#sasslett

[zeloinator]

putting an arm around the other’s waist

(finally getting caught up with all the asks in ym inbox I'm so sorry it took wayyyyyy too long but pls enjoy some cuddly Zee and Erenville theyre so cute)

[quinn-borel]

Lucia!

She took a fist full of Coerthan tea leaves and, somewhat elegantly despite her iron-clad hands, dropped them into the hot milk to allow them to steep in the teapot. Closing the lid, she returned the intricately designed pot to the platter and sat it amongst its matching teacup.  Oh, well, a second teacup should probably be in order, the Lord Commander did have a guest after all.  It would be impolite to only serve him tea, but at the same time would anyone question a second teacup on the platter?  That guest was not necessarily supposed to be there so late in the evening…

Then again, only certain temple knights roamed the halls at such a late hour and would most likely pay her no mind.  Another cup was pulled from the cupboard and placed gently on its own saucer followed by a few biscuits and a tiny jar a birch syrup.  That would do for an evening tea...for two.

She slowly inhaled with a rough exhale to follow–it wasn’t the first time she had made this arrangement, nor would it be the last considering how things were going.  But having to discreetly deliver tea to her Lord Commander was an absurd measure that she felt she would never have had to take had he pursued his interests outside of working hours.  But alas, a man would be a man.  Somehow, Lucia thought more of him—he was a man who took his station seriously, a man who could not be moved by distractions...

And yet, there she stood, making tea for him and his distraction.  That’s all she really was to Lucia.  Not that she didn’t respect the Warrior of Light for all she had done for Ishgard, but Lucia had hoped that she would finally move on to other ventures once the Dragonsong War was over.  But no, that was far from the case as the Warrior of Light had secretly put her roots down within Borel manor for the time being.  

What used to be a fascination turned into infatuation—Lucia watched as moons passed while her Lord Commander grew fonder and fonder of this god-slaying adventurer.  It would be a lie to say that Lucia was not impressed with the woman’s reputation, but she was also aware from her intel the woman’s entire reputation.  Though the woman’s vices did not seem to bother the Lord Commander one bit, for he must have been able to see through her rough exterior.  He had a way with that.  

Like many others, Lucia expected him to eventually court a noblewoman despite his tendency to equate himself with the common man.  Though coming on the age of thirty two, Lucia simply expected that he had no interest in courting anyone and that he would spend his days leading the country with her at his side.  (Formally speaking, for Lucia cringed at the thought of others pairing her off with her employer.  She swore to be his shield and his right-hand solider, nothing more.  She wasn’t like her sister, after all…)

Yet, the world had its ways of surprising her.  As she carried the platter down the hall she remembered the day Aymeric had called her into his office to swear her to secrecy that he was courting the Warrior of Light.  Lucia recalled that she felt a small tinge of surprise, but moreover she had asked him if it was wise to pursue the woman who killed his father.  For sure there would be conspiracies floating about that could lead to more violence—the son of the Archbishop called for his assassination and then courts the assailant?  All while then being elected the official Speaker?  At best, minor whispers.  At worst, more fires and more violence.  But the Lord Commander urged her that he would be careful, and explained that he could no longer modestly deny himself the simple pleasures in life.  

A crack in his leadership, she thought.

But…a man will be a man.

Lucia approached his office door with refreshments in hand.  As she expected, in the silent hallways, the contents behind the door were as loud as ever.  A soft feminine giggle followed by the sound of the Lord Commander gently hushing her.  Lucia felt that it was her chance to enter and interrupt them before things escalated…

And as she opened the door, she heard Quinn scrambling to get off of the Lord Commander’s desk while her boss resituated himself at his seat.

“Oh, Lucia.” Aymeric said with what appeared to be relief, “It’s just you.”

“Yes, just me.” she replied rather flatly as she approached them with tea in hand, “I have prepared your tea to your liking, my lord...and provided a second cup for your guest.”

“Oh, ah, thank you, Lucia.” Quinn said rather bashfully, “I really appreciate it.”

“It’s no trouble.” Lucia eyed the pair–sure enough, they had been in the midst of sharing affections back and forth as Quinn had a clear mark on her neck from where the Lord Commander had done his work.  Quinn seemed to notice Lucia’s gaze and she quickly covered up the mark with her hand.

Aymeric cleared his throat in response, “Yes, thank you for the tea, Lucia.  I should be finished looking over those reports you handed me–”

“Take your time, my lord…I know your hands are…full.” she gave a bow and turned on her heel, dismissing herself from the room before the awkward tension cut through her armor.

Unfortunately, she would have to get used to the couple’s antics for quite some time.  

[johnnylandslide]

Lyse!

"Lyse, uh... now that we're up here, this is starting to look like not-as-good-an-idea-as-I-thought."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, we're a hundred yalms up, for one."

"I'm not going to fall off, and I know for a fact that you've survived worse. So! Next problem!"

"There's also, well. Mages don't really spar like this... If we're just fighting for fun, then you're perfectly capable of pulling your punches-"

"Not that I would."

"Not that you would, right. But I don't really know how to make a Fire IV safe to get hit by..."

"Oh, relax. I can take it!"

"Alright, if you say so. Are you sure, though? I could try just sticking to ice spells-"

"Okay, I've had enough of your concern. Here I come!"

"ACK!"

