#I stand to the side and gpose

[ffxivtribehydrae]

~ Reaper of the East ~

[zylphiacrowley]

Hello everyone! I got bit by the nostalgia bug from doing and seeing everyone's 2024 GPOSE Wrapped sets so I decided I wanted to throw all my own shots into a ring and make them fight for a spot in a top 10 round-up for my personal favorite shots I've taken all year. So without further ado I present to you:

Honestly any one of the four Pride themed shots could've gone on this list since I still like all of them but Lyra doesn't show up anywhere else on this list (sorry sweet bean bun) so she can be my rep for this set. This whole set was just so much fun to do!

This shot I got by pure chance since I have idle cam on and it just happened to focus on my ErenviIIe retainer standing in my yard at the perfect time of day to capture this moment. I liked it so much I had to hop into gpose and get a proper shot of it. I used this one as my desktop background for a good while.

I can't believe I made an alt to go to an Eternal Bonding and ended up falling in love with them and creating an entire backstory and lore for them yes I can. While this one didn't turn out exactly as I had imagined it in my mind, I'm still pretty happy with it.

This shot is one of my earlier ones from this year. It's also one of my simpler shots. It ends up being this high on the list despite it being less impressive than some of the ones it beat out because it's probably the shot that really kicked off my love for gposing. This is also the shot that I felt was the point-of-no-return in my own mind for them as a couple.

This was another one of those test shots that I do pretty often. I had a concept in mind going into it that I still intend to use in a future set, but this was almost just a happy accident as I meant to get a different shot at the time but I can't help staring at him face sometimes...

From ErenWoL week. I ended up really liking the mood of this shot, but also I liked that I got to include both Lumi (X'vahl's chocobo) and Flag snoozing soundly beside the fire with them as well.

This is @ambalambs boy Miko! I really just absolutely adore him and I had this idea kicking around my brain for a while before I finally asked if I could pose the shots from this set. I am so happy with how they turned out and I'm glad that Lambs trusted me with her boy! ♥

The Combat Couple AU. I like ErenviIIe best as a non-combatant, but sometimes it's fun to think of what-if situations. For instance, "What if we kissed in the shared tankbuster?" (つω⊂* )

I am still just so happy with how this turned out! I love how the colors turned out (even if this shot doesn't have the rainbow that I waited almost an hour to come back in it OTL) Posing all the pixies whisking Feyrn away, maybe to a happier storyline. (╥ ᴗ ╥)

So what could possibly beat out this shot? (╭ರ_•́)

This is my absolute favorite shot from this whole year! I love the lighting, I love the pose, I love the way they're making eye contact, I love that I finally got the hat thing to work! I'm actually still using it as my desktop background. It'll be a challenge to get a better shot in 2025, but I'm excited to see if I can!

This was the first year that I really put myself out there and delved into gposing so I'm overall pretty happy with what I've done in my first year of doing it. But since this is my first year really getting into the gposing side of the community, it's also allowed me to make friends with lots of really incredible gposers out there who are doing some crazy impressive stuff and seeing their work always serves as an inspiration to me to keep learning and doing better myself.

I'm not going to make this into a tag game, but if anyone else feels like doing a personal countdown of your own work feel free to tag me in it. I'd love to see them!

[phaedra-mero]

Physical Appreciation

it sounded like a better title that just 'sexy'. i'm embarressed by how long this took me to write. i'm so out of practice. i'm in that weird place of wanting to write, but feeling like everything is bad. but this is the first thing i've written and finished in months. it's silly, self-indulgent, domestic fluff and it makes me happy. i also wanted to do a gpose to go along side it, but i do not have enough patience. haven't proof-read or edited, so apologies for any spelling or grammatical errors. i also seem to have forgotten how to write in the 3rd person --

It is not often that Thancred rises late. The rare occasions he does he has slept like the dead and nothing wakes him. Phaedra enjoys these unusual mornings. It gives her the chance to spoil him. To have fresh coffee brewed ready for when he wakes and breakfast under way. 

The first sign that he is awake is the sound of him yawning from their bedroom. Then it is about half a minute until he appears through the door; hair mussed from sleep, a light scruff of a beard from where he has not shaved for two days, and he scratches his bare stomach while looking around the living room absently. 

“Coffee is brewed.” Phaedra points helpfully to the kitchenette from where she sits comfortably on one of the plush couches, repairing a hole in a garment. 

Thancred smiles, “thank you, pet.” Before he goes to the kitchen he approaches Phaedra and presses a welcomed kiss to her mouth. “G’morning.”

“Morning,” she smiles and sighs, brushing her index finger over the scruff on his chin. She mourns that in a few hours it will be gone. He prefers to go clean shaven now much to her chagrin. She watches as he goes to the counter where the coffee is sitting, pours a mug and takes a tentative sip as he leans over a missive sitting on another counter that they left there the night before. 

Thancred brushes a hand through his hair making it messier than it was. As he drinks from his mug he scratches his chest absently and then lower, scratching once more at his stomach. Phaedra smiles to herself as she watches her repairs momentarily forgotten. 

He really is a fine specimen of hyur physicality - in Phaedra's opinion at least. Broad shouldered with healthy musculature refined by his time as a rogue, and more recently in the role of a protector. His skin is blemished by scars and not a single one takes away from the fine cut of his torso, or the way his waist narrows slightly. When his skin is kissed by the sun he is blessed with a light smattering of freckles. She enjoys the fine line of silver-white hair that begins at his navel and descends below the waistband of the loose grey trousers he wears to sleep in. 

“I never tell you enough how sexy you are.” Says Phaedra, with a soft sigh and continuing to look Thancred over appreciatively. 

He chokes on his mouthful of coffee and peers up at her over the rim of his mug. “P-pardon?” He cocks an eyebrow at her. 

“I never tell you enough how sexy you are.” She repeats with a smile. “I see you so often like this that it's easy to take for granted. But you are. Sexy, I mean.”

Thancred averts his eyes to the corner of the counter. “You're teasing.” 

“Am not.” Phaedra rises from the sofa. Thancred almost looks like he is pouting into his coffee. It's only as she takes a few steps closer she notices that the curved shell of his ear is turning red, “Oh…”

“What?” His tone is brusque. Looking more closely, Phaedra can see his cheeks, too, are tinged with red. 

“Thancred Waters,” Phaedra cannot help but bite her lip and smile as she approaches, “Archon, Scion, infiltrator, spy, and lover of some repute,” she leans on the edge of the counter that stands between them. “Are you blushing?”

He rolls his eyes at her, “don’t be ridiculous.”

“Oh, but you are,” Phaedra quickly rounds the counter to stand in front of him. Her tail sways easily and she rocks back on her heels. “You are blushing.”

Thancred snorts. “Well… What do you expect?” He puts his coffee on the counter top. “It’s not often you call me… you know, that.” He gestures into the air and appears to struggle to articulate further. 

“What, sexy?” she prompts. Phaedra clasps her hands behind her back and rocks forward this time. “Would you like it if I did? If I remarked on all your attractive traits?” She relinquishes one hand and extends two fingers, walking them up his torso from his navel. “Would you like it if I told you how handsome I find you? How dashing you look when your hair falls just so? Or how that roguish smile of yours when you’re making a joke makes my stomach flip? Would you like it if I told you how well you protect me when we’re fighting together?” As she speaks, Thancred's cheeks grow deeper and deeper in colour and his eyes grow a touch wider with each comment. “What about how devastatingly beautiful you are when you are like this; well rested, relaxed, and caught off guard? Oh, and–”

“That’s quite enough of that.” Thancred quiets her by claiming her mouth in a hard, rough kiss. Phaedra can taste his coffee, bitter and strong on his tongue and his lips. She doesn’t mind it. It mingles with the smell of him, the gunpowder, old leather, and gun oil. 

He pushes his fingers back through her hair and angles her head to deepen the kiss. Phaedra can’t help but laugh into his mouth, which in turn causes Thancred to chuckle, too. She slides her hands over his bare waist noting the hills and valleys created by every scar and muscle. “If I can’t shower you with compliments unbidden,” Thancred says, pressing his forehead against Phaedra’s as he breaks the kiss for a moment, “then neither can you.”

“That’s unfair,” pouts Phaedra. “You’re usually so unflappable.”

“Well, yes.” Thancred tuts, kissing her more gently this time. “But even I have my limits. And being remarked on as ‘sexy’ moments after waking up is not something I am accustomed to.”

“I see, so, you aren’t accustomed to the truth?” 

“Hush, pet.” He kisses her again, muffling Phaedra’s laughter. 

“Or what?” She teases him back, unable to keep her smile from broadening. 

Thancred laughs lightly through his nose. “Hush, or I shall have to take you elsewhere and ravish you. ‘Tis the only course of action open to me.”

“Ravish me?” Phaedra pretends to think it over. “Is that a promise, or a threat?”

