The Peculiar Chef

From Humble Beginnings

Inspired by an expatriate tia of her tribe, H'sypha chose to leave home to follow in his footsteps and gain a better understanding of cuisines and cultures far beyond her home.

Her adventuring abilities are rudimentary, but she's quite comfortable in the kitchen. Upon arriving in Limsa Lominsa, Sypha sought out The Bismarck and began her training.

Life in Ul'dah

Realizing she'd need more than a knife and pan to gather quality ingredients, she traveled to Ul'dah to join the Pugilist's Guild. Her training often left her tuckered out in the Quicksand after work, where she first met a Keeper woman named Kedha, who told her of the free company she worked for, Cerberus Enclave.

Sypha began her work with the Enclave as a chef, and soon after met a mercenary Hyur, Kent Kalloway. She hired him to help her make her way safely to the Shroud and past a veritable mob of Dullahan to pick herbs, of all things. Surprisingly, Kent managed to distract them long enough that they both escaped without even a scratch and made their way back to Ul'dah, but that wouldn't be the last they saw of each other. Hardly.

Work with Cerberus Enclave

Unbeknownst to both of them, they were both working for the Enclave, along with the other members. It wasn't until H'sypha walked out of the kitchen one day to find several members of the company passed out on the floor with an odd smell lingering in the front hall. She rushed to the interrogation room to beg their help, where she found Kent among their number questioning their captured target.

Their questions would have to wait, as they were suddenly attacked by an assassin and led out of the room. Armed with only her frying pan, Sypha initially hung back, but upon seeing a woman of the Enclave, Astra, under heavy attack, she gave a cry and lunged forward, swinging the cast iron pan as hard as she could, killing their assailant immediately.

Though she was at first unwilling to believe she could have killed someone - in fact, terrified that such could be the case, the rest of the Enclave happily clapped her on the back and welcomed her to join the fold with open arms, and so she came to join them beyond just working as a chef, attending missions where she fought amongst their ranks.

The Dancing Chef

Around this same time, she began to travel to Radz-at-Han and Thavnair with her good friend and mutually proclaimed "brother," Renzo, a snowy-haired Hyur. The pair wandered about the area and came across a dance troupe. Sypha was enthralled and begged to join their number, and to her delight, she was accepted to train with them. She worked hard, putting in tens of hundreds of hours of blood, sweat, and tears, bruising and cutting her hands and fingers countless times in the process, but with time came a certain mastery of the art, and she's stuck with dancing ever since.

Work with the Cerberus Enclave continued. The company was hounded by a mysterious man by the name of Dorian Grey, a man who drew on the power of the void to thwart the Enclave's attempts to stop him and his mysterious Court of Shadows. Upon attacking the Enclave during a celebratory feast, Dorian released a horrific monstrosity upon them that turned their leader's ancestral home into a house of horrors. Barely escaping with their lives, it seemed that one of their number, a Keeper woman named Annie was able to get a taste of Dorian's power.

After recovering, two figureheads of the Enclave held an All Saint's Wake party at their home. Some few attendees made their way to the nearby hot springs to relax after having their fill of the merriment inside, H'sypha, Kent, and Annie among those. Kent, being the way he is, easily found a way to needle Annie, touching on long-sore subjects that led her to conjure a knife as if from thin air to stab him, leading - as one would expect - to a complete breakdown of the shaky peace the two had always maintained, much to Sypha's despair.

Somehow More Than Friends

Despite all odds, the Seeker woman came to fall for the red-eyed, pit fighting Midlander, Kent, much to the surprise of the others in the Cerberus Enclave. Although clueless in regard to matters of the heart, H'sypha grew suspicious of the strange way he often spoke to and treated her, and demanded he speak plainly.

Though hesitant, Kent obliged her, confiding in her his fears of upsetting her should he pursue a relationship with her and "chasing her off" from the Enclave. H'sypha assured him no such thing could possibly happen, and the two solidified their partnership, though they kept matters secret from her family and from the Enclave, though the latter was resolved quickly enough at a company gathering, to which Astra was forced to pay up upon losing a bet on the matter to her wife, C'zaya.

Life in the Enclave

Though it wasn't immediate, Annie soon turned on them, seeking Dorian's power for herself, for which he was more than happy to oblige. Dressed in fine, revealing silks, Annie served as a pawn for him, and the Enclave was fiercely divided on how to deal with her betrayal. Sypha herself was fiercely loyal to her friend, knowing in her heart there was more to the story than met the eye, which was confirmed when Annie appeared before her while she gathered cactus out in the deserts of Thanalan.

