#Serella Arcbane

[starswornoaths]

Prompt 6: Ring

Lucia comes to Aymeric hoping that he will forsake duty just this once.

She knows he will not. She asks anyway.

(hi I'm late and haven't written anything personal in so long, help)

word count: 2,218

Even knowing the Lord of the house would be away for at least another bell, Lucia had opted to spend it pacing the foyer of Manor de Borel all the same. Possessed of both a spare key and a first name basis with the staff had made the choice easy, when weighed against the prospect of calling him back to the office after hours.

Were she choosing to do this in armor and on record, she might have opted to wait until the morrow to discuss her findings. Were she more loyal to Ishgard than to its leader, she would not have gone through the trouble of being seen buying a bottle of wine from the Crozier as a show of turning up at a friend’s house after work for a genuinely not-uncommon nightcap. Were she a better person, she would not have come at all.

But she was none of those things. So sat she on a sofa in the foyer self soothing with a cat in her lap and an unopened bottle of wine on the table, just beyond reach. By her design, a neat pile of papers writ in as many different hands had been stacked just beyond the bottle, just out of reach and folded for discretion.

Duchess had made herself known the moment she awoke from her nap, yowling and weaving between Lucia’s legs until she made her lap available to be kneaded. Petting her feline friend was a better use of her hands than crumpling an otherwise pristine report, anyroad.

Aymeric’s arrival was a bell and a half after Lucia, as it turned out. There was no worry of her presence being startling, as even from her spot on the couch she could hear a brief conversation in the entryway somewhere between the clacking of boots and the muffled shifting of coats. An announcement on her behalf, as far as she could parse.

When he rounded the corner into the foyer half dressed for more arid climes than Ishgard and beginning to shiver faintly, the buzzing in her mind quieted with another mystery to fixate on. Old habits kicked in, and she read him from head to toe.

Though his head was free of a hat, the telltale blemish of fading marks across his forehead outlined the headwrap he had likely worn all the way to the door. She recognized his blouse as one more familiar to Thanalan, long sleeved and light and wrapped lightly in a vest gifted by Raubahn for wear during his visits. His pants and boots were of standard Ishgardian build, however; likely, he only dressed warmly as far as his coat fell to make his business in Thanalan more comfortable.

His expression was somewhere between a grimace at being unkempt in front of company and a smile at her presence as he gave the end of one sleeve a tug. “Lucia! I beg your pardon, you find me only just returned from Ul’Dah—”

“Get settled in.” she gestured at Duchess kneading biscuits in her lap. “I am off duty—and clearly not going anywhere.”

Though the journey was short and lightning quick, Lucia mapped the path Aymeric’s eyes darted, from where she had gestured to the report at the table to the unopened wine beside it before looking back to her. On at least some level, he understood the Game was afoot.

Aymeric’s virtue was also his vice: he will do the right thing—the just thing—every time, even to his own detriment. But Lucia knew that he also trusted her judgment. When she bade discretion on a matter, he deferred to her expertise.

That, and he hated being unclean to the point of distraction. The longer he hovered at the door with pleasantries, the more it had become apparent in the way he idly picked at his hands.

“Of course. My thanks—and a thousand pardons,” he said, ducking his head as he crossed the foyer and took the stairs two at a time.

Lucia had given herself a full hour and a half to think of what to say before he got here. Aymeric gave her another quarter bell by performing the same hasty but deep cleanliness that the military demanded, with an extra five minutes for him to dry and dress. Two hours, all told. 

It was still not enough time. 

By the time Aymeric returned to the foyer, all casual attire and damp curls, Lucia still lacked the words to present her findings. All that time, and she had nothing but an apology mangled in her throat.

“What were you doing in Ul’Dah?” she asked instead of explaining anything. 

Any hope of him already knowing had been dashed the moment he came home, but it was rendered clear as day now: he was still happy.

“Ah,” Aymeric sighed around a smile. “Business- both official and personal. I had thought to reopen trade discussions with the Sultanate. Discussions all around have been delicate, but enthusiastic. Progressing.”

It was so like him not to mention what he had done for himself unprompted, assuming a lack of interest. A habit he had not yet fully broken, but one he had indulged in far less of late.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Lucia croaked, “And the personal…?”

“Oh!” he startled, but lit up at the chance to explain, “Do you recall that trip I took to the Forelands? Some three moons back?”

Lucia remembered. After a jaunt in the Forelands with Uthengentle, he met her at the airship landing wearing durable working clothes and positively smudged with dirt from head to toe. At the time, she had thought to congratulate him on actually using some of his vacation time of his own volition and only half in jest, but ultimately walked away with more questions as to what it had been for. 

She knew what had become inevitable when he had only offered an explanation of, “I was in search of a star sapphire. I worried I had taken too large a piece but Uthengentle assures me he will use the excess in other pieces.”

At the time, Lucia had not asked him what it had been for. A part of her had already known—or perhaps, had hoped. It had been a happier prospect, at the time.

“Uthengentle finished my commission. ‘Tis a beautiful thing, really—should all go well, I expect you will have ample opportunity to see it often.”

Seeming unaware of her stomach falling out from under her, he gestured to the stack of papers she had brought with her. “But it seems I have more business to yet conduct before the night is over. What have you brought to me, my friend, that you would do so out of armor and for no pay? For all you complain about my lack of freetime, yours is precious little better.”

Alas, their friendship was an ongoing tug-of-war between both their propensity for overworking. If Aymeric was not discreetly scheduling days off for her, Lucia was liable to rearrange what duties she could to give him at least a few hours free a week, if not a full day. 

