#XIV | Fixju | The Animal Whisperer (zutsumi) wrote in advent_princes, @ 2009-03-18 15:32:00 |
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Current mood: | accomplished |
Entry tags: | ! log, - rating: pg, dark, dragonfly, fuji, oshitari y |
Characters: Fuji Syuusuke, Oshitari Yuushi, Dark & Dragonfly
Rating: PG
Date: Uhm... Not all too long after the last log?
Summary: Dragonfly has dreams, Dark is amused, Oshitari has worries and Fuji has questions.
He dreamed of the racing track in the Gold Saucer. He dreamed that he ran and ran and ran with Syuusuke on his back and they outran everyone, kept the lead... But never quite made it all the way to the goal. Finally he was just about ready to give up and his legs gave out under him, when an unknown bird came up from behind him and pushed its body close to his, bringing him to his feet again and as the other bird, shaded by some conveniently placed shadows of course - that almost made sense even if it didn't - warked once, telling him to move his tail feathers, and then the finishing line was a beak's distance away...
And Dragonfly woke up, his own beak hanging over the short wall that separated his paddock from Dark's, and he blinked bleary eyed down at the other bird. "Is it morning...?"
'Soon', the black-feathered chocobo replied softly, having stirred a bit from Dragonfly's dreaming. Dragon seemed to dream frequently...he wondered if that was normal for their kind, seeing as he rarely did so himself. But it was interesting to watch the green when these dreams would take him. He must have been dreaming about running again.
'Where were you running this time?', he asked, a little amused by it all.
Ruffling his feathers, making an expression that might have been a thoughtful sucking on the insides of his cheeks, had he been a human, Dragon thought for a moment before he replied with a slightly confused warble: "I... Almost remember. I mean... I've been there before, I know it, but I can't remember where it was... But I think you were there with me, so it must have be a good place!"
'You think every place with me is a good place', Dark teased, but privately he was happy to hear that. It meant that the green still cared about him and wanted to be with him. He fluffed his feathers for a moment, then stood, stretching his wings. If Dragon was up this early, there wasn't going to be anymore sleep, he knew. Moving to the green, he let his own beak get close, his eyes still slightly heavy from sleep. 'Were we only running? Did I beat you?'
Dragon frowned, trying to think hard again. Which wasn't quite the easy feat for him but never the less, if Dark wanted answers, he wanted to give him answers. Seemed only appropriate, didn't it? 'I... Don't remember. We ran, together, I think... Maybe. I remember that it was nice and everyone else was far behind us because they hadn't a chance at all against us, you know? And uhm...' He paused, clapping his beak together repeatedly in annoyance. 'Can't remember.'
'It doesn't matter, then. I'm glad it was a nice dream', Dark murmured, just barely letting his beak rest on Dragon's before moving to his water trough. Not to drink, he preferred fresh water to the stuff going stale in the wooden container, but he dunked his head in, shaking it as he lifted it up again, and felt a little refreshed. 'Let's have breakfast early', he offered, climbing up the paddock door and dropping down to the other side effortlessly. He knew where they kept the carob nuts and greens, and Bill knew that Dark preferred to eat when it pleased him, rather than wait to be fed like the wild chocobos or the tame yellows. Yuushi always paid extra for what he ate too.
'Our riders are coming today', he reminded the green, moving quietly past the other pens.
Dragon followed suit, stopping every now and then to peek into the other pens to blink at the sleeping chocobos that lay there. They were even simpler than him - at least he hoped they were - only concerned with mating and eating and sleeping, for the most part. Yellows, the lot of them. Not that he wasn't concerned with mating and eating and sleeping, of course he was, but he could sometimes see farther than his own beak as well, especially when he really had to, and he doubted the yellows wanted to do that. Or could.
'They are? I forgot! That's great!' He made a small jump in the air, flapping his wings like a fledgling, green feathers flying about the stable. Sleepy warks were heard from the closed pens, but it didn't seem like any of the yellows had been stirred completely out of their sleep, so all was good. 'I just hope there won't be any monsters today...' Another small pause, then:
'And you know so much! It's so awesome! I never know where they put this or that or why and when people come or not because I forget it all the time!'
