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#I didn’t tell my chocobo to go that way
thatonedaydream · 29 days
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Don’t really wanna be Elevator Buddies (Sephiroth x Reader)
A/N: Part 1 here. im suffering sufficiently at my current job that im leaving that i think i can write something because i need an outlet and i also want sephiroth to make it better. also, i am so much older than when i wrote the first part; as such, my writing probably reads a lot more different - better, worse or same is up to you. to those who have requested a part 2 and have waited literal years (its been 4!!!!!), i love you, i'm so sorry its so late.
★★★★★
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Staring at the message in your work inbox, you suddenly couldn’t summon the effort to care. Your mood instantly dropped and you needed to leave your desk. You kept your headset on as you wandered towards the small staff kitchen under the guise that you were still connected to a meeting and listening in, when really you just want to block people out. You didn’t want to be perceived.
You just wanted out.
ShinRa Inc wasn’t known as the best place to work, but the pay was good and it was better than any other options you had. 
The coffee machine rumbled as you waited for it to process your order. You didn’t even want to drink the cheap, watered down stuff, you just didn’t want to be at your desk looking at that stupid fucking request. There wasn’t much that could get your out of these kinds of emotional troughs bar one thing that seemed to always work.
You felt the vibration of a notification from your phone in your pocket. Knowing what and who it was probably from, you eagerly checked the new message that had come through. It was just a photo of blue sky with some clouds—the tops of greenery you didn’t recognise lined the bottom. It was very abstract and out of context, but you were used to it now.
Putting aside your misery for the moment, you typed out a short response.
I can’t beat that. This is my view.
You took a photo of the ceiling above you. Stark, stale and claustrophobic in comparison to the natural sky you were given. You sent it off and only a few seconds later, received a thumbs up in response. It made you laugh.
Sephiroth was a terrible at texting sometimes, but it was endearing in way.
When you had first traded contact details a little after The Elevator Incident, it had taken a while before anything was sent from either of you. You were too scared of bothering him and he was more than likely too busy or just didn’t know what to send. It also felt like trading personal IDs was crossing into an entirely different friend territory that wasn’t as nonchalant as impromptu elevator conversations.
The messaging ice was broken when, one day, you got a single image of chocobo out in the wild with no context. If you didn’t have Sephiroth’s ID saved, you would have wondered if someone had messaged the wrong person. Your response was a quick ‘I love chocobos, they’re so cute!’, and your reward several hours later was a picture of a sweetly sleeping chocobo in a stable.
Sephiroth was a man of very few words, but he still found ways to communicate with you and that honestly made you feel… Well, you weren’t sure you wanted to admit what you were feeling too much. You knew you had feelings for the man, that you were attracted to him, but those feelings had no where to go. You couldn’t tell him.
For many reasons, you just couldn’t ever tell him about your ever growing affection for him.
You just couldn’t.
You wandered back to your desk, completely forgetting about the coffee you had made in the kitchen. The message from the 1st Class Soldier perked you up way more than the caffeine would have anyway. You scrolled through your requests again and sighed. It was probably going to be another late night in the office. Maybe you’d just call in sick tomorrow.
You worked a few more hours, eyeing your phone and hoping for more messages, but none came. Sephiroth was often the one to initiate conversation as you still felt like you would bother him if you sent something first. Still… You kind of really wanted to talk to someone—to him, specifically. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to send one message?
Picking up your phone you opened up your chat and tried to think of something to say. You typed out several things, but kept deleting them. ‘Hello’ felt too formal, ‘Hi!’ seemed too chipper.
Is something wrong?
The message popped up before you could send something yourself.
!!! No! I was just about to message you. How are you?
There was a pause—and then a short voice message.
▶• ıll— “Are you sure you’re alright? Was there something else you wanted to say to me?”  
You could hear the smile in his words and you flushed upon the realisation that he must have seen your stupid three dots pop up and disappear constantly in the chat. You playfully hissed your own voice note back, 
▶• ıll— “Ohhh shut up, I just didn’t want to bother you!” 
Putting your phone down, you peeked over your divider and looked around to see if anyone else could hear you. It was fairly late in the office, way past usual business hours, so you could see some screens still lit up around the  space, but there wasn’t anyone near you.
Your phone pinged a few times, indicating new messages. Some more photos, but this time of more a familiar sight—the Midgar cityscape.
I’m back.
It had been awhile since he had left on his last mission. You were glad he was back safe, not that you’d tell him that now. You sent off a quick, mildly motion blurred snap of your desk and sent it off.
?
A question mark? A question mark to what? The photo wasn’t that blurry.
It’s my desk.
Are you still working? It’s late.
Ohhhh… You cringed; it was late. Honestly if you didn’t procrastinate with absolute loathing and low morale earlier in the day you probably could have been home already, but you couldn’t push through the negativity.
Yeah, its been a rough day.
You waited for a response, but none came. Sephiroth went inactive spontaneously during your conversations, so it wasn’t surprising. Instead you put your phone down and continued on a project that was behind on its deadlines. Technically all of them were behind, but this one you at least had the energy to push through for now.
An hour later your phone pinged a couple times. A photo of the elevator you used everyday to get to up to your floor and:
Time to leave.
You stared at the message, biting your lip. Even if you wanted to leave, there was still things to be done and—
Do I have to drag you out?
▶• ıll— “Okay! Alright! I’m packing up, hold your damn chocobos. I’m leaving now.”
Who knew Sephiroth could be so pushy? During the long elevator ride down to the lobby, you wondered if maybe he only showed this side of himself to people he trusted or cared about. The thought made your stomach flip.
It could also have been that people never really gave Sephiroth the opportunity to be himself. It was an upsetting thought. He was the 1st Class Soldier, a warrior that couldn’t be toppled, a man way above the norm. Untouchable. Distant. You knew what his public image was like, but still somehow you couldn’t fathom how people couldn’t consider that there was another side to him.
The side of him that you always got to see.
The same Sephiroth that you saw was waiting for you as the elevator doors opened. You couldn’t help but smile at the sight. He stood by the empty reception desk with his arms crossed, looking out the front entrance. When he heard your footsteps he turned to face you almost immediately. The man’s expression would have seemed stoic to others, but you recognised the warmth in his mako-infused gaze.
What if you were the only person he looked at that way? You held your smile steady even as your heart argued with your head to accept that maybe that’s what you really wanted.
It felt like Sephiroth’s gaze only intensified as you approached him. “...You look awful.” His voice was low, quiet, but still teasing. There was a chuckle in there too, somewhere in his deep tone. Sure you had heard it recently in the voice message, but it wasn’t the same as hearing him speak to you in person.
“That’s so mean, Seph. Not even a proper greeting for me? Wow.” Even though you were exhausted, you automatically matched his manner. “You look…” Oh, you couldn’t tell him how you really felt about how he looked. There were so many adoring and affectionate words, yet somehow still not enough. “...Like you?” You finally sputtered out after filtering all the other things that your mouth wanted to say.
The 1st Class Soldier gifted you with a short laugh and you struggled to hold back the burst of emotions that bloomed in your chest. “You are so mean to me.” This interaction wasn’t like the others. This didn’t feel like the light playful chats in the elevator. When did these interactions change? When did all the same words that you used to use before suddenly mean something different?
Sephiroth suddenly leaned closer towards you, a small smirk crossing his lips. “I am nice to you.” The way he spoke was next to a purr, “Did you want me to be mean?” It felt like the mako glow in his eyes brightened for a moment; he was close enough that you could see specks of the otherworldly green in his irises.
You wanted to die on the spot. He was not flirting with you, no matter how much it felt like it. No way. However, before you could stop yourself, you replied quietly. “...I like it when you’re nice to me.” The look on Sephiroth’s face melted into something else—something just as warm, just as intense, but something so much more genuine and it immediately scared you. Before he could say anything more you let out dismissive laugh. “Phew, I am a lot more exhausted than I thought. I-I should probably get home.”
Maybe the fear was reflected in your expression. Sephiroth fell back into his usual cool and stoic demeanor and you wanted to apologise—it was hard not to feel as though you had just ruined something important. Casual conversation you could navigate. This? What was this?
Of course you’d find a way to make a bad day worse. Of course you’d ruin a good thing. Of course you’d—
A large hand pressed into your lower back and guided you forwards, interrupting your downward spiraling thoughts. When you looked up at Sephiroth beside you, he simply watched and waited for you to take the lead. Nothing in how he looked at you had changed from when you had first exited the elevator. “There’s a car waiting for you outside.” That voice you so adored, was steady and warm and sure. Still the same.
Quietly you stepped outside with Sephiroth in tow. He opened the car door for you, nodding to the driver who did the same in return. You sat in the back seat, with the soldier leaning outside on the vehicle, looking in to make sure you were comfortable. 
“...Bye Seph.” You really did sound tired.
Sephiroth didn’t respond right away, but the silence wasn’t as heavy as the one inside the lobby. He placed a hand over his heart and bowed his head. “Goodnight.” You knew there was something else he wanted to say, but he held his tongue. There was another pause before he shut the door for you.
You leaned back in your seat and let the butterflies run rampant in your belly, let the buzz run through your veins, let it hum through your body. You covered your hands with your face. It felt like there was still something left to say, a conversation left unfinished.
From outside the ShinRa building, Sephiroth watched as you were driven away out of sight. He stood there, holding what he really wanted to say to you in his throat.
It was frustrating for him to know he could physically conquer any fight, any conflict, except for whatever he could see going on in your eyes. Did you know that he could see you becoming more and more tired with each interaction you had? It frustrated him to no end knowing that people took advantage of you and your time and your efforts. Idiots. Fools. 
How could he put into words how you made him feel? Sephiroth was no good at words. He just wanted to keep you safe. He just wanted you not to be tired. He just wanted you to always smile when you saw him—a smile that said you were genuinely happy to see him. Not the 1st Class Soldier, but happy to see Sephiroth himself.
The man snapped out of his reverie as his phone pinged with a message. A voice note from you.
▶• ıll— “...I missed you, Sephiroth. Welcome home.”
Sephiroth stared at the screen of his phone.
And then he replayed the message, just to hear your voice again.
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drabblesandimagines · 8 months
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Jealous
Clive Rosfield x fem reader Early-to-mid FF16 spoilers, based on this request.
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Clive is in a foul mood - a scowl firmly in place as he strides around the Hideaway, pretending to have purpose.
He should be elated, overjoyed, ecstatic even - finally reunited with his beloved younger brother after years of chasing his shadows, always a step or two behind his trail.
And he is, in a way, happy to see him…
..but not so much with you.
The Fire Dominant had been looking forward to the two of you meeting – two important people in his life coming face to face. He’d spent the trip back to the hideaway telling Joshua about the characters within, speaking of you more often than the others, regaling his younger brother with stories of your skill, bravery, compassion, wit.
Clive didn’t know what to call the relationship between the two of you, if there was a word even for it. There was always some pressing matter that had stopped you progressing to courtship, something holding the two stagnant. Touches were often, flirtatious sometimes, but never progressing further than firm grips on each other’s shoulders in reassurance, or hands clasped in momentary comfort. There had been an almost kiss, he thought, after a tumble in the Royal Meadows. A misstep had sent you falling and in his panic to try and catch you Clive had ended up falling too, cushioning your fall. You were leant over him, breathing slightly heavy from shock, faces inches apart and he’d thought if he lifted his head, he could kiss your lips…
Until Torgal had come bounding in, giving his master a lick on the face.
Joshua, however, had waltzed in and easily done what Clive had never had the courage to do. Upon introduction, the Phoenix had dropped down to one knee, taken your outstretched hand in way of greeting and pressed a soft kiss against the back of it, all whilst maintaining eye contact.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lady.”
Clive had never seen you look so flustered, causing his stomach to tighten in knots. Why couldn’t he be the one making your cheeks flush?
Joshua gets back to his feet, his hand holding yours all the while before he lets go – it feels an eternity to Clive. But, then again, why shouldn’t you be charmed by the Phoenix? Everyone else had always been. The golden-haired, blue-eyed boy had been adored by the people of Rosaria, the pride and joy of his mother’s eye. Joshua always had a natural charm about him.
He’s happy Joshua’s alive and here. He reassures himself of the thought over and over, as if the Gods might overhear and punish him somehow. The weighty guilt has alleviated from his shoulders after all those years, but now, too soon, a new worry is ready to take hold.
What if you liked Joshua? What if he liked you?
“It is nice to put a face to a name. My dear brother could hardly speak of none other on our journey.”
“Oh. All good things, I hope.” You smile at Clive, but he doesn’t notice with his stare fixed firmly on Joshua.
“Why, of course, my lady.” Joshua grins, boyishly. “I wouldn’t have permitted otherwise.”
--
Clive doesn’t know how to handle the jealously building within. From that first meeting, it doesn’t seem like a day goes by without him finding the two of you in each other’s company, in various places across the hideaway. He’s come across you in the shelves for hours, visiting the chocobos on the upper deck, admiring the flowers down in the backyard. You’d even been in the infirmary with him on a number of occasions as Tarja insisted on regular check-ups.
Clive knows he’s letting his temper getting the better of him, that it’s dangerous because Ifrit tenses beneath his skin. He’s been storming about the Hideaway all morning, despite having no errands to do. Everyone seems to have picked up on his mood, withholding their requests in fear of being snapped at.
Everyone except you, apparently.
“Clive! There you are.” You appear at his side, your hand grabbing his arm. He hates how you can make him feel like Ramuh’s channeling through his veins with your electric touches.
“Sorry, can’t stop.” He grunts in response, trying to shrug you off. He doesn’t want to lose his temper at you.
“That’s okay,” you say, cheerily. “I can walk and talk.”
He stops then, meeting your gaze. “Why don’t you talk to Joshua?”
“Sorry?” The confusion in your voice is apparent, and he knows that should be his cue to stop, but he can’t.
“You seem to do nothing else but these days…” The words flow out of him like lava, they burn his throat but he can’t stop now the dam has burst. “..to the detriment of your duties.”
“Detriment?” The confusion is gone, defensiveness taking hold in the place of hurt. “Do forgive me, I wasn’t aware the quality of my work was being questioned.”
“Well, it is. Have you forgotten what we’re fighting for? Every day we delay, another Bearer dies whilst you…” He swallows. “Whilst you flirt.”
Jealousy has coated his tongue and poisoned his words.
“Flirt? I…” You swallow your sentence down, not wanting to entertain this further.
“Allow me to rectify my shortcomings posthaste, my lord.” Your voice is tight, hands clenched, heart breaking. You steady your breath and spin on your heels, heading towards the mess.
The jealous monster in Clive’s stomach settles for a moment of clarity, his stomach sinking at the realization of what he’s done, what he’s accused you. He strides after you, reaching out a hand to apologise, your name on the tip of his tongue to be called out to beg forgiveness. But, at that same moment, he sees Joshua interrupting your ascent up the staircase, taking note of your sour expression. The Phoenix places his hand on your shoulder in concern, and the jealous monster rages once more.
--
Later that afternoon, Clive has sequestered himself in his chambers, dealing with a pile of missives that he has allowed to build up over the past few days. The task is doing nothing to alleviate his sour mood after that awful interaction with you earlier. A number of them are thank you notes for the hideaway’s assistance in matters and more than a few mention you specifically by name, all dated on instances you’d stepped in in his absence.
And he’d accused you of neglecting your duties, of all things. He rubs his temples in exasperation. What has he done?
There’s a knock at the door.
“What?” He barks, hoping the tone of voice might deter them.
The door opens. “Brother.”
He looks up to see Joshua shutting the door behind him as he enters, a charming smile on his face as usual.
“You should be resting.” Clive chides, looking back down at the missives.
“I am fine.” Joshua folds his arms. “I am, however, concerned about you.”
“Don’t be.”
Joshua hums in interest. “You seem almost irritated by my presence of late.”
“You’re mistaken.”
“I do not believe I am.” A pause. “And I speculate it is to do with my interactions with a certain maiden.”
“No.” He jabs the quill into the ink bottle with a little too much gusto. “I’m happy for the two of you.”
“Happy?” Joshua sounds confused.
“The two of you have grown very close. You’ve been spending a lot of time together - I’d be blind not to notice.”
Joshua laughs – a chuckle from deep within his chest - and Clive’s grip tightens on the quill. “Forgive me, brother. Do you think I am pursuing a courtship?”
“What you are pursuing is none of my concern.”
“I believe there has been a misunderstanding. Yes, we have been spending a fair amount of time together, but not for the reason you seem to so firmly believe. You see..” he uncrosses his arms and places his palms flat on the desk, leaning forward. “..I wanted to find out more about the woman who had so clearly stolen my dear brother’s heart.”
“What?” He looks up and Joshua has the audacity to look amused.
“We were talking about you. I had the impression you sought my approval with your tales of her. I must’ve misunderstood your intentions.”
“I… have been a fool.”
“Mayhaps.” Joshua steps back, folding his arms once more. “But she finds you endearing, or so I’ve gathered.”
“My apologies, Joshua. I don’t know what drove me to this madness.”
“I do.” He smiles. “You’re in love with her, brother. You were jealous.”
“I must apologise…” He gets to his feet with such force the chair almost goes toppling to the ground.
“Ah, she’s not here. A stolas arrived from Martha, I believe. Trouble with bandits – she took the skiff out shortly after.”
“Alone?”
“Otto suggested she wait, but she seemed determined to handle it.”
“I must go.” He makes to move past Joshua before he pauses, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Forgive me, brother.”
“Forgiven.” Joshua nods. “Go.”
--
Clive heart pounds as he ascends the steps to Sleeping Chocobo, pushing the double doors open. It is busy this evening, the townsfolk preferring the warm atmosphere of the inn than their homes. He’ll speak to Martha, he thinks, see where you went, beg forgiveness so that maybe he can meet his eyes again without feeling awful.
“That was quick,” Martha greets to Clive’s confusion as he approaches the bar. “I barely sent that stolas.”
“Sorry, what stolas?”
His heart stops as he hears the combination of your name and injured in the same sentence.
“Now before you panic, she’s all right. The Bloodaxe miscounted – said it was only three bandits but it turned out to be five, otherwise I would’ve never sent her out on her own. We’ve patched her up and fed her, but she seemed upset about something. I didn’t feel right letting her traipse off in the night like that, so I sent a stolas asking if someone could accompany her back. She’s upstairs at the moment - room two.”
“Thank you, Martha.” He turns to head towards the stairs when the sliding of a key across the bar stops him.
