#Saint of the Firmament

[blackestnight]

season’s greetings! the real starlight miracle is that anyone got her to dress up.

#final fantasy xiv #oc: hanami hagane #gpose #s: a minor justice #TIS THE SEASON #almost made a joke about the Saint of the Firmament's little helper #please applaud my restraint #aymeric de borel #screenshots - mine

[cyazurai]

AurAugust Day 26: Umbral

Umbral static was the first weather Grand witnessed when she first stepped foot in the Churning Mists.

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #final fantasy xiv: heavensward #auraugust #auraugust day 26 #au ra august #au ra #xaela #grand jellyfish #nonsims #fun fact umbral static WAS the first weather i ever saw in the churning mists #wasn't the first thing i thought of for this though #the first thing i thought of was the diadem weather #because my alt has the saint of the firmament title for mining #but i accidentally made a glam for aiming #so i thought i'd see if umbral static was up #and it WAS

[landwriter]

landwriter you've done it again day TWO of thinking about your writing and getting physically affected by it I thought of that line from saint morpheus right after hob confesses and morpheus says he can find no sin in what he's said and I got the wind punched out of me so like congratulations on the absolute stranglehold your work has on me

!!!! am beamin' like a fool!!! thanks for telling me bc I'm a monster and that makes my day. like I can't live rent-free but it is a wildly neat consolation to hear my words sometimes do???

i stinkin love that bit and i'm delighted it got to you too. thank you for the note <3 <3 <3

#asks #saint morpheus in stained glass #tysm <3<3<3 #if you want me to write more telling me stuff like this is how #i'll write more anyways i can't be stopped #but this is SO motivating and validating #makes me wanna cast out for the very best words in the firmament of speech and then pluck them down to try and RUIN YOUR DAY #dreamling #the sandman

[discountdps]

I cannot believe I spent 10+ hours a day in the Diadem during ranking. I can barely stand to do a full lockout now, but I want the skin lizard SO BAD. I'm about 200k away on FSH and a disgusting amount away on BTN from just being free from this hellhole forever.

#getting saint of the firmament on a gatherer gave me a permanent irl debuff to being in the diadem

[byregot]

My ideal game feature would be garlemald restoration but like ala firmament type of system in unrelated news I’m working towards my pteranodon mount again.

#woofing barking woofing #also every time I see somsone with the saint or the firmament title I pee cry wail I couldn’t get it #if they had something similar for garlemald I would start killing my competiton to get it

[carcharsaur]

I think being a crafter in xiv is some kind of disease

#saint of the firmament btw #car talking

[zahnffxiv]

hrothtober day 21: craft!! i did my part!! (so many skybuilders' overcoats…)

#ffxiv #hrothgar #gpose #hrothtober #hrothtober 2021 #leatherworker was the class i did the saint of the firmament grind as!! #so i did have to make a bunch of overcoats to rank high enough #there were lizards in the recipe but i cannot harm a friend so they just sat on my shoulders and watched over me as i crafted

[hlysins]

