#academician of the scions // alphinaud leveilleur

[ex-garlean]

“Was your journey good? Was it worthwhile?”

i think so.

[haillenarte]

uniqlo x ffxiv collab;

Here are translations of the Uniqlo x FFXIV advertisements that hit Japanese stores in December 2019.

Wait... What? An announcement was posted on Lodestone today that tapestries (basically just banners) of FFXIV characters would be displayed in select Uniqlo stores in Shinjuku and Ikebukuro.

I’ve heard of Uniqlo, but I don’t know what it is... Uniqlo is a Japanese fashion brand that’s pretty much known for selling basics — think single-color shirts, sweaters, pants, coats, and scarves. While I won’t speak for everyone, and I’m sure some people have wildly different opinions, my personal experience is that in Tokyo, Uniqlo is thought of as a very basic, bargain-bin place to buy clothes: yeah, it’s normal to shop there, and pretty much everyone has some item from Uniqlo in their closet somewhere, but it’s not really considered fashionable, and it’s honestly a bit uncool to wear Uniqlo from head to toe. In New York, however, Uniqlo is generally thought of as basic but trendy — people tend to like the quality of the clothing even though individual items can be pricey. In the end, a brand is a brand. If they operate in your country, you may as well head to their website to get your own idea of it.

So this is basically just an advertising campaign? Yes, and a very limited one. If I understand correctly, the ads are only running in three Uniqlo stores in all of Tokyo. They’re pretty big stores in trendy neighborhoods, but not the flagship store or anything. (Their flagship store is in Ginza, which is very nice, but rather mature and austere.) Also, they are specifically advertising Uniqlo’s “HEATTECH” clothing line, which, I don’t know, uses science to keep you warm or something. I have never tried HEATTECH clothes, though I have other pieces of clothing from Uniqlo, but I am told that they are pretty warm.

How weird is this for Uniqlo? Honestly, not that weird — Uniqlo does a lot of collaborations with popular series, mostly thanks to their T-shirt line that’s collaborated with such characters and series as Mario, Gundam, Pokémon, Hello Kitty, and all manner of mangas. I don’t know whether or not they’ve run fake testimonials from characters before, but the testimonial-based ads themselves are just a thing that Uniqlo does. I’m pretty sure they’ve done comparable campaigns in Singapore and Taiwan, albeit with real people giving their opinions and not Final Fantasy characters. Their “Voices of New York” series was somewhat similar as well — they got a bunch of famous New Yorkers to wear Uniqlo and do little interviews, basically.

How weird is this for Square Enix? Honestly, not that weird — I mean, will anything ever be as weird as when they decided to have Lightning and other characters from FFXIII model for Prada and Louis Vuitton? FFXV had fashion collaborations with Vivienne Westwood and Roen built into the game, too, although that was a little more... serious. I’m actually just disappointed that they didn’t whip up a Uniqlo HEATTECH shirt for the characters to actually wear.

How weird is this, like... generally? Oh, it’s very silly, but character collaborations are all kind of a big joke anyway. And, to be honest, they do get nerds to get into their stores and buy shit.

Photos were taken randomly off Twitter. Thank you to everyone who visited Uniqlo just to share the banners with social media.

As for the text itself, I... I don’t want to talk about it...

HEATTECH x FINAL FANTASY XIV ONLINE The reason I wear Heattech every day...

ESTINIEN Former Azure Dragoon Heattech lover for 5 years.

Under my armor, I’m always wearing Heattech. Has it already been 5 years, now? 'Twas Ser Aymeric who originally recommended to me these garments. At first, I was half in doubt as to the veracity of his claims, but once I equipped mine own apparel, I was stunned by how well it performed. It doesn't matter how high I jump through the frigid air of Coerthas — I never get cold. Now I can't even imagine fighting in the skies without Heattech.

ALPHINAUD LEVEILLEUR Academician of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn Heattech lover for 1 year.

In Heattech, I'm warm from the tips of my fingers down to my toes. During my journey through Ishgard, a companion of mine recommended that I wear these curious garments to stay warm, and I have not been parted from them since. Even as I gathered bits of brush and kindling in the Churning Mists for our campfire, I felt not the slightest chill.

ALISAIE LEVEILLEUR Red Mage of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn Heattech lover for 1 year.

