#Two Heads are Better Than One

[driftward]

Title: FFXIV Write 2024 - 30. Two Heads are Better Than One Characters: Thancred Waters, Urianger Augurelt, Minfilia Warde, Y'shtola Rhul Rating: Teen Summary: Thancred has a plan. Urianger has a better one. Y'shtola has a headache. Notes: None

Thancred and Urianger ducked back behind the ridge overlooking the encampment.

They'd been scouting out the Garlean operation for a few sennights now, swapping out with other Scions as necessary. Thancred had hoped they could just leave off well enough alone, report back, and that would be that.

The arrival of new magitek walkers made that a harder sell. They could slip away, none the wiser, but it would probably be better for the realm if they made sure to at least delay operations here.

"Alright, so here's what we're working with here," he said quietly to Urianger, who listened attentively. "They've got their fancy new magitek, and brought in a second ceruleum supply tower to keep reserves for it all. I'd like to make sure those machines never get a chance to do any mischief, but we can't just storm in, they'll make mincemeat of us."

Urianger made a thoughtful humming noise, and he took another look.

"I might provide suitable distraction with mine enchantments as to provide thee a window with which to work thine mischief."

"Right. Problem with that, is there's two yards worth of the buggers," groused Thancred. He snuck another peak, then ducked back down. "They got that new tower installed right fast, and put a lot right in under it, mimicking the existing one. With your plan, I might hit one lot's worth of machines or the other, but not both before the alarm sounded."

Urianger pondered, tapping the side of his head. "The explosives thy hath brought. Sufficient to the task?"

"Sure, if I could get them all in place without being spotted."

Urianger looked again, considering, then gestured for Thancred to take a look.

"The magitek is heavily patrolled, but prithee, examine yonder towers more closely."

"Right. Exactly like water towers... oversized reservoirs of ceruleum on top of scaffolding, to provide sufficient head for the pumps. Oh, I think I see what you are getting at. Everyone's paying attention to the armors, but each tower hasn't got a guard on it just now."

"Foresooth. Perhaps we might watch for a short time, to see when the patrols move by; then whence we have their schedule, you might move in and make use of your talents. My singular distraction is like to provide an alarm, which will pull such light patrols away. Thee shall must needs act quickly, but perhaps..."

"Wait. Hang on. If I hit the tower legs instead of trying to get at each individual walker... that leaves us some munitions free. I could set up another distraction, an explosive one, on a timer. You set up your second distraction, and set it off shortly before the timer comes off. In the chaos, the entire castrum will be forced to split their attention. Could provide me more than enough time to work my own kind of magic and get clear."

"I believe thy plan is risky, but workable."

"Right. Well, we're not in this line of work for the vacation benefits," said Thancred. "Got any better ideas?"

"Watching for the patrols might give me some time to think of better. Failing that, however, I think we shall go with thy plan."

Thancred nodded, and they settled in.

~*~

"So, just to be particularly safe, we decided to plant explosives in multiple places in the facility," said Thancred. "Urianger's idea, so as to cause even more chaos, using his enchantments to cover their exact placement. And while our Garlean friends were running around with dodos with their heads cut off, we moved in, managed to commander two magiteks for ourselves, and used their cannons to topple the towers. Between the confusion and the resulting mess, none were able to stop us on our way out. The ceruleum flood did some decent damage. The resulting fire did a fair bit more."

"We were fortunate the castrum was established in such haste and so recently," said Urianger. "Another few sennights for them to move material and conscripts in, and our plan would have been nigh impossible."

"But, we managed to pull it off, thanks to our impeccable timing," said Thancred. He grinned at Minfilia.

Minfilia nodded. "I do wish you wouldn't take such risks," she sighed. "But the Garleans have been growing more aggressive in their actions. The castrum still stands, however?"

"Clever work on our half or not, they are not dumb, they work quickly, and their stuff is made to last. And their refined ceruleum does not light off so easily. No, we made a mess for them to clean up, to be sure, but they'll have their little spot operational soon enough. We've just delayed them."

"It will have to do."

