#but they did eventually stop... after starting Shadowbringers

[bladeobrona]

my FC has someone in it who has been playing the game for over a year and a half and only just recently reached Shadowbringers but plays nearly every day.

[shinyflareon]

I had a random 3am thought last night about something that I don't think ever really gets brought up again, but:

Endwalker's Elpis storyline confirms quite clearly that time travel follows the rules of a stable time loop. If you are able to time travel, the past cannot be changed, because it already happened; your actions in the past cannot change the future, because you were always there. Right?

G'raha Tia time traveled when he went to the First.

Now, I'm willing to concede that, as Shadowbringers came first, either the rules of time travel weren't well established at that point or even simply that Endwalker changed the rules. That's the simple Doyalist answer.

BUT

Garlond Ironworks accomplished an unprecedented, seemingly impossible feat in trying to prevent the 8th Umbral Calamity they were living through from ever coming to pass - to erase their own timeline in the hopes that the new one could avoid their terrible fate.

They did this with the help of G'raha Tia, freshly awoken into not the utopia he'd hoped for, but a world in turmoil on the brink of collapse. The Crystal Tower is an incredible well of aether and repository of technological knowledge, after all.

But if time is a stable loop, did it matter?

After at least 100 years, G'raha Tia eventually succeeded in bringing the Scions and the WoL to the First, where they succeeded in stopping the shard from being utterly consumed by Light and triggering the Rejoining Emet-Selch and the other Ascians were working so hard to achieve. But did we really stop it for good, or did we just delay the inevitable?

Does the WoL still die in the 8th Umbral Calamity, except that the Calamity happened 100 years from now, triggered by a different Shard becoming consumed? Or even Light reawakening and finishing its consumption of the First, without us or Ryne around to stop it?

At some point in the future, is G'raha Tia going to have to go back to sleep in the tower and start the whole loop over again, for all eternity?

[voidsentprinces]

My full experience of anime is thus: My brother has a friend who use to come by with anime on VHS. The first exposure I got to anime proper was when he brought over a couple episodes of SLAYERS, next, obviously, Channel 10 ran Pokemon from Episode 1 to Episode 46 before inexplicably just restarting from the beginning all over again. Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon fought on Channel 5 during the afternoons. But Dragonball Z like...jumped around a lot. It did the Saiyan Saga, the Fake Namrk Saga, skipped the Freiza Saga and the Cell Saga and did reruns of parts of the Buu Saga. Then they stopped airing both and aired Cardcapture Sakura for a while there. Then they stopped airing all three. Then they eventually brought Pokemon to the WB on Channel 5 and Yu-Gi-Oh! Hit along with it. But, like Pokemon before it. Yu-Gi-Oh! Only ran from Episode 1 until JUST before Seto and Yugi fought to duel Pegasus. Then my family got DirecTV which opened up Cartoon Network to me and thus granted me access to .hack//SIGN which sometimes ran either before or after Samurai Jack and Courage the Cowardly Dog. From there I gained access to the Buu Saga of Dragonball Z which always just reset back to the beginning of the Saga when it got done airing. Then eventually Adult Swim hit and introduced me to Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Big O, Inuyasha, and SUPER MILK-CHAN. Then at random intervals Toonami stopped airing Adult Swim and starting airing the English dub of Naruto. And I got tired of waiting for them to dub new episodes, so I began the search online for Naruto episodes English subbed online on YOUTUBE at the time. Back when they split an episode in 3 - 6 videos and movies into 10 - 12 parters.

Toonami also eventually introduced me to Blood+, Bleach, and my all time love of my teenage life...Eureka SeveN. It also introduced me to Neon Genesis Evangelion and FLCL. You can blame FLCL and Super Milk-chan for rewiring my fucking brain. And unfortunately, anime youtube also introduced me to Elfen Lied which rewired my brain in a different way. Paranoia Agent on Adult Swim also made me fall in love with the late Satoshi Kon's work. Spirited Away hit America around the same time and caught on like fire causes me to go knee deep into that. But also there was 4kids Food Fighters and One Piece. Which...turned me off to One Piece cause that censored, puritan, chaste run of One Piece was...it was something.

And the rest is history...especially after Eureka SeveN that got me to want to absorb more long form narrative that was both SUPER bittersweet but super cathartic to see through to the end. Some people get super into Tolkien and Lord of the Rings. Some people get into Shakespeare. Eureka SeveN is what got me into long form narrative epics. Which hundreds of moving parts and a large cast of characters.

And then, as if the universe sensed that. A kid who use to live near me sold his Playstation to me for $20 along with--Final Fantasy VII. My first and only Final Fantasy really. I tried FFVIII years later but it never clicked, never picked up IX or X or X-2. Then Playstation 2 happened...and with it? Kingdom motherfucking Hearts and then the best game ever made, Kingdom Hearts 2.

Bounced between xXxHoLiC, D.Gray Man, The World God Only Knows, Deadman Wonderland, and eventually Berserk. And then from joined Final Fantasy XIV circa 2018. Susanoo subsequently killed my GPU but I eventually got a new one and joined proper during the dying days of Stormblood when Shadowbringers hype was going FUCKING STRONG.

Good times.

[improvised-finish]

FFXIV Write 2024 - Prompt #9 - Lend an Ear

Content Warnings: None

Spoiler Warnings: General spoilers for the first half of Shadowbringers

Summary: Lehon'a Nhavareh returns home from the First with two items on her agenda: A commission, and perhaps more importantly, a homecoming.

Check it out below, or on Ao3:

Lehon'a took a deep breath.

Dreading a homecoming was a strange feeling, one she couldn't say she'd ever felt before. She knew it was likely temporary, but it sure didn't make knocking on the door any easier.

She'd been away for a long time, and not of her own volition. One G'raha Tia, posing as the Crystal Exarch, had whisked her, Ar'beunti, and the souls of the rest of her companions to the First without so much as a clue for those left behind. Fortunately, Feo Ul had helped maintain some semblance of contact across the rift, but she had to imagine that Tataru did not enjoy having to write a letter in the immediate aftermath that read:

“Dear Lehon,

Your child has disappeared suddenly and we don't know why or where they went.

Our apologies, The Scions”

Thankfully, it turned out that she alone had the ability to return via a portal in the Ocular, as she had been transported wholly instead of just as a soul, like her companions had. 

She'd been hesitant to return for a while, mostly agonizing over the one big thing that had happened while she'd been gone: she'd transitioned.

As much as Lehon'a did want to reassure her mother with her presence, seeing her mom wasn't the main impetus for this trip. She'd come out a while ago, first to Y'shtola in confidence, and then to the rest of the Scions shortly after. Her friends had been endlessly supportive, and before she knew it, Lehon'a had endless spare clothes and more gifted cosmetics than she knew what to do with.

She'd started making more changes in her day to day life; she wore a ribbon in her hair most days, and occasionally put on a skirt or a dress when the situation didn't immediately require battle garb. The next step, however, was a large one. Y'shtola had sat down with Lehon'a one afternoon and shared something she'd heard about during her studies at Sharlayan: a substance called Fantasia. If rumor was to be believed, it was a liquid that, if ingested, could change one's physical appearance into any form they desired. Phials were difficult to obtain, Y'shtola had said, but it seemed like it could be worth asking Tataru about, whenever she next found herself back to the Source.

And when she'd told Y'shtola about what the Exarch had said, that she alone might be able to freely come and go, Lehon’a started to notice Y’shtola slipping little reminders and nudges into a conversation here or there. Eventually, Y’shtola had worn her down. It can’t hurt to just ask, she’d said. 

So she’d done it. Had yet another awkward conversation with Tataru and Krile, who were not only understanding but also shockingly pragmatic. Tataru had had all the forms to get Lehon’a’s records changed in order and ready to go on her desk, as if she’d known in advance, somehow. She’d patiently listened as Lehon’a stammered through a description of Fantasia, taking notes the whole time, and Krile had filled in the gaps with her own knowledge. Tataru, ever the realist, had said she couldn’t promise anything except her best effort in finding some. It hadn’t been long after that when they’d said their goodbyes and parted ways, leaving Lehon’a with nothing else on her plate except for a visit home.

So there she stood, in front of her childhood home, where her mother still lived. As she raised her fist to knock, she realized that she’d missed an opportunity to wear something more feminine. She hesitated for another moment, having to stop and gather her resolve once more. A hair ribbon and form fitting pants will just have to be good enough, she thought as she pushed through the anxiety and knocked on the door.

“Coming!” Lehon’a heard a muffled yell that could only belong to her mother. The door swung open, and there she was.

“Oh! Lehon’a, it’s you! What a surprise, I… I’m so glad to see you again!” The words poured out of her, likely stockpiled since the last time they’d spoken. The flow was only temporarily halted as Lehon went in for a hug. “You look different! Better, I think. Is it the hair? It looks nice like that, it really does.” 

“Glad to see you too, mom,” Lehon’a replied, trying to keep the nerves at bay. “Listen, uh… could we talk? It’s… it’s important.”

Lehon paused for a moment, and Lehon’a could tell she understood the seriousness that her tone of voice had implied. “Sure, dearheart. Let’s go sit.”

Lehon’a followed her inside, and sat with her around the kitchen table, as they had many times before.

“So what is it you’d like to talk about?” Lehon began, cautious of touching a nerve.

“I…” Another pause. Why didn’t this get any easier? Lehon’a thought to herself. “I’ve been through a lot while I’ve been away. I’m not sure exactly how much of the specifics you’ve heard in the letters you may have gotten, but it’s been quite an ordeal.”

“All the more reason for me to be glad you’re here,” Lehon replied, putting a hand on top of her child’s.

Lehon’a smiled in return, trying to keep her conversational momentum moving forward. “I’ve met new people, and grown closer to old friends, but… but most of all, I’ve come to realize something about myself.” Lehon didn’t interject this time, content to let Lehon’a share. “I’ve realized that I…I’d be…” Lehon’a could feel the tears starting to form, but wanted to push through them. “That I’d be happier living my life as a woman.” 

The words hung in the air between them for a moment, and then Lehon grasped her daughter’s hands tightly in her own. “Oh, Lehon’a… my wonderful daughter.” They both began to cry, though these were tears of joy, not sorrow. “I couldn’t be happier, dearheart. And don’t worry, I’ll take the brunt of breaking the news to the tribe– unless you’d rather do it yourself.”

“No, no, you have my blessing. It’s one more awkward speech I don’t have to give.” Lehon’a replied with a nervous laugh.

They both stood up and embraced again, this time for quite a while longer. 

“Not to say that I knew ahead of time or anything, but… when you were a child, I always felt Menphina’s light shine a little more strongly on you than on any other boy in the tribe. Any time the sky was clear, you just seemed to gather all the moonlight in the room.”

“Oh, did I?”

Lehon looked at her daughter with a smile. “I guess now we know why.”

“I guess so, huh?”

Another beat of silence.

“I love you so much, Lehon’a. I always will. No matter what.”

“...Even if I drank a potion that made me look totally different?”

“Even if you drank a potion that made you look totally different. You’ll always be my beloved daughter.”

This time Lehon’a went in for the preemptive hug, pressing her forehead against her mother’s. “Thanks, mom. I love you, too. More than you know.”

“So… You’re in the market for potions that change your appearance now, huh?” Lehon walked over to the icebox and took a look inside. “Well… no transformation potions in here, I’m afraid, but I do have some lemon tea I brewed just this morning.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lehon’a replied, once again sitting down at the table. While her mother’s back was turned, she offered a silent prayer to Menphina, thanking her for such a caring mother and such a lovely day.

[toadeyes-miqote]

Miqo'te are and Miqo'te do

Would Hrothgals come and fantasia over you? Or wiggle your ears and tail, a Miqo’te stay? When you’re Gridanian, Archer and Adder There are more females, fuzzy memory this be based Same thing with MenMiq, some are post-EW interactions When this become a Jellicle song?

Looking back before Dawntrail hits. Is long with a mix of timeline, post-EW and NG+ pics. If you don’t see them, either I don’t have pics or hadn’t met/unlock them or forgot.

Event Miqo'te and the four/five(?) Miq'ttens are left out of this. Miq'tten would get their own piece for lols.

ARR

Most if not all the Miqo'te women are belong to ARR and are in Gridania and Limsa. Does Ul'Dah see them as being closer to beasts? What about Hrothgar?

A Realm Reborn

Leih Aliapoh was Hylnyan’s mentor and everything was Moon Miqo’te from here. There’s at least two more Miqo’te hanging around the guild. Her Archer quest is linked to Pawah Mujuuk of the Coeurlclaws

Miah Molkot, Took a bit of her lore for Hylnyan since they both from North Shrouds. Skirmishes with the birdmen and all. Do her quest line(Hostages of Fortune), she’s a birding cat like Hylnyan.