When something red catches my eye, I just have to have it. And each time a new Heattech product comes out, I'll add it to my wardrobe without hesitation. These garments don't get in the way during frenzied combat, and they provide the ease of movement that I need in the heat of battle. They come in so many tempting colors that I do find it difficult to choose between them every now and then — but in the end, I always pick red!  

Y’SHTOLA RHUL Sorceress of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn Heattech lover for 6 years.

Every sorceress worth her salt keeps a few secrets... and Heattech is one of mine. Naturally, these vestments will keep you warm, and I particularly appreciate that they feel smooth to the touch. ‘Twould be an exaggeration to say that I could forget that I am wearing them, but... I do find myself advantaged by the way that they do not obstruct the flow of magic. As Master Matoya has chosen to reside in a rather dark, chilly cave, I thought it prudent to send her a selection of Heattech raiments. I wonder how well she found them.

CID NAN GARLOND President of Garlond Ironworks Heattech lover for 9 years.

Heattech is our company's hidden uniform. Garlond Ironworks engineers often work in cold environments, so Heattech garments have become indispensable to our performance. Anyone who's ever flown an airship knows this well: when you're at the helm, you're at the mercy of the winds, and those winds are cold. That's why every engineer in our organization is provided with a Heattech undershirt. And you? Will you join our number?

NERO TOL SCAEVA Freelance Genius Engineer Heattech lover for 9 years.

This is something I might engineer — which is how you know it’s good. Garlond’s Heattech undershirt is naught but a simple garment, whereas mine is fitted with a magitek weave that promotes superior heat retention!

KRILE BALDESION Archon of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn Heattech lover for 3 years.

Do you suppose we might call this... the power to transcend the cold? Thanks to the raging aether surrounding the isle, Eureka Anemos undergoes volatile changes in temperature, making Heattech an absolute necessity for exploring the more frosty areas of the Forbidden Land. Even that obstinate Ejika hides an undershirt beneath his robes, you know! I myself am rather partial to sporting a good pair of Heattech short pants whilst on expedition. I don't believe even the brightest minds at the Studium could have conceived of such practical use for this technology.

Please note that Sharlayan lore isn’t my strong suit, and I never set foot in Eureka, so it is possible that there are better ways to interpret some of Krile’s remarks here.

also here’s my version thank u good night

[alvaar-aldaviir]

Wondrous Tails: First “I Love You” (replacement) / Bandaging Wounds

("First "I Love You"" is a replacement for "Going on a Cruise")

Time Frame: Post Canon (years after Shadowbringers(?)), Minimal Spoilers for 5.0 end. Notes got long so they are under the cut.

Notes:

I continue to refer to Alphinaud as a Scholar instead of Academician for no reason but laziness and bad habits.

I understand the ‘time bubble’ issue of MMO’s, but for writing I subscribe to time actually passing between expansions. I don’t keep a hard and fast rule, but sort of lean toward roughly 1 year per expansion if not longer. Otherwise everyone would be mired under so much PTSD I don’t know how the Scions would get anything done, and please let my WoL breathe?

Somehow, someway, Alvaar has gotten the better of me and it’s eventual committed relationship polygamy with the Leveilleurs up in here. After actual months of telling myself no, I give up. If you hate that, pass on my stuff and have a great day.

Just for posterity, there will never be twincest. I don’t have a personal stance on people’s fiction about fictional people, but it just doesn’t make sense for the twins to me.

   The first time Alphinaud hears Alvaar utter those words, he’s seventeen. Seventeen and full of fire and determination to help right the wrongs of a thousand-year war and maybe redeem some of his own foolishness.

Seventeen and half scandalized to catch his Warrior of Light buried against Lord Haurchefant’s chest before they readied to infiltrate the Vault after Ser Aymeric.

It wasn’t as if he’d gone looking of course. Such things would have been kept a better secret behind a closed door and not front and center to whomever strolled into House Fortemps expecting an audience. But romantic subtly wasn’t... exactly Lord Haurchefant’s forte and neither was it Alvaar’s. And it wasn’t as if he hadn’t known when it was the talk of Camp Dragonhead and the house servants anyway.

But it is perhaps the first time the Arcanist had seen any hint of the word “love” meaning something beyond dutifully repeated and expected phrases. Spoken as if it’s some personal secret, or more of a promise than just a response. Something alive and wild instead of the light and flippant ways he’d heard it used in Sharlayan and among nobility.

