a smile better suits a hero.

hello and welcome! this is the main hub for #seaswolchallenge, a writing challenge catered to characters created for square enix's mmorpg Final fantasy xiv. for more information on the challenge, prompts and completed work, please click on the links below! this blog is NOT spoiler free!

[seaswolchallenge]

Hello.

As is evidenced by this blog, I have not been around in some time. @gatheredfates is much similar. I work basically full time now, so my time has been spent mostly in game. Will I come back to the challenge? Possibly, but absolutely not this month. My aim is to do the ffxivwrite that comes out every September and then maybe, depending on where I’m at after that, do some challenges. We’ll see!

Anyway, the major point of my post was that I had some messages from people while I was away asking if they could do the challenge(s) past their expire day. Yes. The answer will always be yes. Tag me, tag the blog; go onto Twitter and tag me ofsaltandseas. Especially as far as Twitter is concerned, I will always read and respond to them. I love knowing my things have inspired people.

[ahlis-xiv]

Sea’s 30 Day WoL Challenge - Jan 1st: Crescendo

The displays for the new year has begun in earnest as they always did, appearing as if out of nowhere over night. Heavensturn, much like the holiday before it with Starlight, had not held much sway in her life before a few years ago, as Ahlis had little reason to celebrate then.

But now? She watched the glimmering cacophony of fireworks reach it’s peak that evening, the spectacle a shimmering, happy reminder. A welcome change, unexpected and inevitable, much like the turning of the new year.

[allycryz]

WOL Challenge #1: Tea

Prompt List Here 

(Doing these out of order and likely not every day)

Nerys x Y’shtola, Nerys x Emet-Selch

Immediately post 5.0 in the Crystarium, Hurt/Comfort* (*I plan on him coming back, just not sure how yet)

–

Keep reading

[smoking-serpent]

Crescendo

Day one for me of @seaswolchallenge​ featuring my WoL Tlaloc! This one is very short and sweet (figuratively) and I really hope to make the word count on the rest longer. 

There are some vague Heavensward spoilers so, beware!

Keep reading

[scholarlostintime]

Crescendo

The Twelveswood had always been quiet, even on its busiest days — filled with the soothing hums of branches swaying in a light breeze, or the sound of critters singing and going about their day. Even the soft tune of the elementals was quiet, a barely noticeable hum just out of earshot. Eolyn had found it boring at times, especially compared to the much livelier buzzing hum of people milling about in Gridania, when she was able to visit.

But nothing compared to the loud clash of noise that awaited her arrival on Thavnair. The sound of ships coming into the docks, bells ringing and sailors shouting at each other as they unloaded goods. The nearby markets filled with items new and exotic, its hawkers shouting over each other in the hopes of making a sale. Women laughing as they went about their shopping. A child crying in the distance. The grunt of animals as they performed work beneath a lash, and the shouts of the men working them. Louder and louder it rose, until it was an almost unbearable din.

A girl of 15, and barely having traveled out of the Shroud, Eolyn had embarked on a journey to become an adventurer (or so she hoped), and somehow she hadn’t even realized the world could be so noisy. It felt overwhelming to be lost in the crowd, insignificant and unnoticed. As if the very waves of people would crash into another and drown her. It struck a pang of homesickness deep within her chest, longing for a quiet breeze and a mug of tea while hiding under a large tree.

She’d gotten used to it with time. Big cities barely bothered Eolyn anymore, the noise reduced to an intangible roar in the distance, much like the elementals had been. But still, even after a busy day flitting about the world, it was nice to come back to a home such as the Rising Stones — its gentle gloom rocking her to sleep much like her childhood.

SeasWoLChallenge Prompts

[sootcloak]

Regret’s for the Dead

~2000 words of loosely written dialogue & set dressing with even looser editing because this time around I’m trying to do one every day and just post it cause otherwise I’ll never get them all done. It ain’t for work, I’ve got to learn to live with the messiness of creation or I’ll never post anything.

