#ffvi/gt au

[azurefishnets]

Personal Demons

I thank you, as always, @arbuthnotblob, for you to have indulged me yet again with your prompts for my most beloved FFVI/GT AU for @fyeahghosttrick's Ghost Swap 2023. Four years we've been doing this (Really???!) and I still owe you my life every time!

AO3 Profile Fandom: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Words: 1139 Summary: PREVIOUSLY: Cabanela, Pigeon Man (Cidgeon in the AU), & Jowd have made their way overland to find the abandoned ruins of Mobliz, along with their old friend, the esper Sissel. Sissel has thrown himself into raising and caring for a litter of kittens; reluctantly the rest of the group agrees to leave him there and move on.

But, before they go, does Sissel need a little help getting food for the kids? Cabanela knows a few tricks of his own that can help.

Cabanela walked out of what had once been the Mobliz post office, looking for Sissel. The esper had made it clear already he wasn’t coming; Cabanela couldn’t blame him seeing who Sissel had become in order to protect the last fragile children of Mobliz. Kittens were small, vulnerable, too easy to overlook in world where monsters roamed free. It would have been nice, though, Cabanela conceded, if only to himself, to have had a little more time to talk with the esper before the world had come to this. They really had never gotten to know each other despite their short time travelling to Narshe over a year prior.

It wasn’t a way to convince Sissel to join them that Cabanela sought, not really. It was more a feeling, an odd kinship with a being utterly alone and unique in the way he experienced the world. And, hard as it was to admit, even to himself, Cabanela longed to explore, even for a short time, that kinship. Cidgeon was taciturn at the best of times. Jowd barely spoke, and that mostly to the Professor. Cabanela was ready to talk, to anyone, just to hear the sound of a conversation that wasn’t built on regrets, unwillingly broken promises, or the remembrance of mutual sacrifices made both willingly and under duress.

For now, there was an odd feeling in the air, like ozone or static electricity, just waiting to shock the unwary soul. Cabanela looked toward the river, and walked carefully down the muddy bank to the edge where Sissel sat in his feline form, ears swiveling to catch any unusual sounds. “Hey there, baby,” he said. “Miiind if I join you?”

“Sure,” Sissel said, and returned to his human form. “Did you need something?”

“I belieeeve that’s my line,” Cabanela said. “We’ll be headin’ out soon—thanks for the tip about the chocobo stables, we’ll be stoppin’ by for sure—but I wanted to make sure you had what you needed for the kids before we go.”

“Yeah.” Sissel pointed at the river. “As long as I’m careful, the fish here are decent and there’s lots.”

Cabanela grinned at him. “And you’re OK with gettin’ a little wet, baby?”

Sissel waved a dismissive hand. “I’m not the kind of guy who’s going to let them go hungry when I can catch food easy.”

“Sure, sure.” Cabanela peered out at the river. “Lots of fish out there at the moment, huuuh?”

“Mmm.” Sissel looked at the water. “I slow them down so they get bunched up. It’s easier to catch them that way.”

“Ah! How about I give you a haaand with that, and we can help you set them up to dry so you have a stockpile. Fish for daaays, baby! What do you say?”

“What’s your plan?” Sissel looked Cabanela up and down. “I ‘m pretty sure I remember you don’t care to get messy either.”

“No muss, no fuss!” Cabanela pointed at the river. “Little localized lightning, float ‘em on up to the bank. Easy-peasy.”

“Uh…” Sissel looked back and forth from him to the river. “I don’t know. That sounds…risky.”

“Whaaat’s the risk?” Cabanela said. “You need food for lots of hungry mouths in there.”

“I suppose. It’d be nice to have the help.” Sissel still sounded dubious. “But I don’t think we should be out here for long. Let’s make it a little quicker at least”

He cast a spell and Cabanela found the movements of his limbs sped up, arms and legs blurring into double their usual speed.

“That’s the way!” he said, grinning, and cast a weak lightning bolt at the surface of the river. Fish began to float to the surface, and together Cabanela and Sissel cast Float to bring them up to the shore. Just as the pile began to grow, a roar echoed through the air.

“Crap!” Sissel hissed and morphed back into a cat. “Get back! Phunbaba’s coming!”

