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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“Yeah?” He responded when the man suggested he would have to figure it out. “You should make a list!” Mono had become very pro list since arriving. Both to keep track of stuff and to figure things out. “Then you can cross off the ones you don’t like until you got one left, and it’s the perfect name.” He added with another glance up at the man.

The question of if he’d ever ridden a chocobo gets a vigorous shake of his head. “Nope, the ones you can ride on are kinda big and I’m kinda small. I might someday, ‘cause people said I could learn if I wanted to. I just dunno…” He added with a small nod. Yes, the child knew he’d get bigger some day… But for now, things that were bigger meant a healthy dose of caution. Especially if they were creatures other than the ones owned by Ignis and Nida, because the unfamiliar ones might not have the same temperaments.

"Write names on a list, that sounds like a good idea." That wasn't something that had occurred to him. Angeal had never had a four legged puppy before so this was a new one. It would be a matter of looking at the pup and trying to give it a name that was fitting too, but that was a task for another day.

Angeal was amused when he heard the boy hadn't ridden a chocobo yet. He nodded at hearing that the boy had been told that he could ride one if he wanted to. "They're pretty gentle once they get used to you. Or at least the ones we had back home were like that. Some could be found in the wild too. So I wonder if that's the same here."

Mono gave the man a clumsy, tilted attempt at a smile to hear that he’d made a good suggestion! “I hope it helps!” He responded, crouched in front of the puppy still. “Gotta have a good name, since the puppy’s gotta hear it all the time.” He added with a little nod. It made sense to him, at least. He was pretty sure that’s why his name and Six’s were kinda weird to some people, because they never really heard it since no one was ever calling them. Aside from when they met the rare other child or each other, he supposed.

Mono would explain, since he hadn’t been born in this weird world and the chocobos came later too… But he didn’t know the guy that well yet, so he listened instead. It seemed like the guy knew a lot more about chocobos than some of the people here. Kinda like Ignis and Nida, who had them in their worlds. “Yeah? Some of the ones I got to meet so far have been nice, and the little ones are cute. So I guess that could be true! I just like to be careful around stuff that’s bigger than me.”

"That's very true." Angeal replied with a smile in his tone. It was adorable to see the boy so interested in the pup who was in turn just as interested in the boy. It warmed his heart in the best way. And along with the names list, the Soldier figured he was going to have to buy the pup some toys and maybe a bed.

But having a dog would be a good companion and would give him a reason to keep going in this strange place.

"Good idea." he smiled. "Being cautious is always a good idea." Unlike a certain gung-ho excitable pup he knew back home. "I'm told we had ones of different colours. I don't know if that's true here or not. But the ones I always saw were yellow."

“It’s important. You never know what kinda bad stuff might happen if you don’t. You don’t get take-backs with danger!” He nodded seriously, sounding as though he were some kind of expert. A bit weird for a child his age, though at least his way of saying it came off as pretty childish. Mono would admit that sometimes running headfirst into something was sometimes a necessary risk, but caution was always better if the world was giving you the opportunity to be.

He nodded quickly to the mention of different coloured chocobos. “Yeah? We got other coloured ones here too. Not as many as the yellow ones, but I know someone with a blue one and someone else has a red one! I dunno how many colours there are besides that, though.”

He smiled at Mono, wishing Zack had half of the wisdom of this boy at this age. That one was always so excitable and ready to go try and kick ass. However, he was usually the kid that came back with all of the bumps and bruises from the 'school of hard knocks' as it were. It was cute but exasperating as Zack never seemed to learn.

Angeal nodded. "So they have different colours here too. Guess I'm going to have to go take a look."

In his previous life Angeal was going to be a farmer or so he decided. That was until Genesis declared Banora lame and was going to go join Soldier to be a hero. And Angeal joined to keep him out of trouble because Genesis and trouble were pretty often synonymous.

To be fair, Mono had grown up in a world where you either got wise to how to stay alive fast or you didn’t last long. It unfortunately also meant he didn’t exactly know how to be a kid sometimes, and certainly not in ways that most would consider ‘normal’, thus he’d had to learn that here to varying degrees of success.

He nodded though, liking that he could at least be helpful for the new stranger. “Yeah, I think a lot of them live at this big ranch place outside the city. The ones that don’t already got jobs or people to ride them, I mean.” He added with a little wave in what he was pretty sure was the direction to ‘outside’ the city where the ranch was. He didn’t go that way often, after all. His delivery routes were all in the city, and there wasn’t much beyond the walls that the kid had been interested in as yet.

