#kerice things

[kaztrophy]

In FF14 Kerice is short because she had a very harsh upbringing where food was scarce. She learned how to hunt and gather and trap from her adoptive father but food was never guaranteed.

(i also like height differences in my ships shhhhhhhh)

[kaztrophy]

☕ + 4 and 7 for Kerice ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

Do you have any habits or quirks that others find unique or strange?

Good question. I go out and cull daywalkers that get a bit too close for comfort. Sometimes they have things on them worth a few coins. I'm not sure if you'd call it weird though.

What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your goals?

Hmmm...that depends, really. As far as right now goes, surviving is the most important goal I have. If anyone comes in my way, I won't hesitate to cut them down.

[kaztrophy]

It's thinking about Kerice and Erwin hours.

Kerice: I have convinced myself that is morally okay to hunt down and kill war criminals regardless of whether they are active duty or not. (While also having been a war criminal herself. She justifies this by saying she's trying to atone for the shit she did and the crimes she completed in the past. She was forced into conscription in the enemy army and is trying to reconcile that.)

Erwin: so civilians don't actually exist, they're just military assets or directly supporting the evil regime. (He doesn't kill civilians but he doesn't care if there are Garlean collateral as a result of his actions).

Kerice: tries to preach a moral superior high ground but is plagued by philosophical quandries and existential crises about her life choices. Proceeds to drink for escapism. Will spiral if forced to confront her own hypocrisy.

[kaztrophy]

[kaztrophy]

Onto part threeeee

Kerice would be stationed near ground zero for the coming battle of Carteneau. Having failed to prevent the Scions from breaking into and disrupting the White Raven's plans for Dalamud, she, along with the remaining contingent, were quickly reassigned to the battlefield.

As Dalamud fell and Bahamut was unleashed, she took her chase during the chaos to finally escape the clutches of the Empire.

Were she to have spent anymore time there, she may have encountered Erwin who had been deployed at that selfsame battle. He, however, would suffer a fate worse than death. His own adopted mother order his coordinates and fired on him, aiming to take out the large group of Eorzean combatants. He was buried under the bodies, on death's door when a voidsent by the name of Vaelora came to him with a proposition. She would save his life if he agreed to work with her. In his rage and fear he agreed and was plucked from the jaws of death.

His love for the Empire vanished like a candle in the wind and he would spend many years hunting down Imperials wherever they roamed.

Kerice, on the other hand, sought to try and make a new life for herself in the Twelveswood. Having spent so much of her life travelling from place to place and marred by the guilt of the death she had caused, she sought to make amends by becoming a conjurer and lend aid to those who needed it...except she wasn't very good at it. She was told to leave the guild and try her hand at adventuring to get a better handle on her abilities. Her spells often failed and nearly got people killed. Out of anxiety and trauma she began to carry potions on her at all times, fearing the worst. As work dried up due to rumor spreading about her lack of healing capabilities, Kerice tried to save money by using her herbalism knowledge to brew home made healing salves and curative potions. While not as potent as those made at the alchemy guild in Ul'dah, they proved useful in a pinch.

Once work had fully dried up, she made one last attempt at trying to secure employment. Heading back to her old home in Coerthas, she uncovered her father's hidden Gunblade. With some work she restored the blade, ditched her healing staff and clothes and began work as a bodyguard.

She was thankfully far more proficient in this profession and her skill was quickly sought after. Unfortunately, her road to redemption would not be so smooth. During a routine mission she failed to protect her charge who was slain before her eyes. The experience shook her to the core, disrupting her belief in herself and her confidence.

Kerice took a break for a short time, trying to sort out herself but soon took to drinking as a way of copping. Eventually news reached her that Baelsar's Wall had fallen and the Eorzean Alliance were looking for able bodied hands to help bring liberation to the region. Kerice jumped at the change to help undo the wrongs she had committed and signed up right away. What she wasn't expecting, however, was see none other than Erwin on the Resistance's side of the war.

