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A small Mr. Fox plush by Scion Living. Bought at the local garden centre in March 2024. Extra pointy.
#fox#scion living#plushie#toys#orange#baby toy#the cord texture is soooo fun#omg I'm still writing 2023 on things. come on
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Two former military elites taking merc jobs perform absolutely hellish battle tactics together.
#ffxiv#digital art#zenos yae galvus#estinien wyrmblood#adventurer zenos#I will always adore this duo conceptually#because like- socially theyre that aragorn-geralt brooding in a corner of a tavern meme#but in combat they are absolutely terrifying#the azure dragoon and the super soldier legatus are here to fuck up a poachers day#aka zenos is about to crossmap someone's airship cause he knows estinien cant make himself jump that far#why have him try to jump when he can just Olympic-level javelin toss this man#also guys#my dudes#all this time I've been working on adven!zenos being a tank#I... have realized I just write him like a warrior who isnt carrying a weapon- sturdy unkillableness and countering and all#I am only a little bit of a dumbass but orogeny just seems to live in my head rent free#it also gave me the terrifying concept of- after spending time with the scions and after the ultimatum-#of him trying to learn more about dynamis- and zenos being zenos starts learning eventually how to harness it#local calm apathetic man can berserk on command because he's a lot angrier/more expressive inwardly than most people expect#depending on how I look into it- it might be how he fuels most of his shinryu transformations but I'll have to work on it more#but ANYWAYS#I love the thought of these two hunting and working together#and estinien being tossed being turned into a tactic#especially with proper form#this is something ive wanted to draw for a very long time and im very happy I actually have the skill to do so now
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i wanted more scenes of them hanging out
#worm web serial#parahumans#taylor hebert#worm#lisa wilbourn#alec vasil#brian laborn#fanart#wormblr#i had a dream where worm got a live action adaption#and i was so excited but when I looked at who they casted for scion it was chris pratt just with a shitty gold filter#and it made me so angry i woke up#so i drew this to cope
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every time i go through the end of ew and see the cs with zenos in sharlayan i have to stop and imagine his conversation with that customs lady at the docks when she asked what his job was and he would have gone off on one of his typical monologues about living for 'the hunt, the THRIIIIIIIIILL of bahttle the raw pulsing ecstacy of being locked together in combat, teeth at each other's throats, giving in to the huungaahh that can never be sated' etc etc and she would have been like uh huh so you're unemployed hmmm i see
#ffxiv#ffxivmp#mp#zenos#writes on her clipboard: gay but in a cringe way#every zenos monologue is his self insert fic of him and the wol#and he is just going around giving free performances of it to anyone unfortunate enough to be caught near him#also this is why the idea of zenos surviving and being forced to help the scions is so funny#not his interactions with the scions#but his futile and begeudging attempts to live in a society#boy has to do paperwork and deal with bureaucracy and that is comedy gold potential
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You know that scene in Endwalker where people from all across Eorzea helped find the adamantite needed for the Ragnarok, and if you'd done certain raids or story content the people involved in those raids and story content would show up or be mentioned in some capacity? As touching and cool as it was, I still think it was a missed opportunity to highlight just how beloved the Warrior of Light is.
"But wait," you say. "Didn't we have that in Shadowbringers, when all the factions in Norvrandt came together to help build the great Talos that would drag down Mt. Gulg? Didn't they all come to help the Warrior of Darkness put an end to the Light?"
Well, no. Not really. Sure it was the Warrior of Darkness and Thancred who'd made friends with the miners of Twine, but Alisaie had known the people of Mord Souq and the Inn at Journey's Head far longer than the Warrior of Darkness had. They were her people the way the Night's Blessed were Y'shtola— I mean, Master Matoya's. Urianger was going to ask the fae folk before deciding to ask the Crystarium's people instead, and those were the Exarch's people. The fae folk were Urianger's. Alphinaud went to Kholusia, and they were his people. In other words, other than being the mythical figure that the Scions and the Crystal Exarch believed whole-heartedly would save the world from succumbing to the Light, the Warrior of Darkness had very little to do with rallying the various factions of Norvrandt to their aid. The Scions and the Crystal Exarch had been in Norvrandt for centuries, years, months. At best, the Warrior of Darkness had been in Norvrandt for a few weeks. They did not come for the Warrior of Darkness. They came for the Scions and the Crystal Exarch, and to see the Light extinguished.
This is not the case in Endwalker, if you'd done the various raids and story content involved. Without them, it's an assortment of the people the Scions had been involved with: Ishgardians and pirates from Limsa Lominsa, the East Aldenard Trading Company and the Kojin, the Ironworks, the junior Scions, and the treasure hunters of Idyllshire. With them, you get direct assistance from the Redbills, the Bozjans, Ejika Tsunjika, the Four Lords, the Majestic Theater Company, Gaius Baelsar himself, and the Idyllshire goblins—people who had next to no contact with the Scions and only lent their aid because they were friends with the Warrior of Light (or at least owed them one, in the case of Gaius Baelsar). They didn't know shit about the Scions or saving the world, they just heard the Warrior of Light was involved and immediately offered their assistance.
