#anyways i love hyth so much

[noxtivagus]

when when hyth in hfalksdjfaklsfj

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

me: hermes is a painfully accurate example of how some ways of defending yourself against certain kinds of insidious emotional abuse, gaslighting, ableism, and therapy speak can warp you into a person whose learned helplessness and lack of perspective can result in doing really shitty things, and who passes that abuse along in different forms (hi meteion) + lashes out in disproportionate ways + can be deeply hypocritical.

me: as a disabled person in a society where our systemic mass murder via pressure into government-sanctioned suicide is on the rise, the ancients' society is beyond fucking upsetting to me. i have zero sympathy for anything to do with them pre-apocalypse except for the effects of living in that system.

me: that said, they are a good opportunity to remind oneself that there are children in that burning building; that a society being fucked does not mean they deserve to be wiped out; and that that does not mitigate the harm they do, nor mean that its victims are not allowed to be angry or resist it, including the victims inside it.

me, booboo the fool: oh, this youtube essay about hermes looks interesting--

[moment-live]

Chasing down Azem all day is hard work.

[starrysnowdrop]

Why Hermes?

So, some of you might have wondered why I decided to ship Hali’s Azem, Urania, with Hermes instead of your usual Emet, Hyth, or even Elidibus. As I have been asked this particular question before, I decided to write out my answer here for all that are curious to know. And what better opportunity to do so while celebrating #AppleSyrcus Week! This was supposed to be the entry for the Free Day, but I’m a bit late for that, so I apologize for the delay.

See below the cut for the full details.

I want to start by saying that it’s been difficult at times for me to talk about Hermes, for multiple reasons, but possibly the biggest reason is that so many in the fandom seem to hate him. I mean he is the one that is easy to point to and say that he caused the final days in the first place and that he’s to blame for literally everything that happened afterwards. I won’t get into a debate here about how much of it was Hermes to blame, or the Ancients’ society at large, but there’s no denying of his role in the Final Days, being the creator of the Meteia and letting Meteion escape after knowing what the Meteia planned to do. So I get it, I really do. But it also means that it makes me really anxious about even talking about him, let alone gpose or write about him. Over time it’s gotten easier, so I’m okay with writing this out now.

Here’s the thing. From the beginning, I was in the “love to hate him” camp about Fandaniel. I was intrigued with his character and wanted to know more, but I wasn’t exactly excited about his total nihilism, especially in the Pre-EW patches when we first got a taste of him. He got a bit more interesting after the Amon reveal right before Tower of Zot. As a fan of Allag stuff, I liked the reveal and all, but I still didn’t know at all what to expect next. When we got to Fandaniel’s death when he became the heart of Zodiark, I felt like he was an interesting villain, but not my favorite in FFXIV, and I thought that was that. I actually didn’t think we’d get anything more about Fandaniel, let alone his Unsundered self.

Then came Elpis, and the more I heard and saw, the more I realized that I was going to fall in love with this character, or should I say the Unsundered Fandaniel anyway. The reveal that his name was Hermes got me so damn giddy already because I have always loved Hermes from Greek Mythology. Then when Hermes first spoke in Elpis, I recognized Jeremy Ang Jones’ voice, as he was clearly Amon/Fandaniel, but he spoke so softly and it just hit me with the feels instantly. I have no idea why, but I find a great voice to be a huge turn on, and Hermes just did it for me. His beautiful green eyes also greatly help in the sexiness department for me.

Seriously though, the more I learned of Hermes, the more I felt for him. His caring nature and compassion for all of the creations that entered his care, his devotion and fatherly love for Meteion, and his kindness towards the WoL, who was just a particularly odd familiar to his knowledge, just made me love him so deeply. And he was so unique amongst the Ancients, with his love for all creatures, not just his fellow people.

Another major reason why I got attached to Hermes was that I saw a lot of myself in him with his depression, as I myself have chronic depression, anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD, and I am also neurodivergent. Hermes spoke to me in a way that not many of the other characters had before. Though he was this all powerful Ancient, an immortal being who had the power of creation, and held an important position in his world, he still was not happy, and he was disillusioned with Ancient society. Hermes feels so real to me, and I couldn't shake how much I felt for him.

Even way after I had finished 6.0, I still couldn’t shake him from my mind. Though I had no intention on shipping my Azem with him for the longest time, since it took me nearly 2 years to do so, he had stolen my heart, just as Aymeric, G’raha, Cid, etc. had done before. When I created and developed Hali, I actually got some inspiration to flesh out her Azem, as I didn't do anything with Yume's, but I soon created Urania. And when I was writing out my ideas, my heart knew what the right choice was. I knew that Urania would love Hermes, but it ultimately is a tragic love story since it doesnt work out, as they are broken up before the summonings of Zodiark and Hydaelyn and the Sundering. Unlike how I had written Yume, Hali's Unsundered self would be the kind-hearted, compassionate, and understanding person that would be perfect to see Hermes for who he is and fall in love with him, even though Hermes will ultimately sabotage the relationship and push Urania away over and over again.

Lastly, I wanted to point out that my love is very much for Hermes, and not as much for Fandaniel as the sundered ascian. I very much see Hermes, Amon, and Ascian Fandaniel as all separate characters, even though they all share the same soul whose trauma can be first attributed to the suffering that Hermes experienced. Though I still sympathize with Fandaniel to a point, I certainly do not ship Hali with Fandaniel, nor Hermes even. This is because Hali's heart belongs to Aymeric, and although she recognizes that she has some feelings for Hermes when she meets him in Elpis, Hali ultimately attributes that to Urania's feelings and not her own.

As of right now, I am still figuring out not only a canon timeline, especially with the newest short story coming in and wrecking a few things that I had planned, but I also have a few headcanons for the Modern AU with Urania x Hermes. So for now, I’ll give you a handful of headcanons for the Modern AU.

