#ffxivwrite2025

It was the morning of Starlight and gifts had been given, the kindest small stitched things she had crafted of those she held so dear. Her hands were tired, and there was little more for her to give now. The night had been cruel, and so too the ache in her fingers. This form allowed her strength she has never known, yet even still she were aether bound as ever.

The door to her room echoed a knock and she gave an audible call of allowance. Lucine had come, rose wrapped gift in hand. Adler observed it with utmost curiosity. Though, she should not assume all things are hers.

Adler's voice rasped, as it always did. "Fair morning, dearest Lucine... I pray the chill has been warded off well?"

The room was a mess, and often it was. Lucine caught sight of the Patchwork's hands, sore and burdened, bandaged with poor etiquette and even poorer quality. She sighed.

"Come here, Adler. Let me see."

Placing the gift upon the table by the window, Lucine seated herself on the couch and extended a hand, the other brushing down her black dress. Adler obliged, making her way across the room to settle beside her in her grey gown.

"Closer." Lucine grumbled, a gentle curl of her hand to further encourage her.

Adler did so, shifting ever closer until their knees touched. Her hands taken in Lucine's own, and considered with attentive eyes.

Lucine grumbled, peering up to the Xaela. "Do you just not feel your hands when you do things or do you just like the pain?"

She didn't respond, but Adler hadn't realized how badly they'd been cut and bothered. We're the tolerances of their pain.. shared? She would wonder what her other half sensed, if anything.

The Seer sighed and went to work, casting her aether forth to mend her wounds, relishing in quiet presence. Silence settled there. It held them with ease as the moments passed. Even still Adler could not be left to her own lest she loosen her own threads.

"There."

"Hast thou enjoyed thy Starlight, Lucine?"

"As much as one can. Still upset about there being no spirits haunting the Gingerbread house, but maybe it's for the best."

A soft chortle came from Adler.

"I shall endeavour to discover such, that thou mayest find a challenge most worthy of thy talents."

"I'm sure you noticed." Lucine began, pulling the gift from the table and placing it onto Adler's lap. "But I have taken the liberty of studying your condition and with the aether gathered, I've come to a conclusion."

"Hast thou? And what dist thou discover?"

"The conclusion is in the box."

With some hesitancy, and a nudge from Lucine, Adler began to work at the gift, tearing the paper and revealing the box within, that which was pulled apart to reveal a deep glowing grey crystal. She beheld the sight of it, lips parting slightly.

"It... Is... A crystal?"

Her hand lowered into the box to roll it into her hand. As she had, it began to float and raised straight up above her palm. The sight drove Adler to wonder. It felt as though it could sense her disposition.

"Not just any... It stores Astral and Umbral aspects of aether." Lucine began, glancing to the stone before setting upon Adler. "It can keep the balance between you two... Less needing to go berserk and more cooperation. At least-- that's the idea."

Adler understood these concepts... They'd been a common theory yet due to Wrath's unwillingness to cooperate, the crystal would never have worked... Yet now?

"Forsooth ..."

Lucine reached forth to cup under Adler's hands, the glow of the crystal bathing them both. "You will still need to find one who can teach you how to use it... But you have the tool. That much I can offer."

When Adler finally managed to pull her gaze away from the crystal, she observed Lucine with curiosity. Was this an apology for what had happened, or simply Starlight familiarities? She decided it was best not to ask.

"Thou dost honor me with a path I had only dreamed of, Lucine... I shall endeavor to strengthen myself, that I may need not be a burden to others any longer and--"

Lance and Narin stood nearest, speaking on the sight before them, theorizing about what horrors awaited them all. Etche and Leofwyna had taken up the couch where Leofwyna had cozied up next to the Rava as they conversed subtle musings of their own. Both had worn matching hideous sweaters.

"I bid thee greetings, friends. Before thee, I lay a task of grand proportions... What lay before us be a haunted entity. Within this malevolent edible-- a spirit awaiting freedom. Yet there be only one task we need at present ... To build it into a suitable abode." Adler said, crossing her arms and awaiting their confirmation to proceed with the ritual.

