Naunet

You're contradicting yourself with these two paragraphs. I subscribe mostly to the former school of thought, though I do use it with Swiftcast on the tank right before Mountain Buster in Titan HM. She doesn't need it, but a little extra mitigation doesn't hurt.

It's particular debuffs that are affected - most notably, the one that decreases healing done on the one afflicted. Dev posts have implied they're aware of the issue, so hopefully it's fixed swiftly. I cannot wait for addons. The buff/debuff part of the party UI makes me cringe. That and all of the superfluous information.

Unfortunately, party UI customization is extremely limited. I wish you could reorganize the layout, but alas - no can do. You'll take your single column and like it! xP Though in encouragement, I haven't had issues with mouseover macros and the size of the party frames. Just wish we had more control over that part of the UI!

It's not. For 266 mana, you can place a shield on a target that absorbs damage equal to 18% of the target's HP. If your tank is a PLD and let's say, for the sake of discussion, that they're in full Darklight, then they probably have ~5.5k HP. That's a whopping 990 damage abosrbed. My Cure I can crit for well over 1k HP and regularly heals for 800. My Cure II heals for ~1.3k and can crit for nearly 2k. Cure II has the same cost as Stoneskin. Cure II's cast time is also significantly less than Stoneskin's. This makes Stoneskin horribly inefficient in a mana:heal ratio unless your tank happens to be a WAR (which, if the tank has 8k HP, would mean your Stoneskin is absorbing 1440 damage). Stoneskin is a spell you cast at the start of a fight or when you have nothing else to heal and feel like buffering your tank's HP a bit (and then it's only really worthwhile if your tank happens to be a WAR). I'd appreciate if you didn't talk down to me as though I were dim-witted, though, and have no understanding of what effective health is. I participated in progression raiding for years as a discipline priest; I know well the value of absorbs in healing. Stoneskin is just not that awesome a spell. Indeed. And healing threat is pretty much a non-issue as long as your tank is paying attention even the slightest bit. The only times I've ever pulled aggro as a healer have been moments where the tank ran in with Regen still ticking (which is not something they should be doing). It's simply not something to be concerned by. I maintain that Cure III's range is far too short to be truly effective. 4y is nothing; it doesn't even cover melee range around the boss fully. I do like it as a spell; I just think the aoe range should be tweaked. You love a single target DoT that is nothing more than a single target DoT and find that single target DoT "awesome"? Even though it's just something you toss out casually between healing? Opinions are opinions and all, but really. There's nothing awesome about Aero II. It has zero synergy with your healing, and if you didn't have Aero II, you wouldn't miss it as it adds nothing to your toolkit. Ah, if this turns out to be the case, it would be wonderful news. Cause right now it does barely more than diddly squat. That said, I haven't seen anything from devs regarding this, so I won't get my hopes up. Swiftcast happens to have an animation as well, which must follow through before a spell can be cast to use the buff. This means that for whatever you're using Swiftcast for, you must factor in the length of the Swiftcast animation as well as the animation for the chosen spell. Pop in-game and do it with Holy - you'll notice the exploding purply animation that initiates the damage happens about a second after you activate the Holy ability even with Swiftcast. Not sure what you mean about tuning a spell around fates, as I said nothing of the sort. If you'd read my previous posts, you would've seen me espousing the benefits of mouseover macros to the OP. So yes. I'm very much aware of what they are and how they benefit healers. I also know that spells in ARR all have animations that must complete before the action actually goes off. This is how the game functions, not lag. You can try it for anything - Cure, Regen, Shroud of Saints, Benediction, PoM, whatever you want. All have animation times. They're usually masked by the cast time, but for instant spells, it means they are not truly instant. This is a verifiable phenomenon in how the game works. It's not bad. You misunderstand me again, as I never said damage spells must in some way contribute to healing. However, you cannot pretend that dpsing in between heals actually lends some kind of flavor to the class when the damage spells don't synergize with your healing. They're just damage spells, nothing more. Casting them or not casting them changes nothing about how you as a WHM heal. They don't take away flavor and they don't add it. That is what I'm saying. Telling a WHM to just dps in between heals to keep things interesting is as useful as telling a tank to heal between taunts and defensive CDs and generating aggro to keep things interesting. [edit] Random aside: I run AK with a BRD tank for lols to try and "keep things interesting". That doesn't mean that WHM is intrinsically an interesting class design.

