Cotton Bailedine
Dossier:
Address: Mateus, Mists, 23rd Ward, Plot 16
Gender/Orientation: He/him, Ace
Occupation: Diviner at the H&H Tradewinds Company, Chef for Mimosa Manor, occasional tailor
Known Associates:
Boss: H'atari Nunh
Sister: Kehda Fer'aal
Roomates: V'tori Gale, Tashi Galathynius, Thokk Grokkenheim, Ananova Solandaire
RP Preferences: Walk-up RP when RP tag is on, No ERP (romance/pda okay), Mature, Intrigue, or Light-Hearted Storylines Okay, Flexible
Bio:
Generally cheerful and mischevious, Cotton can sometimes have suspcious tendencies towards people he doesn't know well or doesn't respect. This is somewhat rare--he's on good terms with most people, though he is known to scheme on occasion. He hasn't been outside of Ishgard long, leaving some of his more traditionally-oriented beliefs to clash with the rowdy, informal culture and people of Limsa Lominsa. His day-to-day life involves cooking for Mimosa Manor and observing the stars and cards to the benefit of H'atari Nunh and H&H Tradewinds Company--and perhaps indulging in a bit of gossip and drama.
Photos by: Thokk Grokkenhiem, Ananova Solandaire
Cotton and Kehda's Early Life
Years ago, a hybrid miqo'te Seekers of the Sun/Seekers of the Moon tribe passed through the snowy plains outside of Ishgard when a powerful blizzard struck. Two child miqo'te wandered into Ishgard on their own and managed to survive along with the urchins on the street. They gravitated toward a bakery with pastel sweets and decadent cakes, as children do. Cotton, who is by consensus the younger, eventually hung around so often that he got something of an off-the-books "job," making deliveries in exchange for stale breads and cookies. (He learned that being helpful pays off in good time.) Kehda, the older, also performed this job--though the bakery noticed that several unsatisfied elezen lords complained that their deliveries never arrived. Kehda simply explained that she got hungry on the way there, and that "it's fine." (She learned that not being helpful pays off immediately.) One of Kedha's ill-fated deliveries, which she split with other urchins somewhere deep in the Brume, was destined for one elezen serial widow called Lady Bailedine.
Lady Bailedine lived a privileged and decadent life as the last surviving member of an old Ishgardian family that had faded from prestige but not from wealth. Disinterested in having children of her own, she had filled her manor with countless miqo'te and hrothgar, some of them orphans, but all in need of a new home. These she found by reading the cards from her astrolabe and the stars, as she had done in her youth to predict the movements of dragons. She had been called a crazy cat lady on more than one occasion.
On the morning of the delivery of her weekly desserts, she drew a strange reading: Misfortune, but with great fortune. A seemingly contradictory message, she put off interpreting the message until later when she'd spoken with the bakery about yet another missed delivery, her minor misfortune. When she arrived, she found a little blue cat with frosting on her mouth getting scolded. Inquisitive by nature, Lady Bailedine questioned the little cat about her motives and soon learned that she lived in a withered box behind the bakery with "free kittens" scrawled across it. She immediately paid for another delivery and took Kehda home. On the way back to the manor, the kindly elezen did not understand Kehda's questions about fabric: "What about Ka'tan? But where's Ka'tan?"
Soon after Lady Bailedine got home, Cotton arrived with the re-ordered delivery, and Kedha explained to Lady Bailedine that this was Ka'tan. So, Lady Bailedeine wrote down his name as Cotton, and that was that.
Kehda and Cotton quickly settled in with the other rambunctious cats, wreaking havoc wherever they went. They and others learned from whoever they would teach them, including Lady Bailedine herself and her procession of lovers who were skilled dragoons and the occasional red mage. These lovers often mysteriously yeeted themselves backwards off cliffs, but Lady Baildenine's adopted troupe of cats know that's none of their business.
By the time they arrived in Lady Bailedine's care, Kedha and Cotton had long forgotten their last names. Cotton took Lady Bailedine's name. When Kehda was still very young, she met Lady Bailedine's cousin, an elezen archer from New Gridania, who asked what her last name was in that polite tone one takes talking to children. Kedha responded, "My mom says I'm feral!" The archer called her Kedha Fer'aal, and that was that.
More Recently...
Cotton, however, would not leave Ishgard right away. The Athenaeum Astrologicum offered him only combat-related knowledge of stardiving and, seeking further methods and applications, he turned to the Holy See's various historians and holy scholars in the Scholasticate. As he learned the intersections between astronomy, astromancy, and astrology, he encountered another miq'ote working in the neighboring Saint Reymanaud's Cathedral, the first he'd met outside of his adopted family.
The unwavering traditionalist clergy of Ishgard employ an army of weavers to tailor and maintain their rmany cassocks, robes, and uniforms. One of these young threadpullers, a fiery and roguish miqo'te named De'cebir Tia, met Cotton beneath the grand spires of the Cathedral. Cotton feigned an interest in weaving as an excuse to speak with him on the regular, though he suspected De'cebir knew all along. The two soon bonded over their love of playing pranks and causing lighthearted trouble. De'cebir eventually introduced Cotton to his mother and her small tribe, who had lost their Nunh several years previous. Against his better judgement, Cotton spoke lovingly of De'cebir's achievements, his fine jokes, and his taste in clothes to many an uninterested acquaintance. For over a year, the two of them planned to make a tailoring business and take it on the road. Cotton's study turned to business projecting and predicting stocks and finding deals, and the cards gave him some early success.
But soon the messages from the cards and stars clouded: they spoke of an end, a darkness, a debt so deep it could not be repaid. They didn't change their message for several weeks. De'cebir's mother had fallen in love with a heretic several months prior, and Cotton, despite Lady Bailedine's warnings, did not know the significance of such a venture. Whispers about De'cebir's mother's allegiances and De'cebir himself, (who had never explicitly devoted himself to the faith) soon spread among their clerical, scholarly, and personal circles. He worried that he had accidentally revealed the information in his loving discussions about De'cebir to his friends in the Scholasticate, but was never really certain how the information had spread.
De'cebir and Cotton shortened their timeline to make their business and leave, but it would not be quick enough. When the heretical nature of De'cebir's family was uncovered by clergy inquisitors, the family disappeared immediately with no warning and no goodbye. For a long time, Cotton thought they had gone into hiding--but as the months passed and the blizzards came and went, he began to realize that he was waiting for someone who would never return. After another year, the cards changed from darkness and debt to shifting winds and rising tides. He had ignored the signs before, and it had cost him more than he was able to pay. When one of his fortune-telling clients offered to take him on the road as part of a treasure-hunting, artifact-seeking business, he accepted immediately.
They went off to Limsa Lominsa, and Cotton knew he'd done right by the stars--his mood improved, and his playful cheeriness returned. However, the world outside Ishgard proved to be wildly different than he thought it'd be, and far more dangerous.