drifting tide in a sunless sea

demii is a dark mage and swordswoman of little renown. she carries herself with low energy, often seeming tired or depressed. she's not all too unpleasant to talk to, if you can get past that.

enduring

demii kagon hails from the azim steppe originally, as her name would imply. she lived there happily for most of her childhood, but was kidnapped by the buduga tribe as a teen. it was living with the all-male that caused her to discover she had very intense dysphoria. she fled at 14, but found herself out of the frying pan and into the fire of imperial-controlled doma. she was conscripted into the garlean military, and sent across the seas to aide them in their endeavors in eorzea. she was made to train vigorously for a grueling year or so before the battle at cartineau, at which she fought on the side of the empire.after the calamity had passed, she awoke in a haze, surrounded by the still-smoldering west shroud, and more bodies than she could count. she was entirely lost, and badly hurt. she chose to wander further into eorzea under the assumption that its people would kill her on sight, given her uniform. that was alright with her, she thought. better than returning to the hell that she experienced under imperial control. she wandered the flats for what felt like hours, searching for someone, anyone to "help" her. once she finally did find people, they were understandably on edge. however, once it was clear to them that demii meant them no harm, and in fact, needed medical attention, they provided it to her. she was confused; they were an eorzean rescue party. why would they help the enemy..?the rescue party patched her up, and a kindly woman by the name of synnove even offered her a place to stay until she could get back on her feet. demii accepted her gracious offer, and started living with her in a small home on the coast of western thanalan. synnove helped her adjust to living in eorzea, taking her to ul'dah's adventurer's guild, and suggesting that she put her skill in battle to use by collecting bounties, that she might sustain the two of them with the income. though, the woman was very particular with her directions in ul'dah. she told demii that it was a very dangerous place, and that she shouldn't stray any further than necessary for getting in and out of the adventurer's guild. naturally, with no other direction and a debt to repay synnove, she unquestioningly obliged. she became a bounty hunter, with voidsent and vilekin being her most common jobs. she and synnove grew very close.

living

after her daily tasks had repeated enough times to become habit, demii had grown confident in her ability. particularly, the relative ease with which one could slay a voidsent took her aback at first; they always seemed so imposing. naturally, as her confidence was high, she sought to take on a larger bounty. she caught wind of a gang of thieves causing a ruckus in eastern thanalan, near highbridge. their targets were frequently unfortunate merchants traveling from the shroud to ul'dah, therefore the bounty on them was weightier than any she'd yet claimed. she'd asked around in camp drybone as well as the bridge itself for information on their whereabouts.thanalan's hot sun had begun to kiss the horizon- bells had passed, and she had nothing to show for it. she started to make her way back to ul'dah, hoping to at least pick up a small bounty to take home to synnove. by stroke of luck- or, perhaps, misfortune- she heard the sound of laughing men further along the sunway, just off the beaten path. tracking down the source of the sound lead her to a gross scene: three adult men all harassing one young black-haired girl. they'd stolen an expensive looking staff from her, and seemed to be shaking her down for more. demii intervened, attempting to combat all three at once. the thieves cast the girl and her belongings aside to draw their blades on demii, and before long, she was also overpowered and knocked prone. suddenly, thunder struck the three men, causing them to collapse before they could bring any real harm to demii. behind the smoldering bodies stood the black-haired girl, wielding her staff and breathing heavily. demii was quick to take this opportunity to bind the thieves before they could cause more harm, and called for the brass blades to assist in escorting them back to the city. she asked the black-haired girl if they'd taken anything more from her, earning... no response at all. she thanked the girl, and offered to split the bounty. the girl still didn't answer. her final question was the girl's name. the girl turned tail and ran... odd. she must have been rattled, demii thought, dismissing the unusual behavior.a moon or so later, she'd spotted the girl again, easily identified by her ornate staff and long black locks. by pleasant contrast of their previous meeting, this one took place within ul'dah's walls, with no signs of immediate danger. demii waved to the girl and started to approach. to her pleasant surprise, the girl followed suit. "iviani," said the girl. to demii's obvious confusion, she elaborated, "my name. you asked last time." iviani seemed an odd character, but harmless, so far as demii could tell. she explained that she didn't have a name at the time of their last meeting, and that she'd come up with one because demii had asked. the two became acquainted, and iviani would join the very, very small list of people with whom demii would converse during her time in the city.iviani became the second person with whom demii would disclose her complicated relation to gender. iviani explained that, as an alchemist, she could easily produce a drug that would cause demii to become more feminine, as that seemed like something that would make demii happier. she was hesitant to agree, citing synnove's discomfort as demii's desires. this seemed to flare iviani's temper, and she proclaimed that synnove will simply have to endure any discomforts she has about the matter, as demii's own comfort with her body should clearly be of greater import. it wasn't unusual for iviani to be frustrated by synnove's behaviors, but this was even more severe than usual. after taking some time to contemplate, demii hesitantly agreed, and offered to pay for this drug, but as usual, iviani denied payment for anything, just as strange as always. demii kept this all a secret synnove, fearing that she would be scolded for wandering and accepting mysterious drugs from a stranger.you can only work in a field for so long before becoming acquainted with the others working the same field. demii met fellow voidsent hunter godric warwick early on. the two would aid each other with their hunts, and quickly became friends, often supporting each other in their hunts. another voidsent hunter she'd bumped into a few times was named raghera, but there were rumors about that woman peddling nonsense magicks, so demii opted to keep to herself whenever they shared a space. synnove would prefer it that way, of course! she doesn't stray from her instructions not to speak to many ul'dahn strangers. nearly everyone she'd befriended seemed to take some manner of issue with that and other instructions of synnove's, but the why of it never stuck with her.

