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tiny-cloud-of-flowers · 7 months

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chaining cherry blossom to clover (Clio/Aria)

Clio being chosen for the Dandelions means she gets to avoid the approaching Keyblade War, and Aria vows to find a way to join her in the new world despite not also being chosen. Despite the road ahead not being clear, a very special gift is given, one which would come to be the key to the two reuniting later down the line. (1974 words)

(Anyone is welcome to comment on or reblog my work, as long as my DNI is respected! A transcript of the document is located under the readmore.)

When the Dandelions began to be chosen, the Sapphires were one of the first parties whose members were approached, to the surprise of approximately none of them.

After all, although the group’s existence and purpose did not become widely known for some time, it seemed logical in retrospect that the party which once collected more Lux than any other in the Anguis Union (save for one) would harbour many Keyblade wielders with powerful light; wielders who were therefore wanted, wielders who were valued, wielders whose identities - their bonds to their parties and their Unions - would all be cast aside as they would be made Dandelions, made into Dandelions.

As war’s shadow loomed ever closer over Daybreak Town, tensions slowly but surely rising up to boiling point, the Sapphires found themselves being able to count more than one of their wielders in the ranks of the Dandelions - the ranks of the few who had been chosen from all others to survive the world’s end, leaving the rest of the people they had known to simply fall and be lost in the senseless combat that fate would have them march towards.

“So they want you as well, do they?”

Aria’s casual question that she already knew the answer to reignited the spark in her girlfriend’s eyes as the two sat together by the sunset-lit fountain one evening.

“Yes!” came Clio’s reply, in a light voice that shone with much of her typical positive temperament. “I really can’t say I saw it coming, but it feels like such an honour, you know?”

“I can only imagine it must.”, Aria smiled, though her own tone was comparatively much more subdued. “After all, so few individuals have been selected for such an important role.”

“Mmm! Yeah, that’s.. a really good point..” Clio’s excitement had softened and dissolved somewhat as she picked up on her girlfriend’s quietness. It was easy for her to tell when something was up with Aria, based on subtle details like the way her catlike ears were slightly downcast, or how her wings were subconsciously tilted to face the floor; it had gotten to the point where she couldn’t help but feel slightly surprised when others said that Aria was almost impossible to read, and tended to blame it on things like her cold way of speaking, or the mask that she wore across the lower half of her face.

“..What’s wrong, Ari?”

“I.. it’s nothing.” she tried to insist.

At this, Clio shifted closer towards her on the fountain’s edge, reaching forwards to place a comforting hand on Aria’s shoulder. “Are you sure? I don’t wanna pry if it’s not something you want to talk about, but if something’s up, then it isn’t good to keep it locked up in your heart or anything.“

Careful not to shake Clio’s hand away in the process, Aria shifted, drawing her legs up to lean them on the edge of the fountain. Her wings were now being held outwards slightly to better improve her balance, ensuring she would not go toppling backwards into the fountain.

“It’s.. more that I don’t know how to word it properly without sounding mean..?” she tried to explain. She was looking away at this point, and her left hand was absentmindedly toying with the ribbon of her hairpin, while her right hand held her legs.

“Huh? How so?” Clio asked her. “..What, d’you think I shouldn’t have been picked or something?”

“What? No, it isn’t that at all!” she clarified quickly, finally turning to look at Clio’s now-worried expression. Her own eyes carried surprise; she would never doubt Clio’s worth like that.

“It’s of no surprise to us that you were selected, because you possess such strong light. But you’re not arrogant with it like so many others of similar strength seem to end up being - in fact, I would say you’re the only person with such bright light that I feel so comfortable being around like this.” she admitted. “So, in many ways, you’re perfect for this.”

“Aww, that’s really kind of you to say!” she replied, worry fading away with relative ease and becoming relief. “But, uh.. What is it, then? If I can ask that?”

“Of course you can ask that.” Aria stated plainly. “It’s just.. If you go with the Dandelions, I won’t be permitted to come with you.”

“Why not? I’m.. sure they’d let me bring you with me!” Clio tried to smile further and be reassuring, but the way her voice faltered slightly indicated she was not entirely confident in her statement.

“..Maybe if what they were after were simply strong Keyblade wielders. But they aren’t.” she insisted, turning her head to look down at the ground again. “All they want is light; they’re gathering those whose hearts have strong light inside of them, and leaving everyone else to the chaos that we all know is coming. So, the last thing they would want within their precious ranks is something like me.”

“Oh.. I guess I didn’t think of it like that.” Clio shuffled closer once again, trying to give Aria as much comfort as she could after hearing the “something” and the spite in her tone. “But, if a war really is on its way like they said it was, then surely they’d just want to rescue as many people as they could from it?”