Thancred glanced over to wink at Y'shtola, who was listening in on the debriefing. Urianger noticed the look, and immediately began to shuffle for the door, ducking his head to conceal a smirk on his face.

""Took down both towers though, and practically flooded the place. Turns out, that two heads were better than one."

Minfilia nodded. "Yes, you and Urianger do make quite the team. Clever thinking you tw-"

She stopped, and then she laughed, and pointed at the door.

"Oh, I just now got that! You rogue! Out with you!"

Urianger was already on his way out, slipping through the door, while Thancred gave an exaggerated bow while Y'shtola squeezed her nose.

"Must you be like this?" she said, exasperated.

"Why, 'tis hardly my fault I had such an excellent teacher in the finer points of the proper usage of words," he said, affecting her accent as he grinned at her from around the door. She crooked her fingers at the bookshelf, and he cackled as he ducked outside, a magicked book narrowly missing his head.

[chocoblep]

#30: That Stag, Doe

Prompt: Two Heads are Better Than One

Shev hadn’t been on a job like this one in a while. For starters, they’d been asked to trap an animal. In the Shroud. It seemed like it would have gone against whatever the Seedseers and the Wood Wailers alike wanted, but they had been called in by the latter for this job–or, rather, Kismet had been called in, and Shev had been dragged along as a measure of protection while Kismet hunted. The Lavender-haired viera after he had made an offhanded comment about his time as a Wood Warder when he’d been drinking with one of the captains, and somehow it had translated to him being asked to assist in trapping a massive stag that had some sort of necrotizing disease while the Wailers pursued a band of poachers in the woods to the north. Well, Shev had no complaints spending time with Kismet, even if they were silent most of the time due to the nature of the task.

They’d set a few traps already with the sort of bait that the deer native to this area would be drawn to. They’d also split up for a while to cover more ground, but now they circled the territory, checking the traps periodically to see if they’d been visited and searching for signs of this particular beast.

Shev was about to spook off the single deer that had taken the bait at one of their traps when Kismet’s hand came to rest on his arm. He looked at him, and the silent conversation that ensued didn’t need words. Kismet slowly moved his hand off to their right, and Shev leaned back slowly, peeking around the tree trunk. It was there that he saw, standing in one of the many shafts of sunlight permeating through the canopy, a hulking stag. He squinted, trying to see any of its distinguishing features, and when he realized the dark spots on its hide were patches of dead, wasted skin and open wounds, he slowly drew in a breath. Then Kismet caught his attention and motioned to the deer that had approached their trap. It was a young doe, and as she twisted her neck to look behind her at the approaching stag, he saw the other side of her head.

There were dark spots there, too, one of the wounds on her neck weeping slightly.

Whatever was happening to the stag was spreading throughout the population.

Shev flared his nostrils in concern, and Kismet looked at him, his eyes imploring his silence and stillness. He complied, waiting as he watched the doe resume her feeding. The stag moved closer still, but soon enough the doe stepped into the trap, and Kismet twisted a ring on his finger. The doe’s head came up again, her ears perked, and she looked around. She was on alert, which was expected if the trap had sprung, even if Shev and Kismet couldn’t see it. After a moment, she turned to bound off into the bushes, only to run head-first into an invisible wall. The sound and her surprised grunt caused the stag to stop and tense, and as Kismet readied a length of rope, the stag bolted.

“Shite,” Shev swore, and Kismet shook his head.

“She’s got it, too. If we can take her back, we’ll at least have something. Let me get her bound up and we can take her back so they can figure out what this is. We might not have to capture him.”

“If he’s th’ worst off, don’t ya think ‘e’s th’ one they’ll want? What if th’ illness’s got some sort ‘a phases to it?”

“Then they’ll send us back out,” Kismet said.

“I think we’re gonna need ‘im,” Shev said, and then stood up. “I’m gonna find out where ‘e went. At least tha’ way we’ll ‘ave an idea where t’go if they send us back. You good alone with ‘er?”

Kismet hesitated for a moment, and then nodded, standing as well. The doe started running along the perimeter of her trap, testing the walls. “I’ll wait until she calms down a bit and then get her bound. Be careful? We don’t know what this disease does to them. Reports said he attacked a couple.”