This, pretty much. I do that frequently and still think it's a fairly dull healing class. Less dull than dps though (which I've never enjoyed outside of random alting). I mean thing about it. You're trying to say WHM isn't boring as long as you spam Stone II and Aero in between heals - in other words, as long as party damage is low and you aren't healing much so that you can dps instead. That... doesn't actually say a lot of good things about the class's design. Okay, I'll bite with this. I just can't resist anymore. I'm horrible at holding myself back. Stoneskin needs a complete revamp. It either needs to become some form of party-wide buff to complement Protect (the less interesting option), or it needs to be made instant cast, given a CD, and transformed into a powerful defensive cooldown (the actually interesting option). Freecure should work with Medica as well as Cure II. Let's ignore for the moment that RNG-dependent mana efficiency is horrible and needs to go die in a fire. But assume that Freecure is here to stay. The least they could do is make it so proccing it introduces a decision the player has to make rather than just twiddling one's thumbs until there's enough HP off the tank to justify casting Cure II. (Another rant: You would not believe how many Freecures I have wasted because it procs at completely useless times. RNG healing is not fun, guys!) Oh look, I got a Freecure proc! Okay, is the tank taking a lot of damage or do I want to spend it on an AoE heal to buffer the whole group? No, it's not a particularly interesting decision, but it's better than thumb twiddling and mindlessly hitting Cure II. And then there's Cure III. This spell would be awesome - an AoE heal that doesn't require you to cross into deadly melee territory to be useful - except its miniscule range means that for it to be effective, the people your casting it on need to be practically humping each others' butts. Someone previously in the thread mentioned they think Cure III is just a spell for a fight that hasn't come along yet, but let me stop you right there. I am not a fan at all of spells designed to work at one particular moment during one particular fight when the stars align just so and then for a few seconds out of the years you play the game, you get to cast your spell. When a fight would have to be specifically designed with the spell in mind in order for it to be useful, that is a sign of a poorly designed spell. How to fix this? Just increase the range of Cure III by a few yards. It's really that simple. Not as large as Medica, but not a piddly 4y either. Aero II is useless as it is now and a complete waste of an action slot. Okay, so what if when you applied it, the spell generated splash AoE healing with each DoT tick in a radius around the mob with it on? Suddenly it's interesting and useful to a WHM's toolkit! I have a similar complaint with Stone. Once you get Stone II, there's pretty much zero reason to cast Stone I ever again. Now, we could keep Stone II as a dps spell, because lord knows CNJ/WHM still deserves some soloing capacity, so what if it became an AoE centered around the target? Cast it and rubble bursts up from the ground around the monster, damaging all in range. Stone I's damage would be tuned up to adjust for the change in Stone II. WHMs have two pretty straightforward ohshit cooldowns: a +healing CD (Divine Seal) and a +spell speed CD (Presence of Mind). Okay. Boring, but okay. Due to the very minimal effects of spell speed and the ability's short duration, PoM is of extremely limited use, but that could be fixed with some tuning. The next thing I'm going to say is probably going to annoy people, but Holy as a spell is just flat out illogical. It has a very short duration stun, but casting it takes so long and the mana cost is so obscenely high that there's quite literally no point in using it outside of maybe spamming it in a FATE (though I have better luck just spamming Aero all around because of the mana cost) or just to look pretty. Something's gotta change with Holy. Maybe just a mana cost reduction would be fine, but as is, it's pretty ridiculously useless. And no, this is not a spell that will shine in PvP as is, as some might think. The length of time it takes to cast is its killer there. Your targets will run out or interrupt you well before anything goes off. And with the DR on stuns, a 4s stun is effectively little more than an interrupt, yet the spell takes so long to cast that it can't actually be used as such. My beef with Benediction has more to do with the overall functionality of the game's spells and animations than anything, but I'll mention it anyway. Having an oshit instant heal all health button is great, but having to spam it several times before it actually goes off and then having to wait two seconds for the animation to finish before the heal actually triggers quite nearly ruins the spell. With its long CD, this is not something you want to just pop willy-nilly, so when you do use it, it's usually because you freaking need to heal that person right now ASAP no ifs, ands, or buts. *ahem* So think of the problems with CNJ/WHM as this: The class's design reads off as a checklist of necessary spells. Single target, stronger single target, AoE, HoT, CD to increase healing. The only spells with any real synergy are Cure I and Cure II. The Overcure proc for Cure III is a little silly, as having a powerful single target heal proc an powerful AoE is a bit backwards (theoretically, you're casting single target heals because you only need to heal one person), but I'll give it credit anyway. So out of our entire toolkit, only three spells actually work together. The others are a hodge podge of completely independent abilities. There's no motivation to cast damage spells outside of times when you're just bored as fuck because casting damage spells does nothing except drain your mana, which means it's only something you want to do when you're confident that your mana pool is not going to be needed for other healing. (So basically, when I'm loling it up in 4 mans or Ifrit HM. Definitely not dpsing on Garuda or Titan HM, though, and Coil? Nope.) Now, if casting a particular damage spell applied some sort of buff to yourself (or the mob's target, or everyone around it, or something) that complemented your healing? That would be spell synergy and that would make damaging things something more than just "I am trying very hard not to collapse from boredom". *deep breath* Okay. I'm good now!

That's not actually what I said at all (and is exactly the opposite of what I was discussing in my previous posts), but whatevs.

To someone who has healed extensively in WoW, Rift, and TERA, it's really not a large toolbox at all. But I could rant for hours about boring oversimplification in WHM class design, so I'll just leave things at that.

To the first paragraph: Get used to spamming two or three buttons, because WHM doesn't have much in the way of situational spells to moderate or react to damage. Cure I, Cure II, and Medica are going to be your heals for pretty much your entire leveling process. Medica II comes in at the end but is not something you use regularly (just for big burst aoe damage). It's not that you're mashing the buttons to keep tanks up, but Squee didn't really give us much in the way of interesting spell choices. To your second paragraph: I highly suggest you employ mouseover macros, which are by far my preferred method of healing and something I've used all through my progression raiding in WoW (disc priest and holy-on-the-side holla). Mouseovers don't change your target you can safely target something (the boss, an add, the tank, whatever) and still heal whomever without losing your target. I usually keep the boss targeted so that I can keep an eye on cast bars for abilities. The mouseover code looks like this: The /macroicon command ensures the macro displays the icon of the spell you're using (in this example, Cure), as well as the mana cost and GCD. If you don't use it, you won't be able to see things like Freecure procs (a trait you earn at higher levels on CNJ) either. The second line is the mouseover macro part. I use mo macros for Cure I/II/III (though I rarely, rarely, rarely cast III), Esuna, Stoneskin, Regen, Benediction, and Raise. Basically, any spell that I need to target a person to cast. Medica I and II don't need mo macros because they're centered around you. As far as doing other things aside from healing - that depends entirely on your comfort level. I usually get a little cocky and/or bored in dungeons and often take on the responsibility of CC bot in addition to healing in instances (hint: Repose, when you get it, can be cast on multiple targets, so you can keep more than one mob CCed at a time! Just be aware of the diminishing returns - you can sleep something 3 times before it resists fully), and I'll even dps stuff if I know I don't have to worry about stressing my mana healing soon. If I trust my tank, I've been known to run ahead and chain pull mobs as well. >_>;; Dispelling will definitely be your responsibility, however, as only healers have the Esuna spell (or whatever it is Scholar's get), so don't forget those! Keep in mind that some debuffs are more deadly than others and at times it may be more efficient to just casually heal through certain debuffs than try to dispel them (especially at low levels when they don't do much damage). Over time, you'll get a feel as for which debuffs are the most dangerous.

Yes, and no. Have I run into moments where I'm desperately spamming Cure I and Cure II to keep a tank up? Yes. Does it tend to happen as a rule for an encounter? No, not really. Damage on tanks tends to come in bursts. If your tank is constantly taking a lot of damage that is leaving you spamming your single target heal(s) like mad, then your best guesses are 1) the tank doesn't have their damage reduction stance on, or 2) the tank is under-geared. You may want to check for debuffs on the tank to see if those are the culprit as well (though you don't get Esuna immediately).

