#even felt a LITTLE bad for vauthry at the very end

[okami-zero]

*finishes The Dying Gasp*

...wow...

...the axe...

"Remember us"...

Fuck, who's cutting onions in my room, dammit...

[marjiandco]

4. Baleful

This is a companion piece to the third prompt, a prequel to how Raiku managed to get invaded by a voidsent. This prompt was super helpful in fleshing out the direction I want. You can read the first (second?) part here!

Raiku crashed into the ground, the skin on his back scrapping painfully against the rocks as he slid back. He had no time to think of the pain, as he rolled back and leapt away from a giant porcelain foot stomping on the little indent his body left. He shot an arrow at her heart, but the winged sin eater blocked it with her marbled sword, and swooped closer to him.

“Get back you wretched thing.”

It swiped at him, and as he tried to flip out of the way it caught on a corner of his bow and wrenched his arm, near cracking his body like a whip as she followed through with her slice and then reversed direction. He was once again flung, this time into one of the caves dotting the landscape. 

The hollow forever light slipped away from him, and he was enveloped in the blessed dark of a hole in a mountain. It was a small opening he managed to fit inside, the sin eater too big to stand its full height as it floated to the ground and walked towards the mouth of the opening. He clutched his arm to his chest, sure his wrist was broken. He tried to move it and sucked through his teeth.

“Gods damned world with its gods damned light demons!” He shouted, his chest shuddering at the volume. He tossed his bow to the side and grasped one of his chakram’s in his good hand.

He spat pink spittle onto the ground and dug the edge of his new weapon into the dirt to hoist himself to his feet. The things hand grasped the top of the cave’s mouth and bent low, its empty eyes locking with him.

“C’mon.”

It sounded like stone scraped against stone as it started to move inside. Raiku crouched low, holding the weapon in front of his face. A halo of orange-tinged whiteness glows around her body. He’s been chased by this thing for nigh on a summer, near destroying a town that had sheltered him a day before. Even Vauthry’s thralls were easy to slip even when they had tasted his aether, but this thing was adamant to consume him.

“C’mon,”

It pointed the sword down at him, and Raiku knew if this thing died there was no escape from the sickness it’d spread. He had to at the very least escape, and continue to keep it away from the townspeople in the valley.

The sin eater paused, and turned its head like a dog. It stopped moving, and Raiku stared at it, unsure.

“Well what’re you waiting for? The rocks in your head quit working? Let’s go!” He jumped forward, but his feet never touched the ground.

Black tendrils rushed forward from behind him, five of them wrapping around his ankles, wrists, and neck as a mass of blackness rolled forward.

“I think it’s looking at me.” It said, and it shot forward and knocked the light warden out of the mouth of the cave before creating a giant square with its body and blocked all light from entering the cave.

Raiku couldn’t see anything, and moaned as the tendrils tightened on him, his broken wrist pulsating with inflammation. He looked wildly around, but there was no light reaching inside. The tendril holding his weapon’s hand tightened until he dropped the chakram, and from the darkness he heard footsteps scuff along the ground.

“Who’s there?” His eyes start to droop, the dark simulating closed eyes and he hadn’t slept for more than a few hours combined the last few days.

“I bet you’re surprised to find me here, I certainly am.”

The tendril on his bad wrist slowly unfolded itself and slipped underneath his arm, as if providing a place for it to rest.

“Sorry about the restraints, couldn’t let you get in the way while I kick out an unwanted guest. They make me sick, you see.”

“I’m not asking again, who are you?” Raiku said in false bravado.

The voice chuckled, a sound similar to branches creaking in the wind. “I think the question you should be asking isn’t who am I.”

The hairs on the back of Raiku’s head stood on end.

“Its what am I.” The voice whispered behind his ear.

The lalafell yelped and tried to turn but the tendril on his neck held him in place. He grit his teeth, his eyes popping open as a realization dawned on him. The dark mass, lurking in a cave, sick from light.

“A…a voidsent?”

“Ding ding ding!” the voice was in front of him again.

“But how?”

“Oh, how did I manage to survive in this starved world? I don’t think that matters. What matters  is that I need to get out of here, and I know you do too. Your aether doesn’t match this world, and I think I could help you out there. If you let me hitch a ride, I’ll do whatever you ask of me.”

Raiku could feel the tendrils lower him to the ground, gingerly letting him find his footing before slipping away. He fell to his knees and felt around, but of course his Chakram was nowhere to be felt. He could feel his heart beat in his throat, any tiredness he was feeling was being erased by anxiety sending his senses into overdrive. He, Raiku Honaku, was somehow caught in a voidsent’s trap in a light blighted world. He somehow managed to follow a path that ripped his aetheric soul from his body, and land right here, in this moment, in the clutches of some demon. Painful laughter welled in him and burst forth like a spicket, lasting so long he was tearing up and clutched his chest as he tried to calm down.

“Let ahaha- me guess.” He bit his lip but it couldn’t stop the flow of hysterical laughter. “You’ll kill me if I don’t-ehehehehaha-agree?”

The voidsent waited patiently until Raiku’s laughs turned to pants.

“You’re kind of the only real chance I’ve found, why do you think I sent for you.”

Raiku’s head shot up. “Sent? How would that even be possible? Aren’t you all on opposite ends?”

