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The soft buzzing of the electric city Solution 9 was met with the sudden busy hustle and bustle most adventuring hubs would become, but for Baazz it was the same old usual noises that he had gotten used to during his time going from place to place.
He had been sitting outside of the apartment complex enjoying what small amount of nature that adorned the city get in as much fresh air that he could to try and relax, a small yellow kerneled fellow had been bopping around in Solution 9 it hopped in place upon realizing that he had reunited with his friend “Ah my stalwart ally in feeding would you perhaps be willing to assist me in feeding all these eager adventurers!”
It was a unique voice upright and posh but met with the humorously low tones that you would expect out of a grizzled veteran not so much for such a small sentient corn, Baazz gave the little critter a smile and lowered his arm down to help hoist him up onto the bench next to him but something caused his ears and tail to stand on end.
“Oh is that a friend of yours! They don’t look particularly happy” instinctively Baazz had moved his arm and slammed the hand he offered the Cornservant onto the ground and used it to shift his body off of the bench and slide around into a position he could see his aggressor, might have burnt his hand a little but it was better than the alternative, A sudden clash of lightning struck down onto the bench he was just sitting down on, the sudden heat had caused the corn servant to panic “By the people! I almost felt a kernel pop!”
“Give me your soul!” Eutrope cried out, her electrope cube floating in her hand. Her eyes were fierce and fixated on the prize in front of her, ready to fight for it even without her beast soul form from what he could gather.
Baazz could only meet her fiery determination with a solemn expression, if it was going to be some rabid Honey B fan he would have easily dispatched with them, it’s not as if they hadn’t tried to do that before, but for the sake of Yaana all he could do was stand up and pat down his hands getting rid of what gravel clinged to his hands “Can’t do that, you’re not the only person who has things to lose” His gaze clashing with hers there was a intensity that just seemed to fuel the bloodlust in Eutrope she let out a hiss.
Baazz had turned his attention back to the Corn Servant “You should probably get out of here, you don’t wanna get turned into popcorn” the little corn on legs swayed its body almost as if it was in conflict with itself not wishing to leave an ally behind an idea struck him and he waddled off as quickly as he could towards the markets, all the while Eutrope looked even more infuriated, was this a joke? Who was he speaking to? popcorn? She let out a roar before concentrating onto the electrope cube again to bring down thunder on the Miqo’te in front of her “Don’t make a fool of me!” Rapid thunder began to spew out of every direction almost as if she had been using the electricity from their surroundings using the actual electrope around them to try and kill Baazz outright.
Hectic dodging and weaving as he moved around as fast as he could his feet slamming down onto the ground trying to move as quickly as he could the lightning singing the ground leaving dark ashen spots, some of the lightning striking down at the au natural grass that lit up lightly with flame only to be extinguished by the boots of the Miqo’te, who was now breaking a sweat.
“I warned you! If I found you anywhere outside of the gymnasium I would take my chance!”
She began to walk in closer to try and add onto the pressure her arm still reaching out so she could put the concentration into the Electrope block,
Baazz had stomped his foot onto the bench and made a quick maneuver as he vaulted over it, seemingly trying to make some distance away from her approach. His voice was exhibiting effort as he tried to speak up “You need to stop! How would you even transfer my soul if you did kill me huh?!” he tried to reason with her and use knowledge to try and get into her head.
“I’ll find a way!” with a violent grunt she vaulted over the bench as well hellbent on stopping him from getting away each step was heavy with resolve.
Baazz was getting tired of playing on the defensive, he was letting out a growl, his ears folded in annoyance, as his focus went from Eutrope herself to her electrope cube and then back down to her arm that was keeping it afloat “fine… if that’s how you want to be”
The ceased movement as they came to a standstill almost as if they were about to have a shootout in the middle of town, but too baazz’s surprise he saw the Corn servant sneak up behind Eutrope he must have traveled circled around to get closer to her while staying out of the heat of the battle, his eyes almost fixated on the kernel creature’s plan, a single corn cob, slid silently in front of her shoes, there was a sense of bewilderment but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Eutrope had took one single step forward and immediately without any fanfare or theatrics, slipped forward face first smashing her face and body onto the ground below, the cube falling out of her grasp and clanking and rolling towards Baazz’s boots, kneeling down he had grasped it and put it away in his pack, effectively disarming Eutrope.
