Old Friends, New Worries [OPEN]

[right_hand_cat]

Characters: Ranulf and OPEN
Content: Ranulf did quite a bit of traveling in his youth, and met many interesting people.
Time: Any time over the last 60 years or so
Setting: All over Reial
Warnings: Depends on who tags~

Comments

About ten years ago, near the Thompson Farm outside of Berum

[peoplenpudding]

Millie sat under that old apple tree on her family's property, not far from barn. She needed to think.

It had been a few years since those nice insurance people had come and helped her family after that horrible monster attack, and Millie had no idea if she wanted to work with them, or join the sisters at the convent. Both were jobs where she could help people, but if she joined the convent she could be right in Berum if something came up. But the Society paid well, and she could always send the money she didn't need back home.

"Oh, fudge, why does this have to be so hard?"

[right_hand_cat]

Ranulf had been traveling through Ivona, taking a look here and there. Each interesting tidbit had been recorded in his mind to report back to the King when he returned. The Beast Tribes didn't trust the mail if they could help it, so it was up to him to remember every little thing for months on end.

And that kind of work was very tiring, so perhaps he couldn't be faulted for catching a nap in that particular tree. The smell of apples was very nice after all.

It was during his nap that he heard someone talking to themselves. The laguz's ears twitched, and without opening his eyes he responded.

"Most things are only as hard as you make them."

[peoplenpudding]

"Aaaaah!"

Millie panicked, and looked up at the tree. "D-did you just talk, tree?"

[right_hand_cat]

Ranulf chuckled before stretching, letting his spine pop and lazily hanging his head down so she could see him. Upside down, but still visible. He grinned, showing off his tiny fangs.

"No Ma'am, just a napping cat. Sorry to spook you."

Aaa! /pounce. Twenty years ago, in a provincial Ivonian town.

[ceilingitou]

Kamotaro didn't understand. He had gotten full marks for his latest exam, had topped his sword fighting class, and had come home spotlessly clean for once. Why had his mother gotten angry at him when he showed his grades to her? Takahisa hadn't even been asleep! At least Takahisa had wanted to see his paper, but mother didn't let him, either.

Maybe he hadn't been clean enough. That was it. Takahisa got sick from dirty things. Next time, he'd just have to take a bath first before going to him. Dumb Kamotaro, always forgetting!

Even if he knew that, though, it was still hard not to cry. He ran out of the house and quietly squatted in a corner of their garden, just at the edge of the small forest nearby. It was the most alone places in the garden. No one would see his face scrunched up, trying to make the tears go away but not quite managing it.

[right_hand_cat]

He had been hunting, stalking deer and chocobo through the forest, his nose low to the ground. His coloring made it a little hard, but he still had the skill even outside of the rocky Badlands it seemed. But just as he caught wiff of a doe... he also caught scent of beorc. He froze, his beast form tail twitching as he stalked closer to the edge of the woods. If it was hunters he didn't want to get shot instead...

But as he got closer he could also smell the salt tang of unshed tears. The laguz blinked before changing forms to his more human shape, stepping out of the tree line to see what looked like a beorc child fighting back some kind of grief. He frowned... He hated seeing kittens in distress.

"Are... you alright?"

[ceilingitou]

The company was so unexpected that for a moment, Kamotaro forgot his tears. No one had ever approached him when he was there, before, and this was a stranger! Strangers weren't supposed to be in their property, right?

Startled, he backed off from the man and into a bush, tangling his ponytail on the twigs. "Are you here to kidnap me?" he asked nervously, swallowing down a sob and, in some fit of pride, furiously wiped his eyes before this man could mistake him for a crybaby. He could run. He should probably run. But where to? If he had been clean earlier, he was definitely dirty now and the household would get angry. "They won't pay you to get me back, you know."

[right_hand_cat]

He stopped, not coming closer lest he scare the kid more. Instead he crouched, his hands danging between his feet. He made it look easy, balancing on the balls of his feet and his tail wrapping around, the tip twitching.

"I'm not kidnapping anyone, except maybe a deer or two. You're fine..."

51 years ago in Bellicus

[karmauberalles]

Manfred von Karma, age fifteen, was having a rather spectacular day. It wasn't just that he'd found out the class rankings and he was at the top-that was just to be expected, because he was absolutely perfect and anything less would be terrible of him.

No... it was because he was getting away from Bellicus for a while! He just needed to walk to the port and he was set, and since he was already on his way there, he was that much closer to putting some distance between himself and this damnable city.

[right_hand_cat]

This... had been a bad idea.

Ranulf, not looking much older then Manfred himself, tugged his cloak closer to himself, hoping his tail wouldn't peek out and give him away. It wasn't the first time he had been in Ivona... but it was the first time he had been in such a large city. The reek of Beorc was everywhere and was making him extra nervous.

So he had slipped out of the city limits and towards the port to calm his nerves. He couldn't so this... why couldn't they send someone with more experience? His thoughts were so array he did see the red-haired teenager until he bumped into him. "Ah!! E-excuse me, I..." He faltered, pulling the cloak even closer.

[karmauberalles]

...did someone just bump into him? von Karma turned and... looked more surprised than anything. It'd never really occurred to him that anyone would just bump into him like that. He was used to people giving him a wide berth.

...of course, now would probably be a good time to call him out on it. People couldn't just go around bumping into him all the time.

"Hey, watch what you're doing!" said von Karma. "You could start trouble like this!"

Bydan, about six and a half years ago

[satinskyrapids]

Yumichika stood, poised to attack his opponent: a willowy birch tree. His weapon was a sword roughly carved from an old broomstick handle. He hit the trunk, which shook with what seemed to be heavy mocking laughter. To add injury to insult, a branch then cut him in the arm.

He was losing.

Against a tree.

Slumping to the ground, he realized then how absolutely pathetic he was at fighting. He brushed a lock of hair out of his face and settled to think.

No, that was bothersome. He drew his hair up into a high ponytail to keep it away from the sweat on his neck, and then settled to think.

After a brief pause, he jumped back up and aimed a few strikes at the poor tree, one from the left and one from the right and one from the left, in such rapid succession that it didn't have time to decide what exactly it wanted to do.

He barely left a dent.

"Ayasegawa Yumichika, you suck!"

[right_hand_cat]

"Ah... so the tree has a name? Well at least that's a step towards knowing why you're beating at it..." A voice called out from a ways away. Ranulf had simply been walking by when he heard the 'twacktwack' of wood on wood. It had perked his curiosity, and this was what he had found.

He assumed the teen was training... and not doing a great job by it from the sounds of it.

[satinskyrapids]

"No," the boy said, shaking his head. "That's my name. There isn't an art form I have no talent in... except this one." His frame slumped in disappointment. "You're new around here, aren't you? I would have remembered your face." He absentmindedly rubbed the cut on his arm. It didn't seem to really bother him; he just didn't really like the idea of it being visible.