#unlike the stormblood writers

[tainbocuailnge]

thats the first time ive been called tumblr famous

[aotopmha]

For today, in terms of MSQ, I only did the level 95 dungeon and entered the zone after it.

(And then did a bunch of other stuff.)

So, spoilers!

I'm pretty certain this is the cutoff point for the first half of Dawntrail.

And I'm a little bit underwhelmed by Wuk Lamat in particular so far. All of the other characters were side characters to begin with, so getting more out of them than expected was a welcome surprise.

But Wuk is very much positioned as the main character.

And so much time was spent with her, yet somehow I feel like there is just something missing in her arc.

So far I think I have the same issue with her character I ultimately had with Lyse, plus other nuances. (And this is coming from someone who ended up liking Lyse.)

But first I'll address what I like about her character as of this point in the story.

Firstly, since I brought her character up again, I like that unlike Lyse, Wuk is fighting for the country she grew up in.

Yes, Stormblood discusses Lyse's self-righteousness, but she had no true ties beyond her father and sister in Ala Mhigo, characters we never see/are dead. Conrad and Mefrid exist, but she has no particularly strong ties with them (and Raubahn) beyond working together for the general goal of freedom.

So it feels like she fights for the cause because it is right, rather than having any true personal ties to the locations. And that's a solid motivation given the circumstances of the story. But why add that aspect to her character if it doesn't ultimately matter?

Wuk's entire arc is about learning about her birthplace, but more specifically a place she has actual "personal" ties with, rather than having a memory/legacy tied to it. We actually see her siblings and her father, so tangible connections to her as a character.

This is why I really like that she ended up appointing Koana as Dawnservant alongside her. It shows her growth and connection to him.

Secondly, I really like the Warrior of Light's and the Scions' mentor role here. It puts Wuk's (and Koana's) flaws in perspective, giving them intention. I adore that the writers found a natural role for them that doesn't downplay their achievements, but still allows them to go back into an adventurer's role.

And third, those sincere moments with Wuk's family I wished for? We got some more of them. As said, we got that moment with Koana at the ascension ceremony where she asks him to become Dawnservant with her, but the one with Bakool Ja Ja, someone that is not "family", was actually the most effective to me.

Genuine, in-the-moment empathy for a terrible situation.

They're simple, but just having those few moments of straight-forward emotional sincerity went a long way. And I'm happy we got that little bit with Rruk at the wrap-up, too.

So, this all sounds great.

So what is the issue here?

Well, the story really wants you to know how much Wuk Lamat has grown and just how cool she is.

This was my issue with Lyse. The story felt the need to push her as a main character, rather than just letting her arc happen.

It needs to ask you what your opinion of her is. It needs to tell you just how much progress Wuk Lamat is making.

It makes sense to some extent with the mentor arc given to the Scions and WoL mentioned above, but it still felt so overwhelming to me how much the story wants to push her as awesome rather than just letting her be as she is.

Remove all of that and she is automatically a much better character because the story already does all of the work to make her journey gradual and intentional.

We had a moment like this with Hythlodeus and Emet back in Endwalker, few times with Alphinaud across the game and perhaps a few times with Estinien and G'raha.

But it's really prominent with Lyse and Wuk. Just let the characters be who they are and let people decide whether they like said characters or not.

So, ultimately I think I just want a few more moments to solidify Wuk's arc that don't rely on her "default" mindset and for the narrative to stop pushing her so hard as main character.

One of the strongest scenes in the story so far was the campfire scene between Thancred, Urianger and Koana and the entire point of that scene was about being your honest self even if it is difficult or scary.

So, in my opinion, the story pushing Wuk like this feels contradictory to its spirit.

Aside from my opinions on Wuk, I will reiterate that I love the cultures and locations of the expansion so far. The pacing within its own ecosystem is so much better in comparison to expansions that have tried to do the same idea (ARR, StB, even perhaps HW).

Some of the cultures in the previous expansions are more interesting to me, but I think all of the ones in Dawntrail so far are more gracefully presented.

I think this might be my favourite aspect of the writing so far. Just really well done "societal" stories.

All of this said, the third dungeon was fantastic. Great environmental storytelling and bosses and an incredibly compelling mystery derived from it. I'll probably make a full post about it at some point.

But the detail I like the most about this mystery being put here is that I really have no idea what to guess here. With character motivations and a formula present, you have some backing and framing, but the mystery involving that gate could really be almost anything since as of now, the characters dismissed Allagans.

Maybe it is still Allagans or Ascians or Reflections, but you don't know. And that is incredibly exciting to me. An entirely new mystery to think about.

[semi-imaginary-place]

ffxiv the sorrows of werlyt

ewww the gaius redemption arc continues. new writers be like "he not actually that bad" just ignore that he's a war mongering fascist that upheld and implemented a brutal colonization and occupation that included slavery, systemic rape, and general crimes against humanity for decades. Zenos too but that was for far shorter a time period and this doesn't excuse zenos but it didn't seem like he did all that much governing whereas gaius fully believed in the garlean empire.

that's an eva. like eva's were special in the mecha genre for not being robots but cyborgs and these ones are too

also gonna say the ost at the alliance base is unnerving it's an off key rendition of the ala mhigo/stormblood theme

ewww the gaius redemption arc continues. ugg it's sickening military indoctrination. reminds me of those american christians who adopt native children for the sake of "showing them proper path" and "making them good christians" as their mission states. literal cultural genocide baked into a religion. let's not forget they're probably orphaned because of the empire. but awww look at how gaius is actually a good person all along, he's a dad look how sympathetic and good he is /s

and they made livia one of his adopted orphans. you know livia the one obsessed with him and who he's implied to have sex with. the new writers sure wish they could take that back huh

uh cid your ultima isn't going to horribly mutate the pilot too is it?

huh terncliff. not seeing a lot of garlean "enhancements" in the archtecture i hope i can come back here

this quesline is really good too the tragedy of the sibling sacrificing themselves for an empire that will only exploit them. just take out daddy gaius and this would be perfect.

so they're combining sacrifice pilot with legatus battle data with an eikon

what is this cutscene. sweaty dude being an ass and chugging unrefrigerated milk. wow work place abuse you should unionize

why would they transport the emerald weapon all the way to la noscea or the rhotano sea. we are to the east of eorzea, they would have to take a ship all the way around the continent to the western edge of eorzea. also i did tell everyone in arr to permanently get rid of those eorzean castrums. i told them.

and they exploit that very desire to feed you into the meat grinder. same as with foldora

maybe because they never respected you as people to begin with

the sheer hypocrisy how much of that went on under his rule. and the writers are probably going to go "but he didn't know!" "he's changed!" which then just makes him incompetent.

bad reasoning but when you're in it it's hard to see clearly. only 3 things would have stopped valens. someone higher up shifting his position which given the mess garlemald is wouldn't happen. an enemy (us) kills him. or he kills so many people it becomes a heachache for greater HR to replace them which is also unlikely to happen

have you considered assassination. like poisoning his milk. or shooting him i mean there were 3 children to defend him and he was out of his armor you totally could have killed him. but again it's difficult to consider these things when you are deep under the established power structure,

that plan is so bad all it does is help the established garlemald power structure perpetuate itself. you are giving up your lives for less than nothing

should really stick that branding iron on his face but ah it's hard when you are alone acting out against a much bigger system. that's a kid again the man who has absolute power over them

oof don't lie on your back that'll make it worse

uh actually that list of names is like pretty sensitive information. publically releasing info immediately, I suppose it could be good and th pc has the authority to do whatever they want but uh be careful about that type of stuff

oh yeah and for all this papa gaius stuff. he left. deadbeat.

interesting that the siblings say they volunteered but are counted among the conscripts.

so the vii's gem weapon series was designed to consume the pilot who are non pureblood garleans. but i distinctly remember that the prototype that estinien fought had a hyur with the garlean 3rd eye embedded into the back and that the experiments under zenos also used garlean cyborgs abominations

this is true only because theodoric and zenos are out there people. but i remember in stormblood and arr people not liking the black wolf. so the reconning of oh he's not bad actually ew. the new writers are trying so so hard to rewrite gaius and never having been that bad.

ah yes throw off the shackles to put the biggest garlean defector in charge. i get the writers are doing this for gaius' character arc, but he's not even from here nor ever actually lived among the people. where's my local representation.

the writers really are just whitewashing him with "no he was never bad, actually" ah yes a successful second time because the first time was so successful

