#literally the beginning of Shadowbringers
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The Crystal Exarch is terrible at claw machines.
#ffxiv art#ffxiv#literally the beginning of Shadowbringers#crystal exarch#my wol#alphinaud leveilleur#alisaie leveilleur#thancred waters#y’shtola rhul#urianger augurelt#Urianger is the upside down one
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I have an absolutely (lovely) deranged friend who has been playing through FF14 aetheryte-less. In the beginning, since one of our friends pestered her to grab her aetherytes, out of spite she made the decision she will go through the entirety of the game WITHOUT AETHERYTES. She's in Shadowbringers now. She doesn't even have the teleportation menu UNLOCKED. She takes public transport wherever possible. If that's not an option, she walks. There are quests that have you attune to aetherytes, but these haven't unlocked the teleportation menu for her. When she dies, she spawns back in Uldah which is a huge bother, but because her spite is more important to her than her time, she will LITERALLY WALK TO A DIFFERENT WORLD INSTEAD OF JUST UNLOCKING THE TELEPORTATION FEATURE.
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i got 16k words into writing vignettes to set up the ascian azem au and hit a wall partly because the timeline for this part makes NO SENSE and trying to work it all out while making it fit the narrative in my own head??? impossible
the timeline i'm trying to construct, for the record, is what exactly went down at the end. we know there were two sacrifices to Zodiark that went through and a third one planned, but that Hydaelyn Sundered the star before they could make headway on that third sacrifice. we know that Azem defected over the plan to summon Zodiark and also did not respond to Venat when she reached out to them about summoning Hydaelyn. we know that Zodiark was summoned when the skies over Amaurot began to burn - because there is an entire dungeon about the calamity hitting Amaurot. we know that Hydaelyn and Zodiark supposedly FOUGHT EACH OTHER.
the game also tries to tell us that the Convocation has been planning Zodiark for months before the skies begin to burn, that the Fourteen are still the Fourteen in the memory Emet-Selch resurrected but there are rumors a seat will be vacated soon. and then also shows us that Hyth went to sacrifice himself while the skies were still burning, literally moments before Venat Sunders the star? don't get me wrong, i fucking love that cutscene at the end of the Elpis arc, but the timing on it absolutely does not mesh with what we see in shadowbringers and i am sooooo so confused.
i worked out a very vague timeline of my own for the other fic i've written and posted but i'm not totally sure it makes logical sense and since i've been replaying shb in ng+ i'm remembering just how contradictory this stuff is and it's deeply bothering me
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Dark knight is the most romantic job, huh? Maybe you should elaborate 👀
Oh well if I must~
notes: contains spoilers (very vague but yk still there) for the Dark Knight job quests, Shadowbringers role quests etc. Please play critically acclaimed mmrpg Final Fantasy XIV (now on xbox) with a free trial I am so normal about it and I promise you will be too. I need someone to grind gemstones with next expansion it only makes you want to die a little I swear.
I want to start by bringing something up I don't see discussed a lot (if at all) in discussion of the Dark Knight questline, and that is the background music used. When dramatic or poignant moments occur in other questlines, even the other two that were introduced in Heavesnward (machinist and astrologian), the cutscenes stick to the default/expansion appropriate sad music. This doesn't happen in the DRK questline though, instead the sound designers chose to play Dragonsong during what are some of the most emotionally charged moments in the whole game, and generally stick to the Heavesnward background music even through the Stormblood cut-scenes. The choice of Dragonsong is really what makes me think of the job as "romantic" more than anything; the song is in a lamentation of lost love and trust between dragon and man certainly, but you could also apply some of those lyrics to the separation between the Unsundered and the Warrior of Light, or the separation between the warrior's darker half and their willingness to shoulder their duty.
This musical choice becomes especially clear when you speak to Count Edmont at the end of the Stormblood job quests, as a very specific part of the song begins to play as the Warrior of Light is asked to reflect on what could have possibly caused their heart to break and crack their jobstone:
Not that I point this out to suggest it's cannon the Warrior had romantic feelings for any one person in particular, but to hammer home exactly what the Moogles try to tell you:
Dark Knights get their power from their love; that ugly, hard work, painful, your heart is trapped in a rib cage desperate to leave type of bleeding love that is desperate for somewhere to go and doesn't have it anymore.
"Love is grief with nowhere to go." Is a quote that can more or less apply to every Dark Knight we are introduced to in game. Fray is literally dead, we never truly meet him at all, Sidurgu had already lost his whole tribe only to then lose Fray and their master, Granson lost his wife, and Emet Selch... well what hadn't he lost? And they are all angry, burdened by their grief, and desperate for somewhere to put their love because the people they want to give it to are gone.
idk I just think the concept of taking your love for your fellow travelers and using it as a focus to overcome the worst parts of yourself (from your doubts to your anger and resentment) so you can use all of those emotions as fuel to protect them, even from themselves is just so romantic to me. You don't have to be happy about it to do the right thing, and you don't need to be nice to be good. Love isn't always cute, sometimes it is very ugly and raw and I love when stories play with that.
So yeah. The most romantic job. I could get more specific but it has been a long time since I played through these quests ;-; I should fix that
#<3 asks#ffxiv dark knight#ffxiv#i kind of want to take a crack at analyzing myste now that we know about dynamis#but i need to focus on leveling#gotta get those jobs up before dawntrail yk
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Okay, so I've been having some brain worms/thoughts about Shadowbringers/Endwalker Emet-Selch, Warrior of Light, and lastly, Azem that keep me up at night and I'd like to just theory-craft/spew these thoughts before they take over my brain.
BEAR IN MIND THERE WILL BE SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!!
Alrighty so, during Endwalker's Elpis questline, the WoL is initially teleported into the hub/entrance to Elpis, and is transparent , unable to be seen by those around them, nor are they able to interact with anything in their environment, and all seems pretty hopeless until a pleasantly familiar voice reaches their auditory sensors and lo and behold, the younger, far less theatrical Emet-Selch and their old-new friend Hythlodaeus have arrived to Elpis to conduct their business, and who is the first one to glance in their direction, obviously noticing the WoL despite how small and transparent they seem to be?
Emet-Selch. The WoL is perceived in these cutscenes, at least from my perspective, as being both shocked and very aware of the presence of this man, who, by all accounts, looks identical face wise to the Emet-Selch they are familiar with. Younger, less jaded and maniacal, sure.
And he notices the WoL almost immediately.
Now where the brain worms begin... Or continue. Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus can "see" the color of the soul, perceiving it in a way that allows them to uniquely pick out different people based off their soul alone, rather than their physical appearance, something that the people of present day Eitherys are unable to do.
Because of Amaurot's policy against individualism whilst about in public spaces, most Amaurotian are regarded by their job or station, with little that defines them from the next, save from the Convocation, all of whom are recommended for their office by a prior seat., Thusly, their people avoid conflict, as they are all found to be essential, and on equal footing.
Except... For those that have the soul sight.
It's considered a valuable gift even in Ancient times, and while Hades imparts that his is inferior to Hythlodaeus, whom he feels should have taken the seat of Emet-Selch, he yet still is able even while focused on other tasking and conversation, to immediately take note of the thin speck of a soul that is, by all accounts, identical to Azem's. (Because they are, in fact, an 8 times rejoined Azem)
This sets up for the inevitable question of, exactly how close is Emet-Selch to Azem? How intimate a relationship must they have (and not necessarily in a sexual way, this can be kindred spirits, familial, platonic, or romantic, however you feel to justify it) that his peripheral senses caught onto the Warrior of Light before Hythlodaeus had a moment to push Emet-Selch into slipping them some aether. Because I don't know about you, but when I'm out and about I don't always take full stock of everything, unless something or someone feels or looks familiar to me, in which I might do a double take, but this man straight up ZEROEs in on the WoL and you have to think... Was he expecting Azem? Was he hoping for Azem?
Now, let's dissect this from another standpoint.
When first it's spoken about the WoL's soul on the first Emet-Selch has just finished observing them just after Ryne's (then Minfilia) rescue and subsequent escape from Ranjit and from Eulmore. He notes its curious quality from afar and states that it may be of use after all. At this point in Emet-Selch's very extensive life, he's already experienced the Final Days, then the destruction of Amaurot, lost one of his best friends, as well as was [betrayed/left] by his other best friend, who was then sundered before they could even attempt to reconcile. Additionally, he has witnessed the fall of man and been tempered by a God beyond that of which we have any understanding of to this point, because it's a creation of and manifestation of the very "Will of the Star", whose heart is literally his youngest, and most innocent(to a degree that we understand) coworkers.
In other words, he is in the full throes of trauma, depression, and the hopeless burden of a life led too long.
Now, I believe somewhere in the questline, Emet-Selch reveals that once his duty is complete, his plan was to return to the star. This insinuates that, upon reviving all those lost and sundered, bringing everyone back that had been sacrificed etc, he would seek to end his life, despite finally having those he loved returned to him. The true burden of grief indeed. But I think, that he realizes that the man he has become, what he has done to bring back his people, the ones he cared about? No longer has a place in ancient society. A peaceful society, that by all accounts abhorred crass terminology such as death and disapproved of violence and hurtfulness, instead focusing on healthy debate and being "stewards of the Star". But Emet-Selch here, he has been warped by millennia of despair, by the aching of his heart, of Zodiark, who has been a voice in his ear so long it may as well be an extension of himself. He's endured so much loss, so many horrors, that he cannot conceive of that peaceful place anymore where he can peacefully coexist. He cannot resolve a place in his perfect society for himself any longer, and I think deep in his heart, it may even be shame for the deeds he had to commit. Despite his repeated attempts at degrading the Scions for their existence, calling the residents of this first "half-men" and denoting that he doesn't see any of them as "truly alive", this comes into question when the Scions and the WoL arrive in Amaurot, and the shades do not call them familiars, or wonder what type of creatures they are.