tag dump: miscellaneous

#morgs tag dump #✖submitted post║& the solemn firmament marches & the hosts of heaven rise framed through the iron arches— banded & barred by the ties #✖ask memes║the monster in me can only be checked by the monster in you #✖psa║repent: as if words can change your core & holy water can cleanse your blood #✖self promo║&. i am creation both haunted & holy #✖promo║you who fill my skull with ashes please destroy my memories completely #✖meta║you looked at death in a tarot card & you saw what you had to do #✖character study║will you still kiss me the same when you taste my victims blood? #✖starter call║i'm really good at being good at goodbyes i'm gonna give you fair warning that i — i'm not a saint #✖plotted starter║ask no questions & you’ll be told no lies #✖open starter║in silence there is power but these words are alive & writhing #✖ooc post║death & i have been scandalously intimate for some time now #✖exclusives call║i liked the bittersweet taste of danger touching my lips #✖mains call║while my heart lingers on you tell me how do you do this thing called living? #✖relationships call║perhaps in different universe we would not meet so battle worn & i would not remember us as war #✖plotting call║beautiful words take revenge against you / quiet meanings meanings make you bleed #✖scheduled post║i haunt the shadows with a gun in each hand & a smirk on my lips — happy #✖music║the blackbirds sang their songs as they aways did that black-letter day #✖musings║another knife in my hands / a stain that never comes off #✖aesthetic║summer drips in the hours of the night #a dark storm on the horizon haloed by the sun #✖dash commentary║before you reprimand me take a moment to consider your own failings #✖dash games║if nobody has died why do i grieve? #✖wishlist║you don’t have to be a ghost here amongst the living #✖saved║those painful memories are what help us make it to tomorrow & become stronger #✖anonymous inquiries║death is the only god who comes when you call #✖inbox call║show me the most damaged parts of your soul & i will show you how it still shines like gold #✖answered║i confess these sins with a sharp & spiteful tongue #✖mobile post║place the pennies on my eyes i'll sleep with the stars tonight

[cryptotheism]

And the prophet said: When I reached the innermost chamber of heaven I saw not god but a throne of spent shells. The Lord is dead, there is only the gun.

Creation is empty. As humanity sailed the firmament, we were met only with silence and yawning rocky shores. For the earth was not the center of creation, it was to be our cradle, our chamber, our Eden among the stars.

A thousand years saw a thousand new worlds, then a thousand more, and then a thousand thousand more. And the sprawl of humanity was like the planets it conquered; dull, indolent, greedy, and cold.

But then, the final miracle. A young boy, the final pure soul in all of creation, hung by his ankles from a hardwood tree, begged, prayed to the Lord God for one final act of providence. For the final prophet was pitiful, too poor to afford the holy instruments of his communion. With tears in his eyes and a finger cocked to his lips he whispered.

"End It All"

A 50. Caliber round of perfect quintessence, shot from the heavens in an act of holy suicide. For the final prophet, hallowed in namelessness, became ensconced as holy reliquary to the gun.

From his left eye wept a stream of purest lead, from which the holy forged slugs.

From his right eye wept a stream of purest brass, from which the holy forged casing.

And from the stigmata of his jaw bled perfect gunmetal, from which the holy forged the gun.

This was the beginning of the final crusade. The false churches were buried. The inglorious books burned. For the Lord God had left humanity with charge of perfecting his work, and the holy instrument of his work.

Prophets rose from the tired masses, to preach the new gospel in habits of kevlar and brass like gold. And from their new church came priestly schools, monastic orders, cogs in clockwork of the coming judgement day.

There is the word, and there is the gun, all else must kneel. Edens among the stars became worlds of factory cathedrals and sprawling necropoli where rifles are fitted with the still-twitching trigger fingers of saints, grenades fit to the inscribed skulls of unrepentant for their final baptism, and rosaries are forged from the ever-weeping shells of a dozen holy suicides.

[undiscovered-horizon]

"Man of Faith" - Nikolai Lantsov x Reader

SUMMARY: With the Sun Summoner on board, Stumhond's attention seems to be captivated by the living Saint. While you know how important she is to him in terms of politics, you can't help but start to feel jealous. Nikolai, however, stays true to his only faith.

WORDCOUNT: ~ 1.4k

>>Grishaverse-inspired playlist<<

The night breeze feels cold when it brushes against your cheeks. Although you feel an uncomfortable shiver run down your spine, the chilly air is refreshing, revitalizing. Salty ocean water sprays your skin as the ship lazily cuts through the endless waters. Swooshing of the heavy waves hitting the vessel and the drawn-out creaking of boards interrupt the otherwise silent hours. The black, starry sky is reflecting in the equally black waters, making it hard to say where lies the horizon - firmament glistens both above your head and beneath your feet.

