#forspoken: olevia

[tau1tvec]

[flyingwide]

in less fun thoughts, I made myself cry in the car this morning thinking about Olevia asking Cuff why he did what he did and Frey overhearing him tell her that he's not like her and Frey, he's not a person, he is hatred made manifest, he was created to destroy and he doesn't know how to do anything else and Olevia's like "well, you can learn to do something else. and of course you're a person, I hate everyone who told you that you weren't"

[phoenixiancrystallist]

@cruelfeline @flyingwide Look at what you've done D<

(Translation below the cut lol)

Olevia laid, curled against Frey's stomach, held protectively in her new sister's arms. She wanted to sleep, but she couldn't take her eyes off the gold in Frey's right arm. Not on her arm, in it. Part of her skin, leaving textures like a scar.

Just like Frey, Olevia had gold on her right wrist, too. Frey said it was a gift, with that odd twist to her mouth that Olevia learned meant she had a secret she really wanted to tell but didn't know how. Olevia's gold wasn't in her skin, though. Two golden birds, wrapped around her arm almost up to her elbow.

"There," Frey had said, "just like mine."

"How yours used to be," Olevia had corrected. Except she knew that Frey's gold talked to her. And Olevia's didn't. So it wasn't really just like Frey, or even how Frey used to be.

Well, it's a lovely bracelet. Even if it doesn't talk. Olevia ran her fingers over one of the birds' wings. It wasn't smooth like it had looked from a distance. There was a kind of roughness to it, like if the finest sand down at the pond got ground down into a powder.

It almost felt like some of the dresses Cipal's upper class women wore sometimes. Velvet, Frey said it was called. If velvet was metal, that's what her birds would feel like. It felt nice, too.

Stroking the bird helped, and Olevia started to drift off to sleep, her thumb running over the edge of metal to soothe her down into dreams. Just as her eyes started to slip closed, her bird glowed.

"Oh?" said a voice Olevia had never heard before. Soft and masculine, almost too quiet to hear. Like whoever was talking spoke to himself. Olevia went still, and the voice hummed a noise that was almost a laugh. "Well, hello little one."

[ilikedetectives]

I play AC Odyssey and AC Origins I know how this goes

[claudiaeparvier]

Ma’am…

[neep-neep-neep]

forspoken au where Olevia lives. I'm not spoiler tagging this none of you give a shit

[cruelfeline]

Hello hello!

I'm absolutely loving your musings on what is potentially joining the lists of one of my favorite games ever! I'm so happy to find someone with a positive view on the game who is also thinking the same thoughts as me regarding Cuff's and Frey's relationship in the game 😁. Even though I ship them, I appreciate your view of a platonic relationship with them.

I just wanted to ask if you could go deeper regarding Frey's choice to keep Cuff sealed within her... rather than destroying him. For me, it says a lot about how much he means to her. Face it, Cuff is Frey's first "friend." Even when she found out who he truly was and what he's done, she still referred to him by his nickname. She also tried to reason with him throughout their fight instead of hurling insults at him.

Also, how do you feel about them seemingly going back to normal with each other after the battle? I think it relates to how they both view their relationship...but I don't want to say anymore since this ask is long as heck 😅.

Bleh sorry for the long ask! I'm just excited to see someone else think about Forspoken like I do 😂!

Hello! Thank you so much for the ask; I'm delighted to discuss these two!

It's a great question: why does Frey keep Cuff sealed, rather than simply killing him? It's one that I don't think we can fully answer; there are too many loose story threads left unexplored, and we just don't have access to important bits of information.

For example: can Cuff be killed? Is he mortal, or no? If he can be killed, then is Frey physically powerful enough to do so? Did she truly decide not to destroy him, or was she simply unable to and thus forced to bind him instead? The answers to these questions are unclear, and so we really are kind of stuck in the realm of personal opinion.

Now, my personal opinion is that she chose not to kill him. Partially because I enjoy the character implications and feel it makes for a more interesting story, and partially because, in-game, we have no indication that she's attempting to kill him. It's not like we visibly see her try, realize she can't do it, and switch gears. She just seems to immediately bind him with no overt kill-attempt made.

So, let's just assume, for the purposes of fun character assessment and lack of evidence to the contrary, that she truly decides to bind him rather than killing him. Why does she do that? Why seal him, when he's clearly responsible for untold amounts of death and pain? Why keep him with her, when he is essentially responsible for her being orphaned, for her being "abandoned" in NYC, for pretty much all of the negative aspects of her life?