And I wish the game would acknowledge that! The game makes a big fuss in Dawntrail about how the Warrior of Light has walked the world and has loved and been loved in return, but this scene would have been the perfect chance to showcase it! You have all these people very clearly and directly intending their aid for the Warrior of Light—Leofard and the Redbills personally flying to Old Sharlayan to deliver the supplies; Soroban and Hancock passing messages from the Four Lords and the Lexentales, the Bozjans and Ejika Tsunjika; Gaius going back to Valens' Weapons experiments—likely an endeavour that hurt—to find relics suitable for the Ragnarok's purposes; the Idyllshire goblins giving their all because how could they do any less for their dear friend in their hour of need?
All these people offered their aid not for the Scions, not to save the world, but because the Warrior of Light needed their aid, and while it was a great scene for the player, I can't help but wish it's acknowledged in-universe as well.
#final fantasy xiv#final fantasy 14#ffxiv#ff14#just player things#the warrior of light has been the patsy for the longest time throughout the expansions#they're the muscle#they're the one the scions send into battle#it took a long time for the scions to properly acknowledge their worth as a person beyond their function as a hero#that's why they still don't get any respect in endwalker#especially in sharlayan#this would have been the perfect chance to show how important the warrior of light is#how the warrior of light has touched the lives of many#that they would come personally to the warrior's aid#and on such a grand scale#the sharlayans as a whole and the forum in particular would understand just how impactful the warrior of light is#and so would the scions#listen i just have very strong feelings about this
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repurposed an old oc into xiv... her name is Lovelace (surname) and she had a weird lowkey homoerotic academic rivalry with y'shtola when they were in school and it still keeps her up at night at 40 years old. also she's divorced.
#ffxiv#jupi gpose#dorothea lovelace#her first name is dorothea. she hates being called it. nobody calls her it#she hates the nicknames even more. dot. dolly. dori. dodie. thea. makes her soooo mad#thancred calls her Dot to piss her off. she despises thancred.#she comes from an influential family in sharlayan and has a lot of expectations to live up to#and a huge inferiority complex#she ran off to eorzea in her early 20s and got married to a small town woman but her wife left her and she went back to sharly pathetically#and shes been doing boring and lifeless desk work ever since. she's so jealous and spiteful towards the scions for how successful and happy#they all are. BITTER BITCH!!!#but she's such a flop actually. she's socially inept and nervous and the only way she knows how to talk to people is to talk down to them#SOOO NO FRIENDS !! LOL!#girlfailure with a PHD#hopefully will do more with her. bc im obsessed w her insane resentful gay fixation on y'shtola#she might be involved in the endwalker patches... hrm
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hxh continuing to wreak its havoc on my ship dynamics wolcred week day 3, light | darkness
#theyre so killugonpilled its not even funny#that one throwaway thancred line in endwalker about wol being the scion's brightest star also lives forever in my head#thancred and killua really share the same “i love you so much but good god you really do deserve better than me” energy#wolcred week#wolcred#thancred x wol#gpose#ffxiv gpose#shadowbringers spoilers#endwalker spoilers#katsucred
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"Welcome home!!"
"Watch your step, Landslide- oop, there he goes..."
"This sudden burst of vitality is heartening, and I believeth his betrothed is the one to whom the credit should go."
"Certainly. The two of them are looking happier by the minute."
"Johnny, you fool! Don't just run off like that, you're still injured!"
"Yes, please give your body some more time to recover, and- Oh gods, Mistress Tataru! Are you alright?"
"It's good to be back on solid ground, my friend. Do you need a hand?"
"...Thanks, everyone, but I'm fine down here right now. Just a minute longer..."
I got most of the idea for this upon rereading this ficlet I wrote about Tataru's anxieties watching the rest of the Scions depart to close out Endwalker. I wanted to make this pose showing the moment they meet back up and live happily ever after!
#ffxiv#gpose#johnny landslide#tataru#wol x tataru#I LOVE ENDWALKER#that last cutscene where tataru and krile run out to the docks to greet you lives rent free in my head forever#tried my best to make the scion voices obvious but if it's not it's:#thancred urianger y'shtola alisaie alphinaud g'raha
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MiqoMarch Day 02 - Home
"Home is where ever I can find you."
#MiqoMarch#ffxiv#g'raha tia#wolgraha#y'shtola rhul#y'shtola x wol#wolshtola#miqo'te#ffxiv WOL#MiqoMarch2024#Arsay has so many places she's lived and returned too but its not home if her partners arent there with her!#This extends to the scions too they are her family and shes at home where they are but everyone is kinda scattered around so
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Sorry to be posting twice in one day but now I wanna talk about Sybil's last line of dialogue at the end of Wallaru. Bro says "The Spiral will always need its Scion." In terms of new villains always arising, new worlds to explore, etc.
Now of course in the real world this means something totally different than in narrative; for us it means yay Wizard101 will continue and it's not ending and shit and thats good!!! But in universe, I believe that fact would have brought different feelings. Like sadness. Or anger. Or maybe just numbness.
