#until the Scions eventually picked him up~

[knnichs]

RISK

He never believed in Christmas miracles. But if at this moment right now was his only chance–then he will desperately cling onto it as if it was the only thing that mattered in his life.

c. kinich x gn!reader

t. childhood friends to lovers, mild violence (abyss attack, but very short,) no use of y/n, cliche tropes YES i know is it really a knnichs work if theres no cliche stuff, wc: 3.4k

merry christmas, @papiliotao !! i was your secret santa 🧑‍🎄 this is a bit lengthy but i do hope you like it 🧡

Kinich certainly isn’t the type to befriend others.

Not unless it was something formed out of a transaction–or a commission. In this case, his friendship with Mualani was only formed because she was looking for a battle advisor to train Kachina against the wilderness, she said. In the end, he had grown rather fond of them, and gained two new acquaintances that day.

Outside of that, Kinich doesn’t exactly recall when he befriended other people. Sometimes a few people would pass by him while he walked around the tribe and greet him, it is quite embarrassing to say that he doesn’t remember half of their names, if they had never become one of his clients.

You, on the other hand, haven't disappeared from his mind a single day ever since middle school.

BEFORE THE NIGHT FALLS

He remembered the exact moment he got to know you. When his parents had left him as a kid, Kinich went to find a place to live and settle down as he did his work. He had just found shelter in the Scions of the Canopy, and under Elder Liek’s guidance, he was to go to school. Even if he hesitated, he was eventually forced to, the Elder wouldn’t let him help out around the tribe without it. There, he learnt about heroes and their morals–I mean, he questioned it: why would they do something when they wouldn’t profit from it?

In those classes, the other kids would make fun of him. Point at his ragged clothing made out of animal-skin, comment on his dirty feet, since he was always barefoot. You, always his knight in shining armor, called out their behavior and told them that they weren’t being nice. 

Truly a reason of all time, he thinks. Those kids would surely quit their teasing simply because they weren’t being nice.

But he appreciated the gesture. You stood in front of him–arms on your hips, you were determined to drive them away so they could stop picking on people smaller than them. He just looked up at you, (with what he hoped it wasn't a blank expression) curious why you decided to defend someone like him. He had nothing to offer you–he had no mora, no luxurious items. So, why? 

He wanted to ask you before the day ended. Following your footsteps until you were in the middle of the bridge. From there, you would learn his name was Kinich, and he would know what yours was (along with the reason why you decided to ‘protect’ him from that group of kids.) From there, you two would grow quite fond of each other over the years.

He knew he had always adored your kindness, even if it was towards people you barely knew–you somehow always managed to bring a smile to their face and a full heart to come home with. Once, he saw you help a crying child find their play sword–you knew nothing of her, aside from her name, of course.  You found that their sword was thrown all the way down to the river below, it was far from saving–the wood was scratched and torn into halves. So, ‘as any normal human being would do’ (in your words,) you spent the next few hours creating a makeshift sword for them, one that had star stickers and a ribbon wrapped around its handle. 

The kid came home happy to their parents, of course. Boasting about how wonderfully made their new wooden sword was and how this was the first step for them to join the pilgrimage. Her parents only shared a look that was saying ‘thank you.’ You simply smiled and waved, leaving them to enter their home as the kid rushed inside. 

That was all you got, simple two words anyone can utter, and you were happy. You didn’t get mora, you didn’t get any sweets, nor did you get any special treatment. Thank you, it was all you’re going to get for something you spent hours on.

It would be a lie not to say Kinich wasn’t puzzled by your behavior. Somehow, even after he had long graduated from Elder Liek’s class he doesn’t understand. Why do you do these things for free? If that were him, he would have charged them an enough amount of mora just because the work took hours already.

Later on, he would realize you did this simply because you think some things in this world are worth doing–no matter how much it would cost you. And a few years after, just before the next pilgrimage, there was an abyss ambush that almost ended with you hurt.

The sky was dark with a purple fog sabotaging your vision. The smell of smoke from a fire slowly starting to grow, its ashes filled your lungs and burned your eyes. You take another shirt and ran—ran from your home, and the tribe. 

Kinich was away at the time, blissfully unaware of the attack until it was already resolved. He doesn’t quite recall what he was doing before it. All he remembers is the feeling of his heart dropping to his stomach as he heard the fellow tribespeople say you were missing. Had a rifthound laid its claws on you? Where were you?

He would grapple across the forest, letting the branches scratch his skin as he travels, his heart rate increasing at the thought of you getting trapped, wounded—or dead, even. He can’t let that happen, not when he hasn’t told you everything.

Thankfully, he found you seeking refuge in a cave nearby. A few saurians found their way in your arms, a baby yumkasaur fast asleep on your lap.

“Are you hurt?” Kinich steps towards you, observing you quite intently for any injuries you may have gotten. You shake your head, petting the yumkasaur on its head. 

He finds a spot beside you, slouching as he can finally relax, at least a little. He still has to help out later with the damages. Fix a few tents that were broken, check up on the other tribespeople—but you were his top priority.

“I’m fine. Are you seeing this little guy? So. Cute.” You say, only sparing him a glance in his direction before focusing on that yumkasaur once again.

“Yeah,” he whispers. “Cute.” 

FEAR

His friend group which consisted of only two people (excluding the dragon he carries around,) were only Mualani and Kachina. Those two were the only ones who truly understood Kinich’s method of maneuvering around the battlefield, pricing commissions, haggling–really, a few tricks in the book he has, they know about it. You’re no fighter, nor are you an errand person, you don’t know how to do any of these, so seeing Kinich do it himself may be surprising enough for you–but it’s really something he does normally.

You do know how Kinich thinks. How the little gears in his brain move, the quick shift in expression before it turns back to his resting face, how he truly feels in each situation–you’ve learnt how to read him. It may just be because you have good observational skills (which he dreads, for multiple reasons) or the two of you have spent enough time with each other to know what the other is feeling with a single glance, either way, Kinich isn’t as comfortable with it.

You can read how he felt, and he’s never felt that vulnerable in his entire life. He felt like no matter how much he tried to run from you, somehow–there's always a somehow with you–he still can’t hide anything from your ‘prying’ gaze. You know what makes him tick, what makes him smile, to the point that he wonders if you know how he truly felt about you. 

If you can read minds (and gods, Kinich hopes you can’t,) he wonders if you’ve already heard of the things he mutters to the moon at night, and the sun at day. Have you heard of the sacred promises he keeps close to his heart? That he would guard you until his dying breath? That under the moonlight, there was nothing he would wish for more than your presence beside him. Grounding the poor boy's heart in the moment only you two share. 

If you somehow have the power to look at someone's past memories, would you see the times he would pick up the guitar collecting dust in the corner of his room, play a cheesy love song from years ago and hum along to the tune thinking of you? There are far too many times he somehow finds a way to make a situation about you. It could be when he’s about to bungee jump, he finds himself tightening the harness a little more because he knows you wouldn’t want to live in a world without him. A few times when he’d go on commissions and look at the flowers, sit on the top of the cliff and watch as the sun set thinking how much more magical the moment would be if you saw this with him. Would you think it was pretty? How would the sun’s rays reflect on your eyes? Will it glow the same bright color that you bring to his monochrome world?

Sa isang munting harana, para sa’yo.

This meager serenade, just for you.

He can’t offer you anything. Nothing but his entire soul—his vow, to protect you, no matter the cost. Even as he bears the name Malipo, just a smile coming from you would already be more than enough for him.

And maybe someday, one day, he would have the courage to tell you the truth he’d been hiding all these years.

‘PRESENT’ TIME

“Kachina, there’s a few stockings on that table over there. Could you get it for me?” Mualani sat atop a chair, trying to hang decorations for your group’s Christmas party. It's not anything big, it wasn't meant to be that extravagant. All of you would just celebrate the holiday as it was, like what you did every year. 

The fireplace burned through the night, its flames becoming the main lighting of the room. It was bright enough for Mualani to see what she was doing exactly, and warm enough that it felt like a normal sunny day in Natlan. It was often cold during the winter, and although it doesn’t snow, the temperature does drop a little colder than usual.

“Here you go!” The girl handed four stockings–all personalized with your names embroidered on them. In green was Kinich’s name, yellow for Kachina, blue for Mualani’s, and yours in purple. With that in mind, you noticed a light green line of thread that resembled half a shape–curved at the top, and straight at the bottom. Kachina had a few sparkles on hers, and Mualani had the shape of a shark. You shake off the detail, deeming it unnecessary anyway.

Mualani gave her thanks and hung up the stockings all in order–her’s, Kachina’s, Kinich’s, and yours.

“This place is definitely starting to look lively. How much time do we have left until midnight?” You asked, sitting down on the world’s comfiest couch. 

“About an hour, we still have time to set up the bonfire outside too.” Kinich looked at the clock–it's frames decorated with reindeer antlers and a small yellow bell. You smiled at him, whispering a small thank you, and looking back at Mualani (who you were quite worried about, since you’re sure she might fall over the chair at any point.) Kachina was also quite occupied, scouring the place to find… something. 

After a bit more adjusting–the stockings were set up, the cookies are almost done, a few dishes have been spread out on the table already, and the marshmallows are just on the table. Perfect, there was just one more thing left.

“Shoot. Hey, uh, can you and Kinich go get the fairy lights? It’s by Altahua’s net.” She climbed down from the chair and faced you, “You know her, right? Yelafath?” 

“Sure do, I’ll just leave my bag here–watch over my stuff!” You say, placing your belongings by the place you sat on the couch. “Kinich, let's go?”

Outside, it was much, much colder than usual. The wind blowing accompanied by the amount of water that was near the tribe was enough to make you shiver. You and the boy made your way to the shop, you’ve only conversed with Yelafath maybe two or three times? But so long as you mention Mualani’s name, you’re sure that it’ll go okay. You rubbed your hands together and brought them to your mouth, huffing it in hopes that it'll magically turn warm. Hearing the sounds of clothes shuffling, you turn to your side and see Kinich already handing his jacket to you. 

“Quick, before Ajaw gets sick of being locked up,” He muttered. 

“Afraid he’ll tease you? Oh, what a softie you’ve become!” 

“Just take it.” He stands behind you, stretching out the fabric to make it easier for you to slip right in. You were getting warm because of the jacket, it definitely wasn’t because of him.

And it all falls back to silence once again. Save for the sounds of waves crashing and the occasional gust of wind. You don’t mind the quiet, actually, and Kinich wasn’t the type to keep on talking all the time either–preferring to be blunt and straightforward. But this is different, it wasn’t because he had ended a conversation too early that you don’t know what to say so it would continue, because you loved hearing his voice, you loved hearing him talk whatever was on his mind. His attitude towards it sometimes made you upset, feeling a little distant with him every time it happened, but you do know it was just the way he does things. The quiet that falls upon the two of you is comfortable.

