#just like ran'jit did and was

[haunted-xander]

So. Fatebreaker, right? Ryne's biggest fears made manifest, daddy issues personified, yes?

He's an amalgamation of Thancred and Ran'jit, his face, his voice and his weapon is Thancred's, but his body, his fighting style and his words are Ran'jit's.

Throughout the fight Fatebreaker constantly makes comments about how only he can protect Ryne, only he can provide for her, only he has even the right to so much as stand beside her, to be in her general presence. He's possessive and obsessive, repeatedly asserting that she is HIS and his only. Which is exactly what Ran'jit says basically every time we encounter him.

But this time it's in Thancred's voice. This time it's with the voice and face of a man she actually cares about.

Ryne isn't scared of Thancred, she never has been. Even when she first met him she was barely even nervous (as clearly shown in Thancred's short story). There's a lot of different feelings happening between those two, but fear has never been one of them.

But now, after things have gotten so much better, she is scared of Thancred becoming like Ran'jit. Because if Thancred was just a little further gone, if he was just a little less compassionate, he would've. It wouldn't be hard for him to go down the same path as Ran'jit did, to be incapable of letting go of the ghost of that girl he loved so so much to the point he'd stubbornly grip anything close to her he could. He didn't, but the fact he could've is terrifying.

It makes his final words, words that are Thancred's, so very important. This is her deepest fears made manifest, but he still says he wants her to be happy. Her happiness not only matters, but is important to him.

[plounce]

one thing about thancred and ryne is that i think they BOTH project onto the other to some extent. thancred's treatment of ryne is obviously very impacted by how he relates her to minfilia. but as evidenced by fatebreaker - "dread hope" - ryne's perception of thancred is also colored by her other father figure / protector. ryne had already grown up knowing about the other minfilias before her and being told she would never measure up and the best she could do was stay in her cell in the cavernous jail under eulmore. by the time thancred rescues her, she already fully believes she is an inferior version of the girls/women before her, and thancred's close relationship with the PEAK minfilia makes it very easy for her to perceive their relationship as thancred begrudgingly taking care of her because she's the closest thing to HIS minfilia. and while that's a little bit true, it isn't anywhere near the whole truth, i don't think. (and obviously none of this is "her fault" - she's an abused and traumatized child with an unimaginable burden on her tiny little shoulders. of course that's gonna effect how she sees the world and the people close to her)

i really wish we got to see/know more of ryne's "before" wrt her character arc - what was her life of captivity in eulmore like (thank you e11 for the crumbs)? what did she know how to do when thancred first got her out - how actually "helpless" was she, what skills did she lack, what basic knowledge of the world was she ignorant of? and (my favorite): what was her and thancred's relationship like before the WoL arrived on the first? because the WoL arriving on the first was the cause of her running away to go find them in an effort to Be The Original Minfilia, and i do think that that incident affected how thancred behaved for a lot of shadowbringers. the fear from her getting captured again by her abusers! the turmoil over that being a clanging alarm that she is getting close to Her Big Existential Choice!

and in the end, both of them meet with who the other saw in them. ryne chooses to continue to live, even if she doesn't totally feel like she deserves to, even if she isn't the strongest minfilia, even if it's difficult and painful. and the original minfilia embraces her and gives her a bottle of hairdye and is finally able to rest. and thancred basically dies to keep ran'jit from having control over ryne, and is reborn as A Better Dad. and then (because while ran'jit is thancred's foil, thancred also operates as one for emet-selch) he accepts and embraces ryne as an individual person who of COURSE deserves to live. who, while not his first sisterdaughter, is regardless beloved family to him. who he is glad did not sacrifice herself to bring back his mostly-dead glory-days loved one. and then he gives her a name that has nothing to do with their relative traumatic pasts - just their shared time together as a family unit (with urianger. but i don't need to go into That subtext with you)

literally mountaingoats_lovelovelove.mp3 love is gonna lead you by the hand into a white and soundless place. now we see things as in a mirror dimly. now we see each other face to face

[voidsentprinces]

Shadowbringers took Emet-Selch from ARR Lahabrea levels of mustache twirling, Saturday Morning Cartoon villain. All monologue and evil laughter while his evil boobs malevolently boobed down the Post-Stormblood's darker breast boobily and changed him into an actual character. And the first Ascian who actually spent time with us in a more meaningful way. Flipping them from one note, evil that must be defeated. To one we came to understand and a group that connected to our character's literal past reincarnation that we do not recall.

Additionally, atmospherically, Shadowbringers brought us to Post-Apocalypse that wasn't 28 Days Later, Mad Max or Rapture-esque. While pulling from all those series. Its a world 100 years after the Apocalypse was averted but still causes the world to live in its shadow.

This expansion seems to be the beloved darling of the community. Even topping Heavensward in most regards. But, also, personally, I feel like Shadowbringers is only good Shadowbringers for the last three levels of it. And rest is just so much set dressing and putting together the A-Team. For lack of a better comparison, 70 - 79 is our Avengers Infinity War. We get the band back together, fight off the big bad and actually almost win. But then we lose and we lose HARD and we spend a handful of quests somewhat wandering aimlessly until we resolve to go after the one who took victory away from us. That lead up, to me, is alright but the story didn't really HIT, outside of my long winded story analysis reasons, until we reach Amaurot.

Even its Post-Patches seemed to struggle to figure out what to do. Having Elidibus bounce hither and thither without the Scions really trying to stop him because, "We don't know what he is up to." which was counterproductively frustrating to me. You are literally not stopping and banishing the villain so the plot can happen. Alisaie literally kept tabs on the Warriors of Darkness because we were focusing on dealing with Nidhogg. Why the hell couldn't they have kept tracked and harassed Elidibus at least? But no, the sky starts to shower stars and then it is go time. And while To the Edge and the Seat of Sacrifice are awesome. My suspense of disbelief that our Scions would just shrug and only off screen keep tags on lesser Ascians and then just be like, "I dunno fellas, this here Elidibus is tricky." strikes me as dense. Like, this is denser than a dead star. They let things happen for the sake of it happening.

Bottomline, there is some wiggle room here. Shadowbringers may be the community's darling. But I wonder if, its just because we remember the super highs of Amaurot to Seat of Sacrifice. And kind of brush things like; the Ran'jit fights, the Supernatural problem of Lucifer's Cousin's Roommate being the big bad in Lunar Primals, Thancred's treatment of Ryne and Speedrunning him some redemption in the Amh Araeng second half.

I'm rambling now, as a whole. Did you enjoy Shadowbringers? If not why? Vote your answer and leave your opinion in the tags if you'd like.

