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valena-nedela · 2 months ago

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Valena Nedela

Bearer of the Echo, Warrior of Light

Werlytian Raen Au Ra

4'9"

She/Her Cis Female, Polyamorous Lesbian

Nameday: 1550/4/19 (while she is 27 chronologically, she appears younger - inspection of her aether by Urianger and Papalymo has inexplicably placed her age as 22)

Patron: Nymeia

Chocobo: Ylimancha (female, ice blue)

Canon Jobs (by Dawntrail): DRK, NIN, RPR, WHM, SCH, SGE, BRD, DNC, BLM, SMN, RDM, BLU

She remembers walking into Gridania, and it was the first time she had been there.

She remembers riding a chocobo-carriage into Gridania, and it was the first time she had been there.

She was born in 1550. She knows this because her father was killed when she was two, during Baelsar’s purge of the rebels that assassinated the previous imperial governor. That makes her twenty-seven.

She has only counted twenty-two namedays in her life, and five years of time are missing.

Sometimes exploring her past triggers severe headaches. Sometimes she has terrible nightmares and she’s sure they’re about what happened in that missing time, but she can never remember anything of them. Even with Mikoto’s aid, that span remains a mystery to her.

There are some things Valena could be certain of, though: She was a refugee of the Garlean occupation of Werlyt. She witnessed firsthand the cruelty of the Garleans, which they hid behind claims of sophistication and progress. They grew too hungry too quickly, and in their haste to make total their mastery of Doma, they left naught but a token security force in Werlyt. Rebellion stirred, the imperial governor was killed and the capital retaken. But it was not to last — Baelsar led a force back from Doma, and reclaimed Werlyt with swift, brutal efficiency. Her mother swore, until the last time Valena ever saw her, that her father had been innocent.

In 1567 the Garleans had been accelerating their conscription of provincial citizens, and being over the age of 16, Valena was a potential candidate. Her mother had already begun quietly seeking out a way to get her out of Garlean-controlled territory, but before she could act, events forced her hand. An epidemic swept across Werlyt and the Garleans, in an effort to contain it, further restricted non-citizens. While the locals were not abandoned or actively mistreated, they were prohibited from leaving the province, and priority was given to the health and safety of Garlean citizens and collaborators.

Both fearing the spreading disease and seeing the opportunity it presented in keeping the Garleans occupied, the women made their move. After a tearful goodbye, Valena was spirited out of Werlyt aboard a smuggler’s ship, and spent some years roaming from port to port, unsure of what to do with herself and gradually selling off what heirlooms and trinkets her mother had been able to send with her to survive.

Those years roaming are where her memories begin to grow hazy and uncertain, but knows she decided to do something about Garlemald. They couldn’t use magic, after all, perhaps that could prove a weak point? She’d heard that Eorzea not only had numerous magical traditions among its people, but it was also the resting-place of a number of “lost” forms of magic. She was only able to attach a location to one of those “lost” magics — White Magic, still practiced secretly by the padjal of the Black Shroud.

She set out towards Gridania, but no longer knows how she arrived.

Valena is a jack-of-all-trades, picking up at least a smattering of knowledge for whatever role she might need to play, though she prefers the role of healer. She doesn’t consistently adventure with the rest of the party, since she tends to be dragged into higher-stakes situations, but they tend to be the ones who join her in dungeons and major battles, along with Narumi.

« Valeriane ● Valley ● Valys ● Vavalenu »

#ffxiv #ff14 #final fantasy xiv #final fantasy 14 #ffxiv oc #final fantasy #warrior of light #ff14 wol #ffxiv wol #au ra #ffxiv au ra #au ra raen #ff14 au ra #character backstory #character lore

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alyss-spazz-penedo · 19 days ago

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The flowers laid on your empty grave bloom bright across your skin

FFVII and Magi/Adventures of Sinbad crossover concept dump:

Cloud isn't interested in power or Kingship. He isn't interested in much of anything these days, really, save learning more about the latest world he's ended up in and maybe repaying a few inadvertent debts.

Unfortunately, this attitude means that the irritating, obstinate Djinn refuses to either accept him as a King or release him from it's Dungeon.

Cloud wanders the worlds as a largely immortal mercenary-of-sorts (bc of the mako, it acts as a Rukh-drawing substance in the world of Magi, and he's been in so much of it that it basically IS his blood now? Idk it's basically lifestream, it just follows different rules.) It means that he won't wither even if he doesn't eat, and that he can't die of exhaustion (though he CAN feel all of it, and it's uncomfortable.)

He's haunted by Aerith, who's a green-Rukh shadow that he personally can't see (but Magi and magicians can; instead of hovering Rukh-birds, it looks like there are flowers blooming all over him).

