FFXIV Write // On Cloud Nine
The feeling started with Vex, probably. Meeting her out there in Horizon, when she was still gathering her bearings. She wasn't really sure if she wanted to let anyone else in, yet here was this woman, boisterous and confident, shooting her way through her guard. And she found love again.
It happened again with Renny, when she realized she had found someone to whom empathy and kindness did not come naturallyâyet chose those things, anyway, in her decision to become a healer, even with her difficulties handling aether. She was not expecting to fall in love again even once. It happening twice was a stunning occurrence.
And again, when she reconnected with Lia. They had been friends, on and off again, traveling close to each other from time to time but never truly managing to really talk things through. Then they recognized the pains of war in each other, and developed a sisterly bond.
Then she started making friends again. One of her staunchest, Spader, whom she met by chance at first as she was invited with others to a pool, and then continually kept meeting her again and again in curious, odd places. A woman with mysteries that could fill the entirety of that top hat she wore everywhere.
Zana, another one she met when she met Spader. Not perhaps her closest friend, but she remembered setting her up to have reliable-enough work, and they both worked regularly enough guarding and escorting the local caravans that they learned to trust each other. An Zana was always weak to the pineapple ponzecake Celica liked to buy.
The folks she met at the Echo's End, many of whom impacted her in many different ways. People like Iyrnfatyr. Like Naheal and Y'shara. Opponents she crossed swords with. S'kaya, whose name still left a bittersweet taste on her lips. Maia-Lea, who was the rightful champion of the Echo's End, though she had... borrowed Celica's body to do it, for lack of a better term. Still, attributed the victory to Celica and gave her the credit besidesâhowever incorrectly.
The Unsung, folk whom she'd meet and aid from time to time, but did not get to know until the stakes had been raised much more highly over the years in the kind of jobs they found themselves doing. Funny, how she considered them closer to acquaintances than friends at first, and now she saw them almost as close as she saw her platoon during the wars.
There was Redgar, whom she identified with first, due to their penchant for similar outfits and hair similar to her own; as rough or rougher as she is, who shared hurt in different but familiar ways. Imogen, with her fiery personality and rough exterior; driven as hell, immeasurably loyal and carrying a heavy chip on her shoulder. Cain, whose countenance always kept Celica guessing, who seemed wise beyond his years in both how he spoke and carried himselfâand who brewed phenomenal coffee and came up with curious nicknames.
There was Charlette, who would always fuss and care for others, who always seemed to be trying to analyze and learn from everything she came across; she felt like some might incorrectly think she's somewhat of a busybody, but she had never found her anything other than caring. There was Yoki, a woman who seemed maybe a little aloof at first, who had issues with her aetherâand yet Celica often found herself stunned by her incisive insight on a matter and her determination to see things through; she often felt she shared much in common with her.
Luca, who always seemed a little flighty and a little quiet, but who she eventually found to be carrying a heavy, massive weight on her shouldersâa grief so deeply familiar to her own. And yet she saw in her equal parts both fire like her own, and the wind to see her soaring into the skies. She often wondered which she would turn out to be, in the end.
Then fortune turned around for Celica and she found herself the owner of both a building and the plot of land it sat on (thanks, of course, to Vex wishing to own property and needing someone to maintain it), she decided to build something of it. Over time, she and Vex had built what would be the foundations of the Dusk and Dawn, a place that sought to replicate the feeling of the Echo's End with much more bombast, presentation and panache.
When Celica and Lia could not work out what the issue was with the terminal in the Dusk and Dawn, they chanced upon meeting an incredibly beautiful engineer, R'das, who was both talented and also happened to specialize in precisely the thing she needed to get her plans for the Dusk and Dawn running. Yet another meeting that would once again change Celica's life, with R'das and Celica hitting it off almost immediately with love following not too far behind. Insane, that a thing that she thought wouldn't happen at all, happened not once, not twice, but three times...
With that connection, she met so many other curious folkâArbozu, a woman who practically conquered the sea, who was bolstered by water and whom Celica often thought of as just being a being a primal of the wavekin; or she would, if she didn't spend so much time trying to slaughter them.
Sisylia, a woman of mysterious origin and whose emotions readily sent her into tears or small fits of joyous laughter; she felt like she deeply owed her after she helped R'das with a degenerative condition she had. Even with the condition tackled and a different, new and strange condition manifesting, she was ecstatic to see the improvement in R'das' health as a result.
