The Falcon (Open)

[kaiyashu]

It had been so long, so agonizingly long since he'd seen any of his friends. Two years sinces he'd talked mechanics with Edgar, laughed about Gau devouring Sabin's dried meat while Cyan crafted flowers for the woman in Maranda. Two years since he heard Relm argue with Strago that she was old enough to try alcohol, that he was trumping Locke at poker, That Terra and Celes stood on the deck of his airship and talked about how wonderful it was to know what love felt like. How he'd missed them, all of them. They had gone through so much together that it had been impossible not to grow close to them.

The Returners almost felt like family. One big, happy, somewhat dysfunctional nomadic family that lived in an airship, but it was always exciting. He wished they hadn't had to go their separate ways in the end, especially after all they had accomplished. If only they could soar the skies with him forever...perhaps then he wouldn't be so lonely. Yet he had taken them all to their respective homes and witnessed the reactions of those who cared about them as they had come rushing forth with open arms.

It made his heart ache a little, but he smiled anyway.

He had kept busy using his airship to make large deliveries and in turn had used the money to order parts and fuel to keep his ship running at it's finest. He'd also saved up some money to alter some of the rooms within to make them hospitable to sleep in, should the need arise. Or, more specifically, should he find his friends. That was his real goal for flying endlessly...not that he needed a reason to take to the skies. Soaring through the skies was as natural as breathing to him, but the emptiness he felt after the merging of the worlds was only magnified when it became practically impossible to find his companions after the sudden appearance of so many people.

But Setzer wasn't one to give up, not anymore. He scoured this new world, drawing himself maps as he flew over new landmarks. The man spent months upon months figuring out exactly where every land mass and monument could be found, committing as much as he could to memory. The search was unending, but that was what kept him going. He eased the Falcon into a descent to the grassy terrain not far from Mobliz. This was where Terra had wanted to be dropped off two years ago. It was uncertain whether or not she would still be here, but it was worth a shot. He'd search the world over until his dying day if need be and eventually he would find them.

He was willing to bet on it.

[Hiko]

Mobliz was a flurry of construction, as locals and folk from neighboring villages were still working to rebuild what the behemoth attacks had destroyed. A man and small child, trailing a cart behind them headed onto the pebbled path that led to the small town. As the elder looked over his shoulder, he spotted the airship and stopped.
“Oy! You there! If you're headin' into Mobliz, y'better bring that ship closer in. No one's goin' t'be able to help with whatever cargo you're plannin' to unload.” The man obviously assumed that Setzer had come to bring supplies to the region.

The child, a small, freckled girl, frowned. “You look familiar. You-I know you! You brought Mama here when I was all alone! You're a nice man!” She ventured a step toward the silver-haired man, but was just as quickly held back by her guardian's grasp.
“Don't you dare, Jina! If he brought that mageling here, then he's just as much trouble as her.”
The girl squirmed out of the man's hold, and ducked away, “Mama wasn't trouble! She was Mama! If you hadn't made her leave-”
“Enough, Jina,” the man looked back to Setzer, scowling. “And you - your mage isn't here. She and that trouble-starter left here months ago.”
“Don't go!” Jina protested, “Or at least take me with you! I miss Mama!”
“Jina!” The man wasn't having any of his charge's tantrum. “You, get your business done in town, and leave as soon as you can. If Leonird finds out you've got anything to do with that thing, he'll have you hang.”

((Don't you love warm welcomes? =x
Sorry for the short reply - I can do more with the kids, but far too little with their new guardians. D:))

[kaiyashu]

Setzer's mouth turned down into a frown at the man's blunt attitude. Terra was the cause of trouble? Terra? somehow, he had a hard time believing that, but then again, he hadn't known her as long as some of the other Returners did. It could be that she was indeed the cause of some trouble, but he refused to consider that the young woman would purposely bring harm to the children she had loved so much. It simply didn't add up.

The child, Jina, on the other hand, was much more pleasant to speak to. A few old memories of the little freckled girl resurfaced in his mind. Ah yes, he remembered her from when they had first went to Mobliz to try and recruit her after the world had been reshaped by Kefka. She still had the pigtails she used to wear back then. And from the looks of things, she was still the sweet little girl that loved Terra so much. If Terra could see how much Jina missed her...

But at the moment, Setzer couldn't risk the child's safety. It was nothing to risk his own life, but he had no one on the airship at the moment to care for her if anything were to happen to him. No, staying with her guardian might not be what she wanted, but it was for her own good. Then again, having her along might provide an insight of where Terra would likely be found. At the very least, it would supply him with some company and ease the frustration of not having a familiar face nearby.

