#continuation of ffxivwrite 2021 Debonair prompt

[winterdeepelegy]

Slipping the Snare

Part 1: FFXivwrite2021 Debonair Part 2: FFXivwrite2022 Break a Leg

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The manor was silent now. All the guests had left, though not all was in order. There had been a murmuring among them of a horrible scene of sprayed blood in one of the halls, a thick trail of it as though a body - or rather two bodies - had been dragged, and then there was the fountain in the garden below the balcony which hadn't been running red before the performance.

Ciel was one of the last to leave, on account of waiting for her would-be partner. She sat at a now unattended bar and sipped from a flute of champagne, still chilled from the bottle sitting in a bucket of ice crystals. Platinum hair shifted with a susurration upon hearing the approach of remarkably calm footsteps. "There you are," she looked to Glace with dismay, "Was that necessary?" In return, the Duskwight grunted a terse "What?" Green eyes rolled upward. Not so much as an 'are you alright?' from the man or 'I'm glad you're unharmed'. Typical, she thought. "All the blood. I thought the objective was to detain them," she reminded him with a voice and poise still placid as she arose from the bar stool, the glass being placed back with its companions. "Seems you misunderstood," he shrugged. "The objective was to find them, yeah, and bring them to justice. If you'll recall, Plum, there was no conversation between us as to what shape that justice would take. You assumed that meant capturing them."

"And yet there was one confirmed body." She had long since kicked off the heeled shoes from her feet and padded lightly toward him on now bare soles, across the shallow, foreign-woven rug on the floor. "What of Artoire Boniface?" "Oh, he's gone." "Gone, in what way?" "Slipped away from me, I'm afraid, but it's fine." There was half of a smug grin on his face then, and this with his statement that their main target had gotten away from him finally caused the songstress' countenance to shift to one of incredulity. "'Slipped away', you say? After all that mess? How is that even possible? How is that fine?" "Now listen... there's a lot about him you don't know. For starters, he's not exactly mortal, not anymore. Pacts with Voidsent an' all that... ritual consumption of Voidsent blood. A few broken bones and enough bled pints to kill a chocobo aren't going to be enough to do him in," Glace explained. "Artoire Boniface isn't even his real name, not entirely. He's a member of the Winter Bones, used to work with my biological sire..." As the explanation rolled on, Ciel pressed two fingers to her temple and pinched her eyes shut in exasperation. "And you thought I might not benefit from knowing any of this?" "You didn't need to know. Knowing he's a slaver was good enough, as far as you told me. At least now, we have a trail to follow, he'll lead us right to his hive." "And you were supposed to wait for me," she added, but Glace loomed over her a full fulm and two ilms beyond her own height. "Plum," he huffed, "He had designs on you and would've had you in his chambers by midnight if he had his way. Be grateful." "So, what, you protected me? I never asked for, nor needed, your protection," she scoffed. "And allow me to remind you, the two of us working together was your idea. I should like to believe you didn't think me incapable of protecting myself, in that case!"

He stared, scowling down at her, but she returned the same look upward. He inched closer. "I'm fine, by the by, thanks for asking," he rumbled, and that in spite of the blood that stained his tuxedo, whether or not any of it belonged to him. "Miraculously, so am I." "Fine," he groused. "Fine!" she snapped. Silence awkwardly surrounded them now, she with her arms crossed, and Glace still hovering. Ciel turned her head slightly to one side but kept him in her field of vision. He seemed another ilm closer, somehow, making the air oddly stifling regardless of the perpetual chill that rolled off of him. "Are we done here?" she wondered aloud, and she was only too relieved when his answer came with a step backward and a glance in the other direction. "Yeah, let's get out of here."

[elveny]

FFXIVWrite 2021 - Recap

DONE! FFXIVWrite 2021 if officially over, and what a ride it has been!

I read so many amazing stories - even though there is never enough time to read everything - so another huge Thank You to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for organizing this event! ❤ And also a huge Thank You to everyone who participated, you rock SO MUCH!

I hadn't planned on making a continuous story, (otherwise the header would've shown one of the characters and I would've chosen another title...) but somehow prompt after prompt just fit, and then I was hooked. I really loved exploring the messy, complicated, sexy thing Lahabrea, Ash, and Thancred have going on and honestly, I am so excited to see if we're actually going to meet Lahabrea again in Endwalker.

So let's see what we we have this year:

Masterpost | The Tales Behind The Legend (AO3)

total word count:  40,813 words

shortest prompt: Abandon (570 words)

longest prompt: Friable (2923words)

free day submissions: 4

personal favorite prompt: That's difficult bc I loved many of these prompts. I loved exploring Thancred's perspective while being possessed in Baleful, and Friable left me cackling gleefully bc I knew ppl would scream at me. And the softness of the last prompt, Abstract.

personal hardest prompt to write: Debonair. I don't even quite know why because it just lend itself to Thancred, but somehow, I really struggled with that one.

a prompt i’d like to explore more: None, actually. I wrote what I felt was needed to write, and while there are of course always some more details to fill in in such a story, I think the most important aspects have been covered.

Thank you so much for all who read it and who took the time and effort to comment. It was so amazing to receive your feedback! ♥