#ffxiv tansui

[thevikingwoman]

Kugane datenight!

Meryta Khatin & Tansui by @artctrlcee

thank you so much for this very cute commission, it was so lovely to work with you. I love how adorable they look!

[riceballgremlin]

[thevikingwoman]

This was a bit experimental, more of a vibe than a story but I decided to post. Yes this is for a February event, but sometimes this is how it goes.

Fandom: FFXIV Words: 465 Read on Ao3 For XIV Hearts Ablaze, day 5

Tansui x Meryta Khatin | no specific timeframe | fluff Rating: M. Very much fluff, introspection. Mention of sexual situation

Hands

Meryta’s hands, he finds, are a contradiction.

When she’s curled up next to him in bed, when she laughs and smiles and waves to him. When she runs her hands through his hair -- in all those instances, it seems her hands should be soft and delicate. She’s not particularly small for an aura woman, but that still means she’s small compared to him. He should be rough or rugged next to her; his hands marked by wear and work in contrast to hers.

(And sometimes he does feels uncouth and rugged, he knows she rubs shoulders with nobles and kings and leaders – but then she’s smile and cook dinner and make something practical with those hands of hers, and she’s just a girl. Or a wild and wonderful thing from the steppe, rougher and stranger than him.)

She’s small and he can pick her up – and he will, tossing her on the bed, holding her close, enveloping her like she’s fragile. Like he needs to protect her. The way she looks, pretty and curvy. The way she smiles, and flirts, sweet and teasing. Swishing her tail. She’s feminine and sexy, and downright cute. Soft and pretty.

So, her hands, they should be soft and delicate. Perhaps it’s somewhat old-fashioned of him, but sometimes that is who he sees, when she’s laughing and flirting, her eyes full of joy when she looks at him. A sweet girl with delicate hands.

But of course, it’s not so. She’s a warrior, using her bow, sword, katana, and which ever other weapon might fall into her hands. And when she doesn’t fight, she uses her hand to work, shaping metal and wood. Some days he thinks she only rests when she’s with him – and even then she can’t help a quick workout or something to fiddle with.

In truth, her hands are rough and calloused, worn by her life and deeds. So much like his own, smaller, but not delicate.

He enjoys holding them as if they are, kissing the tips of her fingers, the palms of her hands. Having them on him, both gently and ferocious.

Meryta is a strength and furor, with power to topple the world in those hands. But what she does is save it. Like she cradles the whole damn universe in those hands.

He kisses them again.

He’s seen those hands kill, he knows enemy after impossible enemy fall before her.

He’s seen her hands create, mending a simple shirt or forging a beautiful blade.

He’s felt her hands tenderly, brushing a lock of his hair out his face.

He’s felt them -- all over, wandering across his body, sliding down his chest until they grip his cock, firm and tender and rough and delicate.

A contradiction that is not a contradiction at all.

divider credit: @myreia

[thevikingwoman]

Meryta & Tansui by @hanseelie

Sometimes you can be just some guy and get to relax in the lap of The Most Important Girl In The World

I adore the tenderness and the colors and details of this, thank you so much Hannah! This quiet moment has my whole heart.

[thevikingwoman]

Tansui ponders the small changes in his life since Meryta, the warrior of light, barged into it.

Fandom: FFXIV Words: 187 Read on Ao3 For XIV Hearts Ablaze, day 1

Tansui x Meryta Khatin | Sometime in the SB patches | fluff Rating: G. Very much fluff, introspection.

Flowers

It’s a small thing, and It wasn’t something he paid attention to at first. He was, well, enamored enough with Meryta herself as she dropped in and out of his life, a force of nature. There’s always something new going on in her life too. Another enemy, a new task, a new place she’d been. Fighting Garleans one day, auspices the next.

At some point, however, he noticed. No matter what she was doing, or what her tasks demanded of her, there was always flowers in her hair. It was usually different, lilies or cherry blossoms or violas or something exotic he didn’t recognize.

He noticed, especially because they ended up in his room. She took them out to sleep, or they fell out in a bout of their passion.

He smiles when he picks up a flower she left behind. It’s half withered, but it looked lovely in her hair, a pale yellow matching her strands. He plucked it out of her hair himself last night.

Somewhere, half-withered flowers had become part of his room, the sweet smell of them a familiar part of his home.

divider credit: @myreia

[thevikingwoman]

Sometimes Meryta still has nightmares, and sometimes luckily Tansui is there to help.

Fandom: FFXIV Words: 480 Read on Ao3 For XIV Hearts Ablaze, day 2

Tansui x Meryta Khatin | After Endwalker 6.0 | fluff Rating: Teen. Nightmares and bad dreams, soothing and loving, endwalker spoilers, implied sexual content, romance, humor

Nightmare

Meryta doesn't remember the time after Ultima Thule much. She doesn't remember the nightmares that plagued her. Alisaie told her how they kept watch while she recovered, barely conscious. How she would wake screaming or crying, only to fall back into sleep.

