MEIKO MOCHIKOKO
SISTER. DANCER. SCION OF THE SEVENTH DAWN. ENDWALKER.
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Sweet Seals For You, Always
RMH
Misplaced Lens Cap

if i look back, i am lost

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ellievsbear
Mike Driver

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DEAR READER
taylor price
Cosimo Galluzzi

JBB: An Artblog!

祝日 / Permanent Vacation
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occasionally subtle
art blog(derogatory)

tannertan36
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
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@vierandancer
MEIKO MOCHIKOKO
SISTER. DANCER. SCION OF THE SEVENTH DAWN. ENDWALKER.
what to know verses | modern/non-FF verse info | tracker | tag directory
🍸+ "How well do you believe you can say the alphabet backwards in your state?" — Fray
Send ‘🍸’ and a question to get a drunk answer from my muse.
"S'funny ye think I can say th'alphabet backwards sober."
🍸+ "When was the last time you drank water? Your face is so bloody red right now." — Alisaie
Send ‘🍸’ and a question to get a drunk answer from my muse.
"There is water in th'booze, Alisaie," she points at the liquid in the mug.
🍸 Is it true that the amount of gil that Alphinaud spent on a sword is enough to purchase a house?
Send ‘🍸’ and a question to get a drunk answer from my muse.
"S'true tae an extent -- I dinnae know how much it was he spent. Enough tae upset Tataru, aye, but --" She waved her hand. "Listen. Listen. Alphinaud's a wee lad. Aye, he's done a lot -- he's still a boy. Let him make mistakes, so long as he learned from 'em! And Ta definitely made sure he learned from 'em. So no harm, no foul."
🍸 Are you scared of Nashmeira?
Send ‘🍸’ and a question to get a drunk answer from my muse.
"Scared? It's, uh..." The question isn't difficult, but she's having trouble finding the words for her opinion. "S'no fear, per se. Intimidated? Aye, a fuck ton. But she's no evil... jus' a hardass."
And wouldn't you be intimidated, too, if this woman introduced you to what full body waxes were?
Send ‘🍸’ and a question to get a drunk answer from my muse.
@deathblossomed
Meiko had done her damnedest to ignore everything that could be identified as 'supernatural' her entire life. It was around elementary school time that she started to notice things that others did not; and when she pointed them out, she got weird looks. So, what was her best course of action? Pretend she did not see them.
It worked for the most part. Playing dumb wasn't that difficult for her, considering where her personal priorities lay. But when she accidentally walked into a specific bar -- the Zen Lounge -- to apply for a position after high school, she fucked all her efforts over in one fell swoop.
"Dinnae understand how we even get these channels..."
There was another tournament being broadcast in the bar, featuring a variety of demons beating the tar out of each other. Even years after accepting the position here, working in this strange little bar that acted as neutral territory for humans and demons alike, Mei tried not to think too hard about what she witnessed. Still, the idea of something as mundane as a TV station being run by a bunch of demons was kind of funny...
But questions beget more questions. So she turned back to cutting limes, not expecting any of the distracted patrons to answer. She didn't even look up when she heard the door open, although she did call out a greeting.
"Welcome tae th'Zen Lounge! Seat yerself."
More About Azem/Lux below the cut!
Read More'd for EW spoilers.
It's a dismissal that at first he feels is only obligatory, that is up until the mention of her own issue with being... unexpected. Depression lifting for a moment, suppose he had also never seen a dancing rabbit before... And that wasn't a bad thing. He wasn't scared, or anything like it seeing her- well other than being a bit anxious prior, but that was more so out of fear of causing problems !
❝It's been like this for years now.❞ Moving a hand to reach up and touch a short horn atop his head. ❝Cause of these things. I don't like them either, but I don't think they're that scary.❞
Lymlaeyn's tits, he had horns too? Meiko hadn't noticed those. She was too busy distracted by why was this cat lad so godsdamned big? His height alone had been enough to worry most passersby -- usually only Garleans were that tall -- but aye. Upon closer inspection, his big arse ears were actually ears and horns.
It sounded like he didn't have much control over them, either. That was not good, probably.
"Aye, that seems... like a headache." She wasn't trying to be funny, it was just the first phrase that popped into her mind.
