Like A Stray (Outside Corel)

[zeekayl]

Though used to varying landscape and weather conditions, Bronte could say this desert was probably the most irritating he had ever trekked through. He was by no means lost, but he was certainly ready to find his way out. He wanted a place to rest, something to eat, and possibly a pretty girl to chat up. Maybe a pretty boy. He wasn't picky. But in all honesty, he just wanted out of this blasted sand.

He could have easily rented a chocobo, he had the money, but there was no way he was riding one of those beasts. Even when he was in the Army, there was absolutely no way he would go near one. They were just...

Bronte heaved a sigh when he finally saw the outline of Corel--he had recently purchased a map, one that illustrated the small town here. But he was surprised--it looked more like a garbage dump. Oh well...he wasn't going to complain, so long as they had somewhere he could rest for the night before moving on. Maybe someone here even had some work he could do, to line his purse once more with gil. He was far from broke, but his years living as a noble had certainly spoiled him.

However, he wasn't ready to go into town just yet...it was never his style to just waltz in and explore. No, he watched from a distance to see if there was anything amiss, or if there was anything that he should avoid, like Imperials. He highly doubted they were actively searching for him, but he knew the penalty for deserting was a fate worsee than death. As he had been told by his mentor, for a soldier death was a release, not a punishment. But at the same time, that had been when Vayne was in charge. Now the young Lord Larsa was overseeing things, and he was by far much kinder than his older brother. Still, it was not a risk the ex-Captain was going to take.

That being established, he took a seat on a nearby rock, facing the town, and pushed his hair back away from his face. He wondered, absently, why this place was such a dump. Surely there had been attempts at renovations? But he didn't know, nor could he unless he asked around. And that wasn't something he was going to do right away.

He watched as a stray dog sniffed around the outskirts--how akin to the poor animal he felt. All alone most likely, probably hungry and kicked by townspeople. For a second he felt like a kicked dog, but...it was a lifestyle that suited him much more than nobility or military. It was his own doing, and he didn't mind. He gave a sharp whistle, and the dog looked up before curiously trotting over--he was a mangy mutt, with pale fur that would have been lovely had it not been matted with dirt and grime. The dog's tail wagged when Bronte grinned and reached out a hand, and then butted its head against him for a good petting.

"Aw, you're just a big pansy, aren't you?" Bronte grinned at the dog, scratching behind his ears. The tail wagged harder and the man let out a soft chuckle. He wanted to keep the dog, he really did, but he couldn't do much for it. Then again, he could use a companion on the road, and the dog would be better off wandering around with him than starving to death and being abused.

"...Tell you what. If you can help me find a way out of here I'll take you with me, huh? Would you like that boy?"

The mutt tilted his head, and for a moment Bronte wondered if he really understood, but that thought was expelled as the dog began sniffing the ground, shuffling back to Corel. Maybe he caught wind of something more appealing than affection. Something like food. With a sigh, he stood and moved to follow it into the dump.

Best figure out what he was doing before dark....

[frostflare]

"hmm..." Ixella sat upon a single rusted barrel. Her voiced filled with inquiry, her sight focused on a single bizzare piece of crystal. In her hands rested something a salesman had sold her. "M-a-t-e-r-i-a" She sounded out the word.

He had told her it was the key to magic, although it was not common for people to have. Ixella being incompent about some things had to buy it. She did not understand exactly what it was. Only that the man said it would produce fire. It sounded like an amazing device.

It was like magicite to her. Except its shape and was of course odd. She held the round crystal ball in the palm of her hand. It had a unmistakable green glow to it. She bought the cstyal in hopes of useing it. But now she sat down, amazed that it would not work.

"Fire!" She called, but it did not react. The crystal was inert. Maybe she was scammed. She held it up to the sun, and the light gleamed through it. "Makes fire, but without instructions useless I suppose..."

She tipped her body off the barell and to the sandy earth where she landed boots first. Her hand still held the inert glass-like thing tightly. It was a lot of gil to buy. The man said it was not as commonplace as it used ot be, and even then it was rare.

She placed it in her pack on the side of her belt and began to walk. The sun was incredible here, strong enough to make a drought she was assured. She strung her delicate hands through the air and listened to the howling wind of the desert.

