Chocobo Races

[thalassino]

[It's a lovely climate-controlled day in the bubble on Sunday, the perfect day for a chocobo race! Participants and spectators alike, it's time to gather in the stadium that's been set up in the amusement park quadrant!

Before the races the janitor is looking for help in setting things up properly and cleaning up any bird poo on the tracks so the area is nice and pretty once the event begins. Feel free to join in or just to laugh at questers scooping poop.

During the races, the stadium will be packed with the locals! Racers are encouraged to arrive early and calm their bird, the chocobos aren't used to quite so much noise. Spectators can just kick back and enjoy themselves. Poor unfortunate questers who have been wrangled into helping the janitor again will have to hand out food and clean up spills.

After the races, people looking to gather points are encouraged to help the poor janitor clean up the pigsty the locals have left behind. Hopefully everyone had enough fun to make it worth it!]

Comments

Set up

[thalassino]

Open to any and/or all tagging!

[replicatedcourage]

[Sola's arrived bright and early on the day of the big race. He'd intended to find a bird that suits him since Link gave his chocobo Asi to Nepeta, but it looks like the janitor needs some help first!

Though, uh... playing pooper scooper was not on his list of things to do. Still if it helps...?

He's totally gonna need a shower before they actually race or none of the chocobos will even go near him!]

[behind_my_smile]

[Fai is going around, cleaning up and getting things ready. He doesn't mind cleaning and it is a good warmup for the actual race. Time to get those muscles limber through manual labor! Of course..Fai isn't much for manual labor so he is doing the easier things like picking up trash as he meanders around the track.]

[replicatedcourage]

[Sola looks up from his poop shoveling to see a familiar one-eyed roommate.]

Hey Fai! You're helping out too?

[terribubbly]

[ Dragging around trash bins when you're just a squishy cleric is kind of hard, but she's not about to be caught cleaning up giant bird poo. Even so, she's doing it.

There was something rather addictive about collecting all of the points, and she did some things she'd never expected to in the process.

Mostly, though, it's all this cleaning! She makes rather dramatic gestures and noises throughout the task, glubbing and huffing and groaning as she sets out more bins. ]

[bethehugejerk]

[Karkat may own a chocobo of his own (which is currently off in the stables while he deals with this), but that does not mean cleaning more bird poo than his has to is his cup of tea. He'll stick to hauling trash bins around, thanks. He will avoid the bird poo gig if he can after the races, too.]

[He knows he's going to be exhausted after this whole thing. He's quested some already this morning, and while telling the stock boy about the spill on aisle 4 again (why always that aisle?) didn't take much, cleaning the bakery took time and effort. Then he had to bring Fern out to the stadium, and hauling around heavy bins with his squishy healer physique isn't much easier for him, either. With the race and the job after, he may well sleep tonight and on through the end of the curse. Or so he thinks, but that's a surprise for the morning.]

[As it stands, his own hauling of bins comes with his distinct set of huffs, grunts, and occasional swears. He doesn't expect not to hear it from others, particularly the weaker classes milling about, but a glub? Did he imagine that? He hopes he imagined it, but still, he has to look up and over until--]

Why are you here?

[--he spots Feferi.]

During the races

[thalassino]

Re: During the races

[mysterious_groper]

*PROBLEM: Belligerent, attack-prone, stressed-out Chocobos. Particularly that really cool-looking red one that matches Pascal's hair! She can't pass that up, no matter what it takes!*

*SOLUTION, after a few attempts and an arm wound that left a mark even after Hubert healed it: Turn on the Charm. Right now, Pascal is petting a red Chocobo, who has finally starting to calm down a little at her touch.*

Good girl, good girl...

*... Any expert would recognize that the Chocobo was male, but who really wanted to tell Pascal that?*

[behind_my_smile]

[Fai showed up early to find the perfect bird. He doesn't have much experience with Chocobos but animals are always fun and so he is excited at the prospect of getting to race one. He walks along until he finds one bird that looks particularly friendly.]

Well hello~ Are you ready to enjoy a fun race today?

[The bird squawks and Fai reaches out to pet it's head.]

I think we'll get along nicely. Let's do our very best, okay!

[It's almost like the bird is smiling as it leans into Fai's hand and gives another happy kweek sound.]

Also open to all tagging!

[replicatedcourage]

[After a quick hose off (track cleaning is gross), Sola's cleaned up and ready for the race! He can be found in the time right before communing with a lanky black chocobo that seems to more have adopted him than he it. It keeps wanting to eat loose threads on his clothing. Still, Sola seems more than happy to make friends with his mount, even going so far as to bring it handfuls of a few different greens to try.

Care to stop by and say hello? Or even just suss out the competition?]

Open to anyone / reactions - Chocobos

[aprettyred]

[ Anna isn't sure exactly what makes a chocobo different from a Strain -

But they're cute. And fluffy. And she's managed to find one that is a shade of something that she can sort-of see. Its probably sunset-y orange-red, but its enough red for her!

And so she's talking to it, doing her best to keep a bird quite a bit taller than her calm. It worked (sort of) with Basashi, so... ]

[replicatedcourage]

[His own chocobo completely distracted by a bag of Gysahl greens, Sola's decided to see who else is around that he can talk to to calm himself down before the race. Maybe this girl will talk to him.]

Hello. I'm Sola, what's your name?

