Crystal| Brynhildr

Ushio Umemori

-Personal data-
Race: Originally Au Ra but changed to Viera Permanently. Mixed Veena Viera and Xaela Au Ra
Clan: Veena
Birthplace: Unknown
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Sexual orientation: Bisexual
Height: 172.72 cm (5'8")
Weight: between 150lbs (68kg)
Occupation: Warrior of light/ Adventurer/crafter
Birthday: May 17th
Relationship status:
Classes: BLM, DRK, RDM, DNC, DRG, RPR. VPR, WAR, SMNCharacter Traits: Compassionate, Helpful, Skillful, Adventurous, Silly, Energetic, Conscientious, Passionate, Naturally Charming, Affectionate, Gentle, Indecisive, Naive, Restless, Impatient, Nosy, Very Escapist, Bottling Up the Negative.Character theme: At his core Ushio is a protector. Not because he seeks glory. But because he cannot bear watching others to suffer alone. His greatest strength is compassion. His greatest weakness is that he gives too much of himself.His name meaning: Ushio (潮) means "tide" or "ocean current." It symbolizes constant movement, resilience, and emotional depth—always returning no matter how far it's pulled away. Like the tide, Ushio endures loss and hardship but continues moving forward, growing stronger while remaining compassionate.Umemori (梅守) can be interpreted as "protector of the plum blossom." The plum blossom represents perseverance, hope, and strength through adversity, reflecting Ushio's role as someone who protects others despite his own pain.PersonalityVery quiet and reserved when he is by himself. He doesn’t let people in very easily and usually has his walls up pretty high. He is kind, thoughtful and caring. He won’t hesitate to lend someone a hand if they do need it. He will cross oceans when it comes to the people he loves and cares for.Likes: Dango, green tea, reading, honing his skills for battle, cooking, exploring and learning about knew places, his friends, loved one. Assuring that everyone is happy and having a good time.Dislikes: Cold weather, Spicy foods, bitter tasting foods. People that don't keep their word, cowards, those who bring harm to the people close to him. Ignorance, arrogance. People who undermine him.Core Personality:Compassionate to a faultUshio cannot ignore someone in need, even if helping them puts him at risk.
He often prioritizes others' happiness above his own, sometimes to an unhealthy degree.
He believes everyone deserves a second chance unless they repeatedly choose cruelty.Emotionally resilient—but not emotionally healthyHe has survived immense trauma, but survival isn't the same as healing.
Rather than burdening others, he tends to bottle up his emotions until they eventually overflow.
When overwhelmed, he isolates himself instead of asking for help.Affectionate:Physical affection is one of Ushio's primary love languages.
He enjoys hugs, hand-holding, cuddling, forehead touches, and quiet moments of closeness.
With people he trusts, he becomes surprisingly clingy without realizing it.Playful:Ushio enjoys teasing friends and loved ones.
He has a dry sense of humor and often uses jokes to ease tension.
Around children, his softer side comes out almost immediately.Survivor's Guilt:A recurring part of Ushio's character is believing he should have been the one to die.After Aki sacrificed himself, Ushio questioned everything.Why was he spared?
Was he worthy of surviving?
Could he have prevented it?Those questions haunted him for years.Rather than confronting those feelings, he threw himself into impossible missions, almost as though he subconsciously hoped one of them would finally kill him.Hidden Insecurities:Although people see him as heroic, Ushio quietly worries that he's only valued for what he can do.Without his strength...Without his title...Without being the Warrior of Light...Who is he?It's a question he wrestles with privately.Quote: "Surrender not to anger or hatred, look beyond them, and there find true strength"

Appearance:
Short, purple black hair that barely touches his shoulders with long bangs in the front, two small braids with feathers. One sky blue eye and one crimson red eye. Fair skin, tall and slender but also toned. Has some masculinity and feminine mixed in with his looks.

