#imperial cid au

[badbatchsprincess]

Heated ~ pt.21

Pt.1 ~ Pt.2 ~ Pt.3 ~ Pt.4 ~ Pt.5 ~ Pt.6 ~ Pt.7 ~ Pt.8 ~ Pt.9 ~ Pt.10 ~Pt.11 ~ Pt.12 ~ Pt.13 ~ Pt.14 ~ Pt.15 ~ Pt.16 ~ Pt.17 ~ Pt.18 ~ Pt.19 ~ Pt.20 ~ Pt.21 ~ Pt.22 ~ Pt.23 ~ Pt.24 ~ Pt.25

Masterlist

Summary: This is an ABO Bad batch!Poly x Omega Reader smut with a plot. This takes place as an AU before order 66. Y/N previously served under the 501st before being transferred to Special Forces 99. This is her adventure with these rowdy Alphas in a quickly changing universe.

THIS IS AN ABO AU ABOUT THE BAD BATCH (NO CANON OMEGA!) Due to the unfortunate situation of her name being Omega… Omega the child from the canon series is not going to be apart of this fanfic/porn with a plot. I feel obligated to put this warning in because it makes my skin crawl thinking anyone could make that mistake. 

Warnings: Smut! Short chapter my b.

IM NOT DEAD!!! woooo! Sorry there's been such a big break from my posting but I'm going to get back into finishing up this story and getting our precious pip back to her pack. Don't worry! And thanks to everyone sending messages and commenting you make my day and really help me stay encouraged to write. So thank you!

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

You stared at your reflection in the mirror, gazing at the somewhat hollow figure of yourself. 

The monstrous silver collar weighed heavily on your spirit and collarbones. 

You traced your fingers over the indents where you had used a butter knife in a futile attempt to pry it off. Stolen from the mess, of course—it had been confiscated immediately. (Imperials are no fun.)

This followed the explosive outburst after that dreadful meeting in Tarkin’s office. 

The fight you put up required multiple troopers to pin you down, with the help of Crosshair to calm you as they forced this constricting collar onto you. Your screams had echoed throughout the entire base like the roar of a Zillo beast.

That was two days ago.

You didn’t even have the strength to get out of bed. It was so dehumanizing to be reduced to this… breeding stock? 

You didn’t know. 

You couldn’t think about it without feeling sick to your stomach. It made you itch with rage. The fantasies of murdering Tarkin were becoming more gruesome by the hour.

The 104th tried to visit, but you just curled up in bed, trying not to cry. Their voices and concern only reminded you of the 501st. You did your best to stifle your grief. They left with forlorn expressions and a curt shrug from Crosshair when they asked when you’d come out again.

Crosshair tried to nudge you out of bed, but you just burrowed deeper into the blankets, determined to remain in solitude. He sighed and left you be, feeling your despair through the bond.

Now, here you stood in your apartment bathroom, wearing Crosshair’s clothing, poking at the reminder of your purpose here. 

Your neck was raw from tugging at the collar; Crosshair had smeared bacta on the open sores that morning, and you looked at the red healing lines. 

You were suddenly overcome with the need for your other alphas. You craved the security they provided. Even when you were on the run, doing strange jobs for Cid, you felt secure with them. 

You missed their warmth, their hands, their pleasure… your home. You just wanted to scent them again, curl up in your nest, and never leave.

You looked back in the mirror and ran your fingers over the Aurebesh engraved in the metal:

“Property of CT-9904.”

You stared into your own empty eyes and decided enough was enough. The Imperials were winning if they could break you.

Fascist fucks. 

You took a deep breath and steadied yourself, willing your spirit to lift. 

Enough moping. 

It’s time to fight.

Grabbing the leather tie belt from the counter, you wrapped it around the large shirt, tying it at the waist to resemble Jedi robes. Then you pushed yourself away from the sink and turned toward the main living space. You grabbed a pair of slippers, hit the door lock, and stepped out into the hallway, making your way to the training center.

Crosshair had been ordered to track down your pack and had to pretend nothing was different. His new team of stormtroopers were inexperienced and desperately needed Crosshair’s knowledge if they were going after the Bad Batch. He had been working with them for the past few days, preparing them for this high-risk mission.

It wasn’t long before the security detail filed in behind you, following Tarkin’s orders. Two 104th infantry men flanked both sides, keeping a respectful distance but serving as a reminder that you couldn’t run far without being caught. You chose to ignore that last detail, but whatever.

Omegas and Alphas pressed themselves against the walls to let you pass. This was the one change you noticed drastically since your little show in the cafeteria and your grand escape from the facility. You were not an omega to be trifled with. You noticed the other omegas didn’t dare meet your gaze. Good. Stay away.

You had a reputation to uphold.

Descending the metal stairs, you floated down the corridor to the training rooms. Inside were endless rows of workout equipment for the regs, but more importantly, the open training mat where Crosshair was running drills with his new squadron. He sensed you immediately and gave you a discerning glance before turning his attention back to his men. However, you scented the alpha you were looking for. On the viewing platform, Wolffe sat watching Crosshair in silence. You filed in next to him, sitting down in acknowledgment.

“It’s good you’re up,” he said, keeping his gaze fixed ahead.

You sighed. “Can’t let them win. Not even the small things.”

He nodded. “You’re right.”

You nodded in return. “Did it work?” he asked.

You nodded again. “Light turned green. It’s just a matter of time.”

“Good.” He smirked. “I heard all about it from my men.”

You stifled a laugh.

“You would have made a remarkable Republic spy,” Wolffe joked. “Missed opportunity.”

You hummed.

“So, you really had a thing with a reg?” Wolffe asked, turning to face you and leaning back on the bench.

“It was a long time ago,” you said, giving him a sidelong glance.

“Didn’t think regs were your type,” he gestured toward Crosshair with his chin.

“It wasn’t a relationship. Just an… understanding,” you explained.

“I get it.” Wolffe smirked, clearly remembering something fondly. “We may be clones, but we’re still men. Alphas at that… The Republic had a pretty big budget for bunker bunnies.”

You whipped your head around, wide-eyed.

“What?” he laughed. “Your boys didn’t tell you?”

You gawked. “No!”

He snorted. “Yeah, every permanent base, and sometimes they’d bring in a ship for extended encampments.”

You were floored. You had no idea. Then you looked at Crosshair, trying to picture shiny Cross, Hunter, Wrek, Tech, and Echo experiencing that for the first time. You giggled, knowing there was probably some trauma related to that topic.

“What?” Wolffe was amused with your musing. 

“I’m just thinking about my pack. Oh god. I can’t believe all of the 501st was getting down like that and I had no idea.” You buried your face in your hands and laughed. 

Wolffe laughed too, “You really didn’t know?” 

“No!” You shook your head, “I thought quarterlies was like random people!” 

Wolffe snorted, “No darling, there was a special sector just for the girls back in Coruscant. They had the whole floor to themselves. Hundreds of omegas.” 

You squealed, “Oh my god.” 

“Ya know, I recall seeing Echo and Crosshair there a lot now that I think about it. Even your Sergeant a few times I think.” 

If your jaw could hit the floor it would. 

“Yeah. They liked to pop the shinys early. Get them accustomed to being around omegas at an early stage. Nothing worse than the first rut ya know?” 

“And Kamino?” You scrunched your brows. 

“Yeah thats where the first ruts happen.” Wolffe said like it was obvious. 

“Maker.” You shook your head. Images of your pack loosing their virginity flooded your mind. You felt Crosshair’s curiosity spike the bond. He was probably wondering what had you feeling like that. You could feel his eyes on you from across the room.

“Is that not common for nat borns?” He asked curiously. 

“No Commander, it’s not.” You shook your head, “You usually just have it happen naturally, most go through the first heat alone. Then when you’re an adult you might find a partner.” 

“Hmm.” He pondered. 

You were overcome with images of a young Tech trying to understand his alpha instincts. Probably fumbling around confused… poor baby. You shook your head. 

Oh god… Hunter… poor thing with his hyperdrive senses. That must have been so overwhelming the first few times. 

Then you thought of Crosshair. There was no way young Crosshair was ever awkward. He probably knew exactly what to do from the start… that man was too cocky to be anything else. 

You knew he was a whore from the get go… you giggled to yourself.

You’ll never forget that time on one of your first missions with the batch, you saw the way he finessed an omega into banging in a bar bathroom with such ease. It had your mind reeling for days after that. 

You remembered having to rub one out in the marauder fresher to take the edge off after imagining him with that omega for hours. He had come back looking throughly fucked. His hair was mused, his skin glowing from sweat, and the strong alpha scent radiating off of him made the whole ship reek of Crosshair. The others carried on with dinner as usual but you couldn’t help but let your mind wander. That’s when your thoughts about your squad had started, actually. 

The thought made your body suddenly warm. 

Wolffe must have sensed your smell change as he peered at you softly. 

“Excuse me.” You said standing and walking towards the mat directly at your mate. Your guards stayed behind with their Commander while Crosshair ordered his squad to keep practicing their drills while he tailed after you. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked as you lead him over between a row of punching bags. 

You just grabbed this hand and slapped the door panel dragging him into the nearest supply closet and shutting the door behind you. 

The lights fluttered on as he peered down at you, confused by your sudden behavior. 

You felt your heart quicken seeing him in his all matte black imperial amor. It felt so wrong to be turned on by it but, damn did he look good. So tall, so masculine. So… Alpha. 

“What, omega?” His voice dropped an octave sensing your becoming flustered through the bond.

You looked up at him meeting his steely gaze. You felt your core pulse, “Echo said you all had developed feelings for me when I first transferred, but I never told you when it happened for me.” You felt your chest starting to heave trying to keep up with your sudden rush of arousal. 

His smell was crowding you in a delicious way, like a warm embrace. 

He narrowed his eyes at you and backed you slowly into the near by shelves feeling your pulsing through the bond. He could feel your desperation to cum. He could almost smell it. 

He raised a brow playfully. 

“Remember when we were on Nal Hutta picking up that weapons supply from that shady dealer?” You recounted feeling the steel shelving pressing up against your spine. 

“And you had tripped and fell into the baby sarlac hole?” His memory clearly differs from yours. 

You nodded, “My shoe had been chewed up and the others left you and me in that bar while they hunted down a pair of new boots for me?” 

“Always loosing your shoes huh ad’ika?” He smirked and joked.

“You picked up that omega at the bar.” 

He narrowed his eyes not sure where this was going but listened regardless. 

You panted feeling the heat radiating through the bond and the wetness growing in your panties, “When you finally found your way back to the marauder, I had finished up dinner with the others… You smelled so good and you looked so different. And after knowing what you were doing…”  You remembered the rush of heat that had flooded your cheeks that night. 

Crosshair ran a finger lightly along your jaw making you shudder against the shelves. 

“What about it, omega?” He trailed his fingers to your cheek where he rubbed your skin softly. He could feel the heat in your cheeks now. It made his trousers tighten. 

“Something had changed. I couldn’t get your scent out of my mind. I had to finger myself in the fresher just to get to sleep.” You admitted with a whisper. 

He flashed you his teeth in a wicked smile, “That wasn’t even two weeks after you transferred.” 

“I know.” You sighed as his hands ran down your sides spreading their strong warmth making you purr and flex into his touch. 

“You’ve been imagining me fucking you for all that time?” He asked reaching around to squeeze your bum. You mewled and reached for his breast plate. He slotted his leg between yours pinning your hips to the shelf. 

You nodded. 

“Poor thing.” He whispered. 

“I didn’t ever take advantage of quarterlies because I didn’t want anyone else.” You sighed into his lips. 

“You already knew you belonged to us ad’ika.” He claimed. 

You nodded pathetically. 

“Every mission. Every time you’d come back covered in mud or blaster residue.” You whimpered grinding yourself down onto his leg, “I felt bad hoping you’d need me to patch you up. I just liked being able to scent you.” 

He guided your hips up and down his thigh. You bit your bottom lip holding back your moans. 

“Why did you tell me this now?” He asked adding more pressure to your core watching your face scrunch up as the pleasure was bleeding into your system. 

“I just remembered.” You whimpered, “Then it made me horny again.” 

He chuckled, “It’s your heat coming love.” 

You groaned as a particularly nice ridge rubbed up against you, “Fuck.” Your head slumped against his shoulder. He used a hand to grab your hip helping to guide you along his thigh. 

“Why do you have to look so good in that?” You mumbled. 

“In what, love?” 

“The armor.” You whimpered leaning up to look at him with bleary eyes. 

He smiled and leaned down to kiss you. You moaned deepening the kiss desperately feeling your orgasm starting to approach. 

“You like it, huh?” He smirked pressing kisses to your forehead while he pushed your hips down harder against him. He loved the way you twitched and squirmed under his hands.

You nodded suddenly feel the crest of your orgasm. 

Then it all stopped. You whined as Crosshair pulled away only for a moment before flipping you around harshly and bending you over a stack of near by shipping crates. You gripped onto the cool steel as he flipped up the bottom of his shirt you were wearing and yanked your panties to the side before shoving his joggers down and pulling out his leaking cock. 

You bucked up against him feeling his tip rub through your folds. You let out a pathetic whimper as he continued to gather your slick… too slow for your liking. 

“Alp-“ you were cut off as he surged forwards filling you to the absolute brim. 

You both sighed feeling each other so closely and you tried your best to grind back against him but he continued on pinning you to the crates to create a steady rhythm with his hips. 

