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#and should replay msq probably
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sometimes you just gotta play a game for 750 hours only to then realize the reason a plotline seemed to be cut off weirdly (a plotline you ended around the 100hour mark) was because it was continued in a side questline that you began, only to not continue because you thought it was just to unlock the extreme versions of instances in the main story questline, and not to unlock more instances and the conclusion of that plotline
#in other words i.. finally found the warring triad quests#i found the first one & did it but obviously that quest also unlocks the extreme versions of two hw trials#which. i dont really care about unlocking those. i dont have friends. im probably never doing them#so after doing that one (MONTHS AGO) i just forgot about the kid in the rising stones#& then i replayed heavensward on ng+#and was like 'hey the garlean part of this was ended pretty weirdly wasnt it'#am i stupid. maybe a little#i was actually replaying hw on one of my alts when i remembered#and then did the questline in one evening (last night)#my inability to take anything seriously out of fear of growing so attached i respond the way i did when haurche died showed up again#regula buddy i am so sorry for calling u reggie the entire time it was a joke i swear#also just the seventh dawn adoption service striking again...#i should probably go unlock all the side instances but im so. lazy#ive been doing it! very slowly!#isnt that right nier raids that i have unlocked the first of and still havent continued#ive done syrcus tower... so many times.....#hello gamers unlock ur alliance raids please im so sick of syrcus...#dun scaith is really fun guys i prommy#honestly i think bc of the treasure trove ive actually had dun scaith on roulette a few times#like i can live with msq trials in roulette only bc there are SO MANY (got chrysalis not that long ago i was so lost)#but we only have 3 alliance raids that are mandatory :(#i like wod but only if im in alliance B bc being eaten by the dog is fun#anyway back to triad right i was so lost#for a while#bc i knew it existed#but obviously. the first quest starts in ishgard#the second one in the rising stones#i hadnt been in the rising stones since the last time the msq dragged me there at the end of endwalker#which. i started unlocking stuff AFTER that
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zephiesjournal · 1 year
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monday, october 24th, 2022
ugh. alright let me talk about the first parts first. i cleaned a bit because the dirtvibes were making it hard to think straight, and i was getting worried the shower caulking would get permamould again. i don’t know why i couldn’t just quickly wipe that down and it instead had to be part of a full cleaning deal, i mean i do know why i always know why whenever i say that it’s because of my brain i just don’t know why my brain is like that i mean. was it all the video games i played and false sense of accomplishment i chased throughout the years. i wonder how neurotypical i’d be if i never touched runescape in my life i would probably have million dollar by now and be god of a land.
i resubbed to ffxiv so now i am paying monthly for three different mmos like a cool person genius with lots going on in life. sorry warcraft shoulda told your game’s story in the game itself now i want to see those scions again. i started leveling a rogue and going through new game+, i’ve forgotten how many times i’ve started that now and replayed the first couple hours of the story. i do wonder how fast i can go through it if i just chill and focus on the msq, i’ve still never been caught up and now that i feel a need to go through everything again i doubt i ever will. maybe i should go through another big depression period and play it for months on end so i can get that done, we’ll see.
i finished off the cider in my fridge while playing and for some reason took a caffeine pill at 11pm and that’s when things became hell. i started thinking again about when i used to do matched betting and lamenting getting sucked into the casino stuff, which makes it all the more surprising that i just went and fully did that again and worse than it ever was before, because i was drunk this time. i looked for a casino site that wasn’t on gamstop and just, starting gambling again. i think i blew like £200! oh how did this happen again oh me oh my. i remembered how i briefly thought, i hope i don’t intentionally empty my bank account before the end of the year to really emphasize the “fresh start” of it all, and started feeling okay with doing that. it all just came back dude all that brain poisoning watching those slots spin.
i want to believe this only happened because i was drunk but i didn’t stop after i’d sobered up. i’d deposit £25-30 at a time, quickly lose it all, and deposit again. i really did briefly feel okay with the idea of losing it all and starting my bank account from scratch, at which point i realized how desperately i need therapy. i can’t believe how much worse my ocd has gotten the past couple years what in the absolute hell is “throwing away all my money and starting fresh” what in god’s name is wrong with me. tomorrow i’m probably going to sign up for as many casino sites as possible just to self-exclude from them individually to make sure this physically cosmically cannot happen again. i started picking out pc parts planning to pull the trigger as soon as possible so i don’t have all this money to blow anymore, i got a ~£1k build i think i can still somehow afford after i get paid in a couple days. i was up until about 6 looking into that because of the caffeine.
