Joy Lilita Duriye

Joy Lilita Duriye (3 December, 37 dan – March, 71 dan) was a Foreaftian half-Lilin enigmatologist and a child of Arsaces Augustus Viriye and Meihal Durku.

Early Life
Joy was born on the 3rd of December, 37 dan, to Arsaces Augustus Viriye and Meihal Durku in Aosa'agoipi, Foreaft. Due to being a half-Lilin, they faced severe health problems ever since birth. They wen't as fortunate as their cousin Clementine in the “let’s mix the genes of humans and those of a completely artificial species and see what happens” department, Joy was born with a severely compromised immune system, ideomotor and speech apraxia, gait disturbances caused by forming tail fusing with their body while still in the womb and blindness in the right eye. They could not fully open the left one and had a single horn on their left temple, and, much like other Lilins, had difficulty digesting carbohydrates. Their life expectancy wasn't certain, but it was clear they were unlikely to reach old age.

As a result of their physical weakness and frequently falling ill, Joy spent most of their formative years at home instead of kindergarten.

As they got older they were pulled from public school, being provided a computer, braille transcriptor and weekly visits from a teacher to study from home to the best of their abilities, as a weak immune system coupled with hormonal changes and an environment swarming with people was a recipe for a health disaster. They kept in touch largely through Ty, who was in the same grade in the same school and would come by to share all the highlights and gossip of the day.

Confessing to Ty
A few days after Joy's 18th birthday, they brought up the courage to tell Ty about their fear of dying.

The two spent that day discussing death and the afterlife. Joy knew theories about the latter only vaguely, only from having heard it being mentioned in books, so it was mostly Ty talking about various interpretations. He even went to his home to get a book detailing everything. His family believed in reincarnation, and while he wasn’t sure if he did himself, the possibility of it not being the end of everything seemed to soothe Joy at least a little bit.

Appearance
Joy had brown, heavily freckled skin, pointed ears, naturally auburn hair and a small straight horn on their left temple. They had very uneven upper teeth. They sometimes wore glasses, but it is unknown whether it was to aid sight or a fashion choice.

At 11 years old Joy started cutting their own hair. Since the age of 13 they would dye their hair vivid emerald green with steaks of lime and would keep it in a choppy mullet with a long braided rat tail and another braid on the left side of their head.

Their sense of fashion consisted of bright happy colours and wearing clothes not as intended, particularly sweatshirts, though which's neck hole Joy would stick their arm alongside their head, creating a tight asymmetrical one shoulder neckline with a loose sleeve hanging off one side. They were especially fond of onesies, which they frequently styled with tees/sweatshirts of top.

Personality
Despite being a weak and constantly ill child with an uncertain lifespan, Joy stayed true to their name every step of the way. It was rare seeing them without a seemingly contagious smile: they loved hearing others laugh and did everything they could to make them happy.

However, because they were often confined to their home, Joy had slowly developed a form of depression fueled by a sense of isolation from the outside world and missing out. They kept themselves from thinking about it with sarcasm, jokes and family/best friend affection. Unbeknownst to almost everyone but Ty, Joy was terrified of their own impending death for the majority of their life. They didn’t want to leave their loved ones behind and they did not want them to hurt, sometimes even downplaying their physical pain to keep others from worrying. They didn’t get to experience a loss in their life and couldn’t imagine what it would be like, but thought that if they kept their loved ones as happy as possible, they wouldn’t be as sad about their death.

Spending extended periods of time in their house with family led to them becoming interested in tabletop RPGs, taking after their avid player parents, and eventually becoming fond of puzzles, something that started with Ty gifting them a Rubik’s cube. They took a liking to physical puzzles the most because they were the easiest to come by, but would be absolutely ecstatic if they found a word puzzle transcribed in braille. Eventually they became an enigmatologist themselves, focusing on creating and transcribing logical puzzles to people with impaired vision.

Ty Cherry Misida
Joy and Ty were best friends since childhood and remained devoted to each other all the way until Joy's death.

The Misida family moved next to the Duriye house on 43 dan, when Joy was 5 years old. Joy was eager to make friends, thus, when they realised there was a new kid living just next door, they befriended them the very same day.

Ty is the one who gifted Joy the Rubik's cube that got them into puzzles.

During their school years Ty would visit the Duriye house daily (or if that wasn't possible, as frequently as he could) to share the gossip and highlights of the day from school to keep Joy in touch. If they were sick and had to avoid contact with others, they would talk to each other through the glass of Joy's bedroom window, which they did so much it prompted Meihal to build a bench next to the window so Ty wouldn't have to stand the whole time. In the years of primary school he also acted as a messenger between them and their classmates, as Joy had seen them in person before.

When Joy and Ty were 18 and 17 respectively, Joy confided to him about their fear of dying, making him the only person to ever know about these feelings. Initially Joy had decided against telling as to not burden their soulmate, but upon realising they didn't have any more close friends and that any not-ill day Joy spent with him could’ve been the last, they ultimately decided to share it. They failed to realise that Ty already knew, and was just as afraid, not only of losing his best friend, but also because Joy was feeling guilt over something outside of their control.

After Joy's passing, Ty planted and tended to rhododendrons – Joy's favourite flowers – on their burial and would bring assortments of flowers including bleeding hearts (which Joy had mentioned reminded them of Ty) annually around March.

Skills and abilities

 * Logic: Thanks to their interest in puzzles and enigmatology, they developed a high logic skills and aptitude for mathematics.
 * Imagination: Taking after their fantasy-lover and avid roleplayer parents, Joy was a brilliant storyteller, able to come up with grandiose plots and settings off the top of their head. As a child they had a vivid imaginary friend Leia, who, according to Joy, was a sky blue and yellow wyvern with a cat face.
 * Bilingualism and braille: Joy was native in both Foreaftian and Lilian Auxiliary, making them the second Foreaftian native ever attested to have Lilian Aux. as their first language. Due to having impaired sight, they were also capable of reading braille, although they could somewhat see text if it was in large enough letters.

Trivia

 * Their favourite season was late spring/early summer;


 * Joy likes vivid and neon colours the most, both because they reminded them of their favourite time of the year and because they could see them better.
 * In family RPG sessions Joy mained a dragonborn sorcerer named Leia, named after their imaginary friend.

Meta Trivia

 * Joy was created on 3rd December, 2019, as a recycle of Joey (more so his name), Gluttony in the sinverse, and Patience, which, you'd never guess, was Temperance in the very same universe.