Lately, it had been getting better—for both of them, due in no small part to the efforts of one Warrior of Light. An ally playing both sides of the war, as lover to one and sister to another but loved fiercely all the same.

An ally that might well have betrayed them both in one fell swoop. If it might not risk weeping, Lucia would laugh at how thoroughly they might have been played.

“Physikal reports.” she said, at last freeing herself from Duchess’ leaden weight and handing Aymeric the papers. “From the incident in the Tribunal.”

An ongoing mystery that had taken a back burner by necessity during the Dragonsong War. Small mercies and damnations, then, that there was no finger drumming in the wake of peace. Not for the righteous, at least.

A principle that Lucia had until recently believed shared by the Warrior of Light. 

But righteousness does not demand silence from its victims. Righteousness was not complicity. 

And yet—and yet—there were gaping holes of information. Stories that did not align. Lucia’s mind bounces wildly between conspiracy and betrayal, unsure of which would wear on her more but knowing which one would unmake them both entirely.

Lucia studied Aymeric’s face as she shooed Duchess off her lap and rose from her seat to join him by the hearth. There had been a lingering smile in his eyes as he had taken the report. A lightness he was halfway through storing away for the sake of work as he delicately unfolded the pages.

He was the Lord Commander again before he had finished the first paragraph. If she wanted to play a morbid guessing game, she imagined it was somewhere around the phrase, “healing magicks interfaced poorly with deeper wounds—suspected use of Dark Arts at play.” 

She would also guess at what point he caught the reason for this clandestine turn-in: Serella Arcbane found consorting with a heretic’s corpse on Tribunal grounds four hours prior to incident that occurred inside. Association suspected, extent unclear. 

“Aymeric—” Lucia croaked, dropping all pretense of titles and duties.

In that moment, such things were too heavy for her to carry. The flames in the hearth were too tempting in that moment; if she had been holding the reports, she might have thrown the pages in the fire just to be free of the tension. Old habits crept in from the most bent and beaten parts of her. Not even in Borel Manor was she safe from the shadows of the Empire, not when they so darkened her heart.

“You know what it means that I am here off duty. No other has seen this report,” she continued, and though her words were evenly measured out, tested carefully on her tongue, it still felt as though she were rambling. “None that yet live, at least.”

His expression was inscrutable. Like he was trying desperately to mask how his heart threatened to break. Like he was failing, for all his spectacular effort. 

Far from emboldened but already there, Lucia leaned closer and whispered, “One word…one word, and this never leaves this room.”

Because she would take the secret to her grave, if Aymeric asked it of her. Over country, over duty and faith and god she would, if he but bade it of her.

But she knew that he would not. He would not even consider it. In a way, it was why she had asked it of him in the first place: her loyalty to him was always rewarded. His honesty, the compass that pointed them north.

And how bittersweet her reward was this time, when he did not so much as glance at the fireplace, eyes never leaving hers.

“And what would we be burying? A half-truth that would never come to light. We would bury victims, and any chance they ever had of justice with them. We would be no better than those who came before us.” Aymeric said, passionate and predictable.“If the crime is one of unconscionable evil, we must needs condemn it—even should the transgressor be our closest kin. I said as much to her, once. I meant it then as much as I mean it now.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, because she felt she must.

It wasn’t her apology to make, not really. Not when the perpetrator might well be someone they so dearly loved. Not when, just this once, her hands were clean. Knowing that did not make her feel less dirty for the work.

No rest for the righteous and all that.

“You have done naught that needs forgiving.” he replied, his tone crisp and curt in that way it was at the war table.

Tapping the papers lightly against the palm of one hand to hastily straighten them, Aymeric folded the reports along the crease she had already made for them with quick, decisive movements, and held the stack out for her to take after only a moment’s hesitation.

In spite of herself, Lucia flinched.

“You will submit this as a cause for concern on the morrow, Ser Lucia.” he ordered. “You will formally request leave to pursue this case, and I will formally assign you to investigate it—which you will. Thoroughly. What evidence you find, you will submit in its entirety. Regardless of what your findings are.”

“Yes, Lord Commander.” she said in a voice of warped steel.

Lucia was reminded that he had gotten a commissioned piece when he began to fiddle with a small velvet box in his hand. Were it not for the way his expression crumpled, she might not have left him to his grief.

Even knowing the answer, her voice bent toward something softer as she asked him, “What did you commission?”

After a moment to swallow heavily, he gently set the box down on the table and said, “Depending on what this investigation yields…nothing.”

When he removed his hand, he hooked his thumb into the meet of the box’s hinge and lifted the lid to show Lucia the contents inside.

Nestled between layers of velvet coated cushions, adorned with a large but immaculately cut star sapphire wrapped in gold like a stained glass window, was a ring.

