New people, Old places (Open)

Fukuro slowed his pace to a walk then to a stop as he got to the tree line. He turned and looked at Tifa and Zack, who he saw was fake limping. "There really isn't much more the Chocobo's here. Besides, with the few Chocobo's there are here, it's become an actual law to not kill a Chocobo." Fukuro explained before pulling out the small leather pouch with the gysahl greens. Fukuro opened the pouch and tossed it a few feet into the forest. "There's no need to actually walk into the forest. The Chocobo's will follow the scent of the gysahl greens and before long we'll be taking off to the village. It should only be just a few short minutes before we see one." Fukuro explained. There was enough of the carrots, as Zack and Tifa had called them anyway, to attract a few Chocobo's.

Tifa laughed at Zack and his terrible acting and shook her head slowly. She then turned her attention to Fukuro and watched him throw the carrots into the forest. "So we just wait?" She stretched out her back with a sigh and sat down on the grass to wait for the chocobos to arrive, while pulling out a small packet of peanuts from her pocket. She tore open the bag and popped a couple into her mouth before lifting the bag up and offering them to her friends. Suddenly the bag was snatched out of her hand "HEY!" She expected to confront Zack, because it was the kind of thing he would do but instead she was met with a big yellow feathery chocobo face. "Uh.... I found one"

Zack paid attention as Fukuro tossed the carrots into the depths of the dense forest. "I guess so." Zack said in response to Tifa's comment on waiting. Zack watched as Tifa sat down and produced a packet of peanuts, tossing a couple into her mouth, which only served as a reminder of Zack's own hunger. "I hope you have enough for the whole class." Zack said, as almost on cue Tifa raised her hand to offer them a few. Zack watched as a lone chocobo quickly sprang from out of the forest and towards the oblivious Tifa and her snacks. Zack simply chuckled to himself as the bird quietly approached her extended hand, gingerly moving its beak forward before snatching the packet whole. Zack couldn't help but laugh as Tifa turned, only to be faced with a feathery chocobo mug. "I think it likes you, or at least your peanuts." Zack said as he slowly approached the bird and placed his hand gently upon it's head. "Hey there buddy, Fukuro's got some carrots for you if you want." Zack looked towards Fukuro now as he gently stroked the Chocobo's soft feathery head, the packet of peanuts still dangling from its closed beak.

Fukuro looked past the Chocobo that had the bag of peanut's still in it's beak, he did find it amusing, but he saw another chocobo struggling to get the carrots out of the pouch in the forest. Fukuro quickly went past Tifa and Zack and got to the Chocobo, which seemed too into getting the carrots out of the pouch to worry about Fukuro. Fukuro took the couch and got a few of the carrots out and hand fed them to the Chocobo. Before too long Fukuro was on the Chocobo and baiting another one out of the forest with the rest of the carrots.
"We got the Chocobo's now." Fukuro said giving the rest of the carrots to the Chocobo Fukuro baited out of the forest.

Tifa looked up and saw Fukuro sitting comfortably on a chocobo adn wondered how it was he got on there. She had never climbed on to a wild chocobo before. She stood up and brushed the dead grass from her legs and walked slowly towards the chocobo munching happily on the carrots. "You can take Peanut, Zack. You suit each other" She stroked the chocobos soft feathers gently and slowly, she didn't quite know how to go about getting seated so she decided for a quick mount. Raising her leg high, she swung it over the birds back and clung on for dear life as the poor animal realised what had just happened and took off at full speed "NYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! HOW DO YOU STEER THIS THING???" She just hoped it was going in the right direction

Zack watched as Fukuro mounted his chocobo, the others feasting on the remainder of the carrots that had been left behind. Still clinging on to the pack of peanuts, the chocobo nearest to Zack shook its head in an attempt to get the contents out, sending a few pieces flying every which way. Tifa's comment on the newly named chocobo caused Zack to smile, watching as Tifa quickly mounted her own before the bird took off at full speed.

Zack couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the distressed couple before climbing onto Peanut and pointing towards Tifa's direction. However the chocobo remained still, its mind fixed on Tifa's packet. "...umm Tifa has more peanuts hidden away?" At the mention of those words the Chocobo sped off to catch up with the wildling Tifa had clung to dear life to. Zack practically latched his arms around the chocobo to avoid being thrown straight off as he now careened towards the cowgirl at full speed. "Watch out!" Zack yelled, hoping to prevent a crash, his efforts at reigning in the bird turning out unsuccessful.

"Well... at least their going in the right direction.." Fukuro said as his own Chocobo went speeding off after Zack and Tifa. The three were going to be riding Chocobo's for 4 more miles, Fukuro just hopped that Tifa would figure out how to ride the Chocobo before they got to the edge of the floating continent. Fukuro was riding on the Chocobo with ease and before too long he was starting to catch up to Zack.

