X'unmei Noh
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X'unmei Noh The Littlest Lynx 
A young Seeker of the Sun who left her tribe, too compassionate and gentle to find her place within harsh tribal life. She is headstrong and a bit naive, which gives her a knack for landing herself in trouble. Despite coming off a bit nervous and standoffish in first impressions, she is a warm and friendly young woman, teasing and joking even when comfortable. Her singular goal is to help others, and she shies away from violence. Many would view her as almost childlike and idealistic, eager to always see the good in others. And yet, there's something a bit off about the girl... especially for those with a talent for sensing aether. About
 Unmei is a small girl even for a Miqo'te, somewhat short with a petite but sturdy frame, dainty. She is long-legged despite her height, or lack thereof, with a short waist to make up for it. She is thin, but maintains small curves and enough flesh to remain soft and supple, delicate looking but healthy, some pudge around her hips and thighs. Despite her relatively modest chest, a slender waist still gives her an hourglass shaped figure. The girl's skin is almost sickly pale, but possesses a vibrant glow with a faint olive tone. She has a bit of a baby face that can make her look just slightly younger than she actually is, her face round with chubby cheeks, a small and pointed nose, and wide-eyed in innocence. Large, round eyes are lined with thick, black eyelashes, possessing the slitted pupils of her clan, the irises of each eye a different color: her right eye a hunter green and her left a brown faintly tinted with red. Her eyebrows are set in a delicate, rounded arch. Two tan stripes mark each cheek under her eyes, another pair on her forehead appearing from her hairline, though usually hidden beneath her bangs. A faint, barely perceptible array of light brown freckles dot her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Her round cheeks are also graced with a subtle pink blush that darkens quite often when she is nervous or embarrassed. A smile, sometimes subtle or sometimes quite wide, almost always graces her lips, which are naturally a glossy, rosy pink, her mouth narrow and her lips small and pouty with a cupid's bow. Her hair and fur are both auburn in color, imbued with strands of copper, gold, and brown and sometimes containing a leaf or twig or two (probably accidentally) or sometimes flower blossoms (probably not accidentally). Her hair falls past her shoulders in messy, unevenly layered waves of subtle curls, bangs falling to cover her forehead. Her reddish-brown tail is long, especially for a Seeker of the Sun, the fur at the end thicker than the rest and fluffy. Pointed, feline ears are each pierced twice, and aside from her earrings, she seems to wear little jewelry. She likes clothing that is both cute and comfy, not unflattering but not immodest, either flats or boots for shoes--no pesky high-heels. Pink seems to be her color of choice in her attire, and she has an apparent fondness for skirts and stockings. She typically walks with a bounce in her step, though her body language is usually quite submissive and reserved, sometimes even defensive. When she is panicking or fired up, however, she can get rather animated. She tends to have a lot of various other odds and ends on her person, stashed in her pockets or safely stowed in a satchel she carries, typically including a tome, some herbs and bandages, and a blunt dagger. Speech: Her voice is a soft and sometimes stammering soprano. When cheery, nervous, or excited she speaks in a youthful soprano tone, high-pitched and a little fast without being to the point of grating or unpleasant. When relaxed, in private or in more serious conversation, her voice usually slows, lowers and mellows, a more mature sound than the chipper tones most will hear at first. While not thick enough to quite be considered an accent, she speaks with a slight, casual drawl and lazy slur of her words, though it's subtle. Oftentimes words are simply not fully pronounced or are run together. Despite this, she has no problem properly pronouncing words if she so chooses and she has a healthy vocabulary. When angry or in other great emotional distress, her Miqo'te accent will sometimes slip through with hisses and rolled R's.  