#patch 4.3

[eemamminy-art]

He was so real for this...

Also, yearn? 😳

[fisherrprince]

again. AGAIN!!! This time everyone worries quite a lot

••

Nothing of note had happened. 

Or at least, Alisaie didn’t think anything of note had or was currently happening, she mostly thought things like “I’m glad I don’t have to deal with whatever this Hancock fellow is talking about now” and “How much Gil would it take to ship this back to Sharlyan?” and “By the Twelve, there is no way dignitaries can talk for this long” and things of the sort.

Until, of course, she notices that her brother is not among the long-chattering crowd currently taking up most of the East Aldenaard Trading Company office, like she thought. In fact, he hasn’t spoken in minutes, which is firstly unusual. He instead grasps her hand to arrest her attention and tugs, eyes straight forward. 

“Alisaie,” Alphinaud says tightly, “We need to go outside.”

“What? Why?”

“Please.”

Alisaie frowns. Her brother does not say “please” to her that way. “Alright. Should I leave the bags here or take them?”

“Leave. Or — i-it doesn’t matter. Either.” 

He keeps a tight hand on his, so copying the notion Alisaie brings the goods she’s procured from the Ruby Bazaar as a useful excuse for why they leave so quickly. She throws a quick “Be right back!” at Tataru, and allows her brother to escape the office and take, instead of leaving the area entirely — which probably rules out an attack or something, seeing as he also didn’t try to get Tataru to come with? Or anyone else — take a sharp right at the stairs and nearly collapse directly on the damp grass underneath the porch and out of sight. 

Alisaie’s ears flatten against her head as a sudden spike of fear hits her right in the chest and sinks there. She drops her bags and darts under the porch to press her hand against his forehead. “Are you alright?! What’s wrong? Alphinaud?”

“Fine! Fine,” he says, righting himself — then leaning against the foundation, trying to find something even slightly comfortable. He pulls his knees in. “Just need— I,” he sucks in a tight breath. 

“Should— should I send for someone?”

Alphinaud shakes his head violently. He’s given up on speaking, wholly focused on taking heavy, short breaths curled up against the rock. Something is wrong, though, not fine, he’s acting like he’s sick or injured or, something, or,

Alisaie wants to call for someone anyways. Ch’ari is not here, off doing errands on completely different continents. Maybe Tataru would know what to do — she’s always been resourceful, and she’d peel away from the conversation in an instant if she told her. Stubbornness is a family trait, he could be hurt. But should she leave him? What if — she almost hits her head on the underside of the porch — what if something happens? She should have kept her linkpearl, Garlean intercession be damned—

Alphinaud grasps at her, vaguely, arm still tight to his side. She abandons her train of thought and darts in next to him, as if they were children under a blanket after lights had gone out, huddling under a porch. 

“Five minutes,” Alphinaud whispers, with no less than all the voice he can muster. 

Alisaie doesn’t like this. “Okay. If you do not recover in five minutes, I’m getting Tataru.”

A tiny nod, and he puts his hands atop his head and becomes a tight ball. Alisaie really doesn’t like this. 

Waiting, that is. Waiting around for something to stop. Or get better. Waiting is for people with no plan, with no solution, and she needs a plan. It is not a good five minutes, listening to her brother wheeze through his teeth as if strangled and trying not to skip seconds on her watch and feeling as if maybe there are ants on this grass (there are none).

But true to his word, as he always is, Alphinaud’s breathing slows, and calms, slowly, and he pulls his head off of his knees and leans backwards to take in the cool night air of Kugane. 

“…Are you alright?” Alisaie asks, once she has studied him for a reaction. 

“Mm-hm.”

“What was that?”

Her brother chances a thin look in her direction, his expression doing a funny jolt between relieved and worried at her own, and then seemingly getting too worked up and looking away again to breathe correctly. She must look like a timid mouse. And it’s only in the shelter of the porch that she admits she feels like one. 

“I’m sorry,” Alphinaud starts. “I didn’t… mean to scare you.”

“You would have scared me less had I known you weren’t dying. …Right? You’re not, right?”

“No, no, I promise. No dying. Just…” He takes breaks to make sure he’s still breathing. “Sick. For a moment.”

“How?”

Alphinaud takes his head off the rocky foundation and begins to fiddle with his gloves. At least this is a sign of normalcy, something that makes Alisaie adjust her own position — she hadn’t realized how tense she was — to listen. 

“I’m… sure there’s another word for it. But Ari calls it memory sickness.”

Alisaie’s eyebrows furrow, but she lets him continue. “He explained… how did he say it. That if something bad happens, sometimes the memory that contains that event — or, an object from the event, or something of that nature, can become tainted. And it can fester, if it isn’t paid attention to, so when the memory resurfaces, it can… You can get sick.”

“From a memory? How?” Then, “…Has something happened?”

Alphinaud shifts uncomfortably. He hasn’t — Alisaie realizes, he has only told her an abridged version of whatever he was up to in Ishgard, whatever explained his drastic shift in personality. It hadn’t bothered her before, quite the opposite actually she was very pleased and a bit smug and a bit proud and a bit worried, because her own shift from flat anger to full purpose was… riddled with events she would rather not recall, but now she’s more than a bit worried. 

“Nothing I am able to discern fully,” he lies. She frowns, and almost chases it, but she can still feel his breathing against the side of her chest, so… she will let it go until she’s certain he’s no longer ill. And if it comes from a memory, further prodding may hurt more than help. She will remember it, though. “What is it like, then?”