Do Delivery Moogle quest, The Past Is a Story We Never Tell is about the Lizeh sisters and Coeurl Claw women and the way they are treated. It triggers a Coeurl King fight (FATE not FATE?). I don’t have the Coeurlclaw women pics. Was still new and the notion of timelines diversion from Meteor (aka follow cinematic jobs) and duty trust addon accidental gaslighting hadn’t hit me yet.

Una Tayuun and here I was thinking we might have a quest to get her memories back. Cat distribution system is active in the Scions company(technically two males and three female excluding Miqo'te WoL ).

Forgotten spring Miqo’te women and their skirmishes with the Amalj’aa and tied into Amalj’aa tribal with Loonh Gar.

I remember J’moldva from the Blacksmith questline (her of the groovy red shades). And then to see her pop up with Arevnvald and V’mah Tia, it be like squee after how J Tribe were name dropping her the whole time Hylnyan was questing around Ala Ghiri. Totally fine with Hellfire Phoenix senpai being DPS trust in Skallac trust run as she has Ala Mhigan ties as well.

If its not obvious enough I adore Commander Rhiki for no reason other than her design. And that she’s a Triple Triad buddy

Heavensward

In another life Hylnyan could had been Renda-Rae. I kinda end up thinking that she could Jehantel’s shard since her early glory days of the hunt mark seeking and losing her team sounded like him.

It will always be funny that Widargelt’s three main disciples and one antagonist are Miqo’te. The cat distribution system favours this man.

Mujih Mewrilah, Botany quest journalist despawned while her Ivalice sister remained in Kugane. The Raven journalists do be wearing uniforms like Events Miqo'te Kipih Jakkya. All Saints' Wake 2024 edition.

Q'yantaa of Tailfeathers questline I did because Hylnyan was suppose to eventually go to Idyllshire with her mate to start a new life pre ARR. And treating Tailfeathers as a rest stop to learn about their surroundings and offer their skills is a thing they would do.

Zhloe and the Custom Delivery crew are all in Metian Gear until further notice

Stormblood

M’naago and the M tribe folks/related FATEs. Something about how Hylnyan’s footprint in the Ala Mhigo regions was rather small and that most Miqo’te tribes and resistance folks are more aware of her military involvement than her WoLness (much notes about Hylnyan’s area of influence being region based later). While common folks sees her as just another hunting Miqo’te.

J'olhmym, J'olhmym, J'olhmym. M'zhet thinks you're the one for him~~~ Of tribal quest. Vaguely recall J tribe in FATEs / side quests and there were various NPCs namedropping J’moldva in the Ala Ghiri region. That one questline in MSQ involving an Garlean mayor/captain(Baut) of Ala Ghiri

Shadowbringers

Qeshi-Rae aka Hylnyan’s “twin”(looks and personality) was already wearing this hairstyle before Claudien. Facet of Gathering was a post EW followup quest series for me.

It felt like there were more male Mystel roles in ShB and I’m very likely forgetting Crystarium staff and Kholusians somehow

I have not unlock Dancer

Endwalker

Very likely forgetting Sharlayan folks in Labyrinthos (sorry Hamlet and Ragnarok crew) for not standing out somehow. Non Miqo’te NPCs seems to ping my radar more this expac

Bonus

Fray when you’re a Miqo’te too.

The nameless young lady in Haurchefant’s office seems to be one of the rare Miqo’te in snowy place. Unless there are more and I can’t find them

What do you mean Alliance Grand Melee Adder isn’t Tyoh Moui?

Only doing Miqo'te since Hylnyan Miqo'te.

[thesecondbatgirl]

Why you should play the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, part whatever

Previously, two impassioned “BUT IT'S SO GOOD” posts with very little details. (Part 1, Part 2)

Okay, so, I have previously talked about the themes and the tropes and just that the game is super fun (and did you know you can play the base game + first expansion for free? Because you can) but this time I’m going to try to give a little bit more detail. I’m *mostly* only going to cover characters from A Realm Reborn (shortened to ARR or 2.0) but probably spoilers for later expansions will show up.

(A quick note: Each expansion has the base (x.0) and then 5 patches of content, and they get shortened to those. So ARR runs through 2.0 and 2.55 since the .5 patch is always divided into two. Also, 1.0 no longer exists because it was so awful they literally dropped a moon on it.)

Summary: It is five years after the invading Garlean Empire dropped a moon on us. Except the moon was actually a technological prison created by an ancient civilization that contained a fucking dragon. It was defeated at a great cost, which will be recapped after you start the game. You can watch the super awesome cinematic here!

You arrive in the city of your choice (forest city, pirate city, desert capitalist city, your choice of which does not actually matter other than you get different introductory quest lines so basically pick whatever class you want to start with and/or whichever city you think sounds cool as you can be all the classes eventually) in which you, the adventurer, turn out to be super competent and do a great service to your starting city. Oh, and you are having visions of a giant crystal.

Shockingly, it turns out that you have a power called The Echo which basically means you can get visions of past stuff which is very useful for exposition, and also you are completely immune to tempering (brainwashing) by the primals (gods) of the various beast tribes. Which is good, because the fact that the primals will basically turn anyone who tries to fight them into their worshippers, and their very existence harms the land, so really only people with the Echo can fight them.

Due to your awesomeness, you get recruited to a super secret organization, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, whose goal is to fight Primals and stop the Garlean Empire. And fight the Ascians, quasi-immortal beings who are secretly manipulating everything so that they can free their God.

And then shit gets real.

For the record, that only explains the first like, 20 levels. There is just SO MUCH to the game, and trying to explain it would be like attempting to sum up some epic fantasy novel series with 15 books and multiple tie-ins.

Short version of where the story goes:

ARR (2.0-2.55, levels 1-50): You become the Warrior of Light and fight Garleans and Primals

Heavensward (3.0-3.55): Time to stop a thousand year war between man and dragons and deal with a corrupt church Stormblood (4.0-4.55): Imperialism is bad, the game. Let’s go free some colonies.

Shadowbringers (5.0-5.55): We’re going to an alternate world to try and stop a disaster and find out the true history of the Ascians

Endwalker (6.0-currently 6.3 as of 1/10/2023): It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I think that hope can triumph over despair

So now that you know the story, let’s talk about the characters! There are loads and loads of characters, and covering all of them would be pretty much impossible, so have the major characters from ARR. I’m not going to give major spoilers for ARR itself, but I am definitely going to reference ends of character arcs because talking about them otherwise is difficult when they get so much character growth. Also I am stealing all these images from (mostly) the ffxiv wiki

You: The Warrior of Light. (usually abbreviated to WoL) Choose between 8 races, and play as many classes as you want Currently there are 19 fighting classes (20 if you count blue mage, which is a limited job that can’t be used in regular content), 3 gathering classes, and 8 crafting classes. The WoL doesn’t get a lot of options for dialogue until 3.0, but the ability to customize is great, and there’s a very strong RP community. Also I absolutely joke that this game is basically my WoL’s harem and I stand by it. (Pictured, all of your character options, female and male.)

The Scions: Super secret team of nerds who left their homeland because they wanted to try and make the world better. (it’s complicated.)

Minfilia: Leader of the Scions. Has shitty voice acting, but is basically team mom. She gives you your assignments and has a very strong connection to the mothercrystal you keep seeing.

Thancred: This is Thancred. You hang out with him if you start in Ul’dah, the desert city. He’s a flirt, former thief, but eventually ends up trying to raise a teenage girl with his boyfriend. He also has a compulsive saving people thing.

Y’shtola: If you start in Limsa Lominsa, the pirate city, you get to hang out with her. Her hobbies include attempting complicated spells, being smarter than you, calling people out on their bullshit and delivering the best insult in the game. Also she does a Sailor Moon thing. (Okay, I was going to only put in the ARR outfits but frankly her Shadowbringers outfit is great so I’m showing it off.)

Yda and Papalymo: She’s a ditz who punches things, he’s sarcastic and sets shit on fire. Together, they hang out in Gridania, the forest city.

Urianger: Speaks in thees and thous and poetry. Was totally in a kinky relationship with a woman who could break him. Gets a massive glowup in Shadowbringers.

Tataru Taru: The Scion’s secretary, who is possibly going to take over the world eventually, and makes excellent outfits.

Alphinaud Leveilleur: Ok, so listen, every time I play ARR I spend half of it yelling at Alphinaud to shut the fuck up. Because he has such a great character arc! He starts off as this super entitled 16 year old who thinks that he’s smarter than everyone and that politics is just a game he’s playing. He truly wants to make the world better, he’s just very very full of himself.

He gets *so much better* He gets his break the haughty moment and learns and grows, and gathers a lot of firewood, and learns and grows and also is absolutely dating a super surly dragoon, and I love him.

Alisaie Leveilleur: Alphinaud’s twin sister who mostly doesn’t show up until post 2.0. Her hobbies include dunking on her brother, threatening people with a sword, and generally being awesome. She also has a super strong moral compass and cares a lot for individuals over ideals.

(These are their Endwalker outfits, Alisaie is in red, Alphinaud in blue.)

Allies:

Kan-E-Senna: Gridania’s leader. Older than she looks, has a connection to the Elementals (forest spirits)

Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn: Limsa’s leader and former Pirate Queen. Very pragmatic. Will absolutely shoot you.

Raubahn Aldynn: Refugee turned gladiator turned leader of Ul’Dah’s army. One of the richest people in Ul’Dah. Incredibly loyal to the Sultana. 

Nanamo Ul Namo: The Sultana. Thinks capitalism is stupid. Wants to serve her people. Occasionally hides in pots, according to Raubahn.

Haurchefant Greystone: THE BEST BOY. Will make you hot chocolate. Absolutely wants to fuck you.

Cid: Engineer and last minute rescuer. Is supposed to be 30, so I guess he just went silver fox early or something. Has his own airship.

The villains: (Gaius in black, Nero in Red. Livia is in white, and the dude with the shields doesn’t actually matter.)

Gaius van Baelsar: The Big Bad (of ARR.) Wants to know if you believe in Eorzea. Actually gets a redemption arc eventually to rival Zuko from ATLA.

Nero tol Scaeva: Cid’s ex-boyfriend who will literally give an entire speech about their rivalry and how one day he will best him. It’s *great*

Livia: Deserved a better story arc. Luckily, her sister is awesome.

That is… just a sampling of characters. Each class gets its own storyline, so there are characters there! And so many sidequests! I didn’t even talk about Detective Hildibrand!

But hopefully, this has convinced you to try, or at least made you slightly more interested. You can find the free trial here: https://freetrial.finalfantasyxiv.com/na/

[velveteen-vampire]

i cant go over absolutely all the context and so my summary isnt going to hit as well as the actual story but hopefully it is still interesting to read!

spoilers for crystal tower and like half of the shadowbringers expansion under the cut

alright to get started: graha first appears in the crystal tower raids. he’s a historian who studies the anicent civilization of allag because it’s his special interest and also he has inherited a Magical Glowing Red Eye that is somehow related. you and him and some other characters investigate this big crystal tower left by the allagans and eventually the story reveals that the red eyes are a mark of royalty and that graha is distantly descended from the royal line, allowing graha to take control of the tower and all the magic its got. a whole lot of other things happen during those quests (a lot of you killing bosses and saving the day) but i’m not getting into it because i dont remember its not important ^w^. at the end of the quests graha decides its his responsibility to seal himself away in the tower until such a time comes where the rest of mankind has technology advanced enough to utilize the tower properly. and then he’s gone

uuuuntil the post stormblood quests when you and your friends start getting huge headaches with a mysterious voice speaking to you. this one by one drops everyone you care about into a coma (scary!!!) until eventually you go back to the crystal tower to find a little dohicky that instantly sends you to another world. there, a cloaked figure who is the crystal exarch and Definitely Not Graha welcomes you to this new world and catches you up on the situation. he shows you his cool city that is built around exactly the same crystal tower from before but in this new place.

you ask “why is that here.”

he says “i teleported it here same way i did to you and your friends”

you ask “wheres graha”

he says, unconvincingly “whats a graha”

from there, theres a whole lot of shadowbringers plot happening but the jist is that you have to save this new world in order to avoid a calamity happening and killing you on your original one. the crystal exarch is very helpful on his but still very mysterious and secretive. as the story rolls on he makes vague statements about having been inspired by a hero in the past and admiring them so much and wanting to be just like them and wanting to be at their side.

because of plot reasons, you are fucking dying! youve got too much light energy in your body and youre going to turn into a big monster. the exarch has a solution. he takes all your corrupted light and tries to heroically sacrifice himself to save you, and in the process revealing himself to be graha all along (wow!). and all that talk earlier? he was vaguing you to your face. youre his hero. he was actually awoken in the future, AFTER the calamity youre currently trying to stop, and then sent back in time and to this alternate world to try and fix everything. fortunately (?) his heroic sacrifice is thrawted by another character shooting him with a gun and kidnapping him, which means you get to rescue him :)

in the process of rescuing him you do find a solution to your problem that does not involve catboy murder which means that graha is free to help your friends find a way to un-isekai themselves. that way ends up being storing their souls in some crystals so you can bring them through a portal and put those souls back in theie comatose bodies on your home world. but we’re not doing that yet! theres some loose ends to tie up

in the post-shadowbringers quests another villain happens. its not really important what he’s doing but what important is that graha uses the last of his strength helping you kill that guy. luckily, before he can die for real life, he puts his soul into one of those crystals so you can bring that back to your home world and put it back in his body, which is still snoozing away in the crystal tower. which you do!

the soul from the present and his soul from the future combine to create one stable conciousness, and graha gets to leave the tower early. from that point on he joins your party and goes from the old and wisened mysterious figure of shadowbringers to the worlds most autistic catboy. the weight of the world gets lifted off his shoulders and he immediately starts being moe. other characters tease him about clearly beinf obsessed with you. he’s overall so happy to be here.

give me all the catboy lore i love that guy

okay im going to give you all the catboy lore in a reblog so that it doesnt end up in the tags so hold on a second

[laeorinel]

FFXIV Write 2022 - Day 12

Prompt - Miss the boat.