“I might’ve locked her in. I thought it might be morning before someone could reach here and she was so determined to leave.”
“Ah.” Clive nods, taking the key. “I understand. Thank you.”
He walks past the patrons and climbs the stairs towards the rooms. His heart is pounding, what does one even say in this situation? He finds room two and slides the key into the lock, twisting it and opening the door.
“Finally! Martha, you must agree this is ridiculous…” You stop as you see Clive enter the room, looking apologetically awkward. He shuts the door behind him, blocking it with his frame. You’re not sure if it’s deliberate.
“I’m not neglecting my duties.” You protest, standing up from the bed in defiance. “Martha locked me in. I could’ve kicked the door in, but I thought Otto would’ve given me an earful if he saw it on the expenses.”
He hasn’t taken in anything you’ve said, too concerned by your appearance.
“You’re hurt.” There’s a bruise blooming on your cheek, a bandage wrapped around your forearm - the guilt in his stomach is as if he had inflicted the wounds upon you himself.
“I’m fine. They told me it was three bandits – I clocked the fourth but the fifth snuck up on me.”
“Where are they now?” His fist clenches – the idea of anyone laying their hands upon you with malicious intent…
“Dead. I had no choice.” You cross your arms in defence. “Why are you here - come to check on my conduct?”
To your surprise, he drops down to his knee, bowing his head, as a knight does when they swear fealty. “I came here to apologise. What I said was not only untrue but entirely uncalled for. I can only beg for your forgiveness.”
“There’s no need for that, I’m not your Lord Commander.”
“You should be.” Clive looks up. “The missives recently speak of the exemplary nature of your work and conduct.”
“Tell me - what is this truly about, Clive?”
“It’s immature.” He doesn’t want to say it, but he knows he must be truthful now. “You and Joshua always seemed to be in one another’s company of late.”
“That’s true – I’m afraid I’ve been rather taken with his stories of your younger years together, but I don’t understand the connection.”
“I… I was jealous. You seemed rather taken by his greeting.”
“Greeting?” You look puzzled for a moment, before it clicks. “It… That had just never happened to me before. No-one ever greets a Bearer in such a way.”
“Allow me to rectify.” He takes your hand without thought, bringing his lips to the back of it in a kiss, staring at you with those deep blue eyes. Your face burns. “Can you ever forgive me, my lady?”
“You said you were jealous.”
“I did.”
“Jealous that perhaps me and Joshua were… something more?” He’s still holding your hand.
He takes a breath to steady his nerves. “Yes.”
“All right. I’ll forgive you - on one condition.”
“Name it and it is yours.”
You pull him up back to his feet. “Kiss me.”
Clive does not need told twice. It’s a fierce kiss – his arms wrap around your waist as he lifts you up slightly to meet his lips in a crushing embrace, you tangle your hands in his scruffy hair, trying to pull him closer. It’s clumsy and frantic, allowing your emotions to be carried away at long last.
Clive steps back, his calves colliding into the edge of the bed and he pulls you down, you straddling him between your thighs as you break the kiss on the impact.
You look down at him, catching your breath as he looks up at you with a handsome grin.
“I believe Martha’s intention was for me to have this room for the night, my lord.”
“Then, my lady,” he laces his fingers inbetween yours, bringing it up to his mouth and placing another soft kiss across your knuckles, “let us take advantage.”
-
Masterlist . Requests welcome . Ko-fi
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amoebaforce · 10 months
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Can you do WoL scared of using RPR but for ishgardian trio this time 🥺❤️
i certainly can, anon :)
and let's be real... i always love writing for these guys. thank you for the request, i hope you enjoy!
characters featured: Aymeric de Borel, Estinien Wyrmblood, Haurchefant Greystone tags: canon-typical blood/violence, a wee bit of angst, gn!WoL
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Aymeric
The Lord Commander is a pragmatic man. He knows that doing the right thing is a risky business, one that comes with more than its fair portion of risks. And yet, Aymeric shares the WoL’s apprehensions about reaping.
Dragons were one thing, but voidsent? The things his people call devils and demons? You couldn’t pay Aymeric to make a deal with one. And knowing that the Warrior might do just that is… a lot for him to think about.
“You have power aplenty, my friend,” Aymeric tells them. “Seeking more, and this time from beyond the veil… You’ve seen how it ends.” And he’s right, in a way. The Warrior has felled many an overzealous bargainer in their time, and the story is so often the same. Power breeds greed, and greed is a fatal flaw. So what makes this any different?
The answer comes to Aymeric a few weeks later, when he and the WoL are caught in the middle of a freak mid-spring blizzard near Falcon’s Hollow. What began as a stone-gathering excursion for a rebuilding project quickly turned into a minor test of survivalism. 
Now they’re huddled under an alcove with their chocobos, fighting off a pack of hungry wolves that don’t seem to care about the fire roaring between them. Aymeric’s blue blade is dark and slick with blood, but more wolves have just arrived, and odds are against them.
Suddenly, a burst of thick black aether rocks the stones beside him. A cool, metallic slicing noise fills his ears, followed by a low, incorporeal snarl, and horror pools in his stomach. He turns in time to see the voidsent consume the WoL’s form. The rest of the wolves are shredded in what feels like the blink of an eye, and then the WoL is looking up at him, asking the Lord Commander if he’s okay.
Aymeric lets out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. Motivation, he thinks. That’s the difference.
Estinien
The WoL never has to explain their fear to Estinien. As soon as they mention that they’re unsure about using the stone, he just nods. He knows what it’s like to lose control — to be devoured by something dark and tempestuous. To be changed by it, body and soul.
But, Estinien also knows that the WoL can’t spend their life cowering, afraid of the depths of their own mind. Another mistake he made, once, and one he doesn’t wish to see repeated.
“Maybe you should start small,” Estinien suggests. “You don’t have to kill anything — you can just smack a dummy around and see how you feel. We can go together.”
He brings it up a few times before they ultimately agree to give it a try. The pair visit the training grounds near dusk, when there’s no one else around who might catch an eyeful, but it still takes the WoL thirty minutes to actually pull out their scythe. 
Estinien watches in silent consideration as their form twirls around the mannequin, slashing and carving. The avatar is just as terrifying and primordial as he’d been warned… and yet, there’s something alluring about its rippling shape. Combined with the precise, unforgiving strikes the WoL delivers, the display is almost elegant.
And isn’t that just like them, to make a dreadful thing beautiful? To take the pain and horror of the world and turn it on its head? Yes, it is — and that’s why he’s sure they’re going to be fine.
Estinien can’t help but smirk to himself as they continue their drills. If the end of the world can’t break them, some little avatar sure can’t, either.
Haurchefant
When the WoL confides in Haurchefant, he has to swallow his urge to be surprised. It’s just that the Warrior has always been so fearless, so courageous, that it’s hard for him to imagine them caring such a hesitancy inside them.
He understands why, of course. The connotations alone are enough to give any sensible person some pause, especially someone as famous and beloved as the WoL. A lot of people look up to them, you know.
And yet… Haurchefaunt can’t help but think of it as just one more obstacle for the Warrior to conquer. This hang-up is simply another in the endless list of hard questions they must strive to answer. 
“Perhaps it would do you well to introspect upon the source of your discomfort,” the knight offers one evening. “It is always good to understand oneself.”
He doesn’t see the Warrior as often as he’d like, so Haurchefaunt has no idea if his advice is helping until several weeks later, when he’s called away from his desk to help his soldiers fight back a rampaging Coerthan croc near Whitebrim. By happenstance, the Warrior was in the neighborhood, and they got there first.
Haurchefant is about to lecture them for not stopping by his office first, but the words die in his throat when the Warrior turns to face him. Their eyes sparkle under the brim of a black hat. With a flick of their wrist, they spin a sinister-looking scythe, and blood sprays off the blade and onto the freshly fallen snow. Over their shoulder, a shrouded voidsent hovers ominously, staring without eyes.
The WoL smiles. The knight is breathless, heart pounding with a mix of pride and awe. So this is the power they feared, in all its terrible glory — and they had mastered it. Haurchefant lifted his sword and barked an order.
“Follow their lead!”
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dillyfirestarter · 4 months
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Last week, after 17 years of failure, I finished Final Fantasy 12 (otherwise known as What Is She Wearing?: The Game) and last night started playing Final Fantasy 16.
Spoiler free reaction to my first two hours are:
The remixed music slaps
There is BLOOD in my Final Fantasy. There are blood sprays. There are corpses. Why aren’t my enemies disappearing into clean sparkles when I stab them??? I did not expect the goblins I slew to stay there as proof of my crimes
Who put that 15 year old boy in skintight leather pants? Visual effects have come on a long way since 2006 - that kid is sashaying in a way that’d make Fran, the thong-wearing rabbitgirl from FFXII, green with envy. XVI, you’d better not indulge in the Final Fantasy penchant for putting the cutscene cameras at hip height until I get to this kid’s next stage in life
The kid’s name is named C L I V E. I can’t stop laughing; that’s the name of a middle aged middle manager whose greatest desires are to own a jag and a holiday home on the Costa del Sol.
I am so glad there is an Easy Mode (though they call it Story Focused to protect our egos) because I do not know how to play action games that require more than random button mashing. I’m not here to use my brain.
Below are spoilers for everything up to the end of Chapter 6, Flight of a Fledgeling
Three sentences into CLIVE interacting with Joshua and I knew the kid was going to die
And I knew it’d break me! He’s so cute with his little voice and strawberry blonde hair and red coat! I want to feed him bonbons and tell him he’s a good boy just the way he is
Clive: “no matter what happens I’ll always keep you safe”
Joshua: “oh Clive, I know you’ll always take care of me… *coughcough*
YES I HEAR THOSE VIOLINS IN THE BACKGROUND GAME I SEE WHAT YOU’RE DOING
But bloody hell, I didn’t expect it to end with THE KID BEING RIPPED APART by the monster that overtook Clive!
Also WHY ARE THE CHOCOBOS BEING INJURED?? Oh my god this game is trying to traumatise me isn’t it?
I do like an unrepentantly evil woman, so I am excited to see what depths Mother is going to reach. I hope to see her gaslight gatekeep girlboss her way into giving her son an absolute breakdown
Older Clive is such a shell of a man. Will he get better? I shall see
While I’m very leery about this new ultraviolence turn the series has taken I am intrigued - I just hope Old Traumatised Clive turns out to be as interesting as Enthusiastic Teenage Clive
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persis-d-ffxiv · 4 months
Text
Lost ("Andy"/Rulian)
This was the chaos that people voted I should do for Persis and Andy (Art) so..here you go. I'll hear no complaints about it! If you feel the need to reblog it I VASTLY prefer you do not use the Artoirel tag as some of his fanbase is very offended by my fun times :P
Rulian bit back a sigh. He was only supposed to be in Ishgard for a moment. He should’ve known better than to go in the Congregation.
You’re needed to escort Count Fortemps!
What? No, no one else is qualified.
It’ll only take a bell or two.
Routine visit to one of the Fortemps holdings.
Rulian shook his head to clear the memories and then shook some snow off of his armor to loosen his sword arm. It was cold out here in the highlands already, the snow falling steadily. He could feel his shoulder starting to stiffen from the cold. He really wasn’t in the mood for this today. “How much farther?”
“We should be nearly upon it,” Artoirel grumbled, slowing his chocobo and looking around at the ruins around them.
“We should be? Have you not been here before?” Rulian asked, also slowing to a stop and looking around.
“Not to this particular one. That’s why I am here now. We dug up the paperwork about it and…” Artoirel stiffened, trailing off and staring ahead of them.
Rulian saw it too. Candlelight through a shattered window, a basement from the looks of it. “Artoirel there could still be heretics this far out,” Rulian warned as they started forward.
“Thought there was no such thing anymore according to you and Aymeric,” Artoirel retorted.
“There are still…dissenters. Those that disagree with his policies. People like the Brotherhood, for instance,” Rulian muttered. “No telling if there are still blasphemies lurking either. If I had known it was this far out I would have asked for knights to come with us.”
“I am sure there are none of those things here. Tis a Fortemps holding after all,” Artoirel said with a huff as he dismounted his chocobo and headed for some stairs that lead down to an almost buried basement in what looked like it had been a house.
Rulian tried not to cringe at the corpse of the dead dragon that had clearly crushed the house. At least that did not look any more recent than the end of the war. Artoirel had certainly grown bolder over the turns. Aymeric’s influence? Haurchefant’s? Certainly not Rulian’s…?
Artoirel stalked to the wooden door and knocked on it. “Open this door in the name of House Fortemps.”
Rulian moved up behind him, sword drawn still, warily watching the snow behind him. Nothing stirred. Not behind them, not in the room.
Artoirel banged on the door again. This time they heard a faint noise.
“Is that…a child?” Rulian asked, his hearing perhaps sharper than Artoirel’s. He climbed back up and walked around to kneel to look through the broken window. Snow had piled just inside the room. A single candle burned. A tiny bundle wriggled in the dark by a dying fire. Worse was…
Rulian got up and stalked back to the door, pushed Artoirel out of the way, and broke the door open. It gave easily, barely latched at all…or…mayhaps he was stronger than he realized as his husbands had said. He didn’t have time to worry about it. He walked over to throw wood on the fire and got fire crystals out of the pouch at his belt to warm up one of the blankets.
Artoirel had walked over to where the baby lay and caught the blanket Rulian threw him then gently picked up the child and wrapped it in the warm blanket. He wasn’t looking at the woman on the ground. “Is she…?”
Rulian knelt down next to her and checked, then grimaced. “Too late.”
Artoirel winced then looked at the baby. “The child is very cold.”
“I am certain,” Rulian agreed, bringing the fire crystals over and carefully wrapping them in the blankets to try to warm but not burn the delicate child. Blue eyes looked up under a mop of dark hair, the baby squirming, feebly but not gone yet. “Sit by the fire. We cannot take them out into the storm until they are warmer…we will never make it back to the city. I dare not use aether travel to take us there.” Rulian scolded himself. He should’ve brought one of his husbands. All of them could heal, they would know what to do.
Color slowly came back to the child and they seemed more alert, much to Rulian’s relief. “I think we can take them back now. I have more blankets on my chocobo, and an extra coat we can wrap them in. We can stop by the orphanage and-“
“No,” Artoirel said quietly.
“No? No to what exactly?” Rulian turned back to his friend, staring.
“No, we are not taking them to the orphanage. I am taking them home with me. No one is going to know about this. I am going to adopt them and make sure no one questions why,” Artoirel said, his voice determined, his mind made up.
Rulian stared at his friend. He wanted to dissuade him. To remind Artoirel that an infant was going to be a ridiculous amount of responsibility but…he couldn’t. It’d be a waste of breath anyway judging by the look on Artoirel’s face. “As you say,” Rulian said and turned to go get the extra blanket and jacket. Once they had the child wrapped up as warmly as they could they flew with all haste back to the city.
“Do…you need help?” Rulian asked, at a loss as Artoirel started to wander home before anyone saw him.
“I have much help at home, I suspect. Thank you, however,” Artoirel said, not even looking up as he walked home in the snow.
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schmooplesboop · 4 months
Text
Cold Hands, Warm... Heart
Pairing: Clive X Gav
Rating: Mature, cuz little bit goofy and a little bit saucy
Summary: What better use of your god-like powers than to keep your boyfriend's hands warm?
---
They had expected it to be cold, but not this cold. In just a matter of hours rain had become sleet and then snow. At this rate they’d be lucky if they weren’t buried by morning.
Usually, the cursebreakers would take care of transporting the Hideaway’s shipments by themselves, but with so many mother crystals destroyed Valisthea’s bandits had become bolder… or more desperate. Thus, Clive had come along to protect this caravan, as it contained particularly important iron ingots for Blackthorne’s forge and medical components for Tarja. Nothing deterred bandits faster than the presence of the “Outlaw Dominant”.
The unexpected snow and impending dusk had forced them off the road in the middle of a vast forest. It was a risk, taking the covered wagons off the path in this weather, but staying too close to the road at night was just asking for trouble.
Clive looked around their makeshift camp. Their three wagons were half-circled around them for protection from both potential enemies and the wind. The chocobos had been unhitched from the carts, rubbed down, and draped with blankets to keep the snow off. Cole, Corrine, and Torgal were all sitting by the roaring fire at the center of the camp, staying warm and eating a meager supper before their turn on watch in a few hours. He should’ve been eating too, but he couldn’t stop worrying about Gav.
They got so little time to spend together these days he’d asked Gav to come along as extra protection for the caravan. It’d seemed a fine idea at the time. Now his lover was out there on watch in the woods, likely freezing his fingers off because Gav had insisted that August take the one pair of heavy gloves they had, because of course he did. He did wish Gav would be just a little bit selfish sometimes.
Unable to stand around and fret any longer, Clive strode off into the trees in the direction Gav had gone, telling Torgal to stay when the wolf tried to follow along.
Knowing Gav, he was concealed in a hide somewhere among the trees and rocks so Clive made as much noise as humanly possible to draw him out.
The camp was far enough away that it was lost behind a curtain of trees and falling snow when Clive heard a soft sound behind him. He turned and found Gav weaving his way toward him through the pines. Clive had walked right by him somewhere, and he’d even been looking for places Gav could’ve been hiding.
“Something wrong, Clive?” Gav asked as he approached. He gestured to the cloak he had on. “Need this back?”
Clive had insisted that Gav borrow his cloak for his turn on watch. It wasn’t heavy enough to provide any real warmth, but it was at least an extra layer of protection and the hood would keep the snow off.
“No, you keep that on.” Clive said sternly.
Gav snapped his heels together, giving him a grin and a teasing salute. “Aye, sir.”
Clive bit the inside of his cheek lightly, wishing Gav hadn’t hit him with the “sir”. He already was feeling a bit feral from Gav wearing his cloak. It was almost comical. He and Gav had been over almost every naked inch of each other, but seeing Gav just wearing his clothes is what got him going? Baffling.
“I came to make sure you weren’t an icicle out here. Let me see your hands.” Gav obediently pulled his thin leather gloves off and held one hand up for Clive’s inspection. Clive frowned; he didn’t like how red the other man’s fingers were. “Put your hands on my chest.”
Gav blinked, looking torn between amusement and fearing for his lover’s sanity. “Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I don’t think feelin’ you up in the middle of the woods is going t’ help, love.”
