#she is very much angry at bahamut

[toestalucia]

Vania: Mommy… You're watching, right? Are you happy too? Choice: She is, no doubt.

critical damage. but the fate ep parent hell didnt end there, i am so sorry for reading petras so late cuz hellooo?!?!?

Petra: (If the true Andras is somewhere in the Abyssal Forest, then that's also where Mother's journey would have ended. Will she be there? What would I even say to her? Should I ask her why she abandoned me? Or should I… No, I can't think about that now. I have to concentrate on stopping Andras.)

Karla: I have regrets. There are many things that I still want to do. That I was not able to be a mother to Petra hurts most of all. More than anything else, I wanted to be there to see her grow up…

Petra: It's not fair… Saying goodbye like this… How am I supposed to stay angry at you?

the (captain) io petra club of parents who left them to do something rly cool(save ppl). the added fact that with vanias situation where gran doesnt have any memory of their mother & what walfrid shared was very vauge and doesn't know either if their mom is dead or alive (rising hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha). also last years holiday seasonal with yaia & her mother.......like i truly think that its a dialogue option that becomes a lot more personal from captain, because even if gran has no knowledge about their mom & thus mentions her a lot less / doesn't have the same type of loneliness about her as they do with their dad, it's still pretty clear that they were curious as a kid & wondered what was up with their family. so i feel its very..............im sure she's watching, because thats what im hoping for my mom too. yknow.

as for petra that section felt terrible cuz. like i KNEW it was there, i knew about petras lore. i knew she was in a similar situation as captain & io. but having her voice it like this..........'should i ask her why she abandoned me' LIKEEEEEEEEEE....that epic scene in no rain no rainbow that they reused for and you (i think it was????) with captain crying & being comforted by vyrn with very similar questions. the anime s2 too. ugh.....u better keep dad alive. makes act3 such a heartache too since they fell to the edgelands as dad left, found out estalucias real name, found out repti had known dad & that? the last thing anyone has seen of dad is very likely him standing in front of the omnipotent(s clone) ?????? which makes me so damn dizzy in consideration of dad arriving at zinkenstill alone with captain & mom (&dads) position with bahamut. going to estalucia.....dad........ yeah my dad is at this fabled island oh no he met a being whose radiance blinded repti & even seeing it from the mask hurt hailaks eyes is he ok we dont know we can just push forward oh no the sky is broken. LIKEEEEEE ???? not to mention seed of redemption (which IS set after/around edgelnads right........i heard water lecias fate eps reference some stuff......which EVEN MORE makes sense of captains reaction of running away like they JUST missed their own dad & met mika&shitori who dad was telling stories to and whatnot + finding out either before or after whats actually up with their family. like the emotions are in SHAMBLES during that. adding on borrowing/using the omnipotents power during heart of the sun like. can i. can we. ???????????? do u get me. desperately holding onto anything that lets them be closer to their dad, even if it the logic doesnt make sense.

'how am i supposed to stay angry at you' petra im gonna be ill. i love you so much. desperately need a 'left behind by our parents' login story. ill read the lvl100 fate tmrw i cant deal with this rn<//3

in grans case especially & how i write them i think the 'i understand that my parents are likely doing something very very important' and 'i wish they werent/i wish they choose me instead' are sooooo messy..............lov things like that. love petras dialogue. love how gran can understand her wholeheartedly in that moment, even if she doesnt speak of it.

[hrodvitnon]

Random Tiamat Thoughts/Ideas/HCs

(just to clarify, this is Frostbite, I just changed my name lol)

I feel there's an interesting juxtaposition to have against Godzilla, who is also a creature of the seas but had humans willingly given to him as tribute on rafts- whereas Tiamat would lure people into the ocean with her songs. Maybe the humans saw Godzilla in a similar vein to how Bahamut is viewed in the classic Bahamut-Tiamat myth; and they would pray to Godzilla in order to keep Tiamat at bay.

I see Tiamat's relationship with the other Titans as somewhat strained. Opinions of her range from her being mildly annoying to insufferable by some. Of all the Titans, it's the most strained with Shimo.

They don't get along. At all. Shimo sees Tiamat as a chattering, promiscuous brat who can never seem to grow the fuck up and show even the slightest amount of respect. Tiamat sees Shimo as an overdramatic wannabe hero who sucks up to any Titan she can with flattery and feigned respect. Shimo gets annoyed when other Titans put up with and even play into her whorish and disrespectful tendencies, feeling like it validates her antics and makes her just do it more; and Tiamat visibly rolls her eyes whenever Shimo pulls out one of her stupid poetic titles or hymns of tribute to other Titans.

This relationship is much worse in AbraxasVerse, as there's the added stipulation that they were both mated to Ozymandias at one point. They both internalize some nasty assumptions about the nature of their respective relationships with him. Shimo, upon learning Tia was Ozzy's mate after her, assumes that Ozzy must've been *really* desperate to take someone like her as mate, and beats herself up about disappearing some more because 'if I were still around, he would've never gotten desperate enough to seek out *her* company'. Tiamat is very confused by the revelation that Shimo was Ozzy's first mate, seeing her as way too boring and prude to be mated to the famously sex-hungry and fun-loving Ozymandias. In her mind, it all but confirms her theory that Shimo's reverence and overt respect to her fellow kaiju is all performative flattery and just a way to get people in bed with her- something that actually worked on Ozzy. A caveat of this is that Tia assumes Ozzy could never have been sexually satisfied with her, and that Ozzy would've dumped her the instant he got a taste of Tiamat in bed. The assumption helped Tiamat sleep and night and put down the anxiety of actually being Ozzy's second mate (and that Ozzy never dumped Shimo, she just disappeared).

Angsty Idea: I can see this eventually boiling over if Tia ever gets on one of her rants against Mothra not using her powers to find Ozzy, and has the gall to suggest that she was the only one that ever really cared about Ozzy and she in turn was the only one her ever truly loved; right in front of Shimo and Mothra (and maybe Goji). Shimo would probably explode into full-on category 5 blizzard mode at Ozzy's name being used against her like that, disregarding her usual calm and respectful demeanor for ripping into Tiamat about being a pesky little bitch who couldn't grow up with a gun to her head, and promptly ripping into Mothra/Goji about putting up with her bullshit. Goji or Mothra would need to break it up before things got violent between the two, either one probably getting really angry too about hearing Ozzy's name thrown around in that manner.

I've heard theories here about Tia's species being famous for sexual promiscuity, and I think that would boil over into sex being so casual and so normalized to Tiamat that 'making love' would be a weird concept to her. Sex was just sex to her, and she may even find it a little weird that some Titans or humans engage with sex in that way.

A lot of people seem to forget that Tiamat has a very similar bio-electrical ability to Ghidorah. Recently, in Shamhat, we see Ghidorah use that ability in a very- interesting way on her. She probably never would've thought to use that ability in that way, but now that Ghidorah's demonstrated it on her, she would probably look to utilize that power in literally any way she can on any Titan she lays with. San's basically inadvertently given her the sexual equivalent of a nuclear bomb to utilize how she pleases- and this is one of the few times I would rather trust Ghidorah with something than Tiamat…

On her Siren's Song: I think it would be something comparable to Godzilla/Ghidorah's Alpha Roar, except instead of forceful and demanding- it's persuasive and sweet. She can reach a similar effect to hypnosis by focusing it down on a single target, but people and Titans with sufficiently strong wills can resist it, unlike the Alpha Roar which seems to be irresistible to any who hear it; only other Alpha-Bornes (Kong, Caesar, Shimo). Are immune. 

Now I'm picturing Tiamat bragging about the new "trick" she learned from San and everyone is horrified at him for unleashing sexual terror upon the world... except for Shimo, who's just like "Still have to use underhanded tricks just to get a rise out of your target, eh Tiamat? I'm unsure if that's sad or hilarious." On a good day, Tiamat and Shimo are the Titan equivalents of Blanche and Dorothy, only if Tia tries trash-talking Shimo's looks, it falls flat on its face.

"What're you talking about, Shimo's gorgeous!"

"I always liked them tall and imposing..."

"You think it's 'cause Tia doesn't have hands in her real form?"

[uridestiny]

The Warrior of the Moon Chapter 19: Truths after the tragedy

Previous chapter:

https://www.tumblr.com/uridestiny/745677145875070976/the-warrior-of-the-moon-chapter-18-waking-up-in?source=share

My eyelids felt heavy, my legs were numb but I was able to move my toes, my feet hurt horribly, as if I had stepped on a bed of nails with my bare feet; My arms hurt a lot, they were heavy and burning, as if I had been exposed to burns, but I could feel my fingers and I could also feel the touch of someone holding my hands. I could barely open my eyes, the light around was dim, but enough to illuminate the surroundings.

¨She woke up!¨ I heard someone scream.

¨Quickly! Someone call a healer!¨ Another voice shouted.

I moved my eyes lazily, trying to look for those who were making too much noise. Two similar faces peeked out to see mine, I recognized them immediately and smiled at both of them.

¨Good morning Aaron, and also your Adrien¨ I managed to whisper, but I didn't have much strength to speak and my throat was slightly dry.

They both started crying, which surprised me. I had never seen Aaron cry, he had always remained serious and very distant in showing emotions such as happiness or sadness, you could say that most of the time he was serious or angry, but seeing him cry right here and now... It made me feel great pain in my heart, what was causing those tears?

On the other hand, Adrien was also injured, he had bandages on his chest that reached his neck, where there is a slight trace of blood, and he has some bandages around his head. After waking up and seeing him, I thought he was crying because his wounds were too painful, but after seeing them both staring at me... I realized that they weren't crying for them, but for me.

After passing a checkup from a healer and being helped into a sitting position on the bed, I was told they found me under some debris from the Carline Canopy after Bahamut unleashed a wave of destruction on Eorzea upon breaking free from Dalamud, apparently a prison that kept him locked up for several centuries, a creation of the Allag before their demise.

When they found me next to the man Elezen, thanks to the twelve he also survived, only we both had first degree burns, since the debris that fell with us prevented us from having worse burns when the sky glowed in flames, but it also hurt my legs and arms due to the weight on my body and I almost risk being crushed. The healers also pointed out to me that my feet were considerably damaged and I would not be able to walk until after two weeks of rest, with corresponding medication and sessions of healing magic.

“How long was I unconscious, sir?” I asked the healer who was treating me, an elderly Roegadyn man who looked exhausted and had dark circles under his eyes.

¨It was 6 days, your brothers arrived recently because no one had been able to identify you, there were many wounded in the battle and also many missing.¨

The healer kindly explained to me that, in the midst of all the chaos created, a prayer circle was formed in the sky with the 12 symbols of the deities with the intention of containing Bahamut, but for some reason, it failed to enclose the Primal; his power and his anger were so great that it was impossible to contain him, but out of nowhere, a light filled the sky of Eorzea and spread... Even without knowing what happened, everyone looked at the sky full of residual Aether that fell on the earth, Bahamut was gone and no one could explain how, but that was not all, when some realized, most of the adventurers who were present at the Battle of Carteneau disappeared without a trace.