'Because you're easily distracted', Dark replied with amusement, stopping to turn his head back at Dragon. He was well past the time where being casually intimate with the green would have confused and embarrassed him, and just to prove his point, under the cover of the dimming shadows of early morning, slid his beak along Dragon's. He was coming to like surprising the other chocobo whenever he could.
'I'm not!' Dragon paused, the sudden touch of Dark's beak against his sending shivers throughout his body, and he flapped his wings nervously. '... You were saying something...?'
Dark only chuckled to himself. Sometimes Dragonfly was far too easy, but he liked that. He wasn't always sure if the green understood just what their relationship was, or could be, but that was all right. When they were ready...
'It was nothing', he finally answered, giving the green's beak one last rub. 'Do you feel like greens or nuts today?'
When Dark acted like that, there usually was something he missed, but his stomach told him that whatever it was, it could probably wait until later anyway. He stepped close enough to the other bird so that their sides touched each other, feathers intertwining, as he warked cheerfully: 'Nuts!' And that was only because the word sounded more amusing in his head at the moment, yes. Who said preferences had to make sense anyway?
Dark didn't bother to tease him that he ate like a breeding female sometimes. Instead, he just stayed privately amused and led them silently to the shed where Bill kept things. Doorknobs were tricky things for their kind, but he'd figured out that the skill was in getting a good grip on it with one of his clawed feet and twisting it so far. Being a black, it wasn't any trouble for him to stay balanced on one foot, nor hop back when the door popped open.
'Just don't pig out. We'll get more when our riders come, and the others need to eat too', he reminded the green, selecting some of the more hardy Sylkis greens for himself. He usually needed to eat more than most chocobos, being bigger, but his rider, Yuushi, usually brought him the more delectable foods when he came to visit. So today he would bulk up just a little on what his rider called 'cheap' and 'filling, if not entirely nutritious'.
Watching in awe as Dark preformed his tricks, that, in Dragon's eyes were a piece of art, the green slowly trotted after his mate, finding the barrel of nuts, catching one in his beak and crushed it with ease, making small, pleased warbles as he gobbled the succulent fruit down. 'Yum, yum, yum! I love this, Dark~!' He ruffled his feathers excitedly, looking up with beak full with nuts and eyes sparkling.
Dark forgot about the greens in his beak for a moment, watching his beloved green act completely adorable. Just from eating nuts. He must have looked stupid, standing there with the greens hanging from his beak, but Dragon didn't seem to notice. Resuming his own eating, Dark flushed a little, feeling a little embarrassed of himself. He tried not to watch Dragon eat for the duration of their breakfast, only occasionally glancing up to check that the green wasn't wolfing down anyone else's share.
When he was done eating himself, he stood there quietly, patiently waiting for Dragon to finish.
It didn't take Dragon too long to finish, and when he did, his beak was shining from the oily nuts, and he felt incredibly happy. Trotting over to Dark, he nuzzled his beak underneath one of Dark's wings and warbled happily:
"Bestest breakfast ever!"
Happy just to see Dragon so pleased with their breakfast, Dark ran the feathers of his wing along the green's back, dipping his head down to run his own beak along Dragonfly's, cleaning most of the oil from it with his tongue. Once his cheerful mate was cleaned to his satisfaction, he moved around him and nudged him out, grabbing the door handle and hopping backwards with it until the door latched shut.
'I think we have time yet', he commented, looking up into the sky at the sun creeping higher. 'Do you want to go to the stream nearby?' There, they could drink their fill of fresh water and clean themselves off a bit before their riders came. And it was more time alone with Dragonfly, something Dark found himself getting more and more greedy for as time went on.
'Yes! Swimming, swimming, swimming', the green chirped happily, giving Dark's beak a quick nudge before he darted towards the stream on light feet, not stopping until he was in the stream, standing belly high in water and splashing around blissfully.
Dark ran after him, only a bit behind. It was half on his mind to chastise his mate for dashing off by himself--even this close to the ranch a chocobo had to be careful with monsters running about--but any thought of it fled seeing the green frolic so carefree in the water.
