#endwalker reaction

[artctrlcee]

/SHOUT: "Get behind the ice, get behind the ice!!"

[arcteris]

i just want to know how much estinien's outfit from that one scene cost

[plounce]

fun fact: the only time urianger's avatar has dialogue in the vanaspati trust dungeon (since in actual msq, he was on the moon) is between the 1st and 2nd bosses, when you encounter the arkasodara family whose mother transforms in the ruined village

[sebille]

Looking at how technologically advanced Garlemald is compared to the rest of the world and like ......... yeah

[fisherrprince]

post-tower of babil cutscenes

[tenuuchlegch]

Pardon for my self indulgence, but I would just like to say Mr. Varlineau... sir... how dare you???

[sarastuss-a]

i made myself emotional, thinking about sarastus, in the aetherial sea, had to kill venat / hydaelyn too, in the end. her mentor, her friend. the list of her past friends she has to keep killing is a bit too long!!

[starrysnowdrop]

Patch 6.4 MSQ Reaction

Here are my first thoughts, opinions, and overall reactions to the 6.4 MSQ. Since I had a lot to say about Pandaemonium Anabaseios, those reactions were written in a separate post, HERE. Note that these are my personal thoughts, and not meant to be a critique on the MSQ story in any objective manner.

I’m in love with the opening scenes of the patch! The bonding with Zero over eating the spiciest ass curry imaginable was fantastic, and it spoke to me so personally, as my favorite food is Indian curry, and it’s something my mom and I have always loved eating together. So that’s probably way different from most people’s experience, but I took a ton of screenshots of this scene because it felt so personal for me.

Then we got the Estinien fan service scene and ohhhhhh boy, I was DYING laughing and giggling at it!! This is because I’m not an Estinien shipper myself, but I have some friends who are, and I knew that they would die of thirst. Then I got to thinking: WHY can’t we get a scene like THAT with Aymeric?? Throw us Aymeric shippers a bone, I beg of you Yoshi-P!!

Maybe the best part of that scene was Zero’s reaction… Ma’am please!! You are killing me over here!!

Then we got to go back to Labyrinthos briefly and I am just personally so excited for Hali to be coming home to Labyrinthos and Sharlayan soon, but alas, I had to play the patch on Yume, so it didn’t have the same feeling as it would be if it was Hali being there. Nonetheless the brief Sharlayan scenes were really good.

Fourchenault’s backside comments are going to spark a thousand smut fics, I just know it…

I’m so happy that Krile seems to be more in the spotlight going forward, as I love her and I’ve always felt that they’ve done her dirty by always having her stay behind. I’m glad that it looks like she’s going to get more love soon!

Also glad that Erenville made a cameo, as I find him to be a very cool character and like an Everyman. He gives a good perspective that kinda gets lost sometimes when the Scions are always talking with the leaders of nations and such.

The Aetherfont is very likely my new all time favorite dungeon in game. It’s absolutely gorgeous, the music was great as usual, and the fights were really fun! Once Hali gets there, I’m going to take a ton of gposes there!

The Thancred cameo was really nice, but my only beef is that he leaves immediately afterwards. WHY?!?! I’m so annoyed at that.

Probably my favorite part of the patch, storywise anyway, was the Garlemald section. I’m SO glad they are finally addressing how Garlemald and the Garlean people are going to rebuild and their future going forward. It was a nice touch, and I appreciate how Vrtra was able to come up with a great compromise and to let the Garleans have some dignity. Very good stuff in my opinion.

Then the Thirteenth Moon section was pretty much how I expected it would be. Meet the lopporrits and have a cute scene again, open portal, find Azdaja, fight Golbez, yadda yadda yadda.

I will say though, I loved the Golbez trial! The mechanics were challenging yet fun, and I actually enjoyed it very much. The gamer in me was pleased, regardless of the writer in me being just meh about it all.

What I wasn’t expecting, however, was that this Void story arc would still continue into 6.5. To be perfectly honest, this has been my least favorite part of the entire MSQ, in the whole game. Yes, it has trumped everything else as the stuff I least care about. Outside of Zero being an awesome character and wanting Azdaja freed and brought home, I really could care less about everything else. It still feels like an anime filler arc, and though it has gotten a bit better, I’m still not sold. I just want to get to 7.0 like immediately. And if it has anything else to do with the Thirteenth, I might scream. I’m so sorry if anyone is liking this arc, but I just can’t get into it myself.

With all of that being said, I very much loved Pandaemonium way more, and that’s where my mind has been since I finished it yesterday. Therefore, that’s all I’ll say about the MSQ, and I have probably much more to say about Pandaemonium in my next post. Thank you all for reading, and feel free to tell me your thoughts about it all as well!!

