#to be fair big and strong but really kind is very much lara's jam

[sparrowwritings]

Final Fantasy 14 Writing Challenge Day Eleven: Heart of Gold

Day Ten -- Masterpost -- Day Twelve

As devoted to her work as she was, Moenbryda was well acquainted with noticing when others were paying attention to her. Then again, she thought as she gave a sidelong glance through the curtain of her hair at the two who were trying and failing to not be seen, at least they had innocent intentions.

Roger and Lara, the two Warriors of Light, were shoving each other and bickering in whispered tones. Their “hiding place” was just behind one of the bush planters that the Rising Stones had placed around it as more natural dividers. For as young as they were, the two would have to crouch to keep their heads from being spotted. They were too focused on their heated (if quiet) conversation to notice that it wasn’t concealing them at all anymore. From the way they were pointing, clearly it had something to do with her.

She might as well have some fun with them. 

Gently easing herself out of her chair, Moenbryda padded over to the “hiding place” of the Warriors of Light. Neither of them sensed her as she got close enough to hear what they were talking about. “--don’t see what the big deal is, you should ask her!” Roger hissed.

“It’s your question, you need to ask.” Lara whispered back just as fiercely. 

“Yeah but you ask this stuff way better than I do! And! I’m the one that keeps getting scared by him anyway so I shouldn’t have to ask!”

“All the more reason for you to do it, Roger! You’ve got to show you’re braver than that! Sh-she’ll just think it’s stupid if I ask.”

He stared at her for a few seconds before he responded. “...so you’re whole reason why you won’t talk to her is because you think she’ll think you’re stupid. And that’s why you’ve been getting all blushy around--”

“I don’t! Get that blushy around her!!” Lara whisper-exclaimed, whilst her cheeks grew a darker and darker pink by the second. She seemed to be in the process of hiding her face behind her fingers while she rambled. “Moenbryda’s just! Really amazing and strong and smart and gosh all I did right was fight a few nasty things.” 

It was a choice between giving away her position by laughing or giving away her position by commenting on the not-very-secret conversation happening right in front of her. Moenbryda chose the latter, if only to spare the girl’s feelings. “Well aren’t you just the sweetest thing.” Both Warriors of Light let out a very squeaky yelp before simultaneously running their backs into the planter they had been hiding behind. This had been the right call; Lara’s face had only become pinker instead of pale with shame. Moenbryda gave the two of them a wink. “Don’t knock what you’ve done, though. Primal slaying is far more impressive than what I’ve been up to.”

“N--you, uh,” Lara mumbled, her voice getting quieter with every attempt at a word. “R-roger wants to know why…” 

Either in response to getting caught or as a reaction to save his best friend further embarrassment, Roger blurted, “Why is Urianger so weird?” Moenbryda blinked. He continued on when it was clear she had to think on an answer. “He talks in riddles and is always so serious and he always scares me cuz I forget he’s in the room half the time so like why is he like that?” His large green eyes stared up at her own silver ones. “The other Scions say you’re the closest to him, so...?”

What a question. “If I’m going to answer this, we’re going to be sitting at a table instead of crouching behind a planter. With some tea, preferably.” Moenbryda reached down and picked up both Warriors of Light by the arm until they were able to stand on their own. Roger had the more defined musculature, but otherwise the two young midlanders were pretty lightweight by her own standards. Lara was stuck in admiration again until the seawolf had sauntered past her quick enough that the girl had to scramble to catch up.

Not much longer after, the three of them sat at the round table that Moenbryda had taken over for her research. Books and papers were gathered up and set aside, far away from the cups of steaming hot tea that she’d poured. After getting settled in, she looked from boy to girl and back before raising a gray eyebrow. “So. You want to know why Urianger is as eccentric as he is.”

“W-well…” Roger couldn’t meet her gaze, instead scratching at the side of his face. “I just...don’t know much about him. All the other Scions trust him so I know he’s a good guy, but…” He trailed off.