Leaning against the railing, you allow yourself a sigh of defeat. You shake your head at the bitter, lead-like weight in your abdomen. This phantom has refused to let you go ever since the Sun Summoner boarded the ship but it’s hardly her fault. Truly, it’s not His fault either, even if he’s part of your problem, following her around and eagerly asking every question that came to his mind. It’s like you’re not here at all, you think to yourself but quickly discard this awful idea with a shake of your head.

No matter how much you refuse to admit it, you’re jealous. In your mind, it’s very logical and rational to get neurotic - he’s an heir to the throne, she’s the Sun Summoner and you… are a pirate. Although your lovesick heart is defending Nikolai with all its might, your sensibility is feeding you a plethora of horrible scenarios that, to some degree, you’re aware are not very probable. Still, they’re not impossible.

You rub your face in a vain attempt to calm yourself down and gain control over your emotions. This is stupid. He’s just interested in an interesting person, nothing beyond that. All of the flustering, and frankly embarrassing, confessions of love he’s given you, can’t just be undone in two days… can they?

The sound of slow footsteps distracts you from your spiralling thoughts. You turn around only to see the man you’ve been agonizing over as though one of the Saints had heard you and, out of annoyance rather than goodwill, sent him your way to clear this perplexing misunderstanding. His blond locks float on the gusts of cold breeze. There’s an undeniable softness to his expression, even if his eyebrows raise slightly in worry. Despite the overwhelming darkness of the night on the open ocean, he looks nothing short of breathtaking. 

And you, through unimaginable luck, are the only thing that steals his breath.

"I was looking for you,” he says in a gentle voice. Jealousy mixes with guilt and shame inside you - Nikolai probably thinks something serious happened but no, it’s you getting into your own head.

"Something's the matter?" you deflect his inquiry. 

"Actually, I wanted to ask you that.” Nikolai leans on his elbow on the railing, his torso turned towards you. He’s standing close enough for his frock coat to brush against you - it’s smooth and velvety, as though water could be sawn into a garment. “You seemed upset earlier."

"Oh, it's nothing, really.” You dismiss him with a vague wave of your hand. “Don't worry."

Nikolai lets out a short sigh. He takes off his coat and puts it around your shoulders. "I always worry about you,” he says as he’s casually fixing the jacket to cover most of your body.

The familiar scent fills your nostrils immediately. Perhaps it’s the additional layer of clothing or his hand resting on your lower back that’s making you warm up significantly. In any event, his overwhelming presence, engulfing you in an embrace of comfort and security, momentarily shakes you sober from your grim thoughts. Like having a bucket of cold water thrown at your head, you’re wondering how you could ever question his devotion.

“A treasure?” Nikolai repeats after the old whaler. The stench of booze is surrounding the retired, one-eyed sailor like a hallucinogenic aura. “I’ve already found her, thank you.”

Doubt, however, is a relentless beast. Maybe you’ve been the recipient of his affection simply by a chance of convenience? You’ve always been there, waiting for Nikolai to pay you attention. But then you inhale again, the scent of resin and seaweed filling your nostrils, and the doubt vanishes once more as the fog does in the early morning hours.

"This is going to sound really stupid and selfish,” you confess.

"I want to hear it anyway."

Nikolai’s hand reaches for yours, fingers intertwining without either of you thinking about it. His thumb is gently rubbing circles into your skin. Some reflexes are scratched into bones, escaping human willingness. 

“It’s just…” You cut yourself off before you can finish. Embarrassed at what you’re about to tell him, you look away, admiring the faraway stars reflecting off the black water. In an unconscious motion, Nikolai cranes his neck to try and see more of your face. “Ever since Alina boarded the ship, you’ve been quite preoccupied with her and I… I think I’ve grown used to having your undivided attention. For the most part, at least. And that made me wonder whether I’m underwhelming compared to the Sun Summoner herself.”

