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shadowbringers
shadowbringers |
beneath the stars It's been a week since our newest expansion officially launched! And, I know, I know... some of you already have a lot of feelings that you need to air out. But canon updating in your games is a struggle! And so is finding PSL partners! Luckily, that's what we're here for.This is a post for you to play out all the Shadowbringers-related content you might be dying to write. Behind-the-scenes nonsense? Between-the-scenes angst? It's all welcome here! 1. Toplevel your character. Include any details you might think are relevant. Or don't. As always, we're not the cops. 2. Reply to other people's top levels! 3. Have fun! ⚔ Please clearly mark all spoilers in your thread subject lines. Clearly indicate whatever spoiler preferences you may have. We're only a week into the expansion, officially, and there's no shame if you're not far in it or haven't started it yet. ⚔ You are welcome to play characters who are new to Shadowbringers. However, please try to avoid topleveling with icons and descriptions that convey major plot-related spoilers. If you aren't certain about a character's playability, feel free to PM ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small} parser. |
TEMPLATE CODED BY valoirs
valoirs
no subject
[Her eyes fall shut for an instant, just to shut out the light that feels like hot blades buried in her eye sockets. A part of her aches to return to Fanow, to bask in the dark beneath the trees, a sorry replacement for something she'd lost ages ago but her heart is traitorous and her sisters had always warned her not to heed it, yet in the end it was what had led her here.
By far, she was too soft.
Yet Rak'Tika was not her wood, and she'd been severed from it, never to return long before she'd stumbled into the Waking Sands. Perhaps the path before her had been paved since before then. Back when she first turned her gaze away from the safety of the boughs. When she stared out over the ruins of Orbonne, curious and full of wonder for a world outside the Wood. She had no regrets, save for the ache of loss whenever she met with the viis. No, an ally of Ronka she might be, but she would not find solace in their wood.
Her claws catch in the sashes she wears, fingers tangling in chains and beads, feathers caught in a momentarily clenched fist before she lets out a ragged sigh.]
Did Y'shtola speak of you about her worries? Or Urianger?
[In the Ravel she'd been distracted. The mines had not afforded her such blissful ignorance when the pain had struck swift enough to leave her gasping. Even now it settled in her joints. In her very bones. Slowly she eased her fists open, gazing at her palm before letting her hand fall once more.]
Did they tell you she could not recognize me?
[Her frown is deep, but still there's a sense of numbness that follows in the wake of the anxieties. Lifetimes spent trying to school her face into hiding the fickle whims of her heart. She's mostly successful.]
Something has begun within me that is beyond what I can fathom, and it troubles me. Never once in all my battles has it plagued me thus, yet I know of no way to be rid of it. And I fear Y'shtola does not trust me like she once did.
[Had they not fought together for years? Separated, it was true, and yet...it tasted of ash and betrayal. A bitter draught like that to seeing a sister raise her bow to strike her down. She had hoped not to see it, and yet here she stood, an ugly fear taking seed within her that she might soon become the very thing she hunted before her work was done.
Or worse, that she would rid the world of woes only to become something far worse.]
no subject
But he can open his heart a little. She need only ask.]
They have not spoken to me of this, not yet, like as they are to search their own resources before asking for my help. 'Tis likely they search for answers even now.
[He breathes in for a moment, a measured silence.]
... I... must confess I anticipated this risk. Would that another possibility had appeared in its stead, one that puts you in less mortal danger. But if you can see it, then Urianger and Y'shtola have also seen it, and they know what could happen.
[His tone is surprisingly gentle as he continues. The viera may get a sense that she is being watched with real concern.]
Your body has been absorbing the Light-aspected aether of the Lightwardens you destroy. Your blessing has protected you thus far, but it does not make you immune from such vast amounts of aether.
[He lifts his free hand for a moment, aching to provide some comfort. But he lowers it and quietly makes a fist instead.]
It is not too late to look for solutions. It is not too late to stop. You are still the woman you always were--
[A pause.]
