Welcome to Adventu, your final fantasy rp haven. adventu focuses on both canon and original characters from different worlds and timelines that have all been pulled to the world of zephon: a familiar final fantasy-styled land where all adventurers will fight, explore, and make new personal connections.
at adventu, we believe that colorful story and plots far outweigh the need for a battle system. rp should be about the writing, the fun, and the creativity. you will see that the only system on our site is the encouragement to create amazing adventures with other members. welcome to adventu... how will you arrive?
year 5, quarter 3
Welcome one and all to our beautiful new skin! This marks the visual era of Adventu 4.0, our 4th and by far best design we've had. 3.0 suited our needs for a very long time, but as things are evolving around the site (and all for the better thanks to all of you), it was time for a new, sleek change. The Resource Site celebrity Pharaoh Leep was the amazing mastermind behind this with minor collaborations from your resident moogle. It's one-of-a-kind and suited specifically for Adventu. Click the image for a super easy new skin guide for a visual tour!
Final Fantasy Adventu is a roleplaying forum inspired by the Final Fantasy series. Images on the site are edited by KUPO of FF:A with all source material belonging to their respective artists (i.e. Square Enix, Pixiv Fantasia, etc). The board lyrics are from the Final Fantasy song "Otherworld" composed by Nobuo Uematsu and arranged by The Black Mages II.
The current skin was made by Pharaoh Leap of Pixel Perfect. Outside of that, individual posts and characters belong to their creators, and we claim no ownership to what which is not ours. Thank you for stopping by.
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Her apartment was a splash of color on gray.
What had once been plain white walls were now covered in canvas and immaculately painted landscapes. Her patchy couch had been replaced by several armchairs and a bed with a patterned bedspread. Her cabinets had been painted in swirling designs with ivy and flowers, and an easel stood in one corner with another canvas and a half-finished painting ready to be finished.
Sometime between her meeting with Relm and now, her two room apartment had become a true home.
Celes stepped inside the front room, glancing around for Relm. She liked to go off into town by herself (no matter how Celes warned her -- she had to trust the girl would stay on guard) so Celes wasn’t particularly worried by her absence. Celes herself had been gone for two days already on another mission with the newly formed Dragonblades, and she could hardly blame Relm for entertaining herself in the meantime. With a sigh, Celes cracked her neck, stretching before falling back into an armchair.
Mercenary missions were rewarding when they were done for the common good, but they always left her stiff and sore from the travel, not to mention all the cuts and bruises she hadn’t bothered to heal with magic. What she really needed was a hot bath and a long nap. Despite all her time in Zephon, she still considered a hot shower and a decent bed the most indulgent of luxuries.
Celes glanced over to the easel, pausing as she noticed an almost lifelike human face grinning back at her. The hair wasn’t done and neither were the clothes or the bangles that she clearly planned to fill in. Still, there was something painfully familiar about it, and Celes couldn’t help but squint at it closer trying to make it out. There was something about that expression. Something about those eyes…
Celes gasped, touching at her mouth. Her stomach churned at the familiarity of it all and she felt her throat tighten.
It was Locke.
There was no mistaking that grin, that jawline, the jaunty look in his eye. It was Locke, as clear as the morning sunrise even without his hair or his leather jacket lined in zebra print. Celes slammed her eyes closed and covered her mouth with her hand. It had been so long since she’d seen him.
A painful longing welled in her chest, and she muffled a shuddering breath with her palm. She felt hot tears well in her eyes before they streamed in rivulets down her cheeks. The man who had saved her life even when she hadn’t wanted saving. The man who had joked with her, protected her, believed in her even when she’d turned her back on them all. The man who’d given her hope when she’d fallen to her lowest, and the man who she’d hoped to press close to for as long as she could manage before they were to climb that horrible tower. He was the first and only man she’d ever truly loved, and the breath in her trembled at the sight of him.
How long had it been since she’d seen his face? She couldn’t say, but it had been too long. Longer than she’d ever imagined was possible without death, and she’d had nothing to even remember him by. When she’d woken in this impossible world, she’d somehow lost his bandanna.