Clive’s sigh was both fond and exasperated, “Trust me, Gav.” He gently took hold of Gav’s wrists and brought his hands up, setting them on his chest, shivering slightly as the blonde’s cold fingers slipped beneath the fabric of his shirt.
“Oh,” Gav blinked again, this time in amazement, as the bare skin beneath his hands started to heat up, like a kettle over a fire. “Knew you ran hot, but not that it could be on demand.” He gave Clive’s pecs a firm, appreciative squeeze, drawing another shiver out of him. “Is it just the tits or…?”
Clive chuckled, “The whole torso, but it’s hard to get at it when I’m wearing this.” He briefly patted his corset with one hand.
Gav snorted softly, “You’re telling me. If you didn’t look so damn good in it, I’d have cut the fucking thing off you long ago.”
Oh. Now there was something else that scratched at the little feral corner of his brain. Definitely not this corset, but maybe he’d let Gav cut him out of a different one…
“You gonna do this for the whole camp by the way?” Gav was smirking at him, a glitter of mirth in his eye. “Usually not the jealous sort, but that might make even me a little green-eyed.”
He laughed, “No. They’re on their own, this is just for you.”
“So good to me, Clive.” Gav purred.
Clive’s breath hitched as Gav’s thumbs pressed hard against his nipples before leisurely circling them, the calloused pads of his fingers deliciously rough against the sensitive buds. A familiar tightening in his groin sent a shudder up Clive’s spine.
His voice came out raw and slightly strangled sounding, “Gav—"
“Sorry! Sorry,” An embarrassed laugh escaped Gav’s crooked grin. “Forgot m’self for a moment, the lads being so mesmerizing and all.” He pressed an apologetic kiss to Clive’s chin, hands sliding onto higher, safer territory. “I’ll behave.”
Clive blew out a shaky breath, unsure if he wanted the other man to behave. He wondered if the others would notice if he just tossed Gav into the nearest covered wagon and fucked him senseless… or had Gav fuck him senseless. Neither of them was particular about what went where. Very likely they would notice. Pity.
“How are you doing, Gav?” He asked after a few moments.
“Well, ah,” Gav cleared his throat, “Blood’s definitely running hotter than it was. Fifty brigands probably passed us by unnoticed because I’m too busy thinkin ‘bout your magic tits—"
Clive laughed softly, pressing a kiss to each of Gav’s palms before tugging his gloves back on. “Well, whenever you need a warm-up, they’ll be here.”
A low chuckle sounded in Gav’s throat, “Thanks, Clive.” His hands gave Clive’s chest another quick, cheeky pawing. “You too, lads.”
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xiv-wolfram · 1 year
Text
Drowning - Comic Script
Stormblood patch 4.1
Wolfram is at a low point, but an old friend is there to help.
TW: depression, suicide, alcoholism, brief gore
Wolfram Saga Comics (Chronological)
This is the script for a future comic. Posting for those who don’t want to wait to get the story. Numbers indicate frame number. A/B mean a frame is split.
Part 1
Wolf in the ruins of his village in The Fringes, just south of Schism, pacing. Asuna (his chocobo) is nearby, wearing a saddle bag, pecking at some weeds.  Narrator - "This is one of the few comics that you *really* need to be familiar with Wolfram’s major plot points up until now to understand. So for those that are - Wolfram has just left Raubahn sobbing on the roof of the Menagerie in Ala Mhigo after Rau confessed his love for him and, with a lot of internal struggle, Wolf rejected his friend's advances. He did what he thought was best for him without giving him a choice in the matter. Now Wolfram finds himself wandering in the ruins of his home town in The Fringes.”
Wolf looks miserable, tears in his eyes as he glances around at the destruction he caused 19 years ago - “If I have to feel this… I may as well feel all of it. Tis a good time to drown.” Dark Thought - ‘Drown? You’re so dramatic. Why don’t you *drown* your feelings with booze like you usually do? You cried the entire flight here - normally you’d have gotten rid of me by now.’
A) Wolf pacing around the ruins, pitiful expression, tears falling down face - “Because I deserve this…*I deserve to feel this*. He was *devastated*. I’m *devastated* too. Having to tell the love of my life - who I thought was lost to me - that we cannot be together was the hardest thing I’ve ever done." B) Wolf pacing - "And godsdammit if I have to mourn him I may as well mourn my family as well… really think about what I did. Why do I keep hurting those I love?” Dark Thought - ‘I’ve said it all along Wolfram - you’re a monster. Just as much as me if not more. You hurt those you claim to love. You lie to them all. You kill…far more than what I did here. The Garlean lives you've taken could easily fill this village 5 times over.’
Wolf sits on the ground, leaning against a ruined wall, tears falling down his face as he looks at the sky - “I ruin everything… everyone I care about. It’s as if my very existence causes pain. My family… this town. All the friends I’ve lost along the way - Moen, Harchefaunt, Ysayle, Minfillia. Poor Krile…she still can’t talk about what they did to her. Many other allies as well… Far too many close encounters. It’s only a matter of time before I get the other Scions killed.” Dark Thought - ‘Beating yourself up like this - Are you just going to do my job for me?!’
Wolf sniffles, worried expression - “Apparently so…And of course I keep hurting him. Once he’d told me what Ilberd did to him in their youth, so much about him made sense to me. Thrice damn me - I know how hard that was for Rau… to kiss me. And then to tell me how he felt even after I didn’t return the affection. I know that my answer hurt him more deeply than he’d ever let on… he must think me so incredibly cruel…” Dark Thought - 'Well, that *was* incredibly cruel. Surely he hates you now.'
Wolf crying into his hand *muffled sobs*. Dark Thought - ‘You know what the worst thing is - the absolute worst thing about you? It is that you would choose to lose them all over again, simply for another moment with him.’
Wolf surprised, looking at the ground - “N-no! No I wouldn’t! Seven hells, why would you say that?!” Dark Thought - ‘You said there is no cause on this star worth losing him for - and you meant it. For a moment you scared yourself because you knew you'd spoken from your heart. And that - my pathetic friend - makes you a truly selfish, evil bastard. Just like me.’
Lighter tears, worried expression - “No… no that's not what I meant. I didn’t - “ Dark Thought - ‘Yes you did. Yet despite being perfectly willing to let the star burn for him - you rejected him and left him sobbing on a rooftop without even telling him that you love him too.’
Wolf annoyed - “That’s because of *you*! I can’t be with him because of *you*! You evil prick!” Dark Thought - ‘Oh but you could. If you really wanted to, you'd find a way. But you won’t even entertain the idea because deep down you want him to suffer. You want him to suffer for leaving you first.’
Wolf brings his legs up to his chest, crossing his arms and resting himself on his knees, lost expression, more tears forming - “No - I left because he was upset and I was the reason. Didn’t leaving make him feel better? Suppose I don't’ have a way to know. Anyroad, I’ve forgiven him for the past. He had every right to kick me out for lying to him all those years ago.”
A) Wolf stands, pacing, frustrated - “And I lied about *you*. About my family! Who - by the way I should be thinking about right now. Not what a shit person I am talking out loud to a -” B) Wolf surprised. Dark Thought - 'Ah, finally noticed did you? You can’t even control yourself, how do you think you can control me?'
A) Wolf surprised. Thought - ‘I…I can’t.’ B) Wolf glances over at his saddlebag, defeated frown. Thought - ‘This was a foolish idea… I should never have tried to let myself feel this. No - I’m done with feelings. Done with pain. Done with you.’
Wolf walking over to Asuna. She tilts her head - "Kweh?"(concerned)
Wolf pats Asuna. Smiles sadly - ‘Not much longer… I’ll be free soon.'
Wolf looks determined, reaching into his saddlebag. Thought - 'And this time I’ve a mind to stay that way…’
Part 2
Wolf standing on the rocky area above the falls in the middle of the river near his village. Hands resting at his sides, looking out at the landscape of The Fringes with a peaceful smile on his face. 
A) He turns his head to look behind him. B) Turns around fully, beams - "Oh! I haven't had this dream in a while…It's nice to see you again."
Ysayle stands before him with her hair up, wearing a flowing light blue gown. She smirks - "Oh my dear friend… when will you trust that I am not a dream? I simply find it easier to visit you here than the material plane."
Wolf embraces her, beaming - "It matters not what you are…I've missed you terribly, Ysayle."
A) Ysayle beams, holding him back - "And I, you." B) She pulls back, smiling sadly, looking into his eyes - "Now tell me - why are we here?”
Another zoomed out shot, focused on the falls. They’re standing apart. Ysayle - “If I recall… this place was significant to you.”
Wolf looks at the ground guiltily. Smiling uncomfortably - “Aye, it is. …after I had summoned the hellhound, once I’d regained my mind… I walked through the village, stinking with the shredded carcasses of my family and friends. I knew I could not let that happen again. This was where I came to end my life…“
Ysayle smiles sadly, gently guiding his face back up to look her in the eyes - “And why are we here once more?”
Wolf sighs, worried expression - “I can only assume… because I feel similarly to that night. You… you’ve seen everything, correct?”
Ysayle smiles comfortingly - “Yes, my friend. I have observed your recent struggle. Know that I do not mean to intrude - merely that watching is what I have been tasked with and there is little else to do here.”
Wolf smiles warmly - “Worry not. I trust you with my present as I did my past. You understand me in a way no one else can. Hells, it’s almost a comfort to know you’re watching…provided this is more than a dream.”
She laughs - “Of course. I would be concerned if you didn’t question my existence… So - back to the task at hand.”
Ysayle smiles sadly - “I am sorry about what happened with your beloved. I am not here to say what you should have done in the moment but to caution you - do not let this consume you. The darkness within you feeds on your suffering, as you well know. You must continue. You must survive.” Wolf confused - “Why… why must I continue? What is this life if not struggle and pain?”
Ysayle holds him close, resting her head against his chest - “When my world had been shattered. Everything I believed to be true - gone. My ideals dust in the wind - you embraced me. You comforted me and told me not to lose faith. You helped me to survive that moment Wolfram - and so I’m here to do the same for you.”
He puts his arms around her, smiling sadly - “Aye… but for you your fight, your purpose, it was not over. The war continued. You had that to hold on to.”
Wolf beams - “And besides - you are a beautiful soul. Someone who saw allies in those you were told to hate. Who wanted a better life for her people and fought to get it. Because of you Ishgard is freeing itself from the sins of the past. Dravania are once again allies. The war would not have ended were it not for your sacrifice. You were right to continue.”
Ysayle steps back, smiling sadly - “And yet… I think of myself as Lady Iceheart. I look back on my deeds and remember the innocence my negligence took. The attack on the bridge. Men transformed, unable to return to their old life. The path to peace was paved in blood.”
Wolf worried - “Ysayle…” Ysayle smiles - “Worry not - I am trying to view myself differently. It will take time but I am determined. And so I must give you the same advice.”
Ysayle grinning - “Where I am… I see not one future but many. I cannot divulge too much at this time. Each path I see ahead of you - provided you survive to take it - those paths are *extremely interesting*.”
Wolf laughs - “Interesting? You want me to stay around for my own entertainment? Simply to see what happens next?”
She grins - “You’ve said it yourself - I understand you. So yes - I know that is the motivation you need. At your core you are curious. So live. Live for the next person you can save, the next mystery, the next battle, the next breathtaking landscape, the next calamity to thwart.”
A) Wolf chuckles, wiping a tear from his eye - “That is wonderfully simplistic.” B) Wolf smiles - “So you’re saying the fight isn’t over? That I’m still needed?”
Ysayle beams and holds his arm comfortingly - “Yes. In every future I’ve seen - your role is larger than you can imagine. So yes - you will suffer, as does everyone. Yet you will also see unimaginable beauty. The pain will be balanced with pleasure. You will feel anger but you will also feel joy. Do not give up. You are needed for the struggle ahead.”
Wolf tears up, beaming - “Thank you, my dear friend… truly. Thank you.”
She gives him another hug, smiling - “In the meantime… when things are difficult there is something you must do.”
They separate. Wolf curious - “Alright…” Ysayle looks serious - “Do NOT listen to that separate voice within you. You must quiet it completely for a time. And you already know how to do that. It will not be forever. You will get past this grief just as you got past it before. That voice is simply not something you can handle right now.”
Wolf looks at the ground and nods. “I see.” Ysayle smiles - “And Wolf, you need people to talk to. I cannot visit you often. Nor can Raubahn be your confidant. It's not fair to either of you. There are others in your life that you love and who love you back. Please - trust them. Let them into your heart and they will help you to survive so that you may save countless others."
Wolf grins - “Alright then Ysayle…I will do as you say. I trust you completely - be you ghost, guardian, or a figment of my imagination.” Ysayle ponders. Thought - ‘I wonder if that’s why she chose me… hmm.’
Ysayle beams up at him - “I must leave now my friend, you will wake soon. Remember my words - and do whatever it takes to survive.”
Wolf beams, kissing her forehead.
A) Wolf waking up groggily. Blinks. B) Zoom out shot. He's passed out in the village ruins with a bottle in his hand. Off frame - "KWEH!"(urgent)
Asuna is fighting off an antlion.
A) Wolf worried - "Fuck!" B) A chakram lodges into the antlion's skull.
Wolf has one boot on the antlion's skull, pulling the chakrams out of the carcass with effort. Asuna facing away from him, head up, eyes closed - "Kweh!"(disapproving)
A) Wolf, standing back up, looking guilty - "I'm sorry! Thank you for protecting me." B) He pets her on the beak. Asuna - "Kweh!"(forgiving)
A) Wolf drinking from a bottle standing next to Asuna's saddle bag. B) Asuna looking at him. - "Kweh!"(concerned) Wolf points at her humorously, eyebrow raised - "Hey, don't you judge me ma'am. I said I was done listening to that bastard."
Wolfram Saga Comics (Chronological)
9 notes · View notes
sparklecryptid · 2 years
Note
Awwww, YES, Nerdanel and Nyx BONDING. This is going to mean very good things for these three specifically, and scandal, SCANDAL I TELL YOU back in Elf Land (bc one of Ace's people started calling Valinor that now all of them are despite various Elves and Ace correcting them a few times). Elves live on royal gossip after all and there has been fair little of it after the last ships sailed I bet. Every bit of this whole 'Feanor's fear has been located in another world and he refuses to come back' drama is being combed over and talked about from coast to coast.
Yeah, Fingolfin is horrified and baffled. His haughty fighty older brother is a short mortal (sort of mortal?) now that runs a tavern and LIVES above said tavern ("Bar. It's a BAR, Fingolfin." "You serve food. Taverns serve food." "The distinction is a little fuzzier yes but on paper this is a BAR.") and and- he is just really having a hard time reconciling the memory in his head with this new version of his brother that is, against all odds, HAPPY this way. Far happier then Fingolfin has ever seen him outside of the few moments he saw him holding and playing with his sons so long ago anyway. It's very weird.
Finarfin, for his part, is enjoying this, watching his oldest (and now shortest *gleeful*) brother interact with Fingolfin. He's got his own issues with Feanor, but Ace, now, Ace is new. He's more able to separate the two in his mind, I think. ANd they met Noctis before they met Ace. And the kid clearly loves his brother. Which spoke very clearly to Finarfin at least how different Feanor had grown in his second life (They don't know this is technically the third).
And really, Ace should be happy Findis and Irime are waiting to see how Fingolfin and Finarfin are received before coming. They're next.
OOOOH and PLEASE say someone takes Celegorm on a real hunt, eos style. WAY bigger game than he's used to (really, Coerls are about the size of Moose, Moose. Everything on Eos is too big)! Catoplepas and Behemoths are NORMAL??? Coerls are NORMAL? And no horses, chocobos!
Just picturing whoever took him out dragging him back to Ace's bar and they're COVERED in mud and a bit of blood and Celeg's missing a singed inch or three of hair, but he's GRINNING like a CRAZY person because he hasn't had THAT much fun since early Beleriand okay? They may never get him to go back to Valinor either.
“Father!” Celegorm’s voice is joyful as it echoes through Ace’s wing in the Citadel. Ace turns quickly enough there’s a moment of vertigo - he knows that tone of his sons voice, he knows it spells trouble - and opens his mouth to demand to know what Celegorm did only to close it as Celegorm bounces toward him while covered in blood. Axis is being dragged along with him and also covered in blood.
Ace sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.
“Axis,” Ace says because this is completely Axis’ fault and Ace knows it, “Why?”
Axis smirks the smirk of a smug asshole and raises his eyebrow.
“Why what?”
Ace’s face is devoid of emotion as he stares at one of his best friends.
Axis looks like an extremely satisfied cat.
“You weren’t going to take him on a Hunt,” Axis says reasonably, “So I - being the best uncle - decided to.”
Celegorm looks shocked and betrayed at the news Ace wasn’t going to take him on a Hunt.
“You were going to keep this from me?” Celegorm asks and Ace would take him more seriously if Celegorm wasn’t his son, “Father, why?”
Ace stares his son dead in the eye.
“I didn’t want to deal with the clean up,” he says honestly. Celegorm looks offended. Axis snickers. “And you - Axis Arra - are you still on about whether or not you, Libertus, or my other brothers are the better uncles?”
“Yes.”
“I love you all equally.”
Axis stares Ace in the eye.
“We’re still better.”
Ace wonders why all of his families are crazy.
-
Asslkdjalkjs AND YES. Finarfin and Fingolfin meet Noctis first and Noctis is kind and polite and only has Good Things to say about Ace.
And then they find out that Noctis is Ace’s half brother and Ace treats Noctis like a little brother. That for all intents and purposes Ace considers Noctis his brother and Fingolfin is just Error 404 does not compute, Finarfin is more accepting of it. but that doesn’t mean Finarfin doesn’t have Tests to see if their brother has changed or not.
(Cue overprotective arafinwe here. You aren’t hurting their family again Feanor. Arafinwe won’t let you.)
Findis and Irime: *show up*
Fingolfin: You won’t Fucking Believe This-
They meet Ace. It’s awkward. Then Libertus walks in with news about Tredd blowing something up and they get to watch Ace curse loudly and rush out the door to Deal With It.
why did he give his idiots magic again?
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lady-lissette · 7 months
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Shed
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*knock, knock, knock* “Come in!” Seated in front of her vanity, Annette welcomed Marienne into her bedroom with a warm smile. “Oh good, it’s you! I was hoping it’d be you.” She clasped her hands together as she lifted herself up from her seat to greet her sister properly with a bow. “That...certainly doesn’t sound suspicious,” the older Isedaire replied as she closed the door behind her. She bowed back down to her sister before making her way across the room to take a seat on her bed. “I know you sent for me, but what if it was someone else who came? Gerivaux? Lissette? One of the maids?”