Well, for one thing: Frey isn't a killer. She does kill, quite often, because she needs to, but she doesn't like it. She doesn't go out of her way to eliminate things. Recall the beginning of the game, when she actually did seek to end Sila because of Olevia's death. Even when she succeeded in avenging the little girl's death, she didn't feel satisfied by it. It didn't bring the closure she wanted, and it just... wasn't a thing that made her feel positive. Even when it was warranted. Same with the other Tantas: they may have been legitimately dangerous and in need of elimination, but Frey still didn't want to do it. She's simply not a person who every truly wants to kill another. No matter, it seems, how dangerous they are. I expect that this same reluctance applies to Cuff. He's arguably the most monstrous thing in Athia right now, but that doesn't change her aversion to taking a life. And so, despite everything, she doesn't want to take his.

There's also this sense, during the final battle, that Frey sees something of her prior self in Cuff. She recognizes her old anger and resentment in him, and she recognizes some sort of loneliness; I think that recognition compels her to want to reach out to him rather than to destroy him. She likewise seems to sense some sort of... distress in him? Perhaps? She asks him if what he's doing is what he actually wants, and he clearly gets angry at the question. One gets the impression that she is trying to feel out what is actually going on with him. Is he acting out of a sense of obligation he feels he can't escape? Why is he so set on Athia's destruction? Is this truly what he wants to do, in his own heart, or is this something he sees as a necessary act that he feels compelled to perform for reasons outside of him? I think Frey senses some sort of discrepancy here and wants to understand it better, despite Cuff being less than forthcoming.

Then there is, as you point out, their relationship. It's not what I would call a "friendly" relationship, mind you, but it's incredibly involved and intimate in ways that likely neither of them has ever experienced before.

To Frey, Cuff is, as far as we can tell, the closest relationship she's ever had. She doesn't have any known friends in NYC (save for Homer!). And while she arguably makes friends in Cipal - Auden, for example - they are friends that really cannot be with her most of the time. The people of Cipal can't leave the city for obvious reasons, and Frey spends the overwhelming majority of her time out in the Break-ridden parts of Athia. The only one who can join her there is Cuff.

So while he's done the terrible things he's done, both to her and to Athians in general, he's also the only one she can count on to be there with her on a day-by-day basis. He's the only one who can be there to support her in battle. He's the only one who can shield her, who can advise her, who can teach and guide her as she continues her work as Breakwarden.

Cuff is also the one who is there with her for both life-changing events and every-day mundane minutiae. He is there when she first arrives in Athia and is thus her only source of support during this life-changing experience. He is there when she kills Sila and comforts her in the aftermath. He is there when she learns who her mother is. He is there when Olas tries to trap her in her illusions. Likewise, he is there every morning to wake her up and every night to nag her to sleep. He chides her to eat, to heal, to rest, and he guards her while she does so. He comments on her new cloaks, necklaces, and nail patterns. He reminds her to put the fire out properly after camping.

For Cuff, Frey is possibly the only one who has ever interacted with him as another regular person. I can't imagine, given what he is, that anyone has ever just... had conversations with him. Treated him like anything other than Athia's destroyer, positively or negatively. But Frey just... talks to him. About nothing. About how gross the foe they're fighting is. About how huge that bridge they just crossed was, or how fun water-gliding is, or how she senses a new cat to befriend. About how annoying he is, even as she's annoying right back.

I expect she's also the only one he's ever had a cooperative, working relationship with. He advises her. She, even while complaining, takes that advice. She attacks, he defends. He counters, she borrows his magic to strike a foe back. Oftentimes, during successful battles, it's very apparent that they both take some joy in how seamlessly they can work together.

So, after their final battle together, I think they fall back into their relationship because it's simply comfortable for both of them. They're stuck together, after all. Each is bound to the other not just by magic, but by the reality of their circumstances. Frey can't be helped in her task by anyone else because it is physically impossible. Cuff can only fulfill his goal using Frey for the exact same reason, and even though he failed this time, any hope he might have for eventual success still lies with her. Each of them needs the other in order to even try to do what they want/need to do.