No! What am I thinking?! The gambler demanded of himself, How could I even consider bringing her along with me? Her guardian would have me arrested and tried for kidnapping if I were to allow her to tag along. It's out of the question! But he couldn't shake the feeling in his gut that refusing the girl would do nothing to aid him. Sadly, it wasn't his decision to make. He'd have to choose his words carefully, considering where a slight misinterpretation might lead to an untimely demise. Hanging was not exactly on his list of things to do right now.

"Jina, do you know where she went?" Setzer asked the little girl, "I've been trying to find her for quite some time. I'm afraid I cannot take you along, but if I can find her I will tell her you miss her."

((No worries. It's very adequate. ^^ ))

[Hiko]

Despite her guardian's restraints, Jina managed to worm out of his grasp once more. She stuck her tongue out at the older man. “I'll talk to whoever I want. You're not Mama!”
“And good riddance to 'er. Fine. Brew trouble if you want, but it's not skin off my back if you get yourself kidnapped, y'hear?”
Jina ignored the man, refusing to even look back as he and his cart headed into town. She grinned up at Setzer, and looked as if ready to burst with excitement. Finally, someone who'd listen!

“Couple-a months ago, Mama let this nice man into our home, 'cause he was hurt and she didn't wanna see him have to pay for an inn. We all – all of us kids – we liked him so much we wanted him to stay, but he said he couldn't and Mama said not to bug him but we couldn't help it.” Jina bounced on her heels as she spoke, blissfully unaware that she'd started to speak faster in her explanations.
“They were talking about the M-word and the nice man said something about helping her with it, and then they left the house. Some of the younger kids started calling him Daddy, but he was just a nice man. I can't remember his name, though. Kale or Kyle or something with a K. But he was really nice and then there was a light outside where they'd gone and a biiiiiiig montser came. The town called it a behemoth, but I didn't see any wings on it, so it couldn't be a moth.

“Anyway, Mama and the nice man killed it dead, but the rest of the town wanted them gone. That old man that wants you gone? He's the leader of the village, and he took me in when they threw Mama out. He overheard us kids talk about the M-word, and he called Mama a mage. He said the nice man had to go, too, and that we'd be taken care of, just not “by the likes of her.” Mama was a good mama. She shouldn't have been kicked out, and she left so much in the house, but it's not like anyone's gone in there since she left. We couldn't even take our clothes with us, or the food in the cupboards.” Jina took a breath, but the moment of silence didn't last long. A thought occurred to her.

“Ooh! You think Mama might've left a note or something? Maybe with where she was going?” The girl frowned, “Stupid old Leonird said she didn't leave nothing for us, but she could-a hid it, right? Or – or maybe she left something for her old friends? Mama always wondered what happened to everyone. She used to tell us stories about how nice everyone was and how she missed them and that maybe one day they'd visit. And you! You did visit! Just... Just too late, I guess.” Jina's mood fell, and her shoulders slumped.
“Well, even if she didn't leave nothing, I can still show you the house. It's not far. Used to walk it every day and back for school.” She pointed to a hill at the outskirts of town. “You wanna go look?”

((YAY KIDDIE RAMBLES))

[kaiyashu]

Miserable old coot. Setzer thought to himself as the grumpy older man made his way back into the town. Well, good riddance to him. He turned back to listen to little Jina and her somewhat long-winded, but rather entertaining, information. A behemoth's attack was certainly nothing to sneeze at, no wonder the villagers were shaken. But throwing Terra and the man out of town after they'd slain the beast? That just didn't make sense to him. Why send away the people responsible for saving Mobliz? If it were him, he'd have demanded they stay in case anything else threatened the little town. He shook his head.

Apparently common sense wasn't so common after all.

But no matter. If what Jina was saying was accurate, and he was certain it was, then there might be a clue as to where Terra was headed. Any lead on his teammates was better than nothing. If only he hadn't been below deck while the Merge had occurred. Then his airship wouldn't have crashed into the enormous blue crystal sticking out of Bhujerba and ended up tearing up the under carriage in the continent's trees during the emergency landing. The cost of fixing the damages and remodelling the Falcon was ridiculous, and the repairs had taken a whopping eleven months to complete, considering he'd left more than half of his fortune in a bank in Jidoor.

