Don’t mind me, just shoe-horning my size-12 adventuring party foot into a size 5 cutscene shoe…
Chapter 46: An Echo Across Worlds
Little Ala Mhigo was hot and dusty and in the middle of its brief spring already, and Rinala was trotting along out of the Temple of Quarn with Alphinaud and some Warriors of Light after listening to this so-called Griffon give a rousing speech to his Resistance, when she heard a huge gasp. “What are you doing here, Rinala!?” Continue reading
So you probably guessed but this year’s NaNoWriMo is FFXIV fic! My goal is to get to the start of Stormblood.
Vivienne’s cosplay looks great! Photoshoot forthcoming! I had many moments where I was forced to improvise but I think I captured the five million details well enough. With this massive project done, I can… play more videogames, I feel I’ve neglected them.
I have been replaying FFXIV a bit as I mentioned before, and I have an alt in the middle of 2.x, and I’m noticing a few things I didn’t before – I think one reason why Minfilia chose to help the Domans and not the Ala Mhigans is that there are only so many Doman refugees to take in, their numbers are limited and finite. Ala Mhigo is right next door, so there can always be more Ala Mhigan refugees. (I’m also coming up with new theories and questions about the Echo, so I hope I can keep playing until EW this time.)
You may notice some dialogue is different from how it currently appears in the game. I’m going by how it was when I played it!
Chapter 35: Unraveling Hopes
“Our unknown third party was simply there… and then not there,” Krile had said about Minfilia’s disappearance beneath Ul’dah. Rinala shivered. She knew more or less all the details – the ‘unknown third party’ was Minfilia, and the place she had disappeared to was Hydaelyn’s side in the aetherial sea, but the way Krile had worded it… was creepy. Continue reading
And BOOM goes the dramatic tension! Thanks for reading everyone! I’m going to take a break from writing for a bit to play Legend of Dragoon, but I’m sure I’ll be back with HW sooner or later!
Regarding the song Thancred and R’nyath sing at the beginning of the chapter: I was subbing for a choir earlier this year, and one of the pieces they were singing was ‘Quick, we have but a second‘ by Stanford, and I realized immediately that it fit this chapter perfectly. And I’ve been waiting for this one… Vivienne’s fight song is RichaadEB’s cover of Bad Apple!
R’inwa is actually a lot taller than R’nyath, I learned when making him into a retainer; his height is at max, and I think R’nyath’s in the bottom third of the scale.
EDIT: Vivienne’s soul crystal has broken for story purposes.
Chapter 18: Blushes and Blood Pearls
Chapter 19: The Parting Glass
The air in the Rising Stones was merry, despite everything that had happened in the last little while, despite the tension that Rinala felt in her chest like a distant thundercloud. But if the others were worried, though she suspected they were, she couldn’t tell from their demeanour. Perhaps they were pretending and putting on a good face, as the other folk at the banquet would neither know nor care about the horrible murder that had just happened, or the sinister plot behind it that no one would tell her about. She didn’t begrudge them maintaining her ignorance; she was terrible with secrets, only… she wanted to know what to be worried about, and also she was just curious! Continue reading
Whew! Didn’t expect to end this chapter on a downer note but it seems like this one 5-page scene I wrote last month doesn’t happen yet and I’m now very confused about when it does happen. I’m feeling a bit down about the game itself in general, and I’m not sure how to fix it other than get Achiyo into HW so I can replay one of my favourite parts of the story.
Chapter 16: The Tightening Noose
Rinala was away attending to a private matter, but Achiyo and two of her close companions had been sent to reinforce Captain Ilberd in interrupting a black market weapons deal at the Burning Wall… ‘Overkill’, Ilberd’s lieutenant had muttered with a grin, and they’d all chuckled a little, but the more allies present, the easier it would be to end without bloodshed, wouldn’t it? Continue reading
Snip-snap, another chapter; going to try to keep them shorter and punchier and more frequently updated after the slog that was Crystal Tower. I finished 4.56 MSQ, and watched the Shadowbringers trailer, and I NEED IT omg it’s so exciting. HW trailer is still my favourite piece of videogame cinema, I think, but ShB has brought the hype! And everyone’s gone goth, lol. So now I want to get Achiyo and this fic much closer to it! My goal has always been to hit HW in the fic before ShB drops, but we’ll see if I can’t get partway through HW too. And hold down my myriad irl jobs. And get Illinia up to 4.56 and Fantasia back to Rinala. And get Tam’s ilvl to 400. And a bunch of other things that I’d like to do but will probably not end up doing because that’s already a lot of stuff.