"A chocobo ranch." Angeal mused thoughtfully. Well that was helpful information. "Sounds like a pretty good set up. If they have a ranch, then it sounds pretty organized like that ones I heard about back home."

He didn't go see the ranches himself. He stayed in Midgar and really didn't have need to venture out of it unless it was for a mission. Missions simply meant work and as a First he could refuse to take them.

While the former First didn't know which direction to go to get outside the city, he figured he'd find out soon enough. Of course the boy was kind enough to wave that way, so he'd start there.

"So you haven't been there yourself?"

“Yeah, they got people looking after the baby ones and the ones that don’t have jobs or people yet and everything. Sometimes they bring some into the city, I think, to see if anyone’s interested in them. Like during big events and stuff where lots of people show up.” He responded, thinking back to the spring festival that had taken place the first year he was here. It had been a while since that had happened, though, and Mono had only gotten to know a couple of younger chocobos since then.

The question got a small shake of the boy’s head. “Naw, I don’t go out of the city much. All my delivery routes for work are in the city, and my boss Tommy delivers all the stuff that’s gotta go farther than that. So I don’t really got a lot of reasons to go there? I’ve heard that some people go to work there, though.” Because Mono was very observant and prone to listening to the conversations or gossip of the adults around him while he was working. Even if it wasn’t important information, it was hard to not overhear stuff.

"So they're trying to get owners for the chocobos?" That made sense he guessed considering if people took them home or made them pets it would be less work for the ranch hands to do or whoever was managing the birds. Well if they needed help with them, he definitely had farm experience.

That was the original life he'd expected to have for himself, to be a farm hand to pick all of the Dumbapples back in Banora. But then Genesis wanted to be Soldier and Angeal tagged along to keep the fiery tempered swordsman safe from himself. And then it went from there.

Still, the Soldier looked at Mono when he spoke of having a job doing deliveries and he nodded. "Sounds reasonable enough. If you don't have any reason to go there, there's really no sense in doing it." And of course Angeal didn't add that he thought the boy shouldn't venture out anyway.

“Yeah, I guess so!” He responded with a little shrug. He guessed the more chocobos there were, the harder the work at the ranch would be if they never found new homes for them. And the idea of such large creatures all cooped up in one place was particularly sad. It was hard to not remember that tiny room where he’d found so many oversized creatures trapped in boxes and cages, probably forgotten by whoever put them there… If that person even still existed.

He nodded though. Angeal seemed to get it! “Exactly! If I don’t got a reason to go somewhere, it seems kinda silly to go.” And since he tended to have a lot of other things to occupy his attention around the city? He didn’t tend to venture too much further than places like the park with Luna for an afternoon of teaching her how to get away from potential danger and finding good hiding places.

Well an apartment wasn't a place to house a chocobo. But he was sure that the place needed help so with this report he'd definitely make a trip out there himself. And the sooner the better it sounded like. "Then I'll go check it out first thing tomorrow." He'd heard jobs provided pay just as Soldier had even though he'd found out the Turks made more gil than the Soldiers did.

Except maybe Sephiroth.

Angeal smiled very briefly. The kid's reasoning was sound for a kid. "And the city should be safer than the outskirts anyway. Trouble might be found if one goes out looking beyond safe boundaries."

“Good luck getting a job there then, Mr.” He responded, hoping that he got the job since he seemed pretty interested in chocobos and stuff. Which kind of made sense, the boy supposed. A lot of people seemed happier to be around stuff that was familiar from their own worlds, which was odd to see for him but also kind of nice at the same time.

Nodding quickly, Mono chirped his agreement. “Yeah, exactly!” This guy? He totally got it. You only went to dangerous places if you had to… Or if you were super curious, but he still tried to be smart about things. So unless a friend was in trouble, or he needed something from that part of this place, he stayed where it seemed smart to and tended towards caution and sneaky observations from a distance.

"Thank you." Angeal replied. "But you can call me Angeal instead of mister if you want." That was something to hear. Usually he was called 'Sir' by Zack or by any of the other recruits in Soldier. Mister was definitely not something he heard a lot of. And he knew the boy was just being polite so the former First Class wasn't going to hold it against him.

He couldn't help but smile at the agreement. "Well as long as you stay within the city you should be alright." Angeal wasn't sure if trouble would come into this place but if it did, he would be more than ready.