“That would be the sensible way of going about things, but..” She let out a sigh. “Keyblade wielders who have darkness in their hearts are seen by some as weaker, or less trustworthy. Even moreso if those wielders actively try to make use of their natural affinity for darkness, if they happen to have it. It’s.. arguably not entirely misguided, considering the corruptive effect that darkness can have on people’s hearts when too much is present, but that doesn’t mean that everyone who wields the darkness is evil.” Her hand was playing with her hairpin again.

Now it was Clio’s turn to sigh, feeling dejected. “I sure wish more people could actually see that instead of insisting otherwise..”

There was a fairly long pause as the older wielder trailed off, and the pair of girlfriends could only hear the steadily-flowing water from the fountain they were sat on the edge of.

“I mean.. I haven’t technically joined the Dandelions yet.” Clio then stated, taking a moment to lift up the crown of clovers she wore around her head to stop it slipping. “There’s meant to be a meeting pretty soon, but.. I could always just stay here with you instead! At the end of the day, I- I really don’t want to lose you..”

“No.” came Aria’s response, bluntly but not coldly. “You should go with them.”

“Huh? But.. what about you?” she replied. “And everyone else, too - I can’t just leave everyone to suffer while I go with the others!”

“Just because they don’t want me there doesn’t mean I won’t go there, clover.” she stated, very matter-of-factly. “If you’re with them, then I’ll just find a way to make it to you. And it’ll be easier to do that if you go with them, because not only will they then be easier to find, but I can be more certain of your safety while I hunt for them.”

“You really think you can follow them..?” she wondered.

“Yes.”

“..How?” she then asked. “I mean, I definitely reckon you could do it, but.. You sound surprisingly sure about it. A lot more than I would be, in your shoes.”

“..It’s because of this.”

For the third time that evening, Aria’s hand found her hairpin, but this time it was much more deliberate - she reached up above where the ribbon ends hung and carefully brought her fingers around the cherry blossom flower in its centre, running her thumb across its large, soft petals.

“..Your hairpin?” Clio asked.

“Yes.” she repeated. “If you’ll have it, then.. Please take this with you when you go with the rest of the Dandelions. Take it as a promise, and a sign - if it’s with you, then the rest of me can follow. And I will follow, somehow, even if we don’t quite know the method yet. I will find a way to be with you, no matter what it takes. Whether I’m a Dandelion or not.”

A brief moment passed as Clio’s eyes became glittery with tears.

“Aww, you’re going to make me blush, Ari! That’s so sweet of you to say, I.. I don’t think I know what to say! Of course I’ll take it, if you’re okay with giving it to me!”

She smiled. “I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t.”

Using her right hand as well to ensure none of her hair got unnecessarily caught, Aria carefully moved her hands into position, her dark red nails that Clio had painted for her working their way to where the cherry blossom grew from. She then took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tugged as hard as she could bring herself to pull. Despite bracing for the action, she still let out an involuntary hiss as she did this, wincing and shutting her eyes much more tightly as the pale pink flower came sailing away from her head with the force.

Keeping her right hand pressed against the left side of her head to try and lessen the intensity of that awfully sharp pain she now felt, she tried desperately to stop tears forming in her eyes, before all of a sudden becoming aware that a strong hand was pressing into her back, gently but firmly, just below her wings.

“I’ve got you.” came Clio’s voice from her right-hand side, before her other hand reached up to clear the tears from Aria’s eyes. “You nearly sent yourself right into the water with how hard you pulled on that.”

“It.. was needed..” she replied, somewhat vaguely. Her head was now tilted to be facing Clio’s more directly, allowing her to see her girlfriend’s supportive if slightly concerned expression. She could feel both her arm and her hand on her back now, giving her confidence that she would not fall backwards even if she wasn’t holding herself upright out of tension.

It was then that Aria realised she had one more thing left to do, so she moved her left hand towards Clio’s right. Resting on her open palm was the flower that once rested in the centre of the hairpin she had never been seen without, the blossom’s five pink petals and two green leaves looking delicate and tender in the sunset’s light. As carefully as if she were handling a baby bird, Clio reached out and tentatively lifted up the flower, making sure not to accidentally damage the petals as she took a closer look before then holding it close to her chest. It seemed to attach itself directly to her jacket once she had decided where it would go.

“..Thank you.” was all Aria could say to fill the silence, her voice just as soft as the flower petals felt to touch. The sharpness of the pain was thankfully becoming somewhat duller and less intrusive with time, and Clio’s gesture of bringing the flower to her heart was something she had treasured immensely.

