The privateer stepped back, quietly cooing at the chocobo's cute chirps. He looked up to respond to the wrangler, yet still smiled more to the bird than him. [Color=aba000]"Hardly experienced, my lad. They've just been friendly to me in my worst times. Treat them well, maybe play with them a bit more."[/color] And X'gihl reached out, ruffled the bird's feathers again with a whisper. [Color=aba000][i]"You[/i] be good to [i]him[/i], burdo. Boy might ride you about with a green dangling just out of reach."[/color] 

After a short chortle, X'gihl turned on his heel and began heading back up the steps to the mainland. He called out back to Isabella and waved a hand to let her know he was moving again. For X'gihl could see no more work to be done, and this spot in particular had been a bit of a dead end in getting the house back safe and sound. Mayhap the others had more luck? At the very least, hopefully there'd been no more talk of their leader's private life. 'Twas one thing for a singular set of loose lips. The privateer didn't want to bring up bad memories in the lass, with or without her permission to be knowing what he now did. 

The thought brought a fragment of his own memories to the forefront: weeks out of Gyr Abania, crossing into the Black Shroud, hungry, scared, the adults hiding something as they guided their flock.

Not something he wanted to bring back, much less for someone else. The privateer sighed as he stood at the top of the steps, taking a second for another swig of his flask; it had seemed heavier before. His one eye looked over the bazaar with a new focus; where were his new coworkers? X'gihl made his way back into the markets.

People still went about their merry ways, looking over goods, loudly discussing their trades, their merchandise, their gil, and more. X'gihl made little note of any idle chatter. His eye looked left, right, forward, backward, seeking any sign of the party he accompanied. He probably looked shifty, the way he stepped and turned and spun and dove around the marketgoers to avoid knocking into someone. Giving people so little attention while trying to find particular ones was usually done in more subtle manners, lest one looked like something besides an innocent miqo'te seeking the company he rode in with.

Yet the feeling of innocence began to find reason enough to fade. Hanging outside one of the buildings, X'gihl could make out a figure dressed in red with a rapier at her side. Beside her, a golden-haired young woman, a lalafell with blue hair, and an unmistakably horned youth. [Color=aba000][i]Were I a sensible sort, I'd say that's an ambush waiting to happen...[/i][/color]

Was it?

[I]Was it?![/i]

[Color=aba000]"Rhalgr's ass..."[/color] X'gihl cursed under his breath, quickly picking up his pace into a light run toward them, hands poised to draw his knuckles. And then the door to the building opened and out stepped an ever-so-smug dancer with the pink-haired lalafell not far behind. The privateer slowed himself and stopped just apart from the group, feeling somewhat the fool. From their talk (and J'torha's self pleasure), it seemed like everything was taken care of and more-or-less recovered. Lyveva even seemed pleased to the point of offering the group a meal and bath.

X'gihl laughed. His gut lurched at the motion and he doubled over with hands on knees as an unseemly cackle came from him. [Color=aba000]"Fo-For just a moment, I-I thought you all were about to jump someone!"[/color] For the short time he and that lancer had been at the docks, they'd managed to do the job quick and easy. What the heck had happened? And was it worth that he now smelled of a mix of fish and chocobo?