"So, what're ye doin' oot here? Just wanderin' about, or trying tae get somewhere...?" He appeared to be harmless, which only made her feel like she should escort him somewhere before there was a more drastic misunderstanding.
at some point i have to read the ffxiv school au manga somewhere so i can shove meiko into that too
the steps that lead emet-selch out and along the rotunda's bridge are silent things, ghostly footfalls from a hijacked body he knows all too well how to wield. no one would see him enter, just as no one would see him leave, as is always the ways of an ascian. that golden gaze finds meiko all too easily in turn ( he's always watching, always trying to glean what her next steps may be ), landing on her back as he spies her against the bridge's railing.
❝ cannot sleep? ❞ he drawls, marking his arrival at a distance, as if at least having the courtesy not to make her jump— not too hard, anyway. a gloved finger is tracing along the shape of the railing at his side, tapping against the metal, slow steps further narrowing the gap between them.
❝ to think you fought so hard to bring about darkness to the sky, yet here you still stand, like a cog that is simply incapable of remaining still. what could possibly be keeping our champion awake, if not that blinding, primordial light? ❞ it's hard to deny the amusement on his tongue, nipping at her heels in a way that poses more annoyance that threat. the way he stares at meiko in this moment is one of assessment, looking through her into what she herself cannot see. whether he finds something there or not, he doesn't acknowledge it outwardly, that easy smile remaining.
...Annnnd her peace was shattered. Unsurprisingly.
"Ye fuckin' Ascians really love tae hear yerself talk, don't ye?" She tipped her head down, taking a breath and pushing herself off of the railing she had been leaning against as she spun to face him.
"Unlike my wee brother, am not gonnae just listen tae ye ramble on like a lad hallucinatin' from crotchrot, so say yer peace an' fuck off."
It has been quite a while since I've written anything regarding Meiko 's mindset shift since ARR so ~~
Meiko was a Viera born among the Rava. Her birth mother was a bit naive, and got too emotionally attached to the Wood Warder she had lain with. Despite hearing there were strangers spotted nearby (likely Garleans), she wanted to introduce their daughter to him when Mei was about two.
Instead, she was captured by slavers. I will keep the gritty details out, but Meiko witnessed her mother suffer various abuse before she was murdered. Though Mei has no conscious memory of that, the trauma still very much imbedded itself into her psyche.
Meiko was then put on the slaver ship among other stolen women, who fortunately didn't make it to their distributors. Her would-be adoptive father Mokoko was among a crew of pirates that raided the ship (not knowing they were slavers initially) and set them free; Mei, the youngest and most helpless at the time, looked up at him with her big baby rabbit eyes and he said oh this one's mine.
But Mokoko didn't really think the plan through. He took Meiko home, introduced her to his wife Kokopi, and after a few weeks shipped off with his crew again. Kokopi also wanted to take Meiko in, but this traumatized little bun was easily frustrated and jumpy and would in a few years' time be as big as her adoptive mother. Kokopi also walks with a cane and had suffered burns all over half her body in her youth from an incident that ended her pirating career prematurely. So, she was very strict with Meiko, to make sure she kept her daughter in line. And when Meiko was big enough (physically), she leaned on Meiko a lot to take care of things around the house that she struggled with.
Kokopi and Mokoko loved their daughter, but they absolutely parentified her -- and even moreso when A'kihiko came into the picture. Despite being a feral child, Hiko managed to pick things much quicker than Mei, like reading and writing.
Mei grew up being overly relied on, but also barked at to speak up or drown (metaphorically). She chose silence more often than not, because it was far better to only get scolded for failure once.
So is it any surprise that Nashmeira, a pushy older woman could recruit Meiko into Troupe Falsiam? She clearly wasn't Kokopi, but there was enough of a pattern that Meiko immediately snapped to obey. It turned out to be a good opportunity, but that doesn't mean it wasn't reinforcing something negative. Even when interacting with Y'shtola initially, Meiko clammed up out of fear of being scolded; functioning alongside most of the Scions (save for Thancred, who was a rogue archetype she was used to finding in La Noscea) gave her the most intense sense of impostor syndrome.
