KATAHKINA
DRK ♥ WAR ♥ AST ♥ NIN
age 27
height 6'0"
gender female
race/species hyur/highlander
deity menphina
📜 ABOUT
ethnicity ala mhigan/hannish
sexuality bisexual
residence ala mhigan quarter
relationship status married💍katahkina, known as kata to loved ones, is a self-assured and spirited warrior of light from the coast vylbrand
beautiful and terrifying and equal measure, hers is a tale of epic adventures, soulful romances, and an absurd amount of fruitless treasure maps💗LIKES
beer, grog, ale, rum, buried treasure, fishing, sailing, spitting colorful profanity, singing, dancing, playing the mandolin, frilly smallclothes, fine silks, expensive things, shiny jewelry, weapons cast in gold, hot male midlanders, stargazing, cactuars, the desert landscape, her mount hybodus, sunsets over the open ocean❌ DISLIKES
dragons, bulky armor, stuffy political proceedings, pirates who break the code, snow, the crippling fear of letting down those who look up to you, the earsplitting musical stylings of an out-of-tune hurdy gurdy
☄️ BEFORE THE FALL
like so many others, katahkina became an orphan of war after the garlean occupation of ala mhigo when she was just an infant
her fleeing parents surrendered her to yellowjackets outside limsa lominsa
soon after her birth parents perished under suspicious circumstances, so she was placed with a older, childless sea wolf couple and raised lovingly in a humble seaside village on the west coast of vylbrand
her adoptive father taught her the axe; it was an open secret he was a pirate marauder and all their family gains were ill-gotten
when he grew too old and sickly she took his place as a buccaneer to provide for them when she was teenager, repaying their kindness
but her adoptive mother fretted for her safety as a beautiful young woman alone amidst the ravagers, so she insisted on lopping her hair short and on carving a huge scar into her pretty face to help her look the part
it excited her to be a real buccaneer, and she made up dozens of stories as to how she got the scar, never telling a single soul the truth
she was spared the calamity’s wrath due to being far away at sea when dalamud fell, but alas, her roedagyn family and her seaside town were not so lucky
🌱 A REALM REBORN
a parentless, penniless kata was further disheartened when the admiral announced an end to piracy as lominsans knew it
grounded with no choice other than to take up gainful employment, her associate and part-time paramour captain jacke stationed her at the gold saucer as a chief bunny, conducting espionage on unsuspecting clients
she thrived in her role, reveling in the attention from her regulars and befriending many other ala mhigan refugees
godbert manderville mentored her well, but eventually had to dismiss her because she consistently broke the 'no touching' rule (she kept arm-wrestling clients... and winning)
still godbert loved her like a daughter-in-law because of the tough love she showed his oafish son, and saw that she was taken care of even after her employ ended as a thanks for her service to eorzea
with nowhere else to go, she returned to limsa lominsa, the only home she ever knew
admiral merlwyb knew of her talents and also knew better than to let them go to waste
when the drowning wench became an officer's bar that only accepted grand company seals, kata was all but forced to sign her name to baderon's ledger and take up do-goodliness
soon after, she fell in with a few bookish types who called themselves the scions of the seventh dawn, and the rest is history
🗻 EVER HEAVENSWARD
how ironic that kata, inexplicably terrified of dragons since childhood, would end up venturing to ishgard to have a hand in ending the dragonsong war
mostly motivated to protect the scions, whom she had grown to care for like another found family, she was also determined to save general raubahn, who had been her biggest supporter in her rise to the mantle of the warrior of light
ilberd labeled her a traitor to their homeland, which rattled kata, for she felt it was true that all her bravery and heroics had been in service to others