Unmei is a very bright and sweet girl. She tries to see the best in people, even when it may not actually be there. She has poor self-esteem, but is otherwise so optimistic that it usually goes without notice. Humble and modest, and all around very virtuous--most of her faults lie in being too kind. She has an open mind and tries to treat others fairly, judging others as little as she can, but this does not mean she won't lecture someone she believes is behaving inappropriately. She sympathizes and empathizes with others very well. Despite this, people who are very loud, violent, or imposing to sometimes make her nervous. She is very emotional and when she feels something, she feels strongly. She is against violence, save for the sake of protecting others who are helpless. She enjoys making friends, helping others, and meeting new people. She is often too trusting of others. She has a very strong intuition and can often tell when people are up to no good, but even when their ill intentions are obvious, she gives others the benefit of the doubt rather than going with her gut instinct. And when her trust is betrayed, rarely does she have a problem lending someone a second chance.... or third... or fourth. She puts others before herself, leading her to be rather self-sacrificing in nature. However, she is very stubborn and when she feels someone is acting immoral and hurting others, she won`t hesitate to tell them and try to change their attitude. When she sees corruption in others, she would rather try to help them than condemn them for their crimes. Headstrong, she does not let anyone else sway her beliefs. She is a very genuine and sincere girl. Even when she does try to lie or hide her emotions, she usually fails. She is cheery and friendly, though given to bouts of depression when triggered, but it's hard to keep her down for long. She is very expressive and often laughing or smiling. She seems very childlike, laid-back and carefree, but she is still composed enough to retain the basic politeness and manners. She is very friendly, even if not directly outgoing or extroverted.
Some of these rumors are untrue, speculation, or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under the Player Character category!
Warning! Unmei's story involves mention of death, murder, injury, violence, and body horror. Please read at your own risk if you are sensitive to such themes.  X'unmei was born to a sect of the Lynx tribe native to the Black Shroud, the only child of her father's favored mate. Her birth left her mother weak and ill, earning her much resentment from the Nunh. Always rather small and meek, she was something of the runt of the litter. She found that not only did she have little talent in violence, but she also had little interest in it. Everything from sparring to hunting to watching Nunhs and their contenders fight for dominance made her wince and shy away. After her mother died due to injuries she obtained hunting, Unmei even entirely abstained from hunting, opting to only gather fruits and vegetables instead. She couldn't embrace the mentality of fighting for the right to live, or the way Seeker tribes shut themselves off from the world in the name of self-preservation, neither giving nor accepting help outside the tribe. A world where people helped each other seemed to be much more productive, in her mind, than a world where people shut out others to focus solely on themselves. And she knew that such a world existed--or at least, a world that was closer to that ideal did exist. It was the world outside of Seeker tribes. She had ventured to Gridania and the nearby villages whenever she could, she had quietly watched the other races from afar, and she had read. She read whatever she could get her hands on. Books of nonfiction, as well as fairy tales and romance, tragedies and drama. She liked the worlds in her books more than her own life. And thus she read more and more to escape, silently enduring her own reality whenever she must. As much as she felt outcast from her tribe, her tribe seemed to agree. She was reluctant to hunt, reluctant to fight. A huntress who spent all her time with her nose in book and cringing at bloodshed was not beneficial to the tribe. She was a burden. Another mouth to feed who did not even pull her own weight. Her tribe viewed her with disdain. She was a black sheep. A nuisance. An embarrassment. They were hopeful she could at least be put to use for motherhood, but she seemed to run from that responsibility, as well. As she grew older, the expectation for her to begin to breed grew stronger, and she found herself resenting her life more and more. The books she read had filled her mind with dreams of romance. Where was romance in spending a night with a fellow who had been with half the women in the tribe? Where was the sentiment in being a number rather than a lover? How miserable must it be to carry a child you don't want fathered by a man you don't love? She couldn't stand the idea. She could no longer stand tribal life, in general. She felt like she was considered a tool, an object used to put food on the table and procreate. She knew it was for the good of the tribe, but where was the good in it