“Eh?” Cabanela had just enough time to hear Sissel’s threatening yowl before the Esper leapt in a blur towards a large green creature that rose from the water. Sissel hissed and scratched, biting at the thing and leaping away.

“I can help!” Cabanela cried, and began to call the lightning.

“No!” Sissel yelled, and left off the attack to knock Cabanela out of the way of a spray of needles that shot from the thing’s back in reaction to the thunder magic gathering in the air. “He’s too strong for you! I can drive him away, just... stop helping.”

He turned back to the thing, the demon of the river, and hissed one more time, baring his fangs and tearing at it as he blurred in and out of the thing’s reach. Finally, it let out a kind of burbling grumble and jumped back into the river, kicking at the pile of fish as it went in a fit of petty malice.

Sissel stayed on the river bank, back in his human form in order to better catch his breath. “You see why I have to stay?” he said. “That demon takes everything I can throw at it and keeps coming back. I can’t beat it; I think it’s being powered by the guy in the tower somehow.”

Cabanela made a noise that sounded rather like an inelegant grunt but let it go. “Sorry, baby,” he said instead, ruefully looking over the mess that had been made of their operation. “Didn’t get nearly as many as I thought we would.”

“It’s plenty,” Sissel said. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate it. I just think you’d better go before you call it back. It always comes during storms… I don’t know why I thought magic would make it act any different. I should have known better.”

“Nothin’s the way it should be,” Cabanela agreed, and turned back to the fish. “…Guess I can’t use magic to get them away from the water, huh.”

“Nope.” Sissel bent down and grabbed an armful. “But it should only take a couple of loads.”

“You know what, baby, I’ll just go grab Jowd,” Cabanela said with even more alacrity than he would have had he been Hasted. “He’s got… bigger arms. For bigger armfuls. Of fish.”

Sissel gave him a jaded look. “Mhm. I’ll be here.”

Cabanela backed up the bank and fled, but not before Sissel called out to him one more time.

“Hey, Cabanela,” he said, and smiled. “You’re not a bad guy. Thanks.”

Cabanela blinked at him, oddly touched. How long had it been since someone had thanked him, sincerely, without seeing someone else? Too long, he decided. He needed to work even harder to make sure he was the only Cabanela people looked for.

He nodded at Sissel and sped away, wings on his feet and just a little lighter of heart too.

[azurefishnets]

Here are Yoshitaka Amano's original concepts, and you've seen the pixel art so you can kind of see how they translated it to that style!

@laughingmango's 'FFVI AU' tag covers all the art we've made for this, I think, so you can kind of see our design process, but you can also check my 'FFVI/GT AU' tag or @siverwrites' 'ffvixgt' tag for anything we've reblogged--we've had a couple of other people contribute art and even fic!

Finally, let me link the characters for you so you know whom you're looking at and as a reference for anyone else who's interested:

Terra: Sissel

Locke: Lynne

Edgar: Kind of Kamila and kind of Jowd, but mostly Kamila

Celes: Cabanela

Sabin: Jowd (but his mother also)

Gau: Missile

Cyan: Alma (the big sword is mandatory. The lollipop...maybe?)

Setzer: Memry

Strago + (sort of) Cid: Pigeon Man, portmanteau'd into Cidgeon

Relm + Shadow: Amelie (instead of throwing knives she throws tantrums)

Mog: Bailey

Umaro: Reckless Youth

Kefka: also Cabanela, but... Well.

Gestahl: Sith

The Guardian: the Adjutant

Cid (evil version): Blue Doctor (Here named Dr. Asbolus after the 'Blue Death', a type of beetle)

Darill: Rindge

Gogo: Yomiel (Sissel's human father)

Cait Sith: Cait Sissel (Sissel's esper mother)

Banon + Owzer: Emma

Elder of Narshe: Justice Minister

Siegfried: Wendy Oldbag

Ultros: Ultros (very important character)

And various diverse Espers, humans, machines, and magic reawakening! It's a big AU :) and has gone through a lot of revisions in these past six years.

I hope I haven't forgotten anyone, but I think that's good enough to start on for a comparison of clothing!

sobbing wailing gnashing my teeth on the ground that i have no earthly clue what final fantasy vi clothing looks like so i can't do fanart of the ghost trick/ffvi fics

[fyeahghosttrick]

Ghost Swap 7 / 10th anniversary - Masterlist!