“Would you like to find out?”

--

its very silly

[hythlodaes]

the gold and the rust

emile/avi'li (belongs to @lilas) 947 words PLD AU: as knights, emile and avi'li are sworn to the same lord, and in their service they realize the depth of their feelings for each other. in an attempt to exert control over their shifting loyalties, avi'li is sent away for a mission on his own, but their love is not so easily parted.

ty azia @coldshrugs for the gpose!!

Emile stares at the ground. 

It is the only safe place to look. He has been taught to keep his gaze low out of respect, but today it is for control, his nerves beating the blood through his chest too fast, and he knows himself—knows the way he cannot keep his expression calm, each emotion transparent for all to see. 

I never have to ask how you feel, Avi'li teased once, finger poking at his cheek. It's all right here. 

But for him, Emile would try. 

He stands beside the Archbishop, the man to whom he has sworn his service, his protection. Stand and serve like a good knight, like a good man, like someone who doesn't dream of leaving this all behind, bound only by honor, bound only by the ties that have turned to another. 

There's the sound of horses outside—Emile's heart thunders in his chest. Steady, he tells himself, taking one deep breath that he hopes will go unnoticed by the man beside him. Steady, he tells himself as the door creaks open, the sound of boots striding a confident rhythm across the floor. 

Emile will not look. 

Is there blood? 

Stone floors, grey and worn smooth. He memorizes each mark and scuff that lead to the edge of his boots. 

Is he hurt?

And then there's Avi'li's voice. He was sent with a small squadron to scout a crevasse in the Highlands, where there's been multiple reports of disappearances as of late. He sounds steady—no sign of weariness from his voice alone, but it does not quell the worry in Emile's heart. You were not there to protect him. 

Avi's words linger in the back of his mind, just like the smirk he gave him before he left a fortnight ago: By staying behind, I'm protecting you.  

Devotion is a wavering mask these days. 

No sign of threat, Avi'li reports. Locals spoke of myths drummed up to sow fear, when the truth is more likely the foolish draw of the slippery depths. He’s dismissed not long after, and only then does Emile let his gaze rise to meet him, catching his profile as he turns to leave. 

There is slight relief that there is no obvious sign of injury: he walks as usual, his armor is intact, and the sharp white of his hair still sticks out beneath his helmet. Emile can feel the trace of a grin on his lips at the sight, and he curses his own foolish heart, the thing that always gives him away. 

He averts his gaze, settled by the fact that at least he's home, and he waits until it is safe to leave the Archbishop’s side to track him down, taking the stone steps of the fortress by two, each long stride filled with purpose. 

He finds him in the infirmary. The healer looks up as he enters, stepping aside to reveal Avi'li still in his armor sitting at the edge of the cot. He’s taken his helmet off, and his bright eyes turn to him immediately. There is a different kind of relief in his gaze as he speaks softly. "A moment, please." 

The healer casts a knowing glance at Emile before leaving the room, and Emile takes a single step closer, then another, his gaze never leaving him. 

"Worried about me?" Avi'li asks, his voice light, teasing. "I should think that you'd know better." 

"Says the man in the infirmary." 

Avi'li waves him off, the hint of a smile at his lips. "'Tis merely routine."

But it isn't. Because they're always in this together, always sent out together. They’ve fought side by side for so long that his absence has formed its own presence. Emile has grown too used to the comfort, the reassurance of Avi’li beside him, to his warmth along his back as he falls asleep at night, even if he’s gone by the morning. 

Emile is uncertain about love, but he knows love's loyalty. He knows the strength of his conviction. 

"Lia," he breathes out, cursing himself. They started this because it was supposed to be simple, it wasn’t supposed to mean anything. Emile liked his confidence, his sharp tongue, the ease with which he flirts. A little touch, a little relief—and yet here they are. 

Emile takes the last step to close the distance between them, kneeling before him at the edge of the bed. He keeps his hands on either side of his thighs as he looks up, the distance not so far between them as he gazes into those green eyes. 

"Was he watching you?" Avi'li asks quietly. He lifts a cool hand to Emile's face, sweeping his thumb along his cheekbone. 

Emile leans into his touch, nodding. "We have much to discuss." 

"Tonight." 

"You should rest."  

"After a fortnight apart?" Avi'li asks with a raised brow, leaning in close. "Would it not ease your mind to strip me of my armor and search me for injury?" 

Emile's face grows warm as he bites down on a smile. Oh, how he wants to say, I've missed you. 

Instead he leans in closer, just a breath apart. “Tonight, then.”

They may be bound by their oaths to another, but they forge new ones between themselves as they discover who they truly serve. If you asked Emile now, he would speak of the throne, but in his mind he would see the way Avi'li winds a hand through his hair and pulls him in, the way he kisses him with a hunger fueled by distance. 

It's what will undo him in the end, but as Avi'li's lips part against his—warm, comforting, and safe—he knows, undoubtedly, that he’s making the right choice. 

[blackbirdffxiv]

Gorgon's "Longevity" is now available for fem HEVHroths!

A quick and easy port of Gorgon's "Longevity" to some fem talls; originally for a personal project but I really liked it, and ported to other races for public use.

DEV NOTES:

This hair has existing ports for the races I did not include; I've linked each one I could find in the description across every mod download repository for easier finding (I promise I didn't forget y'all!)

Because the hair was made with hyur/elezen ears in mind, there WILL be a gap at the sides for fem viera and hrothgars. Besides that, the hair is still very much viable for gpose so I opted to keep them in rather than exclude them

You WILL need c+ to adjust the hair, as the back stands out quite far to account for larger butts and the hair up front will clip with larger breasts. All of them are fixable/poseable with c+/brio/ktisis/etc.

DOWNLOAD:

[ XMA ] [ KOFI ] [ HELIO ]

[i-mybrunettelady]

gw2 screenshot ask game

Do we have gpose/photo capture mode? No, unfortunately, but it doesn't stop us from taking beautiful screenshots and gifs and making beautiful kiddos and dressing them up! In honor of that, I'm borrowing an ask game I once saw on the ff14 side of things - send someone a character you'd like to see and one of these prompts below! Screenshots and gifs are all welcome! I'll try to cover most of the game, too! Let's show how gorgeous Tyria and gw2 can be <3

Screenshot associated with base game (Central Tyria maps)

Screenshot associated with LWS1 (Southsun Cove)

Screenshot associated with LWS2 (Dry Top and Silverwastes)

Screenshot associated with Heart of Thorns (Verdant Brink, Auric Basin, Tangled Depths, Dragon's Stand)

Screenshot associated with LWS3 (Bloodstone Fen, Ember Bay, Bitterfrost Frontier, Lake Doric, Draconis Mons, Siren's Landing)

Screenshot associated with Path of Fire (Crystal Oasis, Elon Riverlands, Desolation, Domain of Vabbi, Desert Highlands)

Screenshot associated with LWS4 (Domain of Istan, Sandswept Isles, Domain of Kourna, Jahai Bluffs, Thunderhead Peak, Dragonfall)

Screenshot associated with Icebrood Saga (Grothmar Valley, Bjora Marches, Drizzlewood Coast)

Screenshot associated with End of Dragons (Seitung Province, New Kaineng City, Echovald Wilds, Dragon's End, Gyala Delve)

Screenshot associated with Secrets of the Obscure (Skywatch Archipelago, Wizard's Tower, Amnytas, Inner Nayos)

Screenshot associated with racial cities (Hoelbrak, Divinity's Reach, Rata Sum, Black Citadel, Grove + Lion's Arch)

[sjofn-lofnsdottr]

Hey! I love your gposes, and I was wondering if you had any tips on how to get better at making them.

Oh, thank you! You're kind to say so!

I'm gonna approach this like you're super new to it, so I'm sorry if I'm telling you shit you already know! And if you have other questions about something specific, you can DM me if you like, I don't mind. Honestly, that goes for anyone reading this!

I can sense this is going to be stupid long, so I'm also gonna hide a bunch of it behind a cut.

So starting off with vanilla gpose advice, in a general sense I'd say play around with lighting a lot. I usually try to get at least some light spilling onto people from the side (ideally where a light source would be anyway) in order to give them more definition. I know there's gpose lighting tutorials out there that can probably explain it so much better than I can (like this one? maybe?), but it really makes such a huge difference overall. Even when you're taking a picture outside in the sun, a little bit of extra lighting can make stuff look more interesting.

(I might be a little biased, I was a theatrical electrician for a while. I think lighting is neat.)

Another vanilla-applicable thing I'd say is get really, really, really embarrassingly familiar with the in-game emotes, and practice your timing for when you want to freeze them. And don't forget that the 'expression' emotes will override an emote's usual face, which can change the vibe in some fun ways:

And the third piece of vanilla gpose advice I'd give is to mess around with the filters the game has on the 'general settings' tab. Honestly, you've probably done this, but mess around with ALL the things in the gpose menu. Push every button, waggle every slider, just to see what they do.

