hiraeth (bad weather)

title: hiraeth (bad weather)

word count: 1265

summary: Alberic helped pull the blanket up toward Estinien’s chin, absently, like he didn’t realize he was doing it. “Well, here she is,” he said. “Ishgard. What do you think?”

“It’s ugly,” Estinien said. Nearby, an old knight laughed.

notes: estinien and alberic; pre-canon, shortly after the ferndale incident, writing exercise

content warning: dicsussion of death, suicidal ideation

@ AO3

❝on a pedestal, shining bright / justify me, make me right / i can fight it, make it roam / but a fugitive has a tendency to return home❞

myosotis wilting

title: myosotis wilting

word count: 1035

summary: Emet-Selch looks at the empty chasm, now bereft of any gleam, of paradise. Amaurot, in retrograde. Such is the dire state of the worlds these days. Such is the state of the center of his chest.

He mutters an oath and tries again, raising his hands. With his palms, he calls upon and commands the aether, imperious above the energies of this sad excuse for a star. With his palms, his calls, his pleas, he worships his own memories.

She comes alive.

notes: emet-selch character study; amaurot, missing scene, writing exercise

content warning: brief description of violence against a child

@ AO3

compass at fault

title: compass at fault

word count: 586

summary: The swordsman had shouldered Estinien onto the ground, onto his back, and he bore down on Estinien with his shield to keep him there. The swordsman demanded victory. “I have you in the dirt,” he said. “Yield to me.” Aymeric craned his neck, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, out of line with the gazes of everybody else who wanted to see the spectacle in full. He strained to see Estinien’s face, his reaction underneath his fellow knight. He watched Estinien cant his head like a falcon and crease his own cheek by frowning in thought. 

“He did not like hearing that,” Aymeric said to himself, still angled toward Estinien--the whole shape of him, his body toward Estinien, his line of sight, his thoughts and his faith. Estinien would triumph here. The swordsman’s mistake had been to open his mouth.

notes: pre-canon, aymeric and estinien as young temple knights; very light estinien/aymeric, writing exercise, short scene

@ AO3

The Azure Dragoon ⇢ through the Holy See of Ishgard

twenty years hard labor

title: twenty years hard labor

word count: 1376

summary: Good. He’ll have a cot. He’ll be given a bowl to take to all his meals. An older boy will outgrow his trousers and Estinien will get to have them. He has the gifted hat and gloves--he’s holding them right now--and if another child steals them, Alberic will never have to know about it. He has tried to do right by this boy--this boy and the eyes he shares with Halone. He has tried to withstand Her judgment.

He looks down at the boy. The boy looks forward; he has no other direction.

“Before I leave,” Alberic asks, “can I do anything for you?” He means it to be paltry.

But Estinien nods.

notes: alberic and estinien; pre-canon, backstory, character study, #justishgardthings  

@ AO3

if amaurot was paradise, that means they definitely had memes, right

The Azure Dragoon ⇢ through Coerthas Central Highlands

toward distance

title: toward distance

word count: 2604

summary: “I am listening,” he says.

She was smiling before, but now she grins like the coeurl who got the cream. (“Thus devoured by thee,” comes Urianger’s untethered and gossamer thought.) “I know you are,” she tells him. “All right, all right. Somber man.” She reaches up to touch his brow, then the hair at his temple, then the ridge of his ear. “I am thinking about how funny it is, me in your bed--that you let me into your bed, when all I said was--how did I put it?”

“Quoting thee, ‘I think it is time…’”

“Right! ‘I think it’s time you and I had a romp.’ And you let me right in.”

notes: moenbryda/urianger; PWP (mostly), 🔞 explicit 🔞 ; no archive warnings apply; pre-canon, fluff, a little bittersweet

@ AO3