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nenyabusiness · 7 months

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Writer Asks

Tagged by @myfavouritelunatic and @cliffdivingsblog, thank you!

How many works do you have on AO3? 24 on one account, 43 on another. (I'm telling you, I'm juggling two hyperfixations.)

What's your total AO3 words count? 201,385 on my reylo/haladriel account, 123,964 (100k redacted because of a fic-turned-novel publishing deal) on my Final Fantasy/JRPG/anime account.

What fandoms do you write for? Currently, Tolkien (Rings of Power with touches of Silmarillion) and Final Fantasy XIII (fine, @shadowmeowth, accept that we're more or less co-writing now, FINE).

What are your top five fics by kudos? - A reluctant compromise (reylo, force bond smut) - Whatever It Takes (reylo, WIP that will probably never be finished, I'm so sorry) - The Wolf (reylo, post TLJ-smut) - You'll Be Mine (reylo, force bond smut) - se vis pacem, para bellum (haladriel, John Wick AU) I was on a roll with the reylo force bond smut there for a while.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I didn't use to until about half a year ago. Until then, I didn't see writing fanfiction as being a part of a community the same way I do now. I recognize most of my commenters now, so it feels more natural to turn the comment section into a place for dialogue. (Yes, anyone-who-have-commented-on-a-fic-more-than-a-handful-of-times, I do remember you and I'm always happy to see you come back!)

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? This made me laugh, because in a different lifetime in a different fandom (okay I'm talking hope/light 2012), I was called "the Queen of Angst". I was still struggling a little with writing in English, so I relied a lot on the same kind of writing that you guys see from me today in my ficlets. Short, straight to the point, and packed with emotion. Easy way of getting around that little issue of, you know, not being able to describe things. It's hard to choose from those, but I remember people being really upset about this one: - The nameless soldier In this fandom, most of my ficlets are pretty angsty, but I think this one might be one of the most tragic: - but still the door is closed

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I think Four Hours a Day wins the race here, even if se vis pacem, para bellum is a close second. Four Hours a Day might be the only fic I've written that's pure feel-good.

Do you get hate on fics? Back in the FFXIII fandom in 2012, that was just your everyday morning news. The shipping wars were ruthless. Pretty intense from time to time with reylo too. I've only gotten hate twice in the haladriel fandom, and one of them made me laugh so hard because the thing they decided to dunk on was actually taken straight from John Wick.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes, yes I do. It used to be limited to M+ territory, but I managed to cross the threshold into proper E with Four Hours a Day. I've always been more intrigued by sexual tension and buildup rather than the actual mechanics, but I'm in an experimenting phase.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what's the craziest one you've written? Do I even have to say it? I'm going to say it: se vis pacem, para bellum. John Wick x Rings of Power x some Silmarillion. When I first got the idea, I thought it was so bizarre that I would probably be its only reader. I was proven wrong. Good times.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Yes. A lot of FFXIII fics were scraped and reuploaded on a different site a couple of years ago, but we managed to get them removed.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yep! The fic that I later rewrote into an original work was translated into German and French, and one of my reylo works have been translated into Russian.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have. I wrote a scene together with @youwearfinethingswellwriter a couple of months ago, and I'm currently in some kind of symbiotic writing relationship with @shadowmeowth.

What's your all time favourite ship? I can't choose between haladriel and hope/light. I just can't. I've got two hyperfixations and neither seem to be willing to let me go. (And one of them has had a hold over me for 13 damn years.)

What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Definitely Whatever It Takes. I didn't have an outline when I started, and then the project just grew too big. I knew, ish, where I wanted it to go, but I didn't know how to get it there. I'm really sorry about abandoning it though, because I had so many lovely followers. (Fun fact: I actually got to apologize for that, 7 years later, when one of those followers started commenting on my haladriel fics. The reylo/haladriel venn diagram is a circle.)

What are your writing strengths? Thanks to the editors I worked with when I got my novel published, I learned a lot about writing action scenes and how to control the pacing. I'd like to think that at least some of it stuck. I'm also good at writing short. It's not necessarily an altogether positive thing, but I do know how to get something across with as few words as possible. (Oh, the things you do to avoid describing things when you're writing in your second language.)

