⸺  Biography

"Koh, a-are you almost done?"The crunch of snow under their feet made the miqo'te ears twitch. Delicate metalwork covered the tops of the miqo'te ears, finely worked gold cuffs and delicate chains made of the same material swayed whenever the cold Coertha winds blew. Koh turned their attention back to the plants that were just under their feet. The younger elezen girl hugged the coat around her a little tighter and inched forward to Koh who was dressed all in black save for the white brightlilies that seemed to decorate the wavy locks of black hair; Rielle took note of the soft grey strands here and there, a curious thing for the miqo'te looked younger in age. And still, Rielle couldn't help but wonder just how old Koh was, their mannerisms and speech made them seem older and wiser sometimes."Almost done, Rielle…" Koh's voice was delicate. It was always pleasant to listen to, especially inside the shop whenever they would read something funny in the printed notices that were delivered to the little cottage back inside the Firmament. Out here in the cold it seemed a small comfort for Rielle.She'd be back inside soon with delicious peppermint tea made by Koh's hand that would then be sweetened with honey and be given a tasty pastry or two. Rielle could hardly wait as she watched the miqo'te 's fingers delicately pluck herbs. Dark thick gloves plucked the fresh plants that laid nestled in the snow, the top of the plant peaking ever so slightly. Koh's sight, despite the eyepatch was sharp. Experience perhaps? They always seemed to know where to go to find something growing. 'Thank Halone for not wanting to sketch these plants...'"Alright, there we go… last one…" Koh had been crouched in the snow, their tail was twitching from time to time as they looked at the herbs that were in the small dark wicker basket. A soft smile against black colored lips, a soft little tinge of blush against grey skin sometimes, the muted nature of their clothing was something otherwordly in appearance that she couldn't parse. Tired eyes, often a soft raspy little voice here and there, the frequent headaches that sometimes made them give pause or render them exhausted the whole day… it was a miracle that Koh had done so many extraordinary things.She had heard stories of the Brightlily Dragoon, and never once had the young Elezen expected it to be Koh. But all the signs had been there, the lance that was down in the basement looked as delicate as the owner. Yet there it rested in a corner in the downstairs area of Koh's apothecary, along with a staff that seemed to have so many stories to tell. Aged, scratched, but not a speck of dust on it. Rielle had seen Koh wield the staff some time ago, when a wandering patrol from Dragonshead had encountered a deadly monster. Brilliant flames and thunder, and Koh wielded that magic so effortlessly…
___"Koh?""Hmm?" their eyes flitted up for a moment, tearing their attention away from the newsletter."When-... where were you born?"Koh cocked an eyebrow and flashed a sharktooth grin at the young Elezen. She had meant to ask when, they knew it all too well but Koh decided to let it slide. Rielle squirmed a little in her chair and cleared her throat, she knew Koh had caught her slip up."I was born in Gridania.""R-Really?!""Please don't look that surprised, Rielle. You wound me…" Koh covered their mouth with the back of their palm. The elezen girl on the other hand let out a small chuckle of relief. She wasn't sure if Koh would've glared at her the same way they did with Sidurgu sometimes. "But yes, I was born inside the city proper. It was…" they paused for a moment, eyes seemed to stare off into the far distance, a sad smile painted their lips for a moment, Rielle took note. "It was an okay life. I had my lancer training there and made my way to Ul'dah when I was about 17 summers.."Koh left out some parts of course. They didn't mention to Rielle that it took a while to gain entrance into the city. Hunger filled their days, and strange dangerous nights were all too common until they earned enough money while guarding caravans. They danced around the past. "I worked as an apothecarist there…" it would've taken too long to explain why they became one. An alchemist who worked in a bordello ran away after sleeping with one of the girls there, and Koh while filling a courier request helped out and eventually found a permanent room there as the house apothecarist. For a moment Koh mulled over telling her some of the stories that courtesans used to tell them, amongst other things; like how they learned to dance and even entertained guests. Or the stories that dealt with matters of the heart, what exposure to dark arcana does to the mind and body…"What brought you to Ishgard then?""Oh, that… well I fought and tracked down monsters.""Sidurgu did mention that," Rielle narrowed her eyes staring into Koh's right eye. It was the only one she could see. She had grown used to their strange affliction, an accident caused the whites of their eyes to turn black. The other was hidden behind a black metallic eyepatch. She had seen what was underneath once a scar ran down that eye, but whether the eye itself functioned or Koh ever opened it was a mystery. That cat always had secrets."No one just wanders into this place." Rielle retorted, a little too hastily. Koh had a tendency to dance around things. Like about the tattoos on their body, or the scars and burn marks on their hands. Those phantom pains they felt sometimes. The dark circles under their eye(s)..."The only thing that matters is that I'm here for good," Koh shrugged their shoulders and sat back in their chair. The wood creaked slightly as the sound of the tea kettle whistled. It was the wince that made Rielle worry as the Miqo'te touched the side of their head. Another headache, a metallic taste danced on their tongue. "Rielle, can you go and get me some tea?"___The truth of Koh's journey to Ishgard was a sore subject, and not one they liked recounting. Not even with alcohol. It was a simple enough tale on the surface, a young thaumaturge met a young gladiator and the two of them formed a fast friendship during their stay in Ul'dah. In the blink of an eye, some years passed and the two were delving into dungeons to make some coin. In wanting to prove themselves the two took a job as scouts for suspicious activity that was happening back in the Black Shroud. For Koh it was a strange homecoming, having renounced their life in Gridania. And sadly it was to be a source of most of their woes.
