#;;musing: lahabrea

[aetherstories]

@milesducemdominus liked for a random muse starter call! The fancy blue dice said: 1 - Lahabrea

"Come in." Offers the voice, and for a moment, briefly and likely unnoticed, he sounds more like the professor he once was than the shadow of corruption he's become, over the years.

It might be because he's hunched over a heavy tome, borrowed from the library of the Holy See, and for a moment his mind was elsewhere and elsewhen both, before eyes hidden under a heavy cloak remember where they are, and he straightens once more.

"The Archbishop will not be joining us today." He tells the Lord Commander. "He is otherwise engaged."

And under Igeyorhm's watchful gaze, which means Lahabrea needs not worry overmuch.

[sunnythanalan]

Spoilers for ARR, Endwalker, Shadowbringers and the new short story Days Gone By, Days Yet to Come (but only vaguely)

Replaying ARR as I am wont to do, I thought about how the three unsundered went about trying to cause the next rejoining and how their ascian forms are a sort of twisted mirror image of what we learn is their duty/purpose in Elpis. Their passions? The dark side of it, if you will.

Lahabrea taught the peoples of Eorzea the art of summoning, aka creation magic - the very thing he was tasked to guard in Pandæmonium and that led to his personality split and subsequent rather gruesome divorce from his ex-wife.

Then there's Elidibus whose main focus is to create heroes, protectors - he appeals to their hearts (and him being the heart of Zodiark) sends them forth to protect their people against whatever villain he creates for them and to sacrifice themselves in the process. Like he sacrificed himself.

Then there's Emet Selch who creates empires. Who travels. Who, to his own admittance, does exactly what Azem used to do; he tries to get to know the people, become one of them, only to fail miserably time and again and that fuels his hatred. Knowing who Hades used to be, why did he try so incredibly hard to become more like Azem?

Much later: So I found this text in my drafts from ages ago and after having read Days Gone By, Days Yet To Come I got my answer didn't I? The fuck Creative Business Unit III, do you do this to me for? Why does it fit together in a way that hurts so much?

[jqupohtia]

Apokalypsis

When she leaves Elpis, Venat does not tell Phaethon her plan. She knows that what she must do would be particularly ghastly to someone whose soul has nearly cracked into pieces once, who has dealt with the pain of it every day since, who is a healer first before a fighter. Even if it was a piece of himself, standing proud and confident and determined despite the fragile shattered thing he was, that showed her the path she must take, she cannot risk him turning against her before she can even prepare, and so he is left in the dark.

Perhaps it is fate, or just twisted luck, that he would never have the chance to anyway.

Phaethon does not agree with the Convocation’s proposal. Not completely. But Azem does not defect from the convocation. He screams, he weeps, he rages, and he leaves, but he does not abandon them.

The Traveler is called away alongside the Contender, because the situation is getting worse and both the Words of Azem and Words of Nabriales have called for for their aid in a city not far from Amaurot, where rampant creations wreak havoc. It is his duty to help the people, and he has already seen so much death and horror, but he will not shy away from returning to it if it means saving more lives, so that there may be more left behind when they sacrifice themselves. When he sacrifices himself.

That is his condition for helping to create a god. That when they return, if there’s no better idea, he goes with the people sacrificed. Not as Zodiark’s heart, because there is too much despair and horror in him to not corrupt the God they will create, but to stand with those willing to fuel it. Some call it a noble choice, others misguided and foolish. He knows that it is cowardice. He cannot bear to face those left behind, nor those they'd ask to go in their stead.

But he doesn’t return.

Emet-Selch and Lahabrea also leave behind the endless debates and planning that have continued in their absence, and go to assist Nabriales and Azem when they both fail to return for several days. The carnage they find is horrific. Bodies litter the streets, and every moment fills Emet-Selch's senses with the steady stream of those who Return too soon. A devastatingly powerful creation runs rampant, and they find themselves focusing more on evacuating than defeating it, given the battered state they find Nabriales in.

It is only those three who return to the Convocation's chambers, once what citizens they can save are brought to Amaurot. When asked, they only say that Azem is gone.

Emet-Selch does not mention that there was barely a trace left of his aether, that was not tied up within the great beast destroying that ruined city. That he felt what little of it that remained return to the Star before they even left to help.

Lahabrea does not mention he found Azem shielding tiny bodies that likely were dead long before he was. Nor that he burned what remained before Emet-Selch could see for himself, as another piece of him broke under the weight of once again destroying someone he loved, so soon after restoring everything he had cut away.