”Oh…” the sound escaped her in a low sigh. How had she forgotten him? How had time dulled her own longing? If he were to appear before her now, could she even look him in the eye? She swallowed hard in shame and buried her face in hands.
No, she wouldn’t be worthy of him. She never had been, but now even less. The world had changed and somehow in the scuffle, she'd forgotten all about him.
Her new home echoed back at her in shameful spirals.
Relm wasn't an expert on romance, as much as she'd tell you otherwise. She couldn't tell you what to say on a dinner date. She couldn't help you through a rough spot in your marriage or the way to go for a romantic walk in the park. Relm didn't know romance, but what she did know was emotions. Partly because she was a child and children understood emotions more than most people knew. But also because she was Relm and she had seen things most children and adults didn't see. Relm couldn't tell Terra properly what love was. Relm couldn't tell Setzer how to greave over Darill.
But Relm could tell about emotion, she could see emotion. She captured it in her art everyday.
Relm couldn't tell Celes how to handle her love for Locke, but she could give her something else. She could capture those emotions and let them comfort her everyday as she looked upon his face. She could let her see them together, happy as she knew they were together.
Relm wasn't an expert on romance... But her art could capture all those feelings in it's brush strokes. She could be their for Celes... With herself and her art. She could be their for the one who cared about her, at least this... She could make it alright. That was what the portrait was meant to do. One couldn't blame Celes for not noticing, or for focusing on the man she had been without for so long. But their was more to the painting than just Locke himself. Bore in his drawn arms was another, someone familiar even if just an outline right now.
The painting was more than just Locke, it was both of them, a calm almost serene smile on the former general's face on the canvas. A far cry from the expression on the actual woman's face. That was what Relm would run into, of course unware of her close friends current state.
"Wow I can't believe I forgot blue! That's a key component of his whole out..."
Relm paused, her breath catching in her breath as she looked ahead of her, at Celes looking at her unfinished painting. And then she bolted forth, tossing a cover over the painting in a hurry. No it wasn't done yet! Celes shoudn't see it like this, before it was just right!
"Ah you wearn't supposed to see....! I mean it still needs..."
Relm was a mess, she stopped in place as she looked upon Celes and frowned. She wasn't cheery. She wasn't smiling. Celes was not happy, or to be more exact the art had the opposite effect of what she wanted. Uggh if she hadn't forgotten the blue maybe she could have finished in time..! No... She still could. She had all the other colors now. She could still make this right. Relm stood at attention, a deterimined expression on her face as she stared down her friend. Her face wasn't one of anger, nor pity or annoyance. It was a child that wanted to help. A look of concern with her hand out for Celes to take in her own.
Relm understood a lot more than most people thought or even knew. Relm couldn't tell you about romance....
But she could talk all day about feelings, hours on end about emotions. Relm understood what it meant to lose someone, what it felt like to think you did again. Relm understood more than most people thought... She didn't know romance.... She didn't know how to explain love but....
"Celes... I'm here... Please talk to me"
She then gave a light smile and turned her head to the side.
"That's what sisters do! Lean on each other when they need it most!"
Final Fantasy VI
22
YEARS
Female
Complicated
Heterosexual
429 POSTS
Fin
Use your own eyes and see for yourself whose side I'm on!
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
There were footsteps. Celes froze at the sound. She wasn’t alone.
Relm stared at her for a moment before making a mad dash towards the easel, throwing a cover over it with a panicked hurry. For a moment, Celes forgot her tears or her pain or the way her shoulders had shuddered. Instead, she just stared at Relm as her thoughts struggled to process what had just happened.
Relm hadn’t been out. She’d merely been in the other room. And then she’d found Celes. Sitting here. Crying.
Her cheeks went red as she touched at her mouth again. What had Relm walked in on?
"Ah you weren't supposed to see-! I mean it still needs..." Relm stopped and seemed to really see her for the first time. A panic crossed her eyes before she straightened, standing her ground with a new resolve.