Note: I am aware that the Post-Patch production was stunted by the COVID Pandemic. Still, I'd like your opinion about anything you felt lacking. Even with that dead whale hanging over the entire thing.

[tarajenkins]

It's that time again

Time to make a massive post for my thoughts on the Lord Vauthry side of the new Encyclopaedia 3! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Spoiler alert: they aren't positive at all, lmao As it turns out, there is a convenient cover-our-ass disclaimer right off that this book is diegetic. The information in it is supposed to have been gleaned from the Scions. The Scions who, especially in the case of Eulmore's ~dark secrets~, would know jack shit about fuck all.

Admittedly, Hydaelyn should've known at least some of this through the death of her last Oracle, but for whatever reason it slipped her mind to tell us any of it in-game. Whoops!

Or maybe she was relying on that child to be the stopgap against the Rejoining happening too soon, like Selch. She could've at least given credit where it was due, if so. >:T

Twitter had a huge pearl-clutching shitfit the other day about that Oracle's death, which boiled down to "EW GROSS FATTY BEAT A CHILD TO DEATH OMG". The OP showed a screenshot of the page which mentions that Vauthry attacked the Oracle after having a nightmare that she would kill him. But they chose not to link the FIRST part for whatever reason, where it stated the Oracle in question had been fighting Sin Eaters alongside Ran'jit before Vauthry was even born. So unless this Oracle was an infant slayer of Sin Eaters, Vauthry was the child in that scenario--at age TWELVE. A twelve-year-old somehow defeated Hydaelyn's avatar, who was a skilled fighter trained by Ran'jit himself. (Ran'jit was a Master Assassin at five years old, btw. No, really.)

That said, the fanbase in that post naturally bought the OP's failure to math the way Estinien buys his hair ties: like suckers. Players were parroting the misinformation via solo posts and showing their entire ass on fatphobia in this character's tag all day. And, of course, where the fandom forgives and forgets the atrocities of almost every other character, people suddenly seemed very invested in making Vauthry enjoyers EXPLAIN THEMSELVES because this character did THIS.

When that was called out for the glaring hypocrisy, one poster replied it's just that "people are shocked at child abuse suddenly being mentioned and relevant."

Except child abuse has ALWAYS been mentioned and relevant in this game. It also applies to Vauthry himself. Emet-Selch essentially killed Vauthry before he was even born, dooming an infant to a life of madness and violence by fusing the baby with a Lightwarden. His father groomed him on lies for a power grab, Ascians further manipulated him in his madness to raise the Virtues, Ascend Gaia's parents, and who knows what else. What would you call that, if not abuse? Thank Emet-Selch for the previous Oracle being murdered. That wasn't going to happen with a 12-year-old who wasn't corrupted by a Lightwarden.

But, let's be real. All the derision of the character's weight during that Twitstorm made it extra obvious what makes him ~problematic~ to them. For their faves, it's "it's just fiction uwu" or the classic ~moral relativism~. For Vauthry, it's rabid foaming because it's clearly a Moral Failing to enjoy THAT character, and we who do must be harassed for it! Case in point, the Twitter OP even pulled out the old uwu ~at least I'm not a ~Vauthry shipper uwu" chestnut, I kid you not. At least, rabid foaming on behalf of vidya game children everywhere until I asked if it was finally time to discuss how many pixel children were murdered by the Rejoinings or Garlean occupation, for a start. Kids freezing in the Brume, etc. Kids made monsters by corrupting them in the womb. You know. A Tuesday. Crickets, then.

"I can't imagine Vauthry ever being a child", someone else posted.

They showed him as a baby in his mother's arms, in the Echo flashback. It's not hard. But I guess it's easier to dehumanize a fat character than it is to think a little.

If anyone else wants to be pissed at me saying all this as they were years ago, I really, really can't be arsed to care. It's rare NOT to see this character's fatness derided in just about any discussion of him. It sure was in his Twitter tags the other day. And, well. Every day. If you want to prove me wrong, though, confront that behavior when you see it, make shutting it down the norm, instead of whining how I'm "too rude" and so that invalidates my points somehow. No shit I'm rude when this "great community" has all the wit of bullies on a playground. Go tone police them instead, maybe.

ANYWAY

On the plus side, some of this new sorta-lore does seem to still back up some of my original in-game theories, but he was already twisted by the corruption from birth. There's no denying that anymore at least, no more hearing stuff from the fanbase like "uwu Emet-Selch gave him a GIFT, Vauthry just abused it uwu". (Who am I kidding, the last part will still happen.) Also, since the actual writers of this book don't stand behind anything written in it, I can still give him the happy ending in AUville that he should have had canonly. ⸜( ˙˘˙)⸝ ♡

What the purpose of this book is when nothing in it is concrete, I have no idea. But if Square can't back off their unimaginative fatphobia, can they at LEAST make Eulmore make sense?

NOPE ( ᐛ )b

Vauthry's father was named Veronth Mudthane, and in this retcon they imply he took more than a minute to decide that allowing a rando to corrupt his baby without asking his wife first was a swell deal. "The Scions" should've at least known the Echo shown in-game just…completely refutes that. But this book also has a blurb for Anogg but shows a portrait of her brother Konogg, so I honestly have to wonder if "The Scions" even played this game.

Vauthry's mother, as per usual, is not given a name or otherwise addressed at all. Because reasons.

"A euphoric Veronth went on to spoil his offspring in extravagant fashion, showering this "new god" with adoration bordering on worship. Such treatment would warp any child's mind, and Vauthry was no exception: he grew up willful, wanton, and possessed of an awful temper."

No exceptions except: Alphinaud, Alisaie, Nanamo, the fandom darlings of Ishgard (arguably excluding Emmanellain but for some reason he always gets a free pass), Hildibrand, Sark Malark, I'm sure I am forgetting some but you get the idea! There's only one difference, I wonder what it could be--

reads book's description of Vauthry's "corpulent chest"

--ah, right. The shitty tropes barely disguised as storytelling. Double standards! It's not just for jackasses in the fanbase anymore! "The Scions" are trying to lay this on "spoiling", when the child was fused with a Lightwarden. Ask Titania how that went for them.

The book goes on to say Vauthry murdered both of his parents at age nine in a fit of temper. You read that right: age nine. With witnesses. Somehow. They go on to mention the witnesses may have been okay with it perhaps because of "a growing mastery over his Lightwarden powers of domination". You know, those powers of domination that didn't exist in-game when Alphinaud chastised the Eulmorans for willfully ignoring the plight of the rest of the world. Those powers of domination that, when they finally were exerted in-game, resulted in the Eulmorans staggering around like drunks, muttering and supremely useless.