Tam-Tara Deepcroft had been home to a cult, the Lambs of Dalamud. Everyone in the party was unprepared for the voidsent that made its home there. Koh seemed to have been the only survivor. It took time to mend the strange state that had befallen Koh.
Fear and anger drove them to try and experiment with materia, to affix it to the body in some manner and seek revenge on the voidsent that took their friend's life. Koh's left eye carried their folly plain, the corruption that emerged on their body a result of tampering with forces against their better nature. Koh was expelled out of the Thaumaturge Guild because of that.
They made it their entire life to hunt down voidsent and in doing so caught whispers of a Black Mage hiding somewhere near Ala Mhigo. Claiming that power for themselves, with the hope of eliminating the voidsent that was responsible for all their suffer; it was almost all consuming. Taking the Black Mage's soulstone wasn't without sacrifices, blood stained their hands several times over. But it was necessary no matter the cost.Still... it was a victory that felt short lived. The soulstone cracked while hunting voidsent, and in the process flames marked their body leaving scars in its wake. At around the same time wind of Koh's meddling in affairs relating to the death of several individuals in their quest of hunting voidsent, had started to almost catch up to them, and so they made their way to Ishgard. To lick their wounds, lie low and figure out way to mend the soulstone. That was until talk of a war started to loom over the horizon, Koh decided to lend their service as a lancer under a lesser noble house they had once helped before as a 'monster hunter'.
The War itself took a toll on Koh, the horrors and the psychological damage brought back to the surface old wounds of the mind that were long since untreated, and with it a strange urgency to want to stay. With a knack for botany and carpentry (it was in their blood), Koh sought to help rebuild and treat the people of the Brume with poultices and other ailments that they could offer.Koh was known as a Dragoon by the people of the Brume, after having pledged to a lesser noble house. Some took to calling Koh a knight, for the various times they had taken to fight with a sword. A great mass of steel, but Koh always favored a lance or a polearm. 'She fought with fury, surely a blessing of Halone'.Then, one day... the soulstone itself had mended. Koh felt that stir to go back and resume their journey, but they had started a quiant life here in Ishgard. They had a home, a small little business, and friends of the sort. Even that couldn't erase the scars and marks that their journey had left them with...Hunting voidsent for as long as they had done, it was hard for a hunter to let go of that kind of life. Something in them stirred to life whenever a curious little monster hunting job landed in their lap.
