aterat | [Open] Headache And A Half

Entry tags:

[Open] Headache And A Half

Who; Nida, Open
What; A New Voice In His Head and Chocobo Wrangling
Where; Scientia Household, Markets, Near Chocobo Ranch
When; September
Warnings; Discussion and depictions of talking to voices in your head.

I. The Statue | Scientia Home

It arrives at the door of the house, and just looking at the small statue, Nida knows it's for him. No doubt another one of those little finds that Raimon is good at, something on a list of them that Nida had prepared but never gotten around to coming back for. But he knows it's for him, because he recognizes it from home. Not this little piece, smaller than either of their pets specifically, was exactly like the ones he'd seen at home in pictures, but it was still something of home.

"Now if only I could figure out why you're here," Nida says as he picks the thing up and heads to the kitchen for his morning coffee. He puts the statue on the table to consider where it was almost immediately met by Julia leaping up and nuzzling against it.

"No accounting for your taste, Jules," he tells the feline before sipping at his coffee. What could this be? What could it mean? Why did every bit of his magical senses gifted by Siren scream that it was important?

"Why do you seem so familiar?" he asks after a sip of coffee. Then he reaches out for the thing once more and...

The mug breaks on the floor when he falls. Not that Nida, currently passed out on the floor, really notices.

II. The Arguments | Markets

Nida was learning a lot recently. Like how even a simple walk through the markets on his patrol shift was going to be a headache if he didn't know how to make peace in his own mind.

Oh! Grapes! We should have grapes. You like Grapes!

YOU like Grapes. He doesn't like grapes. There should be no grapes. Raisins instead I think.

Raisins are just boring grapes with wrinkles. Oh, that's why you like them. They're wrinkly. Like you.

And you clearly prefer grapes because they are bloated and much better crushed and fermented like-

"Will you shut up? I'm getting apples and that's final," Nida hissed under his breath, hoping no one else heard him. Which, given his luck, seemed pretty unlikely.

III. The Chase | Near Chocobo Ranch

"Kweh."

"I don't think I can argue with that," Nida said in response to the vocalization of the red chocobo underneath him. The chocobo shied one way and then the other, as if distressed, and Nida of course reached forward to pat her neck gently.

"I know," he says, his voice soft. "I know it's scary. You can smell them too. But I promise, we're here to help the other chocobos. And I won't let any wolves get you. I just need you to do me a favor and help get the other chocobos safe, okay?"

If it gets dangerous, I can shield you!

"That's not a helpful observation, Carbuncle, because she doesn't even know you're here," Nida noted as he nudged the chocobo into motion toward a blur of yellow in the distance. "Maybe save your protectiveness for someone who can understand the words when I relay a message."

And from the looks of it, there might be someone up ahead, astride that other chocobo. Nida raises a hand in greeting to the distant form.

"Well met! You helping out here too?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I would be shocked if you hadn't," Nida admitted with a shrug. "And I'd like to see how I work with your style. But right now, there's also all this birds to try and deal with. Figured Hibiscus here would help me wrangle."

And that was more today's goal than the fighting might be.

There was the slightest smile, but it disappeared pretty quick because he was busy mulling over why this guy wanted to fight alongside him.

Oh right, timelines.

Serious blue eyes looked from the man to the red chocobo. "You think your chocobo is going to help you herd the birds?"

Although his mind somehow saw Nida tossing himself off of his mount to wrestle another to the ground.

That was actually a rather amusing thought.

"Hibiscus is a sweet little bully," he says. "And she's quick. So yeah, it might help. But I can't mess with the other chocobos myself. They don't like me."

Because it's really just dangerous for him.

"So you're herding chocobos and then fighting?"

Leon wanted to make sure he understood what Nida was doing so that he didn't get in the way.

"Herding chocobos as the priority," Nida answered. "Because they need to get to safety, even if they are menaces."

And to him any chocobo that wasn't part of his household was absolutely a menace.

Serious blue eyes looked at Nida as he pulled the rein to get the chocobo to turn.

"They're not known to be menaces. But you're right, their safety comes first."

"They aren't menaces to you," he says with a laugh and a roll of his eyes. "Chocobos don't like me. Had to raise Hibiscus from a chick."

And that had been a battle.

