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ramyeonguksu · 3 months ago

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For the NPC ask game: Alphinaud!

Wrote a little ficlet from Alphinaud's POV for Post-ARR/Heavensward! Read under cut!

Note: Rifra will be referred to as Seren (her alias from ARR-SHB) for this fic.

The freezing cold of Coerthas wasn't something Alphinaud was accustomed to, and having to essentially be forced to trek through the ilms of snow made the little elezen shiver in his boots. It was all bleak; everything that he had strived for with the Crystal Braves was taken away from him, a mutiny against him planned right under his nose. He was humbled, to say the least, and for once he because acutely aware of his childish naivete that came with his young age. Which each step he thought of the Scions that placed their trust in him, that was starting to become a new family for him, left behind at the mercy of his own army and the Brass Blades.

At least the Warrior of Light Seren and Tataru were with him, and Lord Haurchefant's bottomless generosity was able to grant them refuge in the reclusive nation of Ishgard, yet what was he supposed to do at this point? Even if he wanted to clear their names at Ul'dah. what could he even do to achieve that? Being the top of the Studium students wasn't going to cut it anymore, and he no longer had his twin sister Alisaie with him.

Just where was she anyway? She had helped them, sending Brennan the peddler with a chocobo carriage to take them away from Ul'dah, but where was Alphinaud's other half when he needed her the most?

The elezen tripped as his mind wandered, landing face first into the stone floor. Hearing him fall, Seren immediately rushed to his side.

"Are you alright there?" The viera asked, helping him sit up and dust off the snow. It was a wonder how she was able to withstand the cold, dressed somewhat lighter than what one would expect in a frigid climate, but someone like her who grew up in the freezing mountain ranges would have no problem with the temperature.

"I'm…" Alphinaud muttered, hesitation in his voice. "I'm fine, thank you."

"Make sure you don't get too distracted, Alphinaud!" Tataru warned him as she slowly approached him, fighting against the strong winds. "I'm already having a hard time getting through here, can't afford to have you struggle as well!"

Alphinaud didn't respond, the feeling of incompetence that was growing in him increasing exponentially.

Seren immediately took notice and crouched in front of him with her back towards him. "Climb on."

The boy refused. "N-no, I can keep going."

"You're exhausted, Alphinaud," Seren curtly responded. "A lot has happened today, and you need to rest. I'll carry you until we make it to a shelter in Ishgard."

Her head turned to face him, a reassuring smile on her lips. "Besides, I'm used to carrying my little sister home all the time."

Alphinaud pursed his lips together, his heart twisting as what remained of his ego fought to refuse her offer. However, today was not the time to try and preserve such, and he allowed himself to climb on her back before continuing across the Steps of Faith.

As he rested against her back, the boy reflected upon his experiences from the past several moons. Riding the same boat to Limsa Lominsa as Seren before getting to know her, separating from Alisaie over differences before finding her once more at the Coils of Bahamut, joining the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, forming the Crystal Braves… A lot, too much, had truly happened for a sixteen-summers-old child.

Alphinaud laid his head against Seren's shoulder, basking in her warmth as the cold winds blew against the three of them. When was the last time was he carried like this by anyone? His father Fourchenault began to drown in his work, and he was now too heavy for his mother Ameliance to hold him on her back like this. Without him realizing, Seren had practically become an older-sibling figure that he never had, a long-lost family member that he was supposed to have known all his life. Someone he could turn to for advice. Someone he could lean on for support...

Finding comfort in her presence, warmth against the freezing winds that threatened to stop them, Alphinaud drifted off to sleep.

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #alphinaud leveilleur #rifra vestnir #ffxiv fanfiction #ramyeon writes #gpose #a realm reborn #i hold alphinaud so gently #i love him so much i love how he developed over the course of the game #poor child certainly went through some SHIT #johnnylandslide #rifra lore

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myreia · 2 months ago

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Sketches of Times Lost

Day 26: Zip

a standoff with a nutkin leads thancred to something he didn't expect. thancred POV, background pre-relationship thancred x wol (he's just feeling a way). heavensward. written for ffxivwrite2024. rating: general 1294 words ao3 link

Of all the encounters he has partaken in, a standoff with a nutkin is not one he expected.

Thancred folds his arms. The small critter sits in the centre of the path, an acorn pressed between its hands, its tail beating back and forth. Its beady little eyes regard him unblinkingly, staring him down with the kind of assertive scrutiny he normally reserves for Ul’dahn merchants when they want to swindle him, or Y’shtola on a bad night when her evening reading is interrupted.

“What do you want?” he says. As if talking to it will do much.

The nutkin stares at him.

“Look, we can stand here all day or you can let me pass in peace. Your choice.”

The nutkin stares at him.

He grimaces. Strange to be withheld on the road by a creature this small; it’s not like it takes up much space or blocks the path. He could easily walk by and think nothing of it. But the nutkin has been following him for weeks now, ever since the Lifestream spat him out in the middle of the Dravanian wilderness. An unexpected, yet constant companion. Simply ignoring it and walking by would be a disservice. And rude.

Twelve help me, it’s a nutkin.

“Either you are going to move or I am,” he says shortly. “Which is it going to be?”

The nutkin stares at him. At least this time it raises the acorn to its mouth.

He lets out an exasperated sigh. Cursing under his breath, he stalks forward and swerves to the side of the path, giving it a wide berth. He doesn’t have time for this. His hope was to reach Tailfeather by mid-afternoon, avoid the dust storms that sweep through the area around dusk. Resupply where he can, if the traders will take what he has to offer. There isn’t much he can do with leathers and hides, but gil is gil. Some day he may have enough to hire a chocobo and get the hells out of here. The mountains are too dangerous to traverse on foot.

But more importantly, traders talk. And information is information, regardless of where it comes from. There is something stirring in Ishgard. Dragonkind have been more dangerous than ever. And he is desperate for news—any news—out of Ul’dah. Any whisper of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, true or false, it doesn’t matter. He simply must know.

An acorn smacks into his calf, bouncing off and rolling down the path.

Thancred wheels around. The nutkin cocks its head, its little paws now empty, its tail sweeping back and forth expectantly.

He crouches down and picks up the acorn, pressing it between his forefinger and thumb. “You’re missing this,” he says.

It chitters.

“If you want to play a game of fetch like a Lominsan pup, you have the wrong man.”

