#demonworld

So Eris ended up in Garlemald as a baby. A bit of quick backstory first: Her father was from the Mol tribe, who fell in love with her mother who was from the Orl tribe. Since the Mol follow what their gods say, her father was told that when the Orl leave, baby Eris - birth name being Suvi - was to be given to her mother and leave with her. The gods also said that she was to be a fierce warrior, and as her mother was one, her father a humble conjurer, this was also for the best. And then we all know what happened to the Orl tribe.

Baby Eris ends up in Garlemald. She's given to Gaius, the first of his adopted children, and he absolutely struggled to pick a name for her for a good long time. Bizarrely, Solus offered a name: Eris. Gaius felt it fit, and it stuck. (Side note, Eris was also the name of her Azem, so Emet-Selch seeing in baby Eris that shard of Azem, that's why he chose that name. Eris will yell at him about this later.)

Gaius, like every military dad and I'm drawing on personal experience for that one, said well, if I have a child, then she's going to know how to fight. So from a very young age, as soon as she was able to hold a practice sword/weapon, training began in earnest, and Eris' entire life was built upon trying to make her this perfect soldier, this perfect weapon for Garlemald. Gaius cared about her, of course, and were father and daughter, but he was moulding his daughter to become a fearsome foe on the battlefield. He wouldn't send a child onto the field, not without permission, anyway. Eris proved herself very early on, as she was also raised to have no fear, no afterthought about what she was doing, to follow orders and not question them. She was THE perfect soldier.

There's also a lot to be said about Eris' friendship with Solus, and the covert missions he sent her on, and the attention he gave her. It wasn't so much Solus as it was Emet-Selch, given he had this shard of Azem so close to him, something Eris would also confront him about later, but her closeness with the Emperor made Gaius so proud. His daughter, that he raised and trained and worked tirelessly to make her better than anyone, was getting such amazing attention, lauded for her battlefield expertise, getting awards and admiration... Gaius, in turn, received some recognition for making Eris how she was, but first and foremost he was always proud of his daughter.

When she was 19, she was brought into the Legion that Gaius commanded, though every so often, with lessening frequency, Eris would go off on one of Solus' missions, which were kept between them, so Gaius never knew the details about a majority of them. In any case, things were fine and remained so until Eris went to Eorzea to act as a spy for the Empire, a more direct connection than The Ivy. Eris would not learn until later that it was Gaius' idea she do this, and Eris would turn her back on the Empire after the massacre at the Waking Sands. The confrontations between them were tense to say the least, with Eris telling him in Garuda's territory that Eorzea and its people were worth fighting for, and she would not be coming back to Garlemald. Then there was having to kill her former comrades, and Eris eventually defeating Gaius, thinking him dead when the Praetorium blew up.

Until they met again in The Burn, that is. Here is a brief excerpt of what happened once Eris saw him again:

Arriving in the Burn, he was the last person Eris expected to see. She thought him dead. Under rubble and ashes. Her eyes were wide, so wide one might think them liable to pop out of her head, her brows furrowed and together, fists clenched. 'Tis quite plainly the look of pure rage.

"Alisaie, take Alphinaud," Eris commanded. "Quickly."

It was a tone none of them had heard from Eris before, and it was downright frightening. Alisaie did as she was told before she hastily backed away.

He was likewise surprised to see her, and a bit sad. He always knew how the day they met again would go. "'Tis a day for reunions," he finally said.

When Eris charged at him he held his arms wide, knowing it was not for a hug. He would offer no resistance.

Eris leapt into the air and brought her fist down sharply against his cheek, sending him down and skidding a few feet. Hien cried out for her to stop, but she did not hear him, not with this fury pumping in her blood and shutting everything else out. She pounced on the man calling himself Shadowhunter, the man she always knew as her father. As Gaius. Her dark knight gauntlets would hurt.

Punches rained down upon his face as everyone stood by, helpless to stop her. She shouted at him all the while as Gaius did nothing to retaliate.

"You fucking bastard!" she roared with the anger of a thousand suns. "You lied to me about everything. Everything!" Eris gripped his shirt and pulled him up so their faces were close. "I hope you wish you were dead right now because when I am finished with you-" She threw him back down on ground and kept punching him, over and over. "I should have finished the fucking job when I had a chance to do so! I should have cut your head from your shoulders and paraded it around on my lance!"

"You had every right to do so," Gaius coughed, spitting blood to the side.

Another sharp punch to the face. "Shut up! You don't get to speak! I've had it with you and your words, your stories!" She pulled him up once more and it was clear Eris had broken a few things. "I hate you. I will always hate you," Eris seethed. "Nothing can change my mind about that. I wish you were fucking dead."

Gaius said nothing, merely bringing his hands to lay atop where Eris was holding him before she quickly released him, her lip curling. Looking at him he was bloody and heaving; she had done enough damage. She stood up and got off him, leaving him there to soak this moment in. After a moment or two passed Eris quickly changed to one of the many healing classes she had mastered and held her hand near his face, wounds closing but the blood still remained; she would leave it to Gaius to clean himself up.

So things are not great right now to say the least. I've yet to do the Werlyt quests with Eris, so I'll definitely have more to write about when we get there, things dealing with both Gaius AND the other children. (Though, I will never forget when Gaius went to shoot Valens I yelled "GAIUS, SMOKE THIS FOOL" and nothing can top that.)

While Eris is in the First and Gaius and Estinien are traveling buddies, which will never not be funny to me, Gaius does ask about how Eris is doing and Estinien, knowing absolutely nothing about their situation is saying, "Why. Why do you care. Why do you want to know about her." And Gaius has to fill the woefully uninformed Estinien about EVERYTHING. And Estinien is like huh. well. anyway she got married. Gaius has no idea what to say and thinks it's to Hien before Estinien tells him about Artoirel and who he is - yes that's my wolship for Eris I wrote 25k words about them I am deeply unwell about my wolships - and Gaius first says that Eris is doing well for herself but also rhetorically asks why he wasn't invited to the wedding and Estinien chews him out about it. Like oh you made your daughter into a living weapon? And lied to her about everything? And then tried to kill her later? Then kept the fact you're alive from her? You expect to be invited to her wedding??? You fool. You absolute buffoon. Gaius is like OKAY I GET IT. SHE ALREADY BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF ME IN THE BURN and Estinien says it was deserved and Gaius again says he knows.