zavodilaterrarium: Cipher holds a gem up to the light. (Temptation)
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Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Han Suyeong+/Kim Dokja+/Yu Junghyeok, Lemonade of War
[Set vaguely in post-canon / No Apocalypse AU.]


author's choice, any (+/ any), ice-cold lemonade

Kim Dokja watches as Han Suyeong unwraps yet another lemon candy. He's starting to think she has no self-control — if she could hear this thought, no doubt she would do something egregious again to the character in her novel that she based on him — when they both feel a burning stare from the direction of the drink stalls nearby.

"Hey, did you use the kitchen or something? Why is that prick so pissy today?" Han Suyeong doesn't even bother whispering, so 'that prick' — less accurately but more commonly called Yu Junghyeok — uses the special, hateful look reserved just for her. "I thought you promised to not make anything explode again."

Something about her expression disturbs Kim Dokja. "… You bet that I would, didn't you." She coughs into her fist. "I am not a child."

"Yeah, and you were — what, 28?— when you burned the dumplings you were boiling? I'm actually really surprised you're still alive, but I guess you have someone who wouldn't let you die even if you wanted to." She doesn't say it, but Kim Dokja gets the impression that she's not just talking about Yu Junghyeok, who's stopped committing war crimes with his glare and is instead approaching rapidly. Wait, approaching?

It's only after Kim Dokja starts shuffling away and Han Suyeong screeches expletives in a meager attempt to ward the evil away that they notice Yu Junghyeok is wielding cups, rather than swords.

With a mocking smile, Kim Dokja coos, "Aw, our Junghyeok-a just wants to ensure we're hydrated~"

The regressor's eyebrow twitches, but he still holds out the cups. Turns out he bought some lemonade with ice. Even bastards hide hearts of gold, or something. "Don't die in a public space."

"Pssh, you think this slippery fool would do anything where we could stop him? Someone here needs to improve their pattern-recognition," Han Suyeong cackles, but snatches the lemonade before Yu Junghyeok can retract his tolerate attitude and crumple her like a soda can in broad daylight. Just as quick, she downs the whole cup, ice included. Kim Dokja manages to count to three before she lets out a pathetic whine and clutches her head like a scorned toddler. "Fuckin' brain freeze!"

"Seems like two people here need to work on pattern recognition." He finally grabs the lemonade intended for himself, recoiling at the first sip. "Suyeong, have all those lemon candies burned away your taste buds?" It's so sour, Kim Dokja's pretty sure it goes beyond what a normal lemon can do. A level of sourness that not even a mother lemon could love.

The moment Yu Junghyeok smirks, Kim Dokja reflexively kicks him straight in the knee. Not that it does anything to that monster. "Don't even pretend you meant to give this one to Han Suyeong, or that the stall ran out of sugar. This is a targeted attack, a declaration of war," he hisses as he shoves the cup back into Yu Junghyeok's still-open hands. He doesn't get a reply, but he's pretty sure Han Suyeong will agree that no reply is definitely proof that Yu Junghyeok is a heartless bastard through and through.

Though, he is thirsty, and bodily needs are more important than war… "Oh no, I think I might faint," Kim Dokja airily claims suddenly, back of his hand to his forehead. "I could hurt myself like this…" Yu Junghyeok rolls his eyes hard enough to cause a tectonic event, yet still pulls out a normal, probably-safe water bottle from somewhere and tosses it in Kim Dokja's direction.

"Ew, I'm gonna retch all over your shoes. You are far too fucking old to be acting dainty!" Han Suyeong recovers from the brain freeze just to make fun of him.

"You are literally two years younger."

"But I'm not tryna manipulate men with this gorgeous face, am I? Hey, don't you dare grimace at me! Not everyone can compare to your pookiebear Junghyeok, okay?!"

Kim Dokja could feel his ears bleeding. "I think that might be the worst thing you've ever said."


Persona 5 Royal, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira | Joker, Sometimes You Have to See for Yourself

author's choice, any +/ any, "Does anyone check for a pulse anymore? No?"