I didn't understand how it was possible for thousands of people to disappear in such a moment in battle, but that wasn't what terrified me the most to hear since I woke up.

"The only bad thing is that we can no longer locate those missing in the Battle of Carteneau, due to some strange phenomenon caused in the battle, no one remembers the names or faces of the people who were present there, they have not even been able to start a search because we do not have any information that identifies them. It is a terrible tragedy that we cannot even give them a decent burial if there is no body or a name to put on their tombstones...¨

At that moment I thought I was living a nightmare, I couldn't imagine myself forgetting someone I met from one day to the next...

¨Miss, I know this is probably very sudden for you, but I would like you to cooperate, any information you can remember about these people would be greatly appreciated. Have you requested the help of an adventurer recently?¨ The healer said kindly.

An adventurer? I tried to search my memories to try to remember someone, I had heard that term before, and I had also gone to Carline Canopy to speak with Mother Miounne to ask her about a certain adventurer...

¨Miss?¨ The man's voice slowly became distant, I fell into my thoughts trying to remember something about this person, a name or face, anything!

My head hurt and I felt dizzy, I remember seeing someone when I first arrived in Gridania, it was around my age, they told me their name, helped me... I saved them, and we worked together to support each other...

"Miss, are you okay?" The man's voice was barely a whisper, I clenched my fists in frustration.

I didn't remember their name... I didn't remember their voice... Not even their face...

...Who... Who was?...

Before I knew it, my bandaged fists were shaking in my lap, and became slightly wet with the tears that fell from my eyes, a great feeling of frustration washed over me and hit my heart, but no matter how hard I tried, it was like if something prevented me from remembering it and it was only replaced by light; It hurt me to think that this person I knew was gone, and no one would be able to find if them was hurt. I remember screaming to stop them, I could have sworn I screamed their name, but I couldn't hear them, my ears were ringing and the pain in my head was getting worse.

¨Miss, you better try to rest, you will be transferred to Sharlayan when access to the island is reopened. Until then, you will stay here.¨

The man got up and walked towards another patient who was close to me, it was then that I lay down on my own bed and looked around me a little, I wasn’t the only one who was present, many civilians and soldiers who were wounded are gathered together. In the same improvised room, it seemed that this was the home of a small family, but with so many people injured, at least from here I can count that there are at least 14 or 15 patients.

A few hours passed, but I couldn't sleep, I felt like if I went back to sleep it would probably be another 6 days without waking up, the thought alone made me feel chills, but I didn't have to wait long before I saw Aaron walk into the makeshift infirmary to bring me a bowl of hot soup for me.

"You've gone 6 days without eating, you must be hungry." He told me in a soft voice, it had been a long time since he spoke to me like that.

¨In all honesty brother, I'm not hungry...¨ I lowered my head while holding the bowl of soup in my hands, it hurts a lot to hold it, but not even the delicious aroma of the food could make me take away the feeling I have in my mouth in my stomach when they told me what happened that day.

“You must eat to regain your strength, and well, as rest.” Aaron sighed, trying to cheer me up. ¨I'm sure that in a few days the ships to Sharlayan will flow again, they can't go long without knowing what has happened here, so don't worry...¨

Aaron reached out with his hand to move a few strands of my hair back so I could have a clear view to eat.

"We will return home sooner than you think" he concluded.

I spent a few seconds looking at the bowl of soup, and then Aaron took the bowl and lifted the spoon with some soup broth on it, and brought it to my mouth trying to feed me.

"I'm not a child" I told him reluctantly.

"I know, but you have to eat, the soup is going to get cold and it won't taste good."

With a pout, I opened my mouth and received the spoon with soup, it was hot to say the least, the taste was pleasant and I felt like going days without eating shook my whole body at the arrival of food, my stomach turned, but to my luck, I didn't vomit the soup, I just squirmed a little.

¨Take it easy, I will help you eat, you should consume small bites so that you can consume food regularly again.¨ Aaron said with a serious look, he passed the spoon over the soup again and took another small amount with this.

Before he brought the spoon closer to me again, I asked him.

¨When did you arrive in Gridania?¨

“Today, in fact, I recently arrived here.” I saw how he frowned and looked bitterly at the bowl of soup.

¨The Forum wouldn't allow me to leave the island, and neither would any civilian, so I had to ask a friend for a favor to bring me here and he agreed, we'll probably have problems once all this can calm down a bit.¨

I sigh and then he bring the spoon to my mouth, repeating the process over and over at a slow pace. Although it was evident that he brought with him many problems and worries, Aaron didn’t raise his voice, instead, he remained calm and with his soft tone when speaking.

¨Adrien arrived with you 2 days ago, he also had burns and wounds from the battle, but he was in another makeshift infirmary so it took a while for the healers to allow him to go out and look for you.¨ Aaron paused and left the spoon in the bowl that was still half finished.

¨When he found his cabin destroyed, he went to look for you in various corners of Twelveswood and in Gridania, as well as asking several people he met, he managed to give a physical description about you and that helped his search bear fruit; He found you here unconscious, he has been here taking care of you since then until I could arrive.¨

I felt sad at the thought of how desperate they both were trying to find me in the middle of all this chaos, Adrien was probably desperate to get out of the infirmary even if his condition still wasn't the best and Aaron not hearing from us and not being able to leave the island... They both suffered a lot...

¨Where is Adrien?¨ I asked, I felt my throat close due to guilt.

"He’ll be back in a while, he went to talk to a healer to ask about your condition and he will also have a checkup to see if he will be allowed to return to work soon."

Aaron spooned some soup again and brought it closer to me, but this time I didn't open my mouth.

"Destiny? Does something hurt?¨ His voice sounded worried, and that only made the pain in my throat worse than the rest of my wounds.

“Destiny, do you want me to call a healer?” He kept asking, but I didn't have the strength to answer, so he placed the bowl of soup on the bed and tried to get up to call a healer, but I stopped him abruptly when I took him from the arm.

¨Please stay...¨ I whispered, trying my best to speak, but all of this also hurt a lot.

Aaron took a seat next to my bed again, moving the bowl of soup once more so it wouldn't fall. We were silent for a couple of minutes. I think he realized that I was trying to say something to him but he had to give me my time to speak.

He waited patiently, which surprised me, he had always shown himself to be a busy man and that if there was something to say, it had to be quick, but this time it wasn’t like that, he didn’t pressure me to speak, instead he remained silent. Waiting for my words, this wasn’t the Aaron I knew, but it was clearly him.

¨I’m so sorry…¨ I whispered and felt my chest hurt.

¨I'm so sorry for worrying you both, for everything that happened... I didn't want to hurt you both...¨ Finally my tears fell, I couldn't control them, my emotions overwhelmed me in such a way that I couldn't stop them, I couldn't stop them anymore, couldn’t speak. I raised my bandaged hands to my face to wipe away the tears.

Then I felt Aaron's gentle hands on mine.

“Destiny, none of this is your fault” He said softly, caressing my bandaged hands.

¨There are circumstances that are out of our hands, this calamity was not caused by you, it was out of your reach, so was the decision of the Forum to not allow me to leave the island, as well as the fact that the healers will not allow Adrien to leave until that he wasn’t cured.¨

My tears blurred my vision, but I could clearly feel Aaron's presence near me, I clung to his hands, because I felt that if I let go, he probably wouldn't be there anymore.

¨But I came here... I came here and that caused you...¨

Aaron shifted his position slightly, straightening up.

¨Destiny... Adrien told me the reason why you came here. It's true, I was angry, but you didn't do it with bad intentions, you only cared about your family... I couldn't go look for Adrien, but you did it, because you cared about us; If you didn't, you wouldn't have left me the warning that you were leaving, but in that letter, you promised to come back.¨

Aaron squeezed my hands lightly and he was shaking a little.

¨You are no longer the little girl who first came to Sharlayan, you became a woman, but still... Sometimes the idea of letting you go is difficult for me, because both Adrien and I want to continue protecting you.¨

Finally, Aaron hugged me, it was a gentle hug but full of sweetness and warmth, although I recognized that he doesn’t tend to be very expressive when it comes to giving affection, I never thought he would do it at a time like this.

¨Do you know how I found you that day in the forest?¨ I heard Adrien's voice behind Aaron and I saw how his silhouette approached us, I saw how he went to the other side of the bed and moved the bowl of soup, towards another piece of furniture, he sat on the bed, even with his wounds and body bandaged.

¨Because I became what I am now; Because I wanted to protect those I can still save, a wise man taught me this and thanks to that... I found you.¨

Adrien approached. But he leaned on Aaron to join the hug as well.

¨You were like a ray of light that illuminated our lives and every day that we saw you grow has been the most wonderful we have ever seen, it was when I realized that I have something special to fight for and that I want to protect; and I want to continue doing it.¨

A great wave of emotions invaded me, I was moved by both of their words, my chest hurt so much that I couldn't distinguish if it was because of the injuries I suffered or because of this feeling, but it was... A warmth so pleasant and sweet, that I couldn't. I had felt in a long time... My sadness turned into joy and love, even with my sore arms, I extended them to hug them both; my burns burned under my bandages, but I didn't care, I just wanted to hug them both. For the first time in many years, I realized how fortunate I was to know my brothers... How blessed I was all this time.

I cried in both of their arms, it had been a long time since I was like this... Since I was a little girl and they both accompanied me to sleep when I suffered from nightmares, they hugged me warmly, gave me a glass of milk and lay with me on my bed to see the stars; My room in Sharlayan has a glass ceiling that allows me to see the moon and stars, and they both slept next to me while we watched the night sky, they both tried their best not to sleep at night just because of me, they didn't fall asleep until that I could sleep first; But sometimes it was too much for them and I was only content to hold their hands and lend them my blankets so that neither of them would get cold while they slept. Holding his hands while I slept gave me the security of being able to sleep... That was so long ago...

Then I felt how Aaron tried to get away from me, and then I hugged him a little tighter. I think he noticed that I grimaced because his expression showed disapproval and he moved away. That's when I noticed how he put his hand on my arm and came back to adjust my bandages that were falling off. When he finished, he took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his tears. Adrien had also left and then looked at his twin with a mocking smile.

"Aaron, by chance you don't have another handkerchief with you to dry my tears?"

Then Aaron had his usual expression again and grumbled.

¨No, also, how many times have I told you to always have a handkerchief with you at your disposal if the occasion arises? Every day I told you in Sharlayan and you never listened to me!¨

Yeah, that's Aaron.

"How can you expect me to keep up with you when we clearly have different occupations? I work as a soldier, Mr. Elegant.¨ Adrien responded, his tone of voice sounding playful and sarcastic. "I don't think I need tissues to work when I'm exposed to dirt or monster slime, not all of us are fine like your Aaron."

