#Meols

[neilirving73]

New Year's Day, Vlog 01.01.23

New Year’s Day, Vlog 01.01.23

Had a nice walk and this afternoon we took Skye out for a walk, she’s been in the stable for two days Please give a thumbs up (like) and subscribe to my YouTube channel

[spiribia]

if luna played sky cotl she would use the crab call

[impossible-rat-babies]

every day I get closer to making stuff part of eyrie’e shb lore that is Unhinged

[hqmillioncorn]

FFXIVWrite Day seventeen: Sneaking

with @windupiceheart 's Vertical Height and B'ig Nunh (sorry)

Vertical, B’ig and Babycorn climbed the steps back up to the Eulmore aetheryte plaza. She was getting really sick of climbing these stairs.  On the bright side B’ig Nunh was back and Vertical wasn’t worried anymore! The bad news was that Vertical had been the one to run out of the Beehive and decide where they were going. Which resulted in them getting lost. Again. Thankfully B’ig said he knew pretty much the right way to go from his time here. Which was good! She just wished it didn’t involve so many stairs. “Hmmm…” Babycorn never did get that pot of honey.

Babycorn had nothing to worry about it turns out!

The city of Eulmore was great! What had she even been worried about?! The people were kinda rude, sure, but the food they had was really good! It sorta had this really sweet taste to it? Whatever it was, Babycorn had never tasted anything like it before. 

She loved eating meol! So much that she had grabbed as much of it as she could carry and had stuffed it into her bag. “You sure you don’t want some?” Babycorn picked up another piece of meol and waved it around at Vertical, who was walking besides her. “They’re really tasty!!” 

Vertical looked down and once again shook her head. “no thanks.” This had been the fifth time in the last minute that Babycorn had asked if she wanted some suspicious bread.

“Aww! Why not? It’s really tastyyyyy!”

This was also the fifth time in the last minute that Babycorn had told her how tasty it was.

“i’m not really that hungry.” 

Vertical had eaten lunch with the others earlier. It was a complementary picnic that included fruit salad, prepared by the Crystal Exarch himself. He had left a written note saying so. 

Eating that fruit salad made her miss B’ig Nunh even more than usual. 

“If you say soooo!” Babycorn would probably ask Vertical if she wanted some in just a few more seconds. 

“try not to eat too many.”

“Hmmph?” Babycorn tried to ask what Vertical meant but her mouth was full. 

“you might get a tummy ache.” Vertical warned. There was also something to be said from accepting food from such obviously rich white people. Free food that might as well have come with a giant WARNING sign on top of it. 

For the first time since arriving at Gatetown, Babycorn paused her munching. 

Of all the worst feelings in the world a tummy ache was one of the worst. She’s had a lot of experience with them, none of them good obviously. The small Lunya in her head reminded her what had happened when she licked those poison frogs too. Though this was totally different. 

Those memories of tummy aches past was enough for Babycorn to put the meol she was currently in the middle of eating, back in her bag. 

“Ummm…” Babycorn tried to think of anything that would distract her from wanting to eat more meol, “Where did Alphinaud tell us to investigate again?” 

“somewhere called the beehive i think.” Vertical looked down at her hand where Babycorn had written the name of the place they were tasked to go to. Except Babycorn had no idea how to write words so she just drew a funny picture of a bee on Vertical’s hand. Which Vertical just let her do because she was cool like that. 

Babycorn froze mid-step. “Y-You don’t think there’s gonna be actual bees in there? D-D-Do you???” There were too many bad experiences Babycorn had with bess. Most of them were her fault for trying to get some honey from their hives but that didn’t matter right now. 

“probably not.” Vertical answered. How would she know? She’d never been here. She needed to be honest. “if there are bees i’ll protect you.”

“Are you gonna punch em’?!” 

“yeah.” 

“You’re so cool Vertical!!” 

“thank you.” Vertical smiled and began to wonder if kicking bees would be better than punching them.

There wasn’t too much time to think about it because they had finally reached the doors to the Beehive. There wasn’t a sign on there or anything but the map that they had gotten when they entered Eulmore as servants told them that this was the place. 

Alphinaud had circled the Beehive in red with twenty also red arrows pointing to it to make sure that neither Babycorn or Vertical could miss it.

Somehow they had both missed it and ended up in the gaol earlier but it's okay because they made it here eventually and no one had to know they had gotten lost getting to it. 

“Yay!! We made it!” Babycorn cheered and accidently threw the map into the air. The wind picked it up and blew it all the way off of Eulmore. Vertical and Babycorn watched as the map flew away in the wind and fluttered all the way down to the ocean.