#ffxiv #ffxivwrite2023 #ffxivwrite #aymeric de borel #wolmeric #wol x aymeric #lucia goe junius #serella arcbane #I am as ever your shield #I had an outline of this I'd been meaning to fill out and this seemed like the right prompt for it #I'm not really 'participating' in ffxivwrite so much as chasing vibes #literally anything to make the writing happen again

[lunarosewood23]

FFXIVWrite2023 Prompt 15: Portentous

Raven has a bad feeling. Set pre-Bloody Banquet Special shoutout to @starswornoaths and @inkblood-mistrieu for their help and for letting me write and pose with their girls. I love you guys so much!! <3 <3

~~~

"You sure you two will be ok in Ul'dah?" Raven asked. The three of them had gathered at More Donuts to make sure they weren’t overheard at the Rising Stones to discuss the plan, even if they doubted it’d be needed. Mingxia and Serella were going to the banquet in Ul’dah to celebrate the united effort to stop the attack on the Steps of Faith. Raven knew she wasn’t good at these types of parties, so she would head to Coerthas and keep the lights on for the others should things go sour. She hated that she wasn’t good at diplomacy, especially after the last incident...

"Don’t worry Raven, we’ll manage! I’m kinda everywhere already but it’ll be fine!” Mingxia says with a grin. She then looks to Serella. "What's the craziest thing that could go wrong?"

"It's Ul'Dah, so in all likelihood twelve or so somethings have gone wrong already.” Serella replied with a wry smile. “But more to your point, Raven- we'll be fine. I'm called to muster for attendance as a Freesworn Paladin and Maelstrom Lieutenant both, so in a way, I'm asking you to enjoy the night off for both of us." 

Raven sighs. “I’ll try. It just makes me nervous is all. Something about this feels...portentous? Ominous? Maybe I’m overreacting...”

“You have every right to be worried Raven.” Serella soothed as she scooted closer to squeeze her shoulder.

Ming gave Serella a pinched smile."Oh, I know. Trust me.”

“But please, as Serella says, enjoy the night off for us. It's going to be busy. I've heard the rumblings, and there are enough stories to tell me that we need to be prepared to dip out. Don't keep all your eggs in one basket, and all that." She added to Raven with a more genuine smile as she scooted over to give her a hug.

Raven squeezed them both close to reassure herself that they’ll be okay before letting them go. “May the Fury keep you safe my sisters.”

“We will. Besides, better if one of us was outside the blast radius yeah?” Serella assures with a grin. “You’d get us out if we needed it, we know that.”

“Without hesitation.”

#FFXIVWrite2023 #Raven Cross #Mingxia Jiang #Serella Arcbane #Co-WoLs and oath sisters #I love my friends and co-writers so much #Y'all are amazing #<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[blackestnight]

do they have anyone in their past they would like closure from? who and why? :3c

SERELLA STARSWORNOATHS BLEEDSHINE ARCBANE. THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE DONE.

...if you'd asked hanami before—even six months ago—she. well. she wouldn't have said anything, because [gestures]. but she would have thought about her big brother, who died after she ran away from home in a fit of stupidity. the last thing she said to him was that he was a coward and he should consider her dead if it would help him sleep at night. she's not proud.

nowadays?

she’s pretty sure that’s the closest she’s getting.

#ask #ask meme #oc: hanami hagane #oc: akinaga hagane #starswornoaths #LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO SERELLA.

[eremiss]

7. Speculate

Gwen smooths out a fresh piece of paper on her desk, eyeing her pen intently but never quite reaching to grab it. She chews her lip indecisively, staring at the blank page in search of what to write.

When no words appear on the page or in her mind, she sighs and pushes herself up. Her mind is buzzing with plenty of things, but none she’d care to pen in a friendly correspondence. Serella doesn’t need to hear her whining about all the dead ends they’ve hit trying to chase down The Griffin, or her long days, or anything else. She has her own problems in Ishgard to worry about. 

She’s still a bit new to trading casual letters with friends, or even writing informal letters in general, as she didn’t have many people to correspond with before joining the Scions. Even since joining the majority of the letters she sends are business related in one form or another, about leves or reports, guild correspondence or Scion business. Chatting with a friend at a distance is a welcome change of pace.

Well, if Gwen can’t figure out what to write she might as well gather up the books she needs to return. Maybe flipping through them again will help clear her head a little, too.

She sets about tracking down the borrowed books, haphazardly nudging discarded items and clothes into less obtrusive places and straightening little nicknacks here and there along the way. 

One of Serella’s books is perched on the edge of her nightstand, even though it should be on the bookshelf with her herbs. Her mouth presses into a line and her eyes narrow, a disapproving sound humming in her throat. She carefully picks it up and inspects it, finding no damage to the cover or creases in the pages. Good. 

I said any book except these three, she grouses to herself, tucking it under her arm. At least Thancred had taken care with this one and not broken the spine or dog-eared any pages like he had to some of her own books she’d lent him. Shouldn’t a scholar be less terrible on books?

The next book is on the lower shelf of the same nightstand, tucked beneath a different book that’s piled with weights to press flowers between the pages. After carefully extricating it and checking it over, she’s relieved to find it in just as good of condition as when she’d finished reading it… if slightly more dusty.

Oh, but she didn’t want to just return the books with a letter. She’d wanted to send a few of her own recommendations as well. 

Gwen’s attention shifts to the cramped bookshelves along the walls of her room and the errant stacks of books on other flat surfaces. That was the other thing she had to figure out: which books should she send to Serella?

