It's My 1 Year Anniversary On Tumblr

It's my 1 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

Heh?

What?

HUH?!

...It's been a year!?!

My mind has been blown...

Well, here is to many more!

Day 11 - Surrogate

“You want me to do what?”

Bryn’s face was a mask of displeasure, his silver eyes dull and hiding whatever emotion boiled behind them, his arms crossed over his chest as Y’shtola held up his old Maelstrom uniform, casting her careful eye over it as she raised an eyebrow at him.

“I - no, we want you to go stand in as an honorary Sergeant with the Maelstrom for a week or two.” Her voice was calm, matter of fact, collected and with little room for argument, but it didn't stop Bryn from growling softly in frustration.

“No.”

She dropped her arms with a sigh, giving him a scornful look as his old uniform pooled on the floor at her feet, now crossing her own arms as she stared up at him. “Brynhorn Fiske, you knew that this would be a potential ask when you agreed to join the Scions. Why are you so against this?”

“You know why,” he shot back, his silver gaze flaring, and dying down, his face twisting into…trepidation. “I'm not ready.” His voice was soft, distant, and Y’shtola's posture shifted, away from that of a scholarly teacher scolding an unruly student, to that of an understanding friend and confidant.

“Ah, you worry about…” she trailed off, not wanting to voice it, the curse or blessing that plagued the large Hyur, her eyes softening as she brushed back a lock of her white hair. “I get that, truly, but Bryn…we need information about where we stand with the Grand Companies. We are a budding group, and without Louisoix’s connections…”

There was a twinge there, that both of them felt, that empty feeling of the person who had stood so close to Louisoix before the fall of Dalamud, that neither could remember now. That emptiness haunted them both, and left Bryn’s hand curling into a fist. “I get it,” he growled out again, his gaze turning to meet hers finally. “But you yourself said -”

“- that your control is tenuous, yes, but it is control.” She gave him a knowing smile, and gestured to him. “Even right now, when you're mad at me, you aren't in danger of shifting.”

“Because I would never hurt you.” Words, so easily spoken, without thinking, even knowing it would hurt and soothe. He saw her shudder, and turn away, and nod to the corner of the room, anywhere but at him.

“I know you won't,” she said quietly, “but…please, not right now. Not with -”

“I didn't mean -”

“I know you didn't.” She turned back, met his gaze, and smiled softly, but it never reached those beautiful teal eyes. “I wouldn't be asking if I didn't think you could do it.” The subtle shift away from that broken bond, and Bryn could only nod, and this time, he turned away, to hide the pain in his eyes as he gritted his teeth.

“Fine.” It was all he could muster, and he heard her bend and pick up his uniform, holding it out.

“You'll make a fine surrogate for the Scions, Bryn. I know you will.” He couldn't meet her gaze fully as he took his uniform, and felt like he was drowning as he held the red fabric in his hands once more, the scar of Dalamud’s fall still fresh in his mind as he turned his back on her, and steeled himself for actually having to put it back on.

FFXivWrite2024 - Be Kind to Yourselves!

We WROTE anyway! That's the point. WE DID IT. WE'RE DOING IT. WE WILL KEEP DOING IT!

I've loved what I've been reading so far personally. Not a single one have I read and been like wow they forgot a period, or man that was brutal to read.

Praise yourselves the way you want to hear others praise you! (Shoutout to my therapist.) "But that's bragging!" SO BRAG A LITTLE! You did a thing!

It's okay not to like things too. Just make sure you're not holding yourself to any standard other than "an effort was made, go me."

I'll try to remember that too, ay? Cause spoiler alert, one of those tags was mine. Guilty! On a positive note- I did love this tag I saw this morning:

Yes, yes you are.

Day 5 - Stamp

"Kaleh'a!"

"Hm?" The blonde haired Miqo'te opened a turquoise eye, peering out from under his archer's hat, noting the large Hyur storming his way. He looked, at first glance, angry, and that had Kaleh'a's tail shooting out straight, sitting up rapidly, half ready in a crouch in the chair he had leaned back in the Rising Stones, half wondering if he was about to have to pull a knife on the black haired man - Bryn, wasn't it? - storming towards him. That was, until he saw what was in his hands.

He blinked, eyes alighting on the envelope and wax seal keeping it closed, his eyebrows shooting up as he realized instead of death, he was about to get a new job. Ever since he had officially become the courier for the Scions, ferrying their letters or supplies or information wherever it was needed. It worked out well for him, in a myriad of ways, the first and foremost that he got to explore the world. The Scions had so many different groups in different areas that every time he got a request, it was almost certainly to somewhere exotic, new, and adventurous!

