#ffxiv stuff

[anneapocalypse]

[warrior of light voice] space travel? the thing that caused the Final Days?

[osipopz]

But what if I started cooking up more FFXIV nonsense in the kitchen??? What if keychains were on the menu??? ✨👀

[risualto]

I was tagged by @orime-stories to do this quiz about Daemons for an OC. I picked Inky, because I want something light for her right now <3

She got:

Your daemon would take the form of a perching bird! Those who have perching bird daemons are intelligent and like finding patterns, though unlike other bird daemons they are more chatty and social. They enjoy putting their inner thoughts into words and wearing their heart on their sleeves.

Your daemon would take the form of a bluebird! You are a plucky and amicable individual with a determined, high-strung energy. More so than others with perching bird daemons, those with bluebirds are emotional people who freely express their feelings and appreciate vulnerability in their relationships. They are energetic and like staying busy to keep their mind off things; they tend to be more guarded around strangers, and like to come across as capable and perfectionistic.

I'm not sure if Inky comes off as necessarily perfectionistic to strangers, but I do think some people are off-put by just how much she is and how earnest and honest she can be, even with strangers. So I think this is mostly accurate.

Also, ah. Bluebird. Hm. *wink*

I'm exhausted and can't think of who to tag right now. If you're reading this and you have an OC, please do one of these and tag me so I can read it!

[leonawriter]

Me, thinking about how teleportation fees from Tuliyollal to the Azim Steppe (furthest West to furthest East on the map) suggests that they are far away from each other, and therefore cost more to teleport to and from

Me, thinking that this clearly means that those of Hydaelyn setting this up are either counting everything as having a central point in Ul'dah/Eorzea, or they ascribe to a Flat Earth Theory for Etheirys

Me: ....ok but do Flat Hydaelyn Truthers mean Hydaelyn is flat-chested,

[wentian]

i'm tired, boss

[g0g0mi]

Gogomi got lost in Toto-Rak and found her way into the FFXIV EU art contest final?! 😅

Im already so happy to have been shortlisted but if you want to vote for me I’m entry I-23 💕😭🙏 ➡️ sqex.to/LI9V2

[drowxiv]

If you only use Outfit Glamour Creation ONCE - use it for THIS! It saves so many slots and these are so good to have!

(also buy these from the vendor or have a friend buy them for you) The vendor is right here if you have a Level 15 DOH and complete the quest "Absolutley Glamourous"

[jonesylium]

using my incredibly reduced art power to do incredibly cursed redraws that cater only to me and like 3 other people...

[nocticulas]

finished dawntrail 😔✌️

[hirokiyuu]

:)

[anneapocalypse]

I think it's kind of neat that Elidibus calls Urianger "Archon" rather than his name. He does the same when he tries to speak with Minfilia in the Waking Sands, calling her "Antecedent." By the standards of the Ancients, calling them by their titles is the polite thing to do, as he doesn't know them personally but wants to have a good working relationship with them, just as his own colleagues call him Elidibus and not Themis. It might sound stiff and cold to our ear, but to him, he's addressing them with courtesy and respect.

[osipopz]

Just two scholars innocently minding their own business.

[risualto]

Picking Up the Pieces that Remain

Title: Picking Up the Pieces that Remain Summary: On the way back from Yuweyawata Field Station, the party heard something odd, like a breaking cup, but no one could identify what it was. Inky thinks she knows what happened, but confirming it will take a courage she doesn't have alone right now. Warnings: Spoilers up through 7.1; depression; PTSD. Notes: This entire story was not in the plans. I didn't realize any of this was going to happen. And then I sat around and listened to the entirety of EPIC, which led to this idea through a convoluted bit of authorial mental gymnastics that may or may not make sense eventually...we'll see. Hopefully it won't take me five months to write the continuation. Title is from "Melodies of Life" from FFIX, because it was too easy.

When they finally had a chance to take a breath, Inky knew she couldn’t avoid checking any more.  The rest of her friends had scattered throughout the Backroom, trying to be useful, save for Wuk Lamat—who Inky was glad seemed preoccupied with her nephew—and Alisaie.

But if she was right about what had happened, Inky had a feeling she needed to be in private.  Or, at least, not around the literal child hanging around Oblivion.

“Hey, Genolt?” she asked.

The man grumbled, fairly creaking as he straightened up and turned to face her.  “Wha’?”

Inky smiled, the widest and sweetest smile she could manage right now.  It stretched her cheeks in a way that felt frighteningly off for something that had always been easy.  “Is there a…well, a backroom for the Backroom?  Or something?”

“All the bloody…” Genolt muttered.  “’Course there is.  Wouldn’t come ‘ere if I had nowhere t’ escape the work.”  Inky hummed, as if this was a revelation.  “Doors over there— ‘S the breakroom.  Don’t mess with my stuff.”

“Pinky promise,” Inky said, smiling a little easier.  “Thanks.”

She grabbed her bag, feeling Alisaie’s eyes on her as she did.  Inky turned to meet her gaze, then jerked her head in the direction Genolt had pointed her.  Alisaie’s shoulders sagged a little in relief, and she followed.