Surprised and still somewhat wary of the Keeper, she was hesitant to approach her, but when Annie assured her of her good intentions, she eagerly pulled the older woman in for a hug. After talking, Annie asked if H'sypha might join her with Dorian, and confessed her plan to soon betray the man for his powers, as well as, unexpectedly, her feelings for her Seeker counterpart. Somewhat embarrassed, H'sypha admitted that she had feelings for Kent, and the two were presently together, to which Annie protested, falling to her knees in surprise. Though disappointed, she respected the Seeker's feelings, but told her to seek her out should she ever get tired of the Hyur.

Despite the Enclave now placing Annie firmly in their books as an enemy of the company, H'sypha still saw her when she was able, for as dear a friend as she was, and Annie made time for her when she was able.

Enclave's End

All good things must come to an end, and so did much of the work that came from the Enclave. With Dorian defeated, many members were left tired and worn, and work slowed down. Ever in need of money, Sypha took odd jobs here and there, but was left without steady work for a time. She kept in touch with most everyone she could. Around this same time, another Seeker, M'zamu of the M tribe in The Fringes joined the flagging organization, and the two quickly bonded. Zamu also gave Kent a hard time, and most everyone that Sypha met was stunned to learn that she and Kent were an item.

By this point, H'sypha had grown weary of Kent's attitude that often led him to bloody fistfights, even on busy nights in the Quicksand. The last straw seemed to be one night in the bar, when she caught sight of Renzo and hurried over to hug him. Upon seeing them, Kent berated Renzo, much to H'sypha's complete embarrassment. The relationship was strained, and the Seeker could hardly take another moment and ended things, though both of them were left bitter in its wake.

Shortly after, M'zamu invited H'sypha to take a trip with her to Radz-at-Han, a city Zamu had meant to visit and that Sypha had come to adore in her time spent there. The two bonded over their shared experiences growing up in Seeker tribes, living in no small amount of luxury as they enjoyed the city and each other's company.

On the Hunt

With the Enclave effectively shuttered, Sypha had to look for work elsewhere. Around this time she became acquainted with a Rava man named Ashe. The pair got along well, often meeting the other over a pint or glass or something or another from the Quicksand's stocks. After a while, Ashe invited Sypha along on a job, a hunt to take care of a nasty manticore that had been causing a problem in Thanalan. She joined him, a man who introduced himself as Saladin, and a Sharlayan Keeper named Lhuphena on a trek out to the beast's lair, managing to defeat it with only minor casualties.

Ever inclined to make use of whatever ingredients might be on hand, Sypha begged they give her a moment to carve some of the meat from it, as much as she could carry home with her so she could cook it into a roast, bringing it along with her to the Quicksand upon her next visit to share in the spoils with those brave enough to sample such a dish. Despite its gamey flavor it did turn out quite delicious, at least in her opinion!

Penchant for the Peculiar

H'sypha had always wondered about less… traditional foodstuffs, but after having had her first taste of such a thing with the manticore she decided it was time to try other things, too! She reached back out to Ashe for his help hunting a large crab just south of Costa Del Sol. He brought along a friend, K'sehnna, and reached out to Lhuphena for her help devising a trap to tie up the crab to make their fight a bit easier. Fortunately, the trap bound the crab and they were able to take it out with minimal injuries - a blessing, considering how easily their target could have squished them beneath its mass!

Once defeated, Sypha thanked them both for their help with a hefty payment from the profit she figured she'd be making upon selling the majority of the crab's meat and sundry parts at market, since she'd not be able to cook and eat it all herself, even if she tried!

A Taste for Peiste

Now well acquainted, Ashe reached out to Sypha about a new job: people in a settlement nearby Ul'dah were being attacked by Peistes, and the beasts were growing nearer to the city's outskirts. Excited by the prospect of getting to try peiste meat for the first time, Sypha accepted and the pair set off, doing a bit of reconnaissance, first finding traces of the beasts until they finally found their lair. Though frightened, Sypha jumped into the sandy pit with Ashe and soon found a number of young Peistes scrambling at the walls of the cavern, the remains of an old mining operation, where a young boy hung unconscious from the wall, likely stuck there by one of the parent peistes to teach their young how to hunt.