when so many in the tribe were miserable and missing out on so much in life? What was the point of benefiting the people in the tribe when they ceased to be people? Why strive for the good of the abstract concept of a tribe in general rather than its actual members? She couldn't understand any of it. She couldn't withhold her feelings any longer. With her mother now gone and the tribe pushing her harder and harder toward mating, she had little reason to stay. So she gathered what few belongings she had and could carry, and she left. Her tribe viewed her leaving as an act of a disloyalty, but at the same time was not particularly distraught to see the timid girl go. It was one less mouth to feed, an annoyance gone from the tribe. She cut ties with the Lynx tribe, and it was largely mutual. She wandered the Shroud, but she found that living on her own was much more difficult than she had anticipated. She had felt alone within her tribe, but now she understood what it was truly like to be alone. She struggled to find food, shelter, and gil, and to keep herself safe from the dangers of the Shroud. She struggled, and failed. Moons passed, and ultimately she found herself tired, and cold, and hungry. Weakened as she was, she was thoroughly unable to flee or defend herself when she was attacked by Ixali and she was left for dead. And not incorrectly. She remembered the world fading to black for a while... and then suddenly, everything was light again. Her memory of the incident was fuzzy, and not something she particularly wanted to recall. But she knew someone had rescued her, brought her back from the clutches of death. Her savior introduced himself as Melfice Vainchelon, and the powerful mage became both a benefactor and more or less a father figure in her life. Noticing in her a particular talent after she had crossed into death and back, he began to teach her how to manipulate aether, a talent she had never held before her brief dip into the Lifestream. He took her in for a time, granting her food, shelter, and anything material she might need. She had little choice but to continue to visit Melfice regularly for transfusions of aether to treat her "condition," lest she begin to fade away. She soon met Melfice's new lover, a Keeper woman by the name of Shadiyah Amari who went by Shade for short, and who made Mei quite uneasy. Unmei knew Melfice practiced some bizarre magicks, but considering he'd saved her life and seemed very kind, she didn't mind or question it.  Once she was nursed back to health and back on her feet, Unmei returned to the Shroud to continue wandering, this time able to turn to Melfice if desperate for a meal or a roof over her head. While lazing about Gridania one sun, she found a lost Midlander man by the name of Cyrus Mulano. She helped him navigate his map, and he wished to repay her, insisting she stay with him when he learned she had no home. Hesitantly, she agreed, sharing an inn room with the man for a time. Within a couple moons, the two were lovers, and Unmei followed him in his travels wherever he went. The two did not have much gil, but he always showered her with gifts of books and clothes and sweets. Unmei was enamored with the handsome and unbelievably kind man, and they were soon engaged, but it was not to last. One sun while they were staying in Ul'dah, Cyrus never came home from work... nor the next... and the next... Mei grew worried, having had no contact with the man who usually came home to her every night. When she tracked down some of his co-workers, they said they had not seen him for suns. Without Cyrus's source of income, their meager amount of gil was quickly depleting. Unmei visited the Quicksand in hopes of finding some clues. Loitering there visibly upset, an Elezen by the name of Vallois Villeneuve noticed her, seeing an opportunity to make some gil. He approached her, asking what troubled her. She explained the situation, and he offered to help her find her lost lover... for a price, of course. She admitted she had little gil, but she would pay what she could and promised the man food and a place to stay. Rather reluctantly, he agreed, and the two set off on a journey together. The Wildwood didn't make for very pleasant company, grumpy and quiet, but she was grateful just to have some help. They ventured to the Shroud, first to meet with Cyrus's parents. Despite being obviously worried to know their son was missing, the pair was quite hospitable to Vallois and Unmei, but they had little idea there their son might be. Meanwhile, Mei slowly found out more about Vallois, like that he could not recall his past and he knew very little about himself, and he was plagued by terrible headaches when he tried to recall. Strange creatures came to hunt him every night. Curiously, his