returning;

seo leila von astelle of etlia. 20. willing to do anything to reclaim her home.

[finnuf]

much has changed in the past year.

a year ago, finn was drowning in grief over the loss of etlia and all that came with it: his country, his peoples’ lives, his dignity as the future margrave lucinier.

he doesn’t really know how he’s gotten to this point now, where he’s faced much of his past and failures. he isn’t over it–– he knows he will never be over it ––but he is...better. after the last lotus festival, and the monster attacks throughout the continent, he returned to his homeland, not just to redeem himself, but to protect the people he failed to previously. he knew, even then, that he didn’t owe them any loyalty anymore. etlia no longer existed and he was no leader, and yet...there are still so many faces in former etlian territory that he knows. 

he blames himself a little less now. well, maybe that’s not true, and he’s simply forgiven himself a little for all of his deadly mistakes. maybe he feels like he’s making it up to them by fighting and defending them now. 

there’s more of a chance to now, with ganggyn declaring war on gleerium and crossing borders to attack the military capital of ouros, etlia’s neighbor that inflicted the most damage on them during the war of the states. there are new opportunities to fight for his people, and to seek revenge on gleerium for what they did to them, but...he hasn’t yet. he continued to fight monsters, even in the face of ganggyn troops pushing into soule and remilly, because this war is not his–– not yet.

it’s an opportunity, though, and leila knows it, too. leila, somehow, has always had more passion and hope to reclaim etlia for themselves, and it’s no different now than it always has been. he knows she likely has big dreams and lofty goals, and he’s open to hearing them and talking some sense into her so she doesn’t do anything too impulsive or dangerous.

he agreed to meet leila in ganggyn territory, at the inn that apparently took her in when they were displaced after their war. he hasn’t been before, and when he enters, he takes in his surroundings out of instinct, always prepared to use them to his advantage in case of an ambush of some sort. he doubts he has much to worry about in ganggyn’s capital, but with a new war overtaking deyuis, he can’t be sure, and the cautiousness is in his blood. he doesn’t know if he’s ever felt safe in his life, but leila seems to feel comfortable here, and that’s enough for him.

she assures him they won’t be overheard, and he nods, then takes a seat. he considers her mug of ale for a moment, then nods, and says, “sure,” though he’s trying not to drink as much these days. a little won’t hurt.

leila jumps right into the deep questions, never one to beat around the bush. he isn’t either. “ganggyn has pushed into lucinier territory. they’re starting to spread into astelle, last i knew. ouros has definitely seen better days. sablier, too. i think they pulled some of their troops out of former etlia territory to try to defend vessalius. there hasn’t been as much gleerian resistance in the west as you might think.”

as for signing on with ganggyn’s army, he shakes his head. “i’m still...assessing the situation, a bit.” he isn’t entirely sure of ganggyn’s motives. is misu truly just fighting this war out of rage, seeking to avenge her mother? finn can understand that much. if he had the power, he might’ve done the same a year ago. he can’t help but be skeptical, though. he has never known an instance without war. he has a hard time believing any foreign power in etlia is anything good. “i don’t really want to work for anyone else,” he admits, which is ironic, considering he’s a mercenary now. all he does these days is work for someone else to earn money. in the end, however, he can choose his own work, and while he will never side with gleerium...something is holding him back from pledging allegiance to ganggyn in their war efforts.

“well, i guess...i don’t want to fight anyone else’s war.” that’s more accurate, really. “i’m not sure if it’s ours yet.”

[ufleila]

leila leans her elbows onto the table, weight on her crossed arms. she listens intently to finn's explanations, nodding as they line up with the news she's picked up herself. her eyes aren't on her companion - they're on a few knife marks in the table she left there herself over a year ago, in the vague shape of etlia's crest. unrecognizable at a glance, the shape is likely only distinctive to her.

(though if anyone would be able to recognize it, kim finnian von lucinier would.)

as she listens, she plots out the map in her head, imagining her father's war maps spread out on the giant planning table in his study. it's an image she hasn't let herself think about in far too long, but she braces herself against the emotions and nostalgia that come with it: she has a job to do.