Closing ceremonies!

@arbuthnotblob for @temsikghosts: Painting session (art, Yomiel, Jowd, Sissel, Kamila)

@azurefishnets​ for @kyarorain​: The Stars as They Pass (fic, Sissel & Main Cast)

@azurefishnets​ for @laughingmango​: Passing Time (fic, older!Kamila & Main Cast)

@azurefishnets​ for @arbuthnotblob​: The Puppet’s Dance (fic, Cabanela, FFVI/GT AU)

@azurefishnets​ for @siverwrites​: A Future Averted (fic, alt-canon Lynne & Alma)

@blockmind for @tankens: YEEETing the watch (art)

@chaoticnebu for @possessedartist: Yomiel spots Sissel (art)

@gavinnersroadie​ for @arbuthnotblob​: Gen III trainers (art, Kamila, Yomiel, Pokémon AU)

@kamil-a​ for @laughingmango​: Throw those out (art, Yomiel, Emma, Sissel)

@kingscribbles​ for @traszka​: Submarine escape (art, Lynne, Kamila)

@kkozmos​ for @rabblerauser​: Yomiel and Sissel (art)

@kyarorain​ for @azurefishnets​: Sixth Sense (fic, Beauty)

@kyarorain for @siverwrites: Brave little girl (fic, Kamila, Jowd)

@kyarorain​ for @trucywright​: Second Life (fic, Alma, Jowd, Kamila)

@laughingmango for @arbuthnotblob: Airship time (art, Cabanela, Memry, Final Fantasy VI AU)

@laughingmango for @azurefishnets: party gossip (art, Alma, Cabanela, Emma, Jowd)

@laughingmango​ for @blockmind​: Stranded (art, Jowd/Yomiel)

@laughingmango for @chaoticnebu: Prison visit (art, Cabanela, Jowd)

@laughingmango​ for @highway-kings​: Skating date (art, Memry, Lynne)

@laughingmango​ for @kyarorain​: Costume ball (art, Jowd, Alma, Cabanela)

@laughingmango​ for @playghosttrick: Black coat’s for mourning (art, Cabanela, Jowd)

@laughingmango​ for @siverwrites​: A game of cat and chicken (fic, Cabanela/Jowd)

@laughingmango for @temsikghosts: Jedi Knights Yomiel and Jowd (art, Star Wars AU)

@laughingmango for @trucywright: Yomiel’s video game (art)

@playghosttrick for @siverwrites: Breathe Calmly (fic, Alma/Jowd/Cabanela)

@possessedartist​ for @laughingmango​: Undercover concert (art, C38, Cabanela, Memry)

@rabblerauser for @raygirlramblings: Couch time (art, Jowd, Cabanela, Alma, Sissel, Missile)

@raygirlramblings​ for @playghosttrick​: The ocean! (art, Yomiel, fianSissel, Sissel)

@siverwrites  for @arbuthnotblob: Another Trial (Fic: FFVI AU with Cabanela and Pigeon Man)

@siverwrites  for @arbuthnotblob: Jowd and Wooloo (Art)

@siverwrites  for @azurefishnets: Coming Home (Fic: Lovey-Dove and Pigeon Man meeting)

@siverwrites for @blockmind: At the Bottom of the Night (Fic: Bad timeline Yomiel angst)

@siverwrites  for @chaoticnebu: Silence Given; Silence Taken (Fic: Cabanela visits Jowd in prison)

@siverwrites  for @gavinnersroadie: Something Different (Fic: Role swap AU with Emma, Lovey-Dove and Alma)

@siverwrites  for @gerry-podunk/ @kkozmos: Sissel and Missile playing  (Art)

@siverwrites for @kyarorain: Early Joys of a Ghost Cat (Fic: Kamila, Sissel and Alma)

@siverwrites for @laughingmango: Days Off (Fic: Jowd/Alma, Jowd/Cabanela, Alma/Cabanela)

@siverwrites for @playghosttrick: The Night Before… (Fic: ensemble)

@siverwrites for @rabblerauser: Kamila and Missile (Art)

@siverwrites for @tankens: Jowd family fluff (Art)

@siverwrites for @temsikghosts: A New Normal (Fic: Yomiel, Sissel, and FianSissel)

@siverwrites for @traszka: Sissel (Art)