She paces slowly over to the closest shelf, chewing her lip while she shuffles through her memories to recall what sorts of books Serella likes. What do I have like that… 

Gwen runs her hand over the cover of Thief of Dawn in her arms, tracing the embossed letters while her eyes skimmed titles. She has plenty of books to choose from, it’s narrowing down her options and figuring which ones Serella would enjoy the most that’s the hard part.

Her eyes stick on a hefty tome with an olive-green binding, The Shadows in the Marsh scrawled down the side in winding black font. It would certainly fit the bill, fantasy and adventure with plenty of mystery and enjoyable characters. It’s a bit of an easier read than the ones she was lent, but it’s a good book for days when she wanted a little escape and didn’t have the spare brain-space to speculate about hidden motives and quadruple-agents or try unraveling complicated schemes.

She plucks it off the shelf.

Another broad sweep of her room has her carefully wiggling two books out from the stack on her coffee table. They’re not bricks like Shadows, but they should still pique Serella’s interest. The slightly thinner book is a novelized collection of an explorer’s correspondence and journal from a journey to Meracydia, titled South of Indigo. The other, Something Gained, is a collection of romantic short stories compiled by some Ul’dahn ‘romance enthusiast’ and released as a collected work. According to Thancred the collaboration worked out well for all parties involved.

Something Gained has seen more wear and tear than her other two choices, as she’s lent it to most of the Scions by this point, and reread it no few times herself. She picks lightly at the balding corners and the dents in the cover, briefly debating choosing a different, less worn book. But aside from those blemishes the book is perfectly readable and whole, and the pages are undamaged… except for some creases from a certain someone, and some nibbled page corners from that someone’s pet. 

Why does she still lend Thancred her books?

That’s something she can write about, maybe. It’ll certainly get a laugh or two.

Gwen deposits the books on her desk and herself in her chair, facing down her blank paper once again. With a small huff and a wistful look out the window, she begins writing.

-----------------------------

Speculate - verb To engage in a course of reasoning often based on inconclusive evidence; conjecture or theorize. To engage in the buying or selling of a commodity with an element of risk on the chance of profit. To assume to be true without conclusive evidence.

With mentions of @starswornoaths’ Serella Arcbane ^_^ Pen-pals/long-distance book club! Probably more of an AU type deal than actual in-universe, but either way, this was fun to write!

I found a book title generator and liked some of the suggestions so much I had to put them in lol

I fully support AutumsLance’s headcanon that Thancred is really hard on books, breaking the spines, dog-earring pages, using them as coasters, and marking them all up. Most of Gwen’s books as a child were salvaged and second-hand, so she got used to treating them with care and correcting out-of-date information on old editions, even pressing some flowers in botany books that didn’t have adequate reference pictures. Nowadays she would rather take her own notes and make corrections and include pressings and sketches there, but on the rare occasions when that’s just too much of an ordeal she’ll do it right in the book.

Thancred says she can’t give him a hard time about his treatment of books when she writes in them and presses flowers in them, and she insists she’s just making a few corrections and adding references, which is *totally different* than filling up the margins and damaging the pages and binding like he does.

#FFXIVWrite2021 #Guinevere Ashe #My writing #Serella Arcbane #Friendo WoL #Books #nerdiness #pen pals #book headcanons

[ravencrossffxiv]

I have made so many friends over the years, and reunited with old ones (I still can’t believe Charibert was so surprised to find out that I never forgot about him, why would I forget about my first friend and oath sibling??) and I’m thankful that I know all of them. I hope I never lose them...

((Pinging @inkblood-mistrieu and @stars-bleed-hearts-shine for their girls featured and pinging @knights-of-ishgard bc YOU AND MING MADE ME CARE ABOUT THIS ASSHOLE and now Raven gets a pyromancer for a brother.))

#Raven Cross #Rukia Oronir #Edda Pureheart #Mingxia Jiang #Coronette de Minovaux #Charibert de Leusignac #Serella Arcbane #junelezen #((I am so fucking amused by Charibert's face)) #((He looks like the math meme but with the fact that someone told him that he was still remembered and remembered FONDLY)) #((Oh god damnit Len I blame you...)) #((I also blame Ming for this but Len also gets blame bc it was her alt that made me start caring about this asshole.)) #My screens #Void magic #Foulques of the Mist

[bunbundango]

Finished a commission of FFXIV characters Serella Arcbane and Hyana Geriel for @stars-bleed-hearts-shine and @holyja! Painterly with a Mixed BG. It was massively fun to help depict this sweet scene for them both.

Thank you very much again for the commission!!

#Art #Finished Illustration #Painterly Style #Mixed Background #FFXIV #Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #Serella Arcbane #Hyana Geriel

[ffxivmingxiajiang]

#lbr au #foulques of the mist #rukia oronir #mingxia jiang #serella arcbane #ffxiv #tataru taru #tataru #estinien mentioned #life after Archon #2.x patches

[chysgoda]

“ i’m not going anywhere. ” (take your pick, I trust you!)

So it’s been a few hot minutes since the betting round in poker was last explained to me. Any mistakes will be handwaved as being the Eorzean equivalent of poker. 

Under the cut for minor 5.3 Spoilers

--

“You are spending too much time with Aymeric.” Uthengentle groused as he discarded a card and indicated for Roile to deal him another. From the solar, the muffled sounds of yelling ebbed and flowed. 

Bel arched an eyebrow, as she rearranged her cards. “Do not compare me to that craven ass.”

Uthengentle raised both eyebrows and then looked to the side when Alphinaud snickered into his gloved fist. “What did I miss?”

