#lavender helltear

[abeat]

FFXIV Write 2023 Masterpost

Hello! For those who are interested, here is the master post for all of the entries I did for FFXIV Write this year:

1 - Envoy

2 - Bark

3 - Off the Hook

6 - Ring

7 - Noisome

11 - Once Bitten, Twice Shy

12 - Dowdy

15 - Portentous

16 - Jerk

18 - A Fish Out of Water

20 - Hamper

22 - Fulsome

30 - Amity

Thank you for all of your support this month! Also, as always, thanks to @adeat for letting me use Reonora's house as a backdrop for this screenshot!

[without-school-or-style]

7 - Morsel

Word Count: 709

((No card today. By the time I remembered to draw one, I already had an idea. Some small Dawntrail spoilers for the first dungeon. Lavender Helltear belongs to my wonderful girlfriend, @abeat.))

Thanks to at least two setbacks, the trek through Ihuykatumu took longer than Joey anticipated—first by Bakool Ja Ja, then Thancred. And as the party continued their trek through the dungeon, the dark knight suddenly vanished into thin air.

“He shall be back in a moment’s time,” said the party’s astrologian.

A few seconds of silence later, Joey heard his stomach grumble. “We could clear some of the pathway while waiting for him to come back—”

The astrologian said nothing in response. Instead, she perched upon a rock with a ray of sunshine now beaming down on her. Placing her small satchel by her feet, she procured a spot of tea and some coffee biscuits to be nibbled by her lonesome. Her gaze stared everywhere but at the rest of the party—only the path ahead and the stars that guided her instincts. At least, so Joey and his rapidly increasing hunger believed.

‘Not a bad idea, though.’ Joey thought and took a seat himself.

The blond viera rummaged in his bag for something to snack on. He usually carried at least a quarter of a satchel full of consumable goods—purple carrot juice, sykon bavarois, some cinnamon-spiced chai, or even loaves of knight’s bread. At this point, who knew how long the dark knight would take to show himself again? Some lentil curry sounded filling right about now.

Except when Joey rummaged through the bag, all he found were some materia, pieces of random ores, and a variety of stock potions to cure ailments… every ailment except hunger.

‘Of course. I was cleaning out my bags before the call to duty happened.’ Joey thought. ‘Stupid me. Leave it to me to go unprepared. I should’ve just thrown everything back in the bag, but no. Oh well. Nothing else I can do except wait things out.’

He hugged his legs in a fetal position. When was the last time he ate? Or did fighting physically with little to no magic take that much toll on one’s physical well being? How did people like Teremy manage? Obviously with food, which he didn’t have. Joey’s curiosity to try fighting with only his dual swords and a handful of his magic became a fool’s endeavour at this rate. The rest of the body had caught up to his mental state and he started feeling light-headed, as he did when hunger struck. His body trembled slightly as though searching for nutrients it didn’t have. He selfishly thought to ask the astrologian to share some of her blessings, but she seemed off in her own little world, and Joey felt too guilty to ask.

“Here, Sous-Chef. It’s not much but take some of this,” said the voice of Lavender Helltear, the party’s dancer and Joey’s long-time travel companion.

Joey looked up to see the gorgeous viera woman holding out a hard-boiled egg and a slice of a knight’s bread loaf all wrapped underneath with a napkin. “Are you sure, Chef…?” he asked, using his nickname for her.

“Yes, I’m sure. I brought plenty of snacks to eat,” said Lavender. Leave it to the Mom of the group to come prepared like this. She was always like that. “I know you—you’ll be all I don’t want to burden anyone, but you’re really hungry. Besides, you look like you’re getting faint. So eat up.”

Joey chuckled as weakly as he felt. “Sorry, you’ve been hanging around me that long.”

“Well, I notice these things too, you know,” said Lavender. “And the point is, you need to eat. Who knows what other dangers lie out there, and hunger will just make you prey instead of the predator.”

Joey was too hungry to argue. “Thank you, Chef,” he said and gratefully took the food in both hands.

He slowly nibbled through the food. In minutes, Joey felt energy returning to his body. He felt like he could stand up and fight again. He smiled again at Lavender, this time a little more brightly.

“I owe you one.”

Lavender put her hands on her hips. “Nonsense. This is what friends are for, aren’t they?”

Joey nodded slightly. With a wonderful Mom friend like Lavender, he felt lucky to be alive.

[the-wardens-torch]

...This part of Prae always cracks me up when it puts two female characters next to Fal because it looks like they’re silently judging him for not knowing how to operate the machinery after he just spent 20 minutes mansplaining it.

And this time those female chars were @aspected-benefic and @abeat which somehow makes it even funnier.

[sworn-unbeliever]

Day 10 - Casual

Hanging out with Lavender Helltear. While Lavender makes Teremy think of his beloved aunt, he enjoys the viera's company all the same.

Lavender - @abeat

[aspected-benefic]

FFXIVwrite2018 #9 - Dense

Word count - 1,289

((Lavender Helltear belongs to @abeat. All of Lavender’s lines are done by her! Xiaoning (featured in above screenie) and Ash belong to me.))

Lavender sipped her cup of tea. “This is a very nice place you have here, Xiaoning. it's very relaxing.”

Xiaoning, the innkeeper and today’s bartender--or tea-tender, if that was even a word, since the only beverages she could mix were teas--clasped her hands together and smiled broadly at the elezen’s approval. “Thank you! The Ruby Phoenix Inn is always here for weary travelers to rest their weary souls! Hee, that sounds so romantic!” Her eyes sparkled. “But what I said is true! Make yourself at home here.”

“Thank you! You're so kind.” Lavender’s gaze slowly lowered. “Romantic, huh…”

Whether she realized her actions or not, the word ‘romantic’ caused her to brush her wedding ring, as though reminding herself that it was still there. A reminder of a reality that happened. Or, rather, a promise that the bond between her and the one wearing the matching ring was eternal. Not a fleeting dream that would one day end.

As Lavender reminisced, Xiaoning leaned over to peer at Lavender’s hand. “What's that? Ooh!” Xiaoning balled her hands in tight fists and squealed. “A wedding ring! You're married! Who's the lucky one?”

Lavender held up her hand to stare at her wedding ring. “I'm not sure if he's lucky, but his name is Ash.”

“Ash? Like the wood?” Xiaoning looked at the ash cabinet by the wall.

“Indeed.” Lavender nodded. “He's just as hard-headed most of the time too. He's just as strong though.”

Xiaoning giggled. “Tell me more about him!”

“Hmm.” Lavender tilted her head. “He's a very aloof sort of fellow. He wants to be strong and reliable, he hates asking for help, but he always does his best too. He's not the sort of person to do an automatic or rehearsed performance. He always tries his best.”

“Ehh... sounds like he has some demons in his closet still, but an honest sort?” Xiaoning leaned forward, her elbows pressed on the counter and her head cupped in her hands. Her scaled tail wagging like a pup.

A gentle chime rang as the front doors opened. In walked the topic of conversation himself: Ash Lawrence. Seeing Lavender at the bar, he walked right to her. Lavender, however, didn’t notice Ash’s arrival, as her attention was on Xiaoning and the conversation. Thus, the hyur managed to hear Lavender speak. “Very honest. Not that he'll tell you anything directly of course. You have to read it in his actions.”

Ash took a seat on the stool beside Lavender. “Don't mind me. I wouldn't want to interrupt such a lively conversation.”

Lavender smoothly turned to look at the hyur like she was expecting him all along. “Oh! Ash! Hello! I was just telling Xiaoning about the man I love.”

The elezen’s words caught Ash off guard. ‘A man she loves? Does she mean me? Or…’ He held a hand to his chin and tilted his head. ‘.... no, I mustn't presume things.’ Thus, rather than presume said things, Ash decided to gather more information on the subject matter. “Oh? Do tell.”

Xiaoning muffled her giggles and leaned over to whisper to Lavender. “I see what you mean!” Standing straight, she turned to Ash and bowed slowly. “Welcome to the Ruby Phoenix Inn! I am the hostess, Xiaoning Shou. Would you perhaps like a cup of tea, sir?”

“Hm. A pot of Ishgardian Tea, if you serve such a thing here.” said Ash.

“Ah, Ishgardian Tea for the Ishgardian. You are from Ishgard, correct? You have the accent.”