No, they are called children. They are the precious lifeblood of Amaurot. They are the innocent, the curious, the lives that must be taught and protected.
And who made this version of Amaurot?
Emet-Selch.
Now by this point you might be wondering, Suzuka, what do you mean, that's super irrelevant, Emet-Selch merely created Amaurot to be as it was in the final days, the only distinction being Hythlodaeus. And I would offer you this.
So why would this not present the same in Emet-Selch's recreation of Amaurot? Unless... Unless he knew. Unless he felt it, deep down in his own soul, after so very long, that they were his people. Broken they may be, small, and far thinner in the aether than before, but they were trying, and actively pursuing the strengths that his people once embodied.
When the WoL is in Elpis, what is everyone's immediate assumption? That they are a familiar. A non-human entity, something of the arcane, not alive, not truly, and merely a representation of their creator's imagination, knowledge, and creativity.
Which brings me to my final point, and I thank you for even reading this far because my brain has been so warped by this it runs around in my brain rent free.
Emet-Selch of ShB timeline would not have been able to allow himself to try and be with a restored Azem of his time. Azem's innocence and attachment to the people, their care, their mischievousness, their tenacity, Emet-Selch himself was too broken to reconcile with the though of that. If you are an EmetWoL shipper like myself, then you've probably approached their dynamic like this once or twice before, even if you never wrote it down, or drew it up; that only the WoL in their only seven/right times rejoined self, could possibly understand or even think to care for him with all that he has done. Because they have done things too, no? Killed hundreds, or perhaps thousands in war for freedom, watched their loved ones perish before them. Lost friends, family, perhaps even tasted death themselves. Yet, they are not alone, as he feels he is. As in reality, he is, before WoL strikes him through the chest with the axe of Light. And the only one who might even have the most basic of understanding as to why he is the way he is, is the Warrior of Light. The same soul that he saw that day in Elpis and thought was his friend, his love.
Even for just a moment.
TL;DR Emet-Selch of ShB and the WoL are meant for each other and there's a reason that crotchety old man loves them see essay above lol
#ffxiv#Emet-Selch#Warrior of Light#WoL#EmetWoL#Final Fantasy XIV#couples#theory crafting#lore#headcanons#speculation#Shadowbringers#Endwalker
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someone tried to pull that “all interpretations of the text are valid” thing on me on twitter when i said that i think treating azem and WoL as identical and emet as the gatekeeper of WoL’s truest self as azem sucks, because identity is changeable and there is no one unalterably permanent True Self, let ALONE one that exists across lifetimes and that another person can dictate to you. they were like “that’s a nice reading of the text but i like that everyone can have their own interpretation of their WoL :)” and i very politely asked them why bother commenting to begin with if that’s all you have to say but what i WANTED to say was “this was literally the entire thesis of shadowbringers, were you not fucking paying attention?”
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(@driftward) Oh, let's see, one per inbox item defeated per blog, correct? Of course I'm correct. Gimme dat Little Brother Thing; self-indulgent on my part going to ask after The Effects of Wine (Y'shtola); It Ends Where It Begins sounds ~interesting~; Hilda Ideas, for both me and a friend; X'rhun and F'lhamin (eyebrows eyebrows eyebrows); and a bonus just out of sheer curiosity, Biot's Antecedent Musings
Good job defeating the inbox boss. Why were you awake at hours only reasonable to me and our local Australian?? Anyway.
Little Brother Thing - Stormblood 4.3. As Alphinaud accompanies Maxima, Aeryn reflects back on key moments in their journey together, and how much he's grown and changed from the arrogant boy she shared a cart with but didn't properly meet until the Remembrance Ceremonies, to the confident young man he is at this point--and how she's still going to worry for him regardless of how capable he is, because that's how it goes.
I should revisit this actually, it's got some good bones. Hrm.
The Effects of Wine - ARR, Company of Heroes chain, Y'shtola POV. After the Feast, Y'shtola and Aeryn rest in a bungalow and have a late evening talk about Aeryn's growing reputation, why the Company did what they did, and how she just ever meant to be a common adventurer to help people--not a primal slaying hero. Aeryn says more here than usual at this point in the story; maybe the wine, maybe the growing trust in her comrade.
I should get around to cleaning it up and posting it somewhere, honestly. It was a noodle-thought from very early on as I was figuring out voices and relationships, but it's not too bad.
It Ends Where It Begins - is a post-5.0 Shadowbringers. Something that the Exarch said in the cliffside convo before Mt Gulg reminded Aeryn of Papalymo's words post-Ultima Weapon (it's a click text when everyone's gathered in the Waking Sands to congratulate you before you turn in the final 2.0 quest in to Minfilia). Given all that happens to WoL in 5.0, and the revelations in general, Aeryn ends up thinking of the words as she looks back on her journey, and ends up in Gridania. And it leads into what then became a seaswolchallenge prompt in 2020, Metamorphosis, where she tells Miounne and Bremondt stories of her adventures.
Hilda Notes - Literally just a list of notes about horny Hilda moments for some reason. There's a draft for a fic of her and a touch-starved Thancred I can check off. Ideas for a cop vs vigilante fic with Sidurgu (maybe something sexy there, maybe not). And an idea for a Hilda solo as she fantasizes about a hot Highland lass met while dealing with Ala Mhigo stuff. It's not even a real fic draft, it's just a list of random ideas written up while apparently hormonal.
X'rhun and F'lhaminn - Oh this is from back in I think Book Club days and a rarepair challenge month. Find a relationship that doesn't already exist on Ao3. Write something. Back then there were no tags joining these characters in any way. I was going to try to write the duelist and songstress in a light friendly adventure of their own, maybe get in some witty flirty banter for the fun of it, but the mystery never quite gelled and so I shelved it. Maybe someday. And add in Nashmeira.
Biot's Antecedent Musings - Discord convo on 12/28/22 where you were having thinky thoughts about Thancred and Minfilia and being the person she confided in about the Echo and I accused you of trying to bait me into writing something about that.
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New Beginnings
T'lira x G'raha PWP ❤️
Rating: Explicit
Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV
Main Characters: T'lira, G'raha Tia.
Minor characters: Y'shtola Rhul, Krile Mayer Baldesion, Mentions of Thancred
↓↓↓ Spoilers for FFXIV Shadowbringers & FFXIV Endwalker below the cut ↓↓↓
Tags & NSFW warnings:
Love Confessions, Kissing, Aethersand used as a meaningful gift, Teasing, Pet Names, Wall Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Penis in Vagina Sex, Oral Sex, Cunnilingus, Table Sex, Doggy Style, Creampie.
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....
...
Today would be the day.
Yes, today would be the day that she would finally confess her heart.
Or so T'lira had hoped.
She arrives in Sharlayan with her purpose held firmly in her mind, using the walk to the Baldesion Annex to put her thoughts in order of just what she wanted to say to a certain someone.
She asks around for him just to be sure he would be there, and finds herself standing outside of the door to his room within the annex. She raises her hand to knock and does so, her confidence and surety lasting right up until G'raha opens the door.
He seems pleased to see her as he ever was, ears perking in surprise at finding her knocking at his door. A delighted smile stretching across his full, kissable lips. "Lira, you are a sight for sore eyes!"
T'lira forgets entirely what she had planned to say. Her mind goes blank, her heart pounding so loud in her ears that she can barely hear the words that G'raha speaks to her. She finds herself fumbling through conversation with the man she means to finally express her feelings to, and somehow ends up with a random book in hand that she did not need. Blurting out in a moment of panic the excuse that she had come to borrow it.
Wanting this embarrassing, frustrating time to end, T'lira expresses her thanks for the book and bids him goodbye.
Of course it was a book of faerie tales. Tales of romance and adventure not unlike the book that had inspired her to become an adventurer.
She holds the book in both hands and groans quietly outside of Raha's door, thumping herself in the head with it. Why, why, why? Why was this the hardest thing she had ever attempted to do? She had fought literal gods, she had saved the world! Why was admitting her feelings so much more terrifying?
T'lira shakes her head and goes back to her own room within the annex. She slumps against her closed door, groaning loud and thumping her head again, but this time against the sturdy wood she leans on when she feels a knock on the other side of it.
T’lira startles, her fur prickling. The long, fluffy expanse of her tail floofing in surprise as her feline ears perked and flattened with embarrassment.
A hot flush colors her face. T’lira hoped whoever came to visit hadn't heard her thunking her head against the door.
She straightens up, takes a breath, and turns to open the door.
G'raha stands on the other side of it, hand raised in the air as if he was just about to knock again.
"Raha?" T'lira blinks, watching as the redheaded miqo'te fidget and rub over his wrists in what seemed to be nerves. "Did you need something?"
G'raha clears his throat and straightens up before her eyes. Projecting a sort of confidence that was very much Exarch-esque as he says to her, "Yes. I forgot something when you came to my room just a moment ago."
T'lira tilts her head. "What did you forget?"
"This," G'raha says, stepping forward over the threshold into her room and closing the space between them. His hands reach out to cradle T'lira's face as he draws her to him in a sudden, passionate crush of lips.
The book of faerie tales in T'lira's hand slips from her fingers and drops to the floor as her hands fly up to clutch him to her. The man in her arms is more real and wonderful than anything she has ever read in any book.
"R–Raha," she groans his affectionate name in a surprised, breathy gasp as his lips move over hers in a frenzy of hungry, dizzying kisses.
"Forgive me if I have overstepped," G'raha tells her in a deep, rasping growl, but does not stop kissing her as he moves further into her room, sending T'lira nearly stumbling as she steps backwards to match his forward stride.
G'raha kicks the door closed with the back of his foot and then spins her around to press her against it, pinning her there with the warm, solid weight of his body.
There was not much disparity in their height difference, perhaps he had a few ilms on her at most. It was the surprising amount of muscle she felt under his clothes, pressed up against the plush softness of her curves. Perhaps he had kept up with his archery, after all.
