synthneon | · CALL ME OUT (SPRING) ·

[ ever since diana had shown mia archery she had become somewhat obsessed with it. mia may have been a sidekick but she also wanted to do her own thing, something that would make her stand out from the other robins because there was a lot to live up to. there was something about archery that just... made her feel more connected and focused than other combat. maybe she could fix some arrows with equipment from bruce's batagrangs and make them do fun things.

bruce was at some fancy gotham museum benefit with diana which mia had of course called a date. because whether they were willing to recognize it or not they liked each other and as a sidekick mia felt it was also her duty to make sure they actually got together. but she could worry about that later, right now she's doing target practice and taking advantage of having the batcave to herself (she was going to keep calling it that no matter what anyone said). ]

Okay, Mia. You got this. Who needs fancy powers?

[ she's set up the targets on the highest difficulty. in the dark, fast moving, something to be somewhat realistic. she takes a breath and pulls one of the knock out arrow from her quiver. she focuses on the targets and let's everything else come by reflex like diana had taught her.

one target down. she grabs another arrow.

two targets.

mia rolls on the ground, shots from a crouching position.

three targets.

she goes through her quiver until all the targets are down and the lights come back on. seeing that she had hit all the targets, some better than others she can't help but smile to herself. hopefully, bruce would be proud. ]

[ archery would stand out against the skill set of the batman, and wonder woman had been seen with a sword and shield most of all. bruce encourages her to pursue a passion--something that might lead to competition or a career outside of fighting crime. he wouldn't recommend someone define their life as he had.

he stands by in the viewing gallery, eyebrows raised and arms folded as he watches her. he can see the work she needs to do to improve on her stances, but, it's a good start. she's a natural in a lot of ways.

bruce glances at the downed targets then looks back to mia. a nod is given to her of approval. ]

[ it takes mia a moment to catch her breath before she realizes that bruce is watching. she looks up at him and beams and then takes an over-exaggerated bow. she hadn't really talked to him much about archery. she really wanted to do something to stand out from the other robins other than the fact that she was a girl.

when she straightens she tilts her head and smirks up at him. ]

How was your date with Diana?

[ she can't help but prod at that. alfred had told her she needed to be less obvious but mia didn't see the fun in that. she preferred to be much more direct in her approach to things. especially since bruce and diana were both dragging their feet over this. ]

[ it takes everything in him to suppress the smile at her bow. there's a sense of pride that settles inside him at seeing how far mia has come. it may have been a while ago, but, he can still remember the girl that tracked him down to get her out of a party she was far too young to be at. ]

Our dinner was fine, Mia. We discussed what our next moves are. That doesn't make it a date.

[ he has had plenty of dates and taken more than a handful of women on them. he wouldn't call what he and diana do as dating. she loves someone else, and well, he wouldn't wish himself on anyone. ]

You've waited all night to ask me that, haven't you?

Ohmigod, you two are the worst. You like her. She likes you. What is it going to take?!

[ she places her bow on the ground and removes her quiver before pulling her hair out of it's ponytail which turns into a bushy mess. when she looks back up at him she smirks because she absolutely did and was 100% going to report to alfred about it when the two had a cup of tea before bed.

she wants bruce to be happy. he deserved it, whether he realized that or not. and diana seemed to be the perfect person for that. she understood things about bruce that mia knows she never would. sure she was an immortal warrior princess god or whatever but she still had very human emotions. even if one of them was being just as oblivious or in denial of her feelings as bruce was. ]

I convinced Alfred to take the night off and DoorDash, there's still sushi if you're in the need for non-fancy food. I don't think Alfred will let me pick dinner ever again.

You can critique my technique over wasabi.

It takes more than "liking" someone to make anything work. Don't push it, Mia.

[ not to mention diana has seen her fill of the world of men. he isn't going to be another knock on the wood when they need her in the team. things are fine as they are in a professional sense. it doesn't need to be more than that. he already has enough and more thanks to the team and mia. he isn't going to push or even ask for more.

bruce crosses his arms and gives a shrug. ]

I really don't eat that much "fancy food" anymore. Not since the manor burned down. [ he chuckles a bit at her idea. alfred is probably very put out by the idea of it all. ] Not up for asking Barry to bring you something this time?

[ yes, he knows. it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. ]

[it's another boring party for rich people. Selina doesn't exactly have an invite, but it's not like she hasn't shown up where she shouldn't before. especially when casing out the joint is just good business.

a few hours later, she returns to the bar and finds herself reaching for her champagne over the arm of another guest who doesn't really want to be here.]