Tifa wrapped her arms around the chocobos neck as tight as she dared and gripped on with her legs. Riding wild chocobos was so very different than the ones she had ridden in the past. Saddles and reins made it a much more predictable ride. Her steed had decided to run in a big, unruly circle, looping back to where she had started out, and some distance behind the boys. She buried her face in the bright yellow feathers and clung on for dear life as it dashed forwards to run in between the other two, preferring not to look at her destination just in case it was going to hurt

Zack attempted to right himself as his chocobo ran at full pace towards Tifa, getting himself upright just long enough to witness her bury her face against its neck. Her chocobo having done a full circle began to dash back towards the other two. "I can't believe im about to do this..." Zack thought as he raised himself up, standing on the Chocobo's back as he held on still with two handfuls of the bird's thick neck feathers. As Tifa's bird approached, Zack had mere seconds to reconsider his decision, however it seemed his muscles had reacted before his mind. "Damn you legs!" Zack yelled in his head as he back flipped across the side of the bird and readied himself horizontally just as Tifa's bird ran past. Landing on the chocobo's rump knee first, Zack grasped at the chocobo's side, holding on to some of its tough feathers until he righted himself.

Looking up at the cowgirl, Zack tapped her shoulder before using the same hand to pull out his sword, driving the blade into the ground behind him deep enough so as to drag it across the dirt below. "At least it isn't a train" Zack thought as he kept his grip both on the bird and the blade, attempting not to distract himself, less he lose his focus on either. The bird finally began to slow, the extra force behind its strides causing it to burn off its initial burst of energy. After a few minutes the bird slowed to a walk, allowing Zack to sigh in relief and let go, falling back on his rump with a soft thud. "...Former SOLDIER, 1st class Zack Fair...on the job..." falling into a light exhausted chuckle, Zack steadied himself until upright and waved back at Fukuro so as to let him know that they were fine.

Seeing Tifa's Chocobo running in circles then towards them had made Fukuro laugh a little. He had, had no difficulty at all when it came the riding on a chocobo. He had his Chocobo slow to a walk then turn around and head back to Zach and Tifa. He saw Zach waving at him, so at least they were alright. Fukuro's Chocobo walked up to Zach and Tifa. "You both okay?" Fukuro asked dismounting the Chocobo. Fukuro's Chocobo soon took off back to the forest after Fukuro had gotten off.

Tifa yelped in surprise as she felt someone tap on her shoulder. She hardly dared turn her head to see who it was, but did anyway. All she could do was stare open mouthed at Zack as he stood upright on her chocobo "Zack.. what the... what...?" As the bird came to a halt, she slid off gratefully, but not gracefully, and sat on the ground with and rubbed her forehead. She looked up at Fukuro and nodded to signal that she was fine. "Are we there yet?" She looked over his shoulder and could see that they were indeed there, the first houses of the village were about 2 minutes walk away from where they had come to a halt.

She stood up and began walking towards the village, dodging Fukuros chocobo as it went after Zacks which was heading back home. The chocobo she had just escaped from however, didn't feel like going home just yet and was plodding couple of steps behind Tifa, comically looking over her shoulder. She stopped and turned slowly to look up at the bird, "Oh NOW you want to be friends? 2 seconds ago you wanted to kill me! SHOO!" But the bird had other ideas and after a loud squawk in Tifas face, carried on walking with the group

Zack watched as Fukuro's and his own Chocobo ran back home, his still clinging desperately to the packet of peanuts. "One track mind, I swear" Zack thought as he sighed, looking now towards Tifa who had since slid off her own bird. Zack was about to ponder on her question before Tifa sprung to her feet and began to walk passed them both, her Chocobo seemingly having grown attached to her since it plodded along behind her.

"Look's like you've made a friend" Zack said aloud, before sheathing his sword and taking to a jog behind them. "Right then, we should probably look for some source of info on this town...like a bar...or a restaurant." Zack said, trying to coolly persuade his friends to go someplace with food, the earlier confrontation had only reminded him once more of his empty stomach and the pangs of his hunger now made themselves known. Catching up with Tifa's Chocobo, Zack pat its neck softly, still chuckling at it's interaction with Tifa. "Seems like it's got a thing for cowgirls. We should probably find you a stable huh big guy?" Patting its neck a few more times, Zack gave it a smile and continued to walk along, several buildings now coming into closer view.

Fukuro chuckled lightly inside about the Chocobo staying. "The village of ancients has a few stables, plenty of which are for Chocobo's." Fukuro said walking a head of Zach. "There's also a few shops in town in case you two want to buy any weapons or armor. There's also a mage shop there as well. But most of the spells are level 1 and 2 stuff, nothing that strong." Fukuro said as the village got closer. But as the village got closer so did the obviousness that it was close to the edge, the end of the village was probably no more than 10 feet away from the edge of the floating continent.
"I should mention that there's no bar. No alcohol what so ever in the village." Fukuro said scratching the back of his head.