“You were always such a good little medic, cyar’ika.” He praised, “I also would be a little reckless sometimes just so I could feel your hands on me.” He ran his hand up your spine to your neck where he fisted the hair at your nape, “We all did.” 

He chuckled thrusting a little harder making you yelp, “Our little omega.” 

“Cross.” You whined pushing back against him. The need to come was all consuming and he, like the good alpha he is, could seem to feel it through the bond. He reached down between your legs and starting making circles against your clit making you jump from the pleasure. 

“Fuck.” You moaned barking down feeling the crest approaching. You also felt Crosshair start to tense up letting you know he was close. His energy was thrumming through the bond intensifying your own sensations making it nearly unbearable. 

Then finally, with a pinched yelp, you bit your lip harshly as you came. 

“Good girl.” He praised into your ear. 

You slumped against the shelves, letting him hold you up as you regained your footing. With the urge to mate now abated, you began to return to normal.

“It’s coming soon,” you said, looking up at Crosshair with worried eyes.

“I’d be lying if I said I wished we had more time,” he sighed, nuzzling your head. “My brothers will need enough time to make a plan.”

“They can do it, though, right?” You wondered, suddenly feeling skeptical.

“They can do it,” he said confidently. “I just don’t know how we can be ready.”

You nodded, understanding his concern. It was frustrating being on the inside and having no idea what was going on.

A ping broke the silence, making both you and Crosshair look down at his com.

“Nala Se wants you in her lab,” Crosshair said, sounding resigned.

You took a deep breath. This couldn’t be good.

“Try not to fight her,” Crosshair sighed, petting your hair and tucking it behind your ear.

“You’re not coming?” you asked, suddenly filled with anxiety.

“Only if you want me to.”

“I do.”

He nodded and then tilted his head toward the door.

You exited first, grabbing onto Crosshair’s arm as he walked the two of you to the lab. Fortunately, the walk was quick and short. Nala Se’s office was just inside the infirmary, where a few regs were getting their check-ups. A couple of mating bites were being cleaned and treated, while others had come in for deep scratches down their backs. Clearly, the regs had been busy.

It didn’t escape your notice that every single one of them turned to look as you passed by. Crosshair’s presence was intimidating enough, but they couldn’t help but be curious about his mate. You could smell their scents spike as you walked past, clearly intrigued by your unique smell. Some even tipped their noses up to get a better whiff.

Crosshair approached the private lab and opened the door, allowing you to step inside and leave the room of wandering eyes behind you.

“Y/N,” Nala Se’s floating voice made you tense.

You stared at her, keeping your grip on Crosshair.

Crosshair looked down at you before addressing Nala Se. “What did you need my mate for?”

“She’s been ordered to have her remaining birth control dissolved in anticipation of her upcoming heat.”

You couldn’t help but lean a little closer to your mate, feeling your anxiety increase.

“Shouldn’t it just dissolve on its own?” Crosshair questioned. “I’d like to avoid putting her through more stress than she’s already had.”

“While I would normally agree, these orders have come from the Admiral,” Nala Se explained. “He wants to be certain she’s fertile.”

Crosshair looked down at you again. Knowing you both had to go through with this, he gently nudged you forward, and you climbed up onto the exam table. Crosshair stayed close, while Nala Se prepared the injector.

You nuzzled into Crosshair’s chest, and he soothed you with gentle back rubs. You felt Nala Se approach and press the injector to the implant site. With a quick jab, the dissolver was administered, and you felt the cooling medication spread under your skin. You flinched slightly when she pulled away, and Crosshair quickly nuzzled your cheek to keep you still. A small badge was applied, and then you were effectively dismissed.

“Once her heat begins, we will need to be informed,” Nala Se reminded you as you practically yanked Crosshair out of the lab.

In mere seconds, your scenting abilities came to life. Everything around you seemed to brighten. Crosshair’s heady scent enveloped you, followed by the unmistakable smell of regs. It was overstimulating.

You winced as you entered the infirmary. Crosshair noticed and knelt down to get a good look at your wild eyes, sensing your panic through the bond.

“Is it happening?” he asked, looking worried.

You shook your head. “No, no. I just… I can smell everything.”

“Let’s get you back,” Crosshair said, standing.

“Actually, I require your mate for one other test,” Nala Se said, appearing with her holo pad.

“It can’t wait?” Crosshair snarled.

You patted him gently on the shoulder, reminding him to stay calm and that you were okay.

You followed the long-necked alien back into her office, letting Crosshair remain at the door like a glorified bodyguard.

“I require a sample of your DNA,” Nala Se explained, leaving you to stand in the middle of the sterile white office.

“Blood?” you asked.

“Yes,” she blinked before grabbing her tool.

You held out your hand, letting her draw blood from your palm.

“Why are you doing this, Nala Se?” you questioned, watching her take your sample and not the sequencer. “Why would you help these people?”

“The Empire destroyed my home, and they’re threatening my loved ones,” she deadpanned. “I’m not here of my own volition.”

You were shocked she answered at all. You had always thought she agreed to help because of the money promised to the Kaminoans by the Republic. You had no idea they had destroyed everything. You didn’t know she was a prisoner herself.

You nodded. “Then that makes two of us.”

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

Sorry this chapter is so short. I'm getting back into the swing of writing with my schedule, and according to my outline this was going to be a short/filler chapter anyways. Buttttt don't worry I'll be posting more regularly again.

Taglist: @substantial-exposure

@rains-on-kamino

@minimissmoo

@z-and-the-batboys

@aynavaano

@9902sgirl

@sideofhorny

@sxftiebee

@booksandtitts-blog

@subbing-for-clones

[skyekitsuneart]

so ive come up with a new au idea,,,,,

FF7 x The Witcher

because we can all see cloud as geralt right???!!!?? like, clouds wolf emblem in ac??

this au isnt gonna be 1 to 1, its gonna have its own original plot, but there will def be a lot of parallels

so heres my assignments so far:

cloud - wolf school witcher (geralt)

zack - wolf school witcher, has gone missing

angeal - oldest wolf school witcher (vesimir)

aerith - elven bard (jaskier/dandelion)

tifa - sorceress (triss)

nanaki - monster cloud was paid to kill but instead saves, feels indebted to cloud and has no home so he becomes clouds traveling companion

shinra - imperial empire (nilfgard)

barret - shinra resistance leader

yuffie - runaway princess after her father willingly lets shinra take over their kingdom (somewhat like ciri, but not a child of destiny)

vincent - 'retired' viper school witcher, cursed by a monster to slowly turn into one

reeve/cait - reeve is the mage advisor for rufus, cait sith is a fae cat creature he is soul bonded with

cid - dwarf blacksmith

sephiroth - powerful mage from another sphere, wants to avenge his mother being killed by humans after the conjunction of the spheres

jenova - replaces lara dorren???

anyways im having sm fun with this, i have a bunch more written down but this is the basics of it all

and yes, there will be clerith in this bcuz i love them and the witcher/bard dynamic is too fun >:3

[my-my-my]

I finished FF16… spoilers.

AHHH I loved this game but the ending was so sad (so typical of FF, I should have seen this coming LOL).

I liked the little easter eggs (that I picked up on at least) referencing the other FFs, especially very early on when young!Clive whistled for Ambrosia, and the whistle was the same as the one Yuna used for Tidus.

I saw some critics for this game saying it's not very FF like and I disagree with the sentiment. It had a lot of FF-defining features, both in mechanics and lore.

I enjoyed the OST, it's not my absolute favourite FF, but some standouts for me were:

Vive l'empire

And Melancholy Marked Him

Death Looks Down

Darkest Before Dawn - The Imperial Territory of Rosaria

Favourite characters were easily Joshua followed by Clive, Jill, Dion and of course Torgal! I also really enjoyed Cid, Mid, Gav and the rest of the crew in the Hideaway. Even for the villains, I thought Benedikta was well-written, if anything I wish there was more with her! They really could have fleshed her out even more imo.

One standout region in the game for me was the Kingdom of Waloed. It was completely desolate and the OST was perfect for that - not a speck of life (save for the very few survivors... until the end of a certain side quest...). I do wish we could explore the towns and cities.

Not so much dislikes, but I do miss the party mechanics other FF games had that this one lacked. I liked controlling my party members. I understand that a good chunk of this game, Clive is on his own, more or less.

In a similar vein, I wasn't a huge fan with the lack of job classes in the game mechanics. I am super biased in this regard because in FFX and FFX-2 (which has THE BEST job class system in the FFs imo), allows you to really carve out your characters to be awesome Time Mages, Thieves, etc. (I'm also SUPER biased because FFX is my favourite FF).

That being said, I really loved it! I finished The Rising Tide DLC and plan on starting a NG+ in FF mode. It feels a bit silly to me to cap the level at 50, but I digress.

Now I lowkey wanna write Joshua x Reader AUs (because I DO NOT want to deal with that lore and ending LMAO).

[sparrowsong-7]

Character Dump Time!

Figured I'd keep an up to date primer on all my OCs, since some of their details have changed.

(Updated as of 2/24/2025)

Fayne dus Tempas/ Mira Pollendia

Age: 24

Race: Vier'ra (Formerly Au Ra and Viera respectively)

Pronouns: She/Her

Gender: Cis Woman

Jobs: Machinist, Gunbreaker, Dark Knight

A victim of Garlemald's horrid war march, Fayne was inducted into the Imperial Military at the young age of 11 to serve as a test subject for what would eventually be the stepping stone for the Hypertuned project. Together with the other "volunteers", Fayne would be subjected to grueling training, abuse, and horrific experimentation all culminating in the perfect squad of highly trained yet ultimately expendable soldiers. As time went on, and as her comrades fell in pointless suicide missions, Fayne and the only other surviving member of the squad would break away from the Empire amidst the civil war, taking refuge in Terncliff after it's liberation at the hands of the Warrior of Light. From there Fayne would make a name for herself taking on highly dangerous jobs alone and coming back with nary a scratch. After receiving a mysterious job to track down a rogue voidsent Fayne would find herself in Tural, unwittingly walking to a new, brighter future.

Ayami Sparrowsong (formerly Ayami Tsukimori)

Age: 22 (post EW)

Race: Lala Ra (half Lalafell, half Au Ra)

Pronouns: She/Her

Gender: Trans Woman

Jobs: Black Mage, Red Mage, Summoner, Pictomancer, Reaper, Samurai

Born as an Au Ra to the Tsukimori Family, Ayami had a rather rough childhood, something that reached a head when she ran away from her home at the tender age of 11. Her lonesome journey took her to Ul'Dah, where she'd live on the streets until Cocobuki of the Thaumaturge's Guild took pity on the girl, bringing her inside and changing her life forever. Eventually she would hear the call of adventure and set out with her best friend Mel in search of glory.

Throughout her journey, Ayami has gone from a meek, unassuming adventure to a veritable force of nature. She would also transform from an awkward Au Ra to a confident Lalafell thanks to a rather potent Fantasia. Rather than seeking fame and fortune, Ayami instead used her new form to fake her death, leading the world to believe that Ayami Tsukimori perished during the Final Days.

Now going by the name Ayami Sparrowsong, she wanders where her heart may take her, taking in the sights and knowledge that she stumbles across.

Mel Sparrowsong (Formerly Memello Mello)

Age: 25 (post EW)

Race: Dunesfolk Lalafell

Pronouns: She/Her

Gender: Cis Woman

Jobs: Machinist, Gunbreaker, Dark Knight

A Sharlayan runaway, Memello (often simply Mel) grew up as a magitek prodigy in a family that had no care for the machines. In a fit of desperation, frustration, and fear Mel stole as many supplies and gadgets as she could from a gleaner store house and caught the quickest boat to Eorzea, hoping to start a new life using her skills. While Mel had nothing to her name her prowess made waves that would soon reach the ears of one Cid Garlond, who would quickly offer the young girl a job at the Garlond Ironworks.

She would eventually cross paths with Ayami Tsukimori, irrevocably changing the course of both their lives. Some years later, they would set out together in search of adventure, hoping to strike it big. What they never expected was to be recruited to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, eventually becoming Warriors of Light.

Unfortunately, after Zenos took her leg and her confidence in their climactic battle at the edge of existence, Mel was left unable to continue her adventuring. This, followed by the loss of her love Crescent, Mel spiraled into a deep depression, one that she had only recently recovered from.

Fiorella "Crescent" Sparrowsong

Age: 20 (?)

Race: Elezen, Doll

Pronouns: She/Her

Gender: Trans woman

Jobs: Reaper, Paladin

Born to the Seventh Epopt of Troia 20 years before the Flood of Darkness, Fiorella was seen as an enigma by her people. Eschewing from the traditional norms of Troian society, Fio instead took up the blade, spending her life training to one day lead Troia's military. That day eventually came, and with it the Contramemoria...

When the dust had settled and the world was consumed, Fio took to floating aimlessly in the abyss of her world, her memories slowly fading until one day she stumbled upon a void gate with a voice that beckoned her forward; Hear, Feel, Think

Fio would find herself in the snows of Coerthas, body formed back into its original shape. From there, she would attempt to pick up the pieces and figure out just where she was and how she wound up here.

Years later she would fall to a great foe, seemingly leaving the mortal coil. In truth, a portion of her essence remained tethered to Ayami, allowing her to live on as a spirit. In time, through the combined efforts of Corin, Mel, and the Scions, Fio's soul was tied to a custom Doll body, allowing her a second chance at a true life.

