FINAL FANTASY KISS BATTLE 2022!!!
well HELLO FRIENDS????? after MUCH delay which is MY OWN FAULT, i am here to present to you the tiny fandom event of the year: Final Fantasy Kiss Battle 2022!!
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 but at least i'm sometimes funny). 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
OTHER FINAL FANTASY CANONS
FF CROSSOVER PROMPTS
FF / OTHER CANON CROSSOVERS
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! FF FRIENDING THREAD
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! -- EDIT Discord link has been updated!
AO3 COLLECTION
If you're posting your work on AO3, add it to our collection here!!!
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!
COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS??
Hit up this thread and myself or ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lassarina will help you out!
SHARE
just copy and paste the following line anywhere you like!
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Galuf & Krile, untitled for now, G
For posterity, it seems that basically nothing is known about Krile's parents, including whether Galuf is her paternal or maternal grandfather, just the barest outline of the circumstances of their disappearance. So I am straight up making things up. :P
There was no other creature with a cry like the wind drake - Galuf remembered it even after so long. Indeed, rising from his chair to part the curtains, he saw the great shape silhouetted against the sky in the distance, gliding down from the higher altitude. With a chuckle, he turned to regard the small child who had ceased in her play on the floor, looking up at him curiously. "Well, my dear, it seems your parents were successful!" he told her, and bent down to scoop her up as she raised her short arms in wordless expectation. "Shall we go to greet them?"
Judging by those who met him along the way, many of the servants too had heard the cry, and soon a small crowd had assembled on the balcony before the wind drake's tower where the crown prince and princess of Bal would soon be landing. Though their eyes were fixed on the drake's approach, Galuf spared some of his attention for the girl balanced on his hip; a wind drake was, after all, a very large, loud animal - and his granddaughter a very small, quiet one. Yet she showed no sign of fear, even as the drake's wings began to beat to slow its descent, buffeting them with bursts of wind from above which grew stronger as it drew closer.
Close enough for Galuf to see that it had no rider.
At first he'd thought he must be mistaken, that he had forgotten how large a wind drake could be, and it was still too far away for him to make them out against the glare of the bright sky. But now the servants, too, had noticed, and were looking about amongst themselves with worry.
Yet even without a rider, the wind drake seemed to understand what it was to do in this place, and settled on top of the tower to fold its wings with a flutter. It would have been an awesome sight to behold - it still was, Galuf could not deny it - but now confusion ran through the assembly as the drake simply perched there, with no one to disembark.
When Galuf lowered his eyes, some of the servants were now looking to him, anxious and uncertain. "Well? We've been preparing for the beast's arrival, haven't we?" he asked, nearly barking the orders in his tension. "Get it some feed! It must be hungry, after flying all this way!"
There were stablehands at the ready, and at their lord's order, they rushed to do exactly that. But others present were household livery, having expected to receive the royal couple upon their return with anything they required; they had nothing to do but stare, either at the drake above or the increasingly worried king of Bal. "...They must have sent it on ahead," Galuf muttered. After all, somehow it knew to come to the castle - how would it have known if it had not been directed somehow? "Probably they decided to return with the rest of their expedition, more slowly," he added. "They wouldn't all have fit on its back." Yes, that must be it...
A small, chubby hand found its way into his line of sight as he gazed upwards again - Krile reaching her hand out toward the drake above. It turned to look down at her, almost as if it recognized the gesture, and tilted its head in almost curious fashion, uttering a softer honking sound.
Something in Galuf's heart sank when the little girl in his arms abruptly began to cry. "All right - enough of this," Galuf ordered those around him, striding back towards the castle proper. "They'll be along soon, no need to fret. In the meantime, there are other things to be done. Let's be about it!"
As for himself, his responsibility for the moment was to calm Krile. One of the nurses seemed to think it was her responsibility, but Galuf waved her away. "There, there," he told Krile softly when he'd returned to his chambers, bouncing her lightly, pressing his lips against the wispy blond hair atop her head in a gentle kiss. "It's a large beast, yes, but it's safe. Its family and our family worked together for generations - and we will do so again. Everything's fine, just fine."
But Krile would not stop crying. Though it was hardly unusual for such a small child to cry, somehow the sound made his heart ache, as if both it and the girl knew something he did not - or did not want to admit.
-----
The expedition to the desert in the northeast had been gone longer than planned already. But seeing as the wind drake had only just arrived, surely that meant their mission to find it had taken longer than they anticipated. There was no real cause for concern yet.