“...We don’t need that anymore right?” 

“p-probably not.”

Babycorn and Vertical let out a pair of synchronized shocked gasps when a seagull snatched the map from the air. Carrying off any hopes that the wind would turn and bring the map back to them.

“any chance you’ve been leaving bread crumbs as we’ve been walking?”

“I thought about it but I’m too used to Cherry eating them behind me…” Babycorn laughed nervously and tapped her fingers together.

“Hmm.” There went that plan. “we’ll be fine.”

The pair of opulent doors leading to the Beehive opened in front of them, letting them walk right in. With nothing else better to do, Vertical and Babycorn walked in. 

“Woooooow!” Babycorn looked all around with wonder sparkling in her eyes. This place looked like something out of a fairy tale!  All the furniture and everything looked so fancy! Even the people sitting around looked all fancy too!  

It was a little dark though but Babycorn guessed that’s what the fancy lights were for. 

“wowie.” Vertical said. 

“This place looks fun Vertical!” 

Vertical looked over to the stage and noticed the many half-dressed people dancing to the music. “i guess.” Seeing so many people partly dressed reminded her of her bestie B’ig Nunh and how he wasn’t here. He had traveled here with her but in the middle of the magical transit here they had both gotten separated. 

Good news, B’ig Nunh was on the First. Bad news, she had no idea where.

“Vertical! Vertical! Check it out!” Babycorn tugged on her coat and led her towards the bar. “They’re serving food I think! Do you think they sell pots of honey?!” 

“you could go ask.” 

“Good idea!” Babycorn skipped away to go ask and Vertical watched as she left. Which made her miss the shirtless cat boy wildly flailing at her to try and get her attention. 

Lucky for him, Vertical’s B’ig Nunh senses had not been dulled during their separation. 

Sensing something was amiss, Vertical turned around just in time to see a shirtless B’ig crying out to her. Literally he was crying while also doing his best to dance, though it wasn’t his forte. 

“b’ig!” Vertical yelled out in lowercase. 

“VERTICAAAAAAL!!!!!” B’ig yelled out in uppercase. Those that had just been watching the show that had no idea they were witnessing an emotional reunion were just really confused. 

At that very moment a disappointed Babycorn had come back from the bar in tears. “Verticaaaaal they told me to quit joking around and come back when I order something for reaaaal!” This left Babycorn so heartbroken she had forgotten all about the dangers of stomach pain and decided to ease her sorrows by eating some more meol. 

Babycorn had just taken out another meol to eat when Vertical scooped her up like a football. She let out a surprised squeak but Babycorn was just so used to being carried around by now she didn’t even question it.

What she did question was why Vertical covered her eyes as she started to run towards the stage. Which they just let her do for some reason. 

“Why are you covering my eyes?” Babycorn asked between bites.

“don’t worry about it”

Sad to say she was a little worried about it. “Are we gonna get on stage and dance too?!” 

“no. sorry.”

“Okay that’s good.” Babycorn would have rather jumped off of Eulmore than dance on that stage. Her stage fright would have not let her do anything but freeze up like a popsicle if someone put her on that stage. 

Vertical closed in on the stage and B’ig discreetly danced his way closer to her until they were finally pretty much face to face with each other. “I missed youuuu!” B’ig was still crying and dancing in an effort to not raise any suspicions.

“me too!” Underneath her eyepatch Vertical was tearing up too. “okayy buddy let’s go home.” There was going to be a lot of catching up for Vertical to do. How much did B’ig really know about their current predicament? Surely the Crystal Exarch wouldn’t mind giving another long explanation again. 

“Vertical they took my clothes. :(“ 

“then let’s go get them back.” 

Babycorn managed to sneak a peek at who Vertical was talking to. While she recognized the voice she had no idea why Vertical was talking to this weird half-naked cat boy she had never met once in her entire life.  

For the sake of simplicity, B’ig’s clothes were currently being kept backstage in the Beehive. Sneaking backstage proved to be as easy as just walking into the Beehive itself. Vertical and B’ig tried to look as unsuspicious as they could while walking through the 

What wasn’t easy was for Vertical to keep her hands over Babycorn’s eyes. Babycorn didn’t seem to mind or suspect there was anything wrong with being continued to be carried and kept in the dark (literally) she was used to this by now.

“Who are you talking to anyway Vertical?”

“b’ig nunh.” 

