#A'khebica Ginwa

[aethericgeometry]

[dragons-bones]

FFXIV Write Entry #21: Understaffed

Prompt: crunch | Master Post | On AO3

Special thanks to @tehjai/ @keltgeim (Keltgeim Eyristyrwyn), @wanderedaimlessly (Starling Nightsong), @chaemera/ @aethericgeometry (A’khebica Ginwa), and @cyborgsurprise (Yjra Fex) for letting me borrow/mention their characters for this fill!

Cid waltzed into Synnove’s office, witty quip at the tip of his tongue, and stopped dead, blinking in surprise.

Synnove hunched over her desk, in perpetual danger of one day developing scholar’s back, was not an unusual sight. The mountains of paper around her even less so. What was unusual was that most of the paperwork was made of small booklets, and Synnove was moving line by line so quickly, making tick marks with a quill, that she couldn’t be reading essays.

What was even more unusual was how she wasn’t the only one camped out in her office. Keltgeim was sitting cross-legged on the rug in the ‘den’ area, more of those booklets piled around her. Starling had commandeered the overstuffed arm chair, legs stretched out in front of her, and the tip of her tail slowly waving back and forth.

And those booklets were everywhere.

“What,” said Cid, “the hell.”

“Welcome to exam season,” said Synnove without looking up. “Pull up a spot and a stack of booklets and start checking answers.”

“Ahahah, no,” he replied, weaving his way towards her desk. He idly noticed the enormous piles of blankets and pillows strewn around the couch; no doubt Synnove had been sleeping in her office again. Upon reaching her desk, he dropped the roll of blueprints he’d brought with him in the only free space on the very edge. Synnove grunted a thanks to him.

Cid looked around critically. “New exam structure?” he said.

“Aye,” Keltgeim said, without looking up from the booklet she was steadily ticking through. Now that he was closer, Cid could see that each of the women had a single, large sheet of parchment next to them, with five cramped columns of writing: a number, in ascending order, with a letter next to it.

“Multiple choice?” he said, aghast.

“Some stupid idea by the department chairs,” said Keltgeim.

“One single end of year exam for the first years, combining all the collective knowledge they were supposed to absorb from their various classes,” added Synnove.

“What the hell.”

“That’s what us vice chairs said.”

“With significantly more swearing,” said Starling.

The door to the office burst open, revealing A’khebica and her carbuncle held in her arms. “We’re ready for the next set—oh, hello Mr. Garlond!” She waved brightly.

Cid nodded to her, smiling, and said, “Hello, Miss Ginwa.”

Synnove pointed at a stack of booklets next to the door. “Right there, Khebi,” she said.

“Thank you, Miss!” A’khebica replied as she set her carbuncle on the floor. To her carbuncle, she said, “Void storage, please, Carby.”

Carby’s mouth dropped open, farther than he should have been able to and just—swallowed the stack whole. He sat down placidly, hiccupping once. A’khebica swooped him back up into her arms and darted out of the office.

Cid felt a little wild about the eyes. “That will never stop being disturbing,” he muttered.

All three arcanists grunted agreement.

His gaze swept the room again, noting the size of the stacks. “All right, I’ll bite,” he said. “There are far more booklets then there are first-year arcanists.”

“Multiple-day exam,” Starling said.

“We’re also triple-checking the corrections,” said Keltgeim. “We’re on first pass, then Khebi runs the books down to Halulu and Yjra’s group, then those get passed on to another, I can’t even remember who’s in that one.”

“And that’s just the multiple choice,” said Synnove, voice icy. “Then there’s the short answer, which we still haven’t started on.”

“Synnove, to quote you: what the absolute living fuck,” said Cid, not bothering to hide his revulsion.

She waved her free hand at him. “I know, I know, but the chairs wouldn’t listen and poor Thubyrgeim got sick of being harassed about it so she gave the go ahead. The grading wouldn’t be so bad, each of the professors in the Guild was to grade a set amount, but—”

Cid grimaced. “But then that typhoon rolled through the fishing grounds; I heard the talk about it on the way in.”

“So, we’re literally on the most bare-bones staff while more than half the Guild is with the Rescue Fleet,” said Synnove, finally letting her exhaustion through. “We’ve got three more days to get all the grading done and we can’t pull the assessors off inspection because we’ve still got merchants coming into port.”

Cid nodded thoughtfully. Then he turned and made to head for the door, saying as he did, “Well, good luck! I have my own never-ending pile of paperwork back at the Ironworks.”

“Stop right there, Garlond.”

Cid automatically froze in place; that tone of absolute menace was not to be disobeyed, his hindbrain said. He turned to look over his shoulder.