@siverwrites for @trucywright: Alma and Sissel (Art)

@siverwrites for @ultimateitako: To New Beginnings (Fic: Emma and Justice Minister)

@siverwrites for @ultimateitako: Unchanged Bonds (Fic: Missile and Sissel post-game)

@tankens​ for @chaoticnebu​: Gangsters (art, Yomiel, Tengo, Jeego)

@temsikghosts for @azurefishnets: Sissel the woman (meta, fianSissel)

@temsikghosts​ for @kkozmos​: Yomiel and Sissel fluff (fic)

@temsikghosts for @playghosttrick: Yomiel, Fiansissel and Sissel at the beach (art)

@temsikghosts​ for @playghosttrick​: At the beach (fic, Yomiel, fianSissel, Sissel, Jowd)

@traszka​ for @highway-kings​: Sissel and Missile play! (art)

@trucywright for @azurefishnets: A healthy does of espionage (fic, Lynne, Kamila, Amelie, Emma)

@ultimateitako for @gavinnersroadie: Hotel Dusk crossover (art)

ANNIVERSARY WORKS

@azurefishnets for #ghosttrick10th: Into the Dawn (fic, Lynne & Lynne & Lynne)

@kyarorain​ for #ghosttrick10th: With friends and loved ones (fic, ensemble)

@laughingmango​ for #ghosttrick10th: Ten years in the future (art, ensemble)

@siverwrites  for #ghosttrick10th: The Dawn of a New Day (Fic, Ray)

Anniversary celebrations outside the exchange: 1 2 3 4 5 6 and don’t forget to check out the #ghosttrick10th tag on Twitter!

By far the biggest output ever. To our darling fandom! It’s been an honor, everyone. From now on, Gswap will keep celebrating the Japanese anniversaries in June, which is both fairer and fa...r away from Yuletide and assorted time-consuming winter festivities (we may do something for the Western release’s 10th anniversary next January but not a full-fledged exchange). I hope to see you all next year!

[siverwrites]

An Unexpected Boon

Happy Ghost Swap week! Here's a mix of two prompts from @laughingmango and @azurefishnets:

'Cabanela/Jowd hurt/comfort. either way. Physical hurt, emotional hurt, your pick. One of them’s having a bad time and the other one’s there for him.'

and

'always gotta rep the FFVI/GT AU! For more info please see https://archiveofourown.org/series/1196335. Any addition welcome!'

No surprises here, my friends.

AO3 Link too https://archiveofourown.org/works/56596609

-

Cabanela turned over and stared into the darkness of the interminable night. No dim shapes stirred. The Vanguard’s engines were silent, so it wasn’t early enough in the morning to get her started yet. He sat up. The back of his skull gave a dull throb. A spider-web of aches rippled across his shoulders. Clearly more sleep wasn’t going to happen, so walk it off, nothing like it.

A float spell let him drift silently across the room before he hesitated. His initial thought was to catch some air out on the deck, but another look at the maps wouldn’t hurt. So, instead he found his way to the ladder leading to the lower deck and the now darkened and silent bar room where there was a large enough table to work.

They’d left the map and paper overlaying it with corrections. Lighting a lamp with a barely noticed flip of his hand he sat down. Looking at the maps together it was hard to believe you weren’t looking at two different worlds. He traced a finger over it pausing at Doma’s remains. There had to be something he could do it for it when this was over. And Mobliz too, cut off entirely from where it once was.

The Jester seemed to think there was, what, some kind of clean slate in destruction? Bring it all down? Ha! What was the use in that, when you could make something better than it ever was? 

His head gave another throb and he leaned back, stretched out his legs and closed his eyes.

It would be difficult in the world’s state and there was no knowing what exactly bringing him and his tower down might do in the end. A challenge, nothing like it…

A click startled him out of the descending doze. Or a doze that had already hit, he realized as he stared uncomprehendingly at the steaming mug until reality reoriented itself. He turned in his seat, but Jowd’s back was already retreating through the doorway.

He took a sip of the tea… A Figaro blend. He recognized it immediately. Jowd must have picked some up during their last stop. He savoured the taste and for the space of carefully contained seconds the memories of a time long past. The map took his attention back until the mug was drained and the paper could no longer win against the building restless energy.

