FINAL FANTASY KISS BATTLE 2021!
Feb. 3rd, 2021 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seventheHELLO FRIENDS????? Remember those fandoms we all used to be in? and producing things for? Well, baby, it's time for a nostalgia run, so buckle up your chocobos and get ready to roll. We haven't done a Kiss Battle in years and lassarina and I for one think it's TIME TO DO SO.
This event is open to everyone, even if we aren't DW circlefriends! (feel free to friend me too; i promise i'm not crazy that's a lie). If you aren't on DW, you can still play via anon or OpenID!
The Kiss Battle is simple. Players leave prompts in comments under each specific fandom, using generalized fandom nomenclature: a relationship of some sort, and a concept to inspire other players.
- For romantic relationship kisses, we use X / Y
- For platonic relationship kisses, we use X & Y
- Absolutely open to relationships with more than 2 people involved! X / Y / Z (/ A / B ...) welcome to this party!
- Prompts can be a word, a sentence, an image, a song lyric; it's a suggestion, rather than a request
- it's a kiss battle! there will be smooches!
Players then go looking for smoochin' prompts they'd like to fill. Fills can be fic, art, interpretive dance, whatever you're inspired to; they can be filled in a responding comment, or as a link (to AO3, tumblr, etc). FILLS GOTTA HAVE A KISS IN 'EM. IT'S A KISS BATTLE. What counts as a "kiss" is up to you, though -- you can be creative!
- Fills should use the comment header to let people know what the fill is; please use a format like "X / Y, (title), (rating), (any content warnings that might apply)"
- "Aerith/Tifa, memorial, G"
- "Cloud/Squall, just in time, R (blood)"
- Prompts can be filled multiple times! Don't worry if someone got there first; we love Two Cakes up in this event! The more kisses we get, the better!
- You can fill as anon if you want/need for any reason
- You can of course crosspost anywhere you'd like
It's a very simple game, and is meant to be played in good faith without anybody being a shitbag about pairings or characters. We're all too old for this.
FANDOM LINKS Fandoms with compilations and expansions should fall into their titled macrofandom. For example:
- FFXIII also includes FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns (FFXIII-3)
- FFX also includes X-2
- FFIV includes the After Years
If you need to specify a certain microfandom / singular canon, please do so in the prompt or in the comment header!
FINAL FANTASY I
FINAL FANTASY II
FINAL FANTASY III
FINAL FANTASY IV
FINAL FANTASY V
FINAL FANTASY VI
FINAL FANTASY VII
FINAL FANTASY VIII
FINAL FANTASY IX
FINAL FANTASY X
FINAL FANTASY XI
FINAL FANTASY XII
FINAL FANTASY XIII
FINAL FANTASY XIV
FINAL FANTASY XV
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS
FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0
FINAL FANTASY RECORD KEEPER
FINAL FANTASY BRAVE EXVIUS
BRAVELY DEFAULT
FINAL FANTASY SPIRITS WITHIN
OTHER FINAL FANTASY CANONS
FF CROSSOVER PROMPTS
MAKE FRIENDS! If you're interested in meeting more FF fandom people, this comment thread can be used as a friending meme! Tell us a little about yourself, which FFs you've played, favorite characters/ships, and look around for new friends!
You can also join the Final Fantasy Old Folks Home Discord and come gripe about those kids on our lawn and the old days where you had to level grind by hand lmao. Open to all FF fans!
BLITZ KISSINS If you already know what smooches you want to write, you don't need to wait for a prompt -- just comment into the relevant fandom thread with your kiss!
REMEMBER It's only fun if everybody plays, so if you leave a prompt, try to fill someone else's!