“Your assumptions are correct.” Ash nodded.

Xiaoning bowed, this time with one hand swept in front of her as she had seen male elezen perform. “Certainly, sir! I shall get brewing right away.”

The distance between the counter and the table in which Xiaoning brewed tea was a mere short distance away from her guests. Far enough for them to appear to have privacy, but close enough for Xiaoning’s horns to be able to pick up vibrations of their words. She couldn’t help but steal some peeks back to the couple every now and then.

Meanwhile, Lavender thought to clarify her stance, but changed her mind. Her husband put himself in such a vulnerable position--a position he very seldom left unchecked--that Lavender thought to tease Ash instead. Smiling, she leaned her head on her hand and looked into Ash’s eyes. “He's very strong and handsome. A real tall, dark and handsome type. He's never afraid to tell someone what he thinks of them if they're crossed him. He's very smart and always has a sharp comment to make.”

“This fellow sounds like quite the character.” Ash returned the smile. “Is that the type you prefer?”

Lavender nodded, her eyes now half opened in a lazy manner to match her smile. “Yes, definitely. I sometimes think I'm probably infinitely more sentimental than he is but… I can't picture him being any other way. I think he keeps a lot to himself too since he doesn't want people to see him as unreliable. He can't say what a capable person he really is.”

‘Then she can’t be talking about me. Her description matches someone capable.” Ash, still smiling, raised an eyebrow. He looked as though he enjoyed this banter. “Yet somehow, this man has captured your heart? It's obvious by the way you talk about him. You have that smile, that starstruck twinkle in your eye, and a gaze that sees no one else.”

In the background, Xiaoning quietly brewed the tea in milk and giggled to herself. ‘Pfffft he really is that dense!’

“Is it?” Lavender asked. “I guess I can't help it. He's a great guy. He just doesn't see it.”

“Well, he should, or you may spend the rest of your life trying to cheer him up. Hopefully you get something out of this relationship with him.” With that, Ash seemingly randomly pulled out his revolver to admire the barrel.

“I wouldn't mind if he relied on me a bit more but he's not like that.” said Lavender. “He's worth it. He's kind when it matters.”

“Does he make you happy?” Ash asked.

“He does. Very much.”

“Ah. I have to admit, I’m jealous.” Although Ash continued to smile, his closed eyes and quiet snort spoke volumes. He held up his revolver. The barrel glinted as though conveying Ash’s feelings. “In the instance I should meet this fellow, I may have to bypass that warning shot and go straight for where it matters.”

Now it was Lavender’s turn to snort. The hand that once cupped her chin moved to her mouth as she giggled. “Oh for… It's YOU, silly! I was talking about you!”

Ash’s eyes widened. His smile finally faltered as his face showed genuine surprise. “.... truly?”

In the background, Xiaoning covered her mouth but failed to hide her giggles.

Lavender kissed Ash. Yes, you! Truly! We are married after all.” She held up her hand to show her ring.

Ash kissed back. “I was about to say. If there was indeed a better man, I would have to take his place.” Ash laced his fingers through Lavender’s to allow their wedding rings to touch. “I'm not letting you go THAT easily now.”

Lavender noticed that Ash still wore his wedding ring. That small gesture felt to her like proof that he still loved her. “I should hope not or I would tell you I wouldn't go away that easily either.”

“If at all.” Ash kissed Lavender again.

Lavender returned the kiss.

Ishgardian tea finally finished brewing, Xiaoning quietly brought the tea over to the couple. She quietly set the tray down in front of them, smiled, and resumed her duties. Who was she to deny the couple their happiness after that dense fog lifted?

((Once again, thank you very much to Abeat to RP this scene with me! Lavender belongs to Abeat. Xiaoning and Ash belong to me.

The Ruby Phoenix Inn exists on Faerie. Shirogane, Plot 42, 10th Ward. Anyone on Faerie, come visit sometime! Also, I don’t have any relevant pictures of Ash and/or Lav pertaining to this RP, so here’s a screenie of them being goofs in Ash’s room. Ash doesn’t usually wear glasses. They’re just to match rest of this caster look.))

[abeat]

12 - Dowdy

Today, she had done it. She had put on an outfit that had made her so unappealing, so dowdy, that Lavender felt sure she had overcome even the mightiest of curses. She had pulled up her hood to cover her ears and everything. She obscured her face. Her outfit made her resemble a wild woman of the woods more than a trendy dancer.

Surely today and for the rest of the month, no one would bother to hit on her while she wore her spriggan jacket, along with the matching boots and pants. It made her look like a giant child hunting for hatching tide goodies rather than a single woman nursing her wounds and cursing her bad luck. Lavender would almost be willing to bet on it.

Had she made that bet, she would have lost. Spectacularly. No matter how many times the corsage had vexed and tormented her this month, she never imagined that it could possibly work out here, southwest of Black Brush Station, hiding amongst the spriggans that hung out around some subterrane of some sort. All Lavender knew about it was that the Scions had received reports of the Warrior of Light going in there sometimes with a lalafellin lady. Not that it mattered at the moment.

All that mattered was that a lalafell had appeared. Out here. In what could qualify as the middle of nowhere.

"Spriggans are cute, but not as cute as you!" the high-pitched voice proudly declared with a big, shining smile on his face.

Lavender looked down with at the lalafell with a mixture of dread and morbid curiousity. How had the corsage worked even when she had been very careful to not even show off her figure? What could have possibly attracted the lalafell to her?

The lalafell’s demeanor changed then, giving her a seductive look. At least she thought it was supposed to be seductive, it was hard to tell with someone whose face resembled a baby. He even wiggled his eyebrows. "I could just eat you right up, cutie bunny. Want to see my brass blade? I have the brass balls to go along with it."

'What in the name of Menphina's Love is this? Is there some rule that every encounter brought on by this stupid corsage has to be more outlandish than the last?' Lavender thought as she looked around for an escape route. She really did not want to give up her hiding spot again, and she was running out of ideas of where she could teleport to.

A whistle sounded in the air. An actual spriggan appeared behind the lalafell, scooped the tiny baby-faced man into its arms, and ran off. Lavender wondered what was about to happen now when someone else appeared.

"You all right? I saw you looking uncomfortable there and thought you needed some help. I apologise if I got the wrong impression." A smooth, velvety voice asked her.

Lavender slowly ran her eyes up the owner of the voice and did her best not to gape like a fish. The man wore the traditional outfit of other males like himself. They barely seemed to contain his statuesque physique as her eyes slowly roamed up his perfectly formed body and eventually landed on his face.

She could not recall the last time she had laid eyes on such a gorgeous viera man. His handsome face was framed by his sun-kissed blond hair that covered his ears. The most striking feature about him had to be his red eyes that made his pale skin really stand out. Lavender felt the sight of the man steal her breath away.

The viera man waved in her face, eyebrows raised in concern. "Hot desert sun? I have some water here if you want. I didn’t drink from it." He started rummaging his bag then.

Lavender blinked, having been knock off the cloud of her daydreams and back down to reality. As the viera man kept rummaging through his bag, she realized something. No cheesy pickup lines. No longing glances. He had not been affected by the corsage. Why?

-

The gorgeous viera man belongs to @adeat. Thank you, as always!

[abeat]

30 - Amity

At last. After much hiding, dreading and more personal social interaction than she ever had the stomach for, at last, the thirtieth day of the curse of the corsage had come. She only had to last until the end of the day and it should fall off and then she could finally resume her normal adventuring life. Once she had recovered from her last misadventure, Lavender had decided to hide out at her free company house for a short while, interacting only with people she knew well. Such as her sisters, Joey and her many other friends she had met through Fortunes and Fancies.

Also Syo.

Even though the corsage had never affected the viera man, Lavender did enjoy how friendship seemed to have blossomed between them. While she never would have minded if the corsage had affected him, she found herself enjoying his company and the many conversations with him. He had a talent for putting her at ease and making her laugh. He also enjoyed drinking the way she did, which was nice, although he did not let her get too drunk. Though after her last drinking escapade she could not blame him.

Today on the final day of the dreaded curse, she decided to stay inside, just in case the last day was meant to be the worst. Although the knock at her door made her drag herself out of bed.

