hit Thalen's chest weakly. "She ruined it." He caught her arm gently, moving it down and then just setting his hand against the back of her head. He blinked at her words though. "She?" More people he should know, probably. Or used to know. "Me." She said, bitterly. "Me, but she." "Huh?" Bringing his hands down to hold her shoulders, he held her back enough that he could look the girl in the eyes. "You're going to have to run that one by me a second time. Or a third." She averted her eyes and muttered. "It is... too complicated." And then gestured vaguely at her neck. His brow lowered. "Okay, no. That's not gonna fly as an explanation from now on, kid. You owe me that much." Her hand falling, she appeared conflicted. She gave Thal a pathetic look and ran her fingers over her neck. "Hurts." "No, it doesn't, if you're anything like me." He sighed. She groaned again. "It does." She shifted, and pouted, and eyed the ground, and her tail swung behind her. And then she lifted her gaze and said, "I don't know." Her fingertips pressed against her throat, sliding underneath the strip of red cloth wrapped around her neck. "I watched. Couldn't choose." He chose not to press the pain thing, especially when she started expanding on her earlier words. It didn't do a whole lot to lift the confusion, though. "You... watched? What, watched yourself?" He blinked, shivered one ear. "Like... possessed?" Her ears lay down, and she looked Thal right in the eyes. Then she thrust her head forward and shrugged. "Or crazy." His mouth twisted. "Yeah... alright. Well. We've all got our quirks." He muttered the last part, mostly to himself. "Look, let's just... get away from this place for now, okay? We can talk more as we go. And I guess figure things out from there." Her tail shifted behind her, and she appeared sad again. "But not home?" “If you think of it like that, you're never going to be happy." And he needed her to be happy. It hadn't taken long into this conversation for him to realize he didn't have the heart to end her, or take her to others who would. Even after what she may have done. He offered a lopsided smile down at the girl. "A friend of mine calls his home wherever Oschon wills it. How about we just take a page out of that book for a bit?" She didn't appear convinced. At all. She looked at him both with incredible disappointment and disbelief in his unfathomable naivety. Then she just shook her head. "Don't understand." He deflated a bit, swung his tail from side to side, and then just set a hand at the girl's back to turn her. "Eh, don't have to right away. Let's just walk, huh?" "But...!" She started, but didn't object further. She glanced over her shoulder, southward, and groaned again. *** The girl in the red, tattered cloth was at length just fine with following Thal around. She eventually calmed, her argumentative huffing and frustrated body language subsiding. She seemed even lose talkative, however, keeping the rag pulled tight around her neck. After several hours she began to busy herself as she walked, using the stick she had earlier obtained to conjure green light about her hands and arms, ccool air rushing about as she made small movements with the stick. The sand stirred about her, subtly. The magic she was using was very weak, however, and barely palpable except for those indications. Thal seemed largely okay with keeping to himself for now. In the interest of keeping her walking, he didn't immediately bring up the conversation again, instead letting his attention wander to something more present - that was, how strange his bones seemed to feel in his body and he almost thought his senses seemed duller than usual. The rough fabric of his pants brushing against his legs was a quiet sensation, muffled, overpowered by an awareness of the fine hairs all over his skin. He swore he could even feel the separation of skin and muscle as he walked. These things were all around just starting to disturb him. He kept his eyes peeled for any hint of green and made a beeline for the first shrub that seemed less tumbleweed and more growing plant that he saw. He didn't bother hiding it from the girl this time. She seemed lost in whatever magic she was playing with - reminded him of conjury, the way she pulled at the air - and she was aware enough of the situation that it didn't particularly matter. Bending down, he wove his fingers between dry leaves and branches. A few thorns pricked and scraped at his hands, but he didn't really notice. Conjury still wrapping her arms, she paused in her walking when Thal paused, sensing his movement even if her attention wasn't otherwise called ot it. Her eyes panned over to the shrub, watching Thal grab at it. After a moment, she inhaled -- she had not been breathing as she had walked idly about -- and spoke with a voice that seemed to be coming more easily to her every time she tried. "Are you okay?" "Hmm?" Red ears swiveled backwards as he pulled on the sluggish aether within the plant. It left the stems and leaves in invisible ripples that sunk into his own flesh, merging with the flow there and leaving the plant shriveling. "Oh, yeah, just a little pit stop! You're sounding better." The girl huffed and drew one hand towards her neck. Then she hefted her stick and grated out, "Healing." Her voice was still weak and sandy, but the words came faster now and were easier to discern. "It doesn't work on you. Sorry." "Heh, not your fault." Though it kind of was. In a roundabout way. That wasn't something he was going to say to the kid, though. The mask tucked into his waistband jabbed into his stomach as he bent over the plant, and it occurred to him to wonder what use it might have. There were no vengeful elementals to appease out here; at least, he didn't think they were. Megiddo would have told him to wear it if it were an urgent need. The shrub had begun to look even more sickly than before, and the aether running through his fingers had dwindled to an almost nonexistent trickle. Frustrating. It had barely been enough to return some feeling. Thal straightened and pushed his hand up his face and over the top of his head to run calloused fingers through his hair. "I'm just glad you can fix that yourself." "Still need to eat." She said, walking towards Thal, casually. She didn't appear disturbed at all by his behavior. "Everyone needs something." "Yup." He turned towards her and swung his arms up to clasp his hands behind his head. Leaning his weight onto one heel, he kind of rocked in place. "So keep an eye out for any more cactus. Or anything else edible, really. You ever had to live off the land before, kid?" She blinked at that, and thought. She narrowed her eyes, and then looked back up and said, "I can set traps. For predators. If I have meat." Then she cast her gaze to the side and rubbed at her neck, the gesture idle but eliciting a slight sound of crackling cartilage. "Never trapped anything small." “Animals, huh... Heh, that's a funny thought. Meat was a no-go in the Shroud." Rolling his neck, cracking the joints there, he looked around them. "Wonder what kinds of little critters are about here.." "Orobon near the water. Birds. Lizards." She looked skyward, then along the horizon. "Find carrion, find vulitures." "Water? Okay, I like that one." He flashed the girl a grin. "How about a little swim, huh?" She blinked, and her ears lifted up. "Where?" "Well..." He scratched at one ear. "... There was water back a ways. Lots of toads there, but I bet if we followed it, we could find orobon." She shook her head and pouted. "Always going back. Never to the right place." Thal blinked at that, looked to one side, then another, then back to the girl. "Ah... erm. So you don't want to find some orobon? I guess we could try north instead." "If we're not going home I don't-" She finally choked, and groaned in frustration, tossing her head back and glaring at the sky. She put her hands to her neck and moaned. "Eeh... Ah, come on, kid..." Dropping his hands from behind his head, he stepped over to her and rubbed at her back. "I'm doing the best I can here." "I don't want to go south!" She tossed her face forward. "This isn't fair! I didn't do anything!" "Well..." Continuing to pat at her back, he urged her to turn and start walking again. "Things aren't always fair. Don't think that I particularly like how I ended up, either. Stewing in it doesn't really help, though." "You don't want to go home." She snapped at him, turning in the direction she urged him. "You're just running away! From the killer." "That's not home for me, kid." He sighed and kept her walking. "And... it's not home for you, either. Not like this." "But I didn't do-!" She was silenced when an arrow slammed into her back, a direct hit between her shoulder blades with enough force to send her falling forward into the dirt. It was not the only arrow that had been fired, but merely the only one that had hit home. Another cut the sky over Thal's shoulder and hit the ground, fire already spreading from their points up the shafts.