"Akechi?" Akira mutters to himself as he catches a glimpse of someone through the train window. Of course, it would be ridiculous for Akechi of all people to be here, right? He shouldn't even be alive… But, haven't a lot weirder things happened? They fought gods and witnessed the impossible made true, they themselves altered reality by fighting literal mental demons with little more than fake guns and brain magic! And… and if anyone would defy death even after all of that's over, it would be Akechi.

(The others would say it'd be Akira himself, but he knows that's not true. Akira has never defied death, so much as sidestepped it. He doesn't have the unwavering determination needed, just infinite chances.)

Though, for as much as Akira wishes to chase after that shadow, the train he's on has already starting moving. Outside of the Metaverse, jumping through windows just doesn't have the same appeal. Well, it might also jeopardise his attempt to not be caught by any remaining reporters or lackeys of their various real-world enemies. Trying to not hope for anything, he frantically texts Akechi through the number he probably stopped using by now.

Monday, 10:03

Akira: was that you at the train station just then
please


When he gets no immediate response, Akira slumps miserably in his seat. No, of course Akechi wouldn't have anything to say even if he was available through this line.

Still, he almost fumbles his phone 10 minutes later when it buzzes.

Monday, 10:13

Goro: Can you refrain from being so pathetic this early on a Monday?

Akira: i
oh my god
akechi????
you wake up at 5 evryday, 10 is NOT early for you
wait u didn't answer my q was that you or not

Goro: I don't have a reason to wake up so early anymore.
Yes, Kurusu, I use trains like every other person living in Tokyo, even when I should be dead.
It's… odd, seeing you so alone.
Nevermind.
I'm getting rid of this phone now. It's a liability.

Akira: you can't just dip and not tell me how to keep contact

Goro: I can, and I will. Something tells me you would manage to hound me in spite of that if you so desired to, Joker.
Oh, and does anyone check for a pulse anymore? No? Your little crew did a terrible job at ensuring I would never beat the odds.


Nothing Akira sends after that gets delivered. And yet, he can't tamp down the giddy smile that threatens to spill into delirious laughter.


The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Link, Without Knowing Why

Any, any, starless skies

Gazing over the quiet expanse of the night from where he sits up in a Sheikah Tower with his legs hanging over the edge, Link's steady breaths fog up the air before him. In such darkness, when the moon is waning and barely peaking around dense clouds, there is little to see beyond the everpresent Sheikah glow, and far-off town torches. Yet, it is still enough that the stars are fainter than he remembers in those sparce memories of a hundred years ago. Or, maybe the shine has dulled under the pressure that those selfsame years bear down on him with.

One hundred years of leaving Zelda to shoulder Ganon's malice, one hundred years of as many peoples living without a guiding hope, one hundred years in which Link hardly existed at all and yet still maintained the responsibility of his namesake.

The wonder of distant stars and galaxies fades into the recesses of his mind in the face of all-encompassing danger. In some way, a sky bereft of stars, empty of light and life, is morbidly comforting. Even if Link fails, they'll be no worse off than that cold and endless void, lacking in anything and everything.

When day breaks, the lone star called the Sun will resume the journey to restore the balance of time, and all the same, the lone hero of Courage will cleave through the darkness.

Link flops onto his back, pulling out his Sheikah slate to flip through his pictures. Delicious recipes and rare plants, friendly people and broken weapons, beautiful sunsets and damp caves, quiet locales and roaring waterfalls, there's not a moment preserved of that childhood he wishes he could return to. Innocent youth may cling to his body, as if a ghost of himself, but the struggles he'd thought only adults had rip and tear at his skin.

On a night like this, when the cold burns and loneliness is embroidered onto the fabric of reality, the only stars in the sky appear as twisting forms in the distance, shimmering draconic figures with a scale for every constellation that shies away from Link's eyes.


Final Fantasy XIV, G'raha Tia + Meteor Survivor | Warrior of Light, In Moments of Quiet

author's choice, any (+/ any), resting in a cool patch of shade on a warm and sunny day

Standing in the gentle shade of a lightly swaying tree, Meteor closes his eyes, content to bask in that wind which brings the scent of summer. Just barely out of reach, on a patch of short grasses, G'raha is splayed out, enjoying the full heat of the sun. As if in invitation, his tail flicks at Meteor's shoes.