Nabrieles does not mention he witnessed Azem’s fear and anger and sorrow manifest as the very beast that is now heading towards Amaurot, nor that he now fears himself and the others around him. That if something is not done, and fast, it has been proven even one of their number can become a danger to their people.

They do not mention the figure in white robes who watches as Azem's ashes disappear in the wind with so many others'.

What they do say is that there is no choice, and no time. They must summon Zodiark without Azem. As thirteen.

J'qupoh Tia survives his battle with Lahabrea not because of any special skill or quality of being Hydaelyn's champion, but because of a moment of hesitation. One brief moment where Lahabrea sees not the broken form of the mortal who has proven a nuisance in his plans to restore his God, but another's form. That of a man that has haunted him every moment he has worked behind these Scion's backs, whose vague likeness has made him take unnecessary risks. A man who had wormed his way past the walls he put up in the wake of Athena's betrayal his God's disrupted ascension the cutting away of what he saw as a threat to his duty to the Star. Who had fallen in doing his own duty, lain twisted and battered near beyond recognition, but not completely. Not quite.

That hesitation is long enough for Hydaelyn to interfere once again, pouring everything she can spare and more to keep her Champion alive. To restore life before that stubborn soul can leave, not so he can continue the duty he has been Chosen for, not because she recognized him as the one to find her in Elpis all those millenia ago. She saves him out of guilt, as an apology, for doubting him and not being by his side when he need her Before.

In that Light that pours life back into the Warrior's mangled form, Lahabrea sees Phaethon's face illuminated for one awful, undeniable moment. It is grief and rage over being betrayed again that drives him harder to destroy the Warrior of Light in the coming days.

Nabriales did not truly fear whatever trick the Scions had come up with to defeat him. Nothing they could do could truly end an immortal being, and even this white auracite would not be enough with their meager aether.

Or so he thought. When the second mortal woman, already weakened, sacrifices herself, his fear begins.

It grows stronger as he looks back at Hydaelyn's champion, and sees the rage, grief, and fear on his face, and recognizes it. Remembers, in ways the memory crystal he was bestowed could not give, the moment he saw that face twisted like that before, and feared death as he never had before.

It's a particularly cruel twist of fate that Emet-Selch's memories get away from him once again, when he shows J'qupoh Tia the fate of Amaurot. That it is the beast born from Phaethon's despair, high above the Star with a view the man nearly broke himself to see, that is his shard's final foe. It is an especially cruel twist that J'qupoh is able to recreate the worst of it's abilities so easily, and turn it against Emet-Selch once again.

Desperation, terror, and sorrow as he tried to save his people from an apocolypse brought about Phaethon's end.

Apokalypsis brought Emet-Selch's.

[dysloyalty]

(. Still CANNOT believe Athena looks so much like Maxima/Eirunn/Aethelreda. Oh I’m sorry you’re a blue eyed light brown haired fair skinned woman with gentle facial traits? What the fuck. Give her her face back. .)

[dragoon-mid-jump]

Fools, Lahabraying before a god!

[cfabyssal]

//Okay but having Azem apologize, or at least admit he messed up, is more than having himself be proven right. After fighting with Azem, it was one thing having him leave, it was another to be torn down and insulted, but thought he felt he was fully in the right, more so it is the fact that being cured and released from being Zodiark's thrall, he would believe every single thing said about him by Azem. After everything, he does see himself in the wrong, he does see himself as a cold emotionless monster, he does see himself as weak, and he does see himself as broken and rigged and unable to obtain love and acceptance for who he was, and he would blame no one for it.

It is because of this, he half hoped Azem would return, that he would see him again, not just to possibly apologize for being a fool, and yes for being weak and all the things Azem said he was, but to be reassured that in reality, he wasn't most of those things. That he wasn't the man he tried so hard to cast away. The man that took so many dear people from himself. That Azem doesn't truly know who Lahabrea is and what he is, half of a man. He was just a scared broken man lost among the masses and pressure and going against something beyond all his abilities and imagination. What's more being half a man, he is unable to comprehend what mattered most, unable to feel the importance of certain things and emotions that some judgments use. Lahabrea wants to at least hear from the one truly neutral person that though he fucked up, he tried, and he may not be perfect, but he doesn't deserve to be cast away and not remembered either for what good he DID do.

Like Emet, deep down, he does want to see his comrade again, even after everything, even as much as he may talk down and talk badly of Azem, Azem was and is still part of them.

