#ffxiv ​Yotsuyu Naeuri

[wolpromptaday]

#FFXIV #WOLpromptAday

March 18, 2025


Asahi sas Brutus, the tables turned. He was never the favorite child. Instead his parents favored the sister's daughter, Yotsuyu Naeuri. Asahi is sold to the Garleans as a lab rat, not conscripted to the military. He never excels in his studies.

When we meet him he’s horribly disfigured and possibly a slave to his cousin, now the viceroy of Doma. He never learns about Zenos, as there is never a want to save Asahi’s life. He does not have ambitions higher than his meager existence. Tsukuyomi is never summoned.

How might things have changed if Asahi never became the ultimate Zenos fanboy?

[asha-mage]

Could you do a snippet of Asahi from FFXIV for the prompt "voice"?

[Send me a fandom, character, or pairing and a one word prompt and I'll write a quick drabble for you!]

(CW: Child-abuse, victim blaming and general Garlean-Doma cultural problems.)

There are certain things that are not said in the Naeuri household.

Asahi's parents are very efficient at teaching him this lesson, without ever needing to put it into so many words. 'No' is the biggest taboo. His parents might occasionally phrase things as questions or requests, but the acceptable answer is always clear cut and obvious: ‘yes’, ‘at once’, ‘of course father’, ‘right away mother’. A negative answer is never expected or acceptable, even to rhetorical questions. If it ever seems like what they want is no, then what they really want is for him to stay quiet and express nothing.

On the rare occasion they actually want to know something specific- usually how his lessons on imperial etiquette or the Garlean tongue are going- they want a clean, concise report of what he has learned.

He’s long since mastered the art of giving his answers in a cool monotone, keeping a tight clamp on his emotions to prevent disappointment or excitement from showing. The best-case scenario is a sharp word and a reminder to stay on topic, the worst case well…

It had only needed to come to that once or twice.

Asahi knows that his opinions and feelings are of no consequence. His parents are only interested in his progress and the value it represents. His mother is tight fisted with their meager gil and every coin they pay to his tutor is spent with the hope of one day being repaid. Their questions are not made with the interest of parents in their son’s education, but stakeholders checking on an investment. Sentiment is for other people. People who don’t intend to rise above their circumstances.

Asahi’s parents are very aware of what they want- both from him and the world- and remarkably clear headed about how to get it. Asahi will learn to speak perfect Garlean, and master the manners and mores of the Empire. He will attend the military academy and find service with a high ranking legateus. He will make good connections and marry well. His parents will have comfort and wealth and never again have to toil in the dirt and crack their own fingernails. Anything that contradicts this plan is not to be considered or spoken of. To speak something is to threaten to make it real in their eyes- so doubt, reservation, and contradiction are ruthlessly and efficiently stamped out. And if it can not be stamped out, it is ignored.

It is this blindness that Asahi learns to manipulate early and often. If he leaves out a difficulty he is having in his lessons, or fails to bring up how a Garlean solider spat on him and called him a ‘filthy black eye’ then his parents will never learn of it on their own. They don’t want him to be struggling and so will accept his reports of success without question. As long as he keeps a tight grip on his emotions and tells them what they wish to hear, he has nothing to be afraid of.

It's something Yotsuyu has never managed to figure out. Yotsuyu presumes that, because something is true or right that it should matter. Yotsuyu thinks that because her anger is righteous, it deserves to be given voice, that because their situation is unjust and cruel, that is reason enough to speak about it. Her stubborn refusal to master her anger and outrage is the reason she ends sobbing and carrying heavy pails of water on a back striped with bloody welts so often, or else sent to the dark of the barn without supper or a blanket.

It’s her own fault, Asahi tells himself resolutely and frequently, every time mother seizes Yotsuyu by the hair or father hurtles a dish in her direction. It is not as if they have been unclear about the rules of the game with either of them. She acts as if her refusal to play at all is somehow noble. As if acknowledging that it’s wrong, all of it- the Empire, their parents, their society- will somehow change anything.

But Asahi knows better. Giving voice to such things is a useless exercise. The only way to change things is with power, and the only path to power is to play the game.

He tells her that one night as he’s helping clean and dress the cuts along her back and she laughs at him.

“You think if you get enough head pats and good marks and smiles you’ll have power?” She says through choked, ugly tears. “Real power? That if you bow and scrape and please enough, that it will matter somehow?”