Celes didn’t have time to say anything. She didn’t know what she would have said. Relm worried for her. Relm had seen her weakness. Why had she let herself feel so much?
Relm extended a hand, but Celes couldn’t take it. Her thoughts were still too scattered, her shame too hot. She’d been so stupid. Crying like a love-struck fool! This wasn’t like her. It wasn’t like her at all.
”Celes... I'm here... Please talk to me." Relm was smiling at her. Oh gods, was this what she’d come to? A child having to take care of her?”That's what sisters do! Lean on each other when they need it most!"
Sisters. Celes laughed a little despite herself. Was that what they were for? She supposed she wouldn’t know. ”I’m fine,” she said, perhaps a little too curtly. She sat up straight and wiped at her eye, feeling the slick of tears there though she hoped her expression was cleared. No, she couldn’t put this on Relm. The two had never been exactly close (at least not as far as their group as a whole went) but Celes still cared for her, and she was only a child. Relm didn’t need that extra burden to carry.
And if Celes spoke of it...Well. The very idea of baring herself so thoroughly made her nauseous.
”Really. I just…” She desperately cast out her imagination for any kind of plausible explanation to hide the truth. ’I was just being a weak-willed, silly woman.' She muffled a scowl at her own weakness.
”I was just surprised. That’s all. Your art is...overwhelming sometimes. I’m fine. Really.” Celes attempted a smile before wiping efficiently at her eye again.”What were you up to while I was gone? I didn’t mean to leave so long, but we were stopped by a gang of bandits on the way. We made short work of them, but it did mean taking a detour to deal with them.” She wiped at her other eye. Stupid, why were they still leaking?
Sometimes the body betrayed what the mind wanted to convey. The same way art could convey the emotions of the painter and what was captured within it's strokes. They were very similar. This was even more prominent eith someone like Relm. A very emotional girl able to capture the essence of anything she painted. Part of that was her magic, but the other part was being able to know people, know her friends.
The painted smile wasn't a mistake, or an accident. Relm knew how happy Locke and Celes were together. She knew they completed each other. More than that she knew when her friends were trying to 'spare' her emotions, or otherwise not burden her with things. Because she was young. Because they assumed she wouldn't understand or shouldn't have to. What they tended to overlook is that she wanted to understand. She wanted to see. Even if it could be harder for her to understand. It was like they couldn't remember what she had seen to. Like they couldn't remember that before and after their world broke she saw many things. She learned many things. These things went I to her art.... But they went into her mind to.
"Because I'm a kid right? You guys always do this..."
She crossed her arms. Did Celes think her words hid the way she saw the former general felt? She saw it in her face, in her movements. If she had fhe time she could paint up the scene with ease. No, Relm saw a lot. That was why she took Celes' hand in hers, this time without asking beforehand. If she put up no resitence she would lead her back over to the painting, using her free hand to remove the covering once more. Revealing the painting of Celes and Locke once more. It was a rarity to see Relm like this. Most of the time she acted like what she was, a child. Even she could admit that. But their were things she knew that children didn't, things she knew that even adults had a hard time keeping to heart.
"Grown ups always tell us kids to reach for our dreams... To do everything we can to hold onto our hopes and strive for the things we believe in..."
Relm frowned, her eyes trailed down the painting, even now thinking of how she was going to finish.
"Yet as adults you tend to so easly give up on the dreams you've told us to pursue with all our hearts. But why? We fought back, we didn't let Kefka or the world he ruined crush us ya know? We kept going... So why give up your dreams now Celes? Cause that's what it sounds like... Adults can cry to... Nothing's wrong with wanting to see him again right? You like him. I thought the painting could help give a clear vision until we find him... You know? Thats what I've been working on while you were gone, that and selling a few other portraits fo people. I think that's better than giving up on seeing him again"
She knew more than most kids. Understood more than some adults. She captured emotions, water, land. The good the bad, all of it in her art. She saw more than most gave her credit for.