All of it has to come to an end, eventually finding the shop. You hopped to the counter, calling for the girl who was arranging things in the crates.

“Evening, Yelafath! Mualani mentioned that she had fairy lights with you?” 

“Fairy lights? Oh, I don’t think she gave me any, sorry.” She looks around the shop, looking for something to give you, but shrugs instead. “I wish I could give you something similar, but we have nothing, we’re also closing for the day.”

“Ah, no, that’s okay. Thank you, and merry christmas! I’ll just tell her.” You smiled, giving her a wave. Kinich simply nodded, crossing his arms and following you behind. She greeted you back, and you faced the house once more, the lights of the shop behind you dimming before turning off–leaving you and Kinich in the complete darkness of the night. Some stalls were still open, the only few things really illuminating your way were the lamp posts and lanterns scattered across the platforms. 

“Where will we celebrate the next Christmas?” You shuffle with the jacket again, raising the sleeves upwards to bring your hand out. The stars were so bright with the mix of blue and purple from the galaxies above, 

“It’s our turn next year, we’ll be the ones hosting it. I hope you’re not sick of me yet,” He chuckles–albeit quite softly. It’s rare to hear him laugh let alone smile with or to other people. But with you, oh, everything is just so easy with you. He can always let his guard down without any fear of you trying to make fun of him. Even on days when he comes to you battered and bruised from a particularly rough commission, you take the time out of your day to care for him. To treat his wounds, focusing your attention on him that he shies away from your touch, insisting that you were doing too much and it could heal on its own. 

One step after the other, letting the salt air brush against you. 

And it once again, falls into silence. 

Ajaw does come into the picture once more after his 15 minute jail time was lifted, and thankfully fills the air with random and the most unnecessary comments.

You ring the doorbell to the house, tapping your feet impatiently in a not-so-coordinated rhythm while waiting for anyone to answer the door. 

“Mualani, Kachina–” you shout, “HELLO? The lights are on, I know you guys are in there!”  

“Seems like your so-called friends abandoned you two. How long until something goes wrong? Oh, I can already smell it! I, K’uhul Ajaw, will ensure that this world will know exactly what loneliness feels like, starting with you two!”

Your arms lay slack on your sides, breathing a heavy sigh. You knock again, one more, twice–until you just start slamming your fist on the door calling them repeatedly. You shiver from the cold wind and eventually give up. Backing away to face your friend, who was unusually, still quiet. 

“Kinich?” You say his name, ever so soft. His eyes dared not to look at you, in fear of showing exactly what he shoved deep down in his chest for the past few years you two knew each other.

“Ew, that’s gross! Don’t give him those lovey-dovey eyes! You’ll give him ideas, you hear me?! Quit that, you’re both so annoying!” Ajaw says, all while retching, “You know what? You’re both insufferable. I’m leaving!”

Some part of Kinich does wonder what exactly needed to happen for you to fall with him. He deemed it unlikely for three years now, saying that you couldn’t possibly. Not with someone like him–blood stained on his hands for his entire life, not for someone with rough, calloused hands that can expertly wield a claymore. Kinich has never felt something as delicate and gentle as you. The moment you tried to defend him from those immature kids–he knew. You would never hurt him, not once in a million lifetimes. With your gentle soul? You were filled with nothing but kindness and innocent hope. You were that glimmer of light he needed in his darkest time, the feeling he needed in his chest to keep going forward–to keep fighting, all for your smile.

Your eyes dart to where he was looking at, curious enough to ask yourself what exactly has him so speechless at the moment.

Oh.

Oh.

A cheap wreath with that familiar red bow, and the two of you just happen to be standing just right under it.

He never believed in Christmas miracles. But if at this moment right now was his only chance–then he will take it. He will desperately cling onto it as if it was the only thing that mattered in his life, and hold it tightly, sure not to let it go.

Being in his arms was nothing new, he’s done this several times as a way to comfort you when you were down, or vice versa. This, however, is different. As if an orchestra directed a symphony of a familiar and comforting tune–one that he used to hum you to sleep during those restless nights. As if you were brought back to the times you sat with him under the starry sky, pointing at bright white dots. The universe is vast and magical, and somehow, somehow, it gave him you. The only sun he ever needed in his bleary sky, the only drops of rain he needed on a hot day, the gust of wind during humid afternoons, the flower that bloomed through the cracks of the concrete. 

He pulls away. Gently, he repeats in his mind, this was a high-risk situation. 

But for you, he would gladly take it.

Kinich looks at you, worry filling his heart–is this the right choice? Even with this amount of hesitation, he pushes through. No matter the outcome, he will live knowing he had you at least once in his life. Gods, you looked angelic. The lampost from the porch illuminates you in a warm orange–exactly the color you had filled his monochrome world with. He brings a hand to your chin, tilting it upwards, muttering only two simple words.

“Can I?” 

“I told ya it’d work,” Mualani said, proudly huffing as Kachina hides in the corner of the room in embarrassment. “Now, I’ll be taking my mora from the traveller right after this. Not a word, Kachina, got it?”

She only nods in agreement.

@ knnichs 2023 ﹑ do not repost, republish, translate, feed to ai or modify any of my works. doing so can and will result into me blocking you.

HI REI! merry merry MERRY christmas <3 i had so much fun writing this & i hope that u liked it as much as i did ! :D you’re such a kind n awesome person i hope i managed to incorporate some similarities between u and the “y/n” of the fic cause i wanted to make it as self indulgent for u as possible BWAHDHAJHA IF THAT EVEN MAKES SENSE!! im glad i got to be close w u these past few month(s) & i hope we continue to get closer!!

[hazelkjt]

“The Family She Needs”

Hazel watched the two from afar, sitting off on the side porch of Xbalyav Ty'e. Upon Perseverance's insistence, Zero was teaching her how to read Eorzean. Hazel almost stepped in to teach in the Zero’s stead, as the Voidsent had only recently become proficient in reading the language herself. Zero on the other hand declined the Au Ra's offer, and in the end Hazel understood why. It was a chance for the Voidsent to both prove her mastery of the written language and to bond with Percy without Hazel acting as a mediary.

With her back to a pillar inside the establishment, Hazel could only make out a few words here and there from Zero and Percy as their voices blended into the sea of customers at the restaurant. Nevertheless, those few words Hazel could pick up from the young girl and the light they carried were enough to have a soft warmth bubble up in her chest. She thought nothing could possibly ruin this moment for her. Until he showed up, with a hand on her shoulder.

"First it was Zero, and now Perseverance, you have quite the knack for adopting strays into your family, don't you?" The rhetorical question left Thancred's mouth like an annoying poke at her horn. Hazel closed her eyes and tried to imagine the Scion away, repeating in her mind to not let him get to her.

"Ha ha." She lets out of her gritted teeth, taking note of the coy smirk the Hyur was sporting. Thancred always knew how best to get under her skin, usually leaving it at just light ribbing thankfully.

“So, how has being a mother been treating you?” He asks, leaning against another side of the pillar Hazel was against. The Au Ra turned her head to glare at the man. “Guardian, not mother.” She corrects, giving a flash of her fangs to try and dissuade Thancred from pressing the subject further. Unfortunately for her, the show of intimidation did not land with him the way she hoped. As the glint in his eyes changed to match his mischievous grin, Hazel braced herself for his incoming comment.

“Oh? Does being called a mother make you feel old? I cannot imagine what that would feel like.” His every word was dripping with sarcasm, calling back to Hazel’s teasing of him being a father to Ryne back in the First. He begrudgingly ignored her prodding in the beginning before eventually accepting the title in full. This is different though, she thinks to herself. This is entirely different…isn’t it?

The end of Hazel’s tail flicks in annoyance. “I don’t care about that, it’s just…” her words fall silent for a moment as she glances over at Zero and Perseverance again. The young girl was practically glued to the Voidsent’s arm, eyes wide as she took in all the words on the book’s pages. Hazel couldn’t help but also notice the ever so small curling of Zero’s lips into a smile as she continued to explain the words to Percy.

“It’s just,” the Au Ra continues. “Percy might not remember her mother anymore, but she still holds on to the idea of her. She still has her mother in her heart and loves her.” Pulling her eyes away from the two and toward Thancred, Hazel turns to face him directly. “Do you really expect me to go ‘Hey! I’m your mom now, it’s time to move on?’ Of course not!” She towers over the man, but Thancred doesn’t seem to budge an ilm.

Hazel raising her voice earned a few quizzical glances from the patrons around, but they just as quickly returned to their meals. "You're right, no one expects that of you." His calm yet firm tone snaps the Auri woman out of her slight haze of anger to find quite the serious expression staring her down. She takes a deep breath and lets go of Thancred's shirt...wait, when did she grab him? She clicks her tongue and mentally chastises herself for losing her cool, acting on impulse.

Thancred doesn't seem to let what she did phase him and continues with his point. "What does she want?" The Hyur looks past Hazel and towards the child sitting next to Zero. The Voidsent was helping her sound out a rather large word from the text currently. Hazel couldn't help but glance back and forth from Thancred and Percy, confused as to his point. "What kind of family does Perseverance want? Have you ever asked her that?"

The question sank into Hazel's heart like a dagger. With wistful eyes she looks towards the girl without saying a word. Thancred continues. "She has lost her family, and worse lost the memory of what a family is. But now she has you, but who are you to her? You said yourself before you are not looking to replace her old family but be a new one for her, right?" Hazel's tail droops, the tip grazing the wood floor of the building. She silently nods, not even able to make eye contact with Thancred. Thankfully he gets the message.

"She can still hold on to her love of who came before while embracing the love of those around her. The concepts aren't mutually exclusive you know." The comment hangs in the air for a moment before Hazel lets out a frustrated sigh in response. "I can't believe you of all people are-"

Her train of thought is interrupted by Thancred placing another hand on her shoulder. Unlike last time however, the Auri woman could feel a gentle reassurance come across his firm yet gentle grip. "It is because I am 'me of all people' that I can tell you this." Thancred's eyes darken for just a moment, averting his gaze ever so slightly as well. "Don't make the same mistakes I did. If you truly do love and care for Perseverance then give her the family she needs, whatever form that may take."

She didn't know how to respond, but from the sincere smile on Thancred's face it seemed she didn't have to. Hazel leans back against the pillar facing Zero and Percy as she brings a hand overtop the one on her shoulder. And so in silence Hazel stared out towards Zero, her partner, the love of her life. Slowly but surely her stare makes it's way to the side towards a brightly smiling Percy. Hazel could feel the same warmth building up in her heart when seeing such a sight. She could only hope that Percy felt the same warmth as well.

