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hqmillioncorn · 7 months

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FFXIVWrite Day twenty-three: Suit

with @windupnamazu 's Butter

“Stupid!” Babycorn kicked at the bed. “I’m so stupid!!” Where had her powers been when she needed them?! Floating in the air? changing someone’s fate? Casting powerful spells? They had all turned out to be useless in protecting Cherrypit. And now that he was gone she couldn’t even use her powers safely! It was either him or her, and to make that decision would probably literally end up killing her. “How could I be so stupid…” Babycorn dropped to her knees around the shards of glass that was once a mirror.

“Are you ready to go Bebe?”

Tilika’s voice echoed from the outside. Inside of her room Babycorn quickly shut the small passageway she had been using to look at the world Chelinka and Yuri had remade together. “Almost ready!” Babycorn yelled back. It wasn’t entirely a lie. She was all dressed up with shoes on and only missing one thing until she was ready to go out.

Now that she had fully accepted her identity as just another Chelinka out in the numerous worlds out there Babycorn knew what ‘she’ and her brother had done. Completely remaking the universe sounds like something that she would get super grounded for doing.

“They all looked so happy…” She was a little jealous. Chelinka had her brother and both her parents. Babycorn only had her brother, and thanks to her stupid mistakes there was a chance she would never see him again. She would never get to tell him how much she loved him, or how sorry she was.

Babycorn knew Cherrypit was going to be fine. Eventually he would wake up again. Everyone told her so but there was always that nagging thought that maybe she could do something about it.

She wasn’t supposed to use her Starsinger powers too much or else there would be dire consequences to it. The exact consequences were unknown to her and pretty much everyone else. Though one of those had been getting herself into a trance-like state where she looked awake but really wasn’t.

Tilika had also said her eyes had glowed an eerie golden color the whole time.

That sounded horrible. It only made her hate her eyes that much more.

Babycorn sighed and picked out a hat from a pile. It was a large white sun hat, she often wore it during fishing trips all so she could pull the brim over her eyes and cover them so she wouldn't be able to see any fish. “If it works for that…” Then the hat would work to cover her eyes too.

At least, from anyone taller than her it would.

Which was fine because almost everyone in Old Sharlayan that Tilika talked to was taller than Babycorn anyway. It always made her really small. Doubly so because whatever it was they talked about mostly flew over her head anyway, aside from a word or two.

“Okay I’m all ready!” Babycorn adjusted the sun hat on her head and just before she left to join Tilika outside, she happened to catch a glimpse of herself in her mirror. She hadn’t turned it around today. Her ugly yellow eyes stared right back at her, they were dripping with disappointment.

Babycorn walked closer to the mirror and turned it away.

That was enough of that.

Yesterday Tilika had asked Babycorn if she had wanted to accompany her to the Studium tomorrow. Which was today. Tilika had to run some of her studies on Starsingers with one of the professors there and had thought that Babycorn might have wanted to do something else besides running cooking experiments in the kitchen with Cherrypit’s dolls.

She was delighted when Babycorn said yes but now she was wondering if it had been too soon in taking her outside.

Tilika looked up, today was a very cloudy day. There wasn’t really a reason for anyone to wear a sun hat in this kind of weather. Which Tilika would never say outright but when she considered Babycorn’s earlier behavior it did bring some cause for concern.

“Babycorn?” Tilika waited for Babycorn to look up at her until she continued but she never did. “Are you feeling okay? Do you want to go back home and wait for me there?”

Tilika knew that some days were worse than others for Babycorn. Sometimes there would be days where she wouldn’t care less about them, going outside and talking to all the gleamers that passed by their house everyday. Then other days Tilika would struggle to even get Babycorn to look at her.

Today was looking to be more of the latter.

“I’m okay.” Babycorn kept looking down at the ground. Her free hand tugged on her sling, something Tilika noticed that she did when she was nervous nowadays. “I think I’m just a little hungry.”

“Ooooh. I see!”

Tilika had already told Babycorn that she shouldn’t be ashamed of her eyes but it was much easier said than done.

