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lunarosewood23 · 20 days

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FFXVIWrite2024 Prompt 1: Steer

Crossover hell (XIV -> XVI) ft @inkblood-mistrieu’s girl Mingxia and her polycule. Set at some point between 868 and 873 (their arrival and the start of the game). Raven meets with her oath siblings to swap intel and figure out just how they’re supposed to navigate the Valisthean political scene.

Word Count: 1869

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“Your Majesty, the dignitaries have arrived.” A guard alerted her.

Raven sighed as she settled herself upon her makeshift throne. “Very well, send them in.”

The guard nodded as Haurchefant rubbed her shoulder in assurance.

“Everything will be fine Améthyste.”

“I know, but I'm still concerned. We still have yet to find Bahamut and his Dominant, and our little kingdom is still not strong enough to stand on its own. If Sanbreque comes-”

“Won't that make our job easier then? After all Ratatoskr did say that the Empire used him in war...”

“Even still-”

“Your Majesty! May I present to you the Four Lords of the Ruby Chain.”

Raven’s head shot up. The Four Lords?? Does that mean...?

She had to stop herself from shrieking when she saw them as four familiar people strode into her throne room. Two Elezen men, an Au Ra woman and a Hyuran woman, all dressed in garb that reminded her of the auspices whose name they shared.

She rose from her throne with a grin as the Hyuran woman almost ran forward and jumped up to hug her around her neck.

“Thank the gods across the stars!! It's so good to see you Mingxia!” Raven exclaimed as she swung Mingxia in her arms and ran her taloned fingers through her long black and blue hair. She set her down only to hug the rest of them. “And all of you too!”

“Good to see you too Princess.” The Elezen with white hair laughed as she hugged him, lightly whacking him upside the head.

“Foulques be nice.” The Au Ra laughed as she squeezed Raven tightly, her tail reaching over to swat Foulques’s butt.

“Were you not told that it’d be us?” The Elezen with black hair inquired.

“I freaking wish Floriano.” Raven grumbled. “But I can’t fault them for assuming it was Sanbreque, since they are the nation next to us, even as they seem unaware of our presence so far.”

“Curious I will admit.” The Au Ra mused as she ran her scaled fingers through her short black hair and away from her horns. “But good for you I think? We seem to have caught at least a little attention of the Crystalline Dominion and the Dhalmekian Republic.”

“The Dominion is the one with the Wind crystal and the Republic is the one with the earth crystal, right?” Raven asked.

“Right. Though I know I was careful in my slip through of both places...”

“It’s probably my fault Rukia.” Mingxia stated as she rubbed the back of her head. “We had been playing with our magic a bit lately.”

“I don’t think so, but we can figure that out later.” Foulques stated. “Right now we need to figure out how to best navigate the Valisthean political structures here. What have you two found?”

Raven sighed as she waved her hand for them to follow her. “Come on, we’re going to the parlor to talk.”

They nodded and followed, thankful that Raven’s estate is easier to navigate than the castles they had seen in Dhalmekia and the Dominion. The room she led them to was spacious but comfortable, with a table holding tea and light finger foods.

They all settled in and Raven sighed.

“Based on what the locals of my kingdom have told me, Sanbreque is basically Ishgard. A theocracy, though it seems that not only do they worship the dragons, seeing as their Eikon is Bahamut, but the Emperor is one greedy son of a bitch. The vibe I get from him is Thordan, even though I’ve yet to meet the man. Though the second I can, I’m snatching Bahamut’s Dominant out of there.”

“According to my journal, Bahamut is the one who called us here to this world.” Mingxia explained as she flipped open her quest log. “Though I still struggle to understand how he got here.”

“Ratatoskr recognized his song mixed in with the melodies of this world, so we can confirm it’s the Bahamut from the Source, though as for how he got here...we can only suspect Ascian involvement. When we get back I’m gonna have one very long conversation with Hades about all this.”

“Good idea.” Rukia nodded. “What do we know of the other nations?”

Haurchefant pulled out a map of Valisthea and spread it out. “According to some of our men, until about eight years ago there were six kingdoms. The Holy Empire of Sanbreque, The Grand Dutchy of Rosaria, The Dhalmekian Republic, The Iron Kingdom, The Crystalline Dominion, and the Kingdom of Waloed.”

“If I recall correctly, there was a civil war in Rosaria, though the details escape me, but the current state is that Rosaria became an imperial province of Sanbreque. The dutchy’s Eikon, the Phoenix, hasn’t resurfaced since their Dominant had died in the civil war.” Raven explained, frowning as she remembered the Echo she had when she had transformed back from being Ratatoskr. “That poor boy. When I first saw the Echo I thought I was looking at a boy that was maybe a little older than Annalise, but I found out he was maybe ten years old at the time of the disaster. It’s heartbreaking, that child must’ve been so scared...”

“How cruel this world is to make a child fight when he should not even be near a battlefield.” Floriano growled.

Mingxia had a curious look in her eyes. “Do you know if they ever discovered a body?”

“Based on the Echo, no. All the invaders discovered was the boy’s older brother, who seemed to be sold off into the army.” Raven answered before she growled. “If I ever see the blonde bitch that orchestrated that mess it’s on sight...”

“Much as I would love to watch you rip that vile woman apart, must I remind you that that blonde bitch is currently the vicerine of Sanbreque.” Haurchefant warned gently.

Raven groaned. “Don’t remind me...”

“I would be careful.” Mingxia warned. “Because there is not a body, things might be more complicated. The Phoenix’s Dominant might not be dead.”

“After everything, you do have a point Ming...” Raven mumbled before shaking her head. “Let’s steer back to the original discussion. What of the other nations?”

Rukia nodded and pointed to the nation near the south. “It seems every nation has a Dominant, with Sanbreque having Bahamut and Rosaria having Phoenix. Dhalmekia has Titan, and it seems he has a high spot in their society seeing as he’s the economics advisor. It reminds me of Ul’dah. It’s a bit of a merchant city-state. Which is Xiaoming’s field of expertise~”

Mingxia giggled as Foulques shook his head. “We still don’t know much about the Iron Kingdom, other than they fought against Rosaria for the giant fire crystal for years. They ransacked Rosaria’s capital soon after Sanbreque’s takeover according to a woman who escaped from there.”

“That sounds like what some of our men who were from there said.” Haurchefant stated before sighing. “What a mess this place is...”

“You’re telling me.” Raven grumbled before she pointed to the nation whose standard seemed to have a horse on it. “What of this nation across the ocean that seems to span over the continent?”

“We still don’t know much about Waloed, other than the fact that Odin is their Eikon, if what I understand from the Waloeders that fled to our isles told us.” Floriano explained. “The only thing we do know is that the king is collecting Dominants for some reason. We still don’t know why.”

“That’s...worrying. Do we know who he has among his guard?” Haurchefant questioned with a frown.

“Not yet, but we’ll find out.” Rukia assured. “And I guarantee you’ll be the first to know.”

Raven smiled as she pulled Rukia into a hug. “Thanks Rukia...”

“There’s still one more nation we haven’t discussed.” Floriano pointed out as he tapped his finger on the island that seemed to connect the two continents. “The Crystalline Dominion.”

“It seems to sit at the center of the world like Mor Dhona or Lakeland.” Raven noted. “Who is their Eikon?”

“It doesn’t seem to have one. It looks like it’s ruled by a representative council of people from Rosaria, Sanbreque, Dhalmekia and Waloed. It almost seems like it’s being permitted to remain neutral. It definitely feels like a shaky peace, but if Sanbreque’s emperor is getting greedy, who knows how long that will last...” Rukia explained.

“Oh boy...” Raven let out a breath. “Yeah Valisthea is a mess, but I’m still trying to think what the best course of action is, or what political game we need to play with the other nations.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Rukia questioned. At Raven’s confused head tilt she sighed. “You haven’t been paying attention to what some of the people have been saying have you?”

At that Raven groaned as she thumped her head on the table. “I don’t wanna think about it...I’m not Sanbreque’s goddess made flesh, even if I have been spending time in Her chapels in an attempt to understand Her nature. She feels so much like Halone but Her depictions and her devout priests make Her more akin to Menphina.” She grumbled as she waved her hand.

“And yet based on the reports...” Mingxia replied. “There are whispers in Sanbreque that something has occurred. A goddess has appeared in the pristine wilderness near northern Sanbreque. A woman of otherworldly beauty, whose words echo with power in the tongue of dragons. There are whispers that Greagor has appeared on Valisthea, both woman and dragon, whose scales are red as rubies. At her side is her loyal knight, who has a mirror-bright shield, and in his other hand is a blade of moonlight. They whisper that change is coming, for a goddess has appeared.”

“I’ve also heard some stories sister.” Rukia adds. “Of a sweet little bard singing to dying bearers and trying to ease their pain in those final moments before death claims them. Some devout bearers think they've seen the Goddess as they die in their delirium, others beg her to take their pain away so they can die in peace. Some just ask her to hold their hand because they are afraid of dying. Simply because she is kind and sees Bearers for the people they are and not the tools they are forced to be.”

“It is NOT my fault that compassion is a rarity in this hellscape!” Raven yelped as she buried her face in her hands.

Everyone laughed as Haurchefant hugged her from behind and kissed her temple. “Your compassion knows no bounds my heart.”

Raven sighed. "Let it be said that I have never once claimed to be the goddess Sanbreque worships. Despite that the tenants are similar to Halone's back home, I would never claim such. Though apparently showing kindness is so rare here that it's earned me at least a portion of these rumors..."

#FFXIVWrite2024 #Raven Cross #Haurchefant Greystone #Mingxia Jiang #Rukia Oronir #Foulques of the Mist #Floriano di Bentivoglio #XIV -> XVI crossover #I was gonna do a gpose set of Raven hugging Ming but Ktisis crashed on me =_=#Raven hates being called a goddess because she is certain in herself and her abilities #She is a mortal even if she plays up the idea that she and Haurchefant live forever like the stories of the elves

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luminescentauthor · 2 years

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Good Mom Talia Headcanons

Because Talia al-Ghūl is a Good Mom Screw You

DC – Gotham Knights, specifically – is back on their evil Talia al-Ghūl BS, and they’re also back on their “the less white she appears, the more evil she is” BS and I am. So tired.

So, out of raw spite, here are happy headcanons revolving mainly around Talia being a good mom and generally kicking butt!

This is from my Remained AU, named that because it’s the AU where Jason remained with Talia and Damian after coming back to life. You don’t need to know it to understand this, but if you haven’t seen this AU before, you can find the original post here, or the tag for it here.

CW: Swearing and uhhh I think that’s it but PLEASE do lmk if I missed anything

+ One of the first things Talia did when Ra's was removed from the picture following Death and the Maidens (a batman comic in which Ra’s dies. He eventually came back) was buy Damian the biggest, most ridiculous art set in existence, and about 400 glitter pens. He loves it.

+ Jason and Talia will often have tea and chat while they play strategy games, such as chess, Stratego, and Shogi. She always kicks his ass.

+ Nobody is sure when she sleeps. Maybe she just doesn't.

Multiple members of the League of Assassins claim she has the ability to be in two places at the same time. No one is sure how she does it.

+ Talia calls Damian and Jason lots of affectionate nicknames. She only does this when they're alone prior to leaving the League, or with her few most trusted people, but once they're in Gotham she does it all the time. Some of the nicknames are beloved, habibi (Arabic, basically translates to "my love," I'm stealing it from the thousands of fanfics I've seen her use it in), sweetheart, darling, etc.

+ Absolute fashion icon. Owns the most gorgeous dresses, saris, and pantsuits. As CEO of LexCorp and later when she moves to Gotham, she absolutely redefines what is fashionable by virtue of being the best-looking person in the room. (For context, when Lex Luthor was president, he made Talia CEO of LexCorp, for about a year, I think. She spent most of it trying to give evidence to the Daily Planet about Lex’s criminal activity.)

However Jason makes fun of her for The Pink Jumpsuit relentlessly.

+ Talia almost always wears her hair in a braid or bun; the only time she doesn't is for business meetings and parties and whatnot. If she's just around a League base or fighting, it's tied back. This has nothing to do with the fact that it affects her fighting skill and everything to do with the fact that she finds hair in her face very annoying. Talia is far too good to be affected by whether or not her hair is in her face – she just gets tired of it falling in her eyes when she’s trying to read.

+ Doesn’t wear heels much; she’s an athlete and a fighter, and heels literally deform your feet. Will wear heels when meeting with Ra’s because she enjoys the look on his face when she’s taller than him. She’s also been known to do this to Lex Luthor and many others. She once walked into a LexCorp board meeting wearing eight-inch heels and towered over all the white men’s heads. Just because she doesn’t wear heels much doesn’t mean she can’t walk in them flawlessly.