The group all seemed to understand that well enough, though each one gave their own interpretations as to what that meant.

"Why don't we destroy the crackers and let that free the soul instead?" Narin suggested, hand raising to his chin to observe the supplies.

Lance disagreed, "No, No, it is far simpler, you see. We shall find a more suitable host for the spirit in inhabit." A hand lowering to tap the table.

"Um..." Adler mused, brows furrowing as she rose a finger to speak, but was cut off by Etche's quick wit.

"Both of you are incorrect. We should test the spirits will to survive, and only then should it be allowed an opinion at all." Etche said with utmost pride. That is, until her ears were grabbed and pulled to bring her closer to Leofwyna's side.

"Normally I'd agree with you, my Dear Etche--but a dumb bunny fails to consider the alternative. We should sample the spirit and see if we can't replicate it's possession of the gingerbread crackers in other things, that we may find a way to end all possessions altogether."

"Friends-- I..." Adler began, yet once more another spoke.

"That suggestion is simply a roundabout way of my own." Lance said, crossing his arms.

"True. Great minds do think alike, Mad Rabbit." Leofwyna affirmed.

"No, they don't. They think different things all the time." Narin stated flatly, shaking his head with great disappointment. "You two are both just too eager to see what else you can do with a spirit that, really, should be left to pass on its own. I still think we should just crush it and see what happens."

The room erupted into debate upon what to do about the mysterious entity. Yet Adler would then climb upon the table and extend her hands to the skies.

"My dearest companions!!!" Her raspy voice exclaimed, scratchy from the attempt.

As the group silenced slowly, they peered to Adler . . . And she spoke.

"I wished only to ask if thou wouldst accompany me in building small houses out of Gingerbread.... There is no spirit... I simply feared that such a simple request would be too bothersome for which to take thy time with... Forgive me..."

The others looked to one another with some measure of confusion, before Narin shook his head. "Well, we are all already here and we have perfectly good Gingerbread crackers to work with."

"Yes." Leofwyna smiled, "We would love to, Adler." One arm wrapping around Etche to hold her there.

Etche attempted to stand, "Yeah I--" but another tug came, bring her back down to the couch. "Guhhh!!"

Lance gave them each a measured look before returning to Adler with a nod of his own. "I arrive to your aid as always, Lady Autumnwind. Who else will ensure this little home has proper submersible to deploy?"

Adler looked to them each, a contorted smile then. "Thy company. Tis all I ask."

Lucine arrived then, carrying bags of treats that Adler had asked her to retrieve. With a sigh, she placed them down on one end of the table and spoke.

Wither's fist clenched the grassy floor, ripping blades from the dirt as she hauled herself upright. Her form was slim but able, wrapped in bandages meant to conceal the bare body beneath.

The place was sealed by walls overrun with vines and flora. Aether flowed thick through the space, too dense to be the work of nature alone.

As she rose, the gaze of an unseen entity settled upon her from beyond a barrier. Wither noticed it after another glance and showed little fear.

She hissed. "Where are my things?"

Gaiana did not answer at once, observing the newcomer in silence. This was not the Nhaama she had known. No-- this one was different, yet uncomfortably similar. The stitches across her pale skin. The oddly lightened horns. Kin. Corrupt.

"You are not allowed."

Gaiana's voice shimmered through the air, its calm pressing down upon the woman's aggression, quieting the fury that seemed to boil from within. Slowly, Gaiana manifested before her as a figure wrapped in drifting gold starlight, robes brushing the grass.

The pale Raen stepped back, head tilting slightly, a predator measuring unfamiliar prey. Whatever force reached into her was control, easing the swelling hatred coiled in her chest. Wither’s eyes flickered as she staggered, a hand rising to rake through pale blue hair. She could feel it thinning her very self.

"Hgnn-- What is this?" Wither growled low.