[sword-and-lance]

((okay yeah so I’ve been meaning to write down a bunch of things about Dae’s Ancientsona Ancient self, Nemesis, and now’s as good a time as any LET’S GOOOO

===

EARLY DAYS

She’s the eldest sibling out of three with her younger brother and sister being fraternal twins, Artemis and Apollo (we haven’t exactly seen how Ancients age relative to like, normal people, but it’d be the equivalent of ~10 years ish between the other two and Nemesis)

Yeah not Gaia!Artemis, a different Artemis, who is also Amba’s Ancient self coincidentally

No I have not figured out what her parents’ names were yet deal with it

REGARDLESS both of said parents were heavily researching other dimensions, interdimensional travel, that kind of thing, and while they did try they weren’t exactly great at work-life balance and wee Nemesis was more or less fending for herself once she was old enough to like, do that

Also meant she was taking care of her siblings a lot too so they got very attached to her given that they were little little and she was around quite a bit more than their own damn parents

Then said parents opened a portal to the Abyss in their fucking basement sort of on accident and whoops it’s basically Hell to anyone who’s not prepared to like, Deal With The Abyss Being Like That, and the Abyss was rather peeved at being woken back up and peeled their souls out and ate them

And also started eating the house and tried to eat Nemesis and her siblings but Nemesis managed to get them clear of the house fast enough while listening to her parents getting basically mauled

Traumatic it sure was and literally no one knew how to handle that especially for a kid Nemesis’ age, where she wasn’t old enough to really have a coping mechanism but old enough to know damn well what happened

So immediately after people just...kept their distance and hurled platitudes rather than doing anything helpful and yes Nemesis did hold a lot of resentment over that even way later on in life because it felt like she got abandoned (because she kinda did)

That said one of her parents’ work friends, Daedalus, actually wound up adopting all three of them once he heard what had happened and honestly...did his best tbh to help them, even when it was pretty damn clear that Nemesis was proooobably gonna grow up somewhat maladjusted personality-wise

The other two were really too young to understand it or remember it well though and grew up fairly normal, though Apollo had much weaker aetherial potential than Artemis or Nemesis had (even if his soulsight was extremely good)

Yes Apollo is Hythlodaeus, I just am kinda rolling with “it’s ALSO a title” as a very un-canon excuse for it in this ‘verse, shh

It was also about this point that Daedalus got to make the exciting discovery that Nemesis could do blood magic

AND HERE’S WHERE I DIGRESS ABOUT BLOOD MAGIC FOR TOO DAMN LONG

Yes this is (also) entirely non-canonical, but I do what I please and what I please is making weirdo magic systems for my personal blorbos aight?

So it’s a weird obscure branch of magic that’s kind-of-cousins to healing magic but is done somewhat differently

YOU SEE Ancients’ healing magic requires a lot of aether and also is “permanent” in the sense of “once you’re healed you’re not gonna spontaneously UN-heal later” ya know?

It’s also mostly concerned with bringing everything back to the status quo body-wise, making the body return to “baseline”

Blood magic on the other hand is capable of a great deal more effects-wise; it also is predominantly concerned with shifting your body away from baseline more than bringing it back--and it is also much less permanent and wears off over time if not actively maintained

That said, there’s a couple complications with it: the ability to even perform it seems to be genetic to some extent, and also using it generates aetherial “backlash” that acts completely chaotically and, more often than not, violently

This is ofc a bit of a fucking problem for someone trying to use it, but there’s a workaround for it, namely: channeling that backlash into a container of some sort to keep it from ricocheting off in random directions instead

Generally these containers are orbs of some sort, since it’s much easier to just have the magic spin itself in circles rather than have to deal with it putting constant huge pressure onto any corners or hard edges

But minor transformations are generally pretty safe to do without any further precautions because the backlash just dissipates harmlessly courtesy of being so small

...It still didn’t make it any less startling to Daedalus when he walked in and found a wee Nemesis skittering up the wall like a goddamn lizard and heard her go LOOKIT WHAT I CAN DO :D

For better or worse though he had actually studied historical instances of blood magic as a side gig before and so he had a fair bit of forewarning about what it could do--and a lot of literature on it

Sure he couldn’t entirely teach her everything but he could at least do a guided study kind of thing so she didn’t go up and blow up the general neighborhood or the like

And study she did because she found that kind of thing immensely fascinating

HOWEVER she always steadfastly refused to learn how to do it to people that weren’t herself; in her eyes, using blood magic effectively does require thinking about your body kinda like a meatsuit, and while thinking about your own body that way is one thing, thinking about other people like meatsuits is a one-way ticket to starting to treat them like things, and treating people like things is Bad, Okay

