#good job lyse!

[blakbonnet]

hello meow and ida

please forgive the tiny little screenshot they included my full legal name in the body of the email several times and i try to avoid just sending that out to people on tumblr lmao

pls could i have a header of them walking into the inn in the background at the end 👉👈

or literally anything else if this is horribly hard to gif. i don't make gifs i just appreciate them from afar. it is sorcery to me

thanks!! 💛

Thank you for contacting your reps!! And absolutely ❤️❤️❤️ it's a very nice scene to gif, will tag you when it's posted!

(ask for a ceasefire from your local reps and get a custom header from either @bizarrelittlemew or I, more details here)

[trivia-yandere]

hiiii 💕

since you guys are doing requests, can i request one of the members idolverse {whoever you choose} has a fantasy or kink thats kinda looked down upon but they pay someone {mc lol} to live out the fantasy?

i love your guys works 🥰

hello, yes we can write up something quick, I'm sure!

of course with a little twist

creep

park jimin had it all. he was loved throughout the world as an idol apart of one of the biggest groups. he had the popularity, respect and adoration - and a few haters; but what idol didn’t? what park jimin wasn’t expecting for was infamous blogger, Creep, to be reporting on him. writer: lyse @momnomnom @darkuni63 @sweetempathprunetree

warning: idol! Jimin, dirty talk, r*pe fantasy/consenual-nonconsensual, yandere moments, crying, screaming, fingering, blackmail, impregnation kink, spitting,

The buzzing sounds of phones surrounding Jimin startles him. He offers a soft smile, raising a brow as he feels eyes on him. Murmurs erupt and he’s concerned.

Jimin feels his own phone vibrate and he goes to remove it from his pocket. He unlocks it and is horrified by the words displayed on his screen.

Jimin’s heart beats faster - as if it’s going to explode out of his chest. The sounds of the murmurs surrounding him grows louder - yet he cannot hear a word.

“Please stop!” a cry erupts through the loudspeaker, a woman’s voice. “Please don’t do this Jimin-ssi.”

Oh no. Jimin heart sinks. His eyes weld with tears.

“Shut up.” Jimin’s voice sounds next and now he feels his feet picking up to move - to get away from this; whatever this was. “You’re nothing but a dirty whore who’s going to take what I give her.”

Please stop.

“Jimin-ah, wait!” Jimin knows the voice of his Hyung, but he doesn’t stop moving. Not until he’s running as far as his legs take him until he collapses on the ground in a fit of tears.

Jimin recalls first meeting you - the beauty of a woman you were - so simple yet effective. You weren’t an idol - which was an added bonus. He was well known outside of the K-pop industry and gossip between idols was something he didn’t need. If you were a fan of his, you did a good job at hiding it. You spoke to him as if he wasn’t famous, an act he appreciated.

“It’s normal.” Jimin recalls hearing.

Normal. But was it?

Jimin takes a deep breath and nods his head, palms sweating as he signs the few documents - most of them being NDA’s and contracts. His heart thumps rapidly and his cheeks are slightly flushed with embarrassment.

“Idols do this all the time.” His lawyer assures, giving him a slight nod. “Not everyone has time to date but we all have needs.” Jimin flushes deeper at the words ‘needs’.

Jimin takes a deep breath and nods once more. He understood he wasn’t the only idol who did this - after all he was recommended by his own hyung. But knowing that essentially, he was signing dozens of contracts and NDA’s (as was other woman) and paying a subscription to meet women who are willing to partake in his sexual preferences. If teenage him could see his adult self and understand what he was doing, he would surely laugh. Paying for sex would have never crossed his mind back in those days.

“We have a few matches.” The Lawyer declares, turning the laptop towards Jimin. “I’ll give you privacy since you have no desire in letting me know your…preferences.”

Jimin nods. He takes hold of the laptop and skims the matches - only a few, yet he understands his own kinks are not exactly ideal.

You sit across from him, legs crossed. You were here in the flesh now - not over a screen on the expensive laptop his lawyer showed him. He was nervous while you appeared nonchalant - did you do this often? He wouldn’t ask, it was none of his business what you did outside of him.

“Jimin-ssi.”

Your voice startles him, it’s sweet and low; seductive. It makes his brain fog with a million questions.

“Relax.” You continue, uncrossing your legs. You wore a skirt and Jimin’s mind swirls at the thought of touching your smooth skin - and bruising it beneath his hands.

“Are you thirsty?” Jimin gulps. He turns away from you where you sat at his kitchen island. His hands are trembling when he grabs a glass ready to fill it with whatever. “I have water, juice, wine-“

“Jimin-ssi.”

Jimin yelps when he turns to find you directly in front of him. You place both of your hands upon his chest, eyes glancing up at his. You were good at this - this couldn’t be the first time. Maybe you were a trained actress?

“How do you want me?”

Your words shoot to Jimin’s core. He can smell your scent - a vanilla cashmere that entices his senses.

“I-I don’t-“ Jimin shakes his head.

“I know what you…like.” You smile up at Jimin, innocent eyes shining with mischief. “…How do you want me to act?”

Jimin was never proud of what his sexual fantasies were. It was disgusting - he couldn’t imagine actually acting out his desire with a woman that wasn’t willing. Even now as you stand before him - paid in advance - to act out his desire, he’s unsure if he truly should be doing this.

Jimin flinches when you begin to cry - real tears streaming down your face. You shake your head and push yourself from him. He reaches out for you, grabbing your wrists. “Y/N-ah? What’s wrong?” His eyes are wide.

“Jimin-ah…” you shake your head, tears halting. “I’m fine. Promise.” You giggle. “I’m here to please you. You have a rape-“

“Please don’t say it aloud.” Jiimin gulps - the word itself disgusts him and he wishes nothing more he would be normal and have a foot fetish; it would be easier if so.

“I apologize. I won’t.” You nod, understanding. “I’m here to help you. Remember my safe word?”

“Apple sauce…” Jimin nods, cheeks flushed.

“Right.” You nod. “Anything you do with me is safe. We’re both consenting adults.”

Jimin nods.

“What do you see in Porn? Maybe I can reenact it with you?” you suggest and Jimin is unsure. He never showed his preferred porn to anyone - it was all far too graphic to show anyone.

“I-I don’t-“

You slap Jimin hard across the face. he’s stunned, unsure what to do.

“I’ll never let a man like you touch me.” You seethe, eyes glaring at Jimin. It’s obvious you’re attempting the best you could at getting Jimin to reenact his desires with you - but he wasn’t going to do anything if you didn’t lead.

“You think just because you’re Park Jimin that you deserve me?” You begin to laugh, shaking your head. “You’re pathetic.”

Jimin licks his lips. He touches his cheeks; the stinging feeling feels like a kiss.

“Did I hurt you?” You snicker, tilting your head and puckering your lips mockingly. You turn away from him. “I’m leaving. I can’t believe-“

You yelp when you feel your hair being yanked back. A hand wraps around your neck and squeezes it.

“You’re a bitch.” Jimin hisses.

“Get off of me!” You flare your arms to push at him, but Jimin is stronger - he may appear petite compared to other men, but he’s a man, nonetheless.

Jimin pushes you into the island. Your back hits it and within seconds, his hands are on your legs. So smooth and it causes him to release a low moan. “You came here dressed like a slut for me, didn’t you?” Jimin chuckles, eyes darkening and tone of voice becoming much deeper. “Smelling good tempting me.”

“Get off!” You scream, pushing Jimin away from you but you don’t succeed.

Jimin’s hands find their way to your bare thighs. He rips them apart, index finger swiping between your clothed clit. “You’re dripping.” Jimin laughs. “Whores are always wet.”

Jimin’s eyes catches yours just in time for the tears to fall - it excites him; the frightened look contorted onto your beautiful face, the tears dripping from your terrified eyes.

Jimin yanks your panties down - it’s simple cotton ones that nearly rips with the force. Quickly, he dips his fingers inside of you. You’re tight but dripping wet and his fingers enter without much force.

“Please stop, Jimin-ssi!” You cry out, hands pushing at his shoulders, but you clench around his fingers.

“Your pussy is so wet, bitch.” Jimin chuckles, thrusting two fingers inside of you. “Crying for me to stop but dripping all over my hands!”

Jimin removes his fingers and enters them into his mouth. You gulp - the sight surprises you and arouses you even, but you don’t break character.

“And taste so sweet.” Jimin moans, popping his fingers from his mouth. He enters them again, thrusting even harder. He could hear your moans mixed with your cries and it fuels him to thrust even more.

You cry louder - it was to die down the moans. Jimin was good at this - you note that this couldn’t be his first - or even tenth time - doing this to a woman. He was sexy, he had the look and the experience; he just needed someone (you) to assist in fulfilling his deepest, darkest desires.

Jimin removes his fingers. The number of times he pleasured a woman signals him when you were close to cumming - and he wasn’t here to pleasure you.

“Open your mouth, bitch.” Jimin doesn’t wait for a response before shoving his fingers into your mouth, tips of his finger reaching your throat.

You gag, vision blurring due to the tears. The taste of your juices hits your taste bud, and a gush of wetness is dripping down your thighs.

Jimin removes his fingers from your throat and you instantly cough. He plays with the string of his sweatpants, untying it so he could be a few steps closer to violating you.