Raiku couldn’t tell if his brain was making up a body to talk to or if light was slipping in, but he swore he saw something shrug.

“My influence doesn’t reach far but I can get the weak willed denizens to follow an order well enough. I couldn’t tell the light warden but I could give it bait to find you. And yes before you say anything It was I who had those people stand in front of the thing so it could feed and stay on path. Boo hoo sad days ANYWAYS.” the cave rumbled and for a moment Raiku worried about the ceiling coming down. “Yes, as boring as it sounds I’m out of options my friend. I will kill you. I may not be as strong as I’d like to be but I have enough to snap that little neck of yours. I know that if someone like you is running around, there’s hope there’s more out there.”

Raiku worked his mouth. His plan, voidsent or lightwarden was to get out of the cave. From the little he’s read on the creatures this must be a high level void creature to be able to speak to him and thrall the smallfolk, which begs the question.

“What would your host provide?”

“I don’t require drinking the blood of babes, if that’s what you’re worried about. My ask is all it is; I want to hide in your body. I won’t leech more than what I need to stay alive from you. You may feel tired at first, but I’ll keep you running. I’ll be your ace until you get me out of this forsaken landscape. Or die. Your choice.”

A full minute passed. “Okay.”

“Yeah?” the voice sounded surprised, excited. “You have to agree. Say the contract.”

It might be best to play along for now, and get Y’shtola to rip the parasite out of him. Maybe he won’t even leave the first at all, and the thing will just be a power boost until Raiku’s end. “I will be your host, you help me, and I’ll let you travel with me out of this world.”

“Who will?” It sang. “Say your name.”

“Raiku Honaku.”

It laughed that dead branch laugh. “Excellent. You’re word is my contract, burned into my skin.” There was a faint sizzling. “Now...open your mouth.”

“Wha-” Raiku’s jaw was forced wide and a choking smog dove down his throat. The darkness fell from the cave, the light blinding and burned his eyes, tears streaking down his dirtied face as he squeezed them shut. When he thought he couldn’t hold his breath any longer, the smog was full inside of him. He fell to the floor shaking and sputtering, what little energy he had drained from him rapidly. His eyes fluttered, a haze forming over his mind.

“Don’t worry.” The voice said in his mind. “This part is temporary, I’ll make sure your safe while you sleep. After this, I’ll only come when called, promised by the devil.”

[natsunoomoi]

More Lengthy Thoughts on 5.3

Spoilers under the cut. I can’t hold it in anymore and need to write it somewhere to let it out.

I’m sure like many others The Seat of Sacrifice really shook me internally. Some people started to feel for Elidibus. I did probably a little bit the moment when he forgot who he swore to to uphold his duty, but overall I still felt like he acted too much like a pompous dick so I didn’t feel that bad for him.

The only thing that pushed me a bit more positive is also the very reason why Emet-Selch is cemented as my favorite and that is that one moment in the trial when he shows up as his Amaurotine form to pull you from the rift before swaggering away. It’s not truly him because he’s definitely dead, but throughout 5.3′s story you see what he left behind for you. All of these things he must have planned and planted somehow. Maybe they were on a timer or something or he had some kind of a trick so that they only showed up for you and for you to find them and entrusted his Hythlodaeus with the Azem stone. He did all of this for you and to help his friend who lost his way and can no longer remember his purpose. The depth of his caring just broke me and saddened me even further.

And the big question for me and the main reason why I’m writing this post is because I am wondering when he planned this. When did he set all of this up? He obviously made the stones long in advance before and as someone who is pretty seriously depressed and burdened by the memory of his home he kept them secure and would be the best one to safeguard those stones and along those lines made the 14th one on his own as Hythlodaeus stated, but he planned them to show up for us. When did he decide that? He must have orchestrated for Hythlodaeus to find us around then too and to give us Azem’s.

And then at some point, he left that piece of himself to be ready to help us. That’s a huge how and when because we were in the Crystal Tower at the time.

Initially, I was thinking that perhaps he thought close to before we faced off against Vauthry he thought perhaps we may be worthy so he set all of it up just in case things would unfold where he would die. If he didn’t, then no worries nothing would activate and he could keep going. But if we were able to meet his challenge as the incarnation of his friend then he could finally rest in peace and rightfully we should be made whole if possible. That could definitely be set up around then at the last minute.

But what screws up that theory is the piece of himself showing up in the Crystal Tower.

He must have been planning it for a long time. Perhaps just observing in general what we’ve been doing with the death of Lahabrea and Elidibus asking him to return to his Solus body as a clone of his original. Tales from the Shadows indicates clearly he’s been looking for a way out and for another way for a long time. But with disappointment and things, he resigned himself to just sticking with the plan because nothing else seemed to be viable. Then we show up and miracles happen around us. 

There’s some bit of time between his reappearance as Solus and when he shows up before us, so perhaps he’s observing from afar. He can see who we are and perhaps is a little sentimental about it, but also a spark of hope flutters in his heart that maybe, just maybe his old friend can do it and stop the cycle. So he watches and as he was asked to step onto the scene to try to keep up the effort, he does so obligingly as there’s technically no better option, but just in case he thinks about an alternate plan involving befriending us. 