Aah, I gotcha! ^^ Carry on~

My point was that everyone (or, okay, a lot of people) in real life owns something, or even multiple somethings, that they obtained for literally no other reason other than it was awesome. Why do I have a baneling/zergling reversible plushy sitting on top of my computer tower? Because it's freaking awesome, that's why. Therefor, it makes perfect sense for a character in RP to have something for no reason other than they think it's cool. Is it shallow for the character? Sure. Is it shallow in terms of RP? Certainly not; it's realistic. A person is not going to have some deep and meaningful motivation behind everything they own.

Hey now, "coolness" is a perfectly valid reason for having something! I know I own plenty of things for no other reason other than "Holy crap this shit is awesome", and I am certain I'm not alone. There doesn't have to be some convoluted motivation to having everything.

Hey, folks! I'd like to attempt to draw your attention for a few minutes to talk to ya'll about a wonderful little thing called Extra Life. Extra Life seeks to raise money for children who need it most doing things that children (and adults!) love to do: play games! Board games, video games, mental games, sports games - the activities don't matter so much as the spirit behind them, and that spirit is one of giving to sick kids in dire need of a little bit of light in their life. From the mouth of Extra Life itself: We're getting a bit of a late start thanks to some real life busy-ness, but with a week away still, we decided there was still time to do some good ol' fundraising. Our team, the League of (Extra)Ordinary Roleplayers, has chosen our patron hospital as the Texas Children's Hospital. It is a local medical center near and dear to some of our members' hearts and a national leader in medical research and pediatric treatment. Texas Children's has changed the lives of so many kids for the better, and yet it is still heartbreaking that any child must spend time within its walls. It is the least we can do to make their lives, and the lives of their families, even just a little bit happier, a little bit easier. With that said, I make an appeal to those on this forum to consider donating to my page and help me and my team reach our modest goal of $100 (though I would be thrilled if we managed more). Your donations will go directly to Texas Children's Hospital, which is a member of the Children's Miracle Network. To donate, please visit my page and click "Support Me". All donations are tax deductible and guaranteed to go towards a beautiful cause! Alternatively, you can go to the pages for the other members of our team: K R and Amelia P!

To clarify, as I just checked my family tree records, the names of PC characters in the Zhwan family are Khaze'to Zhwan, Tyakha Zhwan, and Kinra Zhwan. I dunno if that helps. ^^; But I just thought I'd make sure my info was accurate haha.

Khaze'to and one other were RPing within first Keeper branch, but I think real life caught up to at least one of them as I haven't seen them around in a bit save for in Skype. You might be able to PM him on the RPC or somesuch! The sole survivor of the second branch I mentioned is currently RPed by Twinflame.

I wasn't aware the Hipparion tribe had a Keeper branch? How does that work exactly? Several generations ago, one of our nunhs broke off to follow a Keeper lady, and the tribe cut him from their ranks. He went on to establish a Keeper family in the Shroud. There is actually a second, extremely short Keeper branch as well that occurred when a tia was exiled and fell in with a Keeper. He ended up getting himself killed but not before siring a couple children, all but one of whom have died.

If you're Garlean, they're certainly no different from Primals (same with the gods)! And honestly, they make a convincing argument.

Ah, I love these things. I helped run a consortium in TERA, and we hosted a few open market faires; it was quite fun and profitable! We did a mix of real in-game items and imaginary items. The former were exchanged for gold (the draw being that we were selling them off at significantly lower prices than they would go for on the broker), while the latter did not require any exchange of actual funds, though a few people actually did give us gold in exchange without prompt. One of our open markets ended with a short auction of a few "big ticket" items, complete with running auction commentary. The way we organized it, we set up various "stalls" manned by one or two people. Visitors were instructed to approach the stalls and ask about wares. For me, it helped that the character I was RPing was very much a... go-getter as far as advertisement and sales went haha. I was constantly calling out to people, trying to predict what they might be after and such. If more than one person wants to do business with you, have 'em literally wait in line! Keeps things organized and straightforward. As far as location goes, I would really recommend not doing it within Ul'dah or anywhere that there is a lot of people normally hanging around. You don't want your transactions getting lost in incidental spam. There is, however, a nice open area with some tents outside Ul'dah (can't remember which gate, though - I can check in-game later). If you want to scale up the affair, you could go for some place with nice scenery to give folk a place to "relax" in between browsing.

I have some less brain-frying and perhaps more externally plot-relevant RP to post from a meeting of the Big Three soonish. Just have to get around to formatting it. There was discussion regarding moving on exploits within the Shroud, particularly with regards to aether and woodwrath; not sure if anyone in Group 2 has significant connections there. That said, they've got interests in Ul'dah and Limsa as well (with D'hein and Ildur representing those, respectively), so there's always potential ins that way. The Ul'dah Garden may be something the CRA would have interest in keeping an eye on.

Thanks to ARR's rather unweildy chat system, I've spent more time sending mistells in this game than actually chatting! ... Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration. But only slight! Luckily I don't erp or whatever, so there's not been anything mortifyingly embarrassing - it's just frustrating and amusing.

Can't wait to get ideas flowing. More communication is never a bad thing.