i want to believe there’s a silver lining after going to bed with a newfound motivation to get my life together now that i’ve done this. like yeah i blew £200 in one night for no reason but if i hadn’t then i probably would have sat playing video games doing nothing and spending too much on food for another two months until new year’s came around. this was the first time in a while i felt like immediately getting things together instead of waiting for a perfect moment to do it because i just really feel i need to make up for things. still a bunch of stupid gamblethoughts roam my mind like, it didn’t have to be £200 to get me motivated it could’ve been less, may as well continue to dwell on that which has already happened and i can no longer control. also the newfound knowledge that i can in fact very easily continue to gamble despite being on gamstop. i really thought every website would either be a scam because it’s not regulated or whatever or you’d have to jump through insane crypto hoops to play anything. but no there’s just more casinos out there ready to wrap their slimy hands around me and the most i can do is try to nip each individual one in the bud while resisting every part of their website that isn’t the self-exclusion section that i don’t know if will even work. if it’s not regulated and they are purposely not on gamstop who’s to say they won’t just let me sign up again, quite frankly i am terrified to find out.
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ecoplasma · 2 years
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me reading a single negative comment about Fandaniel after playing through ew msq:
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kuroimarzipan · 2 years
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Niuwyb: 3, 22, 25!
3. Brothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why? What do they despise about their siblings?
Niuwyb’s twin sister, Roehgeim, is technically not a sibling by blood - they share the same appearance due to what is assumed to be the wol being “reformed” after the calamity and taking on Roeh’s appearance. Not long after Niuwyb met Roeh for the first time, and Roeh found out that she didn’t have any family to speak of, she essentially got Niuwyb adopted into her family. Roeh’s parents, Swozalyr and Wild Juniper, were actually pretty chill considering their daughter essentially brought home a magical clone and told them that they should all just act like she was a long lost twin sister.
As for how they get along, Roeh is VERY prone to teasing Niuwyb about anything and everything that goes on in her life, and says that it “keeps her humble.” Niuwyb knows that it’s just how Roeh shows her affection so tries not to let it bother her too much, but also still has to mentally prepare herself for embarrassment every time she visits Roeh (which is quite regularly! Niuwyb recounts pretty much everything that happens in MSQ every visit). Sometimes Niuwyb shoots back with a quip, and when the shoe is on the other foot....
22. Who are their friends? Lovers? ‘Type’ or ‘ideal’ partner?
Niuwyb counts the scions as some of her closest friends, for sure. At this point, she’s been through thick and thin with them, and practically considers them her family, just as much as Roeh and her adoptive parents. That’s not to say she doesn’t have other friends, too - Niuwyb has made friends pretty much everywhere she’s travelled, and whenever she returns somewhere, she always makes time to stop and say hi (and sometimes help out. and eat their food).
As for lovers, she’s got quite a few!
She first got with Aymeric during 3.4 - things got pretty busy after their dinner date was interrupted, but once matters at Xelphatol were settled and Alisaie was well into her recovery, they went on a second one and Aymeric confessed. Niuwyb always makes sure to put time aside to visit him when she’s in Ishgard (and talks Estinien into coming along too when she can).
As for Raubahn, she definitely got together with him sometime during 4.0-4.5, and I’m actually in the middle of replaying Stormblood so I can refine that in my head hahah.
Y’shtola and Niuwyb flirted pretty often over the years but nothing ever really came of it until after 5.0, when Y’shtola took matters into her own hands and just showed up in Niuwyb’s inn room one day...
With Urianger, the two got a lot closer over the course of 5.0, but Niuwyb still was hesitant for a long while, not wanting to make their friendship awkward or step on any toes, especially since he was still very much mourning Moenbryda. It wasn’t until the conversation after she followed him in Mare Lamentorum where they first kissed.