Shadowbringers MSQ spoilers. Itty bit of ThancredxWol in there because I've been in a shippy mood as of late but honestly I think it's vague enough it can be ignored.

The last few days had passed in a blur, the panicked retreat from Mount Gulg having him revert to pure instinct. While Thancred typically made a point of staying entirely aware of his surroundings, he didn't know if he was coming or going right now. "Keep moving. Need to save her. Cannot fail again." This mantra was repeated over and over in his head until they eventually crossed over into the Crystarium. 

As he waited alongside Ryne in Samara's room at the pedants, he knew there was likely something else he could be doing, should be doing, but at this moment, he just felt lost. 

Samara lay on the bed before him, her breathing worryingly shallow. Her skin was now a few shades paler than it should be, her normally black scales and horns taking on a golden hue and her black hair turning pure white at the roots. Ryne was doing what she could to keep the Light raging inside her in check, but they all knew it was a stopgap measure at best. Something to delay the inevitable. 

She was dying. The Light would soon overwhelm her, Samara Kha would cease to be, and a new Light Warden would be born wearing her face. 

And it was because of them. Because of him. 

He should have said or done something. He had figured from the start that Samara being the solution to all of the First's problems was too convenient. That there had to be a catch. Instead, he just went along with the Exarch's and Urianger's schemes, trusting the men had a plan. The Exarch had not led him astray in all the years he had been in the First; why would he betray them at the end? And while Urianger kept his own counsel and had his moments of duplicity, it was ultimately for the greater good.  

And he would be lying if he said a part of him had not believed them. That she would be the saviour they needed. After all, she had been so many times before. What was one more miracle added to the list?

The leather of his gloves creaked as he clenched his fists. He was guilty of the very thing he had wanted to admonish Ser Aymeric for back in Ishgard in more ways than one. 

He had fallen into the trap so many others before him had, believing that the Warrior of Light was unstoppable. That she could conquer any hardship through sheer stubbornness and force of will alone. That she could shoulder any burden placed on her and did so willingly. And that somehow despite the odds against her, she would win. That she would always come back to them. To him. 

As the sailors back in Limsa Lominsa would say, he had missed the boat on this one. Both to stop this outcome and the chance to say what needed to be said. Whatever their nebulous relationship could be defined as now, he did not want this to be the end, yet he could feel what time was left slipping through his fingers like fine sand.  

He unclenches his fists as he watches the flow of Ryne's aether into Samara slow and ebbs away. "Is she stable?" 

"For now." Ryne sighed, frowning as she saw what looked like cracks forming on Samara's skin, as though it was porcelain instead of flesh. 

Thancred nods once, uncrossing his arms and holding a hand for Ryne. "Come on. Let's meet with the others, see if they have made some progress in finding a treatment." 

He knew there would be none, but he had to keep hoping they would find something that would help—both for his and Ryne's sakes. The alternative was unthinkable. 

Ryne looks at Samara before taking Thancreds hand and pulling herself to her feet. "Should she be left alone?"

He lowers his head, watching Samara's almost serene expression as she rests. Were it not for her breathing; he would think she was already gone. "Were time on our side, I would have one or both of us stay, but the best thing we can do for her now is to try and find something that will help. Whether it be a treatment or a plan if- when she deteriorates further." He bites out those last few words. 

Thancred takes one last look towards the bed before turning towards the door, Ryne close on his heels. His heart aches in a way it hasn't since he lost Minfillia, and he finds himself repeating the same old prayers to the Twelve he did then, but this time two more deities are added to the mix. 

If the Twelve would not protect her, perhaps her Elder Gods would. 

[sami-at-ciela]

Prompt 4: Baleful

Or: “MEN HAVE COOTIES. *Cooties not confirmed with certainty.”

Or: “Momma said there’d be days like this.”

Spoilers for Shadowbringers. Again. Because That’s where I am guys.

When Minfilia woke up that day, she was paralyzed by a feeling of dread, not even wanting to leave her bed due to a distinct hunch that terrible things were going to happen. Not extremely terrible, but terrible enough to make a girl not want to leave her room.

The group would move on eventually. This stop at the Crystarium was supposed to be brief. Terrified of the nebulous badness as she was, she knew she would have to leave her room eventually.

The first thing she did was open the door into Thancred’s face.

“Oh no, I-I’m sorry,” Minfilia stammered. Thancred wasn’t quite the type to explode into castigation, but sometimes the coldness she got from him was enough.

Thancred grumbled and rubbed his nose. “Maybe don’t open your door so fast next time?”

“I’m sorry,” she repeated. But how could I have known you were walking by?

“Fine.” Thancred dug into a pocket and dug out a bag of ammunition that had to be twice as large as usual. “Your homework for today.”

Minfilia accepted the bag and immediately noticed the heft. “How much is in here…?” she asked, even though she knew she shouldn’t have.

“Enough for the next mission,” Thancred said. “Go on.” With that, he walked off, looking stormy as ever.

Though the exchange hadn’t been completely negative, Minfilia couldn’t help but shudder. She was used to people being cold or thorny to her, sure, but the sting never quite dissipated completely. Shaking her head, she went to find a place to wait and imbue bullets for the next hour or so.

That place ended up being the stairs in front of the Ocular. It was a decent vantage point to people watch without being too distracted by commotion. Sighing, she took the first of many bullets out of the bag, called aether to her fingertips, and began to work.

Said work was swiftly interrupted by a racket from behind her. “You can’t throw me out of here! What’re you gonna do next time you want a private meeting? Look, you can’t even body block me, I could jump over your head!” The diatribe was followed by a shriek of “Who gave you permission to have me dragged out by security?!” and the slamming of the Ocular door.

Minfilia turned around to see Rhea still shouting insults at the Ocular door. “What, did you crap crystals out sideways this morning?!”

The door opened, the Exarch stuck his head out, said something that she couldn’t quite hear, and slammed the door again.

Rhea finally abandoned the Ocular door after a veritable roar of frustration, veritably fuming as she walked down the stairs, at least until she spotted Minfilia. “Oh, hi, Minfi. Sorry about the ruckus, but someone woke up with a crystal stick all the way up his-”

“Minfi?”

Calling out the nickname jarred Rhea out of her diatribe. “Er. Minfilia. Sorry. I just thought you deserved a cute nickname.”

Minfilia paused and mulled it over, a small smile coming to her face. The idea of a nickname was nice, a small bit of personalization for someone whose path was all laid out for her, even if that personalization was still from someone else. “I like it.”

“Good!” Rhea reached out to pat Minfilia on the head, and thought better of it. “Uh. I want to give you head pats, but do you even like them? I saw Thancred do it, but he too has a giant crystal stick somewhere unpleasant, so.”

“I don’t mind it.” Minfilia decided that was truthful; those occasional head pats from Thancred were something of a blessing. They felt nice, and for a brief moment, she wondered who else had been fortunate enough to receive a gentle touch from such warm hands.

“Fair. If I pat your head too hard, just let me know, okay?” Rhea administered two quick, measured pats.

“Oh!” Minfilia wasn’t expecting the pats even though she was. “Um, that wasn’t bad. Just different.”

“Also fair,” Rhea said. “I’ll give you better ones when I’m not contemplating blasting a hole in the Ocular door.”

“Why would you do that?”

Before Rhea explained, she peered in the distance and saw a familiar figure striding up to the stairs. “Hey, Alisaie, over here!” she called out with a wave.

Alisaie pivoted to face Rhea without missing a beat. With a remarkable quickness, she was in front of the duo on the stairs. “Rhea, Minfilia. Having a stair-sitting party today?”

Minfilia shrugged. “I thought it would be a nice place to work,” she said as she gestured with the bullet still in her hand.

Rhea gave a huff. “Yes. It’s in protest. The Exarch woke up cranky as crystal cat litter today, summoned me to argue about something stupid, and then kicked me out even though he started it. So he’s going to see nothing but my backside today.”

Alisaie snorted. “A lover’s quarrel?”

“What? No.” Rhea jolted, and the words fell out somewhat by accident. The truth was more complicated than a flat “no,” but she wasn’t going to go into that at this moment. “Maybe I should strip naked and dance in front of the door… except I think he might enjoy that, just a bit.”

“Right, lover’s quarrel it is then,” Alisaie said with a cheeky grin.

“Stoppat,” Rhea grunted, deliberately mashing the words together. She looked over to see Minfilia covering her mouth and obviously trying to hold back the giggles. “It’s okay, Minfi, someday you’ll find a man or woman or person in general who you want to punch but also smother in your bosom, just a little.”

“Minfi? Oh,” Alisaie said as she put two and two together. “You’re really not helping your case of it not being a lover’s quarrel, Rhea.”

“Stoooooop,” Rhea whined, reaching forward to teasingly pull Alisaie’s ponytail but thinking better of it because, while Alphinaud would whine and squirm, Alisaie would take her hand off. “Well, anyway, what brings you out here? I’ve explained myself, and I can only assume that Minfilia’s out here because Thancred is being extra Thancred-y today. Right?”

Minfilia looked down, ashamed. “I opened a door in his face today.”

“That’s okay. He’s being a jerk, especially to you, and I’m mad at him,” Rhea said. “You can be mad at him too, you know.”

Alisaie cut in with her explanation. “Alphinaud woke up all aflutter because he had a dream where he had to paint… someone. He wasn’t clear about it but he was clearly disturbed, so I left him to panic on his own.”

“Let me guess, a nude painting?” Rhea asked.

“How did you know? I do believe he mentioned that,” Alisaie mused, raising her hand to her chin in the Leveilleur twins’ signature thinking position.

“Aww, baby’s having his first smutty dreams,” Rhea said before bursting into cackles.

Alisaie scrunched her nose up. “Rhea, that’s my brother. Gross.”

“Oh, to be young,” Rhea said through a sigh. She looked over to see Minfilia scrunching her nose up too. “Sorry. Minfi. How old are you again? I’m afraid I lose all sense of scale when people are younger than 18…”

Alisaie exhaled heavily before taking a seat on the stairs next to Rhea. “So, it seems we’re all having trouble with the boys in our lives today.”

“Boys?” Rhea snickered. “Yeah, boys. The Exarch’s man license is revoked for today.” She paused, her teasing grin fading. “Which, I think, was part of the problem we were arguing over.”

“What did you do to him?” Alisaie asked. “Actually, no, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.”

On the side, Minfilia sighed and put her still un-imbued bullet back in the bag. “Things really do get more complicated as you get older,” she muttered.

“It’s true,” Rhea said. “But there’s more opportunities, too.” A pause passed as all three women slipped into their own heads, at least until Rhea realized something. “Have either of you had breakfast? I haven’t.”

Minfilia shook her head. “That’s right… all I did was take the bullets from Thancred and come here.”

Alisaie did the same. “I woke up late and took a walk to get myself alert. No breakfast yet.”

Rhea looked at Minfilia, shocked. “That man didn’t even point you to breakfast? Ooooh, he is in for it when I see him next.” At last, she stood up, folding her arms. “That’s it. We’re having a Girls’ Morning. All three of us are going out to breakfast, and then to the markets to window shop, or actually shop depending on your preference.”

