Save the Chocobos

[mindofathief]

Who: Everyone that signed up for the UFO stakeout
Where: Aqures Ixen, Chocobo Ranch area
When: February 19th-20th, nighttime
Summary: The Heroes of Light hide out at the ranch and wait for the mysterious animal kidnappers to appear.
Warnings: Three comment starters. Final thread will be locked until the end of the stakeout.

[The excitement of Valentoine's Day has passed, and with more news about the UFOs, Duster brings his focus back to the planned stakeout. The night was chillier than any midnight stroll he experienced in Tazmily, and he wears a thick coat that only covered his body above the waist. He pulls his brown hat's earflaps down to better keep the warmth in.

The inside of the stable is warmer, but not by much. It's not much of a savior to Duster, who remains outside, keeping watch as long as he's awake. Staying up late is easy; all it took was fixing his sleep schedule the past few days to his old night owl tendencies.

He takes a seat on a pile of hay by the tables and waits.]

((OOC: Welcome to the final UFO Stakeout log! You can still talk with NPCs during the mingle thread, and you are welcome to put up your own starters under the main event thread. The final phase of this event, however, will be a single thread))

Comments

MINGLE

[mindofathief]

[For pre-stakeout hangouts or conversations while waiting for something to happen.]

Re: MINGLE

[stupid_erika_shenanigans]

There's a bush moving around the area, sneaking in between the barn and the silo.

It's got a suspicious lock of blue hair and a pompom sticking out of it, but Erika sticks her head out, dressed as a ninja.

No, she still doesn't have the ninja job.

Re: MINGLE

[neverfirstclass]

Blue hair...pompom...clearly this thing moving around under the bush must be some kind of food.

Have a chocobo beak nibbling on the end of that hair!

Re: MINGLE

[stupid_erika_shenanigans]

"ASddfgdfsd!" sputtered Erika as she stuck her head out fully.

Coffret popped out of the bush as well. "Shhhh," he hissed to Zack. "We're on a stakeout!"

Re: MINGLE

[neverfirstclass]

The Chocobo jerked back as he plucked a girl from the bush. That wasn't food!

"Kweh?" Zack cocked his head curiously at the scolding from the little critter. Was THAT thing food?

Cloud and Zack

[neverfirstclass]

Cloud was the first at the ranch, but not quite for the stakeout itself of course. Early on in the evening he could be found helping the birds bed down or refilling troughs. Of course Zack was still wide awake and milling around, showing off his new blue plumage to the Heroes who showed up.

As the night went on Cloud was out there with the rest of them, sitting astride his chocobo while waiting for any sign of the invaders. If they showed up he wasn't going to let them get away this time. And neither was Zack.

[zodiac_brave]

Unlike Duster, Ramza is accustomed to the 'early to bed, early to rise' school of thought. He walks laps around the stable to keep awake.

He looks out toward the fields and woods beyond as he walks, though his half-lidded eyes probably are not taking in all the details. He nods as he passes the other Heroes guarding the chocobos.

[mindofathief]

'Early to bed, early to rise'...is not a good philosophy to live by when you have to stay alert all night. Duster's method of 'sleep in, stay up late' prepared him for missions like this. It's obvious that Ramza is feeling out of it when Duster walks past him on his rounds to check on the other standing watch.

"Are you alright?" He stands besides Ramza, learning forward and observing his tired eyes from the side. "I can take this spot if you need to rest."

[zodiac_brave]

Ramza shook his head. "'m fine. I can keep going." He would be fine, he decided, so long as he kept moving. He wished he could drink coffee like some of the other Heroes did when they needed to stay awake, but he was unaccustomed to caffeine, and it left him feeling jittery and unable to focus properly.

"Have you seen anything yet?" See, he was on task.

[mindofathief]

"...You sure?" He asked after a moment of silence. "We should sit down anyway. Standing all night will make us too tired to chase after flying machines." He tilts his head by the crates stacked up by the barn.

"Nothing yet, but if these guys are good thieves, they'd wait until after midnight. That's when most people are definitely asleep."

Jack's Idea

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

This has certainly got to rank up there in the 'dumb ideas' column for Jack. Since there seems to be no other way to communicate with the aliens, and he isn't the Doctor who can just pull a transwave communicator out of nothing, he's having to resort to the old school method. A number of chocobos have been tagged with message tubes, containing the following written message:

To whomever just stole this bird:

We'd like to welcome you to Crystallis. We thank you for your interest in our planet, but we would like to mention that this is a pre-space-flight society, and the presence of your crafts have been spotted by the local population. We are not deeming your presence as a threat, and we mean you no harm. However, by Article 11 of the Shadow Proclamation, post-space-flight societies aren't supposed to interfere with the technological progress of underdeveloped worlds such as this one.

But, Article 11 can be waved in the case of an emergency, and this planet is undergoing one. If you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a global catastrophe. The lands on the other side of this planet are slowly being encased in a crystalization process that none of us understand. IF YOU INVESTIGATE THIS PHENOMENON, DO NOT GET TOO CLOSE. It seems to expand and draw in any ships that get to close, even by air.

Any word that you could send to the Shadow Proclamation, Time Lords, or any other nearby intergalactic agencies for help would be greatly appreciated. At the very least, any warnings or beacons that you could put out to keep space traffic away from the planet for their own good would be enough. If we can just keep the damage contained to this world alone.

Also, we would greatly appreciate if you would quit taking the birds, their numbers are decreasing substantially in this area.

