The Lawn Outside the Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

[raspberryturk]

There was a very large black bird outside of the dorms today, looking a little bit proud and a little bit cranky as he stomped his way back and forth across the lawn, looking for all the world as though he wanted to go inside the building.

Doorknobs, however, were an evil invention, and this particular bird was not going to lower himself to using his beak in order to try to tackle it. It was a very heavyset beak, after all. Hardly made for things like fine motor skills. And anyhow, he ate with that beak.

And so, instead of attempting the door, he was going to just stomp around some more.

And occasionally peck at the cereal on the ground. Yes, it made him look like a chicken, but Reno the black Chocobo wasn't exactly sure what he'd do if he managed to make his way inside to a kitchen anyhow.

[Open lawn is open!]

Comments

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Normally, Jack would be highly aware of his surroundings. Today? He was distracted. He didn't notice the giant chickenthing until the door closed behind him.

Oh.

Great.

[raspberryturk]

It was so very fortunate that Jack was possessive of opposable thumbs with which to open doors again, wasn't it?

Reno, for the most part, was perfectly content to just eat his cereal. If nobody bothered him, he wouldn't bother them either.

[withoutverona]

Romeo was on a walk after class, genuinely cheerful for the first time in weeks.

At least, he was cheerful until he spotted the giant bird ... thing. It looked a bit like smaller bird ... things he'd seen before, but he failed to make that connection. Possibly because of the GIANT FREAKING BIRD.

It didn't seem to have noticed him; maybe he could sidle past it. Just in case, he picked up a rock and held it close to his body, ready to throw it at the bird if it attacked.

[raspberryturk]

Reno was just tilting his head back to swallow another mouthful of cereal when he noticed a certain someone walking by, holding a... rock?

Reno straightened up and tilted his head some at Romeo, letting loose with a mighty WARK that was intended to be a greeting, but possibly didn't come out so much as one.

Dammit.

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Jack backed up to the door, trying to find the knob without looking at it.

Oh. There it was. Right in the kidney. Now...if he could turn the knob without being noticed...

[withoutverona]

Not so much, no. Romeo didn't speak chocobo. He tossed the rock hard, aiming for the bird's side.

"Foul creature, get thee gone."

Someday, Reno would kill him for this.

[raspberryturk]

Oh yes. He would kill him in his sleep.

Reno ruffled his feathers, hunkered down, and glowered at Romeo for that one, looking every bit the disgruntled best friend-turned-bird who had just had a large stone heaved at him.

And then, because this was Reno and he was going to have to get even somehow, he rushed at Romeo with the full intention of bowling him over onto the flat of his back and pinning him there.

[raspberryturk]

Mmmm, Lucky Charms. A little dry, but who was Reno to complain?

He tilted his head back to swallow, noticing who was in the doorway as he did so. And then he levelled a look on Jack that said quite clearly, 'if you come near me, I will claw out your spleen and then cover it in bird shit.'

Who knew chocobo could be so expressive?

[future_sandworm]

On his way to the town, Leto noticed a big, black bird on the lawn. He stopped, curious. It looked very much like the Chocobos that Reno had told him about, and he approached cautiously.

[withoutverona]

OW.

Being knocked down by a large and apparently angry bird thing was not something Romeo would recommend. Cursing himself for his stupidity in striking first, he flailed at the creature with both arms, trying to hit at its neck and head.

"I said to get away," he ground out.

[raspberryturk]

Oh, hey! Familiar face!

Reno stood, watching Leto almost warily as he approached. The guy had wanted to learn about the birds. And this seemed a little easier than a trip to Gaia at the moment.

And so he gave his head a bit of a nod in greeting. Learning experiences all around couldn't hurt, right?

[raspberryturk]

Reno was pretty thankful at that moment for the long, flexible neck, and he pulled back a little, keeping one foot planted squarely on Romeo's chest.

Well, this was going well.

He gave his head a bit of a shake as Romeo struggled, heaved some odd semblance of an avian sigh, and then did about the only thing he could think of doing in order to get the 'hey, it's me' point across.

Pbbbthththth!

Raspberry.

[future_sandworm]

The bird nodded at him. Leto was uncertain how to communicate with this animal, but he hoped that was a friendly gesture.

Slowly, he nodded back.

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Very expressive. If Jack had known who was parading around as an evil version of a children's television workshop host, he would have teased and taunted and ended up a bloody heap.

Jack opened the door and slipped through, making damn sure it closed behind him.

And he held the knob for about a minute before taking off for somewhere safe.

[raspberryturk]

Okay. There was talking happening. Kind of. Reno would view this as some sort of good sign, then. And then he'd take a seat on the ground. It was hard for a seven-foot tall chicken to look anything but imposing while standing up, after all.

And then, while he was sitting there, he warbled out a noise that was intended to sound like friendly conversation. But a parrot, he was not. So it was mostly just variants on the typical Chocobo phrases, "Wark, kweh," and "Roo-kii-roo."

Good job, Reno.

[future_sandworm]

Leto decided that was a friendly response, and he smile a little. Approaching to stand next to it, he said: "You do look like one of those Chocobos."

Not that he expected the bird to answer.

[raspberryturk]

Why yes, yes he did! Reno was actually kind of proud of his Chocobo impression. And he was a black one, which was pretty awesome. Not like those wimpy sunshine yellow ones, oh no. Not this Reno. He could cross mountains and rivers. He was kind of like a multi-purpose riding chicken, really.

And so he nodded. And uttered a low "Kweh!" of agreement.

[future_sandworm]

Was that supposed to be a yes?

"Aren't you supposed to be a riding animal?" Leto continued. Strangely enough it didn't feel odd talking to the Chocobo.

[withoutverona]

Sadly, Romeo mistook that for the prelude to a lunge and kept flailing, trying to escape from under the foot. he wrapped both hands around the ankle and yanked. "Don't eat me, I pray you."

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan was on his way out to rehearsal when he saw... the giant black bird.

"Dai stihó," he ventured, greeting it in the Speech. He'd not yet come across a creature at Fandom that wouldn't speak it, as much as he constantly worried that he would. Sure, everything was supposed to understand it, but that didn't mean that everything from other universes would.

He continued, a long string of words that boiled down (roughly) to, "Be thou friend or foe?"

[raspberryturk]

Sigh. Yes, he was a riding animal. Beast of burden. He'd turned into the horse of his own world. Wasn't he lucky?

He nodded again, though he didn't look terribly pleased with the notion, what with the ruffle of feathers that went along with it.

Reno of the... Turkeys. Born to serve.

[raspberryturk]

Oh, this wasn't going well. Not at all.

Reno lifted up his foot and tilted his beak upward in the best approximation of an eyeroll that he could muster. And then he leaned over and pecked at the grass some. Bleh, grass.

All in all, the gesture was supposed to say, 'Oh, please. Chocobo eat greens, you nibshit.' But Reno wasn't so sure that he was very eloquent in feathered charades.

[raspberryturk]

There were attempts at communication that didn't involve running and hiding, or throwing of rocks. Reno would live with that.

And so he straightened up, looking down at Ronan in bemusement, and then he attempted to answer. Hopefully the guy spoke Chocobo?

"Kweh."

Student, yo.

[withoutverona]

Romeo eyed the bird cautiously. He might not be any better at charades than it was, but he could tell that wasn't an attempt to kill.

Well. He rolled to the side and sat up, looking sheepish. "You don't want to hurt us, do you?"

[future_sandworm]

That reaction was a little harder to interpret, but then again, Leto wasn't even sure he was really talking to the bird. "And you can run fast?"