Ushio and Aki (past) age 22Akio (Aki) Soleil age 20. Ushio's childhood best friend and his first love.Ushio and Aki’s relationship is a story shaped by shared beginnings, unwavering devotion, and heartbreaking loss.They first met as children in an orphanage in Ul'dah, where survival often meant leaning on one another. Growing up side by side, they became each other’s constant—more than friends, more than family. In a world that could feel harsh and uncertain, Aki was Ushio’s comfort, and Ushio was Aki’s reason to keep hoping.As they grew older, their bond deepened through every hardship they faced together. They trained, dreamed, and eventually left the orphanage with the shared goal of becoming adventurers. Their journey was built on trust: fighting back to back, protecting one another, and chasing a future they imagined together. Over time, that lifelong companionship blossomed naturally into love—quiet at first, then undeniable. Their romance was rooted in years of understanding, loyalty, and the kind of intimacy only two souls raised together could share.Aki became Ushio’s anchor, the person who knew every scar, every fear, and every hope hidden behind his strength. Ushio, in turn, gave Aki purpose and a home that was never tied to a place, but to a person.Their love story reaches its most tragic and defining moment in battle, when Aki gives his life to protect Ushio. In that final act, Aki’s love is made absolute: he chooses Ushio’s life over his own without hesitation. His death leaves Ushio forever changed, carrying both the pain of losing the one person who had been with him since childhood and the weight of surviving because of Aki’s sacrifice.Aki's love remains with Ushio long after his death, becoming a memory that both comforts and haunts him.

Ushio's way of coping with his loss

Ushio's period of casual one-night stands wasn't driven by lust so much as by profound grief. After Aki died protecting him, the loss shattered Ushio's sense of identity. He blamed himself for surviving, believing that if he had been stronger or faster, Aki might still be alive. Rather than allowing himself to mourn openly, he buried the pain beneath reckless behavior.For a time, Ushio drifted from city to city between adventures, rarely staying anywhere long enough to form meaningful attachments. On lonely nights, he sought temporary comfort in strangers—mostly men, though occasionally women. These encounters were never about love or romance. They were attempts to silence the crushing emptiness that waited whenever he was alone.Each morning followed the same pattern. Ushio would wake beside someone whose name he sometimes barely remembered, quietly dress before dawn, and leave without looking back. For a few fleeting hours, the loneliness was muted. But once he stepped outside into the morning air, the guilt and grief always returned stronger than before. The cycle became self-destructive: seek comfort, feel briefly numb, then hate himself for believing it would help.Deep down, Ushio knew no one could replace Aki. Every smile reminded him of what he had lost. Every embrace lacked the warmth and familiarity he had once cherished. Instead of healing, these encounters became another reminder that Aki was truly gone.He also became emotionally distant. If anyone tried to know him beyond a single night, Ushio instinctively pushed them away. He feared that loving someone again would only end in another tragedy—or worse, that allowing himself to move on would somehow betray Aki's memory.To those around him, Ushio appeared carefree and confident, often masking his pain with humor or charm. Few realized that behind the smile was someone barely holding himself together. His reckless lifestyle wasn't a celebration of freedom; it was a way to avoid sitting alone with memories that haunted him every waking moment.Rather than processing his grief, Ushio tried to outrun it. It wasn't until he gradually found people who accepted him without judgment—and eventually allowed himself to open his heart again.

