Profile
“To love means to radiate with inexhaustible light. To be loved is to pass away, to love is to endure.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke, The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
transmasc n-b
gender
he/they
pronouns
50
age
bi
orientation
25th sun, 1st u.m.
dob
pisces (22nd feb)
sign
rava viera
species
1.84m
height
WoL
role
sage
class
azeyma
guardian deity
sharlayan
city state
red
#df262b
cherry + oakmoss
azalea
hare
fire
autumn
Overview
A former wood warder born in the fringes of the Golmore Jungle, Ari left his birth village after it became clear he couldn’t hold himself to the tenets of the Green Word - fuelled by wanderlust, he had a desire to see the world beyond the canopies that couldn’t be quenched.
With Dalmasca already under the heel of the Garleans, he wandered far to the southwest to avoid getting caught in occupied land. His travels eventually brought him to New Sharlayan, where he found a place to settle among the more open-minded sects of folk living there.
In particular, he became close to the Verahns, a married couple of female viera who took him under their wing, eventually sponsoring his entry to Old Sharlayan when the call was made to abandon the colony. While studying at the Studium, he honed his natural talents with healing magic into the more specialised skill set of a sage.
Though he held a deep love for the people he’d come to know, and for his new home Sharlayan as a whole, the conservative tactics of self-preservation enacted by the Forum didn’t sit well with him. They struck him as craven - knowledge should be shared for the benefit of all, not held under lock and key. He was a vocal supporter of the Circle of Knowing, though never directly a part of it during the Calamity.
It was this dissonance, as well as a renewed desire to explore, that led him to the Eorzean mainland once more. Little did he know what was in store for him, after stepping off the boat and into the sprawling city of Limsa Lominsa...
Personality
Positive traits
- loyal to a fault
- practical
- warm
- attentive listener
Negative traits
- takes on too much alone
- keeps people at arm's length
- ignores his own needs
- somewhat repressed
Ari embodies the saying ‘still waters run deep’. They feel deeply, they care deeply, but they can be incredibly hard to read to those who don’t know them well. They’re soft-spoken - if a little gruff, which can throw people off further - and their expressions tend to be muted in comparison to their underlying emotions. They can bear most things with a hint of a smile or a smirk, giving no true indication of what they're going through.
Their preference is for actions to speak louder than words, and they’re content to sit in easy silence with those they trust. That’s not to say they don’t have plenty of stories to tell, or that they won’t get swept up in good conversation - they'd simply rather listen and learn, given the choice.
Their tendency towards social passiveness complicates their love life. They prefer to taunt and provoke in subtle ways; to be chased, rather than pursue. It’s not such a bad thing, if you’re only aiming for something casual. The sort of affection they truly crave is much harder to find. The thought of being known so deeply scares them - it's a fear they've always held, and it's been intensified beyond belief in recent years. They're so often put on a pedestal they know they can never live up to, no matter how hard they try.
They have no problem with giving love, and do so freely - in their own way. It might not always come across as such to the other person. It's being loved in turn that gives them the urge to run for the hills.
Most of this stems from being raised as a wood warder, and the relative solitude of that lifestyle. They’re almost too comfortable with the idea of being alone, and as a side effect, will often lapse into taking too much of a burden onto their shoulders without thinking to share it. Some things never change, even after years spent in the company of the Scions and their newfound family. Their first instinct when things go awry is always to isolate themselves - physically, emotionally, or a combination of the two.
Their actions as the Warrior of Light are often mistaken for selfless kindness. They’ve made peace with this perception, even if it rings hollow to them - in their eyes, it paints them as better than they are, as more of a hero than they feel they deserve to be seen as. The reality is that their loyalty is to those close to them, first and foremost, and to their desire to discover and explore second. This whole ‘world saving’ business is more of something they stumbled into by chance, whether they personally put much stock in destiny or not.
Anger is something that Ari learned to suppress in unhealthy ways as a child; they still do so, to this day, in fear of lapsing back into a pattern of lashing out and losing those they’ve come to love. They bottle it until the vessel breaks, and it tends to break in a way that hurts them far more than it does anyone else. Their wrath is a searing thing, the equivalent of staring too closely at the sun. Intense and uncharacteristically vicious. It’s a shift in them that most would find unsettling. Putting the pieces back together again isn’t a simple task.
Story
childhood + time as a wood warder
By the time Ari reached the age of 13 and his birth gender became apparent, he realised that the thought of staying in the village with the other female kits made him deeply uncomfortable. At the time, he struggled to articulate why. It drove a wedge between him and those around him, particularly his mother, as it left him prone to lashing out in misguided anger.
When the wood warder Ymir Djt-Gilda visited the village to collect any prospective future warders, he begged to be taken too. Things had come to a head, reaching the point where he was no longer able to bear staying; he'd isolated himself to the point of emulating the male he wished he was, both consciously and subconsciously.
Ymir recognised this discomfort for what it was, thankfully. He was happy to take Ari under his wing, acting as his mentor, and treated him as he would any other male kit. He was previously close to Ari’s father, who had left the jungle a few years prior - it felt fitting, then, to give him his father’s surname when he came of age. More so, given their degree of similarity. To Ymir, it was like seeing a ghost of a man he'd loved.
As Ariel Rehw-Gilda, he became Ymir’s brother-in-arms, given their shared element of fire. He was never the best among his peers with a bow, but was well-versed in the use of shortswords and scythes. His natural aptitude for healing magic was also a boon. Though untrained, he could utilise it to cure wounds and stave off infection.
In Ari’s short tenure, he fended off more than his fair share of Garlean interlopers - alone, with Ymir, and on occasion with the other warders. He saw far less of his more distant brothers, given their general solitary nature.
When Ari expressed his desire to leave and forge his own path, a few years down the line, Ymir wasn't surprised. ‘Like father, like son,’ he laughed, and though there was obvious disappointment in his tone, he encouraged Ari to follow his heart. Somehow, that joking statement alone was one of the most affirming things he'd ever heard.
He set off with a heavy heart, hoping he made the right decision. If nothing else, he knew his birth village was in good hands.
(Djt-Gilda = heavenly fire, ‘brush fire’. Rehw-Gilda = worldly fire, ‘sword’).
Relations
best friend
One of the first friends Ari made in New Sharlayan, and the one who pointed him out to the Verahns. They're both practical but prone to flights of fancy, and balance each other out well.
academic 'rival'
A fellow sage whom Ari doesn't always see eye to eye with - they frequently argue over the theories of somanoutics. This is often just a ruse for them to sleep with each other afterwards, mind you.
friend
They crossed paths as two wanderers in Dravania, reconnecting there once more during the events of Heavensward. They get on well - two quiet kindred spirits who enjoy time spent in companionable silence.
Freyr Rehw-Gilda
father
Ari's deadbeat dad. They haven't seen him since they were 10; he left Golmore shortly after that last visit.
He's currently in Tural, unbeknownst to them - there's a chance for their paths to finally cross again, during the Scions' upcoming journey there.
Ymir Djt-Gilda
mentor
Ari's mentor in the wood warders, and former brother-in-arms.
Hazel Verahn
adoptive family
Ari's adoptive mother in all but paperwork. She may seem cold, but in reality she's doting to the point of almost being overbearing. A real sweetheart, and a renowned tailor.
Willow Verahn
adoptive family
She was Ari's first introduction to somanoutics, sparking a lifelong passion for the art and healing as a whole. She sponsored his studies as a sage in the Studium - a hard fought process with the Forum, given his status as an outsider.