“Don’t worry, shadow. I’ll keep this safe for you.” Clio declared, now placing her hand on her chest next to the flower. “You’ve just got to make sure you stay safe as well.”

“I will. I trust you, clover.” she replied, shifting to more properly reciprocate her girlfriend’s support with a hug. “No matter what the future holds.. No matter how long it takes.. I will reach you, and we’ll both make it past whatever is coming, in our own ways.”

As the last of the sunlight faded, the pair stayed and cherished this moment in each other’s arms.

#heart of the void #creations from the void #selfshipping #OC selfshipping #selfship: of flowers unchained (clio/aria)#love: crown of clovers (clio)#self‑insert: darkness' champion (aria)#of lux and daybreak (union x)#of hearts and friendship (kingdom hearts)#previous pieces #that will be the tag for anything I’ve reuploaded like this. please feel free to filter it out if you don’t want to see things many times #anyone is welcome to reblog this post as long as my DNI is respected #comments are also appreciated but never required #technically speaking this precedes the two pieces I’ve written for the darkling AU but it also is canon outside of that AU as well

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daintyspeedwalk-draws · 7 months

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You have no moral obligation to reblog my art.

If you enjoy my work in such a way or to such a degree that you wish for other people to see it, then that’s what reblogging is for. If that’s the case then I’m flattered!! And, also, if you saw a piece of mine that you thought was neat but for whatever reason at all you don’t want it on your blog, then that’s fine. That’s what the like button is for. And I’m flattered by this as well! (Or perhaps you don’t like my art, in which case, have a lovely day. Ya can’t win ‘em all)

I have seen many posts harping the “likes do nothing” aspect of tumblr, which is true: the algorithm is strictly opt-out on tumblr, and nearly everyone does opt out. So the only way to help the spread of a post is to reblog it. But the thing is that you aren’t under any kind of obligation to help the spread of people’s art. I’ve seen a bunch of these posts imply that liking a post inherently equals wanting it to spread, some going so far as to paint liking without reblogging as an insult. Pardon my bluntness but this seems very silly to me. You’re not my marketing team. You’re just existing, and presumably just trying to have fun on a silly little website.

Scroll through this blog. You’ll see that most of these posts have less than fifteen notes. I’m fine with that. Well, actually it’s very irritating. But like. You do not owe me your love. In terms of my art, you don’t owe me anything. So I’m fine with not getting notes even on my best stuff, because my other option would be to declare it a moral requirement to love my art. Which would be silly.

I do urge you to consider sharing the art you like. I mean. Obviously I would. Look at this blog. But I guarantee you your friends and mutuals will also find that art neat, and it would be cool to share that joy with them. But at the end of the day:

Enjoy what you enjoy, share what you feel like sharing. I will continue to create what I wish to create. Maybe these things will line up, maybe not. C’este la vie.

#ps: if you want to share art but don’t want it on your blog #for literally any reason #you can make a side blog or alt account #p.p.s: artists please learn to appreciate likes #they do not help the spread of your art #but that’s still a person that enjoyed your work #if that’s meaningless to you I think you need to reassess your priorities #I get it #it’s frustrating #and I do wish more people reblogged #but it’s not a requirement and we shouldn’t act like it is #I generally have a very hard ‘only images’ rule on this blog #this is like only my second exception #reblogging #discourse #art discourse

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fell-court · 4 months

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The Crystal Tower Alliance Raids for my version of events: a rather long post (approximately 1600 words)

Crystal Tower is important in flowering verse because it’s when the trio becomes a quartet!

Clio, Bryn and Tsutsuji run into the outlandish-looking man in Revenant’s Toll when they arrive there around the time of organising the Scions’ relocation to the Rising Stones, and from there end up offering their services to the Sons of Saint Coinach as a way of getting to know some of the goings-on in the local area. By the time everything has been prepared to be able to enter the Labyrinth of the Ancients, the trio have been placed into one of the three alliance groups.

So far, I only have five of the eight members of that alliance solidified, though - Clio as the tank, Brynblyss and a Lalafell scholar as the healers, and Tsutsuji and four others as DPS roles. One of these four others is a Miqo’te called L’nahri, a novice adventurer who particularly idolises Clio and her friends for the work they have done to help save Eorzea.

Labyrinth of the Ancients is initially a daunting experience because the trio are not as used to fighting in such high-volume environments, but Clio quickly picks up on how to work best with the other two tanks, and is able to hold her own even when the main group splits into three for certain sections. It isn’t easy, but everything goes relatively well, and the hold that Cid places on exploring the rest of the place gives the trio a good opportunity to continue things with the Scions’ relocation.

