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@ivoryminitower
Welcome!
This is my writing blog, primarily for my serialized fiction. I also have presence currently on AO3 and Wattpad.
Current works:
Echoes of Home - FFXIV fanfic, updates Mon/Wed/Fri until it catches up with Wattpad
MS Found in a Granite Puff - serialized flashfic, updates periodically
✨ You can say many things, but today we just want to hear the magic words:
It's Flash Fiction Friday and it's time to write!
✨ New to FFF? Let us fill you in!
Flash Fiction Friday is a fun writer event that’s meant to inspire, share and connect writings of all genres and writers of all ages. It’s designed to make people want to write, especially if they’re feeling blocked. Everyone and everything is welcome!
We always do our very best to keep the prompt’s genre open, entertaining, positive and encouraging.
Write between 100-1000 words. It can be any genre, in any text format and 18+ is fine by us, just please tag accordingly.
Use this Friday’s theme in your text. Any way you see fit. This means that your text is newly written for the prompt by you. We do not allow any contributions created or aided by AI/LLM.
Post on your tumblr blog and remember to tag us at @flashfictionfridayofficial!! So we’ll see it, read it and reblog it!!
Deadline is 24 hours after the prompt has been issued (12 pm CET).
And then, next Friday, we’ll mention your work in a showcase post on our main blog before our next prompt drops.
Please post your entries as regular posts, not screenshots — or provide the text as a regular post as well. Let’s keep everything as accessible as possible!
We ask you to tag your works with any appropriate content warnings and let the reader know what they’ll find before they get the chance to read your work!
If you have a question, check out our FAQ page! If your question isn’t on there, don’t hesitate to ask!
You don’t need to ask for permission or need to get added to a list to join in. Just write, have fun and don’t forget to tag us!
Tag your fandoms correctly and remember we now have an Ao3 collection (‘FlashFictionFriday’) ✨
We do not condone fiction, asks or comments that glorify: direct hostility, unconstructive critique, LGBTQIA+ hate, slurs, racism and/or general no-no behaviors.
If you want to be closer to the epicenter, you can come chat on our open discord: https://discord.gg/rUWCE8a
✨ We also introduced our very own Wishing Well, a place for you to whisper your prompt suggestions into. And we’ll listen! Check everything about it out HERE.
✨All your amazing works from last week can be found HERE.
Go check them out and consider supporting your fellow FFF writers with some likes and reblogs!
✨ And now, the new prompt!
[#FFF364 Say My Name]
This prompt has been brought to you by someone who wishes to remain anonymous; thank you very much! Names are such a big part of our self, our identity. It's not a coincidence that they hold so much power in many magical realms! Tell us about what it means to your character if someone says their name. Is it validating? Revealing? Binding? Is the name spoken with love or hatred? Fear or happiness? Whatever a name means to you, we want to know all about it, so go and get writing NOW!
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The Collective <3
"Say my name."
"No."
"Say my name!"
"No!"
"SAY MY NAME!"
"BIBBLYBOOBLOB!"
"...That's not my name."
"It is now. Go away, Bibblybooblob."
Hey so Echoes of Home is pretty cool as an idea, but I think it needs more Qbert. I think you need to incorporate Qbert from the 1982 video game Qbert. Final Fantasy is fine and all but it would really benefit from a cameo by that orange freak we all know and love (Qbert).
God help me, I can do this. Though it'll be part of book 2, which I'm writing now. Your timing is impeccable.
(As a result of this post by @goodluckclove.)
Your mystery question is here :)
🌻Sunflower: Who or what is your OC loyal to? Is loyalty something they give often or is it hard to earn?
🌸Cherry Blossom: How does your character feel about death? Have they experienced a lot of loss in their life?
🌹Rose: What or who does your character admire? What do they admire about that person or thing?
A little background on the story first...
Echoes of Home is the story of a man from Earth who finds his way into a game world, meets a native, adventures with her and marries her. They then find a way back to Earth. But they're now overpowered compared to everyone, so they're a power couple in an unpowered world. The tagline is, "Earth is no longer his home. It was never hers."
Sunflower: Who or what is your OC loyal to? Is loyalty something they give often or is it hard to earn?
The two of them are extremely loyal to each other. For the husband, Steve, it's partly because she's unique and special for him, and partly because he was divorced before he crossed worlds and is determined to do marriage right this time.
