Sleepy’s Fresh Start

Current (might change the domain someday, who knows) link to the blog is here: https://arpegea6.wordpress.com/

I’ll freely admit that I’m still relatively inexperienced with this stuff, since this is my first real attempt at a more narrative project, so things will probably be a little clunky to start with. Still, I hope anyone who checks out the blog will enjoy the story regardless!

So, context here, Final Fantasy 14 has these relic weapons that you have to go through an extended process to make them reach their full potential, each expansion has them. I’ve been on this masochistic quest to get all the relic weapons for each expansion before moving onto the next expansion, so far I’m nearly done with the relic weapons for the base game. I’ll probably post a screenshot of all of them in my inventory when it’s all done, here’s a screenshot I took of me with my first of the zeta weapons.

(Featuring Sleepy and one of @themaddisco’s OCs, Poshly)

****

Waves softly rolled onto the shore, that and the quiet rush of the gentle breeze made for a calming ambiance as Poshly strolled along the coast. The bubbly flamingo let out a sigh as she took in the relaxing state of Treetown Beach, something she believed she sorely needed after the hustle and bustle of her latest tour. She saw something in the distance and couldn’t stop her smile from widening, recognizing the familiar sight of the larger tree friends exercising at the large, outdoor gym area next to the beach proper. She had passed the area quite a few times, and she had gotten quite used to the odd showboat trying to show off their big, strong muscles in an attempt to win her praise. Not that she really minded much, she found it cute in a way, and she had grown an interest in checking around the gym whenever she came by to see how much the regular patrons she saw were lifting.

As she came closer, she saw the usual sight of mostly muscular men pumping iron, the odd few comparing their bodies and a few having some arm wrestling matches at a nearby set of sturdy tables. Yet, as she got closer, the sound of the beach being slightly drowned out by the clanking of weights, one of the tree friends caught her eye. He was a domestic cat, about half a head’s height shorter than her, a head of somewhat short, chocolate-brown hair, longer in the front and swooped to the right side of his face, being the only different color from his sky-blue fur. The cat wore nothing but a pair of red athletic shorts, leaving no real covering to hide his rippling muscles. The cat was sitting slightly off to one side of the main crowd, and it was clear by the way he was staring off away from Poshly that he hadn’t noticed her yet, owing to his concentration. The cat was intently focused on a set of bicep curls, and while Poshly had certainly seen her fair share of tree friends doing just that, it was the sheer size of the dumbbells that caught her attention, easily being some of the biggest she’d seen used at the gym. She got a tad closer, now being able to hear the cat’s rhythmic, soft grunts as he hefted the weights, as he finally sat the dumbbells down at his sides, leaving the cat softly panting from his efforts. As she got a bit closer, he finally noticed her, his eyes widening significantly as soon as he did, as Poshly gave him a friendly wave. The cat paused for a second before waving himself as Poshly was only a few feet away.

“Hiya! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before!” Poshly chirped out, her smile growing wider. The cat smiled, albeit a tad nervously, before he spoke, “Oh, uh, hi! I’m new here, I-I just heard of this place and thought it’d be a nice chance of scenery. My name’s Sleepy, the name’s kind of ironic given, well, all of this.” Sleepy gestured to his muscular body as Poshly giggled, “Nice to meet you! My name’s Poshly!” She looked down to get a better look at the dumbbells, “I was just passing by, couldn’t help notice those weights you were using! Even though you’re new here, you sure must’ve been working out for a long time!” Sleepy blushed as he let out a soft, shy chuckle, “Yeah, I-I have, I’m pretty strong!” Poshly beamed as she looked over Sleepy’s body, “That’s an understatement, I think those are the biggest dumbbells I’ve ever seen, you’re like a superhero with those muscles!” Sleepy’s blush got deeper as he laughed, “Yeah, I guess so!” They made some small talk as Sleepy set about cleaning the bench and putting the dumbbells back when they heard a commotion on the other side of the gym’s main workout area, a bunch of tree friends near a large, wooden platform.