I'm currently loitering at an art party, so let me show you a little bit what I mean.

So to start, I go into gpose and see what's what. I let all the background people stop facing the camera, and move the camera a bit to an angle I like. I'm sitting in a corner, which is going to mess with the camera more than usual, but in this case, it's messing with it in a way I like, getting me nice and close to Dusk:

Dusk could stand to look friendlier, right? So I head to the emotes tab in the menu, and pick 'beam' for his expression, because it's the smile I like best on him:

Still kinda bleh. Things look a touch murky, and flatter than I like. Before I do ANYTHING with the lighting though, I go here:

And then I save the hell out of the camera position. Saving the camera position has saved me so much pain. This is because placing lights in gpose requires you moving the camera, since they drop exactly where your camera is. But I like this angle, and I don't want to lose it. So I save it! It'll also save lighting settings, which I find handy occasionally, but not nearly as often (it's a lifesaver when I accidentally hit the hotkey that turns off lights though).

I've taken a lot of pictures in this venue, and the pink/white color scheme is uh ... tricky for me, sometimes. But on the upside, white walls and floors bounce light really well! For this picture, I think I want some light coming from the left of the frame to give Dusk slightly more interesting shadows, and a blue light much further away and above to soften the harshness of the white and pink:

My next step is to use the gpose-provided color filters to see if there's anything I like, just in case:

Bright 1 is one I've wound up using a lot, even though it ruins my eyes and makes everything look dark as hell once I come out of gpose.

Now, the white coming from the left is hitting Dusk pretty much exactly how I want it to, but it's lighting up his moogle sundae more than I'd prefer. The way I usually deal with this is using the 'limb darkening' slider. What it does is darken the edge of the picture, to varying degrees. It even has different colors, although I use black pretty much always:

I only used one tick, but it's made me much happier about the sundae! My one complaint now is that I had to turn off depth of field in order to keep Dusk from being blurry (it's a slider, but by the time Dusk looked focus, it might as well have been shut off anyway), but it's something I can live with for a vanilla gpose.

I have reShade installed though, so let's mess with that for fun. I tend to stick to presets that don't stray too far from what the game itself does unless I'm doing dumb vampire artsy things:

But honestly, in this case I don't think it was really necessary.

As for getting better with crimes, I would again stress getting familiar with the game's emotes and attack animations, because they are often a fantastic starting point to modify into something you're wanting to see. Also, this sounds weird (probably) but when I first started out, I did a lot of throw away pictures that no one besides my Discord knitting circle will ever see because everyone is naked in them. I did this for two reasons. Wait, no, three:

I was high when this idea came to me and therefore I lacked my usual shame.

Clothes clipping was driving me crazy and I wasn't good enough to handle it yet. Stripping everyone naked took that out of the equation, so I could focus on actually moving the dollies in peace.

However! It also meant I couldn't depend on clothes to mask some of my worst shortcut sins as far as moving limbs and what it did to their joints went. This meant I got a lot better at knowing how to move the dollies I was working with in the way the models want to be moved and still look right.

Obviously a saner thing to do would be ~beach pictures~ with everyone in swimsuits. Good thing Dawntrail is coming!

Some of the things I learned during this naked process:

While I try to make a pose look good from multiple angles, because I rarely know what angle I'm going to ACTUALLY want until stuff is at least roughed in, if I know for absolute certain I'm only going to take it from one particular angle, it is best for one's sanity to make sure it looks good from that angle and ignore everything you can't see otherwise.

If you ARE taking more than one angle of the same pose, it is not a crime to make little adjustments after you change the angle! This is extra true when you're doing something like a kiss, because noses are the worst. Go ahead and nudge something that looked right from Angle A but a little off from Angle B. No one will know your dark secret.

Somewhat related, sometimes little tweaks are really all you need! This is especially true when it comes to faces. Try not to overthink what you're doing too much.

Very often, if you want to move, say, an arm from position A to position B, you should start by adjusting the clavicle and work your way down. At first this was kinda slow and annoying and required a bunch of passes, but it resulted in way more natural looking results without asking people to politely ignore wonky elbows and such. Like everything else in the world, this gets a lot faster with practice and is 1000% worth getting halfway decent at.

Hands are the devil, but they also really make or break a pose for me a lot of the time. The more natural you can make hands and fingers look when touching something, the better, I feel. On the whole, I find FFXIV hands are a lot better at gentle-looking touches than rough-looking ones, but that may be my own limitations talking here. Spend time just messing with hands to get familiar with them, just like the rest of the skeleton. Eventually it'll start to get easier and easier to move stuff to where you want it without having to do a million little adjustments on the way to where you're aiming (I'm down to about half a million these days).

Eye contact is fucking hard too. I try to get the models to do as much of the work for me as possible as I go into gpose. For example, I'll make sure Dusk has Farron targeted, so he'll already looking down at him, but most of the time I'm going to be moving their heads or bodies too much for that eye contact to still look right. The way I usually do it is put the camera behind the person being looked at, and then make that person disappear and adjust the looker's eyes from there. Then I check from the angle I actually want to shoot from and make tiny adjustments to make it look more 'correct' to my eyes. Sometimes when I post Camera A/Camera B angles? It's because the eye contact only looked right from those angles no matter what I did and I'm making you all just have to deal with it.

Double check everything! It's easy to rough something in and then go blind to it being not-quite-right.

It takes me about 5 minutes to stop noticing nakedness because I am too busy swearing about elezen necks or something.

Once you start letting your dolls wear clothes and armor again, you have to start thinking about clipping and physics and such, which will also take practice, but I feel like people on the whole are a lot more subconsciously forgiving about that, because we all play this game and we all got trained to ignore a certain amount of clothes being weird because of it (this goes for most clipping, really). Which is good! I try to minimize clipping without actually having to touch any of the clothing bones if at all possible and only really mess with those if I absolutely have to because, say, the entire tail of Dusk's coat is clipping through the chair he's sitting on.

I suppose that's another thing, sometimes ... sometimes a glam is just a nightmare to work around and you just wear something else.

I hope this was ... helpful at all, I know it's long but hopefully not full of shit you knew already, or overwhelming to read. But I wanted to say more than just 'practice,' since that's hard to do if you don't even know what you should be practicing! And again, if you have a more specific question (or follow up questions?), definitely send a DM or something!

[foxgirlmoth]

Okay so I spent like 5 hours with a girl in my FC in FF14, and at the start we were just talking about whatever. I Learned she used to live in my state, she's angry at a lot of stuff going on (sadly more liberal, but knows some ML theory so hurray!). I also learned she didn't see herself as a girl at all but deeply wished she was one. Said so many things I had said ages ago, and also felt bad thinking that sex would be better etc, etc. Quick side tangent but wanting sex that actually is enjoyable for you and wanting bottom surgery and tits to play with is cool as hell. I also felt/feel the same, so I kept talking with her and she mostly said her age and also social standings and making life harder were her main barriers.

She said she wished she had a wife or gf that looked like her character and I just flat out said "Or you can be her" and I think it clicked for her. She got a bit flirty after that and loved getting called cute, and honestly I always saw her as a woman before we had talked today and she was very happy hearing that too. This like, 1 hour of talking led to me messaging her in discord because she was worried about being a creep with the whole sex thing, so we talked a bit about kink and sex which was fun.

I also wanted to message her about mods that I have (not a good thing to talk about in game), and how I run around as a Mi'qote girl a good bit too using it. I also told her you can save other people's character models and outfits. Not to out myself and my kinks, but body swap/gender bending stuff can be very nice especially because like, trans, wanting a new body, its just something I see around a lot with trans people I think. I then told her that out of everyone in the FC, she was the only person that I saved a version of their character that I could become because I thought she was cute. She was IMMEDIATELY interested, especially because I had told her I had a good few 18+ mods, and she wanted to see her character all dressed up, and I guess also dressed down.

4 hours of GPosing pass and I probably have like 100 pictures I took of her (some with two of her or some with my character in there too) and I was calling her cute and talking about HRT and diy hrt and everything. She was so much more talkative and bright and happy, it was so nice to see. It was a really fun night but its almost 8:00 AM now and I'm tired, but I feel like I cracked a few decades old egg tonight. Forcefemming is always morally good.

[celestiafaerie]

FFXIV Write Day 1 - Steer

Listen, I know I am late. But I did it! My first ever FFXIV Write entry!

Characters:

Celestia Faerie (WoL) G'raha Tia Word Count: 502

Summary:

Celestia wants to make that bank and spots her favorite person whilst gathering materials.

“Ugh, sometimes I wish I wasn’t so cheap.” Celestia sighed to herself in her car. She was working on crafting a new item to sell on the marketboard. Unfortunately, in order to make that item she needed several different items that she knew she could gather herself.