The deck had lost the battle earlier, but it was appealing now as he stepped away from the ladder. The air had a chill bite that was almost refreshing even in its stagnancy. He paced the deck, shoes tapping against the wood lending their own rhythm to the quiet.

When the chill lost its refreshing nature in too short of a time, he channeled warmth into his clothing. There was no need, or appeal, in returning inside yet. The night was still… difficult to tell what under the thick layer of clouds smothering the sky, but either there was enough time to linger or they would soon set off again--a win either way.

Some of the twanging, fiercely ignored ache faded. Not just any blend from Figaro… Had Jowd noticed? That was… not a good showing on his own part, but… nice. Just…nice, yes.

He drifted over to the rail and leaned against it looking out into the stubborn night, until there was a step and a familiar presence beside him.

A still moment. Words danced across his mind, possibilities quickly discarded. Then Jowd rested a hand at his back, touch feather-light between his shoulders before settling more firmly. Fingers warmed the base of his neck, smoothed over persistent knots of tension. Cabanela’s breath shivered in his chest, a shaky exhale that became the only noise between them. No words to break this and maybe for as long as it lasted, they could pretend things were normal.

[siverwrites]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Cabanela (Ghost Trick), Original Characters Additional Tags: original character - tabatha, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, FFVI GT AU, Final Fantasy VI AU, Emotional Hurt/Comfort Series: Part 4 of Final Fantasy VI/Ghost Trick Alternate Branches Summary: Branch AU. Freshly returned to Doma, five years out of date and grieving, Cabanela needs a moment and comfort.

[azurefishnets]

How dare you use my own weapons against me. 😭 I love it but also I am gonna just go sob in a corner now...

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Cabanela (Ghost Trick), Jowd (Ghost Trick) Additional Tags: FFVI GT AU, Final Fantasy VI AU, Jowd trauma is trauma-ing Series: Part 56 of Final Fantasy VI/Ghost Trick Summary: It should have been a simple dinner

[azurefishnets]

Posting a couple of days late because I wanted to finish a couple of things, but happy birthday dearest @laughingmango!

Featuring Cabanela in his more(?) relaxed (???? sometimes) older guise as a beloved fixture and very honored personage around Figaro Castle in our glorious FFVI AU, his bestie Blanca the white chocobo, and also this dress (but of course in Figaro colors!)

[azurefishnets]

AO3 Profile

Fandom: Ghost Trick: Phantom Train, a GT/FFVI Crossover AU Rating: General Audiences Category: Gen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Cabanela, Original OC (Male), Original OC (Female) Words: 2182

Summary: Set in the FFVI/GT AU: Cabanela, following his own personal cataclysm after the bigger, more famous one some time prior, comes to Mobliz, still in ruins, alone. His plan? Keep moving, of course. Notes:

Fictober Prompts, Day 1 Whumptober: “But now this room is spinning while I’m trying just to fill in all the gaps.” Flufftober: "I've got you." Sicktember: "Hopelessly bad at self-care" Angstober: "Honorbound" Mixing prompts with enthusiastic and reckless abandon as the most indulgent month of the year arrives! With thanks to Siver for her OCs Rhett and Margot from her fic A Better Morning.

Cabanela sat up with a gasp, flinging off the light, dusty, covers that someone must have draped over him. He exhaled a long, unnerved breath at what sight was available of the corners of this darkened bedroom. Outside, through the open window, the quiet night sounds of Mobliz settling in a little more to its peaceful bed of slowly greening grass, cracked and dusty earth, and the rumbling of the estuary at high tide were…familiar, he found, after a moment more of reassuring logic. He had no reason to be unnerved; after all, hadn’t he chosen to come here himself? Mobliz was, for whatever temporary time he allowed it to be, home.

He almost would have preferred a nightmare. At least then he’d have an explanation of what had brought him to full panicked alertness from what must have been the heaviest of— His thought train derailed yet again. When had he fallen asleep? The last he remembered, he had been pacing around the caves under the post office, counting off plans and ticking boxes on his innumerable to-do lists to begin the construction and restoration of this town so far from any other sign of human habitation. Of course, he’d been both tired and hungry; there was so much to do, all the time, that he had long accepted it as his normal. Moving, working, was better than sitting alone at an empty table eating a brief and unadorned salad of sorrow and wilted leaves. Moving was, generally, far better than the empty nights in his narrow, empty bed. Moving never failed him when he needed to think about anything past the here and now.

