#'ffxiv's so healing' - i say while listening to scream

[noxtivagus]

ffxiv's so healing

[casualcatte]

[ FFXIV ] Woven: Dreams of the First :: Aultena’s Dream #4

Dream #4 Childhood Adventure

“Now, remember, kitling, you’re to stay near your father at all times.” Mother warned as they tucked a few sets of clothing into the pack. The bottom of it had already been lined with an extra pair of boots, but it didn’t matter if those got wet. Clothing went toward the center where it was more likely to stay dry. The top layer had things she was likely to need frequently, but that needed to stay out of the elements. Father had entrusted her with the maps. Aultena was very proud.

“Tena, are you listening?” Mother chided. 

She looked up at her mother, wide-eyed. “Yes, mum. Stay near father.”

Mother nodded and they finished putting her pack together. Once they were done, Aultena was made to put the pack on and fit it securely to her back, but comfortable enough not to rub her shoulders raw. Once she was settled, Mother nodded approvingly. “This is going to be your first hunting expedition with us. I want you to listen to everything we say and learn. Ask questions if you need to. A hunter who feels he has nothing left to learn is soon dead of his own arrogance.”

[ Courtesy cut for length! ]

“That’s no way to talk about me, my love. Father said as he walked into the room. His hand rested on Aultena’s shoulder proudly for a moment as he beamed between the heart and soul of his family. “Your mother just wants you to be an excellent huntress just as she is, not some doddering old fool like your Da.” 

“I want to be as good a hunter as both of you!” Aultena said excitedly. “Maybe even better!”

At that, Mother laughed, picking up her own pack and shouldering it. “You’ve a long way to go for that, kitling, but you may yet get there someday, if you learn well as I’ve told you.”

“Yes, mum.” Aultena said with sober seriousness.  Or, at least, insofar as much seriousness as a six-year old could muster. As Mother left the room, Father winked mischievously at her as he knelt down beside her. From his belt pouch, he took out an old brass compass which he held out for her to admire. And admire she did.

“This used to belong to your grandfather and his father before him. We’ve always been travellers and hunters, our family, never ones to settle. You’ll likely have that same wanderlust in you some day, so I want you to have this.” He offered out the compass. Aultena took it in both of her tiny hands, her mouth a soundless “O” of awe. 

“Never lose it.” Father said sternly. “And the hope and dreams of all of our family will go with you wherever you roam and they’ll watch over you and keep you safe. Now, come along, we don’t want to keep your mother waiting, she can be impatient.” He laughed gently, walking ahead as Aultena trailed behind, carefully tucking the compass into a pocket on her belt designed just for that purpose. She beamed, running after her father to catch up. 

~ * ~

“It’s getting away! Rhaza, cut him off at the bottleneck!” The crashing thunder of the archaeosaur as it lumbered around in pain was deafening. It lunged forward, swinging its tail in a wide arc to keep the pesky pair of miqo’te at bay, their needling arrows and cutting blades more infuriating more than damaging. The taller of the two saw this and called to the smaller. “This is getting us nowhere, we have to do something now!”

“I’m trying, Maora!” The second said, once more speeding into the fray, light glancing off the forearm-length daggers that flayed at the archaeosaur’s hide along its legs and flanks, but did little in the way of real damage. Once again, the beast flailed about with its tail, the knife-fighter having to make a diving leap to get out of the way. “I think we’ve made him mad!”

Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, Maora took stock of the canopy overhead. The caelumtrees would make an excellent vantage for a better shot. “Keep it busy!” She said, slinging her bow on her back and sprinting for the tree with the best angle. As she began climbing, she heard the giant reptile roar and hear Rhaza yelling at it to keep its attention. Good. Just a couple of minutes, beloved, and we’ll have him.

Maora climbed quickly, not wasting any time, even taking a few risks leaping and swinging to precarious branches. Once she finally deemed herself high enough for a decent shot, she went out as far the end of a limb as she dared. Unslinging her bow, she took the time to take careful aim. Right at the back of the thing’s skull, where spine and skull met. For some, it would be a difficult shot. Not for her. She was no unsung hero, but she’d had a lifetime of experience and training to ensure that she would be among some of the best monster hunters in the world. Breathe.  Fire!

The arrow lanced home, lodging itself in the monstrosity’s brain stem. Even as it stumbled, screaming in pain, she looked down to see Rhaza running up the creature’s back to the same place. He, too, drove his daggers deep, twisting them to sever the beast’s spine. Rhaza looked a bit battered, as if he’d been on the bad end of one of those tail swipes, but none the worse for wear.  The archaeosaur came crashing down with Rhaza still standing on its shoulders. “Nice shot, night-eyes!”

“All right, Aultena, it’s safe to come out now!” Maora said as she leapt down the tree, branch to branch, until she could safely make the jump to the forest floor.  Even as she landed, Aultena came out of her hiding place within a dead log that was half-buried in the hillside.  The young miqo’te looked at the dead dinosaur in awe. 