Dark let him play as he moved a bit farther up to drink. He kept an eye on the woods around them, listening carefully until he was satisfied they were completely alone for now, and went back to join Dragonfly in the water. And expertly splashed the other chocobo with a well aimed wing cutting through the water.
Dragon, who had completely forgotten about the dangers of the land around them, spluttered in surprise and glee as Dark joined him in the water, and he tried to return the favor, with less than perfect results, as the water splashed everywhere.
'Wet, wet, water, wet, wet, wet' he chanted, kicking up some more water with his foot.
The effect thoroughly drenched Dark, who shook out his feathers and kneeled down to swim more sedately than the younger chocobo. He was more of a quiet chocobo, content to watch the green be exuberant and energetic. He was also mischeivous enough to hook his mate's leg in the water with his wing and throw him off balance, teasing him.
'You'll never dry in time for Syuusuke' he teased him, watching Dragonfly drip water everywhere.
'Syuusuke won't mind,' Dragon warked, self assured, after sending Dark a pout for tripping him. Still, he waded up from the creak and shook himself, water flying everywhere. Suddenly noticing something interesting on the ground he started pecking away, warbling happily as the pecking brought up small insects from underground and he watched them curiously as they scattered about. He had no desire to eat them; chocobos lived only on greens and nuts, but they were amusing to watch.
As Dragonfly's attention span was that of a chick, he soon got bored however, and looked up, warbling again. 'Syuusuke likes me no matter what I do, and if I'm too wet he'll just use a saddle. But...' He thought for a second. 'Maybe we can run around a bit before they come to dry off?'
'I'm already ahead of you', Dark informed him, fluffing out his feathers one last time after making his own way out of the stream, and suddenly dashed out of the woods. Running with a speed he normally only reserved for races, he relished the wind streaming around him, flowing through his glossy black feathers, slightly chilling the skin below them. As he got closer to the ranch, he spread his wings out, making his speed much more aerodynamic. He fairly flew around the building, and was struck with the idea of surprising Dragonfly by coming up behind him. Knowing that the green was following him, he sped up even more, around and around the building until he spied green tailfeathers dissapearing around a corner. With a mischeivous wark, he kept going, until he was close enough to reach out with his beak and tug on one of those tailfeathers.
Dragon warked in surprise, sending Dark a miserable look: 'Where did you go?! You're too fast for me!' That didn't mean he didn't want to keep the contest up however; he loved running and beating the black was one of his goals in life where he was concerned. If he ever were to achieve said goal, remained to be seen.
*****
Fuji jumped off his motorbike and breathed in the high, clear smell of the vast fields in front of him, far away from the acid stench of Midgar. The air carried a faint smell of the ocean that lurked behind the mountains, a stronger smell of the swamp that lay ahead, but above all, it smelled of grass. The grasslands expanded before him, and there, at the horizon, he could see the silo that marked the Chocobo ranch. He was almost there, and he looked forward to it. The week had been stressful, and unwinding together with Dragonfly seemed like the best thing he could do right now.
Not too far ahead of Fuji, Yuushi dropped his hood and looked back at the noise of the motorbike. Since he doubted it could be anyone else but Swallow, and the other man knew his face anyways, he didn't bother to conceal himself. The yellow chocobo at his side, however, pulled at the harness he'd slipped around it, warking in pain and flapping its wings at him for stopping. It'd kept up with him well for most of the trip, about a mile away from the ranch where he'd found it, but it's slashed leg and chewed up wing, courtesy of a pack of monsters that had jumped it, weren't going to hold up for much longer. So with a nod, he turned back and led the creature into the stables where Bill met him and took over its care.
It didn't take Dark long to notice his rider, and the black nudged the green before making its way over to Yuushi, softly warking in appreciation as the blue haired man's hand automatically stroked his feathers.