“In that case, I wouldn’t be able to introduce them to my new friend.” Annette huffed. ���New friend?” Marienne canted her head to the side. Annette quickly disappeared into her walk-in closet. After a minute of shuffling things around inside, the girl emerged from the closet with a brown rabbit clutched securely in her arms. Marienne’s jaw dropped. “A rabbit!” she exclaimed, looking back and forth between Annette and the small creature. “Mother is going to have your head if she sees you with that!” Annette quickly pressed a finger to her lips. “Shhh!!” Marienne rolled her eyes and lowered her voice to a loud whisper. “Annette, you can’t just sneak animals int–” “I got her for free!” the younger sibling interrupted, shaking her head. “She would have been tossed in a stewpot otherwise...or fed to a scalekin! I saved her life! You mustn’t tell anyone he’s here, Sister, not yet!” “Annette…” Marienne let out a sigh and folded her arms across her chest. “You can’t just keep an animal in your room all the time. What if it sheds and ruins your nice dresses? Or leaves droppings everywhere? Your room will stink and the maids will most certainly notice.” “But...B-But!” Annette’s shoulders slumped downward, but her eyes still showed a glimmer of hopefulness. “I-I already set up the hutch in my closet. Nobody goes in there but me...a-and I’ve been doing a wonderful job at keeping it clean!” Marienne, only a tad sceptical of her younger sister’s words, took another moment to examine the rabbit more closely. From the outside, it didn’t appear to be showing any signs of protest at being held by Annette – nor showed any sort of distress. If the poor thing was squirming and kicking around in her arms, it’d be another story, but the rabbit looked as though it was about to fall asleep at any moment. With a sigh, the woman lifted herself up from Annette’s bed and lightly patted her companion on the head with a finger. “You’ll have to tell everyone else sooner or later.” “I know...I just need some time! I’ll do it soon – I promise!” “Good.” Marienne smiled, giving the rabbit one last pat before she started making her way to the door. “Perhaps we can ‘borrow’ some of the hay that Lissie uses for her chocobo to give it some better temporary bedding...or perhaps for it to be used as a snack while we procure a better food source.” Excited by her sister’s support, Annette vigorously nodded her head. “O-Of course! We’re going to need lots of greens too!”
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Text
Warm Covers
Noctis Caelum x Gn! reader
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You feel the warm morning sun on your face slowly waking you up. You groan lightly and turn towards the body next to you. Your very pretty, very emo looking, boyfriend Noctis Caelum. He looked so calm, a nice stubble, fairly messy hair, how did you score a man like this?
You turn back over and grab your phone to check the time, 7:45... Noct usually wakes up around 9ish. You could take the time to shower, make breakfast for the both of you, do other helpful things. To be or not to be productive? That is the question. But there was one thing that was very important, you have to do it. But you can't remember what.
You remove the very warm, comfy blankets from yourself and start to shimmy your way out of bed when someone grabs your arm and pulls you back into the mess of covers. You're quickly pulled into a tight hug. "It's too early, stay here" Noctis pleads with a smooth typical morning voice. You melt into his embrace before responding.
"Well good morning to you too your highness" you smile into his chest, "You might to get to sleep in, even though you shouldn't-"
"You sound like Ignis" he interrupts. You pull away and softly hit his chest.
"I wasn't done, even though you shouldn't. I have things to do-"
"That you can do later" he interrupts again, this time you just glare at him.
"Rude, absolutely despicable, positively awful. You would think the king would have good bedside manners" you turn around and get up but as soon as your feet hit the floor you jump back up into bed. "God this floor is like fucking ice!" You yelp quickly sticking your legs under the covers. Noctis grabs you again.
"So you're not leaving?" He sits up next to you, pulling you close. You glare at the floor from your spot.
"...maybe, but I have something to do, I don't remember though"
"What do you mean "you don't remember"?" Noctis asks.
"There is something I have to do today that is very important, I think, and I don't remember what" you squint your eyes trying to search your brain, "I could just hop around so I don't get frostbite on my feet or I could use a chair to..." You go on mumbling about the possible ways you could leave the room with maximum comfort.
"Ooooor, you could not leave and you could sleep the morning away with me" you side eye him.
"Don't you have training with Gladio in a hour?" You ask, he didn't say anything for a moment.
"It's possible", he turns your head to face him. You get a good look at him, sleepy half lidded eyes, a tired smile, small eye bags. Quite frankly you were jealous that he could get any amount of sleep granted but still look so god damn gorgeous.
"Hey Noct?"
"Yes Y/N?"
"Do you know that you're pretty?" He chuckles at your question.
"You tell me almost everyday love" you hum in response, your hands travel up to his hair and you start to play with it.
"I don't like you" your voice is soft, he leans back in confusion.
"Why?" You pull him back closer.
"Because this "staying here and sleeping in" plan is sounding more and more appealing by the minute" you grumble out.
"Well then, that calls for celebration!" His voice is chipper.
"Celebration?" You raise and eyebrow at him.
"Yeah, going back to sleep" he falls backwards taking you with him. You lay your head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat while Noctis pull the covers over you both.
Your breathing slows as all your muscles relax, you close your eyes ready to have a peaceful morning with a lovely lazy man beside you.
In your mind you see trees, flowers, you feel the breeze, and hear the squawk of a chocobo? Next you see blonde hair, freckles and a camera?...Prompto?
Fuck!
You spring out bed as fast as you can, not giving a shit about the cold floors. "Shit, shit, shit, fuck!" You yell out while frantically grabbing your stuff for the morning.
"Y/N! What's wrong?" You see Noctis giving you a worried look.
"I remembered what I had to do!" You yell to him while trying to find your left shoe.
"What is it?" Noctis gets up to help you. You stop to breathe for a second.
"I promised...to help...take...pictures" you say in between breaths, suddenly you spot your shoe sticking out from under the bed. You snatch it and quickly put it on.
You're about to dash out the door when Noctis grabs your arm again. You almost get whiplash when you turn to look at him, "Did I forget something?" You didn't want to make Prompto sad that you forgot, so you running out the door is the best you can do.
Noctis pulls you in and kisses you very quickly, leaving you quite dazed. "I love you, good luck trying to convince Prompto to capture something in a safe environment" you chuckle nervously at what he said.
He told you about the deadly photo op but you agreed to help anyway, a smart decision you made.
"Don't worry Noct, we'll be fine" you pause, "I think" another pause, "I hope" your eyebrows are furrowed as you look at Noctis with a slightly scared look.
"You'll be fine, Prompto knows that Ignis will take his camera away if either one of you gets hurt"
"But I should get going" you give him a quick peck, "Love you, good luck with Gladio!" You run out the door but not before hearing him groan.
"Why did you have to remind me?!"
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you prompto running away from the dangerous situation he put you in:
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i'm really tired and this shorter than i thought it would be but i still like it
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archaiclumina · 10 months
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A Crease on the Page
A little bit of Ren & Oli backstory I've been working on as referenced in this post! This WIP is set in around 1558 of the Sixth Astral Era, during the Rise of Garlemald and the time of the Sharlayan Exodus from the Hinterlands!
There was trepidation that surrounded her. It was inside her, but outside of her too. It hung in her chest and in the air; like the pause before her aunt’s little gold music box began to chime. “What if someone sees?” Her voice soft as carline seeds on the evening breeze. “They won’t.” Cyfrenne’s voice replied to her with a certainty like stone. A conviction of belief as stalwart as the truth that the moon pulled the tide to kiss the shore.
Only the dim, twilight glow of Cyfrenne’s aetherlamp lit the way for them. It swung gently as she climbed, the faint swish and hum of its sway the only sound save for their steps; muffled by the thick wool of their socks. Oliviede glanced back up. Gazing at the rows of shelves winding off into the blackness above.
The pair didn’t make another sound until Cyfrenne reached the last step. Then she let out a breathless sigh of relief or urgency, Oliviede couldn’t tell. Perhaps because it was a mixture of both. She turned to her once she felt the cold marble underfoot. Both unhooking their shoes from where they had fastened them upon the bows of their Studium uniforms and putting them back on in silence.
“Now what?” She asked, her voice still hushed, although louder now they were at the bottom.
“We go this way.” Cyfrenne said, gesturing in what was an indeterminate direction to Oli. “Toward the borrower’s catalogue, and my father’s old office.”
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Oliviede said (more to herself than Cyfrenne, who had already begun walking down one of the corridors of books.) She cast a final glance back over her shoulder toward the narrow ladder they had descended from and then walked briskly after the other girl.
“My Father’s not a traitor, Oli.” Cyfrenne said to her as she caught up, wholly unprompted. At least as far as she was concerned.
“I believe you.”
“I’m only saying so because obviously, it doesn’t make him seem very untreacherous, when his only daughter asks her best friend to break into the School of Fantastics with her.”
“But we’re only doing it to find proof that will clear his name.” Oliviede shrugged. “That’s like the opposite of being treacherous. That’s aiding true justice.”
Cyfrenne turned to her and beamed, “My thoughts exactly.”
“Only, do you know what we’re looking for, Ren?” It wasn’t that Oliviede doubted her motives in wanting to prove her father’s innocence. She thought it was noble and brave. Daring even. It wasn’t even that she was worried about getting expelled for sneaking into the restricted section of the Great Gubal Library. (Her parents would expect as much.)
“No. I just know it’s there. The proof will be there. I know it, Oli.”  
That was why.
Cyfrenne’s heart was thrumming in her chest like a hive of bees. She knew Oliviede thought this was a madcap idea. A wild chocobo chase. She didn’t know how to explain it to her. I saw it between the words of our aetherology textbook. But that’s how she knew. That’s where she’d seen it. The proof of her father’s innocence. In the spaces between the words. In the lines that separated the sentences. Who would believe that? Oliviede would come the closest to believing her, but even she might suggest that Cyfrenne had been spending too much time with her aetherology textbooks, at the very least.
She was very grateful to her friend. Oliviede had never met Cyfrenne’s father. She had no reason not to believe the official reports, even if most were not privy to them, she had shared them with her, and Oliviede was in her rights to agree with them.
The young half-hyur had arrived in the Hinterland’s six short months after her father had disappeared. It had been a year now, and the Forum of Sharlayan’s investigations had concluded. Like those before him, Cyfrenne’s father had succumbed to the influence of the very knowledge he had been trusted to safeguard. There would be no more Bibliomancer’s guarding the School of Fantastics.
“They’ve already taken everything important, everything they think they truly want to keep from here. Or at least, everything they think they truly want to keep.” She changed the subject away from the topic of their search. And to what she had gleaned from her mother’s notes and diaries. “They’re going to leave, eventually. I don’t know when, but it’s all but certain to happen.”
“Well, if I don’t get kicked out for this, I hope it’s after I’ve graduated from the Arboretum.”
She chuckled at the dry reply.
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spotofmummery · 1 year
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Choose Amon's Adventure
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The results from the previous poll were:
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(Note - I didn't realize I'd made one of the options so close to Amon's name until it won. I was just rolling a random Elezen name generator. Too funny!)
“My name is Almont,” the lad finally told him.
Amon gave a slight laugh at the similarity to his own name. Just cut a few letters and…
“What’s so funny?”
“My name is Amon,” the bard told him.
It took the lad a moment to work out why this was amusing. When he finally did, he said, “You’re kidding.”
“I’m not.”
Clod Almont finally laughed a little too. This seemed to break the ice, and as the lad drank more of the tea, he warmed up to company and conversation.
In fact, once he answered with more than “none of your business,” the lad wasn’t half bad to chat with. Amon explained how he’d dragged the lad out of the mud and into the inn – leaving out the bit about trying to pin it on the lad’s tab – which left Clod Almont shaking his head.
“Why would you do that? You don’t even know me.”
The bard shrugged. He didn’t exactly know why he did what he did most of the time, either.
“You paid for this room?”
“’Twas on discount,” Amon reminded him.
“Still,” the lad was slowly coming to the conclusions the bard hoped for. “I shall have to repay you somehow.”
“Well,” Amon cracked a smile. “You can start by telling me why you’re wandering around drunk in Gridania.”
Clod Almont grunted at that. “It’s a stupid story.”
“I’m a bard. I live for stories of all kinds.”
“Fine,” the lad gave his signature sour look. “It’s my dream to race and breed chocobos. So, I left home with my savings to find a bird to start my racing lineage.”
Well, that wasn’t what Amon expected. It was interesting none the less.
“But..?” the bard prodded.
Clod Almont looked ashamed. “On my way to Bentbranch, I got swindled out of my savings.”
“Swindled?”
“Long story.”
“I see. So, you can’t buy your bird,” Amon summarized.
“Yeah. And I can’t go home empty handed, either. My parents did not approve of me chasing my dreams.”
The bard didn’t inquire as to why chocobo racing was an Ishgardian noble’s dream – dreams were often funny like that. He certainly could see the logic of his parent’s disapproval at the lad’s flight of fancy.
Despite all this, it could be an interesting opportunity should Amon choose to get involved.
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ohorishan · 9 months
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birch tea
~900 words, ARR patch era, moenwol c:
Moenbryda and Ori discover a few things about each other.
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There’s a spot on Moenbryda’s work table that’s miraculously not occupied by a book, a scroll, or a half-disassembled gadget. I put the mug of tea there and clear my throat as politely as I can manage.
She picks it up without looking away from her notes and takes a sip. Then she does look at it, surprised, and takes another. “Who taught you how to make birch tea?” she says.
“A– friend,” I answer. “Years ago, in Limsa. Is it up to scratch?”
“You missed the juniper.”
“Not for lack of trying,” I say, “there isn’t a sprig nor berry to be found.”
“And you searched the entire Toll, did you?”
“High and low, on chocobo-back. Soldier's honor.”
She looks at me for a drawn out moment, investigating my expression like an obscure tome. I give her my very best serious face. Then I wiggle my eyebrows at her, and she lets out a peal of a laugh.
“Well,” she says, “I hope you made yourself a cup, because this one’s all mine.”
I did, in fact. I manage to clear another little patch of table for my own mug and climb up onto the chair adjacent to hers.
She slides the top page of her notes– a diagram for some kind of a device, crystal in the middle, calculations and crossed-out lines filling the margins– sideways to me. “Here. What do you think?”
It… certainly is a diagram. “I couldn’t tell you,” I say. “I follow you about as far as ‘point this end at the Ascians’.”
“Don’t sell yourself short,” she says.
“Not sure how else to sell myself,” I reply, and she laughs again. 
“Fine,” she says, acquiescing, “not everyone’s a scholar. I’d do well to remember that. But you understand more than you think you do. No, I don’t mean all this,” she adds, seeing the way I glance at the notes with apprehension. “I mean the aether itself, how it moves. How to move with it. This–” the diagram– “is just a theory. When I have something I can put in your hands, you’ll know what to do.”
“If you say so,” I say, although the way she says it I’m most of the way to convinced.
“I know so. I’ve seen you do it.” She gives me another long look, and this time I hold her gaze. It’s hard to breathe suddenly. I think if she asked me to go out and find an Ascian to test her theory right this second, I would. I can’t begin to think what to say.
And then she breaks the spell, Twelve be praised, by yawning widely.
“Gods, I’m tired,” she says. “What hour is it?”
“I don’t think you want to know.”
“You’re right, I don’t.” She takes a long sip of her tea instead. I do too, holding the mug in both hands. It’s held its warmth– even inside, it’s chilly in Mor Dhona– and the tea is as bracing as I remember it, even with no juniper.
“Tell me about your friend,” Moenbryda says, dropping the gentlest emphasis around the word. “The one who taught you to make this.”
“Well. Her name was Aislona–”
“Ah, a nice Sea Wolf girl, of course.”
I smile, remembering. “Her family were ocean fishers. They’d go out for a week at a time, two sometimes. I asked her to show me, so I could make it for her whenever she came back.”
“And you developed a taste for it?”
“The tea?”
“Sure,” she says, with a wink.
I know I blush. I blush easy. She looks at me, and her gaze softens a little. “You loved her,” she says. It isn’t really a question.
“Yes,” I say. “I did.”
"A taste-defining relationship, one might say?"
"One might," I say, "yes."
“So what I can’t figure,” she says, utterly casual, “is why you’re the only one in this merry band not standing in line at my door.”
She’s at least done me the kindness of waiting until I didn’t have tea in my mouth. “Professional courtesy,” I manage. “There ought to be at least one of us you don’t have to fend off with that axe.”
“And what if I’m not fending? Unless I’m wrong,” she adds, “and you’re really not interested?”
“No! I mean, you’re not wrong.” I practically trip over the words in my rush to get them out. “But– I thought you and Urianger–”
“Urianger,” she says, quiet now, serious, “knows exactly how I feel about him. And he knows that whenever he needs me, for whatever reason, I’ll be there.”
Then she shoots me a sly smile. "And meanwhile, I don't see a reason any of us should sit around pining, do you?"
“I don’t think I’m pining exactly—”
“Oh, now he wants to talk theory.” Moenbryda reaches over and takes my chin in her hand, and I shut up immediately. “Do you want to debate the point,” she says, “or do you want to kiss me?”
“Definitely the second one,” I say. 
She tilts my face up to hers. “Good choice.”
She kisses very thoroughly, it turns out, and I’m more than happy to let her lead. The world narrows down to her fingers firm on my skin, her determined mouth, and the lingering taste of birch. It’s an eon, and absolutely not long enough, before she pulls away.
“Now,” she says, her lips still so close to mine I can feel her grin, “why don’t we leave all this right here, and you can show me what else you have a taste for.”
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savage-rhi · 1 year
Text
Immortal Shield Chapter 34: Gods Bane I
**DM or comment if you want to be tagged in updates on tumblr
**To read previous chapters, hit this link
Tagging: @seradyn​
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The week had come and gone too quickly for Ardyn. As powerful as he was, he couldn’t bend time to his will and stop it no matter how hard he wished. The early hour of dawn had arrived. Ardyn looked out the large window of the hotel room of the Via, blinking a few times. He needed a break finishing up the letter he had been preparing for Caelan. Memories of the past week and hesitations arouse inside himself.
