#arr you guys seeing this. this happened TO ME

[thepoison-thecure]

Mama, 2023, Meeanjin (Brisbane, Australia)

[brainrotzora]

these things are always happening to the ones i like :////////

anyways the lighting in this dungeon is so nice

didn't get any good pics bc i was too busy dungeoning but so pretty...best dungeon music so far goes to snowcloak though btw

[impossible-rat-babies]

cape westwind really shouldn’t make me think this much but howdy ARR made me feel things with that one

[astrxealis]

SOMETIMES I FIND OUT someone famous i know/kinda know/used to know plays ffxiv and it's like good gods hell YES

[elliesbluntfr]

Haunting Me. - Ellie Williams

synopsis - a barn dance has been planned for weeks, after a very successful winter you all deserve a party! everybody in jackson will be in attendance including ellie williams, who is hoping that she will see you there.

cw: wlw! no use of y/n, more plot with slight smut, ellie self pleasuring, fingering, mentions of cunnilingus, a lottt of pining from ellie

~this is my first fic!! please be nice lmao and thank you for reading! <3~

————————————————————————

“Maeveee are you nearly readyyy?” you sing excitedly, throwing your hairbrush back on the dressing table after smoothing out the ends of your hair. Tonight was the night of the barn dance. Everybody had been talking non stop about it for weeks and for some reason, the topic never got boring.

This winter was one of the harshest you’ve seen by far, with everybody working so hard it was about time that spring had arrived to ease that work load.

“This night better make up for all those patrols we did, I mean seriously I still have blisters on my heels from last October.” Maeve sighed, appearing from the bathroom after checking herself once more before leaving.

You smile brightly, walking to her and squeezing her hand in comfort. Of course it was all worth it, even if there had been no dance planned, it was just nice to see everybody make it through. The sense of community in Jackson was just impeccable, and your best friend Maeve made it even better.

“Come on girl, let’s go have some fun.” You beam, not letting go of her hand as she smiles in return, following you out of the door.

The slight 9pm chill blows the bottom of your white mini dress against your upper thighs, sending a wave of goosebumps across them, a mixture of anticipation and coldness now evident on your skin. The black slightly fraying cowboy boots you had found at the clothes trade in a few years back crunching against the disappearing frosty grass beneath you. The stitching from the pattern was falling out, but you made do with tying the dangly bits of string in cute bows to give the effect that they weren’t entirely unravelling. You looked stunning anyway, and you felt it too.

“Sooo are you gonna talk to you know who tonight?” Maeve teased, tucking the stray bit of blonde hair away from her eyeline. You knew exactly who she was talking about.

“You mean Jenna right?” rolling your eyes in return. She was just a girl you’d hooked up with a decent amount of times. As great as Jackson is, the dating options are quite limited.

The guys were just well… disappointing, and around 98% of the girls were straight, leaving you with at least 5 options. Jenna was one of them, but you both made it clear, your situation was strictly hooking up. No feelings or anything else. It was the perfect arrangement, and you both had kept it exactly that way for a good 4 months now, up until a few weeks ago.

“To answer your question Maevey, no. She’s seeing Cat now, they seem to be good together.” You answer plainly.

“It’s okay to be jealous you know, you don’t have to put up a front with me.” Maeve adds, her tone shining with sincerity and care. You let go of her hand and link in with her arm instead, resting your head on her shoulder as you walk out of the residential area and onto the main streets.

“I’m genuinely not jealous, it’s just been a while you know.” you chuckled, as Maeve adds in a few agreeing ‘me too girl’ pats on the top of your hand. Raising your head from her shoulder, you turn and face her.

“So go for it with Max already! I know he likes you.” you smirk, watching her blush and roll her eyes.

“You may as well just shut the fuck up right now cause it’s not gonna happen.” she concludes getting flustered, pressing the back of her hand against her cheek to feel the heat coming off it.

“Mhmmm alright then, wait and see.” you taunt, discreetly pointing ahead of you both. There stood the 4 missing friends to your ensemble; Cassidy, Jude, Eddie and Max all huddled together waiting on your arrival.

9:04pm inside the bar.

“Waste of my fucking time.” Ellie mutters, rolling her eyes and tapping her booted foot impatiently against the wooden floor. Jesse scoffs, and turns around to stare at her dumbfounded.

“Ellie. You have been here for exactly 10 minutes. Will you. Give it. A chance?” he taunts at her, knowing full well she’s a short tempered little bitch.

“You know what,” she pauses, snatching the last drink ticket out of his hands,

“Thanks for the drink asshole.” promptly putting a stop to her unwanted torment. A few quick whatthefucks were heard from Jesse, as she chuckled to herself walking away. Approaching the far right of the hall, she hands the ticket to Nick.

“Another whiskey please.” Ellie requests with a nod towards the bottle, which was swiftly picked up and poured into a small glass. Questioning her life choices as to why she came here tonight, she glances out the window not expecting to find you.. the one person she was hoping would show up.

“Here ya go.” snapping Ellie back to the present, she thanks Nick for her drink and slowly walks towards the window to get a better look.

You’re greeting your friends with warm hugs and demonstrating your ‘pretty sexy outfit’ Ellie had described to herself in her head. A few wolf whistles and laughter follows, making Ellie wince in subtle jealousy. That one guy Jude twirls you around. Bastard.

He’s not really a bastard, and Ellie knows this.

Adjusting her eyeline back to you, she watches Maeve take your arm as you guys start to make your away across the busy street. Ellie clears her throat and pushes herself off the wall, heading back to Jesse and Dina.

“Ellie did you take Jesse’s drink??” Dina questions, trying to stifle a laugh escaping from her pretty obvious query.

“Yup.” she answers, toasting the glass of Jim Beam in the air before taking a satisfying swig.

“Unbelievable.” Jesse retorts crossing his arms, imitating a seemingly very sassy man.

Dina entertains this, wrapping her arms around him whilst sarcastically soothing his back with the palm of her hand.

“You guys are gross.” Ellie states, turning to rest her lower back against the table behind her. Dina turns around as Jesse envelopes her from behind. Knowing that Ellie isn’t a fan of these things, Dina reaches out a hand to place on her lower arm encouragingly.

“Why don’t you talk to her Els?” Dina enquires, with a look of positivity on her face hoping it’ll wear off onto Ellie’s current “totally miserable I hate everything about my life” persona.

She just shakes her head and fidgets with the buttons on her long sleeved black shirt. Without taking her eyeline away from the door waiting for you to walk in, losing any sense of confidence she had left in her.

———————————

“Can we go inside already we’re missing it!” Cassidy pleads, grabbing onto her boyfriends shirt in order to urge him to start walking to the bar. A collective cheer sounded, and everybody started the hurried walk towards free booze and a long awaited excuse to dance.

Bursting through the doors, a strong smell of dusty wood lingered heavily in the air, greatly overpowered with the copious amount of laughter and dancing circling your ears. The bar was so cutely decorated, you made a mental note that it should be permitted to keep it this way forever. Fairy lights dancing from the ceilings, swaying every so often due to Tommy lifting Maria up into the air, spinning her in his arms. Others naturally followed their lead in their individual couples, now really making the lights move to the music. Grinning at everybody finally having some fun, someone stuck out like a sore thumb. You spot a girl that looked familiar to you, but couldn’t match a name to her pouty face. Until you saw Dina stood by her, an obvious socialite who was a mutual friend of yours. You had remembered her bringing up this girl before. Trying to trace back to any conversation that might have had her name in it, and then it clicked. Her name was Ellie.

A familiar tune had started to play when you guys entered the bar..

Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker.

Everybody seemed to know this one, as the majority of the very full bar had made their way to the middle of the room.

The familiar hand of your friend Maeve crept into yours, pulling you along for a dance. The rest of your group followed in a hurried mess, ensuring to not miss any more of the song.

At least half of the room started a line dance, and oh god you had not practiced this particular style. The scurry of feet doubled and doubled, as everyone joined in.

“GIRL I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!” you exclaim already in a fit of giggles.

“LET’S JUST TRY KEEP UP!” Maeve said confidently, and so you agreed confidently too.

It was a mess of course. Tommy and Maria greeted everybody, audibly laughing at your miserable attempt to fit in. Tommy was a master at all things country and western, so he knew everything down to a T.

“TRY IT LIKE THIS.” he tried to direct loudly over the music and the sound of people, but it was no use.

Ellie furrowed her eyebrows, scanning the crowd silently happy with just watching everybody, especially you. Twirling around repeatedly tapping your boots to the beat of the music, you were effortless.

