#I'm normal about Estinien

[wtf-amiru]

Anyway, I've been new game plus-ing Stormblood

I call this one "when you sneak into your emotional support elf's room at 3 am with your ninja skills but also you have very cold feet"

[aerinzephyr]

/dotes on the lord commander

/dotes on the lord commander 

/dotes on the lord commander

[cinnabun-faerie]

i have an idea for a request. Could I request G'raha, Emet Selch, Estinien, Urianger, and Y'shtola with an S/O that is normally super nice and soft spoken and has someone trying to edge them into a confrontation but their S/O is just responding politely until the person insults them instead of their S/O and their S/O just, calmly and as nicely as everything else and no change in their smile, says "I will break your teeth in if you don't stop talking."

A/N: I'm assuming this is more of a reaction?

When you promised them what you'd do (not threatened), he couldn't help but smirk. You would fight someone for saying something about him. He had lived too long for something like this to bother him, but he appreciated the sentiment. He might even say something along the lines of "Down doggy" or something to annoy you.

"Back off or Cerberus here will tear you apart."

He's smug about the way you are so protective over him. He can't lie, his hand has been on his lance while the person was speaking to you. Surely if you wish to smarten them up, he wouldn't mind you using his lance as a beating stick.

He didn't like how they were talking to you. The only thing he could do was glare at them and tight his grip on his staff. You had asked him not to get involved. And he begrudgingly agreed. And when they insulted him, he didn't bat an eye. As long as they didn't say a word about you, it was fine. However, he didn't expect you to threaten them. It completely caught him off guard.

He stood within earshot of what was going on, just in case something happened. He knew you could fight your own battles. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself when he was insulted. He had heard worse. But he knew that you wouldn't take too lightly to that. And you didn't. You were vibrating with anger as you spit out your promise to them. And as much as he'd love to see you punt them across Eorzea, it was best for you if you didn't bruise your precious first. Surely he'd kiss away any pain if you did.

She knew what would happen. It wasn't the first time and it certainly wouldn't be the last. It was only a matter of time before you snapped. And your verbal response was the only warning the other person was going to get. Would she stop you? Maybe. But there was nothing important at stake, so perhaps she wouldn't mind watching them get their ass handed to them.

[vasheden]

So, I ended up doing all of these. I initially used the prompt as an excuse to actually make their first kiss, then it got away from me. Full pics and ~lore~ under the cut.

First kiss: This happened in a dream facilitated by Feo Ul, which is why he's in pajamas and Kaia's got her normal clothes. Kaia was doing really badly with the light poisoning, and was having serious doubts about her own survival. She was starting to crack around her eyes, and was constantly in more pain than she had ever experienced. Feo Ul brought Aymeric to her one night while she was sleeping so she could say goodbye, and she finally confessed all of her feelings and apologized for putting all of that on him. He just kissed her and held her while she cried.

Wedding: Their ceremony was huge, with guests from every place Kaia had helped out. She dressed in the red and black of House Fortemps.

Morning kiss: I just really wanted something warm and cozy. Happy domesticity.

Goodbye kiss: And now we're back to angst! This is their goodbye on the airship landing before she headed back to Sharlayan to board the Ragnarok. He kissed her hand while looking her in the eyes and swearing to be there for her, begging her to come home safe.

Surprise! Another cute little scene of Kaia dragging him away from his desk. He works too hard. (and yes, it's an ear bite rather than a kiss, but I'm counting it)

For flustered, I went back to their very first meeting. She had never had a proper knight treat her like a real Lady, and didn't really know how to handle it. (Haurchefant did, and immediately started making excuses to leave them alone together.)

And for dramatic, we have their reunion during Kaia's recovery in Sharlayan. Aymeric hopped on an airship immediately after the Ragnarok landed and Estinien messaged him to say she was badly injured.

For the free space, I just reused the caught in the rain kiss. It's the first one I ever did, and I still think it came out really well. Plus, it's just another happy little slice of life for two people who have been through hell and really deserve a break.

[keicordelle]

Some estimeric tragedy because I'm feeling spicy like that again: Estinien dies far from home, in Garlemald maybe, or Thavnair. He dies alone, in the field of battle, on a solo mission. The very kind he was so fond of undertaking. The very kind the scions had tried to school out of him.

And Aymeric just.. doesn't know. He goes in with his life as normal, for days, weeks. Months. He still writes his letters, and Estinien's always been irregular about writing back. He can only ever send them to Radz-at-Han anyway and hope Estinien would stop by to receive them.

Surely, he consoles himself, surely he's just been away for a time. Surely his messages have just gotten lost at sea. Surely.

Until one day, he just has to accept it. Estinien is missing. The scions haven't heard from him either. Even Vrtra, when Aymeric invents an excuse to travel there himself, has no knowledge of his whereabouts -- or his safety.

Still, he holds to his hope that he'll return. Stranger things have happened, and this era is rife with miracles. Surely he'll come home. He's fine. He's fine.

He's dead.

Slowly, the certainty sets in. As months become years, what little hope Aymeric clings to fades. Withers into dust. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.

The government of Ishgard must make a statement. Renounced title or no, he was the last Azure Dragoon. A hero. A savior.

There will be a funeral. A grand affair, held by the state. Ishgardians will line the streets to pay their respects. There's talk of erecting a statue in his honor.

He would have hated it.

And all the while, Aymeric mourns in silence. He stands before the crowds and makes his moving speeches, as is expected of him. But none know the that it is more to him than the loss of a prominent hero. None know the way his heart screams in his chest, and how every morning he drags himself from a cold bed wet with his tears to face another day. Alone. He's forced to hide his sorrow, to mourn with his countrymen the legend of a hero, not a man. Not a love.