Corin Sparrowsong

Age: 27

Race: ??? (Lalafell shaped familiar)

Pronouns: She/They

Gender: Intersex Woman

Jobs: White Mage, Pictomancer

An orphan left for dead by the mages of Mhach, Corin was found by the enigmatic Lady Fay and brought in to study the arts of White Magic in kingdom of Amdapor. There, she wiled away the hours, growing closer with her fellow apprentice L'Vinia. All seemed right with the world...

At least that's how the story was told to her. In truth, Corin was actually a familiar painstakingly made by Lady Fay to resemble the original Corin, the one who was to be her wife.

The one who died in the attack

So when Mhach attacked again, Lady Fay couldn't stand to see even a simulacrum of her fiance die, and so concocted a spell to fling Corin through time, leaving them with the words "I hope you can find someone kinder than me."

Lithryn Willowbough

Age: 1467 (linear age), 7552 (total age)

Race: Kaldorei

Pronouns: she/her

Gender: cis woman

Class: Hunter

Hero of the Alliance, Huntsman of the Hidden Path, Champion of Azeroth…

The Knife Eared Drunk…

A hero very far from home, Lithryn has taken to forming bad habits, making enemies with anyone she can, and just generally being a nuisance to those around her. But underneath her rough exterior is a woman deeply broken by the loss of her home, desperately trying to find some semblance of normalcy in a world so different from her own.

Proficient in at least a dozen combat styles and wielding magicks the likes of which no one has seen on Etheirys, Lithryn is a veritable force of nature when she fights, quickly ending engagements before they can even really start. Perhaps as time wears on she can find a place and purpose in this new world.

[assassinshadowgirl]

Final Fantasy 16 AU Draft

Same as the Prologue; Annabelle the bitch betrayed her Nation, slewed her husband and offered Clive to the Holy Empire of Sanbreque.

Dion came to learn about what happened at the Phoenix Gate from his Dragoons and strongly despised Annabelle for her actions. He later became devastated when his Father announced his marriage to her and Annabelle will be Dion's stepmother from now on.

Dion refused to acknowledge her. Furthermore noticed that his Father Sylvestre Lesage, Emperor of the Holy Empire began to act distant towards him ever since that woman stepped into their homeland.

Feeling lonely and neglected, Dion wandered into the basement where he met Clive now a Branded, sitting alone at a fireplace. Both recognized each other. Soon they were sitting together, chatting.

With Clive's mother married to Dion's father, the young blonde Prince joked that they are considered half siblings. He then went ahead to tell Clive about his father's cold treatment and Annabelle's disdain towards him. Clive understands how Dion feels as he's also the same as him. They grew close immediately.

Dion visits Clive everyday. To protect his brother from mistreatment as a Branded, Dion proposed a plan; He asked if Clive is willing to be his bodyguard so both can watch each other's back. Clive agreed.

Thirteen years later, Clive served as Dion's bodyguard, and assisted the Prince in the war against Waloed Kingdom and its Dominant Odin.

During rest, Dion admitted honestly that he's growing weary of this war and much more concerned for his people's safety instead. Both Clive and Dion knew the Emperor was getting more cold hearted due to someone who was clearly being the one responsible for all these happenings. It got even worse ever since Olivier was born.

For the past years, Sylvestre had treated Dion more of a war weapon than a son. He only showed his affection towards Annabelle's child making Dion feel even more lonelier. However Clive was always by his side as a brother and only friend.

Suddenly a group of Imperial Soldiers under Annabelle's rule barged into the camp, issued an arrest warrant on Dion for his treachery against the Holy Empire. The Prince was utterly confused by this sudden accusation that he never committed. Before the guards could take him away, Clive attacked and with help from a few Dragoons, Clive and Dion escaped.

They were later rescued by Cid. Clive was reunited with his trusty hound, Torgal. And both were warmly welcomed into the hideaway.

From Cid, they learnt about the Ice Dominant Shiva being used by the Iron Kingdom for war and agreed to work together with Cid to rescue her.

Clive was later shocked to find out that Shiva was actually Jill, his long lost childhood friend whom he introduced her to Dion and they instantly got along with. Jill was grateful to Dion for taking care of Clive for 13 years.

Dion, now a fugitive as well as an exiled Prince, along with Clive, Jill and Torgal decided to work alongside with Cid as Outlaws to make a better world for the Branded and others.

The following will be them encountering Benedikta, Hugo, learning about Ultima's existence, Clive being the Mythos that possesses an unique ability to absorb other Eikons' abilities, reuniting with Joshua, fighting against Barbanas and Harbard etc.

During their journeys and hardships, they evaded Annabelle's Imperial guards who were tasked to hunt Dion and bring him back to Sanbrequec against his will while Clive was being hunted by Ultima to become his vessel.

Clive, Dion, Joshua, Jill and Torgal protect each other's back as they journeyed together.

That's that. If there are people out there who want to use this idea for their fanfics, are welcome to go ahead but pls do give credits lol. 😂

[aaaaawolfquarters]

Tech and Omega Swap AU : EPISODE 10

s1ep10 notes/changes

Tech is excited to know what their next mission will be, but Omega reminds him that there are still two bounty hunters after him. Hunter agrees that there is a lot of heat on them at the moment

When Cid tells them about the mission on Raxus, Tech tries to helpfully detail the information he knows about Raxus, that it was the former center of the Sepratist government, etc. Cid says she doesn't take history lessons from children. Tech is offended, as technically, all of his information was correct, regardless of his age

Hunter still originally refuses the job, as he doesn't want to take Tech to a planet "swarming with imperials". Cid takes a long moment to consider before replying that he can leave the kid with her

When Hunter tells Tech he has to stay with Cid, Tech protests that they are a a squad, and they shouldn't split up :( Omega suggests he works on his goggles while they're gone (since he has been wearing his heavily damaged glasses for a while). When Cid tosses Tech the sponge, he takes a moment to flick his hands and readjust his grip so he's not touching the slimy side of the sponge

Tech is a bit more problematic than Omega was in the show, Cid has to shoo him away from, as Tech would put it, "repurposing unnecessary or redundant technologies to upgrade his goggles." He also fixes Crosshair's old comm that got destroyed by Cad Bane. After he finishes, he fidgets and sulks at the counter. When Cid tells him he is bringing the mood down, he replies, "there are only two patrons currently in the store, and they seem unbothered." Cid is annoyed, and asks if he is just upset he got left behind. Tech agrees, stating that the squad hasn't even contacted him. Cid says, "maybe if you weren't so helpless, those four laser brains wouldn't have left you here with me" the rest of the conversation is similar to cannon, with Tech storming off and Cid following, but not helping at all

On Raxus, Echo is the one hacking into the security feed, but most everything else happens like in the show (Omega goes with Hunter, notices the empire person triggered an alert, pilots the walker, etc)

Tech can't help himself but butt in and correct Cid's play, saying "that is not the ideal move for that scenario." After Cid eventually listens to Tech's advice, Cid asks how he knew how to do that. Tech responds, "It is a strategy game with a set number of options, from what I've seen, easy enough to pick up on"

When the Batch return to Cid's, there is a quiet crowd gathered, watching in awe as Tech wins yet another match. However, unlike the show, Tech is actively moving away from Cid's attempts to pat him on the back, rest her hand on his shoulder, etc.

[aesadraws]

please please please tell me abt tangled au 👀

WIP File Game

About: PFK Tangled AU

Oooooh boy. This one was born from rewatching Tangled awhile back and my brain making a connection between Eugene's persona of the criminal Flynn Rider and that popular idea of Joshua actively fighting back against the empire of Sanbreque under the moniker Margrace. Plus I found it so funny to imagine Terence chasing after Joshua the outlaw only to eventually come to care for him. It's not a shot-for-shot re-telling of the disney film but there are plenty of elements I'm planning to incorporate, mostly because they're fun.

Our cast:

Dion as our Rapunzel, granted the blessing of Bahamut as a child. After Sanbreque was "attacked" by Rosarian forces Sylvestre sought to protect his most valuable asset and had Dion locked away in a tower, to be tended to solely by his stepmother Anabella. He still takes to the battlefield as Bahamut (though I'm imaging just semi-primed for this fic) but he knows to return straight to the castle after just in case someone were to try and assassinate him.

Joshua as the aforementioned outlaw Margrace, his true identity unknown. Believed to have died when Sanbreque "righteously" attacked the ducal family at Phoenix Gate. Only the Undying he works with knows that he was also granted a blessing of one of the EIkons, saving him from being stillborn at birth.

Terence is essentially Maximus, but not a horse (he's no Sleipnir lmao). He's a loyal imperial soldier that has kept up a clandestine relationship with Dion, climbing the tower through its secret entrance. He also wholeheartedly believes in the imperial propaganda that Rosaria's insurgents need to be put down, at least until he eventually learns Joshua's side of the story.

There's not a whole lot of secondary cast beyond Sylvestre, Anabella, and Clive making key appearances. There's implications that Joshua is working with Cid as well as the Undying, which becomes helpful when Joshua tries to free his brother from having been stuck as a gladiator in Oriflamme.

I have the vast majority of this fic outlined except for the climax and ending, hence why it's still low down in my priorities until I get that banged out. But I know I'll enjoy a few scenes in particular when I get to it, including: fun banter between Joshua and Terence while the one chases after the other, Joshua being incredibly bitter upon seeing his mother again, and quite a few moments of heavy angst (with a happy ending, because c'mooon this is me we're talking about).

[laqualassiel]

Trying to decide in the Spark!Ardyn au where Ardyn goes after getting Blessed by Ifrit, because there’s no way on the Pyre he’s sticking around in Niflheim now that he knows Besithia is insane enough to try daemonifying an Astral.

Now the only question is: where does he go?

There’s Tenebrae, the closest and easiest to reach when Ardyn has no identification or money and hardly any knowledge of the modern world. Get Tenebrae world building and politics, stuff on the Oracle family, and eventual interactions with a younger Sylva, who might not even be the Oracle yet depending how old Sylva’s mom is. The threat of Niflheim discovering Ardyn (again) is highest in Tenebrae, given Tenebrae’s proximity and vassalage. The people of Tenebrae would likely be more religious than other countries, so we can build on the established Cosmogony and how that ties into the official religious doctrine. Ardyn’s grief for Aera would be more raw here, with Aera’s family as constant reminders. There’s also the possible conflict of the Oracles potentially knowing about Ardyn’s new Blessing, and if Bahamut had made known to the Oracles of his mandate that no other Blessings are permitted, that could put the Oracles in a position of having to choose between Ardyn and the will of the gods (or at least the only one whose actually awake). Depending on how far the canon historical timeline gets yeeted, Ardyn would be present when Noctis is brought to Tenebrae for healing and would promptly derail Niflheim’s whole invasion.

Next closest location is Accordo. Harder to get to because of the necessity of traveling by boat, but it is part of the Empire so there’s less travel restrictions to worry about there. Here we’d get Altissia world building and politics, meeting young Claudia Claustra and her movement to free Accordo from Imperial rule. No daemons in Accordo, so Ardyn’s magic would stay under the radar longer, and therefore less risk of Niflheim and Besithia finding him. Ardyn would integrate more into city life here, rather than living as a hermit. Dunno what Ardyn would do to make a living, but he’d pick up some sort of quiet career. In addition to meeting young Claudia, we’d eventually meet Prince Regis and his Retinue when they come to Altissia and get tangled in the politics there. There’s also the chance of Leviathan waking up and being Not Pleased to find the former Accursed and now one of Ifrit’s Sparks living on her front lawn. In this location Ardyn would probably get involved with Claudia’s underground resistance movement, and would probably interact quite a bit with Weskham after he stays in Altissia.

There’s Galahd, which has less world building needed (bless @secret-engima) but I could play around with the Clan politics of the time and their oaths to the Crown. Galahd would fold Ardyn in no problem, and without havens and only a scattering of temples Ardyn would put his magic to use the quickest of all locations. He’d be safest from Niflheim here, and pretty safe from Mors sending assassins too. Dig deeper into the differences between Galahdian religion and the official doctrine. Meet some of the baby glaives. Meet Prince Regis when he comes to Galahd briefly. Help fight the Niflheim occupying forces after Mors pulls the wall, which adds the risk of discovery from Niflheim.

Lastly, we’ve got Lucis. Farthest from Niflheim and hardest to get to, but the easiest to disappear in the Lucian Outlands. Would probably set up shop as the og ‘Witch’ of Malmalam Thicket, and meet young Kimya when she shows up demanding to learn from him. Highest threat from Mors’ assassins. Would likely meet Regis and co at least once. Offers the chance for Ardyn to rescue Cor from the Tempering Grounds, including a long overdue meeting between Ardyn and Gilgamesh. After Mors pulls the Wall, would have the threat from Niflheim’s invading forces. Ardyn would be more involved with the Hunters in this, if only tangentially, and might have more interactions with Cid and Cor as time goes on. Of course, being in Lucis means he’s faced with reminders of his brother’s family, and could even make the pilgrimage to Somnus’ tomb if he’s feeling particularly self-destructive.

So, any thoughts or ideas on where Ardyn ends up after running from Niflheim?

[cryptictongues]

wip tag game rules :

post the names of all the files in ur wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send u an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! tag as many people as you have wips!

Thank you for tagging me @pinkkittysaw for allowing me to share my ideas publicly LMAO

Would like to note that I don't usually create titles until I finish something!

