#don't think a vacation is gonna cut it this time lads

[broomballkraken]

Happy Anniversary Octopath Traveler 2! This game is incredibly special to me, as it broke me out of a rather nasty, year-long case of writer’s block, and gave a brand new rare pair OTP in Osvald/Partitio.

I ended up writing a 15 chapter, 65k word fic about them that has become my favorite one that I’ve ever written, The Scholar and The Merchant! (ao3 link)

Someone on twitter asked writers to brag about their fics and what inspired us to write, so I copy-pasted my rant about The Scholar and The Merchant under the cut below, which kinda turned into a little Osvitio manifesto of sorts lmao

I've written *checks notes* a lot of OT2 fics lmao But buckle up lads, 'cause I'm gonna rant about my magnum opus, The Scholar and The Merchant!

Our tale begins way back when the Octopath Traveler 2 announcement trailer dropped (I was on a family vacation at the time and shrieked so loud that I startled my sister, sorry Viking Steve akdhfkjd) From the get-go, I was looking at Osvald and Partitio like 🤔🏳️‍🌈🤔🏳️‍🌈

When the trailer that revealed their crossed paths art dropped, I immediately opened a blank doc and wrote 3-4 paragraphs of the confession scene, effectively yeeting myself into another corner of rare pair hell before the goddamn game even came out because I am Very Normal.

I wrote two longfics for the first game, so TSaTM followed the same format, including the lazy-ass title scheme, because I am nothing if not committed to the bit djkslfh Those first two fics only had 12 chapters each, and this one capped at 15, likely due to the addition of the crossed paths and the final chapter.

The game comes out and from that first unique dialogue between them when recruiting Partitio with Osvald I was completely invested in these two as a pair already. I just really liked how Osvald seemed to gain valuable insight from his conversations with Partitio (see Clarissa and Ethan, Osvald the Sober) which highlights their differences, but they also have had similar experiences with being poor (see A Poor Student's Woes) and that serves to tie them together.

At this point, my outline is quickly getting out of hand and I know this is going to be an ever bigger undertaking than my OT1 longfics, so I had to mentally prepare myself for that lmao

So my play through goes on and then we get to my favorite banter in the game, A Waste of Time Part III. The fact that they picked Partitio instead of any of the other travelers for this particular conversation, the last one of Osvald's journey (and not just because they were crossed paths pairs because the other travelers' stories don't follow that pattern) speaks to me, because Osvald states multiple times in banters with other travelers that he hates banal chatter, yet here he is thanking Partitio for that very thing, for talking him through a lot of things and being there to support him. After I stopped bawling my eyes out, I really stopped to think that the writers were really onto something here, and it makes me so sad that these two are such a rare pair wehhh

Anywho, then we get to the final chapter, and my second favorite banter, Ori's Fate. This banter is really the first time Partitio is visibly distressed, after his mostly low-stakes journey. Osvald takes the time to reassure him that Ori is okay and then, after Partitio expresses that he's glad Osvald is around to cheer him up (cue Kraken waterworks again aklsjdfh), Osvald actually suggests that they change the subject to that banal conversation that he supposedly hates so much, just to keep Partitio's mind off of Ori, and gosh dang it to heck that really just drives home how far Osvald has come from that angry revenge-fueled man, and how very close that he and Partitio have become.

That kinda went off topic lol Anyway, this fic is very special to me because it was the most fun that I've had writing a fic, ever. Even though these two ended up being a rare pair, the wonderful people that commented on the fic and even multiple chapters just made this project so much more fun, and gave me the drive to finish a 65k fic in only four months, which is crazy to me because it took me a hell of a lot longer to finish my shorter OT1 longfics ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There are a lot of moments in this fic that were fun to fit into Osvald and Partitio's respective stories, some favorites being Partitio providing comfort for Osvald after the events of his Chapter 4, Osvald carrying a drunk Partitio back to the inn in the latter's Chapter 2, Partitio taking Osvald to Oresrush to meet Papp, and the confession scene happening under the stars during part 2 of their crossed paths, just to name a few hehe

Oh boy this got long and kinda turned into a manifesto, I'll wrap it up sajkfh Uh yeah The Scholar and The Merchant is my favorite fic and it helped yeet Osvald/Partitio to the top of my OTP list, thanks for coming to my TED talk lmao

[rockshortage]

I've been thinking a lot about Darryl finally finding out what happens to her son, and while getting over the great war stuff sucked, finding that out would basically be opening a bunch of old wounds and be at least 10X worse. I figure she'd have Derrick and/or Danse with her when she finds out, but is still shook up enough by the time she gets home that she kinda just... lashes out a little, maybe even tries to push away anyone who isn't extremely careful until she can calm down

That led to me imagining that Hector doesn't know what's happened until someone tells him, which means he doesn't really understand why she's not just randomly cold and angry towards him, but also very clearly having a pretty severe emotional breakdown

Yeah I can't imagine that'd be any good for her, no matter how much she's learned to deal with the trauma pre-war. This adds another layer, it's new, it's fresh, and she was not prepared for it. I imagine being so sure that she can handle it and it then turning out that she can't adds another layer of something like indignation? Disbelief, disappointment, anger at herself that she's not able to keep her cool this time? Blaming herself for being in this line of work and endangering her family through it? Of course mostly as a side note to all the shock, anger and grief that the situation itself conjures up, but still. Just a whole lot of really messy emotions.

Hector would probably guess at first that she's "relapsing" into the great war trauma, but it's also kind of clear that this is a whole different beast. He just doesn't know what, until maybe he sheepishly asks Derrick, or maybe just Darryl directly if she's willing/able to share that information. And then again, he just does his best. Can maybe man up a little better this time after he's learned some things from her previous troubles, as well as his own.