#post-heavensward

[tishinada]

By the 3rd time around, the Grand Melee is really pretty funny (and a fun fight once you know how it works.) Starting with the waiting Alliance forces before the fight:

Guess the big guy didn't get the memo...

Nothing like the WoL arriving on the field wearing the livery of one of the other side's noble houses (thanks papa Edmont).

And the look on Raubahn's face at this moment...

He's not combatsexual at all, lol. Which was funnier because I'd forgotten he said this and at the beginning of the cutscene, I said "Time for our dance, Raubahn!"

And just the tone of voice when Aymeric says this last line, lol.

After it's over, you just KNOW all your alliance friends are going to give you SO much grief over fighting against them. Especially Rhiki in the background there, shaking her head at her officer jumping sides lol. Though not as bad for New as for Zas because New's not attached to anyone. Zas was keeping a wary eye on the Admiral's reaction lol.

I like to imagine the bonfire/celebration that follows.

One of Thancred's few lighter moments in this stretch of the game:

[ainyan]

Summary: The Gnath have summoned Ravana once more, and Kal'istae Miurani and her fellow Scions hurry to Thok ast Thok to deal with the resurgence of the insectoid primal. They arrive only to watch Ravana die and to meet the Warriors who felled him. The meeting turns ugly when the other primal-slayers attack unexpectedly, but the Scions are aided by the arrival of an unexpected but welcome ally.

[monstermonger]

Dragonsong War

[speciosuspoematis]

|| OPEN STARTER ||

It had been such a very long day; each moment, each passing hour blurring into one another as the vicious weight of grief continued to gnaw a hole into his very soul, poisoning his bone marrow. His eyes, though they focus upon the view out of the window, are glazed and not entirely taking in the sights of the snows before them.

Not a single word in which his father speaks reaches his ears, not a sentence nor a genre. He sits, simply, all conversation bouncing off of his slouched form; no reply uttered in the slightest. It seems not to matter, however; Viscount Montrohain continues to speak of pride and etiquette, of their long family lineage whether or not his youngest and now only living son is interacting or not.

No - - the poet is too tired to battle against those ideals, he's too doused in the abysmal cloud of grief to even hope to snap back at the old-fashioned vulgarity that spewed forth from those old lips.

Pain radiated throughout his torso, the still healing wounds that lay heavily bandaged beneath the softness of his shirt robbing Cyvel of both his sleep and stability; too much had happened at once, too much to easily process and accept so early in the wave of it all.

Eventually, he can stand no more of the arrogant gloating and stands, slowly, and makes his way to the vestibule where he slips on more convenient boots and a light jacket - - and heads outdoors without a single thought toward his condition and the biting chill.

Eyes appear distant as they briefly glance towards the sky smeared in beauteous reds and oranges as sunset takes hold of the highlands, but uncharacteristically it does not give him pause nor brew up poetic verse. Instead, he continues walking - walking - walking until he can walk no more and near collapses onto a bench overlooking the view from the Las Vigil - - and remains there.

Painkillers begin to ware aside, consciousness lingering only upon anger and agitation; why had everything happened the way it had? Why had his brother perished? Why had he needed to fight at the convictory when he was a non -combatant only to almost die to grievous wounds? Had he done something so terrible during his life that had turned fate against him?

A hand raises to his head, the throbbing within his skull caused by his overwhelmed state simply too much; he needed to go home, he needed to warm through and take medications but as he rose unto legs and begun to move, Cyvel's strength entirely escaped him and his legs gave out beneath him.

Down several steps did he stumble ere he crashed to the cobbled ground, winded and pained. Breathless, he can do naught more than lay upon his back for but a moment - dazed, confused, disorientated - ere he attempts to sit up; hand reaching for the sudden and searing pain in his side. Beneath his jacket did his pristinely white shirt begin to slowly stain red; two or three split stitches from his fall seeping into clothing.

Gods above, he needed to get home - - consciousness detesting the idea of further company with his dear father and thus, with all the might he could muster did the poet heave himself to unsteady feet and choose, instead, to brave the steps towards Foundation with the intent of booking himself into the Inn for the eve.

He could fix things there... he could try and relax there.

[viiioca]

one of my favorite bits of minor coerthan lore is that there's an abandoned castrum (castrum aquilonis) that they stopped construction on because of how tremendously shitty coerthan weather is now. the garleans -- from garlemald! notorious for its harsh conditions and shitty weather! -- took one look around coerthas and said, "actually, fuck this."

this is after they sent a spy to infiltrate ishgard & lost her. thing is, lucia received the ranking of "goe" before her defection: that places her at the same social rank as rulers of imperial territories and provinces, and among the frumentarii, it would indicate leadership. she was not just a normal field operative, she was a major resource for the empire. and she took one look at aymeric and said, "ummmm yeah i'm catholic now."

ishgard racking up Ws and clowning on the most powerful country in the known world at every turn just by existing in the mountains and having cold weather and hot elves. that is so funny to me

[dawntrailing]

FINAL FANTASY XIV (2010-2024)

[picaroroboto]

one of my favorite WoL Moments is still this dialogue choice in Heavensward:

Context is that during the HW roadtrip, the party gets caught in this Catch-22 where the dragons won't let us pass through unless we get the Gnath to stop bugging (lol) them, but the Gnath have summoned Ravana. It seems obvious that the WoL needs to kill Ravana in order for anything to progress, but Alphinaud asks to make sure they're willing first.

