#Capricia Vetrov

[thefreelanceangel]

FebHyurAry #19 - Memory

They'd left the others at Fortemps Manor, enjoying the end of the dinner that'd been so graciously thrown for Meli Iliakos and her adventuring friends. In a rare mood, Capricia took Renaux's arm and told him they should walk about to see if any of the atrocious city had changed.

For a blissfully quiet quarter of a bell, they walked together with her hands clasping his forearm. Capricia looked up at the stained glass windows, the lanterns, the stonework that hadn't changed since she'd left the city.

Renaux looked at her.

And even later when she idly turned the memory over, drinking her way through a bottle of white wine as her bedmate for the night turned over and snored, Capricia wondered just what he thought he would find by watching her.

#Capricia Vetrov #Scions of the Seventh Noonish #Angel's WoL AU #FFXIV #Screenshots #Renaux Iseterre #FebHyurAry2024 #Febhyurary #Slowly getting caught up!

[seasonsofloskival]

No classical element could define you. Not the fire in your gaze nor the air in your steps. Beyond that. Beyond those. You are gravity, exerting an inevitable, inescapable pull on everyone around you.

Varic Karimov

#Varic Karimov #Seasons of Loskival #Under Spring Shadows #Capricia Vetrov

[thefreelanceangel]

FebHyurAry #11 - Raid

The last thing any of them expected was for her to run forward, towards the thrice-damned laughing clown they'd been struggling to defeat.

Why now? She'd been so useless throughout the fight that only Eva stepped forward, called out to her as she ran towards his metallic echoing laughter.

And all of them fell silent, stunned into wide-eyed motionlessness, as that which they'd been striving to kill reached out in answer to her.

Renaux broke from the horror soonest, hurling himself after her with a hoarse yell, and Smooth Shadows bolted after him, automatically moving to take whatever blow Kefka would land upon them for interfering.

Meli, their Warrior of Light, their (not-so) secret weapon, moved last of all, watching with a furrowed brow as Capricia's hand grasped the extended forearm.

Capricia screamed when Renaux wrenched her away, reached over his shoulder as he ran with her behind Temujin. Shadow lifted her shield, diving into the path of Kefka's wide swing, and grunted as the blow knocked her nearly to the edge of the unstable platform.

Eva cried out herself, aether looping about Shadow's ankle and wrenching the heavy Roe back from the edge. Meli shook off the thought that'd rooted her in place and ran forward, shouting up at Kefka to draw his ire once again.

She couldn't help wondering briefly if it really had been recognition she'd seen in both of their faces.

#Capricia Vetrov #FFXIV #FebHyurAry2024 #Febhyurary #Screenshots #Angel's WoL AU #Scions of the Seventh Noonish #(Smooth Shadows is Jagged Light -- she changed her name after Shadowbringers)

[thefreelanceangel]

FebHyurAry #23 - Enemy

She knew who the real enemy was.

She'd always known.

#Capricia Vetrov #FFXIV #FebHyurAry2024 #Febhyurary #Screenshots

[thefreelanceangel]

assertive - for the random word generator prompt!

'Assertive,' they said politely. 'Or perhaps... emphatic. Definitely someone comfortable in a position of authority.'

'Bitch,' they muttered when they thought she'd moved out of range. 'What an absolute bramble of a personality, who could possibly put up with her?'

She didn't need to hear them to know what they said. It never changed. Every voice blurred into the next, all stringing along the same cheap insults like so many flimsy glass beads. Bitch. Skank. Stuck up. Mean. Nasty. Bitter. Slut. Cheap. Snotty.

Occasionally, a phrase with a bit more education would be added, like a golden spacer bead. Intemperate wench. Vicious little minx. Malicious. Cruel.

Her particular favorites came from those she rejected when they presumed her soft mouth, her blue eyes were indicative in any way of who she truly was. Arrogant ice queen. That hung amidst the rest like a crystalline drop, sparkling with the spiteful intent of the speaker still gleaming through it like an aura.

She didn't internalize their words. Why would she? What could words do to her now?

Instead, she wore them, playfully adding another sparkling bead to an ever-growing necklace that she wrapped around her neck when flaunting herself to those who gave her the insults in the first place. When a man threw diamonds at her--a necklace he'd brought in hopes of bribing her into a lengthy affair--she took them and went to a goldsmith to have another piece created.

And she wore them together, charmed by the cool touch against her skin, the soft clicking beneath her blouse, the gentle noise that she'd turned all of their spiteful words into.