I don't know, but I just highlight and copy/paste RP for record keeping. Very easy! So much better than TERA, where I had to screenshot everything and then manually type it all back up... @.@

((Copy-pasta from in-game RP. Occurs maybe an hour or two after Oranges and Confrontation.)) *** Antimony carried a hefty bag of flour in her arms and spoke as she walked down a relatively quiet side path at the edge of Limsa, "... and I hope Ulanan doesn't mind the additional guest, but I do think you'll rather enjoy this orange 'pudding' - at least I certainly hope so. I'm not all that familiar with 'pudding' but the way she described it certainly sounded delicious, but hm I don't know if I have enough chairs... Oh, I'll just sit on a stool and you will just take the other one, with Megiddo.. not that you'll share a chair, I mean!” Alcor shook his head, chuckling as he strolled alongside the miqo’te woman. "Don't worry over it. A meal on a stool, won't kill me. And the pudding will be fine, surely. I ain't too used to much good stuff, quite honest." He grinned, "So as long as yeh don't tell me it’s bad, I won't know if it is." Antimony's eyes widen slightly, though she didn’t pause her steps forward. "I wouldn't offer something bad! The oranges smelled delicious. Though this flour reminds me of sand.. ah, nevermind. Here." Alcor glanced around, "Heh, as be sayin' I'm sure it'll be fine.... Lovely little house ya got here." House was perhaps a bit too friendly a term for the little flat tucked into a wall in Limsa, and Antimony shook her head as she approached the door. "Ah, well, thank you, but you shouldn't say such things before you get a chance to truly judge..." She paused and frowned, hand on the door, before pushing it open. “Nah. Yer just too hard on yerself.” As he spoke, he reached over Antimony's shoulder to hold the door open for her. Inside there came noises from a far wall, accompanied by the strong smell of oranges that wafted out the open door. Ulanan Ulan stood atop the stove, stirring a boiling pot. Antimony Jhanhi chuckled faintly at Alcor’s chiding and called out as she stepped forward, "Ulanan, are you back?" Her nose twitched at the scents. The lalafell looked towards the door and smiled. “Yes, it's me.” “Ah! Good. Uhm... I think I... Well, I hope there will be enough for one more now.” Not for the first time, she wondered if she should have first sought her friend’s permission. Though, it was her home… “Oh?” Alcor followed Antimony through the entrance, letting the door fall shut behind him. Ulanan gave him a look as if she had never met him. "Hello there," she said. Alcor's narrowed slightly as located the source of the voice, "Oi. Yeh look familiar." Antimony's ears tilted as she offered a slight smile and then, "This is... ah, Al...Alcor! Yes. A friend. And oh! Please be careful on the stove..." “I'm Ulanan. A pleasure to make your acquitance.” She kept stirring the contents of the pot, offering the Highlander a faint smile. In response, Alcor beamed. “Heh, I suppose so.” Antimony looked between the two, brow wrinkling briefly before she finally set the bag of flour down on the nearby table. There was a small puff of white from loose flour at the impact, and she waved at the air in front of her face, ears twitching. Seeing this, Ulanan set her spoon aside. Alcor let his eyes wander around the small flat, "There anything I should be doin' ta help?" “I will have that flour, if you please?” the lalafell requested, extending one arm. At this, Alcor walked around Antimony, to hoist up the flour onto the counter. Antimony brushed at little remnants of flour on the front of her robe and then, noting the disarray her deposition of the bag had caused on the table, began to hurriedly try and pull together some of the papers scattered about it. Whilst all three were otherwise occupied, there came a knock once upon the door, and then, belatedly as though it had at first been forgotten, twice more. Ulanan took the flour with a, "Thank you." She would spend the next few minutes making that flour into an actual pudding. Alcor watched the Lalafell for a few moments, before turning his gaze away, looking around at the house again. Antimony's ears twitched up at the sound and then she frowned towards the ceiling, speaking as though just realizing, "Ulanan... wasn't Megiddo with you?" “He wanted to go for a walk. That might be him at the door.” Antimony looked to the table and its mess, then to Ulanan, the boiling pot, Alcor, back to the pot, the table again, and then finally, the door. Her hands twisted the paper in her grip without realizing it, and then she moved to open the door. Megiddo waited outside with a bland expression on his face. When Antimony opened the door, he let his gaze drop to her, but his expression didn’t change much. He explained, "I chose to attend, if that's still alright." Alcor moved across the floor, to see better the newcomer. Antimony blinked at Megiddo, looked to be considering something, and then glanced down at the paper in her hands. The sight of it seemed to startle her, and she frantically tried to straighten the wrinkled paper while saying, "Yes! Yes, of course it was. Is. I mean, I did invite you. Come in!" And she stepped back into the room. Elder Megiddo let his head lilt to one side, pondering for a moment. As he entered, he noted Alcor’s presence, and gave the man a nod of acknowledgment. Alcor looked between the older Elezen and Antimony, before settling on the man, "We met before, yeah?" Ulanan moved across the counter, picking a bowl and another spoon. She put some ingredients inside and sat down, placing the bowl on her legs before mixing it all energetically. Antimony looked around at the now three other people in her home and then moved back over to the table, setting the papers she'd nearly crushed back atop it. “Briefly, yes,” Megiddo was saying. “At the Drowning Wench. it is not uncommon for Oschon to guide me to repeat meetings. It is good to see you again.” “Oschon is a fun god like that.” “Probably got more to do with mutual knowings of folks,” Alcor shrugged at Megiddo. Antimony smiled a bit uncertainly at Alcor's back and Megiddo. "Ah, right! I'd forgotten about... well, I'm glad everyone can get along. I must apologize for the... well, it is a bit cramped in here." Megiddo shrugged, moving further into the building and looking towards Antimony, "I was raised in a cave which I shared with roughly a dozen young peers. This seems spacious enough." Alcor took a step back, so as not to awkwardly take up the middle of the room. “And, it’s still more space than many a ships, afford.” “Ah hah. I suppose that's true,” Antimony mused. “I'm used to more... well. Ulanan! Are you doing alright?” Ulanan hadn't stopped mixing the ingredients yet. “Milk! And eggs! I need them!” “Eggs and... oh.” Antimony looked suddenly distressed. Alcor furrowed his brow slightly at Antimony's obvious worry, "Hmm? Do yeh not have milk?" “Milk is another rather uncommon ingredient, I believe,” Megiddo observed neutrally. Antimony darted her eyes to