The hand of Gaiana reached out. Her hand touched Wither’s shoulder, and pain struck like a blade. Wither cried out and dropped to one knee as the voidly presence within her began to tear free. Her hands shook violently; stitches loosened and fell from her skin, scattering to the floor.

"Ahh--" Wither breathed, teeth clenched. "I know what you are."

She forced herself upright through the burning ache. Where she had stood moments before, a shadowy imprint lingered, an absence shaped like loss and falling ash. Pale lavender eyes narrowed at the remnant, then lifted to the ancient being before her.

An elemental.

One that continued to pursue her.

Wither retreated, back colliding with the far wall as she reached for the vine-choked vault door. Her hands spun the lock chamber. Vines snapped and tore as the mechanism whined, seconds stretching thin while Gaiana closed the distance. Wither glanced back--she had already passed the remnant. Her hand still outstretched for her.

She turned away, arms frantically spinning the lock.

The air tightened, the chamber seeming to shrink as every leaf and creeping vine stilled to watch. Warmth brushed her back. That presence loomed, stinging her already torn skin.

Then the lock released.

With a sharp pull and a twist of her body, Wither slipped through the opening and slammed the vault door shut behind her. The mechanism spun and sealed with heavy finality. She exhaled, relief trembling through her limbs, and turned toward the dark halls of Avillion.

This place was unfamiliar but there was reminiscence that she could not place. Soft carpet met the curl of her toes. The scent of a home filled her lungs and with a single step, she moved forward.

The dimness began to diminish and Wither stilled. Slowly, she glanced over her shoulder. The sealed door glowed, and Gaiana stepped through it, that same hand outstretched.

"You didn't seem all that scared either, in the dream? Maybe you just forgot how to be afraid?... I know it's no place of mine to go digging in the past but I-- I miss you. . . And given where I am now, you can guess I'm really bad at letting go... Hah. Yeah... Yeah."

"Um. Barktholomew is huge now. He's-- Well, let's just say he's claimed a good portion of the forest. He's got a huge nose, you'd love it. Maybe. I still don't even know if you ever learned how to love things. They always just kinda... Seemed to be, to you. Neither loved or hated. There's beauty in that, I think... But it's also very sad... I like to think you knew love, even if you didn't recognize it."

"I made a promise to you, and-- well, not that you knew, but I said I wouldn't steal you to my Dream Kingdom. You always had your fondness of the cycle, so. I couldn't take that from you, as much as I wanted to. But I've learned what happens when you try to make your dreams come true."

"I'm still hoping that I'll walk into the wood and you'll be there, standing by an oak, staring at things no one else sees. Then you'd turn to me and speak the name nobody else knows. Always made me feel like I was yours, in some weird way."

"Now it's just The Dreamer. Just something that is and always will be... It's a curse, you know. We had fair share of those, but I'd give anything to join you at that stupid Lifestream. I'm tired, Scarlet. Always so fucking tired."

The dame's tone carried far, and it struck Josephine like a physical blow. The cadence, the force, the familiarity. She could have lived a thousand lives and still never escape the memory of it. Her every instinct told her to turn back. Her daughter waited at home, fragile and young. There were so few people she could trust to keep the child safe. Her significant other was likely in Sharlayan, or perhaps ilms deep inside someone Josephine neither knew nor cared to think about.

Yet she kept walking.

Leo's voice had always held power over her, but this voice… this was the Dame. The one she thought she had helped heal. The one she believed was past all this. Clearly not.

"Leofwyna," Josephine called, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.

The dame paused mid-command to the workers, glanced back over her shoulder, and hesitated. "An hour!" she barked to the men, adjusting her glove with a ring-flash of confidence. Then she turned fully. "Should be a crime for pretty ladies to walk alone." A brief, toothy grin. "You the contact for the shipment?"

"Contact for… no." Josephine cocked a brow. "And unless that is supposed to be funny, I am going to assume ole faithful is wilting again." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Always something with you. Why are you yelling at these people? It was clearly an accident."