For the wife, Tsu'na, Steve was pretty much the only man in her world for her. He was unique, he had personality, he had warmth, he had dynamism that no one else did. Now that they're on Earth, he's still unique, in that he's the only one as empowered as she is.
They've had a lot of shared experience between them. They've faced death many times together. Now they're facing life together.
Cherry Blossom: How does your character feel about death? Have they experienced a lot of loss in their life?
The funny thing about a game world is that characters can respawn after death. Tsu'na experienced this a number of times before Steve showed up. It was enough of a shock for him when he went through it the first time that, after he got past the sheer numbness, he went and threw himself off the tallest building he could find, just to see what would happen.
They're not in a game world now. They don't know if they respawn now. They've been thinking about death a lot more on Earth than they ever did in the game world.
Both of them killed rather a lot in the game world. There were wars. There were quests and missions. There were hostiles. She came to accept it as a warrior's life. He didn't quite think of people and things in the game world as "real". Now that they're on Earth, their views are changing: she's starting to let her Earth mentality in, recognizing the importance of living things; he's recognizing that there may be times violence is necessary, and finds himself letting his inner game character out.
Rose: What or who does your character admire? What do they admire about that person or thing?
Steve has pretty much admired Tsu'na since they first met. A strong warrior woman (physically smaller than him) who, despite how unreal the game world felt to him, was extremely real for him. On Earth he still admires her for her clarity of thought, and for the fact she even exists in the world.
Tsu'na hasn't found anything to admire yet. There are people who admire her...she has "fans" at the diner she works at, at the bar she bounces at, and at the underground cage matches she fights in. She sometimes worries that some of them might turn into worshippers; that had bad connotations in her world. She has, however, gotten into comic books, and finds things among comic heroes that she can relate to.
Thanks to @did-i-do-this-write for making this happen.
Want an ask about your writing and characters? No problem! Reblog this post with an emoji for a corresponding mystery question in your inbox!
🌻Sunflower
🌸Cherry Blossom
🌹Rose
(accepting requests until May 31st, 2026)
It is important to have a routine.
I clock out at 6pm, and put the out-of-office on. Then it’s gym and sauna; the essential maintenance stuff.
Technically, I don’t really need to work out. I can edit my own biology just as easily as my clients’. Sometimes it’s healthy to do things the old fashioned way, though, to get out of the habit of taking the easy route.
Plus, while it’s simple enough to finetune muscle mass and cardiovascular systems, it’s harder to replicate the supplementals. Y’know, the endorphins and lactic acid, and all the stuff that makes exercise feel cathartic. I could do it, but it would feel like work… and the whole point of the routine is to make that line between work and life as solid as possible.
I try to dedicate the rest of the evening to restorative activities, alternating social with rest with hobbies. I strive to always be learning something new; it reminds me that there is more to me than the work. Right now, I’m taking art classes. I suck, but that’s okay.
Then it’s bedtime routine. No blue light. No caffeine after 9pm. A bath, if I’m especially wound up. Gotta keep good sleep hygiene; I don’t want to rely manually on triggering my own melatonin every night…
When I used to do interviews, people liked to ask me stuff like: “How do you stop the work from becoming your whole life?”
Or, if they were more interested in the clickbait angle, they’d hit me with: “How can you justify the strict office hours? The shift patterns? The annual leave?”
And, well… when I first realised what I could do, I was less regimented.
When the hospital’s research team let me out of the lab, and my time was mine again? Yeah, I went above and beyond and worked every hour I could wring out of the day. I fiddled my circadian rhythm and brute forced my rapid eye movement, so I could speedrun sleep.
Every minute awake was another minute I could be saving lives.
I could tell you all the usual lines, y’know? I could give you a classic “that kind of pressure isn’t sustainable” with a side order of “put on your own airmask first”...
But, if I’m being honest, it wasn’t the burnout or the resentment that stopped me putting on the ‘24-hour one-person emergency room’ mask.
I just didn’t want to do it.
I like being a person too much.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a thoroughly average person with thoroughly average pursuits. Hell, in some ways I’m a pretty crumby person. (After all, I’m using my time to draw bad charcoal sketches instead of using my actual real life superpowers to cure the dying…)
But, well, let me put it this way:
Back when I was in maximum self-sacrificing hero mode, a journalist showed me some government spending documents. Boring stuff, really, but there was a pattern… turns out, they’d been counting the number of people I healed. So, wherever I was based, the government lowered local health funding in proportion with the number of patients I took off their books…
That’s when it became just a job, I guess.