Re: FINAL FANTASY XII
Date: 2021-02-10 12:51 am (UTC)Re: FINAL FANTASY XII
Date: 2021-02-10 12:51 am (UTC)Re: FINAL FANTASY VIII
Date: 2021-02-10 12:54 am (UTC)Re: FINAL FANTASY XII
Date: 2021-02-10 12:56 am (UTC)Re: FINAL FANTASY XII
Date: 2021-02-10 12:59 am (UTC)Re: FINAL FANTASY XII
Date: 2021-02-10 01:23 am (UTC)Re: FINAL FANTASY VII
Date: 2021-02-10 04:21 am (UTC)Re: FINAL FANTASY VII
Date: 2021-02-10 04:24 am (UTC)Re: FINAL FANTASY VII
Date: 2021-02-10 04:29 am (UTC)Re: FINAL FANTASY VII
Date: 2021-02-10 05:25 am (UTC)Garland/Sara, PG
Date: 2021-02-10 06:36 am (UTC)She asks him about the world.
He tells her what the son of a peasant would know – of the earth and its bounty, and the sky from below the palace gates. The desperate warmth of the fire in winter, and the spray of the surf at the edge of a sea where mermaids were once said to frolic but no grown man now would believe in them.
She tells him she wants to see them.
He reminds her how impossible that want is.
Still, summer fades into autumn and the townsfolk celebrate their harvest. When orders and harsh words fail to sway him, Princess Sara begs him – not her father, not her mother, not her tutors who have the king’s ear, but him – to spirit her away from this place, for just one night amidst the glow of the lanterns and the beat of the festival drums.
And there’s now a crack in his armor, because what else can he do?
What else can he ever give her?
She kisses his cheek when he yields.
And again, later, after the dancing and the crowd and the fun of the games has left her breathless, beneath the oldest tree at the border of the city, when she asks to see the ocean and he promises her nothing less than the world, she kisses him like in the softest fairy’s stories.
At the end of the night, when she’s safe again in bed, even knowing what is likely to come, Garland finds that he cannot bring himself to believe it was a mistake.
But even without her finery, the princess is obvious for what she is, and when the king hears of what has transpired, Garland is summarily stripped of his station, though not his rank. It was to be expected: the King’s word is higher than that of his eldest daughter. Still, it leaves as bitter taste in Garland’s mouth as Sara’s kiss was sweet.
And as he guards an outpost on the frontier, from an enemy Coneria no longer has, Garland thinks only of how he once promised a princess the ocean.
Hilda/Leila, PG
Date: 2021-02-10 06:46 am (UTC)“Let her go,” is all the queen says, with a patient sigh.
But that’s why Leila loves her – one reason, anyway – is that even a brigand such as herself can get away with anything.
The guard hesitates, fingers digging into Leila’s arms. Undaunted, the pirate presses her tongue to her teeth.
“You sure?” she asks, flashing a rakish smile, “‘cause I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Re: lulu/luzzu - you don't.
Date: 2021-02-10 06:49 am (UTC)I love this pairing and I love this take on it. <3 Perfect opening lines.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Date: 2021-02-10 06:53 am (UTC)Aqua/any FF character, lucky I found you here
Re: FINAL FANTASY FRIENDING THREAD
Date: 2021-02-10 07:03 am (UTC)Cyan/Elayne, PG
Date: 2021-02-10 07:33 am (UTC)A wild rose in hand, head full of poetry, he visits her garden after second watch, and the moon keeps its own vigil high above. Flowers are abloom in the moonlight, and there’s a sweetness in the air that captures well what dwells within his heart.
Only his tongue is suddenly forged of lead, and he can’t remember the words he’s written. Elayne listens to him stumble, sighs gently, and relieves him of the rose with an amused smile. She kisses him softly under the moon and stars.
Cyan stammers a gruff pleasant evening, before escaping back into the darkness.
Re: Cyan/Elayne, PG
Date: 2021-02-10 07:35 am (UTC)Re: Reno/Elena, T - "The Uninvited"
Date: 2021-02-10 07:38 am (UTC)Celes/Sabin, PG
Date: 2021-02-10 08:44 am (UTC)They’ve spoken of the end of the world, and the world that has come of it, and Sabin has regaled her with tales of what he’s seen in his past year of travels. She’s told him the abridged version of her survival. Once they exhausted that, they try to speak of the years before the fall, but that topic of conversation grows sour quickly between them.
