Tofu Curry
Early Life:
His parents dropped him off on a ship bound for Kugane almost immediately after birth, and shortly thereafter, the ship carried him to Ul’dah, where he was picked up by a merchant who then cared for him. Until that merchant met an untimely death. Tofu hadn’t even been old enough to remember him, and only knew of him from the words of others, but he owed his survival in those early days to that man.Tofu didn’t know if he had turned sickly after the man died or if he’d always been sickly as a child, but he grew up in poor health. He owed his continued survival through his youth to the pity of strangers. Not that it did him any favours. With no one to take him in, yet the whole market district taking pity on him and caring for him in small ways, on top of his sickly and weak constitution, it made him a fast and easy target for other children growing up on those same streets.His weakness had proven the perfect ingredient for two particular children to become increasingly more twisted as they grew up. His weakness made them feel powerful, their ability to bring him suffering brought them excitement. And his increasingly fed up attitude only served to vindicate them, at least, in their minds.Etgar was a hyuran child, around a year or so older than Tofu. A street rat from a young age, much like Tofu, he spent a lot of time roaming the streets that he called home, picking up other children along the way to become his lackeys; or, as they called it at the time, friendship. His main group of friends had three kids, including himself; a midlander like himself and a highlander. Others would come and go over time, but Etgar and his two closest would remain a constant into adulthood.Tuturoko was a lalafellin child, older than Tofu by enough that it should have been disgraceful for him to have taken to fighting him, however, his small stature made most people question his age until much later. While Etgar liked to hurt Tofu, it was nothing compared to Tuturoko’s zeal. Tuturoko liked to leave Tofu broken and battered and bleeding. His circle of friends helped facilitate that; two roegadyn, a highlander, and another lalafell whose presence was inconsistent. Tuturoko had lost his parents quite young, but old enough that they taught him how to survive on his own. His struggle growing up led to his resentment of Tofu, who he felt was receiving special treatment for being sickly.The two children would torment Tofu as he grew up, even when his body was no longer sickly and he began to be able to hold his own against them. As he grew stronger, so too did their desire to make him suffer. Even into his young adult days, they often left him battered and bleeding in alleyways. He was just one viera against two different groups, and he couldn’t hide forever.After a particularly bad series of events, a kindly family had taken care of his wounds. The Holts. Their names were burned into his memory. Nelwyna, Maddock, and Juliana Holt; a retired chirurgeon, an Immortal Flame, and their young daughter. And their kindness had cost them their lives. He didn’t know which of the two did it, but one of them had set fire to the Holt house. He couldn’t be sure if the house going up with them all inside was the intention, and he didn’t care. One of them had killed an innocent family because of him, and he was going to make them pay.With as terrible as both groups had been to him growing up, the easy solution would have been to just kill them all, but that wasn’t the sort of man he wanted to be. If he was going to kill to avenge the family who’s only sin was to show him kindness, it had to be the right people. Vengeance he could do, cold blood he could not.
Journey through ARR
(Skip if you don't want mild spoilers for post ARR):Both groups had been accruing more men into their ranks by the time Tofu returned to Ul’dah after a multi-year long journey out into the outskirts of Thanalan to pick up as many odd jobs as he could get himself into in order to make enough money to survive and also pay back the merchants he had stolen from in his youth. Upon his return, Tofu found that the two groups had formed formidable numbers. Not enough to overthrow the city, but enough to cause concern. Etgar was up to a solid group of eight or so men, and Tuturoko had picked up almost a dozen, on top of his already difficult to handle crew of four.There had only been one incident during his first arrival, and he had escaped with only a few broken ribs. Afterwards, he had been sent around the three city-states, only returning for brief periods to Ul’dah. During that, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn picked him up because he possessed something called the “echo”.He fought primals and Garleans, destroyed a weapon of mass destruction meant to bring all of Eorzea under the thumb of Garlemald, uncovered a Dravanian plot in Coerthas, fought dragons, and had come to be hailed a “hero”. He had even had a hand in uncovering a Garlean spy amongst the Flames, and while his triumphs piled high, so did the wear on his body.And so, when it came time to celebrate his triumphs, he lacked the strength to do anything as the celebrations quickly became a blood bath. People he had thought of as allies turned on him and the Scions, he was framed for murder, and he could do nothing but flee as his remaining allies urged him on as they remained behind to protect him. He was barely conscious as he and what few allies he had left fled to Coerthas. Until his name could be cleared, he could not return to Eorzea.
