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therealdesastrffxiv · 29 days ago

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"When I was, a young girl, my father... took me into the city. To see a marching band...."

**********

A Beautiful Disaster: The Garlean Gloom Witch.

Want to read a story involving her powers? Well you're in luck! (But she's not super happy in the story for reasons, er, you'll read, if you do...)

THANKFULLY she's since been okay and even managed to smile a bit more lately as she learns to live beyond being afraid all the time.

A Necromancer's Pain

-----------------------

Meanwhile… elsewhere….

Snapping awake, Morana gasps, holding her hand over her heart.

Something is wrong.

“No… no no no… he can’t slip away. No.”

She darts out of the bed she’s been staying in and falls to her side, letting out a soft groan. She needs to get to him, she needs to make sure he doesn’t truly die. Dragging herself up, she’s noticed there’s no medics around. No one. They must be busy elsewhere….

She would rush over to the side of Finn’s bed… he looks gaunt. This isn’t looking good. “Finn!” she gasps, feeling him slip away. She’s so low on aether. She’s so low on…everything. Taking in a deep breath, she tries. “Stay with me… stay with me…”

Tears start streaming down her cheeks as she lets out a whimper. “Please stay with me…”

Finn opens his eyes. He looks up at Morana, blinking. Then… he gives a soft smile. Morana takes him into a hug, crying on his shoulder. “I thought I lost you, I thought—”

“Hey,” Finn says in a weak voice, giving her a hug before very gently pushing her away. Something…. Is still wrong. He tilts his head, giving a soft yawn. “... Morana… I’m sorry,” he says in an exhausted tone. “I..can’t hold on anymore. But I wanted to say goodbye. Truly. Thank you for this second chance…. I love you, and all of our comrades, so dearly. Don’t forget me. Alright? Please say goodbye to everyone for m-me… Ares and Sparrow too… find Kali. She’s hurting out there.”

“NO! FINN PLEASE! NO!”

Finn reaches up and cups her cheek, yawning again. “...I’m so sorry, Morana… so sorry…”

His eyes…flicker out.

….

Morana wakes up sobbing, her entire body shuddering. This has been the worst nightmare yet, and she can barely handle it. She pulls herself out of bed, heading toward where Finn is. Claudia and Flora rush over to her, and Flora has her lean on her shoulder.

“Morana! Oh no… another one? He’s okay, he’s here still, we can feel it…” Flora whispers, then takes the crying woman into a hug.

Claudia frowns deeply, a tear trickling down her cheek. This is a rough time… possibly the worst she’s seen the necromancer.

When Morana pulls away from the hug though, she does notice Finn is very gaunt… it’s been four days and he hasn’t been able to eat. He doesn’t take in fluids or anything like normal, and what she’s doing isn’t enough.

She knows what she has to do.

And she doesn’t have much time left to hesitate.

But it’s tearing her to pieces inside….

====

Flora says in a reassuring tone to her, “We will be okay. We do not ever think differently of you because you can do this. You are saving Finn’s life…erm. Undeath. It is for a good cause. He will agree. Remember, this is Finn - he would likely ramble about the battle implications.” She tries to give a smile.

Morana can’t even force a grin. She does say, “...Yeah. He would.”

Closing her eyes… she sighs.

There’s a… chill in the room. The temperature begins climbing down, to the point where Morana can see her own breath. No one else in this room would be able to see their own breath, as theirs wouldn’t be warm. Though, if anyone were to enter right now, it would be similar to stepping outside into the calm after a blizzard. The door wouldn’t be locked or blocked. There would just be an…eerie calm about the area.

Morana begins to glow a miasma of dark blue, the color of the aether that flows through the veins of her Ashkin. After taking in another deep breath, she allows her pupils to grow and cover her entire eye. The lights flicker eerily, but remain on. Tendrils of aether reach out toward and attach to Finn like branching capillaries.

Morana utters command, her voice holding an eerie, unnatural echo to it.

"̷͌̌R̴̛͋i̸͋͂s̷̽̓e̷̡͛.̵̉̚"̵̈́

["Rise."]

Finn twitches… once. Then twice. Then again. He jolts up, his movements unnatural. When he opens his eyes, he fixes them on Morana.

They are pitch black.

Morana clenches her jaw, then glances toward Flora. She gives a nod… Flora wanders up to the freezer and pulls out a bag of…parts. She tears it open with a swift motion and places it on Finn’s lap. Severed limbs spill out on Finn’s lap. Morana’s breath hitches, and she needs to keep all of her focus on this. She usually avoids trying to watch her Ashkin eat…

The next command is uttered.