When the Falcon was finally ready for the sky again, it had about another week or so to locate Jidoor, draw out a decent sum of money and search the town for any signs that one of the Returners were there. No such luck. After that, he'd spent month after month flying around and hand drawing detailed maps of the world the way it was now. That feat alone had taken up almost all of his free time, but he made a profit but selling copies of his maps in some of the towns and was turned away in towns that were more technologically advanced.

He still wasn't too trusting of the "computer box" gadgets that cropped up in many areas in the world and still had little understanding of what an "internets" was for - aside from images of inappropriately clad women. The gambler also found he had a great distaste for the image and sound makers called "televisions" when he wasted an entire day watching one. Rubbish!

But Jina's mention of a note snapped him out of his reverie and back to the topic at hand. "I would be grateful to see the house Jina. If your mama left any clues for us, they are most certainly there." Setzer agreed, allowing the child to lead him into the town. As he followed her, his eyes scanned his surroundings and he made mental notes of what the different villagers were doing. Many were just working on reconstructing the buildings while others were watching him with wary eyes. He was a stranger to nearly all of the adults and as such, he was carefully scrutinized.

At least the place wasn't as much of a dump as it had been two years ago.

They finally came to the familiar how that Terra and the children of Mobliz had taken shelter in while Kefka was having a field day ruling the world. It still looked a little shabby and he could tell it was run down. He frowned at the building and felt more than a little guilty. He himself had a comfortable lifestyle as an aristocrat, whereas Terra and these poor children practically lived in poverty here. If he could find her, perhaps he could do something to help the situation. When Jina opened the door and led him inside, he immediately started opening dawers and rifling through the contents, searching for any clues to her whereabouts. "Jina, you knew Terra the best around here. Any idea where she might have hidden any clues for us?"

[Hiko]

Jina, despite her usual good nature, wasn't listening to a word the scarred man said. The child was too busy delving into old drawers, tossing papers, fabrics, and random gadgets this way and that in search of some sort of leftover memoir of her missing mother. When she started on the fireplace, hands buried in ash, she looked up and blinked at the man.
“What was th- oh. No, I don't know where Mama might've left it. But she had to have left something for us, right?”

And back into the ashes she went.
Soot-covered and dingy, the girl had found little in the fireplace, save for a broken potion bottle and some old bandages – probably from during the nice man's stay in the house. She dusted her hands off onto her just-as-filthy skirt, a frustrated expression on her face. She'd halfway expected to find a partially burned letter in the cinders.
“At least it doesn't look like they tossed it away.” Nevermind the fact that the girl had no indication that Terra left any note or clue at all – to Jina, there was something to find. There was no question in the child's mind.

An idea struck her. She ran up the stairs as if to head to the second floor, but stopped midway. The little clock on the wall was too high for the girl to reach, however, and she frowned at it after some attempts at straining to open the glass door. She jumped a few times in a vain hope to gain altitude, but failed. Stomping a foot on the staircase, she scowled at the timepiece.
“That clock!” she pointed up, while looking back at Setzer, “It used to work! Mama was always messin' with it, making sure it was the right time, or that the little bird inside came out at dinner.”

((Ohgodthisissoshort. Sorry for the suck. D: I've felt kind of horrible the past few days, and we held a movie night over here last night. Had to play hostess until late. Is needs rest. :<

If you want, you can go ahead and free up Setzer for another thread. Wouldn't blame you if you wanted to write with someone else. <3 ))

[kaiyashu]

Setzer stopped rummaging through the place and looked over with a disturbed expression as Jina had dug around through the cinders in the fireplace. Having found nothing, she had wiped her hands on her skirt, leaving more filthy stains. His eyes widened a little in mild alarm and his mouth flattened in a thin line, but he didn't say anything about it.

However, when the little girl stopped halfway up the steps and pointed out a clock, he abandoned his spot immediately to go to the clock. If Terra had always made sure the clock was working correctly, then something in there must have been preventing it from running. He pulled it off the wall and held it down low enough so that Jina could see it as well.

Just as Jina had said, it wasn't working correctly. If he strained his ears, he could just make out the tiny sounds of whirring. The clock hadn't just stopped working, it sounded like there was something inside it. He opened up the little glass door and reached inside, his fingers brushing the foreign object and gripping onto it. With a small tug, it came loose and he pulled it out...

((No worries Hiko, mine's short too. And yours doesn't suck. XD

I'm content writing with you, by the way, and I have two other characters for other threads if need be. I hope you feel better. ))