Canon is Bravely Default

[whataredigits]

Hey, what's with the weird setup you got going here? You got something to prove? Well, let's just make one thing clear, alright?

No one tells the Jackal what to do, you got that? So how about you just get out of my way and let me do what I do best, huh?

Comments

[cursedmelody]

What might that be?

[whataredigits]

What's that, you ask? Well, bucktooth, you just so happen to be talking to the Jackal, great thief of the sands.

[cursedmelody]

... Senritsu.

[How rude!] I'm afraid I've never heard of you.

[whataredigits]

[Don't take it personally, he gives everyone nicknames because who has time to remember real names?]

Never heard of me? Well, now you have. And you're gonna be hearing a lot more of me now that I'm here. For instance... [That sure is a knife he just pulled.]

Hand over everything you got.

[cursedmelody]

[She doesn't even blink, her hands immediately draw out a— flute? As she steps back:]

But first, a melody.

[She's not serious, is she?]

[whataredigits]

Are you screwing with me? [An eyebrow twitches, and his free hand flies to his throat.]

Tch, this thirst... Sorry, I don't accept music in lieu of valuables, but I will take that noise stick off your hands.

[cursedmelody]

[Without giving him a chance to snatch it away himself, she begins to play a soft, soothing song that causes the world around them to fade away into an idyllic field of flowers. A gentle spring breeze gently flows through, carrying dandelions... as absurd as the sudden change was, it came with an almost hypnotically overwhelming sense of drowsiness.

Let's calm down a bit, shall we?]

[whataredigits]

The hell? What are you doing, bucktooth? Am I hallucinating? [Jackal seems more nervous than calm... at least at first. Until the druglike lethargy sets in, and he drops his dagger as he falls to his knees, shoulders slumped.]

What... did you do to me? [Calm or not, there's still that ingrained sense of fear. The thought that he would be easy prey himself now is one he can't shake from his mind.]

[cursedmelody]

[It would be a horrible skill in the hands of someone more callous, wouldn't it? Fortunately, Senritsu is far from aggressive.

All she does is quietly disarm him.]

Wild Flower. Your melody was too hostile for my liking, so I turned it down a bit. Maybe it was rude, but so was pointing a blade at me.

You're young, why don't you turn your life around? [Now, she's taken on the tone of a lecturer.]

[whataredigits]

Turn my life around? [I hope that skill of yours is powerful, because that was one of the worst things to say to him.]

I hate people like you most of all. Turn my life around? You don't know a thing about me! [Well, he's not calm any more.] Even when my parents left me to rot because they couldn't afford to keep me around anymore... I was taken in by another couple I thought were good people, but they dumped me out on the streets too after they couldn't make any more money off me. You know who took me in then? A band of thieves! How's that for irony?! They taught me that there's only two kinds of people in this world; those who take, and those who get taken from, so I'm gonna be one of the takers.

[Once again, his hands fly to his neck.] Gah, this thirst... All the water in the world can't parch these daggers in my throat... and it's all your fault, bucktooth!

[cursedmelody]

[It is overpowering, but the effect is short-lived. If he keeps getting emotional, he'll be fully alert and back to moving about soon enough.]

I don't claim to know anything about you, but there are more options you could take, aside from being a thief, even if it's served you well until now. You're bound to meet an awful end if you keep that up. If you live a life of preying on others, you'll be meet the same end.

You seem like you could be strong with a bit of training, why not take on the job of protecting the weak for a sum? Not everything in life has to be taken by force...

You keep going on about being thirsty, what do you mean by that? [If not water, then what?]

[whataredigits]

[And it has gotten him killed before. Twice, in fact, almost three times. Not that he's aware of those endings thanks to parallel dimensions and groundhog day loop shenanigans, but it's still one of his possible outcomes.]

You just don't get it, do you? I ain't interested in that self-righteous crap. The weak can fend for themselves!

[He's not answering the question about his thirst, mainly because it's more to do with his fear and anger than any physical need.]