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[niraff14]

Rained Out

It was all ruined, the blasted storm had rolled in unexpectedly and complete shutdown the place. Alisaie was fuming silently to herself at all the time she had wasted setting up this night.

She'd planned such the perfect date night, thought about it in depth, hammered out the details. Alisaie had planned on a dinner at Costa de Sol, well in some ways it was a breakfast since Yesuntei had a tendency to sleep through most of the day due to the nocturnal habits of the Kagon.

Afterwards they'd relax by the shore, cool night air, gazing up at the Stars. She'd even procured a small telescope so they could enjoy the view even more. It would have been such a lovely evening!

And now it was all ruined, the storm was so bad that the diner had had to close up. Even if they had stayed open the dining area was just a disaster zone being pelted by the rain as the wind gusted it under the protective roofs.

She was betting that the telescope she'd set up along with beach chairs were halfway to garlemald by now. It was all she could do to not visibly show her frustration to Yesuntei.

The xaela had fortunately come prepared with an umbrella much to Alisaie's surprise. And despite the night being a disaster the Kagon was smiling bright and almost giggling in the torrential rain as she held her umbrella up high enough so that the Elezen could take refuge under it as well.

It amazed Alisaie how Yesuntei could remain positive while they tried to get out of the storm. However, she had to admit that positivity was starting to rub off on her. And despite the storm howling around them, they were quite close right now.

Alisaie felt a blush growing on her cheeks.

Perhaps this night hadn't been ruined at all. So long as Yesuntei was still enjoying herself and they were together.

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meteion pixel i forgot to post

[niraff14]

Time to push it to the limit.

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Secret Signs

It had been a slow day and Taliss was looking forward to it ending, the sun was already hanging low in the sky. The rays shining through the windows of Gage's Acquisitions company windows. The atmosphere was almost unsettling, and Taliss couldn't really figure out why lately she'd just had a gnawing feeling at the back of her mind without any real answer.

That feeling was gnawing at her now even as she leaned against the rail of the grand staircase that led to the second floor. Her heterchromia eyes gazing towards the main door, as if her violet and green pupils were trying to see through it.

As if in response the door swung open and a tall slim man entered, dark scales and horns immediately identifying him as a Xaela. His garb also looked to be fairly tribal as if he was still living in the Steppe. Maybe he was, but what would bring him all the way here? His colors seemed to indicate he was from the Kha tribe.

"Good evening, is there something I can help you with?" Came another voice from near the reception desk, Yesuntei had been filing some paperwork and noticed the new arrival. Greeting him in that friendly manner of hers that could almost fool you into thinking the girl was more naive than she really was.

The xaela man regarded the pale xaela with red limbaled eyes that gave him a very intense look. "Perhaps, I am seeking someone." He spoke, while at the same time his hands shifting between several gestures.

Yesuntei did not notice the motions as she tilted her head, "Someone here? Or were you wanting to hire Gage's to find someone for you, so long as it is for legal reasons!"

Taliss's eyes however went wide as she spotted the repeated gestures that meant nothing to Yesuntei, the nearby servants hired in service to the company. But meant everything to her as the gestures were nearly shouting out, though unheard by all except her. (I'm looking for a Moks)

The dark skinned xaela pushed off the rail and moved over to the two while smiling lightly, "I may be able to help our guest Yesuntei of the Kagon. Afterall I do have a talent for dealing with people in various manners."

With a raised brow the tanned xaela man turned towards Taliss, "And what makes you so confident you can help me my dear?" He spoke with a more low tone that came out smooth yet in a questioning manner.

"Because I am Taliss of the Hotgo, and I have many different talents. Though perhaps we could discuss things more privately," She spoke with a wide grin, even as she brought a hand up to brush her bangs out of the way. As she did so her fingers twisted subtly into a sign for a brief moment, the closeness to her as she did so conveying non-verbally. (I am Moks)

Yesuntei eye rolled briefly, "Taliss please do not take advantage of our guest before he's given us a job."

The strange xaela man gave a nod, "Yes, I believe that would be apt to do Taliss Hotgo. Do not worry Yesuntei Kagon I believe she is right."

Taliss continued to smile while motioning for him to follow her, which he did after a moment, the much shorter xaela leading him to an empty room and closing the door behind them.

Yesuntei tilted her head to the side looking confused, "That was a tad…odd."

In the room the xaela male spoke briefly, "I am Usun of the Kha," He then began to sign with his hands more openly, now that there were not prying eyes. (And I have been looking for you.)

She quirked her brow curiously as she signed back to him while gazing up at the rugged xaela. (Why would the Moks be looking for me specifically?)