And the reality is: I just don’t like working that much.
So now, I do my bit, I clock out, I go home. I stick to the routine.
I’m only one guy, y’know? And, like I said, not an especially good one.
---
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Don't forget...even the WoL needs a godfersaken life.
I see people putting up "rules" about what must and must not be done in writing. They say different things, and a lot of them don't seem to fit my own writing, or else I'm breaking a lot of rules.
Let me try to consolidate into a simple list:
What you must do as a writer: Write.
What you must not do as a writer: Let your stories die untold.
Hope this helps.
Writing Challenge Weekend 4/18 - Dialogue Challenge
Rules: Remember these can be completed at any time. Just tag me and I will share them! And as always these are just exercises to help improve your writing. But if you are happy with how you write then keep on writing!
Writing Challenge Weekend Masterpost
Oh man this one is a lot of fun. Come up with a scene (less than 300 words) of PURE DIALOGUE. No actions between. Just your characters speaking
What this helps you as a writer do
1. Establish more natural dialogue flow
2. Develop stronger character voice (your characters should sound different when they speak)
3. Pacing, subtext, conflict all the things that make a strong interesting to read!
I often say 'the characters were talking and I had to write it down'. And literally I hear their voices in my head and write down exactly what they are saying and then fill in the middle later. My example is below from @dafuckedupshipsweek
"You think I wanted this? That I…fuck angel it killed me. Every second. Every bruise. You can't understand-"
"I understand perfectly. You lied to me. You- you dragged me here. To this place. To him! And then you…"
"I know. I hurt you. And you may never forgive me for what I have done. But that doesn't change the fact that I love you. And whether you believe it or not, I did this for us."
This is kind of a specialty of mine. Or, perhaps, a shtick.
Here's one from book 1 of my story, Echoes of Home:
💬 0 🔁 2 ❤️ 1 · Echoes of Home: 22 - Tsu'na ("tell me a story") · Echoes of Home: FFXIV AU OC – WoLs on Earth What am I? Am I real? How
@woundedsoul12
Creators Club Becoming Event
For the @creators-club Becoming event, I'd like to offer Echoes of Home and its two main characters, Steve and Tsu'na. I'll be linking various chapters of the story in the response.
Echoes of Home is the story of an Earth man who found his way to a world that greatly resembled the setting of the MMO Final Fantasy XIV. There he met a native woman, had adventures with her, married her, and in time found a portal similar to the one that had taken him to Eorzea. The story begins with the happy couple arriving in Oklahoma USA.
Tagline: "Earth is no longer his home. It was never hers."
Fandom Canon Character Reflection: How has your chosen canon character changed over the course of their story, and what version of themselves are they still becoming?
Tsu'na, being a native of Eorzea, has had to adapt to Earth. She has to learn how things are done on Earth, how people behave and expect others to, and how things may work differently from Eorzea. She is learning to change herself to fit, and is letting an Earthling self in.
Steve, however, as a native of Earth, expected everything to be "normal" when coming arriving back there. That was before learning that, among other things, they still had the skills they learned in Eorzea -- magic, melee and others -- and had to think about how that affected the way they interacted with the world. In certain ways, he's letting his inner Eorzean out.
OC Analysis / Reflection: If your character could sum up all of their experience into one piece of advice, what would it be? Why would they pick this piece of advice?
"Nothing is impossible." Steve has impressed this on Tsu'na, even as he also impresses this on himself. They both believe in the principle, in different ways and for different reasons.
Tsu'na comes from the perspective that her Eorzean skills work on Earth as they did in Eorzea, and that this is perfectly natural. Except that she is starting to doubt as a result of her exposure to internet and Earth info sources. Steve has had to tell her to fight this happening: "Don't let Earth knowledge tell you what's impossible…only what's possible."
Steve, on the other hand, has a lot of doubt, courtesy of being an Earth native and not expecting Eorzea skills to work there. His first exposure to them working was Tsu'na going out and gathering resources. Since then, he has made a point of not saying anything is impossible or nonexistent, instead saying, "I haven't observed that" or "I'm not aware of that." He uses his wife as a test subject, which she's not thrilled with but consents to as long as he keeps her informed.