"that's good," she says quietly, thinking about her father's little figurines that signified thousands of troops with their little wooden forms. "they've had a steady presence in etlia until now, so this is a good opportunity."

she looks up as finn continues, responding to her question about ganggyn. "i haven't either," she says. "and i've been here for almost a week, now, gathering news and rumors." she blinks, however, at finn's reasoning behind assessing the situation.

i'm not sure if it's ours yet.

"that's why we make it ours," she says bluntly, like she's stating a fact, the way father always did in his speeches to the people. "ganggyn attacking gleerium for practically the first time in history is a golden opportunity for us. we can use the time gleerium is focused on defending vessalius and felice to take back etlia and build our army. then we'll be in a position to negotiate with the empress and get ganggyn's assurance that if we help them, they'll help re-establish etlia as an independent nation."

it seems so simple when she says it like that, succinct. an easy three-step plan, when really it's a plan that would have been laughably unattainable even months ago.

but times change. the world changes. and etlia will never be free if leila doesn't take the opportunities that are presented to her. in the face of that, how can she back down? how can she view this as anything other than simple?

"i just don't know how we can do anything else, really. we ran once already, and it kept us alive. but now we have a chance to go back and hopefully do some good, so how can we not take it?"

[ufleila]

plotting and scheming ;

@finnuf

it's strange, being back here after so long. really it's only been about a year since leila left, but everything feels so different now. when she left last, she thought she was alone in the world, the last defender of her homeland on the run from tyranny and war. she was completely unsure of what to do, where to go, or how to move forward, and she had a vague idea of getting revenge on gleerium and freeing etlia, but no means of even coming up with a feasible plan to follow through on that.

now, she's reunited with finn, ganggyn has declared war on gleerium, and with the new war started, leila may finally have her opportunity to reclaim her homeland.

when finn walks in the door, leila waves at him from her table in the corner, and as he approaches she makes eye contact with cirenne behind the bar. the matron nods once -- she'll make sure their conversation isn't overheard. it's a relief, leila thinks, to be back around someone like cirenne, who leila knows has no other motivations than to keep her inn running and, in her words, to do the most right thing.

allowing a couple of mercenaries the privacy to plan an uprising may not seem like a good thing to do, but leila knows that cirenne hates gleerium as much as she does, and she's eager to see andreas's empire topple.

"we won't be overheard here," leila tells finn when he reaches her, though currently the taproom is abandoned aside from the two of them and cirenne. "there's nothing to worry about. do you want anything?"

she indicates her own mug of ale when she asks, lifting it slightly off the table. "the ale's not bad. how's the war effort? have you signed on with ganggyn's army yet?"

[ufleila]

finnuf​:

{  * we don’t obey  }

{ ... }

"i’m supposed to take its head back to prove i killed it, so,” finn says as leila works on skinning the wolf. he doesn’t know how this will work, or if he has it in him to fight her for proof of who slayed the beast. he needs the coin, certainly, but he thinks he needs to get out of here even more.

he can just run. he can just say whatever, take it, and leave. part of him screams for it, but another part of him is so fiercely relieved to see her. he is relieved and he is ashamed and he is full of longing for a time they will never get back and he is suddenly so keenly aware of how lonely the months following losing the war have been.

it is self-inflicted loneliness, maybe, but it is what he deserves. he knows this; he believes it with everything in his body.

he should leave, but he may never see her again, but maybe that’s a good thing, but he is so tired. he is so tired. maybe that’s why in the end, he just stands there, frozen in silence, until he finally speaks, far more calmly than he feels: “are you angry with me?”

part of him wants her to be. part of him thinks he will feel better as the object of her rage than her friend.

leila focuses on her work rather than on the too-familiar figure standing awkwardly in front of him. it’s always been impressive, how someone as talented and powerful as kim finnian von lucinier could manage to look so awkward so much of the time. leila remembers giggling about it with vivian on multiple occasions -- though never in a truly malicious way, but in the way of little sisters poking fun just because they can. 

the thought of vivian sends another pang through her -- if finn’s here, then is vivian alright, too? leila has always been too cowardly to look into it, to try to learn the status of anyone from her childhood, for fear of finding out the worst. 

that they’re dead. that they were slaughtered on the very battlefield leila ran away from. 

or, possibly even worse, that they’re still home, still fighting in whatever way they can to protect etlia’s people. it’s worse because it’s exactly what leila’s been running from. 