It stares at him, its liquid eyes looking him up and down. Then it bounces forward, swipes the acorn from his hand with its sharp little claws, and zips off into the woods, its bushy tail bobbing high above the grass. He groans and takes off after it, letting it lead him in the opposite direction of where he was headed. A silly thing to do, all things considered, and yet he can’t bring himself not to. Partially out of curiosity, but also because he feels some damn affinity for the little creature.

Besides, Tailfeather can wait. There is not much else happening in the Forelands these days.

They climb, winding their way through the hills and valleys of the rocky landscape. Anyx Trine towers above, its ancient walls and towers obscuring the horizon. It is ever present, ever watchful, a silent stone guardian to the land. He does not dare venture close; he has no business in the territory of dragons. He only wants to get home.

“Quite the merry journey you’ve lead me on,” he calls, panting as he climbs. “If this is all some grand scheme to further your acorn collection, I will be rather cross with—”

He crests the hill. The nutkin’s tail wavers back and forth, brushing his calf. It chitters once, then dips around his leg, scampering up him until it alights on his shoulder. It chitters again, sadly this time, its acorn gripped between its paws. There is no woods at the top. No trees to be seen. Simply a field of rolling hills, yellow grasses, and rushing water.

And a small group winding their way through.

His heart stills. Aureia is in the lead, her back to him, walking briskly with a black chocobo at her side. Though she is immediately recognizable—no one else moves with the same kind of fierce determination, he could pick it out in a crowd—she has changed. She is different. Her hair has been cropped short, sheared off unevenly as if she hacked away at it with a pair of scissors. She has done away with the long coats and gladiatorial sandals she preferred in Thanalan, replacing them with simple chainmail and leather. A greatsword rests on her back, the blade glinting with arcane runes in the Forelands’ hazy yellow light.

She has never used a greatsword before. The weapon must be almost the same height as she is herself.

The bird is new—small, undersized compared to most, its black feathers indicating it must have been bred in Ishgard. Where is Nasha, her usual companion? Lost in Ul’dah, perhaps. Or maybe never recovered. He doubts Aureia has returned to Thanalan. Regardless, Alphinaud is seated in the saddle, half asleep from the looks of it. At least the boy is safe. As for the other two, they match the descriptions of the Azure Dragoon and Lady Iceheart. He cannot fathom how they have fallen in with each other, and yet here they are. Marching towards Anyx Trine with purpose.

He doesn’t know whether to feel relief or fear or…

He pauses, watching as the group moves further and further away. He heard rumours of the Warrior of Light’s presence in Ishgard when he happened across Tailfeather the first time, sneaking around the outskirts of the village unnoticed through the mud and the muck like a street urchin crawling beneath the docks in Limsa. As with all rumours it is difficult to discern the truth from fiction, but he left certain in one thing: House Fortemps must have offered her sanctuary. Which means she has been in Ishgard. And now gods only know what she has gotten herself involved in now.

It would not take much to track her down. Approach her. Offer assistance. And yet he is standing here on this rock, frozen with indecision as they move further into the distance. It is impossible to catch up now.

The nutkin chitters inquisitively from his shoulder.

“It matters not,” he says, turning around and heading back down the hill. “Best not interfere. Not that she could use my help right now, I am not exactly presentable for human company at the moment.”

The nutkin scampers from one shoulder to the other, its tail batting him on the back of the head.

“If that is what you think, then I disagree. She can take care of herself. She doesn’t need me dogging her steps.”

He stops, boots scrabbling against the loose stones, and glances over his shoulder. He half-hopes to still see her there, perhaps paused, perhaps waiting. A chance to see her face, no matter how far away she is. But she is gone, as are her companions, and he is surrounded, once again, by the vast, still emptiness of the Dravanian wilderness.

The ache in his chest has little to do with the physical exertion of the climb down.

#ffxiv #ff14 #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv fanfic #ffxiv fanfiction #ffxivwrite #ffxivwrite2024 #writing tag #myreiawrites2024 #thancred waters

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glacierbash · 5 months ago

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Y'know, any time I start to talk about this game, I feel obligated to lead with the funniest fact I have: I absolutely hated Final Fantasy, for myriad reasons both personal and amusing. I hated, for example, the way Elezen were shaped. I hated that Lalafell looked so young. I hated that everybody acted like it was so great, and by sheer contrarian nature I decided I would simply never play this game. And for quite some time, that worked! I'd bombard my partner with whatever media algorithms recommended me involving FFXIV, just to make fun of it. I detested this MMO, without having ever tried it. And yet, deep down, I knew I wanted a community. I wanted to be around people, even if through an online medium. When I worked at the library, my coworker set up a WoW private server that I spent some time fucking around in, but deep down I wanted people. Try as I might, I couldn't deny some part of me wanted to see what the game was all about.

So, I tried it. I spent 30 minutes exactly between opening the character creator to first posting a name that, genuinely, would define more than 2 years of my life: Iverelle Vauvenelle.

I spend about 2 days playing the game, one being chased around by strangers who my partner swore were good people, and one just questing on my own--and it was fine. I got to MSQ level 24, quite literally one quest away from being able to travel to other city states, and I stopped. I played my fair share, I played 5 hours, and I decided the game wasn't for me. I put it down for several months, when I was approached by somebody who I am no longer friends with. He said I should play the game again, keep going just long enough to travel to Gridania, so that I could see one of his alts--and maybe, we could play together! I didn't want to upset him, so I said "fine," and gave it another try.

By the end of the week, I was finishing up ARR, and moving into post patch, and something just... Changed for me. I'm not sure what it was, honestly. It's not like the game magically changed for me then, or if Iverelle had become perhaps my most meaningful character ever, but something shifted, and I found myself enjoying the game. It didn't even make sense to me then when I bought a subscription to the game, but I knew that something here was special. I just... Had to.

Post patch took me about a month, with multiple days spent stressing out over queuing into Good King Mogglemog out of fear and anxiety, because the trial was labeled as hard and my disorder was, frankly, at its worst. But, I managed to do so anyways. The victory was meaningless for most people, but for me? It was beyond words, just how important it was that I did content with other people, especially considering I went through all of ARR solo.

I made it to the end of ARR, to the infamous cutscene, when I realized I was sick with covid. In VC with two of my friends, I said the infamous line: "I think I have a fever." What a way to enter Heavensward, huh? I think it is in no small part due to Covid that Heavensward ended up being my favorite expansion of all time, and why Ysayle Dangoulain ended up being my favorite character of all time. Sickness and quarantine gave me all the time in the world, and being far too sick to be anxious, I sped through the story. One week later, I was done with Heavensward.