K'ile awoke tied to the rack. It was familiar, like the rack he'd tied Thalen to so many times back in the tribe. But this one was a sex rack. He could tell by the rack's gentle but firm hold on his limbs and the heat of the air. *** Thal made the trip back to the hole in the ground that was a town in silence. He spoke to the girl - K'aijeen, he kept having to remind himself - when they neared, telling her to stay far from any guards, out of sight, and that he would come back to get her once he'd gotten K'ile taken care of. Then he trudged towards the ramp that would lead into the settlement. The Tia's weight kept his steps slower, though he didn't tire from carrying the other man. At the bottom of the ramp, he paused a moment, not sure what he'd do if they tried to chase him out again, but then just shook his head with a dry chuckle and walked on. He headed straight for the building he'd met the black-robed man in. The building was full of the smell of death, almost completely overwhelming the stink of the dying. Beneath that was a hideous haze of antiseptics. The same receptionist was present, and she recognized Thal as soon as she stepped in, going rigid and alert in an instant. "Oh, no! Not another one!" "What?" Thal looked up, squinting a bit as he stepped inside while his eyes adjusted to dimmer light. He shifted K'ile's weight draped over his shoulder. "Oh! Heh. No. I promise this guy's still alive." He shrugged the shoulder not burdened by the Tia and gave a half-hearted, apologetic smile. "Sorry about earlier. I was... well. Y'know." One ear twitched. "But, uh, don't suppose you could help my friend out? He took a nasty hit to the head." Almost before Thal was done talking, the receptionist had fled from her desk and run down a hallway, shouting, "He's back! He brought another one!" as though she hadn't even heard him talking. An instant later, the black-robed man appeared from down the hallway, alert like he expected to find a blood-covered Voidsent in the room. "I swear, he's alive!" He hefted K'ile a bit, as though that demonstrated the Tia's continued liveliness. "Just out cold. Uh. Spare some help?" The man and the receptionist behind him both stood frozen for an absolutely, just, rude amount of time, before the man in black gestured towards the empty surface of a nearby table. "The beds are full." The receptionist grabbed his arm, "But-!" He hushed her quickly, however. With an expression that spoke of a shrug he couldn't wholly make while carrying the Tia, Thal stepped over and dumped the man out across the table. He rolled his shoulder once he was free of the weight, worked his jaw at the pull of tendon fiber and the way the ball of his joint shifted against the ends of his shoulder and arm bones. "Just had a bit of a tussle. Wasn't really sure where else to take him, but... uh. You people kind of look like healers." As soon as the Tia's back hit the table, his body curled forward and his legs curled up, and his hissed rather roughly, "Azeyma burn you through! Augh!" The man in black sent the receptionist after something for the pain. Frowning, Thal pushed his fingers through his bangs. "Yea, damn the guy who's getting you help. Great idea." K'ile just growled again, and groaned, and clutched at the back of his head. He closed his eyes and hissed. "Just a dead body with snark." "And feelings," Thal muttered, turning blue eyes on the robed man. "He'll be okay?" The robed man took a dark bottle from the receptionist, the latter of whom kept as far away as she could. Carrying the bottle towards the Tia, the man in the black robe looked Thal over, "Are you going to be okay? You're heinously wounded." He then turned towards K'ile and put a hand to his head. "Hold still." "Ow!" The Tia bristled. "Who the heck are YOU now, Hyur?" "Someone who can help. Hold still." "Yeah, listen to the guy who knows what he's talking about," Thal tossed a smirk down at the Tia, though he wasn't really feeling it. To the robed man's question he blinked and then shrugged. "I feel fine. Just a few scratches." "Your definition of 'scratches' troubles me." The black-robed man frowned. "Look at yourself!" "Eh?" Lifting his arms slightly to either side, Thal glanced downward. Both brows lifted at the sight of blackened, blistered tissue carving a smear across his side and along his ribs. Recognizing it as where he'd felt numbness, he glanced towards his arms and saw numerous similar marks, though on a smaller scale. He let out a breath that attempted to be a laugh. "Well... it doesn't hurt. I'll be fine. Just make sure he keeps living." "It likely does not hurt because of the severity of the wounds! You must be looked at immediately." The black-robed man was adamant, then stooping to push some of K'ile's hair out of the way and see his wound. K'ile provided, very helpfully, "He doesn't feel it because he's undead!" "Hey!" Thal did his best to look offended - it wasn't all that hard, given the situation, though it came out more annoyed. "Don't just go calling people that." He looked to the robed man. "I guess you can patch me up if you want. Don't really like the sight of it now that I noticed." The black-robe man had looked, for a moment, like he was about to proclaim Thal a voidsent and have him burned, just like he'd threatened to do with the girl. But after a moment, he just narrowed his eyes in suspicion, and then nodded towards the receptionist. She flinched. "But, what if he-... Very well. I'll be right back." Thal just shrugged at that, lifting his arms to rest his hands behind his head. He hoped the girl - no, K'aijeen - wouldn't get too anxious if this took a while. The last thing they needed was her coming down here and making another scene. Blue eyes drifted down towards the Tia on the table. "Y'know, if I still knew you, I get the feeling I'd be a bit upset about you hating me so much." "If you were still who you were you'd help me get rid of that girl." K'ile tried to sit up, but stopped half-way, cringing in pain. When he tried to lie down, however, the robed man pushed him fully upright and continued to clean the wound on his head. Thal grimaced at that. "Maybe. I still don't know what all is going on. Would rather not make such a hasty decision." Which was funny, considering how he usually acted, but for once in his remembered life he felt like a little deliberation was in order. Squinting with one eye up at Thal, K'ile said. "Okay, let