At this point, it was normal for me to see them having those kinds of conversations, Aaron always pointed out Adrien's faults in terms of his environment and stability, but Adrien didn't care much and took it with humor, he knew very well that his own brother, he always wanted to check on his well-being, but sometimes he was simply too serious and strict. It even gave the impression that Aaron acted as if he were a grumpy father and Adrien was the naughty little boy of the family, but the sad reality for both of them is that they are twin brothers, with similar faces and the same age.

Some people even tend to be surprised when they meet both of them and find out that they are twin brothers, because they are so opposite that you could not believe that they are from the same root even if you were able to obviously see that they both have the same face. However, only if you were observant enough could you notice what kind of differences both of them possess in addition to character, including hair color and the marks in their eyes.

¨However, I am glad that you could show some kindness and love from the bottom of your heart towards our sister, hearing your words also touched me quite a bit Aaron¨ Adrien said smiling gently, and his healthy hand reached my head and began to caress me gently.

At these words I could see how Aaron's face flushed slightly and he looked away, feeling ashamed that he had been seen so vulnerable like that even for a brief moment. Then he suddenly stood up and took the almost empty bowl of soup that Adrien had left on a nearby piece of furniture and walked out quickly, before walking away completely he said almost shouting.

¨I'll go get more soup for Destiny! I hope you two are still there resting when I return or I will drag you both to the seven hells if I find out that you are gone even though you are injured!¨

Adrien just laughed out loud as he listened to Aaron's words, his healthy arm stopped caressing my head and raised it higher to say goodbye to his twin as he left the infirmary; I was relieved to see that despite his injuries, Adrien was still showing himself as he always does.

¨You also said corny words Adrien¨ I responded with amocking tone.

“I know, I know, I just wanted to bother Aaron a little. He has been worried about both of you all day, since he arrived, he hadn’t left your side and you could tell how distressed and helpless he felt...¨ Adrien changed his tone of voice, stopping from sounding joking to being serious and calm.

"I haven't seen him cry since Mom and Dad died..." Adrien said, sighing and looking down. "Seeing him like that again, and also the fact that you didn't open your eyes... I didn't know where to put my head and my heart, I felt desperate, trying to find something to do.¨ Then I saw how a tear fell from his eyes, although I couldn't see his expression, I could tell that he felt relieved.

He quickly wiped his face with his hand and looked at me again with his smile.

"I'm happy that you're with us, please don't scare us like that again."

I smiled too and decided to play with him a little to try to cheer him up after everything that had happened recently, I didn't want to keep thinking about our conversation, I simply wanted to be happy with my brothers.

"I'm also happy to be here, but sadly I can't promise to avoid another scare."

At that moment Adrien seemed bewildered.

¨Just wait for the All Saints' Wake of this year, I will give you both a new scare that will make your hair dye white!¨

He finally understood my humorous side and started laughing while also taking my challenge seriously.

¨No, I will outdo your costume and take all your candy!¨

At this point, Adrien and I took the sheets of the infirmary to joke around and play as ghosts for a while, the people passing by us laughing at our funny poses and voices. At some point, Aaron had already returned, but he had stood a few meters away from us, looking at us with shame and exhaustion, as if he were dealing with two small children who still don't know how to behave.

It wasn't until after some bells rang that he came over and took off the sheets to scold us and ask us to rest.

For those who have forgotten the detail, during the FF14 story it is mentioned that during the battle of Carteneau that after the failure of the invocation of the Twelve (the deities of that world) to seal Bahamut, the adventurers who were present disappeared without leave a trace and people could no longer remember them. But this is in reference to the players who were playing before ARR (A Realm Reborn) and to make sense of the story in this way.

[kaerran]

#3 (choice) Continuation

[spoilers for early bozja i guess, and this is a continuation of.... the time travel au i was writing last year]

Qahs'a breathes as slowly and quietly as he can as he watches a Garlean patrol march by. They're not paying that much attention, but he's very bad at being stealthy, and the absolute last thing he needs right now is to alert anyone to his existence. He's honestly not sure if there's any other Miqo'te within a hundred malms, and it would probably be a major warning sign if one did show up at random, trying to sneak through back streets.

Gods, what he wouldn't do to have Yugiri's help right now. At least she was good at hiding from Garlean patrols.

Still, he could trust the Echo to usually not lead him directly into trouble, unless he really needed to, so he felt somewhat confident when he darted out after the footsteps had faded away.

He might not know where he was going, due to how absolutely different the city is from the blasted ruin he's actually visited, but he's fairly confident that the building he's reached is the one that he's looking for.

The labs are quiet and dark as he walks. At this time of night, most of the researchers appear to be resting. Still, he can faintly hear the sound of raised voices, and that's the cue he follows through the building.

And then, suddenly, a gunshot.

Oh, Qahs'a realizes, feeling vaguely sick. Of course it'd be that night. Of course the Echo would lead him straight to the absolute worst time.

The plan was to let Cid defect on his own. He was not going to change that. No matter how awful it felt. Biggs and Wedge deserved their future as well. So he was stuck waiting in a side room until he heard someone stumble away and could finally act.

Midas looks… pretty much the same as he'd appeared in Cid's memory. Qahs'a isn't sure why he was expecting otherwise. Probably because of the extremely weird Galvus thing that followed, actually. He's muttering to himself as he leans over a bunch of screens, but… Qahs'a is pretty sure that things won't end well if he realizes Qahs'a is there.

So he casts a sleep spell on him.

Midas slumps in place, and something from the screen he's fallen against starts making angry noises. Okay. Step one complete. Now what?

The screen makes angrier noises.

It dawns on Qahs'a that he doesn't actually have a clue what the facility does, besides… explode an entire city within the next, what, month? Week? He probably should've asked more questions about the Bozja Incident at some point before he got flung back in time and decided to try to undo it, but… Well, too late now.

He digs around in his pouches until he finds some spare fabric to tie Midas up with. And gag him. Hopefully Bahamut won't do… too much… He can handle Midas, he handled both Bahamut-possessed-Nael and Louisoix-Phoenix and the primal on a smaller level than it is now, but that was after Bahamut got depowered. Okay fine, he'll just hope that whatever bond he has to the dragons through Midgardsormr will stall Bahamut.

Okay.

Deal with the angry screen.

Qahs'a has absolutely no idea what any of the screens are for. However, there is a convenient red button. That the Echo really likes the look of.

Well. It's probably not going to blow up the city. He just has to hope Cid is safely out.

He presses the button, picks the unconscious Garlean up, and runs.

He's a couple of streets away when the lab makes a weird thump noise and collapses in on itself.

Okay. That's… step two? and three? complete?? Now he has to somehow get Midas back to Eorzea without triggering Bahamut to do anything and also not kill the man. …he probably could kill him, but he's going to do his very best to try to untemper him and see what he can do when not under the thumb of a primal. If he's willing to do anything. If not, Qahs'a is willing to shove him off the edge of Idyllshire. Sharlayan. …whatever.

[after this, in the original plotting, qahs'a was going to get stopped by a member of the bozjan resistance. when i was first plotting this au it was oh… 5.4? and i absolutely could not complete even the first zone of bozja, so a plot point was bozjans going WHY do you have one of THOSE weapons, without having any… real concept of what might be going on with said weapons (it turned out: not a lot). since qahs'a's weapon is now absolutely NOT from bozja (it would probably be… moonward…. or possibly current relic idk i'm not sure where they're all from, timeline-wise. 6.4 would be the most sensical because at least pandae's wrapped up or maybe the future 6.5 so void is ALSO wrapped up notthatiknowhowthat'llgo. and rapier's also glammed to hailstorm to match alisaie ANYWAY, and the spear is glammed to gae bolga and...) that changes the dynamic a wee tad. so now.... congrats qahs'a you're going to escape completely free of suspicion and also not having any contact at all! bozja will just never know the explosion they dodged. probably have to deal with fallout from the research lab hitting apparently a self destruct but uhhhhh idk if it'll ever come up but my original thought was that somehow it became clear to garlemald that midas went completely nuts, tried to kill his own son (as evidenced by cid fleeing the city while bleeding) and then apparently hit the self destruct himself. originally the bozjan resistance helped set that up but now we can just claim it had something to do with those screens midas fell on. clearly he was on speakerphone the entire time. oops just hit the force delete for all backups of all research isn't that a shame. oops i guess midas was a traitor the entire time what a shame.]

[angelrider13]

Hey. Hey @sparklecryptid, I was thinking things about your OCs and my OCs and various other OCs and then I thought what if and SI was reborn as one of the Astrals?

And then I accidentally started a fic. (This may also interest @charlottedabookworm, @luxroyalty, @hamelin-born, @theperidotshade, @theotherguysride

A girl named for the sea drowns in it and then wakes up with scales for skin and saltwater in her veins with Etro standing over her naming her Tidemother. The sea is her and she is the sea, wild and ferocious and free. There are five others and this is familiar to her, this is a story she knows, but this is long before any of the characters are born, before the conflict has even arisen. Humanity is in its infancy - young and new and naive. Her fellow Astrals are the same as her, newly created seeing the world with new eyes. They are given domains and choose others as their own.

Bahamut is light and order. But he is also war and destruction and pride. Shiva is ice and snow and all things cold. But she is also death and duty. Titan is the earth and the stone. But he is also sacrifice and strength and suffering. Ifrit is fire and heat and flame. But he is also passion and hate and love. Ramuh is lightning and storms on the horizon. But he is also justice and truth.

She is Leviathan. She is the sea, the water, both the waves on the surface and the depths far below. She is fickle and free, kind and cruel, fierce and calm. She is change and tragedy and hope all rolled into one.

Time passes and humanity grows and learns and evolves and Leviathan remembers, does not let herself forget the story from before, keeps a wary eye on her siblings and the world at large. The Astrals, for all their distance, are revered as Gods, though that is not, nor was it ever, their purpose. They were not made to be worshiped by humans, but to be guardians of Eos. Ifrit has always felt things deeply and strongly and he loves the humans so. He speaks to them, answers their prayers.

She is not so forward, though she does not keep her distance like the others. Humans are a resilient race - she knows, she remembers - but they are also as fickle as her tides. She will not solve their problems, will not step in and fix things for them. If they are hungry, she will teach them to fish. Many call her cold for it, think her distant like the others, because her kindness is not like Ifrit’s.

(There is a story of a man who falls into a river. The water is deep and swift and the man is a strong swimmer, but not that strong - he cannot escape the current. He prays to the Tidemother to save him. A rock appears, disrupting the flow of water, but he pays it no mind. The Tidemother will save him. A log floats by, but he ignores it. If he prays hard enough, the Tidemother will protect him. A long branch overhangs the river. He doesn’t reach for it. He prays and prays and prays. He drowns.

“You didn’t save me!” he shouts at Leviathan in the Beyond, “I prayed to you and you didn’t answer!”

She is unmoved. “I answered you three times,” she says coolly, “I sent you a rock, a log, a branch. You ignored all of them. You must save yourself, boy, or you remain unsaved.”)