Like if you think about it. The implications. The Wizard will never, CAN never rest. It's an ongoing, neverending thing of always being needed. It's You and ONLY You. There will never NOT be evil. If not GF Spider, then the Schism. If not the Schism, then the Old One. If not the Old One, then someone else. Someone or Something will always come up as a Threat that only the Scion (for some reason. Gods exists here) is expected and able to defeat. When Sybil said that I was legit terrified because gotdamn I can't retire???? I will Always be The Legend who Always saves the day???
Like even setting aside the social consequences of this (the whole people suspecting us/fearing us Thing) imagine what that does to your emotional and mental health. Fuck even physical health. Going through all that strenuous trauma and exercise and magical ordeals and shit???? The pressure of knowing it's the universe at stake, not just you or the world? I actually would have died just in arc 2 personally how the fuck are we supposed to carry this. For the REST. OF OUR LIVES. FOR HOWEVER LONG WE LIVE
✨ Anyways here's hoping the Schism Soldier is arc 5's new big baddie haha #enemiestolovers101 😘✌️💕💕💕
#im not good with words ir explaining things but i still wanted to talk about That. what sybil said#thats fucking rough man. thats fucking rough#ALWAYS???? the spiral will ALWAYS need its scion??? the fuck you mean. whats this ALWAYS business#mr krabs voice: whats this WE stuff!?#i just need a picture of malorn and the wizard getting drunk as fuck on a tuesday together looking beaten and bitter. beaten and bitter.#idk if the wizard is like quasi-immortal now or what. how long do we live actually#are we like gonna outlive dyvim. mellori and the bat??? will we be alive for centuries and STILL defending the spiral??? hello??????????????#so like what happens if and when. we die. is the universe just fucked then?#what is the point of the council of light. gf spider and gm raven. BARTLEBY. if none of them do shit#they could literally do anything they wanted to but its US that has to be superman. okay#id actually go crazy i would actually just Become the joker guys. guys i would fucking lose it#wizard101#w101#wiz101#text posts#wallaru spoilers#wizard101 spoilers#can you guys tell i just want the soldier to come back
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Omg omg omg they're doing Kon-El. On a CW show. Clark and Lex's genetic love child. I am gagged.
#CLEX IS BACK BABY#it's essentially canon#oh god Clark and Conner hanging out in the barn 😭#“are you like my dad?” YES ONE OF THEM#oh god here comes the heat blast#yep called that#heehee like father like son#OH MY GODDDD THEY LITERALLY SAID IT WORD FOR WORD HAAAAAAHAHAHAHA#it would be Lois who said it too amazing#sorry for the live slug reaction#conner kent#10x16 scion#smallville#not spn
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Nijoh'ir was adopted after his parents were killed because a passing Keeper teenager happened upon him. He brought the child back to his moms, one of whom had recently given birth and could nurse Nijoh'ir. Nijoh'a decided to go to Gridania, join the Adders, and advocate for the rights of Miqo'te to try and prevent what happened to his new baby brother from happening again.
Nijoh'ir's older siblings say he's a lot like Nijoh'a. A strong sense of right and wrong, both unwilling to stand by when they could help. A love for archery and song, with well regarded singing voices. Most people who knew Nijoh'a see him in Nijoh'ir, the same passion and willingness to fight for other's and an intolerance for justice.
Nijoh'ir would never know himself. Nijoh'a died at Carteneau before Nijoh'ir left home, preventing him from ever knowing the older brother who'd saved his life.
The Rising is his chance to feel close to that brother, and wonder what kind of hero he might've become if he'd gotten know Nijoh'a.
#Nijoh'ir Jesyho#Nijoh'ir grapples a lot with what it means to be a hero#And he often tries to look up to others to find the strength he worries he lacks or his own shortcomings#And Nijoh'a's special to him because he's his oldest brother and saved his life#And died saving lives at Carteneau#A lot of the Adders remember Nijoh'a and say he'd be proud of Nijoh'ir#It also adds a fun layer with him and the Scions who worship Louisoix who died at Carteneau#But to Nijoh'ir it feels like they sometimes forget other people died there too
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Showing off my island's flag because it may not be the greatest pixel art ever but hey I'm hella proud of it
#dragon quest builders 2#dqb2#long live the hammerhood army#yes I'm starting an uprising what of it#featuring my accidental bootleg prince of midenhall cosplay that i actually ended up liking#i was just sticking whatever together on the dressing table and straight up became a scion of erdrick
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The Frozen Lake
It was the third day since he had stopped feeling like dying.
About a week ago he had woken up from his far too lifelike fever dream and a few days later the last spikes of the fever itself had been gone too just like the hallucinations it had brought in his sleep.
He still had been sick though and welcomed Rael telling him to stay in bed until he was perfectly healthy again all too eagerly.
While he still sneezed every now and then, it was at least tolerable now, still annoying but he didn’t feel incredibly uncomfortable anymore.