If you want to make return contact, come to the buildings nearest to where you found this bird, and we'd be happy to talk.

-The Heroes Of Light

Some of their number don't appreciate using the birds as bait, but at this point? Jack doesn't see that he has much of a choice. This might be their one chance to get off this planet.

[rialynn]

[Rialynn is cold. And she is hiding. Concealed by overhanging brush, she went on her stomach, wriggled under the plant, and remains still. It's not the first time she's been put on watch, and she made sure to get plenty of sleep earlier so she doesn't nod off. It's a little too cold for that anyway. Yes, no aliens will spot her here in this clever hiding spot!]

[But her horse does. The gentle brown mare plods across the field, and pushes its head into the bush to whuffle at her clothes. Apple please.]

I thought I put you in the stables!

[She shoots the animal a dirty look, then crawls out from under the bush to take it by the bridle and lead it back to the corral. Then she returns and crawls under the brush again.]

[Twenty minutes later, the horse returns. Rialynn eyes it with growing annoyance until, sure enough, it's sticking its head into the brush again and making plaintive snorts. Apple please.]

How...?

[Okay, she'll tie it this time. Off she goes. And she comes back, finding a different hiding spot huddled against a bale of hay.]

Okay.

[And here comes the horse.]

HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS???

[neverfirstclass]

[Cloud has been making his rounds on Zack, trotting to and fro across the area they're planning to search. After having spent weeks too sick to go running, Cloud's chocobo is busy making up for lost time.

His patrols for the UFO's bring him around to Rialynn's hiding spot just in time for the third return of her horse. The blonde balks at the thing, jaw dropped a bit as she watches her deal with it. Ultimately, he has to ask.]

What...what is that thing?

[rialynn]

[Rialynn's head turns to look at Cloud as she tries to coax her faithful mount back into the stables, while it tries to jam its muzzle at her pockets in search of apples, carrots, sugar cubes, whatever it thinks she's got hidden on her person. Judging by his expression, which is the same one she had when she first saw a chocobo, he doesn't have this animal in his world.]

She's a horse. And a troublemaker!

[But she says so fondly, stroking her mare's nose.]

She's friendly, if you'd like to pet her.

[neverfirstclass]

Oh! So THAT'S what a horse is.

[She's right on the money with her guess. Zack is a little less shocked by this strange creature, but he'll only be friendly as long as it doesn't try to steal his gyshal greens.]

The world I'm from has chocobos like this one. A lot of other Heroes have mentioned horses though.

[He and Zack trot over, the bird sniffing at the horse and trying to get a sense for it.]

[unyieldingspirit]

[K'pandolu's attention's caught- the Grand Companies had placed some orders for the beasts, but she doesn't remember seeing one so closely. The kabuto the uma bugyo had provided her with seems to have been a fair enough representation, though.]

Should one of us watch her to find out?

[rialynn]

I'm tempted, but I don't want to get distracted from the mission at hand.

[She came here to help, not to let her horse become a burden to the security watch.]

She probably just wants more food. I'm not supposed to overfeed her, but, well...I mean, if it's just one night, I guess it can't hurt.

Lydia--OTA

[deadlyvu]

[Lydia has been keeping mostly to herself, except for school, errands, and a rare outing or two. But she had been happy to help the farmers, and she really was curious. Why abduct Chocobos? They were really cute and sweet and it wasn't like she could think of a good reason. Maybe it really wasn't aliens either? But if it wasn't aliens, then what was it? None of it made sense.

She's Maxed Vampire and close to Max-Scholar, so she's more of a night-owl than a day-time person. If she's hiding, she's probably in bat-form in a rafter or high tree or other point. Trying to be cheerful, but she's not really feeling it.]

Re: Lydia--OTA

[fearlessherosheart]

Ah, hello again!

[Okay to handwave Lydia and Tazendra's mission earlier this month]

Re: Lydia--OTA

[deadlyvu]

[Lydia blinks, and offers a wave and an attempt at a smile. She remembers Miss Tazrenda. They interacted rarely, but that mission last month, before things had gone horrible with the visions, had been fun. Enabled Lydia to start learning a new Job too.]

Miss Tazrenda. How are you?

Re: Lydia--OTA

[neverfirstclass]

[While Lydia has been remaining perched, Cloud is making the rounds across the expansive territory of the ranch. He and Zack trot to and fro, checking all the likely positions and also making sure everyone else is doing fine.

Their path eventually takes them around to the tree that Lydia is up in.]

Hey there. See anything yet?

Re: Lydia--OTA

[deadlyvu]

[Taking a break from her form as a bat, but still perched in the tree--it allowed her some privacy and a good view. The deep blue chocobo was new though, so she ventured down with a jump and a silent landing.]

Nothing other than trees and birds and the usual things we expect.

[Holding out one of her hands towards Zack, letting him examine it before reaching to pet along his neck.]

OPEN MINGLE | Late to the party

[thegreatninja]

[Yuffie is around to help out though she isn't sure what to do. She gets her supplies ready and then waits for those who are also looking for this strange UFO's. She hopes that it's at least interesting.]

I wonder how long this will take...

Re: OPEN MINGLE | Late to the party

[neverfirstclass]

Kweh!

[A deep blue Chocobo came running from the direction of the barn, running right at Yuffie! It's head was reared low!

Time for some savage nuzzlings!]

[thegreatninja]

Z-Zack!

[She knows Clouds chocobo considering the time they've had together but she isn't expecting him to come running at her now.]

Calm down!

[Even as she spoke she broke into a grin and began scratching under the birds neck.]