#ask shio

[the-littlest-kojin]

How did Shio Shinju come to be raised by Kojin of the Blue? Was she originally from the Ruby Sea, or somewhere else entirely?

So part of this story is even unknown to Shio herself! It's a bit involved.

Once, a Raen was born in a fishing village in the Ruby Sea. This was Ia Venu, rambunctious, hot-headed, blessed with a strong arm and a loud voice and an explosive temper.

When Ia was very young, they ran away from home - seeking excitement and passion and fun, away from the quietly pious fishing family they were born into.

To abridge the entire plot of 1.0, Ia found themselves, with their fellow Warriors of Light, on the field at Carteneau, with the red moon cracking overhead.

Teleported to safety but rendered amnesiac by Louisoix's spell, this ends the story of Ia Venu.

And the Kojin Toro found a scaled child - thirteen summers at the most - adrift in the Ruby Sea.

And this begins the story of Shio Shinju.

[books-and-catears]

Send me a number between 1 to 100 and I'll assign you a song from my Spotify wrapped playlist! I saw a bunch of people doing this so I'm trying it too!

[the-littlest-kojin]

What is the skill or ability that Shio most admires in others? Does she admire it because she is also good at that thing and therefore sees it as important? Or because it is a skill she finds difficult? Or perhaps does not possess at all? Is she ever jealous of people with that skill? Or motivated to emulate them? Or perhaps she wishes to prove herself the best at it?

Shio most admires the skill that people have in just... being themselves.

Some context is necessary.

As an amnesiac who does not remember the first years of her life, Shio has always grappled with identity. "Who am I" was a very real and constant question for much of her life.

When she struck out from Tamamizu, she just wanted to see the world. She was, as far as she could tell, the genuine Shio. (But what if you don't remember the genuine Shio, her thoughts whispered.)

And this worked, for a time. But as the Scions asked more and more of her, and her role as "Primal-slayer" slowly warped into "perfect hero who needs to do everything", she more and more retreated into herself, until The Warrior Of Light was essentially an entirely different person.

Shio likes to be wry, sarcastic, play pranks, laugh.

The Warrior of Light is taciturn, stoic, strong, reliable.

So when Shio sees someone who is just unapologetically themselves, even in the face of responsibility, she admires them so much. This is why she builds such strong bonds with Seiryu, Sadu, Erenville, and especially Feo Ul.

[the-littlest-kojin]

@lt-rootsap

There are so many aspects that Shio looks forward to.

She's always happy to see her family again - particularly Bunchin, who she calls Grandfather, and Soroban and Kabuto, who she calls brothers. She looks forward to asking Bunchin for advice on whatever is going on in her life, as well as asking Kabuto how business is going, asking Soroban how things are going with the Auspices, and so on.

Secondarily, she enjoys the low-stakes nature of going home. Here, she's not a Warrior of Light, not an eikon-slayer. She's just another Kojin. The shadow of her fame does not follow her here.

Thirdly, she enjoys the weather - the Ruby Sea does not get too hot, and it does not get too bright. There is no chance of her getting unwell in the weather of the Sea.

And finally, she enjoys the fact that the Kojin have alcohol that actually has some bite to it - an extreme rarity in nearly every other place she's been.

[the-littlest-kojin]

all your OCs:

how hard is it for them to find clothes that fit? and if it's not hard, how annoyed are they that the clothes are never in the color they want?

Shio has a lot of difficulty finding things that fit. Even ignoring that she identifies as a Kojin, even by the standards of auri women she is shorter and more curvaceous than nearly any other. So she winds up either making her own clothing or getting it custom tailored - although finding tailors who do not get starstruck is a problem.

Gologa has the opposite problem - being an unusually tall and bulky Hrothgar means that most stores do not stock things in his size - most of his clothing is items that he owned prior to the fall of Bozja more than two decades ago. This is not really annoying for him, but does concern him about what he will do when those clothes eventually wear out.

Bril has a similar problem, with her musculature causing issues in finding clothing that is comfortable, particularly on her thighs. When she had need to go to Ishgard, she had to spend a premium to find warm clothing in a rush, and she gave up entirely on getting it in colours she liked.

Conroy is an interesting case in that he is a pretty standard size for his race - but he spent more than a decade of his life using glamours to appear as an Elezen, taller and broader than his actual appearance. This means that when people would gift him clothes, he would often be given attire that would fit the glamour, not in actuality.