Since there is no getting away from one another, I feel like they simply resolve to make the best of it. And "making the best of it" is feasible because, at the end of the day, despite the enormity of their conflict, they are each other's most important person. They know one another in ways no one else does. They're are connected to one another as they are connected to no one else. And, ultimately, there's some sort of comfort in that intimate familiarity.

Anyway, thanks for the ask! I hope those thoughts are interesting to you, and I'm sorry for the length. I really like talking about these two c:

[tau1tvec]

Olevia.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Anybody else get random Olevia Lives AU brainworms that won't get out of their head until they get written down or is that just a me thing?

(Translation below the cut as usual)

Cuff: May I confess something to you?

Olevia: What is it?

Cuff: I need your complete confidence. You cannot breathe a word of this to anyone. Especially not Frey. Do you promise?

Olevia: I promise.

Cuff: Thank you. *deep breath* I love her.

Olevia: Well, yeah, I knew that.

Cuff: Hush, I'm not done yet.

Olevia: *giggles*

Cuff: If I could, I would take Frey and run. Run far, far away, away from Athia, away from Rheddah. Run so far and so fast that nothing can ever hurt her again, so I can be free to stand beside her.

Olevia: Why can't you do that now?

Cuff: Because I am not free. And I never will be. If Frey lets me go, then Rheddah will reclaim me. And I will be forced to kill her. To kill you. I can't bear that, little one. I love you both too much. But I won't have any choice. I won't be able to stop myself. But if I take her and run far, far away, so far that Rheddah can't find me, maybe...

Olevia: ...what about me?

Cuff: Hmm?

Olevia: Can I come, too?

Cuff: You love Frey that much? Enough to leave everything you've ever known behind?

Olevia: You do.

Cuff: Hmm, I suppose I do. Well, now, I suppose, since I've come to know you, and seeing as I love you, too, I'd like to take you with me as well. Since you asked, and all.

[claudiaeparvier]

Forspoken: Olevia Liette

[flyingwide]

I still don't go here, but tell me about Cuff Forspoken (for the meme)

All right, let's go character meme!

How I feel about this character I love him, your Honor. This is unfortunately my baby who is the biggest brat on the planet. He could have chosen literally any personality by which he could manipulate Frey into doing what he needed and he went with "whiny bitchy jewelry" and I love him for it. Character of all time tbh

All the people I ship romantically with this character Frey. I am a multishipper at heart and I would likely be down for Cuff/Frey/Auden instead of the poly-v situation I usually write it as but like.... Cuff and Frey are a package deal to me. Cannot be separated. (I mean, they canonically cannot be separated but even if they could, they shouldn't be!!)

My non-romantic OTP for this character I don't really know how to answer this. Is this like a brotp thing? Then I would say Olevia and also Auden.

My unpopular opinion about this character I don't know if I have an unpopular opinion about him tbh. There's like 8 of us in the fandom, popularity is very hard to gauge. I don't know. I'll think about it.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. I wish we'd got his full storyline ;__; You KNOW they were going to go the redemption route, you know that the whole thing about going to Rheddah would tell us more about his origins and how to free him from his wretched responsibility. We would get to see his love for Frey have so much power and maybe even hear him admit it.

[flyingwide]

happy Friday, my Forspoken babies

"Ok so the paintbrush probably wouldn't work but I can just hold the paint in place?"

"I don’t entirely understand what it is you're asking me to do."

In the next room, Frey heard a bowl hit the table gently, the clink of glass sounding as things were pushed out of the way. "Just use your birds to dip their wings in the paint and then carry it to the canvas. You can control them, right?"

"I can, and they're dexterous enough, but they don’t usually last long away from me."

"Except for the ones you sent to me."

"I didn't send them to you, at least not consciously. They just... found you."

Olevia's voice dropped to a stage whisper. "Frey says it's because you love me."

"Frey should mind her own business," he said waspishly and Olevia giggled.

Too curious for her own good, Frey rounded the corner and leaned against the doorframe of Olevia's room. "What's going on in here?"

"We're painting!" Olevia said, holding up a paintbrush as evidence. "Or, well, I'm painting and trying to find a way that Vambrace can do it too."

"I admire the gumption, kiddo, but I don't— wait, did you..." Frey put her hand to her forehead and groaned. "I cannot believe you got her to call you Vambrace."

"I would give you credit for raising such a polite young lady but we both know she hardly learned it from you."