#anyways yeah back to elidibus

[astrxealis]

i love elidibus so much it is unreal

[astrology-bf]

May DWC Day 1: Appearance

@daily-writing-challenge

Ardbert Hylfyst wasn't a man to take things on faith.

Perhaps he'd been so, once. Before the Flood. Back when he still had the luxury of indulging in the naivete of a fresh adventurer.

But he'd learned wisdom since then: nothing could be trusted, least of all the words of the Ascians. So while he'd listened to the man in white as he told them of the Source, the Scions, and the Warrior of Light, Ardbert took all of it in with a grain of salt. Especially when it came to the last thing.

"Ifan Kaleid", the Warrior of Light. Hydaelyn's chief instrument on the Source.

It wasn't that Ardbert didn't believe Elidibus' recounting. What piqued his curiosity was the fact that one mere man could be viewed as such an obstacle to the Ascians, even with the Mothercrystal's blessing. What about this person in particular made them so dangerous? He wouldn't get an answer from the Ascians, that was for sure. Even if any among them knew exactly what made this “Ifan” such a threat, they wouldn’t communicate their weakness to a mere tool - which Ardbert knew he and his friends most definitely were.

So he’d resolved to simply go and see the Warrior of Light for himself. 

It hadn’t taken Ardbert any difficulty to track him down, as Ifan’s residence in Ishgard was common knowledge. Actually observing him without being suspicious was another matter, so Ardbert had to wait for an opportune moment before he could get a decent look. So here he was; leaning against a wall, gazing over at the white-clad hyur speaking to the levemetes in Foundation.

He didn’t seem special. Nothing about Ifan screamed “mighty hero”. He was a little on the short side, in fact, though Ardbert could hardly criticize from a mere five fulms and nine ilms himself. Handsome enough, he supposed, taking note of Ifan’s faintly roguish features. Ardbert blinked as Ifan gestured whilst in conversation, struck by how similarly his fingers moved to Lammit’s when she cast a spell - that same manual grace. Then Ifan let out a loud laugh, and Ardbert's ears tingled at the surprising edge of roughness on an otherwise fairly musical voice.

Ardbert didn’t realize he was staring at Ifan as the mage concluded his conversation, giving the levemete a smile and a gentle wave before turning to leave. As he did so, he happened to glance over in the warrior’s direction.

Their eyes met.

Shit.

Ardbert mentally smacked himself. He hurriedly averted his gaze in as casual a manner as he could, affecting a neutral expression. With any luck, Ifan would just find Ardbert a little strange, shrug, and walk awa–

“Need help, friend?”

Bugger. Shit.

“Uh… no. Just, uh….” Ardbert began as he turned his gaze towards the mage. Ifan had approached him and stood a few fulms away with a slightly airy smile on his face, regarding Ardbert with curiosity. The warrior was struck by the deep shade of Ifan's eyes. Like ocean water. It took him a moment to remember that Ifan had asked him a question.

The levemete counter. You’re waiting for the levemete counter.

“Just wanted to get a good look at the Warrior of Light, is all.”

Ardbert Hylfyst, you absolute fucking–

Ifan blinked in surprise. Then he chuckled. “Heh. Fan of me, are you? I can’t say the adventurers wanting to ‘get a good look at me’ are usually as experienced as you seem to be.” He said, gesturing again to indicate Ardbert’s bearing.

“A fan. Yeah, you could say that.” Ardbert replied with a nod, opting to take Ifan’s assumption in stride - not like he could think of a better excuse right now, anyway. “Sorry to be awkward about it, but you know how it is. Meeting your heroes and all that.” he added with an intentionally nervous laugh. “I’ve heard a lot of stories about you, Warrior.”

“You can just call me Ifan.” The mage extended his hand for Ardbert to shake, a smile on his lips. “What about you?” 

Again, the warrior was struck by the hue of Ifan’s eyes. There was a faint… sadness, there. And hardness. Ardbert continued to stare even as he reached out to grasp Ifan’s hand firmly and shook it before answering.

You practiced this. Arbert. Your name is Arbert.

“Ardbert.”

You’re an idiot.

“Ardbert. Nice to meet you." Ifan greeted, returning the handshake with equal vigor. "You're an adventurer, aye? Are you new in town?"

“Could say that. A few friends and I are doing a job here and there, stopped by the city. When I heard the Warrior of Light was here, well... You get the picture.” Ardbert replied as casually as he could manage, crossing his arms and leaning back against the stone.

“And?” Ifan asked, tilting his head and looking at Ardbert expectantly.

“And…?”

“Do I pass muster?” A note of teasing crept into Ifan’s tone. Ardbert felt his breath catch a little for some reason.

“...Hard to say.” Ardbert answered at length as he shifted his weight. “You can’t exactly get to know a man speaking to him in the street. Need at least three drinks at a good inn, in my experience.” he added as a joke.

“True enough.” Ifan laughed. Ardbert found himself smiling a little at the sound. “Well, I guess that settles it.”

Ardbert’s smile faded. “...Settles what?” he asked, suspicious.

Ifan gestured again towards the direction of the Brume. “Three drinks, right? A lot of people would question calling the Forgotten Knight ‘a good inn’, but I’m fond of it.”

“You’re… offering me a drink?” Ardbert repeated with obvious incredulity.

“You said you wanted to get to know me better, right? I’d planned on having a drink regardless, and you seem to be decent company.” Ifan answered with a grin. “Or am I too much of a myth in your mind to let me treat you to a round?”

He had come to satisfy his curiosity, that was true. But there was a difference between observing him and what Ifan was offering; a private conversation where Ardbert would likely be expected to offer details about himself. And the more he revealed, the more likely it was that he’d slip up and clue Ifan into who the warrior truly was.

It’s too dangerous. Too dangerous by half.

…But…

How long had it been since Ardbert had just… had a drink? In a tavern. A real tavern. It was less the alcohol and more what such an act meant to him; being able to pull up a chair with a friend and put life on hold for a little while. To folk with busy lives, as adventurers often had, it was more than a balm - it was necessary for your own sanity.

“...Fuck it. Why not?” Ardbert replied, hefting himself up off the wall and giving Ifan a grin in return. “Especially since you’re buying.”

“A better incentive I’ve yet to find.” Ifan said with a wink and a tap to the side of his nose. Then he paused. “...Normally I wouldn’t be so forward, mind. You just seem…” He glanced back at Ardbert. “Earnest.”

Ardbert’s eyebrows rose slightly. His cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink, and a nervous little laugh escaped his lips. “...You’re a lot stranger than the stories, I’ll say. But I won’t count my luck.” he said with a smirk. “Lead the way.

[sunderedazem]

Hey! It's been a while :D I've been off the Internet for a bit but just know both of your updates have been giving me essential bits of life energy, even though I haven't had time to type something out in appreciation until now. First things first I absolutely love what you wrote for the 'stay?' prompt, it's exactly what I hoped and imagined what could have happened if things hadn't gone so wrong back then. Seriously, it's like you took a look into my brain, I was really imagining scenarios of helios coming back and taking care of an exhausted emet selch 😩 such good food thanks so much for that.

Okay so back to the actual ao3 updates, I couldn't believe that you guys did the tempering cure so early XD ahhhhhh it was so good! The way it was just a slight shift of perception, how emet selch goes off just barely holding it together, the line "I always believed I would see them again" broke me so bad like how dare you 😭 but honestly finally processing his grief now is great cause it'll be so much better when Hyth comes back 😈 iirc that that's happening. One of my favourite bits was emet selch having company while the cure was being administered, idk there's always something about having support while you're healing. Corrain's writing is superb as always, in the tempering fic as well as the Sharlayan one, he comforted emet selch so well and it was very interesting to see his point of view when he snapped at thancred, poor guy needs a long break and so much therapy. I haven't read the most recent lelesu writings yet but ahhhhhh she has such big sister energy? Such a solid anchor, it's so great every time she gives support.

I think that's all my thoughts for now, so that this doesn't get too long. Thanks so much for the new content, and I hope the both of you are doing well!! Many well wishes <3

Okay! Now it's time to sob over this ask so excuse me while i

And YEAH we couldn't wait to untemper that bastard man and break him even worse. Like imagine waking up and the thing you've been working towards for the last thirteen thousand years is not only principally opposed to what you believe is right, but also now you have to accept that everyone you'd ever loved is dead and gone and will not come back.

