fist-and-fury-xiv

[fist-and-fury-xiv]

[fist-and-fury-xiv]

Hi folks!

I’m returning to Tumblr and am repurposing this blog for all my FFXIV OCs. As much as I love Otolin, there a few other folks I want to spotlight so stay tuned for a few other changes.

Thanks for following, and it’s nice to be back!

[fist-and-fury-xiv]

xxx. sojourn

they’re on the stairs of the broken church.

arismont puffs on his cigar, laying there, but also a hand keeping him propped up.

otolin sits nearby, elbows on his knees, just silently savoring a job well done.

the kidnapped townspeople? safe.

the voidsent? gone, banished back to wherever.

the portal? closed. 

the authorities have arrived, a group of Temple Knights. 

so it’s just the two of them.

“where next, otolin?”

“.... home.”

“ul’dah, right?” “... yes.”

“that’s pretty far fucking travel, isn’t it?” “yes, but after a… a job like this?” “worth it.”

“see you soon then?”

“... see you soon, arismont.”

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xxviii. vainglory

the injury has made it worse.

what’s that?

your fucking pride, stoked by the fires of glorious, gluttonous gall.

you learn to walk again first. the foot is twisted, mangled,  but you keep going, stuffing it into a boot between the little shudders of pain. 

murmurs in the hallways, in the medical ward. will you ever be the same again?

do you need to be?

your pride demands it, the fire and brimstone forcing you into a ferocious dra-

don’t. 

for the first fucking time in your life, arismont coultene, put your pride down.

the injury has made it better.

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xxvii. hail

otolin, what is it like to be a god?

it’s… nothing good.

but you go back to it?

when… when i have to.

do you enjoy it?

no.

why not?

because that sort of thing isn’t for people. being a person is better.  being otolin is better. 

there’s no point in being a god, being… a king, if you kill all the people, who would hail you. 

[fist-and-fury-xiv]

xxiv. vicissitudes

perhaps it could’ve been the other way around.

had they struck sooner, had they struck when they were unaware, had they-

it’s far past time for thinking like that. voidsent rarely ever get the chance to put on their thinking hat.

it’s consume, or be consumed.

so when the horde bursts through the opening into the source, they don’t expect...

a figure of orange and purple, circular, cyclical, aether blazing...

and another figure draped in black, in which the void learns  that demons can be terrified of their own.

to think the horde thought this star could’ve been a throne. 

[fist-and-fury-xiv]

xxii. veracity

you’re bleeding.

your foot and leg hurts.

again and again, and again, and-

what’s fucking new? you stepped too far into a dragon’s maw, and paid the price, but now at least you can tell a fun tale of shock and awe.

feed off it.

you’re bleeding.

your foot and leg hurts.

two indisputable truths.

what’s a third? finish it out in your thought process.

that you need to keep going,  that you’re still one of the best at what you do.

what’s that?

being a nuisance to anybody who would do you or your friends harm. 

[fist-and-fury-xiv]

xxi. solution

what are you supposed to be, otolin stone?

god-turned-man. tired, turning, shifting, into a unbreakable stone.

what are you supposed to be, arismont coultene?

injured, prone, a fallen dragon, but one that can still breathe flame, a thing with clipped wings that everyone seems to think lame.

no.

you both know what you are.

you’re no longer full of questions.

you’re the answers. 

apocalyptic, agonizing,  willing to risk life and limb to show the void what the fury and fist can do when under pressure.

[fist-and-fury-xiv]

xx. anon

you’re the stone, the stocky build,  the steel upon which a Fist breaks.

in this moment, it’s not the hand or foot that fails.

no, it’s their faces.

their expressions once ecstatic, have been shaped into sorrow, into sadness, through means of slaughter.

a stone thrown fast enough can hurt.

a stone thrown fast enough and with precision?

well, that one slays.

we’ll see him dead soon enough.

they were right.

always right.

but they didn’t foresee the figurative death, the slaughter of a man’s soul.

the pieces left struck by lightning, leaving what?

The God in their wake. 

[fist-and-fury-xiv]

xix. to turn a blind eye

they sit on the steps of the broken battered church.

not sure what to do next.

things, as they always do, have gotten complicated. even a job as simple as killing voidsent feels hexed. 

cursed, even. 

arismont lights a cigar. lets out a sigh.