"̶̊̃C̴͈͗o̸͑̓ǹ̶͠s̴̫͠u̷͚͐m̶̋e."

["Consume."]

Finn would begin tearing into the flesh like a starved animal, gulping down chunks like he’d never eaten anything in his life. Morana keeps her eyes locked on him as he does so. She’s going to wait until he eats everything, and then will let him rest.

In a normal voice, she says to Flora… “... I am going to turn around. Please tell me when he is finished.” As if the silence from the sound of flesh tearing wouldn’t tip her off. Still, she’s not thinking straight.

Flora says, “Of course, Morana.”

The power of the Necromancer is in full view now, and the reason why so many are afraid. “This is…so wrong… so wrong…” Morana whispers to herself over and over. She feels her heart shattering into a thousand pieces because she had to take control. She could do so easily, turn these people she brought back into true minions, souls trapped in bodies they couldn’t hope to ever control again, watching as they did the unspeakable….

It was all. So. wrong.

She stared at her hands, shaking like a leaf. She’d never done this before to her people, those who had their souls and weren’t just puppeted corpses of the long departed. The capability of great horrors and harm were at her fingertips, but it was never a thought that crossed her mind.

Finn wasn’t there right now. He was still entirely unconscious. Yet… he consumes.

Morana covers her face with her hands.

Irimi listened to her, her own heart dropping hearing the pain in the Necromancer's voice.

"Morana. I know you don't see it right now, but you're doing the right thing. You really really are."

The amount of sorrow in Morana's voice was evident she didn't want to do this- Irimi could tell. But Irimi then looked to Flora nodding but then asked the same question to Morana, "May I approach you?"

Morana continues to stare at Irimi. "...They need to have their wills... I brought them back because of their screams... I c-could hear them... but not like... normal hearing..." She's babbling a bit now but can't help it. "...They deserved a second chance... but need full control of themselves. I am failing him... This is so wrong... s-so wrong..." It's almost like she ...misses Irimi's question.

There's a five second pause. Then, a whispered, "...yes."

Flora, meanwhile, walks forward cautiously, as to not disturb Irimi. She would watch this exchange carefully, not wanting to interrupt, but wanting to be there to explain and answer questions further before someone made the wrong assumptions about what Morana was doing.

Irimi would say nothing to Morana and walk carefully towards her.

Without warning Irimi would kneel down in front of her and take her into a hug.

Morana doesn't do anything for a few seconds, but slowly attempts to hug Irimi back. If she can, she'd bury her face into her shoulder and begin sobbing. The sound of chewing flesh comes to a slow, however.

Flora says gently, "He's done, Morana."

Finn's pitch black gaze would be fixed on Morana as he waits for another command. He looks a lot better now. His cheeks don't seem pulled too close to the bone. His muscle mass has returned, and a few wounds have mended better than before. It's clear he is far, far better off now. But he can't rest yet.

Not without Morana's help.

Morana sniffles, lifting her chin to rest on Irmi's shoulder before uttering one last command. "Rest." Her echoing, commanding tone is tinged with sadness.

The room is still cold, but may slowly begin to grow warmer again. The aether visible aether link melts away, and Morana radiates exhaustion.

Finn's eyes....flicker on as he lays back down. This has actually woken him up. (15) Though he'll still need to actually sleep (as he's indeed not just an animated corpse and (allegedly) uses his brain), he does murmur, "... ... ... Did I get drunk and go after some of Rook's mercenaries or something...."

Irimi would hold Morana tightly, hugging her and not letting go until Morana would pull away.

The word Morana spoke felt... powerful. And much to Irimi's surprise she would hear Finn speak- relieved? To hear him? Irimi sighed relief. "You did great Morana." She whispered to the Necromancer.

Morana is still crying, possibly not hearing Finn at all. She can hear Irimi, as the woman is right there. "...I don't think I did... h-he... had to obey me.. he..."

Finn blinks, then looks over to Claudia. "...Did she use her powers or something?" He can clearly hear Morana now. He looks down at his meal. "Huh. Was I being uncooperative? I-in that frenzy again?!" he gasps, now widening his eyes in alarm.

"No, no, it's alright. You took a hit and died three times... and she needed to command you to eat. You were completely comatosed," Claudia murmurs.

"Oh..." he mutters. "How interesting," he says with a grin. "...The implications in a war situation are--" he cuts himself off, giving Claudia an apologetic stare when she facepalms. He then focuses on a sobbing Morana and Irimi hugging her close. And then looks down at the bones on his lap. ".... I am too tired to clean this up, damn it..." He would casually try to pull the blanket over said bones to be less alarming. Three cheers for the bloody golden retriever! He's trying to be helpful!