(And then they do. Because we are stealing Hyth. And then also stealing Elidibus from Pandaemonium like sorry Athena that man is ours now. And then Hyth is spotting Lahabrea's soul mixed in with Nidhogg and they are Stealing (and helping him put himself back together, and confiscating his wife's evil space rock) him too. And we are stealing the Sundered Ascians as we find them and curing and collecting them, because they all deserve a chance to recover from the literal apocalypse knowing that the star is actually safe. Anyway. I have emotions about the first Final Days and how nobody who lived then deserved what the world and Hydaelyn ended up giving them, no matter if it was necessary or not.)

To be fair it most likely only feels fast because most of what happens in Shadowbringers and the post 5.0 patches happens as it does in canon and tby rewriting all the Same Stuff seems kinda jejune so we skipped it XD. There are a few more pieces from SHB in process though, we just have to finish them.

And YEAH GOD. Corrain can be very cruel on occasion, and him snapping at Thancred for having EXTREMELY JUSTIFIABLE RESERVATIONS (even if he was a jackass about it) wasn't his finest moment. He doesn't even honestly feel so upset about Minfilia, he liked her alright as a person, and she WAS kind to him, but in the moment he's purely reacting in anger, and it dredges up some really nasty parts of him. This is a trait Helios had as well, if uh. You read the Final Days breakup fic XD.

And YEAH I ALSO NEED MORE LELESU ALWAYS. She is so SASSY sometimes. Hey @azems-familiar give us your girl. Grabby hands.

Honestly I know I'm late actually answering but this made my week last week 🥺🥺🥺💙💙💙

[windupaidoneus]

walks back in with a comfortable chair and snacks. i am having SUCH a good time reading all of these,,, and also i DO want to know abt how hilde feels abt hermes and lahabrea. wait hold on i have an idea for a second ask,

giggles. the hermes one is suchhhhhh a toughie. not to answer but like. ouhhh hilde is feeling some kinds of ways about hermes (& fandaniel subsequently)! oooooh!

goddd hermes. arguably the person who treated him with the most respect among the ancients... or at least the one who treated him with respect the fastest. it felt like there was a genuine understanding there, & especially as hermes opened up on his feelings wrt elpis & life & death & his clear capacity for grief the others seemed to be lacking (which. i mean you know hildegarde. he has been making out with grief sloppy style for so many fucking years. emet & hythlodaeus being so fine with death, even of "lesser creatures" since hilde does not have that concept really of viewing some beings as more or less important, really threw him off. but especially knowing the emet he knew. also known griever.). hermes was the first person on elpis that made him go "wait, maybe i could tell him. maybe if i told him things would go differently." before remembering that that is literally impossible he cannot change his present only his future. Sad! either way though he did feel a connection to hermes, which. is also bc lachesis & hermes were close.

& then hermes fucked it & successfully traumatised hildegarde further 🎉 needless to say he uh. did not feel so positively about him for a while but admittedly he wasn't feeling positively about Anybody during that time probably. likely clung to nero & ardbert for a semblance of stability & nero wasnt even around so ardbert had to go out & seek him out on hildes behalf bc he was too withdrawn & in shock to front.

i think though after everything especially with aitiascope & all that he's just. yknow. he's not a grudge holder... not on those matters anyway. he forgives very easily bc he just. he's very emotional & very easily swayed by other people's emotions. i don't want to say hyperempathetic but honestly i think that might be the case ... very hard for him to stay mad at someone very seriously under most circumstances too. he wasn't even that mad at zenos honestly he just wanted zenos to come off it & would've preferred a peaceful resolution both times. at the end of the day hildegarde feels deep sorrow for hermes the same way he does elidibus among others. above all else he wishes he could've done something before it was too late. hermes was a friend & one of many hilde feels he's failed.

with lahabrea it's... he feels a lot of pity for lahabrea? also respect. he's one of those people he's now met before the final days & the sundering happened & the memory of lahabrea in his mind is just... lahabrea during ancient times. thinking about what ended up becoming of him makes him feel some guilt in the sense that obviously he does not have foresight & couldn't have known he would end up meeting lahabrea in the past, but part of him still blames himself for not knowing because if he had maybe he could've reached out to lahabrea in a meaningful way & he didn't have to die blablabla... the usual. i think he's probably a little intimidated at first but as pandaemonium progresses more of lachesis' dynamic with lahabrea instinctively comes back to him. & he's kinda. just being lahabrea's weird friend. like it still feels more formal than the dynamic lachesis had with laha back then but yeah. eek. yet another tragedy hilde feels responsible for YAHOOOOO

[e-nishka-aosh]

More About E-Nishka I

These just don't really fit in a timeline format. Plus more beyond the timeline I've already written.

The Ingrimm was a gift from E-Sumi when he joined the Seedseer Council.

It looked like the vanilla Ingrimm (Bozjan relic) prior to Oha-Sok inhabiting it, after which it grew many more flowers.

Oha-Sok herself is mostly dormant, especially when out of the Twelveswood. She still doesn't like war and violence, so she doesn't like to really be present for a lot of things.

When he is on the First, Oha-Sok's presence completely disappears, which is what shocks him the most. Upon returning to the Source, however, it's like she never left.

The events of both the CNJ and WHM quests of ARR+ occur but I have to think about where on the timeline they occur exactly.

Pokcha Pokk is forbidden from showing herself outside of the Shroud, even though most people can't see her anyway. This is because she says the most insane things at the most insane times.

She almost fought all the moogles of Moghome. Like it was ON SIGHT. She sadly would not have won.

Yda and Papalymo don't actually invite E-Nishka to the Scions because they're not necessarily aware he has the Echo. Instead, it's Thancred who invites him when he's in Thanalan as the envoy (and the majority of the Ul'dah starting quests occur).

Though he hasn't been mentioned often, Adel becomes a Crystal Brave and then eventually a part of the Scions proper when that dissolves.

E-Nishka won Adel over with food. The way to a man's loyalty is through his stomach, of course. Especially when you've been getting by on scraps since Garlemald invaded your home.

Whenever E-Nishka ventures into a new place, he makes sure to try the local cuisine. It's by far his favorite aspect of traveling. He also collects recipes from the locals as well.

Adel was called to the First at about the same time Thancred was (a little after). While he's on the First, he swaps out his knives to become a job that is mechanically similar to Sage and Machinist combined.

Adel gets a Phat Crush on Lyna, of which E-Nishka is immediately made aware of. Because he is kind of obvious about it.

E-Nishka becomes a Dark Knight during ShB, of course, but that will be its own post.

Before traveling back to Elpis, E-Nishka manages to convince Elidibus to travel with him too, which will also be its own post.

To keep it short though, E-Nishka, by DT, is technically plural in the sense he has three different souls also mingling with his own, inside his body. These are Fray Myste (actual Fray, not darkside), Ardbert, and Elidibus (primal).

Myste, though E-Nishka does go through these quests, is actually just a part of E-Nishka and doesn't technically count as Myste is not just hanging out.

Elidibus freaked the fuck out during Pandaemonium raids. Positively or negatively? Yeah!

There's more that I've developed for him so far but I'm snnzzz ...

[blucifer08]

Prompt: you came back?

Doing my fun little thing where I write around 300 words in the ask box to get the writing juices flowing instead of sitting on prompts >.>;;;; anyways! Azem x elidibus this time ---------------------------------------

"You came back?" Erasmia's voice is slightly hoarse, her throat parched from sobbing for what felt like a decade.

"Of course I did." Themis steps carefully into the small apartment room. He takes care that the door is silent when it closes, taking his time before slowly stepping over to where Erasmia sits. She sits on the floor in the very middle of her disheveled bedroom, hugging her knees tight to her chest.

He slowly kneels down, revealing a small paper bag hanging off of his left arm. He gives her a reassuring smile before letting it slide off his arm and rest on the floor.

"You shouldn't have come back." Erasmia turns her head to the side, casting her gaze away from him. She hears him chuckle.

"'You shouldn't have come back.'" He mocks her, pulling out a small box from the bag. He pulls off the top with his fingers to reveal a slice of chocolate cake, topped with a bit of swirled frosting. He digs back in the bag for a moment before retrieving a small fork. "Words weren't getting through to you. I thought maybe something like this might do well to lift your spirits."

Erasmia eyes the cake for a second, then her eye flickers up to his face. "You're here to bribe me out of being sad?"

"Bribe? No. But I see," He flips the fork around in his fingers until it's ready for use. "If you don't want it, then I won't let it go to waste." He plucks a bite of cake with the small fork and takes a bite, exaggerating his facial expressions to drive home how good the choclate treat really is.

