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

[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.]

[rialynn]

[...It might. What it lacks in brains it makes up for in stomach. And it'll eat just about anything.]

[Rialynn just smiles, moving aside so Cloud can get a good look.]

I heard rumors of a huge continent to the east that had large birds people could ride. They were supposed to have long gangly necks. I wonder if they're actually chocobos?

[Spoilers: They're not.]

Is that why you're here on the lookout too? Because you like chocobos?

[neverfirstclass]

Maybe. I don't know if any of the worlds that have horses also have chocobos. It seems to be a pretty solid difference between them.

[The multiverse is really strange, isn't it.]

But yeah. And I saw them steal a cow one night and the a chocobo a few months later. No matter what they're doing I have a feeling it can't be any good.

I can't just not do anything about it, you know?

[Even with all the shit thrown at the Heroes in the pursuit of stopping the Calamity, Cloud still feels sure about those moments where small scale Heroism is needed]

[rialynn]

Cows? They're stealing cows?

[Rialynn gapes, then her eyes slowly grow wider.]

You don't think they'll go after my horse next, do you?!

[Because large breeds of livestock seem to be their favorite targets, and given Cloud's reaction along with everyone else's, horses aren't exactly common creatures. These alien deviants might absolutely go after her dear companion!]

[neverfirstclass]

[Cloud wants to reassure Rialynn, but looking at the horse he can't help but stroke his chin and furrow his brow.]

Maybe...we don't know what they're after, but if they think that he's some sort of rare creature they might go after him. Just keep an eye on him and he should be fine though.

[The cows and birds that had been taken didn't seem to have an owner nearby, or else the timing was good enough to catch their respective rancher off guard.]

But if we're lucky we'll end this all tonight.

[rialynn]

I hope so.

[Rialynn pats the mare's neck, her insides queasy at the thought of that ship swooping back. If they're REALLY lucky, they won't see the ship at all in her opinion, but she doesn't want their efforts to go to waste.]

Can you help me reinforce the stall door? I don't know if she's pushing it open or what, but I definitely don't want her getting out if those flying creatures show up.

[neverfirstclass]

[Cloud glances off at the night sky. He's a bit unsure about leaving the grounds unpatrolled while he helps Rialynn. On the other hand with everyone else around someone would definitely see something in his place.

Trying to pull everything onto his shoulder is still a bad habit of his. Especially when it's not even something he's consciously thinking about.]

Sure. I can have a look at it. Your...horse isn't really build like our birds so that might be it.