On the platform was a particularly burly rhino, grunting and groaning as he attempted to heft a gigantic barbell, the plates on either end of the bar being so large that part of the platform was raised in order to provide a good position to grab the bar. It wasn’t too long before the rhino’s face started to turn beet-red, his bulky body trembling violently from the strain before his grip slipped, nearly causing him to fall over, the crowd nonetheless praising his attempt. Sleepy turned to Poshly, cocking his head to the side before Poshly spoke up, “Oh, yeah, I don’t know when they made that but that barbell’s meant more as some kind of symbol of how self-improvement never really ends, apparently it’s so heavy that in the history of this gym, no tree friend has been strong enough to make it budge an inch.” Sleepy nodded slowly before looking back at the barbell, “Maybe we could get a closer look?” Poshly beamed, “Oh, of course! Let’s go!” As they got closer, Poshly couldn’t help but notice that Sleepy’s eyes were largely focused on the barbell, studying it. Poshly looked at the barbell and back to Sleepy before she got an idea, “Hey, do you wanna try and lift it? I could record it if you want!” Sleepy looked over at Poshly and nodded, “Yeah, thanks, I was actually thinking about trying it anyway! I’ll be honest, I’m pretty curious to see just how heavy it is!” Poshly got her phone out and got in front of the platform as Sleepy got into position at the bar, each of the titanic three plates on either side of the bar seeming to tower over Sleepy’s head as he looked at Poshly, “Is it recording?” Poshly nodded, “Yep! Whenever you’re ready, big guy!” Sleepy nodded as his eyes were suddenly filled with a glint of determination, with the cat soon grabbing the bar and taking a deep breath as he began to pull.

The barbell didn’t move, as usual, yet that didn’t stop Sleepy from continuing to try, the cat’s eyes narrowing steadily as he started to pull harder and harder, his large muscles steadily bulging more and more as he continued to pull. Sleepy was now letting out increasingly labored breaths through gritted teeth as the cat kept pushing himself closer to his limits. By now, a small crowd of other tree friends came by to watch, all looking impressed by the cat’s courage. Sleepy was starting to shake now as his face started to redden from the struggle, Poshly having to suppress an amazed gasp as the cat’s effort had steadily made his already huge muscles appear so much larger. Sleepy let out a loud, strained snarl as he gave yet another colossal heave, and the tittering of the crowd about the cat’s physique now changed into an audible gasp of wonder as the barbell, for the first time in its history, slowly began to rise. Sleepy was now shaking violently from the strain, but he still kept going, no doubt fueled by the chants of encouragement that began to flow from the crowd, all wanting to see him lift it higher. Finally, Sleepy let out a loud, triumphant roar as he managed to heft the enormous barbell into a completed deadlift, holding it up at his waist for a few seconds before setting it back down as gently as his fading strength would allow, being barely able to get back into a standing position as the crowd erupted into applause, Poshly included.

Sleepy stood there for a moment, gasping for air from the lift, but soon his exhaustion turned to excitement as it fully sunk in what he accomplished, the cat laughing as he walked over to Poshly. “I-I did it, I actually did it!” Sleepy panted out as his eyes sparkled with an almost childlike joy. Poshly excitedly showed him the recording, “You sure did, and you looked amazing while doing it!” Sleepy kept laughing through his panting as he looked around at the cheering crowd before Poshly continued, “Maybe we could snap a picture of you? Y’know, kind of a commemorative thing?” Sleepy’s eyes lit up as he enthusiastically nodded, “Yeah! Let’s do that! Anything you want me to do for it?” Poshly beamed as she got to his left and held the phone for a selfie, “No real preference, though you’re certainly welcome to make a muscle if you’d like!” Sleepy’s response was nearly instant, flexing his right arm as Poshly audibly gasped at seeing the cat’s enormous bicep, “Holy…! That’s a big one! Okay, hold that pose, Sleepy, definitely want to get that monster muscle in the shot!” Sleepy’s grin was now so wide that Poshly wouldn’t be surprised if his cheeks hurt, keeping his arm flexed until she took the selfie, and she barely had time to turn to ask Sleepy how it looked before he spoke, “It looks great!” Poshly giggled as Sleepy looked around again at the crowd, the cat clearly enjoying every second of attention he was getting, and she got a good sense that she’d be seeing a fair bit more of him in the future.

