Category Archives: Writing

Fiction, non-fiction, fanfiction, poetry…

FFXIV: Hraesvelgr

Hey, I’m keeping a steady pace with these chapters. Maybe I’ll be done HW before EW comes out? (probably not, it’s longer than it looks)

I went and rewatched Castle in the Sky for the little bit of vocabulary in the middle.

Chapter 24: Primal Alliance

 

Chapter 25: Hraesvelgr

Achiyo had seen many incredible things in her life, especially after she’d come to Eorzea and found it safe to look outside herself, but the summit of Sohm Al had to be among the more amazing places she’d been. The floating mountain peak, glowing from below, was awe-inspiring from afar. She could not wait to ascend it and see what waited beyond. Continue reading

FFXIV: Primal Alliance

Was going to try to get all the way to Hraesvelgr in one go but decided to split it in half to reduce my (completely irrational) word-count anxiety. Which turned out to be an excellent plan.

Hey, if Ysayle knows that Hraesvelgr ate Shiva so their souls would be “entwined forever”, how come she thinks she’s Shiva reborn??? (Still, having a primal inside you and the Echo at the same time must really mess with your head. I feel bad for her. And then they fridged her. Not as fast as Moenbryda, but still! Ugh.)

I actually used Footsteps in the Snow to write the boss fight, because I like it better than Ravana’s themes.

Chapter 23: Loneliness

 

Chapter 24: Primal Alliance

Achiyo hurried through the streets back to the manor with Tataru’s anxious voice ringing in her horns through her linkpearl. All about her the streets were buzzing with urgency, which she feared stemmed from the same source – but she would know soon enough. Continue reading

FFXIV: Loneliness

So pretty much nothing happens this chapter except class quests! Figured that since I was always planning to add the DRK quests, I may as well add some of the others, as many as work with the characters, and then I figured I’d put them here before the momentum builds to the point where I can’t pause to throw in this sort of thing. Also can I say that the PLD quests are so bizarre that the NPCs are questioning it??? What is this paladin dominance thing??? I dislike. Achiyo doesn’t have anything to do with the Sultansworn anyway, so I wasn’t planning to include those particular quests in the first place. But I love Constaint so he’ll show up somewhere else eventually. My favourite class quests are DRK, BRD, and WHM, though I also like a bunch of the others as well, just not as much.

Again R’nyath references a song from the choral side of my career, Soldier Won’t You Marry Me by Paul Halley.

Vivienne’s quest was heavily influenced by the Japanese dialogue as translated by Haillenarte on tumblr – doesn’t it make so much more sense? I think the localization team were kind of trying to set up the next level 50 quest (the first of the 50-60 quests) with the whole “Temple Knights asking after you” thing, but… no. Get that irrelevant nonsense out of here. Give me sad yandere Fray. (still not entirely happy with it, may edit over the next couple days, but I also want to move on.)

I made some small edits to Chapter 7, as I never liked Chuchupa’s hinted backstory and I wanted to add more for Vivienne now that I know her better.

I promise we’ll go on a road trip next chapter!

Non-story news: I finally bought a doll to be Achiyo to the doll I bought to be Aymeric. (Aymeric is played by the BTS j-hope Barbie, and Achiyo is played by Basketball Stacie – I intend to rehair/repaint them a little like some of the YouTube channels out there, except I’m going to use mini paints instead of pencils because miniature painting is what I know.)

Also I’m impressed I managed to write this while work was in high gear; I’ve been so busy omg. Continue reading

FFXIV: Guide Us to Victory

I wanted to write in something resembling the big battle at the end of the trailer, because Heavensward’s trailer is one of my favourite trailers of all time, and that fight is exciting! My interpretation was also helped by listening to The Last Stand by Sabaton, which is about a different group of courageous-unto-death religious guys. Unlike those guys, the Ishgardians do survive though. It also gave me opportunity to insert shipping! Please let me know what you think!

I noticed when writing this chapter that my Miqo’te characters are overachievers compared to the others with the number of classes they’ve got. Oops!

