Antlers and Omens

21+ Please! FFXIV RP. This is a blog to promote RP and meet others while cultivating my aesthetic - ie, reblog from the source - I'm not a resource blog for your oc aesthetic. (No bigots of any kind are welcome.) Mature content.

[antlers-and-omens]

FFXIV LFRP On Hiatus

Full name: A'vaanoh Tia

Race: Miqo'te; Seeker of the Sun

Gender: M

Sexuality: Heterosexual...maybe?

Marital Status: Single

Age: Early/mid thirties

Profession: Lawyer, retired gladiator

Hobbies: Bounty/monster hunter, romance novelist

Profession(s) and Interests

A'vaanoh is a former gladiator of some renown. After winning big about a decade ago, he took all his winnings and savings... and got out, seeking an education in criminal law.

A'vaanoh couldn't exactly just set aside the fighting life, so he has a hobby of monster/bounty hunting. That hobby got him into a spot of trouble with a voidsent that he now shares his body and mind with, but... any more information on that will require roleplay!

He's also a romance novelist, and writes for any and all pairings the readers might care to see portrayed! It's another side-hobby that's earned him some small acclaim. The people need an escape - and who is he to deny them their cheesy, smutty romance-adventure-time?

He is likewise heavily involved with chocobo racing! Investing in the breeding and training of as much - like any rich guy with too much money on his hands, why not invest in thoroughbreds? He can be found at the Gold Saucer rather frequently! Pretty 'birds,' after all, aren't always found at the races.

Hair: Pale blond

Eyes: Amber

Height: 5'9"

Build: Muscular

Distinguishing Marks: Lots of battle scars - notably, an x-shaped one over his nose/between his eyes

RP Hooks

If you're looking for an RP hook, literally anything on this page suffices!

The voidsent he harbors, alone, could lead to a myriad of reasons to interact.

Maybe you're at the Gold Saucer frequently, like he is - or maybe not, and you just run into him there by chance! You could be a chocobo jockey he's sponsoring! Or a chocobo breeder he works with.

Maybe you read his romance novels and you're a fan! Maybe you want to pitch an idea for a romance pairing/setting/etc to an author you like.

Maybe you want to end up on a bounty together/have worked with him in the past! He's often on bounties out in the Coerthas area, as well - since bounties are all over the place, there's no end of ways one could run into him, or have a reason to. Maybe you're hiring, or picked up the same bounty, etc.

He's a criminal defense lawyer - there's another hook that could go several ways.

He lives in Ul'dah - another reason to run into him.

He effectively counts as a (an unorthodox) reaper, with the voidsent he's made a pact with, a scholar because of the magic he uses/it seemed to make sense with his law studies, and a gunbreaker since he likes guns AND magic, and that's more fun on a bounty than whipping out a tome and doing some math.

Maybe you fought him several years ago in the arena.

Maybe you need a wealthy investor. Or someone to sponsor you in the Arena.

He's an incorrigible flirt, heartbreaker, and consummate bachelor. There's plenty to work with there, too - I'm open to past connections of all kinds.

He's a pretty affable guy, at that! While he takes his work seriously... he believes in: work hard, play harder! He's a lush, and enjoys alcohol, sex, and luxury as much as most of the wealthy elite around the Jewel of the Desert.

The OOC

Writer is 30+, and I prefer RP partners to be 21+ - I do prefer darker, more mature RP, but that's not all I'm capable of! I just like morally grey explorations - and questions like 'what really drives a person?'

Late nights aren't really something I can do anymore, past 11-12pm my writing isn't any good, though my schedule is open enough to allow earlier starting times. Also I'm CST, and prefer in-game RP (Balmung). I simply can't stay in character when RP isn't moving in real time, and tend to just forget to respond to out of game stuff, or not feel well enough to write some days, and it ends up taking so long that I can't stay in character. Thus, scheduling in-game scenes ahead of time will always be what works best.

No canon characters please, it just really breaks my immersion/my character wouldn't have any reason to interact with canon characters really! Unfortunately, this means WoL OCs as well - their power level is just so intense that I can't really justify my OCs interacting with the WoL: time-traveling slayer of gods at the edges of the universe. (And no shade to canon RPers of any kind - it's just not my cup of tea, is all. Embrace your fun, my friends!)