Tagging whoever wants to partake!

Joshua Rosfield x Leviathan!Reader (Chaptered): Reader and Joshua were betrothed to one another at a young age until the fall of Phoenix Gate. 18 years pass and Reader is the ruler of Aquaos, a safe haven kingdom for war refugees and bearers. 

Barnabas Tharmr x Leviathan!Reader (Chaptered): A love story that turns sour (Thanks Ultima boooo)

Clive Rosfield x Flower!Reader: Throwback to when Clive had his brand removed and reader took care of him. 

Modern AU: Reader and Clive are actors, and don't know what's real and what's not on set. NSFW

The Waloedian Witch: Witch!Reader finds Clive washed along the shores of Waloed. She takes care of him so he is strong enough to get back home. Unrequited Love AU

Gav x Reader Friends to Lovers AU: Everyone in the Hideaway knows you and Gav like each other… well except for you and Gav.

Clive Rosfield x Flower!Reader: Clive comes back to the Hideaway after Origin to find out you left. He stops at nothing to find you. (I'm writing this one now YAYAYAYAYAY!!!!)

Ignis Scientia x Rockstar!Reader: Ignis never thought a woman like you could fall for the likes of him. You could say the same about him. 

Cidolfus Telamon x Reader: You are Cid's second in command at the Hideaway. The both of you tend to butt heads and it all comes to a head when Cid comes back from the one place you both swore never to return to… Waloed. NSFW

Barnabas Tharmr x Reader: you and Barnabas commence a marriage through a blood oath. Things get horny. NSFW

Clive Rosfield x Flower!Reader: Clive teaches you how to wield a sword. NSFW

Barnabas Tharmr x Reader: Barnabas decides to punish you the only way he knows: strap you down and make you cum until you are a mess. NSFW

Clive Rosfield x Reader: Clive avoids you like the plague and you have no idea why… that is until you see him locked down in the dungeon: Ifrit Rut fic NSFW

Cidolfus Telamon x Reader: Cid accidentally invents a vibrator. He wants to test it out. NSFW Crack fic

Clive Rosfield x Reader: Clive and Reader get heated in an argument, with the reader telling Clive how much she hates him. Clive decides to how true that statement is. NSFW

Moulin Rouge Roxanne inspo: Reader and Cid are in love, but Cid has to watch her entertain Barnabas.

Clive meets an older woman who would end up being an important figure in his life. Mother Figure!AU

Barnabas Tharmr x Reader: A fic based on the lyric “Always an Angel, Never a God” from the song "Not Strong Enough" by boygenius

Clive Rosfield x Reader Office AU: Clive is the CEO of Hide, Hideaway industries, and while visiting his brother's building, he sees Joshua has the most beautiful woman he has ever laid eyes on as his secretary. NSFW

Clive x Princess AU: During Clive’s time in the Imperial Army, he is given the task to escort you, a princess from the Northern Territories, to the Holy Empire of Sanbreque where you will wed Prince Dion. NSFW

Beware the Eikon of Death: You, the immortal Eikon, are put in charge of guiding Dominants to their peace for their life after death. 

FFVII Remake x FFXV Crossover with Ignis Scientia x Reader relationship: Reader runs away from her past after the incident in Altissia only to find herself on the other side of the world in Midgar. Years have passed and she is now part of the splinter cell of Avalanche, but still has dreams about her past and her lover, which comes back to haunt her.

[violetjedisylveon]

Amnesia Chapter 13 - Home

Bad batch Omega centric au

Summary: Freyu returns home and finally accepts that Omega is part of her life. Tech discusses a lead he has with Echo.

Word count: 2.7k

Warnings: 🛑sleep deprivation, stress🛑

A/N: Hunter is stressed, sleep deprived and angry and has been for about 3 months at this point, his prefrontal cortex, the critical thinking part of the brain, is not working, at all. And good person/boss Cid is my fav headcanon.

Enjoy!

Bad Batch Amnesia AU Masterpost

________________________________________________________________________________

Freyu angrily stormed off the Mlikix hover station. The Empire hadn't had any issue with using a shuttle to get her to the capital, but when she had asked how she was going to get back, they just told her to take the hovertrain. It took her the entire night and most of the morning to get back.

That on top of everything else really pissed her off.

She really wanted to break something or someone for the stupid bullshit they just put her through for absolutely no reason, but that would only put a target on her back and she wasn't trying to get caught.

Her vehement refusal to the blood draw might have just put her in a worse position. That creepy doctor, he was smart, she could tell he was smarter than Rampart, than a lot of the Empire. He might figure it out if she wasn't careful.

Even if the Empire said they were done with her, she had a gut feeling she was going to be watched from now on. Her instincts had never been wrong before, she had been wrong.

Now she had to be extra careful with what she did in public, and even at home. Though it wasn't like they could get close enough to her home to see anything.

She still had a feeling of unease as she thought about that creepy doctor, she knew him from somewhere, she was sure of that, she just couldn't place it.

I'll have to check Maat's list. Her brother has given her a very long, extensive list of now Imperial personnel to avoid and why. The top three were all Palpatine. She had never really liked that old man so it made enough sense, something felt off about him the one time she met him.

A loud whiny roused her from her thoughts.

She glanced up to see Asichi standing in the middle of the road. Of course she'd been followed.

"Hey girl, see you've been waiting for me." She called out loudly, weary of being watched.

Asichi caught on and trotted over to her. If the doctor had questions, he could ask a Massii that could stomach his vile presence. Asichi's velvety soft muzzle nuzzled her forehead, she closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her thick mane.

"I'm tired." She whispered.

It was late, it would take her an hour to get back home from here. She could just head home, it wasn't too late yet, and she had promised Omega she'd be back by tonight, but she didn't want to be around anyone right now. Not for a while, she needed to process everything before she went back home.

Asichi neighed and nudged her cheek, bringing her attention to the saddle on her back. The saddle bags were full.

"Alask packed you up for me?" She mused.

Asichi nodded and wrapped a tendril around her wrist.

Alask's too good to me.

Freyu pulled herself up onto Asichi's back and rode out of Mlikix, heading for the forest near her home.

She needed to be among the Mother Forest for a few hours. She was safe there, she always had and always would be safe there.

"Let's go see our mother, shall we?" Sje prompted Asichi.

With a giddy neigh and jump, Asichi took off, taking her far away from the Empire.

XXX

Freyu arrived at Alask's house late at night. Just barely within the time limit she had given Omega. She was cutting it close, but she had still made it.

She set Asichi up in the conveniently left open stall for the night. The mare gleefully chowed down on the food she offered. Freyu patted Asichi's neck as she ate.

"I'll give you a good grooming tomorrow, hows that sound?" She prompted.

Asichi neighed in agreement, then nudged her towards Alask's house. She had a feeling she would find a certain someone still awake.

She entered with the key she still had, and made sure the house was fully locked once she was finally inside.

She took off her shoes and coat and quietly moved into the living room.

Knowing Alask, something had been set up for her to crash on for the night. She found the lamp near the couch still on low, and the couch's bed was pulled out. Alask's couch bed was unfairly comfortable.

Sheets and blankets were laid out nicely for her. Alask was truly too good to her.

She quietly made her way to the refresher to change with the clothes she'd brought in. She briefly debated taking a shower, but decided against it, she could get one later and Alask's sheets could be cleaned. It wasn't like she was covered in blood this time.

She put her dirty clothes in her bag and made her way back to the living room. A soft noise caught her attention, she glanced in its direction and saw a very sleepy Omega walking out of her room, rubbing her eyes.

Her hunch had been correct. She wasn't exactly happy about Omega staying up waiting for her, but she certainly wasn't going to complain, she had missed her vod'ika.

Omega squinted at her for a second then blinked.

"Freyu?" She whispered.

"Yep. I'm back, Meg'ika." Freyu whispered back.

Omega threw herself down the hall and slammed into her, almost knocking her off balance. The girl almost started crying as Freyu patted her head and ran her fingers through her curly hair.

"I'm back, just like I told you I'd be." She whispered reassuringly.

Omega held onto her for a little bit longer until her need to use the fresher overtook her.

"I'm on the couch, goodnight Meg'ika." Freyu whispered.

Omega muttered an "mhm", and Freyu left her ward to tend to her business.

She settled into Alask's incredibly comfortable couch bed and was prepared to knock out for a solid day. She was so exhausted.

In the back of her mind she knew she wouldn't get nearly as much sleep as she wanted, she had orders to catch up on, ingredients to process since she had been smart enough to do a bit of foraging while she was out and a bunch of inventory to do, maybe she could ask Tesi to help out with that. And she needed to carve some time out to give Asichi a proper grooming.

However, all of that was hours away from being her problem. She sighed and finally released the tension that had been building inside of her since that clone approached her yesterday.

She wasn't at all surprised when the bed creaked as she was joined by Omega. She let Omega snuggle up close to her and get herself comfortable before wrapping her arms around her sister and pulling her close. She breathed in the warm, comforting scent of Alask's cleaner, the soft, sweet scents she had come to associate with Omega, and the dozens of other smells that symbolized home and safety to her.

Nothing else in the galaxy mattered but this sense of safety she had right now.

"I missed you." Omega whispered quietly.

Freyu nuzzled her forehead, relieved when Omega eagerly leaned into her soft touch.

"I missed you too, vod'ika." She whispered back.

Omega hummed contentedly, her mind was completely peaceful and quiet. Screw whatever had happened to Omega before she found her, even what she did remember wasn't good, she was much happier and safer here. She liked it better here, and she liked being with her.

Freyu felt something she hadn't in a long time. The warm, fuzzy feeling of loving and being loved slowly spread through her body. After all of this time, three months of caring for and loving Omega, she could accept what she had initially refuted.

Omega was her sister, and Mother Forests take pity on the poor souls who thought they were going to take her sister again.

Omega was her Vod'ika, and she was Omega's Ori'vod.

She was going to protect her like one.

XXX

Echo walked into Cid's to see Tech furiously typing away on his datapad.

Hunter was nowhere to be scene, he vaguely recalled Wrecker saying something about distracting him before going to his therapy appointment.

"Is something up?" He prompted his younger brother as he got himself a drink.

He had started working at the bar since Cid wasn't sending them out so much. At the moment it was just Viserric working, the Mikkian nodded to him and moved aside to let him come behind the counter.

"Your idiot brother has been ordering energy drinks every twenty minutes." They muttered to him.

He glanced over and yep, there were several empty glasses around his little brother. He recognized that intensely focused look in his eyes.

"Tech?" He tapped his little brother's shoulder.

Tech jolted away and reached for his blaster before recognizing him.

"You alright?" He asked.

Tech adjusted his goggles and cleared his throat.

"Yes I-I was not expecting that." He explained.

Echo just patted his shoulder and slid him a large glass of water. He gathered up Tech's used glasses and started to wash them.

"You looked pretty focused there, find something interesting?" He asked.

"I believe I have." Tech said.

He took a breath, about to spill literally everything he had just learned, whether it was important to their operations of just something Tech found particularly fascinating today. Echo truly didn't mind his little brother's info dumps, but given the amount of glasses, Tech hadn't done anything but research and binge caffine for hours.

"Drink some water and eat something before you tell me." Echo instructed before Tech could start his rant.

Tech grumbled under his breath, but didn't argue. Echo had his headset play some relaxing music in the background as he took care of the dishes, his cybernetics had been waterproofed by Tech back when he first joined them.

Viserric quickly tossed together whatever Tech had ordered. Cid's food wasn't always the healthiest, but it was a good price for a decent quality.

"If you want to eat something you should get it before the evening rush." Viserric advised him.

He acknowledged their words with a nod and did a few more odd jobs while he waited for Wrecker to come back from whatever distraction he had dragged Hunter off too.

"Echo, there's something I'd like to discuss with you before the others come back." Tech said once he finished his plate.

Echo glanced to Viserric, the Mikkian was somewhat aware of their situation, they didn't say anything about it, it wasn't their problem. They rolled their eyes and grabbed Tech's empty plate.

"Get going, Weshu and Aevnass will be here before the rush starts." They told him.

He followed Tech to the employee rooms in the back of Cid's, not all of Cid's employees used them, but there were enough for most of a full staff.

Viserric lived here, which was why they were more aware of the situation than the others. Echo spent more nights in the moderately sized room than he did on the marauder, he almost never slept there any more. His brothers had stopped asking about it two months ago.

Tech sat at the small desk, Echo sat on his bed.

"Well?" He prompted.

"I think I've finally got something." Tech said with a hopeful excitement in his voice.

"You do, huh?"

Tech nodded and pulled something up on his data pad.

"I was checking Imperial activity in sectors with refugee programs in the outer rim, I thought I would find something of use to us, and I was correct." Tech said.

"You think you've got a lead?" Echo hummed thoughtfully.

"I believe I do. Yes." Tech handed his datapad over.

Echo glanced over the image on the screen. It was taken from a surveillance drone, the focus was two Pantorans going about their day in a market. The younger of the two was holding the older girl's hand as she talked with a vendor.

"It's just a pair of Pantorans. I don't see how that could help us." Echo said, passing the device back to his brother.

"The young girl is Omega." Tech stated.

Echo blinked at the bold statement

"Really?" He asked sarcastically.

"Yes, do you not see it? I thought it was obvious." Tech said.

Echo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Tech, that is clearly a Pantoran child, she just happens to look somewhat similar to Omega from that angle." He said.