And of course, by now, I am finished with Endwalker and awaiting Dawntrail. For 2 years of my life now, I have been playing this game nigh daily. I stay up late playing it, I finish my daily responsibilities as soon as possible to play it, and I find myself enjoying it. I never thought that would happen, truth be told. More importantly than enjoying the game itself, though, is the friends I met.

I have lived a very isolated life. Partially due to my anxiety making me extremely averse to interacting with people, and partially due to how I've been raised, I struggle a lot with people. Autism, anxiety, and having not been properly socialized made me terrible. I longed for new friends, but I hated the effort that went into it. Imagine my surprise when one day, I found myself driving out to meet people who I play this game with, to spend time with them? When I found myself wanting to meet them?

And yet, here I was. I was driving out to meet these people who I play this game with--and more importantly, they wanted to meet me. Even as I think back on that day, I start to tear up. It was one of the most important days of my life. Were it not for this game, for playing it daily, for being dragged into a Free Company and for sitting in calls with people because of this game, I would not have known these people. They are some of the most important people in my life.

I think of the late nights playing Mahjong, or doing PVP, or treasure maps, or just sitting around talking. I think of those nights and then having to wake up early for work, waking up exhausted but so happy. I think of staying up until damn near 5 in the morning talking about whatever it is that comes to mind. I think about stupid inside jokes, and shared experiences, and the stories that I'll tell for years to come.

It's just a game. Final Fantasy XIV is, at the end of the day, just a game--and yet, that game has served as a way for me to grow as a person in ways I've never thought possible. My anxiety has not magically been cured, mind; but, when I'm able to talk to strangers and my heartrate doesn't skyrocket, when I'm able to do things in this game that once terrified me, when I'm able to exist comfortably not just in this game but in the outside world, I realize that it's done more for me than I'll ever be able to say. Yes, it is just a game, but people play a game due to a shared interest, no? And through that shared interest, friendships can blossom. To say that I love my friends, the people I met ultimately because of this game, would be an understatement, and I fear I do not make that clear enough.

Stupid as it is to say, Final Fantasy XIV has changed my life, for the better. Dawntrail is coming in just a few short hours, and though I am a whirlwind of emotions, the predominant one is excitement. I was there for the end of an era, and now I am here for the start of a new one.

So thank you. If you read all the way through this, thank you. If you skimmed just to the end, thank you. Thank you to my friends, especially. I would not be here as I am now were it not for you all.

Here's to a new adventure, friends :^] (Second screenshot featuring: @gailiag, the best viera on hydaelyn)

#long post #ultimately just rambling but i wanted to. mainly for myself. list out my whole ffxiv journey #or at least. the parts that matter #2 years. that's so wild to think about. i've never been into a game as much as I am this one.#it's just. it means so much to me. it and the people i play it with.#i'm excited to start a new story. i'm excited for a new era.#happy dawn of dawntrail day gamers. see you in tural o//

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hazelkjt · 6 months ago

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change: Has your OC ever drastically changed their appearance? Significant haircuts, big tattoos, complete wardrobe swap, etc? Why? How do they feel about the change?

The only ever drastic change for either iteration of Hazel "appearance-wise" (if you can call it that) was the acquiring of a new weapon. Weapons to Hazel are a very big deal as they are physical representations of the teachings and perceived legacy she is carrying on from her teachers.

Reg!Hazel only accepted a new blade following the shattering of her first katana after coming to realize she didn't need to look to the approval of others to fuel her sense of pride and self worth: she only needs to decide that for herself. This new blade is what she still uses to this day, while the broken hilt of her old sword rests in her room at the Amelune Estate, a reminder to always hold her head high.

WoL!Hazel went through a few blades through the course of her story. Her original sword was confiscated after the Bloody Banquet, so she made do throughout Heavensward and half of Stormblood with a claymore gifted to her by Haurchefant. She knew this wasn't the right fit for her but didn't say anything, her bottled up self-doubt and guilt over everything that happened prior keeping her from asking for "something selfish" like a new sword. It wasn't until she visited the Steppe and came back into contact with her family in the Kha tribe that Hazel finally let go of some of the doubts she was carrying, thanks in large part to her father. Baato has always been a stoic and not the best at outwardly expressing his emotions. So when he told Hazel he was so very proud of her and all she's done, those words cut right to her heart.

Before departing for Bardam's Mettle, the weaponsmiths of the Kha tribe made Hazel a new greatsword. It was fashioned to be near identical to that of her father's but integrating a horn from Ifrit, Hazel's first Primal kill. This was done to symbolize where she had started (her father's sword being the basis for the design) and how far she has come (one of her greatest accomplishments after departing on her own). This would be the sword she would use from that point onward, all the way up to the present to come in Dawntrail.

---------- Sorry if this doesn't really feel like it fits, but I've always been a creature of habit when it comes to stuff like character haircuts lmao, and while WoL!Hazel does go through wardrobe changes each expansion there's never any real meaning beyond "fitting the theme" for each story beat for the outfits. And I didn't just want to bullshit up answers for the sake of having an answer that isn't actually part of her character in either iteration. OC Character Design Asks

#tyty for the ask!!#ffxiv #ffxiv screenshots #ffxiv oc #au ra #xaela #hazel kha #WoL!Hazel

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maybevillage · 7 months ago

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what are your thoughts on the stormblood characters. did you like fordola at all

i wanted to organise my thoughts (oxymoron) on the sb chars actually so this is a good opportunity to start. none of my thoughts are positive though bc i think sb's writing is really bad so when i probably start to sound aggro during this while remembering this expansion i'm sorry.... i try not to be mean when criticising things but i have very little respect for stormblood. also this is about to be extremely long like im not kidding but i figure ppl expect that by now? i hope

i can't really talk abt the stormblood chars without mentioning how much this expansion worships whiteness. and thats even after playing heavensward????? with all of the stuffy white (though beloved) elves who love their white elf history??? fantasy rpgs in general ig. and from square enix. idk why i was so shocked by sb... its a fantasy rpg from square enix....that was truly my bad...................