Estinien and Niuwyb always got along fairly well for their similarities and had a close friendship, but they rarely ran into each other in their travels post 3.3, up until 5.5, where he joined the scions, and they began spending time together again. When Niuwyb returned from the moon, Estinien visited her room in the evening (Totally Not avoiding the twins) and rather than leaving, Niuwyb persuaded him to stay, and well, the rest is history.
She’s also had quite a few flings with various people she’s met over the years, but those were more casual, fwb type things (at least for now, hehe.)
As for her type... were you to ask her, she would probably shrug and say she doesn’t particularly have one. Roeh has definitely pointed out how many “eccentric elezen men” she’s dating, which was then followed out by Roeh just handwaving all of Niuwyb’s lovers as eccentric, to which Niuwyb insisted that was almost as vague a description as not having a specific type at all.
25. What are their hobbies and interests?
Niuwyb keeps journals of all of her travels, and sticks all sorts of things in them like a scrapbook. She’s been doing it since close to the beginning of ARR, because she was worried that she might lose her memories again and didn’t want to be in a blank slate kind of way again. By the time she’d learnt that she hadn’t really had memories to lose in the first place, she was kind of in the habit of it and enjoyed doing it.
She’s also a talented leatherworker, and makes a lot of the leather and fur parts of her own armour! She picked up the craft between 2.0-2.5 and has kept to the discipline for a long while now. Niuwyb has certainly absorbed everything Geva and the Leatherworker’s Guild had to teach about sustainable hunting and crafting, too.
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aethernoise · 4 years
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tangible & undefined
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The truth can make some things harder to define, but some things don't need to be defined to be real.
or: more complicated feelings and unmitigated tenderness in the liminal space between life and death. Ardbert/WoL | 2732 words | 5.0 MSQ spoilers | AO3
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The silence was deafening.
“Well, this is bloody awkward,” Ardbert said finally. “Did he just call us soul mates?”
Alyx said nothing: her wheels were still turning. He had hoped to get a laugh out of her with that but the quiet continued.
“I mean, assuming we take him at his word, which…” he trailed off into uncertainty. “Should we?”
Alyx looked at him, her face unreadable in the light of the streetlamps. To any but them and their new old friend at the Bureau, she was alone–but they were together and tiny among the imposing but oddly comforting shadows of the surrounding towers. The Warrior of Darkness looked skyward.
“Should we?”
“A hue that distinctive cannot be mistaken, no matter how thin the soul is spread.”
Waves rolled and crashed somewhere fathoms above them, while all around the trees lining the parkway whispered in a fabricated breeze. A pair of shades passed by them with noiseless footsteps only to vanish before turning the corner.
“I don’t know,” Alyx answered herself quietly. “I have been questioning everything, ever since we got here.”
Questioning everyone, at that. How many conversations with these strange giants had she had now? How much of what they said was true?
(And now, he couldn’t help but wonder, had she just been talking to Emet-Selch the entire time?)
“I have been so careful not to trust anything,” she continued, “Trying not to get tricked--I can’t afford that now. But everything feels familiar, and that makes it feel real.”
Something about this one felt different, that was certain. He claimed he had retained some shred of his consciousness in his creation. If he spoke for himself, why would he lie? If he didn’t, why would Emet-Selch?
“I want to believe him,” Ardbert said, “Would at least explain all–” he gestured vaguely in the space between them “this.”
Their connection. Their--well, what was the right term, exactly?
Alyx gave a smirk to the surrounding gloom. “You want us to be soul mates?”
There she was. That teasing fire, that merciless wit. He would have been more relieved if he hadn’t been so flustered.
“No! That’s not–” he struggled. Alyx was laughing warmly now, and his cheeks were burning.
Certainly not the right term. Soul mate was always used in a romantic context, wasn’t it? In the really sappy love stories, probably--two people destined to be together, who understood each other, who made each other--
“I’m teasing,” she assured him, “I agree with you.”
“You believe him, then?”
--made each other whole.
Alyx looked at him then like she was seeing him for the first time after a long absence.
“Whatever this is,” she said, “I think if anything down here is real, it’s this.”
It’s us.
Whatever they were.
-
Somewhere in the in-between, Ardbert was perilously deep in thought. The ghostly lights of Amaurot’s skyline were a refreshing change from the searing light in the sky above, but with every step they took into that cold, eerie darkness, he swore he could hear a clock ticking.