January Prompt: Revenant - A person who has returned, particularly from the dead. (Often re-contextualized in fantasy media as an undead creature with a fixation on revenge or justice.)

@seaswolchallenge

Keep reading

[elfyourmother]

Prompt #1: Crescendo

[for @seaswolchallenge, January edition. 2.2k, Gisele x Emet-Selch, Gisele x Aymeric x Haurchefant, post 5.3-ish]

Silence descended upon the Palais Dzemael, and as the lamplights dimmed, a single gentleman stepped forward from the shadows, at the wings of that grand stage. Unto the very center of it the Hyur strode with purpose, his fine leather shoes clicking upon the polished wood to send echoes aloft with every footstep. And when he reached the center, a single beam of light illuminated him, as he gazed out upon the audience—among them, high in the balcony, sat Gisele and her companions in all their finery. So illumined, she recognized him then, for he was a fixture in the Pillars.

“The West and East were waging war. Draco, the West’s great hero, contemplates his love, Maria. Is she safe? Is she waiting?” the Impresario began rather grandly. He turned then, as if to gaze up directly at Gisele and the illustrious. “Lord Speaker, distinguished Members of Parliament, honored guests of the Eorzean Alliance, and Warrior of Light: the Palais Dzemael is proud to present for your entertainment this tale old as time, as performed by the Royal Dalmascan Opera. I give you…The Dream Oath.”

Beside her, Gisele heard a strangled choking sound from the companion to her right, at the name of the performers—one quickly muffled by a gloved fist. “Are you quite well, love?” she whispered, low and soft.

Hades made her an indifferent little wave. “Splendid,” he whispered. “Do enjoy the show.”

Keep reading

[kunstpause-archive]

Day 1 - Crescendo

@seaswolchallenge​

Cassia/Lyse - taking place in the Steppe

___________

“Ha, I win again!”

Lyse’s voice sounded triumphant and only slightly out of breath as she grinned down from her position atop of Cassia, who let out a frustrated huff.

Cassia was noticeably more winded, still trying to catch her breath. “Are you certain this is actually training and not just a thinly veiled excuse for you to pummel me into the ground on a regular basis?”

Above her, Lyse let out a laugh. “Ah, come on! You’ve held out a lot longer than the last time we did this.”

“Five minutes,” Cassia murmured. “It took you five minutes, and I feel I won’t be able to move for a week!”

“That’s three more minutes than last time; I’d call that progress!” 

Cassia muttered something less flattering about her own fighting ability under her breath. She appreciated that Lyse had offered to teach her a more direct form of combat. Still, she had to admit that it did hurt her pride every now and then, to be reminded rather forcefully that, while her magic abilities were outstanding, her physical fighting capabilities were nothing to write home about. Yet. This was supposed to change that, after all. But somehow, Cassia had less of an easy time to see her own progress. When she tilted her head back, Lyse was still looking down at her.

“Getting comfortable?” Cassia teased, expecting a laugh from her friend at best, but to her surprise, Lyse’s eyes widened slightly, and a blush appeared on her cheeks.

“I wasn’t…” Lyse started, only to break off. “I mean, this is not…”

Cassia’s eyebrows went up at the realization that her small, thoughtless teasing had apparently hit its mark, and suddenly, some of her friends’ recent behavior made much more sense. The increased amount of time they spent together, the closeness that had felt mostly accidental, and even the training… A smile formed on her face as she sent Lyse a telling look.

“Oh, I think you definitely were,” Cassia purred. “Were you actually teaching me to fight, or was this just an elaborate plan to get me underneath you?”

Keep reading

[fortempsward]

[Prompt I - Crescendo]

Sea’s 30 day WoL Challenge, January 2021 @seaswolchallenge

Ship: Lerine x Haurchefant x Emet-Selch

Words: 322

It started low.

A hum drifting in the surrounding silence.

A voice that carried the words to an old song, forgotten by many, but not by him.