She barely remebered how she wound up here. She had gone up to that massive pretty musroom flower thing. The gold suacer...She orignaly was amazed by its mechnics and so she decided to pull apart on of its walls and....

"duh..." she accidently sniped a wire that cuased the entire place to go down without power. "I should have been more carefull with a wire that says 'Power'. " She shrugged to herself.

The people of the place were not very understanding. They did not understand that she was just a foreigner who was amazed by the tehnology they possesed. And by the fact that it had such amazing things like vacuumized tubes.

But still, to be thrown into a pit that landed in a desert was no fun. It was also quite rude. They even tried to take away her weapons and stuff. But they were met with interferance when she threw down a smoke bomb. She would have escaped the place but one of the brutes just pushed her down the hole.

Its a wonder she lived. Then she managed to pick herself up, find a sales man, and buy that inert rock. That had been last night. Now in the heat of today. There was much left to wonder.

Where was she going to spend the night. How was she to escape this place? She travled to the middle of the place and sighed. There was a glad sign that said "coral" but not a single thing about this place made her think of the sea.

What a lie. She missed the coastlines of Archades lands, and she missed the smell of the sea. She missed the days she had off with her co-workers. She missed not running. She missed Ivalice already. Back before the merge. Now, she wondered what to do.

Fate seemed to span its wing against her. She sat down in the sand. The badlands were gloomy despite the hot blistering light of the unforgiving sun. She could only wait and wonder...

[zeekayl]

Bronte followed the dog as it wove a zigzag pattern back towards the town, sniffing here and there. Occaisionally it would look over its shoulder as through to make sure Bronte was still following before going back to its lazy path. It happened like that for a while before the dog perked up, ears standing at attention before he took up a faster pace, darting through the garbage and debris.

"H-Hey!" he called, confused, and took up the same pace as the dog, jogging behind him as he wove through the dump that was Corel. What had gotten into the silly mutt? One minute he was all sorts of calm and the next he was spazzing and--

Oh.

The dog suddenly pounced at the girl near the barrel, barking happily and wagging his tail. The noble tilted his head and moved over, smiling at her charmingly before kneeling and patting the dog.

"Sorry, miss. Is he yours?"

[frostflare]

Ixella was innocently walking before the dog pushed her to the ground. She was not expecting it, but it certainly was worse then just being caught off guard. Despite that she fell to the dry dessert earth with a heap of fur atop her.

The majestic mutt(in itself a oxymoron) was heavy. Ixella let out a heavy gasp of dry air as the mutt crushed her lungs. She struggled for a second and then pushed it off herself. She had not even noticed the man till the dog was off her.

She just heard the last bit of his question, and gave slight smile. "If he were my dog, he would be bathed this moment..." she joked and the dog whimpered. "Funny how it understands what that means!" She held her hands up and smiled at the dog and it barked in response. Not a bark of rage, but one of bliss.

She turned back to the man and the slid her head to the side. "I assume he is a stray...since he is not yours..." She brushed the dirt off her back, buttocks, and her legs. After the brushing Ixella took a deep breath and waved her hair into the air to attempt to let it 'find it's way back' to the right place.

She then took a very long pause and stared at the man. Something about him was all to familiar. "Your a ivalician...that's for sure, but I have a feeling I have seen you more then just once..." Ixella took a second to think. Her fingers twiddled her chin, thinking deep.

"Let's make a game out of this..." She smiled, she probably was getting annoying at this point. Her fingers delicately traced the air, "Battle-toned and tan skin....Your military, from somewhere with lots of sun. I would guess Rabenastre, but I don't believe they have a formidable army just yet to have someone with muscles like you." She sounded like she was flirting, but really she was trying to place his body to a name.

She thought for a second longer and then gave a deep sigh. "I give up, Who are you?" She asked hm before she realized how rude that was. She blushed and spoke again "I am Ixella Sed-" She suddenly stopped.

"Archadian?" Her mind clicked. She had seen him before, he was some important military commander or something, or was. "..." She paused, her voice stilled. She was unsure how to proceed. Archadian was a threat, everyone in the military had a bounty on the pirate known as Ixella. She did not want to have to fight in the dry desert, or end up pushing herself into the withering desert.

