#save for in relationship to lyse and even then it's not brought up

[impossible-rat-babies]

also setting aside 14 shafting so many female characters, papalymo is my roman empire of characters the game doesn't pay lip service to

[efrmellifer]

IX. Tender Lizard Care (Fair)

Etien sat on the highest point she could reach, watching the sun starting to set over Ala Ghanna.

She didn’t turn when she heard footsteps behind her, though her ears did swivel to listen for whoever was approaching, if they had anything to say to her.

Ah. She recognized that cadence of steps.

“Hi,” she breathed, looking over her shoulder at Yugiri coming to her side.

“I got the salve for you,” she said simply, sitting down next to Etien and placing the ice crystal inside it, shaking the container to cool the salve down. “So when you’re ready.”

Etien undid the closures of her shirt and eased it down to her elbows. This was all still so...new, the more physical element of their relationship.

Not that she was displeased with it, or uncomfortable. It was just novel, to be in a state of undress in front of Yugiri.

Though they’d certainly soared over the hurdle, going from small affections in view of anyone awake in the House of the Fierce to a kiss on the deck of the ship back from Kugane to far, far more below-decks moments later.

Making up for time lost in blushing when their hands touched, really, though Etien had been past due for exposing some previously-covered part of herself, when Yugiri’s face had been revealed after the Bloody Banquet.

In any event. Here they were now.

Yugiri’s bare hand against Etien’s bare shoulder made her gasp for reasons pleasant and painful.

“You’re too fair to be out in the sun of these bluffs unprotected,” Yugiri chided softly, working the salve into Etien’s skin.

“I know. I thought all the coverage every other day would save me this once.”

She laughed. “It did not. Will it hurt to use your bow like this?”

“I should be all right, especially after a couple applications of the salve. Thank you, by the way.”

A soft hum. “Y’shtola was going to come up here and put this on you. I asked her if I could.”

“Aw, really?” Etien’s voice was an endeared squeal.

Yugiri nodded. “It was good an excuse as any to spend more time together.”

“It makes me wish I’d brought some tea up here.”

“My hands are busy.” Etien could hear the shrug more than she could see it. “We’ll have other chances for that.”

“You’re right. So where are you going next?”

“While Lyse leads you and the others onward, I am going to collect the Doman contingent when they arrive, and bring them through to meet you all at Ala Mhigo.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“I will too.” She patted Etien’s shoulders, telling her she could pull her top up. “I’m glad we did this, even if…”

Etien nodded. “I know. Me too.”

[linelpisffxiv]

About A’lin

Figure I should make a proper about page. Gonna make it here for the moment. Still very much a WIP

Name: A’lin Graeme

Age: 26 at the start of ARR, 29 as of patch 5.18, 30 as of 5.3

HIstory: Normal-ish childhood and early adulthood for a seeker. She grew up in Outer Vylbrand near Bronze Lake. As a child, she was often called Lin of the Frost by her mother, father, and other adults in the clan, after a late Hailstorm came about on the day of her birth. She later grew into it, with growing sharp skills in archery. When she shot her bow, it was as if a chill brushes past with the released arrow.

At 21, as Dalamud began to grow in the sky, Lin realized she wanted to see the world, or at least Eorzea, but always found some excuse to never stray farther than Limsa. A few weeks before that great calamity, she took off, and drowned herself in hedonism. First in Limsa, then in Ul’dah. However, there was one place she wanted to go for certain. Just as she was called Lin of the Frost, the nickname had her family claim she had Halone’s favor. While she doubted she could talk her way into Ishgard, she wanted to see the city, and perhaps find that holy spot she heard some adventurers prayed to for some reason.

It took everything to try and convince anyone to take her. Too close to the battle of Carteneau, the Garleans. No place for civilians like them. Still, A’lin found one fool willing to take her word that she could protect them. Unfortunately, the timing of her pass through Northern Thanalan towards Mor Dhona coincided with that exact day. While none of Dalumud’s fragments fell on them, the sudden burst of heat from Bahamut lifted the carriage yalms in the air, and tossed it nearly half a malm from where it started.

The driver and their chocobos died instantly. A’lin, however survived. Or so she believed for the longest time.

She doesn’t know exactly what happened, but she woke up some time later in a house owned by a woman who called herself Heidi. Heidi was a skilled alchemist, and found her near death and brought her back to heal. Lin was stuck with bedrest for the next few months, and with a lack of anything better to do, started to read various books Heidi had. Lin found herself engrossed with everything. While she could read before, there was never something that captured her attention before. She thought perhaps she hadn’t been given the incentive, as a more active child in the past, but even some stories she bored of before seemed amazing with this new lease on life.