Eventually, Ifrit learns the lesson that she already knew. Humanity will always push for more. Ifrit gives and gives and gives and when he can give nothing else, humanity turns away from him. They take his teachings and his knowledge and make it there own. They learn from it, grow with it, change it figure out how to make it the more that Ifrit himself failed to give.

Ifrit has always felt strongly and this act that he sees as a betrayal turns all his love to hate. In his anger, he awakens a darkness they were meant to guard the world against. Humanity crumbles under the weight their war and the growing darkness. Bahamut grows desperate to restore order presents a Prophecy and a Crystal to a bloodline long blessed by Eos’s light and Etro’s grace. It is only after the fact that Leviathan realizes the Crystal is Eos’s heart, that it was something Bahamut was never meant to take. Ramuh is horrified when she confronts him for he remembers where the others have forgotten. But there are laws in place, laws older than they are, that they cannot break. Bahamut has declared a Prophecy and the Crystal cannot be returned until its completion.

Leviathan rages in her seas when she realizes that Bahamut’s Chosen King is the boy who played on her shores. Who offered her flowers and fruits and stones from deep within landlocked fields and caves that her waters did not reach. Who played in her waves and explored her tide pools and spoke to the creatures who called her waters home. She rages because she remembers. She knows what happens to this boy who is now a man, who is strong enough to save himself and others, who she claimed as her own long ago.

She rages when he falls from Bahamut’s grace, when the Draconian orders the Astrals to sleep. She uncoils, towering over him.

“I am the sea!” she screams at him, Ramuh’s ire fueling the tempest in her heart and her waves, “You do not command me!”

She sinks into her waves, into her domain, where Bahamut has no power, and pulls at the bond with her Chosen (he was hers first, always hers) and feels his grief and anger and horror. She rages because there is nothing she can do but grant him the safety of her waters.

So the other Astrals sleep and the Accursed wanders and the Tidemother waits.

[andromeda3116]

I'm yelling and shouting over your post about FFXII. Ashe's single mindedness, and how her revenge was meant to be used by powers beyond her, has always stuck with me. And she realized it and relented!

Not gonna get into Vaan at this time of night on a Sunday, but I did like their scenes together, where she's allowed to be a bit righteous, very angry, and this little kid looks at her like, "okay, but what if no?".

like, i adore how it's handled -- your rage is entirely justified, but it makes you easy to manipulate. because it does! the occuria absolutely play to her righteous fury and try to mold her into their puppet! but they handle it without ever suggesting that ashe is wrong to be angry. it's just that she has to let it go for the sake of her people and her future.

it's very similar to scar's arc in fma:b -- you cannot forgive, but you must learn to abide. to move on.

i liked how they played vaan with and against ashe because vaan realizes much earlier that his anger has left him adrift, and if he wants to have a future, he has to let it go and move on. but the moment at the pharos when gabranth says that the dead demand justice, and he and ashe look at each other and they both breathe out, as they both realize what vaan says a few moments later: what would it change? no amount of vengeance will bring the dead back to life. there is no amount of violence they could bring to the empire that would un-kill their loved ones. it would just be more blood on an already blood-soaked battlefield.

that scene at the pharos is one of my favorite video game cutscenes of all time, when ashe cuts through "rasler's" ghost, i am no false saint for you to use!, how she talks about the dalmasca she wanted back, and sighs as she drops the sword, letting it settle on her shoulders. it's both a triumph and a surrender, as she realizes that she has to let this chance for ultimate power go, that the price tag -- of being the puppet of the occuria, to her people's detriment -- would be too high.

ffxii has some flaws -- i feel like the story lost its focus around the draklor laboratory and never quite regained it, i feel like penelo and fran were under-utilized, and i have strong feelings about how bahamut should have been an esper rather than an airship -- but it has such a great, meaty plot and fantastic characters, amazing gameplay and sidequests, and frankly i could forgive every flaw of the story for the sake of ashe's character arc alone. i cannot stress enough how phenomenally rare it is to have a female character allowed to have such burning fury within her, without judgment or condescension. she is such an amazing character, i adore her.

[xenodile]

Okay, so the big sticking points with how I write Byl and the 3.5 MSQ is she wouldn't just let Ilberd do his thing, and she'd probably be able to just take Shinryu out the gate. I mean she brought down Bahamut with just Alphinaud and Alisaie backing her up, so with all Scions at the ready, a primal born of Nidhogg's eyes, the same Nidhogg she and Alphinaud killed like a few month prior, isn't intimidating at all.

Hmmm

Well could just abridge the Ilberd scene, cut his yammering short by having Byl stab him, but he's able to complete the summoning spell as he bleeds out, that works.

As for Papalymo's sacrifice, there's no way around it, she's going to be insulted and angry that once again someone sacrificed themself for her sake. Haurchefant and Ysayle she had managed to forgive because she really did need protecting in those moments, but Papalymo blasting her onto the airship and not letting her fight Shinryu is gonna leave her very bitter.

Activating Omega, I can buy Bylgrael agreeing in order to pin Shinryu down so that she can kill it herself, but then Omega does its own thing and events go as usual.

And as for Lyse...Bylgrael liked "Yda", and considered her a friend, but finding out her friend has been lying about who she is and basically becoming a different person is going to hurt their friendship. Especially when Lyse is so fixated on picking a fight with the Empire and going to war over her homeland. Byl doesn't get this fixation people have on a geographical location. She was born in Meracydia and considers that her motherland, but she has no attachment to it. Her home is in Eorzea now, with Alphinaud.

She detests the Empire as much as the next person, but she just got done solving the war in Ishgard, must she really get involved with the Garleans again?

[whatsthisascianbullshit]

🔥

🔥 If your OC known for having temper tantrums? If not, what gets them really angry? What makes their blood BOIL? Is there anyway to calm them down or are they unstoppable? What are they like when they’re angry? Do they take it out on their loved ones?

Thank ya thank ya @azure-dragonsinger :D

If fighting with/yelling at Estinien (who, bless his heart, is just the easiest target for her anger most of the time) counts as temper tantrums then yes. Very much so.

She was definitely worse as a child without any sort of outlet for her frustration both at her lack of freedom and her exclusion from ‘normal kid things’ by not being able to keep up with most other kids. Over time though she has gotten a few outlets to help manage her frustrations, though it can still bubble over and make her anger worse, the crying tantrums are more of a thing of the past.

The only thing that really consistently makes Muireann angry is people hurting her friends and how angry she gets is more directly related to how close she is to the person rather than what was actually done. Did you stab Alphinaud? Bad. Gonna beat you up. Did you hurt Raer or Match’s (@a-soul-full-of-stars) feelings? There is no where in any reality where you can hide.

When she is in Bahamut Rage Mode™ she cannot be talked out of it without being physically held back or blocked. I’ve only settled on two moments where that for sure happens – after The Vault and at the very start of Shadowbringers expansion. There are probably at least a couple of moments in Stormblood that would also qualify, but I can’t remember the story properly >.>;

Depending on what set off Muireann’s anger she can be a little more reasonable, not everything is going to tap into the particular combination of grief and rage and desperation that created Bahamut.

She doesn’t directly take her anger out on her loved ones, but they can sometimes be collateral damage depending on who the easiest target for her anger is. For example, Muireann blames Estinien for….a lot in Heavansward and the lead into Shadowbringers that is absolutely not his fault, and her going after him would hurt Raer, same with her going after G’raha and inadvertently hurting Match.

Oop this turned out longer than expected. Please enjoy my feral knowledge gremlin.

25 OC Questions

[wuekka]

Fuck it, I'm writing my D&D character ideas here, because I'm obsessed, I have no games for these, I just wanted to create characters for once and I got to the point where I rolled stats for them.

Half-orc (because of that sweet inner phoenix down, I'm afraid of characters dying) druid, professor who tried to establish a school/university in his orc community. They thought he thought himself better than everyone else and sold him to slavery. Ended up as a housekeeper-slave for a couple of vampires/demons/cultists (eventual DM gets to decide), escaped after 5 years and was taken in (as much as an adult can be taken in) as an adoptive son for a druid-lady. Story-wise I would like because he became a druid later in life, he sometimes can't change his shape turning into an animal, but don't know how that would work in gameplay.

Aarakocra (Sparrow) paladin, got dragged from another plane by a giant dragon, wings got burned up/torn so she can't fly. (Because I know I would abuse that ability+can't fly in heavy armor she barely can see from) Took it as a sign from Bahamut telling he was angry, so became a paladin of Bahamut. Doesn't leave the temple-grounds much if at all before adventure, so doesn't really have the grasp of ownership or money, has a -1 on intelligence. Later becomes a bard.

Aasimar shadow sorcerer, didn't know he was an Aasimar until powers awakened one day with an explosion, changing how he looked, killing his wife, mother and two children. Wanted for their murder. Unknown to him, his father is some deity. Will kill him if ever meets him. (Only one of these who I have chosen cantrips for)

Barbarian wood gnome, as tiny as it can be and very old, cranky but sweet on animals. Fisher whose grandma was eaten by a huge fish (mamelukki-kala!) so catched it, and ate it for its power..Also got the grandma's heirloom ring back after almost choking on it. Nobody knows did they fish the fish for revenge or in order to get the ring.

[heretic-altias]

Auraugust Prompt 16 - Sorrow

Once again I'm writing at midnight. She really hates being sad, 0/10 would much rather kill someone.

Jacky had a lot to be sad about in her life. The constant struggle she’d experienced growing up, the betrayal that had influenced how she saw people even to this day. All of the tragic endings she’d witnessed as a Warrior of Light.

But nothing made her sadder than her own failure.

Most of those other things could be redirected into anger. Anger at her enemies, anger at the world. That she could handle. The burning flame of her fury gave her power. But when the enemy was herself? That was when she felt real sorrow. The kind that left her feeling empty, that seemed to drain her strength leaving her weak and useless. The kind that snuffed out righteous rage with its suffocating weight. When the cause of the problem was herself, there was nothing to burn.

She couldn’t exactly burn on her own pyre.

Right now, her unrelenting guilt and pain was probably the only thing keeping her in command of her own thoughts. She had been foolish enough to push summoning magicks beyond the intended limit. In doing so, she had created a full fledged primal within herself instead of the powerful trance state she wanted. A twisted incarnation of Bahamut, warped by her own stress and doubt. And he had nearly killed her friends. Now, Bahamut was withholding the memory from her, not allowing her to see the damage she’d caused before Solar had defeated the primal. He taunted her in her dreams, reminding her of the failure she was.

She had simply stopped trying to sleep eventually.

The lack of energy combined with the sorrow she felt made it easier. The primal was empowered by her anger, her instinctive desire to kill those that wronged her. Her aether when angry was too similar to the primal’s constant state of rage. It allowed his power to flow through her then, warping her judgement and making it hard to tell her own thoughts from his. Too much and she could be completely taken over, leaving no choice to the others but to kill her. It was a huge mistake she’d made, and now she would carry that burden for the rest of her life.

At least this terrible guilt was keeping people safe. She was simply too drained to really be angry at anything.