Mostly, Mono hadn’t been sure what the guy’s name had been. So he tended to default to mister, at least until someone corrected him. “Okay then, Angeal! And you’re welcome!” It was good to help new people, after all. Especially when so many people had helped him since he got here over a year ago now. It seemed only right to keep helping other people out when this could all be really confusing when you were from a completely different world. At least Angeal’s world had chocobos and stuff, though. That meant it was at least a little like it… Right?

“Yeah, that’s what I think, too. And there’s a lotta neat stuff to see and do around the city anyway, so I don’t get really bored here.” He added with a little nod, he had too many people he liked to stop and see or places that he could try to learn about and maybe figure out more about how to do fun stuff like some people suggested kids should be doing.

It warmed his heart to hear this little boy call him by his name, much like whenever Zack did back when he was a younger pup. But he just smiled. There was so much work to do and here he was speaking to one of the 'imports' as he'd mentally labeled everyone that wasn't native to this place.

That included himself of course.

However, he was intrigued at hearing the next bit. "What sort of neat stuff is there to see and do here?" It didn't hurt to ask, and if he could get that figured out, then at least he was ahead of the game.

“There’s a really nice park where people like to go, and a big place called the circus complex with games and food and stuff!” Though, honestly, the city itself and the people in it fell into the category of ‘neat stuff’ where Mono was concerned considering how unlike the Pale City it was. So the boy never really got particularly board between following people and learning things he never had the chance to know before.

Though he had a particular liking for the park, especially with his friend Luna. It was big and open compared to the city. There wasn’t much chance to accidentally bump into someone, and there was a lot to explore without needing to worry about anything particularly dangerous.

"Circus complex?" Angeal asked. Food sounded good because food was good even if it was weird to have to think about food and all of that again. "And a bigger park than this one?" It was really great to be getting a report such as this regarding the new place considering there wasn't a map or coordinates to go by.

This gave him plenty to do and he had places to go look for. Of course he could always go to the local tavern and listen in, advanced as his was. Somehow he thought death would've erased them but they were still around thankfully.

“Yup! They got lots of weird but tasty food, and they race chocobos and stuff too.” Mono responded, nodding as he confirmed the locations for the man. The guy seemed pretty interested, and it was good to know what kind of things were around for them to do here. It was good, after all, that people seemed so interested in doing stuff here compared to his world. Everyone was so full of life and energy! Even tired people still tried to do things and cared about stuff.

“So there’s a lotta stuff to do, depending on what kinda things you’re interested in.” So he felt like he’d done a pretty good job of being a helpful ‘welcome person’ to the stranger. Between the ranch and his interest in the circus complex, maybe he’d even helped the guy find his important starting points!

"Food is good." Angeal agreed, wondering exactly what kinds of food there were. It would give him something to do to be here. And this other park that the boy had spoken of, well that cut his work out for him.

Mono had definitely helped a lost dead soul and Angeal was grateful. "Well if I happen to see something tasty, I'll see if I can bring some back for you. And just think of it as a thank you for all of your help."

He didn't know how things worked here, but he definitely appreciated someone even so young as this boy to go out of his way to help him as best he could. Maybe he'd even get to take the kid there himself someday.

“Yeah? You don’t gotta. I just like helping when I see new people. But thanks!” He responded with one of his clumsy, tilted attempts at a smile. The boy was pretty well fed these days compared to when he arrived and never left the house without a full meal, thanks to those who had taken him in.

But he finally adjusted his hold on the little satchel over his shoulders and tugged on the brim of his hat a little. “I should probably get back to taking messages around, though! But I hope you find some good food and stuff for your new puppy!” He added, because the puppy was important after all. It was little and needed looking after, too.

The former First nodded. This was a foreign world to him and this boy had been kind. The least he could do was try and repay the favour.

However, when he heard the boy state he had to go, he smiled. "Thank you again for your help, be safe in getting to where you need to be." The pup seemed to bark in agreement and Angeal picked the little fluffball up.

“You’re welcome!” He chirped back, pulling the hat brim a little lower with another clumsy little attempt at a smile directed towards the cute puppy that seemed to be thanking him too. “I’m always careful, I’ll be okay!” He added before offering the man a wave as he turned in the direction of the part of the city he was designated for making deliveries to. “See ya later!!” And with that, the boy was off at a quick little jog, slipping around people with ease as he made his way onto the crowded streets and disappearing.

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A Soldier and a smol pup

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