Obviously he’s probably talked with Elidibus before about the appearance of the Crystal Tower because he knows its origins and helped to set up the Allagan Empire as well back in the day, so he knows that it’s on Elidibus’ radar as a target for a possible place of showdown or something that they want to get their hands on. Taking that into account, that probably also influenced his decision to observe us up close and to cooperate and help us on our journey as a different approach to dealing with us. We probably swayed him a bit from our heroic acts on the Source that maybe we could do it, so he needed to start setting some stuff up just in case and part of that required access to the Crystal Tower. If he’s friends with Team Hero then he can have actual entry to it without issue and one of the moments he’s hiding from us or the Crystal Exarch before making his grand entrance to poke the bear a bit more in the Tower, he plants something that will trigger only in the right moment just in case in the future that he isn’t there. He had to have set this up during our travels with him. It’s possible he planted other small pieces of himself in other places just in case the showdown ended up happening there too, but still, he must have thought about it for awhile before to orchestrate it in that way.

His pain and the way he talked to us too. The stone perhaps is similar to the crystals that the Exarch’s soul and the souls of the Scions operates where the receiver has to be open to accepting it. So he talked a lot with us about our home, about who we were, and some hints here and there about our relationship back then. Small things here and there and knowledge into Hythlodaeus even that allows pieces of our story to come back to us so that we can accept our original seat. And even though he put us through a final trial against him, it was both a final test and also a way for him to show us and help us to remember our home and the legacy of our people and a way for him to basically be euthanized. He planned and set up everything including how he would walk away that one time just so that we could tell it was he who gave us these gifts.

Like the stones it wasn’t that surprising that he made those or kept them or that they’d be in Amaurot because he like made the replica city to basically revel in his depression and nostalgia. But the set up just for that final trial moment and to give us our stone, that had to have been his plan the whole time he was with us. If he was wrong then they’d win and they’d start the Calamity. If he was right though, it was big and important and the culmination of his love for his people and even that he felt for his friend would come to fruition. I’m just blown away about the amount of thought and planning that must have gone into that. Even caring not only for his people, but for us and even for Elidibus to understand his suffering and his obsession with duty. The hidden kindness he held to make this elaborate set of events so that we would be left with the best version of ourselves, but all of it in secret because we had to go into the Dying Gasp with us actually believing he was an annoying dick. This is a man who reveled in the enjoyment of the theatre and was an incredible patron of the arts when he was Solus and masqueraded several times as different people throughout the ages. He can act and act well he did to play the part of the villain while also leaving behind things to be of help.

But like Amaurot in itself he also like made recently like before you go in to the Tempest. He invites you there after you face off with Vauthry and are unable to contain the light and kidnaps the Crystal Exarch, but when exactly did he build it? It’s recent and the sahagin-like beasts there (I forgot their name) say that the water being moved and stuff has disrupted their society and blah blah blah. But how recently? It’s mentioned that the ruins look very similar to the city that appeared recently, but I’m having trouble remembering exactly when they say it showed up. But like he constructed it for us. He’s reveling in it, but he remade his home for us to see because of the above so that we would know. But more than just knowing, so that we could get our stone.

Also, on a sillier note, that shoebill. I’m on board with that shoebill being like his buddy or spy or something theory. I have a pet theory that since sometimes when he’s not like directly playing the part of a pompous Ascian bestowing small secrets upon helpless greedy mortals, he does just like he did in Raktika and like just hangs out in nature. In the forest the Amazon rabbit ladies said they found him sleeping under a tree. I totally believe that when he’s not in full Ascian get up, he probably just napped in different places or like sat randomly in spots that people wouldn’t really notice him but maybe an animal would. To that end, maybe one time he was like near a dock or something especially near Eulmore since he was instrumental in setting up Vauthry there. He was probably like chilling there or something and the shoebill happened to be near him and just randomly as people do sometimes when they’re with an animal, they talk to it. Like not even expecting it to respond or even to understand, but just like having a good dog companion that just sits with you, that shoebill sat there and listened to him ramble about this or that. Probably mostly mundane things. Maybe a little bit here and there about who he actually was or where he’s from, but mostly probably things that are not really that important. But after awhile he forms a bond with the shoebill and the shoebill comes back whenever he’s just sitting. Whether he actually trains it to spy on us or the shoebill just picked up on it like pets can sense a bit how their masters feel about someone, I don’t really know and we can’t be sure. But either way, that’s my head explanation as to why this animal keeps stalking us.

[dragons-bones]

FFXIV Write Entry #2: The Choices We Make

Prompt: Bargain | Master Post | On AO3

Note: Spoilers for Shadowbringers MSQ and Eden.

“Synnove? May I speak with you?”

Synnove looked up from her grimoire, lifting her quill from the array in an unconscious gesture to keep from potentially smearing the aetheric ink. She blinked a few times and shook her head to banish the mental cobwebs of working on arcanima for multiple bells. Once she felt more certain about where and when she was, she smiled and set down her grimoire to the side so the ink could dry. “Of course, Ryne,” she said, patting the spot next to her.

The redhead plopped down on the blanket, smoothing her skirt as she settled herself. Tyr took the opportunity to be free of acting as Synnove’s bookrest to crawl into Ryne’s lap—or at least get as much of his front half into it as he could. Ryne obediently snuggled him, scratching behind his ears, and Tyr started up his brass bell purr.