In-game, Vauthry wasn't "dominating" anything until he sprouted meatwings and fled to Gulg. Otherwise, Tristol would never have been able to ask to leave? Alphinaud would've been affected, even if the WoL was shielded by the Blessing of Light. Kai-Shirr would have chopped his arm off gladly. The Eulmorans would be blameless for everything Alphinaud and the narrative blamed them for.

In any case, both in this book and in-game, the writers completely gutted their own narrative of Vauthry and/or Eulmore being symbolic of All Things Bad. It's pretty impressive. Vauthry was corrupted by a Lightwarden, like Titania; his mind and behavior were compromised by this from birth. And if he DID control the Eulmorans the whole time, then they had no free will, either.

The book claims Vauthry used Ascension as a cruel game and delighted in ~revealing the truth~ to his victims as they became Sin Eaters. But they never explained why there would be a need to hide any truth with this latest spin on the dumpster fire that is the Eulmore arc.

In-game, there were rules to even request Ascension of him, and it was limited to and at the discretion of the formerly rich free citizenry. Workers could be granted it, but only if their patron vouched for them. The free citizens apparently had to wait until they were at their natural end, as per the Warbler's patron. The random disappearance of so many people from the stagnant population of that tower over the years would cause a panic by any stretch of the imagination. Word would get out, because workers on the inside were shown to be able to visit loved ones in Gate Town. Only allowing Ascension at the natural end of life would cover all that part up, except Vauthry was only 29 years old. The opportunities for Ascension: The Game would've been about as often as Minfilias spawned in that one century. (Which, according to the game, was totally hundreds on hundreds of Minfilias!) Either way makes zero good sense. The convoluted lengths they went through for the sake of these cheap fatphobic tropes is staggering, I s2g.

Meol still doesn't make sense, either. They doubled down on the "fat character eats people" trope in the book, but tbh I've come to expect unoriginality from anything directed by Naoki "Diversity would be unrealistic in my giant magic summon fantasy game" Yoshida.

Sin Eaters are said to have been found in cages next to a butcher table sort of setup, even though in-game, Sin Eaters have no bones, blood, or meat. In fact, the sparklies they dissapate into upon death are rather important to the narrative, as that is what turns people into new Sin Eaters. Meol, you know, that dish which was still entirely optional, and so really contradictory to using it as some master plan to MC the populace.

TL;DR: This is what happens when you phone in lazy tropes instead of a story for a last-minute arc and call it a day. Imagine what we could've had if they'd done some actual thoughtful writing. Also TL;DR:

Mood, Your Lordship

[most-fuck-able-ff14]

Are any of these men bigots, cops, or the like? Because I want to vote in these polls but know nothing about any Final Fantast game, and I don't want to call somebody "fuckable" based on their looks and then they turn out to be categorically unfuckable, you know?

closest thing to a cop is probably emet but hes less "cop" and more "invented the cop".

luckily no bigots! the knights 12 did not make it!

if you're worried about it I suggest reading the tags. Theres some thirsty takes in there but theres also a lot of in canon/lore friendly defenses for and against the characters. off the top of my head Gaius, Zenos, Nero, and Nidhogg are problematic because the first three are from a nation that wants to conquer the world and eradicate the local religions (Zenos in particular is just a battle horny murder man) and the dragon wants to justifiably kill all of a nation for killing his sister but hes also 100% just killing isgaurdians for being isgaudians.

the other problematic characters would be the ascians (lahabrea and elidibus) since their whole plan is to bring about the apocalypse.

Even Ran'jit who is a bad guy in Endwalker isn't a cop/bigot/likewise. Hes more of a bounty hunter i think.

This was a interesting question that i never really gave too much thought to before, thanks anon! I hope this helps! -Mod Fisher

[ferrocyan]

I'm so happy to see another wolreeq enjoyer! Do you have a favourite thing or detail about your wolreeq?

HI THANK YOU FOR ASKING I AM SO HAPPY TO MEET A FELLOW ENJOYER i most definitely have one favorite detail ;3 the most basic of which is that my wol and lue-reeq are similar in so many ways.

when i first met reeq in the story and he says that he's on this cardinal virtue hunt to become the greatest hunter of all time, i was immediately like oh, that's just like tart! bc my wol also initially set out as an adventurer and scion in order to become the greatest hero of eorzea, haha. she was really wrecked by the events of post-stormblood, and being transported to a new world presents a chance to start over, so meeting a guy who is just like how she was in the past really rekindled tart's adventuring spirit

they are both also really dumb. i was howling when reeq was like "heyyy bestie it just occurred to me i forgot to ask your name lol didn't we become best friends sooo fast?" like buddy. my man. he is so lucky to have met my wol, who after saving thancred from praetorium thought she should introduce herself to him. bc tart thought thancred had been possessed by lahabrea the entire time lmao. anyone else and reeq would be screwed

they are both prideful people, too. i can't say the biggest example bc i should be writing that for my fanfic (head in hands) but there's also how their pride blinds them to the perils of their quest. tart in being the warrior of light has gotten herself killed multiple times, but still charges ahead and acts as a hero out of pride. she was also completely unaware of how her fame would get her targeted by people like teledji. reeq is similar in how he sees himself capable of facing andreia alone, right? yeah there's that, but also

if you did the lvl 80 role quest before liberating eulmore from vauthry and ran'jit, there's a line of dialogue in the role quest which gets altered to reflect the msq progression

reeq is a skilled archer. he's been passionate at it since childhood, and he is good enough at it to successfully hunt dangerous beasts-turned-sin-eater on his own. he wants to be acknowledged with this skill, so he thought to be the greatest hunter of all time, by defeating the current greatest hunter of all time. but she's now been turned to an angel, and here in angel city the god-king of mankind has declared that angels are not to be killed or defeated. and reeq is somehow completely blindsided by this fact. he's 18, there's little possibility he remembers eulmore before vauthry became dictator... but what he definitely remembers are stories about how hunters were famous and admired. he lets his pride as a hunter blind him to the obvious outcome

these two jumped into their respective quests without thinking, only looking to the eventual outcome that they'd be famous. they're shallow, dumb, too prideful for their own good. they don't deserve to be the heroes. and yet out of sheer dumb luck, tart being hydaelyn's chosen one, reeq being born a male mystel allowing him to avoid being taken by andreia, they're the ones who succeed.

then again, despite their shallow reasoning, they do it all because they find out that this is their calling. reeq says at the end of their adventure that he's never felt more alive than when he's on this journey with tart. that was how tart felt when she joined the scions, too. they grow to have deeper motivations, reeq to uphold the warriors of light's legacy, and tart to support alphinaud's resolve. they find their passions and do their best to be proper heroes

that's not even everything but i'll stop here www i didn't set out to ship my wol with reeq because they're similar, but it ends up becoming one of my favorite things about them! i love finding (and making up) parallels so much. they're both just little guys who are so lame and kinda suck. but they get better wwww

anyway thanks again for your question, i love talking about wolreeq so much especially mine--actually i've made a post about what i love about wolreeq in general too. but i love mine more hehe (i made up a ship name for them: lighthunter) please talk to me about them some more, i am demonstrably so normal and hinged about wolreeq. also have pics

[aerialsquid]

FFXIVWrite2023 Day 2: Bark

A Ran'jit Lives AU heavily inspired by the recent Lodestone side story.