Hermes is a single father who adopted Meteion when she was a few months old, and she is obviously not a familiar in this modern setting but a little girl who wants her papa to find love. He is in graduate school working towards his master’s and eventually his PhD in Astronomy, but he still doesn’t earn enough to support himself and his daughter, so he is a barista at the local coffee shop. It is at the coffee shop where he meets Urania, who is a regular customer. They then bump into each other at the university and realize that they are in the same Astronomy graduate program. Some other hobbies that Hermes has include cooking, bird watching, and stargazing, along with spending his free time with Meteion as much as he can. I’m still figuring out how I want the romance to develop, but I’m very excited about this AU because it can just be a sweet love story and no big bad stuff happening like the Final Days.

That's about it for why I love Hermes as a character, and ultimately why I decided to ship my Azem with him. Please feel free to send me an ask or a message if you have any further questions or comments.

[snail-fever]

Estinien entertains me to no end with the shit he just casually accepts

I was thinking about Hades and Hyth coming back at the end of Ultima Thule and thinking like. most of the Scions can probably recognize Hades as Emet-Selch, at least by his voice, and then from there could reasonably assume that Hythlodaeus is a friend/partner/another ancient/whatever

except Estinien wasn't in the First

so he has NO IDEA who these people are, why they can snap a bunch of flowers into existence, why Alisaie seems surprised they're immediately leaving, why they're able to leave in a blue sparkly haze back to the lifestream

he's just standing there watching this with NO REACTION like. huh. guess these guys must be friends of the wol. anyway bye let's go kick some bird ass

i love his clueless ass so much

[zazter-den]

i almost sent this on anon bc i’m not used to sharing this kind of filth for this fandom. then i realized you’d probably know it was me anyways 💀 so i’m being brave. 😔

hi love! still thinking about oral fixation with hythemet. sure a spitroast could be cool but

i totally see emet-selch being the type to shove a couple fingers in your mouth and press your tongue down, make you gag on them by pushing his hand in further while he’s taking you from behind. hyth just grins and watches, maybe strokes himself a bit. but they’re both entertained by how pretty and pathetic your voice sounds in tandem with the sloppy sounds of your [🫣].

sry if it’s a bit much. i’ve had a full day for this to rot lmao.

Oh no, bring on the filth! I love hearing what's plaguing your mind, esp when it comes to ffxiv! (۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶ The kudzu keeps growing in my mind lmao (Context: Part 1, Part 2) I need to replay Endwalker so I can write Hyth CW: Dubcon, Public Sex, Freeuse, Gagging

Emet knows exactly what he's doing, asking Hythlodaeus with a sneer if he'd like to join the two of you, when the lilac haired fraternity brother has a class in less than half an hour. He continues to keep a frustratingly precise pace, keeping you on the very edge for well over an hour. Deep punishing strokes, that seem to get maddingly slower the closer to cumming you get, before teasing you back up. "Is this your new pet?" Hyth can't turn down a chance to spin his friend up a little. Deciding to join their little corner by the fire, instead of hurrying across campus just yet. "Tell me, what's your name princess?" Clearly him talking to you only irks Emet further. Because the moment you open your mouth to stutter an answer in your fucked out haze- his manicured nails are pressing against the back of your tongue, pulling the loudest and possibly the most obscene noise you've ever heard from your throat. "Don't you have someplace to be?" Emet glowers.

It's the exact opposite of a deterrent to Hythlodaeus, he only strokes himself harder in front of your face as your eyes go blank with Emet's renewed attention to your oversensitive clit. the crackling of the fire couldn't hide the sound of you gagging on your new owner's fingers or the squelching noises under the table anymore. "I have just enough time for this" Hythlodaeus said with a ragged hitch in his voice, his fast fingers working his cock faster in front of your blank gaze. "Oh no you don't" Emet hisses at his friend, "I'm not cleaning up your mess." Emet slick fingertips withdrew from your lips, and dug into your cheeks. Your jaw dropping just in time for Hythlodaeus' first spurts of cum to land on your aching tongue.

[sunderedazem]

Hey! It's been a while :D I've been off the Internet for a bit but just know both of your updates have been giving me essential bits of life energy, even though I haven't had time to type something out in appreciation until now. First things first I absolutely love what you wrote for the 'stay?' prompt, it's exactly what I hoped and imagined what could have happened if things hadn't gone so wrong back then. Seriously, it's like you took a look into my brain, I was really imagining scenarios of helios coming back and taking care of an exhausted emet selch 😩 such good food thanks so much for that.

Okay so back to the actual ao3 updates, I couldn't believe that you guys did the tempering cure so early XD ahhhhhh it was so good! The way it was just a slight shift of perception, how emet selch goes off just barely holding it together, the line "I always believed I would see them again" broke me so bad like how dare you 😭 but honestly finally processing his grief now is great cause it'll be so much better when Hyth comes back 😈 iirc that that's happening. One of my favourite bits was emet selch having company while the cure was being administered, idk there's always something about having support while you're healing. Corrain's writing is superb as always, in the tempering fic as well as the Sharlayan one, he comforted emet selch so well and it was very interesting to see his point of view when he snapped at thancred, poor guy needs a long break and so much therapy. I haven't read the most recent lelesu writings yet but ahhhhhh she has such big sister energy? Such a solid anchor, it's so great every time she gives support.

I think that's all my thoughts for now, so that this doesn't get too long. Thanks so much for the new content, and I hope the both of you are doing well!! Many well wishes <3

Okay! Now it's time to sob over this ask so excuse me while i

And YEAH we couldn't wait to untemper that bastard man and break him even worse. Like imagine waking up and the thing you've been working towards for the last thirteen thousand years is not only principally opposed to what you believe is right, but also now you have to accept that everyone you'd ever loved is dead and gone and will not come back.