Babycorn was confused. That guy she saw didn’t look anything like B’ig Nunh! Where was his funny hat and his cool vest? His pants were all wrong too! For starters he was actually wearing a pair. Babycorn let Vertical know all the inconsistencies. 

She felt like a real detective!

Meanwhile B’ig was a little hurt that one of his friends didn’t recognize him. It broke his little heart.

“its because they took his clothes.”

“Ew! So he’s naked right now?!” Babycorn put one of her hands over Vertical’s. She really didn’t wanna see something like that!

“I’m not naked!” B’ig protested. “Only my shirt is gone!” 

“Eww!!!!!!!” Babycorn munched louder. 

B’ig noticed Babycorn chowing down on some more meol. “Don’t tell me you’re actually eating that stuff?” He had been offered meol on his very first day here but he had politely refused it, sensing that there was something off with it. 

“Yeah!” Babycorn took another bite of her meol. “It’s tasty!!”

It was well known among Babycorn’s friends that if Babycorn found something tasty there was a 50/50 chance that it was actually tasty, the other half meant that it probably tasted something like mud or something. 

“if you didn’t eat meol what did you eat?” Vertical asked. She hoped that he hadn’t gone this long without eating anything. She hadn’t saved anything for him to eat!

B’ig Nunh sighed, for a long time. “I still had some raw spaghetti that Babycorn gave me so I just cooked some of that and tried to make it last as long as I could. I also had to eat all the sandwiches I was holding on for you!! I’m sorry Vertical!!!” Those sandwiches had been the first to go.

Vertical gave B’ig a sympathetic pat on the head. “it’s ok.” There would be other sandwiches but just one B’ig Nunh. 

“Stop right there!” 

Vertical and B’ig (and also Babycorn) froze in place. Right in front of them was a eulmore guard, how they had failed to notice him was a question that would mostly likely never be answered.

“Who are your patrons?” 

“Celric!” B’ig answered without missing a beat. He nervously looked at Vertical to see what she would answer. 

“same.” Hopefully this guard wouldn’t look too deep to find out that she was lying.

Babycorn continued eating meol without a care in the world. “Lord Vauthry” She answered. 

The guard looked almost scared to hear Babycorn say that. “I see. Carry on then!” Then just as quickly as he showed up. He had left again into the vague backdrop of this scene. All three of them held their breath as he walked away, only breathing easy once he was out of sight.

“That was close…” B’ig wiped some non-existent sweat off his brow.

“yeah……..” Vertical set Babycorn down on the ground but made sure she was still covering her eyes. “by the way where did you even get that name from? doesn’t sound familiar.”

“I don’t know!” Babycorn shrugged, “Just popped into my head!”

As it turned out B’ig’s clothes were being conveniently stored in a supply closet way in the back of the backstage way past the dressing rooms. 

Vertical and Babycorn stood guard of the closet while B’ig changed inside. 

“Um Vertical?” 

“yeah? what’s up?”

“How are we going to break out of this place?” Surely they couldn’t just walk out of here with one of their dancers? Could they?

“i’m going to pick both of you up and run really fast.” 

“Ooooh! Ok! Sounds fun!” 

What could go wrong?

[yuri-cocaine]

ffxivwrite 2023: fulsome

To Yuma, Eulmore was like if someone magicked a cake and turned it into a city. Layer upon layer of jewels and gilt, gold-leaf and crystal sconces, royal purple velveteen drapes and rose water fountains, gemstones and gold thread on every stitch of clothing, great glass windows open to everlasting light. Food and sweets and drinks flowed never-ending, and the bejeweled lords and ladies lounged in their glamourous opulence. Music played at all hours of the day, and sickly sweet notes drifted downwind to tickle the souls of every unfortunate beggar scraping and dreaming in the stinking shanty towns.

Alphinaud had been spirited away to be dressed in new clothes, leaving Yuma plenty of free time to explore. She thought briefly of casting a line over the promenade and seeing what kind of blighted fish she could catch, but that was most likely illegal. Instead, she found herself marveling at the array of decorated meol within the parlor. There were plates and trays heaping with meol, some savory and served with caviar and mother-of-pearl spoons, and some sweet with the softest pastel icing drawn in whorls and rivulets.

She saw some other bonded citizens helping themselves, so Yuma curiously took a meol with pink icing and bit into it. The meol was fluffy, like a dinner roll, and vaguely sweet. It wasn't bread though, and it wasn't quite like mochi either, but the texture was rather similar to meat, though that can't be right.

Yuma looked at a stack of plates, and was surprised to find that the pile meant for free citizens were carved from amethyst and framed with gold to match the colors of Eulmore. The bonded citizens had plain white plates, but even those still had the popular gold-leaf trim.