"I don't like being cooked when I ought be relaxing." Meteor drops into a cross-legged sit, still hiding in the shadows.

"For shame. We've been gifted a beautiful day and you'd squander the spoils for the dreary pockets of stygian cover." Devoid of malice, G'raha chuckles airily. His fidgeting is audible, grass crinkling as he runs his hands through the dirt.

Meteor flicks open his eyes just as G'raha sits upright to stretch while he yawns. "Too beautiful a day to ignore, not beautiful enough to stay awake?"

G'raha just groans and falls back into the grass. "It's a wonder nobody knows how much of a jokester you are. A wordsmith worthy of being sung of by wandering minstrels purely by merit of intellect."

Smiling with naught more than warm air on his skin, Meteor lightly nudges at G'raha's shoes with his own. "They know plenty well, but 'Saviour of the Universe' has a better ring to it than 'Amusing Guy'".

"I suppose." G'raha pauses to breathe in the smell of grass. "You're far more approachable than I would have previously speculated. Even after everything, you're still…"

"Weird?" Shuffling closer and into the sunlight, Meteor leans over G'raha. "Just some guy?"

He's silent for a moment, but G'raha finally murmurs, "I was intending to say 'grounded', or 'yourself', but you do qualify for the lofty title of Weirdest Person In Eorzea."

"Is there a reward for my achievement?"

The laugh that shakes G'raha's body is quieter than the breeze. "What do you desire for it?"

"Dunno, maybe a bowl of high-quality soup." Meteor shakes his head as a stronger wind blows through.

"Indeed, sometimes simplicity is good." The far-away look on G'raha's face is obscured by the bright light shining his way, but Meteor still feels compelled to look away.

zavodilaterrarium: Eudae looking off to the side, pondering with her greatsword. (Default)
I wasn't ever going to post this writing online, but Dreamwidth feels like the best place if any (other than maybe Ao3, but something about that feels a bit too exposed).

Eudaemonia Euphrosyne [Yuyuda Yuda] (Dunesfolk) is my FFXIV WoL, and (the tentatively named) Yoyoberi Momoberi is her twin brother. Other OCs are Sophrosyne (Chocobo), Borlaaq Saikhanbayar (Xaela), and Benitoki Kagemasa (Raen)

None of what I write is particularly... accurate, as my memory of the story is patchwork at best, so they're more character studies and theoreticals than anything. I also haven't written much of anything this year, with anything about FFXIV being from 2024 (ages/dates in titles are of Eudae, not me).
---
Canon-Adjacent
Growing Pains [13yo]
This snippet is about their heterochromia, taking place at the 7th calamity.


Breathing slowly in a hazy and cold night’s air, Yuyuda cannot recognise the ground upon which she stands. Not sand, not soil, not rock nor rubble, a land of anxious infinity stretches out into endless shadowy depths, save for the stark red glow of Menphina’s Hound glaring at her from its tenuous place among the stars, no longer sat obediently at its so-called master’s feet. The chill scorches her face, yet she equally basks in the voice beckoning, asking — demanding, even pleading — her to reach out and grasp fate from the vast spaces between distant suns and gaseous clouds of sparks. Drunk on that haze, inundated by slumbering magicks, she speaks words she hadn’t summoned.

“All that play at god shall be sundered, for we are the warriors of-!”

Darkness stirs, disturbed as Yuyuda startles awake, clutching her face wordlessly. Her mouth opens and she can’t sit up and it hurts in a way never once known and it is her left eye or maybe her whole face but she cannot scream amidst nauseating swirls of light barraging her mind directly for fear that would worsen the agony. It is but a million years and nothing scarcely that long before the world quiets and Yuyuda weakly pries open her eyelids. Existence is naught but sharper, more dangerous to the senses in this state, yet softened by an unnatural feeling of power. Closing that pained eye, the world returns to normal, even once she opens it again.

Tired, she is after this ordeal. The sliver of light peaking into her rooms can only signal an extraordinarily late or early hour, so she ignores any alarm and returns to troubled slumber.

---

She awakes at midday from dead unconsciousness alongside Yoyoberi.

Carteneau had witnessed the reddened birth of Bahamut.



