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Let's Talk About the Barn Scene - Again!

Offering an alternative interpretation that may hit the right spot for some of y'all.

In most real cultures - both historic and today - people really don't care about boys and girls spending time together until they're at an age to "get into trouble", at which point parents start to get concerned. In historic cultures (and some cultures today), this is the age when a wall has to go up between girls and boys. At the time of Phoenix Gate, Clive was certainly past that threshold, and Jill was approaching it quickly. It's fairly safe to assume that some combination of Elwin, Rodney, and whatever other instructors Clive had in his life would have taught him that he needed to treat Jill "like a lady", keeping his hands to himself, no funny business. Clive, being the boy scout that he is, would have adhered to the rule like his life depended on it, and would have probably expected to adhere to that rule until/unless they became formally betrothed and married. Based on how Jill treats Joshua and Clive, she probably did not have those talks (though based on her physical maturity level, she would probably have gotten similar talks in a year or so).

When we get to The Barn Scene, it's been thirteen years, but Clive has probably never reconsidered the rules he was given because they've been completely irrelevant for the vast majority of said thirteen years, and during the few days that Jill has been back in his life and conscious, he's had a lot of other things to think about. So when Jill nudges his personal space - something she was never specifically instructed to not do - he defaults back to the rules he had been taught as a teenager: keep your distance, hands to yourself, don't do anything you wouldn't do in front of your parents, etc.

We can tell at the end of the second timeskip that he has realized that these rules don't apply any more, and he's much more tactile with her.

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Chapters: 3/6 Fandom: Final Fantasy XVI Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Clive Rosfield/Jill Warrick Characters: Clive Rosfield, Jill Warrick, Shiva (Final Fantasy XVI), Isabelle (Final Fantasy XVI), the whole Hideaway crew Additional Tags: "and there was only one bed" the multichapter story, far too many words for the sole purpose of plausibly explaining why Clive has only one pillow, POV Jill Warrick, talkative Shiva, Internalized Misogyny, Non-Sexual Bed Sharing, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Sex Negativity, Vague References to Past Canon-Typical Sexual Abuse of Minors, References to Past Hypersexualization of a Minor, too-tired-to-think Clive is fully-awake Clive's best ally Summary:

Five times Clive and Jill slept together, and one time (not the time you're thinking of!) they "slept together" (not the way you're thinking of).

Rated M for references to mature subjects, including references to the canonical Ironblood abuses.

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Chapter 3 is up!  Featuring an awake Clive, for once.

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I do ship them, and it is extremely fitting.

I don’t ship them but I thought it was fitting

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Chapters: 2/6 Fandom: Final Fantasy XVI Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Clive Rosfield/Jill Warrick Characters: Clive Rosfield, Jill Warrick, Shiva (Final Fantasy XVI) Additional Tags: "and there was only one bed" the multichapter story, far too many words for the sole purpose of plausibly explaining why Clive has only one pillow, POV Jill Warrick, talkative Shiva, Internalized Misogyny, Non-Sexual Bed Sharing, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Sex Negativity, Vague References to Past Canon-Typical Sexual Abuse of Minors, References to Past Hypersexualization of a Minor, too-tired-to-think Clive is fully-awake Clive's best ally Summary:

Five times Clive and Jill slept together, and one time (not the time you're thinking of!) they "slept together" (not the way you're thinking of).

Rated M for references to mature subjects.

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New chapter posted!  I honestly was worried I’d give up after the first.

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One of the things I don't like about Discord is what it's done to fandom. Most Discords are enclosed communities, for all practical purposes. It's hard to find them, and even if you know they exist it's hard to join them because you have to find non-expired public invite links. But that's where most of the talking is going on. That's where people are finding their beta readers, learning about what canon resources may be available, etc.

...all this to say, if anyone knows of any joinable Warfield Discord servers, please let me know, because I think my partner might revolt if I ask them again whether they think Clive and Jill would prefer to settle in Eastpool or Mysidia.

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A Jill Warrick costume breakdown, because I can

Here's my "best guess" on how everything she wears is put together. On one hand...it's a Final Fantasy costume, and we all know it's all about aesthetic over pragmatism, but because I'm writing something that needs a layers breakdown, I might as well do it here.