She sighed, and took a step back. She was not going to lead him on, but she also still needed a place to sleep. She had no sense of time, and she wanted security in the wasteland and town around her. "Catch you around..." She nodded with a very insincere smirk. Her boots then began to move away..one step at a time....

She was hoping she would get away with very little conflict...

[Bharune]

Tucker Rush was completely out of ideas. What was she supposed to do? She had planned for a lot of emergency scenarios, but an unexpected baby was definitely not something she had expected to contend with. She used contraceptives, for the love of—

The infant wailed its distress, flailing its tiny arms and legs as the young woman looked down at him helplessly. She felt like she had searched the entire town of Corel for the baby’s parents, and to no avail. One man had even had the audacity to accuse her of trying to pawn her baby off on other people! Did she look like some tramp desperate to get rid of her own spawn?!

Actually, after spending several hours in the desert, she probably did. Her white blouse was dirty from all the sand blowing around and her dark jeans smudged with grime where she’d wiped her hands. Couldn’t be touching a baby with filthy hands, now could she? Luckily she had four younger siblings, so she was quite adept at caring for little ones, but her credit card wasn’t accepted in the area so she couldn’t buy any baby supplies. Not that Corel had much in that department anyway….

She had tried to take the tram to that ‘Saucer’ place, but…no good. The tram was out of commission due to the minor inconvenience of Gold Saucer being on a different continent, so now she was stuck in a scrapyard in the middle of a wasteland with a baby who wasn’t hers, money that didn’t work, and no way to get out.

“You’re hungry, aren’t you~?” Tucker cooed, trying to sound reassuring though the edges of her tone were almost frantic. She bounced the child in her arms, making sure he was wrapped up tight against the wind and dry heat. “But I don’t have any food for you, baby…”

Her brow furrowed with grief and helplessness, knowing full well the baby’s little tummy must be growling. Who knew how long he’d been separated from his family…and if she hadn’t rescued him from that monster…

“There has to be someone…” she murmured, rocking the inconsolable infant gently. “Someone I haven’t asked yet…someone with orange hair, just like yours…”

Tucker stopped with a sigh, glancing around again. The baby’s parents had to be around here…the fiend couldn’t have carried it far…why would it?

The pink-haired female spotted an unfamiliar couple – travelers, most likely – and her heart immediately lifted. Maybe they were the ones!

“Hey!” Tucker called, jogging over to the pair of brunettes. Neither had orange hair, but she wouldn’t let that dampen her hope any; she’d already tried every other person in Corel, so they had to be the baby’s parents. Nevermind the fact that they didn’t appear especially worried or panicked…

“Miss!” She stopped in front the lady, pausing to catch her breath, the baby clutched close to her chest. “Is this your baby?”

She tilted the little bundle towards the woman so she could see the infant clearly, then peered around her towards the man. Oh hey…he was kind of hot, actually. But this was important business, no time for appreciative staring.

“Uh…” Important business, Tucker! “Err, or is he yours, sir? I’m trying to find his parents…”

[zeekayl]

Bronte watched as the dog pounced the girl and she laughed, his green eyes twinkling with laughter as she brushed herself off. Oh, he recognized her--a sky pirate, one whom he had heard about and seen on Boards, but never encountered.

Ixella, Brilliant Engineer, wasn't it?

"You're an Ivalician, that's for sure," she said, and a grin found its way across Bronte's face. She'd been around, had she? Had him pinned from the first moment. That was interesting. "Battle toned and tan skin...you're military, from somewhere with lots of sun."

"You're right about the military. And yes, I'm from Archades, but there's no reason for you to be scared of me, Ixella the Engineer."

Bronte almost laughed, and his smile was broad across his handsome face. He hadn't even been interested in the pirates when he was in the military, and even less now. However, her actions interested him a bit--what had she done as a pirate that was so terrible she was wanting to run from him? He knew he could look intimidating, but he wasn't looking for a fight~

"The name's Bronte, Ex-Captain of the Emperor's Fifth Regiment. It's an honor--"

"Hey!"[/color] Someone called, and Bronte looked up, green eyes curious. Ah, a young lady and a baby.