[nshi-ao3]

I know it's a sentiment I've shared before but I have to reiterate that I love your fic!

It's single-handedly forced me to look into Persona 5's story, heh. At first I figured I'd just pick up on context clues and the spoilery stuff I generally knew about the game from the internet, but that isn't enough. Especially since I have a feeling that the stuff that happened there with the Phantom Thieves and the Metaverse will eventually catch up to Joker's no good, really awful time in Eorzea. Though it's not all horrible, since Ren's got a second family now.

I wonder if Joker will open up Alphinaud or Alisiae to talk more about his past life on Earth. Though he doesn't sound like the type to talk about physics unless Y'shtola presses him on it, I imagine he'd enjoy talking about how the world he's from works. Cid would definitely enjoy talking about the technology, Alisaie the injustice and the attempts to make the world a better place, Alphinaud the politics (maybe more contemporary stuff), and G'raha the history (or really, all of the above). I get that all that slice of life stuff will likely take a back seat until Ren's Heavensward trauma express stops and allows him respite. And his reunion with G'raha's will be a while yet.

Another silly thought just came to mind, btw. Imagine if he comes back to Tokyo with the Scions but with time having accelerated relative to the Source/Etheirys. Left in 2016 or 2017, came back in 2025 (oh no).

"What's a Jonkler?" -- Joker, 2025

In all seriousness, I doubt he'd want to get himself and the Scions entangled in Earth's myriad problems and injustices. He will, though, because that's what the Scions do. A whole hypothetical expansion, also involving Ascians and time travelers (of course). No aetherytes, though, so they'll just have to book flights and fabricate passports lol

Anyway, with my rambling done with I hope your week goes well! :)

Thank you very much!! <3

I imagine the fic's a tougher read without Persona 5 knowledge since it's from the perspective of the MC from that game and set after it + a spin off and all... At least you seem to have caught up alright, given the rest of the ask! :P

Joker has talked a little about home at this point! He went over quite a lot of stuff with G'raha (those boys were yappin'!) and spoke with Cid about the basics of Earth technology. And then went a little mad trying to figure out how Allagan Tomestones work haha! He's... reticent to bring anything up right now given the circumstances, but he'll have more opportunities later. :> In fact, at one point in the future Alphinaud will make a very nice gift for him. But at the moment the HW main story's being a big downer. :< Sorry Joker!

Imagining Joker, in some scenario where he has the tote the Scions around Japan: ...Okay, I think we're going to need a second camper...

Someday I will sit down and write up a bunch of scenarios for the Scions individually reacting to Earth stuff... Estinien would be in hell in Shibuya lol

(Joker missing multiple years of memes on Earth?! How awful!! Say it isn't so!)

[aymerictheblue]

7, 13, and 18 for the ffxiv oc question meme!

FFXIV OC Ask Meme

7) Tell me about their occupation or any side gigs.

Silas’ main occupation before having to full time for the scions was alchemy! (funnily enough alc is my least favorite DOH class tied with cul but i digress) Silas was actually pursuing alchemy in Sharlayan at the studium for a while. he didn’t ever finish his degree there until post SHB when he was convinced by a few members of his party (Cassie and Eyris) and Y’shtola and Urianger to submit a thesis about aetheric poisoning and the treatments he made while he was on the first. this took a metric fuckton of convincing but he eventually caved. I really can’t help but make my ocs academics it’s unfortunately terminal on my part.

but he also more recently (post endwalker) picked up a hobby of botany. when he left for Tural he made another one of his party members house sit for him so his plants don’t die, Solenne has never been more stressed about anything in her life.

13) What did they lose to the Calamity? Or where were they when it hit?

I keep going back and forth on this but in ny gut Silas was in Yanxia with his dad when the calamity happened, and arrived in Eorzea a very short time after. He ended up studying alchemy in Ul’dah for a while before being picked up on the scion’s radar. I like to think he wanted to help people that were impacted heavily by the calamity and that’s why he started adventuring!

18) If they could convince a villain onto their side, who would it be and why?

okay for my serious answer: Silas is not very sociable and most of the villains in 14 either have already been recruited somehow or are dead so it’s hard to really choose one outside of those two criterion. That being said if the fight with Zenos in ultima thule had turned out any differently i know for a fact Silas would have brought him back to the ragnarok and would be like “okay we’re cool now. he no longer wants to kill people. probably.” he just needs some enrichment and i think he could be a lot more interesting if they spent any time at all writing him

for my funny answer: Folques, the antagonist from the lancer questline. he was snubbed.

[y0d00p]

dametameta dynamic in 21 + 3 different aus teeny and I have developed. why?? idk it was just fun. also I'm insane

Pokemon: childhood friends that had a major falling out as teens as a result of an incident that caused the loss of DMK's eye. MK went on to become the Indigo Plateau champion while DMK got wrapped up in Team Rocket grunt work. DMK fell on hard times when his faction of Rocket was dissolved and left him unemployed. in a desperate and poorly thought out attempt at making money from ransom I guess, DMK kidnaps the Indigo champion, not knowing his true identity until he has him tied up in his apartment. This is their reunion after like 15 years apart

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The same except MK is magicked away to PMD world before the kidnapping, with DMK following sometime after. MK keeps his identity hidden from DMK out of desire to "start over" and mend their friendship, but it leads to trouble

SCP: MK is the leader of MTF Iota-8 ("Meta Knights") and DMK is a transdimensional shapeshifter employed by the Foundation as a member of MK's squad. MK is a human with anomalous super healing as a result of a scip incident and DMK "respawns" from his native mirror dimension whenever he suffers mortal harm, making them both prime candidates for dealing with especially dangerous scips. DMK is kind of a flirt but MK is like anomaly-racist and rather cold with him. He gets better though

LISA The Painful: MK is a stealth trans man living in isolation and DMK is a pathetic junkie that broke into his home looking for drugs. They become unlikely friends and eventually set out in search of an antidote after DMK takes Joy on a bad day

The Legend of Zelda: MK is Sheikah and DMK is a member of the Yiga clan. DMK joined the clan out of disillusionment with the Sheikah/humanity as a whole - he gets pushed around and picked on a lot and doesn't really get along with the other Yiga, but is scared to leave because of their reputation with deserters. MK, who DMK formed a friendly rivalry turned unlikely friendship with, aids in his escape from the clan after which they continue to travel together

Final Fantasy 14: MK, tenth son in a family of moon keepers, is a gladitorial champion turned Paladin that joins the Scions and other WoLs in A Realm Reborn. DMK is an ex-Nunh turned ex-criminal turned ex-rogue sun seeker with a comically depressing life that joins the crew in Heavensward after becoming a Dark Knight. They butt heads, a lot, but have an uncanny synergy despite it that makes them the designated party tanks for (almost) the entire story

Splatoon: Both Octolings that once served in the Octarian army, now living in Inkopolis. DMK, already kind of lazy and self serving, adapted to the fun-loving Inkling lifestyle pretty quickly, but MK, an ex-elite, has trouble moving on and adjusting. MK is an inkbrush/splatana wiper main and DMK is an octobrush/splatana stamper main

mostly D&D based with some creative liberties: Both tieflings cursed in different ways by the same god of violence and hedonism. MK, a paladin whose god was usurped by Mr. Murder, now forced to entertain his violent whims else he suffers painful Side Effects. DMK unknowingly picked up a bloodthirsty sword that turns him into a mindless killing machine if he doesn't cut enough people with it. They along with a few others also affected by Mr. Murder's meddling band together to get revenge

demon: MK is a demon hunting battle priest and DMK is a centuries old incubus that seduces him. DMK's demonic influence starts turning MK into one of his kind, but MK can't get rid of DMK because he's clingy due to a "recent" break up with his angel bf. over time MK accepts DMK's presence and they eventually develop a proper healthy relationship

monster: MK is a monster hunter and DMK is the bat-like beast that he's constantly trying to stop from eating everyone's sheep. When MK is mortally wounded in a battle with another monster, DMK reluctantly saves his life by sealing the wound with a sort of... sticky venom, that has the unfortunate side effect of turning MK into a monster himself

different flavour of monster: MK is a vampire hunter recently inflicted with lycanthropy and DMK is a vampire. when DMK is caught in MK's house (looking for a snack) the night of his first transformation, MK uncontrollably attacks him and literally rips him to pieces. out of guilt, MK allows DMK to feed on him the next day, starting off an uneasy but mutually beneficial arrangement

basic ass fantasy: MK is captain of the royal guard and DMK is a changeling fairy that wants his name for nefarious purposes. DMK pesters him constantly but MK is too smart for his fey bullshit, making him more of a minor nuisance than a real threat

dark fantasy soulsborne aesthetic kind of thing?: MK is a demon/monster hunter of sorts, trying to take down a particularly powerful evil priest, and DMK is another wandering hunter with another cursed sword that starts eating him alive if he doesn't give it enough blood. can you tell I like the evil sword thing for DMK? They first meet under... unfortunate circumstances, but despite their adverse relationship, they eventually team up to save someone from the aforementioned priest

cyberpunk: both orphaned as young children from different incidents of faction violence, MK grew up on the streets with a group of friends/found family and now does bounty hunting/mercenary work with them, while DMK was taken in by a faction leader and raised as his own to eventually inherit his underground empire. after a botched assassination attempt on DMK, DMK gets dear old dad to spare MK's life and have him indentured as a bodyguard instead because he thought it was really hot how he tried to kill him

fish: MK is a marine biologist that periodically runs into DMK, a bull shark merman, while doing field work. one day while out at sea, a storm flips his boat leaving him to drown in the rough waters if not for DMK's interference. DMK saves him by turning him into one of his own... oh i guess that's another thing we like huh

space: MK is of an endangered alien species, disguised as a human living on a large space station to observe, study, and live in safety. DMK is his assigned bunk mate and uh... he's just kind of a guy idk it's been a while since we touched this one

sweet home inspired not-zombie monster apocalypse kind of thing: they are apartment neighbours, DMK a single dad and MK often hosting his kid cousin. they don't get along because DMK plays loud music and stomps around in his fuckass boots, but their kids are friends so they put up with each other. they eventually find common ground and become friends themselves, even risking their lives for each other and their kids when the monster shit starts happening

urban fantasy devi magi: in a world with humans, magi (gifted humans with magic abilities), and devi (monstrous invaders that settled into the world long ago), they're on a team of hunters that take care of dangerous devi. DMK is the newest member and sole human on the team and MK is half devi. they had worked together previously, terminating in an incident where MK left DMK behind to pursue a target, resulting in the loss of DMK's eye, so there's a bit of a grudge present

western: MK is sheriff of a small desert town, previously leader of a gang of misguided bandits until changing their priorities to helping others, DMK is a monster hunting cowboy that left his simple farm life in search of thrills. DMK stops in town and embarrasses MK during an attack by a monster of the week, setting off a petty rivalry

evil murder god alien sex club: MK works at the titular club trying to raise money to take care of a deathly ill family member, and DMK is a lonely loser with a lot of inheritance money to blow that spends a lot of time at the bar and paying for MK's attention. after finding out MK's situation, DMK tries to help get him out, but the murder god in the basement running the place isn't interested in letting go any employees

farming sim! yay!: MK is the town blacksmith and DMK owns a ranch. they probably have some weird grudge with each other and sexual tension you know how it is. this au is like a week old gimme a break

isolated dynamics that don't really have a whole au to go with them:

1: DMK is a woodsman living in an isolated cabin off the grid, hiding from conviction for a murder he may or may not be responsible for, MK is grievously injured in the woods and taken in by DMK while he recovers. they develop an intimate relationship, but things start to get weird as MK starts to recover and hears about an escaped convict on the radio

2: MK is a city boy with an upper class family and DMK is a simple farm boy living with his aging mother. MK, bored with his life, would sneak out as a teen and get into tussles with DMK for kicks. after a long absence due to moving away, MK, as an adult, now sneaks out to go hunting. they reunite when DMK discovers him after he is poisoned and paralyzed, taking him home to help him recover

3: sort of kirby canon headcanon backstory swap. DMK is adopted by an upper class family and grows up pampered and educated and scrawny. MK grew up feral, never made any friends, retained his more animalistic traits and now lives in a shack in the woods. MK travels to the mirror world to beat up DMK just for existing and sheltered DMK finds the beatdown so shocking and impressive and weirdly hot that he becomes fixated on besting MK in battle to get his attention/approval

common themes:

some kind of rivalry, grudge, or opposition, turned attraction turned romance (duh) usually with ~History~

working together against a common enemy despite not really getting along

DMK evil sword

MK usually responsible for DMK's eye

MK usually some kind of authority or upper class man with a secret rebellious wild side or past

DMK usually lower class, often a farm boy, sometimes just a fucking loser

DMK being some kind of monster/anomaly and targeting MK

one being injured or down on their luck and being taken care of

MK attacks DMK and DMK thinks it's hot because he's a freak

[azems-familiar]

okay, okay, under the cut: a loose conglomeration of lore about my Warrior of Light. aka my best attempt at summarizing the key emotional beats of five expansions, which is not a summary at all, and also giving a brief overview of my Azem

Warrior of Light

(art by outheros)

(art by mythlorn)

Name: Lelesu Lesu

Age: 27 during Endwalker, 22 at the start of ARR

Pronouns: she/her

Classes: red mage, sage (dabbled in marauder and white mage before drifting away from them for various reasons)

Relationships: Haurchefant (briefly), Aymeric; queerplatonic with Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus

some lore about her:

Lelesu was born in Ul'dah and grew up as part of the wealthy merchant-noble class that makes up its high society. She absolutely despised the neat box of a life her parents tried to keep her in, and ended up sort-of running away from home to join the Adventurers' Guild in Limsa Lominsa, cutting all ties with her blood family and picking up adventuring and an axe to strike out on her own, in search of the freedom to define her own life. She joins up with the Scions willingly, happy to help make a difference, especially when it becomes obvious that she's one of a handful of people capable of facing primals, but it doesn't become really personal until the massacre at the Waking Sands, where she loses most of the first people she genuinely called friends.

She gets pretty close with Haurchefant while they're in Coerthas the first time, and in the aftermath of becoming the Warrior of Light she treasures that connection because it's one of the few places she doesn't feel like she has to be the responsible, duty-bound Hero version of herself the WoL is. Even with, maybe especially with tbh, the other Scions there's that sort of distance between them, because they're her friends and her coworkers but they also expect the same sort of miracles out of her as the rest of Eorzea, through no fault of their own.

She's actually furious with Midgardsormr when he removes the blessing of Light. Has no interest in proving herself to him at first, because she blames him for Nabriales breaching the Rising Stones, which of course led to Moenbryda's death. Eventually the blame shifts to herself instead - she feels like if she'd been stronger, she wouldn't have lost the blessing to begin with. This is a theme that comes back during Heavensward, too - she was a white mage before she picked up red mage, and so when Haurchefant (who she was very much in love with) throws himself in front of that spear for her, she's the one who tries to heal him, and she fails. In some ways, she blames the loss of the blessing of Light and her own weakness for his death. If she'd just been stronger, been a better Warrior of Light, etc, then he wouldn't have died. And he should've known better than to try to protect her, Hydaelyn wouldn't have let her die. Etc.

For a while here she completely stops using white magic entirely, which is a problem - red mage is all about balance, using white and black magic equally, and without drawing on both kinds of power you can't perform certain abilities, plus it has a whole mechanic where the further off-balance you get the harder it is to cast in the opposite direction and fix yourself. So she's off-balance in her aether, and that makes her even more reckless and emotionally off-balance, and she's struggling to grieve and sort of stuck living in the moment of Haurchefant's death, which makes her quest against Thordan a kind of revenge quest. She isn't really able to start learning to move forward again and recovering from that loss until she spends a bunch of time helping Aymeric build the new peace in Ishgard and teach the people to move on from their broken past, and that slowly leads her to work through her pain and trauma over the months.

Stormblood is...not really very much in the way of character development, but it is where she kisses Aymeric for the first time, just before she leaves to go to Doma, so it gets an honorable mention.

On the other hand a lot of insanity happens in Shadowbringers. She gets a nice new facial scar courtesy of Elidibus-as-Zenos when G'raha summons her out of her body during that fight (Aymeric is Deeply Freaked Out). Once she's in the First, she's dealing with a whole lot of confusing emotions and instincts related to Emet-Selch - her first impression when they properly meet is both that it hurts to look at him, for some inexplicable reason, and also wariness, the kind you'd have for a rabid animal, because there's just something so Wrong to her about the way he acts. This goes along nicely with the instinct she has to trust him that also makes no sense, so she's running around trying to save two worlds from the same calamity while dealing with the most confusing emotional state ever. This doesn't get much better when she gives in and starts spending time asking him questions and just talking to him, in a way the rest of the Scions won't do, because he feels familiar to her, like she should recognize him but can't.

This gets a thousand times worse when she drags her shattering soul down to Amaurot-beneath-the-sea to rescue G'raha, feeling like an absolute failure of a Warrior of Darkness the whole time. Amaurot itself feels incredibly familiar to her and also makes her want to cry because of the immense feelings of loss it evokes, she's already attuned to the aetheryte in the depths (I do not care if this is lore-appropriate or not it's fun), she feels like she knows Hythlodaeus, by the time they confront Emet-Selch again she's half-demanding half-begging him for answers he won't give because he's deep in denial and also wants her to remember him herself. She breaks down crying when she's forced to kill him in the end and doesn't know why.

Endwalker is just....A Fucking Mess. She's so done with Zenos's shit, her duty keeps weighing her down, everything is horrible. The body-swap bit really messes with her for a while and it takes time to recover from. Plus the whole thing with Zodiark - she didn't want to kill Zodiark, just weaken Him so the Watcher could bind Him again. She didn't want to permanently kill all those souls! She recovers bits and pieces of memories whenever she uses Azem's crystal to summon people, enough to be able to tell Emet-Selch, Hythlodaeus, and Venat that she is a reincarnation of Azem, but she doesn't regain her memories in full until Ultima Thule, when she summons Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus to help her against Meteion at the end. With those memories regained she's able to convince the two of them to stay with her and give the future a try; moving on is something none of them knew how to do before but she's had to learn to live through grief and come to terms with it anyway and she wants desperately to show them both how as well.

She considers Ishgard her home, and the Fortemps family as her chosen family - she's actually sworn brotherhood with Artoirel. And she considers herself Azem still, in the terms of Azem is a duty to the people that she has believed in basically since she became the Warrior of Light, and she won't let go of it.

In the final fight with Zenos at Ultima Thule, she very nearly dies, and he breaks her glasses against her face, severely injuring her right eye, among other things. Though she doesn't lose the eye it ends up solid white from scar tissue and she's completely blind in it - but she does end up learning how to see the aether through that eye alone.

Azem

(art by mythlorn)

Name: Seleukos

Class: black mage, has training with a sword thanks to Venat

Pronouns: they/them

Age: ohhh man idk probably somewhere around a century by the Sundering? don't ask

Relationships: queerplatonic triad with Hythlodaeus and Emet-Selch

if i get into my lore about them we'll be here all day so just read this fic I wrote full of the important flashbacks and whatnot instead

i also have a very fleshed-out AU where Lelesu is the WoL alongside @sunderedazem's Corrain, but this post will turn monstrous if i go into ANY details about that. so just know it exists and we'll both answer asks about it. lol

[kraefishh]

figured i'd post mine and my friends wols on main for the time being while im still stockpiling stuff for when i eventually make that side blog for em

basic stuff is - 1) there's more than one wol 2) by more than one i mean there are seven of them 3) each one/two of them are designated for a specific expansion 4) i have so much stuff planned for them all and have not even finished stormblood (please help me)

also im putting them under a cut so the post isnt naturally extremely fucking long

SO WE'LL START IN ORDER!!!!

Alidae Mendica -- ARR WoL. only one without a "traditional" name convention. SMN/MCH/GNB. bloody banquet happened and she got to ishgard and went "NOPE. I'M DONE." and goes and spends most of her time at the skysteel manufactory with garlond ironworks.

i love her very much she was the first i made. i nearly played an elezen but then really wanted to be small. so after finishing the opening cutscene i restarted and well!! shes here!! shes ready to kick some ass!!!

T'lyr Kho -- 1/2 Heavensward WoLs. is half miqo half garlean, possesses the third eye as well (hence the shaggy hair+forehead coverings). PLD/DRG/DRK/SGE. is never doing well at any given moment. he is (not) coping.

he's the one who made me spiral and make 3 more characters. i love him so so dearly.

Touya Kawa (@twisted-solace's wol) -- the other Heavensward WoL. WAR/DRG/RPR. the most shy and well spoken but will not hesitate to cleave you. works himself to death (quite nearly literally!).

i wish i had more to say about him other than he is very silly. him and t'lyr picked up lancer as a bonding experience and then got roped into dragoon lore (whoopsie!!)

Koren Cadoret -- 1/2 Stormblood WoLs. has 1v1'd Zenos too many times to count. very very protective of his sister and friends. MNK/SAM (plus blue mage and soon to be viper!!).

I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM!!!! punch first ask questions later. wants to be everyone's friend. separation anxiety got his ass in shadowbringers cause he was the last wol to be summoned to the first.