After all, the Lord Commander and the Azure Dragoon were only friends.

[lilbittymonster]

What important relationships changed or developed throughout Dawntrail?

:3c mostly snooping on their vacation but tbh there were other characters in Dawntrail who weren't Kitali and husbands so I GUESS if you want to talk about them hehehe

Well, the vacation has mostly just been the three of them (two once Estinien dips to head north) being Regular Guys. Most of their relationship mending happened during the 6.x patches when Estinien finally brought himself to return to Ishgard and to Borel manor specifically.

I think the most significant development there is Aymeric getting to see a new side of his wife that he only has so far heard about from her recounting. For the past several [UNITS OF TIME] he's been actually living the adventurer life with her and it's new and exciting and dangerous and refreshing for him. He hasn't seen this much sun in his entire life! This is great! He only got heat stroke twice!

As for non-husband NPCs, I think the biggest change would be between Kitali and Erenville. As the straight man of the group she would be gravitating towards him bc he tends to hang back and not get Involved(tm) in the proceedings as much as the twins and Krile are. She appreciates that he doesn't seem to be very impressed with her status as world hero and he is surprised at just how shrewd and pragmatic she can be when the situation calls for it. Congrats, Erenville, you have also fallen for the facade! The boat ride would have taken some time and I like to think they would have exchanged stories about adventuring and gleaning. They take you weird places and you get to see some cool stuff!

I was genuinely so excited when he offered (offered!! Initiated!!!) to travel with Kitali and Aymeric to Xak Tural. They were originally planning to go with Estinien, and the the kidnapping happened and so they decided to stay with the group as backup while Estinien went ahead. So they were glad to have a guide and someone who was. Well. An adultier adult sorry Krile to spend time with and to show them around.

Kitali was very concerned for him the entire Yyasulani/Heritage Found/Living Memory arc. She has her own baggage with family and mothers and neglect and the way that Iyaate spoke about his mother really did not do Cahciua any favours. Also the whole deadnaming thing absolutely did Not fly with her. She would have gotten in people's faces about it.

I'm still trying to sort out if she is a good person to try and offer him support in Living Memory. She has the fact that she won't offer platitudes like the rest of the group does going for her, but I don't think "hey your mom sounds like she kinda sucked, going off and leaving you like that" is exactly what Erenville needs to hear. On the other hand, Kitali also has "I lost a parent too early" to also offer so. Idk. She's very concerned for him especially when he goes off on his own for the third terminal shut down and then has his big blowout confrontation. He is in the soup. I hope she can be normal about all this.

In less tense developments, she is weaning the twins off of her support bit by bit by letting them handle the rites by themselves. Especially the Hanuhanu chain (which I am glad I did first) since that was where I felt the most redundant. Urqopacha left room to be a little more worldwise and lead by example. But Alisaie and Alphinaud have really come into their own since Endwalker so it's been nice letting them be confident in their own abilities as the story progresses and she is so so so so SOOO proud of them.

And you know what, even I was surprised at how chill Kitali was with G'raha being around. I wouldn't call their "relationship" important, they are Coworkers At Best, but they were actually really just mellow with each other the whole time. That entire canal town arc was probably meant to be for the shippers, and I can totally see how it could be construed as such, but I didn't feel any overt ~romance~ tones to it. It was two coworkers doing normal(?) Scion(?) business. So I think, while I am still holding out for a possible Y'shtola redemption arc, Kitali and G'raha have finally reached an understanding with each other.

Thanks so much for the ask @elizabethrobertajones this got very rambly.

22 Dawntrail Asks

[eemamminy-art]

fanfic ask game! 14, 15, 44 😊🧡

14. Go on, who are your BroTPs?

I dooon't know if this is something I'd call a brotp in the sense of like bro kinda vibes, but I assume by that terminology it's just like, characters I like to imagine as good friends? And the first thing that comes to mind for me is this AU my friend and I have where Emet hides Ryne away from Hydaelyn and she ends up becoming a little sister to Zenos 🥺 When I'm thinking about platonic characters that's where my mind first goes!!

For something a little less deeply obscure and uncanon though haha I like the friendship between Vrtra and Estinien, or the potential friendship anyway, and I would like to one day write a fic of Estinien helping Vrtra get through the emotional rollercoaster of 6.X patches. In his awkward, very Estinien way.

I don't know if this counts either but I love to think about all the friendships my wol has. He has a brotherly sort of relationship with Thancred and with the thaumaturge guild masters, and a very complicated friendship with Haurchefant. Minfilia was his best friend and he's still very torn up over everything that happened to her. I want to think he was pretty close with Lyse and tries to mentor Emmanellain (even though he's just as immature himself lol) too. I pretty rarely ship oc/canon with my own OCs but I love to think of their friendships and found family!!

15. Is there an obscure ship which you love?

Like… any f/f ship in ffxiv… They're all obscure 😭 Notably I really really like Fordola/Lyse, Ysayle/Heustienne, and M'naago/Kurenai to name a few off the top of my head. I also really like Hien/Yugiri but like, if Hien was a butch.

44. What ship do you feel needs more attention?

This might sound weird but I feel like the more attention a ship gets the more people get weirdly hostile toward it (for being perceived as popular, or genuinely becoming popular), or otherwise start diluting the ship down to something generic. I used to really crave seeing more works from other people about ships I like but lately I'm just kind of like, let me keep them to myself and my trusted group of friends who can be normal about things 😂

Fanfiction questions

[elizabethrobertajones]

A Dragoon's Work Is Never Done part... three? four? I did not caption the first in this series with that and so I can't even find it now.