Finally, you dare look back towards him. As you could have expected, he looks just as lovestruck as he usually does - not a wrinkle suggests that he’s angry with you for making a show of your jealousy or doubting his devotion. In fact, that upturned corner of his mouth makes him look genuinely amused with this course of events. Somewhere during your circular way of expressing envy, he only heard you admit how much you yearn for his attention.

"You thought I'm more interested in Alina Starkov than you?" he asks, laughter hiding inside his voice. "Hey, look at me.” Nikolai lifts his hand to your cheek, first brushing his finger against your skin before his whole palm cups your face. "I would have to lose my damn mind and even then I'd fall in love with you again if you just glanced in my direction."

“I know how important she is to you, Коля," you whisper, nervous that someone might pick up on the secret only you've been privy to so far. It nearly escapes your attention that his smile grows a little hearing you say his name. “It’s not your fault I’m being a little selfish. I just need to get a grip. You really shouldn’t worry.”

Nikolai’s hand drops from your face to hold your hand again. He brings your fingers to his lips, placing a soft kiss on them. It’s tender, like everything else he does towards you. Sometimes you wonder whether this gentleness is a conscious choice or if he’s physically incapable of directing any harshness at you.

"I could have an army of Sun Summoners and you’d still be the only Saint I’m praying to day and night.”

You scoff at his cheesy poetics. Laughing to yourself, you shake your head at him. "Oh, please, there is nothing holy about me."

With the hand he’s been resting on your lower back Nikolai pulls you even closer to him. He lets go of your fingers, placing his free hand on the side of your head, forcing you to look at him - not that you have anything against doing so.

"I beg to differ,” he begins in a low, surprisingly serious voice. “Ever since I saw you for the first time, I can't think about anything else. I don't want to. When you’re not with me I can’t focus until I find you and when I do, I feel like nothing can stand in my way. I could lose everything but if you’re by my side, I know I’m saved.” Nikolai rests his forehead against yours and closes his eyes. “You're the closest thing to godhood I've ever seen."

You inhale sharply suddenly feeling his warm lips against yours. His hands are pulling you closer to him, deepening the kiss. It’s both loving and desperate as though he’s expecting you to vanish into thin air at any moment; like he can’t quite believe he has the rest of his life to adore you.

To your disappointment, Nikolai pulls away from you after a long while but keeps a rather impressive lack of distance as your noses brush against each other. In a breathy voice, he whispers:

"You're the only prayer I need to make me feel blessed."

“Just kiss me again, милый мой.”

A quiet chuckle leaves his lips. “As you wish.”

Without wasting time, he’s kissing you again - hungrily, feverishly, reluctantly pulling away every now and then to catch his breath, only to resume this consuming pastime with insatiable desire.

_____

Коля [ko-lya] - short for Nikolai

Милый мой [me-lee moy] - my darling (masculine)

#shadow and bone fanfic #shadow and bone x reader #shadow and bone fanfiction #shadow and bone imagine #shadow and bone #shadow and bone x you #nikolai lantsov #nikolai lantsov imagine #nikolai lantsov fanfiction #nikolai imagines #nikolai x reader #nikolai lantsov x reader #nikolai lantsov x you #sturmhond #nikolai lantsov fanfic #nikolai lantsov my beloved

[whinges]

held in reverence: a fanmix for estimeric week 2023! these elves can fit so much yearning in them

listen here / tracklist and annotations below:

On the Mountain Tall - The Oh Hellos Shattered down the hills with a rage unbent / And a fear that shook the firmament

Only the Young Die Good - Saintseneca Swift like a thief in the night / Right, I’d pluck my right eye out 

Drawn to the Blood - Sufjan Stevens For my prayer has always been love

Saints - San Fermin Don’t you see it only makes this hard?

Leviathan - Everything Everything There you go / I know it has to be

sever the blight - hemlocke springs Blue bells and dahlias / Tied with a white ribbon

Long & Lost - Florence + The Machine Is it too late to come on home? Are all those bridges now old stone?