with no blood relatives remaining, she grew to view raubahn as a father figure, and he gladly took her on as another adopted child
her confidence swelled when she and the scions saved him from ilberd's clutches, enough to face her fears on the steps of faith
yet she was shaken to her core when a mysterious stranger that called himself the warrior of darkness arrived, cut her to the very quick, and tried to take her life
her chanced meeting with fray allowed her esteem to emerge and gave her the strength to defeat him, but in his place, she developed a deep fear of something far worse than dragons
🩸 STORM OF BLOOD
determined to silence the private worry that she was failing her people, kata finally got the chance to fight for her homeland when the eorzean alliance named her a commander in the war to liberate ala mhigo
she and pipin scarce left raubahn's side, hearts bursting with pride at the prospect of seeing their father's beloved country for the very first time
but a large heart is a large target, and the full scope of the horrors the empire had inflicted on both hingashi and gyr abania left her with intense grief and an all-consuming lust for vengeance
a pure desire to heal her comrade's hurts inspired her to study astromancy, but a dark desire to make the ones who caused their suffering pay ruled her in combat
it was a weakness the garlean prince marked well, very nearly luring her to her death at the royal menagerie
but her love for her people and her determination to liberate her homeland persevered, even at a great personal cost
kata's esteem grew too strong to be ignored, fed by arage she just couldn't quell
and when she was the last of the scions to fall to the darkness, she went to face her fear
🌌 WHO BRINGS SHADOW
kata's tryst with the warrior of darkness before he betrayed the scions caused her to fear the one thing that always saw her through the darkest of times; love
so ashamed was she of allowing herself to be taken in by his wiles that she vowed to destroy anything and anyone that ever threatened her family again
but the villain that she cut down was arbert, and the though the ghost who appeared in her room at the pendants bared a striking similarity, the two were not the same
though kata wanted nothing more than to cut him down a second time upon seeing his damnable face, ardbert bore his soul to her, and, for a miracle, she believed him
even though his hands found no purchase, the pain in his eyes betrayed the fact that he had already paid his penance for hurting her a thousand times over
with no future and no fear of rejection, he confessed to her his feelings never waned, and turning his axe on her was the worst mistake he had ever made in life
in death, he was left to watch, powerless, as kata devoted herself to avenging him
not even he in his hundred years anticipated she would find what she found in her quest to taste his lips again
LANDWALKER
🌕
to be continued
ARDBERT
HUSBAND
he is her oschon, her guiding light, her rock
he is hardly her first lover, but he is certainly her one-and-only
no one has ever made her laugh louder, cry harder, or feel so deeply and so much
he used to call her ‘love’ as a teasing, a barb against eorzea’s precious warrior of light
now he calls her that in earnest, it’s the only word that forms in his throat when he looks upon her face
in dravania, when they first laid eyes on each other, she was struck by his handsome features, and shyly turned her scar away from him
ever observant, ever guile, he correctly deduced it was a nervous tell; she hides it from those she fancies
when they grew closer during their short tryst, when he won the right to touch her, he always cupped her chin and kissed that cheek
though she was hard-pressed to consider her scarred face beautiful before meeting him, he never failed to inspire the feeling in her, despite how their relationship in the source so swiftly and sorely disintegrated
before his betrayal, he had held her in her bed and whispered that her hair looked so lovely down, with a loose gyr abanian plait
she’s worn it that way ever since
???
???