#Capricia Vetrov #I wrote like four different pieces for this prompt and hated all of them #I hate this one least so it's going up #Prompts #FFXIV

[thefreelanceangel]

FebHyurAry #6 - Element

Now I bleed for you - burn for me

#Capricia Vetrov #FebHyurAry2024 #Febhyurary #FFXIV #Screenshots #Angel's WoL AU #Scions of the Seventh Noonish

[thefreelanceangel]

ghost: Who or what haunts your OC? What happened? How do they live with their ghosts?

He left her.

Not simply left her, but took her hand in his, drew the ring from it, laid it in her palm and walked away.

She ran after him, calling his name. Not because of the money he possessed or the home high in Ishgard. Not because that home of his held their infant son or because she feared the cold.

Capricia ran after him because he'd given her his word that he would not abandon her as Nicolas had. The word of Laurent Leroux could not, would not be broken.

...so how could he possibly break his promise to her?

After the failure of her arranged marriage with her first husband, who she fell deeply in love with, Capricia faced a struggle of surviving on her own. Having been brought up to quietly run a household, she had few options for supporting herself.

Capricia's skills with a rapier, taught to her by Nicolas before he abruptly divorced her in favor of a younger woman (presumably to procure an heir, as he claimed Capricia to be barren), were what she had available. They impressed Laurent, enough that he courted her, wed her, proudly showed her off to his peers.

She understood why Nicolas abandoned her. They were, despite all their efforts, so wildly incompatible that it came as something of a relief to end the marriage.

...but Laurent...

Capricia never learned why he'd divorced her so abruptly, why he informed the household guards she could not even see her son. Laurent never replied to her letters, had her driven away when he appeared in public, told all of their friends that she'd lost her mind.

In a way, he didn't lie.

Bereft of what small comfort she'd carved out of life, given no reason for having it torn so rudely away, Capricia snapped.

Now she rushes from assignation to assignation, from battle to battle. Being one of the adventurers who fights alongside the Warrior of Light provides plenty of opportunity for Capricia to take out all of her rage on publicly acceptable targets.

And she cannot sleep alone.

Every time she cannot subconsciously feel a warm body near hers, the memory becomes a dream she can't escape.

#Capricia Vetrov #MeliWoL #Angel's WoL AU #Scions of the Seventh Noonish #Prompts #FFXIV #Screenshots

[thefreelanceangel]

FebHyurAry #3 - Dream

She wouldn't explain it to anyone else. And... in truth, the opportunity would never arise. Capricia kept everything to herself. Everything.

Even the dull emptiness that she'd seen reflected in only one other person in all her life.

When she did dream, when she allowed herself the absurd luxury that always circled back to that same hollow feeling, it was of a 'could have been' that in truth... never could have.

Capricia knew that. And yet, she dreamt it anyway.

#Capricia Vetrov #Zenos viator Galvus #FFXIV #Angel's WoL AU #Scions of the Seventh Noonish #Screenshots #FebHyurAry2024 #Febhyurary #really it's just because Zenos being so fucking Weird about the WoL is the level of obsession that Capricia understands (and wishes for)

[thefreelanceangel]

No one asked, but why would they? How would any of those who claimed to be her friends know that she sought solace in dance when embroidery could not quiet her mind enough?

{Taken at Data Center - Dynamis (NA) - World - Maduin - Location - Shirogane W. 6 Plot 46}

#Capricia Vetrov #FFXIV #Screenshots

[thefreelanceangel]

FFXIVWrite2023 (#26 - "Last")

"...that's all you're going to say to me?"

Aware that the glass clasped in his hands would shatter if he let his temper slip his control, Renaux drew a slow breath and looked over his shoulder at Capricia.

She paid him no heed.

She never truly did.

Even accepting his invitation to the small art gallery he'd stumbled across, even agreeing to spend an evening with him somehow came across dismissively. Pity would've been something, at least. He didn't even merit that from her.

Capricia rolled the stem of her glass between her fingertips, gaze focused on the geometric painting before her. She didn't tilt her head nor turn towards him, gave no sign of even having heard him speak. Renaux gritted his teeth, putting the glass down lest he snap it with a convulsive clench. "Capricia."

"Mm?"

She didn't turn. Still didn't turn. Renaux picked his glass up off the floor, considered draining it, held it instead to keep himself calm.

"Capricia, I did not invite you on an evening out to be ignored."

She sipped her champagne, still looking at the painting. And then glided on to the cold steel sculpture embedded in the wall, giving Renaux nothing more than her back.

His hand clenched on the glass again. "Capricia."

"This is why I rarely answer your letters, Renaux," she said, her back still to him. Despite the small plaques requesting patrons not touch the artwork, Capricia reached out to smooth a hand up and down one cold, flat metal plane. "You want something from me that I simply do not possess."