She filled a plate with meol and took it back to Alphinaud. Maybe he'd appreciate a snack.

[tenuuchlegch]

       “I knew something was off, with that stuff.”

         “The butt bread was truly evil, all along.”

[mistrustmusic]

Review of 2022

Hello Dear Readers and Happy New Year to you all! Thank you all for reading, following, and sharing my blog over the last year! Now that 2022 is coming to a close, here is a look back at some of the things I did during the year, mainly from a music per

Hello Dear Readers and Happy New Year to you all! Thank you all for reading, following, and sharing my blog over the last year! Now that 2022 is coming to a close, here is a look back at some of the things I did during the year, mainly from a music perspective, but other things too! It’s been a strange year. After coming out of COVID, life has got a bit more back to normal. I’ve made some…

[blood-orange-juice]

Unpopular opinion:

Hildibrand Helidor Maximilian Manderville, agent of inquiry, inspector extraordinaire is very real and 100% canon.

NieR collab is not. It never happened. It's all a feverish dream the WoL happened to have because of meol withdrawal.

an absolutely normal reaction to ffxiv lore

[djinnhatescold]

Just found out what meol is made of.

[on-a-lucky-tide]

The lovely @piranhaincaps shared the above with me, and I... Hng. Nikprice, Nikprice, Nikprice.

It's a quiet summer evening and Nik stumbles across his captain reading about princes and scarlet sails.

cw: none.

Nik finished stacking the dishwasher and stretched his back, hands pressed to the base. The captain's cooking had improved significantly since they had settled in Meols, but he still used every bowl, pan and utensil their small kitchen could stock and the clean up operation was always significant.

The old grandfather clock in the hallway chimed eight o'clock and Nik considered the open backdoor. John had left to water the plants about an hour ago, which meant he had been distracted by something. Nik grabbed his bottle of beer and headed out to make sure he wasn't about to embark on yet another building project.

The summer air was still warm, even though the sun was disappearing on the horizon. Being so close to the Irish sea meant there was always a fresher tang beneath the heat, and Nik drew in a deep breath as he studied their small garden.

John hated neatly trimmed grass, which had surprised Nik given his military background. No, he liked wild flowers that attracted the bees and butterflies, and growing vegetables they could cook. Their garden had ended up a colourful mishmash of organised chaos, both beautiful and utilitarian. Like John. Nik loved it.

But there was no captain toiling amongst the blooms. Instead, he sat on the patio beneath the awning, bare but for his khaki cargo shorts. A cold beer sat on the table next to him, the pint glass glistening with condensation where the summer heat clung to it, and he held a cigar between two fingers, the smoke drifting lazily into the warm ombre of the sky.

John was just as handsome as the day they had met. He had been a sergeant back then, fewer lines, less grey, but the same serious, bright blue eyes he had now as he read the novel propped on one thigh. As they had aged together, those blue eyes had filled with shadows but Nik had fought to make sure they had also filled with laughter in equal measure. His captain deserved that.

Nik wandered over and deposited himself in the second chair, grinning at the title of the novel. "Scarlet Sails. A romance, John," Nik teased.

A Russian classic, and written in its mother tongue. John had started learning Russian when Nik had started courting him, and now that he had retired he was chewing through Russian literature with a voracious appetite. They were a little more highbrow than the Dan Brown and Tom Clancy novels otherwise cluttering their overburdened bookshelves.

"This one better have a happy ending, Nik. The last one ripped my heart out my arsehole," John murmured, pausing to take a drag from his cigar. Nik watched the smoke leave his nose and was reminded of an aging dragon in repose.

"You forget, so many of these tales were written by men surrounded by anger and austerity. It is difficult to write about hope and happiness when you cannot conceive of these things." Nik's bare toes curled against the warm paving beneath them.

John looked up and fixed Nik with narrow eyes. "Is this a bloody tragedy too? You told me it was a fairytale."

"No tragedy, happy ending, I promise. Grin took his characters far away so he did not have to write something... ideologically driven by the realities of the USSR. It is an ending more suited to your tastes."

"Hmm," John grabbed his bookmark - a folded leaflet advertising a nearby fishing hotspot - and let the novel close. "How did you survive in that environment and still," John waved his cigar in a vague circle, "become you."

"Become me?"

Nik liked this game. John found words of an emotional nature challenging, and he flushed red, became flustered, when Nik pressed him. It was like stroking the soft centre of a noble turtle. "Like, you... uh, kind, and... funny."