“That… sounds nice,” Minfilia said, smiling softly. It sounded like a slice of a normal life, where friends grouped up and enjoyed each other’s company, which made the idea all the more appealing.

“I agree, though I may pass on the markets,” Alisaie added.

“I hear there’s new armor in stock,” Rhea teased. “Or, as they’re calling it these days, ‘glam.’”

“Everyone knows the best ‘glam’ isn’t in stores,” Alisaie countered as she stood up. “Well? Shall we?”

Minfilia stood up in turn and followed Rhea and Alisaie, listening to the two bounce off each other. The sense of dread from her awakening had dissipated, replaced by curiosity and a tentative joy. The respite would be brief, but she would savor the moments.

[bronybusfare]

[Disclaimer]

I know it’s waaay past V-Day, but after recently finishing Shadowbringers, I couldn’t help but think about Alisaie’s slightly noticble hints of affection. I wanted to make this just because I love her interactions, and trust me, there is more to come! Also, this is my first attempt at fanfics, so if there’s anything wrong or possibly missing, go ahead and say, and I’ll try to fix it!

PART 1

Alisaie x WoL

It’s Valentiones Day in Eorzea, and it truly shows. Cherry blossoms blooming in New Gridania, the Songbirds performing in Ul’dah, and the overwhelming smell of roses in Limsa Lominsa. Being the Warrior of Light/Darkness, things like this you don’t typically have time for, but this times an exception.

After so many years of adventures, times have been a bit smoother for you and the scions, giving you more time to spend with the others, more so with the Leveilleur twins. Though you can’t help but feel like something will happen, for now you try to push it to the back of your mind, and let yourself try to relax.

During these times, thanks to G’raha Tia, Y’shtola, and Urianger’s combined knowledge, they were successful in making it possible to return to the First with mind, body, and soul together, much like you can with no issue. It’ll be common to see Thancred, Y’shtola, and G’raha return for the day to see Ryne, Runar, and Lyna respectively.

Thancred would tell Ryne about Eorzea and all its vastly different normalities compared to Norvrandt, and would occasionally bring food or special drinks with him for her to try. Ryne one day dreams to see Eorzea, though knowing that may take a while longer to happen.

Y’shtola would immediately return to slitherborough and re-converse with everyone, while Runar continually tries to keep her to stay. She always has shown a soft side to Runar, and can’t help but consider staying, but overall knows it’s best to stay in the Source. Runar will tend to give her unique flowers to bring back to the Source, to always remember him in rough times, knowing the Nights Blessed will always await her return with open arms.

G’raha on the other hand would take Lyna to special places only he knew about, being that they were his time of peace when he wasn’t at the Crystal Tower as acting Exarch, and would always surprise her with something only he knew she’d love, such as new dancer arms sold from Ishgard, or a small nic-nac from Kugane. Honestly, she doesn’t mind all these little gifts, but what Lyna values more is the time she can spend with the Miqo’te, even if it would be a short time.

Alphinaud and Alisaie would check in for a few minutes on Halric and the other patients in Amh Araeng, then make a quick stop to check up on Chai-Nuzz and the other Inhabitants of Kholusia.

Urianger would stay behind back in Mor Dhona to help Krile and Tataru with anything they needed, leaving you to keep close eyes on any strange activities in Eorzea.

This time was different though, as Alisaie stayed behind with you and Urianger, leaving Alphinaud to do the routine check-ups. Normally you wouldn’t think different of it, but you begin to notice Alisaie acting stranger and stranger around you, as if she was afraid of being close to your persons. You consult Urianger about the strange going-on with her, and he simply smiles.

“Think my friend, does thou not know the times of days recent?”

You excuse yourself from any further interactions to explore the different items being sold in Mor Dhona. You begin thinking about what he says while you browse the shops, and notice Alisaie looking at what looks like jewelry. As she picks up a exquisite looking ring, you call out to her.

“Hey, Alisaie!”

Her head shoots up from the ring and looks your way. Her face begins to turn red, and she begins to panic, quickly puts the ring back before you stand directly in front of her.

“O-Oh, WoL, I wasn’t expecting to see you here! W-What’s up? Whatcha doin’? Lookin’ for anything special?”

You notice she begins to sweat profusely, and face reddening more and more.

“Are you ok, Alisaie? Your’re turning red.” You ask with a great deal of concern.

“Y-Yeah, d-definitely! 100%! Perfectly fine! Just fine!” She immediately replies. Alisaie then begins to slowly move backwards. “Listen, I’ve got this.....thing I gotta do....over there.....far that way. See you later!”

She sprints off in a hurry without any hesitation, leaving nothing but dust in her wake. You tilt your head in both confusion and concern, eventually moving on to look at the remaining shops. Not long later, you return to the Rising Stones, to see the others returned from the First.

“Ah, WoL! Glad to see you haven’t gone off on another quest”, G’raha says with a hint of playfulness in his words. “Anything to report?”

You shake your head in disagreement, and proceed to continue thinking about Alisaie.

Y’shtola notices your concerned look, and converses with you.

“What’s wrong, WoL? Is something bothering you? You seem lost in thought”.

With a bit of worry, you begin to tell the others about your recent interactions with Alisaie, and everyone begins to slightly chuckle.

“Well my friend”, Alphinaud begins, struggling to hold back a laugh, “I believe I may know about your situation”.

Alphinaud begins to explain to you about how some Valetione works, and continues with how people act differently around others, more so than other days. He then explains that Alisaie is in the same situation, with you being the person in question.

As if timing couldn’t be better, you suddenly hear the door open and turn to see Alisaie coming through it.

“Sorry I’m late. I had a bit of a run-in with Wa.....”

She stops and looks to everyone all looking back at her, including you. Her face begins to turn as red as a tomato. “I just remembered, I-Ive got somewhere to be!” and quickly slams the door shut behind her.

“See? My point have been proven yet again.” Alphinaud says triumphantly. You turn to see everyone else nodding.

Without thinking, you ask

“Does Alisaie have feelings....for me?”

“I’m most surprised thou dids not suspect of this earlier”, Urianger says. “‘Tis not surprising to us, but thou must not be oblivious to such notable changes of mistress Alisaie’s usual demeanour”.

You shrug with a somewhat unknowing look, slightly blushing, but not enough to be noticed.

“Well, now the cats outta the bag. What are you goin’ todo ‘bout it?” Thancred asks without hesitation.

You begin to think about a way to return her feelings. “I might have a suggestion, if you don’t mind” G’raha begins, with a hint of confidence in his voice.

He turns to the female scion. “Y’shtola, do you remember if Alisaie have ever been to Costa del Sol?”

Y’shtola thinks for a moment, then realizes where G’raha is getting too.

“As a matter of fact, I believe she’s only been there roughly once or twice. As I recall, is the Valentiones festival not happening there this year?”

G’raha Tia then nods his head in agreement.

“Why yes, it is. I believe that may be our perfect opportunity to get both WoL and Alisaie in the same place, hopefully without another “awkward” situation.”

You start to have a more noticeable blush in your face, but you whole-heartedly agree with G’raha Tia’s plan.

“Excellent”, he happily chirps. “Tataru, would it be possible to make some reservations for a few days stay at the resort?”

“Nothin’ I can’t handle! Leave it to me!”

Tataru happily walks off, with a small hop and skip in her movement. Krile follows shortly behind, hoping to give a bit of help to her fellow Lalafell.

“Now that that’s done”, G’raha turns to Y’shtola and Urianger once more. “Would it be possible for you two to keep miss Alisaie occupied for a while? I believe it’s time to put some cooking skills Lyna helped me with to the test.”

Y’shtola and Urianger nod and head off to find Alisaie. Thancred decides to tag along, just to see what happens.

“Alphinaud, I have a special request for you.”

The young Elezen turns to G’raha. “Of course, I can do anything in my power to help.”

“You’ve obviously been the closest to Alisaie for the longest time. Would you happen to know what kind of chocolate she likes?”

“Why of course” Alphinaud began with a full smile across his face, moving to the kitchen. “I used to make it for her whenever she felt down. It was a special mix of white chocolate and crushed cookie crumbs.”

G’raha Tia has a smile of his own now. “Then if it’s not too much trouble, would you please help WoL and myself make it? I personally would rather make them home made, than a special request. It would be more romantic if WoL made it, as well.”

“Do you even need to ask?” Alphinaud says, as he’s already putting on an apron and washing his hands. “Shall we?”

End of part 1

[angstidote]

Shadowbringers Theory Time

FFXIV 5.2 spoilers below the cut, but like, THE IMPLICATIONS !!!

This is totally just a theory, but I feel like I have a good idea of what caused the end of Amaurot in the first place, the why of Zodiark and Hydaelyn, how the WoL is not in fact tempered as has been implied, why Emet-Selch felt justified in extending his faith to us, what Elidibus is working at with this seemingly empowering angle, and what we can expect to see in the upcoming story arc.

It’s a lot, I know, but hear me out:

So like, first off we know now that “the defector” was not part of summoning Zodiark OR Hydaelyn, and we’re pretty sure we were the defector because in Hythlodeus’s speech about that person, the gender of the 14th changes with your gender–implying he’s likely speaking of us. This means that WE were not necessarily tempered by Hydaelyn, because we were likely not there for her summoning in the first place:

We knew why the original convocation created Zodiark–to stop the world from self-destructing. But they have not yet explained why it was falling apart in the first place.

I’m seriously wondering if somewhere along the way someone realized that the source of the problem was the Amaurotians themselves. After all, we know that magic takes aether, and that the Amaurotians were crazy powerful mages. To not have made this connection themselves is totally unrealistic, given how advanced they were with regard to their knowledge of magic.

My theory is that they realized they were responsible, but no one wanted to admit that they were at fault. Or more than that, no one wanted to, well, stop using magic, so they started grasping at straws for what to do…and Zodiark was one such attempt. By giving the planet a will of its own they hoped that IT would moderate them as necessary, no muss no fuss.

However, to summon Zodiark took a tremendous amount of aether as we know, and after that he basically demanded that the Amaurotians pay the cost of any further large magic expenditures. My feeling is that they gave the star a will, but did so specifically so it would save itself. We know how sensitive creation magic was, so surely someone wrote this intention into it–but they probably didn’t realize what that implied for those who lived on the planet. Accordingly, it willed that people stop using its magic, and die en masse if that’s what it took.

We see only a part of the ancient ones’ conversation, but it seems like they knew this. If Zodiark stayed, eventually he was either going to kill everyone directly or allow them to kill themselves by sacrificing themselves for every expenditure:

Now, as for Emet-Selch–he made it seem like whatever was causing the end of days was a mystery, but he was one of the convocation members and he would have at least heard evidence for why Zodiark would and wouldn’t work.

It could be that the council had other reasons to believe Zodiark wouldn’t fix the problem–but considering Emet’s obvious and understandable adoration for his lost people, I’m wondering if perhaps time changed his perceptions of how the sacrificing of half the population went down in the first place.

It may not have been quite as voluntary as he remembers it–especially considering the populations of the 14 dimensions are made of the same souls as the ones who lived in Amaurot! He said as much himself. But given what we’ve seen in the comparison between us and Aldelbert, souls tend to live out their natural tendencies no matter how many times they’re rejoined. As the WoL we’re nearly half our original strength thanks to all the rejoinings, but Adelbert ran the same endless errand chains and then sacrificed everything just as we would, even though he had only 1/14th of our soul in him. This tells us that souls behave like themselves no matter how strong or weak they are.

By Emet’s estimation, the fragmented incarnations are weak and selfish and scared, but I’d put money on the fact that they were like that to begin with, and here’s why:

This was the theme of this whole expansion: selfless acts may be remembered as selfish. And I’m thinking this is likely a set up for the reverse being true as well (since all of Shadowbringers has been about the importance of understanding the other side of the story): that selfish acts can get mis-remembered as more selfless than they were.

Emet lauded the selflessness of Amaurotians being willing to sacrifice one half their community to save the other half. But if they were somehow to blame for what was happening–due to how much aether they were depleting from the earth itself by using their creation magics so much–their sacrifice may have been necessary just to stem the depletion causing the chaos.

Which is why Hydaelyn may have manifested the way she did. They probably realized that Zodiark got accidentally made to save himself at any cost, so they had to create a will of the planet that cared about its populace as much or more, to keep him in check. But knowing the source of the problem, they had to make her able to kill both birds with the same stone. By splitting everything up as she did, she both stemmed Zodiark’s power and also dramatically reduced everyone else’s power as well, which stopped the hemorrhaging of energy without everyone having to pay for it with their lives.