Raana Cadoret -- the other Stormblood WoL. took her brother and left her village the moment she was declared to be the next matriarch. DNC/AST/RDM. likes to give koren shit about his poor decisions.

she makes me go :) !!!!! we really cant decide if she picks up astrologian on the first or if she does it beforehand.

Sthallona Dhemskyltwyn -- 1.0 WoL and also Shadowbringers at the same time?? shes going through it. WHM/BLM. grew up the daughter of a famous pirate. Thancred's childhood best friend.

feigned death after the calamity until she gets pulled to the first and is like "AH SHIT. HERE WE GO AGAIN." she gives me perhaps the most brainworms.

AND FINALLY

Sarangerel Malqir (@trying_to_cosplay on insta's wol) -- Endwalker WoL while also being a whole can of worms by herself. was her universe's only WoL before shit collided in shadowbringers and she met everyone else

the love of my life-- ahem. currently only Warrior canonically because my friend is not even halfway through ARR. very much younger sibling energy to the rest of the scions/wols.

last notes - 1) t'lyr and touya are gay (lovingly referred to as 'the boyfs' by me and @twisted-solace) touya nearly fucking dies for t'lyr and t'lyr proceeds to go oh wait fuck i dont want to lose you. normal shit for their line of work. 2) koren canonically says "you wanna fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid" to zenos. and zenos proceeds to get very confused. zenos isnt even who he ends up with koren just likes fucking with him. 3) raana went through 4 different wol/npc ship ideas before we finally landed on hien. that was hell. 4) alidae and cid are best friends!! stamp of approval right here!!! alidae also hates nero's guts. 5) if biggs and wedge (who i lovingly refer to as the 'lab boys') are around, alidae is not far behind. 6) alidae was named before i realized there was a character named alisaie. this is canonically a struggle for everyone. 7) sthallona swam her ass to sharlayan upon realizing that thancred had been taken under louisoix's wing. insert LET ME IN. LET ME IIIIIIN gif here. she wrote a thesis on how to combine conjuring and thaumaturge magic before ever knowing what a red mage was. (she is very stupid but also unnaturally smart). 8) t'lyr can't use magic. point blank. his third eye fucks that up for him. only reason he can be a Sage is because the magitek does it for him. on the bright side he's really good at parkour!!!

anyway if you got down this far thank you for looking at my blorbos. i am working (not very) hard to get that sideblog set up for these weirdos. i appreciate them very much they consume my every waking thought.

[ryxmas]

for the wol think thonkers, 4, 8, 11, 18, 24, 27! i know its been a minute so i can link you the post again if you need it lol

4. What do they do in their down time? Do they have any hobbies outside of Primal-slaying and world-saving? Are these lifelong hobbies or recent interests?

The main thing is that Solara's a tinkerer! Before he came to Eorzea, he was working under (and eventually became) a Goldsmith in Kugane. It’s something he picked up when he was in his teens after seeing these items at Reunion from a foreign merchant that no one was interested in buying. So some of his downtime in ARR was spent with the Goldsmith's guild. Some of it translated well to machinery which he also found himself drawn to, especially after his time with the Skysteel Manufactory. A lot of his ARR and HW and early StB post patch was spent learning from and working with the Ironworks and Skysteel Manufactory. Which contributes to why those groups know him better than the Scions for most of the story. When shit really hits the fan and he doesn’t have the time to work with either the Ironworks or the Manufactory, he puts that creative energy towards his own weapons. Making and repairing stuff is how he eventually connects with the rest of the Crystarium. So some of the Crystalline Mean quests are canon since he does that during his recovery period in post ShB. And I imagine that he becomes a bit of an omnicrafter (sans Alchemist and Culinarian) over the game's timeline. I haven’t decided how post EW looks for him in terms of hobbies though. And I gotta think about some other smaller scale hobbies he might have lol. 

8. What is one of their biggest regrets? Has it had an effect on how they act moving forward, for better or worse?

Choosing just one of his biggest regrets is hard so here’s some back to back lol. There’s several that are kind of in the same ballpark. His behavior to the Scions during Shadowbringers are pretty up there (and more so the latter). And he works towards making amends throughout Shadowbringers post patch and Endwalker. Not quite as high of a regret are his interactions with Hien. He doesn’t regret interfering with Hien’s plans in Stormblood in the slightest, but he does know he took it a lot further than he reasonably should have, which is what he feels bad about specifically. And those two have a bumpier road to reconciliation. I've yet to explore how or if Solara's Myste would manifest (if they do) regarding his guilt over the people he could not save and the people whose lives he unintentionally negatively affected. And among his regrets competing for the top spot are Haurchefant and Ysayle's deaths. He didn't get to know some of the others (e.g. Minfilia, Papalymo, and Moenbryda) to have massive regrets over them, but Haurchefant and Ysayle were some of his closest friends during that point in time. And because Solara only becomes a tank after Heavensward, I think it would make sense if he picked up tanking specifically because of Haurchefant and Ysayle (both of whom are tanks) dying. But these events (and honestly Ishgard as a whole) feeds into his general distrust of city state leaders when he knows they’re hiding things, which affects his perception of and behavior towards Hien and the Exarch later down the line. And I want to say that especially after Ysayle dies is when Solara becomes a lot more hesitant to connect with new people in his life, at least until ShB post patch. 

11. Despite everything, is it still you? Has the core of who they are as a person remained true through everything, or have they been changed by what they've experienced and learned, for better or worse? 

No. Solara has pretty solidly changed on two major facets (and Shadowbringers was his "get torn down and rebuilt from the rubble" arc). The first is that events of the story wore away the ambition that he had before he came to Eorzea. And the way his initial dream of “I want to Khan and Khagan” became such a shitfest that he’s very averse to both ideas now. I need to figure out how long Solara is Khagan because the Naadam is a yearly event. While he doesn't want to, for the sake of being involved in the politics of the region, he might continue to participate until some time in Endwalker/Endwalker post patch where he decides to stop being involved in the Naadam (because I HC that each expansion is roughly one year). And even after EW, I think Solara is a bit aimless now that there isn’t a giant existential crisis. He’s picked up the pieces of his interpersonal life and has made a lot of repairs, but hasn’t really figured out what he wants for himself. The other is that Solara becomes a lot more selfless and heroic as a result of everything. This is a “The mask becomes him” situation where there was a lot of heroism that Solara did early on that grated against him because he thought that’s what he should do in his position (and what he thought his brother would do) and not necessarily what he wanted to do. But it slowly does just become the way he naturally thinks and sees things. Like I imagine early Solara to have thought processes similar to ARR Alphi, he just didn’t act on them because he’s just more aware of how to handle people and that behavior doesn’t suit the WoL image he was trying to craft. And I also have to give a lot of credit to the twins for inspiring him in this regard, especially Alphinaud because Solara sees so much of himself in Alphinaud that there’s a level of “Alphinaud grew and learned and succeeded in a way Solara wished he did”. And that’s not a tone of envy, but of deep admiration and beaming pride. 

18. How do they feel about the work they do? As the Warrior of Light they're tasked with quite a lot of violence, is it something that comes naturally to them or do they resist it? Are they merciless, do they try to spare as many lives as they can, or do they fall somewhere in between?

The first part of this question is already loaded, damn LOL. But I don't think Solara likes being the WoL. He'd really rather it wasn't him, but this is what the situation is and he has to deal with it. He likes helping people, or perhaps more accurately he's grown to liking it. He likes that he's making a difference. But he wishes at the end of the day, it didn't end up all falling to him. 

As for the questions regarding violence, I honestly think Solara's indifferent to it. To a large extent, violence has always been a part of Solara's life or at least hanging over him as a specter. From his mother taking him to flee the Garlean occupation of Doma, to growing up on the Steppes and losing his adoptive brother during a Naadam, to even the fact that his heritage from Doma is that of being bodyguards to the royal family. He just takes it as a fact of life and in a fucked up way, it comes naturally to him when he’s in a situation that calls for it. He isn't going out of his way to take lives, but he isn't making an effort to spare people (unless told to). Not including extreme cases like Zenos, (so mostly talking about foot soldiers on the opposite side of the battlefield here) it makes little difference to him if he takes someone out by killing them or knocking them out. With some exceptions I can think of being parts of StB (e.g. anything on the Steppes and also he might be more careful to not kill soldiers that might be conscripted from the nations he's trying to help free) and fighting tempered after they find a cure. 

24. How do they feel about Hydaelyn? What was their perception of the Mothercrystal in the beginning, and how did that change by the end, if at all?

I haven't put too much thought into Solara's belief system to be honest, or if he's even a religious person. I don't know if it makes sense for him to pay any mind to Hydaelyn until the initial calls though. And the initial calls from Hydaelyn and awakening the Echo were pretty distressing to him. And he's always had a buried fear that he might actually be tempered somehow due to Ifrit's comment back in ARR and the uncertain nature of the Echo. This fear only gets exacerbated during ShB. And also after shit hits the fan during late ARR post patch with Moenbryda dying because he doesn't have the Blessing of Light at that moment and then Minfilia disappears and becomes the Word of the Mother, Solara has a largely negative opinion of Hydaelyn for most of the story. And then Hydaelyn remains silent, which doesn’t help the situation. But contextualizing this over what he learns in Endwalker and thinking about Hydaelyn in the context of Venat makes everything click for him. He likes, trusts, and understands Venat. He retains complicated feelings over everything, but he doesn't have an explicitly negative opinion anymore. Because Venat the Ancient who chose what she thought was the best possible action in a slew of only terrible choices is a lot more easy to accept and forgive than Hydaelyn the faceless, unacting, Mothercrystal who intervened once to keep her weapon alive but not any of his allies. Hydaelyn made Solara feel like a tool and a puppet and Venat made him feel like a friend and accomplice, which made all the difference. 

27. How well known are they? Does everyone know their name as the Warrior of Light, or have they managed to maintain some level of anonymity? Do they prefer it that way, and do they have any struggles resulting from it? (Getting stopped on street corners VS awkwardly avoiding questions.)

Solara being a max height Au Ra is just going to get noticed lol. Especially since there aren't many of them outside of the Eastern regions, which are the regions he's most often in anyways lol. I don't think he can go anywhere after Stormblood, and especially after Endwalker, without being noticed. So it's probably an “everyone knows his name” situation, especially in the East because he was a political figure there for some time. He does wish he retained some anonymity but people generally leave him be. His resting bitch face is canon and deters a good number of people off. And also his (self) destructive behavior during Stormblood post patch was pretty public and also scared many people off. It's one of those situations where the people that do talk and interact with him (which are often children) say he's nice and friendly (late Stormblood post patch excluded) and everyone else is like ??????

[jasleh]

FFxivWrite2023 Prompt 5: Barbarous

character: Rrahna (indirectly) time period: post-6.4/Pandaemonium

...