but fordola isn't who bothers me the most anymore at least. while i was playing sb she used to be the worst sb character to me bc i just thought she was silly and hard to take seriously. initially i was just uninterested in her personality solely being a traitorous attack dog for the empire. that's not to say i don't think sellouts are interesting--i actually think characters like that are very interesting, hence why yotsuyu is one of the more interesting chars (but not by much). it's more that i dont think a single stormblood character was doing anything interesting enough for me to really appreciate, or if they were, it went nowhere or was so poorly developed that any new thing i learned about a character felt random. i feel like anything that could have been interesting in sb was squandered constantly. a lot of them had the potential to be interesting, but were instead so bizarrely flat and almost kind of cliche that i genuinely struggle to put it into words how sb managed to achieve this. possibly bc the story was so preoccupied with repeatedly driving home the same uncomplicated ideas about war and oppression (this would require a separate post) that any sort of actual personality was more or less lost? maybe because it didn't really have a foundation it was working from to keep itself focused? i feel like a lot of time would pass with the characters making the same realisations over and over again (we have to defeat zenos...!) and then when it came time for actual developments it had to rush, thus the feeling of being random. of course, unless, the character was from othard, which the game obviously gave more of a fuck about developing as a location.

like i think fordola's really serious and unwavering personality, the fact that she would do literally ANYTHING to accomplish whatever it is she wanted, could be interesting. if there wasn't so little else going on with her. and also that unlike her fellow ala mhigans she's white. i can't stress how ridiculous it was to watch her or lyse be presented as so important/be the more relevant ala mhigans and everyone else is brown and they're just white. but it wasn't only that she was white. there was just nothing else really going on with her whenever you saw her that provided any kind of intrigue or texture to her scenes. nothing about her character ever changed. until they reveal her motivations for joining the imperials (????)

ok anyone can correct me if i'm wrong, but her goal is to free the ala mhigans from the imperials.....?????? like i'm 100% sure that's what she said. but how does upwards mobility in an imperial nation that relishes in using the word "savage" to describe your people seem even remotely like how that's going to happen? i actually could not fathom for a long while that was what she had said. like i fail to find another way to describe this aside from idiotic, and i often try not to consider things in those terms, but i really don't know how else to describe this. like. this is what i mean when i say the backstory for the characters feels so poorly constructed it genuinely feels random. nothing about her behaviour to me suggested she gave a fuck about ala mhigo. it didn't turn out to be some grand farce when she had her skulls or whoever stomping on the brown guy who they collect dues from in the middle of the road the first time she was introduced. so i just have no idea why that's what her goals are or how i'm meant to believe that's what she wants. i have no idea why she would care about ala mhigo except that her father does or something? but that explained so little to me bc it was lazily done and she definitely does not demonstrate any resolve re that memory except for the one time you see it so okay

similarly, nothing suggests to me that she's deluded enough to believe this path she's on will lead to freedom, either. she didn't seem unaware of the cruelty of the imperials. she's actually meant to seem very capable and smart considering she's established her own unit amongst the other garleans and ends up getting the apparently desirable prize of being zenos' little pogchamp but then what???? why does she think that zenos will give her what she wants?? i literally do not understand what her angle is supposed to beeeee

so i considered the angle that what she said is actually not what we're meant to believe and we're actually meant to extract from the story that she's on a revenge quest for her father against the ala mhigans, and the best way to enact that would be to join the side that's oppressing them. except how she's expressed her motives and how the game makes it clear shes carrying on her father's beliefs for a better ala mhigo doesn't really imply that this is out of revenge either? also she'd be doing the exact same thing yotsuyu is doing, which could be possible bc this expansion can't write. but i just don't think that's it. i think if she truly believes that's what will help ala mhigo like her father did i don't care about it being wrong or right and whether she learns that won't work... but then it just seems so silly.......like girl there is literally no way..................... i am stumped trying to think of what this was supposed to mean or what insights her character could possibly be providing aside from the extremely banal "everyone deserves forgiveness" argument stories about colonialism are OBSESSED with trying to make. hmm i wonder why that is, square enix japan? why cant you properly research colonialism? why is media so obsessed with sympathising with colonisers and pretending its even remotely original to keep saying "if we kill this imperialist...we're just as bad as the people who have been systematically oppressing us for decades...." well...!!

im ngl i actually forgot about fordola until u brought her up bc post-sb really seemed to be gearing her up for the aforementioned redemption arc. but then i forgot how much ala mhigo gets pushed aside to put the spotlight back on doma. bc after she helps you fight sri lakshmi (another character who they just had to make white btw despite the vira/qalyana being brown bedlah babe snake women. they worship a white god. whatever i hate my life) she just vanishes. i thought that was maybe the most interesting thing they did with her character even despite my hatred for lazy redemption arcs for colonialists and cheap backstories about dead parents, bc i liked that she wasn't forgiven and that she herself didn't seem to know what was in store for her own life anymore, but stubbornly chose to help everyone fight and was still really driven despite all her L's. and then you just never see her again. as far as i can tell anyways, and i do not want to know actually bc im still in shadowbringers.

in a parallel world where stormblood is well-written i see myself liking fordola a lot. but this is not that world and i can't keep spending my time imagining a world where sb could be good. like... she just lacked a foundation that really made any of her actions make sense to me. was i meant to feel bad her dad got stoned for selling out to garlemald? i'm not being sarcastic i genuinely dont know if thats what the game wanted. i assume it is bc this entire expansion reeks of endless humanisation for white characters, but ive said the writing is so bad as to leave me genuinely confused abt its purpose many times already.

anyways the absolute worst waste of a char to me is zenos. i haven't had such a hard time taking a character seriously in a long time, and asahi gets introduced shortly after so competition was definitely fierce. i think part of it was that he was one of the few chars id seen fanart of b4 i got to him in the game which gave me the impression he was going to be insightful or something, so maybe i had given myself expectations. but ultimately i was left with maybe the most simplistic main villain this game has produced thus far. which is a shame, bc like fordola there's aspects of his char that i found really interesting, only for them to be routinely squandered with each new cutscene. initially i thought his disinterested, calmer demeanour was interesting in comparison to the other imperial chars, like gaius, who had a lot of thoughts about/passion for what he was doing. i like characters who feel a sort of existential boredom...like a real dead inside char who discovers a sort of esoteric way to live or regains meaning thru someone else--i love that trope! wanting to forever be locked in a cycle of violence with wol. sure. why not! i like that sort of thing! i was even willing to ignore the blonde hair and blue eyes (i wasn't) like i've done this before as someone who used to devote a lot of time to dimitri fe3h. this is not new to me.

