Category Archives: Writing

Fiction, non-fiction, fanfiction, poetry…

The Echoes of Achiyo Kensaki: Part 1: Hingashi

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Oops I accidentally wrote out the entire backstory of my main Warrior of Light from my fic For Love and Life, the Hingan Au Ra samurai knight Achiyo Kensaki. It turned out even more tragic than I was expecting, tbh. 

I was halfway through the first chapter before I figured out Percival is basically Din Djarin LOL. He looks like 5.0 trailer Midlander, but wears the level 30 Steel tank armour set.

Warnings for: awkward sex education, attempted sexual assault, character death.

 

Part 1: Hingashi

The tiny Raen girl clad in a pink kimono walked a wooden doll over to a stuffed dragon plush. “I, Shirogane no Arinari, bring you greetings, Kiba-sama, and I thank you for your gracious invitation to visit you in your magnificent palace.” She looked expectantly at the older Hyuran lady sitting beside the stuffed dragon. “That’s you, Oba-chan. You’re Kiba-sama the dragon.” Continue reading →

FFXIV: Dust Settles

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64: For Ala Mhigo

 

65: Dust Settles

Nidhogg bared his teeth – and Achiyo lunged forwards. “For Ishgard,” was all she said, and then she had stabbed forward right through Nidhogg’s teeth into the roof of his mouth. Her sword snapped.

The jaws clamped shut on her head.

Aymeric snapped awake. Not with a scream, or sitting up abruptly, or even opening his eyes, but his mind had recoiled from the vision so violently it had clawed its way out of unconsciousness to get away. He opened his eyes into the darkness of his tent. Continue reading →

FFXIV: For Ala Mhigo

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Oops, extra long chapter! Well, it’s the season finale. I adjusted the gatecracker battle, because the Garleans would be rank fools not to put cannons on top of their walls, just letting the Alliance waltz up unopposed except for a paltry handful of flying machines. (I’m sure part of that is game render limitations, so I’m just breaking the limit.)

Tidbit that didn’t make it into the story: I headcanon the Temple Knights were training with the Immortal Flames in Thanalan for a few months to acclimatize to the arid environment. Also they’re on double water rations so no one sweats to death. Even if Coerthas used to be warmer, it’s not like it was hot. It’s like Scandinavians going to the Mediterranean – you can’t just throw them in there and expect them to operate as normal.

For Zenos fight I had to rely on an old standby boss-fight-inspo song: Blue Skies and a Battle from FE3H (which I haven’t played because I don’t want to play such a sad game).

I would really love for Ala Mhigo to have a hub city zone (like Ul’dah or Kugane) using the dungeon tileset, those textures are PRETTY.

Chapter 63: Reunion

 

Chapter 64: For Ala Mhigo

Tam tried to take stock of the last hour. Fordola was in Alliance custody. Krile was safely behind friendly lines, with Urianger. Urianger speculated that Fordola had been given an artificial Echo through those experiments on Krile, and his device, inspired by Alisaie’s testimony, had been to disrupt it. Rinala had arrived and Raubahn sent her to give his sword Tizona to Pipin, and Tam had gone along to hang out. Now how did Tam get from Pipin to… wolfmen, again? Continue reading →

FFXIV: Reunion

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Yesssssss the return of the king, as the memes say!

I’d kind of hoped to put in Raubahn’s flashbacks in the previous chapter, to pair up his memories of Lyse’s father with Achiyo’s last Echo involving her ‘father’, but eh the pacing ended up not really working out.

Thancred’s line about leather waistcoats… research tells me is a Monkey Island reference (to go with the ridiculous breath holding). (I’ve played several of the Monkey Island games, but it’s been quite a while. That sort of puzzle game isn’t really my cup of tea.)

Chapter 62: Legacies

 

Chapter 63: Reunion

The first thing to do was to warn the army of the experiments they’d encountered. The Empire did like building sinister laboratories everywhere they could – they’d built one beneath Doma Castle, for kami’s sake – and if they were creating machines that were part-beast, or worse, part-Spoken in one place, they could be creating them elsewhere. Or who knew which of their experiments had been approved and put into production. Their very horror would grant them an edge, let alone their combat capabilities. Everyone needed to know. Continue reading →

FFXIV: Legacies

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I forgot how long the Radiata bit was, and I couldn’t figure out how to abridge the WHM quest, so this is likely the third-last chapter of 4.0.

TIL that ‘cermet‘ is a real thing?? Man I know a little bit about a lot of things but I didn’t know that. I thought FFXIV made it up for the Garleans to use.

Estinien’s cannon-slaying is probably the best moment in all of Stormblood. He’s the Azure Dragoon, after all. (Jocat guitar sting)

Chapter 61: Bitter Dreams

 

Chapter 62: Legacies

Rinala walked through the forest of the Fringes, head down, tail low, lost in thought. Trying to figure out how her life had fallen down around her. How she had lost herself to the point that she couldn’t do her job anymore. That the Scions didn’t want her around anymore. Continue reading →

FFXIV: Bitter Dreams

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I know people have complained that several characters post-ARR are basically whole new characters, and I think it’s true. I feel Lyse got the better end of the deal in the character development hand-outs; she went from ‘bubble-brained comic relief’ to ‘oh crap I have to adult now, it’s scary but I’ll do my best’. Maybe it’s a bit too drastic, but you know what ARR was a bit cartoony overall so I don’t think it’s out of step with the general tone shift. But Thancred went from ‘mischievous perv with an angsty side’ to ‘Batman’, and not even a fun Batman like Estinien. And just to reiterate… I really don’t like his haircut and chin scruff. (Alphinaud’s character development is, of course, perfect, so needs no discussion.)

