#thesteggie

[aionimica]

Reylo 34!

prompt: masquerade

(its not exactly a masquerade, but i had a lot of feelings about masks ok)

edit: finally fixed what tumblr messed up

He doesn’t remember what he was like before. Every night when he doffs his armor and stares in the mirror, he sees his face, but it’s not the same. It’s never the same. Those eyes that once looked brightly to the night sky reflect back to him now, dim and tinted with a brand of sorrow he dare not name.

The dimple that Ben Solo once had remains there on his cheek, but its harder to find -- only pulled to the surface when contorted into a snarl of rage.

The mask he wears is carved by his own hands. The shape was chosen by Snoke, the panel across his mouth specifically modified, but it was honor enough. His voice chosen by his Master to say his words. It was all for him and all made by Kylo’s own hand.

It is heavy. It is confining. It is restriction. It is enough.

And then he sees her.

He had seen her so much in dreams, oh so often in dreams. And as he saw her more, he saw what she so often tried to hid away.

She wears a mask of sorrow and hope, hiding away the loss she knows. At first its the sun of Jakku, blinding away all other possibilities to the truth. Then it’s the hope of another -- Han and Luke and the Resistance -- even him -- anything for her to hold onto.

Her mask is so simple it melts into her skin, her freckles replicated one by one. Her smile is the same, and so are her eyes, but they are what show it’s a mask. He sees their tremor -- sees her and her falsehoods.

So does she.

He feels the burn of her eyes, that knowingness of her tongue as she says his name over and over. Her accusations strip him -- monster, she called him, so daring that he took of his mask for her. His face wasn’t himself, but it was the only thing he had left. And he’d have her know him by no other way.

When he sees her again, his mask is shattered. Hers is torn.

She reaches out and he takes her hand.

They hold each other close as they push each other away, their masks left behind.

In the end, it’s all the same.

[stephicness]

Ravus and Luna Banter being siblings ?

I got another person who asked me about Ravus and Luna banter, so let’s go ahead and do dis! >:D

If Lunafreya and Ravus Were Party Members… (Banter)

Prompto: “Wow. The Oracle, Lady Lunafreya. Princess of Tenebrae…!”

Lunafreya: “Yes, Sir Prompto?”

Prompto: “And she calls me sir. Like a knight!”

Ravus: “Lunafreya, do not show him kindness. He will take advantage of it and lust for compliments.”

Prompto: “Rude…”

—

Gladiolus: “Little cramped back here…”

Noctis: “You think?”

Prompto: “I think Rae’s claw is digging into my thigh.”

Ravus: “Or rather, your thigh is digging into my claw.”

Lunafreya: “Are you all alright? Perhaps we should make a stop the car and readjust our positions…?”

Ignis: “Pay no mind to their suffering, Lady Lunafreya. They can sort it out themselves.”

—

Noctis: “Hey, you’re pretty good at handling a trident, Luna.”

Lunafreya: “Thank you, Prince Noctis. I have learned from the best, after all.”

Prompto: “Bet she’d be pretty good at handling-”

Ravus: “Finish that statement, and you will cease to have either head of yours, Argentum.”

—

Ignis: “Are things are as dire as the reports claim, Lady Lunafreya? We heard that the situation with Niflheim has only been escalating since Ravus’s escape.”

Lunafreya: “I am afraid it is. The Starscourge continues to spread, and the prophecy needs to be fulfilled. Now more than ever.”

Gladiolus: “That’s alot of weight to carry, that’s for sure…”

Lunafreya: “It is… But that is why I will do whatever I may to aid Prince Noctis fulfilling his duty. That is, if he will allow me to travel with you all.”

Noctis: “Of course I’d allow it, Luna. You’re always welcome with us.”

Lunafreya: “Oh! I did not meant your approval, Noctis. I meant my brother’s.”

Ravus: “And I am giving this endeavor second thoughts with each passing second…”

—

Lunafreya: “Oh! Dear Ravus! Did you notice the bakery that we passed by? The strawberry cake looked delicious, and-”

Ravus: “You purchased a cake there, didn’t you?”

Lunafreya: “…It looked delightful, though.”

Ravus: “…I at least hope that you plan on sharing a slice with me, Lunafreya.”

Prompto: “Ooh, cake?! Can I have some?”

Ravus: “No.”

—

Gladiolus: “So where exactly is Luna going to sleep anyways…? It’s hard enough having five guys in a tent together.”

Lunafreya: “Oh! I will be satisfactory enough sleeping outside of the tent. I would simply need a blanket and-“

Ravus & Ignis: “Most certainly not.”