Rhaza came walking up to them, wincing a bit as he clutched at his side with one hand. “Probably a broken rib or two.” He said nonchalantly as if he broke ribs every day. “Nothing Artois can’t fix when we get home.”

“You’re lucky he doesn’t charge you, as often as you need healing. Someday you’ll learn not to be so reckless. Or at least have the sense to wear more armor.” Maora observed as they approached their kill.

“But then I would ne’er be as fleet-of-foot, O Stars of  My Heavens.” Rhaza quipped with a grin. He looked to Aultena as they walked around the brutish reptile, sizing up how best to deal with the meat and hides. “So, how was your first adventure, kitling? Exciting enough?”

Aultena couldn’t help but recount the entire hunt from the first day of finding the beast’s tracks to the subsequent three days of following it through the wood. She retold the battle with a bard’s flair for the dramatic and theater, but with such exuberance as to make her flushed with excitement and joy. The thrill of the hunt suited her. And it kept her occupied for the rest of the evening while her parents dealt with their kill.

Woven: Dreams of the First is an on-going storyline, drawing characters from the Source into the First through a creative method of shared dreams.  You can find full details and how to participate over here with @yokasaris.  If you like what you see here, you are welcome to use this dream or any posts tagged with the “Woven: Dreams of the First” tag to interact with any of my characters that are part of the storyline. You can also contact me by Tumblr DM or on Discord to set something up!  I look forward to seeing more First RP!  ^_^

[benes-diction]

Pros and Cons of Dating Caius

“What? Did you expect someone else? Sorry to disappoint. You get the spare-turned-heir.”

Tagged by: @cherrytart-ffxiv

Tagging: This has been going around for some time. If you haven’t done this and would like to, consider yourselves tagged. And feel free to tag me so I can see your amazing characters!

Pros:

Who are you trying to kid. 

There are no pros. 

Only Zuul. 

Cons:

Everything about him. 

Run. 

Run far away.

And never look back.

The Actual Pros:

Handsome and He Knows It. Caius is very much aware that he could be considered attractive to some people. He won’t need any reassurances about his appearance from his partner, and has past experience being a trophy boyfriend/arm candy.

Touch-starved. If his partner manages to get into his heart, Caius is a very physically affectionate person. He might take a long time to say the words, but he’ll often come up behind his partner to hug them tight or plant a quick kiss on their head as he passes by. And if he’s shown the same affection--like being able to fall asleep with his head on his partner’s lap and his partner petting his hair--oh boy. He will be a devoted little puppy. 

As You Like It. In the bedroom, Caius is comfortable in either role, depending on his partner’s needs, and is pretty much up to try anything once. If his partner expresses interest in something not entirely vanilla, he’s willing to go along with it and has enough experience from previous partners to help things along. But if they just want something soft and sweet, he’s more than happy to oblige.

With Silver Spoon In Hand. Caius comes from a wealthy family. There’s no doubt about that. And thanks to smart saving and some inheritances from both sides of his family, Caius has access to his own funds. Even after withdrawing as much money as he could and bribing his way out of Garlean-controlled territory and into Eorzea, Caius is not hurting for money, and his partners will see that firsthand if they manage to claim his heart. If they express interest in an item they want, he will purchase it for them without a second thought, without expecting anything in return. 

Undivided Attention. If he truly cares, Caius will listen intently to his partner speak and will be genuinely interested in what they’re up to. Unless something else comes up (see Con: I See Dead People), his partner won’t have to worry if he’s actually paying attention to them.

Protective. No one hurts his partner. No one. He might not be able to soothe their wounds after the fact, but if they asked it of him, he’d make the person responsible pay and pay dearly.

Loose Leash. He’s a lover, not a babysitter. He doesn’t really care who his partner hangs out with or what they do, so long as they let him know they get home safely at the end of the day. If they want to involve him in their hobbies or activities, he’s happy to tag along, but it’s not a requirement.

The Actual Cons:

Feelings? Actual Feelings? Uh... In the past, Caius has ended a relationship the moment he noticed he was starting to grow attached to someone, or he has deliberately sabotaged the relationship to make them end it. At the very least, he’s going to try and pull away, and any potential partner would have to hang on tight if they want to keep him.

Not Going to Say It. Like his father, Caius struggles with verbally expressing his affection. To his partner, it might seem like the words “I love you” don’t exist in his vocabulary. If this is his partner’s love language, there’s bound to be friction.

Poker Face. A defense mechanism Caius abuses. When upset, he quickly hides his true feelings behind a mask (if he’s able). A partner with a quick eye might be able to catch a glimpse of his initial reaction, but otherwise, they’ll be greeted with a cold, neutral expression. 