Your eyes widen when he easily removes his sweatpants and underwear at the same time, hardened cock springing out. You lick your lips, but the show must go on.

“Please don’t.” You cry out, attempting to hide yourself.

Jimin slaps you - it stings your face just as you were sure it did for him when you had. He continues to slap you a few more times on the same cheek until it’s red and throbbing, your tears burning your cheek when it falls.

Jimin grasps the length of his cock and inches closer to you. He was going to fuck you until you were begging him to stop, but even then he wouldn’t.

You gasp when you felt Jimin’s cock enter you - he has the correct amount of girth to have you stunned.

Jimin cannot stop the deep groan that comes from his throat. He should make sure you’re alright - this was nothing but a fantasy. This wasn’t him. He was a good man; but he doesn’t want to stop. He fucks into you at a rough pace, savage like. The sounds of your sweet pussy gushing for him, mixed with your cries and pleads for him to stop (and the echoes of skin slapping) was music to his ears. No porn he’s ever watched could ever compare to this moment right now.

“Please stop!” You plead - but you don’t want him to. You were doing what he paid you to do, but you clench around his cock. “Please don’t do this Jimin-ssi.”

“Shut up.” Jimin hisses, it prompts him to slap you across your face again; this time him spitting directly on you. “You’re nothing but a dirty whore who’s going to take what I give her.”

Jimin was never one to cum quickly - yet this was a dream come true to him. If he could be here with you all night and violate you, he would.

“I should breed you.” Jimin taunts, voice raspy that it sends you over the edge. You’re creaming around him, but still continue your waterworks.

“No!” You shake your head roughly. You were on birth control - he could cum inside of you if he truly wished. “Please-“

“Get you nice and pregnant like a whore likes.” Jimin’s fingernails dig into your thighs, thrust sloppy. “To show everyone who you belong to.”

“I’m not yours.” You hiss, hands slapping his chest as hard as you could.

“But you are.” Jimin removes his hand from your thigh to squeeze your throat. His thrusts are powerful and he’s cumming - inside of you as you continue to cry. He’s breathing hard, his vision blurring at the sensation; the thought of violating a bitch like you and impregnating her sends him over the edge.

Jimin falls to his knee’s when he shoves the doors open. The cool air greets him, but the soothing feeling doesn’t last long. He releases everything in his stomach onto the ground below him.

“Jimin…”

“Hyung,” Jimin gags, shaking his head. “…go away.”

“What’s going on, Jimin-ah?” Seokjin sounds concerned, startled to see his dongsaeng in such distress that it caused him to vomit. “This blogger Creep….”

“Hyung, please.” Jimin pleads. His head is pounding. His career would surely be over soon - his respect along with it. “I-I can’t.”

Jin swallows. Creep was far worse than any other blogger - they ruined the lives of countless idols for their own entertainment. Authorities don’t appear to care and whoever runs the creep blog had to be loaded - no idol has come close to paying them off.

“Is it true?” Jin murmurs after a few moments of silence. His eyes roam around the quiet street - paparazzi weren’t allowed (by law) in this area, however Creep appeared to be above the law.

“Hyung…”

“I’m not judging you, Jimin-ah. I’ll never do that.” Jin places a hand on Jimin’s back, kneeling down beside him.

Jimin releases a few short sobs but nods his head. He was humiliated - his peers wouldn’t look at him the same. He would go from respected to disgusted and despised - his fetish was looked down upon. It was sickening and the audio proof was more than enough to prove that it was him.

Jimin recalls the first time he was involved with the Blog known as simply Creep.

It was a few months after his first time with you. You and he saw one another every weekend - until it became more frequent. He couldn’t allow himself to be caught in a dating scandal, so you were only ever at his home, yet neither of you cared. You two would fuck disgustingly - him violating you (consensually) while you begged and cried for him to stop - and he never did unless he heard the safe word.

Jimin grew comfortable in his sexual fantasy. It was easier to relieve himself and the pent-up frustration when you were around. You never said the safe word and after it was all done, you and he talked. He assured you were safe while he got into the moment, and you insisted you were - even enjoyed it a great deal. Jimin would offer you food and drinks before you left - sometimes you would stay over. It began when Jimin insisted he would pay you extra to spend the night with him; you insisted he didn’t need to (but he did).

Jimin recalls the way his phone went off nonstop with notifications and waking him up from his nap. He was guilty to following the blog Creep, but he never would have thought he would be the trending topic of it.

Jimin’s heart stops for a mere second, eyes wide. He takes a few deep breaths to process everything. There wasn’t a picture attached to you entering his building - that was a good sign. However, creep was notorious at dropping little hints here and there before the big reveal - and that frightened him. If they knew about you, what else did they know?

As if clockwork, Jimin’s phone sounds again with a call from his lawyer. He answers it and places it upon his ear.

“They don’t know anything.” His lawyer assures, but the tone in his voice isn’t convincing. “Y/N has signed countless contracts and her going against them would be costly.”

Jimin takes a deep breath and nods. He knew it wasn’t you nor did he ever expect you had anything to do with it.

“Creep is nothing but an attention seeker, after all.” His lawyers snicker. “They and countless other blogs have been doing every and anything to get Bangtan involved in a scandal.”

That was true - his hyungs and him were by no means as squeaky clean as the public thought; but they weren’t bad people, either. They deserved privacy like other idols did - most scandals weren’t even scandalous. Idols had sex - if they were consensual what was the problem? Idols dated, they drank, smoked - lived.

Jimin understood that he was told strictly by his Lawyer to not engage; to ignore it. But he couldn’t. By the comments, most didn’t believe the Blogger and that only frightened him into a state of paranoia. If they didn’t believe Creep - then that only meant that Creep would give them something to believe in due time.

Jimin takes a deep breath and opens the email sent to him directly from Creep - the email responding to his own.

Creep: Park Jimin, what a pleasure for you to reach out to me! A big fan of your work if I do say so myself. I frequent your father’s cafe and I would have to say it’s worth the hype! But we’re not here to chit chat, aren’t we? You asked what I knew about your little…situation? You know a Creep like me has eyes and ears everywhere. How about this…I’ll show you a little snippet of my next post!

The attachment sent with the email makes him sick. It detailed everything that went on with you - about his fantasy and how he paid you to relive it with him. How Creep knew was beyond him, but now all Jimin could feel was sadness, confusion and disgust with himself and how he allowed himself to be in this position.

Jimin feels his hands shaking as he reads the text on his phone over and over until it’s permanently scarred into his brain. The notification popping onto his screen breaks the trance he was in - it was from Creep.

Creep: It’s been an hour…

Has it been that long since Jimin had sat and stared at his phone?

Creep: I know Idols such as big as yourself have a reputation to hold up to, so I didn’t release it all. I can make this next post go away for a price.

Jimin gulps. He understood well enough that idols and actors never paid off Creep.

Creep: I don’t want or need your money. But to keep doing what the public loves, how about we trade information? I’ll sweep this under the rug if you give me juicy secrets on the next Idol…actor…political figure. Your choice. You have 3 hours. Tick Tock.

“How do you think this got out?” Jin asks Jimin. They both stood in the restroom now, secluded from everyone else.

Jimin spits out the water he rinsed his mouth with and shakes his head. He’s unsure himself.

“Maybe it was…Y/N?” Jin hesitantly suggests. You were a soft topic for Jimin - especially now.

“She wouldn’t.” Jimin denies. “She’s just as involved in this as I am, Hyung.” Jimin’s hands turn to first. He inhales and exhales slowly, attempting anything to bring his sudden anxiety to ease. “How do you think I got out of this the first time?”

Jin raises a brow.

Jimin glances at himself in the mirror, Jin’s eyes meeting his on.

“You never told me Creep has contacted you before.” Jin signs.

One thing Jimin wasn’t expecting was for you to be outside his door an hour after he received the email from Creep, while he paced back and forth and contemplated what to do, you appeared far too calm. He’s apologized one too many times for getting you involved, not giving you the chance to speak until you interrupted him.

“Creep contacted me.”

“What?” Jimin quip, halting yet another apology. “What did-“

“I had to give them information on someone if I wanted to help you.”

Jimin shakes his head. He didn’t want you involved with his mess. Sure, he had way more to lose than you did, but you were also a human being. You deserved just as much privacy as he did - people's words were vicious and if you were involved in this scandal with him, who knows what you’d have to endure.

Jimin’s phone vibrated once more, and he releases another sign. He checks it, eyes scanning the screen with a puzzled look.

“Y/N…”

“I would rather it be him than you.” You shrug your shoulders. “He doesn’t have much to lose. He’ll recover.”

“Ignore it.” Jin hisses.

Creep had contacted Jimin again via email once Jimin was done recanting the memory with Jin. Jimin’s eyes are staring at his phone, contemplating what he should do. 

“I’ve been ignoring it for months, hyung.” Jimin responds low. “My life is ruined.”

Jin takes a step forward, hand reaching out to support his friend. 

Jimin takes a step back with a shake of his head. “I want to be alone, hyung.” he says to Jin without taking his eyes off of his phone. “Please.”

Jin wants to fight back and refuse. Jimin was a good man with no scandals. One such as big as this would shock the nation, even if it was with a consenting adult. However, Jin doesn’t want to push his friend over the edge and only nods. 

Jimin opens the email sent by Creep and begins to read.

Creep: Ah, Park Jimin. How are you? Rape anyone lately?

