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fearne

@almandines.bsky.social

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fearne @almandines.bsky.social · Dec 25

thank you for the share and for including writers 🥺 I'm fearne and I write ffxiv fic! lots of wolnpc and lately a decent amount of npc-centric stuff!

you can find me on ao3 here: archiveofourown.org/users/almand...

here are a few snips! 💜 (with links below)

For better or worse, G'raha Tia had been a historian. Of all things from the distant past, it was this to which the Exarch clung the tightest.

Deep in the bowels of the Tower, the Ironworks had left him a library stocked full of every text they could find, from cookbooks to grimoires to schoolchildren's notepads, and from it he had carefully curated his own private collection: a single shelf of rare, esoteric, and mostly handwritten tomes preserving a history it would be his life's work to erase. He'd obsessively read every page that even so much as mentioned the Scions of the Seventh Dawn in passing, committing them to his mind so thoroughly he could still recite many from memory if asked.

"Thancred Waters" was a name he knew only in ink. He was a ghost who haunted the margins—a handful of words in the dark and little more. This, the Exarch had long surmised, was by design.

But no name on a page could be a suitable substitute for meeting a man in the flesh. No written account could have possibly prepared him for the volatility, nor for the instinct to hold his breath and brace himself in his presence, to dig in his heels and stand his ground. He'd been prepared for an Archon, an academic from his homeland, but instead he found callused hands and a shadowed sneer. The similarities between them ended at the Sharlayan marks on their necks, and the Exarch's had long been consumed by crystal.

Cahciua’s bedroom had always been cluttered. An organized mess, she had called it the times Erenville asked her how she could ever hope to find anything she was looking for. Shelves of trinkets and overgrown potted plants obscured piles of loose paper wherever he had looked.

He remembered the chaos spilling throughout the house, having to shove aside a stack of mail or a new package of seeds to make space on the dining room table to eat his meals; rarely having a place to sit because every chair held a new fern or ivy specimen.

His own room had been sparse, entirely by choice. There, he could retreat from the chaos to a world that was clean and orderly—organized without the mess. In cleanliness there was harmony, a peaceful escape from his mother’s fondness for dissonance.

Some decades ago, the Crystal Exarch had taken to standing before a mirror each morning and repeating to himself his own name. He did this as he raised his hood, restored his shadowy facial glamour, and prepared to step into the endless scorching daylight as someone else. It was, at first, an affirmation that even as he walked alone in an unknown world, he still had a name. Later, it became a desperate mantra—a rhythm burned into his mouth, lest he fall silent and forget it entirely.

It was a name that did not belong among those who had come to see the Crystal Tower as a shining beacon of hope, for whom it would always provide.

But the more the tower gave to those around him, the more of him it consumed. He could live with it taking his flesh, his aether, his very lifeblood, but he could not stomach the thought that it might one day consume all of who he was. Thus, he held tight to this small ritual, meaningless to anyone else, in hopes that he could keep his name of all things so tightly guarded that it would somehow remain his even as everything else slipped away.

And so when it came time to share his name with another, it was a practiced sound, a familiar rhythm, worn into his teeth and tongue the way footsteps wore grooves into the stairs of an old family home.

The last time Thancred prayed to the Twelve, he was in Ishgard.

Even in the dingy shadows of the city's depths where he'd be hard-pressed to imagine the eyes of a god could reach, they'd cobbled together a tiny shrine to their Fury, built of ice-chipped stone and a broken, likely stolen statue. A handful of rusted and bent gil coins lay atop it, next to a stale loaf of bread that would have done a lot more to answer prayers were it kept in a Brume family's cupboard than offered to Halone.

Desperation, more than devotion, drove him to his knees in the midnight snow with the fire of a middling whiskey still burning in his chest.

He'd never paid much mind to Halone before, having always been stretched too thin between the Navigator and the Scholar. He'd belonged to both of them and neither, a soul adrift upon the waves. He'd had two homes but no roots to show for them, given a god the moment he'd been given a name.

But Halone was here—well, insofar as he could imagine the prayers of the lowly could reach her ears when those who lived in luxury atop soaring spires had an advantage so much closer to her halls—and she would do.

The prayer was an amorphous thing, an amalgam of thoughts and pretty words while he tried to force his silver tongue to dance around the truth. "Bring her back" felt rather profane when it really meant "Take her from Hydaelyn." None save himself, god or otherwise, would dare oppose the Mothercrystal—a thought proven correct when the only thing he heard in response to his silent plea was the crunch of unfamiliar footsteps on the snow.