(This is heavily based on staring way too long at the art book, so at least I do have some basis for my assumptions.)

Invisible underlayers: I'm positive she has on some kind of undershirt with at least short sleeves and probably some kind of lower-body undergarment as well, in addition to stockings/hose/socks. The fabric of the white tunic is too rough and its construction too structured to be right next to the skin. And since she wears snug leggings, she's surely got something underneath for chafing purposes. These would be of a plant-based material.

Leggings/Breeches: I think these are navy, but some illustrations in the art book portray them as off-white. I'd assume them to be wool, but in the 18th century a lot of working men wore chamois leather breeches (which appear kind of a creamy off-white when new) because they were hard-wearing and would stretch/mold to fit your body. Either way, I expect they button just below the knee (because as anyone who's worn knee-high boots with trouser-legs tucked in can tell you, a long trouser leg just ends up bunching up towards your knee over the day) and the rest of her leg is covered by the stockings/socks. Experienced wearers of 18th century men's clothing have informed us that properly-fitting breeches buttoned below the knee are, for most people, perfectly adequate to hold up knee-high stockings without additional garters.

Shoes: Flat shoes of brown leather, I'm guessing no more than ankle-high (more on that later). Jill Bearup would be proud.

Gaiters: These appear to be dark-blue leather and button up the side. They cover the top of the shoe and the stockings and serve as a protective layer. There's really no reason to have thigh-high gaiters if you also have high boots, which is why I suspect her shoes aren't as tall as you'd imagine.

Gaiter-garter: The brown cuff just below her knee is probably a separate piece that keeps the gaiters from falling. A lot of early tall boots required some form of garter to keep the looser and floppy stand of the boot from sliding down to the ankle.

White tunic: I believe that both the white blouse-portion and the white skirt-portion are all the same garment as they appear to be the same texture and color. The drape of the sleeves reminds me of crepe crepon (a textured weave with a bit more body than most crepes), and my gut says it looks like silk crepe crepon but it would make more sense if it were a wool crepe. It would be constructed from a fitted, interlined yoke and unstructured front and back panels, cut shorter on the front panel than the back panel. Structurally-speaking, the yoke looks to be too close-cut for her to be able to pull it over her head even if she took off the ribbon...but eh. Final Fantasy game. If I were making this for cosplay I'd probably just make the neck slit go a teeny bit lower than would be game-accurate.

Overskirt: This is the bright blue miniskirt and long black sash-y bit. I can only chalk up the long black sash-y bit to it being a Final Fantasy game needing to be Extra (tm), but the blue miniskirt would have the benefit of providing some weight to help keep the white tunic from flying up during activity. There's a lacing closure at her left hip. I'm assuming it's wool due to the weight.

Fitted leather bodice: This layer probably provides most of her torso protection as well as bust support. The belt below the bust certainly suggests that bust support is one of its functions; having worn medieval and Renaissance clothing quite a bit, I can verify that you don't need a garment right next to your skin to provide all your bust support even if you're generously-endowed (which Jill is not). It has a "belt loop" over her left hip to suspend her sword-belt.

Sword belt: Leather sword-belt that suspends a chainmail panel backed with white fabric. I can't get a good look at the texture of the fabric, but it would make sense that they'd back the chainmail with some kind of fabric to protect her clothes underneath since the texture of riveted chainmail is really destructive to basically everything; that panel of backing fabric is probably cheap and rough stuff intended to be replaced.

Sleeve garters, glove, and vambrace: self-explanatory. The lacey bit at the gauntlet of the glove is probably glove lining.

Fabric belt dealies: There's an illustration of these in the art-book: a white triangular pennant with embroidery on it and a blue rectangle wrapped together and suspended over her left hip. I am assuming these have some kind of personal significance, but I don't know what they are.

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You know the Grimm version of Snow White makes more sense than most versions if only because in that version Snow White was like 7 years old.

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Final Fantasy 16 canon-divergence fanfiction ideas up for adoption, lighting round

AKA every AU idea I can think up in twenty minutes. Most of these will be terrible.