Fuji followed, giving the injured bird a worried look before walking over to Dragon's box, only to find it empty. He blinked and noticed some tell tale claw signs on the walls, and he had to smile to himself. Silly bird probably got bored, did he? After paying Bill for this month's fee, he ventured outside, only to be attacked by something large, green and warbling and he had to use all - well, maybe not really, but still - the strength he had to keep from being pushed to the ground by the far too eager bird.
"Missed me, did you, boy?"
"Waaaaaark!" Dragonfly nodded his head up and down, as if to confirm Fuji's question. Then he gave another warble and trotted over to the Black chocobo, giving him an affectionate nudge in the side.
"Probably not too bored though, I take it?" Fuji chuckled and walked up to Ishe and Dark.
"What had happened to the yellow," he asked the black rider softly, after giving Dark an approving nod. However, his question was nearly drenched in the sound of Dragon's blabber - he couldn't call it anything but that - but he hoped the black rider caught it regardless.
Yuushi parted his lips to answer, but the green's warbling was disruptive. Reaching out, he slid his hands over Dragonfly's beak gently, distracting the chocobo enough to gain a moment of silence. He glanced back at Swallow.
"Monsters. A mile back."
He patted Dragon's beak with affection and let him go, standing next to his black quietly. Dark warbled a soft, amused note at his mate and waited patiently, knowing Yuushi would feed him whatever greens and nuts he brought with him.
Flapping his wings, pleased that even Dark's rider had paid him attention, Dragon soon enough settled into a soft warble and rubbed his head against Fuji's chest affectionately. Fuji proceeded in ruffling his feathers, and nodded towards the other man.
"Kalm Fangs? Or something else?"
The young ex-SOLDIER could only hope there hadn't been another Zolom attack. Or Sandworm. Or... Something was most definitely wrong with the Planet, that much was for certain.
It was a moment before Yuushi replied, stroking Dark's feathers thoughfully. "Both," he answered, a slight frown crossing over his lips. There had been Fangs, yes, but there had also been a couple of other monsters. Monsters he'd only seen in desert climates, and it troubled him. Had he been able to read Swallow's mind, he would have readily agreed that something was wrong...
But rather than discuss the matter, he kept his opinion to himself and reached into the black pouch under his cape, withdrawing a handful of various greens and nuts that far surpassed anything Bill had in his storage.
Such was the black market. Catching sight of the green staring with interest at Dark's feast, he took a nut, questioned his chocobo without words, and tossed it to Dragonfly when the black gave him a slight nod.
Dragon gave a squeal - Fuji couldn't call it anything but - at the sight of the nut, and he was over it in an instant, wings flapping with excitement so that greet feathers scattered everywhere. Fuji was fairly certain one ended up in his hair, and true enough; when he reached up to brush it away, his fingers touched the feather and it slowly descended onto the grass.
Another thing that fell down when Fuji did this, was his rather loose sleeve, and as it rode down, it revealed a tightly wrapped bandage around his arm, and the skin around it was discolored and dry, a clear sign of the Geostigma spreading.
Fuji didn't really reflect over this fact, his mind was too concerned with the recent monster sightings, and he mumbled:
"Both? Not another Sandwyrm, I hope..."
Both rider and chocobo watched with fond amusement as Dragonfly went beserk over the nut. Yuushi happened to glance at Swallow for a moment, however, and caught sight of the bandage.
Or more importantly, the telltale blotchy skin around it.
Akira came immediately to mind, and his inablity so far in discovering a cure. The black rider might not have let it show through his expression, but his eyes reflected the sadness and grief at knowing it wasn't just his love he should be trying to save. Akira was the most important person to him, true, but although they didn't have a very conventional relationship, Yuushi considered Swallow a friend. The SOLDIER was at least someone Yuushi felt he could trust, and he didn't trust most people as a rule.
If the other rider's green was anything to go by, Swallow was a good person too.
Moving his attention back to Dark, thoughtfully stroking the chocobo's feathers, he considered what he wanted to ask. So far, he hadn't been able to explore the ruins of an underground lab he'd heard of in Midgar. Not without taking Akira, he knew, and just from the vague mentions of security in his mother's journal, he wasn't sure he wanted to risk it. His redheaded lover was a more than able fighter, and he knew of some of the outer security they should watch out for, but was it enough? He'd known security measures in Midgar to go to the extremes, especially when it happened to involve Shinra.
