#FFXIVWrite2022

[makiokuta]

A makeup prize for FFXIV Write of @eva-cybele ( @dawnslight-aegis )'s beautiful Au ra, Kaede.

Thank you to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast all your hard work on this event!

[nyanyandraws]

Volunteered to do a makeup prize for last year's ffxivwrite2022 since I finished early so here's a participation prize for Ruenis.

Congrats again and thank you for waiting.

[chidorisjournal]

FFXIV Write 2024 - Day 30 - Two Heads Are Better Than One

Shing! Clang! Thwick!

Blades met, rebounded, clashed and sang against one another. No blunted blades or wooden training wasters, these were naked steel, their song sibilant in the still air, their edges catching light and throwing it back from ground sharp edges. A mistake at this level would cost more than bruises and a bit of ego, no, these warriors paid for training in blood. Neither wore protective gear, facing each other in sleeveless shirts and comfortable pants.

All in all, it was either an expression of pure ego, or skill. Possibly both. The room itself was almost stale with their breath, both were breathing enough to be heard, now. Each bore some lines, red, of missed parries, and the slick sheen of exertion from the workout, though by some shared common decency, perhaps, neither had struck blows above the shoulder or below mid thigh.

Still, they danced, for far to long, until slight exertion yielded to panting breaths and the elder raised his hand, calling a halt. They stilled, each reaching for water, before the younger spoke.

"Need to talk about it?"

"No. I think… that was what I needed. I'm not sure."

A slow nod of his head. "Sometimes it's not about the words. Or even the feelings. You just have to work until you can move forward."

A soft laugh from his brother, setting his water down again. "Just so. And for this, today, two heads are better than one. Again?"

Squaring up, Fenris smiled his slow smile. "Again, Auberi. Until you're ready to talk about it, or it hurts a little less."

"I may never be ready to talk about it." Fenris nodded, slowly, raising his blade to guard. "Then we will march off to the War without speaking of it. And we will dance there with the magitek. And that will be what it will be as well." A pause, a slow breath, Fenris' eyes meeting Auberi's, twin sets of the family's brilliant gold. "We would have helped." "I know." Auberi's voice, soft, ragged. "I had to do it alone."

And so they danced.

[mealvaan]

Solution

Each time Vahri’a’s head topples to the wall beside, the bombination of the upper level floods into a roar of chatter and clanking about. Whether it detracts from his concentration or enhances it, who’s to say?

The brief of the assignment is written in brilliant bold letters at the top of his workbook — decidedly kept separate to his grimoire, in preservation of his immaculate handwriting. Aim: To transpose Ruin into an orb of 5 ilm diameter and reduce channeling time to 50%. It should be simple. In theory.

Yet underneath, the contents is shy and ashamed, hiding behind scribbled ink. Attempts to transpose the sigil come across more as abstract art than a workable geometry. 

He has been here for two bells now.

The lichyard of the basement is all he has to bounce off of. A vacuum of thought. There are a couple of skilled casters taking the opportunity to practice reps in the arena, but this is a relatively quiet and private affair he easily tunes to muffled phonetics. Other arcanists often work at home, but his is a hole in the wall. 

Way off to the other side of the circular expanse, however, is another he hadn’t noticed on his first sweep of the room. She’s a short and wiry Seeker of the Sun, all ankles and wrist bones, in a set of suspenders and rolled trousers. Rendered in autumn colours, with auburn hair and patches of brown skin woven with burgundy burns. She adjusts her glasses every so often and squinting through them as she makes her way through one of the guild’s many tomes. She’s got piles of books set off to the side of her, none opened. Sprawled onto her desk of discarded crates are a number of parchment pieces, each playing with the same sigil that’s been etched into his mind for the evening.

As if alerted by the Twelve, her gaze darts up.

He catches it, lips thinning and stretching — not into a smile, but rather a sheepish impulse.

She grins proper, the tips of her ears and the corners of her lips stretched upwards.

