rurusayshi

It's been a while since I posted a wip! Real life has been throwing a lot at me, and my brain has been sort of meandering between projects. In between outlining and canon review for the next FFXIV longfic, I have also been working on some one-shots, of which this is one. I've really been itching to write some more about Y'shtola as she's become a bit of a favorite, and replaying ARR not long ago has had me thinking about scenes that would be interesting to explore from an NPC perspective, particularly that period after the Garlean attack on the Waking Sands when Alphinaud has the WoL going after Garuda instead of looking for survivors. Though this takes place in Ariverse, she is not present. CW for death and grief. Spoilers for the Heavensward patches.

( It was evening, the day's light fading... )

Every time tumblr makes some catastrophic change to the site, there are influxes of new users to other social media sites, and some of them will come here. We've seen this before, and we're probably about to see it again!

For those who aren't aware, Tumblr just introduced an update with basically no warning that completely changes how interaction works on that site, which... basically breaks the core functionality of the site. Instead of each post having one aggregate number of "notes" (which include replies, reblogs, and likes), each reblog that adds anything to the original post functions as a new post, with its own note count. In theory, they claim this will give more recognition to rebloggers who make valuable contributions to a post. In practice, it's a nightmare, because anything adding onto a post has effectively hijacked its engagement away from the OP, who can no longer follow what's happening on their own post. It's a mess! Tumblr users are notoriously resistant to change, but this goes far beyond an ugly interface or adding another click to a commonly-used feature. This will be truly devastating to the whole culture of tumblr if it doesn't get rolled back.

bardic-tales has written a good essay on the impact of this change here: The Death of the Digital Ecosystem: Why Decoupling Notes Destroys Tumblr

I've had some thoughts of my own which I'll copy below.

( The implications for discussion posts... )

( Connecton vs. Control, and how this latest Tumblr update broke both )

Anyway, as always, I hope we can give tumblr refugees a warm welcome when we see them, and help them navigate doing fandom on this site, as it's very different from what they might be used to.

Edited to add: If you're new here from tumblr, do check out this resource list kindly shared by ysabetwordsmith in the comments!

Further update: They rolled it back!

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV
Rating: Mature
Archive Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Urianger Augurelt/Moenbryda Wilfsunnwyn, Urianger Augurelt & Moenbryda Wilfsunnwyn, Ardbert & Urianger Augurelt, Unrealized Ardbert/Urianger Augurelt, Pre-Urianger Augurelt/Warrior of Light
Characters: Urianger Augurelt, Moenbryda Wilfsunnwyn, Ardbert Hylfyst, Elidibus, Unukalhai, Tataru Taru, Minfilia Warde, Warrior of Light, Dewlala Dewla, Y'shtola Rhul, Yugiri Mistwalker, Thancred Waters, J'Rhoomale, Blanhaerz, Lamimi, Naillebert, Haneko Burneko
Additional Tags: Grief/Mourning, Angst, Religion, Isolation, Loneliness, Patch 3.4: Soul Surrender Spoilers (Final Fantasy XIV), Elezen Warrior of Light, Female Warrior of Light, Canon-Typical Violence, Guilt, Emotional Repression, Child Neglect, Childhood Memories, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Series: With Lilies and With Laurel
Length: 57,340 / 92,000
Chapter: 9/15

Summary:

Heartbroken after the loss of his dearest companion, Urianger labors to save two worlds in which he has never felt more alone.

Notes:

If you're new here, please start with Chapter 1!

Final Fantasy XIV is owned by Square Enix. This is a non-commercial work of fanfiction.

( Read on AO3 )

( ...or below! )

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