-- and we shall rally behind you, whatever your decision.
no subject
I have no doubt.
[Breathe in, hold, breathe out. Each breath is a trial, yet she tries to focus more on the gentleness of his voice, the soothing blues of the crystal around them. For them she cannot fall, she would carry on until she broke herself to pieces and somehow would still find a way to keep pushing on if for no other reason than to protect them. This she knew within her heart, knew the moment she'd accepted the offer to be a Scion. The day she'd helped carry the bodies from the Waking Sands. She may be severed from the Wood, but she had left the Wood because she'd felt herself pulled by a greater need.
The very earth had been crying out, louder to her than even her Wood's sweet song, and she had followed. She had grown to love each of her companions as fiercely as she'd loved her sisters. If not more so, for these fragile peoples lived such fleeting lives and she'd clung to them with a desperate need to see those brilliant flames not snuffed out before their time. It was why, when she'd seen the tower, she'd demanded to know what had become of Graha Tia. The Exarch's flippant answer had made her bristle at the time, but now...
Now she lingered in the tower, tired and feeling as if she were shattering. She wanted to bury herself in her bed and pray Ardbert left her to sleep. Yet they had so little time, certainly not for her to while away hours and days in bed like a convalescent. There was never enough time away from the Wood.]
I suppose it was inevitable, in time.
[>She rubs her fingertips together, knowing that the sharp pins and needles pain was a good sign. If she can feel pain, her body was still her own, though the discomfort lingered was hardly reassuring.]
I cannot stop, dear Exarch. I know as well as anyone that Eulmore certainly shall not. Vauthry would see me crushed upon the marble tiles sooner than that. I could not leave your people to such a fate. I...we have all lost enough, have we not?
Nay. If not me, then who? Norvrandt has waited for night long enough, I could not leave them wanting simply because of my discomfort.
[Still, it does not stop her from wondering if there should ever be an end to it all. Would she be allowed to rest properly for once? Or would the endless march of greater threats rise up until there were no gods left to slay, or she would finally be struck down?
Dark thoughts, too dark for a magus that had fought to slay voidsent or a dancer who cleansed the darkness from the hearts of those around her. So with more effort than she'd like to admit, she smiles playfully, bowing her head as if trying to peek beneath his hood.]
Besides, what sort of hero would I be if I should turn my back on one who worked tirelessly to snatch me up from across the void? Or should I simply call that repayment for terrifying me by snapping up my companions one by one and making me think them dead?
no subject
[Despite her usual mien, he feels that she is ill-at-ease-- and who wouldn't be? He wants to do something, he wishes he could, but every time he holds out his hand it feels like she is pulled further away.]
It may have been inevitable, but we can still do something. It remains a matter of what. I and my people have been scouring the records searching for a way to relieve you of this sickness, this burden. We may yet relieve you of it.
[There's something that breaks in his expression-- what she can see of it-- when she says she cannot stop. He's grateful for that, but with her all-but-guarantee to die from this, it's a Pyrrhic one. He doesn't want a victory if it comes at the cost of the life he--]
There are... some things we can ill afford to lose.
[But still--]
Pray do not surrender your fate simply because you cannot see the night. You know it is there, much as the moon and stars, waiting for you to claim it. In the unknown surely there is something that can help you as you have helped us.
[He isn't expecting for her to play at peeking beneath his hood. There's a moment of slight panic and he turns away slightly, trying to pass it off as nothing. Nope. Just super interested in this wall over here!]
Uh-- yes, well, I suppose I... deserved that.
[He sighs after a moment. He knows what she's trying to do, but what point is there calling her out on that when he is still hiding so much from everyone?]
As vital as our mission in the First is, I would not see you fall in pursuit of it. Your strength has carried you this far but it is not infinite. Mayhap this is the time when you should lean on others in turn. We can accomplish so much more through cooperation and trust.
[He looks up at her with resolve written in his visible features, in the slant of his chin and the edge of his jaw.]
