Thancred sat with his cheek in his hand, slightly bored, watching Little Winter gleefully swing Momodi around in circles.
""WAHAHAHAHAHA!!""
Thicker than thieves those two were. Rather than greet his older brother upon returning to Ul'dah, the little bastard put his big sister first in line. If Thancred was a pettier person, he would've thrown something at the back of Little Winter's head, however he was mature and poised. Such an uncouth act didn't fit his station. In addition, there wasn't much to throw anyways.
The siblings went back and forth with fast words and telling crazed stories that sounded far more unhinged now that Thancred sat as a spectator rather than being a participant. Hells, Little Winter was forth coming with many of his thoughts and plans, freely speaking about how he planned to scam the Royals out of their gil by swapping their wine with water. The strong urge to groan filled his heart. Should he have just done what that damned brat had asked of him?
"Wahahaha! That's good! Ya could add personalized engravins to the bottles to increase their value couldn't ya?!"
"GASP My little big sister is a genius!!! Why didn't I think of that?!!!"
Twelve above, his head was killing him.
"Hello, Thancred."
At last, someone deigned to greet him rather than leave him to his own devices. Minfilia Ward, a woman completely unphased by Little Winter's crazy schemes. Thancred kept telling himself that he'd eventually need to inform his Master about her Echo. With the prophecy potentially rising to the surface, it could perhaps change the tides of fate, but he had been holding back all this time. There was no particular reason for it. Thancred didn't think his Master would make crazed demands or put Minfilia in any danger, else the bard was prone to turn his blade even at the cost of his life.
Thancred wanted Minfilia to become stronger, as the world was undoubtedly becoming more dangerous, but he left that work up to Winter now. The oracle knew which levers to pull and wouldn't put Minfilia in any situation that he didn't think she could handle. He and Minfilia had always had a slightly awkward dynamic from the time she was a child. He found himself thrust into the role of a new father, yet he was never around to watch this kid grow up. He didn't know what to say or how to say it, so they became like this. Not exactly warm but thanks to Little Winter's tireless efforts, not cold either.
"Greetings, Minfilia. It is good to see you doing well. I assume you've reached some modicum of success?"
Minfilia silently gave Thancred a strong thumbs-up. With a roll of his eyes, Thancred was ready to drop the subject. He wasn't too curious about Little Winter's love life. Unlike Thancred, the young man didn't seem to be running into the same issues that the bard did. Otherwise, he'd ask for advice.
Wouldn't he?
Minfilia seemed to misunderstand his expression as worry and commented with assurance, right as he began to stand up.
"Worry not Thancred. Kan-E, Y'shtola, and I will take good care of Winter!"
His body reacted faster than his mind could. His hands gripped onto the edge of the table to steady his balance. Why did he do that? What happened just now? An enemy attack?
???
"I'm sorry?"
"Worry not!"
"...Yes, I heard that. You, Kan-E-Senna, and who???"
"Y'shtola! A fellow Archon, I do believe."
Thump
Thancred fell backwards, stone cold and unconscious.
---
"Hells bells!"
"sigh You don't know the half of it."
Rose refilled my glass with another pour of essence water. I explained to my friend that I'd be departing once more for Ishgard in few months.
"Even so, to walk the full distance?! That's one hells of a test!"
"Indeed. Though, with careful planning, it's not impossible."
Rose took hearty drink of his essence water and slammed the glass down as if he had taken a shot. Was there alcohol in this? Was he just being extra?
"What is impossible when it comes to you, old friend! Gahahahaha!"
Rose didn't seem too worried about the journey. As it turned out, Coerthas wasn't as dangerous at the moment as I knew it to be in 2.0 and onwards. Without the Calamity destroying the land, it not only didn't become an endless tundra hellscape, but the creatures that inhabited it were more like 2.0's lower to mid level monsters. Though it didn't matter much as I had no intention of fighting them to the death, I did want to know the types of things I'd be encountering on my trip.