Re: Open to anyone / reactions - Chocobos

[ignisinfernale]

[ Have your big brother figure meandering over with a cigarette between his lips. He was sure there was a bright red one somewhere else but oh well. If this one was the one Anna was attracted to. ]

You know Izumo's gonna be mad if you bring that home.

opennnnn

[booyaka_boom]

*Given how much time Selphie spends at the chocobo barn, she's a bit of an expert with these creatures, and she knows how to handle them well. Even if for the sake of the event she doesn't have one of the ones that she has trained and named, she feels very at ease with the birds, and that in turn has a calming effect on them.

Only, Selphie appears to be giving her bird a pep talk, striding up and down and pointing her finger at their competitors*

Eyes on the prize, eyes on the prize. There's only gonna be one real winner today, and it's going to be you. This is war, cadet, and there will be no casualties, only trophies and triumph.

[fightforastar]

[One of those very competitors nearby, Tifa can't help chuckling at Selphie's speech. Her approach with her own yellow chocobo seems to be quite different, just grooming and calming the bird.]

Come on, don't stress him out before the race has even started.

[420]

You're lookin' real fuckin' pumped up at this shit, sister.

[That little comment comes from gamzee, though his good natured tone indicates that he is more amused by it than that he thinks it is silly of her. Behind him stands a big green chocobo. Pounce is more or less his. Well, Equius', really, but Equius also has Darkleer to ride (the chocobo, not the ancestor) so Gamzee settled happily for Pounce himself. He was cool with it. Him and Pounce were good buddies, after all.]

Open to all!

[stayb100ponyboy]

[Equius has arrived early, his chocobo Darkleer in tow. Darkleer is pretty excited by everything going on, and is warking up a storm and prancing around at the end of his bridle. He's a big bird--large, powerful, and practically glowing with good health--and Equius is handling him fairly well, completely focused on his pet and getting him ready for the race.]

Had to

[unconchonable]

[Why is he not surprised? Of course Equius would be here with his laughable bird. Thankfully Eridan's own is well trained enough that despite it's obvious excitement at seeing Darkleer, he stays calm and collected, obviously well trained and well mannered. BUT GOD HIS FRIEND IS HEREEEEE. Of course, any excited jitters is calmed the moment Eridan casts a flat look at Dualscar, before giving Equius a derisive one.]

You may as well go back to your hiwe, Eq. You're goin' to lose. Ain't no one gonna beat me an' Dualscar here, and eweryone fuckin' knows it. I was hatched to ride, while you were hatched to sweat disgustin'ly, it's obwious who the winner is gonna be.

[terribubbly]

[ Watch out! There is a fishgirl throwing herself at you, Equius. Specifically, from behind, clambering up on him with a giddy fit of glubbing. ]

Equius, hey! You're good with these big flightless flapbeasts, right? Come teach me how to make fronds with the one they're lending me!

Open to anyone!

[onebecametwo]

[ Devit ended up gravitating towards the meanest looking chocobo available for racing. A mean looking bird with crazy eyes and scratches on his beak possibly from past tousles with other birds. Hell even the feather crest on it's head looked like a fucking mohawk. This was one badass bird. When it tried to bite him as soon as he was close enough, Devit knew he had a winner. ]

Your name is now Battleaxeclaymorepistolwhipknife.

[ Did the chocobo have a name before that? Probably. Devit felt his name fit it better and Battleaxe clearly agreed as it immediately tried to peck his eye out. ]

You're gonna win. I can tell. You're out for blood and none of those other chickens'll be able to fucking touch ya. We got this in the bag. Let me hear your battle cry!

[ Whether Battleaxe understood him or whether it was just getting annoyed that Devit kept avoiding it's attempts to cause him bodily harm, the chocobo belted out a mighty WARK! ]

open!

[oceanbreasts]

[ Roxy, for her part, had chosen the one with the fanciest plummage (that hadn't already been snagged). She was, unfortunately, having a bit of a rough time trying to actually ride the thing (she was already practicing). At least she was managing to be on it straight now, but... well.

She had her arms wrapped around its neck, eyes squeezed shut, as the thing decided running around in circles was the thing to do. ]

Jesus fuck someone please stop this thing.

Clean up

[thalassino]

OPEN

[behind_my_smile]

[Fai makes sure his bird is well taken care of before going off to help the janitor again. The poor guy definitely looks over worked.]

Waaah~ Why do people have to be so messy? It's not fair to the workers. But I suppose if there wasn't something to clean, then people would be out of a job. And that isn't good either.

[And so Fai goes back to picking up trash, focusing on one area of the stands to make sure it is done thoroughly.]

Open to all~

[replicatedcourage]

[No matter the outcome of the race, it's only polite to help clean up after you've participated in an event! Unfortunately, Sola's on poop duty again (heh heh... duty...) made even more complicated by his chocobo, dubbed Guay by this point, still following the Hylian around and trying to eat his hat.

It's been a long day...]

open

[bethehugejerk]

[Why can these stupid lousy worthless humans not put their own trash away right? There was trash cans set out. He knows this, because he helped set them out himself before the race, and wasn't the only one doing it. And yet here in the stands are abandoned drink cups and paper wrappers from who knows what miscellaneous food items, and god, the spills. You would think people didn't know what mouths were the way some items are splashed or scattered on floors and seats. He hates cleaning this, but he signed up for it, and by god he is going to get his points.]

[The short of it is that one may find Karkat grumpily mopping or hauling around a trash bag to stick forgotten trash into, depending when you catch him. He's also dressed in a silly cleric outfit, but trying to swap the mittens for rubber gloves hadn't worked out. (Darn curse.)]