“Aye, I’ll be careful.” Shev bent to kiss Kismet’s temple, and then set off through the woods to track the buck. He followed its trail for a while, and spotted him again when he came close to a clearing. Sinking behind a tree trunk, he let his gold eyes roam the space, looking around for anything he could use to trap him. He did his best to remain perfectly still, though he knew he might be upwind of the creature if the wind shifted slightly. Luckily, only a few scant fulms away from the deer was one of their traps. By some miracle, it was untouched, but he wondered how he could lure the big buck into it. Perhaps he could sneak around and spook it in the direction of the trap? That was unpredictable at best; there was no telling which direction the stag would run.

As he was contemplating, something rust-colored caught his eye across the clearing, streaking toward the stag. It was a fox–a massive one, if its size at a distance was any indication, and it passed the deer, heading straight for the trap. The stag, startled, started running in the same direction as the fix, and he watched as the fox bounded right into the trap. The stag bounded in just after, and Shev frantically twisted his own ring. He saw the stag crash into an invisible wall and scream. The fox, on the other hand, passed right through the barrier, stopping and turning to look directly at Shev’s hiding place.

He felt a tug in his chest, as if the animal was pulling on a string that was attached to him. He wanted to stand up and go to it and run away from it and–gods, it was large, and it had changed direction, and was now trotting right toward him. As it got closer, he squinted his eyes and noted that it didn’t seem to be entirely there; parts of it were translucent, almost as if it were made of stained glass, the world behind it blurred. Was it some sort of illusion? He looked around for a mage, or some other presence, and when he found no one else he looked back toward the fox. It was standing on the other side of the bush from him, and as he rose to his full height, it simply stood there and watched him.

I have aided you. Now, you must aid me.

He couldn’t make out whether he’d had the thought or whether it had been foisted upon his mind. He didn’t have time to contemplate that, though, because the creature gathered itself and flexed its haunches. He barely hit the dirt in time, and as it leapt over him, it disappeared into thin air, leaving behind a little shimmer of gold that blew away on the autumn breeze. A little rattled, Shev looked around for the thing, and once he was sure it was gone, looked to the stag in the trap. It was still thrashing, but secured. It would likely take both of them to get this one subdued.

As he backtracked to find Kismet, the words that had echoed in his mind felt like an itch he could not scratch; there, bothersome, but so deeply embedded in him that there was no hope of relief.

I have aided you. Now, you must aid me.

What did it mean? What was that creature? Was his mind playing tricks on him?

He found Kismet finishing up with the doe and securing her to the cart they’d brought with them. He’d sedated her somehow, and he was grateful for that. 

“I found him, he’s in a trap about a malm that way,” Shev said as he walked up.

“Oh, great! Let’s go grab him and finish this job, then,” Kismet said, and then grinned, hopping up to direct the chocobo that was hooked to the cart. Once he’d turned it in the correct direction, he nodded to Shev. “Lead the way.”

Shev turned to do just that, stopping when Kismet gasped and called for him to wait. The other viera hopped down from the cart, stepping up to him, and then round behind him, and grabbing his shirt to yank it upward.

“Shev… the fox tattoo on your back is glowing,” he said, and then dropped Shev’s shirt.

“Wha’ th’ hell?” Shev replied, turning around in a circle as if he could see it if he was fast enough. “Kismet, a giant fox scared th’ deer into th’ trap. Then it came up to me an’ I heard a voice, an’ it disappeared.”

“What did it say?” Kismet asked, moving to get back up into the driver’s seat. Shev started off in the direction of their other catch.

“Uhh, tha’ it had aided me, and now I had t’ aid it.”

Kismet was silent for a little bit, and when Shev turned his head to look at him, the violet-haired viera had a strange look on his face.

“I can’t believe my boyfriend is haunted,” he said, almost too casually, and Shev laughed.

“I don’t think it was a ghost, Starlight.”

“Well, whatever it was, I’m sure you’ll see it again soon enough.”