"I did a facial analysis of her in all the images I could find, it matches Omega almost perfectly, I suspect the error is due to the face mask she is wearing to get the blue color." Tech said.

"Or, that error is because they are two different people." Echo argued.

"They are too similar for that to be the case." Tech argued back.

Echo did not have it in him to fight Tech on this issue. He sighed and conceded defeat.

"Okay, so you think that's Omega, what do you plan to do about it?" He asked.

"We'll go to this planet and find her, it's quite simple actually." Tech said.

"And if it's not Omega and we just harassed some random Pantorans for no reason?" Echo challenged.

"Then we keep looking." Tech said.

"Assuming they don't call the local authorities or the Empire on us for harassing them." Echo scoffed.

Tech fixed him with a glare.

"I did not know you cared so little." He said.

Echo scowled at him.

"You know it's not that. We lost Omega three months ago and haven't heard anything of her since, I'm just a little skeptical that we'll ever find her by now." He explained.

"What if this is it? What if we've finally found her? Isn't it worth the risk?" Tech prompted.

Echo sighed and glanced at the images on the datapad. He wouldn't admit it, but the little girl's smile did remind him of Omega, only she was happier than he'd ever seen her. She looked happier, healthier and better fed than ever.

Even if it was Omega, and he was very sure it wasn't, taking her from a place where she was clearly well cared for didn't feel right.

"She looks pretty happy there." He pointed out.

Tech gave him a side glance.

"Even if that is Omega, are you sure we should take her?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Just look at her, Tech, that kid is someone who has a home where she's being taken care of, she isn't risking her life to earn a living, she's safe." He paused for a moment, debating whether or not to say what he had been thinking for months.

"Omega wasn't safe with us, not like that kid is. Maybe, if it is her, it would be in her best interest to leave her alone." He suggested.

Tech was silent for a few minutes.

"You have a good point, though I'm not so sure Hunter would agree." He said cautiously.

"Do you?" He questioned.

"I want what is best for Omega, if that means leaving her to someone else's care, then that is what will happen." Tech said firmly.

At least I have one brother on my side. Echo thought.

His eyes flicked over to the pair of Pantorans.

"Why's the Empire interested in these two anyway?" He asked.

"I'm not sure yet, though the older one is their focus. The reason is classified." Tech answered.

"What's classified?"

Echo jumped at Hunter's voice.

"Kriff Hunter! You can't just barge in like that!" He scolded.

Hunter gave him an apologetic shrug.

"What are you two looking at?" He asked.

"I've found a lead." Tech stated before Echo could stop him.

"What?!" Hunter pushed past Echo and snatched up Tech's datapad.

"Did you find 'er?!" Wrecker asked excitedly.

"Tech found someone who looks like her." Echo said.

Hunter immediately glared at him and opened his mouth to say something Echo didn't care to hear.

"Save it. I've already had this talk with Tech." He growled.

Hunter still glared, but at least he shut up. They weren't on the best of terms at the moment.

"Where is this? We need to get there now." Hunter said.

Echo reached over and took the datapad from his brother. He wanted to stop him from getting any unrealistic ideas.

"How about we go talk with Cid about this first, she might have some useful information." He said, folding his arms over the datapad.

Hunter looked pissed, well he would have if he wasn't so sleep deprived.

"Fine." He grumbled.

Echo quickly left his room to go find Cid and drag her into this mess.

________________________________________________________________________________

Sillies:

Freyu: *adopts Omega*

Hunter: damn it! how are we gonna get Omega back now?!

Echo, tired: how about we just adopt the person who adopted her?

Hunter, sleep deprived (and stupid): that'll never work!

Echo: wanna bet?

Freyu has finally accepted that Omega is her sister! Yay! It only took her three months to get there, by Massanii laws Freyu's been her legal guardian since week two.

Good luck trying to get Omega away from her now.

Ngl the boys are gonna have a very interesting situation on their hands soon. Omega doesn't remember or know them, and she's with Freyu now, who actually knows how to take care of and raise a child, and it's been over three months, do they really have any right to intervene in something so good for her?

Expect lots of arguments + Hunter's prefrontal cortex still not working(that's the nice way of saying he's gonna do something(s) stupid)

Also Cid has housing for her employees, they don't have to pay for it and it isn't taken out of their salary. It's a policy enforced by the person who actually owns the building Cid uses, but Cid doesn't really mind cause it really doesn't take that much out of the bottom line. She's a business person but she's not heartless, not here at least 🙃

I hope you all have a good day, whatever that is for you!

VJS Out!

[famuran]

oblivion au.  ffamran is an imperial-born youth,  caught up in the oblivion crisis.  cid is a mad mage bent on mastering necromancy  &  follows the teachings of mannimarco.  is wholly obsessed with knowledge and thinks HERMAEUS MORA is speaking to him — it’s actually sheogorath,  he’s just a bored daedric prince at this specific moment  &  is messing with high mage cidolfus just bc.  ffamran is an imperial soldier,  following a knighthood at the time.  once word about the emperor’s death spreads  &  cid is discovered doing some,  pretty fucking weird experimental shit with the undead,  ffamran abandons post in cyrodiil.

he does stay around for some time,  travelling between towns to make ends meet.  he gets in with the thieves guild  &  well,  that’s it then.  his path drops further down until he claims ownership of dunbarrow cave,  forming his own small pirate’s guild that operates out of the cave.

after a while,  mostly out of boredom - he makes his seafaring journey to skyrim,  land of the nords and the unrelenting cold.  he’s got to tough it out if he wants to make any coin under the overbearing altmer rule.

[taleswritten]

@riotseas gets a an au fire/storm starter

Being thrown into the army is one thing but being passed around, sold to the highest bidder among the soldiers in the army like it's some kind of game is an entirely different hell all together.

At first, Clive had fought like hell. Again and again and again until he realized there was no escape and he'd be better off submitting to the sadistic and deviant needs of others. This was his life now. It has been his life for years.

Yet another auction but this time, someone else takes interest in him, someone that Clive has yet to see around. A man in the army or someone posing as such? Clive's never been sold to anyone outside of the imperial army but here this man is, offering a surprising amount of Gil for him that simply cannot be refused.

This is how he ends up with this man, a man who carries himself like a soldier, taken into his home where Clive immediately finds a place on the floor to kneel down in front of Cid. Head bent down so that his gaze is on the floor, his hands on his lap.

He doesn't even take in the content of the surroundings or the view of Cid's home. He has no need to, nothing in this house is for him, the only thing for him is what his new Master allows him.

Clive doesn't understand it. This man hasn't been cruel nor has he jumped him. Usually, men don't hesitate to have their hands all over him. After all, that is what he's sold for.

Is this some kind of mind game? Surely he bought him for the same reason. Clive is no stranger to cruel whims and desires of cruel men, some of them like playing games. They like making it seem like they don't want him, only to pounce in the next second leaving his mind reeling.

But this has yet to happen.

He leans forward, testing the waters by pressing his face against Cid's thigh, tilting his head to look up at the man. The voice in the back of his head tells him that he hasn't been given permission to look at him so he shouldn't but he ignores it.

"Well? What now, Master? Do you want my mouth? Do you want me bare? Tell me, please. I'm yours to do with as you please." And I know you want to use me, all the men always do.

[charlottedabookworm]

@raven-6-10

….i’d forgotten about that one lol

nah this is similar in that it’s probably a no ultima au but basically the fight at phoenix gate happens a bit further outside of the settlement the brothers wake up in the forest with the knowledge that clive is a dominant but when they get back to phoenix gate they see their mother commanding the imperial forces and uh- basically go on the run with clive passing a year or so older than he is and joshua as a year or two younger

eventually they end up basically adopted by cid who i’m gonna say has already picked up jill cos jill also deserves better

Speaking of angst, do you have anything planned for ffxv? Or are muses in hiding?

just trying to plot out this years somnusson fic atm really

I’m struggling a little cos i love the au but eh- yknow?

otherwise no the muses for most things are hiding, like there’s a ff16 fic i’ve been trying and failing to write for months and i’ve been trying to get the energy for the next virtus chapter since feb

[starrysnowdrop]

With a swift thrust of her katana, the gunblade flew out of the Garlean engineer’s hand and clanged against the steel floor across the room, echoing through the empty chamber. Before his brain could register what was happening, Cid nan Garlond was laying flat on his back after being roughly thrown to the ground, pain flowing down his spine from the impact, with his opponent sitting atop his lap and her blade firmly under his chin, ready to slit his throat at any moment. If it were not for the blue flames burning in her eyes and the cold steel on his neck, he would have sworn that she was about to ride him then and there... unfortunately for him, his fantasy had very much not become a reality.

~Excerpt from the Imperial Cid AU

A HUGE thank you to @mythopoet-of-amaurot for posing them so I could actually get these screens to work! I love you my friend!! I could not have done this without you. 😘💖

[eclec-tech]

This is what happened when I decided to write a single little one-shot about Tech. I got the writing bug HARD and now I can't seem to stop! All stories are on Ao3 under AmberOwl24.

Completed Works and One Shots

The Archium A tour of the treasures within the Archium changes things between Phee and Tech.

A Crosshair Carol Crosshair is visited by a series of spirits who show him what will happen to him and his family if he remains in the Empire.

Don't Die Here Crosshair and Echo unexpectedly meet when both their ships are shot down.

Five Dozen Things Tech Would Like You to be Aware of as a Guest Aboard His Ship  Tech issues a few friendly warnings for guests traveling aboard the Marauder.

Hand Signals Wrecker is better at hand signals than his brothers realize.

Happy Hatch Day Hunter's stance on pets is turned on its head when he encounters an animal that needs him in order to survive.

It's Weighing on Him  AZI-3 offers Echo some unconventional therapy.

A Life-Changing Decision Full narrative version of @lightspringrain's comic of Tech coming to Hunter for advice of a very personal nature.

Only if You WANT to Die Tech has been a vampire for centuries, only drinking from those who say they want to die. But when he finds you grieving and sets out to make you his next victim, he finds that he wants nothing more than for you to live.

Plan Seven Young Tech's exuberance when learning about new things rubs some of the other cadets the wrong way. Luckily, his squad is there to show him that they appreciate what makes him special.

The Presence: A Spooky Bad Batch Tale  Something strange is going on in the barracks of Clone Force 99.

Sequins of Events You are certain Crosshair would never consider you romantically because of your looks, but he sees more in you than you do. (reader insert)

Tambor's Monster Once a mindless killer, Echo attempts to live out the rest of his unnatural existence in solitude. But your appearance in the woods one fateful morning gives him reason to hope for more.

The Tank Hunter visits a sensory-deprivation tank and makes some startling discoveries.

Tech's New Data Pad A very lost Crosshair gets unexpected support from a certain liberator of ancient wonders.

Upon a Fulcrum Tech is the brains behind Luthen Rael's formidable ship, but the rebel mastermind has more in mind for the reluctant former soldier. (Bad Batch/Andor crossover)

We Need the Credits Echo turns the tables on Hunter after being sold as a droid.

You are My Shelter Omega's brothers do their best to ease her worry when the Marauder is stranded in the path of a powerful storm.

Rise of the Clones AU (in chronological order)

“A Hard Case to Follow” (chapters: 6, stand alone, two years prior to Order 66/20 BBY) Hardcase wakes up on Kamino immediately following the explosion over Umbara in the body of a teenage cadet.

************************ “The Geniuses” Series (fics: 4, intersects with "Psychology of a Sniper" series in the months leading up to Order 66/19-20 BBY)

"A Genius Walks Into a Bar" (chapters: 1, stand alone) Tech leaves the ship for some social interaction at the urging of his brothers and meets an engineer who changes his life.

"An Evening Out with a Genius" (chapters: 5, best read in series order) Tech introduces Miran to his brothers and gets a tour of her GAR lab.

"Another Evening Out with a Genius" (chapters: 5, best read in series order) Tech meticulously plans out a day with Miran that ends in quite differently than he intended.

"Last Evening Out with a Genius" (chapters: 6, best read in series order, crosses over with "Eyes that Miss Nothing") Tech and Miran spend an unforgettable evening together, but then Order 66 tears them apart.

************************ “Psychology of a Sniper” Series (fics: 2, intersects with "The Geniuses" series in the months leading up to Order 66/19-20 BBY)

"A Sniper Walks Into a Bar" (chapters: 1, stand alone) Crosshair meets a grieving psychologist one night at 79's and finds himself inexplicably wanting to help.

"Eyes That Miss Nothing" (chapters: 13, best read in series order, crosses over with "Last Evening Out with a Genius") Crosshair gets more than he bargained for when he enters into a friendship with a psychologist who sees him for the person he really is.

************************ “An Echo Through the Force” (chapters: 27, stand alone, runs concurrently with "The Journey and the Journal" in the months following Order 66/19 BBY) The Bad Batch, Rex, and Ahsoka Tano meet a young woman who somehow recognizes Echo from before his Techo Union capture and discover there is more to her than she knows.

************************ “The Journey and the Journal” (chapters: 11, best read after "The Geniuses" and "Psychology of a Sniper" series, runs concurrently with "An Echo Through the Force in the months following Order 66/19 BBY) Miran and Luvari are on the run together as they try to figure out how to free the clones from their inhibitor chips, while Omega tries to figure out what her brothers are hiding from her.