And he'd already seen Swallow fight. If anything, it was worth a shot to ask, considering if he found what he was looking for, it would benefit the blonde as well.
"Are you," he finally asked quietly, "for hire?"
After Fuji's latest talk with Rude, he was fairly certain the Turks were hiding something, albeit far be it for him to figure out what exactly. As he had left the ShinRa building, he had heard a couple of soldiers discuss something going on on the Western Continent, but whatever it could be... Well, probably nothing good at least, as things were looking right now.
Fuji had to wonder if the Don knew anything. Not that the man was likely to confide in him, but still.
Ishe's question more or less confirmed that he at least knew more than he let on. Or at least he suspected something.
"I am."
Yuushi let Swallow's answer hang between them for a long moment. In order to ask the ex-SOLDIER to undertake this excavation, he was going to have to divulge a few things. A few personal things. Yuushi wasn't one to lie often. Evade, certainly. Perhaps he just respected the man he'd defeated a Zolom with too much to be too skimpy on the details.
But not here. He trusted Bill implicitly, but it was still too many ears than he was comfortable hearing. With a graceful ease, he hoisted himself up onto Dark's back, patting the black before sitting up and looking solemnly down at the blonde. He said nothing, only his air and features communicating his desire for Swallow to follow. With that, he guided Dark away from the stables, silently considering just how he was going to go about explaining himself.
Fuji wondered silently if Dragon felt that something was going on, as the green bird kept looking from Ishe to Dark and then back at Fuji, repeating the pattern over and over while warking curiously. Fuji smiled at him, patted the bird on his side, feeling the feathers tickle against his fingers, and then he nodded, as he followed the other man away from the stables. When he had walked with Dragon a little while, he stopped the bird, swinging himself up upon his back and then urged the green chocobo up alongside with the black.
"You'll fill me in sooner or later, I take it?"
Yuushi only nodded, and continued the ride until they were quite a good ways away from the stables. He needed the time to collect his thoughts, to know what he was going to tell the other man about himself and his search.
"...Someone I care about is dying", he finally said, keeping his gaze fixed ahead. "Geostigma. I know that I can find a cure, but my search has led to a dead end. The only lead I have is to find a secret lab that was abandoned and buried somewhere in Midgar."
He paused, unsure whether to add that this was all taken from his mother's reliable notes, or that he suspected it could be beyond dangerous. Although if he was asking the blonde's help in this, Swallow must already realize his reasons for it. Underneath him, Darkwing gave a soft, despairing little wark and shook his feathers.
Despite a rocky introduction, his chocobo and his lover cared for each other, and Dark was just as upset over Akira's advancing illness as he was.
Rather than ask for Swallow's answer, Yuushi let the information settle between them and the mercenary think it over.
Geostigma.
The very word made reality crash down over Fuji's shoulders in a quite uncomfortable way. He said nothing for quite a while; instead he concentrated on feeling Dragon's muscles move underneath him, concentrated on itching the wind through his hair itching and the lush scent that tickled his nose invitingly itching.
And yes, of course, he was well aware of the fact that his arm itched.
"What's in it for me? Besides a possible cure, of course. I don't usually like prodding around in Midgar... Too many skeletons in a dirty, ugly closet... And I'd hate to have them chase after me like Bandersnatchers on a Mu."
Ah. Discussion of payment. Had the blonde offered his help unconditionally, Yuushi would have been very suspicious. He certainly had never come across anyone willing to undertake danger for nothing. Even Akira himself had a price, even if it was something as lofty as keeping Yuushi protected.
He halted Dark gently, turning his head to face Swallow directly. His own serious dark eyes met the other's Mako-infused ones unflinchingly. "What I'm asking could be extremely dangerous. And potentially highly profitable. Name your price." Normally he'd offer no such thing. But this expedition could be the one defining turn in saving Akira's life. For that alone, he would pay anything.