Synnove waited patiently for Ryne to gather her thoughts. The Empty was quiet, but no longer the eerie quiet of total desolation; running water susurrated not far from their camp, and in the distance, Eden and its engine-heart thrummed under the stars.

Finally, Ryne spoke up, voice hesitant: “Do you ever wonder if it was all worth it? I mean…” She chewed on her lower lip as she stroked Tyr’s head. “Everything that led us here. All the good and the bad and the in between. Do you ever wonder? Do you ever wish you could do it differently?”

Synnove rocked back a little, startled despite herself, before she leaned back over to wrap an around Ryne’s shoulders. The young girl burrowed in, both for the comfort and the warmth: even a desert of primordial Light was still a desert at night.

“Of course I do,” the Highlander said quietly. “There are so many things, and sometimes it’s overwhelming to think about them all. Mental hurts and physical hurts.”

The Fall of Ala Mhigo and Carteneau. Losing her uncle and grandfather. Losing friends, sometimes forever. Zenos’s sword in her belly, the aether of three then four then five Lightwardens eating her alive.

“But that’s what makes us people,” Synnove continued, resting her cheek on Ryne’s hair. “The doubts, the regrets, the what ifs. Of course we wonder what could have been, if we’d made a different choice, if fate had been a little kinder. Did we try hard enough? Was there another way?”

“Sometimes I wish I could have convinced Ran’jit to help us,” Ryne said, nearly stumbling over the words. “He wasn’t—he hadn’t always been so cruel. I wish that I could have made the right argument, the one where he’d help me escape Vauthry. Or, later, after Thancred rescued me, that he’d turn against him.”

Synnove nodded against Ryne’s head. “And there’s the rabbit hole. Thinking like that, it drives a person mad. Too many variables, too many influences, what’s the one thread to pluck to unravel it all?”

Ryne hummed tunelessly, continuing to pet Tyr’s head; the carbuncle was starting to list into sleep, head drooping forward to push into her belly. Finally, she said, “Do you think that’s what happened with Emet-Selch?”

“I think it was part of it,” Synnove said slowly. “Grief, too. Overwhelming, maddening grief, just festering for millennia.” Drily: “The tempering probably didn’t help much, either.”

Ryne giggled despite herself.

“There’s plenty about the man we’ll never know,” Synnove continued. “And that kind of speculation is maddening in and of itself. Here’s the thing, though: how much else changes when you try to turn the bad to good, or at least lessen it? How many of the good things suddenly vanish?”

Rereha and Heron and Alakhai, the sisters of her heart. Her carbuncles, her beloved mischievous darlings. The joy of solving her first mathematics problems, the wonder and delight of arcanima. The Scions: Minfilia and Y’shtola, Thancred and Urianger, Lyse and Papalymo, Alisaie and Alphinaud, Tataru and Arenvald, and all the rest of their own still home on the Source. Her brilliant, mad family at the Guild. Aymeric, the love of her life.

Summer storms in Limsa Lominsa. Aunt Angharad’s bone-crushing hugs. Fireworks at Moonfire, candy at All Saint’s, kisses under the mistletoe at Starlight.

Defending Eorzea from the XIVth Legion. Ending the Dragonsong War. Freeing Doma and Ala Mhigo and inspiring renewed resistance throughout the conquered Garlean provinces. Pushing back the Light, so the stars could shine on Norvrandt once more.

“The journey is long, and painful,” Synnove murmured, staring up at the sunless sea glittering overhead, “and gods, sometimes it’s just bloody unfair. Why me, why us, why not someone else. And the journey forward will likely be just as difficult. But I think, if given the choice, I wouldn’t do it over. It wasn’t easy getting here, but I like exactly where I am.”

“Me, too,” Ryne said, hugging her. “Thank you, Synnove.”

“Very welcome, Ryne.”

@sea-wolf-coast-to-coast

[efrmellifer]

Solicitude

“Gods be merciful, make this quick,” Etien murmured as she opened her eyes to the Crystarium.

It was, blessedly, a simple trip into Lakeland, to the dwelling of that reclusive Nu Mou, attempting to convince them to come to the Crystarium after proving herself worthy of aid in battle yet again.

In some ways, she tired of it. Once she had been a girl who hunted only to subsist, preferring to take single clean shots and come home carrying dinner, rather than hunting large game and firing shot after shot until it came down in some desire to make some sort of statement about herself.

Another way she differed from Renda-Rae, she supposed. She had been thinking about it since Lue-Reeq told her the stories.

In many ways, they were similar. Just a matched pair of Mystel (well, here she was ‘a Mystel’) archers with gifts even other than the Echo—Renda’s hearing, and Etien’s… Etien-ness, some mix of excess empathy and unshakable tenacity that made her hard to stop.

But in this, they differed. Renda-Rae liked the notches on her belt of bigger game. Etien followed instructions and used her abilities to aid those who couldn’t do what she did. Ah, well.

She took a brief nap after returning to the Crystarium from her assorted errands in Eulmore, though the sleep wasn’t deep. More like, she laid in her bed in the Pendants with the proper amount of sunshine streaming through the window and dozed as her brain continued turning thoughts over.