"Hmph." Erasmia wipes tears from her face. She'd been crying for some time now, grappling with her self worth here in her bedroom. Themis had given her as many words as he could to try and help her feel better, but it had all been for naught. But the cake... certainly was enticing. She steels her resolve however, and crosses her arms in firm rejection of the treat.

He waves a piece of chocolate near her face, hoping her nose catches the smell. "You really don't want even a bite?" He raises an eyebrow. "I know you do, Erasmia. Don't be like this." He giggles.

Erasmia isn't obsessed with sweets like some people she knows. But perhaps the salt of her tears has her craving something sweet for a change. All of a sudden she turns her head and steals the bite of cake with her mouth. He looks pleased to see it.

"There." He nods, and offers her the rest of the treat. She takes it, gently tipping her head in thanks before taking another bite.

"Sometimes when words can't reach a person, I suppose food will do." He chuckles. "You feel better, don't you?"

Erasmia hates to admit it..

"Yeah." She does, anyways.

[myrfing]

OK pandaemonium thoughts

random guy who eats. me too

not new but I love how all the souls have different colors in the aitiascope. rainbow stars

i liked how they had a whole frankingstein's monster thing going on with p10 pandaemonium. i think that's a fun thing to draw a parallel with re: ancients and their creations

i like themis and erich a lot. they're both children who long to be needed. themis has the gift of being something of a prodigy while erich was made to fail but they still found it in them to stand together cus they're just people in the end. how crazy it is to see where that privilege then takes elidibus in the future vs erich

i didnt realize it would hit in some weird way to see lahabrea see like...the reincarnation of his son living a very happy and fulfilled life as a mortal shard. so many complicated emotions in one quiet pause. knowing that you would have made the same choices that mirror athena's, knowing you spent this whole time casting judgement upon her, binding her, going back and forth on her, but seeing that in the future you'd take the same path. people born in one time leaving their scars upon people who don't fit in the mold like erich and then coming to terms that The Times have changed anyways. things you only made peace with in knowing it's been long over

athena's thing kind of makes me think they were expecting players to resonate more with endwalker's whole thing of you are not a tool and you are worthy of living even if imperfect based on past responses to the concept of the WoL. i think the raids straightforwardly reiterating so much of this is neat

it makes me so ough that erich's last words to athena were "and who made me that way?" but at the same time knowing he got sundered and some piece of his soul gets to live again in a world where he is allowed to be curious and silly and full of life...THE FACT HE WISHED TO MEET US AGAIN...what we know and what we don't know.........

hegemone gay as helllll. kind of ehh about how things went for her where she's like yes im sorry master lahabrea now

yeah #duty will never set you wrong

I GOT SOME OF MY AURACITE ANSWERS YAYY AND IT OPENED MORE QUESTIONS YAYY

interesting to know that ultima the high seraph isnt related to altima then?

athena seems like such an anomaly. what her existence and imprisonment says about the ancients is interesting but what we get of her is mostly through the lens of lahabrea and her evil i want to be god moment

weirdly soft epilogue with elidibus. I guess that's what people wanted to hear, that he doesn't hate us and finds worth in what bit of life he did get to live, but I kind of dont like how its so wol-centric? i still feel like we don't know who themis is exactly LMFAO and neither does he until he gets mulched. of course he's always had a natural curiosity and link to the wol but i just kind of ??? when was it about enjoying your time with me

OVERALLLLL i enjoyed pandermonium it was fun. the highlight really was erich and uncovering the thread of his existence was so satisfying and strange. reaching for yourself throughout all space and time. and i keep my opinion of themis as...i mean he even himself says it he doesnt know the elidibus of the future and can't speak for him. it was VERY enjoyable seeing the bits and pieces of him though

4pits

[emetkoto]

sniffling crying sobbing emetkoto good end exblain 😭

YOU GOT IT BESTIE IM HAPPY TO TALK ABOUT THE ENDINGS WHERE THEY'RE HAPPY TOGETHER!!!!!

OK SO FIRST is the one that starts at the Dying Gasp! Prior to heading to the Tempest K'oto and Ardbert had their little heart to heart where they agreed to fight together during whcih K'oto expressed how he really REALLY did not want to kill Emet-Selch and shared his plan to try and talk him down and if all else failed and they had to fight, spare him and ofc Ardbert agreed to it bc he's a good friend who trusts K'oto :) so everything goes the way you know, Emet-Selch is not listening to reason on account of the disappointment and rage and tempering and despite K'otos best attempts to avoid fighting they do end up having to fight and it comes down to that final blow and K'otos puts his plan into action! Emet is struck but not killed by the axe and the burst of light frees him from his tempering (which later helps with figuring out tempering in the post patches) and it weakens and brings him back down to earth enough that K'oto is able to approach him and talk to him….he's able to accept his loss and mankind's strength bc mankind is actually pretty great when you don't have the voice of god in your ear telling you they suck! So they embraced and kissed and made up and decided to stay together <3 and ofc Emet returns those wedding memories too duh

Emet-Selch was pretty weakened by the fight so that's my excuse for why it's not broken for the Scions to have an unsundered on their side, he's gotta recover for a while until he's back at full strength ok!! Anyway yeah he moved in with K'oto and lurks around offering wisdom and occasional sass throughout MSQ <3 In case you're wondering yes SOS still happens bc Elidibus is so set in his ways and focused on his duty even with Emet-Selch vouching for mankind now he just is not having any of it and Emet is in no condition to fight so K'oto still has to finish the job </3 yeah im kinda obsessed with the visual of that middle of fight scene with Emet's spirit but with full blown Emetkoto

I have some more thoughts on his place in MSQ in this one but this will be way too damn long if I go through them all ok just know he is present but tries not to involve himself too much since y'know he is still waltzing around wearing the face of the founding father of the garlean empire and that's like to cause more problems than his presence would solve ESPECIALLY in the Garlemald section so! He mostly just hangs around and makes K'oto happy

SECOND starts at Ultima Thule! K'oto ofc calls Emet and Hyth to help him and as they're trying to leave K'oto begs and pleads with Emet-Selch to stay with him and with some help from Hyth who decided to jump in bc he thought it'd be fun they manage to convince him to begrudginly accept Hydealyn's gift of life so he and K'oto can be together for the rest of K'otos life and then into the next one ofc hehe <3 and also Hythlodaeus is there! They are very uninvolved in anything after this bc I mean. it's not their world, not their place to meddle with anything! Unless asked in which case they will offer their wisdom but otherwise they just hang out in K'otos aparment and again, make K'oto happy!

In both cases Emet-Selch doesn't technically join the K'oto polycule bc G'raha is not about that at all but rather it's like they have their own branch kinda? They all sleep together in the same bed bc everyone wants to cuddle K'oto but Emet-Selch is never involved in dates or other outings or sex with G'raha or Estinien (Estinien has no problems with Emet and could not care less if smth were to happen but Emet makes it pretty clear he is exclusively interested in K'oto) and he and K'oto always go and do their own things and most importantly they are HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They never have a second wedding ceremony bc the first one was so personal and important to them they don't see a need to, they are married and in love and happy together and thats all that matters, Twelve's blessing be damned

[missingmywing]

@strangefellows made a direct attack against me so alas, take my wips. XIV has taken over my life and I’ve created a sprawling verse of the butterfly effects and accidental Ascian untempering and recruiting so that’s what most of these are lol, though none of them are published yet.

You once again get an essay length response because it’s me.

Rules: Share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written fewer than ten, don't be shy and share anyway.

It was time. There was an underlying buzz of energy amongst the Shadows within the Palace, and Arsène and Izanagi leaned against one of the upper walls on the outside of the fortress, looking out over the forest around them as the other ultimates of their arcana ensured everything was organized.

-First paragraph of chapter 4 of Shadows Within. It’s finally infiltration time! Which means that Arsene and Izanagi are Plotting.

2. Etheria didn’t know what compelled her. She should have known better.

Hadn’t the shard of Themis - of Elidibus - in the tower told her?

“The reality you wish to save - the reality to which you must return - exists as a result of the Final Days. You cannot reshape the past to undo the tragedies of the present. Cannot unmake the sorrow and suffering fated to come.”

She’d thought he’d meant that the events were unchangeable. That the past was set in stone, and she wouldn’t be able to affect it. But wasn’t G’raha the direct contradiction to that idea?

First section of Two Steps Back, one of my time travel fics in which my main WoL messes up in Elpis and creates a split timeline bc she panics and destroys Kairos. The Convocation quickly gets involved and oh look, now she has two timelines’ Final Days to avert. Azem is delighted at her involvement though, so there’s that.