He raises a hand in a bare wave.

She gets up. Gathers her materials. Strides over to him.

He isn’t going to get any work done.

“I didn’t realise you spent your studying time in the Gate, Vahri’a. Thought you’d be the type to skitter home after every class.” He doesn’t know her name, but she talks with the lilt of someone who’s known him for ages and has the right to affectionately resent his withdrawn tendencies.

“Don’t you do that?” he asks, returning his gaze to his work. An ear remains lofted in attendance of his fellow arcanist, who assails it with laughter.

He supposes ‘assail’ isn’t the right word. There’s a distinct flutter to it that makes it a bubbly, digestible affair…

“I can never concentrate in here. There’s too many people milling about usually. But I needed the research, and the Navigator heard my prayers, wheeling everyone away from the Gate for once. Save our quietest classmate. But no, I study at the Docks. The noise doesn’t bounce around on the open sea.”

“Did you have much luck, then?” Vahri’a asks curiously, looking over her papers.

Given the dissonance between his workstation and hers, he expected her penmanship to be equally dissonant. It’s not quite the steady hand he uses to draw all his glyphs, but hers is neat by certainty. A single, quick stroke marks a circle, a line, and a poke of the pen for the dots. She doesn’t waste time, and her work is all the cleaner for it.

For that, she’s gotten farther than him. She doesn’t conceal her mistakes in a big, black box. All of her experimental failures — even the ones that are excessively silly, like deconstructing the core of the glyph and dispersing it to its arms — are on full display, their page remaining their own domain, with notes scribbled into the margins.

“Working on it still, but I’m stumped,” she admits, showing off a particular sheet. The heart of the spell is circled with great aplomb. The margins scream in all capital letters, which he can only just make out for its colloquialism and alternative spelling: WERE TH FUCK DO I PUT THEES? 

“I would assume you keep it where it is,” Vahri’a says, frowning.

���But should you? See here—���

She grabs one of her books from under her arm, setting the rest down beside her — decidedly parking in his study space — and flips through the pages until she reaches a dog eared entry. Gods, did she dog ear a book from the archives? The page falls to a spell of a similar casting time to the one they’re attempting, Bio. She points to the top of the sigil, furthest from where her palm connects to the tome’s spine.

“This largest push is at the end,” she says, circling a more complex set of large circles with her digit. “It’s ‘cause you want to have your aether, let’s say, ‘valves’ opened proper by these little bits so they’re all oiled up to let go of bigger amounts. It makes the spell imbalanced, which isn’t a problem for this one ‘cause it’s all about volatility in the first place. But Ruin’s got to have that trajectory, and let you channel more quicker…”

Vahri’a blinks. He holds the book’s other end to get a proper look, eyes flitting between his grimoire’s open page and her book’s example.

“Now, let me see what you’ve done?” she asks, side-stepping to get a better look at his workbook. Her brow furrows as she sees his work — redacted clouds of meaningless scribble. “Well, you’re no help. Did you just draw a bunch of tits?”

“No,” he says flatly, shaking his head in disbelief. “None of those were correct, so don’t worry for them.”

“But maybe parts of them were. Better to be able to use the scraps than tossing out the whole boar. Walk me through what you tried, then. Or we’re both hopeless.”

She has a point. He hasn’t made any progress thus far, and she has. He may as well take her help rather than spurn it and flunk the coursework.

The work had proceeded for bells, but those bells went by at a ship’s pace. Time speeds to a brisk walk as he explains his theory to her, and she posits some rightful critique — and he does the same for her when they eventually wheel a chalkboard out of the classroom and work that way, each with an eraser and piece of chalk to parry the others’ suggestions aside. But it’s a spar, not a duel — a collaborative effort to better the other.

By the end of it, they’re tired messes fighting off the concentrated La Noscean heat, but they’ve got a working prototype that their tutor might actually accept. 

The two fall to a natural silence as they copy the geometry down into their respective books.

“Hey, Vahri’a.”