Claudien managed to spend some days blissfully unaware of the rumors swirling around him and Rrahna. Absorbed as he was in his work, he had no time for such things, and the relative isolation of Apora helped as well. Eventually they came to roost, however, in the form of an unwelcome visitor.

He was studying some schematics and working his way through an astonishingly dense paper when the interruption came. Rrahna had dug them up somehow and pressed them upon him rather forcefully, as they were regarding a device designed to block the effects of auracite. The device itself was also in his possession. For all that she was quick to declare her lack of learning, Rrahna had picked up a remarkable number of things in her adventurers. She was also less than thrilled at his decision to study the Heart of Sabik.

"Claudien, my good man! What have you been up to?"

Claudien blinked, trying with limited success to pull his head from the nest of jargon he had been immersed in. Looking up, he saw a vaguely familiar elezen man, with his research assistants gesturing apologetically behind him. It took a few moments to place him. Someone he'd gone to school with? Yes, that was it. Not someone he'd ever been especially close to, or in much contact with since then - and just now school felt longer ago than the Sundering itself.

"Hello, ah… Fir….?"

"Firmien. Took me a while to track you down, but I simply had to stop by, you would not believe what people are saying!"

Claudien did not at all think about the fact that he had been seen twice now having dinner with the Warrior of Light at the Last Stand, but instead immediately thought that the Pandaemonium reports must have somehow circulated far more widely than he had expected. Ascians, after all, were far more common knowledge in Sharlayan than elsewhere on the star.

"… I might."

"So it's true then? I mean, even seeing you with my own eyes last evening I didn't fully believe it. Of course, before then I didn't even realize it was you people were speaking of."

Last evening? Claudien felt lost for a moment as his framework for the conversation began to shift. Last evening he had been…

"Honestly, man. The Scion's so-called 'champion?' What were you thinking? She's some… some barbarian who has never met a problem she didn't solve with violence. Those war-like types are all the same."

As the man prattled on, not allowing a word in edgewise, Claudien's brows drew down and his hands began to curl into fists, but he managed to keep a tight hold on his temper.

"And those scars! How can you even look at her? Honestly, if you ask me she barely even counts as a person."

And just like that, his tether snapped. Or Erichthonios's did, if such a line could even be drawn. A sputtering glow sprang up around his fists, a spell so well-practiced as to be reflex, but that he didn't begin to have the aether to cast.

"Not to devalue her contribution, of course. I suppose even mindless violence must sometimes have-"

The fool's words cut off abruptly as Claudien's fist met his face with a crunch of breaking nose. It was remarkably cathartic seeing him get knocked on his ass.

"Get out."

"How dare you?!" The words were distorted by the broken nose and the hand Firmein held to it, but understandable. "She's clearly rubbed off on you! You're as barbarous as her now."

"Get. Out."

Ruissenaud hoisted the man to his feet and began urging him towards the door. Claudien glared at him until he was out of sight, ignoring the sputtered threats of censure. Only after Firmein was gone did he begin to relax and notice the glow flickering around his hands. Not near formed enough to have shape, but he knew the channels the aether was trying to follow. Not a spell of this age. Or one that would have been particularly useful, really.

"Professor?" Nemjiji spoke up hesitantly. "That may not have been a good idea."

"And if he drags me before the Forum," Claudien asked, "Who do you think the majority would side with if I repeated what he just said?" Attitudes in Sharlayan could be slow to change, but the Forum had gotten a closer view than most of Rrahna's efforts to stop the Final Days, and had backed the Scions' efforts.

Nemjiji thought about it for a moment, cocking her head. "You may have a point."

"It was worth it regardless. If any other gawkers or gossips come by, I'm not here. I have work to do."

[witchofthescions]

It had been a while since they'd last seen little Ga Bu. It broke Erna's heart to see the poor kobold still so unresponsive, even as she picked him up and cradled him like the child he was. He leaned against her, but she couldn't tell if he was responding to her touch or if it was simply the influence of physics.

Alisaie watched her as she stroked the tiny child's back. He was smaller than the adults they were used to, but in Erna's arms he looked even smaller. Even more fragile.

They heard the rain falling on the ground behind them, just outside the entrance to the Maelstrom's headquarters. Other adventurers came and went, occasionally sparing the trio a curious glance, but otherwise giving them their space. It was its own sort of loneliness.

"You know," Alisaie said, "with the three of us like this, does it not remind you of that night? Of the stars beyond count, twinkling in the heavens?"

Erna cast a glance towards the overcast sky, raising an eyebrow. Alisaie followed her gaze and let out an awkward chuckle.

"Well, obviously it's not exactly like that night. The time of day and the weather are not exactly cooperative right now."

Alisaie fell quiet for another moment, as the two of them watched the rain falling outside.

"I was feeling pretty low back then," she quietly continued. "Powerless. But I knew that my brother was close by if I needed him. And that the others would be waiting for me back at the Rising Stones."

"Not like now," the two of them muttered. Alisaie's eyes widened as she turned to Erna. She was at just the right angle to see the pensive look on her friend's face. To see her exhaustion as she stared out into the rain.

Seeing the woman she looked up to so... defeated was difficult for Alisaie to bear.

"Eh? What's with the long faces?"

The two of them turned to see a Roegadyn woman with tanned skin and well-muscled arms approaching them. She had long red hair tied up in a bun, and dirty overalls that had seen their fair share of wear and tear. Her second most striking feature was her mismatched eyes—one red, one gold. Her most striking feature was how strongly her daughter Ernastral resembled her.

"Ma!" Erna exclaimed, looking genuinely surprised to see her. Her mother grinned back, before snatching Erna's hat right off her head and affectionately ruffling her short hair. "Wh-hey! Cut that out!"

"What, suddenly yer too grown for yer dear ol' ma?" Erna pouted until her mother placed her hat back on her head. "Yeah, alright, yer too tall for that. But that's the only thing protectin' ya now."

Erna stuck her tongue out at her mother, prompting a suppressed giggle from Alisaie. Her mother grinned, looking proud of her handiwork.

"Now, what's got y'all lookin' so down?"

The girls exchanged a look, before Alisaie decided to launch into an explanation of recent events. She focused mostly on the Scions; a simple farm woman like her wouldn't be too interested in global goings-on in far-flung locations, after all. She listened intently, gaze drifting between the two girls, until Alisaie finished.

"...Struck down all at once, huh?" she remarked softly. "No wonder y'all looked so down."

She placed a hand on Erna's shoulder, and another on top of Alisaie's head. For a moment Alisaie rankled at the gesture, feeling a bit patronized. Until the woman spoke again.

"But you've still got each other, don'tcha?"

The girls' eyes widened. Erna's mother smiled at them both.

"And y'all still have the rest of the Scions, right? It's a big organization, if'n I recall correctly."

"It is," Alisaie said, smiling a little. "And we've many friends and allies besides."

"Good," she nodded decisively. "Remember: it ain't over 'til it's over. Even if it takes a while to see any progress, even if today looks pretty bleak." She nodded towards the rain outside. "It may be rainin' right now, but it'll pass eventually. Just need yourselves an umbrella or two."

"Thanks, ma."

Erna's mother smiled at her, then turned serious for a moment. "By the way, y'all have an umbrella on ya, right?"

"Uh..."

Judging from the expressions on both of their faces, and the lingering dampness of their clothes, the answer was a resounding no. Erna's mother gave them both the sort of disappointed look that only a mother could give.

"Girls..."

"We'll... pick one up at the market later," Alisaie sheepishly promised.

"You'd better!" She ruffled Alisaie's hair with the same level of affection as she'd done for Erna. "Last thing yer friends're gonna want to see when they wake up is you two sick in bed 'cause you went runnin' through the rain without any sorta cover!"

"Lenar would never let me hear the end of it," Erna remarked.

"Neither would Y'shtola," Alisaie said. "Gods, I can just imagine the disappointed look on her face..."

"She ain't even a mother and she's got that look down pat."

The actual mother present burst out laughing. "Oh, I've got to see that! So you'd better hurry up and help yer friends."

"We will," Alisaie said, grinning again. "We absolutely will."

[tiredassmage]

Is your OC honest about their true loyalties? Or are they happy to feign belief in a cause or leader in hopes of material (or other) reward?

Cannot emphasize enough that the heraldry theme for oc asks is so cool. Thanks for the ask! I've been... absent from my XIV characters for so long dskfnsl, let me see about making it up a bit to them lol. I still have a handful of them, so I'll pick two for now. ^.^

Shay would paint himself as "mercenary" in its truest form, willing to take a job for coin regardless. "Honest" isn't the first descriptor I'd pick for him - not because he's a habitual vocal liar, but more that he just... isn't talkative. He's the stubborn type that might give you the impression that whatever is going on behind those harsh violet eyes is between him and Halone alone and he'd at least feign to like it that way.

Now, Shay would be willing to cross some lines for loyalties and those people he does pledge himself to, but he's honest to them in that it's rather unlikely anyone would be able to sway him from a selected path. He surely isn't always the warmest, but his genuine loyalty cannot be bought and sold. He'd absolutely tell nobility or representatives or... whomever, really, to royally stuff it if he didn't care for their opinions. He doesn't care who you are. xD

Bas is below the cut to keep this readable. <3

Bas isn't happy about it, but survival has seen him mask his true loyalties before. Bas was conscripted from Dalmascan resistance efforts into the Garlean army - one of only a few that ultimately survived both the failed defensive and the following interrogations. Ultimately, he struggled to maintain the reasoning that dying was a poor way to honor and remember the fallen, so, though it pained him, he became a weapon of the Empire.

After his escape, "mercenary" is a fair enough title for his work until he joined the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, but Bas was meticulous about the type of work he was willing to put himself and fellow traveler Peregrine (@fatewalker-phoenix) on. Things are... complicated by his accompaniment in masking her Garlean heritage.

In short, Bas is careful about picking his battles. But he is not free of struggling with where his honest intent truly lies. There's quite a bit of strife reconciling his troubled and mistrusting past with the Garlean Empire and his eventual friendship and loyal protection of Peregrine. But all who have stood at his side or faced his blade have found, to whatever end it may be, Bas is loyal to the last breath. He will not give you his word unless he means it.

[caffeinated-moogle]

Not even Aeryn knows her true name! Aeryn Stormwater simply came to her in a moment of silent panic when Mother Miounne asked her to pen her name, and so she hopes for a very long while that it might really be her name—that someone will hear it and know her. Eventually, she will make the cognizant choice to claim ownership of the name (and with it, her identity), regardless of whatever name she may have had before, as part of her growth away from an obsession with finding her "past."