There’s a weight to those words that’s like aether humming in an incantation.

It means something when Alvaar says it and the Lord’s sharp features soften as he nuzzles into blond hair, and it means even more when Haurchefant answers in kind and some of the tension in the Bard’s shoulders ease. There’s a thousand words held in that phrase, like pages and pages of information distilled in a single line of arcane shorthand. History condensed into a lone footnote.

He never had to ask why Alvaar’s wails of pain as he’d held his dead lover mere hours later sounded like a heart breaking in two.

    The next time he hears them, it’s not quite the same.

He’s twenty (or was it twenty-one?) and farther from home than he’d ever dreamed. Fresh from facing off against Emet-Selch as they’d fought to save the First from destruction. Twenty and exhausted and content to doze quietly in the newly returned night alongside the beds two other occupants, arms draped over Alisaie and Alvaar both. He remembers feeling Alvaar’s knuckles brush his cheek, tiredly meeting the Bard’s gaze in the dark and hearing those words again.

They don’t mean the same thing, but it doesn’t overly bother him after the torture Alvaar had endured for the worlds. After the last several months Alphinaud had spent fighting sin eaters, stubborn short-term mindsets, and bitter loneliness in Kholusia.

Being called family, being called ‘home’ had only echoed what he’d felt too. The Scions, his Sister, and Alvaar, were what felt most like home. Not a large but empty feeling manor back in Sharlayan, cut off and indifferent to the world.

It’s a different kind of love but it doesn’t mean any less nor is it remotely insincere.

And even if there’s a faint disappointment in his heart he would never admit to, it’s fine. More than anything he’s simply happy that they’re still together. Still alive. Still able to fight and produce another miracle for the people of the First and the Source.

    He’s twenty-two and he knows Alvaar loves him deeply. He’s said it in every other conceivable way. Let poetry and sweet words fall from his lips or sent the meaning across in those brushes of familiar contact. Had the feeling burned into his body and mind more times than he could ever hope to keep track of...

But Alvaar hadn’t ever said it.

It’s silly and he knows it. He has no reason to doubt Alvaar and truly he knows the way the Bard feels for him isn’t anything less than his previous lover. That there was room enough in that gentle heart for all three of them. Jealousy is a terrible thing after all, so he convinces himself it doesn’t matter. Comforts himself and chides Alisaie gently when she inquires on it herself. Alvaar had been through a great deal of hardship and pain. And as they both didn’t doubt the depth nor truth of his feelings, the specific words should hardly matter.

    He’s twenty-three, and when Alvaar finally says them he barely notices. There’s too much blood, and Alvaar’s laugh is too weak and lilting from it. His mind is too busy on spells and incantations to register it as he works quickly.

Alvaar is fine. He’s always fine. He comes back beaten and bloody and smiling and laughing and visibly delights in being doted upon and taken care of. A routine scouting of the border wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near as deadly as the hopeless situations he’d been sent into before. He’s fine.

The Scholar is internally utterly terrified of course, but he knows from too much firsthand knowledge that there’s no room for panic as a healer. If he panicked, things would quickly turn into ‘not fine’ and neither of them had time for that.

So for right now, spells and aether humming in his veins, it’s fine.

        “Did you get a haircut recently?” Alvaar asks, letting Alphinaud clean, tape, and bandage his wounds. Magic had healed the critical damage and stopped the bleeding, but it would take time to heal the rest and a few more applications of white magic tomorrow. Cleaning and bandaging would ensure a smoother transition through the process, so it’s a step he takes anyway, perched on the edge of the medical bed while the Bard sits propped up against pillows.

“You should be taking this more seriously,” the Scholar returns flatly, pushing Alvaar’s hand away from his hair gently so he can keep working.

“I am. But I’m just so... very happy,” Alvaar murmured, a smile stretching across his exhausted face. “I made it back this time, I’m here, and you’re here, and it will work this time.”

It’s said with such offhanded confidence it makes the Scholar blink. “What? Alvaar you’re delirious, stay still.”

A hum of agreement rings in the Bards throat as he nods. “Okay. Let me know when you’re done and listening. He said I didn’t say it enough... That when I made it back to be sure to tell you something.”