Ran'jit took stock of his body the way a general tookstock of his troops. He laid still, his attention going from one limb to the next, gathering information. The material beneath him was soft, like a mattress. Around his limbs, cold like metal. Chains, perhaps. They weighed heavy on him. Pain, too, was there, but faint and hazy around the edges. They had drugged him and the drugs eased the pain as well. 

He opened his eyes. He was in a small room. Eulmore still, by the banners and architecture. Perhaps Vauthry had imprisoned him as punishment for his failure. 

The light, though, was strange. He can't put his finger to what it was. Slowly he turned his head from the barred door to the single high window above. At first he thought it must be tinted glass, until he'd stared to the point his eyes hurt and were leaving spots floating about his vision.

It was the sky. The sky was blue. If it was blue that means the light hadn't returned, which means Vauthry was….

Ran'jit bided his time, waiting on the drugs to wear off, floating in the soup of his own brain, and watched that tiny little window as the blue was marred by white clouds floating across it. Blue sky and clouds. He's seen artwork of such things. They were never meant to be seen by his eyes.

The clouds changed. They went to red and orange, as if there was a fire outside, but Ran'jit did not smell smoke or hear screams. The clouds dimmed to purple and ochre as the wind began to clear them and now Ran'jit watched in fascination and horror, as they finally cleared themselves away to reveal a dark sky shot through with bright twinkling specks. The cursed night that Lord Vauthry had sworn to destroy forever now reigned resplendent across the skies of Kholusia.

If it still remained, then Ran'jit had failed. Vauthry had failed.Then there was nothing left but the horrific wheel of sin, turning again and again to harrow this vile world.

The helpless noise that escaped his throat, barked loud like an animal's cry, was both laughter and sob, and it lasted until he ran out of breath. 

The door opened. He expected the Crystal Exarch, or perhaps the Warrior of Darkness. He did not expect a slim figure in a white dress quietly easing into the room, the Exarch's hired thug at her back. Ran'jit, still bound on his back, did not dare to meet her face.

"Minfilia." He noticed for the first time how dry his throat was, when even summoning the word was harsh.

"It's. Ryne now. It's Ryne, actually. I'm Ryne." Minfilia's voice was hesitant but bore steel inside it. Ran'jit's eyes cast upward out of reflex and he finally realized what was wrong. Her hair, the wrong color. Her eyes, no longer that unearthly blue. 

"Do you think to hide from your fate, like this? To color your hair and conceal your eyes?" He could not even beg Minfilia to come home. If he was prisoner at Eulmore than even the Citadel of Pleasure had fallen, and there would be no place left to keep her safe. These people would feed her into the meat grinder, just as they did every girl before her. 

"It's not dye. I–it's a lot to explain, really–"

"And you don't owe him any of it," snapped the hired thug, one hand on her shoulder.

"Aye, but our charge may find some succor in it regardless, and such would be the matter of greatest import." The fortune teller who cavortws with the pixies was lurking in the shadows behind them. Ran'jit could sense naught but his voice and see the glimmer of light off his jewelry, but he seemed to have some hand on the thug's leash all the same.

Ran'jit turnws away from the sordid lot of them. "My lord is dead, and you have doomed my child. If there is aught satisfaction you need from this withered body of mine before you execute me, take it quickly and then let me leave in peace."

Eulmore performed its executions publicly and with great fanfare. The Crystarium, in its weakness, only exiled its worst criminals and let the sin eaters do the work for them. At his age, injured, alone and friendless, the only difference would be how many people saw him die. 

Minfilia stepped into the room, sliding out from under her bodyguard's hand. She raised his head over his bed and closed her eyes. The chains that bound him, solid and metal despite their aetherial glow, suddenly warmed and then vanished into glittering dust that evaporated out into the darkened sky.

"Ryne!" the thug snapped. 

"He won't hurt me." Her soft blue grey eyes rested on him. Ran'jit sat up slowly, mindful of the bandages he now saw wrapped around his lower section and legs.

"I am your enemy, child. I am your guardian's enemy. To spare my life is to risk that of your precious cabal–"

"No! You listen to me for once, Ran'jit!" She was nearly shaking but she had her heart in her throat, her voice sharp and strong as a blade. When Ran'jit looked into those soft eyes he found it hard to locate a trace of the timid creature he'd kept in a gilded cage in Vauthry's vaults.

"I'm tired of hard choices. I'm tired of sacrificing one life for another - my life, your life, his life, anyone. I'm tired of being told nothing can be bought without blood!" Her voice cracked, tears hesitating at the corners of her eyes, but she kept speaking. 

"Why are men bloody like this? We have so little left and you have to keep ripping apart the shreds further and then telling me it's just the way of things. No. I'm done with it. Thancred's told me about the other girls, I know what happened and I'm sorry but that's not enough reason to just start burning everything down. I don't want anyone else to die stupidly, no matter what they've done."

Ran'jit's hand moved without his consent, as autonomous as Gukumatz. A frail reflexive reaction to embrace her, one he thought he'd burned out of his brain ages ago. He heard the sound of metal scraping as the thug in the doorway readied his gunblade. Perhaps that would be how General Ran'jit would choose his death: letting the bodyguard cut him down because the fool assumed that if Ran'jit wanted someone dead, there'd be anything he could do to stop it.

…but not in front of Minfilia. 

The hand settled on his knee instead. Ran'jit took in a slow breath, feeling the places where his injuries kept his lungs from fully expanding. No reaction to the pain, just as he was trained, it was nothing but a status report from a soldier to its general.  "Then what is to be done with this old war dog, that you will neither slaughter nor throw out to fight again?"

"I want you to live!" Minfilia angrily rubbed the heel of her hand against her face, trying to pretend the tears weren't there. "I don't think I want to see you again. Or–or maybe not for a long time, at least. But I want you to live out the rest of your life in peace, the same as everyone else, and I don't care what else you do with it besides that. We're going to fix what the Light took from us and I want you to be there to see it. I want you to live. That's all."