“Mm?”

“You don’t remember my name, do you?”

Air skids to a halt in his throat. 

“Ah…”

There’s that laughter again. Gradated and effervescent. Like a glass of champagne. 

“Gods, you’re the worst.”

“I’m sorry.” He realises just how much he’s pied off his classmates. 

“It’s fine. Remember it this time.” She extends a hand to him. “H’nemti. But you can call me Nem.”

“Are you sure?”

“… About my name?”

“About the nickname.”

“If it means you’ll remember it, then I’ll take what I can get.”

The rest of the eve is little, but precious. Their work is preserved in ink, its dust dissipated. He says his formal goodbyes after checking his bag twice over, and she waits for him without poking at his habit. They ascend the steps in a close file.

Every so often, she turns back to chat with him, her merriment skewing her glasses one way. By the end of it, he manages the littlest of smiles, and hers carves dimples into her cheeks.

[aioledoesart]

FFxivWrite2022 Participation Prize

This year for FFxivWrite I had the privilege of drawing the beautiful @meepsthemiqo - thank you for entrusting her to me, she was a joy to draw.

Thank you to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for organizing this fabulous event, which surely must only be getting larger with so many artists, writers, and entries to keep track of.

[yzeltia]

Febhyurary Day K.13 - Strength

"I'll work on my body, and you can work on your mind! A couple that trains together, gains together! Though if you read aloud I could work on my mind and body! Maybe then Krile won't play tricks on me as easily...no doubt she's teaching Khenna how to outwit me as we speak."

[adeat]

FFxivWrite2022 Participation Prize

For @azure-voltage of their amazing non-binary Roe, Loth Sterrhanth (also they/them). This pic was really fun to do. Hope you like it!

As always, a big shout-out to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for organizing this amazing event.

[michelleartbear]

FFxivWrite2022 Participation Prize

always love getting to draw an elezen :)

Rossignol Martinez for @escherstrange-ffxiv​

Thanks, as ever, to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast​ for organizing the event.

[rielteris]

FFxivWrite2022 Participation Prize

I drew this portrait for @shepherdtostars of her Final Fantasy XIV character. It is a prize for participating in FFxivWrite2022, a Final Fantasy XIV themed 30-day writing challenge!

FFxivWrite2022 is hosted by @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast

[azurevoltage]

FFXIVWrite Participation Prize!

For @houserosaire 's character, Baron Silvaineaux de Rosaire. So much fun to work on this one! Thanks for letting me draw your WoL 💙!

MAJOR thanks to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for organising this every year!

[cieldalaes]

FFxivWrite2022 Participation Prize

Participation prize for @ByWineBeHealed over on twitter.

Thank you for hosting this event once again @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast!

[reikomizuno]

FFxivWrite2022 Participation Prize !

This year has been brutal for me, yet I managed to finish this as once again I had volunteered to draw some prizes.

See you next year ♥

@sea-wolf-coast-to-coast , thank you for hosting!

[cactuarjen]

FFxivWrite2022 Participation Prize

For the awesome @yokasaris of Zhan'a meeting his first child and (eventually) discovering the joy of fatherhood. Such a precious moment, and I really enjoyed drawing it! You can read the entry that inspired this piece here. As always, huge thanks to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for managing an even bigger gaggle of writers and artists this year! I continue to look forward to this year after year, even though I've stopped playing FFXIV. The enthusiasm and creativity of this community is a treasure! ♥

[dragons-bones]

Dancing Heron, drawn by @forever-halone, as my participation prize for FFXIV Write 2022! Because I completely forgot to share it, whoops.

[malaquill]

FFXIVWrite2022 Participation Prize

Slowly starting to post again with a prize for @carbecex for this year’s FFXIVWrite, hosted by @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast! Congrats!

[aeridium]

FFxivWrite2022 participation prize!

Raffle prize for @rain-grey-falcon‘s Rainimont for this year’s FFxivWrite, with big thanks to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for hosting!