"Hey, Morana? Are you alright?" Finn asks. He looks toward Irimi. "Are you alright?!" The last he remembered of her was, well... right before Genji woke up. He has no idea what's going on and appears hopelessly confused. He's shirtless and hooked up to all sorts of things right now that don't do much to help monitor him, but are worth a shot. At least the aetheric-activity tracker is working on him.

OOC: A picture of Finn, one of her Ashkin she ressurected (again...)

Trebol_queen is the one who did this commission for me of Finn :)

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therealdesastrffxiv · 1 month ago

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Gloomy Angels: Nimie's Story

Pictured above: Nimie (left) & Morana (right)

=====

Context: Mysterious Garleans rescuing captured 'monsters' from an evil scientist's laboratory. Story below.

Nimie’s Story

Everything hurt.

Her gums especially, though the recent lacerations on her flesh from that damned scalpel did a number too.

Nimie wanted to die.

But Rook wouldn’t let her.

Every time the vampire exhaled, a whimper-like noise left her lungs. Her eyes were partially closed. She was glad she regrew her eyelids so she could close them now. That had been a ‘fun’ little experiment by Rook. A crash sounded nearby, and she really wasn’t comprehending what was happening now. She could scent the blood rushing through the veins of someone coming closer.

When she looked up, she saw not one, but several people. All with glowing eyes, staring her down. Nimie peeled back her lips and let out a long, drawn out hiss, pressing against the back of her cell. Drool poured down her chin. Such a far cry from the skilled pirate she was outside of this place, and even further back, a complete contrast to her status of nobility she walked away from.

A monster in rags, to rot and die here. What did she see in those eyes? An eerie feminine voice rang out “Listen up. I do not like you. I am not your friend, I do not want anything to do with you monsters. But no one deserves this.” She had no idea what was going on, but the cell was blasted open.

Why couldn’t she scent the people with her?! She had no idea what was going on. They had no heartbeat, no scent aside from the strong blast of ceruleum. Except for the woman standing before her, kneeling there. Nimie snarled and lunged out of nowhere, but her jaws locked onto the mysterious, scentless people. She began to drink, but it tasted like raw aether, and she began to calm down.

“Get her to one of the corpses left behind,” the commanding feminine voice growled.

With that one bite, Nimie lost all strength. Frenzy was over, and though she was now in control, there was no second wind. She slumped, falling to the floor with a whimper. She managed to snarl out a garble of words that were incoherent. She was trying to tell them to leave her alone.

They didn’t.

Warm, fresh blood flowed down her throat, revitalizing her. Her eyes closed as she drank, and slowly, she found herself fading away…

No… no! Please, I need to stay awake, I need to get away…

As everything faded to black, Nimie realized she was being taken somewhere.

—----------------

Groaning, Nimie began to come to, feeling dizzy and a touch sick. She held her stomach, trying not to spew everywhere. The first thing she noticed was that she was on a bunch of cushions and covered in blankets. She was also in new clothing made from a material she didn’t know. There was a light sting to her wounds, but also a warmth, like salve had been applied.

The hum of machines hit her ears, causing them to pull back somewhat. She leaned against a cold, stone concrete wall to realize she was surrounded by rusty fencing. Where was she? Some sort of factory? Was she going to be torn to pieces and processed?!

Nimie whimpered, covering her eyes and starting to sob. She didn’t touch the blankets even though she was shivering profusely. Was this another part of Rook’s sick plan? She was a wreck, and this carried on for hours until she laid there on the cushions, shuddering and clenching her jaw. She opened her eyes and sat up, looking around again to discover someone staring at her.

With no scent.

She let out a bloodcurdling scream at the sight of eerie, glowing pale eyes on her. Her heart began to thud, and her stomach clenched. She was under enough stress that the edges of her vision began to darken, and she fell onto the pillow, shuddering. Very shortly following that, she blacked out for another few hours.

Waking up again, she was here in the factory, not on the table, and a blood bag was by her head. She hissed, refusing to drink it. The blood Rook gave burned. But eventually, she gave in, knowing she would starve otherwise. Her body betrayed her there - she drank the blood bag, but it was actually pleasant. Fresh, rich blood… no added chemicals. No burning as it went down.