Anyway the important thing is this seemingly completely normal diplomatic mission from Radz-at-Han where the Satrap has brought his sister for Fete Day over to visit the dragons in the other city state perched on a rock with a long history of dragon relations for good or ill. Estinien is refusing to dress up as a diplomat, which he is now when it comes to dragon things, whether he likes it or not. He claims he's just here for the Fete food. G'raha is here because he's glued to Frog and likes witnessing history happening in nice ways.

Day 6: Celebrations | Holidays

Oh, wait the above images were a spot the difference

#I'm so interested in Estinien's and Frog's relationship (platonic) and how he fits into the puzzle now that she and Aymeric are A Thing @lilbittymonster

OKAY this will be unnecessary long to explain why Aymeric is getting so smirky.

So way way way back I did actually ship Estinien and Frog a bit, because I'd done dragoon 50 before HW and was therefore Completely Normal about the Estinien/WoL relationship. But I couldn't quite make it stick in my heart, and for whatever reason despite Estinien actually being, I personally think, the character with the closest bond to the WoL on the deepest levels bar the characters who are literally part of the WoL (you know, like, the 3-5 of them we cram in there), it ended up feeling more like just an unbreakable platonic friend bond. *shrugs* sometimes your heart just decrees stuff.

In Frog Canon this translates to the Stormblood 70 Dragoon quest being a moment where after sharing the dragoon eyeball tether for the first time, Frog and Estinien are riding an absolute high of connection and feeling really good about accomplishing Good Dragoon Things (and the reason I keep captioning Estinien and Frog doing dragon stuff as "work never being done" is them chasing that high again by tying up loose ends like taking Vrtra to visit Hraesvelgr or Middy, or taking Azdaja and Middy out for curry together).

That night on the steppe, they camped out together and shared a drink and the spoils of a hunt, Orn Khai was asleep by the fire. And completely unprompted Frog and Estinien both decided at the same moment to swoop in for a kiss, which lasted roughly 3 seconds and they broke apart like "woah, no, that was weird. We don't need to do that again. Nope. Sorry." and they instead solemnly vowed their friendship, and then laughed about it and decided to take that incident to their graves.

(At this point Frog had no idea Estinien had literally ever had a relationship in his life, never mind having been with Haurchefant as well and technically at the same time as her since Haurche had only nebulously mentioned "other partners"; Estinien did know she had been madly in love with Haurchefant, and Aymeric, who in turn Estinien had his suspicions was madly in love with Frog since like, seeing them interact once even in early HW. So it was a bit of a shock to her but he'd been idly contemplating her place in all this now for a while. But since he, Frog and Aymeric were all technically single or on a break or whatever Estinien thought he was doing while ghosting Aymeric for his own mental health SB > ShB patches, there weren't any of those connections to actually like. Build anything on.)

Fast forward to Endwalker, and I'm fully on the "Ysayle needs to know she won and Estinien has gone full dragonfucker" train, because he and Vrtra are an incredible power couple and it really represents to me a sort of final stop on Estinien needing to come to terms with everything that happened to him ever in his life and having accepted all sides of both the grand scope of history and also his own relationship to dragons, Nidhogg, and relations with dragons. He returns to R-a-H post-EW very very intrigued by what Vrtra wants with him, and they pretty much immediately get together.

I think by this point he's also encountered Aymeric enough times to have started to realise they never really broke up so much as stopped seeing each other, and Aymeric is exactly as devoted to him as he was last time they met, and Estinien only actually feels guilty about avoiding him so long, and mostly because Ishgard itself gives him the heebie jeebies immediately after HW and nothing to do with what Aymeric has done or not. So he's completely ready to resume that and just needs an excuse.

Which of course is Vrtra suggesting gently that there's a valuable connection there for Estinien and for the future of the two cities. AND Frog is on his case about seeing if Vrtra wants to meet the Dravanian dragons. Which he does. And then it only belatedly occurs to him when standing in Ishgard with Aymeric that maybe Frog also was manoeuvring. (I actually credit more G'raha machinations that Frog enacted, if you dig deeper :P)

Aymeric sort of ends up the orbiting twin star to the centre of the Frogicule, since he's the connection to all that and brings this whole side in, and considering all the pining on Frog's side to others, he's really got the more stable side of it all somehow...

She's glad of it because most of why she broke Aymeric's heart in the first place post-HW is because she thought it was cruelly unfair how little time she could spare for him and that he would only be mistreated by her coming in and out of his life at random.

The solution? A SECOND partner who comes in and out of his life at random and has very little tolerance for being in Ishgard! \o/ Between the two of them, maybe they add up to one full time partner?

(cue both of them getting on ships to Tural without consulting each other)

I don't think she goes out of her way to avoid seeing Estinien and Aymeric at the same time or finds it at all uncomfortable (low boundaries between them after all), but also she and Estinien are mutually uninterested in each other romantically and only passingly physically so aren't really interested in anything more than perhaps sharing a bed for platonic sleeping with a nice comfy buffer of Aymeric. It's easier just to enjoy spending time with them doing fun things like hanging out in the Firmament chatting to dragons and eating fair food, then take her catboy and leave. To the catboy's eternal disappointment. (Sorry G'raha, now this post isn't about you and we're talking Estinien today!)

Aymeric is here at this party realising he'd bed literally anyone there including Big!Varshahn (jury out on how he'd take to actual dragonfucking but it's like. A Catholic guilt loophole meeting a dragon who looks like a guy.) I don't think Vrtra and Aymeric are quite ready for anything but the simple fact of his existence is like an accessory that's making Estinien 1000x hotter in Aymeric's eyes I guess. Ser, that's a fellow head of state, please stop objectifying him.