I prefer plots, and RP with a purpose - contact solely focused on ERP is not welcome. ERP as part of an on-going story doesn't bother me, however.

Don't bring IC into OOC, or vice verse!

Communicate! If the RP isn't working for you, just tell me! I prefer 'organic RP,' but if you want to steer a story (RP) in a certain direction or don't want it steering in a direction, let me know! I much prefer having that conversation, rather than allowing an RP partner to be silently upset or uncomfortable!Follows come from @ooc-miqojak , and my other blogs are @miqojak and @vulpes-ferus !

[notesfromtheunknown]

Sighting Report 06: Antlers in the reflection

No antlers present in the hall. Just the mirror.

[antlers-and-omens]

Question:

What kind of street food do you think they serve in Ul'dah/Thanalan?

(I have a super old writing prompt in my ask box that this is about.) I can't put my finger exactly on what RL cultures Ul'dah is supposed to kinda represent - like how Thavnair is very Indian inspired - to help me figure out what might be the sorts of things you could get quick and easy that are tasty.

[miqojak]

Reblogging here, since not as many people follow my alts' blogs!

[traveleorzea]

Ooh, street foods my beloved! Mostly meat and wheat/bread-based foods would be my guess (like Meat Miq'abob referenced in the FFXIV cookbook, served at the Quicksand in Ul'dah along with crumpets and Twilight Pretzels). For more ideas, check out the wares of Katherine, Ul'dah's culinarian in the Sapphire Avenue Exchange (boiled egg, flatbread, rabbit pie and salt cod look like promising street foods).

From the Encyclopedia Eorzea: "Few vegetables grow in the heat of Thanalan, leaving Ul'dahn cuisine to consist largely of meats and insects, heavily seasoned with imported and local spices — though some claim this merely conceals fare that would normally be deemed unfit for consumption."

Bon appétit! ;)

[antlers-and-omens]

I don't know if I believe that what foods vendors have are necessarily canonically what's on offer (though that's not stopping anyone else fro mdoing so)? Those are low level foods on offer in most starting areas, from what I recall (I know the rabbit pie is) - and salt cod seems a weird thing to be on offer in a swelteringly hot desert city - yuck to fish on a hot day, and yuck to that much salt on a hot day, too, lol - talk about instant dehydration! But yeah, lots of folks are mentioning kebobs, and gyros - and those I kind of expected, but I like that blurb from the Encyclopedia Eorzea! When I was thinking about Jak's backstory - she hails from Gyr Abania - I went out and looked at what creatures would have been hunted/eaten out there... and that desert area has a lot of GIANT GRASSHOPPERS (chapuli) - so I figured that chapuli would have often been on offer with the J tribe. With Thanalan being a similar environment, it makes sense that insects would also be fare there, too - and considering that hot food makes you sweat? That's actually kind of a good thing - it'll help you cool off. (Though, as much as I love fare like gyros, I cannot imagine buying a hot, greasy euro on a crushingly hot day.) Maybe I should ask what sorts of drinks would be popular in this kind of environment as well!

[traveleorzea]

Challenge accepted! :D If you want to go the Babylonian/Ancient Near East origin route and/or North African influence suggested by others - but based on known foods (e.g. Botanica Eorzea and known "present day" realm bestiary/agriculture) - I'm thinking some street foods (ie. comparatively easy to distribute/snack on "on the go") along those lines could be: Almonds, Dates, unleavened breads (think the Moroccan streetfood "Msemmen" flatbread) with honey, those pesky Mutton kebabs (it seems you can never get away from being offered grilled meat on a stick, no matter how hot the climate - lol), and of course Galago Mint tea (who says it can't be served iced? :D)

[antlers-and-omens]

I've been rooting around, and Mersu are on my mind as a good 'sweet' street food.

As far as other recipes from that era go, here's a few:

(This is a playlist! Go watch Max Miller if you don't already - I didn't care about watching food shows at all until I found Max... and he made cooking AND history more interesting.)

Byzantine and not Babylonian... but they did have overlapping regions, and no doubt some similar foods. Plus, honey is pretty popular in Ul'dah - so why not use it for more than just mead?