Counting down seconds, minutes, hours. Days? How much time did they have left?
Empty, adrift, he tried to cling to a place he knew. He couldn’t see where Alyx was, but he could see her room in the Pendants. He could see and hear every word spoken there as if every memory replayed at the same time, could watch the subtle changes in her appearance and habits as the Light within her grew.
The weariness, the pain, the face behind the hero’s smile: this he was allowed to see. This she shared with him, even when she tried to hide it from her friends--her family.
The room was hers, but it had become theirs in a way--a shared sanctuary of sorts. It was a  place where she was safe to converse with an invisible man without being called crazy, and that alone was a valuable comfort. It was a place where he could finally, finally be something other than alone.
All of their conversations, their storytelling, everything they shared, seemed to quicken his soul into form. The burdens and pains that none else could understand. Fears they could scarcely admit, even to themselves. Loneliness.
And somewhere in between--
Dizzying clarity, as if he had been shaken awake.
“In our time, the two of you were one.”
Finally an explanation. It wasn’t an easy answer, but an answer all the same. Their fates entwined across entire worlds, shards separated but bound together. Close enough to defy the laws of death, close enough to touch.
It was all so unbelievable that he might as well have called it another dream, but this dream was real. And despite the facts--such as they were, even if they barely made a lick of sense--he was with her for a reason. He could not see clearly beyond this dark, but he knew his place was by her side.
He reached for her once, twice, and then she reached back. Ever since then they couldn’t stop. Ardbert still felt like some kind of pining fool the way he sank into the memory of every single moment of contact they had shared.
It was embarrassing to fixate on such things, he could admit--after all, she couldn’t possibly be thinking about it as much as he was. He couldn’t deny that in those moments, his entire reality was her hand touching his, or resting on his arm, or gently holding his face. And gods, touching her was just as much of a miracle. Her skin was so warm and her hair felt so thick and soft between his fingers, strong shoulders he could feel shift and relax under a comforting hand...
They had become close much in the same way that lovers would, though they weren’t lovers.
Certainly not lovers, no, they hadn’t even kissed--
They were certainly more than friends --long before an ancient spectral giant had informed them so--but the bond between them was difficult to define. He couldn’t explain it. When he was with her, there was something, something both familiar and foreign, something that hurt and felt good at the same time. A weight in his chest and a flutter in his stomach. A prickling, shivering heat at the base of his spine.
There was curiosity, of course. There were the wandering thoughts, and the small moments of craving that he was afraid to express. There was the occasional uncertainty over whether he wanted touch, or if he wanted her touch. How much of this was instinctual need? A hunger for connection after a century alone?
How much was something far greater than that?
Maybe they were two pieces of something whole, even though they were whole all on their own. Maybe their souls were the same color (what color, he wondered) and maybe when he was with her he really was more living than dead. Maybe they were more than a girl and her shadow.
And maybe they weren’t lovers, but he still loved her.
Bloody hells, maybe they were soul mates.
-
“So what color do you reckon our souls are, then?”
Alyx was with him again, haloed by the glow of the aetheryte.
“I once had an alchemist tell me my aether is blue,” she said with a slight shrug, “Probably not the same thing, though, especially now.”
Both Y’shtola and Feo Ul said her aether was stained by the light. Ardbert tried to remember her before, on the Source, but his memory was so clouded by time he found specific images difficult to grasp. He knew her hair was shorter then, and her eyes not nearly as tired. He had come to tear the peace she had fought for right from her hands.
He’d come for her life, for his world--the world where they both sat together now, surrounded by shades and echoes.
“What is it?” She inquired softly. “You have your brooding face on again.”
He snapped out of his reverie to smile crookedly at her. “That’s my line.”
Alyx chuckled hoarsely and let her chin fall to the support of her hands. She still seemed intent on a real answer, so he struggled to find the right words.
“I was thinking…” he began and looked away, “I’ve never properly...apologized. For everything back on the Source.”
They had barely talked about it, after all. Their past as enemies felt like a mammoth in the room that demanded his attention
“You have nothing to apologize for,” she told him simply.