He knew immediately what he would demand. He smiled bleakly, haltering Dragon as well, and noticed with a rather detached sense of amusement how his silly bird immediately started to rub his head against the black bird.
"My price?" A small artistic pause. "Information. I want to know everything that you know. About ShinRa. About the scientists. About Geostigma." A smile. "I basically want to know your secrets, Ishe~"
That had Yuushi flicking his gaze away. It was the one price that was steep for him, other than Akira or Darkwing. Money he could have parted with easily, or some relic that Swallow might have wanted. But to divulge what he knew, what his mother had known...it meant sharing more than just the information. He would basically be selling himself, who he was. What his mother had done.
But, he'd told the other man to name his price, and there it was. There was no one else he trusted, no way he would entrust this information or Akira's illness to anyone other mercenary or fortune hunter. His fingers brushed over his mother's pendant, hidden under his cloak. Just the gesture gave him the strength to nod. "Done. After."
Fuji's face lit up in a rather triumphant smile and he extended his hand towards the other man. True, he had preferred if he had gotten the payment in advance, but he knew better than to push the blue haired man more than necessary. "Deal."
After a very brief hesitation, Yuushi reached out and shook his hand with his own black-gloved one. It struck him that by doing this, he would be sharing things with Swallow that he'd never even revealed to Akira. It was hard to stomach, quite frankly.
He'd have to seriously consider sharing this much with Akira first. It wasn't fair not to.
"I don't know what could be so interesting about my secrets", he said softly. "But if that's what you want..." Dark, bothered both by Yuushi's subtle tension and the seriousness of their conversation, shifted underneath him, looking out over to the empty plains.
Pulling Dragon to a halt, the slender ex-SOLDIER reached down to ruffle the softly warbling bird's feathers, a calm smile playing across his features.
"That would be my secret. For now. But yes... It is exactly what I want." He straightened himself up and pointed towards the horizon.
"I need to prepare myself today, so I'll be heading down to Edge. But if you're still willing to accept my services, I'll meet you fourteen hours from now, down by the bar Seventh Heaven in Edge. Do you know where that is?"
Having lived in Midgar all his life, Yuushi only flicked a inscrutable look Swallow's way, ignoring the question. Instead he nodded. "Fourteen hours it is." He looked out over the plains himself now, lost in thought briefly. When he looked back, it was with a decided look in his eye. "I suppose its only fair to give you some sort of...advance. Ask one question. I'll answer it." He soothed Dark's disgruntled warble with a smoothing hand down his feathers.
Holding the reins comfortably in his hands, Fuji was just about to urge Dragon onwards, when Oshitari's comment carried over to him. He thought for a moment, gnawing on the insides of his cheeks, and then a question formed itself in his brain. "Jenova. What do you know of it?"
The question shouldn't have surprised Yuushi, but it did. He'd assumed the question would have been personal, or even what he knew about geostigma himself. He wasn't sure he liked the fact that Swallow was investigating Jenova...nothing good ever came of looking into that.
Guiding Dark forward with subtle pressure from his knees, Yuushi flipped the hood back over his head, passing by Swallow towards the direction to Midgar. He paused, his head shifting partway back the blonde's way to answer.
"Too much, I'm afraid. Far, far too much. You're better off not knowing." With that, since Swallow hadn't asked him what he knew specifically, he nudged Dark into a run, and left the SOLDIER there on the plains.
Pressing his lips together, Fuji studied Ishe's back as the graceful chocobo carried him with an almost uncanny speed far away from their starting point in no time. Nervous, or uncomfortable in one way or the other, Dragonfly warbled miserably and trotted halfheartedly from one side to the other. Fuji loosened his reins and allowed the bird to do as he pleased while he thought.
Getting information out of that one would probably be almost as challenging as the mission itself, Fuji thought, but it was all a matter of wording; he realized. Ishe seemed like the kind of guy who could bend your own words around until the point of you being at a disadvantage while firmly believing that things were the other way around.
"I also know how to play the game," Fuji smiled, turning Dragon toward Edge, ignoring - or rather failing to notice - the wanton look Dragonfly gave Dark's footprints that slowly faded away in the thick grass.