#why not change that too?

[alicesadventuresinffxiv]

FFxivWrite2024 Prompt #16 / #wolkrileweek Prompt #3 (Echo)

Title: Third-Rate Azem

Wordcount: 1288

Spoilers through: Shadowbringers (5.3), Eureka

Alternate Universe: WoL!Fordola

Relationships & Characters: Fordola, Krile (Azem), little bit of implied Krile/Tataru

Summary: After defeating Elidibus and returning from the First, Fordola has some pointed questions for Krile about their shared abilities.

(A follow-up to my previous entry! As with that one, this is a blend of both challenge prompts. Apologies for the sheer lack of context with this AU… I did my best to make it comprehensible, but I’m not sure how well I succeeded. Mostly, I just wanted a chance to write Krile and Fordola bantering again. They’re surprisingly fun together!)

.

When Fordola dumped handfuls of multicolored, constellation-etched crystals onto a table in the Rising Stones, Krile knew her time was up. Until now, she'd managed to keep her ancient memories secret, keep up the facade that nothing about herself had changed. But no longer.

Krile looked down at the mess and took a deep breath. “Tataru, would you be so kind and put tea on for two? I suspect this may be a lengthy conversation.”

“Tea for two, coming right up!" Tataru affirmed cheerfully. "Still, if it's Scion business, I don't suppose I could listen in, could I?"

Krile paused. If she was going to tell Fordola, Tataru deserved an explanation just as much, if not more.

And yet… she’d grown so close to the faithful secretary these past few moons of caring for the Scions. The long hours spent gossiping together in the quiet of the Rising Stones, the delicious meals the other woman always brought her whenever Krile had been at her wits’ end… they had been a lifeline back to normalcy while the rest of Krile’s life had been turned back to front and upside down. 

She would tell Tataru eventually. She would tell all their friends. But she wasn’t ready yet.

“I’m sorry. I would prefer this conversation remain private. It will be somewhat… personal.”

“Oho?” Tataru hummed, clearly intrigued, but then she shrugged. The Scions did much business she could not be privy to, for all sorts of reasons. “Well, suit yourselves!”

Fordola didn’t take her eyes off Krile as the tea arrived, watching her like a hawk even as Tataru bustled between them with the cups and pot. 

The moment the door closed, she launched into her accusation. “These belonged to Elidibus. They’re memory crystals, used to raise up new Ascians. And the crystal you left for me - the one that allowed Ardbert to lend me his strength - it’s no different.” As always, Fordola was exceedingly blunt. "You're an Ascian wearing that girl's skin."

Krile’s eyes widened, but Fordola left her no opening to speak. 

"I don’t want your excuses. I just want to know: was it always you? And if so, then what am I?”

Having said her piece, Fordola sat back to judge Krile’s reaction.

The Lalafell let out a small snort. Then a giggle. Then, unable to stop herself, she devolved into full-on laughter. “By the Twelve, is that what you’ve been thinking this whole time?”

Fordola sulkily looked away and crossed her arms. “It’s a reasonable conclusion given the evidence.”

“Then let me set your concerns to rest: I am no Ascian.” Krile patted her chest. “‘Tis true that my soul was once part of a whole borne by a citizen of Amaurot. But that is naught worthy of special note. Arenvald, Mikoto… Minfilia and Ryne… save the Resonant, all those who walk in memories are the same. As are many even without the Echo.”

Fordola’s expression remained skeptical. “I don't see Arenvald carrying around magicked rocks. Least none he's ever shown me.”

“I suppose that detail does merit an explanation.” Krile nodded. “Do you recall our investigation of the Isle of Val?”

“Aye. Could hardly forget all the run around just to get in the bloody Arsenal.” But Fordola tilted her head. Curious despite herself.

“I discovered the crystal amongst my grandfather’s papers. A final gambit by Emmeroloth - though how it came to be in her possession, I cannot say. In any case, the magick achieved its purpose.”

Unimaginable suffering. Unending tragedy. The Echo was but a faded remnant. The reality Krile could now remember was so much more visceral. A beloved city, in flames. Friends and family, slaughtered before her eyes or stepping forward to sacrifice their own lives. Their absence scarring wounds deep in the heart that none now had the understanding to heal.

Wounds that were hers, and yet, were not.

“So that’s how it is.” Fordola winced. Their training sessions had done much to improve her control, but the stronger the emotion, the more difficult the Echo was to deny. “You’re like that girl what used to be Loghrif.”

