#opyre

( 「   RP MEME :   VARIOUS KINGDOM HEARTS QUOTES.   」  | @opyre )

' i know . i'm ready . otherwise , i wouldn't be here . '

IT WAS HARD TO LOOK AT HIM. the time she'd spent at his bedside had left an image of him in her mind. he had arrived to the undying weak, ill, & pained. hardly picturesque & far from the depiction of the phoenix that she had been given by the undying. the texts had told stories of a powerful, majestic being, a deity with the power of life & death. but joshua was no divine idol, he was simply a boy. her friend.

but now he had changed. like the eikon that shared his soul he had risen, full of life. strong enough to take down armies & yet so delicate that such power would mar him somewhere where she could not reach & thus could not heal. she wanted nothing more than to protect him, to defend him from all that might harm him–––– body & soul. but, she couldn't keep him locked away, & would have to relent to being the shield that sheltered him from any & all things that attempted to hurt him.

“ i know that you are. ”

but, she couldn't keep him hidden from the world like a prisoner in her protection. he was meant for more than that, & the world would be worse off without his presence. he was ready. he was more than ready. & the world would simply have to make ready for him.

“ if you truly wish to go out in search of answers, then know that i will be at your side, no matter where the journey may take us.”

all jote could hope was that he knew that it was more than just duty that guided her choice. she wanted to see him leave his mark on the land, todo his part in healing it, & to do what she could to help him whenever she might be able.

Send  “Oof reverse”  for my muse to fall on yours

@opyre asked: oof !

Sudden   weight   caused   the   lithe   Princess   to   fall,   all   so   ....   ungracefully   to   the   ground   with   an   audible   thump.

    "Ughh....?"

    The   collision   disoriented   Sarah   but   she   was   quick   to   gather   her   bearings.   Enough   to   realize   a   man   was   on   top   of   her!   "W-Wha   -   ......   who   .....   are   you   okay?"   she   stuttered.   Though   the   situation   had   been   abrupt,   when   hazel   eyes   met   blue,   she   understood   he   hadn't   intentionally   meant   her   any   harm.

    However,   the   display   created   quite   the   crowd   of   onlookers,   causing   a   flustered   blush   to   paint   upon   porcelain   features.

    "Are....you   able   to   stand?.....   I   can't   ...move..."

( baldur's gate 3 starters (part 2) | @opyre )

❝ you startled me. i…i was miles away. ❞

she'd felt this before, when she'd first seen clive after a lifetime. it had taken her what felt like both an age & an instant to recognize him but, once she had, all of the ( thankfully empty ) tankards that she'd been carrying had fallen from her hands, causing a scene she hadn't intended. she remembered little of that moment other than her sudden struggle to breathe & martha's concerned voice coming from what had felt like far away.

luckily, she was better prepared when she'd seen joshua. her hands were empty, & the sight of phoenix's dominant didn't send her into the panic that once would have taken over her. instead, she spent time studying his eyes, his face, the curve of his cheeks, & she could see the resemblance from the boy from so many years ago. she could remember standing in rosalith castle, her body leaning to look around the body of the man in front of her ( despite her mother's whisper of ❛ be still, tifa. ❜ ) so she could see as the heir to the ducal throne bestowed a sacred & ancient rite upon his upon his brother–––– his first shield. she could remember feeling pride for the traditions of her people for the first time & joining in the cheers so loudly her voice had vanished by the evening.

they had all been so happy, just for their lives to be torn asunder less than a year later.

upon seeing him again, alive & just as grown as she, tifa had hesitated. she'd kept her head down & focused on her tasks in the hideaway. speaking with clive had been a necessity, but there had been no reason to bother joshua–––– not when he certainly didn't remember her, who had been just another face in the crowd of his future subjects. no, she hadn't needed to trouble him.

until, this moment. tifa had spent extra time cleaning the tub & crown. most of the residents of the hideaway were resting when she finally finished, & she intended her walk to her bunk to be a leisurely one, but she paused at a lone figure standing by the docks. joshua, alone in the darkness, watching the blighted waters. instinct told her to keep moving, to leave him be, but she couldn't find it within her to depart for bed without checking to see if he was alright.

though she made no effort to hide her steps, he didn't seem to notice her, & she mustered up the courage to call out to him, her hand reaching up.

❛ my lord? ❜

he jumped the instant her hand brushed his shoulder, causing her to do the same. for a moment he looked ready to draw a sword that wasn't even at his side. his explanation almost made her laugh–––– startling a man with the magic inside him to become an eikon certainly hadn't been something that she'd forseen herself able to do–––– but she managed an apology instead.