She got pretty damn good at the whole thing tbf and while there are certainly a lot of petty personal uses for that kind of magic, she mostly just. Used it to turn herself into varying sorts of critter because that is just how she rolls

DIGRESSION OVER BACK TO THE NEMESIS STUFF

So by the time she became a young adult she had had whatever typical schooling that Ancients had, as well as a fair bit of experience in using her particularly odd and semi-useful kind of magic

She also figured out she had a ��typical” transformation at that point: a kinda Anubis hound looking thing (as compared to her sister’s deer-looking forest creature)

Ofc her brother had none lol (poor Hyth and his two hulking monster-sisters), but did get the REALLY good aethersight so it evened out a bit

Daedalus had also created a hardwood staff for Nemesis, and of course the first thing she did with it was master how to summon a scythe blade onto it at will

She had also gotten used to making backlash orbs for herself at that point and clearing them out

It was about this point she started to have a bit of an existential crisis because she was basically being expected to get a job, help the star, preserve society--even after that society had pretty effectively given her younger self the finger and kinda looked sideways at a lot of what she could do

(See the above point re: how applying it to other people requires thinking about them not as people, and also the sheer Body Horror potential it has on top of that, I mean. She could basically run around being a mini Final Days if she wanted)

(Thing is that she do not wanted, thank you very much, but try telling that to some people and it just glances off)

Also at that point the Pashtarot at the time was getting tetchy over her being “allowed” to continue practicing that magic anyway, and kept not-so-subtly floating the notion of binding that power away from her because yeah too risky to let that keep going what if she goes evil on us

But of course this is also a strange rare power that damn near never actually comes up, much less in someone that was actually pretty interested in the subject and had done a huge amount of work on it on her own even at that age

In fact the notion of just locking it away without even an opportunity to study it honestly offended Lahabrea’s notion of scholarship and so when Nemesis got offered a position at the Words of Lahabrea--

Okay honestly at first she took it as an insult because she saw in the Ancients’ creations what she saw in herself: flaws, and how black-and-white those flaws were treated, and therefore wasn’t thrilled with the notion of going to a place whose entire purpose was that

But he actually realized that and changed tack to say that she didn’t need to be a researcher, there was actually a sub-bureau (albeit a small one) that was dedicated to just catching rogue concepts

And at that point she realized that this was probably the best combo of “helping people” and “not having to actively participate in making things that’re just gonna get killed the second they’re imperfect anyway” and went OKAY SOLD

So she trained as basically a concept-catcher and while she still really didn’t like how casually society treated the creations they’d make, she also did get to see for herself that yeah actually some of these are just way too fucked-up to keep existing (and Pandaemonium was actually almost an improvement in her eyes, if just because they weren’t just offing them and also had the time-stasis thing going on so they weren’t just being made to suffer)

Despite the pragmatic approach to, uh, existing in this society, she also wound up managing to weasel an arrangement out of Lahabrea that she could actually keep some of the “flawed but not turbo dangerous” stuff at a compound by her house, and that actually helped take some of her rougher edges off when he actually like, agreed, albeit on a case-by-case basis per concept, under the conceit that it was another “facility”

And she caught onto that and actually did run it like one, and after it led to her being a lot more cooperative and congenial with him, he just kinda ran with it even if he thought she was being really goddamn weird about the whole concepts thing

(But hey she was a very good catcher and dedicated to what she was doing so whatever, he could roll with it if it meant keeping her around and interested in continuing to do her job, AND he got to study her blood magic by proxy too)

In fact he wound up basically making a registration system for her various forms so they could both keep track of that, and while she groaned a lot at first about the paperwork, it was kinda neat to be able to flip through a whole book of things she had accomplished with that magic

So basically yes they both mildly annoyed each other but kinda ran with it because they had a nice little academic mutual exchange thing going on

That said, this whole time Athena has also...been A Thing That’s Happening, and while Nemesis was never particularly fond of her, she mostly just wrote it off as yet another person I don’t like (of which there were many lmao) and left it at that

Especially because by the time Athena was seriously ramping up her bullshit and she was rather casually discarding concepts, including a number of severely dangerous ones, and leaving them for Nemesis’ department to clean up, so Nemesis was a wee bit too busy to think about the weird chick married to her boss’ boss anyway

At least until Athena swanned in one day wanting to experiment with Nemesis’ blood magic, anyway

At which point Nemesis basically got all the bad vibes and went hm. no. and got into a verbal brawl with her over it, and then had to get prodded off of that particular argument by her direct manager so they didn’t all get in hot water with Lahabrea over it