While his mind raced to list all of the reasons to the contrary, her voice softened his memory. “You did everything right.”
We did everything right. Everything that was asked of us, and still--
“We can’t really ever leave it behind. The guilt, or the grief.” She paused, and a determined, passionate fire returned to her voice. “And maybe we shouldn’t. But--there has to be more to us than that. There has to. Otherwise we’re no better than Emet-Selch.”
“You’re right. We can’t be conjuring entire cities like this. Bloody wasteful.”
Alyx laughed--truly, fully laughed, and he swore he could feel the sun shining on them even at the bottom of the ocean. That fire in her eyes, in her heart, the hope she inspired and truly believed--this he knew he loved.
But he loved the darker parts of her too, the ones she fought as well as the ones she enabled-- and somehow, knowing her darkness had helped him with his own. She had given him balance, or something like it.
If fate has brought me to you --
A dangerous swell of emotion and need took him over and all he could do was seize her wholly in his arms. Alyx said nothing, but embraced him in return. There was a split second of shock as they were flung over that precipice of impossibility entirely with one breath, yet when he recovered he relaxed and melted perfectly into her hold, as if it was exactly where he belonged.
“Thank you,” he choked on the words, voice muffled by her collar. It was all he could think to say.
“Don’t thank me yet,” there was that fire again. He could feel her smirk. “I still have to save the world.”
His eyes were burning as he laughed against her; he squeezed them shut, awash with a desperate euphoria under the heat of her hands smoothing over his back, following his spine through his shirt. He had held her like this before but gods it was still enough to drive him out of his wits.
When he pulled away it was only slightly, just far enough that he could look at her again.
“You will, though,” he affirmed. He knew how scared she was, even if she wouldn’t admit it; even if she wouldn’t let her brave face fall away. Her eyes were wide and impossibly green in the darkness. “And I’ll be there with you.”
He surprised himself with the tone of his own voice--low, rough, right on the edge of something -- and he swore he could feel her breath catch. She remained close, leaning in to touch her forehead to his. He had the feeling she wanted to say something, too, but didn’t know how.
They were so close that their noses touched, so close that he might lose whatever wits he had left if he couldn’t be closer.
“Thank you,” she finally whispered, quietly enough that he wondered if he had heard her thoughts instead. “Don’t thank me yet” he wanted to say, but was completely dumbstruck by how badly he wanted to kiss her. If they really were once the same soul, he had the distinct feeling that the pieces that remained were fighting desperately to rejoin one another, any way possible.
The final step was neither a push nor pull, but a fall: he could barely tell which one of them moved first, but when they kissed they fell together and he swore the contact would have knocked him on his arse had he been standing.
If touching her was euphoria, then tasting her was indescribable. She tasted like flame, like frost, every carefree moment of drunkenness, every rush of a battle high, every tingling burn of healing magic he had ever felt. The faint hint of her aether, sharp and fragrant, was a chill unlike winter on her lips, full and gentle and decadent. He would know that taste anywhere, that scent--it was familiar, but hers.
As far as he was concerned, in that moment nothing else was real. Amaurot vanished and he welcomed the crushing force of the waves above. Sighs glowed between them, pushing and pulling in perfect balance. Their tongues met, tender and still cautious, until barriers faded and he was possessed by something deep and longing.
Alyx seemed to mirror it. She shifted, realigned, melded her lips and the contours of her body to his. Her fingers lit shimmering sparks where she touched him--she cradled his jaw, smoothed her gentle grip into the hair at his nape. Heavy embers burned in the pit of his stomach while vibrant colors bloomed at every point of contact. His neck, his tongue, his chest, the crook of his arm--he curled closer and into her, circles aligning, not to eclipse but to attune.
He had no idea how long it lasted. Her mouth was the first thing he had tasted in a hundred years and he was addicted, obsessed in only seconds.
She broke away to breathe. The heady air between them sang.
"Ardbert, you..." the sound and vibration of his name, soft and rough at once, sent bright shivers through his being. She blinked. He held his breath.  “You’re a really good kisser.”
He stared dumbly at her for an instant before crumbling into shaking, clumsy laughter. She laughed with him until she lost her breath, all the while lingering giddy and close, a rosy flush to her cheeks that had lately been far too pale. He supposed he ought to thank her for the compliment, but instead he kissed her again so that this time he could taste her laughter.