+ (Tbh everything Talia al-Ghūl does is flawless.)

+ In canon, when Bruce and Talia met, she was studying for a medical degree at Cairo University. She now has that medical degree.

“Ms. Al-Ghūl—” “That is Doctor Al-Ghūl to you.”

Jason: When did even you do your residency???

Talia, drinking tea: Mmm.

Jason, exasperated: Mom.

+ She also got a business degree at some point, and no one is totally sure when or how. It does make explaining why Lex Luthor made the CEO of LexCorp much easier, though.

+ While she prefers tea, Talia did not get through medical school or a whole year of dealing with Lex Luthor’s bullshit without copious amounts of coffee.

+ Jason got her a “HBIC” mug as a joke partway during her year with LexCorp. It promptly became her favorite mug and can always be seen on her desk filled with coffee or tea.

+ After moving to Gotham, she spends most of her free time spoiling her kids or working on social reform. She's also working on a law degree.

"Mom, a medical degree, a business degree, and a law degree seems like overkill?" "It is, I just want the law degree because it will help me make Lex Luthor's life a living hell." "In that case, understandable have a nice day."

She and Barbara are both “yes I have far too many degrees just so I can wave them in the face of annoying white men what about it” energy and are also both very determined to enact social reform, so they get along quite well. Possibly too well. However, the only people who need to be afraid of their combined might are those who probably deserve it, so the rest of the Batfam has elected to simply get out of the way.

+ Talia owns a private jet, but don’t worry it’s eco-friendly. No ridiculous carbon emissions for this billionaire. She’s an al-Ghūl. Of course, it’s eco-friendly. (She’s also sensible.) Jason proceeds to use it to bounce back and forth between Australia and Gotham, and Talia is. So. Tired. Jason my darling I love you so, so very much, but that is a terrible idea for your education and your sleep schedule please—

For the record, all of Bruce’s vehicles are also electric.

+ Damian wasn't allowed to have pets with the League because Talia didn't trust Ra's not to kill anything Damian showed affection towards. Once Damian lives in Gotham, however, Talia 100% enables his animal-loving tendencies.

Like… maybe a little too much.

Bruce: I’m going to have to build an animal sanctuary in my backyard at this rate.

Talia: I think that would be wonderful, don’t you? It’s not like you don’t have the space.

Tim: *Wheezing*

+ The last name she uses is “Kareem.” Assuming my sources are correct (and admittedly they may not be; my faith in the internet is shaky, at best, though I checked a handful of different sites and they all seem to say the same thing), it is a name of Arabic origin that means generous, honorable, and noble, and is also one of the 99 names of God given in the Quran. It is also the name Jason and Damian use.

When the knowledge that Jason and Damian were Bruce and Talia’s kids becomes public, they both wanted to be Kareem-Waynes. Talia, who wanted to avoid any potential media conflict, pointed out (correctly) that somehow the media would find a way to make a mess out of that and added that she loves them both dearly and they will always be her sons whether or not they use her name. So in the name of Less Media Attention they were going to go with Wayne-Kareem, since it's normal to put the father's name first.

Two hours after they agreed on this, Bruce found out from one of the other batkids and went "WE'RE GOING WITH KAREEM-WAYNE THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY SCREW SEXISM”

Jason and Damian think it’s fantastic. Talia laughs so hard.

The media does try to make a thing out of it, and Bruce literally says “This is the 21st century. Consider it a statement. Also go fuck yourself.”

On a related note, when he marries Selina he becomes Bruce Kyle-Wayne and she becomes Selina Kyle-Wayne and his kids have never loved him more. We stan a feminist!

+ Talia loves animals as much as Damian, and they both get along with Selina because of it.

+ Selina and Talia can often be seen together at galas whispering to one another and generally making everyone else feel like they aren’t worthy to be in the same room.

+ Selina introduces Talia to Ivy and they immediately get along, since they’re both very passionate about environmental reform. Talia does networking and works on policy improvements, while Selina breaks into places for evidence and files, Barbara helps with political wrangling and gathers intelligence, and Ivy and Harley fuck shit up when all else fails. Ivy’s sense for where pollution is coming from is unparalleled, as well, so she can also help gather data to point Talia in the right direction to publicly destroy corrupt companies. Selina’s mostly here to steal things and protect endangered cats.

YEAH I SAID WOMEN IN HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS NOT DEFINED BY THEIR RELATION TO A MAN

WHAT ABOUT IT

For the record, Bruce is very impressed by what they're doing and also absolutely terrified.

(Oh sidenote HarlIvy canon.) (Didn’t even occur to me to say that because I deadass assumed it was a given.)

+ Talia’s initial feelings towards Harley were pretty hostile, given everything the Joker did to Jason, but she comes to understand what Harley went through. Harley and Jason actually bond quite a bit in this AU.

+ Also, not totally on topic with the general theme of this post, I’m going to Own Up to a mistake I made on the last post: I completely forgot the Wayne family is Jewish and was like “yeah, they celebrate Christmas??? Right???” So. Hannukah! They do celebrate Christmas – Tim and Steph grew up celebrating Christmas – they just also celebrate Literally Everything Else.

+ It’s canon in DC that Talia made Damian ox blood soup when he was a kid, so presumably she made it for Jason too. Jason asked her to teach him how to make it. Damian's a vegetarian now, so they're trying to figure out how to replicate the taste.

Talia, affectionately and teasingly: Damian, habibi, I love you dearly, but you are making cooking for you incredibly hard.

Damian: :)

+ She, Jason, and Alfred have been learning how to make a bunch of dishes Damian already likes with tofu and other alternatives, as well as trying out new vegetarian recipes. He’s a growing boy, he needs protein, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be meat.

+ Talia and Alfred go to the farmer’s market every Saturday. Jason often comes with, and the other kids sometimes tag along.

+ Talia bought a cashmere blanket and to this day it is one of the best purchases she's ever made.

She kind of wishes her kids would stop fighting over it, though.

The problem is usually solved by yoinking both children into a cuddle pile.

“Just buy another one—” She has. She owns like six of them, now. It’s this one specific one they want for some reason.

(It’s because it’s Mom’s.)

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keicordelle · 9 months

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The Daily Inconveniences of an Au Ra: Aging

Keshet peered at his reflection in the mirror, tilting his chin just so until he could see the scales that crawled up his neck and over his jaw. Swaths of skin peeked between the black, brown eddies and swirls of vulnerability tucked between the encroaching plates. Were the patches between his scales smaller than they were before?

Maybe. He couldn't really tell. The spikes on his chin and the jut of his horns made it difficult to see his own neck, let alone try to examine it in detail. He dragged a finger along the narrow patch of exposed skin on the side of his throat, trying to judge if the rough edge of scales rubbed further in along the pad of his finger than it used to.

"Cut yourself while shaving?" a wry voice asked, and if Keshet really had been holding a razor, he would have slit his damned throat with how hard he jumped. He twisted to find Thancred standing in the doorway, hip cocked and arms crossed over his chest as he leaned in the frame. Laughter twinkled in his eyes as he watched Keshet's reaction, but he was polite enough not to comment.

Keshet grimaced at him. "Of course not. Do you think these scales are denser than they used to be?"

Thancred squinted at his neck, tilting his head and chewing on his lip for a long moment before offering an easy shrug. "I don't know. I'm not in the habit of staring at your neck."

"What about my horns? Do you think they're longer?"

"Uh, no? What's gotten into you? Did you find a grey hair or something?"

Thancred was not actually expecting the muttered, "Something like that," he received in response.

"Wait, really? How would you ever know, in all that hair?"

"Au Ra don't go grey," Keshet explained absentmindedly, poking at the caps on his horns. Was it just his imagination or were they more snug than they used to be? "Well, we do, but not as early as you do. But our scales and our horns never stop growing, so you can judge our age based on how much skin we still have exposed or by the length of our horns. Old Au Ra end up practically covered in scales, and their horns can get so long it causes health problems. Never been much of an issue among my people, since we don't usually make it to old age, but I've seen some of the elders of the other tribes, so I know what to look for."

"Uh...huh. And you're worried you're getting old all of a sudden?"

Keshet looked up from his own reflection long enough to frown at Thancred. "Not worried. Just... noticing. It's been no small number of years now since I came to Eorzea, but I'm only just now realizing how much that time has changed me. Inside and out."

Thancred's expression softened. "Ah. Well, if it makes you feel any better, you'll always be a young whippersnapper by my standards. Hell, I'm another 5 years older than you now than I was when we met! And unless you go spending all your free time on other shards without us, I don't think you're likely to catch up any time soon." Keshet chuckled, a paltry, half-hearted sound, but he didn't look quite as concerned as he had a moment ago, so Thancred counted it as a win. "But... if you ever want to talk, I'm here," he added gently.

"Thanks," Keshet said, offering him a half-smile. After a beat, the other corner of his mouth quirked up as well, and he grinned. "Besides, next to a bunch of white- and grey-haired cronies like you all, I'm bound to look like the youngest forever."

Read the rest of the series on Ao3!

FIRST | PREV | NEXT

#ffxiv #au ra #wol #thancred waters #thancred #my writing #daily inconveniences #keshet dotharl #~k

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truebluewhocanoe · 1 year

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The Doctor Who FFXIV Glamour Collection - Masterpost + Commentary

Alright, here it is. I’ve teased it, I’ve talked about it, and now you’re getting it: the Doctor Who glamour collection. In case you didn’t know, two of my most persistent hyperfixations are Doctor Who and Final Fantasy XIV. Heck, I even wrote a crossover between them. Then, I made a meme post assigning a job (in-game class) to each Doctor. Which of course, planted an idea in my head: why not make an outfit for each of those jobs I assigned, each based on the corresponding Doctor? And thus the Doctor Who glamour collection was born.

Note that while the outfit is based on the respective Doctor, changing your character’s design/race/gender (beyond switching haircuts and minor stuff) costs real-life money, so you’re stuck with my Au Ra gal as the model. I did make an effort to at least have a matching hair color, though. (With occasional highlights for spice.)

I’ve made each outfit its own post (mainly because tumblr image cap), and will be linking them from here, the “masterpost” (which will actually come out last.)

First Doctor - Scholar

Second Doctor - Bard

Third Doctor - Monk

Fourth Doctor - Dancer

Fifth Doctor - Paladin

Sixth Doctor - Red Mage

Seventh Doctor - Black Mage

Eighth Doctor - Dragoon

War Doctor - Dark Knight

Ninth Doctor - Astrologian

Tenth Doctor - Gunbreaker

Eleventh Doctor - White Mage

Twelfth Doctor - Sage

Thirteenth Doctor - Summoner

If you just want to see the pretty pictures, click on those links! Everything below here will just be explanations and details.

A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into acquiring the gear for each set, leveling each job to a high enough level to use said gear (can’t glamour a higher level gear’s appearance onto a lower level gear), and of course, taking the pictures. Taking the pictures was difficult for several reasons, but the major lynchpin was the fact that I used external tools (aka mods, which are kind of a no-no) to give an era-appropriate look for some of the shots of each Doctor. Hopefully it comes off well!

Oh, and if you’re curious: the most expensive single gear pieces were War and 9’s chest pieces. Damn modern-looking gear is always pricey! I dropped a lot of money at the Aesthetician to change haircuts, too.

The specific setup for the eras was as followed:

1st/2nd: Monochrome, RetroCRT, Film Grain, sometimes Cathode

3rd/4th: VHS_RA (chroma blur at 20), Colourfulness, LumaSharpen, Radiant GI

5th/6th/7th: VHA_RA (chroma blur at 10) Colourfulness, LumaSharpen, Radiant GI, Film Grain, sometimes Cathode

War: LumaSharpen, Colourfulness, Tint (Sepia)

8/Nu Who: LumaSharpen, Colourfulness, Radiant GI, and occasionally HexLensFlare

The gear and dye used for each glam will be listed in its corresponding post.

If people are interested, I might consider doing glams and photo shoots for the Fugitive, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and/or any other extended universe Doctors! I also have some ideas for some companions that I might use.

Here’s some extended reasoning on the job choices for each Doctor, including both lore and in-game mechanics:

First Doctor as Scholar: Scholar is a healer, and in fact one of the first healer jobs in FFXIV, so I figured it would make sense to give the first Doctor a job that closely aligned with the fact that they’re, y’know, the Doctor. But, with regards to gameplay, Scholar’s kit is considered by many to be a little janky. So, perfect, for the wobbliest-set days of the First Doctor!

Second Doctor as Bard: Bard is very much a support class, which keeps with the theme of sticking close to Doctor-y jobs early on. Otherwise: yeah, it’s because of the recorder. Also, the Second Doctor is a bit more trickster-y, and Bard is a job that involves planning ahead and also keeping well on top of all your cooldowns, which I think Two would be able to pull off!

