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I hate driving because you have to do everything perfectly as fast as possible or everyone around you will announce their displeasure with airhorns

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Okay but I wanna see ALL of the non-wol OCs, send them my way, I gotta follow more peeps. I want more FFXIV inhabitants on my dash.

Also like, let me know, what do they do, what are they like?

Please reblog for visibility so more people can poke me.

#not a wol #also totally not a voidsent either #just a lala that had a little accident at cartenau

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the perils of all saint's wake

Are you serious?!

He was serious.

#she tried the lantern as a test and nearly threw up #she still has a headache #taprara rara #ffxiv roleplay #ffxiv

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(OOC: I've stopped afking in Limsa since the queues got bad and the watercooled system isn't as good to run overnight, but after my dancing Taprara Rara attracted the Chibi Jades, I felt I had no choice but to pop the HUD and leave it up all night.)

Nothing quite like a dancing legacy Lala to start a party!

#ffxiv #ffxiv screenshots #lalafell #taprara rara

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#23 Shuffle

Learning to control another body entirely was difficult at first, but Taprara got better at it over time.

The first time she tried to learn a dance, from a kindly teacher in Gridania, she was lucky if she didn’t trip and fall over.  She never felt that she could be graceful like those she saw performing the dance around her, even the children and another Lalafell.

As an imp, their dances had been much more like the Moogles of this world - coordinated flying toward a central point, with spins.  Getting legs and arms to work in harmony without wings was its own challenge.

The second dance she learned, when visiting Limsa Lominsa, involved tapping her feet and jumping up and down.  At least the arms weren’t involved, but the feet had a lot of tricky movement all their own, and it definitely took her a while to get the hang of it.

Ballroom dancing from Ul’dah didn’t go any better.

It wasn’t until she finally learned a dance straight from a Moogle that she felt comfortable in the movements.  It was an easy dance to do when your arms and legs were short, although it required a lot of energy, and within a few minutes of doing the dance she’d be panting.  

Still, she enjoyed dancing.  Moving for movement’s sake.  There was something so sweet and free and joyous in a world where there was enough aether that frivolous movement was not only accepted, but encouraged.

#ffxivwrite2020 #now it is canon that Taprara likes to dance

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#22 Argy-Bargy

“I’m telling you, Voidsent have no souls of their own!  The failed calamity on the 13th consumed all of the aether, including the aether of the soul!”  Cocobani insisted.

“And I respectfully disagree,” Cocoboha argued back.  “Without the aether of the soul, there would be no life at all.  And we know that the Voidsent have always been capable of sending their souls across the Rift.”

“Those aren’t real souls,” Cocobani shot back.  “All souls are born of Thal, given form on this world by Nald, and return to Thal.  How can Voidsent be judged by Thal if they can only reach this world by breaking and entering?”

“Might I remind you that the opposing hypothesis is that all souls are born in the Lifestream, which connects all worlds across the Rift.”

“Blasphemy!  That is the Sharlayan thinking infecting your knowledge again.”

Taprara looked up from her own studies.  She didn’t know a whole lot of the nature of souls, but the debate raging in the halls of the Thaumaturgist’s guild reminded her an awful lot of the bickering in her own family growing up.

Still, the idea of her other self not having a “real” soul didn’t seem true at all.  Her mind had settled into this body like it was a glove, and the original Taprara’s memories felt so real, so familiar, they might as well have also been her own.  

There was a piece missing from the puzzle, she was sure.  Maybe someday, somewhere, a person could figure it out.

She needed to find a Sharlayan scholar, apparently.

#ffxivwrite2020 #taprara rara

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#21 Foibles

Long ago, when Tyapko was a young imp, her own family had branded her as an eccentric.  

In the 13th Shard, a world so lacking in aether it was branded the Void, the poor souls who still inhabited the world were twisted and altered.  With no aether, their forms regressed to those of demons - and the most numerous among those souls were the imps.

Imps were long lived, common as flies, and the weakest among the inhabitants.  But they also possessed a small enough body that they could detect tears in the aetherial rift and return their souls to the Source, taking over bodies and transmitting the physical aether they consumed to their own bodies back home.

This meant that they were the bottom of the food chain for their world.  An imp who had successfully feasted in such a manner became a devilet, capable of wielding magic.  Imps provided no nutrients to those who consumed them, but devilets were a relatively aetherful snack.

Tyapko had watched many of her older brothers and sisters fall prey to the mower powerful demons after making the mistake of flaunting their aether.

