(The camera opens up on the Clan Highwind Base as Gantz works at his journal...)
(BAM! Before a Bangaa wearing Defender robes and armor smashed into the table, Gantz picking up the journal before this happened and placing the journal in his lap.)
Defender: YOU WANNA FIGHT YOU LIZARD? I'll show you a fight!
(The Defender was sent flying across the room before Lukino chased after him, growling and snarling not too much unlike a feral beast. As this happened, Rosaline walked up to the Paladin as she avoided the fighting Bangaa.)
Rosaline: Hey Gantz, how goes your writing? (She appeared to be disregarding the fight every bit as much as Gantz was.)
Gantz: Not bad, I'm doing pretty good. (POW WHAM BAM!) The account I was given by Jarvis has worked out pretty well for me.
Rosaline: So it would seem. Are you almost done?
Gantz: Almost. Just a few more edits that need to be done. But so many distractions.
Rosaline: (She rolls her eyes.) Tell me about it. (Lukino passes by choking the Bangaa defender, said opponent's eyes bugging out rather comically.) That squeaky chair is something else.
Gantz: Mmmhmm... Well... (He looks over the chapter a moment.) I guess this is pretty decent. (He casts a small spell on the book.) There. All sent in. That should handle that for a while. (CRASH! Gantz and Rose turned to see that Lukino had slammed his opponent through another table.) Was that our new Majohng table? (When Rose nodded, Gantz groaned.) Ramuh be damned... Come on we better seperate those two... (Finally takes notice of the 4th wall.) Oh!
Rosaline: Don't worry Gantz, I've got it. It'll give me practice. You just handle Lukino.
Gantz: Oh! You sure? (Rose nodded.) Okay, thanks. Be right back.
Rosaline: (As Gantz ran off he handed her his journal, prompting her to let out a little sigh.) Okay... So... I'm not particularly sure still if I'm talking to anyone or not... But I guess, I need to get used to it so... H-hello everybody, humes, moogles and- no-no-no, that's stupid. This is probably the real world I'm talking to... Um... Well... Whatever. Gantz has just set up the next chapter of his journal for you to see. He has... Informed me that the next few chapters will be spent telling all of you a little bit more about us in Clan Highwind, our personal interests, and goals. (She cleared her throat.) Now, the first chapter will be about our resident hunter Jarvis... I hardly need to say more since this next chapter will tell you more then I can... Hope you enjoy-
(CRASH!)
Gantz: Ow... (Is now laying among the wreckage of the old table as Rose looked down in surprise.)
Rosaline: ... (Narrows her eyes.) Now if you will excuse me, I have a fight to break up...
(She sets the journal on one of the remaining tables... The book glows brightly as the camera zooms into it...)
Chapter 1.a
Jarvis' Pawn Day
"2000 gil!"
"2000 Gil, do I hear 2200?"
"2500 gil!"
"2500 gil! My what a bid! Do I hear 2700? And there is 2700 right there!"
As Jarvis continued his stroll across the merchant district, his floppy ears picked up sounds of business from all sides. Auctions for items, people haggling, money just trading hands and being thrown around like Chocobo feathers in the wind, in general, went on with full force. He snorted in pleasure, already feeling at home.
"And the bid is now at 3900 gil for the decorative shield! 3900 gil going once!... Going twice!.." The autioneer's gavel hit his stand. "Sold to the Bangaa gentleman with the White Monk robes!"
Said Bangaa walked up and claimed the shield as Jarvis continued on his way, one destination in mind. Said destination was what appeared to be a somewhat shabby adobe building with a sign hanging up above the door that had the word 'PAWN' written on it in big bold letters. He walked inside briskly, humming the festival tunes he had heard earlier to himself as he did.
Inside the store, he found that ever pleasant sight of armor, clothes, wepaons (with guns being wide in selection), airship parts, and even jewelry; it was the Super Store of Camoa's lower levels this Pawn Shop, and Jarvis fondly remembered many a visit to this place during his time in the clan. There was a light grin on the seeq's face as he walked to the front desk and rang the bell. "Hey! I'm here ta snort! sell!"