A baby...?

"Is this your baby?"[/color] She asked the Pirate, then turned to the ex-Captain. "Err, or is he yours, sir?"[/color]

"Uh, no...?" Bronte blinked, a bit confused, but then moved to look at the wailing baby. Aw...poor thing. Lost and alone. Right away he felt the urge to take the baby in his arms, comfort it and soothe it. Though he'd never had his own children, he'd been good with them. At least, according to his friends in the army who had them. He liked kids.

"Where did you find the poor thing...?"

[frostflare]

Ixella turned on her heels the moment she heard a baby coo. She already felt on edge with that man, but now with a baby her skin began to crawl.

She heard the man introduce himself in a friendly manner. She was certain he was honest with his introduction. If he wanted to catch her, he would have done it by now. She took a step towerd him and smiled and apology. "Forgive me, but you can not be to carefull when Archades want's your head they get it..."

She tried at first to ignore the woman with her baby, even if it went against her natural motherly desires, or the fact that she wanted to greet them. But a baby in the desert did not seem like the "normal" thing.

Ixella laughed in her head, "Whats normal any more?" and turned to the woman. She gave the babe a quick scan to see if she could recognize it from before. None of its traits rang a bell. Ziltch. Ixella looked at the woman and back down at the kid.

"It's not mine, thats for sure..." She gave a comferting half-smile before looking to the sky. She sighed as a question entered her mind. "Where did you come across an orphan babe?" She asked the question almost as fast as she gave into her motherly insticts and snatched the babe away.

Now to the stranger she may have been offended, she may even be confused, but instently Ixella began her natural instics. She began to support the head and rock the baby back and forth gently. Bouncing it gently in her cradle of arms. "Sorry...but I felt the need to..."

Ixella may be a pirate, but something then gave her a little bit of a goal. She stared intently into the babe's gorgous small round face and looked back at the woman. "You say your looking for her perents, I'll make you a deal. Ill carry her, till you find them..." This was of course a deal that probably made no sense to either the man or the pink haired woman.

Ixella was after all a Tottal stranger to both of them, and she was a pirate. Not exactly prime company for a child. But Ixella had a maternal instict that really blossmed around children, and she had a strong urge to just carry the child, and help the child out.

She smiled gently at the woman trying to reassur eher she was no theif or monster. "Im Ixella by the way..." She whispered outward as the baby began to lull itself to a silence and its eyes began to shut. It was not asleep fully, but it must have been nice to rest its eyes.


(OOC:sorry for the abrupt and forceful post...Its editable if you don't like it tucker. I just wanted to get it out, because I have a muse know and have a charterer to finally deliver. And Ixella's switch has turned off so its difficult to make her seem as well rounded as she was.)

[Bharune]

“I saved him from a monster outside this dump,” Tucker answered as the man approached, letting the pair of them get a good look at the tiny infant. Even if they weren’t his parents, they could possibly have some idea of who his parents were or…recall someone looking for the child or…someone who looked like him…?

But the perplexed expressions caused Tucker’s hope to dwindle, and her own features sank into depression and weariness. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the babe, but…she didn’t even have any way to feed him…

“The beast was gonna—h-hey!” Tucker protested with the woman seized the baby, but she had little choice but to let the stranger take him. Though she relinquished the infant to avoid hurting him, her brow furrowed and her tone sharpened. “Be careful! Babies are delicate, watch his head!”

She gave the woman a hard look, but when the stranger apologized and began to rock the baby Tucker slowly decided she was no immediate threat, though the pink-haired young woman was clearly uncomfortable. Finally, she trusted Ixella enough to offer Bronte a helpless look.

“It’s no use,” she replied dejectedly, her shoulders slumping with fatigue. “I’ve checked everyone in Corel, I’m sure of it. I guess I’ll just take him with me until I can figure out where he came from, but my cards won’t work here. I can’t buy him any food or anything, and since I used the last of my cash I can’t even get out of this shithole.”

The pink-haired youth gave Ixella a wary glance, having no intention of giving the child up to some stranger. She would never be able to live with herself if she just passed off a helpless infant to a random person in the street…

“Lucky for the little lad, I have more siblings than anyone could possibly want, so I know a thing or two about babies.”