"Spasibo," Nik replied, with a grin.

"Pozhaluysta." John obscured his flush with a sip from his pint.

"My father travelled around the satellite states a lot. The closer you were to the West, the easier it was to get hold of the music, the stories, the... hope."

"West isn't exactly a bastion of hope itself, mate."

"Da," Nik conceded, "but to a young man full of energy and dreams, the West was like a fairytale in comparison to the Soviet Union, a world so grey that Alexander Grin had to make up a whole new one, without even Russian names, to conceive of happiness and love that was not doomed to tragedy in the end."

John hummed and Nik let the comfortable silence settle as he mulled over Nik's words. A gentle hand found his on the table, battle roughened fingers impossibly tender as they stroked across the back and into his palm. "You're happy here, right?" John asked as they watched a bee hover over a cluster of wild flowers.

"Da, captain," Nik said softly. "I expected a Tolstoy ending, but... this, this is a Grin."

John smiled, his eyes crinkling, his whiskers twitching around his mouth in that mischievous way that Nik adored, and he lifted Nik's knuckles to his lips. Nik 's heart swelled in his chest and he fought the urge to scoop his love from the chair and carry him inside to show him just how happy he was. John rubbed his cheek against Nik's fingers after the kiss, blue eyes lidded, like a large cat scenting his territory, before returning their clasped hands to the table.

Later, when the night was cooler and John had finished his beer, Nik would guide him to their bed and they would make love. Nik would kiss and taste the summer heat on his skin and listen to his voice crack around his name, entreaties sweeter than the words of Tsvetaeva. But, for now, Nik was content to bask in the gentle quiet of their own happy ending.

[karthedense]

Ranking ff14 villains based on how well they work a grill

Gaius Van Baelsar: As a father of 100 he is likely the best at working a grill on this list. But he has gone through a phase of intentionally scorching the meat to be barely edible believing that if the consumer was strong it would not bother them. 5/10 is trying to be better about this but the damage has been done

Nidhogg: He hates mankind, He hates the grill for it is a creation of man. 0/10 More likely to burn the cookout than participate in it

Thordan VII: One, he's too up his own ass to work the grill himself, he made the Heavensward knights do it for him. two, even if he did bother to do it himself he's more likely to burn his beard. 1/10, he atleast has hands to work a grill

Zenos Yae Galvus: Despite the saying about autism and working the grill this sadly does not apply to Zenos. his rich boy upbringing ensured he would never touch a grill much less a spatula. 3/10 he can chop meat like a champ however.

Yotsuyu: Able to cook the perfect well done steak even while high off the opium she's smoking from her pipe however she has bad memories of doing it and would rather not touch a grill again. 6/10 the skills are present but they are not used

Lord Vauthry: Only thing he can cook is Meol which i will not explain why that's an issue. 0/10

Emet-selch: Hate's the grill, despises the grill, rejects the grill, The grill hates him back. 0/10

Fandaniel: he is the master of the grill but he doesn't use his skill to make good food, he uses his skill to kill everyone in the room including himself, whether it be propane explosion or food poisoning. 10/10 His skills cannot be doubted but nor can they be trusted.

[katarh-mest]

us election in ffxiv terms

I've seen a few people trying to paint Kamala Harris as Wuk Lamat, and I think that's an incorrect assessment. Wuk Lamat would have been closer to AOC running for election the first time - qualified, but had to prove herself by winning.... and she did.

No, the current US election is the choice between Lord Vauthry and Admiral Merlwyb.

Lord Vauthry

Nepo Baby. Daddy was rich and powerful so he inherited rule automatically. Elections? There is no such thing. Who needs democracy when you have stability?

Authoritarian. Follow his rules and obey, and be safe. Defy him, and get fed to the fishes.

Sometimes articulate. Sometimes descends into toddler temper tantrums.... considering he still has the husk of his infant toddler human self lodged in his armpit, that's not surprising.

Has no real vision for the future, just wants to stay in power because he believes the world is ending, and so do his people.

Also wants to stay in power to protect himself above all.

Doesn't understand what is wrong with him his entire life.

Let the poor eat meol.

if you're not part of the 1%, you're a slave and he doesn't care about you.

He loves the poorly educated. They will never question him.

Picked his right hand man because there wasn't anyone else really good for the job. He's not actually scared of Ranjit Vance but Ranjit is now just as enthralled as anyone else and can't say no to him even if he wanted to.