Chapter 60: The Fall of Doma Castle

 

Chapter 61: Bitter Dreams

R’nyath ducked through the press of soldiers, looking for his fearless leader. “Achiyo! Hey, hey, over here!”

She turned, startled, from where she had been talking to Raubahn. “R’nyath? What is it?” Continue reading →

FFXIV: The Fall of Doma Castle

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Soundtracks for this chapter include not only Gates of the Moon, the Doma Castle dungeon theme, but also Thundering Chariot from Honkai Star Rail cuz Chinese boss fight music is funnnn : D (interesting they both involve traditional plucked string instruments, Western orchestral body, and an electric guitar for added gritty texture?)

The inside of Doma Castle has gotten glowed up with the lighting enhancements! It looks great!

My tablet keyboard has been increasingly unreliable the past couple months (especially the E and L keys); I’m pretty good at spotting typos but I’m not perfect so if you see something, feel free to point it out.

Chapter 59: Flames of the Past

 

Chapter 60: The Fall of Doma Castle

Achiyo had just finished her last gear check and was rising to leave the Scions’ dorm in the House of the Fierce when she heard her name called. “Achiyo-chan? Where are you?”

“I am in here,” she answered, and Tori appeared at the door, looking flustered with all her children around her. “Is something amiss?” Continue reading →

FFXIV: Flames of the Past

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I know I’m being pretty speedy through all this… I miss Aymeric, is all.

Chapter 58: The Naadam

 

Chapter 59: Flames of the Past

“As if we’d lose to the likes of him!” Lyse cried, watching the Imperial Roegadyn officer flee back towards Doma. “And we’re only gonna get stronger. Stronger and stronger until we’re strong enough to take back everything they stole!”

“Hear, hear!” R’nyath echoed. The Xaela roared in triumph.

Hien turned to Cirina. “I have kept my promise, Cirina. They are yours to command.” Continue reading →

FFXIV: The Naadam

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If you have not yet become aware of how cool Mongolian throat singing is, please check out Batzorig Vaanchig on Youtube. (If you like folk metal and you don’t yet know the Mongolian band The Hu, you should also check out their music!)

I was a little surprised by how many people were specifically looking forward to the Buduga, especially because I completely forgot they existed until I started writing this chapter. So, uh, in the interest of giving the people what they want, the T rating is getting stretched a bit. (and maybe something else is gonna be too-) Enjoy. :3

Chapter 57: Endless Sky

 

Chapter 58: The Naadam

Achiyo was not impressed by the current situation. Hien had suggested that they go with the Oronir and Budugan warriors, saying: “If all goes to plan, they will be fighting for us soon enough. What say you? Shall we go and greet our comrades-to-be?”

She was not yet sure that it was a mistake. She did not have the political knowledge or foresight to see whether this endeavour would benefit them in the end or not. And simply because Magnai of the Oronir was the most irritating, arrogant, unreasonable, heavy-handed, egocentric, tyrannical clod of a leader she had ever met was no reason to not see it through, since Hien and Kekeniro had agreed on it.

But she was not safe, her friends were not safe, and if it came to a fight it would not go well for them. And she did not know how to change that. Continue reading →

FFXIV: Endless Sky

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There are a lot of nice little story bits in the Azim Steppe, like when Lyse tells some kid what a ‘nation’ is, but… I don’t have a lot to say about them.

Honorifics are a bit tricky for me in this part. The English dubs/subs translate the titles and honorifics to English for ease of the unfamiliar, even for characters who would probably use them (it would make perfect sense for Yugiri to call Hien “Hien-sama”), so how weeby culturally appropriate for the implied in-game culture do I want to get by putting some of them back in?

I’ve been listening to the J-rock band Cidergirl again recently, and I think the lead singer seems to have a voice type very much like the Miqo’te voice type that R’nyath has. They did the opening song, Cinderella, for the anime Komi Can’t Communicate, which I enjoyed very much, but they’ve got more super-happy music, and R’nyath is specifically adopting Saityen.

Chapter 56: The Second Duel

 

Chapter 57: Endless Sky

The Scions, the Doman Liberation Front, and the villagers of Namai did not retreat far at first. Nearly everyone was in high spirits, talking animatedly. Isse was fairly bubbling with excitement, his face alight in a way Achiyo had not seen before. He looked so young and kind when he smiled. “Can you believe it? We faced the crown prince himself and lived to tell the tale! You’ve no idea what this means for us. Everyone’s talking about getting more weapons and armour and… and… And we’re not going to stop until we’ve taken back our homeland!” Continue reading →