(And then they do. Because we are stealing Hyth. And then also stealing Elidibus from Pandaemonium like sorry Athena that man is ours now. And then Hyth is spotting Lahabrea's soul mixed in with Nidhogg and they are Stealing (and helping him put himself back together, and confiscating his wife's evil space rock) him too. And we are stealing the Sundered Ascians as we find them and curing and collecting them, because they all deserve a chance to recover from the literal apocalypse knowing that the star is actually safe. Anyway. I have emotions about the first Final Days and how nobody who lived then deserved what the world and Hydaelyn ended up giving them, no matter if it was necessary or not.)

To be fair it most likely only feels fast because most of what happens in Shadowbringers and the post 5.0 patches happens as it does in canon and tby rewriting all the Same Stuff seems kinda jejune so we skipped it XD. There are a few more pieces from SHB in process though, we just have to finish them.

And YEAH GOD. Corrain can be very cruel on occasion, and him snapping at Thancred for having EXTREMELY JUSTIFIABLE RESERVATIONS (even if he was a jackass about it) wasn't his finest moment. He doesn't even honestly feel so upset about Minfilia, he liked her alright as a person, and she WAS kind to him, but in the moment he's purely reacting in anger, and it dredges up some really nasty parts of him. This is a trait Helios had as well, if uh. You read the Final Days breakup fic XD.

And YEAH I ALSO NEED MORE LELESU ALWAYS. She is so SASSY sometimes. Hey @azems-familiar give us your girl. Grabby hands.

Honestly I know I'm late actually answering but this made my week last week 🥺🥺🥺💙💙💙

[koukouture]

Hello please perceive my Azem OC

Okay thabk ye for looking at her I will now ramble abt her under the cut

So Lucifer's whole deal is that she inspired Emet Selch a lot as his senior. Like, his theatrical nature largely comes from her and so did quite a lot of his ideals. That is to say, we should be glad that Lucifer didn't survive the sundering bc uh... that would have been messy. I mean she'd be super unpredictable and she just generally has very off-putting vibes.

She's Emet Selch and Hythlodaeus' senior- not by a lot but enough that she still kind of sees them as kids/younger siblings lmao. She always used to kind of baby them... much to Emet Selch's chagrin lmao.

Anyways ON our dearest Emet Selch-

He puts her on an unrealistically high pedestal to kinda parallel how everyone holds impossibly high standards for WoL. See, the thing is, he probably shouldn't have put her up on such a high pedestal because she's highkey a sociopath. Yeah uh, he knows and elects to ignore it. Emet and Hyth both think they can fix her and yk what good for them but they look like a fuckin construction crew lol.

I'm only slightly exaggerating when I say that Emet got all of his problems from her. Like A LOT of his Solus persona comes from Lucifer. Like it's not healthy at all lmao. He is imitating her as a (fucked up) form of love and also to remember her. His love for theatrics and the arts? Lucifer. Fat fucking liar? Lucifer. Sadism? Lucifer. General apathy and/or detachment? LUCIFER. Seriously the degree to which he looks up to her you would think she was a SAINT. Something something, when someone dies you only try to remember the good things about them.

As for Hythlodaeus, at least he's aware that something is wrong with her and actually wants to help her. Emet kind of just bought into the persona she put up and while Hyth did to an extent as well, he tries to dig deeper.

Hyth has actually seen Lucifer be vulnerable, but only sort of. Honestly, Hyth is the therapist friend oftentimes to his own detriment. He gives that vibe to me. And about Lucifer being vulnerable; it's not exactly her unloading her sad baggage (bc you best believe she has it) but it's more of her being a little more honest about the fact that she just doesn't feel anyway about anything. She is very self aware about that whole thing but she also struggles with whether or not all of the stuff she says while putting up her act is genuine.

To an extent, Lucifer did genuinely care for those in her circle. She genuinely liked being around Hyth and Emet, and she genuinely respected Venat as her mother/teacher figure. It's just that she's never really honest with them, you know? Listen, Emet, Hyth, and Lucifer have been friends since they were teenagers but if you asked either of them any questions about her that go deeper than the surface you would get nothing. Lucifer on the other hand, despite her troubles with empathy and general emotions, is a little too good at recognizing what makes people tick. She is kind of a piece of shit in this regard because she will use that knowledge.

She uses this knowledge to gain favor with others, to get information, and even to preserve herself. Venat especially is really good at recognizing this and it's something they tried to work on when she took Lucifer under her wing. Key word tried bc you'd best believe when she deserted the Convocation during the Final Days she guilt tripped Emet to hell and back.

One other thing about her I want to highlight is that Venat, Hyth, and Emet are her moral compass. Not exactly in the "I love you and I will follow you" type way, but in the "oh okay you don't like it when I do this" type of way. She has no real concept of right or wrong nor cares much for the moral codes of others, she just kind of cares about how it makes her look and if it'll make her fit in.

Like, maybe she creates a concept and it's dangerous. She doesn't see a problem with it unless Hyth or Emet go "Hey girlypop, this is a little fucked up" and then she'll do a complete 180 and be like "oh haha yeah I guess it is" but she won't destroy the concept. Because why would she? A little personal project won't hurt anyone...

As you can probably tell by now, she is not the ideal person to be Azem. But of course, nobody actually knows what's going on in her noggin and by virtue of being very likable and appearing to enjoy helping other people (it's really just her trying to copy normal human behavior) to the average outsider. Does the Convocation think she's messed up? Yeah, they're not blind- but they think she's just depressed/despondent or something not that she's a high-functioning sociopath.