me put it this way. The girl is evil. She's been a menace for years, summoning Voidsent and abusing us. She's supposed to be dead. And if you can't guess why you're around, then you really haven't changed. THINK about it." "Hey, it's not like I asked for--" He caught himself, flashed an awkward grin towards the robed man and shrugged at him with an expression that said, 'family - what're you gonna do?' After a moment, he just let out a heavy sigh, but the action made him aware of air moving down his esophagus, how the muscles in the back of his mouth tightened to allow passage. He could even feel his lungs sitting against his ribcage, his diaphragm relaxing. Thal swung his arms in some frustration. Megiddo's oblique suggestion returned to him, and paired with what this Tia said... well, there wasn't much else it could be. And yet... "She's a kid. I'm having a hard time thinking evil's possible." "That's because you don't know her!" The receptionist returned with bandages and alcohol. And swabs. And very sharp-looking instruments. And a look of reluctance and disgust. She obviously didn't want to do this. K'ile went on. "Look, she summoned a monster when she was just a 'kid'. I've still got the scar on my leg from that day. And now she's a full-grown monster herself!" The black-robed man muttered as he worked. "If the woman is still around perhaps we should dispatch some men to search for and apprehend her." "Yes!" K'ile agreed immediately. "Do that. Definitely." One of Thal's ears twitched, along with his tail. "Don't bother," he spoke suddenly. "I told her to run." It was a lie, but he wasn't going to put the girl's fate in strangers' hands, evil or not. The man in black balked, "Why are-" But K'ile growled more emphatically. "WHY are you protecting her?" "Maybe because killing a little girl without damn well understanding things beyond a shadow of a doubt isn't how I want to operate?" The words came out a bit snappier than he'd intended. "Look at it from where I'm standing, friend. Some psycho attacks us out of nowhere saying the little girl I rescued is actually evil and destroying lives?" "She's undead! And she's creating more of you!" K'ile's tail shivered. "See? To an outsider, that just sounds like crazy talk." Thal shrugged. "Not saying that it is, but... you can't blame me for wanting to take a moment and think things over." He didn't seem to have noticed the return of the receptionist. The receptionist began work on Thal's body with hushed muttering. She seemed afraid to touch him. "I can!" The Tia continued to glare at him. "Because in the meantime, you were walking her right back to the tribe! You're letting her walk you back there so she can use you." Thal tossed his hands up in the air, nearly whacking the receptionist. He started at her, having only just then realized her presence and that she was messing with his wounds. Giving her an awkward look, he tried to keep still; at least it didn't hurt. "Okay, look, I don't know what, who, or where your tribe is. She was sad and sick and wanted to go home. No reasonable guy with any kind of heart is gonna say no to that." He rolled his eyes. "Home. That's all she said. And like I said, I don't know anything about it." "She isn't welcome at the tribe anymore. Neither are you." K'ile's eyes narrowed, and his tone was sharp. "If either of you showed up now it would be nothing but trouble for everyone. You think it's annoying when I try to have at you alone? Wait until I have ten hunters with me." "Not planning on going where I'm not welcome," Thal muttered. He let out a sigh and then silently apologized to the receptionist for moving while she tried to work. This was why he'd never gone looking, never asked questions, never even thought about it. "You're not welcome anywhere. Don't you get it?" The look K'ile gave him was absolutely loathsome. "You cannot be." The taller man let out a sharp laugh at that, ribs shaking under the receptionist's hands. "Boy, you sure do know how to make a guy feel good." He set his eyes to a far wall for a few seconds and then, when his thoughts settled, shook his head. "I wish I remembered you." Another pause. "I'll be on my way once the nice lady's done with me. You don't have to see me again. Just pretend I don't exist. Neither of us exist. And go on back to your life." K'ile sat, glaring at Thal, in silence. The black-robed man stood from where he'd been working on K'ile's head and walked over to stand in front of Thal. His attention was on the receptionist, however. He put one hand over her shaking hands. "Please let me finish." At this, she paused, and then handed over the work to the man, and stepped away. The man in black bent to continue tending Thal's wounds. As he worked he said, "So you know, the world is not meant for those who have died. They belong in another place. They are better off there." His tail hanging still down by one leg, Thal turned his head to watch K'ile on the table. "Yeah, I think we can all agree on that." "So... if this woman you speak of is not... alive..." The man did not look at Thal as he worked. "Then she cannot be happy unless she is returned to where she should be. Released." Letting out a slow breath, Thal hummed to himself, features somber. "Probably not." "You should think about letting us take care of it." "We'll see," Thal said after a moment. "Just get him back on his feet. You done down there?" He glanced down at his side. The man in black stood and backed away, having bandaged the worst of Thal's burns. "I suppose." "Right then." He shook his arms out, twisted at the waist, testing. There was still an annoying numbness all along his side and at points down his shoulders and arms, but the healer seemed satisfied. Sort of. He got the feeling it didn't really matter in the end. "I'll just get out of your hair, I guess." He turned away from K'ile, towards the door. The Tia and the man in black both watched Thal silently, as though waiting for him to leave. Lifting his hand as though to wave farewell, Thal trudged towards and out the door. Shortly after Thal left, K'ile tried to stand. "I need to go after him." "Don't." The man in black looked over his shoulder. "I'll see if I can have him followed this time." Thal paused a few steps out of the building, looking up out of the hole in the ground. Then he just sighed, shrugged to himself, and headed up the ramp. He hoped the girl--K'aijeen hadn't wandered off.

