#also Neva: please let's not have me meet my previous boss I know we both defected but that's just NOT going to go well

[fheythfully]

FFXIV Write 2023 - Day 25: Call it a Day

Birdy lay flat on its back, wings to each side, looking for all the world like a real bird struck dead. Neva watched dispassionately from the doorway as Satella murmured lighting after lightning spell into being amongst her fingertips, each spark fading into oblivion the moment it neared the Garlean machine’s vicinity.

Neva sipped at her coffee and took a moment to appreciate the rich flavour. An Ala Mhigan blend, if she had to guess, and not one to be found easily in the markets as the nation tried desperately to start rebuilding in its newfound fervor of freedom. No - a flavour this bountiful would have been found in the quarters of now-murdered Garlean personnel overseeing the nation’s occupation, or squirreled away in some unknown cache by the natives and brought out into the light to celebrate. Regardless of its source, its presence in Satella’s kitchen was a pleasant and very welcome surprise. No doubt it was a gift of some kind to the Warrior of Light, pushed into her hands as she departed Ala Mhigo in the wake of her victory. Perhaps even sent by postmoogle, its owner desperate to show their appreciation to their Eorzean saviour.

Neva sipped her coffee, and pointedly Did Not Think about the growing mountain of Garlean bodies slain by her companion’s hands.

(Satella had advised a Sharlayan practice called therapy, something which Neva understood required a lot of talking and sharing her feelings. It did not sound pleasant.)

In the present, Satella let out a sound more appropriate for a frustrated feline and threw her hands in the air. The levin within them sparked in accordance to her temperament before settling down to a crackle.

“Please mind the ceiling,” Neva said. “I'd rather not entertain scorch marks.”

Satella shot her a burning glare. It was in anger that Neva found her the most beautiful, if she were to be honest: the woman’s golden skin flushed richly with colour and her eyes glimmered with the promise of a coming storm, as biting and brilliant as the magic sparking within her hands. Neva would have liked to paint a portrait of the Warrior like this, were she only able to capture the intensity of her presence. It would be a wonderful addition to her personal gallery.

(Satella had also mentioned something about “art therapy”, now that she thought about it.)

“I'm certain I can get him to work,” Satella insisted. The force of her gaze swung to Birdy, as if her will alone would be enough to restore it to rights. “I just need to find the right space in his shields to sneak a current through.”

“‘It’, dear, not ‘him’,” Neva reminded her. Her friend’s insistence on personalizing the spying tool her handler had entrusted her with unsettled something within her that she wasn't willing to examine. “You've been at this for over a bell now. Perhaps it's time to consider letting it go?”

Those stormy eyes were back on her now. “And leave you without a friend? I'm not that heartless, Nevachka.”

And that - well. “Birdy was not a friend,” Neva bit out. “It was a means of spying on every little thing I saw, and heard and said. Including you, Elle.”

The maddening woman just shrugged. “As you say. But if I can't repair him, then maybe…” she trailed off in thought. One slender finger, still coated in sparkling levin, tapped at her chin and Neva watched the sparks bounce off her skin, glimmering like a little contained field of starfall around her mouth. “I wonder if Cid would be able to help, or perhaps even Nero. Though I'm sure the latter would have to be bribed for his assistance. Do you know if Birdy had memory storage for the live feed?”

Neva resisted the urge to pinch her nose and took a particularly large gulp of her pilfered coffee instead. 

#my writing #ffxivwrite2023 #ffxivwrite #Elle: i am not leaving you without your oldest friend #Neva pretending to not understand: what friend??? it was a tool in my lonely existence #also Neva: please let's not have me meet my previous boss I know we both defected but that's just NOT going to go well