[moonfang256]

This is gonna be me during Deltarune's Chapter 3:

❤️ <( Going back to the rabbit hole, huh? I don't know what's going to happen, but I believe we need to play our cards carefully from now on.

…

Look, I don't really want to control you, not anymore, but even if I say "no" you wouldn't allow me to do that, right? You want me to control you because you and Ralsei need me to stay so I can do some stuff for you and your friends, am I correct?

❤️ <( You see, I'm a player who play videogames and you sadly became the main character from this game world, and the only being who can hold and handle my soul well.

❤️ <( Without me or if I die you die, and if someone else grabs me, well… I don't really know what's going to happen. Whoever does it will probably end up dead, so my existence in this place, something that you, Ralsei, and a certain someone watching us not gonna like.

❤️ <( If I've to be honest: I genuinely ended loving and caring too much about your world, your friends, even you mostly, and I don't want anyone to get hurt. That's why I'm willing to help and stay until everything is done. After this, I just want to go, and I'll probably never come back here again.

I'm sorry, it must have been really awful, isn't? You had to deal with so much stuff by yourself…

I won't bother you anymore with anything, so I'll try to make things easier for you. I'll respect your agency, but I'll also keep my distance to moderate things.

❤️ <( What do you want us to do now?

❤️ <( I won't stop you, but I just hope you know what are you doing. Also Ralsei, I know you're listening from afar. No need to pretend anymore, your cute charms don't work with me. *mischievous smirk* Good acting though, but I forgive you anyways.

❤️ <( You both put yourselves into a very horrible situation, I can tell, but I won't say more.

--------

Well, I admit I ended too immersed with the story and the characters. Heck, I even shared my feelings and thoughts through my dreams, my art, and even a little music, but I think it's time for me to step back for now before I get more obsessed and that won't do me any good.

Everything has a limit.

I still have a life to live, some things I need to figure out on my own, study and work, some other games I want to play (I'm even making a fangame of something else), etc.

Man, never a game has ever touched me this personally, messed with my mind and emotions so badly, and even made me vulnerable…

The positive side is: It helped me to be more open and even improve my drawings a little, so I guess it's okay.

[avampyone]

Prompt#30: Serenity

Characters: Hemlocke, mentions of Olivia.

Synopsis: With a new adventure ahead, Hemlocke is determined to write a letter he's put off for far too long.

Setting: Tuliyollol, The For'ard Cabins.

Warning - None

Having acquired an inn room of his own upon setting foot in these new lands, Hemlocke was in awe to see the generous space granted to each of them truly too great for one person alone – but in truth, it was nice at the same time. A part of him did not mind the feel of luxury quite as much as it used to bother him.

At some point, the memory of times when such riches had felt more like shackles had begun to ease like an icy weight jarring loose from his chest. It was all too easy to get caught up in bustle of either the Ossuary, from behind a bar, or any other such venture that he sought to busy himself with – For once, he thought to embrace the prospect of a break and welcome the venture into an unknown that he could lose himself within.  

From the sweeping view beyond, Hemlocke’s crimson gaze lifted with a thoughtful gleam to take the open sight of such from the balcony of the inn room with the beginning pinpoints of blinking stars coming into sight as the gentle waves of the ocean below them grow ever darker.

Luckily for them, the full moon lifting above promised to give the aid of illumination. Although they had arrived earlier on the long journey there, his friend, Seiro and all their comrades were keen to go on an evening excursion to the beach and the restaurant there rumored to prepare some of the best local cuisines and drinks.

Leaning forward to rest his elbow against the table, Hemlocke tucked the breezy black duster a little more around him in the front, wearing his tank top underneath, shorts and sandals having been prepared when he heard there were gorgeous beaches in Tuliyollol.

Despite knowing he needed to meet the others at the hour they had agreed on, he remained there settled with his metal quill in hand and the rough feel of parchment underneath the pads of his fingertips. For the last hour, he had been mentally urging himself to write out the thoughts that had been weighting on his mind for some time now. He had believed embracing travel into these new lands might grant him new perspective and the courage to do so.