“Be right there!” Lavender called out as she pulled herself out of bed, straightened her ears, fixed her hair, donned her favourite red dress and applied the shade of lipstick that spoke most to her today. Once she felt presentable enough she went to the door to find out where the curse would take her today.

Only to find herself face to face with a squawky blonde miqo’te.

“Cecille! What are you doing here?”

Cecille put her hands on her hips. “Waiting for you, slowpoke!! Geeze what were you doing, ironing your dress??”

Lavender narrowed her eyes. “If you were a proper lady you would understand that a lady must look presentable!”

“If it means I’m going to be slower than molasses then forget it! Anyway, I came to pick you up.”

The viera woman blinked. “Pick me up? For what? I don’t think it’s a great idea for me to go outside today..”

Cecille inflated her cheeks with air, making them look puffed up. “I wouldn’t fall for you, curse or no, even if I was into incest! You’ll be fine for one whole day. Now come on! They’re waiting for us!”

In true Cecille fashion, the miqo’te decided what was best without input from anyone else. She put a hand on Lavender’s wrist and somehow overpowered her enough to start dragging her off. Lavender barely had time to lock the door behind her as her sister dragged her off.

“What do you mean they’re waiting for us? Where are we going now, Cecille?”

The miqo’te glanced back at her older, taller sister with a mischievous smile on her face. “It’s a surprise!”

Lately Lavender hated surprises. Especially when they entailed things like enchanted love-potion-esque corsages or wrapped gift boxes exploding.

-

By the time Cecille released her grip on her sister, Lavender realized the much smaller woman had dragged her out east of the Cedarwood in Lower La Noscea. Just between the windmills there was a perfectly placed ambush.

Of Joey, her sisters, and what seemed to be a picnic.

“Surprise!” Cecille spread her arms wide, welcoming the confused viera woman.

“What is this?” Lavender blinked at her sister.

“I just told you it’s a surprise!” Cecille pouted at her sister.

“It’s also a picnic in case Cecille didn’t give you a memo,” said Joey, waving Lavender over.

Cecille turned to the only other viera in the vicinity and ran over to him, wrapping her arms around his chest. “Eee, Joey!”

Joey returned the smile and received the miqo’te in his arms, wrapping her in a tight embrace. “Sweet Cecille!” he cooed back, smothering her in kisses.

The blond miqo’te kissed back happily, her tail forming a happy question mark as she did so. Lavender could tell that the world had instantly faded away around her sister and Joey, as Cecille became lost in their embrace.

The viera woman politely looked away, not wanting to intrude on their happy moment. A moment later, she had a face full of smoke.

“Heard you were cursed or something. You all right?” a small dunesfolk lalafell asked her. The small one had a pipe in one hand as she blew smoke out of her mouth.

“Yeah, I’m all right.” Lavender replied as she waved her hand in front of her face to shoo the smoke away. “How are you, Cammy?”

“Better before you called me that.” her sister scowled at her. “It’s Camellia damn it.”

“But Cammy is so cute!!” Lavender gushed, kneeling down to pet her youngest sister, who was now also her shortest sister.

“Bite me.” Camellia replied as she blew more smoke out of her pipe. “Anyway, glad you’re all right and stuff. Why didn’t you ask me? You know I love this sort of thing.”

“If Joey couldn’t break it, what makes you think you could?”

Joey broke off kissing Cecille ever so briefly to respond. “She could. She’s the curse expert after all,” he said and resumed smothering his wife in kisses and cuddles like he had never stopped.

“See?” Camellia gestured to the viera man wrapped around her unusually quiet miqo’te sister. Evidently Cecille could be quiet for kisses and cuddles from her husband.

“Well, where was I supposed to find you? You’re usually off in the far yonder doing who knows what.” Lavender asked.

“…fair. At least thirty days is up now? Or something?” Camellia continued with her business-like interrogation. “Did you ever figure out who did it?”

Lavender shook her head. “Haven’t seen her since it happened.”

“I wonder if she’s tracking you or something..” Camellia mused.

“I doubt it.” spoke a very soft voice, which was also the most commanding one around besides Joey. An au ra xaela that kept her hair in two neat little braids hidden under a big, fluffy blue hat. Reading a book of course. “If she wanted something with Lavender by now, she probably would have shown up by now.”

Lavender turned to her other younger sister. “I’m surprised you came out of Gubal for this, Hol.”

Holly looked with her eyes full of stars. “I love it there! I will never tire of exploring it. Although Alex and I are going out later so I wanted to stop by Limsa along the way. I also heard what you were going through lately and wanted to come keep you company.” She did something unusual for Holly - she actually closed her book. “You should have said something sooner. At least I promise not to fall in love with you.”

“I’m sure Alex would be thrilled if you did. Thank you though, Hol, I appreciate it.” Lavender stuck her tongue out at her sister.

Holly simply gave her most impish smile before she turned and gestured to a picnic basket. “Anyway, Reo and I helped Joey put together this basket. Although he did all the cooking and I just put it together in the basket. We wanted you to have a nice day today.”

Lavender looked to where her sister had pointed, now that her sister had decided the conversation was over. She saw a giant picnic basket that seemed to be full to bursting with food, along with a collection of teapots and bottles around it. She could not help but smile. “Awwww…you went through all that trouble for me?”

“You’re never trouble, Chef, and you’re the best. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say everyone agrees. Never forget that.”

“Awww…thank you, Sous Chef.” Lavender smiled at her dear friend.

Only to be quickly interrupted by the squawky blonde miqo’te. Now that she was not occupied by her husband, she returned to her usual self. “My husband is the best!” Cecille grinned from ear to ear. “Anyway, enough talking. Let’s eat!”

-

Once the picnic basket had been unpacked and they had all been fed and watered, Lavender found herself drinking a cup of her favourite oolong tea as she watched her sisters banter about something or the other. It was such a frequent occurrence whenever they were near each other that Lavender gave up trying to keep track of it all a long time ago. She rested her teacup on her knee and put her right hand on the ground to steady herself, simply watching her sisters. She could not remember the last time she had felt so peaceful.

“Here, Chef. Just in case your wrist feels naked after this month.” Joey handed something over to Lavender–something small enough to fit the palm of his hand and remain undetected. He tilted his palm downwards so he could drop it in Lavender’s hand. At least, that was his intention.

Lavender felt the object drop on her hand. She brought it closer to her so she could examine it more closely. It seemed to be a simple bracelet made of red and blue thread woven together.

“It’s a friendship bracelet,” said Joey. “To symbolize… our friendship.” He made a ticking noise of a counter going upwards, but Lavender wasn’t sure what that noise was about exactly. “Or to remember this month. Or… whatever. But yeah. Its intended purpose is the friendship thing. I wanted to make something as a reminder that you’re never alone. I also made one for myself.” He held up his left wrist to show an identical bracelet.

“Oh, Sous Chef…thank you. I love it.” Lavender smiled warmly at her friend, looking down at his matching bracelet. “I…eh heh…no idea what to say.” she smiled down at the precious gift he had given her. ‘Not alone..’

How long had she felt that way? Her entire existence, she had always felt as though she had to be the strong one. The responsible one. The one who had to carry on and keep everyone moving forward. For her own sake and the sake of her sisters. Coming to Eorzea had given her a new lease on life, although she had retained her usual tendencies to cling to her relationships to give her something to hold onto. She had made many a poor choice before, with alcohol and with men, and she had done many things she still deeply regretted.

Mostly to fill the void of loneliness that had plagued her most of her life.

Looking down at friendship bracelet that Joey had given her, she realized something. She might have felt lonely, but she had never really been alone. She had always had her friends and family, the people who had stuck with her in spite of her bad decisions in life and other shenanigans.

She did have love in her life. She always had. The thought made her smile as she looked at Joey, her dear friend, and her ridiculous sisters. All of whom she would go into the deepest, darkest depths of hell and back. As she thought about how lucky she managed to be in life, she noticed a red petal fly by her. Lavender wondered where the stray petal had come from when she looked to see that the corsage that had ensnared her left wrist for the past month had started falling apart. Rather than float towards the cliff where they were sitting, the petals floated upwards suddenly. Lavender looked up to see the petals were heading back towards the top of one of the nearby wind mills. Her eyes went wide at what she saw.

