gareki “bad decisions o’clock” gawain-yukimura。

Name: Gareki Gawain-Yukimura
Age: 28
Hair: Originally black (now gray)
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'8"
Sex: Male
Sexuality: Homosexual
Physique: Lean/Somewhat athletic
Race: Hybrid (midlander hyur & keeper of the moon miqo’te)
Birthplace: Othard (nomadic clan)
Current “Residence”: Kugane
Job/Class: MCH/GNB/ARCH + LTW/BSM/ARM/CRP

Appearance:

Gareki can be described as incredibly unremarkable, with a mop of messy bleach-gray (originally black) hair drowning part of his face, making it easy for him to blend in wherever he goes. Beneath his haphazard fringe, he has blue eyes and natural miqo'te markings. His face resembles his sister's heart-shaped one quite a bit, giving him a mildly androgynous appearance, and his body is very lean and limber like most miqo'te (standing at about 5'8"). His tail is long with a fluffed out texture that feels naturally soft, and he has slightly pronounced canine teeth.

History:

Gareki is half miqo'te/half hyur, born as part of the Utakata clan in Othard. His mother was a keeper of the moon miqo'te from Othard, whose family migrated away from Aldenard long ago, adopting the lifestyle, customs, and naming conventions of the Othardians. She used to serve as head of the clan while Gareki's father was a hyuran midlander, an ex-dragoon, and a wanderer who came from Coerthas in Aldenard and met his mother during his travels through Kugane. The two of them had bonded and had two children, Megumi and Gareki. Gareki is the younger of the siblings by two years.

When Gareki was only five years old, both of his parents were killed as a result of the Garlean conquest throughout Othard, which they fiercely rebelled against. The Utakata clan had stalled the advance of the Garleans long enough for their younger members to escape, including both Yukimura siblings, who were protected under the watchful eye of an older male keeper named Yamato. Yamato ended up raising Gareki and Megumi along with the huntresses of the Utakata clan, teaching Gareki primarily to hunt with a bow and arrow and giving him his first basic set of crafting tools to help mend their leather wares. Being part of a matriarchy, Gareki had no leadership position nor any desire for any and had been spoiled by a lot of his clanmates who would stuff him with their best dishes, dress him up, braid and bead his hair, and tell him stories.

When he reached puberty, Gareki went to train with a hrothgar clan near Ilsabard and learned how to use guns and gunblades as a primary mode of self-defense. His sharp eyesight and skills as an excellent marksman came in handy as he integrated with Megumi's future husband and his people, helping them against their own pursuits against the Garleans in the area. He also met a peculiar-looking hyur by the name of Klair Gawain while wandering through the forest terrain too close to Dalmasca and had nearly fired at him in shock. The two developed an unlikely friendship with Gareki trying to teach Klair to hunt with a bow or fixing Klair's instruments for him for fun. Eventually, Klair had to return to his homeland, but they promised they would meet again eventually.

In the meantime, the situation around Ilsabard worsened with the Garleans pushing forth into more of the hrothgar territory. Gareki helped out the resistance but nearly lost his life in the process while protecting Megumi's intended from danger. Fortunately, Klair rescued him and brought him to his sister to heal. While recovering in his old home, Klair and Gareki rekindled their uneasy friendship, leading them to travel together to Ishgard once the sanctions around the city had been lifted. Gareki began an apprenticeship at the Skysteel Manufactory and improved his skill as an engineer and a machinist. It was there that Gareki developed his real prowess as a craftsman and began to idolize the great Cid nan Garlond, expressing a desire to one day work in Cid's Ironworks. However, living in Ishgard for so long proved to be a challenge due to the harsh weather, but Klair kept Gareki warm in many creative ways... and the two of them did eventually wed in a small private ceremony with just their close friends.

Gareki later moved to Kugane to set up his own metallurgy so he could make gil crafting and repairing weapons for the locals. His business had achieved some moderate success, but he had to temporarily depart to go to Ilsabard to aid some old friends as the Garlean Empire started to fragment. As of patch 5.5, he's remained in Ilsabard and has been sending letters via moogle mail out to his husband to maintain contact but does miss him dearly while they're apart.