[hqmillioncorn]

To see you smile again

Babycorn looked out the window, though the weather was cloudy she could tell that the sun was finally out again. She let out a long yawn. "It's about time." In her opinion nighttime could take its sweet time. Having the sun out was much funner anyway. Babycorn grabbed her backpack and swung it around her back. She had no idea what time it was or if anyone other than her was awake but she could probably wait around the docks until someone called her over. Whatever came next it couldn't be any worse than what already happened.

Lalapril 4/10 Silence

Babycorn can't sleep so she stays up all night yipppeeee

Babycorn took out another book from the bookcase and flipped through it. Just like the one before it was full of words and phrases she didn’t understand. She huffed, “They should put more pictures in these things.” Surely at least one Old Sharlayan scholar had gotten a headache from staring at words for too long.

A nice picture in the middle of all this text would be a nice change of pace.

There was nothing more Babycorn could do but put the book where it had been. She was very quickly running out of things to do. There was always the option of grabbing books on the top shelf but they were proving to be impossible to grab, even after dragging a chair over to help. 

Babycorn walked over to look at the chalkboard in the room. Several pieces of chalk were strewn all over the ground. As expected, most of the chalk had a chunk of them bitten off.

If Babycorn had to rate the taste it would be a solid seven out of ten. It was a little too plain for her tastes.

The chalkboard was covered with doodles from Babycorn, Cherrypit and Tilika. Babycorn had drawn whatever cool things popped into her mind like croissants, scrunchies and carrots. There were also a bunch of nonsense shapes that she had used to fill up empty space.

Cherrypit had drawn a bunch of hearts and stick figures of their friends. There was a sun with a cheerily happy face in the corner. Tilika had drawn a doodle of all three of them higher up on the chalkboard. 

After she had shown them the drawing of the three of them, both Babycorn and Cherrypit had asked Tilika to show them how to draw just like her. Of course Tilika agreed immediately. She looked so excited about it too.

Something about that must have made Cherrypit that much more interested in drawing. Babycorn hadn't noticed at the time but now she noted that ever since they first arrived in Old Sharlayan up to their stay in Garlemald, Cherrypit always had a drawing to show her during their downtime. 

A stack of them were placed on the table in the center of the room. Babycorn didn’t dare lay a finger on them. She couldn't.

With a sigh Babycorn moved over to the large lounge chair on the other side of the room. The bed was occupied so this is what she had decided she would sleep on in the meantime.

Tilika had begged her to not sleep on the floor. Doing that would be bad for her back in the long run! Apparently. That’s what Tilika had told her and Babycorn trusted her. 

Sometimes Babycorn trusted her friends more than she did herself. 

Oh well, she could deal with that when she wanted to. Right now all she was thinking about was how quiet it was and how much she didn’t like it. 

Normally she would fall asleep to the sounds of Cherrypit crawling on the ceiling or the sounds of his toys walking around the room. There were some nights that Cherrypit wouldn’t sleep and all and he would just sit next to Babycorn and talk to her. 

‘Bebe? Bebe! How’s Bebe?’

He would poke her face and grab onto her braids. 

‘Bebe sleepy! Sleepy! Goodniiiyy’!’

Some nights he would just play with his toys besides her. As long as Babycorn could hear his voice she knew he was okay. He was safe and everything was okay and fine. Everything was okay. 

Babycorn looked over to the bed. Cherrypit was lying down on it, unmoving and pretty much lifeless. Her mind was still hazy as to who had told her exactly that Cherrypit wasn’t dead, not all the way. Babycorn just figured that whoever it was just wanted to make her feel a little better

It hadn't really helped.

Babycorn sat back and lied down on the lounge chair, she held her arm out and looked at her hand. Sometimes it still didn’t feel real. Her life had been returned to her, she was truly and fully alive. No more slow heartbeat and no more occasionally bleeding scar. 

As far as she knew she was normal now. Or what she considered normal. 

Babycorn closed her eyes and concentrated on the sound of her heartbeat. Maybe that would help? She thought. It happened to do the complete opposite, the sound was so wrong to her, it felt wrong. Babycorn wanted to scream. All she wanted to do was to sleep and wake up from this whole nightmare. 

“I should have never come here.” She whispered to herself. 

Though it wasn’t like she had a choice. The entire world and even all of existence as they knew it was depending on him. Most of the consequences flew over her head, even now so many years later.

Babycorn was sure that she would do anything in her power to keep the world that Cherrypit would grow up in safe.

But now what was even the point?