Synnove was pointing her quill at him. “You dropped the blueprints off yourself,” she began, tone icy again, “so that means you’re either all caught up or trying to escape Jessie’s tyranny. I should rat you out to her, but I need bodies more than I need schadenfreude.”

“Jessie,” said Cid, crossing his arms, “isn’t that effective a threat when you’re as terrified of her as I am.”

Synnove narrowed her eyes. Cid smirked at her.

After a long moment of just staring at him, an evil grin overtook Synnove’s features. She glanced over to Starling and made a single sharp, almost dismissive looking motion with her hand. Starling kicked one of the piles of what Cid had thought been discarded pillows and blankets mostly hidden by the couch; an annoyed grunt sounded and the person who had been laying partially beneath it (and mostly behind the couch, out of his line of sight) sat up.

“What,” Nero Scaeva said in a flat tone. He had one of those infernal booklets in hand, a stick of graphite in the other, and a pair of buds in his ears with the wires leading down to a miniaturized magitek orchestrion.

Cid turned to look at Synnove, furious and horrified and more than a bit impressed. “You degenerate barbarian,” he said admiringly, accepting a stack of booklets and an answer key that Keltgeim shoved at him. “Where did you even find him?”

“That’s for me to know and you to not find out,” said Synnove cheerfully. “Now, chop-chop, Garlond, the sooner we finish the multiple choice, the sooner we finally get started on the short answer.”

[maelstrom-command]

Maelstrom Command RP Community <<FLEET>> DOMA RP CAMPAIGN SERIES // MAIN EVENT 01:

SETTING SAIL FOR DOMA

After much preparation, the Maelstrom’s 1st Squadron, 9th Levy has set sail on a two moons long journey to Doma on a mission of diplomacy. 

As is tradition when a Maelstrom land based Levy embarks on a lengthy sea voyage, the crew gathers to nominate, then vote, on who among them should be assigned specific leadership roles for the duration of the voyage. Nominations are based on sea faring skills rather than on years served in the Limsan Armada.

CREW ROSTER:

Captain: J’ahk Crooktail @ser-rex

Quartermaster: Sounsyy Mirke @mirkemenagerie

Reserve: Dogberry Himalspyr @betterlivingthrublackmagic

Master Navigator: Alice Eizenheim 

Navigator’s Mate: J'karha Kihlo

Bosun: Oswyne Crosby @old-souldier

Master Gunner: Radiant Valkyrie @crystal-brave

Gunner’s Mate: U'illya Verlial @lilyverlial

Master of Arms: Shina Takahashi @panipahr

Arm’s Master Mate: A'kiyan Grievers 

Arms Assistant: Amethyst Sere

Sailor Master: S'vash Tia @svashing

Sailor Master’s Mate: Honoura Hawke @honhonoura

Master Surgeon: Dr. Kether Hollis @betterlivingthrublackmagic

Surgeon: A'khebica Ginwa @aethericgeometry

Carpenter: (NPC) Mystskoef Sterrdaegsyn

Galley Master: Faolan Donne @shotsfiredxiv

Cook: J'etrah Zurie 

Overall Levy Commander: Sylbfohc Ostulmsyn @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast

The Doma Campaign is a private RP series run by the Maelstrom Command RP community from February 2019 - June 2019. It’s set before the events of the 4.5 MSQ and will end with RP that leads into the MSQ. If you have a Maelstrom aligned character and would like to get involved, consider joining the community!

tinyurl.com/join-the-maelstrom

[thevoilinauttheory]

Paradise by Coldplay

When she was just a girl She expected the world But it flew away from her reach And the bullets catch in her teeth Life goes on, it gets so heavy The wheel breaks the butterfly Every tear a waterfall In the night, the stormy night, she'd close her eyes In the night, the stormy night, away she'd fly

( For @aethericgeometry’s A'khebica Ginwa! I do hope you enjoy this song, it holds a special place in my heart and I don’t usually give it to characters so freely (not even my own)...however, I thought that it had fit A’khebica’s character well, and I loved reading up on her! Thank you so much for your patience! )

[elihlili]

My FC mate A'khebica Ginwa taught me and Elih about Scholars! They are so sparkly!☆Faeries!☆  But all the micro-managing seems tricky...I can't even handle my Warrior. Σ(ﾟﾛﾟ｣)｣

Then we were distracted by the cute coeurl kittens. I had to screenshot!♥

[aethericgeometry]

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Run from the light

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Hit Dancer 80!

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Soulsow

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Ara ara...

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“Can I help you?”

[aethericgeometry]

“Wheeeeeeeeee!”

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