She knew that to Babycorn the color of her eyes represented much more than just being ‘alive’ again. It meant that in her eyes she had failed in protecting Cherrypit, she had let him get hurt and in turn had broken the promise she made to him and her parents so many years ago.

No amount of tasty snacks that Tilika gave Babycorn could ever fully solve her younger cousin's dilemmas.

“Hey I have an idea.” Tilika stopped walking and though they were just a few more minutes from reaching the Studium, she turned and began to lead Babycorn down another path. “Why don’t we go get something to eat first? I hear the Last Stand has some new food on the menu we can try!”

“Like what?”

‘Wow she’s really in a funk…’ Normally Babycorn wouldn’t care less about the specifics of food. Tilika always got a ‘leap before you look’ sorta vibe from her. “Well…Um…?” Truth was that she had no idea if the Last Stand did have any new food, that little lie was supposed to get Babycorn excited to try new food. “I’m not too sure! But we can go eat one of those tasty burgers you liked so much!”

“Oh. Okay.”

Tilika mouthed a silent ‘Yes!’ to herself. While whatever problems Babycorn had with herself couldn’t be solved with a tasty snack or a burger, it certainly could help her feel a little better. Even if it was just for today.

The Last Stand was as busy as ever, maybe even more so given that it was currently the morning rush. Though the line was just a little longer than usual, neither Tilika or Babycorn had any problem with waiting and it wasn’t like they were in a rush or anything.

Having made their orders, both cousins took their seats and waited until their burgers were delivered to them.

Tilika watched as person by person kept walking up to them to thank them for helping to save the world. Babycorn would mumble a quiet “You’re welcome.” and then try to cover her face with her sun hat. Then Tilika would take control of the conversation, asking whoever had walked up to them how they were doing and to have a nice day.

Just as Tilika thought another person was walking up to them to try and talk to Babycorn, someone caught her eye. It wasn’t just another stranger walking up to them, it was also someone coming to bring them their burgers.

“Good morning Tilika! Babycorn! I got your burgers! I hope you like them!”

Babycorn knew that voice from anywhere. Her head jerked up and she found herself staring at her good friend Butter. Who she had forgotten entirely was visiting Old Sharlayan for the time being. “Butts?!” What was he doing here???? Specifically?!

Butter smiled as he dropped the bag he was holding into Tilika’s hands. “I’m just helping out here a little!” He could have sworn that he told Babycorn about this already but maybe he had told her while she had been asleep in bed. “I kinda just needed something to do and..Well-this is just where I landed!”

“Oh…”

That’s when Babycorn realized something.

Butter was shorter than her.

Without so much as a warning, Babycorn jumped out of her seat and took off running, pulling her hat down as she ran. “Bebe?!” Tilika jumped up to run after her but was surprised at just how quickly Babycorn had run off, there was no sign of her anywhere. “Damn it…” Tilika whispered to herself.

Tilika decided to do what she did best and ask people around if they had seen where Babycorn had run off to, trying to gather enough clues to deduce in which direction she had run off in and where she could have gone.

She failed to notice that Butter had also run off, just as fast as Babycorn.

“Excuse me!!”

Butter maneuvered his way around another person that had been walking the opposite way he had been running. Being small was something that really got on his nerves sometimes but it did have its advantages. Like making it easier to run past a large group of people.

Eventually he had followed Babycorn all the way to the edge of the water.

Babycorn was sitting behind a large crate just out of view. She was resting her head on her knees, quietly crying to herself.

Butter walked closer to her and stopped just short of reaching her. There was no plan for what to do next, but he couldn’t stand by and watch Babycorn be sad. If anything, Butter didn’t want to leave her to cry all by herself.

Butter carefully took a seat a little bit next to her, not too close and not too far. “Is everything okay?” Well duh! No it’s not! Why are you asking thaT?! “I-I’m sorry if I did anything it’s-!!”

“It’s my eyes…” Babycorn pulled down the brim of her hat even further, stretching it further than she ever had. The thought of ripping her hat never even crossed her mind. “They’re ugly. I hate them.” What else was she supposed to say? That was the basic gist of it, and yet despite that Babycorn kept talking.

