FFXIV Writes (Unofficial) Day 24-28 Catch Up
Novel: a fictitious prose narrative of book length Â
Stamp: to attach a stamp to
Fingers Crossed: a hand gesture to wish good luck.Â
Noisome: highly obnoxious or objectionable
âWhat are you doing?â Dimitri practically jumped out of his skin when he heard the question; the last he knew, he had been sitting at his desk, in his empty house in the middle of the Deep Woods. It was early morning, and he had been packaging his first finished novel to send to a publisher in Limsa for their review. Now his Sister was hovering over his shoulder, and there certainly had been no knock. Things got even worse when he looked up and noticed that his Sister was currently in one of her stage forms, this one being a male Viera that she often danced as in a large troupe she had joined.Â
âAck, why do you have to bring that thing around me?â Dimitri's hands swatted at her first, and when she didn't move, he moved on to trying to push him away. While the Sharlayan often enjoyed the company of Xixa, the Shetona Doctor who lived in Bentbranch, he simply could not tolerate being around male Viera, especially this closely, as it brought up foul memories of a ship of fools, and the Viera Corsairs that used it to harass and plunder the remote Islands on the way to Tural. He had spent nearly a turn with them on a constant bender back before he reached his twenty-fifth birthday. Since then, he had no desire to talk to a male Viera in case they were one of them who had come looking for him.
âI am not a thing,â Viviane huffed, but without any further comments, she soon stood before him in her normal Elezen form and clothes that were now far too big for her much shorter and smaller frame. âAre you happy? You can be unbelievably obnoxious about Viera, you know. It was one turn of your life over ten turns ago! It is long passed on, dear brother, and in the terms of pirates-â
âCorsair.â Dimitri cut her off mid-rant and with a smug look on his face. âPirates are the filth of the Sea! No morals, no logic, and I swear they never wash. Corsairs have a purpose; they are clean and have expensive rum on their ships, which are also neat and tidy! Surely you see the difference.âÂ
Vi rolled her eyes, ignoring her twin's need to educate her, her attention on her clothes and finding ways to keep them from falling off of her which seemed to be more of a hassle than she had been expecting it to be when she changed form, finally she just gave in and shifted one more time into a female Viera that carried her bright ruby hair and startling sapphire eyes. The best part was that her clothes now fit again, for the most part, except for the shirt that was just a bit too tight.Â
âAre you happy now? No more Bunny Boys to bother you,â she then proceeded to stick out her tongue, and motion back to the packaged item that sat on his desk in front of him.Â
âYes, thank you, I appreciate the respect,â he sighed faintly, and reclined back into his chair, his hand waving towards the package that Vi had her eyes settled on. âThis is the manuscript that I have been working on. I finished it last night, and I was planning to take it to the moogle mail and send it off to the publisher in Limsa; however, I have been unable to move from this spot since I finished wrapping it.â A perplexed look appeared on his face as if he was attempting to understand why exactly he had not moved.Â
âAre you nervous? I remember the day that I was going to go and sign the deed on my bakery. I had dreamed of it for so long that having it right there in front of me, mine for the taking, was quite overwhelming.â Finally stepping out from behind her twinâs chair, she moved around the front of his desk and then lowered herself into one of the chairs on the other side. âI could be-âÂ
âNo, Vi, you are not wrong.â Dimtiri sighed, âWhat if it is too good to be true? What if all my palaver about publishing something isnât even worth it? They could hate it when they read it, they could send it back with a laugh-a-gram. Have you ever heard one? A friend of mine back in our first year at the Studium made one. It was a low-level glamour that, once the prism it was contained in was touched, it would simply start to laugh, and laugh. It was a rather embarrassing thing.â He cleared his throat and sniffed lightly, âWhat if I am just some fool?âÂ
Vi listened patiently as Dimitri spoke of his woes and his worries. She was even polite enough to stifle the giggle that should have come from her the moment she realized that he had been the recipient of the laughing prism; such novelties were not lost on her and were rather an attractive part of being able to create glamours. She had even toyed with a few that made the color drain from their Motherâs face when she thought Jienuex Manor was more haunted than they already knew because of her little pranks.Â
âAnd so what if they do? It is your dream, Dimitri. The thing about dreams is there are people along the way that are meant to make them happen.â Reaching down to the bag she had left sitting on his floor, she pulled out a page of stamps, eyeing the parcel once more before nodding her head and peeling two off the page, then sticking them to the right-hand corner. âThat will be my contribution to your dream. You are planning to use Moogle Mail, and those stamps will pay for their overnight postage. Far better than their normal mailing process, it could get lost, you know how moogles can be.â A bright smile appeared on her face then, and she dropped her elbows on her desk, placing her chin in the space in between her two palms so she could continue to speak to him.Â
âYou will never know what Nymeia has in store for you until you try. There are certain things you cannot plan; you must toss caution to the wind or you never get anything done.â With that, she rose from her seat, picked up her bag, and reached out to take the book. âI bet they will love it and you. I will cross my fingers for you, darling. I admit I am a bit giddy. I wonder what is in this Novel of yours.â Out the door she walked then, humming softly one of her favorite songs, and before Dimitri snapped out of the second door, the one leading out of the cottage had slammed behind her, leaving him alone again.Â
âWoman! Dear gods, I hate when you do---â down he looked at his desk where he realized that his parcel was missing, and in its place rested a rolanberry muffin like the ones made fresh at Viâs bakery every morning.
âVi!â Dimitriâs voice bellowed through the tiny space. âViviane Seriphina Jienuex Vimaroix, you had better be hiding in that kitchen or I am going to.â He wasnât certain exactly what he was going to do, but it was going to be good, and she was going to be paying him back somehow for weeks to come.Â
âViviane!â he called again, in two steps he had made it to the kitchen which he found empty as well, except for Kit who was sitting on the table, watching the yard where eventually Dimitri would find his sister when he looked out it, his hands motioning wildly for her to bring his propert back inside which earned him a single middle finger, and a wink before she vanished from the yard.Â
The next stop was Moogle Mail, but there was no way to know which one she would use, leaving him to simply draw a breath and rest his head against the window. âYou know what, Kit?â he murmured to the fox, âNever trust a devout of Nymeia, and I truly mean never.â And the only reply he got was a lazy yawn.