Third Doctor as Monk: It’s because of the Venusian Aikido. And all the spirituality in his era, as well, but mainly the Aikido. Monk is considered to be one of the more difficult jobs to play, to the point of your computer’s frame rate factoring into extreme high-end play, but if any Doctor could manage that, it would be the Third.

Fourth Doctor as Dancer: I will freely admit this is one of the more arbitrary choices. Overall, I think the Dancer job’s vibes and flow fit well with Four’s Bohemian spirit and flowing scarves.

Fifth Doctor as Paladin: Paladin is seen as kind of the most vanilla job in the game with the most straightforward flavoring, which I thought fit Five’s vibes. Paladins are the typical sword-and-board job, but I chose to not display the shield, to better evoke a cricket bat. And, as Paladin’s name implies, it has better party defense buffs than, say, Dark Knight, which does fit a Doctor with as crowded a TARDIS as the Fifth.

Sixth Doctor as Red Mage: Totally not biased here, Red Mage is one of my two mains, but regardless of that it’s a perfect fit for Sixie. Red Mage is a damaging caster job, but is actually consistently the weakest caster in exchange for great utility, including the best resurrection spell in the game. A flashy mage with a support focus is perfect for our loud technicolor shouty man with a heart of gold! Red Mage’s Limit Break (big super move) is kind of infamous for being so bright that for the few seconds when it’s going off, it’s difficult to see what’s going on in the fight, sometimes leading to deaths… which is very funny and fitting.

Seventh Doctor as Black Mage: Probably the easiest and most obvious job choice on this entire list, Black Mage is considered a difficult job that takes a lot of time to master, and often requires you to plan out your movements and attacks in advance to react to the mechanics of the fight. (In some of the most difficult fights in the game, Black Mages will often plan out every button they push for the first several minutes in order to maximize the effectiveness they’re getting out of every resource in their kit.) This makes Black Mage the no-brainer choice for our favorite little master manipulator. (Alas, no umbrella staff in FFXIV… yet.)

Eighth Doctor as Dragoon: I originally had Eight as a Reaper, but in trying to take the pictures, the vibes just didn’t match. So I pivoted him to the job that shares Reaper’s gear: Dragoon. Gonna be honest, this one was just vaguely gothic, and also what are vortisaurs if not time vortex dragons?

War Doctor as Dark Knight: Dark Knights have the aesthetic of a brooding edgelord, but lore-wise, they gain their power from their desire to protect the innocent and punish the wicked: a desire born from love. Fitting for a vilified Doctor who only ever wanted to do what was right…

Ninth Doctor as Astrologian: Astrologians use magical power channeled from distant stars to cast time magic, predict the future, and heal the wounded. Fitting for basically any Doctor, but especially so for the one who delivers the line about feeling the turn of the Earth. Furthermore, Astrologians deal the least damage of any job in the game: perfect for the most pacifistic and peace-seeking Doctor of them all.

Tenth Doctor as Gunbreaker: Here’s a fun one, a gun “breaker” for the “Man Who Never Would [Fire A Gun]”. What weapon does a Gunbreaker use? Oh yeah, a Gunblade. More like “The Man Who Totally Would And In Fact Has.” I think this juxtaposition highlights the Tenth Doctor’s emotional, even vengeful nature… and to add another layer: while Gunbreaker is a flashy, high-damage job, it is, at the end of the day, a Defender job. Calling back to Five’s Paladin, perhaps? (Also, Gunbreakers wear long coats, and the Tenth Doctor wears long coats.)

Eleventh Doctor as White Mage: White Mage is my other main, so I mean it with love when I say White Mages are the epitome of healers with a god complex, who mainly only keep the party alive to feel that sweet sweet satisfaction of saving peoples’ lives… and also to charge up their super big attack that can only be charged by healing. Meant to be a bit evocative of Eleven as the epitome of the Lonely God idea. Also, White Mage is a dead easy job to play, that even Eleven’s hyperactive brain could handle.

Twelfth Doctor as Sage: Okay, now we’re getting into the juicy stuff. Sage is the other shield healer in the game, the first being Scholar. But Sage is newer, flashier, more anime, and smoother to play. Are you thinking Twice Upon A Time yet? Sages, flavor-wise, are the epitome of combat medics… just as the Twelfth Doctor is the one to make the title of “Doctor of War” his own. Time is a flat circle! Thirteenth Doctor as Summoner: Also tying in with the First Doctor, Summoner and Scholar share an experience pool: so long as you have both unlocked, leveling one also levels the other. But while Scholar is a healer, Summoner is a (damage-dealing) caster that focuses on summoning entities to help you out. As the Thirteenth Doctor was born of the Twelfth Doctor’s resolution to his character arc- and with a chance meeting with the First- Thirteen being a Summoner would show how she carries that legacy but also has a fresh start with some fun new friends. (Also, Summoner is the easiest job in the game, and while Thirteen isn’t the most ADHD Doctor, she’s definitely up there.)

#doctor who #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #final fantasy 14 #ff14 #final fantasy xiv glamour #ffxiv glamour #ff14 glamour #the doctor #all the doctors

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styrnraelmalqir · 1 year

Text

Uncharted Waters

Chapters 1-3 of a little thing I’m working on about Styrnrael’s parents! Hoping to continue this soon and maybe even post it on AO3!

---

The young cartographer’s fingers gently brushed the cover of a sun-bleached book. Inside its pages, she found several descriptions of the villages she knew well – all written by someone who had only traveled through the vast plains of the Azim Steppe for only a few days. The Namazu working at the bookseller’s booth that day looked sheepishly at the Au Ri woman who lingered. “May I help you?” He asked politely, as if to hurry her along.

“Oh no, you cannot help me. All the maps in this book are,” her voice trailed off.

“Yes-yes?” Gyocho half-heartedly pressed his fins together inquisitively.

“They’re all wrong. Every one of them.” She closed the book.

“Very well.” His voice was heavy with disappointment. He tried another tactic. “We have other wares available. This book about Ul’dah has been quite popular of late – full to the brim with resources for selling and making a profit. You could be rich--”

Before he could finish, the Au Ri woman slammed a handful of gil onto the stall, loud enough to alert some of the Qestiri who were guarding the market in Reunion. “No, I’ll buy this one with the maps.”

She spent the rest of the afternoon picking the book apart, crossing out inaccuracies. At times she laughed out loud to no one in particular.

“I’d like to buy this one.” Sarangerel called out to the Namazu at the end of the week. Seven-hundred seventy-seven blessings that his schedule once again coincided with this tenacious young woman’s. Though he was surprised at her selection – a common, plain, blank notebook bound in dzo leather with subpar bindings and thin parchment – he did not refuse her payment of 714 gil. She left before he could say, “Yes-yes.”

Sarangerel and the others who lived in Malqir Iloh, had moved with the seasons along The One River or Yat Khal. Much like their cousins, the Mol to the north, the Malqir lived in a kind of peace and tranquility. This was all afforded by a glamour prism nested in the river’s rocky bed.

Although hidden, they could come and go as they pleased, but many decided to spend their entire lives along the banks of Yat Khal. Though she was most likely to become the next leader of Malqir Iloh, Sarangerel’s true passion was in the creation of maps. The completion of which would require travel well beyond the Steppe. This was something her mother was becoming increasingly aware of as Sarangerel started to trek further and further away.

West of Reunion, toward the Tail Mountains that encircled parts of the northern Steppe, Sarangerel searched the horizon on horseback. The landscape transformed the higher she ascended. The stones were larger, their jagged edges reaching higher toward the summit. Colorful flags danced in the winds surrounding a base camp composed of many different Au Ra families. Her horse was tired from the long trek of the day and she led it to water as she silently watched the others. Some were traders, making their way home after visiting the market town below, but most were travelers—adventurers from beyond the inland grasslands. One among the caravan approached her. A handsome Viera man ten summers her senior approached her with an offering of fruit. He used a small blade to cut a piece for her and another for her horse. She returned the gesture with a nod.

“Where are you headed?” He asked, his eyes fixated on her as she gently brushed the black mane of her horse.

“Just a little further.” She answered, suddenly remembering to keep her guard up. She continued walking past the Viera and did not turn around as she waved. “Thank you for the fruit.”

The sun was low in the sky as she reached a trail where stones were stacked like mountains leading up to a tall peak. She took a few flat stones with her as well, determined to start a new mound, perhaps somewhere no one had stepped before. She tied the lead of her horse to a boulder and continued down the narrow path.

The sky was a deep blue as the sun hushed out the last breath of the day. Yet it was just enough light for her to look below and see a glimpse of the sea below her. She stood upon a rock and took out a spyglass. From this point, she could almost see the Bay of Yanxia. There were dark mists in the furthest distance she could see. Names she had only read about – the Knowing Sea, and further on to the Ryakgyr Peninsula, suddenly became shapes in the glass. She sketched quickly. As the last light left the clouds, she stacked the flat stones on the ridge and made her descent, returning to the adventurer’s camp.

She listened to the stories the travelers shared. Her attention sometimes turned to the stars glimmering above the mountain as she warmed herself by the fire. Covered in a heavy wool, she and her horse waited until the sun rose again to make their return to Malqir Iloh.

Chapter 2

“Seek it out!” Maral exclaimed and her cane clicked on the slate floor.

“Is it alright to leave in winter? Will you need the extra hands around here?” Sarangerel said this only halfheartedly, as she was already packing a satchel across the table from her mother.

“Of course, dear! I have things well at hand here.” Maral walked closer to the table and took a seat. “Besides, you will return by the next Tsagaan Sar!”

With this, Sarangerel was silent. Maral took notice of this response or lack there-of.

“Will you not?” Maral asked another way.

“No.” Sarangerel said plainly and closed her book. She looked directly at Maral, her expression a mixture of uncertainty and of an untold anger. “The books are wrong about the Steppe. I think they might be wrong about everything.”

“And so you must find out for yourself the truth of it all. You will not just disprove them, you will make new maps unlike any other.”

They were silent for some time as Sarangerel looked through the other parchments and papers scattered on the table. Some she rolled up and placed in the satchel. Others, she just shook her head at. She smiled at an illustrated guide of the Ruby Sea, which included descriptions of the Kojin and their customs.

“I only ask that you be cautious and make intelligent choices. That you know the consequences of your actions and that you return to us with new knowledge in exchange.”

“You are so eager to see me go.”

“Not at all, my dear. I only know that there will never be another who can best me at a game of Kharaqiq and instead of taking the chief position for herself, choose to seek out her fortune on a much greater game board.”

Sarangerel frowned deeply as her eyes welled with tears. She held her mother closely. Their arms locked around each other for some time. Before another bell passed, Sarangerel got herself ready to leave that night. Under the cover of the moon in winter, she was less likely to be seized by raiders on her way past Reunion, keeping her safe beyond the Steppe, toward the tides of the Ruby Sea.

Chapter 3

“Sarangerel,” She said, tipping her head slightly toward the deck of the ship. She slowly lifted her jewel-toned eyes toward the crew.

“Very pleased to meet you.” Maduin, a Roegadyn of eight and twenty stepped closer to her. “I am the chief navigator and pilot. Your maps have already served us well.”

She pursed her lips together into a proud smile.

“Set sail!” A booming voice cut off the formalities. His order cracked through the deck like a thunderclap and broke the stillness of the water. Every person aboard the ship struck into action – dashing from one station to the next. Arms buckled under the weight of heavy trunks of cannonballs and gunpowder. The voice came from an older Roegadyn man at the helm of the ship. His gray hair was tied back with colorful bandanas woven into rows of braided hair. His eyes were a fierce cobalt blue, the same color of the choppy waves beneath him.

The rowdy crew cheered their agreement and began to hoist the sails and lift up the heavy ropes from the sea. Sarangerel followed suit and joined the navigator who was climbing the stairs to the top deck. On a fine wooden stand near the helm, Maduin and Sarangerel searched the horizon. The captain beside them kept one of his strong arms steady on the wheel of the ship. The wind carried them out to the open waters.

The ship was modestly sized, with only one mast and a cargo hull fitted just for day trips only. The small size was made up for with its unmatched speed – particularly in pursuit of imperial vessels twice or three times its size. This was all-too apparent when the sails carried the ship further away from the harbor. A bell passed and they no longer could see the dock, or the land attached to it. It was then that the navigator and cartographer entered the captain’s chambers and set to work.

“Sarangerel, was it?” The navigator smiled up from the papers spread out around the quarters.

“Yes?” She responded but did return his glance.

“I never told you my name!” Soft lines around his eyes crinkled toward his brows.

“It’s Maduin, is it not?”