She half-thought, half-dreamed about the elves she’d seen, ghost-like, in Beq Lugg’s halls, the tree branches swaying outside, her prior thoughts about Renda-Rae, and the obvious… Aymeric.

The thoughts of him were the most pleasant of her half-asleep daydreams, if for no other reason than thoughts of him were always the most comforting. Thoughts of him had gotten her through much less pleasant moments in her life.

She made her way to the Ocular at a casual pace. She didn’t want to arrive late and make people wait—people anywhere, of course—but she did want, for once in her recent memory, to do things at a pace that was comfortable for her with no pressure to be somewhere other than where she was.

Hadn’t Feo Ul told her to do something like that anyway? She could have sworn they did. Wouldn’t they be proud of her for remembering to do it on her own?

Now that she thought about it, she missed Feo Ul. She’d have to pay them a visit… or was that impossible, in case that counted as storming the castle? Either way, she would have to call for the little shard that carried her letters and had come to reassure her that day after taking down Vauthry.

In any event, Etien was let into the Ocular, clearing her throat softly to announce herself. She tried not to be too obviously disappointed by the fact that they had hit another bump in the road to bringing everyone but herself home to the Source.

She must have done a good job keeping a lid on the feeling, because everyone cheerily insisted they would keep searching for answers.

And that was good! Etien just felt worse every time a delay came up, because she knew that they all had people they might like to get home to. She wanted the same thing—for them, and for herself long-term.

Though she was still grateful enough to weep that everyone had given her permission to take her time during her visits to the Source. If she’d had to keep sneaking off just to see Aymeric one night at a time, she would have broken down long ago.

But she was being ushered back again, to fill Krile and Tataru in on the First’s affairs as they currently stood, with another little wink from Y’shtola-- who was going to argue with her?

So off Etien went again, heading for the Rising Stones.

“You sure are encouraging her to spend a lot of time there,” Alphinaud mused once Etien was gone.

Alisaie shot him a look out of the corner of her eye.

“Perhaps,” Y’shtola replied, just a bit slowly, as if she had been thinking about it. “I worry I scared her before, regarding her aether. We ought to avoid making our friend and hero cry in fear, wouldn’t you agree?”

Alphinaud considered that. “And I suppose she ought to enjoy her health and freedom while she has it.”

“Exactly,” Y’shtola concurred. “I consider my encouragement a bit like making it up to her, as best I can.”

“I would imagine she appreciates it,” Alisaie finally added. “She looked so much happier this time, didn’t she?”

Alphinaud and Y’shtola both nodded, and Y’shtola added, “But now we have work to do, instead of gossiping about Etien. So I shall take my leave and see you again soon.”

With a wave, they all went their own ways.

Tataru was almost surprised to see Etien, though she didn’t hesitate to fill her in on what had gone on while Etien was otherwise occupied, whether in Ishgard or on the First.

Before Etien could begin to unload her stories, however, she was encouraged to wait for Krile.

So she did, flopping down in a chair.

It wasn’t exactly encouraging to hear that neither the souls nor the bodies of Etien’s friends were having an easy time trying to return to being one piece, but at least what could have been degradation had been slowed enough they had time to get things sorted out.

Though, Etien couldn’t shake the feeling both teams got things done better without her hanging around, and suddenly, being the go-between felt less important and more like busywork. She was still more than happy to do it, because it was what she could do to help, but that didn’t make her feel any less like a hovering child. And that was not to mention how much better it was, then, when she was in Ishgard, sure to be safe and not bothering anyone. Well, other than Aymeric, maybe.

The person who came in was a welcome interruption from the dark cloud of those thoughts beginning to settle in her head, even more welcome when she registered who it was by his voice saying “Oh. You’re back.”

She yelled before she could stop herself, “Estinien!” She nearly reached out to hug him, too, but retracted her hands. He had his own sort of affectionate greetings, and it would be unfair of her to monopolize his attention when Krile and Tataru seemed to be just as excited to see him.

“And none the worse for wear, I see.” He added.

Fair enough. He had probably been too hungover to remember the last time he’d seen her (or even still somewhat drunk), and the time before that, she’d been still a little sick during Starlight.

So yes, much better now. She gave him a nod, eyes sparkling. Gods, she’d missed him and not realized it.

He too had catching-up to do, reporting on his journey in Garlemald and the apparent return of Zenos. The tell-tale headache was brewing above her eyebrows, and just as she lifted her hand there to allay the pressure, she was viewing the end of Estinien’s most recent time in the empire.

Oh, the Echo, blessing and curse and thing that made her friends feel odd about her seeing their memories since she’d started this little adventure.

When it was over, she shook her head, as if shaking Estinien’s thoughts out of it and back into his own.

He asked her if she’d looked into the past, and all she could do was give him a sheepish yes.

She felt bad that he didn’t know how to feel about the Echo’s effect, but it wasn’t like she wanted to be painfully forced into watching the trials and tribulations of the people close or only just relevant to her.

But at least the Empire was easing back on Eorzea for now.

At the end of that whole exchange, Estinien—gently as he could, it had to be said in his favor—refused to renew his little agreement with the two Lalafell who had hired him. He said, mysterious as he ever could be, that he had business to handle, and then quartet broke.