When she looked up again she met those eyes. She began to shudder again, this time actually pulling the blankets closer, leaning against the wall. Finding her voice, she snarled, “Oi, who are you? Am I to die here?” No response. The person staring her down was in shiny black material, and… oh hells, they had a third eye. This was a Garlean, again with no vital signs.

Nimie thought this through for a moment. She’d encountered things like this before… What was it? Ashkin, right. From afar. They had no vitals either, they were zombies. With that eerie eye glow and complete lack of sound or scent from them, aside from cereleum, that was her best guess. But…Garleans. She’d read about the horrors they committed, yet never experienced them herself.

She didn’t trust this one bit.

No answers, either. She continued to cry into her hands until she had no more tears to cry.

—--

A day later, Nimie was approached by a man with one eye, the other covered by an eyepatch. He was terrifying, a muscular Garlean with a stare even more frightening than the zombies. He was doing that to her right now. He said in a low, gravelly voice with somewhat of an echo to it, “I am going to bring you to the bathroom. You can take care of yourself there.” He narrowed his eye. There were no words of reassurance here.

Nimie responded to this by hissing at him and pressing further against the wall. Her crimson stare was locked on the zombie as he got closer. “One step closer and I’ll tear right through your BLOODY DAMN ARM, ya understand?! I know you’re a DAMN Ashkin, I know you’re a DAMN Garlean, ya better fuckin’ let me out of here or so help me I’ll show you why I’m called ‘Nimie Vicebite’ ya fuck.”

Well, she was very vocal, and probably cussed Rook out the entire time too. Sure, she started off as a noblewoman. But she’d been a pirate for over five years. The zombie actually let out a sigh, his eye managing to harden. He continued, until suddenly, he lunged, grabbing her arm and causing her to shriek. Now, she was being dragged somewhere while headlocked.

She began to chew on the zombie’s arm, but wasn’t in frenzy, so her jaw strength simply wasn’t out of control, and so, she couldn’t chew through his shirt. Very much annoyed by this, slighted, even, Nimie hissed in frustration. “Bugger, what the hells is this made of, huh? Draggin’ me off to my death who knows where and I can’t even bite through your damn shirt?! How is that fair, eh? Come on, let me go. I’m not tasty. Too much muscle, too gamey, I chew on sailors so am probably way too salty.”

Now, they were going up some stairs. Nimie did not have enough strength to counter the zombie, and she panted, too tired to continue her struggle. So, she continued to hiss, snarl, growl, and cuss at him. “Bastard. Kickin’ someone already down, eh? Not even tellin’ me how I’m gonna die? That scientist sure did, she described every fuckin’ thing she was gonna do to me. Damn it, let me GO ya fucker!”

Up more stairs.

Nimie shrieked as she met the eyes of more Ashkin she had no idea were there. What was this place?! She whimpered, remaining silent until they got to… a bathroom. Like the intimidating fellow said. She was placed on the ground. Then, the zombie stepped back, keeping his stare on her.

Immediately, Nimie hissed at him again. “This some sick joke, eh? Cleanin’ up your food before taking a nice, big, bite? What, gonna tear me to pieces? Just do it then, enough of these damn games!”

The zombie loomed over her as she crouched there on the ground, growling at him. She had no ability to do anything against him, either. She flinched back, swallowing. That deep, gravelly voice was soft now, but very threatening. “Take care of yourself in there. Or.” A scowl spread across his face. “You will learn how it feels to be devoured by Ashkin. Do I make myself clear?”

Nimie hissed at him, swiping toward him with her claws.

The zombie continued. “Towels. Blankets. Spare clothing with the towels. All of what you need. Behave.”

Nimie snapped her jaws at him, her heart pounding, but eventually crept into the shower and tucked herself into the corner. She began to softly cry again, shuddering, her bravado draining from her now that she was out of sight from the zombie.

Eventually, she needed to listen, or she’d become Ashkin chow. (She had no idea the threat wasn’t serious, the zombies did not in fact have vampire on the menu.) When her shower concluded, she stayed in there, closing her eyes.

His voice rang out again. “I am taking you back to your place of rest should you be finished.”

“If I stay in here in the nude, will ya fuckin’ leave me alone?!” Nimie snapped, though the idea of doing that really wasn’t something that she wanted to do. She closed her eyes, clenching her jaw.

In a matter-of-fact tone, the zombie replied from behind the curtain, “I can throw a large blanket over you and direct you back to the spot.”

“Oh, oh, ‘direct’, yes of course! Ya mean drag my ass down several stairs and toss me into a practical cell, right, right, ‘direct’, ya fucker,” Nimie snapped. She sighed and grabbed the spare clothes, then put them on. “Fine, I’m dressed in my church best, all ready for whatever twisted plan ya got for me. Bastard.”

