((some ingame WoW rp with @datwolfmonraz that I decided to transcribe...which is my first time doing so if there are any mistakes in here well deal with it im tired xD))
It was a really long day and Jazali was barely keeping up. After having bailed Brugran out, Jazali treated the bruised orc to some meat (that she had to force into him after he requested beer...twice) After Brugran explained the situation as they walked through the streets, Jazali felt her heart sink for him. Well shit...it wasn’t like the little troll didn’t know that he had a history but to hear it from his own lips set it to a whole new perspective.
“O-oh…” Jazali stuttered slightly, not really sure what to say to the still-buzzed orc who wasn’t meeting her gaze “Dat...sound shitty..”
There was an awkward moment that passed between the two as Brugran continued to walk forward. Jazali blinked and hurried to catch up, not really wanting to finish off the conversation with that silence.
“B-but ya know life..still offer some pretteh neat stuff outside da heartache!” Jazali called out to the orc with a hopeful grin, tentatively placing a hand on his back as she added “Like...Like um…”
...Well shit, she wasn’t sure what orcs really upheld as higher standards of ‘neat’ and she didn’t want to risk offending poor Brugran. Still after a moment of stuttering, the little troll decided to speak from the heart and chirped sheepishly “Like..you!”
Brugran Beastrage deadpanned at Jaz but he started to laugh “I’m neat huh?”, the first real laugh all day as he shook his head at her.
“You’re alright Jaz.” He said wrapping his arm around her in a bro hug. Jaz let out a dorky snicker as she hugged the giant orc back. But as he did so he noticed the guards up ahead yelling at a young orc. Or rather the young orc was yelling at them.
“Hm?” He said looking ahead. It seemed as though the child was trying to run across the bridge and the guards wouldn’t let him.
“Shall we be nosy?” He said to Jaz, his hulking arm still around her shoulder as she gazed back with a blink before looking up at Brugran and nodding eagerly with a lopsided grin.
Brugran let her go and walked to the guards casually; once he got close enough, it was clear the orc was a boy and that he was very unhappy. The female guard wasn’t being tender either, rather brandishing her own tough love as she held the child by the shirt.
“You’ll die out there! Hyenas and lions would make quick work of you!” She barked at him but the boy wiggled relentlessly.
“I’d rather be out there then stay here!” He cried, tears starting to well in his eyes. The boy hit a spot Bru thought was long gone in his heart and he only watched for a moment before Jazali blinked at the loud scene in front of her and held out a hand as she called out “Ey holl’up der!”
She jogged over to the guard and tried to put on a friendly smile “No need fo’ all dis comotion, da kid be wid us! Right Bru?”
She turned to Brugran and nodded pointedly at the guard. He stared back, not sure what Jaz meant at first, but his quick wit caught up with him and he cleared his throat “Um ye-yes, my boss just...adopted him. As a yak handler for her caravan.”
He nodded to the kid to go along with them “He didn’t want to be at the orphanage anymore, but we told you to meet us inside the gates remember?”
The kid paused and just looked at them. Bru hoped they didn’t miss out on too much of the conversation to have this sound weird and even the guard at them in disbelief, but finally the kid nodded.
“Yea yea! I told her I don’t want to be there anymore and she told me I could go with them!” The orc child pointed at the two in question, but the guard simply deadpanned and looked back at Jaz. Honestly, the little troll didn’t blame these two guards being slightly suspicious of two random-ass strangers kidnapping a child.
But Jazali simply nodded along with Brugran and shrugged at the guard with an easy-going grin “Ey mon, I don’ make da rules, I just follow ‘em. Boss ladeh say she wanted da kid.”
As the Darkspear was trying to convince the guard, the little kid was looking between Jazali and Brugran hopefully with bating breath. The lady orc in armor however glared and scoffed “Oh yea? What’s the bosses name?” She turned her head to the little kid who blinked nervously.
However when he looked slightly to Bru, who was mouthing Zari’s name, the boy managed to say “..Za-rii?” and before the guard could notice Bru nodding quickly the kid smiled and chirped louder “Yea Zari!”
The guard of course knew who Zari was and looked at the two more deeply “Didn’t think she’d hire a kid..” And just when Jazali felt a drop of sweat slip down her forehead in a state of nervousness, the guard simply shrugged and tossed the boy at Brugran’s feet “Take better care of this one. He likes to run off.”
As the boy scrambled to his feet and slid to hide behind the two, Brugran nodded “Of course.”
Jazali finger-gunned the guard with a dimpled grin “Much obliged~” before she casually strolled up to the bridge in front of the exit. She paused in her walk and glanced back “C’mon den Bru an’...” ...her eyes widened in panic as she realised that she didn’t know his name. In a spur of the moment Jazali thought of the first Zandali word “Mem...ki...Lez go!” and she quickly speed-walked away before the guard could question the made up word.
The three hurriedly walked away until they finally stopped at the top of the bridge and away from the guard’s sight, Jazali finally letting out a long relieved breath.
Brugran glared slightly at the little troll “Okay can you tell me why..” he paused as the orc boy stared up with wide eyes at the massive orc with his big sword and armor, siding really close to him “...why..we decided to say Zari adopted him? She’s going to kill us.”
Jazali huffed and raised her arms up in a shrug “Well da kid was in trouble, what was I gonna do! Let da ladeh rough-house ‘im?” Halfway through trying to berate Jaz however, the kid poked Bru’s hand and looked deeply up at Jaz “Thank you for helping me..” and despite his gruff attitude, the words hit Bru’s heart.
The little troll blinked at the kid and her smile softened as she kneeled down and grinned “Well ju be very welcome mem’ki! Where be ya family, ya mama probably be worried eh?”Jaz’s welcoming smile didn’t help however, and the kid simply hung his head and kicked a rock.