Estinien left, and Etien said her quick goodbyes to Tataru and Krile, being encouraged even by them to “get some rest,” then she took off after him.

Coming to a stop and panting just off the Aetheryte, she managed to snag his coat. “Are you going to Ishgard?”

Estinien gave her a look. “Obviously.”

“Well, one can never be too sure! Can I come with you? I think there’s room on my bike; unless you want to travel by Aetheryte.”

He blinked down at her. “All right.”

They went by Aetheryte, and Estinien immediately walked off, before Etien had fully gotten her bearings.

That was… fine; she was a grown woman and very familiar with Ishgard (though her mental map was centered on Saint Valeroyant’s Forum for Foundation and The Last Vigil for the Pillars), so it wasn’t like she needed help getting around.

And it was extra-fine because she had fully intended to let Estinien have a reunion with Aymeric alone. So she wasn’t sure why she had suddenly wanted to tag along. But just as well he’d taken off.

Should she even go to the Congregation? Or just kill some time elsewhere? Maybe she would see what was going on in the Firmament. Oh, but she didn’t want to go to the Brume. She could admit that she was too sensitive, but she didn’t take kindly to the matters of her heart being a source of ridicule, her “chumminess” with nobility an affront to the people in the Brume or not. Old habits died hard, she guessed.

It was none of their business, and she wasn’t going to give them the opportunity. So no Firmament.

She would just walk around the forums. The fresh air might be good for her, anyway.

She was watching water trickle through the stonework of the fountain when she heard her name, and turned to find Aymeric opening his arms for her. She bounded into them with no other prompting, content hum bubbling from her chest as soon as she was pressed against him.

She chanced a look over Aymeric’s shoulder to see Estinien still on the Congregation steps, looking a little out of sorts.

...like he had been all day. He wasn’t being mean to her; he just seemed to vacillate between his usual dry but friendly comments and being just a bit cooler with her than normal.

In truth, it was that he’d been thinking recently, and it was in no way constant, but he had been thinking about the fact that there were times that he watched Aymeric and Etien slot perfectly into each other’s arms and he wasn’t sure which of them he envied.

Etien had earned Aymeric’s interest to the point of bordering on fascination, so Estinien had already heard a great deal about her before they had ever officially met… and then when they did, she was already so infatuated with (and on the way to truly loving) Aymeric that even if Estinien had been interested, he wouldn’t have had a chance.

But she was pretty, and he liked her, and he had been glad to see her returned safe… and despite her excitement to see him, she had been more eager to see Aymeric.

He didn’t know, of course, that Etien had been home before today, and even now was wondering “why?”

The why she was asking was why she was the one wrapped up in Aymeric’s arms right now. On a base level, she knew why, of course she did. He loved her, and she loved him, and she had kept her promise and he was thrilled to see her. Obvious.

But why had he chosen her, all that time ago? Granted, it may not have been… typical, but he and Estinien were in high enough positions and good enough standing they could have done something with their relationship, and she could have been—well, just the Warrior of Light.

A weapon.

Now, she didn’t want that, but sometimes she was to the point of guilt that she may have split them up and made one or both of them very sad, when all she wanted was to make them happy. Sometimes, any way she could.

She still hadn’t figured out what exactly she felt for Estinien, which made her Echo trips into his memories or trips she took in front of him especially uncomfortable. All she knew was him looking so unhappy while she was clinging to Aymeric was breaking her heart.

She shut her eyes, leaning into Aymeric with more of her weight. Unfortunately, the thing that was hurting was the only thing that could make her feel better. “Just like I said,” she murmured, “back as fast as I could manage.”

“I see you brought Estinien with you,” Aymeric commented. “What a lucky find.”

“Oh, he found me at the Rising Stones,” she confessed, not wanting to take any credit from him.

“I see. Still, a lucky find for him, then!”

Etien giggled nervously, and Estinien looked at his boots, responding, “You could say that.”

Once she was on the ground again, though, Etien wandered over to him, end of her tail flicking in an odd, irritated rhythm.

“Can I… can I hug you, Estinien?” she asked, voice quiet in a way he wasn’t sure he had heard before.

He sighed, shoulders sinking. “I suppose so.”

Her tail stilled as her arms came around him with minimal hesitation, and she started up a purr. Oh, he could see why Aymeric loved this so much. He stroked her hair just before he froze at hearing her say, “I missed you a lot, you know.”

Aymeric had come over to the embracing duo, laying his hand over Estinien’s on the back of Etien’s head. “I missed both of you.”

Etien looped him into the hug, but stayed pressed closer to Estinien, which almost made him blush (and warmed Aymeric’s heart). “We missed you, too. Didn’t we?”

Estinien had to agree. Still, public displays of affection may have been the habit of the Lord Commander and the Warrior of Light, but it was not for the Azure Dragoon, so he groused “Now let me go.”

She did, and let Aymeric go too, for a moment. They both looked at him with such happiness in their eyes that he—well, he didn’t forget the upset, but it faded away, eclipsed by the fondness he had for them, and was seeing reflected back at him. “It’s good to be back,” he admitted. “And I’m glad we’re all… in our proper places.”

“For now,” Etien added. “Gods, hopefully for a while.”

