#sasameru

(You said ‘all’, so here you go - long post ahead!)

“As much as I hate some things, losing them completely could be dangerous if it lead to careless or complacency, like uncertainty or old memories. I’m not sure if there’s anything I’d want to get rid of.”

“...actually, scrap that. If I could seal away any single thing, I’d do that to Ifrit. Or the primals in general. They deserve to be sent to the seventh hell and never be seen again.”

“Is emptiness a feeling? If so, I would seal away that. Sometimes it feels as if my feelings had already been sealed away in part, and I would do almost anything to break free of that uncertain numbness.”

“One thing which I would never see, feel or use again...? I think I would choose my worries... ah, no, my anxiety. Losing all concern could make me unkind and that would be awful, but... I wish my heart wouldn’t get gripped by such dread so often.”

“I would seal away my magic. I don’t think that it can ultimately be used for anything good.”

“Hm, I’m not sure if there is anything in my personal life which I would like to seal away - and more general-level concepts like poverty or greed are complex and rooted in many things, which would probably mean that they can’t be eradicated without further actions.”

“I suppose I wish I could seal away my family’s expectations of carrying the less savoury parts of their legacy, but I have more or less accepted my role. I will do my best not to pass it onto the next generations - and will likely succeed, as I have no intention of having children of my own.”

“Sayin’ ‘all the fishbacks’ wouldn’t probably be allowed, aye? I don’t care fer ‘em, but I guess could do with their slimy scaly god-primal, too. Ain’t a lot of La Nosceans who wouldn’t wish fer that, I reckon.”

“Saying ‘nah’ would probably be more in line with my personality, but you know what? I wouldn’t mind if I could seal away my memories of Cartenau. If I needed to remember that I was there, others could just say “oh, G’ilas, you were there too!” and then I could go “oh, I guess I really was!...”

“... and I could do without the pain.”

“Give me a way to seal away betrayal, and I’d do almost anything. Seeing your own parents give you up for some bloody stupid heretic crap? I don’t need that, and I especially don’t need to remember how it felt.”

“I don’t know. Tears? Frustration? No: even though I wish people’s actions and words wouldn’t get under my skin so often, both of those have their time and place. I feel like everything - or at least more or less everything - in my life has been there for a reason, even though all of it has hardly been pleasant. That’s why I don’t think I would wish to seal anything away.”

“I would seal away my headaches, which distract me and prevent me from doing my duties. I am aware that they might be a warning sign and something which should be heeded...”

“While my initial thought was to say ‘ah, my backstory is nothing special’, I suppose that depends on the point of view,” Sasameru says and smiles politely.

“I come from an old family with interest in magicks inherited from my mother’s side and mercantile upbringing from my father’s side. My parents deal in antiques - among other things - and I am probably expected to inherit their business eventually. Maybe the bookshop has been a trial project for that goal.”  He grimaces.

“Don’t get me wrong: it’s not that I would abhor the idea of managing a company. I’m mainly worried that taking up their mantle would leave me little time to pursue my studies. Maybe that’s something which will change in time, or maybe I will simply get used to it: there are other things to our family business which I have since grown used to, after all.”

(I decided to include a combination of physical/literal and more figurative weaknesses this time - enjoy the collection!)

Cain doesn’t tolerate cold very well, and though he tries not to be too whiny, he tends to shiver and complain about it every now and then. Indoor coldness is even worse as he can’t move as freely to keep himself warm.

His figurative weaknesses include soft things, particularly if that softness is attached to a cute animal. He definitely wouldn’t admit it, though, because it would seem childish or at least uncool.

Storm’s weakness is his aether sensitivity, though the ring he carries has alleviated the symptoms quite a bit. He still avoids travelling to places like Mor Dhona or visiting any exhibitions etc. with magic artifacts because the aether would make him nauseous; people seldom have strong enough auras to have a similar effect, though some magi might be capable of causing a strong enough burst of aether. 

Sasameru’s weakness is his poor eyesight: no one has even seen him without his glasses. He also has next to no aetherial capabilities, which means that the best he could do is piggyback off someone else’s teleportation spell.

Lumien’s “weakness” is cats. Type, colour or size don’t really matter. He’d probably be tempted to pet a gaelicat or a coeurl if he saw one.

His most notable literal weakness is his clumsiness, which tends to get exacerbated when he is nervous. He has done stuff like hitting his head into doors, smacking his weapon/hand to a wall and even tripping on a cactuar once. He is also relatively poor at judging distances. 

G’ilas doesn’t do too well in wet environments. He enjoys swimming, but travelling through a swamp or in pouring rain saps his energy quite quickly - in addition to being unfun. He can soldier on if needed, but those days tend to get followed by fatigue that requires at least one or two days with proper rest.

Seasonal might be almost over but summer isn’t, and so I wanted to take screenshots of all my characters in summery outfits (and environments).

There was a goodreason why Storm avoided anything which required him to bare his backto anyone.

Some banner images of my characters. Two are missing because I forgot to take screenshots from one (sorry Lumien) and realized that the other was making a strange face in the images I had (damn it Arashi).

I would be very curious to hear about how Sasameru goes about silencing rumors!

If Sasameru is the one hearing the rumour first, he tries to pose questions and comments to subtly either prove the rumour false or suggest that the rumour-mongers themselves are suspicious for taking such an interest in the topic. He never goes for a quick denial (as that rarely works) but rather promises to “investigate the subject” and then later provides Storm with a perfect alibi - which usually is even true.

In the worst cases, the people spreading the rumours may find themselves in oddly similar troublesome circumstances. People are usually only interested in the newest and juiciest gossip, after all, and I doubt it would be outside his (family connection’s) powers to... fabricate something which may or may not be completely truthful.

Sasameru is the primary owner of ‘One More Page’ and ‘Cup of Knowledge’, so he takes care of most of their management. He makes any bulk orders, plans out any events or discount campaigns plus handles correspondence and bookkeeping. Being a researcher and someone with a penchant for writing, he enjoys documenting daily business activity and trying to analyze buyer trends.

However, he isn’t a very organized person. Everything he writes tend to just get stacked into piles, and he has tried various innovative systems for organizing the shop shelves, none of which have ever really worked (or been followed through till the end).

Therefore it fall onto Storm to make sure that the books are shelved in a sensible manner and that documents are properly labeled and archived; thankfully, he doesn’t mind the task (though he probably wishes Sasameru would be a little less of an absent-minded professor stereotype at times). Storm also tends to handle most business negotiations, particularly when it comes to buying or selling rare books, and runs the book binding/repair service.