It felt like she was gathering for ages and she was starting to figure out if it was all really worth the amount of gil she was going to make. The driving around on her recently acquired Regalia on her various side adventures, the searching for the materials, and all the math she needed to work out for the craft was starting to not seem worth anything. In the distance she sees a figure walking. The walking figure started looking somewhat mi’qote shaped and familiar.

“Is that..? What is he doing out here? In the middle of La Noscea?” Celestia was confused beyond belief. Why would he be here just walking about? She sped up a little to catch up and honked the horn, startling the mi’qote.

“WHA!!” The mi’qote jumped in the air as Celestia pulled up next to him. His demeanor changed from scared to relieved and then nervous. He knew she was going to be in the area, but he was hoping he could fly under her radar while he helped out. “HAHA! I got you, Raha!” Celestia couldn’t help but laugh at how spooked the mi’qote looked, fluffed up tail and all. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. What are you doing out here anyway? And why are you walking?” 

“Well, I…. I wanted to help… I knew you were gathering some things.” He paused, rubbing his arms in the cute embarrassed way that Celestia had recognized. “I just wanted to help you out.” He pulls from behind him, a bag of the materials Celestia was gathering. 

“Raha! Oh my.” Her face went from smiling to concerned. Celestia got out of the car and opened the bag of materials rummaging and seeing it was more than enough of what she needed. Tears started forming in her eyes as she dropped the bag and threw herself towards G’raha barrelling him into a hug. G’raha startled at first by the whiplash of emotions he experienced on Celestia’s face and then pure joy knowing he did good, wrapped his arms around her and hugged back.

“Okay, but you didn’t answer my second question, why are you walking?” Celestia pulling back and looking at G’raha’s flushed face.

“Well, I didn’t want to draw attention to myself in case you were near me. I was hoping I would sense you coming towards my direction and I could hide fast enough.” He said raising both arms into a shrug. Celestia backed up a step and put her arms on her hips. 

“Raha, you are so silly.” She turned towards the car and made a beckoning motion towards G’raha, “Get in the car, I gotta head back now and craft this before the numbers drop on the marketboard again.”

Thank you @bananarose for being a placeholder for me to gpose this idea. (I needed someone to stand outside of the car so Banana was my G'raha for a moment lol ) Thank you @jaysdividers for the dividers used here.

[wol-taleal-desharn]

Mmm Shadowbringers gposes. :3 Under the cut! While I'm not generally spoiler-free, I do try to hide stuff so its not like...IDK. There's spoilers here, but if its under a cut you look at your own risk :P

“…why me?” The question was so quiet, desperate, barely a whisper, G'raha was not sure he'd heard it.

He tilted his head. “Why-? There are many reasons why, personal and not so personal. The not so personal - there are fights yet ahead, wars unwon, and the Source will need its champion - its hope.” He paused, making a huff of a noise. “In the timeline I awoke in…the Source was doomed. The surviving people, do you know the story most often told, to keep hope alive?”

Taleal shook her head slowly.

“It was of you.” G'raha smiled, though it did not reach his eyes, which were downcast to the side in an attempt to hide his own unshed tears. “Tales of the Warrior of Light; her deeds, her compassion, her bravery. How she fought to save everyone she could. The Light in the dark, if you will. You could stand where no one else could, fight the battles others could not.” G'raha drew a slow, steadying breath. “And so I vowed, then, that I would do everything within my power to make sure your fate was not what had been written. That you would live. After all…”

~ * ~

Some gposes to go along with this conversation snippet here. Will I actually finish that fic? Eventually.

[ofcoffee-andletters]

FFXIV Write day 3 Prompt: Tempest

Preface: This is a snippet writen based on a gpose I already did once when I was going through MSQ with Meteor - that will be posted eventually but all you need to know is that Ardbert is alive (with a body of his own) with Meteor here.

Please enjoy.

Tempest : a violent storm : TUMULT, UPROAR

—————

Looking up to the sky there’s nothing but the silence of the stars, the calmness of the vastness of the eternal dark sea — and yet all he can do is close his eyes and think about the irony of this whole situation — his world was being consumed by Light and here he is, by luck, by a miracle and the stubbornness of someone who is too stupid and too brave for his own good…but it came with a great opportunity.

He is here.

Saving, or attempting to save, a world consumed in Darkness.

——————

‘…Are you going to be alright?’ Meteor had asked, and Ardbert had no answer. The idea of going to the thirteenth shard and seeing what had become of Cyella’s world, what had been the reason for her to leave his home behind and try to use him and the others was, frankly, overwhelming — but… ‘You can stay if you…’

‘There’s no way in all hells I am staying back.’ Ardbert growled back, basically, making Meteor look surprised and a bit more worried — and so Ardbert cursed himself for a second before he tried to understand his own thoughts. ‘…That’s…her world. And she has suffered for so long, she was even willing to betray us…’

The Warrior of Light seemed to understand the conflict inside his shard’s heart and — to his credit — he knew a bit about what to do: It was his time to be there for him. To be there to support him.

‘This might be the first time we see the thirteenth shard, but…you know I am going to be there every step of the way.’ Ardbert chuckled after hearing that, knowing full well from where those words had come from. ‘…I do prefer seeing you smiling, you know?’

Ardbert — the once called Warrior of Darkness and, now, second Warrior of Light along with Meteor — closed his eyes and nodded, ‘…How curious…I do also prefer to see you smiling, Meteor.’

——————

There’s a soft touch upon his hand and Ardbert has to look to the side — he finds Meteor to his side and smiling, before he stands in silence next to him, the two of them looking ahead as they are finally here, standing on the Moon of another of the shards…a red moon that overlooks a world consumed by darkness.

As Ardbert studies said world with his eyes, he can’t help the pain inside his heart that wants to make him scream at how unfair everything has been, since the very beginning — since before any of them even knew about other worlds, about reflections, about…anything. And yet he feels sure about the next steps to take, about his decisions, more than ever — or maybe for the first time ever.

“We will find Golbez…we will save not only Azdaja, but this entire world…” Meteor’s words make Ardbert remember how to breathe, an irony for him, so used to be an oddity, an existence that shouldn’t even be here — yet he is alive, miraculously and surprisingly. “As long as we’re together, we will save this world.”

“Your eternal optimism continues to impress me…but, it is one of the reasons I love you.” Ardbert can’t help but tease his soulmate, making said man get a soft pink tint over his cheeks — and then he is rewarded with a soft smile and a look of reciprocated love. “You’re really so easy to melt…”

Meteor let’s go of his hand and then pushes Ardbert away, flustered and smiling, “Shut up…!”

Ardbert can’t help but feel his heart full with love, with happiness and…comfort, he is unable to be worried or doubt himself, the circumstances, anything, as long as Meteor is there, shining like the Sun itself and with a smile that would be enough for him to fight through despair as many times as he could — for this man.

All he desires is to be able to show this to Meteor, from here on…

——————

He can hear his heart hammering inside his chest, painfully fast, his own breathing coming to a halt the second his eyes register what is happening — and while something inside of his own self tells him he shouldn’t just stay there and then kneel down to try to see what is happening — he just stares, barely feeling the weight of his shield on one arm and unable to even notice if he still has his sword on the other.

He just sees him, falling.

“…Death is not forever in this world, Hero.” A voice, grave and cruel, says behind him. “But do not despair — for your beloved shall join me, as another voidsent.” That last word made the former Warrior of Light tense — and his mind stopped reasoning. “…Maybe then, you shall understand the pain we have gone through…”

Pain, Golbez says, and Meteor cannot help but think that he is is familiar with it — pain and loss have been a constant company every step of his journey since he started to fight for the sake of the star. And now Golbez wants to say his pain was greater? His loss was bigger? His suffering was enough of an excuse to take away anything and anyone he wanted?

Bullshite.

"I…will…kill you." Meteor's voice can be heard, and even himself finds his words to be surprising. Violence and suffering are not things he likes to inflict on others — but he can't stop, he can only think about what he just saw, what jus happened.

He was here fighting alongside Ardbert, and while he had been worried about what could happen…his soulmate was always sure and firmly believing that as long as they were together nothing would or could go wrong.

But of course, Golbez wasn't an idiot and throwing Ardbert off the edge of the arena was always an option, and what did Meteor do? Nothing. What did Meteor attempt? Nothing. He just stared, there, scared and frozen until he couldn't see Ardbert's body anymore.

"…I will kill you, over and over again…until I am satisfied…" Meteor hears himself saying, his heart hammering against his chest in pain and anger, his soul burning with desperation and mourning — a feeling he hates, a feeling he doesn't want anymore.

His entire being screams to get rid of whoever and whatever hurt one of his most important treasures, his beloved soulmate, his Ardbert. Yes. This man had killed his Ardbert.

And Meteor could feel a surge of pain and agony powering every single blow of his sword as he rushed back to make sure Golbez regrets every breath he takes from now on.