drowning

demii used to like to wake just as the sun arose over the sea. she used to like to bask in its gentle warmth with synnove. that was before, as synnove hasn't appreciated being woken up so early in a long time. no, it only serves to enrage her. so demii drinks in the sunrise alone, but it's bittersweet. it feels so pointless when she isn't sharing it with her beloved.demii used to like to lie beside synnove at the end of her long and arduous days, unwinding in each other's company. she used to feel a rejuvenation like no other anytime she was so much as in synnove's presence. that was before synnove seemed so constantly irked by her, the sharpness and roughness of her horns and her scales, the way her tail would get in her way, the way her sigh of relief would disrupt synnove's direly important thoughts.demii used to like telling synnove about her day, when she got home. she used to listen intently as her beloved shared how her day went as well. that was before the monotony of it drove synnove mad. it's the same shit every day, why bother asking? why, because demii loved to hear. good or bad, fascinating or plain, any words uttered from synnove's lips were as the most beautiful of the bards' distant tunes that she could overhear from the adventurer's guild, ever begetting a curiosity she would never sate.demii used to like that synnove was someone who she could trust. she used to like to share her idle musings with her, to feel safe and content whenever the two were alone together. even as synnove grew aggravated by demii's lack of intelligence and common sense, even as she would deny her so much as her own opinions and preferences and self, even as her words would sting, demii would be glad to hear them. if it had to be the price of sharing her thoughts, then so be it. that was before synnove would beg her, would plead to her to shut up, to keep it to herself, because she's tired enough already without listening to this tedium.demii used to like to come home bearing injuries. synnove would fuss over her as she used to, back when the act of conversing with one another seemed not to be the chore it is today. it felt like the only thing she could do to get a taste of the kindness she knows synnove for. given time, her injuries would only serve to frustrate the woman as well. scoldings replaced her worry, lectures about wasting her talents on demii replaced her tender touch.Then Synnove was gone, and it was all Iviani's fault. She killed her. No, worse than killed her— in her endeavors to study the void's corrosive effects on people, she used poor, dearest Synnove as some kind of guinea pig. She was transformed into a voidsent, the very thing Demii had spent so long honing her skills to destroy. She was left no choice but to destroy her love, her very reason for being, and for what? For Iviani to sate some sick curiosity? The thought fills her with equal parts dread and disgust.Torn between avenging her love and killing one of the few people she could have ever called a friend, something in her... broke. She couldn't decide what action to take, and so she took none. She collected what remained of Synnove, that she may give her a proper burial, and returned to their home on the coast. By all means, her world had ended, yet she kept on going, for what few acquaintances she still had who would be hurt by her absence. Thus does she wander, meandering about, doing just enough to make her ends meet, entirely devoid of purpose and drowning in a black abyss of despair.

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