Note the distinct need for a permanent solution. 

It sounds to me like they knew they would be dis-empowering everyone by summoning her. That everyone would be split into pieces and forced into the reincarnation cycle. Yet they seemed to feel like it was the only choice, given the circumstances–circumstances that Emet may have omitted from his 12,000 year old memory bank due to his conflicting desires to both save everyone and serve Zodiark faithfully.

Ultimately, it’s likely that he extended his olive branch to the WoL because he knew we were not involved in summoning Zodiark OR Hydaelyn, and that we genuinely cared about people no matter who they were--like he did. It’s implied that we were on good terms or even close to him before the sundering. But while we didn’t think Zodiark was a good plan, he went with it because he was desperate to save everyone. Just like Adelbert, he was manipulated into making a horrible mistake because his love was so blinding he couldn’t see what he was doing. That’s why he was able to convince you as Adelbert, and why he knew you (”that soul”) were worth trying to win over. He knew we were capable of hearing him (Adelbert already had) and of giving him a chance when no one else could. 

Again, we see the idea that because love was the motivating factor for the crime, his selfish acts got mis-remembered by him as more selfless than they were. Instead of recognizing that Zodiark killed half the population, he just blindly believed on some level that they made the sacrifice voluntarily. And I’m sure this will come up in the story again because we already see it happening with all the guards of the Crystarium quitting “to be helpful” when it’s actually the opposite of helpful, because it leaves the city unguarded.

But back on the topic of Emet, he’s incredibly sympathetic to the scions--both eventually eliciting their respect as the story progressed, and subtly supporting them (for example, by bringing Y’shitola back from the life stream). You can tell he genuinely wants to see eye to eye, and not just for the purpose of manipulation. But as a result of his tempering he’s ultimately unable to separate his will from Zodiark’s. This made him the enemy of the Scions and ostensibly the WoL as well, something which has clearly tormented him ever since (after all, he clearly tried to make it work, as “he had children with us, grew old and died with us,” etc.) and has driven him to endlessly try to rejoin everything so we would all be on the same page again.

But in the end we couldn’t go with Zodiark for the same reason we couldn’t go with the idea in the first place–which is probably why he flew into a rage and remembered us as our Amaurotian selves. But despite this, Emet still died having placed his hopes for the future on us…his hopes that we would honor the lives that were lost in the ancients’ misguided attempts to save everyone. And I think this is significant because it tells us that on some level his love for his people overpowered his tempering.

Elidibus remarks that Emet didn’t have the stomach to do what was necessary to follow through on Zodiark’s orders. I suspect that Elidibus is indeed the Oracle of Darkness and equivalent in rank to Oracle Minfilia, and that as a result he agrees unyieldingly with Zodiark that people are the problem and are therefore irrelevant. Emet, on the other hand, did not feel this way. And though he was unable to act in opposition to Zodiark--having been tempered by him--it’s pretty clear that the only reason he supported summoning Zodiark at all was the one implied in his memories--he loved the people of Amaurot and wanted to save them. This is why all his memories of Amaurot are favorable, all the people kind and considerate and lovely...because that’s how he always perceived them. But this created a permanent splintering of his loyalties (which is tragic but cool in the sense that the title of Angel of Truth/Emet-Selch is associated with the sign Gemini).

Sorry, I got off topic there but I just really love Emet-Selch.

Anyway, as for the ancients we saw in the Anamnesis Anyder…I gotta assume we were looking at The Scions 1.0. Particularly with Venat being linked as Minfilia because of this little bit of data:

…and we know who consistently looks the same in all her incarnations on the first: the Oracle of Light. She’s probably talking to Thancred there, since he implores that anyone but her do it, then accepts her will even though he’s sad about it, which is…like, the story of Thancred’s life, the poor dude.

But I mean, what we’re seeing with Elidibus wandering around as Adelbert seems to be a new approach. To put it simply, if everyone awakens to their original power, they’ll all start draining the shards just as they did with the Source. Ultimately, this will bring about the same calamities everyone faced back in Amaurot and once again people will look for a savior…and maybe, just maybe, we’ll get the whole Zodiark thing this time (doubtful, bro, but you do you). After all, blind desire to help is exactly how he got created in the first place.

In the end, we may all find ourselves repeating the forgotten history.

This expansion is so freakin’ elegant. I’m just obsessed!

[sinakakyralih]

It had been a good idea. For her, if for no one else. And they didn’t look like they were doing poorly without her - not that she had ever doubted that. She left someone responsible in charge; someone she watched mature and rise and fall and rise again; they’d be fine. They were fine.

The Keeper smiled as she leaned on the bridge’s railing with her chin in the palm of one hand, her grey tail curling up fondly as a Lalafell threw open the doors of the Mare Tranquilitatis -- er, Shady Boughs -- with an armload of gardening implements. The young woman gently kicked the door shut behind her and dodged around the table on the front porch, maneuvered down the stairs, and dropped the lot of tools in a semi-organized manner on the edge of one of the garden plots in the front yard, made a show of rolling up their sleeves, tugging the brim of their hat into place, and diving in to dig out the weeds and tend for whatever crop they had coming in. 

The sunlight felt good. The breeze off the lake and the sound of the little waves upon the shore were relaxing, tranquil, and she closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of Lavender Beds, of home, though she made no move towards the house across the waters. This feeling was different than before, where home felt like the night, the wind rushing across the roof, the cacophony of the waterfall behind their little cottage; the shouting, the running, the friends bursting in at all hours. Back when they couldn’t afford their own houses. Then, they were constantly in each others’ hair and business and lives. … but those friends were gone now, moved on with their lives and their own adventures, and she’d been trying that too, lately, hadn’t she?

The first to drift had been Kel; it hadn’t been long after moving into the larger house in a different district - this district - that he had taken up semi-permanent residence in Ishgard, setting in motion what would eventually become the Ishgard Restoration Project. She’d seen him once or twice around the city - they had had tea once, but he was a busy man now and while she had thought his talk a little technical before this undertaking, now it was overwhelming. Not in a bad way - in that… well, that nostalgic Kel sort of way. 

Next had been… Cae. Cae had always been the “mom friend”: strong and driven and organized and strict with her expectations, and welcoming, caring, people-oriented. She was a caretaker and a fierce friend and she missed having her influence in her life, but somewhere along the way they had drifted, and while Cae had continued to count herself part of the Pretty Guardians for a long while after, she felt it was more for nostalgia and loyalty than for that feeling of connectedness. She had moved on - she met new friends, started an amazing and flowery business - she was a full-time healer, now, and wandered to collect the best herbs for both her medicines and her tea; her place was very pretty, very soft and pastel, and very much Cae. She seemed happy, and she was glad for her. And for Kal, and L’uana; she didn’t often have a reason to visit Shirogane these days, but she always made a habit of stopping by when she was there, and when the big-hearted owner wasn’t home, she doodled in her guestbook.

During that time was when their influx of new recruits really started to grow; at first, it was just one or two, like in the old days: just picking up strays that needed a home, like Alannah and Kel; but over time their registered numbers really started to climb as individual members started picking up one or two adventurers that needed an affiliation for safety, even if they didn’t really stick around the house all that often. She had been happy to give that: the Pretty Guardians were there to help, even if it were just to lend their name and a hand to their members when necessary. Some, however, stuck around, getting close with everyone, even as the old guard started fading away…

Alannah got married to that rascal Nine from the neighbourhood around their first Free Company cottage - their story not exactly typical in any way beyond ‘they were somewhat neighbours’, but that was their story; she was happy for their happy ending, even though it was sad to watch her move out of Lavender Beds and into a charming little cottage in La Noscea. She wasn’t around as often after that, not that she could blame her. She had a baby, Ash, that she brought back for meetings and playdates with her “aunties”; the little girl was adorable and was fun to teach things to that Alannah may not have exactly wanted her to learn so quickly, but that’s what she got for their free babysitting services. Alannah was still there, welcoming in new members, keeping track of the day-to-day goings-on, connected to the house through moogle mail and linkshell while not there in person. She entrusted her with everything.

But it had always been Adelpha and her that were the fixtures of the house - its caretakers, trainers of new recruits, calling shots, and organizing FC activities, but…

Adelpha’s retirement had been unexpected. She wasn’t that far away - she was back in Gridania, having taken a steady job as a researcher, going into the family business after her father had suffered a fall. She knew her father - they had met through her father; but what she was doing wasn’t just being noble or making a sacrifice for her family, it was what she wanted to do. They had been friends for nearly a decade; she had dragged Adelpha clear across Eorzea and beyond, had pulled her into the Scions, thrown her into dangerous situations and jumped in right after. They’d had fun; they were each other’s backup. Adelpha was her playmate, her grumpy, easily-aggravated-on-the-outside, clearly-enjoying-acting-that-way-on-the-inside best friend. … but adventuring forever hadn’t been her dream. 

It was Sinaka’s. 

And maybe that was what she needed to realize, and to let go of. All of her original friends had moved on, left their adventuring in their twenties or early twenties, and settled down into the occupation they wanted to have for the rest of their lives: occupations that made them happy and fulfilled, callings that they had found and fought for, and while that didn’t align with the dream they had shared nine years ago, it didn’t make that dream any less real. The time they had spent together had been real, and special, and something she wouldn’t forget for the rest of her life, and had to believe that they would never forget, either. 

But still, Adelpha leaving had led to a period of loss for her: the end of an era, and the idea of facing it while still running operations for the new recruits -- a reference she really had to stop making, seeing as how it had been years since most of them had joined now -- left her feeling hollow, unable to give the same lively performance they were used to, so she took time off to travel, to reflect, to see if adventuring was still her calling or if she had been hanging on out of duty and nostalgia and stubborn loyalty to the people of her past… 

It had been five months since she had transferred leadership to Alannah and left in the middle of the night. She had left a letter, sure, but she could just imagine the face the hyur would have had upon reading it. She grinned, taking in a deep breath that smelled of water lilies, and let it out slowly. 

She wasn’t ready to go back just yet, but she would be.

It was good to see the place was still standing, though, and that the symbol above the door still matched the pin she wore on her lapel, even if the house’s face had changed drastically from when she had seen it last. She didn’t know how Alannah was dealing with all the flowers, but it looked nice. 

The Pretty Guardians were okay.

And she was okay. 

She’d be back.

Idk if those mentioned would want to be tagged ^^’ But yeah, feeling nostalgic for the “old days”, of 2012-2016, and when this definition came across my dash this little snippet fell into place and I feel like it explains not only character feelings and development and what’s been going on with Sinaka (wow I haven’t written for her since Heavensward? Waow XD (btw I had headcanoned years ago that her Path Companion, Sol, had traveled not 5 years into the future but to a different shard and man did shadowbringers bring me glee in letting that be a storyline I could wrap up hahahah)) but also give me a little moment to say...

Thank you.

Thank you Cae, and Adelpha, and Kal and Kel and Alannah (♥ still here with me, heehee) and those friends who weren’t part of the FC but were there for me back then (Sieg!). Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for logging so many hours with me doing stupid stuff like racing around zones and playing hide-and-seek and having hours-long hot-tub parties where we did literally nothing productive, just chatted about anything and everything in a basement hot tub through the text chat box. Thank you for the memories and the companionship and the silly stories. 

Thank you for being there.

[houseisekai]

House Isekai: Shadowbringers Act 2, Part 1 - Withering Flower (Continued)

House Isekai Shadowbringers AU Masterlist Here

—

(Continuing from Part 1′s Intermission)

----

[A Promise - Fire Emblem Three Houses OST]

Byleth reached for his head and massaged it with the chaos that was erupting.

(Towa) “I-Instructor Sara, I think it’s a bit too early to start drinking!”

(Sara) “Bah, when you grow older sweetie, anytime is a good time for drinking! Besides, we’re celebrating and having fun tomorrow, so we can afford to loosen up tonight!”

(Sharon) “Shall I fetch more ale?”

(Byleth) “No do NOT do that, Sharon.”

It was the night before the ball was to take place.

House Isekai had voted Akira to be the one to represent them in the contest, and were no doubt training for that.

After the faculty meeting, the staff of House Isekai took to their classroom to discuss what they were going to do, which led to...this situation.

(Megumi) “Well, I guess she’s not wrong about that at least. It has been a while since we were able to relax, right?”

(Cocytus) “INDEED. THESE PAST FEW MONTHS HAVE BEEN QUITE TROUBLING FOR US AND THE STUDENTS.”

(Angelica) “Sorta makes you wonder what it’s going to be like after this one...”

Doomguy said nothing but shared the same sentiment by the way he crossed his arms.