“He’s like a really tall brown wall.” Lara finished for him. When the silver gaze came to rest on her own dark blue eyes, she fumbled for words again. “I-I mean, kind of like R-roger said he’s just...just really hard to guess at what he’s thinking. Even without the…”

“Pray tell, whatever dost thou meaneth, young Lara?” She fluttered her eyelids, putting a hand to her chest even while imitating Urianger’s usual tone. “Surely thou canst thinketh that this manner of speech be...obtuse?” That got a genuine giggle out of the girl. Nothing like making fun to offset nerves. “Surely one such as thee can fully grasp the intricacies of language far better than that of thine peers! Oh the youth of today hath fallen in scholarly pursuits! For shame!” The extra drama Moenbryda added got both of the teens to laugh. A success if she should say so herself.

“In all seriousness, though, Urianger has always been more in favor of keeping to himself than spending time with others. I’d say it was miraculous that he’s stayed this long in the company of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, except that our Master Louisoix helped bring them together. And he’s grown fond of them since.” She blew at the hair that partially covered her face. “Ever loyal to those he deems worthy of loyalty is our dear Urianger.”

Lara and Roger looked to each other. There was something of a silent conversation between them before he seemed to lose and so spoke next. “Is that also why he sneaks up on people so easy? Because he keeps to himself a lot?”

She couldn’t stop the grin from growing on her face even if she wanted to. “He’s perfectly capable of making noise while he walks. I suspect he stays quiet around you purely for the amusement that comes when you discover him, though you’ll never be able to suss out that confession from him.”

“What!” Roger stood in his seat, getting dangerously close to spilling what was left of his tea. 

“Did you not think him capable of humor?”

“Yes! I mean no! I mean--” The boy sat back down hard and dug his hands into his red hair as he stared at the table. “Oh my gods he’s been laughing at me this whole time.”

“Now now, he’d never laugh.” Moenbryda pointed out. “Smile, maybe, but definitely not when you could see him.” 

“He can smile too?!” 

“Wonder of wonders, I know.”

“Loyalty and humor…” Lara mused. “Well that’s two things we learned about him that we didn’t know before.” She carefully looked at the older woman out of the corner of her eye. “...Is there anything else you want to add?”

The possibilities of further embarrassing her childhood friend were laid out in front of her like a feast. Anecdotes from their shared past. Hilarious mistakes on his part while they were both under the tutelage of Louisoix. Odd quirks from childhood that he most certainly kept even after having not seen her in so long. Any of that could become ammo for the Warriors of Light to use in order to fluster and annoy him like he deserved after being particularly difficult to understand. 

With a monumental amount of restraint, Moenbryda settled on a far more mature tact. Even Urianger would be proud, were he privy to her current thoughts.

“Loyalty and humor is fine and all, but one must take care if that’s all one knows about a person.” She took a sip of her still-warm tea. “A person of ill intent can still be loyal to their unrighteous cause. Humor can just as easily be derived from cruelty, not just harmless pranks.” Roger looked like he begged to differ, but she continued onward. “It’s the core of a person that one should look out for most of all. What they choose to do, again and again, when there is no reward to speak of or even if they are aware that the result will lead to negative consequences for themself.” 

Looking between the two teens again, she smiled gently. “A concept you two are already familiar with, I’m sure.” 

This time, the quiet was contemplative. 

Lara spoke first. “But...we haven’t seen him doing a lot that involves his core. He’s always so...closed off. Or like he’s hiding, I guess.”

“Well then it’s good you came to speak to me about that.” Moenbryda winked. This time, the girl merely jumped instead of froze. “If I had to say any one phrase fit Urianger well, it would be that he ‘has a heart of gold.’”

“Really?” Roger piped up. 

“Absolutely.” She nodded. “He will always put the wellbeing of others long before he thinks of himself. To his detriment in some cases, but admirable nonetheless.” Pointing a thick finger at the boy, she added, “Even his scare tactics, such as they are, are minor in nature. Enough to make you jump, but not enough for you to go for your weapon, right?”

It took him a moment to think back that far. When he finished, he sounded awestruck. “...yeah. That’s right.” 

