Musiqe

Musiqe is very easy going and sweet, living their twilight years devoted to bringing joy to others. He does have a sassy streak though, and doesn’t take rude behavior well; especially with thieves and when the behavior is antagonistic or cruel towards children. Due to their strong sense of justice, any attitude directed at Musiqe or someone she perceives as undeserving of bullying will result in a swift whack from their cane. He’s very caring towards the townsfolk of Aethe Edge, and has taken a grandparent role within the town. Ptithians who know her know them know that she is a safe person to come to if in need of anything from food, to shelter, to just having someone to talk to who won’t spill their secrets, and even just for a hug and a cup of warm coco. He always has interesting stories from her past to tell; from adventures on the seas hunting Seatechs, to their love story to their late wife who he was fully devoted to.

Musiqe was born and raised in the bustling Foes District in Wyngdale. Both of their parents were kind and supportive Sagekins through-and-through, who raised her to be generous, accepting, hard-working, wise, and faithful. They instilled a strong sense of justice and morality into Musiqe, and encouraged his interests. The family raised sugar-foes in their backyard, collected their honey, and processed it into hard candy they sold to the Ptithians passing through the marketplace. Musiqe had inherited the ability to infuse sugar with the feeling of happiness and contentment, and the higher the quality of sugar, the stronger the enchantment was. As a child, Musiqe was incredibly curious about the world, having an adventurous streak. He often read about other places, and about the sea, and desperately wanted to see one in the future. When reaching adulthood, the taroot moved to Ichy Colo with the intent of helping low-income families there be able to have free repairs to their homes. Being a bright and quick-witted individual, most who met Musiqe were swift to accept them into the fold, especially because of her strong desire to put good into the world. They never forgot his roots though, and often sent her family letters and visited. For a few years, Musiqe went about helping the community. A group of like minded individuals joined them in their endeavors, increasing the amount of ptithians that could be helped. During this time, Musiqe fixed up a local Tailors shop where several of the seamstresses lived, and met a lovely gryphon Morshin named Vaela. While Musiqe worked, they would talk with Vaela, and the two grew closer. Both were Sagekin, both had a love for the sea, both wanted to help make the world a better place, and both were sweet on each other. Vaela dreamt of moving to a seaside town and opening a toy-shop. She had a passion for sewing dolls with scrap fabric and giving it to children who needed something to play with. Even after the job was finished, Musiqe visited Vaela daily, and they would stroll together after their works, speaking of the future and the beautiful present that they shared. Romance sparked between the two young Sweethearts, they officially began to go steady, and from there, their love blossomed into something beautiful. When Vaela announced she was moving to Maw’s Clutch, Musiqe asked to join her without a second thought, and the two moved together to a new place with a fresh start. The couple rented a shack near the edge of the World’s Maw, overlooking the sea. Musiqe took up a fishing job while Vaela continued tailoring, but made more dolls on the side. They dreamt of opening a toy and candy store together, and saved much of their income towards that dream. Years passed; Musiqe built their life entwined with Vaela's. The two rarely could find problems within their relationship, and when they could, they were able to talk them out and become stronger... That is, until one incident that changed everything. One day while offloading a recent catch, Musiqe witnessed, much to his horror, one of the locals walk off of the edge and into the sea. Nobody stopped them, and a fellow fisher kept Musiqe from going to help the poor soul. That day, Musiqe learned what a seatech was. Musiqe felt deeply in their bones that it was her duty as a Sagekin to put the suffering creatures out of their misery. If windiages were to be humanely put down, then the same should happen for the seatechs; who had been normal ptithians before the horrible and slow change into something unrecognizable. He made up their mind to join a group of seatech hunters, and went home to break the news to Vaela. Vaela was understandably distraught, and adamantly refused Musiqe putting herself in danger to hunt the monsters, but Musiqe couldn't back down from something they believed to be right. The two ended up at an impasse, Vaela gave an ultimatum, and Musiqe chose to leave. Heartbroken but determined to follow their gut, Musiqe left to live on the open sea. Over the next several years, the taroot learned the ways of being a sailor and a hunter. Loving on the open waters, the smell of salt in the air, the rocking waves, and the crew they came there with all became familiar and important to Musiqe. Though she missed Vaela, he knew what he was doing was right. They quickly became renowned among her fellow Seatech hunters as