The two were on edge around the other, each fearing the other being an Imperial spy, ready to strike down the other from the shadows. Throughout the campaign, however, trust was formed, apologies were made, Erwin's fully admitting that he had been blinded by the Empire's propaganda. Their ideologies and goals had aligned and, for once, they could start to let their guards down.

Fate had other plans for the two. Kerice had found companionship in a rebel Sunseeker Miqo'te. On a scouting mission Kerice's past was dug up and dragged across the soil when the Miqo'te discovered Kerice's ties to the Garlean Empire. The two were destined to fight. Kerice for her life, the Miqo'te for revenge. Out of self defense, Kerice laid the Miqo'te low.

Fear gripped Kerice. She was torn between many different options regarding the Miqo'te; hiding the body, returning with the body, lying, telling the truth or fleeing. Ultimately, when the rustle of bushes and snapping of twigs caught her attention, Kerice's instincts kicked in and she fled the scene, away from the Rebel's hold and deeper into the wilds.

This would be her undoing as her reckless wandering landed her near a group of patrolling Garleans not long after she ran. She was swiftly captured and transported to a small interrogation site as they believed her to have been the one targeting Imperial military personal. She was tortured for information until the Garleans pulled out of the area.

[kaztrophy]

Part twoooooo cause I figured I might be running near the text limit on the original post, weeeeeee!

Under the cut as usual.

Kerice and Erwin's first meeting could have gone significantly better. It certainly didn't help that he was a male Viera, the second of which she had ever encountered (and Ashe, being the first, a VERY bad experience). She was angry and a spitfire but Erwin, having worked with a variety of other recruits and having gone through is own brand of trauma, quickly reminded her of her place and how the military, especially on the field, was far more difficult and dangerous with a person with her attitude. While she greatly disliked him due to a bunch of factors, she reeled herself in and showed him some manner of respect after he made her position incredibly clear to her. One thing he drilled into her quickly was that he would never leave anyone behind.

She was going to hold him to that.

It wasn't long after that they would be sharing her first mission.

Said mission couldn't have gone more horribly. All but one other member of the squad (Nayela) were summarily wiped out by Gyr Abania resistance fighters. having to choose between her life, her promise to Erwin to not leave anyone behind, and death, she chose the former and clawed her way out of the pit with her and Nayela in tact.

Kerice's respect and trust in Erwin would grow over time slowly, the two bonding over shared trauma, history, interests and humor though one thing was always a sticking point. Erwin was a proud Garlean solider who believed himself above the 'savages' and Kerice an unwilling participant in the horrors of war who loathed the Empire and everything it had taken from her.

Despite their fundamental disagreements, Erwin was still willing to listen to Kerice and gave her a space to vent about her frustrations and dislike of the Garlean Empire without fear of being gunned down.

Kerice returned that kindness tenfold when Erwin was captured during a routine mission. While the higher ups had decided to cast him away, she fought for him to make the higher ups realize how important he was, not just to the cause, but to the squad, highlighting that he was useful and such a person should not be so easily discarded. The higher ups conceded but provided Kerice and her squad with the bare essentials for the mission. They succeeded anyways.

While Kerice never openly spoke about her involvement in champion Erwin's rescue, the rest of the squad made sure that Erwin knew just how hard she had fought, both with the higher ups, and on the field to bring him home. He had always saw that she had survived and he kept his promise time and time again not to leave anyone behind. She wasn't about to turn her back on him.

It was at this pint that Erwin started truly growing closer, and soften, towards Kerice. She saved him from the torture camp of the resistance and went to bat for him when no one else had done so before. Just as the two started to open up more towards each other and grow more affectionate, Kerice would be transferred to a new station--a promotion based on her great success in rescuing Erwin and taking out an entire Resistance camp. She would depart for Mor Dhona with little hope of seeing Erwin ever again. She, at the very least, promised him she would never forget what he had done for him and wished him the best.

[kaztrophy]

Now that I'm feeling marginally better, I wanna take some time to just ramble about Kerice and Erwin because they are my hyperfixation (and being honest, it's been a long as fuck time since I've had her muse and she's been in a relationship).

This is specific to the FF14 setting since I haven't really played her as a fantroll in AGES (this may change...my boyfriend is super into homestuck right now so I may convince him to make a fantroll teehee).