Just effortless. Ellie voiced in her mind, admiring the way your hair was flowing with your movements, always settling in the most beautiful array of different styles with each spin. The sleeves of your dress kept falling from your shoulders, after a while you just gave up with resting them back where they should be. Carefree for those 5 minutes, for the first time in months.

flashback:

She had to admit, your dancing wasn’t exactly the line dancing scene in the 2011 Footloose movie. Last weeks community movie night was of course.. the 2011 Footloose, to get everybody excited and in the mood to dance and celebrate. Ellie had been sat with Dina whilst watching the movie, nodding and singing along to Fake ID when the bar scene came on.

She was sat a few rows behind you, and could see whenever you turned to whisper to your friends or giggled at something that was going on in the movie. Every time you laughed, Ellie laughed too.

“Alright creepo you’re gonna burn holes in the back of her head if you don’t stop staring.” Dina nudged her grinning.

“Yeah yeah whatever.” Ellie hushes, trying to contain a smile batting Dina’s mocking hand away.

A wolf whistle caught Ellie’s attention, coming from one of the guys in front of her as Ariel, the reverends daughter from the movie, appeared dancing on the projection screen. For some reason, she looked at you to see if you had reacted in a similar way to seeing Ariel. She was trying to figure out your type. Ellie knew that you were gay, since the news about you and Jenna had spread around a couple months back. She figured you were into more girly girls, long flowing hair paired with bright colours as Jenna was. Wondering if she could possibly ever be your type was a constant reoccurrence in Ellie’s imagination. Scratching the side of her neck as her mind began showing her intimate moments the two of you have had many times in her head. She thought of you all the time, thought of everything she could do to you. Thought of everything you could be doing with Jenna, which set her body temperature high. Ellie knew she could be better for you. Treat you better, make you feel even better than Jenna does. The heat rising between her thighs alerted her to stop thinking, and to just focus on the movie instead.

It was a miserable 2 hours waiting to get back to her place. Locking her door as soon as she got in, then pulling the blinds closed. Ignoring the pressing feeling in her clit, she made her way to the bathroom to take a shower. Blocking out any image of you that came to her, she shifted her focus on just getting to bed for her early patrol in 7 hours.

Removing her sweatpants and tank, the coldness of the bathroom crept up her skin, making her shiver. The warmth of the water instantly soothed her, closing her eyes and letting herself loosen up. No matter what, you just kept finding your way in.

She imagined you in front of her, the water making your back glisten, almost entrancing her to kiss between your shoulder blades, and all the way up to both sides of your neck. Imagines lightly biting and sucking the sweet spots of your neck, tasting the faint and fading notes of your floral-citrus perfume, making her moan at the familiar comfort of your scent.

Blood rushes to her cheeks. She couldn’t stop herself, teasing her hand down her slick body, stopping at her nipples that were hardened by the thought of you. Her eyes fluttered shut at the wave of pleasure, as her breaths drew louder and deeper. Reaching between her thighs the feeling nearly knocked her over, frantically grabbing onto the shower curtain beside her.

“oh ffuck..” she whispered, already breathless. Her middle finger slid between her folds, seeking that warmth. Wasting no time, her fingers entered inside causing her to moan instantly. The growing desperation of releasing the pressure in her clit was evident, pumping her fingers at a growing pace chasing her orgasm. The moans resting in her throat were growing more primal and desperate with every movement. The shine from the shower water on her abs was replaced with a sheen of sweat, appearing on her forehead and the whole of her chest. The humidity of the shower steaming up the bathroom was making the stars in her vision even brighter. Ellie could have sworn you were with her at one point, chasing the silhouette of your naked body amidst the steam.

“oh fffuck ohmy-nmhhh” she groaned, catching sight of her clenched hand gripping the shower curtain. Imagined she was actually gripping your bed sheets, and you were the one making her feel like this with your tongue stroking between her folds, face getting soaked with her cum.

Her legs were shaking, struggling to keep her upright as her orgasm rushed over her. Cumming as fast as the feelings arrived, she was left breathless by you, and you weren’t even there to see it.

——————————————

“Earth to Ellieee!!?”

a voice broke through to her, snapping her awake from the flashback.

“Oh sh-shit Dina I’m sorry, what did you say?” Ellie stumbled on her words, trying to hide whatever that was with a laugh, but she could only feel how hot she was.

“You’re bright red, are you burning up? Jesse go get her some water.” Dina requested, putting an arm around her to check if she was stable.

“Are you sure she doesn’t want another one of my whiskeys?” Jesse scoffs, still bitter from earlier, but still trails off get some water. Ellie’s chest felt way too hot and tight.. a bit like-

“Yeah I’m great!” Ellie rushed to cut off any further indecent thoughts of you. She knew that she had just blew every chance she had of seeming normal now. Motioning towards the door and without saying a word, awkwardly left and made her way towards it.

So dumb so dumb so dumb. Ellie repeated under her breath just trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. The only way out was through the crowd.

You hadn’t left the dance floor since you arrived half an hour ago, song after song entrancing you to keep dancing. Your excellent way of sweet talking gained you a few extra drinks, might have helped that one of the guys had a crush on you.. idiot didn’t realise you were gay.

Maeve had been with you the whole time dancing and trying to attract Max’s attention, with some encouragement from the alcohol. Which had definitely worked, as he came over to ask her to get a drink with him. You sent her off with a flirty wink and a “told you so” smile, leaving you to third wheel with Cassidy and her boyfriend. You were right in the middle of the room which was getting a bit too hot, leaving little pearls of sweat on your forehead.

“I’m gonna go get some air!” you shout to Cassidy over the music, and she nods blowing you a kiss.

Tapping people on the shoulders wasn’t quite working, so you just kept repeating sorry as you shoved pressingly through the crowd. Someone had knocked into you which sent you flying into the back of somebody. Looking up, you recognise that person you bumped into.

“I am so sorry oh my god, did I hurt you?” you ask looking up at her. Turning around, Ellie’s breath caught in her throat as she realised it was you. Oh god this can’t be happening, her inner voice panicked, booming throughout her entire body.

“Uhh.. yeah yeah you’re good. Don’t worry about it.” she nods looking down at you slightly, meeting your eyeline for the first time.

She didn’t tell you if she was hurt like you had asked, but in that moment you didn’t even realise. You both had each others full attention, taking in her features as she took in yours. The freckles cascaded across Ellie’s face looked like they had been individually painted in the most perfect places. The way her short auburn hair fell effortlessly on top of her broad shoulders, a single strand framing her face that you couldn’t look away from. Your eyes glanced repeatedly across her face making sure to cover every detail, careful not to miss anything.

For fucks sake she’s even prettier up close.

Pushed Ellie to say more.

“Are you good?” Ellie asks trying to keep it casual, surprised she even managed to get words out.

“Oh yeah, was just heading outside for some air.” you reply, nodding towards the way out.

“My bad sorry.” she says, trying to back up into any available space to let you pass her.

“Thank you, and sorry again for bumping into you.”

As you walk, her senses are soaked in you. Breathing through her nose, her eyes close in disbelief of your perfume. Floods her brain and settles behind her eyes, as if she was trying to bottle that moment inside her refusing to ever let it go. She watches you disappear through the crowd, licking her lips and chewing on the bottom one.

Ellie had been watching the way your eyes scanned across her face the entire time, but could also see the way your chest rose and fell so close to her.

Fuck it. she voices, walking after you.

Anxiousness was washed away and replaced with greed and desperation. She had to have more.