——————

His entire body is moving but his mind is long gone, he knows voidsent can't die here, he knows Golbez is weak and practically out of power to keep defending himself.

He doesn't care.

He sees the black knight's figure ahead and he is walking towards it once more, focusing on this, on hurting someone else, on making someone else feel pain and agony is better than trying to think what he is going to do after.

And when he raises his sword again he feels a soft touch stopping his arm — his mind goes blank and he swears his very heart stops beating for a second — slowly he is being turned around and he hears it.

"…Meteor?" Ardbert's voice sounds filled with worry.

And Meteor can't do anything but let go of his weapons and cling to him, gripping on Ardbert's clothes so tightly he fears he is going to rip them but he doesn't care. He is here. He can feel his warmth and hug him, he can touch him and hear his voice, he is here. He is fine. He is alive.

"Oh, Meteor…I thought…you…" Ardbert tries to understand what is happening, and he sighs. "I thought you remembered how my echo works…something like that isn't going to…" It's clear his dear shard doesn't want to mention more.

It feels like even saying the words would make Meteor break.

"…What am I to do with you…?" Ardbert whispers as he slowly embraces Meteor, his hand caressing his back up and down, the other one making sure to keep him pressed against his body. There are no tears happening but there's no need for them…the pain and fear inside Meteor's soul is palpable enough without it.

And so Meteor finally speaks, his voice far weaker and scared… "I thought I lost you…"

"I know."

"I couldn't see you…"

"…I know."

"…I can't go on without you…"

Ardbert closes his eyes and kisses his cheek, his embrace becomes even tighter. "I know, and you will never have to…I am here." And those words are what finally break the Hero, making Meteor care not for anything else, just clinging to his soulmate, his eyes closed as he allows Ardbert to move him around…the rest of the Universe doesn’t matter in this moment, or any moment until his heart can stop hurting.

Until his mind stops being filled with fear.

Until he is sure he is not losing someone again.

[diamondangelkitten]

Junelezen Day 30: Free Choice

Ali's Carbuncles

Thank you to @akirakirxaa for the final 2 gpose pics of Alinea and her carbuncles playing around!

I decided that the best way to finish off this wonderful month of Junelezen was to celebrate my carbuncles. They're my favorite creatures and I love that I've now been able to give them personalities :)

I've written a bit about Alinea's carbuncles and their abilities, which I'll include under the fold. I wrote this when I first started coming up with Alinea's backstory, so I'm glad I get to share this.

Thank you for sticking around through Junelezen!! It's been wonderful to share more about Alinea and her life! Every like, comment, and reblog has meant the world to me!

“Well, in theory it’s possible.”

“Come on Alphi! You’ve created two different carbuncles and they’ve each had special abilities and uses. Please!!”

“Alright, alright. It’s just... I’ve never seen a pink stone before. Have you?” Alphinaud looks up with genuine curiosity at the Elezen next to him. She looks at him, and upon realizing he is serious, reaches into her bag.

“I found this gem today. I’d want a brighter pink for my carbuncle, but considering familiars and carbuncles can take whatever shape you want, it really should be possible, right?”

“Yes, in theory, that is sound. But two, at the same time… Are you sure you can handle that Alinea?”

She knows he means well when asking this, but he really needs to have more faith in her. She smiles and gives him a hug. “I know what I’m asking Alphinaud and I’m sure. Having Lumen with me helps, but having another creature fight by my side that is in and of myself…”

She’s not sure how to explain how much Tataru had been right when guiding her to the arcanist’s guild after being overwhelmed after the First and needing another companion.

“You’ve felt it, haven’t you, Alph? When you get overwhelmed in a battle? How their aether, your aether, comes back and calms you? They may just be constructs, but you and I know better than that.”

Alphinaud looks down at his moonstone carbuncle, resting at his feet. “You’re right,” he says standing up, “So then, let’s do this shall we?”

Alinea jumps up, eager to learn. After going through the incantations and picturing in her mind’s eye exactly what she wants, she conjures a beautiful bright pink carbuncle.

“Hello Sephy.”

“Sephy?”

“Yes, I was feeling Persephone, but that’s a bit of a mouthful isn’t it? So I thought Sephy.”

“Hm, I like it! Ready for the next one? You’re not too tired already are you?”

“I’m good Alphi! And I have Sephy too! She wants to meet her brother.”

He chuckles, “Okay, if you’re sure then.”

Alinea closes her eyes and concentrates. A few moments later, an amethyst carbuncle emerges. He looks around and immediately goes to the pink carbuncle.

“No name yet?” Alphi inquires.

Alinea shakes her head, “He’s not as easy as his sister.” She waits a few moments and then starts to laugh. Alphi inclines his head toward her.

“What do you think of Demetri?”

“Demetri? I’ve never heard that name before, but I like it. Will it have a shortened version too?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Alinea smiles. “He’s just Demetri.”

While originally appearing a bit more standoff-ish and aloof than his sister, once he hears his name, he comes up to Alinea and sits on her feet. The smile that’s on Alinea's face is one that Alphinaud hasn’t seen in a while, and he is grateful to be able to offer her a bit of a reprieve.

“There you two are! Everyone’s been looking for you… Whose are these?” Alisae comes up behind them and stops at the sight of the two carbuncles. “If you tell anyone, I will deny it, but these are adorable!”

She runs up and holds her hand out to the carbuncles. Demetri goes to sniff Alisae, but Sephy goes straight to Alphinaud.

“Well, at least they like you both.” Alinea smiles at the scene. Her favorite people, and her carbuncles trusted them immediately, even if they did have favorites. 

A few months later, Alinea is back in Il Mheg. Feo Ul senses her and goes to check in. Beside Alinea are her two carbuncles, the purple with a knife nearby, and the pink with flower bracelets on while Alinea weaves a flower crown for it.

“Ah, my lovely sapling, is everything alright?”

Feo Ul knows better and that deep down Alinea must have something on her mind.

“I’m just tired Feo Ul. There are these towers on the Source and a madman, make that two, are running loose. I know something bad is about to happen, and I know that I can and will do what I need to. But is it bad to be tired and just need rest?”

Feo Ul gives her loveliest of saplings a hug.

“You’ve had a heavy burden placed on you dearie. But you’re the only mortal I know who could handle it. And you’re not alone. You’ve got me, all the fae, and so many mortals on your side. Rest. You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others. It will not do to see you burnt at both ends.”

Alinea agrees.

“Rest right now dearie,” and with a snap of her fingers, Feo Ul has provided a blanket and pillow for Alinea.

“I will keep watch on you and when you awake, I want the story of your familiars.”

Alinea agrees and within minutes is fast asleep. Her carbuncles cuddle close to Alinea and Feo Ul can see her relax minute by minute. After several hours, Alinea awakes looking much refreshed. Feo Ul is delighted to see her sapling replenished. After setting up some food to cook, Alinea regales Feo Ul with the tales. How she learned that she had anxiety that would creep up during battles. How Lumen, or one of her comrades would normally keep it at bay, but when she was separated she would start to panic. How she told Tataru this and was sent to the Arcanist’s Guild, where she first learned to conjure carbuncles. She still loves her starting ones and will bring them out to play occasionally, but these had a stronger bond with her, and keep her more calm, while also helping on the battlefield.

When Feo Ul inquires why the purple one keeps a knife near him, Alinea bursts out laughing.

“Well, one time in a training fight, some loud mouth said that carbuncles are of no use. Demetri didn’t take well to that and started attacking his ankles. I thought it’d be funny to see if I could train him to use a blade and well, he took to it.”

She turns to Sephy curled up next to her.

“Sephy is more gentle. Her shields are far more resistant than his. No offense meant. It’s almost like they represent two different sides of me.”

Alinea knows that this is similar to Fray and Ardbert as well.

"It’s disconcerting having all the pieces and parts to you that you can never fully understand."

She looks up at Feo Ul, who has a bright smile on her face.

“And dearie? What’s wrong with that? You are kind and caring to others, but that means you stand up for those that can’t for themselves. You need both. I am proud of you, o sapling of mine. And I know you will not fail no matter what comes next. Though if you ever need encouragement, call on me at any time.”

“I will Feo Ul. Thank you.”

“Until next time dearie.”

The King disappears and Alinea, far lighter than before, packs up and heads back to the Source.

[hythlodaes]

until we get it right emile/estinien - 1.9k words cw for references to past violence

wild west au heavily inspired by this gpose by @coldshrugs <3 estinien becomes something of an outlaw in seeking his personal vengeance, and emile is sent to stop him but ends up joining him at the promise of earning his own. title + fragments come from wishbone by richard siken!

 let’s just get going, let’s just get gone...

—

They make camp for the night.

