aterat | A Soldier and a smol pup

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A Soldier and a smol pup

Angeal landed in a fountain and fortunately found an odd change of clothes in his new 'apartment' while his dried. And he did try his best to keep up with that gnome guy or whoever handed him the blue satchel and took off. But it scurried under some fallen tree trunks and even with his heightened senses and enhanced physical abilities, the First Class couldn't seem to keep up and it frustratingly disappeared out of sight.

Where this place was and why he was here wasn't answered. Why he was back from the Lifestream had gone unanswered. Everything about this place made absolute zero sense. He could remember picking Zack up from the battlefield, and bringing him to the Lifestream. And he even touched his own back. No Buster sword there, he'd given that to Zack who gave it to Cloud.

And then he wandered with his thoughts tumbling over each other eventually he came to the park and found a small wooden bench. So he sat down and tried to figure this new place out. He's not quite sure what is going on or why he's back from the Lifestream. Nothing looks familiar and as he continued to sit there, his ears picked up the sound of a small whine.

Standing up, the First Class started to look around and finally located the sound coming from a very small ball of fur.

Turning to someone nearby, he shook his head. "Does he belong to you?"

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Enis watched the stranger with an openly curious stare. There was something off but she wasn't skilled enough to recognizing what might have caused pause. She could hear the steady drum of his heartbeat and see the set of his shoulders shift at her remark but what could have bothered him.

She spun her umbrella as her thoughts tumbled and scattered. Eventually she bit the bullet and asked what was on her mind. "Is something wrong?" Enis didn't have a lot of experience interacting with others but she was slowly trying to change that. It wasn't easy and the effort was noticeable.

"Did I upset you?" It was usually her fault, so it was an easy assumption to make. Perhaps she had miss-stepped somehow.

Angeal looked over at the spinning umbrella, curious as to why she would do such a thing. This was definitely different, but then most of his interactions were with those at the Shinra company, and soldier operatives or those tied to them.

He really didn't socialize with people outside of it and was even wary of people in Midgar. But as he put one of his hands under the pup's rear to try and give it stability as he let it rest against his chest, the Soldier had to look at Enis as she asked her question.

No way was he going to get into anything personal, it wasn't her fault that things didn't pan out as he wanted them to.

"No miss. I'm sorry if I gave you that impression."

He was just going to have to find a way to make it through the day without his real pup or his friends. Angeal was dead, he was of no use here and there was no reason he should be here.

But again that wasn't the fault of the innocent lady here with him.

Enis frowned as he not only dismissed her concern but apologized. What the hell was up with this guy? It was like talking to a wall... in both appearance and conversational ability. If only the sun would go down, then she wouldn't feel so damn tired.

She closed her eyes and focused on breathing before once again meeting Angeal's gaze. "You really shouldn't apologize for that kind of thing. You're pretty but that's pretty dumb." He hadn't done anything. She had simply been worried that her brash way of talking had somehow rubbed him the wrong way. Enis didn't understand the details but she liked the way she spoke because it was straight forward. Guessing how people felt was annoying.

"You're new?" Assumption but it felt safe with the information she'd gathered. "If that's the case, I recommend you hold onto him." She pointed to the pup before digging into her pocket to pull out a small bag with some extra money.

"Here." Before he could refuse her, because he seemed the type, she added. "It isn't for you but the pup."

And here he thought he was being polite but her biting words had him stunned when she said he was pretty and pretty dumb. That was something he hadn't heard since Genesis..way back when.

Wisely he held his tongue because he wouldn't speak badly to a woman due to his mother's lessons on respecting women. And any man who spoke out of turn to his mother would face Angeal's blade or his fists. So he frowned slightly trying to figure out what her issue was. Why would she even say that?

So Angeal took a breath and focused on the pup in his arms. But then he nodded to her question along with a "Yes." Maybe people who'd been here didn't hold onto a pup or maybe they just would've picked it up and walked off with it without asking first. For all the mistakes he made, he still had a sense of honour. It was right to ask instead of just assuming.

And then she was giving him money. She was right, his pride would've refused the money, but since she did say it was for the pup, he wouldn't refuse it. So he had the pup in one arm, and shook his head. "I'm going to pay it back."

That was a Soldier promise and his pride and sense of honour wouldn't allow him to do any less.

"I'll take the IOU." She confirmed easily enough, happy to have a favor from a muscular stranger. "My name's Enis. Who are you or do you want me to guess?" Her vibrant blue eyes danced at the question making it clear that she was teasing him, however her face remained in a steady state of calm. She wasn't the kind of person to outwardly express herself though it looked like she was trying her best.