injuries seemed to heal themselves... even the ones that seemed fatal. Considering Cyrus's parents were a dead end, they continued their journey to the Lavender Beds to seek out the Harbingers of Dawn free company that Cyrus had worked with in the past. Unfortunately, the Harbingers had no idea of Cyrus's whereabouts, but they offered their assistance in finding him and granted shelter to Mei and Vallois. Desperate for answers, Unmei turned to Melfice, who scried for Cyrus's presence, but found nothing. The mage explained it meant the Midlander was either dead, or within another realm. Not about to accept he could be dead, Mei continued searching for answers. She found none, but they began to find her, strange beasts attacking her and Vallois, prompting her to discover that she could manipulate and animate unliving flesh. One evening, the two were ambushed by a robed man in a mask and a Voidsent creature he summoned. The creature was slain, dropping some sort of key, and the masked man fled. The key was enchanted, acting as a compass of sorts. Unmei and Vallois gathered a group of Harbingers and set out to see where the key might lead. It led them to a misplaced door in a back alley of Ul'dah. When unlocked and opened, the door revealed a Void portal. Hesitantly, the group entered, finding themselves within some sort of pocket dimension within the Void. The place was rife with dangers, illusions, and bizarre scenery, splitting the group in two for a time before they found each other again. Mei was unaware at the time that everything they witnessed was a clue to a larger puzzle. As far as she was concerned, the disturbing things they witnessed--like the Vallois clone that broke free from some sort of tube to attack them, or an image of Melfice simply watching as she passed away that fateful sun in the Shroud--were nothing but tricks and traps. At last, they found Cyrus, bound and severely injured, malnourished and maimed, unrecognizable. Unmei rushed over to him and his bonds were destroyed. The only things the man managed to rasp out, however, were pleas for death. He lashed out violently, his body suddenly and painfully morphing into something inhuman, a beast befitting the Void. Lan Darklyn gave the order to end the creature's suffering, much to Mei's horror and protests. Vallois grabbed the poor girl, dragging her literally kicking and screaming out of the Void so that she would not witness what would occur next. For the next few suns, Unmei was inconsolable. She and Vallois had grown quite close during their misadventures, and she soon turned to him for comfort, the two entering a relationship once she had finally accepted Cyrus's death. However, she was not done in her quest for answers, now bent on discovering who had done such a horrible thing to Cyrus and why. Heartbroken, she went to Melfice to tell him the news. Seeing the girl's despair, Melfice asked if she would like to see Cyrus again. Confused and curious, Mei of course agreed. He led her to a part of his home she'd never seen in his basement, where she found a large tube full of swirling aether that Melfice explained was Cyrus's aether. When Mei asked how it was possible, he admitted that he was present at Cyrus's death, and that the person she had seen within the Void had not been Cyrus, which led to the realization that Melfice had been the man in the mask who left the key to that place between worlds--the one who summoned the Voidbeast that attacked her and Vallois. Mei was terribly upset. How could he have known this all along and not told her, feigned ignorance of it all when she came to him for help, even? Why had he attacked her and Vallois? She was hurt, all trust in the man lost. Wishing to regain it and appease her, he promised to answer her questions honestly. She began with asking why he had attacked her and Vallois. He answered that Vallois had actually been experiment of his--an attempt to gain the information needed to revive his dead fiancee, Chandra--who had escaped, and he was trying to kill or retrieve him, as he was unstable and his body absorbed the aether from the world around him each time his wounds mended themselves. This, he said, was why he was unable to remember anything about his past; there was nothing to recall, and the memories of his creation were blocked to him to keep him ignorant of what he was. Melfice said that he had not known Unmei would be there with him, or that they had even met. She then asked Melfice how Cyrus had died and how Melfice had ended up with his aether. Melfice said that Cyrus was attacked and outnumbered by a small group of bandits in an Ul'dahn back alley. He had stumbled upon the direct aftermath, and thought to collect Cyrus's aether before it dispersed and returned to the Lifestream. The man