His lips do not leave hers throughout it all, nipping and then sucking at her bottom lip as T'lira makes a whimpering sound in her throat.
"Tell me now if you wish to stop," G'raha hisses out on an exhale. T'lira shakes her head. No, no. That was not what she wished for.
"There is something else I have wanted to tell you," she attempts to say between the passionate press of their lips, grasping at his adventuring attire to pull him even closer. To keep him with her. “I meant to tell you–”
"Later, later," G'raha positively purrs with an accompanied feline rumble in his chest, kissing over her chin and down her throat. Plainly so very pleased that T'lira wanted this, wanted him.
Indeed she did. T'lira tips her head back with an encouraging whimper, her fingers knotting in the fabric of the scarf he wore as G'raha peppers her skin in wet, open-mouthed kisses. His fangs occasionally scrape ever so gently over skin, inspiring such a pleasurable sensation that it made T'lira shiver all over, the spiced-copper of her hair and fur prickling pleasantly.
"Raha," She moans out the affectionate shortening of his name, pulling him even closer to her. Craving him even more now that they held one another in an embrace. Now that he was finally kissing her, touching her. Gods, she had to tell him now or it would burst out of her. All her feelings of love and affection would not be something she could contain any longer in such a blissful, passionate moment as this.
"Raha, I—" T'lira starts to say, only to be interrupted in a very G'raha fashion that was so much his younger, impatient self that T'lira felt hysterical laughter bubble up in her throat. At least until his words truly registered.
"—T'lira. Lira," G'raha gasps out between hungry, passionate kisses trailed over her decolletage. T'lira had never been so thankful to wear something a little more comfortable, fabric that was easily pulled aside so that G'raha—her lover!—could more easily touch and kiss her skin. "Pray, allow me to confess something to you that I have long wished to. For all the time I have known you, and for all the years I have waited, for the time that I was the Exarch, as well. Lira, I…"
Was he intending to… confess to her? T'lira blushes hot, her heart pounding in her chest. Falling quiet as she gazed at him with wide lilac eyes. Hopeful and expectant.
“Yes, Raha?” She breathes out.
G’raha lifts his head to meet her eyes, his crimson gaze intense, searing with his desire and brimming with long held emotions that had T’lira catching her breath in her throat. She could see plain in his face how he felt, but gods did she need to hear him speak the words like nothing she had ever needed so desperately before.
“Tell me,” T’lira murmurs gently, pleadingly. “Tell me?”
G’raha cups her face in his warm hands, and T'lira melts into his touch, sinking into his embrace. Basking in his warmth and breathing him in.
"I told myself I would tell you when the time was right," the redhead tells her, then sighs, "but before I knew it the time was never right! I kept pushing it back, holding my tongue when all I wanted to do was tell you, to tell everyone—all the people of the first and the source, too—how I felt!"
T'lira's cheeks grow hot under the man's palms, her lilac eyes wide and lips parted in surprise. "Raha…"
G'raha presses his finger to her lips, then strokes over them with the pads of his fingers. "Please, Lira, let me speak all I have held back till now. I feel as if my heart will burst if I do not tell you now, in a moment so special as this."
T'lira leans into his touch, her soft lips parted and her eyelashes gently fluttering. For a moment distracting the red haired miqo'te from what he meant to say as he cannot help himself from leaning in to steal yet another kiss.
T'lira gets lost in it for a moment herself.
"How many years have I waited," G’raha murmurs as their kiss breaks, resting his forehead against hers, their hair mingling together—ruby red to spiced-copper—and sharing air as he stays intimately close, a hair's breadth away from kissing her again.
"My dreams were ever of the past. I carried the hopes of many, including my own. So focused was I upon my goal, I had forgotten how it felt to be in your company. How every moment at your side was so captivating, so utterly exhilarating. Another adventurer, side by side, was all I wanted. I told myself I could be content with that. That it would be enough."
G'raha takes a breath, his forehead nuzzling hers, "Yet T'lira… Lira. It only made me yearn for more. I craved every second for your company. Another moment, another hour, another day; more and more of your time. To bask in your presence, to gaze into your face. To know more of you. The time we spent together before I sealed myself within the tower was much too fleeting. I want more. I have for a very long time. It has… dawned on me that I… I want forever with you, Lira. I want to wake each day and see your face the moment I open my eyes. To hear your voice as you bid me good morning. To hold your hands in mine, to kiss your lips…"
T'lira leans in to kiss him again, urgent and full of passion. G'raha groans, clutching her tightly against him.
"Lira… Lira," he sighs out, husky and breathless.
T'lira can barely hear him over the throb of her own pulse in her ears, but she does the hardest thing in this moment, breaking away from another passionate string of kisses so that she might calm herself down enough to listen to his words.
"Please," T'lira says softly, breathlessly.
The way he looks at her makes her breath hitch. His heart was in his eyes, his love for her written clearly in the expression on his face. Still, Lira would hear the words for herself. She would know his feelings, spoken true.
G'raha, sweet, dependable Raha, never did disappoint her.
"I love you, Lira."
Gods, he was adorable the way his voice trembled on her name. She can see his nerves in the way clenches his fists at his sides, looking at her with eyes wide and feline ears pinned back in wait of her answer.
Did he think she would reject him? For all his experience and being such an accomplished scholar and leader, he really was not so different from that silly boy she once knew.
Now was not the time for teasing. T'lira steps forward into the warmth of his body, reaching out to fiddle with the aethersand necklace she had made for him, its matching pair dangling from her neck.
"Of course I love you, Raha," she tells him simply, with no desire to drag things out with long speeches. That was more G'raha's specially. T'lira had wanted to say the words to him for so long. Knowing that Raha loved her made it suddenly all too easy when before it had been a struggle to formulate the words, let alone speak them.
"How could there be any doubt? Truly, I thought my feelings would have been far too obvious. I've loved you for a long time, and most everyone knows by now. Even Lyna, who was quite intense in her interrogation. She demanded to know just what my intentions were towards you."
"Truly?" G'raha laughs at that, head ducking bashfully as he runs his hand over his hair. Tail swaying and ears wiggling with positive emotions.
"Gods, Lira. I am just... so relieved."
T'lira smiles helplessly, curling her finger through the cord of his aethersand necklace and tugging meaningfully.
"So am I. Come here."
G'raha dips his head with no further need of prompting, kissing her with feeling. The press of his lips against hers is only soft for a moment before he becomes more insistent, coaxing her mouth open with a groan as he plays over the seam of her lips and lit her every nerve alight with the slick slide of his tongue.
T'lira grasps for him greedily, her fingers curling into the fabric of his adventuring attire and making fists to keep hold of him and drag him even closer.
"Raha," she moans encouragingly. Giggling breathlessly at the way his ears perk and twitch every time she says his name. So she says it again and again, "...Raha. Raha," just to delight in the way he reacts.
His skin colors to such a pretty shade, his fur prickling so cutely. What an honest reaction.
"You're so cute, Raha," T'lira murmurs affectionately. Her love overflows from her heart and leaks out into her voice as she speaks to him. Twelve, she adored him so.
She is rewarded with the sight of his embarrassed pouty face. Such an expression evokes in her a feeling of fond nostalgia. T'lira cannot fight the impulse to squeeze his face in her hands and kiss his pouty lips.
"You tease me overmuch, Lira," G’raha sighs, but smiles for her so sweetly. Heart meltingly.
T'lira does not expect him to turn the tables on her by cupping her face in his hands and kissing her until she melts into him.
"You are the cute one, Lira. My Lira," G’raha calls to her with an edge of a playful growl in his voice.
T’lira shivers all over, blinking wide eyed as her cheeks flush hot under his palms.
G’raha pauses, seeming surprised himself at inspiring such a response from her.
A look of triumphant mischief comes over her lover's face. Aught that surely spelled trouble for her. Her sweet Raha still had that playful spark of mischief within him.
"Lira," G’raha's voice rumbles low, the redheaded miqo'te tugging her close to purr directly into her ears, "Finally. You've become mine."
T'lira's stomach swoops, and her teeth press into her bottom lip as her eyelashes flutter with the desire that rushes through her.
She yanks him in by the grip she has on his clothing, their lips crashing together in a hot, frenzied string of kisses that was all tongues, and teeth, and gasping breath.
"Fair is fair. You call me yours, I'll have to call you mine," T'lira growls in kind, tugging on his lower lip with her teeth.
"Yes," G'raha groans in his throat and pulls her flush against him, the physical evidence of his desire for her pressing against her. "I have been yours for a very long time, Lira. How many years I have waited, yearning to meet you again. Even so, I dared not hope that you would accept me like this…!"
T'lira laughs, reaching out to place her finger over his lips before he can go off on another tangent. Smiling so large her face aches at the adorable expression of surprise that comes over her soon-to-be lover's handsome face.
"Well, I have. We two have expressed our feelings for one another, so won't you tell me just what were you intending to do before that grand speech? Pray, continue where you left off, my lord," T'lira says, deliberately teasing in her words and actions as she wiggles against him. Her best attempt of recapturing the mood before it could become derailed with more talk of their feelings and the colorful history between them.
Fortunately, it works like a charm.
G'raha clutches her to him, hissing out a breath between his teeth as he matches the roll of her body against his with a desperate grind of his hips.
"Lira," her name is a prayer from his lips as he lifts her up abruptly in a show of impatience as well as strength.
T'lira wraps her arms and legs around him, laughing in her throat as he pins her to the nearest wall and ruts against her.
"Hahh, yes!" T'lira moans encouragingly, squeezing her legs around him as she bucks her hips to meet him. The friction felt delicious, but it wasn't enough.
T'lira wanted more. She wanted to feel his hands on her, his body against hers, skin to skin.