Well, hello there stranger.

[ Selina always has the tendency to invite herself. It is a pattern he expects and has come to accept over the years. In fact, it's stranger when Selina doesn't show up at a party. Now that he thinks about it, it was strange she hadn't shown up at the party Luther had for his big library debut. Then again, that was in Metropolis.

He stands with one hand in his pocket and one hand holding on to a glass. BRuce spares her a glance before looking back over the party. ]

It's been a while, Miss Kyle. [ Feigned formalities of course. ] What brings you back to Gotham's limelight?

[he rhymes now. not that it's been that long and the formalities make her want to roll her eyes, but she can hardly make a scene now, can she?]

Why, Mr. Wayne, it almost sounds like you missed me.

Well, you do bring a certain energy and... skill to the party. [ Bruce nods to the passing by server before looking back at her. ] I imagine the diamond business is going well?

Edited 2022-03-12 22:54 (UTC)

[ It had started as a whim, an idle thought, a plea that in some timeline somewhere she could still speak with Venat. In some timeline, she desperately wished to be able to see the woman who became as a mother to her, even as she wished just as fervently not to change her own timeline. And thus had the plan been born, the idea of going against Elidbus' advice one last time.

She didn't want to change her timeline, only to pull at the threads of another. For if G'raha managed to create his own, why could she not do the same?

It's the one singular selfish wish she's ever made and actively sought after and for a time, it seems like it will work. Things in Elpis ramp up and it seems like she might actually have a chance at this. Knowing that she need not rush, that time itself does not flow quite the same between these places, she bids the Convocation goodbye for the moment and makes her way back to her own timeline. She has things to collect, and people as well, before the last few attempts to convince the Amaurotines and then the final confrontation with the Endsinger. She can afford to take things slowly and not rush headlong into this important juncture.

Or at least, home is where she intends to go, but some stray thought has her changing course in the middle. When she finally opens her eyes, she isn't standing in the Crystal Tower on the First, like she should be. Instead, she opens her eyes to the outskirts of Revenant's Toll, familiar, yet something feels different. Not exactly wrong, but not right either. Taking a deep breath, she pushes herself to her feet and makes her way in. What she finds is a town almost exactly the same as the one she's used to. The only real difference is that nobody seems to know who she is. And she tries several people, ones who should know her by name, if not by face, but none of them recognize her.

Not even Slafborn or Rowena, the latter of whom would never be stupid enough to turn her away after all she's done for and with the House of Splendors.

None of it makes any sense at all — she hasn't even really changed anything in the Elpis timeline yet — and so with a budding headache from it all, she apologizes to Rowena and makes her way outside. Boots crunching the rocks and stone under her feet as she walks, she tries to think of what she can do, or should do, next. Likely the best course of action would be to make her way back to the First and try to use that Crystal Tower's power to jettison herself back to her own timeline, assuming such a thing is even possible.

But she won't know until she tries and she's never been the type not to try. ]

One foot in front of the other, Azumi. You can do this, [ she mutters to herself, just loud enough for someone nearby to hear. ]

( identity spoilers will be marked ! )

[ in all honesty, rosa is still reeling from all that she has experienced of late. her physical recovery had been as swift as possible, yet her emotional state is still... tenuous, at best. despite being allowed to roam the streets of old sharlayan now that her physical state is much less questionable, she had not left the seclusion of her private room until today, scant bells before her scheduled return home. she could, theoretically, simply teleport back to mor dhona, but for the moment she has not left and, truth be told, she may even make the scions wait while she sees her husband first.

and if any one of them complains, she has a book to throw at their heads. she has suffered so much on her quest to save the world. they can give her this much.

as it stands, she has decided upon an early morning walk through old sharlayan, before the majority of the people are awake and even aware of her presence. knowing well that master dickon will have just opened the last stand for their morning offerings, she heads there first. kind and supportive as ever, he offers her encouragement that she has sorely needed and she gratefully accepts it alongside a pastry and cup of tea before taking both far out where she will not be disturbed as easily. settling down on a rock well away from the beaten paths, she manifests carbuncle just to have some company, silent though it is, and begins to work on her breakfast.

so much has happened recently and even though she was resting here for many days while she recovered from the end of it all, being in this city now gives her no small amount of nostalgia. perhaps even regret. coming here was the first time she was able to speak face to face with hydaelyn... with venat. she had, of course, seen the woman's visage in mor dhona for a brief moment, but had no idea who she was. on the passage to old sharlayan, they had spoken and rosa finally had a face to place on the woman who had become as a mother to her.

far better a mother than her own blood.