What are your writing weaknesses? Second. Language. Writer. My prose is efficient, but it will never be pretty or effortless. And I'm really, really slow.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Unpopular opinion? It's a pet peeve. If it's already established that a conversation is held in a certain language but written in English, there's no need to add phrases from that language to the dialogue. For me, it just makes it look like the characters were speaking English all along. Just... pick one. Full translation or plain English.

First fandom you wrote for? Final Fantasy XIII. Never left.

Favourite fic you've ever written? It's a tie between se vis pacem, para bellum and Four Hours a Day. Para bellum was a four month commitment. I followed an outline from start to finish with barely any alterations at all, and it turned out exactly as planned. 4h/d was the complete opposite. I got an idea, and then I wrote the whole 12k monster of a one shot in like two days. It reawakened my love for music, and I still reread it sometimes when I need to get a music kick. Damn. That was a lot. My usual suspects seem to have been tagged already, so I'm leaving that open. Thanks again!

#not tolkien #tag games

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tnc-n3cl · 3 months

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Hello there!! I see a lot of your world building posts on a regular basis, and I love getting to hear about everything you're working on, so I want to ask: how do you go about world building? What's your process? How do you keep track of it all?

As always I adore seeing you on my dash and I love seeing you in my notifs, all my love to you! May you have a good timezone!!

Oh how to answer this... Hmm... I guess it's kind of a hyperfixation on one particular aspect at a time? I'll think about one aspect or another and ideas will come to me. Depending on what it is I may have to do some research and then start writing things down (or in some cases drawing).

For example, I started working on an alphabet for the Avestrens (bird people) in Project 47 and early on I had decided to avoid the monoculture tropes so often seen in scifi/fantasy so there are populations of Avestrens spread out across three continents. After coming up with this, I thought it would be fun to base their language on mythical bird names.

Three days of looking up mythical birds on Wikipedia (and one or two other sites), I had enough to go on. Then I broke down things into themes. For example, the nations of Kyros had Asian themes so I used various bird/bird like creature names from Asian mythologies. Kyros has two different Avestren languages. All in all I came up with 9 different alphabets.

Right now for my Final Fantasy fic I'm (slowly) coming up with backstories and technobabble about the various planets in The Quintet. (For example, Eden orbits at 2.5 AU's which is roughly the orbit of the dwarf planet Ceres in the asteroid belt IRL, which takes 4.6 Earth years to orbit around the Sun. For a fun FFXIII/DS9 reference, I gave Eden a 26 hr day, which I had to find a calculator online to convert into 1550 hours in a year, which I evened out to 50 months lasting 31 days each, cause I really didn't want to do the math to try and make a leap year kinda thing...)

(The Quintet has common hour/etc. definitions, but years and days are all by planet (though most of the more habitable worlds are more or less the same in that regard), so for the example above they use Dia Eden for an Eden Day and Annus Eden for Eden Year (change planet name as needed).)

As for keeping track of it all... I do that with multiple Word files, sometimes with multiple versions, cause when I make a big change I'll save as a new file. I tend to keep a sort of general idea file I'll call "Production Notes" and then make a different file for each specific thing (character lists, biology stuff, etc.) Sometimes I'll write things in a post here or elsewhere and then copy/paste them into Word, but mostly sometimes I'll type it all out first then copy/paste it here or wherever.

I have a folder for each project and then multiple folders for each thing associated with that project. (And I've been doing this for YEARS and will often go back to old notes for inspiration or whatever.)

Thank you so much for the kind words and the ask!!!!

#tnc-n3cl rambles #answered asks #worldbuilding

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blackestnight · 2 years

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crashes in and drops a stack of books on your head 📓📓📓📓📓📓📓📓📓📓📓📓📓📓📓

CRAWLS OUT FROM UNDER THE STACK. instead of uh [counts] fifteen individual fic ideas, you're getting the intro to The Longfic I Would Really Like To Finish Someday, otherwise known as "lightning returns au."