"for the freedom of Werlyt" the siblings say, all you did was feed the machine of it's occupation

ooooh guuurrrrll you should know he doesn't honor agreements with "savages" unless you have a failsafe and a way to cheat him you shouldn't be entering into agreements. we'll see what she has planned. interesting Allie seems to have bought into Valen's lies, why else try and negotiate citizenship and self rule for werlyt. where has her brother well actually that's ambiguous. early on their dialogue seemed to imply they wanted to prove themselves to garlemald through military achievement. but the more recent dialogue suggested threatening war as leverage for werlyt or possibly even rebellion against garlemald. or is she just using it as an opener to stoke his ego and emperor ambitions?

and her tear started overmind, not oversoul and the eva sorry diamond weapon broke free of it's control measures and deactivation signal

remember the old days when the writers use to use () to show thoughts instead of the new text box format

ug valens is still alive. he should just be dead from the diamond attack

yeah he got fused it. it really is an eva soul of the mom and everything. the sexist thing they could have done with his character.

the balloon popping sound effect!

i would have preferred allie or the siblings be continuing characters instead of gaius. instead they died for his character arc. wow this batch of devs are gaius simps. imagine how cool it'd be to have a party member that's also a big robot cyborg monster thing. i would have loved a storyarc about alphonse living after this

also you can tell the writers who put gaius and his two followers back into the story were different than the ones who wrote this storyline. because severa and valdeaulin both have history with the empire and reason to be invested in werlyt and terncliff but they have little reason to be hunting ascians. this story has little to do with hunting ascians which was gaius' new life goal when we met him in stormblood. like in sb severa was portrayed as very loyal towards gaius but her backstory doesn't really give that strong a motivation.

their "sacrifices" only helped give the empire more bodies, their deaths didn't help terncliff one bit.

lost opportunity but this totally could have been another cid arc. let's be real the whole end of 2.0 was Cid's story we were just there for the ride. remember how cid said gaius was like a father to him. in the storyline all about gaius being a dad, cid and gaius barely have meaningful interaction, which itself could have been interesting. sorrows of werlyt is a well written story one of the best in ffxiv so far, it's a shame i hate it.

oh meli... uh names... dyed her hair red that was confusing me

ah and of course the siblings were orphaned by the epidemic instead of making gaius responsible for ordering their murder which would have been more interesting and realistic given what we've seen in the other garlean occupied territories.

[siderealcity]

Oh, Paladin... I entirely agree with all of this. As a Paladin main, I can't even pretend this job story ever makes any sense. It is never good, and it just gets worse until the writers entirely abandon it in Stormblood to go back to the Gladiator story, which was at least somewhat better.

I think its core problem (which a lot of the ARR jobs share, but I'll get to that in a bit) is that they lacked a solid initial idea for the job archetype, and then the one they tried did not work within the constraints of the job quests.

Lengthy narrative breakdown of job/class stuff under the cut.

So, imagine you're a gamedev, and you're already working crunch non-stop because your MMO is flailing, and it needs a massive content overhaul, and your boss has just said to you, "Implement jobs like the ones in Final Fantasy Tactics, but with stories." You know what the gameplay is going to be for each of these, more or less. And for the most part these are the most generic core fantasy archetypes there are. Archer, Healer, Wizard, Sword-and-shield warrior, Two-hand axe warrior... A lot of these are just in everything. Every game in the universe has sword and shield warrior. How do you make this fit the setting?

Gladiator. Okay, that's interesting. We can work with that, but what's the archetype for Gladiator? The Russel Crowe film? Uh, yeah, we already made that Raubahn's entire backstory. Also, the player character can't be sold into slavery. So not that. What else do we have? Spartacus? Same problem as Gladiator. So... the only archetypal story we have for gladiators is the one we already used and can't apply to players in a meaningful way. (Are we going to work to buy someone else out of slavery? Because that involves the player buying slaves now, which is also kind of a problem.) We need another story archetype. What else we got? We can't do "training for the championship" because Pugilist has that one. So...

Well, uh... Mercenary? That's what the Gladiator quest chain is. And it's not a bad one, but Mylla is 100% written to be the head of a mercenary company, even though she absolutely is not. (Why are arena fighters dealing with bandits? Who cares, it's dramatic.)

And this is not a unique problem to Gladiator/Paladin. Nearly all the ARR classes suffer from this in some capacity. Pugilist is Rocky, but the player can't be the one making a comeback. Lancer is... fighter with a stick. There's nothing inherently specific to that class in its story. Archer is just archery with a side of "friendship is magic." Which, okay. That's not horrible. Marauder builds up to a crescendo of fighting the meanest cow. If you ever want to tell if a game designer has reached the bottom of the barrel, flipped it over, and scraped off what was underneath, making the archenemy of the player a large grazing herbivore is a flashing neon sign.

There was not a lot of time to work out what the core fantasy of each class was, and it shows. But the jobs should be better, right?

Well, problem #1 was that they had to follow up the story of each class quest, and I do not know why they all had to have new trainers and new characters, but that decision cut the number of story beats for each of the main job/classes in half. You can see how much more developed the characters are in the crafter/gatherer stories, because they got to use the entire 1-50 level grind to pace them out. By comparison, every single combat job is rushed to introduce its characters, its conflict, and get to its resolution.

So here's the second problem: Paladin as an archetype.

We already failed to find a Gladiator archetype that could be made to work on this tiny timeline and budget. Paladin has the advantage of having a clear archetypal Final Fantasy character to look at, unlike sword-and-board warrior, in Cecil, but Cecil got to be a champion of Light after having been a dark knight, and none of his story or themes really fit. Okay, so, what's the player fantasy in Paladin? What do they want to be when taking up the sword-and-shield? Because Holy Knight is going to be tricky in a game where the player's primary leitmotif is The Maker's Ruin. You are, as the Warrior of Light, the godslayer. So... uh... that's awkward.

I think the answer they came up with was Arthurian Knight. Because "recover the mystical sword of light" is sort of Cecil, if you turn your head and squint, and it's a combination of Excalibur and the Holy Grail.

Jenlyns' kind of rushed plot in ARR seems like it is training the player to be a Galahad type of knight errant. And the setup, even in the early quests, is about Oathkeeper, the sword of legend.

Okay, so, immediate problem which is going to become bigger over time: The job quests give you armor, not weapons.

So we hunt down Solkzagyl in ARR, only to find out that he was a true knight and he never stole Excalibur--I mean Oathkeeper. Obviously, the second part of the story, going into HW has to be about the missing sword.

And then we hit the next pipeline issue: ARR to HW.

I can't say this for certain, but my guess, having worked in games in the past, based on the patches that immediately follow up 2.0, was that the team was in a state of exhaustion, working crunch for the relaunch, and now the game is live again, but the numbers aren't back yet to say how successful the game will be, and you don't know if you're going to get a budget... of any kind? Maybe you'll get an expansion, or maybe you'll just get a few patches? You might get new art assets? Areas? Nobody knows. But the game is live, and you must put out content updates, or it will die.

The 2.1 through 2.2X MSQ does not feel like there is any coherent plan for where the story will go, and there probably wasn't. They were just trying to make something with what they had on hand, and every beat is the equivalent of throwing out a random plot hook. Maybe this could be where the story goes! Maybe it will go over here! Every MSQ beat leads to a primal fight with something they already had assets in the pipe for. Re-fight the primals you already fought again! But harder! They just keep pumping out additional non-crit-path dungeons to keep players occupied with something.

But the dungeons don't have a ton of writing, and the beast tribe quests really aren't that long, and this is probably the point at which they started writing the job quests that would go into Heavensward.

Before they knew what Heavensward even was.

Most of them don't even go to Coerthas. Black mage, monk, warrior, scholar, and summoner just... never even acknowledge that Heavensward is happening and stay right in the original zones. Only White Mage, Dragoon, and Paladin send you to the new zones, and Paladin... yeah, it drops the ball on that one hard. I suspect that putting it in Falcon's Nest was a very late change to move more of the quest NPCs around to even out stress on the areas. Dragoon, notably, also makes no sense if you finish it after Dragonsong, suggesting that it, too, was written before the plot of Heavensward was figured out.

It seems somewhat obvious, if frustrating, that the Paladin questline followed the original plan of searching for Oathkeeper, even though the Sultansworn should, at this point in the MSQ, kill you on sight. And also. THEY HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DEAL WITH THAN A SWORD, JENLYNS! I suspect that it was written in its entirety before The Parting Glass, and then just used mostly as-is. Death's Embrace was probably the Alacran again. There's nothing particular to Ishgard or Dravania in there except for the place names and an occasional reference to Halone or heretics.