( at least finn being here instead of home means that she’s not the only coward who ran away. )

she doesn’t bother responding to him, clamping down on her tongue to try to hold the words and emotions back. she doesn’t explain that the pelt, sold to the right buyer in pristine condition, could buy her meals for a week, could replace her worn-out boots as they approach winter, could give her a brief reprieve from having to scrape by from meal to meal. 

instead, she focuses on salvaging what she can. it should still be worth something, and if not, there’s a tanner’s apprentice in noyillai that owes her a favor. she could head that way and get them to make it into something for her -- a new coat for winter, maybe. 

then finn speaks again, and leila freezes. 

are you angry with me? yes. no. she doesn’t know. she’s angry with herself, definitely, for running away and not fighting to the bitter end for etlia and its people. why shouldn’t she be angry with finn for doing the same thing? maybe she is. or maybe she isn’t -- maybe she understands in a way no one else does, a way nobody else ever could understand. 

she sits back on her heels, resting her bloodied hands in her lap and gripping tightly to the handle of her hunting knife. “i don’t know,” she responds quietly, without looking up from the corpse in front of her. “i should be, maybe. i’m angry at myself, for the same thing i assume you did, since you’re here.”

she breathes in deeply through her nose, the scents of grass and soil completely overpowered by that of blood and death, but leila doesn’t even flinch. it’s disturbingly familiar, the smell of blood soaking into a field, has been instilled in her for years. she lets the sigh out through her mouth, then looks back up to finn. “why are we here?” she asks, her voice low and flat. she doesn’t elaborate -- she knows finn will know what she means. 

why are we here and not at home?

[ufleila]

ufastrea​:

- take my hand -

now that they’re finally at the official day of celebration, astrea is doing her best not to let a lotus festival fatigue get the better of her. the month has been great, no doubt, and as business throughout the city has thrived, so has an increased need for healing. no, it’s this message of hope and unity that has astrea feeling a little on edge. wary, that something is going to go wrong. because things have been going so well lately, even for astrea herself, and things never go so well for so long. 

rather than turn away, the stirring inside of astrea makes her want to take advantage of the time she has. her regular clothing has been replaced with a more elegant outfit, soft with pinks and reds and a skirt that falls like the petals of a blossom. the younger rhadali astrea would’ve been told to wear it as part of an innocent act, to disguise whatever cruel deed she was helping with. now, she just wants to wear it because it’s pretty. that’s all there is, even if the layers of her disguise have only multiplied since.

and because she’s with leila, one of her utmost top super favourites and chosen company for the night. someone who, despite knowing as much as the next person of astrea’s past (aka, barely a whisper), the healer feels awfully at ease with. it’s as thrilling as it is daunting.

“omaduunian?” she can’t fight the grin, and is already tightening their linked arms to pull leila more to the left row of shops. “absolutely. there’s one nearby that is delicious.” 

when the crowd starts to thicken, astrea’s patience starts to wear thin, so she unlinks their arms to take leila’s hand instead. it’s small, it’s rough from years of archery yet also surprisingly soft, and astrea gives it a gentle squeeze, warmth radiating between them. determined not to dally about, she takes the lead to weave the two of them through the crowd, not stopping until they finally make it to the tavern. 

