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furymint · 4 months ago

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FFXIV Write 2024 | header | wc: 1,376 | cw: elliot's bad parenting | i kidnapped @houseshadowstar for this

If nothing else, Elena did look cute. Even as she pouted and complained that she was hungry, and even when Elliot had to remove her rings after they'd caught in her lace collar for the second time, she didn't entirely look like a four year old child set on establishing Elliot’s unmitigated doom. That was a good start.

As he herded her towards the door of his chambers, he realized that navigating through the cathedral and to the carriage was going to be impossible. He refused to hold her hand. Their heights were simply incompatible: he would have to lean to the side as he walked just to match her, and part of him would rather never go out again than be seen like that. Carrying her was more impossible. In the end, Elliot settled on the assistance of an iris. With the end of the stem in his hand and the flower in hers, he bridged the gap.

They made it to the carriage without further issue. The ostiary even complimented Elena's hairpiece—not that she noticed—while they trundled down the snow-lined path. Her deadweight didn't help him lift her into the cab, and her seat right at the window didn't help him join her, but Elliot comforted himself in thinking that the Shadowstar residence was not far.

"Their names are Ceridwen and Sirus," Elliot coached her.

Elena pushed her cheek into the window and said, "Mm."

The iris didn't work once they reached the stairs ascending to the front doors. Elliot took her hand to balance and encourage her through each tall step, inwardly noting the committed scrunch of her face as something to tell Nolanel.

Since there was no guard to admit them, Elliot let Elena press the doorbell.

Ceridwen answered just as Elena began scraping her new shoes against the stoop.

"Elliot! I'm so glad we could have you. Sirus is inside; I have him tending my chocolate to watch for bubbles. I hope the two of you have the time to wait for it to set?" Ceridwen took both of Elliot’s hands fondly and squeezed them.

"I hope so," he returned, looking pleadingly at Elena.

Ceridwen shifted her attention to the girl too. "Miss Elena, have you had pan au chocolate afore?"

She thought about it. "Can I have one?"

"They'll be finished soon," Ceridwen promised.

Elliot inched forward. "I apologize for being so direct, but do you have any refreshments immediately available?"

"I'm hungry," interjected Elena.

"Oh, good!" said Ceridwen.

Elena turned her head toward the left wall. "It doesn't feel good."

"We have plenty to fix that—we just have to join my brother." Ceridwen turned slowly to lead the ungainly pair into the estate.

Her massive tulle skirt rippled as she walked, flowing around the legs of side tables and undulating through open doorways.

Elena pursued the rustling sound as they walked. In under ten seconds, her walk became a run, and the run into a complete forward tumble.

"No no no—Don't—Ugh!" Elliot wailed, reaching for her.

She didn't care. The tiny girl hugged the plush fabric, no worse for wear, and giggled as she stood with iron fists of fluff.

Ceridwen laughed with her, then knelt to to inquire if she were truly fine.

"It's not fine at all!" Elliot started, his voice rising in its pique. "She can be so inconsiderate of people. Clothes are as much of a person as all of their property. She's mistaken a lady's dress skirts for the curtains once, and tried to hide among them—I still have not lived it down."

Three things happened. Ceridwen ignored Elliot, offered her hand to Elena, and waited for the girl to bore herself when help was refused.

Elliot watched those three things from another world. It surprised him how much he hated them. If he were a different man, he would have patience, acceptance, and humor. He knew he had those things—for others. For the girl who was suddenly in his life until he died, and who he did not want there, he had none.

But she was just a child in a new place-—and it was no fault of hers that she didn't trust him. He didn't want to be near her—-she was mercurial and weird and loud—and he had work to do that couldn't include a blind urchin.

They were stuck with each other whether they liked it or not when Nolanel left. He couldn't just tell her that she'd been abandoned so Nolanel could return to war. He couldn't be her father, either, although he had no good reason for that.

He and Elena were acquaintances living together, even if she had no appreciation for poetry and he did not share her fondness for ripping paper into tiny strips. Sometimes he was convinced that she calculated her day according to what would annoy him most.

