Unconventional Tactics, Tuesday, Period 2

[raspberryturk]

Today, when the students gathered for their class, they'd find themselves in... an interesting Danger Shop setting, yes. Today, the indoors were made to look something like the outdoors. A sprawling pasture next to a barn, populated by large, yellow birds that looked something like a cross between a canary and an ostrich.

Meet the mighty Chocobo, kids.

"Yo, Rookies!" Reno was ever-so-comfortably leaning up against a fencepost, arms crossed over his chest. "No, the island don't have none of these guys on it, and no, this ain't an invasion you'll probably ever have to worry about. Unless you go hittin' them first, they'll either just run away, or try an' nuzzle you to death, yo. But today, we're talkin' about transportation, and I thought, shit, why not give you guys a basis for comparison?"

He grinned. It was one of those 'I am going to probably enjoy watching this more than you'll enjoy attempting it' grins.

"So, like you guys probably noticed last Friday with them fish, gettin' from point A to point B durin' an invasion can be... A bit tricky. Unless you don't mind havin' your ass chomped on the way. Bein' here on Fandom Island, with a student body as diverse as this one, fortunately we got a few options, yoto. We got teleporters, who might not mind givin' you a lift. We got flyers, who might be able to take you over an' above whatever's out there. Then there's the speedsters, who usually seem to prefer runnin' solo, but they'll get from here to there, faster'n whatever's on their tail. And, of course, you got people with horses, or motorbikes, or the ability to make shields, or just fighter-type escorts. Some of these methods involve more risk than others, yo. But if you're not bein' an idiot about it, they might get you where you need to go, and in one piece, too."

One of the birds wandered over to Reno and tried to bury its face in his armpit. He gave it a pat on the forehead that was almost affectionate if you squinted before pressing on.

"Today, we're gonna put that into practise, yo. Your mission, should you choose to accept it- An' shit, even if you don't wanna, this is my class an' I'm the boss here- Is to get from the barn to the fenceposts at the same time or before the chocobos do. Do whatever you gotta, yo. Try an' run, teleport, fly, find some way to slow them down, or try to get up on their backs an' hitch a ride. Odds are they don't throw you. Hard."

Yep. You were going to be racing against ten-foot tall yellow birds. Deal with it, class.

[Open! WAIT I MISSED SOME. Okay, NOW it's open! For real!]

Comments

Sign In

[raspberryturk]

Getting from here to there!

Re: Sign In

[intraspective]

Yamanaka Ino

Lecture

[raspberryturk]

Climb over the fence into the field, and try to pay attention.

Even while being dwarfed by large yellow birds, yes.

Re: Lecture

[intraspective]

... Attention?

Attention?

Well, yes. Attention was being paid.

To the Chocobos. Eeeeee!

Re: Lecture

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe was trying to pay attention, even as she was thinking that these guys were just too cute.

Re: Lecture

[momslilassassin]

Ben looked at the new giant alien chicken things and wondered if he was about to be the first person ever attempted to be eaten by a chocobo.

These things tended to happen to Skywalkers.

Re: Lecture

[life_inshadow]

THERE WERE GIANT BIRDS.

Tara wasn't exactly paying attention; she kind of wanted to bounce. Eeeee, birds!

Re: Lecture

[vanillajello]

Sorry, Reno. Kate was not listening to you either.

WTF giant birds.

Re: Lecture

[glacial_queen]

"They do look like giant chickens!" Karla said, thinking back to her first conversation with Zack, on the shuttle to Fandom.

Ooooh. Maybe they could incorporate Chocobo races with Ino's birthday...

Re: Lecture

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

There were... giant birds. Giant birds.

Excuse Kennedy while she stared, wondered if she could get a hold of some of those for Tara's birthday party, and then grinned like a crazy woman at the prospect of trying to chase one of those suckers down and ride it.

Because that would be cool beyond the telling of it.

Re: Lecture

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Jake was listening. Sort of. He was having a stare down with one of the birds while listening.

Re: Lecture

[talks-backwards.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, chicken.

Zatanna was keeping it quiet, and actually listening to Reno. At times. Because honestly, the big yellow running birds were distracting.

Re: Lecture

[notmyownage]

Aw, they were kinda raggedy fluffy looking.