Rose and I could strategize on which kinds of armor would be best suited for my trip. I had never shown Rose my Hearthstone, but I explained a general concept of a Rune Knight only to get a surprising response.
"So runes are somewhat akin to stitches?"
"...Perhaps."
I spoke slowly. Why was I carving runes? Because writing them didn't hold them stable at all. Weaving runes... Like you would attach a patch to clothing... It was an interesting idea. I said as much to Rose and with his infinite wisdom he replied.
"Did Rune Knights even haveneeds of armor in that case? Why did they wear it?"
I didn't know! I made it up! They obviously existed and used some kind of blade, as the tomes mentioned, but my conception of them was solidified by the small amount of knowledge I had about Final Fantasy Tactics. I could bend those rules slightly of course, but without seeing one, E-Sumi-Yan and I solidified the concept in a patchwork attempt to maintain my leaky power.
We chatted for a bit more before Rose stood up suddenly walked into a different room while I continued to sip on essence water. It was water, but it glowed slightly. A comical waste of money in my opinion, but I wasn't the Weavers' guild master. It was his gil to burn. In fact, it showed me that something like this did have a market in Eorzea, reinforcing my desire to take my industry to new heights.
'But seriously...it's just water?'
It wasn't particularly more refreshing or tasty by comparison to normal water. I was internally willing to call this bottled well water rather than some premium, exotically sourced, fabled, gem water.
Rose waltzed back in and held up a pale fur-lined coat with black straps running down the middle instead of a shirt. Where was the undershirt?? Was this exhibition play?
"May I introduce, the Warg Jacket of Aiming!"
No shot. This was leveling gear? This weird looking thing? What were those damned developers up to?
"Absolutely not."
My tone was flat because I was truly clueless as to why he thought this was a good idea.
"I'm going to ISHGARD!"
"You'd be aplenty warm!"
"NOT IN THAT I WOULDN'T BE! AND WHY IS IT CUT SO DEEP ON THE LOWER BELT?"
Rose leaned forward to look at the outrageous piece he displayed. The straps crossed over each other in an x-pattern three times. On the very last cross, the cut went to what I imagined to be the middle bit of my pelvis. Seriously! Wasn't this exhibition play?!
"It looks fine to me."
"NO!"
"Tch."
With a click of his tongue, Rose moved the strange jacket onto a hanger and pulled out a second jacket that I didn't notice at first.
WAS HE PLAYING WITH ME?! THIS BASTARD!
"Fine. Sigh Tis a bit boring Sigh, but this is the alternative. Sigh The Rebel Coat. Sigh"
If this bastard sighed one more time I was going to kick his ass.
The Rebel Coat was a bright white long coat that had a fluffy storm blue fur-lined hooded collar. Its length seemed to drape down to the knees and it seemed to have a dark-blue inner lining. As was typical of Final Fantasy fashion, it had...1, 2, 3, 4, 5... at least 12 different belts that were sewn on in illogical places and at least double the amount of buckles.
It was far more reasonable than whatever nonsense he tried to put me in just now.
I nodded my head.
"I like it."
"Hmph."
"..."
---
knock-knock
Since Minfilia went out to catch up with her friends, I decided to make a long overdue visit.
The door opened and before me was a dangerously seductive woman who hid her well developed body underneath a homely dress. Though nothing could make me forget an inch of it. The dark pink eyes of a Miqo'te met mine and she pulled me inside with practiced ease. I pinched her chin in-between my fingers and wasted no time.
kiiiisss sluuuurrp-bite gnaw sluuuuurp bite kisssss
I used my hands, familiar with my woman's sweet parts, to strongly grip her behind under her dress as she fumbled to pull out my love stick with a fervor. Her kisses and actions were aggressive. An understandable behavior after being without me for so long. Just this once, I let my bitch do as she pleased.
