[open]Recover, Resupply, Alfitaria

[NeonPeace]

She climbed unto the chocobo clumsily, holding an arm out for balance. Once she was seated properly, she clutched the reins, tugging on them as she tried to get the big beast to go forward. "Frana'c dra drnicd majan uh drec drehk?" The Al Bhed joked, poking the chocobo's neck softly. All of a sudden, the bird cried out, making a strange noise that sounded something like 'kweh', and started trotting forward. Oh, great, now where were the brakes?

With a harsh tug of the reins, the bird stopped, allowing her to turn back to Marcus, "You're the leader..." Essa stated matter-of-factly, motioning for him to go on ahead of her.

[Zaxton Books]

Marx smirked, urging his bird ahead. The Chocobo hurried along, putting some serious road behind them.

In truth, he hated to ride. The motion was uncomfortable. The chocobo covered a mile of land over roads or flat plains in a third of the time it took him, but over anything much rougher, he could make almost double the time... and he was far less likely to miss something vital like food, water, or a trap, moving at a reasonable speed.

The Alfitiara region was relatively safe, however, and he would rather get out to where they needed to be, finish the job, and get back in to town. Maybe, depending on the number and maturity of the beasts, they'd make it back into town early enough that he could hire a healer tonight. A nice white mage. Hell, he'd settle for a sage or a priest, at this juncture.

The road forked, here. There was forest on their left, with the road going on straight ahead, and to the right, fields of waist-high grass, fenced in with crude but solid wood fencing. From here, Marx could see a cluster of buildings: a red barn, a small white farmhouse, and a few different, somewhat haphazard sheds. He could also see a few of the Marlboro in a far corner of the field, resting in the shadow of the trees that formed an impromptu edge of the property.

He sat a little higher in the saddle here, having come to a stop, and shaded his eyes with his hand. "... Drnaa dryd E lyh caa, yhofyo. Ouihk uhac, duu. Cdemm knaah."

He gestured in their direction. "Rayt dryd fyo, yht gaab y rymv yh aoa uh dras. Ev suna cruf ib, E'mm pa eh dra freda ruica. Ev drao lryca oui, syga y mud uv hueca yht nih pylg ib drec fyo, ehcdayt uv dufynt dra ruica. E esykeha dra vynsan yeh'd silr uv y vekrdan, un ra fuimth'd haat ic."

A smirk. "Just, uh, be careful."
He kicked the Chocobo gently in the sides, easing him down the road toward the farmhouse. There, he knocked upon the door. An elderly man answered, a viera. "... Hello?"
"Hello sir, I am with Clan Ranger. My partner and I are here about your Marlboro problem."
"... Your partner."
"She's watching them in the field. Was there just the one group?"
"That's right, just the three of them. Little ones, too. If my wife and I were younger, we would handle it ourselves."
Marx smiled. That was good news. They could be done this in a few minutes. "Don't you worry about that, sir. My partner and I are plenty young."

He walked to the edge of the porch and gave Essa and lifted his left hand high in the air, closed into a fist. Chiko would have recognized it as a "kill" gesture, but perhaps the young Al Bhed wouldn't.

[NeonPeace]

These chocobos really could cover some ground, and, plus, they where just so warm and fluffy. Definitly unlike the cold, hard machines that she was used to riding on. Essa wrapped her arms around the bird's chubby neck, smothering her face into it's thick yellow feathers. She stayed like that for the rest of the trip, until Marcus announced that he had spotted the Malboros. Raising her head, she scanned the horizon, eyes landing on the ugly monsters as they rested under a tree. They didn't look so threatening; still youngsters, like her partner had pointed out.

With a playful salute, and an 'aye aye', she spurred the chocobo on, steering it towards the small group of Malboros, while Marcus went to go attend to the task of chatting it up with the farm's owner. The lazy bum. Essa shook her head, clearing her mind as she got near the plant-like fiends. Halting before she could get to close, she looked back at the farmer's house, wondering what was going on between the farmer and Marcus, only to catch him standing on the porch, pumping his fist into the air. She took this as a 'good to go', and so immediatly drew her gun. Flicking the safety off, she aimed unsteadily at one of the Malboros, and shot.
The bullet went straight through the fiends wide, gaping mouth. It then collapsed, obviously dead.

