dpscheck | 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

parser.

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valoirs

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[At once he's no longer here but in the camp near Mor Dhona, bustling with the activities of the Sons and other assorted folk with their hands in the Crystal Tower excavations. That's all it takes-- her soft smile, an honest one, and her noise of amusement, and he's in a long lost place and time.

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.

[That little gasp had tugged at her, made her want to pull him close and rub her chin against the crown of his head to reassure him, starved as they both might be for some manner of touch. She wanted to cradle his face in her hands, pet him and tell him how certain she was that everything would turn out well. Yet he takes her hand in his own before she gives in to those thoughts. Nostalgia and homesickness and a dozen other feelings muddy her thoughts, and she's left watching him with a soft smile, her gaze hooded to hide the flood of feelings this world and its people has left her overflowing with.]

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?

[It is probably a good thing that she didn't do that, because he might actually blow his cover then-- if not because of his reaction, then certainly because there are markedly non-human ears beneath this hood that can be felt by anyone nuzzling them.]

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.]

[An urge that will likely resurface another day, much later after panic and pain and the end of a long road. When everything has once more reached the calm after the storm. For now she simply watches him with a broadening smile, her ears having perked in pleasant surprise as she watches how the smallest affection seems to have completely caught him off his guard.

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.]

[If she can derive some amusement from his turmoil, then that... probably makes it worth it... probably. He knows, he knows he shouldn't let her get too close, because the inevitable is going to happen and it will hurt them both all the more. But when she looks at him like that, teases him, lets him fight by her side-- his heart cannot help but answer.]

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.

Mmmm, then I shall not tell the matron of Spagyrics of your affliction then.

[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.]

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shadowbringers

I love her..... 😭💕

uuuGGGHHhhh your exarch fills me with feelings send help (and thank you that means a lot!!!)

im having the time of my life and so is he, being topped by a giant lady... REACH FOR THE STARS DUDE

I mean she does have the urge to just. Pick him up and carry him off....oops???

please he is an old man his heart can only take so much

hence why she behaves, no sense breaking grandpa