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hythlodaeus-mynewoldfriend · 1 month

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Mayncient Day 2: Meeting

I've had this since I first came up with Anthea and figure what better time to share it than now! So anyway enjoy these two.

word count: 2,650 warnings: none, though recommend you have finished at least ShB before reading. Can be read on Ao3 here

They take a deep breath, closing their eyes, the design in their mind, a blossom with no more than eight white petals at a time with edges in varying colors and a simple dark green stem with the standard leaf pattern from prior flowers. It should be easy, a no brainer, Anthea has made much more creative ideas before on a whim, dionaea muscipula the first to come to mind. They place their fingers in the cool soil feeling the flow of aether disperse from their fingertips, smiling at the thought of just how it might look, mind wandering to what they should make next, something that’s evocative of mankind. Anthea’s eyes fly open with a gasp as they remember how much concentration is the key to getting things right. “Oh no,” they sigh, running their hands down their face, “Maybe it’ll all be fine. It’ll all work out still.”

Anthea splays their fingers slowly, peeking to see that a flower has formed, which does little to alleviate the nerves rolling in their stomach. Little by little they drop their hands until a grey toned flower stands proud before them, Huh, interesting, they think reaching a hand out, snapping it back quickly when the flower shifts into a pure white. They let out a yelp, leaning in closer with delicate fingers tracing and counting the petals. Seven outer ones, six smaller ones surrounding a bulb like center that seems to have the faintest of yellow coloring. The stem devoid of leaves as they all sit at the base, formed like a sharp feather, and all of it a soft glowing white. “Well I don’t think I could have ever imagined the likes of you,” they muse, tilting their head in search of anything else odd about it.

Anthea jumps when the door opens, hand hitting their chest as their mentor walks in, pulling his white mask and black hood down, shaking out chin length dark brown hair. He smiles at them making his aged tawny skin glow and red undertone brown eyes light up, “Apologies, I didn’t mean to scare you, Anthea.” He walks closer eagerly searching behind them, “Have you completed your first batch of them yet?”

Anthea shakes their head, “Uhm something went a little amiss.” They step aside letting their mentor see just what was made. He holds his chin, brow furrowing as he looks back at the approved design and then the created flower. “Truly I don’t know what happened and I know things must get approved by the bureau first but-.”

“Well not everything gets approval first, Anthea,” he picks the pot up hoping to get a better look at the under petals, “Sometimes ideas are made on a whim, we just have to document it and send the design through. From there we determine if it gets studied or if we must erase it.”

“Oh. Right, yes. Silly me,” they say, giving a small hum, “What do you think they’ll say about this one?”

He smirks, “I think they might let it through considering they allowed for your carnivorous plant to be studied.” He sets the plant down crossing his arms, “Why does it glow all over like that?” They shrug, their mentor giving a small hum before shaking away his thoughts, “See to it you get it logged and to the bureau within the next day or two.”

They nod, watching as he turns to leave allowing for their attention to fall right back onto their creation, “Well you certainly are an interesting one. I hope they keep you because I want to know what secrets you’re hiding.”

The Bureau of Architecture feels busier than normal and all too crowded as Anthea makes their way to the check in line, shoulder impacting with someone rushing out the door, making them lose their balance to land against another’s chest while they cling onto the black sack containing their creation. Their arms reach out to steady Anthea with a small and quiet laugh, Anthea’s hood falling back enough to reveal their dark teal hair. Anthea blushes under the white and silver mask, righting themselves, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall on you like that. You’re not hurt are you?”

The stranger chuckles, letting loose some strands of lavender hair from the shadow of the hood onto a matching white mask, “I am quite alright, so there is no need to be sorry.”

The voice puts Anthea at ease, “Good, well I mean, I’m glad you’re not hurt that is.”

The stranger tilts his head in a quick assessment, “You’re not hurt are you?”

“Hm, oh no. No, no I’m fine, thank you.” They look over to the growing line with a small groan, “I should go. Gotta check in and even with an appointment and being early you know how they can be.”

They smile at one another, both giving a light laugh and bringing attention to the person standing close that Anthea now realizes was there the whole time with an eye roll and crossing of their arms, Oh no….I think it was them I may have fallen on by that reaction. Anthea readies an apology before being cut off from the one with lavender hair as they give a slight bow, “Of course.” The two quickly make their way towards the elevator leaving a further embarrassed Anthea to shuffle away to the check in line.