His head tilts into his hand. “Ari says for him it is more like he thinks he’s inside it, and he can’t get it to stop. The memory is so strong he feels sensations that are not real. But, um— he’s figured out how to feel the memory hit him. So he knows to leave before it makes him sick and he can recover in private. That is why he disappears with no explanation, at times. For me… I don’t know. I cannot tell what is causing it, nor can I think of any specific memory that has fouled. Mayhap I need to pay more attention. But I just become ill like this, as if I were in battle. And then it passes. Eventually.”

Alisaie buries her own chin in hand, sorting through this. “Does it happen immediately?”

“I don’t think so? It builds. That is probably why I can’t pin down what causes it. It has only occurred twice,” Alphinaud admits, quietly. 

“Well. What happened today? Mayhap you can narrow it down. We’ve been gathering souvenirs and repairs for the past hours,” Alisaie begins, stronger now that there’s something solid to puzzle out. 

“Dinner was par for the course, Ch’ari took the entire teapot for himself yet again and the food was wonderful. Those dignitaries inside were quite dismissive, and rather crowded in there. The Bazaar was busy as well — there was that man who tried to sell you a necklace thinking you were me. He was altogether too handsy and I should have kicked him for it. Should I have kicked him for it?”

“No,” Alphinaud says, a weak laugh behind the words. “No, violence is disallowed, remember? I value my sister over petty revenge.”

“We have evaded capture once, we could do it again,” Alisaie sniffs. “But that is not what bothered you?”

Alphinaud drops his chin onto his knees again. “Any number of things could have caused it. Maybe all.”

“Oh.” Her ears lower. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure how to help.”

“You are helping. Very much. And I greatly appreciate you being here with me, even if I pulled us out of the office without explaining.”

Alisaie leans herself against him, short and forceful. “If you think I’d abandon my dying brother, you’ve lost it entirely.”

“I am not dying,” Alphinaud snorts. “I am, however… a bit damp, now. And not bereft of embarrassment.”

Alisaie notices, finally, that the wet grass has soaked through her coattails and into her skirt somewhat. “Ah.” Alphinaud, too, must have a damp patch down his back and legs from his position against the ground. “Well, there is no shame in staying out a bit longer. Tataru won’t come for us for at least twenty minutes.” 

She stands, brushing dew and grass off of herself. “Come on, then.”

Alphinaud takes her hand and heaves himself up, nearly hitting his head on the porch. “We can walk a moment.”

••

“Ch’ari.”

The Miqo’te tilts his head in her direction, indicating that he’s listening. Alisaie tries not to let her breath in shudder. 

“When you spoke to Alphinaud about his memory sickness, what did you tell him?”

Ch’ari, ever perceptive, gets to the point she was trying not to dodge around with a concerned tail twitch. “Do you feel sick?”

“No.” 

He tilts his head the other way and studies her. She folds her arms and looks up at him, normally as possible, the Doman morning just cold enough to seep through the bones. 

Ch’ari knows, he knows she’s overly worried, and he’s not good at hiding how much he wants to do something about it. But how could you not be? And how is Hien so calm? If your brother went wholly missing not only in Garlean territory but in the middle of a wasteland of nothingness, with no one but himself and maybe — she doesn’t fully trust Maxima, they don’t know him — maybe one ally, maybe none, hunted down by the crown prince who doesn’t stop even without an Ascian in his skin Zenos doesn’t stop hunting until his quarry is dead or — she needs to stop thinking in front of Ch’ari. 

Said cat folds his arms and hums. “Your brother has about as much courage as he does fear of simple things. When I explained it to him, he mentioned that it was not entirely fear that caused him to fall apart, it was mostly a sense of wrongness.” He gestures with one claw. “It happens without your consent. It isn’t a sign of weakness to be beset upon by illness such as this.”

“I never said it was,” Alisaie says, becoming very interested in her sleeve. “I just… Want to know how he got rid of it so quickly. My brother is on my mind, if you were unaware.”

At least the attempt at humor causes Ch’ari‘s shoulders to relax, a half-smile causing a fang to poke out from under his lip. “I couldn’t tell.”  

He considers his words for but a moment. “Nali taught me a sequence. Firstly, you must recognize what your soul wants to do. Run and hide? Fight? Then, you must let it, but not let it at your objective. Give it a false target to exhaust itself on. For example — I often think I must either fight or hide. And so I have a terribly battered training dummy in my apartment that I allow myself to hurt.” He stops, and waits. For her. 

Alisaie plays along, at least for now. The walkthrough is more important than her posturing, and so she considers it. And after considering, she concludes that it is decidedly not that specific. She feels antsy, like moving, like yelling for someone to fix it. Like stealing a falcon and searching herself. As if her soul is beginning to shiver. “I… I don’t know. I just want to go after him before something happens.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to try running.”

“Right. Doma is big enough.”

“I’ll accompany you, then.” Ch’ari straightens, casting his lance into the impossibly deep fist-sized pocket bag he carries around his waist. Where he got the thing, Alisaie never figured out. “But, before— before we go, another word of advice. Sometimes, despite preventing it, you will get sick anyways.” He gently pokes her in the shoulder. “Like anything else. No matter the medicine, if you have the stomach flu, you might still vomit.”

“Gross.”

“Very. If you do get sick, all you need do is sit and wait. Breathe slowly. Do not focus on anything else. And it will pass soon enough.”