“See? You already had some of the evidence in front of you. All you both needed was a fresh perspective.”

Roger stared openly at Moenbryda before turning his gaze back to Lara. “No wonder you like her so much.”

The brief moment of respite for the girl’s poor face died as the pink came back in full force, even darkening into red in places. “Roger!” She shouted at him. 

Moenbryda gave a happy sigh to herself and leaned back a little to drink her tea while the teens argued again. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the far more stealth experienced members of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn snickering at the scene. 

She might not have known the Warriors of Light for long, but it was good to see that such responsibilities hadn’t weighed them down enough that they forgot how to be their own age. Now if only someone would stop pretending that he was twenty years older than he actually was around her every so often.

[wanderlust225]

Kuala Lumpur - the same, but different

I knew the day would come, but I must say I was pretty sad to see Amy go back to SF. Alas, she is still full-time working and she was able to swing a long 2-week holiday but not much more, which means I had to start my solo travel. I have read a few articles recently that talk about the benefits of being alone, about it being the only time when one can reflect and truly think for themselves. I am not completely sure I buy that, but I do think 2 weeks by myself will be an excellent chance to think, write and (hopefully!) make some headway in defining a structure for what I want going forward. It is still very much a work-in-progress but, besides travel and visiting family and friends, one of my very important projects during this time off. Solo travel is wonderful in the sense that you can indulge in anything and everything, or nothing at all. Over the past few days in KL, I have done all of those. After Amy and I split, I found a kaffe and toast stand, the namesake and traditions certainly a holdover from Dutch rule. The coffee was nothing more than drip coffee with loads of condensed milk (though I didn't complain) and the famous toast was white bread without crust. To make matters worse (or better in my mind), I didn't even get the traditional slab of butter with jelly, because I just couldn't resist peanutbutter. It was a lovely breakfast. The flight to KL was under an hour and the Ekspress train to Sentral was super easy too. From there I transferred to a local line (I owe all my public transport savvyness to London) and then walked through a fairly seedy neighborhood to my hotel. The problem with new cities is that you never know if the city is kind of like that, or if you're in a bad part of town. I was happy to see security at the entrace to my hotel and fairly busy hallways and, for $35 a night, not too surprised at the clean but unceremonious room. I had caught a cold in Sing, of which the effects were becoming particularly brutal so I crashed for a few hours in the hope of kicking it. When I woke up I decided to go on an afternoon wander and realized the hard way that KL really isn't a walking city. I found my way to a hawker street but with all the food sitting out in the sun and having left my travelan pills at the hotel, I decided instead to wait to eat. The next stop was a cafe called VCR, which had won a number of awards in latte art design! Thus, I had to break my one coffee a day rule and with it I had a delicious bowl of yogurt and granola. (It also had draggonfruit in it, so I'm going to count this as "local" fare.) Later that night I met my friend Gaj and her family at their home. Gaj is a great friend from London, who grew up in KL and it was so cool to meet her family, including her Aunt and grandmother visiting from India! Although I was lucky enough to meet her little baby Lara back in June in London, it was incredible to see how much she had grown in just a few weeks - and it was crazy to think how long ago my trip to London felt... I suppose that is what traveling to 9 cities in the inermin will do to you! It was also interesting how international everyone was - if family wasn't in KL they were in India, Australia or Europe, which covers a pretty big space of land! We went with her neighbor to a Sunday night market, Gaj indulged in some fried fish dish that she adores (she offered me a taste but it was a pretty strict no thanks from me) and then we headed to a nice restaurant. I had some traditional chicken and rice, similar to Singapore, but with nice sauces and chicken soup which felt incredible on my throat. It was fun, but both the baby and I were fading fast. Gaj's brother was sweet enough to drive me back to my hotel, and Gaj confirmed it was a seedy part of town. That, my cold and super thin hotel room walls was enough to keep me awake for most of the night. The next morning I remembered that I have worked extremely hard the past decade and saved enough to make this trip enjoyable, which in this case included