“Word is that Lady Valentione has been on another run of matchmaking attempts,” Thancred said. He considered his hand and sighed. “Fold”

“And he sacrificed me to her to save his own skin.” Bel’s tail lashed in agitation. She glanced at the pile of gil and tossed a few more coins on it. “Raise”

“It can’t be that bad,” G’raha Tia put in from where he was watching the game of poker. The door to the solar rattled in its frame. G’raha straightened up startled and then frowned at the rest of the scions when they ignored it. “What is going on in there?” 

“Art’imis and Serella,” Alisae drummed her fingers on the table before adding her bet to the pile of gil. “Call.”

“Shouldn’t we check on that?” G’raha asked as he fidgeted with the hem of his tunic. 

“I would advise against getting involved when sisters are fighting,” Alphinaud stated. He shook his head and set his cards down. “I fold.”

The door rattled again and G’raha stood up. “If they’re fighting like this someone needs to step in. They’ve always been there for each other-”

“And they always will. Stay to your side of the path.” Bel looked up from her cards to frown at the other Miqo’te. She opened her mouth to say more but hissed in pain after the dull sound of a boot hitting a shin came from under the table. 

“Be polite,” Thancred said as he leaned back in his chair, unconcerned about the glare Bel’s blue and green eyes leveled at him. 

G’raha frowned, he vaguely remembered Bel as a child hiding behind the legs of her foster mother. Now she seemed more like Lyna, an experienced soldier with little patience for fools. The shouting created again and he decided that someone at the very least needed to referee. He ignored the various looks he got from the table and walked to the solar. 

“Did they lock the door?” Thancred asked. 

“Probably not,” Uthengentle sighed and laid down his hand, “They were already pretty deep into it when they went in.” 

“They need to get it out,” Bel said firmly as she laid down her hand. She smirked at Unthengentle’s small sound of dismay and Alisae’s resigned sigh. “It’s been building up for a while.”

“What is it about?” Roile asked. He glanced at the door when it opened and then closed again. 

“What are they yelling about or what are they fighting about?” Uthen shrugged and watched Bel gather up her winnings forlornly. “Where have you been playing cards lass?”

“The Alliance camp out at the front.” Bel shrugged. She turned in her chair when the Solar door slammed open. G’raha was roughly shoved out and for a moment Serella and Art’imis were both visible glaring at the mage like they were sizing up a primal to kill. The door slammed shut again and the fur on G’raha’s ears and tail stood on end. Slowly he turned and walked to the bar. 

Alisae shook her head and muttered something to Alphinaud that made her twin sigh heavily. Bel pointedly ignored the shaken mage. “Another round?”

Roile began to shuffle the deck and the group at the table ignored the continued shouting from deeper in the Raising Stones.

#ffxiv #ffxiv asks #uthengentle arcbane #bel aliender #thancred waters #spoiler character #serella arcbane #art'imis chysgoda #look you just don't get involved in a sister fight #that's how your body is never seen again #what are they fighting about? #Who knows they're both stubborn bitches

[beetlebrownleaf]

⭐️ tell me of the beetle friend and Serella, if you like! :D

Any time Beetle and Serella get together, and Aymeric is around or within earshot, Beetle manages to convince her to mess with him in some way. Usually involving puns or speaking in rhyme. 

“Mm, Serella, the Lord Commander certainly can entertain. He’s the picture of wit and… charm.”

Aymeric smiles, basking in the glow of the compliment.

“Indeed. Genuine, as well. You can tell he speaks from his heart, without so much as a a hint of… smarm.” 

Aymeric’s face falls, with a subtle roll of his eyes.

“Beetle, you are, by far, the worst influence Serella could have ever befriended.”

“Oh, come now, my lord, we meant you no harm!”

“BEETLE.”

#sorry if this is too silly oops #ask meme #ask beetle #serella arcbane #stars-bleed-hearts-shine

[rhymingteelookatme]

"My turn!" (For either of my Arcbanes for any of your gals :3c)

Ascella and Serella join the party!

Starting Dungeon: *brief wave, shy smile* “Heyo…”

Initiating a fight:  -draws bow- “Here wego!—”

If Serella initiates a fight: “Right behind you!”

Assisting: “GET your paws off her!”

Being Assisted: “Phew, thanks!”

Idle Dialogue: Humming, singing random snatches ofsong. Will be all “Ooh, look!” if we suddenly come upon a pretty view. When thenext mobs are visible, “All right, what’ve we got…?”

Witnessing Serella KO: “SHITE, shite, shite—”(then, to the perpetrator) “Oh you’re PAYING for that.”

Reviving: “I got you, I got you!”

Being Revived: *blink blink* *deep breath* “OK. I’mok. Let’s go!”

Finishing Dungeon: -panting- “Ha, we did it!Nice!”

Bonus Banter: Would probably end up giggling at quitea few of Serella’s habitual puns. As the dungeon goes on, she might even startmaking them back! And at some point she’d undoubtedly shout “Any requests?” inresponse to a call for help. (It’s a rhetorical question. She’s got a prettywell set rotation of battle songs.)

#Ascella Parvin #Serella Arcbane #FFXIV #the fellow -ellas do a dungeon #I feel like Asce would have fun being friends with Serella once they got to know each other #stars-bleed-hearts-shine

[starswornoaths]

FFXIVWrite 2023 Prompt#1: Emissary

heelies in late with Starbucks with a oneshot laying out the groundwork for a childhood sweethearts-to-strangers-to-lovers pipeline between my WoL and Miounne, leaves without elaborating.

No spoilers for MSQ, just playing with the idea of anyone with the Echo that awoke during the Calamity being forgotten by everyone that Hydaelyn decided they would be Plot Relevant Later:tm: just like what happened with 1.0 WoL :')

word count: 1,128

When Serella had put Gridania behind her, she had thought she had made peace with it. Left it behind with all the other dead things it had inside it. Left it with the home it had taken from her. A pragmatic part of her had accepted that she would return in some capacity, even if in passing through. 