Nemesis also around that time got a (rather nebulous and circumstantial) piece of evidence tying Athena to the rash of escapes but before she and her direct manager could do anything about it, the whole incident with Erich had happened and so yeah she just dropped it because she wasn’t gonna try to persecute someone that was fuckin dead (and she also genuinely thought it was just an accident at the time like everyone else, least up until she gets pulled into the Pandaemonium questline but anyway)

And from there she basically just kept on keeping on: catching rogue concepts, keeping some of the less-bad ones, inevitably being yanked into a friendship with Azem, having to put up with Emet-Selch of all people when he started dating her brother, her sister being Emmerololth and then retiring to be a Fae ambassador...so on and so on

[atdutiesend]

Ever since meeting the true Lahabrea and Hephaistos, Dove has been thinking. Their thoughts had lead them to look in on Pandaemonium once more, a frown tugging down the edges of their mouth into an expression that could almost be mistaken for a pout instead.

Still at the forefront of their memories is the utter, unthinking terror of "Unleash... ULTIMA!" and the knowledge they were going to die. The fact they'd survived had lead them to be ever more recklessly certain of their own lack of mortality... not least after Lahabrea had killed them in the fight directly after, the fight to rescue Thancred. They'd simply gotten right back up, bared their teeth, and ripped the miscreant out of their not-quite-mentor... They'd still died. They'd felt the call of the aetherial sea and refused it.

The later horror of the Ascian Prime... of Thordan using Nidhogg's eye to eat Lahabrea. Now that they knew what Priming was, truly, it was even more soul-shakingly horrifying to know what they'd witnessed. It made their skin crawl between the scales.

The worst part was that they had a feeling the real Lahabrea had expected to be addressed and regarded as a friend, even a protector of sorts. But why..? Was Azem, was their past self, really so close to him that any creation of theirs should trust him unquestioningly?

Dove huffed out a sigh, running a hand through the spikes their loose hair. What a mess.

[aetherstories]

Open starter!

"I assure you." Fourchenault spoke, frown almost thunderous. "We would know it, if any members of the Forum had been... as you say, taken over."

[azems-familiar]

"where have you been?" for the question prompts bc of the recent discord shenanigans :3c

It has been some time since his last trip to the Source. Emet-Selch would return more often, but he has a job to do now that Mitron has gone and gotten himself corrupted into a sin eater, and the First’s balance is delicate. Maintaining it enough to provoke the Rejoining at a moment’s notice while not letting it fall to the Flood is tricky, even if in practice most of his time is spent waiting or pestering the Exarch. Not to mention that if he dares wander off, Elidibus will have his head - the Emissary has yet to forgive him for sleeping through Lahabrea’s death. But the situation in the Source must be regularly assessed, he has his grandson to puppet, and Elidibus to remain in tenuous contact with, and thus he travels.

That the Black Rose weapon has been unearthed and revamped is an excellent choice, he must admit - and it means he needs to begin further encouraging the First towards stasis and complacency, letting the balance fall. It will only be a matter of time until the Eorzean Alliance’s campaign pushes Garlemald to a point where Varis will have no choice but to release the gas, and then…well. The Ardor will continue and Emet-Selch will leave this long era of his own quiet stasis behind, with no regrets whatsoever. He will ensure there are no regrets.

He cannot afford any more of them, if he is to survive this.

But being gone from the First is irritating for its own reasons, mostly because he simply has no way of knowing how much time has passed there. As of late, its time stream has been much faster than the Source’s, so in the few days he has been here much longer will inevitably have passed, but there is not enough consistency to truly guess, and he has left much undone. Plans he needs to begin to implement, for one, and for two…

This really should have been his second priority, he muses to himself as he wanders through Syrcus Tower’s upper halls, humming idly to himself - a song he’d overheard on the Garlean radio while in the palace, popular with the younger crowd, apparently. His comfortable enmity with the Exarch is meant to be a distraction as much as it is a regular interrogation - though he has spent much less time interrogating the man as of late. The secrets he holds are enticing, but Emet-Selch has plenty of time to draw them out, and all the patience of an immortal…and their teatime sessions are pleasant. He has, too, recently enjoyed the presence of the Exarch’s adopted grandchild, though he has no particular reason to be soft on her, pale shade that she is. She is merely…an engaging diversion.

(He will not care about a Sundered child again.)

Read on AO3.

[aetherstories]

No need for dramatics, and there's a dark eyebrow raised at the wording, before the Speaker nods. Formal as the current Lahabrea might be, he is not so arrogant that he will demand respect as the current Pashtarot does, for all that meeting concern with a dismissal is not something he's particularly fond of.