but the thing is the moment zenos started talking about the thrill of the hunt i felt something in me wither and die. that trope is not interesting! i will never find it interesting!!!!!!!! if you do i'm happy for you but not me. his nihilism could have been interesting if it wasn't manifesting itself thru the subjugation of the fantasy brown people this game invented just to subjugate like...can we be serious. even just the scale of that was so beyond moronic to me. i had such a hard time suspending my disbelief whenever he opened his mouth... that i was supposed to care about this prince who was deathly bored of it all but somehow still gave a fuck about maintaining the occupation and fetishising the struggle? it was so hard to reconcile any of what he said with his actual apparent years of behaviour. like okay, i already know whiteness is synonymous with violence and ppl are unwilling to take that seriously, but seeing that realised in the sheer scale of colonial violence zenos apparently engages in and then for him to turn around and be like grr i'm gripped by such potent ennui and this is really deep. what about this was supposed to be complex or interesting or well-thought out. i genuinely have no clue

what made it even funnier (worse) to me was that before i got to stormblood i was back at home watching my dad play two separate video games where the main villain was a white guy with the exact same motivations: everything else in life now bored them except for this very specific (and not socially constructed at all apparently!) thrill of hunting real people/framing life as some social darwinist thought experiment that definitely has to be true bc look at how many ppl ive killed and conquered? what's left for me in this life now that i'm at the very top of the very real and not invented and not racist social pyramid.........? but it's not just a me thing humans are just like violent and actually love killingand i am very smart <- like how is this not just a blatantly normalised concept in life in general. nothing about zenos having this outlook reads as crazy or interesting to me, it actually just feels monumentally simple. he was just reading from the coloniser textbook. my sis actually told me while we were talking about the game that there's a book called "the most dangerous game" where i'm assuming this trope as it exists in media probably stems from, if not just the like usual racism/unfortunate fascination with imperialism over and over and over and over again. i just...that his thoughts on the consequences of his actions, the sheer amount of conquest he's engaged in, are largely due to some fatalistic boredom that comes from just being way too strong and too powerful and elevated above the savages. like okay dude.

i think if they had just removed that shit (except idk if thats possible the colonialism is so entrenched in this expansion bc ff couldnt conceive a non-white race without oppressing them) then his character would have been a lot better......maybe..? idk all that shit he says to you before he goes shinryu mode about violence or his being self-serving wouldn't have been original but at least it'd have been a lot easier to believe as his ideology without this nonsensical pile of bodies behind it that i literally could not take seriously. his final monologue was hard to sit through bc it all felt so random. my sis also pointed out that he doesn't feel relevant to the story, especially ala mhigo's story, at all, and i genuinely agree. i feel like they must have had a lot of ideas for him separately and then shoved him into this expansion because they needed a strong villain or something to keep their already thin plot running. with other villains you can see where they get their ideas from or why they're doing what they do and how their actions might progress the story. gaius for eg is a char i find really interesting bc i thought his opinions on primals in arr which is about primals was really interesting, and his conceptions of an ideal empire as well. like he actually has a leg to stand on and compelling things to say. nidhogg is also a good enemy to me, and i dont care so much for thordan but i still think he had interestingly selfish motivations and contributed ideas to the story. maybe that's because hvw didn't wallow so much in a simplistic good vs. evil like stormblood did...like hvw isnt just war its revising centuries of propagandized history and learning to change your own beliefs and going thru a lot of interesting discomfort (to put it mildly). stormblood i thought tried to be complicated at times when for eg meffrid (one of the only chars i liked in sb btw) would occasionally argue with lyse on what's "right" for occupied ppl to be doing during their occupation, like how a lot of ala mhigans wanted to keep their head down. you can see where that idea gets used throughout sb like in namia, but it never actually gets complicated into something worth thinking about bc again the chars are constantly reachign the same realisations over and over by the end (we have to kill zenos...! ANDTHEN THEY DONT EVEN FUCKIGN KILLGHI). like the ideas don't go anywhere, which might be for the best bc in my perfect world this game would not be writing about any of this. and now meffrid is dead bc ff doesn't give af about the ala mhigans or developing their thoughts/beliefs beyond the occasional potentially interesting idea on the map dialogue. atp i just feel blessed zenos doesn't have a backstory so that his personality isn't the result of some lazily done traumatic event. well i say that but the game couldn't even keep him dead so fuck my life. who knows what's in store for me. plz dont tell me.

all the thoughts i have are negative i'm so sorry but the chars i actually liked like gosetsu just get ruined by the time post-sb gets its evil evil hands on them so this expansion is genuinely just dead to me. i used to like gosetsu a lot, and i thought the shame he carried with him for abandoning hien a long time ago was a fun addition to his character. one of my favourite tropes is when a character just wants to die...like they feel like they've emotionally exhausted themselves and don't know what to do with the end of their life. i find that kind of thing really poignant. and i'm pretty satisfied w how they wrapped up his arc, actually, with him deciding to go on a sort of pilgrimage. it was just how they got there i absolutely hated.

it just keeps going back to an inability to write. for eg, if what they wanted was to complicate gosetsu's character by demonstrating how someone extremely self-sacrificial and devoted to his country's cause could actually really want to indulge in something, they choose to do it by having him play an uncomfortable game of house with someone who's murdered an innumerable amount of their country's people. but its okay bc instead of giving that idea any meaningful thought, here's a throwaway line about how he had a granddaughter so it makes sense he's doing this, also we're going to age regress the coloniser so its okay she's basically a child now which isn't a total slap in the face for everyone involved including the player, and then we're going to play these scenes for laughs and everyone is totally fine with it and it's not lazy writing at all.

asahi too i thought was an example of just poor writing, bc why is a single almost zero-context scene of zenos saving him supposed to do anything to explain his behaviour. does that not just seem lazy? he doesn't like zenos for any other reason...? we don't see asahi's thoughts on zenos except for this one cut scene where the chars could be replaced with how meaningless it is and then from then on his suddenly passionate behaviour is just supposed to be engaging...? i personally thought he was a lot more interesting when he seemed to genuinely believe in the bullshit he was saying about the empire being gracious and forgiving and rubbing his hands obsequiously at wol and being overly flattering and just a sort of greasy spoiled bastard. but then of course this totally obvious reveal happens and he's just some "crazy" guy who just wants to be his coloniser's lapdog bc he's sooooooo strong. fascinating. post-sb felt like a bad tv drama. its like the ideas in somewhat isolation are alright but they just stopped caring