Now, given all of the above information, we should all be happy it was Emet Selch who survived the Sundering because Lucifer would be much worse. I think out of their little trio, Emet was actually the most merciful outcome because I also think Hyth has the capacity to be a terrifying villain. Dude just think about it; you could either have the sociopath, the one that attaches his entire identity to his friends (who would be dead in this scenario so where does that leave him) or the guys who's just a little grumpy. Shockingly enough, Emet is the most well adjusted one in this polycule. And that is saying a lot.

Lucifer would be worse than Emet because hey, at least Emet has something resembling a moral compass and only works to restore the status quo and get all his friends back. Lucifer? She'd do it for the hell of it. Everyone guiding her morals is fucking gone, what is she going to do? Without them, she has no idea what qualifies as right and wrong anymore. No she doesn't care about restoring the star or whatever she just wants her ego to be fed again. So she'll sort of go along with whatever the hell the Ascians are doing.

Anyways yeah that concludes this essay. In my next one I will go over her parallels with my WoL.

[risualto]

@hermeswol Made an Ancients friendship/relationship template, but I didn't want to derail the post I saw, so I made a new post. Blank template at the bottom, and anyone who sees this and plays FF14 (or daydreams about it enough to have a WoL/Azem) should add to this post or make their own and tag me :D

Anyway, this is how I see Inky's relationships with these characters post-6.55, post-Panda. Explanations under the cut ^_^

So, the easy ones:

Inky and Meteion mutually like each other very much and wish they could have been closer before Meteion became the Endsinger. If they'd had more time together, that might have developed into a sisterly relationship, but as it stands, they're just close friends who wish they had more time.

Inky and Hyth get on like a house on fire. Inky's resemblance to her version of Azem is tremendous, which obviously Hades also picked up on at various points, but where it infuriated and confused Hades, Hythlodaeus was willing to accept it and platonically enamored. The feeling is very mutual. The two of them definitely wish they could have spent more time together, but the caveat here is that Hyth is very tired and very ready to return to the star post-EW, so it's a nostalgic, passive desire on both ends.

All incarnations of Azem don't get along with Lahabrea. Full stop. Even despite Panda, Inky is unwilling to forgive Lahabrea for what he put Thancred through, and Lahabrea is unwilling to accept Inky's philosophies. There's a begrudging respect there, but no love lost whatsoever.

Now slightly more complex:

Inky and Venat are interesting in that they both see their relationship as familial, but not the same kind of familial. Inky sees them as sisters, but Venat sort of sees Inky as a daughter in a very matronly way, given what she ultimately learned about who Inky is and where she comes from. Still, there's no tension as a result of the difference. They both think of each other fondly.

Inky and Eric are definitely close friends and allies, from the moment they met to the moment Inky finished Panda. If they'd had a little more time together, this relationship could have gotten complicated, though, since I think Ericthonios may have been developing some feelings for Inky...which is a real issue because they never properly got into the specifics of what Inky is and what that means relative to the "personhood" as defined by an Ancient's worldview. It's possible they would have balanced out into the familial zone, but I think it's more likely they would have fractured apart a little under the stress. So it's probably a good thing Inky isn't going back to the World Unsundered any time soon.

Inky and Hermes were definitely friends for the brief time they knew each other in the World Unsundered, and I think Inky felt more pity than dislike for him by the end of Endwalker. Inky wishes she could have been closer to Hermes, especially because she recognizes how lonely he was and doesn't think anyone deserves that. In turn, Inky's kindness and empathy was so similar to Hermes's original way of thinking that it was comforting to him, but also a bit frightening given that Inky was "just" a familiar. Also, particularly as Fandaniel, he was definitely unnerved by her in the way that many people are unnerved by clowns.

Inky and Hades are definitely a relationship that's extremely shadowed by Azem, and they're both painfully aware of it. Inky thinks of herself and Hades as having been fairly close, but Hades is more hesitant because of Azem's lingering presence. There's no way in which he will ever be able to see her as just Inky rather than "a shard of his soulmate." Because of that, Hades was always a little more reticent with Inky, even if he would begrudgingly acknowledge her as at least a friend by the end of things. Inky thinks of Hades with more clarity, having come to accept him as someone very platonically important to her. She may only be part of Azem, but the core of what made Azem and Hades soulmates is still very present in Inky, and she's able to enjoy that bond with a much less angsty clouded mind. Probably because she doesn't have millennia of trauma about it or something...

And finally, Inky and Themis. Inky thinks of Themis as a close friend after the events of Panda and what she learned about him in the World Unsundered. She and Themis and Eric are like The Bros, in her mind. She wishes they could have been closer because she genuinely enjoys Themis's personality and drive and subtle wit. He's still young enough when they met in Panda that Inky's lightheartedness wasn't totally lost on him, and she really enjoyed cultivating that friendship. That said, I think Themis is also a much more reserved person who probably really struggled with accepting unconditional friendship from someone older than him (and, at first, someone who wasn't entirely a person in his eyes). Gifted kid syndrome and all that--the advanced young protege with too much on his shoulders wasn't quite ready for the concept of someone wanting to be around him even if she didn't need him. And, I think in the end, Themis was a little resentful of the life Inky got to have. Some of that resentment stayed with him, all the way up to their final confrontation in Shadowbringers when he realized--despite her not knowing him at that point and therefore having no reason to care, again--Inky was just Like That.

[hythlodaeus-mynewoldfriend]

📥👖🧠✨️ for the fic asks!

Thank you Liz! More centered on my ffxiv stuff since this is the blog for that haha. Anyway! Let's get right to it starting with the last question!

FanFic ASk Game

✨ Choose three adjectives to complement your own writing.

Emotional, tongue-in-cheek, free-spirited or at least so I hope!