Or rather, Estinien makes camp for the night while Emile stands far too still in the distance. Estinien stares at the line of his back through the softening smoke. They’ve hardly spoken a word since they skipped town—what was supposed to be a quick stop for supplies ended in nearly getting caught, and more violence than either of them intended. They’re a safe distance away, enough that Estinien felt comfortable building a fire and setting out their bedrolls, gathering the food rations they have left, and all the while Emile has stood by the creek, unmoving. 

He said he was just going to wash up. 

Estinien’s jaw aches from clenching it this whole time. The answers to his questions feel too far out of reach—they’ve been through too much to know what’s wrong without asking. Estinien told him there would be bloodshed from the beginning, and it was a warning and a promise all the same. It’s the reason why Emile joined up with him at all.

Come on, he thinks to himself. Just move. 

But nothing changes as the fire cracks to life, the only sound besides the wind chasing through this empty space. 

It’s just them, and sometimes Estinien wishes it wasn’t. 

“Emile!” he calls, gritting his teeth at the harsh sound of his voice cutting through the evening. Emile still doesn’t move, doesn’t turn his head, and Estinien swears under his breath before he gets up. He repeats his name as he draws closer, the sound of his boots crunching over the dirt. Emile’s hands are clenched at his sides, but as Estinien finally reaches him, he can see the way they shake. 

“You over here sulking, or what?” Estinien asks, refusing to let his heart soften at the way Emile stares into the water, his face marked red with blood, his sleeve soaked with it from where the bullet grazed his arm. He finally looks over at Estinien, his eyes dark, his mouth pulled into a tight line, and it takes a long moment for Estinien to realize that he’s angry. 

“Why did you do that?” Emile asks, and his usually soft voice turns sharp. He doesn’t need to clarify—Estinien can still see the gun pointed at Emile, can still recall the way he didn’t hesitate to raise his own to protect him. It was just one quick pull of the trigger...  

“Because you’d be dead if I didn’t,” he answers, glancing at Emile’s injured arm. A few inches over and that would’ve gone through his heart. Emile’s brows pinch together before he looks away. 

“I could’ve taken him.”

“You could’ve had a hole in your chest,” Estinien bites out. “Then where would I be?” 

You. He’d meant to say you. 

Luckily, Emile is too upset to notice. “His blood should’ve been on my hands, Estinien” 

“You don’t owe me, if that’s what you’re wonderin’.”

“It isn’t about that,” he returns. “I...”

Estinien waits, but Emile doesn’t finish his thought. They stand side by side at the edge of the creek, and the setting sun ignites the shallow water in shades of pink and orange. Estinien kicks a rock into the stream. “Is this still about your honor?” 

“No,” he answers, and the anger leaves his voice entirely. “Just forget it.” 

Finally, he moves. He turns back towards camp, taking off his hat as he shakes his hair out. He looks golden in this light, like something that was made to reflect the sun, and this time Estinien is the one frozen where he stands, trying to understand what he meant. 

He pulls his bandana free from his neck and wrings it out in the water a few times before he follows him back to their camp. He means to hand it to him but falters as he approaches him sitting by the fire, frowning at the flames. He looks up at Estinien with a question in his eye that only grows as Estinien crouches before him. 

“You’ve got...” Estinien trails off. Emile glances between him and the bandana in his hand, eyes cautious, but he nods. Estinien lifts it to wipe at the dried blood on his cheek, keeping his touch as gentle as he can. He can feel Emile’s gaze still on him, but he focuses instead on his tanned skin, on the freckles that multiply daily as they travel by the relentless sun. He can feel Emile’s breath against the side of his hand—the way it comes shallow, the way he holds it as Estinien brushes the corner of his mouth. 

There’s an ache in Estinien’s chest that never goes away. 

“Take off your shirt,” he says as he pulls back, ignoring how his hand trembles the slightest at the thought of taking it off himself. ��You can borrow my other one until we have the time to mend it.”

Emile shakes his head. “It’ll do for some time yet. It just needs a wash.” 

Still, he undoes the buttons and Estinien looks away, retreating to grab his makeshift medicine bag from the saddle. It’s no more than a few tinctures and a bandage, but that’s all he needs. When he returns, he stops short at the sight of Emile by the fire’s glow. The flames lick at his naked skin, orange light ghosting over his exposed muscles as he pushes his hair to his uninjured side. 

The wound, Estinien reminds himself. 

It’s uglier up close, grazing his bicep, angry and raw. It’s stopped bleeding but it’s still completely open, and Estinien takes a breath before he touches his elbow, pulling his arm closer. There’s a chill that’s settled in with the night, but Emile’s skin is warm against his hands, making him want to draw even closer. Emile merely keeps his gaze locked on the fire in front of him as Estinien begins to wrap the bandage around his arm. 

“My Ma taught me how to do this,” Estinien murmurs, just to fill the silence between them. “I was always bleedin’ from one injury or another—I think she knew it would save my ass someday.” 

It gets Emile to look at him, his eyes still so dark. He doesn’t say anything for a long moment, but then, quietly, “Do you miss her?”

Estinien swallows hard. “Every day.” 

He thinks Emile’s the only person that knows this side of him. He’s the only person he’d let see this side of him. They’re in this together, and sometimes that feels like a vow of its own. They’re married to their vengeance, and they will see it through or they will die—they would rather walk through hell than leave the crimes against them unanswered.  

It’s something only they can understand now, and as much as they rile against each other, it binds them together. 

It leaves room for confessions like this:

“I don’t know how I can go home after this,” Emile chokes out as his breath hitches. “I don’t know how I can face my mother.”

Estinien doesn’t let his hands pause. He finishes wrapping the bandage around his arm, each motion smooth and methodical, something reassuring where words can’t be. There’s nothing he could possibly say—they aren’t good men, and they’ve walked too far down this path to turn back now. 

“Is that what you want?” he asks. “To go home?” 

Emile shakes his head. “No, I… I need to do this, but I won’t be able to forgive myself for it.”

Estinien ties off the bandage but finds that he can’t let go of him yet. He smooths his thumb across the skin beneath it, and his next words come hushed: “Can you forgive me?” 

“You don’t spare me any guilt by killin’ for me.” 

“I’m not trying to,” he murmurs. “I’m just keeping you alive.”

“Why?” 

The sky grows darker, and with it the fire glows brighter. It highlights the pain in Emile’s eyes, and Estinien thinks he could do anything for him—he could protect him, he could avenge his father, he could bandage any wound, but there’s nothing he could do to take that hurt away. 

He thinks he’d still like to try. 

“Because you hum when we’re on the trail—for hours at a time. It must be every song you ever heard, because each time I look back, I think, he’s bound to stop after this one, and then you keep humming. It annoys the hell out of me,” Estinien says, and he finds his smile threatens to crack at Emile’s soft laugh. He takes a breath, sobering as he feels the full weight of it in his chest. “It would be awfully quiet without you, Emile.” 

Emile stares at him for a moment before he turns away, scrubbing his free hand over his face, and his voice is muffled and shaky when he says, “I can stop humming, if it annoys you.” 

“No,” he says, and he laughs despite the way it aches. “We’ll keep going, okay? Just as we are.” 

“Just as we are,” Emile repeats. He looks back at Estinien, eyes a little watery but he nods. He pulls his arm away from where Estinien still holds it, and then he gets up, digging through their bag for the spare shirt they have. He throws it on while Estinien throws another piece of wood on the fire, and it seems that they agree on letting the conversation go. 

He doesn’t say anything when Emile lays on his bedroll after—doesn’t say that it’s too early to sleep, that they haven’t eaten yet, that he feels like all his emotions have spilled out everywhere to be seen. He stays up, staring into the fire as the stars begin to turn in the sky, and he listens for any danger in the distance. It’s just them. 

It’s just them, and most of the time Estinien is grateful for that. 

He doesn’t remember when they started placing their bedrolls next to each other, but it’s become part of their routine. It makes it easier to share body heat when the night grows cold, but neither of them say anything when they curl up together regardless of the temperature. Estinien tosses one more piece of wood on the fire before laying beside Emile. He listens to the sound of his breathing, judging if it’s heavy and even enough to mean he’s asleep, before he inches closer to press his back along his. 

Like this, they guard each other through the night. 

In the morning, they can pretend that this didn’t happen. In the morning they can wash the blood clean from Emile’s shirt and stitch up the hole in the sleeve. They have a lead on their next destination, and they’ll pack up their horses and take to the road, where Estinien will count the minutes since the last time he looked over his shoulder at Emile. He’ll memorize the slight smile that pulls at Emile’s lips under the shadow of his hat, and he’ll ignore the warmth in his chest, the weight of his gun at his hip, and all that he would do to keep him safe. 

And maybe, one of these days, they’ll find what they’re looking for. 

—

Do you know how it ends? Do you feel lucky? Do you want to go home now?

[dragoon-mid-jump]

FFXIV Swap: Valentione's Edition!

For my swap gift for @inkedinfantasy, I put together a playlist based on their WoLGraha ship and the content they've made for it!