'tis that memory and another far beneath the bowels of labyrinthos that brings the tears to her eyes. squeezing them shut, she does her best to stifle the flood, but for all the triumphs she has earned, this specific sorrow endures on, as do so many others. ]

I will never forget you, [ she whispers into the air, her sorrow silent, even as the tears begin to carve paths down her cheeks. whether she means venat or the myriad of other losses she has suffered... well, likely the answer is all. ]

[ twas a long road and a large gambit that venat had planned out. as she had with her previous station, she paved the way and left the clues for her protégé. all souls on etheyris, regardless of reflection or not, are her children, and this includes those pieces of her protégé that remain separated and are already joined.

how she longed to walk with them in the world she created. how she wished to sit with them as she had in days long past. perhaps fate is kind in granting her wish after her warrior of light has silenced the song of oblivion. perhaps, in this small time afforded to her soul before she sinks to the bottom of the aetheric sea, she might see the sky and stars as her mortal children see it.

she sees her warrior, her friend, her protege, sitting on the rocks to the beach. quietly and with no sound to her footsteps does venat come to join her on the beach. she stands behind her for a moment to take in the words that the young rosa says, the pain and remorse behind them. her brilliant glowing blue eyes close before she strides forward to stand a few steps ahead of her. ]

And they surely will not forget you, My Champion. [ venat smiles a playful one, her gaze looking over her shoulder at rosa. ] Memories can be seared into our souls, repeating and driving us forward in the life yet to live. I have no doubt that what lives they take in the next will be shaped by those fond memories of you.

[ a hand raises to her breast then. ]

I certainly cannot forgo the memories of my protégé--the young Azem who has achieved so much more than I ever could. Surely, that should be of some comfort.

Rosa. [ the smile widens on her face as she is finally able to call her friend by name once more. ]

[ of all the people rosa expected to see or hear at this point, of all the ones who would have dared come to see her while she was off on her own, this particular voice and the shape of that silhouette are at the bottom of the list. not that she never wanted to see venat again — far from it! — but she had thought her mother figure had finally gone on to rest, returning to the star maybe to be reborn another day. yet here she is, standing before her, and for several long moments rosa can only stare. hope blossoms through her tears, painful and selfish, as she slowly gets to her feet. ]

Venat?

[ her voice is soft, almost like she fears venat will disappear on her if she breathes wrong or blinks. a few moments pass as she wobbles dangerously on her feet. they had spoken many times in elpis of rosa's adventures, the things she had experienced as a scion, but never had she expressed her true feelings about how much like a mother hydaelyn had become to her. how much of one venat was.

with that swimming painfully in her mind and heart, she sways one last time before finally closing the distance between them. as a tactile person by nature, but one who has ever needed to hide it for various reasons over the course of her life, rosa's mask cracks, desperately reaching for physical comfort from someone she had thought lost to her forever.

all she needs is a hug from her mother.

not for the first time does she regret not being the azem venat would have known, back in a time long forgotten, but she is who she is at this point and nothing will change that. and for whatever reason, venat seems perfectly happy with her, just as hydaelyn always was, and that means more to her than she can ever express. ]

I thought never to see you again, [ she admits, forehead resting against venat's shoulder as she wraps her arms around her friend's body. ] Forgive me. I did not mean to weep upon your shoulder. Your words are kind and I shall keep them in mind for the future.

[ for the times when she nearly loses herself to despair, when hopelessness tries to sneak its way into the cracks in her heart, when she has to lean on those outside sources for comfort and healing... that is when she remembers venat and hydaelyn, when she imagines there are people who love her just for being rosaire.

wiping at her eyes, she finally steps back, pieces of her usual mask falling into place out of sheer habit, even though venat is one who has ever seen her true face. ] What brought you here to Old Sharlayan of all places? [ a beat, as her mind turns over the implications there, and then— ] Would you like a tour?