"It is hardly dramatics when we are well aware of the creatures Pandaemonium houses." Is all he points out. Tone even, tone steady... and even steely. Because some things must still be said.

"I expect all the necessary... paperwork regarding the incident has been completed?"

Must he send someone to Elpis to see that it is handled, or have the arrangements done already? Because it has been a long time since he has walked Elpis, but there are some in Pandaemonium who deserve the chance to visit, despite the task before them.

@aetherstories asked: Koios, is that ... blood ? - From Lahabrea

"--hmm?" A brow raises, gaze raising from the vast expanse of biological plans and blueprints to gaze over a shoulder toward his unexpected visitor. Palms, leaning against his desk, claw fingers inward ere straightening his back - regarding company with no small amount of idle annoyance. Koios detested disturbances, of any kind.

The mention of blood had him gaze around, double checking paperwork and the like for any marks before he looked at himself: blood having dried down an arm and around a few of his fingers:

"--some variety of fiend clawed me while travelling back through Elpis. I simply haven't tended to it yet, no need for dramatics."

[dragoon-mid-jump]

U’reksh and Claudien when they first meet trying to figure out why the other is so damn familiar vs post-Pandaemonium jokingly calling each other “Nephew” and “Uncle”, respectively, after learning about Ares and Erichthonios’ relationship.

[kootiepatra]

#FFxivWrite2024 - Day 16: Third-rate

Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus were taking a quick break, the former nursing a growing headache, and the latter lost in thought. Hermes required time alone to gather himself. And much to Emet-Selch’s relief, Azem’s vexing familiar was off somewhere with Hermes’ latest pet project. Hopefully they were keeping each other out of trouble—or at least entertained. It left the two envoys from Amaurot some time to take a breather and consider what all they had seen.

Interviewing and assessing the potential new Fandaniel was never going to be the easiest of errands, Emet-Selch thought, but it was certainly never supposed to be this frustrating .

That Emet-Selch’s patience was being stretched thin was evidenced by his increasing irritation at the creatures meandering Elpis’s fields. He stopped in his tracks, agog, as one especially peculiar creation tottered by—it looked like a ball of moss, but with a beak, and a small puddle of water balanced precariously on a leaf above its head.

“What is that? ” he asked.

“Charming, isn’t it?” Hythlodaeus smiled.

“Do not tell me you approved this concept.”

Hythlodaeus chuckled. “‘Tis the only way it would appear on this isle, my dear friend. Unless you suppose it has spontaneously popped into being. Now, wouldn’t that be exciting?”

“You know what I mean,” Emet-Selch scowled. “First the ambystoma, and now this? What even is the point of it?”

“... ‘Point?’” Hythlodaeus asked innocently.

“Yes, point . Purpose. Reason for existence. Need I elaborate further?” Emet-Selch folded his arms and frowned. “I cannot fathom why, when we have geniuses on our star of the caliber of Lahabrea, turning out concepts as awe-inspiring as Ifrita, you are also simultaneously approving things like… like… a sentient marimo on tiptoe.”

“Oh, come now. The creature is harmless.”

Emet-Selch sighed loudly. “Harmless it may be, but what good does it do? Why bother with it at all?”

“A strange question,” Hythlodaeus mused. “Should it not be sufficient that ‘the point’ is that it is pleasing? It is proving a real conversation-starter, at the very least.”

Emet-Selch’s eyes flashed slightly. “I swear, it seems like you will just let absolutely anyone with delusions of competence submit a concept to your desk.”

“That is more or less the shape of things, yes.”

“And evidently you never fail to approve their applications.”

“Oh, you are mistaken ,” Hythlodaues laughed. “I do. Do I ever . The rejection file is… quite substantial. And entertaining.”

“Based on WHAT?” Emet-Selch demanded, gesturing accusingly at the leafy creature once more.

Hythlodaeus lit up at the subject and began counting the reasons off on his fingers. “Being too near to a duplication of a previously approved concept, for one. Or if it has gaping holes in the idea—crucial details that have been left too vague to bring into realization. For sentient beings, we reject anything that has a design flaw fundamentally incompatible with life. Or if it poses an obvious and insurmountable threat to other established beings of the star. That sort of thing.”

“Honestly. Have you never considered how much more streamlined things could be at your office if you employed a roster of people who actually proved that they knew what they’re doing? Those with a history of work that shows they grasp the fundamentals of both aesthetics and practicality?”

Hythlodaeus grinned. “My, that is an idea. Such wisdom simply proves why it was only right that you should be elevated to the Convocation, and I should maintain my humble post at the Bureau.”