Even after the bedrest, Heidi insisted she stay for some time and build up her strength again. A’lin started off with some easy errands in the safest of paths to help her benefactor, and later began to return to hunting. She never remembered to write to her family to let them know she was alive. She knew she may have been on a list, or at least assumed dead.

It took five years from the day she woke up, but Lin finally knew she had to leave Heidi. The woman suggested she make her way to Gridania, instead of the closer Ul’dah or Lin’s home on Vylbrand, to further train her skills with the bow.

When Lin returned to Mor Dhona during her quest to save the captured Scions, she never could find that house she lived in for years, despite her moving between it and Revenant’s Toll many times in the past.

To do: List the minor changes in the story (Relationship with Haurchefant, timing of certain job quests [DRG and DRK])

After learning about the unrest in Garlemald from Estinien, A’lin went to share the news with her friends, and work through her own feelings, in Norvrandt, however, after three days there, she learned that time had contracted to a comparative standstill on the Source, and when faced with a dilemma of living an unknown time on Norvrandt, and leaving, hoping nothing falls without her help, she chose the former option.

During this time, she continued to help Thancred, Urianger, and Ryne with Eden, along with study some odd ruins in Kholusia. However, the most important happening was finding a truth about herself she will not share with most people. Due to the revelations, she started to learn magic, and found that the Red Magic Alisaie picked up agreed most with her aether, at least for the moment.

While she managed to master the skill during her time there, six months after she chose to stay, time returned to a pace equivalent enough she felt safe returning to the Source, and did so.

From there, Lin’s story is quite similar to canon in 5.2 and 5.3. The one big difference is that when Gaius asked Lin to help with a fight, she called on her friends to help him instead with Ruby Weapon. However, when it came time for Sapphire, her friends turned the tables on her.

She spent a month or two after reviving G’raha and his induction into the scions  travelling with him and training. First a trip to Hingashi, Doma, and the Azim Steppe, then a trip to Azys Lla. In an untouched wing of the Fractal Continuum, G’raha proposed to her with a carnelian and turquoise necklace. However, for the moment, only a handful of people know about the engagement, given that on the Source, their courtship has been short.

Personality: A’lin is a mix of contradictions as the Warrior of Light. Sometimes she is reluctant to fight, other times she’ll jump in to test her strength. She is proud of her seeker identity, but often seems to forget the smallest things about her home clan after her time away.

The consistent parts of her, however, is her ability to care. While at first, she often resented the way the Scions treated her, and how she tended to identify closer with the Free Company many of her friends belonged to, over time and trials, each of them have earned her trust (First Alphinaud and Tataru as they faced the Heavensward, then Alisaie and Lyse during the rebellions. Finally Y’shtola, Urianger, and Thancred through her trip through Norvrandt and the First). This same trust is applied only to the leaders of two of the nations she has helped, Aymeric and House Fortemps of Ishgard and the Exarch of the Crystarium. She does not hold any pretenses about her choice to favor those Nations over the original Eorzean Alliance.

In her free time, she finds herself seeking out new songs, or when particularly inspired, compose herself. She can fashion her aether in the shape of a glowing turquoise harp, perfectly tuned, and will do so whenever she learns or makes new songs to her repertoire.

Lin loves collecting various small trinkets, such as low currency coins, jewelry, or figurines.

Jobs: A’lin is first and foremost an Archer and Bard (Level 80) in her fighting before she was trapped in Norvrandt for six months. She learned the skills of the Dragoon to a certain degree (Level 60), and on rare moments, she can form a zweihander and heavy armor, though she is loathe to talk about how she became so proficient to any except the Exarch, and he keeps her secrets (Level 80). However, when she returned during a period of severe contraction of time in Norvrandt, Lin sported a rapier much like Alisaie’s, and shows particular skill with the weapon and spells in ways others have not seen (Level 80, but hasn’t met X’rhun or Arya yet. Will probably when I can find a later break that fits)

While she is not an Astrologian, one of her friends taught her some skills, which she mixes into her style of fighting in her other jobs.

Style of Dress: While her choice in gloves and chestpieces can vary depending on day, in her daily life, she will almost always be seen with a hat cocked to one side, long boots, and short slops. However, when it comes time to fight, if she has the time, she will change to items that guard her legs, arms, and torso appropriately for the role she needs to fill, though under it all, she will usually still have the boots which make her feel most comfortable.