Anyways! Long rambling under the read more cause I don't wanna wall text / long post.

Kerice has had an especially hard life in FF14. She lost both her parents during the invasion of Rabinastre (her mother was a guard/soldier and her father owned a fabric shop). Her family friend, and God-father, Drezdyn, took her in after hearing about the family's death (finding a very young Kerice hiding in a laundry basket).

She didn't have any other relatives or family friends to take care of her and Drezdyn, having a soft spot for the child, took her in. During his earlier years he was a Bozjan resistance leader who were branded terrorists by the Empire. His small group bombed an Imperial caravan that resulted in the death of two nobles, a father and son. His entire faction was wiped out and Drezdyn fled Bozja out of fear for his life.

The widow of the two nobles had it out for Drezdyn. It wasn't long after the attack on the city and his adoption of Kerice that they were started to move around. Bounty hunters had been sent to capture and bring him back to Garlemald if possible, alive preferably.

During this time, Kerice grew up with a stern yet loving father figure who did his best to support the two of them. Because of the constant moving from place to place, the two lived in relative poverty, making due with what food they could hunt and small odd jobs in the villages and cities they visited. Despite being a female Viera, Kerice grew up malnourished and this stunted her growth until she was better able to learn and help hunt with her adoptive father. She learned how to identify all manner of plants in the different areas of Eorzea, how to make small salves and poultices, how to hunt, fish, trap, hide and survive in the various climes they travelled through.

Eventually the two settled on the outskirts of Coerthas near Mor Dhona. Drezdyn found steady work assisting the local Ishgardians while Kerice was tasked with maintaining their small cabin in the woods, hunting, trapping and negotiating with the locals for supplies they could not otherwise get. It was a simple, hard life, but it was good.

Kerice had shown an early knack for the bow and alchemy. She also finally learned how to properly write at about age 10 (she could read prior to that because Drezdyn would teach her but they never had the ability to sit down and properly write).

As she got older, Drezdyn began to teach Kerice how to use a Gunblade. He wanted her to be able to protect herself, especially in close combat.

At about 18 years old the Battle of Silvertear Lake happened and Drezdyn's involvement drew the attention of the bounty hunters. It didn't take long for them to track down the two living out in Coerthas. Kerice was approached by a male Viera by the name of Ashe who was around the same age as her. They hit it off while Drezdyn was away and, not knowing any better, brought him back to her home to introduce him. She was unceremoniously captured and held hostage in the building while the bounty hunters waited for Drezdyn to return.

Drezdyn did return and, under threat of Kerice's life, surrendered himself to capture.

The bounty hunters escorted Kerice and Drezdyn back to Garlemald. As soon as they arrived, the two were separated. Kerice was sold into the Garlean military and Drezdyn was later executed.

Kerice's time in the military was filled with bigotry and anger. She was a hostile force in the training camp while being, by far, one of the most versed in the use of a Gunblade and long ranged sniping weaponry (from her years of practice with hunting with a bow and practicing the Gunblade with her father). She caused fights that got her reprimanded and beaten. The most severe was when she attempted to escape from the military training camp once she learned Drezdyn had been murdered. Instead of being killed, she was made an example of. Latched to a wooden pole outside in the snow, shirt removed, she received several (upwards of 10) lashes that scarred her back. She was left to freeze and bleed out. Those who thought to take pity and help her was strictly prohibited by way of suffering the same punishment.

Kerice's will had been broken. From that day onward she fell into line, kept her head low and her anger boiling in her chest instead of from her fists. After successfully completing her training, she was dispatched to Gyr Abania under the authority of Erwin.

[kaztrophy]

What a sweetheart! Now that we've gotten this far what does she say if that person asks for her name and wants to talk?

That really depends on the context so I can't give you a straight answer there.

At a bar where it's chill and it's just casual conversation? Sure, she'll entertain the person, have a chat.

In a dark alleyway? She'll leave if she can or be fairly snarky.

(Also depends on if you're asking after her fantroll version or her FF14 version. While they're similar, they have different reactions to certain things.)