(Your parent tribe was destroyed, several Moks with it. You were not found so we did not know if you had perished. Several sightings were reported but not confirmed. So we began looking to see if you or any other Moks with that tribe had survived.)

Taliss gave a small nod while signing quickly though hesitating at certain parts, (I was not present during the attack, I had my own…problems I was dealing with.)

Usun frowned a moment as he replied nonverbally, (You should have sent a sign, the survival of the Moks and all of the Xaela depends on us working together. It is time for you to return.)

She shook her head as she replied, her own lips frowning, (I cannot return yet, I have responsibilities here it would look strange. Besides the Moks know very little of Eorzea and its people.)

The man drew in a long breath before letting it out in an annoyed sigh, (Perhaps we'd know more if you had bothered to get in contact and tell us what you had learned. Though you do raise a good point.)

Taliss smiled again, her tail giving a sultry sway, (Perhaps I can tell you what I have learned and then with the others you can decide if it would be better for me to stay or return.)

Usun tilted his own head a moment as if in thought before nodding, (Very well, relay to me and I will take the information back.)

The dark skinned xaela girl began to sign more, as she started going over what she'd learned about Eorzea. Its city states, its people, Gage's Acquisitions. Granted she had to verbally say some words due to not having an equivalent within the Moks language.

Over an hour later, the door open and Usun exitted, "Thank you Taliss Hotgo, you were very helpful, perhaps we will cross paths again soon." He stated with a bow before he left the building entirely.

Yesuntei blinked and looked back towards the room as Taliss leaned against the door frame with a lusty look in her eyes, "That…I'm not sure I wish to know." The pale skinned Kagon said outwardly, however internally she was confused and unsure of what had gone on. She saw them go in the room, heard the man state his name was Usun, and then nothing beyond a low whisper from Taliss every so often. It was extremely peculiar. 'I wonder if I should tell Erick or Dark about this…as that was weird even for Taliss.' She thought to herself.

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The Moks Handshake/Language

So you have the Moks Tribe, and their brief official Blurb here.

A tribe invisible for the fact that its members are spread out across many different tribes (unbeknownst to those tribes). Communication between its members is done on the rare occasion when two tribes meet, through an ancient set of hand signals only recognizable by those who know what they are looking for.

Which just rereading that again...I think I have completely missed what they were saying in actuality with it. I had always read that paragraph and assumed by secret hand signals. That they meant that was how Moks signalled to each other to let each other know "Hey its cool I'm a Moks too." You know essentially a secret handshake that only they knew.

But holy crap I'm a moron and didn't realize that's not what they mean at all. Because the sentence is set up explaining HOW communication is done not how they know each other.

Basically the Moks may have a special handshake, but the Moks actually have their own entire Sign Language they use to communicate with each other in secret. Thats why no other Tribes have hard evidence on the Moks beyond "Yeah we think they're around." Since think about it, even if you had a special handshake you did before you spoke to one another. Someone else can come into earshot and hear you speaking about things completely unrelated to the Tribe you are currently living in. This would raise suspicion and cause people to investigate to find out what is really going on. This would quickly result in members of the Moks Tribe being discovered and outed.

But if your ENTIRE communication with your Moks Tribe is through Hand Signals and body language, then there is nothing to be overheard you can speak however you want and your surrogate tribe will never know the difference. Plus even if someone walked in on you while you were speaking to a Moks with this sign language, you could very easily and smoothly brush it off. Not to mention you could have your bodies positioned so anyone that walks in won't see your signing and whoever see them enter can quickly sign to you to 'Act Natural'

It just makes so much more sense on how they'd stay invisible with a sign language that is unique to them. Because to anyone else it'd just look like some silly hand gestures or potentially just odd idle movements. Anything except a deliberate communication attempt unless they were being extremely blatant about it which they're probably raised not to be.

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Taliss 'Hotgo' Moks

A xaela that is far more complicated that she first appears, though she is happy to make people think she is shallow and not in the know. However those who pay attention to details, those who look past the girl who looks perpetually drunk, sleeping with everything on two legs and acting like she can't be bothered to do anything productive, will quickly realize there is more going on behind that piercing gaze of hers.

Though even the most perceptive will never realize her Moks heritage until it's too late. For a Moks is raised within another Xaela Tribe, unseen, taking on that Tribes name as their visible affiliation and never revealing their ties to the Moks. As a Moks, she is well versed in subterfuge and information gathering, reading people. For it is how a Moks survives and finds other Moks without raising suspicion.