That day, just like the last and also the ones before that, he had awoken late. Against Rael’s order to stay in bed he had found the courage to get up and take a look out of the window. It was a sunny day, which in Coerthas still meant that it was bitterly cold though. But the sun was shining brightly and already high in the sky too which meant it had to be almost midday. He had slept way too long again, way to many hours for a surprisingly dreamless sleep. Or maybe it was exactly the lack of dreams that allowed him to finally rest, after all in the past there rarely had been good ones…
For a moment he considered to go downstairs and ask for a late breakfast if that wasn’t too insolent given the late hour but then a knock sounded from the door.
Quickly he hurried back to bed, just in case it was Rael, but the person who carefully peeked into the room a few seconds later wasn’t a viera.
“Ah, you are awake! That’s good!”, Haurchefant exclaimed happily and brought a small tray with hot soup and also something warm to drink. “It is so late already, you must be horribly hungry. Alphinaud checked in on you earlier but you were still fast asleep and he didn’t have the heart to wake you.”
A little uncertain on how to answer to that, A’viloh just nodded. Haurchefant grinned, put down a mug on the bedside table and handed A‘viloh a comfortingly warm bowl filled with some rather delicious smelling stew.
Instead of fetching the chair from the small desk by the window, Haurchefant sat down at the lower end of the bed balancing the tray with his own lunch on his knees. Rael once told him that ishgardian society had an absurd amount of strict and antiquated rules and so A’viloh couldn’t help but wonder, that although it seemed like a very appropriate distance to him, in Haurchefant’s hometown the fact alone that he dared to sit on someone else’s bed was probably scandalous.
“I hope you don’t mind me having lunch with you.”, the Elezen asked as he noticed A‘viloh staring.
Quickly the Miqo’te lowered his gaze to his bowl of soup. “Not at all.”, he muttered and tried a spoonful of the food just to change the topic. “Mhh, this is very good!”, he mumbled, still chewing, surprised by how good this really was compared to the bland food and bitter teas Rael had usually brought him these last few days. It must have been the Viera’s way of punishing him for running away.
Haurchefant laughed and then for a while they ate in silence.
“You look a lot healthier already.”, the Elezen stated after a while with an amiable smile on his face before taking a sip from his mug.
A‘viloh shrugged a little embarrassed, since it had been his own fault that he hadn’t been well in the first place. “Only because all of you took so good care of me.”
Haurchefant nodded. “You know, you had us all horribly worried right?”
“Sorry about that.”, he said and guitily looked into his mug.
Curiously Haurchefant eyed him for a moment. “Why did you do that anyway? Run out into the storm.”
A bit surprised A’viloh looked up. Had they all thought he had done this on purpose? “There wasn’t a storm when I left! What do I know about weather? I didn’t expect it to start snowing, let alone that much!”
That made the Elezen chuckle again but he still looked at him expecting an answer.
“Still… why did you leave?”
“I assumed Rael told you…”, A’viloh replied not sure what Haurchefant wanted to hear exactly. He nodded. “Rael did. But maybe I want to hear it from you…”
A’viloh sighed. His plan hadn’t been very smart and he felt a little uncomfortable having to explain his reasons to someone else, when in retrospect it didn’t make much sense even to his own ears.
“You know the… circumstances under which we fled Ul’dah… I couldn’t… um… the fact that we didn’t even know what happened to our friends… I wanted to find out, because it doesn’t seem fair to me that we escaped while all of them didn’t…”
“Mhh…”, Haurchefant nodded thoughtfully but let go off the topic for now. Instead he asked, „And how are you feeling today?”
Somehow that question confused A’viloh even more.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a simple question, isn’t it?”, he said still smiling politely.
Of course it was a simple question. Just the answer felt unreasonable complicated to him. To make things even more difficult people who asked such a question usually wanted to hear “I‘m fine, and you?” or “Very good, thank you.” for an answer and rarely the truth. They certainly didn’t want to hear “A few days ago I was convinced I was going to die and honestly it wasn’t that bad, so now I‘m still not sure wether I am happy to still be alive or not”.
“Alright… I guess.”, he mumbled instead. He had never been a good liar and could only hope that this fact wasn’t too obvious for the Elezen.
“You know what?”, Haurchefant proclaimed after watching him thoughtfully for a second. “Today is a wonderful day. We should go for a walk.”
“A walk?!”, A’viloh exclaimed wide-eyed, as if he had just asked something unreasonable of him.
“Why not?”
A’viloh couldn’t think of a good reason why not, other than that he was supposed to stay in bed, so he shrugged.
“Where’s Rael?”, he asked instead.
Haurchefant smirked. “Do you need Rael’s permission to go outside?”
“Of course not.”, the Miqo’te protested. “But Rael will be mad if I run off again, especially against their orders to stay in bed.”
“Rael and Alphinaud went to the observatory earlier.”, Haurchefant explained. “We’ll be back before they are, I promise.”
What was A’viloh supposed to say against that and also against the expectant look on the Elezen’s face. He took another glimpse towards the window and decided that it looked nice enough to go outside.
“Fine.”