Personality:

✪ Fear of Loneliness: Though Gareki has a lot of introverted tendencies, he does actually have a deep-seated fear of being alone and hates admitting it to himself. It's why his few relationships mean so much to him and why he goes out of his way to be kind and generous on occasion even if he tries not to be obvious about it. After having lost his parents at a young age, he's determined not to lose anyone else important to him and will defend those he loves with his life if he has to.

✪ Cranky: His temperament can be prickly if someone rubs him the wrong way or wakes him up too soon from a nap. He tries generally to be vaguely tolerant of others, but he will not hold his tongue when annoyed or upset.

✪ Stubborn and strong-willed: He's not one to give up easily, and he's known to stand his ground and become an immovable force if he needs to. This often leads to several points of contention with him as he likes to do things his way and his way alone. However, he is not incapable of relenting if someone can convincingly argue with him long enough, but it takes someone as equally stubborn as he is to wear him down.

✪ Soft-hearted and selfless: In spite of his occasionally prickly exterior, Gareki does genuinely care about others to the point of recklessly putting himself in danger to save them, such as when he had been defending the area around Ilsabard from the Garleans and had received a near-fatal wound while protecting Megumi's then-fiance from a heavy barrage of gunfire. He's also especially amenable to small children and animals, though he may profusely complain about having to look after them, and he has a tendency to become embarrassed by showing and receiving physical and verbal affection -both of which make him clam up and behave awkwardly.

✪ Intellect: Gareki has somewhat above average intelligence when it comes to machinery and numbers. He's also quite observant and makes for a good ranged hunter and combatant, as he possesses almost enough spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination to rival the average Garlean. Almost. However, that is as far as his brain and skill level go. He is notably a consummate failure at learning other languages and is a terrible writer and essayist, as he struggles with purple prose and crafting metaphors.

✪ Illusion of Confidence: He likes to pretend he knows what he is doing in every situation when he's actually winging it most of the time. This frequently lands him into trouble as he overestimates his ability and usefulness in a lot of situations. It is a miracle he has not died of his own brashness yet.

✪ Sense of Humor: He's got a very blatant quirky side and does like to joke here and there. His language can border on the rough and crass, and he's known to make dark jokes and sarcastic comments to try and break the tension.

✪ Technophile: He has a passion for machines and gadgets, having grown up taking everything he could find apart just to see how they work. His favorite hobby is building things from scratch, and he's come to idolize Cid nan Garlond's engineering prowess over the years. When he's not busy at work, he likes to build games for himself and his friends to play, as well as make toys for his nieces and nephews.

✪ Fanboy: Gareki does read a lot and enjoys fiction novels, usually whatever passes for science fiction in Eorzea. He has a huge collection of picture books and perks up at the mention of any of their characters. Though he isn't the talkative type, he will suddenly become a very vocal and an active participant in conversation if anyone mentions his favorite titles. In fact, getting him to shut up about them may require the strength of an army.

✪ Slob: Disarrayed and disorganized, Gareki leads an uncultured life and likes to sleep on top of his own mess. He's boorish; he's not particularly tidy; and he tends to eat like he has three stomachs. His manners are also very much lacking, and he has a bad habit of crouching instead of sitting on chairs and passing out wherever he's working. Basically, he's a mess but has no compunctions about looking or acting dignified in spite of the protests of others. At most, he'll occasionally let his husband, Klair, fix his hair for him.

Powers and Abilities:

✪ Gareki has high agility in accordance with his miqo'te roots. He's very limber and quick on his feet and can scale trees and walls rather easily.

✪ Unlike the Warrior of Light and various other FFXIV characters, Gareki does not possess the power of echo nor any associated powers.

✪ Ranged Weapon Proficiency: He is adept at using long-ranged weapons and firearms, such as guns, rifles, pistols, bows, crossbows, gunblades, etc. He also can construct his own bombs and explosives and use them as part of his arsenal.

✪ Jobs & Classes: He's classed as a machinist, an archer, and a gunbreaker in accordance with FFXIV lore. He's also proficient as a blacksmith, carpenter, leatherworker, and armorer, able to craft several kinds of battle gear and weapons.

✪ Magic: He cannot use any magic spells or harness aether well for anything more complex than crafting synthesis. A lot of his weapon packs for machinist and bullets for gunbreaker are made with his husband's aether.