#crypticbruja

Juni base!

I’ve also got a couple more body bases for the Victory Tour -> in-between years -> 74th & 75th Games

I love them dearly, and I cannot fairly say which of the two I love more. Tis rather like choosing between my favorite gowns! But I have been through the hells and back with Alphinaud, in a way that I have not with Alisaie, though she is just as dear to me, and she is like my sister all the same.

Truthfully, when I speak of the Scions as my family, tis the Leveilleur twins that are foremost in my mind. I have said many times that I had no siblings of which to speak. Never had I younger children to cling to mine skirts, or to tease me. Serena Tabris, of course, but I never saw her again when the Templars came for me. And oft I was too ill, in those tender years, to play with the other children. I was desperately lonely, in truth.

I suppose part of me envies the twins for their privileged lives in Sharlayan, with a loving family, wealth and titles, a community of scholars that celebrated them as prodigies and permitted their gifts to flourish. I cannot deny it, when they speak of the old country with Shtola, Krile, and Urianger, the bitterness I feel betimes. And I feel a great deal of shame in it; they were not to blame for the degradations I knew in Ferelden.

But I love them well, and always have—even when Alphinaud was betimes insufferable I could not bear him malice, for I saw much of myself in him, when I was an adolescent. For all our respective upbringings could not have been more starkly contrasted, we share a deep and abiding love for the arcane arts, the desire to use them for the good of all, and bearing the weight of expectations in the manner only the truly gifted can know. I was but nineteen when I raised the army which ended the Fifth Blight, and gave my life for the homeland which despised me. Again and again, I was told that I was the greatest Circle Mage of my generation. I took pride in that, but feared it betimes—I could not falter, I must be perfect. The twins understand this well. Many times we speak of it, Alphinaud most of all.

But I would be remiss were I not to address the proverbial marid in the room. Tis awkward of a surety that they both are overfond of me, but they are both wise beyond their tender years, and bear me no malice. If they bicker over my attentions, tis much the way children bicker over a favorite doll. And I feel guilty, I do, that I have inadvertently caused either of them any suffering. But I am a woman grown, and know from this manner of suffering—I was madly in love with Mademoiselle Vivienne well, after all, and she rebuffed me in kind, for I was far too young to know what I asked of her, when I was an apprentice not reached the age of majority, and she was an Enchanter of Montsimmard five winters my senior. I hold fast to the knowledge that such pain is fleeting, mayhap even a part of growing up. Mayhap they understand this, for neither has ever made such confession to me, and bear it in silence.

Hugs n’ snugs D&D vampire slayin’ squad style.

Omg I do this all the time. I keep thinking Areli and xyr twin are 4 but….they’re almost 7. I can’t believe I have been recycling those two for this long.

List here

Hien and Gisele’s reunion, during the post-SB patch Doma storyline. It’s the heart to heart they never got the chance to have after the Battle of Ala Mhigo, swept up in Alliance politics and war stuff as everyone was.

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Hien’s eyes grew wide, as warm and inviting as ever they had been, as he took her hand into his own.

“Did you truly think I could forget you?” he asked, stroking her skin with an idle, calloused thumb.

Gisele sighed. “Nay—yes. I don’t know. Mayhap I believed that what beauty we shared on the Steppe was fleeting, little more than a pleasant memory to be cherished...an ephemeral moment that would never return. You’ve a kingdom to rebuild. I have my own duties, to the Scions, to Eorzea.”

“We may no longer be upon the Steppe,” Hien began, his voice low and achingly soft, “but nothing has changed since then, my lady. Not for me...not ever.”

His lips found hers, tender and full of the same passionate yearning she remembered what seemed another life ago, beneath a blanket of brilliant stars.

“Hien...” Gisele whispered breathlessly.

Your writing and sharing shots of her is what got my interest initially piqued in FFXIV and now that I’ve finally experienced it myself it’s just so wonderful and has brought me a lot of joy during a hard time (just finished ARR last night and legit cried happy tears). But your writing most of all is so so amazing and rich. I loved it even before I understood the context fully and now that I do it’s even more powerful. So thank you for continuing to share your amazing work and the wonderful ray of light itself that is Gisele.

I bought the villain collection ages ago when it first came out and I liked most of it. The jelly shadows were trash, the palette solid, but the highlighters were great (the Ursula one is my fave and I legit want to get a backup) and the lipsticks were decent. I got the princess palette and a couple of the lipsticks but rarely use those by comparison.