She slunk out from behind the curtain to face the zombie, who did not look amused. He glared her down and approached, causing her to shrink down, her lip quivering. Her stomach twisted, and she covered her face, her panic overcoming her again. Suddenly, she was in his arms, again. This time carried, not dragged. She didn’t remove her hands from her face until she was placed down again.

Here…on the cushions.

There were now some books here, too. A bunch of manual and science books. How exciting.

She sighed, more confused than ever, and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples. She grabbed several blankets and pulled them over her, her back now facing the entrance of this place, where the zombies guarded. With that, she let herself doze off, still completely drained of energy and not doing great.

—--

It went like that for three days.

On the fourth, she began to suspect there was something off. In other words, the zombies had not opted to eat her, she hadn’t been dragged to a table, and she was actually recovering. A very terrifying medicus zombie had visited and asked her in a dangerous, flat, tone, how she’d been feeling.

“Like a bag of shite, that’s how I’m feelin’, bastards. Tell me what’s going on! Please? Just get it over with quickly if you’re going to do something,” she had said. She snapped her fangs and swiped at any zombie that tried getting too close, making the medicus’s life miserable. The medicus, of course, did not explain what they were doing. So, she figured they were malicious.

Either way, she was once again fine. These zombies manhandled her when she tried escaping, but she paid a lot of attention - they never actually hurt her. What was their deal?! Were they trying to help her? Why were they acting like this?

Nimie sighed.

As she gained strength, escape attempts became more frequent. The vampire grew more crafty and could trick the zombies and get a little far before being intercepted. She calculated the patrol routes and tricked them into thinking, at times, she was asleep when really, she wasn’t.

This was one of those times she got pretty far. Up the stairs, juking the zombies, she chuckled to herself at the mess she was making. She knew by now they would not hurt her. At this point, she misbehaved so much to see if she could trigger their aggression (aside from actually attacking them, unless trying to chew on their arm when dragging her back counted) and see if she could end this all faster.

Nope.

She was almost positive they were trying to frighten her on purpose. To be honest, it worked really well, but it didn’t stop her from trying to get some answers.

She could hear her heartbeat. The necromancer. Intensifying as she rounded the corner and stared at the lookout, which reminded her of what archers utilized. With a low, dangerous growl, she met the pale gaze of the woman. “What is going on here, eh? What are you bastards doing, why are you keeping me here? Are you helping me? Say it! Say something! You all can talk, I know it! Tell me–AUGH!”

A strong arm linked around her chest, pulling her against one of the zombies. The one-eyed one. Great, he was the scariest. What did Nimie do?! CHOMP. She began to try and chew on his arm, growling and thrashing like mad. Hearing him sigh in her ear, she pulled hers back.

And down she went. Back to where she’d be guarded by the damn zombies, fed, and met with silence. At least there were some holes in the scary zombie’s arm sleeve now, but that had taken a lot of escape and a lot of chewing. He’d probably repair it, but – “You know. With a sewing needle, I could fix that for you. Eh? Eh? Only payment is to tell me what’s going on!”

She was placed on the cushions. She glared at the zombie as he stepped back. Right now, there was a blank, inquisitive look on his face, but that hardened into a scary one as he clenched his jaw and stepped forward. Nimie shrank back, grabbing the blankets and pulling them over herself, whimpering. “I get it, I get it,” she whispered.

—--

Time to leave, though Nimie had no idea. She was now given chemicals in her blood that made her sleepy, nearly knocking her out. She watched through narrowed eyes as she was carried outside into the cold. Trying to stay awake. What was happening?! They went onto a…large skeletal dragon, causing her heart to pound.

Was this it?

She didn’t know how much time passed, but there, in the distance, was an aetheryte. She was placed on the ground some distance away. She felt eyes on her as she came to, and managed to stand and limp, walking toward the aetheryte. They were going to play with her.

Intercept her.

Or…something. But freedom was so close… she just needed to get away… to get to where others would be, to help her…

She looked over her shoulder. Those pale eyes remained on her, staring her down. Panic set in, and she began to run unsteadily until almost slamming into one of the guards working in the contingent. “Help,” she whimpered. “...Help.”

She…got the help. She got out of there. She survived. Somehow, from some miracle, she survived. The Adders called upon Falls, who brought her to the City of Monsters, where she made a full recovery, at least in body.

What happened during that week-long span? Who were those Garlean zombies? She didn’t know…

Nimie's experience: End!

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