She hunched her shoulders and whirled to face away from him, stalking out of the small room. In the shadows Ran'jit could see the glinting, gaudy form of the fortune teller resting a comforting arm on her shoulder before drawing her away. The bodyguard remained, gunblade up on his shoulder, glaring at him.

Perhaps the man would kill him anyway, and simply tell Minfilia that he'd escaped in the night. It was what Ran'jit would do. You saw a threat and you removed it, one of the simplest lessons his people learned. (And if he'd finished the job back in Amh Areng and slit the thug's throat, perhaps things would have gone very differently.)

But instead the bodyguard slid his arm back and returned the gunblade to its holder behind his shoulderblades. "She's more than you deserve, you know," he said. 

"I'm aware."

"More than either of us deserves. I can't…" He wavered, his hand on the doorknob. "I can't say I wasn't headed down your path either."

And then the door was quickly closed again, before the thug could let more slip. Ran'jit gingerly laid back on the bed, casting his gaze up to the tiny square of stars.

<i>Live.</i>

At eighty-eight, wasn't that enough living? He'd already far outlived his father. His children too, save the final stolen one. To live and still bear the weight seemed a terrible punishment compared to the blissful benefits of death.

…Ah. Now it became clear.

[brineffxiv]

Doot do do, don't mind me, just eavesdropping...

Oh. I sort-of assumed that's what happened, but I didn't realize it was a bad thing. Oops.

What exactly does "too late" mean? What... Y'shtola, what do you think is going to happen to me? If, like you said, the blessing of light prevents me from turning into a Lightwarden, then what's the alternative result? How exactly do you think I'm being corrupted?

Huh. That's not a possibility that even occurred to me. So Y'shtola suspects Urianger is lying about something? I wonder... I doubt the game would bring it up if the accusation was entirely without merit - and we know the Crystal Exarch is lying to us about something - so is Urianger lying flat out, or perhaps by omission? Is it perhaps the same thing they are lying about?

And if both characters are on our side, are aligned with us as protagonists - and I believe they are - then what could they possibly be hiding, and more importantly why? If it's the same thing - as Y'shtola seems to be implying - then the Exarch and Urianger must have a mutual agreement to obfuscate this particular truth.

Hmm. Can I connect these two dots? Are they lying about whatever is happening to me? I feel like I'm still missing a piece. The Exarch lied about not knowing what the future holds before finding out from Urianger... and it looks like maybe Urianger is lying about something he either saw or didn't see? And they both think this is for the greater good, of that I am certain.

I'm going to have to put a pin in this subject and come back to it when I have a bit more information.

The Crystal Exarch is in Eulmore to meet with Vauthry! I must admit I love the politics going on here. Two leaders in a battle of morals, philosophy, and wits. And to give Vauthry the credit where it's due, I did not expect him to be intelligent - and that's entirely on me for judging him by (the stereotype of) his design.

Unless Vauthry's got the Lightwarden of Kholusia under his control, in which case defeating the Lightwardens means the end of his world and power.

LOL I keep forgetting that almost everybody in this game can potentially use magic, so my "OMG Vauthry's a wizard too" reaction was totally uncalled for. Of course he's a wizard: everybody's a wizard. Except the Garleans. And Thancred. RIP Thancred.

And of course Ran'jit and the Eulmoran army have tracked us here as well. Not surprised. But we'll show him. We'll track down the Lightwarden and kill it before he even knows what's happened.

[xiakha]

FFXIVWrite2023 Prompt #9 - Fair

"Again."

A quick succession of blows followed.

"Third strike went wide. Again."

The same rhythmic pattern.

"Fifth strike was delayed. Again."

Nearly the same flurry of strikes of blunt metal on wood.

"Third strike. Again."

The rapid staccato of swipes and stabs continued.

"Nearly perfect, slow on the last strike. Again."

Minfilia threw the knives on the ground, "No! Not again!"

Thancred looked up from cleaning his gunblade, "Excuse me?"

Her blonde hair was a sweaty mess and she huffed with exertion and annoyance, "What's even the point of all this? Why must I suffer? Sin eaters aren't attacking anymore!"

Thancred frowned, "Sin eaters aren't attacking Eulmore only and just for now. I have some theories as to how Vauthry manages it, but I doubt it's a permanent arrangement. Besides, we can't stay in Eulmore."

"We? You can't stay in Eulmore because you kidnapped me!"

"And you were locked up in a cell you could barely lie down in!"

"Ran'jit said it was for my own safety! I was protected in Eulmore from forces that sought to break the hard-fought peace that we have today! He said times have changed! That I needn't risk my life anymore! That I could lay down my arms!"

"Minfilia... you know he spoke false."

She huffed some more but sank to the ground, "I know. I'm sorry for the outburst. I just... It's not fair. Why me?"

Thancred opened his mouth, but closed it again to choke back his first kneejerk response of "Life's not fair." Aye, she was "Minfilia" but she also was not the woman that Ascilia grew up into. She was no Ascilia either. His Minfilia saw the horrors of the world and decided to organize a group to guide the realm to salvation. This Minfilia was not up for anything, let alone organizing.

Then again, she was young. Not even 15 summers, or what passed as summers in the everlasting light, old and half of those were spent caged up like a particularly pathetic parrot.

Instead he said, "Aye, I wouldn't wish this upon you either, but we're here."

Minfilia hugged her knees, "I don't want to be here."

"Where would you want to be?"

"I don't know. All I've known as far back as I can remember is Eulmore. But I don't want to go back to the cell either."

"Then how would you like to travel the realm until we find somewhere that you do want to be?"

She thought a little, "...I suppose that would be the thing to do."

"And as you've seen, the sin eaters outside of the immediate region of Kholusia outside of Eulmore are rather less docile. Upon my word as your liberator, protector, and... kidnapper I suppose, keeping you from harm is my primary duty. However I may fall or fail, or we may become separated. What then?"

Minfilia didn't respond.

"Will you simply give in and give up, or will you go down fighting?"

She peered over her knees at Thancred with a pout, "You really want me to pick those knives up again, don't you?"

Thancred shrugged, but offered a smile, rarer on his face these days, "Mayhaps I have simply lived a life of strife and struggle, and I know naught but how to perpetuate it, but were I in your position, I would fight until my last gasp to find a place for myself in this realm."

"What if the Oracle of Light picked the wrong girl?"

His expression turned sour. His Minfilia would not make such a mistake, and he was loathe to doubt her himself.

Though there were times that he did doubt.

And then this Minfilia would get really quiet and Thancred would get annoyed but acting out (or trying not to act out) on his annoyance would just cause a feedback loop, a cycle of this Minfilia shirking instead of standing up to him, which would aggravate him more. Whether it was beaten out of her or if she never had the knack, she rarely stood up for herself, she rarely fought for herself. The fiery spirit that Thancred knew as Minfilia was missing, and nothing he did seemed to instill any sort of fight in her.

