Chocobo Incoming!

[dragoncrest]

Who: Freya, her chocobo Amethyst, and you!
Where: 1st and 2nd districts
When: May 14th, late morning to mid afternoon
Summary: A very large bird tries to act like it can fit on people's shoulders.
Warnings: None

In the past month, Freya had been attempting to teach her growing chocobo how to fly since the first time it showed interest, and with her jumping skills, it was thankfully easy to make certain it could and be safe at the same time. The two could be seen together jumping and flying across rooftops, the dragon knight with spear in hand, to make sure there was nothing going on that would need their help and get in some good exercise.

But the bird didn't grow up without a few quirks, and she hadn't seemed to really learn that she was bigger than a chick now; not only that, she was very friendly towards strangers. As she peered over a rooftop, Freya waiting for her on the next roof, the chocobo thought that passerby sure looked like a good perching spot. She'd just fly down and test it out--hopefully they wouldn't mind the chipper wark! as she descended rather quickly...

Whether or not she actually managed to land on her target, her caretaker was not far behind, jumping down and running over.

"Amethyst!" she called to scold the chocobo, but she quickly turned to look at the unfortunate bystander. "Oh, are you alright?"

Comments

[noparachute]

Steve should have been paying more attention. If he did, he probably would have been able to avoid the sudden impact of something rather large landing on him. Well. There goes the groceries he had in his hand.

That should teach him.

He struggled to shove whatever it was off him and Steve pushed himself up to his knees when he finally got the chance to move away from the Chocobo. What a huge bird thing. Definitely weird, but the soldier couldn't help but sigh a little at the food that was on the ground. Still, Steve eventually stood up to address the dragon knight nearby.

"Survived worse." Although having a giant bird land on him was a first. Guess he could mark that off on his list of 'weird things that happened to him.' It was a very big list now and it all happened in just a few years. Sorta.

[dragoncrest]

"I'm so sorry, Steve," the knight replied as her chocobo decided to snack on a head of lettuce that had fallen out of one of Steve's bags. Freya immediately went to chastise her.

"Amethyst, no!" she said, pointing accusingly at the bird as it looked up, green bits falling out of its beak. Freya fixed Amethyst with a stern stare for several moments before it finally shuffled backwards in shame, letting the leaves fall to the ground.

[noparachute]

Steve watched as the chocobo started to eat the lettuce. Well, at least it wasn't going to waste. Soon enough, he bent down to pick up the rest of his groceries.

"Glad someone's enjoying it. She can have the rest."

He couldn't get too mad about this though, he was okay and Steve knew that Freya wouldn't do something like this on purpose. Accidents happened and all. "Out on a walk with your chocobo?" He remembered the creature's name at least and he had seen them around here and there.

[dragoncrest]

Freya sighed and walked over to Amethyst to make sure she didn't try to go for the rest of the leaves. She didn't want to reward the chocobo for her bad behavior just yet.

"We were practicing jumping between the rooftops," she explained, bending down to help gather Steve's bags. "Unfortunately, she has a tendency to get distracted by people."

[noparachute]

Jumping between rooftops... Steve had seen Freya do such feats around before. She was obviously very agile in her movements, so it made sense that she wanted to practice more. He understood it, he often liked to run around and improve his agility here too.

He said a small 'thank you' as she helped him with his bags. "Likes jumping on them?" Steve didn't really know chocobos that well, but he assumed that behavior wasn't completely normal for one.

[dragoncrest]

"It appears so," the knight lamented as she handed over the last of the groceries. "I'm uncertain she is aware of her own size. Chocobos are typically ridden, rather than ride others..."

The bird seemed restless, rocking in place as she gazed from Freya to the remaining lettuce. It seemed as if she was waiting for the right opportunity to snag the rest while her caretaker wasn't paying attention...

[noparachute]

"Not used to how big she is?"

Actually, that was something Steve could somewhat relate to. It took him a while to adjust to his current size and he often bumped into things when he first stared out. After all, he gained over 100 pounds and grew about 10 inches in just a manner of seconds.