“As you will, then,” Emet-Selch said begrudgingly. “Just don’t come crying to me when your submissions file is overflowing with inane nonsense.”

“Duly noted,” Hythlodaeus replied.

[sword-and-lance]

((yup I'm not entirely done and I wasn't joking about the Nereus/Lahabrea elaboration deserving its own post 8D

these two idiots (affectionate) I stg, like

it actually took a fair bit of time for them to even realize that oh yeah I do get the warm fuzzies about this person in THAT way don't I

and while Nereus was actually pretty willing to run with that, if a bit cautiously because this blowing up in his face like the other relationships he tried having would be kinda bad if he still had to work with the guy

Lahabrea was just. um. kind of scared actually even if he couldn't even admit that that's what it was to himself

I mean of course there's the whole specter of what if someone just uses me again hanging over him but also even if that wasn't the case--

after something that outright horrible happening to him, like

it leaves something awful and grievously wounded and angry in your chest that lashes out not just at other people but yourself, too, so he wasn't even convinced he deserved that chance because he (thought he had) fucked up so. BADLY. in his last relationship that he nearly got his own kid stuck into a fate possibly worse than death

despite supposedly being one of THE smartest people

and given that Ancient society was, um, clearly not good with mental health stuff, and given that he couldn't even actually talk about what happened for obvious reasons of having to admit to murdering someone, that all had to be terrifically isolating, too, on top of all the self-blame

and that nasty combination of bad feelings basically going at him 24/7 made him want to run from even a hint of a relationship because did he really deserve it after that and what if what if what if, and yet

he was also just as painfully lonely as Nereus was after all this time and (while he probably considered it selfish of him at first) he just...wanted just one single thing that was his, after sacrificing damn near everything of himself to the star, to the Convocation, to everyone and everything else until he truly had made himself a bit miserable as a human being

(He just liked to think he was above that sort of thing when L O L no you are not sir, and he nearly had a wholeass mental breakdown over it at one point even)

and Nereus was actually genuinely kind, if a bit prissy and vain outside of work, and even when Lahabrea's harder more jagged edges bit into him he never really blamed him for it--didn't like it, sure, no one likes being on the receiving end of someone being angry or distant or just plain difficult, but never got too pissed and seemed to realize it was coming from a place of immense hurt

(I mean the guy's a healer, it's generally pretty obvious to someone like that when someone's just lashing out in pain, rather than just being mean for the sake of being mean)

and he was just quite willing to sit there and listen when Lahabrea wasn't being too...mentally shut down about the whole thing to be functional about it, and yeah it took fucking AGES and slow, painstaking work to get the man to actually open up about anything, but

damn if Nereus didn't manage it anyway at some point

and Lahabrea got to know him better too and realized that yeah Nereus is in fact just Like That in some ways but also that he's a rather sweet man, especially towards the people he loves

(And he...struggles to actually show that same softness in return, after so damn much of his life was basically building layer after layer of personal armor until what was the armor and what was him started becoming less and less distinguishable)

(but even if he can't really bring himself to do too much in public without feeling like his everything is screaming at him to knock it off, he does try in private--even if he was never really shown how to do it, he is still willing to try, as awkward and hesitant as he can be about vulnerability inherent to intimacy)

(not just emotionally, though that's a major part of it, but also physically--I headcanon he has a bit of a scar across his neck from when Athena actually tried to kill him back, hence the weird under-robes that no one else seems to wear, and he is actually really self-conscious about it)

(In fact that caused a bit of a spat between them when he first revealed that mark on accident early on, because Nereus was a bit sensitive to wow do you even trust me to DO MY JOB at the time and wasn't happy that one of his closer professional cohorts was uh, not asking him to help. BUT ANYWAY--)

As for Nereus he was basically just extremely lonely and felt like he didn't entirely fit in, especially since every other person of the Fourteen were from the city at the time (least until Azem wandered in) and he was basically from the Beach Boonies--and while the settlement he was in was actually pretty chill with his propensity for indulgence, the city really very wasn't and it made him wonder more than once if he was actually a good fit for the post

or even still being in the city at all tbh, for a while there

...and then it turned out that part of that particular brand of impulsivity was mostly because he was just. very very alone and didn't like it, and so it got tempered a fair bit when he actually started to be with Lahabrea proper (and Lahabrea himself being very you stop that? helped lol); he felt like Lahabrea saw him for who he was rather than what, and accepted it and even loved it, and it really did chill him out a bit as a result

they really did just both want to be seen and heard and loved for who they were, rough edges and all, and even if it makes Nereus nervous and Lahabrea straight-up anxious to try and do that, it gets juuuuust slightly easier as time goes on and it's just

genuinely pretty healing for the both of them

and in a world that wouldn't sit with big complicated damaging feelings that might never go away, that really did just mean everything, to the both of them))

[dutysmith]

"I don't need magic to make this work. It is simply a machine that scans the area. Its very common within rich households."