But if he wanted Elena to behave politely, then he must be polite first. His voice lowered. "Thank you for being so kind. I don't know what I'm doing."

Ceridwen frowned pityingly, but in a way that showed she disapproved. "Do you not recall a whit of Vhene's upbringing when she was so young? Children are not angels, no matter how we paint cherubs."

"Of course I do," he insisted, "but Vhene had Norhi and all the force of the Bellworks behind her upbringing. 'Twas a bit strange, but she still had an entire party of adults to tell her not to climb up the kitchen cabinets."

"I'm sure they were only successful in deterring her half the time."

"That's true," Elliot grumbled.

Ceridwen rose to her feet and allowed the child to hold onto her skirt at they continued. "But Elena has you, your father, and all the rest—she shan't beat the table in a drum march because her food hasn't arrived timely enough. You won't let her."

Elliot impatiently nodded. "Yes, but heaven knows what else she keeps for dinner manners when she's excited. She probably had wolves for parents afore she had Nolanel. He's hardly any better."

Ceridwen looked blandly over at him and centered the charm on her necklace. "I doubt you. Ser Feran is as polite as a knight comes. It's true he intuits nothing in the language of gossip, but at one request he is the most accommodating creature I've ever met in a ballroom."

"That's because he's frightened out of his wits and desperate for guidance. Once he's comfortable and knows you enough, he forgets what it is to compromise."

Sirus whistled a falling note from the kitchen. "Damn," he cringed, appearing in the doorway. "Dwen was correct when she said this intervention would be for you more than the kid."

Elena followed Ceridwen past him into the kitchen. It was a massive, organized, efficient affair of countertops and containers. Elliot remained outside while Ceridwen swept around the island and poured a ramekin full of assorted berries. She handed it to Elena.

Elliot leaned against the opposite side of the doorframe and wagged a hand at Sirus. He wanted to talk of anything—even for a moment—that wasn't children. "Sirus. Have you patronized The Brume Closet recently? I heard there is a mistress proprietor now. When did ownership change hands?"

Sirus pressed deeper into his share of doorframe casually. "Oh, it's not so much of a change. I mean, some change, but just from an old name to a new one."

"Oh, very good," he replied, though he sounded absent.

For the time being, Elena devoured blueberries in the same silence the room took on. Steam and scents wafted from one of the ovens while chocolate cooled at the other side of the room, away from its heat.

Ceridwen resumed her harassment. "Vhene is also nine, now, in case you've forgotten."

Elliot recoiled and slumped. "Why does the new youth so often do naught but remind me of my age!"

Sirus tilted his head. "How much older are we than him again?"

"Stop making fun of me!"

"I mean, you've asked for it," Sirus shrugged. "Coming here to wallow about how you've made enemies with your own kid."

"But she's not my child," Elliot sulked.

Ceridwen looked at her baking chronometer. "All right," she sighed. "How much time do we have?"

#tHIS GOT SO LONG #theres a lot of repetition im unsure about #but miss elena honey keep it up no ones doing it like you #i love a hypocrite #elliot cadieux #elena feran #bri writes #FFxivWrite2024 #FFxivWrite

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icharchivist · 8 months ago

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on one hand i think the Wall Market's vibes managed to stay the same while also being quite different from the OG to the Remake -- and it's not to say one is better than the other, it's just, drastically different.

But i think it's really fun to see how they adjusted to this different set up.

Like in the OG Wall Market... is really dirty. diy dirty. There is no moral nor even an actual defined hierarchy other than "Corneo is on top". When Cloud and Aerith decide to both enter the "new bride tournament for Corneo" they're basically scrapping by from anything they can find in town.