So she never sought out to traverse the rift - instead content to sip lightly at the aether through the tears whenever she encountered them, but not go exploring with her soul.

This lack of interest in gaining more power was a character quirk to her family, who were content to let her sit in the corner and read books or play with her nieces and nephews (some of whom were actually older than she was.)

Which is why to them, when the Calamity happened and the tears became wide and strong enough that their whole bodies could fit through, not just their minds and souls, her family was shocked that she was the first one to step through into the Source.

When she failed to return - and none of the Voidsent who had gone through the Rift in those last few days before Dalamud fell returned to the Void - they probably didn’t think about her ever again. 

#ffxivwrite2020 #I hope we learn more about the Void #taprara rara

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#20 - (Free Day)

Taprara arrived in Ul’dah for the first time since Cartenau shortly after she left Mor Dhona.  She’d had to, as her old Free Company from before the Calamity no longer existed, and her registration as an adventurer citizen of Ul’dah had expired and she could not join another.  Her newfound friend (? could he be called a friend yet?) had been happy to escort her there so she could take care of the paperwork.

She first ran to the Aetheryte plaza - one of the most annoying things was that since all the aetherytes had been broken during the Calamity, so too had her attunement.  The new ones were much more efficient so those who used them didn’t have to carefully watch their anima levels like before, but instead had to pay a small fee in gil depending on the distance they had teleported from, which was caught and measured by a meter held by a nearby guard.  The latest in Sharlayan technology, after all.

The guildhall of the Immortal Flames...... was not where she expected it.

“Wasn’t it underground?” she asked, puzzled, when she saw it immediately to her right, on street level.

“Ah, yes, it used to be,” a gentleman said when he heard her confused sentence.  “Entire section of the city got crushed by debris, so we rearranged things a little when we rebuilt”  He gestured up the road.  “Added a new gate, moved the Flames halls into a more prominent place, and sent the Waking Sands out to Vesper Bay.  Retainers are all now selling and bargaining underground at Sapphire Avenue, out of the way.”

“I see,” she said.  This was not the first time that the Lalafell’s memories didn’t match the reality of the current world.  “It’s been a long time.”

“Pre-Calamity, by the sounds of it.”  He squinted at her.  “You one of the survivors that have been popping up lately?”

“I think so.”

“Mind if I see the back of your neck?  There’s usually a brand there.”

A brand?  Puzzled, she lowered the collar of her shirt, and strained to see over her own shoulder, but she didn’t have the agility in this body like she’d had in her old one.

“Sure enough, there it is.  If you was part of the flames when the Calamity hit, they’ll have your old registration files on had to confirm it.”

“I.... thank you.”  She didn’t have much coin left and didn’t know if she would be expected to pay for the advice.  The panic must have been visible on her face.  

“Don’t worry, I’m a greeter of sorts here.  No payment needed for a veteran. You’ll want to talk to Mistress Momidi to get your registration at the Guild up to date, and register fresh at the Sapphire Exchange, so you can get work and buy and sell as you need.”

She gave him a final nod and scurried over to the Immortal Flames, digging her expired commission out of her purse as she waited in line at the counter.

Of course, what she really wanted was to find out if L’ahurah had also come here.  She had been a Flame too, right?

“Next please!”

Taprara took a deep breath and stepped forward, unsure what to expect.

“Oh my,” the clerk said when she saw the car.  “Pre-Calamity... this is long since expired....”  She clerk then nearly dropped the card when she checked it against the registrations in the back.behind the counter.  “Corporal Taprara!  We had you counted among the war dead!”

“I’m not sure how I survived either,” Taprara admitted.  Technically she had died and by whatever magic that had saved her body, merged with the current soul.  But she was wise enough to not mention that fact either.  

“I’ll have to get my supervisor,” the clerk said.  “I’ve heard of this happening lately, but you;re the first one I’ve seen myself.  “We’ve taken to calling you the Phoenixes... the Flames that came back to life.”

For some reason, the mention of the word Phoenix caused Taprara to have a flash of pain in her head.  Something on the edge of memory.... something that neither the soul of Tyapko nor the mind of Taprara could reach together. 

Phoenix.....

And with that, Taprara passed out on the ground.

#ffxivwrite2020 #taprara rara #well this one got away from me

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#19 Where the Heart Is

The members of her free company were often absent, Taprara discovered to her chagrin.  Although there was usually someone hanging around, it wasn’t until she got letter in the mail from one of her guild mates that she had the opportunity to see them all at once.

“You are invited to the ceremony of eternal bonding between Dizzy Dangerino and Shiny Pugil.  Details inside!  The theme is rainbows.”

