MiqoMarch Day 23 - Midnight

With their intended voyage into the void only a few days out, Arsay thought it the upmost importance that she steal her partner away to Kugane, that they might share one more fond memory together should things not turn out the way they plan in the thirteenth. It was as they crossed the very same bridge the miqo'te had once sat on together two years prior when Arsay gifted Y'shtola with a bracelet matching that of her own. A token of endearment which, Arsay confessed, she would have given to her fellow scion back then, had nerves not gotten the best of her. While their relationship has undoubtedly changed since the initial purchase of the jewellery, the sentiment remained the same. Y'shtola was someone who Arsay loved dearly and she will forever be grateful to have the seeker's life intertwined with her own. No matter where their free spirits took them, they would always hold each other in their hearts. A promise Y'shtola was more than willing to keep. She slipped the the string of beads around her wrist without a second thought. They were never to come off, not even when the two decided to delay their return to Radz-at-Han in favour of a private bath at the dead of night.

Arsay Nun

B A S I C S

Name Arsay Nūn Nicknames None, her name doesn't shorten well (call her Ars and you will be on the wrong end of her blade ^^) Age ARR -> 22 (+5 years in lifestream stasis that Arsay is completely unaware of) Dawntrail -> 25 (+5 years) Nameday 3rd Sun of the Third Umbral Moon Race Miqo'te, "Greeter of the Star" (a.k.a: Keeper/Seeker mix [South Shroud/U tribe] ) Gender She/Her Probably non-binary but has a job so she ain't got time to worry about all of that... Orientation Bisexual, Polyromantic Profession Adventurer, Warrior of Light & Darkness, Scion of the Seventh Dawn, Full time kitty cat

P H Y S I C A L     A S P E C  T S

Hair Midnight Blue with patches of red tip patterning concentrated around the back and sides of her head! Thick with the slightest bit of wave (often gets brushed out) Eyes Ruby Red Skin Very Light Olive with white facial stripes and darker pigmented nose. Tans well but never sticks for long. Tattoos/scars One visible scar on the cheek, multiple around her body which get glammed over. After endwalker, her right hand has a high concentration of scaring around the knuckles & palm (A consequence of her final fight in ultima thul and the proceeding surgery needed to reset the incorrectly healed bones.) She has various arcane geometric patterns marked into her skin in aetheric ink. One at the back of her neck, one on each forearm right above the inner elbow, one banded around her ankle. They are also glammed over to be invisible to the naked eye, but those who are well attuned to seeing aether would see them glow faintly as Arsay casts summoning spells.

F A M I L Y

Parents Sapir Nun & U'hbi Tia (deceased 1552, 6th astral era, killed in combat to the first wave of Garlean invaders in Doma)

Emrara Emra (Guardian/Adoptive Aunt, very much alive in the south sea isles)

Siblings Alphinaud and Alisaie (adopted younger siblings) Grandparents: Unknown and/or deceased In-laws and Other: G'raha (Husband), Y'shtola (Wife) Y'mhitra (Sister in law) Generally main scion members are family to her in different ways Cid and Nero (Weird Uncles) U'odh Nunh (unconfirmed but most likely half first cousin) (There are three female face 4 miqo'te in the U tribe and I HC that those three are the most closely related to Arsay's Dad in some way I've yet to really piece together.) Pets Couscous the carbuncle, Fish the Chocobo

S K I L L S

Abilities Physical: -Multiple Combat styles (Dual blades, Pole arm, Single blade, Hand to Hand, Marksmanship, Knife throwing) -Typical scouting techniques (invisibility, tracking, assassination, can move without making a sound) -Greater agility, dexterity, flexibility, balance, and strength -High Stamina -Strong Swimmer -Great Climber Magical: -Advanced Aetheric Manipulation (Elemental Conversion, Creation) -Summoning, Channelling (Dreadwyrm Trance available at moments notice) Other: -Knows how to sail a ship -Can navigate on land and sea without a map or compass -Can rally and inspire others to achieve great things together!

Hobbies: - Monster Hunting - Fishing - Frontlines - Crystalline Conflict (recreational league) - General exploring/mystery hunting&solving

T R A I T S

Most Positive Trait: Her big heart! She'd do anything for the people she cares about Worst Negative: Terrible sense of self-worth. Needs to do things for other people or she goes insane with anxiety and guilt. Hates being looked after.