Babycorn set her arm down and blinked, there was a slight glow in the corner of the room. It couldn’t be the sun, it wasn’t bright enough to be that. That’s when Babycorn remembered the strange flower that Krile-Hydaelyn had given them.

Something about it made Babycorn’s stomach turn, even back then, but Cherrypit had been absolutely enamored by it. That was the only reason that Babycorn had kept it around. 

The flower was glowing a dark blue color. It reminded Babycorn of the color of Cherrypit’s eyes. Back when they were both younger. It was almost like it was taunting her. 

Babycorn let out a loud groan and quickly covered her mouth when she was louder than expected. It was late and people that weren’t her were probably still sleeping. “Sorry…” she apologized to no one in particular. 

Despite her best efforts of closing her eyes and counting cactuars Babycorn was nowhere closer to falling asleep than she was five hours ago. It was actually making her mad now. It was either being mad or sad at this point and she didn't know which one she liked LESS.

Babycorn tried to concentrate on any sound around her. Any sound, but there was nothing. On occasion she could hear footsteps outside in the hall and the breeze of the wind but besides that there was nothing.

Sure it was the middle of the night, almost four in the morning but still!!!

It was way too quiet! 

Babycorn started tapping the side of the lounge chair. The noise was unbearably loud in the silence of the room. This was a loud sound but it wasn’t the right sound. 

There was a fleeting thought in her head to walk out of her room and knock on someone’s door to check if they were still awake too. The least she wanted was to have someone else in the room with her. Right now there was no one in this room with her.

Airy had taken off somewhere without telling Babycorn. And Cherrypit was…

That’s probably why it was so quiet.

There was something about all the silence around her. It was just, so much. Too much. 

Babycorn thought about the rest of her friends. All of them were probably asleep by now. It was pretty late at night. Babycorn would feel bad if she woke them up just so she could sleep on their carpet or something. She had already caused enough trouble for everyone already. 

“Hmm…” Babycorn sat up and kicked her legs back and forth. 

Tilika slept early so she was out of the question. She had told Tilika very clearly that she would be able to handle staying alone in her room just fine. If she backed out of it that easily she would look like a fool. Not only that but she didn’t want Tilika to worry about her any more than she already was. 

And if she didn’t want to bother Tilika, then she for sure wasn’t going to consider asking anyone else for anything. 

“It’s fine.” Babycorn brought her legs closer to her and rested her head on her knee. “I’m fine.” All she needed to do was close her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep. It was that easy. There was nothing to it. 

‘Bebe? Okay?’

Babycorn grit her teeth together. “I said I’m fine!”

‘Gonna be okay? Bebe be careful!’

“I am being careful! Shut up!”

‘Bebe!’

“I SAID SHUT UP!”

In her anger, Babycorn grabbed a plate off the table and threw it as hard as she could at anything in her way. That happened to be the wall in front of her.

It shattered into pieces with the force of the impact. A loud noise echoed inside the room for a few terrifying seconds. Babycorn covered her mouth on instinct. "Sorry...Sorry..." She whispered as quietly as she could.

The noise of the plate breaking rang in her ears for a few seconds until silence surrounded her again. 

Babycorn kept quiet. Listening for the sound of footsteps outside her door. Would someone come in here and tell her to keep quiet?

She held her breath and looked at the door to her room.

Babycorn spent the night alone.

[snow-system-wol]

Late at night, after the Sharlayan Envoy and the battle at Carteneau, Alphinaud knocks on S'ria's door looking to talk -- or at least to not be alone.

(In which a boy who once idolized his father realizes that he hates the idea of ending up like him.)

Ao3

S'ria jolted out of sleep, briefly unsure why he was awake until he heard a couple more timid knocks at his door. He immediately scrambled out of bed. There were really only a few people it could be, and anyone trying to hurt him that got this far into the building would've just broken in.

Alphinaud was already turning to walk away when S'ria managed to get the door open. His was dressed down as if meant to sleep, hair loose and far longer than S'ria would've guessed it'd be unbraided, but he didn't look as though he'd even bothered getting into bed. He took a long look at S'ria's own disheveled state, drawing in on himself.

"Pray forgive me, I had hoped you would not have retired to bed yet, but given the events of the day I should hardly be surprised. I shan't keep you."

It did not take more than a moment for S'ria to feel Menphina's presence layer strongly over his own, not with one in need of kindness right in front of them.

"Alphinaud, please, I'm already awake. Come in."