Archon Louisoix is dead.

---

Time flows ever slow, trickling past like weary travellers. Each and every moment burns dully with embers of fear and grief, embedded deep in the hearts of those who lived past the accursed moon’s descent. Yuyuda, unable to indulge in those pains, looks up at the melancholic sky one sunrise after another, swearing quietly in her heart that thin streaks of light adorn the land of Carteneau when she dares ask to check the flats, barely-glowing currents caught on the staggered clouds drifting by. Disaster wrought upon Eorzea, she gazes on worriedly upon the mourners and the rubble. Youthful faces sag with concern while old hearts pray to not suffer Bahamut again.

“Beri?” Yuyuda whispers into a sky tainted pink and orange. For but a moment, no sound echoes in the open Thanalan air, spare the arid wind of evening. Eventually, Yoyoberi appears, a flash of clean white linen against the drowsy desert.

“Hm? Yuyu? [Does somethin’ worry you?]” he murmurs in slurred Lalafellin syllables.

“I..” With her right eye shut gently, Yuyuda blinks at those fleeting lights seemingly known only to her. “Do you see… [the strange lights] too? With your right eye, as with my left?”

Glancing towards the dry trees and dusty mountaintops, Yoyoberi breathes out, “In the soul of the land, [aye].”

“Not among the stars?”

“[No], not at all.”

Moreso than before, moreso than after, those lights, that aether, as they would learn in time, glittered brightly under the dim light of lone Menphina. Yet, that selfsame night, the aether disappeared completely from their sights, and thus, from busied memory, as if dissipating under the weight of careless acknowledgement from those still yet breathing.


---

A Foe (or Friend) Who’d Chase You Beyond the 8th Calamity [18yo]

Zenos yae Galvus. A man who crushes all underfoot. Ash and sparks dance across Eudae’s memories in a deadly facsimile of the horror of Rhalgr’s Reach. A man who embodies more savagery than his enemies. Not yet dead, she lifts her rapier to dualcast Vercure and wash away the wounds, if not the pain. “… Would the stars have warned me…?” she mutters at Zenos’ assertion that she is worthy of sparing and sparring. Not that it matters here.

The dirt beneath their feet shifts as Eudae rises from her kneel and Zenos takes a step closer, densely-packed soil loosened slightly by explosions and the careless, sloppy slashing of blades. This is a battle she will not lose Yugiri to, and as such, she raises the purple body of her weapon once again. This time, she would not heal.

This time, she would find the crack that allows fate — her own corrosively overwhelming fate — to flow on unimpeded.

“Be honoured,” Eudae breathes to herself, “for this is glory.”

With a Corps-a-Corps, the tip of her rapier pierces through heavy air and catches on the string of aether her left eye senses. Slashing out to the side, she obviously does not do much to Zenos, but even he notices the slightest shift in the flow of energy and ceases his chase of Yugiri for a moment. It’s not much. Still, Eudae seizes the chance to whisk her further away in quick dashes. It seems like help will come in time. It must.

Left eye spasming slightly, she casts Vercure and clutches at dark emotions gliding effortlessly through her foggy thoughts.


---

Well Met and Dully Noted (AU)

On the Basis of Uncertainty [15yo, 2000s-2010s]
Eudae picks at the hem of her skirt as the summer breeze blows secrets into her ears from where she sits upon the large roots of a tree. Not just the gossip of her classmates across the courtyard, but the silent songs of plants, the chitters of animals, the dance of light through the midday air. Her phone dings next to her, screen lighting up with a notification from Saikha.

Friday, 13:22

Saikha 🌸: yuda, what do you think of going to the bakery tomorrow then coming over to my place? kage’s working in the afternoon and said he wants some help with an assignment

Eudae: okay
i will bring soph and ask beri

With a firm pat on the bark of the tree, she tucks her phone away and stands up to make her way over to class, bag rolling behind her. The bell doesn’t ring for a few more minutes but short legs and being the size of a bowling ball means crowds are like diving into a ballpit with no floor.

“Yuyuda! Do you want icecream?” A friend-of-a-friend wanders over to her as he spots her passing by. His hands are full with various popsicles and icecreams, and each of the members of the group they flitted from held their one of their own. Eudae only really talks to these people for classwork, but being the daughter of a businessman apparently does impact your ability to establish work-based relationships.