But again, the problem remains, we can never get Oathkeeper. We are building up this entire, baffling, nonsense plot around finding the missing sword of legend, which the player absolutely cannot keep. So... how... do we end that, then? Uh... everyone fights, I guess? Even the writer, by the end, seems to have given up on making this work, because it absolutely can't.

Anyway, PLD, I love you. Don't take this personally, babe. You're still my favorite job to play. Even if your story is a hot mess.

The worst part too about the Paladin quests is it's Heavensward that's most egregious. It honestly feels like someone had no idea what was going on, or didn't care, or left, and their colleagues left holding the bag with this mess of a story had no idea what to do with it.

ARR Gladiator quests are fine! They're along the lines of the other Class quests, intro you to the job and a complicated character dynamic, and it's a decent time.

The ARR Paladin quests...are just boring. They aren't actually even that bad, they're just...utterly predictable, bog-standard tropes and plot line where you can see everything coming malms away. But they have an internal logic to them that builds on the politics and scheming in Ul'dah. Jenlyns realizes he's an unwitting pawn of the Syndicate, and he was literally chosen for the job cuz he could be easily duped and controlled. He doesn't even get to have imposter syndrome, he's actually unfit for the job (and then strives to do better, leveraging support from Papashan and Mylla to shore up his own weaknesses, which is admirable!).

...Nevermind that traditional Paladins in general are a bad fit for Ul'dah. The heavily armored Sultansworn makes no sense in that desert environment, and looking at a world map we can even see that Southern Thanalan seems to be on the equator. Like it's not even a case of "it's cooler than it seems cuz they're further north." Because they're not. And I know the devs wanted to have Ishgard perhaps be a starter city but that was scrapped due to time and resources, fine but um.

Dragoons are still trained in Coerthas, by Coerthans. Why didn't they just...do that with Paladins? Keep Gladiator in Ul'dah, where it makes sense as presented. But then have to work with Temple Knights to get the Job. Especially since after Ul'dah's intro, the game just forgets the Sultansworn exist and they have no bearing on the MSQ the way the other factions in Ul'dah do. Not even in the finale of ARR's arc where it would make sense. Gladiators are a constant in other side quests and MSQ both.

Stormblood Paladin is also fine--because it goes back to those Gladiators, and we interact with Paladins and Knights across the realm, and deal with those complicated relationships between the Gladiator guild core members. It's internally logical in its drama about finally restoring Aldis's reputation and place in Ul'dah, against the backdrop of the tournament.

Heavensward Paladin straight up makes no sense. Solkzaygl's actions are entirely contradictory to his character and arc from ARR. There's no way for some of the actions to occur without him working with the outlaws in some way. Instead of teaching Constaint, he sends him on a merry chase across Coerthas to learn on his own, and it's only the WoL's aid that sees the boy live, let alone make progress. A random man dies, guilt-ridden, due to Solk's scheming and lies he confided to this poor guy.

And then Highlander-esque "there can be only one" nonsense. Even as a Highlander fangirl in my youth, it was insulting and awful. Papashan, Jenlyns, and Constaint all call out how nonsense, illogical, unlikely, and stupid this whole story is...all to make a sword shine.

Because there's no internal logic to events, let alone the reason for the string of happenstance that leads to the finale.

And we know it's possible; HW Blacksmith gives us a fantastic paladin story! One that fits Ishgard's storyline and HW's themes. HW Dark Knight is also a good paladin story, actually, as they are meant to be another angle on the concept of dedicated knight defenders. Samurai for the Eastern equivalent, and the concepts and tropes present in those quest chains.

But the job actually bearing the name "Paladin" is left in the dirt. As a fan of the concept across various games (video and TTRPGs both), it's quite frustrating how the devs had no idea what to do with this job, despite other members of the writing and scenario team presenting stories that would have fit perfectly well within the framework. Only some of it is misplacing where Paladins originate in the setting; the rest is not taking advantage of the themes and setting of the expansions, and just not caring enough about the characters and story to even try, compared to the rest. Or worse, they did try, and meant for more, but whatever intrigue and complex plot they wanted to create was too much for 5 quests and no guarantee the arc would continue in the future, even if it had landed perfectly.

[voidsentprinces]

Yoshi P when introducing Zenos: He will be a thoroughly unlikeable character.

Writers for Stormblood in the other room: What if we have every paragraph he says drip with underlying horny energy?

[ononokinonon]

Give me ffxiv!

Ask meme

Under the cut, because of spoilers

blorbo

M'Naago Rahz! She's badass, she's kind, I fell in love with her design on first sight, and she should totally have had Lyse's role in Stormblood. My character has had "Naago's Partner" set as their title ever since I could unlock it, and I'm not planning on changing it any time soon.

scrunkly

Alisaie, our precious chaotic little sister/daughter.

scrimblo bimblo

Alka Zolka the Slayer, the man of contrasts. A tiny bespectacled nerd decked out in heavy armor and swinging around a huge axe, how can not love this concept?

glup shitto

I spent a lot of thinking whether to put Naago here, or as my blorbo, since honestly, she fits both so well. So I've decided that, even if it's cheating, I'll give her both spots.

poor little meow meow

Fordola. While many other had gotten their redemption arcs in the game - some more sympathetic than her, some less - I found Fordola's to be most compelling and well written. It's not a simple lose to the heroes and get instantly forgiven situation, like it often is. No, every step of the way she needs to confront the results of her actions, the people she hurt, and the evidence that, perhaps, her choices and worldviews weren't the correct ones. It's a good redemption arc, because it doesn't sugarcoat, and makes Fordola actually struggle for her redemption - against both the world, and herself.

horse plinko

Mmm, Namazu dumplings... But seriously, Gaius. Not because I'm opposed to the idea of his redemption, but because how poorly it was handled. If the writers really want us to forgive him, just being tormented by a bigger bad won't cut it. He needs to suffer the consequences of specifically his own actions, and most importantly, he needs to show introspection. They laid the foundations for this, but, unlike Fordola above, they didn't build on them enough for this arc to be satisfying.

And also Asahi. Not even the "other guy", just plain Asahi. Because fuck Asahi. That guy's a dick.

eeby deeby

Zenos, If only to make him stop popping up everywhere and messing up more interesting plots. I'll admit that Endwalker's writing handled him better than previous expansions' did, but I'll still be more than happy if he just stays at the place we last saw him at and we never hear of him again.

[alamhigyoooo]

AS PROMISED - talk to me about your OT3!! ♥ I wanna know it all!! Does it take long before they are all on board? How do Raha and Aymeric get into each other? Does it start physical or are there feelings involved quickly? Tell me about their dynamic with each other and with Hallura \o/

aHHHHHOOOOOOOOO BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYY EVERYONE STRAP IN FOR A LONG ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! g’raha x hallura x aymeric is HERE

sticking this under the cut because i’m about to unleash an essay on yall about my ot3 but read on if you wish to find out more about them...

spoilers for 5.3!!!

so immediately after bringing g’raha and the scions back to the source, hallura has a total breakdown in private about how suddenly she has to live with extremely deep love for two people with BOTH of those people now very present in her life (for anyone who doesn’t know i had an extreme crisis about hallura’s endgame ship which i detailed, in part, in this chapter’s comment section) 

to recap hallura’s love life until this point: she fell in love with raha and planned to propose to him before he locked himself into the crystal tower, and then during the events of heavensward started sleeping with aymeric as a coping mechanism. eventually feelings were admitted and they started seeing each other seriously in secret; hallura proposed at the end of stormblood and then they went public with their relationship after the ghimlyt dark. THEN hallura got summoned to the first and discovered her first true love who she definitely never stopped loving was alive and also was very much in love with her, and since then she’s been carrying a guilt over having feelings for two people and it’s been eating away at her

BUT YOU CAME HERE FOR AYMERIC AND G’RAHA’S ROMANCE...so let us begin :)

they actually get to know each other when hallura kind of goes awol on both of them; once raha was done convalescing (she stayed by him every day) hallura went back to aymeric and spent one night with him but was totally silent the whole time, and then the next day she was gone off to ghimlyt to deal with the threat of the sapphire weapon.

