GJOLA ARDA

RUNAWAY RAMBLER ∙ RESTLESS RETAINER

its green border repeats the dark outline of the buried lake;
an invisible landscape conditions the visible one.
• italo calvino, invisible cities •

ABOUT

One of the retainers on the Merchant Strip is a sullen-faced Veena woman with dried mud flaking off the backs of her boots and cheeks that seem always a little sunburnt. She introduces herself as Petal, or Apple, or takes no name at all, pushing her way past someone wordlessly with rawboned shoulders and stomping up the worn stone staircases two steps at a time. In an idle moment, after the chiming of the last bell, she looks out into the still, cool air, searching for the tracery of some far mountain.

AESTHETICS

Morning at midwinter, bright and still. Wind so stiff and strong in your face that it feels like cold water. The smoke that coils upward from an extinguished candle. Sweat beneath a heavy coat. Dust that clings to boots. A cold bed in an empty house.

EVENINGS • BALMUNG • CST (GMT-6)

• HOME

23, she/her OOC. No players or characters below the age of 18, please.I love slowly paced writing with a focus on mood and atmosphere, character-driven scenes that explore the everyday realities of life in Eorzea, and LGBTQ+ themes.Frequent, honest OOC communication is important to me. I enjoy spontaneity in RP, but I like to do some light planning and brainstorming before jumping into things.No sexual violence, drawn-out combat scenes, or fetish characters of any kind.

The background image is by Ivan Shishkin and the image of the bunny is by Rien Poortvliet!

• HOME

PROFILE

the wind is blowing, blowing over the grass.
it shakes the willow catkins; the leaves shine silver.
where are you going, wind? far, far away
over the hills, over the edge of the world.
take me with you, wind, high over the sky.
i will go with you, i will be rabbit-of-the-wind,
into the sky, the feathery sky and the rabbit.
• richard adams, watership down •

HOOKS

• Have tales of adventure?
Gjola left Skatay hoping to find a fulfilling new life that has so far eluded her. Like so many in Eorzea she has fallen into the dull rhythms of working life, and any spark of the excitement she'd hoped city living would provide will draw her attention.• Shopped at Sunsilk?
Gjola spent the first twelvemoon of her time in Eorzea spinning thread and hemming dresses for Sunsilk Tapestries in Ul'dah. In the end she quit her work there in an outburst of long-withheld frustration, and she hasn't set foot in the shop since.• Need a retainer?
Gjola advertises herself as a mender and gatherer, but she just as often finds herself sweeping floors, watching pets, or painting the side of someone's caravan. Prospective clients can find her on Sapphire Avenue or inquire by Moogle-mail.• Skilled at tinkering?
Gjola's always been a little nearsighted. Since coming to Eorzea she's tried corrective spectacles, but they fit her Vieran face poorly, wrought with Hyur or Lalafell in mind. She still wears them sometimes, but they're always slipping down her nose...• Come from Dalmasca?
Gjola spent several moons in Rabanastre before making the journey west to Eorzea. She's done a fair bit of growing up since then, but she's still got the same mousy brown hair and freckled nose that she had all those years and malms ago.• Come from the Wood – or the city?
Gjola aspires to be a well-adjusted city Viera with a name that fits, a love that's true, and a heart that has forgotten the words of her mother. But the Wood clings to her with little hooks, and she keeps finding pieces of it in places she didn't expect.

• HOME

One of the lodgers on the Merchant Strip is a sullen-faced Veena woman with a thin, boyish frame and cheeks that seem always a little sunburnt. She still has the manner of the wood with her; she talks little with strangers, wary-eared, and she takes her meals alone, eats idly, reading a book, tracing the grain in the table with a finger. Every night she stomps upstairs in her boots and shuts the door to her room too loud.She braids flowers into her hair when the weather is good, splashes water on her bangs and combs them straight every morning. She likes the Bloodsands, likes the open sky, likes new clothes and curious trinkets, the little tricks the merchants on Sapphire Avenue do to catch your eye. On a breezy day in the last heat of summer she lies down on a hilltop and falls asleep in the light, in the warm wind of the day.

Born the middle daughter of a Veena huntress in the pine thickets of Skatay, Gjola grew from a quarrelsome youth into a discontented young woman. Not more than three summers ago she signed on with a merchant caravan bound for Dalmasca, leaving the wood behind to make a new life in the world beyond the forest's edge. She still carries much of the manner of the wood with her, and she sticks out amidst the bustle of city life, a seedling taken from the forest and planted in unfamiliar soil.

This lanky-limbed Veena frequents Eorzea’s inns and hostels, one of many Skatayan women who have fled their homes in recent days. She takes her supper at guildhalls most nights, head bent over a bowl of soup, bushy ears twitching at travelers' stories.She still carries much of the manner of the wood with her, and she sticks out amidst the bustle of city life, a seedling taken from the forest and planted in unfamiliar soil.
She's probably as curious about you as you are about her—why not say hello?Gjola is ambitious but unfocused, eager to grow but unsure of the person she wants to become—or of the person she really is right now.

A BRIGHT-EYED, FIERCE-HEARTED YOUNG WANDERER
FINDING A HOME FAR FROM THE FOREST OF HER BIRTH