Steady as it Goes

Aikirees and I leaning against a chalkboard with 'Blog Stuffs' written on it.

Aside from some small tumbles, the week is progressing fairly well thus so far. Couple of other anomalies creeped up: another PS4 controller has, in essence, about to give up the ghost again. I really need to find a far more robust controller to go to eventually. Along with that, a flare up has left me in a perpetual state of pain until that subsides (which it better darn soon!)

Trip has been planned and announced to the parties involved, and when, so that’s one more task tackled. Sonic 3 is coming tomorrow as I didn’t realize it came out last week, so there’s the Saturday movie and that should be a lot of fun like the last two.

Small projects for this weekend really – mostly upgrading the PS4 and reinstalling goodies on that, but also might go with Aikirees into S P A C E and check out Celestial Exploration. I’m not in a big hurry, but I would like to get involved a little bit before it’s all over with at the end of Dawntrail. Ishgard was a blast, even for the little I contributed, so this should be just as fun if not more with the improvements I’ve seen.

Best get back to it – a lot of work at the office; y’all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Holiday Weekend

Aikirees drinking a tea sitting next to me, while reading a book glancing at her with the caption 'Monday Morning Weekend Recap' off to the left.

Kind of sort of a half-rest-half-cronch of a weekend. Saw the family for the holiday itself, and did an absurd amount of media server work. Far more than I was expecting to do, even if it’s supposed to be slowing down. A lot of RL events are approaching way faster than I am anticipating, so between now and Memorial Day weekend, I really need to get moving on tasks.

Aside from that, watched Beetlejuice Beetlejuice for the Saturday dinner movie. It’s really fun, but is definitely all over the place. The energy is all still there from the first though, so it was pretty good. Looking forward to watching Sonic the Hedgehog 3 whenever the hard copy is available.

It’s more than likely going to be a more quiet week here, but hopefully I’ll be able to sneak in a few while everything else is happening. Hope everyone had a really nice and wonderful weekend regardless of said holiday, and y’all kick some tails this week!

Steady week of C H A O S

Aikirees and I leaning against a chalkboard with 'Blog Stuffs' written on it.

I will say that unlike last week, this week has been the usual chaotic busy, but not as rough. I did manage to pull a pretty awful blunder the other day… and injure myself again on yet another day, but it’s been flowing at a decent pace.

Normally Easter Weekend is where the end of the season is unofficially made, but I kind of think (less fear, but it is there) that this is just going to be the new normal for our office. We’ve just exploded in growth from the early years to what we are now, which on the one paw is really awesome, but on the other I miss being able to reliably come home like I did. Parts of me keep reminding me as to why I quit the industry the first time, even though I know it’s not exactly the same this time around (2nd time was for a lot of sort of different reasons).

I just hope that it does start to wind down and we can control the flow of projects a lot better, even as we head into the next season as well. It would be nice to get back to a more steady flow like before and not be hitting 9.5-10+ hours every single day.

Hearing Switch 2 preorders might be going live as early as next week was nice to hear. In the interim, went ahead and got hard copies of both Horizon games for PS4, and will plan on swapping out the HDD to a SSD soon too. I’m planning on jumping into Forbidden West pretty shortly after completing Zero Dawn, even if it is a smidgen ways away soon. I keep going back and forth with myself about current Final Fantasy XIV affairs, and they’re not great feelings right now to say the least. I know we’re getting pretty close to 7.21, so hopefully that’ll help things.

Anyway, it’s late, but just wanted to hop in and toss some remarks and thoughts out. Y’all have a wonderful Friday and I hope y’all enjoy Aiki and I’s Fashion Report from last week posting in the morning too!

Leporine Travelers: Aiming for the End

Elizara looking over at Reinylla about to take on Rhitahtyn sas Arvina at Cape Westind.

Reinylla approached the gate that would lead her into Cape Westwind. She knew what was more than likely going to happen upon proceeding forward. Elizara standing close by, wanting to lend assist, but knowing she couldn’t.

“Hey, Reinylla, I–“

Before she could finish the statement, Reinylla intervened.

“Wait’a for me, sugar. I’ll be alright; it’s just’a like last time!”

“B–“

She walked over and placed her index finger on Elizara’s lips, with a gentle confident smile.

“Wait’a for me. This isn’t the end of me, darlin’.”