L I K E S

Colors: Red! Its her favourite. Smells: the ocean, the breeze through the forest, tropical zones with humidity in the air, her partners Textures: Furs, Leathers, Silky or soft textiles. Drinks: Spiced Chai, Coffee with Cardamom, Citrus of any type and Water

O T H E R    D E T A I L S

Smokes: nope, the only smoke from her is her smoke bombs Drinks: only socially, and not a whole lot. Does not like feeling out of control of herself. Mount Issuance: Probably! Tataru would help her get it all set up at least Been Arrested: Almost but she always gets out of it UvU

Tagged by: @eriyu Thank you so much!! 💙 Tagging: @nivienne-grovant @baublegums @astraveil @yukupo-lalapo @eli-leam (and anyone else who wants to do it! I feel like I'm pretty late to the game on this lol)

Perhaps not the way Y'mhitra hoped to have learned her sister and her friend were something much more than fellow scions; however, she is still nonetheless happy for them.

You know how instead of walking around and finding their people, cats will sometimes hang out in a room and yowl until someone comes to them?

It was short lived, but Arsay absolutely had a stage of her life when she did exactly that >w<

I would love to see the breakdown of Arsay’s timeline through the expansions!!!

WEEEEELLLL if you insist... My basic timeline break down is as follows: Keep in mind a few things are still kinda in flux, and if I ever contradict myself in the future literally don't worry about it

1.0 -> Calamity 6 months End point in the 4th umbral moon lining up with what is now the rising event (calamity memorial). Now that I’ve switched up arsay’s birthday, she turns 22 during the 1.0 campaign.

Calamity -> ARR 5 Years Arsay is stuck in the lifestream with the mother crystal for that 5 year period. Her memories of 1.0 and everyone's memories of her are largely erased. Arsay wakes up on a boat to Limsa Lominsa believing it is still her first voyage to Eorzea.

ARR->HVW ~6 months The base story including job quests take 3 months in total. The next three months are dedicated to the patches: Primal Trial series -> Coils of Bahamut -> 2.1. ~3 weeks Crystal Tower Raids, LoTA -> Syrcus Tower ~1 month 2.2-2.3 -> Crystal Tower Raid WoD ~2 weeks 2.4->2.55 ~3 weeks

HVW->STB ~4 months Main story starts a day or two after 2.55 and takes ~1 month total Patches take ~3 Months: 3.1->3.2->Void Arc ~1 month ->Arsay gets really into pvp and does nothing but frontlines and CC for a week -> 3.3->Alexander Raids->3.4 ~3 weeks Warring Triad->3.5->3.56 ~1 month

STB->SHB ~6 months Main story picks up a week after 3.56 and takes ~3 months time. (The first trip to Kugane takes 3 weeks off screen, after that travel time is reduced to a few days to a week using the East Aldenard Trading company boats (it would make sense that lolorito has better boat tech imo)) Next 3 month period is all the patches: Ivalice raids->Omega raids->4.1-4.2 ~1 month Eureka exploration->4.3->4 lords ~1.5 months 4.4->4.56 ~2 weeks

I know the ARR to Shadowbringers lead up is a mad dash but if it happened any slower, I don't believe Arsay would have be the character she is by that point. It is incredibly vital that she has almost 0 down time for herself. Her days and nights are PACKED full by choice. Job Quests, Hildebrand stuff,PvP, Hunts all get squeezed in throughout.

SHB->EDW ~8 months Main story picks up a few days after 4.56 and takes only 1.5 months to complete. Its a non stop emotional roller coaster for Arsay to be completely fine and normal about the whole time. Patches take 6.5 months, notably there is more downtime between patches: Chill relaxing after 5.0->Eden I->5.1->Neir raid I ->5.2-> role quest/shadowkeeper->Eden II-> 5.3 ->chill relaxing/recovery time for scions->Eden III->Neir raids II & III->Werlyt->Bozjia->5.4-5.55