she had seen in the Void was one of the people who had attacked Cyrus, who Melfice had tortured for his crimes. Knowing that Melfice had something to do with the pocket of the Void they had entered and the illusions within it, Mei asked if what they'd seen was real, and Melfice confirmed that they were visions of the past. He was not her savior. He had the chance to rescue her from death, but watched her die, so that he might instead try to revive her and gain more knowledge to bring back Chandra. She also discovered the "aether transfusions" she received from him to keep herself alive had been from the souls of unwitting victims he had slain. The answers had hardly pleased Mei. Unmei rejected any more aether from the man, even if it would mean her death. Unwilling to let the girl perish, Melfice protested, and instead they compromised that he would give her no more aether from unwilling victims, though Melfice was quite begrudging about it, insisting it would be difficult to scrape up enough aether to supply Mei with it regularly enough to keep her in top shape. Mei, however, held fast to her ideals. Still eager to win Mei over and make things up to her, Melfice suggested he could return Cyrus's aether to a body, much the same way he had created Vallois. Skeptical, Unmei agreed, only if no one else would be hurt. Melfice said it would take much longer that way, but reluctantly agreed, and Unmei also demanded he vow to stop hunting down Vallois. Unmei soon found, however, that creatures continued to attack Vallois. When she brought it up to Melfice, he explained that he had summoned the creatures some time ago and sent them after Vallois, and he had no control over them now. Irritated he had not mentioned this before, her trust in him was hardly returning. Despite it, he did make good on his promise to give Cyrus a body to house his aether and reanimate him, just as Vallois made good on his promise to reunite Unmei with Cyrus, and Unmei intended to keep her own vow to marry the Midlander. Tearfully, Unmei and Vallois parted ways, and she found herself in Cyrus's arms again the next morning. He explained what happened to him when he was slain--how the ruffians who'd attacked him mentioned being hired to ambush him, to leave the body behind and take nothing. Mei was baffled. Why would they attack Cyrus if they did not know him? Who would hire him--who would want Cyrus dead? Why would they not dispose of his body to hide the evidence? Why would they not steal his belongings for profit, or steal his aether if it had been part of some bizarre ritual? Then, it clicked in her mind. Who had been responsible for all the misery in her life? Furious, she confronted Melfice, who confirmed that he had hired the thugs to attack Cyrus to test if he was strong enough to make a worthy husband for Unmei, but that he hadn't intended for them to kill the man. Though, as far as he was concerned, that only meant he had failed the test. Yet, he insisted he had meant to cause Unmei no pain. It was the last straw for the Seeker, who wanted nothing further to do with Melfice, yet her life depended upon him and the aether he provided her. She continued to visit him for the aether treatments, but was quite distant and bitter with him otherwise. Meanwhile, she began to notice that Cyrus was ever so slightly off since his death. Mei also found herself constantly worried for Vallois. Alone, no friends or family and no social skills to make them, still hunted by Voidsent, still heartbroken over losing her, no idea who or what he even was, no memories and no identity, little gil and no home... She insisted on maintaining a friendship with Vallois so he would not be completely alone, but it only seemed to make things more difficult, the two struggling not to cross any boundaries of something more than friendship. When that proved to be impossible and Unmei found herself likewise unable to cut off contact with Elezen, she eventually told Cyrus that she wished to leave him to be with Vallois. It was far from an easy decision, the girl truly loving both men, but she could not allow herself to continue hurting them both, and the current arrangement was clearly not working.  