"I'm not just some kid... I get I don't know everything the adults do but... I've seen the world ruined.... I've been all around that world of ours before and after... Doesn't that make me someone able to lend an ear Celes? I mean.... Pretty sure that's what you or any adult would tell me right? 'you shouldn't put everything on yourself, you don't have to be alone!... Right?"
Once more Relm offered a smile as she let go of Celes' hand and turned to face her. Not as childish as usual, but welcoming.
In her pictures she captured everything... Forests water... Light...
But it was more than that... She understood it to. Understood life thanks to her friends and family. Celes probably viewed her as a kid, she couldn't blame her for that. She was a child, only turning twelve later this year.
But child or not.... She wouldn't ignore her when she clearly needed someone to be there for her, she wouldn't thrown this aside... Even if Celes wished she would.
"Come on... I know your way less than fine... I could draw a canvas on this alone so... Please"
Final Fantasy VI
22
YEARS
Female
Complicated
Heterosexual
429 POSTS
Fin
Use your own eyes and see for yourself whose side I'm on!
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
"Because I'm a kid right? You guys always do this."
Celes blinked in surprise. ”No, that’s not…” she started, but couldn’t bring herself to finish. Wasn’t that exactly why she was brushing her feelings aside? Of course, the thought divulging them even to adults made her cringe, but she wouldn’t have put on such a strong front for anyone but Relm. Celes frowned faintly. Well of course that’s what she’d done. Wouldn’t it have been irresponsible to do anything else?
Relm took her hand and Celes was so taken aback that she didn’t resist. ”Relm,” she started but didn’t get far before Relm was leading her forward and Celes couldn’t help but follow. They both stopped at the painting and Celes’ stomach twisted in anticipation. Sure enough, Relm ripped the tarp away and there it was again. Locke’s smile. Celes swallowed and looked away. Even unfinished it was beautiful. She couldn’t stand it.
Relm started on about dreams and never giving up hope, but that wasn’t it at all. Celes still had plenty of dreams. For better or worse, she dreamed nearly every night that she was home again and almost always those scenes would thrust her awake, gasping and sweating as she clutched at her throat and tried hard to keep her hands from trembling. Perhaps she had given up on Locke. Perhaps she’d given up on ever returning, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t move on. This was her world now and these were her people. She didn’t need anyone else.
But the sight of him. It still took her breath away.
”I'm not just some kid,” she said, and she was right. Relm had gone through more than any person -- adult or child -- should have to. She’d been forced to grow up early, and anything in this world was surpassable compared to the hell they’d left. Still, what she was asking wasn’t so easy. ”Doesn't that make me someone able to lend an ear Celes?”
Celes let out a breath, trying hard to steady herself against the remnants of grief that had overtaken her. Relm made sense. She made far more sense than Celes had, but it wasn’t that simple. Child or not, there wasn’t a person alive that Celes would want to have this conversation with. Speaking wouldn’t be a relief, but another twist of the knife.
Relm let go of her hand and looked up at her with a look that Celes could hardly bare to return. There were those eyes. Those concerned, slightly worried eyes. How could she deny that? It would only distress Relm further.
”Come on, I know you’re way less than fine,” she said. ”So please.”
And Celes broke. There were no more defenses she could build, no more rationalizations to sweep her feelings away. Relm needed this. There was nothing else to it but that.
”No, I’m not fine.” Those words alone felt as though they were being ripped out of her throat. Her tongue worked against them. What was she supposed to say?”I’ve been here a long time, Relm. Much longer than you, and it’s been hard. Being alone. More than that, I’ve gotten used to it here. It’s...easy to forget. What we left.”
Celes glanced at the picture again, fighting back a wince before she looked away again. ”All this time, I’ve wanted nothing more than to find you all again. And to find...Locke. But this isn’t like before. Before, I knew he was alive -- or I believed it at least. But here? People fade in and they fade out. I don’t know that he’s come or that he ever will. And I…” Her throat tightened. ”I miss him.”