treating myself to a nice hotel. Gaj had mentioned the historic and beautifully redone Hotel Majestic the night prior and at $110 a night seemed like a very affordable luxury to indulge in. After a strong conversation with the hotel manager I got my money back and left the Hotel Maison Boutique - forever. Important travel lesson: the place you stay, which includes the neighborhood, can really influence how you feel about a city. The lobby of the Hotel Majestic smelled like flowers and there were beautifully dressed door and reception attendants. They put me in a corner room and I had a beautiful view of the city. It was tough to leave such a nice room, but I set off to explore. The really cool thing about KL is that although it's majority muslim (I think ~60-70%), they have considerable Chinese and Indian populations and everyone (seemingly) lives in peace together. (Side note: I was reading earlier this morning that many are at odds with the government on suspected stolen funds, but still the people of many religions were fighting together.) I visited the Sri Mahamariamman Hindu Temple first, then the Sin Sze Si Ya Chinese Temple 2 blocks over and then the Masjid Jamek Mosque a few minutes walk away. All were open and very welcoming to tourists (except the mosque which was closed to non-muslims for prayer) and all were relatively simple. Perhaps because they were neighborhood places of worship, but especially for the Hindu Temple I was surprised that their gods were just small painted (clay?) statues. I had to take off my shoes to walk inside which just feels terribly unsanitary in a city, but once inside I had a treat as they had a little ceremony at noon with drums and a little guitar playing very chaotic music and the Hindu version of a priest taking light to all the gods. I had to laugh as there were equal numbers Hindu people and white and Chinese tourists, following with cameras and dressed in loaned skirts to cover their legs. (I will have you know that yours truly had dressed for the occasion in a proper past knee length skirt!) I then wandered through Petaling Street in Chinatown. I can't be sure but if I was a betting woman I would say they were getting at peddling street - but honestly it doesn't matter because they had some great knock-offs which was fun to look through. Then the skies turned dark and I praised my Florida routes for helping me pinpoint the exact time the skies would open up. I found a cool local Indian spot and, with the confidence of my travelan pills, ordered some curry and naan with a bottle of water (come on, I'm adventurous, not crazy enough to drink the local water!) As I was waiting I realized everyone was eating with their hands, which is very common in Malaysia. I was happy I had ordered naan but they must have taken pity on me and brought me a spoon and fork. (Fun fact: In most of SEA you never get a knife and the closer to China you get, the more common it is to put the entire piece of your mouth and "figure it out" in there and finally spit out the bones. If I had grown up in China, I would certainly be vegetarian. Thankfully, I have figured out "cutting" with fork and spoon pretty decently by now!) Eating customs aside, I got to watch them make the naan, which was super cool and my curry was delicious, so win win! On my walk back to the hotel I passed by a lot of other public buildings, most built with Islamic influences. I worked out and then decided to head into KLCC (KL City Center) to see the Petronas Towers. This is in the downtown business district of KL and was about a 20 minute taxi from where I was staying (thank goodness!). The towers are in many ways the emblem of KL, though they were only built in 1998, and were acutally designed by an Argentine architect. True to KL though, there are many islamic influences, including the tower's five tiers that represent the five pillars of islam. I went to dinner at a cool place called Troika, 3 restaurants on the 23rd floor of a skyscrapper, and although I chose the latin-themed Fuego for the best view of the Petronas towers at night, they had recently been trumped by a huge, dark, ugly building (pun intended). The view wasn't great, but the food was, especially the grilled watermelon with halumi and pickled tomatoes. YUM. There was also a super nice waiter that started talking to me - but I escaped quickly after he gave me his number, afraid I miscontrued a sign of friendship! After dinner I walked to KLCC and stood at the base of the towers to get an excellent look and the twin towers were pretty spectacular all lit up. So after a full day in KL, it became more familiar and I saw a ton of similarities with Singapore including: the many official languages, the kaffe and jam toast, the many religions living together and the very recent Western imperialist history. The differences were also stark: most women in head scarves, nothing close to the maincured streets of Sing (though to be fair, neither is SF) and a sprawling city. So close and yet very different.