“Yes, my name is Maduin.” The Roegadyn man felt disarmed, and his eyes slowly pointed toward the map on the table. He desperately wanted to fill the silence and continue learning about the intriguing cartographer before him. The planks of the floor creaked as the ship crossed a wave.

“Was there something else you wanted to say?” Sarangerel still did not look up from her map.

“I was going to ask – where are you from?” He hesitated, but his determination to know her better never wavered. A few strands of his dark teal hair loosened and fell across his forehead. He brushed them back behind one ear and noticed she had finally looked up at him, if only for a moment. A sudden warmth touched the tips of his tan cheeks, dimpled by his widening smile. He was nothing if not persistent.

“Here.” She noted, pointing to a sketch of rounded yurts punctuating the Azim Steppe on her hand-drawn map of Othard.

The question of where had piqued her interest, but she did not elaborate. Many of the other crew members carried on with their tall tales or sang jovially. There was almost no quiet, especially when they were underway and out to sea. Her curtness was almost refreshing, and most certainly unexpected.

The cabin rocked and swayed as the sails carried them further away from the coastline. The two of them continued their work in a comfortable quiet. Occasionally, Sarangerel found herself looking up from the maps to think. Maduin would carefully steal a glance at her. Though he had seen many other Au Ri, particularly fellow crew members hailing from Raen settlements, her visage was unlike anyone he had seen before. Her azure skin was covered in indigo scales that ran up her arms, neck, and framing her face. Her hair was a delicate silver that looked like a river illuminated by the moon, the tresses of which just hit below her shoulders. Her beauty was difficult to miss and proved to be a challenge to ignore.

It did not escape Sarangerel’s notice that Maduin was staring at her as often as he was staring at the map. At first, she was annoyed. Her expression softened once she realized how patient he was with the coordinates. She could see him carefully studying her survey of the Ruby Tide. She hoped he could see the care she took to detail the surrounding islands. Traveling between each of them had taken nearly six moons and she felt proud of her work. Once she knew he was going to take her maps seriously, she finally felt at ease in the close quarters of the chamber.

“Your maps are remarkable, Sarangerel. I believe this course you have charted will be best suited for a swift return to Onokoro.” He glanced at her again, but this time she was ready to meet his gaze. A bead of sweat gathered on her temples; she thought it must have been the warmth of the afternoon sun trapped inside the room.

Finally, Sarangerel reached toward Maduin, close enough to embrace him, but then extended her arm past him to pick up a map behind him. “This is the one we need to look at before we travel further north.”

He didn’t realize his mouth had opened as she approached, but he quickly closed it before letting out a sigh. Something that felt like relief and disappointment erupted in his chest as he glanced at the map she had started to unroll. She placed four weighty inkwells at each corner of the map so it could lay flat and smoothed her fingers over the heavy cloth. “The nautical charts from Koshu are not accurate.”

“We are frequently in these waters and have never taken another route. There is no other route.” He gestured toward her, surrendering to his curiosity and confusion. “Is there?”

“The Kojin of the Blue would say otherwise. Besides, it’s well known that no information leaves Koshu unless it is certified by Bukyo. Anyone claiming to have a map from Koshu is either smuggling information or simply making it up. And I’m more inclined to believe the latter.” Sarangerel tapped her chin as she theorized.

“So, this map is from the Kojin? How can we be sure they are to be trusted? The Red will attack us on sight. The Blue are not so different.”

“They can be trusted because I have sailed this myself. I’ve seen where this leads and I’ve added my own notes to it.”

He seriously considered the consequences of a new course while staring into the chart.

“Do you trust me?” She turned toward him and extended an open palm.

“I don’t have any reason to doubt you.” He closed his fingers around hers and shook her hand.

They were still for a moment, holding each other’s hands. The light from the sea and the sky danced across the room, filling the ceiling with bright reflections of waves. Suddenly the ship turned over another wave, shifting their hands apart as they struggled to regain their balance. The pilot then adjusted the rudder and climbed the stairs to the helm of the ship where he explained to the captain the plan to take the Kojin of the Blue route.

Sarangerel could see the captain’s arms swing around Maduin in approval. He chuckled loudly as he spun the ship’s wheel.

The trip took 3 bells shorter than their normal route – and was far less treacherous overall. Their target was a small fleet of smugglers who had stolen from the neighboring village of Isari. The smugglers proved to be no match for those employed under the banner of the Ruby Tide. Not only was the cargo recovered, but the smugglers soon found themselves marooned without their ships. With Sarangerel’s map, they had come out of the scuffle unscathed, and far richer for it.

After returning their stolen goods, the fishermen of Isari shared nearly half of it to the privateers they had hired to steal it back. Once Maduin, Sarangerel, and the rest of the crew had returned to Crick, on the island of Onokoro, they began to remove trunk after trunk of the bounty collected from the day’s work.

#ffxiv #ffxiv oc #ffxiv au ra #ffxiv roegadyn #rasho ffxiv #styrnrael malqir #styrnrael #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv fanfic #pirates #it's definitely not pirates

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essayofthoughts · 2 years

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Ripley is an NPC, so she's got a lot less screentimeto get into her head compared to one of the PCs - how did you nail down your take on her personality given the limited material?

This is... pretty simple all in all but I went:

Ripley is realistic evil. Matt specifically cited Nazi scientists as part of his inspiration for her characterisation. Ergo, her reasons should make sense within her awful internal logic.

We see that she's an opportunist (her escape from VM when they're distracted by Cass and Anders), creative (reverse engineering guns; the trap on Glintshore), entirely amoral (the creation and perpetuation of guns, willingness to commit illegal human experimentation, torture), and deeply self-serving (working with VM to preserve her life, planning to escape the Briarwoods, escaping the Dwendalian empire and her possible execution, trying to figure out what to say to make VM spare her at Glintshore).

Percy describes his awful thoughts as coming from the Ripley of his brain. Ergo, Ripley is Percy's dark mirror and should be written as Percy sans morals.

We see Ripley's effect on Percy: she terrifies him and yet he wants to have an impact on her - most likely because she had an impact on him and he wants to do the same to her. He wants her to fear him as he does her. He at least tries to act callous and uncaring when facing her which suggests that was how she faced him when she tortured him - cold and unaffected by his screams and begging.

Taliesin and Matt have said she is an evil librarian, specifically citing Rachael Weisz as Evie Carnahan in The Mummy as a mental image.

Ripley, for all she's a terrible person, refuses to swear of all fucking things.

And... that's about it. In Ripley's Assistant it's a bit different because her tactics there... I mean she might use that kind of manipulation and gaslighting - perhaps on Kynan - but we don't see that explicitly. We know she manipulates the truth but we don't know much else for sure. The tactics I have her use in RA and Delia AU are very much based on the kind of relationship abuse I've had cause to observe just tweaked to fit how she speaks in canon and the circumstances.

But... for the most part, she is realistic evil. She isn't pointlessly sadistic or ruled by her desires - she has her goals and she aims to achieve them. She doesn't care what gets in her way - she'll do what she deems necessary. She, like Percy, can be ruthless - and unlike Percy, she has no morals to maybe keep her from doing certain things.

She believes magic is unreliable but still a tool one could and should use - she's an opportunist and she takes what opportunities she has. Remember, with a party of random mercenary allies and Kynan, and a few hours head start, she made a trap that led to her almost completely killing Vox Machina, a group which regularly tangles with dragons and wins. She's incredibly clever, entirely amoral, and does whatever she deems necessary.

It also seems that she likes to be at the top of a pecking order - she worked for the Briarwoods but planned to leave when she thought it would be best for her to do so, her job under the Briarwoods was initially torture and interrogation before any research or the ziggurat refinement, and she collects her own group and at least in Kynan's case manipulates his loyalty to her. She likes power.

And... that's basically it.

I'm - I'm gonna just cite my conversations with @chamerionwrites again, because honestly this is from them too, but they reminded me of... well, the banality of evil. Evil is often simple and selfish and human - anyone's capable of it. And I think it's very important to remember that with Ripley.

Ripley likes power. Ripley doesn't care about anything but her goals. Ripley is an evil librarian who refuses to swear. Ripley is awful in a horribly realistic way.

And ... that's how I handle her characterisation.

#anna ripley #percy de rolo #percival de rolo #vox machina #critrole meta #blorbologist #living up to my username #ask

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legendsoflarient · 1 year

Text

Rats and Bridges

Rats.

Not a curse, but creatures. Fuzzy things with large ears and loud squeaks as they wriggled and tried to escape her hands. Violet hues stared at the squirming mass within her hands. Six. Rats. Looking up at the grinning Au Ra woman who seemed oh so pleased with herself to pass along such an odd collection S’iyle was only more confused.

That confusion only served to let one of the squirming creatures free and she very nearly dropped the whole lot as one tiny rat scampered up her arm to take purchased on her shoulder. Wide eyed she stared at it, but it seemed content with its new place of being now that it was no longer confined to her grasp.

Eying the thing as it groomed and cleaned itself she returned her gaze to the woman, holding her hands out as if to return the collection. “I…um. Thank you. Really but I don’t-”

She never got to finish her words as the woman shushed her. “Rats are valuable! Take them for help with the bridge! People want them. You’ll see.” Her puzzlement only deepened as the woman spun with a wave and hopped up onto a waiting Chocobo. “Take care! Enjoy them!”

S’iyle stood there, clutching five rats in her hands while one stared after the woman with her. For an adventure on Highbridge in Eastern Thanalan this hadn’t been anything she had expected. Thanalan was so different to what she was used to. Gridania held vast canopies of towering trees broken by the occasional hill and small mountain threaded with streams and pools of cool water. But here? Scrub brush replaced the flora, and sand and dust became the norm. She was sure she’d never truly get the sand out of her ear after stumbling over a rock and taking a tumble on her way here.

She’d only come this way due to a rumor of some odd jobs to be done here. And now she had…rats.

Of all things, rats.

It was many hours later freshly washed and sitting in a tavern that she began to somewhat understand. Four rats dozed in a small cage on the bench beside her while beside her plate sat the white rat who’d taken purchase on her shoulder. She still needed to come up with a name for him but it seemed rats…were valuable in such an odd way.

This one though. She’d keep him. She’d already tied a red ribbon around his neck into a cute little bow. If rats could be pleased he certainly did after she was done. Still she had four more little creatures to find a home for.

One had gone to a family who used to have a pet mouse.

One still needed a name but she figured it couldn't hurt to come with her.

The rest would find a place to belong. Why not, who was she to deny the fact that Rats are valuable and people want them. Watching her new little companion as he scampered down into her lap and curled into a ball earned a tender little smile from the white haired Miq’ote. After all, this one was valuable to her now, and she certainly wanted him.

(This story is based on a very real encounter I had at Highbridge while participating in the Fate to protect it. I joined it about half way through and at the end I started to head off to do a bard quest when an AuRa lady who'd been there found me and traded me six Tiny Rats and said pretty close to what was said here in this story before running off again. I was as baffled as S'iyle was But I have a forever companion now and five more rats to figure out what to do with...)

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proxylynn · 9 months

Text

[Something that consumed my mind (and my attention) the last couple days is my love of FNAF's Daycare Attendant. So, with my creative drive hyped after mostly writing for a year, I dipped into my fave AU to give form to an idea that's been in my head. The Animatronic Handler AU by @get-rammed. I'll likely simplify the designs if I dabble in doddles with them, altering from the base Sun/Moon when I can think of things, though I do like my glow idea (based on the bots' cut emission glow that Eclipse then got, also the eye colors are based on in-game material like their plushies).]

The lore for the world that this version of Lynn in the AU involves mixing some things from the books, such as the DCA's origin as a theater animatronic that was then repurposed into working as a child caretaker. Something I'm adding is that during this time of implementation, Fazbear Entertainment being the cut corners wherever it can to save a buck scummy business tested this program on the children of employees. One such child was Lynsie. Now, the company being so lazy and cheap, they added the generators as a way to deal with the "Moon gimmick" without really dealing with it.

"The Sun robot was an old stage animatronic. Part of its theatrical schtick was to turn evil when the stage lights went off. When it was reprogrammed to be the day care attendant, the performance functions were taken out, but the darkness trigger couldn’t be removed. That, combined with the occasional blackouts in the day care, created the Moon side of the attendant, which results in several undesirable behaviors. Apparently, they had meetings about what to do, and they decided that fixing Sun was more trouble than it was worth. It’s cheaper to just make sure the lights stay on." - Abe, Bobbiedots, Part 1

Such behavior in this early state caused a now expunged incident that resulted in much hush money being made out to the families as compensation, good thing for their lawyers and NDAs, though the waking nightmares and physiological scarring that befell the kids is something that even bribes aren't going to cover for long. And as the years passed with only minor tweaks being done to their programming, these issues were prone to happening still.