She's thankful it's all a fuzzy blur to her; the pain and the broken bones and the weakness and the nightmares. She mostly remembers the relief of success, the content joy of realizing her friends had somehow, impossibly, made it - and so had she.

It’s over and done with. They won.

Some days though, the nightmares return.

The sky burns, fire trailing rocks as they rain from above. Monsters devour everyone around her. Herself, slowly turning into a horror. Dark swirls of despair creeping across the world. Her friends, vanishing into nothing.

Terrifying fragments of things that happened and things that didn’t and nothing she can fight, punch, kill.

She tries, in some dreams. In other she is rooted, shining blackness that’s bright as neverending day slowly drag her under while the world burns.

In the worst ones; she is stuck, weak and crawling while she watches herself slaughter her friends.

The days when the nightmares return, she wakes gasping, shaking, kicking, screaming. Disoriented, sweat clinging to her.

“Meryta. It’s okay, my love. It’s alright.”

A cool hand brushing gently against her cheek, a presence without restricting her.

“Breathe.”

She does. Tansui’s palm is calloused, cupping her cheek. His hair brush against her throat.

She’s in his bed.

Inhale. Exhale.

He’s safe.

Inhale. Exhale.

Her friends are safe.

Inhale. Exhale.

The world is safe.

Inhale. Exhale.

The tension leaves her, and she clutches him, pulls him close. Her nose fills with the scent of him, sea and sweat and safety.

“Thank you,” she mumbles against his chest. “Nightmare.”

She should be stronger than that, but somehow this is worse than a real thing she can fight. The way her mind twists and blends things together, having to make sense of it, how disjointed she feels when she wakes up, struggling to remember it’s senseless and not real.

“I figured, with the kicking and punching,” Tansui’s says, his voice bringing her back to the present again.

“Did I hurt you?” She normally doesn’t move much when she sleeps, but now…

“Nothing serious.”

She turns and runs her across his chest. 

“You sure? I’m sorry, I just – “

“Well, maybe a kiss would make it better.”

She kisses him, right on the collarbone.

“A little lower perhaps.”

She kisses his chest, the top of his belly.

“I’m afraid it was lower still.”

“Really,” she grins. She scoots down and kisses the top of his knee.

“Hm, mayhaps I should show you where,” Tansui says.

“Mayhaps you should.”

Laughing, he pulls her up across his body, until he can kiss her inner thigh. Meryta giggles, and gasps.

Her nightmare is soon forgotten.

divider credit: @myreia

[thevikingwoman]

Wrapping up with the last of the XIV Hearts Ablaze posts, some friendship - but it's romantic too, I swear. Skipped one day, late and all, but the prompts were so delightful. Thank you @fourteenthz!

Fandom: FFXIV Words: 1204 Read on Ao3 For XIV Hearts Ablaze, day 7

Meryta Khatin & Serendipity, background Meryta Khatin x Tansui | Shadowbringers patches | friendship Rating: G. Friendship, goldsmithing, slight shb patch spoilers, inability to stay aloof about your lover

Gift

The sun is already high in the clear, blue sky when she's heading out again. She meant to leave earlier – but, well, she had reasons to stay. Tansui’s still half dressed, his haori casually tossed on a chair. She’s all but certain it’s a plot to keep her from leaving. It’s almost working.

"Wait a minute," Tansui says, and heads to his small dressing drawer to sweep something off the top. Whatever ii is, it’s small enough to fit in his hand.

Curiously, she meets him in the middle of the room, her sandals still outside. He opens his palm to a small pile of pearls - tiny but almost perfectly round.

 “Oh! These are pretty.”

“Went diving for oysters the other day and – they’re not much but I thought you’d like them.” He shrugs uncertainly.

 “They’re lovely. I’ll just - she roams around for a small pouch in her bag, and holds it out for him. “Here. I don’t want them to scratch. Thank you, Tansui.” He gently pours them in.

“You’re welcome.”  

She stands on her toes and kisses him, one hand resting on his bare chest. It’s not her fault he’s barely dressed.

Later, after she’s checked in on everyone in Mor Dhona, recovering under Tataru’s watchful eye, she takes the pearls out in the inn room she rented in Ul’dah. They’re nice to touch, but she’s not sure what to do with them. Delicate, in a way. She hasn’t worked with such small pearls before, and she wonders if they would shatter if she tried to drill a hole – she’s seen pearls on strings before but she has never made any herself.

The next day, she makes her way to the goldsmith’s guild. There’s some festival going on, and the streets are unusually busy. She pushes through the throng of people, the dirt of the city kicked up and covering everyone in grit. Ul’dah has too many walls, and too many streets, too many people – but she manages to find her way.