This was a letter for one who would never be able to read it – or perhaps it was for his own weary heart, but he felt compelled to write this out, nevertheless. Finally resolved, he refreshed his ink to place pen to pencil, writing in a flurry of motion:

---

Dear mum,

               Although I feel these words may never find you, wherever you may be, it has always been the greatest wish that you may one day find peace in the beyond and know the welcoming comfort of Halone’s halls. Many times, I have read the letter you left in the knowledge that Gloucent held ill intent toward you. How it has troubled me to know you took all the blame upon yourself in falling for another man and all other sorrowful events of the past.

How could I ever be a judge of that? How could any? You fought many unseen battles that I nor anyone else could ever know and even gave your own life to save mine. Such is the true mark of a warrior if I ever knew one that I know the Fury must smile upon.

I do my best to aspire to be worthy of your sacrifice every day. Honestly, there are times when I feel that I have fallen far from what I promised you to become – Seraphine, one of the most polite gentlemen in all Ishgard. In these new lands, they speak of a brave warrior of two souls that share one body – resolve and reason. In my own way, there are times when I feel..splintered myself – Seraphine and Hemlocke.

I thought it was in my best interest to leave that part of myself behind with all the other memories in the manor fire and move to embrace a new life. But with each new day, the recollection of painful memories behind the name lessens and I feel it may be safe show myself fully. Seraphine was the only part of me that you had ever known after all..Still, I hope that you might be proud to simply know me as the mage named Hemlocke as well.

I often wonder if I may come to be the best of myself should I ever come to let the past go completely and embrace both one day. Maybe when I am brave enough, little by little. Every day I do feel myself becoming stronger with each new experience in life – the good and bad. That is to say if you do happen to come across this letter – please know that I shall be all right and it is okay to find your well deserved rest now, mm?

Sincerely,

Your loving son.

---

Having intentionally left off any signature, Hemlocke thought he might finish such another day. Perhaps even rewrite the whole letter entirely. Still, a look of satisfaction lit up his features with a small smile, delighted in the knowledge he had been able to finally speak to her in some way. Feeling a little lighter, the elezen lowered the quill carefully to lay atop the paper to head out and meet his friends for the evening.

[honorhearted]

"you're not funny" from laura

@retrograderesemblance

Ben held a hand over his chest, feigning innocence as he blinked up at Laura's peevish scowl. With a grin, he finally relented, "I think I'm a little funny... You said so yourself that you were sick of Larry in accounting, so I obliged. Is this any way to show your gratitude?"

In Laura's hand, she held the fated jar from the fridge -- the one he'd used for what he believed to be a very clever prank -- before he turned back to his laptop with a snort. "I couldn't very well put your keys in Jell-O again. I have matured as an 'ar-teest.'"

In truth, Ben wasn't usually the type to disrupt the workplace, but Laura had been unbearable as of late -- the stress of their latest case had her constantly on edge -- and if he'd been able to deviate some of that tension? Well...he wasn't expecting a medal or anything, but a "thank you" would suffice.

"I need your surveillance findings on the Whitman case," he said, not bothering to look up. "Are you going to keep standing around holding that fake head, or will you stop horsing around and join me?"

All right. So perhaps he was baiting her just a little.

[two-sided-stories]

flips coin.. so heads or tails

Who is this, flipping a coin is my thing. And heads.

[vintageterror]

[miss-markers]

Learned how to crochet 🧶🖤✌️

Pattern by rinmeow21

[tabbyphobos]

I legit almost fell for a scam today.

If you are job hunting, and you have a Skype interview which leads to them telling you to print a check, deposit it, and use it to purchase your remote work equipment, and won't let you wait for the check to clear before telling you you have to venmo someone else the funds to get your equipment, it's a scam.

The emails weren't even from the purported company's domain. And the check wasn't from the purported company.

Unfortunately I got to the deposited check step before Husband helped when it got weird. Why wouldn't a real company want the check to clear before you use the money?

I'm gullible, unfortunately. We've called the bank and now Husband is going to handle it from here.

So here's your PSA, I guess. Job scam sends you a check for equipment.