[nihilnovisubsole]

phew! finally a weekend where i can set aside enough time to type up The Promised Endwalker Stream-of-Consciousness Post. i finished the base story... a month ago? but work has been busy, and i think tumblr benefits from me being quiet sometimes. anyway, what a ride. when you've been building up to the end of your arc for a decade, you want to hit it like an earthquake, and that's exactly what they did.

i think people love endwalker because it fires on all cylinders. it returns - in both story and vision - to the eorzea we love, and the dev team gets to show off everything they've learned. the dungeons and boss fights are dynamic and imaginative and colorful and bring the game's epic sense of scope to bear. the story callbacks are juicy. the music is orchestral again. we're back home, and we're saving the galaxy. what's better than this?

i love that we go to garlemald. i don't - i mean, you know, i don't like garlemald. i shouldn't have to qualify that. but it's hugely narratively satisfying to see the face of the enemy we've been fighting since the first few hours of ARR. you don't think about them when you're beating them up in castrum centri or ala mhigo. they're star wars bad guys. then you meet them on their own turf. you observe firsthand how they starve and cannibalize their own people to feed their obsession with state power and military strength. the wintry environment makes it seem all the more barren and desperate. my favorite part by far. i wish we'd spent more time there.

actually, on that note:

there is an argument that endwalker should've been two expacs. i've heard similar about stormblood - ala mhigo should've been the whole thing, and doma should've been either patch content or an expac of its own. the prevailing theory is that, after ARR, the devs are afraid of letting arcs run long. i can't speak to that, but i wouldn't have minded, that's for sure!

i won't pretend not to be biased. i've noted in many xiv posts that it hurries through its political plots to get to the magic stuff. i felt more conscious of it in heavensward and especially in stormblood. i made peace with it in endwalker. with dessert this good, who am i to complain? i can do small character drama on my own time. for now, the game wants royce to be a big damn shonen hero, and that can be fun, too.

speaking of characters, urianger and estinien have grown on me. this is the arc where, for me at least, the scions have congealed. they're all good, but with any large cast and custom player character, you tend to form the meatiest bonds with a few specific ones. i think royce appreciates urianger's cooler, more mature head. they're both so formal. he realizes she's someone he can confide in. i think she sees estinien as a gifted, but hotheaded whelp, which i find very funny. patience, child. stop sulking. do your breathing drills.

i love thancred's MGS sequence and in from the cold too. they're stressful, but i love that the team tried, you know what i mean? the fact that you can fight enemies in a pinch makes those duties way more bearable than some other games that experiment with stealth.

in from the cold as a whole, honestly. If You Know, You Know

all right, i can't avoid referencing spoilers anymore, sorry. there's a sense of classical tragedy to the whole elpis sequence. it's like watching macbeth or hamlet. you know how it's going to end, and you know you're powerless to stop it, but if they'd just made that different choice! but we had to leave eden. the warrior of light had to end up where they are to finish what elpis started. i don't do fate/destiny plots, but this? i'll take it.

i also knew what would happen going into ultima thule and still came away from it moved. it's strong writing. that's all there is to it. sure, the visuals are haunting, but the dialogue has to sell a gauntlet of difficult character moments, and it pulls it off. on the design side, there's some interesting intentional friction that forces you to linger in the zone and sit with its sense of despair. that part where you have to search the empty park for signs of life? oof

with the majority of the MSQ under my belt, i started sniffing around for what else there is to do ingame. i tried ninja. did terribly. i tried sage. did terribly too, but at least that gave me access to the healer role quests, which, ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). the nier raids are gorgeous. i even did the controversial werlyt quests, and terncliff is so cute. i kind of wish we could have another story there!

what's next? i dunno! right now i'm burning through the hildibrand quests before i continue on with endwalker's patch story. the field operation stuff seems interesting to do after the MSQ, in a "hey, you saved the world, but we have more missions for you" way. i've also contracted Triple Triad Collector Disease, so that'll keep me busy for a long time.

all right. one last thing. Real Gamer Moments: i was in a mount-farming party recently, and i said that i sort of collected mounts, but only used the ishgardian chocobo. it's a roleplay thing - it's the chocobo royce took when she ran away from ishgard. one of the party members said "haurchefant would be proud of you." AUGH

[lilacthebooklover]

Incorrect quotes

Ted: Are you an ‘arr’ pirate, or a ‘yo ho ho’ pirate? Felix: I’m a ‘I’m not paying $600 for photoshop’ pirate.

Jerome: I was arrested for being too cool. Carla: The charges were dropped due to a lack of supporting evidence.

Monty: Ok, maybe playing ‘whose family is most dysfunctional’ wasn’t the best idea we’ve had. Penny's been crying in the bathroom for an hour. We can’t get her out...

Billy: Oh just so you know, it's very muggy outside Lily: Lily: Billy, I swear, if I step outside and all of our mugs are on the front lawn... Billy: *Sips coffee from bowl*

Alice, to Madison: My life is in the hands of an idiot! Madison, motioning to herself and Ron: No no no no no, TWO idiots!

Buggs: *Gets down on one knee* Nugget: Oh my god, it’s finally happening. Buggs: *Falls over* Nugget: The poison is kicking in.

Dr Danner: I’m gonna need a human skull and I can't have you ask any questions why. Janitor: Only if you also don't ask why Janitor: *Pulls out 7 pristine human skulls* Take your pick. Dr Danner: Janitor: Dr Danner: This one is fine

Jerome: Remember when you didn't try to solve all your problems with attempted murder? Buggs: Stop romanticizing the past.

Nugget: Nugget prevented a murder today. Kid: Really? How’d you do that? Nugget: Self control.

Principal: In your opinion, what’s the height of stupidity? Applegate: *turning to Cindy* How tall are you?

Penny: Carla, what do IDK, LY, and TTYL mean? Carla: I don’t know, love you, talk to you later Penny: Ok, I love you too, I’ll just ask Monty.

Ozzy: Not trying to brag or anything, but I can wake up without an alarm clock now simply due to my crippling and overwhelming anxiety, so...

Buggs: You seem familiar, have I threatened you before?

Cindy: If you can’t beat them, dress better than them

Margaret: I’m sick and tired of being called 'mortal'. You don’t know that. Neither do I. I have never died even ONCE. Nothing has been proven yet. Stop making assumptions. It’s rude.

Hall Monitor: I’d like to offer you moral support, but I have questionable morals.

Monty: English is a difficult language. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though. Jerome: You need to stop.

Ozzy: This is such a bad idea. Madison: Then why are you coming along? Ozzy: One of us need to be able to talk the cops out of arresting us when this inevitably goes wrong.

Cindy: Looking left cause you don’t treat me right Buggs: Looking right because you left Jerome: Looking up cause you let me down Monty: Looking down cause you messed up Applegate: What is wrong with you

Ozzy: What’s something you guys are better than Felix at? Carla: Mario Kart. Madison: Yeah, video games. Ted: Emotional vulnerability :)

Carla: I think Felix was right. Ozzy: I'm surprised he hasn't marched in here to say 'I told you so.' Ted: He wouldn't do that! Felix: You're right, Teddy. For once in your life, you're 100% right. I would never say that. Felix: *turns around, the shirt he's wearing says 'Felix Told You So' on the back*

Male Principal: Some of you may die, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

Kid: So what do you do? Monty: I work in genetic research, and I'm currently trying to eliminate all Cancers. Kid: Wow, impressive. Monty: Then I'll move on to Leos.

Lily: Can I be frank with you guys? Kid: Sure, but I don’t see how changing your name is gonna help. Nugget: Can Nugget still be Nugget? Billy: Shh, let Frank speak.

I found an incorrect quote generator and had a blast ahdkjfh

[balladingbard]

On the Topic of Summoning Elidibus

Okay, all. This is a wild rabbit trail I’m following, but after thinking about it…it kinda makes sense.

Remember that ending scene in Pandæmonium with Elidibus in the Lifestream and him seeing the light? We figured that was him being reborn, but what if that was him being summoned?

Hear me out, because like I said, this is a wild rabbit trail. Remember back in 1.0 with Bahamut and his summoning? If you read Encyclopedia Eorzea (and I’m talking the first one, since that’s all I’ve seen at this point), on the bottom of page 26, it talks about Bahamut being summoned by Tiamat and the other dragons. The text states, “Her sorrow and anguish, combined with the rage of her kin, however, corrupted the spirit as it returned from the Lifestream- the result a mad tyrant little resembling what had once been the dawn wyrm.”

I’m weakest with ARR lore, but to me this sounds like the real Bahamut was yoinked out of the Aetherial Sea and corrupted when he became a primal. (And if someone more knowledgeable with ARR can prove me way off, please do, because again, I’m no lore expert.)

And if that could happen to Bahamut, couldn’t that happen to Elidibus?

Think about it. He’s a primal already. And with him being in the Sea, wouldn’t it be possible to summon him back? With enough prayer and petition, and the right amount of aether, it could make sense to see Elidibus as himself again (and with Claudien having the Heart of Sabik and the WoL warning him about it, it’s certainly open to having Elidibus return.). This could also explain Elidibus’ curiosity at seeing the light in the middle of him thinking about the path of the Star.

On top of that, it would make sense why Venat made sure her spirit was destroyed after her defeat by the Scions. In Shadowbringers she mentioned the form she would take would always be her choice, but what if she was afraid that through summoning, someone could bring her back and corrupt her, forcing her to do untold damage? If Bahamut, being the spirit of a dragon, could nearly destroy the world, imagine what bringing back one of the most powerful primals in history could do.