=====

Syrcus Tower, in turn, is where things take a turn.

The alliance raid itself was released during patch 2.3, so it could in theory have been set anytime between the defeat of Leviathan and the official formation of the Crystal Braves. Or I could throw that out of the window and put it anytime post-ARR, in theory. I'm not sure yet. Either way, when it finally becomes time for the tower to be stormed, the group of 24 is very similar to (if not the same as) the group who went through the Labyrinth of the Ancients, with all aforementioned characters present. L'nahri in particular is quite excited, as her work with assisting NOAH is really helping her feel like she's making a difference to something, especially as she gets to fight alongside the vaunted Warrior of Light herself as well.

Compared to the previous expedition, the process of climbing the crystalline tower is in some regards more straightforward - there are fewer foes to fight at once, and everyone can safely take a break when each new floor is cleared - but those that do stand in their way are often stronger or more clever. Finally, though, even the revived Emperor Xande himself cannot stand up to the force of all these adventurers working together, and the sunset-lit view from the summit of the tower fills everyone with a strong sense of accomplishment.

The voidgate's reappearance as Unei and Doga try to undo Xande's pact is sufficient to set some of the alliance members on edge, but nobody was fully prepared for any further fighting; the sudden appearances - and attacks - from the emptier dark clones (as well as a few voidsent forcing themselves through the rift) quickly throw everything into chaos. The Cloud of Darkness reaches forth to take the pair who would annul her covenant, dragging Nero with them in the process, and the dark clones fall dead as the voidgate closes, leaving the alliances to clear up the mess.

Said mess consists of a variety of injuries, but most notably, and fatally, L'nahri's.

=====

Clio, understandably, is agonised - she would have been in a better position to bait or take more such dangerous attacks for her team had she not been wracked by an Echo vision when everything kicked off, and this is the first time that someone she'd thought of fondly has died in her arms since the attack on the Waking Sands. Brynblyss and the other healer of the alliance had been doing all they could to heal her wounds, but there's only so much that you can do when a melee fighter's taken an unmitigated tankbuster from 60% HP huge blast of void fire directly to the chest.

The other alliances are eventually able to get all of their members in more stable states, and thankfully avoided any such incidents or injuries of the same severity - but that means everyone is all the more aware of the one who did get so severely injured, the one who was only just beginning her journey, the one who didn't make it. And so the impact is felt across the whole top of the tower, all attention held by the ripple of sadness and guilt - though perhaps least so in Tsutsuji's case, as she had noticed something materialise on the other end of the area.

This turned out to be an unfamiliar figure shrouded in darkness, introducing her(?)self as being able to provide assistance in entering the World of Darkness. It quickly becomes obvious that this figure is a voidsent, leaving most of the alliance on edge and unwilling to proceed with the conversation - but as someone extremely unaverse to doing things that sound like terrible ideas to everyone else, Tsutsuji decides to play her cards and asks the voidsent for her(?) terms.

=====

Tsutsuji stands before the others, and asks the voidsent for her(?) terms. In turn, this is how she(?) responds, wearing a wry smile on what little can be seen of her face through the shadows:

"For you, little student, I shall set them in your favour. Though I could by all means ask for more, I require from you only that which I must have in order to aid you. It wouldn't do for me to be unable to hold up my end of the deal, after all.

In return for my continued existence here in your world, and my assistance in recovering your three stolen allies from mine, all you must give me is that which will permit thus - the lifeless girl lying there behind you."

Suffice it to say, this causes quite a bit of outrage in the rest of the alliance members, as L'nahri's demeanour had made her well-liked by many people in the group. It seems too dangerous to go along with, even to Brynblyss and Clio to some extent - but to Tsutsuji, the one who's actually individually being dealt with, who does not set out to do things that everyone's happy with if they aren't what she's happy with (unlike the other two), the one who steps back and looks at this some-semblance-of-objectively ("well, she isn't using it now anyway, y'know?") - well, it's something she wants to kick off and see where it goes. Why not?

So the deal is made, and the voidsent - Lorenza, as she asks to be called - takes over L'nahri's dead body, subsisting on its remnant aether to maintain her presence in the Source. The group leave the summit of the tower to more properly recuperate from the long climb (and its suddenly-frantic ending), and the atmosphere has been quite irrevocably changed. Some are placated by the voidsent's intelligent and weary-seeming demeanour, others by the fact she is kept under the watchful eye of the Warrior of Light - but not all are ever going to be satisfied, whether out of raw scepticism or of simply being unable to see any face other than their dead friend's upon looking at her.