Chapter 21: Brothers In Arms

 

Chapter 22: Guide Us to Victory

The tall grey halls of the throne room rose about Achiyo, austere and imposing. They were more austere – older, perhaps? – than the glimpse she had gotten of a vast cathedral filled with golden light higher up in the Vault. Cold light streamed down from pale arched windows, illuminating the venerable bearded man in his throne upon the dais. He was flanked by soldiers, a Heavens’ Ward knight, and Lord Commander Aymeric, but all of them stood upon the lower ground. She found the effect… lonely. Sultana Nanamo had never had so much separation between her people and her self. Continue reading

FFXIV: Brothers in Arms

I WROTE

A CHAPTER

(how has it been a year and a half since I updated this)

So… I was going to try and use Nanowrimo for visual art purposes this year, because I couldn’t settle on a fanfic to work on and I have a huge backlog of visual art to get done. As you can see, I finished Caoilfhionn’s story. And then I made the mistake of listening to some Beast in Black as a break from all the lovely K-pop/Aviators mix that I was using for plant boys.

Vivienne: I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED

So apparently I’d rather do anything but draw… And then it took me another 3 months to finish the chapter even after I started. I can’t seem to get traction with this one again. Though now that I’ve semi-committed, I’d like to keep going. Part of it is probably that it’s a bit more difficult to get immersed when I’m not subbed (I haven’t been subbed since 5.0, and have avoided spoilers since. Not sure when I’m returning still, but does it really matter when the fanfic is so far behind? D: ) The quality might be a bit lower than usual. I’ll work on it in the future for sure. Continue reading

The Necromancer and the Orchid Prince: Part 12

IT’S DONE AT LONG LAST

This set of chapters is less polished than the others, but the inspiration that I had in the middle of summer dried up unfortunately. It’s really a pain about the [HoT spoilers] because I really just don’t have any interest in the game anymore after they did that. The story’s not bad in LW4, I’m just… there’s no point for me. If I had more inspiration, there would be more proper build-up for several of these plot points, particularly Trahearne’s progression between his different stages. It was already a delicate balance to try to strike with being true to his personality and to achieve the sort of alteration that I was looking for, without also bringing gradual changes into it as well. Though he’s probably going to go Reaver now; I know that him using a greatsword before wasn’t a preview of Reaver, since OG Caladbolg had its own moveset, but when you get Caladbolg Orchida you get to use your regular moveset. And the Reaver moves just sound cool.

This image was really cool, but obviously I didn’t go with that idea for this fic. Super epic, though.

I used Roar of Dominion for the Balthazar fight scene! Trahearne’s still listening to Aviators a lot – but I also dipped into the Necrodancer OST for his second fight and returned to Let There Be Fire for his third fight. When I needed to write Faren, I borrowed Incandescent (although Solaire is better at being a hero than Faren, he’s more humble. But I think Faren would like to be like Solaire if he could). Then I used God-Shattering Star for the Joko fight, because that seems like his kind of drama. : P And most importantly, Dive from Mystic Pop-up Bar is Caoilfhionn’s final reunion song – and kind of the theme for this whole story! It just fits so well! I didn’t plan it that way! Trahearne’s reunion song, by contrast, is Love Resembles Memories! Couple songs that didn’t really get used for anything specific would be the male version of Magnet (for the boys together) and Mark Knopfler’s Irish Boy (for Caoilfhionn).

I know Faren doesn’t have an official first name yet, and might never. If he gets one I’ll edit. He was also frustrating to write until I realized he’s Sain from FE7 lol.

Chapter contents:
1: On the Rocks
2: The Hero of Amnoon
3: The Necromancer’s Destiny
4: Mistakes Have Been Made
5: Faren’s Moment
6: Who We Are

Part 11: Cracks

 

1: On the Rocks

Caoilfhionn and the other members present of Dragon’s Watch – Rhyoll, Annhilda, Damara, and Rytlock – were returning to the Temple of Kormir a few days after they’d saved it from the Herald of Balthazar. While Caoilfhionn would have eagerly gone after the Herald, to track down Balthazar and Vlast right away, the Temple was still in danger and so they’d delayed a little to clear out some Forged camps. It served a dual purpose; while these people deserved to feel safe, it was also important to secure friendly territory for Amnoon. Continue reading

The Necromancer and the Orchid Prince: Part 11

I guess this is kind of the second half of LW3, but not really, because it has nothing to do with game plot. This chapter’s kind of a mess, but anyway I’m a little closer to the end and that’s all that matters. I mean, Trahearne’s kind of a mess, so it works thematically lol.