Alcor, then Megiddo, and then back to the human. "Ah, well... it's not something I've ever... That is to say, I never got in the habit of... Oh no! Ulanan, is there anything else you could... use instead perhaps?" Ulanan looked lost in thought for a moment. “No milk? This town is terrible! We'll use water instead.” Antimony's brow wrinkled deeply and she pursed her lips, eyes wandering the small flat as though hoping to spy milk in some hidden corner. “Got no opinion on the matter,” Alcor shrugged. “Ain't like I know anything 'bout cooking." “Are you certain?” Antimony's tail lashed behind her. “It won't... there's no activating nature to milk? Or... certainly it couldn't possibly be the same! Oh no... I should have confirmed with you the full ingredient list beforehand…” Megiddo watched the goings on in silence, seeming rather out of place. Ulanan looked stumped. "I don't know. Melted butter and water, maybe? Do we have butter?" “Sure it'll be fine,” Alcor consoled. “Ain't no reason ta be worryin'” Antimony's ears shifted out flat from her skull worriedly. "I... have lard, yes. Ah! One moment, and I'll retrieve it..." She spun around, perhaps a bit too vigorously, nearly stumbled, and then stepped over to a small cabinet. Ulanan looked at Alcor and lifted the spoon to point at him. "There are eggs in a basket on that shelf. Can you get them to me?" Megiddo watched Antimony's behavior and inquired, "Is there some urgency to the steps in the recipe?" Antimony rummaged around in the cabinet for a bit, setting aside a small but clearly heavy box, and then paused at Megiddo's words, looking flustered. Her tail twitched against the floor behind her. "Ah, well, I suppose... I wouldn't want to keep anyone waiting." She retrieved a rectangular box from the cabinet then, and straightened with some effort. Alcor glanced between Ulanan and the shelf, before taking a step over and reaching for the basket, pulling it down from the shelf. He then moved over to Ulanan, placing the basket beside where she sat on the counter. “Don't emphasize the food too much. It will be done when it is done. The people the food is being prepared for is where most of the flavor is.” Megiddo stated this as an observation, with his deadpan look. When he was done, he added a bit of a smirk. Ulanan stopped stirring, took one egg and added it to the mixture before picking the spoon again. "Thank you." Alcor peered into the pot, leaning over it slightly and giving it a sniff. "Hmm, not still wanting to burn me are yeh?" he said quietly and with a chuckle. At this, Ulanan looked up at him in surprise. “Uh?” Antimony frowned at Megiddo for half a second and then, "--oh no! You're right! What have I... Oh, I've completely forgotten to--please, you should sit!" Antimony made a motion as though to gesture at the chair at the table, but it was awkward due to the box she's holding. “Ain't that what yeh said the other day when yeh tracked me down?” Alcor prodded over by the stove. Ulanan smiled at Alcor. “You are a funny man. Just like Oschon! Except less divine.” She then continued mixing eggs into whatever terrible food she was making. Megiddo raised his hands, "If I sit down, I'll have to stand up again later. If you don't mind, I think it would better to jsut lean against something." “Heh,” Alcor chuffed. “Didn't know Oschon was known for his sense of humor.” Antimony's ears flicked out and then back in an anxious gesture. "I wouldn't want you to tire yourself, or hurt yourself, or--ah, look at me, not that I'm trying to say you're horribly fragile! Only... concern?" “I think we've established that I hold up unexpectedly well.” “You can't shove people into wandering the roads unless you have a good sense of humor,” Ulanan was explaining matter-of-factly. “Otherwise, you'd get eaten by peistes.” A pause. “...not 'you'...them. The people you push into wandering. Mm.” Megiddo turned, paced over to the walls, and leaned against it with his arms crossed. “Yes. Well...” Antimony dragged her attention back to matters at hand. “Oh, the lard! Ulanan, here—“ She turned around again and moved over to the counter, setting the box down carefully. “Not sure I be followin' that,” Alcor chuckled. “Probably cause I never had a personal relationship with 'em. My own fault 'o course” Ulanan stopped mixing the ingredients and set the bowl aside. She took the lard Antimony had provided, moved across the counter again, and mixed some of it with water in another bowl. Antimony blinked at Ulanan and Alcor, catching the last bit of a conversation that confused her. “You should sit at the table and exchange pleasantries while I prepare this dish!” Ulanan declared. Alcor raised his brow, "Hmm?" “Ah, of course, I'll just--here! Please, sit.” Antimony tried again this time, gesturing to the chair she'd offered Megiddo, with an almost pleading expression. Alcor glanced between her and the seat, "Yeh sure yer not wantin' the seat? I'm alright standin'" “A gentleman always accepts a seat when offered one, unless he's in a hurry.” Ulanan shook her fingers in a lady-like disapproving way. “Ulanan is correct,” Megiddo spoke from his position against the wall. “I partially refused to sit down myself out of fear that I would be mistaken for a gentleman.” Alcor shook his head slightly, "Pretty sure, it goes the other way round?" Antimony's tail shivered, her expression faltering briefly before, "No, I insist! Sit, please." "’The other way around’? Why would you accept a seat if you were in a hurry?” Ulanan continued to cook as she spoke. Alcor looked over Anti, "Alright, I'll have a seat then, if that'll help things." Antimony smiled with some relief and bowed her head briefly, "Thank you." Alcor walked over to a chair, taking a seat in it, and looking a little bit big for the small chair, "Of course, anythin' fer a lady." He flashed a smile Antimony’s way. Antimony nodded again and then, "Ah, Ulanan, is the lard working...?" “The lard will largely lead our pudding into a less lovely flavor, but it will work.” Antimony pursed her lips, ears drooping. "Ah, well, I suppose it can't be helped... milk! Of all the things." Sighing, she turned back around to face Alcor and Megiddo, clasping her hands in front of her at her waist. “Is it possible to get milk in Limsa?” Megiddo questioned. “Probably to late fer gettin' the milk now,” Alcor just shrugged. “It's... I suppose it must be, as D... Well, I've seen it in a restaurant before.” Antimony focused on not looking too distressed in front of the guests. Megiddo shrugged, "I've never really cooked. If there's a next time, though..." Antimony sighed and wrung her hands, nodding. Back by the stove, Ulanan moved across the counter, carefully avoiding stepping on all the things scattered across it. “It almost ready?” Alcor spoke up after an only mildly awkward silence. “Don't mean ta be rude, but food is soundin' rather good right about now.” Ulanan picked up the bowl of mixed ingredients and dropped all the contents into the boiling pot. "A gentleman is patient and prefers not to speak about his stomach!"