Your world still has need of its champion. There is a way through this and we will find it.
no subject
Whatever the gods will, I shall not dwell on it. I was never one for healing or light-aspected magicks anyroads, though it pains me to say so.
[She might know small spells, but nothing on the scale that might dull the pain that had lanced through her earlier. Mykha wouldn't even know where to start. In this she was as helpless as she'd been at the Inn in Ahm Areang, and it was a bitter medicine to swallow. Her gaze softens when he pauses, and she leans close, towering over him as she studies how tired he seems. It is an exhaustion of the soul, if not the body, and she can sense it almost as well as her own.]
My dear Exarch, I do not intend to let them take me. I should think anyone would know better than that. And I know what it is to lose that which is loved dearly.
[She pauses, one hand flexing as if shaking off a spasm. How could she not understand? After all the battles, knowing what hung in the balance? For a moment she faltered, torn between what her heart wanted and what her head told her. The ever-chiding memory of sisters she would never again see, branded as she was for leaving the Wood. To lose that which mattered most...
To see him flinch away distracted her from her dark musings, a soft huff escaping her as a smile quirks the corners of her mouth. Were the conversation not bordering on dire, she might have been wont to tease him more, but no. It seemed inappropriate, no matter how she wanted to pull the others close and reassure them. Still, his words do catch her off guard, her ears perking higher. Then she huffs, one ear flicking as she shifted, head bowed.]
...I suppose I have grown too used to forging my own path alone. It is...comforting. To know that this path is not entirely my own puts my heart at ease.
For that, I thank you, Exarch. For that, and many other things. I trust you.
[It did not even give her pause to say it. Though she'd at first feared for the Scions and what she would be greeted with after her arrival, the Exarch may have had his secrets, but she did not sense the ill intent that often lingered about others when they veiled the truth. It was oddly refreshing after years of verbal backstabbing she'd had to cope with on her travels.]
I would not bear to worry you overmuch, and I've no intent to die this day or any day sooner than my three hundredth nameday. So I leave this matter to you and yours, and I pray we will be able to enjoy some quiet once 'tis all over. What say you, dear Exarch? Would you humor me and all my questions then?
oof sorry for the delay! i got sick and then Work Happened
[And everyone is still looking for a way to help the pain, because easing the symptoms is mildly more attainable than getting rid of the Light entirely... He wishes he could help her right now, but he has to-- he has to wait.
And yet she's so strong. He can't help feeling a strong sense of admiration for everything she has endured. Even now, as she opens herself up to him, her pages crisp and sharp, she is immovable, towering-- a mountain in his mind's eye. I do not intend to let them take me, she says, and he can't help the way his lips curve. A grim smile to be sure, but he understands.
At least his point seems to be sinking in. He looks like he's about to chime in with something, but she forges on without hesitation and says she trusts him and he feels shaken. In a good way, but in a sad way. Oh, how he aches to reveal himself-- to banish all thoughts of concealment and be by her side, no guile, but that... that is not his part to play.]
I... [He's a little flustered, perhaps.] I fear I have only made your life that much more difficult since I brought you to the First. Would that I could accept your burdens in your stead, but I am sure you tire of platitudes. [He would never last... Not long enough. He would only have a moment to do what is needed.]
Know that I trust you as well, and I—we all shall work tirelessly to see you well again.
[How could he do anything but trust her? If he can in some small way guide her, as he remembers someone did for him long ago, then perhaps--]
I shall look forward to that day. [He keeps his voice even by some grace he didn't know he possessed. It has been so, so difficult to stay hidden thus far... but he must. He must.] I believe it may be sooner than you expect. I can only hope that my answers to your questions are sufficient, then...
[That statement has some weight, until he adds cheekily:]
... else I shall find myself in the company of an understandably-aggrieved Viera.