Aymeric can not believe his luck that in a matter of months he's gone from staring forlornly out of a window alone to glancing between his hot girlfriend and his hot boyfriend, and is suddenly thrilled to go down in history as Ishgard's most eligible bachelor (never married, so many close friendships, all his letters and diaries spontaneously combusted on his death, how sad).

... as stated before, I am such a fan of Aymeric being a messy bitch who lives for drama and also is full of Secret Yearning and Weird Thoughts and would do wildly unstable things while projecting an aura of control and calm. Literally who knows if five to ten actual years down the line he and Vrtra end up publically married to unite their countries forever or something, but for now, this is where we're at.

Frog is just happy everyone is happy, and lacking the Ishgardian upbringing had given zero thought to Vrtra as a sex object and actively restricts herself from patting big!Varshahn on the head like he is still tiny. Little-brother-gender dragon snares another big sister. Estinien's love life remains a blissful mystery to her except for occasionally comparing calendars with Aymeric and swerving around the weekends he's blocked off for Estinien.

[imperial-nuisance-rudje]

if you click the unrebloggable red catboy haterade readmore it's your own damn fault

i am so tired of people trying to defend g'raha's writing in ew

"they're capable of subtlety" switching between being a manipulative asshole and the writer's most perfect prince who can never do wrong and is the wol's bestest friend 5ever (don't look at shb) and never allowing the player/other characters to say "dude wtf" at the former is not "subtle writing", it's complete lack of awareness that the character is being an asshole

like it was bad enough that the writers forced you to be buddy-buddy with him in shb with only a token option of expressing mild distaste , doing that and also making it very clear that he's still a manipulative shithead (because if he was meant to trying to put on a brave face they would have had a "dude wtf" line where he would have apologized in the post-credits, not acted like the promise made under duress was still valid) is just bad fucking writing given that on the other side of the corridor is zenos, who they constantly deny even acknowledgement of his humanity

you can try to compare it to urianger's writing but uri's writing never flinches away from the fact that he's being a fucker when he's being a fucker even when played for comedy, and they still have this gaping gap of not touching the fact that urianger functionally killed thancred's foster daughter/little sister onscreen (while they probably would have realistically hashed it out over like 3 years, you really don't get to see any of that at all so it's very strained; even having thancred still kind of mad before he gets snatched and having the more cordial relationship we normally see during shb would have communicated that better).

idk. so much of ew is just written really damn poorly (even parts that, in isolation, i find acceptable to actively enjoyable (ie the 6.0 zenos cutscenes) end up falling flat in context) because of external factors forcing the sardine treatment for plot points and i'm tired of seeing people pretend that it's not. i can't exactly compare the gameplay side well given i started in 6.0, but i can break down the writing just fine and ew's fucking dire even if you consider how heavily i weigh 4.2-4.3 against stb.

i really hope they sideline the scions besides krile (or tataru, but i think she's probably going to live in side content for a while and krile has been badly neglected for so long). i don't want to interact with g'raha again anytime soon but especially not if his writing remains this bad. either acknowledge that he can be an asshole and let me be colder to him or stop bringing him up, i'm fine hating major recurring characters if they're actually well written (asahi, varis, thordan) and the catboy isn't at this point, and even when he was better-written there was still the major problem of "let me call him a dick or at least untrustworthy you pricks".

"what about estinien don't you like him" if they just have him being a weird hungry vagrant that only shows up sometimes to be deeply strange and get mobbed by baby mamool ja that is ideal, actually, i love when he's a bit of a freak. or they could have him get adopted by another fancy prince, having him repeatedly reel in powerful fancy prince types with the power of

dragon autism

would be the funniest shit on the planet.

but like. i want a break from even the scions i like, barring maybe the twins, and the twins are best when i don't have to refer to them as a unit, yknow? i want new people to take center stage. i'm not going to get that given the trailer, but god. please. make this the erenville-and-wuk lamat show with cameos by the scions and not the other way around. they can come back in 8.0.

(plus, doing that might mean we don't have the fifth expansion straight of y'shtola death fakeouts (i counted: arr/hw (given timing it's hard for me to define where catgirl blunt best belongs), stb (vs Zenos), shb (sailor moon catgirl), ew (ultima thule)). i am so fucking tired of her fakeouts. do literally anything else with her as a character i BEG OF YOU. we all know you aren't killing Miss Final Fantasy 14. her fans would flay you. the merch sales would plummet.)

[aerithium]

FFXIV Endwalker Review!