"Too many clothes in the way," T'lira pants out. Yanking at his scarf, his tunic, her nails scratching at the red hairs of his nape, fingers tugging. She leans in to nip his jaw, purring in her throat, "I want to feel you."
G'raha's jaw ticks with the grinding of his teeth, his throat bobbing. Tempting her all the more to sink her teeth into the purple mark decorating his skin. To stain him in her color, mark him with the shape of her bite.
"My, so impatient," G'raha laughs, pressing his pretty mouth to her salty skin and licking at her. "Mayhap I want to savor this moment, my dear Lira."
It seemed they were of the same mind, wanting to stake their claim on one another.
T'lira drops her head back, gasping as he sucks marks into her skin. Pleading with him. Or, rather, making demands of him, "Nng, savor it later! Touch me, Raha. Touch me right now!"
G'raha laughs into her skin, seeming utterly giddy as he presses her hard into the wall with his body and frees up a hand to wriggle between them. A one track path to that heated place between her thighs that was aching for his attention.
T'lira whines out in slack-jawed pleasure as he cups her through the layers of cloth between them and rubs her roughly. Giving her more of that sweet, sweet friction through their clothing.
T'lira cries out, a curse wrung from her lips as her hips jerk into the firm press of his fingers against her.
Gods, she wanted those fingers inside of her so bad!
G'raha shushes her, giggling gleefully to himself as T'lira reacts to his touch so strongly.
"I should have done this ages ago," he mutters with eyes wide open to T’lira's every shift in expression, his feline ears perked at attention to catch every note of her pleasure.
"Don't you pull at that thread," T'lira huffs, balling a fist into his scarf and tugging, "We'll be here all night if you start with should haves and what ifs!"
G'raha grins, all cat-like mischief in the sway of his tail as he leans in to steal a kiss. "Oh? Did you think I'd be leaving here before morning?"
T'lira bites at his cheeky mouth, those too-full lips just far too tempting. "Full of yourself, aren't you?"
G'raha's smile turns wicked. A full fanged grin. "Mayhap I would prefer you to be full of m—"
T'lira covers his mouth, red cheeked and gasping, "Where has my shy, sweet Raha gone to? What rakish rogue has taken his place? Have you been taking lessons from Thancred?"
She meant to tease him by her words, but the look in his eye has her breath catching in her throat.
G'raha gives her tingles by kissing her palm, then scraping his teeth over it.
"If I told you that the sweet, shy young man you once knew desired you as I do now, would it shock you? Would you have blushed knowing the passion you stirred in him? How shameful he felt, thinking of you in his lonely moments of desire, wishing you were there beside him?"
T'lira does indeed blush red hot at the portrait that her lover paints for her. Endless scenarios fill her mind, the ache of her own desire only increasing.
"Was it me, for all the time we were apart?" T'lira asks him, surprising herself at her own boldness as surely as she does G'raha. "What did you think about?"
G'raha makes something of a moan in his throat, whether it was desire or embarrassment was unclear.
Perhaps it was both.
"You, it was always you," G'raha speaks into her throat as he buries his face into her neck. His breath is hot and shaky against her skin as he works her up into a needy frenzy with his words and his touch. "I would have no other. You were always in my thoughts."
His kisses are a clockwork over her skin, hot enough to leave her all too feverish as his fingers rub at her relentlessly, slow then quick, slow then quick.
T'lira knew he was strong, but to feel it for herself, firsthand… Gods, his hands! It was as if there were no layers between them at all with how keenly she could feel his touch. She would not last at this rate, but that seemed to be her lover's intention.
"Raha," T’lira mewls out, feeling all too weak to him. Craving more of that feeling, of his words. "I want to know more, I want to feel more…!"
She can feel his breath quicken, the scrape of his teeth over her skin followed by the slick drag of his tongue.
"You were all I could think of, Lira," G'raha declares in a passionate gasp, spurred on by her desire. "I was endlessly plagued by such lustful imaginings. Moments just like this, here and now. I imagined how I would touch you, what you would taste like."
His groan rumbles through her as his fingers press against her, seeking her clit. Through these layers it would be far more stimulating to grope and squeeze, but G'raha only pets her there, fingers stroking barely hard enough to make her wiggle and ache for more.
T'lira lets out a blissful whimper. "Don't tease me."
G'raha laughs at that, as if the sound were pulled from him. A bright, humored bark accompanied by the wiggle of his feline ears and the playful sway of his tail. "For all you have teased me, it would surely be just desserts, my dearest Lira!"
T'lira makes a small grunt in her throat, bothered that she could not refute him there. So, maybe she had teased him rather often.
"Perhaps if your reactions were not so terribly endearing, I would be less inclined to do so."
G'raha grins, eyebrows arching. "Oh? Am I to understand you are placing the blame on me? That is hardly fair, Lira my dear."
T'lira nods, sucking in a breath as his fingers tease against her purposefully. Just enough pressure to drive her wild.
"Mm! You… are just… too cute to resist! All the faces you make, the responses you give me are different all the time. I…hahh!…want to see them all."
The look in G'raha's eyes spells trouble for her, but T’lira cannot find it within herself to worry as her lover slips his fingers under her clothing to caress her skin to skin.
Ohh!
T'lira's head tilts back, her mouth falling open on a moan as he swipes his fingers through her folds and is instantly greeted by the warm wetness of her abundant desire spilling forth to coat his fingers.
"Gods, Lira, you're so warm. So wet," G'raha groans, sliding a slippery finger over her clit and chuckling to himself in satisfaction at the whimper she lets out.
"Do you intend to torture me?" T'lira whines, bucking her hips in want of more, more, more.
"Of course not, my love," G'raha murmurs, and sinks a finger inside of her slowly.
T'lira moans.
"To tease you now would simply be the same as torturing myself. I simply want to bear witness to your pleasure with full focus before I find myself too… distracted."
T'lira trembles as he works her open, dipping into her again and again. A second finger soon joins the first to curl inside of her, making her hips buck and legs shake with pleasure.
"Raha, Raha, Raha!" She chants between labored gasps, shaking all over and grasping at him desperately as he stirs her up into a lustful frenzy, his fingers thrusting inside of her and his palm grinding against her.
"You sing for me so prettily, Lira," G’raha growls to her, drunk on the rush of pleasing her like this.
T’lira could not stop the sounds she was letting out if she tried. Why fight it, why hold back at all? T'lira saw no point in denying her pleasure, so she let go. Allowing herself to get lost in the moment, to get lost in G’raha and how he made her feel.
"Sing for me, too, Raha," T’lira gasps, surging into him to kiss his mouth hungrily. "You've always had… such a gorgeous singing voice."
G'raha obliges her with a gorgeous moan. T’lira rarely had the opportunity to relish his singing, but to hear him moan was an entirely new and blissful experience. His voice was made for such sounds as these.
T’lira felt blissful in the knowledge that this duet was theirs, alone. Together, their voices harmonized so beautifully.
The air is filled with the sounds they make, the lustful music of moans and sighs breathed out, low and high. The crash of their lips as messy and wet as the lewd sound of Raha's fingers thrusting inside of her.
T’lira's whole body trembled, her muscles coiling tight as tension built fast inside of her.
"Close," she mewls, rolling her hips forward with need. Aching, throbbing on the edge of release; a tether pulled taut, close to snapping.
"Raha," she whimpers.
A little more, she needed just a little more…!
"I have you," G’raha tells her in a guttural growl. Pressing her against the wall snugly as his hand moved faster, her abundance of arousal making an absurdly wet sound as he fingers her in a furious pace.
T’lira's mouth hangs open in a helpless, lust-addled cry as she jerks and bucks in uncontrollable pleasure.
Yes, yes, yes…!
Pleasure swept her up in a wave of orgasmic bliss. She can only hang onto Raha for dear life as she rides out the overwhelming intensity of it.
He pins her to the wall with his body to still her uncontrollable writhing, laughing breathlessly in his throat as T’lira let out such incredible sounds in her passion-drunk delirium.
G’raha drinks it all in, eyes wide open and flushed redder than his hair, beside himself rapturous joy.
"I have you, I have you," he breathes out, half in awe that he truly did. That he was holding her fast to him as she slowly relaxed into the afterglow of that first peak. That he had been the one to inspire such such pleasure in her.
One of many to come, if he had his way.
T’lira murmurs contentedly, entirely limp and held up only by Raha's determined strength.
G'raha breathes shakily as he slowly shifts, attempting to be so very careful as he slips his fingers free.
T'lira mewls, squeezing at his fingers. Just as reluctant to let him go.
G’raha gulps, his thumb grazing her clit as his fingers sink back inside of her with a wet squelch, his eyes lit with hungry desire as he watches her twitch and shudder in response.
His hand was drenched with her juices up to his wrist, and though he was desperate to taste her—to savor every drop of her pleasure—G'raha curls his fingers inside of her again. Seeking her sweet spots. Wanting to bear witness to the addictive sight of her pleasure building to another orgasmic crescendo.
"Hnng… W—wait… I just came," T'lira whimpers, hips jerking.
"Ohh?" G'raha's tone of voice suddenly shifts, "Is this all my champion—my inspiration—can take? Surely you have more stamina than an old man such as I?"
"Don't you use your Exarch voice on me." Lira huffs.
"But I thought you liked it? You told me yourself that you thought it was impressive," G’raha chuckles.
"I recall what I actually said was that your ability to take control of a situation was impressive," T'lira squirms as she reminds him of what she had said, blushing and regretting her past self being so candid about admitting such things to G'raha's face. Though, it was certainly true that his ability to remain calm and step into a leadership role in the midst of chaos was undoubtedly a useful skill to have.
G’raha grins, entirely smug. "Very good, Lira," he coos in dripping saccharine praise with his calm, composed Exarch voice. "You remember well what you said from your own lips. Such is why I imagine you will not protest as I take control now." He punctuates his words by thumbing her clit, watching her reaction with a composed expression that was all the more devastating with the bright red blush coloring his skin.
