#empress of garlemald

[leanne-prime]

During a dull party, the Emperor and Empress of Garlemald have their minds elsewhere

I'm so happy with this beautiful art of Solus zos Galvus and Viridia yae Galvus being bored ✨

And I loved the fact that silly doodles of Solus/Emet-Selch thinking about making out with Hythlodaeus and of Viridia thinking of killing Solus with hammers could be worked in.

This piece was drawn by @/lemonssplice on the bird site! Their comms are still open!

[the-boundless-dark]

𝐴𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝐴𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑧

[ the full screens cause they're pretty ]

[biff-adventurer]

"I'm a rising star of the realm, you know?" s'dennmo jinh commissioned from honey toast

[peasant007]

Hope

In the end, they were all just malformed creatures. Feeble, frail, and foolish. Thrashing blindly about in their fleeting, fragmented lives, repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Never could they replace his brethren.

Yet in spite of himself, when he cradled the newborn in his arms and stroked that downy hair, he could not help but hope.

For what, he could not be certain, but he hoped nonetheless...

-Through His Eyes

[the-boundless-dark]

𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑥ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝐼 𝑏𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒, 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 '𝐼𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦' 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒.

[more shots under the break]

[the-boundless-dark]

FFXIVWrite Prompt 6: Ring

Rating: T

Word Count: 1018

Warnings: None

Summary: Valeria is hit with nerves just before she is to walk down the aisle at her wedding to the Emperor. Noelle, her best friend and soon to be Lady in Waiting, talks her through it.

Master Post

There were so many people!

Valeria peeked into the packed room through the servants' side door. Bigger than her old house, bigger than multiple houses probably, it was full of important military leaders and prominent nobles and people rich or important enough to warrant an invitation to the main event.

"Oh hells," she muttered to herself, quietly closing the door and trying to keep herself from hyperventilating. She was going to have to walk down the aisle in front of a crowd of very important, very powerful strangers. What if she tripped? What if she did something embarrassing? What if there was an assassin hiding in the crowd and-

"Alright, it's almost time for your cue, let's get you- Val? Are you okay?" Noelle, a tiny Hyuran woman, came bustling over to her, hands reaching up to cup Valeria's distraught - and growing more distraught by the moment - face and pull her down to Noelle's level.

"I can't do this!" Valeria whispered to her friend, as if to keep the empty corridor they stood in from hearing. Despite the corset fitted to her this morning being comfortable at the time, now it felt suffocating. Noelle looked at her thoughtfully for a moment.

"Wait here, I'll be right back," she said, turning on her heel and leaving her friend in the corridor alone. After a few minutes (during which Valeria heavily considered running), Noelle returned, hair slightly askew.

"What did you do?" Valeria eyed her friend warily as she slipped her hand into her own.

"I got the quartet to buy us some time," she explained. "They're going to replay a section from earlier before your cue. I told them you tripped over your train and we needed a moment to fix it. Now then-" she led her friend over to a bench, sitting Valeria down and arranging her voluminous ivory skirts before settling down herself. "What's going on?"

"I can't go out there," Valeria's wide eyes glanced at the huge double doors she was meant to appear from behind. "There's so many people out there, Noelle, important people. What if I make a fool of myself? What if I trip? Or faint? What if there's an assassin in the crowd ready to kill the new Empress? What if I'm a bad Empress? What if he's only been pretending to be nice to get me to marry him and now-"

"Val, Val, stop for a second," Noelle gave her hand a comforting squeeze. "First off, not everyone is like your family. You have to stop waiting for people to 'inevitably'-" she lifted her free hand to make quotes in the air "-be horrible. I've seen how he looks at you when you're not looking. If it's not love I'll eat your dress, petticoats and all."

"Secondly, stop thinking about this as a job interview. It's your wedding! You're getting married to someone you really like just like so many others do every day." At that, Valeria let out a hysterical little laugh.

"Ah yes, plenty of people marry into royalty," her voice dripped with sarcasm and Noelle sighed.

"You know what I mean. All you have to do is focus on getting to the end of that aisle," Noelle patted Valeria's arm. "You know, people say if you're afraid of public speaking, you should picture your audience in their undergarments so it feels less serious. Of course," Noelle's face twisted into a mischievous smirk. "You might wanna be careful with that, don't wanna get distracted thinking about your impending wedding night..." Valeria smacked Noelle on the shoulder as the Hyuran woman flinched away, hiding her face in her other hand.

"Did you have to bring that up, too?" Valeria grumbled into her hand, words muffled as Noelle tried to stifle her own snickers.

"What, are you not looking forward to it? And here I thought you said he was handsome." Her voice turned taunting as Valeria's face turned a light pink.

"No, it's not... I... I've never done that before!" She stammered out, and Noelle blinked.

"What, never? You're so pretty I'd have thought you'd have had suitors practically falling at your feet, even considering how...unpleasant your family was."

"Yes, well, my stepmother was very good at ensuring everyone knew to stay away. Hells, you're already my only friend, and if I couldn't even keep friends, how could I have...no, just. I never did," she finished somewhat lamely, twisting a dangling gem of the delicate necklace she wore anxiously.