“Gaia?” The name sprung unbidden from the vaults of Krile’s memories, though Fordola had not spoken of her before. “Mitron’s lover?”

Fordola shrugged. “Ryne’s lover, now. Didn’t want her memories, nor Mitron neither. ”

“I see.” Krile blinked. The fragments swimming at the surface of Fordola’s thoughts painted a familiar picture indeed. One of a painful dilemma, a soul torn between its old life and its new. “Indeed, I’ll not deny it. Like her, I was of the Convocation. Mine was the seat of Azem, my duty to travel the star, to come to understand the joys and sorrows of all peoples in all places. Thus was I selected due to the nature of my gift.”

She lifted her head to meet Fordola’s eyes. “Our gift.” 

Then her gaze fell back to the gently steaming cup Tataru had so eagerly prepared for her. “But that duty belongs to an age long since ended. I can no more wield creation magicks nor galavant around the star than you can. Should I attempt to invoke the crystal’s powers myself, I would gamble all of the person I am now for a fraction of the person I had once been. And for every obstacle, every crisis we face, the temptation to use it would only grow stronger.”

“Do not ask me to make that choice,” she pleaded to her reflection in the amber liquid.

Fordola was silent for a good while. Then: “...hypocrite.” she eventually muttered. "So you’re ducking responsibility, meaning it’ll be my soul what gets buggered instead."

Krile raised an eyebrow as she sipped at her tea. "Oh, please. As if you don't enjoy running about and playing a hero in my place.”

“I’m no hero, and we both know it.” The ex-prisoner ran a finger along her collar for emphasis.

“Ah, my mistake.” Krile set her cup down and smiled, the picture of innocence. “I merely address the much-celebrated Warrior of Darkness, I presume?”

"Hmph! A third-rate hero, at best.” But Fordola was flustered at being caught out. From even the faintest brush with her mind, it was obvious how much her experience in the other world had meant to her. “The real Warrior of Light would never have been corrupted by the light. I'm just the unlucky sod the Exarch got when he tried to summon you."

She pushed the pile of crystals across the table, Azem’s included. “And these - I’ve no claim to them.” Then she frowned, her head bowed as she spoke half to herself. “Nor to Ardbert, whatever’s left of the poor bastard.”

Krile laid a gentle hand on Fordola’s arm, but not even a tingle greeted her touch. It appeared her counterpart’s soul was quite content to remain fused.  “You want the chance to make a difference. I want the chance to remain myself.” She picked up the orange crystal, and decisively placed it in front of the Highlander again. “Even should such a thing be possible, I see no reason to attempt to un-spill milk that no one’s crying to see on the floor.”

Fordola slowly closed her fingers over the stone, her mind still a storm of uncertainty.

"Besides..." Krile winked. "Finders keepers. It's well past time the Convocation ceded its seats to a new generation."

The knowledge that Hades would most certainly be furious when at last she joined him in the Aetherial Sea just made the decision all the easier. Perhaps some things about Krile had not changed after all.

And Fordola must have sympathized, because there was the tiniest hint of a smile on her lips as she put the crystal back in her pocket.

[pinkplasticfangs]

07 naming coolkidd after his alter ego is so fucking funny to me . do you think it wasn’t even intentional he was just calling him “cool kid” because he was so red and coolkidd just latched onto it and responded to no other name

i like to think noli probably took the piss out of him when he found out

ANON YOUR MIND!!!! oh this is so canon now

Noli absolutely RIPPED into him theres no way he wouldn't

[realrosielol]

Don’t let the narrative fool you it is MAOMAO’s harem

[lexo-is-pesto]

Has anyone else noticed this..?

[proxycrit]

Day 39– ARBITER'S GROUNDS

Weird Gross Skinned Things in the Sand that burn in the light!?!? The desert is WET? We are not off to a good start.

(This totk au is called Familiar Familiar! It all started when Zelda did not get whisked back in time and devolved from there.)

((Want to see behind the scenes and other sketchbook crimes? Check out my patreon!))

[humming-fly]

He was feeling left out

and the higher rez stills, since gifs always export as if you're sending messages through a metal can~

[z13lovebot]

Sillies 🤲

[varibean]

Ok but when they parallel this scene with Viktor as machine herald looking at jayce’s broken human body and realizing that he too would do anything in his power to save him, what then?

