#minfilia WILL come back

[stubbornyucca]

I suppose the time has come to suffer...

[fheythfully]

6.3.24 NG+

[haunted-xander]

Farewell

[charulein]

Ough, I need to do a write up of how meeting Venat changed Stubborn,,,,,

[sheeshiki]

if anything is going to happen to her i'll kill everyone in my party and then myself

[thefinalwitness]

"it does not... make you sad?"

"should it? rain is rather sparse back home. yet it is as a lifeblood. a gift. i should want to accept it with gratitude."

"..."

#minfilia #meteion

[drkcatt]

hmmm... wouldnt krile be at minfilias funeral?? or not??

(side note: anon is so excited that krile is important for dt, shes anons fav msq char)

the honest explanation is that i just wanted to keep it as a scene between a'vaya and f'lhaminn. the lore explanation is that i think f'lhaminn specifically asked a'vaya because she knew that a'vaya needed to see the burial the most out of everyone due to how she mourned minfilia, and she probably wouldn't have said anything if it was a big event. i think the scions had plans to do a greater ceremony but um... SOMEONE threw a wrench in that by COMING BACK TO LIFE

don't worry though, krile is important in this au im not brushing her off! im really excited to see her get a spotlight in dawntrail !!! beloved krill :)

[icewitcher]

Me After doing the dragoon job quest lv 50 and going to the Scions HQ After beating Titan in the MSQ

[wintersneg]

what the fuck did minfilia, the most woman ever, just fucking die???????? this is so fucked up wtf ????? why would they do this to me?? girl please say sike this is so fucked up this is so upsetting i need a lobotomy

[thefinalwitness]

:)

Has your WoL ever been in love?

[impossible-rat-babies]

tossing around Several Thoughts:

—charon is an old soul. returned to the star only a handful of times, and she as herself has been around for A Very Long Time. it’s a funny thing about her soul, the desire for longevity. her dominion over fate and ushering the dead means she rarely crosses the boundary herself. and when she does cross, it often comes with periods of stagnation; few people feel the urge to return to the star when there is no longer the warden to shepherd them. This part of her soul carries on in 1.0, and her place as the Caretaker of the mother. eyrie takes after more of her adventure and dominion over fate (in an abstract sense of the word) while 1.0 takes after the ushering the dead in a literal sense. Two sides of the same coin. funny how part of charon ended up in the longest lived humanoid race on the star.

—her current reincarnation is much younger—more “fresh” lol she’s close to elidibus’s age. Her memories and dense soul very much persist. however this is her first time being in the position of Azem.

—eyrie’s echo was sparked by hydaelyn, yes, and much of how it manifested is eyrie seeing not only the past and living it, but the compulsion of love; the love they feel is intense and as abiding as hydaelyn’s love for people and the world. the thing is that much of that was shaped by eyrie themselves; they love deeply and without reserve, albeit it’s quiet. it’s a whisper and a gesture, but always abiding. their echo merely built upon the core of their being.

[tsunael]

wolcred week |  1. 'the first.'

They all knew it was coming. Either their brightest star would claim the last of the Light, or the Light would claim her.

What were they to do but careen to their inevitable deaths? He had sacrificed one lamb for another, and now a third was to be laid upon the butcher's block. How many must die so that another might live?

He would not forget the sight of the woman before him, holding her outstretched hands aloft as the curtain of Light parted one last time to reveal the night sky in all her glory. Menphina smiled down in a smirk of a crescent for their efforts, and just as she had appeared, was the curtain drawn once again.

He didn’t need an aetherometer to see that Tsuna was suffused– the aether was thick, cloying enough to be seen. The ewer of her body failed to contain it, finally splitting at the seams for a means of escape.

Their ascian friend dealt the final blow. The Exarch, in his well-meaning duplicity, left for dead. And then Tsuna slumped to the ground, just as lifeless.

He ought to be angry– furious– for Urianger’s joint deception, for his own empty hands, or for the cards Sister Fate had dealt them time and time again, but the queer feeling roiling within him was not one of anger, but of fear. He stood there, powerless, shaking to his core whilst the twins rushed to Tsuna’s aid alongside Ryne.

Even Minfilia could not wholly extinguish the Light– she could only freeze it in time– and as Ryne sank to her knees beside the supine woman in hopes of doing the same, he could only watch in abject horror.