T’lira cries out, hips jerking in what must be another smaller orgasm. Her whole body shivers and shakes, a feverish heat rushing through her.
Did he really intend to continue on like this? T'lira wanted more, right this moment. They could savor one another all they liked later.
If they kept at this pace, another apocalypse would be at their door before G'raha gave her what she wanted!
"Raha, I need you," she groans desperately, truly aching for him. Perhaps playing it up a bit to nail home just how much. She would be getting her way, she almost always did when it came to him, "Please, don't make me wait any longer."
That certainly did the trick.
G'raha makes the sound of a man knowing he was being manipulated, but going along with it anyway, somehow perfectly conveyed without words. It was all in the tone of his long-suffering groan, but it made T'lira grin like the cat that got the cream. Got him.
T'lira savors her victory as G'raha unfastening his trousers with surprising dexterity, obviously feeling it for the way he fumbles a few times before getting it right.
“Hurry,” she moans.
“Impatient,” G’raha huffs.
T’lira has a retort on the tip of her tongue, but loses it like a candy fizzling on her tongue as G’raha presses up against her and sinks inside with one smooth thrust of his hips.
“Ohh!” T'lira gasps, clutching at him. Her nails scratching over the layered fabric at his back.
“How is it…?” G’raha groans out.
T'lira whimpers.
His answering chuckle rumbles through her, and T’lira can do nothing but hold on for dear life and make sweet noises for him as G’raha pulls back and thrusts forward, again, again, and again.
“Was… this… what you wanted?” He asks her, every word punctuated by a snap of his hips that presses her firm against the door.
Sharlayan architecture was certainly something, here G’raha was putting his back into giving T’lira what she asked for with gusto, and the sturdy wooden door did not once shake in its frame.
“Yes, yes, haah… Raha!” T’lira moans encouragingly. Nor is she idle, either. She grips the doorframe behind her—and with G’raha braced against her—she lifts herself to bounce on him. Her arm wrapping around his shoulders as she lifts and falls, lifts and falls.
G’raha gasps for her so prettily that T’lira gives into the impulse to crush her mouth against his, stealing his breath as they both become lost to the frenzy of pleasure.
She tingles from her finely furred feline eartips to her curling toes with how he moans for her, murmuring her name so desperately even though he could hardly catch his breath at all.
“Raha, Raha,” she moans for him in return. Her whole body burned, that familiar feeling building up again far easier now that her body was in a state of consistent stimulus and arousal.
“I… I’m—!” her legs squeeze tight at his waist as another peak takes her by surprise. She ducks her head, yanking his scarf aside to bite hard at the muscled meat between his neck and shoulder.
G’raha must lose the strength in his legs as she grips him so tightly in the throes of her orgasm. Or perhaps she has simply made him weak in the knees with her teeth in his skin.
He groans as if he were dying and stumbles sideways, causing T’lira to shriek and laugh as she flings an arm out to catch them before they take a tumble, sweeping pinned papers and portraits off the wall as they slid across the wall and away from the sturdy frame of the door.
“Raaahaaa!”
G’raha is shaking with laughter as he rights them both in a show of strength and balance. “I have you, I have you,” he giggles boyishly. Resting them against the wall a moment to catch his breath before he was hoisting her up again and carrying her deeper into the room.
T’lira half expects him to take her to the bed, but is surprised as she finds herself perched upon the nearest table not entirely packed with clutter. G’raha sweeps his arm out, sending whatever populated the surface clattering to the floor as he lays her down upon it.
T’lira's cheeks ache with the force of her grin as she joins in, swinging her arm wide over her head and sending a stack of books tumbling over the ledge.
“I have wanted to do this for an age,” G’raha admits, pausing to lick up over his wrist and across his palm of the hand he had been fingering her with before sighing hotly as he leans forward to kiss her.
T’lira laughs, holding him in her embrace as she kisses him with lazy heat. “Mmm, I can tell…”
G’raha smiles with feline satisfaction, his tail flickering behind him. Mischievous.
What was he…?
“Pray excuse me, my love. I have some pressing matters to attend to that are well overdue,” G’raha says, and grasps her by the hip to flip her over onto her belly. It was easy enough for him, as T’lira was the smaller of the two at just under four-fulm and eleven-ilms.
“Ah! Raha!” T’lira gasps, blood rushing to her face as her lover grasps her bottom and spreads her open from the back. Her voice pitches high in a squeak as he leans into her and buries his face against her.
“Ohh..!” T'lira slips her hands up to grip the edge of the table for dear life as G’raha treats her to the talents of his tongue, groaning deep in his throat like she was the most delectable thing he had ever tasted.
T’lira's heart thunders in her chest, her own voice loud in her ears as she cannot keep quiet the sounds that her lover pries from her lips.
“Gods, Lira, you taste divine,” G’raha sounded blissed out himself, drunk on her flavor. “I could feast upon naught but you for days at a time.”
T’lira twitches and bucks, squirming in place with helpless pleasure as he makes a meal of her.
“Please, please, please,” she whimpers and whines. So sensitive, but craving so much more. She would surely be sore tomorrow but T’lira was not ready to stop now. G’raha would certainly not be leaving her room until the morrow.
“You beg so prettily, Lira,” Raha chuckles, sucking at her folds and tonguing her slit. His hands are hot on her skin, strong as he spreads her open for him.
T’lira cries out, seeing stars as he sucks and licks at her clit. “Fuck me!”
G’raha gives a husky laugh. “As you wish.”
She moans in her throat as G’raha pulls away, barely able to miss him as he promptly lines himself up again, sinking back inside of her to resume his good work.
The table wobbles with the snap of his hips, groaning under them as it scrapes across the floor. It was barely sturdy enough to bear the brunt of their passion, adding a sense of hilarity to the situation that had T’lira giggling between moans.
“We might… break this table… Raha!”
His hands had a firm grasp on her hips, the table jerking under them with every thrust. “‘Twould be… a worthy sacrifice…!” Raha grunts out with humor.
The next creak the table makes is particularly loud, as if to protest the idea of its destruction by the overzealous actions of the two amorous lovers.
T’lira bites back her laughter, holding fast to the less than sturdy table in a white-knuckle grip as G’raha well and truly did his best to make up for the time they had not been all over one another like this.
She shivers as G’raha leans over her, pressing kisses over her spine. His hands caress her skin, sliding up from her hips over her sides to lay his palms over the backs of her hands, their fingers slotting together.
“I love you,” he murmurs into her neck, brushing his lips across her shoulder blades. “I love you, Lira.”
T’lira gives a soft whine in her throat, overcome with emotion. “I love you,” she whispers fervently, lifting her arm to cup the back of his neck. Her head turns a bit awkwardly, but her desire to kiss him overcomes any discomfort.
The table gives a loud, ominous crack!—and T’lira squeaks as she finds herself snared in G’raha’s magic—caught before she could fall as the table collapses beneath them, no longer able to bear the weight.
A sacrifice, indeed, to the brunt of their passion.
They stare at the pile of wood scrap, formerly a table.
“...Shall we break the bed next?” G’raha laughs.
….
“Ah…! Haahh… Nngh!”
The bed springs squeak under them, the sound of their panting breath almost drowned out by it.
The bed thuds against the wall, shaking paintings in their frames and T’lira along with it as she grips the dowels that made up the headboard with sweaty hands.
Gods, how much stamina did this man have? T’lira had lost track of how many times he had brought her to peak, yet he remained harder than steel inside of her.
“Can't… much longer,” T’lira groans, the bedclothes rumpled beneath her and damp with sweat and other such salty secretions.
“Once more, Lira,” G’raha pleads with her.
She sobs a bit, her knees and thighs aching from rocking back against him. “Are you a man or a machine? I'm exhausted, Raha!” Her voice pitches on the edge of whiny, but she was shaking just holding herself up. She did not have much left to give.
“Come here, I shall handle the rest,” G’raha laughs, dragging her back into his lap.
He is sweaty, flushed hot, but T’lira only makes a mild grumbling sound as he tips her head back to kiss him.
“Rest assured, I am more flesh and blood than I have been for centuries, my love.”
T'lira sighs, her head lolling against G’raha's shoulder as he bounces her in his lap. He felt even bigger like this, settling deeper inside of her.
T’lira finds herself squeezing around him, reflexively at first, but then with wicked intention as G’raha hisses and groans. The steady pace he had set faltering. His sweet voice whimpers for her so cutely.
“Enough already,” T’lira sighs, wriggling on his lap with purpose. “You have… nothing left… to prove. Why do you… torture yourself so?”
G’raha grasps at her hips, his voice catching. His hands shake as he jerks and trembles beneath her. “A—Ah…! My love, mercy…! I merely wanted… to show you how I might please you!”
T’lira laughs, tugging at his neck to press her lips to his jaw. Setting her teeth against his skin and nipping. Delighting in the way he shudders for her.
“You have already done so. This will hardly be the last time we share a bed. Let go, Raha,” T'lira whispers to him sweetly, rocking in his lap just so. Squeezing how she now knew he liked.
G’raha gives a strangled groan and bucks his hips under her, his whole body spasming as he does as she bids him. Letting go and finally giving into his pleasure.
T'lira gives a soft little sound of pleasant surprise as he crushes his lips to hers, pulsing inside of her as he fills her up with his hot, sticky spend.
T’lira mewls as he reaches around her to rub at her clit, making her clench around him all the tighter as he eases another orgasm out of her even as she milks him dry.
“R—Raha… ah!”
G’raha squeezes her tight, riding out the high along with her. “Lira… I…!”
They cling to one another in a final peak, swept up in the all consuming swell of pleasure.
They drift, their breath syncing up as they slowly calm.
T’lira moans as G’raha shifts, plopping backwards instead of lifting her entirely off of him. Too tired to move beyond rolling to settle more comfortably side by side.
