yaay

[nightseek]

𝐈𝐋𝐌 𝐁𝐘 𝐈𝐋𝐌, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐓𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅. private and low activity y'shtola rhul of 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘 𝐗𝐈𝐕. spoilers present. mutuals only, basic dni applies. discord and ffxiv ign available on ask!

rules.

[azuredragoon-archive]

EVER A LONE WOLF , STRAYED FROM THE PATH OF GUIDANCE , he makes a conscious effort to allow comfortable space betwixt himself & the masses . he's find himself free from air's tensions , & free from the turmoil of the natural emotion that comes with a certain closeness . needless to say , history might reveal that he'd never done well with such situations .

❛   nay .   ❜ he responds to her question in earnest , albeit confused by which such sights she might be referring to ( all implied sarcasm be damned ) . she proceeds in her teasing , & only then does he realize the conversational mistake he'd made just previous . ignoring the detail of the matter , he stares at her with a blank expression , assessing any type of answer , tactless or otherwise . he simply states , ❛   you'd do well to reassess what ever version of me you've made to be true .   ❜

not that they've had enough moments to truly get to know one another .

[nightseek]

estinien attempts to return her banter with equal turn, which earns a chuckle from the sorceress. more belittling than any word she could cut his way, paired with ample silence to allow him to stew in it. she continues to gather materials, taking a mental tally of each end and beginning, accompanied by her finger, detailing the amount in each stack. ( shapes blurred atop each other, tactile information much more reliable in times as such --- she would never ask for help, even if a simple query would suffice. maybe if it were urianger, or thancred. )

" i think i know you well enough. " she punctuates smugly. a war of attrition, one to surely not last very long. she had no desire to debate with estinien, only to see him submit. " i know you favor a direct approach. i know you're at unease without any to do, told by such impatient shift in those gangly legs. what i can't understand, is why you'd choose to keep such academic company, whilst the combative was so readily offered. " her tone is neutral, though her words are spoken precisely, so sharply intended on her tongue.

she then reaches ahead, amassing as many stone tablets she could carry in one arm. " though, i'll put use to you yet. benevolent as i am. " a smirk. she begins passing the tablets to him, each with not an insignificant heft behind them. " here. count these, and place them in reach. assuming ---- assuming you do know how to count, yes ? " she's trying so painfully hard not to laugh aloud.

[wantacookie]

We will stand against fate, no matter the cost! We’ve been here before, many a time! Thus do we know to never give up! For HOPE will shine again!

[nightseek]

starter call :)

[reksigh]

wife city

[nightseek]

thinking abt.... y'shtola's zenos scar.........

[nightseek]

sharlayan. though they had only just arrived, and by all accounts a homecoming should have been long overdue. clean beds, warm food, nation not under immediate threat ---- a godsend, to some. to y'shtola, such matters were nothing short of complicated.

much like her master, y'shtola's reputation in her hometown was infamous, to say the least. if one penned her with an attitude problem now, they should have seen her studium days, let alone her time as a kit, an ego ill-fitting of her small form. and while her deeds and achievements preceded her, she couldn't say she held any particular fondness for the people, nor the scenery. it was a self-preserving place with little love for outsiders. from birth, it's all she was.

thankfully, the sorceress had company of similar mind. sharlayan was a point of unease from several of her comrades. and while they all played catch-up, y'shtola nursed a glass of wine, sulking in the most elegant way one could, at the last stand.

the warm sun was infuriating, the hearty chatter was maddening. the neat corners and inescapable faultlessness dared to tear a hole in her skull. to be idle, was another. as soon as she had a problem to slave over, all such contempt would wash over her in cathartic waves. for now, this cat would stay while the mice go out and play.

g'raha tia spots her though, of course he would. seemingly had he lost the warrior of light in their hurried escapades of exploration through the city, he'd come to check on a familiar face. (her scowl did her no favors, though she had no want to fix it.) he spouts words of worry, and she only reacts in the most irksome way possible, like her senior.

one leg crosses over another, nosing her cup once more if only to further her face from him, face turning even more sour. " bah. away with you, of course i'm fine. i've known no antithesis of the word. " venom spikes at her words, ones she certainly didn't mean but would offer up no apology for, coerced by the alcohol. / @exarchs

[nightseek]

though only described to her as deepest black, nidhogg is blinding. the amount of aether to sustain a being of such purity, such monstrous size ... it was as if he emanated it. and while any interaction with the great wyrm incited fear ... all y'shtola could feel was curiosity.

blinding, dangerous curiosity. the bane of all scholarly individuals, especially an aetherologist such as herself. she couldn't tear her gaze away. like she could see the age on him, this history. the stories it would tell ---- the surge of life he'd emit if felled ...

frozen. she wishes to stare for an eternity, one nidhogg most surely wouldn't allow. and to invoke the ire of one of the first brood was far from advantageous to any of her comrades' aims. even so, without risk, discovery made standstill. " nidhogg. " she's breathless. words quiet. winded though still. " i mean no harm, this meeting is pure happenstance. " / @ndhoggr

[nightseek]

" if i didn't know any better .... i'd assume you were trying to best me. in my own game, no less. " y'shtola's greeting is dry, though laced with a characteristic humor and underlying affection. iphenne had always been safe from her deeper cuts --- perhaps the only way the sorceress would ever make her fondness known. a fondness that manifested among a long stretch of familiarity with the warrior of light. pointedly, at their shared habit of laboring ever too much.

iphenne's dark circles rivaled her own. and while their talents diverged, running around talking to every new world leader, keeping rapport with them, and returning in time to cater to every scion's whim surely competed with y'shtola's slave over ancient arcane ingenuity.

if iphenne had run into anyone else, she'd be rushed to bed, hot food sent her way, scolded for such overwork. instead, a carny smirk pulled on y'shtola's lips. a warmness that manifested in a way that a fearsome wolf warmed its brood.

she's slumped over the centermost stone table in the rising stones, tomes strewn about in disorder. fresh ink stains the table, wiped down surely by someone in passing. seemingly hundreds of pages of her own writing categorized in disheveled piles that no one dared touch --- lest they interrupt her system, or worse, incur her wrath.

upon iphenne's arrival, still, y'shtola does not look up. though she had no need to, it grew habit over so many years. still, she continued to take note. it doesn't stop her from waving over the warrior with a free hand, motioning for her to sit adjacent.

" come, prevail me of your travels. it will make a fine soothe to my studies. " / @ishguardienne

[nightseek]

starter call :)

[nightseek]

" come to see the sights ? " though not pointed at estinien, y'shtola's sarcasm-soaked words could only find their home within one out-of-place elezen among scholars. matsya and her entourage chat amongst themselves, surely taking in the unique surroundings outside, while y'shtola enters the watcher's workshop, estinien tailing loosely behind.

and in true y'shtola manner, she toils while others leisure. she takes stock of the watcher's repository, keening on her heels to take tactile information of the supply, of which was placed on a table meant for someone much, much larger than anyone in tow. estinien, simply stood there. " if you liked me so evermuch, you need only say so. grand work-arounds are ill-fitting of you, ser varlineau. " / @azuredragoon