And below the cut, brief analyses on how I connected the music I chose to your content on Rowan and G'raha's relationship! I had a lot of fun meditating on and rotating them around in my head in conjugation with the music, trying to find songs that also matched the tunes of the ones your own playlist already had, and adding some of my own adjacent tastes! And I apologize it's late and thank you so much for your patience!

Guardian (Lindsey Sterling): The first direction I went after listening to the music you had already given me was instrumentals. The lighthearted violin tune of this track resonated most with your WoLGraha Week post for Adventure with Rowan and G'raha on a boat looking forward to their next destination, as well as the Prince/Knight AU Gpose! I also felt it fit with your XIVWrite post for Bolt, where it's just their CT relationship as they fended off hippogryffs at Saint Coinach's Find, before all the Shadowbringers drama and angst.

Something Wild (Lindsey Sterling, Andrew McManon): This one is actually on my own WoLGraha playlist, so I thought I would share a piece of my own perspective with you! Another one that resonated with Adventure, and I personally found this song more G'raha-leaning in both tune and lyrics, especially invoking wanting to go on an adventure, yet not letting the more tragic and dramatic events of the MSQ getting you down.

Waiting For Love (Avicii): This one popped into my head both tune-wise and lyrically while I was reading your XIVWrite entry for Veracity, how G'raha would keep log of his time since he was awoken from the Crystal Tower in the 8th Umbral Calamity timeline, especially when he starts to write about Rowan, and tie that in with how much faith G'raha has in the WoL. This follows along with the song's lyrics of going day-by-day, then month-by-month and further on waiting for a loved one to come back to you.

Broken Arrows (Avicii): Now this one, it came to me while reading Onerous, with the wound-tending. Lyrically, I think it can fit them in both directions in Shadowbringers, as the song sings of two people seeing each other's flaws and persevering even still, not giving up hope in the circumstance they find themselves in. In the case of Onerous, I think it fits the Exarch and Rowan seeing each other wounded, that veneer of being a pillar of strength being cracked. There is also the side of having the Exarch return to the Source and becoming G'raha again, no longer having to hide under a hood and an air of mystery.

Five Bells (CoCo and the Butterfields): Another song about wanting to go on an adventure with someone that I found while music-surfing, and I found it resonated with the Gpose and the fic you made of Rowan and G'raha going on a boat-ride date in Sharlayan's canals. The tune I think would also fit in playing in the background of your "Comfort" Gpose from WoLGraha Week.

Knowledge Never Sleeps (Masayoshi Soken): We all know this one, it's one of the overworld themes in the Crystarium! I felt it appropriate to have at least one track from the OST in the playlist. Why this one specifically is because this one is the one with the lyrics. The Crystarium was built to be a bastion against the Sin Eaters and Light Corruption, and the lyrics are the Exarch's call to "stand tall" against that adversity, but can also be read as encouragement towards the WoL having so much on his shoulders.

Time (Bernth): Guitar piece I found while looking around my more instrumental artists. This one, I can hear playing in the backgrounds of...actually, nearly all of your more serious/somber or lower energy content! It's a short, but moving track whose tune and rhythm can either be playing as G'raha is documenting the 8th Calamity and thinking of Rowan, the Exarch and him conversing with the weight of Shadowbringers upon their shoulders, or Rowan and G'raha just quietly vibing.

Where No One Goes (Cloudjumper, Moa Antonia): Very much an upbeat piece found while surfing that resonates with your Adventure Gpose and as the story moves forward into Dawntrail and Tural!

Airflow (Bernth): This instrumental, I found fit the most with your Prince/Knight AU Gpose, what with the setting being at the top of the Crystal Tower's open-air throne room; something you could hear playing in the background during such a scene.

When Can I See You Again? (Owl City): Okay, now this one, I found to be very much the time between 6.0 and 6.1 when the Scions all go their separate ways while also aligning with the more upbeat songs you already had. I also found it relevant to G'raha exiting the main part of the post-patches very early on and moved to being present in the Alliance Raid.

Anniversary (Autoheart): Found this one while music surfing. Definitely more on the "WoLGraha vibes" side. The tune is pretty bouncy like your other songs. Most of the song's lyrics highlight how G'raha is always looking towards the WoL as a companion, guiding light, inspiration, and partner.

[ffxiv-f13ndish]

Calm Before the Storm: Treasure (?) Chest Under the Sea

Collab. write with @sorrel-haven [ also credit to sorrel-haven for gpose shot ^^]

Characters:

Kore Grimvik (sorrel-haven)

Lament Sorrel [mention] (sorrel-haven)

Daen Lad (@ro-valerius)

Miyu, Virgil, M'ezzo, Magnus

Kore and Miyu have to make an unfortunate rescue after Virgil finds himself in some sea snake trouble.

“I should have worn better shoes for this,” Miyu huffed after a second of catching their balance following an awkward landing with heeled boots in the sand. 

Their expression turned more serious as they lifted their gaze towards the open waters and crashing waves. 

“So it wasn’t just a dream, then,” Miyu said in a tense voice. They had a grave feeling that the only thing they would be rescuing today was a body. 

Kore looked at Daen Lad who brought them here and nodded. The pixie flitted out over the ocean a ways and looked around as if they were searching with their eyes. Kore watched the tiny figure anxiously, her fingers drummed  against her arm. 

“Ah-ha! Found you!” Daen Lad said as they pointed in the direction of Virgil casting a spell.

The moment a strange chest was brought to the shore, Miyu darted over to open it up. It took a bit of struggle to unwrap the chains from around the makeshift water coffin, but they managed to crack open the chest within the time they anxiously held their breath. 

Ocean water poured out from the chest, the inside filled with a less than appealing treasure. Virgil was bound up inside, on top of a few sandbags. Upon looking at him, Miyu wasn’t even sure if the Elezen was alive. His eyes were glassy and bloodshot, expression pallid and hollow. Unnervingly, there was a faint scent of decay under the salt of the ocean water — not that Miyu could pick up on that. But there was no mistaking in the way Virgil’s chest slowly rose and fell as he took deep breaths.

Daen Lad flitted back to the group. “I’m sure you two can take care of this from here. Buh-bye!” with that they disappeared in a flash.

Kore unhooked the astrolobe from her back and gently pulled Miyu from the edge of the chest. Wordlessly she began casting a series of healing spells. After which she handed the astrolobe to Miyu. Life returned to Virgil’s visage, but Miyu couldn’t examine his state long enough as they turned their gaze away while the man leaned over the edge of the chest and coughed up ocean water. At least, from the unsettling glimpse they got, the dark appearance indicated that it wasn’t just water. Kore took out a knife strapped to her thigh and sat Virgil up, working on his bonds gently.

“Seems you got yourself in some trouble hm?” she asked Virgil as she freed him.

“An unnecessary question,” he managed to rasp out between pained coughs. 

“Says the man of unnecessary words.” Kore quipped.

Fortunately for Kore, Virgil didn’t have many words to say. The man was still working on catching his breath again.

Miyu hesitantly stepped forward, tenderly placing a hand on Kore’s shoulder as they leaned down to speak to her in a hushed voice, “Should we keep questioning him here?”

“Let’s bring him to the Sorrels. They have a lot of healers and no one would look for him there. Bringing him to the Flower house would be too obvious, and well…” she cuts the last rope. “None of the Sorrels have an opinion on him yet.”

She put a guiding hand on Virgil’s chest and wrapped her arm around his waist, as she helped him out of the chest. 

“Yet. Let’s see how long that lasts. Maybe one of those ropes could stay around his mouth for the duration of his stay,” Miyu remarked, though they nevertheless went around to Virgil’s other side to help him get up. Once they got him standing, they almost stepped away, only to realize that the man continued to need the support. Miyu glanced down.

“Your… foot? It’s… um… gone?” 

Virgil only gave Miyu a dry look. Seemed it wasn’t a product of whatever happened to send him to the bottom of the sea. Miyu said nothing more about it, and Virgil remained silent for the duration of travel to the Sorrel house. 

----

Kore pushed open the front door of the Sorrel House without bothering to knock. Lament looked up from the book they were reading and began to smile at their sister but it immediately turned to a frown as they noticed the other two with her. Kore helped Virgil ease into a chair by the door.

“Hello dearest, I brought company.” Kore said, exhaustion creeping into her voice.

“I can see that. What happened?” Lament looked to each person, they didn’t care who offered up an explanation first.

“Lament,” Miyu greeted the Viera with a nod.

 “He’s a — um…” rather than explaining, Miyu trailed off and gave a shrug. While Kore helped get Virgil seated, they made their way to the kitchen to grab some water and a hand towel. 

Virgil stared across the room to Lament. 

“This will only be a moment,” Virgil said, with a clearing of his throat. He took the rag which Miyu brought to him to wipe the dried blood from his hands, then paused to take a sip of water before he could elaborate on what had occurred. 