Elizara, stunned and unable to conjure a response quick enough, did what she was told and watched as Reinylla entered into Cape Westwind alone. All that could be heard thereafter was the yelling of soldiers, spells of fire, and Rhitahtyn sas Arvina going toe to toe with Reinylla herself. Elizara did her best to keep any additional solders from running into the battle for lending assist, and it wasn’t very long before it became silent.

“R-Reinylla…?”

Elizara creaked open the gate and hollered out into Cape Westwind, only seeing smolders and smoke from the two’s clash.

“Reinylla!?”

She shouted as loud as she could, only to hear her voice bouncing across the smoke. She rushes into the area, trying to hear any sign of Reinylla through the crackling sounds of the smoldering ground. Panic began to sink in, but once she heard footsteps through the smoke, a cautious relief washed over her.

Slightly staggering, Reinylla makes her way out through the battlefield towards Elizara. Nearly collapsing into her arms, Reiynlla knew she was safe at last.

“I-I did say that I’d be alright, sugar.”

“You idio–“

At that point, Reinylla fell asleep with Elizara holding her. She embraced her dear friend and let her rest for a bell or so. Once Reinylla was capable of walking on her own again, they headed back to Minfilia, Alphinaud, and Rabauhn to bring the good news.

“You ready?”

Reinylla nods, determined.

“I’a sure am, darlin’! Let’s show them what’a we got!”

Elizara smirks.

“Alright then, together until the end. Let’s show them what we’re made of!”

With that, the two proceed through the massive gate and into Castrum Meridianum. Their journey together is inching ever so closer to the first major climax with many more adventures yet to be revealed!

Hooo.. Twelve..

Aikirees drinking a tea sitting next to me, while reading a book glancing at her with the caption 'Monday Morning Weekend Recap' off to the left.

Last week was, for a lack of better words, miserable and rough. It was both negative in and out of Eorzea, and kind of had me rethinking moving on from my industry for a third time now. Just… everyone was so angry.

I keep thinking as we head into the summer months (our usual ‘slower’ season) that it will be like it’s supposed to be, but I’m not really even certain right now, and that’s not a great feeling. Mind you, this isn’t my first time dealing with this nor moving forward, so as much as it’s rough, it’s something that will be overcome – even if it takes a lot of kicking of tails to do so.

Weekend was pretty relaxing and normal per the course, some extra and dire needing cleaning too (finally!) Kind of holding out for the hard copy of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 to watch, and I think that’s this month sometime last I heard, so hopefully soon. Doctor Who came back over the weekend, but will probably hold off until a few are out and watch those back to back.

I’m not entirely sure they’ll be a full week of adventures for this week. It kind of depends, and it may slow down as the ongoing weeks progress. There’s various reasons, both positive and not-so much, but between continuous and ongoing weekend tasks, and longer work hours crunching down the evenings (albeit, I do have a ‘hard stop’ time for work), I suspect it’ll affect here too.

I’m holding out for Cosmic Exploration/Shades’ Triangle to alleviate the community’s continuous ‘chilling’ atmosphere – at least in roulette content. I’ve stated it a lot in here but that shift from how things were as far back as Patch 5.2 & early 5.3 is really draining comparing it to now. Some of the banter from back then was such a hoot and made running dungeons all the much more fun, especially when things didn’t go perfectly.

Partial burnout is another concern that’s been creeping for a very long while now too. Staving it off hasn’t been -too- difficult, but is a variable I need to keep in check. I really do enjoy being in Eorzea with everyone, but there’s other (mostly RL) things that I’m starting to get into and enjoy as well. I realize taking breaks is good too, so not being around every day like the old days has helped.

That’s probably a bit rambly, and I’m fine, but just throwing it out there. I think that’s all for this weekend recap; another big week ahead as we head into the middle of April now. Really need to remember to do the Hatching-Tide event as well!

Y’all have a wonderful week ahead! As always, we got this and kick so much tails!

Black Mage Ticker – Dawntrail Edition Ver 2

Black Mage Glyph as of Patch 7.2

As of Patch 7.2, the Black Mage’s Elemental Gauge got a smidgen of a change – where the timer was completely removed. I decided to continue my silly ‘Ticker Thingamajiger’ schematic with the change included.