Days went by. Galuf was growing snappish at the servants' questions, and at the awkward silences when they obviously wanted to ask but dared not. It was reasonable, he thought, to send some of his men out to meet them along the way - as they surely would, for they must be returning now, with their mission accomplished. A wind drake was swifter than any other means of travel, so it was no wonder they were a bit behind.
More days went by. The men Galuf had sent returned, with some of those who had accompanied the prince and princess on the expedition. They had in fact met with Galuf's envoy on their way back - for they had been coming to report that the last they knew, the young royal couple had not returned after setting out into the furthest reaches of the desert alone. Some had remained at the edge of the desert to wait and watch for them, while some were returning to bring word to Galuf.
If it were up to Galuf, he would have jumped on the wind drake at once upon hearing the news - likely sooner - to begin his own search for his daughter and her husband, by now as dear to Galuf as if he was his son by birth. Unfortunately, though the drake was tame and showed no animosity towards humans, it did not know Galuf well, and still shied away from his approach.
And then there was Krile. Dear, innocent Krile who was far too young to understand, clinging to him, fussing when he was elsewhere, crying if she woke to find him gone. The nurses were at a loss, apologizing to their king repeatedly for burdening him with what should have been their responsibility. At this he scoffed. Krile was his granddaughter, not a burden - and therefore his responsibility as much as theirs.
And to be honest, often enough he could feel his resolute hope dwindling, slipping away with the days that passed without word. It was a comfort for him as well to look after Krile - to murmur quiet words of reassurance and feel her calm in his arms as he held her close. Very much like his dear daughter, when she had been a child... something of his daughter, and the man she loved so much. Perhaps...
Galuf refused to let himself think that perhaps Krile was all he had left of either of them.
Early one morning, Galuf found himself walking with her on the balcony below the drake's tower, hoping that the light of dawn would settle Krile from whatever dream had woken her wailing. Indeed, she had quieted as he paced back and forth, idly looking up at the beast preening nonchalantly above them. What had he been thinking, he wondered in a surge of frustration, allowing his daughter to go off chasing this damned creature? It would have been of great benefit to bring the wind drakes back in service to the kingdom of Bal, true. But it was not worth losing her, and her husband besides.
Suddenly he stopped short, as the drake turned its head to look down at him, and then began to lean down.
Given how the drake had reacted to his attempts to approach in the past, Galuf took a step back, turning away to put his own body between the beast's great head and Krile in his arms. Yet as he turned to look over his shoulder, he saw Krile's hand once more stretched out towards the rapidly approaching creature...
...Which slowed and stopped short, bowing its head before her small hand, which reached out further to pat it clumsily. In his ear, Galuf heard her giggle for the first time in weeks.
His daughter had always had a way with animals, ever since she was a little girl. Uncanny, at times, the way she seemed to understand them and they seemed to understand her. Never had she been afraid of the beasts of the field, or the most irritable chocobo, but instinctively knew how to approach them as a friend. It had been a long-awaited dream that sent her with her husband to the desert - not to bring back the wind drakes as beasts of burden for the sake of the kingdom, but as a rekindling of an old friendship.
It seemed her daughter followed in her footsteps, for the drake made a faint crooning sound at Krile's touch, nearly pushing Galuf over as it nuzzled closer. Krile squealed with delight, reaching both arms over Galuf's shoulder - as if she could embrace such a large creature.
Galuf couldn't help but smile in wonder himself, though the tears rose to his eyes as he turned towards the drake, allowing Krile to reach out and feel the scales, the smooth horns, as the drake closed its eyes in what was unmistakably bliss. Somehow he knew now, deep in his aching heart, what he had been denying... But she had achieved what she had dreamed of, and her daughter was here to continue where she had left off.
He laughed, helplessly, as he too stroked the drake's head, as it had finally seen fit to accept him. Her doing, no doubt, and he kissed Krile's cheek, holding her tight against him. "My dear Krile," he whispered, as his eyes overflowed with tears of grief and gratitude. "My precious, precious granddaughter..."
Re: Galuf & Krile, untitled for now, G
Awww... sad but sweet. Thank you! I really enjoyed this.
Re: Galuf & Krile, untitled for now, G
(And yep. I'm trying to do my weekly round-up post and want to post it to AO3 so I can include it but... needs a title. And then there's those fics where I had a title when I started writing but then it went off the rails and by the time I'm done the title doesn't work anymore... D: :D)
Re: Galuf & Krile, untitled for now, G
Oh, this is so lovely, and I love the obvious connection between Galuf and Krile, and how it pulls in her "speaks to animals" vibe. *hugs everyone*
Re: Galuf & Krile, untitled for now, G
(I may be a sucker for genetically-inherited psychic abilities...)