"CUSTOMER COMPLAINT - My son never had sleeping problems. But after spending an evening in the daycare, he refuses to sleep with the lights out anymore! He just cries and cries. And then when I do let him keep the lights on, he wets the bed!" - Night Terrors, Duffel Bag collectable

Granted, these were getting to be rarer moments and Moon seemed to mainly traumatize "naughty" kids, though Sun was no better when it came to "rule breakers" that pushed his patience too far.

"I used to have so much fun in the daycare." "I never slept better than I did in the daycare." - Cassie

It was clear to Fazbear Entertainment that if they were to keep the Daycare in the Mega Pizzaplex and not lose on this investment (as most employees with families used the Daycare so as to not cut into their work or have to hire a babysitter, example being Cassie who's dad worked for the company as a Technician) a Handler would be needed to keep Moon and Sun in line.

An animatronic handler is quite a few things in one. A manager. An assistant. A mechanic. And a wrangler. These were some of the few human jobs that remained in the Pizzaplex after the implementation of the S.T.A.F.F. bots which replaced most of the human staff with automated ones. Handlers ensure everything goes accordingly, much like trainers and their animals, because while the bots are designed to perform their tasks like the well-oiled machines they are, the guests are random factors that can throw things out of whack. So when it comes to assigning handlers to main attractions like the Daycare Attendant, this proved to be easier said than done when compared to the Glamrocks. While both work with kids, Sun/Moon deal with them for longer more direct periods of time and the kids tend to be in that age range where they can be pure chaos. This is usually what breaks would-be Handlers due to their attention mostly being driven to the bot and the kids would be an annoying hassle to juggle. It would take a strong yet strange soul to handle this.

Then she applied for the job.

While originally rejected quite a few times due to being one of the kids from the proto-daycare testing, background checks into her life since then had been mostly brand positive and records indicated she was a regular to the Pizzaplex since her double digits. With little to make in excuses not to, they gave her a 5-day trial hire where she was shadowed to ensure no repeats were to trigger. Reports indicate that there was a slight oddity that occurred upon introducing them to each other. It appears despite data scrubbing, Sun recognized her. This likely is what allowed her to gain Moon's attention during lights out. As for her behavior around the kids, her childish nature and creative improvisation was well received.

Lynsie is a calm and charismatic woman that aids Sun and Moon with interacting with the kids. Her skill in keeping Moon calm when lights would help in restarting naptime as a normal thing that shouldn't be feared. The story time addition also helped. She wasn't a pushover either, the kindness she showed could easily becomes ominous when then moment called for it. Further instilling this was a small carabiner latch on her waist harness which let her use Moon's hook to move around the daycare like an overseeing hawk. Yet still not everything was sunshine and rainbows, but the clouds were shady and with not a drop of rain in sight. This brought a time of better reviews of the Daycare. Some negative experiences still occurred but now they were less frequent and less problematic.

Until...

“MANAGEMENT REPORT - With Bonnie out of commision, we are making Monty the new bass player. Parts and Service has already done the proper adjustments. This could be a good thing. Monty could be even more popular than Bonnie.” — Understudy, Duffel Bag collectable

“ATTENTION KITCHEN STAFF - All food materials must be securely stored at closing. Chica has been caught eating from the kitchen garbage after hours. The maintenance repairs are costly and will come out of kitchen staff paychecks. - MANAGEMENT” — Food Storage, Duffel Bag collectable

“ERRANT BEHAVIOR REPORT - Monty didn't show up for the main stage performance again. We found him in the same place we always do, the catwalks over Monty Golf. We can't have a repeat of last month. Someone hit the hole in one and the hurricane bucket knocked him down. Both legs were broken and required emergency parts and service work.” — Monty Mischief, Duffel Bag collectable

“ERRANT BEHAVIOR REPORT - Chica's personality chip has always been a bit 'quirky', but the new Pizza Flavored Monty Mystery Mix Slushy Syrup has adverse effects on her programming. She has attacked patrons, employees and S.T.A.F.F. for it. It is recommended that Monty Mystery Mix should be recalled before we're inundated with lawsuits.” — CHICA REPORT, Duffel Bag collectable

“ERRANT BEHAVIOR REPORT - Roxy never misses a race. She must be frying her circuits waiting for the raceway to reopen. Every time there is a test run on the track she gets in the way. If she keeps getting in the way, the track will never get fixed.” — Chasing cars, Duffel Bag collectable

“MAINT LOG: Chica - Don't let her sing! Messes with the navigation of the other bots. Horrible results when she sang during live performance. S.T.A.F.F. bots dropping serving trays, chaos, guest injuries, 12 lawsuits. Experimental voice box test failed. Replacement advised.” — CHICA UPGRADE, Duffel Bag collectable

“MAINT LOG: ROXY - Roxy sees things differently than the others. This upgrade was meant to help her win races. However, there are some side effects. Sometimes she will stare and talk to the other bots through walls.” — ROXY UPGRADE, Duffel Bag collectable

“MAINT LOG: MONTY - Montgomery's Claw upgrades allow him to play the bass. Following performances, he mostly uses them to cause damage. The fence repairs are getting costly.” — MONTY UPGRADE, Duffel Bag collectable

“Roxy did it again. Another braindead S.T.A.F.F. bot decapitated because it got in her way on the racetrack. I'm getting real sick of trudging over to West Arcade to fix these things. Why isn't there a S.T.A.F.F. repair station any closer? At least I have an extra Dance Pass so I won't get locked out again.” — SORE WINNER, Duffel Bag collectable

“Congratulations on your installation of the new and improved DJMM. The DJMM features eons of musical enjoyment using a patented technique called 'improv' (royalty free!). No two songs are ever the same. Save a fortune on cleanup! Using a series of connected tubes, the DJMM can run cleaning routines between set lists. If the need ever arises, activate the new "bouncer mode". (Warning: Bouncer mode still under development. Use of the bouncer mode will void your warranty.)” — ULTIMATE PARTY HOST, Duffel Bag collectable

“CUSTOMER COMPLAINT - Why did you reopen? Everyone remembers what happened to those kids.” — IT IS HAPPENING AGAIN, Duffel Bag collectable

“CUSTOMER COMPLAINT - We paid for the Glam Freddy Mega Deluxe Party Package and Freddy broke down as soon as he got on stage. We paid to have him at the table and sing happy birthday. He was supposed to give her the cake! My daughter's birthday has been ruined. I demand a refund.” — Party Foul, Duffel Bag collectable

Something was happening to the bots. Programming was going haywire, strange upgrades that seemed okay brought new behavior kinks that, personality duality that made it more apparent the "robots" were more like "evolving artificial intelligence" with human-like traits. Roxy is labeled as "the best" and cool but now displays insecurities and struggles to uphold this imposed image standard. Chica is presented as sweet and promotes healthiness but now displays hard-to-control impulsiveness and a "hunger" that makes no sense for a nonbiological being. Monty is the laid-back and chill dude in the band but now he displays territorial bouts of anger and constant destructive impulses that result in needless property damage. Freddy seemed to be the only one immune to this as he lacked any upgrades, but his systems did receive a minor bug fix that has been causing random twitching from flashing lights and his charge logs appear to be alerted with him disappearing for hours unknown. However, while there's no evidence of this, rumors point to Moon being the first to experience this weird "virus" as he went from being somewhat scary to downright malevolent at times. This caused Sun to get more neurotic and pushed "keeping the lights on" more heavily to prevent Moon from appearing.

This growing distress didn't help the handlers, who were now scrambling to adapt and understand what the hell is going on with not just these animatronics but their best friends. You can't just work with someone, human or animal or even machine, and not get attached when they too share their lives with yours. And for the handlers, seeing the Animatronics they've spent years with slowly devolve into shadows of themselves was painful because...Hell...No one knew what to do. What was causing it? Why was this happening?!

All of this would come to a devastating head on March 9th.

This would be the day the Pizzaplex died and would fall to ruin.

#op art #fnaf security breach #fnaf moon #fnaf sun #sun and moon fnaf #fnaf fanart #fnaf daycare attendant #fnaf daycare fandom #fnaf oc #fnaf sb sun #fnaf sb moon #sun and moon security breach #sun fnaf #moon fnaf #self insert

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ffxiv-swarm · 1 year

Text

prompt 8: shed

In general, you found all sorts up in the skies. Hyur, Elezen, Miqo’te of all sorts of clans, even Seeq and Bangaa from Dalmasca. Hells, he’d even run into a pack—or should that be a flock?—of Ixal from far-flung Gridania. No Ananta, but he guessed the lack of feet would probably be a hindrance. He didn’t meet too many of his fellow Au Ra, though, which always struck him as odd.

And then, a few months into his first flight, he discovered why.

The cook on his first ship, a Raen from Doma, had wryly called it a quirk of physiology. Now that he was on his own, he called it a bloody pain in the arse. Fairly literally, unfortunately. While races with skin or fur or tough leathery hide only had to make sure they moisturized to allay the worse of the cold, dry wind’s effects, anyone with scales had a much worse time. Not only could his skin still crack and bleed, oh no, it didn’t stop there, because the gods were bastards.

No, once or twice a year, he shed. It was bad enough on the Steppes, where it still tended to be cold and dry but at least there was a ready supply of lanolin to slather himself with. If he happened to be a thousand yalms up above the Cieldalaes, he was shit outta luck. Shedding scales made his skin tight and dry, and they itched like mad—and sometimes they got stuck. When that happened, there was only one remedy, and now he finally had the means and the space to put it into practice without anyone yelling at him for hogging the hot water.

Nothing helped like a good, long soak.

Really, he thought as he stared up at the ceiling through the steam, I oughtta hire a navigator. Second mate. Maybe get a mammet. Something. It was possible to steer the Tormorjargal by himself, but it was also exhausting. Between the long day and the hot bath he was currently half-submerged in, he was halfway to torpor.

Halfway, not all the way, because unfortunately he still had a job to do. Growling under his breath, he sat up and twisted around for a third or fourth go at prying loose one of the shielding scales at the very base of his tail. Au Ra shed from the head downwards, and the tail scales were always the last to go. This would have been fine, except the ones at the base were so bloody stubborn. Mother of the Dusk, who hold the moon in your eyes, you’ve done a fine job giving us protection back there, but you could’ve made it easier to replace!

Wedging his fingernails under the first one, he took a breath. This would either work or be blindingly painful.

He yanked upwards, and the dull outer coating peeled off. Thank fuck. There were people who lacquered their shed scales and made things out of them—lamellar armor woven from body scales, drinking horns or knife sheaths from horn caps, lovers’ keepsakes from the triangular chest scales that pointed to the heart—but he’d always just swept them over the side. Wasn’t like he had anyone to give them to, anyway.

He sank back into the water, studying his shed idly. It was more flexible than the full scale, especially after soaking for nearly a bell, and resembled nothing so much as the translucent shell of the brown-edged beige beneath. Even this inextricably marked his tribe; nearly all Xaela had scales ranging from pitch-black to a deep blue, purple, or red, and Raen were almost always solid shades of cream through pale brown. But the Malaguld were true children of the dusk, mingling the blood of Azim and Nhaama for generations, and so they...varied. Widely. He’d seen every shade and pattern of brown and gray possible, and he’d thought them beautiful.

Well. He still did. But...

He blew out a gusty breath and tossed the shed aside. He had his own life now.

#ffxivwrite2023 #jaiyu #fire the headcanons

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arty-shadow-morningstar · 3 years

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Imagine a daminette au where Ra's makes himself yet another heir but this time it's Damian's kid with the "Guardian of Miraculous", so a great grankid, but the kid just disappears in thin air. Some time, maybe a few little years Damian hears about It from Talia, after lots of searching he finds the kid with one Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and he might or might not get some flashbacks when the kid says they thought he would be shorter(all this build up, because i think this line is funny)

Wasn't sure if this was an ask prompt or something. I never done one before. But this sounds like a nice AU so I took a swing at it.

-----

Marinette walked through the League of Assassins base, invisible thanks to Trixx’s magic. She tried to suppress her shivers as hazy memories of her brief imprisonment in the place flashed through her head. Now wasn’t the time for reminiscing right now. She was here to grab the Miraculous that was said to have fallen into Ra’s hands.

Normally, she would have stayed away from the place but the thought of leaving powerful jewels in that vile man’s possession left a bad taste in her mouth.

She crept along, dodging any guards that were coming her way. She used the magic inside her as the Guardian to guide her to the Miraculous. It led her to a rather lavish room.

(Shit, if it was kept with him in his private chambers, then it would be harder to get it out without him noticing. Although the lack of guards near the entrance surprised Marinette.)

After checking if the hallway was clear, she entered the room and shut the door behind her. Observing the room, it was not what she had imagined what Ra’s living quarters would look like, especially the crib in the room.