“They just-remind me of how I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t save Cherry…”

At some point Butter must have seen her eyes at their worst, when she had been bedridden for who knows how long. Tilika told her all about how her little boy friend would come and bring gifts to her and leave in a hurry. That couldn’t have been anyone but Butter. “I’m sorry you had to see my stupid eyes Butts.” Her hideous eyes that were good for nothing but telling people that she was a failure.

Butter gently placed his hand on her’s, once he did Babycorn’s grip on her hat slightly loosened as she turned her head just a little to look at him.

“Um, I think they’re pretty.”

“HeEh?!”

That comment had caught Babycorn so off-guard that her heart started beating just a little too fast.

Babycorn had wanted to say something like, ‘What are you talking about?!’ or ‘You’re crazy!!’ but for some reason she found herself so flustered that she found herself incapable of saying anything besides, “P-Pretty?!”

Honestly Butter was crazy, but crazy in another sense. And for a certain person sitting right next to him.

“U-Um…! Yeah!”

Babycorn didn’t know what to think. “Eve-Even if I let everyone down? I…I couldn’t do anything to help Cherry. Everything I could do…! I couldn’t do it! I couldn’t do anything…!” There must have been something different she could have done. Anything.

“I think…You didn’t let anyone down. Especially not Cherry.”

Babycorn didn’t know what to think. “I…didn’t?” That couldn’t possibly be right.

“I don’t think anyone could have done what you did any better than how you did it.” Butter leaned back and looked up at the cloudy sky above them. Having grown up the way he did, Butter understood what Babycorn was going through more than the usual person did, maybe even more. “If I had to do what you did with Pancake…I probably would have done the same things as you.”

Babycorn sniffled, “...What do you mean?”

“There’s not really a guide for kids like us to learn how to protect our younger siblings all by ourselves. I know you did your best, we both did the best we could!”

“You protected Pancake…”

“With a bunch of help!” Cinnamon had been a big help and even then Butter wouldn’t have traded raising Pancake for anything in the world. “Then I met all of you and things just got even better!”

Babycorn couldn’t help but think back to just how mean she used to be to everyone back then. It made her feel a little bad that Butter was calling meeting her a good thing, when she was nothing but trouble.

“Um…” Butter looked around nervously, “What I’m trying to say is um, I think you did the best you could and what happened wasn’t your fault. I’m sure of it!”

Babycorn let her hat go, her eyes were wide and she turned to look right at Butter.

“I-It wasn’t…?” She had already been told this countless times. There was something to be said however, to hear this from someone who knew just how hard it was to go through the same thing as you. Almost as if it was an almost perfect reflection of their experiences. Though Babycorn would never wish for Butter to understand her experiences completely.

“It wasn’t!” Butter repeated. He still wasn’t quite sure what had happened to Cherrypit but he was still sure of his stance. No matter what. It wouldn’t be until after he left Old Sharlayan that Lunya would tell him what exactly happened. Then he would find himself weirdly disappointed when he learned that Zenos had already been killed.

“Huh.” Babycorn slumped down, “That’s weird…” She touched one of her eyes with her hands and looked down at it.

“Hmm?”

“I kinda feel a little better?” Not completely but a start was a start, for today.

“Oh! I’m glad!” Butter was happy he could help. Even just a little.

The two decided to sit there and watch the ocean waves for a little while. Until Babycorn spoke up again. “So, um…?” Babycorn tapped her fingers together, “You said my eyes looked pretty…?”

At that moment Butter realized exactly what he was doing. His face blushed a deep red. “D-Did I say that?! When did I say that?! I-I mean they are pretty but-but I mean I-?! Um…!!!!” What had gotten into him?!

“Do my eyes look like something?!” Whenever Babycorn was able to hear Airy reading one of those cheesy B’ig romance novels to herself she would often hear lines about how someone’s eyes reminded them of the ocean or of a grassy hill or whatever. She couldn’t quite remember.

“T-They…Look like eeeeyes…?”