Skip the Charades - Cold War Kids Can we just speak plain?

Adventures in Solitude - The New Pornographers I know you need to breathe through / Come back, come to

Seventeen - Tomerlin Love is mostly war / And love, what is it for?

Home By Now - Bombay Bicycle Club Waiting in the silence / If you won’t spill your heart / I’ll chase you for the words you owe

Hot & Heavy - Lucy Dacus The most that I could give to you was nothing at all / The best that I could offer was to miss your calls

Fallen Snow - First Aid Kit All my thoughts, they tend to wander / You could always unravel me like twine

Old Friend - Sea Wolf But I know it's getting easier / Just like it's supposed to do

Servants and Kings - Radical Face You'd become my candle in the dark / And all through that hell you were the shield across my heart

#estimeric #estimeric week #estinien wyrmblood #estinien varlineau #aymeric de borel #ffxiv #ffxiv art #fanmix #definitely kinda sad but not the entire thing #hopefully an appropriate level of Oof. #YES i added another song like 10 hours after posting this what about it

[cyazurai]

is it weird that i'm missing the Ishgard restoration competition?

i miss the camaraderie of those in the Diadem, low on sleep, shouting egg...

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv ishgard restoration #nonsims #i managed to get saint of the firmament for mining #but i wanna do it again

[secretmellowblog]

As long as it's @valvertweek, here is one of my favorite Valjean and Javert scenes I've written (for my recently updated fanfic Annoyances):

“But I should have expected no better, as this is a false country— I have been compelled to see its falsehoods, to see that all of society and law and government and legislation and magistracy and sovereign authority and civil service and penal codes and all the dogmas on which rest political and civil security, can apparently only be summed up as a great farce someone is playing,” Javert’s words began to blend together into an utterly incoherent snarl of rage, “it is all deceit, deceit from on high, from the very forces ‘on high’ they tell you are incapable of deceit, they lie to their servants, so that their servants believe themselves honest when they are simply party to a great lie—and then they put their empty-headed imps of dandies into the uniforms of lieutenants, and they put their saints in the green caps of galley-slaves and brand them ‘forced labor for life,’ and they trick their honest servants into crime by dressing up the true authorities in the costumes of the false, and the false authorities in the costumes of the true! If there is any ‘true’ authority all! If one can trust in anything! If there is not a rift in the very firmament! If it is not all rubbish, waste, anarchy, a shapeless mass, ruin, chaos—If the very ground beneath our feet does not give way—!” “Oh,” Jean Valjean said, stumbling on a loose paving stone; he lost his balance, clutched at Javert’s coat, and dragged him to the side. Javert staggered.  In a moment the two of them had fallen to the cobblestones in a confused painful tangle of limbs. “Hmm!” Javert said, extricating himself from underneath Jean Valjean. Then he rose to his hands and knees and shook the sewer mire off himself, like a dog shaking the mud out of its fur.  “This is why thought is useless,” Javert explained with a wag of his finger, haughtily dropping his eyelids. “See there! I was too busy thinking over some nonsense or other I have already settled, that I did not see the loose stone. You see what it is.” “Ah,” Jean Valjean said, lying face-down on the pavement.

#when they fall i want you to picture it being like Our Fl*g Means Death #where like #they flop over and bounce and their shoes comedically fly off their feet #thats the energy #this is the Dynamic #les mis #les miserables #valvert #valvert week #jean valjean #inspector javert #also no one has commented about the 'javert shaking the mud of his coat like a dog shaking the mud out of his fur' #but i was really proud of that line. #it gets hard to find more Weird Unique Dog Things for Javert to do. deceptively hard #ya gotta add some variety between all the growling and snarling

[myrfing]

FINALLYYY SOME ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

saint of the firmament btw

#6.5 spoilers #ffxiv #can everyone post theirs so i can see.