Personally, I’m somewhat mixed on the change. One ear it’s a nice adjustment to make the class a smidgen more relaxed only to now worry about positioning for optimal damage in each encounter, which makes getting a Flare Star off at level 100 a lot easier. However, it kind of trivializes a major aspect of the class itself as well as ‘break’ the reason for abilities to be there to begin with. Firestarter doesn’t feel as necessary now as there’s not big reason to worry about refreshing the timer anymore. It’s nice to quickly flip between Umbral and Astral plus a damage burst in general when it proc’s, but… I don’t know, I kind of miss the timer now that it’s gone.

Something tells me that there’s going to be some more changes by or before 8.0 to give some of these abilities a more useful task – or they’ll just remove it entirely, which I hope doesn’t happen. Regardless, still love the class and will continue to for the foreseeable future as my main.

Leporine Travelers: Undercover

Elizara looking at Reinylla worried.

“Hey… uh. Don’t die in there, alright?”

Elizara says with near-affection concern to Reinylla who was fully garbed in a stolen Garlean uniform.

“I’ll’a be fine, darlin! I promise! We’re going to get in there and get our friends’ all nice and’a back out in once piece!”

Her carefree and unbiased lack of concern for what she was about to embark on somewhat gave comfort to Elizara.

“Alright, I’ll cover you as you make your way in.”

Reinylla nodded, and as Reinylla headed into Castrum Centri with some familiar comrades, she gave her the cover fire from her arrows. After that she was on her own with only the sounds of alarms and explosions giving no comfort to Elizara who started to worry.

For what felt like forever, Elizara saw off in the distance the Enterprise coming in on the southern side of Castrum Centri. She quickly ran as far as she could towards that side with only the sounds guiding her, finally getting a clear sound if not faint of everyone safely making it out aboard that faithful airship!

With a huge sigh of relief, Elizara followed the airship back to Ul’dah via her trusty fat cat.

She rushes into Ul’dah in time to see the Enterprise dock in Airship Landing high above the city. Finding out the Scions rushed into a meeting at the Royal Promenade, she headed there immediately. Her waiting felt like an eternity, only with her impatient foot tapping keeping her company. Finally Reinylla and the Scions appeared from within, and Elizara rushed up to the Reinylla who was in a fairly lighthearted mood even with everything she just endured.

“You-you– idiot! I was so worried! Are alright!? Here let me look you ov–“

Reinylla could see the distraught all over Elizara’s face, and simply just hugged her. The motion caused Elizara to break out into tears.

“Ah, hey, darlin’. I’m alright. Nothin’ to it is’a all! We all got’on out of there thanks to that Cid feller and his fancy flyin’ contraption!”

“Just… don’t do anything that wreckless again! At least not without me!”

“Of’a course, sugar! Together to the end and’a beyond!”

Reinylla hugged her for a bit longer, with Elizara smiling with a gently nod at the notion, they took their time walking together back down towards the Quicksands to plan their next leg of the adventure.

‘To the End and Beyond.’ Little do they realize how literal that will become in the future…

Leporine Travelers: Void

Reinylla pondering a void portal with Elizara behind her.

“…are you absolutely sure this is a good idea?”

“Sure I’ma sure! What could possibly go wrong with this here’a thing, darlin’?”

Elizara, paused and thought for a moment.

“It’s… oh I don’t know… a literal floating black hold right in front of you making weird chanting whispers!!”

“Is’a that what that sound is? I just thought’a I was hearin’ things or just’a hungry is all!”

“Why– ho-…!?”

“It’ll be perfectly fine, sugar! Let’s just’a see what happen’s when I place this here red goopy lookin’ vial near it like’a I was asked to!”

Reinylla lightheartedly placed the vial of demon blood near the void rift. The eerie sounds coming from within the portal began to grow louder.

“If you stick you hand into that thing or something comes out, I swear to the–“

Right then, Reinylla pokes the void portal.

Reinylla!! What did I just say!?”

“Oh’a sorry, darlin’ the funky soundin’ voices asked’a me to–“

At that moment, several imps appeared out of the portal and attacked Reinylla!

“I TOLD YOU THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!”

Elizara yells at her, while drawing her bow to help in dispatching the imps before they could do any real harm. Once the imps had been taken care of, Elizara stomps off and sits down on a boulder close by, while Reinylla lightly chuckles at the whole ordeal.

“Well’a that was sure fun! C’mon! Let’s do that again, darlin’!”