After the night of the concert, they ventured to the other districts. Caelan got to show Ardyn where she used to live before Insomnia’s fall. It was a bittersweet situation for her. Ardyn recalled Caelan being on the verge of tears seeing that her old home had been converted from a glorious apartment complex for the guard, to another realm of small businesses. The Pax district and its small town aesthetic were long gone, now part of the larger metropolitan area. That was the final nail in the coffin when it came to determining if Caelan could continue to call the city her true home. As much as she loved Insomnia, and seemed to adore the changes, it was clear to Ardyn that she didn’t belong in this newer world. Caelan had told him as much when they departed.
"I'm sure it was beautiful," Ardyn remarked, resting a hand upon Caelan's shoulder. "I don't believe you'd lie about such things, if you're worried about my opinion."
"Is this how you felt seeing your home become a city after thousands of years?" Caelan furrowed her brows, looking down to her feet while she tried to compose herself. She didn't think it would be this hard to let go, yet here she was. Feeling like a sinking ship.
"Felt like what?" Ardyn tilted his head curiously.
"Like you're obsolete?"
Ardyn's glanced over Caelan while he contemplated her words. He hadn't thought of this in a long time. A deep sigh left him while he nodded.
"Yes," Ardyn murmured. "It was quite jarring initially, but you know how I got over it?"
"Hm?" Caelan raised her head, tilting a brow.
"By drinking wine and filling up on sweets."
Smiles and grins paved way to laughs that were shared between the both of them at Ardyn's comment. Not long after, Ardyn took hold of Caelan's hand, and guided them away from the area.
"Where are you taking me now?" Caelan laughed.
"We're getting orange cakes and wine. I wasn't joking! It's the best cure for melancholy."
"You're going to turn me into an obese alcoholic at this rate." Caelan scoffed.
"I'll still adore you regardless."
The corner of Ardyn’s lips formed into a smile while he remembered cheering Caelan up. After their bakery trip, they messed with a few crownsguard while snooping for more information regarding the king, and then took a trip to Insomnia's newly opened natural history museum. The visit had been a highlight for Ardyn, yet he also received a taste of what Caelan endured at Pax.
“Ardyn?” Caelan realized her partner wasn't near while venturing off to the fossil exhibit. She turned around and searched for him among the visitors. It didn’t take long before Caelan backtracked and found Ardyn staring at the paintings in the fine art section.
“I thought I lost you for a moment,” Caelan smiled while she approached him, catching her breath in the process. He didn’t acknowledge her. His gaze was too transfixed on the artwork before himself.
Caelan made a face, doing a double take between him and the art before she settled her eyes on the painting. The piece had been restored, and there were tell tale signs that someone tried destroying the art centuries ago. The image was of none other than the man standing beside her. One arm out, while the other remained on the head of someone who was infected with the scourge. A ring of light surrounded the top of Ardyn’s head. His white robes and long red hair flowed into the background, surrounded by crowds of adoring people, a black chocobo at his side. Caelan stepped closer so she could read the plaque underneath.
“The Founder King & Healer of Lucis. Circa unknown,” Caelan said aloud. She turned her head to check Ardyn before proceeding to read the rest. “Many artifacts related to Ardyn Lucis Caelum have been lost to time or destroyed. This painting was found in the deeper recesses of Angelgard during the formation of Angelus Vitae. The image has been carefully restored by over 100 talented artists within Insomnia, and paid for by King Noctis. Ardyn Lucis Caelum’s legacy is one of mixed truths. He was well known as the Accursed Adagium and a modern Chancellor of Niflheim before his status as Founder King was reinstated. While he has gravely impacted Eos, many modern Lucian bloodlines wouldn’t exist without Ardyn’s sacrifice by taking the starscourge unto himself over 2,000 years ago. It is with hope from King Noctis, that more artifacts will be unearthed to honor his ancestor.”
Caelan’s voice trailed off. The heavy feeling in her chest was indescribable. She could only imagine what was going on through Ardyn’s head. Before Caelan could approach him, Ardyn already had moved close to her side. He slid his left hand down to meet her right, his calloused fingertips giving hers as a squeeze. She turned her head to the right, focusing on him while Ardyn continued to look over the painting.
“The royal artisans could never get my nose correct in these dreary portraits.” Ardyn smiled faintly. It grew more when he saw Caelan try in vain to suppress a laugh but failed.
“Of all the comments you could make, that was quite a surprise.”
“Were you expecting something much more…profound?”
Caelan nodded.
“I don’t know what to make of such dedications.” Ardyn said truthfully. He sighed while his eyes carded over the little details. Taking them in for a final time before he’d allow himself to proceed with the rest of the tour.
“I’m feeling rather existential.”
“Hey,” Caelan’s hand squeezed his. Her soft voice allured him out of his thoughts while Ardyn looked at her.
“You have every right to here. In this time, and with me.”
Her reassurance was enough to quell the darker thoughts Ardyn had about his life. He couldn’t help but reward Caelan with an embrace. His head resting against hers while he closed his eyes and allowed the calm to settle in his heart. She had become his anchor, and cherished it beyond all else.
“Come. Let’s see if I’m older than the fossils here.” Still taking her by the hand, Ardyn chuckled while Caelan laughed as they ran away from the painting and to the next exhibit.
As the memory left Ardyn in the present, he chuckled. His head shaking almost in disbelief that so much good had been graced to him. He swallowed, letting out a breath then finished off the last of his words and carefully folded the letter up. Traveling out of the living room area, Ardyn arrived in the bedroom. Caelan remained asleep. Her body consumed by the blankets. He could smell the wine they had been drinking from the night prior becoming stale in their glass cups near the foot of the bed on top of a small table. As Ardyn ventured close, he stood by Caelan’s side and stretched across the bed without putting his weight on her, resting the letter on top of his pillow. Letting out a sigh as he regained his composure, Ardyn bent down on his knees so he was eye level with Caelan’s sleeping form.
While Ardyn’s fingertips rummaged softly through her hair, eyes drinking in her features, his whole body screamed at him to remain. To not proceed with what he planned. Yet his heart won over logic. Ardyn was beyond afraid of losing her like he lost Aera. Knowing the Astrals and their conniving ways, Ardyn knew Caelan could easily be cast off as a sacrifice for the greater good. He wasn’t going to risk it. Even if it cost him everything and his place at her side in this life.
“Forgive me, Cahl.” Ardyn pleaded. He pressed a long kiss to her lips then murmured against her skin. “I love you, sweet girl.”
Before he could be tempted by her warmth and the soft noises that escaped her, Ardyn fled. As soon as he closed the door behind him to their room, Ardyn braced himself. He put his hat on, tilting the brim up. His resolve grew with each passing step. He was ready to facedown fate for a second time. No more running away.
The Insomnian Public Forum is now open on this day at 10:00am. If you have concerns that should be addressed to the king and his courts, please make your way through the primary hall and to the throne room of the citadel. His majesty King Noctis will be present, and will not be actively engaging with the public save for his officials and retainers. The Forum will be open until 12:00pm and not a minute longer. Thank you!
The speakers throughout the grand halls of the palace echoed with the booming voice of the announcer. Ardyn grimaced. Whoever was in charge of sound proof should’ve been fired on the spot as far as he was concerned. The quality wouldn’t have stood if this was taking place at Zegnatus Keep. A slight smirk was expressed on Ardyn’s face at the thought.
“It’s so easy to slip back into chancellor duties,” Ardyn murmured to himself. He lowered his hat some while he drifted past officials and public folk. Without having to separate his magic between himself and Caelan, he was able to channel far more details to make his disguise fool proof to anyone that ventured too close to have a look upon his face. This also guaranteed it wouldn’t fade too soon unlike their little fiasco at the Vote Abandon concert.
While Ardyn followed the crowd like a wolf blending in with a herd of sheep, he took his time admiring the interior of the palace. Everything was more or less the same before he, the daemons, and his final battle with Noctis ransacked the place. The elevator lobby, reception, and primary halls hadn’t been touched. The directions to the audience chamber, press room, and crystal room were strikingly different nonetheless. When the crowd made a left versus a usual right, Ardyn furrowed his brows. Confusion ever present, but he decided to trust the group. He feared if he drifted away and didn’t appear he looked like he knew where he was going, someone would catch onto him.
Ardyn recalled his ten years of living at the citadel while he awaited the return of Noctis. He had spent so much time in these halls, getting acquainted with them for their final battle, that everything felt second nature navigating the grounds. It was also quite lonely. Save for daemons that would sneak their way in, there was not a soul to keep Ardyn company while he patiently waited for his death to arrive. He didn’t miss those years. It made his anxieties and impatience foreboding. So much so that if any living thing managed to get through the city and make it to him, Ardyn couldn’t be bothered with keeping them alive for long. He himself slept for four of those years in a dreamless dark, sitting on a throne that would never be his.
Several minutes later, the grand doors leading to the throne room opened up and Ardyn stepped through along with the several hundred citizens that wanted to express their opinions, woes, and tidings. The chattering grew, much to Ardyn’s irritation. In his opinion, having such discussions at this hour of the morning was counterproductive. Ardyn recalled he performed his duties as chancellor in the afternoons when he was well rested. For all the time he had observed Noctis lazily lounge with his friends prior to their final battle, Ardyn was surprised the boy developed a taste for the early life. He expected the late king Regis had something to do with that. The old man was quite a morning bird himself when he was alive.
The inside of the throne room was the same as his visions. Ardyn swallowed as he eyed certain details that he witnessed in his dreams. It was a final confirmation that his night terrors were not just byproducts of his personal problems, nor his primal instinct to fear the unknown. Everything was leading to this moment. Ardyn could feel it down to his very bones. The heaviness of his burdens were further amplified when he saw a few of Noctis’s retainers from afar. Ignis, and Gladio respectively. There was a brief temptation on Caelan’s behalf to approach Gladio and knock his skull in, but Ardyn knew under these circumstances, he couldn’t sate the desire.
Ardyn mingled with the common folk while he’d cast a glance from time to time their way, watching the boys talk to fellow crownsguard and planning his majesty’s entrance. His heartbeat started to quicken as a few minutes became ten, and ten became twenty.
What’s taking so long? Ardyn thought bitterly to himself. As much as he appreciated his time getting acquainted with the new layout of the throne room and its many exits, along with discussing troubling matters like chocobos venturing out into the city streets, everything was becoming a nuisance. Ardyn wanted to get this over with. His mind triggered from the ten years he dwelled here didn’t help when it came to patience. There was also a stirring Ardyn could feel leaking through. The scourge tapping his shoulder, letting him know it wanted to come out. The twisted feeling in his stomach was a huge indicator that he had not only a physical battle to brace himself for, but an inner one, and worst of all Ardyn didn’t have an anchor to keep him grounded.
Maybe leaving Caelan behind to do this alone was a bad idea.
He had to learn to live with the regret.
“Ladies and gentlemen, his majesty King Noctis awaits with greetings for the people of Insomnia!” An announcer close by to Ignis proclaimed.
“Please cease discussions as we pay respects to our current king. Forum proceedings will continue momentarily.”
Ardyn’s fists clenched. Sweat trickled down his forehead. He couldn’t recall a time in his life he had been so nervous before. His eyes slightly widened more as he zeroed in on the entryway where Noctis was to come forth. This was it. The beginning of the end.
Caelan awoke around 10:30. She got up and stretched, rubbing her eyes and moved about the bedroom before making her way to the kitchen. Her throat and tongue were dry, having drank too much wine and not bothering to keep up with hydration. A slight groan escaped Caelan while she rubbed her forehead and made her way to the kitchen sink. She filled a glass of water up and drank generously. Luckily there were no signs of a hangover at present.
“Don’t need that again anytime soon,” Caelan muttered to herself, recalling the morning after at Lestallum. As much as she had an amazing time with Ardyn back then, Caelan could do without the throbbing pain of a hangover. Luckily last night, they were too caught up in their passions for one another to get drunk. They both agreed arriving at the forum intoxicated would be in poor taste and also jeopardize their mission. Caelan reminded herself they would depart around 11am, and arrive by 11:30. The king would be present around that time to mingle if he wished.
The silence in the hotel room stirred Caelan more awake as she thought of Ardyn. Her right hand felt across her left collarbone and shoulder. A slight wince fell past her mouth at the bites and various hickies he left. She smiled big.
“Ardyn!” Caelan called out playfully. Her mind was conjuring ways to get him back, and entice him. She ventured through the kitchen and to the large living room, her eyes casting glances everywhere from the couch, to the various chairs available at their disposal. There was no sign of him. He wasn’t in the bathroom either after she combed through the large space.
“Ardyn?” Caelan’s steps started to pick up in speed while she checked out a secondary room that was part of their amenities. Like before, no sign.
“Ardyn?” Grave concern was in her tone as Caelan raised her voice. Her heart began to pound deeply in her chest. There were times throughout the week where Ardyn would go off by his lonesome, usually to the top of the Via to enjoy the last of the night before the sun would rise upon Insomnia. It was either that or he’d venture to one of the restaurants nearby to pick them both up something to eat for later, but there was something terribly wrong about this situation. Caelan knew she had no evidence, but on an instinctual level, there was something amiss.
Caelan ran back to the room and started to change into her clothes. In between throwing on her pants, shirt, and gear, she checked her phone after plucking it from the charger on her side of the bed. There were no texts from him.
“Ardyn...” Caelan breathed out and swallowed. The bounce she made on the mattress involuntarily as she rose caused her to catch something from the corner of her eye. Caelan did a double take, before settling her gaze on Ardyn’s side of the bed. There was a folded note on top of his pillow. She was quick to snatch it up from the spot, unfolding it and her eyes scanned over its contents:
Love,
I didn’t wish to wake you while you slept so soundly.
I decided to see the king by myself, without you accompanying. I understand this is not what we agreed upon, and your wrath towards me is well justified. I’m going to ensure your freedom and safety for all days to come.
I will return to you within the night. No tricks. I swear it. I will follow through with what we planned, and we will leave the city together.
Lie low in our room until I come back. Don’t leave unless you are in danger, and don’t set foot outside of Insomnia unless I send word. My bank account is at your disposal. Treat yourself to any amenities at the Via. Consider it one of many acts of apology I will perform.
Trust me. I will return to you.
Ardyn
“Son of a bitch!” Caelan hissed between her gritted teeth. She didn’t waste time, sprinting off the bed and rushing to the door. Caelan ran so fast, that upon exiting the room she slammed her body into the left side of the hallway. Getting her bearings in a matter of seconds, Caelan panted while her legs took off once more.
There was a part of Caelan that was angry beyond recognition at the stunt Ardyn had pulled behind her back, yet she understood all too well why he made a huge decision on her behalf. He was scared. The constant reassurances throughout the letter were telling Ardyn was terrified, and gods forbid, he was uncertain he would make it out alive. Caelan couldn’t confirm for sure until she confronted Ardyn, but her gut told her as much.
Caelan's instincts to protect him ran amok in her mind while making her way through several floors, and eventually out of the Via. Ardyn was alone. He had no back up, and she needed to get to him. At least follow through with keeping the guards preoccupied while he dealt with Noctis.
“I’m gonna kill him myself if the king doesn't!” Caelan said to herself while she headed to the garage keep where Ardyn had the Scepter dropped off. The rage at being deceived hit her hard especially with how their relationship blossomed during the past few weeks. Caelan had a list of demands for Ardyn to work on regarding himself if they lived through this.
As Caelan saw the Scepter in her sights, she suddenly came to a halt. In front of her car were several crownsguard. Around fifteen give or take.
“Shit,” Caelan murmured aloud, and turned around to back track. More showed up. As soon as she made eye contact with one of the guard, they immediately went on the alert drawing out their weapons. Caelan on instinct summoned her blade, and took on a defensive pose.
“Wait!” A familiar voice drew from the crownsguard, and stepping forth to greet Caelan was none other than Prompto. Her eyes widened. A small gasp escaped Caelan’s throat before she held steady. There were mixed emotions in Prompto’s features from what was observed. Caelan couldn’t help but look over her shoulder to where the Scepter was at. Her eyes closed as she began to beat herself up mentally.
“The car gave me away, didn’t it?” She let out a huff, feeling like a fool for being so open the night of concert with both Prompto and Cindy. Then again, Cindy was the one that told Prompto about the Scepter. Caelan was surprised Prompto hadn’t confronted her nor Ardyn earlier in the week. Given the resources crownsguard had, he could’ve easily tracked her vehicle to the Via.
Prompto sighed, giving a nod before he took a few steps towards Caelan. He gestured for the men and women of the guard to stand down for the time being. To let him handle this.
“Cae, I need you to come with us.” Prompto urged.
“Am I being under arrest?”
“Yes, in a manner of speaking.”
“I'm going to politely decline,” Caelan began. Her eyes carded over each individual man and woman before her, calculating how best she could cut through them all to get to Ardyn. “I have someone waiting for me. I need to protect him.”
“That’s precisely what I need to talk with you about,” Prompto interjected before Caelan could get another word in. “You were with Ardyn that night at the concert.”
“Unless you have me in custody, I’m under no obligation to say shit.”
Prompto furrowed his brows, letting out a exasperated gasp as he growled. “Cae, I’m not approaching you as an enemy. I need to know what Ardyn is doing here for the safety of the king. Please, I want to help you!”
“So you can lock him away or kill him? No. I’m not buying what you’re selling. Let me pass, or get in my way and see what happens.” Caelan made eye contact with several of the guard, making it known she intended to kill if they stepped out of line.
“Has Ardyn experienced any visions?” Prompto raised his voice. “Has he had communion with the Astrals?”
Caelan shuddered at the sudden questions. She was nervous, keeping herself on high alert but also listened intently to Prompto.
“Yes,” Caelan responded. Her voice was cold as her convictions to do whatever was necessary to help Ardyn. “Several, in fact. Why?”
“Lady Lunafreya foresaw something bad happening today. Noctis--the king,” Prompto corrected himself among the guard. He mentally cursed for falling out of line with formalities but continued. “It's like he changed overnight. Cae, if Ardyn is seeking him out, they might kill each other. I need you to come with me to the palace, so we can protect the people we care for.”
“How do I know this isn’t a trick?” Caelan spat. She had one too many run ins with law enforcement to know when she was being set up, and didn’t like how Prompto was appealing to her protective nature.
“I don’t know your story, nor do I understand how the hell Ardyn is back, but when Cindy tells me someone is good, I believe her with all my heart.” Prompto swallowed. He could tell he wasn’t having much luck getting Caelan to trust him and was preparing himself for the worst; though it pained him so.