except she didn’t come back right after that, or after a few days, and only through the grapevine did either raha or aymeric find out that she’d then jumped over to gangos to help the bozjan resistance. aymeric actually took a trip to the rising stones in secret, where he was found by raha, and that was the first time they met each other...aymeric wasn’t sure what to think (i wouldn’t say he felt threatened but he was definitely uncomfortable) and raha was extremely embarrassed but secretly very enchanted by aymeric (catboy got MAD flustered over him he could 100% see why hallura would choose aymeric)

aymeric learned a long time ago from thancred who g’raha was, though i don’t think he realized how deeply hallura loved raha still, and when aymeric would pay visits to the scions post-5.3, alphinaud and alisaie filled him in on what happened on the first since hallura could never bring herself to, and piece by piece aymeric started to understand just how much hallura was probably breaking over her feelings

and meanwhile raha was dealing with his own internal struggle upon returning to his new body, wherein his more temperate crystal exarch persona was failing to overcome the more hot-blooded g’raha tia’s still-fresh feelings for hallura and in typical g’raha tia fashion he decided to do something extremely stupid and punish/restrain himself by ensuring he saw aymeric as much as possible to remind himself how he didn’t fit into the picture anymore...

it’s during this time (a few months i’d say) that they kind of just get to know each other...and i think honestly aymeric falls first? i talk a lil bit about it here; raha is super hopeful and positive and just everything that brings out the best in aymeric, and aymeric quickly understands just why hallura loved g’raha so much. he drinks big Respect Hallura juice, and even though it’s hard for him to admit, he agrees with her taste - raha is a wonderful person who has a lot of love to give, and pretty soon aymeric is like oh god. oh fuck. well. i guess we’re going in! (definitely inspired to be a little chaotic romantically because of hallura, but the chaotic bi energy was there to begin with) 

raha’s a lot slower on the uptake re: self-penance, but once aymeric sets his sights on wooing raha it’s over for the catboy...raha is too much of a romantic and too SWEET to not just freakin swoon over a tall elegant dark-haired man actively attempting to Get Him. like aymeric he is also very much approving of hallura’s taste, but unlike aymeric he also denies himself hope - so basically we just have aymeric courting (discreetly) raha; the other scions are kind of surprised to see hallura’s paramours getting along so well in her absence but hey man if it works it works and better that then to have them fight yo

but all this time hallura is GONE like she just....she’s gone lol

she only chooses to return to eorzea (a HOT minute later) to break off her engagement with aymeric because she was so so guilty about loving raha still - but she didn’t break it off to leave for raha. she’s determined to give up on relationships altogether and just be single for the rest of her life because she’s certain she’ll never get over either of them, but neither of them deserve to live in what SHE thinks is limbo while she fights her own feelings.

so surprise surprise when she returns and finds both aymeric and g’raha absolutely chilling with each other in ishgard at the borel manor and they’re both reading by the fireplace and she comes in and sees them and they’re both so so happy to see her, and her perfectly rehearsed rejection just evaporates from her mind and she tries to run away again because this has to be some kind of sick joke - 

in this ot3 i attribue most of the communication to aymeric, and he, while thrilled to see her again, straight up is like “no you sit down we’re having a talk right now” and she confesses on the spot she has to leave him and can’t be engaged to him because it’s not fair to him that she’ll never get over raha - which is ALSO a confession to raha that she still loves him (and let’s be real it was clear that she did but g’raha is a river in egypt called de nile and never let himself believe it)

there’s a lot of crying involved; aymeric is obviously upset because he doesn’t want to not be engaged to hallura, and he tells her on the spot that she can’t do that because that’s not fair, and all he wants is for them to talk to each other, and they’re both kneeling on the floor and he’s clutching her shoulders and that’s when raha just gently touches both of them and says he’ll just leave...it’s his fault they’re falling apart like this

and both hallura and aymeric both ADAMANTLY say “NO!” and latch onto him, and then all three of them are crying on the floor and there’s lots of apologies and none of them really know how much time has passed, but eventually they cry themselves out and it ends with hallura’s head in aymeric’s lap and she’s holding raha’s hand and aymeric and raha are sitting beside each other...raha is so exhausted he’s leaning against aymeric’s shoulder

and hallura breaks the silence after a while and says “so where do we go now?” because it’s very obvious that there is no going back to the way things were, and that’s when aymeric clears his throat and admits (with embarrassment) that he’d be open to trying something with all three of them

raha is like Excuse me? and hallura sits up bc what the heck has she missed, and aymeric then admits further that he’s caught feelings for raha and has even slightly been trying to court raha...much to raha’s embarrassment he’s like “you were WHAT? so i wasn’t just imagining it?”

and hallura is like...she can’t even be mad because a) that’s exactly her own dilemma and b) that’s also really hot,,, but while she would be happy to do it everything hinges on g’raha’s consent; and it takes raha a moment to process but honestly when presented with two open hands waiting for him (him, not just any third party) he cannot help but take them with a smile. and i think this is really important for g’raha because hallura and aymeric BOTH actively express interest in HIM, for who he is, there is room in the relationship that can only be filled by raha, and raha is someone who wants so very desperately to belong.

so of course he says yes, and that’s how the ot3 is really born. there’s some more talking about things - living arrangements, scolding hallura for ghosting them for like 3 months, what the heck are they gonna tell the scions - but eventually they settle on a three-way engagement of sorts, and they’re all going to have matching rings and other cute bs

they are very much founded on feelings first!!!!!!! hallura might be the biggest thot in the world who actively makes aymeric into a thot as well but to me there is no way they could have survived as a functioning ot3 if it was not based in emotion. raha is too in his head and aymeric is too much of a thinker for something purely physical to last, imo.

...that is not to say, however, that they aren’t physically compatible - they are most definitely physically compatible. (for content sake i shall keep this post sfw but if you were to send an nsfw ask...i’m just saying i will definitely answer 👀)

dynamic wise (and this is where i get meta, the characters fall into these roles without necessarily realizing it themselves LOL i love being the writer) the ot3 can be summed up like this:

aymeric: the thinker (left brain LOL)

raha: the dreamer (right brain LDKJGLSKJD)

hallura: the heart

raha & aymeric represent the rationality of the relationship and do a lot of talking, a lot of planning, and a lot of smiling together. they’re the leaders, so it’s in their nature to have a game-plan for things. raha inspires the best in aymeric: his enthusiasm is infectious and really stokes aymeric’s determination, and aymeric draws a lot of strength and inspiration from raha’s own knowledge as a leader that coexists with his belief that mankind is worth saving. there is an EXTREMELY healthy amount of mutual respect here, and these two are absolutely the “romantic looks over papers that they could honestly care less about” plus aymeric finds raha’s allagan nerding ADORABLE; raha is just absolutely smitten with how charming aymeric is and very much admires his determination to overcome the obstacles set against him, and how aymeric loves his people despite ishgard’s very prominent flaws.

hallura & raha represent the spontaneity of the relationship - they don’t let their feelings control them per se, but they’re the ones who really say “screw restraint” and push the relationship into the unknown - exploring new parts of the relationship, experiencing the world together, excitement for growth and change. these two are allergic to stagnation and are constantly striving to be dynamic (in my piece “fade” i touch on how i think raha’s controlled crystal exarch persona gives way to his younger, more carefree self, in a good way) and they serve very much as the relationship’s “light”, which is not to say that aymeric is not bright for them, but hallura and raha are more like the sun as aymeric is like the moon. these two are the “batteries” of the relationship and keep things exciting and fresh.

hallura & aymeric represent the confidence and assuredness of the relationship - they have spent a LOT of time together already and have a very good grasp on what they like, what they want, etc. they are both quite confident in themselves and they uplift raha from his insecurities to show him just how much he’s worth. when confronted with outside criticism or scorn these two are the ones who stand their ground; they have the experience to show for their commitment and they’re very much teachers in the way that raha is still a learner. they are also the comforters - aymeric is very good at soothing, and hallura is very good at talking someone’s ear off to help them feel better LOL these two are the romantically matured ones and they set the example for give and take of the relationship.

it’s not always perfect, there are definitely spats and each has their notable quirks. hallura is the fighter, and if she doesn’t understand something she’ll call it out or say something, and that can be a little abrasive; raha has a lot of self-confidence issues and has trouble vocalizing his needs, which leads to some miscommunications at the start; and aymeric has a tendency to ice people out when he’s upset and while he’s the logical one he is also the one who remembers stuff - THIS is the grudge holder LMAOSDKJFLLGLHSLDKFGLJ 

but all in all i think they balance each other out relatively well! i will admit that i worked really hard to find a dynamic that worked realistically for them - i was terrified of just slamming them together because it was “easier”. i told myself if i was going to write an ot3 i was going to do it justice, and besides the relationship dynamics are just that much more fun to write especially for someone like me who delights in exploring the details of every interaction LOL

i hope you enjoyed!!!! this got REALLY LONG god i am so sorry sdfklgljsldkfglj please always feel free to send me ot3 asks i will COMBUST and then write a dissertation in reply LMAO