"The Company guys?" Leofwyna gestured back at the scrambling workers. "If you knew them like I do, you would understand. They are paying off a debt. And this is not the first time this has happened." Her gaze swept over Josephine in a slow, puzzled study. "Do not know much about plants, Mam… but you are a bloom worth remembering. Which is odd, cause you seem to remember me."

"And it was those sweet words that got me to know you in the first place." Josephine's eyes darted across the bridge. She was not in an ideal place for things to turn violent, and she knew she couldn't win fairly against Leofwyna. Still, she held her ground. "Seems your friend is on the fritz." She tapped her temple where her own disguised regulator would sit. "How long has it been this way? What do you remember? Clearly not my face or voice."

Leofwyna's expression faltered. She brushed her fingers over the black flower Josephine had drawn from her coat. "I owe you something? Alright. Name it. I will see what I can do. I would not forget a face like yours. It is in there, just not right now. Whatever I did, I will make it up."

"You will not." Josephine's voice softened, but her resolve held. "You will never make it up, and that is fine. You do not need to. You already gave me life's greatest gift. For that alone, I am grateful. But you are better than this behavior, Leofwynette. Much better. Your sister is a monster. You are not the woman you claim to be now. At least, you do not have to be."

She stepped forward and handed the preserved black flower to her. "Perhaps with this, you will remember something. Maybe not tonight."

The regulator on Leofwyna's temple flickered. Her eyes dimmed, then refocused with a slow, dawning clarity. A sound ticked, and so too did her mind.

"Would you dare trust someone you just met?" she whispered. Her tone rasped, softer, truer.

Recognition blossomed in Leona's gaze. "So you are alive." She swallowed. "How is she?" She held the flower carefully in one hand while the other lifted, asking silent permission to touch Josephine's cheek.

Josephine did not give permission, but she did not stop her either. "She is well. Five moons. Happy. Healthy. She coos and tries to speak, though it will be baby speech for some time. Looks much like me, save one difference. She has my defect. But not white in her hair. Orange." She motioned lightly toward Leofwyna's own hair. "She gets that from you."

"And… she is smart. Twelve knows she didn't get it from me."

Leofwyna brushed her thumb softly across Josephine's cheek, then tucked a strand of her hair away. "Having her is the smartest thing we ever did." Her hand trembled as it lowered. "You are beautiful. Make sure she knows she is too." Her gaze roamed Josephine's attire, her posture. "She and I play different parts now. I got my role. She has hers. I will be here, always, Jophie. Sorry to worry you like that."

Josephine closed her eyes at the touch, tension coiling tight in her chest. But she forced them open again. "Our child will never live a day thinking she is anything less than the most beautiful girl on this star. My ego will not fail her. If I fail her… that is another question. But she will be safe. She will be strong. In that promise, I will not falter."

"You still talk just as much." Leofwyna smirked, failing to hide the affection in it. "Same as your eyes." She glanced toward the carriage where the workers still strained with the repairs. "They will be at it awhile. I should let her back in."

"Perhaps so." Josephine stepped back. "I will trouble you no further. I do not want you to lose everything you have worked for. Our futures may not be together. Our past was rocky. But I loved you. And you are half of my child. I want you to be well. I want you to be better. So be exceptional."

"Oh, you trouble me," Leofwyna said with a tilt of her head, tempting. "Just not in the way you think." She stepped forward, slow and steady. "I do love you. That will never change." She tapped Josephine's forehead with two fingers. "And you will do the same. My dearest Josephine is a bad ass bitch. If there are no other options, you find me. You got that?"

A plank of the bridge shifted behind Josephine, falling into the abyss. She startled but did not step away. She remained there, near the edge-- feeling her back press to the bridge arm.

She resented so much of what happened. She feared so much more. But her maternal instincts rose deeper than any bitterness, stronger than any hesitation. She grabbed Leofwyna by the tie, rose onto the tips of her toes, and kissed her.

When it broke, she let out a breath. "Do not get any funny ideas. Understood?"

Leofwyna blinked, then smiled warmly. "We usually shared the funny ideas. You know that." She brushed Josephine's hair aside and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "And give that one to her for me."