T’lira stares into his eyes, gazing at his satisfied face with some fair bit of smugness herself.
“You always have to take the lead, don't you?” G’raha sighs before she can be the one to speak, reaching out lazily to tuck spiced copper strands of sweaty hair away from her eyes.
"I think I restrained myself quite well up till now. Besides, you're not the only one who knows how to take control of a situation," T’lira replies, showing her hand by admitting she had led him; but she was much too satisfied about things proceeding how she had wanted them to.
G’raha's ears perk, a small grunt of mock outrage pulled from his throat. "I know very well, Lira. Like a talented bard, you know which strings to pluck for the precise arrangement you wish for," he sighs, but does not seem too bothered by playing into her hands yet again. T'lira was simply too skilled at getting people to do what she wanted, so subtly that it was nearly imperceptible unless one was paying enough attention.
“We can all but dance to your tune,” he murmurs, straying close to steal another kiss or twenty. He simply could not get enough of her.
T'lira felt much the same.
“Well, I am rather fond of how you dance for me,” T’lira gives a besotted laugh, wrapping her arms around him and stroking the raised marks where her nails had scratched him.
G’raha shivers at her touch. So cute.
“Oh dear, I seem to have marked you up quite a bit, my lord,” she remarks teasingly.
G’raha huffs, thumbing one of the many hickeys he had decorated her skin with. “Fair is fair, my dear Lira. I seem to have done the very same.”
T’lira drags her fingertips over the indent of her teeth on his shoulder. That one would certainly become a purple bruise to match the signature tattoo on his neck.
“Shall I go fetch us a washcloth?” G'raha murmurs, pressing his lips to her cheek.
T’lira smiles and nods her agreement. Propping her head up on her hand, she watches the sway of his tail and the curve of his backside with a warmth in her chest and a flush to her face as he hops from the bed and hurries off towards her washroom.
Gods, she loved this man.
T’lira rolls onto her back as he returns to her in short order with a wet, warm washcloth to wipe her down with.
T’lira cannot stop staring at him, drinking him in. The focused expression he wore, the slight flicker of a feline ear. The bashful face he pulls as he catches her staring.
“What is it?” G’raha asks, almost seeming shy.
Even after all that? He was so adorable.
T’lira smiles. “I'm just so happy. I had a plan today, but it all fell apart. If it weren't for you coming to my room, perhaps we would have spent many moons more dancing around one another.”
“W—Well, I…” G’raha straightens up with obvious pride, the hand holding the washcloth raised towards his face as he clears his throat. He takes a breath. “I will not claim to have suspected such. Merely that… I had hoped you might feel even a fraction of what I feel for you. That you would not turn me away even after overstepping in that manner.”
T’lira hums in her throat, her tail swishing playfully. “You were indeed quite bold. Kissing me out of the blue like that?” She cradles her cheek, only half teasing. “You were so forceful, my heart was pounding!”
G’raha goes red in the face, blushing up to his ears as he wrung the cloth in his hands. “You never tire of teasing me, do you?”
T’lira plucks the cloth from his hands and tosses it to land on the floor with a splat. “Never. Come here,” she pats the bed.
G’raha pauses. “I thought we might change the sheets?”
T’lira grabs him by the wrist and drags him into bed with her.
“Perhaps later,” G’raha sighs, gathering her up in his arms as T’lira rolls into him.
“Yes, much later,” T’lira agrees. “I’ll allow you your rest for now. But you had best prepare your regenerative magicks soon enough, my lord, as I have no intention to allow you to leave this bed until the next sun greets us.”
“Lira!” G’raha’s spluttering reply is lost to the press of her lips as T’lira tugs him in for a fur floofing, ear perking, toe curling smooch.
….
In the hallway, two figures come to stand before G’raha’s empty room. A hand raised to knock pausing, a pale head of hair turning as milky eyes glance in the direction of the doubly occupied room now belonging to T’lira.
“Is aught amiss, Y’shtola?” Krile asks her. “Is Raha not in?”
Y’shtola shakes her head, a smile tugging at her lips. “He seems to have stepped out, Krile.”
Krile sighs and shrugs. “Well, I suppose we can drop by later.”
Y’shtola hums. “Indeed. In the meantime, I shall collect on a bet that Thancred owes to me.”
Krile chuckles. “‘Tis good to see you two getting along, I suppose.”
“Not quite as well as some of us. There must be something in the air,” Y’shtola remarks.
“Something in the air?” Krile hurries after the miqo'te sorceress, not quite sure what her fellow Scion was talking about.
“New beginnings, Krile,” Y’shtola says cryptically. “For all of us.”
Yes, it was about time.
T’lira deserved to find her happiness.
#LadyRamora writes#LadyRamora writes commissions#writing commission#g'raha x wol#G'raha x Named WoL#G'raha Tia#Fem miqo'te WoL#Named WoL#lemon#ffxiv fic#steamy spicy smut#ffxiv shadowbringers spoilers#ffxiv endwalker#endwalker spoilers#ffxiv endwalker spoilers#G'raha Tia x T'lira#author leans into feline characteristics#yay kitties#Fem WoL
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Tagged by @icescrabblerjerky
Rules: Go to your published works on AO3 and list the first fic you ever published there, the last fic you published, any fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once, your favorite fic you wrote in the fandom/ship that has the most works, the fic you wish more people read, the fic you agonized over the most, the fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort, and a work you are proud of—for whatever reason.
First fic published on AO3 Every Kiss a Story, which is a collection of DAI Pavelyan one shots. But I didn't start posting on AO3 for ages. One that comes from a while before that is Death and the Living Force, which is a SW prequel one shot about both young Anakin and Obi-Wan coping with Qui-Gon's passing.
The latest publish fic is Too Much of a Good Thing, which is the final part in a Good Omens AU series. The series is about both Crowley and Aziraphale as angels, and how things go differently in a universe where Crowley didn't fall. This final story follows (vaguely) the events of GO season 1.
I don't actually have any one of fics from any fandoms. If I split hairs, there's only one posted for Dragon Age 2 and that's Redressed. It's a Justice/Hawke ship fic (where she's also with Anders but this is Justice specific).
Favorite for a fandom I have the most fics for... I have by far the most fic for Good Omens lol. Picking a favorite out of those is hard. Probably my angel!Crowley during the Spanish Inquisition, Dig Down, which I feel is a really solid story. It's a one shot but a hard sell because it's deep into my AU series.
Favorite little read fic would probably be any of my FFXIV fic. If I had to pick one (and I'll feel bad about this), it would be Starshower. It's a WoL/Emet-Selch not quite a ship smut fic set in Shadowbringers. The reason I feel bad is it's unfinished. Hopefully will get back to it soon.
Fic I agonized over the most would be either Too Much of a Good Thing, since it's been hard to get season 1 done in a way that has been satisfying to me for the AU or my DAI AU fic, The Altus Inquisitor. What can I say, I get caught up in AUs lol. If I'm gonna do an AU, I've got to get the details right.
There are two fics that sprang fully formed from my mind. One was For Want of Words, which is post GO season 2 smut that literally sprang from my mind in the form of a dream. Took two hours to write lol. The other was In The Beginning, which is the start of my GO AU series and why it ended up jumping from a random AU thought into a full series.
A random fic I'm proud of is Love Like Yours, which is a short little one shot about Aziraphale handing over the holy water to Crowley.
Not tagging anyone but if you want to do this, consider yourself tagged.
#long post#about me#fic#my answers would maybe be different#if I wasn't in full on GO mode lol#but I genuinely do love my AUs so much#and want everyone to read them lol
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i wave my wand & command u to speak on hopeless, a fic that has lived in my bookmarks for time immemorial.
ohhhhh thank youuu!!! hopeless was my first wolgraha fic! It was based on 10 kiss prompts that I decided to make loosely related and kind of flesh out a story for my WoL. I was just going along cheerfully enjoying FFXIV until Shadowbringers but idk man several things about that part of the story just have my number on speed dial you know! I was like okay I’m gonna have to write for this to get the rocks out of my brain, ergo I’m gonna have to actually develop an OC.
I pretty much made Adrienne specifically to ship her w/ G’raha so I find it extremely funny a. how quickly I became attached to her for her own sake and b. how I feel her chemistry w/ other characters developed since she was initially conceptualized to complement G’raha specifically LOL. I previously had a hard time “bonding” with my own OCs and I feel this really marked a turning point in that regard where I was able to focus in on character ideas that really appealed to me enough to form that connection, if that makes sense.
There’s also like a huge gap in my AO3 works from March 2020 until January 2021 when I started writing for FFXIV. I remember I kept wanting to say something about what I was going through at the time and how I was feeling about my writing and about writing generally, but anything I tried to say barely made any sense because I think I didn’t even know what was going on with me. There was a period of time where I felt like maybe I just wouldn’t write anymore because I didn’t have it in me. Nothing inspired me, and nothing I had been working on pre-pandemic even remotely appealed to me anymore. I felt like it had been written by someone else.
In retrospect, it makes perfect sense, right? But it was hard to understand the feeling from the middle of it. And I didn’t want to be cold or disrespectful to the people who have loved my work over the years, but I also couldn’t find a good way of venting my frustration about how I was feeling, so I think I often ended up coming off that way despite my best intentions.
So my main goal in doing the kiss prompts was to not angst about them too much, to just get them done without much editing, and to write something fairly different from what I usually wrote in the past. I felt like it would be a good challenge for me because as I mentioned I really love unresolved tension and agonizing slow burn, but I think maybe I love it too much LOL, so sometimes when it finally came time for the culmination of the tension I would freeze up because I had built it up so much that I was afraid the payoff wouldn’t be good enough! Ten shortish prompts where they literally had to kiss felt like a perfect low-stress challenge to help shake my brain loose on this very specific issue, and for that reason I think it’s very sweet and pleasant to read where a lot of my other work is more fraught and angsty LOL.