Jimin's blood boils at the tone in which Creep is emailing. He’s trembling - with fear? Anger? Possibly a mix of both. He’s trained for years to debut alongside his members. He worked hard for years on end to establish a career in the entertainment business just for it to be wiped away in a matter of seconds.

Jimin: Why did you do this to me?

Jimin awaits for an email in response, constantly refreshing his notifications to see it. When he does, he’s quick to open the email and read.

Creep: Why not? What makes Park Jimin special from gossip? I got tired of sitting on juicy information and now…now your secret is out! To think all you had to do was be a man and save yourself but you’d rather have a woman save you.

Jimin’s throat clenched when Creep mentions you. His life was not the only one ruined in this equation. If word got out who the woman was, it would be a nightmare for you just as it would be for him, as well. 

You lean back into your computer seat and sigh. You wait for Jimin’s email to come and when it does, you cackle.

Jimin: Y/N has nothing to do with this. Leave her out of my mess. I’ll pay whatever you need for me to ensure that she doesn’t get involved with this.

Jimin was sweet. To think that he was willing to pay you - Creep - to make sure that you weren’t involved in this scandal. It’s sad to see the man that everyone admired go down such a path of destruction. However, you’d do anything for a story and Jimin was one that was too good to pass up.

You didn’t need money, you had enough of it. Instead, you enjoyed the torment. Watching these idols, actors and politicians scramble and make public apologies to right their wrongs was like a binge worthy tv show.

Your phone sounds suddenly and you hum when you see the name on it. Jimin was calling you.

You take a deep breath before answering the phone. Instantly, tears form into your eyes and you’re crying onto the phone. 

“I’m so sorry Jimin! I don’t know what’s-”

“I’m not mad at you, Y/N.” Jimin assures. His voice is low and you can tell the man is deep in thought. “I know you had nothing to do with this.”

You want to laugh. 

“I…I’m going to do anything in my power to make sure your name doesn’t get released to the public, alright?”

“Jimin…”

“This is my mess. I’ll get myself out of it.” Jimin sighs. “I’ll talk to you in a bit, okay?”

When Jimin hangs up the phone, you slam it onto your desk and groan. Why did Jimin have to be such a good guy - it only made you want him more.

“I’m sure I can ruin someone else's life and make the people forget about Jimin for now.” you hum, opening folders on your desktop with a small smile placed onto your lips.

[koukouture]

Talking abt Stormblood bc it's not as bad as ya'll made it out to be

I thought Stormblood was amazing. Kinda slow in the beginning but it picks up after the Reach gets destroyed. I swear to god I cried at the ending cutscene where they were singing the Ala Mhigan anthem I have never felt so damn patriotic for a fictional country in MY LIFE.

For me, I think Heavensward and Stormblood both sit in the same camp of "high highs but LOW lows" because both of them have great moments but then utterly fail in others. For example, I thought Stormblood's villain cast was amazing especially compared to Heavensward. The more political aspects of Stormblood's story were also a joy and the whole thing did feel like an exhausting two front war. I think where Stormblood failed where Heavensward and the other expansions (up to SHB at least) succeeded is the character development. As for Heavensward's lows... it's the entire second half leading up to the final confrontation. Yeah I said it. After Haurchefant died the writing kinda took a nosedive in quality and then gradually built it's way back up to the Final Steps of Faith which I felt was an amazing finale. I will go into Heavensward another time bc I feel the need to defend Stormblood a bit.

Obviously we need to talk about Lyse now so let me preface this by saying that I LOVE Lyse. She is amazing and I liked her a lot- HOWEVER. I can't deny my girl was done DIRTY. I feel like Lyse just didn't really grow? Like pre Stormblood Lyse and post Stormblood Lyse are supposedly different people but nothing feels different? Character development doesn't need to be drastic as Alphinaud's ARR-Heavensward development but I feel like there is nothing different at all about Lyse. I guess you could say there's a difference between Lyse as "Yda" and normal Lyse but I don't think there is? No I don't have any proposal's on how to "fix" her writing I just feel like maybe we skipped a couple steps? I feel like in Stormblood we didn't get lots of individual character moments as opposed to the other expansions where we always got some moments where the main story takes a backseat for a cutscene or two and we talk feelings. Because that's where I feel ffxiv's character writing shines. In those moments of reflection and quiet we get lots of characterization. Or maybe it was in Stormblood or a) I forgot or b) it just didn't fucking matter in the end. The later is probably the worse.

I feel like Hien also has this problem where it feels like he did a lot of his development off screen before we met him. Which would be fine if he was just a supporting character but he's kind of the main character for our time in the Far East and in a good chunk of the post Stormblood MSQ. Again- I love Hien. That's my homie- but he just feels sort of nothing at times? Like there are just gaps in his character or really important moments that we should have seen but we just didn't. Again, I have no offers on how to "fix" it but it just feels really off.

I think Stormblood did a much better job with the villain's writing this expansion. Like the characterization and backstory of the antagonists this expansion (barring Asahi bc he felt kinda tacked onto Post-Stormblood stuff) was amazing. I really felt for each of the villains this expansion. I do think there is something to be said about how ffxiv girls always kinda get cucked when it comes to writing bc I thought Yotsuyuu deserved better and Fordola begrudgingly beginning to align herself with the heroes post Stormblood feels like untapped potential. Idk what it is but the writers seemed to have thought out the villains more this expansion than the heroes.

Like obviously I love Zenos everybody fucking knows that about me- but Yotsuyuu bro. Hnnng. I kind of love how she's not a fighter and how she deals with her femininity. Like I was so fucking sick when post-Stormblood her fuck ass dad shows up and remarks that she's still pretty and he could sell her off???? God. I'm sorry I loveeeeee exploration of the female experience in any media and maybe it's a personal thing but Yotsuyuu really parallels my WoL. Yotsuyuu is just female rage to the max I love her and I completely understand her. Yeah, if I grew up like THAT I would have also turned on my own country. (/j)

Actually let's circle back to ffxiv girls getting done dirty by the writing because Y'SHTOLA???? HELLO????? My girl did NOTHING for the SECOND EXPANSION IN A ROW????? Y'shtola was out of commission for literally all of Heavensward and only came back during the Dragonsong questlines for convenience AND THEN she gets cucked after the big inciting incident of Stormblood and just doesn't wake up until (from what I remember) the final battle??? WHAT THE FUCK MAN??? I think Y'shtola in general just has kind of a big writing problem as well but like her characterization is so good I can't help but like her and that can be said for a lot of ffxiv characters especially this expansion.

Aiyaa anyways, tldr Stormblood overall plot was super ambitious and mostly good, character writing fell kinda flat this expansion. Stormblood is also unfortunately sandwiched by two objectively better expansions bc Heavensward is so fucking hype and Shadowbringers is... Shadowbringers. Yeah I finished Shadowbringers and I kinda feel for Stormblood lmao like how do you immediately get followed up by THAT. It's not even a competition. I feel like Stormblood was really long- which I do appreciate bc uh I sped through Shadowbringers in like four days 💀. Pacing is very important and I think Stormblood needed to be long to be believable. It feels like it takes span across several months which makes sense because we're fighting two fucking revolutions.

However, I think Stormblood really wins when it comes to the trials and raids. None of the dungeons really stuck out to me BUT THE TRIALS. Ohhh my god. Susano my fucking beloveddddd ugh that fight is so fun. Also the Yojimbo/Gilgamesh trial from the Hilibrand quests is a great time it's always a good day whenever I get it in roulettes. I have yet to do the Alliance raids bc I kindaaaa got distracted with Shadowbringers but I think the Omega raids as well as the accompanying questline was a delight. If Stormblood wins over ANY expansion it's for the content. I've already finished the Shadowbingers raids (the lesbians got me) but I think the Omega raids are still a lot more fun. As for the Alliance raids, well, Stormblood has to top the Nier raids for me because I think they're GLORIOUS. But yk what I'm sure it will bc from what I've gathered everyone says Stormblood has some of the best content.