Although, here he was standing around and comparing himself to a giant purple bird. Of course, Rogers.

"She'll adjust to it eventually." Steve eyed the chocobo as she looked at the lettuce. He had no doubt that Amethyst still wanted it.

[dragoncrest]

"Is that a sensation you're familiar with?" Freya asked, a smile on her face as she recalled the smaller man she'd first met here. She isn't sure about the details regarding his transformation, but she imagines it must have been an ordeal, however he managed it.

"I admit, sometimes when I hear your voice, I still turn and look down before I look up."

[noparachute]

"You could say that."

Freya was one of the few people left in this city that remembered him when he was still small. Somehow, the thought was a little comforting. While he didn't want people to remember him being a weakling, Steve had come to appreciate those that still had a memory of him. Back in his world, there was really no one left that remembered him before he was Captain America. Bucky was gone and Peggy... he still hadn't made contact with her. But she was old and he wasn't sure how much she remembered.

Steve pulled himself out of those thoughts though, he was trying to deal with everything. He couldn't get stuck in the past, but it was difficult when he didn't have work to throw himself at.

"Know how that is." He paused for a moment, thinking that it would be okay to admit this to Freya. "Sometimes I even dream of being small still."

[dragoncrest]

"I can imagine," she replied. "You've spent more time in your life being that size than you have this size, have you not?"

It made complete sense to her. She dreamed about being a child again sometimes--why would Steve not dream of himself as a younger man?

"We all dream of older times now and then."

[noparachute]

"24 years small and about 2 years like this." He didn't count the time in the ice since he wasn't really aware during it. And Steve was grateful that didn't happen either. He wasn't quite sure if he could survive something like that.

"Dreaming of past events. Happens a lot." Sometimes of Brooklyn before the war, the war itself. Steve frequently had nightmares still, but he didn't expect for them to go away anytime soon. It was just one of those things.

[dragoncrest]

Amethyst took the opportunity to sidle over to the rest of the lettuce and munch on a few leaves as the knight was engrossed in the conversation, and moved as quietly as possible, watching Steve cautiously. Freya didn't seem to notice at first, only giving a nod to Steve in reply.

"I imagine that list must have grown significantly since you were past here," she remarked. "You never did tell me about this magic gym of yours."

[noparachute]

Steve noticed Amethyst eating the rest of the lettuce, so he made a motion to Freya that her chocobo was at it again. Bird just wouldn't give up, huh? Showed determination, or it was probably just hungry.

"Sure has." He didn't explain his transformation to her fully, but Steve thought it would be fine to finally let her know. It wasn't a big secret and he was fine telling his friends about this part.

"The magic gym was more of a serum combined with vitarays. They put me in this um- machine." Steve raised his arms to try and show how big it was. "The serum was injected in me before and the machine used vitarays to activate it. I think." He definitely didn't know all the science behind it, but hey, it worked. Won't complain about that.

[dragoncrest]

At Steve's gesture, she turned to see the black bird enjoying her snack and scolded her with a stern call of her name. Amethyst jolted and stood straight up, swallowing the remaining lettuce in her mouth as Freya let out a sigh.

"I'm not certain I can picture it," she replied, serums and machines for people to step into foreign to her, "but it was clearly effective. Do you prefer the way you are now?"

[noparachute]

Steve merely raised an eyebrow at Amethyst, but didn't comment further about that.

He could probably draw a picture of the machine that he was in, he still remembered what that thing looked like. It was such a big part of his life that it was difficult to forget, even if he only saw it for a few minutes. "I do. Allowed me to join the army, help out in the war. Know I wouldn't have gotten this far without the serum."

[dragoncrest]

"I'm glad," she replied, the tone of her voice backing the statement. "And I hope that it continues to assist you even outside of the war. You deserve to enjoy peacetime, as well."

The knight stepped to her chocobo and placed a hand on the back of her neck, gently taking a few feathers between her fingers. She could keep a better eye on Amethyst this way, hopefully.