Blissful, comforting, alive. Lightning and honey. Dancing until the soles of his feet ached.
Another pause, and a struggle to catch their breath as if they’d been drowning again in Longmirror Lake. This time her hair was dry in the grass when she eased onto her back.
“I’m sorry for teasing you earlier,” Alyx said, “About the soul mate thing.”
Ardbert smirked.  “All it took was a good snog to convince you, then?”
She made a face, some adorable attempt at looking cross, and sat up to push him very slightly. “I said I agreed with you,” she countered, “It just didn’t seem…”
“Like the right term?”
Alyx drew close again, and he swore he could attribute his entire existence to the sensation of her fingers twining between his.
“It’s close,” she said. Her voice was low and soft, tugging at him again, right down to the very aether. She closed her eyes with a thoughtful sound and smiled.
“I can’t quite define it, but I can feel it.”
“I feel it too,” he wanted to say, over and over, as if that could somehow explain everything. How else could he tell someone something like that? That even though he barely knew her, he felt closer to her than anyone he had ever met? That part of him always knew the two of them would meet again, somehow, and that when they did, it was as if everything uncertain had settled comfortably into place…
His elbows met grass, cushions, stone, he didn’t know anymore. He had neither idea nor care where and when they were. Silken fire tickled his face. Bright green eyes--nearly aglow in the cold ancient light--burning through a half lidded gaze in the instants between. With his armor gone and his hands bare, the heat of her was nearly enough to burn, but she was tangible and whole and he never wanted to let her go.
“Define it however you want,” he told her finally, “Fact of the matter is you’re stuck with me, ‘til the end.”
“Good,” the Warrior of Darkness replied, and they both knew little more needed to be said.
-
a/n: I have some previous writings on this relationship in Sundered. Thank you for joining me in ghost boyfriend AU.
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autumnslance · 4 years
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Lmao I got three I'm particularly curious about for you on the character meme. Thancred, Lahabrea, Igeyorhm. XD Feel free to do as many or as few as you'd like of course!
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You asked for it. We’ll start with That Damned Rogue. The Ascians will be below.
This of course got long, so behind a cut it goes:
Thancred
First impression: I started in Gridania and took like 2 years to finish ARR 2.0, was already spoiled on the possession angle (I spoiled myself, no big), and had just @erickgage‘s affectionate joking summary of Thancred being the guy who shows up 5 minutes late with Starbucks to all the early battles. So I didn’t really get to meet the guy ‘til the Waking Sands.
And honestly, he was stereotypical generic bland anime prettyboy competent guy. His 1.0/ARR model is…just sorta there. He was a flirt, also generic as heck. Really didn’t register too much, until I finished 2.0 finally and then went hard on the MSQ through the patches and into HW and StB 4.0, when I finally caught up to content.
Impression now: Godsdammit.
My first replay through the game was on PunchyCat, starting in Ul’dah, which meant I got to meet Thancred much earlier. I was immediately amused by his nickname for Nanamo, and Papashan’s assessment of the witty Archon. I was more into the lore, getting the first lorebook and reading the short stories on the main site, and playing through all at once instead of piecemeal over months/years made things make more sense. Thancred hits a lot of tropes I commonly like in a lot of characters, so he jumped up to being a favorite.
Gunbreaker suits him as a tank job (thank goodness he can stop trying to tank warmachina as a rogue, ffs Thancred), and tanking in general suits him when it comes to fighting for those he cares about.
I’m interested in the ShB story mentioning why he wears white in all his gear iterations; I’d previously made a post about his color choices and that aspect of character design, but having a lore explanation for his affinity for that color was interesting. I didn’t think his HW model suited him, honestly; way too rough mountain man hobo. His model in ShB is closer to his ARR model, but different enough, and imbued now with actual character, that he’s a bit more visually interesting and while still pretty typical handsome anime protagonist in appearance; his true personality just comes through a lot more.
I’m still forever mad about the unintentional character ‘ship with Aeryn, tho. It took a 3rd playthrough for it to happen.