Regardless of his own hurt, Cyrus gave Unmei his blessing and even offered to help her find Vallois, as she had not been able to find him since the last time they got a bit too close and she'd run off in a panic. Eventually, they tracked down the Elezen deep within the Shroud where he and Mei had once made camp on their journey to visit Cyrus's parents, and Cyrus went on his own way once Unmei and Vallois were reunited. After the bittersweet reunion, Vallois and Unmei rested only to be awoken by the scent of something burning. Unmei immediately concerned for Cyrus, the two followed the trail of smoke to find Cyrus's parents' home aflame. Mei tried to rush inside the burning building, but Vallois stopped her and ordered she stay behind, hurrying in himself. When he made it back outside, he reported seeing a few bodies already too charred to recognize, but no survivors. Distraught over the unknown fate of Cyrus and his parents, Mei searched for Cyrus for moons afterward, but found no sign of him. Melfice stated he had nothing to do with the incident when Mei brought it up to him, but she was not so convinced. At last, she bumped into Cyrus one evening in the Harbingers' Estate, relieved to find him still alive, but injured and much changed. He explained that he had returned to his parents house that evening only for it to be attacked by bandits--who truly had nothing to do with Melfice this time, but instead were pursuing him due to some work he'd done with a member of Harbingers of Dawn. His parents had died, but he managed to escape with his life. As the two caught up with each other and mourned his parents, they found it difficult not to slip into old habits of intimacy, but Unmei caught herself and pulled away, prompting him to react rather aggressively. Unmei was taken aback, and after realizing the reaction he'd elicited from her, he quickly hurried off and she has not since been able to contact him. Melfice continued to try to make amends with Mei, and though she was still wary of him and harbored some resentment, their relationship slowly began to improve. Melfice decided it was time he move on and rid himself of Chandra's preserved body so that she might rest in peace and he could fully move forward with his life. He asked Unmei to be present with him, and she agreed. However, things went awry when after her body was released, Chandra's spirit manifested--and was none too pleased, immediately attacking them. After a night of terror, Melfice, Mei, and Shade managed to banish the specter. Shortly after, Mei began to notice something amiss with Melfice--the most obvious sign being his rather dramatic change in appearance. She soon learned that he was harboring a powerful Voidsent within him due to all his dabbling with the Void and a favor he had done for Faye Covington and her lover Val Nunh, but it was eating away at him and threatening to break free, endangering not only him but anyone else it may find should it break free. He had no one to turn to but the Harbingers of Dawn, who were not the least bit fond of the man after how he'd tormented their company, including all too recently being involved in the death one of their long-time members. Expecting to die either at the hands of Voidsent or the Harbingers, Melfice found a cure for Unmei so that she would no longer be reliant on him to live. After seeing his despair that she would now be gone from his life because she had no more need of him, Mei continued to spend time with him, after he fortunately survived the successful exorcism of the Voidsent. With no idea of where Cyrus was or what become of him, still feeling rather hurt and suspicious of Melfice, bitter with the Harbingers over their mistreatment of her loved ones and general brutality, and Vallois... well, still learning to be a person, Mei became rather downcast and extremely reclusive, more wary of others than she once was. The Harbingers eventually disbanded, but their estate remained, later being converted into a teahouse. Mei continued to live there with Cyrus, feeling more at ease among pastries and polite company than adventurers and chaos. While out picking some strange flowers she found not far from the teahouse in the Lavender Beds, Mei fell ill with a mysterious illness. Melfice and Faye worked alongside others trying to find a cure for their own loved ones who had fallen victims to the same sickness. They each helped look after Mei as she verged on death, and eventually a cure was delivered to the Seeker of the Sun. After seeing his care and concern for her, a bit more trust was returned to her strained relationship with Melfice. Once recovered, she ran into Cyrus again at last, who still seemed to be struggling his troubles. The two reformed something of a relationship, with Vallois's approval. Stories are in chronological order. Stories may contain mature/sensitive themes. Please read at your own risk.
Context: A young Unmei struggles to hunt for the Lynx tribe. Nightmares Within a Dream Context: Repurposed RP logs of Unmei and Harbingers venturing into the Void to find Cyrus. Songs I'll Never Sing Context: Aftermath and reflection of the trip into the Void.
Context: Awkward bonding time with Shadiyah over breakfast following the banishment of Chandra. [Link Here Title] Context: --- [Link Here Title] Context: ---
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