[tainbocuailnge]

i tend to hone in on the dark knight questline when it comes to translation differences in ffxiv because it has perhaps the largest difference between languages in the game, at least as far as I've seen, and it's also one of the cases where the german script (generally known for sticking pretty close to jp) also does its own thing. I actually went over the entirety of both en and de versions of it again the other day because I'd been meaning to translate it for comparison and one thing I noticed this time is that en actually has more lines, as in, optional lines when you talk to characters after they gave you the next quest objective that in german would just repeat the last line they said, in english would say something different. the journal entries changing depending on whether you have the job crystal equipped or not is also unique to the english version.

it's interesting because to me it shows that they really felt incredibly strongly about their take on dark knight and put a lot of serious effort into pulling it off. it's actually improved my opinion of english drk a little because clearly someone really believed in what they were writing here and used absolutely everything they had available to try and make it work. but even with that extra text to work with I still think the german version delivered their concept better and had a clearer vision of what they wanted to say with these quests. because the english team are just not as good at writing as they seem to think they are.

in my recent replay of stormblood in german there were so many scenes that made me think "you know what, maybe stormblood isn't as bad as I remembered it being", and then when I went to double check the english version of that scene it actually was as stupid as i remember it being. and often the thing that makes it stupid is like, lyse displaying confidence and competence in de but talking herself down in en, or yotsuyu pointing out the systematic failures that brought her where she is in de but indulging in personal sadistic tendencies in en. and making your antagonists dumber and more evil is one thing but the fact that they also made lyse sound so insecure and incompetent at so many points when she's the main character of the expansion, it's just so baffling to me. are we supposed to believe she can lead the resistance movement or not?

so knowing that de will generally be closer to jp than en is but does occasionally have major deviations of its own, and seeing all these stormblood scenes where one of the big glaring differences between en and de is that en keeps dumbing down and vilifying (female) characters that have more nuance and with it more thematic consistency in de, that leaves basically two options. either the japanese script had that nuance and the english translators were so full of misogyny that they decided to remove it, or the japanese script didn't have it either and it's the german translators that decided to not hate women actually. and while i don't know enough japanese to be sure, listening to the jp voicelines does give me reason to believe that the jp script is harsher to yotsuyu than de at various points, so it's probably a bit of both.

so, yknow, I can't make a sweeping statement of being against major script changes in localisation in general without being a hypocrite because the de script has at multiple times done its own thing in a way that i consider either an improvement or at least an interesting alternative of roughly equivalent quality. but that's also exactly what my problem with ffxiv localisation is, that when the en script has major deviations it's almost always some stupid shit like adding gendered slurs (they love calling a woman a bitch or a whore in english it gets really glaring when you start putting individual lines next to each other) and transphobia (matoya does not make fun of alphinaud looking like a girl in german) and removing instances of characters openly saying they care about something (thancred calling ryne his daughter in every language but english) and generally destroying all character voice, and when de changes things it's like, well written and makes sense even if it's different. so the en team looking down on the script theyre translating and changing it is hubristic overconfidence but when the de team does it they actually have the writing chops to back it up

[storms-path]

FFXIV Write 2024 Masterpost

Well, there it is once again. Another month of prompts completed, this time with so, so much lizard. The prompts were very kind to her this month, as was Dawntrail in general, and it was really nice to give her some positive development and flesh out more of her relationship with her mother. But of course I couldn't resist a few bad ends, a few dips into another timeline entirely, and a race across the stars for fun and profit.

Day 1 - Steer

Arashi engages in some tourism, much to Sanda's annoyance.

Day 2 - Horizon

Arashi gains a new title following her first Arcadion victory.

Day 3 - Tempest

The gang tangles with Byakko.

Day 4 - Reticent

Y'shtola bares her soul to a... confused audience.

Day 5 - Stamp

Fareena finds her mother in the ruins of Dalmasca.

Day 6 - Halcyon

Arashi's always been a sulky person, especially as a kid.

Day 7 - Morsel

Before the clash with Titan, Stalwart notices a strange dish.

Day 8 - Clean (Extra Credit)

Recovering from Ultima Thule, Arashi takes a bath.

Day 9 - Lend an Ear

Stalwart and Y'shtola have a long overdue conversation.

Day 10 - Stable

Arashi finds her chocobo. Violently.

Day 11 - Surrogate

While Arashi recovers, Sanda takes up her sister's mantle for a while.

Day 12 - Quarry

Arashi chases down Valigarmanda as it attempts to flee.

Day 13 - Butte

Arashi suffers from nightmares and sleepwalking. Ryne comes to find her.

Day 14 - Telling

Continuing from the previous prompt, Arashi and Thancred talk.

Day 15 - Presence (Extra Credit)

Sanda tries and fails to make sense of her feelings towards Zero. The feeling is mutual.

Day 16 - Third-Rate

A dramatised re-telling of the liberation of Ala Mhigo.

Day 17 - Sally

Lyse struggles with a difficult problem. Arashi "helps." Continues from prompts 13 and 14.

Day 18 - Hackneyed

As the Eigthth Umbral Calamity looms, Arashi, Sanda and Lyse make a desperate escape.

Day 19 - Taken

Fareena chases after Nael van Darnus, leading her into the heart of Garlemald.

Day 20 - Duel

Alisaie and Arashi come to blows.

Day 21 - Shade

Arashi goes down into the Aitiascope to confront a ghost.

Day 22 - Linger (Extra Credit)

Following Sphene's defeat, Sanda finds herself unable to celebrate properly.

Day 23 - On Cloud Nine

Fareena is a menace to society.

Day 24 - Bar

In a very different timeline, Sheriff Storm sizes up a newcomer to her little watering hole.

Day 25 - Perpetuity

The last will and testament of Arashi Washi, Warrior of Light.

Day 26 - Zip

Arashi engages in a Wacky Race.

Day 27 - Memory

As the Rising kicks off, Fareena drinks alone.

Day 28 - Deleterious

Arashi insists she's alright following her defeat of Valigarmanda. Nobody is willing to take her word for it. Continues from day 12.

Day 29 - Sunrise (Extra Credit)

Arashi and Stalwart talk for a while, but are interrupted by news of an ambassador's imminent arrival.

Day 30 - Two Heads Are Better Than One

Arashi and the ambassador talk about very serious things. Continues from the previous day.

And if you want to go through the whole thing at once, I also posted it on Archive Of Our Own.

And that's all there is to it! Definitely an easier set than last year, but I chalk that down to my job situation improving in leaps and bounds and, most importantly, giving me some damn room to breath. I still have a few ideas I'd like to work on, though (I didn't touch Pictomancer at all). Maybe I'll work on them in my own time. Maybe I'll wait until next year. Who can say?

Either way, this was a fantastic month and I'm glad I participated once again. And well done to everyone who participated as well, no matter how many prompts you managed or how proud of your prompts you are.

You did good. I'm proud of ya.

[wesleysjournal]

About the Blog

Currently Playing: Endwalker

I'm Wren ( @feyringo ), this is a blog for my little fella, Wesley. You'll find my chitchatting posts tagged as "wren chirps".

Expect to be referenced here: My original stories, FFXII, FFXIV, Pokémon, TTRPGs (D&D), and more!

About Wesley

B A S I C S

Full Name: Wesley Brandt (Ashlocke in FFXIV)

Age: 20~23

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Bisexual

Pronouns: He/him

O T H E R

FFXIV World: Zalera [Crystal]

Family: Emi Ashlocke (sister, adopted) [FFXIV]

Hometown: Rabanastre, Dalmasca [FFXIV]

Job/Class: BRD, RDM [FFXIV], Valor Bard [D&D]

Phobias: Abandonment! \o/

Guilty Pleasures: Pastries 🥐 , singing and dancing ✨

Hobbies: Singing 🎶 , studying 📚, whittling little figures 🪵

M O R A L S

Alignment: Neutral Good

Sins: lust / greed / envy / gluttony / pride / wrath / sloth

Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility / justice / kindness / patience

T H I S or T H A T

introvert / extrovert

organized / disorganized

close-minded / open-minded

calm / anxious / restless

disagreeable/ agreeable / in-between

patient / impatient

outspoken / reserved

leader / follower / flexible

empathetic / unempathetic

optimistic/ pessimistic/ realistic

traditional / modern / in-between

hard-working / lazy

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

OTP: Wesley x Kyler (WesKy), Wesley x Kyler x Thancred (WesKyThan), Wesley x Thancred (WesThan) 💕

Acceptable ships: Wolstinien, Wolmeric, Wolchefant 🥰

BROTP: Lyse, Tataru ✨

NOTP: ...Zenos 👊

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

hi! this is the same anon who asked about the writing thing but--since they all had switched classes, is how you tagged/call them what they refer to each other as? (so like everyone refers to them as mediscout, engimed, demo-spy, etc.) or do they just refer to them as their new classes (so referring to the mediscout purely as Medic?) obviously they call solly spyder (which i think is so cute and very fun :>) but im curious about the others! so i guess this goes into the territory of: are there any nicknames they all call each other--or at least ones you think stand out?

Hello hello! First of all, thank you so much for asking so many questions and allowing me to talk about my AU to you all, I really appreciate that you guys are enjoying this as much as I am! <3

Second of all, I'm so sorry this took so long to answer!! I have seen your other ask concerning the writing for my AU, and I have to tell you beforehand that it's okay if you lost motivation or inspiration to write this during the long wait. I totally understand if you don’t feel like doing this anymore. Please don't force yourself to write for something you lost interest in. But I’ll gladly still infodump you about the AU!

Names:

Sure, if you wanted to you could just call them their job names. It would make it easier for the readers to recognize each character, but I do have some actual names I came up with if you prefer something more natural sounding!

All the job switched mercs chose their own names, but I deliberately made the names they chose sound as close as possible to the OG Red mercs'. Because the irony here is that they are clones who try so desperately to be unique and different from the OG team, but still managed to somehow copy them despite all their efforts not to.

But I'm really shit at naming things so the effect was kinda lost :')

Sniper as Soldier- Monday or Mondy

Reason: When asked about his name choice, he paused for a moment and asked back, "what day is it today?"

"Monday."

"Monday it is, then."