Clive and Joshua retain enough self-control to become Ifrit Risen at Phoenix Gate and prematurely stomp Ultima.

The entire court (including Jill) goes to Phoenix Gate for Joshua's entry to the Apodytery. Shiva awakens when Ifrit and Phoenix do, and ice is able to contain at least some of the fire.

The Undying rescue both Joshua and Clive after Phoenix Gate and try to keep Clive's nature as Ifrit hidden from him.

Shiva awakes during the Ironblood razing of Rosalith and repels the invaders. Rosaria tenuously retains its independence with Byron as Archduke; Jill remains in Rosalith.

The remnants of the North invade Rosaria; roughly half of the duchy becomes Northern territory, and the rest is overtaken by Sanbreque (the marshlands creating a natural barrier).

Benedickta stops the Ironblood from killing Clive and Jill instead of Cid, taking them away to Waloed.

Clive and Cid run into Joshua at Caer Norvent.

Joshua arrives on-time at Phoenix Gate.

Joshua arrives on-time at Drake's Head.

And my favorite, which is so divergent from canon it might as well be its own thing...

Ultima does not exist, the Blight is a periodic natural phenomenon that comes and goes. Ten years after the war between the Northern Territories and Rosaria that saw the Northern Territories' defeat, the Blight is retreating, and the North becomes determined to get their princess back.

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Can someone explain to me this FF16 timeline problem?

From my wiki-reading it looks like Mid was born in 862 on the Outer Continents, where Cid is originally from. But also per the wiki, Cid was already in Valisthea in 860 to meet fifteen-year-old Benedickta, and in 863 he was in Waloed specifically to swear to Barnabas (since Benedickta was with the Royal Intelligencers when she was eighteen). Did Cid travel back to the Outer Continents with Benedickta between 860 and 862? Are the dates and ages wrong? We're led to believe traveling to and from the Outer Continents is an extremely dangerous and time-consuming prospect, so that sounds like an awful lot of travel.

(But for a little moment of cuteness, take the time to imagine Cid and Benedickta showing up in front of Barnabas...while Cid's holding baby Mid with the arm that isn't holding Benedickta's hand, radiating pure Girl Dad energy.)

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Looking for a task tracker program

Must:

allow creation of subtasks of a task, ideally multiple levels of subtasks

allow marking subtasks as complete or not (in case I don't complete the whole parent task)

allow creation of indefinitely repeating daily, weekly, and monthly tasks

not require an iProduct; I am not an Apple user

I would prefer if it:

were both browser- and phone-based

had phone reminders

allowed task lists to be shared

if there's a gamified "reward" component, ties rewards to specific tasks (rather than general "reward points")

had some kind of calendar summary view so I could see how well I was doing checking off my tasks on-time.

Any and all recommendations would be great.

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I have verified that the only part of Clive's chamber in the New Hideaway that isn't visible from the walkway outside it is the corner near the bookshelf (a place player-controlled Clive can't squeeze). Fanfiction writers, do with this what you will.

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Time for my annual reminder:

Some people are very quiet during Pride Month for their own safety or the safety of those close to them. Some people have living situations they can't readily escape that would become extremely abusive at any indication of queerness or "queer sympathies," where even the slightest peek outside of the closet might put them in grave danger.

So please do not take silence from a particular person as confirmation of not caring.

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There's something that gets said often in the otome isekai genre (where trying to find a love interest who isn't abusive is pretty difficult) that I don't see talked about enough in other genres: a lot of what we like in fiction we like specifically because it isn't healthy. Stories are interesting because there are pretty substantial problems going on. The imperfections in people are what create plot. Tragedy and horror are genres for a reason!

...but all this to say, it is wild to me that there are people who think that a 28 yo and 31 yo is a predatory age gap. That was literally my fiancé and I six months into dating; at no point have I ever felt like I was in a more vulnerable position for being three and a half years younger.

Note from Anon:

“Please say your opinion in the tags! I’m asking cuz I have two oc ships and I’m afraid that the age differences might be a problem, the first is a 28 year old x a 31 year old the other is a 41 year old x a 46 year old.”

-submit your poll!-

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FF16 Theory Time

I think that Cid suspected that Clive = Ifrit even before they first met.