“You must excuse my untimely delivery in our exchange. As you have surely gathered by now, I had been delayed by unforeseen circumstances. The Basilisks discovered our correspondence,” Virgil explained, eyes focused on Kore as he spoke. “There are 41 crew members in total. Initially 46, but five have since been disposed of. Two ships. Magnus and 22 members are aboard the ship with the coordinates I had given previously – what they call the Serpent. M’ezzo and 19 others are aboard the Python. It should be noted that they have gained an allyship with a handful of Sahagin men.”

Kore placed a hand on Virgil’s head, a silent thank you as she processed this new information. She turned to Lament.

“I need you to call your family. Tell Mina we need to get moving sooner than we anticipated. Perhaps Bea can take care of Virgil’s injuries I didn’t get to.” She turned to Miyu. “We need to gather ours, tell Ro she needs to watch the house while we’re taking care of this.”

Lament started calling people on his linkpearl without hesitation. 

Virgil lowered his gaze. Reluctantly, he then murmured, “Thank you.”

Miyu stared ahead with a bleak expression. This was all coming up much sooner than they had readied themself for. They gave a robotic nod of their head, stepping closer to Kore.

“If I may… I can assist. I just need my book,” Virgil spoke up suddenly.  

“You will do no such thing. We’re not going to throw you back into the fire we just rescued you from. We’ll talk about the book later, for now you will stay here and let the Sorrels tend to your wounds and keep you hidden.” Her tone was even, but firm. Kore was not going to relent.

Virgil narrowed his eyes. “I’ve grown accustomed to persevering through fires. This need to be a hero will do no favors for you – I know the methods of the crew quite well, and the layout of the ships.” He set a hand down on the chair, lifting himself up to stand. 

Kore pushed Virgil back into the chair. Virgil gritted his teeth at the shove, though his outright expression didn’t seem to change.

 “I don’t think you understand. There’s no ‘need to be a hero’ like you say. We don’t need that information. You are not in any condition to come with us. I am being very, very patient.” She paused and took in a grounding breath. “I thank you for wanting to help. The sentiment is not lost on me. But we need to bring people who everyone can trust, and I can’t say the others trust you.”

She put a hand on Virgil’s cheek. “Rest. Leave this to us.”

Virgil didn’t say anything for some time, cold gaze affixed to Kore with a hawk-like focus. Finally, after a near minute of a statuesque stillness, Virgil sat back in his seat and crossed one leg over the other. 

“And I suppose you trust me here?” His eyes slowly roamed over to Lament. “Residing in the same home as the one you insisted you wanted me to have no contact with, Miss Grimvik?”

“Why must you push your luck? Just take the help!” She crossed her arms.

Lament snickered. “Oh, darling. You will find Kore needlessly worries about me. I am more than capable of putting you in your place if it comes to that.”

Kore shot Lament a look, which just caused them to laugh harder.

Virgil’s brow twitched. “Just Virgil. No sense in the frivolity of… pet names when I am hardly even an acquaintance.” He went on to ignore Lament’s insistence that they could put him in his place. 

“I’ll be outside,” Miyu abruptly stated in a vacant tone, already heading to the door. 

Kore watched Miyu head outside with a small look of concern. She looked to Lament who gave a slight nod. Kore followed after Miyu, closing the door behind her. She caught up to them and put a hand on their shoulder.

Miyu was seated on the lawn, staring up at the stars above with a forlorn expression. Hearing Kore approach, they moved to stand. 

“What’s wrong?” She asked as she brushed Miyu’s cheek with her other hand.

They couldn’t meet her gaze. 

“What if I’m not ready? To face him? I don’t… I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself,” Miyu sighed, closing their eyes a moment. They leaned their head in towards Kore, resting it on her shoulder. “At least this will be over and done with soon enough.” 

Kore kissed the top of Miyu’s head and gently pulled them into a hug.

“Unfortunately we don’t have time to be ready. But we can’t wait any longer.”

[stxrmnight]

Dark Knight I

This post became not just a gpose retread but FrayNemi development pretty much, so it will all be under the cut. Covers 30-50 quests.

Trying to collect gossip on the higher structures of Ishgard, Nemi heard a man mock a victim of trial by combat. Curious and angered in equal measure, Nemi trailed to where the body had been discarded. She beheld the armor and the sorry state of their wound. What was the rationality of giving a body you feared proper sepulture?

But then a voice rang in her mind and everything went dark, and... The body off the grave held her, gently. She could not believe that her presence returned a soul from the grave, but a girl's scream set that aside to save a victim of corrupt knights. The synergy as she fought and learned made fighting more, fun? And intimidating the Knights gave her satisfaction.

Back in the Brume, she understood what Fray had spent their life standing against and the unfairness of their trial. But now, that brush of injustice could not suppresss their mission. They compelled her to train further in this path, but Nemi felt she would have no time with how things were moving in House Fortemps. But she would consider the option.

After rescuing Raubahn, Ilberd's worse and the attitudes in Ishgard made her walk back to Fray's presence, asking them to run her through the training before the preparations onto Dravania are ready. Their eyes seemed to smile as they led her back to Thanalan, slaying Peistes and other greater threats to Little Ala Mhigo. Though she was heartened to see Gundobald again, his comparison of her mood to Wilred took her by surprise. How could she not seek more strength with the travels ahead of her?

The darkness coalescing around Fray did make her hesitate to commune, but she pressed on and dwelled on the words while looking together at the night sky...

They rested that night in a spare room, and set off to Eastern Thanalan. Engaging in more pursuits, Nemi questioned if Fray was not looking out for something in particular in her, and challenged Fray to swordfight this time against something worse. Fray took on the challenge gladly, flashing angles that pulled Nemi further into oggling their form and their armour. She gently asked if they could share a meal in Ul'dah after this, but then Isembald interrupted with summons to rescue a caravan that traversed guard less due to brass blade ineptitude.

Fray fought more viciously which frenzied her to cut one tempered man more deeply than expected and, feel her hair stained in red.

She froze self aware under the captives' eyes, but Fray steadied her shoulder and praised her precision even as their arms trembled. Something lightened in her heart as they stood by her side while the rescued looked afraid. Later in communion, she pondered why the voice spoke to feeling trapped, but her stomach interjected and compelled them to feast popotoes at the top of Camp Drybone. As the stars descended, she found herself regaling of her goldsmith talent and her humbler days before adventure. Why could she talk to Fray so freely?

Fray had teased some disclosure of their past with Nemi's progress in the Abyss, and their trip to Limsa was proof of that... Even while Fray nagged a flaw in her posture that made her pout.

They would talk of a loved they lost to a dangerous mission despite all the warnings, and their wish to protect the truly defenseless but not lose their life or anyone they loved to self-serving whims. They reached their hand to Nemi with this declaration, and she reached back. They resolved to train with more game when a trader demanded Nemi's services rather than go with the local authorities.

She reluctantly agreed to go and retrieve his wares from some band of Qiqirns, but she simmered in anger when Fray faltered at the end of the battle. They got ahead in yelling back at the Merchant who demanded pay for blood on the wares he could just clean off.

Taking them to the bay to commune, Nemi felt her heart race as she contemplated under the moonlight. Their words of seeking a new start far away didn't escape her. She said she couldn't commit now, but she was sure of one thing and hugged them tightly, kissing their crown. Fray looked up at her in awe, declaring she's seen the answer in their heart then. They brought her cheeks down to whisper she'd need only ask what else she desired, out of sight. Nemi had never run to an inn faster to reserve one room this time, and find truth of how intensely two bodies could burn together. Fading into blissful sleep, she wondered if Fray could not just join her instead? She could show them there were people at her side who cared deeply.

Next morning, they stumbled their way to a bath and breakfast. Fray said they had business to settle back in Ishgard, and that some last emotional attachments made need for them to commune there. Nemi received a linkshell call with Tataru's worries, and she asked if they could not meet at a greet point. Alas, Nemi would be pulled away in an urgency for aid against a mighty monster. Nemi saw no lack of tact with how earnestly the Ishgardian lancers thanked her, while Fray watched her be pulled away, again.

Nemi realized the time and called out in search of Fray, but what she would find would be bodies bleeding at Whitebrim. Seeing the truth of their being, Nemi staggered at the physical strike of her repressed pain and fear now crying out for her heart, demanding her for being oblivious to what truly happened to the human Fray's corpse, willing to go as far as to take her over to not lose her again. She almost fell to her own strengths and techniques now plain for her to see, but when she emerged victorious nonetheless, she stabbed her claymore on snow and rose her mirror's chin, thanking them for seeking her despite how much she's buried them. Fray understood her truth and her genuine want to aid the causes she cast her lot in.

With this middle ground, they were one again. Though, a shadow would always caress the corners of her mind and curl around her limbs in the loneliest nights. Their romance never died.