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xenodile · 1 year ago

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I originally started writing this for the XIV twitter TwinWol ship week but it got out of hand and I decided to just make it a sort of overall record of how I write Alisaie and Bylgrael, since it's less straightforward than how I write Byl with Alphinaud or G'raha.

Alisaie and Bylgrael's first meeting was...strained. They met in passing at the Grand Company Remembrance ceremonies after Byl had started to first make a name for herself, but didn't really get acquainted until after Bylgrael became known as Warrior of Light, slayer of primal and champion of Eorzea. By then, Alisaie had largely forgotten the up and coming adventurer, and only knew Bylgrael as her brother's latest lackey, and Bylgrael only vaguely recalled that Alphinaud had a sibling, but couldn't recall what they looked like.

When they met in Wineport, Bylgrael's first reaction was shock. By now, she was quite head over heels for Alphinaud, so to meet a stranger that looked near identical to him was bizarre. It took everything she had to not let her perception of Alphinaud color her interactions with Alisaie, which was no small feat given how much of her feelings for Alphinaud were already being repressed.

For her part, Alisaie rather resented Bylgrael. The investigation into the Coils was a personal, private matter. She didn't want help to find the truth, but couldn't get into an Imperial castrum on her own, much less breach the Allagan defenses. The only person whose help she would've welcomed was her brother's, and he had deemed this matter not important enough to divert his attention. She'd had to go to Urianger to borrow Alphinaud's toadie, as if it wasn't bad enough her parents had sent servants to babysit her like a child.

But once the expedition got underway, they started to defrost a bit. Since Bylgrael wasn't trying to impress Alisaie or be the perfect servant she was to Alphinaud, she was able to relax a bit and let more of her eccentric qualities show. She talks about her relationship with her dad, how she grew up reading stories, her idealism and goals, all things she doesn't really talk about with the Scions because she wants to make a good impression with them, and that pressure isn't there when she's talking to Alisaie.

And Alisaie reciprocates. Neither she nor Byl really had friends growing up, so they never had anyone to talk to about the books the read, and they like the same kinds of stories, so they both for the first time have a chance to actually bond with someone over a shared interest. It's also a different dynamic because Alisaie is eager to actually get into the thick of things with Bylgrael. While Alphinaud prefers to take a commanding role, staying out of harms way and focusing on healing and strategy, Alisaie is a scrapper.

This means that Bylgrael has to go out of her way to shield Alisaie more often, but also means that Alisaie has the opportunity to earn Bylgrael's respect in a way that few others have, because for most of ARR, the Scions just send her to solve problems for them. Fighting alongside Bylgrael is a mixed bag for Alisaie. On one hand, it's a little disheartening. Bylgrael is much stronger and more experienced than her, and it's easy for Alisiae to feel like she's dead weight, especially when Bylgrael often has to throw herself between Alisaie and a monster to block an attack. On the other hand, it's inspiring. Seeing what just one person is capable of, the potential someone driven by belief, pushes Alisaie to try and be better. She wants to get stronger, to match that.

As the exploration of the Coils goes on, they get closer. Alisaie and Bylgrael are properly friends by Second Coil, and then Alphinaud throws a wrench into the works. Alphinaud telling Byl that he's entrusting Alisiae to her is the beginning of the tension between them that persists throughout post-ARR and into Heavensward, as Alphinaud begins to try distancing himself from Byl. It also puts the pressure on Bylgrael to be more aware of Alisaie as a potential partner, since that seems to be what Alphinaud has told her to do, and Alisaie, over their time together, has warmed up to Byl enough to start being attracted to her.

By the time Final Coil rolls around, the tension that Byl and Alisaie had initially dodged and allowed them to bond has started to set in. Bylgrael misses Alphinaud and is struggling not to project her feelings for him onto Alisaie, whom she respects too much to treat as an easy substitute for her affection. Alisaie, having at last had a chance to bond with and develop a friendship with another woman, has fallen for Byl but doesn't feel she can measure up because she's still got her whole inferiority complex, only made worse when she realizes that Byl and Alphinaud have something going on.

Alphinaud and Alisaie have their falling out, and Alisaie leaves to figure out her next move, and along the way she meets Emery. Meanwhile, Byl and Alphinaud go through Heavensward.

Fast forward to post-Heavensward. Alphinaud and Bylgrael have officially become a couple, and Alisaie is back from her personal journey. Finding out Byl and Alphinaud and gotten over their rough patch is good news, as she cares for them both, but is still crushing because it means she was again too slow and too far behind and Alphinaud snaked something she had aspired to out from under her again.

Until Alphinaud suggests they share, which again, only serves to make things more complicated. Alphinaud is thinking short term and only knows that Byl and Alisaie like each other, and as part of his own growth has stopped trying to see Bylgrael as belonging to him, so he thinks it shouldn't be a problem. Alisaie obviously objects because the two of them dating the same person IS weird, and what's more she still doesn't feel like she deserves Bylgrael's admiration and respect. She wants Bylgrael to love her for who she is, she doesn't want to be pitied or felt sorry for. Meanwhile, Byl is being all the more mindful and polite around Alisaie, a far cry from their initial interactions, because now that she and Alphinaud are together, the temptation to associate what she knows and feels about him with Alisaie is that much stronger, and Byl refuses to disrespect Alisaie by seeing her as an extension of her brother.