What’s a Safe Word? In his desperation to please people and earn promotions or special privileges, Caius picked some dominant partners that weren’t exactly the best. Thanks to their bad influences, he picked up the habit of not using the designated safe word when he’s in a submissive role, even if he’s at the end of his rope and absolutely needs to stop because he’s really not enjoying himself. His dominant partners would need to keep a watchful eye on him, because even if they ask if he needs to use a safe word, he’ll lie. This is a BIG BIG BIG problem.

They Call, He Runs. For most of his life, Caius has based his identity on his position in Garlean society. While being discharged has stripped him of this and has forced him to examine who he is outside of the expectations of others, if he is called back to service before he grows attached to his partner (and perhaps even if does grow attached), he will abandon them to rejoin the military. It will take a lot of time for him to find himself / for someone to shake him from this mindset.

Berserk Button. There are certain subjects relating to his family that Caius’ partners should not bring up until he’s ready to talk about it, and his partners should definitely not attempt to make light on these subjects where he can hear. (They would have to find out from an outside source anyway, as he won’t bring it up, which would piss him off in the first place.) If he’s very close to his partner, he might leave it at a shouting match and storm off to take his anger out on something else (probably himself), but if he’s not... he can and will get violent.

‘Good Night’s Sleep’? What’s That? Any partner of Caius’ that spends the night with him will probably notice that he doesn’t sleep enough. He wakes up at odd hours and paces for hours, often muttering to himself. And sometimes he might even wake them up screaming in his sleep, but be unwilling to even discuss what the nightmares are about (at least for now.)

“If I Can’t See It, It’s Not Safe.” Thanks to past experiences, Caius will probably come across as rude if his partner tries to treat him to a drink. Do not fix a drink where he can’t see you. Do not bring him a drink from the bar. If someone tries it, he’ll look them in the eye as he dumps the drink into the nearest potted plant. If his partner wants to do something like that, they’ll have to do it where he can watch them and ensure that they don’t do something to it--and he will watch. Closely. Very closely. Even then, he’s going to examine it from traces of tampering and he won’t care if they can see him doing it. This is likely going to cause friction until he lets his partner know exactly why he does this.

I See Dead People. Caius has a long list of issues that he needs to address. The least of which is the thing always lingering on the edges of his vision. Any partner of Caius’ would notice that his eyes might follow something unseen across the room or that when he’s alone and thinks no one can hear, he’s talking to someone who isn’t there. He’ll probably even turn his head and jump slightly, as though he’s seen... well. A ghost. Probably a deal breaker for some many people.

His Own Worst Enemy. With the previous point in mind, the worst issue he has is self-harm. If his arms are exposed, anyone could see the scars and healing wounds and make the connection. Since his discharge, Caius has been struggling especially hard with it, and any partner he has would have to be strong enough to watch as he crumbles over and over and be willing to stand with him on his way to recovery.

[thessalian]

Thess vs DRK

One of the things that I have been surprised by and proud of lately: I’ve been tanking in FFXIV. Dark Knight, specifically. I mean, okay, sometimes I have to overcompensate for assholes who insist on either running ahead of me or (and this is worse in my opinion; more annoying for me anyway) all but crawl up my ass while I’m trying to navigate. Don’t even get me started on the ones who insist on starting to cast before I can even get in range to toss Unmend. Sometimes I kind of just want to ... you know, not cast Unmend and let the stupid fucker die, and then say, “Well, I assumed you wanted to tank the fucker, seeing that it’s the tank’s job to run in screaming first. If you’re too impatient to give me a half a second to get in range, that’s your problem”. Same to the ones who run into, say, one of the side rooms in Stone Vigil specifically to aggro every mob in the place, suddenly obliging me and the healer to cope with a load we hadn’t prepared for.

Still, I am managing my cooldowns pretty well as far as I can tell, seeing as I’m also running this with @true0neutral and his first attempts at going heals. He’s running Scholar right now and he’s doing pretty well, beyond the couple of times he kind of let me die because he fell out of range or flailed and hit the tab key when he didn’t mean to ... oh, and one of those times him rezzing me directly into three AoEs. I didn’t last long after that one. But we all make mistakes, so hey. He’s learning and it’s all good.

I’m just proud that I managed to tank the following:

Garuda. With no preparation whatsoever. Even managed to keep all four stone pillars more or less intact until the very end when they all shatter anyway.

Hullbreaker Isle. Mostly because Sjoom.

Stone Vigil. Which ... okay I still don’t like hard mode but regular mode is becoming a favourite.

I’m avoiding Aurum Vale. I think I know how I could conceivably do it without causing the healer too much panic, but I don’t think I’m ready for some of that bullshit.

So huzzah for @true0neutral getting his first healer to 50, and huzzah to me for getting my first tank to 50! Well,, 51 and 52 respectively now, but hey. Point being, I’m about eight levels away from a mentor crown. Not that anyone listens to me anyway, but hey.