Anyways, it’s a long shot, and this is what happens when my post-migraine-brain gets to thinking. If Elidibus does end up being summoned back, I really hope we don’t have to fight him again. Poor guy has been beaten up enough already.

[chocoboyjames]

Gonna ask you 7, 10 and 15 for the relationship ask :3

HAYOOO! <3 THANK YOU FOR ASKIiiiing! Brrr xD (Hehe I am just always so giddy when it comes to sharing the love for the same NPC)

7. How Important is other people's investment (or enthusiasm) in your character's relationship? was there a consideration when you were planning it? Have you ever changed a character's relationship(s) due to other people's response to it?

I actually have had more bad than good experiences with the ship than I realise. (lately more leaning to good) Thinking back on it, I always make ships that make me happy. Which James x Ilberd does. It was the first time in my life I actually dedicated myself to shipping so hard with a lesser loved NPC. People would exploit it, make fun of it, or just simply hate on Ilberd to see me rage (cause I could easily fall for things like that) and then point at me saying; see I told you. So those actions made me realise that other people's enthusiasm for the ship/NPC doesn't matter as long as I enjoy it. Of course the positive outcomes about it, such as you now also seeing the fics and oh man- *Blush* Let's just say the POSITIVE side, now that's a treat! And I am very thankful that my 'sloppy' writing has been entertaining so far! <3

-

10. Is it important to include tension or outright areas of conflict in a relationship? If so, how do you explore these? Or does it not appeal to you?

Ilberd's literally seeping with lore that can add so much tension to a relationship. I never realised how much until I started daydreaming about it. James is the complete polar opposite of what Ilberd is and does in ARR - HW. But the love makes him blind to manipulation and other things.

But then Ilberd realises James as always been trying and has been legit and then realises he exploited him- just... Yes. xD (Maybe one day I will redo the entire storyline with a revisited mindset)

-

15. Did you build up to your OC being in their relationship? Or did you put them into it quite quickly and then filled the background in retrospect?

WELL- *Ahem* Now listen up here's a story about a lil' yellow guy- No but. James had been the "WoL" ever since the narrative of the game wished him to be. That was until the absolute end of Stormblood/Shadwbringers. I had already written some parts here and there on how it would work between a WoL/Ilberd and in the end I just shook my head and went; "WELL this isn't it."

So I made James into the position I have put him in. Just to see if the ship would work more like that, and it all sounded so much more involved. I wanted more angst, I wanted more 'screentime' with Ilberd. I needed more scenarios other than what the game had given us. And with a WoL, 50% of what I wrote between them, would not have happened or could not have happened. I know writing is what you make it to be, but I am a very picky person when it comes to filling in gaps on an actual story. Timelines etc... As an example, I could never seem to figure out how my James as WoL would not figure out or catch Ilberd planning the act of end post ARR, for example. I would never see James being THAT naïve. That and he would want to pursue Ilberd more than going to Ishgard in HW lmao. And stand with freeing Ala Mhigo rather than solving a 1000 year old war he barely knows stuff about xD Since Ala Mhigo is is homeland and all... ...

SO YEAH- before I ramble on- That's why James became the OC I know and love, and he's a happy (and stinky ;P) chocobo caretaker that has seen some shit and is now retired after Stormblood (Unless Square gives me more Ala Mhigo lore... Which I doubt kekw)

[wordsmithwhumpsandfluff]

Part 2, Word??? I NEED to know what happened to Spirit!!

Also, in case she's also whumped now, could we get Isaac as a caretaker for her??!

Aiden smiled dizzily when Mikey came into his hospital room. His mentor had some bandages of his own, but he clearly wasn’t as bad-off as Aiden had been.

“Where's your friend?” Mikey asked in a slightly teasing voice, sitting on the chair by Aiden’s bed.

Aiden chuckled. “I don’t even know. She said she’d be back, or she’d just text me.”

“Is she the one who makes you smile like an idiot when you text her?”

Aiden felt his face become a bit warm with a blush. Mikey took his silence as an answer and nodded, smirking.

Mikey chatted with him for a bit until Aiden became really tired and Mikey said that he’d see him back at work once he was better and back on his feet.

Despite how tired he was, once Aiden was alone he reached for his phone—a nurse had brought him the stuff that was in his uniform like his phone, wallet, and keys—and he opened his texts.

His mom—who was his emergency contact—had sent him a string of what could only be described as frantic messages. Meanwhile, he had a text from his dad that only said, ‘Ignore your mom. Good job, kiddo. Keep kicking ass like me! 😎’. Aiden chuckled at the messages from his very different parents.

Then he opened Spirit’s contact and realized that she hadn’t texted, though he wasn’t that surprised.

He sent her a couple of texts, asking where she was and if she was coming back. He waited. And waited.

She usually answered right away. But she wasn’t even leaving him on read.

Suddenly, Aiden was worried.

— — —

There were two main things that Spirit was feeling at the moment: pride and pain.

On one hand, the five Zeke and his douchebag friends were all beaten and bloodied up thanks to Spirit. On the other hand, Spirit wasn’t exactly better off than them.

She knew there were bruises likely all over her body. She knew they swelling on her arms and legs and abdomen, and could feel a nasty bruise throbbing on her cheek.

Some of the assholes wore cheap rings and brass knuckles, thinking it made them look tough and cool. All those rings and brass knuckles did was leave small cuts on Spirit’s face.

Her own knuckles—which had permanent scars from years of fighting and boxing—were worn and bleeding from how much punching she did. She felt dizzy. Her lip was split and also bleeding. A lock of her hair had been yanked at, and now a part of her scalp was sore.

This was the first time she’d fought any of these guys since High School. After years of her friends telling her to avoid them and ignore them and keep away from their trouble, she finally did it in 10th grade. And now, she’d gone ahead and broken those promises she’d made to her friends.

Spirit had taken an uber from the hospital to Drexel Park. She knew that if she called another uber, she likely wouldn’t be let in the car without being looked at with horror from a stranger.

The last thing Spirit wanted to do was call any of her friends, but she felt like she had no choice. Birdie was not an option since that girl could only keep smaller secrets, and even then she was terrible at keeping them when pressed. Amberlynn and Keiko wouldn’t even consider keeping something like this a secret. Oliver could probably keep his mouth shut, but blood really freaked him out. Jordan and El would tell Keiko, and—of course—Keiko would tell the others.

Plus, if any of her friends pressed her on why she randomly went to Zeke’s house to brawl with him and his buds, she’d have to reveal Aiden. Not that she knew there was really anything to reveal yet.

Sitting on a curb just a few blocks down from Zeke’s house, Spirit sighed as she realized there was only one person who might actually keep her secret and help her.

Isaac picked up on the third ring. “Hiya,” he said in a voice so cheerful that Spirit rolled her eyes.

“I need help,” she said with a defeated sigh.

She heard some moving around. And then Isaac asked, “You didn’t get arrested again, did you?”

Spirit bit down on her lower lip, wincing as she was painfully reminded that it was split. “I’m in Drexel Park,” she said, her voice toneless. “Can you come pick me up?”

She heard silence for a second. “Drexel Park?” Isaac repeated like he’d heard her wrong. “What the hell are you doing there?”

“Just come get me, please,” she said impatiently. “I’ll explain when you get here.”

“Um. . . okay, I guess? I’m on my way there.”

Spirit texted her location to Isaac and then pocketed her phone. The pain was giving her a terrible headache, and staring at a screen wasn’t helping.

Isaac pulled up in his car after almost fifteen minutes of painful waiting. Thankfully, basically nobody was around to see Spirit’s beaten self on the curb.

Isaac stopped his car and jumped out of it without even turning it off or closing his door, which Spirit felt was a stupid thing to do in this neighborhood, but she didn’t say anything and figured it would be fine.

Isaac looked completely and utterly shocked as he took in Spirit’s appearance. During the time that she’d been waiting, her left eye had swelled almost completely shut and her bruises had swelled badly.

“What. The. Hell?” Isaac asked, looking distraught. “How did—? What the—?”

Spirit sighed, standing up. “I’m fine,” she mumbled, walking towards the car.

Isaac scoffed, getting back in the driver seat as Spirit got in the passenger side. “You’re fine?!” he exclaimed. “Spirit, you look like you’re about to be in a fucking episode of Grey’s Anatomy! What the hell are you doing in Drexel Park and how the hell did you get like that?!”