“I care about my friend, and I can tell you care an awful lot for Ardyn. Otherwise you wouldn’t be so defensive. Let’s call a truce. For the sake of our loved ones, let us help each other!”
Caelan debated with herself. She once more did the math in her head regarding how many crownsguard she could fight. There were now over twenty five. The odds were in her favor if she could avoid getting shot. Yet given the severity of the situation that involved gods, kings, and prophecy, Caelan knew she would be doing both herself and Ardyn a disservice wasting her time on opponents that weren’t even a fraction as powerful as the foes they’d face. She needed to use her energy wisely, and now wasn’t the time for a bloodbath.
"Fine." Caelan sighed in defeat.
Prompto gave a command for the crownsguard to lower their weapons to which they complied, and that gesture was enough for Caelan to yield her sword. She relaxed her shoulders, then carefully walked to Prompto's side. Her hand still gripped the halt of her blade just in case.
Prompto gave Caelan a friendly smile and nod then gestured for her to follow him to his personal vehicle. Several of the crownsguard joined them both to play things safe until they arrived at the car nearby. Prompto cleared his throat and addressed them formally.
“Guard unit G20, report back to the citadel and be on alert if commander Amicita needs assistance. Units 230 and 235, follow behind my car for escort. Our guest will be riding with me.”
“Yes sir.”
“Cae, after you!” Prompto opened up the passenger side of his vehicle, and Caelan ducked into it and closed the door. She watched the blonde sprint over to the drivers side. As soon as he hopped in the vehicle, Prompto was quick to turn the engine on, back up, and hit the main highway going to the palace. His speed was almost 90 mph in a matter of seconds. Caelan braced herself in the passenger's seat, looking at him like he was mad.
“S-sorry! Still breaking her in!” Prompto chuckled, then adjusted his pace. He was now going a few miles above speed limit, while maintaining distance from other cars. As he finished moving from the right lane and into the left so he could move past traffic, Prompto let out a deep breath.
“I know this is sudden, but I need to ask you where Ardyn is.” Prompto furrowed his brows. His voice betrayed his nerves while Caelan turned her head to face him. She could see it. How his grip on the steering wheel tightened and the muscles in his neck flexed. She made a face.
“You’re terrified of him, aren’t you?”
“Y-yeah, kinda. It’s a long story.” Prompto admitted, then shook his head. “Anyway, we shouldn’t get side tracked. Do you know where he is currently?”
Caelan recalled Ardyn explaining to her that he had toyed with Prompto in the past. He didn’t indulge too much of what transpired between them, not comfortable discussing it for the time being, but knowing how Ardyn was before the Dark Decade, Caelan didn’t put it past the man to have downright tortured the poor soul sitting beside her. It didn’t stop Caelan from loving Ardyn nevertheless. They were both very flawed individuals that had hurt people to get ahead in this world.
“We were supposed to go to the public forum. I have no doubt he's there right now.” Caelan began, letting out a deep breath. She hoped against hope she wasn’t making a terrible mistake putting her faith in Cindy’s boyfriend as she continued. “I met Ardyn months ago at Galdin Quay. He hired me to escort him to Insomnia. Ardyn wanted to see the king, and find a solution to end his immortality.”
“Wait, so Ardyn has no clue why he’s back either?” Prompto was surprised, glancing over Caelan before focusing back on the road.
“We’re just as flabbergasted as you guys are. Same with the king and his ailments.” Caelan said bluntly, letting out a sigh.
“Why didn’t you guys come to us sooner?”
“It's a long story and we don’t have time for it.” Caelan huffed, waving Prompto off. “Look, I know Ardyn has blood on his hands and he did wrong by you and everyone. You have to trust me when I say he doesn’t wish to harm the king. Neither do I. Ardyn just wants answers and peace.”
“I really want to believe you,” Prompto began. His brows knitted into a concerned glare. “But I’m also weary. As a retainer, I have to be extra cautious. What’s he to you anyway? What Cindy said back at The Solstice, Ardyn being your fella, that ring any truth?”
Caelan hesitated, and decided to be honest. “I’m his partner and shield. We protect each other.”
"But, he left you behind...”
“He didn’t want to see me get hurt.” Caelan sighed. “Ardyn's an idiot like that.”
Prompto snorted, giving a smirk to Caelan at the admission. He chuckled as she rolled her eyes.
“Tell me about Lady Lunafreya’s vision,” Caelan changed the subject, wanting to confront the more pressing matters at hand. “What prompted you to come looking for me now versus earlier in the week? You could’ve easily confronted us.”
“Hold your horses!” Prompto exclaimed. He was surprised at how rapidly Caelan made her statements. There had been so much that occurred last night and this morning that he was still processing it all. Prompto breathed out.
“Luna said something about daemon and god becoming one, a step under the rising sun. She had us retainers try to convince Noctis to forgo attending the forum last night because of it. He wouldn’t listen, said something about feeling compelled to 'hear the call'. Luna tried this morning to stop Noctis, but he hurt her. It was--hard to watch. The queen is expecting, so everyone has been on edge.”
To say Caelan was shocked by the kings behavior was an understatement. There was also surprise that lingered on her face when she heard the news that the queen was pregnant. It was definitely something that the news stations hadn't picked up on. Caelan couldn’t help but wonder if Noctis and Lunafreya were saving the announcement for a later time.  She decided not to ask Prompto to explain further details regarding Luna. Her mind was too busy trying to rip apart the ‘daemon and god becoming one’ riddle.
“Ardyn heard such weird sayings like Luna,” Caelan began. She looked ahead, watching as city buildings and people passed them by. “Youngblood king walks tall. Shards of crystal, the dragon calls. Heavy heart, young blood falls.”
“Do you know what it means?” Prompto asked curiously.
“Not a damn clue,” Caelan sighed. She recalled the time Ardyn and she had spent at Vesperpool. How he asked Caelan to share her opinions on the matter regarding his visions. “I mentioned to Ardyn it might have something to do with Bahamut.”
“The dragon god of the six?”
“The very same.”
“How did you reach that conclusion?”
Caelan shrugged. “Of all the Astrals, Ardyn hates him the most. Bahamut is the reason he became the Adagium in the first place, and set him off the deep end.”
There were a thousand questions that exploded in Prompto’s mind upon hearing that. He had heard from Noctis the true story of how Ardyn fell, slain by his brother Somnus and was usurped. Bahamut was mentioned wanting to wipe Eos clean, but he couldn't recall anything about Ardyn and the dragon god. Prompto withheld asking anything further of Caelan regarding Ardyn’s visions, and his past, focusing on the present moment and trying not to let his insecurities take hold of the wheel and steer him off course.
“To answer your other question,” Prompto cleared his throat. “I did go looking for you and Ardyn after the concert. I knew you were staying at the Via.”
“Then why did you choose not to engage us?”
“I--I don’t know.” Prompto admitted. He knitted his brows. “I had to make certain that really was Ardyn I saw. Being a retainer to the king, I can’t leave room for errors. I mean if I barged in with the crownsguard on a random civilian and her client, with no reason other than speculation she was harboring someone important, that would ruin my reputation and the kings too for picking an idiot to act on his behalf.”
Prompto chuckled to ease the tension in the car. He paused for a moment, glancing Caelan’s way. The concern and worry in her eyes seemed to grow with each passing second.
“To confirm my suspicions, I saw you guys leave the Via the day after the concert, before Ardyn did that shadowy thing to disguise you both near the garages. You both looked happy.”
“So, you didn’t want to ruin a tender moment is what I'm hearing?”
“Maybe. Did Cindy ever tell you I’m a hopeless romantic?” Prompto grinned.
Caelan couldn’t help but laugh, shaking her head in disbelief. Despite second guessing putting her full confidence in Prompto, she had to admit he was a decent guy. Caelan made a mental note to herself that should anything dire happen at the palace, Prompto needed to be protected just as much as Ardyn. She wouldn’t forgive herself if anything happened to Cindy’s beau. Not when he was someone that had a good head on his shoulders.
Prompto continued to speed through the streets of Insomnia. Both he and Caelan began to discuss how to best approach the dangerous situation awaiting not just them, but the entire city. Whatever was fated to happen, they both felt compelled to try and be a step ahead.
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The Royal Dinner date
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The royal crew spend countless days driving the roads of Eos, one day their cook's desires to go places he's never expected… With the help of his cohorts the chef makes a spread fit for a king, too bad the noble may end up bitting off more then he could "chew" With underlining sexual tensions between members of the chocobro group reaching past modest limits this fanfic has plenty to offer! (The head cannon here is that the player is late game with new game plus so their money and resources are plentiful)
This is a FF franchise vore story with some smexy times mixed in with it too, its basically porn with plot enjoy! :3
As the sun arose for another day in the world of Eos, the gentle sounds of nature could be heard though a tent. where a certain royal entourage rests together on a jumbo sleeping matt, the damp mornings of the Alstor Slough could easy seep into ones bones, but the lucky crew prepared for this and use their body heat to keep themselves comfortable all night long. 
The gentle Snores stopped once Ignis’ alarm clock app rang signalling the start of their day. The sun arose and the crew crawl out of their heated bed matt to get dressed, ready to start their day… 
“Uh it feels like I didn’t even sleep… “
Complained Prompto as he exists the tent, followed by Noctus and Gladio. 
“Tell me about it… but I’m not really Complaining about last night or this morning… it’s kinda a nice day out here.”
The Prince states as he stretches out and Gladio starts packing up their camping gear. Prompto waiting on Iggy to assist in taking down the tent, getting impatient the boy decides to indulge into what Iggy is doing. Ignis sat there in the middle of the tent floor with all the tent supplies backed beside him contemplating in deep thought.
“uh…  Iggy are you coming to out so we can pack this up??”
Iggy looks up with a gleam in his eye… 
He stands up and closes his cooking notes… 
“Hmmm today my dear Prompto is going be splendiferous!”
Prompto stands there confessed yet intrigued. 
“wuah what are planning Iggy?”
“Well we do have an excess of food supply and we have the excess funds to grab and purchase the rare ingredients by tonight…  I say we test his highness pallet and several dishes to really see what he likes or not,  and what ever he doesn’t like we can devise it up between us!”
“Woah can we go to a hotel or something for This?!” 
Prompto practically begging Iggy at this point. 
“well if we bring our hot plate and some cooking supplies from the regalia…  then we should be able to stay in any desired hotel accommodations”
“YIPPY!”
Cries out Prompto, as he pickes up the last of the tent supplies to hand to Gladio and Noctis. 
The boys all finished packing up for the day as Ignis starts the car to hit the road. Ignis tells Noct that he is planning on a feast that night and is going on route to various vendors throughout the day. For the most part the boys ate lightly and Prompto didn’t eat at all due to his over excitement for tonight. Once the boys where finished their errands they found themselves coming close to the tail end of a sunset, as they gaze out at the horizon the photographer takes his photo opportunity and snaps a few shots as they past by the waterfalls outside Listallium. As the ChocoBros made their way towards the hotel accommodations their tummies started all rumbling due to a long day of kicking ass and collecting various items for themselves and other people. Iggy has the back seat and Prompt’s lap full of various culinary items. As they make their way to the Laville near by. 
Ignis checks in at the front desk explaining loosely what they would be doing in their room to the hotel staff, they didn’t argue with their customers request and allowed them to bring their stuff upstairs to the lofts where they set all the food and cutlery down on the large coffee table in the centre of the room.
“Ahhh here we are! Now let me see what’s on the menu tonight shall well” 
“Yeah I’m so hungry I could eat a whole chocobo!!”
“Well the sooner you dorks help to cook and prep,  the faster we all eat”
Gladio added in while grabbing all the required items for the respective recipes. The two youngest agreed and did two hours worth of solid prep for their dinning experience. 
By the time they finished up Ignis had made, with the help of his co-chief Gladio, almost two of every recipe dish he’s recorded and came up with since they left the crown city. The delicious spread had to take up two hotel dinning carts,  which the staff happily let his highness use, one stacked with various savoury meat and vegie foods and the other a Varity of street foods and desserts. The Four are really looking forwards to this meal…  but first they have to serve their Prince before they could indulge themselves. 
“Alright Gladio bind him”
“right!”
The two tallest pounce on the Prince! Iggy pinning Noctis down, while Gladio ties his wrists up tightly that way Noct just doesn’t phase out of this with a fork or stop them… 
“Gwah guys!? What the hell are you doing?!”
“we’re making sure your Highness finishes his meal…”
Gladio answers as he finishes bounding up the future king of Kings. Prompto stands near by flustered and a little bit shocked at what his friends have just done but he’s not totally surprised. He he grabs a small camcorder that is usually used for tourist to use. It allows for one hour of footage before it’s full and record footage can’t be deleted only transferred. He tucks it beside the lamp in the corner of the room while the three men are distracted, all while thinking to himself about how this is going to be great blackmail on Noctis one day.
Gladio then lifts Noctis up off the ground as Iggy gets off.  Gladio then assists in bringing the Prince to his dinning chair. Once placed Iggy began to continue with what he planed for. 
“here in this note book I have a list of food sorted into columns… there is a rough sketch of the dish’s appearance on the left column,  in the centre column has the name of the dish, and beside it is two small columns marked with enjoyed and did not enjoy checkboxes. “
Prompto and Gladio stare at each other as they both share the same question… as to what Iggy was showing them and one of them had to add in. 
“Uh Iggy why wouldn’t you just use a yes or no column? Why sort it into two different categories?”
States Prompto in a confused tone.
“That’s because the point of all this is to make a conclusive list of meals to prep and make that the Prince isn’t going to turn his nose to… or make his stomach turn, so I sorted the check mark system into two categories of enjoyed and not enjoyed because a dish could have Noct feel the same way about both…  meaning he doesn’t love the meal but he can tolerate it. So I would mark down under both columns meaning more variety for us! And less complaining from him”
Iggy shoots Noct a glaring look, Noctis reacts with a glare back.
Gladio and Ignis starts the Prince review with the heavier dishes, which usually consisted of juicy meats, flavourful veggies, and savoury sauces. The early part of the royal feast went down without many issues, the fickle Prince only turned his nose up at 5 dishes out of 20 leaving 5 plates of food for Ignis, prompt, and Gladio to decide with each other. Noctis’ gut started to protrude with every meal they forced him to finish off… after the 20th dish Noctis had a gut that could rival a pregnant women of his height, the sore filled tummy groaned at every new morsel added to it…this brought up the attention to Noctis' swollen belly. 
“oh hold up Iggy the Prince needs this dealt with if we’re going to continue with this.”
Gladio says as he makes his way to the very front of their Prince. Gladio carefully but swiftly grabs Noct's black T-shirt by the collar and rips it open all the way down the centre leaving a comfortable yet bloated gut to bulge out and jiggle quickly in the after math of the shirt ripping. 
“DUDE that’s my favourite shirt!? “
“Noct we can buy you another one in the market tomorrow. Now please let’s contin-“
Iggy gets cut short when Gladio took the Liberty to start palm massage and kneading Noctis’ gut. The motion of the hands on the tight belly causes him to release some pent up gases!
“gl-gladio that… ugggf… BRAAAAAUAP!!”
 The exiled air leaving begins to soften up the hardened mass within.Prompto stands back from afar and witnessed the scene with a concealed semi-erection and immense curiosity, As he periodically pokes and prods the inside of his pants pocket. 
Ignis continues to feed Noctis food continuing with a nodding and shaking head confirmation system for Noctis. Mainly because he  needs to hurry up so they can get to the desserts. 
The next 10 of the prince's meals goes down to his gullet easy and enjoyably leaving only 3 he didn’t care for but still happily ate, Prompto took the liberty of checking off the list for Iggy after Ignis recently had his hand saliva covered after feeding the prince a bit to forcefully a few too many times. 
Gladio takes a break from tending the royal gut and decided to treat his own with a few of the extra dishes the Prince distained. With the entirety of the dinner cart finished Prompto snapped a couple pics of the portly Prince with a gut that stuck out about 3 feet in his lap, slightly lumpy from the various mashed and digesting food inside swelling and moving as the noble belly starts to roar as it churns the mess.
*GRROAAAAQN GURCKLE GRRRRRR*
“Heh heh th- that *braaaap* feels so strange…”
 After that loud belch Ignis takes his break to eat while Gladio feeds Noctis tenderly but quickly, he is gentle and positive with the younger man but he doesn’t give him much time to finish off his sweets. 
“Come on prince we are almost done here, then we can all eat and unwind later!”
“gladio please… im *inhale* so full already…” 
For a brief moment Noctis thought he got through to his feeder and shield… instead he got faked out by gladios insincere face and pause.
“Awe… are you saying that you need some extra help to deal with this challenge??”
“I wah"
“Because I can help you out a bunch afterwards when we share the bed tonight…”
That damn passive flirts of gladiolus is what drives the girls crazy, and his friends even crazier. Noctis doesn’t know what to do when his friend and guard makes those remakes at him. Regardless of how noct may feel the dishes keep coming and Noct could feel himself starting to slow down with his paces with each new dish. Gladio keeps him in line, at this point the Prince is done 47 out of 50 dishes with only 4 desserts he didn’t enjoy, leaving a sweet treat for the crew that make them almost done for the night. 
“alright boys leave the rest to me, I’ll make sure our Prince enjoys the rest of his meal for the night…”
“what do you want us to do Iggy?” 
“You each can hand me the last of the desserts on the dining trolley and return them to the kitchen down the hall if you can be so kind to do so.”
The giant and pipsqueak each grab a cart and leave the room making for the end of the hall. 
“how is my dear Noctis holding up how?? With all this food in there, how are you feeling now?“
Iggy says as he rests his hand on his swollen packed tum. It vibrates underneath his touch as the extra heat and strain nerve endings respond to the hand pressure. 
“Mmmmmffft… ig-iggy i-"
The belly the future King was sporting had to be about the same size of a large garbage bag in his lap pooling over his knee caps and half-way to the floor between his tighs. It groans as the man isn’t used to any meal close the one he was just served.
“Uh…i… feel like I just swallowed a very heavy balloon”
Ignis grabs at a piece of cake from the black coffee table. He picks it up with his hand wanting the Prince to get a nice mouth full
“Alright Noct open nice and wide… this one is going to be a mouthful! this last dish will be simply divine! You’re going to lov-“ 
Ignis couldn’t finish his sentience due to his sudden plummet towards the ground. As Ignis fall towards the gaping & drooling royal maw he tries to place his hands away from the princes’ mouth, but in doing so he lands head first. The force of impact lodges Ignis down past his shoulders giving him little leverage and mobility.