[the-littlest-kojin]

Given that it's that time of year (in my part of the world at least), it feels like a good time to ask about fear.

When was the time that Shio was most afraid? What was the possible outcome that frightened her? What (or who) helped her to master her fears? And does that frightening time still haunt her sometimes now?

I was wondering if there was something in her Kojin upbringing which helped her retain balance in the face of danger? Or perhaps it was a particular person who supported her to be as brave as she could be?

The time that Shio was most afraid?

That would have to be during Shadowbringers, after Innocence.

Shio realised something odd was happening to her, aetherically, after Titania. She's not stupid.

Then came Eros, and Storge. Shio was in pain, getting sick. And she knew where this was going to end up.

And then, Innocence.

Shio was blind. She was throwing up Light. She was staggering to walk.

And she was becoming a Lightwarden.

If she became a Lightwarden, she would be fearsome. Powerful. A danger to everybody on Norvrandt.

And she was afraid.

She made safeguards, took precautions. But she was still afraid.

As for how she fought against that fear, Shio has always tried to compartmentalise her true feelings from her sense of duty. This is... perhaps not the healthiest approach, but it has led to "The Warrior of Light" and "Shio of the Blue" being essentially two different faces that she can put on.

As her fear mounted, she spent less and less time being herself, and more and more time being the stalwart hero and living weapon that the Scions treated her as.

And so her fear was stoically endured by the Warrior, and the sobbing, gibbering Shio of the Blue, paralysed by her terror, increasingly did not surface except for those closest to her.

Thanks for the wonderful ask!

[the-littlest-kojin]

What was the most difficult fighting style that Shio learned during her travels through other lands and cultures? Did she find Dancer too flamboyant? Or Warrior too undisciplined? Perhaps Machinist's reliance on technology was quite alien to her? Or was there another reason why a particular discipline took her longer to find a connection with?

I always do love getting your questions, they're the highlights of my ask box.

The most difficult Discipline of War or Magic for Shio to truly grasp was actually that of the Gridanian Conjurer - the idea of, in her eyes, asking the Kami if she may cast a spell or help someone went entirely against everything she was raised to believe. The Kami are to be respected and venerated, obviously, but kowtowing to them to such a degree to potentially bind you to inaction? Unheard of.

Of the specific three you mentioned, Thavnairian Dancecraft was actually the first art she learned away from home, and it gave her the idea to learn about cultures by studying their fighting styles. Opposed to her first Discipline of Samurai, it felt like the first time that her smaller frame and lithe body were more suited to the art, where she learned how to use a katana from turtles who would always be larger than her and have longer reach. As for the Hellsguard art of the Warrior, she found that having the ability to truly cut loose and withstand blows through grit and rage was also something she was perfectly suited for, and these are two of her favourite Disciplines to this day.

As for the Ishgardian Machinist, she never quite found it resonating with her on a personal level, but it was a very interesting study for her, of the culture of Ishgard as seen from the bottom of the pile. She didn't find it as difficult as Conjury, but it never really resonated for her the way Dancer or Warrior did.

Thanks for the ask!

[the-littlest-kojin]

During her travels and adventures, what was the culture that Shio Shinju found most challenging to understand and immerse herself within? What was it about this particular culture that was so alien to her? Was there something that helped her through this initial barrier?

It's my turn for one of the Unexpectedly Deep Mimble Questions! I'm so honoured.

The culture that Shio found the hardest time understanding was that of Ul'dah. The idea of an entire culture predicated on the collection of money is almost comprehensible to a Kojin - but the difference is that the treasures of the Kojin do not make you rich, and a lack of them does not make you lesser.

The idea of collecting this coin not for spiritual or sentimental reasons, but to use it as a bludgeon to beat down other people - as far as Shio can tell, that's just horrific. Add to that the fact that "spoken" and "beast tribe" classifications seem to have some root in Ul'dah, and she has a hard time not being confused and sickened by their culture.

While she hasn't found a way to grasp the culture more strongly - she doesn't understand most of it and what she does understand upsets her - she has come to see that there are some Ul'dahns who seem to be reasonable despite their cultural background, and she has no issue with any Ul'dahn because of their home - she judges based on their actions.