#I don't play ffxiv if that's what you're asking

[erusgabu]

Got fixated on another gacha rhythm game

[yutwili33]

FFXIV NA - Bullying and Harassment in Duties

(DISCLAIMER: Before anyone assumes worst case, I am NOT referring to the entire community of NA, just some experiences I have had over the years of my play time.)

I have to ask... exactly WHAT do you gain from bullying and harassing your fellow players? what do you gain from belittling someone's ability to perform a mechanic properly? what do you gain from harassing a healer over their inability to heal? what do you gain from punishing a tank who forgets to turn on their tank stance?

There is nothing to gain... absolutely nothing to gain from telling someone "You're a bad healer" for all you know, said healer could have already been having a bad day in real life and it could be affecting their in-game performance.

There is nothing to gain from belittling fellow players "you're a dumbass" "you should just quit playing" "skill issue" "just do your job" while they may already have it rough or are just learning their way. Everybody, myself included, began as a learning player.

We can't expect everyone to know what to do, some players are rusty at their roles and skills because they were unable to log in for a long period of time. You do not know what goes on in their real lives outside of the MMO, and it is not your place to judge them. Not everyone has the same income to be able to keep their subscription, and not everyone is able to have free time to play. However... it is equally as bad for someone with elitist behavior to tell someone HOW they should do their roles or skill sets. You do not tell someone "This is the only way to do this part" "You're not pulling enough mobs for me, I'll bring them to you" or even "I'm the only one that can do this, you don't know how I do it"

Stop comparing Final Fantasy XIV to other MMOs as well, they are not all built the same, that is just one being narrow-minded.

It is all... nonsense... some of these harassers have mentor crowns on their names, others think they're big shot and can compete with everyone because they feel intimidated by a skilled player.

Leave the competitiveness and intimidation on the PvP field, not in duties were you have to WORK AS A TEAM...

[adriwatchestoku]

Gavv ep10

You know what time it is

Here she is, the terrible creature

Ooh another Hanto recap

the twins really are just. at wits end

Sachika really is the most adorable big sister Shouma could have

Hanto again showing he's got a brain up there, and it works very well when he lets it

agreed, Shouma. Plain glazed donuts are amazing

what gochizo are you getting from this? C'mon, new little dude, I wanna see

"DO WE HAVE MICE" no, you just have gochizos. come say hi, big sis

Aww, Shouma wanting to protect Hanto and Hanto caving to him despite wanting to keep his secret

… nyelv. hand over the nail polish, or at least tell me the brand and shade. I want

oh glotta. "so you already knew about gavv and valen" "why do you say that?" "because if you hadn't you would have gotten excited about what I just said"

My god. I cannot get over how the secondary rider in gavv is actually very, VERY smart, just hotheaded enough to rush into danger without using his brain occasionally

ah the number one way to fucking piss me off: target children

oh fuck OFF about this kindergarten was a good target shit

definitely doing a good job making me hate this granute

shouma being a klutz and then the conversation with Hanto getting Shouma to leave so they could both transform… darlings, please, tell each other soon that you're a Kamen Rider

god the song that plays over this fight still makes me check if I'm in a discord voice channel

maybe I should be. would be a way to get certain people to watch Gavv, yomi

seriously, tho, mecha form is so fucking cool

I fucking love the way they're working together

The way Valen gathers up all the kids makes me think of Gotou and how he was the professional "get the civilians out of the line of fire" guy until late in OOO.

Man I should rewatch OOO. The stacks are building up and I really should cleanse them.

I used to raid in ffxiv I can and I will make ffxiv mechanics jokes

I do love the designs of the suits and powerups, and how they've used the candy they're based off of in their designs

fuck I love a good explosion, and it happened to the perfect asshole

THESE TWO FUCKING DORKS. The hilarity of them worried about each other because they don't know each other's secret identities is good, but you two. Both of yall. TELL EACH OTHER

I WANT A GOCHIZO TOY

Kamen Rider Belts are great and all, and I've heard some of the CSMs are good, but I want the toys. I don't want the Fourze belt, I want an Astro Switch. I don't want the Build Driver, I want a Fullbottle to shake. I don't want a Gavv belt, I want my own little dude

… no wait Kamen Rider Buddy would try to eat it when she's angry I'm not feeding her five minutes after she's eaten all her food

"having suga steal them really isn't a plan. I'll just ask the guy we get them from" you know. good instincts not trusting suga still and asking Gavv for them

Shouma I already have some ideas for how to fit your series into the vampire AU shit I got going on. I appreciate the "oh valen is just like me, a granute who couldn't make minions" tho

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww the way he just hands over so many and holds his hands to keep his little gochizos safe…

huh. you know, I wonder. Can Hanto only transform with the chocolate gochizos, or can he use any of them and turn into a Valen version of whatever gochizo it is?

I know chocogummy is the big pairing of gavv, but right now, I'm honestly just vibing with the platonic relationship they got going on. Super cute.

(I will consume romantic content of them at some point, but right now I like the friendship)

I hate that suga is actually kinda cute.

SUGA WHAT THE FUCK

wait are they already going to reveal their kamen rider identities to each other? what is this, build's pacing?

but really suga WHAT THE FUCK

[rydiathesummoner]

Why I want a FFV remake more than FFVI

No really, hear me out here! I know VI is beloved, and childhood nostalgia is extremely profitable. I get it. However, I truly believe FFV could be an absolute beast if it were remade into a modern game.

Beware, 32 year old spoilers ahead!

Combat

If you ask anyone who has played V (there are dozens of us!) and you ask what the best part of the game is, probably at least half would say the job system. And I would agree. The job system even in its rinky-dink 1990's form is a blast to play. It can make even trash mobs fun. Now imagine the job system in a modern action game. OMG. I would spend hours just trying different combinations on trash mobs. And if action isn't for you V already has you covered! They can make barehanded really easy to get from the beginning, give it some really fun animations and the non action players can just slap it on everybody and still have a good time.

Glamour

A lot of people claim that customizing the look of your armor is pointless and for girls. Then they play FFXIV and the next thing they know they've been doing a dungeon for two hours because the hat won't drop. FFV is absolutely ripe for a glamour system. Each job has its own flair, and each character has their own style. Imagine a glamour system where you could mix and match, much like XIV's but without the jank. Replay value would skyrocket.

It has better fans

I said what I said. VI has an extremely obnoxious fan base. It's not as bad as VII's, I'll admit that. However, while VII fans are lunatics over shipping wars, VI's fans are obnoxious because they are smug assholes. They shout from their mom's rooftop over and over how it has the absolute best story and characters, and if you don't agree "YOU havE NO mEdia lITeRAcy." Since nobody played V as a kid, they have no nostalgia blinders and we can all spend more time enjoying the game and less time hearing purists bitch and moan about how Terra's hair is all wrong and "tHIS iS not EXacTlY how IT WENt In tHe OrIgInAL." And we will ALL have a better time for it.

Built-in LGBT+ and watching people cry over it will be fun

Faris is non-binary in all but name. The term non-binary didn't exist back in the 1990s, but she does fit the idea. She poses as a man to avoid harassment yes, but then later says she doesn't really care if you call her a he or she. Galuf goes all boomer on her, and Bartz stands up for her saying "Faris is just Faris. She's great no matter a man or woman!" The game does proceed to use she/her pronouns for Faris, but they/them pronouns were not a concept to the general population back then. Just imagine all the anti-woke crowd crying over how Square Enix went super woke, and everyone can just point at the original game like "dude. It's in the original. Lol." It's free extra entertainment. Also you're free to disagree, but even as a straight cis woman I have a hard time believing Bartz is fully straight. Sure he has his moment when he sees Faris asleep, but he doesn't really get upset over being like "wow this dude's hot" and I can't stress enough that this game was made in the 1990s, attitudes on this subject were completely different. Also, some of his job outfits are... look I don't want to stereotype but there's a lot of "he's at least bi, right?" when it comes to Bartz.

