iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Day 2: Register Something a bit more lighthearted than yesterday! Exploring the dynamics in the early days of the party (or: Kali'ra and Altan are still in the "oh gods what have we gotten ourselves into" phase of meeting Syhrrael)

“Chocobo racing?”
Kali’ra’s eyes drifted around the grand, gaudy hall of the Gold Saucer, landing eventually through all the visual noise on the registration desk Syhrrael was leading them towards. He had heard of the Saucer, of course, but its blaring lights, jovial tunes, pungent perfumes and glittering flourishes were all a bit... much, compared to the calmness of the woods he was used to.
“So your grand plan to double our earnings is… gambling?” he asked, trying to stop the tip of his tail from twitching in his bubbling worry. The xaela by his side made no such effort to conceal his thoughts on the matter, his deep brow furrowed and his scowl deeper than the Dravanian valleys.
Syhrrael, trotting ahead of them, waved her hand dismissively.
“Stow your whidds, tibby. I’ll have you know I’m a dab hand at this!”
Kali’ra and Altan glanced at one another. There was a dawning realisation between them that the meagre gil they had earned from their first official job as an adventuring party was far from likely to last.
“Trust a bloody pirate… I knew this was a bad idea.” Kali’ra muttered. Beside him, Altan quietly took the small coinpurse their first client had rewarded them with out from his pocket. He deftly removed some of the coins inside, slipping them into a separate pouch all while said pirate was looking away. He wasn’t about to hand Syhrrael all of what they’d earned now that he knew her plan.
Kali’ra’s ears, folded near flat in a futile attempt to block out the bustle of the Saucer, jolted upright.
“Wait, doesn’t the Gold Saucer trade in its own currency? We can’t bet gil here!” he exclaimed, a flicker of relief sparking in his breast.

Syhrrael chuckled, glancing over her shoulder with a wink.
“Not if you dinnae ken the right cove.”
The flicker had been promptly snuffed.
Syhrrael reached the registrar and proceeded to inquire about the details of the upcoming race. Altan leaned down slightly to Kali’ra, keeping his voice low.
“And whose idea was it to recruit another adventurer?” he rumbled.
Kali’ra’s gaze snapped up to Altan.
“She had Admiral Bloefhiswyn’s personal bloody recommendation! How in the seven bloody hells was I supposed to know she was a bleedin’ pirate until it was too bloody late to say no!?” he hissed between his teeth.
Altan shrugged.
“You could have said no. Can yet.”
Kali’ra ran his hands through his hair with a growl, gripping and tugging at the messy strands as they went. With his head down and a sharp sigh, he mumbled under his breath.
“… We couldn’t go on as we were, Altan. You can’t focus on keeping a target’s attention and healing at the same time it’s… it’s too dangerous.”
The miqo’te folded a little further in on himself.

“You… scared me, last time.”
The fear in Kali’ra’s voice stung more than the throb of the still-healing scar between Altan’s ribs. His eyes flicked to the floor.
“… We could have recruited another healer.” Altan said quietly, the weight of his gunblade, and his promise to Radovan, heavy on his back.
“Well, your white magic’s nothing to sneeze at.” Kali’ra said, looking back up to Altan. The au ra met his eyes. Such rich, sweet, warm eyes, crinkled slightly with that lopsided smile that had melted his heart from the first time he had laid eyes on it.
“You’re… the only healer I really trust at my back.”
Altan blinked. Then turned away to hide the flush in his face. Kali’ra shook his head and let out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Matron save me, that was… uhh…”
He cleared his throat and tried again.
“I just… feel better with a bit of extra muscle on the team, you know? You’re a brilliant fighter, Altan, but I’m… not strong enough to have your back on my own.”
There was a pause.
“We’ll… see how it goes.” Altan sighed.
Kali’ra looked up. Syhrrael was strutting back over, swinging her arms cheerily with a wry smile on her face.
“Aye… Agreed.”

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Kinda want to tag along with FfxivWrite, not officially just for funsies :3c No promises for how many prompts will be done. Day 1: Key, in which my wol has a ROUGH start to arr (CW for mention of parental death and one-sentence mention of wanting to die)

Syhrrael wasn’t sure how long she’d been staring at the key in her hand. It’s silver sheen in the lamplight of the Drowning Wench flashed like scales. The iron weighed in her hand like an axe, cold like the crashing waves.
Leviathan’s shrieking roar still rang in her ears.
Her gaze darted from the wretched thing. She swallowed the bile rising in her saltwater-burned throat. Tears pricked her stinging eyes.
What cruel playwright had written her story to come to this? The Silver Shark, as fierce and ferocious a pirate captain as her reputation would have Vylbrand believe; Syhrrael’s mother had ever been her stalwart anchor. Sylbgeim was the very picture of freedom, justice and hope, of taking back from the gluttonous hands of the wealthy and powerful what had been stolen from the downtrodden. Had the Spinner orchestrated this tragic comedy for her own amusement? That Syhrrael would discover her mother was in the pocket of Ul’dahn slavers the very same day she would watch her and her entire crew – her entire family – Drowned by the fell serpent? That the very next day, ere the blood and sweat and salt and fear and rage and horror had had time to dry, the bloody admiral herself would fancy to have Syhrrael escorted from her cell to meet her? To have a chat about recruiting her to some eccentric miqo’te woman’s merry, shady band? Surely it was a joke.
She had refused, of course. The miqo’te (some snowy-haired Seeker of the Y tribe, Syhrrael couldn’t remember her name) had seemingly tracked her down like a ravenous gull the moment word had spread of a roegadyn woman who had slain the sahagin’s god and lived to tell the tale. She had spouted some nonsense about primals and the beast tribes, but just about her every word had drifted straight through her. She could hardly hear a thing over that awful, awful roar.