He’s not an unkind man, Celes knows in her heart; he doesn’t hate her for who she is. But he wears his on his sleeve, and there is still the shadow of past allegiances and the thorn of a poisoned king that digs between his ribs.
Still, his presence is a comfort, particularly on cold, empty nights with his back to hers. And he’s not someone who needs to fill the silence, any more than she is.
And as the days stretch on and the nights linger, she wonders what it is about him that she can’t read his thoughts as well as some. And once, only once, she tries to peek into his dreams, only for him to startle awake, his hand around her throat before either of them knows what’s happened.
“Nightmares,” he tells her, trying to shrug it off but obviously shaken. “You’ll probably get them, too.”
After that, she doesn’t even try.
Merely wonders.
There’s no pretext to him. Nothing hidden. And the further they travel, the more deeply his wry smile and occasional laugh warms her from within, as though she didn’t have ice water running through her veins.
They’re sitting by the fire, the only speck of life for miles in any direction on the dead plain, when Celes realizes he’s staring at her, not the flames between them. Has been for hours, for all she knows. Days, could be.
She gets up, and his gaze drifts after her as she stretches her travel-sore muscles. Sabin sighs, snaps the twig of kindling he’s been occupying his hands with, and throws it on the fire.
Gathering his legs beneath him, he stands after her, follows her to the edge of the campfire light, and wraps his arms around her. It’s different to when they first found one another again, when it was simply the joy at seeing a familiar face in an unfamiliar world. There’s an ache, an emptiness that echoes silently all around them.
The feeling that eternity itself has stopped.
That there’s nothing left in the world but the two of them.
Nothing left in the world to lose, but one another.
And maybe that’s even a risk worth taking.
Celes tilts her face up. His eyes crack open in surprise when her lips brush his, and the last thing she sees is how he squeezes them shut again. She doesn’t know what precisely she’s doing or how it’s done, for all that she’s seen others doing it, and he doesn’t seem that practiced himself, or maybe he’s just startled.
His arms tighten around her, and he doesn’t say anything – because between them there’s nothing left to say.
Re: Celes/Sabin, PG
Date: 2021-02-10 09:06 am (UTC)I really like 'He’s not an unkind man, Celes knows in her heart; he doesn’t hate her for who she is', and 'And he’s not someone who needs to fill the silence, any more than she is', and 'There’s no pretext to him. Nothing hidden'. Seeing Sabin through her eyes.
only for him to startle awake, his hand around her throat before either of them knows what’s happened.
“Nightmares,” he tells her, trying to shrug it off but obviously shaken.
This is fascinating.
And the further they travel, the more deeply his wry smile and occasional laugh warms her from within
I'm very charmed by this. I particularly like it in juxtaposition to the 'his hand around her throat' moment; I love it when a ship can both charm and alarm me in the same fic.
when Celes realizes he’s staring at her, not the flames between them. Has been for hours, for all she knows. Days, could be.
She gets up, and his gaze drifts after her as she stretches her travel-sore muscles. Sabin sighs, snaps the twig of kindling he’s been occupying his hands with, and throws it on the fire.
I really, really love this moment, the realisation that brings tension into their silence.
Thank you so, so much for writing my weird, tiny rarepair! This is a gorgeous little piece.
Ignis/Noctis, unspoken, G ("I wonder what kissing is like.")
Date: 2021-02-10 12:23 pm (UTC)He was going to be his friend, King Regis had said, when he'd first introduced the two of them. He was an advisor, Ignis's father had said, glowering at him over a pair of spectacles, and shoving a pile of political books him, which he hadn't yet memorized to his father's satisfaction. He was a guard, his mother had told him, when she first pressed a throwing-knife into his hand, and started teaching him the art that would keep His Highness safe. He was a tutor, most people seemed to think, with how much he helped His Highness with his homework over the years—
That one happened almost by accident. When Ignis and Noctis had first met as kids, their only directive had been, get to know each other. They wound up spending a long summer afternoon rambling around the edges of the pond on the royal grounds, trying and failing to skip rocks across the surface. This was before Noct had his injury, when Noct had been more outgoing, happy to chatter away for hours and hours. He asked Ignis absolutely everything about himself—what did he like, which of the Six was the coolest, why did he need glasses, did he like the palace, what was it like outside the palace, did he have any pets? Then Noctis moved on to just asking questions about everything: "Why is grass green, anyway?" he asked, as they waded through some stamped-down grass at the pond's edge. "Why not purple or something?"