Jacky hated crying. She never actually allowed herself to do it. Even through all of this she was determined not to. But she ended up failing at that too, after only a couple of weeks. With no warning whatsoever, it suddenly just became too much. She had been sharpening a spare knife and just broke down. She couldn’t quite remember exactly why, maybe her thoughts had strayed just a little too far into the situation. The knife had clattered to the floor, just barely missing her feet as she suddenly slammed her hands down on the table for support. Despite absolutely not wanting to, in a terrible moment of weakness, she had cried.

And she would never tell a soul about it.

All she could do was get back up and press on. Their enemies would not be waiting for her to feel better. There was much to do and very little time to do it.

A little sadness would not be the death of her.

[secret-engima]

story-spinner

Having a bad day. You happen to have any HCs or snippets for Kings Skjald verse? You may not but your writing always seems to cheer me up so

Me: So sorry I missed this! I didn’t log in yesterday like- at ALL and I only just got the notification. I unfortunately do not have any snippets to share, but HCs I can do. :)

-In the aftermath of Souls of the Sea (Still Belong to Blue Tides) and everything that happened in there, a couple things happen. One of the big ones being that Ravus joins the Kingsglaive. It takes him a year of stubbornly arguing with his mother over it, because she does NOT want Ravus to go haring off to war, but in the end Ravus wins and joins up at 17.

-The glaives at first are not too sold on this idea. Because... prince. Tenebraen prince with a resting murder face. He’s probably a wimp. Or just a jerk. Will he even obey orders and work with us non-royal Galahdian/Lucian nobodies?

-Then they actually throw Ravus into boot camp and learn that this boy may have enough formal manners to perfectly blend in with Lucian high society but once you take him out of that environment and stick a sword in his hand he becomes a bundle of Feral Anger And Bloodlust with a side of Really Scary Cunning. Also he spent part of those months on the run being grilled by Gladiolus in how to fight (on top of the royal sword training he’d already been receiving pre-Tenebrae’s Fall obviously) and spent putting food on the camp grill for his mother and sister by Killing It Really Hard First.

-Basically he fits riigghhtt in with the rest of the feral, chip-on-their-shoulder-rookies.

-Also, Ravus may not be a Reborn Viking of Pure Awesome like Gladiolus, so he can’t stand toe to toe with Cor the Immortal or anything but like- in canon this boy was able to claw his way up the ranks of a foreign military that WOULDN’T HAVE WANTED HIM THERE (see: Uldor’s comments during the Ignis DLC, and that cutscene with Besithia making snide comments at Ravus in the main game) and eventually become SiC and then Supreme Commander. Kid has talent and the stubborn to back it up.

-Nyx is not a fan of being Braincelled by this younger, more aggressive Tenenbraen, especially when half the time Ravus is only in yelling range because he’s DOING THE DUMB RIGHT ALONGSIDE NYX.

-Luche and Libertus are both a Stress.

-Tredd finds it fun to wind the kid up even though it repeatedly gets him a broken nose.

-Anyway as a side effect of Ravus joining the Kingsglaive, Luna and Gladiolus both take an interest in the Kingsglaive as a whole, and of course, whatever THEY take an interest in, Noctis will take an interest in too.

-Cue Smol Prince following along whenever Luna comes to check on her brother (and secretly use her magic to heal them even though Mother Strictly Forbids Using Her Magic Outside Emergencies Until She’s Fully Trained) and Gladiolus making friends with people physically a lot older than him but not mentally. And maybe mopping the floor with anyone who dares challenge him to a spar (this is the year Gladiolus is finally good enough to win against Cor in a spar according to a previous HC of mine, sorry but the Glaives have no chance, they give it a good go though).

-Gladiolus may or may not accidentally teach the Kingsglaive how to swear in Old Norse.

-I really really want the other Astrals (minus Bahamut) to start noticing and taking an interest in Leviathan’s new “kid”, because no one has given blessings since Solheim’s fall and of all of them, LEVIATHAN was not the one they expected to buck the mold in that way (in other ways sure, but Blessing a human???? THEIR angry rage snek???). But I’m still working out how all that ... goes.

-Leviathan probably browbeats the others into keeping it a secret from Bahamut tho. Because she is protective of her child and there’s no way she’s letting Bahamut hurt her Chosen again, even by accident.

-Gladiolus, with his newfound abilities to breathe underwater and such, sometimes gets an itch to go swimming. Considering the ocean is miles away most of the time and the pool has chlorine that stings his lungs when he breathes it, he finds the Royal Aquarium with all its ocean fish a much better place to hang out for a few hours.

-Clarus, Juno, Regis, Ignis, Cor, and more than a few freaked out Crownsguard would like to STRONGLY DISAGREE.

-Gladiolus, who lost track of time swimming around with the Really Dangerous Fish that won’t bother him because they can sense Leviathan’s Blessing, is just like- sorry? I’ll warn you next time.

-Everybody: WHAT DO YOU MEAN NEXT TIME.

-Sylva becomes a major voice in Lucian noble circles in favor of the Kingsglaive and efforts to clean up the refugee sector. Because she may not be Lucian, but she is the ORACLE and her voice carries a LOT of weight and she’s lived through what the Galahdians and other refugee groups have suffered through. She knows the smell of your home burning and blood on your clothes as you run from MT units and pray they don’t find you. She knows what it’s like to flee to another country. What it’s like to be HUNGRY and SCARED. What it’s like to cling to the children at night on a Haven, cold and tired but unable to sleep because the daemons wander and scream only a few yards away, and while the mind says they cannot come onto the Haven, the heart and the instincts do not believe. She knows ALL OF THAT.

-She also knows what it’s like to be saved. To be found and sheltered and taken to safety by soldiers who are just like her, and know to give her and her children soup and soft foods, who know to approach from the front rather than the sides and to move slow and open, to always say what they’re doing before they do it. She knows what it’s like to be so grateful for those simple kindnesses that it takes all she can muster not to start crying, because if she starts she will not stop and then her children will start crying too.

-So whenever some Lucian noble makes contemptuous noises over the “necessity” of the Kingsglaive or the refugee sector, or makes a comment on how Insomnia is for LUCIANS and not ragged strays, she will look them in the eye and say something perfectly cool and polite and deadly. Something that sharply reminds the noble that SHE, the HOLY ORACLE, is a refugee just like all the other “ragged strays”. That she and hers were “found” by Kingsglaive and escorted safely home. That her SON is now part of that very same organization.

-But do go on and tell her how the Kingsglaive are a waste of money and refugees should be left to fend for themselves.

-Needless to say, between Sylva backing them politically, Luna healing them on the sly (and also Sylva does come heal the bad cases whenever she has time), and Ravus being his feral budding terrifying strategist self, the Kingsglaive and Little Galahd as a whole rapidly come to adore the Nox Fleuret family. These are their Oracles. No touchy. They will Fite You.

-And of course, Noctis adores Luna and tries to emulate her because she’s Cool, and also his Shield-Brother cares for the Kingsglaive, and Big Brother Ravus IS a Kingsglaive, so Noctis rolls up his little sleeves and tries to help too. He’s too young to have a voice in politics, but he can and will follow his dad around nagging that hey-hey Ravus says their shoes don’t fit and the quartermaster won’t give them potions even though IGNIS says they have the budget for it and hey hey hey- (Regis would like to know how Ignis the Eleven Year Old got his hands on the Kingsglaive budget, but Cor has been making dire noises along these lines already so he sighs and siccs the auditors on the quartermaster).

-Noctis also visits a lot, and tries to give the Glaives games and things because hey those make him feel better so maybe it’ll make the glaives not look so tired too.

-The Entire Kingsglaive as they proverbially (and sometimes literally) pick up Noctis: We’ve only known this princeling for a few months but if anything happened to him we would kill everyone in Niflheim and then ourselves.

-Gladiolus approves this feeling.

I think that’s all the HCs I got for the moment, I hope these made your day a little better. :)

[ffxivaltaholic]

Prompt #26: (you pick!) Amelioration

“Are you sure you want to come with me?” The tone was hesitant, laced with worry and concern.  “It’s not much, just a memorial stone...” It was so much more than that, but he wanted to be absolutely sure she wanted to see the gravesite. “Yes. I said I wanted to geeze... I get it, going there is not easy but... He was family and I want to at least get a chance to pay my respects, even if I never got to meet him...” At the end, it was still important to her, even though she had never met the man as he had died long before the wall was breached and Ala Mhigo was freed. Even so, he was her cousin, and someone worth at least a visit to be remembered.

The trip there was quiet, though she understood, as it was a solemn occasion at best, but worry crossed her heterochromatic eyes as they departed from Mor Dhona via Chocobo-back.  He seemed to be struggling with things emotionally, but still did not open up about it. “Jellal...”  Speaking quietly, she gently tapped her heels on the Chocobo’s sides to speed it up. “Yes?” Hearing his name seemed to snap the Seeker from his thoughts and for a moment Jellal seemed to recover mentally.  “Ah sorry... I spaced out... It won’t be to long, it’s just along the border of Carteneau.”  The closer they got, the more the devastation became a visible.  While it had been over a decade since that fateful battle, the wounds were still fresh to him. Staying close, Vassyl could see the remnants of battle, rusted remains of machines and weapons left strewn in the brush and dirt.  Anything of value had been long scavenged, and all that remained was simply decaying to time.  “So this is where Bahamut appeared?” She shifted to look to the sky, trying to imagine the feelings one would have felt seeing that massive primal in the sky, the red moon falling to pieces around her. It was horrifying, and her cousin had lived though, one of them at least. “Yeah... I can’t pinpoint exactly where we were in the battle, but the stone wont be much father.”  Continuing through the dust and growth, the Chocobos managed with ease, though Jellal was on edge, keeping watch for any potential threats or issues, especially as nature had started to reclaim the area. Finally it came into sight, a massive rock that situated itself just past the border of the battlefield.  It was clearly added at a later time than the war, and stood an easy twelve to fifteen feet tall.  Finally reaching it, the words became easier to read.  It was a memorial, one left for the soldiers who perished during the battle, honoring them as best they could since majority did not receive individual burials due to the situation.  Dismounting the birds, Jellal looped the reins to a small tree, leaving the animals to relax for a little bit.  As they approached the stone, he brushed off the front face, making sure the carved words were visible and clear of debris and growth. Maintaining the memorial had clearly become something of the past with all that was going on around them currently, but when he could, Jellal made the trip to see it and fix it up. “You would have really liked him.”  Breaking the silence, Jellal glanced back to his cousin. “He was kind and very pleasant. Always had a joke or stupid comment ready to make someone laugh, despite how horrible our upbringing was in Garlemald... He never lost his strength.”  Brows furrowed as Jellal simply stared at the monument.  “It really should have been---” “No, don’t say that.” Vassyl cut him off and gripped the back of his coat.  “I know you feel bad, but you should never wish that, ever.” Furrowing her brows the Seeker gave him an angry little tug on his tail. “Ever!” “Sorry... Habit.” He wasn’t used to having someone so supportive when he made this trip, and it was oddly soothing.  Turning back to the rock, Jellal sighed.  “You’re right. I’ve been able to do allot of good in honor of his name, and as much as I miss my brother, he made me a better person.” In truth, by striving to be the person he felt his brother would have wanted, Jellal had in truth become a better individual, and while he still struggled at times, overall his mental state had improved over the last few years as he came to terms with everything. “I brought lunch... We should sit and eat, you can tell me about him. I want to hear all the stories!”  Vassyl tried her best to pull him out of a potentially depressing moment.  “All the funny stories, none of the bad ones.” Clarifying she released his tail and turned back to her Chocobo, retrieving a little basket from the saddle and bringing it over. “I suppose I can... There are allot of them though... He had a reputation for being rather entertaining and a bit troublesome... I’m surprised his superiors let him get away with so much being a conscript but...” Chuckling the Seeker nodded and paused in his details to help her set up. What had intended to be more solemn and depressing of a trip, had turned into a much more positive experience, a celebration of a good life lost to soon, and a chance for surviving family to bond over memories of them.