Prompto and Gladio have just finished placing the trollies, and walked into their room to find Noct with a quarter of Iggy down his gullet. The two stood their shocked for a moment as the conversation they were having came to a sudden halt. 
“woah looks like someone is trying to have a kingly appetite! Haha”
Gladio chuckles after stating his joke, causing Noctis to try to speak and signal for help. But his struggles and movement of his throat caused Ignis to slip in past his elbows leaving only his upper body pinned to the insides of the smaller man while his hands remained free at his hips. 
“woah Noct you really need to learn to not bite off more then you can chew, er I guess in this case it’s swallow heh heh”
The two standing there share a few smirks with eachother, they pause shortly afterwards as GLadio walks towards their bloated Prince in the chair. The large man circles around the prince to look him down from top to bottom, the butt end of Ignis is in front of Gladio’s pelvis. 
“hey Iggy I thought you taught his Highness how to dine with class?”
“hhmoott fumfgny”
Came a reply from within Noct, iggy us getting crushed by the slimey walls of his cherished monarch. The vibrations of Ignis in his throat disturbs the Prince, thus realization causes him to swallow a little more from the reminder of the situation. Bringing Iggy up to his belt around his waits drenching them in royal saliva, as the remainder of the man sticks out of his mouth. Gladio smirked as he starts to fondle his newly formed bulge in his pants. 
Gladio rubs at the front of his pants getting more and more turned on at the site in front of him, he pauses as he gets a devilish idea and unzipped his jeans. 
“woah Noct you got to unwrap your treat before you eat it!”
Gladio starts to undo Iggy's pants and underwear, then as he looked over to Prompto in the corner of the room watching with fascination, he keeps eye contact with him while he nibbles with his teeth seductively down Ignis' leg as he made his way from the thighs to the angles…  from there he stripped down Iggy's shoes and socks. 
“There we go that should help with indigestion, now to do what any self respecting chief does and fill this pasty with some cream!”
Gladio whipped out his semi soft 10 inch Dick out of his jeans, while doing so he grabbed a spare cream puff pastry from the coffee table and placed in-between ignis’ ass cheeks… Gladio guides Noctis to lean over the edge of the chair for easy stomach room. Gladio stands above giving a cheery glimpse to the clearly turned on photographer now laying on the bed adjacent to the voreny spectacle. 
“alright Iggy consider this the lube…sorry my friend”
Gladio delicately brakes open the cream puffs with just the K9s of his teeth following up with pressure from his tongue. He swirls his tongue around the clean anus of his respected friend. Causing Ignis to squirm inside Noct sliding him in more and more slowly into the prince.
“Hmmmf *gasp* stopft!”
Once Gladio realizes this, he grabs Ignis' legs at the calves. From there he raises him up out of his majesty’s maw by about a foot, then glided his thicc rod towards liggy’s creamy lubed up hole, Gladio slides in fairly easily. 
“mmmmmmf thaf sof goiffd”
A sensual moaned is muffled out of the prince’s throat as Ignis moans from within. Gladio takes the chance to start thrusting inside his buddy. Gladio grunts and moans as he starts to wind up his speed while fucking his friend. Meanwhile his friend is inside his other friend’s mouth in the process.
Prompto watches the scene from a few feet away, getting oddly turned on by what Gladio is doing… Gladio cums within a few minutes of thrusting later his cream puff is filled.
“Uhgggh ahh there… you go Noct I filled him myself, now be a good future King and finish your food”
As Gladio says that he thrusts his hips as deeply as he could into Noct’s gullet, the slick saliva around Noctis’ mouth could be felt on the skin of his hips and thighs, once he pulls out he slides the rest of Iggy in with ease and encouragement.
“come on prince… finish… your meal"
“nooaaac-AAACCCK!!”
Gladiolus places a finger on the bottom of Iggy’s heel of his foot and starts to push the rest of the man in.
“That’s right… almost done your majesty!”
Prompto gets up with shock as he looks at his naked friend and ballooned bestie finish their “dinner date” 
“woah dude…”
Prompto walks over to stand beside Gladio who was quite impressed with that had just occurred. 
“Huff ga-heh why…  Gladio…  why DIDN’T YOU TRY TO SAVE BWWWWWAAAAP… him??“
The prince looks down at his large gut that is swaging back and forth in front of him, filling his mind and body with new euphoric feelings. 
“well I figured you’d deserve to enjoy your meal to it’s fullest, and what better compliment to a chief there is then to make his meals as tasty and filling as possible… even if that means they have to become apart of it isn’t that right big guy?”
Gladio leans down towards the now larger then both him and Prompto size gut, the bulging man fills out the  belly nicely. Gladio rubs over what could clearly be defined as Ignis' back and head. He is  tenderly rubbing over his friend’s form, rewarding both moans of pleasure from inside the belly and the person the belly belongs to.
“hey you, Prompto how about we make like a good royal entourage and service our future king?”
“I, I uh, in what ways dude??
”We could start by you stripping noctis down… and maybe you… if you could… well if you are down to… make out a little??”
“ew why would I want to make out with Noctis...??? No offense buddy”
“if im to be honest here, it pleases me… Prompt. If you do this for me I’ll share with you some tips and tricks with the ladies… maybe even try to be your wing man… but you play by Daddyolus’ rules tonight in exchange…there’s room to negotiate some things, but you have to mostly do as I say till we wake up in the morning  deal?”
Prompt’s face contorted as ponders for a few seconds, he seems to have settled on his answer pretty quickly with some happy thoughts about the manner following up as he cheerfully with slight hesitation agrees to the deal.
“Sure fine… ya werido…  but I better get some action from this!”
“oh trust me cute stuff… I’ll try my best to keep things eventful”
Prompto's face starts to heat up as he takes the usually aggravating compliment to heart again… with an exhale and hesitation he starts to strip in front of the other boys.
“Woah I didn’t mean you have to strip man, but you might as well continue… we could have some fun if you want in a few minutes if you keep taking it off for me…”
Prompto stops after he takes of his shirts and pauses at his belt buckle… he knows that gladiolus is giving him a choice right now in the matter… after several awkward seconds and belly groans later Prompto removes his pants and only wears his boxers. 
Clearly embarrassed by the act of stripping for his friends in front of him, Prompto never felt too comfortable naked, even though no one has ever told him he’s ugly or unattractive he still felt a little unease about what he is about to do. 
“Woah nice package there man!”
The 6 inch flaccid ween and moderately large size balls for someone his height, can be seen straining the fabric of the colorful briefs.
“Ugggh i hate it when you say things like that!”
“yeah well I don’t care, I’ll call ‘em as I seem them”
 Gladio starts of the newly spicy evening with a charming smile and a wink directed at the men. This instantly places a more deepen rose hue on the smallest one’s face and slight blush from Noct as well, clearly Gladiolus’ charms can also be effective on guys as well… 
“well…  get on with it you two, I’m waiting… “
Gladio states to the two best bros. Prompt looked down at Noct in the recliner, giving one last glance down to Gladio who was on the floor tending to Iggy/Noct’s pudgy belly. 
“ew do I really have to do this!?”
“Yeah and I don’t I get a say in this?? I’m going to get married you know!? In case you may have forgotten!?”
“Oh I haven’t forgotten, think about it this way Noct, if you haven’t gotten much action with the ladies… how are you going to wow your wife if you haven’t even practiced smooching anyone properly yet!?”
“I… you’re not wrong… and I hate you for that…”
“To answer you Prompto you don’t have to, but I would like to see it… its hot when people leave their comfort zones most of the time…”
“oh geez… we doing this bro??”
“Ye-,no- just do it if you’re going to!”
“okay!!”
Prompto grabs at the side of Noct’s face with his right hand. Then forcing the two faces to meld while the gap between their lips closes. Prompto takes an akward lead for the first 20 seconds, but after some hesitation he gets a liking of it and desires to peruse the kiss more. Noctis groans as the unfamiliar feelings overwhelms him thought processes, with the sweet lips of his best friend smacking him mixed with the repetitive kneading of his now floor resting gut getting tended to by his other best friend, Noctis becomes speechless. Prompto head begins to swim confused, as they swapped saliva and their tongues dance with delight. Gladio strips Noct down from all garments below the waist, leaving him naked. 
“How about we take you…three? To the bed over there…  I’ll help you your highness”
Gladio points to the bed a few feet away…
“where do I go to big guy?”
A half naked and awkward Prompto inquires. 
“Well you get a special place to be… you’re going to sit on the bed while Noctis here gives you a brojob!”
Noctus fails his arms up in the air, at Gladdy signing him up to blow a guy? 
“Hey uh Gladio!? why did yo-BWWWWWERrrrrrep sign me up for bj duty?!”
“because your highness, don’t you think Prompto deserves to be treated nicely especially after all the great photos he’s taken for us… I want him to take a special one of you...”
Gladio lifts up the prince’s gut in one arm and his back is supported by the other, with surprisingly little effort. Gladio the brings ‘them’ both to the front of the bed, gently placing the Prince down on the floor belly down in front of Prompto who was already naked on the bed, his semi-flaccid member springs up slightly as the prince greats him. Noctis bounces a little in front of prompt as his gut flattens out below him and he can begin Gladio’s odd request. 
“oof I feel like a couch…” 
Noctis complains as his stomach contents get shaken up on the way to it’s resting place. Prompto looks down at his best friend’s face a few inches away from his 6 inch soft rod…Noct’s face begins to flush out as he looks up at Prompto. 
“here you’ll need this, but first…”
Gladio takes the small man’s camera and puts it over his head, doing a cheeky peace sign the head of the main man could be seen in the future developed photos, while a human shaped mass could still be seen bulging between the belly fat of the inexperienced princely pred. Prompt in the picture is looking up at the camera in slight frustration, mainly due to his vulnerable state and lack of permission to use his camera, as it is captured on the photo of him in the left corner cock out. Prompto becomes confused moments after the flash as to why Gladio is taking their pictures.
“Awe heh yeah that ones gonna be a keeper!”
“Says me!! Gimme my baby back!”
“Here hot stuff take a look for yourself, *grunts* its your choice if you want to delete it or not...”
Gladio midsentence tosses the camera to its owner, one who frantically looks at his camera roll to see the fluttering results.
“I… I… are you ready Noctis?? I don’t know how far you’ll get… you ain’t exactly lookin’ like a pretty lady at the moment…”
“Eh shut it! I don’t exactly feel like one at the moment either…” 
Gladio looms down at the spectacle eyeing the mass of the Prince of Lucius has acquired, Iggy although unresponsive by now make quite the impact on Noct…
“ommmmf mmmmm”
“fu-fuck man… you’re great at this too!”
Prompt heaves out a shocked breath, caused from his bliss,  as he finishes his sentence he closes his eyes. Then he puts his head back, pointing towards the ceiling. Gladio is positioned behind the Prince this whole time… watching the display at hand.
The buff man looks down at the two bros, contemplating to himself. Taking notice of the large size of the prince… if the Prince is strong and manly enough to consume that much food and a person whole… all within a few minutes! Then surely Gladio can’t have the Prince of the nation become far stronger then him!! he needs to be able to keep up to his highness’ fitness and power levels, at least in a similar fashion, that way Gladio can step in and protect Noct from his foes. If Gladio can consume more and at a faster speed then the Prince then surely that would make for great training! Gladio’s mind is set he will devour his future king and aid I to his protection! 
Prompto keeps his head back for a couple minutes at this point, trying his hardest to hold back and enjoy the rare moment, Gladio starts to get on his knees behind the Prince. Where all Gladio can see of him is a large squished dome of a belly. The gut gyrates as Noctis bobbles his head up and down in Prompto’s lap. Gladios eyes travel upwards towards Noctis' slim but tightly shaped ass within his eye of sight. With a great surprise there also peaks out a large sausage like object out of the tightening nearly see through shorts. Gladio starts by kissing and biting the inner thigh of Noct, stopping half way through to lather his tongue on the tip of the royal ‘scepter’ for a moment to ease suspicions of what Gladio truly has planned. The moans from the groan man make gladio continue his taste testing, he continues all the way down towards his ankles… sticking the leg of his friend. With a groan from his gut and a few specks of drool dripping from his maw, Gladio asks Prompto to do him a favour. 
“*slurp* hey buddy, you know since Noctis can swallow a person whole and all… you don’t have to be gentle or nice to him while he’s servicing ya!? Go on give his head a little face full, don’t worry about hurting him since he most definably can handle it!”
“Aye aye Gladio, sorry buddy!”
Prompt grabs at the sides of Noct’s head and starts forcing his head down and up the 9 inch shaft. Just as Prompto starts this Gladio unhinged his jaw…  making it stretch horrifically wide to make this as quick as possible… he begins by shoveling the princes’ feet and ankles in one quick gulp.  The dainty feet starts to bulge out the man’s throat muscles. Another large gulp and up to half the large belly and Noct’s torso enters the insides of Gladio’s maw. Another massive and forceful swallow later Gladio has consumed up to Noctis’ chest and only a little bit of Noct’s belly remains outside of Gladio’s Moist cavern. Noctis at this point is obviously aware of what is going on from behind him…  but with a large phallic member in his mouth he just simply stop to take it out to tell Prompto what was happening to him…  and because of that just as Noct was wriggling and shaking what little he could for Prompto to look down and help him…  Gladio’s lips crawled their way across and up Noct’s chest and over his neck…  as the mouth starts to close around his prey, Gladio pushes his tongue across the face of the man savoring the frustrated tears and sweet on his favourite prey's face. The large man then takes his two free hands and firmly grabs prompts hands off Noct’s head. This forces the edging man to gaze down at the sight of Noctis looking up at him from inside the dripping maw of his friend, as Gladio closes his lips around his face, giving a satisfied smirk before making a large singular and very loud GULP noise. Sealing away the Prince shape lump down his throat and into his personal shield’s inner core. Gladio continues sucking Prompto’s dick from there. With little effort it takes nearly no time to get Prompto finished, mainly because Noctis did the majority of the work. With confusion and new found lust burning through his head, The blonde climax into Gladio’s mouth/gullet with a faint stifled moan. 
“Wh… that…  Noct… Gladio *huff* what made you do that??”
“He looked kinda tasty… he didn’t taste as great as you did…  but not bad for a sweaty bitter prince”
“brRREEEUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAP… UuGGGuuh oh! that one kinda hurt a bit…”
Gladio rubs his slightly lumpy dissented gut, his powerful grip from his large hands tug and folds at the skin and princes mushy internal belly. The squirms can be easily seen from all over the surface of his gurgling gut. Gladio lays fully upon it pinning the Prince down into the bottom of the belly, where the mighty man’s digestive juices can work their magic. This issues more movement from below the big man as a angry bloated Noct has just be made even more uncomfortable. 
“that’s you’re response?? He looked good enough to eat???  You just ate the future King!?  What kind of protector are you??”
Prompto Jabs both metaphorically and literally at Gladio for consuming two of his friends and a large portion of dinner. the sassy poke ripples on the outer layer of skin.
“relax short stuff, Me and Iggy did this type of thing before in training a couple years ago now, all you need to do is just swallow a few phoenix Downs and the gangs all back right as r-uuuuuuuuurrrrp-ain…  now how about you be a good royal servant and help pleasure your King?” 
Gladio looks up at prompt, still in front of the bed where Noctis previous was at. Gladio tries to position his soles of his feet firmly onto the ground, once he’s able to displace his newly forming royal pudge, he uses it to stand up off the floor as a lean. Gladio is successful, he manages to move his midsection into a comfortable place in front of himself. He wobbles for a couple minutes, as Noctis air supply can only last so much longer, the movements of his prey make the Casanova feel so much more desirable. Gladio glances down to prompt on the bed who is currently eyes glued to the belly consuming his bro alive… Prompto’s knee caps become partially engulfed by the moving gut as Noctis from within it, slings the toned flesh orb onto his lap. 
“oh GEEZE, oh… my.. like dude I…”
“Well? How do I look?  braaaaaaAAAAUP! Would you like to take a few snaps of me and Noct before he’s gone?”
Gladio with gleam and vigor rubs his hands over every bulge on his midsection as it ballooned out to be as large as a coach., the chairs in the room would easily break if Gladio attempts to sit on one at the current moment. Gladdy’s gut hangs so heavy it’s trying to rest on the floor but with near ease Gladio’s abs prevent it from fully sagging to the ground. instead he formed a partially rounded semi ball belly, that has a tear drop midsection with shaking from time to time. Noct’s angry face and fisted hand pokes through the skin from time to time reminding Prompto that his friends are currently being digested alive in front of him…  and all he’s doing about it is contemplating on weather or not to take pictures of the charming and gorgeous host and friend, as Prompto admires his new size. 
“Alright I got the camera loaded and ready,  just do what eve poses you want”
Gladio stands above Prompto lifting his gurgling and moaning belly on top of Prompto,  with an audible *GLUCK* from the acids shifting, gladiolus now has prompto completely pinned down, from the waist down, in the clean bed. This movement forces the air out of his lungs from the pure shock of it all.
“Woah *gasp* that-that… wait Noct I can see him! his face is bulging out!”
Prompto takes a few snaps as Gladio cycles through various poses,  one photo is silly with a goofy grin, the second one is very macho one with a clasp belch implied in his hand as he models with a surprise gleam on his fangs when he side ways smiles. The third picture Prompto takes, Gladiolus makes a heart on top of Noctis. As his head is framed in the hand heart sign that Gladio has done on his chest/upper belly, meanwhile Prompto finishes taking the pictures from underneath the belly, which helps the photographer learn a new photo-framing technique.
“You know… if you’re going to please a woman… you at least have to know how to please a man first. Prompto… I’ll give you full control do what ever you want to me tonight... you better not disappoint”
Gladio stated as Prompto placed his camera on the bedside table.
“Well if I have control could… the very least you… could do is take this off… of me so I can work… work my magic on ya :3” 
Gladio happily does as Prompto requests and moved his friends, aka dinner off prompt’s body. The unfamiliar movement made It land on the floor with a small thud.
“BBBBbrrerrraaaaaOOOOOOp!!”
“Alright Mr.Amicitia, I want to fuck you in the most passionate way I can!!”
“Oh really!? Is that a challenge…”
Although it’s intimidating Prompto, he’s becoming more confident.
 “well no… maybe a little bit, can you uh, you tell me if do great enough job for Cindy… or Arenea even!?”