[mathemagiks]

(Behold: My gift for the #FFXIVswap going on! My giftee was @sasslett (which tumblr is being a real pain about tagging for some reason), and with how creative everone else's gifts have been so far, I thought I'd try something I haven't done since college: ink painting! I even did the old fashioned way with an inkstick/inkstone to boot.

I tried to get a clearer picture (and less wrinkles), but my paper just wasn't having it. Oh well. I hope that Jess enjoys it!)

[tsunael]

Yotsuyu!

describe your OC's feelings/relationship to an NPC.

Ohhh man Yotsuyu.

So, if I may go off on one before I actually answer the question... Yotsuyu was my favorite character before I played XIV. I remember seeing her illustration and went 'HER. I WANT HER.'

If you couldn't tell-- I have a type... lmao. Tsuna and her ended up looking really similar but ONLY because I based Tsuna on Yuko xxxHolic... and then they ended up having similar backstories, too but it wasn't intentional 😭 Even their names... Tsuyu... Tsuna... fuck.

SO ANYWAY it just kind of evolved into them being two sides of the same coin. Stormblood was a expansion for thematic foils for sure, but Yotsuyu is 100% Tsuna's.

Tsuna is an Au Ra with hang-ups regarding Hyur and Garlean alike. She was also a child who got sold into indentured servitude-- her saving grace was that it was to an okiya and not a brothel. She's a Raen! She's the sun! She embraces love!

Tsuna also condemns the Garleans for subjugating her people, and wants revenge for her family. Yotsuyu would work with the enemy to get back at her family. Listen, it just works. I didn't design it that way.

I mentioned before that the two of them are perfect foils and that's why.

What is their relationship, though? I will definitely have more on this when I get to Stormblood on my ng+ run, but for now I'll say it's in the same vein as my answer for Fordola. The only difference being is Tsuna sees herself in Yotsuyu, and that scares her more than anything Zenos could do.

Yotsuyu, however, sees her as nothing but an obstacle, and maybe there's potential for her to exhibit jealousy as well. After all, they were cut from the same cloth so why did Tsuna become what she did, while Yotsuyu was forced to crawl through the mud. 'What makes you so special' kind of thing. The answer is love, I suppose.

No matter what Yotsuyu did, I don't think Tsuna could forgive her for willingly siding with the Garleans. She displaced thousands of innocents for her own personal vendetta. Tsuna considers the people of Yanxia to be her people.

I still have yet to decide if they would have met previously in the story considering they would have both lived in the pleasure districts for most of their youth. It's undetermined where Yotsuyu's brothel was located but I'm assuming it would have been Yanxia before she razed it.

I also want a little bit of ho yay for them if I'm to be perfectly, unabashedly honest. They should be rivals. The Seifer to Tsuna's Squall. I just think Yotsuyu should tilt her chin up and blow smoke in her face. You know. You feel me? You get me?

That scene with Gosetsu in Namai... [clenches fist] it should have been Tsuna...

ANYWAY UM. THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS THAT THEY HATE EACH OTHER.

[zylphiacrowley]

Thoughts on... Hien!

Ooooh so this one is challenge mode since I was still very much figuring out X'vahl's storyline when I was playing through Stormblood so take this as an extremely rough draft: subject to change.

Seeing as X'vahl was really Going Through It:tm: during Stormblood with Gyr Abania being where he grew up and getting some extremely heartbreaking personal news around that time I feel like he was probably pretty numb to a lot of things going on around him around then. He was just sort of blindly following what people were asking of him with a vacant smile and little regards to his own well-being. That being said, I think he didn't really get to know Hien that well since he wouldn't have been in the right headspace to do so.

Stormblood is one of the parts that I really want to pay a lot more attention to upon a NG+ to really figure this one out better. I really appreciate the chance to think about it though and I'll need to figure out how he's feeling about Hien now as well.

[southshrouded]

Does your OC/WoL scare easily? If so, how do they react?

answers from the WoL Question Set

Ceres: oh absolutely. she's also pretty dangerous to be around when spooked, since she's got long nails and a tendency to start casting fire V.

Tonkatsu: she'll only be really scared if she's on her own. if she's with someone else it's much easier to assume the 'noble protector' role. unless it's yarzons. fuck yarzons.

Shio: channels his fear into annoyance. grimly competent. kinda spooky, tbh

[blackbirdffxiv]

✈️ — ever traveled anywhere interesting?

MUNDAY ASKS!

I haven't been anywhere TOO interesting, since sadly I don't have the means or even the ability to travel far (as besides my day job, I am technically a live-in caretaker) but there was at one point I did manage to go to the Outer Banks in North Carolina with a bunch of folks from my family.

It was fun, but definitely a bit of an experience on the beach, as the part I was in, we were allotted a private second of the beach specifically for people rending the condos and houses.

INCOMING STORYTIME:

So fun fact for those who don't know: the Outer Banks has wild horses. These horses often congregate on the beach. The same beach you're on during your time there.

Now me being the resident vampire (aka I burn super easily in the sun), I was just chilling under the beach, under the big umbrella, taking a bit of a snooze while everyone else went to have their fun. Now while I was passed out and my family was having their fun, NO ONE NOTICED the small herd of horses that found their way to me.

I woke up to the rather large nose of the baby horses right in my face.

My ability to sit perfectly still and calm in a terrifying situation had never been tested so strongly in my life.