This had Leon confused but he wasn't going to argue with the guy. "That's good that you found a way around it." His tone had a light tease in it, but that was as far as he was pushing it.

"So I'm fighting and you're doing the rounding up?"

"It's lucky," Nida laughs as he directs his bird. "You willign to play interference? We can look for wolves, and you can hold them back while I wrangle birds. Or if nothing attacks them, you can make sure they don't peck at me?"

Seems like a fair arrangement to him.

Leon nodded. "Works for me. But you're sure you're gonna be able to handle the birds if they don't like you as you say?"

He could see himself fighting off the wolves and then having to rescue Nida.

"They're flock animals. If they sense danger and Hibiscus encourages running in a certain direction, they will follow," he says confidently. "Like birds taking wing in a flock when spooked in the city."

"Alright, have it your way."

There was something of amusement in his tone but he wasn't going to bust this guy's balls. If things went wrong and Nida was wrong, Leon would help fix it. It was as simple as that.

"Let's see how it goes."

Wow, why would he be wrong?

"So positive. Just like the guy I know," Nida chuckles to himself. "Strange how the universe can do that, isn't it?"

Leon looked at Nida with a nod, adjusting the chocobo rein in his gloved hand.

"Ready when you are."

"Alright then," he says with a smile and guides Hibiscus around.

"Let's ride, Boss."

Leon shook his head and started up the road with Nida. It was nice to do this, but he kept an eye out for trouble, although half of him thought with the other admitting to not getting along with chocobos, that the fighting situation in itself might not be so tough.

As they rode along, his mind wouldn't shut up so he gave up.

"How long did you say you knew that other..me or whatever?"

Oh dear, what a question. Nida frowns. He has to pick at his memories to try and peel it apart.

"I think since I was probably nine or so? It's hard to place, given the damage GFs do to our minds as cadets. That said, that's a 'know' in a very loose way. We effectively grew up together, but it doesn't count because he's very private and stayed away from people a lot."

This was something he wasn't ever going to get used to even if it had smacked him in the face both ways.

"So you two didn't talk a lot?"

"The Commander is... Well, he's a very private person. And I wasn't very important. We ended up in different classes too, so that minimized interaction."

Nida had been underwhelming to start with, and Squall had clearly only had eyes for Seifer because Seifer had just irritated him so damn much.

"I think he only really got aware of me as he came into power he didn't want. And at that point I was a subordinate he probably felt responsible for."

Leon listened as they traveled along the path, while his eyes were still looking out for trouble. His eyes shifted briefly over to Nida as the man stated that he wasn't important, but he said nothing and simply continued to listen.

And then his head turned at the part of how this other him felt responsible for Nida. Well that was another trait he and this other him shared besides being a private person. Leon too had originally been ferrying people away from danger and the Heartless, which somehow ended up in him garnering attention from the King. So there was that.

After some thought he had to ask. "But he was important to you, right?"

"Of course. Who doesn't find the guy who saved the world important? Their commander?"

There had been a crush but that wasn't here or there anymore. It didn't matter like this. For now it just made him smile to think.

"I think he'd be annoyed at that. Being that important to people he feels don't know him."

Leon nodded. "That sounds about right." Sora wasn't his commander but the kid was important, and he'd saved so many worlds. Not that Leon would ever say that to the keyblade wielder.

His gaze met Nida's briefly as he heard that last part and turned away. That assessment was uncomfortably close, and it made him think a lot as he kept the chocobo moving forward.

OH he can see that look in Leon's expression, and he chuckles.

"You really are so like him. To the point where I would wonder if you ever met Seifer. Or his other friends."

But that seems unlikely.

That one name stopped him a moment but he shook his head.

"Sora mentioned a Seifer in Twilight Town. But I never met him. Said he hung out with someone with an eye patch and a little black mage named Vivi."

Leon sighed. "Now that I think about it, he said there was someone else who said 'y'know' a lot too."

Never met Seifer? Huh. Quite an interesting thing. Though the person with an eyepatch...

"Fujin! Of course she would find her way to him. And if you're right about 'ya know' then I don't doubt Raijin is around too. I have not heard of a Vivi though. How interesting, the differences. Next thing you know you won't have heard of Ellone."

Which could be true and all the more sad.

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