For myself, mind, when I got into playing and learned his canonical age, it was at the time the same difference between myself and my younger brother. My assessment of the Scion “family” with Thancred being the middle child (esp his behavior pre-HW) maybe helps that. I’m getting to a point, really, where I look at the characters under 35 and think “OMG disaster children, all of you.”
Favorite moment: Oh goodness. There’s some good ones.
‘How was I supposed to know all my girlfriends would track me down and show up at HQ all at the same time: a master class in how to not to deal with multiple paramours by Archon T. Waters.’
His dramatic reappearance and duel with Ardbert in HW 3.1.
Taking out his frustrations by soloing the Coerthas cyclops boss so we can get on with the Tournament and fight Raubahn. (Side Bonus: pre-tournament when he jokes about fighting for the other team to even up the odds, and then: “It looks to be a veritable who’s who of the Eorzean Alliance. The only question is: who came to watch and who came to fight? Hmm…Nanamo. Definitely Nanamo.”)
Making sure Urianger knew he was still part of the team post-Soul Surrender climax.
“All right, which one of you triggered the obvious trap?” Also learning he can hold his breath for 10 freaking minutes–but still gets to be jealous of the WoL, Lyse, and Alisaie for their kojin blessing.
That dramatic teamwork with Urianger to knock Ran’jit down the pit in Rak’tika.
That frickin’ Trolley duty and it’s aftermath with the completed checklist of anime death markers and then just sitting there battered and bleeding and smiling and then giving Ryne a name and a headpat and “You’re family.” Bastard.
Idea for a story: Have you seen my Ao3 account? *grumbles*
Unpopular opinion: While he likely used drinking as a bad coping mechanism at times in ARR’s patches, I doubt he ever really went to blackout, as losing control to that extent, after having been controlled and probably losing a lot of time while possessed, would be awful. We see him drink a few times, but I don’t think he is/was an alcoholic.
I also agree with @ahlis-xiv that his flirtatious persona was mostly adopted. While he probably does have a healthy libido and enjoys time with paramours (that Urianger keeps a handy list of), there’s a lot that’s likely exaggerated, allowed to be assumed, and otherwise used as a cover, given his specializations. It’s also noteworthy how he’s mostly acting the same even after being lost in the wilderness, right up until our foray into the Antitower. The wit/humor gets toned down a lot, but the flirting is cut out entirely after that. He still charms some ladies in the First, based on incidental dialogue, but that seems a general reaction to him being a handsome hero type rather than any intentional flirtatious act on his part.
Favorite relationship: Thancred and little sister types. I do wish we’d seen more of his relationship with Minfilia outside of informed moments and the short stories. I feel like he has a semi-older-brother relationship with Lyse, too, given their antics in the 2.0 patches (particularly the “Hoary’s fighting the WoL, come watch!” and Thancred not even considering how one of his girlfriends would see him sending Lyse to retrieve an item until after and going “oh yeah, whoops”). And now there’s Ryne, and she is totally running things if you watch their background conversations/body language. But that’s kind of where Thancred likes it; find a girl who needs a protective older brother and do what she asks and whatever she needs.
I do have a special place in my heart for the expanded broship with Urianger that Shadowbringers gave us, though. I’ve already spoken on that one.
Favorite headcanon: Everything people assume about how he spoils the nutkin. And really, focusing on taking care of and doting on a pet would be good therapy. Goodness knows he needs it.
Also I assume he and Hilda hooked up at least once during the HW patches. Part of that expectation and cover, sure, to immediately flirt with the pretty, tough, half-elezen guard captain. But also, he spent however long mostly alone, and then only with the Vath and a nutkin for company; the guy was probably touch-starved and lonely and just needing a connection to another person he could relate to (that wasn’t a bug).
Otherwise, again, have you seen my Ao3? Ugh. Damned snarky smart rogues…
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Lahabrea
First impression: Laughing Organization XIII-wannabe is obvious villain. Wonder what their deal is.
Impression now: So much lost/wasted potential thanks to being stuck as the ARR villain when it was so hastily rewritten and acted, and so little was decided on the Ascians and their motivations yet. A lot of what we learn now retroactively makes him more interesting. The fact he was a workaholic who looked at the workaholic Scion and went “ah yes; that one will do, perfect” makes me laugh.