Spirit rolled her eyes, leaning back against the seat. “I got in a fight.”

“With who? The damn hulk?”

Spirit frowned. She was really dizzy. “Can we just. . . get out of here? I wanna get out of here.” She hated this neighborhood. She hated the memories this place brought, and just wanted to leave.

Isaac narrowed his eyes a bit, but then put the car in drive and left.

It was a silent drive. At one point, the silence was broken by Spirit asking, “Can you take me to your place?” in an anxious voice.

To say that Isaac was freaking out would be an understatement. Clearly, Spirit was hiding something. They all could tell that she’d been keeping some kind of secret for a while now, and Isaac wondered if that secret had any relation to the current situation.

Isaac pulled up to his apartment and debated texting Keiko for help. Spirit looked rough.

She slightly stumbled out of the car after it was parked, quickly regaining her composure and walking normally.

Isaac’s brows creased with concern. He walked with her up to his apartment, letting her in. This whole thing was so weird.

Spirit silently went straight to his bathroom, rinsing her face with cold water and blinking as she saw the water swirl with brownish red.

Isaac entered the bathroom as well and stood behind her, arms crossed and frowning. “Okay. Tell me now.”

Spirit sighed. “Get me a towel first?”

Isaac rolled his eyes and hot a hand towel, handing it to Spirit. She wiped the water off her face, but she wasn’t done bleeding yet. Still, she looked slightly less gruesome.

She and Isaac made their way to his dinning room, sitting at the table across from each other. “Answers,” Isaac said. “Now.”

Spirit didn’t look up to meet his eye. “I went to see Zeke,” she said. “There was an issue I needed to handle.”

Isaac’s eyes widened. “Zeke?!” he exclaimed. “You fought Zeke?!”

“And Freddie. And Henry and Javon and Mike. Jeremy wasn’t there, though.”

Isaac’s mind was scrambling. Zeke was the biggest douchebag in elementary, middle, and high school. The whole group knew the story about him and Spirit: middle and high school was hard for Spirit, and even though she had her friends, she also fell in with Zeke and his group.

“They made me mad,” Spirit mumbled, as if that explained it all. “Really mad.”

Isaac could see that she was debating on telling him anything more.

“Please, don’t tell anyone about any of this,” she pleaded, and Isaac’s eyes widened. From the way Spirit was talking—completely unlike herself—he knew this was seriously important to her.

He worked his jaw for a second. Then nodded and said, “Okay.”

Spirit was bouncing her leg unbelievably fast; a clear indication of how nervous she was.

She took a deep breath before explaining, “Zeke and his friends robbed a store at the mall today. It was a whole big deal, and one of the cops who got involved wound up getting pretty badly hurt. I overheard a few things from some cops, heard Jeremy’s and Zeke’s names, and I figured it out. So I went over to Zeke’s house to find him and, long story short, I fought them.”

Isaac was frozen, trying to process all of this.

Spirit looked at him when he said nothing. “Well?” she asked.

Isaac shook his head. “Was it store you worked at that got robbed? I’m just wondering what the hell it was that triggered you so bad.”

Spirit pinched the bridge of her nose. “The cop,” she said.

Isaac raised a brow. “Yeah? What about him?”

Spirit lowered her hand. “Remember when I was arrested? And the cop that brought me out was a guy our age who goes to our university?”

Isaac nodded, still confused though.

“Well. . . he was the cop who got hurt,” she said, sounding even more anxious and taking in a tight deep breath. Every part of her body, even her lungs, felt tense with anxiety. Her face felt hot with embarrassment.

“But why did that bother you so much?” Isaac stressed.

Finally, Spirit took a deep breath and told him, “His name is Aiden, and he and I have been. . . talking to each other. We’re. . . f-friends.”

Isaac’s eyes narrowed in thought for a second before they widened to the size of saucers. “You have a boyfriend?!”

Spirit felt her whole face become burning hot. “He’s not my boyfriend. We’re friends.”

Suddenly, everything was making a bit more sense to Isaac. Clearly, Spirit didn’t want this to get out yet, so of course he wasn’t going to say anything. But he was totally gonna ask questions.

“Don’t tell anyone. Please?”

Isaac nodded. “Of course. My lips are sealed.”

Right then is when Spirit swayed in her seat a bit, staring dizzily at the floor.

Isaac once again became concerned. “Maybe you should lay down,” he suggested, standing and grabbing Spirit’s arm, bringing it around his neck.

She didn’t say anything or fight him, and that just made him more concerned.

Isaac brought her over to his couch and had her lay down, propping a pillow under her head.

“I think the adrenaline has worn off,” Spirit grumbled, looking at Isaac tiredly. “My head hurts.”

Isaac scoffed and chuckled. “I bet your everything hurts. You fought one on six, you fucking beast.”

Spirit shook her head. “One on five. Jeremy wasn’t there. He got ar- arrested.” Her sentences were becoming more sluggish and tired.

Isaac grabbed a med-kit from his kitchen and brought it over, along with an icepack. “You’re not concussed, are you?”

She shook her head. “No, being concussed feels worse than this.”

Isaac did suddenly recall that Spirit had been concussed just a few months before, though he didn’t exactly get many details then.

“I feel like I should call Kei,” he said, sitting on his coffee table and opening the med-kit.

Spirit’s eyes widened. “You said—”

“I won’t call him,” Isaac quickly cleared up. “I’m just saying, he’s better at taking care of you than I am.” He wet a cotton pad with disinfectant. “This is gonna sting.”

He began cleaning the cuts on her face and putting Band-Aids on them. He gave her the icepack for her swollen eye, and gave her a Benadryl pill for the pain.

Isaac left for a second, and came back to the couch only to find Spirit looking at a few text notifications on her lock screen. Looking closely, the name was Aiden.

“Your boyfriend is texting?” Isaac asked, and Spirit shot him an exhausted glare.

“Not my boyfriend.”

“Yeah yeah.” He noticed Spirit’s drooping eyes. “You should take a nap. You’re clearly exhausted.”

Spirit pouted. “I want to text back.”

“Text back later,” Isaac said, snatching her phone and making her exclaim, “Hey!”

“Nap,” he said. “And as for the story about how your ugly face became even uglier, I think we can convince people that you skated into a tree or fell down some stairs. Sound good?”

Spirit rolled her eyes and turned on her side a bit, her exhaustion and the Benadryl pulling her under. “Whatever,” she mumbled. Then, after a second, she also mumbled, “Thanks, dork.”

He mussed her hair a bit. “Anytime, looser.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@bellysoupset

[yezielmoore]

3. Tempest

Still in my ffxiv/hi3 bullshit.

When does this happen, you ask me; and with a shrug i answer you. Because honestly? I was just just vibing and then I realized half way through the prompt that the ARR voyaje didn't have a storm. Oh no. it was the infamous 1.0 cutscene that crashed many a PC which had the storm. Thinking about it, i like the idea that Himeko splashed into Eorzea a little bit earlier than ARR, but we'll see. we'll see.

*.*.*

‘The ocean truly is a treacherous mistress’, Himeko thought as she fought to keep her footing on the rocking ship, as saltwater soaked her from every side and rain as thick as a curtain made visibility all but impossible. 

Himeko had no idea where this storm had come from and, judging from the startled and fearful expressions all around, not a single passenger had expected a tempest of this magnitude either. (Just moments before the sky had been clear!). She looked around, lost. Her stint as Captain of a flying marvel of technology had certainly not prepared her for adverse weather conditions on a ship made of wood, metal and cloth. 

To think that it had been less than a day since her suspiciously opportune rescue. She shuddered at the mere thought of braving these waves on her little boat. It would have made for a very short second life. Instead of stewing on that lovely thought, she rushed towards the sailor shouting the loudest. She may not know how to deal with an emergency in the ocean, but she knew how to take orders from those that had the necessary knowledge. 

“I can help, where do you need me?” 

The sailor, one of those giant people with strangely square features and exotic skin color, looked at her dubiously. Her new tail lashed out like a whip. 

‘I probably look ridiculous,’ Himeko thought glumly, ‘like a wet cat abandoned on the side of the road.’

Setting her probably inappropriate humor aside, she refocused on the guy. She was prepared to argue her point when a wave taller than all previous ones rocked the ship violently, dragging any unsecured crates all over the place as well as overboard and forcing her to crouch and dig her claws on the deck in order to stay in place, the hardened wood underneath giving away like soft butter. 