Prompto: “She could just sleep in the tent with us! We can bundle up.”

Ravus & Noctis: “Hell no.”

Lunafreya: “…Perhaps I should just let you all decide. I am fine with whatever you decide.”

—

Lunafreya: “Sir Prompto, what were the lyrics of that song that you sang earlier?”

Prompto: “Which one? I can sing any song you like!”

Lunafreya: “It is a song about…Birds? Riding a bird, I think!”

Prompto: “Oh! ‘I want to ride my chocobo all day~’”

Lunafreya: “Yes! That is the song! Now that you know the lyrics, you can sing it for me. Right, dear Ravus?”

Ravus: “I never agreed to this…”

—

Noctis: “So, uh… Luna. Did you my reply…? In the book, I mean.”

Lunafreya: “I did yes! Did you get my response in return.”

Noctis: “Your response…? No.”

Ravus: “But I did, Lunafreya. How long has this exchange been occurring, by the way, and when were you going to discuss this matter with me?”

Noctis: “Shit…”

—

Ravus: “Lunafreya! Are you alright? Did the daemons bring you any harm?”

Lunafreya: “No, I am fine, Ravus!”

Gladiolus: “Pretty sure she was kicking ass when you weren’t looking, Ravus.”

Lunafreya: “Indeed! Though my dress is stained with dirt and daemon blood now…”

Ravus: “The struggle to maintain white attire is one you will get to understand well, Lunafreya…”

Lunafreya: “One we shall master in the end, I am sure.”

—

Gladiolus: “So how come Luna’s sunshine and rainbows and Ravus is all…”

Noctis: “Doom and gloom?”

Prompto: “Death and despair?”

Lunafreya: “Grumpy faces and brooding…?”

Ravus: “Lunafreya, please…”

[ffxvcaps]

Salty ask list 1 7 19

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?*

I’m not sure if there’s any out there but Ardyn/anyone. 

Ardyn is trash. He’s a great villain no denying that, but to ship him with anyone or thing I dunno it doesn’t mesh with his character. Well shipping him with his hat I guess I can understand???!?!????????? 

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?*

The whole argument of Versus XIII and how it was a better concept. It was a concept that didn’t go through and people still complaining about it is getting extremely old. I agree it was a unique and interesting concept but people need to learn to let things go. Let it go~ Let it go~~

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

(I answered this before but I’ll just cut and paste my response)

The shipping wars more specifically people forcefully insisting a pairing be cannon.

It’s great that people ship characters together but to get it shoved in your face is totally off putting (This is NOT the way to bring more supporters to that ship).

[cho-sekiei]

thesteggie replied to your post: Here’s a classified version of ‘Writing...

I’m so happy there’s a Chapter 223

thesteggie replied to your post: Here’s a classified version of ‘Writing...

*221 see I’m.. I’m

Trust me, there's a chapter 223. ;) and 224... and 225... and 226... and... well, you see where I'm going with this. :p

We're nowhere near done. 😜💞

[aionimica]

thesteggie replied to your post: TOP 5 favorite costumes in star wars!

But all Rey’s outfits are battle outfits? lol do you mean all of them

her new one in TLJ (the throne room outfit) has been called the Battle Rey by the Rebel Legion for cosplaying so i got into the habit of calling it that haha. but it’s the throne room outfit!

[stephicness]

Could you elaborate a bit on Gladio's betrayal in the early development? Also about the even sadder ending? I didn't know about these. Thanks!

Thank the Astrals you asked me about this because I really like talking about it. :D And after talking about it briefly before, I wanted to talk a bit more in depth about it since it’s such an important piece of the development with Gladiolus, and it explains alot about Chapter 10.

So there’s something that some Final Fantasy XV fans don’t like, and that’s bringing up the Versus XIII development. But I have to bring it up when I talk about Gladiolus in the game because this is SUPER important, especially as we see the storyboards of the game being released during the Osaka exhibit recently. So get ready, because we’re gonna talk about Versus XIII, my friends!

To start off, let’s talk about the original basis of Versus XIII and pre-development XV. As we get with the current game, Noctis is off with his allies on a quest to meet with Lunafreya after Insomnia falls to help stop Niflheim from taking over the lands. We get that idea in the original game too, with Noctis and his friends trying to stop Niflheim from bringing Eos to ruin.