They glance back over their shoulder watching as the elevator doors close, letting out a sigh, “And this is why I don’t like coming to the city.” Anthea shakes their head, gasping midway and quickly opening the bag just enough to see the flower still intact. “Whew. Well thankfully you are safe,” they whisper moving along in the line. By the time they sit down to wait for another to lead them upstairs they can’t help but check on the flower every so often knowing it’ll be at least another twenty minutes even if they had five minutes to spare on their check in time. They watch as people go about the day and overhears talk of the Convocation’s latest events, all of which bores them to some manner and they wish more than anything they could be done with this nonsense and back to Elpis to further their research and continue to try and make their original intent.

“Anthea!” Someone calls out, as they jump to their feet. The escort locks eyes with them, “Anthea?” They nod with a soft smile, “Good. Follow me.” The two ride the elevator up five floors and enter into a wide office space, with some scattered desks in the center of the room, and private offices with glass windows enclosing them. They’re led to one such office, their escort not even deigning to introduce them before rushing back off. There’s two white masked people which Anthea finds odd and odder still; one sits at the desk while the other stands above them watching as they write something down with the same posture as the person they saw downstairs.

The one standing looks up at their entrance, “You may have a seat, we’re almost done here.” They nod, lowering their head as they slide into the chair directly across from the judge of their latest creation. “Ah there we go,” the standing one says, picking up the paper and examining it for a brief moment, “I shall leave you to your work now. Thank you for your assistance.” They leave the office sliding the thin curtains closed and shutting the door.

The person sitting across from them exhales removing their mask and hood revealing lavender hair that goes just past the shoulders braided loosely, paired with sparkling amethyst eyes that keep Anthea entranced until he smiles softening the angles of his fair, lightly sun-kissed face. Their brain is already spouting out ideas on flora that could be made based around him like a tree that can produce soft small flowers that come but once a year and stay until the winds of change decorate the world with their petals or a tree with branches that hang low enough to provide shade and safety from the world around them while always having a small creek or river that sings in the same manner as his laughter probably sounds, around his smile with flowers that follow the sun so they always glow with a halo, the shades of purples in his eyes that could lend themselves to a variety of petal gradients, simply put: He’s one of the most beautiful people they’d seen. “You‘re free to remove your mask if you’d like.” Anthea stiffens recognizing the man’s voice as the same one from the stranger she thinks (and hopes) fell into, Of course of all the people…. He gives a nod at their sudden rigidity, “Do you wish to begin, then?”

“Hm,” Anthea blinks a few times while the words he says gain meaning in their brain, “Oh right. Yes, sorry. Uhm….” They look down in their lap at the plant bag and stack of papers beneath it, deciding to put the plant between them with shaky hands hoping it can mask the blush they’re sure can be seen through the one they already wear. “Apologies, normally I just send paperwork in or someone else takes it for me, rarely do I ever make the trip myself, but I felt it necessary this time around.” They take a breath, sifting through the papers to try and focus on the unneeded task of making sure their proper order, before looking up to see the new centerpiece does wonders to block the distraction his all too pretty face can cause. Anthea clears their throat, “Right, well, my name is Anthea and I am here to submit new flora for approval to be studied on Elpis.”

“Wonderful,” he says cheerfully, peeking around to meet their eyes, “I’ve seen the design and have been most curious about the finished product.”

His hands reach out to open the bag, Anthea quickly shooing them away, “Well see here’s the issue, mister…,” they look around the desk hoping to find a name plate before-.

“Hythlodaeus,” he smiles, folding his hands in front of him politely, “Pleasure to meet you, Anthea.”

“Same to you,” they respond quickly, looking down at their paperwork once more, I swear he’s purposely trying to show off his face which is wholly unfair. “The issue, Hythlodaeus, is that this particular flora wasn’t approved prior. It just….happened. I didn’t mean to make something so far from the design already approved, so I’m hoping for a retro approval and subsequent approval to allow Elpis to study it.”

“Hmm, I see.” He looks to their lap, “Might I see what you have written so that I can prepare myself.”

