#crowdsourced content

these answers still apply re: hot beverages, and honestly considering how much Dayir loves flavour complexities and just batshit crazy big-brain combinations, you can get em to put just about anything in eir teas and chocolates. once ey put spiced wine in some cocoa Tataru made for em and everyone in the Rising Stones lost their minds. then they ended up in Ishgard and found out they’d been doin that for decades lol (Haurche was gracious enough not to tease them all mercilessly for their lack of culinary imagination. Estinien, however, is not the picture of grace)

Ishan hates adding things to his drinks. he thinks people who put stuff in coffee to make it more palatable are cowards and will not be convinced otherwise no matter what the argument (Aymeric surface-level agrees so he doesn’t have to hear Ishan’s diatribes but like the reason Aymeric doesn’t put anything in his is because he just really likes the taste of coffee and also is mildly lactose intolerant) (Aymeric is an expert at subterfuge because he’s been hiding all his little allergies and bodily quirks from everyone for years hahaha) (Dayir tells him that on the Steppe they sometimes press nuts to get a milk-like juice from it that tastes great in coffee and when he finds out that the Scions have gone to Othard he will not rest until Dayir brings him back some nut milk) (ANYWAY)

What OC has/is a mentor?

I'm not sure this applies to any of them, not in any long-term sense. like, Keahi had an older priest mentor em when ey were young, and Anansi Surana had the Circle enchanters, etc etc... but that's just standard, I guess. nothing I'd write home about. (or should I say, nothing I'd write smutty mentor/student fic about... bwahaha)

What OC has a huge group of friends?

I think that honour goes to Dayir and Ishan, simply because they're so well-connected and know quite so many people across multiple landmasses on two different planets, lmao. and yeah, most of them are friends.

What OC has, like, one friend?

so, which one of them is more of a loner type? Gabriel, lmao. it's really hard for people to find points of connection with Gabriel because he intentionally makes it difficult. befriending Gabriel is the Dark Souls of bonding

What OC really needs the Mom Friend around?

Ishan is pretty bad at taking care of himself without external motivation. so is Adrian Shepard. I'm assuming a lot off the top of my head about what "Mom Friend" means because I've never actually used this term, lol. (the fuck do I know about moms?)

dayir: *poaches the tea and runs off like a gremlin* >:D

unfortunately Ishan doesn’t remember much because of how memories get separated from “soul” or whatever in the “lifestream” or whatever :( he’d probably get upset because he can’t remember anything. Ishan is a prickly boi :(

this one is so hard because there’s so much food in FFXIV and I have a bit of a sieve brain and I don’t remember all the delicious and varied dishes when I need to D:

I’ll just do my best here. so, Ishan is primarily a sandwich/pita/empanada kind of person -- he doesn’t get much joy out of the sheer act of eating the way Dayir does, but he does get a lot of joy out of flavour-packed stuffed-to-the-gills meat pies that he can shove in his face while rushing off to his next adventure. he does not eat his vegetables unless Dayir or Y’shtola makes him (okay he’ll eat veggies in a banh xeo but that’s because the inherent goodness of “food in pouch” overrides all other concerns), but he will snatch fruits and berries off trees and eat them as he’s walking. (it’s definitely backfired on him because he doesn’t have the patience to double check and make sure he’s not eating a lookalike berry that will actually poison him, but guess it’s a good thing Dayir’s a healer!)

Ishan has definitely taken an antelope steak and speared it with a fork and then walked away munching on it. he’s also that guy popping a whole boiled egg in his mouth at the entrance to the ruins before lunging forward and pulling the whole dungeon

also, as frequently noted, Ishan is a huge drinker. he always has a flask within easy reach and it’s always full of something strong. but for some reason, he’s rarely drunk and never hungover. it sustains him or something. maybe the aether in booze just hits different (let’s blame Rhalgr and be done with it)

now, when it comes to culinary delights, it’s Dayir you want. this boi will eat anything once, because it’s all about the experience for em. that experience can be as highbrow as a guest chef from Kugane hosting a banquet at the Bismarck or as lowbrow as digging for clams with Momoroto and eating them raw under the shade of a tree. Dayir has big Anthony Bourdain vibes when it comes to understanding culture through cuisine (also has something to do with the aether in the food, like... it has different effects in different places -- nigh imperceptible to the average consumer but very perceptible to someone with more attunement). but also, Dayir is just sensual in general and derives great joy from the experience of consumption -- from the sweet anticipation of hunger pangs as the smell of food wafts towards em, to the sacred first taste, to the sigh of satiation as ey lean back on eir cushions and reflect on the meal just enjoyed. if ey’re in a hurry, or on the run or something, ey just won’t eat. ey’ll drink beverages and ey can be wheedled into eating a meat-on-a-stick type deal if necessary, but Dayir definitely treats eating as an optional luxury that ey will put off until ey can actually enjoy it.