She just thought she would be more ready for it. That she would feel like more than the girl that fled the Carline Canopy shivering into the rain after rising from the ashes of Calamity. Like more than the barely-grown thing wrapped in an adult’s rite of passage that stepped too confidently onto a carriage to the outside world. Like more than the instinct that made her run.

All that running, and here she was: Serella Arcbane, stood beneath the awning of the Carline Canopy, drying from the rain again.

But her cloak was about her shoulders this time, at least. No shivering this time. Small mercies.

Knowing that Miounne was behind the counter—was always behind the counter—did not making seeing her any easier. Did not make her feel less small and lost. 

From her spot at the entryway she watched, off to the side and unobtrusive to the flow of patrons and adventurers. Miounne was the eye of a storm and as much in her element as she had always been, a warm smile and a spot of radiance in the chaos of the room. 

I’m an emissary come from Ul’Dah, she practiced for the thousandth time since she boarded the airship to Gridania. I have a message for the Elder Seedseer from the Sultana herself.

Making herself taller than she felt, Serella drew herself up to her full height and stepped inside.

Just beyond the threshold, the air became immediately heavier with the warmth of a roaring hearth and the scent of the pastries baking within it. She knew without looking that the source of that rich, sweet scent was a batch or two of Miounne’s special butter biscuits. 

She swallowed around the rapid tightening in her throat and only stepped into line for the counter when she was somewhat confident that she could properly work her jaw. It still conspired to strangle her every word by the time the person in front of her concluded their business with the guild. 

“My, my! A new face to the Carline Canopy!” Miounne said before she had even reached the counter. “I thought I saw you hovering by the door—” 

In spite of herself, Serella smiled and thought, of course you did with an old and dust-covered fondness. Miounne was never one to miss when a wayward soul hesitated in the threshold. don’t be shy! Come, come, let’s get you registered—”

Serella had never been a new face to the Canopy—could not be—

When she finds her voice it’s a rusty thing, and it scrapes her throat on the way out as she croaks, “Oh, I’ve been here before.”

“Have you?” Miounne startles, a well-worn leather tome balanced in her hand. “I’ve never forgotten a single face that’s made it to Carline Canopy, surely—”

“Serella Arcbane. I came here—” 

I was always here. My name is carved on one of the spools of the waterwheel outside, right next to yours. We put it on the underside so it was no one’s secret but ours.

In the gap of the sentence, Miounne had cast a simple incantation and watched the pages flutter to an earlier entry in the book, her name writ neatly in Miounne’s own hand. “—Goodness, but it has been a while since you’ve been here!” she gasped when she saw the date. “That was, goodness that was mere days after the Calamity! There were so many to tend to in those days—”

“A lot was happening back then.” Serella rasped. “It’s fine.”

“Yes…” Miounne said, soft and distant, her eyes drifting for a moment in search of a thing she couldn’t name. 

The moment was over before it had a chance to settle, Miounne deliberately brightening as she said, “Please, let me reintroduce myself, then: I am Mother Miounne, proprietess of the Carline Canopy! And it is an honor and a privilege to work with you!”

With a flourish, the book was tucked away under the counter and she returned the whole of her focus to the person in front of her. She held out her hand to shake, the picture of warmth and geniality. 

Same as Miounne always was. The sunshine in the eye of a storm.

In the instant that their hands touched, Serella felt herself in patchwork, the stitches coming undone and leaving her in the fraying pieces of herself. Every little quilt of memory with Miounne’s hand in hers fell into a messy little pile in her mind.  

She was five summers old, with a wicker basket of blackberries sat between them, sticky hands and purple-tinted smiles with Miounne as they watched the sunset from the top of the treeline, the berries and the climb their little secrets. 

She was nine summers old, and she can’t make her voice work around the stitches on her neck and face. Still, she keeps trying to sign an apology to Miounne for upsetting her so. It’s hard to sign when her hands are held so, so tightly.

She was ten and seven summers old, and she feels the tremor in Miounne through their laced fingers long before it’s felt through the timid kiss they share. It’s not the first time they’ve done it, but it was the first time it felt like both a promise and a choice.

She was twenty and one summers old, and Miounne tells her, “No matter what happens, what you face out there…you can come to me. You know that, right?” It feels like the truth. She accepts the offer with tangled fingers and kisses pressed to pristine knuckles. Together, they become the promise and the choice. 

She was twenty and five summers old, and when she stumbles out of the tree canopy and into Carline she does so yelling her beloved’s name around a soot-choked sob. As Miounne bandages her burned hands and asks for her name, only to be confused to find it already there, she understands that she lost more than a few days when Dalamud fell.

She was thirty summers when she shook Miounne’s hand as a stranger and nearly forgot her rehearsed line and why she was back here to even begin with until she reluctantly took her hand back.

“I’m an emissary come from Ul’Dah. I have a message for the Elder Seedseer from the Sultana herself.” she recited aloud, an announcement and reminder both.

She is a stranger here. She can never go home again.

#ffxivwrite2023 #Serella Arcbane #mother miounne #Miounne #my writing #no answers only vibes #guildlevity #what if you died and then got better and tried to find your best friend and lover but she didn't remember you :) #it's okay the memory eventually gets restored so the angst is ethically sourced it's fine #god can you tell I haven't written anything personal in years

[lunarosewood23]

FFXIVWrite2022 Prompt 25: Arrival (EXTRA CREDIT!!)

The LbR crew crash lands on the First.

Borrowing @starswornoaths Serella and @inkblood-mistrieu Mingxia for this.