3. As she slammed face-first into the ground, Etheria took several moments to comprehend what had just happened.

Cierread, a Sharlayan scholar studying the mechanics of time, had recruited her to help him investigate a dungeon that supposedly had tomes created by a former scholar who had been studying the subject as well. It had been a relatively routine run, they’d collected the tomes without undue issue, only to find them locked by magicks.

She’d ended up calling the other Scions for aid after the rest of the Sharlayan library had failed them - well, she’d mostly called on G‘raha and Y’shtola, as well as Themis and Heph, but the others had ended up there either by circumstance or curiosity - but when they had managed to force the first of the tomes open-

First section of Antics of Chronology, my second time travel fic that’s… well it’s supposed to be a much more humorous take on time travel shenanigans but it’s rapidly turning serious as per usual, so we’ll see. Basically I take the post-EW Scions and yeet them back to ARR, and they have to deal with the consequences and figure out what to do now. Etheria looks up from landing and sees Ifrit and goes “oh no”. (And just as a fun tidbit, Cierread is my versions Source shard of Nabriales and he did come back with the rest of them, so that’s going to be a fun interaction when he shows up with Moenbryda XD)

4. She awoke slowly, dry heat shifting uncomfortably around her in what should have been a cooling breeze, but wasn’t. It-

What was going on? She’d been… been…

… at her computer?

Yeah, she’d been at her computer, on vc with her FC, waiting for the new update for the 6.1 patch to finish downloading, and then they’d all hit play together and… and…

White.

Hear… feel… think…

The adventure continues.

What…?

First section of Fantasy’s Dawn. Aka Log Horizon, but it’s FFXIV and everyone wakes up in their avatar at the beginning of 1.0 (for legacy players) or ARR (for non-legacies) with each WoL having their own self-contained MSQ that adjusts to their own actions - except our main six heroes who somehow share an MSQ instance. Everyone is left scrambling trying to figure out how the metaphysics even works, and how much control they actually have over the world and story. (A lot, it turns out, to the horror and amusement of many.)

5. It wasn’t that Etheria didn’t trust Urianger’s judgement, or his expertise in aetherology, but she still maintained that they should have done fire directly after water, before moving on to earth and then wind, and then lighting. He’d gone into a lecture about aetheric flow and why activating directly opposing elements together could potentially do more harm than good, either canceling each other out or clashing and causing rebounds.

And she understood that - she did - but that was mere speculation and it now left them with their conundrum of lightning priming the area for life, but nothing actually growing.

Windburn, part of my exploration of how Eden goes in my main verse, this is the lead-in to the Ifrit-Garuda fight and my WoL’s terror at fighting not one, but both of them because she has very very bad memories of them both.

6. It had been quiet since the appearance of Mitron, none of them quite sure how to handle the situation. Hephaistos especially had been quiet - that stiff stoicism and clipped logic that spoke to a guilt he refused to admit to, something that she and Thancred had talked about following the events in Eden earlier.

They were all returned to Ahm Areng, for the moment, with Mitron still unconscious from her battle with him. It had been… different from her other fights with the Ascians. There was no precise calculation, no higher goal, no intent for the world at large.

He’d been frantic, focused solely upon Gaia, and his thought process had been disjointed and difficult to follow.

Paradise Forfeit, skipping to the halfway/end point of the Eden raids, which went slightly different from canon thanks to Lahabrea being untempered and Etheria more aware of the situation in general, so Gaia gets shielded and doesn’t lose her memories. Mitron his ass kicked a bit sooner too, and dragged out of Eden to be stabilized. It’s an exploration of Artemis letting Gaia go and finding his own stability, in the lead up to 5.3 (bc I place my Eden raids together in the span between 5.0 and 5.3 for streamlining reasons in this verse).

7. They knew. They all knew - had known from the moment they’d heard him speak at the gate.

But none of them could even begin to guess the details. How G’raha was here, how the Crystal Tower was here - it made no sense. The Crystal Tower was still standing tall and cold next to Silvertear Lake back home - closed, sealed, with G’raha most certainly still inside.

The theory they felt held the most weight, currently, was one Aella and Yiskah had formulated based on the Exarch’s words - that he was from a time removed from their own. Likely some years in the future, and he had been summoned to this world along with the tower and awoken upon arrival - thus making his earlier claim that he’d summoned the tower from a random point in time technically not an absolute lie - not that they would let him get away with that once they eventually confronted him about this.

Orchestrations, my SHB case study of Etheria’s relationship with the Exarch and Urianger and their plots. G’raha can’t get away with shit with my WoLs, sorry G’raha. Aella and Yiskah are archons who helped him with his own thesis and he with theirs, and S’ohlis has been pining since the CT raids. Etheria can sense aether, and Vale and Rosalia are a mercenary and pirate, they can recognize voices and tell when someone’s lying.

8. Etheria wasn’t entirely sure what to expect as she led the way up the stairs of the Crystal Tower, into the Ocular where the other three stopped. Themis in particular appeared wary of entering the Umbilicus - not that she could blame him. The version of him that was the piece of his soul she and the Exarch had sealed within the Tower was… Elidibus. While he had still retained some of his memories and mentality of his time as an Ascian, the majority of it had remained with the piece of his soul they’d pulled away; while the memories of his life before the summoning of Zodiark that he had reclaimed from his brief fall into the lifestream before Hades and Etheria had pulled him back as the him of here and now.

None of them were sure how the piece of Elidibus in the tower would react, or how their souls would react together.

Unto Elpis, as the name says it’s the lead-in to the jump back to Elpis in EW for Etheria in my main verse. Not much to say, other than poor Themis is in for a rough bit of adjusting to getting all the rest of his memories of the post-sundering back at once.

9. Azem had to admit, they weren’t… entirely sure how they were going to approach Lahabrea. Not that they were at all adverse, but they wouldn’t have gathered the boldness, the audacity, without Hyth’s prodding. The man was stern and focused on his work above all else, and certainly not the type to fool around. Especially with Azem, who was undoubtedly the greatest headache for him more often than not.

Styx knew that he didn’t hate them, or even truly dislike them, for all that he was often the first to criticize their methods and actions. But that didn’t change the fact that they were in opposition more often than not and that he would likely respond scathingly to a “distraction from their duties”.

Then again, perhaps it was simply a matter of constraints to work around.

The Lahabrea chapter of I Próklisi, a fic with the premise of Hyth going “Hey Azem, bet you can’t seduce the whole convocation” and Azem going “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED”. It’s a silly ridiculous premise that’s supposed to be generally lighthearted, but is… okay honestly it’s mostly a character study in Convocation dynamics, general lore, and character headcanons wrapped up in a thin veneer of smut. For example, I got less than a quarter into this chapter and was trying to plan ahead and just stopped to stare at Lahabrea and go “oh you have so much trauma from Athena don’t you” so. I can’t even say these are “plot what plot” because while there’s no real overarching plot, each chapter is definitely going to have a character based subplot.

10. Would that the rest of the Convocation was as easy to approach as Mitron and Loghrif, Azem thought ruefully to themself as they considered who to approach next.

There was always Nabriales, of course. They and Aion had casually tumbled into bed - well they usually didn’t make it into a bed; offices or debate rooms or far flung corners of the star were far more common - together several times. If they asked if he was up for it, chances were low he’d be uninterested.

That was kind of defeating the point of the challenge, though - it wasn’t supposed to be easy.

(The fact that Hyth had strongly implied that he’d managed it made them very curious about the stories there.)

The Fandaniel chapter of I Próklisi, though Azem doesn’t decide on him in the opening paragraphs. So far it’s just Azem worrying if he’s adjusting to Amaurot and the Convocation seat okay, inviting themself over for dinner, and then going to check with his lover (Asclepius, the ancient of my other WoL Yiskah) to make sure their overtures wouldn’t be overstepping bounds. I’m 2k words in and haven’t even gotten to the dinner, it’s just talking about boundaries and comfort levels so far. If that gives you any indication of what this fic is. XD

Uhhh who to tag.... @mirintala, @up-sideand-down, @boomchickfanfiction, and recent writing you feel like sharing?

[charlottedabookworm]

#27 - Hail

feat Set

went with a synonym for this one cos hail really wasn't speaking to me lol

i am, once again, back in elpis so endwalker pandaemonium 6.2 spoilers but they're like. blink and you miss it spoilers? if you haven't touched panda then you'll have no idea who I'm even referencing lol

anyway have some Set and Themis talking

“You probably should not be sitting like that.”