************************ "Family Found" (IN PROGRESS, best read after all of the above, picks up right after "An Echo Through the Force" and "The Journey and the Journal" almost a year after Order 66/roughly 18 BBY) Everyone is reunited at Miran's secret home on Alderaan, where the Clone Force 99 family grows and the future of the newly freed clones now hinges on what they do next.

[wirewitchviolet]

The Entire Plot of Final Fantasy 14, with all the expansions, and some serious analysis of how good it actually is. (Part 8 - Post-Shadowbringers)

Last time, we covered Shadowbringers, the more or less universally agreed upon best expansion. Nicely self-contained, well-structured, focused, and not bogged down with any poorly done morally grey stuff. Bad news is, this interlude before the next expansion has a lot of stuff that’s bad and dumb and ill-fitting to the established setting, but at least there’s not a lot of it, and the exceptions are pretty great stuff.

First thing’s first, since everything is all perfect and settled here in the First, and you’re actually able to do so, unlike everyone else, everyone suggests you maybe slip back home to check on how things are going with the whole final war against the empire and all that. Estinein really stepped up to the plate as stupidly powerful protagonist putting out fires everywhere and popping back to talk with Tataru and Krile. He really recovered nicely from his whole previous life-quest wrapping up weird and being possessed and covers stuff pretty well. He has been hanging out with freaking redemption-arc-Gaius though, and he has good news and bad news about what’s up with the empire. The good news is, the whole plan to avert the everyone-gets-killed-by-biological-weapons future by taking pressure off the empire seems to have worked out. The bad news is they’re getting back into the weird giant robot approach. One of these is just a rebuilt Ultima Weapon that Estinein gets to deal with in a bit where you play as him in full ridiculous-dragon-powers mode, the rest of this you have to deal with in Werlyt, one of those new break-aways from the empire that isn’t important enough to bother putting on the map somewhere that isn’t covered in clouds. Cid’s there though, and wow has he been busy. Also it struck me earlier that the one and only time he got a new outfit back in Heavensward it came out really like, 1970s, heading to the disco?

Like remember Bones’ look from the first Star Trek movie?

We start out with the first new model, Ruby Weapon, and yeah, we’ve got a whole set of gemstones here. It looks pretty Evangelion. And then partway through the fight it gets... decidedly more Evangelion when in defeat the “oversoul” system in it activates and... it’s probably better to show than tell here. Skip to about 5:40 for the important bit.

But I guess I also have to explain what is hands down just the stupidest, most badly written sidequest chain in FF14. So... Gaius. The “creeping mendacity” guy. Big ol’ nazi, hates all us primitive savages, strong should rule the weak, main villain of the base game? We’re retconning that he has like 7 or so beloved au ra orphan children he raised to keep them safe from all the evils of growing up in the empire, and already that’s just a hard no from me. That absolutely goes completely against everything about his established character. But we’re running with that retcon. We’re also, for some reason, retconning that the one female general under him in the base game, who incidentally had this whole speech before you fight her about how obsessively in love with him she is, was one of these children. I have no idea WHY we’re retconning that, beyond this all being just the worst, it adds nothing to this dumb thing except one of these other kids is jealous or whatever.

Anyway because they all love their dad so very much, after he uh... defected from the empire to start killing Ascians as a whole thing, they all decided to follow in his footsteps with this whole Weapon project, making a whole bunch of giant robots, that they all pilot, and which have this whole “oversoul” thing built in which... A- completely overwrites the pilots mind with that of some bigshot imperial general or other (in this first case, Nael, the big bad of 1.0 who does not appear in the game as it stands AT ALL besides here, kind of, and in the Bahamut raid 98% of players just completely skip, followed by in no particular order Gaius himself, Zenos, and uh... ones that don’t really come up). Not satisfied with killing the pilot by completely overtaking their mind like that, it also kinda melts their body into goo to power it up. With Ruby this doesn’t quite work right and you get this cool back-splits-open-goo-girl thing but that’s a defect the rest just get a boring second phase. And their big plan is to use these suicide-robots that destroy their minds to take down the empire that has oppressed them for their whole lives and honor the new path their dad is on, after first proving their combat readiness by... trying to kill their dead, and also the resistance to the empire, but, mostly you. It’s kinda just the absolute worst plan ever?

Meanwhile Cid just got super bored having to sit things out for a whole expansion and decided to kill time by... also building a giant robot. Something something found it in some Allagan ruins, made some modifications. In particular it originally came with big rending claws and he modified it to hold a lightsaber because he’s just a big ol’ nerd like that. I want to state for the record that this is still completely stupid and we really probably shouldn’t have two giant robots swinging lightsabers at each other and activating forcefields while fighting over the ocean that were both built by random nerds in a world where people still use maps that are half covered in clouds and we had a whole big thing about impoverished rice farmers trying to scrape up enough resources to like, charge at some people with spears, but... you can go to the hanger Cid keeps it in and pose on its shoulder and my heart is not made of stone.

Sadly you only get to use this thing for literally one fight. It’s surprisingly hard too, you have this whole mode-shifting system where you can toggle a damage boost and a shield on and off that need careful managing and a big laser cannon that needs to be precisely aimed. After that it “took too much damage and needs repairs” although it is reconfigured later to fly around and provide a big platform to stand on while fighting another weapon.

Another baffling layer to all of this is the commander officially heading up the suicide robot division. He’s introduced in this cutscene where he’s just shot from the neck down getting all sweaty from doing pushups and gulping down a big glass of milk, and like... I can’t see any sort of world in which you introduce a character in this way if you aren’t trying to bait people into getting all horny for the sexy new villain, but every other time you see him he’s just... literally the Sewer King from that one episode of Batman? With the orphans?

I swear it’s an intentional reference. Right down to him also having a giant pile of orphans (on top of Gaius’ kids) he makes poke each other with hot brands when they misbehave. All he needs are the glasses. I feel like the sexy scene had to have been a tease at the end of one patch and then they radically shifted direction or something. So anyway all of these idiot children take turns getting in big robots and exploding themselves and you punch the robots, while this too cartoonish to be intimidatng jerk keeps whipping them and sacrificing random people to test more of this oversoul stuff. Eventually we’re down to just two kids left alive, and one of them has enough sense to sneak off and tell you she realizes that this really is just the stupidest plan anyone has ever had and wants you to intervene, but her brother’s already been dragged off to be turned into the core/brain of Diamond Weapon, which rather than having the combat data or whatever from some old general just has an idiot uh... mashed into goo with his brain preserved permanently stuck in the robot. Which is already what they were doing with all their pilots, and he doesn’t really have any particular combat expertise so, this is dumb.

Girl with a smidgen of sense has to get in the actual pilot seat though... and she does have the sense to remember that the whole point of this in theory was to get the best possible giant robot and start attacking the empire, so she tries to just gun down everyone in the lab, but they just cut the power while she’s charging her laser. Then they’re about to kill her but the Overmind, as opposed to oversoul system kicks in and Big Brother restarts the whole thing and gets her to safety. And then... still doesn’t attack the empire, despite this clearly being the last chance to do so. Instead we go right ahead with the standard boss fight. You win, Sewer King shows up to taunt you, Big Brother vaporizes him, and then, the path finally cleared to take his new death robot body and start smashing up the empire, the dream he and basically his whole family literally sacrificed their lives for, exactly according to the plan he personally came up with... does the whole “I can’t live like this, as a cool robot, please put me out of my misery.” So Gaius does, and then we just kinda... pretend this whole sidequest chain never happened and never bring it up again. Not even Cid’s giant robot which would really trivialize a lot of problems and is in full working order with cool upgrades at the end of this. You can go visit it in the hangar all you want, but, that’s it. Oh and your only reward for any of this is some guy makes a gunpla of every robot and you can decorate your house with them if you have one.

Once you’ve finished or completely ignored the stupidest sidequest chain ever, the biggest news from back home is that being in a coma for some unspecifed amount of time is kind of bad for you, and it might be worth maybe considering putting everyone’s souls back where they belong before their bodies die. As is everyone’s kinda just staying alive because Krile has given up sleep to spam heals. Having some actual time pressure, everyone does some brainstorming and realizes that hey, you can go back and forth all you want, and you drag your whole inventory along with you. Why not just like shove everyone’s soul into a magic crystal of some sort and keep them in your pocket? Ultimately this works, but there’s a few complications involved since everyone’s souls have been manifested as physical bodies for a few years eating snacks and such so they’re kind of heavy and none of you really knowing how to do any of this, but G’raha has an in with the local equivalent of Matoya, a nu mou named Beq Lugg (no offense to “Master Matoya” Y’shtola). There’s a whole lot of technobabble about needing to keep memories along with souls and special crystal vessels G’raha needs to infuse with his blood... and the slight hiccup that he kinda doesn’t have blood anymore being all crystalized but he makes due, and I don’t want to get into most of it, except it involves porxies.

I didn’t really have time to get into this, but on top of all the other flavors of fairy, there’s these things called porxies which are basically piglets with dumbo ears. There’s a random bit of background NPC frollicking where a pixie turns another pixie into one for fun, but mostly they’re familiars made by no mou out of clay. One does the whole nightmare eating tapir thing as part of the pixie tribe quests too. In this case though, the idea is to make a specialized one to suck out elemental imbalances from people, which will be of some use in getting everyone turned into a crystalized soul you will presumably take back home and... cram into the mouths of their unconscious bodies or something. This still takes most of this interlude to finish setting up though. The important point for now is that Beq Lugg mentors Alisaie in how to make her own specialized soul-cleansing porxie she names Angelo. And she’s a terrible sculptor.

As an added bonus, to test this, they try sucking some of the light taint out of some of the people in the slowly-dying-of-turning-into-a-monster-angel hospice, and specifically pull the emotionless kid who wandered out into the desert from that one cut scene I linked last time back from the brink enough to talk and mourn people some. Hey, Alisaie’s arc and a really horrific death scene get a nice payoff!

The next bit of major unfinished business before clearing out is dealing with Eulmore, because you kinda killed the guy who was in charge, and was personally providing food for everybody, and was keeping everyone in a magically induced chill malaise. They decided to make Chai-Nuzz, the middle-aged cat boy who hired Alphinaud to paint his surprisingly nice wife and then also oversaw the construction of the mountain sized golem that’s still quite visible anywhere nearby clutching that still-hovering mountain, and yeah, that seems like nice qualifications, but then he vanished. Turns out it’s not responsibility jitters though so much as knowing he’s not really qualified and looking for an advisor who is. He finds a former bureaucrat, who does the whole test of character thing, and you end up teaching him how to ambush a berserk talos or three so they can be disabled, repaired, and put to work as farming equipment. While you’re in the area you also dip back to the bottom of the ocean which kinda still has that big magic air bubble that’s still messing with the nice fish people, and help them out a bit with the problems that lead to, like their queen being ready to lay a huge clutch of eggs and having problems from not being submerged. Did you know what a birthing rope was? Because you bring her one.

The other thing going on in the vicinity of Eulmore is a couple of the local dwarves playing around with explosives and blowing a hole into Nier: Automata. This is the setup for our big party raid, and I have very mixed feelings. It’s a decidedly less elegant handling of a crossover than “would you like to help me research my new play, Final Fantasy Tactics?” in that we literally just have this whole absolutely huge crashed space station with like transforming fighter jets and city sized industrial robots from a decidedly more high tech game right on the other side of these silly dwarven mines. Plus we’re in a dimension that only exists because one god punched another really hard and that theoretically should only effect your home planet.

On the other hand, while it fits in really awkwardly for FF14, so far as I can tell this is weirdly well integrated into the canon of the Nier games? I still need to play the whole series, but I’ve picked up a bit from osmosis. The most interesting thing here is that while the actual major characters from Nier Automata are here, the first character we introduce is 2P. The palette inverted version of protagonist 2B who only exists because 2B was a crossover character in SoulCalibur 6 and the decided to get cute with the player 2 variation. And now we’re taking that sorta joke fighting game cameo-born character and actually fleshing her out a bit in this crossover with an MMO. I can’t really speak much on the plot past that because it’s really tied in with the source-game’s plot and I lack familiarity. Things do go pretty bad for this pair of dwarves making the discovery of these high tech android ruins though. There’s an air strike on their village that leaves it in ruins for the duration of all this, and personally end up dead and/or replaced by android duplicates and/or stuck in another dimension. Once you’ve wrapped the whole thing up though there’s this oddly drawn out prologue where you have this real-world weekly task of walking back through one of the now enemy-free dungeons seeking out items of interest for the dwarves to study as they rebuild, and get messages from one of the missing pair. After a month or two of these there’s a proper epilogue where the two lost dwarves find eachother and head off to... somewhere for a happy ending. It’s all a bit odd.

And of course mechanically it’s full of the sort of full-on bullet hell mechanics the Nier games are known for and an otherwise very noticeable difficulty spike from how these things tend to go, because the director of those games had a say in it. Also you get a replica of 2B’s outfit for your trouble and a good number of people are delighted that the leg piece is a thong that noticeably gives your character a bigger butt. That’s a thing.

Speaking of raids, the real big piece of unfinished business before you all really focus on going home is that Ryne has been feeling particularly ambitious and dragging her dad Thancred and what I’m still pretty sure is his dad’s on the downlow love interest I’m wary to commit to a pronoun for Urianger along to search the world spanning desert beyond the wall of life-destruction in this very Star Wars Landspeeder sort of vehicle, trying to find some sort of way to maybe fix most of the world being lifeless white sand, and they found... a thing, which they decide to call Eden.