Curiosity came over her, she went in for a closer look to see a sleeping baby. What surprised her more was that it was wearing the Miraculous she came here for and surrounded for a few more.

As she reached inside to get the Miraculous, the babe opened its eyes, revealing familiar bluebell eyes. It was strangely quiet for a baby but it allowed Marinette to give a better look. She doesn’t know how since she doesn’t remember ever being pregnant but in her heart, she knew that the infant in front of her was definitely hers.

Her imprisonment by the League came to mind again. Marinette hugged her body as she realized what Ra’s did to her to make the baby. She felt sick to her core.

The child then let out a cry. Panicked, Marinette failed to notice that the illusion magic she had cast on herself had worn off as she tried to calm it down by picking the baby up and started humming a lullaby her mother used to sing to her. She packed up her emotional baggage to unpack it later because one, she needed to stay rational so she could get what she came for and two, no matter how it was created, she was going to take care of her child. For starters, she should probably stop calling the baby an ‘it’. As the baby calmed down, she unwrapped the blanket to see that she had a son.

A son. She has a son now.

The door creaked open. Immediately, Marinette turned around and went into a fighting stance as best as she could with a baby in her arms and no quick way to put it down so she could grab her weapon. She had a serious disadvantage in the fight.

Talia Al Ghul stood in the doorway, glare on her face and weapons ready. Upon realizing who was holding the baby, Talia lowered her weapons and shut the door behind her. She walked towards Marinette who was looking warily at her with some mild confusion. Marinette didn’t let her guard down.

“Guardian.” Talia greeted her calmly, further confusing Marinette, “I am not going to harm you. In fact, I would say that you have great timing coming here right now.”

“Talia, what’s going on?” Marinette asked tersely.

“Father wanted a powerful heir since my son, Damian had turned his back on his title as Al Ghul so he had used your DNA obtained from your last….visit here and my son’s to create Malik.”

“Malik?”

“That is my grandson’s name. Your son.”

After a minute of contemplating the existence of the baby in her arms, Marinette whispered, “Does he know?”

“Hmm?” Talia tilted her head at the question.

“Your son. The father. Does he know?” Marinette clarified.

“He is not aware of his son. But I would rather entrust Malik’s well-being to you, Guardian.” The assassin explained.

“Why?”

Talia hesitated, “Damian was raised in the League for the first ten years of his life, learning and training how to kill. That same faith will befall on Malik if he stays here. Damian was then sent to live with his own father. I love my beloved but he is not the most emotionally in tune with his emotions. In short, my son hasn't had the best home life and a child being thrust into his life is not what he needs right now.”

Marinette contemplated, slightly rocking the baby in her arms to fall back asleep, “I will do it. As his mother, I will do my best to raise him well.”

“That’s what I want to hear.”

The next morning, Marinette flew back to Paris with a new son and a duffel bag containing Malik’s ‘official’ documents, some spare clothes for him and the Miraculouses.

—---

Damian walked through the restaurant to go meet his mother for their agreed upon semi annual dinner.

“Damian, my darling, how have you been?” Talia greeted him, looking like she hasn’t aged a day thanks to the magic of the Lazarus Pits.

“Hello, Mother. Everything is going perfectly fine as usual. Let’s get this over with.” Damian said as he sat down to eat the meal she had ordered.

“Hmph. Even your son has more manners than you.”

Damian spat out the water he was sipping and coughed. Talia stood up to pat his back. Once he had regained his composure, he glared at his mother, “What do you mean my ‘son’?”

“I haven’t told you yet? Must have slipped my mind. I am getting forgetful at my age.” Talia said with a straight face but the mirth in her voice gave away how much she was enjoying the conversation.

“Cut the, pardon my language, crap, Mother. How am I not aware that I have a child?”

Talia sighed, “Five years ago, your grandfather wanted an heir to secure the future of the League. To do so, he had kidnapped the Guardian of the Miraculous and used her DNA and the leftovers from making your clone to make a great-grandson.”

“So are you leaving him with me like you did to father?”

“No. A few months after he was born, someone broke into the base and took him away along with any Miraculous we had in our possession. My theory is that the mother came for the jewels and stumbled upon the baby.”

“And you didn’t catch her?”

“She managed to slip past me.” Talia replied smoothly. They both knew that it was a lie.

“Who’s the mother?”

“She keeps her real identity a secret. Even more so than your father which I admit is quite an impressive feat. We call her the Guardian but your grandfather thinks that she might also be the Ladybug heroine who used to operate in Paris years ago.”

“Thank you for the enlightening conversation, Mother. I will be taking my leave now.”

“Damian?”

“What is it, Mother?”

“I…his name is Thomas. Thomas Malik. Malik was the name your grandfather chose for him. Thomas is the name of his maternal grandfather.”

“Thank you.” came the quiet reply before he left.

—---

It had taken a few sleepless nights and asking Oracle and Drake (after swallowing his pride) for help in his search.

At first, he thought it was some elaborate trap from his mother to bring him back into the League. But after some thinking and a talk with his father and Grayson, he decided to find his ‘heir’. After digging into old JL files on the Akuma situation from twenty years ago and diving deep into the personal life of Adrien Agreste and former Chat Noir in search of Ladybug’s secret identity, they found one Marinette Dupain-Cheng who has a son by the name of Thomas Malik Dupain-Cheng.

Damian hesitated as he stood before the apartment door. He, as much as he hated to admit it, was nervous.

He was Damian Wayne. The current Nightwing (after Dick had retired and passed on the mantle so he can settle down peacefully.) Why was it so hard to knock on one measly door?

Unfortunately, that decision was taken away from him as the door opened and the woman behind the door raised her eyebrow at him.

Damian’s mind blanked at what to say. Saying that he had found out that he had a son and he tracked them down by digging deep into one of her friend’s private lives would not go well. While he was not as…outgoing as his father when he was Damian’s age, he can admit that the woman in front of him was very attractive and part of the reason he was speechless. He had several beautiful ladies thrown at him, (nevermind that they were after his money) none of them held up to the angel in front of him.

She was the first to break the tense silence, “Soooo are you going to just stand there like you have been for the past fifteen minutes or are you going to ask to come in?”

Damian snapped back to reality and remembered his reason for being here. He took in a deep breath to calm his nerves and asked, “May I come in?”

She widened the door as an answer. The living room was littered with toys, papers with drawings on them, some of clothes (he remembered from his research that Miss Dupain-Cheng was head designer of the renamed Miracle Designs after its previous CEO turned out to be the villain Hawkmoth.) and others of monsters and pieces of fabric. Despite the mess, he saw that it was more of an organized chaos.

“Sit on the couch and would you like tea or coffee for a drink?”

“Neither. I am staying for long. The reason behind my visit is because recently my mother informed me that I had a child I was unaware of.”

“And you think that my Tommy is yours.”

Damian nodded.

“I would say that she’s right. I have been expecting your visit since Talia informed me that she told you.”

Damian was surprised to know that Talia was in contact with the mother but he shoved down the surprise as he asked, “If you don’t mind, I would like to take some DNA samples to get it tested. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just want to make sure.”

“You might have to wait. Tommy is out with his aunt and uncle. He should be back in a while.”

“I can wait.”

An awkward silence stretched between them.

She spoke up again, “Are you sure you don’t want anything to drink or eat? I made some macaroons yesterday.”

“I am fine,” he replied.

The awkward silence returned. Marinette fidgeted in her seat as Damian tried to think of ways to occupy his time waiting for his son to return.

“There are some baby pictures of Tommy. Do you…want to see them?” Marinette offered.

He thought back to his father who kept every childhood picture of his children like it was more priceless than anything in the world and how happy he was to document every moment of his little sister, Helena. Damian had already missed 5 years of his son’s life. He found himself wanting to catch up on what he had missed.

“I would greatly appreciate it.”

While Damian flipped through the pages of the photo album and occasionally took pictures for Dick who would undoubtedly pester him for some once he’s back in Gotham, Marinette would tell him what was occurring when a particular moment was captured. Damian saw some pictures of Tommy with Talia. There was one particular photo with his mother and renown fencer, Kagami Tsurgi, both of them squatting to show a toddler Tommy, who looked busy sucking on his saber, the proper stance while a panicked Marinette was in the background. It made him chuckle.

Soon, a knock sounded on the door while Marinette was telling him about Tommy’s first karate lessons.

“That’s him.”

She stood up and opened the door to let in a dark-haired and blue-eyed child who ran and hugged Marinette’s legs. Behind him was a woman who had a striking resemblance to Marinette and a blond man with icy blue eyes.

“Thank you for taking him out, Bridgette, Felix.”

“No problem, cous. But who’s that?” Bridgette gestured towards Damian and Tommy curiously glanced at the strange man sitting on their couch.

“I will text you the details later.” Marinette thanked them again before sending them away.

“Ma, who’s that?” Tommy asked, once his aunt and uncle were gone.

“Well, mon chou. You remember how Grandma Talia told you that your father is Damian and stories of how he is busy, protecting a city filled with lots of bad people by fighting them.”

“Uh….huh”

“That’s him.”

“Really?! No way.”

Marinette booped his nose. “Yes way. He wanted to meet you.”

Damian took that as his cue and stood up. “Hello. I am Damian. Nice to meet you, Tommy.” He tried to smile pleasantly at him, hoping he didn't scare the kid off.

Tommy frowned.

Oh no. He can’t have screwed up already. While he might not be parental material, he still wanted to get to know the boy better.

Before he could do anything, Tommy in all of his five year old bluntness said, “I expected Papa to be taller.”

Damian then had no doubt that this boy was his son.

“I don’t think I would need that DNA test anymore.”

#maribat #mlb x dc #ml x dc #damian x marinette #good mom talia

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iguessigotta · 2 years

Note

Have you ever thought of the prospect of Dark being able to hypnotize? My Drabble lord, please bless me with a hypno Drabble 👏😩

have i thought about Dark being able to hypnotize? ONLY EVERY FUCKIN DAY SINCE I READ THAT ONE FIC weirdlyhornyforegos DID!! TW/CW: mind control, possible dub-con if you squint, reader's havin a fuckin great time tho, nsfw-ish No gendered pronouns used, but written with a transmasc reader in mind i tried to base the general vibe off of some of the honestly hottest lyrics I've ever heard: "I can't wait to get you all alone, all alone//Once I'm in, there ain't no letting go, letting go//Watch me turn your mind into my home" - Mind Games by Sickick "Bite your tongue//Don't you know how wild these thoughts will run?//Careful now//I hang on every word that leaves your mouth" - Ideas by Au/Ra but idk how well i did there, lmao

Your mind felt hazy, slowed and dragging slower by the second. Stringing a full thought together took a near-Herculean effort, as though you were trudging through knee-deep mud, feet sticking to the bottom with every step. A lazy drunken smile spread across your face as you swayed lightly in place, your eyes rolling back before closing, as your head tilted up to the ceiling. You felt confused, disconnected, almost floaty. You breathed a bit heavier, feeling the panic of not having a tether to the ground beginning to rise in you, as though you might float away if someone didn't save you. It was hard to stay standing, even harder to think.

Exactly how you'd asked him to make you feel.

Eventually that tether you craved did arrive, in the form of Dark's hands wrapping gently around your arms, pulling you towards him. You gasped when his hand appeared in you hair, cradling you head, only to let out a contented sigh as his lips met your neck. At the same time, you felt this odd sensation, as though someone had tied a rope to your mind, and now they were gently tugging on it. Try as you might, you couldn't figure out what it wanted. The addition of quiet, distant voices wasn't much help. You strained to make out words, frowning and letting out an unhappy sound when you couldn't sort out what it was saying. What it was commanding you to do.

Dark froze at the sound, backing off and lifting his head to look you in the eye. "What's wrong, Love?" the hint of genuine fear in his voice was like a stab to the heart, "Are you alright?"

"W-what? Am I...wait, nonono, you're fine," you said, voice raising to a near-whine as you reached out to hold his face in your hands, "You didn't d-do anything wrong." He held still a moment, resting his cheek in your hand, looking at you, before closing his eyes and letting out a breath you didn't know he'd been holding.

"Is it too much, then?" he asked, a teasing tone to his voice, "I can always turn it off, you need only ask. I know how much of a toll this can take on a mind."

"Turn it off? Don't you dare!" you half-shouted, dragging his face to yours, resting your foreheads together with a giggle, "I-it's - I - I'm..." You huffed and tried to organize your sluggish thoughts. "It's not overwhelming, that's the problem," you confessed, feeling a little guilt at demanding more from him, "My head's slow, but still too loud. I can't hear the.....your.....commands...well enough. I don't kn-now what they're saying."