There's a lot you can dig up in this seemingly simple interaction - first, Alphinaud's side of things: during late-ARR and it's post-patches, there's a lot of evidence to be found that shows he treats the WoL like a bodyguard, like a weapon, taking their strength for granted for his political ends while giving little, if any, thought to their own thoughts and feelings. It's not outright malicious manipulation, just a sort of blindness. Since the betrayal at the banquet he's been humbled, and grown closer to the WoL thanks to their continued support of him despite the fact that his vanity caused the disaster. Him asking the WoL is they're okay with fighting Ravana, even though it's a given that they have to, can be seen as him not wanting to repeat the same pattern of using them.

For the WoL, the "choice" seems obvious - kill the Primal. Their first Primal battle, Ifrit, was a fight for survival brought on by a twist of fate. Every one since then has been an active pursuit by choice - if you can even call it a choice when they're the only one who can do it and many people would die if they didn't. By HW they're already firmly locked in to their role of being the guy who kills Primals, and whether they like it or not they continue to choose to fight. By choosing the upper line here they confirm that, while also giving some cool and heroic bravado to reassure Alphinaud. But notably it's just to say that they don't fear their duty. They may hate it, regret the choices that lead them here, all manner of things, but they are not afraid of fighting Primals.

Or they could simply say nothing. Giving silence also recognizes that their choice doesn't really matter and they're going to have to fight anyways. When it comes to silent protagonist-type characters who have few dialogue options, every option they're given has all the more weight. There are cases where choosing to say three ellipses "..." says a thousand things more than not being given a dialogue choice at all, and this is one of them. It's as if the two choices here are actually "Be the Hero" or "Be the Hero (not happy about it)".

[frankenhoez]

"There will be more warriors of light after me, but only one Haurchefant."

Alternative vault cutscene aka i got an idea and I had to make it everyone else's problem

[c♡mmissions open here and here]

[windupiceheart]

A Knight to Remember

[1driedpersimmon]

Lots of Sesame doodles I’ve been amassing lately

[samzikei]

These are the FFXIV Acrylic Charms I currently have in my shop!

[tishinada]

Post-HW/Stormblood spoilers

I just got through the final bits of post-HW content and into Stormblood on New Leaf, and while it's always felt like Papalymo gets swept under the rug compared to some others, I made an extra point of clicking on people throughout that stretch and discovered there's a fair amount of comment on him outside the MSQ dialogue.

First, though, he has one moment if you click on him just after the reunion cutscene that can easily be taken as a flirt: Papalymo: "Mayhap it is my imagination, but you seem rather more rugged and world-weary than when last we spoke…"

There was also lots of foreshadowing (I only saved this one unfortunately): Homei: Though there are of course some few regrets for missed opportunities. A pity we were unable to deal with Ilberd and the Braves once and for all, for example…

I think Papalymo's request that he be allowed guardianship of Tupsimati and his comments off and on after that suggest he already had thought of using that ritual as a last desperate measure. And possibly his Echo had given him some warning in some form.

Then afterwards, it turns out that Papalymo had become a mentor to Coultenet, one of the minor scions: "Coultenet: They told us what happened with Papalymo, and I… Forgive me, there are simply no words…"

Hoary Boulder: Coultenet greatly admired Papalymo, and aspired to achieve the same lofty heights of magecraft. His loss was a terrible blow to the Scions…

Later you can get these comments:

Coultenet: Though it might be simpler to surrender to despair, I have chosen to resume my studies in the arcane. I received much wisdom from Papalymo, and I would put his advice into practice…"

Coultenet: Papalymo's absence will be keenly felt for some time. Would that we had the strength to aid others in his stead…

Lyse: …I won't let you down, Papalymo. I promise.

Alisaie: Papalymo had to know it would only be temporary. If Grandfather couldn't contain Bahamut with the power of a thousand thousand prayers, then what chance did his disciple stand, armed only with a broken staff…

Pipin: I returned from a survey of the Wall but a moment ago. We have yet to recover Papalymo's personal effects, I am sorry to say, but you may rest assured that we will notify you and yours the moment we do.

And a couple from the MSQ:

"Yda: Omega destroyed the cocoon… Yda: Papalymo's spell is fading. It was bound to his aether, you see…and if the connection is broken…"

Conrad: …My condolences for your loss, child. Lyse: …Papalymo laid down his life to save us─to give us a chance to make a better future for ourselves.

Papalymo and Yda/Lyse were the first Scions I met, and I always loved his testy big brother affection for Yda. But I think on the first play through, it's easy to miss that he had the Echo (especially since you don't know what that means yet) and how powerful a mage he really was. And you don't realize just how deeply he cared for Yda until afterwards (I think when Lyse unmasks is the moment Papalymo was cemented as one of my favorites.)

[alackofghosts]

wolbert week day 5 - loss

how i wish we could have been friends

[venx-art]

BLOOMETH THE ROSE

[smallest-turtle]

I think a lot that's wrong with Emmanellain can be explained by the fact that he's the one conceived in the aftermath of an affair. He's the apology child and there is no thing alive that can fix the holes in his parent's sinking ship and there is no thing he could ever do to be good enough to make up for what Edmont did.

[bumofthewild]

i wasnt going to post these bc my brain was not working in the first one but i liked the second one enough anwyays im in love with this elf