But…she hadn’t really been prepared for the adorable burden…

“Anyway, I was just about to resort to flashing my boobs for money when I spotted you two,” she concluded, trying to add a bit of a light-hearted tone but failing miserably. Sad thing was, she was only partially joking.

“So how about it; give a lady a hand? I’m so desperate, anything will help…”

[zeekayl]

Oh, so the young woman had been through Corel already...? And she hadn't found the baby's parents...poor thing, she must be exhausted and hungry. And a woman shouldn't be walking around alone...especially in a no doubt strange land. And the poor baby! Its mommy was gone and it was hot and dirty here...

When Ixella snatched the baby away, Bronte jumped, the sudden movement sending his hand to his sword, but he let it rest when she began to rock the babe in her arms. Strange woman...but motherly instincts were powerful, weren't they? Still, that wasn't really an excuse...obviously the pink haired woman was worried sick, and any lesser person would have left the babe to die.

Turning to said woman to listen as she spoke, Bronte put on a thoughtful face, lifting the hand not on the hilt of his sword to stroke his chin. Boy, he should really shave—a little stubble was okay every now and again, but he was starting to look like what he was; a handsome rogue who begged for scraps of money.

Ah, well. That suited him just fine.

”So you have no money?” he asked, half to himself and half to Tucker. He couldn't let her starve. And it wasn't as though he was completely broke; his last job had paid very well, and he'd been allowed to sell the pelt of the Mark he'd killed, so that earned him another pretty gil or two. And he had some he could spare, he supposed...Bronte just always thought he was a bit more broke than he was.

Had something to do with coming from money.

”Weeell...” he murmured, turning his green eyes to Tucker, then to Ixella. The Sky Pirate had offered to carry the baby while the pink haired woman looked for the parents, and that was all well and good. But they needed funding, at least for now, and...years of traveling alone got lonely every now and again. He missed people, he missed laughter and tears and fighting in groups!

And the fact that they were two pretty ladies helped~

”If you'd like, I can provide the funds for a while. I need to get out of Corel anyway, and it's dangerous out there, so...safety in numbers, am I right, Miss, ah...?”

[frostflare]

Ixella smiled at the woman, laughed a little at her joke, and then back at the babe. She could see that the woman was clearly not to comfertable with the idea of the baby being in her arms. Ixella took a deep saddled breath and placed the baby back in the woman's arms. "Can't keep a mum from worryin I s'pose" she said it funny just to make the sitaution seem a bit lighter.

She tickled the baby gently as to only make it coo, and not wake from its light rest. "Well, Id offer to help with funds, but I am broke...I bought one of these stupid rocks..." she pulled out the materia from before..."the man said it would make fire..all it does is look like a crystal rock...at least in ivalice we could harness magicte..whatever materia is it does not seem to work for me..." She hestitated to continue, it was probably a boreing subject to the group.

"But anyway..." she put it away again..." I spent the last of my gil and some of my supplies to get the stupid rock..." She sighed at her stupidity. "Next time im someplace foreing remind me not to buy anything they say is magical..." She then looked at the man.

He was not a bad looker, but certainly was a little more rugged then Ixella had ever been with before. Engineers typically don't meld well with sword toteing knightly types...Brawn typically does not mix with brains for Ixella. "well im glad someone will offer..." she extened a thank you to the man in the form of a gentle smile.

"Now..the next question to answer is where..." she looked at the distance. "and how long before night...If its too soon we might be better off staying the night here...and then heading out. At least in correl there is some kind of sustinance to be had..out in the freezzing or hot desert im not sure..."

She then let out a short giggle. "I mean I could help our travel out if you prefer...I just might need some supplies because of the desert sands..." She gave a sigh. "except I am not sure if I want to subject poor Machina too the sands...they will tear up hsi circuitry..."

She then looked at the babe again and back at her self. "Well, for the baby He needs an avanue out...so I could help with transportation. But I will inform you now...I need oil and something to give him some power. Normally he recharges fine on his own..but this place is a deadzone of mist, and his fusian crystal has slowed. So he may get us far, but I doubt ou tof the desert with out another kind of energy. I was hopeing the stone would do... its some form of energy. But Im not sure its compatible with him. So maybe if anyone has any crystals or magicite?" She asked sincerly. She was not trying to bum stuff off people. She simply needed materials to help keep her machine maintained....