a familiar stranger, a wanderer, a steadfast servant
when ardbert is reincarnated to the source, he and katahkina thrive, for a time
they are happy, they are married, but soon he falls sick, inexplicably sick, a corruption of his aether that can’t be healed, despite the scions' best efforts in dawn’s respite
katahkina laid her head on her husband's chest each night and fell into a fretful and dreamless sleep, but one night wakes up alone in her inn room at the mizzenmast
strange, since she fell asleep at the rising stones, but when she walks out to the drowning wench, she sees a dark knight clad in bale armor and no one else
he looks strikingly like her husband, but he does not greet her as such, and in fact barely speaks to her at all when they travel the wider eorzea together on their way out of their shared nightmare
nevertheless his companionship makes her feel so... safe
as she sinks ever further into the dream that she finds herself trapped in, she dare not leave his side, and he never lets any harm befall her
he is perhaps too dashing, too gallant, for she barely notices all the clues as to his real identity staring her in the face as she drifts after his dark form with a powerful and terrible infatuation growing heavier in her chest with every step
HIROSHI
LOVER
he is her mentor, her savior, her sunless sea
on a far distant star, in a dimension not her own, hiroshi senju was born and raised into a diminutive but proud clan tucked high into the mountains of the yanxian river valley
so-named the “thousand-skills” for their mastery over many different disciplines of the hand, senju wares and weaponry were renowned in both the far east and the world over
yet defense of their trade secrets bred conflict in both the age of blood and the fall of doma to the garleans
that he might have a chance at life beyond the shadow of war, hiro was sent to eorzea as a teenager, where he supported himself using his clan’s techniques to find work as both a crafter and mercenary
little did he know his surpassing skills would see him to the fields of carteneau, where he was among fateful few warriors of light flung five years into the future by the archon louisouix
the fall of dalamud traumatized hiro greatly, but moreover it left him with horrific amnesia
with nearly his entire childhood and early life up to that day erased, he was left to relearn himself only with what little possessions and writings he had on him at the time of the battle
ever steadfast, he persevered, journeying across the realm desiring in equal measure to both protect those less stronger than he from the horrors of war and to regain the life he lost
and so, he became the first warrior of light
but his hopes of ever returning home were dashed when he returned to yanxia during the liberation of doma and learned that the senju clan was annihilated in the war and he was, tragically, the last of his people
his heart doubly broken by both the loss of his memories and his home, he accepted his adventure would be one without rest
after saving the thirteen shards from the final days, hiro quiety stole away to the stars, willed by the azem stone to the side of any warrior of light retracing his steps on the road he paved, reliving his tales of loss, fire, and faith
time indeterminate passed, and the trials wore so severely on his body and soul that he forgot his own name, and was further cursed to forget the names and faces of every warrior he assisted
until, at one fateful instance, he is summoned to the lucid dream of a fiery young highlander who demands his assistance in returning to her husband's side
VOYAGE À TROIS
IF YOU LOVE HER, AND I LOVE YOU, THEN WHO'S SAILING THE SHIP...?
hiroshi often coped with the beastly strength he amassed over the course his journey by assuring himself he never intended to become what he was
he removed himself from duties quickly to spare himself the pain of being forgotten, moreover he did not want to be seen for the monster he feared he was becoming
but katahkina was different, her journey was special
and while sharing her lucid dream he learned her husband was someone he felt a comparable, if not equal, love for in a past life
it vexed him, for he knew if she truly was a warrior of light, following in his footsteps, ardbert should have been lost to her forever by that point
when he lingered with her, silent and reserved, and she did not regard her with any inkling of fear, he could not bring himself to leave her side
he simply had to find out what she had done to get him back, why she deserved him bck, why he did not
but in doing so unintentionally deceived her into believing he was her husband; or at least, an incarnation of him from a different shard
thus she thought nothing of kissing him, of touching him
since those were sensations his bruised and battered body had not felt on nigh an eternity, he thought nothing of letting her
it might have been a dastardly thing to do, but he really loved her, just as he loved every warrior of light and everything they stood for
shocked to the core were they both when ardbert arrived in the dream at the same point he did in the waking world; felling the primal ravana
and at a glance, he knew what had been going on
once all their crying, screaming, and shouting was out of the way, the misunderstanding left them all with a heartache that strangely drew them closer
ardbert and kata came to pity the weary wanderer, letting him a place in their bed
they figured it wouldn't matter, it was all a dream, anyway
any mote of initmacy they shared with him was repaid in crumbs, for he didn't share his life, his story, or even his name
little did they know he couldn't, for he had forgotten it all
still he promised upon the tearful revelation in amaurot that he was the first warrior of light that he would tell her his name, if she should reach the end of her journey
they cried because they had come to love him, he cried because he was sure he was lying
but he hoped they would forget him, just as he knew he would forget them
yet when he returned to the stars, for the first time since shedding his mortal body, he did not forget
perhaps because the azem stone still detected how badly she needed him, perhaps because he simply wanted to
he was able to go back, to her dimension, to her eorzea
in a field of elpis flowers, he kept his promise
and walked with her to the end
