Her Past

Aikirees and I overlooking Lower Jeuno.

There we were… just standing there, in Lower Jeuno. It was rather jarring for me, but I suspect for Aikirees, it was a far different feeling. A feeling that I could only ever imagine, and one do I not suspect many if anyone around her could. The stories she told ‘Tess’ and I growing up, all those years ago, we thought they were just that.

Aikirees told many stories about Vana’diel when we were all very young, still living in southern Othard. She told the tales of how she grew up in a placed called The Republic of Bastok, before traveling to a Gustaberg, highlands named Konschtat, sandy dunes of Vulkurm. Adventuring through those places and seeing a Kingdom of Sand.. Sand’Oria I believe she called it, Federation of Windurst, and of course Grand Duchy of Jeuno.

Vana’diel to her was far more that just stories she kept telling us, with tales talking about the the aforementioned, but so many more places in such detail as well! Aikirees would insistingly keep telling ‘Tess’ and I that this was all real and she had been there. We would usually just dryly humor her in agreement in fear of getting mother’s wrath upon us for teasing Aikirees. I think she knew we were doing so, but looking back, I wish I had listened and believed her more…

Somehow, in some way however, mother seemed to always know she was right. ‘Tess’ and I never really did understand what mother meant, but it seemed to resonate with Aikirees, and it made her happy. Even after we fled our village to start anew in Kugane years later, she still would tell the tales from Vana’diel, even if she told the same one multiple times – she certainly had her favorites!

Even with us being older, and I still just thought they were fiction, she found comfort in telling them and I began to take a similar sensation in hearing what she told to the point where I’d engage back asking about specifics. She always knew what to say as well!

Once she grew into her Summoner role in Eorzea, she picked the outfit she wears to this day claiming it was the one she wore in Vana’diel. While initially I thought it was a rather… unique combination, I can understand why she adores it so much – even more so now witnessing what I have.

I looked over at her, grabbed her paw and gave it a gently squeeze. She didn’t really react, just kept looking over Lower Jeuno. Knowing she knew everything about this place and how much it meant to her made me want to hug her so badly, but I resisted the temptation.

“I’m sorry… So sorry for how we treated you all those years ago. This was your home at one point, in another life, wasn’t it? We’ll set this right, we’ll fix this just like we always do – together.” A faint smile appeared on Aikirees’s face, nearly invisible to see unless one was around her as long as I have been. Still not reacting, aside from a gently squeeze back to my hand in return.

~For Vana’diel, ‘Little’ One~

Happy Starlight & Holidays 2024

Aikirees and I with the Starlight Tree.

Happy Starlight Season to everyone! May it be an absolutely wonderful holiday season for everyone out there!

Aikirees and I got the tree up in HQ for the season’s festivities along with putting our outfits together. I’m… probably not going to wear the reindeer antlers the entire season, but I am happy that I’m now able to with my glasses.

Let’s make the last month of 2024 stellar!

Rest and Sideways Progress

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.

Hope everyone had a very wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday this past week/weekend. I got much needed rest and made some headway on tasks that I was starting to get concerned about. There’s still things to be done, but the focus is starting to funnel a specific direction instead of being colandered different ways.

Might have mentioned this last week, but started Sea of Stars last week as well, and fell in love with it nearly immediately. After spending a few hours with it, I really want to see where this goes. The battles are not quick, but intuitive and being turn-based gives me time to process them instead of panicking to react quickly. It’s a nice change of pace and pretty fair with it so far. Shelved Portrait of Ruin right now, as I need some time to think about tasks in it now.

Started the newest season of Doctor Who, and… so far don’t really like it honestly. There’s fun parts for certain, but the overall tone of it just isn’t working for me. That’s just me though and it is fun mostly, so someone else’s mileage will vary. I don’t know if I’ll continue this season or not though as I’m starting to feel that my time could be better utilized elsewhere – being as busy as I’ve been and all.

Weekly Final Fantasy XIV is still looking pretty much the same with with Jeuno: The First Walk being newly added as a weekly task for goodies. That will last about 13 weeks and then stop until 7.2 where it all changes again then. Just have two classes left to level and all of the ones we play will be taken care of again!