I stumbled on this theory thinking about the fact that Cid was able to recognize Clive...from a thirteen-year-old description of Clive's impressive skills as a teenager. They'd never met before; Cid had never seen the Blessing of the Phoenix before. Cid also mentioned having heard rumors of Clive having survived the massacre that killed almost everyone else and there being a second Dominant of fire who caused a lot of the destruction during that massacre.

While I think it's unreasonable to assume that Cid knew, Clive being that second Dominant of fire (because it's a lot easier to survive a massacre caused by an invading army and a giant fire kaiju if you become said fire kaiju) is a plausible enough theory with the information Cid had to hand that he would likely consider it worth his time to investigate. I'd even go so far as to theorize that finding Clive was already on Cid's to-do list. That's why Cid was able to recognize Clive immediately from the Blessing of the Phoenix: Cid had done some research on it and had been thinking about it recently enough to be able to distinguish it from any other fire-attuned Bearer magic.

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(i dunno how many people can see this post but if you can see it thank god)

some friends at the warfield stans discord servers and i am opening applications for a clive/jill fanzine, and we'd like to reach out to as many interested to join the project.

the applications will close on the 15th of this month, and the zine will have art, fics, digital merch as well as other types of art including craftwork, cosplay, collection showcase. you can find the applications through the link here.

reblogs are seriously appreciated!

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Why it's taking me so long to write Proximity Chapter 2 (Brain Transcript)

All right, time to write.

...wait, I need to write out exactly what happened to Jill with the Iron Kingdom so that I make sure I keep her traumas and trauma reactions consistent.

...wait, I also need to at least outline Clive's traumas and progress to make sure he's consistent too.

...wait, I need to write out what Cid and Jill talked about on the journey to Oriflamme, because that might have had her make at least a little progress working through her traumas.

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The only big problem I have with FF16

No, it's not the ending.

Clive hates Hugo Kupka. Kupka personally destroyed the first Hideaway and killed many of its residents. He spearheaded the sack of Clive's childhood home and hometown. It's implied that he would periodically torture and kill Bearers as a trap for Cid and the Cursebreakers. He grabbed Jill by the throat and planned to execute her in front of Clive. So, naturally, Clive is in full "Hugo Kupka must die" mode, stopped only by the fact that he doesn't know where Hugo Kupka is. The rest of the Hideaway, including people who joined the Cursebreakers after the first Hideaway was destroyed, also are full Hugo Kupka Must Die mode.

Now contrast that with the lack of urgency when Clive finds out they're going to need to chase down Barnabas Tharmr, because he probably has Jill hostage. By that point, they already know that Barnabas is extremely dangerous (he completely massacred a city-state) and while they know Jill is alive for Magic Reasons, "alive" is a very low bar. Sure, they can't go after her immediately because the ship can't sail yet, but there doesn't seem to be a feeling of urgency in anyone other than mild displays from Mid and Clive. I see why they don't want to have several quests in a row where people are constantly in a state of panic, but at least Clive has every reason to be panicking.

I think this is something that could have been fixed, crudely, with the addition of a few specific lines of dialog. All that they would need to establish among themselves is that they have a reason to believe that Barnabas does not intend to harm Jill. Anything like:

"The King of Waloed has a history of treating his hostages well." This isn't true (and if it ever was, it's not anymore), but they don't know yet just how awful Waloed was, and being complacent because you're wrong still means you're behaving the way you are for a reason.

"Barnabas Tharmr needs Clive to cooperate. He's smart enough to know harming Jill will not win Clive's cooperation."

"She's not dead yet. He's clearly keeping her alive for a reason. While he's not trustworthy at all, he doesn't do things for no reason, and as long as we don't give him a reason to reconsider, he won't. It's better to take a little extra time to plan properly, because we have exactly one shot at rescuing Jill." Probably the best of the bunch. Cid II is far more of a planner than Cid I.

The above are "smallest change to make the biggest improvement" fix suggestions. I think the best fix would have been if there had been some kind of message sent from Barnabas to Clive & Co to the effect of "we're keeping her safe; we'll be waiting for you to collect her."