Continue on AO3

[azurefishnets]

In Absentia

My last entry for @fyeahghosttrick's Ghost Swap Liiight 2024, this one is self-indulgent to the max and I'm extremely grateful for the anonymous prompter who requested self-indulgent crossovers (A-54) for the excuse to write it (not that I really need one, but still.) I also used the A-28 prompt from @caravanlurker regarding Kamila's taste in music; I'm afraid I rather hijacked it but many regards for the plot bunny!

Words: 1536

Summary: In the FFVI/GT AU, they prepare to go face the full might of Sith and his Empire, along with the inevitability of another familiar face arrayed against them. Kamila tries to convince Captain Memry that there's more to the situation than any of them can understand.

-

“…And THEN I grabbed him right up, riiight around that skinny waist of his, and we lifted straight off!” Memry adjusted her captain’s hat and smirked. “How could he have ever resisted the beautiful Captain Memry?”

“But he did resist,” Kamila pointed out, crossing her arms and giving Memry a belligerent look. “Didn’t he? Isn’t that how Mama and Lynne and Missile had time to sneak on the ship?”

“Look, don’t sweat the details,” Memry said, waving this logical objection away. “The point is, the guy is great at impersonating other people, okay? It’s no wonder he had everyone fooled.”

Read more on AO3

[azurefishnets]

Oh man. Way to make me absolutely melt... Just look at them, they're so TIRED...

I love them so much. ALL the Amano danglies, ALL the feelings!! And that tricky power underpinning it all... Thank you, my dear friend! I'll be staring at this one for a WHILE...!

happy birthday dear, dear @azurefishnets! Let me daaance...

Context outside the groupchat is for the weak but as it turns out, if AU Jowd has Sketch he also eventually has Control, and they both have their share of possession-based trauma to work through. For now, like this...

[siverwrites]

A little nightly reminder (327 words) by Siver

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alma/Cabanela/Jowd (Ghost Trick) Characters: Alma (Ghost Trick), Cabanela (Ghost Trick), Jowd (Ghost Trick) Additional Tags: FFVI GT AU, Final Fantasy VI AU Series: Part 121 of Final Fantasy VI/Ghost Trick Summary: Sometimes she just needs to know they're there

“Jowd?”

Jowd blinked in the darkness and for a moment wondered if the sound had merely been a part of an already forgotten dream until his eyes adjusted and he saw Alma’s shape sitting up, her face white in the dark.

He sat up to join her and she immediately turned to press herself into his chest. Wrapping his arms around her he curled over her in a protective shield.

“I’m here.”

“And Cabanela?” she murmured.

Jowd looked to the space he should have been and followed the emptiness to the lump at the end of the bed that would be pillow.

“Out for a stroll it seems.”

She took a shaky breath. “Of course.”

The door’s creak might have been missed had it been noisier, but in the still quiet with only their breaths, it seemed deafening. They both tensed, Alma’s head twisted to watch, and the tension faded as Cabanela’s shape solidified in the dark.

“The sun’s still hidin’ her face for a good while yet,” he said.

“I know. I just…” Alma said haltingly before trailing off.

Cabanela swept over to the bed and in one smooth motion fetched up his pillow, returned it to its spot and took his place at Alma’s back letting his hands rest over her shoulders.

“All’s well, baby. I spotted the little lady’s light under her door and found her snoozin’ safe and sound over a pillow of blueprints. I got her to bed.”

Alma sighed. “I’m sorry. I know we’re all here, but…”

“Sometimes knowing isn’t enough,” Jowd said. It certainly hadn’t always been then and at times like these sometimes evidence was needed. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, her hair soft against his face while she tucked herself under his chin.

Cabanela combed gentle fingers through her hair. “Nothing wrong with a reminder, baby.”

“Yes…”

Pinned between them Jowd felt Alma relax. There wasn’t, nor could there be, any emptiness here.

[azurefishnets]

💗 Five Comfort Characters, Five Tags 💗 

tagged by @fortune-maiden and then I promptly forgot. Sorry! But then I remembered! So I thought I'd do it now and thank you for tagging me! I've numbered them for convenience but they really aren't ranked.