❛ forgive me, that wasn't my intention. i just wanted to make sure you were alright. you looked... ❜

just as he said, as if he was miles away. as though his mind had wandered to a place his spirit & body could not follow, & she knew well the dangers of attempting. tifa left her statement unfinished.

❛ are you okay? ❜

❛ m'lord... m'lord... ❜ the word was clumsy on her tongue–––– she'd never called anyone such a title before, but she knew it was proper. though she was tempted to simply call the future archduke by name to catch his attention, she was already risking a scolding with her plan, she didn't want one for being rude as well. still, she was beginning to get impatient, & her window of opportunity was closing. the shields would surely return to their charge shortly, & she would need to return home before her mother discovered her gone.

tifa rose her voice a bit louder, hopefully enough to get joshua's attention before her hiding place in the garden was discovered by another. ❛ m'lord! ❜

Questions || Accepting

"Yeah...I guess so. Some more than others, I think." Aerith shrugs, sitting down in the grass and idly picking at it. She knows what Joshua means. It's hard to go on how she does and pretend that she doesn't know what's going to happen, but how could she ever tell anyone the truth? It would sound crazy. Oh, every time I die, I have to start all over again and hope that I figure it out this time.

Crazy. Besides, she doesn't want to make anyone fear for her death. It already looms over her like a dark cloud, inching closer and closer with each passing day. She doesn't fear death anymore. Sephiroth's blade stopped hurting a long time ago.

𝐒𝐇𝐄  𝐇𝐀𝐃  𝐂𝐔𝐓  𝐈𝐓  𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄.  Had  she  been  even  a  moment  slower,  Serenity  feared  Phoenix  might  have  granted  His  blessing  once  more.  As  the  dust  had  settled,  from  her  periphery  she  could  see  that  the  Dominant  of  Phoenix  had  been  in  no  condition  to  prime.  The  sweat  lining  his  brow  and  the  laboured  breathing  were  testament  enough  to  that,  and  yet  he  still  would  have  done  it  —  she  could  sense  the  untapped  energy  in  the  air.  Like  the  held  breath  before  a  free-fall.  Had  he  done  so,  Serenity  cannot  be  sure  he  would  have  survived  it.

The  girl  to  his  left  —  a  member  of  the  Undying,  as  she  recalls  —  is  frozen  in  place  mid-lunge.  In  fact,  if  the  Dominant  were  to  look  closely  enough,  he  might  notice  the  complete  lack  of  movement  around  them.  Even  the  air  feels  still.   And  yet,  the  area  around  them  distorts  and  undulates  with  a  strange,  but  calming  energy.

As  she  turns  away  from  the  detritus  of  battle,  her  eyes  meet  the  Dominant's.  Something  akin  to  pity  flashes  in  her  eyes  for  a  brief  tick,  there  and  gone  as  quickly  as  it  had  appeared.

You  were  not  meant  to  carry  so  much  power,  she  thinks.

@opyre whispered: " i think we've overstayed our welcome . "

❅ ⸻ Kanver was in a state of disarray, and as they pressed ever onwards it had become more and more difficult to navigate the streets unnoticed. So far, they had been fortunate, the Akashic seemingly too focused on whatever task lay before them, yet the pair knew their luck would inevitably run out.

If only it hadn't been so soon.

The first group had been small and quickly dispatched, fire and ice working in tandem to take down the shades that had once been men, now turned into mindless husks with and unknown objective. For a time they had been able to press onwards, clearing a path for themselves until that path had become something it looked like they might not be able to cross. ❝ A slight understatement, I think. ❞

Jill readied her rapier, flicking the blade to her side, a line of blood smattered upon the cobbled street in which they stood. Already she felt fatigued, yet she would not back down, not while Joshua was in her care.

𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐉𝐎𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐌𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄, he and jill had been almost attached at the hip. much like they were as children, the two decided to pick up where they'd left off, rather than stew in twenty years of heartache. their reunion was a blessing, and by some unfavorable feeling in her stomach, she'd figured it was a fleeting one.

so, she'd show him around the hideaway. rattle on about all the ingenious feats of engineering and sustainability, people to know and people to forget --- mindless gossip that was hushed by a hand and whispered into his person. they'd make touring the hideaway look like an attraction, the way the laughter never ceased and the smiles never faltered. truly, it felt like a part of her had returned.