“Hmm.” More waiting. Taking laps sounds like a better option by the second. Alisaie remembers sitting with Alphinaud, however - the way his chest heaved in place and his shivers that passed him in waves. There is likely wisdom in staying still, at that point. She hopes she never experiences it. She hopes he’s not sick. Anything could have happened. Maxima could not possibly know all of this, could he? 

Like reading her mind, Ch’ari pulls out a pair of daggers and closes his bag. “I am proud of you for holding it together,” he mentions, affixing them to his belt. “With Alphinaud’s temperament and your rather knightly tendencies, I half feared you’d be gone already.”

She exhales, focusing instead on lacing her boots. “Yes, well. I have always been less prone to illness than he is.”

“Full glass am I for that. Not that I dislike caring for — well. I’m just glad you’re alright. If we keep our heads on, we will find him soon enough. Shall we race?”

“Where?”

“Mmm. How about that tree?” He points — they have not explored much of the Doman enclave’s surroundings as of yet, and the tree in question rests on a high hill far in the distance. Plenty far to wear herself out. 

“Deal.” She takes off. 

(“Are you feeling any better?”

“No. But… less antsy, I suppose.”

“Good! Good.”)

•• authors note i suppose?? — Ari is conflating a number of mental illnesses, including PTSD and anxiety, all of which share the vague symptom “freak out and shut down due to a trigger of some kind”. I can’t imagine a nomadic tribe or a band of pirates has devoted the resources to mental health, and while I’m sure Sharlyan has picked the topic apart in full, I’m less sure they have a robust and considerate education program about it. Nanali, at least, comes from a large family with chronicled history, and taught Ari the term “memory sickness”. 

I also don’t headcanon Alphy as having anxiety — you can have a panic attack or something similar without having a panic disorder, hence the nomenclature, and when you do, it’s probably a good idea to take the advice of the ones who have them often. He had a bad one early-hw, which scared him half to death and prompted Ari to open up about it. This time it was, like, almost random, but a few too many things happened too fast, and he should have sat down twenty minutes ago but didn’t recognize the warning bells. Alisaie either! She just needs to recognize when she’s starting to get overwhelmed, and already has the “go fast” coping method, but can apply in the short term too in maybe a slightly healthier way. They’re such worried little raccoons and I can’t blame them, not when they’re 16 and they hang out with Me, but auough. Help the

[welcometoteyvat]

kinda mentally tapped out of the livestream for the most part but a canon inazuma-fontaine actor au is real i guess LOL

navia is cute..............so is ayaka!!!! and so is furina as director lol. the girl is living it up!! I don't think anyone expected chiori too so that was exciting

also. shinobu and itto going to liyue?? shinofei real??? she's going to meet up with her senior and bestie to talk and hang out ? can the fanfic writers hear me /JKJKJKJK also does this mean that perilous trails gang reunion meetup can reasonably become canon/headcanon

azhdaha tcg card,,,, also the zhongli sanxingdui collab is SO real........ museum director when.

[4giorno]

omg. soon we will FINALLY be free of the crying abt artifact load outs 😍😍😍😍 anyway im thinking abt that beautiful musketeer character from the leaked concept art and how we will never have them in the game and instead we get chevr*use

[vampirenextdoor]

Going through Stormblood 4.1-4.5 on my Duty Support changes alt and this stopped me in my tracks.

I'm sure back when this was current the internet exploded with Thancred is canonically a foot guy when taken out of context. We absolutely love that for him. LOL

[justsimplash]

i forgor today was patch day lmaoo i didnt get up at 6am to update so i had to wait an hour and it didnt even finish before i had to leave the house. no morning resin spending for me ig!

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Mihoyo is ignoring Boycotters and aiming for Return Players instead!

Mihoyo's marketing strategy is extremely obvious after that livestream and it's really demoralizing to see so many fall for it. Every X.0 update they add a bunch of QoL features fans have been asking for for years. (Pick your own 5 star, artifact recycling, picking artifact sub stats) Their aim is to get fans that have dropped off during previous patches to come back.

They have been ignoring those "boycotting" because they anticipate the return players to out number the boycotting ones. Also if you are still logging and playing daily you aren't boycotting in their eyes. Playtime and daily login numbers are what they care about when it comes to f2p players. Unless you are a whale going from 1,000s of dollars a patch to zero dollars you "going f2p" isn't going to hurt their bottom line. They want a large number of active users along with a few whales.

If you still care about showing Mihoyo you care about their colorism you can NOT download and play 5.0 day one. You need to actually boycott by giving mihoyo low player numbers for a X.0 patch.

We still haven't seen 3 of Natlan's tribes yet! They changed an NPC's skin tone already. We can still push them to correct with the other tribes! BUT YOU HAVE TO BOYCOTT!

If 5.0 has higher login numbers than Sumeru Mihoyo will feel like they have no reason to listen to the boycotters because they regained fans from other areas or pulled in new players. I'm not saying you have to Quit genshin forever. Just hold off on playing the Natlan update for a few weeks. Watch a youtuber's play through of the Archon quest if you can't wait for the story.

And please convince your friends who have seen the 5.0 news but haven't been keeping up with Genshin to wait before coming back. Plenty of players stopped playing after 4.3 because that's when the Fontaine Archon Quest ended. Those players need to be informed of the white washing and convinced to not come back for 5.0. Those are the players Mihoyo is "listening to feed back" from with it comes to the QoL updates. Why do you think people who haven't logged in in over 45 days are getting another 10 free pulls? Because those are the players they are aiming for. If those players say no we aren't coming back to pull for white washed characters Mihoyo is more likely to listen to the criticism.