Lerine had been distracted by something else until that moment, trying to fix her staff that had been damaged in her last fight. But as soon as she heard that voice, she stopped and strained her ears to listen.

Once it had clicked in her mind who the voice belonged to, the surprise made her eyes lit up, and she went to look for Haurchefant as quickly and quietly as she could manage.

It would not do to be the only one to hear this.

She found him in their shared room, writing away at some important document, she was sure.

As soon as he heard her come in he opened his mouth to say greet her, but Lerine signaled him to not make a noise and beckoned him out of the room.

Haurchefant’s puzzled expression soon turned into the same Lerine had made just a couple of moments before.

He looked at her, understanding why he had called on him, and grateful that she did.

At this point, the voice had risen to a crescendo and the words to the song were perfectly understandable.

“Pray don’t forget us

Your bygone kin

With one world’s end

Does a new begin

And should our souls scatter

Unto the wind

Still we shall live on”

They had never heard Emet-Selch’s sing before.

He had mentioned a couple of times that his singing was not half bad. They knew now that for once Emet had been far too modest.

They kept listening until the song was over, their hearts aching a bit for the melancholic feeling it gave off.

The door to Emet’s studio opened and he came out, eyes immediately landing on the two of them.

They looked at each other, and then back to him.

“Encore?”

[sailorsanghelios]

Sea’s 30 Day WOL Challenge: Leave

Summary: Dadabo Dabo, already uncomfortable with her privileged Ul’dah high society life, has the final straw, taking the first step that would lead to her becoming the champion of Eorzea

CW: class violence and physical violence

@seaswolchallenge

—————

“Dadabo please look at your father when he addresses you. Come on we raised you better then that.”

Dadabo sighed as she stopped picking at the fish on her plate and looked her father in the eye.

Gagaruru Sasaruru was a busy man and not one with much patience, and Dadabo could tell she was fraying the last threads of it. “Dadabo I don’t know what we’re going to do with you. You’re well past twenty summers, and you still hold onto all these childish dreams.”

Keep reading

[seaswolchallenge]

Good morning! The challenge has begun and I’m already blown away by everyone’s work. I’m going to try and make sure I read everyone’s but, so you know I have seen your story to some capacity, here are some things to keep in mind:

If I have liked your work, I have seen and queued it!

The blog that will like your work is @gatheredfates. @seaswolchallenge is my sideblog so I can’t like on its behalf.

If the drabble ends up on my main blog, yell at me and I’ll fix it.

 Right now, the queue is set to post twelve works a day but, if we get WAY more than that, I’ll increase it. 

I look at the @, the tag #seaswolchallenge and the google form. If for some reason all of that falls through and you don’t see your work -- especially by the end of the month -- feel free to shoot me a DM.

A couple of people have sent me their work as ao3 links. While I have no problem posting them on your behalf if you want to upload part of the work and/or the link to your own blog so that people can check out your other work, let me know! I’ll hold onto those for 24/48 hours before I post them for you. ♥

[kilhikili]

1. [ Festival: Heavensturn ]

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice.”    ―      T.S. Eliot

The end of each year was always loaded with festivities. People from all over the world celebrated their traditions with family and friends, and Eorzea was no exception. This year, the Far Eastern celebrations honored the coming Year of the Ushi. According to Far Eastern astrologians, the year of the ox ushered in the manifestation of hard work, positivity, and honesty to last a year. To celebrate, there was an abundance of squishy, sort of gelatinous mochi cakes made from steamed rice pounded into mass and formed into shapes.

Currently, K’ilhi held a moogle-shaped pink cake in one hand, and a bottle of ale in the other. As the minutes ticked down to the turning of the very last hour, he thought about everything that had brought him to that moment this year.

Ryska’s bone reading still echoed fresh on K’ilhi’s mind. “This is now. Where your life began in autumn’s chill, this is a time of renewal. I see a measured growth in you, and your roots have found fertile soil.”