When the spear swung forward, Thal felt the muscles along his legs bunch up, flexing against long bones. His tail kept loose but stuck out behind him, and he felt his spine leaning him forward. When the tip of the spear was only a few long strides away, he stepped to one side, dropped his shoulder, and grabbed for the length of the spear while pushing forward and up all in one motion. K'ile had been holding back a long time. He wasn't going to hold back here. K'thalen needed to die. Again. And then he could get rid of K'aijeen as well. When Thal went to grab the spear, K'ile allowed it. He let go of the weapon and spun away from it, dropping down close to the ground, his smile body bundling up. Light and heat swelled against his chest from something obscured by the harness on his chest, moving through to his collar and shoulders, sliding down his arms. His hands hit the sand, and there was a rush of ignition. Heat like fire burned up from beneath him, and the glass around him glistened. It moved. It stuck to his hands, crystalline, boiling hot, glowing red and white. When he lifted himself and dove at Thal, he was holding globs of searing matter, trailing drops of viscous molten quartz from the melted sand. He slammed these into Thal's flesh. Eyes widening, Thal brought the spear lengthwise in front of him, and K'ile's chest collided with the wood as the miqo'te brought his attack to bear. He grunted in vague disbelief as something blindingly hot crashed against his side and shoved as hard as he could with the staff, kicking out with one leg for good measure to knock the other man away from him, though he staggered backwards simultaneously. Being very small, K'ile was thrown backwards by Thal's shove. He fell into the melted quartz left in the sand beneath him, but it didn't burn his body. As he rolled to his feet, the sand vitrified in an instant, turning into a smoothed glass with a strange orange color to it. It cracked and crumbled, falling into shards seemingly without cause. K'ile spun. His tail ran over the sand, cause it to melt and cool in an instant. Sand stuck to his arms and shoulders, melting, glowing hot and exhaling nearly invisible fumes. Small sparks of flame danced on their borders. His blue eyes were narrow and hard, his face twisted into hideous anger. He crouched and took up more sand in his hands. The sand beneath his feet melted and vitrified around his toe, giving him a perfect spring block with which to throw himself forward again. "Will you just calm--down!" Thal dove to the side, rolling his body around to give his arms the momentum they needed to swing the spear around like a long, thin club, stricking it against the other man's back. K'ile turned, and ducked. He lifted a hand and struck it against the spear absently, causing the entire length of wood to burst into fire in an instant. This delayed his momentum for only an instant. "The last thing I needed to see was that face of yours again!" "The hell did I do to you?!" Thal threw the spear off to one side, not bothering to watch it burn. His side felt strange, the detailed sensations of his muscles numb there. Not wanting to give the other man more opportunity to summon any more of the molten sand, he dropped low and charged, barreling against K'ile to tackle him to the ground. His arms would move to clasp around the other man's neck. K'ile was overpowered by the larger man's charge, slammed to the ground and pinned there. It reminded K'ile a bit too much of Yohko, and his anger burned all the hotter because of it. Unable to free himself, K'ile's blue eyes smolder up at Thal through his veil of fiery hair. The sand beneath them melted into fluid quartz and he began to sink into it, millimeter by millimeter. A very slow process. Clenching his jaw, Thal steeled his nerves and jerked the other man to the side, rolling away from the molten sand. Where his skin touched it, however briefly, he felt it go numb, though there was no immediate pain. When he was on his back, he bunched his legs up and drove his knee into the Tia's lower abdomen. What breath K'ile had left was forced out of his lungs by the blow to his gut, and it had the side effect of leaving him nauseous and dazed. The lack of air, something he had been able to deal with moments before, was suddenly paramount. His dazed senses were not coming back. His fingertips were languid. The man writhed, claw at the ground, pushing at it with his feet. Everywhere he made contact, the sand melted, leaving boiling hot fluid quartz in shimmering pools. Fire lit upon his skin and on the surface of the pools. Grimacing, Thal brought his knee up again, driving it into K'ile's gut, and then twisted to one side until he could straddle the Tia. He straightened with his knees on the ground, pulling K'ile up by the hold on his neck. "Stand down," he bit out. He didn't have much of a choice. The