*disclaimers: lr au does not require any knowledge of ffxiii-lr, but by its nature it will spoil the story of lr, so like, be aware. also this was all drafted immediately following 5.0 launch and doesn't take into account anything we've learned about the ascians or the gods since then because updating it to fit the new lore would be a pain in my ass, so i shan't do it.

anyway i lovingly refer to this au as "what if we tried to salvage the eighth umbral calamity timeline and accidentally made it worse."

my biggest gripe with lightning returns was always the disparity between the gameplay and the character's attitudes—lightning is equal parts feared and revered in the game because she reaps souls, and in the opening cinematic we see people dropping dead in yusnaan's palace when she "saves" them, but throughout the rest of the game when she claims a soul the person just. doesn't acknowledge it. at all. and from a gameplay perspective i understand it; you don't want to deprive the player of essential npcs like shopkeepers or those involved with other quests, but at the same time, lame. so in my universe, you "save" an ally, you lose that ally, so you have to do a lot of debating—how quickly can i save everyone without screwing myself over?

anyway. despite black rose being discovered and destroyed, the fall of the first meant an umbral calamity was released upon the source—the boundaries between worlds ruptured and the lifestream itself was corrupted. the source was corrupted. darkness flooded across the rift, drawn by ascian machinations to strengthen their god, and the people of eorzea stopped ageing. the cycle of life stagnated. no one grew older, but people still got sick, or injured, and died; no new children were born, either, and so the calamity was a slow extinction event. much of the world was flooded by a miasma of darkness and made completely uninhabitable, with the land turning barren and the air becoming toxic, so the remainder of humanity congregated in the last bastion of life: thanalan, the black shroud, gyr abania, and coerthas (as well as parts of dravania). (sorry limsa, ily but there were too many zones.) the scions and the alliance leadership did an admirable job of quelling the panic, but they could never work out how to save their world. hanami, their champion and symbol of hope, had vanished during the flood, so the scions were left without their new figurehead for three hundred years, and right when alphinaud and alisaie sent a message claiming they'd found something big relating to the calamity's origins, they vanished too.

around the time the twins disappeared, prophecies started popping up: at the end of the world, a savior would come, a champion of the light sent to guide the people of eorzea through the darkness, to take their souls and build a new home for them, on a new world.

fourteen days before the end of the world, hanami wakes up in syrcus tower. the word of the mother is there to greet her, with an explanation of everything that's happened since she nearly died in the flood, and a holy mandate from hydaelyn herself: hydaelyn is building a new world, which will be finished just as the source dies. hanami's duty as the savior is to go out and gather souls of the survivors in the source and bring them back to the ark (the tower) to pass into hydaelyn's safekeeping until they can be reborn in the new world. to help her on her journey, she gets Cool New Powers! and an assistant, a 'man in the chair' to guide her during her day-to-day exploration: g'raha tia, awoken from his centuries-long sleep.

g'raha and the word also advise her that there are varying levels of difficulty when it comes to claiming souls; most of the people of eorzea will be relatively easy to claim, especially when the final day comes, as they give up hope entirely and surrender themselves to doom. all hanami has to do is swing by and pick up the soul, so to speak. but there are a few people left, brilliant souls whose loss would be a crushing blow to the construction of hydaelyn's new world, who cling stubbornly to the idea that this one can be saved, and these are the people hanami needs to focus her efforts on.

so hanami picks up her sword and her shield, and ties up her hair, and goes out into the world as an angel of death to reap the souls of the scions.

(and some other people. like her fiancé. talk about a messy break-up.)

#ask #ask meme #nuclearanomaly #THANK YOU JAYNE!#this one is uh. Quite A Lot.#oc: hanami hagane

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bladesandstars · 5 years

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100 Ways to Say "I Love You" - Multifandom Style

I've been wanting to take prompts again, and this prompt list seemed like a great way to do that! The list is below - just send me an Ask with a number and pairing of your choice and I'll write you a drabble!

The list of fandoms and pairings I'm willing to write for is... let's just say it's growing by the day! Also below, and I've listed a few pairings/characters I'd love to get, but feel free to branch out - I'm open to most anything! SFW/N/SFW, AUs, crossovers - just looking to have fun!

Info under the cut.