Ashe and Sypha made quick work of the younglings and soon drew the attention, and ire, of a large peiste. Attacking them, the pair were seemingly at a disadvantage, with Sypha nearly passing out from the pain after being bit by the venomous creature and sprayed with acid. Ashe fortunately carried the fight and they managed to defeat it. Though tempted to bring back a cut of their prize, the boy came first, and so Ashe helped her up to cut the boy loose and take him home to his relieved parents.

Farewell to a Friend

Ashe had a new request for Sypha: upon the conclusion of one of his latest jobs, he'd been angered beyond word's description and had done something he deeply regretted that caused Chou to become listless, staring off into the distance at all times, his fur now a violent red tinge. No longer did he help teach Ashe the common writing system or play hangman with him and friends. He spoke with a colleague, Mavis, who analyzed him and sensed there was something unbalanced about his aether. Ashe led the two Seekers, an Elezen name Beatrix, or Bee, and a Keeper named Qi'hara, along with Chou, into the snowy wastes of Coerthas, far beyond the Holy See's limits to where he had found Chou.

The group traveled to the cave where Ashe had first found the strange Paissa, only for something strange to take place. Their bodies disappeared and were replaced by the shadowy forms of Paissas, their minds driven by a single directive: climb. And so they did, falling and failing, their stubby arms not fit for such a trial. Thirteen times they fell until finally one succeeded only to be cast aside. Chou regained his memories - of everything since before Ashe even found him. As he did, thirteen Paissa blasphemies apparated and attacked, and as the party fought them off, Chou vanished. H'sypha was injured, but Qi'hara healed her, leaving scars upon her stomach where she'd been clawed by the apparitions. Though Chou had disappeared, Ashe still held a tether to his familiar, and after gathering themselves once more, they followed to the remnants of the village of Saint Allene.

The village had been razed years ago during the Dragonsong War and was little more than a ghost town now. Unable to find anything within the village, the party found a cemetery on its outskirts and there found Chou, seemingly back to normal and staring at a gravestone. The Paissa hops back up onto Ashe and they returned to the village but sense something is off. After determining that the horrid feeling is emanating from the village's church, the group goes inside. Upon walking downstairs, they were met with a grisly sight: a corpse in a body bag, a corpse at a table, and a blasphemy that has been chained up with bindings of ice.

Upon examining the man at the table, Sypha realized it was no corpse at all and the man was alive, but barely. She tried to give him water and he roused, slapping her hand away. He confessed to having chained up the blasphemy, his daughter, turned after she could no longer take her father's abuse. He, an astrologian, had failed to predict an attack on the village years prior and blamed himself. Chou seemed to tell Ashe that he wanted to fulfill his intended purpose as a vessel and help take on the girl, Hellena’s, soul despite her being turned into a blasphemy.

As a concerted effort, Laurent released his daughter from her chains. The party tried to bind her but she screamed and spirited them away to a memory of the day the attack killed her mother. Filled with despair, they were attacked by four of the dragons that struck that day. Sypha began to dance, trying to dispel their dynamis, and with the help of the others she finished them off and the party was transported to a battlefield in Dalmasca, where they now found that Ashe has disappeared.

They found him, or a memory of him, holding a dying comrade in his arms, who called him by another name. Another comrade rushed in to tell him that they were given the wrong intel and that it wasn't his fault. Ashe's disembodied voice echoed about the battlefield saying that it was his fault and that he took their name. The Viera then transformed and fought against the party, who in turn defeated him and were taken to a dark void with a source of light far, far above them. As despair filled them, the thirteen vessels’ eyes lit up around them and took hold of them, raising them to the light, where, when they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a green, grassy meadow, in the village before it was destroyed.

After walking a ways, they found Hellena sitting, surrounded and at peace among the thirteen Paissa, and with Chou. Speaking with her, the party assured her that she’d be alright. Sypha and Bee cried as they talked about Chou how much they love Chou and how Hellena will come to love him. Satisfied, Hellena rose to her feet and they walked with her to a part of the village where one could see the stars shining in the sky. Chou and the Paissa and Hellena said their farewells as their forms began to fade into light, but at the last moment Chou regained his form and Ashe, who had held it together until now, began to cry as he said his final farewells. Chou lifted his tiny stick arm up to give him a fist bump, and disappeared with the others, leaving Ashe to his tears as Bee and Sypha ran up to comfort him.