The Moks are something of a boogeyman Tribe on the Azim Steppe, there is nearly no concrete information on them that other Tribes know beyond they are raised within all the Tribes upon the Steppe. Which is the source of many conspiracy theories on Moks being ruthless manipulators trying to control the Xaela Tribes from the shadows. Or that they are Shadow Assassins that can be hired to create power vacuums if you can find one to begin with. Not to mention a part of other stories about Moks coming to punish bad boys and girls in the dead of night.

Ofcourse, the truth is potentially far more straightforward, if you could get a verifiable Moks like Taliss to actually spill it. But to the outside world she is Taliss Hotgo, a name that isn't simply cover since she was born into the Hotgo Tribe and raised in their customs as well as Moks. Hence why she is always seen with face paint of varying shades, for despite the Hotgo's destruction at the hands of the Dotharl she still adheres to their beliefs for while she could no doubt fade in with any Tribe. In her heart she is always going to be a Hotgo.

One key to finding a Moks, some say is finding a Xaela that has an unnervingly large amount of knowledge of all the Tribes. As even though Xaela are familiar with other Tribes, given the fluidity of the Xaela Tribes in how they are created, destroyed, merged and just in a general constant flux no Tribe will know everything. Well...unless that Tribe's members were spread out among every single Xaela Tribe.

Ofcourse, Taliss would refute such a silly claim by saying her indepth knowledge was just from her fascination and curiosity with how varied her own peoples cultures could be. After all many people study cultures in depth to learn all they can, and she is no different.

Not that an Eorzean would be concerned with silly superstitions about the Moks. After all, what are the odds that they'd ever run into one? How would they even know? Better to be frightened about more real dangers that they can see and face.

But it does raise the question, is Taliss just in eorzea because of her own life choices? Her guilt at betraying the person she felt was her one true love, and spiraling into a pit of alcoholism and promiscuity to hide the pain? Or was it all arranged for her to come to Eorzea by the Moks? Is she actually here as an Agent of her people because they are curious or worried about the influence Eorzeans are having upon the world?

One may never know. But they will know from those piercing eyes of hers, that she is much much more than she appears and that what she deigns to let people know is only a sliver of the full truth.

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"You know what the difference between me and you is? I make this look good."

[niraff14]

If you want some Dragoon vs Dragon writing inspiration. I present this short clip from Monster Hunter World; Iceborne of an awesome player(Not Me) using the Insect Glaive against Fatalis who is a beefy Black Dragon that has some intense fire.

Insect glaive while not a spear par say is very similar to one and they love their Jumping moves ingame, especially for epic cinematic avoidance of attacks.

[niraff14]

If you want some Dragoon vs Dragon writing inspiration. I present this short clip from Monster Hunter World; Iceborne of an awesome player(Not Me) using the Insect Glaive against Fatalis who is a beefy Black Dragon that has some intense fire.

Insect glaive while not a spear par say is very similar to one and they love their Jumping moves ingame, especially for epic cinematic avoidance of attacks.

[niraff14]

I may not be entirely in sync with all the daytime people, but I'm also never going to get entirely use to the bustle that these people get up to with so many in one place. So having the slow nights more to myself at times is nice when you just want to think and enjoy the lovely sky as Nhaama rises.

[niraff14]

I may not be entirely in sync with all the daytime people, but I'm also never going to get entirely use to the bustle that these people get up to with so many in one place. So having the slow nights more to myself at times is nice when you just want to think and enjoy the lovely sky as Nhaama rises.

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I have a headcanon that Xaela tend to have really nice abs, my initial logic for this was purely....girls with abs look great(So do girls without abs, but still....aaaabs). Then a friend pointed out how Lizards aren't known for their high body fat percentage. Which makes me go, huh that makes sense that Au Ra in general might have a lower body fat percentage compared to humans. Which would have its pros and cons.

Either way, Xaela abs.

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Zoissette found herself resting against a tree in front of the Company House. She couldn't say when, but at some point she felt like someone else was around. Looking down and to the right, sure enough Yesuntei had appeared, leaning against the tree arms crossed in the same manner as her.

There was a small smile toying at the corner of the pale xaela's lips even as she tried to keep the straight neutral expression Zoissette had from being mostly deep in her own thoughts previously.

Though, Yesuntei didn't say anything, deciding for the moment to let Zoissette enjoy the calm quiet of the garden. Even as she continued to cheerily mime the Elezen's posture and expression while trying not to smile too much.

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They have their differences, but they both still have Xaela Abs.

[niraff14]

They have their differences, but they both still have Xaela Abs.