#isobel lancer

So went through and ran all of my characters through the new benchmark. Some I'm happy with, some I'll get used to, and some will definitely need... tweaking.

New is on the left, old is on the right. Mik'hal Zarasten - Main - Needs some tweaking. Something around the eyes is throwing me off. Like he looks younger and less confident, almost... derpy?

Lynea Angura - I can get used to it. I think I will need to try and darken her skin a little. We'll see.

Isobel Lancer - Happy with. minor tweaks if anything

Kuroji Takatori - NEEDS WORK. Woof. Yeah... I'm.. hmm. Not feeling this one at all.

T'ikala Bhudi - Very happy with. She actually looks cuter! I didn't think that would be possible.

Gale Bishop - Looks good. Had to put him back to his original hair for the benchmark, but he looks just fine.

Gabriel Maerten - maybe some mouth tweaks, I'll need to see it in different lighting.

Ylaine Clarlemonde - Nothing to tweak, she looks good.

Going to take a chance at this and so I present my hyurs for FeHyurary! (List here by @febhyurary)

Day 1 - Intros!

Subaru Shimada - Former priest of the Four Kami in Doma. Fled to Eozea in the later days of the Garlean Occupation. Shy, Wary, Devout. 

Isobel Lancer - Ishgardian Expat and student of any and all magic both theoretical and practical. Resides in Shirogane. Curious, Stubborn, Friendly.

Gale Bishop - Former gladiator, in hiding in Ishgard. Helps out in the Firmament. Shy, Kind, Loyal, Un-trusting.

Clever Girl. 

Isobel had heard that so much over her life. From her parents, her older brother, teachers, friends. It seemed it was a very rare thing for a young noble woman of society to be so well versed in both social and academic studies. She was at ease at a grand gathering of Nobles as she was in the depths of the Scholasticate, debating arcanima and magical theory. 

She prided herself on being able to figure out every situation, but admittedly this one had her baffled.  Isobel cursed at herself, as she shut the large tome with a heavy thump. For as clever as she was, she had walked fully into her current situation. Inheritance laws in Ishgard were rigorous and her great grandfather must have had several lawyer friends to come up with the rules that he did. Isobel couldn’t even find the precedent for them in the law books she found. 

Slowly letting out a soft huff of hair, Isobel pushed her hair back looking through the copy of the family inheritance rules her family sent over. What was stated was that the inheritance would go to the oldest child of the Lancer bloodline who married and had children who would then continue on the Lancer bloodline. Since her older brother, Melenous, had no inclination to sire children it fell to her. Isobel was the second oldest, had every intention to marry and have children at some point so she fit the stipulations of the estate, it was just a matter of finding a suitable husband. 

And that was what had Isobel stumped. She had had a perfectly lovely fiance, who she actually cared about and loved, a neatly written up marriage contract that both families agreed to, and then… it all fell apart. 

This was not going to be an easy conversation, but it was one that Isobel knew that she was going to have to have with her parents. She flipped angrily through the marriage contract the most recent ‘beau’ had brought her and sighed. There were so many errors in it, grammatical, legal, and there were even really easy words misspelled! Who in Halone’s name had they gotten to put this waste of paper together? 

She scrubbed her hands over her face with a frustrated groan before taking a deep breath to calm herself before activating her link pearl. It took a few minutes before someone finally answered; the deep, calm voice of her brother coming over the phone. “Hey Jingle Bell, Mother and Father said to tell you they aren’t here.” He said in his blunt, manner of fact way of speaking. “Who did what?” 

All of the wind instantly went out of her sails. “Ugh, Mel. If they didn’t tell you about it then they must be desperate. What ‘they did’ was send me a fiance who... “ She trailed off gesturing wildly and then realized that her brother couldn’t see it and sighed heavily. “Let’s just say that he is so stereotypical scholasticate that I wouldn’t be surprised if he shat Halonic texts.” 

Isobel could hear him suck in a breath on the other side of the link, but she couldn't tell if he was laughing or was just as surprised as she had been. It was another moment before he spoke again. “All right.  Well, you’re smart. Did you find a way out of the contract?” 

“Of course I did,” she frowned. “It was written like a primary school student. What are you saying Mel?” 

Isobel could hear him shrugging. “I’m saying that Mother and Father are scared. You’re the one who is going to carry on the family line. I’m sure as hell not going to and Octavian would have words with me if I did.” 

“I know,” Isobel rested her forehead against her hand collecting herself. Their parents did everything they could for their children allowing them more freedom than many of her friends in Ishgard had. But the way their estate and inheritance had been set up generations before was if none of the Lancer children had children of their own, the entire family fortune would be lost as it couldn’t be left to anyone who wasn’t of the Lancer name and bloodline. As Isobel was going to be the likely heir, no matter who she married, she would keep the Lancer name and her husband would become a part of her family instead of the other way around. 

“We don’t want that in our bloodline though,” she continued. “I will settle down and get married and have the heir and spare and whatever else is required of me. WHEN I AM READY!” Isobel paused, closing her eyes with several calming breaths before she continued more sedately. A smile spread on her face as an idea suddenly came into being. “I know my duty to the family. I shall draft a template contract for them for any marriage candidate they truly, TRULY think suitable. If that person then agrees to the contract. Then I will marry them.” 

That time she could actually hear her brother laugh. “You’re going to create a contract equivalent of a glass slipper, aren’t you?” 

BALMUNG

Mik’hal Zarasten | Lynea Angura | Isobel Lancer | Gale Bishop | Kuroji Takatori | T’ikala Bhudi | Gabriel Maerten | Ylaine Charlemond

MATEUS

T’kalen Tia | Nicoletta De’Avernay | Hotaru Yumitori | Hiroaki Miyamoto | L’ahja Vanih | Subaru Shimada | Caine Faulcon

GOBLIN

L’devah Fhey | Troy Maerten

|The Rising | Balmung | 2020 |

Papers were strewn everywhere over Isobel's desk as she scribbled furiously on one of the documents a moment before putting it aside and grabbing another to make a note there as well. This contract had to be iron clad and in favor for her family and mostly for her. Isobel had no interest in being one of those Ishgardian wives who bred an heir and then were cast aside by their spouses. 

She shuffled through the papers looking for the notes she had copied from an Ishgardian law book about property, that was going to be a key element. 

Where was it? 

Isobel picked up another stack shuffling through it and paused. A weather worn letter was some how slipped into the stack. How long had that been there? She flipped it over and paused, the seal had not been set well, it was impossible to tell who it was from, but the writing didn't look like that of her family's. Cracking it open Isobel scanned the page. 

"My dearest, Isobel….."

She felt her blood run cold, as the realization of the hand writing hit her. She scanned quickly down to the bottom of the letter to the familiar signature of Marron Demullier, her former fiance at the bottom

It took years, but I finally have all of my Balmung Kids to Ishgard.