“finally!” nearly breathless, she looks at the people gathered by the door, then back to leila. “there’s a bit of a line, do you mind waiting? i can always go find some street food from a vendor if you want a snack now. or we can go somewhere less busy, i don’t mind.” 

leila flutters her hand in its long sleeve, the sensation of the nice fabrics and intricate clothing at once familiar and completely jarring. it’s nice, of course, but she feels strangely exposed, even with her bow and quiver still strapped across her back. she hasn’t worn anything like this since well before the fall of etlia, and it’s bringing up some memories she hasn’t touched in a long time. 

she likes that she matches with astrea, though. their outfits aren’t exactly the same -- leila’s kimono is shorter and a darker red than astrea’s long, pink one, but they look like they belong together. they’re not exactly the same, yet they mesh well together. leila can’t help but find it appropriate that astrea has the lighter dress, anyway -- she’s bright, always shining even more than her magic. leila is always surprised astrea seems to want to spend time with her -- she feels like she absorbs all of astrea’s light, and fears that one day she’ll use it all up and leave astrea drained. 

but astrea never seems to run out of light. she’s always glowing, sometimes literally. leila can’t help but be honored that she chooses to spend time with her of all people. 

then astrea takes her hand, and leila feels her face flame. for that moment, she can’t think, can’t process anything beyond the feeling of astrea’s hand in hers. it’s slightly bigger, less callused, the skin completely smooth where it brushes against the rough calluses in leila’s own palm. she’s never been self-conscious of them before -- her calluses and scars are proof of what she’s survived, of the effort she’s put in to get where she is today -- but she can’t help but worry about astrea being uncomfortable with them, about them scraping against her hand and making her realize just how damaged leila is. 

which is ridiculous, of course. if anyone knows how damaged leila’s been in the past, it’s astrea. she accepted leila at her worst, at her least trusting and most injured. and even after seeing all that, after seeing leila lash out and try her hardest to drive astrea away, she still stayed, still seemed determined to be leila’s friend. 

it takes leila several seconds too long to realize that she’s been asked a question -- her focus is still entirely on the warm, smooth fingers wrapped around her own. she blinks up at astrea, finding her face flushed as well, and for a brief, heart-stopping second leila thinks she’s figured out how she’s short-circuited leila’s brain just by taking her hand, and she panics for a moment before realizing that their near-run here must have exhausted her, while leila, being used to mercenary work and traveling long distances on foot, hardly even noticed the effort. hopefully astrea attributes her own flushed face to exertion as well. 

“whatever you want to do is fine,” she says, clearing her throat as she looks towards the line of people, trying to act as normal as possible. 

[ufleila]

finnuf​:

{  * like old times  }

{ ... }

the past does matter when it comes to leila, though. she’s an old fighting partner, and an old friend, and an old victim to the same war, equally devastated and broken from it. she’s an archer, and one of the mogalls is far too close to her for finn’s comfort, so he grips his sword a little tighter and charges in, quick to put himself in between leila and the monster. the creature tries to attack, but finn parries it, most of its orb of dark magic colliding with his sword and then fading away. he can feel it, though; some of that dark magic sinking into his bones, but the feeling isn’t too intense. so he can’t block all of it, but blocking it helps. good to know.

“leila, if you can’t get up to the balcony there’s some rubble that might be good enough cover near the back wall of the ballroom.” he jerks his head in the direction he means, because those probably aren’t the clearest directions. “i can cover for you.” hopefully most of her anger toward him has faded now, or at the very least, she can set it aside in this time of crisis.

* @ufleila

leila spends most of the speeches hovering near finn, just because he’s guaranteed to understand and even join in while she mutters vitriol about andreas under her breath. even now she wishes she could just shoot the bastard and be done with it, but she also can’t afford to be arrested and executed for treason and regicide right now. all she can do is mutter darkly about how he deserves to die, and finn is the only person present who she’s certain won’t react badly to those words.

andreas’s speech being interrupted is, honestly, hilarious, but leila doesn’t bask in it for long -- finn has already vanished into the panicking crowd, and leila is close behind, running to the back of the room for her weapon and weaving through the crowd as she goes. she has never been particularly happy about her short, lithe stature, as she really doesn’t have much strength, but it comes in handy now, allowing her to slip between the throngs of screaming civilians without much trouble.

