"I don't think I belong here. I'm not... the girl you think I am."

It was a conversation Dayn had been dreading, the frightened expression on his mother's face almost enough to make him back down and forget about it. But he'd felt like something was wrong since his teens, never quite fitting in and feeling like a puppet in somebody else's fingers. The ladies of the Frostbark were his family - aunts tougher than week-old cloud banana skins and cousins intimidating enough to force even his father into submission - but he wasn't one of them. His reflection was telling him a different story to the one he was reading, and Dayn was desperate for the day he could make everything feel right again. Desperate for a life free of the sleepless nights and hours spent crying in a huddle of blankets so he didn't have to look at himself.They'd taught him how to wield blades, how to slice in just the right ways to bring anything to a standstill, and looked after him when he was ill and weary from training too much. It was their wisdom and guidance that gave Dayn enough courage to make his decision — the Hthrana's child was a daughter no more.

"I want to leave... I want to find somewhere I fit in."

She was a little taken aback, of course, but she understood; accepted Dayn's choice without much protest, and made him promise to write home every once in a while. As he trudged through the thick snow, bound for Kugane with a satchel that his mother packed for him, he could feel the tethers begin to fray, the hushed voices of the leaves and trees growing ever fainter with each step. Nobody needed to know that he cried on the boat to Hingashi.

Within a few suns of arriving in Kugane, Dayn had himself the lease on an apartment and a hunting license to pay for it. Contracts spanning near and far caught his eye, each target another notch in his daggers and more coins in his pocket. For almost two decades, he was happy to bury himself in work and make a new name for himself as a renowned bounty hunter. In that time, he was invited to learn the secretive ways of the ninja due to his high aptitude with a pair of daggers — from there, his skills only blossomed further.On the cusp of his forty-third summer, one such bounty found Dayn skirting the edges of his home, joining an expedition to cull a dangerously active population of fauna in The Burn. The whispers of the forest tickled the back of his mind as he fought, a phantom of his past that hooked his attention a little too hard — one particularly agile gigaworm broke from the pack and made a beeline for him. Within seconds the beast had Dayn trapped in its giant maw, teeth easily rending through flesh, muscle and bone as the rest of the adventuring party fought to subdue it. With some difficulty, he was pried free of the worm's tusks and pumped full of healing potions until they could safely withdraw him for proper medical attention.The incident left him with a loss of sight in his right eye and a ring of puncture scars along his right hand side — he hated looking at them in the mirror every morning as he wrapped bandages tightly around his chest to hide his shape, but at least they were his. It was a shaky return to hunting after a couple of moons of bedrest, but Dayn wasn't about to let a lack of depth perception stop him from doing what he loved.

writings

• (we're all just) teenage runaways
• what you don't know will haunt you

KALIAH HTHRANA
motherA well-renowned leatherworker in the Frostbark village, Kaliah is responsible for most of the warder's repairs when they return to the village with a satchel full of well-worn armour.Dayn and his mother are very close, even after he left the Frostbark — he kept his promise to write to her, and she occasionally sends him gifts in return. He admires her for her tenacity and "can do!" attitude to everything, and the way she cared about everyone in the village as if they were her own children; she's also the reason Dayn has such an affinity for cooking and a particular fondness for ginger cookies.

SOVRAHN HTHRANA
fatherThe leader of the wood-warders in the Frostbark area, Sovrahn is a highly-skilled lancer and somebody that the other warders rely on frequently for training and tactical assistance.Being away from the village for several cycles at a time, Sovrahn wasn't a particularly active prescense in Dayn's life. He was back home as Dayn came into maturity; whilst a little disappointed that he wouldn't be able to teach his child the ways of the warders, Sovrahn knew that Kaliah would take good care of their daughter.Dayn hasn't heard from him since leaving the village, but Kaliah's letters let him know that Sovrahn is still looking after the warders as well as ever.

VETUR
companionDayn rescued his gaelicat friend from a pack of snow wolves whilst on a hunt in Coerthas, tucking it into his robes before taking the feral beasts down and fleeing into Dragonhead, where the feline took quite the warming to Dayn — as they spent more time together, he found the kitten's companionship a soothing prescence, helping him to calm down if he became overwhelmed and providing a soft distraction if his thoughts began to swallow him.He named her Vetur, an old forest term for the winter season, and the gaelicat is frequently found either buried in Dayn's clothing or flitting around his shoulders, ever ready to be a source of comfort.(And despite not really needing to eat, her favourite food is dried cherries.)

CHIHARU MOTOKAWA
hunt administrator // handlerChiharu is Dayn's point of contact for anything hunt-related at the Shiokaze Hostelry — she handles his contracts, payments, and deals in information as well as spoils.The two steadily grew a rapport as Dayn climbed the hunting ranks, and Chiharu would often hold some contracts back until Dayn had been able to give them a check if she thought he might be particularly interested in the offered bounty.

AZAR JAZAERI
best friendDayn's connection to Azar began during his short-lived bartending days, where the Au Ra would frequently come to drown her sorrows in the bottom of a bottle.The two have grown ever closer since then, and Dayn now considers the fiesty little lizard one of his best friends — along with all the danger and trouble that seems to follow her.

They've seen each other's lowest of lows and dragged one another back to the surface more times than one might consider healthy; but it's no secret that Dayn would be much worse off without the auri's support.