Rules:

If you specifically want romance or platonic for a pairing, let me know, otherwise I'll just pick based on what strikes me. I will DM you if I don't think I can do your pairing justice, and let you pick another!

If you want N/SFW (or want to give me the option), you must be 18+, and let me know that too.

Please feel free to suggest any of my AUs that you’ve seen or a new one.

As these get claimed, I’ll strike out the ones that are taken and list the fandom/pairing next to it, and reblog this every so often in updated status. I’ll also link to the prompt fills once they’re done.

Please feel free to suggest characters and pairings other than what I've listed below, as long as they’re in these fandoms. Crossovers within the specified fandoms are fine. Go wild. I cannot stress this enough. Looking to stretch myself with these!

Fandoms:

FFXV - for sure. I ship MANY things here, including quite a few OT3s and our classic OT4. This page lists a bunch of faves if you want inspiration. (NOTE: I WILL TAKE SOME prompts for the uber-popular pairings in XV (you know who you are), but this is an exercise to stretch myself and try new things, so I’ll limit those. Please have another pairing in mind in case somebody has beaten you to it!)

The Arcana - I love everyone and have played everything that’s out except for Nadia’s and Asra’s reversed endings. I'll write your apprentice if you want, just give me a little about their personality.

The Dragon Prince - Viren is my BOY and I'm also real excited about Harrow and Sarai and Amaya. And also Runaan. Ok you get the picture. I love the whole cast. No NSFW with kid characters, shippy/crushy stuff with them is fine. I've seen all available episodes.

Doctor Who/Torchwood - Doctors 9-12 (I haven't watched 13th yet); Jack Harkness is bae.

Game of Thrones/ASOIAF: Brienne, Sansa, Arya, Tyrion, and Petyr are big favorites. Also Jaime and Tormund.

Letterkenny - That’s a Texas-sized 10-4 on me being actually serious here.

OMGCP/Check, Please! - Been wanting to write for this wonderful hockey webcomic since forever, no time like the present. Shardo (Shitty/Lardo) and Zimbits (Jack/Bitty) are my OTPs but I’m open to lots!

Marvel - I have an entire Deadpool sideblog, so yeah. Burrito Peter (Peter B), Jessica Jones, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Miles Morales, Negasonic and Yukio, Carol Danvers (Carolmaria is SO Good), Gambit - this 'verse is huge but those are a few loves. I’m new here so no worries about popular pairings.

OCs - I have several original characters who - I guess I just decided - I’m posting their profiles here later so I can write them! If one or more strike your fancy (or if you are one of the poor unfortunate souls I scream at about my babies on the regular, in which case I am so sorry), feel free to prompt them!

FFXIII - I’m about halfway through Lightning's first game, and given my levels of Aranea stanning, I love Lightning about as much as you’d expect. I would die for Fang. Sazh’s deep sighs speak to my tired heart, and Vanille is precious.

Prompts:

1. “Pull over. Let me drive for awhile.” Promnis (Prompto Argentum/Ignis Scientia) - FFXV

2. “It reminded me of you.” Shardo (Shitty Knight/Larissa Duan) - OMGCP

3. “No, no, it’s my treat.”

4. “Come here. Let me fix it.”

5. “I’ll walk you home.”

6. “Have a good day at work.”

7. “I dreamt about you last night.” Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau - Marvel

8. “Take my seat.”

9. “I saved a piece for you.”

10. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

11. “You can have half.”

12. “Take my jacket, it’s cold outside.”

13. “Sorry I’m late.” Tony Stark/Jack Harkness (Starkness?) - MCU/TW crossover

14. “Can I have this dance?” Prompto Argentum/Lunafreya Nox Fleuret/Noctis Lucis Caelum or Noctis/Prompto/Gladiolus Amicitia/Ignis Scientia (OT4) or OT4+Luna - FFXV

15. “I made your favourite.”

16. “It’s okay. I couldn’t sleep anyway.”

17. “Watch your step.”

18. “Here, drink this. You’ll feel better.” Ignyx (Ignis Scientia/Nyx Ulric) - FFXV

19. “Can I hold your hand?”

20. “You can borrow mine.”

21. “You might like this.”

