#arens parents think alphy is a very nice gentleman which is much better than arens pickings in limsa so they are NOT mad thats who she like

[malach-te]

i dont wanna write a novel about arens love life but its SOOO FUUUNN to write abt so i may write more than i mean to

so arens relationship with alphinaud started out a bit more antagonistic bc he was such a smart ass and would boss her around while acting as if she was stupid and that irked her so bad. at first when they met at the ceremonies she was like oh my god someone my age? adventuring maybe?? and then he showed up to work with the scions and the mystique of him faded immediately LMAODFSJLDS the more he spoke the more sick of him she got and she wanted to be cordial but got so fed up shed just say something insulting back and they would just bicker. when it was time to fight garuda cid was flying them around while alphinaud and aren argued and he was like "ok kids…we're here……….<:)"

when it got to the banquet/heavensward their dynamic changed a lot bc all of a sudden pretty much every adult that had helped them/was working with them had disappeared and all they had was haurchefant, tataru, and each other. she rlly clung to tataru and haurchefant as her older sibling figures (esp haurchefant bc he reminds her of her actual big brother) but she also started to come around to alphinaud and they started getting a lot wayyyy better. shed also be there to pick him up when he kept beating himself down, maybe a bit more than she was there for herself. and then through hw and sb, its them getting closer and becoming actual friends. aren gets a crush in the middle of all that and does nothing with it. and then shadowbringers happens !!!!!!! and shes like oh fuck uh oh!!!!! realizes how fleeting things can be but once she gets to kholusia and sees him again she cant bring herself to say anything because the stakes are so high and theres no time to worry about personal things while trying to save 2 worlds at the same time. but its like pretty obvious shes spending a bit more time helping him with things and making sure hes safe from sin eaters (shes still very concerned with keeping everyone else safe he doesnt take her full attenton bc her top priority is being a hero)

ENDWALKER….basically once they get to the source again, shes very blatantly spending more time with alphinaud on her down time until the towers show up. and once the events of ew kick off she gets all her time and attention taken away again and its more and more stressful for her and shes like being crushed under the weight of the world because of all the death destruction and despair around her. all her friends and the scions were helping her but of coarthe it was really alphinaud and her family that really made her like 'i can do this. i can fix this i will fix this. the world and every shard will be safe.' (and also her azem shes a shard of i created lore there where apollo is in the present too but just like a shade of her i cant get into it this isnt the post for that) and when theyre in ultima thule and alphinaud and alisaie give themselves to create a path for aren to find meteion, like right there she almost gives in to her despair bc in her head if she cant do this right then all the scions then alisaie then alphinaud are all gone forever (and ik this is a mmorpg so they were gonna come back but SHE DIDNT KNOW !!!) and then everything happens with the duty and the trial and the fighting zenos but once she gets back on the ship and the first person she sees when she wakes up is alphinaud she disregards her own physical pain and sits up and just hugs him really tightly. when they get back to etheirys perhaps they had their first kiss so happy to see him again. and as of rn in the patch quests canon they still arent really a couple, shes been more forward with her feelings now that theres downtime but theres also not really downtime bc shes helping with the 13th and alphinauds in garlemald but its like "yes there are mutual feelings yes something will happen about that someday." but rn theyre both focused on bettering eorzea and the world and helping who they can with the (definitely not) scions.

i rlly didnt mean to draft a short story, its just too hard to summarize these thoughts

it has been a hard day so I leave you all with yet another wol question...

do they have a love interest? I ADORE hearing about people's wol and/or oc ships so pleaaaase hit me with all the details <33