But here’s where the first important part of Gladiolus’s characterization came in. In the original plotline, we have, of course, Niflheim betraying Lucis during a peace negotiation, right? However, this is one of the biggest catalyst moments that really change how we see Gladiolus and his character because this plotline was purposed during the pre-development and was written as this during Versus XIII. What am I talking about exactly?

I’m talking about that it wasn’t a Nif that killed Regis like in Kingsglaive. It was Clarus that killed Regis.

You know in the promo art how we see this old looking fart with those amber colored eyes? Where all those faces are lined up and all? Yup. That dude was supposed to be Clarus, as I recall. In the original plotline, it was Clarus that had decided that Regis was unfit for the throne and ultimately betrays him under the guise of Niflheim’s assault on Lucis. It was a far deeper political struggle than it let on, with Clarus thinking Regis wasn’t worthy of the throne, and so he wanted to become king. That sort of thing. Because the entire game is about tragedy and betrayal.

You see what I’m hinting at with this? Because as the game progresses, it’s Gladio that takes up after his father and begins to doubt Noctis’s ability to become king. It’s shown and referenced in the current game too as Gladiolus essentially calls Noctis a little bitch for mourning, and tells Noctis that if he isn’t ready to become king as this point, he should just give up. Kinda messed up when Gladiolus had given Noctis a speech about his duty to make sure Noctis gets back to the throne and all. So it seemed a little odd with that scene being there and then there being no real resolve to it until ten years later when suddenly they’re trying to be buddy buddy before the final battle.

Because, get this – the original plotline called for Gladiolus to betray Noctis. Not just go darkside a bit and then come back after he had a change of heart. Gladiolus literally was an enemy in the original game that you fought against as an antagonist. Because Gladiolus wasn’t going to let someone unfit for the throne continue to be in line for it. Gladiolus still wanted to be friends with Noctis, but the idea of the throne being taken over by someone supposedly as bad as Regis (Clarus might have told Gladio about his dislike for Regis) was something that drove the two apart. And it eventually resulted in Gladiolus only reconciling with Noctis… But not after it was Clarus that kills Gladiolus. Albeit, Clarus was trying to kill Noctis, but Gladiolus still had a loyalty to his friend, just not to his friend being on the throne.

So from the original storyline, Gladiolus’s story was not a happy one. Hell, the entire game wasn’t going to be happy. But with how Square wanted to maintain what conflict Gladio and Noctis had during the newer revamp of the game, they didn’t handle it well because Gladiolus and Noctis were never able to make-up with one another. Because the argument they had, I feel, was meant to have a tragic end. Heck, Noctis had to go through the entire game feeling this sense of despair everywhere he went. Gladiolus died protecting Noctis, Prompto had betrayed Noctis because he was still obedient to his father, Verstael. The only two people who remained loyal to Noctis at the end of the game was Ignis, whom lived, and Stella, who was sickened but still lived as well. This game was far from nice to Noctis and Gladiolus, that’s for certain.

So I hold a little bit of grumpiness about how Square handled Gladiolus because of what we know from the Versus XIII original story. With how the original plot was, I feel like they should have rewritten Gladiolus a little bit more to apply some closure after such a harsh argument like that, especially when that argument was designed to have terrible repercussions at the end of it. If they either decided to pick the original story and went with it or reworked the new story alot more between Gladiolus and Noctis, things would have been much much smoother in Chapter 10, that’s for certain.

[stephicness]

I've been clicking on the links to the songs that you put in your ask memes. I LOVE all those songs! Could you share a couple of other songs you like?

Ah! I’m glad that you like my music selection. :D I like listening to a bunch of different things, because you can never get too much music!

Um… I think in my Spotify gallery (this excludes my iTunes music library) I have almost 4000 songs or so…? Probably exaggerating. But after playing my music for an entire day, I only ever make it about an eighth of the way more or less. ouo;; What I can do for you, Steggie, is shuffle some songs and then give you my recs as they come up. :D Here’s about twenty of them for you! (Because 20 songs equals about 80 minutes of music, right? More or less?)Strong recommendations are bolded!

B-Team by Mariana’s Trench

Clear (Shawn Wasabi Remix) by Pusher & Mothica

If So by Atlas Genius

Trouble by Coldplay

Like This by Steam Phunk

Insomniac by Timeflies

Sad Machine by Porter Robinson

Meant to Live by Switchfoot

Closer by Elephante feat. Bishop

Fences by Paramore

Californiacation by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Wonderwall (Oasis Cover) by Cartel

How The Day Sounds by Greg Laswell

Kiss Me Slowly by Parachute

The Beast and the Harlot by Avenged Sevenfold

Dreams by Rogue feat. Laura Brehm

Bliss by Muse

Worlds Apart by Seven Lions feat. Kerli

I Slept With Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me by Fall Out Boy

We Don’t Care by Let’s Get It

And a bonus – Because I feel like I have to mention these songs too.