The 7.1 Main Scenario post will be up in the next day or so, but the Vana’Diel one will take more time as that’s just so much to talk about. There’s probably going to be a snapshot or so adjacently related to that being put up this week too, but it’s not really a spoiler in relation to it (nor will I post anything about the raid itself without a warning).

There’s still a lot of other little things to work on when time too, crafting keeps coming to mind near immediately. Just been a slew of RL tasks/issues/projects that just won’t. stop. coming. up. Hopefully soon, and I know I keep saying that, but a breather would be nice in the near future.

Did pull out of storage an on & off hobby of mine, a small model train set I’ve been working on over the years. After some attempts to fix one and clean up another locomotive engine, I was left with just the one, and as of last night, none due to I’m not even sure what happened. I got some items on order to hopefully get it up and running, otherwise I’m down two engines and the time/expense towards it all. If it is really a bust then I’ll more than likely put this hobby on hold indefinitely as it just feels like a perpetual problem every single time I want to work on it.

Kind of a messy recap, and I won’t dwell on a lot of this. There’s a lot of crazier/darker/sadder things happening out there right now, and so much very much to be thankful for currently. Be wonderful y’all, and kick lots of tail! Happy first week of December!

We got this!

More Progress. Yearning for Rest.

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.

Here we are, the first holiday week. Last week ended on a near 12 hour day after perpetual 10-11 hour ones. Not a great way to end it, but not necessarily upset about it; just really and truly would like things to re-balance out again. As for the weekend itself, it was pretty decent in terms of getting things done, but nowhere near where I need to be, so hoping this longer weekend will help with that. It was potentially on the chopping block due to the office wanting to stay open on Friday, but I’m putting my paw down in that regards.

Audio Project is heading into the next major phase; the reorganizing part has gone pretty well so far. The whole library is merged once again, so now it’s just cleaning up some of the album’s naming and the artwork, then off to getting all of it on the network for playing. That’s going to be so exciting when it’s done!

Dabbled in a little bit of Portrait of Ruin still, but kind of stuck now looking for the last little goodies that I’m missing (PoR didn’t do a great job with this), so will have to reference some maps and quests notes to finish it all up and then move on to Dawn of Sorrow. Parallel to that, finally started Sea of Stars and I am already looking forward to playing a lot more of that!

Final Fantasy XIV posts are coming, but will need some breather time to work on them. Patch 7.11 is tomorrow and that’s going to fix a bunch of things including the PS4 controller issue, so looking very much forward to that. Mostly progressing through the new Jeuno Raid and typical weeklies, and that’s not going to change very much for the foreseeable future. Really do just want to have a night of chatting again, but pinning it down right now is just so difficult.

The Talk of Skies of Blue

I’ll preface this with the internet is becoming so negative, that being on here in regards to any social media is wading through a lot of backhanded, passive aggressive, angry, hateful, and generally just negative remarks. The last time I was on Mastodon, it was 2/3rd’s something related to the above and 1/3rd genuinely positive or something of that regard (artwork, photos, life update, etc.). It’s exhausting to try and keep up to even weed it all out, to feel almost like a full time job in itself. I have way, way, waaay, too much going on right now to do this.

This leads me to hearing whispers on Mastodon and elsewhere about Bluesky. As of this writing, Bluesky has been the upcoming ‘successor’ to Classic Twitter well before Elon Musk took over. The reason I love Mastodon is it/was very interactive and literally everyone I met on there we had lovely chats with (aside from one person), and because of this, I made a lot of good friends there, we created the Frendedex for making events and hanging out, and even why I have three amazing friends in EOCA now. Classic Twitter (circa 2009-2012) was more like this, and back then I made a few wonderful friends too. Sadly, just due to time & life, I lost contact with them. I just hope to this day I hope they’re still doing well.

Bluesky has what more modern Twitter’s issue has – followers & numbers. I’d rather have 10 or so followers that I interact with on the daily than 1,000+ that I never do. Back in those early years, that’s what it was and it was wonderful. Mastodon is, and still mostly is, like this – sans the aforementioned negativity. Making another social media account to just start over and ‘work’ at makes no sense to me; I have my career job that I work hard in and I enjoy dearly, with EOCA being the other (albeit more hobby-style focus) that I have worked so hard to maintain and I love how it has evolved.