Exi, one of the many folk she'd meet at the Bloodsands; a furious, fire-clad Viera who perhaps drank a little too much for Celica's liking, but who fought with the fury of the Sun itself and was as determined as anyone she ever met.
Cherche, the owner of Amory Investigations, who was briefly Celica's boss for a short time before they cut ties amicably, given that the two had somewhat incompatible approaches to their jobs.
When a chance meeting that she once had in Ul'dah eventually blossomed into further opportunity, she took it. She met Canta Banta, a well-connected Ul'dah socialite who helped ingratiate her just enough with higher Ul'dahn society that she no longer needed to use the name of her adopted family to navigate those spaces. Through her, she also met people like Nanono and Jojoita, her close friends.
Through her, she'd also meet Cota, one of her closer friendsâdespite the amount of grief she shovels on her; for a time, she was Canta's bodyguard, and eventually became Lia's girlfriend. She met Etugen, who she found out later, shared a teacher with, as they both learned red magic from the same man.
She met Ekaka Goldbreaker, who would eventually go on to become her Dark Knight teacher, having sensed great, untapped potential in herâyears of packaged and unresolved grief that Celica had yet to truly address, given voice and used as a way to broaden her horizons and expand her heart.
When the Dusk and Dawn opened, many new people started to enter her life. Mealia, the curious and affable Elezen woman who would eventually start to work for the Dusk and Dawn as well. Folks like Kerali, a strong fist-fighter who frequented the Bloodsands and who was both green and blue; a fun contrast to her own red. Utayuu, who she'd known briefly from the Spearsong, but made the effort to speak with more as they both started to frequent each other's venues. Alice, a technology maven with a penchant for dangerous things.
There was Ashen, the mercenary who Celica always found difficult to talk to despite her insightful nature. Aeris, one of Spader's friends who became one of hers, who was a monk that was fond of sparring and enjoyed helping at the Dusk and Dawn where she could. Viryen and Thau, two hunters who would often test their mettle at the Dusk and Dawn proper, with Thau even taking the title of champion in the past.
There was Edrich, a curious and strange Viera person who once showed up to help heal combatants after the fight in the Dusk and Dawn, having responded to an ad and quickly making themselves indispensable. There was Umbrelle, the owner of a bar Celica liked to frequent from time to time when she wasn't feeling too busyâand who often offered to help at the Dusk and Dawn, herself.
There was Anam, another person she'd met from R'das. They were odd, quirky, whimsical, and something was definitely just off about them, in a good way. Perhaps she recognized it because they were so similar to her.
And when some of the Unsung started to come by, her connections with them strengthened, even as more people started to call the CETEA home. New members of the Castaways, who would basically be under Sven and Adra's (mostly Sven's) eyes, like Osric. She always found he reminded her of her old friend Dameronâparticularly with his propensity for lifting things with no warning, just like that.
But there were new members too, or at least new to her. Senca, the incomprehensible woman who worshiped the Maker, who she recognized by the mechanical whirring of her devices and her stoic, extremely focused demeanorâand need for efficiency/
And then there was Gale Amante, the purple-haired whirlwind who took great care of her after a mishap onboard the CETEA and who hit it off with Celica to a frightening degree; particularly when they both admitted they saw parts of themselves in the other. She wonders if lightning really did strike a fourth time. Funny, then, that she was represented by levin.
â
It was strange to think. She always thought about the holes grief left inside of her. She never felt it get better, or get any more manageable, especially not at first. But in time, she realized... they aren't really going to go away. All she could do is hope to outgrow the hole, that it might seem manageable by comparison.
And Celica, well. She had gone out and forged not just a few, but a massive network of bonds. Friends. Lovers. Found family.
The hole was still there, inside of her. But what she'd built for herself, inadvertently or not, had helped the pain go away, and made her a happier person.
She thought about all of them, often. What did she do to deserve... this? All of this? She could never understand, but it sometimes felt like she was on cloud nine. Like she'd died and finally gone to paradise.
But she was always very adamant about how she refused to die. So this must be real.
Huh.
Might as well enjoy it, then. Enjoy the peace and the love, for as long as it lasts.
She hoped she'd have her whole lifetime to do it.