Over the course of Stormblood, things sort of plateau. Alisaie and Bylgrael clearly want to bond again, get back that comradery and friendship they had during Binding Coils, but neither really knows how. Alisaie feels awkward and conflicted about trying to flirt with the woman sleeping with her brother, especially when she knows her brother is okay with it and encouraging her, and Bylgrael isn't sure how to reconnect with Alisaie without using her current relationship with Alphinaud as a reference point. Alisaie kisses Bylgrael just before the battle for Ala Mhigo, and Alphinaud tells Byl that he knows about Alisaie's feelings and encourages them both, but it's still all too strange and new for all them to really figure things out.

Things only start to move again during post-Stormblood, after Castrum Fluminis. Bylgrael and Alphinaud have been butting heads over Doma attempting diplomatic reconciliation with the Empire, with Bylgrael being fervently anti-Garlean and going so far as to actively argue with Alphinaud against diplomacy with Maxima and Asahi. Combined with Alphinaud's own growing worries of being inadequate on the battlefield compared due to events in Stormblood, things come to a head when he announces his intention to leave for Garlemald. He and Byl have a falling out, with some rather unkind words on both sides, and Alisaie is left to pick up the slack.

Bylgrael is an emotional wreck after Alphinaud leaves, immediately regretting what she said to him and being terrified for his safety, and she depends on Alisaie for stability. It gives Alisaie new perspective, as she previously thought Bylgrael near invincible and unshakeable. Seeing her vulnerable and unsure reminds Alisaie that Byl really is just a person, and gives her the confidence and drive to support her. It only gets worse as the Scions start dropping and Gaius delivers Alphinaud's comatose body. Bylgrael loses all composure and is basically inseparable from Alisaie. The anxiety and grief causes Byl to drop the stiff formality and really open up to Alisaie again, and Alisaie in turn feels more empowered to provide the guidance and support that Byl needs, and they grow closer again.

Byl makes the first move at Ghimlyt Dark, finally returning the kiss Alisaie gave her back at Rhalgr's Reach and telling her that she loves her, and Alisaie is more than happy as possible under the circumstances to reciprocate. Of course, that's followed shortly afterward by Alisaie being taken by the Exarch's botched spell, and Bylgrael's catastrophic meltdown.

When Alisaie wakes up in Ocular next to Alphinaud, naked and confused, the Exarch freaking out and trying to hand them robes, it takes everything she has to not summon her aetheric sword and kill him right there, because she's so distraught. There's the irritation that the Exarch has interrupted just as they had started to figure things out between them, the anger that he's the person responsible for the Scions going comatose, and more than anything just inconsolable worry for Byl being left alone because she knows that Bylgrael isn't going to make it without her.

A year passes in the First. Alisaie works as a carer for the Light-infected and meets Tesleen, they become friends. Alisaie is at first reluctant to entertain Tesleen's flirting because she's waiting for Bylgrael and going to leave the First sooner rather than later, but loneliness and the grim nature of their work make her relent and need companionship.

Then Bylgrael shows up in the First, and she goes looking for Alisaie before anything else. Partly because she's still scared to see Alphinaud again after how long they've been apart and the bad note they separated on, mostly because after how things went down at Ghimlyt Dark she needs to Alisaie again, to apologize for breaking their promise to stay together no matter.

Bylgrael meets Tesleen, who is thrilled to finally meet Alisaie's actual partner, and things are going well until the usual happens, then Tesleen is transformed into a Sin Eater. Alisaie is overwhelmed with shock and grief over losing another girlfriend, and she sort of clams up when she and Byl return to the Crystarium, still processing the loss and realizing that Byl has no idea what Tesleen meant to her.

Byl goes and has her reunion with Alphinaud in Kholusia, and they make up their, and the trio is brought back together for Holminster Switch.

After night is restored to Lakeland, Alisaie goes to spend the night with Byl and they talk through things. The circumstances that brought them together, their promise to stay together no matter what, the terrible things Bylgrael did after Ghimlyt Dark and how she no longer trusts herself not to lose control and hurt Alisaie, Alisaie talking about Tesleen and Emery and how she can't bear to lose Byl the way she's lost the last two girls she fell in love with. They talk about the whole...situation with Byl already being in a relationship with Alphinaud, but at this point the weirdness of it doesn't matter and they're not willing to give up their bond with one another.

Once all the blocks are out of the way, Byl and Alisaie are finally able to get back the bond that first brought them together. Bylgrael is still a bit more formal with Alisaie than she used to be, but Alisaie knows it's part of how she shows affection, that devotion and fealty is an expression of love to Byl.

And that bond holds through to Endwalker. Byl has learned that it's okay for her to not be the perfect knight, that she can be loved for her flaws, the ideals she fights for are not lessened by her imperfection, and that if ever she does slip up, Alphinaud and Alisaie will be there to keep her on the right path. Alisaie no longer feels that she's unworthy of Byl's love and admiration, she's let go of her resentment and envy of her brother, and she's more confident in her ability to just do things without the fear of being too weak.

#TwinwolWeek #TwinwolWeek2023 #Abby plays FFXIV #Bylgrael #Alisaie Leveilleur #this sure took longer than expected

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