Story Analysis / Reflection: What moments of transformation define your story, and how do they reshape the direction of the narrative or world?
The characters would probably focus on different moments as "transformative," though there's one toward the end of Book 1 that they'd likely agree on.
Tsu'na has issues with existentialism, starting from her first exposure to FFXIV on a computer, which triggered a meltdown for her. seeing the world she came from, and a character that looked remarkably like her, on a machine. This led to her asking herself, "Am I real?", which was somewhat ameliorated later when she finally made herself take a closer look at the game.
Steve's major transition point came much later. For a while he was able to think that he and his wife could build a normal life, even given their Eorzean abilities. That changed the first time they had a hostile encounter which resulted in people dying. To some extent this was a Chekhov issue...they each have a couple dozen weapon classes, and even he realized there would be a first time. Though he worries about the next time...
What If: What if your story paused at the moment of greatest change. Who might your characters become if events unfolded just a little differently?
It's sort of nice to imagine my happy couple evolving into full-time white-collar workers. using their powers to do secret work on the side, possibly even involving spandex. Classic superhero stuff, holding life sacred. Utterly adorable and wholesome.
It wouldn't be hard to see them going in the opposite direction, though. Characters in an MMO typically kill a LOT of people; they arguably have a background resembling mercenaries, who have a different perspective on people and the sanctity of life. They could simply have taken what they wanted or needed by force, relying on their skills and strengths to deal with the consequences.
The story is currently treading a line between these extremes. It's far from over -- what's been posted to Tumblr constitutes Book 1, which I call "Looking for Work". The next book is called "Meeting the Family," and will introduce some of the ramifications of their actions and choices.
I finally went out on a pilgrimage to see the . last night, only to learn he had disappeared the night of Starlight Celebration.
Now that he has gone the way of squapes, perhaps it's time for a picture of him eating squapes in his new home.
Hi FFXIV ♡ Show me your OCs, I want to see your OC! I will tell you something I like about them. I'm not on other platforms and I feel I miss out on seeing so many cool characters and discoverability isn't always easy. I want to end 2025 sharing some nice interactions so please help me out? ⊹ SFW please ⊹ Be excellent to each other ⊹ Bonus points if you wanna tell me a lil unique fact about them
She keeps me inspired. And possibly intimidated.
Emoji award from FFXIV Swap's FFXIVWRITE 2025 challenge.
Writing Analysis: what are the recurring traits of your writing/writing style?
Tag by @creators-club
Open tag for anyone else who wants to participate
I tend to vary my writing style between works, even if only slightly, to show I'm trying to explore different sorts of characters with different sorts of issues. The most distinctive thing I can think of is a frequent omission (some might say "lack") of dialogue tags. I got this from reading Roger Zelazny and Terry Pratchett, and was encouraged into it by how badly I thought David Eddings did it. For conversations of shorter thoughts, I think it punches up pacing and delivery. For conversations of longer thoughts, I feel it encourages a sense of flow. YMMV.
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Echoes of Home: FFXIV AU OC -- WoLs on Earth
A side story done as part of a community writing challenge. Spoiler alert: it deals with material in what I consider "book 4".
I look in the mirror and I see a miqo'te.
Big brown eyes. Slightly pursed lips. Honey-blonde hair. Long furry ears.
I turn to the side and try to look over my shoulder to get a full view of the tail, which is the same color as the hair. In the process I can't help but notice the breasts.
It's a face and a body I've seen almost every day over the past few years. Just never from inside.
This is what I get for agreeing to couples therapy at a magical university.
I didn't think we actually needed it. We're warriors and creators and explorers. I'm used to the idea that there's nothing we can't overcome together. Nothing over the horizon that we can't march ahead together and see.
But the problem wasn't us together. It was us apart. While I was having the time of my life here, getting some of my questions answered, exposing myself to new concepts and challenging myself in wholly new ways, Tsu'na was running into obstacles on her own. New difficulties and even prejudices she hadn't encountered before.
I tried to understand. I tried to sympathize. I tried to support. I was ready to rise in righteous indignation and hew a path through everything for her. But that wasn't what she wanted. She's just as capable as I am when it comes to both brains and brute force. What she wanted was for me to know. And apparently that was something I couldn't do from my position.