Admiral Merlwyb

Pirate's daughter professor's daughter but climbed into politics under her own merits

Looks younger than she is

Experienced, veteran politician now with 20 years of service

Will be the first to admit she's made some mistakes, but has grown and learned her lessons from them

Wants to protect her nation's interests, but will rise to the needs of global problems when required

Allows dissent among the citizens and open criticism of her rule without fear of retaliation

Figured out a solution to keep the pirate crews in check by making them official privateers and giving them free reign to loot the Empire. Tricky problems require tricky solutions. Are they perfect? No. But they're better than anarchy.

Surrunds herself with genuinely good advisors, instead of sycophants. Picked former pirate Eynzahr Slafyrsyn Governor Tim Walz as her right hand man because she knew she needed someone to help her come up with creative solutions to those tricky problems.

Certified badass. Kamala Harris can crack an egg one handed, Admiral Merlwyb can shoot a gun one handed.

Anyway, the choice is pretty clear to me. I know which badass lady pirate I'd rather have in charge of my ship for the next four years.

[yildraws]

hello! here's my catalogue for Makers Quest SG @ Suntec Lv3 Concourse (14 Sept 2024)! I'll be at C23 Meol Bakery with kaitokei, finowlly and pp_ezro, feel free to drop by 🫡

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

Since it started in my FC...

(credit to @driftward for coming up with this absolutely nightmarish scenario selection)

[hqmillioncorn]

Lalapril 4/29: Light

guest starring @windupiceheart’s everyone’s good friend b’ig nunh 

Cherrypit ran ahead of his sister. 

She had been acting strange ever since she woke up so he was a little worried. This whole situation was messed up! Why was that meanie doing something like this to them?! What had they ever done to him?!

Cherrypit waited for his sister to catch up as she slowly walked ahead, her hands covering her mouth.

From his waiting place, Elidibus frowned.

...What was the last thing Babycorn remembered?

Was it something about Ardbert?

No, wait. It wasn’t Arbert. It was an Ascian.

She didn’t quite know which one. It felt like she should know.

“Hmm…?”

Babycorn blinked again and again. No matter how many times she blinked, her surroundings stayed the same. Everywhere she looked was a bright white. There were no landmarks, no ground, no anything she could discern.

It felt like somebody had trapped her inside an empty canvas.

Which she really hoped wasn’t the case.There was no time to be trapped somewhere like this! She still had to chase after not-Ardbert and give him a piece of her mind after he decided to bully her and Cherrypit with all these stupid illusions or whatever.

Babycorn paused, then looked around some more, this time with more panic than before.

Could this be another one of not-Ardbert’s mean tricks? Just like the last few? What was his goal in messing with them like this?! Where was she?! 

Where was Cherrypit?!

Suddenly it felt like Babycorn finally woke up.

Her eyes went wide with shock when she realized that it didn’t matter where she was really. What actually mattered was that Cherrypit wasn’t with her. “Cherry? Cherry?!” Babycorn jumped to her feet and called out to him as loud as she could.

Babycorn started to run.

But no matter how much she ran, she got the feeling she wasn’t going anywhere.

It was just like that time she tried to run on a frozen lake. No matter how much her legs moved, she stayed in one place. While everyone else had a much easier time. Including Cherrypit who simply slid across the ice while standing in place.

The memory made Babycorn laugh. It also made her a little bit sad, but she had no idea why.

Regardless, she didn’t have time to feel anything right now, especially since there was still no sign of Cherrypit anywhere.

Babycorn stopped.

She felt her stomach grumble.

“Ow…” There was a sharp pain in both her stomach and head. She couldn’t decide what part to hold in pain. The pain had caught her so off guard that it caused Babycorn to drop to her knees.

Only momentarily though. It took only a few seconds for her to get back up. The pain had disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. “Huh…” Babycorn nervously smiled. It wasn’t her first encounter with sudden pain and it probably wouldn’t be her last.

Living with an eternally bleeding wound on your stomach sort of got you used to that.

Babycorn looked down at her white dress for any abnormalities. Thankfully there weren’t any stains that she could see but she did see something else.

The shadow of someone standing right in front of her.

“Ahh-!!?” Babycorn jumped back in fear. Though she had wished for someone to appear and help her, she never actually expected someone to show up.

Recognizing that she wasn’t alone anymore, Babycorn’s fear quickly switched to curiosity as she looked up to see who had joined her.

The faint image of a dark red-haired miqo'te flickered in front of her. He was wearing a really fancy uniform, though the uniform was a little torn in some places. Almost like he had been in a big fight before this or something.

Or at least, that’s what Babycorn figured.