I really don’t even know if this dialogue feels particularly in character, I was straight up just calling myself out for a laugh:
A dull terror is beginning to take root in her heart, the one that has borne the loss of countless others, the one that has already lost him twice over, and she searches her mind frantically for something to say, something that will keep her from spoiling the moment with things she can’t do anything about.
“Is that your idea of a proper courtship?” she wonders, instead, trying at a teasing tone.
G’raha looks up. “Is it not to your liking?” he counters. “If you’d prefer, I could go and sit across the room.”
“You’ll do no such thing!” Adrienne tightens her grip on him instinctively.
G’raha’s grin widens, and his tone turns dramatic. “Perhaps in a few months, our hands will brush, and I’ll write you a sad letter about it.”
“I hate you so much.” Adrienne laughs weakly, but she cannot bring herself to loosen her grip on him, lest he slip away from her yet again in her negligence.
“I don’t think that’s true,” says G’raha pleasantly.
It’s funny, now that my life is like pretty normal and okay again, I’m back to mostly liking fraught and angsty things, but at the time I feel my personal life was so bad that I really needed sweet and pleasant in my escapism!
Fanfic Writer Director's Cut Ask Game!
#tyty for indulging me!!!!!#i also was (and still am of course) such a huge fan of your work when I found it and i was so honored and delighted that you liked my fic!!#exciting tag for writing things#exciting tag for answered asks#personal#ffxiv#wolgraha#fic:hopeless#poor adrienne still doesn't have a consistent tag bc i just posted her on twitter#my poor bby#relegated to TWITTER#the injustice
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This isn't going to be S'ria lore since he wasn't here, simply us Yelling about "Thou Will Live, Die, and Know" cutscene
Firstly!!! The music!!!!!! The transitions between the male/female/full choir sections in the beginning, fading into the pipe organ only version when Venat confronts Zodiark's zealots, the complete lack of music while Venat repeats the lines she told us. "They are my meaning and my purpose. My love." SLAMMING back into the solo vocal electric guitar verse with the summoning. The bridge of the song over the section in the void.
The somber quiet vocals-no-instruments part over the beautiful Warrior of Light in the Dying Gasp parallels. And. In the same fleeting moment, thou must live, die, and know...
I'm unwell.
Secondly: it was. Literally so mean of them to show this farewell before the sacrifice.
Thirdly: Holy fuck this was a LINE and a DELIVERY
Fourthly: oh god are they allowed to. show something that is so gore-adjacent, with the game's rating? In the first animations, they make it very clearly that this is her being hurt, so. Hm.
Fifthly: i cannot possibly express how much we love parallel shots. We literally just stared at the screen like :o frantically tapping the screenshot button.
Paralleling whatever these vibes are with Venat to the point that was nearest to true defeat for most WoLs (and more notably for S'ria in Shadowbringers, coming on the tail end of a mental health outlook so bleak that it would surely have had disastrous consequences if happening in the current Final Days state.) it's so. !!!!!!!!!.
And then we went. Hm. I think it's time to go to bed after that, because it's not looking promising.
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1nky Recounts a Part In Endwalker In Greater Detail Than Usual Part I
so it hit me that I literally will not be able to post screenshots on Twitter from Endwalker anymore, however Vague, because basically every single detail I wanna comment on is a Spoiler.
So I decided to just have some commentary on This Part In Particular - or namely, that Part Between Levels 86-87, I Think
Anyway, enjoy.
YES.
You bastard. You maniac. You dipweed.
I missed you.
And Hythlodaeus has been given a face! Much more prettier than I'd originally imagined, after meeting him as a Shade.
Some things don't change over the millenia, huh?
Well, you do seem notably Happier right now.
doN'T be FUCKING MEAN
You know, when looking for Hermes, this wasn't what I was expecting.
Meteion's Cute, but reeks of Experiment Going Wrong. ) :
The Soul behind the Final Days, everyone.
I would like to thank my partner @rukewastestime for helping me bully Emet-Selch a little.
Granted, Hythlodaeus may be caught in the blast, but I think he'll just find it Funny.
Oh, okay. Ahem.
in retrospect this ended up being relevant
Maybe not intentionally, but the way you are right now, you seem kinda like a Powder Keg in these circumstances. ) :
) :
YOU
... I have been slightly Wary of Hydaelin since Shadowbringers, but with that said, I am Super Happy to meet her heart.
OH SHIT???
I kinda love that. Of course she was also an Adventurer of her time.
... but then of course she notices the Time Travel Shenanigans immediately and the jig's up.
alright how badly have we fucked up the timeline
heheheh
i'm sorry my dude but you look a lot like Xemnas Kingdomhearts
Also Many Thousands of Years of Depression and the death of half your people in a society where Suffering had little impact/occurrence means you will Cope Badly.
look I know it's a cultural difference, but there is something jarring about all these people going "Man, I can't wait for you to die! : D You deserve it so much!"
Venat: ... thank
I really liked this part. :' ) Talking with the person who retroactively gave us this quest to begin with, asking how our adventures have gone - and us telling it all to her.
I Noticed that Haurchefant Emote, too. :' )
alright this is where I stopped playing my last session, and the next part will be the Rest Of Elpis.
where uh
Hm.
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Coming out of Endwalker like... so many thoughts I am not quite ready to organise without looking back, but I think I have figured out why a lot of people see Stormblood as the odd egg out in this story. It's not the pacing, and it's not that the characters are as unbearable as a lot of people make them out to be either, it's just a step backwards thematically. It backs off from the personal emotional stuff and is a big wide plot thing, and it makes sense that it would be, considering a lot of it was apparently plotted out before even Heavensward and still running on ARR logic. But there's this long running thing in this game that was always better expressed through figurative feelsy stuff where the pain is grand and unreal, sometimes literally inconceivably great the way big numbers don't compute in the human brain. Stuff that is tethered closer to emotions than physical events and gets as close to the characters as possible. Write what you know but not with actual events I guess?
FFXIV at its brightest is about grief, depression, denial and escapism and how you have to move past all of that to make your life worth living -- For those we have lost, for those we can yet save -- but more than that, how this is only really possible through new and surviving bonds. You can't save everyone and you can't get those people back. There's no way to rewind or undo the loss and trauma and the characters who cause themselves suffering are all either out for revenge, or reincarnation that they could never live to see, or more broadly they're looking for a meaning in life that has a finite end point. Estinien, G'raha are both extremely relevant additions to the cast for this reason, it's far more than just fan appeal. 1. Guy who lived to kill, not just for lost loved ones but a life he could have had; almost ends the life he has now if not for new love and friendship. 2. Guy who lived to die out of love, and when denied this had to come to terms with the fact that removing yourself from a loved one is not a kindness, and one person cannot be the beginning and end of where you find purpose. The amount of beloved characters who only enter the main cast proper after you stop them from offing themselves was never lost on me.
Anyway, if Heavensward was when this theming got LOUD and ANGRY, Shadowbringers is when it was cold and alone. I came out of Shadowbringers rattled, genuinely exhausted. Endwalker is not like that. It's the story not just for people in the abyss, but those of us who have climbed out again. A lot of people are Hermes in this story, but I'm a Venat type myself... and it's something you can only achieve after digging through the mud. Extremely rare to ever have a story like this written from that perspective. Once I realised what her white robes meant I changed mine. That's neither here nor there but Endwalker eases you in, stresses you out, hurts over and over but keeps giving you anchors to hold onto and relationships to push you forward, and up to the very last second it's harder and harder (for the characters at least,) but then the relief! Shadowbringers felt like washing up on the beach, Endwalker lets you down gently! God it's good.
I know what an actual character end feels like so I wasn't crying in that final area, I think my prevailing emotion was "I hate these nihilist cunts" "I hate that all this destruction was needless" "I hate this fucking crab bucket dimension" but in a completely positive way. It's that frustration I feel when someone refuses to accept that they have defined their own meaninglessness, it is not inherent and it is causing them all this unnecessary pain. This is the suicide expansion, that's just what it is. I had my doubts when that first came up in the patches but not once did it feel cheap, even when the game beats you over the head with it. The end reveal that "suffer with me" was never even supposed to be kindness, because of course it wasn't, of course there's rage and fear in that, Hermes said himself that killing something that wants to live is not beautiful.
And there's debate about whether the Ancients had an "actual utopia" or not -- A. Of course it was because Emmie said so, B. Of course it wasn't because Hermes and Meteion suffered -- but that's not even the right question to ask in my opinion. It was an actual utopia, caveat: in a piece of fiction written with the idea that utopia and perfection is unachievable and would destroy anyone who could reach it. It being actually genuinely all but free of pain for mankind is not a loss of a great society that could never be rebuilt, but a sort of literalised escapism, literalised denial, an unreachable world that people on real world (the sundered one, in-universe) can only wish or hope existed, if somehow we could ever be free of strife. You go to the Garden of Eden and it's a lab. It's heaven bro. It's heaven and you can't reach it through violence.
Ironically Zenos who was such a... ???? ... in Stormblood ended up being best adapted to the themes of Endwalker because here's 3. Guy searching eternally for what meaning he can find through violence, when actually hurt for the first time in his adult life finds it the closest thing to closeness he's yet felt. But instead of identifying that closeness as what he wants, blames it on the violence instead, literally chases you to the ends of the earth hoping you'll kill each other in some ultimate act of physicality and what is, to Zenos, love! The nearest thing to it. The harder he pushes this way the further he pushes any reasonable person away from reciprocating. He gets so close to realising what he's done wrong, not in his actions but in the meaning he has defined for himself. Alisaie gets closer than anyone to cracking him just by telling him he'll die hated and alone. And personally I do think the rescue button was made of his regret, some last second realisation that dying is not what he wanted, and more than that, he does not want the person who at least tried to give his life meaning to die too. Loving or hating this character are both completely reasonably strong reactions but he loves YOU, like it or not. That's kinda the point...