So he ends up in the Magi world through *shenanigans* and travels around a bit, learning as he goes? And he desperately wants his motorcycle back (they don't even have chocobos here) and maybe he washes up on the shores of Imuchakk where someone 'saves' him and tells him that it's a miracle he's alive! It's a really good thing they splurged on that medicine, or he might not have made it. (They saw his sword and figured he must be strong; the warrior who lugged he thing up struggled with it, but Cloud has a sheathe for it on his back so he must walk around with it normally even though he's tiny. Their cultural values dictate that he be given care.)

He didn't need the help—he would've been up in a few days, tops, no matter what they did—but now he's in their debt. This is a family of modest means, and they spent a hefty of their savings on him. Their kindness should be rewarded; he feels obligated to pay them back somehow.

There aren't a lot of very lucrative opportunities in this tribe though, unless he turns to piracy. It's an unappealing thought; he's done all kinds of work for a bit of coin before (save going to war—he'll starve and suffer before he enters that kind of battlefield again, no matter what the cause), but killing people has always been his last resort, and he charges extra for it when he can.

So he stays and works small jobs, going slowly.

~o0o~

He's talking to Aerith (who is less a voice in his head and more a gentle, chiding presence) when he feels eyes on him.

His weird Aerith-flowers and mana-not-magoi have attracted the attention of Yunan. Cloud catches the man staring (he still has his materia, and Sense is an ever-useful spell, so he sniffs Yunan right out when he feels someone watching him—to Yunan, one of the oddly colored flower buds on Cloud’s sword suddenly blooms and releases a hum of energy too fast for the man to cloak himself, and suddenly he has an aggressive SOLDIER all up in his face or smtg) and confronts him.

Yunan plays it off as interest in his sword. Is he really strong enough to use it properly?

Cloud lays one hand on the hilt. "Are you looking to find out?"

Yunan laughs, then says that he couldn't help but hear that Cloud was looking for ways to make a lot of money. Cloud warily affirms this. Yunan says that, if he really is a strong guy, he should try the Dungeon that-a-ways. They're mysterious and magical places, Dungeons, but there's a lot of power and treasure to be had if you can survive the dangers.

Cloud, savvy in various worlds and with some idea of what treasure-filled dungeons are like, thinks...

This is a pretty good idea.

So he asks around a bit, and finds out more about this dangerous place that people are forbidden from going into bc no one has ever come back. But he isn't someone the Imuchakk Chief commands, and he does not consider himself beholden to their laws; so off he goes.

He gets in and fights his way through the ice maze—not quite with ease, but extremely competently. He makes it to the treasure room and meets Valefor.

He doesn't want Valefor, though. He's not interested in the Djinn's power or being King of anything at all.

So Valefor refuses to accept him. And so the Dungeon continues on uncleared, with Cloud still trapped inside.

~(end of prologue I guess)~

Sinbad and Hinahoho enter the Dungeon just like in canon and meet Cloud, who introduces himself as a mercenary who's been stuck here a while. He offers to guide them through the Dungeon in exchange for a portion of the treasure, should one of them manage to clear it.

Neither of them are much interested in the treasure, only the power, so they agree, and Cloud leads them off with a warning of, "Be careful, the floor's slippery."

~o0o~

"I said I would guide you through the dungeon. I never said anything about fellow dungeon conquerors." Cloud raises his voice a little, just to be sure the other group can hear him. "Honestly I'd prefer it if you all didn't try to kill each other right now," more people making to the Treasure Room means it's more likely Valefor will actually pick someone, after all, "but I'm not going to get in your way either. Hurry up and fight if you're going to, and I'll see about leading whoever's left through the dungeon."

~o0o~

"Alright, this part we'll have to swim through," Cloud warns. He motions into the depths of the deceptively clear pool, where a tunnel through the stone is submerged. "There are a few monsters down there. I've made a deal with the master of this place—it's inhabitants won't attack me and I won't attack them—but that doesn't apply to you. So you lot are going to have to figure out how you intend to get past it on your own. I'll wait."

"What's up with those graves?" Vittel sounds more aggressive than bemused.

"Oh. They're the bodies of people who've wandered in here before."

"Those on the water... are those Imuchakk funeral boats?" Hinahoho frowns at the charred husks of wood bobbing in a calm section of the lake. Fortunately, he doesn't seem offended.

"Yes. It seemed right. Their remains were identifiable." Cloud looks away. "The buried ones were not."

"Wait, you made all of these?"

The lady of the group hums softly as they all take a moment to eye the veritable forest of stone graves. There had been a lot of skeletons lying around, forgotten in various nooks and crannies. Collectively, the party looks at him with vaguely disbelieving expressions.