A small, random hyur woman perched on top one of the wind mills. The Envoy of Love had returned. Before Lavender could call attention to the random hyur woman, or even wonder how she had crawled up a wind mill when she was so tiny, there was a brief flash of light, forcing Lavender to close her eyes. When Lavender could open her eyes again, she wondered why no one else had reacted to the sudden flash of light. Although that was not the only surprising thing.

On top of the wind mill, the small hyur woman had been replaced by another hyur-looking woman, only she wore a combination of silver and blue, which made her look young and very, very beautiful. Even her blue hair kept in pigtails only served to add to her allure.

Lavender felt her eyes widen as the beautiful woman, the Envoy of Love, also known as Menphina, the Lover, simply winked at Lavender, holding up a finger to her lips before she vanished into the wind.

The viera woman decided she would never, ever curse her luck ever again as long as she lived. The last thing she needed was to draw the attention of deities. Lavender could not tear her eyes away from where Menphina had been, still scarcely believing what her eyes and her brain were telling her had happened. Had she been able to tear her eyes away, she might have noticed another handsome blond viera approaching the happy scene, carrying a tiger lily.

-

Thank you to @adeat for Reonora, Joey and Syo, in this prompt and all the others this month! I could not have done it without you! :D

[abeat]

22 - Fulsome

“What do you mean that gorgeous viera in there is your father?!” Lavender shook Joey repeatedly.

“What-more-did-you-want-me-to-say-Chef-should-I-start-writing-my-autobiography?!” Joey spoke through rattled breath as the viera woman continued shaking him.

“I - oooh - sorry, Sous Chef!” Lavender finally stopped shaking her dear friend. “I just…I just…well I have a massive hangover and now this!”

“Glad it cured you of your hangover at least…” Joey grumbled as he waited for the world to stop spinning.

“Oooh I’m sorry!” Lavender let go of him finally. “I just mean - you - him - I - just explain!”

The gorgeous viera man and bringer of apparent chaos and confusion stuck his head out into the hallway of the free company. “I don’t mean to eavesdrop, but if you come back inside and sit down, maybe we can discuss this? Instead of, you know, out here where everyone can hear us?” He offered with a slight grin on his face. “I mean it’s not like the origins of my own son are a secret from me.”

“O-oooh!” Lavender realized she had been acting foolish. Even by her own standards. “Oooh you’re right…I’m sorry..” She turned back to Joey. “Sorry, Sous Chef..”

“Let’s just go inside.” The other viera rubbed his head.

They returned to her quarters. She had always loved having company, and as such she kept a small portion of the room private for herself and the rest of the room furnished with a variety of chairs and tables. She even had her own mini bar, although she did not want any more alcohol at the moment.

Even if it felt like she might want some soon.

“How about some tea?” Joey offered as he went over to her mini bar. Indeed, along with her collection of cider, spirits and wine, she kept an even bigger collection of tea. Normally Lavender would get up to assist him, but her pounding headache told her to sit down so she could take in the entire situation. Besides, Joey was Sous Chef for a reason - more than capable of making tea.

Father and son, when they looked as though they could easily be twin brothers.

She could only imagine how startling the fulsome version of the story would be.

Joey brought over some tea. Lavender recognized the golden hue of her beloved, faithful oolong tea, and what seemed to be peppermint tea for Syo and Joey both.

“Thanks, son.” Syo smiled. He took a sip of his tea. Once he had a good gulp of the hot beverage, he put his cup back down. “So, er, who should start?”

“Maybe you should since it started with you in the first place?” Joey offered helpfully. “I can fill in the gaps.”

“All right.” Syo nodded as he turned to Lavender. “Well…it’s like this…”

Syo then told her such a fantastic story that she could scarce believe it. She had few questions or comments as the pair of them filled in all of the pertinent details as they went along. Lavender went between sipping the cool water that Syo had brought over and carefully sipping her oolong tea as she learned of their origin story.

She thought her own life in Eorzea was messed up. Evidently she had been living a simple life when compared to these two, and her own life was nothing short of bizarre. Especially when her younger sisters were a miqo’te, an au ra and a lalafell, going from oldest to youngest. Whenever she introduced her sisters to anyone and people assumed they were adopted by some kindly woman, Lavender never corrected them.

The fulsome truth boggled her own mind sometimes. Especially since they were all, in fact, related by blood. Even her miqo’te sister with skin as pale as the moon. The fact that the story of Syo and Joey could boggle her mind said a lot about their own origins. Not that she could ultimately judge them for it, or really say anything given her own origins.

“I…wow…” Lavender rubbed her head. “You two have been through a lot.”

“Eh, is what it is.” Syo rubbed the back of his head.

Joey looked to the side. “That’s why I don‘t like to talk about it.”

She sipped her tea again. “I promise not to tell anyone, not even my sisters, without your permission. Though if anyone asks me about you two, what should I say?”

“Tell them he’s my son and say nothing else just to see the look on their face.” Syo grinned at her, which made Lavender laugh.

“They can always ask us if you forget something.” Joey added.

“All right..” Lavender drank some more water. Whether it was the copious amounts of water with lemon or the magical healing properties of her favourite oolong tea, she could feel her headache start to abate slowly.

“How long are you here for?” Joey asked his father.

“It seems like a fun place to explore, so probably for a little while.” Syo answered as he helped himself to some of the baked treats Lavender always kept handy in her room.

“Join our linkshell. That way we can all talk to each other if you need something,” said Joey. The viera had always been focused on helping people first and foremost.

“Maybe we can go traveling together too.” Syo grinned at his son.

“I… don’t want to bother you….” Joey looked to the side. Given everything she had heard, Lavender wondered if her friend felt a bit awkward around his father. She could completely understand that.

“You never bother me. I’m sorry for not being there.” Syo put a hand on Joey’s shoulder.

Joey nodded vaguely and sipped his tea. He didn’t say anything as he put the empty cup on the table. It didn’t seem like he did anything in particular, but Lavender saw Syo put two fingers to his left ear. “Here’s the invite. I’ll finish Chef’s laundry.”

“Oh I can do my own laundry, you two go ahead-”

“I already started! You stay here and get the alcohol out of your system.” Joey narrowed his eyes at her. He had always been a good friend first and foremost, although his tolerance for her nonsense only went so far. It seemed she had hit it today.

Lavender hung her head. “Thank you, Sous Chef.”

“Good, good.” Joey nodded as he went to collect the discarded laundry basket from earlier. Refilling it with clothes, her own and his it seemed, he left the room to do his laundry magic.

Leaving her alone with Syo, which was perhaps Joey’s actual intention all along.

“How’re you feeling?” Syo grinned at her.

“A mixture of having my mind blown and feeling like an idiot.” Lavender replied honestly as she drank tea.

“The two feelings mixing into a cocktail?” Syo chuckled lightly at his own joke.

Lavender giggled. “It’s definitely the strongest drink I’ve had in awhile..”

His laughter raised into its usual wholehearted volume before he drank tea. “Like I said before, next time if you have something on your mind, how about you just come talk to me about it? It’ll be even easier now that I’m in your linkshell.”

“Ah…yeah…ah ha ha ha..” Lavender answered sheepishly.

“So, what drove you to drink so much?” Syo asked. He looked friendly enough, but his eyes bore into hers. She had the feeling he would not accept anything short of the whole truth.

Lavender drank more tea. “Do you have time for one more long story?”

Syo leaned forward until his elbows rested on his knees. “I have all the time in the world.”

-

Thank you to @adeat for Joey and Syo!

[abeat]

20 - Hamper

Her temple throbbed mercilessly as she reluctantly returned to the land of the living from her alcohol infused slumber. She slowly opened her eyes as she felt her consciousness force itself to the forefront. She groaned at the feeling of light in her eyes as she forced herself to rise up from the comfortable confines of her bed.

Lavender blinked. She looked down to see the pink sheets of her bed. Even though the last thing she remembered was having a few drinks at Buscarron's Druthers, she had somehow woken up in her bed at her free company's house. How had she managed that? As she looked around her room while her brain was busy ramming itself against her skull, she soon had her answer.

Sitting on the edge of her bed was the gorgeous viera man she had encountered the other day.