[roadbound-scholar]

"I got this cute outfit at the Starlight Stalls to look more festive! But... what's this little plant over my head?"

[antlers-and-omens]

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." –Lao Tzu

[mournfulroses]

Anaïs Nin, from her novel titled "Little Birds," originally published in 1979

[antlers-and-omens]

Forbidden Love

From the acclaimed author of Desert Rose, Rough Divide, and Stormy Seas, comes Dragon's Dogma - a new tale of love and loss set in the Dragonsong War of Ishgard, a story of one woman's determination to overcome grief, dragons, and perhaps most daunting: the expectations and restrictions of Ishgardian Nobility, to achieve her goals in a world where the only person on her side has been lost to her...and there is nothing she will not do to avenge him.

An icy wind whipped about the self-styled Knight - yanking on her cloak, tugging at her hair, and slicing at her face with tiny shards of ice - a whirlwind of fury every bit as much as she was, in this moment. Years of training had led her to this. Years of grief, of mourning, of training - of ridicule, when she'd demanded to be taught to wield a blade, a shield, a bow, and spear... "Such a thing ill becomes you, my daughter." "Why can't you grieve him as the other widows do?" The damnable heretics had taken him from her, and she would not grieve quietly at an empty grave, and simply move on - she would make them pay. And she was here, at last - blade painted red with the sins of those who had taken him from her; snow stained with the confessions of those who had thought themselves judge, jury, and executioner. She hadn't, however, been prepared for what awaited her in the belly of the dilapidated fortress, no matter what she'd told herself throughout her training - the scraping of claws announced its presence, before the flash of eyes glowing high in the darkness attested to the truth of what awaited her: a dragon. No, a heretic; once a man, now a Syricta - a towering, two-legged, powerfully muscled drakonid with enormous horns erupting from its ridged, draconic skull, and a snout from which a roar erupted, as it charged her. Blade raised, she stood her ground fiercely - ready and willing to fight this beast to her last, and yet the creature simply grabbed the blade in her grip as easily as if it were little more than a toy, and tossed it aside as he thrust her back - breath hot and ragged on her face, her ribs aching from the impact against the aged stone wall. "Do it, then! Kill me, as you killed my beloved Marceau - I've taken more than my fair share of your heretic brethren with me, so I can die with pride, and the eyes of Halone upon me!" With this, did the bulging muscles of the creature's arm ripple, and its grip loosen, where it held her up - and it spoke her name = "Camille?" The fury in her breast stilled in an instant - and if she hadn't known any better, she might have thought that the creature had frozen her heart in her chest, because the only way it could have known her name - "It cannot be... my Marceau - my heart - what have they done to you?" And with not a blade, but the gentlest touch, did she lay a hand upon the snout of the beast whose breathing now slowed - the beak of which now nuzzled against her cheek in response. "It matters not, I suppose, for I have slain the ones who would make of you a weapon... how I have longed for you; how I have fought for you - what form you now wear has no bearing on the depths of my love for you." The press of his massive form, and the heat rolling off of his green scales was enough to make her forget the howling winds outside, the chill of this abandoned fort, the blood on her hands, the fury in her heart, and the long years of suffering and grief it had taken to reach this point - none of that mattered now, as the former violence of the moment was quickly forgotten in the embrace of her lover's new form.

[soulshards]

Had a bit of a clear out of inactive ffxiv blogs

Now i need new ones to follow! Please spread the word/like/reblog if you are an active ffxiv RP blog.

I'm also down for RP connections/interacting with asks etc

[antlers-and-omens]

Time -

Seize the day and hold on tight

The sun is rising

Life -

Take it slow and take a bite

One day at a time

-Dawntrail Theme on Guitar

[antlers-and-omens]

I can fake with the best of them all I can fake with the best of anyone

I can fake it all

Who's to know if your soul will fade at all? The one you sold to fool the world

[antlers-and-omens]

He's all alone through the day and night

(day and night)

The lonely loner seems to free his mind at night

(at, at, at night)

- Day 'N' Nite, Kid Cudi

(I kinda wish I'd been in other gear, but I couldn't not snag these cutscene shots while unlocking old raids!)