Trivia: The Lin of the Seventh Umbral Calamity and Later is not the A’lin of the Sixth Astral Era. Well, she is, but she isn’t. Instead, A’lin did die in the calamity, but given the precise timing and the fact that as WoL she has the soul of the Forteenth, the part of her soul in the Seventh merged their own with her, creating a mix of the two personalities, and keeping Lin’s body alive long enough for Hydaelyn to save her. While Lin did actually go to Revenant’s Toll, she was more an oddity, because no one could figure out where she came from. Those who followed saw her disappear after about 200 yalms from the settlement.

[mareebrittenford]

Space Zombies Pt #3

So far in the story… (part #1 and part #2)  Lyse, looter and scavenger of abandoned and destroyed space ships found herself on board a ship that had supposedly been overrun by a plague. Except the sick are still walking around and seem to want to eat her.

She managed to escape back to her own ship with the friendly dog she found on board. But that’s just the beginning of her problems…

The military has found us.

At least they’ve locked us down, and not just blown us out of existence.

Why on earth haven’t they?

:get in bed with him:

“What?” I say out loud.

:do it. It might save us:

Well, if Phil says so. Inside my brain. Obviously it must be important then.

It’s not as if I’m not salivating to cuddle up with my now clean and nice smelling soul mate. So I obey my little brother. He’s never going to let me live this down.

David is dead to the world, poor guy. He must be so unbelievably exhausted to have missed that clunk--silence that is one of the most ominous sounds you can hear on board a small independent ship like this. I’ve only heard it once before and woke me out of sound sleep.

The bunk is narrow. It’s not really enough space for even one person, let alone two, so I’m halfway on top of him. Honestly I don’t mind, but I can’t help worrying that he does. That somehow he doesn’t feel this same bond, that he doesn’t want me like I want him.

But this is survival, I know that from the tenor of Phil’s voice in my head. Enjoying it is incidental. I take a few slow breaths. Breaths full of the scent of his skin. I’m guessing that my racing heart isn’t what Phil wants here.

“Link me in,” I murmur. I know Phil is listening, mentally or via the ships intercom system, which he is always able to turn on, even if I turn it off. Annoying little brothers never fail like that.

The intercom crackles to life.

“--crossed quarantine line,” says an authoritative male voice in English. The accent is planetary. I’m not sure which, the flat r sound is a giveaway.

Central Military supposedly recruits from all over. To represent the people they serve. The planet born ones at least. Citizenship for people born in space was a protracted battle, that was only resolved fifty years ago. There’s still a hierarchy of worth though. Planet born outranks us station born folk. And those unfortunate enough to be born aboard ships in open space, well their parents better have some strong alliances with either a planet or station otherwise the birth registrations tend to go astray. Even a father as careless as Felipe made sure that Phil and I were both born on Aptar.

“I’m so sorry,” Felipe is replying, also in English. “I was completely unaware. I assure you we’ve had no contact with any other ships in the 36 hours.” He’s in full schmooze zone. It doesn’t work as well over coms, but as far as I know something about the wavelengths of his voice just makes people happy and want to please him. It always feels a little icky to me, but hey, I rip off people’s moves and use it to kill them if I have to, so eh, we’re both icky really.

“I was just giving my son a lesson in astronavigation. We had all the navigation software turned off.”

Astronavigation? Well he pulled that one out of his butt.

“Excuse me?” the man says, suddenly losing much of his authoritativeness.

“Oh, I’m sure you folks have such excellent technology, and so many redundancies built into your systems you don’t need it, but on little ships like this we have to be able to navigate by the stars alone in emergency situations.”

Felipe’s full of it. The only way our nav systems would go down would be if the engines were down, so we wouldn’t be navigating anywhere. We’d be dead in space. But the man on the com either doesn’t know enough about this class of ship to realize that, or he’s falling victim to Felipe’s ability. Probably a bit of both. He does always say that half his ability is figuring out people. And that the best way to manipulate them is to push them off balance, away from information they’re sure of.

I’m starting to fade out into sleep, the combination of exhaustion and proximity to David relaxing me in spite of the situation. And besides, they’ve detained us, not destroyed us. That means it’s a matter of negotiating what sort of bribe or concession we have to pay. And Felipe is the go to guy for that stuff. There’s nothing for me to do.

I manage to stay awake long enough to hear that we’re going to be quarantined for four hours and then boarded.

A few hours. I guess David was right when he said the disease comes on fast. I breathe a sigh of relief. I’m not going to die horribly. There’s no way they’d be taking the risk of coming on board if there was any chance at all of the contagion spreading.

But the next words jolt me into alertness again.

