#ffxivwrite22

FFxivWrite 2022 FFxivWrite22 Masterpost Prompt #7: Pawn Every interaction was a game, and Lady Covington always intended to win. She had been a puppet on a string before, and with her every action, she ensured such a thing would never happen again. That did not mean she would not subjugate others to the same fate, however. What was a game without pawns, after all? Others might accuse her of failing to see the value of those around her, but she felt quite the contrary. Everyone had their uses, and she liked to pinpoint those. If all else failed, even someone otherwise worthless was still good for dying.

FFxivWrite 2022 Prompt #1: Cross Shadiyah could feel it still calling to her sometimes, across the threshold and the vast expanse between shards. That dark, howling emptiness. A world devoid of aether, where the strong conquered the weak, and power and survival were all that mattered. It called her home–not that the Thirteenth ever truly was her home, but it was the only place she could have any semblance of belonging. It was the place she eventually returned whether she willed it or not, when life was severed and the nothingness of nonexistence spat her out again, unwanted even by death. It was a place no one could enjoy, but she had never feared it… that is, until she met Melfice. But it wasn’t the Void itself she feared, it was the idea of ever being separated from him, should she ever be sent back there again, should she ever give in to that siren song telling her to fade it all to black. How cruel the thing she most desired and the thing she most feared were one in the same. But that was the point–embrace the inevitable before it caught her unawares. She wondered, sometimes, how many of the thoughts swirling in her head were actually hers. How many were just fragmented pieces of beings she had consumed? She didn’t remember. She didn’t know. What did it matter? Whatever she was now was all that was left of her, and she was under no illusions she was still complete. She could never be whole again. Maybe that was why she always felt the abyss in the back of her mind, calling for her to return to the silence. How long could she resist before she crossed that rift again? @shadiyah-ffxiv, @of-darkness-and-dreams

FFxivWrite 2022 FFxivWrite22 Masterpost Prompt #8: Tepid “M’headed home, Princess.” Val leaned in close to exchange a sweet, lingering kiss with Faye before he took his leave of her. “D’ya want me t’run a bath for ya?” “That would be lovely, dearest, thank you.” The lovers ended their embrace and Val left the Hyur to her work at the teahouse. Bells passed before she made her way home, tired and ready to unwind. She slipped off her boots and gloves and made her way to the washroom where a bath was already drawn for her, dipping her fingers into the water to test just as Val appeared to lean in the doorway. “S’it hot ‘nough for ya, Princess?” Her lips pursed into a frown as she withdrew her hand, gently shaking her fingertips dry. “It’s lukewarm already.” “Oh, shit.” The Miqo’te quickly righted his posture as if he had just remembered something. “I guess it’s been a while since the last time. I forgot t’refill it again…” He made his way forward to right this egregious wrong, rolling up his sleeve and plunging a tattooed arm into the water to pull the plug at the bottom of the claw-footed tub and let the tepid water drain. “Again?” Faye questioned as the meaning of his words began to set in. “Yeah, ‘f course,” he answered simply. “Val… how many… times do you refill the bath before I get home?” she asked slowly, knowing this was a common ritual for them. He shrugged his shoulders as the water began to swirl its way down the drain and he turned toward her, his arm still dripping with water. “I dunno. At least a few. Usually more ‘n I can count.” “Val… I…” Faye’s sentence went nowhere and instead she just stared at her husband. Few could stun the woman into silence, but for Val, it was no challenge. How easily he could say something so stupid– “How else ‘m I s’posed t’keep the water hot when there’s no tellin’ how late you’ll get home?” “I… don’t know. I hadn’t really thought about it. I suppose I just thought somehow you timed it well every time.” His lips curled into that shit-eating grin of his. “C’mon, Princess. I know ‘m talented, but not even I’m that good.” Was the warmth rising to her cheeks a blush spurred by his impressive dedication or just the fury of her incredulousness? Faye hated how much she was attracted to this fool. @its-the-val-pal​