Anger surges in him and he clamps it down before he can do more then press down the cloth a little to hard. Still Yotsuyu hisses and throws him a glare.

“I think it’s better then giving up.” He says quietly, instead of throwing down the cloth the way he wants too. He knows Yotsuyu hates him. He hates her a little bit too, for the strange cold feeling that blooms in his chest every time he has to watch her beaten, and for the voice that whispers do something do something do something in the back of his mind, even though there is nothing he can do.

Yotsuyu tries to scrub some of her tears away, but all she succeeds in doing is pushing the wet streaks of dirt around her cheek. “That’s exactly what you’ve done. I’m still fighting, but you…you refuse to admit theirs even a problem.”

Asahi clenches his fist. “You call this fighting?” He snaps, then forces a breath through his clenched teeth, and makes his shoulders relax. “Yotsuyu, please if you would just-“

“No.” She says firmly. “Never.”

“If you don’t bend they will keep going until you break.” He says, closing his eyes tight and only opening them when he’s sure that no tears will come out. He’s gotten very good at doing that over the years. When he does Yotsuyu has turned around to stare at him. Her eyes are cold and dark, like the ocean on a stormy night.

“Then I will break.” She says quietly. “But at least I’ll be able to live with myself till then. Will you?”

Asahi hates her so much in that moment. He hates the unspoken accusation of cowardice, of weakness. He hates that he knows it’s true.

He wants to tell her that he loves her, that’s she’s the only person who has ever understood him. That she’s wrong, that it isn’t her against him and their parents, but that it’s him and her together against their parents. He wants to tell her that he hates seeing her suffer and he just wants it to stop. He wants to tell her that he will find a way to make this right.

But there isn’t a point. She wont believe him, and he’s learned long ago that giving voice to something, even it’s true, is useless.

So instead, he lays the cloth aside and stands and says. “At least I will still be alive to regret.”

And then he leaves.

[tsukikoarya]

Yotsuyu Naeuri but Raiden.

[minti-tales]

Vierapril, Day 15 - Alternate Universe

Recommended reading: Vierapril, Day 9 - Ring

On a clear, moonlit night, a storyteller came to visit the Doman Enclave. This was where the Tiger of the East made his home, along with his beautiful wife, the Tigress From The Salt. You would be forgiven if you haven't heard of this storyteller. After all, we live in an age where every animal under the sun - every beast, every bird, every creature in the sea - has a story they wish to share. (Some much more than others!) But I begin to lose myself, and that's troubling. We are barely through the beginning of the story!

Where were we? Ah. Yes.

This storyteller, the one who visited Tiger and Tigress, was once called Moon-Blessed Rabbit. Some still call her that, but these days, she prefers "Wise Rabbit". So let us call her that, too, shall we? Let us look upon her traveling robes, wet from the evening's rains, and her sandals, worn from many nights spent walking under the moon's watchful gaze. Let us also observe the wooden koto, a strung instrument much like a lute, with a leather strap that clung to her back as a babe does with her mother. Finally, we should see the handcrafted pipe kept in one paw, that which wafted smoke up to the heavens no matter the weather. How did Wise Rabbit smoke it, I wonder, in the worst gales Doma sent her way?

On this particular night, Brave Lord Tiger and Beautiful Lady Tigress made a seat of honor for Wise Rabbit, and brought servants with parasols to keep her dry, should the rains come again.

"Come forth, folk of the Enclave, and see Wise Rabbit, who has brought her pipe and koto," said Lord Tiger.

"Come forth, folk of the Enclave, and listen to Wise Rabbit, who has brought her stories and songs," said Lady Tigress.

The good folk of the Enclave did so, wishing to honor their Lord and Lady, but also to listen to Wise Rabbit, who came to visit them. Young and old, farmer and blacksmith, all came to visit the storyteller, in spite of the wind and the rain.

"How does she draw smoke from her pipe in this weather? It's witchcraft," whispered a carpenter to his wife.

"She's tuning her koto. How does its voice reach us in these winds and rain?" asked a woman of wealth to her servant.

Wise Rabbit listened to all these, and others, and merely smiled. Her paws were wrinkled, her hair a near perfect white. By all accounts, she should not have been able to do all she did that night.