It's not so serious

I'm fully in agreement with the "Game of Thrones ruined entertainment" crowd. I'm over dreariness, and the idea that if nobody died, then nothing happened in the plot. It ends up dumbing down stories. It's not my problem if you're so dead inside you need to see something extreme to get an emotional response. I went to therapy for that, I didn't demand everything have a bloodbath so I could feel something. We're not in a great era IRL right now. Times are tough. I want to spend my precious free time actually having fun and laughing at characters. It would probably have a similar feel to Rebirth. The story does have serious moments but it's mostly about having fun.

There are only 5 characters

FFXV had some story problems, but where it worked best was its core characters. By the end of XV it's hard to NOT be attached to the chocobros. FFV has the same situation, you're with your friends the whole game so there's plenty of time to develop the characters. The original did ok with developing Bartz, Lenna, Faris, Galuf and Krile, but a modern remake could really do it right and make the characters really fleshed out. FFVI has too many characters for a modern game. Hell it has too many characters for an older game. Everyone has a VI character they never use and forget they exist, and I don't like that. It would suck up a ton of time and resources to give development for Gogo and Umaro. I don't care about them enough anyway.

Bartz could be a really refreshing main character

For those who haven't played FFV before, the main character is named Bartz, and he's dumb as shit. He has a good heart and loves his friends. But the boy's brains are scrambled eggs. I want Square Enix to take that and run far with it. I want them to zoom past shonen and go full Zoolander with Bartz. I want him to absolutely own the dancer outfit, sashaying around while murdering mobs, then sit down in the sand and hug Faris when Sylva dies. He'll probably cry more than Faris. Then he will go and not understand how many weapons to collect after hearing the Tale of the 12 Legendary Weapons (yes this actually happens in the game.) Typically the non-broody protagonists in the series we see maturity and a better understanding of the world, but I don't want that for Bartz. It's been done. He's my Zoolander. I'd rather he remain dumb as shit at the end, and his character development is about him being a completely directionless idiot into an idiot with an idea of what he wants to do with his life. It's ok if what he wants to do is stupid and unrealistic. Maybe he'll open a school for kids who can't read good.

There's zero romance

Yes I know, romance is extremely profitable. But even in the original Bartz does not end up with any of the girls. They are all extremely close friends by the end, but nothing romantic. That's right, a story with no love triangle, no will-they won't-they drama, no anime harem. It's possible! Who knew? It's refreshing! They would have the entire game to really dive into the theme of friendship without shipping wars destroying everything. I just want to try it in a modern game.

That One Scene would be absolutely epic in an HD remake

If I haven't convinced anyone by now, just imagine this: Galuf's last stand in HD. It would be glorious. It would be heart-pounding excitement. It would easily go into the top 10 of most epic fights. Imagine this fight on the scale of the Titan or Bahamut fights from XVI. I'm drooling over the thought. Please, Square Enix I'm begging.

[luck-and-larceny]

FFXIV Write: Reticent

She flipped a card over. King of Hearts.

“Ah. So there's a man who has been occupying your thoughts lately.”

It was important to deliver her readings more in statements than questions. Confidence was the key to convince people to pay you. That was rule number one in these kinds of games.

The woman on the other side of the cards didn't react. She didn't agree. She didn't disagree. She simply stared at the revealed card.

Ok.

Malika gave the woman space to think about it before adding, “It's important that I mention here that this does not necessarily mean you've been thinking about him romantically. The hearts represent depth of feeling and affection, but not necessarily a desire to be romantic. It could be a father figure, a mentor, or even a co-worker you've been worrying about.”

Again, no rising intonation. 

And, again, no response.

Malika tilted her head slightly to get a better look at the midlander woman’s face as she peered down, unblinkingly and wordlessly at the card. Nothing. Blank.

“Let's turn over the next card then,” she said and bit back the urge to nervously clear her throat. No nervousness here! Only sport!

She turned the card over to the 9 of hearts.

“Ah,” she said, “More hearts. Now why do you think that'd be, hmm?”

The first rule of the game was: Don't ask questions, make statements.

The second rule was: Fuck it, break the rules when you need to. In this case, she hoped asking for a response would make her sound like a patient teacher allowing her student to draw her own conclusion.

“Dunno,” the midlander answered and shrugged. And that was it. Nothing. 

Malika was quickly losing her patience. The way this woman stared at the cards you'd think she was watching paint dry on a wall!

“This card represents satisfaction, contentment and joy,” Malika said… emotions she, herself, was quickly forgetting how to feel. “Paired with our handsome King there it looks like things are going pretty good for you!”

Why even come get scammed by a shady asshole peddling fortunes with a regular ass card deck– not even a cheap divination deck!-- if your life is going so well? Tell me why you're here! You owe it to me! 

“Oh.” The midlander answered. Flatly. No emotion.

Was she alive? Had someone created an automaton to come get their fortune read? Was this a trick? Evander was pretty good at designing machines… She looked around for evidence of him. Nothing. There was a lot of that here today.

“Oh.” Malika repeated it and then turned another card over. Ace of Diamonds. “More good fortune. Literally. You'll receive a letter soon saying you're to receive money you did not expect. Tied to the hearts here, it suggests the letter will either include good news about the man or maybe be sent by him. Is there a man you're hoping to receive good news from?”

More nothing. Absolutely nothing. Time to pack up and call this a bust. She hadn't expected to get anything too significant for reading playing cards, but she'd at least hoped for fun. Or gossip she could use at a later date on another scam. Anything at all! Reading someone else's good luck in the cards and not even getting a conversation from it left a terrible taste in her mouth that only getting sloppy drunk could fix. 

She started to pack up. Silently. It's what the “customer” deserved.

The customer reached out a hand and gently held Malika’s wrist. 

Weird.

“Please turn the next one over!”

Malika raised her eyebrows. Finally, something interesting. Finally feeling like she was back in control, she exerted her power by not packing up but also not turning the next card over. And not speaking either. She could feel the switch of fortune in the air, could sense the tables turn. Exhilarating.

The woman across from her blushed and released her wrist. Then, blessedly, began to speak. “I didn't want to give too much away,” she explained, “because I'd been warned these sorts of set ups could sometimes be scams.”

“Hurtful,” Malika responded. “You wound me.”

“I'm sorry! I just… I thought to protect myself I shouldn't give anything away. I should see what you say and then, you know, see if it was right. Then I couldn't be scammed, you know?”

Malika nodded. “I know. These streets can be dangerous. People can be so unscrupulous. It's a good practice to watch out for that. You did the right thing.” She smiled warmly and tried to keep a predatory grin from overwriting the warmth. “But card reading requires two people working together to create the– we'll call it a narrative. I don't have oracular visions.”

Well, not usually anyway.

“I just have the ability to read vague messages in the cards. You've got to lend your personal experience to them to make the message more specific. It's like we're dancing together when we do this. If you don't move with me, it's clumsy and unsatisfying.”

“Ohhhhh, that makes sense.”

Did it? Good! Malika rather liked the dancing analogy…even if her first thought for comparison was less polite.

“The King of Hearts is my uncle, I think. I adore him! He’s a professional “treasure hunter” and he's opening a new museum in La Noscea that is going to be full of all kinds of ancient items and artifacts and other stuff like that. He sends me letters all the time telling me all the things he's found that he'll put in the museum and other stuff he's just planning to sell and he says he's been making so much money off it all. I asked if I could become a partner, so maybe that's what the letter will be about! Next time we do a reading maybe you'll pull a card for me that shows me as Queen of Diamonds!”

Malika had to keep her head down staring at the cards. She couldn't lift it or her wolfish grin and the bad intentions in her eyes would be far too visible to Red Riding Hood. 

“Maybe!” she agreed.

She turned the final card over. 2 of Spades. Its meaning: Bad luck. A need to be extra cautious. A cheat or bad actor in your life.