He followed S'ria into his room, nearly tripping over his feet. Ah, he'd nearly forgotten. While Seekers only had adequate night sight compared to Keepers, S'ria was sure that Alphinaud could probably see nothing at all. He hastily lit a candle at his desk and a faint warm glow covered part of his room. Surely that would be enough for Alphinaud to navigate safely at least? Besides – he never seemed to like people looking at his face too closely while he was feeling vulnerable, so the near-darkness was probably a comfort.

Alphinaud sat down next to S'ria on the bed, uncharacteristically quiet. He only grew more uncomfortable as the silence dragged on.

"It seems a bit trivial to remain focused on mere family matters after our trials at Carteneau and yet, here I am. I – simply wished to not be alone, and Alisaie is… handling this in her own way, and may not want my company for that. You need not humor me."

"This isn't humoring you. You've had a rough day, you can stay as long as you need."

Alphinaud looked at him, unimpressed. "And what of your need for rest? You must needs be exhausted."

"I don't intend to neglect that. By all means, you can sleep here, if you'd like."

Even in the low light, he could see the affronted look on Alphinaud's face. 

"I am not a child."

S'ria raised his hands placatingly. "I know that. However – I got so used to Ardbert being there when I slept, or when I woke up from nightmares, that I had trouble sleeping alone for months. If you actually wanted to stay here, it'd hardly reflect on your age. That's all."

"I… I see." He looked conflicted, but not particularly convinced. "My reaction was, mayhap, unwarranted."

"Oh, don't worry about that – no need to do anything you're uncomfortable with either. I just wanted you to know that the option is there."

They lapsed into silence again for a long time. S'ria tiredly watched the candlelight flicker and wondered if he was actually going to fall asleep before Alphinaud left. He stayed upright in determination, rather than letting himself lie down.

"I-I." He pointedly cleared his throat. "I knew from the start that Father–". Alphinaud winced and briefly trailed off, as if unsure he was allowed to say that anymore. " –That he was never going to say yes. Or rather, that Sharlayan would always have refused to help. I had hoped, when he came in person, but deep down I still knew."

S'ria waited patiently. (Menphina, at the edges of his thoughts, did as well. Even if she did not need to step in, she could still help.)

"I simply did not expect him to go quite so far as to publicly expel us from the family. I cannot help but feel like an idiot for thinking he wouldn't, I know how he is – if we so much as questioned any little matter with him, he would always get so…" Alphinaud let the sentence trail off into silence. "I had just held out hope that with the fate of this star in the balance, it would be different, but I should have understood the consequences of my words." 

Alphinaud pulled his feet onto the bed so that he could wrap his arms around his legs. 

" 'Tis horrible, mayhap, but… I had actually hoped that, when he personally chose to act as the envoy – that there was the slightest chance he would be proud of the important things that Alisaie and I have managed to accomplish with all of you, proud of us even. I-I should have known he would abhor us trying to grow into our own. I wonder…". He seemed hesitant to finish the thought. "I wonder if that was the reasoning behind his choice to grace us with his physical presence – if he always meant to test our obedience."

He looked at S'ria, as if that was a question anyone could possibly answer. S'ria cautiously spoke up, answering a somewhat different question than the actual one posed.

"Neither you nor Alisaie did anything wrong."

Alphinaud laughed humorlessly. "The strangest part is that I know that. 'Tis a testament to his fears – I do not regret speaking my mind, nor do I feel any shame for having done so. 'Twas the right thing to do."

S'ria hummed softly and shifted closer to Alphinaud, pressing their shoulders together. Alphinaud immediately leaned into the contact.

"When he said that he was wrong for ever having let us leave Sharlayan – 'twas the only part of his barbs that truly struck me. All I could think of was my life if I had been forbidden to leave, the type of person I may have become… in all of the time since, I'd nearly forgotten how terrifying it was to speak with him. The idea that I could end up like him, if I had remained there long enough – once I would have been thrilled, but the very idea is appalling to me now."

Alphinaud's breath hitched. He ducked his head and let his hair form a curtain around his face. "The sheer relief I feel for my younger self is indescribable, understanding now how easily he may have refused." While S'ria could not see his face, his shoulders were starting to shake and there was very little doubt on whether he was crying. "But, if those are my feelings on this matter, then w-why do I still care what his opinion of me is? Why does this still hurt?"

S'ria wrapped his arms around Alphinaud, rumbling soothingly, even as it was broken up by him talking. "He's made you fight to get his approval your whole life – it'll take time to unlearn that. It's not your fault. And… he may not be proud of you, but we are. We all are."

Rather than responding out loud, he just turned towards S'ria, and let himself be pulled into an actual hug. Alphinaud shook with near silent sobs and S'ria, for all of his gentle handling of the situation, needed to remind himself that harming Fourchenault Leveilleur was likely not a viable option.