Again, he couldn’t disagree. Maybe running into Etien was a lucky find. Coming back alone would have been a little less warm, that was for sure.

[final-fantasy-mama]

Rimfire Bubble bath (ch.5)

OKKKKKKKkkkkkayyyyy so, Emet and Wol get into some risky bathtub business. No smut in this chapter but the next one will have explicit content. I am writing it in a separate chapter so those who dont want to read it can skip over it but still get some teasing from Emet in this chapter.

Normally I would insert a Amarout chapter here BUT i only have one more planned so ill save it for a bit later on down the story line. Enjoy!

FFXIV EMET SELCH X MCH WOL

“The tragedy that had befallen you is of your own making. Devine retribution for your defiance. The heavens have bequeathed to you a benevolent savior, me! I offer you freedom from pain and suffering, a paradise where man and sin eater might live in peace and harmony..” ~ Vauthry

The hero growled through clenched teeth with a rage that was uncharacteristic of her usual cool exterior. Right now, she just couldn’t hold it back. Her itching trigger finger reached for her musketoon with a arm that dripped with fresh blood from a shoulder wound gone undressed. Bullets flew from her gun at the dirigibles that flew overhead with Vauthrys guttural and all too arrogant voice coming over loudspeakers to castigate all the poor folk below who had managed to survive his sin eaters onslaught. She knew the bullets would not be of any avail but she prayed that one would find Vauthry’s heart and put an end to that bastard’s life. She kept firing until her bullets ran out and her arm throbbed with too much pain to keep the musket raised.

Around her, the moans and cries of injured Crystarium soldiers echoed in the night as they mourned for fallen friends and comrades. The attack was unwarranted, took them completely off guard and was meant to destabilize and demoralize them. It worked. Even Lyna, the Viera knight, was about to break into tears though she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood in an attempt not to. It was going to be a long night of pain and tears for all them who had survived the evening’s bloodbath.

Someone’s hand reached for her Musketoon as another one gently wrapped around her waist, easing the rage out of her. Emet Selch had appeared at her side, gently taking her gun from her burning hands and whispering soft words into her ear. “You’re injured, inamorata. Relax….it is over.” Only with those words did she realize how much her lungs burned as she hyperventilated, her muscles locked up from adrenaline and sweat dripped from her brow. Like a tight coil she slowly unwound and Emet caught her in his arms, cradling her in his chest as he helped her to sit on the ground.

Her companions ran to and fro helping the injured, pausing slightly to stare at the Ascian and the hero together in a odd moment of intimacy, but having to put it out of their minds as injured soldiers took priority. “There is not much more you can do here tonight.” Emet pointed out.

“I can’t leave until everyone has been removed from the battlefield.” She said in a tired breathy voice.

“I would not expect you to.” Emet said. “But you are no worse for wear at the moment, so I will ever be watching you from the shadows. Whistle for me should you need me.” And with that he disappeared in a cloud of black aether.

*************************************************************

By the time the entire entourage returned to the Crystarium and the chirurgeons had their way with the hero, she had not the strength to even stand on her own. And so it was out of pity, sort of, that Emet Selch carried the exhausted Machinist back to her room in the pendants. She was scarcely conscious when the door to her room opened and he stepped inside with her in his arms, face buried in the side of his coat. Her bandaged shoulder was left oncovered with her white poet shirt draped around the rest of her for modesty’s sake. He set her down gently on the bed, stretching her out so she was straight on her back as he plucked off her antiquated boots and tried to make her more comfortable. She groaned from both pain and sheer fatigue.

“Hero, you need to bathe.” Emet said.

“Are you saying I smell bad?” She yawned.

“To put it gently, you smell like something that may have come out of Vauthry’s gullet.”

“Fuck you.”

There was a small pause.

“You’d find me a willing participant if that was what you desired.” He said in his charming seductive voice.

“Too tired to bother…”She groaned.

“Then allow me the pleasure of seeing you to a hot bath at the very least.” He snapped his fingers and a long claw footed tub appeared in the room along with a fluffy white robe hanging on a coat rack. She made some mangled noise in protest as he looked down at her. She was holding her arms out to him the way a pouty child might to a parent. It was unexpectedly adorable.

“I’m giving you permission to bathe me, nothing more. So no funny business.” She warned.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Yeah you would.”

“Only a little.” He admitted as he helped her stand up and walked her to the tub. She cleared her throat and motioned for him to turn around which he obliged, though not without a roll of his eyes and a loud sigh. Quickly stripping from her clothes and tossing them in a pile to the floor, she climbed into the water and drew her knees up to chest. Her shoulder stung but she managed to not gasp as the hot water caressed it.

“You can turn around now.” She said and he did just so, having a good look at her before taking off his heavy jacket and tossing it on the bed. Rolling up his sleeves, he knelt behind her and brushed her hair to one side, the tips of his fingers grazing her neck as she gasped.

“What are you…?”

“Hush!” he said sternly as he once again snapped his fingers and a bar of soap appeared in one hand, a small handled bucket in the other. He doused her with water as she cried out at the hot sudden sensation and then worked the soap into a lather in her hair. Working his fingers through her scalp thoroughly. She thanked the gods he was not facing her while he administered his ministrations, because she was dead sure her facial expression was nothing short of scandalous. She had never had anyone bathe her, so the sensation of being this pampered was wholly unknown and frankly it made the pit of her stomach tingle.