[egophiliac]

Final manifestations for Book 7?

I'm trying REALLY hard not to build up any solid expectations, because I wanna go in ~fresh~! they're already so far away from anything I thought would happen (not in a bad way, I'm just accepting that I'm on Miss Yana's Wild Ride at this point and we're seeing this thing through 'til the end, by gum). so it's nothing too major, but:

they've been handing new crying expressions out like candy lately, I want to see some delicious Malleus tears.

honestly I want everyone to cry buckets. their tears sustain me. the more Silver angst specifically I get the happier I am.

SILVER!!!! 👏 VANROUGE!!!! 👏

just let him have this. the poor boy's been through so much. let him have his big "I'm proud of you, son" moment with Lilia.

I'm 100% expecting Grim's arc (and probably whatever's going on with Crowley) to be its own episode, but a nice hook to leave us hanging on would be good!

a nice hook though, please, I don't think I can take another "Grim is attacking us! now wait eight months to find out what happens :)" cliffhanger...

some Meleanor? as a treat? just a little bit, a tiny quick flashback or something, please Twst I just, I just want to see her again. let her have a little ghost cameo like Dawnathan Knight got. Lilia and his kids are all having their big group hug or whatever and she can gently fade in to be all like

(turning asks off until I'm done playing, SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE Y'ALL)

[drawnbyraven]

live laugh lawlu

[oobbbear]

I want to post this here too because I’ve seen it happen a few times

Please understand that there are cultural differences and language differences, if you see this happening let the person clarify what they meant, that person might just not be familiar with words the western side of the internet use

[idolomantises]

me: you know some of the comments about sera and prince not being able to sexualize them anymore were weird, but im sure that'll be the end of bad faith criticisms

instagram comments: (yelling at me over domino's redesign because they think its "twink death")

me:

[vehemourn]

smth i honestly recommend everyone should do is like. keep a private folder of art u like on ur computer lol. and like. download art u like when u see it. ur gonna lose stuff Forever if u just like it, u know? and like, discord archives arent really enough lol. I have been downloading art since like 2016 & I have a LOT of art that was scrubbed from the internet otherwise, especially due to like. the antics of deviantart & twitter. And on things like twitter theres Barely a way to save art to begin with (bookmarks is Not good enough)

u do kinda lose Credit a lot of the time (unless u save it with it named? which i do sometimes but not always) and often like, it won't be the Perfect HQ or itll have a massive watermark on it. but like. since it's not really for Sharing as much as its for my own personal enjoyment, these things don't really bother me at all... Having a collection of art that i love that I can look at offline & like, On My Computer is so nice. And I back up a lot of it on hard drives when i back up my own art! Again, like, a lot of these pieces this is the Only way i can look at them anymore, and Maybe the only archive OF them.... I've had pieces from my friends Before they were my friends, that i just saved as a "fan", that THEY lost years later... I have pieces they hadn't Seen in years. And every year I Probably save at least a few more pieces that will become like, totally scrubbed from technology otherwise. idk. i think it's nice to have an archive of this art that is in my taste but also like, that i'd likely Lose otherwise.

i Hope people save my art. I don't honestly Think anyone does, but I Hope that like, if my shit ever blows up and all my accounts get scrubbed, Someone has at least one drawing I made saved to their computer 2 remember me. u know. Its like a scrapbook. I remember these ppls characters, i remember the communities at the time, i remember how i felt when i first saw the piece. Its really inspiring but also genuinely like, really Important to me and sentimental. I kinda think everyone should have their own collection but I think people are genuinely Scared to right click & save ppls art LOL. Genuinely where is the harm, though.

[who-always-pays-their-taxes]

ya’ll calling a headcanon a ‘mischaracterization’ is so funny bc Tim Drake drinking 40 gallons of coffee a day is a headcanon and Duke Thomas having 0 personality and being the ‘normal’ one is a mischaracterization but ya’ll seem to only have a problem w the first one.

[swordmaid]

🦋 oathbreaker shri’iia

[shkoffu]

NO ARNOLD DON’T FALL FOR THAT GUY (the Dispatch jerk)

HE’S GONNA TAKE THE KIDS uh… i mean THE ANIMATRONICS IN THE DIVORCE

And all of Edwin’s blueprints too

All your gonna have left is your Van hopefully the keys too

THIS HAD ME CACKLING FOR A SOLID MINUTE—

You get to be top of the post now.

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