****

General:

Giggles and Flippy are actively dating (and have been for about two years)

They tend to do a lot together, mainly with Flippy helping Giggles with her hobbies like gardening

Neither have proposed yet, even though they love each other very deeply, since both are concerned with if they’re ready to make the first move

Flippy:

Flippy and Fliqpy are separate entities (and Fliqpy doesn’t have his canon personality anymore, the specifics to why can be explained later).

Flippy retains his canon, wholesome personality, but he’s also SUPER into working out.

His body is rather large, and his rigorous workout schedule means his old military jacket no longer fits him, leaving him usually wearing tank tops or a short-sleeved shirt.

He has a social media blog that has a sizable portion dedicated to him working out and sharing his progress pics.

Flippy has been working out intensely for years, and has made a good name for himself as a strongman in recent years, even managing to get to the level of being able to beat Splendid in an arm wrestling match, with the win rate between them being 50/50.

Flippy is incredibly eager to use his muscles to help his friends, especially if he has a good sense he can do anything.

Flippy is pretty proud of his muscles, to the point where he can be rather stubborn about giving up on any kind of strength-based task or challenge (this has led to injuries in the past).

Giggles:

Enjoys gardening in her spare time, and often has Flippy with her.

She’s rather petite, normally weighing between 150-160 pounds and coming in at 5’ 10”.

She usually tags along with Flippy to the gym to help him out with water and such, as well as being moral support.

Paladin: Splendid (Just the obvious choice based on the flavor of the job)

Warrior: Fliqpy (The job’s flavor is based around controlling this kind of rage and not letting it consume you, and he’s got plenty of rage)

Dragoon: Flippy (Was considering him for Paladin but Splendid was the choice that fit more, this was more based around the lancer class that transfers into the Dragoon being based on bravery and standing tall, which I think was at least somewhat fitting of Flippy)

Monk: Cuddles (Guy’s canonically got a master’s degree in karate so eh, it works)

Bard: Giggles

Black Mage: Mime

White Mage: Flaky

Summoner: Lammy (Mr. Pickles is close enough)

Scholar: Sniffles (one of the most obvious choices I could’ve made, and I have no regrets)

Ninja: Lifty/Shifty (Another super obvious choice and another choice based on the class that moves into this job, Rogue)

CatNap yawned and stretched as he groggily got out of bed. The purple feline felt a smile spread across his face as he saw the scene outside. With the sun shining in a practically cloudless sky, it was a truly lovely morning. As the purple feline put on his crescent moon necklace and headed downstairs, he sighed with contentment, eager to see just what he and his friends would do today. However, just as he was about to wonder if anything could go wrong, he heard grunting coming from the kitchen, and grunting in a lot of different voices. CatNap turned the corner to enter the kitchen, and realized this day would certainly be an interesting one.

All of both the Smiling and Nightmare Critters, baring CatNap, Baba Chops, Poe, and Allister Gator were in a line, everyone holding onto the chest or waist of the one in front of them, all grunting and groaning. CatNap looked to the front of the line to see DogDay holding onto a ladle, which was surrounded by what appeared to be batter. The bowl the batter was contained in was being held to the wall by numerous lengths of the thickest chains CatNap had ever seen. CatNap looked at the other three critters that weren’t in the line. “Um… what’s happening?” CatNap looked from Poe to the struggling line. Poe looked up from their journal for a moment and then went back to writing. “Well, Maggie decided to try and make some ‘special’ pancakes, and I believe the results speak for themselves.” CatNap simply looked back at the line, mouth agape, “T-this is because of some pancakes?!” Baba sighed as she watched the crowd, “Yeah, Simon tried, then DogDay tried, then they both tried at once, and…” she took a moment to sigh and shake her head before continuing, “…now this.” CatNap stared at the line struggling to pry the ladle out of the batter, “How… how long has this been going on?” Allister scoffed, staring at a stopwatch, “12 minutes and counting for this attempt alone, even though we could, y’know,” Allister raised his voice to a yell, “just throw this crap out and buy replacements, like I suggested almost half-an-hour ago!” 

Simon Smoke groaned as he heaved, “We… get it… Al! Shut up!” Poe sighed, not even bothering to look up from their journal, “…and yet you thought your pride was more important than reason, as usual.” Simon managed to force one of his eyes open to glare daggers at Poe, “I’m… going to… strangle you!” Baba snickered, “Less talk, more pull, Mr. Muscles!” CatNap looked over at DogDay, the canine’s face red as a beet, teeth grit, veins protruding across his face and muscular arms, and after a few seconds, DogDay lost his grip on the ladle, sending the line of critters sprawling on the ground, all gasping for breath.