As you spoke, you felt your face heat up, suddenly very glad you'd pressed your foreheads together, as you were sure you couldn't look him in the eye at that moment. His breath fanned across your face as he let out a light chuckle before moving down to kiss your neck.

"Oh, is that all?" he asked against your skin. Or, you thought he did. You found yourself suddenly unsure if he'd spoken at all, as he continued to kiss a line down your throat. You took a steadying breath as the room began to do a slow backflip, clinging to Dark's arms in an effort to stay upright. You heard him chuckle again, but this time the sound came from inside your own head, echoing lightly, making your mouth split in a smile, a light laugh escaping you. Reality felt like it was spinning, the weightless feeling was nearly overwhelming now, turning Dark into your sole anchor, making you desperately crave any contact you could have with him.

And then you felt that tug on your mind again. The accompanying voices were much louder this time, though you still couldn't make out what they said. It seemed as though your body understood, however, as it started moving on its own. You watched as your own hands raised themselves to press against Dark's chest, pushing him back, pulling another chuckle from him. You grinned at him before letting control over your body go.

Dark watched you turn with a small smile, his hand dragging lightly across your back. He made quick work of removing his jacket and shirt, barely holding back an affectionate laugh when you stumbled, catching yourself on the bedpost, before following you.

His hand rested lightly on your back as he slid past you into the bed, laying on his back. You held back a frown, opting instead to tilt your head at him in confusion, brows furrowed. "What are y-" you began, earning you a soft "Hush, Love" and another, stronger, tug at your mind. You let out a shaky breath before allowing your body to move. Unfortunately this time Dark stopped you with a hand on your shoulder.

"Ah, I forgot," he murmured, sitting upright and reaching for the waistband of your pants, "These need to come off first." Without even a second's warning, Dark pulled your pants and underwear down to your ankles, pressing a kiss to your outer thigh as he straightened up.

"I apologize," he spoke, that light teasing tone back in his voice, "It seems I'd skipped a step in my excitement." When you made eye contact again, you fought to not hide your face, suddenly shy under his burning gaze. He smiled softly, a mischievous turn to the corner of his mouth, before laying back once more, eyes still on you.

You wanted to say something, but before you could form a shred of a thought, you felt that tug again. Closing your eyes and sighing happily, you let it move your limbs, pulling yourself onto the bed and climbing clumsily to straddle Dark's torso. You began inching upwards, towards his face, as his hands came up to rest on your ass. You frowned lightly, pausing to look down at him.

"T-this.....isn't what I thought you'd have me doing," you spoke slowly, straining to keep the slur out of your words, "What're y-" He cut you off with a gentle "shh" before pressing on your ass, forcing you upwards again.

"Don't worry, My Love," he said, breath hot against your inner thigh as he helped you to straddle him, hovering nervously above his mouth, "Be patient and let me have my fun first. It will be your turn soon enough." Before you had a moment to think of objecting, his grip, now on your hips, tightened as he pulled you down to him.

#darkiplier x reader #darkiplier x y/n #darkiplier x trans!reader #n/s/f/w #ok this isn't quite what i'd had written before but it's close #all the same scenes just worded differently #tbh i'm amazed i was able to remember any of this much less rewrite it all in one go #i've earned myself a treat for that i think #anywho hi yes hello i am a Full Grown Adult(tm) who has never written smut in his life #so i apologize for the fade-to-black ending. i'm just not sure how well i'd do at writing it #BUT if y'all like this and really want me to try lemme know #and i'll try to pick this up in a part two #try is the key word #it's 4 am and i'm full of chaos so imma just post it #happy sunday! here's some almost-filth!

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fific7 · 2 years

Text

White Wedding Pt 2

Logan Delos x Reader

A/N: Alpha/Omega/Soulmate AU, based on Billy Idol’s song of the same name. This does not follow canon, it’s mainly Logan lemon zest 🍋 because the world always needs more Logan.

Summary: James has agreed to retire, leaving Logan and Juliet in charge of Delos. But there is one major condition attached… will Logan find it to be a deal-breaker?

Warnings: 18+ NSFW due to sexual content, including oral, between consenting adults*. Drinking and swearing.

*Irl, please use protection, let’s be careful out there.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

(My Photo Edit)

It's a nice day to start again

It's a nice day for a white wedding

It's a nice day to start again

Hey little sister, who is it you're with

Hey little sister, what's your vice and wish

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Logan lifted his head, a huge smile on his face, and looked along the length of his … willing?… bed partner’s body. He was having the time of his damn life.

She seemed compliant, so she must be willing… right? Apart from when her hips jerked up when he first licked her, she’d lain there without struggling and the only thing he’d heard were some very soft, low moans as he slowly got his mojo back, enthusiastically licking her then sucking at her clit.

He vaguely heard the footsteps behind him, and groaned. That fucking Beta. “Mr Delos,” he heard. He steadfastly ignored her and continued thrusting his tongue into the honeypot his lips were currently sucking on.

The honeypot which had grown steadily wetter since the second his tongue was inside it. And he was very much her willing honeybee.

“Mr Delos!” Now she was almost shouting.

He momentarily paused, growling at her without looking up that no way had 15 minutes already gone past, before resuming his enthusiastic efforts.

“Mr Delos… twenty minutes have now gone past. Please stop!... now.”

He planted his hands even more firmly into the soft flesh he was currently holding onto and with a dissatisfied groan, stood up.

“Okay, okay… not touching, see?” and waggled his hands at her, jazz-style. He stepped closer to the Beta and she hastily backed off.

He continued in a determined tone, “I want her. How do I go about this, now?”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

As if you were deep in some kind of trippy-like dream, you heard these words of his, sounding like they were coming from far, far away.

“I want her. How do I go about this, now?”

What?! your brain screamed, continuing immediately with ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod… you had been trafficked, you must’ve been!! What other explanation could there be for the strange, awful situation you found yourself in?

Which also very annoyingly included you lying there feeling like a deep pool of over-stimulated nerve endings. Needy for more… and wet as the ocean itself. You vowed to take a whole handful of those damn inhibitors when you got back to your apartment.

“Please follow me to our CEO’s office,” the Beta had replied to him, “…and all the arrangements will be finalised. You will be able to take her with you today.”

“Excellent,” you heard his deep voice reply, and it now sounded like he was almost purring, “lead the way.” Now he didn’t sound sulky at all, in fact there was an edge of excitement in his tone.

Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod……. NO! this can’t be happening. It can’t be. Your doped up brain struggled to comprehend what was going on.

You heard the Suite door open and close, and then there were two pairs of hands on you… unclamping the wrist and ankle restraints, pulling the sheets off you. Your eyes screwed up involuntarily… the light in the room, while muted, was still too bright for your suddenly sensitive eyes. Your yoga pants were put back on you and you were encouraged to stand up, before being led into a large shower room at the back of the Scenting Suite.

You were handed some shampoo and shower gel, told to undress and shower. This you did, hoping that it would help clear your head somewhat. Your mind began racing as you stood naked below the warm rainfall shower.

Trying to figure out just what these psycho LPV people were up to.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Logan shook the Alpha female CEO’s hand, noting how her eyes roamed over his tall figure, and gave an involuntary small shudder. He’d made sure never to hook up with one of these crazy women again after an early and pretty disturbing experience with one of them.

She indicated two chairs over by the floor-to-ceiling windows, and he settled into one of them. Once she’d seated herself, she sent a predatory smile his way, “So.. Mr Delos. You’ve chosen our Platinum Omega, I hear?”

He nodded, “Yes. I need a wife and damn quick. She seems to be the perfect solution to my little… problem.”

“Well, it’s an excellent choice if I do say so myself. She’s never been claimed, never been scented or sampled before you did today…. all virgin territory for you.” He knew she’d noticed the way his lips parted and his tongue ran over his bottom lip when he’d heard those words. He could still taste her. Goddamn. He needed a moment, shifting uncomfortably in the chair, subtly adjusting his trousers.

She side-eyed him, “What do you know about Platinum Omegas?” He shrugged, “Almost nothing. Just that they are - to quote your employee - the elite of the elite?” She smiled, “Exactly that, Mr Delos. And super rare. She’s the only one we’ve had in here for about a decade. Platinums are exactly the same as other Omegas… but… just extra in every sense. They are more beautiful, more fertile, more intelligent, more highly sexed…” Logan raised an eyebrow. “You will find this out,” she smirked, “she will not be… umm… unavailable to you outside of her heat.” She smirked again, “They are also not particularly submissive like some Omegas, so I hope you are prepared for that?”

Logan smirked right back, “I’m getting more intrigued by the moment. And more than looking forward to getting to know my Platinum. What is her name?” She told him. And he pondered for a second, before commenting, “A beautiful name… for a beautiful? .. lady.” “You will find out very shortly, Mr Delos.”

The CEO then clapped her hands lightly, startling him out of his daydream. “Let’s get down to business.” She lifted a sleek tablet from the coffee table which sat between them. “Could you just…. right index finger and then your left ring finger, please.”

Logan applied the two fingers she mentioned, one after the other, to the scanning boxes on the screen. He heard two small bleeps, she smiled and closed down the tablet, placing it back on the coffee table.

“Okay… it was as easy as that, Mr Delos. Pleasure doing business…” she stood and held out her hand for him to shake.

A Beta appeared as if from nowhere and the CEO gave him one last smile as he was led to an adjoining room. There was a large two-way mirror with a large plush armchair in front of it. “Please make yourself comfortable, Mr Delos. Everything will be finalised very shortly.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

When you stepped out of the shower, hanging next to it was a long flowing white linen dress, with some lacy lingerie looped over the hanger and a pair of sleek white high-heeled shoes below it. Your own clothes had vanished. Sighing heavily, your still sluggish brain supposed that you were to put these on. Would they even fit?

The bra was a balcony style contraption, pushing your breasts together and up. You eye-rolled, thinking that it must be guys who designed these things because anyone with actual breasts would know that they were in fact instruments of torture. The underwear was a thong. Great, just great, now you’d also be walking around with that uncomfortably crammed up your ass-crack. Once you’d levered yourself into the lingerie, you pulled on the linen maxi, liking the way the thin straps lay on your shoulders and the loose but still clinging fabric draped your figure. It was fairly low cut but not overly so, showing just a hint of the swell of your breasts below.

Slipping on the heels, you took a look in the full-length mirror which was fixed to the shower room door, and laughed. You looked like you were going to a music festival. All you needed was a headband and a stack of bangles. And no doubt exactly how your mother may have dressed at some point.

A pang of sadness floated to the surface of your consciousness about your parents, dead too soon in a car crash. You’d have been with them if you hadn’t been left with your aunt while your parents went on one of their ‘little adventures’. Which could last weeks if not months before they rolled back up to reclaim you. But that time, they hadn’t ever come back. Your aunt - who had willingly more or less singlehandedly brought you up at that stage - just lovingly made it 100% of the time without turning a hair, and you’d been so, so grateful to her.

You heard one of the Betas behind you, looking round the shower room door at you. “Please follow me to the CEO’s office.”

As you stood outside the imposing double doors of the office, you thought you felt another little sharp scratch at your neck but as your hand flew up behind your hair and you quickly looked round, there was nothing there and the Beta had disappeared.

The doors opened, and the CEO Alpha female you’d met only once when you’d first arrived at LPV smiled widely at you. “Come in, come in…” she welcomed you, and guided you toward two chairs by the windows. Before you got there, she stayed you with a hand on your arm, turning you towards a large fireplace behind you, “Do you like my new antique mirror?” You looked at her like she was a fruit loop, but obediently looked at the huge mirror placed above the mantelpiece of the fireplace. It was very baroque, all golden bronze swirls and whatnot. Not your kinda thing, but you politely replied, “Oh yes, it’s … uhh.. stunning.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Logan gaped at the vision in front of him in the two-way mirror.

That was exactly what he’d been thinking.

His sense of excitement heightened even more.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Once you’d finally been able to sit in one of the chairs by the window, the CEO picked up a tablet from the coffee table and said, “You won’t mind just quickly checking in for me, would you?”

This was standard practice when you were moving around the compound. No doubt some kind of Big Brother tracking system, you thought, cynicism rife. Keep an eye on the little girlies, let’s make sure we’ve always got them locked down. And while you appreciated the safety, security and peace of LPV, sometimes its procedures were just freaking annoying and frankly intrusive too. Like.. who has to scan their fingerprint when they use their own damn bathroom?!

Mentally eye-rolling, you nevertheless held up your right index finger and placed it against the box on the screen, however as you leant back in your chair the CEO said, “Oh… sorry! As you’re in my private office, there’s a second element of security. Another random finger swipe.” She reached over and made a show of deciding which finger, before grabbing your left ring finger and pressing it without delay onto a second box.