Just two more left.

She leaned in, resting her elbows on the chocobos back for better support and easier aim. Another shot, another malboro dead. The last one was tricky, as it was on full alert now, and was heading her way, ready, desperate even, to attack. Out of fear, Essa's chocobo turned around and started running away, squacking loudly.

[Zaxton Books]

Marx watched with a mixture of amusement and alertness as the Chocobo turned and ran stifling a laugh on the back of his gloved hand. He wasn't terribly worred about Essa; the chocobo was infinitely faster than the Malboro, and she would get control of it back rather quickly.

He reached to his belt, slotting a special shell into each barrel of the shotgun. He gave the weapon a flourish tilting just one of the hammers back as he rose the weapon to aim down the barrel... something he rarely did. A shot of this range required a special ammunition, and certain attention to technique.

He pulled the trigger, and the aerofoil round streaked forth from the barrel, boring into the Malboro, which rushed for it at once, even as he cocked back the second hammer.

With that shot, the third and final malboro was felled. Still, he remained alert, reloading quickly before leaping off of the patio and rushing into the field, to ensure there were no... surprises.

[NeonPeace]

Hearing the bang of the gun, Essa jumped off of her chocobo, which had slowed down reasonably, and started running towards Marcus.

"Hela crud drana!" she said, clapping her hands. This man was obviously very skilled with a gun. Maybe, if she asked nicely, he could give her some tips and pointers. But not right now, they still had a mission to complete. "Huf mad'c ku kad dryd nafynt!"

Essa went up to the farmers house, banging on the front door. "Oh, farmer? Mister farmer? We killed the marble...morble..." Geesh, that was such a hard name to pronouce.

[Zaxton Books]

Marx smirked somewhat as he stepped back up onto the porch, removing his beret as the man and his wife stepped back onto the platform. "Oh... That was quick. Thank you. We'll have a judge come by tomorrow to clear up."

The wife smiled. "Now, about your reward. It's not much, but it's what we have."

By marcus's count, the coin they were handed was roughly five-thousand gil. He gave half to Essa, returning the rest to one of the deep pockets of his coat. Two and a half might get a consultation from a particularly charitable healer. "Thank you very much, ma'am, we're much obliged."
"Oh no, we should thank you."
Marx smirked. "That's fine, ma'am."

He turned to Essa. "Mad'c ku."

[NeonPeace]

That was a lot of gil! With wide eyes, Essa snatched her share of the loot, tucking it away into a small pouch that was attacked to the side of her belt. "Alright, let's get outta here..."

She quickly hopped back on to her chocobo, which was busy digging around for bugs, and started back towards town, anxious to spend her money.

[Zaxton Books]

Marx mounted up at a jog, riding quickly to catch back up with Essa, and perhaps even pass her to take the lead again. When they were nearing town again, he slowed out of respect for the farmers from the market trying to make their way back to their farmstead, and other rural people just trying to get home at the end of the day.

During one wait where they actually came to a standstill, he looked to Essa. "Dryhgc vun dra ramb. E naymmo ybbnaleyda ed. Oui'na hud cilr y pyt crud."

A slight smirk, as they started to move again.

[NeonPeace]

(Sorry, been real busy with midterm coming up.)

"Dryhgc," Essa said. "Oui'na hud cu pyt ouincamv, E kiacc. Luimt cdemm ica cusa uv bnyldela, druikr." She ended the sentence with a slight smirk.
Pretty soon they arrived back into the town, whatever it's name was, and headed to the stables to drop the chocobos off. Once there, she jumped off her ride, legs rather stiff. "Where next? Shopping?" She patted the pouch where she had put the money away, eyes sparkling with excitement. Oh, wait, there was that woman, Chiko, who desperatly needed help. She should come first. "No, we need to find a medic, don't we!?" But where in these scraggly town could you find one?

[Zaxton Books]

Marx smirked, letting the comment about practice slide, as he paid the balance to the Chocobo wrangler.

"I know a guy. You go ahead and shop. Thanks for the help."

He slung his shotgun over his shoulder, and set off back into the bazaar district.