[c-is-for-circinate]

I just read your thing about paladins and what they're for and holy CRAP does it sum up some stuff that I've been trying to explain for ages, so thank you for that! But now I'm wondering: your footnote mentioned Fjord and Vax'ildan, who both multiclassed into paladin as part of their personal character arc. Would you mind sharing your Thoughts about them? (And if you have any about the other paladins and how they fit in this - Arkhan or Kima or Kerrek or the rest - that would be awesome to see.)

You know I’m ALWAYS ready for a good CR character breakdown :D  And for shitting on classic Old School conceptions of what paladins should be, because a quick stroll through the tags has reminded me that, while many people play them very very well, the people who talk about How You’re Supposed To Play Paladins are often wrong as hell.  (This includes everybody who wrote 3rd edition d&d.)

I kind of want to start by talking about Kima and Kerrek, rather than Vax and Fjord, because Kima and Kerrek are in many ways two different angles on exactly what I think a paladin character should be.  Starting with the premise here that the paladin at its core is about turning ideals into actions, Kima and Kerrek are both awesome at exemplifying the class.

Kima is such a straightforward, action-oriented person.  Her belief in Bahamut and her belief in justice are inextricably entwined; she follows her god because she’s sure he’s right about what’s Good and Correct to see done in the world.  The ideals –> action pathway is easy and natural for her, because the necessity of taking action in pursuit of her ideals is very clearly one of her ideals.  She’s not in conflict with her vows, because she doesn’t need to be.  There’s evil in the world, and Bahamut wants her to smite it in the balls, and that’s both effective and fun.  (Of note, Kima doesn’t feel personally responsible for destroying every single minor evil ever to exist ever.  There’s plenty to go around.  Smite the monster in front of you, trust Bahamut to point you towards the thing that really needs killing, and don’t kill yourself over the petty grift of the guy in your favorite bar at the end of the day because yikes, dude, just yikes–that’s how Kima functions as a character, and it’s what makes her an actually functional character.)

Kerrek on the other hand is fascinating because he’s a paladin who thinks he’s lost his ideals, at least at the start.  At some unknown time in the past he tried to turn faith and belief (in something, and we never do find out what, and it doesn’t even matter) into change in the world.  He got some things done.  He utterly failed at some other things.  And now he’s sitting here in Westruun feeling like, maybe he can’t, maybe he shouldn’t, maybe everything is a thousand times more complicated and he’s a thousand times tinier in the universe than he ever envisioned when he was younger.  He’s sitting there thinking he’s lost his ideals and his drive and his faith–and meanwhile he’s still standing there taking action, doing what he can for the people of Westruun, planting his garden, being angry and disappointed and frustrated and still trying anyway.  In spite of himself, Kerrek still believes.  In spite of himself Kerrek still does the things he thinks need to be done, even if they’re not the things he wants to be doing, even if he doesn’t think he’ll do any good in the long run.  Such a good paladin thing to do.

Then we get to Fjord and Vax.  And so much of what makes Fjord and Vax interesting as paladins is, the ideals that compel them to action, compel them to take these paladin oaths, aren’t the ideals of their respective goddesses.

Vax did not wake up one day and say, ‘I believe in the Raven Queen and I believe that what she says is just and right and I will follow her because I believe in her so much’.  (He almost, almost got to that point with Sarenrae, circa the Briarwoods arc, and somewhere there is an alternate universe where he did and it is so interesting, but I digress.)  And Fjord didn’t really sit down and learn his way through the teachings of the Wildmother and decide, ‘y’know, yes, this is what I love and trust and want to spread in the world’.  That’s not the ideal that drove either of them to action.

Fuck, Vax didn’t even like the Raven Queen when he became hers.  “Take me instead, you raven bitch.”  Why does Vax become a paladin of the Raven Queen?  Because he promised.  Because he traded himself for his sister.  He believes to the depths of his soul in keeping Vex alive, and he believes in keeping his word.  The ideal driving Vax to action isn’t worship or admiration.  It’s the ideal of following through on his own goddamn commitments.

For Fjord, it’s similar, although a lot less fraught.  He doesn’t dislike Melora, certainly–everything he knows of her seems fine, but mostly he turns to her because he’s desperate for help and she seems willing to give it.  Fjord’s not great at big lofty ideals, but he is good at people, in his own way.  Turning to the Wildmother is about grabbing at the kindness she’s shown him.  It’s about grabbing at the kindness Caduceus has shown him.  These are the things he trusts.

And yet, Vax isn’t just a paladin to the oath of Keep Vex Alive.  Fjord isn’t just a paladin of Not U’kotoa.  They both have ideals, and they’re both doing their utmost to follow them here anyway.

For Fjord, being a paladin seems very transactional, yes (free me from this sea serpent and I’ll be your guy, sure), but there’s an enormous ethic of devotion and loyalty involved, coupled with, just like Kima had, a belief in the requirement for action.  Fjord believes that it is correct to repay kindness with deeds.  He doesn’t entirely understand what Melora wants of him, but she was kind to him in a vast wasteland where he slept unbroken sleep beneath her tree, and she has saved him when he wasn’t entirely sure he could be saved, and of course you repay that in kind.  At this point in the narrative, that intense loyalty is the driving ideal behind Fjord’s path as a paladin, and it’s really cool to see.

Vax could have run, when the Raven Queen came for him, and instead he went to Vasselheim.  He could have done a lot of things a lot of times.  The fact that he offered himself up in a fit of terror isn’t what made him a paladin–the fact that he followed through after that moment was over did.

Another really interesting thing about these paths is that perhaps the most major action our boys are compelled to take, in response to that loyalty, is simply, learn what the fuck you signed up for.  Having pledged themselves to these goddesses they are now responsible for figuring out what that even means.  There is no easy handbook for “this is what your goddess requires of you, break it and you’re Out On Your Ass”.  The Raven Queen asks Vax for extremely little, in the grand scheme of things.  He spends a lot of time fighting enemies he would have fought anyway with a little extra backup, and muddling along looking to Vasselheim and old books to figure out what she might want out of him.  Fjord’s still taking Caduceus-lessons and trying to figure out what comes next.

In the end it’s hard to even tell whether Vax comes to truly embrace her ideals of fate and finality as his own, or he just submits to them as part of who he thinks he has to be now.  That open question is super interesting to me, and I think it’s a really cool twist on the whole classic “paladins take these vows and then HAVE TO STICK TO THEM no matter WHAT” dynamic, where the big vow Vax made is, in fact, to be a paladin.  (Even the Oath of Vengeance is fascinating for him–the Raven Queen didn’t ask that path of him, Vax chose it.  He decided that was the right way for him to serve.)

I’m so curious to see where Fjord goes from here on his paladin journey.  Which of Melora’s ideals is he going to work to enact out of loyalty to her, because that’s the job he promised to do?  Which ideals will he actually understand and agree with in his own heart?  What oath is he going to take, I’m so fucking curious: Oath of Heroism makes a certain amount of sense but is also kind of self-aggrandizing, Devotion would be awesome for Fjord but also includes that absolute injunction towards honesty, I’m eternally a sucker for the Oath of Ancients and it would make sense for Melora but I’m not sure it’s correct here…

Anyway.  Tl;dr that Vax and Fjord are not, entirely, paladins to the ideals and domains of their respective goddesses–not yet.  They’re both paladins to the ideal of loyalty, which they’ve given to their respective goddesses, and that’s such an interesting option for the class.  It invites so much discussion about the difference between devotion to a deity as an individual, and devotion to what that deity actually stands for.  And I fucking love it.

[evajellion]

FF5 Four Job Fiesta: Part FINAL

I finally did it. We beat Exdeath. It took 26 hours in total, longer than my first playthrough by an hour, but I did it.

I knew I was going to have to grind, and it was going to be a slog so I put on some background noise while I began my grind for experience in the forest and tower sections of the N-Zone. (it had the least amount of brutal enemies)

There, I unintentionally picked up several Dragon Fangs from the Aevis Dragons, an item that would inevitably be the most useful drop I could get from the game. I reached Level 37, which wasn’t ideal, but I stuck with it and made my way back to the last area.

Once again, I began to grind, this time for AP so Lenna could obtain Dualcast. At the time, she was my Red Mage. Once I found out that Dualcast with the Red Mage only allows for the weaker spells, I was pissed because I had spent time getting 999 AP for her. Then, I realized I could just give her back the White Mage class and stick Bartz to being a Red Mage.

You’ll understand why I made such an effort for Dualcast later.

I switched Faris to a Chemist temporarily so she could learn Mix and captured a King Behemoth while I was at it.

With that, we were going to fight Exdeath. Not once, but twice. The first being an experiment, since I learned about a glitch.

You see, if you cast berserk on Exdeath’s initial form by using the Chemist job, he’ll pretty much be stuck in an “offense only” script, that will overwrite his defeat sequence into the second phase. This will completely skip the final boss and take you to the ending after an awkward, shaking screen without dialogue.

Similar tactics are used to break Exdeath in speedruns, so I wanted to try it for myself. I used a Kiss of Blessing on Exdeath, and found myself constantly reviving my party with the Chemist since he was dealing 2000 HP worth of damage. (side note: the Chemist’s ultimate ability can revive all party members without MP, very overpowered)

Thankfully I did set up Protect and left my party members to heal on one end, then attack or cast Holy on free turns. Rinse and repeat, Exdeath was dead but he was so angry that he didn’t go into his second phase. A victory, credits and all, but an empty one.

Even I know that truly beating this game requires facing the real final boss.

Meet Neo-Exdeath, and just listen to his theme.

This fight… took about four, maybe five times before I got my strategy down. Dear god.

Firstly, we set up our defenses on Exdeath’s previous form, casting stuff like Protect, Shell, and making sure my Chemist ingested Giant and Speed Drinks. 

