#ranjit never cared to teach her anything or tell her stories

[haunted-xander]

Another thing that fucks me up about Thancred & Ryne's relationship through most of shb is that Thancred KNOWS hes messing up he KNOWS hes making tons of mistakes with how he deals with Ryne. He knows full well but doesn't do anything about it. He knows he should reassure her but he doesn't, and he probably doesn't even think he can. Because he knows it won't be completely genuine (and Thancred doesn't even know how to be genuine to begin with) and Ryne is too smart to not see that. And because Ryne already has such a low view of herself she'd never accept his words even if they WERE genuine. Because she still knows that Minfilia means more to him than she does.

And Ryne knows that he's fucking up the entire time too. She knows that he's stressed and grieving but she also thinks she knows his feelings better than she does. Ryne assumes a lot about Thancred, she fills in the blanks between everything he doesn't say or do, but she always fills them in negatively. To her, the default is ALWAYS going to be people wishing she was someone she wasn't, because that's all she's ever know (Vauthry saw her as just "the Oracle" and Ran'jit saw her as just another "Minfilia"). She knows Thancred knows she's not Minfilia, but she thinks he wishes she was (and she's not really wrong, but it's not correct either).

And Thancred is scared to say anything, because he doesn't want to decided her life for her, because he knows Ryne's life is her's to do with as she pleases, but in doing so he inadvertly pushes her towards the option no one really wants. Minfilia doesn't want to come back at Ryne's expense, Ryne doesn't want to just be "Minfilia" for eternity, and Thancred doesn't really want to lose Ryne either.

It's only as the final decision is at hand that Thancred really shows that he DOES care about her as an individual person. It's only after Ryne has already decided to take her life into her own hands that she gets to understand, just a bit, of how he really feels.

#AND ALSO like. ryne probably decided to stick around with him after he saved her #both because she feels indebted to him #and also bc she knows that while his treatment isnt ideal #its also much better than anything else shes know #ranjit kept her locked up in a cage completely by herself with maybe some books to pass the time #and hes harsh and literally does not care for her opinions or needs or anything #shes there as a memento. a memory of all the minfilias he saw die. and as a threat in need of imprisonment #ranjit never cared to teach her anything or tell her stories #but thancred did #thancred taught her how to protect and provide for herself #he told her stories about his friends and their adventures #he let her play when time allowed #he let her just #be #whenever it was possible #she probably thought this was all bc he saw her as minfilia #but she was too excited to be able to do stuff to let that stop her #if shed be just 'minfilia reborn' anyway #why not be one that at least got to have fun sometimes? #the one that could hunt and swim and cook #im so Normal about them #thancred waters #ryne waters #minfilia warde #final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv #ff14 #ffxiv #xander rambles #xander being insane about ryne