EDW->DWT ~1 year (time spent in Elpis is not counted) ->Main story up to credit roll ~1 month ->Recovery time for injuries sustained in Ultima Thul ~4 months ->After credits - Scions Disband, everyone goes their separate ways - 1 day 🙃 ->Rest of the roll quests now that Arsay can mostly fight again(she can't cast mudras😞 ) ~1 month (casting>healing>tanking>aiming>bonus all role cap off) -> 1 month of nothing to do, Arsay still can't cast mudras, character development dictates she can no longer repress every bad emotion she feels, she has no proper coping mechanisms and quickly spirals into a mental breakdown over feeling like she's worthless and that no one will need her anymore now that the world isnt ending constantly and that she's worried without the scions being the scions everyone she cares about will slowly forget her and she'll be all alone again. Y'shtola and G'raha manage to get Arsay talking after a bit of self destructive lashing out. Things are sorta resolved?? Y'shtola and G'raha reassure her of a lot, and do their best to get it in her little kittycat head that she's not a burden on them even when she's sad. Not an automatic fix but Arsay does make the commitment to better her mental health and to work on her self image issues and communication skills! It'll be a process for her. ->5 days round trip to her home island in the southern seas to visit her Aunt and catch up ->6.1 starts when Arsay gets back from that ->Endwalker patch content takes up the final 5 months of that year period. Things are mostly interspersed with how they are released except for pandae which happens all in one go for Arsay between 6.3 and 6.4. Arsay has done all the variant dungeons, Tataru's grand endeavours, completed Island Sanctuary, and Myths of the Realm. ->The gap between 6.55 and 7.0 will probably only be about a week? Maybe 2? It depends how much it seems like the early arrivals to Tural have been there compared to Arsay and her crew.

That's my timeline! Thank you for asking and reading 🙇 hopefully that all made sense haha ^^

Have a picture of them for the road <3

how about Gaius van Bellhorns!

Arsay... does not like him. She respects that he's trying to be better and make amends for what he's done, and she does believe people can change. But she does not want to be around him for that. He can figure himself out. I think she holds a lot of resentment specifically after learning that he adopted all those kids and then just... left them in the Empire. Understandably, she has a lot of baggage when it comes to parents choosing to leave their children behind. So uh, she kinda was seeing red for the entirety of the wyrlet story. Thankfully Arsay is a better person than I am and held her tongue through most of it. She felt worse for the pilots than Gaius. She hopes he carries the guilt of his actions for the rest of his waking days.

sending the same NPC meme ask to multiple people is fine right??

so Krile and Tataru!

As Tataru and Arsay met first, I'll start with them :)

They are really great friends! Besties that would hang out more if they weren't both always so busy! In the beginning, they really didn't talk much, well, Arsay didn't talk much, Tataru sure did. But that's Tataru! Always a friendly face and ready to chat with whoever is showing up at the waking sands. Arsay was not quite sure how to proceed with that kind of friendly attitude pointed towards her until well into the ARR patches where she finally started to open up to others. Tataru trying to become an arcanist was the real start of their friendship. Arsay thinks the world of Tataru. She is always impressed by all the things Tataru can do and often goes to her for help with crafting stuff. A lot of the signature outfits I have given Arsay are crafted or modified by Tataru, and Arsay loves every piece she is gifted! Tataru always finds a way to make use of Arsay, which would maybe piss off some other WOLs but not Arsay! She loves to be useful :) If Tataru needs her to model some clothes, advertise her business, blackmail some poor sod, create an island paradise, hangout in a volcano, Arsay will do it no questions asked! Anything for a friend !

As for Krile, well they get along super well, and are definitely friends, but I'd still say theres a bit of a gap in their relationship. They for sure bonded over the events in Eureka (which im still not done yet but I am keeping in to the 'canon' timeline of it occurring between stormblood and shadowbringers) but I think there's still a lot they need to learn about each other before they can get really, really close. That doesnt mean they don't care about each other though! They absolutely do!! Also, Arsay loves hearing embarrassing stories about G'raha and the twins from Krile over tea ! Tea is something they do often together now that Arsay's been living in the Annex. Her, Krile, and Shtola convene for a quick tea break in the afternoon before going about the rest of their days. I also think Krile was getting just a tad bit annoyed that Arsay kept distracting G'raha from his work (aka they kept fucking in his little work area), but she was far too polite to bring it up to either of them.

Arsay's opinion on Hythlodaeus?