And yes, most characters do just call Aeryn by her "true" name (such as she knows it). She does, however, have a few nicknames that have stuck in my fic! I'm a Sappy Awkward Dork about them all, though, so hiding behind the cut:

Dandelion

Thancred, given his penchant for relating beautiful people to flowers throughout ARR, calls Aeryn "dandelion." I could argue it's because she wears so much yellow, but I also have a small headcanon that she dozes off in one of the Middle La Noscean dandelion fields once and shows up to meet the Scions for some mission or other with dandelion fluff still in her hair.

She has mixed feelings about this one initially. Thancred's demeanor toward her in ARR (even pre-posession) confuses/intimidates her, and she's unsure what to make of his pet name for her. That shifts pretty quickly, along with his disposition, as they become genuine friends in post-ARR; and I think she comes to like the nickname over the course of that story arc.

Aubétoile/Chèrétoile

Urianger at one point begins calling her "aubétoile," frequently spoken as an endearment as they get closer. (Basically I butchered French to smash the words for "dawn" and "star" together. I'm sorry for what I've done, but my brain will not let this nickname go. I'm aware it's also saccharine as heck... but it's my WoLship, so here we are.) In late game he will also call her "chèrétoile" (cherished/darling star) as a more intimate iteration of the name.

Aeryn actually doesn't know what this means, at first. Don't come at me with Echo-logic. I think she understands the literal interpretation of it, but the Echo doesn't provide the nuance that there might be any affection behind it. She figures that out later, probably courtesy one of her other Elezen acquaintances. She would be Very Awkwardly Shy about it, but she still likes hearing him say it.

Eo Daen

On the First, Urianger notes Aeryn's discontent upon learning the pixies would call her Sigun Ul or Sigun Tyr (Warrior of Darkness/Light, respectively). He offers her the name "Eo Daen," instead, and uses it as another endearment for her because he knows how much she likes to hear him speak Fae.

I picked Eo Daen based on a forum post I'd swear I found in which folks were theorizing based on multiple language derivations that "daen" might be "morning" in Fae, which would have made Eo Daen star of the morning/morning star. I can't find that reference, anymore, though. What I have found referencing "daen" says it means "good." Unfortunately, I'm now far too attached to the nickname to care.

Aeryn likes this one right away. It doesn't come up until late- or post-Shadowbringers, when she has begun to grow more comfortable with her feelings for others. She's also grateful that Urianger accepts her desire to be known as more than just a warrior. Though she's perhaps not fully cognizant of it at the time, the fact that chooses a name for her symbolizing far more than the sum of her feats is freeing for her.

Other

Even though Aeryn didn't start in Limsa, I do think she has a close enough friendship/mentorship with Baderon that the whole "dear departed grandma's sister's niece's cousin's closest companion" banter would have come up for them. I imagine he often jokes she's practically family and occasionally greets her as "my favorite niece," swapping out what relation she is to him from time to time just to make her laugh and confuse the regulars at the Drowning Wench.

Aeryn's least favorite monikers are those given to her based on her famous deeds. As she grows in her identity journey, she comes to find such titles (Warrior of Light, Savior of Ishgard, Titan's Bane, Eikon Slayer, etc.) are painful to hear, at best, because they reduce her to the very acts she dissociates from as she seeks a way to simply be herself.

I've mentioned before that, although Aeryn doesn't give others nicknames, she doesn't mind those given to her. To expand on that, I think she desires so desperately much to be found and told who she is (or who she should be) that she sees the names others offer her to be extensions of that. When people see and, in good faith, give name to aspects of her self that she doesn't find off-putting, she considers it a gift in her journey toward learning who she really is (or, as it turns out in her case: in her journey toward becoming who she is growing to be).

Does your WoL go by many names? Does anyone know their true name? Do they have a favourite/most hated nickname?

[lcstkey]

Stormblood

After the events of Fading Just Below, Selena chose to stay on the Star but is benched. For a time, the keybearer is recovering from the ordeal and will not participate in the war in Doma.

Instead, she will leave Gridania. Selena is convinced to officially join the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Her goal to protect the Star from the Shadows [Heartless], and their goal to protect Eorzea and the Star are the same. She will realize that she shouldn't work alone anymore.

She then will join the OHNOS [Our Heroes Need No Sleep] free company, the treasuring-hunting focused | training adventurers guild and part of the Team C dungeoneering team of the Scions when they're in-between jobs. [@lalannaoronir | @vierandancer | @aethericsea ]

To build herself back up, the keybearer will take small jobs and errands to not physically exert herself, and she wouldn't need to hold herself back anymore. She will also translate her journals from her world's script to Eorzean.

Eventually, she'd find her way back to Witchdrop to properly bury the corpse she had stolen the armor from. It felt wrong not to.

Later, Selena will gift the Scions and the Grand Companies [and in turn, the Ala Mhigan Resistance] the reference sheet with the letters from her Star and Eorzean letters that she had created for herself while learning how to read.

Her Star's alphabet will be used as a code for the Grand Companies and the Ala Mhigan Resistance if they need to pen a confidential message should it become too risky to inform via linkpearl.

After the Imperials bomb Specula Imperatoris, Selena will become directly involved as a messenger and translator. She will deliver these messages and teach them to translate them until the Grand Companies and the Ala Mhigan Resistance can use the code without her assistance.

Otherwise, she will be free to be a keybearer who utilizes her skills as a swordswoman, magic user, and now a dragoon via the keyblade transformation and the stolen dragoon job stone.

Shadowbringers

During the time that the keybearer is worried for the Scions after the majority of them were Called and then fell to slumber, Selena is overly worried about the possibility of losing control of herself and repeating the event at the Urth's Fount. [Fading Just Below]

While she is doing what she can to help, the keybearer will be looking into a means to control her darkness to prevent the repeat from ever happening. Her search will lead her to Ul'dah to the Lemures guild where she not only learns just that, but she picks up the Reaper job class and a new keyblade transformation.

Endwalker

Selena will be assisting the Scion's Team B with the Lunar Primals while the main cast sails off to Sharlayan and putting her skills to full use.

Fearing that she will be a hindrance and that her power may compromise their mission, she declines to join the Ilsabard Contingent. The keybearer is fully aware that her strong affinity to magic as well as certain powers [i.e. Sonnelion and Eblis] would appear terrifying to those who are unaccustomed to it.

She would also be joining Team Mor Dhona and the Idyllshire's treasure hunters to collect the refined adamantite from the Dalamund shard there and deliver it to Sharlayan.

While there, Selena will immediately put her past experience as a world hopper to use and seek out the Livingway to inform him and the other Lopporits what they may encounter as best she can. Her translated journals will become a boon of information.

However, the keybearer insists on joining Sicard and invites herself to escort the tribes to the Mothercrystal to summon their deities. In her words "It's a bloody bad idea to send only one person alone to escort the tribes with a strong history of hurting and hate through the aetherial sea." Selena believed that they would be attacked by souls who would remember the representatives of the tribes and she was not wrong.

Doing so, Selena had to remain behind on Etheirys, but she had an ulterior motive: summoning Deliora. The keybearer fully intends to gift the Ragnorock and by extension, the Scions, the goddess of her Star to help them reach the edge of existence. She will also task Deliora to guide the ship back home to Etheirys should things go awry.

Thankfully, it never came to that as the Scions did return home triumphant without Deliora's help.

Hearing about the Scion's "disbandment", Selena was understandably upset and scared when she heard until it was clarified to her that it was a pretense to fall back into the shadows. Everyone would go their separate ways and work independently to maintain the image.

The keybearer didn't know what to do with herself and initially chose to wander the realm. But, eventually, Selena began to wonder more and more about the weapon, the keyblade, that she wielded for at least half of her life and of the Final Days, specifically dynamis: the form of energy reacting to strong emotions.

Believing that there may be a connection between the keyblade and dynamis, Selena boarded the next ship to Sharlayan to ask the Students of Baldesion for help to uncover the mystery of the keyblade and in turn, she'd assist however she can.

By recommendation, the keybearer travelled to Thavnair via the experimental aetheryte in Yedlihmad only to become severely ill from aether sickness. When she recovered, she travels to The Great Work to learn more of akasha, or dynamis.

However, when the keybearer tried to return to Sharlayan via the Corridors to Darkness, she failed. It took several attempts for her to realize that she lost the power to utilize them. She initially blamed the experimental aetheryte; but realized, that if she couldn't use the Corridors anymore, then perhaps....

By happy accident, Selena gained the ability to attune to the aetherytes. She successfully attuned to the aetheryte at The Great Work and was so overjoyed that she cried. The trade off is very welcome to her as she does not have a plan to leave Etheirys and never will.

When Selena returned to Sharlayan via ship, first thing she did was attune to the aetheryte there and run around the island to locate and attune to the miniature ones.

The keybearer will join and stay with the Students of Baldesion as she researches the keyblade more and more, eventually realizing that her connection with others shape the keyblade's form and its power.

Once Selena hears of Omphalos and of the Twelve, the keybearer will ask to tag along to so she could ask the Twelve if they knew anything of the keyblade and to apologize to Nophica for causing so much trouble in Gridania.

Due to the loss of the power of utilizing the Corridors to Darkness, Selena will not be able to help Y'shtola and the others with enlarging the void gate in Alzadaal's Legacy but will offer the power of her keyblade in the emergency scenario that it has to be closed and locked for good. Thankfully, it never came to it.