Malika lifted her head and her smile was nothing but sweetness. “2 of Spades! It means you've been needlessly cautious. You've been hiding so much away when you need to learn to be more open and honest. You've shut the door on your thoughts and feelings when you really need to throw that door wide open and impulsively do anything your heart desires when you desire it. Transparency is the key to your success!”

���Ohhh, that makes sense!”

“Doesn't it though! Now tell me everything about your uncle and yourself.”

[nihilnovisubsole]

i think i followed you Back In The Day, seven years and seven blogs ago, for something related to mass effect (zaeed? maybe? who could say) and it's wild to come back to this site years later and find you thriving, surviving, growing-- playing ffxiv! love that game. curious how you'll feel about some side characters in shadowbringers, but i won't spoil which ones.

i do have real questions, though; writing tools. not pens or software, but personal structure tools and/or guidance. what does a beat sheet look like, for you? do you have a favored way of outlining or note-taking on your own thoughts when putting a story together?

and... i'm really curious how you hold a big story together in your head while you work on it in pieces, especially for something like dangerous crowns. there's this larger story i've been chasing around for a while, and I can't quite wrap my head around how to write the political/espionage plot for it without feeling like i've actually written a children's pantomime. the best i've got so far is "research real life events and use those as my outline" but after a point it becomes hard to keep track of all the variables of who knows what about whom, who is planning x when y, etc, etc. the characters don't need to know all that-- and may never know some things-- but i feel like /I/ need to understand what's happening on the macro level so i can move the world around them appropriately.

short version: how do YOU wrap your head around writing complex plots?

hey, anon! i started endwalker this week after a long... uh... glamour detour, so don't worry about spoiling things. i spoil myself for a lot of stories on purpose anyway. let's just say i've been attached to one too many characters who got killed.

anyway. writing. i've always handled plots the same way: clear documentation. if i don't note it down, i'm not going to remember it. i've used the same table outline since around 2014. it varies in detail for different projects, but the core format stays. i know it's kicking around in my blog archive somewhere, but it's worth reposting once in a while because people like to ask about it. here's what it looks like, featuring plot points cribbed from an endeavour episode:

i used this format for an outline at work a while back, and the team found it easy to follow, which was a big day for my ego. keeping track of plot structure is even more chaotic at work because we have multiple writers who all need to stay on the same page. we have very meticulous notes on what the player should know at which point, when we're introducing new information, and what we know, but shouldn't tell. we're also not above leaving notes like "this character has to convey X," "this character has to learn Y here," or "this is a clue that they're planning Z." it can be super on-the-nose. all that matters is that it makes sense to you. because you're right - if you get too lost, you can write yourself into logic holes of tremendous proportions. ask me how i know!

[as a sidenote, researching real-life events as a starting point has really grown on me in the past few years. my lead on coh3 had me do it. he said we were dealing with real people's history, so we couldn't be cheap or play fastball - we had to be accurate to pay it respect. even if you're not writing historical fiction, it just gives you insight into how people behave.]

i would argue that the plot of dangerous crowns is actually not that complicated, maybe to its detriment. there's kind of a genre struggle going on. at voltage, we were taught romance fans came for the relationship beats and valued them above all else. in fact, leadership told us players got irritated - which meant less sales - when the plot was too complex and took time away from the making out. political thriller fans, by contrast, expect relentless twists, high stakes, and harsh consequences, and sometimes see the relationships as superfluous.

but whatever. the point is, when you look at dangerous crowns' structure, it's a pearl necklace: a chain of anchoring events. the "pearl" scenes are where Big Plot happens. they're the reason you want to write the story, and probably the ones you have the most vivid daydreams about. the scenes in between are the string. not flashy, but important because they connect the pearls. they build tension and add logic, cohesion, and context. take the opera and hector's failed assassination. those are pearl scenes. that's a burst of drama i really wanted the story to build up to. i also had other flashbulb visions. livia by the fountain questioning herself, marcus' macbeth moment, the temple riot, things like that. so the question was, how could i believably travel between these pearl scenes? how could i make these big showcase moments connect smoothly?

if you're having trouble holding the story together in your head, i would ask, "what are your pearls?" what are the anchor points? outline those. it might not look like a necklace yet, but you'll sort of see it taking shape. and then, once you can see where your heart's-desire milestones are, you'll have a clearer idea of what can't fire until you set it up first. two other neat things can happen here. you could find the rhythm of your pacing, or realize you have a lot more plot meat than you thought you did. even if you don't, you have some road. and if you can't think of the string, sometimes you just have to start writing the pearls and see what comes to you.

good luck!!

[paintedscales]

FFXIV Write 2024 :: Day Twenty-Three

Prompt: On Cloud Nine Characters: Nomin tal Kheeriin, Estinien Varlineau Word Count: 1,320 Notes: Digimon AU

Master List

Holding Nomin's hand, Estinien led her down the trail as night shrouded over them. In his other hand, he had a hand torch shining the way forward. It was late, and he deliberately waited until a lot of their other friends and Digimon wound down for the evening so that he could take Nomin and slip away unimpeded.

Their shoes crunched against gravel and grass, trees stretched high over top of them. The outing honestly reminded Nomin of dumb decisions made by equally dumb teens in horror movies. It would not have been a lie to have said she was feeling just a little on edge.

“C'mon…where are we going?” Nomin asked, despite her slight sense of unease, she had a playful smile on her face. She was a lot better, her hair longer and her body back to being as capable as it used to be -- perhaps more capable since her hospitalization. After all, this was her second summer without too many issues cropping up.

“I told you it's a surprise,” Estinien replied, not flexing on his stance since they departed the vacation cabin the group ended up renting for the couple of weeks they were there.

Rolling her eyes, Nomin shook her head and continued following along. She had not explored too much outside the cabin -- not far from it at any rate. But she supposed she was going to trust Estinien.

Walking up a small incline after getting a decent distance away from the cabin, Nomin saw moonlight glinting off the lake. It was a pretty sight with the looming mountains in the distance and the clear night sky making a beautiful, starry backdrop.

But…

“Don't tell me we're jumping into the lake. I don't even have swimmers on!” Nomin said, half joking.

“What, not a fan of skinny dipping?” Estinien asked.

Nomin balked and looked at Estinien with a sense of disbelief.

“Your answer is in the first syllable of my name,” Nomin replied. Her grip loosened on Estinien’s, though she did not fully let go just yet.

“Clever…”

Nomin huffed. He…was not actually serious, was he?

“Don't look so put off; I was only joking,” Estinien said, leading the rest of the way toward a nearby campfire pit that looked to have been used for larger outings. He then let go of Nomin’s hand and made his way to the pit.

There was a bag nearby that Estinien took time to dig around in before he pulled out a box of matches. Setting his hand torch down, Estinien got two lit and laid them down in the premade campfire logs and tinder. He let them catch, leaning down to blow gently on the catching embers to coax it to catch on the rest of the feed.

Nomin, meanwhile, took this time to find a seat close by. She glanced back out toward the lake, taking in the view. It was genuinely such a nice night.

“It's going to take a moment for the fire to build,” Estinien said as he straightened back up, picked up the bag, and then walked over. He sat down next to Nomin on the stone bench, hoisting the bag up with him.

“That's fine… It's nice feeling the nighttime air like this,” Nomin replied, looking back at Estinien. Her eyes flicked to the bag and then back up at him. “So…had this all planned out then?”

“You could say that.”

“You sure know how to make me feel special.”

Estinien let out a brief chuckle. “Have you forgotten why we all went out of our way to put this vacation together in the first place?”

Nomin brought a finger to her chin in thought.

“To spend the summer together before we all go away for college?”

Estinien poked Nomin in the side of her stomach, making her yelp in surprise and swat his hand away while laughing.

“You're probably playing dumb, but I haven't forgotten your birthday,” Estinien said, a slight furrow to his brow as he kept a generally straight face. “July twenty-eighth. That's tomorrow.”