[ venat's fond smile grows as rosa once more calls her by her true name. while hydaelyn is also her name--for they are one in the same--the small acknowledgement of the time before such things always brings a warmth to her heart. while rosa is not all that she once was before the final days? it is unmistakable that she is azem and that shines so very bright. beyond the pain and the torment that this particular life has given her.

her hand gently raises to rest on the shorter hair of the younger elezen. who else would she entrust the star to? venat had not picked azem on a whim, and therefore, picking any of the reflections of azem had not been on a whim. rosa's soul remains the same, while not whole, and thus it matters not how many lives she may live. she will always be azem. ]

You have ever been the one to leave impressions wherever you might go. I had thought that a trait for the Seat of Azem, and that opinion has not changed. After all, a champion of my own choosing would need to do the very same.

[ do not doubt yourself so.

her hand remains extended to the warrior of light if she is so inclined to hold it. ]

With the Final Days adverted by you and the hands of the Scions, I had wished to truly see our star. [ one last time, before she rests and is reborn. venat pauses to look at the city behind them. a part of her does wish to see it, but instead, she merely closes her eyes with the smile placed on her face. ] And a feeling so very distinct reached out to me. Who am I to leave my friend, protégé, and Champion to her hurts after all that I have asked of her?

I believe it best that we do as you would wish, whatever wish that form may take. After all, you have granted the wishes of so many others.

Edited 2022-09-10 21:06 (UTC)

[ 'tis passing strange to hear a variation of any kind on do not doubt yourself so from anyone, though she recognizes she should not be surprised to hear it from venat. the woman before her has ever had faith in her. even at her lowest, she felt hydaelyn's pull, her comfort and belief and a trust so full and strong it filled the void left in rosa's heart.

would that she could offer the same in return.

having been raised by someone so thoroughly invested in the political dance of nobility as her birth mother, rosa had crafted an emotional mask at an early age, behind which she always hides her true thoughts and feelings. if she does not allow them to show on her face, no one can use them against her. with most people, even now, that mask remains in place. not so now, not in front of this kind woman who has ever supported her. rosa's lower lip trembles and though she manages to smile through it, tears prick the edges of her eyes once more, gratitude swimming within their ice blue depths. a verbal response to the support does not come, words failing her in this moment, so rosa simply allows her eyes to speak for her.

as for the rest... ]

I suppose I was mourning a few things, [ she admits softly, her gaze drifting out towards the city as venat's does, taking in the vibrancy of the land and its people. ] You, for one, as I was not able to offer you a proper farewell last we met. But if you have time now, perhaps...

[ venat is, after all, an ancient, immortal by rosa's understanding, and if she is not quite ready to return to the star and her final rest, then rosa will not deny her company. her eyes slide closed for a moment as she considers, her lungs slowly and deeply expanding to breathe in the smell of salt and calm in the air. all is as it should be. ]

The hour is still early, [ she muses, eyes opening as she returns her attention back to venat. deciding what she wants and asking for it is still something she struggles with, but in this moment she takes it for the direction and care that it is, giving the question due consideration before she answers. ] The only thing I've done so far is have a pastry and a cup of tea from the Last Stand. I should at least return the cup. Would you like to try something while there? If not, I could procure some ingredients from the market and make us something myself. [ the only thing her mother had bestowed upon her that rosa appreciates and still uses is her love of cooking. feeding people is one way she shows her affection for others, be it through her own cooking or buying it elsewhere. ] Or we could simply take a stroll. I had thought to be alone with my thoughts until I return to Mor Dhona, but having you here one last time is a blessing I will not lose.

don't see a muse here you'd like? drop a request here!

· CALL ME OUT (SPRING) ·

🌸 SPRING

✝️ trevor belmont | castlevania

yugi mutou ⛛ yu☆gi☆oh!

🔥 john constantine | constantine / hellblazer

🦇 bruce wayne/batman | dceu+zsjl

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ha ha bet you thought I forgot this was here, muahah not the case!

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⚡ barry allen / the flash | dceu+zsjl

🌙 lunafreya nox fleuret | final fantasy xv

duke paul atreides ☀ dune

leto atreides ii ☀️ dune

🌸 category :: final fantasy xiv.

🌸 alkaid mercedes ( warrior of light. )

84 years later...

🐉 estinien varlineau.

💎 crystal exarch.

🪓 ardbert.

🌺 venat. ( endwalker spoilers )

mom talk :( SPOILERS

steamrolls into feels, apologies in advance

rolls in feels for always ♥

♥ its gonna get super feelsy

soooo many feels ;o;

🌸 category :: request.