She was there because she wanted to protect her brother, but Hiko was CLEARLY doing well without her. She was surrounded by scholars but she had no depth for most of what they spoke of. Was she not simply an embarrassing, overprotective sibling? Did they all wish she hadn't insisted on joining? Had Minfilia simply caved because they needed more warm bodies to throw at the Empire?
This was not true at all, and she mostly knew that, but the insecurities held strong.
Over time, of course, Meiko would learn that the above wasn't true. Yet still, even after she gained her own Blessing of Light, she felt like an impostor. Like Hydaelyn, who hadn't spoken to her much at all even after regaining the Blessing, was simply marking her to be a back-up in the event Hiko fell in battle. It made her sick to think about it, so while they told the Scions of the situation, she really didn't want it to be made public. She didn't need to disappoint all of Eorzea by just turning out to be some awkward woman who danced half naked and drank too much. She was not a hero.
And then... the Call.
Thancred, Urianger, Y'shtola. The Twins. Meiko expected herself to be the one taken next, if at all, but it was her brother's body that fell limp at the war table in front of Raubahn. And she saw it: In the other soldiers, in even Raubahn, there was a dread that overcame them when it was announced 'Zenos' had taken to the field. Their Champion was gone. Their morale shattered. She was the only person left, and most of them didn't know her name.
This is the turning point for Meiko. She is terrified, she is mourning whatever happened to her brother, but she cannot give up. She has lost the choice to crumble. It is -- as her Ma had put it in her childhood you speak up or you drown.
She does it. She fights 'Zenos', nearly dies when the Exarch tries to summon her again, and wakes up in the infirmary. And for two weeks, while she heals, it is a hurricane of emotions that lead to a grim acceptance. That she will do anything, become anything to retrieve her brother and the Scions. Her brother was wrongfully called a Weapon of Light at times, but she would be that if it was necessary.
And in a way, in the First, it is.
Meiko does not voice it. She knows better. But she intended to zoom to the First, grab her friends, and return. Time was of the essence, not only for Eorzea fighting the Empire, but because her friends' bodies could not remain alive indefinitely in their state. It was hurting Krile to maintain them. There was urgency.
So to see how all the Scions settled into the First, became part of beloved communities, made a second home here -- it pissed her off at first. It made sense to her -- they were stuck here for years. They adapted. But for Meiko, it was jarring: not a month ago, everything was focused on protecting the Source. Their home was the priority. And now... now everyone found love and community here, and were doing generally well for themselves, while for two weeks she sat in an infirmary silently screaming?
To some degree, Meiko knows it's self-inflicted exile. She knows she is wrong for feeling this way. She works through it, silently, and pushes through. She knows what is expected of her. She knows the personality they all remember.
Still, there is a notable shift. She doesn't drink anymore. She doesn't distract herself with Triple Triad, even when it's somehow present in the First. The quips are few and far between, and she is hell-bent on pushing progress as soon as possible. Not the Meiko who fled to the Saucer between jobs whenever she could, to try and escape the burden of the Plot.
She is more direct with her communication, which is good. But she is also quieter in her own way, as she mulls over what the Lightwardens' aether is doing to her body. She has accepted that she may not return to Eorzea, but as long as her brother and the Scions do, she doesn't care. Eorzea needs its heroes, and she was merely a supporting character in that story (despite the hand she played in MUCH of it, she still downplays her contributions).
By the end of Shadowbringers, of course, this changes. Of course she comes to love the First, the Crystarium and its people, and immediately adopts Ryne the way she did the twins. Of course being the actual protagonist, the Warrior of Darkness whom the people express such adoration for (even when they don't know it's her) helps to heal her. And setting aside her connection with Fray, whom I still headcanon to be able to communicate/motivate/scold her at times and helps build her up there too, Meiko is finally able to latch onto a stronger sense of self.
And it is for this reason that by Endwalker, she is better for it, and able to publicly accept the title of Warrior of Light (although it still makes her cringe). She comes out of Shadowbringers sure of herself as an equal to A'kihiko, who by the way never saw her as anything lesser, and as someone worthy of whatever titles bestowed upon her.
Referencing this for @nhalmasquerade |
"I'd be more surprised if there wasnae pickpockets in this crowd." Meiko doesn't have anything valuable on her, and she's quite familiar with thieves' tricks, so she's not worried.
