IC inbox - Etraya

[nimbuster]

@strife

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backdated to mingle. .. ooh new inbox smell.

[miniroth]

Ever heard of red, fire-breathing chocobos?

Not in stories. Real ones.

yessss

[nimbuster]

Not until Chrissy told me about the one that fucked up the trolley. Why, planning to fight one?

[miniroth]

No, Popp merely claimed one set him on fire and I've never heard of a chocobo being capable of doing any such thing. Or being red for that matter without copious use of dyes.

[nimbuster]

Haven't you seen all the weird-looking chocobos from different worlds around? Just because we don't have that kind of bird back home, doesn't mean they don't exist anywhere.

[miniroth]

Haven't actually left the apartment today, mostly observing from the window at this point.

From a hundred and fifty feet up they all look rather same-ish. We're going to go looking though in a bit, to see if they're tame or not. It might be nice to have alternatives to on foot or the trolley!

[nimbuster]

Well, you could stand to be a little more open-minded.

[Cloud, please.]

Most of them aren't tame, but it's not that hard to tame them.

[A pause before the next message comes through.]

I'll show you how to do it. It'll be too scared of you if you do it wrong. Or you'll get a chocobo kick to the face. Maybe both.

[miniroth]

I fail to see where 'being open minded' relates to still being home, Cloud.

If a chocobo is capable of kicking me, then I will deserve it as a lesson in why we dodge. If our combined efforts, between myself, Gaia and Popp, come to nothing then I will accept your assistance.

We may go looking for the red one. :)

[nimbuster]

[This stubborn little shit.]

You could have just taken Popp's word for it.

[But then Sephiroth wouldn't have had an excuse to text Cloud, who doesn't want the kid to stop contacting him. Hard to teach him how to grow up to not be a murderous asshole if he won't talk to you, Cloud.]

But seeing it for yourself is useful, too.

[Cloud has no doubt that getting kicked would teach Sephiroth a lesson, he's just not sure the kid is very good at taking the right lessons from things.]

So you do want to fight it, after all. Just make sure you protect Gaia and Popp. That thing could be a lot more dangerous than we'd ever expect a chocobo to be, if it took out the trolley and half the track.]

[miniroth]

It isn't that I don't believe Popp, he is trustworthy. It is that there could be many other species that qualify as both red and fire breathing. Phoenix for example.

Current goal is not to fight it. If it is unique then killing it would be an unfortunate blow to the population. Ideally we will find out its movement patterns, and if it has a nest. While an adult may be unsafe to wrangle, a chick might be much easier to tame. If Etraya's going to be host to a flock of chocobos the way Snake Isle is covered in snakes, then a broad genetic pool to draw from is ideal.

[He's making a pretty big assumption about their ability to tackle this thing. SOLDIERs.]

But if it came to combat, my assessment so far is that both Gaia and Popp could fight the average First Class to a standstill, and or win. I am confident they will be able to keep up reasonably well.

[nimbuster]

Phoenix looks nothing like a chocobo.

[Okay, now he might be arguing just to avoid conceding a point to Sephiroth. So sue him.]

All that's well and good, but you'll end up fighting it anyway if you try to steal an egg or a chick. Chocobos are serious business when it comes to protecting their young.

Doubt that, but it's their funeral.

[miniroth]

Tell that to someone who's never seen a chocobo! But I have no concerns about whether or not I could succeed in purloining an egg or a hatchling from a watchful parent.

I don't recommend underestimating them. But I also am not going to describe their techniques to you, as it will be more interesting to have you find out for yourself exactly what they are capable of.

[nimbuster]

You've got a lot of confidence for a guy who doesn't know shit about handling chocobos.

You find that "interesting"? That your friends might have to fight to survive? Or are you implying that you guys are going to fight me at some point?

[miniroth]

You make a lot of noise for someone who's never personally seen what we're talking about. I suppose you're used to hanging around with ordinary people, and thus a chocobo is a dangerous threat to tremble over.

I do not hang around with ordinary people. I hang around with Gaia and Popp, and they are not so fragile as to have their survival threatened by a lone monster.

But no, I hadn't considered asking if they wished to fight you. Thank you for the suggestion; fear not, I won't ask them to fight you as a group, that would be terribly unfair.

One will do.

[nimbuster]

Chocobos aren't a dangerous threat, they're persistent and it's hard to get one off your back without killing it. But I should've known it wouldn't even occur to you to take the care you'd need to avoid killing.

And the fact that you think "ordinary people" are inferior to stronger ones is a testament to how little you really change in the next ten years.

I'm not fighting kids, jackass.

[miniroth]

I see reading comprehension and retention of what you read are not your strong suits.

I have met the man I am in ten years, and he was a kind and compassionate man, beloved by his family and friends. Thank you for the compliment.

You fought a "kid" before, don't pretend it's immoral now.

[nimbuster]

Yeah, he was. Until one day, he wasn't. I told you before, the adult version of you I know decided one day that he hated humanity and wasn't a part of it. And then he tried to destroy it.

What the hell are you talking about?

[miniroth]

Given your ongoing efforts to provoke me, from the point of attempting to menace and belittle my friends onward, deliberately ignoring what I write in favor of an invented narrative and then insulting myself and my family, am I to assume that your goal is to invite this so-called hatred for humanity much sooner?

[nimbuster]

[Shit. Is that what Cloud's doing? He didn't think so, but...dammit, what's wrong with him? He's not usually like this. Reactive for no reason. Looking back, Sephiroth didn't say anything inflammatory until after Cloud was a dick to him. Why does just talking to the kid do this to him?

It has to stop.]

No.

[Then, a few seconds later,]

Sorry. You're right, I'm not sure what's up with me but it's not your fault. Good luck on your hunt for the red chocobo.

[He almost offers his help again but decides against it. Not like Sephiroth's gonna need it anyway, and it'd probably just make things worse.]

[miniroth]

[It takes a while for a response to follow this time. To travel, to talk to his roommates, to think about things - or all of them. Cloud had been of special interest to his future self, a sense of obligation and responsibility. He did not share that sentiment.

But holding grudges wouldn't do any good either.]

Please understand it is not a hunt, as I have already explained. Consider it sight-seeing.

[nimbuster]

[Cloud honestly didn't expect a response, so he's surprised when one does come eventually.]

Poor choice of words, sorry. Your search.

[Then, after a few minutes of deliberating on whether he should just leave the kid alone,]

Find anything yet?

[miniroth]

No. It's moved from where Popp saw it last. There are plentiful standard birds, they are skittish but curious. A blue. Etraya may not have enough of the right greenery to keep them all fed.

[nimbuster]

You might be right. With this kind of sudden wild population explosion, what we really need is a ranch where the greens can be cultivated and then spread around.

[A pause, and then,]

Think I'll do something about that.

[miniroth]

You never struck me as much of a farmer.

[nimbuster]

I'm not. But I can take care of the birds, supplies, trade, all that stuff, and hire somebody to handle the crops. Or just get the bots to do it, if nobody's available.

[miniroth]

In that case, if these are a permanent fixture now, better begun sooner rather than later. You could ask for help from the others.