#the legatus and the heretic
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The Heretic And The Legatus
"So, Tara. Tell me about your war? You know all about mine, but I must confess, my education didn't really cover the wars in Ishgard."
Cradled in the Elezen's arms, Vergilia Corculum looks up at her girlfriend's face, a gentle smile on her lips.
A heavy sigh escapes the Ishgardian's lips. "I'm not even sure where to begin. You really know nothing of the Dragonsong War?"
Snuggling closer to Taraine's warm body, Vergilia shakes her head. "Nothing. My Legion was posted in Garlemald proper. I know that Regulus's Legion was deployed to Ishgardian lands - he likely knew more."
"Alright. I will give you the history, from my perspective. Least I can do to try to educate an outlander like you," Taraine teases, her voice light.
"How kind this savage is!" Vergilia mocks back, eyes dancing. "Truly, I have found the kindest savage in all this lawless land."
Laughing, low and sardonic, Taraine pulls her lover closer. "Alright. So as a child, I was taught that the War began after Nidhogg - unprovoked and unjustified - attacked Ishgard, and King Thordan and his Knights Twelve..."
~
"So, having drank the dragon blood... You can now assume a draconic form?"
A pillar of smoke enshrouds the Elezen's form, resolving into the shape of a large, scaled figure. Vergilia stares upwards, her eyes wide, as her mouth works silently.
"So... You're still Taraine?"
A laugh - much deeper, shaking the ground - escapes through draconic fangs. "Yes. I am still Taraine. But you remember how I told you I was genderfluid?"
"Ah - You are male in this form?"
"Yes. And female in my Elezen body. Both are equally my 'real' body, but I am a man like this and a woman like that."
"I understand, dearest Taraine. Do not fret."
The silence stretches for a moment before Vergilia steps closer, gently resting a hand on her boyfriend's scales. Silently, Taraine reaches one of his claws out, gently running it along Vergilia's arm.
Silence surrounds the couple as they stare at each other, the cool air surrounding them as they gaze at one another.
~~~~~
These screens were a gift from my off-tumblr friend! I wanted to explore this ship more.
#ffxiv#ffxiv screenshots#ffxiv writing#taraine brightshield#vergilia van corculum#the legatus and the heretic
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Happy Sunday Ask-A-Thon, week 4 for @ask-a-thon . How are things going? What gave you the idea to work on your current wips, where did you get the ideas from?
Thank you so much for the ask and happy belated* Sunday!
As far as how the work is going:
Slowly. 😭
Life is still a bit too chaotic for regular creative time, and when i carve out a quarter hour to write, i am struggling with the blank page and restlessness of needing to make words go and also needing to do and make ten million other things, all at the same time.
Mi hijo maldito remains with me, and i jot down notes whenever I can, usually in moments stolen while computers load or microwaves hum. But… I have this feeling that everything with the changes is soon to settle. That when the house is unpacked the calm will finally return, and all the pent up pressure of so many stories clawing to get out will finally stitch the fragments together into functional prose for Malados - and maybe everything else in the wip basket too.
As for the original ideas driving these many wips… that part will get long, so I will tuck this behind a little cut. ☺️
Firstly, the easy answer:
Malados came about in the simplest and most dangerous fashion, enabled by my dear friends @ensrensage @saphoblin @onwardnary and @drsteggy .
I took a bottle of 1825 and put it on the table, mentally sat Teca down and asked him what happened next. He stared back at me like a cat, but I have rather a fair amount of experience with such contests. I held him in that moment and I said what happened when you refused to let the hero ride into the sunset alone mi hijo and he squinted away over the garden and said Vishan was not happy to see me.
And so we began, writer and narrator returning to courtyard of the sprawling stone house in my mind, to that little table of battered black pine where he told me the story that became La Mala Suerte, sheltering from the heat of many afternoons with that bottle between us.
The most recent work I’ve touched in the Dark Tapestry world is one I really ought not to be writing at all right now. It’s a Keris story… sortof. She’s only half the equation of the arc @saphoblin named Unspoken. The other half is Davrush mej Nakun, oggish warrior and smith, Legatus Artifax on the high council of the Trinae Amicae, trusted advisor to the Fire Praetor… and desperately in love with her. None of that means anything or carries any weight without the essential context and history behind and around both of them. As of last time I outlined it, we need at least four solid Keris stories (and that few only if we take great liberties with time-jumps) after Darkly Woven before we can even think of sharing Unspoken… but those are the images and fragments coming to me when i try to cast my mind in Keris’ direction. Davri’s longing rises with such visceral power it’s downright frustrating.