She released your finger and tapped something on the screen, the tablet gave out a few confirmatory bleeps and she closed it down, turning to you with a beaming smile.

“Well!” she lightly clapped her hands and you jumped, vaguely remembering she’d done that when you’d met her the first time too. She said your name, reaching across the coffee table and taking your hand, “It’s been a pleasure having you here the past couple of years, you know. Platinums like you are so rare nowadays and we’ve been so happy to keep you safe and away from the mainstream for that short amount of time.”

A cold finger of fear ran right down your spine. You knew what a “Goodbye and good luck” speech sounded like.

Your eyes widened, and you heard yourself stutter, “B-but I’ve paid for 10 years… you… I can’t..” before your mouth gave up working,

She patted your hand. “It’s your time, you know. Time to procreate and keep that line of Platinums in existence. And time for me to congratulate you… because you just got married. Congratulations and all the very best to you in your future life!”

You leapt out of your seat, ripping your hand away from hers. “What… did you say?” Surprisingly you heard your voice and it wasn’t a frightened squeak… which is absolutely what you were vibing… but a low, menacing hiss.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Logan watched his new wife’s hot-as-hell reaction to the news of their wedding, and his head involuntarily fell back against the chair back.

He couldn’t believe how hard he was. After months… months… of no action down below, none at all… his spirits now soared.

Truth be told, that had been the main - and highly secret - reason that he’d been so opposed to the instant wedding thing when his dad had sprung it on him.

Old Logan would’ve nodded “yeah whatever”, flipped his dad off, married some stupid rich bitch then left her alone in their big mansion while he went out on the town with numerous side pieces of whatever flavour.

New Logan… ahhh, different matter. After all the substance abuse, and the long stint in rehab while he dried out, got weaned off the powders and pills, and navel-gazed for weeks on end, he’d begun to think his dick was broken. Like, permanently broken. It just didn’t work any more. He’d tried masturbating, had watched so much porn and looked at so many sex sites online that he’d actually got bored with them, sat watching the real-life California girls in their micro-bikinis on the beach at Malibu. He’d taken STD tests in case he’d somehow picked up any nasties along the way, although he always used a condom. Clean as a whistle.

No. Nope. Nada. Not even a twitch. Not a flicker of interest.

And that was a big problem for a man like Logan Delos, Playboy Supreme and known for sticking his dick into any available and willing orifices he could find, on a regular basis. He knew he had a manwhore rep… and he kinda liked it.

But now… imagine he hooked up with someone and they started spreading the word around that Logan Delos couldn’t get it up? He felt his face heat up even as the thought raced through his mind.

So he’d stayed away from everyone. Went out for meals and drinks, sure, but at the end of the night?… the date was put in a cab and sent home, sight unseen. Or sight unfucked, he should say.

Logan Delos had been an actual freaking monk for the last however many months.

Now though… fondly he looked down at the tent in his trousers.

Logan Jr was back in town! And ready to rock n’ roll.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

She looked up at you calmly as you stood there, quivering with fear and anger pulsing through your veins. Shecan’tdothis shecan’tdothis shecan’tdothis! Can she? a little voice at the back of your mind questioned.

“You signed up for this in your contract, my dear,” she explained, as if speaking to a recalcitrant child. “I never.. no I didn’t!” you yelled, and her mouth formed a little moue of disapproval. She sighed, picking up the tablet once more and tapping some words into a search field. She scrolled through a document which had loaded onto the screen before handing it over to you to read.

There was that clause you hadn’t ever liked right from the word go, about the scenting and sampling. But now it was longer, a few lines longer.

“If you are chosen by an Alpha after a scenting/sampling session, you hereby agree to live with or be married to your Alpha in perpetuity. You hereby agree to have sex with him in any way he wishes and whenever he wishes, and you hereby agree to procreate with him, as often as he requires. You hereby agree to obey your Alpha in all things.”

And there was your signature, right on the line underneath it. They’d wanted you to sign this particular paragraph on its own in addition to the overall contract, which you’d also signed.

You looked up at her, horrified. “You… you complete bitch! You hid those lines from me on the original contract! I would never have agreed to this if I’d known! Never!”

She smirked at you, “You’re mistaken, dear. The whole paragraph was visible throughout the signing session. You must’ve been so flustered by the scenting/sampling issue that you omitted to read the full thing.” She whipped the tablet back from you, searching for another document before showing you that too. It was a marriage certificate, stating that you and a Logan … Delos?… were legally married in the state of California today. 10 minutes ago.

You could feel your shoulders droop in defeat. “I can’t believe you’ve done this to me. I want to go back to my apartment and think about this.” She shook her head, “Not possible, I’m afraid. You will go to your new husband’s house today, in fact…” she looked at her Patek Phillippe wristwatch, “…you’ll be leaving in 15 minutes. Your clothes and possessions are already packed and in his SUV.”

You tilted up your chin aggressively, “And what about the balance of the money I paid to stay here? I want it back!” She shook her head. “No, dear. That.. and a very generous donation from Mr Delos… will go towards us carrying on with our worthy and philanthropic cause at LPV. To shield and preserve Omegas so they can procreate and continue the genes. If we hadn’t kept you safe here, you… a Platinum Omega.. would’ve been scooped up by some low-life, put in a baby farm and your genes would’ve been so diluted, they’d never have carried forward. Now, you have a handsome, rich husband - a Dark Alpha - who has a very high sex drive ..so he should be able to handle you, dear. Don’t think we haven’t noticed just how many inhibitors you take, even when you don’t have to. You will have gorgeous children, one or more of whom may be pure Platinum, pure Dark or an exciting mix of Dark and Platinum. Such a child could eventually rule the world. We have done you such a big favour, my dear… and one day you will realise that.”

Her talk of genes and suchlike made you distinctly uneasy, and wondered if in a previous life she’d happened to be a supporter of a horrible little guy who’d sported an equally horrible little toothbrush moustache.

You wanted to reply and tell her exactly where to stick her ‘big favour’ but your eyelids began to droop. Your last conscious thought was that they really knew how to get their dope doses right on the money… enough time for you to digitally sign the marriage certificate then BOOM… out like a light.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Logan drove a lot more carefully than usual up the PCH, his precious cargo asleep in the back seat. He’d been more than a little perturbed when they’d carried her out, already unconscious and placed her in his SUV.

He’d looked at the Beta who seemed to have been designated as his minder until he was off the premises. “Uhhh.. mind telling me exactly what I’m to tell the cops when they pull me over for speeding on the way home and find out I’ve got an unconscious female in my back seat?”

The Beta stared straight ahead, “You tell them the truth, Mr Delos, and show them your marriage certificate. Law enforcement in this state are all aware of the services LPV provides and you will have no issues. Oh…” now she did look at him, “…and don’t speed.”

He grunted, irritated, thinking “nobody likes a smartass”…totally ignoring the fact… of course… that he was the biggest of big smartasses himself.

He felt like a kid again with a shiny new toy, a toy he didn’t know how to work yet. What did he do when he got her home? Move her right into his bedroom and his bed? She was his wife after all. Legally and all that shit. He could stop the car and take her right now if he wanted to and she couldn’t object. Or could she?

Uneasily, his mind went back to her protestations in the CEO’s office. They hadn’t pulled the wool over her eyes, had they? She said she didn’t know anything about the marriage section on that paragraph, and the CEO said she did. Who was gaslighting who? He really didn’t know, and to be honest it wasn’t really his problem. They were legally married - she’d signed off on that clause on the original contract and her fingerprints were scanned onto the marriage certificate so hey, no problem, right?

He hadn’t been able to hear what the CEO had said to her right before her fingers were scanned, however he’d seen both fingers being scanned… willingly… onto that document. So, hey MS Platinum.. deal with it.

And give it up for your new husband.

Logan’s dark eyes closed for a second before reopening, a glint of excitement in them.

He couldn’t fucking wait.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

@obscurilicious @paracosmenthusiast

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

#ben barnes #logan delos #logan delos x reader #logan delos fan fiction #logan delos fanfic #logan delos imagine #logan delos deserved better

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keicordelle · 1 year

Text

The Daily Inconveniences of an Au Ra: Scale Pattern

The Coerthan cold bit at Keshet's skin, but he was too stubborn and prideful to put back on the bulky coat Tataru made him wear to keep his tail from freezing off. The lalafell would surely skin his hide if she found him out here, stripped to the waist as he trained, but he was far too used to the freedom of movement granted to him by his usual attire to swing a sword as long as he was tall and half as heavy with his movements so constricted by a half dozen layers of furs and fabric. Besides, the exercise was good for him (even if it didn't keep him strictly warm), and the time spent in the company of another Au Ra was even better.

"Your scales are different than mine," Sigurgu observed from where he was warming up by the fire a half dozen fulms away.

Keshet glanced up in surprise, nearly cleaving off the end of his tail when he forgot to pull it out of the way of his swing. "What do you mean?" He couldn't exactly see most of Sidurgu's scales to compare, but he hadn't noticed anything about the other Au Ra that would lead him to believe he had some sort of scale abnormality... Then again, he supposed there probably weren't too many medics in Ishgard well versed in auri anatomy, so if he did have some kind of problem, he may not have known about it until now.

Fortunately, the truth was much simpler than that. "Their pattern. They don't cover the same areas that mine do."

"Oh. Of course not," Keshet responded easily, heaving his sword once more as he returned his attention to his training, his worries dismissed. "Every Au Ra's scales are unique. Like... birthmarks, I guess, on an Elezen." He paused, frowning. "You didn't know that?"

Sidurgu grimaced, tail lashing. "There aren't many Au Ra here to compare myself too. And once my parents were killed, there was no one to teach me such things."

"Oh." Keshet's motions slowed then halted as he considered that. What a horrible life that must have been, to lose your people so young that you never even learned about your own kind. Resolved, Keshet abandoned his training, driving his sword into the snow and making his way over to stand next to Sidurgu at the fire.

"Most Au Ra have scales covering the majority of their joints," he explained, tapping the dark patch over the back of his wrist. "The spine, too, is very common, though I know plenty of people without. The throat seems to be fairly universal, I don't think I've ever seen anyone with their throat fully exposed..." He tilted his head, considering for a moment, before giving it a decisive shake. "No, definitely not." Urianger would probably say something like that it was an evolutionary advantage for Au Ra to have their necks protected, but all Keshet knew was that it had saved his skin more than once and he was grateful.

"The rest tend to be variable," he continued, feeling rather like his scholarly friend for once, instead of the weary science experiment he was often reminded of when Alphinaud peppered him with questions. "Some have scales spread across their chests, like a breastplate." He traced a pattern over his bare skin, arching down from his throat and between his nipples down to the base of his sternum. Sidurgu nodded along in recognition, tail quirked behind him. "Others are protected over their sides or stomach, or lower, over their groin." He gestured to where the pointed edge of scales peaked out over the tops of his shorts, leaving Sidurgu to infer how much of his hidden skin was covered.

"They can come in in any number of patterns, from the winged points you see on me to the more delicate spiral shapes some women sport, to blocky, heavy sections and everything in between. And the pattern can change as you age. I'm sure you've noticed that your scales filled in more as you grew up. They'll continue to spread as the years pass. Eventually, the slivers of skin you can see on your neck" -Keshet paused, realizing for the first time that he had no idea how old Sidurgu was, and tilted his head to examine Sid's neck and ensure he did still have skin visible (he did)- "they'll vanish as the scales grow denser and spread across more of your body. You can guess an Au Ra's age reasonably well like that if you know what to look for, but everybody's different, so it's not foolproof."

Keshet drew himself up short, clamping his lips against the next bout of words that threatened to spill forth as he realized he'd crossed the line from helpful friend to brotherly mentor mode, well-honed from years of explaining to the younger children of the tribe. It's a miracle I've never slipped that far into lecturing in front of Alphinaud - though I bet he'd be thrilled. Never let me have another evening to myself though.

"Hm. I see," was all Sidurgu said when it was clear Keshet was finished, but the quirk to his tail belied his interest.

"Er, sorry for the lecture. You didn't exactly ask."

Sidurgu grunted noncommitally, and Keshet reached for his sword, content to return his attention to the actual purpose of their snowy sojourn and leave auri anatomy lessons for another day. It took him by surprise to hear Sigurgu say gruffly from behind him, "Thanks. I never thought much about this stuff when I was a kid, and then it was too late to learn."

"If ever you have any questions..." He left the offer unfinished, and Sid nodded to him. He returned it, and that easily, the bond of kinship was solidified. "Now come on, let's see just how well my scales hold up against your sword."

Read the rest of the series on Ao3!

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#ffxiv #ffxiv fanfiction #wol #au ra #sidurgu orl #ffxiv drk #scales #au ra anatomy #coerthas #my writing #daily inconveniences #drabble #keshet dotharl #~K

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