Soldier as Spy- June or Spyder

Scout as Medic- Germs (short for germinoma) (yeah idk what happened with this one but I didn't wanna call him Jerry either)

Reason: June chose the wrong day to ask Germs about name choices. When asked, the battle worn, tired, salty field-medic grabbed a random medical book from his bookshelf; opened the book; flipped to a random page; viciously stabbed his finger on a random spot on the page and read the word under his finger: "germinoma"- all the while maintaining direct eye contact. It was supposed to be sarcastic. June took it literally, so it became his permanent nickname (much to his dismay)

Medic as Engineer- Ludovic (sometimes they call him Ludo, for short)

Spy as Demoman- Louise, Lois, Lassie, Louisiana, Lyse (any name similar sounding enough to Lois works)

Reason: His "boom sticks" are modified versions of an actual French cigarette brand called "Gauloises". Since none of the mercs actually knows how to read French, they severely butchered the pronunciation and ended up just dropping the beginning of the word entirely, sticking with "loises". However, everyone had varying interpretations of how to pronounce THAT too. So his exact name remains a mystery, and he won't clarify either (he finds it fun to see them try and guess).

Demoman as Sniper- Trevis

Heavy as Pyro- Mikel

Engineer as Heavy- Belle

Pyro as Scout- Zippo

Reason: ya know... zippo lighters... and he's a scout now, so he ZIPS past you... get it?

These are all very bad names, I know, but hopefully you can tolerate my utterly abysmal naming skills :')

Nicknames:

- Monday sometimes calls Lois "Goldilocks" as his own godawful pronounciation of "Gauloises". It annoys Lois to no ends and Mondy loves it.

- He also sometimes calls Germs "bun-bun" to piss him off about his buck teeth. He feels too bad to joke about Belle's tho.

- Monday uses the most nicknames with others, 90% of which is to mock or annoy but it's all in good fun (usually)

- THEY'RE ALWAYS THE SILLIEST NICKNAMES TOO, WITH EVEN SILLER STORIES BEHIND THEM. Just think of the dumbest, goofiest, sounding names

- He once honest to God called Mikel "Jason" and did NOT elaborate

- Germs rivals Monday with his own silly nicknames for everyone, but his tend to be a bit more... vulgar

- "HEY FUCKNUGGETS"

- "fly high, chucklefest junior!"

- "calm down Colonel shrinky-dink"

Okay, that's it for now. love you, bye bye, I'll see u again in another ask!

[loldragoon-ffxiv]

Obligatory Long Dawntrail Post

I wanted to wait a while to say anything and let my hype die down first, but I think it's finally time. Overall, I really liked it! Especially how it relates to my WoL, which is more what I want to focus on because the internet has had enough hot takes about Wuk Lamat. More rambling under the cut:

To get the big picture stuff out of the way, I have always felt that this game is at its best when it's leaning into its politics. I'll admit it's risky to do from a commercial standpoint in this very polarized world, and sometimes I think it misses, especially when they try to touch on something that Japan has a huge blind spot towards culturally. But many of its best story beats, in my opinion, are the political ones. I'll always remember playing patch 2.55 for the first time, and that moment of realization I had watching Nanamo and Alphinaud both face consequences for their well-intentioned idealism, that we may not solve all the worlds' problems through the power of friendship and being really good at fighting alone. Obviously, the power of friendship is a big part of the game's central ethos, but it isn't enough. It was a hint at the underlying pragmatism of the game's politics that I really wasn't expecting from an MMO, especially one that has as many cheesy hopeful feel-good moments as this one tends to. I am also a big Stormblood liker overall, as much as I acknowledge it had serious problems with the pacing and character writing. I think the comparisons to Dawntrail are fair, but I like the same things about both of them. They're both best interpreted through the lens of actual world history and current events, and I think seem more shallow on the surface than they really are if you're not paying attention to the smaller moments with minor NPCs during the "exploring the new zones" bits of MSQ. I'd argue that Dawntrail did an even better job with its political commentary than Stormblood did, and I had a feeling it would when they mentioned they were hiring sensitivity readers. I think they did a great job of addressing a lot of the things that made people uncomfy about Stormblood by having the Scions take the backseat and letting the Turali people have their own agency in the story. I have a lot more opinions on the politics in Dawntrail overall, but I think other people have mostly said everything I want to say about that already. More interestingly, I think this expansion really surprised me with how well a lot of my character decisions with Zoisite, my WoL, ended up paying off. Because I hadn't really thought of Zoisite as an OC until early Heavensward, I tried to think about her backstory through the lens of what would make her the most interesting protagonist for the themes and plotlines I thought the game was trying to set up. I decided to make her half Doman, with a foreign adventurer father, and with an older half-sister that spent most of Zoisite's life fighting against Garlemald. During the events of 1.0, while her sister was busy with the XIVth legion and Project Meteor, Zoisite ended up more of an adventurer instead, and entangled with Minfilia and the Path of the Twelve because of the Echo, which was unique to Zoisite. I wanted her to have a personal connection to the Garlemald plotline so that it felt deserved for her to be the one to "resolve" it, but explain why she was willing to go along with these other diversions during ARR and HW that weren't related to it, too. Obviously, the game itself had a similar idea with Lyse, but I thought the parallel was actually kinda nice and it was a big part of why I ate SB up as much as I did. As much as SE and the writers have no real control over this, these accidental predictions and coincidences have honestly been a big part of why I have enjoyed FFXIV as much as I have. My favorite moments in the game are when I'm wondering if the writers are reading my google docs for ideas. It makes me feel like I'm doing a good job picking up on subtext.

But aside from her backstory, I let MSQ itself determine most of Zoisite's arc, and I very rarely find myself "retconning" MSQ vs the other way around. She is just trailer WoL/Meteor in most ways, with the big exception being Feldspar's existence from the late HW patches on. Because Feldspar is my RP character and I'm mostly writing 20ish years post-MSQ, Zoisite's primary role as a character has always been Feldspar's estranged birth mother first, and MSQ WoL second. When I'm experiencing the game through Zoisite's perspective, however, I constantly have to reconcile these two roles, and it has honestly been very difficult to do that during ShB and EW. It's hard to justify the tedious fetch quests when the stakes (for her, at least) are so high. It made it very hard for her to care much about the ancients, or the people on the First, or Zenos's weird one-sided obsession with her, even when the game was trying to force her to. As much as possible, I've tried to rationalize away these character inconsistencies as an intentional distraction on her part, and that the excuse of saving the world and helping people has been keeping some of that fear and guilt about "abandoning" her son at bay for a while now.

And then Dawntrail really just came out and addressed it for me, in a way I was not expecting. It presented itself from the outset as a "vacation" from the high stakes, where Zoisite was just kinda standing in the background most of the time, along with a VERY HEAVY THEME of parental abandonment to force her to reckon with her issues. She spent all of Dawntrail wondering if Feldspar would feel the same way about her that Krile and Wuk Lamat feel about their parents, and see it as a noble sacrifice for his best interest, or if he would resent her for abandoning him without explanation like Gulool Ja and Koana do. Most importantly, it was much harder for Zoisite to pretend that she had no other choice than to give Feldspar up when she was constantly facing the reality that she could step down at this point and the world would probably keep turning without her protecting it. Unfortunately, it's too late for her to change her mind about Feldspar, both because Feldspar's narrative demands it, and also because years have passed and she can't just casually ask for him back even if she wanted to. Zoisite had no choice but to mourn and let it go, and I think watching Cahciua and Erenville's interactions in Living Memory also helped with that, because she kinda got a glimpse of the type of mother she most likely would have ended up as, and saw that motherhood might not have worked out as perfectly as she'd started fantasizing about in retrospect. Like Cahciua, she cares the most about seeing the world and helping people, and doing what's "right," and she would always struggle with putting anyone else (including her own son) ahead of that, if it came down to it. Without another parent in the picture to help, there was no route that wouldn't end with Feldspar feeling abandoned by Zoisite in some way. All-in-all, I liked how this gave me a satisfying conclusion to that arc for her, and a nice refresh for future expansions. I'd rank it on par with SB and ShB for how much I enjoyed them, with my overall ranking being something like HW > SB-ShB-DT > ARR > EW. There's also that minor detail about the Alexandrians having rock names, and Zoisite's existing backstory that her name is a family naming convention from her father's side, and that she doesn't really know where he's from. I have yet to figure out how to make that connection, but man. The possibilities.

[woltourney]

ROUND 3 / SIDE A / POLL 1

Kasha Sho (@r04ch-ships) v. Posey (@motley-ember) v. Eleutherios (@trans-estinien)

Kasha Sho:

q. What is your WoL name and pronouns? a. Kasha Sho, They/She (trans queen)

q. What is your WoL's species? a. Au’Ra Raen

q. What is your WoL's class? Or classes? a. Gunbreaker + Monk

q. What data centre/server are you on, if you want people to find you? a. Crystal Malboro <3

q. Tell us a bit about your WoL! a. I want to preface this by saying I made Kasha’s lore before I knew about the Yda/Lyse thing. Im not retconning because Kasha is better than her anyways 🙄 /hj Kasha was raised in Doma on a small farm! She had a younger brother and an older sister, her older sisters name was Kasha and she was killed by an unknown group. My wol then took their sisters name and fled to Eorzea on a refugee boat. She landed in Ul’dah and started from there! Kasha is VERY aggressive, mean, and insulting. She does not know basic manners and will speak her mind freely. Eats with their hands and also eats ANYTHING… Kasha doesnt like being the WoL, but continues this role because if she wont then who will? They’re very loud and boisterous and confident. Will fight anyone and everyone. She has 97 mental illnesses and is banned from most countries. She doesnt know how to read and is an overall idiot but shes doing her best leave that little guy alone Shes also 6ft tall and buff as SHIT

q. Why should YOU win? (Answer IC!) a. I WILL WIN because Im the best fighter out here and I will CRUSH THE BONES OF MY- this isn’t an actual fight? … Um 😶 I would TOTALLY win a real fight. Just so you know.