it takes far too long to obtain her bow and quiver -- really, making everyone turn in their weapons and then having them line up to get them back when the place is attacked? it’s an awful system. of course, she supposes that none of the leaders expected the lotus festival to be attacked, but leila’s a firm believer in being prepared for absolutely anything.

that’s probably a side effect of growing up in the midst of a war.

when she finally does have her bow, barely a few minutes have passed, but the room is already chaos. the monsters are horrible, covered in grotesque eyes with unnaturally-colored skin pulled taut in between, and tentacles trailing behind and trying to lash anyone that gets too close. even still, though, leila feels...something as they get closer to her, their magic seeping through the massive hall and seeming to infuse the very air. it’s not the first time leila’s reacted strangely to dark magic, but she can’t afford to be distracted by it.

she shoots at the one nearest her, nailing it in the largest eye on its front -- or what she assumes is its front, anyway. it jerks back with the force of the hit, a screeching noise emitting from it, though it has no visible mouth. while it’s distracted, though, leila turns and runs away from it, silently accepting the loss of that arrow.

most of the civilians have cleared out by now, so the hall is filled only with the monsters and those equipped to fight them, giving leila more room to run. she sees strangers and friends alike fighting the monsters, and her instincts scream at her to get to higher ground. looking up, however, she can tell the balcony is already overrun -- the few archers and mages who already made it up there have just made themselves into isolated targets for the flying monsters.

as leila’s looking around for somewhere with sufficient cover, she feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, the odd sensation of dark magic charging nearby washing over her and sending goosebumps down her arms and legs. she whirls around, but it’s too late -- the mogall is too close and already ready with its attack, and leila doesn’t have time to get off a good shot. plus, she’s cornered with her back to the wall and debris on either side -- overturned tables and chairs from the party that was supposed to be happening in here.

before she can even react, though, there’s a familiar figure in front of her. finn’s form as he blocks is familiar, and for half a second leila isn’t in lotus hall in noyillai -- she’s on the battlefield in etlia, her back against a rock and her quiver empty, with finn standing before her just like he is now, blocking a hit that would have ended leila’s life.

then it’s over, and she nocks an arrow and shoots it point-blank over finn’s shoulder, hitting the creature in one of its many eyes and sending it reeling back with a screech. she can see its dark magic seeping over finn’s limbs, though it dissipates within seconds. “balcony’s no good,” she says shortly, because there’s no time for small talk on a battlefield. “not enough cover.” the rubble is a good idea, though, and she looks around and spots it -- she could easily fit behind and between the larger pieces of stone and shoot through the gaps. of course, she’d also face the risk of the pile shifting and crushing her, but it’ll hopefully be better than standing out in the open.

“take this one out,” she says, nocking another arrow as the mogall she just stunned starts to rise. “then stay on my six.”

[ufleila]

hello everyone!! it’s time for an enemies plot call! leila is still only level one, but she’ll definitely try to fight these things anyway. as an archer she tends to try to find a secure location and just snipe as support, but she might still end up in over her head! maybe she’ll be in danger and you can come to her aid, or maybe she saves you from a tough spot from afar? i’d love to do a few threads about this, though i’ll probably cap at three. please like this if you want to plot for the enemies event specifically, and i’ll hop into your ims and we can figure something out!!