Next, since I gave the Mix ability to Faris, I let her use the Dragon Fangs I collected to create Dragon Power, something that would boost the level of my party drastically so they could do more damage, especially Lenna.

Once we got to the Neo-Exdeath phase, we had to get that Magic Lamp out. Bahamut and Leviathan are good damage dealers while Odin will kill that segment of Exdeath all the way in the back, saving us trouble. After which, Faris would unleash the King Behemoth that was captured to deal damage on all three remaining halves.

With one out of four of Neo-Exdeath’s halves gone, I immediately had Lenna Dualcast Holy on what remained. Krile would attack with the Chicken Knife or revive, Faris would use the whip or mix items, and Bartz was stuck as the healer mostly but also functioned as back-up Holy.

Once every few turns, usually after he uses the annoying Almagest, a magic damage attack that deals hefty damage to the entire party. Sometimes it will be immediately followed up with Grand Cross. Unlike FF9, we don’t have an Angel’s Snack to deal with whatever Neo-Exdeath decides to cast on us.

Usually one party member gets stuck with Silence, our Red Mage stuck in Berserk, and someone else gets turned to stone. To my luck, Neo-Exdeath didn’t use Zombie or any Doom-related ailments, so I never had to worry about a countdown timer. I ran out of eyedrops, so I couldn’t mix a cure for any of these ailments, but I did have a spare Soft to get rid of being petrified.

Since Lenna had been beefed up from the Dragon Power, she was consistently dealing 9000-18000 damage with each Holy dualcast. Sometimes I would have to sacrifice a second Holy in order to heal, if only to survive whatever physical attacks he could throw my way.

Sometimes Neo-Exdeath will use Dispel, which will undo buffs on a party member. Easy enough for Krile to remedy through another Speed Drink, but Bartz and Lenna were often stuck recasting Protect and Shell.

After killing off two more of Neo-Exdeath’s halves, he pretty much goes into a desperation mode, something that nearly all final bosses in this franchise do. He’ll start casting Meteor much more frequently, but will then burn himself out really badly and use a wimpy Comet attack that barely makes a dent in my party.

I constantly heal and cast Holy at this point, and ignore putting up Shell again since there’s no point this far into the battle. I’m getting as desperate to kill him as he is to rid of my party. One last stab from Krile’s Chicken Knife, and that was it.

The battle was over, for real this time since I finally killed Neo-Exdeath. The world is saved from being sent back to the void.

I watch half of the ending… aaaand my game freezes, for some reason. Don’t worry, I think something is wrong with the emulation or my PSvita, because it did that the last time I reached the ending to this game. I’m still very much satisfied with just defeating Neo-Exdeath, end credits not required here!

As for my overall playthrough rating…

Lenna Charlotte Tycoon - White Mage

Ability: White / Dualcast

White Mage is an MVP you want on any team. Healing and Holy is just the way to go. Being stuck with bonking your enemies with a staff isn’t as bad as it seems, as you can tell from the first part of this playthrough.

Bartz Klauser - Red Mage

Ability: Red / White

Oooooof… jack of all trades, master of none. This class was good early game, but falls apart so badly. Magic and equipment both get really mediocre in the late game, and it has the lowest HP. Really wish I had gotten the Summoner instead. Yeah, probably the least good of the jobs I got. The only saving grace is Dualcast, which I gave to Lenna.

Faris Scherwiz - Beastmaster

Ability: Catch / Mix

Beastmaster is a really fun physical class! It’s best used when paired with a Blue Mage, but we didn’t get that. Still, probably the most capable in terms of physical offense, and I got some good use out of capturing monsters and controlling them. Wish the whip was a bit more accurate though at times.

Krile Mayer Baldesion - Chemist

Ability: Drink / Revive

I was so scared when I rolled this one because I had no clue what to expect. I had no idea this would be the job that saves the fight against Exdeath, with its mixture and revival abilities, no MP required. If I ever play this game again, I am going to definitely utilize this job more, it is now a favorite of mine.

Overall, despite my gripes with the last half of this game, the rest of it and the final battle have been so much fun. I can’t wait to talk more about it at the end of the year. I also really enjoyed coming up with new strategies with the jobs I was given.

Thank you all for reading. If you haven’t played this game yet for some reason or done a Four Job Fiesta, I highly recommend it.

[miqo-tales]

5.5 daaaaaaays a week

(I loo-oo-oo-gin for ya)

Dragoons! Weird towers! Windows updates! Bahamut v2! Poor choices! Robots! Retcons! Aliens! Ikaruga! Creepy girls! Gamefaqs! This patch has it all folks!

MSQ

Arenvald would be a terrible poker player.

Also, the only thing missing from these scenes is someone standing behind Arenvald waving a giant black flag with the words "HE GON' DIE" on it.

I fail to understand how Estinien is so hard to find. I don't expect he has many hobbies or interests outside of "kill dragons", and that work has certainly dried up lately. Where does the man go?

Not much to say about the whole Azys Lla section, other than to note that the tempering cure has gone from 'that's convenient' to 'ok really?' very quickly.

Also you'd think Mr Has-Absorbed-the-Essence-of-Nidhogg could spare some aether.

Tiamat is green!

Also shocked she didn't die!

OK, so is that Amalj'aa chief not tempered? Or is he just that impressed that everyone tried to help them?

I'm mildly interested in what the Lunar versions of all the different Primals look like. But I also know they'll just be purple, so meh.

Oh, Sharlayan, interesting. So it sounds like we're probably not going there ourselves in 5.x, but I wonder if maybe in 6.0?

I'm REALLY surprised that Alphinaud did not volunteer to go with Krile. He's broken up over Arenvald, he just had an argument about his idealism, we know his father is not keen on what he and Alisaie and Louisoix have been doing. Really seemed like the ideal situation for his current character development.

I'm amused at the cruel tease of Zenos choosing a weapon out of sight. Also, interesting how genuinely angry he is in this scene. More so than we've ever seen before.

But I also have to wonder, what exactly was Fandaniel's goal in sending the dragons and soldiers to Pagl'than? Clearly wasn't trying to abduct more, so... just plan eradication? Spreading fear? Zerg rush?

Paglth'an

I like that the music is a re-arrangement of the music in Zanr'ak.

Kinda surprised at the kind of pulls you can do here. Breaks a little from their usual trend of gating it to only allow two groups at once.

Man that second boss is... lazy?

I mean, I get all three of these bosses are callbacks to Bahamut's Coil, but damn. Almost no effort in coming up with that second one.

Sorrow of Werlyt

Was not expecting Allie to have already run off. Also was not expecting Severa to be so attached to her already, but sure.

Allie clearly went to the GIJoe / Imperial Stormtrooper school of shooting accuracy. I mean damn girl, giant uber-powerful robot weapon of death and you can't manage to hit anything but bridges and walls?

Good job, Cid, you built a robot bus.

OK, fight is pretty interesting. I'm glad they didn't do yet another second phase. But I wish it had gone to armor-less mode a second time. Just to break up the fight a bit.

The area the Diamond Weapon crashed in looked so much like a battlefield that I was expecting a second fight in a solo instance.

"Haha Gaius, I know all your moves! OH SHIT YOU'RE GLOWING FUUUUUUCK"

Valen desperately scanning that BradyGames guide on Gaius.

Gaius creeping out the entire town with that Jedi holocron.

I kinda wish this hadn't ended with Allie completely recovering. Maybe just have her eyes change back or say something simple, dunno. Think that would have had more impact.

Nier - Tower at Paradigm's Breach

Yea, honestly, I got nothing. Like, what?

I mean seriously, what? This just feels like a retcon or a completely different story. Maybe the weekly questline will fill in some of the details, but I'm not sure it'll help overall.

Now, mechanically, this raid is fine. I think I like it the best of the three in terms of mechanics. Visually, ehhhh, I think I liked Puppet Bunker more. In terms of music, that's a bit harder. I think I'd say Bunker again. Tower is a really close second, but Factory still has the best final boss theme.

In the end I think Tower really only accomplished two things for me: 1) yea, sure, I'm interested in playing Nier to figure out what the fuck this references, and 2) fuck Komra.

Also, like every Nier raid so far, I needed a nap after some of those bosses. Yeesh, exhausting.

Summary

As usual, it's hard to give a concrete judgement of the .5 patch, cause it's split in half. However, this time I feel like it's a bit harder to guess where the part 2 patch will take us. So it's made this kinda interesting to me.

For the Sorrow of Werlyt, it's still kinda eh? I will give this part some credit that it did an okay job finishing it up. But it still depends a bit too much on Gaius himself. And the noble soldier thing that this storyline has been pushing for him still feels a little forced.

On top of that, I have to say that I think I wouldn't have so much trouble with this storyline if Allie and her siblings didn't refer to Gaius as "Father". Like if they just called him "Teacher", or "Sir Gaius", or "General" or anything else and there wasn't this father/children thing going on, I think all this would come across as less bothersome. It wouldn't fix everything for me, but it would help.

For Nier, I dunno. I've only ever played Drakengard 2 and 3 (fuck #3 btw) (also, never done 100% of either). So I don't know what a lot of this shit really means. And unfortunately, the story is too inconsistent and incoherent for me to really care about it without the knowledge of what's being referenced from those games. But in terms of mechanics and music it's been amazing, so I still like it overall.

[thebmatt]

FFXIV Write 2021 Prompt #15: Thunderous

thunderous – relating to or giving warning of thunder, very loud, powerful, or intense

It had been something of an eventful few days for the Warriors of Light. A cure for tempering, found. A civil war within Limsa Lominsa, averted. The first step towards peace with a beast tribe, taken. Had it not been for the strange towers appearing all across the star, not to mention Fandaniel introducing them all to his new version of Bahamut, it might have actually been called a good few days.

It was all of these events that had brought them to Gridania on this day. Kan-E-Senna and her subordinates within the Twin Adder needed to be briefed on all that had occurred, so they could begin making plans for how best to use their soon-to-be arriving flock of porxies. Privately, Rheika thought it would be hilarious to just let them all arrive and watch the chaos unfold as the Elder Seedseer and the Hearers of Stillglade Fane attempted to figure out just why there was a sudden mass of flying pigs in their city, but alas, getting their beastmen neighbors untempered and beginning overtures of peace was too important.

They’d spent the past few bells getting her up to speed on all that had transpired, explaining how the porxies actually functioned, how to route any communications that needed to be passed to the Scions concerning the towers, describing the appearance and capabilities of this “Lunar Bahamut”, and the like. Many had offered to make the report in their stead, but for now there was little for the Warriors of Light to actually do at the moment, and since they’d been present firsthand, they felt themselves the logical choice to inform the remaining Alliance leader who’d not yet been apprised of recent events.

As they left the Lotus Stand, emerging from the path that led to the Seedseer’s private altar into Gridania proper, Rheika gave a brief nod to both the Serpent Officer and the Conjurer stationed there, and briefly looked around. As usual, there were plenty of blue-robed conjurers going about the business of dealing with the many bureaucratic matters Stillglade Fane was responsible for. Petitioners asking for blessings for their harvest, permission to sell new wares within the city, a few asking for healing. Rheika fought to keep a sneer from her face. Gridania was for all intents and purposes a theocracy, nothing allowed to be done without the blessings of the Elementals.