Having the door between them and the rest of Oblivion made it easier to breathe, Inky thought.  There was no need to pretend back here, not really.  Sure, she was still kind of lying to Alisaie by not coming clean about Living Memory, which felt like a heavy pellet of acid in her chest, but it was better than having to pretend she had any idea what to do, or that she had any business being in Solution Nine at all.

“Everything alright?” Alisaie asked.  Her voice was slow, awkwardly tripping between the words.  Obviously, everything wasn’t alright.  Alisaie was too smart not to notice.  Normally, Inky would appreciate the gentleness, the invitation to let things happen at her pace, but right now it felt a bit like what happened when Inky ran her hands over silk, where every fine thread snagged on the calluses of her fingers and her worn palms scratched against the weave.

She frowned.  “I don’t know,” she said.  Then sighed, poking her head around one of the divider-screen-things that sectioned the room off.  There was a bed and a little table here, but Inky could clearly recognize from the mess of belongings and unmade sheets that this was probably Genolt’s spot.  She popped back out to keep looking.  “Um.  When we left Yuweyawata, on the way back… Remember when you heard something break, but we couldn’t figure out what?”

“Alphinaud’s still worried it was one of his nouliths,” Alisaie said with a nod, looking around another divider.  “Here, this one’s empty.”

“Thanks.”  Inky followed her into the alcove and dropped her bag on the foot of the bed.  “Anyway, I don’t think it was Alphy.”

A little warmth sparked in Inky’s chest as she watched Alisaie try and fail to repress a smile at the nickname.  Still, she continued, “You think it was you?”

Inky took a deep breath.  She reached into her own aether, channeling just enough to pull her bow from the air.  Instinctively, she braced herself against the dissonant static that always followed when she was near Alexandria, closing her eyes.

Only two sounds followed: A sparkling tink-tink-tink of tiny somethings hitting the floor, and a quiet gasp.

Inky shivered as the air of the room licked at her bare skin.  She wrapped her free arm across her stomach and opened her eyes.  Aside from her underwear, all she wore was her belt carrying a couple potions and her flute, and the unicorn signet ring on her right hand.  Despite having been afraid this would happen—Inky had been pretty sure it would—she still wanted to cry.  She squeezed the grip of her bow so tight her fingers ached—but the leather felt cold, the wood dead in her hand.

“Inky… What happened?” Alisaie asked, looking her up and down as if that would change what they could both obviously see.

Alisaie paused, eyes on the ground between them instead.  Inky already had a feeling she knew what was there, but it didn’t make seeing it any easier.  Three small pieces of dull green glass.  “Is that…”  Alisaie knelt to inspect them.

“My soul crystal,” Inky said, nodding.  She bent down to pick up the pieces, pushing them around in her palm a little.  “That’s what broke.  I think I knew when it happened, but I didn’t…want to be right, you know?”

“But how… Soul crystals are supposed to be resilient.  They can withstand aetherfloods that would kill a person,” Alisaie said, reaching for her own where it hung from her focus.  “Is this because of whatever was giving you headaches?”

“I think…it happened when Sphene appeared.  When people’s memories started changing again.  I don’t have any proof, though,” said Inky.  She looked down to realize, subconsciously, that she’d started trying to put the crystal back together.  It looked like a clean break, with no tiny shards missing between the three fragments.  Alisaie reached over to pinch the fragments between her own fingers, and when she held them tightly, the cracks lined up perfectly.  Inky watched a soft white glow light up her olive skin as Alisaie tried to channel some aether into them.  For a few seconds, it looked like the aether was turning green, like it should be.  But it was a trick of the light, just Alisaie’s pure aether filtering through the moss-dark inert glass.

Alisaie pursed her lips, letting the stream of aether filter out.  Her hand curled around Inky’s from beneath instead, and Inky closed her fist around the broken pieces.

“Well,” said Alisaie, “it’s not like you’ve forgotten how to use your bow, right?  There must be a way to get another soul crystal.”  She sounded almost angry on Inky’s behalf, and Inky couldn’t help smiling.

“I haven’t forgotten,” she said.  “I’m fairly sure I could still shoot an apple off your head at thirty paces—”

“Fairly?!” Alisaie asked.

“Very,” Inky corrected, pouting a little.  “Quite sure, even!”

Alisaie laughed, and so did Inky, sitting down on her butt.  The floor was cold and hard, but it was still more comfortable than kneeling.  Alisaie seemed to agree, shifting until she had her legs stretched out, boots almost brushing Inky’s bare toes.

“I should probably tell the others,” Inky said, putting her bow away and reaching for her chakrams instead.  Another shiver wracked her as her body was suddenly much warmer, wrapped up in the soft pink cloth of her dancer’s armor.  She considered how this conversation was going to go with the others, though, and then shook her head.  “Maybe just Alphinaud.  For now.  Raha and Krile are busy, anyway.”

“They’re never too busy for you,” Alisaie chided.

