caffeinated-moogle

[caffeinated-moogle]

⋆. + ˚｡⋆✴︎⋆.˙⋆.⭒｡⋆. . .

What do you think of

when you look to the night sky

and hear them calling for something—

something inside you?

. . . ⋆｡⭒.⋆˙.⋆︎✴⋆｡˚ + .

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I just wanted the pretty sky behind her, but this is accidentally giving recruitment poster vibes.

"Cosmic Exploration Needs YOU." - The Warrior of Light, probably

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Fishing rng has been unkind to me tonight. ;-; Took a brief mental break for gposing just in time for a mech op to spawn. ⋅˚.⋆☾⁺₊ ‧

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I'm so sorry that all my screenshots of this precious dweeb will be on the moon for the foreseeable future.

⋅˚.⋆☾⁺₊ ‧

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I am... a little... tiny... very smol bit obsessed with cosmic exploration.

Just a smidge.

⋆⭒˚.⋆✩⋆.˚⭒⋆

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Aaaaahhhhhhhh I'm in a state of perpetual awe over how bright and magical this is!!!! Still crying (positive), days later.

Another commission I treated myself to back around my birthday! I've not been quiet about my obsession with the Celestial Intersection spell and have long had an image in my head of Aeryn (in her astro AU) and Urianger reflexively casting it on each other in the midst of battle.

@vicious-mongrel captured this so, so perfectly, and I'm tremendously grateful!!!! Please go check out all their lovely work and put heaps of hearts on them! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Illustration commission for @caffeinated-moogle ✨✨

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I'm not sure I'll ever change Aeryn's PLD glam at this point.

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Head hurts so much today, and everything is extra lame. I just wanna ignore it all and think about these two, because they bring me joy. ♥

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It's finiiiiiiiiished!!!!!! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I will never get over how utterly perfect this is. So so so grateful to @45liza109 for making such a gorgeous piece of these two! I'm completely obsessed.

Commissioned by Erin!

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Current level of coping with maintenance:

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Finally gonna introduce this sweet lady! Eiyre Dandelion is Azem's shard from the Source. In my main canon, she awakens to Hydaelyn's call just moments before her death during the Calamity. (It's actually her death and subsequent return to the aethereal sea/rejoining with Aeryn that begins to crack Aeryn's stasis, eventually resulting in the latter's "rebirth" on the Source.)

As for her AU lore...

In Eiyre's AU, Hydaelyn doesn't place Aeryn in stasis. Aeryn, along with the absorbed magic of her star, returns the sea as normal and is therefore appropriately rejoined with her shard on the Source, living on in Eiyre some centuries later when she's born. (This makes her decidedly more sensitive to aetheric disturbances—and magic in general—than she otherwise would have been.) Eiyre begins to experience the Echo well before Dalamud falls, but she doesn't fully awaken to Hydaelyn's call until after surviving the Calamity. She feels tremendously guilty afterwards, wondering if she could help ease the realm's suffering if she understood her "gifts." She eventually leaves her quiet La Noscean village to study arcane magic in Limsa, where she hopes she'll learn to make sense of her visions—and all proceeds apace from there. She's an emotional, sensitive girl who would infinitely prefer to return to the quiet life of her little seaside village most days.

Extra factoids:

Eiyre practices a blending of arcane and conjury magics, later augmented by astromancy. She has an uncommonly strong magical and emotional bond with her carbuncle. (I'll ramble about my magic lore for her, eventually.)

Her Echo manifests normally, but it is further triggered by nearness/touch. This heavily impacts her early relationships in ARR and leads to her first heartbreak.

She has some latent star magic, courtesy of Aeryn's star, though she will never know that. It enables her to swiftly master astromancy. She also has a starburst-shaped birthmark on her upper back (where one of Aeryn's scars was located)!

Eiyre is half hyur (midlander) on her mother's side. She's a around 4–5 inches shorter than most "short" female viera, has no tail, and only has noticeable fur around her ears. She does still get nose-twitches when excited/nervous/overwhelmed, though, and anyone close enough to her would see she has a very thin layer of short, velvety fur along the top of her nose. She also has slightly oversized incisors, and they bring me so much joy.

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No-ish, and no... ish?

Aeryn is very exceptionally terrible at knowing what it is she wants, let alone expressing it once she figures out whatever it might be. The notion of binding partnerships was another one of those confusing things she both did and didn't comprehend when she awoke on the Source with no memories, so she never really considered it for herself. I also don't think she's the type to confine herself or her myriad thoughts/feelings with labels or titles, and I like to think of Urianger as a bit of a free-spirit in the label department, as well. Aeryn is grateful for the comfortable, reserved affection they come to share, and she doesn't really concern herself with trying to iron out what exactly they are to each other.

That said, I do have a very silly headcanon about archaic elezen courtship rituals involving hair braiding, which I've quietly written into Aeryn's fic. It leads to them forming a quiet sort of bond with each other—though I haven't decided if it's part of her canon... or just fluff fic for me to kick my feet over.