[ufleila]

- take my hand -

@ufastrea

there’s an extra air of excitement around the lotus festival this year, and it’s impossible to miss all the extra fanfare about the world leaders gathering here for their annual meeting. all the promotions keep reminding everyone that this is the first year in decades that no one in deiyus has been at war during the festival, and the reminders make leila seethe. if she had any choice, she’d march right into gleerium and declare war right now. 

honestly, some of her worst impulses urge her to try to shoot the king right in his smug face, but she knows that’s going to be impossible. all of the leaders will have the tightest security imaginable, and the people may not even be allowed to bring weapons with them to the festival hall when the leaders are slated to be there. 

besides, it’d be stupid for leila to throw away her life on a crack shot at the king’s life -- in a place this crowded, there’s no way she’d be able to escape, even if she did manage to kill him. and while it feels like it would absolutely be worth it as long as he dies, she still has a duty to her people, scattered and oppressed as they may be. she needs to survive, so that means no reckless attempts on a king’s life. 

to distract herself, then, she lets herself get distracted by astrea, a friend she’s gotten surprisingly close to since they met almost seven months ago now. because of the circumstances of their first meeting, astrea has always been able to see behind leila’s mask, and it’s led to a rather close friendship, even all this time later. leila is happy to follow astrea around through the festival, their arms linked as they weave through the crowds. 

“i’m hungry,” she says. “how do you feel about omaduunian for dinner?”

[finnuf]

{  * we don’t obey  }

three months ago

it’s hot.

finn still isn’t used to the heat east of the mountains, etlia’s weather far more mild than that of podakko and the zoratori alliance. today, he is among the forest on the border between the two countries, and while the cover of the trees should provide shade and relief from the sun, finn is half convinced it’s just trapping all of the hot air down here with him. he’s not exactly sure whether he’s in podakko or zoratori alliance territory anymore and he’s not exactly sure the sum of money he was promised upon completing the job he’s on is worth it anymore.

the job: find the giant wolf that has been tormenting the bird laguz here. it’s not a wolf laguz: simply a wolf of gigantic proportion that has somehow killed a few of the bird laguz despite their ability to fly. his employer gave him information on the sightings of the wolf, and the general location of where he thought its den was, then left the rest up to finn. he’s not the greatest tracker, but he’s greatly improved in the past year, so he’s confident enough he can get the job done.

he doesn’t really believe the wolf can be that big until he sees it. it is truly enormous, probably finn’s height even on four legs, paws probably the size of his entire head or larger.

“alright,” he mutters under his breath, drawing his sword. the beast faces away from him for now, but he suspects with such a giant form it must also have giant nostrils to give it a strong sense of smell, so he probably won’t be hidden for long. he wonders for a moment if this is even a one man job or not, and then decides it doesn’t matter that much; he’ll succeed or he’ll fail. he’ll win or he’ll die. it’s fairly black and white and finn is prepared for either result. all he can do is his best, and if that fails again, well…it won’t matter anymore, will it?

he charges forward, and the beast begins to turn toward him. luckily, it’s so massive that it moves a bit slowly, so finn manages to impale it in the thigh before it really even faces him. he’ll likely either have to strike it so much it bleeds to death or manage a blow to the heart or the brain. he isn’t sure he wants to get that close to its mouth, but now he faces the beast head on, and––

an arrow flies through the air and embeds itself in the wolf’s neck, and both it and finn turn toward the source. 

“leila?” he questions, confusion certainly showing on his face. yes, he recognizes that archer: second heir to margrave astelle of etlia. former heir. former friend. for a moment, he’s confused what she’s doing here, and yet, it makes sense. a lucinier is fighting an enormous wolf in a forest; why would an astelle not do the same?

well, they aren’t really a lucinier and astelle anymore, their territories vanquished and renamed, and yet they always will be. they will always bear etlian blood; blood that gleerium spilled far too much. finn is relieved leila is alive and sad for her simultaneously–– sad because maybe she, like him, would have preferred to die fighting for their country than lose it and live; relieved because there is not a soul alive that understands his pain exactly, but hers might come close.

he doesn’t take too much time to gawk. while leila has the beast’s attention, finn takes the opportunity to drive his sword through the side of its head. the wolf lets out a pathetic (and loud) whine, and somehow still remains standing even as finn pulls his sword from the wound. “gleil alive, just die,” he exclaims. the beast slowly turns back to him now, clearly near incapacitated, and he says, “shoot it in the other side of the head or something. i don’t know,” to leila.