"Thancred?"

"Apologies, I was gathering my thoughts. Look, you are the Oracle of Light. Did you choose yourself? Would you not choose yourself?"

"It's just... when you look at me, it often seems like you're expecting someone else, that I should be someone else."

The words caught in his throat. He wanted to say it. But he couldn't.

"Even if somehow you were the 'wrong girl,' I still believe you deserve to find a place for yourself in this realm, and I've pledged myself to help you find it, not anyone else." He tried to smile in a comforting manner. "But you need to be ready to fight for your place in this realm. It may not be given to you easily."

Minfilia sighed, "And so I should continue to drill with knives." Her tone of voice made it clear how unconvinced she was by his words and his smile, but she did recognize how little choice she had in the matter.

Resigned to fighting was at least a step up from resigned to dying.

"Once you get the strike pattern down thrice in a row, we'll call it for now, and I'll see if we can't scrounge up a good meal."

Minfilia went back to striking and thrusting at the post with her blunt knives, trying not to picture the sin eater that the post was supposed to represent.

Thancred went back to gunblade maintenance, trying not to picture the daughter that Minfilia was supposed to be.

[ohorishan]

aether

wolianger week - day 1

ShB 78, ~600 words, uh minor body horror i guess?? Urianger tries to help Ori recover from his final battle with Ran'jit. Operative word being 'tries'.

-

“Pray remain still,” Urianger says, “else I cannot tend thy wounds.”

“I’m trying.” I truly am. “It’s the Light, it–” numbs me to my own body, is what it does, so much now that if I don’t move I’m afraid I’ll forget how. The wounds ought to be serious, Urianger tells me they are– a long gash on my leg, where I wasn’t fast– or lucky– enough to avoid Ran’jit’s blade, another one in my side– his expression says they’re serious. I can hardly feel them at all.

“Orishan.” Slowly I become aware he’s speaking to me again. How long has he been speaking to me? “Orishan,” he says, “I must ask something of thee. The Light– doth it pain thee now, more than it did?”

“Not pain exactly. I just can’t–” describe it really, I can’t focus on it enough to. My mind slides right off. Better to keep moving, to take the next moment while it’s still there–

This time he touches my cheek, guiding my face back to his. “Stay with me,” he murmurs. “Look at me, my star.”

The way his eyes pierce through me, so full of emotion I know I ought to be able to fathom, hurts in a way nothing else does. I make myself look at them anyway. 

“The Light within thee preventeth my healing. I realize ‘tis no small task, but thou must needs hold back its aether.”

“I can’t–”

“Thou needst not tame it,” he says, before my focus can wander again, “only contain it for a short time. I shall guide thee, I promise.”

His long hand cradles my head, his thumb tracing soothing circles on my temple, one point at least where I can remember I exist. “I’ll try,” I say.

Urianger settles himself closer, kneeling in front of me where I sit on the overstuffed divan– the nearest piece of furniture to where, he’d said, they found Ran’jit and me both collapsed– the general dead, me just barely not. Gently he touches his forehead to mine. His other hand hovers at my side– I think it should sting, there at the wound, but if it does I can't feel it.

"Close thine eyes," he says. "Listen only to my voice. Think only of thine own aether, and naught else."

I do as he says and, with some difficulty, I let myself sink.

This– this, I feel. The Light sits heavy and hot inside me, pushing against my skin, pushing against the boundaries of me– I'm tight and tense with it, a too-ripe fruit, an over-full wineskin. "It hurts," I hear my voice say.

"Aye, I know it doth. 'Twill be so but briefly." His thumb continues its pattern, a tenuous anchor, but one I can hold. "Breathe. That aether– see its shape. Imagine thou dost hold it in thy hands."

It burns me, the effort, reaching inside of myself to hold the Light. I feel my breath catch ragged in my chest, choked with it, I feel tears like molten metal on my face. I wonder if it is still tears that come from my eyes, or blood from my wounds.

Urianger's aether, when it comes, is a cloud passing briefly across the sun, the barest sip of cool water. I feel myself reach for it, thirsty for it, needing more. I feel the Light reach for it–

"'Tis done," he says, and I release it, a gasp like rising from drowning. The Light lets my attention slide away from it again.

"Did I–" hurt him? His breath sounds just as rough as mine. 

"Nay– 'tis with the effort, no more." He strokes the hair back from my face, brushes my tears– only water– away. "I am unharmed, and thou art healed."

"For now," I say.

 He kisses my forehead, the lightest touch. I can almost feel it. "For as long as I am able."

[minarcana]

"Your friends seem to trust you little," says a voice that's just a little bit like her own from over Laurel's shoulder, sounding annoyed.

"Mmm." Noncommittal response. Laurel's ears flick back towards the direction of the sound, despite it not being something with a physical origin. "Been a while since you said hello, I was starting to think you were on vacation."

A shadow only she can see gives her a look, exasperation discernible despite Esteem's eyes being the only visible part of their expression. they don't vacation. They also don't settle for Laurel changing the subject. "You are poisoned," they gripe in her thoughts as Laurel shoulders a small bag of supplies and makes her way out of Slitherbough.

"I did kind of catch that from how Shtola greeted me, yes."

"And the Scions don't trust you enough to speak openly."

"I did kind of catch that from every single thing Uri's ever said, yes."

Well, it's not necessarily a matter of trust, but, whatever. It'd be nice if people just told her plainly if they thought she was going to die or not. There's been a faint ache within her for a little while. Maybe that's something that Esteem's been working overtime about. Maybe not. Maybe a coincidence.

Either way, the path before her is still clear. Laurel mourns the stew she didn't get to eat for dinner (cursing Ran'jit for that just as much as the man he got poisoned) and pulls food from her satchel to eat as she jogs a bit behind the aforementioned Scions who see little fit to tell her things.

It's not like she wouldn't help them if they asked. It's because they're there, is why she's bothering at all. Urianger was sincere when he said he'd defend this place, Alisaie said she needs help killing the Wardens, Thancred needs her to protect Minfilia, and Minfilia wants to see the night sky over the land. Easy-peasy, in terms of choices. Save the First because what's 'hers' is here right now, and she isn't done 'playing'.

"You're kept in the dark," here Laurel resists the urge to laugh at Esteem's choice of words, "and yet you still poison yourself." Her shadow spits words, annoyed and bitter.

"Mm. I won't die, and what's mine, I'll keep. You'll keep my soul for me, won't you?"