Needless to say, that didn’t go over well with Elizara. As much as she can be annoyed with Reinylla’s sometimes carefree recklessness, she doesn’t want any harm to come to her as well. However, the annoyed feelings didn’t last very long and the two took off to parts unknown.

Leporine Travelers: An Interlude

Elizara and Reinylla at the inn in Fallgord Float waiting out the rain.

“Sure’a is a rainy night…”

Reinylla commented out loud to break the ambient but relaxing sound of rain falling over Fallgord Float.

“Yeah… nice night to take a break here. At least we made it to the inn before the rain picks up even more.”

She quickly turns to look at Elizara.

“What? Is the ‘big bad’ ole Elizara scared of’a some rain? Afraid’n you might just’a melt?”

Elizara doesn’t respond directly, but the color of her cheeks give the answer. Reinylla lets out a lighthearted laugh.

“Ah I was’a just kiddin’ there, darlin’! Yer right though, nice place’a to call it a night!”

The two have had quite the journey thus far, having taken out two primals and a chimera along the way. Elizara doing her best to continue to learn and understand herself, and her skills, better while making sure to keep the green-eared Reinylla safe from harm as much as she possibly can.

As for Reinylla, she’s becoming quite the artisan in the Dark Arts of black magic; if I weren’t to know any better, she might even be a rival for Miss Laureine in understanding it very quickly! Always seeing the world in wide-eyed wonder, it almost reminds me of the early days upon seeing Eorzea for myself while seeking out where Aikirees had ran off to many months before.

From the letters I receive, and I assure everyone do read as they do not get lost in the pile of desk letters already in existence, Reinylla has gotten pretty close to Elizara, but as for her I think only more time will tell how she’s feeling. I suspect being out and about as an adventurer has helped but still far from where she’d like to be.

I’ll keep looking forward to reading the letters from them as they continue to adventure forth, and from Miss Laureine’s visit with my Sister when she does the task I entrusted her with.

Churning Mists Day 2025

Aikirees and I standing on a hill looking off into the distance in Churning Mists.

Six Summers have passed now, ever since Aikirees first reached this place. She always likes to come back and reflect on the year that has passed. Originally she’d come here alone, but after our journey to the ends of the universe and back, I’ve been accompanying her since then.

This time, Aikirees was there well earlier than I was, and since she’s grown this past summer by quite a bit, both literally and figuratively, finding her in the usual spot was pretty easy to do. I landed close by on my golden glowing bird, and headed over to greet her.

“Beat me to the spot this year!”

Aikirees nodded with the biggest adorkable grin on her Hrothgar snout.

“Zee yup yup! Got zee here’sies at zee dawnbreak’sies!”

Aikirees over the months had gotten a lot more quiet; she hasn’t really explained as to why, but I suspect it has something to do with her transformation, I suspect even now it weighs on her mind.

“I probably would have gotten here sooner, but letters from Laureine and the Leporines held me up. It’s not because of the mess on the desk!”

“Uh-huh’sies, you ever gonna’sies clean that thing’sies?”

I paused, stunned to think of something witty to reply with.

“Y-yes, j-just… oh shush!”

Aikirees bellowed in laughter; her laugh especially now is really contagious as I started to as well.

“It’s good to see you like you used to be, ‘Little’ One.”

She smiled, and gave a slight nod. We glanced out over the clear skies of the Churning Mists. It’s been at least the summer since we were here together last. Always gorgeous views there, and the crispy cool winds over my ears felt so nice. Thoughts of our Tural journey went through my mind, and began where we’d head to next and as to what is going to happen with the strange ‘Vana’Diel’ in the near future.

“…Mama said’sies to tell you zee ‘Hi’sies when I returrrrrned from my journey’sies.”

Unprovoked, Aikirees said the first thing ever involving her journey. I looked at her in complete surprise.

“Y-you saw mother??”

She simply nodded with a warm smile.

“I didn’t realize that you– wait don’t tell me, did you die again!?

“It’sies a bit zee complicated. Lot’sies of zee things I don’t understand’sies, but zee Sissy Tess and zee Miss Laureine probably’sies know zee more about it. Zee Mama did give’sies another life’sies, which kind of might have caused zee beeg change’sies.”

Mother always said she’d give her life for us, I didn’t think she’d do it literally, even after she’s been gone for so long now. I honestly didn’t know how to react to the information, but the fact that Aikirees is still here, even if she’s bigger an a lot more fuzzy, is thankful enough to whatever happened out there.