“They died with honor fighting to get Orgrimmar back…” He said lowly, making both Jaz and Bru freeze. Bru’s long buried memories of his childhood had arisen slightly in sympathy for this child, while Jaz cringed and sheepishly scratched the back of her head as her smile melted.
“Well...now I feel like a dick.”
Bru rolled his eyes and placed a heavy hand gently on the boy’s head and tilted him to look up at him “Do not feel sorrow for them. They fought and died with honor. Stopping corruption and freeing our people is an honorable way to die. Feel pride. Not sadness.” He ruffled the boy’s hair and crossed his arms.
The young boy however was still worried about his current situation and looked back at Jaz with scared eyes “Don’t take me back to the orphanage! Please don’t take me back!”
Jazali looked back at the kid’s pleading eyes and felt her heartstrings get pulled slightly...maybe a lot. She knelt again down at the kid and placed a hand on his shoulder with a comforting smile “Okee den kid, we ain’ gonna take ya back..”
She stood up and gazed at Bru “Jus’ be a mattah now if we can keep ya…” before she sheepishly grinned at Bru and asked while clapping her hands together “ ...Can we?”
Brugran raised his brows and shifted away from the two pleading eyes while trying to get words out “I -er- well...Zari…” He coughed and finally said plainly “I am not the one to ask..but I’ll do my best to convince her..”
The kid smiled before moving closer to wrap his arms around Jaz’s neck and Bru felt his heart sink. It was like when he hugged Mai, his tauren mum, the first time. Jazali blinked and jolted slightly in shock..not really having dealt with a child in a while, she wasn’t used to this affection. Nonetheless, not one to leave a hug hanging, she grinned widely and hugged the child closer before picking him up and wrapping the boy’s legs around her hip. Deciding that this was the sweetest child she had met, the troll nodded determinedly “Okee I has made up my mind and Mem’ki bebe be stayin’ wid us.” The child clung on to Jaz and didn’t let go, although his big soulful dark eyes looked at Bru like a tiny lion cub and was making it harder for the orc to be hard on them.
He sighed and rubbed his temples “Okay. Fine. We keep him. But you’ll deal with Zari when the time comes!”
Jazali grinned triumphantly before she turned to the child “Ya got a name mem’ki?”
The child smiled “The matron calls me mem’ki but my name is Ukri.”
“Ukri huh..dat be an amazin’ name!” Jazali snickered as she booped his nose. She jutted a thumb at Brugran with a smirk “Da salty one der be Brugran” before she jutted a thumb at herself “An’ I be Jazali.”
The salty orc frowned irritably “I’m not salty. And it’s Brugran Beastrage.” making it a point to clarify his surname while Ukri ‘oo’-ed at the name and smiled.
Jazali snorted and rolled her eyes but didn’t comment as she looked back over her shoulder nervously however and grunted at Bru “...I gots a feelin’ we can’t go back to dat entrance widout lookin’ shady..”
“Yeah I think you’re right...Well let’s walk around to the front then.”
The boy darted his eyes between the two “So..I don’t have to go back?!”
Bru shook his head “No. We’ll make use of you.”
The boy slid from Jaz’s arms and bounced around the hulking orc as he walked while excitedly rambling “I can do whatever you want me to! I-I-I can clean your sword! Y-Your armor! Feed your steeds!” Bru just looked oddly down at the boy and back at Jaz as if to say ‘why did you let him come to me’, to which the tiny Darkspear simply grinned and winked at the helpless orc as she walked behind and observed; Bru however didn’t respond and they all walked along with the little boy until they came to a shallow point in a river.
“We can cross here easily. Then it’s not much further to Orgrimmar.” Bru grunted as he observed the depth of the river.
Jazali glanced at it as well before she shrugged with a grin “Fine by me!”, the little troll was always eager for any form of swimming. She lifted up her shirt and weapons in order to avoid them getting wet, when suddenly a mischievous sparkle lit up in her eyes.
Jazali grinned down at the kid “Ju know Ukri, it be pretteh deep for ju, ya oughta ride on Bru mon so he can carry ya!”
The orc in question whirled around “What?! No-I mean..”
The child just stared at the water nervously then up at Bru “One of the kids lost their sister to a crocolisk…”
Bru stammered and sighed, giving Jaz a death glare “I..will carry you so the crocolisks won’t eat you.” He growled deeply and before he could respond the boy sidled up to him and looked up eagerly to be picked up. He stared back and reluctantly picked the boy up and let him sit on the back of his neck. Ukri was thrilled.
Meanwhile Jaz snickered and looked up at the kid with a beam “View be nice der ain’ it Ukri!” The little troll strolled up beside her large orc friend and shrugged “See, it all worked out okee in da end!”
All three of them managed to walk through the front gates of Ogrimmar with no hassle and suspicion. Once Brugran made sure the coast was clear, he picked the boy and dropped him on his feet
“You walk from here” He said as he turned to Jaz “Okay so here’s the plan: you watch the kid and I’ll...talk to Zari about him..”
Jazali blinked and held Ukri’s hand before she asked “Ya sure..ya be fine askin’ Zari boss mon?” The little troll walked up ahead and grinned with a thumb towards herself “‘Cause ol’ Jaz can be persuasive when she wanna be!”
Brugran nodded to Jaz “I’ve known her longer...might be better if I talk to her first. Just take him to the shop.” Ukri held Jaz’s hand, worried that he’d not been accepted.
His eyes soulfully pleading with Bru “I don’t wanna go back..”
Bru however huffed “You’re not kid. Don’t worry.” and with that the orc went forward into the city, while Jazali grinned and waved at him “A’ight, good luck mon!”
The tiny Darkspear tugged at Ukri’s hand and nodded towards the streets “C’mon den Ukri, let’s go get us some sweets!”