📥 What is your fave fic to receive comments/messages on?

Is it cheating to say any of them? Because I love seeing what people have to say on what I write and put out there! Among my ffxiv stuff I always love seeing comments on things that involve Stasia and Carly (which is mostly wips i know) as they are the ones that stray from the general story and aren't always likable so I like being able to see how they come across and make sure that its the way I intend to and think I'm doing when writing. A more specific piece it would have to be this piece with Anthea and the final days. I feel its one of my best works posted in completion and I like seeing how an event like that comes across to others especially given that much of that time period is up to interpretation of an individual.

👖 Are you a planner, plantser, or pantser? Is it consistent?

No planning we die like men! jk jk I am more of a plantser in that I go into a wip with a general idea in my head on what I want the main focus of a piece to be, the intention of it, and any specific lines or actions that inspired it. After that I just write it out and see what happens! A lot of times I get to where I was planning and in ways I didn't expect, other times I end up somewhere different but it felt so natural writing it that I had to leave it. There are the rare occasions I don't do any planning and just get the urge to write and so I do just that and will come back to it if I get stuck, this happened recently with a piece where I had very little in mind other than knowing Phobos is reading various letters Deimos got, but who they were from and what they said and going back home were all things that I came up with on the spot.

One thing I really let free and hardly put any thought into ahead of time is the formatting of my writing though. I like to at times be a bit of a visual writer in that I will use breaks, bolds, italics, lack of spaces, etc. to convey something that I probably would take too long to write out in any other fashion. Besides how else can I best describe racing thoughts and anxiety than putting a bunch of words together without any space between them haha.

Also will mention that much of my stuff looks like panster writing because I was writing it as I was actively playing the story so I had no idea how it was all going to end and what I wanted to do with my kids as Sib and Demos started in two different universes.

🧠 What’s an idea you have that you can’t quite call a WIP yet?

This would depend more on what you would call a wip. I tend to count anything that's at least a few paragraphs or dialogue long, which there's quite a bit of that. If we're talking just straight ideas then there's plenty of moments that I would love to write but I don't have a way to write them quite yet. Things like the last conversation Carly and Zenos have, the conversation Demos has with his mentor after the Vault, lighter moments like Sib trying to tackle Emet in ShB or the montages of the gang waking up at first light to get moving with a frantic Sib trying to catch up anime style getting ready. Hell the time that Deimos believed he could randomly tame a unicorn resulting in him, Emet, and Hyth being chased by a herd of them. Or the start of Etheirys' Worst Girls Trip with Sib and Stasia landing on their guide. I just have a lot of little things or big moments that I'd love to write because I can see them in my brain and how they play out but it can be so hard to translate that. I feel this is also why gposing has become a way for me to tackle these ideas as I plan as if I'm watching a show or movie so I can better get the angles and descriptions without having to actually describe anything haha.

[bnuuywol]

How does your polycule celebrate holidays? Do they have group events and traditions? for Hythazemet <3

Much to Hades's dismay, Prometheus is an absolute social butterfly. So many holidays are spent with their home together being host to a larger party event. Prometheus gets away with it because of a clever little "well how am I supposed to be Councilor to the People if I don't know the people." Hades knows this is only true in part and that it's really an excuse for Prometheus to talk peoples' ears off praising him and Hyth because of how much he loves them, but he lets him get away with it anyways.

There are, of course, the moments once all the guests have gone home and it's just the three of them left. Prometheus tends to be a big gift-giver and he'll create something for each of them for every single holiday. Hythlodaeus has a special dish he makes every special event. And Hades will actually let himself relax for once in his goddamned life. It's these moments after the crowd has gone on a holiday that he tends to show a lot of affection towards Prometheus and Hythlodaeus, partly because he's too exhausted from the socialization to act otherwise, and partly because he's overwhelmed by just how much these two love him.

[plenary-indulgence]

dumping a bunch of misc coconeja trivia from twitter wolqotds below teh cut

in il mheg the pixies gave him a pixie nickname, "flower unlikely to bloom" which was a MEAN JOKE!! but overall they really didn't care for coconeja, a) because he's not very fun to tease there's just no sport in it and b) they LOVE flag and tried several times to trick him into giving flag to them but he was just like "oh no i'm so sorry that's my emotional support animal actually"

he's not ESTINIEN levels of technology blind, hanging around with biggs and wedge all the time helps a lot, but will sometimes play dumber than he actually is about things just so he can listen to wedge patiently explain something to him in great detail, no matter how many times he's heard it before or how much he actually retains. :)

NIER RAIDS ARE CANON i feel like that's a gimme if any of you have read even one of my posts ever but i just think it's not only important to his character (surrogate siblings he never had anogg and konogg, learning to do things on his own without someone telling him to) and story but also extremely funny for him to try and explain what the fuck that was all about to the rest of the scions - "no really!! they looked like hyurs but they were actually androids, which i guess is like a robot but not really - umm i'm actually not sure what an android is but they weren't hyurs - anyway, and also i went in something called a net-work and a girl came out of the sky and threw the square-enix hq building at me and-" "oh boy that light poisoning really got to you huh little guy?"

he can't really swim, though he's not as bad off as alphinaud. just imagine the like shittiest most pathetic little doggy paddle you've ever seen.

he's a coffee drinker, black or splash of aldgoat milk NO SUGAR. really does not like tea but drinks it anyway to try and fit in. tataru is always fussing over him and making him tea and every time he politely indulges her but like

pizza topping of choice is pepperoni and cheese boring answer for a boring guy

he thinks of himself as rather plain overall, but is especially self-conscious about his big ears and mismatched eyes

his azem, moros, had sort of little little brother situationship going on with hades and hyth. he was always getting himself into trouble, as azems are wont to do, and they were always bailing him out with a sort of "oh not again you rascal whatever are we going to do with you" attitude.