*Spoilers Ahead*

★ Score: 10/10 ★ Date Finished: May 30th, 2024 ★ Final Thoughts: I'm not entirely sure words can describe how I feel about this expansion. I feel as though my haste to get through the expansion speaks volumes, completing one of the longer expansion in just over a week. This expansion is the (nearly) perfect finale to every single one that lies before it, there was no better way for this story to end, and begin again. The overall story flows perfectly, with very few moments of "low" energy. Each of its own quest lines serve greatly to the overarching story of the expansion, my favorite being the time the WOL spends with the ancients. To be there with characters that are once your enemies and allies, yet before they even know, creates strong emotions and the entirely seperate world is easy to fall in love with. The area designs overall are fucking phenomenal, each on is so different from the others and have their own beauties with in. The characters, both new and old, are so incredibly written a factor of media that means the most to me. I've felt this in the previous expansions but it seems to shine well here, each close ally of the player's is their individual person and they are all so different from one another. Such as the ways they talk to their allies, the player, and the choices they make during the expansion. The new characters recieve this treatment as well, and have great development across the expansion's story. My only problems with characters rely with the twin's father, who has a distinct moment that I felt didn't align with his overall writing as a character. The music in this expansion also utterly smashes the music from all the expansions before it. And I mean SMASH. Every song is so perfect for the moment in game that it plays, and the music is used in a way that truly amplifies the events that unfold in the story. The ending of the expansion leaves so much to look forward to without making anything feel incomplete, which solidifies the end of the current story arc but still leaves much to look forward to in the next expansion. I was seriously just blown away with this one. That's the only way I can put it. Following up to talk about the post Endwalker content, the story overall didn't have me as roped in but its rather hard to follow up the expansion that Endwalker is. The existing characters were still as great as ever (I'm lookin at you Estinien) and the newly introduced characters were very enjoyable. Zero's character development across the post-EW quests was really well done and you could slowly see her begin to make more sense of human feelings such as trust. The dungeons and trials were also fantastic, some being among my favorite in the game. The Dawntrail build up quests are small but they do a great job of ramping up the players hype for the coming expansion and feeds into the spontaneous nature of everything. This side content alongside post-EW (normal and alliance raids) were also really awesome, getting to spend more time in Elpis and meet more of our former enemies was just what I wanted and then to get to learn more of the Twelve. It was the perfect time to expand upon their existence after both Hydaelyn and Zodiark's defeat. Finally, the music is actually insane for these set of patches. I constantly found myself jamming out to the music in the new content I was doing. The post content has only further solidified my desire to give Endwalker the 10/10 it deserves.

[ferrocyan]

WEIRDLY SPECIFIC BUT HELPFUL CHARACTER BUILDING QUESTIONS

answered from twitter and i'm crossposting here for fun :3

33. How do they greet someone they dislike / hate?

oh he doesnt, straight up just ignores them lmao. when greeted tart will reply back too politely, if he calls you ser/madam/milord its usually out of pure malice lol. when tart calls ppl by master/miss/lord (name) its normal he is a polite boy. but if the name is omitted and its just their title or honorific thats where the danger is www. also calling estinien by "wyrmblood" was the sign that tart was about to murder him. so watch out for that buddy

8. How loose is their use of the phrase ‘I love you’?

i dont.. think tart says i love you a lot to anyone other than reeq. she said it to her father in the aftermath of the ghymlit dark and to alphinaud in ultima thule. thats... it??? tart gives out a lot of praise and affection freely but not the words "i love you"... reeq gets most of it he should be honored.

14. How do they put out a candle?

use a snuffer and cover the flame. otherwise he just reaches over to put it out w his fingers and is like OW SHIT

6. What’s their favorite [insert anything] that they’ve never recommended to anyone before?

HMMMM actually something tart collects but never talks about w anyone is music. he commissions a lot of orchestrion rolls composed from tales of battles and adventures, brings a portable player and sings along w the tracks when traveling alone. but he never does this when traveling w others bc he prefers talking to them! tarts favorite song is "the hand that gives the rose" from ravana. his pet falcon is named after it. he also rly likes "dedicated to moonlight" (when i first heard that song something abt the melody just.. feels like exactly what tarts dad would love to play and i could imagine them dancing to that song together so clearly for some reason anyway what im not crying shut up. theyre not even moonkeepers why do i think this augh)

39. Would they rather be invited to an event to feel included or be excluded from an event if they were not genuinely wanted there?

ohhh man if you actually ask tart this he would say hed rather be included. but rly being a clearly unwanted presence would wound him deep in his soul. though i dont think he realizes that, like he would feel bad but have no clue why and he still thinks this is better than the alternative being excluded from his friends. but hes wrong

30. When they make a mistake and feel bad, does the guilt differ when it’s personal versus when it’s professional?

its quite different. tart handles professional guilt rly well, like in bozja when he was confronted by bajsaljen tart admitted all he did wrong (despite mikoto giving him an opening to cover it up) and apologized easily. for personal guilt the apology is.. a lot harder to do! hes always sincere abt it but theres also the fear that he wont be forgiven and is hated for it, which makes him avoid the person he wronged. this can ruin relationships sometimes, but if there is no hard feelings and the relationship is allowed to recover, that can become a rly strong bond. bc if tart knows they still want him around even after he did them wrong, theres no more reservations and he is ride or die for this person forever

[aotopmha]

In my FF14 journey, I'm now at the first lvl 86 quest.

I stopped just before going back to the Crystal Tower.

The latter half of Thavnair is fantastic in terms of building tension.

In one of my previous posts I talked about how much I liked that the story still manages to have moments of danger despite the characters surviving the most ridiculous circumstances.

At this point, I do not believe in most danger the Scions are in, but because, just like the corrupting force of light, Akasha is a new system with new rules, it makes you doubt, even if it is just for a moment.

And it certainly made me doubt with Matsya and the baby because they're just commonfolk.

Qerasaf and Mehvan are just normal civilians, so I fully believe they could die as easily as they did.

Once again the story also uses the distinction between the massive strength of the Warrior of Light and the normal people of the world to great effect in that sense.

But even then, you can still not be in all places at once.

During the chain transformation cutscene, you could see the Warrior of Light being indecisive between targets and which people to save and later on with Mehvan, they were late to save her.

I really like that detail because stuff like this goes a long way in spelling out your position in the world. It's general enough characterisation where players can put their own spin on it, yet still enough to make the Warrior of Light have somewhat of an identity themselves.

And I think that's the best way to go with mute player characters.

I don't know much about Dungeons and Dragons, but to me it feels like a game master having their own idea of where to go with the story/characters, but leaving a good amount of room to do your own thing within their framework.

And I like that take a bunch.