Set tips his head back, a laugh on his lips. “I like being up high,” he admits and his legs sway slightly as they dangle over the abyss of Pandaemonium. “It’s kinda a Thing.” One didn’t become a dragoon without a love of heights, after all.

Themis hums, dropping to sit beside him; though his legs are very pointedly folded beneath him. “I know, you realise.”

He looks over at the Ancient. Tefh’a thinks that even if Hythlodaeus hadn’t explained the meaning of those white robes to them, even if he hadn’t mentioned the rarity of them… He thinks he’d have figured it out, anyway. Elidibus had been a broken shade of a man but-

They hold themselves the same way; Themis and Elidibus.

They both make some ancient, shattered part of his soul ache.

“Yeah,” he murmurs, looking away from those blue eyes that seem to stare right through him. His smile falls. “I figured.” It had taken him a long time to understand the cocktail of emotions that sprung forth on seeing Elidibus, to see past the rage, but…

Tefh’a knows what grief tastes like.

“I know each of Azem’s familiars and you are not known to me,” Themis says lowly, so that the bickering father and son pair will not overhear. “He would have told me of a new concept he was trialling.”

There is so much confidence in his voice, an utter surety that Azem would have told him, that it catches his words in his throat.

He doesn’t know what happens. He isn’t Azem, he doesn’t remember and he doesn’t want to. He can hear the love, the certainty, the trust in Themis’ voice and-

He hates you. He hates you as much as he loves you, he thinks and the faded betrayal that sits in his lungs has him closing his eyes. His chest warms with gold-shimmer-earth-warmth and he regrets not bringing Ardbert with him. His brother had wished to explore his new life, to get to know his new siblings, and so he’d come alone.

“I-” he breathes in. The thought of trusting Themis - of trusting Elidibus - has a weight forming in his lungs, an ache in his soul, and he doesn’t know what breaks the trust between them. He doesn’t know why his chest aches with betrayal when he can look at the man beside him and feel how much he cares for Azem.

But he does know that Themis isn’t the Elidibus that Tefh’a knows. He knows that Themis has fought beside him, has saved his lives, is so dedicated to helping the people of Pandaemonium and… Elidibus had been a shadow of this man. A distorted reflection.

“X’tefh’a Tia,” he greets, meeting those bright eyes and holding his hand out. “It’s nice to properly meet you.”

It’s not even that much of a lie.

[astrxealis]

sorry to ffxivlovepost always anyway Man the way the devs & game did so good in making an mc that is Basically a blank-slate for the players, and there's so many opportunities to make your oc However you like but. the game itself adds so much story and character to that blank-slate guy. amazing

[crossroadsdimension]

It turned out that somehow, Athena, wife of Lahabrea, had managed to bring herself back in the present, in the aetherial sea, and was intent on continuing her path to godhood.

And in an attempt to move her goals forward, she used the crystal Cross had found to recreate Lahabreha and Ericthinos, in memory and captured soul. While it was nice to see Eric again, it was...certainly unnerving. Especially considering how much knowledge they had to dance around to keep the two of them from becoming completely shocked at what had followed their time in the facility.

("The situation is..." Cross trailed off, uncertain. "It's complicated. I'm not sure how much I can tell you safely, even if you can't travel back to our past and your present."

Lahabrea inclined his head at the remark, then nodded. "Very well. We shall table that discussion for another time. Athena takes precedence."

Leave it to a man led by logic.)

Fighting Pandaemonium itself wasn't what Cross had been expecting, though. Athena wanted to become a god in the sense that she could create and manipulate souls, which did not sound comforting or comfortable. The fact that she held Themis under her sway and he was aware of the control only made things more frustrating.

(A part of Cross wondered if...but no. Elidibus couldn't be here, in soul and memory. This was Themis, likely in a random, captured soul, rather than the one he was familiar with.)

Still, the fight against Themis was drastically different than the one with Elidibus. A spearman, rather than a swordsman.

("If you will bear your truth to me, then I do the same." Cross brandished Azem's crystal and invoked its magic. "While I do not carry her memories, I bear the soul of Azem! I have traveled the length and breadth of the universe and seen not even a thimble of its wonders!"

Themis, tellingly, did not look startled at the revelation. It almost made Cross confront him about it afterwards, but something about the look in his eye made her hold back.)

And then there was Athena herself. Possessing Claudien's body, taking the form of a winged seraph, and pushed to the mental brink by the Heart of Sabik, because of course the High Seraph gave that to her and that's why she went down this path. The fact that Claudien possessed Eric's soul, passed down to the present, was not a fact that slipped Cross' notice when Themis mentioned the name slip. The fact that Athena had effectively molded the man to be her vessel for when she wanted to become a god, however....

...yeah, she deserved every beating she got and more. She wasn't to be allowed to mess with the will of the star as she saw fit, and Cross was more than happy to make sure she got what she deserved.

Revealing what happened to Lahabrea's real self afterwards, however, was...

("The man you were is not the Ascian Lahabrea," Cross told him. "He is who you became. Or become. While you yourself are not him...whenever I hear that title spoken, I see a man who possessed someone I knew, and used his body to deliver the Heart of Sabik and its spell into bloodthirsty hands."

Lahabrea's expression darkened. "I see.")

In the end, Athena's schemes failed. She lost control of the reincarnation of her son, booted from Claudien's body. Eric's memories were lost in the process, but he was long gone already anyway.

And then Lahabrea left, but Elidibus lingered. He got Cross to check on the Pandaemonium of the past one last time, then revealed on her return that he did, in fact, remember the whole of his life, even if most of it was hazy at best.

("Themis...."

"It's all right. I have no animosity towards you, Cross." Themis smiled gently, the aether shimmering as it left him.

"I...I know. I just want to say...I'm looking forward to meeting you again."

Themis' smile broadened, and he vanished in a shower of aetherial sparks.)

As Cross left the aetherial sea to re-enter Labyrinthos, her train of thought briefly wandered, to the souls of the Ancients who were back in the aetherial sea.

What would happen to them when they were reborn, she wondered?

[dumpy-dump]

ffxiv villains

Nael Van Darnus is the english localization team's greatest adversary apparently the unhinged garlean legatus responsible for slam dunking the moon into the ground. she's a big fan of bahamut, sephiroth, and majora's mask, among other things, you see, and decided to incorporate her interests into her work. she dies but doesnt.

Gaius "such devastation" Baelsar is a verbose fantasy nazi who's favorite color is social darwinism. he dies but doesnt, after getting epically pranked by a kingdom hearts cosplayer. later, his many adopted lizard children die. this all causes him to suddenly realize that fascism is not very poggers. it's all very cool and makes sense, you see. gaius "garlean man's burden" baelsar was already slightly less racist than his peers anyway so he's basically a hero.

Nero's not a villain, he's just based.

lol Lahabrea 🍞🔑🗡

Thordan is catholic.

Nidhogg was totally valid actually, but he needed to speak to a dragon grief counselor or something.

Zenos is megatron but sad is a sadistic bishonen who based his whole personality on "the most dangerous game." he's a twisted fuckin cycle path, less a person and more a weapon for the emperor to wield (at least until late stormblood). he's mostly just doing what he was born and raised to do, yeah, but it's not like that makes it fine. he dies but doesn't, as overstaying one's welcome simply runs in his family. he then spends most of his time in early endwalker trying to invite the wol to a nice, romantic, candlelit fistfight in the wendy's parking lot, by pissing on the moon (of course). that, and doing a whole lot of napping, apparently (way to beat the boring allegations, zenos). he helped cause the apocalypse because he's depressed (and very, very battle horny), but it's not like depression makes it all fine.

lol Varis 🗡😱🪦

Emet-Selch is the ceo of fascism, and was a funny and extremely likeable villain who stole the show everytime he showed up, until he wasnt. he stalled in the grieving process and decided to make that everyone else's problem by comitting mass genocide (he kins nidhogg you see) across multiple worlds for thousands of years in an attempt to bring his people back. but he's depressed (about his own ppl, he didnt seem to feel too bad about the everything else), so it's fine. genocide is his coping mechanism you see (very relatable). he dies but still has a ton of screentime and importance even after death because overstaying one's welcome simply runs in his family.