Reckless (Gareth Emery & Luke Bond Remix) by Gareth Emery feat. Wayward Daughter

Nightcore This by S3RL feat. Tamika

Thunderstruck by Owl City

Nowhere by FRENSHIP

Anti-Gravity by RUNAGROUND

There you go, friend! Lots of music to listen to. :D And the good part? All of this is on Spotify! So you can throw these into a playlist, save them to your library, the whole shibang~

[stephicness]

Just wanna say you're a wonderful person! <3 With all the s___ being thrown around the fandom (excuse my language), surrounding that Square Enix survey, you remain so positive even though your favorite character is completely left out (;___;). Your positivity is inspiring. Thanks​ for being a ray of sunshine in the fandom.

D’aw, Steggie…! lksjelkrs It’s so kind that you’re complimenting me, but I just way to try my best to be optimistic about the situation. c: Like, it’s weird to say since I’m only twenty-one (twenty-two tomorrow though! Yippee!), but I was one of those people who waited eagerly for FFXV since the first release trailer ten years ago. Despite me wanting to have the game with all of these expectations and promises I wanted them to keep, I’m quite content in what was given because they truly were ambitious in what they wanted to do.

Of course, I could always go for some more of that delightful commander in my life, but I’m pleased enough just seeing some other content ideas getting some love! :D

Final Fantasy XV truly is a great game, and one that tried to accomplish alot through its complications and the like. I mean, it was threatened to be canceled completely after Tetsuya Nomura was asked to leave the project due to his excessive work-load (and apparently because he wanted Versus XIII to be a musical?? Silly rumors~). So that’s why it was so rough when Tabata took over afterwards. He was given a brutal deadline to shape Nomura’s vision into something that wasn’t Nomura’s vision, and basically had to start with nothing more than the names of the four main characters.

But think about it: in four years, Square Enix was able to reshape the world of Final Fantasy XV, expanding it into something that new and old fans can really enjoy – bringing in faster combat systems that really flow together, and bringing in the potential to be able to explore now. To learn about the world through your own adventures and really making it a fun experience rather than being spoon-fed all this information with bad acting and a generally confusing plot that just seemed like it tried to much (I love you FFXIII! Honest to god, I do~). It was ambitious because the game had to be created from scratch not once, but twice in a row.

I don’t know about you, but world-building is hard to do. Even when you have all the time of the world, the world never does feel complete, you know? So the fact that Tabata and his team created this world, created these characters and their stories, generated a plot that was clear enough to hopefully achieved and keep interesting, and create assets that made this game unique over its predecessors – and not to mention made a game that didn’t ‘fail’ as much as FFXIII had supposedly had – that proved to be one hell of a challenge that Tabata and his team are still trying to resolve. It’s intense, and most companies would have just given up once the game was released. But Tabata and his team? They’re still trying. They were forced to put out the game for the sake of sales, and yet they’re still trying their best to make sure that this game is what the fan’s want, and is something the fans truly want to invest and become attached to.

And honestly, that’s super sweet and kind of Square Enix to do! And what’s more is that a good majority of this content – besides specific plans for the Episodes and the Comrades DLC (and a few others maybe) – is free to the players. They’re trying to patch-in more story cutscenes, like how they did with Verse 2 and discussing Ravus’s death. They’re trying to introduce play assets that will get players to keep coming back and play more – like the timed hunts and fixes to the Armigers and other features that they want to do. They’re trying so hard, and I think that’s really admirable in an industry where most companies seem to only value ways to make money over ways to make the artistic story more refined.

So yeah, I feel very positive and optimistic about what Square Enix is doing, and even though I see people’s disgruntled viewpoints, I hope that they can see the light of the situation. Square Enix is trying their best, and FOR SURE, a good majority of this content will come to light. But it takes time and support. Kinda like with fanfic writers and artists, you know? If you give them support, feedback, and positivity, they’ll keep trying their hardest to create lovely things and maintain their passion for their work! If you berate them and show hatred and loathing towards them, they’ll be more inclined to stop and lose track of their passion. You get what I mean, right?

So I remain positive, and I give Square Enix my loyal support in their hard work for the franchise! :D And I hope too that you guys will give your support too for the development team that gave us such a great game~