second knee did him in. His strength waned. He pushed against the ground, but it didn't melt beneath his hands. He couldn't even glare. His eyes were half-lidded, and he was silent. His tail writhed still, but the rest of him was too heavy. Thal didn't ease up his hold, though he did drop one arm down to wrap around K'ile's arms and torso as he stood and dragged the tia with him. "I'm not looking for a fight, friend," he muttered, "but you can't just go trying to kill people." Part of him wondered where the girl had run off to, but for now he figured as long as it was "away", then she'd be fine. The Tia hung limp, still dazed. His eyes watched the pools of molten quartz on the ground as the cooled into glass and then crumbled into small shards. Stepping back from the slagged sand, Thal let out a heavy sigh. "Are you going to try and kill me again if I let you go?" After a time, the Tia managed grudgingly. "You're already dead." "Maybe," Thal muttered. Why everyone on Eorzea seemed to know of this, even before him, he had no clue. "But I'm not some mindless voidsent, so put your big boy pants on and get over it." "I have too much invested in you being dead." K'ile answered, coldly. "She only brought you back to ruin everything. And it'll work, too. One person gets one look at your face, and everything'll fall apart." Blue eyes closed, and Thal tightened his grip around the Tia for a moment in frustration. His tail lashed behind him. "No one brought me back but me," he forced out after some seconds of silence. "I don't care what you've 'invested' - though I'll admit that's kind of disturbing. I don't know who you are, but I guess I probably should." K'ile's tail lashed. He remained limp, and his scowl deepened once more. He glared at the sand, pondering. "People don't come back to life by accident. Or without reason. You ask her why?" "You can't just believe me, can you?" Thal groaned. "Look, an old Duskwight - good friend of mine now, actually - pulled me out in the Shroud. That girl was nowhere near." He nudged at the back of K'ile's legs with his knee, not roughly, just as a gesture that he couldn't make with his busy hands. "And I've been doing pretty fine on my own the past five years. So maybe you should just let me keep on doing that, huh?" "The Shroud? Then why are you here with the dead girl, huh?" "What, you want my whole life story? Maybe I got tired of the forest." Blue eyes rolled. "I found her, not the other way around. Wasn't intentional, trust me, but it's not like I could just leave a dying kid be." "You just happened to come back to life out of nowhere?" K'ile scoffed. "And you just happened to wander from the Shroud back home. And you just happened to find your daughter, who just happens to be dead too? No way." "Suit yourself, I guess," Thal muttered. Then he pushed at K'ile's back, releasing him suddenly and with great forward energy. He took a few steps back himself. "I'm not gonna fight you. Maybe under different circumstances, I'd try to get you to tell me just how the hell you know me, but for now I'll settle for: don't attack us." K'ile stumbled, but recovered within moments. He shot up straight as a rod, his tial switching behind him, and he turned to glare at Thal. "Don't you realize what you are? What she is?" "I'm me," he said simply, frowning towards K'ile, but it was a relatively neutral expression compared to the Tia's anger. "And she's... whoever she is. Doesn't have to be any more complicated than that." "Good to see you still don't think about anything. Yeah, you're still you, and that's exactly the problem." The ground beneath the Tia started to heat again, the sand left on his body turn into shining fluid. "If it was just the face, maybe. But it's still you. If it wasn't K'aijeen, but it is." "What're you afraid of?" Thal demanded, feeling the nerves along his spine light up, his muscles tensing. He didn't drop into any sort of fighting stance, though, instead letting out a rough breath and shifting his gaze to one side. "There's a reason I didn't go digging into what was missing beyond those five years. Nothing good would have come of searching out people who'd probably already mourned." "Then you shouldn't have come back! You should've stayed away from K'aijeen." K'ile ducked his head forward and growled, audibly. The sand beneath him turned fluid and bubbled, small flames alive on the top of it. His bare feet sank centimeters into it. "I can't let this be any more than I could just leave a tent burning down with my family inside. I can't, understand? K'aijeen can't be allowed to keep doing this." "How the hell was I supposed to know some guy who apparently knew me would be wandering around?!" He gestured sharply with both arms to either side of him. "She was hurt and confused and asked me to help take her home. I'm not gonna say no to a sad kid like that." "Still not