Being with all of this said, I will reiterate from the friends I have made, social media does have good and can be helpful for seeing what people are up to, but right now, everyone just needs to stop being so angry about everything (I understand why to a degree, but it’s not going to solve anything yelling into the void). Maybe at that point, if it ever does happen, I’ll return.

In the meantime, I’ll keep checking in over there when I can periodically, but I will very much not likely be seeing what Bluesky has to offer because I do not care one bit about all the stuff that comes with it.

I think that’s all I have for this one. Oh, decided to see if my trains worked again. After some tinkering, they seem to be okayish, but I’ll have to research how to clean them up a bit better.

Y’all have a wonderful finale to November. Y’all got this! Keep being wonderful!

The Week Before

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

…Well as expected yesterday was nightmarish levels of busy to the point of getting settled in for the evening at home was around 22:00 comparing that being up and running yesterday morning around 07:00. This week isn’t looking much better, at least right now, so it’s probably going to be a bit scarce here unfortunately.

However, with it being this turbulent this week, next week (and thereafter until close to December holidays), it should begin to return to some sort of normalcy – hopefully.

Kick tails y’all, have a wonderful Tuesday!

Catching Up & Moving Forward

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.

Most of this weekend was catching up from the chaos that was last week, and this included everything we put off due to Patch 7.1’s launch. We did hear back in regards to the PS4 controllers not working via Bluetooth and it’s apparently due to not using the official PS4 USB receiver that I, and probably most folks, have forgotten was a thing. The next patch, 7.11, that’s to be fixed to allow for a bypass that if it’s not using said adapter, it will work like it used to prior to 7.1.

Personally, that’s all I wanted. Apparently there’s some fancier features the game utilizes if one uses the official adapter instead of just any old Bluetooth connection. I just want to use the controller again, not really concerned with any additional bells & whistles it could potentially do with the official adapter.

Anyway, aside from that, there’s still more RL tasks to address, but those will have to wait till this upcoming weekend or the holiday one after that. Some of it is kind of getting critical, while others are just nice to try and get it all done sooner than later – one being the audio project, which that has reached organization mode now as all of the legwork has been taken care of. Portrait of Ruin is reaching the climax as well, and decided to watch Wolverine & Deadpool too. Wolverine & Deadpool was alright, but I think even Ryan Reynolds can’t fix what Marvel Cinema/Disney has already done, so I think for now I’m staying away from any/all superhero movies.

I’m going to hopefully have at the very least the MSQ recap up this week. Echoes of Vana’diel recap may not be up this week as there’s a lot more to discuss in that regards. I will say I loved the first raid for this series and want to see more of where that goes. The MSQ… well, not so much right now, and that’s fine. I’m glad to be experiencing it, but it’s a far cry from the 6.x series or the 5.x series to me thus so far.

That’s all I got for this one. Happy Monday y’all! Let’s make the week before Thanksgiving an absolutely wonderful one! Kick lot’s of tail!

Sisters’ Fashion Report Adventure LV

Aikirees and I in lounge-like clothes and Succubus horns relaxing on a covered couch.

Episode LV! – When one wants to relax, be lazy, and lounge around in comfy clothes, but also have to be an void entity from the Thirteenth stuck in a mansion. I’m fairly certain a couple of denizens from there would look at us in bewilderment.

On this Day, One Year Ago…

Aikirees and I sitting on a couch waving.

I can’t believe it’s already been a whole year since we started Kosmikros’ Corner. It’s really been a wonderful year sharing our adventures here, but when I first started out I honestly wasn’t sure exactly how or how much I was going to. Getting into the habit of trying to post regularly was probably the biggest hurdle, but now it just seems almost like 2nd nature, and it’s really a nice feeling.

For those of y’all who ‘tune’ in on the regular, I appreciate y’all lots. When I started this, I just did it as a way to tell tales and continue to write about things that came to mind. It never has been a major consideration as I just post what I feel like, I also never really expected any sort of audience either, so it is really lovely to know & hear from y’all who do drop by and take the time to read/see things.