“…Thank you, mother.”

I said quietly to myself, but I suspect Aikirees heard it as well.

“So, tell me, you have anymore surprises like that up your sleeves?!”

Aikirees just laughed.

“Zee nope’sies!”

“Ah, well, I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised honestly. Having a Viera pop out the Archives, Tess’ odd behavior the last time we all got together. We certainly are a quirky trio of sisters aren’t we?”

Aikirees laughed and beamed a grin.

“Just zee awesome’sies that way’sies!”

“I suppose so!”

We both laughed a laugh that could be heard across Moghome, and then small talked for a bell or so. Not sure what this next year holds for us; only the path we walk will tell that tale, but I know we’ll be back here once again next year to swap stories and enjoy celebrating another Churning Mists Day again together.

A Week of C H A O S

Aikirees drinking a tea sitting next to me, while reading a book glancing at her with the caption 'Monday Morning Weekend Recap' off to the left.

I was expecting a harder couple of weeks until we found a new person to come aboard, but I did not expect what this week throw at us. I can sum it up as ‘damage control’ became my title to just keep everything moving. It was exhausting to say the least. Thankfully the new feller comes aboard today, so I’m hoping things start to downturn back to somewhat normalcy as we head into the summer season. That’s when we get a smidgen slower.

Usual weekend adventures, kind of stayed the course. Watched Pom Poko which was a hoot and incredibly fun! Bit more cleaning I suppose. Going to begin a sub-project soon, that is kind of sort of a prologue to 2026’s big project – kind of a huge reorganization project that… well probably should have been done about 6 years ago. It’ll be nice once it’s done though for certain, but it’s going to look rather comical in said office while it’s being done.

Trainscape hit a lot of problems like near simultaneously, one was my own clumsy mistake, which ultimately left me down to only one operation train from three. I’m leaning towards just shelving it for now as it’s gone from being fun, to just a chore to maintain. I love watching them run though, and the weekly cleaning isn’t too rough, but all the little issues that keep adding up have given me pause to continue it right now.

The Media Server is coming to a conclusion, and it’s been great. Aside from some personal ‘oopsies’, my experience with Linux Mint has been pretty positive, and I can certainly recommend it for anyone wanting to dabble into Linux to get away from Windows – just, be prepared to go into it understanding it’s not Windows, and it should be pretty smooth of a process. Brush up on how permissions work too as that can become confusing pretty quick (I still have a bit to learn there as well!)

Me sitting in HQ's lounge with a cup of coffee looking over things on my tomestone device.

Switch 2 & The Non-USA World Tour

So. Real quick in regards to this, and I do hope this ages like sour milk in the future. “President” Trump has been on a ridiculous Tariff spree, which has caused so much unnecessary headaches for just about everyone/thing in the global market. For literally no reason aside from his own ego. I mean, he’s done a lot of other terrible things to the country, but let’s stick with this for the moment. The Switch 2 release date was announced (June 5th) and aside from an exhaustive amount of complaining about the cost of games (I still assume this is only 1st party related), preorders were to go-live for the entire world on April 9th.

…Except the Moldy Cheese-ball of a president decided to go ballistic again with more Tariffs, which now has caused Nintendo to delay the preorders starting here until a later date to more than likely up the cost to counter these new Tariffs assuming the idiot goes through with them. Yes, this does irk me a bit; the whole thing irks me. It reminds me of the incidents during his first tenure in office where folks (especially in the FFXIV community) we’re trying to write off the notion with ‘keep your politics out of my Fantasy.’ So. Fun Fact about most if not all Final Fantasies, they’re all political in some way! Quite honestly, most games that have some sort of story are political in some way, so this notion is just absurd in it’s own right.

So, why bring that up now? Well because it is, in essence, repeating history with politics not only part of gaming, but literally affecting it in RL as well now. What frustrates me more though is that while this could have all been avoided if he didn’t get into office, and the cost for certain aspects of it is a bit steeper than most folks expected, I am just so gosh darn excited to see and eventually get one! The console looks so fun and I (even if I feel as I’m in the minority) and looking forward to it – politics/costs/tariffs be darned!

While I do hope the delay is temporary here state-side, and the cost doesn’t shoot through the roof, I just… want to enjoy seeing what I can and continue to be fascinated at how much more potent this critter is compared to the first Switch without seeing a sea of anger about it everywhere I look. The console itself is just bonkers to me and I’m already planning on which games I’d upgrade for it – Mario Kart World Tour looks so fun as well!