The sailor she had been talking to wasn’t as lucky, he lost his footing and careened away from her before she could react. She cursed and briefly lamented the lack of her Vermilion Knight battlesuit, or any of her battlesuits really. Shoving that thought away for later (or never), she shifted into a better position for a jump and just… leaped. 

Clutching his ankle in a death grip (he was going to feel it for days, but at least he’d be alive to complain) Himeko dug the claws of her free hand and both feet on the deck. She gritted her teeth at the twinge of pain and the strain of overtaxed muscles, but didn’t let go until their momentum stopped. 

Sighing in relief that her utterly impulsive reaction (a reaction truly worthy of Kiana herself, dear God) didn’t end with both of them thrown overboard. Himeko absently wiped her face and tossed her wet hair out of her face, unknowingly leaving trails of bright red in the fine fur of her face.

Those would be washed away in short order, but in that moment, for that sailor, she was like a goddess of war that had descended to help them weather the storm. 

“So… how can I help?”

[iantimony]

this tuesdaypost was drafted on monday, please clap

we are cookin with Gas this week

listening: listened to antimai a few times through, favorite track i think is 'ring 5: middle class'. dorian electra - man to man: really fun video too charasho (benny friedman): was linked in jew chat. very charming and funky. 5 Old French Dances: No. 5. Le Basque (arr. for 2 recorders and harpsichord): i heard this a billion year ago on the radio (my wakeup radio station on my alarm clock is classical) and i finally got around to saving a link for it. very bouncy very cute. makes me think of rabbits running in circles a la beatrix potter.

EDIT TO ADD: i also finally listened to beyonce 'cowboy carter'!! i know im late! it's good i like it! not a revolutionary opinion! obsessed with her jolene cover! that's all!

reading: big one this week! i FINISHED 'the left hand of darkness'! i really liked it! still marinating on the themes etc. i started 'the dispossessed', also by le guin, and am devouring that as well. there's some stuff in there that oof ough. existential. but i'm liking it so far, i'm around chapter 5 right now. physicists!

fanfic: imposter syndrome (mikkeneko): i might have already linked it but i can't be assed to go back through a few weeks of tuesdaypost to see if i already have. so if i did, here it is again. really charming premise, gut-punch of an ending, cool twist on the doppelganger setup from dungeon meshi with svsss.

the articles, some of which were actually read a while ago but i forgot to link and am now cleaning out my phone tabs: how will the golden age of 'making it worse' end? (david roth) new canada policy lets indigenous people reclaim their names (emma bowman) what happens to the stay-at-home girlfriend after a breakup? (erika w smith) unschooling is the parenting trend that's pissing everyone off (ej dickson) in defense of 'coffee badging' (monica torres): if i had a job that was all zoom calls i would literally go insane over being made to go into an office to take zoom calls. fuck that what my mother's wardrobe taught me about style and grief after she died: thinking a lot about all my dad's shit will semen destroy your shower drain? granny davis' geocaching page: found when i was looking at some reviews for caches near my apartment. im kind of obsessed with her. she also has a facebook page called 'granny's geo page' if you don't have a geocaching account. literally she is everything to me. she has found So Many fucking geocaches good god. wedding trivia questions: used as reference to create some wedding trivia for a bridal shower! similarly, the wikipedia page for morganatic marriages my fight with a sidewalk robot (emily ackerman): my school has these. hate them. my boyfriend just linked this to me and im obsessed, laser etched paperweights, i am not a huge paperweight girlie but wowwww prettyyyyy. the electron orbitals!!!! i had a search open for "anti mega #1 cray street". i have no idea what this is.

special edition: the link dump from my trip to the uk last month! some very related to the trip itself, a few random extras! top of the poops, an architectural firm bc i saw a sign with their logo and thought it was cool but now i can't find their logo, waring ader space invaders because i saw someone's shirt with the little space invader guys and was like ooh the tate museum joel meyerowitz (and another page about him) wikipedia on gratin dauphinois, wikipedia page on doncaster for some reason i did not go there list of artworks at the national portrait gallery of scotland wikipedia page on the jacobite uprising of 1745 washi tape that would match the edinburgh one i bought there, tintin in the land of the soviets postcard that i didnt end up getting wikipedia for a quaich which is a traditional scottish bowl, a wiki page on the geology of arthur's seat, a book in the scottish national galleries that i thought about purchasing but didn't want to try and fit in my luggage (she is definitely one of my new favorite artists though) wikipedia page on lauryn hill for some reason not sure how i got there, wikipedia page on salome halpir this post was on tumblr and i tried to find the item in the victoria and albert museum but it was sadly not on display, one of the audio guides i listened to a bit of in the v & a, a scarf i almost bought in the v & a a google search for the fabric library at harrods because my mom mentioned that it existed but i could not find it search for blinq (apparently spelled that way) blossoms because of a cocktail my brother's friend ordered that had one as a garnish wikipedia page on the mechanical explanations of gravitation

watching: from wool to cloth using a historical weaving technique (jillian eve): oughhh colors

emma in the moment/made in the moment: a deep dive into the chunky boy crochet lore the crochet stardew valley pillow drama untangling the shocking tale of mystical creations yarn i tried red heart's new all in one granny square yarn

some crochet tips videos from play hooky with me

tiffanyferg: 'personal style' discourse hgtv is a gentrification masterclass cleantok villains and the morality of messiness

playing: a teeny bit of wizard101

making: fallow. well i guess i drew on some cards for my friend's bridal shower. but generally fallow.

eating: made deb smittenkitchen's delicious carrot cake recipe. mine was a little ugly but really really delicious. i bought a bag of preshredded carrots and just sort of roughly chopped em up a little smaller because i couldn't be assed to grate them. i also couldn't be assed to trim the cakes, i did two smaller round pans and stacked them up but because i didn't trim them they were a little wibbly. oh well.

i'm going to bake another cake for my brother's birthday next weekend and i'm between her chocolate olive oil cake (looks really easy) and bittersweet chocolate and pear cake (a little more involved but highly recommended by bee)

misc: my mom wanted to take a sailing class but didn't want to do it alone so she offered to pay for me to come. sure, said i! i have never sailed! i like learning new skills! reader, it is So Fucking Hot Outside. the wind died and we had to get towed back to shore. the sun was so strong. there are so many ropes with all different names and they all Do Something. sunday's class got cancelled/rescheduled because the weather was That Bad (hot as fuck and no wind) so we're doing it probably friday instead (and saturday. and sunday. it's two weekends in a row of both days at 9am yayyyyy) but i just hope the weather is. better.

[arcann]

if you don't mind me asking what FFXIV classes do you like in terms of gameplay/fun to actually play versus ones that are fun for the story/characters; taigat related or not

Taigat is canonically a conjurer (... just a conjurer), dragoon, dark knight, red mage and reaper. He won't ever be a ranged dps because he's missing an eye.

My top favorite classes by just their gameplay are reaper, red mage, dancer and sage. I like playing all roles of the triad! They can all be fun but tbh I don't like all classes.

For gameplay, I enjoy warrior very much because it's a no brainer and you can just rush through dungeons without the help of a competent healer esp by level 90. Dark knight and gunbreaker are also very fun but they do requiere more attention. I never adapted to paladin because it feels like a hot mess. It got a rework like a year ago and it's still pretty annoying.

I agree that dark knight is the best job storyline as it is the accepted general opinion. Gunbreaker is nice but too short. Things they tried to explore are explained way better in a different raid mission (Bozja). It also had a random dark knight garlean duskwight villain that came out of nowhere and they said he was as poweful as gaius which was super random and ooc for garleans to recruit a guy like that. Warrior is mid but it takes a turn for the worst when the mentor gets introduced to The Girl tm and they fall in love (heterosexual af despite the girl being a better warrior than him). Paladin is the worst, I know you didn't like the gladiator part and tbh it just introduces more and more annoying characters and very little of it's lore is worth it. They completely leave out ishgardian knights in favor of uldans 💀

I love healing too except maybe astro. It's enjoyable and very pretty but some parts of the rng are annoying and it's always getting reworks. It will probably get another one in dawntrail. Sorry to the people who main it if that happens. Sage is my favorite and I find white mage and scholar very fun too.

I love the white mage's npcs they're very cute to me especially Sylvie and Gatty. E-Sumi-Yan is one of my favorite mentors as well. I've mentioned it before but Taigat ran the whole whm story but only to help Sylvie and the Senna twins. The rest are fine. Just fine. Scholar and Astro give some neat lore tidbits but tbh I'm not that interested in them. Sage has you running around with a sharlayan cop catgirl so several points will be taken off bc of that.