Guildmaster Katarh found her staring at the letter dejectedly a few hours later, when she came in to check on the group’s airships and submarines.

“What’s wrong, Taprara?”

“I’ve never been to a wedding before. I.... don’t know what to wear, or what a theme is.”

“Ah, you got the invite too!  I can whip up a cute outfit for you, don’t worry.  They picked rainbows because we’re an LGBTQ free company, and pride is always rainbow colored.”  

And so it was that Katarh made a cute gray and purple dress for Taprara, since it was impossible to actually dye anything rainbow colored directly using their crystal techniques, and instead most people chose from a subset of colors that represented their flag.  Since Taprara hadn’t even been attracted to her own kind that way, let alone to any of the inhabitants of this world, the leader of the free company had said she was most likely “ace” but that was okay because their guild was for everyone. 

At the appointed hour, the crowd gathered at the chapel in East Shroud, a colorful and raucous and noisy guild of fifty members, plus friends from dozens of other free companies they were affiliated with.   There were so many different colors and so many people that Taprara didn’t quite know what to do with herself.  She could feel the other part of her mind trying to break through to the surface - this is normal a wedding is just a really huge party - but as always, the original Taprara stayed below the surface, perhaps never able to come back again.

The ceremony was long, but never tedious, and Taprara kept staring at the huge chapel that had been decorated in an explosion of colors.  The grooms, one Hrothgar and one Roegadyn, were both crying happy tears at the end of their wedding.  

“Come on everybody!  Get up here for the photos!”

And because Taprara Rara was one of a handful of Lalafels, she found herself thrust to the front of the crowd.  Someone handed her a small stack of sparklers, and she lit them one by one with everyone else, while the wedding photographer took what felt like hundreds of photos.

“Now everybody to the cheer wave if you have your glow sticks!  If not, just a regular wave will do.   Now let’s all dance the Manderville!”

Swept up in the emotional high of the crowd, Taprara Rara was sorry when the wedding was over (only because their reservation in the chapel had run out) and they stepped outdoors to watch the newly married couple ride off into the afternoon together on their new white chocobo.  (Considering the size of the grooms, it was the largest chocobo that Taprara had ever seen.)

“All right everybody!  The party continues on in the basement?”

“What?”

Katarh looked at her and winked.  “After party!  Don’t worry, I’ve got some fixings for kiddy cocktails for you.  I know you wouldn’t want to pass out and miss it.

And so Taprara found out that the wedding was not only the afternoon like she thought, but that the guild quite literally intended to party all night.  It was so rare for them to all be home at once.

Slurping her ginger ale and cranberry juice, Taprara watched with amusement as the free company members got drunker and drunker and started passing out around the room one at a time.  Even Katarh had a few too many and was slumped over at her own bar.

She was the only one still awake, but that was okay.

Because she was not alone after all.

#ffxivwrite2020 #taprara rara #it's not so much a coming out because Taprara was always ace in my headcanon #but here we go we've made it official #featuring two made up SPIN members that don't exist but could very well have

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#18 Panglossian

Tyapko only had experience in two worlds, but from her readings in Arrzaneth Ossuary she knew that there were at one point at least a dozen more a hair’s breadth away from an event the Sharlayan scholars called the Sundering.  

But many of those worlds had not survived.  The same type of disaster that had permanently distorted the Void had consumed them entirely.  In that sense, her home was a failure - forever without the lifegiving aether that allowed this world to flourish.

Was that not a better outcome than total destruction, though?  They were alive.  They had families.  They had dreams, albeit mostly dreams about actually having enough to eat and to thrive.

It was not the best of all possible worlds - there was no such thing.

But it was still a world. And maybe that was enough. 

#ffxivwriting2020 #what a shitty day #i need a hug

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#17 Fade

When you are two minds inside one person, there is always the underlying terror of the mind that currently has control that the control will be lost.

So far there had been no indication that the original soul of Taprara had any intention of taking back the body, even if she could.  As far as Tyapko knew, the Lalafell that had lived as Taprara had returned to the Lifestream.

Or had she?

Sometimes Tyapko swore that she could feel Taprara in her brain, not only supplying all the helpful memories, but actively pushing her to take the next steps.

Go to Mor Dhona for food and shelter.

Go to Ul’dah and let the Flames know you survived.

Find your old guild.  (That had proved impossible since they had disbanded after the Calamity. Her current free company had sufficed to shut that instinct up.)

Find L’ahurah.  (No luck on that front either.)