Here’s to another wonderful year ahead of adventures & memories!

Star Bunny IV: Episode 3

The U.S.S. Astera IV in front of a planet with the star peering over it's horizon.

This one is going to be probably a bit shorter and jumpy as we’re now on the tail-end of the Cardassian Struggle missions by this point. After finishing ‘Jabberwocky,’ it was off to ‘The Factory,’ which all I can remember from this one was it frustrated me to no ends.

I think it was either the fact that my away team kept getting lost, or the mobs here just hit super hard. In either/both case(s), it was rough for me to get through it. Once that was all said and done, we we’re off to the last mission for the Cardassian Struggle, ‘The New Link.’

This one I remember being pretty straightforward and pretty fun. Not super long like some of the past ones, but not really super short either. Not really much to recall on this mission, aside from enjoying it and it ending with us heading over to meet a bunch of changelings. This was shortly after I finished the last season of Picard, so it did catch me a little bit off-guard.

From there, it was all completed. We headed out, more than likely back to Deep Space Nine for some much needed R&R before heading off to a new set of missions. At the time of getting ready to head out, little did I realize this would bring the U.S.S. Astera IV to go facing off with the Borg! This also is where flying a Galaxy Class was quickly reaching its conclusion too.

Brief Initial 7.1 Outing & Issues

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

RL took its toll to a higher degree on 7.1 Launch Day, so the initial getting into things was a lot rougher than expected. The biggest hurdle was actually playing the game as all PS4 controllers via Bluetooth currently do not work. After ~45 minutes or so, there was semi-success of utilizing some daisy chaining antics to get something long enough to work. However, due to aforementioned RL bleeding later into the evenings, it was a subpar outing unfortunately.

Aikirees and I should hopefully have better luck this evening, and the cousins did manage to get some items accomplished. Hopefully the issue with the controllers gets fixed in the next week or so as that’s a pretty rough hurdle in itself. Anyway, aside from those sorts of frustrations that I know will be addressed, there will be some sort of 7.1 retrospective once we tackle the new MSQ and have a second to digest it all and very much so for the new Alliance Raid as well.

Y’all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Echoes Across Time

Aikirees fast asleep in her bunk bed.

As Aikirees sleeps deeply one night, faint memories that are, but also not, hers come passing through her mind. A world she once would have called her home in a past life, Vana’Diel. As vague as the images are, she’s able to make out what they are and when in time.

Aikirees from Vana'Diel looking at the Earth Protocrystal.

The first being an early memory of many many summers past. Just starting out as a fledgling Summoner, barely after befriending what would become one of her closest soul bound friends, Carbuncle. There she was standing in front of a large floating crystal – even now she could sense that the presence inside was the powerful primal, Titan. One of many she had to encounter on her journey back then to be able to fully weld the power of the Primals. Ultimately, Aikirees succeed in such an enormous task, and seeing the memory once more brings back the rest of the journey she took to do so. At first all she had was Carbuncle, but in the end she had many friends to call upon for aid.

Some of the memories she tries to make out whisk by far too quick for her to recall clearly enough, but once the memories of the Primals had faded away, one of a looming and dark castle pierces through the fog in her dream.

She knew this place, and knew a dark presence lived there. Even in her sleep, she curled the edges of her mouth with a low snarl. Castle Zvahl Baileys was the name of this foreboding place, and it was here she with her friends took on a defeated the Shadow Lord. Unsure as to why this memory pierced her mind so clearly, even as vague as it came to her, it didn’t make her feel well nonetheless.

A lot of whirlwind memories continue passing by with such force, but a couple become less vague and more clear with warmth behind them. Some of the friends she made along the way appear as she adventured throughout some parts of Vana’Diel.

They were with her through a lot of trials and tribulations, but also for the small quiet moments as well. She remembers a lot of the silly memories that they all made together, but also the ones that got everyone to save the world over and over again. Everything from small group gatherings in a few places, to taking on Ark Angels on floating continents, there was no short of moments happening throughout her life there!