“Give her room,” he barked, though the twins were undeserving of his ire as he approached. They still took a collective step back.

Brilliant white blood readily trickled from Tsuna’s nose, and by way of her laboured breathing it was evident that she was being torn apart by a force of which a layman could not hope to see. Something within Tsuna was stirring, whether it was brought about by her own will, or by Ryne’s suppression, he couldn’t know.

It began first in her hands as they twitched and grasped for purchase, then her spine as it coiled. Her eyes snapped open, hungry and searching, as she lunged for the Oracle’s throat in hopes of supping upon the wellspring.

Thancred fell to his knees, wrestling the woman onto her back as an inhuman screech tore from her throat. “Don't stop!”  he cried out, harsh with concerted effort. There was an unnatural strength burgeoning within her tiny frame that even as a man grown he struggled to contend with, and if Ryne did not finish the ritual, it would swallow them whole.

Ryne was shaken, but nothing if not determined. The power flowed through her once more, and Tsuna’s struggles came to a head. She thrashed upon the ground against his weight, spitting blood, and gnashing teeth. She would bite her tongue if it kept up-- he could barely hold her steady long enough for Ryne to work in her magicks. 

“In our lifetime, please!” 

"I'm trying!" "Ryne made a frustrated growl of effort as a bead of sweat rolled down her cheek. The very aether about them seemed to compress, tangible enough that even he could feel it become leaden as it coalesced.

Tsuna cried out one last time, waning to a whine as she pushed wildly against his arms, seizing. Her legs writhed as if a sudden, great pain knifed through her. And then all was silent. 

Ryne immediately flagged, catching herself on the marble. Her power had all but been exhausted whilst he held the aftermath limp in his arms. Y’shtola and Urianger had begun to crowd about, to inquire, to plan, to move, but all he could do was hold the small woman in his arms, and pray to the Twelve, unseen, that the Light did not break through once again whilst their last bastion was too weak to hold.

“Ryne,” he called, softly, intently. Apology was writ together in his tone. “Are you all right?”

She nodded, though he knew she waned, looking close to tears from it all.

He swallowed thickly, realising he shared in the sentiment. 

Adjusting Tsuna’s body in his arms, he felt just how cold she had grown. They needed a chirurgeon's assistance, and to get off this Godsforsaken rock, but more than that they needed a miracle. His hands would not stop trembling.

“Ryne, you know that I would not deign to ask a favour of you.” He breathed for a long moment, hanging his head low in penance. “Gods–” He swore. “You have to help her. I– We can’t lose her to this.”

Ryne stared back at him, having caught her breath, eyes wide, and glassy. She was searching him for something he couldn't know.

She opened her mouth, before aborting the question. Finally, she pursed her lips, looking uneasy in a way that only managed to make him feel worse. 

“I’ll do what I can,” she whispered, and he had no choice but to believe.

[wind-up-thancred]

bit of thancred character musing under the cut that im gonna try to approximate from a 6am discord rambling into something i can actually post. both SHB and EW spoilers included

i saw some folks talking on twt about how guilt seems to be a very important factor in his life and i agree. i think a lot of major parts of his character and arcs have been due to guilt over something he did (or didnt even really do, re: the whole goobue rampage situation). it's driven him to work his ass off after louisoix which lead to him getting possessed... but its probably also what motivated him to do better for ryne after being forced to look his fuckups directly in the eye instead of just wallowing about them. but i think, at the same time, he doesnt really seem to, like... actually be proud of himself for a lot of the stuff he's done in order to work off that guilt? the biggest giveaway for that being the line in endwalker on the ragnarok where he talks about his "good deeds" cynically and seems to insist that they were never really that impactful in the first place. that they'll just go to dust when he dies.

in shb, during the ahm areng segment, not only does he talk down on himself in general, but also puts down his attempts to help OG minfilia back in the pre-ARR days... when i'm pretty sure she never even blamed him for the goobue rampage in the first place.