All fell silent upon the first strum of Rabbit's instrument. She spoke this, as I tell you now:

"Let me tell you about a bird, an immortal bird, who loved a mortal woman. A woman, we'll say, gifted with long life. Longer than you and me.

A mortal woman, who listened to voices that spoke to her from the shadows.

Fill my cup, and tend to my pipe. We have much to talk about."

(Credit goes to @ladyofvoss for inspiring and collab'ing on this prompt!)

[theunendingjourney]

It’s quiet uptown…

[sangrefae]

how to talk to tall people, a guide by yotsuyu goe brutus

[tsckcyomi-archived]

@fxrtunas​​ : Eulmore was in uproar following the Warrior of Darkness' arrival. As much as Selene wishes to accompany them all the way, her only priority right now is to find Yotsuyu. She only hopes they hear her apology, but she is swift to escape into the many hallways and passages that litter Eulmore's interior. Searching. Hoping. Her heart hammers hard in her chest, nerves thrum under her skin. Wheresoever she finds her sweet, Selene prays to the absent divine she will be okay.

Away from prying eyes, Yotsuyu takes little note of the clamor caused by the strangers’ arrival. Frankly, it matters little to her one way or another ― everything begun mattering less ever since her love’s disappearance a few months prior. Just a little while longer, Yotsuyu tells herself, delicately picking at the thick layer of bandages wrapped around her knee. A lackluster attempt at stabilizing the fracture she’s suffered, the sole reason her employer suggested her as a candidate for ascension in the first place. It’s laughable, it’s utterly terrifying, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.

The sound of steps hurrying close to the room she’s hidden herself in pull her from her thoughts. Raising her head, Yotsuyu quietly peers through the gap between the door the the frame. A soldier, she assumes ― but the sight has her heart jump. A soldier, yes, but one that is painfully familiar to her, so much so that she nigh jumps to her feet. She’s alive. “Selene!” she but gasps out, her hands grasping at the wooden frame as she pulls herself forward. “Wait...!”

[kincalling]

Hello! I am Yotsuyu goe Brutus/Yotsuyu Naeuri from Final Fantasy XIV. In my canon I survived after being shot by Asahi thanks to the WoL so I had a life after that in the Doman Enclave. I eventually got romantically involved with Yugiri and had problems to control Tsukuyomi. All the story before that is the same as seen in the game. I'm looking for basically anyone even if not part of my canon! I'm also fine with doubles and am over 18. Like this post if interested so I can reach you out!

🍀

[inky-iggy]

the witch of doma 🌙

[despair-ninja-everything-agency]

Somehow this is funnier now that I know the context.

There’s some weird shit happening in the FFXIV fandom today.

[despair-ninja-everything-agency]

Not me compulsively make a Madokan Witch/Doppel of Cole (my WoL) during the Ultima Thule part as his final obstacle before confronting Meteion

Not me having him summoning his beloved to support him while he's in his darkest hour fighting his Witch/Doppel version

Not me thinking that the first pair he'd think of is Yotsuyu and G'raha (Yotsuyu because Cole was her warden when she was Tsuyu in a 4.1-4.3 Canon Divergance of mine and he deeply cared about her partly because of his guilt for the death of his sister, G'raha becauss of Crystal Tower and Shadowbringers). Yes, G'raha has the 'pleasure' of fighting with Tsukuyomi side by side

Not me thinking the last pair would be Thancred, his lover, and Jessica Ushiromiya, his sister and they both land the last incapacitating strike before Cole finishes the job

Not me thinking that Cole giving his Witch self (now of Umineko type) a heart to heart talk that they would see their mission to its end and that despite everything, everyone's still there for him, that he's not alone, all while giving him a comforting hug

Not me giving him the death he deserved after fighting Zenos, telling his Witch self that from thereon out, it's his (the Witch's) choice to make. Whether he'd make a new Piece in his stead to continue on his journey, his legacy, or he'd personally come down to the mortal world and return to his role as the Warrior of Light, discarding his title of The Golden Witch for the time being. Whatever it is, this Piece's duty is done and he vanishes to the Sea of Nothingness

Not me rambling for Ultima Thule portion with at least 3 dose of crossovers and some Umineko Meta World bullshit :'D

[sangrefae]

my favorite flavor of yotsuyu lives AU is one where she goes to ishgard and meets stephanivien, who strikes a deal with her that she can’t do evil things anymore if he can make her a machinist