* @ufleila

[ufleila]

leila probably shouldn’t have taken this job on her own, but the reward was just too tempting. she reasoned that as an archer, she could stay back from it and just shoot it through the eye. no danger necessary, and an easy paycheck, which she desperately needs at the moment. she ran through her savings a few weeks ago, and has been living silver to silver ever since. 

tracking the beast is easy, and she finds it in a meadow just over the zoratori border. however, it seems the wolf’s sense of smell is much better than leila anticipated, for it turns to her before she can even get an arrow notched. she freezes in place, glad for the relative cover of the shrubs at the edge of the meadow, but it only takes a few seconds for the beast’s eyes to lock with hers, and it’s only years of practice that keep leila’s hands from shaking as she slowly finishes nocking her arrow. 

the wolf growls, baring its razor-sharp fangs. leila hardly dares to breathe, knowing that as soon as she moves to get the bow up the wolf will pounce, and she honestly isn’t sure if she can get a shot off before it reaches her -- it’ll probably only take it two strides, if that, before it’s able to tear her head off. 

not the best way to go, in her opinion -- she’s not even trying to help etlia, she’s just hunting a random wolf so she can make ends meet. if she can’t die in a blaze of glory, she’d like it to at least be for the sake of her homeland. maybe as a symbol, so her martyrdom can spur etlia’s rebellion to new heights. 

getting torn limb from limb to be breakfast for a fuck-off big wolf is not an ideal death. 

before either of them can make a move, however, a blur of white and brown charges from the trees behind the wolf, and leila sees a flash of silver just before a spray of blood from the wolf’s back leg. it howls and whirls on its attacker, and leila reacts instantly, raising her bow and letting the arrow fly. even in her haste, she still manages to aim, though the wolf’s movement means that it hits in the neck rather than the eye where it was supposed to. leila scowls at the poor hit -- not even in the jugular. pathetic. 

the beast turns back towards her now, but leila can barely pay attention to it anymore -- not when she actually recognizes the person with the sword. 

kim finnian von lucinier -- the heir to the third territory of etlia and leila’s childhood friend. their families have been allies for generations, and the relationship only grew stronger during etlia’s struggle against gleerium. for a moment, this feels right -- it’s only natural that a lucinier would be there to help an astelle who’s in over her head. 

except leila hasn’t seen anyone from etlia, let alone a lucinier, in over half a year. she knew finn hadn’t died in the battles -- she heard about his brief appointment as margrave lucinier, just long enough to cede control to gleerium when the battle was lost. she hadn’t heard anything about him or his family after that; knowing finn, she kind of figured he might have died anyway, rather than see his country under gleerium’s rule, or else he was probably living miserably in their former homeland. 

maybe she hoped he was, anyway; maybe she hoped that someone was still there, still looking out for the etlians stuck under gleerium’s new leadership. 

she can’t blame him for running away, though. she did the same, after all. 

( maybe she’ll blame him a little anyway. )

she watches as finn stabs the wolf right through the side of the head, and feels a stab of annoyance, too, which she allows to take over her instead of dealing with all the other conflicting emotions she can’t even begin to process right now. “why would you do that there?” she exclaims, pacing around so she’s in front of the beast, now whining pathetically -- understandably, after the messy lobotomy it just went through. “you’ll ruin the pelt,” she continues, stepping closer to the pitiful creature and smoothly shooting it right through the left eye. it falls to the ground, instantly dead. 

replacing her bow on her back, she approaches the corpse and yanks the two arrows from it, hardly wincing at the blood and gore that sprays when she does. after wiping them off on the grass, she replaces them in her quiver -- no need to waste what little money she has on new arrows, after all. pulling out her long hunting knife, she starts to work skinning the beast, wincing at the ugly wounds finn left behind. 

she doesn’t look up at him as she works, trying to ignore the sudden wave of anger rolling through her -- how dare he be here, when he should be home, taking care of their people? 