22. “It’s not heavy. I’m stronger than I look.” Ravdyn (Ravus Nox Fleuret/Ardyn Izunia) - FFXV

23. “I’ll wait.”

24. “Just because.” Gladnyx (Gladiolus Amicitia/Nyx Ulric) - FFXV

25. “Look both ways.”

26. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” Cindy Aurum/Aranea Highwind - FFXV

27. “Try some.” Promptis (Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum) - FFXV

28. “Drive safely.”

29. “Well, what do you want to do?”

30. “One more chapter.”

31. “Don’t worry about me.”

32. “It looks good on you.”

33. “Close your eyes and hold out your hands.” Fleurentia (Ravus Nox Fleuret/Ignis Scientia) - FFXV

34. “That’s okay, I bought two.” Viren/Harrow/Sarai - TDP

35. “After you.”

36. “We’ll figure it out.” GladIgNyx (Gladio/Ignis/Nyx) - FFXV

37. “Can I kiss you?”

38. “I like your laugh.” Nahara/MC or Nahara/Portia -The Arcana

39. “Don’t cry.”

40. “I made this for you.”

41. “Go back to sleep.”

42. “Is this okay?” Aranea Highwind/Crowe Altius- FFXV (Lucis Military Academy AU)

43. “I picked these for you.”

44. “I’ll drive you to the hospital.”

45. “What do you want to watch?”

46. “You can go first.”

47. “Did you get my letter?”

48. “I’ll do it for you.” Lukas Oliver/ Étienne Amisu - Original Work

49. “Call me when you get home.”

50. “I think you’re beautiful.” WinterShieldShock, AKA Steve/Bucky/Darcy Lewis - Marvel (MCU)

51. “Are you sure?”

52. “Have fun.”

53. “Sit down, I’ll get it.” Ignyx or Promnis - FFXV

54. “I made reservations.”

55. “I don’t mind.”

56. “It brings out your eyes.” Nadia Satrinava/Portia Devorak - The Arcana

57. “There is enough room for both of us.” Jack Harkness/Toshiko Sato/Ianto Jones - Torchwood

58. “You don’t have to say anything.” Nyxnoct (Nyx Ulric/Noctis Lucis Caelum) - FFXV

59. “Wow.”

60. “Happy birthday.”

61. “I’ll pick it up after work.”

62. “It can wait until tomorrow.”

63. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

64. “It’s two sugars, right?”

65. “I’ll help you study.” Natasha Romanoff & Peter Parker (Platonic) (MCU/Homecoming)

66. “Stay over.” Ignis Scientia/Cor Leonis - FFXV

67. “I did the dishes.”

68. “You didn’t have to ask.”

69. “I bought you a ticket.”

70. “You’re warm.” Jaime Lannister /Brienne of Tarth - GoT

71. “No reason.”

72. “I’ll meet you halfway.” Gladnis (Gladiolus Amicitia/Ignis Scientia) - FFXV

73. “Take mine.”

74. “We can share.”

75. “I was just thinking about you.”

76. “I want you to have this.”

77. “Call me if you need anything.”

78. “Do you want to come too?” Cor/Ignis/Aranea - FFXV

79. “I’ll still be here when you’re ready.”

80. “Is your seatbelt on?”

81. “Sweet dreams.”

82. “I was in the neighbourhood.” Jessica Jones/Wade Wilson - Marvel

83. “Stay there. I’m coming to get you.” Gladnoct (Gladiolus Amicitia/Noctis Lucis Caelum) - FFXV

84. “The key is under the mat.”

85. “It doesn’t bother me.”

86. “You’re important too.” Taryn Phillips/Vasilla Levant - Original Work

87. “I saved you a seat.”

88. “I’ll see you later.”

89. “I noticed.” Julian Devorak/Verstael Besithia - The Arcana/FFXV crossover

90. “You can tell me anything.” Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau - Marvel

91. “I hope you like it.”

92. “I want you to be happy.” Tormund Giantsbane/Brienne of Tarth - GoT

93. “I believe in you.” Cor Leonis/Loqi Tummelt - FFXV

94. “You can do it.”

95. “Good luck.”

96. “I brought you an umbrella.”

97. “I’ll pick you up at the airport.”