He wants to pay more attention to Alvaar’s curious words but there would be time for it later. Though he was comfortably stabilized and would no doubt make a full recovery in a matter of days with the Warrior of Light’s sometimes obnoxious recovery speed, it’s never something he likes to leave to chance. If he overlooked something now, it could be disastrous later.

“He?” The inquiry slides off his tongue in a distracted manner, during which his moonstone carbuncle chirps with interest where it’s bedded down along Alvaar’s legs.

“Don’t worry about it,” Alvaar replies, glossing over it as his attention shifts back to the carbuncle eyeing him expectantly. “Can I have my hand back now?”

Another deft turn of the roll of bandages, a swift snip of the medical shears, and a tidy tie off had him releasing Alvaar’s arm with a nod. “Sure. Other arm if you would.”

Swapping obediently, Alvaar quickly settled his freed hand into plush white fur, grinning brightly. “Hey Carbi... I missed you too,” he cooed, chuckling at the fond chirp and purr he got in answer. “You’re the best summon ever aren’t you?”

Snorting under his breath, Alphinaud keeps at his work until he’s finished, letting his summon keep up its job of distracting Alvaar’s focus from pawing at him so he can work in peace. Alvaar was always a good patient, but woozy with blood loss he sometimes got sillier than was helpful. It made his moonstone carbuncle an utter lifesaver, and there were few helpers he would rather have working beside him. Though he had long developed more potent summons, Alvaar’s preference and the sheer number of revisions and intricacies of its design had left moonstone as one of his masterpieces. The patient bedside manner and attentive nature had made it a nursemaid second to none, and given the way it was currently cozied into Alvaar’s side and subtly keeping him quiet and still as it soaked up affection like a sponge, it remained a staple of his repertoire for good reason.

Inspecting the last of his work, he gives a satisfied nod before starting to pack things away. After almost seven years of chasing Alvaar’s shadow and tending to his wounds, his first aid is as neat and tidy as an experienced chirurgeon. A far cry from his fumbled and panicked work the Bard had coached him through with grit teeth in Coerthas. It’s only once he sets the supplies back on the shelves that he finally gives himself leave to think about anything but healing.

He’s seated back at Alvaar’s side before he realizes he’s made the steps, a bandaged hand curling warm at his jaw and pulling him closer until they bump foreheads together. It’s a movement that he’s long used to, a familiar gesture that helps to quiet the panic that had boiled over in his chest if not the emotion that threatens its place.

“I would appreciate it if you would refrain from frightening me like that again,” Alphinaud murmured softly, a faint tremor in his voice but refusing to cry. Alvaar was fine! There wasn’t any reason to overreact!

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to. Was the best I could manage,” Alvaar replied in the stilted way he picked up when he was exhausted. Given how much harder he was leaning into the Scholar, none of it surprised him.

Making a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat he leaned the faintest bit back into the Warrior of Light, soaking up the steady warmth that wicked off him and the silent reassurance he was still there. “Just... be more careful next time. For now you should focus on healing.”

“Thank you for saving me Alphi,” Alvaar whispered with a heartfelt gratitude.

It was enough to make the Scholar flush. “I... Any other healer would have done the same.”

“Maybe. But any other healer wouldn’t be worth me dragging myself back to. Sides, Alisaie was too far,” he joked fondly.

Alphinaud tutted under his breath, pulling back to grip Alvaar’s face in his hands and press a featherlight kiss to his brow before burying his nose into soft golden strands. “Jokes aside, thank you for coming back. If scaring me half to death means that you’ll pull through, then I would take that burden every time.”

There’s something about the way Alvaar relaxes into him, the faint breath of a sigh before tension eases out of his neck and jaw, that has always meant the world to him. It was too many emotions to articulate clearly, but it always made his heart feel warm. Reminded him that even if he wasn’t able to command the same fear and awe as the Warrior of Light, to be a brilliant blade that cut through the dark and evil that threatened them, the rallying cry that brought their forces to victory, what he could do was no less important.

All great hero’s needed a home to return to, else they would eventually feel they had nothing left to fight for.

“Alphi?”

“Yes Alvaar?”

Pulling back enough to regard him a moment with scrutiny, the Bard leaned in with a purposeful ease, lips brushing against his chastely for a moment before murmuring something against his skin.

This time he heard them. Felt their movement and the warmth of them against his lips and burning against his skin. Poetry and promise and providence all in one.

“I love you.”