“Your crew manifest lists four crew members. Yet we’re only reading three thermal signatures.”

What? Four? Since when?

“Oh, yeah,” It’s Phil’s voice, smugly confident. “You should probably take a closer look at my sister. She’s in the aft cabin. If it’s anything like usual she and her boyfriend are in really close proximity.”

That little brat. He must have been listening to my entire conversation with David, and added him to the crew manifest. Who knows exactly how he’s doctored the records, but now his insistence that I be in bed with David makes more sense. He doesn’t want even a specter of a doubt about the length of David’s stay on this ship. And he and I appearing to be involved in a long term relationship, and currently sleeping in each other’s arms, would go counter to anything they’d expect of someone we’d recently taken from a quarantined plague ship.

Even I’m surprised at myself for being so okay with it. I’m feeling pretty good about not catching zombism. But even though he’s not infected he’s still not human. I’m used to being around powerful Extraordinaries. I’m considered one myself. But I’ve never seen anything like him.

And yet, yet none of that matters right now. He’s snuggling his face into the side of my neck, and adjusting his body around mine, and I feel safe and warm. Warm in a way that has nothing to do with lust and has everything to do with comfort. Warm in a-- I never even knew how cold I was before-- way.

I snuggle closer, and smile. So far having a soul mate is amazing.

----

I’m woken by the thumps and clangs of another ship docking and making a seal with the airlock a few feet from my bunk.

:act normal:

Why thank you Phil. Yes, it is absolutely normal for me to wake up in the arms of a stranger while the Central Military are boarding us. Yes indeed. I shall certainly act like all of this is normal.

I shake David, who is still sleeping soundly. Poor guy. I bet he needs to sleep around the clock, and all he got was four hours.

He can sleep when we’re all not dead.

His eyes snap open and he stares at me in shock. Brown. His eyes are brown. An odd sensation ripples down my spine.

“I’m still real,” I say, feeling shy.

He shakes his head as if he’s trying to arrange it’s contents into a more coherent format.

I slide out of the bunk and turn to wait for him.

“What’s going on?” he asks.

“We got held up by the military. I guess they had us wait out a quarantine period, and now they’re coming on board to check things over in person.”

“What about--”

I shake my head, cutting him off. Who knows if they’re listening. I’ve heard things about the technology the military has, that enables them to eavesdrop across empty space, let alone when they’ve made a full boarding seal.

“I’m sure all they want is to double check that all four of us are healthy. Then we can get to Aptar, okay?”

He still looks confused, but he nods and smiles. I’m confident that Phil can push information into his head if needed.

The important for quarantine locked hatch slides open. Phil comes through and hugs me, followed by Felipe, who glares daggers. I know this situation with David is not settled. But survival comes first. If the military finds out that we boarded that ship, and that David was on there for who knows how long then we’re all dead.

We line up, spaced a meter apart, hands loose and visible at our sides, as far away from the walls and fixtures as we can manage. Military is known to be trigger happy. No one wants to be an accident.

As the airlock door slides open I look over at David. He’s facing forward, ignoring me. He rolls his shoulders back and lifts his chin. The guy that up until now looked about as threatening as a puppy suddenly feels dangerous. I can still feel his emotions and he’s just as scared as the rest of us. But there’s something else there. I’m still uncertain about what he thinks about the soulmate link, but I’m certain that if this comes down to a fight he will not only have my back, he’ll be lethal.

Before I can think too hard about what that means the airlock slides open and I’m face to face with people with guns.

A squad of eight lines up opposite us. All male. Lovely. One of those squads. And two of them for each one of us. Nice to know we’re being taken seriously. Or perhaps it’s just that they want to be prepared in case we’re harboring some of those zombie creatures.

The stand, assessing us for a moment. Or perhaps their slow brains need that time to count to four. Yes. We are all here. No. None of us are zombies.

On some silent command four of them move away, presumably searching the ship. Luckily they’re not going to find anything. While we frequently do have cargo on board that’s not entirely legal we’re currently empty. The only thing I brought back from that ghost ship was David, and Phil has already worked his data magic on that little problem.

I stare down the four we have left. I could take them. It doesn’t matter anyway. Even if we took out all eight we’d still have a shipful more to take on. I can see it in their body language.They’re nervy, on edge. They know about the zombies. But they have the cockiness that big guns give a boy. And they are boys, all of them not much more than teenagers.

They dehumanize us the best way boys like that know how. Sexual objectification. Somehow despite the baggy coveralls they all seem to be able to look me, David, and ugh, even Phil (he’s 15!) as if we’re naked objects delivered up for their entertainment. Apparently Felipe is too old for this kind of diminishment. He always misses out on the good stuff.