incredibly skilled and efficient at dispatching the creatures quickly and humanely. As his skill grew, Musiqe continued to end each battle completely unscathed, living on each day to put down another monster. Musiqe would have continued this life for as long as possible, but the career was cut short when he was injured by equipment that had been improperly left broken by another crew mate without a note to warn the others. The injury was severe enough to force on site surgeons to amputate Musiqe’s leg, and just like that, their monster hunting days ended. Musiqe returned to Maw’s Clutch, uncertain of what to do now, but determined to find a way. When looking for jobs and a place to stay, Musiqe crossed paths with Vaela again while buying food. The two had an emotional reconciliation, and Musiqe learned that Vaela was with a new partner. Over the years, she had tried to move on and had met another, but had given up on many of her dreams along the way due to her new partner’s more merchant-based way of life. She had stopped making dolls when he had commented on their craftsmanship being poor. She had resigned herself to a life of high comfort, but without the joys she found in her work. Musiqe claimed they were happy for Vaela if she was happy, and wanted to keep a strong friendship, but that didn’t last. Vaela broke off her relationship, feelings that had resurfaced the moment she and Musiqe had seen each other made it feel as if they had never been apart. Musiqe and Vaela picked up where they’d left off, their bond now stronger than it had ever been, head over heels in love with one another. They moved in together again, this time closer to the center of town, saved, dreamt, visited family and sent them letters, celebrated Yuletune each year, worked together, stayed together, and spent years giving back to the community hand in hand. One sunset, while overlooking the Maw’s Edge during a picnic, Musiqe asked Vaela to spend the rest of her life with her. He wanted to be with her for the rest of their lives. She said yes. The two had a beautiful partnership celebration to proclaim their love. They invited friends and family, and most of the folks who knew the couple showed up to celebrate. Not long after, they saved enough money to move to Aethe Edge, and bought a little parlor with two rooms upstairs. With hard work and love, they fixed the place up, bought sugar foes to care for, draped silk shawls with Sagekin symbols through the rafters, stocked shelves with candies and toys, and finally opened the store of their dreams. It was incredibly successful, and well loved by the townsfolk. The spouses were a bit infamous in Aethe edge for how kind and selfless they were. They would open up their doors and give out the extra room to anyone who didn’t have a roof over their head or needed a safe place to stay for a while. Musiqe’s life became joy. Their marriage with Vaela held strong, and they fell more and more in love with her as each day passed. The pair were excellent at working together, and had learned to discuss different opinions and express their feelings in a healthy manner, and would always solve any problem they were faced with together. Even as they aged, she found her to be the most beautiful being to ever grace the planet. Though the couple was unable to have biological kids, they took on a wider role in the lives of the town's children by babysitting, caring for, teaching, and helping raise them. They prescribed the idea of taking a village to raise a child, and became like a second pair of parents, or later grandparents, to several generations of residents. Eventually, Musiqe’s parents passed away, but even though she was sad, he took comfort in knowing that they’d kept a good relationship over the years, and that they were safe in Eden’s Afterlife Garden. Life moved on, hundreds of years were spent in good faith in Edenlline, and love and loyalty to their wife. They got older, wiser, but never lost the spark of witness and fierce belief in justice. As death tends to do when met with old age, it crept in one night and took Vaela away in her sleep. She didn’t suffer, it was her time, but it still shattered life as Musiqe knew it and left them all alone. Musiqe was plagued with grief stronger than she’d ever felt before. He might as well have had another limb severed, as Vaela was at this point, having spent almost their entire lives together, almost an extension of them. They made the proper arrangements, stayed with her in the dark for a day, and brought flowers to her grave every day. Often times, she’d stay there next to the grave for hours. Sometimes they’d sleep there. He had to spend his first Yuletune without her since they’d been together, paint her first yearly soul-chalice alone, run the shop alone; they could only find comfort in knowing that they would be together again someday. Life, as it tends to do, continued on. In his twilight years, Musiqe still tries their best to spread joy to the world, keeping up with the dream. She’s almost always telling some story to the youths of the world, and still sees Ptitheros as a beautiful place full of whimsy and opportunity. Their life won’t last forever, but they're okay with that; she’ll just make the most of it until her time comes, and he’ll be reunified with their loved ones again.