day three >> temper
#ffxivwrite2022 #ffxiv #prompt #arr #thancred #wol #wolcred
warnings: hurt without comfort, guilt, regret
general: super short cause i cba, it's bulli thancred o’clock, ungendered unnamed wol
noun
- heat of mind or emotion, profess to anger
- a characteristic cast of mind or state of feeling
- the state of a substance with respect to certain desired qualities (hardness, elasticity, or workability)
verb
- to undergo aetheric corruption by a primal
- to dilute, qualify, or soften by the addition or influence of something else
- to make stronger and more resilient through hardship
- to bring to a suitable state by mixing in or adding a usually liquid ingredient
“They're dead because you weren't there!”
It feels good to place the guilt on Thancred for a moment but the shape of his lips change, twist and tighten. He's no longer the charming bard but a man weighed down with regret.
“If you'd come when you were supposed to they wouldn't have gotten tempered! I could have fought Ifrit alone and they would still be alive!”
Both of you know this is a lie. The threads of fate are impossible to untangle and trace. None can say how Thancred's presence would have altered the course of events, or if it would have altered anything at all.
Perhaps he would be the one enthralled and put to the sword by the Brass Lanterns.
“I—” he reaches for you, hoping to say the right thing for you to forgive him. He would comfort you to the best of his ability if you allowed it. He could take you to bed and touch you, worship you, shatter you into a million pieces and put you back together before doing it all over again.
If only you would temper your anger at yourself with your affection for him.
You turn your back to him.
He stares at your back for a long moment, fingers still extended, before closing that hand into a fist and dropping it to his side.
“Forgive me,” he manages, voice tight. “I'll leave you to your rest.”
“Thancred...”
The door has closed behind him and your room is empty. The flame of your anger sputters out, leaving you cold and alone. Leaving you with new regrets of your own.