She rested her forehead against Josephine's, eyes closed for a brief moment, before stepping back and calling out to the Company men. "Guys! Take thirty. Tavern nearby. Grab something. I will watch the cart!"

Josephine sank to her knees as the moment ended. The tension had been too much. She felt warm tears gather, then fall as she held her daughter later that night. Over and over in her mind, one truth repeated itself.

No matter how many friends she made, she was alone in this world. And when she left it, she would leave it alone.

The job had taken far longer than anticipated, given Valeria had fallen asleep every few minutes but the task did come to a finish. Dirty black rags drifted in a bucket and Dreamer laid back into the couch by the water. The Artifact Cavern had sprouted some of the most beautiful flora that she'd ever seen, even compared to some of the Deep Wood. Main difference is these didn't try to eat her.

It was then she realizes someone was sitting in one of the ponds. It was Adler. Valeria's dark eyes blinked a few times, as though to ensure she wasn't hallucinating the thing.

"What uhh... Watcha doing there?" She asked aloud, sitting up slightly.

Adler turned with what appeared to be a root of some kind in her hand, an oddly shaped thing. She blinked back at Valeria and spoke. "Dreamer. Thy timing is auspicious... Behold." She said, raising the root up, "An intruder amidst our home."

Those eyes studied that weird root, all curled and wrapped right, pale as chalk. Why did she care what roots were growing around here? There were all kinds of flora. "Yeah, I see that.." Valeria was too tired to get up and just remained, speaking from there. "How long have you been sitting there?"

She ignores the question and lowered the root, standing full. Adler was not a very tall woman, but the heels she wore often gave her an edge. The vex dress always did add a flare of mystery, but Valeria saw her for what she was... A lost little weirdo.

"Dreamer, why do all those whom I love leave?"

The question caught Valeria entirely off guard. "You're asking me?" She sprawled against the couch, propping her head into her arm. "I don't know? Maybe you freak them out. I'm really not the girl to ask, honestly."

Adler paused, narrowing her amber gaze down to the root. "Curious... A mere touch and this strange root prompted words from mine lips."

"Eh? I'm not gonna kiss you, I ain't into stitches up Xaela." Valeria protested, narrowing her eyes. Though, the way Adler seemed to focus on the root made her wonder what exactly they were going on about. Is it so strange?

"But yeah, I dunno. Love comes and goes, better to just enjoy things for what they were than to willow in remembering, hoping to change the past." She bit her lip, peering back toward the falling water from the nearby fountain. "Can't change the past... "

Adler walked out from the pond, outfit dripping down onto the carpet floor. She seemed focused on something, her mind occupied as she began to investigate the walls, turning every which way before settling in a corner that Dreamer didn't care to look at.

"Why did ya ask anyway?"

Adler didn't respond, at least, not immediately.

She walked across the room, then back, though her eyes didn't leave the walls.

"Those whom I share such affections doth take their leave fairly often in short time. Is this ...a common thing?"

Valeria was no wiser than she, but she knew pain and loss. "Affections, huh?" She chortled, "Fancy word for fuck." The girl sighed, "Look, I avoid that stuff. Nothing more romantic than passing out mid go, you know?" A soft laugh, one that hid the shame. "Besides, if someone likes ya, they'll come around. Maybe not all the time, but the times that matter. What you do is your business... Just cherish it more than just uhh... Where was I going with this?"

Adler turned them, peering toward Dreamer with those faded amber limbals, a curiosity swirling in her. "Thou hast grown wiser, dear Dreamer." She smiled, face contorting from the stitches there. "From one who holds little time to the walking world, I would trust none other with such words as thine... To cherish the moments as they come."

"Yeah, yeah, don't get all sappy with me, I'll vomit." Valeria protested.

A moment later, the woman passed out, as is expected of her. Adler chuckled and moved to pull a blanket over her, then settling a seat into the stones of the pond. "You take your rest, Dreamer. You would not wish to sleep through such moments should they arrive, hm?"