Nomin's smile gave way to mild astonishment. She then watched as Estinien reached back for the bag and started rummaging around in it. He pulled out something thin and small wrapped in a matte metallic paper. Holding it out for Nomin, Estinien looked at her intently.

“Happy birthday.”

Reaching for it, Nomin took it up and then looked down at the wrapping. It was not the neatest. One corner was folded in over itself, another had visible creases around it as if getting the paper wrapped properly had been an obstacle.

But it was special…

Flipping it around gingerly, Nomin ran her fingers along the paper until she found where the taped down flap was to start picking away at it. She carefully unwrapped the paper to reveal a little wooden box underneath. Her heart skipped a beat for a moment. The box was reminiscent of one of the specialty wooden boxes that the one shop they passed put their jewelry in.

“Estinien…” Nomin started, shaking her head. “There’s…there’s no way I could accept this.”

“No take backs.” Estinien retorted.

Nomin felt her cheeks flush as she pouted and then opened the box. What she was expecting, however, was not what was in the box. Instead, it was rougher -- more handmade than it was something that one would find at a display window at the mall. Nomin’s lips parted as her fingers feathered over the pendant inside.

Its metallic surface glinted in the growing firelight. It was a small circular pendant with an engraving of a running horse on it. Inlaid around the horse was what looked like bloodstone jasper that looked as if it were running across a field at a distance. It was attached to a small chain.

“Did…you make this?” Nomin asked.

“Nah… I mean…” Estinien took a moment to compose his words. “My…dad made it. I asked him to. For you.”

The blush on Nomin’s face felt hotter.

“How’d you know I like horses?”

“Remember when you came over that one time and you got to meet my little brother, Hamignant?” Estinien started. “The two of you were talking about favorite animals, and you said… I heard you say you liked horses.”

“Th-That must have been a year ago or longer…!” Nomin felt incredibly flustered now. With a sigh, she handed the box to Estinien and then slowly turned her back to him. Grabbing her hair, Nomin moved it aside, revealing the back of her neck to him, inviting him to put it on.

Nomin heard Estinien take the necklace from the box and then felt his presence around her when he neared. She felt her heart beat in her chest as she saw Estinien’s hands come around her to get the necklace fitted onto her. He clasped it on, and once it was secured, she ran her finger back over it before turning back around and looking at Estinien.

Estinien’s eyes flicked down to the pendant before going back to Nomin herself.

“... It suits you.”

“Does it…?”

Silence lingered between the two of them for a moment. Then Nomin leaned over, pressing a chaste kiss to Estinien’s cheek.

“Thank you. This was…really thoughtful of you,” Nomin quietly said. “A-And tell your dad I really like it; that I say ‘thank you’ to him, too.”

Estinien only met Nomin’s gaze with a look of surprise from her action. For a moment, he could feel that elation of being on cloud nine. While it was true that they had gotten rather close in the time that he had lived nearby, he was surprised that it seemed like Nomin was expressing something…more?

No… It was just a friendly kiss, surely.

Clearing his throat, Estinien looked toward the fire, now crackling and popping every now and then as the logs burned.

“You’re welcome. I hope that tomorrow’s everything you want it to be.”

[never-wednesday]

So i did some Stupid Fuckshit this past month in final fantasy ffxiv: I wrote a character who i wanted to be a reaper through MSQ for story reasons.

This means that in order to accomplish what I want i need to be reach level 70 in a combat class, which was Paladin so I could start in Ul'dah and get fast queues.

I allowed myself some concessions: having access to the first three dungeons would grant us access to the leveling roulette, and Sylph Management will grant us a job, which makes the prospect of grinding much much more tolerable. So i allowed myself to progress the story just enough to move from Gladiator to Paladin.

It took me a total of 28 days (Oct 8th to Nov 4th), and 2 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes of playtime. Just under a month isn't bad, especially considering i spent almost a full week out of town and unable to play at all.

In that time I primarily used daily leveling roulettes, and despite unlocking PvP far earlier only used PvP for the last 5 days. Hunting logs, minimal levequests, every sidequest I could find, and pretty much any FATE I stumbled into was how I spent my time. Also, lots of Palace of the Dead. It was interesting! I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I don't hate Reaper (I didn't have the good sense to give it a proper test on my main first) but I can solidly say I do NOT recommend this! What the fuck!

If you do want to do this though, here's my advice:

- just start doing your daily frontlines as soon as possible the exp is no joke. It's also the only other roulette you have access to besides the basic leveling roulette, and you will want that scaled exp

- pursue challenge log entries!!! I didn't realize how good these were until the LAST DAY they got me from about 1/4 of the way to level 70 to level 70 so so fast. The chocobo companion and FATE challenge entries pair very well together, so pick up some gyshal greens! It'll also make soloing those fates much faster (ask me how i know)

-rotate between activities, PotD runs, FATEs and hunting log entries are well and good, but if you don't want to feel like you're going to start fist fighting every goddamn enemy personally you also gotta spend time doing other things that are fun. That's part of why I did so many sidequests! They have lots of love and charm in them, and it's a nice break from harsh grinding. I also really spent some time learning gpose which was super fun!!

-dont divide your time between multiple classes if you can at all help it. Honestly, I'd really recommend staying away from conjurer/white mage because it's much harder to do solo potd runs with (I did lots of potd content solo out of convenience). If you are going to pick up a new class, pick up something like RDM, GNB or any other class that starts at a high level and fully commit to it till you hit your goal

-uhhh, be yourself, have fun, and test your goal class BEFORE you do this

[yuri-is-online]

Hi! I know it's a bit weird of me to put another thing in your periphery so soon after my last check-in. But I'm currently caught up in Princess Peach: Showtime! brainrot and I thought you'd like to hear it!

So in one of your earlier posts you came up with the idea of Yuu having a modern Alice in Wonderland-esque overblot with Grim as their phantom. But, having spent the better part of a week trying to hundred percent this game (why am I like this?) gave me another worm. And it goes something like this:

What if Grim isn't the only one gaining something from those blot crystals?

Because in the game, Peach changes "form" so to speak, after taking in a bunch of Sparkle. So who's to say Yuu isn't unknowingly absorbing runoff blot from those crystals? Then who's to say that Yuu doesn't have similar "forms" to the Overblot boys? Snapshots immortalized in ink and imbeded in a human who is slowly but surely losing it. And, going along with your idea of a Yuu overblot, what would it be like for the boys to have to effectively face themselves should that happen? Now it's not just Grim they have to face but a reflection of them at their lowest and the one victim who has been dragged to it every single time. The pain, the fear, the regret! Ah! I didn't know I could think of something so angsty! (And that's not even talking about Peach's last form and the Yuu equivalent!)

Anyway, make of that what you will. I just wanted to get that out there. Hope you're doing well and staying healthy! Looking forward to the next thing you make!

Sincerely,

The anon who loves Riddle & Azul

I really do love the way you format your asks dear friend, it is rather like receiving a letter. It is splendid to hear from you again so soon.

I had a brain rot myself a bit a while ago thinking about how it would be interesting for Yuu and Grim to channel the overblot forms similar to Eden's Promise: Eternity in FFXIV:

In my mind I was thinking how I would design a boss fight where Grim has three forms and Yuu has three forms, and then they merge to channel the Thorn Fairy since she's too powerful for just the one of them... but meh that's neither here nor there. The idea of Yuu with forms that reflect the various phantoms and physical attacks that reflect the overblot boys is so delicious, but realistically I think the concept you are describing where the boys are being forced to face themselves is the point of the various chapters we are going through in Book 7 right now. Grim and Yuu twisted into an overblotted abomination... you could argue that facing them would be the equivalent of what is happening with the ob boys right now in his book. It would be easy for him to blame the other dorm leaders and act like if they didn't overblot then he wouldn't be forced to hurt his first friend... but then that would be a disservice to you. He very much had his part to play, the largest one perhaps. In you now is a twisted reflection of everything he hated about himself: his power and his inability to save those he loved with it. You don't need any form other than your own to taunt him with that.