[color-palettes]

hand in hand - submitted by shittybraindrawings

#D7BCB3 #DECDBB #669A9A #009090 #00788A

[antlers-and-omens]

It's okay, Rough Divide - A'vaanoh still has a book named after you...RIP old friend. xD

[antlers-and-omens]

FFXIV Write #26: Last

Every week, it grew more challenging to last through until the weekend, and the hunt awaited. He was strong-willed, but... supernaturally so? Not quite.

It was when his thoughts turned sour that he knew it was time to depart the Saucer - when lascivious thoughts became murderous ones; when creative thoughts became bloody... he was grateful for the space he'd made between himself, and everyone else.

How long could life last like this, though? How long until he had to tell someone... how long before he couldn't? He'd taken a deal only a dead man would make - because that's what he'd been. There were only bad options - die then, die later to the demon, or have the demon possess him fully in time. It had bought him time, but was it enough to find the answers he sought?

Were there answers?

Did he even know how to find them?

Who did he trust enough to ask? Would people be more inclined to put him down, than risk the power of this demon being free again?

And... was that the right thing to do?

He'd just have to hold out long enough to avoid having to answer that question.

[antlers-and-omens]

FFXIV Write #25: Call It A Day

As the sound of the wooden gavel clunked through the mire of his thoughts, all the man could think was that he was beyond ready to call it a day - he had been hours ago, if he were honest with himself. He owed it to his client to stay present, and give it his all, but... the plaintiff's attorney was long-winded, and had a voice like gravel on stone. It had begun to feel like they thought that if they could drag the case out as long as possible, then that was just as good as making his client sit in a cell.

He had this one in the bag, though - there was little else to worry about, and he'd begun making notes in his legal pad about his current novel, without even realizing it; anything to quiet the demon that hated sitting in court even more than he did, when he knew he'd won already. Turns out, however, ideas for romance novels become more difficult with an evil entity playing backseat driver - and his publisher was antsy for the next volume they were owed.

Meanwhile, all he could think about was blood.

What if the protagonist was abducted by a blood-sucking monster, then? People would read that, no? It was that time of year, and people wouldn't question the darker turn, or demonic subject matter - and maybe it would scratch an itch of his own? It was a challenge not to constantly dwell on the thing that is literally on your mind all the time - luckily, he lived a lifestyle that allowed him more freedom from scrutiny than most.

He shook hands with his client, wished them a pleasant evening, and cut through the crowd to head for the double doors that led to freedom, to creativity... to beautiful bunnies at the Gold Saucer, and distraction from the brewing storm within.

[antlers-and-omens]

FFXIV Write #22: Fulsome

It had grown difficult to tell which people wanted to know him, and which wanted to... leech off of his fame? The praise showered upon him had grown fulsome - he could leave a match in the arena covered in blood, and the fans would still be crowded around him - fawning on him, asking for autographs, a date, or the worst of all - journalists wanting some quotable quotes for the Mythril Eye.

Perhaps he had truly begun to grow distant in his youth, then - at the height of his fame, he'd learned that the facade in the ring had to stretch beyond it, as well, lest you be devoured... but the acclaim carried with it a certain... loneliness? It set you apart.

But he had fought alone in the ring - so why not everywhere else, in life? The adoration wasn't all bad - he liked the spotlight, the praise, the attention... and yet, one wearied of it at times. You want to be alone with your own thoughts, bandage your own wounds, and step off the stage.

Years later, he had it. The soft pop and crackle of a fire, the warm bite of a glass of top shelf bourbon... and the billiards table he had no one to invite over to play with. But he had solitude to write, and study... and be himself; whoever that was. Had it all been worth it? It had paid the bills, and given his mother a better life - the one she had constantly striven to try and provide him - even if it had meant being an island among men.

Even if it had meant becoming a character, more than a man - because that was what the people wanted.

Had he, in truth, ever stepped beyond the bounds of that role?

[miqojak]

I am both man and brigade

I won't be denied or restrained

I am what the weak can't obtain

I am what survives if it's slain I am rest in peace if you aim

No I am not built of the same

- Nice to Meet Me, Zack Hemsey