They help the drunk dressmaker from a failing business to want inspiration again by finding his calling in helping people crossdress. They get the help of a drag queen in a random gym to get a wig for Cloud. They have to buy stuff out of a vending machine until a tiara falls down. You help some guy find puking medication and he gives you some stuff to help you cross dress properly. You have to buy a specific meal to have access to a special prize you can use to make Cloud the perfect girl.

and obviously there's the Honey Bee Inn, by far the section that needed to be made less problematic, but who was a dirty place. None of the dancers liked being here, all of them talk about being harassed, you're supposed to get lace underwears for Cloud on there and the two options to get it are widely homophobic, but require Cloud pretending to be a client and going in one of the room to steal some underwear he could use. (in case it's not known the homophobic parts include a room where Cloud gets dragged into a communal bath and it's pretty much implied he's being groped by other men and Cloud is uncomfortable, or another room which is much more ominous since it's one of the first place Cloud can have a full mental breakdown that is impossible to ignore, but once he wakes up it's because a naked man is slapping his face on top of him and it's, once again, really uncomfortable for Cloud)

And the OG was all built around the fact that you had to do a lot of quests in Wall Market to scrap by all of that to be picked as Corneo's best girl as Cloud, otherwise Tifa and Aerith would be the ones getting picked, and you don't want that.

It feels more like battling a secret mafia than anything else. You're scrapping by with what you find, you know it's not going to be flawless, to get to perfection you just need to get lucky finding the right items. But everything is so dirty and disgusting and yet it's this macabre look into the city's vices that get interesting.

I'd say the OG still handle the crossdressing itself okayish (and i sure have heard a lot of people talk about how it was their trans awakening so i don't want to dig on a 1997 game for that) but yeah.

It was undeniable while getting into the remake that they had to fix some things without letting go of what the people loved. There was a line to walk between problematic (because the antagonist is problematic) and problematic (because we aren't being respectful of groups of people)

In the Remake, Wall Market is pretty much Vegas. It's big and loud and flashy in a way the OG wasn't specifically. Not that the game WASNT, but not to this extend.

Now there's a clear hierarchy and Corneo's fingerprints can be found anywhere. He controls the town, he's the king of it. And now his "Bride Auction" is less of a dirty thing done quickly by his underling, and instead, while still dirty, something that comes from a huge system with a trio at the top, just under Corneo, who monitor anything Corneo gets or not.

So instead of the DIY portions of the game, the whole quests become about impressing the Trio instead. You need to get the good graces of the elite in order to get by, it's no longer about how helping other people in the same misery you're in can give you some goodies by the end.

Now you count on the Trio to help you, while all the little quests from the OG are spread around like easter eggs or don't carry the same weight either. Deciding of the dresses everyone will wear depends on whenever you completed a certain amount of quests or picked the right dialogue options in chapters predating Wall Market, compared to the OG where it's really just your actions in Wall Market that gives you any outcome for Wall Market.

I think some of it is a little weird to scrutiny -- i totally believe in the dirty male centric mafia from the OG, while seeing Madam M, a strong dominatrix having to bow by the law of Corneo while being her higher adjudant, and Andrea the glam queen and definitely openly bi man, and yet all of them being directly involved in this bride auction is a little... questionable in some way, but i think it can work on the angle of, it's a bit like on the surface isn't it. Like how a dude like Reeve end up doing all the dirty work Shinra ask about because it's the system which is set in place and nothing can be done, but at least in a place of power you can mitigate damages. And for what it's worth Sam and Madam M both try to dissuade us.

But, undeniably, it makes the whole thing a lot more Glam. It's no lower a city by the sewer that's scrapping by, it's glamour, luxerious, like drowning the ugly truth under the bright lights.

The Honey Bee Inn stands therefore especially differently with how they changed it. Instead they go out of their way to show the dancers there love their work, genuinely see their work as art, and while the brothel aspect is still hinted at, it's with a lot more of a "everyone is very into it on here no biggie" ambiance than the OG where the women working there were disgusted with their work.

And obviously all the homophobic stuff instead are replaced by Andrea, Glam Queen of them all, who will encourage Cloud to embrace experimenting with gender, and instead respectfully explains that people are free to live their truth. it's honestly probably the best step up they could have done compared to the OG.