The start of the previous year had been as seemingly innocuous as any other year for the delivery man. He lived below the radar of most, doing his best to make ends meet and refusing to consign himself to the despair of not having family, no legacy to speak of,  very few friends, or two gil to rub together most days. Deliveries turned a profit, and when that profit wasn’t enough to satisfy his rentors, he sang in taverns, and told stories over card games for those rare times he did have a little something to splurge with. It was a lonely existence, but it was freedom to live each day the way he chose, and not under the yoke of some syndicate.

As he sat there on the stony wall, watching the fireworks in the distance, he smiled to himself at just how things had changed in the past few months, now that he’d become a Siren. He saw people more regularly, threw himself into the winds of adventure, and even had a new place to stay, if he so chose– which he would very soon.

New year. New me.

K’ilhi bit into his mochi, swinging his legs a little and counting his good luck. He would go into the new year with an optimistic mindset. Good things were afoot. There were clouds in the future if those bones were right, but he didn’t have to face those alone this time. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone calling his name, beckoning him to the merry warmth of the Siren’s Call.

“Hey Kili, didn’t you say you could carry a tune?”

A broad grin tugged at his lips, ears perked up as he nodded. “You bet. Coming!”

                                                                    -·=»‡«=·-

@seaswolchallenge​​

[starrysnowdrop]

Prompt #1: Crescendo

For January 2021 Sea’s WoL Challenge - @seaswolchallenge

Yume Aino x Cid Garlond

496 Words

Post 2.0, immediately following Ultima Weapon

Upon waking the morning following the destruction of the Ultima Weapon and the defeat of Gaius van Baelsar and the Ascian Lahabrea, the newly dubbed “Warrior of Light” Yume Aino made herself her usual matcha green tea and sat down on her plush cushion on the floor of her room for a few minutes reflecting on the previous day before getting ready for today’s work.

Unlike most mornings, this one was unusual in the fact that instead of getting the pick-me-up she needed to start her day, all Yume wanted to do was crawl back into bed. In part, this was due to having nearly been blown up by the Ultima Weapon and actually living to tell the tale, yet her mind wasn’t on the battle. Instead, it was the words of her comrade over the linkpearl that she could not shake off.

“Oh, and don’t even think about dying. You’re too bloody useful!”

Though she had grown accustomed to and actually quite fond of Cid Garlond’s particularly quick wit and jovial nature, that one line single handedly stabbed Yume in the heart.

She knew it was a mere jest, and she was certain that he found her to be more than just useful, as their previous travels together attested to that. Yet, it was because she knew that it was spoken in jest that had upset her the most.

It was a line that attributed to being an inside joke between them, one that would be spoken to amongst friends. Friends...

Yume never realized before now just how much that word could hurt. A friend... was that truly all she was to him? Just a friend? Perhaps a good friend, but... just a friend.

The Raen sipped her tea as she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. Her hands began to shake as she brought the cup back down in front of her.

All those private moments they had shared, the hot springs where they first revealed their scars to one another, the echo vision of both of their most powerful memories, their long talks that lasted far into the night, his gentle caresses of her cheek, his smiling eyes that made her feel on top of the world... had that all been for naught? Had she misread all of it? Was she truly just a friend to him?

Her heart was beating abnormally fast and her hands were shaking so bad that as soon as she reached for her cup of tea once more, the liquid began to spill onto the wooden floor. The flood of emotions crescendoed till they overflowed and tears streamed down her face.

Everything hit her all at once as the truth filled her consciousness and the spoke the words aloud for the first time—

“I love him... I am in love with Cid Garlond...”

The tears fell from her cheeks into the teacup, ripples flowing across the surface as raindrops on a pond.

[enchantingwrath]

it eats at you / this responsibility of righteousness

/ the destruction wreaked in the name of the sanctimonious. PROMPT ONE | MASTERLIST | WORD COUNT: 479 | SONG INSPO: The War We Made crescendo: the highest point reached in a progressive increase of intensity. //  increase in loudness or intensity.