Esteem recedes somewhere, a comfortable weight against Laurel's sternum, and their parting gripe is said echoing in Laurel's thoughts. "I can only protect you from what is possible to save you from, not from all you walk into."

Laurel swallows the last of her flatbread and pulls another from her satchel to follow it. Maaan, how harsh... well, the course is still the same as it ever was.

[semi-imaginary-place]

ffxiv 5.0 rak'rika 3, amh areng 2

how did ranjit know to gun for the temple. lieutenant dude doesn't get a name. y'shtola really is reckless this is like the 3rd time.

ok i feel bad for runar but i also know spoilers. like i said this is like the 3rd time. y'shtola is the Best at getting herself into Situations and then weaseling out of said Situations by the skin of her teeth. maybe this time it cost her an arm. why doesn't y'shtola have that lasso spell

not flow again. giiiirl you gotta stop that can't be your go to.

what is emet selch up to

well that was quick last time she was gone for an expansion and a half

the whole sundering/rejoining thing is really christian now that i think about it. emy is so depressed.

in the jp emet-selch specifies that it is the original ascians, not just all ascians.

what stuck me initially about ffxiv and also annoyed me early on is that the day night cycle is a equal ratio of 12 hours night to 12 hours night. and I was annoyed because the night lighting is bad so every half an hour or whatever I'd have to turn my monitor brightness up, and then down, and a up again. BOTW and other games deal with this by making it summer in the temperate/higher latitudes so day iss 16 hours and night is 8. However I have come to appreciate ffxiv's equal day/night cycles (as annoying as it can be) in terms of it's thematic significance, especially here in shb. the day/night cycle happens when the shard's light and dark aether are better in balance. in contrast to everlasting light where there is only day

zenos... why are you like this

we could totally pop vaulthy's ballon

huh maybe it's just me but lakeland does seem emptier

5 crashes in a day oof this is a bad oen

the love emet selch says thancred carries is ai-jou so like pure love

they're bonding in aa

wow. thancred almost sounds like you're repeating your mistakes. it's almost like you shold have learned

emy: im just a silly little guy

wow. ok. i had the cutscene on autoplay so i missed a good chunk of it but thancred's and minfilia's lines when confronted by ran'jit in ahm areng are very different between the japanese and english scripts. i might look up the differences later because they're very important. in the past4 expansions in general the jp is more specific and I'd say deeper where as the eng will simplify or gloss over things

weren't thancred's aetherial pathways or whatnot already damaged from flow. ok yeah i know he's not dead which is a good time to bring up how i hate fakeout deaths and how the devs have been cowards since the end of hw for not killing off characters.

and i got so distracted by that i almost forgot i came here to say that thancred's final confession is that he considers himself minfilia's (ascilia) onii-san

the 5 companions combined? were absorbed into minfilia, but she stops ardbert? because "its not his time" the phrasing reminds me of when minfilia hiveminded and got absorbed into hydaelyn

I always disliked the localization of hikari-no-miko to oracle. for one the prophecy thing never comes up especially for the new minfilia. and two it removes the overt religious language that makes a lot more sense. like it's shady af that some secret cult is running around eorzea and recruits you. the worship of the twelve as a whole is weird and that's how the path of the twelve and then the scions market themselves. also minfilia straight up got absorbed by hydaelyn, she is the priestess of light.

no words from the minfilias about how the light is corrupting the pc and turning them into a lightwarden?

oh? given how that was going I assumed baby minfilia changed her mind about giving up her existence to fully incarnate old minfilia. but she just lost all the physical traits for hydaelyn's mouth piece like the glowy blue eyes and blond hair.

what does that mean. also it was always her own life. so she lost the minfilia appearance but gained the minfilia powers. that's certainly symbolically unusual.

yeah no. when older minfilia was like "you've learned to love yourself" I was like press X to doubt. i don't think she still has yet to love herself

it's pronounced reen??? like bean... kagamine rin. all this time I thought it was rien/rine like rye or rhino or rind.

i will say one thing for rdr2. it had the guts to kill off the protag and make you play the post game as someone else.

pc is literally cracking. that isn't good. where's that spiderman meme for meteor and ardbert. of course he's the one that ends up holding the pc together was wondering what sort of narrative purpose he was going to serve besides being depressed.

Seriously why the hell is it spelled ryne and pronounced rin/lin

exarch: I don't want you to be be in pain but we're still keeping the plan that will kill you

I still don't get why some cutscenes have subtitles and others text boxes. like they can make the text boxes be timed so why have 2 systems.

wol-chan's going through it

Given the other christian imagery (church of first light) i found it weird that there's 5 light wardens (lakeland, ill mheg, raktika, ahm areng, kholusia) when they seem to be paralleling the 4 archangels. Also weird that 3 of them are named after the greek ideals of love but not all the types of love and not all the lightwardens. I can't tell if shb is using christianity for the aesthetic the way of a lot of japanese media do because it's cool and edgy or if this is actually meaningful. I'll have to think about this after i finish 5.0 (in 10 years lol)

[ichoric]

@pcndaemonium said: Marven placed a hand on Ryne's shoulder and smiled at her. "Whatever you choose, it'll be your path and the right decision. I think that's what Minfilia wanted for you too... to be yourself. Whether you follow her footsteps or embark on your own journey, we both will always be proud of you. And you can always call me."

minnie never resisted her role as the oracle. while she felt it difficult to understand, especially with how little ran'jit truly explained, she found the title to be an honor. others like her took to it, found their strength, even if it spelled peril for them in the end. they still chose it, didn't they ? regardless of whether the burden weighed heavily on their shoulders, just as it did her own.

a faint smile settled into place. marven always had a way to set the hume at ease ; present moment no different, despite the upcoming choice she'd have to make. ' do you ever feel like you don't have a choice being the warrior of light ? ' she asked him softly. ' i know ... i know i want to help, but sometimes it scares me. '

[voidsentprinces]

Haven't played 6.3 - 6.5 yet but I don't really care about getting spoiled because the Post-Patch always seems to be its own beast and only the last half of X.5 ever points to where were going next. And I gotta say, that I haven't really cared for the Thirteenth Shard shenanigans. Sure it gave us more void lore but like...we got the legion of Doom lead by Armored Lex Luthor. Who, just like Fandaniel, went on and on about the plan and how us defeating the fiends only furthered his plan and now that we defeated him his REAL plan is coming together and like...a villain going on and on about plans and how every move we make just feeds into their future plans is what got me to leave BFA and made me never touch Shadowlands and care more about levels 84 - 90 than 80 - 83. I kind of preferred it when a villain isn't skulking around and talking about their plans, you know?