I do think you are onto something about the crystals not just affecting Grim. If we think about the relationship between Grim and Yuu, I think it makes the most sense to say that what Yuu gains from the blot crystals is their premonitions of overblot? Memories sealed in crystal are a fairly common trope... so if the memories of the respective phantom is trapped inside of that crystal then Yuu's visions could be the crystals calling out to them. I am less solid on the "why" but when I think about it this way, something about Grim and Yuu's connection allows Yuu to "hear" the crystals forming, which is why we don't get visions of every bad thing that happens (Rollo and Fellow for example) because there is no "Flower of Evil" about to bloom. Perhaps the Great 7's crystals "belong" to Grim/the Chimera in some way so that's why they are calling to Yuu? I need to think a bit more, but oh I am so glad you sent this ask. It gave me so much to think about...

[anticidic]

Not so much about about the writers ask but seeing you mention Soukoku and FFXIV got me thinking - why Jobs do you think they main, and if you really want to go down this rabbit hole with me, what role do you think they would play in the FFXIV storyline ( I can’t stop comparing G’raha tias admiration for the Wol to Dazai when Chuuya uses corruption)

I'm picking up what you're putting down!! We're going ALL the way down this rabbit hole!!

I've thought about this a lot both in terms of FFXIV jobs and D&D, and I feel like if we wanna go by lore wise, I could see Dazai being a dark knight. (shoutout to that questline tbh) but Dazai's also just a Silly Guy™ and I can just as easily see him being a ninja and Chuuya points and laughs when he screws a mudra up and gets the bunny hat of shame. He's also the type that if he swapped to healer for faster queues so he and Chuuya could take turns leveling, Dazai would pick sage and he'd do funny dashing around to the tank and probably rescue-grief Chuuya in alliance raids. Don't trust him on healer BUT he's also just as likely to shirk Chuuya while on tank and Chuuya ends up getting aggro. I think it's better he stays a dps.

Chuuya's actually a chill team player, but Dazai will start shit and he'll give in to intrusive thoughts and try to get Dazai killed in return. Dazai would try out black mage to see if it was really as obnoxious to play as people say and if the leylines curse is a thing, so Chuuya makes sure it's a thing by baiting mechanics on Dazai so Dazai has to move out of his leylines. (Then there's just a audible sigh every time it happens)

I could see Chuuya playing gunbreaker, astrologian, and samurai. He'd like the first two for the high apm because it gives his hands something to constantly do in terms of rotation and he'd get bored quickly of slow, static rotations like summoner. He also likes juggling several things at once like buffing players and playing the 'how low can you go' with his teammates but never actually lets them die (once in a while he'll turn the other way if Dazai has a DoT ticking down and pretend not to see Dazai die). But also likes being the protector/first line of defense while also beating the crap out of enemies.

I actually really like the Dazai -> G'raha Tia parallel there!! I AM SO TORN. But Chuuya gives big Estinien vibes, even right down to the rivalry between him and Nidhogg. Because I can see Nidhogg being a parallel to Chuuya with corruption, and the loss of control. But also how he starts off as really standoffish and just doing his job as the Azure Dragoon, but then gradually warms up to the WoL and the rest of the team, even if he doesn't want to admit it.

Since you already mentioned G'raha, I won't cheat and say him again, but I can see Dazai being Thancred, both old and current versions! In fact, Dark Era Dazai fits old Thancred pretty well—doing his own thing, sneaking around, he acts suspicious and gets himself into trouble. And even Shadowbringers+ Thancred fits current Dazai, imo. How Thancred wants to protect Minfillia/her reflections as Ryne and isn't selfishly motivated anymore like he was when he was younger speaks to me.

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @contreparry  |  AO3: ContreParry

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

You Won't Believe What She Was Hiding In Her Office!

Contre Parry and Dema talk gardening, hype-squads, horse girls, and “Sysiphean fun.” 

Dema: To hop right in: Writing. How Is It Going

Contre Parry: ... I think to say "it's going" would be horribly revealing, wouldn't it?

Dema: Haha it's okay to be honest!

Contre Parry: But it's going! Some days I make progress, and other days it's like slamming my face into a brick wall. But when you hit the sweet spot of "I know where I'm going," it's all worth the brick wall days.

Dema: Is there anything that helps you reset?

Contre Parry: Gardening! I go and pull weeds. I think the act of 'doing something useful' makes me feel a little better about not making progress on my writing. Like "Hey, you didn't write that scene, but you cleared out the veggie patch! Don't feel bad!" And that resets the brain and makes me look back at what I was stuck on.

Dema: I feel like there is a great metaphor in there.

Contre Parry: There's got to be, but it's going to require lots of edits to get it to come through!

Dema: Eyyyyyy!

I, too, like to garden. I think it helps to have a hobby that uses a completely different part of my brain. And of course, to touch grass.

Contre Parry: Oh yes! Grass touching is essential. It's also a great reminder of "sometimes it's just not going to work, and that's okay!" ... I tried to grow some lettuce. It did not work.

Dema: Ah yes. I will never attempt lettuces again because I cannot bring myself to kill the little white butterflies.

Contre Parry: "But they need to eat too!"

Dema: Exactly, lol. When you do sit down to write after a wall day, is there anything that helps you get back in the zone?

Contre Parry: I'll get my computer (or phone, depending on location), sit down with a drink, and tell myself that it doesn't matter if it's bad, it just matters that it's DONE. And I repeat that last line as many times as needed.

Dema:  Wow this interview is well-timed for me, lol!

Contre Parry: I'm glad if it helps you out! Sometimes it also helps to find a person who REALLY wants to see what you're writing. So then you can bounce ideas off them and workshop what you got stuck on.

Dema: Do you work with a beta? or do you mean more of a hype person, who isn't editing?

Contre Parry: More like a hype person. In my case, I'll send segments to one of my friends or my brother. Example: I was working on a fic for FFXIV, and I sent a snippet of dialogue to a friend who has never played FFXIV and has no idea who these characters are. And her response ("Kill Him") was actually super helpful, because for me it meant "Oh I wrote this character right." So that interaction got me fired up to finish that scene, because I knew I was onto something!

Dema: Oh that is interesting! And so nice to have supportive friends who will read it even if they aren't fans of the source media!

Contre Parry: It really is! What was super helpful is that this particular friend is very skilled at writing characters having messy, awful fights. So comments like that? Truly special.

Dema:  It sounds like, in general, writing is a pretty social experience for you?

Contre Parry: It is! As much as I like to work on my writing and drop it with a "here it is," behind the scenes I'm bouncing ideas off of lots of people. Sometimes the act of just talking to someone else helps me work through all the problems!

Dema:  For a Bang fic that seems especially helpful, since it's long and in a set timeframe. Has this fic-writing process felt any different than your usual process? Do you do more planning, for example? Less?

Contre Parry: This project was different for me because I came into it without a firm plan in place. I knew what I wanted to write, but I didn't figure out my angle. For most of my stories I have a plan. So if I wander off of my plan, I at least know where and why I did that. This one, though, I went in wanting to write about a one-off line in Dragon Age: Inquisition. And that was it!

Dema: Oooo I wish I could ask which line but that will be a spoiler, I fear. Do a lot of your stories begin that way? Jumping off from a particular line or piece of lore?

Contre Parry:  Most of the time I start with a character, and all of their associated backstory. And if something jumps out at me, makes me go "Why are you like this?" then I start exploring that. "But why?" is sort of my starting point, and then I try to answer that question with varying success.

Dema: Are those usually canon characters? Or do you write more OCs?

Contre Parry: Usually canon, though I love writing OCs. I particularly love writing OCs who are side characters. There's a lot of flexibility and room to grow in those areas!

Dema:  Will it be a spoiler if I ask about your favorite original side- character?