Why and when did Unspoken begin to nag me? Oh some years ago now when my old CP and I were talking frequently. We sometimes spoke about the (interesting) problem of the power dynamics within Trinae and how that necessarily crosses threads with Keris’ nature and her personal arc… including her difficulties with close relationships in the contexts of her profession and the surrounding culture.
A prompt crossed our radar at that time for short fiction dealing with the theme of home as a visceral state and what evokes it (rather than the physical or literal placeness or even the abstract concept) and I sat down to write a snippet about Keris and what makes Trinae home for her in contrast with things from Udea evoking home in a way she has neither words nor context to explain. That little writing exercise involved a snapshot of a council meeting… wherein Keris confessed: Ironic that she relied on the voice and personal loyalty of the shortest-lived of all the peoples the Trinae embraced.
Naturally, I tried first to prod Keris about it. She said nothing.
So I asked Davri.
He confessed his heretical pining in such vivid terms I couldn’t help but transcribe it. I shared it with my CP who seemed to think well of some parts but agreed it was an impossible premise: their ranks divide them forever. His crush can only mature into love in silence and perfect discretion, and she must never openly return his affections - the tension between them vibrates in every scene, but the moment she yields, she loses all credibility and honor - because at the end of the day, she ranks him, and it’s her duty to maintain that division or else step down. And if I handwave it anyway, then I the writer lose all credibility for putting forward this inherently abusive unrealistic pairing as romantic.
Clearly, I cannot resist such a steep challenge, as I have continued for years to noodle on Unspoken against my better judgment.
I really ought to be working on the Spun Shadows rewrite - Keris’ second arc. Recasting it as a dual POV with Rokoval gets us a much more interesting frame, popping between the gothic faction politics of Libertalia and the risks and rewards of the wilds with Keris and the Trinae, but I got myself thoroughly stuck in what was supposed to be the fun little solstice scene with convenient play-within-a-play recap - it worked so well in outline but I cannot for the life of me turn that into prose and I don’t know why. The entire idea still makes me laugh, so it should follow that words come easily.
I don’t know that I can tell you where that arc came from anymore, it’s just a tangle of answering the question of how she goes from point A at the end of Darkly Woven to point B (no longer even as far in her personal arc as originally planned, but merely holding Significant Rank™️ within Trinae) by way of Z(chaos but in the good way, building her connections to significant people and plotlines for the Long Red Thread), and Keris herself came largely from the eternal desire to read More And Better Strong Female Characters In More Flavors In Rich Fantasy Settings and the all-important epiphany that I have the power to make the content I want to read.
Which is also a primary motivator for the fic side too - I write it because I want to read it, I just also happen to enjoy sharing it.
When, you know, I can successfully whack more words out of the recalcitrant brain to get it.
*(Yesterday was unexpectedly full with more errands than scheduled and crafting session with a local friend that ran late, so I didn’t have time to finish my reply. But work is stupid so I stole some downtime to work on it through the day. 😅)
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the one thing twitter had over tumblr that i'll miss was the iconic ffxiv jokes. "how many wheels did titan have" "typical heretic. Die" "is coochie home" "legatus down" "everyone loves the cubus" repeat in my head constantly
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Persona Characters and its Saints PT.4
Oh, hello again. Because today’s Maya’s birthday. As we continue this series, It's time for the heroes from Persona 2: Innocent Sin and its sequel, Eternal Punishment.
[--Innocent Sin--]
2/14: Jun Kurosu
His birthday is shared with St. Valentine, a bishop who is martyred by orders of Emperor Claudius II. He is known as the patron of love, happy marriages, and beekeepers. It also shares with Sts. Cyril and Methodius, two brothers who were Byzantine Christian theologians and Christian missionaries in which they receive the title 'Apostles to the Slavs.' In 1980, St. John Paul II declared the brothers co-patron saints of Europe together with St. Benedict.
5/4: Lisa 'Ginko' Silverman
Lisa's birthday is co-incide with St. Florian, a officer of the Roman army who is martyred during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. Many miracles of healing are attributed to his intercession and he is invoked as a powerful protector in danger from fire or water. That is because Florian is the patron saint of firefighters.