"Well," Ignis said, reflexively, because he'd just finished reading a science book the night before, and his eidetic memory made recall easy, "it's because grass contains a pigment called chlorophyll, which absorbs every wavelength of light except green, which allows it to intake a very large portion of the sun's energy. Though, if the question is, why isn't grass black, which would absorb every wavelength, that's a matter of debate among scientists who study botanical evolution, with a number of plausible hypotheses."
For a moment Noctis just stared at Ignis blankly. Ignis felt himself waver. Had he said something incorrect? Then Noctis broke into a grin: "I didn't understand all that but it sounded cool. Tell me more."
So Ignis did, at length, reciting back page after page of that chapter, until Noct started giggling too hard to hear him. "You're cool," he said, which gave Ignis a little thrill. He'd been called studious, diligent, hard-working, but never cool. He wasn't sure the Scientia family knew the word. It was new. It felt nice.
And from there on out, Ignis simply never stopped teaching Noctis about this and that, sometimes while hunched over books, but also sometimes while they roamed the palace grounds, catching crickets and climbing trees and lounging in the shade. After a while, Ignis noticed that Noct sometimes asked him about things he couldn't possibly be interested in, things chosen for the sake of obscurity or as some sort of test—"I'm not an encyclopedia, Your Highness," Ignis would say, peevish. A pause. And then he would tell Noct the answer anyway, because he knew it, and Noct knew he knew it, and Noct would laugh.
A few years later, Noctis turned seven, and entered the local public school. It was important that His Highness have as normal a life as possible, the King had apparently insisted, which meant going to school like any normal child in Insomnia. The same did not hold for Ignis, however; the Scientias had already arranged for a set of private tutors at home, so as to minimize distractions. Already old beyond his years, Ignis understood the good sense in this—but still, he had to choke down the childish impulse to whine: Why does he get to go to school and I don't?
Noctis took it in stride, at least—he seemed to like having something new to tell Ignis about every day, and liked chatting on about his classmates. (The injury wouldn't happen for another year.) The other children sounded rather silly to Ignis—and some of their behavior was downright appalling—but, well, appalling could be interesting, too.
For instance. Take this one little tale Noctis told Ignis out of nowhere, when they'd been walking together by the lake after school: "Cato and Tanya got married today."
"Pardon?"
"So there's this big wooden tent thing on the playground, that you're supposed to climb on, okay? Well, Kent said he thought this big wooden tent thing looked like a chapel. So he folded a priest hat out of paper, and he started holding weddings for anyone who wanted them. And since Cato and Tanya like-like each other, they picked all the flowers around the tent thing, and got married and had the kiss and everything, right there."
It was absurd, ridiculous—and intriguing. "What happened then?" Ignis asked.
"Oh, then Mrs. Metellus saw and broke them up and told the whole class that you can't kiss each other at school."
Ignis snorted a laugh. A fitting end.
But Noctis had a funny look on his face, faraway, fidgeting with the hem of his jacket. "I wonder what kissing is like," he murmured, after a moment.
"What kissing is like?"
"Yeah."
Ignis, who was never uncertain, confessed: "I'm not sure."
"It must be something, right? For everyone to make such a big deal out of it?"
They'd gone out of book entirely, Ignis thought. He'd never read anything describing what it was like. But the part of him that always wanted to answer everything Noctis asked, very suddenly wanted to answer this question too, and the only way to answer was—
"We could try it, if you want to find out what it's like," Ignis blurted. "Just as friends," he added, because Noctis was giving him a funny look, and because he wasn't really sure what it meant to like-like someone, or when you normally kissed. He just knew he wanted to please his friend, and also, now he had started wondering the same thing—what it was like?