1. Jowd (Ghost Trick) I know, I know, if you know me, you were probably expecting me to say Alma and yes, FFVI/GT AU Alma absolutely is! Or maybe Cabanela and yeah, I do love my glow stick man (snap snap). But canon Alma is only what we know through the people around her, and Cabanela is wonderful and fantastic and I DO love him, so I'm putting Jowd in there because sometimes I think a liiittle too much like him. It's very comforting to see how much he is adored by everyone around him--really, I'm nominating my OT3 here if I'm honest.

2. Kloe (Trails in the Sky) She just tries so hard, y'all. So, so hard, and her determination to overcome her weaknesses is really inspiring to me. Plus, I love the way her friendship with Estelle makes them both more well-rounded people. (But, again, there were SO many people from Trails I could have put here with equal justification. Estelle, Tita, Olivier, Mueller, Tio, Randy, KeA... wait, I'm kind of just copying my tagger. Well, that's how great they are!! Trails has some excellent characters.)

3. Lucca (Chrono Trigger) - We're going back in time for this one. Picture me, 13 years old, unsure what I had going for me besides my know-it-all-ness and a blithe disregard for social norms...and then here's Lucca, who is celebrated in-game for these things! It was, shall we say, a revelation. I've come and gone through many fandoms through the years, but Lucca has remained a constant source of joy.

4. Terra (Final Fantasy VI) I played CT and FFVI at basically the same time in my life and I instantly loved Terra for her endearing "weird girl" quirks, her confusion over her place in the world, and, ultimately, the way she chooses to care rather than to isolate herself even when things were the hardest for her. The first time I dyed my hair anything but a "normal" color, it was green in honor of her!

5. Lupe dy Cazaril (The Curse of Chalion) This book is a major comfort tale for me despite my rather irritable disconnect with the canon romance for the main character. (-.-) But, I love Caz for his unshakeable loyalty and his determination to choose empathy and honor over repeating the unspeakable cruelties he lived through. Caz reminds me that cycles can be broken and things can change, I think.

Honorable Mention: Princess Arjumand (To Say Nothing of the Dog) She's a horrible wonderful cat and to say I enjoy what she puts the main cast through would be an understatement XD. And yet I would let her sleep on my chest any day.

Thanks again for the tag! Not tagging anyone but feel free to try this yourself if you enjoy such things!

[azurefishnets]

Couldn't let the first week of Minovember pass without honoring my favorite GT AU, now and forever! Featuring Pigeon Man & Kamila!

Summary: Cidgeon comes home to Thamasa in the wake of a political shake-up in Figaro, and must learn to handle being home once again.

Words: 2624

Cidgeon stepped off the boat onto dry land with a sigh. The Emperor had become more jealous of his time and attention since Cabanela came back, but it seemed Thamasa needed him more. Not for the first time, he wondered what the princess would be like. A young brat, likely. He was under no illusions that raising Cabanela under the Empire’s aegis had made him any more able to handle children; girls were a solid mystery, even despite his experiences with Moira’s daughter when she’d been younger. His mouth quirked in a reluctant smile. Even she’d had her moments, but – his mouth cranked downward again – she hadn’t been a spoiled and cosseted little princess living in a palace either.

He began the short walk into town, absently patting Lovey-Dove whenever she came down from her joyful flight through the clear skies, still considering how best to start. Perhaps Moira might– a growl, followed by a sharp coo, started him from his introspection and he looked up. A baskervor, too thin and its scales mottled with some sort of ailment, paced him, looking him up and down hungrily. Cidgeon stopped with a sigh, and pulled some peppered, dried jerky out of his pack. The things were little more than pests, but a solo traveler could get in trouble if he didn’t know a few simple tricks. He tossed the jerky to the monster, who missed the catch but went after the meat with alacrity when it was on the ground. As it began worrying the meat, the baskervor looked up and caught Cidgeon eyeing it. It growled again, half-heartedly, then gave a surprised sneeze as the pepper caught up to it. Cidgeon was ready and let the sneeze take him out of the monster’s all-too-short visible range, snorting as it picked up the meat and pranced back into the plains. Lovey-Dove gave an approving coo! as he picked himself up and both made sure to keep a better eye out as he reached the outskirts of Thamasa.