~~~

It felt like she was floating, a sea of memories playing out in crystal, but then suddenly it was so bright.

Pure white monsters began to dot the purple landscape as she fell.

Raven felt herself shift just enough that her landing wouldn’t hurt, and she let out a roar as lightning crackled across the brightened sky. She drew her staff as Serella crashed down on the land with a Circle of Scorn.

“Sorry to drop in. You alright?” She asked, and Raven groaned at the pun.

“I’m good, aside from the pun...”

Serella laughed as more monsters began to gather, and soon they heard a shriek, followed by “INCOMING!!”

The girls look up to see Mingxia, free falling to the ground. She somehow runs several of the creatures through before landing on her feet...then face planting into the ground, remnants of white blood covering her spear.

"Ouch..." Mingxia muttered then winced. "My back..."

Raven winced as Serella picked Mingxia up, glaring at the gathering monsters crowding on them like hungry voidsent as an alarum sounded, a settlement nearby?

The girls spotted three figured running towards them from a nearby outpost, one of them looked to be a Viera, but the others she couldn’t see well as they both wore helms, though she thought one of them was using a lance?

Suddenly one of them jumped, and Raven found herself having a flashback to the Steps of Faith, when Nidstinien used his ultimate attack, and grinned. “Why thanks for the timely arrival-”

“Foulques!!” Mingxia yelled, a grin spreading across her face. “I told you I wouldn’t be gone long!”

“Yes, and you found yourselves in the middle of a nest of sin eaters. You almost had the landing by the way.” He shot back.

Mingxia stuck her tongue out at him as a man in black armor, an Elezen it looked like, easily cut through several of the sin eaters (is that what they are here?) before standing with his back to her, his black greatsword stained white with ichor.

“The outpost nearby will tend to any wounds you may have. I beseech you, run while there is time!” He ordered, and Raven almost wept at his voice.

“And leave you to fend for yourself my love?” She shot back, her magic making several of the creatures explode before she imbued the greatsword with lightning. “I think not.”

He laughed as he tossed his helm to the side, revealing his silvery blue hair before looking back at her with a playful smile. “Oh how I’ve missed you my amethyst.”

“As I have you. Shall we dance Haurchefant?”

#FFXIVWrite2022 #Raven Cross #Haurchefant Greystone #Serella Arcbane #Mingxia Jiang #Foulques of the Mist #(Raven Cross-Fortemps) #(Haurchefant Cross-Fortemps)

[thegildenheart]

*passes note saying "My turn?"*

Allie Lindblum and Serella Arcbane have joined your party!

• Starting Dungeon: “Hello, miss Serella! I’m not used to hanging back and shooting stuff, not since Hilda taught me how, but I’ll do my best! Lead on!”• Assisting: “Here, lotsa gadgets to help make your life a bit easier! Not that you really need ‘em with Tyrfing and Svalin...!”• Being Assisted (Passage of Arms): “Woah, pretty! I’m totally safe behind you like this, right? Thanks, miss Serella!”• Idle Dialogue: “So you’re a Free Paladin too, huh? You cut a way more noble figure than I do, that’s for sure! Maybe you could teach me a few things after this is over?”• Witnessing Serella KO: “O-oh no, she’s fallen over! L-Lucia is gonna kill me if I don’t help her up!”• Reviving Serella: “You’re okay, see? I will not ask, and neither should you! We won’t tell anyone, so it never happened, okay?”• Finishing Dungeon: “We did it! And I learned a thing or two just from watching you. Good job, miss Serella! Say hi to Aymeric for me, okay? I keep meaning to visit...”

Bonus Banter: Allie has great admiration for Lucia goe Junius, but knows very little about it beyond her station, having never quite had the time beyond that, to her regret. Needless to say, she’d ask a lot of questions, though carefully, curious about the Garlean, and perhaps even what she thinks of Serella and Aymeric!

Watching another Paladin in action is certainly a pleasure for Allie, who is used to leading with sword and shield. She’s not as competent with a rifle, despite Hilda’s best efforts, but she’d do her absolute best to both support Serella and keep the dungeon moving at a good pace! She is very quick to make use of Serella’s Passage of Arms, or Cover, making sure not to waste the woman’s efforts.

Send me a MY TURN! to see how Allie/Alley would react to you in her party!  

#ffxiv #alley rat #allie lindblum #serella arcbane #stars-bleed-hearts-shine #thanks for the ask! #i hope this is okay #this sent me down a rabbit hole of reading your fics again #haha #i got sidetracked with it...

[dragons-bones]

🎄 👀👀👀

Considering this a… sequel to my ask here. >;)

They had ended up getting separated in the crowd at the Starlight party at some point, but Synnove made a point of leisurely weaving her way through the crowd and keeping an eye out for a particular Elezen lady. And–

–there she was.

Synnove felt a coeurl-like smile take over her features for a moment, before quickly smoothing her features into what Rereha called her Resting Highlander Face. She wove a little quicker through the throng until she reached her target. Smiling up at her, Synnove said, “Hullo again, Serella! May I borrow you for a moment?”

The Elezen blinked in surprised, a faint blush on her cheeks, but she nodded and followed Synnove to a quieter corner.

One with mistletoe.

“Um,” Serella began, flushing a little more when she spotted the troublesome plant, but she didn’t get further because that was when Synnove struck.