With her hair now rinsed and clean, Emet’s hands worked their way to her trapezius muscles and he gently pressed into them with his thumbs. She gasped in a way that was a tad embarrassing as her back arched involuntarily, head threw back and knees dropped below the water. Oh twelve have mercy she just exposed her whole front side the Ascian looking over her shoulders. Indeed, he saw the entire kit and kaboodle and his face told her he wasn’t displeased with what he saw. Her cheeks flushed and she quickly scrunched herself back up into ball and buried her face in her knees.

“You are so sensitive, my dear.” He teased.

“Shut up. I’ve never had a massage before.” She grunted.

“Never ever?”

“Who’s got time for that?”

“My my. This is a bit of a problem, if I can’t even touch you without you making such noises and faces.” He coo’d.

“Knock it off, Emet Selch. I’m embarrassed enough as it is.”

“Let’s try something else then. As much as I would love to see more of your erotic expressions….” He moved positions to the side of the tub and took her hand in his. Then he began to rub the flesh around her palm and wrist, the areas where she held her gun and always chaffed or had callouses. She turned her face to side so she could watch him, the position less intimate so she felt more comfortable. Letting out a long sigh, she relaxed and let him massage up the length of her arm .

If she were any other women, she supposed she could take the Ascian to bed, indulge in her self desires, revel in passions of a one night stand. But she was never that type of person. In a sense it was frustrating how others could go through life consumed by their own desires and she could not. She was the warrior of light after all, someone was always going to need her to be at her best so she couldn’t take risks the way others could. She also had her little girl to think about. Come to think on it, Emet also had children in one point in time and she wondered if he had even enjoyed it or cared for his family. He outlived them all with the exception of Varis and Zenos, but it was obvious upon meeting them both that there was no love lost for their Great Grand Sire.

“You keep sighing.” Emet pointed out. “That usually means you have a question to ask or something pressing on your mind.”

“Its nothing.” She said sadly.

“Obviously not if you keep making faces like that.”

“I make a lot of strange faces, as you’ve already noticed.” She chuckled.

“You also keep many things to yourself.”

“No more so than you.”

“As an Ascian I am entitled to many secrets.”

“As a woman, I’m entitled to mine.”

“You’re not as tired as I thought if you can talk back like that.” He rolled his eyes and stood up quickly, however the lady refused to relinquish his hand and yanked him back sharply without thinking. His feet slipped out from under him on the wet floor and he came crashing down into the water on top of the hero. When he surfaced he had the warrior precariously pinned beneath him and hands on either side of her head gripping the tubs rim.

“Oh Hero.” He practically moaned as he gazed down at her. “You need only ask if you wished me to join you.”

She panicked and slapped her hands over his eyes so he couldn’t see anything. “You’ve got the wrong idea!”

“You were trying to drown me then?” He asked with hands still over his eyes.

“It was reflex! I wasn’t thinking!”

He pushed against her hands and swooped down till his face hovered over her collar bone. “So then you secretly want me oh so much you’re limbs act without reason?” His breath tickled her and she squirmed against the tub, pushing herself back against the porcelain as far as she could. His body weight on her legs kept her from being able to escape any further or jump out of the tub.

“I give you an inch and you take a bloody mile!” She complained and kept her hands firmly planted on his face and tried to push him back. Its was futile either way, he could easily overpower her if he wanted. Smarmy Ascian that he was though, he wasn’t going to let her go without a thorough teasing. “Wasn’t our agreement that you wouldn’t coerce or force me to do anything?”

“I am a man of my word. So far you have not said no or stop or tried to put a gun to my head or bullet through me.” He pointed out and pushed again to reach the hero’s neck where he planted a small kiss.

She saw stars for a moment and tried to get her wits about her. Just say NO, just say NO , Just say NO, she chanted in her mind but with each kiss he planted up her neck she felt her mind going more and more blank. If she didn’t figure out a way or excuse to get out of this, she would make love to him then and there and that would cause more problems than solve.

“I don’t see why you resist it so.” He breathed against her neck between kisses. “There is nothing wrong with indulging yourself once in a while. You deserve to have your needs met as much as any other creature.” He nipped at her jawline and she made a small noise. “What I am offering you is oh so simple. Pleasure. No hidden motives, no scheming, no lies, just simple pleasure for two weary souls long since denied any respite in this cruel and blasphemous world.”

The twelve be damned! He knew all the right words and just where to whisper them! And so reluctantly, against her better judgement she dropped her hands from his eyes. His yellow half lidded gaze was the end of her. She did want him the way any woman would want a man. She wanted to experience him and everything that he was despite him being an Ascian. Gods, it had been ages since she wanted anyone, felt anything for any man, and of all beings for her to lust after it had to be Emet Selch.

“The fates are undeniably cruel….”She conceded, something sad filling her eyes as she looked down for a moment but he caught her chin in his fingers and forced her to look up at him again.

“For tonight, it need not be. Lie with me.” He whispered.

She closed her eyes and felt herself slipping away, carried off by the currents of lust and longing. She took in a shaky breath and replied. “Yes….”