Posey:

q. What is your WoL name and pronouns? a. Posey, he/him!

q. What is your WoL's species? a. Hrothgar

q. What is your WoL's class? Or classes? a. Paladin! (Additional note from submitter: Culinarian)

q. What data centre/server are you on, if you want people to find you? a. Phoenix

q. Tell us a bit about your WoL! a. Posey is a big softie and massive himbo who loves cooking, but loves his friends even more. He was trained by his grandmother in the art of the blade, and enjoys using all of his skills for the good of the world! The food that he makes is said to be better than what is served to the Sultana in the royal palace.

q. Why should YOU win? (Answer IC!) a. I don't really care if I win, but I thought this was a good way to make new friends! My Baba said that I should put myself out there more!

q. Anything else you wanna add? a. He's gay and he has a pet teacup pig. He WILL try and become friends with anyone and everyone.

Eleutherios:

q. What is your WoL name and pronouns? a. Eleutherios, He/Him

q. What is your WoL's species? a. Unsundered Ancient

q. What is your WoL's class? Or classes? a. Currently (as of 5.3 onwards) Eleutherios' main job is Dark Knight

q. What data centre/server are you on, if you want people to find you? a. Eleutherios Azem on Sargatanas, Aether!

q. Tell us a bit about your WoL! a. Have you ever thought "Huh, I wonder how the story of Final Fantasy XIV would change if Azem was never sundered?" WELL DO I HAVE THE WARRIOR OF LIGHT FOR YOU! Introducing Eleutherios! The lovable Azem who spent his days travelling Etheirys, caring for its people, and annoying the Convocation. Until everything fell apart, of course. On the eve of the Sundering, he denounced both the Convocation and Venat, choosing to find his own path to end the Final Days. Paths that didn't involve summoning gods or killing half of the star's population and then some. But Venat and the others had chosen their courses, and fate had been set. Now, Eleutherios should have died when Hydaelyn broke the world. But he did not. Why? Well, because of the timeline splitting in two. When? When a traveller from the future arrived in Elpis to learn the truth of the Final Days, of course. This traveller? Eleutherios himself. Hydaelyn had spared him from Her spell, making him Her chosen, in the same vein as the Unsundered Ascians being chosen to carry out Zodiark's will. Eleutherios believed the Ascians' plan to restore the world to what it once was foolish. Their people were dead. Nothing can fix that. They just have to push forward and make the best of the future they've been given. But his fellow Unsundered couldn't see this, trapped in their ideals of what the star should be. They needed to see it for what it is. But how could he expect the Convocation to do that, when the only one of them who ever seemed to care about the individual lives of the people was him? So someone has to fight for the new life springing up across the star. And thus began his great work. He's risen up to be the Warrior of Light countless times, over and over, for eons. With each Rejoining marking another failure. Time and time again he had to watch as everything he fought for was reduced to ash. Once, twice, seventh. It seemingly never ended. But what choice did he have? If he didn't fight against the Ascians, he was practically working for them by letting them get away with these atrocities. And so he carries onward as he's always done. But unbeknownst to him, this time was different. This time he meets the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. This time he travels to another Shard and manages to prevent a Rejoining. This time he isn't alone to face the second Final Days. This time, everything will finally be ok.

q. Why should YOU win? (Answer IC!) a. "Well, I'll be honest with you, I don't mind if I win or not. I just like participating and getting to know everyone! Oh, and I'll promise I'll hold back, for their sake. Though if they're Warriors of Light I'm sure they'll all hold up just fine! But if you want a serious answer about why I specifically should win, then…" [Eleutherios takes a moment to think.] "I should win based off of the fact that I have eons more experience in this whole 'Warrior of Light' business than the rest of them do. I've been at it since the Sundering! Not to say that my many, many years of experience is needed to be a Warrior of Light, or that I'm better than the rest, which couldn't be further from the truth. I think we all stand equal, sundered or not."

q. Anything else you wanna add? a. I have so much more lore for Eleutherios and I had to cut down this introductory essay by a LOT. I'm currently working on an extended version which covers ALL of his lore. If you want more Eleutherios content just send me an ask on tumblr, or scroll through the [#eleutherios (azem)] and [#unsundered azem au] tags! I'm always happy to talk about him!!

[fisherrprince]

So how was stormblood? I know it's very hit or miss for people, so what're your thoughts?

I understand why it’s hit or miss! It — to get to the point i would be straight up lying if I said I was an unbiased consumer because I’m not, I’m a coastal American mid 20s rando with a Lot of very current cultural baggage around concepts like patriotism and freedom. And Hamilton references. It all has a sweet and strong and very anti-occupation message (along with themes I very much enjoy dissecting like the constant assertion that it Doesn’t Have To Be This Way, or the expansion into You may not understand this person but you must be able to accept them,) but when combined with Stormblood’s shakier coherence in writing and dialogue and pacing, it comes off as A Bit Off. to me. And I think it missed ever so slightly just due to how it was all structured and set up with the characters we have and motivations we have because the stuff OUTSIDE or Adjacent to the main story, despite how out of place it could feel, was structured great!! Like the Kojin and the Ananta trial and the Kugane mishaps and trying to murder Zenos twice and the ghost ship. Could the main structure have come across very well yes absolutely! It does it on and off it succeeds in there often! But sometimes it doesn’t. I can see a lot of where concepts were promised and not fully delivered, pacing was a bit off, things just happened without really belonging there (despite how much I loved Susano, he could have been better structured. same with many instances and also I feel like the unethical science should have been MORE IMPORTANT THAN IT — maybe it comes back. Who is that scientist.), sometimes dialogue felt somewhat canned. I feel like in a consequences-heavy expansion, many things just didn’t have important consequences, which was very strange

HOWEVER! I cannot give the new gameplay features abd dungeons any crap they are all SO GOOD. And so PRETTYYYYY. And there were so many solo duties that ruled! Every dungeon in this expansion was like whoa this is a PLACE im in you know what I mean??? I’m in a place that’s big and there’s people and there’s NEW MECHANICS and active time maneuvers (??!!!!!!!) and unique fights! I can jump on the roofs in Kugane! And, mind you, when the dialogue was good, it was good. Lyse has a fantastic voice actor. Alisaie is my favorite girl elf creature in thw world. Estinien is like the best p- the guy ever. also m’naago is my new friend. The tower was a great part of sb to me despite my singular gripe. I think Zenos’— I know it’s controversial to some people because he does assume your wol to be a bit more murderous than some people would prefer their characters be and doesn’t take no for an answer, but his um speech did something to my brain a little bit

ON that note the ending was very fast?????? Or like — not FAST, but I wasn’t expecting Zenos or Shinryu to go down in one fight. Two co-op fights, right next to each other. I kind of wanted to beat him up myself. And when Zenos was so impossible to beat before. I was expecting both of them to be WAY harder. Though Shinryu is a COOL fight I’d do the royal menagerie again in a second. I was kind of expecting a three stage trial? Like Nidhogg? I love going into space hiiii big dragon where were you this whole time… u were shafted… but u could not be suffered to live so. Maybe if we’d gotten an instance of fighting the dragon alone after beating the trial?? Could have been Themes. I don’t know

anyways no I can’t quite pin it down, but I’ve said it before I think they had the outline for the story and then built it and went oh this is too much and not enough at the same time and got stuck writing the whole thing after getting stuck in the story they already had. A COMMENDABLE job for getting turned around like that, way better than a lot of video games stories out there, good gameplay and areas that didn’t feel too empty. glances at coerthas falcons nest area. I think the ways they did the exploration thing was good, having us venture further into occupied territory etc, but so much exploration stuff felt oneoff and not there to do much for someone who has been skipping almost all of the side content except stuff I’ve been told is good. It almost felt like they were Trying New Stuff a lot, and some of it succeeded some of it failed. Such is trying stuff!! Such is trying to imitate what you had while making something new and exciting! And I can’t fault them for that

so like — putting aside the fact that I haven’t done post-sb which is like missing 40% of the Thing according to past expansions and my thoughts very well might change, i would 100% do the fights again, maybe watch some cutscenes, but I don’t think I’d NG+ this one. where is that lady selling buuz it is a CRIME i did not get to have any buuz let me buy one yoshi p

[dainesanddaffodils]

So i whipped through Stormblood at concerning speeds and am full of thoughts! so here again are my WoL's feelings on the many characters she knows/met.

Thoughts post-ARR | Thoughts post-Heavensward

Without further ado - Cimorene Greystone's Post-Stormblood Relationship Vibes

Lyse - a little similar to Cimorene's feelings toward Alphinaud in A Realm Reborn (though definitely not as bad). Cares about her very much, agrees with her cause VERY MUCH, but also. she is a lot sometimes and Cimorene isn't always sure how to interact with her. Will always have her back though and is very proud of her.

Alphinaud - that remains her baby brother, don't fucking touch him. still feels closest to him of all of her companions, new and old.

Alisaie - that remains her baby sister, don't fucking touch her. Cimorene worries about her a lot and has resolved to never abandon her.