The only caster I like for its gameplay is red mage. I know black mage players enjoy how much freedom they get to make their own rotations but I just don't see it, also it changes a lot depending on the level you're in. Summoner got reworked in ew and now it's a no brainer (Sasha has a lot more to say about these changes, I just didn't experience it when it wasn't like this) and like I get no braining tanking with warrior bc I'm pulling all the heat and still living but. just clicking 5 buttons without worries? While nothing is chasing me? Not for me. Red mage is super fun and sexy. This is a good mix of melee attacks and ranged magic. I wish paladin would approach it a bit but tbh I don't imagine how. Blue mage doesn't really count and I haven't played through it but it feels like a hassle.

Thaumaturge's plot is pretty funny because you see how fucking pathetic those lalafell siblings are. I made it so that Taigat goes through it post ew but just so he can go "you're all freaks i'm stealing something from your house". Dyulgor did the black mage storyline decades before ARR happened. It's interesting and it has a moon keeper conjurer who doesn't trust you and it was cool to think there was still enmity between black and white mages but they kinda ruined him a bit by making him have a crush on our lalafell mentor. Some beast tribe members are also important here but tbh they act to much like caricatures and it's sometimes annoying. Summoner introduces a lot of interesting lore about your relationship with the primals and allag + you hang around with y'shtola's half sister and she's very neat + the ascians are one of the main villains which is unique outside of the msq. The red mage storyline has voidsent and weird implications about getting close to vampirism with this class which gets an automatic 10 from me. The mentor is a really nice catdilf from ala mhigo who fought long ago, before and during the garlean conquest. He's also Alisaie's mentor and he will mention her a couple of times. Blue mage sounds fucking awful and that's all I'm saying.

Dancer has a very unique rotation and even if parts of it are rng based I can't complain because you're mainly support and you're there to buff other teammates. Machinist is fine even if I don't like certain attacks where you have to stand still or else you'll interrupt your attack. Bard's rng is a mess right now and in lower levels your rotation feels very incomplete which is pretty unsatisfying.

Dancer's story is really bad and like gunbreaker, too short to explain anything introduced there well enough. It would have been better to give them something to do in Thavnair. Machinist makes you spend a lot of time in Ishgard and I think that's great but I didn't care much about what happened. I'm glad the mentor kicked nobles' butts though. Archer is kinda rancid bc it's about a racist elezen learning that maybe moonkeepers are people and still being super rude around them. Bard has this two mid looking white guys so ofc there's a section of the fandom that is obsessed with them but I don't care for them. Moogles give you your job stone and they're involved so that is a plus.

Tbh I like all of the melee classes' gameplay. It traumatized me a bit that I wasn't playing dragoon right for a long time but I recovered. I probably don't remember all the rotations that well on account of not practicing lol.

I like Foulques way too much to let him die so like you I make him older and changed his background quite a bit. He does have a competitive relationship with Taigat but after they save him from falling down that cliff they start bonding. If anything Taigat visits him more than anyone at the lancer's guild but I imagine Foulques travels a lot around the Black Shroud so sometimes it's a bit difficult to find him. Dragoon is neat. Just neat. It was fun to see Estinien lose his marbles and swear revenge then several days later going "no no, I'm fine, we're fine. Let's forget that happened." in the msq. Puglist and Monk suck so bad especially that racist historian I hope he drops dead and his wife cucks him. Samurai started really strong but after you reach Kugane it becomes a story of "maybe the oligarchy is there for a reason and everyone who defied them is being too violent ergo worse than it" which. why. why. Rogue is an interesting idea to insert in limsa, which is very much filled with plot holes but having a secret police to keep the pirates in check is neat. Hated that the mentor is just a nod to jack sparrow. I imagine Dyulgor has a huge problem with these guys since he's very friendly with the sahagin and he has killed several of the people sent to investigate him but they can't track the murders back to him, lol, lmao. I don't remember ninja quite well but the main rival was a clown who annoyed me real bad. I'm glad the mentor and his main ally came back for Bozja and got away from that guy.

Y'all know I'm insane about reaper but it did a good job at having a neatly closed story imo. Tbh sage did so too, when compared with gunbreaker and dancer. Maybe they realized by then they would have much less screen time and organized the story beats better.

For dawntrail, viper and pictomancer look extremely unappealing to me right now. Viper seems like samurai but with nothing cool about it and pictomancer looks like something adapted from neopets. Not excited about this at all.

[angst-king]

Beware of Mr. Midoriya pt 2

(Here's part 2 guys, its pretty short but I hope you like it) Oh, that phone call with Kaachan was going to be interesting to say the least!

When Izuku got home, he waited till his kid ran off to their play room before texting Katsuki.

Izuku: Hey Kaachan, I’m home. You wont believe what happened!

Incoming video call from Kaachan

Izuku accepted the call and got comfortable on his bed.

“Hey nerd what the hell happened, how’s (Y/n)?” “(Y/n)’s okay now, I’m still mad” “Oh boy, what happened? Also the extra’s wanted to know what the hell happened for you to take off like that.” Izuku huffed when he saw the other pro heroes in the camera shot.

“So apparently a kid has been bullying (Y/n) for a while and every time (Y/n) would inform the teacher like I taught them to, the teacher wouldn’t do anything! And when i say bullying i don’t just mean some petty things. I mean taking their note book, hide it, ripe pages out, or other things. The teacher just said ‘handle it yourself!’” The more he explained the louder Midoriya was getting, waving his hands around with an annoyed look on his face.

“So what happened today?” Asked Ochako, thats when Midoriya’s mildly annoyed face turned to a look of rage.

“The kid went after my child again, my kid tried to get their book back only to be shoved, grabbed by the hair, and for their face to be smashed!” There was a collective gasp of shock and horror from the group, Katsuki told Deku to continue.

“So what happened next?”

“I got called to the office, and when i went in there the principal would not let me see (y/n). Refused to tell me what happened to them, if they were okay, and started victim-blaming them. Saying ‘they need to take accountability!’ Accountability my ass! I wasn’t going to sit there and listen to that BS, so i walked out only to find my precious lil angel curled up on the floor of the nurse's office bruised and bleeding and crying!”

Many ‘oh my god’s, ‘no fucking way!’ ‘Holy shit!’ and ‘oh hell no!’ were exclaimed from Katsuki’s side of the call. Katsuki’s face turned just as serious almost bordering upset. Katsuki was surprisingly very protective of kids even if they weren’t his. Not to mention he remembered how he treated Izuku, even though the green-haired pro hero forgave him, he still promised to better himself.

Hearing that someone was harassing Izuku’s kid set something off in him, though it was less rage and more hurt. He loved the lil one as if they were his own kid so it stung to hear this. Especially about the journal. He remembered destroying Deku’s journal.

“Oi nerd, I’ll buy the lil munchkin a new one.” Izuku paused for a moment to reply.

“I think (Y/n) would like that.” “good now go on, the hell did you do when you got there?”

“Well, I cleaned and bandaged (Y/n) up and then went off on that woman. I told her that accusing my child of something they didn’t do and victim-blaming them for self-defense is fucked up! That what happened was peer-on-peer abuse and neglect done by her faculty and abuse of power on her on end! And I told her to fix her goddamn policy or I’d bring her ass to fucking court!” Midoriya didn’t mean to be so loud with it but he found himself yelling again. Taking a deep breath he finished.

“She has until the end of the day to send an email to me that (Y/n) will not be punished, and what punishment the bully & teacher will receive. Then when my child goes back to school they should be expecting an apology from them all.”

Once again sighing he was met with looks of pure shock and mild fear. As if he’d switched to Deku he smiles at them and brushes his hair back.

“Sorry for yelling, you know I can’t stand when people do that stuff to children. I wasn’t too harsh was i?” How in the hell was he suddenly feeling apologetic!?

“Nerd! The hell are you apologizing for? You did what you had to do to protect the lil munchkin, that bitch is lucky you didn’t arrest her once you found (Y/N) on the floor.” “I forgot i could have her arrested to be honest” And he’s back to being a sweet ‘cinnamon roll’ Deku.

“Damn dude I would’ve been scared to be a bystander to that meeting” Commented Kaminari “Oh yeah I’d be too, sometimes i forget how scary you can be, especially when you’re angry!” “Mhm, that’s when Midoriya comes out! He’s all scary and serious.” “Oh come on guys I’m not that bad” Izuku pouted, Katsuki laughed a little at his statement.