There was a sudden wail as her body writhed in pain, her body rolling onto its side as she cusped her nose “SON OF A BITCH! AGHH FUCK!” The Corn Servant who was invisible to her gaze gave her a wide berth as it ran over towards Baazz, its little body shaking in fear and to some extent a little bit of guilt “Oh dear... “ her body outstretched itself as it tried to release all of the pain all at once.
There was something a little amusing about the situation in front of Baazz he let out a small smile, it was a little funny when it happened to others for a change, but he already knew how strong that shame of humiliation was so after he shook of the self indulgent enjoyment that he received out of the ordeal he had walked on over to her and Gently picked her up, much to her own objections “Guh stop! This is already bad enough!” her body was trying to get away from him appalled by his kindness in the face of his aggressor.
“Quit your bitchin and let me help, you keep acting like you’re alone in all of this but I actually know how you feel” his voice tried to reach her with a tone of understanding, but she seemed to be in disbelief
“How would you know! You’ve never had an illness that was threatening to turn you into nothing!” she tried to swipe her arms away from him, her body still wriggling around in defiance but to her surprise he had just let her go.
After a moment she could calm down, luckily for her that trip didn’t do too much damage but the suddenness of the damage made it feel like it was more worse than it was, Baazz had noticed her eyes had welled up somewhat little tricklets of tears did escape her after the impact with the ground, or maybe it was the frustration coming out, “Look it’s a long story, but the long and short of it was, my soul got corrupted by a couple of monsters that I had to fight” His mind was reeling back to the time in the First the grueling journey of fighting Sin eaters and absorbing corrupted light into his body had broken down his very being, the more time he took to remember the more he wondered how much of his actual soul still belonged to himself or to Ardbert, he shook his head as he got back to the point “I still don’t know how much of my own soul is there, so I understand” his eyes tried to meet hers, his words genuine.
There was a conflicted look on her face as she heard him speak, she didn’t have any reason to believe him, but maybe having that connection would make working through this terrifying part of her life less scary, or maybe she did she couldn’t tell, her hand raised up to rub her nose it still stung “Do you think by empathizing with me will save you” her eyes avoided his gaze she didn’t want to accept the fact that she was slowly softening up to him, the only person that might be able to save her through his own death she grinded her teeth together annoyed by the feeling of confliction.
The Corn Servant had spoken up “I think i will take my leave you seem to have things well in hand, I hope the next time we encounter each other we can still help out those hungry people out in the world” Baazz gave the Little kernel creature a nod, speaking to something that others might not see wouldn’t normally be an issue but he wouldn’t want to piss of Eutrope any further, the little fellow had waddled off onto it’s next adventure, pleased enough to have played a small role in keeping his companion safe.
“I want my Electrope back” she outstretched her arm, her hand wide open almost demanding him to return what was hers, her feet stomping forward as she got closer and closer until she was close enough that he could feasibly hand it to her.
Baazz paused, the more he stared at this young woman who’d been dealt a bad hand, her pissy and pathetic attitude was something that he could relate to, and all he could do was smile in her direction “I’ll do it, but I have a couple of arrangements that I’d like to make, a deal if you would” there was something a little predatory in the way that he looked at her “If I give you the Electrope back and keep attacking me, I get to tell your sister that you have been reenacting scenes from some fanfiction she introduced me to, and those same fics surprise surprise well they just happen to involve us”
“Hell no I don’t agree to those terms, what are you a child!?” Baazz interrupted her”Tsk tsk tsk, No no no” his finger wagging in front of her face as he was denying her further outbursts it was infuriating her, there was flush of embarrassment flooding her face making it somewhat red and hot “That's what gets to happen if you don’t give us an opportunity to try and find a way to cure this issue of yours ourselves, you give us some time as much as you can manage and then you can start trying to claim me for yourself again”
His phrasing was on purpose he could see her hating everything that he said, no matter how fair that it seemed he was getting under her skin “I’m not… I, you suck … FINE!” satisfied with this temporary truce, Baazz had reached back into his pack and placed the cube back into the defeated woman’s hand “There you go pleasure doing business with you” his grip loosened and the cube fell into Eutrope’s hand, she gave him a violent competitive glare, before turning around and walking away, the muffled anger and curses.
He could follow her but he knows that this wouldn’t be the last time they met.he gazed up into the artificial sky of Solution 9, wondering what would come next for Arcadion, for Eutrope, he didn’t want to admit it aloud but he found her somewhat cute when she was getting frustrated left all humiliated, he might need to spend some time going through his tomestone and actively read up on some of those writings that the fans made.
Until the next dawn.