It’s kinda like... half-spaceship, half- two semi-abstract angelic women fused together, and between the nerds you have looking into it, the general speculation is that way back a century or so ago when Ardbert and friends kinda defeated evil a little too hard, the big fancy final boss defeat light show with too much light element gave rise to this thing, which promptly started sucking all aether out of the planet, which just kinda glassed the place for the most part and caused all life to die with a few exceptions that became the first sin eaters. It’s mostly inert, besides the boss fight waiting when you step inside... which I probably shouldn’t downplay so much because I mean it gets one of these attacks.

But you smack that inner core down and then you have access to a nice little ship control room, and the surreal realization that nobody’s all that shocked because really between some of the stuff in Imperial bases, Ayz Lla, and Omega’s whole deal, this is far from the first time you’ve seen this sort of setup. Anyway Ryne figures since she has the whole Oracle of Light thing going from kinda absorbing the weird Minfilia/avatar of Hydaelyn deal she was possessed by for a good chunk of her life, she should be able to just kinda take control of the whole thing and maybe get it to spit all that aether back out. Once you get it airborne though you have this confusing fight where this goth disaster with the sort of extreme platform heels I’ve only seen in fetishy specialty stores shows up carried by a sin eater and starts casting spells on a weird time delay. She’s unconscious after, and when she wakes up she’s kind of a rude jerk but more important has really severe memory issues, and wants to just kinda hang out while you check this out because she doesn’t know why she’s there either.

She’s not super clear on her name either but the voice in her head that tells her to do things calls her Gaia. She slowly warms up over the course of things as troubled goth weirdos with mysterious pasts tend to do in this game, but mostly you’re still focused on getting all that aether out of the big weird pinata. In a moment that really suggests your character just should not be left without supervision from people more responsible than Thancred and Urianger, you come to the conclusion that the most efficient way to get crystalized aether properly dispersed back out into the world is for someone to summon a god and for you to kill it. Kinda seems like a terrible idea to introduce that concept into a world that doesn’t have it, but you’re good at killing them and Ryne’s got plot armor against the whole Tempering thing that leaves you mind controlled thanks to her whole deal, so you pick a god for each element, do your best to describe them to her, she summons them, you kill’em, and sure enough, a bit of the matching element spills back into the local environment each time.

The details of all the gods come out a bit wrong thanks to the telephone game, which is what justifies these as a new set of boss fights. Leviathan has two heads. Titan’s kind of a robot. You don’t really have a dark god on file so you go with the Cloud of Darkness who’s decidedly less green and more full-bodied. After the first couple you start getting real needlessly reckless about it. Ifrit and Garuda you summon at the same time because hey those were total speed bump fights, right? And of course when you’re describing Shiva Ryne gets all excited about the tragic romance angle and Ysayle doing the personal possession thing instead of a standard summon. So despite everything going fine she insists on doing it that way and gets way too into character and ends up with this mini-Hraesvelgr all entwined around her and freezes you so Gaia has to step up and smack her with a giant hammer to knock her out of it. Otherwise things go pretty well, but I really have to wonder how it is you describe Ramuh as this pretty human looking guy with a big beard or confusing lightning orb collection mechanics (all of these give you a dialog choice between describing their appearance and getting all 4th wall breaky about the fight mechanics) and then Ryne goes and summons this.

That’s not even close Ryne. That’s way too neat of a beard, and for the rest of this you seem to have just been thinking about that poster on the Avatar’s wall in the intro to Ultima 6. Teenagers and their horny furry-adjecent phases, I swear.

Absolutely terrible segue, but speaking of Ryne being horny, her and Gaia absolutely 100% start dating during all of this. It really kinda sneaks up on you because FF14 is terribly addicted to doing a plausible deniability will-they-or-won’t-they/is this just a one-sided crush thing every single time they go there, with the exception of one minor side quest in this expansion where you help some woman work out how to propose to her girlfriend, but they go all in here. They’re going on little coffee dates and Ryne makes a necklace out of a leftover magic ice crystal after the Shiva bit for Gaia to wear and stuff. It’s pretty darn cute and wholesome.

Obviously this is setting up a big tragic turn where the voice in Gaia’s head actually belongs to Eden, which is also actually an Ascian, kind of. See the last boss Aldbert and friends fought was this pair of Ascians who did the whole Dragon Ball/Steven Universe fusion deal, which I may have mentioned a couple others doing in Azys Lla or I might not have bothered because everything involving Ascians not called Emet-Selch is incredibly boring and forgetable. He killed’em too hard with some sort of light-overload thing. One of them died in the pretty standard way everyone does where you go to the great aether flow/lightstream for a bit then get reincarnated as some person, but the fused bodies of both of them turned into this weird Eden thing and the other’s soul has just been stuck in it all lonely and hopelessly romantic and looking for the other’s reincarnated self. This isn’t a longwinded way of saying “so turns out Gaia’s an Ascian” because like, technically the way this works is that literally everyone everywhere is and that’s not a big deal, the losers who suck just never died and have been around forever, and this one’s obsessed with Ryne’s new girlfriend.

So the final dungeon capping all this off is her getting absorbed in by her jerk past-life ex who’s systematically destroying all her memories of cute dates with Ryne kinda like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and you have to charge in there mounting a defense against big shimmery memories of like going to this one place with good coffee and chocolate chip cookies and defending it from memory trashing monsters, and her forgetting everything and then it coming back to her while she’s pondering why she has such a dorky necklace and Ryne’s screaming from across a void at her. It is absolute peak power-of-love-and-friendship JRPG BS and I am totally here for it. And then of course if the whole thing wasn’t already super gay we make it really overt by just having this little paradisical private grotto with a giant rainbow crystal in it at the end.

I am as usual skipping around a bit. There’s a mandatory break in the Eden stuff until just before the next expansion properly starts, so Thancred and Urianger are no longer around to see all the drama at the end, but I legitimately keep having to remind myself that anything else even happens in this interlude. Hildy and friends don’t actually show up despite the clear setup for it, as Covid lead to a bit of cut content. The only other things we really have to deal with are a dungeon that doesn’t really bother having a proper setup, wherein you go investigate something in the basement of the Crystal Tower and it turns out there’s a little mini version of Alexander down there, with Cid’s personal branding stamped all over it, followed by a recording of Biggs from the averted dark future talking about building it from what they learned studying the original in the hopes of avoiding this stuff. I don’t think we really needed an explanation for how G’raha went back in time along with going to another dimension, but it was bothering Emet-Selch since it’s not something Allagans ever worked out, so, quick closure on that. Also the music is very good and there’s some running gag about people dancing to it.

So that’s pretty fun. And yeah. That’s it. That’s the whole free patch interlude. Everyone goes off and says their goodbyes to all the people they’ve been hanging out with for the past several years and you wrangle them up to go home. Oh wait, right, right. There’s some dumb Ascian garbage first. And like, extra dumb at that.

So as part of your “let’s leave this place as nice as we can tour” you give a big public speech to set the record straight that Ardbert and friends were not in fact just a bunch of huge jerks who set off the apocalypse, but were good proper adventurers helping people and clearing their map of sidequests and all that, and everyone should stop using “warrior of light” to invoke like the worst possible person. And then Ardbert himself stands up out of the crowd to talk about how great you are too, and everyone cheers, and then you get a bit worried because wait, no, only you ever get to see him, and also you like permanently absorbed his soul into yours to cure the whole turning into a final boss disease thing. Having dealt with this before, everyone concludes that this is yet another instance of some Ascian jerk digging up someone’s corpse to run around in. Specifically Elidibus since he’s the only one who isn’t dead and got kicked out of running around in Zenos’ corpse.

He’s got this whole thing where like I get it, but it’s dumb, and it doesn’t actually go anywhere. Running with the assumption that you are in fact still the same protagonist from 1.0 who had a vision of this, or at least that you watched the original opening cutscene where it happens, you saw a big fire-y apocalyptic meteor shower, which triggered some sort of like ancient soul memory of one of those happening when the Ascians had their apocalypse that made them summon Zodiark way back when, and that in turn ignited your whole psychic Echo powers, and those let you pick up on Hydaelyn saying that whole “Hear, feel, think” thing from the start of the game, which according to this jerk she just kinda has running as a constant public broadcast to anyone who can pick it up, and they all get psychic visions and run around being level 1 adventurers from there on.

And he proves it by just running all around the First putting on illusiory meteor storm shows and giving huge swaths of the population the same call to adventure. Partially to taunt you about not really being all that special, and partially to get the ball rolling on that whole light overflow for the whole world deal. That part of it never really goes anywhere though. There’s also this thing about him having personally been the one to originally summon Zodiark all Shiva-style serving as his heart and it not making sense that he gets to be running around if so which... is a weird thing to even bring up when it just gets kinda lazily hand-waved away in the end. There’s also a bit with “lesser Ascians” who know the new body trick and on the team but are really kinda just otherwise normal human mooks are showing up everywhere that also goes nowhere.

Like I said, this patch wave suffered from some serious cut content thanks to Covid so they might have been planning more with this and never paid it off. As is, it’s just propaganda with this guy siccing would-be hero types on you and summoning some in from other dimensions and such. It would potentially be neat if the “in this world the forces of light are bad so you have to play villain” thing were a theme Shadowbringers actually committed to in a real way, as is it’s just kinda dumb and pointless. Like everything with Ascians. It does however cap off with my favorite sort of dungeon, where you have to just kinda book it with the help of some weird magic shortcuts through every overworld map to get from Eulmore to the Crystarium to hole up, and while you’re running and getting attacked from all angles, like literally every single friend you’ve made over the course of the expansion shows up to fend off big waves of mooks so you don’t lose your momentum. There was one of these setting up Shadowbringers too, and there’s ANOTHER at the end of this patch set, but like, keep’em coming. I love these.

Then you fight what’shisface and he takes on the form of “the original Warrior of light” which is like, the depiction of the collective main character from FF1 as per Dissidia’s interpretation. And like the rest of this total BS because in the process of this whole plot arc you basically work out that the Ascians had this whole fancy council called the Convocation of 14 (which has nothing to do with the 14 pieces the world was broken into or with the 12 gods plus the two Ascian gods, it’s just a number we keep using because it’s FF14), and basically the only member of it who didn’t suck was strongly implied to have been you, pre-shattering, AKA Azem, and Emet-Selch’s dead boyfriend’s accidentally made conscious ghost hands you the matching badge of office which is used from here out as the go-to hand wave for where you’re getting other party members from for boss fights where it wouldn’t make sense for anyone else to be there. Anyway you smack him around, he banishes you to the shadow realm, Emet-Selch’s ghost is hanging out and unbanishes you because aside from all the evil empire founding he really is a nice guy who likes you, G’raha pulls a weird trick kinda like Moenbryda to suck his soul out and trap it in the crystal tower itself, and then it’s finally time to head back.

Well, again, after everyone takes a goodbye tour. And people are starting to pass out because their bodies are dying from not having souls in them. But yeah, Y’shtola has to say goodbye to the cat man (as opposed to catboy) who she has clearly been either sleeping with for the past few years or waiting for to grow enough of a spine to offer her more than soup, Alphinaud has to say goodbye to his adopted catgirl mom, you have to go bring Ardbert’s old warrior of light crystal to his old amaro pal and let them know his soul’s just kinda in your body now, Alisae’s mourning her (girl?)friend who died horrifically and checking in on the kid she fixed with her porxie that she died to save, Urianger has books to pack and maybe some off-camera pixie thanking for helping work the whole trans thing out, and Thancred has to say goodbye to Ryne. That one sucks, since she’s kinda the whole party’s adopted daughter, but she doesn’t have a comatose body on the otherside to jam a soul in, and she’s got her new goth disaster girlfriend to spoil, so, she’ll be fine.

G’raha’s in kind of a weird spot because he’s totally coming with you but his physical body is here, and also he’s kinda been pushing himself too hard with various big heroic sacrifice things and is kind of like 90% crystal 10% super old cat boy now. But, he’s got a crazy idea about how TECHNICALLY he totally does have a body back there. His past self, still in that version of the tower, not having gone through the whole dark future he averted by forcing you to take a break, and he’s pretty sure he can just kinda crystalize himself, you pass that off to young him, they just kinda merge since they’re the same person and have the same memories up until the point you do that, and tada, just a normal 20 something catboy with however many hundreds of years of extra memories. Which works out just fine somehow.

Back home there’s a big ol’ teary reunion with the two ultra short Scions who didn’t get to come along, and Tataru is nice enough to sew up recreations of everyone’s cool new goth phase looks and host a  tea party, during which Alisaie is talking to Alphinaud and frankly just breaks the 4th wall to gripe about how everyone else gets cool new outfits and class changes and they’re still looking like they have since Heavensward, to which Alphinaud says they’ll get their turn and the rest needed it more. Which is totally referencing how they were still all using their release models before this expansion whichwere a few years out of date posability wise.

We’re still not quite done though! Gotta set things up for the next expansion after all. So getting right back into that, when last we checked on the empire outside of visions of doom from G’raha’s now averted timeline, Zenos had come back from the dead in a pretty convoluted way, and killed the emperor. Which WOULD make him the new emperor except you know that’s a pretty huge crime and also not even a country full of nazis are stupid enough to want this guy in charge. Hell, he doesn’t even want to be in charge. He just killed his father because if he didn’t he’d just go poison the whole population and kill a bunch of people without any big climactic duels, most importantly with you. Instead they’re just kinda having a civil war now while he hangs out in the throneroom as an official enemy of the state after killing everyone who tried to take him out before someone had the idea to just legislate that hey, none of us our with this guy.