What? Lecture? Oh, right, class. She was totally paying attention, yes.

Re: Lecture

[sexonyoursheets.livejournal.com]

Not that Puck would ever admit that back when he was little and still called Noah, he had enjoyed certain children's television programming or anything.

But was it any wonder his initial reaction was to wonder if they were distant cousins of another famous giant yellow bird?

...Puck would never admit any of this, no.

Race the Chocobos!

[raspberryturk]

One thing to keep in mind? Chocobos are fast. No, really. Some of the fastest can outrun a speeding vehicle on the highway, and can go quickly enough to literally run on water.

These aren't that kind, though. These ones go about as fast as a horse at a gallop when they're not trying, but they can hit cheetah speeds if they're really, really pushing it.

That's about 40 MPH at a jog, and 70 MPH for short periods of time, before they go and tucker themselves out and walk the rest of it. (64 km/h to 113 km/h for those of you using metric, like lil' ol' me.)

Re: Race the Chocobos!

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe was racing, yes.

Okay, no.

She was just pretty much running and laughing a lot.

They were cute, damn it.

Re: Race the Chocobos!

[intraspective]

Ino was racing! She was losing!

Mostly!

She wasn't doing too bad for short sprints where she cheated and used utterly stupid amounts of chakra to boost her speed! She could out run Zack for a short short while that way! She wasn't doing too bad against them like that!

But, well, Ino couldn't exactly keep that up for very long at all no. But that was okay. Laughing was a far better option!

Right? Right!

Re: Race the Chocobos!

[trigons_child]

Raven could teleport, of course. And she was willing to take passengers, should anyone ask.

Re: Race the Chocobos!

[glacial_queen]

Karla was trying to figure out how to use her Craft to put up obstacles in the Chocobos' way, but without running the risk of hurt them. Passing their feet into the earth or flinging up shields in their path might really injure one of them and that just Would Not Do.

The best she could think of was holding a Chocobo in the air with Craft, but that took a lot of work and made it hard for her to run. On top of that, as soon as she put them down, they outdistanced her again.

Not that she was going to stop racing them. They were fun.

Re: Race the Chocobos!

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

Kennedy was... not succeeding so much at actually catching a chocobo, no; given that her default tactic tended to be 'go for an all-out charge,' she ended up faceplanting into the grass a lot when her quarry leaped away from her or zagged when she zigged.

She was having a hell of a good time, though, and she'd be at this all period if nobody stopped her.

Re: Race the Chocobos!

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

This was kind of easy actually, it just took a while for Jake to make up his mind as he stared at the birds. It was probably silly, but he was kind of tired of hiding and after Silent Hill... Well, he didn't quite care who saw anymore.

Okay, he did care about what they saw. So he disappeared behind the barn and came back out looking decidedly wolf shaped.

Of course, that just made it hard to get the frigging birds to want to race him. Whatever. He won.

Re: Race the Chocobos!

[talks-backwards.livejournal.com]

There was surely some way to outrun an speeding giant bird, and it had to involve magic. She only had to find a way.

She had to change her strategy when a Chocobo decided that Zee needed snuggles. And while they were cute as hell, she was a bit weirded out by being poked and pushed around.

"Okay...hey! You can st-ow! Over sized chicken..." She was trying to push the animal aside, but she wasn't strong enough, and if she ran, it was most likely the bird would follow. "C'mon, go peck someone else."

Talk to Reno

[raspberryturk]

Who can both outrun these guys, and ride them if need be. But for now, he's still leaning up against his fencepost, idly scratching the affectionate one that's approached him behind the crestfeathers.

Re: Talk to Reno

[intraspective]

"Why couldn't we have real chocobos?" Ino asked him, but her eyes on the one he was scratching. Eeeee! Eeeeee!

Eeeeeeee!

Talk to the TAs

[raspberryturk]

When they ping in! How will they outrace the chocobos?

Re: Talk to the TAs

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe was here and still thinking that these things were just too cute not to run with.

OOC

[raspberryturk]

CHOCOBO DANCE.

I couldn't resist, guys. I'm so, so sorry.

Re: OOC

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe thinks they are adorable and now she wants one.

*facepalms*