[ferrocyan]

ill admit i prefer alisaie back in stormblood being the pragmatic coolheaded one in contrast w lyse. it was probably different than what she was like in coils, where she was the emotional one compared to alphinaud. and now since shes paired w alphi again alisaie has to be the one who feels things. which is ok i guess it works and everyone loves her. i like alisaie too tbh i find it rly compelling that her emotionality comes from having lost ppl close to her like her grandpa and tesleen. that adds depth to a character yknow, real nice. i just wish the writers showed this change not by making her completely irrationally blow up at the wol like HOW COULD YOU GET DROWNED IN A LAKE in a way that was totally not our fault and also girl we have the breathe in water blessing what the fuck are you panicking about. you know we cant drown bc you also cannot drown. like at least make alphinaud be the one who panics instead bc he also worried abt the wol in hvw and probably doesnt know we (alisaie included) can breathe underwater bc he wasnt with us getting the blessing. unlike alisaie. god i fucking hate dohn mheg. anyway hope this doesnt end up in search results ✌️

i feel like i see alisaie rly differently from other ppl and that makes me sad. i want tart to like her as much as everyone does but like her abrasive turn in early shb and the. raw gutting emotions around mt gulg just the sheer trauma this teenage girl is experiencing. are such turnoffs for tart as a character and me as a writer that im just like yeppp not touching the red twin w a 10 meter pole

[faelune-home]

Shall We Dance?

(A/N: I told myself I wouldn’t join ffxivwrite cos i don’t write that often, plus being able to do something in one day would be difficult for me...and yet I wrote this just today :’D idk now if i will try any ffxivwrite prompts, and im not submitting this for today cos it doesn’t fit the prompt and wasn’t written for it in the first place, but i’m considering it a bit more

Personal rambling aside; while I as a player stuck with Bard all the way through my msq playthrough until i finished shadowbringers, and didn’t switch to maining dancer till about 5.2, i figured for character timeline’s sake, I wanted to look at when miqo!Fufu might’ve first found the dancer troupe. It feels fitting that they’re based in Limsa at the level to start Stormblood, so this little story shot is set just before the trip to Kugane

No direct story spoilers brought up here, not even for the dancer questline

@ffxiv-writers)

“I’m still not happy about this. They can dress themselves up as ‘privateers’ all they like for whatever loophole, it doesn’t suddenly change the fact that they’re pirates.”

Alphinaud sighed, “As you have said so many times now, sister. And I shall remind you again that they were the only crew available on such short notice, and it affords us a chance to travel under Garlean radar.”

“And yet we still have to wait for them to prepare the vessel. If we weren’t so pressed for time I almost wish we could’ve asked the Admiral to remove her colours from one of her own ships for this-”

“With what hands? Most of her men are now in Gyr Abania aiding the Revolution, and what few remain here would be beholden to the citizenry. I know you’re frustrated with the current terms but at least be reasonable. With any luck we can secure a different ship for coming home at least.” Alisaie shot him a look, eyes narrowed and lips pressed thin, however she didn’t comment further.

The bustle of the market crowds passed them by, paying the siblings no mind as they waited. A flash of red broke through the crowd, and a little pink blur behind as Lyse and Tataru joined the two, boxes in hand.

“We’re all stocked up on supplies for the trip. No word from Carvallain yet?” Lyse asked, placing her own crate stuffed with foods on the ground. Heads shook, and the woman shrugged nonchalantly, saying, “Well, a little while longer to wait isn’t going to hurt. We’re getting a ship either way, and for now, we have good weather at least, and I heard there’s a show going on today.”

“What kind of show?” Alphinaud asked.

“Clearly the kind that can empty a market,” Alisaie observed, and indeed when the group looked around, the formerly swamped stalls were barren, leaving vendors to restock after the rush, the thundering of cobbles having faded further into the city.

“Well, Fufu isn’t back yet, so maybe it’s her little show?” Tataru chuckled, knowing of the Bard’s tendency for sudden musical moments. “You three can go and find her and enjoy the fun. I can take our supplies to the ship and fetch you once we’re ready to set off.”

The group split, with the Lalafellen woman heading for the docks, while the trio went back through the market, keeping an ear out for any activity or music. The closer they got to Bulwark Hall, the buzz grew louder, many a person chattering excitedly. A faint tune drifted over the sound of the crowd from the southern docks.

“It doesn’t quite sound like her kind of music,” Lyse mumbled, cupping her ear to strain over the din.

“We won’t know till we actually check,” Alisaie stated, already beginning to push past a pair of Roegadyn toward the music. The crowd only grew thicker as the music got louder. True to Lyse’s observation, the vibrant guitar and violin was unlike their miqo’te friend’s usual style of lively harp music. A swift schwing of metal against metal cut through the music, bringing out a cheer in the people. With a final push, the Scions broke through the final row to view the spectacle, ignoring the annoyed mutterings from behind them.

A miqo’te dancer spun in steady steps with the music in the centre of the plaza. It wasn’t their own miqo’te friend, yet the fire in her movements caught their attention all the same. The grace in her steps, the power in her swinging arms, chakrams in hand, one could understand the crowd’s zeal at the mesmerising movement.

Yet all too soon after the Scions’ arrival, the music came to a bombastic close and the woman struck her finishing pose, another schwing ringing in the air from her chakrams brushing against one another. The roar of the crowd was deafening, forcing an applauding Lyse to lean closer to her friends and yell, “She was quite good, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, though she isn’t who we were looking for,” Alisaie shouted back. The throng of people had already parted, the excited buzz fading with the people, and with the freed space at the plaza, one other figure stood other than the Scions, her face the picture of awe even with the broad smile she wore.

Alphinaud noticed her first. “There you are.” Fufu’s ears flicked, suddenly looking sheepish.

“Oh, I didn’t even realise the time,” she chuckled nervously, “Sorry, I only meant to check in on some spots here in case people needed my help while we were waiting, but I got a little distracted.”

“I can see why, it was very impressive,” Lyse smiled, patting the miqo’te on the shoulder. Fufu nodded, almost bouncing on the spot as she exclaimed, “She was! I haven’t seen that dance since before coming to Eorzea, but it was still as magical as I remember!”

“Hold on, you’ve seen it before?” Alisaie asked, to which the woman nodded again, her eyes glittering. Alphinaud spoke before her, having spied the baggage the troupe used, “It appears they’re from Thavnair. You’ve said you’re from there yourself, or at least raised there.”

“Yup! They’re Troupe Falsiam, and they generally only perform in Radz-at-Han. At least I haven’t heard of them doing many tours in my lifetime. My tribe lives pretty far from the city and most trade is done with travellers, but sometimes they’d plan special trips for certain goods or just to treat the younger kids, and I always loved watching the Troupe when I went.” Fufu let out a happy sigh, caught up in memories. The group jumped however when another voice chimed in.

“You seem very familiar with our troupe, my dear.” They turned to see a woman walking over to them. If the metal rings hanging at her own hips didn’t betray her as a dancer, the way she moved with elegant poise and grace would have instead. She gave the Scions a polite bow in greeting.

“Forgive the interruption. I’m merely surprised that we already had a familiar fan on these shores. Troupe Falsiam hasn’t visited Aldenard in a long time, as you so rightly said. Ah, but I forget myself; I am Nashmeira, leader and teacher of the troupe. The young dancer here with me is Ranaa, one of my brightest stars currently.” Ear flicking from having heard her name said, Ranaa turned away from the boxes she was helping to pack, still dressed in her dancing outfit, and gave the group a wave.

“She’s very good,” Fufu quickly complimented, eyes wide with glee at the turn of events. Ranaa smiled back, then wandered off down the path, taking a bundle of clothes with her.

“Hmm, good, but ever still learning,” Nashmeira nodded. Alphinaud stepped forward and gave a polite bow of his own, prompting an eye roll from his sister behind him. “Tis a pleasure to meet you. We are the Scions of the Seventh Dawn.” 

The woman tilted her head, recognition flashing in her eyes as she responded, “Aye, I’ve heard of your organisation. Though if you don’t mind my saying so, a job such as yours wouldn’t leave much free time. I’m curious then that our show caught your attention.”

