legendsoflarient

[legendsoflarient]

My dash feels so empty lately. Looking for more to follow! FFXIV blogs that share about their WoLs/OCs with no drama and plenty of fun! Recommendations and reblogs greatly appreciated.

[legendsoflarient]

My dash feels so empty lately. Looking for more to follow! FFXIV blogs that share about their WoLs/OCs with no drama and plenty of fun! Recommendations and reblogs greatly appreciated.

[legendsoflarient]

[legendsoflarient]

Rats and Bridges

Rats.

Not a curse, but creatures.  Fuzzy things with large ears and loud squeaks as they wriggled and tried to escape her hands.  Violet hues stared at the squirming mass within her hands.  Six.  Rats.  Looking up at the grinning Au Ra woman who seemed oh so pleased with herself to pass along such an odd collection S’iyle was only more confused.

That confusion only served to let one of the squirming creatures free and she very nearly dropped the whole lot as one tiny rat scampered up her arm to take purchased on her shoulder.  Wide eyed she stared at it, but it seemed content with its new place of being now that it was no longer confined to her grasp.

Eying the thing as it groomed and cleaned itself she returned her gaze to the woman, holding her hands out as if to return the collection.  “I…um.  Thank you.  Really but I don’t-”

She never got to finish her words as the woman shushed her.  “Rats are valuable!  Take them for help with the bridge!  People want them.  You’ll see.”  Her puzzlement only deepened as the woman spun with a wave and hopped up onto a waiting Chocobo.  “Take care!  Enjoy them!”

S’iyle stood there, clutching five rats in her hands while one stared after the woman with her.  For an adventure on Highbridge in Eastern Thanalan this hadn’t been anything she had expected.  Thanalan was so different to what she was used to.  Gridania held vast canopies of towering trees broken by the occasional hill and small mountain threaded with streams and pools of cool water.  But here?  Scrub brush replaced the flora, and sand and dust became the norm.  She was sure she’d never truly get the sand out of her ear after stumbling over a rock and taking a tumble on her way here.

She’d only come this way due to a rumor of some odd jobs to be done here.  And now she had…rats.

Of all things, rats.

It was many hours later freshly washed and sitting in a tavern that she began to somewhat understand.  Four rats dozed in a small cage on the bench beside her while beside her plate sat the white rat who’d taken purchase on her shoulder.  She still needed to come up with a name for him but it seemed rats…were valuable in such an odd way.

This one though.  She’d keep him.  She’d already tied a red ribbon around his neck into a cute little bow.  If rats could be pleased he certainly did after she was done.  Still she had four more little creatures to find a home for.

One had gone to a family who used to have a pet mouse.

One still needed a name but she figured it couldn't hurt to come with her.

The rest would find a place to belong. Why not, who was she to deny the fact that Rats are valuable and people want them.  Watching her new little companion as he scampered down into her lap and curled into a ball earned a tender little smile from the white haired Miq’ote.  After all, this one was valuable to her now, and she certainly wanted him.

(This story is based on a very real encounter I had at Highbridge while participating in the Fate to protect it. I joined it about half way through and at the end I started to head off to do a bard quest when an AuRa lady who'd been there found me and traded me six Tiny Rats and said pretty close to what was said here in this story before running off again. I was as baffled as S'iyle was But I have a forever companion now and five more rats to figure out what to do with...)

[legendsoflarient]

“My parents were adventurers. Mercenaries really. They threw themselves headlong into danger without a care in the world. At least they did until they had my brother. That really put the stopper on them for a while. But he grew up hearing stories, hearing tales of the world and their travels. If they hadn’t had me, they probably would have taken him with them. Shown him the world and introduced him to their old friends.” A wistful smile crossed her lips, a longing for the adventure of the world.

The smile faded but did not dissipate in its entirety. “But they did leave one day. My brother was old enough to take care of me and seemed to be settling in nicely among the trees and canopy of Gridania. They promised to visit, to write. I’ll give it to me, they did it for a while. Then without warning it stopped. They must have been busy, my brother told me. They must have been in the middle of something important he would say. I even believed him! One day out of the blue he said he was going to go find them. They had missed so many things and he was going to force them to own up to it. I mean our house had burned down, my brother had fallen in love and married, and yet they never cared to be there.”

Her smile did fade then, lilac eyes dipping. A boot clad foot kicked at a rock, unearthing it from the hold of the debris coating the forest floor. “But my brother had their blood in his veins. He liked his books sure, but books were a means to an end in his eyes. He left with his wife, swearing to return. He never wrote once. I found his journals, he’d tried to burn them, but one made it okay. He resented having to take care of me. Resented them leaving without him. So, he left to find them and be with them I imagine.”

Pausing the white haired Miqo’te turned and flashed a grin as she spun on her heels. “Oh, he did love me. He wrote that in there too. But he was his parent’s child and grew up on stories of adventure. How could taking care of his baby sister be nearly so interesting. I don’t fault him, even if I wish he had been more honest.”

Clasping hands behind her, head tilting back to take in the canopy. “But I grew up on family and still have my parent’s blood in my veins. I ran out of gil a couple years ago. But I scrounged and worked and trained. I’ve got a pair of knives at my hips and a bow on my back.”

Dropping her gaze that grin wrinkled her nose, and her violet eyes began to dance with the beginnings of a fairytale. “If they want to be out there in the world. Then I just have to find my family, right? I know I’ve got family out there…and if my parents or brother didn’t want me. Then I’ll just have to find a different kind of family. After all, life is an adventure you know. And I have my parents adventuring blood in my veins!”

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