thinking. Pretending everything's so simple. I guess..." The Tia thought for a moment, and then laughed again. "I guess, yeah, I hate that! I can't do it. Man, you got all the best of everything, didn't you?" His laughter faded. His hands fell to his sides, and the pool of melted sand around him expanded. It seemed deliberate. Like he was preparing it for something. "And then you died. And now yo-" The earth moved behind him, hard clay pushing up through the sand like a beast surfacing. It was visible, stationary, for only an instant, before it solidified and shot from the ground as a missile, striking the Tia hard in the back of his head. he stumbled in the fluid sand, silenced suddenly, dazed. The girl in the tattered red dress stood back near the pass, that broken branch in her hands. Green light moved around her fingers and the wood she held. More missiles began to rise through the sand at her feet. Thal startled, eyes darting past the Tia, and then twisted his mouth. "Damnit," he muttered, and then shouted, "Kid, get out of here!" He wasn't quite sure what to think about her at the moment - certain facts were slowly aligning in his head that pointed towards something very uncomfortable - but he did know he didn't want her involved in this fight. There wasn't much fight left in the Tia. He fell to one knee in the viscous quartz, stunned by the ferocity of the blow. Blood ran down his jawline from a wound on the back of his neck. Then more missiles struck him. In the head. In the back. The girl had become frighteningly efficient at that particular spell, and the Tia collapsed under the assault. "Hey, stop!" Thal felt his legs break into a run, around and past the tia and right for the girl. "No one else is gonna die, kid, y'got that?" he barked, reaching out for the arm holding the wand. She dropped the branch and jumped back from it as Thal rushed her. Her arms pulled up near her chest, she retorted in a scratchy voice. "Wasn't killing. He's killing." She rolled her head and put a hand ot her head. "Was going to attack." "Yeah, right," he grunted, setting his foot on the branch and holding one arm up, palm out towards K'ile, the other towards the girl. "Fighting's done now." K'ile didn't stir. The quartz around him vitrified. The girl reached out and grabbed Thal's hand, pulling on it, eying him with distress. "Okay?" Moving his free hand to run through his hair, Thal let out a sigh. "I'm fine, kid. Just hang back for a bit, okay?" Then he turned, pulling his hand from hers, and approached K'ile. The girl pouted at this. She croaked, "No! He's..." She coughed and began again. "Murderer! Killed you!" "I don't know about that," Thal muttered. His tail hung still behind him as he walked, feet crunching across a thin film of glass as he neared the fallen form of K'ile Tia. Grimacing at the visible blood, he dropped to one knee and carefully rolled the man on to his side. "You alive there?" He resisted the urge to snort at the phrase. At least one person here wasn't dead. The Tia breathed, but didn't move. His eyes were closed. There was a lot of blood. Working his jaw, Thal eased the man onto his back and pushed back his hair, using one thumb to lift an eyelid. "Really did a number on him, kid," he said, likely too quietly for the girl to hear. "Not what I was going for." The girl waited in the pass, looking worried. Like she expected K'ile to pop up and destroy Thal in one sudden instant without warning. The Tia's pupils were clearly dilated unevenly. Thal wasn't an expert, but he thought he knew enough to understand that wasn't good. Shifting the man's head, he felt in his hair for the wound, pulled his fingers away wet with blood and grimaced. "Okay." He bent then, lifting one of K'ile's arms over his shoulder and wedging himself beneath the Tia enough that, when he stood, he took the Tia with him. Then he turned to the girl. "Change of plans, kid. I'm taking him to the town. He's not dead yet, so I'm pretty sure they won't burn him." She flinched at that, her eyes shaking. Then she lurched forward and extended a hand. "No!" She choked shook her head, and put both her hands to her throat, pressing hard. "He'll kill you!" "He already tried that." Thal was getting tired of this. He turned towards the pass, back the way they'd come. "Just wait outside the hole out of sight." She whined, a rough sound rattling from her throat. "Daaad!" And gave chase, picking up the dropped stick as she went. Thal froze, one arm over K'ile's back, the other holding the Tia's own arm over his own shoulder. He blinked away from the pass for a moment, and then leaned his head back, looking towards the sky. "Oh. I get it now." He breathed out, shut his eyes, and then just started walking. "Wait for me outside, K'aijeen," he said, using the name he remembered the Tia calling her. She groaned, again, looking distressed, but nodded.