A week passed after K'ailia had made her request before one of the elders. During this week, nothing notably changed changed for the Hipparion tribe. Their worn hunters brought in what meat and bone and sinew they could; their children learned and played and grew and fought; they tended to sick and injured; they looked to the sky and prayed. When their stores of water began to dwindle, they sent out one of their shaman with a small escort in search of new sources, and two days later the entire camp they had settled into had disappeared, moved with brisk efficiency across rolling dunes to a new location. And so when the word finally spread from the elders of a meeting, the Hipparion tribe was still settling in to their new camp. It will decide our future, said the whispers passed along from huntress to tia to child. It will tear us away from Azeyma's guardianship, said others still, and like this a slow conflict brewed over the course of a single day. The meeting was to happen in the morning, a week and one day since the tribe's youth had first gathered in secret, and well before the first greying of dawn the Elders were up and preparing. They spoke in hushed tones within their tent, bent bodies shuffling back and forth carrying sigils and bowls of offerings. There was a strange air of urgency in their movements but neither were they hurried. A bell after the shadows of night first began to fade, the elders left their tent. They walked through camp in single file, towards the center where the remains of a fire lay still warm. K'deiki moved at the head of their procession, one hand clutching a stone carved mark of the sun goddess while the other carried a small handful of dried shrub branches. The latter she cast into the shallow pit of the fire, and the rest of the elders settled into the sand on either side of her. They remained there in silence as K'deiki breathed life back into the pit, waiting for their tribe to come and partake in choosing their future.