I can’t help but twitch a little, just to see them flinch, to remind them that they don’t know what I’m capable of. Even if I can’t actually show my abilities. I know as well as everyone else that our best chance out of this is Felipe’s glib tongue. I hate relying on that.

For thirty seconds or so we stand there and stare at each other while the rest of the squad finishes their search. Lucky it’s a small ship. I can imagine how boring this would get if we had a large storied vessel.

When the others return they com an all clear, and finally someone with authority comes through the airlock.

I assume this is the man in charge. The one Felipe spoke to earlier. He’s surprisingly young. Not much older than my twenty five earth years. And he’s only a lieutenant? or maybe lower. I’m not too clear on the insignias on his uniform. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad that we’ve been caught by what I’m guessing is a small, less important vessel. Felipe straightens and pastes an ingratiating smile on his face, but the Junior Lieutenant (??) doesn’t even glance his way. Instead he comes to a stop in front of David. His predatory look is quite different to the way his soldiers were looking at us a few moments ago. It’s cold and assessing.

“David Smith. Do you know how many people are looking for you?”

David’s face stays impassive, but his fear ratchets up a notch. “I’m not sure why I should care. I haven’t broken any laws.” That’s a lie, but the delivery is perfect.

“You should care. There’s quite the reward out on you. And not everyone looking to collect it are entirely honest.” His eyes drift to me, un-subtly hinting that I am such an unscrupulous person.

Ha. If only he knew, both how incredibly unscrupulous I am and how smittenly committed I am to David’s health and welfare.

David still looks impassive. If I wasn’t already madly crushing on him I’d be done in by his ability to be scared to death while looking supremely bored. “I suppose you’re here to collect on the bounty?” He says. “How much is my mother offering these days?”

The Jr Lieutenant smiles and runs his hand through his greasy hair. “More than enough that I convicted the boys here to delay their shore leave a few hours so we could collect you.” He shifts his body, angling himself to block eye contact between me and David. “Why don’t you join us on board? We can offer you far more comfortable accommodations.”

“I’m sure, but I’d rather stay here.”

“I’m going to have to insist.”

And it clicks. Usually I can read intentions in body language like people are shouting. But this guy. He’s lying about so much stuff. But he’s explained enough now for me to put it together.

We’ve been picked up by a small transport carrying a squad to shore leave. It’s why the officer in charge is so young and such a low rank. The only reason we’re not currently a debris field is David. What ever bounty his family has out on him is so large that the whole squad of them was willing to betray what I’m assuming is a standing order to destroy any ship violating the quarantine line. But as soon as David is off this ship we’re particles.

Obviously I can’t let them take him.

:they’re going to blow the ship:

Thank’s Phil. I’m so glad he’s keeping up.

:they placed charges - don’t let them take david off this ship:

Okay that’s more than I expected, but still. I know. David leaves, we all die

And this is probably the crush speaking, because while there’s probably plenty of excellent ways to stop them from removing him from our ship in my panic I can only think of one.

“ Él es mi familia.” I yell out. “ Él es reclamado por Aptar.”

This may the stupidest idea I’ve ever had. What if David counters my claim on him? I still can’t see his face. Hopefully he’s at least keeping up his stone face.

The lieutenant turns slowly, his previously smarmy expression turning hard.

“Are you saying that you and Mr. Smith are married? And he’s choosing citizenship on a... station? Because I’d say I have records stating otherwise.”

Crap. It’s not like I can claim soulmate bonding even though if we were on Aptar and we both claimed each other it would be considered a superior bond to legal marriage.

And then David steps around him and takes my hand. “Betrothed. We’re planning on having the official ceremony once we get to Aptar.”

The lieutenant clenches his teeth. He knows he’s screwed. I can tell from his body language that he’s considering cutting his losses and just killing us all.

Despite the ridiculous complexity of the treaties and contracts between the planetary systems and the stations there’s one thing everyone knows. When you marry you can choose to be claimed by your spouses home world, or station. Of course it’s ridiculous to think that David, who was born on freaking Earth would chose to change his citizenship to a station. Except it’s Aptar. Even the military know there’s something special about Aptar, even if they don’t know it’s the home of any Extra that can manage it.

If he separates me and David now and he leaves David alive then he’d be signing himself up for a legal nightmare. Especially if David’s family is as wealthy as it appears.

We’re at an impasse, best broken by making sure this whole thing never happened.

I squeeze David’s hand and hope that he has a god he’s praying to.