(Sara) “Oh come on, what’s with the doom and gloom? Didn’t we JUST say we needed to be relaxing?”

Sara turned to the door.

(Sara) “And it’s pretty rude for you kids to be eavesdropping on us adults!”

Some scuttling was heard outside but then the rest of House Isekai poured into the room.

(Rean) “S-Sorry! We just um...didn’t really know when to come in.”

(Ainz) “And I am sure that some of us are older than you Sara.”

(Minato) “Hey, let’s not forget what we came in here for before we start throwing shit at her.”

(Kazuma) “Yuki, wanna do the honors?”

(Yuki) “Yup!”

Yuki ran up to Byleth and said her piece.

(Yuki) “Byleth-sensei, I overheard from the other Houses that they were planning to meet up again in five years from now for the Millennium Festival! So...I was wondering if we all could do the same!”

(Byleth) “Five years from now...Are you all still going to be around in five years?”

(Yu) “We’ve put some thought into it ourselves, but honestly? Even if we did find a way home before hand, I’m sure we’ll find a way back here to visit.”

(Ainz) “Gods above know that we aren’t done with this place by a long shot...”

(Yuuri) “I guess the real question is Byleth-sensei going to be still teaching?”

Everyone turned to him.

(Rean) “Hah, little hard to imagine Instructor Byleth teaching anyone other than us honestly.”

(Minako) “I wouldn’t feel special anymore, like...he has normal people to teach instead of us!”

Everyone laughed at that.

(Angelica) “Yeah, I guess we are a little abnormal for his standards, aren’t we?”

(Byleth) “But it wouldn’t be the same without you. Sharon scaring the heck out of everyone, Towa being our council president, hearing the bickering between you all and the other students.

Byleth closed his eyes and smiled.

(Byleth) “It’s going to be quiet without you all...That doesn’t sound too bad actually.”

Sharon giggled before clearing her throat.

(Sharon) “Regardless Master Byleth, I think we are all in agreement that we would not want to miss our class reunion for anything.”

Doomguy gestured towards Akira, and it took a moment for everyone to realize what he meant.

(Yuki) “Oh, Slayer are you asking about the ball tomorrow?”

Doomguy nodded.

(Sara) “Ohh that’s right. Have you kids gotten a dance partner tomorrow? If you can’t find someone I suppose I can take pity and-”

(Everyone) “Pass.”

Sara almost choked on her drink as the staff began to laugh.

(Angelica) “Dang, even Sylvain and I haven’t gotten rejected THAT fast before, Instructor!”

(Kazuma) “You’re gonna be too drunk to dance anyway! This is a fancy ball not some dance club!”

(Megumi) “Hah, well I suppose we’ll all find out tomorrow won’t we? That reminds me, Byleth have you ever danced before?”

(Byleth) “...Megumi, do I look like I have?”

(Yuki) “Oh, Megu-nee! You should dance with Byleth!”

Thanks to Yuki’s statement, House Isekai erupted into a shouting match of who was dancing with who, which was eventually joined by all the classmates instead of the House reps.

Though he was getting a headache, Byleth smiled.

He couldn’t have asked for a better House to teach...

...

...

...

Year 1, Ruins in Faerghus territory, nearing the border of the Adrestian Empire…

Byleth blinked rapidly for a few seconds, bringing him back to reality. He had been standing out in the open, staring at Sara’s pistol in his hand.

He sheathed it and shook his head.

If he continued to do that, he would get himself killed. He can’t go thinking of the past out in the open...

Byleth walked alone through the streets of this small town. He didn’t know what it was called.

All he knew was that it was destroyed in the last massive battle that took place here.

Imperial and Kingdom soldiers lay dead as he passed them by, not bothering to check if anyone’s breathing.

He stopped walking after a minute and reached for the Sword of the Creator.

Byleth activated the whip function of his sword before a voice spoke up.

(Man’s Voice) “I’m not here to attack you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Byleth slowly turned around and saw a man dressed in black, leaning against a wall.

It was nighttime and the area was almost pitch black, but Byleth could tell immediately what he was.

(Byleth) “Give me one reason I shouldn’t cut off your head right now, Agarthan.”

(???) “I can give you two, actually. One: Because I’m the first to actually talk to you instead of attacking, unlike the rest of the idiots who tried doing that. I doubt anyone who knew the reputation of the Ashen Demon would even come within a 100 mile radius of you.”

(Byleth) “And two?”

(???) “I can give you the power you seek to destroy the Church. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all.”

(Byleth) “…Just who are you?”

The man stepped forward and the light revealed that he was wearing a mask that covered his face.

(???) “You may call me…Lahabrea.”

(Byleth) “Lahabrea? Doesn’t sound like any other Agarthan name I’ve heard.”

(Lahabrea) “That’s because it isn’t. I refuse to associate myself with them more than I have to.”

(Byleth) “...So what exactly is this power you can give me to destroy Rhea and Edelgard?”

Lahabrea held up a finger.

(Lahabrea) “Just the Church.”

(Byleth) “Right. I forgot you were allied with the Empire.”

Byleth turned around and kept walking.

(Lahabrea) “They are...Well not for long anyway. We have you for that.”

Byleth didn’t respond as Lahabrea kept talking, slowly walking behind him.

(Lahabrea) “...Is that Sara’s pistol you have there?”

Byleth finally stopped.

(Byleth) “...How do you know it’s hers?”

(Lahabrea) “Hm? I thought it fairly obviou-”

(Byleth) “The Agarthans have been focusing their attention on the bigger threats like Valimar or Slayer. And plenty of my students own these weapons, and none of you ever cared enough to know anyone of our House by name, nor has Edelgard spoken much with Sara to know what her pistol looked like and report that to you.”

Byleth turned to face Lahabrea.

(Byleth) “How do you know it’s hers?”

(Lahabrea) “...Let us say for now that I know your friends a bit more than most.”

(Byleth) “...”

(Lahabrea) “It is getting terribly late, is it not? I recommend getting some sleep soon.”

With that, Lahabrea teleported away. Byleth didn’t sense anyone else, and if he would have attacked he would have done so by now.

Byleth sighed and looked at a nearby building with a roof still over it and went inside...

...

An explosion caused Byleth to wake up violently, eyes going wide instantly accompanied with heavy breathing.

After a few moments of silence, he slumped back and sighed.

A distant explosion brightened the dark skies as he got out of a ruined building, stretching.

He stared with indifference to the battle happening far below him.

Imperial and Faerghus soldiers clashed into each other, trying to gain this territory for the war effort.

Byleth would be long gone by the time this battle would end.

He passed by a man dressed in black who was leaning against the door.

(Lahabrea) “Finally awake, I see. And where are we going?”

Byleth walked silently past Lahabrea, holding tightly onto Sara’s pistol as he did.

Byleth did his best to try and push that memory away, but it would always come back to him. The battle of Garreg Mach had only been a month ago, so it’d make sense that they were still fresh in his head.

That fact didn’t make it any more comforting to him.

As he felt rain start to drop onto him, he thought about his plan on how to kill Edelgard and Rhea.

He was one man with a sword against 2 armies that controlled entire parts of Fodlan.

When the rain intensified, he put his jacket over his head and continued.

He heard footsteps behind him splashing in the rain but he refused to let his thoughts break off.

Even with his divine pulse, he would be severely out manned. Without help, he would die before he reached his goal.

(Lahabrea) “You’re headed the wrong way, you know-”

(Byleth) “Why are you following me?”

(Lahabrea) “I’d be lying to you, and you’d be an idiot for believing me if I said I was helping you for completely altruistic reasons. We both want to take Seiros down, but you need to focus hatred to the right people. We need Edelgard alive.”

That made Byleth stop in his tracks completely.

(Byleth) “…What?”

(Lahabrea) “Stop to think about it. Does Edelgard seem like the type to like what us Agarthans did, ESPECIALLY regarding Kronya, Remire village, and your fath-”

Byleth spun around and pointed Sara’s pistol at Lahabrea’s head.

(Lahabrea) “…Forgive my careless words. But my point stands.”

(Byleth) “…”

(Lahabrea) “Edelgard, like myself, actively voiced against attacking those innocents, and anyone of House Isekai. Why do you think she offered her hand to you so many times in the tomb?”

(Byleth) “So she could use us. We would have been tools for the Empire, just like we were tools for the church. Just like you Agarthans are tools for her.”

He stopped aiming the pistol at Lahabrea and continued to walk on his way.

(Lahabrea) “And so you think the Agarthans are completely loyal to her cause? We are to her, as I am to my own organization. We have the same goals, but different ways of achieving it. The demonic beasts that attacked the Monastery, Remire Village, and all those you encountered throughout that year was ours. Your hatred should be focused on the Agarthans, NOT the Empire.”

(Byleth) “Speak plainly of why you’re telling me this, Agarthan.”

(Lahabrea) “Because both Agarthans and Seiros must be put down before we end up blowing up this world all the way to the seven hells with the Javelin of Liberation.”

(Byleth) “…Explain.”

(Lahabrea) “Meet me at House Arundel’s territory, and I will reveal all I know.”

He began to teleport away, but looked at Byleth once more.

(Lahabrea) “Not only will you avenge your friends and family, but you can put an end to this vicious cycle of war that WE started, forever.”

With that, he disappeared.

Byleth stared at Sara’s pistol for a moment before finally holstering it, making his way to House Arundel.

A Few Days Later...

Byleth finally arrived near House Arundel, and found rubble everywhere. Strangely enough, there were no bodies or any sign of combat. Only weapons and shields on the ground where the debris was.

He slowly reached for Sara’s pistol and looked around for any other sign of what happened here.

(Lahabrea) “Ah, about time you showed up.”

Byleth kept his pistol on him as he turned around, but didn’t point it at Lahabrea.

(Byleth) “This your handiwork?”

(Lahabrea) “...No. It wasn’t.”

Byleth noticed that the levity in his voice had disappeared when he said that. He seemed to be as troubled as Byleth.

(Lahabrea) “It seems that this is the Church’s doing...Hmph. It’s worse than I thought.”

Lahabrea began examining the area as well, picking up the swords and looking around the area.

(Byleth) “The Church? But they’re still battling near the borders with Imperial forces. How could they have reached this far into Adrestian territory this early in the war?”

Lahabrea remained silent for a moment before answering Byleth.

(Lahabrea) “So you truly do not know what they’ve been doing?”

(Byleth) “How would I? I’ve always been kept out of the loop since I started teaching House Isekai.”

(Lahabrea) “Hm...Tell me Byleth, do you know about a tower at Zanado?”

(Byleth) “No, not a tower. I remember finding Class VII and the Phantom Thieves there, but no tower.”

(Lahabrea) “Perhaps that is a blessing in disguise then...”

(Byleth) “Enough with these vague answers. Tell me what are you on about, or I’m walking away right now.”

Lahabrea put the sword down onto the ground and sighed.

(Lahabrea) “Fine. Little pieces at a time then. There are weapons that the Church and Those Who Slither were never meant to have. If we do not stop them, then their conflict will obliterate our world. That’s the most immediate threat we have right now.”

(Byleth) “Then what about the other threat?”

(Lahabrea) “We can talk about that when the rest of your House has returned.”

(Byleth) “You have some means of bringing them back?”

(Lahabrea) “I do. But I need your help. Without it, we will not be able to save them.”

(Byleth) “Fine. Now, before we continue, what was that about a Javelin when we last spoke?”

Lahabrea shook his head, facing another direction.

(Lahabrea) “Are you mad? Showing him this crystal could possibly kill him!”

(Byleth) “I don’t think your...friend there is the one that’s mad.”

Lahabrea turned to Byleth. Although he had a mask on, Byleth knew he was glaring daggers at him. After a few moments of silence, Lahabrea turned to Byleth again.

(Lahabrea) “The Javelin of Liberation is a weapon that was supposed to be capable of wiping out this entire world with a single strike.”

(Byleth) “Was?”

(Lahabrea) “Yes. It failed and instead of killing us all instantly, it killed us overtime. It caused some sort of winter where it caused the temperature to drop, slowly freezing us to death.”

(Byleth) “You’re speaking as if this all happened before.”

(Lahabrea) “It did. We’re going to prevent that. Now the Church-”

(Byleth) “Hang on a moment, what do you mean it did? We’re still alive aren’t we? As far as I know, Faerghus is the only place with freezing temperatures-”

(Lahabrea) “It happens in the future, Byleth!”

Lahabrea motioned Byleth to follow him as he went towards the nearby ruins.

As he was moving the rubble aside, trying to find something in the wreckage he continued.