The place, always so quiet and still, didn’t disappoint as he walked into sight of his house and he breathed another sigh, this time of relief. It would be good to sit in his house, put on a brew-up… even visit with his sister, if he must. But first, he needed to find…what was the princess’s name? Kamila? 

Read more on AO3

[azurefishnets]

It me.

AzureFishnetsToday at 2:34 PM

FFVI world needs therapists

laughingpineappleToday at 2:34 PM

Less zone eaters, more therapists

AzureFishnetsToday at 2:35 PM

The Zone Eater fixes his eating disorder and gets a graduate degree, then his Ph.D.

The doctor is in

(But you don't have to be in the doctor)

[azurefishnets]

"That could have gone better." (Day 8)

AO3: AzureFishnets Fandom: FFVI/GT AU Summary: Sissel and Emma's (the Returners' representative) meeting isn't going particularly well. Prompt is (inadvertently) Fictober day 7: "That could have gone better." Word Count: 100

Third Chance

Emma watched the young man sidle untrustingly out of the cave mouth as he hissed about her thoughts regarding the Empire's plans and how he could forestall them.

She raised her glass, toasting his back. "That could have gone better... a toast to third chances!"

Vaguely, she peered around, wondering what might sweeten the pot before her deadline came due. Her eye fell on a set of paw-shaped gloves, presumably a relic of some ancient cat-loving warrior. Yes... They seemed right. For good measure, she toasted them too, then went to tempt the skittish yet fascinating young Esper once more.

[azurefishnets]

No prompt (Day 2)

AO3: AzureFishnets Fandom: FFVI/GT AU Summary: Cidgeon learns a brief lesson about his pigeon companion and her abilities. No official prompt used today. Word Count: 538

A Teaching Moment

Cidgeon looked up from his study of the journal they’d found in the ancient castle beneath Figaro in irritation. The book was fascinating, full of heretofore unsuspected 1000-year-old linkages between Thamasa and the Figaro region, and it was practically completely intact. It seemed to be made of some material that wasn’t paper, smooth and thick, and the words glowed just slightly. Cidgeon had been looking forward to delving deeper into it. Would be doing so right now, in fact, except that it had suddenly gotten excessively noisy out there in the central area. After a moment, he realized Lovey-Dove wasn’t with him either; sure enough, she was part of the racket out there, cooing loudly. He listened carefully. Those were her distress calls—what were they doing out there? Was she hurt?

He hurried for the door to see Kamila, her parents, and Cabanela breathlessly clustered around the central area, watching one of the half-grown kittens—was that Catanela?— stalk Lovey-Dove. She fluttered feebly on the ground, dragging her wing and cooing tiny, broken chirps that only emphasized how helpless she was. Cidgeon, a scowl on his face and his heart in his throat, began to hurry forward when he felt the gentle paw on his leg. He looked down to see Sissel, watching intently.

“Just wait, Professor…ah. There he goes.”

The kitten wriggled his entire body, starting tail first, and leapt for Lovey-Dove, who shot into the air without hesitation, cooing triumphantly, all signs of weakness completely gone. She darted down and tweaked the kitten’s tail with her beak, flapping away when he whirled and leaped at her again, and so their spiraling dance continued.

“Was this your idea?” Cidgeon hissed at Sissel, his whole being radiating outrage. How dare they do this without telling him, letting him make sure of Lovey-Dove’s safety—

“Gramps! It’s OK, so don’t be mad,” Kamila called out, holding out a hand for the pigeon to light on. “It was Lovey’s idea after all.”

“What?” Cidgeon stared at Lovey. “Why?”

“They were playing,” Sissel said simply. “And this teaches them to hunt too. Lovey-Dove had it completely under control—I found them like this when I came down from deck earlier.”

Lovey gave a smug croon when Cidgeon looked her way, and took off again, landing next to the kitten. It had evidently worn itself out; it was busily washing a paw and as Lovey came to rest, it curled up next to her. The pigeon settled down on top of the kitten’s curled flank; she was nearly as big as he was but neither seemed to mind.

Cidgeon stared. Evidently Lovey’s year away from him had taught her quite a few things about taking care of herself, and good for her. He shrugged and headed back to his book, but thought about it a little more before settling down. Sure, she was fine and could take care of herself but…just in case…

With a heavy, put-upon sigh that no one heard, he took his book and went out to the central area. Just in case.