She mentioned this to a friend she'd met while auditing a class, and the friend had told her about the university counselors and how maybe a third party could help with communication. So I went to a counselor with her, not knowing if it would really help but wanting to make an effort for her, and a woman old enough to be Original Me's daughter told us that old saying about how, to truly understand someone, one needed to walk a mile in their shoes.
The feet. I look down at the feet. I knew they were smaller than mine, but I didn't expect them to feel that way.
Once she explained the procedure, and we talked it out and agreed, she called up a specialist to perform a ritual that moved our consciousnesses between our bodies. It took us a while after that to just learn to move…our balance was totally off, and we weren't used to the height differences. But we got to where we could walk across the room and sit down without looking stupid.
She gave us a box with two buttons. The effect is somehow tied to the box, so that any time we push the buttons (one button each) it'll collapse and we'll be back in our original bodies. We can't do it alone; we have to do it together. Which, on reflection, is pretty damn scary. I'm surprised anyone goes along with it. Maybe it doubles as one of those trust exercises.
So we took our box and each other and went back to our apartment. We spent the evening just getting used to the situation, to each other, to the new dynamic of the two of us together. I never appreciated how strong her neck must be just from looking up at me all the time. She only bumped her/my head once on a cabinet. I managed to not shut my/her tail in a door.
It was a little reminiscent of our first days on Earth, when I had to coach Tsu'na on how to use a body that had a fully functional digestive tract. This time, however, we were coaching each other. We each knew in principle how the other did things, but there was still an issue of "look and feel." In that regard, the shower was entertainingly exploratory.
But the real issues, the ones that prompted this exercise in the first place, would come during the day. While my schedule included a lecture on transplanar cosmology and a roundtable-type class on spatial manipulation, she had a materials conjuring class. So far none of the classes we attended were official; we were effectively "guest fellows," as opposed to our actual status, which was closer to "refugees."
We figured materials conjuring would be useful, if it meant we could make stuff at home rather than needing to travel all over the place to harvest it. We got a copy of the textbook the class used and practically took it apart, studying and practicing and experimenting and improvising and coming up with our own ways of doing things. What they were teaching in class wasn't enough for industrial quantities of things we needed, like buttloads of steel, but it was fine for small amounts of metals to use in accessories.
Which meant Tsu'na didn't absolutely need to attend the class. But she thought maybe the instructor had some practical wisdom to share that wasn't in the books, that she'd pick up if she was there long enough. (So far the signal-to-noise ratio has been low.) Plus, she wanted the classroom experience -- she had never done the Sharlayan university thing that half the Scions talked about and wanted to fill in the blank.
So she told me the building and room number, and I headed off in the late morning. And immediately saw the difference in our experiences. From apartment hallway to apartment lobby to campus quad to building hallway to classroom, I got looks that I never got as me. Some were curious. Some were pointed, almost indignant. Some were otaku-grade fascination. I tried the same casual smile and nod I normally gave to people and got mixed results, ranging all the way from embarrassed scurrying away to hostile glares. Halfway there I simply stopped making eye contact.
I got more of the same once I got to the classroom, though scattered about the room. The people sitting near me talked to each other and specifically not to me. I tried to ignore them as effectively as they were ignoring me. I pulled out my laptop and looked up information on the class I was missing.
Spatial manipulation is important in a lot of ways. It may be how our inventories work, unless they're pocket dimensions. I was only beginning to get a handle on the difference between the two. It was engrossing enough that I didn't pay a lot of attention when the lecture began. I came up for air long enough to pick up a word or two, but it wasn't anything Tsu'na and I hadn't already gotten from the text.
It took a nudge from a neighbor to realize the teacher was practically shouting at me. It didn't help that he was doing it wrong.
"Miss Catgirl!"
In all fairness, I didn't remember his name either, and he had more names to keep track of than just mine. But still. "Are you addressing me? I am Mrs. Hyurcat."
"When I gave permission for you to be in my class, I assumed you would appreciate it and make an effort! Other students here don't have the luxury of being my guest!"
I gathered he was being pissy about the laptop. I didn't look to see if anyone else had theirs out. "I am familiar with the material you are covering today."
"Really? You know it so well you don't need to pay attention? Well, by all means, show us your knowledge! Come down here and synthesize some copper for us! Show us how it's done!"
I wondered whether the catgirl part or the guest part irked him more. Not that we could make a particular difference in either one. I stowed the laptop, came down the aisle, climbed the steps of the platform and approached the table near the lectern.