But… why now, what does it all mean? She knew this life, and it was two lives ago now – not counting the one she was gifted recently. More of the moments pass by quickly, but she begins to have a hard time focusing on them. Her conscious returns to the now, and all of the images she kept seeing disappear within a dark cloudy haze.

Aikirees slowly wakes back up, back home in HQ. Sitting up for a moment, she decides to hop out of the top bunk bed and head out of the bedroom for a moment. Trying to not stir me in the processes (she almost did so successfully, but I am Viera after all!), Aikirees heads outside to help clear her mind.

As she stepped outside, the cool crisp night air of Ishgard helps clear her mind a bit. Unsure of it all, she takes a moment to pause and star at the stars. Will there be more of these dreams? Are they an omen of things to come? She shakes the thoughts from her mind, and heads back inside to get some rest the remaining part of the night. Only time will tell why now of all times these memories of a past Echo come rushing back.

Knowing Aikirees though, it always has a reason…

More Progress, Little Rest

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.

The good was the weekend had incremental progress for the audio project, but the not-so was the lack of rest I sorely needed. Another issue did get addressed, or rather came to a compromise, which was good but ate well into Friday evening causing a bit of setbacks on its own. I’m glad it was figured out ultimately but was certainly a reminder to avoid such tasks during a work week twice over.

The relaxing I did manage to get involved getting ready for Patch 7.1 as much as possible, watching all of the current season of Tart Trek: Lower Decks, and getting in a little bit of Portrait of Ruin. All of this was very nice and much needed especially after last week and the weeks coming ahead.

I was hoping to get more back end tasks dealt with as well, but those hit some hard snags that I’ll have to plan according or otherwise risk losing a lot. There was a quirky little project that was in this category that did manage to get pulled off, which so far has seemed to help control things around the house a bit better (audio-project adjacent I suppose).

Hopefully I’ll have a full week of goodies for this one, especially with the aforementioned Patch 7.1 coming out tomorrow. Looking forward to it and seeing some of Aikirees’ past life in the process as well. Next weekend ideally getting in a lot more rest now that some of these tasks have been addressed too.

Happy Monday y’all! Kick some tail! Y’all got this!!

Holiday Creep & Longer Weeks

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

The first full week of November is coming to a conclusion, and it has been a pretty long one with that. The fact that it is so busy is fine, but it does take its toll on a repeated basis. Just glad and thankful I’m in a place & industry that I like surrounded by cohorts as well.

With that though, looking forward to a pretty quiet (audio project withstanding) weekend ahead. We’re pretty close to being in a good place for the launch of Patch 7.1 next Tuesday, and we’re all looking forward to seeing that. 7.0 has been a nice fun time though, so not ‘antsy’ per se, but seeing where the story is going to go now along with peering into Aikirees’ 9th Life will be a nice addenda for certain.

Small setback on the whole audio project thing last night, which crunched my night down by a lot. Made it through the remaining portion of the evening pretty well, but between that and the whole week, I’m pretty worn down now. Side-note, this is why I don’t do weekly projects unless it’s an emergency because it usually wrecks havoc on the next work day. It’ll work out though even with some additional trial and error, so no big thing to sweat about.

Happy Friday y’all! Have a wonderful day and weekend ahead!

Tranquil Moment

Aikirees and I sitting on a bench in front of a fountain.

Normally Aikirees and I stop into Old Sharlayan weekly to pick up a hunt, but in this case decided to stop for a quiet moment in front of this lovely fountain in front of the Leveilleur Estate. Listening to the fountain flow on a clear day with the sea breeze passing by was something we certainly needed.

Feels like forever since we took a small spell here. The last time I believe it was after saving the Star on a quiet Saturday morning in the spring. Aikirees was still prior-journeyed self having a biscuit while I was combing over notes for maps with a hot tea. That in itself feels like a lifetime ago and it’s not even been a year yet from my retirement. Having these little moments though does remind me that we need to continue to keep having them, even with being as running around as much as I have been lately.

Reminiscing aside, y’all have a wonderful day ahead!