Gaius was a fun interest cause there was an interest in the Primals and us for slaying them. But up until Ultima Weapon is revealed its just us ruining Old Man Baelsar's plans by unmasking his co-horts and he would of gotten away with it too if it wasn't for us meddling kids.

Heavensward takes us on an adventure to discover the true past of Ishgard with the over arching theme of not believing in vengeance or blind faith to uncover what is historically being hidden by those in power. But with Nidhogg slain half way through its little wonder Thordan is the enemy and we know what he's after, he's going to Azys Lla for some purpose and he wins the key because we lost the blessing of light back in ARR but we get it back and turns out he wants to turn into a Primal. He didn't go on and on about his plans he pretty much just threw a wrench into whatever we were doing or sent us out to distract us.

Zenos pretty much just lounged around like a bored house cat until we became the Warrior of Laser Pointers and then he took interest in us. Fordola and Yotsuyu fighting us out of sunk cost fallacy had more going for them than Zenos did and they didn't go on and on about a plan.

Emet-Selch was an antagonizing force but he only shows up at the beginning of Act II for the most part we're just running around slaying Lightwardens for the good of the First and Vauthry is just there to try and stop us. His end goal is just to stop us and we're trying to save the world. No one goes on and on about a "plan". Or how us defeating Lightwardens just furthers their plan. Emet wants to see if we're capable of handling all the light wardens light and be an unofficial but honorary Ascian in all but name. Vauthry just wants to stop us. Ran'jit wants to get Ryne back. And G'raha with us is trying to save the world and us at the cost of just his life. Fandaniel and Golbez are just standing around monologuing about everything going to cake (cake means keikaku which means plan) and they're like...REALLY boring. Ya know? I am MORE invested in how much of the animation budget goes into each Post Patch making a singular dish look like softcore porn for us. Than I am for whatever the fuck Golbez is doing.

Spoiler me away but you know...tag for people who don't want to be.

Yeeeeeah, thats it bitch...work the shaft.

[autumnslance]

What would Aeryn have done had Thancred died in that fight against Ran'jit?

ASK  MY  MUSE  PRYING  QUESTIONS  ABOUT  ANY  OF  THE  RELATIONSHIPS  YOU  HAVE  SEEN  THEM  IN.

Swallowed her feelings in the moment, put on the Dark Knight sword, and main tanked for the Scions as DRK from there on. She wouldn't have resolved things with Esteem nor picked up GNB as a new tank job.

Tried her best to take care of Ryne and guide her to a better place in his stead, carrying a bit of resentment that he had done such a crap job when Aeryn knew how he really felt for the child and never got to tell her or fix it himself due to his own fears and past traumas.

Killing Ran'jit would happen more like it does in canon except Aeryn would be far more vicious, cutting loose and wrecking the entire plaza as she'd break that old man into pieces and burn what was left (and then be freaked out about herself and that reaction later).

Getting to the Tempest and through Amaurot would be a lot harder without Thancred's support.

At some point, Urianger would give her the letters Thancred wrote for her over his years stuck on the First--but he wouldn't have written his love confession yet by the trolley, so she's still left hanging.

Become a sobbing mess where only Ardbert could see, as there was so much left unresolved at that point in Thancred and Aeryn's relationship.

On returning to the Source, visit his grave a lot to just read. Never talks, except about Ryne.

Adds Thancred to her list of regrets and what ifs as she gets on with her life and deals with Zenos, Fandaniel, and the Final Days; again, much harder without him, but she still has everyone else and the memories of the brief time they did have together, and it helps.

He'd show up for the Scions in the Aitiascope, alongside Ysayle. Aeryn'd take a half second to blurt out her feelings, and get a private response that'd leave her in teary smiles and help her keep going through the end.

And assuming they find another way to survive arriving at Ultima Thule, Aeryn continues to move on with her life, though maybe finally does reconcile Esteem and pick up GNB after all.

[orbonnesavage]

Into the Fire (WIP)

Summary: Your life is not a sacrifice I'm willing to let you make. (Contains Shadowbringers spoilers.)

Pairing: WoL/Thancred

AO3 link for those inclined:

Notes: A WIP spawned from the prompt "Who said 'I love you' first?" Not sure how to end it yet. Takes place after the "Full Steam Ahead" duty, skips over the in-between scene afterward.

Ofrix's heart was in his stomach. Normally, he doesn't entertain any doubt that his comrades will return safe. This time, though, he couldn't shake the feeling that the worst had happened after he left Thancred to fight Ran'jit alone. 

I had to. He wanted Minfillia to be safe. But what if he needed backup and I wasn't there? Gods, please be okay. Despite his plea, his mind filled with torturous images of all the ways Thancred could've been cut down. It felt like a century had passed before the he and Minfillia made it to the little town of Ladle.

Head weighed down with dread, his eyes were glued to the ground in front of him. It wasn't until Minfillia gasped that Ofrix's gaze moved upward, and he blinked a few times to adjust to the bright light of the sky. His first thought was that he was looking at a corpse, so battered was the body leaning on the stairs, and his stomach churned. No. Please, no, I can't—

The body on the stairs stirred. Ofrix's legs reacted before his mind, and he was inches away from the man in a single heartbeat. 

"Thancred? Oh gods, Thancred, I'm so sorry, I—" Ofrix was afraid to touch him in part because he wasn't aware of the extent of his injuries, and another part of him feared he would vanish if he did.

He felt a hand brush his leg, and Ofrix's knees buckled. Violent sobs racked his body. One hand braced himself on the stairs, the other gently placed on Thancred's knee just to be certain he wouldn't disappear.

"Come, now. Have a little faith in me, will you? I've survived worse than that old ninny." With a soft grunt, Thancred reached up and tilted Ofrix's chin so that their eyes could meet. 

Ofrix's hands curled into fists, his nails digging into his palms. "You idiot! Look at yourself, y-you could've died! Don't you ever do something so stupid again. Leaving you alone out there... I couldn't live with myself had you not come back."

"Please, darling, don't put that weight on your shoulders. You're not responsible for my decisions, and you only did what I asked. You and Minfillia are safe. That's all that matters."

Ofrix delicately cupped Thancred's face in his hands, his touch only ghosting the skin. "You don't understand. You think your life is an acceptable cost for the greater good if it comes to it, but you're wrong. I love you, Thancred, and I can't fathom fighting for a world without you in it."

Thancred's eyes widened, and welled with tears. "I'm sorry, beautiful. I didn't think... I didn't know that's how you feel. I love you too, Ofrix. I've known it for a time, but something in me doubted that you felt the same. I promise not to throw myself into the fire again." He leaned in to kiss Ofrix's quivering lips, but a sharp pain in his abdomen made him flinch and let out a groan.