=====

To her credit, Lorenza remains true to her word, as it was interpreted by most of those present at the time - she remains within the boundaries of Saint Coinach's Find with the rest of the light party (as they have now, by technicality, become), and her insights freely shared with whichever researchers are brave enough to actually draw on the assistance she's trying to provide do help NOAH figure out a way of opening up the Crystal Tower's voidgate much earlier than anticipated. The World of Darkness can be entered very shortly after Syrcus Tower is cleared, almost as soon as everyone feels that they have fully recovered in fact.

Within the World of Darkness itself, Lorenza's familiarity with the void and its denizens proves instrumental to not only guiding the alliances to success, but in mitigating damage taken in the process, since - as Nero proves upon the group finding him - the sustaining of any sort of wound deep enough to touch blood would be sufficient for a being of the Source to quickly be corrupted by the astral Darkness of the void. The Cloud of Darkness is slain, and thus disrupted long enough for the trio to be saved, and the contract to be ceased, and for all else to go as it does in canon (as I have it at the moment).

Congratulations, demon, your worth to us is proven - our stolen allies are recovered, and so you need not remain. Cannot remain, even, now that your own contract has been fulfilled. So would say those who missed the first part of her terms, at least. The lifeless girl, in return for Lorenza's assistance, and her continued existence on the Source - an existence with no stated time limit. The wayward princess has won herself free perpetuity, in a world where she no longer has to starve.

Through her actions, Lorenza earns the tentative trust of Clio and Brynblyss, which is forced to grow during Heavensward. And so, the four become a true light party.

Who knows what she might have left behind in the void she came from, though..?

#a voidsent voice 🜸#my creations 🜸#i'm counting this as writing because it's a lot #flowering verse 🜸#clio (fell‑court) 🜸#brynblyss (fell‑court) 🜸#tsutsuji (fell‑court) 🜸#lorenza (fell‑court) 🜸#l'nahri (fell‑court) 🜸#comments on or reblogs of what i've written are greatly appreciated but never required #I started this very descriptively and then got more flowery with it in typical me fashion

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chain-chomp · 1 year

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Tried to make them specific but not “Visited Greece when I was exactly 14 years and 7 months old during the winter and wore red” specific

#reblogs greatly appreciated #But not required obviously. I just don’t have much reach #hyperspecific poll #polls #No I never went to Greece #But everything else applies!#I will play Minecraft eventually. Probably

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rattyshipss · 6 months

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~Stick Season~

'As you promised me that I was more than all the miles combined

You must have had yourself a change of heart

Like halfway through the drive'

Stanley waited, waited for you to come visit him after you guys decided to go on a "break", well more like he decided, then you decided to just fully break up.

"Well if you've decided you hate me so much you wanna go on a break why don't we just break up then because that's clearly what you want!"

Things had been rocky before then, but Stanley hasn't seen you since that moment. Sitting in his house everyday after work, knowing it really wasn't just his house, it was your house, the house you both spent everyday in together. Now even Stanley was barely there.

'So I thought that if I piled something good on all my bad

That I could cancel out the darkness I inherited from dad'

Stanley's "dad", the monster who raised him, the monster who hurt him and so many others. He'd never truly be able to get over everything that happened, he knew that. He could barely live with himself after it all and he didn't know how you would ever be able to.

He was almost happy you broke up, that way he'd never have to tell you about his past. But you were also the person he could always tell anything to. Things didn't go well the last time around with his ex, but with you he'd tell you a million times if it meant he got to keep you.

'And I love Vermont, but it's the season of the sticks and I

Saw your mom she forgot that I existed and

It's half my fault, but I just like to play the victim

I'll drink alcohol 'til my friends come home for Christmas

And I'll dream each night of some version of you

That I might not have, but I did not lose

Now you're tire tracks and one pair of shoes

And I'm split in half, but that'll have to do'

Fairview wasn't a big town, he was bound to run into you, someone you knew, someone you both knew. And it didn't help that your family had become Stanley's family. Maybe he would just be better off with another new identity, starting over again.

That's what he had to do with his ex, why not a second time. Except this time was different, he knew it was different, he knew he wouldn't be able to just leave.

#Reblogs and comments are highly appreciated but not required!💖#I'm VERY proud of this🥺💖#Like more proud than I've ever been of anything in my entire life🥺💖#stanley forbes #agggtm #a good girls guide to murder #ggbb #good girl bad blood #stick season #noah khan #f/o #self ship #self shipping #s/i #self ship community #self shipping community #romantic f/o

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