His eyes were a dark blue and they were looking right down at her. Babycorn gave him the benefit of the doubt. It's not like there was anything else to look at around here anyway.

It was kind of scary but it was nice to see someone here with her. Especially someone who looked like they were nice.

“Hi! My names Babycorn!” She extended her hand out as far as she could so she could shake this stranger’s hand. It was something she had recently learned people did and she was very excited whenever she got the opportunity to try this cool new thing out.

The strange miqo'te remained silent, only staring down at her.

Babycorn did not find this strange one bit.

“Did you get trapped here too?” Babycorn looked around again. Even if the other ten times she had done this had proved fruitless, there was still the chance she might have missed something. “Don’t worry! We’ll find our way out and get back home! I-I’m sure of it!” Babycorn knew she was saying this more to convince herself than this stranger but there had to be something she could do to help!

The weird stranger only watched in silence as Babycorn stepped all around him., desperately looking for anything that would lead them out of where they were trapped.

Suddenly, the stranger spoke.

“Monty. My name is Monty.”

Babycorn looked up in surprise.

“Monty?” It was nice to hear someone else’s voice! “Nice to meet you! I’m Babycorn Corn!” It was polite to also introduce yourself after someone else does. It was something she had also learned by now.

“Don’t worry Monty! I’ll find us a way out of here!

Babycorn still wasn’t sure how they got trapped in here but surely if they made their way in that meant there was a way out, and she was going to find it.

Monty looked down at her.

Their gazes met and Babycorn froze.

She recognized that look.

A terrified smile crossed her face as she began to slowly back away from Monty. “W-We’re not doing anything…” The familiar saying escaped her lips without a second thought. It felt as if she was backed up into an alley in Ul’dah all over again.

Monty stepped closer to her, his eyes glued to her.

“I hate you.”

Babycorn tried to cover her ears.

“How could you?!”    

A number of silhouettes began to emerge from the white surrounding them. They were flickering in place just like Monty was. Babycorn could see their mouths moving but she couldn’t hear anything that they were saying. She didn’t recognize any of them either.

There were so many of them.

All of them looked so different.

“How could you do this to us?!”

Babycorn shook her head, over and over. “I get it! I get it!! You can stop!” It wasn’t like she had forgotten about the people she had hurt back then. How was she supposed to know?! She wouldn’t have known! She must have hurt a lot of people!

Otherwise why would so many people in Ul’dah have hated them?

Suddenly, Babycorn noticed something in front of her.

Monty was stretching out his arm towards her, he was holding something in his hand. Then, without a second thought, Babycorn got closer to see what he was holding. When she saw that it was a simple piece of meol she didn’t think too much about it.

Then it all came rushing back.

The way she had accepted the offer to eat meol, falling under Vauthry’s control, attacking her friends, Thancred telling her that meol was made of sin eaters…

How she couldn't remember how many pieces of meol she had actually eaten.

“This is me.” Monty held the meol closer to Babycorn. “This was me.”

“Stop…”

Babycorn’s desperate whispers were drowned out by the people around her holding up their own piece of meol. A piece of themselves. Telling her that this was them. Whispering their names to her. Shouting their stories to her, how they had died, when they had died.

She had done this. Babycorn had done this. Babycorn was the reason they were dead now.

“Stop! Please stop!!”

She had done this

She did this.

She-

“Hey! Leave her alone already!!”

A very familiar voice rang in Babycorn’s ears.

The next thing she knew, the silhouettes around her and even Monty had disappeared into thin air. The mysterious figures had been replaced with the presence of only one person, but Babycorn couldn’t tell who it was or if this was good or bad.

Babycorn rubbed at her eyes. The light all around them wasn’t doing much to help her see clearly. Even though it was hard to see, there was no way she would ever mistake that little heart shaped antennae for anyone else.

“B’ig Nunh…?”

‘B’ig Nunh’ looked confused to be addressed as such. He looked behind his back and to his sides to see if Babycorn was talking to someone else that wasn’t him.

Because that certainly wasn’t his name.

“Are you talking to me…?” He asked.

Before Babycorn could answer however, she was already at his side, giving him a hug around his legs. “Woah?! Hold on! Let go!!” ‘B’ig Nunh’ raised a leg and wiggled it around as Babycorn continued to hold onto it for dear life.

“B’ig I’m so glad you’re here!!” Babycorn finally let go of her good friend and plopped down onto the ground. “It's so scary in here! Oh! How did you get in here too?!” Surely if he figured out how to enter this weird place he knew the way back out.