Favorite moment: I like his interactions with Elidibus. And I am actually fairly fond of his theatrical reveal in Praetorium about the Ultima Weapon, the Heart of Sabik, and casting Ultima.
Idea for a story: Maybe stuff while he’s possessing Thancred. Maybe stuff between then and the Reactor. I dunno; I’ve been enjoying a lot of others’ stories about our first Ascian antagonist.
Unpopular opinion: Dunno if this is unpopular, but some of the retroactive information is to excuse why he seemed so much less powerful than other, later Ascians, but I do think the Speaker could be quite devious and powerful, if he had better writing around him. He suffers for being from ARR.
Favorite relationship: I am not ashamed to admit I am a Lahabrea/Igeyorhm shipper and Hades Ex seems to agree with me so there.
Favorite headcanon: The Speaker likely also had a good singing voice. Another thing good about possessing a man whose primary cover was a bard–excuses to indulge that.
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Igeyorhm
First impression: Wannabe-Organization XIII also hires women, cool. Wonder if she’ll get to do anything?
Impression now: I’m sad so much got cut from HW; as great as it was, a lot got left on the editing room floor and it shows in spots–particularly where the Ascians connect with the plot. We learn much about her retroactively as well, including how she worked for/with Lahabrea thanks to being the one to wreck the Thirteenth, and change Ascian policy on how to bring about Rejoinings. I still wanna know more about her.
Favorite moment: You beat the whale, good job–thanks, that’s my key now. It’s such a perfect dick move. Excellent timing and taunting. 
Idea for a story: Maybe some of her inner thoughts working for/with Lahabrea. She was a raised up shard, so does that mean they found the scattered pieces of her original soul and force-merged them? I doubt it, since Emet-Selch mentions raising up those who are a piece of the previous office holder, but I wonder if it came with imbuing the new title-holder with some of those memories and knowledge. Perhaps she wonders if some of her interactions/feelings/whatever with Lahabrea are her own, or her tapping into her previous life’s memories. Something to think about, anyway.
Unpopular opinion: I dunno, she shoulda gotten to stick around longer? Or been allowed to do a lot more? Should have been much more of a presence in HW, but I don’t think that’s unpopular so much as unconsidered.
Favorite relationship: Lahabrea is really the only one she gets significant interactions with. Though I wonder about her interactions with the other few women in the Ascians.
Favorite headcanon: See above with the story ideas, really; she didn’t get a lot of time onscreen so there’s a lot of room to make things up, and retroactive info from ShB to make her more interesting, or at least her situation as an upraised Ascian.
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hamlet-au-fromage · 4 years
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Random thoughts about the 5.2 MSQ :
I feel kinda “meh” about this extension ; it left me more confused than  anything but not for the good reasons
I suppose Gaius was able to come to Ala Mhigo without too much troubles because only few people know how he looks without his mask but why nobody is bother by it ? Can someone ackownledge what he had done ? Because if everybody had already forgiven him, then get Fordola’s necklace off and let her go. If people can forgive Gaius then they should forgive a lot of others people.
And why I should be the one fighting the weapon ? It’s not a primal and the WoL is not the only one with the Echo. You can send others people to fight it
And talking about the Echo, I’m confused about how it works : if it triggers by a catastrophe, then why the Scions seems to not have awaken it ? And in that case, shouldn’t have the people who watched Dalamud fall awaken it ? It’s only work with fallen stars ? Are the people from the Source less sensitive to that phenomenon ?
And Elidibus just tell everybody at the Cristarium that we were from an other dimension and nobody is bothered by that ? I get they probably had suspicions about us but still...
And by the way, I don’t understand how Elidibus was able to persuade so many people to let everything down to become an adventurer
Of course G’raha you wasn’t able to stop the two guardsmen to become adventurer, they are Ardbert & Branden 2.0
I’m also surprise that nobody from the Scions gave the theory that Elidibus was trying to replay the tragedy of Ardbert and his friends by “creating” so many adventurers
And please, Elidibus, you should take acting advices from Lahabrea. Just saying
The donjon was awesome. My favorite of this expension with the Akademia
I thought we would have more Zenos in this patch. I’m interested about who is the person who sems to use Asashi’s body 
So final thought :
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