“Good!”, Haurchefant exclaimed happily and collected their empty bowls and mugs. “There should be warm clothes for you in the wardrobe. If you need anything else just ask someone. I’ll wait for you by the northern gate.”
After Haurchefant had left, A’viloh remained sitting in his bed for a moment longer contemplating on the Elezen’s question. Yes, he felt better again. But better in what comparison? Better than a few days ago when he had felt and also been half-dead? Though he didn’t feel sick anymore now, there still was a weigh on his heart. From his plan that had failed so spectacularly and even more so from the dreams he wouldn’t have minded to keep on dreaming forever.
Vehemently he shook his head and decided not to think about that now or he would just crawl back under the blanket of his comfortably warm bed again. Instead he got up and took a look into the wardrobe. Almost none of these were his own clothes of course since all he possessed were the ones he had worn on his body that day they fled Ul’dah. Very unsuitable for this climate. But neither did he see the borrowed clothes he had worn that night when he had tried to run away. Everything in here looked even softer and warmer like someone had wanted to make sure he was feeling comfortable. To his surprise the things didn’t look that much too big for him either, unlike his last set of clothes. Besides a few Hyur most people here at Camp Dragonhead were grown up Elezen but these clothes looked like they belonged to neither. Maybe it were clothes for Elezen children, he wondered and also thought that in that case someone must have brought them here just for him.
Grateful for so much effort he picked a few pieces and got dressed. Lazily he ran his fingers through his hair to get rid of the worst knots but the look into the small mirror at the washbasin, where his tired face stared back at him reproachfully, just made him sigh. Once he was ready he took the warm coat out of the wardrobe too and went out to look for Haurchefant. Just as he had said, the Elezen was standing by the gate that led to the north-east, towards the ruins of the Steel Vigil.
From afar Haurchefant already recognised the Miqo’te, his bright red hair a singularity among all the people living here. Pleasantly smiling as always he waved at him and A’viloh couldn’t help but smile a little too and wave back as he hurriedly walked towards him.
“There you are! I see the clothes fit you nicely.”
A’viloh nodded.
“They do. Thank you very much for these.”
Haurchefant dismissively waved with one hand. “It’s the least I could do…”
But he had done a lot more than that, A’viloh thought. “I think there’s more I need to thank you for. Rael told me it was you who saved my life.”
“Mhhh…”, Haurchefant tilted his head as if he wasn’t sure if this statement was entirely the truth. “Rael is too humble. They played a bit of a role in that too. After all it was Rael who noticed you were gone. And it was also Rael who didn’t leave your bedside and tried their best to heal you.”
A’viloh remembered waking up and finding the usually quite touch-averse viera cuddled up to him with a look on their face so horribly sad like he had never seen on them before. Rael had pretended it was nothing but it had been a very unconvincing performance. Asked about it Alphinaud had only offered a few sentences about how worried Rael had looked and how they had used all kinds of spells he himself had never seen or heard of before, all of it to try and save him. It had made him feel even more guilty for his stupidity.
So maybe Haurchefant was right. But still it had been him who had risked going out into the storm to find him.
“Anyway. I still want to thank you! Honestly.”, he insisted. But how honestly was it really?
Sure, he was glad to still be alive. After all his plan hadn’t been to run out into a blizzard and freeze to death, although some of them seemed to think that was the case. But once he found himself in this situation he had to admit that he had welcomed his fate rather willingly. A fact that shocked even himself a little looking back at it now.
“You’re welcome. After all you wouldn’t be any help to your friends frozen to death out there.”, Haurchefant joked with a wry smile on his lips.
“I guess not...”, A’viloh muttered, the topic of his friends making his mood visibly sink again.
Of course the Elezen noticed and his smile turned into a playful grin. “But I acted a little selfish too, you know? I think Camp Dragonhead is a lot friendlier with your company and I would like to have you and your pretty smile around a little longer.”
For a moment A’viloh’s eyes shot up to look at the others face before he quickly pretended that something somewhere a little bit to his left was a lot more interesting. Sometimes Haurchefant randomly said things, A’viloh hadn’t had the slightest idea how to react to. Not because he was that oblivious but simply because it puzzled him. Nonetheless the air suddenly didn’t feel that cold anymore on his face.
Haurchefant was always very kind to him. Well, he mostly was kind to everybody but sometimes he seemed to admire him especially. Him of all people, although there was nothing special about him. Haurchefant sometimes spoke of him like he was one of the greatest heroes of all time and it felt so ridiculous to him. He was just silly, cowardly A‘viloh! What had he ever achieved in his miserable life to justify such admiration? The people called him a Warrior of Light but wasn’t that some grand overstatement? Some days he thought all of this had been a horrible mistake. A great misunderstanding! Then he wondered how he had ever gotten entangled in this madness in the first place and also if he ever would get out of it again. But what else should he do with his life anyway...
While A’viloh’s brain still screeched in desperate search for a proper response, Haurchefant seemed to realise he had flustered him and glossed it over by gesturing to the gate.
“How about we walk a few yalms? There’s something you need to see!”