As per usual, a female hume clerk saw to him within a few seconds of his announcement, dressed in shabby looking peasant robes. "Oh, hello there sir, good evening." she said this with a slight smile, knowing from various meetings with the seeq that she was likely in for a pretty big import today. The Seeq's smiling face made this fact all the clearer. "So, what is it that you bring to our humble store this time, clanner? Shall you show to me your wares?"
The hunter nodded to the request as he bowed his head to her. " 'Course m'lady. Right away." Pulling off his satchel, he proceeded to lay out the contents of the bag on the desk. Said collection consisted of a variety of battle spoils from Animal hides, furs, scales, skins and a few other things that make up the hunter's skinning trade. Along with the hides, Jarvis put in monster bones as well; he knew better then anyone that certain bones from certain monsters sold very well for the creation of weapons and armors. Next came molted feathers from the clan's chocobos, another popular smithing material, followed by a few metal ores, obviously collected from a trip to one of the many mines that littered the Jylland region of Ivalice, and, finally the dragon hides that the clan had collected only recently from the dragon case.
... Well... This was certainly a sizable haul...
"What? snort!" Jarvis grinned. "You know too well I'm inna clan." He looked a mite proud of himself as he pointed to his chubby chest. "It pays to be a warrior and hunter."
A sweatdrop was the response at the explanation, the woman chuckling awkwardly. "I-I see..." She cleared her throat before taking in the wide variety of materials before her. "Let us see here... There is quite a lot of spoils... Armor and Weapon-smiths will likely pay three bundles to get their hands on it..." She picked up the dragon hide in apparent wonder. "The Dragon Hide especially... Maybe not THE best quality, but it's still quite superb."
Jarvis let out a belly laugh. "Comes with the snort! job madame." Chuckling to a stop, he quickly checked his otherwise grimy nails. "Soooo... How much we talkin' anyways? The Dragon Hide ALONE should Snort! be worth 9000 gil, if not 14,000." He crossed his arms, and the clerk could almost see the Seeq drooling, imagining all that gil in his hands.
This prompted yet another sweatdrop from the clerk as she took in the hunter's giddiness. But... Of course, she supposed she should have seen it coming...
Seeq's WERE rather single-minded creatures; money was the main thing that governed their trains of thought and consciousness.
By the time everything was exchanged, the Seeq walked out of the store with around 146,500 gil, chuckling like a crazed little loonatic... Either that or a kid at a candy store... Either one really. "HehehehehehSNORT!heheheheh! AHHHHHH... It's good to Snort be me." With that said, he slipped the cash into his hunting pouch before anyone could notice it. "Made out like a BANDIT. Just wait till the rest-a the Snort! clan see's the haul."
Upon doing this, he looked around the marketplace as all of the auctions continued on full swing; one appeared to have bids going up for a rare ore, another for a sort of rare weapon, and yet another for a foreign looking pet. As the Seeq walked, he ignored it all, being self-contained enough not to join in on the spending, regardless of how much the gil might've been searing a hole in his pocket.
"Excuse me... Sir?"
Jarvis looked around when he realized that voice had been talking to him. "Huh?"
"Down here snort sir!"
Looking down, the Seeq found what appeared to be a little Seeq boy barely around 7 Summers old wearing raggedy pants, no shirt, with a tiny horn adorning his head. Due to his age and the Seeq race's plump physical structure, he was barely around a foot tall and wasn't so much plum as he was stout; a contrast to Jarvis, whom was around 6 feet tall and was quite rountound.
The little porker held up a small tin cup trying to look as sorry as possible. "Some gil for snort the poor, kind sir?"
Jarvis looked down at the child; so innocent, so young... "Ferget it." He snorted as he turned around, leaving the child as he was. "I'm busy."
If he had hoped that would be enough to get rid of the child, his hopes were not met. "Oh Pleeease sir?" The child circled around the older Seeq holding up his cup. "I need the money for snort my mommy. She needs medicine and medicine snort costs a heap of money. So pleeeease good sir?" He gave Jarvis puppy dog eyes as he shook the cup, causing what few coins he had in it to jingle about.
Jarvis, that greedy ranger, shook his head, "Kid... You aren't hearin' me, I'm Snort! not donatin to just ANY random urchin on the street-"
"Come on, please? My momma's really sick sir! She needs medicine."
"Aintchu got a pops or somethin to Snort! afford stuff like that?" Jarvis seemed genuinely curious at this.