The stranger passed him by without a word. That was how it was in Ishgard—crowds enough that he could never find a moment to himself, but he was still never anything but alone.

It wasn't worth it, he resolved as he stood and brushed soot and snow from his knees. If ever he were to whisper the name of another god, the Twelve would have no place upon his tongue.

Reposted by fearne

jamelle

@jamellebouie.net

the arrest of journalists in minneapolis, including don lemon, is more evidence that the only move the administration knows how to make is to use force, and does not know how to respond when that force is met with defiance and indifference.

January 30, 2026 at 4:40 PM

Reposted by fearne

MIH4NN 🔞 (@Mildh4nn SFW acct)

@mih4nn.bsky.social

soken didn't work on shb's soundtrack while in the hospital w cancer, survived and continued to work, for you to regurgitate his lifework w ai for cheap content

soken plays an otamatone cover of his own songs on stage.. all ai scrappers wish they had an ounce of his talent

embarrassing and pitiful

shren | tielwaters 💭 mr tyrant... @shiren.bsky.social · 15h

hey guys can we not put Soken's music through AI. he did not survive cancer for you to shit on him like this.
the way people cant even tell anymore and are just glazing on it despite the bio clearly says AI is crazy

January 30, 2026 at 8:02 AM

Reposted by fearne

arden💭

@wakingnaturally.bsky.social

holding this last snippet out like a little treat to convince you to read my dark knight knifeplay fanfiction. this concept will be sticking to wrensid i fear.

The room is as silent as a cathedral when he rests his fingertips - worn leather without the steel that covers his wrists - on her lower lip. The bit of light streaming over her face is broken into vibrant blues. His shadow closes in like shelter.
"Whatever you think you are," he says slowly, entirely devoted to the sight of her tongue grazing his glove, "I know you. What you're feeling, what you want me to make you feel." He learns in, so close that the point of his horn pricks into the hollow of her collarbone.
Twelve, that little burst of pain, his voice reverberating through her. She shudders at the overwhelming sensation frissioning outward from that point.
"You want me to take the hero apart? Fine, I'm familiar enough with what's beneath."

October 14, 2025 at 3:45 PM

Reposted by fearne

Quaid! | Thancred Biter 🌱

@ghoulgoo.bsky.social

I miss my wife. 🐺

#quaidart

January 30, 2026 at 3:40 AM

Reposted by fearne

あずま Azuma

@otyasitene.bsky.social

FF14
テンペスト
The Tempest

January 29, 2026 at 3:30 PM

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INO

@meteorlno.bsky.social

#FFXIV

January 30, 2026 at 4:41 AM

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ㄹㅈ

@drgff14.bsky.social

유령신랑

January 29, 2026 at 10:32 AM

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chilly milly ❄️

@mischiefmilly.bsky.social

abomination

A zoom in of Thancred's shoes in ARR, the weird ass gladiator sandals that go up to his UPPER THIGHS?? With a weird gauntlet/cover on the front? DOGS OUT? And you mean to tell me he had GAME wearing this?

January 30, 2026 at 2:48 AM

Reposted by fearne

Dieselbrain

@dieselbrain.bsky.social

COOL COOL COOL COOL.

you draw a nude fictional woman too short or you do sex work and you get debanked, but you plug enough CSAM into your ai training data that the NCMEC gets flooded with "more than 1 million reports of AI-related CSAM in 2025" and hey, thats just the cost of bizness bay bee

Amazon discovered a 'high volume' of CSAM in its AI training data but isn't saying where it came from

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said it received more than 1 million reports of AI-related child sexual abuse material in 2025, with "the vast majority" stemming from Amazon.

www.engadget.com

January 30, 2026 at 1:47 AM

Reposted by fearne

🌟Lumeria🌟

@lumeriadeborel.bsky.social

I see that she’s drawn some ffxiv commissions, so sharing here for those wanting to avoid commissioning her by blocking her VGen.

Screenshot of a VGen account of SelahSketches

January 30, 2026 at 12:15 AM

Reposted by fearne

🌛hanseelie🌜

@hanseelie.bsky.social

Sinister 🩸
#ffxiv #ffxivart #vampfatale #hansart

Vamp Fatale in her boss form doing a high kick in the air, with hard bright lighting above and spotlights on either side of her. Her red orb casts a reddish glow on her arms and face. Spiked morning star heads hang on swinging chains behind her.