"sluuurp-pop Maaasteeer~"
I listened to her call for me as she softly stroked my length with both hands and swayed her tail playfully. I missed being serviced by the woman that I trained from nothing. In my heart, all these years later, I still sneered at that arrogant asshole whatever-his-name was.
"Mm. Good girl."
I didn't think we'd make it to the bedroom, so rather than wasting time with a ritual, I roughly hiked her dress up even more, aligned my exposed cock with her wet slit and held her hips. I could feel her twist and jump delicately in my arms.
sliiiiick
I pushed forward into her moist hole, being met with a nervous tightness. I had bred this woman far too much for her to be not welcoming me properly. It was punishment for not coming back and visiting more. While I was indeed in the wrong, I wasn't about to admit that.
I swiftly moved my hands to the top of her head. F'lhaminn's insides loosened instantly, knowing full well what I was intending to do next.
"M-Master-"
"You should've done that from the start. Silly girl."
SHII-THUCK
PSSSHHHHHHHHH
Her body went limp as I forcefully impaled her onto my spear. But I wasn't done.
SHOOVVE GRIIIIIIND THUCK
SQUEEEEEEZZZZZEEE
PUUUUMP-GLOOOOP-SPLUUUUURRT
Another round of silent vibrations and hard squeezes greeted me as I pushed my cock past her cervix and into her womb. I didn't bother holding back, and painted her insides with jizz. Because I was tightly blocking her cervix, the pressure of my seemingly endless volume started to inflate her baby room like a balloon.
I continued to massage her meaty ass and pump carelessly into my woman. She really took my breath away. A clear drool from our union began to dangle off my balls and made a small mess on the entryway floor.
SPLUURT-PU-PUUMP
My balls were still tightly contracting, enjoying the full length massage that guaranteed fantastic pleasure and unconsciously worked to extract more seed. I didn't want the entry way to be a massive mess just yet, and so I carried my F'lhaminn, with most of her weight being supported by my meat pole, into her bedroom for further discipline.
---
"Tataru!"
"Minfilia!"
Minfilia dived forward and hugged her friend tightly. She couldn't stop the smile from spreading on her face. Tataru and her had become fast friends while Minfilia was trying to get her start as a miner.
She could still remember lugging around her bag of gems, looking for a buyer. She kept in mind the advice that Winter had given her. If anyone tried to play hardball, walk away. She, to this day, didn't understand what hardball was, but his words guided the weary Minfilia to meet a young Lalafell working in the Goldsmith's guild. Short lilac hair with a matching set of deep purple eyes adorned the child's face. She smiled, but it wasn't the type of smile that Minfilia saw on children. It was one of burden and stress. Despite that, the young Lalafell's eyes glowered with a fiery focus.
Tataru Taru's family were historically affluent. Generations of wealth were built up and passed down from father to son and from mother to daughter. However, through a scheme of one of the Taru family's many rivals, Tataru suspected it was an evil man named Lolorito, the Taru family was left peniless. They had to sell off many properties and assets just to tread water, but the devastation was deep. A blow so destructive that it sent the family into the pits of debt, doomed to never climb back out.
At just 8 summers, Tataru got an apprenticeship working as a Goldsmith receptionist. It wasn't long after working that she had met Minfilia, and other than establishing a strong business relationship, the two became fast friends. Both girls were familiar with the darkness of the world and swapped stories of hardship while also supporting each other and vowing to rise above their circumstances.
Minfilia chattered non-stop with her friend, describing all the amazing things she had seen in the Black Shroud, the people she had met and the many things that she regretted not having the time to do.
"Eh? You finally did it?!"
"Mhm!"
"Ah! Did you tell Mylla and Adal yet?"
...
She forgot!
Minfilia picked up her friend.
"Wah!"
And marched off to the Gladiators' guild to retrieve her clique. Mylla's father could be restrained from action if Minfilia swung her influence around a bit. Come hell or high water, she was going to put them to work today!