“Meryta!”  Serendipity jumps up from her desk – it looks like she’s doing paperwork, of all things – and runs to hug her. “I have not seen you for too long, are you well? “

She squeezes the other woman back. “How are you, Srendipity. And how’s Gifi?”

“I’m good, it’s good! And good as can be.” Meryta looks around, but Gigi is nowhere to be seen. She can’t quite decide if she’s relieved or concerned.  “What brings you by, Meryta?”

“I was in the area, and I need some advice.”

“Of course!” Serendipity pats the bench next to her, and shoves the paperwork away.

Meryta sits and pulls out the small pouch, then carefully pours the pearls out into an empty gem tray.

“Tiny pearls! They’re adorable.”

“They’re from the Far East. The Ruby Sea.”

“Did you fish them up yourself?” Serendipity is ever fascinated that Meryta insists on getting her own materials.

“No – they’re a gift.” She says it evenly, thinking of the heat of Tansui’s hand against hers when he handed them to her. Remembering   he looked, bare chest and feet, disheveled hair.  

“A gift giver met on your far journeys…. Oh!” Serendipity gasps. “A lover?”

“Am I that transparent?”

Serendipity laughs. “Or perhaps I have a good imagination – And jewelry and gemstones is a traditional gift between sweethearts, you know.”

“I want to make something with them, but I’m not sure what.” Meryta cuts to the chase, hoping to avoid more questions about her love life. “I think they’re too small for a ring. I know people wear pearl necklaces and bracelets, but I’m not sure that’s what I want. And I’ve never attempted to drill a hole in a pearl.”

“That drilling is easy – I’ll show you. It’s easier than most stones, so you just have to be careful with the pressure. It won’t be a problem for someone with delicate hands like yours.” Serendipity carefully picks up a pearl, holding it gently between her fingertips. “I do think there’s too few for a bracelet or necklace – unless you add some other gems. That might work.”

“I’d like –” she hadn’t really thought of what she’d like to do. She likes making things, she’s good at it, the intricate work no issue. But designs -especially for herself – is not her strong suit. What did she want? “I want to highlight the pearls.”

“Oh! I know. How about earrings? Or – in your case horn rings? You do wear them, right?”

Meryta laughs. “The fasting is a little more complicated, but yes.”

“I thought so.”

Serendipity nods and grabs one of her papers and flips it to the blank back, and picks up a pen. Meryta is slightly concerned about the columns of numbers on the other side – it looks important – but clearly Serendipity is not.

“I have an idea. Let’s sketch it out.”

Meryta spends the next few days in Ul’dah, working on the earrings. Thankfully, the festival is over and the streets are more quiet, and she can begrudgingly appreciate the bustle of the city when it’s not overcrowded. Serendipity had suggested a triangle to match a trio of pearls. Meryta finds a few gems, equally tiny, to accent them without taking the focus away from the pearls.

“It turned out so pretty,” Serendipity says, when she’s done. It really did. The balance is perfect, three pearls balancing the asymmetrical triangle, carefully engraved to Meryta’s whim. Two small diamonds, a white and black, provides contrast without overshadowing the smooth pearls.

“Thank you for your help, Serendipity,” Meryta says as she fastens it in her horn. She made two, but she like wearing just the one. Her life is rough and if something happens, she has another. Besides, it looks more interesting. She shakes her head a little, it’s not too heavy.

“It was nothing! The work is all yours. But I’m so glad you came by.”

“Me too.” She runs her finger over the pearls, feeling the smoothness against her fingertips.

Serendipity takes a step back, and looks her over as her hand falls away from the earring.

“It suits you.” Serendipity nods. “Very nice.” She leans closer again. “Have you shown them? Your lover?”

“I have not not. He’s – in the Far East.”  Meryta runs her hand over them again. “I’d like to think of him when I wear it.”

“That’s so charming.” The other woman beams. “And he’s so far away! I wonder what it’s like there. Perhaps – never mind me. I’m sure he will be delighted you think of him.”

Meryta nods. He is far away, but technically close to her home. Though it’s not her home anymore. She’s not sure where is home, and no matter where she goes it feels like there are people who recognize her. She brushes the thought away. There are friends everywhere too, now. She smiles at Serendipity.

“I hope he will be, and thank you again. It was so nice being back in your workshop.”

“Between your scion business and a secret lover, I guess you’re keeping busy.  But now I think we should get coffee in Gold Court, and you can tell me all about him.”

“You can’t gossip. Or tell Gigi.”

Serendipity laughs and drags her along.

divider credit: @myreia

[thevikingwoman]

okay I did not know you could go to garlandtools.org and find NPC info including height and skintones and all the features selected, weapons etc. Very neat!

Anyway, I didn't realize the base haircolor for Tansui is not black but dark purple? interesting. I'm fine with black/dark brown too (as he's from Hingashi originally so natural black hair fits along with his brown eyes) , but it's good too know!

I'm also somehow delighted his muscletone is 100% lmao