"Sure," Noctis said, with a slow nod. "Let's try it, then. Just to find out."
They were standing on the far edge of the royal grounds, now, where the trees grew the thickest. No one else was around. No one could see them.
So they lined up to face each other. Then they burst into nervous laughter, as soon as they had, because it felt so silly. When they'd straightened out again, Noctis hummed the first few notes of a wedding march, which made them both laugh again.
"Okay, okay," Noctis said. "For real now." They straightened out one last time, and then—they kissed. A short peck, to start with, and Noctis frowned. "That was hardly anything," he said, pouting, leaning in again, and well, what else was there to do? Ignis leaned in to meet him, they pressed their lips together, and for all the dozens of books he'd memorized, Ignis wasn't sure what came next, so he was just stood there—
Noctis ventured a little, though. He pulled back for a moment and tried again, from a different angle, but it didn't quite seem to fit. Noctis tried again, this time pressing his lips around Ignis's bottom lip, with a bit of pressure, and—that felt right. It was new, strange. Intriguing. Ignis was intrigued. Maybe it was even nice.
But then, Noctis pulled away. "Weird," he said, with a laugh that was not unkind. "So that's it, huh." He wiped his lips off with the back off his hand, still smiling.
Ignis's face felt hot. He hoped he wasn't blushing.
"Let's go skip rocks on the pond," Noct said, in a hurry, like he was trying to change the subject, and Ignis followed him mutely.
Maybe Noctis had sensed the same thing Ignis had—that maybe they shouldn't have done that. Friend, advisor, guard, tutor—none of those roles seemed to include "kissing lessons" in the bargain. It made sense at the time, it had felt right, but—he imagined trying to explain if his father had found out, if the king had found out, and he felt himself blanch. Maybe that had been a breach of trust, unworthy of the Scientia name.
But they'd been children, Ignis thought now with stiff remove, over a decade later. It had only happened one time. They'd never spoken of it again. It meant nothing. Probably Noctis had forgotten the whole thing entirely.
Or so Ignis had thought.
Tonight, the four of them were camping somewhere between the Alstor Slough and Lestallum. The stars were out, and they'd already eaten—so, while Ignis was cleaning up the cookware, Prompto instigated some sort of truth-or-dare game around the campfire. Ignis was only half-listening attention as it went along. There was a hot-sauce eating dare, which was foolish on Prompto's part; Gladio won those handily every time. Gladio returned fire by demanding to know the truth about Prompto's first kiss (it had been at band camp; yes Prompto had been to band camp, because he'd kind of been a loser freshman year; it was a long time ago, he didn't like to talk about it, and he muttered something indecipherable).
Then:
"Gladio, same question to you," Prompto said, with renewed vigor. "Who was your first kiss?"
Gladio didn't bother to look up from the book he was reading. "Cynthia Gabinus, behind the bleachers at a soccer game. We were thirteen."
"Wait, Crownsguard Cynthia? Cynthia the Kickass? Literally-won-that-huge-fencing-tournament-last-year Cynthia?"
Gladio smirked. "The very same." He flipped a page. "It was fun."
"Yeah. I'll bet." Prompto gave a low whistle, then turned to Noctis: "Well, okay, what about you? Who was your first kiss?"
Ignis looked up from the pot he'd been scrubbing. And in that fraction of a second, Noct met Ignis's eyes. Ignis wanted to think he was imagining it, but—no. A lifetime of watching His Highness meant that Ignis imagined nothing, and missed nothing. Noctis indeed looked directly at him, so briefly that no one would ever notice but the two of them. Which was maybe the point.
Then Noctis turned to Prompto. "What, you really think I'd kiss and tell?"
"Aw, c'mon man! I told you!"
"Yeah, well, that sounds like your problem."
"And Gladio told us about his!" Prompto considered this for a moment. "Actually, wait, nevermind, don't tell me. If it's anyone half as cool as Cynthia I'm just gonna die on the spot."