“You’d be right. We’re unfortunately caught waiting for our vessel to be ready before we depart for the Far East,” Alisaie answered, then motioned to Fufu with a small smile, “Well, that and we were looking for this one here. She was taken in by your performance before the rest of us.” Nashmeira herself looked closer at the miqo’te, as though appraising her.

“Hmm,” she hummed, “Actually, you have quite the presence…” Then she nodded.

“Might I request a dance of you?” she asked. Surprise crossed all of the Scions, even more so the one addressed. “I’m well aware that you’ve clearly pledged yourself to another organisation, so despite any reverence you would have for our Troupe, your priorities lie elsewhere and I wouldn’t wish to ask you to join us and leave them behind. But I see in you the grace of a dancer and I would call myself a fool if I let you leave here without even trying to unlock that potential.” Nashmeira unhooked her chakrams from her hips and held them out to the miqo’te.

Fufu hesitated at first, a blush spreading across her cheeks, however Lyse spoke up, laughing, “Don’t go pretending you’re shy now, you’ve never let a chance to perform slip past before.” The twins seemed to show their approval as well, with Alisaie watching with an expectant smile and Alphinaud saying, “Tataru hasn’t come to tell us the ship is boarding yet. A quick presentation should be fine.”

Finally bolstered by her eagerly waiting companions, Fufu took the chakrams, testing the weight of them in her hands. They swung gently on her fingers, yet the rhythm made her arms bounce as well. Nashmeira motioned to her musicians, who scrambled to take their instruments out of the bags, and said, “Do not feel as though you have to copy Ranaa’s dance. It would take a lot more training and skill to be able to perform that to its full potential. For now, improvise as you see fit. I wish only to see how you move.”

The first strums of the guitar were matched with hesitant footsteps and stiff arms kept close. The joining of the drums saw her test a swing of the arm, though the weight of the chakram almost threw her halfway across the plaza, only righting herself with a clumsy shuffle. Yet as the music built up, the keeper found her rhythm, getting bolder with her kicks and jumps, and freely waving her arms around her, and where she had started with a mask of nervous concentration, she now laughed with joy. 

Joy that was mirrored in the cheers of her friends to the side, the encouragement from a returned and newly dressed Ranaa, and the curious mumblings of a returning crowd, albeit smaller than the one the original performance had garnered. Unaccustomed to dancing to music not of her own playing, Fufu was still in the middle of a spin when the final drum beats landed, ending the song.

“Whoops,” she giggled, stumbling over her own feet when she finally stopped. The gathered crowd clapped politely, evidently pleased at the amount of entertainment on show that day. They dispersed quicker than before, though that afforded the troupe teacher a chance to step forward with her observations.

“As I expected, on many fronts. You do have a dancer’s grace to you, though as evident by one that hasn’t been trained, there’s a heaviness to it all. Some clumsiness as well, though whether that was nerves or again, lack of training... But your energy was spectacular as well, even through the rough of it all. Not just anyone can draw in a crowd the way you did, even with an unrefined style like that. With some work you could be a fantastic performer.”

“I’d like to think you already had a headstart on performing,” Lyse added, the Scions rejoining the centre plaza as well, “all that work you’ve done with the old Bard in the Shroud, I’d say you already had plenty of stage presence without having ever stepped on a stage.”

“That was incredible!” Everyone turned, seeing Tataru at the entrance to the plaza.

“How long have you been there?” Alisaie asked as the smaller woman walked up to them.

“Since I think halfway through all of that. You were amazing!” she praised, making Fufu smile. Alphinaud however looked serious, asking, “I take it the ship is ready then?”

Tataru jumped. “Oh right! Yes that’s why I came here. We have to go now.” A solemn look came across the Scions as they nodded. Fufu herself pouted, ears flat against her head.

“Definitely now?”

“Unfortunately. As nice as this little detour has been, we are still on an important mission. My apologies, friend,” the boy said, placing a reassuring hand on her arm. Yet as she smiled back, albeit still looking crestfallen, Nashmeira spoke up herself.

“Actually, if you were so taken with dancing that you would wish to continue it all the same, I do believe I have a solution that could benefit us all here. Your companions included.” Curious looks were shared among all while one of the musicians, at Nashmeira’s whispered request, went searching in one of the bags.

“You see, the dance of Troupe Falsiam is not like most others in the world. It is suited not just for the stage, but also for the field of combat.” The woman’s smile grew as she saw the mixture of impressed yet curious looks on the younger folks’ faces. “Although I would prefer to teach you myself, in lieu of that, I would offer you this instead as a substitute.” At this, the returned musician held out his hand, a glittering pink stone laying in his palm and a spare pair of chakrams hanging from his fingers.

“A soul stone,” Lyse gasped.

“Aye, one with many past dancers’ experiences etched into it, going back generations. I would like for you to practise without it, but should you have need of the skills in a pinch, or even a desire to dance freely without inhibition, you will have it with you.” Fufu had already grabbed the crystal and the metal rings, smiling widely as she admired it.

“Thank you so much! I’ll practise as much as I can, with and without it!” she gushed, bowing deeply. For that, the woman smiled back warmly.

“I shan’t keep you any longer, since your business is clearly important. You make for the Far East you said?” They nod. “Then I wish you luck in whatever it is you are off to do. And to my new pupil I say that whenever you return, if we yet remain here in Eorzea, I would very much like to see how much you’ve grown while you were away.” Fufu nodded feverishly, mumbling more thanks as she bowed again.

Even as both groups finally went their separate ways and the Scions followed after a now hurried Tataru, the Bard and newly christened Dancer didn’t take her eyes off her new Soul Stone, not until they had boarded the ship and sailed far into the waters, where she had plenty of time to practise with her new skills.

[elfyourmother]

32. What story do you think showcases your signature style the most? and 38. What story of yours are you surprised that people liked as much as they did? From the writer ask please :D

32) Probably A Warmer Hearth, at this point because I mean it’s got all my trademarks. There’s food porn, there’s tearful confessions, there’s scorchingly hot smut, there’s emotional hurt/comfort, there’s a lot of processing, a little bit of worldbuilding (vis a vis Gisele’s culture shock when reading up on Ishgardian history), and a bit of tooth rotting domestic fluff. I was going to say it was only missing an overt reference to polyamory, but Gisele was angsting pretty badly in the first chapter about Thancred and Minfilia, so.

38) The Crux prompt I wrote for this year’s ffxivwrite. I was honestly shocked by how many notes that got, and still am tbh. Everybody Lives scenarios are inherently polarizing, and I’m used to being condescended to a lot about them. Even setting aside the usual phantom DA brainworms, I’ve seen the argument used to bash Stormblood sometimes, that it wasn’t emotionally gripping because nobody actually stayed dead, unlike HW.

And Ysayle kinda suffers from the same thing as Haurche does imo, where people seem really hung up on her as this tragic figure, but probably because she’s not a love martyr like Haurche, she doesn’t get the same kind of attention, even the kind of attention that grates on me (even in the game--and here I’ll refrain from screaming bloody murder about the travesty of E8 for the 5000th time).

So it was nice to see people respond positively to a thing where it didn’t go down like that.

[aethernoise]

Wol x Aymeric and WoL x Haurchefant are both extremly famous wol ships, but what about our third angsty elf boyfriend Estinien? I read your posts on wol/hien and I think you're great at analysing characters/relationships or what could be, I'd love to hear your opinion on wol/estinien!

“Ah, but of course…it is only fitting that fate should draw the two of us together.”

Thank you for asking, I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my ramblings so far. WoL/Estinien is both a blessing and a curse, mainly because unlike the other aforementioned pairs, there is just significantly less Estinien content in the actual game… even for a DRG WoL! I mean, his extremely brief off-screen (save for the darkened flashback shot of the back of his head) involvement in 4.56 was like mana from heaven for some, understandably. 

The downsides of this are obvious… I mean he’s basically AWOL post-Dragonsong War. His cryptid status in Stormblood is a constant tease. However, this also means you can do a LOT with him in terms of plot without “breaking canon”–there is a lot of room for interpretation when crafting or uncovering the individual stories of the relationship, which is one of the reasons I wish there was more WoL/Esti out there in general. I’m curious about how people have worked with it.