[rowanul-tyr]

lev wrote about their wol lysander and the background about his jobs and now im. poking at it a little bit for rowan. under a cut i suppose. (i'll do another post for bronagh and ellone bc this will be long)

rowan and his jobs

so rowan starts off as an arcanist. he'd been interested in the practice since the extended period he lived in the sharlayan colony with his parents as a child. (hilarious side note for lev, it's possible he overheard valerian talking about it) as he got older and began considering his options in life, the interest came back to the front of his mind and he eventually decided to join the guild in limsa when he struck out on his own as an adventurer. he took to it surprisingly well, and chalked it up to really retaining the information about arcanima as a kid. he hoped he might be able to find some way to use arcanima for healing, to follow his initial goal for himself.

eventually when he made it to gridania, he followed his guildmaster's advice and tried a new discipline--lances. a physical, in-your-face kind of combat to be in contrast with the magic he was learning. he was startled to find that he also took to it rather easily, and appreciated gawain (iirc thats the guildmaster's name?) giving out the advice he did. he tried his best to stick to that mostly, and (maybe unpopular opinion) but he actually really disliked folques? the guy was intentionally putting others in pretty real danger, rowan didn't like that in the least.

and then the scions and primals happen. i've tapped it before, but rowan kind of. gave up arcanima at this point. lances were more useful against the primals at first, so he kind of. stopped doing magic. he'd also just gotten into contact with y'mitra at this point, too, and becoming an allagan summoner seemed...dangerous, given his new line of work? he didn't want to make the scions doubt him at all--he liked the security being one of them and didnt want to hurt his position. minfilia didn't seem to notice anything different, and he'd eventually confide in her about it and she gave her blessing for him to pick it back up, but he doesn't really get back to arcanima until after the vault/3.0 because of....reasons.

so anyway. he's a lancer now, primarily. maybe dragoon at this point. he likes alberic well enough, and estinien actually has good intentions, so it could be worse. and rowan actually likes the acrobatics he does as a dragoon. and he gets complimented a lot on how easily he's taking to the skills, and gets some heated looks from other fellow dragoons and it's clear they dislike him for wandering in one day and being a natural. it's disconcerting, so he just. focuses really, really hard on honing his skills so he actually deserves to be that skilled.

eventually, the vault happens. end of heavensward happens. and rowan kind of...breaks down. he regrets having stopped learning arcanima. so he pours his grief into preparing to face nid-stinien and makes sure that there wouldn't be another haurchefant. he keeps beocming a summoner a secret from the scions, because that old worry kicks back in in spite of the evidence to dispute the fear of being kicked out of the scions. he needs to be useful, he needs to save people, because that's what he's done this whole time. saving people from the primal threat, saving them from nidhogg, saving them from whatever might try to destroy them. so he has to be better! he has to be the best.

and he picks up other jobs, too, because i'm going to chew on him actually being the Omni-WOL here. and he realizes now that he picks things up way too easily, and so he throws himself into really paying attention to what he is being taught, and practicing. it's both horrifying and a little bit incredible that he's suddenly so diverse when it comes to combat, both magical and physical. some discipline she likes less (the tanks) and some he likes more, but overall...it's strange. but he trains and trains and trains so he feels worthy of the knack he has. some he trains more than others, but it's all to just...be good enough to destroy whatever might try to harm those he cares about.

(in truth, the reason rowan picks things up easily is bc his azem was also an omni-wol type. venat inspired ikarós with how she had mastered several combat arts, and liked learning from the people they encountered in their duties as azem. so they learned everything they could bc they were insatiable for ways to connect with people bc they had trouble connecting with people verbally or emotionally, and that meant that rowan and others before him just had a pseudo-muscle memory of it all)

and then one day he comes across a woman who says rowan appears to be graceful, and could have the makings of a dancer. it's nothing he hasn't heard before, but when he picks up the chakrams, it's not jealousy he sees in the troupe members--it's excitement. they're all so thrilled that he's picking it up easily, and it's different from other jobs because rowan can always tell that while people have been excited he's learning from them so well, there's always something in their eyes that gives away the jealousy, the disbelief.

but anyway. rowan enjoys learning from troupe falsaim, and finds enjoyment in what he's learning there. for the first time since dragoon and summoner, really.

after he merges with ardbert, he discovers that while he'd set aside the axe for other jobs, he's feeling like he knows so much more than before. part of it is how he remembers ardbert so well, meaning ardbert's soul is still like...slightly intact? i'll write it eventually but ardbert still technically is around, just sometimes dormant. but ardbert's mastery of warrior was added to rowan's arsenal, so to speak. and he was baffled by it, at least a little.

post 5.3, rowan has come to terms with it, and he's not really bothered by how people marvel and kind of despise how quickly he picks up and masters techniques others spend their entire lives learning. he also is happy to focus more on summoning and dancing, since no one else knows those fields and he doesn't have to deal with alisaie being upset that he's "further along" than she is.

post 5.3 rowan finally tells the other scions about being a summoner. it just hadn't been ideal to say something during STB or SHB, so after 5.3 just. worked out. yshtola and graha were the most interested, both for the mechanics of it and its relation to allagan history.

so. fun thoughts. i hadnt ever considered in depth what being an omni-wol could be like so this was fun!! :D

[meowww-ffxiv]

Sometimes Ptolemy heard about family members or friends who were once close and then fell apart because they couldn't take the other's bad habits and refusal to compromise any longer. And there was always the voice in the back of his mind from the years where he was afraid to disagree with Liios or felt like he had no right to, after everything Liios had done for him, and it was his older brother who apologized first and cut himself off of the enduring suffocatingly overprotective habits for years until the two of them were sufficiently independent.

Liios had rejected the thought that Ptolemy, his only remaining family and for whom he had given everything that he had, needed to need him; needed to like him, even. Ymir, Liios's teacher, had feared he would never recover if and when Ptolemy eventually passed first because there was no way he'd live a long life with his heart condition. And yet in this life, in every waking moment since Liios realized he might be suffocating him, he'd done everything to remedy it.

So Ptolemy was fine. He had friends, and he had made his peace with the fact that most people he knew would be growing old and passing on before he did, even if he wasn't going to make it that far for a member of his species. It was its own blessing, to have the privilege of knowing friends from youth to deathbed, to watch them grow and grow with them. People told Ptolemy they were content, more often than not, as he cared for them in the final days of their lives.

But what of Liios? He never brought up anything he deemed upsetting with Ptolemy when they were younger, out of genuine fear that causing him upset might exacerbate his condition. There was a grain of truth in that. But the condition was dormant, Ptolemy was more or less healthy in the here and now, and it was apparent to him that Liios had never, ever, really learned to depend on someone else. Period.

Maybe that wasn't fair to him. He worked well in a group. He knew how to pick up others' slack, how to push and cajole more out of someone unwilling while not being cruel or mean about it.

Yet Ptolemy talked to the Scions on the First, and none of them seemed to know Liios. Did he seem tired or upset last you saw him? he asked. I can't tell, Alisaie admitted. Ptolemy asked her, instead, if Liios had shifted about more often and fiddled with the straps of his left-arm gauntlet, and she said yes. Yes, he is tired, Ptolemy told her. He has a bad habit of snapping the straps on his arm like that to keep himself awake, probably because he had gotten no sleep last night.

Alphinaud thought Liios liked hearty, meaty stews because he cooked those things with Ysayle and Estinien the most when he was with him abroad. But Liios liked vegetable dishes, and actually disliked anything too meaty. It was not Alphinaud's fault that he didn't know, Ptolemy assured him. Hearty meat stews were all but a necessity in cold weather and with long travels ahead, when you could afford to. Liios just never told even Alphinaud something so personal, though he told the young man everything he remembered of Louisoux.

Funerals weren't rare for Ptolemy to attend. And he had gone to a few of them where the deceased's friends and surviving relatives talked about themselves and what their lost loved one had done for them. They couldn't come up with a single thing about the person aside from helpfulness, general agreeableness, and a great generousness. They couldn't tell what the person liked, if they were funny, if they would be missed for something other than that they were no longer around to provide their service.

It terrified him, it angered him, that these were premonitions for what his brother's passing might be like. Not that it wouldn't be fair, because Liios had made his mark almost exclusively in helping others. It was what made him well-liked and respected. But could any of the Scions, his currently closest acquaintances, go up on that stage and say anything about him that wasn't how he saved the world and liked the color green?

Could Ptolemy, even? Liios liked to worry about everything aside from himself, he'd say. He would sit days at my bedside, when we were young and I could not get up most days. He would read the textbooks for me, and the first spell he wove of newly-learned magic was an anti-gravity modification that allowed me to traverse stairs and steep slopes without tiring myself too much. He carried me on his back, heedless of the harsh snow of our tundra home, to the cliffs, that I might see the stars I love so well. He carried me out of the world we knew and left behind our clan, our family, because they refused to eschew traditions for the off-chance that outsiders could save my life.

--and in all of these things, where are you, my brother, Ptolemy thought. You who twanged the strap of your arm-guard to keep yourself awake after a sleepless night. You who could never manage a meal more complex than stew, no matter how much you tried to gain skill in the kitchen. You who crafted every single tool you wield with your own hands, who wore the feathers of the first bird you shot down in your hair after these nine decades still, who cried over the first animal he trapped, who couldn't bear to speak of our clan yet wore your hair the same way for all these years in exile.

Did your friends know you hated fish and disliked meat? Did your friends know you liked quartz jewelry? Did they know you wrote the papers that were the backbones of Labyrinthos's artificial biome as it was today? Did they know your sense of humor would have made highborn ladies faint, or that you flirted with older women just to make them feel beautiful? How could they not know you, after all this time together? Why are you hiding from them?

[johnnylandslide]

For me, it was a line of easily-missable dialogue way back in ARR, when Tataru was still the receptionist at the Waking Sands! You talk to her at her chair, she does this cute little hop, and she says that she keeps a roster of all the members of the Scions, but you're her favorite, and she drew a little flower next to your name. Neither I nor Johnny would realize it until quite a bit later, but this was the specific inciting incident for both of us, LOL.

Aside from the cute factor (in which she is the champion unequaled in heaven and earth), I think Tataru and the WoL also just have a lot of really good chemistry together! She sometimes gets forgotten from lists of the Scions because she doesn't have any combat jobs, but she has basically the same amount of history with the WoL as Alphinaud, who is one of the closest characters in the game to the MC. She is the home the WoL can always come back to.

(Also, the scene on the docks in Sharlayan at the end of the Grand Endeavor quest line is like one line short of a marriage proposal. Some of the best wolship food in this game, and it's all for me lol)

That's just thoughts about her in general, though. I think she especially fits my OC well, too! The reason JohnnyTaru works so well as a ship to me is because the two of them are perfect representations to each other of their respective life goals. Let me explain.

Johnny initially became an adventurer in search of fame and recognition, but as he grew and matured, that grew into a more selfless desire to protect the peaceful aspects of the world. Tataru is both of those things; she's a cute girl who adores him for his heroics, but also being the Scions' representative of the crafting and gathering jobs, she is a microcosm of the non-militarized side of Eorzea. She represents everything Johnny is protecting when he picks up each expansion's level X0 quest and heads off into battle.

Tataru, on the other hand, has spent most of her life in pursuit of Things. Her family was wealthy for the first few years of her life, but they lost everything when she was still young, leaving her in the slums of Ul'dah, forced to work in the mines at a criminally young age. She eventually apprentices with a jeweler, meets Minfilia, and becomes the Scions' coinkeeper, but she's still not satisfied. Over the course of the game, she continues to grow in wealth and influence as she finds her passion and calling in weaving and turns that into a business that likely exceeds what her parents had run when she was a kid. I imagine she through a lot of that harbors fears that she might lose it again, or anxieties about "making it". To her, marrying the Warrior of Light is the final proof that she has "made it", and that she doesn't need to worry anymore.

Hopefully this didn't overshoot the intended word count of the assignment, LOL. I was thinking about this recently anyway, so thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about it!

fellow wol x npc shippers- If applicable, what was the "oh" moment for you and your oc falling for their love interest? Was yours seperate from your WoL's?