it's all a little bit sad to me, tbh. i've seen some people reason that, because he was only able to escape poverty due to louisoix seeing potential in his thieving skills, he's essentially internalized the idea that he's only really worth keeping around by ANYONE if he's actively being productive, either helping others or trying to fix whatever fuckups he feels he's made. i think that would explain a lot of this

note the "few positive traits" line, which to me comes across as "i was only picked up out of childhood poverty because he thought my skills were useful." though i don't really know how much of that mentality he's managed to work past by post endwalker. he IS able to go off on his own, and mentions that he trusts the scions to keep themselves safe now... but as i ranted about before, the short story points out that he's only really content to rest briefly before he feels obligated again to seek out unrest to try and help, specifically mentioning minfilia again. also, a couple times during the story, notably post ARR after his possession, mid SHB after he's wounded in a fight with sineaters, and post SHB after he passes out due to the weakening soul-body bond, he seems to dislike even having to rest for medical reasons

it's a pretty interesting part of his character to me. idk if the writers specifically had his rigorous upbringing in mind when they wrote these parts of his character, but to me it would make a lot of sense as an explanation for why he's so averse to rest and why he carries so much guilt and why he's so passionate about keeping the folks around him safe. that's kinda been his whole reason for life since he was a kid-- using his skills for the benefit of others. to him, doing anything other than that would be a waste, it seems.

idk. funny guy makes my heart hurt. yes i had all these dialogue screencaps saved and on hand. yes i am a little insane. what of it

[charulein]

Not me writing something that will tear me asunder emotionally once I've progressed with shb lmao

[haunted-xander]

Another thing that fucks me up about Thancred & Ryne's relationship through most of shb is that Thancred KNOWS hes messing up he KNOWS hes making tons of mistakes with how he deals with Ryne. He knows full well but doesn't do anything about it. He knows he should reassure her but he doesn't, and he probably doesn't even think he can. Because he knows it won't be completely genuine (and Thancred doesn't even know how to be genuine to begin with) and Ryne is too smart to not see that. And because Ryne already has such a low view of herself she'd never accept his words even if they WERE genuine. Because she still knows that Minfilia means more to him than she does.

And Ryne knows that he's fucking up the entire time too. She knows that he's stressed and grieving but she also thinks she knows his feelings better than she does. Ryne assumes a lot about Thancred, she fills in the blanks between everything he doesn't say or do, but she always fills them in negatively. To her, the default is ALWAYS going to be people wishing she was someone she wasn't, because that's all she's ever know (Vauthry saw her as just "the Oracle" and Ran'jit saw her as just another "Minfilia"). She knows Thancred knows she's not Minfilia, but she thinks he wishes she was (and she's not really wrong, but it's not correct either).

And Thancred is scared to say anything, because he doesn't want to decided her life for her, because he knows Ryne's life is her's to do with as she pleases, but in doing so he inadvertly pushes her towards the option no one really wants. Minfilia doesn't want to come back at Ryne's expense, Ryne doesn't want to just be "Minfilia" for eternity, and Thancred doesn't really want to lose Ryne either.

It's only as the final decision is at hand that Thancred really shows that he DOES care about her as an individual person. It's only after Ryne has already decided to take her life into her own hands that she gets to understand, just a bit, of how he really feels.

[anneapocalypse]

As I've been putting together a timeline for fic purposes I have been going back over dialogue and cutscenes for a LOT of old quests--all of ARR especially kind of blurs together in my head so I've needed a refresher to remember the order things happened in, and something jumps out at me

and that's that Urianger getting drawn in by Elidibus and deciding to act alone without telling any of the Scions what he's doing, in addition to coming not long after Moenbryda's death, also corresponds pretty directly to Minfilia not being around to check in with him anymore.

I think it's evident in ARR how much Urianger looks to Minfilia, how much he respects her and how much trust he places in her as a leader. As the Antecedent she is in many ways Louisoix's successor; she's the glue that's holding together these two groups with aligned goals but pretty different reasons for being there, Louisoix's archon book club and Minfilia's echo support group. After the Scions move to the Rising Stones and Urianger stays at the Waking Sands as its caretaker, more than ever it's probably Minfilia who is keeping him in the loop.

And then one day she's just gone. And Urianger is still in touch with the Warrior of Light and Alphinaud and Tataru as he aids in the search for the missing Scions... but his anchor is missing. The one person he might have turned to is now beyond his reach. And in a way, he still does turn to her; it is Minfilia on whom his plan ultimately hinges, once he knows she has been chosen as Hydaelyn's intermediary. But any chance to consult with her before he undertakes all his shadowy maneuvering is denied him.

I just wonder how differently things would have gone for him, had he not lost her too.