HE WAS BLOWING IT.

“Wow! Thanks Butts!” Babycorn accepted the compliment nonetheless. Very much like a normal person would.

Butter, an equally very normal person, found that he couldn’t quite keep his mouth shut. “I guess…They sort of remind me of the sun.” He could still remember the first time he had seen Babycorn’s eyes. It was almost like he had been blinded like the sun itself, but not in a bad way.

“...You’re not supposed to look into the sun!” Babycorn reminded him. She had learned that lesson the hard way many years ago and kept re-remembering it until it finally stuck just last year.

“I-I mean like-sunlight?” Butter didn’t quite know how to explain it. “The way it sorta…shines down on everything in a really warm light. The little sun rays that peek through the window sometimes and if you put your hand in them they feel nice. And like the way the sun sometimes breaks through the clouds on a really cold day and you can feel it almost hugging you. Helping you to be warm. Sorta like that.”

Babycorn was feeling really dizzy.

“They suit you!”

Tilika, who had eventually tracked Babycorn down, had watched the whole exchange from a distance.

She munched down on her burger, tears on her face. “They’re so cute… What the heck?” Tilika was resisting every urge in her body that was telling her to run up to Babycorn and hug her and tease her about how she just needed a cute boy to make her feel better.

“Ugh! Tell me about it.” Lunya agreed.

“WHATTAHECK?!”

#ffxivwrite2023 #Babycorn #Tilika #Butter #sorry this one is bad #i hate this prompt #but there are some parts i like but i dont wanna get too hung up on it i did just have a day #sorry butter #anyway babycorn has mixed feelings on her eyes once again ehe #tilikas like OOOOH so you wont listen to your DEAR cousin you love so much but you wiiiill listen to a cute boy??? (affectionate)#rule of the world if butter and babycorn are having a moment lunya lanya herself will defy the laws of nature to be there #fun fact: i was gonna bring her green eyes back at some point with like oh shes wearing contacts but nah

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fourteenthz · 3 months

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Changes for wip roundup? 👀

anna!! sorry for taking so long answering this one as well!! but thank you SO MUCH for indulging my wolcred propaganda! <3

And lright this one is a MESS. I wrote it right when I was playing endwalker and I was really overwhelmed with the story™ that I made mess of this wip so like for the last few months or so I’ve been working on rewriting everything lol so I’ll give you some of my thoughts abt it and a small snippet since I can’t get anything more substantial that I’m satisfied with lol

wip roundup :)

This fic is like following right after the scions are back from the moon. I was overwhelmed with the fact that the WOL didn’t have much saying with the twins and how Fourchenault reacted to them. I was like, yeah, she’s proud of them. They deserve to know that, but also, I’m not sure she would be brave enough to do so. So well this fic starts with me realizing like “alright, thancred would get it. better than anyone” so the first part follows him seeing how she reacts to everything that’s happening with the WOL and making the connections like how he felt about ryne, etc etc

But of course,,, my excuse for this fic was Thesa’s haircut first and foremost. Basically I hc Azem to have insane long hair, and Thesa always had longer hair, and this is like the first time she cut it out and it’s incredibly short. Basically the second part goes from her having a bit of breakdown seeing the moon burning + overthinking about that image of hythlo she saw on the moon and everything that happened there and going “I need new. The final days can’t happen again, things gotta change NOW.” Until she interrupts my Alisaie like knocking on the door which is like the cannon visiting for her during that quest!!

And ofc Alie changes her mind a bit… but she still gets that feeling so this is SO SPECIFIC but like you know the whole “wrapping the red thing around your thinger so you don’t forget?” She does it with a strand of hair, just a reminder (things he has lost etc etc) and chops everything off. But then, ofc, the beginning alone isn’t enough for me so the last part is Thancred’s reaction to it, since I like to think they spend their nights together whenever they can and they DEFINITELY would want to on this one night. There is a bit of that part before any rewriting lol:

A knock on door cut off any other conclusion that Thesa would have come with. She hadn't heard footsteps down the hallway, and the beat was too light to be anyone else — though she doubted many others besides Alisaie would be awake and willing to visit after a day like this. So she calls his name lightly as she walks to the door, and from the suppressed laugh, she was sure.