The blowing Sagoli sands left the skin on his shoulders and arms burnt red with heat, raw like eroded sandstone, but K'ile Tia's face was at least protected by the long red hair that hung about his features. It was three years prior to the Calamity, and nearing the hottest days of summer, when the Sagolii Hipparion Tribe would have their sun festival. Hunting had been picked up to hoard food and prepare offerings of bone and feather for the event, leaving the women exhausted. K'ile stalked the sands like the others, but did not do so in hunt of meat. So when this brother of the Nunh returned before the hunting parties, it wasn't out of the norm. That he carried a writhing vulture, bound, to the tent of one of the shamans, was far out of the ordinary. Before he could proclaim his own presence outside the tent of K’piru Jhanhi, the bird did so before him in a hideously loud squawk. Vultures are disgusting creatures, and this one stank of vomit, excrement, carrion and disease. K'ile cringed at the sounds it made, and threw it to one side without concern for its comfort. Turning back to the tent, "Hey, K'piru! Need a vulture?" The air within the tent carried a pungent scent, emanating from a broad, shallow half-moon bowl propped over a fire. K'piru hovered near it, eyes squinting in the dim light to watch the thick, waxy substance inside bubble. Next to her, spread out along a skin on the floor, were several small bags with the stitching opened up to reveal little piles of different, earthy-colored powders. The miqo'te's ears flicked up at the voice outside the tent, and she gave an impatient frown to the bowl over the fire before calling out, "Don't you dare bring that sign of death past that door!" K'airos had been sitting close to the tent's entrance, her back lazily arched forward, glancing around the tent at her mother's alchemical reagents and shamanistic artifacts. As soon as K'ile spoke, though, she straightened her posture swiftly and hurried to comb her hair. K'ile frowned down at the bound vulture, and it made a hideous screech at him. "Sign of death, huh?" In a perfunctory fashion, as if Antimony had instructed him to do so, he plucked his lance from his back and stabbed the bird through the head. The noises of its groaning death weren't any worse than those it had been making before. He stuck the point of the lance in the sand and spun it to clean of the thing's blood. "Hey, K'piru! Where're your daughters?" K'airos shivered as if the man was askind personally for her. K'piru didn't respond immediately, for she had launched into a sudden flurry of activity around the shallow bowl, lifting it from the frame holding it over the fire with the aid of a few, thick skins so as not to burn her hands. The light fabric of her clothing fluttered as she carried it swiftly to one side of the tent where she had already cleared out a space for it. Nestling it into the sand, she snagged a pouch from nearby without looking - muscle memory telling her exactly what it was – and sprinkled a few pinches of whatever it contained over the cooling paste. "K'airos, dear, come here and stir this. Until the color fully changes." She didn’t wait for a response, straightening and moving towards the entrance past her daughter and peering outside. "You realize this is an extremely busy time for me, yes?" K'ile Tia, brother of the Nunh, looked at his brother's mate with a very serious expression is his blue eyes. "It's a busy time for everyone. Where are your daughters? Do you know?" K'airos stopped what she was doing to stir the bowl as instructed by her mother, trying and failing to not turn around and glance towards the outside of the tent. K'piru blinked at the tia, taking in his somber expression, and then turned to look back towards her middle daughter, half checking to make sure she'd done as told and half to reassure herself. Back at K'ile then, "K'airos returned only recently from a hunting party, and K'airi left with the next one shortly after..." Her frown deepened. "K'aijeen..." Frowning through the hair that lay over his face like wet feathers, K'ile patiently urged, "And K'aijeen...?" "I sent her to gather some things for me," K'piru shook her head, ears shifting uncertainly. "Nothing very far from camp. But... she should be a part of this." Delivered deadpan in a wholly serious tone, "Did you send her to get vultures?" "What? Of course not! What are you... oh no." K'piru's brow furrowed and she cast a quick glance towards K'airos before directing a worried look back at K'ile. "What has she done?" K'airos returned a confused look. "Is it forbidden to open vultures during this celebration?" Biting his cheek, K'ile explained, "Someone has been baiting vultures. Whomever it was caught three. I found that one," he gestured to the one he'd just slain, "But the other two were a mess. Missing heads and insides. I don't actually give an Orobon's right eye about that. But whoever it was stole meat out of the stash for bait. And that's where I come in." "Stole?" K'piru's tail flicked behind her. "No, it couldn't possibly be K'aijeen. She's... reckless in getting what she wants, but she hasn't outright stolen anything! Not from the tribe!" The content of the bowl had changed color at least once, and so K'airos stopped stirring. She stood up and walked towards them, looking at some indefinite point in the tent's wall. K'ile didn't appear swayed in the least. "Look, it's only a few quick steps from pulling bone and fat out of a worm to pulling the guts out of birds. I've caught your daughter gutting lizards and rodents before. But if you know anyone else that wants vulture heads heads, now's the time to let me know." K'piru shook her head and looked to her daughter now nearby. "K'airos, have you seen K'aijeen recently?" She managed to keep calm in her voice when she asked this, as a mother to her children should. "I haven't seen her since I left for the hunt." she answered with a shrug. Closing her eyes briefly, K'piru drew in a breath before forcibly brightening. "Ah, perhaps she is with Thalen! He always seems to know what she's up to." "Yeah, right." He put a hand through his bangs and rested it atop his head, momentarily showing the face behind the veil of hair. "I hope so. Anyway, it'd be best if we found her. In any case, and I mean really, in any case, when I find her she's going to have to go and explain herself to the elders. It'd be best if we found her sooner than later." "How much meat did she stole?" K'piru wrung her hands for a moment, glancing back into the tent at the items she had been in the midst of preparing, and then sighed. "Yes, of course." Then to K'airos she corrected, "Steal, not stole," before shaking her head, ears wobbling. "And we don't know she's done anything yet, so don't go making accusations! Search the east side of camp, K'airos, and I will look for her on the west." K'airos made a face at the correction. When her brief disgust was gone, she nodded. "East. Alright." "It's not about how much she stole and it's not about accusations." K'ile stepped back, looking at K'airos like he was only just realizing she was present. "We just need to get her to the Elders and let them handle it. If one of you runs into K'thalen, have him look too. I'll be checking outside of camp. For all I know she could have a dozen vultures or a godsdamned Sand Drake on a pike." K'airos picked up her spear, that was lazily lying close to where she had been sitting before K'ile arrived. "That...." she started. "...would be quite impressive!" K'piru grimaced, "As long as she isn't hurt," and stepped out of the tent fully, adjusting the cloth wrapped crossways across her shoulder. "And don't encourage her, K'airos! Even in thought..." "And don't leave the camp alone," K'ile added, as he turned away. K'piru nodded, bundled up her clothes a bit to free up her movements for a brisker pace across the sand, and then took off westward, a worried frown plastered to her face. K'airos left the tent with what she was wearing. She didn't took any of her hunting gear except for the spear. She didn't expect K'aijeen to be in trouble. K'thalen was not actually doing anything important while this was going on, though he was supposed to be. Instead, he was taking an opportunity to watch a trio of children, hardly past walking age, chase one another in an endless figure eight between tents. Through talents he’d managed to hone over decades of fatherhood, he’d managed to cajole them into turning it into a game of who could be the quietest, and so now he relaxed into a lounge that was closer to lying flat on his back than actually sitting up and overall was just enjoying the silence that came with the tribe being so consumed with preparations. That quiet didn't last long. K'airos spotted her father from between the tents and yelled at him. "Dad! Have you seen Aijeen?" "Aah! I was keeping an eye on 'em, I swear!" Wiry arms flailed as K'thalen kind of squirmed his way up off the sand. He blinked around, noticing the lack of chastising mothers, and then noticed K'airos, at which point he flashed a warm smile. "Well now, there's my huntress! Well, one of them. But hey, who's counting?" His ears bounced as his brain caught up with his daughter's question, and he rolled his head a bit, stretching a protesting joint "Aijeen...? She run off again, huh? Always jumping at the sun... Isn't your mother supposed to be keeping an eye on her?" K'airos pointed westwards with her spear. "She sent her to pick up...something or other. But K’ile found some dead vultures and thinks she stole some of the tribe's meat to lure them!" "Eh, that wouldn't be very nice." He wagged a finger at K'airos and then straightened fully. "Nothing to it, then! We'll have to go on an adventure and find your sister! Maybe we'll get to rescue