Anyway, enough of that, there’s enough politics and anger out there, just… try and see some light in the darkness, it’s there and it’s going to grow rapidly especially with the fire that was started over the weekend.

With 7.2 for the most part behind us, it’s back to the normal weekly routines until 8.0, and that’s fine. RL being so brutal last week made our routine a lot harder to get done. We did, but it wasn’t easy. There’s little things around HQ that we’d like to get done, and we’ll probably spend an afternoon down the road looking into that – maybe Memorial Day weekend would be good. I really don’t know if I’ll post long-remarks comments about anything in 7.2, but it did make a good lasting impression. I can also feel the warmth of the community once again, and that’s something I’ve sorely missed. Maybe all that downtime between 7.1 and 7.2 did the community good being able to socialize a lot more.

Today is also ‘Churning Mists Day’ – the day Aikirees made it to Churning Mists for the first time six years ago, so Aiki and I will (hopefully) have a little tale for that up today later on! The rest of the week will probably be filled with more of the Leporine stories as their adventures slowly approach Heavensward.

I’ve made this long enough! Kick tails and Happy Monday y’all!

Patch 7.2 Adventures

Aikirees drinking a tea sitting next to me, while reading a book glancing at her with the caption 'Monday Morning Weekend Recap' off to the left.

This will be a quiet week as we really just focused on Patch 7.2 content this weekend, so nothing was able to be scheduled out. Next week will return to normal though!

Completed most of 7.2 content, with the only thing remaining being the new Cornservant quests. Arcadion 5-8 was very fun, but a lot more challenging than the first 4. M5 being probably my favorite 8-player raid as of right now primarily for the aesthetics & music of it if not anything else. It in itself is a pretty potent challenge, but it’s just so gosh darn fun! Player-wise, it has been overall pretty warm, which that has been a really nice change of pace. The only major incidentals were my first attempt on the Trial, and M8 was very cold. Aiki’s M8 went just disastrously, but once the remaining party regrouped, it went alright.

Audio project hit the ‘S’ lettering now, and that does include Square Enix Music. This will be a monumental hurdle to get over as over the years I have collected a lot of SE soundtracks. The good is it’s just mostly checking the tags and adding artwork before sending it off to the Media Server. Probably a next weekend project amongst catching up on a few neglected tasks that I pushed off this weekend.

I did watch another Studio Ghibli, this one being The Wind Rises. It was good, a bit slow in parts, but overall had a saddening tone to it. Still would certainly recommend it, but just be ready for some feels. Not much else aside from that happening. RL is still chaotic, but we did hire a new person, so once they get on board and up to speed hopefully things will level back out – it is winding down our busy season, so that will help tremendously.

Happy Monday y’all! Kick tails, and have a wonderful week leading into April!

Leporine Travelers: Fishy Tails

Reinylla explaining the importance of a fish being placed on the beach at Costa del Sol.

“He said do… what with this fish!?”
“Put it around’a here for some reason or’another.”

Unable to comprehend the reasoning, Elizara continues to look upon Reinylla dumbfounded.

“A. Fish. Freshwater no less. Right. Here?”
“Yessum, darlin'”
“To what purpose!?”

Reinylla shrugs.

“Somethin’ about’a frog?”
“… a what?”
“Frog, ya’know those little hippity hoppy fellers.”
“I know what a frog is!”
“Oh good! I was worried there fer’a moment that where you came’a from, there were no fro–“

Elizara interrupts Reinylla with a loud huff.

Fine! Now what?”
“We just wait’a over there fer a bit’er so and somethin’s supposed to happen.”

The two retreat back a bit and within the bell a massive bullfrog-like creature appears and gobbles up the fish.

“Now!”

Reinylla states in a whisper to Elizara. The two leap out and dispatch the massive creature with ease.

“Well that’a was sure fun! Wasn’t it, sugar?”
“It. was. A huge frog.”
“It sure’a was, wasn’t it!”

Not really even phasing Reinylla, the two head back up into Costa del Sol to plan the next course of action now that the beaches around it were just a bit safer with such a creature gone. They take the next day to enjoy some rest at Costa del Sol, as Aiki and I have many times. Upon nightfall, Reinylla heads down to the shallow waters of the beach, not realizing Elizara was coming right behind her.