Her first instinct was to peek under the covers to make sure she still had her clothes on. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she did, which meant they had not slept together in her drunken state. She decided it was probably a good thing overall - if she were to seduce the viera man, she wanted to be sober enough to remember every detail.

Although that did not answer her questions. What was he doing here in her room? Better yet, what was she doing in her room?

"Looks like someone's awake." The viera man grinned at her. While she could listen to his voice all day, she was happy he had the sense to speak quietly at the moment. Rather than continue, he gestured to a glass of water with a slice of lemon on the nightstand, next to a small plate containing a bun. Someone clearly knew his hangover cures.

Lavender nodded quietly as she reached for the bread and the water. She tore into it and starting ingesting the bread as she downed the water quickly. She soon wolfed down the bread and started looking for more food.

"Whoa, whoa, easy. Pace yourself." The viera man spoke again as he got up to refill her goblet with more water. "I - well, Joey - brought a bucket - but let's try to avoid you having to use it."

Lavender downed another glass of cool, refreshing water before locking eyes with the gorgeous viera man. She felt flustered as she briefly locked eyes with him. Speaking of a cool, refreshing glass of water. He refilled her glass of water and she drank a few more sips from it.

"Ah…I'm sorry you…had to see me in such a state." Lavender spoke to him at last.

He waved his hand. "Eh, don't worry about it. Though if you have anything on your mind, next time come seek me out–ah, apologies. I never got a chance to introduce myself, did I? The name’s Syo Kurote. A pleasure to met you… and your name is?"

"Uh…Lavender. Lavender Helltear.” She looked him up and down. At least now the gorgeous viera man had a name for his face. Although it did not answer her questions. “So, Syo, er…what are you doing here?"

"I just happened to be at Buscarron's Druthers when the uh… whirlwind, so to say, started with you and Joey."

Lavender rubbed her head, trying to recall the memories of which the man spoke. She did have a vague recollection of the night before, although the memories were hazy at best. "You…seem to know Sous Chef - Joey I mean. How is that? Are you a friend of his?"

The viera man seemed sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head. "I’m just really bad at introductions, aren’t I? It’s a long and complicated story, but the simplified, easy-to-digest version is that he’s my one and only son."

The viera woman blinked. She stared at the viera man. From the moment they had met, Lavender had realized that the man was gorgeous. His physique looked as though it had been sculpted by the twelve. His blond hair seemed silky to the touch. His skin seemed as soft as a newborn’s. His eyes were as red as rubies.

Like Joey.

Wait.

Lavender felt her eyes go wide. She could see the resemblance, and yet, there were things that did not make sense. Not a single white hair. Not a wrinkle. Not even so much as an age line.

At that moment, the aforementioned son, Joey, came in carrying a laundry basket that seemed to be partially full. “Chef! You’re awake! Are you feeling okay enough? Sorry to barge in. Just was gonna do the laundry and thought I’d do yours, too. And hi, Dad–”

She did not hesitate. She was not even aware of what her body was doing until she started doing it. Lavender put down her goblet of water, jumped off the bed, charged at Joey and dragged him outside for what she anticipated to be a very, very long conversation.

“Aaah!!” Joey cried out as Lavender dragged him off.

Syo blinked. “O~kay, I guess I’ll just sit here..?”

-

Thank you so much to @adeat for the invaluable addition of Syo and Joey to this prompt!

[abeat]

18 - A Fish Out of Water

or, Lavender's poor decisions in life

Buscarron's Druthers had to be the best kept secret in the entire South Shroud. Perhaps the entire Black Shroud, or better yet, throughout the entire universe. The viera woman had traveled far and wide, never stopping anywhere for long except to spend time with friends and family, and of course, for a good drink. Sometimes she only partook of one or two. Sometimes she drank so many her tongue became loose and she became much more vocal about her innermost feelings. Other times she did not really remember.

With everything going on lately, Lavender felt like the time had come to not remember anything. Her sense and her logic told her, repeatedly, that drinking was never the answer. At best, it numbed the pain for a little while so it could be remembered anew the next day.

Her heart, on the other hand, told her that drinking was always the answer regardless of what the question was. At least, today drinking was most definitely the answer.

When she had announced over the linkpearl she shared with her family that she intended to go to Buscarron's Druthers and to start their search for her body there if she did not contact them within 24 hours, her good friend Joey had announced his intention to go with her. To stop her from joining the Palace of the Dead preemptively at the most, and at the least, to stop her from doing a lot of damage.

'You really should not drag Sous Chef into your problems.' her conscience spoke to her.

‘Yeah, you really should not drag Sous Chef into your problems!’ agreed her conscience’s pet dog.

'Well he did volunteer! Cecille will make it up to him.' her vice spoke to her as well.

Thus, to Buscarron's Druthers they went. When Lavender and her good friend crossed the threshold, Buscarron caught sight of her and narrowed his eyes.

"You again?" he asked tersely.

"Me again!" Lavender replied sweetly, placing a bag of gil on the table. At least being an adventurer working odd jobs paid surprisingly well. "You know what I like to taste, Buscarron my man."

The hyur closed his eyes briefly before opening them again, turning to Joey. "At least you brought a bloody chaperone this time. What are you having?"

Joey waved his hand. "Just water for me, please."

Buscarron blinked and turned back to Lavender. "How did you make friends with someone who makes sense?"

“How does ordering water make sense?” Joey muttered.

"Joey is the best viera man in Eorzea!" Lavender nodded proudly as she sat down at her favourite table. "I believe in you, Buscarron!"

“I don’t know about that,” Joey said in response to Lavender’s comment about him.

The barkeep counted out the gil. The viera woman had little to no sense when it came to alcohol, yet at least she always paid her tab and tipped well. Sometimes Buscarron felt like he was stealing from her, but he let it go. He gestured to his wench, who came behind the counter, pulled out two bottles of their customer's favourite drink, along with a pitcher of cool, clean water and a glass for her handsome friend, and went over to the table where the excitable viera woman sat with her straight-laced friend.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Chef?" Joey asked as he watched the wench present him with water while they gave his friend two bottles. "Especially with that corsage."

"Oh it'll be fine, Sous Chef! I'm only going to have two bottles, promise!" Lavender chirped as the wench also brought her a wooden mug. Normally meant for ale, although in this case it served to contain the cider that Lavender would soon be drinking.

Joey folded his arms and narrowed his eyes as Lavender started to fill her mug. He did not have to come here with her often to know she had told him a bold-faced lie. “I’ll make sure it’s just two.”

-

Lavender slammed her mug down on the table. Once she had done so, she let out a loud belch and she giggled. Joey calmly drank his water. He had only drained his pitcher of plain, healthy, sane water while Lavender had started on her eighth bottle. Only two bottles. Right. Joey sighed, more at himself than anything. He did say he would make sure it was just two, but then she sounded so convincing when she pleaded to have one more bottle that he caved in. Then, he turned around and eight more bottles appeared.

“Seriously, Chef, this is the last one–” Joey started, but then interrupted himself when a hyur approached them.

"You know, lass, I've never seen a woman down her liquor the way you do," said the hyur, leaning over her.

Lavender giggled. "I once drank a dwarf under a table!!"

"A dwarf? What's that, sweetheart?"

Joey closed his eyes briefly and rubbed his forehead. This was going to be a long night. "She means a lalafell. She's just had too much to drink." He explained patiently, hoping the hyur was drunk enough to buy it.

"Oh!" the man belched himself. "That's cute! I guess they are pretty dwarfed, har har har!"

Lavender giggled in response. "I know, right?!"

“A really long night,” Joey grumbled. Though since he had volunteered himself, he had no one but himself to blame.

The hyur leaned closer to the very inebriated viera woman. “You think you could drink me under a table, sweetheart?”

“Oh I’m sure I could handle it!” Lavender giggled as she took another swig from her current bottle.

“You can handle me, sweetheart, and that’s an invitation!” the hyur grinned as he invited himself to sit down at their table.

Joey put his hand on Lavender’s and glared at the hyur. “I’m sure she could, but not tonight. She has some things on her mind right now.”

“I’m sure the lady can speak for herself.” the hyur sniffed at the sensible viera man before turning back to the categorically not sensible viera woman. “Can’t you, sweetheart?”

Even in her inebriated state, Lavender’s loyalty to her friends was a priority. She frowned at the hyur. “You heard him! I have things on my mind! I have no room for you! I can drink you under a table from across the room!!”