There was a large pad of paper, a bottle of ink, a calligraphy brush and a compass on the table, along with the candles. The compass was for drawing circles on the paper. I studied the supplies a moment, then looked up at the teacher. "May I use my own materials?"
His lips twisted. "Suit yourself."
I took out Tsu'na's box of conjuring supplies from her inventory and set it on the table, then I fetched out the stone sheet we'd devised. It had three concentric circles engraved into the surface, colored with ink.
The teacher peered at the sheet. "Why three circles?"
"My w…husband and I use them to organize categories of glyphs for easy re-use. We draw energy glyphs in the outer ring, glyphs common to types of materials in the next ring in, and material-specific glyphs in the center. That way, if we want, say, different kinds of metal, we need only change the center."
"Different kinds of metal? You conjure that much metal?"
"Yes. We make jewelry and other things."
"And you paint ink on the stone? Seems like a lot of work, scrubbing it clean every time."
"That is not a problem for us." I reached into the box and drew out a marker.
He scowled. "What do you think you're doing? You can't conjure with a sharpie!"
"This is a fillable pen we got from an art store. We fill it with our conjuring ink."
"Which you then have to scrub off the stone!"
"We made our own formula. This is dry-erase conjuring ink."
He snorted. "Nonsense! You can't just mess with the ink like that!"
I looked up at him. "Then perhaps you will see me fail."
That was a sharper tone than Tsu'na usually uses, but the guy was really getting under my skin. I actually felt my pulse pounding. I always thought my anger issues were glandular, that I had an anger gland that didn't seal very well, but maybe it was mental after all. Or the teacher was just that much of a dick.
It shut him up, at least. He folded his arms and stood there, glaring at me, as I got to work with the pen.
Copper was something we'd practiced with so much that I didn't even need to look up the glyphs. I wrote everything onto the stone, feeling not only the teacher's eyes on me, but the students' as well. Everyone in the room was waiting for me to screw up.
I switched to Black Mage. I should probably have cycled through Tsu'na's gearsets before leaving home, just to know what to expect, because rather than my caster gear that was glamoured to a black tux, I found myself in Tsu'na's Ishgardian-style floor-length black dress. But I didn't have a lighter for the candles, and I wasn't about to borrow the asshat instructor's, so Thaumaturgy for the win.
There were snickers when I changed outfits. Those died off when I channeled the smallest bit of aether and lit the candles with a wave of my hand. I touched Tsu'na's wand to the appropriate energy glyphs, focused to activate the construct, and saw the copper ingot appear in the center in a burst of released heat.
I picked it up and extended it to the teacher. He took it reluctantly, inspected it and finally nodded. "That will do. You may return to your seat." No acknowledgement of my methodology. No admission of my accomplishment. And giving me permission to do what he said when Tsu'na was only auditing the class to begin with. He didn't even return the damn ingot.
I collected the box of supplies and the stone sheet and maintained control as I made my way up the aisle. I didn't huff. I didn't stomp. I didn't punch his godfersaken face in.
I didn't even pretend to pay attention after that. I played games on my phone. If he had any useful insights to contribute on the subject of materials conjuration, I didn't hear them.
When the class ended, I stalked out of the room. No one got in my way. I was in the hallway before I heard someone behind me. "Hey, Tsu'na, wait up!"
It was Tsu'na's friend, Anna, the one that told her about the counseling. "What's the rush? Don't you want to get lunch?"
I didn't know they were that sort of close. The day was turning out to be so educational. "I want to go home and relax. I am…" I tried to maintain my wife's measured tones. "...not happy."
"For real. Today he was a real…"
"Asshat?"
She giggled. "Yeah. So…what was that you did with the fire? Was that a miqo'te thing?"
I reminded myself that ignorance isn't necessarily stupidity. "Miqo'te are not magical creatures. That was elemental magic. Have you not studied that yet?"
"I think it's next semester. Did you really make a dry-erase spell marker?"
"It is what makes the stone practical. Perhaps we can talk about this…another day."
"Oh, yeah, sure. Try not to punch your husband."
I couldn't help but smile. "That is what he is for."
I didn't think about the dress until I was at the apartment door. There had been some funny looks on the way…it does look a little Salemesque, maybe. But hey, it's for throwing fireballs, after all.