"Well, put that back on the shelf to worry about later," Noelle said firmly. "Besides, think about it, lots of people like it enough to do it a lot so, frankly, you shouldn't have anything to worry about." Valeria groaned, burying her reddening face in her hands.

"Thanks for the encouragement."

"You're welcome!" Noelle produced a small pouch from...somewhere, retrieving cosmetics from inside and pulling Valeria's hands away from her face. "Well, at least we won't need to fix your blush."

Valeria sat still as Noelle carefully touched up her smeared makeup, wiping away that which was out of place and darkening that which had been wiped away. When she was done, there was no evidence left of Valeria's distress besides the apprehension still in her eyes.

"Come on, it's almost time," Noelle pushed her spectacles back up her nose and pulled Valeria to her feet, circling her to make sure her skirt was laying smooth all the way around. "Remember, one foot in front of the other. And if you faint, I'll drag you the rest of the way. I'm right behind you. Oh, and don't forget to give me your bouquet when you get to the end!"

"What? Why?" Valeria craned her neck to look at Noelle taking her place just behind her, ready to mind the truly monstrous train dragging along the ground.

"You need your hands free to exchange the rings, silly!" Noelle laughed as the huge doors creaked.

Valeria turned forward, hiding her shaking hands behind her bouquet, and held her head high as she took her first, wobbly steps down the aisle.

[the-boundless-dark]

Even if it was to labor in the garden or run errands, Valeria cherished the time out of her home and away from her step mother and the woman's awful children.

[the-boundless-dark]

[ blend in ] receiver tries to blend in at the ball and remain unseen, but sender notices and approaches them

[Ball/Parties Prompts. Decided this is the perfect prompt for the Solus x Valeria meet cute, so y'all get an early sneak peak. :D ...Early as in I haven't started writing the fic yet so I'm going a bit out of order. xD]

Valeria milled about in the ball room. It was a grand affair, decorated with more flowers and banners and garland than she could even fathom at the cost of, let alone the price of importing said flowers from warmer climes. Ladies muttered to each other behind fans and scarves, dressed in impeccable gowns that flowed about them like large, heavy clouds. The men clumped together, suits all blending together like a flock of birds, switching between laughter and seriousness as their various topics called for them.

No one had approached her thus far. The families of lower status assumed she must be of a higher standing, and the higher status assumed the same in reverse, she imagined. She smoothed the front of her own gown, a rather dated garment that once belonged to her late mother, and accepted a fizzing glass from one of the servants bustling about the room with trays of food and drink.

Just look like you belong and no one will be the wiser, she thought to herself, taking a little sip. No matter the danger or how temporary, it was nice to escape home for a few hours and have some fun. There were so many people here that she felt much more secure in her virtual invisibility than when she was planning this in the first place. She watched various couples spinning around the ballroom in time with the quartet performing at the head of the room.

One of the spinning couples twirled just a little too close then, one of the two slamming into her shoulder and knocking her off balance. Her glass slipped from her grip - I was enjoying that, she couldn't help thinking grumpily as it smashed on the floor- and in her attempt to regain her balance, stepped on her dress hem and tumbled to the floor. So much for acting like I belong. How embarrassing.

"Are you alright?" Valeria jerked her head in the direction of the voice to find a tall and rather well decorated man with black hair, just shorter than chin length, offering his hand. She glanced him over, trying to place him from what little she knew of the elite. White streak in his hair, bright gold eyes, the sheer number of medals and ribbons...

Oh no. Oh no no no.

Valeria tried to reason out if it would be worse for her to be found out by the Emperor himself or to instead commit the insult of running for her life. She wasn't given the choice in the end, though, when he took her hand and pulled her to her feet when she hesitated.

"I don't think we've met," he tilted his head just a bit as he examined her.

"W-we haven't," she stammered, rapidly running through the list of excuses she had prepared for...well, not this scenario but in case someone engaged her in conversation. "I'm a bit of a recluse honestly. Normally not one for big affairs."

"I see. May I have your name?"

I can't give him my real name! she panicked. If he finds out I snuck in I may as well be signing my death warrant. Why didn't I think to come up with a false name to begin with?

"J-just call me Val," she managed to stammer out. Only her friend Noelle called her that, and she knew that the hyur woman would never give her up. His eyes flashed, and she wondered if he knew she was...well, not quite lying but not giving the whole truth either.

"Well, I do so love this song, would you honor me with a dance?" He asked smoothly, giving her hand a little tug towards the dance floor. I was trying not to draw attention!

"I, uh, of course," she stuttered, too far in to back out gracefully now. "The honor would be mine." A pause before she remembered. "Your Radiance."

"Now, now, let's not muddy this up with titles and addresses," he gave her a charming smile and he was going to be the death of her, she swore. "Just Solus is fine."

"Yes, your- Solus," she agreed quickly, and as he pulled her out onto the dance floor she couldn't help but wonder what she'd gotten herself into.