Still too dumbstruck to speak or to even wonder what the Elezen was talking about, A’viloh nodded and then proceeded to follow him out into the snowy landscape.
After a few minutes Haurchefant paused and took a deep breath. “Isn’t the air wonderful today?”
A’viloh followed his example, breathed deeply and let his gaze wander over the snow covered landscape with a few pines here and there and the mountains and ruins of the Steel Vigil in the distance. The air was cool and fresh, still cold enough that the warm sun couldn’t melt the snow. Instead the rays of sunshine made the scenery shine and sparkle as if everything was covered not in ice but in millions over millions of tiny diamonds.
“It is.”, he answered and smiled, surprised how beautiful this inhospitable landscape could be, before with a sudden spark of curiosity he finally asked. “Where are we going?”
“It’s not far anymore.”, Haurchefant said with a grin on his face and pointed into another direction. Shortly after and only a bit further ahead they reached a small lake.
As they got closer A‘viloh noticed that it not only was covered in a layer of snow and ice but also that quite a few off-duty soldiers, given the proximity to the camp he assumed they had to be, were standing right on top of the frozen lake. No, they were not quite standing. It looked more like they were dancing or flying maybe. More or less gracefully they moved over the lake‘s surface in fluid swift strides, some just moving in wide circles and other swirling around this way or that. A’viloh had never seen something like this and it looked strange and impossible but at the same time very beautiful to him.
The two of them had almost reached the lake by then, A’viloh a few steps ahead to get a better look at the wondrous people on the ice and he already wanted to ask how they did that, when his attention was drawn elsewhere by a curious squawking sound.
“Oh! Look at them!”, the Miqo’te exclaimed, his fascinated smile still turning a little brighter, as he gestured to a small flock of wild geese resting at the shore of the lake. With ruffled feathers they sat closely huddled together at the edge of the ice and suddenly A‘viloh couldn’t help but worry about them. They looked so unbothered by his presence, sleeping through the day and all the hubbub around them, looking all exhausted and frozen with their puffed up feathers. Like anything could happen to them and they wouldn’t even mind.
Strangely he wondered what he himself had looked like when Haurchefant had found him unconscious in the snow. He must have been a pitiful sight. Had the Elezen thought him beyond saving too, just like he himself had. What if he had found him a little later or not at all? Maybe that would have been better, a voice murmured to him just like it had so many times before and for a moment, tempted by the grief heavy on his heart once again, he almost believed it.
But no, he would be dead then and while he would have liked to imagine that this would mean he could be with his loved ones again, it was not exactly what either of the tribes he had lived with believed.
Vaguely he remembered his father working for hours, digging a grave at what used to be Wellwick Wood. An elderly woman too exhausted by their long journey, his grandmother if he remembered correctly, had died shortly after they had arrived there. With a sad smile on his face his father had explained to his children, who had stared down into the hole in the ground with confusion in their eyes, how by returning her body to the earth there could still grow new life from this death.
Or the drake tribe of the Sagolii Desert, who always burned their dead and left the ashes to be carried away by the desert wind, believing that it would make it easier for the deceased‘s aether to return to the Aetheric Sea and create something new elsewhere.
With a sudden sharp pain in his heart A’viloh realised that neither of the people he loved had gotten the burial they would have wanted for themselves. And neither had A‘viloh himself wanted to die in the coldness of Coerthas and be forever forgotten under a thick layer of snow and ice. He had thought about dying before but never had he been this close to it. For a second he wondered if this was something worth speaking to Rael about, but he wasn’t sure they wouldn’t misunderstand and get mad at him again.
“Why do you make such a sad face now?”, Haurchefant asked having noticed the smile slip from the Miqo’te’s face. But A’viloh just vehemently shook his head and focused on the geese again.
“They must be horribly cold.”, he wondered in a voice that suggested he already planned to take all of them to the safety of his comfortably warm room.
Haurchefant chuckled. “Don’t worry, they survived the storm out here after all. They keep each other warm, that’s why you‘ll rarely see one of them alone. A bit like you and your friends.”
“Maybe…”, A’viloh answered thinking about this comparison for a moment. “I just wish it wouldn’t always be me who needs to be taken care of. But as proven in Ul’dah and now once again I am simply too weak and useless to keep myself alive, not to mention anyone else.”
The Elezen’s face got a little stern as he folded his arms in front of his chest. “Don’t say that, I am sure it’s not true! This was just bad luck! You are neither weak nor useless!”
A’viloh shrugged. “But that’s how I feel right now...”
Slowly Haurchefant nodded before speaking again with a silent but determined voice. “Listen. I‘ll never forget how bravely you fought for Francel although you barely knew him. You could have gotten yourself in trouble with that and you helped him anyway.”
“It’s not like I did that on my own -”, A’viloh tried to protest but was immediately interrupted. “But you still helped! And I’m sure even without Rael you would have done so!”
Another shrug was all Haurchefant got in response, so the Elezen thought for a second before making an offer. “You want to make yourself useful, right? Get stronger? I could teach you how to fight like a real ishgardian knight, with sword and shield. Or we have some dragoons at Camp Dragonhead too! I’m sure there’s a lot you could learn from them.”