Nodding as well as she can with her neck practically craned to Heaven On High, she reaches into her fanny pack for something to trade with. After she manages to find a very pretty embroidered ribbon and ties it around his wrist using her chubby fingers, she picks a mango popsicle and scurries away, little clouds of dust kicking up under her feet and wheels in the dry summer weather. Ringing echoes through the halls just as Eudae comes to a stop at the closed door of her history classroom. Out of the corner of her eye, she catches sight of pale skin and light blue hair, the owner of which disappears around the corner without saying hi. Absently, Eudae opens the popsicle up and starts eating it, eyes scrunching shut when she feels someone ruffle her short hair. Annoyance compels her to bat the hand away, but she can barely reach high enough over her head to do so. Still, that hand retreats as she peeks at her assailant.

“Hi~ Look who it is, my favourite 9th grader! Eudaemonia, how have you been?” Mister G’raha chirps from where he’s kneeling next to her, smoothing out her flyaways gently. He’s only a TA for history, but he seems to be everywhere, ready to strike up a conversation about his favourite facts at a moment’s notice. Not discouraged by her silence caused by her refusal to stop licking the popsicle, he continues, “Would you like me to take you into class?” When Eudae nods, he pushes open the door to the maths classroom, grabbing her special seat as she waddles over to where she wants to sit for the day.

Said special seat includes adjustable height and table sections to accomodate for her short stature and arms. Every room she frequents has one, courtesy of Professor Matoya’s offhanded endorsement of disability aids a couple of decades ago from when she was a more active member of the Sharlayan research board. Mister G’raha quickly sets it up for her (he doesn’t have to, but she appreciates the efficiency) so she can immediately set up her laptop and water bottle. Class doesn’t technically start for a few more minutes as most teachers take a moment to get to their classes, giving her time to finish up her popsicle.

“Anything else for my liege?” Mister G’raha jokingly bows. Upon seeing the shake of Eudae’s head, he places a tiny origami star on her desk and backs out of the room with a wave. “It’s from Miss Rhul, who probably stole it from Mister Durendaire, I’ll tell her you’re well.” The door clicks shut, leaving her alone with slowly meandering thoughts until her classmates spill in behind her maths teacher.

---

Breathing suddenly evening out but staying deep, Eudae’s hands flex and her stance widens slightly like she’s preparing to grapple the kid in front of her despite their height difference. “Shut your mouth,” she spits.

“Dude, chill. I’m just making jokes, you’re not even a part of this conversation!”

You don’t get to joke about the reason my parents might be dead!

Instinctively checking that her leg braces aren’t on, she jumps at the kid, tackling him to the ground in one move and causing him to scream as he tries to catch himself but fails miserably. Immediately, adult hands reach out and lift her up by the armpits while a commotion breaks out.

“Now now, little executioner, care to explain?” Miss Rhul sets down and soothes Eudae, crouching to smooth out her skirt and blouse. Next to them, a teacher checks on her victim. Eudae’s tense posture and severe frown say everything — Miss Rhul knows exactly what’s happened just by looking. Voice dropping low, she continues, “You can follow me back to the library. I need to retrieve some worksheets from the printing room.”

Gathering up Eudae’s rolling bag for her, Miss Rhul takes long strides away from the scene, nodding briskly to the exasperated teacher dealing with the fallout. Eudae ignores the twinges in her legs and sprints to keep pace. The wind cools off the tears that threaten to bubble up and spill over. Yet, the anger does not care, boiling and burning, only spurred on by the fresh air of life.

Not looking towards her, Miss Rhul casually remarks, “I heard that Mister Durendaire extended an invite to you for his astrology club. Nothing clears the mind like staring into the stars.”

Y’shtola Rhul has always struck Eudaemonia as a woman of the Twelve, as Eudae calls those divine beings that sleep in her dreams. Not for any particular adherence to the principles of said divine beings, but for what Eudae considers the ‘aether’ of the life, the ground and air, the light and shadows of the universe. It would not surprise her if Y’shtola could see far more than the eye reveals.