She didn’t particularly trust the Elementals. She might have been born here, but her community of Keepers of the Moon generally paid them no mind. They’d lived there for generations without so much as a thank you to the elementals outside of simply taking care of the place they lived in, not over hunting or despoiling the land, and no nature spirits or treants had ever so much as bothered them. Any talk she’d ever heard of the Elementals had long since come to resemble talk of Primals rather than some benevolent forest Gods that allowed people to dwell within their boughs.

Learning how Stillglade Fane actually functioned had made it far worse. The “Hearers”, the blue robed conjurers that made up the staff of Stillglade Fane, were barely able to actually  hear the voices of the Elementals. Mastery of that particular skill was unique only to the small population of horned humanoids known as the Padjals. Their small numbers meant they were spread out through the Shroud dealing with major problems, with the only two permanently in Gridania being E-Sumi-Yan (who was permanently needed within the Conjurer’s Guild as head teacher) and the Elder Seedseer herself. Both were endlessly busy, far too much so to handle all of the requests from the citizens that needed to be answered. Thus the Hearers had developed a series of rites and rituals to attempt to divine the Elementals’ will, which they utilized in answering the day-to-day petitions brought to their doors.

Rheika had never known what exactly these rituals consisted of, but Dahkar had attended a small class on them as part of his training as a Conjurer. As an adventurer, he was not expected to serve as an official part of the Fane, but the Hearers made the class open to all students of the guild, in case they perhaps wished to utilize them in their travels through the Shroud. He’d told her what he’d learned in the quick lesson, most of the rituals consisted of what was essentially the casting of lots using leaves and sticks, and using their best interpretation the patterns that emerged. It had all seemed utterly foolish to her, and she’d seen more than one instance of a Hearer going rogue and forcing his own interpretations of the Elementals’ will onto others, only to be revealed as incorrect later on.

Rheika hated this place. She wanted to get out of here and head back home to the Rising Stones as quickly as she could. Her fellow Warriors of Light were following behind her, chatting amicably about dinner plans. They had a few other matters to discuss, but outside the guild was a poor place to do it, the Hearers did not care for loitering without official business. She traipsed forward, making for the aetheryte shard placed not far from the Guild’s entrance, already envisioning her destination, the city’s main aetheryte plaza, in her mind’s eye. She’d almost reached the shard when a series of voices reached her sensitive ears.

“-please, you must do something!”

“The girl’s only seen twelve summers!” “I’m sorry, but such is the will of the forest.” “But that’s not right!”

Rheika stopped, her hand inches away from attuning range. The words played over in her head. “Twelve summers”. “Will of the forest”. “Not right!”. She turned to look in the direction they’d come from. An elezen, a hyur, and a lalafell, all similarly garbed with upset expressions on their faces were speaking with a Hearer. The Hearer, a hyur man, was making a series of exaggerated gestures as if talking to children.  Rheika wasn’t entirely certain what to make of the petitioners, perhaps a blended family or workers at an orphanage, but it was clear that a girl in their care was needing help, and their cries were falling on deaf ears.

Few things enraged the Warriors of Light more than the inflicting of suffering on children.

She turned to the others, who had noticed her change, and looked to her with anticipatory expressions on their faces. She held up her palm, then tilted her fingers away from herself twice, a clear back up and wait signal. The others immediately backed off and stood away, near the treeline. She nodded, and turned to walk up behind the Hearer. She tried to keep the anger bubbling within her down as she spoke, only mostly successfully. “Excuse me, but what is going on here?”

The hearer didn’t even turn around, simply sighed and waved his hands in a dismissive gesture. “Move along, outsider, if you’ve business with Stillglade Fane, you must wait, not interrupt-”

“Listen up, you moss-addled twat! First of all, I was BORN in this forest. Second of all, turn your ass around and LOOK at who you are talking to!” Rheika thundered.

The hearer turned “How dare you? If you really-”. His words cut off with a gasp. “Y-you’re Rheika Aliapoh. One of th-the Warriors of Light!”

“Good boy.” she replied sarcastically, crossing her arms and giving him a disapproving look. “Unfortunately for you, you used your turn to piss me off. So now, I’m talking to them.” She looked over to the trio of petitioners, her face more sympathetic. “Hi, I’m Rheika. Can you tell me what’s going on?”

The hyur woman wiped away tears falling down her face. “H-hi. My name is Lina….my daughter Dani is sick. We think it’s Greenrot. She’s holding strong now, but it’s getting worse. We came to the Conjurer’s guild for healing but…they’re saying it’s the Elementals’ will that she die!”, Lina said as she burst into tears. The Elezen male put his hands on her shoulders and looked at Rheika. “We’ve been friends with Lina for years, and we all moved in together when times got tough for us all. Mani’s like a niece to us. Please, can you….” he trailed off.

Rheika nodded to him and turned back to the hearer, absolute fury in her face. “And you’re just going to let that girl die?”

“I-it’s not like I WANT to, but-”

“It’s a fairly simple fix, hearer. One quick Esuna cast. Hell, I’ve only had rudimentary conjury training and I know it. Surely a big bad hearer like yourself ought to be familiar with it” she said, venom dripping from her voice. “Less than a few minutes of your time, and that girl gets to live. And you’re gonna sit there and let her suffer and probably die. A CHILD.”

His face contorted into an ugly sneer. “Look, I wouldn’t expect a keeper of the moon like you to understand, given how much your kind seems inclined to just take whatever they want from the forest without-”

Rheika reached back towards the gunblade she carried strapped to her back, stopping just short of actually grabbing the hilt. “You keep talking. Give me a reason.”

“You come here to this place and try to tell ME, who has trained to hear the Elemental’s voice for years, how to do my job? You can’t POSSIBLY understand-”

“And what about me, Hearer?” intoned Dahkar’s steely voice as he stepped towards them, coming from behind Rheika. “Surely you’re not such a tremendous idiot as to believe I cannot understand, correct?”

The Hearer spun to regard him, anger on his face immediately vanishing as he blanched. Dahkar was over seven fulms of very angry looking Au Ra, clad in the pristine white robes that the Hearer had only ever witnessed the Padjals wear. “Y….you’re…you’re the one the Padjals trained in the White? But…you’re not even of the forest!”

“Wrong answer. The correct response is ‘No, Dahkar of the White, Warrior of Light, I know you understand. Also I’m going to apologize to Rheika and throw myself at her mercy before going to heal the diseased child’. Do you see the difference?”

“I….I will not be spoken to this way!” the man said, stamping his feet. “I am a Hearer, charged with listening to the wills of the Elementals and ensuring the people of Gridania live according to their will, lest we awaken the Greenwrath! Who are you, a man clearly of the Far East, to question how-”

“Gonna stop you right there.” Dahkar growled. “First of all, you really should stop making judgements about where someone is from based on what they look like. I might have been born in the Far East, that’s true, but I’ve lived in the Shroud since I was a babe, just like Rheika here.”

Rheika smiled innocently.

“Secondly, I’ve been through Conjurer training, clearly. I’ve seen how the Hearers work. The only people who can directly hear the Elementals, much less communicate with them, have horns on their head, and I don’t mean this kind” he continued, tapping the large black-scaled horn on his own head. “You and I both know a lot of being a Hearer is using your own good judgement and hoping the rituals you’ve devised over the years give you the correct result. Lot of room for error there.”

The Hearer pondered that for a moment. “Well, yes, I suppose there are instances of Hearers being wrong. I do recall that kerfuffle with the animal exhibits outside the Leatherworker’s Guild…” He looked up in realization, then began delivering with the gusto of a professional orator.  “Ah, but even you must admit that if the people lose faith that the Hearer’s word is that of the Elementals, then chaos shall reign in the city! Every pronouncement we make will be endlessly questioned, or even ignored! The peaceful symbiosis we have achieved will be undone, and the Greenwrath will be upon us all! Yes, surely even you must agree to that?!”

Dahkar’s laughter drew the attention of other nearby Conjurers, who were suddenly very interested why their fellow was loudly arguing with a Warrior of Light and a White Mage, no less. “Or you could simply exercise better judgement and not leave the healing of the citizenry that are supposed to be in your care to blind chance, perhaps? Or are you going to seriously tell me you think the Elementals have an opinion on the health of a single member of the community?”

Rheika idly watched them continue to go back-and-forth with their arguments. In truth, she was hardly interested in the debate. She was more interested in keeping the count she’d quietly started running in her head ever since drawing the Hearer’s attention to herself.

Now, she reckoned, that count had gone on long enough. The Hearer was now going on a tangent about equilibrium in nature when she interrupted him. “Thanks for hopping in there, Dahk. I was afraid I was losing his attention”

Dahkar turned to her and smiled, crossing his arms. “Reckon we gave them enough time to get it done?”

Rheika turned towards the path that led from Stillglade Fane to the rest of Gridania. “Well, I can’t see any sign of them, so I’d say it’s definitely gotta be close enough.”

The Hearer sputtered. “What…what exactly are you two talking about?”

Rheika smiled ever so sweetly at him. “Aren’t you forgetting about someone, Hearer? Or rather, ‘someones’?”

The Hearer, shocked, spun around. The three petitioners were no longer there, and as he frantically looked around the area, he saw no sign of them. “What? Where…where did they go?”

Dahkar laughed again. “Well, if we timed this right, our companions have hopefully gotten them back to their dwelling by now and are using their own healing skills to cure the little girl! They might not know anything about Conjury, but they’re pretty good in their own right. Fearless is an expert in Sharlayan Astrology, and Franks has revived the teachings of the Scholars of ancient Nym!”

The Hearer was dumbfounded. He flailed about, as if he felt like he should do something, but had no idea what. “But…the Elementals…what if this angers them? What if…”

Rheika sighed through his abbreviated rant and cut in “If the Elementals get THAT upset over this, then I’m sure the Seedseer and the other padjals can calm them down, like they have to do entirely too often anyway. Given how little they seem to care about the million other things affecting the Shroud, I doubt they’ll even notice.”

She turned to regard the other assembled Hearers and other Conjurers. “But if they do? And Kan-E-Senna can’t get through to them?” She smiled. “Well, my friends, luckily for you, we’re the Warriors of Light. We have a fair amount of experience dealing with powerful beings made of aether that care little for the lives of the mortals around them.”

She crossed her arms and smiled happily. “So I wouldn’t worry. We’ll be here to protect the people of Gridania and the rest of the Shroud if it comes to that!”

She turned and walked out of the Fane. Dahkar gave a confident smile (which most non-Au Ra would agree looked more sinister than simply confident) and nodded to the assembled Hearers before turning and following her out.

The Hearers would spend several days debating their words and whether or not they should bring them before the Seedseer. In the end, they simply opted to wait and see what would come.