#No beta we die like hunting log mobs

[cryptidblue1]

Silent Watching Ch. 1: Disguises and how to counter them.

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV

Characters: Alunne Qestir (WoL OC), mentions of Scions, mentions of various NPCs

Timeline: After 2.0 and Crystal Tower, before Patch 2.5 MSQ

Series Warnings: Canon typical violence, mentions of canon xenophobia, mentions of canon racism

Those who relied on words and tone of voice to convey themselves so much, well, they tend to not truly understand just how much they give away with their body and small tics they had no conscious thought over.

It was why they had almost ignored the Garlean acting as if he was a stranger when he pointed her towards the expedition to the tower that gleamed in the lands of Mor Dhona. They had gone, more due to curiosity and the fact such a thing would keep her away from cities and their crowded and noisy life. As well as out of mind of even most of the Scions who may attempt to pile more upon her as they played with politics and words on their board game that used lives.

Why she was more upset over the complications brought about by the one who spoke in prophecies and riddles, then in shock when he had used himself to gain knowledge of the Warrior of Darkness. The dagger wielder had almost perfected the art of disguising, but the one that had possessed him did not have the same instinct to change posture and stance with the same ease, but back then she had not known him enough to fully see such for what it was. Yet, she had learned and made it a goal to know all those that could be taken in such a way. Memorizing postures and habits that another would not fully gain ease of with a possession.

It had taken hours of watching and unnerving those they watched, an effort she didn’t appreciate being belittled by the spy in his guilt over such happening to him before. Seeming to brush off what she was doing, and how much effort was going into such to make sure it did not happen again. The headbutt may have been too much, but the little sleep and stress from memorizing each distinct walk and movement pattern of the Scions had slowly taken a toll and it was a reasonable response if they had been home among her own people.

They learned far more about those that she was now surrounded by then she had initially wished to learn. Still leery of their mindset regarding how they may calculate their worth if whatever had given her this ‘Echo’ decided to stop making it useful to them. Yet the more she had watched, the more she had become...possessive of them in a way only her people and the Dawn Father created siblings could understand. They had become hers to watch over and protect in the same way Reunion was the Qestir’s to protect and manage. It was an attachment, that could prove foolish in time if they measured her worth only by the power that had first gained their attention. Yet, it was a hollow comfort here in this realm so far from her own. Made it easier to connect to them as she learned their ‘dialect’ in regards to body language.

It had to be worth it. To know them so well, to become attached meant that none of those in those masks would creep back in using one that was theirs to protect.