“Oh! Well’a if I’a knew you wanted to come too, I’d ‘ave offered as well!”
“It’s…fine. Mind if I sit alongside you?”
“What a silly ‘ole question is that? Of course it is!”

“Hey. Sorry about earlier.”
“What’cha mean, sug?”

“About being huffy and skeptical, I just sometimes still don’t understand why we’re running around doing these things. Like… don’t we have some big bad… what is it called again, ‘Primal’ to deal with?”

“Oh, well’of course we do! We’ll get to that soon, darlin’! This is all just part of the journey! Helpin’ people and seeing the sights! It’s not’a always about the destination!”

Elizara ponders the remark for a moment.

“Huh. Good way of thinking I suppose.”

Reinylla nods lightly and grins, not saying anything.

“…thanks.”
“Fer what, sug?”
“Just. Thanks.”

Reinylla smiles and boops the side of Elizara’s head with her own, then go about stargazing for a while longer.

“Yer’a good bean, Lizzy. Dun let anyone’a tell you differently.”

Not really reacting to the remark from Reinylla, aside from a soft sigh and a faint smile. They small talk for another bell or so before retiring that night. Another big day ahead tomorrow for the two of them while they inch ever so closer to their final destination.

Dragon Tails: Touristing Tural

Lizicus and Laureine having a chat in Kozama'uka.

While Aikirees and I have been in one end of Tural, the cousins were taking part in some touring in the other. Assisting the Tural Tourist Center being Miss Laureine’s top priority to help it flourish to allow as many folks to learn about the local cultures as much as possible; while Miss Lizz wants it to as well, she simply thinks it’s just a very fun, relaxing, and… well ‘rad’ place to taking in the food & nap.

After the two of them take care of their tasks, Lizicus and Laurieine come together to enjoy an evening of chatting while enjoying the scenery and sounds of the waterfall just behind them. It’s a very gorgeous site to behold every single time visiting the area; seeing visitors from across the continent and even beyond enjoying the sites as well is just so the reward both of them love witnessing the most.

Happy Wednesday y’all!

The Trail Has Been Dawned – 7.2

Aikirees and I leaning against a chalkboard with 'Blog Stuffs' written on it.

I don’t know if I will in detailed earnest or not, but Aikirees and I last night completed the MSQ-side of Patch 7.2. Arcadion will have to wait until the weekend – between the two of us in the past, we’ve learned to not try and knock out all four of those in an evening.

Non-spoiler talk about it, but it did pull me back into being interested in the story as a whole again and not just bits & pieces. I knew that would happen eventually, and just glad I didn’t have to wait until 7.3 or beyond for it to do so. Just hoping the community starts to turn warm again sooner than later on the content side of things (another ill-experience in the trial due to yet another Legendary Titled player having a superiority complex).

That’s probably all I’ll say on the patch for now, and if I get time or decide to talk about the details of 7.2, then I’ll break it out into its own section as to avoid spoiling it for anyone. RL got brutal with someone walking out on us at the office, so things have gotten more difficult whilst trying to juggle everything currently happening.

Kick tails y’all! Have a great & wonderful time in 7.2!

Leporine Travelers: Haunted Mansion

Elizara and Reinylla at the entrance of Haukke Manor.

While traveling through the Black Shroud, Reinylla was tasked with investigating Haukke Manor. While initially not concerning her all that much having Elizara with her, upon reaching their destination is when the reality of it sank in.

“This’a place sure is creepy.”
“… we’ll be fine, let’s get to it.”

Elizara’s stark response somewhat gave Reinylla the courage to get her legs to move forward.

“Y-your’a right behind me, right sug?”
“Yes, you’re going to be alright, come on.”

Elizara walks up alongside Reiynlla with her bow in one hand, and gently grabs Reinylla’s hand with the other.

“Here, let’s go.”

Elizara, trying as best as she could, beings to gently and slowly walk towards the corridors, feeling the shivers in Reinylla’s hand every step as they proceed. Once the first area was cleared out though, Reinylla’s fear lessened and the two proceeded with the investigation as planned.

“I don’t think I could’a done that without you, darlin’.”

Elizara scoffs at her remark at the end of it all.

“I said you would be fine! You got that strength in you, I-I just nudged it is all.”

“I think you bein’ there, sug, is what gave me that strength. Don’t be sittin’ there sellin’ yerself short, and thank ya.”