Overall, I think that it has so much potential to be a great ship, even if–perhaps especially because–he is a more difficult man than the other elf boyfriends. He requires some work on the part of the writer as well as the potential partner. He’s harsh and stoic and it’s tricky to get the helmet off and see his face, so to speak! That said, the WoL/Estinien ship is perfect for some of my favorite tropes: battle couples, flirting-through-bickering, sexually charged sparring/competition, emotionally constipated ‘this is just physical, I don’t actually have Feelings’ that turns into ‘oh no Feelings’… but also a softening of edges through tenderness, encouragement of vulnerability, learning to love….good shit. A most excellent rivalmance. No matter what, there’s a lot of tasty angst potential as well. The emotional impact of what happens to him re: Nidhogg gets to crazy painful levels the more attachment there is between him and the WoL.

It’s a good and very interesting ship I wish there was more content for. I definitely think my favorite thing about it is the concept of the pair of Azure Dragoons, too… There’s something incredibly romantic about that. The bond, the understanding they share is truly unlike any other–they’re alone in the world together and I think that’s amazing, even if it is platonic. 

“If ever I was without equal, I am no longer” :’)

[druidquest]

i did enjoy dawntrail a lot, i agree that it works great as a standalone and i also really liked what they did with living memory as a set piece and concept, but i honestly thought the writers had a bad habit of playing things too safe, and their handling of some of the characters was pretty clumsy. bakool ja ja and zoraal ja got it the worst, but i also think they introduced sphene a bit too late for the way they were trying to tell her story.

honestly i think bakool ja ja's arc and the cooking competition in yak tel is a good example of the issues with dt's writing. if they knew they were planning to give him a heel-face turn in the section immediately following this and had only presented him as an unlikeable jackass until then, why wouldn't they use the cooking competition as a way to set that up? pairing wuk lamat with koana was certainly the easy route but it felt like such a wasted opportunity. we already know koana, we've already seen him in a positive light. this shouldve been the point where we learn more about bakool ja ja, see how wuk lamat handles working with people she can't get a long with, and give some depth to what has thus far been a pretty one-note antagonist. koana doesn't even do anything in this arc!! he gets paired with wuk lamat and then immediately gets shuffled off screen. it was such a waste. they pretty much just tell us to hate bakool ja ja up until the exact moment they want us to feel bad for him, which made the whole arc kind of a flop for me.

zoraal ja also desperately needed to get more attention. like any attention at all. hes pretty much nonexistent until the midpoint of the story, and even then you don't really see him until youre getting ready to kill him. i really felt like he needed more room to breathe. krile also felt like an afterthought pretty much every time she came up, and i personally did not really like the payoff for what i will skeptically refer to as her arc. but its krile, not getting enough screentime is just her way.

the solution nine arc was also just kind of awkward to me. i honestly feel dawntrail's back half is made worse by knowing what theyre referencing, because if youve already played 9 you just spend that whole arc watching dawntrail fumble the game's same themes while throwing in whole sequences and set pieces for nostalgia. and while i do like sphene, i found it grating how long they keep making you be nice to her after the first reveal and thought she felt like kind of a tired retread of the same ideas they presented with hades and meteion (and golbez i guess).

i do like dawntrail, i agree that its probably one of the better expansions even if it never quite reaches the same highs as some of the other stories. it just couldve been a lot better than it was. its very well presented, just not as well constructed. it has a lot of fun moments, great visual design, some nice ideas. it was a little sloppy in places, i can definitely see why some people might have felt the first half dragged even if i personally didnt mind it. i wouldnt put it on the same level as shadowbringers, i dont think its quite as consistent, but i would put it in the endwalker-stormblood range. ragtime mouse isnt in it though, so 0/10

@druidquest see it was very obvious to me throughout dawntrail that a lot of this was an epic previous final fantasy reference (i haven't meaningfully played any final fantasies besides fourteen) but unlike endwalker postgame being a bunch of ff4 nostalgia bait that falls flat if you haven't played that game (with a "hey you guys loved shadowbringers right, remember shadowbringers?" bonus round) dawntrail works perfectly well without ever having played final fantasy nine. it pays homage and references and builds upon both earlier expansions and earlier games but it's not trying to ride the coattails of a better story in order to have any meaningful emotional payoff it's just good on its own and probably enhanced by knowing the original context of the things it references.

i don't think it was clumsy at all, dawntrail has a laser focus on its themes and message from start to finish in a way that makes the digressions and silly little errands you inevitably get sent on to pad the space between major plot beats feel much less excessive and annoying than they did in every expansion before. and it's funny that you call it an amusement park ride because the final area being exactly that is extremely intentional, living memory is an artificial experience meant to bring joy and relief from everyday sadness and sphene is dressed in a tacky plastic looking dress because she's the theme park mascot princess that serves as the face of that artificial experience. saying it's just clumsy but heartfelt references and cool shit rather than an emotionally impactful and well written epic is massively underselling how well put together dawntrail is. it's at least as good as shadowbringers and endwalker and which one you think is better will come down purely to personal preference.

[stcllify]

Looking for RP Contacts:

basics ––––

NAME: C’etih Tehre Etoile Delarmes AGE: Late teens - early twenties RACE: Moonkeeper Miqo’te GENDER: Female SEXUALITY: Demisexual; panromanitic, male preference MARITAL STATUS: Single SERVER: Balmung! But I am more than happy and willing to hop to other servers for a visit~

physical appearance ––––

HAIR: Short. At the length it currently is, it looks a bit straight, but her hair actually curls gently at the tips. If grown out, or if it dries without her brushing through it properly, her hair has natural waves to it. As for the colour, there’s debate on whether it looks more brown or blond... it’s a bit of a mix between the two and sits at a very creamy, sepia sort of shade. She’s had her hair cut since Heavensward, though as of Stormblood, she may be debating on growing it again.  EYES: Heterochromatic, one blue (her right), one topaz (her left). HEIGHT: 4’10′’ or so? BUILD: She has a rather petite frame, thin and lean, but not scrawny. She has lightly toned muscles, and a figure that is somewhere between pear and hourglass. She has a thin waist and wider set of hips... but her chest is a little on the flatter side. Don’t point it out unless you want her to possibly hurl a lemon at you. She has a little bit of a complex about it... DISTINGUISHING MARKS: Heterochromia, very faint facial tattoo markings on her cheeks and forehead.  COMMON ACCESSORIES: Earrings- she changes them up a good lot. She’s fond of hats and flowers in her hair, as well as a necklace fashioned out of some sort of scrap metal. It looks to be of Ishgardian steel, and seems to be crafted into the shape of what may be a shield. There’s a horned beast’s motif painted onto it in red...

personal –––-

PROFESSION: Warrior of Light / Darkness, Astrologian Adventurer  HOBBIES: She’s incredibly fond of stargazing and reading, though you may also find her exploring heavily forested areas. She enjoys spending time with friends and animals. Raises a bunch of small creatures (some of which will grow into not-so-small creatures). LANGUAGES: Common, some Ishgardian, Thravnairan.  RESIDENCE: A small apartment in the Lavender Beds, Fortemps Manor (WOL verse) FEARS: Her loved ones dying, abandonment, being unwanted, being rejected, falling in love. 

relationships –––-

SPOUSE: None. CHILDREN: None. PARENTS: C’aena Khaer (Mother, disowned), Tehre’to Mhanalie (Never met, whereabouts and status unknown). SIBLINGS: C’aedryn Tia (Half-brother) OTHER RELATIVES: ??? Has multiple half-siblings on father’s side that she’s not met. Father is a Moonkeeper.

traits –––-

extroverted / introverted / in between (more extroverted)

disorganized / organized / in between

close minded / open-minded / in between

calm / anxious / in between

disagreeable / agreeable / in between

cautious / reckless / in between

patient / impatient / in between

outspoken / reserved / in between

leader / follower / in between (Can be either, depends on what the situation calls for)

empathetic / unemphatic / in between

optimistic / pessimistic / in between (more optimistic towards others, pessimistic towards herself).

traditional / modern / in between

hard-working / lazy / in between

cultured / un-cultured / in between

loyal / disloyal / in between

faithful / unfaithful / in between

additional information –––-

SMOKING HABIT:

never / sometimes / frequently / to excess.

DRUGS:

never /sometimes / frequently / to excess.

ALCOHOL:

never / sometimes / frequently / to excess

possible hooks –––-

Forest Dwellers? Are you a native of Gridania? Then there may have been a chance for Etoile to happen upon you during her forest exploration rounds! She often spends time in heavily forested areas, curious looking around for plants or animals. Perhaps it’s a strange hobby, but she also seems to enjoy climbing trees... Though there has been an instance where she’s gotten stuck before. 