She felt heat rise to her face. She felt her eyes burn, but she fought back the tears and the pain that she’d already allowed far too much purchase. She wouldn’t do this, not now. Not ever again. ”I’ve started to wonder if I’d leave here even if I could. It’s safe here, and...Easier. When I first came, I’d forgotten.” She gave a little laugh half choked with the tears she wouldn’t allow to fall. ”I’d forgotten what the world used to sound like. The birds. The crickets. Sounds of life.” Celes took a long, shuddering breath. ”The people here. They all looked so normal. They weren’t grieving or hungry or haunted. I hated it at first, but now…”
”Now I couldn’t go back. And I don’t want to remember. Even if it meant seeing him again, I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t want to.”
Celes looked back at the painting. The lines were perfect replicas, the unfinishing brushstrokes almost breathed with life, but it was still only a painting. He wasn’t there to question her or doubt her or comfort her. There was nothing there but charcoal, canvas, and paint. She suddenly felt very tired.
”Thank you. For the thought.” She shook her head. ”It’s already beautiful. But I don’t know if it’s something I can appreciate any more.”
It was easy to forget what they left. Of course... Of course it was. Celes had been here so long. Alone. People came and they went like dust in the wind. She had no way of knowing if their friends would come, no way of knowing if they would vanish the next day even if they did. People came and they left, that was Celes' life until now. Relm only made it worse with a reminder like Locke. She saw that now in the words she spoke. This was her world now, it was hard to remember theres. She could get that she supposed. She offered a light smile and took her hand to the canvas, flipping the page over as if to indicate her agreement to what Celes was saying.
"If he comes... And stays, I'll finish it. Otherwise..."
But she wasn't going to get rid of it ether. She knew Celes missed him. But she couldn't blame her for wanting to make a life here to. If this was where they would be now... They should make a life here. She understood that. She didn't want to to go back. This was her life now, this place. A place so much more peaceful than the one they left. Even she could see that. Celes... Deserved such a world. She didn't know everything. But Everytime she saw Celes it was like their was a terrible weight on her shoulder. Something weighing her down. Guilt... Sadness.. she couldn't say exactly what but it was there even as fought through Kefka's tower and shd could assume as they fought Kefka himself. Yeah... Celes deserved a world like this, anf this world deserved her. The greatest threat to their original world was gone now. Celes missed Locke but if she was willing to move on... If this was her home now.... Well...
"I want to join you, just like before... I want to do more than sitting around painting while you keep us stable. Celes, I know I'm a kid but I'm strong to! I can help you.."
The young painter had a determined look on her face as she looked to Celes. She did so much, yet so much haunted her. She deserved a happy life. Relm wanted to help her make that life.
As the girl spoke her brush went across the fresh blank canvas. Her emotions guided every stroke as she put her feelings to paper. She let Celes speak and she spoke in turn as she wrote up as she breathed life into this new piece of art.
"Our world's safe now... Everyone's free to build their own hopes and dreams. Even if their all still there... They can be happy there and we can be happy here right? We stopped the big bad... Kefka's gone. So... I think you deserve it ya know? I want to experience it with you"
She stepped back revealing the work she did so far. This time it was just her and Celes. An outline of this very room with them at the center. It wasn't colored yet, but the intent was clear. Relm stood at Celes' back giving a peace sign and a wild grin while Celes wore her usual light smile one. Relm wasn't going anywhere, she was here to stay. She wasn't going to leave Celes in the dark, kid or no! No... Gramps taught her better than that, shd knew better than that. More than anything... Celes wss her friend. Friends stayed together.
"Life... Sounds... Everything, that can happen here to.... Your stuck with me anyway so... Just let me help ok? You know I can! Let's do it side by side!"
They were both here. Both separated from everyone else. But... Celes wanted to stay, Relm wanted to help her. Besides.... Maybe she could be happy here to. The Old Men would want them to be happy, she just knew it. Knew that to be true. Shd would do what she could... If Celes let her.