Elidibus more like elidibitch, ayo! was the convocation's little pogchamp who was sacrificed to become zodiark's heart, instead of any of the older members of the convocation who could have made that sacrifice (no, no, by all means, let the lil guy do it). he keeps desperately fighting for reasons he doesnt even know anymore, all while donning his best ff1 warrior of light cosplay (you're doing great, sweetie!). he can also apparently help you travel back in time, even though that's not how that worked when they sent the crystal tower through time initially but yeah okay sure (i kinda already did the twinning broski, cid's funky time robot is gone, how are you doing any of this? dont answer that).

lol Valens 🥛🐄💪

Fandaniel is become zodiark amon hermes a mentally ill funky little jester who is fought three goddamn times, one of those times being in the afterlife after you've already killed him once. one might assume that he may be related in some way to emet and his family based on how he, too, overstays his welcome. but no, he's just one of emet's annoying coworkers. yet another twisted fuckin cycle path, he helped cause the apocalypse (twice technically), but he was depressed, so it's fine. one of two characters whose existence slightly detracts from the whole hope vs despair theme of endwalker (imo).

Meteion is Necron a sad space bird, there to act as an homage to other final fantasy games that also have some random last minute bullshit as the final boss, not acknowledging of course that that is usually one of the worst parts of all the games that do that (i like ff4 but zeromus mcpalpatine-reference is lame). she's trying to destroy all life, yes, but she's mostly just doing what she was born and raised to do, so it's fine. she's also there to connect to the hope vs despair theme, but that is slightly undercut by the player charitably helping a violently mentally ill man die his preferred death (but like in a fun way) right after the big hope overcomes despair moment.

[memorys-skyscraper]

Took over 3 hours to log in today but we’re here

Endwalker day 3 (somehow these keep getting longer)

LMAO these bunnies talking to Urianger like “yeah you seem like someone willing to do some fucked up shit when needed, pls help”

so the sharlayans are the ones sending shit up here, right. like that seems pretty obvious. they investigated the aetherial sea, found hydaelyn, she was like “hey help the buns”, they’ve been doing it in secret ever since

of course Urianger is up to some shady bullshit once again, the expansion wouldn’t be complete without it. could really do without these stealth sections though

Uriangerrrrrrr ;n; I love him SO much, literally one of my top 3 favs, of course this scene is the first to get the waterworks really flowing. his VA is so good too

STOP not this cutscene of him and the buns, don’t do this..... NOT PUDDINGWAY LMAO, good fuckin save Urianger

GOD the writers were really targeting me specifically with this whole sequence, when Urianger kneels down to talk to someone smaller than him it’s already over for me, though pls tell me this doesn’t mean Urianger is benched for the rest of the expansion

Zenos viator Galvus, huh. interesting. if we get a Zenos redemption arc I’m gonna lose my shit

lol Fourchenault leaves, the twins’ 6 other parents roll up instead, WAIT why do I have to guess who’s at the door??? oh wait am I choosing who it is? ok im manifesting Graha

oh NOT him doing his little tail wag, hand wringing he did as exarch!!!!! Graha im love you!!!!! what a lovely little conversation, def gonna go back and see what the other convos look like, though I wish Urianger was an option

bun boy!!!! and Sid the DRK job tutor in the back!!! there is extremely ominous shit happening and everything is about to go real bad but im glad bun boy is okay (for now)

what the fuck the part of this dungeon where the mom turns into a monster and her kids are so upset that they do too is so fucked up, holy shit

what the FUCK, RIP satrap

holy shit graha going full exarch mode, fuck yeah let’s GO

god damn the animation team sure as hell got a budget this time around, anyway can we do cpr on a baby? wait are you KIDDING ME, NOT MATSYA AND THE BABY, WHAT THE FUCK

oh thank fucking christ Estinien and Vrtra. awwwww baby like big drago

lots of burials in this one, god. always with the twins too

me going around this village during the literal fucking apocalypse telling people “why dont you have some tea and maybe youll calm down”

uh hello? shithead dad? the fuck are you doing here? YEAH THAT’S RIGHT TRASH DAD, VRTRA IS A BIG DRAGON AND HE’S OUR FRIEND, FUCK OFF

Nidhana is such a delight, I love her sm

SDLKFJDSFKHG LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I CALLED THIS SHIT!!!!!!!!!! LET’S GO GET ELIDIBUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM POPPING ALL THE WAY OFF

im gonna fuckin CRY im back in the first.......... Lyna!!!!!! BEQ LUGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RYNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have the biggest dumbest grin on my face, im so happy

tiny elidibus..................... im emotional................. wait WHAT?? TIME TRAVELING WITH ELIDIBUS??? omgggggg WHAT is graha gonna say when I get back and im like “sorry borrowed the crystal tower for a lil time travel and let elidibus drive lmaoo”

fucking shit I talked to Elidibus for all of 3 minutes and im an emotional wreck

LMAO Emet throwing a fucking fit as soon as he shows up, he is such a CHILD omg, anyway thanks for the body, and the height?????? WOW thanks bud!!!!

HYTHLODAEUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the way I just GASPED and slapped a hand over my heart, IM LOVE HIM!!!! he’s so pretty omg, so nice, his voice is so pleasant~

Meteion got a higher animation budget than all of the scions combined holy shit

“will I have to remove you by force” oh fucking TRY ME OLD MAN, I’ll kick your ass again, give you a preview of how it’s gonna feel 12000 years in the future

"if I’m thin it’s because Emet-Selch didn’t do a proper job” why even give me other options, of course I’m dragging Emet, LMAO he’s so mad, his VA is so good

LMAO BULLYING EMET-SELCH THIS IS THE CONTENT I CRAVE

ppfphhphhhhhhhhwehhh me n Emet n Hythlodaeus were best friendssssssss ;n;

lmao Hythlodaeus just going on his lil tangent about sharks <3 also Venat was the Azem before me huh, that’s pretty wild........ also she really told Emet “you should smile more sweetie :)” lmao

so am I gonna explain the bit where I killed Emet in this little recounting of MSQ OH SHIT I AM LOL, how is this not creating some kind of paradox or something, pretty understandable he’d be pissed lol

me vs. Venat, no items, final destination, LMAOOOO I GOT FUCKING BODIED also WHAT is this music, WHEW okay got it on the second try, cannot imagine being a BLM in that one, needed my whole SMN kit & allllll that mobility to survive

“do not approach me, do not speak to me, and do not dare to presume to treat me as a friend” BOY Emet’s still extremely mad huh

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!! IT IS TOO LATE AT NIGHT FOR THAT SHIT!!!!!! GET YOUR FUCKING BLEEDING BLACK EYES OUT OF HERE

WWWWWWWWWWAIT TRUST DUNGEON WITH EMET VENAT AND HYTHLODAEUS?????????? NO FUCKING WAY!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!! WAY!!!!!!!!! THIS IS THE FUCKING BEST I CANNOT BELIEVE

EMET!!!!!!! IS!!!! A FUCKING!!!!!! DRK!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK THEY TELEPORT FOR MECHANICS, YOU FUCKIN CHEATERS!!!!! i am absolutely BESIDE myself right now holy fuck, trusts are my favorite thing in this game, I main DRK when I’m not SMN, this is just................ so much........... I cannot get over it, like here I was thinking Zenos as a trust was a wild idea but clearly I wasn’t thinking big enough

I absolutely adore that Emet has all the standard DRK skills but they’re all named pretentious-ass greek names because of COURSE. yoshi p PLEASE can I keep emet, I need another tank that isn’t Thancred, I love Graha but he needs a break sometimes

boy Hermes/Fandaniel/Amon’s VA is putting in a lot of boss fight work here huh, good thing he’s really good at it

that whole sequence was just. so good. why did Hythlodaeus saying “hey we’ll probably remember all this when we die” hit like a fucking truck though

oh man not original Answers, oh FUCK me not Hythlodaeus giving a casual smile & wave to Emet-Selch as he leaves to go be sacrificed for Zodiark, ANYTHING but this

“henceforth, he shall walk” god damn, well, that’s as good a stopping point as any I think

[thebmatt]

FFXIV Write 2021 Prompt #22: Fluster

Fluster – make someone agitated or confused.

Aetherytes were constantly busy. You learned pretty quick to move away from one as soon as you manifested next to one, lest someone suddenly appear next to you and knock you both down.

Old Man Franks, tired as he was, almost forgot this, and only barely missed being clipped by an arriving Roegadyn armed with an enormous spear on his back.

He quickly moved out of the plaza and cast a quick glance about, and then raised his hand to his ear, activating his linkpearl

Rheika’s voice answered him. “Heya Franks. You get to the Toll already?”

“Yeah, I’m here. I take it you’re not?”

