#so creative!

[silmeria-lafleur]

Another Step

This story is the continuation of this one. It's from Reika's PoV, in first person. There are so many changes and my head almost exploded from trying to fit everything together. I hope you enjoy! (Long post ahead)

A few more days passed before Krille advised me to take some time, and calmly think about myself, away from all this. It was no use walking around with my grim face all the time. Heh... It was best to go somewhere else, clear my mind, at least until they call me back.

The thing was where I was going to go.

Gridania was not an option because it was too close to here. Uldah? Nah... I hated the weather and desperately needed a cooler place. Ishgard... Hmmm, it could be... but... that would mean I would have to see him. And while a significant part of me wanted to be there, I couldn't bear the thought of being a burden to them…to him.

Much less after that fight... *sigh*

Well, there is no other option than to go to Limsa. Maybe I could find something there.

I packed my things and said goodbye to my friends and the people of the Resistance, assuring that I would be there whenever they needed me.A part of me felt bad about leaving them, but on the other hand it was worse to be there doing nothing.

When I arrived it was almost after noon, a clear and refreshing day, in many ways. I immediately thought of the things I could do there. Maybe I could go to the Arcanist Guild and learn a new art. I should upgrade my equipment as well, since the current one was very worn and broken in several parts... and if for some reason I had to face and fight against that Zenos again, I should be better prepared.

Pero por ahora debería ir a The Mizzenmast Inn, my body and mind needed to... calm down. Mytesyn, the inkeeper, greeted me cheerfully. He's always been so nice to me, I smiled back and asked if there was a room available, to which he energetically nodded. Entering the room, I left my things next to the bed and lay down for a while, with hundreds of thoughts per second going through my mind.

Inevitably those thoughts led me to a particular moment... to Fortemps Manor, to that damned fight with Artoirel. I was so mad at him! How was it possible that he saw social duties as more important than the happiness of people!

And he…he called me a hypocrite, now that I think about it he looked so upset, a stark contrast to how he always used to be. He was definitely distressed... maybe... hurt? Yes, it must be. After how I treated him, so improper and rude of me. Still... Now I think he was right, I was a hypocrite, I still am. And that had to change.

If I ever see him again I would like to apologize to him. Being friends again... being able to talk like before until late at night. Those moments now only seemed like a sweet but distant dream.

At that a tear fell down my face, followed by a few others... and many more. I covered my face with my left arm and cried, I don't know for how long, but I was there until my eyes couldn't hold another tear. Taking a deep, shaky breath from that flow of pent-up emotions, I got out of bed. I took an old letter out of my bag, a letter that I always read at times when I felt lost adrift. I sat back on the edge of the bed and read it one more time.

his was one my mother had written to me, weeks before she died. She was so weak in those moments... and yet she found the strength to write this. In it she told me many things, like never giving up, finding my happiness, and above all being myself. She also apologized for things that I didn't give importance to at the time, but that now made much more sense. I knew that she was not my biological mother, who I never heard from, that she took care of me in her place because of the love she had for my father. It must have been difficult for her to take care of an elezen girl in a place where there were none. I remember the day she decided to dye my hair and change my name, to look a little more like her and avoid any more rumors that were already out there. And even against everything and everyone, she raised me with all the love of her heart, I always felt that way.

She also told me that now I had to go my own way, that I didn't need to pretend anything anymore, that I shouldn't look for anything that my heart didn't really want. Now I really understood, the meaning of those words.

"My dear daughter, you will always be the most beautiful flower for me. Remember my precious Reika, that I will always be proud of you, no matter what steps you decide to take towards your own happiness. This from now on is your way, and only yours. With love, Sayaka."

I teared up once more, but this time with relief. As if the fact of understanding the true meaning of these words took a great weight off my shoulders. I always thought that I should carry on her legacy, in my own way. But it clearly wasn't like that, I- I really can be dense sometimes... I smiled warmly as I put the letter away once more.

I left the room for a moment to talk to Mytesyn, he seemed surprised to see me with my red face and disheveled hair, he immediately offered me something to drink, and I accepted. I was a bit embarrassed to be like this, but he seemed to understand that I needed space and didn't want to intrude. Before going back to the room once more, I asked him if I could contact someone, and he nodded with his usual smile.

A few bells later I went out, the sky was already getting dark. I wanted to do more than lock myself up somewhere, so I headed down to the plaza to go to the market and then stop by the Arcanists as previously planned. I already knew that Limsa was a... bustling place. But apparently there was something interesting that was about to happen. I was curious to know what it was about, my plans could wait a little longer. I followed the sound of some musical instruments being tuned a little further south of the plaza... and yes, there were a lot of people gathered there.

It was a group of artists, they called themselves "Trope Falsiam", from Thavnair. Now this was interesting, the group of musicians began to play their melody and a young miqo'te woman appeared in a somewhat... flashy outfit. She took some rather peculiar circular blades and began to dance. She looked happy… free. So focused was I on her performance that I barely noticed the hyuran woman standing next to me, she said a couple of things that I couldn't fully catch, but she seemed to know the dancer. Then she looked at me from head to toe and smiled. After the performance, the people began to dissolve in different directions, and this woman approached me, she had a proposal for me.

"There's definitely something about you... charming. I offer you to learn the art of dance. Not only will you help to brighten people's sorrowful hearts, it can also be very useful in combat, and from what I see, it seems that you have experience. What do you say?"

I think from the way my face lit up he assumed I liked the idea, so he took me with the rest of the group and we introduced ourselves.