7/4: Maya Amano
Her birthday shares with two of them - St. Elizabeth of Aragon and Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati. Elizabeth is a queen and wife of King Denis the Poet King. After her husband's death, she retired to the Poor Clare monastery and joined the Franciscan order, devoting the rest of her life to the poor and sick in obscurity. Elizabeth has a great-niece, St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Pier is a layman, social activist and a member from the Dominican order. After his death due to polio in 1925 at 24 years of age, he was called 'Man of Eight Beatitudes' by St. John Paul II, who beatified him on May 1990.
7/27: Tatsuya Suou
Tatsuya, aka the hero of Innocent Sin is shared with the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. According to Christian and Islamic tradition, it is the story of a group of youths who hid inside a cave outside the city of Ephesus around 250 AD to escape a religious persecution and emerge 300 years later. The Roman Martyrology mentions the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus under this date.
11/16: Eikichi 'Michel' Mishina
His birthday is shared with St. Gertrude the Great, a nun, virgin, theologian and mystic from the Benedictine order. She produced numerous writings, though only some survive today. The longest survival is the Legatus Memorialis Abundantiae Divinae Pietatis (The Herald of God's Loving-Kindness) that is partly written by other nuns. She is the patron saint of the West Indies and she is often invoked for souls in purgatory.
[--Eternal Punishment--]
6/13: Baofu (Kaoru Saga)
His birthday is shared with one of the most celebrated saints and my friend's favorite - St. Anthony of Padua. He is a friar from the Order of Friars Minor (aka the Franciscans) and is the patron of lost items and lost articles. Noted by his contemporaries for his powerful preaching, expert knowledge of scripture, and undying love and devotion to the poor and the sick, he was one of the most quickly canonized saints in the history of the church. Anthony has three nicknames - the 'Evangelical Doctor', the 'Hammer of Heretics', and 'Professor of Miracles'. One of the most famous attributes to this saint is holding a infant Christ in his arms.
11/30: Ulala Serizawa
Her birthday is co-incide with St. Andrew, who in the Orthodox tradition as the First-Called (Protokletos). He is the brother of St. Peter and is one of the twelve apostles of Christ. He and Peter were both called together to become disciples of Jesus and "fishers of men". He brought to Jesus' attention the boy with the loaves and fishes when they were multiplied. He was present at the Last Supper and preached the Gospel in Greece and Turkey. After the Lord's ascension, Andrew was later receive the crown of martyrdom in a saltire cross (later called St. Andrew's Cross) in Patras. He is the patron of Scotland and Romania, as well as fishermen and fishmongers.
12/30: Katsuya Suou
The detective big brother of Tatsuya shares his birthday with Pope St. Felix I. Elected as Pope in the year 269, succeeding Pope Dionysius, he was the author of an important dogmatic letter on the unity of Christ's Person. He received the emperor Aurelian's aid in settling a theological dispute between the anti-Trinitarian Paul of Samosata, the deposed bishop of Antioch, and the orthodox Domnus, Paul's successor.
#random stuff#catholic#catholic saints#persona 2#persona 2 innocent sin#persona 2 eternal punishment#jun kurosu#lisa silverman#tatsuya suou#maya amano#eikichi mishina#baofu#ulala serizawa#katsuya suou
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"Savage," Vergilia whispers against Taraine's lips.
"Outlander," Taraine whispers back.
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All Knights are offered this choice - to aid this fight in Garlemald. The Garleans are not our enemies; they are victims as much as anyone else.
Scowling at the letter, Taraine sits heavily on the bed, staring at the words. All the friends she had made in the Horde were gone, now. Ishgard was attempting to do better in relations with the Dravanians.
Sighing, she laughs to herself, wry and sardonic. It's not like there was anything less to fight for here. And this letter, at least, demonstrated that the idiots in charge no longer were stabbing first, and asking questions never.
~
Squatting next to the bed, Taraine looks down at the Garlean she has been assigned to babysit.
"You are Taraine?" the Legatus asks, her voice mellifluous.
Sighing, the Ishgardian nods, her gaze heavy. "I am. And you are Vergilia. I am here to make sure you do not harm anybody - and that you yourself are not harmed by anybody."
"You seem... Different. To your countrymen."
"I am different."
~
Watching Vergilia talk about the incipient difficulties in rebuilding the Garlean peoples, Taraine's mind races.
All of these things. Logistics. Morale. Did Tioman, or Nidhogg, or anybody in the Horde, ever think about these?
Likely not. But I will think about them now.
#ffxiv#ffxiv screenshots#ffxiv writing#taraine brightshield#vergilia van corculum#Yes I made a new ship#Also now I am - as of time of writing - 50% of the Vergilia van Corculum tag here on tumblr#the legatus and the heretic
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