Chocobo - Go Go Go!

[neverfirstclass]

Who: Cloud, Shining Armor, Zelda, Rukia, Ace, Pyrrha, Yuri, Bartz and K’pandolu
Where: On the road to and adventures in the Crystal Forest
When: February 1-6
Summary: Cloud and his friends embark on a journey south across the continent to visit the fabled Chocobo Forest
Warnings: None

To say that Cloud was overwhelmed by the support he received in chasing down a rumor for the sake of his chocobo would be an understatement. Friends and acquaintances both had come together to help, largely by a single bond: their love of Chocobos and their desire not to see one suffer any longer than he had to from the illness he’d been suffering. It would be a long journey, but as long as luck was with them and they moved swiftly he hoped that they would be back in around a week.

Comments

[damn_juicebox]

It took Rukia a moment to realize she was being addressed. Finally feeling Cloud's curious gaze on her face, she glanced up, then blinked. "Oh? Something I picked up from the library." Judging by how tightly she was gripping the book in her fingers, she was probably getting way more into it than her lackadaisical tone otherwise indicated. It was unlikely that Cloud would give her the kind of guff about her reading taste that Ichigo would, but still, she remained a little defensive.

She slipped a bookmark between the pages and closed it, setting it aside. Her reclusiveness was going to seem too obvious if she kept this up. "How is your chocobo?" she asked, turning the attention away from her ridiculous book to Cloud's situation. He was the one she was worried about anyway.

[neverfirstclass]

Cloud tilted his head this way and that to get a good look at the book but it was gone before he could make it out. What little he did get was odd enough to wonder if he read it right in the first place. Whatever, it didn't matter. It was her own business and he was just curious.

"Zack is doing fine. I just put him down to bed. He's not doing much resting during the day and I know he wants to run but he's tiring himself out just by watching the scenery go by." Cloud clenched his teeth as he looked off into the distance. "I really do hope we find something for him."

He had hope backing his confidence, but sometimes those little worries seemed through.

[damn_juicebox]

"As do I," Rukia inclined her head. "I'm sure there must be something in the woods ahead. It bears the name it does for a reason, after all." She folded her hands on her knee, studying Cloud's worried young face. It was entirely possible that Zack could pass on. Nothing in this world could truly live forever, after all, and as a soul reaper she'd seen many beings die in a way that seemed 'unfair.' But that was hardly the comfort he was seeking right now.

"Perhaps if we are unable to find anything here, you could take him to the laboratory and ask them to run some tests," she suggested. "This sort of ailment could affect several chocobos, I'm sure they'd want to research a cure sooner rather than later."

I'm sorry I thought I replied to this one

[neverfirstclass]

Cloud hadn't spoken of it but he was well aware of all the ways this could end and which were the more likely. It was stubborn will that was keeping Zack going more than any medicines, and stubborn care from his Hero. It was commendable but it could only go so far, and if this last shot actually worked out then...

"Yeah...maybe...it looked like a malboro or something like it was involved. We found one's fang stuck in the bird that caused this. Some of its ichor must have gotten into whitebeak's system or something." TThey had been able to get Whitebeak back to the ranch successfully that day and some samples had been taken before the decision was made to put the feral bird down. It was a sad moment, but it was the best path they had at that moment.