Meeting Wild Rose:
Or so he thought. While true he was in immense danger in the main cities, thanks to an au ra woman known as Umi, he found he could at least hide away in the residential areas. Umi taught him how to play music and brought him into her, at the time, small family. When they met, it was just her and a young au ra girl named Hana. At times, they were joined by an au ra woman Umi had hired named Fleur. Tofu discovered that Umi had once gone by the name “Naoh”, and while Hana held onto the name, calling her “Nana”, no one else referred to her as such anymore. Later, Umi would be forced to change her name once more for hers and their protection, borrowing the name Ro from a woman she’d met long ago.Over time, their family grew, and he took on some of their music gigs between jobs in Coerthas to begin to clear his name in Eorzea. They now had Blomma and Yuanwei, who had seen Fleur and Ro play music in town and wanted to learn and join them, and Ying, a friend of Fleur’s with no place to go. Just like that, he had three Miqo'te sisters. Well, two and an in-law, as Blomma and Wei were a couple. He found himself glad for not staying at their home in the Goblet much, five sisters was a lot to handle. He didn’t learn that Hana was effectively blind and Ying was mute until later.
The Growing Family:
On one of his few excursions into Ul’dah under a disguise, he had found another young au ra woman, skin and bones, lying on the streets with only a thin sheet draped over her body. Dark runes ran along the inside of her left arm. How she had clung to life in that state, he wouldn’t find out until later; a curse of undying. He brought her home and discovered that she, too, was effectively blind. The way she and Hana both “Saw” the world was similar. She even shared facial features with Hana. When the two met, they instantly could sense that they had a similar energy; they were sisters. Her name was Fiora. They took her in, discovered her penchant for alchemy, and taught her how to play music as well.More recently, a hyuran woman approached Tofu. She seemed easygoing enough in nature and repeatedly tried to initiate interactions with Tofu. She introduced herself as Naria, and it seemed, at least to those who understood what romance was (ie, not Tofu, Fiora, or Hana) like Naria was trying to court Tofu...to very little success. She repeatedly tried to get Tofu entirely alone, but he was too wary for that, especially since they were during what few emergency outings he took to Ul’dah.In the end, she had followed him into the Goblet. He knew she was tailing him, and had deliberately not led her towards their home. He had confronted her, asked her what she wanted. She did well to keep up the act, right up until the end. She had gotten close enough, even going so far as to hug him while she pleaded to him about her, what she assumed were false, romantic feelings. Until he felt the knife in his back, slid carefully between his ribs; she knew she lacked the strength to pierce bone. The knife itself wasn’t meant to kill him, but the poison coating the blade was.She pulled away, almost angry with him that he hadn’t been seduced so that someone else could take care of him. She wasn’t meant to get her hands dirty, that wasn’t part of the deal, until she failed one too many times to get him to follow her alone. They had told her that they would forgive her debts if she succeeded, and threatened her life as she failed. Surely they’d forgive her debts now...Except Fiora had found them. As Tofu dropped to the ground, Fiora threw a temporary blinding powder in Naria’s face, causing the woman to flee. She would have used something more permanent but she had sensed something in Naria, heard something in her tone; she was afraid, and she didn’t want to do what she was doing. Fiora managed to get Tofu home and put together an antidote, leaving Blomma to treat the wound. Another attempt on his life, survived.However, that wasn’t the end of Naria. She returned to the Goblet, and had managed to find Tofu once more. But she hesitated. He could see her hesitation and asked why. In near hysterics, she explained that she didn’t want to do this, that she didn’t want to kill him, that she was in danger. He was disinclined to believe her after her previous lies, but when Tuturoko’s men approached her from behind, primed to kill her as well, he protected her.Just as the two of them were almost entirely overwhelmed by Tuturoko’s men, Fiora found them and hurled acid bombs at the men, helping Nari and Tofu escape. The incident wasn’t without its injuries, putting Tofu out of commission once more for a short time. During his recovery, Fiora pointed out to Naria that she was in danger and offered for her to join the family for her protection.Tofu wasn’t present for the last sibling to join the family, but Blomma and Wei found a ragged orange Miqo'te washed up on the beach with no memory of his name or former life. They brought him to their home and offered a place in the family to him. Tofu finally had a brother, Tapatio (or Tio for short), though it started off a bit… roughly. As in, they got into a fight within the first week. They’ll get over it. Probably.