no, it’s not smart xD ey’ve definitely been scolded for it by multiple people, but that’s just the way ey are.

ey’re also not very good at cooking -- like, ey can do it in a pinch, but why would ey do that when part of the joy is watching someone else be a master of the art? to wait in great anticipation for the food to be prepared, and then have it served to you... man, you can’t beat that. Ishan is the one in a noble’s body but I swear Dayir acts like the real dandy here

sweets, rice dishes, and hearty veggie dishes are big faves for Dayir, as well as any flavour duos (sweet/hot, for example) and anything fluffy (souffles, for example) or anything with a “bright” profile. ey love aperitifs and digestifs and any meal with courses (the longer and more luxurious a meal, the better!). I’m saying all this like Dayir doesn’t just love everything that crosses eir tongue (including some things that aren’t food--)

clothing matters are so hard for me because I think fashion is so cool and I love hearing other people share their knowledge about it, but I know just enough about fashion to recognise how much I don’t know and it makes me incredibly self-conscious considering how fashionable my characters are. it’s like that meme of having an incredibly smart Ph.D. havin type character and you, their writer, are just a gremlin with a GED or whatever lmaooooo (which is also true for me, most of my OCs are smarter than me. you gotta be to do Big Magykks)

I also have that problem where I’m so interested in fashion but I have no idea how to learn about what I want to learn about so I just stare at the vast repository of human knowledge like ;A; “halp”

okay, with that prefaced, I’ll do my best. I know Ishan prefers all his garb to be close-fitting, because he’s a predominantly melee fighter (Ishan+gun is being Considered but I haven’t made any determinations yet!) and needs to be aerodynamic and hard to latch onto. fashion-wise, he’s the proverbial “wears armour to the fete” type character. my DA2 OC, Elijah, and Ishan basically share a wardrobe -- Elijah just has more furs in his, haha. Ishan worships carbontwine and doesn’t even care that it’s no longer fashionable (as Warriors of Light, he and Dayir basically get to dictate Eorzean fashion anyway--), and much of his wardrobe is of Ironworks make. between that and his natural indestructibility, he’s basically a whole tank

Dayir is truly a visual opposite, which is actually pretty neat bc when they walk into an event together they are a real storybook vision -- the stoic, wiry, armoured Protector and his beautiful charge draped in silks, you know. the most rigid garment Dayir will wear is eir shapewear (which is also woven with carbontwine bc Ishan made sure of that) -- everything else is soft and billowy and probably some measure of revealing. except in Ishgard. then everything’s soft and fluffy and pulsing with heat magykks bc Dayir is Babey, haha. so yeah, plenty of soft wool there. (sidenote: the sheer liberation that Haurchefant felt when he first stepped into Ul’dah, lmaooooo... that boy literally just stopped wearing clothes immediately I swear)

(there’s a real cheeky outfit that some of the Dawn Throne NPCs wear that I desperately want to see Haurchefant in hhhhhhhhh)

(ANYWAY!!!)

there are snug garments that Dayir will wear but mostly it’s to provide contrast. like, ey’ll wear a snug under-top only to layer a billowy coat over it, or leggings under a flowing tunic. or a corset over a billowy shirt, that’s always a good look. ey also will do it when ey judge that the garment will highlight a particular body part better than that part just being bare would (kind of how semi-sheer stockings sometimes make legs look even sexier than just a bare leg would? that sort of thing)

THE ARCHITECT IS HOT

I hate thinking about sleep in regards to Dayir because of the HORNS!!! the fucking horns! haven’t I suffered enough with the Qunari, now I have to go through this shit again AAAAAA

I just. I have no idea how to rationalise “sleep in a comfy cozy nest with 100 pillows and plushies” (because that’s what Dayir would prefer!) with “hard curvy ram horns”. it frustrates me so much and it’s so stupid lol but I can’t help it. why are horns so difficult like. I think the “100 pillows and plushies” thing might help provide cushions??? hopefully. but it’s like... this isn’t a thing I can reliably imagine. I don’t know what it’s like to have horns (Inworld notwithstanding) and I don’t know how they feel when pressed up against this surface or that surface, etc. 

Ishan sleeps in smallclothes and the bed must be against the wall -- always against the wall, in a corner preferably. he sleeps facing the “open” side. one pillow under his head and the other between his back and the wall. on the occasions he sleeps with Dayir (while travelling, usually, in camps and stuff) he puts Dayir between the “wall” (whatever he feels safest turning his back on) and himself. which is great because Dayir looooves to spoon people

and see, that’s the problem because to spoon you have to be on your side so WHERE DO THE HORNS GO I’m going to have a conniption

(I actually strongly considered changing Dayir’s race just because of this lmao but that’s... obviously not the solution because that changes fundamental things about em. as one would expect)