A fellow scion? Then there’s definitely a chance that there’s been a meeting at the Rising Stones, or perhaps they’ve adventured around together. 

Ishgardian? Etoile has been in the care of one very eccentric Cyneric de Dzemael. Do you know of her slightly unhinged “teacher”?

A traveler? Etoile wanders around quite often and it isn’t unlikely for her to initiate conversations with her fellow wanderers. She goes around everywhere she can.

If there’s anything else, we can certainly discuss it! These are just a few that came off the top of my head, but my girl’s rather social and enjoys making friends and talking to others. 

what I’m looking for ––––

PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING, REALLY?? And FRIENDS!!! IC and OOC! I’d love to make more tumblr and in-game connections! Also, I’d love to establish relationships of any kind for Etoile?? Friendly/Platonic/Familial… Or even Enemies/Rivals/Frienemies! I’m up for anything honestly- the sort of relationship where two personalities clash and can’t stand each other, but are inexplicably fond of and concerned for the other’s well-being, a sort of relationship between fellow scions where they're constantly trying to one up and other and improve themselves- anything! Will your muse become concerned about this youthful beam of light who has a tendency to take care of others but neglect herself? Do they need a warm smile and an extended hand? We've got you covered!

I'm always happy to do RP of pretty much any sort! Plotted, spontaneous, things that start from me sending a meme, or you sending a meme; I'm up for whatever! I'll write casual, light, cheerful themes, silly things, cute things, but I'm also willing to engage in darker themes and angst (god I love angst; if you want angst I'm immediately on board)! Send me a message~ I'm happy to write with OCs, other WoLs, and NPCs alike! Doesn't matter to me if you're single muse, dual-muse, multi-muse, whatever- hit me up~!

oocly, I am ––––

A complete dork. LMAO ;; I’m also pretty shy and I kind of suck at initiating a conversation, but I do love talking to people. ; w ;/ I’m more on the introverted side, but come at me screaming about anything you like tbh and I will happily scream with you. I’m 100% interested in making friends.

Slow to respond at times tbh! ;; This goes for messages and RP unfortunately; I have a really hectic schedule because I’m in a full time program at college right now, and I have a part time job on the side (only as a substitute preschool teacher though OTL my income ain’t steady this semester) but this often leaves me incredibly tired and drained... because of this, I don't tend to respond right away even if I want to, or I respond a bit sporadically. ;; But please don't take this as disinterest, or me ignoring you! I promise that isn’t the case. I’m just hella busy, and sometimes my life leaves me overly fatigued, and I often collapse into bed when I get home OTL

A multi-paragraph writer! It's been ingrained in me from the very beginning of my writing days LMAO ;; Please don't feel that you must match me; I’d rather you write at a rate and length that makes you comfortable! Multi-para is just how I’m comfortable with things, and sometimes posts come out longer than I initially planned or expected even if I try to keep it short LMAO.

HAPPY to plot things with you, make AUs with you... Any rp things? Throw them at my face.

On Balmung! BUT I haven't engaged in in-game rp because I get nervous and I’m slow LMAO ;; So please forgive me for that! ;; If you contact me on here asking for in-game rp, please keep this in mind. > <! I will try, but... rip.

you can contact me via ––

Tumblr Messages or Discord~! You can try in-game also, but I have a tendency to multi-task or AFK. Sometimes I log on and leave it there while I work on homework, and occasionally pop back into FFXIV for like 2 seconds to eye the market board or something, so Discord or Tumblr is your best bet. ;; But if I’m doing homework, I might not respond right away, since I tend to hyper-focus on finishing stuff up. > <!

[faelune-home]

FFXIV Write 2020 #11: Ultracrepidarian

(A/N: The idea for this one finally hit me when I looked at what prompts I hadn’t written for on the extra day. Gosetsu was a bit baffled at the Dotharl’s beliefs. :’) I didn’t give this too much of a once over before posting so apologies for any obvious misspellings or poor grammar moments.

Mid-Stormblood, Azim Steppe, before the Naadam and retaking Doma Castle. A look at beliefs in mourning and the gods themselves.

Word count: 888

@ffxiv-writers)

“There, a proper burial,” hummed the great samurai. Fufu turned back from her watch of the horizon, on lookout for any further predators that would look for easy meat. Gosetsu had already sat by the makeshift grave he had dug for the warrior, eyes shut in silent contemplation. She joined him, keeping her bow in hand and an ear prepped for any disturbances.

“Surely this is preferable, yes?” Her ear flicked, Gosetsu’s question recapturing her attention. The elder roegadyn sighed, “Try as I might, their way makes no sense to me. Why would any warrior wish to be left to rot without care? Surely it is better to know you were cherished and missed when you pass? To know you did a great service to your nation or your people?”

“From the way they describe it,” the miqo’te said, eyes trailing toward the Dotharl village, “they love their friends and family dearly, but because they believe the soul comes back, there’s no reason to mourn them. They don’t have to miss them when they know they’ll return.”

Gosetsu scoffed, “And that I will never understand. To think a babe full of new life is just the rebirth of old.” His eyes however betrayed his confusion despite his dismissive tone. The wolves in the distance howled.

“And what of you?” Gosetsu asked, “What do your people think of death and mourning? How do they do it in the West, with your Eorzean kami?” 

Fufu smiled, “Well, I’m not necessarily from Eorzea, but I guess I can answer for them as best I can.” He nodded, awaiting her answer.

“I guess they’re not too different from Doma’s way of doing things. Maybe not to the same extent as you, but they mourn and pay respects,” she explained, “Their souls would pass into the halls of Nald’thal, their bodies unto the earth, and their aether into the lifestream. For the most part that’s pretty consistent across the realm.” With a wry smile she added, “Ishgard was more focused on Halone herself, but then they are a bit single minded, if I can be honest.”

Gosetsu let out a chuckle. “If their Goddess grants them strength then I see nothing wrong there.” He looked to the woman herself, “And what of your own beliefs?”

Her ears flicked. “I...I don’t know sometimes.” 

He frowned. “Don’t know?”

Looking away, Fufu shrugged. “I know people that have passed. And I wish it could’ve went any other way, but they’re gone now. And I miss them and I mourn them, of course I do. But I don’t know what to think when it comes to wondering what happened to them after. With the Scions, I’m surrounded by scholars, so it’s easy to just hear the technical side of death.”

Despite the tilt of his head and the bothered frown on his lips, Gosetsu only answered, “That is a fair thought. In the end so long as you mourn  and remember your loved ones, I would say that you still hold them close. Unlike this idea where you place all your hopes on raising a child to be a facsimile of the past.” Fufu flinched at his still harsh words of the Xaela tribe’s beliefs, but she didn’t question it. Better to finish their vigil and move on back to the Dawn Throne for their friends.

She continued, “All the talk of the Gods...I can’t say I don’t believe but I can’t say I do either. The most I can say is when I feel pretty lost, it’s nice to think there’s someone watching over me, so I’m not alone.” Her first thought was of Oschon, a patron chosen in a moment of curiosity and kinship with the God’s base desires; travel and freedom and carefreeness, ideals she hoped to embody in her early adventurer days.

Her next was of a grand blue crystal, a kindly voice like a loving mother, only for the light to grow dim and the voice to cease. For the smiling figure of a blonde woman to fade along with it.

She shook her head of the thoughts, a chill running down her spine. For his part, Gosetsu didn’t seem to notice her absent minded moment.

“I guess I just put more stock in my friends with me at my side than I do the gods in the heavens. They’re here and they can help, and I can trust them to do something. Not that I’m saying the gods wouldn’t if they could.” 

He nodded. “That’s a valid stance to take. For all we can pray to the kami to watch us and grant us strength, sometimes we have to have more faith in the physical bodies around us.” He got to his feet, sword in hand.

“I am done now. I wish this man peace, and that his beloved’s grief passes soon. Whether through her child or whatever youth comes to resemble him in the future.” Fufu smiled. It wasn’t quite acceptance, but it was close enough from the man.

“Back to the Throne then?” she said. A nod. His brow furrowed, a look of determination in the set of his jaw.

“Aye. I am done with mourning the lost. We shall partake of this Naadam and return to Doma, where she shall hopefully be set free once more.”

[herohikara-wol]

Yoshi P when introducing Zenos: He will be a thoroughly unlikeable character.

Writers for Stormblood in the other room: What if we have every paragraph he says drip with underlying horny energy?