tbf to asahi i did like his moments with yotsuyu. if they weren't so steeped in like....the weirdest plot points ever (random-ass yandere behaviour and yotsuyu behaving like a child) i would have been a lot more invested in the punishment they enacted on their parents for grooming one to be an imperial officer and the other being sold off. yotsuyu's backstory is still kind of typical but i thought she was like. interesting enough. she was ok. i could believe in/enjoy their callousness a lot more readily than a certain other character ive already said too much about. i think their truly awful sibling relationship had potential. dare i repeat myself about what happens to potential in this expansion

i wish i had more to say about hien and yugiri and lyse but they kind of just...idk. they just feel kind of shallow......... i don't think they really get developed much, i mean i definitely have things to say but there's just nothing really there that inspires me to do so and this post is already way too long. maybe when i finally write like an essay on how mjuch i dont respect stormblood. i like yugiri though. her hometown is very cool but she just gets relegated to "dutiful ninja" that they use when something needs to be done that wol isnt going to do, and they don't go into much detail about what really pushed her to leave or how exactly she felt, they just kind of have her parents tell you thats what she did. i liked the part though where she was like WE NEED TO KILL ZENOS RN bc it suddenly seemed out of character almost but then well where did that go...ok. hien just feels genuinely evil to me like his vibes are so off and i could not tell you why but he's kind of just there to move the plot forward so i really don't have much to say about him. and talking about lyse would just make this post even longer and more hateful. i used to really like her too.

time for something positive...? i really liked the azim steppe when it wasn't being so randomly misogynistic. that was where i was most interested in what was going on bc it had less to do with the war, but then you bring the war to them so...*screaming*. like it's a shame to me that the xaela are still framed by a focus on war, but the dotharl's concept of rebirth and the other practices the different groups had were maybe the most interesting things to me in the entire expansion. also how gosetsu had that moment with one of the dotharl warriors who died without it being some weirdly ignorant clash of beliefs. i liked that part a lot. sadu and magnai and cirina arent developed enough for me to have much of worth to say about them rn bc like yugiri and hien they kind of just become channels for the story, but at least they have a lot of personality and there's a lot to work with. also its 2am. i'm hoping to have more ideas re the xaela when i get around to doing the sidequests in that area, which i think will help me round out their characters more. i called cirina having a thing for hien from like a mile away btw bc this game is so unserious. anyways i think there should be like a spin-off about sadu magnai and cirina and if it doesn't come to exist soon i will grow like ten extra hands and make it myself

#ffxiv spoilers #stormblood spoilers #post-stormblood spoilers #seriously like actual spoilers #asks #anonymous #maybe my longest reply to an ask yet #goodnight #spoilers

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boss-hoody · 6 months ago

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HEAVENSWARD IS FINISHED!

You might think I'm rushing through the game, but I'm not. I just have no life. Ah the life of one who's friends all either have kids or live thousands of miles away...

ANYHOO

Heavensward was fantastic, although I have to wonder how the Dragoon job quests go if you were to pick it up after beating the HW MSQ considering what happens to Estinien at the end. Does time just break and he's just inexplicably there? Or does the game say "Nah, fuck you, no Dragoon for you"?

I had to kind of laugh in the final couple boss fights though because I kept accidentally predicting things. "Are they gonna pull a DBZ?" They did. "Whats he gonna do with that dead guy? Hit me with him?" He did.

The Ascian boss(es) were really fun even though we wiped 4 times. I think all but one of us was a first timer. Our tank was very patient and dropped tips in the chat, but also seemed to let us learn the hard way. "Run away from the guy you're chained to" (Told after we got nuked by the buddy system from hell) "You can tell which will go off first based on the distance between them when they appear" (Told after I got tricked by the ice and fire thing. I'm not complaining though. I'd rather experience and THEN be told rather than be told and then experience.

As for the final boss against god king super pope, I spent the first five minutes panicking as it seemed like he was throwing everything at us all at once... And then he threw everything at us all at once. CHAOS! I loved it

And then for a split second I stopped focusing on mechanics and instead on the fight and realized we were trapped in a dramatic reenactment of Knights of the Round, starring the knights of the round.

Whole bus clapped when the shatter bit happened.

Also the music in that one library dungeon was SO chill.

Various thoughts Lalafells are still the devil, except Tataru. She gets a pass. I got a kick out of her randomly changing outfits after she became a weaver

The voice acting is much better across the board

That first large, empty snowy area did not start the expansion off on a good foot. Going from being able to run fast on my mount, and even fly, to suddenly NOT being able to fly, and being back at base mount speed, AND suddenly being in a huge-ass map that I had to slog across multiple times on my slowcobo? Didn't love it. I get why we can't fly right off the bat in a new region (and I actually liked that you had to earn flight through quests and exploration) , but they could at least just let us keep mount speed. That motorcycle with automitic level 1 mount speed in Mog station is lookin' Reeeeeal tempting.

I really liked the locales in this expansion. Islands in the sky, weird plant life, etc.

I didn't really care for Bismark and Ravana. They just didn't interest me much and their fights were just kind of boring to me.

I'm heading into the post-game next. I'm guessing there's another raid series waiting for me in there somewhere. I just hope its as cool as the Crystal Tower raids were.

Oh and as soon as I buy Shadowbringers my ass is switching to Gunbreaker. Because Gunblade. (I still think its weird that its a tank job though)

#I DON'T CARE IF ITS IMPRACTICAL. ITS COOL #FF14 #FFXIV #Final fantasy 14 #Final Fantasy XIV

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alannah-corvaine · 4 months ago

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For the NPC ask: G’raha Tia, Y’shtola, Thancred?

Ask Me About My WoL's Relationship With Any NPC

G'raha Tia

G'raha makes Alannah uncomfortable.

Their first meeting years ago wasn't unpleasant, it wasn't until after he'd become the Exarch and pulled her to the First that things changed.

His feelings of intense admiration and what at times felt like more were incredibly overwhelming and disturbing to Alannah, who already has strong negative feelings about feeling like she's put up on a pedestal and dehumanized in favor of being a symbol.

And his repeated overtures of these feelings, when he didn't even know her as a person, made her both anxious and angry. So she avoided him as much as was possible and took pains not to be alone with him if she could help it.

Things have improved since Raha joined them on the Source as a Scion. They never really had a conversation about it, but I think Raha realized he was being Too Much and backed off. This has allowed them to begin to form a tentative friendship based on mutual interests and proximity rather than idol worship, and Alannah has gradually started feel a bit more comfortable being around him.