“Nerd I’m pretty sure no one’s gonna mess with your child again after that!” “Good, they better not” Izuku said in his dark and serious voice.

[nights-at-crystarium]

Fragments - episodes 8-11 author notes

I tried keeping the ARR arc as short and snappy as possible, just get some technical art xp and set the table for the following chapters, still I ended up drawing 80+ pages (160+ full color pics) and writing three of these breakdown posts. If you missed the first two: episodes 1-3 and 4-7.

Starting with a note on the entire chapter: it’s called “found and lost” for, obviously, ViviRaha finding and losing each other, forming an X as they get a small taste of what they could’ve been as lovers, then drifting apart, but also Raha finding his purpose while losing his life, and Vivi losing the control over his life as his WoL career picks up. The next time we see him in the ShB arc, he’s lost, so fucking lost.

Now, the scene that predictably created the most confusion.

Possibly their first ever mind game that didn’t go well :’>

It’s easy to conclude that Vivi rejects Raha because he’s a virgin. An inelegantly lying virgin. While yes Vivi’s just being Vivi here, he doesn’t wanna deal with what looks like a mess of emotions in this cabboy, and he isn’t fond of the concept of lying (while not important here, this could be one of his few redeeming qualities). Had Raha been open and upfront, he would’ve acted differently. Maybe. He doesn’t know much about Raha at this point, but the awkwardness and insincerity are enough to discourage him, also he genuinely isn’t in the habit of ruining people’s first times. He may be a slut but he has a semblance of honor x’D So, in a way, he protects Raha from himself.

Sometimes kisses just happen. Without confessions or feelings. They just indulged in a moment and now? What now? Vivi doesn’t think too hard about it since it’s a regular occurence for him, Raha, being himself, spends every moment obsessing over this spark. His WoL, his WoL, his WoL, his WoL?

Ironically, this’s the last time we see them talk to each other.

They must’ve kept talking offscreen, but there’s no speech bubbles anymore until the very end of this chapter. Drifting further apart.

Raha realizes that Vivi's just fine without him. He's not WITH the WoL.

His colors naturally stand out, I cranked them even further up to make him feel out of place. Especially that teal eye, yeah.

*leans into the mic* it’s fucken wimdy

Just a visual parallel without much meaning. He has a portable edgy shadow with him at all times.

Another parallel C: Turns are tabling, Vivi may not be in love yet, but he’s definitely impressed by Raha’s singing, and realizing that there's more to him than just the gremlin he knows. This's his first ever encounter of the serious Raha.

His own expressions are vastly different when he's alone, not having to perform for anybody.

Something something facing the darkness and the light :> ..And away from each other. Yeah. Whoops.

A juxtaposition of their attitudes: a silly dreamer and a realist/doubter.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Alright, there must be more to this, eh?

Lack of communication and mutual insincerity/dishonesty. Vivi simply mirrors Raha.

Vivi's upset that this guy has basically chosen death over him. He's thrown off by the sudden change in Raha's demeanor, it shocks him into turning on his brain after a long while, alas it's too late.

The kbye could be expanded into "are you really throwing your life away? I was just beginning to get into you, thought it was mutual, where did that go? You’re choosing some destiny bs over the cool me? Screw you too then, here's something to hopefully make this uncalled-for moment unpleasant for you as well".

This's his inner monologue. He has to come up with something impactful on the spot, therefore he spits out the kbye. Well, considering the canon ShB events, if he was looking to make an impact, I daresay he succeeded :’D

Honestly I commend his ability to assess the situation and react/improvise within seconds, he did it in this scene and now again.

Of course this doesn’t automatically excuse his shitty behavior, as someone rightfully exclaimed, “Vivi how could you?!” - damned I be if this line isn’t Fragments in a nutshell x’D

I’ll always explain but never defend any of his actions.

MELTDOOOOOOOOWN \o/ He’s just so entertaining to watch when he’s agitated. I may hc him and Raha with british voices but Vivi’s body language turns him into a bit of an italian.

Raha’s being an asshole to Vivi? Debatable. To himself? Absolutely. Hence Vivi’s so upset. He rarely if ever raises his voice, this here’s one of the very few instances.

Earlier today, I posted a ficlet exploring Raha’s inner world after sealing the Tower and before putting himself to sleep. This event’s treated as suicide by everyone in Fragments.

Can’t believe the ARR arc’s over, and that it’s been half a year. I had some time to process the fact. Finally I can return to the “current” ViviRaha zone in my brain, that makes me so happy. ARR idiocy was fun to make but I live for the ShB idiocy. I’m gonna indulge SO HARD. Settle in for years of ShB fanservice. Here, have the chapter 2 cover wip :>

[cheesy-mak]

Incorrect quotes with the five villains!

Menendez: Bye Menèndez! Bye Rorke! Bye Adler! Bye Graves! Bye Menéndez!

Rorke: You said 'bye Menéndez' twice.

Makarov: I like Menéndez.

.

Makarov: What did you guys get in your yearbook?

Menéndez: "Prettiest smile."

Rorke: "Nicest personality."

Adler: "Most likely to start a bar fight."

Graves: "Least likely to start a bar fight, but most likely to win one."

(new hc, adler and graves fight in bars occasionally /j)

.

Graves: Good morning.

Menéndez: Good morning.

Adler: Good morning.

Rorke: You all sound like robots! Try spicing it up a bit—

Makarov: GOOD MORNING MOTHERFUCKERS

.

Makarov: We've been conducting an ongoing study to see what Rorke will and will not eat!

Menéndez: Grass? Yes.

Makarov: Moss? Yep.

Menéndez: Leaves? Yes!

Makarov: Shoelaces? Strangely, yes.

Menéndez: Worms? Occasionally.

Makarov: Rocks? Nope.

Menéndez: Twigs? Usually, for some reason.

Makarov: Graves's cooking? Inconclusive.

Adler: How did you two.. Test this?

Makarov: You just hand him stuff and say "eat this" and if he eats it, he eats it.

Adler: I, don't know how to feel about this.

Graves, VERY concerned: IS THAT WHERE ALL MY SPARE SHOELACES WENT??

.

Graves: What does "take out" mean?

Rorke: Food!

Menèndez: Dating.

Adler: Murder.

Makarov: IT CAN MEAN ALL THREE IF YOU'RE NOT A COWARD.

Graves: Are we really going to let Menéndez keep Makarov?

Adler: We kept Rorke.

(hold on im getting vibes)

.

Menéndez: Poison is a magic transmutation that turns people into corpses.

Rorke: This knife is actually a magic wand.

Makarov: Meet me in the Denny's parking lot for a wizard duel.

Adler: *cocks gun* Magic missile.

Graves: What the fuck is wrong with you people?

Adler and Graves incorrect quotes, because I feel like these two could get along.

Graves, in a beach shirt: So sue me, and I'd like to be on Island Time for a day!

Adler: I have Spotify open right now on my computer, do you want me to blast you? Do you want me to put you on blast? Because I've got your history right here on the sidebar.

Adler: Take it back by Jimmy Buffet, Nautical Wheelers by Jimmy Buffet, Jolly Mon Sing by Jimmy Buffet, Steamer by Jimmy Buffet, TREAT HER LIKE A LADY BY JIMMY BUFFET, MAÑANA BY JIMMY BUFFET, WHEN SALOME PLAYS THE DRUMS BY JAMES BUFFET, HAVANA DAYDREAMIN BY JIMMY BUFFET— What the FUCK happened to you?!

Graves, laughing his ass off: I HAD A CASE OF THE MONDAYS—

Adler: ARE YOU HAUNTED?! ARE YOU FUCKING POSSESSED? DO I NEED TO GET AN EXORCIST?!

Adler: YOU USED TO BE MY FRIEND! WHO A R E YOU?!

Graves, crying and laughing: i ha d a c ase of the mon d a ys

.

Adler: Is something burning?

Graves: Just my love for you. (/j)

Adler: Graves, the toaster is on fire.

.

Adler: You know, I'm starting to regret showing you how that blender works.

Graves, drinking toast: Why do you say that?

Graves: Hey, look, it's efficient!

Adler: No the FUCK it's not.

Adler: Bad things keep happening to me, like I have bad luck or something.

Graves: Adler, you don't have bad luck. The reason bad things happen to you is because you're a dumbass.

Graves: Are you an 'arr' pirate or a 'yo ho ho' pirate?

Adler: I'm a 'I'm not paying $600 for photoshop' pirate.