“Heh buddy,  I’m not even good enough for her… but if that what’s keeps ya motivated then sure!”
Gladio readies himself for something soft and vanilla to warm up like ear nibbling… but ear nibbling is not what happened, instead Prompto laches on to Gladiolus’ shoulder blade. The little big spoon grabs his trial lover by the arms to restrain Gladio in a  tight yet tender grip.
“Gahhh prompt what in ifirit is *uuuuagggh* wrong with you!?!”
Prompto marks his Gladio as meat for the night… but before he indulges… he wants to finish his test, the worry later about the results.
“Heh sorry about that I really am… just wanted to start strong right away"
Prompto grabs his shaft and positions it up to Gladiolus’ hole. As he incerts his meat rod, the heat and slick innards cause him to stilfle a moan. Gladio chuckles at the response. Prompt’s face begins to redden. He can tell this is going to be a VERY fun few minutes.
“Hmmmmmm oh this… this might be harder then I thought"
“Hmm oh yeah?? am I just that sexy or are you just a boy?”
This sparks something inside Prompto to start positioning himself better inside the man, Prompto moves onwards with a slow angular trust as he traces his small hands across the large pred's frame, giving attention where ever Gladio moans, as he is helping out by signaling to the blonde virgin which spots pleasures him. 
“Hey cute stuff, I’m *ugh enjoying the *mmmm* ride and all but *oh fuc could we pick up the pace?”
This instantly gets Prompto to pick up pace, slamming gladiolus G-spot all the while a gurgling Noctis can still be heard protesting from below the two
“OH YEAH, THAT’S THE TICKET!”
Prompto keeps up the high action pace, but he is starting to get close… He can feel from Gladio’s internal twitching and clenching that he is going to cum as well. Prompto doesn’t want to be the first one bust so he grabs Gladio’s wrists, forces the man to lunge downwards to rest upon his belly taking while taking Prompt’s cock up his ass. Prompto is now slamming at his full force into Gladio issuing several groans and loud gurgled from within as each slam jiggles and places pressure onto the fleshy mass. With the final couple thrusts Noctis has succumb to the belly of his beast and is no more.
“Gahhhh prompt! I don’t think I can hold out for too much longer here!”
“Same pal!”
Within a mere 30 seconds after, Prompto proves victorious as he finishes after Gladio climaxes. With both of them exhausted, relieved, and covered sweat. The sweet smell of Gladio whiffs to his nose… 
“grrroOoaAaaaaan"
Prompto stomach makes a chime in, he knows it is time and if he wants to be successful with this, he’ll have to do it while Gladio is weak and unexpcting.
“Whew I’m kinda beat!”
Says Gladio to the person behind him, catching his breath as he is talking facing away from the man, little does he know the very person behind him is slowly opening and unhinging his jaw to par take in his after sex snack.
“Yeah, same… I just want to eat this snack here before bed and clock out for the night”
“There isn’t any snac-*GLOMP"
Is the last thing Gladio says before his world goes dark and slimy, as Prompto lunges from behind. The larger man protests as the blonde snakes his lips past his head and shoulders into his maw with ease. After Gladio’s muffled noises became known to prompt he waits no time in shoveling the larger man up to his ribcage and elbows. Gladio’s begin to wiggle and thrash around, despite all he could muster, but with such a large gut pinning him down he has little hope of leverage against the moisten sucking force of Prompto’s gullet. The gulps from behind, leaves the royal shield with no other options then to let Prompto finish and get out from there. Prompto knows the easy part is done… with Gladio pinned in his throat and the rest of the meal ahead, Prompto takes a few deep nasal breathes before grabbing and forcing in the large mound of belly into his mouth. As the jaw stretches several cracks and pops can be heard as the small never before new found pred body begins pushing at its limits for the hungry blonde. As the jaw finally stretches as wide as the regalia around the bigger most parts of the gut. Within four powerful gulps he is able to get the gurgling bulge into his mouth and partway down his throat. Prompt almost pukes up his prey after Gladio finally gets both his arms into his stomach cavity, from there Gladio starts punching and flailing his arms in what little room he has in the smaller predator’s gut. 
Prompto has had enough of this and knows he is going to end up joining his friends inside the sexy man if he fails and let’s Gladio go. With that in mind the still eating boy grabs what is left of Gladio sticking out of his mouth and stabilizes himself as he takes a few steps. The wobbling belly throws the man left and right causing Prompto to forceably slam his backside onto the bed, causing an instant snap as the front half of the bed frame slams to the ground.
This shocks Prompto and causes him to swallow more of the pred… this sends a very large Noct and Iggy sized globe to traverse down his gullet, down his chest and settle in his gut with a audible *spluuooosh*!! With bliss and strain he looks down at his success, all that was left of his superiors/friends was a pair of two sweaty calves sticking out of Prompt’s mouth and with a few seconds of hesitation at the pure feeling of being stuffed, he finally takes the few remaining swallows as he sends the legs to meet up with Gladio inside.
“*BWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARP* HUH oh jeez! *gasp* you guys are so filling…”
“Leeeeeft meeeah ouft ugh heareg" 
“No way man… I played by your rules and played your games… now how about we play my game…digestion… with friends haha"
Prompto turns himself around on the broken bed to lay on his back, he forces two of his hands Into his large fleshy ball that now rose above him from where he lay. This causes Gladio to turn around inside of Prompt to face him from inside the tummy. Gladio's face can be seen through the tight stretched out belly skin due to Prompto being a smaller inexperienced pred.
“Prommmftgo I shuare ifyous dontft lett me outft, I’ll force mii wayout"
“ha I’d like to see you try that… what are you gonna do!? Climb onto to grab dude? It’s a slimy throat not a volcano you cant just climb your way out hahah"
“Ouuugh yeeaaaah?”
Prompto’s gut roars with distain as the man feels something weird shift inside him! Gladio starts moving and causing prompt to get hard & aroused again from his friend moving across his prostate in the process.
Just as prompt was about to open his mouth to comment Gladio’s two hands and forearms shove their way outside the entrance, as Prompto looks down with fear. Shocked that Gladio has gotten so far out of him already that he is able to get his head inside promos mouth filling it up as Gladio's sweet shampoo trails its way into the pred’s nostrils. Gladio tries to grab onto something to pull him up and out, but due to their sexcapades the large man is worn down. The unfortunate brute succumbs to the fate of twink fat as they lay naked on the bed near the centre of the room, meaning there is nothing for the big guy to grab onto to save him now. 
“gaaaack almost there… you… I’m stuck!? What in infirt is this chocoshit!? I can’t leave anymore because my gut has me trapped and pinned in here!?.”
Prompto smirks as he waves his hands goodbye in front of Gladio, the prey grabs onto the wrist with a tight grasp. Prompto lets him grab them as he plans to lower his meal back in. A shocked Gladio watches in terror as the arms he grabbed to get out starts to shovel him back in. With a solid extra drooly gulp. Gladio is back where he belonged. 
“uuuuugh I have a feeling you’re not going to stop trying that.. ah I know this might fix it!” 
Prompt takes the secondary pillow that was to be used for Gladio, Then strips its outer casing off, from there as quick as he can Prompto wraps and ties the case tightly around his upper midsection. where his ribcage ends and the stomach entrance valve is located, he ties it extra tight…
Sure enough Gladio attempts another go, but all Prompto can see was a very angry man who just ran out of escape options in his belly. Forcing Gladio to settle down and accept his gurgled fate.
12 hours later:
Prompto groans as he awakes with a large soft pudgy yoga ball size belly attached ttohim. The lower end of the belly has the ribcage and skulls of his dear friends still tact in his digestion track He starts to poke and play with it warranting a few large gas bubbles to come up.
“Uuuurrrrrahp!! Oh yeah! that’s so much better!”
Prompto shifts himself in the bed as he stretches out waking up his different body parts. The bloated man enjoyed His restful slumber despite waking himself up accidentally a couple times in the night from the combination of stomach groans and loud hotel shaking belches. Prompto is actually surprised that the staff hadn’t busted into his room… or maybe they did and Prompt sleep swallowed them… Either way the small blonde man can totally believe if he ate the hotel staff too at this point… not only did Prompto technically consumed a 50 course meal, and the last remaining royal entourage of the Lucis reign packed away on his body… he belches a couple times as he feels overtly bloated. He groans as he leans upwards  to pick himself up out of the bed, resting at the edge of the bed while he looks around the room… other then the bed being broken, some clothing sprawled on the floor, and the half digested clothing and metal pieces that Prompto belched up beside him overnight on the bed sheets nothing seems amiss… He get up slowly. Prompto has to arch his back and lift his gut in his second arm as he waddles his way to the medical pouch in their luggage. After a few brief moments Prompto pulls out a Mega Phoenix Down. Prompto clears out the centre of the room… takes a deep inhale… and swallows the whole thing.
“*GLUCK* Rise and shine guys!”
A bright glow and holy light starts to pulsate from prompt’s paunch, the feathers float downwards in front of him and within mere seconds his midsection goes from a yoga ball…to ¾ the regalia as the royal gang is finally back together!
“Gack where the heck are we!?” 
“we’re inside Gladio Iggy"
“Hey your highness… I’m in here with you too… last thing… last I remember I was fighting my way out of… PROMPT GET US OUT!?!"
Prompto chuckles knowing he bested Gladio in something for once.
“Alright then guess one of the magic phrase that will get you all out hmmm? You only have so much air in there and I don’t mind bulking up another day in the Lavelle…so tick tock guys”
“Please let us out Mr.Argentum”
Iggy states with a joking but semi pleading tone. 
“nope”
“uhh we'll all give you head??”
Noctis reaching for a simple solution from the man.
“OH SHIT REA-nah as much as that’s a great offer… that’s not what I want to hear… good try though Noct"
Gladio chimes after their pred finishes replying to Noctis. With a hunch to really see if their cheerful blonde captor really has such simple motives…
“would you like to go spend the day at the chocobo ranch?”
“WOW and here I thought I was going to have seconds… and that’s right all I wanted to do this week was tend and play with the chocobos! But we never got around to going because of all the stuff with Aranea and that Ardyn dude, then the whole royal tomb searches happened… I just want to spend some time together...”
“awe as sweet as tha..t is, we are losin..g air fa..st”
“r-right I’m still new to this, hold on guys wish me luck!”
Prompt begins the not so elegant process of upchucking his soon to be meal in front of him, after a few drive heaves, the boy is able to succed in expelling his friends. The safe acid and drool covered men lay on the ground for a few seconds catching their breath. All the while they rest in slimy pools on the rug in the room…
The men get their naked bodies off the floor,  they look over to Prompto with awe and slight disbelief… the small blonde didn’t get any taller (to his dismay) but his leg muscles got more defined and tone. Then stopping above the knee the men could see his newly enlarged cock and balls have increased in weight and width, it enlarged to the point that from the front you can easily spot his 14 inch dick peaking out, as it rubs against his yoga ball gut that rest atop it. From the back all you can see from beside his more filled out shapped rump & thighs ia a pair of large bull sized nuts pleasantly dangling below the buns. Prompt also gained slight pec muscles and nicely toned biceps.
“Dude you’re… swol!”
Noct blurts out. Leaving Prompt to go over to their luggage to grab his cellphone camera to open it up in selfie mode. He is shocked when he checks himself out… sure enough the blonde starts inflating his own ego and confidence.
“woah! There’s no way the ladies aren’t going to want a piece of this!”
As Prompto kept making flirtatious remarks at himself the boys gather all their garbs that are salvageable, then get themselves dressed. As they finish up Noct and Iggy say they are going to get Noct & Prompt some new clothes, they will be back in a few minutes.
Leaving Gladio alone with Prompto to chat. Gladio sits himself on the bed closest to the window. Prompto waddles around the room cleaning and learning how to walk with his engorged gut and enlarged genitalia between his legs.
“So… you did it… congrats! That’s to pleasing me… not the whole eating and digesting me part..”
“Heheh yeah sorry about that man… I was still so hungry… and then I saw how happy and full you looked.. and I dunno if it was jealousy… lust.. hunger.. or even a mix of all three… but I knew I had to have you… to at least prove to myself in a way… that I’m not the weakest on the team… im sorry gladdy”
“*sigh* its fine.. I can understand how’d you feel that way… I mean I am pretty irresistible, most new people we meet either just speak to Iggy or set their attention onto me.. so I get how imitating it must feel to have someone who is so charismatic around you at all times… like even you are swoon by me sometimes… and from what I can understand, its to the point that even you have some conflicted attraction to me… but hey look at you right now!”
“what about me right now?"
Prompto inquires while still processing being called out.
“For the next few weeks you’ll have the biggest dick and the most cushioned ass out of all of us… but you’ll also have that gut on you too… and ill tell you right now…most ladies, although not all, want to see this!”
He stands in in front of Prompto, he points to his rippling torso as he lifts his shirt up to show his abs. Gladio gets then starts to move furniture with Prompto so their room is back in order before they check out.
“you my friend are currently cursed and blessed… you got a fine toned upper and lower body, along with being well endowed now with padding both below the waist and on the hips… but you got a blubbery belly… which is something only mostly men would love.. haha don’t worry there’s some girls out there for you man, just don’t be surprised if you don’t win over cindy anytime soon."
Gladio rubs his hand over prompts midsection to prove his humor and statement point, the jiggles of reality ripple while the skin and semi-hardened fat shifts under the buff man’s touch. The action causes a flustered and conflicted Prompto to belch up several 100 gill that fell out of Iggy's shirt pocket that must have been in there since Noct swallowed him.
“Oh sweet! You’re like a piggy bank! ill go get us something to eat downstairs… crap I also gotta inform the manager that the bed gave out.. and I do not know what to say… anyways, you alright by yourself right now?”
Prompto gives a quick nod as he tries to finished up repacking all their belongings, which was only fair since he digested them the night prior. Gladio closes the door behind him and Prompt groups up the belongings ready to go by the door for check out.
“Oh I almost forgot!” 
Prompto by now is able to start carrying himself better, he makes his way over towards the bed side table where he peaks beside it and sees his camcorder finished recording his fun night with the boys…
“I’m so going to use this as blackmail someday"
Prompto says with a smirk as he puts away the footage… now all he has left to do for his morning is waiting for his new clothing and breakfast from his friends so they could go spend the day together at the chocobo ranch!
THE END
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jessjustplay · 2 years
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7 Things I Didn't Like About Final Fantasy VII
Every game has good and bad parts!
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I recently shared 7 things I loved about Final Fantasy VII, and now I want to share 7 things I didn’t like about this popular video game!
1. Too Many Mini-Games
PLEASE MAKE THEM STOP.
This was easily the thing I disliked the most! (I would even say hated.) There were way, way, WAY too many mini-games! They were all annoying and not fun. Okay, one comes to mind that was kind of fun: I liked climbing the wintery mountain and having to take breaks to “warm up”. That one wasn’t too bad, I could live with it.
The snowboarding one (which was right before the mountain climbing mini-game) was extremely frustrating; at one point I got stuck and could not back out of a corner but, after a lot of button smashing, I managed to get out of there. Whew!
The submarine mini-game? Horrible. (I could not tell what the main objective was!) The mini-battle thing at Fort Condor? Confusing! Chocobo Racing? Not fun AT ALL. Okay, I’ll stop. I disliked them all and they made me want to quit the game many times.
2. The Storytelling Was Bad
Very interesting story, but in my opinion, bad storytelling. Most of the time I was just confused. 🙈
In my previous post I wrote that I really liked the lore and history of FFVII. That is still true! I think FFVII has great game lore, history, and even story, but I wasn’t a fan of how the storytelling was done.
What I mean is, I didn’t like how the story jumped from present to past, or from hallucinations to reality. While timeline shifts are completely okay, the ones in this game weren’t executed in a clear manner.
I was confused about the truth and how much the characters knew. Some (like Tifa) seemed to know more but they weren’t giving us any clear answers. (It was very frustrating.)
Unfortunately, there were many points in my gameplay where I just wanted to desperately finish the game to find clarity.
I wrote a tweet saying, “If FF7 OG were a book, I’m definitely at the part where I’m just confused and want the story to be over because I have questions & need answers!” and that’s exactly how I felt.
This is the first time I play a FF game where I actually WANT the game to be over sooner rather than later.
3. Certain Characters Were Annoying
I’m looking at you, Yuffie and Cid.
I thought I was going to like Yuffie, but she’s such a brat! I used her in my party until I got to Cosmo Canyon. While sitting by the fire, she said she wanted to leave because it was a dump with no materia. Cid is a character I kinda like, but also dislike. He is very mean to Shera and that’s what made me dislike him immediately. I think he actually cares about Shera, but HE decided to stop the mission, not Shera. HE decided to save her life. He’s allowed to feel upset that his dream didn’t come true, but that doesn’t give him the right to be mean to someone who was just trying to help.
4. The World Map Sucked
Are location names too much to ask for?
The map was so annoying! I had no idea what any place/location name was and I couldn’t remember their spot on their map, so trying to find where to go next was tough. I liked the world map area (and the music!), but I didn’t like the actual world map. It definitely needs a key and location names!
5. Cloud’s Cloudy Past
Talk about confusing!
I thought Cloud was so cool, but… he’s basically a phony? During the beginning of the game, Cloud uses Zack’s memories to describe his past. Sure he “was there” in most/all of the scenes, but things didn’t happen as he said they did. (Or maybe they DID? I don’t know, this is why I say the storytelling is confusing!)
I didn’t hate the “nicer” Cloud we meet at the end (I liked him!) but I didn’t like the complete character shift. It’s one thing to develop naturally as a character, it’s another for characteristics to be completely wiped away in an instant just because. This felt like a “just because” move and I wasn’t feeling it.
6. The Timing of A Death
I hate to see you go… so soon.
For one, I am sad she died because she’s a great character. I enjoyed using her in battle. I think it makes sense (for the story) that she died so I’m not mad she died… I just think she should have died later in the game. This would have given us more time to use her in battle, and I think her death could have had a greater impact if it was at the end. shrug
7. Sephiroth
I don't get it, him or any of it. 🤷‍♀️ I think I could like him/understand him more once I play more of the other FF7 games and/or watch Advent Children.
I didn’t understand Sephiroth or his story, therefore I didn’t like anything about him. I actually hated seeing him so much during the game because Cloud makes it seem like we’re off to fight him but then we go a completely different route. shrug I think my indifferent feelings towards him can be blamed on the bad storytelling.
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