#so sharing!

[thevikingwoman]

So I had a little idea for a fling for Meryta, my WoL. Spoilers for ARR patches and the beginning of HW

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV | Words: 941 | Read on Ao3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Meryta Khatin x Emmanellain de Fortemps | start of HW | fluff/romance Rating: Gen. New relationship, fling, start of relationship, surprise attraction, kissing

Reprieve - part 1

Meryta is grateful the servants of the Fortemps Manor keep the hearths going all night long. She’s fervently rubbing her hands against each other, the cold just doesn’t seem to leave her.

Maybe it wasn’t the smartest to go mining in Coerthas Highlands in the dead of night, but she couldn’t sleep, and sometimes there are ores you can only really find at night. The snowy wastes are peaceful in the dark, but very, very cold. Tonight, it was better than another sleepless night, tossing and turning, despite the nice bed and warm blankets in the room the Count has made available to her. She’s still cold from the snow and aetheryte travel, it’s like she hasn’t been warm for weeks.

At least it was somewhat fruitful. She wishes she could show Adelberta what she’s mined, but she cannot. She cannot go to Ul’dah. She’s far to recognizable and ever since –

The doors swing open, a little too loud for the quiet room, interrupting her treacherous train of thoughts. No matter how tired she is, she doubts sleep will come tonight.

“Miss Meryta!” Emmanellain walks in, dressed in rich fur and tall boots, his black hair messy about his face. It’s probably some sort of fashion, and she self-consciously smooths her hand over her choppy locks.

“I did not anticipate anyone was up this late, least of all you, our hero.”

He sweeps into a gallant bow, his eyes sparkling. She cannot help but smile.

“I was but mining. It is quite useful to provide one’s own materials.”

“I did not realize you were a woman of that many talents. Is it not cold and dangerous to mine at night?” Emmanalin throws himself on the couch, his head bouncing back against the headrest. “Probably not for you, I suppose.”

“It is quite cold out there,” she agrees. He doesn’t need to know or trouble himself with her lack of sleep.

“Well, I hope your trip was more fruitful than my soiree. Nary an interesting rumor and no one believed me, old girl!”

She turns, flicking her tail towards the fire. It’s cold too and she can almost hear her scales brittle rattle. Emmanellain continues on before she can ask what he means.

“About the primal. I had hoped my trials and adventures would be enough to lend me the ears of the ladies and lords, but not one believed me. Can you imagine?”

He’s animated, leaning forward and moving his arms, his hands. So different from the warm deliberate care of Haurhefant or the stern stillness of Count de Fortemps and his heir. Meryta suppresses another smile.

“Are you quite recovered, Lord Emmanellain?”

She should never have sent him off on his own.

“I am, thanks to you. It was quite an ordeal, though, was it not? They were going to eat me!”

Meryta shakes her head.

“I would not have let that happen.”

“I believe you, Meryta. Wish that others could believe me so easily.” His shoulders slump forward, dejected. She sits next to him, not sure how to comfort him. Maybe if she kills the primal, she should ask Cid if he can modify the Enterprise – knowing him he is already thinking about it. She should ask if he needs –

“I have an idea, a brilliant one!” Emmanellain perks up, his face splitting in a wide smile. She’s reminded of his half brother all of a sudden. “You must accompany me to the next party! No one will disbelieve you, and you can relate to them all of the primal. You, and I of course, will be the center of attention.”

“A party?”

“I believe Lady Far-de-Paix is holding a small event two days from now, I must attend and as a ward of our House you will be most welcome.”

“I’m not sure that’s – I have nothing to wear,” she says, grappling for an excuse. She doesn’t quite know why she’d not want to attend, and if the Count asked her ,she naturally would. She does have something to wear, the brocade coat she shoved in the bottom of her sack. She wrestles her thoughts back to the delighted grin on Emmanellain’s face.

“That we can take care of. You will look splendid; it will be perfect.”

“I don’t think I’ll look quite the way you expect.” No matter how she dresses, she’d look decidedly un-elezen, un-Ishgardian.

“Meryta, you will enthrall them. if I may be so bold – you are truly beautiful.”

He’s suddenly close, and she can smell the warmth of mulling spices and wine on his breath. She’s been told she’s pretty before, but she’s stunned by his sudden earnest tone.

“Your cheeks are speckled with little stars.”

She’s sure she has mythrite dust on her face or hair, frantically she brushes it away with her hands. Emmanelin laughs and grabs her hand. “No, your freckles, Meryta. I’ve never seen anything quite like them.”

Emmanelin’s hand is against hers, pressed against her cheek, his eyes sparkling. In a bold move he closes the gap between them and presses his lips to hers. She kisses him back automatically, lost momentarily until he breaks off, looking bashful, blush coloring his pale cheeks pink.

“Forgive me, I did not mean to presume –”

Meryta shakes her head, and lifts her other hand to tuck a stray bit of his hair behind his ear. “There’s nothing to forgive, Emmanellain.”