PIPER GALLOWAY
close friendA bard with a golden voice and a heart to match. A friend of Azar's, Piper also frequents the Fury's Hallow venue, often found cheering people on as they fight.Has, on more than one occassion, been the source of a good pep talk and comfort for Dayn. Piper's energy is infectious, and she's always ready to offer a helping hand; going as far as letting the Viera crash at her place after a particularly rough night of fighting.

Her trust in Dayn, through thick and thin, gave him the confidence to better himself; without Piper's kindness and patience, he might have given up a long time ago.

R'INDAE TIA
boyfriend? (situationship)A literal helping hand at Fury's Hallow, where Dayn fights quite frequently.The two of them have developed a rock-steady rapport over the moons they have interacted, and Dayn has a deep trust in R'in and his healing abilities. The lollipops help a lot, too.

The Miqo'te's confession of feelings for Dayn reignited the ninja's interest in a partner; R'indae had given him the affection and love that he'd been so desperately waiting for, and it was happily reciprocated tenfold once the floodgates had opened.

TAYLOR BRIGARDAN
previous partnerA botanist by trade, originally hailing from Gridania.Dayn met Taylor one night as he was enjoying a drink and a meal after a particularly successful hunting season. He had gotten a little tipsy, lowered his barriers, and Taylor seemed genuinely interested in him. They grew closer as the moon went on, Dayn falling into a relaxing pattern of spending the evenings with Taylor after hunting during the day, and it was nice — he felt safe there, and Taylor had taken him at face value without any questions.However, things changed once they decided to take their relationship up another level. Dayn realised he'd have to explain a few things, and initially Taylor seemed receptive; they indulged in plenty of heavy petting and foreplay without any issues. But once he'd undressed fully for the first time, spread out on Taylor's bed in nothing but the bandages around his chest, the other man's reaction painted a different picture; with a whispered apology, Taylor told Dayn he could stay the night but he wasn't interested in seeing him again once the sun had come up.The experience ruined Dayn's opinion of relationships, swearing himself out of them until he could find somebody that would appreciate him as he was — but first, he had to learn to do that himself. And now everything felt wrong all over again. His walls came back up, sturdier than ever before, and he covered himself in billowing layers to disguse his form as much as possible.

ERU'A ROOSSA
rival (of sorts)A sharpshooting Miqo'te with a penchant for violence and an eye for trouble.Dayn has interacted with Eru on only a few occassions - none of which ended particularly well - but the gunslinger always sits on the periphery of the Viera's vision; especially now that he's proven just how well he can wield those revolvers of his.

YAVRA VHEN
close friendOne of the entertainers at the club Dayn used to work for, where their bond first formed.They don't speak as often these days, but Dayn still thinks fondly of Yavra whenever their paths deign to cross — she had confided in him when she had nowhere else to turn, offering him a dark secret to guard, and Dayn trusts her implicitly in return.

MAN FOR HIRE
● commonDayn takes contracts for various jobs on a consistent basis, frequently in and out of his home city of Kugane taking down targets for a pretty penny. He is well-known in the Clan Centurio system, and the majority of the stewards at Shiokaze Hostelry recognise his name.He specialises in jobs that require a degree of stealth, such as heists, espionage and smuggling — however, Dayn will refuse any contract that requires him to kill or seriously harm another person.

A WATCHED POT BOILS EVENTUALLY
● commonBeing a keen culinarian, Dayn will happily discuss and share recipes along with any other little tidbits about food and drink. His mother taught him how to cook from a young age, and he honed his craft under the tutelage of various innkeepers within Kugane.

THE LAND ACROSS THE RUBY SEA
● commonHaving lived in Kugane for a large portion of his life, Dayn has gathered a good level of knowledge about the city and its offerings. He's also picked up a basic grasp of Doman during his time in the Far East, able to have simple conversations in the foreign tongue.

OF FLOWERS AND SEASONS
● commonDayn is fond of the traditional Doman pastime of hanafuda, and occasionally carries a deck of the cards in his pouch. In particular, he favours the tactical back-and-forth of koi-koi that was taught to him by an old innkeep.

SOME WOUNDS NEVER HEAL
▲ uncommonFollowing the gigaworm attack, Dayn's torso and right leg have deep puncture scars that give him frequent bouts of dysmorphia. They are hidden by his clothing the majority of the time, and Dayn makes a conceited effort to cover them as much as possible. His right eye, however, is a much more obvious casualty of his ordeal — it was replaced with an Allagan prosthetic, but the device is simply aesthetic in nature and offers him no sight.

AETHERSTARVED
▲ uncommonDayn's own pool of aether is shockingly small, depleted from the ravages of his injury. He makes use of ambient aether from the environment to perform ninjutsu, but otherwise it's as if he has none at all.Because of this, Dayn cannot use the aetheryte system unless somebody pulls him along with them, and healing him with magic is a slow and imprecise process — he prefers traditional methods of first aid, and would rather make use of his lanner as transportation.

FADED VOICE OF THE FOREST
◆ rareDayn's connection to The Green Word, and the forest of Frostbark he left behind, is almost imperceptible — if he were to venture close to home, he could hear the faintest of whispers, but for all intent and purpose Dayn can no longer understand the language of the trees.

THE MISFORTUNATE ONE
◆ rareThose with a connection to spirits, or able to detect those not of this realm, might be able to notice that Dayn is currently possessed by osaki — weasel-like yokai known to cause bad luck, gluttonous appetites and fidgeting.

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