Well, I made the mistake of clicking through that video to look at the comments. It's hard to not look at what a lot of those "gamergate" folk say and not see a "burning hatred of all women". That SVU episode makes it pretty clear that it's definitely not true for all gamers, though. The disgusting creeps in it were a minority. A dangerous one, but a minority.

Don't hold your breath. Changing from the disaster of a housing system that FFXIV has now to the actually enjoyable system WildStar has would mean trashing their entire concept and reworking everything from almost scratch. I really, really doubt that will ever happen. If you want WS-style housing, you're better off playing WS (or Rift, which has essentially the same thing).

Not sure how I feel about this sketch... K'piru's probably, uh, late 20s-early 30s in this? Anyway, here ya go.

Or, y'know, maybe the RPer in question isn't roleplaying an adventurer... people make an awful lot of assumptions.

I was basing my knowledge off of this wiki page which is based off of this community post, but of course, wikis, anyone can edit, yada yada yada, so I do apologize if my understanding is totally off-base and just based off of some random dude's rambling. I've never seen anything in the official lore about the added letter, and it's certainly not something shown in-game. My understanding has always been that the letter prefix remains the same, but "the Hipparion Tribe" is made up of more than one population, possibly with dramatically different customs depending on distance/isolation. Still starts with K, though.

Aaah, your last question has been the subject of much sociological discussion amongst my own little Seeker tribe group! It's actually a pretty interesting thing to think about, as surely the Seeker culture would lead to some subtle or significant differences in their worldviews. I think there are many ways to take it, something that could probably be said for almost everything related to Seekers. Each tribe is going to have their own unique twists on how to handle things. It is possible that with the role of the Nunh being what it is, relations between him and the women of the tribe may be more contractual. He has his duty, and the women understand and respect that duty. One could treat it a bit like marriages back in old Europe used to be - of a business nature, rather than a feeling one. It's a role the tribe respects, and a role the Nunh respects. That latter part is an important distinction to me, as I think our tendency is to look at a the Nunh as "the guy who gets all the ladies", when it's entirely possible that the Seeker's cultural perspective does not allow for such a selfish idea. Sure, maybe there's a few Nunh's like that, but it's more likely that the role of Nunh is seen as a duty, rather than an opportunity to chase tail. However, consider that the Nunh may also need the support and approval of the women in order to be successful at his duty. Also, Seekers are social, human-like people that clearly have emotion and develop emotional connections. Therefor, it's also an equally valid interpretation to approach the Nunh-tribe relationship as much more personal. Perhaps the Nunh needs to win over the women before he can truly succeed at Nunhship. Perhaps inevitably, the Nunh will have favorite(s), or perhaps he won't. Perhaps his desire for the Nunh title was born out of a desire to be with a certain member of the tribe. Perhaps this might cause strife amongst the tribe, if he is not as equally attentive to his duties. I think that level of detail is really up to the interpretation of the roleplayer and how their own character would respond to the role. I have a character who used to be the Nunh, up until the point he died at Carteneau at least. In the Hipparion Tribe that we roleplay, his role in the tribe was not really one of social or political leadership but of fatherhood. Not only was he responsible for ensuring future generations were born, but he was also responsible for the care of said future generations. Who looks after the kids when the women are out hunting? The Nunh. Who's the one interacting with and teaching the kids moral and social lessons when they're too young to go on hunting trips? The Nunh. It's not that the women are inattentive, but they certainly have many, very important responsibilities. The Nunh's greatest responsibility is towards his kids. That's just how I played it, though.