Chapter 13: The Beginning of the End
Chapter 14: Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
“What did you think of them?” Rinala asked, on chocobo-back on their way to the Boulder Downs. “I thought they were both rather intimidating: so cold and watchful. I think we can trust them, though.” Continue reading
Big chapter again! Some focus on some other WoL who don’t normally get spotlighted, today. And two more primals down! Achiyo can almost get her Kirin that she’s going to ride until she can get the HoH horse. I got her the fire pony, but Garuda’s been stubborn and refusing to drop anything. I have to wait until more of my friends are back from vacation and can carry me through unsynced nonsense.
It would help if my cat would let me sleep at night >:I
Chapter 10: The Deep Dark Green
Tam approached Thancred, who was doing that thing again. “Her soft features belie a strong will and quick wit. Aye, this Doman maiden would be-”
This time, he seemed to sense Tam’s presence, and abruptly turned to see him, arms still crossed. “Tam, I think we may need to have a chat about your habit of sneaking up on people.”
Tam raised an eyebrow at him. “Kalma. Habit. And I find your reactions amusing.”
Thancred covered half his face with a hand. “I’m glad you are entertained, my friend.” Continue reading
Chugging away on this, hoping to get up to HW by the end of the month. Of course, that means first getting through Bahamut (synced! if possible!) and Crystal Tower (will be tricky to fit in all my planned cameos).
Rinala and F’lhaminn kind of ran away with my imagination here, which I think is really sweet.
Chapter 8: Business As Usual
“Ul’dah is our home, Alphinaud!” Minfilia protested vehemently. “To cast aside everything we have built and start anew in that desolate wasteland would be beyond reckless!”
“Oi,” Tam said. “Mor Dhona isn’t a wasteland.” Continue reading
To write this chapter, I took Achiyo (level 52 PLD) and rounded up a party finder of folks willing to fight Coils 1-5 synced to level 50. Twintania took a couple days to beat, and when we did, it felt awesome!! It’s a lot harder than my writing implies… But the chapter was tending to the long anyway, and Twin isn’t really worth the epic writing, not compared to Phoenix and Bahamut will be.
Starting to feel like writing Voltron fic, stand by. : P
EDIT: I was never happy with Chuchupa’s little bit, or her backstory; I’m still not totally sure what it is, but it’s not what I had here before. I also added a bit for Vivienne, because her brother has thus far not made a single appearance and she seems kind of distant from him, like he’s not necessary to her story. Which means he probably isn’t, which I would like to fix.
Chapter 7: Once a Hero
Rinala had passed out from exhaustion not long after they had escaped the Castrum, and she did not hear much else until about eight hours later, when she woke to find herself in a tent with the sun smiling down outside. Someone had dressed her in clean clothes, and someone – probably one of her Scion friends – had even got out her Thancred plush and laid it in her arms while she slept. She squeezed it happily, sleepily, then decided she should probably get up, she was ravenous. Continue reading
I don’t know why the boss battle took me so long to write! But my head’s been swirling with story ideas… for literally every story I have on the go, and even some I haven’t started yet. I’m getting pretty into the idea of continuing the SWTOR Inquisitor story for a bit, but I want to finish FFXIV Season 1 first. Only one more chapter for that, I think!
My mini-raid group has been trying Alex Savage, we’ve gotten through the first two levels with just the four of us unsynced. Cool! We’re going to be running Gordias 4 so that I can get the DRK sword, and then a lot of Creator because our BRD wants the PLD set and the WHM staff. All for glam, of course.
Chapter 4: The Knight and the Harpy
Chapter 5: Lies of the Free
The Waking Sands was as dark and quiet as they had left it, and Tam lit his little lantern that they might not trip over the debris still scattered about. The bodies were gone, of course, but no one had been in since. Though the floor was oddly clean… had someone been in to scrub away the blood, without tidying up anything else? Continue reading