(Lahabrea) “The Agarthans plan to use the Javelin to wipe out the Church and most of the surface world while they continue to thrive underground. But what they don’t realize is that it will kill them too. They’ll doom us all.”

(Byleth) “...And you know for a fact that this happens in the future?”

(Lahabrea) “I was there when it happened.”

(Byleth) “...So, what was that whole bit about that war that ‘we’ started?”

Lahabrea finally cleared the rubble to reveal a stairway. He went down and Byleth followed.

It was a long hallway that they were walking down, Byleth couldn’t see the end of it.

(Lahabrea) “I will get to that in a moment. Now, the Church has access to almost the same technology the Agarthans do, but they’re using it differently.”

Lighting torches with a snap of his fingers, Lahabrea continued.

(Lahabrea) “They’re using ou...my research to modify and mutant humans into abominations that blindly follow orders, in this case, Seiros. What we saw out there is a small taste to come.”

(Byleth) “What so those monsters di-?”

It had just clicked for Byleth.

The reason why there weren’t any bodies or even sign of battle.

(Lahabrea) “They come in, strike quick, then leave as fast as they came. And this is only the beginning.”

Lahabrea finally stopped by a door at the end of the hallway and opened it.

(Lahabrea) “Good, they didn’t find these notes.”

Byleth went into the room and looked around. All there was in the room was a chair in the middle, and a table near the corner that Lahabrea was at.

(Byleth) “What’s on them, Javelin schematics or something?”

(Lahabrea) “No, crest enhancement. This will help us defeat the Church.”

Lahabrea motioned over to the chair.

(Byleth) “...Hang on a second, I didn’t agree to this. My crest is fine as it is. And I don’t trust my life in the hands of someone I don’t know.”

Lahabrea turned to his left.

(Lahabrea) “He has to know. Now, it’s this, or the hard way.”

Lahabrea brought out a small glowing crystal.

(Lahabrea) “Easy way is, I enhance your crest and tell you everything you want to know afterwards. Hard way, you listen to that crystal and experience the pain of several lifetimes at once.”

Byleth furrowed his brow and grabbed the crystal.

(Byleth) “What could it possibly contain to make me-”

“I don’t know if anyone will be seeing this message, whether that be myself or anyone else who comes into this godforsaken tower but…My name is Byleth Eisner. Son of Jeralt Eisner.”

(Byleth) ?!

[Footsteps in the Snow - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

Byleth’s mind grinded to a halt when he heard his voice emitting from the crystal.

When he looked up, Lahabrea reached for his head, softly rubbing it. He appeared to be feeling the same sensation as he did.

The moment that crystal began speaking, a throbbing feeling slowly became more and more present.

“We’re leaving this here in some hopes that this cycle can be broken, and to fix this mistake before it could ever happen…Our memories will be wiped after this, so we want to say everything we can before…before we forget.”

(Byleth) “What...What the hell?!”

As the message continued, Byleth dropped to one knee while Lahabrea did his best to shake off the headache.

(Lahabrea) “You only got yourself to blame!”

When it became clear that Byleth was experiencing the flashes Lahabrea was, Sothis appeared next to him, hands also on her head.

(Sothis) “Ya know, you-agh! Could’ve just told him?”

(Lahabrea) “Oh please, as if he’ll believe that we’re-”

(Byleth) “AAAAAAAAGH!”

Lahabrea and Sothis turned to Byleth, who had a pincer through his stomach.

(Lahabrea) “WHAT THE HELL?!”

He drew out the Sword of the Creator and leapt forward, slicing the attacker in two.

Sothis floated over to Byleth as Lahabrea looked at the thing that had attacked him.

It appeared to be a knight with a mutated pincer, cloaked in white-

(Lahabrea) “THE CHURCH IS STILL HERE?!”

Looking around, it seemed that the Knight was waiting for his moment to strike. He could hear more footsteps on the way.

(Sothis) “Damn it, I knew we should have just left! We can’t Divine Pulse either, he’s immune to it, and who knows what it’ll do to House Isekai! They’re in mid teleportation now!”

Lahabrea rushed to Byleth, putting the crystal in his pocket.

He was struggling to breathe as blood was rushing out, a white aura slowly overtaking his body.

(Lahabrea) “Damn it, we have to teleport him back to the tower!”

(Sothis) “Are you insane?! He’s in the middle of remembering WHILE being transformed into an ‘Angel’! Who knows what that’ll do!”

(Lahabrea) “OUR ONLY HOPE IS DYING IN FRONT OF US, SO IF YOU HAVE A BETTER IDEA I’D BE GLAD TO HEAR IT!”

Sothis shook her head and helped Lahabrea teleport out of House Arundel.

Once they were inside the Zanado tower, Lahabrea began to use a healing spell.

(Sothis) “Not working, it’s starting to spread to other parts of his body!”

Byleth’s hair began to turn white, which made Lahabrea swear under his breath.

The tower began to shake violently as echoes from the past became louder.

As Lahabrea was about to cast another healing spell, the Tower flashed a bright white, blinding all three of them.

When they opened their eyes, they were back at Garreg Mach’s roof, and it felt significantly colder.

Sothis’s eyes went wide as she looked up to the skies.

It was a bright white and grey, in combination with streaks of white light raining down to the ground.

Snow was falling to the floor and it was then she realized where they were.

(Sothis) “We’re in the future where the Javelin fell!”

(Lahabrea) “Damn it, 2 Byleth’s in here in combination of us experiencing the memory is making this even more unstable!”

Byleth’s eye color began to change before Lahabrea was left with no option.

Lahabrea raised his hand up, and a dark energy flowed out of it into Byleth’s body.

The Crest of Flames appeared on Byleth’s hand, slowly transforming into a bright red color.

(Lahabrea) “Sothis, did Yu ever tell you about Marie?!”

Lahabrea grabbed Byleth’s sword and Sara’s pistol as he jumped back. 

Sothis floated over to him and looked confused.

(Sothis) “You mean that hat girl in the Velvet Room? Only a little! What does this have to do with anything?!”

(Lahabrea) “He once told me that Marie was originally going to die, but they let whatever beast that was inside her take control, and beat that thing up to where they saved her!”

(Sothis) “Oh, don’t tell me you-”

Byleth’s body rose into the air, streams of light and dark energy mixing together.

(Lahabrea) “If this works, he’ll become our trump card against the Agarthans and Church!”

(Sothis) “But he’ll still have the angel blood in him, right?! Even if we save him, he’ll still transform!”

(Lahabrea) “We’ll find out a cure later, if we lose him, then all hope is lost!”

Lahabrea held Byleth’s sword tightly, and it powered up in response.

(Lahabrea) “Good, it still works!”

Lahabrea quickly put the pistol onto his belt before Sothis got his attention.

(Sothis) “Byleth!”

[Return to Oblivion - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

Sothis floated to Lahabrea’s side, bringing up a reflective shield around him.

Byleth stopped screaming as his clothes transformed into a dark blue, and his hair transforming back into green.

Wings sprouted from his back, tearing apart his body as he slowly turned into a bright white form, growing larger.

Lahabrea tried to shake off the voices that echoed in the distance, instead focusing on the fight that was about to happen.

“Why did you choose Edelgard, Professor?! Why did you choose to walk this savage, bloody path? I cannot shake this feeling of regret... Regret that I must kill you now.”

Byleth’s form now took on something similar to the Immaculate One’s form, which made Lahabrea hold his weapon tighter. There wasn’t any trace of Byleth in this new form.

This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Professor... I suppose you think you can defeat me. Is that right? But I will never give up. Even if my arms and legs failed me, I would still find a way to move forward. I will smash that false goddess and her minion into the ground! I will fight to free this world from her vile grasp!”

(Sothis) “Is it me, or are these voices getting louder?!”

(Lahabrea) “Ignore it, Sothis! 

Sothis tried her best to ignore it, and finally snapped back to attention seeing Byleth’s new form in front of her.

He was smaller than the Immaculate One, most likely barely half her size, but by no means did that make him any less deadly.

"Teach... You should have chosen me instead of Edelgard. No point in whining about it now, I suppose. Sorry, but I'll be taking the win today."

The angel form of Byleth roared with such force that it made the wind almost push the both of them off. Lahabrea leapt forward with both swords, making the first move.

Wanting, I lie

Too weary to die

His swords were met by a fireball, the heat melting the snow instantly as it forced Byleth back onto the ground.

Too lost to the ice for saving

My sins claim me, untame me

Sothis raised her hand and countered with another fireball that hit Byleth, making him fly backwards.

Eyes wet with tears

Her song in my ears

Byleth roared back and rushed them, claws swinging as he crashed through the railings.

Lahabrea rolled out the way as the entire roof shook, and activated the whip function of the swords.

Broken, faded, how long have I waited

To open my wings

When Byleth came back for another pass, Lahabrea swung the whips at his claws, making Byleth fly back.

Byleth’s mouth opened, shooting out another fireball.

Turn the light on

And let her in. Won't you

Turn the light on

Lahabrea let Sothis’s shield take the blow, pushing him back from the impact.

Sothis got in front  and held both her hands out.

(Sothis) “THORON!”

Turn the light on

You'll never win 'less you

Turn the light on

A stream of lightning rushed out of her hands, Byleth diving out the way and landing back onto the roof.

Turn the light on

The pain won't end 'till you

Turn the light on

(Sothis) “This is getting us nowhere!”

(Lahabrea) “We’re still in the Zanado tower, and this place was formed out of our memories, right?”

(Sothis) “Yeah, its a recreation of whatever happened before the others came into our world!”

(Lahabrea) “In that case- Heed my call...”

The soul longs for oblivion, 

Oblivion

“VALIMAR, THE ASHEN KNIGHT!”

A phantom of Valimar emerged from a dark portal, and hit Byleth with its greatsword.

Byleth roared before being hit by it again, sending it flying upwards.

Valimar landed and turned to Lahabrea before fading away into the same dark portal.

Falling too far for the fear to embrace me

A voice from the past screaming there is no end (no)

A slave to my fate, ever doomed to repeat this

again and again and again and again (yeah, I'm)

(Sothis) “What in the?!”

Lahabrea sheathed one of the swords to have an open hand, the snow drawing into it as he prepared a spell.

(Lahabrea) “Take out the wings with ice spells!”

Falling too fast, no it won't overtake me

A voice from the past echoes loud like a drum (oh, yes)

no more goodbyes, though my heart is still aching

Now open my eyes, one more time, Here I come

Sothis and Lahabrea fired spear-like icicles into the wings of Byleth, making him screech and fall to the roof.

Once he got up, he started to roar.

(Lahabrea) “If I can summon Valimar like that, then we can summon the others to fight with us!”

(Sothis) “Well, it faded away instantly, right?!”

Byleth swung his tail at them, hitting Lahabrea into the railing, almost breaking it and sending him flying off.

The ice made him slide down the stairs, getting stunned for a moment.

(Sothis) “Damn it! Tch, here goes nothing, HOUSE ISEKAI, ANSWER OUR CALL!”

As Byleth walked to Lahabrea, a massive sword suddenly struck his face and made him recoil back in pain.

When Byleth turned back, a phantom of Ainz donning Momon’s armor stood in front of them.

Byleth’s claws lunged forward, Momon deflecting the hit, then each swipe he managed to dodge.

(Lahabrea) “Agh, goddess that hurt!”

(Phantom of Nabe) “Get up.”

Narberal offered her hand and helped up Lahabrea before jumping to Momon’s side.

Before she could make an attack, Byleth shot a fireball point blank, incinerating the two into a dark energy.

Lahabrea activated the whip function and swung at the arm, making a deep cut and making Byleth roar in pain.

When Byleth tried to stand on the arm, he limped over.

(Sothis) “Just how powerful did your past self make that mutation?!”

(Lahabrea) “It’s not helping that it’s enhanced by church magic, or whatever it is!”

Byleth charged up another fireball, forcing Lahabrea to strain the Tower’s energy.

(Lahabrea) “PERSONA!”

Arsene, Thanatos, and Izanagi appeared in front of Lahabrea, all casting a protective spell around them as the fireball set the entire roof ablaze.

The two couldn’t even see the snow on the roof anymore with all the smoke and fire engulfing them.

Reason resigned

Dark seasons' design

“I'm...dying for someone else? I can't believe this.”

As the Personas faded away, Sothis, Byleth and Lahabrea tried to shake off the voices that had returned.

Spring's promise of sun is honored

When winter's weighed down on us

(Lahabrea) “Come on, not now!”

Darkness erupted from Byleth’s mouth, and it seem he was stunned.

Visions in white

Raw fury in flight

(Lahabrea) “The crest enhancements created an opening!”