"I... had a lot of time on my hands." And a passing respect for the dead.

“How long have you been in here?” Hinahoho breathes, aghast. Cloud shrugs.

Valefor had mentioned, during one of the instances that the solitude wore at him enough for Cloud to seek out the djinn’s company, that time works differently in Dungeons.

Any amount of time might have passed in the world outside. Days, weeks, years, mere minutes?

But for Cloud, in here, it’s probably been months. Barely anything, considering how long he's already been alive.

~o0o~

"Who," the magnificent, towering form of Valefor booms, "would be King?"

One baleful eye peers down at the humans gathered at his feet. Two whole seconds later, the visage deflates into something casual and much less awe-inspiring."Tch, it's just you again, you nuisance?"

Cloud ignores the petulant grumbling with an ease that comes of exposure. "I brought some people to see you."

"Yes, yes," Valefor huffs. "Another unimpressive lot whose hands you held through my lovely dungeon. Bah. I should disqualify them all for that alone."

"Hey!" The little bandaged boy snaps up at the being.

"But perhaps a wager, hmm?" Valefor says, ignoring the outburst entirely. A vein twitches at Ja'far's temple. "If any of them can prove themselves better than you, I'll given them due consideration."

"Don't involve me in this." Cloud scowls up at Valefor. "You know I want someone to pass, right?"

"So you won't be trying to kill anyone?" The djinn gives a toothy, unfriendly grin. "You've already taken most of the challenge out of this place, you know. Take some responsibility, you brat." At Cloud's mulish silence, Valefor harrumphs. "How about this, then: if you don't play along, I won't choose any of these candidates. They won't have shown they're worthy of me."

"..." Cloud lowers his hand from his sword's hilt. "Fine."

"Alrighty then!" Valefor rubs his paws together in gleeful anticipation. "Then, candidates, this is your trial: see that pink ribbon on the pest's arm?" Everyone looks right at it. Cloud raises a protective hand self-consciously, not liking where this is going at all. Valefor's grin widens malevolently. "I don't care what happens to it, if it gets damaged or even destroyed, so long as you get it off him. The one who does so will be King."

"Oi!" Cloud snaps up at the djinn. Valefor cackles in reply.

"As you can see, he won't make it easy! So go as wild as you like." The wolf-like being settles down with the air of someone anticipating a good show. "There's no time limit or anything-"

"Valefor!" Cloud shouts, fingers clamping over Aerith's ribbon in a grip that would bruise on a normal person.

The djinn huffs, put-out. "Will you watch these children wither away and die slowly like all the previous ones, then? Play your part, Cloud."

That shuts the man up. A stricken look passes over his face, for all of a half-second before Ja'far pounces.

~o0o~

All six of them working together might be enough to overwhelm him, but they keep getting in each other’s way. Sinbad only manages to blast off one lightning strike (which Cloud countered with a quick Wall spell) before the others collectively take steps to ensure the boy doesn’t get the opportunity to do it again.

They go at it for hours, long enough for Valefor to start yawning and floating aimlessly. Eventually, though, things are finally start winding down.

“How the hell are you still standing?!” Ja’far pants, somehow drumming up the energy for anger when he can’t even get to his feet without shaking. “Are you secretly some kind of Dungeon monster or something?”

"You guys are hardly giving it your best showing-" Cloud starts to deflect, but Valefor interrupts him.

”I don’t appreciate my creatures being compared to this pest,” the djinn pipes up. He’s still floating above their heads in his less flattering form, looking bored and occasionally tossing quips. “But at this point, you're not precisely wrong. After all, my little ones are designed to live off of the magoi of the Dungeon; this annoyance has survived in here so long with no food because he’s doing the same.”

“What?!” Cloud winces at the collective shout. Fuck.

”Yup. So you lot, who have no such ability or the resources to match it, can’t possibly hope to outlast this guy. Better give everything you’ve got all at once!” The djinn leans forward on it’s elbows. “Otherwise you’ll all fail and start dying of exhaustion. I suppose that seeing who’s the last alive is also a way to narrow down my options, but it’ll be awfully tiresome to wait that long.”

So Valefor keeps goading them into attacking Cloud (who mostly fights defensively and occasionally lashes out to knock down someone attacking him) and, when one of them *cough Sinbad cough* gets the bright idea to just ask for the ribbon instead (Cloud wants someone to pass, right? So as long as the thing is returned unharmed, he wins too) Valefor taunts them into fighting each other for it.

"For a supposedly ancient djinn," Cloud remarks, mostly to himself, "your tactics sure are juvenile."

Sinbad gives him a piercing look. Sharp ears, that boy.