January 30, 2026 at 12:24 AM

Reposted by fearne

I R A

@roira.bsky.social

"So how is the gposing going?"
"Oh it's going. Not doing anything complex, just simple stuff."

An image showcasing the average window count for someone gposing with third party tools in FFXIV

January 29, 2026 at 11:00 PM

Reposted by fearne

Asawin Suebsaeng

@swin24.bsky.social

reminds me of a friend who explained why recent years have felt so weird to so many millennials here and it’s because “we went into the pandemic young people and came out of it old”

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 1d

I spoke to a woman at the protest in minneapolis and she explained she wanted to be there in part because "i was a kid when george floyd got killed" and i nearly dropped my recorder

January 28, 2026 at 10:41 PM

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fearne

@almandines.bsky.social

This will sound condescending and I promise I don't mean it to be, but I think a LOT of adults should revisit the things we learn in elementary school about the building blocks of what makes a story.

January 26, 2026 at 11:32 PM

Reposted by fearne

geryon ❣️

@sylphlands.bsky.social

i love that so many replies to the "what are you hoping for in 8.0" boil down to "can the story just MEAN something again please instead of the wol being untouchable" because it proves that people NEED conflict in stories, they need a sense of peril, they need their character to have consequences!

January 29, 2026 at 11:53 PM

fearne

@almandines.bsky.social

i love it when posts i make while i'm high out of my mind resonate with people. yeah we're all a little bit in the clouds here

fearne @almandines.bsky.social · 1d

every time i see this post i think about how he revived a probably dead art and how there's a hope and optimism to it that the first will see stars again someday and i get emotional

❈ 𝖒𝖊𝖑 ❈ @alzane.bsky.social · Mar 27

I think about this so often

January 29, 2026 at 11:09 PM

Reposted by fearne

Crimson Sun

@crimsonsun.bsky.social

Dulia-Chai for the FFXIV playing card deck today
#FFXIV

FFXIV Dulia-Chai happily holding a small plus of Chai-Nuzz up to her face

January 29, 2026 at 9:51 PM

Reposted by fearne

chidorinnn

@chidorinnn.bsky.social

yeah

screenshot of a reddit post from r/ffxivdiscussion

original post (by CarrotBun5445), posted 9 hours ago: “I wish the Warrior of Light would get hurt more often.

Drugged (HW) collapsed on the battle ground (SB & ShB), struck by lightning (DT), etc. I don’t mean to sound like a sadist when I say this, but I like watching my Warrior of Light get hurt. I like the attention they get from others when they get hurt. It’s nice to have all the attention taken off of whatever’s at hand and put on them.”

comment #1 (by Spinelessgrape), posted 8 hours ago: “Same here. I want them.to blow up an entire shard with us on it.”

comment #2 (by Warm_Wrongdoer5319), posted 5 hours ago: “Started beating my shit it’s hard and fast as I could after reading this”

January 29, 2026 at 5:07 PM

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apocalypse meow

@jess.shakesess.fyi

“casual” idk her. ive never liked anything a normal amount and i shall not start now

January 29, 2026 at 7:22 PM

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A.D. Wills

@adwills.bsky.social

"aren't you being a little mean? it's just some ai."

No. We can be meaner. Harsher. More demonic. More diabolical. Humiliate harder. Throw alley-oops and dunk on their pathetic attempts to masquerade as a creative person.

January 29, 2026 at 6:28 PM

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fishu @ coms open Feb 5

@goldfishu.bsky.social

have you seen this little baby? now you have

January 29, 2026 at 7:05 PM

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chidorinnn

@chidorinnn.bsky.social

in all seriousness though, i think the wol and scions are LONGGG overdue for a hard L. i hope they fuck up, get outplayed, and/or are forced to cut their losses and run from whatever shitstorm they've unwittingly contributed to.

bloody banquet... 2!!

Rowan☽☾🔞 @soleffitheach.bsky.social · 1d

#qotd #ffxivqotd #wolqotd

This is more for us not our WOLS (however you can answer as your WOL)
What are your hopes for 8.0? What jobs/MSQ story lines/glams etc do you hope for in 8.0?

Or do you have any predictions for the overarching story?

January 29, 2026 at 5:10 PM