Contre Parry: Not at all! I have one from a story and a few short drabbles I wrote on my tumblr, and she's not in my Big Bang fic so it will be safe to discuss! She's the Inquisitor's niece. I created her thinking "well, my Inquisitor Trevelyan's got a big family with very strained relations, what if she had a niece she never met? What would she be like? How would they meet? Why would they meet?" And that's how I created Henrietta, who is a thirteen year old horse girl.

Dema:  You are really tugging on my heartstrings LOL, I was not prepared to feel so many things in this interview.

Contre Parry: haha, good things, I hope!

Dema: As a former 13yo horse girl, very yes, haha.

Contre Parry: Henrietta's fun because she's a bit of a chatterbox, and is very free with her thoughts and feelings as opposed to her aunt, my Inquisitor. The contrast is fun.

Dema: So when you say room to grow, do you mean for the protagonists? Like these side characters are providing additional character development? Or do you ride off into the sunset with Henrietta for a while?

Contre Parry: Protagonists, worldbuilding, the side characters themselves- it's all a chance to make the world a richer place. Like, Henrietta sees the events of the story from a different perspective and hears stuff that others won't, but she also interprets them as a thirteen year old would. It's like opening another window into the world of the story! So we ride into the sunset with Henrietta, and we see a different Thedas than what we might as a player, you know?

Dema:  Do you tend to write from an omniscient POV? Or are your readers mostly seeing through that window via dialogue? 

Contre Parry: More like a limited omniscient. We're with one character and seeing and feeling things from their perspective. Sometimes I'll switch between characters, but mostly you're stuck with one person. I want to experiment with other POVs more, but that might have to wait until I finish my WIP mountain.

Dema: Ah, yes. The WIP mountain is ever growing. Do you have a side project you are working on while you work on your DABB fic? Or do you try to stick to one thing at a time? (haha do any of us do this???)

Contre Parry: I'm editing that FFXIV fic at the moment, and I usually like having a side project to hop to whenever I feel truly stuck. Like gardening, the jump to something completely different is a hard reset. But once I finish those edits, I'll just have to pick something else off of the WIP pile to work on! Maybe I'll try to be efficient and slowly grind that mountain down to dust! (... she says, knowing this will not happen.)

Dema: It's Sisyphean. If Sisyphus was having fun.

Contre Parry: Sisyphus, I know you got a fanfic in your heart. I know it!

Dema: Now, you may already be aware of the click-bait titles. In our last minutes, can you come up with one for your fic? 

Contre Parry: You Won't Believe What She Was Hiding In Her Office!

Dema: Amazing. You were so ready with that one haha!

Contre Parry: Now all we need is some sort of stockphoto of someone looking surprised. Just so surprised! Hands in the air and everything.

Dema: I should really make a collection of them. If I had all the time in the world I'd do DA sketches. [Dear artists: feel free to use this as a prompt ;)]

Contre Parry: Oh, to be able to break space and time...

Dema:  if only! Then perhaps I would someday see the summit of wip mountain. But alas! Thank you for taking the time to chat with me, Contre Parry! It has been a delight 

Contre Parry:  Thanks for the interview! It was lots of fun! And I think it helped me as well! Clickbait title and all.

[gatheredfates]

What's this? Two updates in a weekend? Yes, and I regret nothing. I'm going to try and do bigger updates where I can, but I also don't like waiting to promote resources where I feel like they can be useful and utilised. Because of that, here is update round two. 🍹

I forgot to mention this last post, but I'm trying to get a headcount going with Dawntrail's release! I probably did it a bit too early, to be fair, but I'm insane like that. If you're looking for people to follow, I highly recommend replying to that thread because I'll reblog any that come my way.

With that said, however, as of today (07/07), the following resources have been added to Sea's Community Compendium for XIV Creatives.

FREE COMPANY / COMMUNITY FOCUSED / EVENT SPACES

Final Fantasy XIV Roleplay (Tumblr Community) — A Tumblr community focusing on XIV roleplay! Share your LFRP posts, partake in the polls, prompts and whatever else FFXIV-Related RP stuff you can think of.

LORE

Dawntrail Pronunciation Guide — Ignorance begets strife, understanding begets fellowship. A guide on how to pronounce the various locals, concepts, societies and other content in Tural. Will contain spoilers for the expansion. Created by @pimpylala on Twitter. Constantly being updated as they play through the expansion.

SEAFLOOR

We're a Tumblr Community now! For people unfamiliar with the concept of Communities, I encourage you to check out the tumblr post by staff made about them here. However, copy/pasting what I have written in the Compendium, the Community functions as so:

SEAFLOOR (A FFXIV Community) is a Tumblr community whose duel-purpose focuses on my projects — the Compendium, question drives and screenshot events — whilst also reblogging member created works, resources (including events, commissions and looking for content/roleplay/free company posts), affirmations and other xiv-related content. If you are interested in supporting my projects without the social aspect of a Discord, I highly encourage you to join the Community. Everything hosted on the Discord will be cross-posted there; you will not miss out on anything. As Communities are still in beta, members need to be manually invited. If you would like to join, please like the tumblr post here. Once Communities are out of beta, I will remove this section to better reflect its true public status.

I'm hoping the Community will function as a member-curated dash, resource hub and visual diary for my projects and member created works. There are no hard feelings if you want to leave the Discord and only join the Community. Please do what makes you comfortable!

Want to submit? You can either fill out the google form here or send me an ask with the relevant information!

Is my space suitable for the Compendium? Most of the time, yes! Below the read more is some more information/stipulations. Again, all the below information is accessible on the document! 🦈

Below are the following things I do not accept on the Compendium:

Personal/Single-Character LFC ads.

Content intended for or can be used for bullying, harassment and OOC gossip. E.g. ‘Secrets’ blogs, receipts, callout posts, etc. This does not include in-character tabloid blogs used to generate RP.

Communities that do not have an RP/writing element (large-scale exempt).

Anything I find personally distasteful or goes against the spirit of this project.

Common-sense rule applies.

FAQ.

I want to put my community on the compendium but we have an application process. Is this okay?

Yes! Just note somewhere in your application that's a requirement. The only thing that is mandatory for the Compendium is that you must be open to new members or have a public-facing/accessible facet. There's no point advertising a community if no one can join it in some way!

I want to put my community on the compendium but I only have x number of members —

Also totally okay! People don't start with large communities. Activity is a must but, whether your server has two or two thousand members, if you're looking for new people to join, I'd love to help you find people.

I want to put my community on the compendium but I worry its too niche?

Okay, and? If your Eorzean Fishing Alliance has four members but you roleplay every second weekend, I still want to know about it.

What resources/communities can I add if I'm not the owner of them?

Mutual consent is extremely important to me, so anything that isn't a large-scale community OR a publicly accessible resource must be endorsed by the owner/admin/moderators in order to be added to the compendium. I operate under the assumption that a resource posted to a public space (tumblr, googledocs, youtube, etc) is open to all. A large-scale community is one with a significant member count or openly advertises itself as being accessible to everyone for whatever purpose it serves. If in doubt, please get in touch with me. I'm happy to contact your community owners for you!

How active does a community need to be?

If you find a community has not been active in about two/three months, send me a message and I'll take a look at it. Communities have ebbs and flows, especially event spaces that may take hiatuses depending on member interest/life events. I'm not strict in my implementation provided a space isn't dead. If a link or anything is broken, absolutely contact me about that.

I have [insert a question not stated here]?

No drama! Send me an ask or use the #Compendium channel in my Discord!

[northwest-cryptid]

Idk if I fully understand ffxiv being native-phobic? I just played through stormblood & what I got from that was colonialism bad, to put it in super simple terms. Like idk the entire point of it was liberate an oppressed peoples and give them back their homes? And maybe I missed it but I didn't see the Ala mhigans as being native coded or inspired?

You didn't see the Ala Mhigans being "Native Coded" because they aren't and yet Ala Mhigan clothes use Native patterns. You didn't see FFXIV being "Native-Phobic" because it's generally not, it likes to hide it's racism away in little pockets.