Candace wasn't in the Sumeru trailers and Sethos was added after we left Sumeru. There is still time for them to add POC playable characters to Natlan. We still haven't seen Vanessa's tribe. PLEASE KEEP PUSHING! IT IS WORKING SO DON'T STOP NOW!

[starrysnowdrop]

FFXIVWrite 2024 #1: Steer

Idiom: steer clear of; to stay away from purposely; avoid.

During the events of patch 4.3, quest “Under the Moonlight”; Hali tries to convince Yume to take a step back from participating in the investigation of Zenos’ death and potential resurrection.

“Yume, can I talk to you about something?”

The auri samurai glanced down at her pink-haired lalafellin companion and nodded. “Alright, what’s the matter?”

“Well, you see…” Hali scrunched up her face, trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to say. She folded her arms and continued.

“Look, Alisaie and I, well we are worried about you, and we thought that perhaps you might need to take a step back and let us deal with the… umm… problem at hand.”

Yume shrugged her shoulders, not following Hali’s train of thought. “What? Why would I need a break? I’m fine.”

“Yume… you have had to deal with a lot lately—”

“So have we all! Honestly I was thinking that Alisaie might need to take some time for herself with Alphinaud embarking on a diplomatic mission to Garlemald and all. She is the one that needs to relax for a while. But I’m alright.”

The lalafellin astrologian shook her head and looked up at Yume with a concerned expression. “While I agree about Alisaie, I still think you need to rest too, you know?”

Yume was growing tired of Hali dancing around the issue, or was it the person in question. She raised her voice as she replied, “Just say it already! It’s because of Zenos, isn’t it?” She sighed and placed her hands on her hips. “You don’t understand. He is alive, and I need to know if it’s really him, or if an ascian has claimed his body!”

“Yume, listen to me! I think you need to steer clear of all this right now, especially when we tell Lyse the truth. She’s not going to be happy with hearing that Zenos lives, in any capacity whatsoever. Do you really want to be there to witness her reaction?”

Hali briefly closed her eyes as she began to recall the events of the past few days spent in Doma.

“You just had to deal with Asahi threatening you over his obsession with Zenos, and you are still clearly shaken up by the echo vision we saw earlier, so perhaps you should go back to the Rising Stones to relax, meditate, and clear your head. I will keep you updated on everything, I promise.”

Yume shook her head, with slight irritation in her voice as she wanted to put this whole needless conversation to rest. “…No, Hali. I need to see this through for myself, and that’s final. Lyse will just have to be a good little leader and learn how to tolerate me being in her presence.”

This time it was Hali’s turn to sigh. Yume and Lyse were not on good terms with each other anymore, not after they have had several fights over Yume’s fixation on Garlemald’s crown prince. Though Yume never wavered in her duty and fought Zenos alongside her and their friends, Lyse couldn’t stand how much Yume seemed to talk about Zenos, and how the samurai picked up and read every tome she could that held information on him. To not only Lyse’s eyes, but everyone else’s, Yume seemed to be growing obsessed with him, and she always seems to talk about him as if he were a long-lost lover…

Hali wondered for a moment if that was how she looked like when she recalled her days in Ishgard with Aymeric, but she quickly pushed those thoughts from her mind and shrugged. There might be another dramatic argument in the near future between Yume and Lyse, but it couldn’t be avoided if Yume insists on going to Rhalgr’s Reach with her.

“Alrighty, suit yourself.”

Yume’s Blog: @firelightmuse

[libraryofmoths]

Moth of the Week

Madagascan Sunset Moth

Chrysiridia rhipheus (misspelled “ripheus”)

The Madagascan sunset moth is in the family Uraniidae. This species was first described in 1773 by Dru Drury who put it in the Papilio genus, a genus of butterflies. He though this because it looked like a swallowtail butterfly, and additionally the specimen he was given had a different species’s head with clubbed antennae (a defining characteristic of butterflies) attached to the body. Jacob Hübner corrected this mistake in 1823 and placed the moth in the genus Chrysiridia. I though this moth would be perfect to post in June for its rainbow colors.

Description The Madagascan sunset moth’s body is covered in black fur on the back and orange fur on the underside. The thorax is an iridescent blue or green and the legs and head are black with filiform antennae. The wings are iridescent red, blue, and green with the colors mixing for the full rainbow. Black patterning of spots and stripes are on all four wings with the forewings having a black edge. The hindwings themselves have a white fringe on the edge and six tails which are often broken off or damaged over time. The upper side of both wings are mostly black with a large patch by the body. Patterns on the wings can vary and some moths are asymmetrical. This can be caused by many things like temperature shock during growth.

The colors on this moth’s wings do not come from pigments, but instead are caused by the scattering of light from the wings’ scales.

Average wingspan in high altitudes: 7 cm (≈2.8 in)

Average wingspan in low altitudes: 9 cm (≈3.5 in)

On occasion a moth’s wingspan can be as large as 11 cm (≈4.3 in).

Diet and Habitat The larva feed on four types of plants from the Omphalea genus that grow only on Madagascar. These species are O. ankaranensis, O. palmata, O. occidentalis, and O. oppositifolia. The larva eat all parts of the plants from leaves, to stems, to flowers, to fruits, but they avoid the veins of the leave which have a toxic latex in them. Adult moths drink nectar and prefer white or whitish-yellow flowers especially from the Indian almond tree, tea plant, loquat, plants in the Eucalyptus genus, and common mango tree.