“Not yet. Fearless isn’t answering her ‘pearl, so Dahk and I went to her place. Ranaa said she and Makoto went to the Sekiseigumi HQ, so we’re headed there. Turns out she left it at home. Again. Anyway, go on in and figure out what’s going on, we’ll be there as soon as we find her. “

“Copy that. Hopefully whatever this is can be resolved fast. I need to catch up on some sleep.”

“Did you stay up all night working on cross-world portals again?”

“I admit nothing, see you soon.” He disconnected the link before she could chastise him further and headed into the Seventh Heaven bar. A few of the regular patrons tossed greetings his way, which he returned as best he could in his sleep-deprived state,

The bouncer who guarded the door to the Rising Stones nodded at him and stepped aside. Franks strode in, turning to shut the door behind him quietly. Darn thing tended to slam, he’d been meaning to install something to slow it down. Maybe after some rest today.

“All right, Tataru, what is this emergency…about…” Midway through his sentence, he’d turned to face the room. Sitting at one of the table were Tataru, Y’shtola, and someone who shouldn’t be there. Someone who couldn’t possibly be there. Because she was dead.

Standing up at the table, hand over her mouth and tears streaming from beautiful sea-green eyes that he hadn’t witnessed in years, was a viera woman that happened to be the spitting living image of the woman he’d married so long ago.

She dropped her hand, looking for all the world as happy as the day they’d wed. “Hello, my love.”

Twelve forfend, it sounded like her too. “What the hells is this? No…you’re dead, this is some kind of trick!” He pointed a shaking finger. “You’re a godsdamned Ascian, you HAVE to be! How the hells did you make someone look like her??”

She ran to him. “Darling, no, it’s me, I swear it!” She moved in close, trying to embrace him, but he backed away, shock and anger on his face.

“Fandaniel, that you? Because you just crossed a fucking line, you piece of filth, and I’m going to make you regret it!”

The woman looks over to Y’shtola, panicking. “He…what’s happening, who does he think I am?”

Y’shtola has already moved next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and holding the other with her hand. “Aleister, I swear to you on my life, this is not a trick. Do you remember how Rheika unmasked Elidibus, by tricking him about the Amaro? It proved that an Ascian can’t access memories of their hosts, do you recall that?”

He had stopped backing away, but his eyes didn’t waver from the woman who looked like his wife. He nodded.

Y’shtola looked to her. “Tell him something that only you would know. Something you’d never reveal under even the gravest duress.”

Her eyes danced back and forth, considering, thinking. Finally, they widened and she smiled again. Closer and closer, she approached him, but now he didn’t move. Could….could it be?

She whispered in his ear and he cried out in joy. His world faded, and there was nothing more than the woman in front of him. He pulled her in, crushing against her. Her arms wrapped around his back and pulled in just as strong. So many sensations, so many memories flooded him, and he took all of them in. The scent of her, the feel of her living body preseed to him, the sound of her voice as she whispers her love between sobs. He could not reply, too overwhelmed to cry and breathe.

Tataru moved next to Y’shtola, unable to take her eyes off of the embracing pair. “It…it really is her.”

Y’shtola nods.

“But…how?”

“I think that story is best told to us from them. Once everyone has joined us. I think our resident Old Man may finally be ready to open up, since the loss that caused him so much pain is no longer lost at all.”

Finally, Franks was able to catch his breath and he pulled back to look at her. He kept her close, arms wrapped around her waist, as though he feared she might vanish into mist if he let go. For her part, she likewise kept her arms solidly behind his neck. “Gwen….I…I don’t understand. They…multiple people told me they saw you get taken by Sylvanas’ death squads. We…” He hiccuped. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he kept going. “We scattered when we heard you got taken…that’s, that’s how I ended up here.”

She smiled. “They were right. I was put in with dozens of others, taken to a camp somewhere in Hillsbrad, couldn’t tell you where exactly. We were lined up. Living prisoners had their names taken, checked off a list, then executed right then and there. Some were….were fed to the soldiers. Others to plaguehounds. But for whatever reason, they didn’t kill the Forsaken. Maybe she had sentimentality about us, or maybe she planned to do it later, but we were just shoved into a makeshift prison and left there. We got food occasionally, but no interaction otherwise. Just neverending boredom. Zenjulin and Beskar finally found the place and killed off the few remaining loyalists that still manned it, freeing us.”

She shuddered. “By that point, the Banshee had fucked off to…wherever it was she went. I don’t know. Zenjulin explained it, but I wasn’t listening very well. Or he was missing details, I don’t know. Anyway, he said that our allies were being brought back together to stop her and whatever else she’d brought with her, but that you were still missing. I told them I refused to do anything until I found you. They understood, and I started tracking your movement. Which was hard, because you’d concealed them well, but eventually I made it to Stranglethorn and discovered the cave, the one Y’shtola tells me you came to that same one and it brought you here.”

Franks looked over to Y’shtola, who smiled. “I went there to take some readings, and found her emerging out of the cave. Once I realized who she was, I brought her straight here and had Tataru contact you.”

“Thank you.”

She shook her head. “There is nothing to thank.”

Franks looked back to Gwen. “I… gods, Gwen, you look like the day I asked you to marry me. Even despite all the years, both living and dead, I recognized you right away. I…I actually hallucinated last night…I saw you. Worked for too long without sleeping again. You looked…almost exactly as you do now.” He chuckles. “You uh…you didn’t have these, though”.

He reached up to stroke the fur of her ears. She made a very happy noise at the touch. “Okay, those are definitely a little sensitive, good to know.” She cuddled up against his shoulder, enjoying the sensation.

Eventually he stopped and pulled back again, looking her over. Everything was the same, her long graying hair, two green eyes, one slightly darker than the other, on a heart-shaped face. Everything save the ears. He vaguely recalled the shape of her human ears, but they were no longer there.

She giggled. “I…I don’t know what changed me or why it gave me my youthful body with these ears, honestly. You, though, you look a little bit older than the day you asked me to marry you. Maybe…around our 10th anniversary, I’d guess? Bit more white though, not that I mind. That haircut’s definitely a lot better, someone’s been taking care of you on that front, I see.

She placed her hands on his arms, rubbing them appreciatively. She moves them to his chest and down to his abs, sculpted like they’d been in his younger days from long hard hours of farmwork. “And I see you’ve definitely been taking care of the rest of you. Been way too long since I’ve seen these muscles.” she purred.

Franks laughed nervously. “Well, um….you get a second chance like this, you tend to appreciate and take care of things you took for granted…before.” His hands slipped down to her hips.

Their eyes met, growing lidded. Slowly, he ran his hands up her sides, appreciating every ilm of her curves, ghosting the sides of her breasts. He pulled her close, and their lips met in a kiss they’d not been able to share in decades.

Memories of all of their favorite intimate moments with the other flooded their minds, and both had a realization that those moments could now not only be remembered, but now relived. The rest of the world had long been forgotten and their kisses and touches became more heated when the world suddenly reminded them that it was still there.

“Ahem”

The pair broke, looking in the direction of the voice. The other Warriors of Light and the senior members of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn had all entered and were staring at the pair in varying levels of confusio

Rheika spoke up. It had been her voice that broke into their moment, Franks realized. “I hate to interrupt your moment, I swear I do, but uh…didn’t we have some kind of emergency? Also, um, who is this? Not that you don’t deserve to kiss someone that gorgeous, but I feel like I’m missing part of the story here.”

Franks laughs. Both he and Gwenefyr have turned beet red having realized just how much of a crowd their reunion had attracted. “Ah, yes. Um, well, everyone…allow me to introduce you all to Gwenefyr Franks. My…not quite late wife, as it turns out”

She giggled at that. “Hi, everyone. Y’shtola’s told me a little about you all. I…think I recognize at least some of you from her stories.”

Franks looked over everyone. Thancred, Estinien, and Alisaie weren’t even masking their suspicion. Dahkar, Alphinaud, and Rheika wore expressions of shock. Fearless looked like she was going to explode with joy. Urianger just looed perplexed.

It was Thancred who stepped forward. “Franks….are you sure? I mean, we’ve seen the Asicans puppet dead bodies before..

He immediately shook his head. “No, no, I thought the same thing. But remember, Elidibus didn’t have access to Ardbert’s memories so Y’shtola asked her to tell me something only she would know. It…it’s definitely her.”

Gwen took his hand and looked to the gunbreaker. “Thancred, right?”

Thancred nodded.

“Y’shtola told me you’d probably be the hardest to convince. I don’t know what to say or do to prove to you that I’m not a…..Asican, was it? But I’ll do whatever it takes to prove it to you. To all of you. Because I’m not going anywhere.” She looked up to her husband. “Right?”