Hancock - Tangy, the player, thinks he's hilarious and also my friend has a wolship with him (started as a joke, became Not A Joke) so that kinda colored Cimorene's interactions with him. I think she likes him in spite of herself, honestly.

Yugiri - lizard solidarity. Definitely feels a sisterhood with her and cares about her very much. Feels very protective of her, feeling the need to be a tempering force in her life to balance out her passion and idealism re: Doma - and if that didn't work, at least guard her from those ideals getting her killed.

Gosetsu - Cimorene adores him, there isn't much more she can say than that. He’s a good man and she is genuinely surprised he survived and had, while not a happy end to his story, at least a peaceful one - it’s more than most good men in her life get.

Hien - Reminds her of her late husband so much. She's not into him that way, but still is very fond of him because of those similarities. Worries about him the same way she worries about Yugiri and feels a fierce determination to not lose him.

Cirina - That's Cimorene's cousin! Distant cousin but still, they're related on her dad's side and Cimorene immediately notes the similarities when she meets her and the Mol.

(Her father never told her what clan he'd been from, just that he, like most Xaela, was from the Steppe. She didn't have a lot of strong feelings towards the other people she met within the clans because she was kind of assaulted with A LOT OF INFO about who she is and where she came from at this point lmao)

Raubahn - 10/10 man of all time. if Cimorene was in the market for a replacement father it would be him, unquestionably

Zenos - not only hates him but hates him a distinctly uninteresting way. He died and she stopped thinking about him immediately (and when any mention of him maybe surviving comes up she is like, well, I guess I gotta kill him again end of thoughts)

Fordola - her feelings are what could graciously be called complicated and moreover she understands it isn't her place to pass judgement on her one way or another. Is gonna keep her distance from her, though; if she comes around to her one day it will be because she is giving that relationship space now.

Yotsuyu/Tsuyu - similarly complicated feelings; understands that she was horribly mistreated and is very pro-kill your abusers but to say Yotsuyu took it too far is an understatement. She did, however, fully believe that Tsuyu was safe and really wanted her to have that fresh, clean beginning and was heartbroken when that was shattered.

Asahi - GET A JOB. STAY AWAY FROM HER (Tsuyu). truly genuinely hated him more than she has hated anyone she has faced thus far. Absolute garbage rest in piss.

Krile - That's her mom - dont! fucking! touch! her! Cimorene is very glad that she didn't get the scion summoning disease as that probably would have snapped the fragile thread she was hanging on by at the end of the patches

Thancred - genuinely was finally kind of coming around to like, a friendship with him just as he got struck with scion summoning disease so. RIP that budding relationship, I guess. We'll see where Shadowbringers takes that I'm sure only good places

Y'Shtola - Cimorene always forgets how much comfort she gets from being around Y'Shtola until she's gone and then she's like 'wait that's my emotional support archon please give her back'

Estinien - impulsively kissed him after the lvl 70 dragoon quest and immediately fled the scene, later learned that he saved her life and immediately fled the scene, and NOW she’s a literal world away so like… that tension isn’t getting resolved anytime soon

Crystal Exarch (yeah they don't call him that in game yet but I know whomst he is) - get better cell service if you're gonna keep calling my girl in the middle of a fucking war! she would be more willing to open the gates if you didn't keep yoinking the souls out of her beloved friends - again in the middle of a fucking war! yes I know this is probably beyond your control but Cimorene doesn't and she is very very very upset with you!

[cindernet-exploded]

Pinned post!

Aethy and Blue Sky links for where I may post full NSFW

U'nia Redfeather Vairemont

Pronouns: She/Her

Gender: Trans Woman

Sexuality: Polyamourous Lesbian/Demi

Bloodline: Mixed Duskwight/Xaela

Jobs: Mystic Knight [MTK] (PLD with more magic w/ sword imbueing), MNK, AST/WHM Hybrid, DRK, FSH, CUL

Height: 7'8"

Short Bio: Selectively mute and willing to sit on the sidelines in a conversation, U'nia seems to most as the stoic silent type. To those that know her, however, she's a beacon of love and care, willing to shine her light on any that will accept. It takes a lot to get her to open up, but when she does you'll never find a more stalwart friend.

Tags: Screenshots || Lore || Aesthetic

Ship tags: Girls in Red [U'nia/Alisaie/Lyse] || Dreaming in Blue [U'nia/Ysayle] || Void and Ash [U'nia/Flidais] || One Steppe at a Time [U'nia/Cirina] || In Menphina's Arms [U'nia/Zhloe] || Niabette [U'nia/Nabette] || U'niyami [U'nia/Ayami] || Mirth and Magic [U'nia/Ayami/Flidais] || Written in the Stars [U'nia/Leveva]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nabette Vairemont

Pronouns: She/Her

Gender: Cis Woman

Sexuality: Bi

Bloodline: Mixed Duskwight/Xaela

Jobs: Sage

Height: 6'11"

Short Bio: Fiercely loyal and protective of her sister to a fault, Nabette can come across as grating to those that don't know her. Energetic and good with people at face value, yet not knowing how to make that connection beyond that. Those stubborn enough to work through that will find a woman who won't throw them away for anything.

Tags: Screenshots || Lore || Aesthetic

Relationship Tags: Niabette [U'nia/Nabette]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shyssa Ironheart

Pronouns: They/Them

Gender: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sexuality: Pan

Bloodline: Hyur (when alive), Android now

Jobs: Nightblade [NTB] (a mix of Gladiator and Samurai)

Height: 5'10"

Short Bio: Once a technician and enforcer in the Allagan Empire, a tragic accident almost took their life. On the last thread of that life, their partner put them into life support for nearly a year while she laboured to research soul transference. Reaching a breakthrough, Shyssa's soul was taken from their nearly dead body and placed into an android recreation of them, staying powered until the Allagan Empire crumbled in the wake of the Calamity of Earth. Repowered for the first time in multiple eras, rebuilt by the wishes of she who bears the soul Shyssa once did, they now explore a world so different from the one they knew, trying to find a purpose.

Tags: Screenshots || Lore || Aesthetic

Relationship Tags: Weaponized Waltz (Allagan Era) || Shyssa/Honey B (Current) || Built to Last [Shyssa/Crescent]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A'vyra Mitu

Pronouns: He/She/They (in that order)

Gender: GNC Cis Man

Sexuality: Bi

Bloodline: Mixed Seeker/Keeper Miqo'te

Jobs: MCH, GNB, BSM, CRP

Height: 4'11"

Short Bio: Explosive. A word with many meanings, and all of which apply to A'vyra. She bursts with energy, both on and off the battlefield, and his voice matches in volume. He's often first to act and last to leave, willing to give himself up to buy time for his friends. To know A'vyra is to know unrelenting support, and unwavering devotion.

Tags: Screenshots || Lore || Aesthetic

Relationship Tags: The Soldier and the Poet [A'vyra/Alphinaud]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oketra

Pronouns: She/Her

Gender: Cis Woman

Sexuality: Aro/Ace

Bloodline: Mixed Rava Viera/Raen Au Ra

Jobs: BLM, NIN, DNC

Height: 6'

Short Bio: Prickly and standoffish to those that don't know her, and often to those that do, Oketra seems to most as just another asshole in the world. Yet to those she's close to, that deign to look beyond that, see a woman who cares fervently for any and everyone she may come across. She just doesn't always show it how you'd expect.

Tags: Screenshots || Lore || Aesthetic

Relationship Tags: Oketra/Krile || Oketra/Cymet

[girlbob-boypants]

still in the midst of it but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the stupid nanamo shit if you feel like expanding on it

GOD. GOD!!

Okay this is gonna go under a readmore but holy fuck that entire questline really highlights everything I fucking HATE about StB and Ul'Dah

FUCK that Godfrey guy for bragging that he's a good person for EXTORTING REFUGEES because it gave them jobs and earned him money

AND THEN THE GAME SAYS SHE LEARNED THE RIGHT LESSON AND I GET TO SIT THERE AND WATCH A WHITE #GIRLBOSS WORK WITH ANOTHER CAPITALIST TO EXTORT A NATION RECOVERING FROM AN OCCUPATION SHE BENEFITED FROM BECAUSE OF THE RRFUGEE LABOR

At least when Gridania is like "well our religion says we can't even provide medicine to outsiders" they're ACTUALLY treated like that's bad by the game!!!

And this just. AGHHHHHH. the fact that you spend all this nonsense time following her around and get to have no opinion?? Like at this fucking point in the story we could've just had Alphinaud BUY the salt harvesting gear AND establish trade routes with Ishgard who would desperately need salt for food preservation given how fucked their life is by eternal salt. But noooooo. We have to watch a child shaped national leader learn she can help Jeff Bezos get richer by putting a group of oppressed people in a position where they have to give up a portion of their work forever if they want to ever recover.

At least Alphinaud was there to make sure the contract wasn't extortionate. Something Nanamo didn't care about because her entire goal was to prove she could take care of herself. The fact that she openly extorted her alleged best friend's people and didn't even check to make sure that guy wasn't going to make the contract fucked up is so???

I wish I did poison her actually. Then I'll blender the entire council of rich fucks after. Bahamut nuke.