First believed to have come from China or Bengal, this moth is only found in Madagascar. They migrate over the island to different areas with their host plant and can be found all over the island except for the south west and extreme south where their host does not grow. This moth’s preferred habitats are deciduous forests and rain forest regions.

Mating These moths mate all year but have the highest populations in March to August and the lowest populations in October to December. The females lay their eggs late in the afternoon or at nightfall. The females will usually lay the eggs in the underside of the host plant’s leaves in groups but can on occasion lay them on top.

Average number of eggs laid in each group: 80 eggs

Predators The Omphalea genus the caterpillars feed on also attracts polistine wasps who prey on the larva. However, the caterpillars and adult moths are toxic because the Omphalea species contains polyhydroxy alkaloids, which the caterpillars gain by eating and retain as adult moths. The wings’ bring colors are a warning signal of this.

Fun Fact The Malagasy people believe the souls of the dead or of ancestors appears in the form of a lepidopteran. The Madagascan sunset moth is specifically called adriandolo or lolonandriana, from lolo for "spirit" or "butterfly" and andriana for "noble" or "king.”

Additionally, eating the silk from this moth is said to cause a euphoric high.

Another interesting fact is the Madagascan sunset moth is one of only two species in the Chrysiridia genus.

(Source: Wikipedia, Moth Identification, Bug Under Glass)

[firelightmuse]

Yume Aino Fanfiction Masterlist

This masterlist will be periodically updated as I get new installments out, and all entries are listed in chronological order according to the canon timeline, with the exception of the supplementary fics and writing prompts.

Updated: 10/02/2024

-> The Main Ongoing Fic Series

Wandering Flames: The Story of Yume Aino and Zenos Galvus

((Additional Entries In Progress))

Save Him - Immediately following the final battle with Zenos at the end of 6.0; After granting Zenos the battle he had been pining for ever since he returned from the dead, Yume makes a life altering decision in a brief moment of desperation.

Return to Me - Immediately following “Save Him” at the end of 6.0; Zenos awakens and is surprised to find himself alive and back on Etheirys, all thanks to the one person he considers a friend. **Coming Soon!**

-> Additional Writings

FFXIVWrite 2024

Steer - Prompt #1: During the events of patch 4.3, quest “Under the Moonlight”; Hali tries to convince Yume to take a step back from participating in the investigation of Zenos’ death and potential resurrection.

Tempest - Prompt #3: During the events of patch 4.0; Yume’s heart is in turmoil over her two losses against the crown prince of Garlemald, and she can’t stop thinking about him.

Stamp - Prompt #5: Following the events of 5.3; Zenos looks around his newly deceased father Varis’s private quarters in the Imperial Palace and finds an item of particular interest.

Duel - Prompt #20: Immediately following the events of 6.0; Zenos finds himself strangely alive, and questioning his own motives and beliefs.

[amyutz]

Secret Santa Fic "Snowflakes in his Hair"

Molly and Sherlock walked down the dark London street on one cold, winter evening. Molly slipped on an icy patch and Sherlock grabbed her arm to steady her. As they continued walking, he kept his arm linked through hers. 

She said, “Greg put on a lovely holiday party! After the stressful year we’ve all had, it was great to see everyone relaxed and just enjoying themselves.” 

He replied, “Yes, Gavin did an adequate job fulfilling societal expectations for a Christmas party. There were plenty of mince pies, repetitive holiday tunes and various forms of alcohol. What more could one want?” 

She giggled, “You didn’t seem to want more. You helped yourself to more than several cups of that mulled wine.” 

He said, “You had 4.3 cups, or approximately 1350ml of mulled wine, which had added brandy, only stopping when Sally Donovan commented that you were competing with Rudolph for who would have the reddest nose.” 

Molly hiccupped and said, “I thought that was very rude of her. I didn’t have that much. On the other hand, Phillip Anderson did, did you see him challenging the Christmas tree to a staring contest? He then accused it of cheating because he said the lights were distracting him.” 

By this time they had arrived at Molly’s mid-terrace home’s front door. She stood on the one step that led to her front door and said, “Thanks for walking me home, Sherlock. This time of year it gets dark so early!” 

He nodded. “I wanted to ensure that my favourite pathologist got home safely from George Lestrade’s first annual holiday party.” 

She asked, “Why was the party at Greg’s this year? I forgot to ask, but normally you have a party at this time every year.” 

“Mrs. Hudson is doing renovations on my flat, replacing the lino. Apparently, the experiments I performed with corrosive acid ate through the flooring. Just because you could see straight through my floor into the kitchen of her flat, she thought it necessary to replace the flooring, and is sending me the bill! It’s very annoying, the whole place has been off limits for over a week!” 

Molly was surprised, “Where have you been sleeping then?” 

He said, “The first few nights I didn’t sleep. I was working on a case and I needed to stake out a high street shop. The ‘Paws and Relax’ pet groomers was an obvious front for smuggling uncut diamonds into this country hidden inside the dog collars.” 

She smiled, charmed, as always, by hearing about his eccentric cases. 

He went on, “But the lack of sleep couldn’t continue, so for the last few nights I’ve been sleeping on John and Mary’s settee. But our goddaughter has been teething, and her cries have been preventing me from a solid night’s sleep.” 