A‘viloh‘s face turned to disbelief. “I really don’t think I could fight with armor and weapons this heavy…”
“You can’t say so if you don’t try! And I have you know that dragoon armors are surprisingly light. How do you think they could still be this agile otherwise? Promise me to at least try training with them a little!”
He didn’t really want to agree to that. He knew he would make a fool of himself. But how could he say no with Haurchefant trying everything in his power to cheer him up. Weakly he shook his head and muttered: “Fine…”
“Perfect!”, Haurchefant exclaimed with a bright smile on his face. “I think an early reward for your efforts is appropriate then!”
Confused A’viloh watched him take a small bag off of his shoulders, which he hadn’t even noticed until now. For a moment the Elezen was busy undoing a knot before he opened the bag and presented to A‘viloh a set of two weirdly shaped blades attached to pieces of wood with leather straps. He had no idea what these constructs were meant to do and that was plainly visible on his face. “What’s that?”
“Ice skates of course!”, Haurchefant said as if that would explain it all but the Miqo’te‘s face remained clueless, so Haurchefant gestured to the lake behind them. “You attach them to your boots so you can walk on the ice like this!”
“Oh!”, A’viloh exclaimed as he understood what Haurchefant was planning. “I don’t think-… I mean I‘ve never-… You don’t really want me to step on that lake do you?” The idea somehow scared him.
“Why not?”, Haurchefant asked for the second time today with this smile that made the question sound like a challenge.
“It’s just a bit of ice!”, A‘vi objected. “What if it breaks?”
The Elezen shook his head and proceeded to fasten the metal blades beneath his boots. “Ah, don’t worry. The ice is thick enough, it will take at least a few more days to melt.”
“I don’t know…”, was all A’viloh replied as Haurchefant pressed another pair of skates into his hands. But the Elezen remained determined and took a few wobbly steps through the snow and onto the ice. “See! I can stand on it and it doesn’t break! You are a lot lighter than me, so why wouldn’t you be able to?”
Oh, you don’t know my bad luck!, A‘viloh thought but Haurchefant didn’t look like he would take that for an excuse. Instead he stretched out a hand towards the Miqo’te. “Come one! Believe me, this is going to be funny!”
For a second A‘viloh pondered his options. The idea of nothing but a little bit of ice between him and the water still terrified him but Haurchefant seemed so excited about this and the other people actually seemed to have fun too. Maybe he should at least pretend to try... Reluctantly he sat down on a rock and tried to put on the skates just like Haurchefant had done a moment ago.
“The clasp on the back too. Make sure none of them are loose… Yes, that looks fine!”, Haurchefant helpfully explained. As A’viloh got up, he almost flopped right back down into the snow. It was a weird feeling to balance his whole weight on only two thin pieces of metal. As he carefully took the first few steps towards the lake Haurchefant reached out for him once more. “Here! Take my hand! I don’t want you to fall…”
Hesitantly A‘vi stepped onto the ice and immediately felt like the ground was being pulled away beneath his feet. He struggled for balance, feeling himself falling backwards, so Haurchefants arm was a very welcome thing to hold on to.
With a chuckle the Elezen tried to loosen A‘vi‘s desperate grip on his arm and instead took each of his hand in one of his own before carefully making slow steps backwards pulling A‘viloh over the ice, which A’vi could swear was making suspicious crackling sounds below them. There was no way to tell the blades beneath his feet not to move, so all A’viloh could do was try not to fall and plead to Haurchefant with ears flat on his head and panic in his eyes, as he slowly was pulled further onto the lake. “No, no, no. Take me back, that’s a horrible idea!”
“Calm down. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I promise.”, Haurchefant said soothingly and continued to explain to him how to move on the ice skates. And in fact the Elezen’s calm voice slowly made A’viloh feel less anxious. His hands, frantically clasping at Haurchefant’s, relaxed along with his legs. It was still a weird feeling to be standing on the ice but now it felt a lot easier to remain balanced. He glanced at the people around them while remaining as still as possible, studied their movements for a moment and then tentatively tried to mimic the way they slowly pushed their feet above the slippery surface. To his surprise he really moved forward without much effort and also without feeling the sensation of falling again, closer to Haurchefant who had steadied him with his outstretched arms so far.
“See! It’s not that difficult.”, he said while making another step backwards so A’viloh had to follow with another step forward. The Miqo’te, strangely excited about the fact that he was actually moving on these weird ice-blades, laughed happily. “You are even going backwards!”
Haurchefants laughed. “One step after the other. Let’s teach you how to go forward first, hm? I‘ll let go off one of your hands but don’t worry, I still got you. One feet after the other just like you did before…”
In fact it almost felt easier now that he could use one of his arms to balance himself. Very slowly at first they floated above the icy surface of the lake but soon A‘viloh got braver. Once he almost lost his balance but for a comparably tall and strong person like Haurchefant it seemed like a very easy task to keep a small Miqo’te on his feet. Almost falling had felt like a shock for a second but only moments later they were laughing about it and in the end A’viloh was surprised and also a little proud how quickly he had learned and how much fun this was.