Final Fantasy VI
22
YEARS
Female
Complicated
Heterosexual
429 POSTS
Fin
Use your own eyes and see for yourself whose side I'm on!
Use your own eyes, and see for yourself which side I'm on.
Relm looked sad. Of course she did, but some of it had lifted, Celes thought. There was no longer frustration layered behind it. No longer that same sense of indignance. Instead, her frustration had been replaced by understanding. Celes didn’t expect Relm to understand completely, but this was a start at least.
Relm smiled and flipped to a new page, covering the first from her sight. ”If he comes. And stays, I'll finish it. Otherwise..." “
Celes looked at her in surprise. ”I think I’d like that.” Yes, on the day that Locke returned -- if that day ever came -- then she could manage that painting. On the day that she heard the slightest rumor a thief in a bandanna that was when she would take on hope and search for him just as feverishly as she ever had. But that day was not today, and it was foolish to think otherwise. That path led to nothing but pain.
"I want to join you, just like before.” Relm looked stronger now. More determined than ever before. ”I want to do more than sitting around painting while you keep us stable. Celes, I know I'm a kid but I'm strong too! I can help you.."
Celes smiled weakly. ”Relm…” She’d known this day would come. She’d known it since the moment she’d invited Relm back with her. Celes had never taken much time to know Relm specifically, but living with her. Fighting with her. There was no denying the girl possessed a spirit as stubborn as it was strong. She’d known it all along that this day would come, and yet she wished it hadn’t.
Celes had been given no choice but to fight too young. She’d hoped to spare Relm of the same -- if only for a short while.
Relm had already turned away, brush in hand, as she pressed it against her new canvas. Her brush strokes came bright and even. ”Our world's safe now.” She arched her brush in one smooth motion. ”Everyone's free to build their own hopes and dreams.” Celes’ eyebrows furrowed her confusion. That certainly wasn’t the world that she’d remembered. No, she’d remembered one of desperation and loss, barren of both life and hope alike. Even she in all of her insistence had only realistically expected to die fighting rather than groveling under Kefka’s boot. Relm couldn’t have been serious, and yet…
”Kefka's gone.”
”What?” Celes sat straight up, startled and staring. What on earth was Relm talking about? To say such things was nothing short of delusion, and yet Celes couldn’t bring herself to ask the obvious question. She couldn’t bring herself to ask anything at all. As unhinged as Relm sounded, there were more important issues at hand. And so Celes settled back into an uneasy silence. There was nothing to be done now that couldn’t come later.
"Life... Sounds…” The girl stopped, struggling for words. ”Everything. That can happen here too. Your stuck with me anyway so. Just let me help ok? You know I can! Let's do it side by side!"
And that at least, Celes could answer. ”There's no point arguing, I suppose.” Celes sighed. ”Asking you not to fight. Well, that would be unfair, wouldn’t it? As much as I want to.” Celes tried for a smile. It didn’t come naturally. She’d survived too many emotions in too short a time.
”Well, if that’s the case then there’s no point in delay, is there?” Celes rose to her feet. Somehow, her own authority cleared her head. This was something she could manage without doubt. She’d always felt most comfortable with an order on her tongue or a sword in her hand. ”I’ll speak with Caius. He might be less than agreeable, but I’ll win him over in the end. And once he relents, you’ll just have to prove yourself. Even he won’t be able to argue that you’re more than capable of helping.” Celes laughed to herself as she imagined Caius’ reaction. Bringing a child into a deadly battle? Oh yes, he’d have many objections to that, but he was a pragmatic man above all things, and somehow, she knew he’d have less reservations than most.
And Relm would only need to prove herself once to sway him forever.
”Welcome to the Dragonblades.” She turned to face Relm, a flicker of warmth passing over her. Hadn’t she once been told the same? The Returns had welcomed her whether she’d wanted it or not. Or at least Locke had. Celes shook her head, smirking wryly. ”Now doesn't this feel familiar?”