“I could uhm also just show you.”

He laughs, “I do try to be prepared for my appointments, Anthea, and I read that the last time something like this occurred you brought in a carnivorous plant of some kind.”

“No one’s going to let that one go are they,” they grumble.

“Afraid not, but you can understand my slight hesitation in just simply opening the bag now.” They mumble their agreement, handing over the stack of papers. Hythlodaeus looks at them quietly, face unreadable with each turning of a page, until finally, “Well, well not only is it safe but it also holds much more intrigue than your last submission. A flower that is all the color white! How remarkable!”

Anthea smiles, sitting straighter with the praise, “Yes, here let me show you.” They open the bag letting it fall into a puddle around the pot to reveal the soft white glow of the flower. Hythlodaeus’ eyes go wide taking in the blossom, pulling the pot closer to spin it around. “I don’t know why it glows like that. I think maybe it’s meant to be a plant to light the way at night.”

“So it only glows in darkened areas?”

“Well-. Huh,” they purse their lips, fingers holding onto their chin delicately.

He looks away from the flower at them with a small smile, “You’ve yet to observe it in sunlight?” Anthea shakes their head, Hythlodaeus’ smile growing, “Then might I suggest we go and see together? It is a wonderful day out.”

Anthea looks up with wide eyes, “If you find it to be of importance to your decision then, yes.”

He stands, placing his mask back on before putting the pot in the bag once more, “Follow me. There’s a lovely little terrace two floors up.” Anthea follows one step behind, head down, “Is everything alright, Anthea?” He asks once they’ve entered the elevator, making their heart flutter when he uses their name.

They nod, “Yes, I’m just lost in thought it seems.”

“A researcher like you, I find that unsurprising,” he chuckles. He weaves them through offices and hallways with ease towards the south end of the building. The glass door in front of them shows a small section of garden, a big maple tree casting enough shade to allow for one to have a comfortable meal at one of the tables underneath its leaves, and the beige stone stark against the dark colors of the building. When they step outside Anthea‘s breath catches taking in the little garden in full, with its two big trees, six tables for eating, four for games, and a number of benches with different levels of sun but all able to get the cool breeze that makes this place a paradise in the hotter months. They frown seeing a few spots that lack upkeep, something that doesn’t escape Hythlodaeus’ gaze. “Your specialty is flora, correct?”

“It tends to come out much better than fauna that’s for sure,” they let out a light laugh, “but that may be due to my lack of experience in committing to creating things from my own ideas.”

“It will come in time, but if it doesn’t then perhaps that is your gift to the star.”

They look up at him, eyebrows raising and then furrowing, “Can making mistakes truly be seen as a gift worthy to bring forth unto mankind?”

“Based on your record your ‘mistakes’ have all been seen fit to remain for research and with the ones that have been archived some have even chosen to build off of them, finding their answer within your perspective.” He guides them to sit at a partially covered game table, “If anything I’d dare say you’ve brought the most gifts to mankind for some things would never have come to be had it not been for your ‘mistakes’ as you call them.”

Anthea’s shoulders relax, smile returning, Can it really be argued that I have already begun my road to contributing to the star?. The question ruminates as they take in the terrace once more, committing the full conversation to memory when the beginning of it raises a question, “Why ask me such a thing to begin with?”

“Ask you….Oh! You looked at the flowers so sadly I was going to suggest we assist in their upkeep.”

“Oh,” they blush, “Right. I should have thought of that.”

“My creation magics I will admit are lacking and I believe it would be most helpful to have someone much more skilled at my side.” His smile is soft and reassuring, the heat from his hand warming theirs as the two have accidentally placed them too close to one another. Anthea doesn’t say anything about it and simply nods to answer his request for their assistance, “Ah, wonderful!”

“I won’t be cutting into any of your other work will I?”

“I am always conducting work, even when it looks as if I’m not.” He laughs at his own observation, Anthea joining in with a single thought, Something I hope I can come to learn as true, Hythlodaeus.

#yeah have these two and the first thing I ever wrote for them that's been hiding away in drafts #x: as long as you exist #mayncient 2024 #mayncient #hythlodaeus x oc #hythlodaeus ffxiv #endwalker spoilers #ish just in case #my writing

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