98. “Take a deep breath.”

99. “Be careful.”

100. “I love you.”

#ffxv #the arcana #tdp #the dragon prince #doctor who #torchwood #game of thrones #letterkenny #omgcp #check please #marvel #deadpool #spideypool #carolmaria #stucky #ffxiii #hope's 100 ways

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alewyren · 5 years

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final fantasy!

I wasn’t sure if I should include Bravely Default or not because ohhh man I have some fuckin Thoughts, so I’ll just do one for mainline FF and one for Bravely Default.

The first character I first fell in love with:

Tidus left a strong impression on me as a kid due to the way FFX ended, and I still really like him, but I wouldn’t say I was ever in love with him. On the other hand, Fang from FFXIII turned me gay.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:

Kuja, I think? As much as I will maintain that he is the objective best FF villain until the day I die, and as much as that outfit is IC for him, it’s still, uh. Not good. It’s not even that it’s too feminine, it’s just fucking ugly, lmao. Doesn’t make for a great first impression. But god fucking damn, he is very, very good. Maybe at some point I’ll whip up a meta about him, but I’m not sure what to say that hasn’t been covered already.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t:

Sephiroth. He’s got a cool design, a great theme song (those chosen by the planet, not one winged angel), and a phenomenally intimidating presence. But the thing is, as far as FF7 itself is concerned, he’s barely a character. He’s long dead by the time of the game and exists only as an echo of the past and a manifestation of Cloud’s psychological problems. By the end, he’s more Jenova (who herself is more a force of nature than a character) than himself imo. He works because of what he represents, and the mystery surrounding him, not because of who he is. Hailing him as the “best FF villain” misses the point. I feel like Squeenix themselves don’t get what was great about Sephiroth, since we keep getting these immensely fucking bland villains like Vayne, Caius, and Ardyn that are clearly trying to recapture the Sephiroth magic by focusing on the cool factor or the relationship with the protag or whatever when none of that is why Sephiroth worked in FF7 to begin with.

The character I love that everyone else hates:

Vanille. Yeah the English voice direction was awful, yeah the noises she makes when riding her eidolon are immensely fucking uncomfortable, but she’s actually a really interesting character who deserved more time to shine, and I maintain that she should have been the protag of FF13 rather than Pink Squall. Since she has like, y’know, a much more direct hand in the entire plot of the goddamn game.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer:

uuuuuuuhhh I really don’t know. Maybe Kain. I used to think he was the shit but now I’m just like “haha, mr. friendzone at it again.” Or maybe Cloud, thanks to Advent Children taking a steaming dump on his personality in the name of fanservice.

The character I would totally smooch:

FANG. SHE IS SO FUCKING HOT GOOD LORD I’M GAY. Also Rydia. Uh, adult Rydia, that is.

The character I’d want to be like:

Fang is pretty goals, but she’s a bit more butch than I personally see myself, haha. Maybe Celes, sans heterosexuality and poor taste in dudes. She’s very cool, strong, and sexy.

The character I’d slap:

Squall I guess? Cheer Up Emo Kid!

A pairing that I love:

Kuja/Terra! I’d toyed with the idea before thanks to Dissidia 012, but NT sold me forever. There are a lot of reasons these two work so well, the most important being that their interactions are absolutely fucking precious. The reason he freed her from Kefka’s control in the first place, apart from wanting to stick it to the asshole clown, was because he empathized with her, but when she thanked him later he downplayed the hell out of it. Terra genuinely tries to reach out to him, and he’s receptive, but aloof, and acts so theatrical about it (”If that is what Her Highness wishes.”) It’s… cute? Like, they’re both pretty damn emotionally stunted due to their, uh, irregular upbringings, and there’s so much potential there! *slams fists on table* GIVE ME MORE

A pairing that I despise:

Come to think of it, I don’t think I have a single genuine notp in the entire Final Fantasy franchise. Even ships I don’t really care for, like Cecil/Rosa, Locke/Celes or Wakka/Lulu, I wouldn’t say I hate them, just think they’re lame and poorly written. I guess Kuja/Zidane? Yeah, yeah, I know, rich as fuck coming from me, but I just don’t like them romantically at all. The most important reason being that they’re ugly as sin together.

and now, the bravely default hot takes nobody asked for but that I will rant about at literally any given opportunity.