her from an evil villain." "I hope not!" she said, shaking her and dissapearing behind the tents for a moment before reappearing on the other side. "Do you have your spear with you?" "That old thing?" He flashed an irreverent grin her way. "Keep those things around them," he gestured towards the children who were more stumbling over one another than running, "and someone's liable to get their eye poked out, y'know." "Let's get your spear, then, before searching for Aijeen. Hurry!" It hadn't taken long for K'thalen to retrieve his weapon, and soon he had joined K'airos on the hunt for her younger sister. Occasionally he would crack a joke about their adventure, wonder when the giant sandworm would burst forth which they would have to chase after to its lair where K'aijeen would be waiting like some damsel, oh but she wouldn't be a damsel, no no! K'thalen knew that much about his daughter, and so predicted she had instead taken care of all the other sandworms and thus their rescue attempt would be rather belated. Throughout all this, they searched the eastern half of the grounds the tribe had scattered its tents across, but there was no sign of K'aijeen. Recognizing this, it was with very little reluctance that they set out to scout the outer perimeter. "And now's about the time we come across a terrible ambush, but we manage to fight it back by the fur of our ears!" He embellished. "And the Mother of All Vultures will come flying with the sun behind it and we'll have to defeat it by luring her into the Father of All Sandworm's lair?" She chuckled. "I wonder if that's even a thing." "Maybe we'll get to find out. Aijeen!" He called out, "Aijeen, you're missing a grand adventure!" What the pair would eventually find, instead of K'aijeen or a giant vulture or an ambush by Amal'jaa, was a strange apparatus only vaguely concealed from the sands between shallow crags. Four vultures on pikes were stationed about a pile of fresh meat, with lines of still-wet blood trailing away in a number of directions. Several dozen sharp sticks were pointing out of the ground at about ankle-height, so that the area around the meat would be dangerous to walk upon. "Look!" K'airos pointed at the strange setup. She blinked and kept quiet a moment afterward, trying to make sense of the sight. "Does...that look like a trap to you?" K'thalen's silly grin didn't fade, but his heavy brow did pull down. He slowed his steps as he approached the bloody ring and spoke still with cheer, though somewhat dampened, "You just stay where you are, K'airos." He reached out with his spear then and prodded at the sticks jabbing up from the sand, testing the securedness of their placement and seeking to dislodge them if he could. When poked, the entire trap exploded outward. The sharp sticks shot straight up in the air with little spouts of fire and the meat in the center was flash-cooked by a small explosion that sent it flying, sizzling, in all directions. All was blood and sand and the smell of sauteed worm meat! K'thalen jerked away, stumbling briefly in the sand and wiping at a bit of flesh that had launched at his face with a grimace. "Okay! Definitely a trap." K'airos bent her legs and screeched shortly at the unexpected explosion. A few bits of the now roasted creatures reached her, staining her hair and upper body somewhat, but she wasn't very concerned about them. "The whole tribe must have heard that!" "Maybe, but we've got two things to think about now," K'thalen hummed and adjusted his grip on his spear, eyeing the bloody, now cooked mess of feather and flesh. "On the bright side, if it really is a trap, whoever set it will probably come a-runnin!" K'aijeen didn't exactly come running. She popped up over a crag a few dozen meters on the other side of the trap, trotting along with an open book in her hands and heavy-looking bag over one shoulder. It wasn't until a few seconds after her appearance that she looked up from her book to see who had set off her trap, and her mouth drop open at the sight. Her expression immediately shifting to one of offense, she shouted "What did you do!?" K'thalen's ears swiveled and the frown he'd been wearing disappeared, though it was not replaced by a smile. "Aijeen, there you are! We've been looking all over for you." K'airos waved her spear. "We are all fine and unhurted!" she declared in a cheer. "What are you doing here?" "What?" D'aijeen cast her eyes about, and began to look sad, "What do you mean? What did you do?" She let out a suddenly monumental whine, "I spent all day working on that and you ruuuined it! You ruined it!" "Aw K'aijeen, it smells pretty good to me!" He chuckled without really smiling and moved to circle around the mess towards the girl. "But, y'know, that looks like some awfully dangerous stuff to be messing with on your own." K'airos followed her father. "Were you trying to trap a sandworm?" With a stomp of one foot, D'aijeen slammed her book shut loudly and proclaimed, "Ruiner!" She put the book in the bag at her side, which stank of vulture corpses. She pointed at K'thalen, "Ruiner!" And at K'airos, "You are a ruiner! You both owe me a Sand Drake's spine! And eyes! And heart!" K'thalen frowned. "Don't go pointing accusations at people like that, Aijeen. I appreciate the thrill of nearly getting blown up, but--" he'd maneuvered around in front of her now and bent a bit to get at eye level, "--I can't imagine how I'd feel if that'd been you. Huh? It'd break my heart!" "What do you mean?" She began to gesture broadly and stomp around in an angry little circle, "The trap was designed specifically not to hurt the heart! Why would it be me anyway? What are you talking about!" "What if it was K'airos then?" He let his head tilt to one side, ears following suit. "I sure looks like this took a lot of work, but I bet there's a way to make this safer." K'airos looked back at the now smoldering contraption, leaning heavily on her spear. Her mouth was open, but she decided to not speak. "Ruiners! You could tell it was a trap and you set it off anyway, didn't you? I knew it!" She crosses her arms and says defiantly, "Anyway. It's based on the trap K'airos helped me with. She wouldn't have fallen for it." "You think mighty highly of your sister! As you should, of course." He chuckled briefly. "Speaking of, what do ya say we head back to camp for a bit with K'airos? I bet she'd love to hear what all you did to modify her trap!" As he spoke, K'thalen reached out to put an arm around K'aijeen's shoulder affectionately. "You should have told me." K'airos pouted. She then gaped and turned suddenly. "You didn't get meat from the tribe to lure the vultures, did you?" Unmoved by either K'thalen's suggestion or his physical contact, K'aijeen continued to pout, "I'm not going anywhere until I get a Sand Drake spine. And I was going to replace the meat I took with Sand Drake meat!" "Well..." K'thalen eyed the seared mess near them. "How about we gather up some of the best bits left over and take it back, huh? We don't have a hunting party to spare to get you a sand drake just yet." "And we have no trap anymore. It's pointless to linger here." K'aijeen spun on them with clenched fists, "I'd have a trap if you hadn't blown it up! You just wanna drag me back so mom can lecture me!" K'airos frowned. "That's why you should have told me!" "Hey now, what's with the accusations? I didn't say anything like that." He put some pressure on K'aijeen's shoulders to urge her forward. "C'mon, we were worried about you and there was the whole mystery of the missing meat and the vultures! Was a pretty exciting plot, but now we're gonna head back. We can come clean this up later." "Why should we clean it up? The meat will attract a Sand Drake! We can build another trap!" The sharpened sticks finally clattered to the ground about ten meters away from them on every side. "K'airos, help me build another trap!" "Exactly, Aijeen. That drake could come charging over here any minute now, and I don't really want to see you ending up in its belly." He continued to urge her forward. "Uhm...maybe tomorrow? I've had a long day of hunting." She turned around to walk back to the tribe and pouted at nothing. "What if it comes and we all stab it?" She points her glare at K'thalen, "I know you can stab a Sand Drake, dad! I know you can! You can get me a Sand Drake right now!" "It's not that easy. It's not just one stab." K'airos hurried to answer. "Not even two." She waved her spear, as if trying to imply something. "Hey you know the first rule about hunting. Or was it the second... third? Well, I never really paid attention to those anyway, but the point is!" He gestured at K'airos, "Exactly! Takes a whole team to take down a drake. Y'know I'd stare it down if I had to for ya, Aijeen, but I'd rather we all just come on back when we're good and ready." "I was good and ready! I was great and prepared! I was excellent and... and... I worked on it all DAY! It was perfect!" "And I was almost roast Thalen," he chuckled. "C'mon. I promise I won't let your mom lecture you." "And you promise to get me a Sand Drake spine tomorrow." "A perfectly roasted Thalen." K'airos corrected. "We can work on that last one tomorrow. Y'know the tribe's all busy with the festival, though, so don't get your hopes up." He flashed a smile at K'aijeen and would make for the edge of the tents not too far off if she was willing. Crossing her arms and leaning against K'thalen's hand on principle, K'aijeen allowed herself to be moved back towards the tent. She repeats grudgingly, "You owe me a Sand Drake spine." K'thalen hummed in response, just happy that she was moving. K'airos felt disappointed that she didn't take part in the making of K'aijeen's explosive trap. She pouted every now and then until they returned to the tribal grounds.