She knew things she shouldn’t know.  She felt things she shouldn’t feel.  Katarh believed it was the Echo at play, but Tyapko knew it was really Taprara’s doing.  Probably.

For now, there was the uneasy truce between them.  Tyapko stayed in charge, so long as Taprara’s will was honored.

So she’d keep searching for L’ahurah, to the ends of the world if that’s what it took.  Because Tyapko did not want to die for real. 

#ffxivwrite2020

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#16 Lucubration

“Excuse me?  You you want to know all the books we have about the Void?”  Yayake, the guild receptionist for the Thaumaurge’s guild at Arrzaneth Ossuary, shook her head sadly.  “Although you are a member if the guild in good standing, most of our books on Voidsent are restricted only to the researchers.”  She narrowed her eyes.  “Too many summoning attempts...”

“Ah, no, I don’t want to summon anything.  That’s the last thing I’d want to do.”  That was true.  Tyapko wasn’t sure what she would do if she encountered anyone she knew from her old world.  She tried a different tact.  “Is there a beginner’s guide to what we know about them.... for, uh, someone who would very much like to avoid them at all costs?  Just to be on the lookout?”

Yayake gave her an unreadable look, then sighed.  “I suppose the Encyclopedia is safe enough.  No spellwork or arcane rituals in it, anyway.  Hang on a minute, I’ll go fetch it.”

After a few minutes she returning, holding a leather bound tome.  “The section on Voidsent here is very elementary and broad, but that makes sense considering it is a children’s book introducing them to the wonders of Eorzea.”

Taprara took the book, holding it like it was a priceless treasure.  “Thank you. I will bring it back when I am finished.”

Yayake waved her away.  “Just don’t try to take it outside of the walls.  It’s bound by invisible chains, like all our books, and you’ll be stopped as soon as you try it.”

With that warning, Taprara found an open seat among the lucubrations that lined the walls, and began to read.  The section that she sought was near the back.

“On the properties of the Void and Voidsent...”

The section on Voidsent was shorter than Taprara had hoped, and their understanding of her world was quite warped (hierarchy?  ranks? they were people with cities and families and homes just like everyone else....)  but after briefly skimming the rest of the book, she figured out that her real value was getting a more concrete understanding of this world.  

Although maybe, perhaps, if she was bored some day, she might actually pen her own essay for the Thaumaturge’s guild and correct some of the misconceptions they had about the Void. 

But right now that might be too risky.

#ffxivwrite2020 #taprara rara

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#15 Ache

Aside from the mental trauma, there were some bothersome physical wounds that Taprara still had from the war.

After arriving in Ul’dah with her old Immortal Flames identification, they had advised her to travel to Limsa Lominsa and visit the hot springs of Camp Bronze Lake, where many other veterans had found healing and recovery.

Taprara’s right leg hurt the worst, and while her memories from just before the Descent and the Calamity were the fuzziest (a problem universal to all survivors and attributed to the massive doses of aether they were subjected to), her mind held the faintest impression of a broken leg, hastily healed by a conjurer from Gridania then splinted, not having fully healed by Cartenau when all were brought back to the front lines if they were capable of wielding a weapon at all.

Now, as she sank into the soothing waters of Camp Bronze Lake while wearing a swimsuit that Katarh had made for her, she could see why the veterans were sent her.  The pain in her left faded away, leaving nothing but a gentle warmth.

#ffxivwrite2020 #whew in the nick of time

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#14 Part

Tyapko did not miss her old family.  With a dozen older brothers and sisters, all working as slaves to a higher demon, there had been no love lost between them.  She had been bullied and picked on her entire life as the youngest.

Getting away from them had been one of the only things she could say she truly did not regret about her predicament.  

But every time she had to leave her new found family at the guild, even just for a little while, she got sad.  While traveling to Ishgard for the very first time, the loneliness crept in and settles into her bones.

Would she ever find L’ahurah?  There were no records of her death from the war - she was one of the thousands of soldiers who were officially missing in action.

Saying goodbye had never hurt when she was an imp.

#ffxivwrite2020 #woot forgot I had 24 hours

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#13 - Make up for 8:  Clamor

Like many of the survivors of Cartenau, Taprara didn’t handle fireworks very well.

The first time they started crackling in celebrating of the Moonfire Faire, Guildmaster Katarh found Taprara Rara hiding under a couch, shaking.

A strong drink (but not too strong this time) and some soothing conversation later, Taprara Rara felt a bit better, but the most precious gift was a pair of earplugs, and permission to crank the orchestrion up to full volume for the duration of the festival.

