#ffixiv

I had to crack my head a bit to think of who Escher calls friends because, I'll be honest, he doesn't have (m)any. He walks through life blithely yet with such focused tunnel vision on his research that it seldom occurs to him that the people who he sees often are friends and not people who keep him safe. So, acquaintances at least, allies at most.

We'll walk through the main ones in...some kind of order.

Crofte (@undercrofte, pic by him) is the father figure that Escher lacked in adulthood, who watches over him to make sure they both don't die in their wildest goose chase for the Premier Massage. Escher whines to him about his life, he treats Escher in a very tough-love manner. Somehow, they get by and that's how real friendship works.

Adrian is a simp for Escher and also his current partner, but considering they were chatting and going on wild hijinks for 2 years before finally going official, we'll say they started as friends first. Only a partner who was your friend first can chew you out for getting your ribs broken in a no-holds-barred televised duel and then gently treat your wounds after as a sign of forgiveness.

Can a sparrow @iron-sparrow) be a friend? If Little Light visits every year, sure, why not. If he talks to it regularly it's a friend. I don't make the rules.

Izayoi (@observeroflaplace) and Tisiphone stretch the definition of friendship. Izayoi is an ally he's bumped into on several adventures (and he nailed a note to her door with severe consequences) that he's comfortable sharing information and a little bit of emotions with her. One of Tisiphone's shards bit (yes) him as they fought and he still struggles to tell the difference that this one comes in peace (kind of). But he treats her with more civility and less hostility than everyone else so that counts for something.

Escher's noulith engineer Renmazuo (@creswantscards) is filled with dread each time Escher walks through his door, but they are slowly opening up to each other enough to verbally hit where it hurts. If your friend doesn't call out your BS, are they really a friend?

I haven't taken any new pics but Ireul is his childhood friend. They can't stand each other and when they meet they just bicker and insult each others' life choices. We all know that friendship is when you don't meet for years but continue conversations like yesterday. That's them.

It's (at least, in-setting) a clearly visible order of steps: first, Emet-Selch devices Calamity of Lighting in Alexandria's world (high-tech imperial conflict - we all know who stands behind such stuff, laughing from the shadows, right? Also, "we had recreated Lifestream process, but artificially" - Twelve bear witness, this stinks of Hades)

And then he sees Living Memory, the theme park full of ghosts of the dead.

...and then he builds Amaurot on First, his very own living memory of days past.

The best day to start something is probably on a day when a season changes or the air feels like wet dust. There was an Autumn Festival and a lot of people had the rice wine and offered things and I felt pretty empty, overall, about it. So I sat on the fence and watched the fog. It tumbles about the fields and air and mountains like the cotton stuffing falling out of a rip in a blanket.

Namai is really quite pretty. The muted colors never seem to change. It's palette is limited. And yet.

And yet.

In place of anything drawn, have a couple of screencaps of in-game Zayin, for ch7 of the crossover - Odd Jobs!

This is another short chapter, much like Light Party was. Most of them don't require prior knowledge of the fic, but the last one absolutely will, so-