Rabie Baby was among the first to pull themselves upright, glaring at Maggie Mako, “Great work, genius, next time you may want to consider adding less cement to the batter!” Maggie managed to open one eye and glared at Rabie, “Hey, I did not add cement to the batter! I… I just didn’t add enough water, that’s all!” Simon was the first to actually stand, sighing as he looked down at Maggie, “If you were trying to make a food more physically demanding than your stupid ton cake, mission accomplished!” PickyPiggy slowly got into a sitting position, “I… I’m sorry… what?” Simon shook his head, “Maggie made this huge pound cake once that could’ve been used as anchor.” Maggie sat up, snarling, “Hey, it wasn’t that bad!” Poe stopped writing for a moment to look up at Maggie. “After we managed to lift that culinary atrocity, we had to use a scale meant for cars to weigh it. It weighed 3,578 pounds,” Poe said flatly. At this, Simon puffed out his chest, a cocky smile upon his face, “What Poe means is that I, all by myself, was the one to lift that!” Icky Licky sat up, “I almost had it myself, thank you! I… I lost my grip, that’s all!” At this, Simon chuckled as he began to bounce his pecs, “Sure, sure. Best part of that cake was the pump I got from lifting it! I never thought that a food could give me such a workout!” 

Bobby BearHug got up, groaning, “Anyway, what are we gonna do? The ladle just won’t budge!” KickinChicken leapt to his feet, eyes twinkling with excitement, “Ooh! I’ve got a wicked idea! We should get a rocket ship, that’ll pull it out in a flash!” Simon facepalmed, “Okay, nimrod, where are we gonna find a rocket?” Allister sighed, “Guys, you all pulled together for 12 minutes and 24 seconds, why don’t we just take the infinitely easier route of buying a new ladle and bowl?!” Simon growled as he glared at the ladle, “I’m gonna find a way to get that out! I can’t just give up, I’m the strongest of the critters!” Bubba Bubbaphant, still panting, raised one of his arms weakly, “Actually, DogDay has repeatedly shown he’s stronger than you. His perfect win-rate in your arm wrestling matches prove that by itself.” Simon paused, looked at DogDay, then sighed, “Okay, fine, I’m the strongest of the Nightmare Critters. Point is, I can’t let this stupid spoon beat me!” Touille stood up, snickering, “Gotta hand it to you, Maggie, I never thought someone could make a ladle and some pancake batter into the sword in the stone!” Bubba finally pulled himself to a sitting position, “It’s called Excalibur, Touille.”

DogDay was still panting as he stood up, “What… what are we gonna do? We can’t just give up, right? There has to be a way to pull this thing out!” DogDay nodded to Allister before continuing, “I mean, we’re going to have to buy new stuff, this can’t be salvaged, I just want to know if there’s anything we can try.” Simon was shaking with rage as he glared at the ladle, almost looking like he was about to start crying in frustration, “I am not letting this stupid thing win! I’m prying this stupid ladle out if it kills me!” CatNap was quiet for a moment, staring intently at the seemingly immovable ladle, “Let me try.” DogDay looked over at CatNap, “Wait, what? By… by yourself?” CatNap nodded without looking at DogDay, walking towards the ladle, “I can pull it out, don’t worry.” The critters paused, it was clear by the determined glint in CatNap’s eyes that he was being serious, and yet, they had all tried together and failed, was it even possible that CatNap, by himself, could do anything to help? Icky grunted and shook his head, “Honestly, let him take a crack at it, not sure if it’ll do much good but at least it’ll give us a breather.” Baba snickered as she looked at Simon as he was still quaking with anger, “I think Smokey the Strong could certainly use one, lest he pop a vein on those big ol’ muscles of his!” Simon shot a snarl and a particularly nasty glare at her before turning his attention back to CatNap, who now stood right in front of the ladle. The purple cat stood there for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and wrapping both hands around the ladle. His expression hardened as he took another deep breath, leaned forward a bit, then leaned back as he began to pull.