"Or perhaps you have other questions. You look a bit confused." She didn't know that it was the use of her umbrella that had him questioning her but she hoped that her prompting was enough to inspire the man to speak.

She wasn't good at keeping up conversations and apparently he wasn't either. Enis just wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing but it was at least practice. Plus, this man was very nice to look at.

"Angeal Hewley, Miss Enis." Angeal nodded. There was no way he was going to even guess that she was teasing him with how things had gone down between them thus far. "It's nice to meet you." He made no move to touch her since she seemed to be a little offish to him and he was trying to make sure he didn't misstep here.

He half shook his head. "I'm guessing this newly arrived to the world confusion afflicts everyone." And then Angeal's shoulders lowered. "I'm told we're here to exist and help rebuild a world without further clarifying instructions." He bounced the pup in his arms.

"I suppose that's where my confusion is because it's very unclear as to what to do."

While he's waiting to go home.

"Just Enis." She didn't feel comfortable with honorifics. It created an unseen barrier between him and the rest of the world and while she didn't mind the distance, those invisible social implications were difficult for Enis to navigate. She hoped that he wasn't one of those people who was determined to be overly polite and would respect her comfort level.

She'd try to do the same and be more polite.

That seemed fair.

"Confusion is common. I think you should figure out what you want to do and how you want to live your life." Her lips tilted into a slight frown as she considered their position. "You could leave tomorrow or remain here for years. There doesn't seem to be a pattern but I don't think you should just wait until you return. You can have a life here."

Enis shrugged. "At least, that's what I'm trying. I can't say it's going well so maybe its bad advice."

"Alright." Angeal agreed with a nod. Since the lady had spoken her preference he would follow it. There was no sense in being rude and keep calling her by a title (even if polite) that she didn't want.

However, the news she gave him wasn't what he was expecting. But he got the gist of it. He was more or less trapped here. So Angeal pondered this turn of events and looked at Enis when she was giving advice.

So he let the pup down and thought her words over. What good was a dead Soldier? Angeal couldn't come up with an answer at the moment and glanced back at her. "I'm sorry to hear things aren't working out so well."

"You're very good at not talking about yourself." She glanced down at the puppy that was sniffing around her ankle. Enis didn't know if animals would like the way she smelled but she didn't do anything to stop the puppy as it started to crew on her laces.

She really didn't care.

"Anyway, that's life. Things don't work out. I'll tell you more if you tell me more about you. Why do you seem to be here but not?" It was probably rude to pry and this wasn't the best way to make friends but Enis was fairly sure that this was how it worked. She shared something and then he shared something... except that he wasn't doing that.

Angeal's head went down at Enis' words. "I don't live an interesting life." Or one at all so that wasn't worth mentioning at the moment. "But it seems I'm going to have one here, or at least until I go home."

And it was at that moment, that he knelt and dislodged the pup's jaw from the shoelaces. So once that situation was remedied, Angeal picked the dog back up as he stood.

To her question, the Soldier shrugged. "I'm as here as I'm going to get. I highly doubt anyone that comes here has this place planned out. There's so much else to see and do than be stuck in a world that gives vague orders on how to do something."

He cocked his head to the side. "I'm sure you too had something else better to be doing than be here."

"That's-" Her voice cut off as she tried for figure out a nice way to say what was on her mind. After a prolonged pause Enis came to the conclusion that there was no nice way to say it. "That's very sad." Her voice was softer, kinder than it had been before. He had struck a cord in her and it made her feel odd.

Enis wasn't used to feeling anything.

"That's true." She looked at the puppy and offered the tiny creature a small smile. It could attack her shoelace or anything else. She really didn't mind. "I'll leave you be. I apologize if I took up your time." Enis turned, making sure that the umbrella kept her exposed skin away from the sunlight. The sun was setting and then she wouldn't need to carry such an unwieldy appendage.

She paused in her retreat and turned back towards Angeal briefly. "I do hope you find something here." At least a reason to not only live but to thrive. It was strange but it was an olive branch. This conversation taught Enis something unexpected and she was thankful to Angeal for the chance.

Even if it was strange.

Mako blue eyes blinked at Enis in confusion. He wasn't trying to be sad, he was just being matter of fact and practical. He had no use here and wasn't sure with the vague charge of living life here was going to do for him.

It was nice to see her smile though. The former First wasn't sure if she had much practice with that. Of course being here there wasn't much call to smile, or so he figured at the very least.

"You didn't take up my time." Angeal protested, hoping he didn't sound like an ass to her. "But thanks for taking a few minutes of your time to talk to a stranger." And then she turned back around to say those kind words and he was touched by them and pet the pup in his arms reassuringly.

"Thanks..I hope you find something good here too."

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A Soldier and a smol pup

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