“It's me.” Thancred’s voice is softer beyond the closed door. She finally quickened her pace to unlock it when he laughed again. “I hope you didn't have to crawl under the covers to-”

From the look he had on his eyes, Thancred seemed to have specific intentions for the visit. However, as soon as she appeared from behind the door and their eyes finally met, the hyur could have sworn that all the thoughts he had — along with all the rehearsed words he had cooked up - slipped his mind.

Thesa freezes for a second too, unsure how to react. Maybe she would explain later, but for some reason, she waited for his reaction to continue.

Thancred seemed entranced for a second as a smile seemed to bump into his face, and then, he made the greatest effort to move; forcing his hand up until he finally reached the messy strands. His right hand stops to her left side, with his thumb behind his ear so he could feel each of the threads between his fingers — clenching his fist to lightly pull them and feel them falling off before repeating the same thing but resting his palm next to her face.

“By the twelve.” He says in a sigh, slightly embarrassed to clearly see the situation they were in as his left hand reached for the longer loose strand and curled it around his fingers before resting his hand on the side of her face, cupping her cheeks, and finally confessing, exactly, the same conclusion of hers. “Perfect.”

He looked at her with different eyes than First and even more different than Walking Sands. Eyes that stretched far farther than he had previously seen — and yet, without missing all the admiration and affection he had always carried. Maybe slightly more, even.

"For a second I didn't recognize you," he smiled, tugging lightly on the strand with a teasing smile, which soon turned into a relieved sigh when he tilted his head to the side, finally meeting her eyes again. "But there she is."

#it just feels ooc for some of them and I don't like how I did some of the exposition so yeah rewriting it. I just need to get in the right #headspace to finish it lol those more canon ones makes me anxious to finish for NO REASON other than my girl deserves the best. so yeah.#ALSO fun fact I feel like I need to share: this fic is only something bc I was frantically doodling on my sketchbook after finishing that #quest. i have the date here lol 3/3/22 (not that long ago ik) but yeah i end up with thumbnail for this little comic #with a BUNCH of notes around it. its kinda overly angsty bc i was feeling like thag at the time bc HYTHLO's “Don't you agree hades?” OR WTV #the notes summarizes to 'but then it does not matter if you hair feels lighter because you have their images engraved in #your mind and you do not have the strength to cut those off so all you do is ask /what now/ but haven't you learned? images can't talk'#and the progression of the coming is her cutting her head and the panels kinda move like a camera to finalize focusing on her back staring #at a mirror reflection the image of emet (black robs + hole in his chest) and the image of hythlo she has for now (from the moon cutscene)#so yeah...... maybe it all started with my hythazemet brainrot and then the fic was too much on alisaie and thancred so i had trouble #idk findinh middle ground with what I wanted ?? but yeah... I'm someday finish rewriting it THIS IS NOT my best exposure of my wolcred work #u guys I'm gonna be honest.... but it's mostly bc i love writinh them being sooo independent so it makes sense when i play and i forget #they are important to my cannon for her lol xiv is just so love coded. all the kinds of love. and i love them all so much its A LOT BUT YEAH #ill stop rambling now LMFAO sorry for this anna but yeah this is my excuse to why thesa will never have 100% short hair #I'll always pick the short + braids hair which is why: 1. im happy the pvp hair is available for viera now and 2. im SO HAPPY with the new #7.0 hairs... there's one there that OOOOH BOY... I WANT THAT. if it fits her it's giving dawntrail :) if it doesn't welp pvp hair it is #but again YEAH THATS IT SORRY FOR TAKING EXTRA LONG I was going through like 3 sketchbooks back to search for this sketch comic lmao #and also... writing this whole essay why can i never be concise man... ANYWAH KDJFJDJDJD TY AGAIN ANNA!!#I'm always here for wolcred on wolcred action ��️#ask game #ask #kelly says #my writing #myreia

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