Meiko was no stranger to getting into scraps, but in the past, most folk stopped when there was a clear winner. No matter how much a bastard wanted to brag, few ever took it too far without being stopped by someone else. Fighting beasts? Sure, they were driven by pure instinct, they fought to survive. But people -- people often quit, or were made to.
That was no longer the case, it seemed, since she joined the Scions.
Sometimes Hope really wondered how the Allgan's had navigated their own buildings, surely all the traps and monsters got in the way. It wasn't like they could have put them in last minute, someone at some point had to walk through the place with everything already set up.
Maybe it wasn't too surprising that their civilization had come to an end. Too much hubris tended to be fatal.
He was careful to watch his step as they travelled back through the labyrinth, not wanting to take the risk of stepping in any of the acid that Meiko had mentioned. He hadn't seen any on the way here, but that didn't mean there might not still be some around.
❝Did you happen to notice any chambers or coffers that might hold artifacts on your way?❞ He asked as they walked, casting his eyes around in search of any himself. If there were any they would probably would have been guarded by the monsters. He would take anything they could find, even if it was just armor. There was so much that could be learned from it.
"Aye, there were coffers," Meiko nodded. "They were oft scattered 'round where there were th'most opposition. I didnae have th'time tae nab 'em, but a few o'the sellswords did. Twas mostly pieces o' armor though."
And not to her brother's taste; he enjoyed collecting armor quite a bit usually!
"So, m'no sure what sets it off," she went on as they neared the edge of the room where the dragon had appeared, one arm gesturing outward as if to slow him down. "Shouldnae trigger again, since we killed it, but let's be mindful. Dinnae need another floodin' o' poison or acid or whatnot..."
@fieldsofstardew
It had been a very long time since Meiko had traveled outside of the Capital, which was strange considering that hadn't been her original intention. Her parents were older folk, and Ma's bad leg and Da's penchant for alcohol meant work was scarce. In fact, part of her suspected that was why her parents had decided to take her in in the first place; not that they were bad people! They simply saw the practicality of it, in addition to wanting a child. And clearly they loved being parents, since they had taken in her brother a few years later, too.
Mei didn't mind the responsibility. It gave her purpose in an otherwise run-down, sketchy port town. And later, it gave her a reason to leave -- to head to the Capital with intent to make Tesserae to send back home.
She had anticipated being employed for labor, but on her first day upon arriving, Mistress Nashmeira had spotted her in the street and... that was it. Meiko found herself recruited, dressed up, excessively waxed, and forced onto a stage within a week. Thank the gods Nashmeira hadn't decided she'd make more coin running a brothel.
Still, Meiko enjoyed it. These past few years working with Troupe Falsiam drew her out of her small town mindset, helped her make plenty of friends, and helped her take care of her family besides. She was grateful, but living in the Capitol could never compare to the peace of a smaller town, which she sorely missed. Returning home would only drag her back into her former habits, however, so then she was faced with the question of where.
Fortunately, a potential solution appeared: the family that ran her favorite bakery had a son in the not-so-far small town of Mistria, which had reportedly been devastated from the recent earthquakes. The town was apparently well on its way to recovery, but his sisters had suggested Mei check it out as a potential new place to live -- and maybe check on their little brother along the way?
It wasn't a difficult decision to make. Not only did that solve her problem, but being an older sister herself, Meiko could empathize with the worrying. Mistress Nashmeira took the news moderately well, allowing her release on the promise that Meiko would return to the Capital once a month for specific performances. It was the best deal she could get without incurring Nashmeira's wrath, so she took it.
And now here she was -- on the road, so many years later, enjoying the peace of an open road far from bustling city streets! The only way it would be better is if she were closer to the sea, but apparently Mistria was? So long as it wasn't a complete shitehole, she very well was prepared to settle down there...providing there was room.
The main road was quiet, but by no means deserted. She had passed a few people on it already, although no one seemed to be going her way... until she familiar noise of wagon wheels turning. Meiko glanced behind her and instinctively, veered off to the side to give the wagon room to pass her. The man at the front of it seemed... familiar, but if he was coming from the Capital, that was no surprise.
"Mornin'!" she greeted, solely out of politeness.