#terizzi

[mystery-salad]

Listen, I'm a simple gay.

[mystery-salad]

Had the wonderful pleasure of commissioning @spindlewit for a couple pieces of these two!

Commander Quaille (asura, mirror pronouns) and Terizzi (sylvari, she/her) are a patchwork couple who've been haphazardly figuring things out together, but in the long run they're so sweet and an island of stability for each other in everything.

The first piece is a tender kiss I've wanted to capture for a while, the second is a more specific moment within their story just before a relationship started sparking, and Spindle captured both so beautifully. It's always such a delight to work with them!

[mystery-salad]

Terizzi

(She/her pronouns)

Doomed from day one, her pod contracted an unfortunate rot to the extent that she was believed to have died before fully forming. As her pod was pruned from the tree and discarded though she continued to grow through a prowess of innate necromantic ability. She emerged not long after, still under-grown and sickly, much to the shock of the pod tenders.

The rot has stayed with her, rooted deep in her body and causing an immune deficiency that easily allows other plant maladies in. She's a petri dish of rots and parasites that make her ill-advised for any contact with other sylvari. The first mender who tried to heal her did not survive the extended contact sadly.

As such, her physical state and maladies:

Blight spots dot her body but primarily show in her longer hair leaves.

Canker in her back that has created a large hollow some bugs have nested in. You can visibly see remnants of spinal column bones and a few ribs she's woven herself through to create a trellis for her own spine to still connect through, visually obscuring the canker a little though it's still hard to miss.

Powdery mildew dusts the cracks in her body and face, an almost freckled appearance that shows best when she glows underneath it.

A variety of crown/root rot sees to it that her limbs are always deteriorating. She keeps them lasting as long as possible, but inevitably she hits the point of having to prune one every so often. She'll find a nearby bone to place in the stump as a stable guide for new growth. The cycle is endless but she can manage.

She has a variety of bugs that live in and on her, as both helpers and simply a byproduct of her being easy to nest in. A yellow spotted millipede, pillbugs, a small social nest of carpenter bees (they also function as one of her swarms in battle), and dampwood termites (these have made the nest in her back, function as her other swarm in battle)

[mystery-salad]

"Come sit with me a while."

"You sure that's smart?"

"Hasn't mattered before."

[mystery-salad]

4, 21, 34, and 57 for the beloved Mildew duo pwease :3

(@mistborn-bastard)

The mildew beloveddddds truly I never stop huffing them <3

Terizzi (she/her)

Quaille (mirror pronouns, so as I'm talking about Quaille I'll be using it/its for it)

WEIRDLY SPECIFIC BUT HELPFUL CHARACTER BUILDING QUESTIONS

4. What’s a hobby they used to have that they miss?

Terizzi enjoys her life on the road with Quaille, but does miss cultivating rotting trees. She still gets to cultivate herself, which is a good enough small version of course! But she'd like for Quaille to fucking settle down and quit its job.

Quaille doesn't really have the capacity for a lot of exertion outside of work and also can't just be in public due to the whole radioactive thing, and misses casual activities and outings in general pretty much any hobbies. Poor little thing can't be around 90% of the world without causing magic poisoning...

21. What common etiquette do they disagree with? Do they still follow it?

Terizzi doesn't think small talk is fun and hates casual pleasantries. She's very blunt, and doesn't like having to sidestep around her point in conversations on the way.

Quaille isn't a fan of waiting for all sides to agree before going in to save the world. It gets it, on a basic level, like it's good to have everyone on the same page. But if there's a logical way forward then just inform everyone and then do it. Time is wasted otherwise.

34. How do they greet someone they like / love?

Terizzi: (like) she's very straightforward and blunt, no face put on for niceties because she likes you enough to assume you can handle her at her most relaxes.

(love) very very clingy and affectionate, and territorial. Which is luckily easy when your partner can't physically get close to most of the population safely. Lots of holding Quaille close and nuzzling it upon reach.

Quaille: (like) conversational, a standard hello how are you, simple stuff to lead into a bigger conversation.

(love) equally affectionate, bumps its respirator against Terizzi in simulation of a kiss and asking how she's doing, enjoying the blunt answers.

57. What’s a simple daily activity / motion that they mess up often?

Terizzi is BAD AT HYGEINE she's decomposing regardless so it's easier to not upkeep that and focus her energy into regenerating what's lost. So she smells pretty rotting and musty.

Quaille fucks up a lot these days, shaky hands, shaky body, bad health... it's easy to sort of lose itself some days in physical malfunctions and chronic pain and it has to be often reminded if it's being kind of rude about it or forgetting basic actions to do.

The two kind of help keep each other functional with reminders!

[mystery-salad]

If we're both doomed anyways, we can at least enjoy the journey. Together.

[mystery-salad]

Thinks about Quaille being at ground zero with everyone when the first dragon death went horribly wrong, when they all got more than they bargained for.

Thinks about Quaille waking up as one of the few survivors and realizing that this was a task far beyond what anyone expected...

Thinks about Quaille in the med bay for the fifth checkup that month...the long-term effects need to be monitored, it wouldn't be hard to die from this even years later.

Thinks about Quaille deciding that...if it's fucked anyways, may as well be the one who handles the rest of the dragons too.

Thinks about Quaille making sure the Pact evacuates Maguuma before it strikes the final blow, again its vision going white and waking up badly injured in a wasteland...not of decay, but greenery this time. Quaille can't move, laying there until the Pact chances a rescue carefully. The ones who got it out still suffer lifelong side effects too.

Thinks about Quaille getting a tag-along weird Sylvari who's weirdly intrigued by all of this. A plant who looks on the brink of death and decay herself at every waking moment.

Thinks about Quaille going after a third dragon, getting the area evacuated again. Things go white, things go dark... and Quaille wakes up in its own bed with that strange sylvari sitting beside them.

Thinks about finding the only other living being that can match your martyr freak as you keep trying to save the world.

Quaille uses mirror pronouns, if you talk about it use your own. If your character talks about it, use your characters.

[mystery-salad]

...what if the nightmare tree was whittled not just from any wood, but specifically a stolen root of the Pale Tree herself? What if because of this it could potentially bear pods of its own and by natural reflex produced one?

What if firstborn of the Nightmare Tree, from the only pod it managed to make before being killed in the twilight arbor story, and rather than being cruel like the court simply longed to be free and independent like those who first followed Nightmare.

What if I made that Terizzi's origin and the reason she's so malnourished and falling apart, cause she was born from a tree that really wasn't prepared to bear a child 👁️👁️

What if many dreamers nickname her "curseborn"