[ufleila]

hello everybody!! you can call me ellie, and i’m the mun behind leila here! i’ll be at work during acceptances (cries) so this post is queued, but i figured i’d go ahead and introduce myself and leila as well as put down a few initial plot ideas! i’m super excited to be joining, and i’d love to plot with anyone and everyone! a couple of the plots below will have to do with the locations i’ll be submitting to be added to the page at some point tomorrow or this weekend, so if you’d like more info about them before then let me know! if you want to plot, please feel free to like this post and i’ll pop into your dms so we can brainstorm!!

a bit about leila:

she’s the second child of the former margrave of one of the former territories of etlia (astelle, now called calusia.) she fought on the front lines alongside her family in about the last 4-5 years of the war. 

her parents were killed while protecting her in one of the last battles of the war, and leila barely escaped with her life. she basically limped her way around dromare and finally made her way across the river to ganggyn, where she settled under the care of a kind innkeeper on the northern edge of seodal

that innkeeper, cirenne, was a dark mage, and helped leila realize she actually has a bit of an affinity for dark magic, though her class is still archer (for now)

once she had enough savings built up (within the last few months, probably) she set off east, sticking to ganggyn territory for as long as she could until she reached noyillai

since then, she’s mostly been a mercenary or hunter for hire as she gathers information about sarlimar’s school of sorcery as well as the current state of what used to be etlia

her eventual goal is to help organize a rebellion to free etlia from gleerium’s control, but frankly she has zero clue how to do this and is pretty much flying by the seat of her pants. this goal is also a secret -- as of now she hasn’t told anyone about her eventual plans, since she doesn’t want to make herself into a target

some plot ideas!

anyone from etlia! were you a noble? a solider? a commoner? you’ve probably at least heard of leila’s family, and if you lived in astelle you may have even known her personally! she wants to reconnect with fellow etlians really bad tbh, she still feels a responsibility towards them as a leader (even if she never took the title of margrave, she’s always been trained for it since she was second in line)

fellow mercenaries/hunters/soldiers -- maybe you were on a job together and hit it off, or maybe you just kept butting heads -- leila can be pretty stubborn sometimes. maybe you and leila were on jobs that directly opposed each other; one of you could’ve been hired to protect someone while the other was hired to kill them, etc. or you could just be rivals in any other sense!

students at lotus academy or others who are based in noyillai -- leila moves between noyillai, podakko, and zoratori a lot, but she probably ends up in noyillai the most often, since it usually has the most news about what’s happening in the west. 

anyone from gleerium or who sympathizes with them -- she honestly will probably hate you on sight. that could be a very cool dynamic to work with!! maybe she actually likes you at first and then finds out you’re from gleerium and does an about-face and suddenly hates you and doesn’t trust you. she doesn’t advertise her etlian heritage to anyone except other etlians, so you may not even know Why she suddenly doesn’t like you. there’s all kinds of potential there!

if you lived in seodal/northwestern ganggyn near the end of the war, maybe you knew the innkeeper who took leila in? the innkeeper herself will be an npc, but the inn will be an open location so anyone could have been a regular patron or employee there, or just someone who lived nearby at the time and witnessed leila show up as a refugee and possibly watched as she slowly started to recover from the trauma of the war.

if none of these strike your fancy then i’m definitely open to brainstorming anything, as well!

wanted connections -- these would require a whole new character to be built from the ground up based on what i have written for leila’s backstory, but i’ve kept most things flexible and am willing to work with anyone who’s interested!

leila’s older brother - i have a lot written about him already, but any or all of it can be changed for the sake of your muse. she definitely thinks he’s dead, so i would LOVE to have someone join as him so we can write about their reunion and everything!

the current duke of calusia - this is the person who’s taken over leila’s homeland, who now lives in her childhood home, and who has “stolen” (in her mind) her father’s lance, which is an heirloom passed down in her family for generations. needless to say, leila despises this person. would definitely be cool to have in the rp!

[whenfatecollides]

Gahyeon ‘Playground’ Special Clip

[femaleidol]

❤️✨