I'm surprised you don't have more reviews because that was completely and utterly beautiful.

Hell, I'm even loving the confusion Balthier's cryptic musings caused because that was part of the reason it felt like these characters' presences were totally and unavoidably /there/. Add to that the taste of the dry heat of the desert and the mind-altering effects of cactus juice, and god I worship you.

that was unbelievably awesome. It's so cute but amazing at the same time. I do hope that you write another chapter... Or a sequal... Your Balthier is too cool.

Awesome.

Fantastic read. It's rare that I read every word of something very long, but your writing is far better than most. Thanks for the great fic ;)

I haven't read it all, but I heartened to know that I am not the only who sees the Balthier/Vaan pairing. I'm halfway through your story and it is well written. Loving it lots. Thank you.

LMAO. A /whole/ lotta randomness. That's crackness, for sure. I love it. Love it lots. _

First, darling put the self-depreciating blather at the end of the story. If I hadn't caught the first line of prose, I would have hit the back button so hard and been bereft of this fine example of someone actually knowing how to write.

Your prose leaves very little to be desired, and aside from something like two or three spelling mistakes, you've done a real top job at writing out full, explored, deep characters. Give yourself a bleeding pat on the back, already. After this work, you damn well deserve it.

So I must conclude in the traditional manner:

OMGZ SO CYUTE LOL.

Yours, Fawx

I've been looking for this pairing but scared to find the dregs of fanfic in it, but then the first fics I read are yours, and wow, what gens. Both this fic and your other ffXII fanfic are wonderful. The characterization was great, as well as the slow build to the relationship in the end.

Your prose is also fantastic. Your descriptions and just your style of writing is so smooth and well done that it makes reading this such a joy. I particularly liked the whole seeing ghosts aspect.

Thanks for sharing, and I hope to read more of your writing.

wow, nice, hardly ruins the pairing~

You should give yourself more credit! This was really rather fabulous. Your Balthier voice was perfect, and you made the slow development of the relationship believable. Well done!

Hi! Just wanted to let you know that I really liked your fic. It doesn't progress like a typical romance, but as a slow build up that I find refreshing and very interesting for the two characters. I especially liked your Balthier voice and how analytical he can be about Vaan's situation while missing what is happening between himself and Vaan.

Very nice fic and I hope to see more of your writing for this pair!

Okay. So, I really like this story. Really like it. I've been searching for Balthier/Vaan fic for the past few days and am OH SO GLAD that other people see it too! D

Let's see...where to start.

First, I love the way you stuck to Balthier's POV for most of the fic. You had such a great handle on how he saw the events in terms of a story that he could read and already knew the ending to even though the story kept changing on him and he never accepted that until the end. He had such a great passive view to the going ons in Vaan's life and while he believed that there wasn't much he could do to change the course of the story, he actually did a lot of meddling that he never saw as meddling.

The two times that we get a glimpse of Vaan's perspective are a great addition. Even if the story works fine without them, it works so much better with them. Because of that limited look into Vaan's mind, there is so much more focus on Balthier and his acceptance of things; but it also provides great character development for Vaan and doesn't make the shift in their relationship feel out of place.

I haven't finished the game so I can't comment too much on characterization, but I think you did a fine job. Any shifting of character was explained or shown very well and didn't feel forced. Of course, I totally believe that Balthier and Vaan belong together so I might be biased. I love the bit of interaction you included with the other characters as well; Basch speaking with Balthier was such a fun scene. Even though you did more telling than showing concerning the age difference aspect, it really brought to light just how alike and how different this party is; how much growing some of the members still have while others have already done so much.

In fact, I think that's one of the most persceptive parts of the story. That Balthier believes he is more knowledgeable of life than Vaan - and he might well be - but Vaan can certainly still teach Balthiera lot about life.

The scene that killed me was Vaan looking in the window and realizing that Balthier placed no ghosts in him. Which brings me to my biggest love about this fic: your writing.

You used such a great writing style that I'm in awe of. Everything flowed so smoothly together. There was an element of stream of conscious to the entire thing that made me feel more connected to the characters rather than if you had just tried to tell the story. You paced everything magnificently and really developed the relationship between Balthier and Vaan instead of rushing through it or trying to bring in elements to make one more empathetic to the pairing (I mean not manipulating the other characters to make the pairing seem better than any alternative).

I just...I can't really pin what I love about your writing in any way. It's very relaxed and seamless which makes the story read timelessly. It took me awhile to realize that at the very end, it had probably been awhile since the party had dissolved and Balthier was just accepting that he couldn't get rid of Vaan.

I don't have anything to complain about this fic other than a few mistypes that were so small that I won't bother pointing them out.

I do hope you write more in the future _ I absolutely love your choice of fandoms.

Oh gods I love you for this... Your style is awesome, and I haven't exactly played a heavy deal of the game, but I swear the characterization is down pat. I can't even let myself read anything else after this right now... I'm going to go to bed with this happily in my mind. You made my night Definately favoriting this. Just... wow.

XD That's fantastic. The ending seemed to be a bit...not there, but the rest was cool. The whole thing looks like just a bunch of drabbles, but I like it better that way, and you're going a bit overboard with 'ruining Balthier/Vaan forever' It's good. Really.

The best thing though, is the whole drabble-area where Basch is saying how Balthier seems to be warming to Vaan. Inebriated off of cactus juice? XD Fantastic.

And they actually seem very in character. Penelo was lacking attention though. Actually, everyone that wasn't Balthier or Vaan lacked attention...But it's a Balthier/Vaan fic so that's ok.

The whole 'Don't wanna be a ghost' idea you stuck to Vaan was great too. I love that. Just seems to give him a twinge of angst, and what orphan doesn't need more angst :D

I really loved this story. There are few well written stories with this pairing. I think you have a very beautiful and intense style. I look forward to read more by you.