#I could write an ESSAY on how much Alph means to Johri.

[twicebled]

✿

@leveilleurisms inquired !

FRIENDSHIP.     childhood friends  /  work buddies or coworkers  /  family friends  /  friends with benefits  /  smoking buddies  /  adventure buddies  /  fake friends  /  recently friends  /  party buddies  /  friendship of need  /  dying friendship  /  circumstantial friendship  /  partners in crime  /  old friendship  /  [ your muse ] is the good influence  /  [ your muse ] is the bad influence  /  [ my muse ] is the good influence  /  [ my muse ] is the bad influence  /  opposites attract  /  ride or die  /  frenemies  /  roommates or flatmates  /  penpals  /  exes to friends  /  enemies to friends  /  other.  

I’ve always seen these two as being a bit of a yin yang deal, balancing out the other’s flaws. Alphinaud has the calm sense to keep Johri’s impulsive temper in check, whereas Johri has the experience to know when action needs to be taken ( though sometimes they both get impulsive, lbr ). They help each other grow, always bringing out the best in one another and facing challenges together, but don’t need a reason to spend time together. They likely know a lot of each other’s quirks and such from spending a long time under the same roof in Ishgard. 

I also love the idea of them teaching each other a bit of their respective vocations. Johri would be particularly thrilled to compare the inherent magic of a bard to the more direct arts of an arcanist. They can drag alisaie and urianger into it. study group, let’s go.

FAMILIAL.     siblings [ half ]  /  siblings [ step ]  /  [ my muse ] is an older sibling figure to your younger sibling figure  /  [ my muse ] is a younger sibling figure to your older sibling figure muse  /  [ my muse ] is a parental figure to yours  /  [ my muse ] is a child figure to your muse  /  guardian figure  /  legal guardian  /  adoptive child  /  foster child  /  [ your muse ] is taken under mines wing  /  [ my muse ] is taken under yours wing  /  other : found family !! 

I always talk about how Alphinaud is like a younger sibling to Johri, but I don’t think that does it justice. On many occasions he has been an anchor to her the same way everyone else expects her to be for them, acting with a wisdom beyond his years. She would not have come this far without him and confides in him the doubts she never dares speak to the world. He may be younger, and she will dote on him as such, but they absolutely are equals and she acknowledges this. 

ANTAGONISTIC.     dangerous to each other  /  dangerous to others  /  unpredictable  /  rivals  /  petty  /  developing into sexual or romantic tension  /  based off family matters  /  based of off circumstance  /  based of professional matters  /  based off misunderstanding or lies  /  conflict of ideology  /  betrayal  /  hero - villain dynamic  /  enemies  /  fight club  /  friends turned enemies  /  lovers turned enemies  /  exes turned enemies  /  other : lightwarden / 14th au. coughs. 

Even the best of friends argue, and these two in particular have a strong clashing point between Johri being the Reluctant Hero trope & Alphinaud’s idealistic hopes. She does not care about people or the world as much as he does. She is kind, yes, but also somewhat apathetic outside her circle of friends. And particularly in SHB, with the things brought to light by Emet-Selch, she becomes quite bitter regarding the grand scheme of it all. 

This bitter apathy is something very few get a glimpse of and only Alphinaud knows of in detail from her own mouth. She trusts him enough to drop the carefree hero act around him.

𝙵𝙸𝙽𝙰𝙻 𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝚂.     This turned into a bit of rambling, woops. It’s all very flexible if something doesn’t fit your portrayal or you prefer something different for them! I’m always up for plotting! Just figured I’d throw in some context as to why Johri cares so much for Alphinaud. 

Johri comes from a patchwork family with a lot of younger siblings. It’s become an instinct to watch over youths, and this is something she projected onto Alphinaud from the start, but it took the events of Heavensward for her to genuinely care beyond a sense of duty to keep those younger than her safe.

This is also where Johri significantly diverges from the WoL’s canon behaviour. 

After Ul’dah, all they really had was each other, a solidarity between them from their experiences and predicament. For Johri, this was a huge “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone” moment, and her grief manifests as anger. Unfortunately, she took it out on Alphinaud. She used his guilt to keep herself grounded, taking an already bad atmosphere and making it worse. Their beginnings in Ishgard were incredibly tense as a result of it.

There was a lot of damage control from Haurchefant. But in the end they came out stronger for it because I very much believe they sat down and talked it out at some point, likely after Haurchefant’s death. It sobered her up quite a bit. She only just realized what friends are worth, and she did not want to loose Alphinaud to her own folly or something worse. She was determined to make up for it.

Heavensward was the first time Johri truly felt the personal consequences of the path she was thrown onto, both good and bad, and Alphinaud is the one who walked with her through it all. They always call her a beacon of hope, but for her, that was Alphinaud. He kept it together when she could not. This was a defining point in her journey, and she won’t forget the people who walked besides her. It is why she considers Ishgard her home.

Ever since, she has gone to great efforts to make sure Alphinaud does not dwell on any failures or blames himself for them, like some meager sentiment to make up for the things she said, taking whatever burden she can to make it easier for him. She still thinks of it sometimes, to keep herself honest. It reminds her of what is at stake. 

The Scions’ disappearance prior to SHB absolutely broke her. Thancred had to hold her back from throttling Gaius when she saw him carrying Alphinaud’s unconscious form. She carried him back herself and no one can tell me otherwise, thanks. There was a lot of hugging when they reunited on the first. 

ANYWAY. johri stans alphinaud, thanks for coming to my ted talk. 

RELATIONSHIP MEME 2.0 / ACCEPTING !