The first character I first fell in love with:

EDEA!!! I love her SO MUCH! She’s an adorable, precious ENTJ child who’s so headstrong, but naive, and so endearing. Her design (in the first game–blue is not her color) is great, and she has some of the best class outfit designs as well. She’s also the main melee bulk of the party, which I find immensely refreshing in a franchise where the girls are usually mages or rogues.

Her character arc is pretty basic, sure, but it works. For starters, she’s the best handled rebellious princess I’ve seen, in that she just flat out turns on Eternia–everything she’s ever known–with scarcely a second thought. Not because she feels trapped by the burdens of being royalty or whatever, she’s just stubborn and willful and has an iron sense of right and wrong that she’s willing to fight for above all else. Which, I mean, yeah, evil empire, but it’s not that simple. Which is why her arc is about reconciling with the fact that it isn’t all black and white, and embracing her role as eventual queen of Eternia.

The writing is pretty hamfisted, what with her literally calling things “black and white,” but she’s 15, so I’ll give it a pass. Yeah, I know the American version aged her up to make the fanservice shit less gross, but it doesn’t really work when her character is about overcoming her childish worldview, lol. Like, she’s a babbu. You can’t just change a number and make her less babbu. Her theme song is literally called “Baby Bird.” Maybe just don’t fucking sexualize characters who are meant to be read as childish in the first place? She deserved so much better than the writing she got in Bravely Second, which I’ll… get to later, but she was still an absolute delight. Did I mention she’s also hilarious? “Oops, my foot slipped.” “You just DROPKICKED ME!”

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:

Yew. I mean, I don’t love him as much as Edea, but Bravely Second was kind of a hot mess, if fun, and his arc pleasantly surprised me. He kind of had a similar arc as Edea in the first game, but in the opposite direction. Over the course of the game he gradually overcame his rich, upper class nerd privilege worldview and became Woke ™, and then used his privilege to help people. By contrast, Edea still had to go through the journey of getting past her simplistic worldview, but whereas she was quick to recognize the fact that her world was wrong and had to learn not to see things in extremes, Yew had to work to claw his way outside of that box in the first place. The plot twist about his brother was obvious as hell but like, whatever, it was fun. His mask didn’t even cover that much of his face, how did he not know,

The character everyone else loves that I don’t:

Tiz. He’s boring, not much else to say there. Except, his design in Bravely Second had me excited as hell because he looks so emo and ow the edge and I was really excited to see what they were gonna do with him, but his personality is… exactly the same as the first game? Why bring him back at all? For that matter, why kill him off in the first place? I know they were going for some meta shit, but like… why?

The character I love that everyone else hates:

Airy, but idk if that counts because I love her for precisely the reasons everyone else hates her. Even if I think the good end should have been obtained by seeing through her ruse and blowing up the crystals rather than just going along with what she says and repeating the same fucking sequence of bosses over and over…

The character I used to love but don’t any longer:

Ringabel. Mainly for shipping reasons and because I’m increasingly exhausted with the whole chivalrous pervert trope, especially when Edea was very much underage in the first game, lmao. He’s a good character objectively speaking, but a lot of his potential wasn’t capitalized on and I still don’t get how Alternis did a complete 180 from his brooding initial personality, to… that. Or why there were AU Ringabels in the ending sequence of the first game when I thought the whole point was that he was a spanner in the works who shouldn’t have been part of the party in the first place, and that’s how they managed to foil Airy? Or, it should have been, if they didn’t literally just go along with what she said until the end despite his very clear warnings that she was up to some shady shit. The final stretch of Bravely was a fucking trainwreck, nothing new there.

The character I would totally smooch:

Edea. But like, a forehead smooch, because she’s a babbu. Though she is 18 for real this time in Second, isn’t she? And she’s matured considerably by then too… hrm.

The character I’d want to be like:

Edea post-character development. She’s got her shit together, and she’s still strong-willed, outgoing, and adorable as all hecke.