Also hanging out in there is the hands down worst villain ever in the whole game, another Ascian, which doesn’t make sense because by my count they’re all dead. He’s just one of those “lesser” ones though, where someone found the reincarnated version of someone on their big evil council, taught him annoying immortality tricks, and gave him the badge of office. Since then he’s gone and found the single-most punchable face in the world to wear, that of Yatsuyu’s somehow even worse brother, with the whole dumb fake peace treaty plan. He’s very theatrical and dancing around and talking about his big evil plan and Zenos basically just tells him “hey do whatever the hell you want as long as it ends with me getting to have another date/duel with the protagonist,” and goes back to watching the empire just kinda burn down in a really devastating civil war.

Meanwhile Alisaie has the bright idea that if her magical big-eared suck-pig (which she named Angelo if I didn’t mention it, games past the SNES get only the weirdest name drops) can cure being on one’s way to turning into a sin eater, maybe with some tweaking it can also fix the whole Tempering thing. So, quick field trip to Azys Lla with G’raha so he can use his bloodline security clearance to get info on what they worked out on this, and short verson yeah. The info dump is on a failing hard drive so they need to get Cid to help fix it, but it’s the same principle, should work on anyone who’s not like, turned into a horrible fish-monster levels of god corrupted. Only problem is setting up the porxie with the right magic tricks is pretty time and magic consuming. Alisaie basically runs to make a test case of that traumatized to hell kobold kid who like I keep saying is the core of her whole character and yeah, pulls him back to just normal, functioning levels of traumatized. Also he’s voice acted and it’s not just shrieking sounds like in the kobold tribe quests and it bugs me.

So, cool. We have worked out a cure for religion. Only problem is scale. Quick visit to Matoya to pick her brain on that. She’s both flattered and really annoyed to find out that Y’shtola’s been impersonating her, and that frankly nobody ever comes to visit her when they don’t need a favor, but she has the bright idea to just make one giant horrible “mother porxie” that constantly spits out pre-templated ones that just need a competent magic user to de-religion anyone who isn’t too far gone. She has a super whimsical giant golem kiln in one of her many ridiculous back rooms, you just have to smack around some elementals and hop on buttons to get it working, fight a berserk giant flying pig with a little crown, and you’re good.

Anyway, hey! You know who we haven’t really checked in on since literally before the start of Heavensward when there was that awkward incident at the party, other than the peace talks with the emperor which went badly? Merlwyb, the admiral of Limsa Lominsa and first likeable character in the game! Since the problem of the big nazi empire is kinda resolving itself, she’s been turning her attention to the other big consistent narrative theme, and looking to solve racism. Or at least to get a formal treaty going with the local kobolds and sahaguin. This isn’t going over with a bigshot pirate captain (’s second in command running things while he’s sick), who kinda thinks it’s total BS that they’re this whole pirate nation and they’ve kinda stopped killing people and taking their stuff entirely, and has been particularly avid on screwing with monster folk because see they’re not really people, is his logic. Merlwyb has no patience for that, and just kinda goes, look, pirate rules, you don’t like how I run things, you challenge me to a duel, none of this sneaking around behind my back crap. Kid’s an idiot and accepts this, she shoots the gun out of his hand, the actual captain of his ship gets out of bed to ask hey what the hell about him being such an idiot and apologize.

Then right after that, she’s like, right, cool, now we have all these stolen crystals from the other locals, and this religion cure, let’s make a peace offering of these, I’ll personally walk in with enough crystals they’ll definitely have a priest try and summon Titan to kill me, Alisaie does her thing, actual peace talk time. That’s pretty much how things play out, except, you know, he has a lot of reasons to hate humanity besides the whole religious zealotry thing. Merlwyb goes yeah, fair point. When we first settled here we totally made a peace agreement on how to share things and totally screwed you over in a colonialist fashion rather than stick to the spirit of it. Here’s the gun I used to kill my father, who signed that and later got turned by Leviathan, if it’ll sweaten the deal here, feel free to kill me with it. He doesn’t obviousl, and hey, peace achieved.

So Alisaie, for real, I think you owe the nice cool pirate lady an apology for implying she was a bloodthirsty racist way back with the faction picking speech commentary at the start of the game. Things broadly get patched up with the other four races off camera, but all this gets interrupted because there’s suddenly big ominous imperial looking towers all over the world. This bugs the heck out of me because up until now a huge deal has always been made about territorial control and transportation logistics and such and just teleporting big buildings in all over does not fly with that at all. Everyone goes to Ala Mhigo to talk about it because frankly they just have the nicest meeting hall out of anyone. Ul’dah’s might be close but the last big meeting everyone had there ended pretty badly. Anyway Fandaniel, whose name sucks almost as much as his personalty and his plan, shows up with “Lunar Bahamut” because you can’t be a terrible villain without recycling better ideas, and explains his terrible plan. Roughly, “I don’t care about that whole restoring the world thing the proper Ascians were all into, I wasn’t there for any of that. I just want to kill everyone in the world and then myself.” SUCH a downgrade after this last expansion. Hell he’s a downgrade from freaking Lahabrea.

Anyway Thancred shows up for the after-meeting meeting at Scion HQ to share our other reveal. What’s up with the towers is the new unbearable jerk here worked out a plan where the citizens of the empire started worshipping the empire itself as a god and did the summoning thing. Just, religion-ified hyper-nationalism. So on top of getting set on fire along with other horrible things thanks to a civil war, almost the whole population of the empire is now all zombie-like with religious compulsion, and the imperial palace is this sort of nightmare tower that I guess is just like popping out sub-towers all over the world, also putting out that worship us field.

So naturally, we have a small little strike force going in to check one of these towers out consisting of... not you for once! Rauban has access to Fordola who’s still all in on suicide missions to repent, and Arenvald who... I swear is totally an established character I just haven’t mentioned him. There’s a bunch of minor background people who hang out at Scion HQ, he’s one of them, he went off to have a more major role in Stormblood but doesn’t really do anything specifically worth calling out, has an interesting little backstory about his mom slicing his head open because he was maybe growing that “third eye” the imperials have, he just kinda randomly has the whole Echo thing because some people do, involved in a lot of Fordola stuff. Anyway they sneak in, set off an alarm, get jumped by “Lunar Ifrit” he’s stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. They do find out though that the towards have hundreds of people embedded in the walls just like in Bahamut’s prison to summon whichever god they worship constantly, on demand.

Time to run around a bit and gather info. Tiamat summoned actual Bahamut forever ago, so Estinein’s off to pay her a visit and see if she has any insight here. The Scions are looking for Estinein because... frankly he’s cool and it’s nice to keep him in the loop on these things. You bump into him, he’s all “wow you look so much more mature and manly Alphinaud!” ... to Alisaie. She has no clue but is mad about someone making a fake version of her dead boyfriend/god and wants to help but, you know, she summoned the actual one and reminds you she might just end up doing that again what with the whole Tempering thing. Tiamat’s weird like that. But, you know, we’ve got a cure for religion now. No more excuse for just standing around Azys Lla in the weird bondage gear, come help with stuff. Specifically that other cool all-your-friends-show-up-to-help dungeon I mentioned, when Fandaniel and his pathetic fake Bahamut are terrorizing the cool lizard people by Ul’dah. Kind of a speedbump fight, the whole “lunar” gods thing is just kinda here for a little boss filler without needing new designs really.

Anyway, the liberated lizard pals are now onboard, getting their religion cures distributed. Ditto for all the others. For real, Alisaie and Merlwyb just kinda ended religion and racism between them, everyone’s cool with everyone now. Unless you’re still grinding out those tribe quests, then there’s still jerks around I guess. You shouldn’t be though, best content in the game.

Krile figures hey, why don’t I go back to Nerd Town (aka Sharlayan, aka Old Sharlayan... the ruins from Heavensward were kind of an expansion site, they still have a turbo nerd college town off on an island) and ask the neutral-in-every-war scholarly jerks there if they maybe want to help because the empire really shouldn’t qualify as a side anymore when not taking sides, it’s just kind of hell on earth and full of zombies. OK I shouldn’t say zombies for this sort of thing because actual zombies are a thing and they’re actually all very nice and polite, but you know what I mean. Anyway, she’s taking off, and figure’s hey, seat’s open, let’s maybe officially make Estinein part of the team? Welcome aboard you super helpful idiot.

It’s seriously just boardroom meeting season. You have another one to officially welcome everyone who didn’t count as human to your grand old alliance and also formally quit it with that don’t count as human thing because really what the hell with that. Anyway I don’t think that meeting’s even over when Nerd Town sends a representative over to answer Krile’s inquiry formally. Turns out it’s the twins’ father, and he is just a gigantic asshole. His response is basically, “no, screw you, it’s not actually ‘the end of the world’ just because some jerk says he wants to kill everyone, and hey while I’m here, screw my father, he sucked, and screw my kids, you suck, and you know what, I’m officially disowning you when I get home.”

Krile calls on the phone after (I’ve mentioned that’s a thing right? Technically they’re called linkpearls and it’s like some kind of quantum entangled clam and pearl thing or something? In-game rationalization for chat functionality that gets used pretty constantly in the plot to just... make phone calls, rings and everything). Anyway she says everyone in Nerd Town’s hiding something, ASAP people should come check it out. First though we need to have a proper gameplay endcap. The deal with the towers is they’re sucking all the aether out of the world to redirect it somewhere (turns out the moon, eventually, which I don’t think the characters really clue into until a bit later, but we get villain cutaways, but it needs storing somewhere first). Anyway, we have a big showdown in Carteneau, which is where the big end of 1.0 battle was happening when the apocalypse happened and I think is where the PvP stuff nobody cares about happens and I couldn’t point it out to you on a map to save my life. Between Thanalan (country Ul’dah’s the capital of) and Mor Dhona apparently, as I check a wiki. Anyway, big ol’ fight against all these lame Lunar gods with the whole party, and by that I mean control actually rotates around and you play as if not all I think at least most of your NPC pals for different bits.

We get a cutaway to Fandaniel doing the whole evil advisor thing, “oh they’ve stopped us from gathering party there, we’ll just have to redirect to an area we still control, heh heh heh” sort of crap but... honestly Zenos doesn’t actually care in the slightest what this guy does, it’s not his evil plan, he’s literally JUST here to kill/bang/be-killed-by you and has kinda just spent this whole patch series looking through his pile of absurd weapons for one that seems cool enough to bring for the rematch, settling on a big ridiculous switchblade-y scythe.

Meanwhile, yeah, time to see what’s up in Nerd Town. Before leaving you get a weird vision/brief glimpse of some woman with one of those lame Ascian masks  all warning you you’re the only one who can stop the forthcoming apocalypse. But of course actually hopping the boat has to wait until next time.

Oof, I could have sworm MOST of this was in the next expansion proper, but this patch set really is just super heavy on foreshadowing the next expansion. I believe part of that is there was apparently some sort of writers room issues with the next expansion where basically, they had two ideas for what to do next, couldn’t decide which to do first, and kinda ended up just cramming both into a single expansion which among otherthings caused a BUNCH of setup to leak out over here.

I’m planning to finish this write up by the end of the month or close to it, hopefully people throw enough money at my Patreon that I can continue to survive past there. Meanwhile a couple quick last thoughts I probably should have squeezed in before now:

I don’t know if I mentioned this but all through Shadowbringers G’raha is constantly casting all the spells that were “grey magic” in FF6 (mute, float, invis, exit, etc.) which otherwise don’t exist in FF14, and I just think that’s a fun little gimmick to work in. Also I think I mentioned the bunny girl dancer that’s his captain of the guard? She’s not a super important character but there’s an interesting dynamic where she’s got a huge crush on him and is broken up about him leaving, but totally gets that she never had an actual chance, because he has a super obvious dorky crush on you to the point he’s oblivious.

Also, role quests. Shadowbringers had these instead of job quests. 4 for combat classes, 5 for crafters/gatherers. Pretty simple plot progression. The crafting ones are all about doing stuff around the Crystarium like helping the local vet and a girl who restores antiques, but then one has you help a cryptozoologist prove invisible brontosauruses are real, that’s kinda neat. The combat ones are all about the backstory for the rest of Ardbert’s old party. But there’s this whole thing where after you’ve done all of them, the woman running the bar who’s coordinating all the bountyhunters confesses to you in a pretty overly dramatic way that she was ALSO in Ardbert’s party, and before that she was one of the heroes in the Thirteenth, AKA The Void, or if you’re me just hell.

Turns out when things got screwed up there, the Ascians made basically the same deal with her they did with Ardbert. Hey, go to this other dimension, try and fix the cosmic balance by pushing things the other way. So she did and feels real bad about it. You forgive her because whatever, things worked out. But also, hey, she’s lonely, and while I think I forgot to mention it at the time, there’s also some kid who showed up back during that whole “Warriors of Darkness” setup who was also from the Thirteenth, doing the same sort of world hopping deal, who gives you a bunch of exposition on that. So you end up smuggling him over to the First in G’raha’s soul transfer crystal, presumably after rinsing it out first, they get to hang out. Nothing super important about this yet but I want to have mention of it here for sometime later.

Next up is Endwalker, which really sells itself here as being the actual ending of FF14′s story for real, flat out, and promises a trip to the moon.