Now, to loop back to what I was saying about tension, I fully believed Matsya and the baby were done for, so I was okay with either fate, but this is also where Endwalker's theming comes in.

Even if only really minor characters died, there was so much death in this part of the story.

Khalzahl, Nahbdeen, Qerasaf and Mehvan.

To cut to the point, this is a story about mental illness.

And what kind of message would that send if there was only despair?

What kind of message would this send to those suffering in similar ways?

You have to be really careful with messaging here. And I think both Matsya and the baby surviving was almost mandatory in that sense.

This is why certain criticisms of plot points later on in the story also ring wrong to me.

Because eventhough Thavnair's faith says there is more suffering in life than there is good on the surface (which I think some read the scene at the temple as), the true meaning behind their beliefs is to appreciate the good that does exist.

To see your life for what it is, good and bad.

And so the story lets Matsya and the baby survive.

Finally, I really like how Estinien's character arc and Heavensward is used in this section for Vrtra's character development and how Vrtra ends up a positive parallel to Sharlayan's policy of passivity in face of all-consuming doom.

Vrtra steps up when he is proven wrong about his presence being a source of chaos and more conflict. He considers the result of the Dragonsong War and Estinien's journey. And he considers Hraesvelgr's decision to help in the confrontation with Nidhogg.

And ultimately he steps up and decides to take responsibility as a leader of his people.

I've seen people complain about there not being enough love for Y'sayle compared to other beloved characters that died and that as a proof of sexism, but I feel it is just about the same, and the references to her with Licinia and her sister and now with Thavnair are super relevant and effective.

On my part, I think digging deeper made everything in this part so much better. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, but here it definitely did for me.

The HW connections might be my favourite because it's another exanple of making previous story have more relevance, weight and substance, but I adore the message of appreciating the good, however little, within the bad a bunch, too.

You might notice I actually didn't talk much about Bestways Burrow and the section of the Loporrits and that is precisely because the entire section wasn't as substantial to me. I had some good chuckles in there and I like the Urianger focus, but even if it has the same thematic point of overcoming passivity in the face of great danger, it was a bunch less nuanced and without much else going on aside from thay point.

Much of it was magic babble, which needed to happen to make everything come together and downtime to let big reveals set in.

And we've definitely come so far from you just having to do 8 generic fetch quests to go on to another zone with more of the same by at least getting specific characterisation and learning how this huge point of focus (the moon) functions within lore, but the technical stuff isn't as interesting by nature to me.

All of this said, Endwalker still continues to be fantastic. I just went on about how Bestways Burrow wasn't as good as everything else, but it is still contributing towards solving long-standing plot threads and it is put where it is with purpose.

Finishing Thavnair also unlocked the role quests, which I think I actually only have seen in bits and pieces, so those will be fun to do for myself.

And I'm looking forward to what comes next in general, of course.

[original-character-championship]

Bracket E Round 1

Poll 3

Eclipse (@pirateflavor) vs. Eleutherios  (@trans-estinien)

261. Eclipse (@pirateflavor)

He/him

Eclipse’s intentions aren’t that clear. Having fought his way out of the underworld, this tall masked demon seems willfully disconnected from what most of the surface world has to offer. What are his motives? Does he even care about winning? It’s more worrisome what might happen if he doesn’t. After all, he’s always got a loaded revolver on his side, and a few centuries worth of experience.

A 9-foot tall demonic entity. Wears a round dual-colored helmet with a toothy grin. The left side is red and has an eye hole that morphs shape to match his expressions. The right side is white with an ‘x’ in place of the eye and black teeth. Has a white iris. Has yet to be seen unmasked.

Wears a creme-colored jacket with black leather shoulder pads, flared collar, wrist cuffs, and a chest-length zipper with two snap buttons. Left elbow has a red insignia of a ‘x’ in a connected circle. Wears red/black camo chaps over black slacks, fastened by a red belt with a rectangular belt buckle engraved with two ‘x’s. Has a holster on his left hip that carries a Wild West-style magnum revolver. Wears red slip-on cowboy boots that are flat-toe and steel-capped.

Has dark grey skin. Four fingers per hand and three toes per foot, all digits tipped with matching-color claws. Has a long devil tail that ends in an point. Is left-handed. Always smells like ash.

I used him in a fan mv I made for one of my favorite overseas artist’s songs. Dunno if that’s helpful at all but just thought I’d share :p

262. Eleutherios  (@trans-estinien)

He/Him

HE IS MY SPECIALEST LITTLE GUY AND IF HE DOESN'T WIN I'M BLOWING THIS WHOLE ROOM TO SMITHEREENS. just kidding. Unless...? Ok but in all seriousness he is probably the character I have put the most time and effort into and I am so so so normal about him and his two husbands.... Unsundered azem au sweep?

[cinnabun-faerie]

hello!! i wanna say rq i love ur writing sm skfjjenfk

i was wondering if i could request like. the accidental kiss prompt w estinien, uris her, g'raha, and thancred? i love them a whole lost!! tysm 🦐🦐

A/N: Thank you very much! Sorry I'm getting to this super late! I hope you like this regardless!

Warning: Spoilers!

Estinien

You were waiting by Estinien's bedside for him to wake up. Alphinaud was Alphinaud had cried, but you assured him that Estinien would be fine. Though you had not known him long, you knew that he wouldn't let this be his end. So when he finally woke up, you were so full of joy that you grabbed his face in your hands and planted a kiss right on his lips. Honestly it would take both of you a few minutes to register what just happened.

"Well, If I would have known this was what I would get for waking up, I would have done so sooner."

"I'm so embarrassed!"

"Don't be. Once we are alone, we can talk about this more in depth."