The fireworks themselves were beautiful, she had to admit, but the trauma of the war was too much for the mind to overcome.

No matter how beautiful the shimmering lights, the clamor of war was all Taprara could hear in her ears. 

#ffxivwrite2020 #taprara rara

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#12 Tooth and Nail

“I think you may have the Echo.”

Taprara blinked a few times at Katarh, who was drinking at the guild’s bar, seemingly her favorite spot.  Next to her was her wife, the tall and graceful Viera Evelyn, taking a nap. 

“The what?”

“The Echo.  It’s a.... power of the heart, sort of?  A blessing from Hydalaen.  It lets you peer into the souls of others, or feel what others are feeling, or see visions of the future or past.”

Taprara definitely did not feel like she had any such power, but a nudge from the memories of this body’s previous life did seem to indicate that it was real.

She dug deeper into memories not her own, trying to see and understand what that meant. Taprara (the original) had been a member of a small group called the Path of the Twelve, led by....

“Minfilia?”

“Yes, exactly!  The leader of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn has the Echo.  She was the first, in fact, and so is sometimes called the Antecedent.”

“I think I met her once before the war...”

Katarh patted her on the head.  “I’m glad some of your memories are coming back.  You should go see her.  I’m sure she’ll be happy to know you survived.”

Survived was perhaps not quite the correct word, but as always Taprara kept that part to herself.

The mixing of memories was getting stronger.  Taprara’s memories were surfacing more and more often, and Tyapko’s old life was fading at an alarming rate.  Why wouldn’t she want to forget the Void, where every day was a matter of fighting tooth and nail to live?  Why wouldn’t she want to bask in the much gentler, kinder memories of this Lalafell, whom had been loved by almost everyone she met?

She resisted.  She was always slightly terrified that the consciousness of Taprara would reawaken and want to take over, and she might end up losing control of the only body she currently had.  Or they would both coexist in the mind, two separate beings thinking separate thoughts.  

Tyapko was Tyapko, and she must never forget that.

#ffxivwrite2020 #taprara rara

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#11 Ultracrepidarian

“You’re doing it wrong,”  a voice declared.

“Huh?” Taprara Rara looked for the source of the voice.  She was just outside of Ul’dah, having recently visited the Thaumaturge’s Guild for another lesson.

“You’re supposed to cast ice magic.  It uses the least mana!”

The Lalafel let her fire magic die down and put up her staff, finally locating the source of the unwarranted advice.  It was another Lalafell, a gladiator, wearing pauper’s armor and gear.  

“But it doesn’t do as much damage.”  This she knew in her heart to be true - the way the aether pulsed through her body and flowed out through her fingertips was so different between the casts of fire and ice.  Ice was contracted and made her feel chilly, but did indeed refill her manage stores almost immediately with just a few casts.  Fire expanded and used a lot of mana to cast, but dealt so much more damage that it was worth the expenditure.  All of thaumaturgy was built along finding the balance between the two, to drain your mana then replenish it as efficiently as possible.

“Yeah but if you run out of mana you can’t do any damage!”  The small gladiator pointed to his chest, boastfully.  “I’ve seen what happens when a gladiator runs out of mana.”

“I’m a thaumaturge.”  

Taprara was not a confrontational person.  When faced with someone who was clearly out of his league, she had no idea what to do.  He was utterly confident, and completely and utterly wrong.

With a sigh she turned back to the striking dummy she had been practicing on.  

“You should stick to being a gladiator,” she said softly.

“I’m telling you -”

“You’re WRONG!”

She shouted, for perhaps the first time in both of her lifetimes.  And at the same time, she flicked on her Swiftcast and tossed a particularly deadly spell at the striking dummy.

“Flare!”

And with that, her mana plummeted to nothing.

She crossed her arms, and started at the gladiator defiantly.

“I’m telling you, gladiators and thaumaturges are completely different.  We’re used to draining our mana down to nothing.  Sure, it’s not comfortable, but it’s really easy to get back.”  She used Transpose, and blessedly cool manage flowed through her aether channels.

“Yeah but-”

Taprara was mad.  Really really mad.  She didn’t mind people who were stronger than she was being helpful (really that was everyone in the guild) but having a stranger give her unsolicited advice was a bridge too far.

She clamped her mouth down into a thin line, and teleported back to the Free Company house, too distraught to do anything except sit on a bench outside and stew once she got there.

The.... the..... the nerve!

#ffxivwrite2020 #taprara rara #that was a fun prompt