Tsu'na was sitting on the couch when I got home, dressed in my typical casual clothes, tablet in hand. She raised an eyebrow when she saw me in the dress, then the other when she got a good look at my face. "Have you been throwing fireballs, Husband?"
"Just had to light some candles." I wandered over to the couch and looked down at her. Our eyes met in a thoughtful silence. I decided to do what she felt so comfortable doing on occasion and sat in her lap. My lap. Whatever. Had to try three times before I wasn't sitting on my/her tail.
I rested my head against her/my shoulder. It really was pretty comfortable. I felt her/my arm drape around my/her shoulders. "How was your day, my love?" I asked.
"I think it was tense. I did not always know what to say. How do you do that?"
"I make it up. Comes with practice."
"Your ears are not very good."
My/her ear was hearing her/my heartbeat. It added to the comfort. No wonder she sat like that so often. I let myself relax. "Did you have trouble hearing?"
"I was not as distracted as I sometimes am. But I did hear some of them talking about you. They thought you were not as annoying as usual."
I smiled. "Also comes with practice."
"Did someone annoy you today, Husband?"
I told her about the materials class.
"Did you punch him?"
"No."
"I would not have minded."
"Yes you would. He'd've demanded I keep my pet on a leash, or something like that." I looked up at her/my face. "Maybe you should punch him. Righteously indignant husband and all."
"He would not survive either of us punching him."
"And?"
She smiled and rested a hand on my/her cheek. "Thank you for showing restraint, Husband."
"I had no idea you put up with that crap every day."
"I know. I needed you to understand that without me feeling like I was…"
"Whining?"
"Do you think I whine?"
"You never have. That's just it…you're so good at being strong, I guess I don't think of something like social dynamics getting you down. You've been hinting at it, but I certainly wouldn't call it whining now. So…mission accomplished?"
"I suppose. Does that mean you want to push the button now?"
We looked across the room where the box sat on the dining table. I nestled against her/my chest. She toyed with my/her ear.
"Tomorrow morning?"
"Tomorrow morning."
Echoes of Home: FFXIV AU OC -- WoLs on Earth
And done for this year's FFXIV Write. Gotta use this momentum to get going on EoH book 2.
Or I could topple over. Just for a bit.
FFXIV Write 2025 prompt 30: frame (Tsu'na)
Echoes of Home: FFXIV AU OC -- WoLs on Earth
"a roll in the hay": "an act of having sex with someone"
I am still confused at times about what Husband thinks is funny. He is easily amused, even sometimes when things go wrong, which can make seeing him laugh a relief. How he can get so angry in some moments and so merry in others suggests he is full of emotion all the time, whether he shows it or not.
Today he wanted me to try flying the ultralight, so we rode our bicycles out to the field where he had been practicing before. When he first made the airplane fly he used a box of iron in the seat behind him for "balance and stability," but, instead of that for my practice, he himself got into the seat. "I believe in you," he said.
He must have believed in me greatly, or perhaps his own experience made him too casual. When he practiced with the airplane, he first drove it without the wings attached, and spent days learning to drive it faster and rise into the air by mere ilms. But today he attached the wings.
The fuel tank was full of cornoline, and Husband had STP handy to help keep the engine clean. It started the first time I tried.
I used the controls to try making the engine spin faster and then letting it slow. The control stick was not quite the same as what was attached to the computer in Player One, but similar enough for me to use. I gave power to the engine until we started to roll forward.
There is a very large difference between flying an airplane in a computer and flying a real one: one feels the effects of what one does with one's whole body in the real airplane. If one does not expect that feeling, the surprise can make one react more strongly to what happens, gripping things more tightly and pulling and pushing things with more force, trying to connect the sensations to the actions.
That is what happened to me. My body tensed and jerked. I did not think to stop accelerating, so the airplane got much faster. I jerked on the controller and the airplane suddenly jumped into the air. I pushed on the controller, trying to get back down, and succeeded: the airplane went sharply down and the front end crashed into the ground.
I flew out of the seat. I felt something slam into me; I did not realize right away that it was Husband. We both tumbled on the ground, partly on top of each other. It was like being picked up by a tornado and then dropped, as sometimes happened in Neverreap. Neither of us were hurt, but it is never a pleasant experience.