When I told them I wanted to terminate, all they had to say was okay.

[birchf0x]

Phlotsam and Ghetsam

Art and characters by @himboodles

[soapbbox]

Elsewhere:

Part 1

Even apart they’re still facing the same struggles 😔 Not that they’re thinking about each other or anything. Why would you suggest that.

[ichverdurstehier]

Kennedy isn't a Democrat?

Just to be perfectly clear: I am voting for whoever is on the ballot that isn't Trump. I don't need any further information and that has been true since he announced he was running. Nothing whatsoever has changed. I'm voting for the party. I don't care who the nominee is. Just. For the record.

[canisalbus]

What if I told you that RoobrickMarine went and wrote an entire novella starring my 16th century dog couple? It's very canon-adjacent, well researched and thoughtfully put together, has inspired me a ton during these past months and it's now publicly available at AO3. I highly recommend it.

✦ Separation ✦

[shepscapades]

Why does Ren have 4 ears? Are they all real or is one set fake?

Hehe I’ve gotten this question a lot actually! They’re all real— I like to think hybridization isn’t always a clean balance of traits, so Ren just unfortunately ended up with two sets of ears— his Dog ears being much more receptive to sound, naturally— and sometimes when the extra intake of sound is too overwhelming, I imagine he wears earplugs in his human ears to help adjust :> it’s a bit weird, but idk! i like to make designs funky and nonconventional! I liked the idea that Ren had hearing struggles due to wonky hybridization and just kept the concept :>

[hrokkall]

ULTRATOBER DAY 2 /// V2

[PREVIOUS] 🪛 [NEXT]

All red for the red fans in the audience

[iridiss]

mcd!aphmau may be an incredibly good person and a massive pacifist with more wisdom than anger but. i think she should be allowed to tell people to eat shit and fuck off. you’d have to push her pretty far to get her to do it but she should still tell people to eat shit and fuck off. i think she’s more annoyed with people than she shows

In my mind, MCD!Aphmau and Zane have a very special unique relationship in that Zane is the only person on earth that Aphmau hates more than anything. Like, this is a woman born from the mercy of Christ. And she fucking hates his guts so bad. He’s done far too much damage to everyone she’s loved for her to ever see him as more than pure evil. She is a woman of redemption and even i think she would see a Zane redemption arc as utterly impossible to ever achieve. She has a “kill on sight” policy that ONLY applies to him and NO ONE ELSE. Her and Zane could go back and forth bickering and telling each other “fuck you” over and over again. Even Shad earns more sympathy and mercy and empathetic understanding from Aphmau than Zane does. Aphmau would sooner befriend The Shadow Lord himself than EVER side with Zane.

And on Zane’s side of things, Aphmau is special because no one has ever thwarted him as much as her. He absolutely underestimated her at the beginning, thinking she’s just some random peasant girl in a shitty old town that no one’s ever heard of. And then she turns out to be his enemy nm. 1. The arch nemesis. I very much picture their dynamic in my head as a constant chess match going on between Zane and Aphmau. Zane is normally the king of chess, he gets everything he wants and the whole world cowers before him, but Aphmau has never cowered before in her life and she is most certainly not going to start now. She doesn’t quit. He can back her into a corner, he can take away her loved ones, he can put her in impossible dilemmas and threaten the lives of everyone she cares about with certain doom, all scenarios that would normally crush the average opponent and get them to cave under their own fear and beg him for mercy. But Aphmau doesn’t. She keeps fucking going and she never stops, she just can’t be held down, no matter what he tries. And in the end, he loses. They end up in the Irene dimension and he loses.

There’s something to be said that the High Priest of the Church of Irene’s worst nemesis is Irene herself. The very woman he’s supposed to worship with utter devotion, but once he actually meets the object of his religious faith, he REFUSES TO. He HATES her. He has met his own God and has decided he’d rather punch her square in the face than pledge himself to her. No one hates Aphmau more than Zane, and no one hates Zane more than Aphmau.

anyway i think she would tell him to fuck off and die all of the time and he’d tell her right back at you bitch