And still she did not look at him as she drained the champagne from her glass and carelessly dropped it at her feet. "I am not going to love you. I love no one. At all. And I never will. So let's just drop the foolish pretense, hm? Let this be the last it ever comes up."

"Who said I want your love?" He set his glass aside firmly, rising to his feet, and set his jaw. "What ignorant assumptions give you that impr- Wh- Capricia!"

His startled exclamation fell only on a closing door, as the woman he'd intended to verbally nail to the wall just... left.

He paced the small space with curt strides, hands flexing in and out of fists, and finally stopped to plant his hands on his hips. Exhaling slowly, Renaux looked through the art on the walls, seeing nothing of artistic intent or beauty.

"The last..." His teeth ground together as he drew a slow breath. "Let it be so then, this is the last polite attempt I make."

Now... he'd focus on the impolite methods.

#FFXIVWrite2023 #Renaux Iseterre #Capricia Vetrov #FFXIV #Angel's WoL AU #Scions of the Seventh Noonish

[thefreelanceangel]

nightmare: What does your OC have nightmares about? How do they deal with their nightmares? Do they tell people, or keep it to themself?

Always, just his back.

She received nothing else from him. Nothing else of him. Just the sight of his coat, pulled taut across his shoulders. The fall of dark blonde hair that swayed when he paused, hearing her call his name.

And still. Just his back.

He didn't turn. He'd never turned. He walked away from her, towards the blaze of reddish-chestnut she couldn't make out beyond his shadow, and left her only with his back to watch. As he left her.

Again.

By now, she didn't even feel the cold sweat that glued the sheet to her skin. Jolting awake with his name locked behind her clenched teeth, Capricia stared at the ceiling while her breathing steadied. Wood creaked as the Seeker she'd brought to bed rolled over, straining the rickety bed frame. His breathing didn't change; she'd not lashed out this time.

Capricia peeled the sheet from her sticky skin and rose, running her clammy hands through her tousled gold hair. Drawing in a hard, deep breath, she held it while crossing the room, letting it out only when her hand closed on the half-empty wine bottle.

Toes curling on a stray sleeve, she pulled the Seeker's shirt from the floor, tugged it over her head, and took the wine bottle to the window. Capricia settled on the sill, swallowing a mouthful of dry, bitter wine, and looked out at the familiar stars.

She saw them often. Nightly, even.

Perhaps one day, she would sleep through the night and not sit to wait through the dawn.

Perhaps.

#Capricia Vetrov #FFXIV #Prompts

[thefreelanceangel]

FebHYURary #22: Child

She didn’t often discuss the earliest period of her life, but Capricia remembered just how large Ishgard felt to the child that’d run freely from guard to guard, from who she thought were friends to family.

#Febhyurary #Capricia Vetrov #FFXIV #Screenshots #Angel's WoL AU #Scions of the Seventh Noonish

[thefreelanceangel]

🍾: Does your OC believe in luck? If so, do they have any charm or ritual they do before a stressful event?

"Of course I believe in luck. Bad luck. Such as mine has been throughout my life and such as yours has proven tonight by putting you in my path."

{Capricia absolutely believes in luck and she is convinced hers is 100% Pure Bad Luck. Granted, she's got some reason for that, but she's also almost entirely incapable of seeing the silver lining in anything.}

#Capricia Vetrov #Scions of the Seventh Noonish #FFXIV #Prompts #Angel's WoL AU

[thefreelanceangel]

FebHYURary #12: Past

She never spoke of it directly, only in hints, vague references, bitter accusations. Capricia claimed to have cast aside her past when, in truth, it colored and guided every decision she made.

#Febhyurary #Capricia Vetrov #Angel's WoL AU #Scions of the Seventh Noonish #FFXIV #Screenshots

[thefreelanceangel]

FebHYURary #3: Star

It could hold all the hurts, the failures, the disappointments of life and yet... The star held almost nothing of interest to Capricia any longer. At times, she wondered if even the thrill of battle would finally wear off, leaving her adrift in a cold emptiness more alienating than space.

#Capricia Vetrov #Scions of the Seventh Noonish #Angel's WoL AU #FFXIV #Febhyurary #Screenshots

[thefreelanceangel]

He held out hope, every time. 

Convincing her to meet him for any reason took considerable work. If the work paid off, he gambled on more. Tissue paper crinkled softly around rose stems as she looked up at him, annoyance the conventional way to read the wild mingling of pain and madness in her eyes. 

And when she shook the roses off her boot heel, striding past him in a snap of skirt without a backwards look, he sighed and rubbed his eyes. 

He held out hope, every time. 

One day, perhaps, he’d be able to meet the irrational, insatiable need he saw deep in her gaze, but clearly not today.

#Renaux Iseterre #Capricia Vetrov #FFXIV #Screenshots