Arsay considers hylthodaeus to be a really kind and well meaning individual. His sunny disposition and easy going nature is very influential on her. Whenever he showed up, Arsay couldn't help but feel relaxed around him. She never got a chance to ask him about her Azem, but Arsay believes if someone like Hyth could be friends with them, surely the person of which her aether originates from couldn't be that bad.

She also really enjoys how Hyth can get under Emet's skin so easily, and she quickly started taking notes.

Shout out to this specific illustration of Izutsumi's claws Ryoko Kui's Daydream Hour 3 for being the closest representation to how I picture Arsay's claws. Granted Arsay's are longer, but I've always been into the idea of them being retractable to a degree. Arsay trims them often but they also grow pretty fast!

Ever since I thought about Arsay catching a glimpse of her parents in the aetherial sea after defeating funnydaniel but before going on to talk to hydaelyn I have gone insane about it

Just a moment where Arsay looks back at the scions and then in the distance she sees their two figures staring at her. They look like they want to say something but are holding themselves back. Arsay stares at them with the most icy glare imaginable. She turns around, not wanting to acknowledge what's in front of her, and tells the scions they must their journey downwards. Alisaie and Alphinaud look over their shoulders (both of them catching that Arsay was definitely looking at something) only to see more of the same swirling aether and crystals floating around.

🌱 - see them in an outfit they might have worn at the beginning of their story.

Gpose meme requested by @quicksilver-ink - Thank you!

I've already done a gpose of what arsay was wearing when she first arrived at Limsa, so I thought it might be fun to go further back! It's a time of her life Arsay does her best not to mention: She was fifteen and got a job helping local trading vessel sail from island to island within the vast southern seas. She hoped it would be an opportunity to see new and exciting places. Unfortunately for her, even on the rare occasion that she was assigned to the shore crew, she would promptly be put on dinghy watch. Quite a frustrating circumstance for the young wanderlust-filled miqo'te. The dream she'd one day earn enough gil to buy her way to La Noscea was the only thing that kept her going.

It's not something I talk about much but Arsay was a 1.0 girly!! (not me, I only picked up the game in 6.2 era)

Her basic premise is that she takes the boat to Limsa, meets Y'shtola on the boat and sees her first primal, Leviathan, follows the 1.0 story line for all that entails, and was at The Battle of Carteneau.

Unfortunately, she sustains near fatal damage just as Louisoix casted his time/space displacement spell on her. When Arsay was transported into an aetherial rift, Hydaelyn herself intervened and brought her to the very core of the sea. She held Arsay in stasis. Those five years used to slowly restore her back to full strength. When it was finally time to set Arsay back into the world, Hydaelyn performed one last act.

Venat, the woman who she was long ago, had no recollection of being told any of what Arsay had experienced. Though she believed in her champion, there was the possibility that this initial falter in Arsay's tale may then lead her to other roads. To meet the Arsay she remembered, Hydaelyn made a choice. She erased the memories of Arsay's first adventure in Eorzea. For everyone.

Arsay awoke from a hazy dream of terrifying sea serpents, large crystals, and shadow cloaked figures. She didn't remember falling asleep, but that's always been a bad habit of hers. At the very least she would now be closer to her destination of Limsa Lominsa. She couldn't wait for her first adventure to finally begin.

As we learned in endwalker, memories aren't ever truly erased. The most important aspects of Arsay's 1.0 adventures were burned into her soul and inevitably guided her back to the circle of knowing, now known as the scions of the seventh dawn.

also fun fact this is my reasoning for why the Leviathan Arsay summons in the Eden raids has two heads. It's because she technically had two "first encounters" with the primal, and those memories conflicted while she offered up her aether in the summoning process.

I am still not over the Encyclopedia Eorzea III entry for Nixie:

"In pursuit of a playmate, a young Y'shtola created this water-based familiar by applying lessons learned from her mentor. Perhaps due to inexperience, however, her first attempt at a nixie is prone to trickery and mischief."

I'm really not okay about this because first off, Of course Y'shtola had no one to play with. Of course instead of trying to find other kids in new Sharalaya, she'd just make her own playmate instead. I'm always a little heartbroken over Shtola's very lonely childhood tbh.