Y'shtola

(tagging @tsukinoxiv since they also asked about Y'shtola)

Y'shtola is the older sister figure Alannah never had and is one of the very few people who is willing to call her on her bullshit. It can make things tense between them sometimes, but in the end Alannah respects and appreciates her for it, as so few people are willing to be truly honest with her.

They bonded early over a mutual love of magic and interest in aetherology. Y'shtola is also the only other person Alannah knows that has dabbled and has experience with both black and white magic, so they'll often end up deep in discussion and debate over the finer points of both.

Thancred

Alannah's relationship with Thancred is complicated.

When she was first recruited by the Scions, indeed by Thancred himself, she had the biggest crush on him. Nothing ever happened between them, however, and eventually those feelings faded away at some point during the events of Heavensward.

Now they have a weird, almost antagonistic not-quite-sibling relationship, but there's no heat behind it. They thrive on roasting each other and drinking together when the depression and difficult feelings set in.

But ever since the loss of Minfilia, Thancred has this habit (that Alannah hates) of trying to be a father figure to her. And it pisses her off to no end because every time he tries giving her advice he's usually in the middle of fucking something up himself. So then she gets mad and yells at him, they fight, go their separate ways for a few days to cool off, and then have an awkward and uncomfortable conversation about it and move on. Mostly. Until the next time it happens.

@mikuchan thank you for the ask!!

#i really cant disentangle how much i disliked the exarch in 5.0 with how alannah feels about him #im glad they lightened him up a bit because otherwise i wasnt going to be able to tolerate him following us around all the time

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warriorofyapping · 4 months ago

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Alphinaud's character development over the expansions has been so good. I remember how I used to not like him much, he was a bit snobbish and thought he was always in the right, he refused to accept when he was wrong. Yes, he's young, but 16 is old enough to know when you're wrong and to accept it. It didn't help how sheltered he was and how much the people around him allowed him to stay that way, hiding things from him when he should rightfully know them.

After what happened with the Crystal Braves, you could see how he realized just how his mindset came to bite him in the bud and we get to watch as he slowly begins growing as a person. He has his moments where he still struggles, but then he realizes and he backtracks, he tries again. We see him rely on the people around him more and accept help from them, especially the WoL, Estinien, and Ysayle during Heavensward.

You can't tell me that ARR-STB took place in less than a year, especially with all the traveling via land and sea alike the group had to do during Stormblood. We get to watch him grow over at least a year and then, in Shadowbringers, he grows again, just without us there. You can tell how he has matured a bit more during the near year he was in The First without us and it's nice to see the difference between the arrogant, stuck up kid we met and the boy he is now.

I love my son so much okay.....

#ajax speaks #ffxiv #ff14 #final fantasy xiv #alphinaud leveilleur #ffxiv alphinaud #shadowbringers spoilers #shadowbringers #and don't get me started on Alisaie #it feels almost like their personalities have swapped to an extent #the twins' bond with the WoL makes me so emotional #also i'm really putting that url to use #yapping away #i just love him so much that is my SON

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voidsentprinces · 1 year ago

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I said it once and I'll say it again, Shadowbringers was the lightning in the bottle for FFXIV. We were going to a new shard with new possibilities, we just didn't know it yet. The trailer showed of Thancred with one of the series most ICONIC weapons and MINFILIA was somehow fucking back!? Y'shtola was suddenly called Master Matoya which ignited the theory crafting train to wonder if their souls would somehow merge (this proved to be wrong obviously but at the time we didn't know what the fuck was happening), the Crystal Tower was a main focus but we didn't know how yet, the Crystal Exarch was mysterious and still took a couple months before anyone even began to speculate he was actually G'raha, there was a long period where Healers were about to start a Riot because they were down right CERTAIN Dancer was going to be a healing job, Dark Knight the community regarded best written job was a central figure, the War with Garlemald was still firing up as Ghimlyt Dark didn't hit juuust yet, Gaius had just been re-revealed, and the Scions were being dragged away by the mysterious Calling, Elidibus hijacked Zenos's body and Varis had gone stircrazy, Solus was revealed to be an Ascian and up to no good, naturally. And lastly it felt like, for the first time, the story was going to make the Warrior of Light and company the BAD GUYS!?! How!? Are we working WITH the Ascians to fight the light here!? Hydaelyn and Zodiark were PRIMALS!? We had no goddamn clue but MOST importantly of all...Urianger was practically naked so the thirst train that started in Heavensward derailed and drove straight through the fandom taking many of them with it as it just went fucking hard. The fact that it ended up having the best story in theme, atmosphere, and the biggest knee to the gut from level 78 - 80 was SPECTACULAR.

I don't think anything will hit like Shadowbringers did ever again.

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dainesanddaffodils · 7 months ago

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Ya girl has finished Shadowbringers! and I have feelings! and my lizard also has Feelings! (though not as many on the denizens of the First as you might think; she spent her entire time there Ready to Leave so she didn't allow herself to get super attached to the people. She cared about them but in a more blanket sense)

Thoughts post-ARR | Thoughts post-Heavensward | Thoughts post-Stormblood

Without further ado - Cimorene Greystone’s Post-Shadowbringers Relationship Vibes

Ardbert - Not Romantic, Not Platonic but a Secret Third Thing (her Literal Soul Mate). but like, it cannot be overstate that she felt that way about him before she even learned that he was her literal! soul! mate! All this to say she loved him. She loved him deeply and going forward she will sometimes talk to ‘him’ when talking to herself and will find solace in his 'presence' when she's at her lowest.

Emet-Selch - where to fucking begin? She doesn't like him. She doesn't hate him. She'd been having dreams about him for months before she even knew he existed. She didn't trust him. She believes every word he said was true. He absolutely disgusted her. On more than one occasion he made her laugh. His shade rescuing her made her cry. She wanted nothing to do with him. She wanted him to find peace. She’s glad he’s gone. She Will Remember Him.

Crystal Exarch/G’raha Tia - so she'd never been particularly close to G'raha beforehand and was deliberately keeping distant from the Exarch because she never fully trusted him so like, by the end she understood what he was doing and wanted him to live, but it was never Personal, you know? In a... not unlike Emet-Selch way, more than anything she just wants him to find peace and she's glad that he's gonna get to have His Own Life (but also she doesn't like you that way buddy I'm so sorry)

Alphinaud - I know I sound like a broken record in these but I cannot stress enough how much he is THE dearest person to Cimorene. she cares about him so much, she leans on him so much and trusts him to lean on her when he needs it, and watching him continue to grow makes her So Emotional. they are Family.