Looking for Work

With very little on her plate, Sypha began to spend more time in the Quicksand looking for connections and staying in touch with those she already knew. It was one night here that she met a Viera named Mar and asked him a bit about himself, and he told her of his work with an organization based out of Shirogane. He couldn't tell her much, but said if she was interested she should go to the Owl House and talk with someone there about joining. A few days later she took an Airship out to Kugane and then the ferry to the residential district and was met by Karuis, who told her more about the House's mission. Inspired by their goals, she asked to join them in full and began to integrate herself into the Owl House's inner workings, even joining them on her first mission where she was met with a battle so terrifying she wondered if she'd made the right decision.

New Work, New Friends

Delivered onto the battlefield, H'sypha stepped off of the airship, fearfully mingling with her comrades. It was then she stood beside a Keeper samurai, pale like death, which clung to him, his lungs stricken by a terrible disease - Red Throat. He warned her away, knowing the illness was easily spread and that he'd have no choice but to repent with his life if she or anyone else were to become sick by his hand. Hearing the pain in his throat as he coughed, she offered him a few honeyed candies she had made and readied herself for battle. H'sypha was intrigued by the man, fighting so diligently despite his suffering, coughing blood all the while as he struck down foe after foe. But that was all for that evening, the battle taking its toll on each and every one of them, though for a blessing all made it back to the House to debrief and lick their wounds.

Some time later, Sypha entered the house and found the man in the House's basement, resting at the bar. He quickly tied on a cloth mask, and the pair walked outside to sit in the gazebo under the wisteria trees at his recommendation, keeping a fair distance between them. Sypha was further intrigued by the man, who reintroduced himself as Sheiharo Soji of the Shinmuso Hayashisaki-ryu dojo, committed to a cause that was not his own when he should be focused on his health. Puzzled by the strange poems he often spoke in, the Seeker was oblivious, often asking after his meaning. His coughing wore on her, his pain so easy to see from such a close distance that she couldn't help her instincts to come to his side and set a hand upon his back, stunning the Keeper, who'd not experienced such kindness, nor even touch in the time since he'd fallen ill. Looking into his eyes up close, Sypha was privy to the sight of stars suspended in his gaze, a product of asteroid hyalosis and another illness he suffered silently.

Unbeknownst to her, this was where something began to bloom between them, and H'sypha grew more invested in the Keeper's health. They met a few days later on a pier near the house, enjoying the sea breeze together as Sypha asked after his past and why he'd joined the Owl House. She learned just why he couldn't rest, driven on by vows long since made, so dire that should he fail in them he'd be bound by honor to take his own life in ritual suicide. But the way he worked himself to such illness… Sypha knew the path he was on would lead him to just the same fate, and so she made a vow of her own, pressing him to come with her to Gridania, where she would take him to the Conjurer's Guild for healing.

Some time later they arranged to take an airship to the Shroud, arriving on a sunny day. Sypha took him right to the Conjurer's Guild, walking with him slowly as his battered lungs struggled to carry him the whole way. They spoke with the Conjurers and they took him back into their Guild. Sypha assured him she'd be near, hurrying off to run a couple of errands and returning not long after to find him kneeling before the pond just outside the Guild's doors. Sypha knelt down next to him, offering him over a hand pie she had bought for him at the Carline Canopy and asked how it had went. She was pleased beyond belief to hear that while he was not cured, he was no longer a threat to those around him, and felt much better, besides. Sheiharo, grateful for all she'd done for him so far, took a paper fan from his robes and offered it out to her. The gift, a handmade paper fan painstakingly painted, featured travelers ascending a mountain to a temple on a pilgrimage, with a traveler's poem painted in beautiful calligraphy to ward her from harm. Again, their bond deepened, and it wouldn't be long before the pair grew closer still…

Destined by Fate

Now that they'd proven that Sheiharo's condition could be improved, Sypha continued to encourage him to rest and take care of his health. For their next outing, she asked him to join her in Camp Bronze Lake, where the hot springs were known to help cure many ailments and wounds. They enjoyed their wine as they relaxed in the waters together, looking out over the ruins of Nym in the distance. She told him of her home nearby in Raincatcher Gully, just a ways south of the springs, of the lands there, and of her family. Already so close, she asked if he'd like to see some of their lands, and offered to treat him to a meal she'd often eaten as a kit, and he gratefully accepted. As the evening grew late, they decided to rest for the night at the inn, renting separate rooms and bidding one another good night, until the morrow.