We sat up on the ground, looked at each other, then looked at the airplane. Much of it was surprisingly undamaged, though the central frame -- what Husband calls the "fuselage" -- was bent at the front. Husband had broken many propellers when he tried making them, yet I had not broken one by crashing. The ultralight had flipped over on its nose and was resting on its wings; I could not tell right away if they were broken. The airplane was a mess.
I had come to think of it, at his insistence, as "our" airplane. I wondered if it would suddenly become "his" airplane that I had broken.
We looked at each other again. He reached up to pick a piece of grass out of my hair. Then he started to laugh. I could only stare at him until he got enough breath back to talk.
"Tsu'na, my love…if you wanted a roll in the hay, why didn't you just say so?"
We got the pieces of the airplane separated, returned them to inventory and went home. Earth hyur who work with metals seem to use hammers and other tools to bend things as they want; we do not know how to do that with the frame. But we can desynthesize it and make a new one, perhaps not losing too much aluminum.
We agreed that the next time I try driving it I will be more careful and gradual with my practice. We also agreed that we will use the belts that Husband had attached to the seats. Perhaps he believes in me, but he also believes in "not plowing a field with one's face."
FFXIV Write 2025 prompt 29: throw in the towel (Steve)
Echoes of Home: FFXIV AU OC -- WoLs on Earth
Maybe it wasn't safe to go back to Myra's underground cage fighting after she'd sold Tsu'na out to the mob, but I wanted to see where things stood. And of course we could use the money it might bring in. So I dropped in on Twin Pools Casino Skiatook to talk about prizefighting.
Myra was less than happy to see me in her office, but not totally surprised. "So you're back."
"I heard I was welcome."
"That depends. You and your girlfriend cost me a lot of money."
"What girlfriend?"
"I thought you and Cat's Meow were dating."
I snorted. "My wife would kill me if she thought I was dating a prizefighter." Which didn't exactly matter since Tsu'na is Cat's Meow, but it may still be true.
Myra narrowed her eyes. "So you two aren't dating? You're just…?"
"Professional peers."
"Huh. Did your peer tell you how she didn't play along and cost me money?"
"She might've mentioned it."
"Did she mention she said you might play along?"
I gave Myra a considering look. "No, but I can understand how she got that impression. What kind of playing along are we talking?"
"You know this is a game, right? It's not just about the fights…it's about making money off the betters."
"I'm all for making money."
"Good. Cuz sometimes that might mean not doing your best in a fight. Think you can do that?"
"You talking about throwing a fight? To the guys you get in there? I don't know if I can do that."
"That's what she said."
"Hah! Good one!" When Myra just glared at me, I sobered. "No, really, I've seen them fight. They're wusses and amateurs. I'm not sure how I'd lose to them."
Myra looked at a convenient goon wearing a suit. "Jonah? Teach him how to lose a fight."
"Yes, ma'am." With hardly a warmup or a tell, Jonah threw a fist at my face.
I took it on the chin. He and I studied each other a moment. I eventually said, "Well?"
He blinked. Then he put his shoulder into a punch to my gut.
"I'm waiting."
"Shit," Myra said softly. "You're just like her."
"Well, yeah, that's what makes us professional peers. We've seen the same kind of action. And most of the guys in your fights haven't. I mean, I can try, sure, but I don't know how good I can make it look."
Myra grimaced and was about to respond when someone knocked and entered. "Hey, Myra? I cleared up my schedule. I can do tomorrow night. Is there a slot open?"
She thought about it, then nodded and gestured at me. "Sure. You'll be fighting this guy."
The fighter glanced at me, then did a doubletake. "You. You're The Other Guy!"
"Yyyyyyeah?"
"You almost beat Cat's Meow!"
"Thanks for reminding me. So we're doing tomorrow night?"
"Hell no! No way I'm getting in the cage with him! C'mon, Myra! Anyone else!"
He was throwing in the towel without even trying to hit me.
Myra grimaced, looking from the wimp to me and back. "I'll be in touch."
The wimp gave me a last look before scurrying out of the room. Myra turned to me. I shrugged.
She sighed. "Okay. I think maybe I can use this. Lemme set something up first. Gimme your number."
I gave her my gvoice number.
"You just had to lose to my biggest name in front of everyone…" she muttered.
"Hey, wasn't my idea."
"Uh-huh."
However hard I thought this prizefighting thing might be, it may be harder than I thought.