FFxivWrite 2022 FFxivWrite22 Masterpost Prompt #6: Onerous “Glory be to Garlemald.” How many times had he uttered those words? He couldn’t hope to keep track, dutiful son of the Empire that he was. All he knew was that in the end, there was no glory for his land or his people. An empire founded on lies, destroyed by the same forces that created it. Death and destruction was their reward for playing the role they had been unwittingly cast. The Empire was no more, but what was left of Garlemald’s people still lived on, be it as refugees in foreign lands or survivors in their homeland. Either way, they had no home. They were the same as him now. Who would have guessed Aelius had simply been ahead of the curve in his exile? Maybe it was a mercy that his path had ensured he was not there in those final days of suffering. Of course, he’d never see it that way. As far as he was concerned, he had failed to be there to protect his people and suffer the fate he knew he deserved. He had heard rumors of what had happened, received reports from the few contacts Lucretia still held, but he could not have imagined the scale of the devastation until the rickety airship descended low enough he could see it with his own eye. As he stepped foot upon the frozen earth, the chill of Garlemald’s air cut deeper than he remembered. He chalked it up to his years away, but deep down, he knew it was more than that. He cast such thoughts aside, but others were more difficult to shake. Like the thought that Septimus was not much older than Valerius would be by now. When he looked at the boy, he saw so much of his brother–or at least, what he imagined his brother to be. Valerius was little more than a babe when Aelius had left for Eorzea. What had happened to him in Ael’s absence? Had he been passed the same mantle Aelius had borne? The heir to the Corinthius family’s legacy, the man of the household. Such responsibility thrust onto a boy so young… not that Aelius had been any older. Things were different for Valerius, however. Their father wasn’t just gone, he was dead. Their mother wasn’t just lonely, she was a widow… grieving not just the loss of her husband and the father of her children, but for all she knew, also her eldest son. And now this… the war, the capitol… what had become of their family’s home? Was their mother even still alive? Was Valerius–he couldn’t even bring himself to finish the thought. He felt his hand ball into a fist at his side. He had spent so long running away from everything. He had never intended to return to Garlemald… but now that he was here, things suddenly weren’t as simple as retrieving the Eyes of the Forgotten and ensuring their airship could carry them back to Eorzea. No, that was the last of his concerns now. He could no longer run away from the part of himself that remembered his duty to the Empire, and to his family. @aelius-ffxiv, @tough-bit-of-fluff​, @its-the-val-pal​

FFxivWrite 2022 FFxivWrite22 Masterpost Prompt #17: Novel X’unmei knew there was a wide world outside of her tribe, even outside the Twelveswood. She’d never found the chance to explore much of it, though, and she was not confident she ever would. However, she’d found another escape, a way to catch just a glimpse of it. She slinked away from town, slipping the paperback book into her jacket. Her tribe would be angry if they knew she had spent gil on another book… but that was fine. They didn’t need to know. It was for her, for those moments she could slip away for some quiet time for herself, to get lost in tales about a world full of action, and romance, and passion, and adventure… how she dreamed she could live in that same world, the world of adventurers and handsome knights and brave princesses. And most always a happy ending. Sometimes when she read those precious stories, she would close her eyes and pretend she was there… but the time always came much too soon for her to reopen her eyes, and she would be returned to cold reality. @which-can-eternal-lie​

FFxivWrite 2022 FFxivWrite22 Masterpost Prompt #10: Channel There was a disconnect now when she reached out to the Elementals and the land around her to channel her conjury, a block. It was a momentary resistance, a reluctance to lend her their power that made her have to pull just a little bit harder, and there was no wondering why. It was an inconvenience to Faye, but it was one she could work around. She simply counted her blessings the Twelveswood had not given even harsher consequences from her meddling with forces forbidden. All in all, it was a small price to pay for the power she had received, light and dark both in her hands, coursing through her very veins. Such things could never come freely.