Molly responded, “Poor Rosie! Well why didn’t you tell me about this? I have a lumpy sofa that you are free to sleep on. I even have my grandmother’s hand crocheted mauve blanket that you can use.” 

Just at that moment, a cold wind blew and little bits of white started floating down from the sky. Molly saw a few small snowflakes settle in Sherlock’s dark hair. Without thinking, she reached out to touch them. She realized she had never touched his hair before, although she’s often fantasized about the dark curls. She’d wondered if he used products to make his hair stay in those perfect, sexy waves, but his hair felt soft and untouched by mousse or gel. 

She started as she realized she’d been fondling his hair, and was surprised to see that he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he was smiling at her and he said, “I’m tired of kipping of people’s sofas, what I’m looking for is a real bed to sleep in.” 

Maybe it was due to the wine, maybe it was due to the magic of the snow in his hair, but Molly leaned forward and did something she’d been wanting to do for years: she kissed him. 

To her surprise and delight, he didn’t pull away. In fact, his arm snaked around her waist and pulled her closer. Her hand stayed in those dark, snowy curls. The kiss continued and deepened. 

After quite a long time, she pulled back and murmured, “Looking for a bed, eh? I have a double and I’m sure there’s room for two.” 

He put his hand up to brush a snowflake from her hair and said, “Excellent, I was hoping you’d say that.” 

[aotopmha]

I'm around level 82 Endwalker MSQ and I know that some really hate the Garlean section of the story, but I really like it.

Above all I really like the nuance in it all.

Firstly, I think they spell out the intentions of the expedition really well – the goal is to help the regular people who are suffering, but not excuse the system they live under.

Secondly, they spell out the really important detail that a bunch of the characters do not support the Ilsebard contingent.

As an example, not all of your job mentors might show up, as was my case with the RDM mentor because of his history with Garlemald, adding important nuance in terms of varying perspectives regards to helping Garlemald.

Reading some takes you'd think everyone agrees that Garlemald is all okay and cool now, but this is not the nuance/subtext I see in the text itself myself.

This was also not the sole objective of the expedition. The towers needed to go for the world to not end.

So it isn't just randomly barging in there to self-righteously "help" another nation. Everyone needed to be on the same page at least somewhat to survive.

Thirdly, I think they gave Gaius and his group enough nuance back in ARR (and Regula in HW) and we had enough decent and more complex good/less villainous Garlean characters across the game (Cid, Nero, Lucia, Maxima) for me to not feel like asking to see them as people was rushed or too late.

The key to me is that even the Garleans who were villains had defined, substantial perspectives and sometimes had non-villainous aspects to them.

The humanity itself was always there.

Fourthly, I see people say it is a thematic mess, but I don't see any of that, either.

The entire zone is full of nuanced perspectives on how fascism can hurt people and not once are we told to push everything the empire did under the rug – if nothing else the horrors of the system are only emphasised.

I agree with the system itself being the central enemy, which to me has been the entire thematic point of Garlemald from the start.

Licinia and her sister, the ceruleum workers from other provinces, Jullus and Quintus all represent very important aspects of how the empire's principles and its own self-made "faith" affected the people of Garlemald and to see it reduced to "oh some of them are just sad now", I think really misses the point considering the foundation of some of their stories.

Genuinely believing you're right, making nationalism almost a core of your identity and being distrusting of your enemy due to far-reaching propaganda are very real struggles under systems like this.

Finally, I've seen people say we are done with Garlemald now and it's so rushed because of this and I'm just not sure about that because to me that has never been the identity of this game.

It's really rare something is dropped and never brought up again, so I always disagree with almost any claims like this.

This is why I think Sky Pirates and Four Lords will also eventually have larger significance.

(And so will the 6.x series.)

I still feel the framing is very much "there is a long way to go here."

Doma and Ala Mhigo both had restoration arcs in various content and are still in progress, really, as the 6.0 role quests, literal "restoration" content and also patch content itself (4.1-4.3, 5.4-5.5 in particular for Ala Mhigo and Doma) attest.

I think we will still see more of the aftermath of Garlemald's collapse in the yet occupied provinces as I still think we will have to open up the huge cloud in the middle of the map in some form, I even think there still would be room for a Garlemald expansion, it just wouldn't be "as" urgent anymore and mixed with other stuff because the empire is an husk now.

As much as Bozja might seem like it was dropped suddenly because of the field notes, I do not think it is like this story to not address important aspects like this until we are unquestionably, completely done.

I know there are some reveals in the role quests and material in 6.x quests that people are also iffy about, but to me most of that seems pretty okay, too.

Garlemald has to reestablish proper trade connections, they have to fight the remainder of their old guard and they can never be complete victims. They also need an entirely new governmental system.

It's the old guard that holds them back, but also crumbles when threatened.

So I think where we are now narratively, we still need more time with Garlemald and I think we are not quite done with them yet and if there is something I personally would dislike from here on out, it *would* be getting no follow-up at all.

I think we need to actually visit Dalmasca, Corvos and Nagxia in some form and put a final end to all of those regimes.

Now, do I think more could've been done here?

Absolutely. As I said, we have whole occupied provinces we have still not seen and a whole massive cloud right in the middle of the map still uncovered.

(And I think revisiting Ala Mhigo's and Doma's struggles against specifically Garlemald in some form also needs to happen.)

So as much as I really liked the zone, it is still clear to me there might have been more done there (in fact it was confirmed because we know about a potential Garlemald expansion).