Caoilfhionn was listening to Enya again, and also a bunch of Christopher Tin music. (If Christopher Tin were the prime indication of where classical music was going in the 21st century I’d be totally okay with that.) Trahearne, however, has been listening to more Aviators music, even though it doesn’t quite fit as well as Let There Be Fire fit Trahearne during the Orr campaign. But anyway I needed something gloomy, and Tharash reminded me that this existed! Also Fear Not This Night needs more screentime, I miss it ingame.

Contents:
1: Cracks
2: New Horizons

Part 10: Putting the World Back Together

 

1: Cracks

He was warm, and naked, and relaxed, and was wrapped around something smooth and slowly breathing, and they were both wrapped up in thick fleshy leaves. He lifted his head and opened his eyes, and was surprised and pleased to find they both worked – though his left eye was blurry, like he’d gotten water in it. Before him, under his nose, were familiar green leaves shot with magenta luminescence, softly lit by diffuse dark green light soaking through the seedpod’s walls. Just over his head, the pod was slowly peeling open, and he could see a gentle blue sky that suggested it was late afternoon. Continue reading

The Necromancer and the Orchid Prince: Part 10

A chapter entirely from the point of view of anyone but Caoilfhionn, because he’s taking a damn nap during LW3.

Contents:
1: Putting the World Back Together
2: Four Moms and a Dragon
3: Sassafrass

Part 9: The Strength to Fight

 

1: Putting the World Back Together

Damara sighed contently over her hot chocolate in Salma’s Mug. It was so good to be back home! And the world would take care of itself for at least a few weeks – at least, it had better, because she didn’t want to go anywhere for a bit. And she knew everyone else in Hope’s Legacy felt the same. Continue reading

The Necromancer and the Orchid Prince: Part 9

The good end is here! Caoilfhionn’s last fight is soundtracked to This Game from No Game No Life! I really like the piano arrangement by Animenz, better than the original song actually. Really short chapter, because the story actually continues from here. And in fact we’re starting to head towards the end of the fic? I’ve still got story arcs for the boys to go through but from this point on the game story started to interest me less so you’ll see less of it. I’m still loving the areas in PoF, and exploring them, but the plot still hasn’t quite grabbed me yet. It would help if I could figure out whether I’m shipping Damara with Faren or Canach… or both, one after the other… and if Faren had more screen-time to make that sort of feasible. But anyway.

Btw, I’m not having Trahearne be giant-sized in this story. I’ve seen some really nice art of ‘Trahearne post-HoT’ and I really like that idea, but I’m going a different route.

Part 7: The Bitter End

 

Part 9: The Strength to Fight

He woke to find himself lying upon damp earthen ground, and sucked in a heaving gasp of air. How sweet it was, after such exertion! Even down here, where it smelled of decaying plant matter. He had truly pushed himself to the brink and it was good to wake and rest.

But Trahearne! He sat up, a little woozily as his sap took a moment to adjust its flow, and then pushed himself shakily to his feet. Continue reading

The Necromancer and the Orchid Prince: Part 8

Okay! The ‘bad end’ is here, with all the drama and suffering that entails. What, I cried myself to sleep for a week after I found out how HoT ends, I’m not gonna waste that emotion even if I’m going to fix it in the ‘good end’! I may have gone too far in the future since I don’t even know how PoF ends but I couldn’t let my poor boy be shattered forever. If you’re not here for sadness, then skip to the next chapter! : )

Caoilfhionn’s catharsis gets soundtracked to Petrichor by The Rise Undaunted and also to Answer by Bump of Chicken.

Contents:
1: Tiachren
2: Caladbolg
3: Canach

Part 7: The Bitter End

 

Part 8: The Strength to Live

1: Tiachren

He woke to find himself lying upon damp earthen ground, and sucked in a heaving gasp of air. How sweet it was, after such exertion! Even down here, where it smelled of decaying plant matter. He had truly pushed himself to the brink and it was good to wake and rest.

But Trahearne! He sat up, a little woozily as his sap took a moment to adjust its flow, and then pushed himself shakily to his feet. Continue reading