Second and most important to me is that this entire time I've had it in Arsay's lore that she summoned her carbuncle the first time because she wanted a friend to play with. She literally sneaked out of the house with one of Emrara's grimoires, hoping its contents would show her how to make the kind little fairy Emrara uses to heal. Arsay had no clue what all those shapes and lines meant, so she just closed her eyes and thought really hard about having a friend while she drew a circle in the air. Next thing she knows, a little blue Carbuncle is popping out of the air and on to her. They've been best friends ever since.

I've always said that Arsay and Y'shtola are far more alike than they appear to be. Them having another thing in common backed up by lore is making me emotional in ways I cannot explain. I'm simply just holding them in my hands and squeezing.

🐾- see them with a favourite pet or (animal) mount

Gpose meme requested by @cindernet-explorer - Thank you!

While the scions waited on Krile to grant them passage to Old Sharlaya, Arsay was possessed by the idea of "leveling up" her dear carbuncle Couscous. She loves him the same way anyone would love a pet animal, despite the fact most others would consider him nothing but an aetheric construct being projected by a crystalline core. It took some doing, but Arsay did manage to alter her usual summoning ritual and out came big!Couscous. She was so excited!! The downside was that she was completely exhausted by it. So much so that it wouldn't be practical to use the form in battle. Rather than give up on the idea, Arsay instead decided her big buddy could provide a way of getting around when she needs to cross long distances.

Hello and happy one day until Halloween [:

I’ve been scrolling through your wol posting tag and I absolutely adore Arsay and her throuple with g’raha and y’shtola <3 I was curious, in your canon, what is Raha’s and Shtola’s relationship like without Arsay there and how has it changed over time? Would they count themselves as partners or just partners of Arsay?

Thank you so much for sharing your amazing gposes and artwork for your wol!! It has been a delight to look through. Have a great day [:

omg Thank you!!🥹 I love my catte throuple so much and it's so nice to hear other people like them and the posts I make about them too! That's a really good question. I can't seem to recall making a post about it since being caught up with the msq, so thank you for asking!

This ended up being quite long so I've place it under a read more haha apologies for rambling so much! As well, Happy halloween o/

Initially Shtola and Raha both considered themselves partners to Arsay first and foremost. They both cared for Arsay deeply and agreed to this poly situation because, after everything she's done for them, they wanted to do something for her that would make her happy. I also like to believe because they started off on the wrong foot, it took time for the two to build up trust in each other.

I have many side thoughts about how Raha held himself back while he lived out the persona of the Crystal Exarch, how his hesitance to the relationship caused Arsay to get upset, and how Y'shtola essentially saved the whole polycule very early on by telling the Exarch to get his head out of his ass stop living dishonestly and start thinking about what he really wants to do with his life. How that gave him the spark to think about the possibility of transferring his memories over to the version of himself on the source, since this version of him will never be free from the tower's grasp.

By the time everyone returns to the first, Raha and Shtola consider themselves trusted friends and deeply respect the importance they both have to Arsay. No words about it are exchanged, but there's a mutual understanding that for as long as this can go on for the three of them, it will. Shtola and Raha actually end up spending casual time together in the Rising Stones while Arsay is off doing warrior of light stuff. Turns out they actually have a lot to talk about together. Mostly about magical studies, but Y'shtola strikes me as someone who would be mildly curious to know of the event that took place in the timeline they erased, and Raha for sure would have loved to learn about Y'shtola's involvement in the warring triad stuff and the alexander raids. Plus they can theorize about history and mysteries of both the first and the source! By the time Endwalker starts, Arsay has noticed everyone seems a lot more comfortable with each other. She started asking to spend time all together more often then not. There was no real objections to this surprisingly. They all settle into a consistent dynamic around each other pretty naturally. If you were to ask Raha or Shtola how they defined their relationship at that point they would probably say they were just Arsay's partners and leave it at that. Ask Arsay and she might let slip how she caught the two snuggled up to each other while they were reading on the couch at her apartment.