So I actually do share a criticism I see around, I just think what we got still turned out to be really good and really important nuance to go into regarding Garlemald.

Something about asking to somewhat empathise with an enemy faction just destroys any nuanced discussion on the internet, be it the heroes doing something bad (for good or bad reasons) or villains doing something good (despite having really awful views otherwise).

You see an enemy faction just even dip toes into nuance and the story automatically must be excusing them.

You see the heroes not be completely, unconditionally respectful and thoughtful and the story must be disrespectful itself.

It's such a boring way to discuss art (which is also made by people, who are flawed like anyone else) in my eyes.

[alicesadventuresinffxiv]

Telling "The First Step" as Background NPCs

One of the interesting quirks of the FC I'm in is that we often help a Youtube Let's Player record his FFXIV videos. Last year is when he did the Stormblood patches, and when I and a dozen friends got together for a special project!

Since the Lodestone short story "The First Step" would otherwise not be in the Let's Play (nor would the SMN 80 quest) we wanted to convey the plot beats of that story in another way. Specifically, we designed a handful of "scenes" that the Let's Player would naturally run across as he progressed the 4.x MSQ.

The goal was to make it look as though "Arenvald," "Fordola," and the rest of our cast were overworld background NPCs who changed position after every patch, much like the B-Team Scions do in the Rising Stones!

Our first scene could be found in Rhalgr's Reach at the tail end of 4.3. Here, Fordola and a few other Garlean prisoners are being conscripted into the Ala Mhigan Resistance. The idea was Raubahn’s, so Arenvald and Pipin are on hand to pass along the details as various Resistance and Alliance soldiers chat and train nearby.

(Credit to @halcyonlioness - here playing a Meteor-lookalike Garlean prisoner - for the first screenshot!)

.

Come 4.4, this same mix of soldiers could be seen early on in Ala Mhigo. The Resistance and the Alliance are collaborating on something, it appears...

(This screenshot by @shepspencil, with his character Anri as an Immortal Flames soldier! You can also see the Let's Player's Lalafell samurai in the background, where Alisaie and Thancred would appear for a quest at this point in the MSQ.)

Later in the same patch, more "NPCs" could be found by approaching the steps to the Royal Palace. Here, Fordola and Arenvald are being introduced to the Immortal Flames' Summoner squadron from the SMN 60-70 quests:

(More screenshots by @halcyonlioness!)

Of course, in the real short story, the scene where Fordola meets the summoners actually takes place outside Forgotten Springs. But the Let's Player wasn't going to pass through a random ARR village, so we picked a different location… albeit one that required getting our alts through a good chunk of the MSQ. It was quite the journey!

(Double Pipin shot by Pipin's player, who is a delight but does not have a tumblr!)

.

By the 4.5(6) MSQ, things might be looking dire for the Warrior of Light, but our "background NPCs" managed to defeat Ifrit offscreen, so they could be found celebrating in the Seventh Heaven bar...

And what a celebration it is! A few people were called away for Savage raiding important military errands throughout the day 😉, and we also had some random other players go AFK in the middle of the Rising Stones. As a result, the tableau actually evolved quite a bit as the Let's Player ran in and out a few times for the patch quests.

Here's where we ended up by the finale!

Some fun little details I’d like to highlight (with thanks to @halcyonlioness once again for all these screenshots):

-The summoners and the thaumaturge are all using Ifrit weapon drops now, and Crispin has his Ifrit-egi out to further emphasize the point of what we were up to.

-The Resistance thaumaturge was wounded in the fight and saved by Fordola, so she and Pipin are checking up on him again here.

All in all, it was an extremely fun creative challenge to "adapt" a written story to this unusual storytelling format. It was also quite an intense undertaking to organize! Even before the actual Let's Play recordings, we had weeks of rehearsals where we worked together to come up with our "stage blocking" and determine when in the MSQ each scene would be visible.

Ultimately, while I might have been the instigator of these shenanigans, I couldn't have pulled any of it off without such an awesome and talented cast.

Some of whom are also on tumblr! In addition to @halcyonlioness (Hyal) and @shepspencil (Anri), I'd like to shout out @darquingdragon (Arenvald) and @newsiesgirl (Alexia)! Thanks for putting up with my wild ideas. :)

As for me, I haven't done a project this involved before or since... but who knows what the future might bring?

[welcometoteyvat]

personally idm that if we're in a patch w 2 story quests + 1 archon quest, then the version events are less story-heavy/more filler but at the same time, in 2.5 genshin released: yae miko sq + raiden sq 2 + 3 realms gateway offering which had both additional exploration and a decent lore heavy storyline, so idk maybe they're just busy lol

[wildstar25]

I would love to see the breakdown of Arsay’s timeline through the expansions!!!

WEEEEELLLL if you insist... My basic timeline break down is as follows: Keep in mind a few things are still kinda in flux, and if I ever contradict myself in the future literally don't worry about it

1.0 -> Calamity 6 months End point in the 4th umbral moon lining up with what is now the rising event (calamity memorial). Now that I’ve switched up arsay’s birthday, she turns 22 during the 1.0 campaign.

Calamity -> ARR 5 Years Arsay is stuck in the lifestream with the mother crystal for that 5 year period. Her memories of 1.0 and everyone's memories of her are largely erased. Arsay wakes up on a boat to Limsa Lominsa believing it is still her first voyage to Eorzea.