He sheathed one sword and grabbed the pistol throwing it up into the air.

A phantom of Sara and Sharon emerged above them, Sara grabbing the pistol.

(Sara & Sharon) “ARCUS, ACTIVATE!”

Clear as diamond, yet fragile as ice

My heart is racing

Lahabrea was about to join them before being dropped to a knee, hearing more voices yell out.

“Your Majesty, I die so that...you may seize your destiny.”

“Your Highness. Somehow you must...”

The phantoms sped around Byleth, cutting at specific locations to make him drop to the floor, unable to fight properly.

Turn the light on

And let her in. Won't you

Turn the light on

(Sothis) “H-Hey! We’re supposed to be just beating him up, right?!”

(Phantom of Sharon) “Not to worry, Miss Sothis!”

Sharon pulled the wires in her hands back, completely enwrapping Byleth in them.

Turn the light on

You'll never win 'less you

Turn the light on

Sharon bowed as Sara winked, their phantoms disappearing.

The pistol dropped onto the floor as Byleth struggled to break free, clearly on the breaking point.

Turn the light on

The pain won't end 'till you

Turn the light on

(Lahabrea) “Right, let’s finish this! DO IT!”

Sothis began to glow a bright yellow as Byleth finally broke free of the wires and was about to charge at them before a phantom of Doomguy emerged from a portal and hit the side of his head, making him fall over.

He launched an ice grenade from his shoulder cannon as a smaller phantom appeared below him.

(Phantom of Kurumi) “I GOT THIS!”

The soul longs for oblivion,

Oblivion

The grenade exploded, freezing his back leg into place, making sure he wasn’t able to move for a few more moments. The phantom of Kurumi struck his eye with her shovel, making him stunned for longer.

They both nodded as they faded away.

Falling too far for the fear to embrace me

A voice from the past screaming there is no end (no)

A slave to my fate, ever doomed to repeat this

again and again and again and again (yeah, I'm)

Sothis cast one last fire spell that enveloped Byleth, preparing for the final hit.

(Sothis) “We just say the move and the tower will fill in the rest right?”

(Lahabrea) “Yeah- Wait, you’re not going to do what I-”

Falling too fast, but the fall will not break me

A voice from the past echoes loud like a drum (oh, yes)

no more goodbyes, I am tired of waiting

Now open my eyes, one last time, Here I come

(Sothis) 

“EXPLOOOOOOOOSION!”

A bright white ball formed in front of Byleth, then erupted into an inferno that blasted the entire rooftop apart, with Sothis barely forming a shield around them.

Their vision was completely enveloped into a blinding white as they felt their bodies tumble onto a smooth floor.

When Lahabrea opened his eyes, he struggled to get up as he winced in pain, looking over to Byleth’s location.

Byleth was extremely bruised, but other than that he was fine. Though the white hair was still concerning.

Lahabrea was looking around, and sure enough they were back in the Zanado tower.

[Tears in the Rain - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

Sothis collapsed onto the floor, heavily breathing.

(Sothis) “No...No wonder she always passes out after casting that!”

Lahabrea tried to warm himself up after fighting in that cold. He finally had time to realize just how low the temperatures were in that world.

And it also made him realize that those who weren’t killed initially by the blast most likely froze to death.

(Lahabrea) “...We have to ensure that our world won’t end up like that, Sothis.”

(Sothis) “...Yeah.”

She floated over to Byleth and began examining him while Lahabrea took off his mask and began casting a healing spell.

(Sothis) “Knocked out hard. But he’ll live.”

She then turned her attention to the Angel blood inside him.

(Sothis) “...For now. Whatever we did worked.”

Lahabrea finished healing and looked at his own hands.

(Lahabrea) “To be honest, I don’t know how I managed to summon everyone like that.”

He turned around and thought of the very first person that came to mind.

(Lahabrea) “Edelgard.”

An older Edelgard appeared in front of him, standing completely still.

Lahabrea waved his hand in front of her face, but she didn’t respond. After a few moments, she quickly disappeared.

(Sothis) “The longer we’re in this tower, the more questions I seem to have. How did any of this even happen?”

(Lahabrea) “It most likely has to deal with our memories. Since our past self remembered what the world was like when the Javelin hit, we were...transported there because of it I think.”

He pulled out the crystal again and stared at it. When he did, he heard the voices of that timeline softly echo.

(Sothis) “Maybe, Byleth was overwhelmed by the flood of memories that he created an area similar to it with the tower?”

(Lahabrea) “That seems likely. But it seems having two Byleth’s in here is too dangerous. We were lucky we didn’t get the other Sothis back yet.”

Lahabrea picked Byleth up and was ready to teleport him out of there.

(Lahabrea) “In combination with the memories, this angel inside of him may corrupt him into something far deadlier...”

(Sothis) “Then there’s a chance he may die.”

(Lahabrea) “...That’s something we’re going to have to risk.”

Sothis looked uncomfortable with that answer.

(Sothis) “His Sothis won’t be happy to hear that. Neither will House Isekai...”

(Lahabrea) “One thing at a time. We’ll tell them when they’re ready. For now, we must tend to his injuries in a safer spot.”

Lahabrea put the crystal into a nearby pedestal and teleported away with Sothis.

...

...

...

(Claude) “I think that’s the end of that...memory or whatever.”

Everyone looked away from the crystal mirror and tried to understand what they just witnessed.

(Yosuke) “So that Lahabrea guy we’ve been seeing...He’s Byleth?!”

(Teddie) “And Sothis is with him too!”

(Ignatz) “The Goddess doesn’t look anything like that!”

(Lorenz) “I suppose the question to be asking is what DO we know? This tower has never been here to our knowledge, Lahabrea is able to materialize your classmates into existence, AND has the power of the goddess and time on his side!”

(Kanji) “In other words, we don’t know shit...”

(Rise) “Eloquently put, Kanji...”

(Naoto) “They’re right. We need to keep investigating before we make any assumptions. The most we have right now is our memories future and past being displayed with echoes.”

(Yu) “Besides, we’ve just begun the investigation right?”

(Hilda) “Hey, I found that crystal that Lahabrea guy was talking about.”

As soon as she got near the pedestal, a door opened up behind it.

(Chie) “Uh...What’s that?”

(Yukiko) “Should we open it?”

(Raphael) “Well we aren’t going anywhere by not opening it.”

(Leonie) “W-Wait a second!”

Raphael opened the door and walked in, everyone rushing in behind.

(Lysithea) “YOU IDIOT, DON’T JUST GO...and...”

(Marianne) “By the goddess...!”

Everyone was awestruck by the room they had walked into.

The staggering heights the ceiling went to, with the crystal in the wall illuminating the entire tower. It was the most beautiful and sinister thing they had ever seen.

(Claude) “Well, it certainly won’t be a dull time that’s for sure.”

(Yu) “Everyone, let’s get moving!”

====

Part 1: END

[This Beautiful Cruel World - Attack On Titan OST]

Your dream is where your heart is

It’s something more fragile than life itself

No matter how many times you throw it away, you still find it

So rest in peace now

Your wish is violated by your pulsing urge

and as much as you forget about it, you recall it again

In this beautiful and cruel world

We only ask “why” we’re still alive…

Ah, what are we going to protect

with our strength and weakness? If reason no longer exists

TO BE CONTINUED IN:

[sajiri]

Evolution of an OC

Here I am to show how one of my favourite OCs has grown and developed over time. Of course, it’s Dijana.

A little background, typically when I play games, I have character archetypes that I recreate until I end up developing a story for them, and then I leave them in that media. So the ‘original’ Dijana, was my character archetype of ‘dark, evil magic user’. The name ‘Dijana’ means heavenly, divine, so it was meant to be ironic. She was never an evil character, just used dark or forbidden types of magic.

So lets begin.

Final Fantasy XI

There wasnt really customisation in this game. You had a few preset faces, each with 2 different haircolours. This was the one I chose. I don’t have a screenshot from that, but lets just say, that specific face looked terrible in game. Hurhur

Dijana was originally a hume. Going with the forbidden magic theme, she was a summoner. I eventually learnt about dat editing, so swapped her out for a shorter, pink haired model.

I had/have a developed storyline for this characer, and she still exists even though I’m not actively playing FFXI anymore. I eventually changed from Summoner main, to Dancer main. Here’s poopy old chibi sketches from 15 years ago.

FINAL FANTASY XIV

FFXIV 1.0 essentially recreated all the races and faces from FFXI...except for that one over the shoulder hairstyle for hume/hyur. So I went with the short haired style. There was no summoner or dancer back then, so I started as marauder in the alpha and beta tests (yes I’ve been playing that long). After the wipe and leading into official launch, I went archer instead.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN

Still the same looking hyur that she’s been forever. I was excited for SMN release, but it didn’t match Dijana’s established history going all the way back to XI. I instead leveled as SCH, but went back to BRD.

During this time, Dijana’s story just...didn’t really convert well from XI to XIV. I RP’d a bit with her, she married a miqo’te man (no not G’raha), and eventually decided to finally try some new hairs and looks. She was still always pink haired white girl though.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: HEAVENSWARD

Ahh Heavensward. I wasn’t really into the idea of playing a lizard girl, but I didn’t like midlander’s princess run. I was very interested in Au Ra’s lore though, so as soon as the first expansion launched, I bit the bullet and race changed.

I essentially just tried to duplicate her look as an au ra, but I alternated between raen and xaela a whole lot. I could never decide which I liked more- lore wise it was xaela, but aesthetics (for the more vibrant tones) it was raen.

I started to gradually sort out her story a bit more, and decided IC she was mixed- raen mother and xaela father. I bought so many fantasias back then changing back and forth, and gradually making her skin darker each time. Also decided I didnt like the fish horns.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: STORMBLOOD

This is when I finally decided to sort out her character story and settled on staying as a xaela. Going into SB, I knew we’d be going to the Azim Steppe, so I went through the xaela tribes info to decide which tribe she was initially born to. I decided on Oronir as the most suitable, and so when I finally made it to the Steppe, I wanted to find a xaela man who most resembled Dijana, even if it was an unnamed npc, and make that her long lost father. Who did I find? Freaking Magnai. Obviously he is too young to be her father...and uh...cant seem to find a woman anyway, so he is her half brother.

I stopped doing any RP on Dijana during this time. To cut a long story short, my rp partner and Dijana’s husband decided he was going to rp out an ‘alternate’ timeline with another friend of his, after we agreed no romance RP with others on our mains, and made a far more detailed storyline than we had in years. Lets just say my feelings were pretty hurt, so I decided that Dijana’s storyline would not involve other player characters, only NPCs.

And because I love to torture my own characters, she was pining after G’raha Tia, who had locked himself away in the tower, never to be seen again.

Well, look how that turned out.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: SHADOWBRINGERS

By now, Dijana has a dedicated storyline without me constantly unsure wtf I’m doing. I discovered mods by now, so making Dijana look more how I imagine is much easier. Unfortunately, feels like all the hair mods I like don’t have working highlights :I So Dijana’s blonde/gold tipped hair doesnt really get to be seen much. But the best part? FREAKING FINALLY I GOT DANCER

Crystal Exarch’s presence in this expansion obviously threw a wrench into the plan of ‘lets make my character as miserable as possible’ but what the hell, now I can take sappy screenshots.

And now we are all caught up. Pink haired human to dusky lizard girl.

[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.”

[wyrmmaster]

what are your top 3 to 5 favorite jobs in xiv? mine have drastically changed since ShB started so im curious if yours did too

Mmm, this a hard question honestly

For context I’ve played since the absolute ass-end of Gordias and from there I mained WHM and eventually leveled DRK and SCH/SMN by A8-12 release but stopped shortly after

Came back and mained WHM again in Stormblood but pretty much quit the expansion almost immediately and didn’t come back until Shadowbringers was gonna drop

Started WHM main in Shadowbringers but finally decided I was gonna try and raid seriously (Shadowbringers hooked me hardcore)

Attached myself to my friend's group and ended up healing or tanking most of the time, filling in for their SCH as a SCH or AST or GNB OT as a DRK, I had to fill as a whm once but flopped a bit because I was out of practice (We cleared BUT)

Eventually I ended up full time replacing thr GNB OT as a DRK and that’s what I main now, but I started levelling other jobs in earnest and fiddling with them in raids

I’d say DRK is still absolutely my favorite tank, with WAR then GNB after, PLD last

SAM my favorite melee, then NIN, DRG, and MNK

DNC easily my favorite physical ranged, them MCH

SMN my favorite caster, then RDM then BLM

AST my favorite healer then SCH then WHM

top 5 just off fun looking something like

DRK

AST

SCH

WAR

SMN