“Hey!” the hyur growled as he put a hand on Lavender’s arm. “I was just trying to be nice to you and this is how you respond?? You were fine until your pretty boy here opened his mouth!”

“His name isn’t pretty boy!! It’s SOUS CHEF!!”

“It’s–” Joey started. “Nevermind, it doesn’t matter. He’s drunk.” He stood up, sensing that the situation was escalating, but this guy wasn’t taking no for an answer. “You’re right. I opened my mouth. Wanna see me do it again?” Holding his index finger under his lips, he channeled an aero spell from his mouth and blew the hyur back into his coveted table.

The hyur was blown back to his table for all of a moment before his drunken anger spurred him on to greater heights of stupidity. Rather than accept the fact he was obviously outclassed, especially when drunk himself, he picked up his own bottle and smashed it to create a sharp, jagged edge. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing - “ Buscarron roared from behind his bar.

His words were unheeded as the drunken hyur rushed back to where he had been before, specifically aiming for the viera man with his broken bottle. “Let’s see how tough you are now you magic bastard!!”

Joey dashed at the hyur so fast, the viera vanished from plain sight. A well-placed strike disarmed the hyur, sending the jagged bottle sliding across the floor. The next thing the hyur knew, he was lying on the ground in pain. As the hyur moaned, Joey kicked him on the head for good measure, shoving him across the room. Sighing, Joey moved back to his friend’s table just to have his eyes widen in horror.

The broken glass bottle had slid over to Lavender. And she was wielding it.

“OY!” Buscarron started hollering again. “What the hell do you two think you’re doing?! Get a hold of yourself!”

“OKAY!” Lavender cried cheerfully. Her chakrams were somewhere, but the glass bottle seemed to be the better tool at the moment. She blew a kiss to Joey to mark him as her magical dancing partner. “If all you boys want to dance, let’s dance!” She then performed her standard step, wielding her magical broken ale bottle as a weapon.

Catching the attention of everyone at the bar, male and female alike. They all turned to look at the dancer who had bewitched them so.

“AT LEAST TAKE IT OUTSIDE!”

The hyur’s friends decided to take Buscarron up on his suggestion, as they all rose to their feet. As did everyone at the bar. Suddenly smitten, they all started to lunge for Lavender.

“Ohmygodi'mjusttryingtohelpbuti'mjustmakingthisallworse!” Joey covered his face.

Lavender chucked the broken bottle at a nearby wall and switched to her chakrams, having decided they would be the far prettier weapon. Wielding her trusty chakrams, she started to perform a spinning move, spinning around with her chakrams on chains to make sure she hit everything and anything in the vicinity. Rather than fight the tide, or in this case the alcohol, Joey augmented Lavender’s movements with the power of wind. Lavender became a near-literal tornado as, with each spin, a new body flew out of the bar until the bar became completely empty except for him, Lavender, and poor Buscarron.

“Could you not trash my alehouse?!” Buscarron shouted, but no one was listening.

“What’s wrong, Buscarron? Another fire?” asked a man’s voice from near the bartender.

Once she had stopped spinning and the bar had been cleared of all of its other customers, Lavender stopped to see whom she had missed.

“Syo! Man, am I glad to finally see a sane person in this mess. This bloody idiot and her friend are trashing my damn place!” A vein had started to pop in the barkeeper’s forehead. “Can’t you do something about these two?! Since her damn drunken dance just took out everyone ELSE in the bar!”

“I thought I felt a cool breeze.” The blond viera by Buscaroon, Syo, wiped his brow. “Leave it to me. I’ll handle…”

He stopped as he saw the two denizens still left in the bar. One was the beautiful viera woman he had encountered the other day in Thanalan. The other was a male viera with the exact same hair colour as him, and–if one inspected their features more closely–they’d see more than a passing resemblance. The taller man of the two opened his mouth to speak, but Joey beat him to the verbal punch.

“Dad…!” said Joey.

Syo blinked. “Son!”

“‘Syo’?” Joey repeated. “Is that the name you’re going by now?”

Syo chuckled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. “Eh heh, it’s a long story…”

Had her brain not been soaked with alcohol, Lavender probably would have been shocked to hear this exchange. In this case, since her brain had been utterly drenched in alcohol to the point it had probably replaced any other bodily fluids in her cranial cavity, she continued to act without care for the consequences.

“OOOOH, the hot DILF!!” Lavender exclaimed as she ran over to Syo and threw her arms around him. She then attacked him with a kiss.

“Eh heh heh…” Syo turned his head to let Lavender kiss his cheek. Not that he didn’t appreciate the gesture, but he didn’t want her to have any embarrassing stories by the time she sobered up. “L-let’s take you to the Carline Canopy. Preferably with a pitcher of water and a bucket nearby.”

-

Thank you so very much to @adeat for loaning Joey and Syo again, and for helping me write this one!!

[abeat]

16 - Jerk

Once she left the Lavender Beds, the viera woman decided to return to New Gridania, or Old Gridania, depending on which section of the city-state she set foot on. She ran the risk of running into potential suitors drawn by the corsage, but she ran that risk anywhere she went now.

Besides, maybe her mysterious saviour would reappear to save her from the potential suitor, although that was both wishful thinking and probably a waste of time. She did not want to incur the curse just for the sake of potentially finding the man of her destiny, or something like that.

'Knowing my luck, he's probably already married to the man of his dreams!' Lavender though bitterly as she disembarked from the ferry and started to head into the city-state. 'Maybe a nice drink at the Carline Canopy would be good for my nerves right now.'

The viera woman had only just stepped off the dock when a voice spoke to her.

"Jerked Jhammel for you, sweetheart?"

"Huh?" Lavender just turned her head when an elezen man draped an arm around her.

She found herself uncomfortably close to the ferry skipper at the Westshore Pier. He had draped his right arm around her while the left arm was shoving some cooked meat in her face.

"Er, no thank you.." Lavender started to push both the elezen and his offering of meat away from her.

"Are you sure? It's tough but it's delicious." He leaned in closer to whisper to her in what she guessed was an attempt to be seductive. "Like you I bet, sweetheart."

She could also feel his right hand slowly creep down her back. She sighed and grabbed it with her own right hand, stopping its descent towards the only real destination at the end of her back.

"If your hand goes any lower, sweetheart, you're going to find out how tough I can be." Lavender hissed as she stomped on his right foot and shoved him away from her.

Forget the Carline Canopy. She needed something far stiffer. The time had come to go to Buscarron's Druthers.

[abeat]

15 - Portentous

The small, talented hands of the beautiful miqo'te gently laid out five cards across the table as Lavender watched the cards very carefully. She furrowed her brow as she watched her miqo'te friend stare down at the cards. Lavender looked down too to see what had been revealed.

A card full of clouds, a woman, a big fish, a ring, and a coffin.

A coffin?

Lavender steadied her breathing as she looked up at her friend, Reonora Aesthete, who was doing the reading. After meeting the handsome stranger who had rescued her from the perverted lalafell around Black Brush Station, he had escorted her back to civilization and then disappeared. He had not made a pass at her. He had not even looked at her for very long. The corsage had not affected him in the slightest. She had even tried awkwardly stepping out of range and back into it, and still, nothing. The one time she wanted the damn thing to work, it had failed her. The handsome viera had vanished as quickly as he had appeared in her life, and Lavender found herself unable to stop thinking about him. Instead of torturing herself by pursuing another man to inevitably have it not work out, Lavender decided to turn to the stars for some advice. Thus here she sat, having her fortune read by Reonora.

When the coffin had appeared.

'Would be my luck!' Lavender thought as she saw Reonora look up at her again.

The miqo'te brushed some white silky hair out of her face before she started to speak. "The woman faces to the right. Whatever she faces is of importance - her most greatest item of importance being The Fish. Which, as you know, commonly refers to monetary value. But metaphorically or spiritually, we can also see the fish as values close to our hearts."

"That makes sense…" Lavender said softly as she glanced at the coffin card again.