[end of endwalker 6.0 spoilers from this point]

The next shift between the two is while on the Ragnarok waiting for Arsay to regain consciousness. I have a particular scene in my head which i cant gpose out since I don't have access to the environment so here it is described: --

Y'shtola has placed herself against the wall of the ship, shifting from pose to pose doing her best to contain her nervous energy. They did all that they could to seal up as many of Arsay's wounds as possible. Still it was impossible to tell just how much blood Arsay had split prior to her arrival. What Y'shtola could see is that Arsay's aether was unbelievably weak, having been all but spent in a final clash with (presumably) Zenos. For all Y'shtola knew, Arsay's body arrived to them too late. Her head began to spiral at the thought. So much so that she had failed to notice G'raha had torn himself from Arsay's side to stand next to her. He looked at Y'shtola with a pitiful face, eyes puffy and red, lips pressed into a trembling frown. Neither of them had the wherewithal to speak at this point, and Y'shtola most certainly did not want to. Twelve forbid if a single being on that ship heard her voice shake or crack even the slightest. Instead, G'raha timidly put his hand around Y'shtola's and held it. It was a small gesture, something he'd often do whenever Arsay looked in need of support. It was a comfort to her, to hold hands with a loved one. The two stood together in silence. Their gazes fixed on to Arsay's motionless figure laying in the centre of the room. Y'shtola squeezed G'raha's hand ever so slightly. Holding on to someone you love was a great comfort indeed.

-- Perhaps its not an as romantically charged love, but its love! Shtola and Raha are part of Arsay's tribe and they've come to care deeply for each other. Again, I do not believe either would readily admit to those feelings publicly, but in private conversation with Arsay it's obvious how fond of each other they have become. (this is also when shtola and raha begin feeling more comfortable being intimate together with Arsay >w> she is notorious for doing everything for her partner and not really letting herself be focused on. The two of them work as a team to make sure arsay gets some attention *nods* )

And, imo?, their closeness is kinda backed up by the endwalker patch content where G'raha already knew where to find Y'shtola and did not hesitate to get her for the treasure hunt. And then many of the proceeding patches has Y'shtola saying in passing that she's been in constant communication with G'raha. okay yes im not delusional, I know they are brought up because of them having relevance to the things happening or being done in the plot but still! The way the dialogue is phrased I can't help but put my wolship glasses on lol. I figure Raha and Shtola keep pretty consistent contact even when they are busy doing their own thing, same as Arsay does with them. The most recent development for my wolship is that by 6.5, they are all pretty much married to each other. Unofficially, that is. No ceremony is held or anything of that vein. It was more that they all finally managed to say out loud how much they want to be in each other's lives no matter where the future takes them.

Eventually I picture the three of them getting a proper house together. Arsay surprises G'raha by importing a bunch of furnishings from the crystarium, and dedicates an entire room just for Y'shtola's book collection. She also brings back some flowers native to the Greatwoods for decoration. Until then though home is wherever they are together!

So yeah! thats the break down of grah and shtola part of graharshtola!

thank you for reading, asking the question, and sending such a sweet message about my blorbos. Hope you have a fantastic day <3

I forgot if you've ever mentioned SO what does Arsay sound like?

I think I might have had reblogged a wolqotd that answers that but i can't remember SO i will just answer it again lol

In game Arsay has voice 10 (voice clip examples: x,x). To me it's a pretty expressive voice with just the right amount of rasp. I really enjoy how much the tone fluctuates between emotes too. Arsay generally will speak with a smile on her face, and that comes through in her voice! But when she's serious or upset it can get pretty deep and when she's overwhelmed or she's given up having a controlled reaction it'll get higher, sometimes even quite shrill.

Voice claims aren't really my thing. based on what clips I've seen, in terms of /how/ she speaks, Karlach from BG3 is kinda close to what I've had in my head. Very earnest, kinda goofy, can babble on at times, can be as intimidating as she can be soft and kind. It's not a 1:1 match, but its the best I can think of!

And when it comes to accents.... We've yet to hear in game what the south sea isle accent is like, or how the native lalafelin language some still speak there is structured. Though based on the visuals in Aloalo, the whole south seas vibe is pacific island coded. So maybe the people there would have something of a new zealand type accent? idk tbh! I would say Hawaiian but I feel like they'd probably want to keep a British isle influence on the voice given the history of Lalafel migration between Eorzea and the south seas. That's my thinking, anyway.

Regardless, Arsay's accent would be fairly light, and probably closer to something that could be mistaken for La Noscean if you didn't know better.