No shhhh it's fine bb, I totally understand! It's given me time to finish MSQ ♥ /pets gently
[She sighs, more heavily than needed, for once laying on the airs of a Tragic Heroine of the stage before she gives a slight toss of her head that sends her ears wobbling. Instead, she smiles, and faintly, softly, so quiet it might have gone unnoticed, she makes a sound that could only be described as a purr. It's always been a rare sound with her, her emotions so tightly guarded for so long to save herself more hurts, but has grown rarer in the past years as one battle dragged into another and left her more tired.
She'd made the sound at the camps in Mor Dhona, watching Cid and Nero bicker like an old couple, beneath the stars and the rippling aether. Laughing at the antics of Biggs and Wedge as she'd watched them with open fondness. Easily lost in the night sounds of camp. Here there was little to mask her affectionate gnashing or the way her eyes became little more than dark slits as she squinted happily.]
You have done much and more, dear Exarch. I cannot imagine how much you tire from your bond with the Tower and how you have labored to come so far.
[A hand lifts, and she moves to gently brush her knuckles along the edge of his crystalline cheek, where glittering blue gives way to soft flesh. The motion slow enough that he could easily stop her if he pleased. Mykha knew she was prone to wanting to touch her companions, yet even after so long she never quite knew where the boundaries lay, and the Exarch was a private person from the start. She would not begrudge him his need to keep his distance.]
And I should promise I will keep my temper. It would not do to strike an old man, now would it?
[The serious expression on her face does not last more than a handful of heartbeats before her lips quirk and she begins to chuckle in earnest, the sound deep and throaty as she hides her grin behind her fingers.]
I love her..... 😭💕
Her smooth tone practically holds him hostage. Her name perches on his tongue and he's about to say something else, something that vanishes instantly with the soft touch to his scar.
He gasps, not overly loud but just enough to indicate he has never been touched like that before. There's a moment where he leans into it instinctively. Gods, how he aches to lay everything bare, to call on his old friend, to hear her answer--
He breathes out shakily and reaches up to gently touch his fingertips to her wrist, allowing her to escape if she likes, and then he covers that hand with both of his. The crystal one is... faintly warm, about as warm as the blush he tries to hide beneath the cowl.]
As always, I cannot help but be honored and humbled by your manner, and your words.
[His voice is thicker than usual. He's trying to hold it all back and he's almost succeeding. He can't help but smile when he looks up at her again, though-- an act of real bravery when he's near to trembling. He lets go of her hand.
By the Twelve, how he missed that laugh. It gives him enough of a push that he can chuckle too, only halfway hiding his own grin.]
I assure you, the children of the Crystarium have already lay claim to that particular ignoble feat.
uuuGGGHHhhh your exarch fills me with feelings send help (and thank you that means a lot!!!)
I would not have come this far if it had not been for those who travel with me. My true strength is knowing they are beside me, little more.
[Then the loss of warmth makes her ears flick as a desire for more rises. For once she will be greedy, and he doesn't get far before she's gently caught his fingers in a gentle hold. Bowing her head, she lifts his left hand to brush what feels like a ghost of a kiss across his knuckles. She was glad for his brief touch when he'd clasped his hands about her own, to know that warmth still filled him though he was being claimed by the tower. Would there be a day when the crystal swallowed up the rest of his flesh? What would become of him then? So many questions, perhaps one day she'd have the time to ask.
She prayed she would have time to ask.
Instead she smirked at him, her ears pinned back as she gave his hand a final parting squeeze before releasing him.]
Then it would be remiss of me not to honor their claim, yes?
im having the time of my life and so is he, being topped by a giant lady... REACH FOR THE STARS DUDE
Spoken like a true hero, I see. I believe your companions would have a word or three to say about that particular claim, but for my part, full glad am I to know you are not alone—and realize this.
[Whatever he expected it was not for her to steal his hand and kiss it, her lips so light and warm and fluttery that his heart actually lurches to a stop for a moment. Sometimes he says he is old and sometimes he feels it, and this is one of those latter times.]
Uh—
[Oh. Gods. He's blushing right down to his collarbone, and still holding his kissed hand halfway in the air like he has no idea what to do with it now.]