related, emet-squelch does NOT like coconeja. 110% disdain - to him, coconeja is just the garbage left behind when his azem was sundered.

in a peter and the wolf situation, the instrument that would represent him is PIANO (flag too)

coconeja is not really a crybaby, he's more the "oh hang on a second while i disassociate and squash this down" type. he's only actually CRY cried thrice - after biggs and wedge got omega'd, towards the end of shb when thought he was going to die of light poisoning, and at the very end of endwalker after killing zenos.

the "beast" tribe he likes most is qiquirn, he thinks they're great. so cute and funny.

has a real way with animals, despite growing up a city boy. there's flag, of course, but secretly he always wanted to run an animal shelter. he always kind of laughed it off as a stupid daydream, given that he thought he was supposed to grow up and take over his parents business for them and then that imploded and he became the wol. one of the literally countless things he likes about wedge is that wedge likes animals too.

except fish - fish can go fuck themselves.

[thecurioustale]

Vocabulary from The Lord of the Rings

During my reread of The Lord of the Rings (see my main review!), I made a list of every word that I wanted to look up later on or otherwise remember.

I love doing this; no matter what I'm reading, be it a novel or a news article, the dictionary is never far away. I absolutely love learning words that are entirely new to me, learning additional denotations of words that I already know, learning more about the structure and etymology of words I know, refreshing myself on long-neglected words that I knew better in the past but have since gotten hazy on, and likewise being reminded of cool words that I haven't forgotten definitionally so much as simply forgotten (i.e. wouldn't have remembered to use them).

When I am writing my own fiction I do this even more! I am always turning to the dictionary to look up this or that, in addition to my copious research on interesting or relevant topics. This helps me create new words, ensure accurate usage of existing words, and find words at need.

Tolkien didn't try to be all that clever with his vocabulary; he simply commanded a large vocabulary; so most of his unfamiliar words can be inferred in situ. Uncommon are the words on this list that I didn't know anything about whatsoever. Mostly, they consist of new-to-me senses or forms, compound words I hadn't seen before, plant names I hadn't known about, and words that I wanted to refresh myself on or otherwise read up on (for etymology, etc.).

Here is the complete list as I wrote it, and in retrospect I wish I had added a bit more contextual information. Like, the word cot in there I know refers to some sense of "cot" that I hadn't known about, but the dictionary shows four additional categories of meanings beyond the most common one, three of which could conceivably be the sense Tolkien was referring to; I simply don't remember. Anyway!

Cornlands Haywards Mathoms Sow Tussocky Worriting Ride Meaning Spinney Ewers Ostler Habergeon Chalcedony Carcanet Weregild Glede Declaim Dolven Affray Swart Boles Tracery Descried Sward Whin Freshet Whortle-berry Irresolute Changeful Gaffer Naith Gore - land that lies like a spearhead between two rivers joining in a fork Drear Fosse Hythe Wolds Eyot Plashing Sloe Thrawn Wains Cresses Downs Darkling Rede Dwimmer Turves Besom Garth Dingle Fastness Corslets Coombe Rick Cot Postern Bight Provender Noisome Tamarisk and pungent terebinth Saxifrage Outfall (of lake) Gangrel Dappling Ancientry Ilex Misdoubt Wayworn Woodwright Launds Charnel Anigh Tilth Oast and Garner Fold and Byre Salver Embrasure Wain Greensward Coomb Fey Hardihood Upraised Belike Blench Vambrace Dromunds (ships?) Enheartened Recreant Brigand Trammel Worsted Noisome Ghylls Amidmost Rout Slavered Marges Palfrey Bier Evermind Trothplighted Weskit Gaffer Gammer Firth

Even without context you can infer some of these words (provided you don't already know them)—though be careful; the obvious path isn't always the correct one. Like evermind there at the end is the name of a flower that grows near graves. I inferred that this name, whether it was a preexisting word or a creation of Tolkien (it turned out to be the latter), was based off the idea of "never mind," i.e. the opposite of "forget about it." This is the correct meaning, but it doesn't travel through the "never" sense like I had thought; Tolkien derived it directly. (Or at least that's what the scholars say.)

My list has the benefit of being chronological to the story, so if you were to reference all of the words you would see that their distribution is highly clustered across the page count; Tolkien had different modes of writing, some of which were much likelier to use vocabulary that I would want to look up.

I'll be commenting on some of these words individually in dedicated posts in the days and perhaps weeks ahead. I kinda wanted to hold back this complete list till the end of all my musings...but offering it up front feels more honest.

[selchwife]

honestly ive started thinking about canon/canon ships again so like. you are going to listen to my thoughts about it.

maerchen and elisabeth is more or less canon within the text. you could argue the relationship is over because, well, they both die and have to move on from like. life. but it's kind of a central part of canon. i used to try to insist it was platonic or that maer didn't have romantic feelings for elisabeth (to my scant credit he does seem a bit confused about everything as an adult) but i think it's just true that they had feelings for each other and it's fine and okay. i used to be significantly more jealous about it bc elisabeth used to make me feel extremely inadequate in comparison, especially before i realized i was binary male and started transitioning, but i'm like. i feel way more secure about the whole thing now. i still do like lesbian elisabeth as a headcanon though. also mad respect to maereli shippers for shipping something very sweet and clearly based in mutual respect. it's not my cup of tea for obvious reasons but it's a nice ship and it is, like, canon. it's true.