G'raha Tia

You are excitedly telling G'raha something while rocking back and forth on the balls of your feet when someone, probably Thancred, bumps into you (It's debatable whether it was an accident or not by the smirk on his face). With your lost balance, you fall into G'raha. However, his lips seem to catch yours before he can wrap his arms around you.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"G'raha, it's okay. While it was an accident, I'm thankful. I've wanted to kiss you."

"You have? Then I will admit that I have wanted to kiss you too."

Thancred

You and Thancred were very much head over heels for one another. It wasn't a secret. You two were very aware of the other's feelings. However, nothing was ever done about it as there was never a right time. Something seemed to always get in the way. But that was life. While it was not years for you, it was for him. And seeing you for the first time in a long time, he felt relieved. You were okay. But as he and Minfilia had been tracking down suspicious persons, he was worried that you were going to get caught. So, he did the first thing he could come up with. He grabbed you and pulled you close to him. However he didn't mean for you to be so close that you're lips are touching his (though he is not complaining).

"You can't say hello like a normal person, can you Thancred?"

"Hello to you too, love."

Urianger

So it was obvious that you and Urianger had a crush on each other. Well, obvious to everyone except the two of you. No, instead you two just figured you were friends and there was nothing more to it. With the amount of time spent on the moon, even the Loporrits were even aware of the silly pining. And the had a plan to help you two out. They were going to have you two fall for each other; literally. And so they scrubbed the floors where they knew you and Urianger would be frequenting. Neither of you seemed to suspect anything either. When you stepped onto the floor, you were the first to slip. Luckily for Urianger's sturdy grip on your waist, you didn't fall. At least until he stepped forward. That was when you both went tumbling down. And with nothing to grab onto except each other, you were standing up long enough to wobble and fall on each other again. And he was soon exhausted. So when you started to get up again, he simply pulled you back down. But you landed on top of him, your foreheads smashing against the other's and your lips brushing. When you felt his body freeze up, you felt the need to apologize.

"I'm sor-"

"Please allow me to kiss you properly this time."

[motheatenscarf]

Man, I wish the DT characters all just sucked a little bit more. Like, as people, not as characters. They do suck as characters because they're bland and uninteresting. I just wish they didn't suck as attempts at creating believable people who need to kinda, well, suck, to be believable. At least a little. It's good and normal, even if it's an impulse to fight, you've gotta be at least a little bit selfish and possessive and vindictive, even if it's as small or harmless as being a gossipy bitch with friends or hesitating before saying goodbye because you want someone to stay.

I think that's why people got so horny and weird for Bakool Ja Ja. They suuuucked. They were a boring one-note villain with a woobified backstory that didn't fit with their goals, motives, or personality and then immediately did a 180 into Good Boy Wholesome Redemption, but like. They still had the air of "I will be helpful but in a menacing way, for a joke" aura of jerkass that is at least something for people to latch onto.

Koana's kinda smug and uptight but like. He never makes a wrong decision or has a belief he needs corrected. People like him because he's a pretty cat boy and that's fine, but like. The meat in that character is one of projection, fabrication, and extremely generous interpretation, the text of the narrative did not feed you. Bakool Ja Ja is never in the wrong and is Big Daddy Patriarch who knows how to solve all problems with the exact correct words and Wuk Lamat takes exactly after him and her only "flaw" is ignorance. And it's ignorance that doesn't even manifest in an interesting way with arrogance or entitlement or brattiness, it's just. "Oh, I didn't know that, but now I do, and knowing is half the" completely talking down to the audience with lore and background worldbuilding that should be set dressing but is being passed off as the main story and a character arc. And oh my god, the rant I could go on about Krile, who I constantly forgot was even there.

Like. At least Erenville kinda sucks. He's often callous and very casually says some unkind things but even he never feels like he has much venom behind any of it. Maybe it's the VA and the delivery, but none of the dialogue itself particularly stood out to me. "Crowning act of idiocy," and "cardinal sin of boring me" this is not. But at least his meager flaw and limp wristed half-effort of being a bitch hater actually ties into his character arc a little bit, with an interesting dynamic with his mother that explains his psychology if you're still able to use your brain and interpret things after being spoon fed for so much of the expansion.

I love the Scions, but they suuuck sometimes! Thancred is only kept from being the worst dad who didn't try to murder their kid because Forchenault and Lahabrea exist. Urianger is The Worst Friend, he will NOT stop lying to people and manipulating them for grand purposes they would have definitely agreed to had they known! Y'shtola is SO MEAN, even when she doesn't want or intend to be! Alisaie has never been calm a day in her life and Alphinaud is still wont to praise his own farts from time to time. Gestures at Estinien and Raha, well adjusted men DO NOT behave like that!

The only time I have seen a character without flaws work in this game is Aymeric, and he only works because he is the beacon of morality in the most corrupt city the setting has on offer! He stands out against the backdrop of Ishgard as this unyielding pillar of hope for people to cling to as they drag themselves out of the fucking dark ages. And guess what? Aymeric ONLY works as a character in Ishgard. I love him so much, but I'm so glad his use has been very limited since Heavensward. In Alliance meetings, he comes off as kind of a dumb rube now. Contrast is required.

Everyone in Tural is "good" and only ever does bad things out of misunderstanding or miscommunication, even the goblin slavemasters who give up their slaves once Big Daddy Patriarch told them that happy artisans make better crafts :) Every one of the lizard eugenicists changed their ways when the future big daddies came through and helped them grow crops that weren't bananas and suddenly they were happy and content. No one in authority moves out of greed or ego or pride except Zoraal Ja, and his motives are so poorly established that you don't even realize what they are until you're halfway through the trial where you kill him! And even then, he's one note, pure evil, no nuance, no fun, no humanity, no nothin!