It should be a comforting thing.  But all Inky could think about was watching their backs, walking away across planes of dark electrope, shoulders straight, standing tall.  Like it was easy.

Her own shoulders hunched a little.  “Just Alphinaud, for now,” she said again.

A soft creak filled the room, and both women looked up.  “Alisaie?  Inky?”

“Speak of the boogeyman…” Inky said.

Alisaie smiled.  “And he shall appear.  We’re here, dear brother.”

Alphinaud came around the divider quickly.  “I looked up and you two had vanished— Why are you on the floor?  Is everything alright?”

“Nobody’s hurt,” Inky clarified first.  “But…”  She uncurled her hand, showing Alphinaud the broken crystal.

It took him a few seconds to seem to realize, as he came closer and crouched down next to them, before his eyes went wide.  “Your soul crystal shattered?!”

Inky nodded, quickly summarizing everything she’d told Alisaie.  Alphinaud shifted to sit on his knees, which had Alisaie rolling her eyes.

“May I?” he asked.  Inky held her hand closer to him.

“Sure,” she said.  He reached out to pick up one of the shards, inspecting it.  “Alisaie tried channeling some aether through the pieces, but they couldn’t hold onto it.”

“To be honest, I’m not even sure what it’s made of.  When normal crystals lose their charge, they turn fairly brittle, but this is dense.  It certainly doesn’t have any aether that I can feel…”  Alphinaud set the piece back down with the others in Inky’s hand.

Alisaie hummed.  “It’s not like gluing the pieces back together will fix it,” she said.  “It would probably be easier to find a new crystal.”

“That’s true,” Alphinaud said.  “Bards aren’t nearly as rare as, say, white magi.  Or Krile’s pictomancy.”

Inky knew they had a point.  But as she looked down at the broken crystal, cradled in front of her chest, the idea of throwing it away—giving up on it—made her feel sick.  “But, it’s the memories,” she murmured.

Alisaie cocked her head, but after a second said, “That’s…true.  It’s not just aether that makes a soul crystal.  It’s the memories of all those who wielded it before.”

“I don’t want to give up on them,” Inky said, voice still small.  “Maybe it’s impossible, but I have to try to fix it.  I can’t just throw them away.”  Not again.

Alphinaud nodded.  “Alright.  I’ll ask Y’shtola if she can find anything in the Archives about how soul crystals are made in the first place.  Maybe that will give us somewhere to start.”

“Urianger might be able to help,” Alisaie added cautiously.  “Seems like the sort of ancient magic they’d have burned the midnight oil researching at some point.”

Inky nodded slowly.  “I’ll…ask them,” she said.  If her partners had to find out from someone else that one of her soul crystals broke, she would never hear the end of it.  Plus, maybe giving them something to focus on helping her with would help, in general.

She sighed, then slowly pushed herself up, carefully tucking the broken pieces into a pocket of her backpack.  “I need to take a walk.  Maybe Shaaloani,” she said.  Alisaie and Alphinaud stood, too, with Alphinaud brushing dust from his pants that Inky was pretty sure wasn’t actually there.

“Tell me if you find any monsters worth writing home about,” Alisaie said.

“Any excuse to skip out on work here, I see,” teased Alphinaud.

“Fighting monsters is helping people!” Alisaie argued.  She turned to Inky.  “Hey—I’m sorry.  I know what that crystal meant—means, to you.  If there’s a way to fix it, we’ll find it.”

Inky nodded.  “I know,” she said, smiling weakly.  “But there are other things to worry about.  Like the queen suddenly coming back from the dead, and all.”

“I truly doubt we’re looking at a resurrection here,” Alphinaud said, crossing his arms.  Inky frowned.  She knew he was right, but it didn’t really make her feel better.  She shouldered her backpack, hearing her two best friends bicker without really listening to anything they said as they headed back into the Backroom proper.

Maybe it was stupid, trying to fix a broken soul crystal.  It wasn’t going to undo what Inky had done, bring back any of the people she had killed.  But if she didn’t even try, if she just accepted that those memories were gone, flickered off and lost somewhere, it felt like giving up on the only part of herself worth saving—the part still alive enough to feel guilty for what she had done.

What worth was guilt if she didn’t learn from it?  She had to try.  To prove that she was still capable of caring about the people right in front of her, not just the ideas of the ones she had already left behind.

[leonawriter]

I've been focusing on my alts because honestly, they're more fun, and it's easier and therefore more relaxing, but I really should go back to DT's patches.

I stopped because the fights were going too quick, my reaction time wasn't fast enough, and it... honestly? Wasn't fun. I still don't know how much was me not being familiar with the fights and how much is that I've got dyspraxia, AKA a physical disability that interferes with reaction time and such.

It'd really suck if the devs trying to make things harder for normal players locked me out! :)

[wentian]

METEOR WITH LONG HAIR OMG!!!!!!!

MY BABY IS SO HANDSOME 😭😭😭

BARK BARK BARK

[g0g0mi]

Through this hideously expensive to produce and niche Milk Carton merch, i inadvertently make it known to the public that i want to milk the characters of final fantasy fourtee-