The fortune teller caught her look of dread. "Ah… please don't be alarmed. The Coffin is not necessarily a bad card. It gives way to the new! A rebirth, you can say." Reonora looked down at the cards, furrowing her own brow now. Lavender thought she heard the miqo'te mutter something about how this was the second time in the past few days that the Coffin had shown up in a reading, but before she could confirm, Reonora continued. "She faces the mental fog of her doubts and confusion. She perhaps has found the spiritual connection she has long sought after and she fears it will fade away beyond her grasp."

The viera started to feel a bit attacked. Not because Reonora had insulted her, rather, because it felt as though the miqo'te saw straight through her. Her life had become so muddled as of late that she felt it a wonder that she woke up every day and got through each day. No matter how much she wanted to hide away from the world, time marched forward without mercy, forcing her along with it. Once she had felt sure she knew where she was going in her life, but recent events had cast all of that into the fog of doubt. The corsage did not help, and now even fortune telling cards were calling her on it.

"However, the fog will be lifted and her mind will become clear upon forging a bond." Reonora's voice broke into her thoughts.

Lavender realized she had heard something similar lately. She looked to the side as she remembered what the words were.

"Looks like no matter what I do, even breaking the curse or reversing it, the spell is set to reform itself until someone remains with you… or the thirty days are up."

'Oh right! Sous Chef said the same thing about the corsage. Did the corsage mean for me to meet that man after all?'

As far as Lavender knew, Reonora could read fortunes but not minds. Although what she said next made Lavender wonder about it. "Perhaps the cards are telling you to pursue this man, and that fate will bring you to him anew. If you two are destined for each other, I am certain of this."

Lavender looked down at the corsage. She had not told Reonora about the curse - not out of a lack of trust. It had been more she had been so focused on seeking celestial advice that it had not occurred to her to tell her friend about it. Now that Lavender had heard the reading, she could not help noticing how eerily the cards had tapped into the same things Joey had told her about the corsage. Was she meant to have the corsage after all? She looked down at it as her thoughts started to swirl. Was Reonora right and she was destined for this man?

Having said that… how was she going to find him?

-

Thank you, as always, to @adeat for Reonora's cameo and pictures of Reonora's lovely house!

[abeat]

11 - Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Eleven days into the curse, it did not feel like her luck was improving much, if at all. Even though she had had a new suitor chasing after her almost every day, it seemed that the curse had been going for quantity rather than quality. Even the other day, someone had come up to her to randomly start spouting some terrible poetry about how fair he found her. It had been another person that Lavender had run far, far away from him.

'When I said I wanted a sign I was worth it, this was not what I had in mind!' Lavender grumbled internally as she found herself wandering the fields beyond Lima Lominsa. She normally saw more people within the bustling city-state itself rather than around it. She had never considered herself a social butterfly, although she had always enjoyed the company of her friends.

Her troubles later had made her feel very self-conscious and paranoid, to the point she had started to avoid populated areas as much as she could. She tugged on the infernal corsage as she walked. It would not leave her wrist. Not even when she stopped to bathe would the accursed thing come off. At least once she left the bath, it returned to its original state, as though it had never been wet at all.

Part of her hated how fearful she had become of other people. That at any moment they were going to profess a love for her that they did not feel. She normally tried to be nice to such people, since she knew how it felt to love someone and be rejected, yet lately she just ran away. She was running out of willpower to deal with these cursed encounters. Had they been coming at her for a fight, she probably would have endured that better than them coming at her with love and praises while she knew full well they did not mean it.

Once bitten, twice shy. Lavender was beginning to wonder if she would know love if it bit her in the face now. True love, and not just some hyur's magical corsage toying with her life and her emotions. Or whatever had happened.

"Um.."

Speaking of the corsage.

Lavender shut her eyes briefly before she turned to find herself facing a petite au ra woman. Not that it meant much since all au ra women were petite. The woman came up to slightly under Lavender's breasts or somewhere thereabouts, although that was not what caught Lavender's attention. The woman was holding an azeyma rose in her hand, and the viera woman could only guess what she wanted to do with it. At least this poor bewitched soul did not seem as off the wall as all of the other ones she had encountered.

"I just…saw you wandering around and…could not forget how beautiful you are so…" the au ra woman shuffled a bit, looking down at the azeyma rose before she looked back up at Lavender. "And I…I…I…I wanted to give you this…"

'Wait she followed me all the way out here?' Lavender thought to herself as she looked down at the rose. Still, given the nervous expression and timid posture, this potential suitor seemed no more a threat than a billowing weed. Of course appearances could be deceiving. For a moment, Lavender felt tempted to actually engage further with the tiny woman just to see what would happen. 'I might as well slap her in the face if I was to go on a date with her for my own curiosity. I can't do that. That's not fair to either of us.' With a sigh, Lavender took the au ra's woman hand proffering the rose into her two hands, holding it gently. The au ra woman looked up at her with a shy smile and a blush spreading across her cheeks. Somehow this seemed like the worst encounter by far.

"Listen to me, lovely." Lavender started with a heavy heart. What she would not give for Leviathan to appear at that moment to drown specifically her. That would be far better than what she was about to do. "You seem like a sweet lady and if my circumstances were different, I would enjoy nothing more than sitting down to have a nice cup of tea with you to get to know you better. Yet the fact is, right now, my life is sheer hell and I have been cursed."

The au ra blinked as the viera continued dumping her woes unto the smaller of the pair.

"Right now certain people seem bewitched to fall in love with me when they see me. I am worried it has affected you too." Before the tiny au ra could open her mouth to protest, Lavender put a finger to her lips. "Please believe me. I am sure there is someone who loves you very much who would love to receive that rose, and you deserve to love someone because that is how you feel, not because of some awful curse."

The au ra looked utterly defeated. Lavender held her shoulders. "A sweet lady like you deserves all the best in life and love, trust me on that."

The smaller woman looked down at her feet, still clutching her azeyma rose. Lavender was not used to being the one doing the turning down, but she wondered if she had ever made any of her lovers feel so awful. Rather than linger to make the poor au ra feel worse, she pulled out a whistle to summon her faithful chocobo, mounting him and taking off. Once she felt she was a safe distance away, she turned to look back over her shoulder. The au ra woman had started looking around, seemingly bewildered. With a sigh of relief, Lavender turned her attention forward and kept riding.

'That would have been nice if that had been genuine. I wonder if it ever will be. Oooh…I should just get out of here..' Lavender's thoughts began to swirl miserably as she nudged her chocobo companion onward to anywhere away from her current location.

Only to bump into another woman. Lavender pulled on the reins to stop her chocobo from potentially running someone over.

"I thought I recognized that saucy chocobo and red dress! Hi Lav!" a bright voice called to her, waving at her from the ground.

"What the? Cecille? What are you doing out here?" Lavender blinked, looking down at her sister. One of them anyway.

"Joey and I are going on a date to the Bismarck!" Cecille proclaimed proudly with her hand on her hips. "I'm just rushing over there now!"

"Awww…" Lavender felt a twinge of envy, but she shoved it aside. "That sounds so nice, Cecille. But what are you doing out here then?"

"I ah…ran out of money so I was walking." The miqo'te said sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head.

Lavender narrowed her eyes. "What did you spend your money on? Actually, nevermind. Just come here. I will give you some gil."

"Are you sure? I honestly just wanted to say hi, I didn't mean to hit you up for money -" Cecille started waving her hands frantically.

"Oooh, don't be ridiculous, Cecille, and just come take the gil." Lavender held out a small bag to her extremely silly sister.

Cecille puffed out her cheeks at the older woman. "Okay fine! Geeze! Such a nag.." the miqo'te came over and took the bag. She counted it quickly before her eyes went wide. "Are you sure this is okay!?"

"Under no circumstances should be you late for your date with your husband!" the viera wagged her finger at her younger sister.

Cecille's expression softened then. "Speaking of husband…I'm…sorry what happened with you and Ash."

Lavender shut her eyes briefly. "Eh, me too. It is what it is. He's a good man. It just…didn't work out. That's all."

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Cecille asked in a rare moment of somberness for the miqo'te. Normally she was busy rushing off doing her own thing and dragging everyone and anyone along with her if she felt like it.

Even her impulsive sister had become worried.

The viera hopped down off her chocobo and stepped closer to her sister. "You want to do something for me?"

"Yeah!" the miqo'te nodded. "Just name it and I'll do what I can!"