Alisaie - loves her v much but they are also so so so alike in how they process trauma sometimes to the point that she feels she can’t do anything other than say ‘Same’ when Alisaie is going through it. thankfully that’s really all Alisaie would want from her, and all she wants in return. in that, they are also Family.

Thancred - he and Cimorene have finally gotten past the ‘you must be level 5 friend to unlock my trauma’ barrier (from both parties) and are actually friends! not the closest friends but do genuinely care about each other beyond just Scion coworkers now

Ryne - sweet baby girl!! Cimorene isn’t very good with kids but she felt very protective of Ryne and loved watching her grow in confidence and into herself. She deserves the world.

Urianger - she knows he has the best intentions and interests and means well and there are even times she has friendly thoughts towards him but his inability to go more than like a day without keeping some new secret from her means Cimorene will never feel truly comfortable around him

Y’Shtola - Bestie. A Real One. Cimorene trusts and respects her so much that she genuinely had no fear when her obligatory expansion death scare happened (though she was relieved to have her back). If no one else got her, she knows Y'Shtola has got her, and that means so much to her.

Elidibus - man, he was the only ascian (prior to emet-selch) that she’d had any real personal feelings toward. That feeling had been hatred. Shit has obviously changed there and she’s been left feeling a lot of complicated things. If she thinks about him too long she feels both very sad and kind of sick.

Hythlodaeus - 10/10 man(?) of all time. Cimorene immediately clocked that he mattered to her. or rather. to the previous her. and it's the first time that thinking about her previous self wasn't a weird and uncomfortable feeling for her. she's not 100% sure what to make of that yet but she'll keep thoughts of him close as she goes on

Estinien - had her proper fanfic love realization 'oh' moment when he made an ass out of himself in front of Alisaie, and then everything he said and did for the rest of the patch-end of game just made her fall harder. She's in deep for this grumpy idiot, guys. (Jury is still out on if they smooched immediately post-patches but like, Cimorene WANTS to, so bad)

Fandaniel - so the last time Cimorene said 'oh thank the gods someone I can just hate in an entirely uncomplicated way' it turned out to be Elidibus so like... she's trying not to do that again but it's hard when you have the face of the man she hated more than anyone and have allied yourself with the other guy she has the least complicated amount of hate toward. but nothing is ever that easy for her, right?

And that’s it for now but hey I’m in Endwalker now. Holy fucking shit, right?

#ffxiv #Shadowbringers #ffxiv shadowbringers #ffxiv wol #hey guys? shadowbringers real FUCKING good

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trans-peridot · 2 months ago

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FFxivWrite Day 19: Taken

Tayfun and Alphinaud have a talk in the week between 2.55 and Heavensward. Sort of an in-universe, in-character explanation for his VA change. With this I think there are only two Scions I haven't written about? Yes I'm counting Tataru as a Scion.

Tayfun and Alphinaud sat together in what Haurchefant had so endearingly dubbed the “Falling Snows.” It had been over a week since... the events of the banquet. Tayfun didn’t love to think about it, and Alphinaud would be taken by waves of despair if it was brought up. And sometimes it didn't have to be brought up. He would bring it up himself just so he could wallow in the guilt.

“My friend... Tayfun, I am so sorry for what happened because of me and me alone. My singular pride and hubris has done this, and now you all must reap my consequences.”

“Alphinaud, please...” Tayfun was just trying to savor some hot chocolate, practically her one indulgence since the world she'd built as the Warrior of Light had come crumbling down around her. She felt for his grief, but it didn't have to be all the time, did it?

“I suppose we should count ourselves among the lucky ones, should we not? We at least find ourselves alive and accounted for. O woe, O woe, that I, solitary instigator of such misery, should be spared the worst of it!”

“There, there, it's alright. It's always darkest before the dawn, or something. Every rose has its thorn, and so on.” Tayfun was truly not without sympathy. But it had been days, and she had to repeat this routine at least once a day with him.

“Before the dawn... Before the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, you mean.” Shit. Word choice. “All slain, practically by mine own hand.”

“Alphinaud, you know for a fact that isn't true. Urianger is at the Waking Sands right now. Tataru is right outside, getting us some soup! The two of us are alive right here and now, and your sister wasn't even in Ul'dah at the time!” Tayfun took some deep breaths. Best not yell at the boy, he was already going through it as it was.

“My sister... Heavens, how could I have forgotten my sister...” False. He had brought up Alisaie in at least a third of his wallowing sessions. “How long until she, too, comes to bear the consequences of my foolishness?”

“Shut up! Alphinaud, shut up! Stop it, stop talking! The Scions aren't dead, they're missing. Your sister is fine. We're going to figure this out and clear our names, and it'll be fine. Teledji was going to have the sultana killed eventually, so you have no blame in that. It's fine. I get that you're sad, I get that you blame yourself, but actually it's literally whatever!” Tayfun half believed what she was saying, maybe three-quarters believed it. But if it would get Alphinaud out of this funk then she would believe it with her whole heart for the moment.

Alphinaud did not escape his funk. Alphinaud started crying. “I'm sorry Tayfun. I'm so stupid and childish, I'm sorry for acting like I'm the victim here. I'm so so stupid.”

“What! No no no, please don't cry! I'm sorry, shit, sorry!” Tayfun reached over and hugged Alphinaud tightly. “That wasn't what I was trying to say, Alphinaud. I was trying to say... You are a child. You put on that voice like you're 40, you take all the responsibility you can handle and then some, you insist you can do all this alone... But you're still a child. Pretend to be an adult all you want, and you're still just a child overwhelmed by an adult's responsibilities.” Tayfun finally began to understand what Momodi meant, always mourning how young Tayfun was.

“You...” Alphinaud sniffled and wiped his eyes. “You could tell the voice was fake?”

Tayfun couldn't help but laugh. “Alphinaud, you're 16. Everyone could tell the voice was fake.”

Alphinaud cleared his throat, and for the first time while Tayfun had known him he spoke like a child, “Alright, Tayfun. I'll do my best. We'll face down what happens next together, and when we meet up with our missing comrades again they'll all be staggered by how much I've grown. By not pretending I'm grown already.”

“And who knows, maybe by then you'll also have had your actual growth spurt.”

“Tayfun, stop! I'm sensitive about that!”

Tayfun smiled. That was more like it. A kid his age should be touchy about being short, not bearing responsibility for every death in Eorzea.

#ffxivwrite2024 #tayfun rice #really proud of how this one turned out!

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