The character I’d slap:

Yulyana. Fuck the quirky pervert trope, seriously. It’s not funny, it’s never been funny, and it never will be funny.

A pairing that I love:

Well, Agnes/Olivia is the only pairing that I straightforwardly ship, and I’ll never not be mad that they just, like. Forgot about Olivia in the final stretch of the game. Like they really just killed her off for shock value, huh? Okay Sure.

I like Edea/Alternis a lot too, but it’s complicated. Reading through D’s Journal during a blind playthrough left way more of an impact on me than Ringabel’s dumb flirting, but they definitely have a lot of shit to work through before they get together. They obviously both genuinely care about each other, though Edea’s got other shit on her plate to worry about rather than Alternis being a lovelorn, emo weirdo. But like, he’s not only so emotionally distant from her despite his feelings that she doesn’t even know what his face looks like, but he’s got a weird possessive streak towards her? It might be a translation thing but the phrasing “I would have taken you as my wife” is a bit. Iffy. Especially considering a. the age gap and b. she outranks him. Of course she’s having none of this shit, but I do like the idea of them both maturing, actually bonding like human beings, and getting together when they’re older, ie: when Edea is queen and Alternis has learned to accept his fate as a permabottom. Childhood friend loyalty kink is my passion, and like, while Edea is very much a take charge no nonsense lady, she struggles with personal relationships and emotions. They both do, and that’s why their relationship is so complicated and interesting. I’d love to read slowburn of them.

A pairing that I despise:

Rindea. But wait, you say! Didn’t you just write a whole paragraph on how you like Altdea? Well, yes. I do stand by that, and I enjoy the ship because of its problems rather than in spite of them. Rindea is. Not that. While Altdea is a flawed relationship that I’d love to see mature into something functional along with the characters themselves, Rindea is a disgustingly written trainwreck that shits on all that potential, as well as Edea’s entire fucking character, constantly.

I don’t hate the very idea of these two as an item. The problem is how badly said item is written. Even though Rindea has the same problematic base as Altdea, which is treated as flawed, it just completely fucking glosses over all of that, everything that actually makes their relationship interesting, in favor of generic hetero pervy slap slap kiss tsundere bullshit. Yes, Ringabel’s feelings for her run deeper than that, but that’s basically all that their dynamic, their actual interactions, amount to. And for some reason she’s into it? Like, I’m sorry, but fucking when and why did she develop feelings for him? Was it before or after she learned about his true identity? Is it because he’s Alternis or in spite of it? Hell, how did she feel about that revelation in the first place? All of that is very much worth addressing, but they LITERALLY NEVER DO.

Did she just secretly like his annoying flirting all along because no obviously means yes? Like, Ringabel still fucking carries all the baggage associated with being Alternis but the game doesn’t give a fuck! It’s overbearing and weird when Alternis comes onto Edea, but when Ringabel does it it’s peak romance! He loves her so it’s okay! And we don’t know anything about Edea’s feelings for him because the game just never fucking goes into it! It’s just assumed that she must like him back! Hey, here’s a thought! Maybe if Ringabel actually loves her so much he could respect her feelings and lay the fuck off! Oh wait, no means yes, right. And don’t even get me started on Bravely Second, jesus fucking christ. You seriously mean to tell me that, according to Yoko, my girl’s only personal damage is being tfw no bf? Nothing about the stress of ruling a nation or any of her other relationships? Nothing even about how her feelings for Ringabel might actually be more fucking complicated than dokidoki take me with you ringabel kun? Absolutely Fucking Disgusting.

Listen. I like problematic ships, but Rindea is just fucking bad, and it’s made worse by the fact that canon thinks it’s good. At this point they’ve missed so many opportunities to actually expand meaningfully on Edea’s side of the relationship that it’s a lost fucking cause and I want it to die in a fire. Good lord I hate this ship and it’s exhausting being an Edea main when it’s the entire fandom’s OTP. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

I ranted more about this ship as well as the other canon Bravely ships in this post and will probably do so again when presented the opportunity.

#motorrads #asks #ff #bravely default #unfortunately i don't have a custom tag for the bravely series. y'all are gonna have to witness my hottest of takes #come fight me #musings

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