Sphene is even given the excuse of being an unrelenting simulacrum programmed to maintain the system, but at least she manages to have some unearned humanity that could have been better established if they'd introduced her sooner and taken more time to develop her. But, uh, no, we had to spend half the expansion on making sure the team that did their research journey on cuisine and culture in Latin America didn't waste their dollars, so now we're getting a powerpoint presentation on what they learned. Which, speaking as an admittedly fifth-generation Mexican-American, only fifth-generation because the border itself moved, not my family, UH. I'm just gonna throw out there, is kinda more alienating than inclusive?

Doman culture was never treated like it needed this much time or explanation to make sense in MSQ. We got some side quests if we were curious, sure, but Ishgard, Ala Mhigo. We just got thrown into Thavnair and the only crash course we got was on the local economic troubles that were relevant to the ongoing plot and used to establish a character who we needed to be familiar with for a harrowing moment later on. We were trusted to be smart enough and worldly enough, or at least make use of the fact that anyone who can run a live-service game probably can open up a browser and google whatever word they don't recognize in a new fantastic equivalent of a real-world culture. The only time that ever happened was in the Azim Steppe, where the main thing you had to learn was how to participate in and win their contest to become Khan and that was offensive and everyone with a brain hated it!

Ugh. Tangent over, the point is, none of the flawless (derogatory) characters in DT contrast well with their setting except for Erenville, and even then, in any expansion but this one, he would have been an interesting but weaker addition. That's why people just kinda liked him in Endwalker. It was fun and interesting to see someone suspicious of and outwit the Sharlayan council by consciously allowing their information to get leaked. We'd gone to the highest authority on the island of scholars and been rejected, but a grunt laborer was smarter than any of them ran circles around them to get the Scions the help they needed. Comrade Erenville, I loved that moment, it was rad as hell.

I got NOTHING even half that interesting from Erenville in DT until the very end when he finally broke down about how infuriating it was that his own mother couldn't see how it was tearing him up inside that she was so cavalierly asking him to kill her by shutting down the towers. AND EVEN THEN, he had his breakdown, told her off, tried to be selfish, asserted what HE wanted, and he just got shut down for it because The Plot was happening, finally, just as we were having an interesting character moment. So he said "Well, no time for tears," killed his mom, and went right back to being a completely personality-less prop. And... no! He was a person for a minute there, dammit! You were THIS CLOSE! Bring him back!!!

AAAGH!!!

[blackestnight]

trick or treat!!!!!!!

send an ask with "trick or treat!" for a fic-related surprise.

another handwritten treat! transcribed in full below the cut.

Zero perched as far forward on the couch—well, it was shorter than a couch, maybe this was what mortals called a setee—as she could. A fire crackled in the hearth across the room, but she was content to ignore it; Ishgard's cold bothered her as little as Garlemald's, but seated like this she could focus on the steady wood of the frame under her, rather than feeling like she would sink into the too-soft cushions.

Cornerwise to her seat, Hanami's mate busied himself with pouring drinks into fragile-looking dishware. "How do you take your tea, Mistress Zero?" he asked, with a bright smile.

(Mortals smiled so much. Even strangers. Zero's cheeks ached just thinking about it.)

She looked at the tray, at the steaming drinks—tea, apparently, though it smelled nothing like the masala chai she was served in Radz-at-Han, nor did it resemble the grassy brew that lived in her hazy memories of home before the Flood.

"In a cup," she said. It only seemed sensible. "And hot. Please," she added. Vrtra was always very kind about explaining that such pleasantries were polite, even when responding to an unsolicited offer.

The man (Aymeric, she reminded herself) raised a hand to his mouth and made a quiet choking noise. "Of course," he said, after a momentary recovery. "Would you like any accoutrements with your drink? Sugar, syrup, jam?"

That would explain the little bottles and jars littering the tray. The meyhane usually didn't add anything to the drinks after serving, so...

"I don't know," Zero admitted.

Aymeric nodded, like this was normal. "My preference is for syrup," he said, "but the prevailing wisdom is that jam produces a more complex flavor. I'm certain Hanami will be happy to provide recommendations as well, when she arrives."

Hanami did enjoy the same foods Zero did, when they ate together, but complex sounded like something to work up to. Her taste buds were still not as sensitive as the others' seemed to be. "Syrup will do," she said. "Will Hanami return soon?"

Aymeric handed her a cup with a spoon and a small cookie balanced on an impractically tiny plate. "She should be home within the bell, at the latest," he said. "I do apologize for the delay—she mentioned the two of you had scheduled an outing."

"I asked Hanami to teach me how to express my friendship to others," she said. "Mostly in battle."

Aymeric made the choking sound again, muffled slightly by his mouthful of tea, but settled before Zero felt compelled to intervene. "I see," he said, and offered her another baffling smile. "Hanami is indeed quite...devoted to her friends—and uniquely skilled in protecting them from harm; I have never known a guardian to be her equal. Should you have any questions regarding social customs, however, or other traditions of affection, I would be happy to offer what assistance I may."

Zero frowned. She had initially asked Y'shtola for help channeling the sudden surges of fire in her breast into power; Y'shtola always explained things concisely and clearly. She had only given one of her grins-that-meant-laughter, though, and directed her query to Estinien, who had blinked at her and told her to ask Vrtra. And Vrtra's little mannequin had also smiled (kinder than Y'shtola) and declared Hanami the expert.

...that felt like too much to explain.

"But you aren't my friend," she said, because it was shorter.

For the third time in as many minutes, Aymeric almost choked on his tea.