That—yes. [He sounds like a twenty year old boy stuttering through his first confession and he hates that.] I-is there aught else you require of me, my friend? I would hate to keep you from your well-earned rest...
[cool cool cool cool everything's fine he's just going to lock himself in his room and scream for a bit when she leaves.]
I mean she does have the urge to just. Pick him up and carry him off....oops???
And then the chuckles and the happy gnashing continues, his flushed cheeks the perfect distraction from the full-body ache that had been troubling her since she'd struck down the last Lightwarden.]
My dear Exarch, I do hope you've not grown ill from overwork?
[The playful teasing is lighthearted, an ear flicking as her eyes are little more than gleaming slits as her chuckling dies into a happy hum.]
Require of you? Aside from the delight of your company? Mmm, I cannot think of much besides. Perhaps some other time when you are more amenable to stargazing with me if it would please you.
[It seems like an innocent request, the soft smile and the gleam in her eyes are without mischief, though there's the playful cant of her head and the way one ear flicks that might suggest otherwise.]
please he is an old man his heart can only take so much
Ill? Hardly. [His smile is a touch cheeky, but he's absolutely being genuine.] The sight of you would rouse anyone from their sickbed, I think. Hope is a funny thing that way.
[She really has latched onto teasing him, and for a brief moment he wonders if she has some suspicions as to his identity. He puts them out of his mind for now, because it has suddenly been filled with words like delight and stargazing. By the Twelve, he really needs to get his act together. He covers his mouth and clears his throat.]
I—ah—'twould be my pleasure to join you for such an affair when things are less... chaotic. The stars have been stolen for nigh a hundred years as you well know. Your relief of the wicked Light has stirred the hearts of many a would-be astronomer, including myself; we could see the constellations of this world as they truly are.
[He turns his veiled gaze to the portal-mirror at the center of the room.]
Nothing can replicate the full experience as I have found, not even the magic of the Ocular. For there is something altogether ephemeral about the world shrouded in the veil of night, and no true replacement for the eternal wind on one's brow...
[And his hidden eyes return to her then, bringing with them a secretive sort of smile and a sense of... something. Nostalgia, perhaps even longing if she's paying close enough attention.]
Pray do not rush to the uncertainties of tomorrow, my friend. Everything else shall fall into place behind you, whatever the pace. The path is clear—you need only to walk it.
hence why she behaves, no sense breaking grandpa
[She smirks, once again brushing her knuckles across his flushed cheek before letting him have enough space to properly recover. It would not do to tease him overmuch, no matter how the flush of his skin contrasts the vivid crystal. That would be highly inappropriate even if he was adorable when flustered. So for now he is safe. For now.]
I am full glad I could bring them joy after so long. My aches are worth the relief upon their faces and the songs in their hearts. I would take the pain from the afflicted as well if I could. These people have suffered long enough, they deserve at least this much.
[Her eyes fall shut, and for a moment she can feel the thrum of the tower about her like a living thing, harmonizing with the Exarch, the crystalline song so different from the stilled songs of the land about it. Songs that were slowly waking from a century of slumber. Even with her dulled senses she could feel it, over the throb of Light that beat at her skull and ribs, she could feel the flow return to each land that was once more graced with darkness. When she opened her eyes to meet his shrouded gaze, she simply smiled.]
'tis a promise then. When this is done, you owe me a night under the stars. I would see the differences between here and the sky of Eorzea. I may not be as wizened as some, but I have seen enough years to know when I must make haste.
[Even so, in spite of all her teasing, a shadow passes over her features, brow furrowing.]
...Yet even should I wish a few days rest, I fear we've little time. Vauthry will not grant us such leisure, and I will not let him bring more harm to your people if I can draw his eye elsewhere.
[A rush of vertigo hits, fingers pressing to her temple as she steadies herself, eyes shut tight to block out the vivid blue of the crystal around them. It passes in a moment, and when her hand falls it is as if the fit had never happened. She cannot stumble, not when she has so much left to fight for.]