He wasn’t sure how much time they spent there on the frozen lake but at some point a bell sounded from the nearby Camp. Startled A’viloh looked up (and almost lost his balance again). “How late is it? I’m sure you have more important things to do than this! I’m sorry if I’m keeping you from doing your work.”
But Haurchefant just laughed and teased, “What could be more important than prove to you that not all of Coerthas is a deadly wasteland trying to kill you? But I think we really should return soon. I don’t want you to get cold again and after all we also don’t want Rael to find out about this little excursion, do we?”
For a second A’viloh wished the viera could see him now and wondered what their reaction would be like. The thought made him chuckle.
And as they floated, one last circle around the lake, A’viloh couldn’t help but wonder that maybe it was happy moments like this. The reason he was still here. Moments that made his life worth living.
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inspired by the poem The Reversal by Leila Chatti
#ffxiv#ff14#final fantasy xiv#final fantasy 14#ffxiv writing#ffxiv screenshots#gpose#Aviloh Tia#Haurchefant Greystone#This ended up sadder than I wanted actually XD#But at least it ends on a good note and thats worth something huh?#I read that poem while I was still writing the last story and thought it fitted A'vi's mood quite well#and that it would be sweet to make him go ice skating although he has no clue what that is and how to do it :D#Did I ever tell you A'vi is his own worst enemy sometimes? I probably did or you figured that out by yourself by now...#If he thinks he can't do something he won't even try#I like to blame that on the expectactions people had for him and which he failed repeatedly but it's probably a bit of a character flaw too#However before late HW it is probably also very easy to talk him into pretty much anything if you have the slightest bit of persuasion skil#oops thats probably a character flaw too... but in this case it is useful at last :D#A'vi will get better soon I promise!#Well obviously he will get worse first for obvious reasons but then he'll get better eventually!#Maybe... I hope... Oh boy I am seriously trying but this sad cat doesn't want to be happy D:#I think getting the Scions back will help a little and so will the happenings of Stormblood I think...#And regarding Haurchefant: I don't think I see this as particularly romantic (I mean from Haurchefant's side maybe given his character)#I should probably make a post one of these days giving some iside look on A'vi's emotions! because it's complicated! XD#he's been alive but not really living for so long now and maybe this near-death-expierence was necessary to make him think about that...#rant over! I'll make a different post another day! this already got out of hand again...#and once again I’m posting this on a Friday! i might just start calling it FanficFriday! which doesn’t mean you get something each week XD
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I’m still thinking about that “you promised” “I know” post
#lost in the SAUCE#it got me thinking about a gpose idea#thinking about the. the stay safe everyone. and come back#line from EW. and krile’s you must triumph#like. painting a picture for a second of like#eyrie in the elpis field with the meteia hiding their eyes at they turn to face the camera#but they are smiling and there’s just the text of you promised. I know#cringe is dead I think they both have nightmares about ultima thule#eyrie has them a lot it’s like. pick a moment#the twins are the nightmare they have the most. losing them for good#but losing Estinien is a nightmare that comes close behind#it’s a resurgent nightmare of losing someone you love#but Estinien has nightmares of finding eyrie in the elpis field#beyond the fuck it we ball of canon#I think it’s like. a case of eyrie didn’t show up at the ship so everyone went out to explore again#and the teleporter did work after a fashion#it just being created by the mix of eyrie and zenos’s wishes took them to the elpis field#Zenos’s desire for eyrie to live + their own desire to have a nice place to die#meant they ended up in the field#it just ended up being that the scions found their body w a few of the meteia around them#i think about UT a lot Shdjdjd#endwalker spoilers#owen talks
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i just need to be able to summon up a single feeling about harding. like the thing is i can sacrifice her because i kind of dgaf but that also makes it impossible for me to sacrifice her because i need it to play into my Narrative and i can't construct a Narrative with literally zero feelings about her. i'm sorry women. it's my fault i'm not doing enough
#she can't coast on being cute because bellara beats her in my mind by miles and ALSO grief trump card#veilguard spoilers#just have to live in the world where lucanis and dak-wai have the relationship i made up in my own head and he dies at tearstone.#which is some insanity inducing stuff. YOU'RE the grey warden YOU'RE supposed to die HE'S the assassin with no morals the abomination#you would sooner die than become. and he dies. he completes his contract like a crow should and he sacrifices himself to save the world in#the process. people won't let you die for them. if there's anyone you wouldn't expect to have died for you it's him AAH!!!!!#ha-neul playthrough save me. there IS an interesting angle there bc i think he does feel#um. quite bitter about her getting stone powers and there's an underlying Thing where he's lying about having been born a surfacer#and while he like. Is now. and certainly has no interest in being a noble caste scion the stone powers thing brings up a bone-deep envy#as a guy who has always been fascinated by magic as something he could never have access to. and that sparks some worse instincts. hm hm
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