“In that circumstance, Meryta, perhaps I may kiss you again?”

“You may.”

They crash into each other, much less gentle this time. He kisses the way he talks, bold and animated and full of joy.

Perhaps this is exactly what she needs.

[lrndvs]

compliments from girls go hard

[teathattast]

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Knowledge Revenge.

[swan2swan]

Whoever conceived and animated this moment, I hope they're doing well and thriving. This is S-rank romance stuff here.

[happyheidi]

𝖠𝗋𝗍 𝖻𝗒 𝖠𝗇𝗇𝖺-𝖫𝖺𝗎𝗋𝖺 𝖲𝗎𝗅𝗅𝗂𝗏𝖺𝗇 | 𝖨𝖦: 𝖺𝗇𝗇𝖺𝗅𝖺𝗎𝗋𝖺_𝖺𝗋𝗍

[demaparbat-hp]

Arsonist's Lullaby

[mimimar]

the woman who holds the moon

prints available here. my cover for this month's issue of baffling magazine.

[lgbtlunaverse]

The world exists in such a baffling state of simultaneous sex-aversion and sex-hegemony. Every social platform on the internet is trying to banish sex workers to the shadow realm but I can't post a tweet without at least two bots replying P U S S Y I N B I O. People are self-censoring sex to seggs and $3× but every other ad you see is still filled with half-naked women. Rightwingers want queer people arrested for so much as existing in the same postal code as a child and are also drumming up a moral panic about how teenage boys aren't getting laid enough. I feel like I'm losing my mind.

[liones-s]

one of the biggest things I can advocate for (in academia, but also just in life) is to build credibility with yourself. It’s easy to fall into the habit of thinking of yourself as someone who does things last minute or who struggles to start tasks. people will tell you that you just need to build different habits, but I know for me at least the idea of ‘habit’ is sort of abstract and dehumanizing. Credibility is more like ‘I’ve done this before, so I know I can do it, and more importantly I trust myself to do it’. you set an assignment goal for the day and you meet it, and then you feel stronger setting one the next day. You establish a relationship with yourself that’s built on confidence and trust. That in turn starts to erode the barrier of insecurity and perfectionism and makes it easier to start and finish tasks. reframing the narrative as a process of building credibility makes it easier to celebrate each step and recognize how strong your relationship with yourself can become

[celestialalpacaron]

A pretty much self indulgent Husk Overlord AU where he gambled against Val, Husk wins and in exchange, he keeps his casino and Angel's contract is transferred to Husk ;) Oh yeah and they get RINGS!!!

[ukulelekatie]

I just revived my old iPod touch that I haven’t used since ~2013 after believing it to be dead dead for years and oh my god it’s like opening up an old time capsule. There are photos of me and my friends that I haven’t seen in years, taken in an old high school building that doesn’t exist anymore. I have games that are no longer downloadable on the app store. It’s running iOS 5 with the original skeuomorphism app icons. I still have the youtube app. My contacts app is full of maiden names and deadnames. The music app has songs I haven’t heard in almost a decade but still remember all the lyrics to. A daily alarm set for 5:30 AM (god I can’t believe I had to wake up that early in high school) and another set to 11:11 PM to remind me to make a wish. Reminders to finish homework assignments, or to write my application essay for the university I ended up attending, and one marking the release date for the final episode of Cabin Pressure. The last thing I googled was “how to draw people hugging”.

Possibly the strangest thing is that the tumblr app still opens, but it’s stuck in a permanent snapshot of 2013 where it won’t show me any new posts no matter how many times I refresh. My dash is full of old BBC Sherlock posts from long-lost mutuals who have either since deactivated or got unfollowed or changed urls so many times that I don’t even recognize them. Lady Gaga and Game of Thrones are the top trends. My profile shows my previous url and icon, with only 43 followers. I feel like a time traveler

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The math just adds up!

[crow-enthusiast]

hey there’s something i haven’t seen people talking about in deadpool and wolverine

in the car fight the blood on logan’s face in this frame is from wades wounds above him. he’s smiling like that as wades blood drips into his mouth… which could mean nothing

[drumlincountry]

I was at a Palestinian solidarity gig last night & the one Palestinian artist who was going to perform had COVID so the organisers asked around to see if there were any Palestinians who'd like to say a few words instead.

A local guy who was born & raised in Gaza offered to speak. He started with "I'm an engineer. i'm not a poet or a politician. I don't... do public speaking… I had no idea what to say when I came up here. So i'm just going to tell you about the street I grew up on."

And then he did! He went down the street building by building. He told us about the ice cream shop on the corner, the grocery shop, the charity that supports people with intellectual disabilities. He told us about the people who he knew growing up, the families who still live in the different houses. He told us about the university buildings and about his friends who quit being accountants to start a band together. All on that street.

All of which is gone now, by the way. Bombed to dust.

[theoldaeroplane]

worried that thing you put in your art or writing or game or music is too self-indulgent, too self-referential, too niche for anyone but yourself? fear not! you can do whatever you want forever. and you should.