(though i am sad we're therefore losing one of the big "what the FUCK is wrong with Cloud moment" because this is one of my favorite scene from how terrifying and out of nowhere it is, and the fact it's optional and Cloud never mentions it again, and in the OG it's one of the real first time Cloud acts EXTREMELY WEIRD. The Remake kinda hammed it up a lot more imo (mostly because some subtle elements didn't come out as subtle in HD, but also bc they did such weird choices with them, re the scrapped knees scene) so in a sense i feel like this scene wouldn't have its place in the remake because it's just oh, another weird Cloud moment. But in the OG it's just SO GOOD.)

(but it's also something to say about how surprisingly the Remake removes any agency the player does have on Cloud, which is a shame because the OG does a really interesting metatextual thing by regularly facing you with choices that actually do alter some plotbeats or the way you experience the plot, to build up to the moment Cloud realize what's wrong with him and suddenly you no longer have a choice to control him, because Cloud is no longer controlable and everything. The Remake is so quick to make itself a story about how it's a timeloop the characters have no escape from, things replay the same anytime, but by removing the themes of agency that were in the gameplay at first. How can you say that the player is forcing the timeline to repeat itself while also removing the player's print on the gameplay? Especially since Cloud gets picked as prettiest girl no matter what in the Remake so it loses how much your choices change anything aside from the aesthetics changes. It becomes really superficial. i know it might seem weird to mention but the fact AC!Cloud took people by surprise because people played Cloud very differently and therefore had a different perception of him, really show imo how the OG managed to have you control him until he finds himself again. Like it's really weird that the remake has this subtext of fate and the characters being unable to change their fate (or are they?) when during this portion of the game the players could get alternative storylines depending on their choices and the way they decided to control Cloud. that was a tangent)

I do really like it, i don't actually have anything to say in the idea of "they missed the point!!" because no, i actually think i get it. The OG is a lot more scrapping by, but still with the idea Shinra secretly support Corneo's grip on this town. So instead really making it a mindnumbing town where Corneo's power is felt genuinely does work.

But there's definitely a real difference from going from the dirty DIY where you'll make it out in the dirt with the people in the dirt with you, compared to playing by the system's rules to get what you need.

Anyway actually the reason i started this post is that, because of this radical change, others things had to change, and mainly, the whole section where Aerith guides you through the collapsed sector is straight up haunted in the OG. That's where you run into the hell house originally, major haunted houses that attack you on sight. The point is that a lot of people died here and people are haunting the place.

but it would have been too gaudy to have the haunted houses there, and tbh i do think they completely dropped the idea of the sector being straight up haunted to just replace it with traditional shinra weapons, but it's whatever imo, there's the train graveyard scene later so i can imagine they didn't want the redundancy with this specific haunted part. (though considering what i've heard about the adaptation of the Shinra's Mansion in Rebirth it does strike me as a patern of the remake genuinely being scared to dip into some of the horror-atmosphere element of the OG. But i'll really judge that when i reach the Train Graveyard and the Shinra Massacre, as to me those are the others big horror moment in this section of the OG)

So, instead, using the flashiness of the new Wall Market, to have Corneo organize gladiator arena matches where you end up fighting one of the major Hell House? I think it's a fine compromise.

It does change a "horror inclined" moment into a divertisment moment which is eehhhh, but, i think at this point, the dices were set.

to make the Honey Bee Inn less problematic it changed Wall Market drastically and by result they needed to work around the new set up.

And, for all the complains i have there, i do think it's cool.

it's not in a "one is better than the other" but in a "the two of them tell their story very differently and there's two very specific image of Wall Market resonating from those changes".

It's an interesting bit of the game in term of Adaptation. What to leave in, what to upgrade, what can be added for the social commentary ect....

i'll miss the dirty DIY angle of the OG, but i'm having a blast with this glam explosion of vices in the Remake.

Different takes, both interesting in their own way. hell yeah.

#i ended up writing a lot more than i had in mind #anyway i paused the hell house fight for the past 30mins because i got lost in the sauce #but man.#still i miss the secret honey bee inn scene #ichablogging ffviirg

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