At first, as they all expected, nothing happened save for CatNap’s muscles starting to bulge from the task. As the cat continued, it was clear from his expression that he was putting more and more effort in, yet still, nothing happened for about half a minute. Then, as DogDay was considering trying to convince his friend to give up before he hurt himself, he thought his eyes might have been playing tricks on him, since it seemed like CatNap was a touch bigger. Just as he was about to dismiss it as his imagination, CatNap let out a soft grunt and the same thing occurred, the growth this time being more noticeable. “H-hey, guys?” DogDay started to stammer, “d-do you think CatNap’s g-growing?” As he looked around at the others, most of them were nodding, the others most likely too surprised to speak. Simon gave his head a harsh shake, “No, no, he can’t be, th-there’s no way that pipsqueak is actually getting bigger!” By now, CatNap’s teeth were grit as he gave another heave, and this time, almost as if to mock Simon’s disbelief, the cat’s muscles grew much larger, now rivaling Simon’s size.

CatNap growled a bit as he kept at it, with no sign yet that he was making progress in prying the ladle free, “Come on, let’s see what you’re made of!” With a much louder grunt, the purple cat pulled again, his muscles once again growing, now being larger than Simon, a fact that, given that the dragon was pouting, was clearly to his chagrin. Still, the ladle wouldn’t budge, so CatNap kept going, his eyes now narrowing from the strain. None of the other critters made a sound, too surprised by how big CatNap had grown to form any coherent words, and most of them let out a soft gasp as CatNap grew again after yet another heave, his muscles now being nearly as large as DogDay’s. At this point, veins started to protrude along CatNap’s arms, his face starting to darken as his breathing became more labored. The cat snarled as he kept up the pressure, “I can do this. I don’t care how strong you are…” CatNap took another deep breath and heaved again, bellowing out the end of his sentence as his muscles now surpassed even DogDay’s immense physique, “…I’m still stronger!”

After he took a second to process what he saw, DogDay cheered, “You can do it, Cat! Show that spoon who’s boss!” As he said this, the other Smiling Critters joined in, all shouting encouragement to their now enormous feline friend. As he heard their cheers, CatNap’s determination grew even stronger, they were convinced he could pry out this stubborn ladle, they were convinced he was strong enough to do what they combined could not, and he was hellbent on proving them right. CatNap looked at the ladle and snarled, “No more messing around!” As CatNap started to pull with all his might, his already huge muscles grew even larger. The cat’s legs now resembled tree trunks, quivering as he got into a stance that provided more leverage, his pecs bulged out from his chest like balloons, being so large that it was a wonder his crescent moon charm didn’t become stuck between them each time he sucked in another breath, and even while his arms were nearly completely straight, CatNap’s biceps and triceps were the size of cannonballs, to the point where one would be forgiven for assuming an actual flex would make either so monstrously large as to burst through his fur. As this incredible effort began, CatNap managed to roar out another sentence before being reduced to grunts and groans, “You’re… coming out… now!” By now, almost all of the critters were cheering for him as his already darkening face got far darker, veins now snaking like anacondas across the feline’s gigantic muscles, it was clear that CatNap wasn’t giving up until he either he couldn’t pull any longer, or if he pulled out the ladle. As they all watched, their cheers started to grow louder as they began to see cracks in the batter around the ladle, steadily growing larger and larger as CatNap trembled more and more. DogDay was practically jumping like an excited child as he shouted, “You can do it, Cat! Just a bit more!” CatNap let out one final, strained roar as he felt his strength was just about to give out, when after a few seconds, with a loud crack from the batter, the stubborn ladle was finally free, the inertia nearly causing CatNap to fall over as he heard his friends all let out a deafening cheer.

Anyway, uh, random little ramble because it’s nearly 6am where I’m at and I’m running off of 90 minutes of sleep at best because yesterday I had gotten out of bed at 1pm after going to sleep at around 9pm the previous night, thought something about my thoughts on Exdeath and realized it applied to almost all the Final Fantasy villains from the games I’ve played. Not much else to say in this post tbh, might list the qualities I like about the other ones later. Here’s a link to the remix that made me think about this, it’s a banger, as Mr. Atma’s work always is: https://youtu.be/Ua_X6HEllEo?si=A8KPhLMGOTewWc4O