I really wish I could commute via bike. Alas, I really do not want to ride my bike 20 miles to work in the morning and 20 miles back. Especially not when there's no real way to get to work aside from taking interstates, toll roads, and extremely busy thoroughfares. >_< Was even worse when I was living in far west Houston and commuting to far north. I don't necessarily mind driving, though. NPR's morning edition is at least entertaining, and if I get bored of that, I can pop in a CD.

Eeeeeeh not sure I agree with this statement. There's an awful lot that will never be explicitly stated or demonstrated by NPCs. That doesn't mean any of the things we don't see are suddenly "lore-breaking". I can get behind not necessarily being able to use the same focus for conjury as thaumaturgy, but there doesn't seem to be a good reason against someone being able to learn both.

To get around the clumsiness of trying to carry about two staves, you could just have your character employ a small branch (wand) hung on a belt for conjury and a staff/scepter for thaumaturgy.

Heh I'm with the folk who think the purring is a bit... much. As for the question of the OP... it's pretty much mostly been answered but I'll just throw my hat in with the, "I emote the tail/ears as an extension of my character's body, as that is what they are, and thus they'll gesture in ways appropriate to emotion/action" crowd.

Ew, I won't touch SWTOR with a ten foot pole. A F2P MMO experience is not what I'm looking for at all. Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter are also not what I want. The "multiplayer option" in DA:I that you mention is tacked on and horrid and offers nothing of the RPG experience of the actual game. You don't even get to use your own character. It is so far from the heart of the game, it's almost insulting you'd suggest that as a legitimate option for someone wanting the story in co-op mode. I disagree completely that DA would crumble if its story involved more than one character. I mean look - you already run around with other characters. It is NOT that hard to make one of those another player. The whole argument against it stinks. Move on to a different game? Sorry, but having a co-op campaign isn't going to sully your precious single-player experience. You don't want to do it? Then you choose not to do it. They don't have to replicate the same freedom. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a particular character take the main helm.

You see no appeal in being able to play with your significant other/friend? I want to enjoy the story with my husband. We want to run around in the world together. I personally think it would be really fun if co-op campaign let multiple characters contribute to conversations. It would lead to some really interesting results, with one player's character maybe trying to convince an NPC of one thing and another player's character either agreeing and encouraging, or perhaps trying to pull in another direction. They could compete for love interests. They could work together. It sounds to me like a really fantastic game experience. It would be a complex task but well worth it. As it is, I can't go five minutes playing this game - even with my husband sitting right next to me and watching - without thinking, "This would be so much better if we could just play it together. Look at this empty building, at these benches, at all these world touches that are nothing more than set pieces that serve so little purpose but with another person could be the source of such fun!" So screw the idea that co-op somehow ruins your game. It's not like you'd be forced to play co-op and I don't think it would mess with the story at all. I'm not asking for the ridiculously idiotic style of competitive dungeon crawling that Bioware implemented. I want co-op campaign. Just look at Diablo III. You can play the story solo, or you can play it co-op. It doesn't hurt the narrative at all.

This is how it should be. You earn the gear, you should get to wear it however you want. But good luck getting SE to see that kind of obvious logic.

There is a whole heck of a lot of downside, though. Downsides that can haunt you for the rest of your life. It's honestly not something I would wish on anyone.

Funny you say this, because random disconnects and crashes are an extremely common complaint about XIV...

No, this is the kind of thinking that we're trying to step away from. Critical Thinking is not its own, isolated course. In order to engender deep thought in people in a way that it becomes instinctive for that person, it MUST be embedded in everything. I love how Houstonians always without fail behave as though they've never seen rain in their entire life. YOU LIVE IN HOUSTON. You should know how to drive in rain by now.

My SO and I started playing this game about a week and a half ago. Slow going, because we don't have a lot of free time that isn't spent roleplaying, and DA:I on the PC does NOT like it when you alt-tab... I just wanted to venture, though... are we the only couple in the world absolutely infuriated that the campaign doesn't have a co-op mode? It would seem like the structure of it would fit PERFECTLY into co-op; it even already has a party system in place. We would have purchased this game long ago if it did, and it's a source of never ending sadness whenever we do start it up that we can't really play it together. We're just stuck with sitting next to each other and watching while the other controls everything. If I could run around in Thedas with my husband's character, I would be the happiest person in the world.

Everyone starts somewhere! If you keep at it regularly, you'll be amazed at the improvement you see, even in just a short time. What helps a whole lot is to never shy away from using references. Even if you have a pretty good idea of the pose you want to draw, finding a photo reference for that pose can help you avoid unintentional anatomy errors. To me when I look at my stuff, it's horribly obvious which poses I used references for and which ones I was too lazy for and didn't.