Between becoming entirely cried out and the continued soft purring from S'ria, Alphinaud did fall asleep exactly where he was. S'ria simply extricated himself from his hold and curled up on the other side of his bed. Really – this bed was large enough for three, one extra teenager was hardly an inconvenience.

[last-flight-of-fancy]

i dont know if theres anything worse than sad droopy ears g'raha. it lasted all of two seconds but it will stay in my heart forever as things that should never be allowed to happen ever

[warlordfelwinter]

kind of just realizing that fiver and g'raha fully switch places at the end of shadowbringers. g'raha going into this whole absurd century long plan at first knowing he's going to die but it's ok because fiver will live. now fiver's heading to the tempest with the singular goal of saving him because he just can't think about the bigger picture right now, knowing he'll succumb to the light and die but it's ok because g'raha will live

[lululeighsworld]

me when im multiple chapters behind both reaping what you sow and your ruin, my ruin cuz im just trying to get to hades/get my sophist robes

[akirakirxaa]

shielding the other one with their body (Akira/Haurchefant)

[Touch Prompts here! *trying very hard not to get Vault flashbacks* So we're going cute today, yes? Yes. As ever, Haurch Lives AU.]

Akira curled in on herself, the aches and pains from that last fight in Ultima Thule flaring up as she moved, ensuring she knew without doubt that everything hadn't just been a dream. The sun seared the backs of her eyelids, and she yanked the covers up over her head to block it out. She heard a quiet chuckle nearby before extra weight sank the mattress down a little more, uncovering her head but pulling her into a warm chest, blocking the sun much more effectively. She settled more comfortably against him, eyes still closed.

"When did you get here?" her voice was a raspy rumble, throat still raw from her battle cries.

"Last night, while you were sleeping," Haurchefant gently rubbed his hand up and down her back, paying extra care not to press on the worst of her wounds. "I didn't want to wake you."

"I wish you would've," she mumbled, still too exhausted to do more than speak quietly and lean into his touch. She did have one worry though. "Amelie?"

"Between Ameliance and all of the Scions, we're not wanting for babysitters," he chuckled. "The twins set up their old room for her to sleep in and I think Tataru's already making her new clothes."

"Good." One hand searched blindly for a moment before settling on his cheek. Akira cracked her eyes open, his body still shielding them from the sun streaming through the window and lighting her room in the Annex, and met his. "I'm glad you're here." He pulled her closer and pressed his lips to her forehead, and she thought she felt his hands shake, just a little.

"Not as glad as I am that you're safe at home," he whispered. She hummed, half of a mind to keep speaking but fatigue and pains dragging her rapidly back down into her pillow, fighting the urge to close her eyes. "Sleep, I'll still be here when you wake."

She needed no further encouragement.

[sebille]

I imagine that after the end of endwalker Ayla would be extremely not okay walking around Elpis lmao

[wind-up-thancred]

brief 6.55 msq thoughts and also some canon rewriting for my wol's verse under the cut

sooo im starting to think i was wrong about uri and thancred being on our team. rn i get the feeling that theyre hired by wuk lamat's brother probably, but i dont think theyre gonna be like... openly hostile towards our team. we'll probably end up joining forces to defeat whatever the second arc's villain will be, though. in terms of canon, i think a little bit of the patch happened differently for katsu. he wasn't really sold on supporting wuk lamat right off the bat, as after seeing her clear inexperience and false confidence, he was unsure that she had what it took to rule a nation. i dont think he was ENTIRELY put off, though— just not FULLY convinced yet. right after the silly sneaky thancred cutscene, he definitely went to speak with katsu about the whole situation instead of being secretive about it, mostly because their relationship is very heavily built on trust and they dont really like keeping secrets from eachother. thancred wasn't able to DIRECTLY disclose that he was working for another client, but after overhearing katsu worrying about whether he'd be able to take his partner along, he admitted on planning to head to tural with uri anyways. he refused to divulge any other details past that, but just wanted to give some reassurance. so katsu came up with his own silly little plan in his head— which is new for him, as he's used to following others' plans— where he'd come along to tural to see if wuk lamat truly had what it takes to rule a nation. and if she didn't, he'd back out and either be done with the whole thing or hop over to thancred's team, if he felt that they were worth supporting over her. he doesn't admit all of this to wuk lamat in the annex, though. just tells her that he won't be fully on her side just yet, but that she still had a chance to win him over. i think if this was pre ARR, when katsu was fresh out of kugane, he'd jump on the chance for adventure right away. but he's a bit more discerning over what he risks his life for now after... well. everything.