She looked back again and sighed. "eitherway, I suggest we stay for the night...its not getting much sweeter outside..and I dont have any firestones to keep the child warm in the night chill..."

She then realized something quite intresting. She walked over to bronte and gripped her arm around his. "look, since she has her hands full, escort me please!" she laughed to make sure he got the memo it was a joke flirt..but it would still keep spirits high and that was importent in these badlands.

[Bharune]

Tucker blinked in surprise when Ixella gently handed her the little tyke back, but she curled her arms around the infant and cradled him comfortably against her ample chest. Perhaps the pirate wasn’t so bad after all…with the way Ixella had snatched him, part of Tucker had expected it to take an old-fashioned to-the-death duel in the middle of the desert to get the little one back in her arms...

“A mum?” she echoed, glancing at Ixella in surprise. “I don’t even have a boyfriend.”

Couldn’t say she didn’t have a strong instinct for it, though, and even though she’d only had the child for a few hours she would be sad to see him go. But happy that he’d be back with his proper family, of course.

“Lookit his cute little tuff of orange hair, though,” she cooed with affection, glancing back down at the sleepy bundle. “Like a little tiger.”

Maybe that’s what she would call him for now, until she could find his parents.

“I have plenty of gil in my accounts,” Tucker replied to Bronte, pulling her attention from the little Tiger long enough to get back to business. “I can pay you back when we get to somewhere more…civilized. To be honest, it hadn’t really occurred to me that there were places in the world that still lived in technological dark ages, merge or not.”

Of course, it wasn’t safe for a girl like her to carry a bunch of cash around on her person, and she’d used the last of her actual gil on the ride in to Corel. Now she couldn’t even remember what had possessed her to want to come here in the first place. Oh, yeah, an empty freaking wasteland, that looked like a great place to go traipsing around in.

When the handsome man offered to lend her a hand a bright grin appeared across Tucker’s features, hope instantly chasing away her earlier dejected expression. Had her arms not been occupied by the tiny creature, she probably would’ve thrown her arms around the stranger in a tight embrace right then, that was how powerful the joy that bubbled up in her chest.

Probably a good thing she was holding the child, because an impulsive action like that most likely would’ve been quickly followed by a red-faced and tongue-tied Tucker making a complete fool of herself.

“Ah, thank you!” she couldn’t help but exclaim, already excited. “Name’s Tucker – Tucker Rush, from New Bodhum.” She shifted the baby to one arm, sticking out her hand for the ex-soldier to shake. “And you two are…?”

After introductions, Ixella offered several good points to consider. Where to go from here…?

“Bastok and Cornelia are both large places, I think,” she offered thoughtfully. She had traveled through Bastok already, but Cornelia she had yet to see. “We should go to those places and see if anyone is looking for this Tiger here. If his parents are there, they’ll contact the authorities.”

But how would they get there?

Tucker looked at Ixella as she began to explain her suggestion for transportation, but the pink-haired girl’s brow knitted in confusion. She didn’t understand half of what the pirate was talking about. “You have…a car?” she ventured hopefully.

Crystals? Magicite? Okay, she was lost. How about she just take care of the baby and leave the weird stuff up to the ones with weird-stuff knowledge….

“I’m sure you can get normal fuel here…” she stated, but her attention drifted to the baby again. “Dunno about that other stuff, though.”

Tucker sighed when Ixella suggested they spend the night in Corel, her shoulders dropping a little. “But the ‘inn’ is just a raggedy shack! And the men here are so creepy…and not in an interesting way. You’re probably right, though…the baby’s gonna need to eat soon…”

The young woman glanced up when Ixella grabbed Bronte’s arm, but she couldn’t help but smile a bit. “Hey, now!” she said, moving around to the man’s other side and flashing him a smile. “The big guy here is gonna be the only thing between us and murder and/or a mugging and/or rape, so you share. Hopefully we can find a deck of cards or something, because I dunno about you guys but I am definitely not sleeping.”

Might as well get the long night over with…