The devious coeurl grin back in place, Synnove grasped Serella’s face between her hands and pulled the Elezen down to give her one hell of a thorough snogging. With tongue.

(Someone wolf-whistled. Synnove threw up a middle finger without breaking the kiss.)

When Synnove pulled back, panting only very slightly, Serella was bright red and a bit glassy-eyed. Synnove patted her cheeks. “And that, my dear,” she said with a wink, “is how you do it. Happy Starlight!”

She gave the Elezen a quick kiss on her lips, beamed at her, and went off to field Rereha’s jealous yelling.

#stars-bleed-hearts-shine #dt answers things #meme stuff #final fantasy xiv #oc: synnove greywolfe #other people's characters #serella arcbane #:D #i hope you like it!! #dt's writing

[ravencrossffxiv]

Prompt 11: Ultracrepidarian

Set in the LbR verse around the time they’re going to go clear out Snowcloak and Stone Vigil (HM). Raven, Mingxia, and Serella talk about the sheer stupidity that is the Crystal Braves. And also all three of them want to strangle Alphinaud.

Thanks to @stars-bleed-hearts-shine and @inkblood-mistrieu for the voice checks and for letting me write with their characters. And for listening to my ramblings.

“The nerve of that little ultracrepidarian!!” Raven growled as she wrapped her jacket around herself. She had built an igloo in the middle of Boulder Downs and started a fire in the middle, the fire a bit hotter than she intended with her anger.

“That…what?” Mingxia asked blankly.  “What is an…ultra-creepy-darius?”

Raven blinked, she must’ve used one of her fancier words again. “One who knows nothing about the topic yet they offer their opinion anyway and does so loudly, often talking over ones who are well versed in said topic. Alphinaud knows nothing about running an army yet he insists on doing things his way.”

“If Alphinaud ever pulls his head from his arse and hears you, he’ll be rather cross.” Serella deadpanned. “But I don’t disagree.”

“You think I care what that sheltered rich kid thinks?” Raven asked, then shook her head. “Anyway, I dragged you guys here first because we all have a nasty gut instinct that this is going to end badly. We need an escape plan for in case shite does hit the proverbial fan, so to speak.”

Mingxia nodded, tilting her head in thought.  “Whether or not he is cross makes no difference. I spoke to him before I went to Gridania and the Shroud to recruit. He has absolutely no idea about the beast he is about to engage. I fear his naivety will put him in a good place to be taken advantage of- those who are in his circle of advisers, once they realize he’s just an idealistic kid with a big ego will be able to play him like a koto. That said, I think we need to find places we can meet up at in the event that we three are deemed a problem to whoever might be scheming. The only place currently available, however, might be here. Thanalan and the Twelveswood can connect to Mor Dhona, but given that is where the Braves are also based, it could be dangerous.”

Raven is quiet as she listened. “I’m inclined to agree. If I could, I would absolutely slip my way back into Ishgard and take you all with me, but something tells me the only way I’m getting back in is if I petition one of the High Houses to sponsor me, and I request to extend that to you two…”

“You could always ask Lord Haurchefant, couldn’t you?” Serella asked.

Raven blushed but grumbled more to herself than anything. “Yeah because that conversation is gonna go well. ‘Hey dear I know we’ve only been courting for a couple of moons but could you ask your dad to get me and my friends into the city proper?’”

She looked between her sisters and sighed. “I don’t want to think about that part until we get to that point really…” She mumbled, then thought to herself. Nor do I wish to use him like that, or make him think that I would…

Mingxia crossed her arms, thinking. “Let’s cross that bridge if we get there. For now, it would probably be best if we made a place for ourselves here, as this is the only reasonably safe neutral territory we can hide in if we don’t want to spend every waking moment on high alert. If the worst should happen, at least we will have a place to hunker down and hide while we consider our next steps. Much as I am curious about Ishgard, I somehow doubt it will be easy to gain entry- and if we do manage that improbable task, I am almost afraid to think about what that might mean for us.”

“You’re not the only one.” Serella nods in agreement. “Reluctant as I am to admit it, your connection, as well as ours, to Lord Haurchefant might be one of the few ways we might get there, should it come to that. Please don’t think I’m suggesting we use anyone, only that we could ask him how best to petition a noble house, should the worst happen.” She says, shooting a well-meaning but still very true remark at Raven, who fumbles with her words a little as Ming pats her on the back.

She soon sighed. “We should relay this to Rukia, she’ll be vital for getting intel and getting around anything shady, and to Yugiri, both of them will be our best bet for information.”

“Riol also does a lot of intel work, or he did for the Company of Heroes, he’ll be of help as well.” Serella offered.

Ming nods in agreement. “I should ask big brother Thancred for advice too.”

The other two nod and soon Ming hears her linkpearl go off. “Hello? Oh Senior! Oh, ok, we’ll be there soon. No I’m not telling her that! Ugh fine…”

“Foulques?” Raven guessed.

“He said to tell you that the knight waits for his princess.” Ming states.

Raven is visibly annoyed by this. “I’m going to hit him.”

#Raven Cross #Serella Arcbane #Mingxia Jiang #Shared verse #ARR #((The girls plan for the worst)) #FFXIVWrite2020

[the-lord-of-the-things]

A headshot commission for @stars-bleed-hearts-shine of their lovely Elezen Serella Arcbane~ She was so wonderful to draw and I love how her scars and hair came out

#commission #wol #elezen #ffxiv #Every time someone commissions me to draw a beautiful Elezen my power only grows stronger. I love them so much. It sustains me.