“... so the townspeople…”

otolin steps in, shaking his head.

“... we’re… we’re not killing anyone. we’re going to figure this out.”

a long drag. arismont coughs.

“remember how earlier i asked you if you thought i’d pull shit like that?”

“yes.”

“i’m telling you that again.”

“we’re… we’re saving everyone, then.”

arismont laughs.

“you're gods damned right.”

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xvii. novel

“you… you want him to be able to do what?”

“don’t treat me like a fucking idiot. you heard me.”

“but to… to extend the aether that far, to attune it that… that highly?”

“it’s possible, then.”

“... you’re not asking me that. you’re telling me, emelyn.”

“you’re damn right i am. he will do this. otolin must.”

“if this works, emelyn, he’ll be…”

“he’ll be everything he needs to be.”

“everything you want him to be.”

“yes. is that a fucking problem?”

“... no.”

“good. we mold the stone into something stronger.”

“...”

“every fucking Fist breaks against steel.”

[fist-and-fury-xiv]

xvi. deiform

what’s it like?

it’s… 

it’s hard to keep it at just a few words.

feel the levees break, the tired feelings shake, from your battered bruises.

becoming like… like Him is easy. 

it’s what comes after.

aether flowing, fury showing. the world needs more people and less gods. 

feel the levees break, the tired feelings shake, from your battered bruises, and shattered bone.

Becoming like… like Him is easy. 

it’s what comes after. it’s all the carnage and destruction that you’ll need to own. 

or do you, otolin stone?

easy to forget that all when you’re the World/Woe. 

[fist-and-fury-xiv]

xv. row

what’s the best way to celebrate a new beginning?

for zenos, it’s a fight, a brawl, a spectacular slaughter.

For otolin, it’s peace, it’s quiet, it’s wanting to embrace that sometimes?

it’s not about the ending, it’s about the journey.

but it’s not time yet. 

otolin has always wondered when it might be.

a long road of light and dark traveled, and now it just becomes something else. normal, right?

never. 

will he ever see it?

yes.

he’s been challenged to do so,

by old friends and enemies.

what’s the best way to celebrate a new beginning?

[fist-and-fury-xiv]

xiv. attrition

the creature beyond keeps thinking it’s better.

that it will always be better.

that the star beneath its feet temporarily will cower to its demands.

otolin and arismont think otherwise. know otherwise.

the creature rages, wails, ravages its confinements, but the two stand tall. hold fast. feet on the ground,  and hearts sound.

“i will keep going. i will do this forever,” the creature calls out, cries out, causes a calamity.

“so will we,” the two warriors call back. 

faces fearless.

doesn’t matter if the war is long or short. fist and fury will always retort. 

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xiii. confluence

cautious steps carry you high, fists like hammers, feet like falchions rain down, and never find a mark.

you’re the center of the storm, where lances of lightning meet,  cracked cumulus adorning your brow

oh, how did you forsake your divine duty?

divinity is death.

we kill in His name, and in doing so kill others’ names, their natures, their niche, so they may never return. 

i…

i haven’t forsaken anything.

i just understand the cycle better than you. 

i embrace life so i may one day lay down as what i always wanted to be.

what’s that?

a man.

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xii. missed the boat

“so…”

“so… what?”

a few words shared around the campfire,

a roaring flame to push back the void and the dark,

in the middle of a ruined town.

“when they come back in the morning, we’ll be ready?”

“... we have to be. we… we don’t really have another option, do we?”

“nooooope. no, we fucking don’t.” 

“unless…”

“unless what?”

“... do you think the warrior of-”

“you think they’ve got the time with everything they fucking do? they’re doing? really?”

“... i… what are they up to now?”

“... oh, who knows. maybe on a boat heading out to some new great adventure?”

[fist-and-fury-xiv]

xi. selenography

walking, still walking, trace your steps in the moon dust.

you’re a stone without rust, careful and cautious, as the souls of the damned and dead pass you by.

the world below, will it meet the same fate?

no.

not yet.

the star’s fate, is within the moon you’re walking on now. the truth, the tellers, the hope, it has to be here, right?

you’ve traveled the star, but have you ever charted the moon, oh, warrior of light?