“Why do you keep calling me that? That’s not my name!” ‘B’ig’ yelled down at her. He took a large step away from her to make sure that Babycorn would not try and jump on him again. It was already hard enough to shake her off the first time.

He was also a little taken aback, Babycorn was bouncing back so easily. Especially from the little he had seen of what was happening just a few seconds ago.

“Whaaaaaat?” Babycorn couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What do you mean B’ig?! You look like B’ig. You talk like B’ig! And you move like B’ig! Of course you’re my good friend B’ig Nunh!”

Who else could it be??

“My name is Oroden!”

Hearing his name felt like Babycorn had taken a huge tumble, but she wasn’t exactly sure why.

“O-Oroden…?” Babycorn began to retreat into herself. She took a few cautious steps back and looked up a Oroden with a fearful look, which he noticed right away. As soon as Oroden raised a hand up to her to ask her to stop Babycorn quickly jumped back. 

This sort of reaction was pretty much what he had expected before.

“Do you hate me too…?” Babycorn whimpered.

Oroden let out a sigh, scratching the back of his head he wondered how he even got into this situation in the first place. None of the lessons in knightly orientation had ever prepared him for something like this. He decided to take a seat on the ground. Thinking that maybe this dwarf would see him as less of a threat if he was around her height.

He gestured to the ground next to him. “Here. You can sit here.” He watched as Babycorn looked down to the ground then back up to him. It was clear she was still a little scared. Oroden tilted his head and unbeknownst to him that caused the heart antenna on his head (only visible to Babycorn) to wiggle a little.

Babycorn let out a small laugh and stepped just a little towards him. Then a little bit more, until she finally decided to take a seat next to her familiar unfamiliar friend. 

She wiggled herself into a sitting position she liked and smiled. That smile faded into a frown pretty quickly after Babycorn remembered where she was.

“Um…” Babycorn tugged on both of her braids nervously, “Do you hate me too, Mr. Oroden…?”

Oroden looked out into the vast nothingness surrounding them and let out a hum. “Hmm…I would have to say that I still kind of hate you too.”

Babycorn wanted to cry.

“But!” Oroden paused, “I don’t hate you as much as they do.” He used his head to gesture behind him, hoping that Babycorn would figure out what he meant.

“Hmmm…”

Babycorn was confused. From what the others had told her, they had every reason to hate her guts. “Why not?” she asked, “You’re here cause I…I ate you with meol like the other guys, right?” Babycorn felt sick all over again.

Oroden nodded. “Yeah, you did.”

“Knew it.”

“But there’s something else.” His tail swished behind him, curling itself towards Babycorn. “For some reason I can’t find it in me to hate you that much. Almost as if I know you…?”

“You do know me B’ig-!”

“Oroden.” He corrected her again.

“Oh. Right! Sorry!”

It was so strange. Oroden had told her that he wasn’t B’ig, but then why did they look exactly the same? Maybe it had something to do with her? Babycorn wondered if she had somehow managed to make some stranger look completely different just because she wanted some company.

Suddenly, the image of B’ig flickered away for just a moment.

But a moment was all Babycorn needed to see what Oroden really looked like.

In B’ig’s place sat a tall au ra, with dark hair and dark horns. He was wearing a uniform of some sort. One that Babycorn would expect a knight from Ishgard would wear. His clothes looked torn too, just like Monty’s had been.

Oroden noticed Babycorn’s strange look and looked down at her. “Is there something wrong?” he asked.

“No! Nothing!” Babycorn answered earnestly, “I like your horns!”

“Oh, thanks?” Oroden reached up to touch his horns on instinct. Unfortunately for Babycorn it just looked like B’ig was parting some of his hair. If only she had caught more of that au ra guy, she might have thought of more things to compliment him about.

“Well…” Oroden suddenly stood up, extending a hand towards Babycorn. “You should probably wake up now. You don’t want to keep everyone worried.” He knew that Babycorn had spent too much time in here already. Any more time spent here and he probably wouldn't be able to stop the others from going after Babycorn again.

Babycorn was confused. As usual. “Wake up?” Was she dreaming or something?

“You tripped and knocked yourself out while running after Elidibus. Your brother must be worried sick out there.”

Just the mention of Cherrypit was enough to get Babycorn to wake up.

She couldn’t keep her brother worried! Though she was a little sad that she didn’t get to say goodbye to Oroden. He seemed like a nice guy…

With that thought in mind, Babycorn woke up with a jolt.

No…

No, it couldn’t be true, could it?

Had she…really killed her friend?