No Words

Cataclysmic image from Final Fantasy VI with the words 'On that Day, the World was Changed Forever...'

I’m at a loss for words, once again this has happened…

We just need to keep fighting evil, continue doing all the good we can, and spread kindness & positivity as much as possible. Reach out lend an ear to friends and family, especially in LGBTQIA+. Give lots of hugs, and be the best one can be.

It’s going to get dark, but we’ll get through this and we have to make sure it cannot happen again.

We well y’all. Be ‘zee awesome’sies.’

Election Day 2024

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

Zonked out a smidgen earlier last night due to the time warp from the weekend, but did get some more audio organization done and some Horizon Zero Dawn in to round out the night.

So, today is Election Day in the USA, and for some baffling reason is a contest. This really shouldn’t be a contest as there is clearly one person who is right for the job (and no, it’s not the Orange Menace), but here we are. Hopefully enough sense will have come out to vote and this will be over in some way shape or form.

If you haven’t voted and can, please go out and do so as all of them count in some way shape or form. Sitting it out is really not something anyone can do as there is so much at stake currently and for the future. If you have voted already (or like me did it early), just relax, go on with your usual day. There’s not much else that can be done and we’re not going to know for some time anyway.

I’d advise staying off any Social Medias as there all going to be more negative than usual, if that’s even possible. I realize that’s not saying much as that seems to be the trend everywhere is to just be negative even if it’s for the sake of it. This is an article in itself I could easily write about now, but that’s (possibly) for another time.

If one wants to watch or keep up with the polls, do so in spurts, and from more neutral sources if possible as that should help things stay to what’s fully fact. Don’t forget to eat well, drink lots of water, and get a good sleep in as well. Whatever happens, we’ll get through this even if we have to kick a lot of tails in the process. Be ‘zee awesome’sies,’ be kind, and be well.

Y’all have a wonderful day ahead. Be good to yourself, and spread that goodness – even if it’s a fun tale or story that you like to read or tell.

Fall Time Warp & Stuffs

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.

Another Time Warp down, and only two months left of the year. Doesn’t really feel like it’s been a year as it certainly went swiftly by. That ole recollection talk is for the end of the year though. The past weekend was very lovely – saw family on Saturday night, albeit a shorter evening due to two of our work schedules just being tirelessly busy. It’s that time of year though with the holidays fast approaching everyone is starting to get ready for it all. I don’t mind as I do like the busyness and all.

Picked up Clock Tower Rewind for Switch the other day, and have kind of been plucking away at it slowly. I enjoy it a lot but I’m pretty bad at it! The controls are very much of their time, but they have that charm with it and it’s really not all that rough to get used to on the fly. It’s good classic creepy fun and as I go and unfold more of the story, the more I really want to not only see it to the end, but also get the best ending!

Still plugging along with Portrait of Ruin and still overleveled for the time being, which I honestly don’t remember being an issue when I first played this, but then again, back then Ecclesia wasn’t out yet so that might have something to do with it. Along with that, right now just keeping status quo with the weekly tasks in Final Fantasy XIV until patch 7.1. Music project is coming along nicely, with the support of an older PC that I resurrected, it’s moving quicker now so hopefully by the end of November, that will be all wrapped up.

I’m not sure how much I’ll have ready to post this week, with things getting more busy, but hopefully I’ll have things up daily as usual. Fashion Reports are all caught up now(!) so from here on out, those will be posted in rears if there’s one we made from the week prior. This week there will not be one, so might just slot in some more adventure items or a blog stuffs post. There’s still a few long posts coming down the pipeline once I get some downtime to work on those. Possibly as early as this weekend since I’m not visiting/seeing any family until Thanksgiving now.

Coming up to the first year of starting Kosmikros’ Corner up as well; it’s been a really wonderful adventure that I hope to continue on for as long as I can. I think that’s all there is to this one, until next time, happy Monday! Y’all got this, kick some tail!

~Boop~

Aikirees and I resting our foreheads on each other in front of a starry background.

No words said, just a gentle head boop from my dear younger sister is all it took to tell me everything.

Even with us having been through so much, sometimes that is all it really takes, and I love her for the simple reminders.