i'm sort of on the neutral-dislike side of things with emet and hyth though. it's not necessarily out of jealousy bc i do feel like i experience less jealousy about emet and most of what DOES make me feel that way is actually certain types of m/f emetwol for internalized homophobia reasons. (starting to see a pattern between this and maereli lol.) anyway i more dislike it because it just feels a little forced to me? like i think they make very cute friends and all but i'm just not feeling the romantic chemistry. and also like not the ship's fault but i get kind of annoyed when people just treat it as canon bc like...idk this is so specific but the shade of hythlodaeus that exists in the tempest is to me so like. WHY WOULD YOU PUT A FAKE GHOST OF YOUR BOYFRIEND IN YOUR FUCKED UP DEPRESSION THEME PARK?? i don't think emet would do that like attributing that to him in the context of a romantic relationship....idk it just seems like an extremely odd thing for him to do to a lover specifically. doesn't invalidate the ship or anything but i think it's got much less of a canon basis than azemet or emetwol and attributing emet's actions solely to romantic love of azem OR wol OR hyth in analyses and assuming those feelings are 100% canon drives me so insane that it makes me dislike emet/hyth a lot more than if people didn't do that. at least emetwol/azemet is arguably up to interpretation bc the writers have stated they specifically keep characters' feelings involving the wol ambiguous.

like emet and hyth isn't even a bad ship it's cute it just feels so like, idk it's dull and i'm a hater about people who start interpreting everything through the emet and hyth lens to the exclusion of what the actual text. says. like emet's motivations were more than JUST the loss of his own loved ones and that reduction is narratively really boring. but that's not the ship's fault

[starrysnowdrop]

Reactions to Days Gone By, Days Yet to Come

Here are my reactions and thoughts about the encore side story from Tales From The Dawn, which you can read HERE before proceeding under the cut. Beware: MAJOR Endwalker spoilers ahead! Keep in mind that I’ll be discussing my own headcanons with my Azem, so if you don’t care about that, feel free to move along.

So I want to just say that this was the absolute best side story they’ve ever written so far! And because it’s also the one that the community voted on, it makes it even more special. I’ve re-read it twice already and I’m so beyond happy to have read this. I’m still crying from reading it and processing it all. In fact, they gave us so many little details about all our favorite Ancients that I’m eating it up!!

First of all, I LOVE that this is all from Hyth’s POV. It’s fantastic. Anyways, next we get a detail about Azem talking to Hyth about the fourteenth in a series of concepts helping with travel, and I NEED to know more!! What is it?? I have many questions about this one thing in particular. Then we have a brief appearance from Byregot himself in the form of Hyth’s secretary trying to stop him from leaving but I giggled at the fact that Hyth just ignores him and goes to do his own thing. This has such gremlin energy that is so perfect for Hyth, but I also giggle at the fact that this is exactly what Urania would do as well. The sibling vibes are over the top here and I love it.

Then we get a huge lore drop that I wasn’t expecting at all: Mitron is a woman!! Which means that Mitron and Loghrif are both women and with the tons of hint drops we have throughout the canon, I’m here to say I’m celebrating the lesbians today! In my head this is Mitron x Loghrif as confirmed as a lesbian couple as we are ever going to get, and I’m soooooo happy.

Next we get another lore drop, this time with Lahabrea and Igeyorhm, and we have confirmation that they are cousins! This makes so much sense now, as we already knew about them working closely with one another and then they joined together in their fight against WoL in Azys La. I was never a Lahabrea x Igeyorhm shipper, so having them be cousins makes way more sense to me. Nice to see someone scolding Lahabrea for all of his Pandaemonium shenanigans.

Then we get Elidibus and I just know all the Elidibus shippers are screaming with joy. Whether you are a Themis x Erich or a Themis x WoL shipper, you’ve been fed, and I’m happy for you all.

Skipping over the part where I’ll blab about forever (ahem Hermes and his existential dread ahem), we get yet another Emet smile as Azem departs on their journey!! Ahhhhhhhh my heart!!! I am so full of emotions with how Hyth talks about Emet here, and in the parts following this scene. No matter if you read Hyth x Hades x Azem as platonic or romantic, or if you romantically ship only one part of them or none at all, you can just feel how deeply Hyth, Hades, and Azem all love each other. I can feel the love coming out of the words and it’s absolutely tragic and beautiful. Especially when you find out that Emet was the one holding out till the last minute to not summon Zodiark until they received word from Azem. God my heart just shattered right there.

And we also get confirmation that Azem left the convocation in order to find the cause of the Final Days and to stop it without the sacrifice to Zodiark. This was my headcanon and it’s probably a headcanon many of you shared, so to see this confirmed as canon sparks joy. It’s absolutely perfect for Urania, although with the new information about Emet trying to have the Convocation wait until they heard from Azem, I will have to reconsider her departure from Amaurot and her feelings towards Hades and Hermes now that we have this new information.

Another tiny piece of detail also confirmed a headcanon I’ve held for years: Hyth and Hades are childhood friends! I’m so happy to see this be confirmed as canon.

Alright, I think I’ve held off long enough. It’s time to talk about Hermes.

So, overall I’m so goddamn happy that we got to have more Hermes in this short scene. Every little bit of him I can get I will gladly take it. And I especially love that we are getting to see the man who lived through the Kairos mind wiping and what he was like after all of it went down. And yet… I feel completely devastated for him.

He looks like a wreck, he’s buried into his work, and he’s also deep in mourning with no one around to understand him. He thinks he has killed Meteion and says he “murdered her”, and it is so upsetting to see him like that. He also I believe is discovering the beginnings of the Final Days and I think he somehow knows that there’s something else wrong, something that he should know and doesn’t remember, and it’s tearing him up. But it’s even more tragic when Hyth mentions that he and everyone else talks about the Kairos incident and the “death of Meteion” as an “amusing anecdote”, and mentions that no one talks about familiars as people, so it truly shows how utterly alone Hermes really is. My heart broke when Hyth says that after the loss of Meteion, Hermes never made another flying creation ever again, and god I just want to cry.