The miqo’te had left empty-handed, her cool tone masking the frustration that her twitching tail betrayed. The admiral was not so easily swayed. Not content to offer Syhrrael the luxury of rotting quietly in a cell, she had proposed something far worse: Community service. Apparently Merlwyb’s new idea of torturing incarcerated pirates was to put them to work with the adventurer’s guild. Something about “atoning for past crimes” and “encouraging a fresh start”. It was bullshit, of course. For her crimes, Syhrrael should have been put to death, but clearly someone with the admiral’s ear wanted her alive. Syhrrael would have preferred the noose.
Without the option to refuse, adrift and numb, Syhrrael found herself washed up at the bar of the Wench. Baderon, wisely, had seen the state she was in and kept his conversation short and sweet. He scrawled her name into the guild’s register. He then slipped the key into her palm and told her she was to meet with a black-scaled au ra and a rust-furred miqo’te who were looking to recruit another adventurer to their party. Just as she turned to leave, he spoke tentatively.
“Syhrrael?”
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
Baderon slid his bandana from his head with a steady breath, holding it over his chest.
“Sorry about yer ma.”
She left without a word.
And here she was, at the Drowning Wench’s room number 14, key with the corresponding label in hand.

The key slid into the lock on the door, turning with a thunk, and the door opened with a quiet, sighing creak. Inside the room, two men met her gaze: a black-scaled au ra and a rust-furred miqo’te. There was a pause. Gathering herself, she stepped over the threshold, forever changing the course of her life, and unknowingly steering the very fate of the star.

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I've got NieR brain currently, so here's Emil I drew (checks notes) EIGHT YEARS AGO

Digital drawing of Emil from NieR Gestalt/Replicant. His human and skeletal forms stand back-to-back within an ornate silver frame, surrounded by faintly glowing lunar tear flowers.

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

What do you MEAN I NEVER POSTED BAKOOL JA JA HERE HE IS I DREW THIS NEARLY A YEAR AGO ✌️ #FFXIV

Digital sketch of Bakool Ja Ja from Final Fantasy 14. He is laughing and throwing finger guns to the best of his ability with only three fingers per hand. This bastard is everything to me.

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Part 3 - except we're taking a brief break from women because Feo Ul deserves the world I will kill and die for them, my lovely branch ✨️

Digital drawing of Feo Ul from Final Fantasy 14. They have a mischievous smirk on their face, as though they were plotting something that they will find absolutely hilarious, and that the recipient will find existentially horrifying.

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Part 2 - Happy Ysayle because the world always needs more happy Ysayle 🥰

Digital drawing of Ysayle from Final Fantasy 14

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Learning to draw again by drawing FFXIV women part 1 - Here's Shale, I love her, she's so cool ✨️

Digital drawing of Shale from Final Fantasy 14

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

I need to learn how to draw my own damn wol because how else am I supposed to draw her kissing women!!!!!

Drawing of Syhrrael, my WOL from FFXIV, next to a screenshot of her from the game. She has a tattoo of Llymlaen's mark on her neck.

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

CW snake If you listen closely, you can hear it........ the internet dial-up tone playing quietly in his brain

Photograph of a pet royal python's face, his chin resting on a branch. He is facing the camera, making him look very silly.

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Went to see the and I love her

My FFXIV wol giving the a little kiss on the snoot.

Screenshot of the FFXIV text log reading:
"Your eyes sparkle in amazement at the .
You gently pat the .
You blow the a kiss.
You make the shape of a heart with your hands at the .
You give the a big hug."

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

Yeah I'm something of a hunting horn enjoyer 💅

Cropped screenshot of the hunter highlights end of quest screen from monster hunter wilds. The highlight card is for "support all-star", showing a total of 462 buffs and heals applied throughout the Omega (savage) quest. Doot doot.

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

FOUR MORE LIKES LET'S GOOOOO 👏👏👏👏👏👏

Cropped screenshot showing the like count on Shadow's post sitting at 96. Just four more to go!!!

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

Recently finally stopped watering my calathea straight from the tap and 1.5 months later after YEARS she is BACK

A small, sad Calathea rufibarba plant in a pot

The same Calathea now about three times the size and FLOURISHING (don't worry about the two little yellow leaf tips she's fine :) )

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

CW snake Lucifer: (Doesn't eat for 8 months) Also Lucifer, three days after eating a rat: More? :) For me? :)

A photograph of a pet royal python. He looks expectantly towards the camera with his neck coiled, looking for food with big, adorable, pleading eyes. He hopes that I've forgotten about all the food I'd wasted on him that went uneaten over the last 8 months, and insists that he has, in fact, never been fed. Not once.

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

1 - A Favourite 2025 will be the year I get properly back into drawing 😤 So what better way to kick off #JanuArty than by going back to my ancient roots and drawing my favourite thing to draw of all - dragon :) #JanuArty2025

Digital drawing of a red dragon sitting on a rock. It flicks out its forked tongue, and has a red fiery light burning beneath the scales on its chest.

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

He says thank you, too 🐍💛

Photograph of a yellow royal python, Solaire, looking at drawings of himself on a laptop screen

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

( CW snake ) You got games on your phone?

Photograph of pet royal python, Solaire, exploring

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Sofstar @sofstar.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

( CW snake ) Hello Bluesky from 🌟 Me and The Boys 🌟

Photograph of pet royal python, Lucifer, who experts agree is the cutest snake in the world

Photograph of pet royal python, Solaire, who experts agree is the cutest snake in the world

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