___Truth be told some days were harder than others for Koh. Seeing and hearing things that aren't there. They weren't even sure if their body was done changing from the materia corruption and whatever lingering effects came from Deepcroft. It always felt like there was something there under the skin begging to come out."What if I did actually die there?"Sigurdu forced the tea down his throat and coughed a little. "Koh, what are you implying?""It felt like I was trapped in there for years," he noticed the way their hands were shaking while trying to hold their teacup steady. "What if I'm not really -"Sidurgu placed a gentle hand on the Miqo'te's arm and gently applied some pressure there. Koh didn't flinch, both their eyes were fixed on his hand and the warmth coming from such a simple gesture. "You told me a long time ago, our memories and experiences shape us, but it cannot truly define us. For all I know you've always been you, Koh."His first meeting with Koh was a small altercation outside of the Foundation. A black mage facing off against a dark knight, it should've been an easy thing and yet the Au Ra felt almost outmatched. How long the match could've gone was anyone's guess, but the miqo'te had stopped fighting when catching a glimpse of Rielle, and that was that. The two of them struck a sort of odd friendship around the time that the soulstone on Koh had cracked, they had been looking for another alternative means of fighting. A greatsword, as far as Sidurgu was concerned, didn't befit Koh. He was relieved when they took up a polearm instead."But what if I'm not me? Y-You weren't around when I..." that feeling was coming back. The ringing in their eyes, the strange dimming of their vision, something crawling under the skin. It reminded them of the time their teeth had started to fall out and change. Something was there... but what?____Years had come and gone, with it too many changes of the mind and of the body. If one had to put it into simple words, Koh's body was a boat that went under constant repairs and additions. Did the original still exist under all that?Without the glamours it would be plain to see the merge of voidsent and miqo'te. The two forever sentenced to live together till they merged as one. To pull that wretched demon out of Koh's body was to doom them to an unfortunate fate. A sudden death.Memories of places familiar and not played in Koh's mind. Who was remembering what?It mattered not.A deep hunger for hunting voidsent sometimes forced Koh on the road. It was a distinct feeling, that silly little pain in the back of the eyes, a strange taste in the air. Koh could feel something there wanting to rip through their skin, and chase whatever was out there.They could never go back to how things were.Revenge turned into something akin to pleasure, the thrill of the hunt and then some. What a curious thing, for a voidsent to take thrill in hunting their own kind.Not fully a miqo'te and not fully a voidsent.Void-touched. With teeth that ached for blood. A heart that longed for love.

  Fragile    : enemies to lovers, 21+ mature themes, slow burn romance, angst/tragic characters
A dog of war finally freed of its shackles... learning what it means to live by ones own accord.
Living a simple life of wanderings and chasing bounties, running free.
A mage that's found solace in a cold place, tries their best to live relatively peaceful life. Plagued with nightmares of a past they want to forget, but the drive to hunt keeps calling to them.
Until the bounty on the mage's life brings the two face to face with fragility of mortality and love.*for this one you have to be okay with the idea of your character trying to end the life of mine. Koh has a bounty on their head.  Drinking buddies    : one-shotGridania... for Koh it brought back a lot of memories of first loves and happier times, and yet it felt like it sealed her fate all those years ago. She flipped through one of her old journals she had found in her storage, old memories coming back. A brief moment of pain making her stop, pressing a hand against the eyepatch on her left eye until it passes. Another drink's needed.
You find an empty table and sit down after a hard day's work of adventuring until a voice makes you look up. "Sorry... uh, do you mind if I sit here?" A miqo'te with an eyepatch and a staff, a scar across her face, and apparently a journal she had been reading was on the table you had failed to notice.
"I could leave if you..."
"No, no. I could use a drinking buddy." She let out a small chuckle and sat down. "My name's Koh, what's yours?"  Hollow [wip]    : gothic, dark themes, romance. 21+ themes"There's a voidsent there?" Koh asked, reading the missive at the old Knight's Inn. They had been standing near one of the tables near the fireplace, reading the letter carefully."Not so loud!" there was a harsh whisper coming from a young woman."Who gave you this anyway?" the miqo'te dressed in all black raised a curious eyebrow back at the Hyur before them."I'm not sure, Chloe found it at the shop and asked me to give it to you."Koh gently bit the tip of their thumb, serrated teeth light squeezing the delicate flesh there. 'Strange...' they turned over the letter and noticed that it was addressed directly to them.Koh never advertised that they hunted voidsent for fun, or at all, it was just something they did on occasion if it seemed interesting. Curious still was that it was asking to meet with them in an old part of town, an area that was still under repairs that the Firmament hadn't managed to secure any building rights to.'I would've sensed a voidsent here,' they thought as their teeth dug into flesh and the taste of blood stained their lip. Something didn't feel right about this. The hyur woman had noticed and let out a small startled gasp before Koh raised a hand to silence them."Thanks, Rebbeca." Koh handed the young woman a small sack of gil and said in a low voice. "Don't go back the way you came from.""Y-Yes ma'am..."Koh narrowed their one 'good' eye and looked around. No one seemed out of place here. The curious part of it all was that Koh was supposed to meet another fellow 'hunter' at that spot. They only answered to posts from the Adventurer's Guild or if a monster hunter happened to pass by their shop, information was traded in medicine and other commodities sometimes.They'd play it safe and scope out the place in broad daylight. It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to take their life, but usually there were other more 'creative' ways of doing it....*** for this one it's kind of like the Fragile plot, mixed with monster/voidsent hunting. Maybe your character is contracted to kill the 'voidsent' known as Koh and there is an actual voidsent in this abandoned house.