Lavender wrapped her arms around the smaller woman, who instantly returned the embrace. When they pulled away, Cecille blinked up at Lavender. "Lav-O?"

The viera pat her sister's head. "Go have a nice date with your husband and don't worry about me. That's what you can do for me now."

"Okay.." Cecille pouted at her sister.

Rather than keep waiting around looking at the sad face, Lavender got back on her chocobo and took off under the sky. She loved all of her sisters dearly, but at the moment, she wanted to be alone.

-

Cecille is Joey's wife in game, and Joey belongs to @adeat.

[abeat]

7 - Noisome

Twice now, Lavender had attempted to avoid other people by going to remote locations, and twice now, they had somehow managed to find her. Becoming fed up with having her peace constantly interrupted by the accursed corsage and its magic. Since hiding from people in remote areas had not worked thus far, she decided to try hiding in plain sight.

Now she found herself wandering through Ul'dah. To her it had always seemed like one of the busiest places in all of Eorzea. At least it had always been a place to easily lose gil. As she roamed the streets of Ul'dah, Lavender drew a sigh of relief. It seemed the streets of Ul'dah were far too busy for the corsage to find someone to curse and thus torment her. Normally she disliked crowds however today she welcomed them. She even took a chance to sit on a bench in public and relax for a bit. Just to take in the sights.

"Ah…ah…oh…oh Adam!"

Lavender sighed. It seemed Ul'dah was also a place where people could freely express themselves, their love and evidently, their pleasure. At least she took comfort in the fact that attention had not been on her. She glanced down the bench to see a man and a woman locked in a passionate embrace of limbs and lips. She could not help but feel a twitch of envy in heart. Not that she would want to make out in the middle of Ul'dah's streets. Still, at least she had not been noticed.

"Adam? What's wrong?"

"Never in my life have I ever laid my eyes upon such beauty."

'Ah, crap.' Lavender hung her head.

"Adam? What are you talking about?" the woman sounded bewildered as Adam, the hyur man, had turned towards Lavender instead.

"What is your name, beautiful lady?" Adam sat besides her, getting far too personal in her personal space.

"I was thinking either Gridania or Foundation.." Lavender muttered to herself, hoping to remove herself from the situation and hopefully prevent the disruption to yet another couple.

"Wherever you go, fair maiden, let me go with you." Adam spoke softly as he took one of her hands into her own. "Your beauty has captivated me beyond all sense and reason, and though I do not know your name, I know from this moment on I cannot live without you."

Lavender was trying to pull both her hand and the rest of herself away from yet another passionate admirer, yet it seemed the man was much stronger than herself.

"Adam! I can't believe you!" the woman stood up, glowering at the man. "You hussy! Where did you even come from??"

"It's not like I asked him to turn to me next!" Lavender shot back at the woman.

"Begone, ugly shrew!" Adam stood up, shouting at the woman. "You are coming between me and my true love here!"

"TRUE LOVE? You don't even know her name you arrogant prick!"

"Love by any other name would still be love!"

"That makes no sense whatsoever!"

"OOOOH!" Lavender finally stood up, knocking the creep away with a quick performance of standard step. As he went flying, she turned to face the woman who had been deeply offended.

Rather than comment further, the woman sat down and looked away. Despite that Lavender knew full well that none of this was her fault, she could not help but feel guilty as she tried to comfort the woman.

"You can do better than that idiot! You'll meet a man worthy of you, fall in love and be happy! Or something!" Lavender did her best to smile as she tried to comfort the woman. "So ah…it'll be okay!"

The glare she received in return could wilt the needles of a cactuar. Lavender looked down at the corsage. 'How many days left? Twenty-three? This cannot end soon enough.'

[abeat]

6 - Ring

In her association with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, at least when they had been officially formed, Lavender had seen many a worthy adventurer come and go through the Waking Sands. She herself had visited the base a few times on her errands for the Scions, which mostly involved food. The fact that the place had been incredibly remote in Vesper Bay in Western Thanalan had made many a Scion member grumble, herself among them, yet today it would serve as a safe haven. Since the Scions had long ago moved to the much more accessible Mor Dhona, Vesper Bay did not see half the foot traffic it had seen in previous years.

Making it the ideal hiding spot. With barely any life left in the area, it seemed an easy and natural thing to hide out around the Waking Sands. Surely not even a cursed corsage could inspire romantic intentions, real or bewitched, in anyone. The building had been the location of a raid that had resulted in mass murder after all. There could be no way that anyone in their right mind would come out here to see the place and thus the viera would never be found. Except by Joey of course. He could not stay by her side for the whole thirty days of course, but he had promised to check on her while the curse was ongoing.

'I wonder why it doesn't work on Sous Chef?' Lavender thought to herself as she walked through Vesper Bay, thinking of her good friend. 'I guess because he's married and already in love? Or because he's magically inclined he can resist other magic? Sounds like the sort of thing I need to ask Hol sometime. Or ask Sous Chef. Or ask him again. Did I ask him already? I probably did..'

As had happened many times already this month, Lavender soon had her reverie rudely interrupted by yet another cursed individual. A tall and imposing roegadyn appeared before her, and before she could either flee through teleportation or try to diffuse the situation, he went down on bended knee before her. Lavender took a step back to put some distance between them as the roegadyn reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.

'Oh no way, this can't be what I think it is-' the viera started to panic

Rather than use words, the roegadyn man simply opened up the box to reveal a ring inside, proffering it to her with a wide smile on his face, as though she was supposed to understand what he was getting at through the gesture alone. Lavender had no idea how to start unpacking this incident. The fact that someone had found her in the remote Vesper Bay and been cursed by the corsage; the fact that the victim had presented her with a ring; the fact that the victim had been carrying a ring at all; or perhaps the most troubling fact of all, the fact that the roegadyn had been carrying a ring suggested he meant it for someone else, and his love for that person did not stand up against a curse to bewitch him to fall in love with someone else.

Lavender had no intention of hanging around for the unfolding drama. She teleported away once again, paying the invisible toll collector the toll to get as far away from the roegadyn man as possible.

'How many days left? Twenty-four?' she thought miserably as she disappeared into the aether. 'I really should go live in a cave somewhere!!'

-

As always, thank you to @adeat for providing a roegadyn for the screenshot and the idea!

[abeat]

4 - Off the Hook

The somewhere, anywhere that Joey had chosen turned out to be Dhoro Illoh on the Azim Steppe, where, amongst other people, the Namazu had decided to pitch camp and advertise their festival that was meant to advert the destruction of their clan. Truthfully Lavender had not visited them in awhile since they seemed to have their festival well in hand, yet today it seemed as safe a haven as any. Rather than teleport back to civilization, Joey and Lavender seemed to have the same idea to help out with the festival by fishing. If only to take Lavender’s mind off of things.

Usually she had no patience for such fishing, but in terms of helping her avoid the general populace over the next thirty days and distract herself, one of her least favourite endeavors felt like the best activity she could possibly undertake. It took concentration, luck, and traveling to remote locations. Perfect for her purposes.

Or so she thought.

After standing side by side with Joey for awhile, tossing out the line and reeling back a variety of fish, Lavender caught something heavy–a big fish. Much bigger than anything she had caught thus far. She quickly pulled her line backwards. Joey went behind his friend and wrapped his arms on hers, his hands on his to give her extra support.

“All right, Chef, we got this!” said Joey. “One… two…”

With a sharp yank, the fish sailed out of the waters and landed on two feet. And just before either viera commented that this fish was indeed bipedal, they saw the rest of the fish’s features: a large belled collar, red robe and a white headband.

A namazu had been caught on her line.

Before Lavender even had the chance to ask the poor helpless fish if he was okay, he suddenly jumped to his feet, looked her square in the eyes and started waving his arms in a sort of frantic dance. “Let us be a wonderful couple together, yes yes!”

“No no!” Joey instantly replied, and before either Lavender or the namazu could respond, the viera man picked up the talking catfish and chucked him off into the distance as far as his toned arms could throw the creature. It sailed high over Azim Khaat and vanished over the horizon with a ping.

Lavender sighed. Not even the distance of the Azim Steppe could separate her from the magic of the accursed corsage. She wondered if her best bet would be to become a hermit and start scratching off the days on the wall.

-

Credit to @adeat for Joey and contributing Joey's lines. Thank you as always!!