He looked right back to her, his eyes sad. “I…don’t think I can go back there again. Not if it means…going back to the way our forms were.Are you…okay with that? With leaving it all behind? I promise, this place is…it’s worth it.”

She nodded. “I don’t think I can either. Azeroth has taken enough from us. And the others…they told me they won’t be surprised if we don’t return to the fight. They’re prepared to keep working towards the dream, but they’ll have to do it without us. I’m not going anywhere without you, love. We have a second chance at actual life and I’m not going back to a world without it or without you.”

Alphinaud speaks up. “Apologies, but did you say Azeroth? I’ve not heard of such a place.”

Franks nods. “Yeah. That’s….that’s the other reason I’m pretty confident she’s not an Ascian. And it’s a story most of y’all long overdue for hearing. And now that I have…gods I can’t believe I have you back…ahem. Well, there’s just no point in hiding it anymore. Gather round…time I told the full story of where I….where we are actually from.”

[thecat-inthehat]

2. Aberrant

Sorry this one’s a bit late, I could not think of a good prompt for the life of me. And then this one ended up being so much longer than I thought.

Anyways, the best known way to make a cat like you is to bribe it with treats. Or previously inaccessible laboratories.

(1574 words) [Masterpost]

--

The door whooshed open, letting out a small cloud of air that had been trapped in the room for some time. The lights started to blink on one by one as they flickered to life with soft red glows, casting the two miqo’te into gentle relief. 

“Finally, I’ve been trying to get this lab open for ages,” the woman said, stepping into the room and adjusting her hat so she could get a better look. “Apparently this was the personal lab of one Stygian Osseous, the primary researcher for the Warring Triad restraints, who then went on to work on the Dalamud project.” 

“Ah, I see,” the man said softly, looking around the room with interest. “And being of such high rank, his room would be closed off to everyone save for the royal family.” 

“After we found Owen’s node and laboratory, I knew there had to be other places that were blocked off,” Nive muttered, starting to flip on switches for more lights to pop on. “I kept finding references to his work while I was digging into the Triad’s restraints on the upper decks of the Flagship, but every time I was confronted with passwords and nodes that tried to fire lasers at me.” 

“So this is why you kitnapped me,” G’raha said with some amusement, his luminous red eyes crinkling at her. “I see, I’m just a key for you to get into nooks and crannies you probably shouldn’t.”

Nive paused for a moment and think it over, only to chuckle. “Yeah, pretty much. Sorry, I don’t like you much at all, Exarch. But this is going a long way to endearing me to you.” 

G’raha blinked at the title, and wondered if it was intentional or not. Truthfully he and the woman were acquaintances at best -- he hadn’t endeared himself to her during his tenure as the Crystal Exarch, and now that they were back on the Source, he hadn’t seen much of her. It was strange, really. She was family-by-proxy, since she was Shining’s sister, but she had had little and less to say to him other than deriding his intelligence or asking a few questions about the Tower. 

Admittedly he wasn’t on her level. She was extremely intelligent, and had an encylopedia’s worth of knowledge stuffed into her grimoires or her head. She knew more about aether patterns and primals than he probably ever would, as well as the sheer math that was required in her chosen profession of being a Summoner. He wasn’t a slouch, having gotten his own archon mark and a century’s worth of experience governing a city, but she was on a different tier entirely. He tried not to take it personally. 

Nive started walking through the lab, carefully noting down things in her grimoire before she went to move various switches or open cabinets. It was a methodical sort of note taking that he had seen before on countless occasions, and he wondered how many books she went through on the weekly. The Ironworks had many of her books saved and used as references, and he had torn through many of them while he was with the group. There were dozens that were piled into the library, but based on what he had seen in the last few months of knowing her, at least a good seventy percent had been lost to time. The historian in him ached to try and figure out pieces that were missing, to study her books and gain some sort of knowledge. 

But here he was, watching the living legend spray herself with ink as the quill nib broke. She spluttered and coughed, then grumbled and yanked another quill out from the feather on her hat--so that’s why she wore the damn thing--and continued writing, heedless of the ink on her cheeks. History was learned and not lived indeed. 

“G’raha, can you--pleh--turn on that light over there?” She asked, pointing to where a switch sat, next to a containment chamber. The man laughed softly at her but did as bid, going to flip on one of the switches. The containment chamber lit up, and he had to stifle a yelp of surprise. 

It was filled with a sort of fluid, and floating inside sat a Lamia specimen staring at him. He jumped back, but the eyes of the creature did not follow him -- and he caught a glance at the vital signs. Dead. 

“I thought this man worked on the containment moons?” G’raha heard himself ask, trying to get his heart under control. 

“He did, why--Oh!” Nive said, coming up to the containment chamber and looking it over. She instantly went to the panel on the side, starting to read the information. “It looks like it was deceased before the Calamity, and he was storing this one for research.” 

“Why a singular Lamia specimen…?” G’raha asked, frowning at it. It looked a bit different compared to most Lamia he had seen, but even he understood what five thousand years in an isolated area could do to a species. 

“I’m not sure…” Nive murmured, and tapped on one of the display panels. Holographic text started to float across the screen, and she started reading aloud. “‘One of the youngest of the batch showed strange genealogy today, well outside the norm. She developed speech and her petrification powers quicker than the others, but seemed to know things she shouldn’t have.’ The next entry… hm. ‘The containment suite for the Lamias was in shreds today. The advanced specimen had killed the rest of her clutchmates, and was playing with the petrified head of one of her victims.’”

“... That’s disturbing.” G’raha said flatly. 

“Quite.” Nive muttered, and went to flip over the last few pages. The text scrawled across the screen, and G’raha could see several dates flip past. “‘After some research, I have determined that she has the aberration known as the Echo. How a simple creature as a Lamia could have it, I know not. The tests unfortunately killed her, but I have stored her body in my lab for further analysis. But with Dis asking me to work on the Dalamud project, I doubt I’ll have the time to truly study what I want. I can’t refuse him though…’ It trails off here, and there’s no other entries.” 

“It seems this man had more to him than even you knew,” he murmured, looking up at the specimen again. “... The Echo though…” 

“It’s been observed in non-spoken, but we have extremely little data on it,” Nive said, making another note in her grimoire. “We don’t know exactly how it works, and Mikoto hasn’t been able to get back to me on what she’s observed in Bozja. We know that it exists, but not to what degree or frequency.” 

“Do we even have those numbers on the Spoken?” G’raha asked, tilting his head. “With the recent resurgence of primals, it seems pertinent…” 

“Admittedly not enough data for my tastes, but out of the sample sizes we’ve found, the Echo can be found in approximately point-zero-five percent of the population, with numbers in Eorzea skewing slightly higher to point-zero-seven.” Nive said, scribbling on her notes. “It’s actually a lot higher than we thought. For a long time, Helisent and I were under the impression that the Echo and the Blessing of Light were congruent, until Midgardsormr proved otherwise. It turns out that theoretically anyone with the Echo can become a Warrior of Light, but those that do are far in between. And, in theory, someone without the Echo could be Blessed.” 

“... And then you have situations such as Elidibus in the First, forcibly awakening the Echo within the population,” G’raha murmured. “Artificially inflating the numbers. Except… Is it truly artificial when we have confirmation that it’s almost all artificial?” 

Nive asked softly, placing a claw on the glass of the containment unit. She stared up at the corpse of the Lamia, tapping her finger in thought. “If Hydaelyn simply chooses to awaken more of them when she needs, has there ever been a point where the Echo has awoken naturally? But… then that doesn’t explain how the Ascians have the Echo. Or what it even is…” 

“The more I think about it, the more the Echo being called an ‘aberration’ seems more and more apt,” G’raha admitted softly. He had witnessed the starshower, and had seen many of his beloved citizens have a gleam of understanding in their eye, of hearing something that was beyond his ken. It scared him, more than a little. 

“Maybe we can find some more information on it in the Triad’s files… But I doubt it.” Nive murmured. “At the least, it’s more information than we had.” 

“So I did well, then?” He asked with a laugh, and felt his stomach flip slightly. He didn’t want to sound so eager to please, but … She was Shining’s sister. He at least wanted to try and get along with her, or maybe be friendly. 

Nive grinned toothily at him, baring her fangs. “Court’s still out on the final verdict, but I think you’ve got good chances. As long as you keep opening doors like that, I think we’ve got a good relationship forming.” 

“Ah, I see, it’s all based around how I can serve you,” he snarked, and was unable to hide the grin from his face. “Maybe you should be the princess of the Allagan line then.”