So he copied the design and implimented it , did a tech course a few months ago since he had nothing else to do. God, almost a year in this place already.

"I only supplied the parts, everything else is a science."

He creates a basketball on the spot and hands it to the robot to further shoot hoops.

Grampa here can be lying or....okay fine. He not actually gonna brain grandpa over just making a robot for throwing basket balls.

God knows hobbies needed to keep a old mind sane. Seongjun lower his blade.

"....what you used for sensor? The city zap most of everyone powerful toys no? With your cult like robes and a lack of magi tech store. You have to combine your ability with the tech in this city to make something right?"

Seongjun observe the machine. His dealing with Hero of Transformation don't make him a enginnering major but it does make him capable of at least understand the basic of how this machine works.

Is....is gramps bored?

[tritoch]

argggh i can't stop it. It's happening. having forbidden FFXIV classpect thoughts. Hydaelyn and Zodiark as our cherub equivalents. Meanwhile, events in Elpis result in a Mobius Double Reach-Around pair of interlinked sessions between the Scions and the Unsundered, which are largely asynchronous and separate and link up only around the time of ARR through EW. spoilers through 6.0.

THE BIG TWO:

Hydaelyn: Muse of Time

Zodiark: Lord of Space

---

SOURCE SESSION:

WoL: Knight of Hope (one who wields hope as a weapon. Hope is canonically an extremely powerful aspect and linked to elemental light and the power of belief. Brilliant Conviction, the canonical warrior of light buff, is extremely Hope energy. Also, since light is juxtaposed against despair in the Big Answers Monologue, the Warrior of Light represents not the aspect Light, which is luck and knowledge, but Hope)

Minfilia (& Ryne): Heir of Light (literally everything about Minfilia and Ryne points to this it is almost impossible to ignore. Also again, Homestuck Light represents luck and foresight and this ties to both Minfilia's time as Word of the Mother and Ryne's role as the Oracle)

Alphinaud: Prince of Blood (one who destroys relationships and alliances, see the Crystal Braves, but also one who destroys through or using alliances, see everything after that. Also, all the Princes destroy their aspect in themselves at some point, and ARR Alphinaud is absolutely a bloodless technocrat in all senses)

Alisaie: Rogue of Breath (an outlaw Rogue in contrast to Alphinaud's noble Prince but also because the Rogues are generally affable, unpretentious, and natural adepts of their aspects. Breath stands for freedom, flight, and change. The curing of tempering not only figuratively steals back the breath of Halric and all the tempered (and the porxie animation is even sort of a symbolic transfer of breath), but also restores their freedom and marks perhaps the greatest change to the setting's status quo)

Thancred: Bard of Mind (mind deals with thought, possible futures, the paralysis of choice. The bard allows destruction of their aspect and invites destruction through their aspect. It is difficult to sum up how I think this applies but consider both Thancred, paralyzed by his failure to save Warburton, and also the image of the Fatebreaker. Also he's literally a bard)

Y'shtola: Witch of Void (witch is obvious. Void stands in for forbidden knowledge, obscured things, darkness. Connects to both her personal drive to uncover the hidden things of the world and her time as spiritual leader to the Night's Blessed. Also on a meta level we know the least about her because she is underdeveloped lmao)

Urianger: Seer of Doom (lay-up)

Estinien: Maid of Rage (both the HS Maids are naturals of their aspects, and also go sorta corrupted or weird in relation to it. also the idea of Estinien as Nidhogg's handmaiden (as well as Handmaid) makes a lot of sense to me)

G'raha: Page of Time (again, a lay-up, but note that Pages have the potential to be among the most powerful given time and development. Also as the Exarch has many parallels to Hydaelyn thematically)

---

UNSUNDERED:

Elidibus: Sylph of Heart (Heart deals with identity, the soul, motivation, but also self-knowledge through others. Also Elidibus is a little bit damsel-coded imo)

Emet-Selch: Mage of Space (BEHOLD, A SORCERER OF ELD and also the close narrative link to Zodiark)

Lahabrea: Thief of Life (steals life, as Hephaestus made life. Also life has thematic links to the march of progress and the exertion of will, and through the Condesce and Betty Crocker, power and its abuse (impeach Lahabrea))