His initial adrenaline spike cooled, and he pushed up into a stand, brushing off non-existent dirt from his brown pants, and gave Bryn a beaming grin. "Well, what do you know. The mighty Silver Wolf has come to ask for my humble ser-"

He was shut up rather quickly by the letter shoved into his chest, blinking in surprise as he stared at the stamped seal, slowly looking up at the taller man and frowning, not too pleased with the rough delivery, crossing his arms and tucking the letter under his arm. "Hey, what's the big de-"

"I need you to get that to Ul'dah. Red door, back alley." Gruff voice, tinged with worry, and a bit of bite, and Kaleh'a suddenly realized that it wasn't anger in his expression. Those furrowed brows were concern.

His tail flicked, his eyes rising to Bryn's silver ones, and he nodded, pocketing the letter. Then, his customary grin was back, and he started to stride off, looking over his shoulder as he waved. "I got it! I'll have it delivered in no time! Even use the aetheryte, but that will cost you extra!"

The responding growl had the young Miqo'te hightailing it out of the Rising Stones, a nervous laugh trailing after him as he decided that he liked his tail where it was for the time being.

Just a PSA

Reblog if you don’t ignore rps and asks but sometimes it takes you a while to think of a response, or you only have time to answer a question or two before doing other things.

Day 6 - Halcyon

[Spoilers for ARR, Stormblood and Heavensward]

“What was it like, before the occupation?”

In that moment, Conrad Kemp couldn't keep the surprise from flickering over his face, turning to look at the Ala Mhigo native turned refugee and stare for a long, hard moment. Brynhorn Fiske sat unmoving, gazing out over Rhalgr's Reach with a critical silver eye from their perch atop the outstretched hand of Rhalgr himself. Gentle wind, blocked by the high walls on all sides, gently breezed through the white hair of the older man, and the longer black, more unkempt hair of the younger man, tugged at their coats, and brought a slow realization to the leader of the Ala Mhigan Resistance leader.

“Ah, you only knew the Garlean occupation.” Bryn nodded, shifting the rifle laid over his lap, and a look of soft sadness passed over his eyes. “Yes, and no. They invaded when I was ten. And I fled for my life at thirteen to avoid conscription. But my life before that…” He didn’t want to get into it, what he had seen, how he, so young, was forced to see the darker side of human nature. How even without the Garlean invasion, he would have fled anyways.

“You knew it right as you became a man,” was all Conrad said in reply, and Bryn nodded in agreement. For a long moment, they were both silent, and then Conrad spoke in a quiet voice. “It would be inaccurate of me to say peace existed with the King of Ruin on the throne, but the time before him…” He trailed off, and he smiled, eyes wistful as he tilted his head up into the air. “Halcyonic. My wife and I were together, we were happy, we had not a care in the world but healing, learning, growing. It was all incredibly peaceful.”

Bryn nodded softly, closing his eyes as he tried to imagine a time when the King of Ruin was not in control. When the Garleans were not using his village as a staging ground. When he might have had a normal life. He took a deep breath of the cool air, and let it out slowly, sighing as he shook his head. “I can only imagine.”

“Maybe you won’t have to,” Conrad said softly, motioning to the Warrior of Light beneath them, to the small contingent of Eorzean Grand Company members milling about, providing aid or training to the resistance. “For once, Eorzea is taking interest in our plight, the city states are sending aid. They took the wall-”

“-and paid dearly for it,” Bryn’s voice had more bite than he meant, and he saw Conrad’s face fall, the pain evident in his expression.

“Aye, that we did. Papalymo was as much a friend of mine as he was to you and yours.” Bryn was silent in the wake of that admission, and it was many, many seconds before he broke the silence.

“There was a time I was ready to turn my back on my home, to forget I ever hailed from here, to stay in Eorzea and see where it took me. But seeing this…” He gestured to the resistance, and shook his head. “This reminded me there is something worth fighting for here.”

Conrad nodded, in understanding, his eyes softening. “Thank you for agreeing to fight with us.”

Bryn rose, and shouldered his rifle, glancing at Conrad as he grunted in reply, “Thank me after we finish this fight.” And he strode towards the winding path that led back down to Rhalgr’s Reach and his waiting friends, new and old.