It was no big deal. It was a sentiment he’d always known from 1,001 things Alvaar did all the time. Something he had long convinced himself didn’t matter. A phrase used over and over until it’s meaning was practically lost.

But oh.

Oh...

How those words shook him to the depths of his soul and cut him in two regardless.

    He’s twenty-one again for just a moment. Full of questions and a heart fuller still with longing, listening to Alvaar speak of love he’d known with that easy and sincere air of his. Brutally honest as ever.

Love was ruinous. Love would destroy you in ways you didn’t think were possible. Love was thirst and hunger. And all your days, when you’d known the taste of true love, of something that clutched past your heart and into your soul, you would always want for more of it.

In the present with his face buried against Alvaar’s shoulder, tears welling over and soaking into clean white bandages, he feels like a beast half starved.

“I would really like it if you stayed,” Alvaar murmurs, still running his fingers along the Scholar’s back soothingly. He’s infuriatingly casual for having just reduced his lover to tears. If he hadn’t just spent an hour healing and bandaging him up, Alphinaud would probably have swatted him.

Instead he just nods.

He’d never been very good at refusing that particular request anyway. Even when he was the one chastising Alvaar on why sharing a medical bed was in poor interest of his health.

But it’s late, and he’s tired, and nuzzling into the warm muscle of Alvaar’s shoulder he doesn’t want to leave anyway. So, he pulls himself up onto the bed fully, curling up beside him and keeping his cheek settled against the Bard’s shoulder that’s free of bruises. He knows he won’t sleep well but the situation is unfortunately familiar enough he knows that he’ll still get plenty of rest for tomorrow’s troubles.

“Alvaar?” he asks softly after they’ve both settled into the pillows, sheets, and each other accordingly.

“Yea?”

“You really need a shower.”

It has Alvaar laughing enough to make him wince, “Brat... don’t make me laugh that hurts.”

Alphinaud just smiles softly and hums an amused note as Alvaar settles further against him.

“Alvaar?” he asks again after a few minutes, getting a soft grunt of acknowledgement.

Shifting enough to study the soft and unguarded profile he’s sketched a hundred times before from memory, he presses a brief kiss to the Bard’s jaw and settles in for sleep.

“I love you too.”

[deathreversed]

Switcheroo!

It is said that Louisoix saved an entire island from a primal beast’s vicious onslaught at the cost of his own life. As the man’s grandson, Alphinaud found that he had great expectations placed upon his shoulders, and no other choice but to rise to meet them.

Taking charge of his late grandfather’s skyfaring crew, Alphinaud displays a surprising knack for leadership despite his young age. His crew specializes in combating the threat posed by the many primal beasts across the skies, developing effective techniques for sealing them away. However, having come from an island that lived in fear of primal beasts, he has difficulty understanding how some places could have a beneficial relationship with them. Stranger still is the idea that some beasts could be acting of their own will.

Recently, he has begun to become embroiled in the politics of various islands on his quest to quell the primal beast threat. Why the two come hand-in-hand is anyone’s guess, but with his crew by his side, Alphinaud feels he can change the skies for the better.

[Moonstone Academician]Alphinaud Leveilleur

Element: LightRace: HumanStyle: HealSpecialty: Staff, Melee

Skills:

Physick: Restore all allies’ HP, and remove one debuff. Consume 1 Moonstone: Activates twice.

Tri-Bind: Light Damage to all foes. Inflict Gravity, increasing maximum charge diamonds. Consume 1 Moonstone: Also inflict Light DEF down.

Scion’s Will: Grant Instant Charge, setting charge bar to 100%, to one ally. Consume 1 Moonstone: Also applies to self.

Charge Attack:

Starstorm: Massive Light damage to a foe. All allies gain Revitalized, recovering HP each turn, or boosting charge bar is HP is full. Gain one Moonstone stack.

Support Skills:

Moonstone Carbuncle: Guaranteed double attacks. Reduce all allies’ dark DMG taken by 10%.

Legacy of the Knowing: Start the battle with 2 stacks of Moonstone. Consume stacks to empower abilities.

[ex-garlean]

Boyfriend snuggle time Featuring their spoiled carbuncle <3

[ex-garlean]

Happy I-Finished-Shadowbringers day!! To celebrate I speedran a little gpose of Alphinaud and Omen. I’d like to think they went out on a date after returning to the Source (some extra ones i did under the cut!)