The movements flowed naturally, at least the sense of rhythm was still intact, and luckily for me, holding the chakrams was not difficult for my previously injured hand. So I trained, for days... weeks. I traveled to different places improving the technique, not only the dance itself, but also in combat. I learned that dance itself could actually help people to heal from within.

Like myself.

This IS my path... and I will embrace it.

Fun Fact: When I first started playing the Stormblood expansion, Shadowbringer was released. And guess what was the first thing I did... YUP! Unlock the Dancer. So all the Stormblood MSQ I did as DNC ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

Meanwhile, at Fortemps Manor, someone was certainly not happy about Reika's disappearance...

[et-in-arkadia]

this is such incredible advice for creating any kind of art i have to put it over here to remind myself

[captain-mozzarella]

I headcanon that all of Yoda's finest teacups were made by younglings

In fact most masters of the order's finest teacups were made during crèche crafting time when the kids were learning pottery.

[charbroiledchicken]

reblog if you're a writer but would rather drink straight cyanide than show any of your family members your work

[notherpuppet]

Can you do a gender swap Alastor and Lucifer in human form?

Yes

Luci and Alice

[noecantsleep]

WE ARE SO BACK

[persicipen]

₊ ˙ ⊹ .

[fabledtactician]

recent honkai update did things to my brain. again. with a different tortured furry this time

[binglepringle]

Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na

💥Batgirl💥

[jonnywaistcoat]

hey jonny, i just thought you'd want to know that character.ai has an ai-generated imitation of your voice and i'm not sure what other websites might have it or where it originated :(

Yeah, it's a fucking garbage state of affairs but, as a somewhat well-known performer with a pretty distinctive voice it doesn't exactly shock me. Needless to say I think anyone who used this is a mediocre waste of skin and if they ever tell me in person they've used it then 50/50 I punch them in the teeth.

I can't wait for a couple of years when it all collapses just like every other niche-but-interesting-technology-with-limited-use-cases-sold-as-a-universal-panacea-to-gormless-CEOs grift (blockchain being the best example). Because the thing is, none of these things actually make any money and cost a vast amount, so as soon as all the dumb venture capital funding dries up and AI is required to actually start paying for itself, the bubble bursts and the whole industry is fucked.

That said, it's gonna be rough when it happens - a lot of companies have invested very heavily in AI and they're going to be hurting badly. I know of more than one media company whose idiot executives invested ridiculous amounts into NFTs and ended up laying off massive swathes of workers when that obvious fucking scam collapsed. I suspect the AI crash is gonna be even worse than that. And by then it will have drowned the Internet in slop. We'll see, I guess.

Anyway, anyone who uses AI is a soulless fucking husk of a person who cannot tell half-digested vomit from culture, and I would pity them if they weren't making the world such a measurably worse place to exist.

[bononocat]

I HATE THE AM‼️ I HATE THE PM‼️

[tizzymcwizzy]

for anyone that doesn't know, i recently started school again! (that's why ive been so mia) so ill be posting class projects whenever i finish them,,, this was a figure drawing assignment :)

you can get a print of this here!

[lyralit]

things to think about for characters

do they have allergies?

what foods will they not touch?

what kinds of music do they like?

how are they around new people?

do they speak in an accent?

have they tried learning a new language?

how many languages do they know?

what is a song that will always make them cry?

how do they cry? heaving? silently? sobbing?

how do they dress? for practicality or fashion?

what is the first thing they notice about a stranger?

what is their humour like?

do they have scars? what caused them?

do they wear jewelry?

are they a frivolous spender or a miser?

do they prefer luxury or practicality?

who would they quote?

what could make them change their mind?

who is the first person they'd call?

how are they around animals? do they have pets?

what is their favourite childhood food?

what is something they've never told anyone?

childhood friends?

what are habits they've picked up from other people?

what are their guilty pleasures?

what is something they're staunchly against?

do they speak a certain way? do they use contractions? popular turns of phrase?

can they fall in love? what does it look like? does it differ between people -- friends vs family?

what would they rather die than do?

what is their biggest mistake? one that they look out to never do again.

[celestialalpacaron]

HERES THIS REALLY DUMB IDEA THAT’S BEEN LIVING RENT FREE IN MY HEAD AND I HAD TO SKETCH IT OUT SO FAST AHSJSKAKAKS

YALL know how like…Alastor has his little minion guys as his goons??? My brain said “I wonder what Husk’s minions looked like when he was an overlord….” And I WASSSS gonna give him little bunnies (hahaha magician motive) but they turned out too similar to Alastor’s so WHY NOT GIVE HIM SOME SEVERAL RIGHT (and left) HAND MANS HDJSKSKKSKASJA

Anyways DO WHAT YOU WILL WITH THIS INFORMATION :) 🩷

[composeregg]

edit (10/23/2024) now that the poll is over: Original version, with 10 questions, from April 2023 here

And, given that the original is from April 2023, that means I can very easily say:

No, this was not an ISAT reference!

Just because I use parentheses and 2nd person pov and love the same concepts of what a time loop can do to a person doesn't mean it's ISAT

(Yes, I like ISAT, the original poll is why I was recommended the game! But if you look at the original, you can see all the origins of the options to choose from, including what spurred me on with the moss option from the replies)

If I were going to make something for ISAT, I would never be so vague, you can simply look at my ao3 for proof of that

[o0kawaii0o]

"I've been thinking of a new recipe lately.."