Hear a voice when the light is gone Never know whose side it’s on

There was something unsettling about the dim lighting of an ocean without the sea — a null void of land that did not seem quite right — especially as the lighting of an undersea city that was not meant to belong met her violet hues. The lack of water around them was her doing, a request of the Bismarck — for the greater good. That’s what the xaela always had to tell herself as her journey went on, further and further — muddying the paths she walked with the dirt she tracked upon her feet, with the blood she’d stepped in to make the world a better place — this is for the greater good. An ecosystem ruined? A beast tribe left without food? It matters not when the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Surely, surely they will thank us in the end. How could they not? We were their heroes.

Keep reading

[yafaemi]

i. | crescendo.

Ok then! Let the nervousness begin. :’) First thing for the WoL Challenge. The story is kinda… unrelated to the word itself, but I got the idea while thinking of ideas, so I just kinda went with it. :P A little nervous to be posting it- though that’s… me with just about everything writing-related, really. o.o

Description: The Final Days, they call it. Slowly encroaching, inevitable. The world’s greatest minds race to forestall it, as the world itself holds its breath. Yet one amongst those great minds, there stands one who believes not in the plan of their fellows. 

_________________________________________________________

“Ame, don’t you think you’re being a little extreme about this?” 

The words seemed to make the hooded mage stop in her tracks. She slowed, stopped, and sighed, not even bothering to utter a word as she pulled back the hood that cloaked her. Charcoal colored hair spilled out, going only as far as her shoulders. Prime, perfect, and well-groomed. Unsurprising for someone of such a prestigious position. Yet what was even less surprising was her clipped response, after several moments of silence. “Hardly. If nothing else, I think I’m not being extreme enough.” 

Styx let out an impatient sigh. Apollo, from beside her, only pinched the bridge of his mask. It was an unending game of back and forth, between the three of them. Though, the back portion of the argument was mostly disinterested retorts or refusal to at least listen to some of their points. 

“What is this going to prove?” It was Apollo’s turn. He jerked his head towards the cluttered desk, eyes settled onto the intricate red mask sitting on a pile of papers. “Do you really think the Convocation will stop its plans if you resign from your seat?” 

Keep reading

[seaswolchallenge]

As it is now the New Year in most places of the world, the WoL challenge has officially begun! Please remember to tag @seaswolchallenge and/or the submit using the Google Form. Happy writing!

[seaswolchallenge]

Hello again! It’s been a couple of months but I wanted to introduce #seaswolchallenge starting 1 January 2021! The prompts this time around were a touch self-indulgent, but I hope you enjoy them all the same.

Here are the brief guidelines for engaging with these prompts, which you can also find here:

Your character does not need to be a WoL to participate in the challenge; however, the core blog caters to those people who have a WoL verse or strictly write their character that way. If you’re someone who believes in the concept of mary-sues, hates npc x oc shipping, etc., I’d encourage you not to participate and hide the tag for the challenge as needed. I will not tolerate anon hate and will block and blacklist people accordingly.

Currently there are no prizes for completion of the challenge(s). This is for fun!

There is no order to which you need to do the prompts. You can also sub in different words if one doesn’t vibe with you, as well as skip days.

Similarly, you can return to older prompts at a later date to complete them at your leisure. There is no punishment for people who finish the challenge late. Your work will still be reblogged and shared.

Length of a prompt doesn’t matter! Write twenty or two thousand words.

Use the tag #seaswolchallenge or @seaswolchallenge so I can see what you have written! All completed works will be reblogged onto this blog. If you do not see your prompt, please shoot me an ask/im with the link

WE NOW HAVE A GOOGLE FORM. You can submit your story links here! This also counts for older works that were missed in previous rounds – please let me share your stories.

All works will be queued to avoid spamming peoples’ dashboards. If you do not see your prompt right away, or it takes a few days from the initial post, this is why!

This challenge will run from 1 JAN and ( technically ) conclude on 30 JAN for those who do one prompt a day. As always, please feel free to reblog this and tag your friends to write with you!