Heaps of rambling about Aeryn's hair lore behind the cut!

(Just gonna drop this here and run away quietly screeching because I feel so extremely awkward talking about these two even though I love them and the silly little ship I built for them so hecking much so aaaahhhhhhh okay have some wolship rambling and hair braiding lore, it's trite, okay bye for days.)

Aeryn instinctively keeps her hands occupied, especially when thinking or discontent. She has a habit in ARR/HW/early StB of regularly unbraiding and rebraiding her pigtails.

Though she's not cognizant of it until much later, she feels her appearance is her only potential link to her lost identity. She endeavors to "look" the same, pigtail braids and all, in hopes that someone from her past might recognize her.

In HW, during the Extended Camping Trip, Aeryn starts braiding Ysayle's hair. (i haven't yet written this, so I haven't ironed out how it starts. Regardless, it becomes part of their nightly routine while journeying.)

After parting with Ysayle, Estinien notes Aeryn's discontent with The Everything. He offers to take Ysayle's place, claiming every warrior has their vices. He jokes that Aeryn's, at least, will help keep his vision clear in battle.

Emmanellain later learns of this and, knowing the old custom, gushes to all the world that the Warrior of Light has been courting the Azure Dragoon. (I just assume it went viral via the Alphinaud > Tataru > Emmanellain > Everyone chain.)

Emmanellain eventually explains to Aeryn that, in more archaic times, braiding each others' hair was an elezen sign of courtship. The more serious a couple's relationship became, the finer and more intricate the braided styles grew. If the couple chose to promise themselves to one another, they symbolized it by twining a special bead or charm into their braids. The more magically inclined forged these of their own aether.

Aeryn is mortified, and even more so after learning Estinien knew of the old custom. (He didn't care, calling it old-fashioned nonsense; he was simply glad to offer some moments of peace to a fellow dragoon and respected friend.)

In StB, Zenos cuts off one of Aeryn's braids in their first battle, triggering her underlying identity crisis; and Tataru gives Aeryn her first haircut to even it out en route to Kugane. Aeryn struggles with the loss, still instinctively reaching to braid hair that is no longer there, haunted by the now-all-too-real possibility that she is never going to be recognized—that she can no longer be "found."

In ShB, Feo Ul regularly plays with Aeryn's hair, twining flowers, ribbons, shells, and other pretty things into it. Since they have a unique insight into things Aeryn often keeps to herself, they know this is special to her. When they prompt her, Aeryn opens up about how it felt to lose her braids.

Aeryn has a little fall in Pla Enni. She and Urianger share a quiet moment while he "heals" her (a ruse he regularly entertains in efforts to ascertain how she's adapting to her light absorption). She's slowly becoming more tactile, and because this is her first time in close proximity to him without his hood, she touches his hair. (It sounds silly, but it's such a pivotal moment of growth for her.)

While the Scions recover back on the Source, Aeryn spends a great deal of time resting with them. She's growing less repressed with her own emotional needs and, seeking comfort, asks if she can braid Urianger's hair.

Urianger is a giant dork, so of course he knows of the old customs—but he assumes Aeryn doesn't. In spite of this, he offers to braid her hair in return. It becomes a very sweet little routine for them. Urianger assumes nothing of it, though it's special to him nonetheless.

Thancred quietly teases Urianger about his "courtship." Urianger maintains it has no deeper meaning, particularly not for Aeryn. Thancred calls him out, though, suggesting that, given the opportunity to make an educated choice, Aeryn might still continue the practice, deeper meaning and all.

Urianger is a Very Awkward Fellow when he finds out Aeryn knew. She doesn't quite manage to express herself clearly, but in her own roundabout way, she explains that changing her hair as it regrew helped her become someone new, and she's grateful that he was part of that change.

After reuniting with Moenbryda's parents, at some point before they find Hydaelyn, Urianger forges a bead of aether and asks to twine it into Aeryn's hair. She is upset she can't do this in return (magic block crisis), but she instead takes the bead from her necklace and twines that into his hair.

Nothing changes, because they don't consider the act truly binding in any way—it's more a quiet expression of love, the idea that no matter where they go, they will always have a part of each other close.

Anyway, that's it. I'm a Ridiculous Sap, and they're possibly married? Ish?

I just love them a lot, okay.

Is your WoL married, or is that something they want in life?

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...have I mentioned that I love her? ;-;

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✩°｡⋆🫧⋆ Blowing bubbles on the moon. ⋆🫧⋆｡ °✩

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My little astronomy nerd heart is very, very excited that the new moon exploration stuff at least doesn't seem to be locked behind any Dawntrail content (since I'm not there, yet)! I revisited her psionic bard glam to put her in something that felt appropriately space-y to go celebrate. ( ˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝✩*

One more behind the cut, because I'm obsessed with her.