#It's like a slowburn jock/nerd friendship that neither expected but both treasure

[sundered-souls]

I may as well inquire about my favorite Scion, Urianger.

At first Aïcha avoided him. Not because she had anything against him, but one would reasonably think that between her decent grasp of Common and her Echo, understanding an Eorzean shouldn't be difficult. One, in this case, would be extremely wrong.

Every time she had to interact with him in the beginning, she looked at him like a deer in headlights, desperately hoping someone would translate for her (usually someone would indeed graciously reformulate for her benefit).

Once she finally started to figure out on her own what he meant to say though, it became a lot easier.

The prospect of doing research for fun eludes her entirely and why so many Scions seem to find it entertaining is a mystery for the ages. But she respects him, she respects his knowledge and she respects his commitment to the betterment of the star. His pragmatic side, despite the fact that being lied to pissed her off every time, is something she actually appreciates about him. She might not trust him to always be truthful, but she trusts him to do whatever he's doing for the right reasons.

And Aïcha's self-aware enough to know that it's a lot more than what she can say about herself, so she's not about to start throwing shade his way.

After Heavensward however, she insisted about having some sort of signal between them so at least she'd know to just trust him when he was acting weird, and that he'd explain when he could. They didn't grow close enough for it to stick unfortunately, so he still lied to her in the First.

Considering that because of the consequences of her own actions, she couldn't help Inge taking in the light, she was honestly more angry at herself than she was at Urianger or the Exarch for putting her friend in this situation. But the fact that he lied again stung nonetheless.

They eventually both grew as a person enough by Endwalker to have such a system in place, and he used it with the Loporrits, and she trusted him. It's, I feel, the true turning point of their relationship.

It's a strange friendship, all in all. She shouldn't trust him, but in a way she understands him better than most, and once he understood that, Urianger finally understood her. And he didn't judge, didn't look away and didn't look down, which is something that no matter how many times she's saved the star, Aïcha doesn't take for granted.

And he understands the weight of the leash he holds, figuratively speaking. Because if he comes to her, tells her he needs her help but can't explain why and that it'll hurt some people, her answer will basically be "do we ride there or take the aetheryte?"

(Thank you for the ask, @raynshyu!)

#The More You Know #answered; Aïcha #It's like a slowburn jock/nerd friendship that neither expected but both treasure #with very high stakes #they're intense lmao #(and now I wanna rewatch The Town)