ALSO THE FACT THAT THIS IS ACTUALLY RAUBAHN'S STORY BUT IT FOCUSES ON A WHITE WOMAN LEARNING TO EXTORT PEOPLE TO PROVE SHE CAN BE SELF SUFFICIENT JUST SO THEY CAN PUT HIM IN THE ROLE OF CITY STATE LEADER AKA SIDE CHARACTER WHO ONLY SHOWS UP DURING SCENES TO BE REALLY BORING AND GO "You have my support" OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

Welcome to Stormblood where the people who should matter and get character arcs don't but we'll sure as fuck make sure Fordola, Lyse, and FUCKING NANAMO are all treated as sympathetic characters you want to see succeed.

[viiioca]

8) What hobbies does your OC have? What do they do to unwind?

11) What was your inspiration for your OC?

and maybe....a bonus 30) My OC and your OC are friends. This isn't a question. I'm not asking. (How do they respond?) >:3

8) What hobbies does your OC have? What do they do to unwind?

"unwind" might be a strong word since even in her downtime estelle is always Doing Stuff; she's one of those super exhausting people who always seems like they're taking a new community college course and joining a new club and seeing 5 live music shows a week and going to the museum or the botanical gardens or hiking out of town in addition to their actual for real full time job. Doing Stuff might genuinely be her primary hobby. she's taking fencing lessons in ishgard or letting lyse kick her ass in a spar in ala mhigo or taking in a kutiyattam performance in thavnair or auditing a class in sharlayan or playing cards in some ul'dahn backroom -- things she does not do to get good at them or practice them, but to try new things, meet new people, make new connections. the hustle never stops. this is her definition of something to do for fun.

in terms of things she does entirely for herself, or skills she practices to get better at them because she finds them relaxing: watercolors, journaling, piano (when she has access to a piano), and cooking (when she has access to a stove). journaling is a relatively new and exciting activity for her that she picked up after leaving ishgard (imagine actually writing your thoughts and feelings down instead of keeping them inside your brain until you die!); one of her other longterm projects is a botanical record of flora encountered in her travels, and no small amount of ethnobotanical research about how the locals use them. it's useful in her line of work as a healer, but never underestimate how nice it is to color pretty pictures of flowers.

11) What was your inspiration for your OC?

you already saw the answer to this one, but in case others haven't, i answered that one here!

and maybe….a bonus 30) My OC and your OC are friends. This isn't a question. I'm not asking. (How do they respond?) >:3

ohhh good question! it would be an interesting start to be sure; ellie seems to bond best with people who willingly reveal themselves, which is quite literally the exact opposite of how estelle approaches people. it might be many years of casual "on call" friendship -- showing up without complaint but otherwise occupying different social niches without much overlap -- before they actually get to know each other. ellie can count on estelle, at the very least, for a fun night at the tavern, or a very engaging and frank political discussion (bitching session) over drinks.

thank you for the questions!!

[wilanserulia]

FFXIV Write 2024 - Prompt 17 - Sally

The council, after what felt like an eternity, was dismissed. Wilan had been offered to take part in the debate in his position as the Warrior of Light, but even though he appreciated the gesture he really didn’t want to have anything to do with politics any more than he already did. The city of Ala Mhigo had been taken, the region of Gyr Albania liberated, yet the matter of who should rise to be the new head of state remained. Some claimed monarchy should be reinstated, while others had had their fill of monarchs after King Theodoric. Wilan felt no need to weigh in on the dilemma, as even if his role in liberating the city had been crucial he still wasn’t an Ala Mhigan citizen. As far as he was concerned, his job there was done.

It was as he was making his way down the paths of the resistance’s camp, Rhalgr’s Reach, that a friendly face accosted him. Wilan recognized the guy at once: a young man, with wide shoulders and a heart of gold, and a conspicuous cross on his face hiding, he had heard the story, a nasty scar. He greeted him with a tired smile. “Arenvald, hey.” “Wilan! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” The young man said enthusiastically, skipping the courtesies. “I have an idea.” “Ah, if only you had come look for me during the council.” Wilan joked, patting his back friendly and encouraging him to keep talking as they walked. “That would have been a good reason to excuse myself from the proceedings.” Arenvald glanced back at the war tent, smiling in solidarity. “They’ve got you involved in politics, eh?” “Urgh.” Wilan answered, eloquently.

To anyone else, on any other day, he would have been a little more proper. But Arenvald deserved at least that much honesty. Not only he was an Adventurer like him, not only he was one of the Scions, but he was also blessed with the Echo. Which meant he, much like him, was one of the few people in the Realm to whom the powers of Eorzea could come to when a Primal was on the loose. They had shared the battlefield often enough that he was willing to hear what he had to say, no matter how much he just wanted to go and have a nap.

“I hear you. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we were adventurers before being Scions. But that’s exactly why I came looking for you.” “What, do you want to found Ala Mhigo’s first Adventurers’ Guild? Because if so you should go ask Lyse, not me.” “Oh, nothing so ambitious. I mean proper adventuring. After routing the imperials and liberating Ala Mhigo, I reckon we've earned a bit of respite, don't you?” His cheerful voice betrayed his eagerness to share his idea, and Wilan was intrigued. “What did you have in mind?” He flashed him a mad grin and rounded an arm around his neck, pulling him closer. “Listen... how much do you know about the King of Ruin?” “More than I wish.” he replied with a sigh. King Theodoric and his madness had been the object on a lengthy dissertation that morning. “So you also know the treasures he amassed before being assassinated were never found?” Arenvald followed up. If he had eyebrows, he’d be wiggling them.

Wilan replied a long moment later, with a glint in his eyes. “Don’t tell me you know where to look for it?” “Me and all of Gyr Abania. I mean, it’s got to be somewhere below the royal palace. But with the Garlean army it wasn’t like we could just go and look for it.” Arenvald replied frankly. “Granted, we won't be the first to make the attempt. Following Ala Mhigo's liberation, more than a few eager soldiers turned the palace upside down in hopes of claiming an easy fortune, but so far no one has uncovered a single coin.” “Yeah, but they weren’t us.” Wilan replied proudly, unable to resist the call to adventure. “No offense to the common soldiers, but we’re professional adventurers.” The Gyr Abanian man grinned from ear to ear. “So, shall we go adventuring?” “Twist my arm, why don’t you!” the adventurer from Limsa Lominsa answered, barely able to contain his own enthusiasm. “Just the two of us?” “So far yeah. I wanted to ask you first. But I also had half a mind to inform Master Leveilleur as well.” “Hm.” Wilan considered the idea for a moment. “Yeah, why not. I’m sure Alphinaud can use the chance to stretch his legs. And it wouldn’t hurt him to be in a proper adventure.” Arenvald pumped his fist. “Let’s go round him up and let’s set off then!”

[the-wardens-torch]

Pre-DT Muttering

Mostly complaints and worries. I haven't been playing the game much, but I did pre-order DT and will be poking my nose into it for a good sniff once the queues level out.

-For the EW pre-order, we got Menphina's earring, and we went to the moon. In DT we're getting Azeyma's earring. While I'd love to take a rocket right into the sun and end my existential suffering, I feel like this is a clever tie-in to the fact that Tural is based on central/south America, where the "people of the sun" (Aztecs) lived. And you would not believe how hard it is to find info on "people of the sun" without bringing up Rage Against the Machine.

-Yoshi-P said to brush up on the roles that each of the Convocation of 14 played. This does not bode well for me because I'm really really tired of references to the ancients was hoping this expansion would break free of them entirely.

-Speaking of "breaking free of things," I do still like the Scions a lot (and they've have had some amazing character development that I love to see,) but I kind of wish they'd just let us be for awhile and let us get to know some other NPCs that won't just become irrelevant by the end of the expansion. This expansion is promising a fresh start, but I'm not seeing it?

-And again with the breaking free point. Solution 9? Haven't the Allagans given us enough of that glowy future shit over the past 10 years? But that assumption might be unfair since it looks like more of a dark Bladerunner/Cyberpunk vibe than an "advanced civilization buried for centuries vibe. Either way I think I'd rather just go play in the dirt somewhere.

-I still don't like the premise of this expansion. I mean, having you play the role of a foreign mercenary hired to help a royal win a war of succession? As a deeply ashamed American, I can tell you that shit is just a bad idea.

-Wuk Lamat's ENG voice is just fine. I'm not saying its the best voice ever, but nearly all of the criticism I've seen of it is thinly veiled transphobia and please get away from me with that shit. I'm also seeing a lot of the same sort of hate for her that people have for Lyse Hext. What is everyone's problem with energetic jock girls who just want to help people? They just happen to help those people by punching other people and that's okay.

-Erenville is hot. You got me.

-Healer strike? I haven't been good at a healer class since pre-SB AST so I was indifferent to the whole idea. Then I saw the graphs tracking skill usage in Savage content for SCH for each expansion and... Oof. Best of luck to you all.

-I'll be going into it as a DNC main, which marks the first expansion since HW where I'm not going into it as a SMN main (I've been playing since shortly before HW dropped.) I don't think my FFXIV gamer identity will ever recover from the SMN changes. I'm maining DNC pretty much just because its easy. I'm not really good at any other class. I'm a middle-aged, married adult with a job, bills and back/neck pain. I don't want to spend hours practicing rotations until I git gud, but I also don't want to drag my parties down with my lack of skill, so easy peasy dancy squeezy it is. Maybe I should try BRD again since it was my original main before SMN?

-Pictomancer and Viper? Maybe once the novelty wears off.