Noctis met Ignis's eyes again. Ignis wished he hadn't; his stomach felt like it'd been flipped upside down.
Then Noct turned to Prompto again. "Yeah," he said, with an exaggerated drawl, "in that case, I'd definitely better keep my mouth shut."
"Duuuuude!" Prompto wailed. "Is it better than Cynthia? Have you been holding out on me?"
Gladio folded his book shut and playfully knocked it against the side of Prompto's head. "This has been fun, but I'm heading to bed, loverboy. You should too, before you get yourself all worked up. We've gotta get up early tomorrow."
Prompto groaned, not in protest, but with resignation. He cast Noct one last peevish look before he rose, and followed Gladio to the tent.
Which left Noctis and Ignis alone. Alone by the campfire. Ignis stood on one side, stirring and extinguishing its last embers and flames. And on the other side—Noctis sat in a fold-out camping chair, watching him. The stars were bright tonight, so Ignis could see the prince's face perfectly. For the third time tonight, their eyes met.
"What are you thinking, Iggy?" Noctis asked, his voice quiet ,and carefully level.
All his life, Ignis had been so careful to only see what was there, not what he might've—hoped. Was that an error?
"I think," Ignis said slowly, "maybe I never properly answered your question. How did you put it? 'What is kissing like?'"
Noctis barked a laugh. "Yeah. I mean, we were like, seven, so."
Silence. Noctis had to stop looking him in the eyes like that, Ignis thought helplessly. They were too focused, too bright, almost hungry. That gaze made Ignis feel like he was the only other person in the whole world. That gaze made his chest so tight he could hardly breathe. And if Noct didn't look away now, Ignis was going to—
—step across the fire, lean over Noct, and whisper: "Let's try again now, then."
"I thought you'd never ask."
Then their lips touched, and the fire's last ember hissed, and Noctis smiled into their second-ever kiss.
Faris & Reina, G
Date: 2021-02-10 12:34 pm (UTC)“You don’t like it?”
She turned her head to find Reina staring at her, expression as serene as always.
“It belonged to mother,” she said, of the dress.
Well, that explained something of its persistent thorny presence in her life. But Faris wasn’t her mother, and the way everyone else behaved around the castle, she doubted her mother would have been much too proud of her, no matter what she was wearing.
“Do you... remember her at all?”
“Aye,” Faris answered. “I remember her fine. Not so much her wearin’ that.”
“If memory serves, she got it after you...” Reina trailed off, growing quiet. “After.”
Faris dropped into a chair, draping her legs, one of the other over its armrest. She stared at the ceiling. Here, she had an entire kingdom at her fingertips and she felt stifled, like a caged up bird with clipped wings.
“Is there anything I can do?” Reina asked.
Faris flicked her gaze towards her.
She didn’t mean to worry her, or anyone else.
She didn’t belong here.
The thought cut her like a knife. The raw honest truth.
Dragging herself back to her feet, Faris strode across the room to where her sister stood by the door. Taking Reina’s face in her hands, Faris kissed her forehead softly.
“I be fine, lass,” she assured her, “don’t ye trouble y’rself.”
Reina didn’t look convinced, but Faris flashed her a conniving smile. A few moments of quiet contemplation more, and the princess took her leave.
And so did Faris.
Stealing herself right out the bloody window.
i should probably do my own friending meme lmao hi im sev and i am chaos
Date: 2021-02-10 06:09 pm (UTC)Re: Faris & Reina, G
Date: 2021-02-11 01:29 am (UTC)Re: Ignis/Noctis, unspoken, G ("I wonder what kissing is like.")
Date: 2021-02-11 01:35 am (UTC)*flapping hands of enthusiasm*
*more joyous squeaking*
aaaaaaaaah I love this! I love Ignis being like "I'm not an encyclopedia" and the extremely fucked up nature of his and Gladio's service that you allude to with how the family introduces him to Noctis, and Gladio and Prompto and the game, and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa yes good good good