It's hard to see it when you're not used to seeing it. This isn't your fault, it's that you're looking in the wrong places.

This is the "Ala Mhigan Gown" it's being largely attributed to being "Ala Mhigan" it is not. It is Native.

These patterns are Native, and while I cannot claim exactly and exclusively which tribes use them I can say for certain that I'm Deer Clan Lakota and these patterns are ALL OVER my traditional Native clothing. To attribute our clothing to Ala Mhigo is wrong.

This pattern is being reproduced and sold as Ala Mhigan, as "Kimonos" and lastly, as cosplay.

And these patterns can be found across plenty of First Nation/Indigenous clothing and beadwork.

Like, here if you're curious:

Let's also quickly talk about the New World set,

This is just ugh. Believe it or not I like the pants, and the actual torso and shoes aren't bad either. IF (and this isn't the case) this set were to exclude the headdress and were to actually pay proper respect to Native design and culture I'd love it. I actually used to use this set in game minus the headdress obviously, but wouldn't you know it I'm literally Native. This feels like those party city costumes people make, and the parts it gets right are almost more upsetting because it's not being properly attributed to the right people despite knowing very well the devs clearly referenced actual Natives. Those straps on the pants for example are a very real thing, the clothing my father passed down to me has those, tipped with metal because it makes enough noise to scare off rattlesnakes since those were a threat for kids on the res. The colors and bead patterns also do follow a lot of various Native designs, though I find it harder to pin down these exact patterns.

You're looking at the plot, but that's not entirely where the problem lies; also sorry sorry but I can't overlook this. None of the story or plot justifies Zenos calling me a Savage. I do not care if he's the antagonist, that's a fucking slur. It's been used against me and my people for decades. It's been used against me when I was in middle and high school. So yes, even in recent times this is acknowledged as a slur by racist individuals seeking to cause us harm.

If you've never gotten into a physical fight that you didn't instigate only to have someone ask you "what are you gonna do savage? You gonna scalp me?" And then do the worst imitation of a Native war cry; you likely have no idea how annoying it is to see/hear even a villain in a video game call you a fucking savage, have this be hand-waved as kinda being whatever by the general public who don't deal with this kind of racism, and then furthermore when you go into FFXIV community spaces you see this blonde ass white boy being plastered up everywhere like "oh I wanna fuck him so bad" why do you want to fuck a racist?! He's not even hot. Any potential sex appeal he had left his body the second he uttered the word "savage" and you know the worst part? He's not real. Which means he didn't say that shit, someone at Square WROTE that into the game and really thought "hey is it okay to use a slur like this? Yeah it'll be fine no one is gonna know or care."

Can you IMAGINE if they had a villain drop the N word mid fight? You'd never hear the end of it I assure you.

I think the biggest issue is that people don't even know what Native is, they don't know tribes, they don't know patterns, they don't know our actual history.

You say you don't know how it's "Native-phobic" when it's racism and mockery of Natives is very apparent to Natives, but I can't fault you for it because you literally don't know what to look for.

I want to make it super clear I'm not mad at you, I'm upset that this game can get away with this shit because no one is actually educated on Native matters, culture, etc.

I hope this helps clear that up a little.

[lunar-arrows]

is it really that time again where I try desperately to find a rp partner and either miss someone good by a single message or not find anyone at all? sure is.

I just wanna find something that can occupy my mind and we can chat about plot and dumb little things while we write, so slap this post with a like or wander into my messages to tell me what you like from this list

I'm 25+ so I'd very much like for partners to be at least over 21, and I tend to write in and around discord message limit or a bit shorter depending on the mood

fe3h: I really enjoy writing Felix as he's very my type of character that I tend to gravitate towards. Though I am willing to write for Dimitri, Yuri, Ingrid (as a side character mostly), and a whole host of others as needed.

dimilix, sylvix, glenn/holst

trigun: simple as that I'd like to write as Vash, but I could write as Wolfwood, Meryl, Milly as side characters if we do pairs other than vashwood

vashwood (top priority)

plantcest

jujutsu kaisen: idk man just a lot of satosugu, would honestly be willing to play either of them, they give me so many feelings god help me. and maybe even itafushi because Megumi, once again, is a type of character I would adore writing as. also either one in inuokko.

there are also a lot of other fandoms I love but haven't gotten the chance to rp in that I'd be very willing to try at least once, if you see anything on my page you'd like to try then go on ahead and ask me about it (mxtx novels, nier, ffxiv, ffvii, league of legends music-verse with heartsteel or kda?, possibly some genshin ships?, haikyuu?)

my roleplays tend to be very angst based, very plot heavy so if you're down for that then come at me with your most character hurting ideas you can think of. I don't have many triggers at all, but I'll happily avoid yours if you just let me know!

anyways, thanks for reading, I hope to shoot a message your way or get some in my inbox at some point!

[gaithe-guy]

FFXIV Tanking Advice

I don't normally make these posts, but I'm noticing a lot lately in FFXIV that we're getting a lot of new sprouts... A lot of new sprouts that want to try their hand at tanking - and that's great - but please... PLEASE for the love of everything that's holy... Please learn tanking etiquette! Don't be THAT tank that doesn't care and wants to do their own thing. If that's the case, that's what Duty Support and Trusts are for.

Learn the ins and outs of the class you are playing in that dungeon/raid/trial. Learn the mitigations you have and don't be afraid to USE them (don't just think a healer will heal you through absolutely everything, that's asinine). Learn to keep an eye on your tank stance to make sure it is on at ALL points in time (I cannot TELL you how many sprouts I've seen just run headlong in without their tank stance on and then it's a hassle for the healer to try and keep EVERYONE topped off instead of just the tank since aggro bounces everywhere) Learn to use your provoke on things if an add DOES get away from you and start attacking someone else. Learn to keep an eye on everyone's health in your party to know if something is attacking them that should be attacking you. Learn to use your aoes on packs of adds a few times before going into your 123 combo once or twice and then switching back (in doing so, you shouldn't have any problems with keeping aggro on just you). Learn to tab target through the mobs to make sure that you are hitting them all in a group and keeping their attention on you and you alone (You want to be the only one basking in the attention and light!). Learn the minimal amount of moving you can do in order to get out of an aoe and slide back to the front of the boss so you're not rotating it around and leaving poor dps either getting hit by the boss's cleaves or ruining their positionals. Go to a training dummy so you get a feel for your rotation. Go and do the Smiths' training - which can be found in just outside of Aleport or any of the major cities in the inns by the innkeeper. Possibly run a few lower level dungeons when you are starting out with either an all friend group (if you can, so they know you're learning) or with a duty support, so you know that you can practice your rotation, mitigation, and movements without making life a living hell for random people you get put with. (Of course, when your level is higher, you should know by that point the dos and don'ts of tanking)

As a tank, you have a responsibility. It is your responsibility to keep the aggro on you, make everything hate you and not the dps trying to kill them or the healer trying to keep you alive. But you also have a responsibility to try and make it as easy as possibly FOR your dps to kill the adds/boss as quickly as possible. That means trying to keep things as stationary as possible - unless it is absolutely needed to move them (aka moving out of aoes or puddles of bad/fire upon the floor). It does NOT mean that you spin around the adds/boss causing them/it to spin like a beyblade/top - making it absolutely IMPOSSIBLE for dps who do have positionals (aka ninja, monk, dragoon, samurai, reaper, AND viper... so ALL of your melee dps) to do those positionals.

Another thing you should do - which is respectful - is upon loading in, talk to your healer... ask them if they are comfortable with bigger pulls, or smaller pulls... Or, if you are comfortable with smaller pulls, let them and everyone else know so they don't try to keep pulling and stress you out... or you keep pulling and stress your healer out. Many a time I have seen a tank just decide on their own they are doing wall to wall pulls without consulting their healer, and then the healer can't keep them alive and the group wipes. Only for it to happen again and again because the tank doesn't want to do smaller pulls. It is also a responsibility of the tank to make sure their healer is comfortable - or... at least semi comfortable in healing the pulls their doing. If you're not confident in yourself tanking, you can say that, most people are incredibly nice about it. Those that aren't, forget about them and ignore them.