"No..." The child lowered his head, his floppy ears slacking a bit. "He's in snort jail."
...
...
A grin passed Jarvis' face. "That so?" He snorted with a chuckle. "Very nice Snort! act kid." The kid's attention was caught VERY quickly. "Hey." Jarvis pointed a thumb at himself. "I used to own these Snort! streets too. Was an accomplished thief when I was yer Snort! Age, piglett." The mature seeq's eyes wandered around a few seconds as if trying to find something... "In fact... I recognize this Snort! little ploy your doin' here. Where's all yer little buddies at?"
... To say the young seeq looked surprised at Jarvis' observations would've been a MASSIVE understatement...
His eyes then wandered to a nearby alleyway where it was revealed several more little Seeq children was lying in wait, equally surprised by this turn of events. The child squealed in horror when he realized Jarvis had caught his gaze and spotted the others too. The children yelped and tried, too late, to hide themselves.
Seeing this, Jarvis chuckled as he turned to the beggar boy; said seeq looking to be in a cold sweat by this point. "Are... Are you gunna snort turn us in?"
...
...
'Cla-cla-clank-cla-clank'...
The child looked surprised when he raised his head and opened his eyes... In his little cup was, to his wide-eyed agape, 10,000 gil... He then looked to the adult seeq with wide eyes. "You kiddin'? Why would I iSnort/i Wanna do that?" He grinned and waved a hand dismissively. "Just be more Snort! careful next time, eh?" He turned down a road, but flashed the kid one last smile before saluting him an odd salute... One that looked like a 'Hang Loose' sign. "Stick it to the big guys."
And with that, he was gone, walking towards the northern side of town, leaving the little porkers behind to try and figure out what happened...
After a few seconds, the child ran into the alley where the other Seeq kids awaited. "Hey Ben..." Came one of the kids, this one dressed in overalls with a pair of goggles over his eyes. "What just snort happened?"
Ben looked at the cup full of gil, then out to the crowd where the adult Seeq vanished...
"I have snort no idea..."
Meanwhile...
As Jarvis continued walking down the streets, he did so with a jolly stride, the money (The amount now 136,500 gil) safely sealed in a pouch on his belt. He didn't know where he was going, all he knew was he had a hell of a haul... A minute into the walk his mind wandered back to the child he had seen...
As he walked, he pulled out a photograph from one of the pouches on his belt... "Heh..."
On the photo, there appeared the slums in the town of Camoa in the background, and in the foreground? Four Seeq children stood there, a chocobo standing behind them. Two of the seeq's looked similar to each other, likely twins, and was arm in arm both appearing around 8 Summers old with blue skin, another was giving the camera the salute of a Dalmascan soldier, with green skin and a purple horn atop his head, and appeared around 10 Summers old...
The fourth and final Seeq meanwhile looked the most familiar with blue skin, wearing tacky bronze jewels and a leather brown pair of pants. He appeared around 6 Summers old, trying to climb up the chocobo's leg, though the bird apparently seemed used to this.
Jarvis smiled... Ah the old gang...
He put away the photo... "Yep... Those Snort were the days..."
(We now see the Clan Highwind base... Though there are now para-medics wheeling out the earlier Bangaa defender, with White Mages over looking him. Standing in the base, Lukino looked relatively bruised and battered, Rosaline sported a few cuts and a black eye, and Gantz had a bunch of splinters, was rubbing a tender area on his head, yeowching at it and the battered state his body was in.)
Gantz: ... Well... That was mildly unpleasant... Ow...
Lukino: You didn't HAVE to jump in and help me ya know...
Rosaline: (Gives Lukino a steely glare.) Well it didn't look like you was going to stop anytime soon. Someone had to jump in and stop ya before you ended up slaying somebody.
Lukino: Cut me a break, I knew what I wassss doing.
Gantz: Right... (He notices the 4th Wall.) Sorry I can't give you a better sign off, but this chapter was relatively short anyways, and I have other interests to turn my attention to at this time... Owowow... In the meantime, I hope you just enjoyed the chapter. (Weakly holds up a peace sign.) Urk-R&R people- oh jeeze... Thanks for punching me in the gut Luk...
Lukino: That wasssn't me for the lassst time, it was that fu-
(The Camera goes dark.)