[owlafterhours]

i succumbed to more ac6 x ffxiv brainrot; Locksmith Freud (The Necromancer)

casual miqo freud, allround good raider who spends a normal amount of time looking over his logs, rps at balam after the tier's ended. sometimes will fantasia for what stats it gives him, but generally just a super greedy dps (not that it's been difficult recently, according to him, with the sizes of those hitboxes).

Open Faith (Saint of the Firmament)

lalafel raidlead snail, usually wears whatever raid gear is current dyed purple - to his delight, the top weapons are also purple! to his suffering, however, freud still doesn't listen to him, and it drives him up the walls. spends too much time looking at logs, even after the tier's ended.

[snail's text in the second panel: So don't forget to stack with your partner and stay away from the people baiting the lasers-- snail in the third panel: ARE YOU EVEN PAYING ATTENTION freud: yes snail.]

#v.i freud #v.ii snail #coral containment sphere #aethersands research facility #owlscratch #ffxiv #mild regrets with the spur of the moment ff armor #it's been a while... #armored core 6

[illustratus]

A traveller puts his head under the edge of the firmament

The image depicts a man crawling under the edge of the sky, depicted as if it were a solid hemisphere, to look at the mysterious Empyrean beyond. The caption underneath the engraving (not shown here) translates to "A medieval missionary tells that he has found the point where Heaven and Earth meet..."

The Flammarion engraving is a wood engraving by an unknown artist, so named because its first documented appearance is in Camille Flammarion's 1888 book L'atmosphère : météorologie populaire ("The Atmosphere: Popular Meteorology"). It has been used as a metaphorical illustration of either the scientific or the mystical quests for knowledge.

The print depicts a man, clothed in a long robe and carrying a staff, who is at the edge of the Earth, where it meets the sky. He kneels down and passes his head, shoulders, and right arm through the star-studded sky, discovering a marvellous realm of circling clouds, fires and suns beyond the heavens. One of the elements of the cosmic machinery bears a strong resemblance to traditional pictorial representations of the "wheel in the middle of a wheel" described in the visions of the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel. The caption that accompanies the engraving in Flammarion's book reads: A missionary of the Middle Ages tells that he had found the point where the Sky and the Earth touch...

In Flammarion's L'atmosphère: météorologie populaire, the image refers to the text on the facing page (p. 162), which also clarifies the author's intent in using it as an illustration:

Whether the sky be clear or cloudy, it always seems to us to have the shape of an elliptic arch; far from having the form of a circular arch, it always seems flattened and depressed above our heads, and gradually to become farther removed toward the horizon. Our ancestors imagined that this blue vault was really what the eye would lead them to believe it to be; but, as Voltaire remarks, this is about as reasonable as if a silk-worm took his web for the limits of the universe. The Greek astronomers represented it as formed of a solid crystal substance; and so recently as Copernicus, a large number of astronomers thought it was as solid as plate-glass. The Latin poets placed the divinities of Olympus and the stately mythological court upon this vault, above the planets and the fixed stars. Previous to the knowledge that the earth was moving in space, and that space is everywhere, theologians had installed the Trinity in the empyrean, the glorified body of Jesus, that of the Virgin Mary, the angelic hierarchy, the saints, and all the heavenly host.... A naïve missionary of the Middle Ages even tells us that, in one of his voyages in search of the terrestrial paradise, he reached the horizon where the earth and the heavens met, and that he discovered a certain point where they were not joined together, and where, by stooping his shoulders, he passed under the roof of the heavens...

#flammarion #engraving #empyrean #celestial spheres #art #medieval #middle ages #europe #european #alchemy #cosmos #celestial #cosmology #earth #sky #heaven #firmament #camille flammarion #astronomy #astrology #stars #traveller #pilgrim #history #cosmic #space #sun #planets #terrestrial paradise #mysticism