~o0o~

Eventually, Sinbad convinces the assassins to join his side by telling him of his dream to build a kingdom and offering them a place in it.

"You're included too, Cloud," Sinbad offers, bright-eyed and earnest. Cloud lifts a single eyebrow. If this is a ploy to get him to lower his guard, it's a fairly convincing one.

"No thanks. The only king I'm looking for is the one who'll make big, blue and fuzzy up there let me out."

Then Falan makes her move, and turns the three assassins into a giant monster a la canon. Valefor, who was intending to watch the candidates die of exhaustion if they couldn't figure this out, changes the task to defeating the Al Thamen mage, but the three unaffected candidates are utterly exhausted. Sin is on his last legs, having burned a fair chunk of his magoi in a few potshots at Cloud, but he still finds the strength to stop Cloud from blasting the Black Djinn bc that would kill those inside. The boy pulls out a plan to separate them and save the assassins instead, which the group follows, and it works. Even when Ja'far reforms into the beast, Sin manages to save him too.

~o0o~

Etc, etc, the trial's back on, everyone defers to Sin and agrees that he should get the Djinn's power. Cloud very reluctantly hands over the Ribbon, then immediately snatches it back after a tense five seconds. Valefor acknowledges Sin, Sham Lash's ambush forces outside the Dungeon get utterly wrecked by Cloud's Comet, and they split the treasure so the Cloud gets a significant chunk of gold, as promised.

Before they part ways (bc Cloud having no intention of serving Sin no matter how the boy wheedles), someone asks Cloud what he intends to do with his share of the treasure.

He has some debts to repay, the man answers. And... well, he really misses his motorcycle, so he's going to rebuild it now that he has the funds for all the metal and tools he'll have to commission.

(He knows some smithing, he'll figure it out. Fenrir the ...twelveth? Is waiting to be built.)

~o0o~

Idk some kind of Magi-canon epilogue where Cloud becomes the go-to messenger guy (herald? courier?) for Sinbad, king of Sindria, bc of how fast and relentlessly he can travel and bc Sin is determined to get Cloud in his employ somehow.

That or he's hunting down Alibaba, son of Rashid, to hear his side of the story bc Abmhad fed Sinbad a story that doesn't remotely mesh with what Rashid had to say about his youngest, and Sinbad's willing to part with a bit of coin hire Cloud to find the truth. (Maybe both, in a scene where Cloud comes back from a delivery to Artemyra—the ravine gives him no trouble, really—and finds that Sinbad has another job for him: Track down Alibaba—who didn't even change his name, honestly—and offer him a place in Sindria if his story's sympathetic.)

Notes:

- People came into the Dungeon before Sinbad's group, and Cloud tried to keep them alive. He was keeping them safe but not fed well, so they wasted away. Failing to come up with a solution, he went to confront Valefor and demand the Djinn let them out, possibly by accepting him as King.

But the Djinn has watched countless people fail and die. It's not a being moved by pity, only strength of character. And Cloud doesn't pass muster.

Valefor refused. Cloud tried to kill it. Valefor sort-of killed him back—the stagnation he commands is like a Slow spell that Cloud can counter with Haste and Esuna, but their stamina is both pretty much limitless in the magoi-laden Dungeon and Valefor has the upper hand in both strength and speed of regeneration. Cloud goes down first.

To Valefor's surprise, Cloud woke up a day or two later, pulling himself back together from the broken mess the Djinn had left his body in. The people he'd tried to save were huddled in the Treasure Room and pretty much on the verge of death now, having been too afraid to venture through the Dungeon without his protection; he learns of Imuchakk funerary rites from them, and does his best once they pass on.

(He can't save them. His blood and flesh are too mako-poisoned for them to eat, the Dungeon creatures are more magoi than actual nutrients, and the water only buys them a week or so of time. The mortals live until their last days in the hope that someone else will enter the Dungeon, someone capable of clearing it where they've all failed, who will save them.

No one does.)

- (Cloud warming up to Sinbad)

“...No? Nothing?” Sinbad looks childishly disappointed at Cloud's deadpan response to his bad joke.

“Your sense of humor needs work.”

The King harrumphs. “I’ll get you to laugh someday, I’m sure.”

“If you say so.”

“I‘m perfectly capable of it. I built this entire kingdom, you know,” Sinbad waspishly points out.

“How impressive,” Cloud comments, in his most unimpressed tone, just to see the pout that earns him. One side of his lips angles up in the slightest of smiles.

#cleaning out my old notes #fanfic #should I post this to ao3?#adventures of sinbad #magi the labyrinth of magic #ffvii #cloud strife #magi hinahoho #magi sinbad #magi jafar #my writing

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