I said this above, but I'll say it again... Go and do the Smiths' training. Not only will it give you an entire set of gear for a starting out tank, but it will teach you all the ins and outs you will need to know and helpful hints for tanking. 10/10 I recommend doing this as soon as you're able to! And the nifty thing is... if you aren't quite comfortable after completing one of the Smiths' training exercises, you can just que up for it again and do it once more. It gives you xp AND gil, so it's a no loose situation, honestly!

This is going to sound weird, but I live by this really... As much as you have a dps rotation - your 123 combo - you also should have a mitigation rotation. All of your mit has different cooldowns, so learn what they are and where you can possibly in a rotation get full - or as close to full - coverage as possibly without that mit falling off. It's mostly doable, but that's really at your higher end levels. Try not to use more than one mitigation at a time, it doesn't do much extra for you, and you loose out on the extra mitigation you could have had after the one mitigation wears off. (I've seen too many tanks do this and then not have ANY mit for big hits that come afterward). One mitigation is perfectly fine, pop it and then trust in your healer, and once the time on that mit is up, pop another if you still need it.

Oh! And mitigation isn't a stopgap... And when I say that, I mean it like this: If you pull a large pack of mobs, usually when you immediately pull them, you should pop a mitigation cooldown, that lowers the amount of damage you're taking right off the bat, allowing your healer to also dps a little bit - taking adds down quicker. What you SHOULDN'T do is pull the large pack of mobs, wait until your health is at 20% and THEN pop the mitigation... that's not going to do much for you, considering healers have cast times for their heals, they usually aren't instant... so usually by that point - unless you have a REALLY good healer - you are probably taking a dirt nap. Pre-emptively use your mitigation BEFORE it becomes an "Oh shit" moment. Aid your healer in that aspect. A happy healer means a happy group, honestly. It's ok to use your mit at like 70%, but 20% is WAY too low... that's just ASKING for you to die and the healer to struggle to bring you back up while ALSO healing the dps to make sure THEY don't die.

Don't forget too, that if you're in trials/normal raids where you have 2 tanks... If you are the off tank and have a mitigation that can ease the damage on another target (aka The Blackest Night, Oblation, Cover, Intervention, Nascent Flash), don't be afraid to use it! It helps out the Main Tank immensely as well as your healers!

For any dps out there that might be reading this, a little dangling fruit that is helpful for tanks... If you have an ability that lowers the targets attack (aka feint, addle, dismantle) it's REALLY helpful to use that when a tank buster comes in... So as soon as you see those red indicators of a tank buster (or you see the name of the tank buster being cast since some tank busters from older dungeons don't have the indicator), slap that boss with that sucker on its backside so hard that its so affronted and its attack lowers because of it.

This all being said... if you are in a full group made up of your friends, then it is up to you and them if you want to toss etiquette aside. This is for when you're quing and you are with randoms. Even if you have someone else that has qued with you, if there are still random people in your group, that etiquette should be in place. Be respectful of other people, if you can.

That's... all I can think of right now... I might remember more later.

Signed,

An exhausted Paladin Tank main that has been playing healer and dps lately and watching tanks being disrespectful and has had enough.

[luck-and-larceny]

FFXIV Write: Telling

Audr Shade's home is a small, nondescript house in a relatively undeveloped ward of the Lavender Beds. It sits tucked away in an appropriately shady, uninhabited corner of that undeveloped ward. This says to me one of two things:

This guy is a recluse who is just begging to be robbed and Nymeia is fully on my side today.

There is no Audr Shade. This is an elaborate set-up by my asshole ex-boyfriend and the Adders and Nymeia has decided I should get fucked today.

If I abandon the plan to rob this very introverted and probably very imaginary music genius now, I will avoid being arrested. That might be nice.

But I'll also never know what might have happened if I went inside and what secrets could be hidden within. That is not nice. I do not like that.

It occurs to me that I have more options than just stupidly going into this house. I don't have to roll the dice without knowing who I'm playing against. I don't have time to go searching through public records or to interview people about this lucky landowner's history and tragic backstory, but I know people who do have that time. I settle into a cozy spot hidden away at a nearby, half developed house, behind abandoned construction supplies, and watch Audr Shade's place while I call my fixer.

“Floors and Decors,” he answers. 

“You changed the name again? Sibert, you're not going to be taken seriously as a committed business if you can't even commit to a name for that business.”

He sighs. He hasn't made it through even one sentence from me before becoming exhausted. I feel so powerful!

“Go on then,” he says in a world-weary voice. “Give me more business advice I can rightfully ignore. I've got the time.”

“Oh, good! It's time that I need, actually. See, I'm working on– you know what? No. I need to say more. I take back my criticism. I don't think you're changing the name of the store enough actually. You should switch it up at least once a week. Keep em guessing. What's that guy in that ramshackle place down by the dock saying he's got this week? Chairs for Lairs? Sheds and Beds?”

He cuts me off to grumble, “Stop! What is it that you need?”

“Couches for Grouches then,” I reply, “I'm working on a job and I don't know if it's a setup. I don't actually know if the guy I'm robbing even exists. I've been sent to Ward 31 of the Lavender Beds–”

“I didn't know there was a 31st Ward,” he interrupts. “I thought it was still being constructed.”

“Me too,” I say, “But there is a house here all the way at the very end of this ward. It's super basic. Nondescript. Nothing notable in the yard. I don't even see a place to tie up a chocobo.”

He scoffs. “Well, that's telling. Are you calling to ask me if this obvious trap is actually a trap or to try to convince you it's not?”

Well, fuck. When things look like they are too good to be true, they usually are. But sometimes they're that good because Fortune has smiled on you. I admit I have some difficulty these days discerning between divine intervention and my own intervening delusions. I really ought to examine that more. I won't, of course, but I ought to.

“Could you just look into this guy for me anyway, boss man? His name is Audr Shade and–”

“Audr Shade? The musician?” He's curious now.

And I'm annoyed. Why did he know that immediately? I'm the one whose hobby is music and I didn't know him! Unbelievable. I bet Sibert couldn't tell the difference between a flute and a fart.

“Yeah. Him. So he's real?”

“Well, I've never met the guy face to face, but I know him, yes.”

“Right. Of course. Because you definitely pal around in the same circles. The antiques and home goods community sometimes invites the art crowd to brunch?”

“Well, no. I mean, sort of? I mean– Lia, he's worked with me before. Not as a contractor, but as a client. Not recently, but not so long ago either. Actually, I had you retrieve a golden spoon once for him. Do you remember that?”

Do I remember that? Sibert had “forgotten” to warn me that the woman who had this antique spoon also had a trained Gigatoad. I shudder at the memory and suddenly feel like I'm covered in toad slobber all over again.

“Yeah, I remember. Wait, so this guy is a part of our world?”

“Enough that he's reached out a few times anyway. Describe the house to me again?”

“Like I said before, I can't. It's the most boring house I've ever seen, but, like not even in a notable way. Like… it's just a white house with black shutters. You know what? Shutters are stupid. Like they don't DO anything. They're just a decorative thing that pretends like they have a function, but they're nailed to the sides of windows! They couldn't even actually shutter anything if they wanted to. Everyone's just got these silly pieces of nothing fixed on their houses because they see every other house has them–”

“Yes. Great. People do things because other people do them and because it looks good. Very insightful. Back on task, Lia. I said it was telling that his house is nondescript. I thought that might be because it's a trap. But maybe it's not. Maybe it's nondescript so it'll be ignored. Maybe he does live there."

A light turns on in the home. Moments later it turns off again and a guy… a very boring looking guy– the Highlander equivalent of a nondescript white house with pointless shutters– steps outside. And looks right in my direction.