I do like how Hyth is trying to be a friend and get Hermes to rest, and he’s doing what he thinks will help him. But even with Hyth’s caring soul, he just can’t understand what Hermes is going through. And it’s such a tragedy. It reinforces that even Azem couldn’t help Hermes in his time: it’s not until the WoL can offer the answer to Amon of “next time we will find the answers together” that he finds a true friend that understands him. And yet Amon is only the sundered reincarnation of Hermes, not Hermes himself. And I’m sobbing in my room on a Thursday morning over it all.

Now more than ever do I want to write more for Hermes. Not just in the tragic canonverse, but for the Modern AU that I have brainworms for, and quite possibly in a Happy Ending AU for him… with maybe Hali shipping with him??? It’s just a thought.

Anyways, I think I’ve rambled on long enough. If you’ve survived reading all of this, I commend you and thank you wholeheartedly for doing so! If you have any further questions for me about any of my reactions, feel free to send me an ask or a message!! 🥰💖

[imperial-nuisance-rudje]

where was i?

right, boss fight

breaking order a bit, but we finally meet hyth (real) here, and iirc he gives the wol enough breathing room to pull out the special rock

Zodiark!amon mentioning zenos like that makes me want to rewatch some cutscenes, i was distracted during the post-battle sequence and i know i heard him talk deeper about his intent with zenos but i cannot fucking remember it

they just let you walk right through zodiark, which is wild after the similar arena with primal-wol blocking you from touching the model

the fight was quite fun, though i forgot to swap to drk so i did it as drg (yes, i loldrg'd. u_ u even having a team entirely made of people who know the fight will not save me from my dps tunnel vision).

zenos followed (was dragged in?) and does seem genuinely upset about Fandaniel's betrayal, even if only bc the clown denied him a fight with his bestie.

speaking of clown!

GAY

taking a detour a bit to talk about my favorite evil clown elf, while amon was utterly misused he's an absolutely fascinating character and i love him dearly. i especially love (and wish the game had had the space to ACTUALLY FUCKING ADDRESS instead of leaving it in a single line) that he's still clearly in love withloyal to Xande, millennia on, long after he lost contact with the man, long after Allag is dead and gone. It very much reads as a factor in why he approached Zenos specifically for his plan--superficially, Zenos and Xande seem to be on the same wavelength... except while Xande came back scarred from his time dead and saw no purpose and thus no point to human endeavor (hence his pact with the Cloud of Darkness), Zenos is, for all his many many many many flaws, devoted to making his own purpose in a meaningless world.

anyway. story.

i literally did this before dinner and don't remember why i took this shot. i think this is right after the echo vision warning of the final days feat. creepy girl voice?

shayun feeling very "hi babe. put the enshroud down. not the fucking time." here

which he does, tbf

"you're laughing. they're taking your attention away from me AGAIN and you're laughing. >:["

blah blah purest despair blah blah zodiark was too weak blah blah subtext of "pay attention to meeeeeeeeee ;________;"

culminating in this shot, which. i did not like either of these? both in a vacuum and specifically as shayun responses.

please consider that my min height bnuuy is standing upright, at a higher elevation, and much closer to the camera than zenos is, and is still notably shorter than him. zenos beeg.

anyway, scene end with zenos accepting his dismissal but planning to be the biggest threat so that shayun will actually kick his ass.

...then i had to go talk to the expac cute mascot creatures, and sorry squeenix, you whiffed with making their characterization charming.

so this stretch of ew. I did this in two stretches across multiple days, so my memory is a bit fuzzy. Please forgive any misremembered sequences.

first off: i've said this before but it bears repeating: the pacing here is actively worse than stormblood's worst pacing. Why the fuck am i getting to the windup of what was clearly meant to be an end-of-expansion boss at level fucking 83.

Anyway.

amon announcing his plan to piss on the moon, blink animation doing heavy lifting

zenos_actions.png

Those tempered by Anima started wrecking shit after Anima died, but notable that the thing made from Varis's remains lacks anything of Varis but his voice.

I think this was in response to the above, which: fair.

Rare "allowed to mention Zenos in a nonantagonistic way" answer.

bnuuy ow o

anyway: The Fucking Moon

Arrive on The Fucking Moon and immediately start hearing voices. I'm sure the guy with Literal Psychosis took this excellently before he realized he wasn't the only one hearing it in his canon.

gonna be honest a lot of the moon shots are from me just really wanting to fawn over my bnuuy. Don't remember the context here, i believe this is shortly after meeting the Watcher? There was a dialogue option I didn't get a screenshot of where you can tell the watcher to fuck off because it initially sounds like he wants you to do violence to wandering shades, though he does clarify that he's fine with pacifistic means when possible and just needs to rebuild zodiark's prison walls.

the dog dialogue is very funny

swapped to drg for overlevelled reasons around this point. i am nothing if not dedicated to shayun having slutty goth glams for as many occasions as possible.

autism to autism communication

Jokes aside, Zenos and Fandanny are breaking Zodiark's bonds.

gay

it is genuinely incredible how incredibly homoerotic every single zenos line becomes when you play a man, which i find funny considering that the trailer placeholder wol is the most jeff fantasy-ass dude

the blorbo is just so happy to fight his bestie!

unfortunately, fandanny reveals that his plan all along was exactly what he told us during shb, annnd

yeets himself into the pit. the pit jailing zodiark.

and we learn that zodiark's mind is in no small part the minds of those sacrificed to him as well as whoever the current heart of Zodiark is. half a planet's worth of screaming, distressed ghosts. jesus. poor elidibus...

and tumblr is yelling at me for putting too many blorbo pics in now so TO BE CONTINUED