ARR->HVW ~6 months The base story including job quests take 3 months in total. The next three months are dedicated to the patches: Primal Trial series -> Coils of Bahamut -> 2.1. ~3 weeks Crystal Tower Raids, LoTA -> Syrcus Tower ~1 month 2.2-2.3 -> Crystal Tower Raid WoD ~2 weeks 2.4->2.55 ~3 weeks

HVW->STB ~4 months Main story starts a day or two after 2.55 and takes ~1 month total Patches take ~3 Months: 3.1->3.2->Void Arc ~1 month ->Arsay gets really into pvp and does nothing but frontlines and CC for a week -> 3.3->Alexander Raids->3.4 ~3 weeks Warring Triad->3.5->3.56 ~1 month

STB->SHB ~6 months Main story picks up a week after 3.56 and takes ~3 months time. (The first trip to Kugane takes 3 weeks off screen, after that travel time is reduced to a few days to a week using the East Aldenard Trading company boats (it would make sense that lolorito has better boat tech imo)) Next 3 month period is all the patches: Ivalice raids->Omega raids->4.1-4.2 ~1 month Eureka exploration->4.3->4 lords ~1.5 months 4.4->4.56 ~2 weeks

I know the ARR to Shadowbringers lead up is a mad dash but if it happened any slower, I don't believe Arsay would have be the character she is by that point. It is incredibly vital that she has almost 0 down time for herself. Her days and nights are PACKED full by choice. Job Quests, Hildebrand stuff,PvP, Hunts all get squeezed in throughout.

SHB->EDW ~8 months Main story picks up a few days after 4.56 and takes only 1.5 months to complete. Its a non stop emotional roller coaster for Arsay to be completely fine and normal about the whole time. Patches take 6.5 months, notably there is more downtime between patches: Chill relaxing after 5.0->Eden I->5.1->Neir raid I ->5.2-> role quest/shadowkeeper->Eden II-> 5.3 ->chill relaxing/recovery time for scions->Eden III->Neir raids II & III->Werlyt->Bozjia->5.4-5.55

EDW->DWT ~1 year (time spent in Elpis is not counted) ->Main story up to credit roll ~1 month ->Recovery time for injuries sustained in Ultima Thul ~4 months ->After credits - Scions Disband, everyone goes their separate ways - 1 day 🙃 ->Rest of the roll quests now that Arsay can mostly fight again(she can't cast mudras😞 ) ~1 month (casting>healing>tanking>aiming>bonus all role cap off) -> 1 month of nothing to do, Arsay still can't cast mudras, character development dictates she can no longer repress every bad emotion she feels, she has no proper coping mechanisms and quickly spirals into a mental breakdown over feeling like she's worthless and that no one will need her anymore now that the world isnt ending constantly and that she's worried without the scions being the scions everyone she cares about will slowly forget her and she'll be all alone again. Y'shtola and G'raha manage to get Arsay talking after a bit of self destructive lashing out. Things are sorta resolved?? Y'shtola and G'raha reassure her of a lot, and do their best to get it in her little kittycat head that she's not a burden on them even when she's sad. Not an automatic fix but Arsay does make the commitment to better her mental health and to work on her self image issues and communication skills! It'll be a process for her. ->5 days round trip to her home island in the southern seas to visit her Aunt and catch up ->6.1 starts when Arsay gets back from that ->Endwalker patch content takes up the final 5 months of that year period. Things are mostly interspersed with how they are released except for pandae which happens all in one go for Arsay between 6.3 and 6.4. Arsay has done all the variant dungeons, Tataru's grand endeavours, completed Island Sanctuary, and Myths of the Realm. ->The gap between 6.55 and 7.0 will probably only be about a week? Maybe 2? It depends how much it seems like the early arrivals to Tural have been there compared to Arsay and her crew.

That's my timeline! Thank you for asking and reading 🙇 hopefully that all made sense haha ^^

Have a picture of them for the road <3

[baeshijima]

Your post about 5.6 is how I find out my boy Albedo (and mondstadt gang) is coming back omg adgsdhgkkd

I got no one else to share this excitement with, but I'm so excited cause I loved all the previous albedo events but as someone who's stopped playing after 4.3, idk if I want to slog through natlan for that (and redownload the game orz) (╥﹏╥)

HELP PLS CONGRATS ON FINDING OUT 😭😭 no bc the scream i screamt when they dropped the 5.6 art........... im still going insane i am SO unwell abt the fact wE ARE GOING BACK TO MONDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

and not to mention VENTI LORE????? TIME GOD??????? VENTI SQ 2?????????????????????? AND ALBEDO COMEBACK RAAAHHHHH WHEN ALBEDO IS IN A QUEST THATS WHEN U KNOW ITS GONNA BE PEAK (unless this is when he loses control and destroys mond and we have to stop him. then it will be the worst patch. haha. ha. a.) AND MAYBE DAIN COMEBACK TOO BC ITS X.6???? PLS PLSPLSPSLSPLSPSLPS DAIN COME BACK TO ME ITS BEEN A MILLION YEARS

stop thats so real tho (；′⌒`) esp bc it will take a while to redownload the game with all the resources and finish up the quests for 5.6 ;w;; maybe wait and see if what the livestream tmrw will say + what we get in the trailer to decide? and if u really dont want to go through with redownloading + catching up through natlan, then maybe watching and streamer/youtuber might be better? there are quite a few that post their playthrough vods on their yt channel after playing if that suits u better !!