Terrified I'm gonna lose this post so I end it here. Endwalker was unmatched. Best Game.
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1, 3, 9, 10 for choose violence
the character everyone gets wrong
Kaneeka is not Sybil's little puppet, the magical tea manipulation clearly started days ago if not that very same Thursday. She's bold and very much guided by scientific knowledge. She left for college and while she does diligently cares for the store, she has left it alone at times by her own choice. She fights with other people like Tabitha and the pastor. We see her fight her mom of Wednesday and with the right dialogue you can make Kaneeka start to realize that something is wrong while you try to escape to the clinic and Sybil catches you. Why does everyone make it so that all Kaneeka is, everyone she hates and loves, her interests and hobbies were made by Sybil.
its the racism.
9. worst part of canon
y'shtola's attitude change beginning with shadowbringers. some switch got flipped in the square enix's team after a realm reborn that made them realize she could be fanboy fuel for the gamer dudebros so they decided her pajamas, miner outfit and personality where she cared deeply about the beast tribes and defending them loudly and openly needed to go and now alisaie was the loud defender of others while y'shtola is just. smart. in a very "this plan doesn't make sense but we're the heroes so we're doing it" smart. deux ex smartness.
she's super annoyed about matoya all the time. also her (non) blindness. what's up with that.
10. worst part of fanon
people who think scarlet hollow is a romance visual novel and not a horror visual novel. enough said.
3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr
left this one for last bc cw for racism and black face
always thinking about the person with a swtor oc named blakk (yes two k's, as if the third one would be too in the nose or something) who was a literal white man doing black face and when the person got called out instead of confronting their issues they decided to give a fucking long and insane explanation of how the oc could be like that because he was a strange and very unknown type of humanoid alien who could change their skintones and that was somehow... good enough for them??? complete lack of acknowledgement and even worse, thinking star wars' racism would cover their own. it was absolutely delusional. the oc's face claim was fucking armie hammer of all people.
this was about five years ago but last i heard that person is still out there, black face oc and all. learned absolutely nothing from all that clowning
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Today’s gameplay progress:
I managed to get one line of seals in this week’s Wondrous Tails, so I’ve handed that in! I think I will still accumulate second chance points even before I can collect the next journal, but it isn’t that big of a loss if I don’t, I suppose.
I slightly misread the experience bars in the menu, so despite handing in this week’s journal as a summoner, I’m still level 87 - albeit nearly level 88 - as that (and scholar, technically). I’m also nearly level 87 as a reaper, but again I haven’t quite gotten to that yet.
There was an intention to continue the story through the power of jamming out to music, but I got about three steps to the next objective before getting horrendously distracted by glamouring. So, no story progress today (and possibly not for some time).
As a result of spending literally all evening glamouring, I do have some screenshots to share, though! First of all, some classically “fun” end-of-Shadowbringers moments - the first one is Lorenza struggling with the final Lightwarden’s light, while the second one is essentially “what would happen if she couldn’t process the Light/doesn’t get help in time during the first picture”, because it’s of her as a Lightwarden. Even though this state is entirely hypothetical/a “bad ending” for her, and would only actually come to pass in an AU, I still wanted to update its design to something I was happier with (since I thought of another potential way to reference Linariyn!), so here that is.
Not the most fun of times for Lorenza, but I at least enjoyed making the images, haha. I don’t think she would be as monstrous/stagnant of a Lightwarden as you might expect, given that she was so full of darkness to begin with - i think she would act the way that I do when I’m in a lot of pain, which means her usual calm and collectedness would be replaced by a lot of crying and not being able to speak much at once.
Second of all, and entirely unrelated to the previous images, I’d like to introduce L’nahri, a nervous but eager-to-assist new adventurer who shows up as part of the Crystal Tower questline! She would be part of Clio and Tsutsuji’s alliance in my version of events. Surely nothing bad will happen to her on those expeditions, right?
..Right?
(Wrong, unfortunately. She dies at the top of Syrcus Tower directly after that alliance raid is completed, trying to defend people from the dark clones of Unei and Doga. When Tsutsuji makes her pact with Lorenza, one of the terms is that Lorenza is given the lifeless body of L’nahri to use as her own while on the Source - which, for the sake of gaining her assistance in going through the World of Darkness safely, is accepted by Tsutsuji, even if others may have objected to the concept.
She’s essentially an equivalent self-insert to Linaria, because for some reason she always seems to be the one I use for these sorts of unfortunate situations, haha. I’m not sure if I’ll keep her as an arcanist, even if she is holding a book here - maybe she can have been a conjurer as an excuse to give her a staff, which is about as close as I can get to the quarterstaff Linaria uses in Dragon Quest.)
#oh dear this one turned out painful didn’t it#oops#a voidsent voice 🜸#lorenza (fell‑court) 🜸#l'nahri (fell‑court) 🜸#not that she exists for long unfortunately#lightwarden AU#sure#my creations 🜸#..in that these are /gpose screenshots
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Personally, Stormblood has always been on the discontent side for me. I was invited to try FFXIV in the last days of Heavensward by an acquiantenance. And was nearly completely uninterested in the experience. I got to maybe level 30 back when Paladin used Flash to gather enmity. And was so use to WoW's whack-a-mole ability system that the GDC felt sluggish and unwieldy. Plus the main story, the strongest point and selling point of any FF game was locked behind grind-a-thon leveling? People's suggestions at the time to even level through from 30 - 40 was to do levequests. And that was...an entire 12 hours I'm not getting back. And it seemed like too my grind for too little story at the time. So I dropped it.
I came back again when Legion was about to hit for WoW and I was kind of burnt out on WoD grinds and felt a brick wall in place of anything of interest. You had to spend TP for Sprint and like...Samurai's AoEs consumed a god awful amount of that so it severely limited them. But hey, at least I had gotten to Heavensward this time and found it...okay? It was overhyped and felt like it under delivered. Sure the questing and flying made it a breath of fresh air compared to grinding pre-patched Post-ARR but man I expected it to come out with chocolate cake and a free house for me to live in for the rest of my life. But it was just a decent little expansion and I pushed through it and its post to the beginning of Stormblood. Where I got my first experience with the frustrating fight with Zenos and got to the beginnings of the Ruby Sea before I just bounced off it once again. And went back to WoW to enjoy the entirety of Legion.
But then BFA happened and god damn was I just...so fucking burnt out on grinding World Quests, Reputation, Dailies, and so forth. That I was like "Fuck it, fine. I will literally Dark Souls this game by bashing my head against the metaphorical brick wall and get through this." So I leveled through the Ruby Sea. Fought Susanoo for the first time and then...and I shit you not, the literal moment I left Susanoo and entired the cutscene after, my graphics card died. Since I was still a poor College student at the time. It took my 3 months or doing odd jobs and getting paid under the table to save up enough for a new one. But I decided if I was going to bang my head against the wall, I better do it proper.
So I created Genixma and bashed my head all the way through the A Realm Reborn thru Stormblood MSQ. This was the dying days of Stormblood, so the Shadowbringers hype train was going. And while it LOOKED cool, I had been burnt by Heavenswards' overhyped expansion before. So I just sort of meandered through the story. And found Stormblood...completely underwhelming. The Yda to Lyse beat felt weird, Zenos did jack shit the entire time, I didn't like Fordola or even know why Yotsuyu was here and then gone. The Azim Steppe felt like Dances with Wolves but like...in the worst way possible. The FUCKING AETHER CURRENT PLACEMENTS IN THE LOCHS (at the time) CAN KISS MY FUCKING ASS! And like, the ending to Zenos and everything was like...it felt like I played A Realm Reborn but condensed to 10 levels of story.
The only good thing I enjoyed about Stormblood is that I didn't have to level two jobs to unlock my advanced job. And Bard felt amazing to play. It literally had its own rhythm. But since the MSQ didn't blow me out of the water. I decided to just engage with the Roleplaying community on Mateus (this was before Realm Travel was a thing, so you just had to make do). Met some cool people, failed at making an active guild, and then Shadowbringers launched. I started shitposting on here, started a personal vendetta against Titania, and actually, Shadowbringers was the first expansion and beat of the story I really enjoyed. But this is about Stormblood and how it hit at a time where I was just burnt out on the MMORPG experience. So, unfortunately, it didn't get a fair shake but honestly, first impressions are important and Stormblood failed to do it.
So yeah, thats my experience with the game up until Stormblood. I did not care for it or most of its characters. Especially the second half Ala Mhigo which felt SUPER padded like they were trying to squeeze in as much story as Doma had in like...4 - 3 levels of content. And last, and what fucking annoys me to this day. We go to free Doma from Garlean rule so they can aid us in taking back Ala Mhigo. We free Doma and then fight through Ala Mhigo freeing 99.99% of it. And Doma only shows up, LITERALLY, at the last moment. Not as a hail mary but as aerial support. Like...had it not been for Zenos. We could of probably freed Ala Mhigo in the first 5 levels. And its only because Zenos did NOT give a flying FUCK that we did completely retake Ala Mhigo. In fact, Zenos is a nothing burger of a character in hindsight. Its like he was created specifically so we'd have road block to retaking Ala Mhigo in the first 5 levels and force us to go reclaim Doma instead.
Endwalker story telling analysis and metaphors for the character aside. Zenos literally sat around and did jack shit for 3 expansions total. That combined with Doma showing up at literally the last moment and treated with fanfare when it felt like, "Oh, the kid who was sick this entire group project finally came to school today and will get full credit for 0.1% of the work" kind of feeling.
A Realm Reborn was boring and rough.
Heavensward was overhyped but also kind of a smooth experience.
Stormblood...feels like they should of gone for Ala Mhigo or Doma. Both feels like they were trying to have their cake and eat it.
That was my first reaction to each chunk of the story thus far.
Next week, lets see how many people like Shadowbringers.
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