G’raha Tia and Ushio

In the main storyline G’raha and Ushio have feelings of love for one another. Ushio had met G’raha Tia previously during the Crystal tower quest but memories of him were suppressed for a long time after the loss of Ushio’s Fiancé Aki. The two reunite again in the first as G’raha takes on the role as Crystal Exarch, concealing his identity from everyone for the time. Their friendship blossoms during the journey to defeat and absorb the light wardens. Once the Crystal Exarch's face is revealed to Ushio atop of Mt Gulg the world stops for Ushio like his past was staring him dead in the eyes, the same expression, features, everything reminded him of the man he once loved and fought hard to forget. Looking at him it felt like the world was mocking him, it took him away and then seemingly put his face on someone else just to see if he would break.Through time and finally facing his past they both are able to move forward, sharing their own trials and pain together which only brings them closer.Ushio now see's the man behind the title, the exhaustion, the sacrifice, the loneliness.
G'raha isn't some distant leader anymore.
He is someone who loved Ushio enough to give up centuries of his life.
True devotion to the person he looks up to the most.
Ushio realizes how much G'raha suffered alone, much like himself.
The bond becomes deeply emotional, and something there begins to flourish.Ushio truly gets to know G'raha
not the leader
not the savior
just him.They both truly get to know each other for the first time without their titles. Just them. Ushio and G'rahaEndwalker is where their relationship reaches emotional maturity.
No longer the beginning of love.
But choosing each other.
The entire expansion carries the weight of the end of the world, and through it all G'raha remains one of Ushio's strongest emotional anchors.
He is no longer looking at Ushio from affar.
He walks beside him.
Equal.
Partner.
Beloved.
For Ushio, this matters deeply.
Shadowbringers gave him someone who believed in him.
Endwalker gives him someone who stay's.
G'raha see's Ushio at his strongest and most vulnerable and loves every part of him.
G'raha loves Ushio with unwavering devotion.
Ushio loves G'raha because he is the one person who see's both his light and darkness and never turns away.

Old Sharlayan Studium day's

From a young age, Ushio displayed an exceptional intellect and an insatiable curiosity. He constantly asked questions about aether, history, and magic, often reading anything he could get his hands on. It was Thancred who first recognized that Ushio's potential far exceeded what the orphanage could offer.Seeing how quickly Ushio learned and how eagerly he sought knowledge, Thancred pushed him to go to Old Sharlayan, even recommending him, Though Ushio was reluctant to leave the only home he had ever known. Thancred assured him that his gifts were meant to be nurtured, reminding him that learning could one day allow him to protect even more people.he spent that period of time diving into knowledge about Aetherology, Eorzean history, Occult studies, philosophy and of course combat magicks which prompted him to learn magic classes as an adveturer.

Ushio's Parents

Dei and Obi

Ushio's father Obi was born into a traditional Xaela clan far from the Azim Stepp that was notorious for their violence and battles but also where lineage, bloodline and clan customs are often treated as sacred
For many Xaela tribes, identity is deeply tied to ancestry, clan loyalty, marriage customs and the continuation of the tribe.Obi was the only living bearer of both the fully awakened crimson eyes and the hereditary amulet, making him the last complete heir to the bloodline.
The bloodline had gone generations without producing another bearer, so the elders feared it was nearing extinction.
Obi was expected to marry a Xaela woman chosen by the tribe to maximize the chance of preserving the bloodline.
Instead, Obi fell in love with Dei, a male Viera. While male Viera capable of conceiving children are exceptionally rare, Dei was one of them.
The relationship was considered doubly taboo by the tribe because it was both an interspecies relationship and a same-sex relationship, violating their most sacred traditions.
When Dei became pregnant, the elders saw it as an unforgivable act of defiance. They had no way of knowing whether the child would inherit the crimson eyes, the amulet, both, or neither—but they refused to let the last possible descendant of Obi's bloodline grow up outside their control.
Some elders wanted to seize the child if they showed signs of inheriting the bloodline. Others believed that a child born from what they viewed as a forbidden union should never be allowed to live.
Obi refused to surrender his family and fled with Dei. After Ushio was born, they left him at an orphanage in Ul'dah to keep him hidden from the tribe.
Shortly afterward, Obi and Dei were found by the tribe. Refusing to reveal Ushio's whereabouts, they were both killed, sacrificing their lives so their son could grow up free from the fate Obi himself had endured.Why Uldah?Unlike the insular structure of the Xaela clan, U'ldah is a city of strangers, merchants, refugees, and people reinventing themselves.For parents fleeing persecution, it would have seemed like the safest place to hide a child.Ushio's parents believed if they kept him with them, the clan or enemies they had made would eventually find them.It was an act of desperate protection for their son.They chose a path to give him a future, even if that meant they would never be a part of it.