If one were to look hard enough, one could see a faint shade of pink across Elizara’s face appear.

“L-let’s go.”

Reinylla chuckles lightly and the two make there way back to Gridania. Onward to their next adventure!

The Weekend Eve of 7.2

Aikirees drinking a tea sitting next to me, while reading a book glancing at her with the caption 'Monday Morning Weekend Recap' off to the left.

Less-paced weekend this time around, which was a nice change. Mostly worked on getting more music onto the media server now that it’s up to full steam. Being able to access it from work is a really nice boon as well, not a planned perk but a very nice one to say the least. It took a smidgen to get it up and running the way I wanted it to (Linux Permissions are still a bit nebulous to me), but once it was there, it went smoothly. Kind of broke another part of it as well, but that was quickly rectified once I figured out how to circumvent the issue that I created.

Not much else on that front, but just on the Studio Ghibli kick; might just go ahead and watch the remaining ones I haven’t seen. Porco Rosso was the weekend’s movie and that was such a fun adventure! Think that’s all there as well, RL has kicked back up, but as for personal projects, kind of winding them down for the year: I have a trip to plan and I want to be fully prepared for hurricane season this year. Being blindsided by Milton last year took a toll and in the event of another mult-day power loss, I want to be sure to be able to alleviate that far better.

With the RL kick-up, it kind of concerns me with Patch 7.2 and beyond. It worked out really well in Endwalker, but… with the shifting of (some) power of authority over to me at work, it also means more responsibility/hours. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and if I didn’t, I’d have left the industry… again. However, it is a bit frustrating from time to time since I miss my old daily schedule.

As for Patch 7.2 itself, Aiki and I are pretty much ready to go. We have a long-term plan still in place all the way to 8.0, and it’s going pretty well overall. Cosmic Exploration and other things like that could add a bump or so, but I don’t foresee anything out of the ordinary (RL willing of course) causing issues. Outside of that, I think for a bit y’all will probably see less of our adventures here, and more of the Leporine’s. Not that we’re disappearing or anything, but our adventures have taken us to the normal ‘main schedule sequence’ and that will not end until 7.5 when all of our equipment is augmented sans probably the relic this time.

Aiki and I will pop up (cousins too) on the semi-regular regardless, including Fashion Reports when we do those, but I think their story is more steady at the moment. Speaking of Fashion Reports, there should be one this week as this current week’s was a hoot! Also, no, have not forgotten about concluding Aiki’s journey, but that’s going to require a smidgen more time (and Data Center traveling) to complete.

That’s all I can think of right now, happy Monday and Patch 7.2 eve y’all! Have fun in the new content, but please do pace oneself and remember to eat/drink/take breaks if anyone out there is hitting the ground running right after maintenance. As always for new patches, please don’t spoil it for anyone, and have a great adventure!

Leporine Travelers: Camping

Elizara and Reinylla chatting by fireside.

“So, tell me, sugar, do’ya recall anythin’?”

Elizara thinks very hard for a long moment.

“No. Not really. Just. Everything is so fuzzy. Like, some sort of structures? Nothing I’ve seen so far here with you even remotely resembles it though.”

“Huh.. I’a wonderin’ what you’ra seeing then…”

There’s a small pause between the two as they both look at the warm campfire they decided to stay near for the night.

“Maybe~”

Reiynlla begins while not taking her eyes off the fire.

“There’sa rumors I’vea heard that over in that thar new world of a place with marvels far exceedin’ that of Hydaelyn herself! Maybe we can’a get there one’a day it’ll jog somethin!”

Elizara turns to look at Reiynlla with a faint smile.

“… yeah. Maybe. I’d might like that.”

Reinylla smiles, turning back to Elizara.

“So’a tell me then, darlin’! What you do remember, tell me some regailin’ things even if just ole silhouettes! We got’a fire here, might be fun to try and make shadows out of them!”

Elizara laughs.

“Yeah? Alright then, let’s see how good your skills are at that!”

The two laugh at one another, as Elizara begins to, as best as possible, tell some faint stories from before her arrival in The Archives. As much as Elizara continues to be reserved, Reinylla’s determination to get her to open up is almost as strong of a will as ever – rivaling that of Aikirees’ potent will to protect everyone and everything she cares about!

The two talk for a few bells, and with the fire burning out, the two call it a night. Until next time~