In the morning, Sypha awoke and came out from her inn room to find Sheiharo already awake, kept from a restful sleep by his coughing in the night. The pair started off, taking the broken footpath from the springs towards the beaches that sprawled near her homeland. There, they prepared to hunt for aught they'd need for their meal: two apkallus and their eggs. H'sypha was impressed by the samurai's graceful execution of the birds, and happily accepted the eggs he carefully offered to her in outstretched hands, trembling with his illness and the effort expanded. Sheiharo took up the birds and they hiked towards her tribe's lands in the hills of Raincatcher Gully. There, they were found by her brother, who was understandably cautious of the stranger with his older sister, especially after finding he was sick. With a bit of explanation, her brother, H'resu, quickly warmed to the man, eagerly hearing more and more about when he learned he was a painter, like him. Resu escorted them to the tribe's village grounds, leaving them to it so he could finish his patrol. Sypha took Sheiharo to her mother's home, happily introducing him to two of her younger sisters, H'nalthi and H'naanta. H'nalthi was neutral, but welcoming all the same, while Naanta was quite shy, hiding behind her elder sister as she greeted him, though she showed plenty of interest in Sheiharo regardless.

Nalthi and Naanta helped H'sypha cook, and as the dish was starting to simmer, Resu returned with their mother, H'saatne. The woman was pleased to meet Sheiharo, who flattered her, insinuating she must be where Sypha got her good looks from. Quickly taken with him, Saatne was happy to have him, though that didn't stop her from threatening him - if he hurt her daughter, he'd have hell to pay. She invited him to sit and make himself comfortable despite what little they had to offer. Once the meal was ready, Naanta and Nalthi served it out, giving Sheiharo, their guest, the first bowl, and then to the rest. They all tucked in to eat, asking Sheiharo question after question, until footsteps sounded behind them and the Seekers quickly rose to bow in greeting to their village head, H'rhun Nunh. They fixed the greying Nunh a bowl, silver peppering his fading lilac hair that hung long over his back. He welcomed Sheiharo as well, and was pleased to hear his praise for their tribe and to answer what questions he could about life there. Unable to stay for long, H'rhun soon took his leave, as did Saatne. Resu showed Sheiharo his paintings, shyly accepting his praise before asking if Sheiharo had anything of his own to show. The Keeper reluctantly said he did not, but Sypha remembered the fan and asked if she could show it to Resu. Sheiharo was initially nervous, hoping he'd painted it well enough, that it was deserving of even being on her person, but he agreed, and Resu fawned over the fan, surprised that Sheiharo had put so much effort into a gift for his sister, of all people. Though he took issue with this, Sheiharo kindly assured him she was perfectly deserving of it, and Resu handed it back to his sister, inspired by what he'd seen. Lamenting that he did not have the good fortune of having better access to more colors, Sheiharo promised him that he'd gift him a set of paints, wishing he had them on him at the time to give them to him with immediacy. Resu accepted, though not without some grievances, and soon took his leave while Sypha's sisters made themselves busy cleaning up after dinner, leaving Sypha and Sheiharo on their own.

Sypha asked what he might like to see next and they decided to see one of the subjects of a landscape Resu had painted, a great waterfall that cascaded down into the Agelyss River. Sypha told him about the land, the cold, freshwater springs that dotted the land, and they soon came upon the falls, the sheer cliff giving Sypha the same fear it always had since she'd been little. Sheiharo encouraged her to face her fear, and she slowly stepped out towards the ledge, though her knees soon gave out and she fell, where he quickly came to her, wrapping her up in his arms as she wept, soothing her and drying her tears as he praised her for facing her fears so bravely. Such woes were left behind, Sypha's pride mostly intact as she brought him back along the river to one of the springs. Stepping aside, she wrapped herself up in a towel as he simply stepped in in his robes, so thin they'd dry quickly in the breeze after. Sypha joined him after she uncorked a bottle of palm wine and poured them each a cup, happily sipping at it as they spoke while the sun began to set.

to be continued phew…

Heavy WIP from here on out - story beats to write:

Meeting Sheiharo...

Bonnacon hunt…

Telling family…

Traveling east…

H'sypha Soji

Race

Clan

Free Company

Introduction

Player's notes

Age

Race

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Occupation

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