Tifa rolled her eyes at Zack as he hinted for a place to eat. She pulled out another bag of peanuts from her pocket and tossed them at him, only to have them snatched mid-air by her new found chocobo friend. |"wow, they really like peanuts, huh?" She watched in amusement as the giant bird tossed the bag to the ground and began manically pecking at it to open it, only to give up and swallow it whole. She shook her head and carried on walking. The first building they came to was a stable like Fukuro mentioned. Tifa politely asked the stable hand if they could leave her friend there, preferably behind a very closed door and he agreed with a nod and pointed towards a large stall. Tifa walked to the stall and tried to shove the bird in, but as she should have expected, it was too stubborn to enter of its own accord. That was until she threw in a small bag of peanuts and it ran passed her in a hurry to get them. She slammed the door quickly while it was distracted by snacks and walked back to the boys.

"Food sounds good. As long as its not peanuts, lets go grab something and then go look over the edge of the world"

Zack followed the others as they made their way to the stables, his face distraught as the chocobo snatched the packet of peanuts meant to stave off his growing hunger. "You animal!" Zack thought, his eyes narrowing along with a slight pout. Zack waited outside the stable while Tifa dealt with the bird, rubbing his stomach apologetically from the incident earlier. As Tifa stepped out, Zack's eyebrow raised as she agreed to find some food, his mouth was practically watering at this point. However, the second part of Tifa's comment practically put a pep to Zack's step. The edge of the world, somehow the most dangerous of things tends to just roll off the tongue. "Sounds like fun, we can toss a coin and see how long it takes until its out of view and stuff." These thoughts seemed to bring back memories of Gongaga and his childhood, tossing coins down wells, or lakes...or neighbors chimneys. With a bright smile, Zack walked along until an alluring smell caught his nose. "Is that lizard tail I smell? I haven't had proper lizard's tail in forever." Zack said, his eyes shifting around as he attempted to find the smell's original source.

Fukuro chuckled a lightly at the struggle Tifa had, had with the Chocobo. And the idea of getting a bite to eat sounded good, but then again who would refuse food? Smelling the air he smell what Zack was smelling, and it was no doubt lizard tail. "I think that's coming from over there." Fukuro said pointing to a three story hut appearing home. It has a sign above the door: 'Inn'. "An inn, nice!" Fukuro said. It had been a while sense he stayed in a proper inn. He was a ninja, but the jobs he often took were low paying, not always enough to stay at an inn for a day or two, but those were all that were really around now a days. "Certainly smells tasty..." Fukuro said almost absent mindedly walking to the inn.

Tifas stomach turned slightly at the boys getting so excited about eating lizards tails, but the sight of the inn pleased her. She was looking forward to having a nice comfortable seat after her somewhat bumpy journey. SHe subconsciously rubbed her rump. SHe pushed the doors open and walked inside and she had to admit the smell wasn't unpleasant. She looked at the board and ordered a plain hotdog instead and plopped herself down in the nearest chair to eat it. She bit off a massive chunk and chewed it happily. She looked towards the boys and said "mfff, hffm mfff gffmff m rmmmh?"

She could tell that neither had understood her so she swallowed and tried again "I said... So are we getting rooms? Because I really don't feel like sleeping with the chocobo."

Zack followed Fukuro who seemed to have caught on to the same smell and lead them to a rather cozy looking Inn. As Tifa walked passed and opened the doors, Zack snapped himself away from the lovely aroma and headed in. Zack waited for Tifa to receive her order, and once given the chance ordered two lizard tails for himself. After a few moments, Zack was presented with a larger than expected tail wrapped around and pierced with a stick, it's juices dripping down on to the plate it was presented on. Quickly taking a seat, Zack bit into the nicely charred tail with a satisfying crunch and listened as Tifa spoke, turning his head sideways as he failed to understand her. Picking up a condiment bottle that had been set on the table, Zack began squirting a line of it's contents over both tails while Tifa repeated her question. "Rooms? Sure, the day is getting on and it would be nice to lay on a bed, lately its been flatbed trucks and haystacks for me." Zack responded, taking a massive bite from the steaming tail.

"It's not like moms, but it sure is tasty" Zack mumbled, looking up from his plate to meet Tifa's eyes as he chuckled. "Hey Tifa, you should think about selling some of these from your bar, I think they could be a real winner." Zack smiled and finished off his first tail as he looked towards Fukuro to see what he had been munching on.

Fukuro head into the inn and then to the same stand that Zach had been too shortly after him. Fukuro had ordered two quarter inch steaks. Soon after ordering Fukuro had his steaks and he sat down with Tifa and Zach. Fukuro took a bite out of one of the steaks. He had, had a steaks before, but it was so badly charred it was practically inedible, he was happy to see that these weren't as burnt. Hearing Tifa's repeated question Fukuro nodded, still with a mouth full of steak. Fukuro soon finished the bite and actually answered the question.
"A room sounds good to me. I haven't slept in a real inn for quite a while either." Fukuro said soon finishing off the first steak after a few more bites. Hearing that Tifa owned a bar he had to say something. "I would never peg you for a bar owner." Fukuro said before taking a bite out of the second steak.

Tifa sat watching Zack happily munching on his tails and felt her stomach churn. Responding to his quip about selling them in her bar, she said queasily "Oh gods no. Id have to touch them for one, and what would i do with the rest of the lizard? Id have hundreds of amputee lizards running around the place. No thanks!"
she put down the last part of her hotdog and nodded to Fukuro "sure am!. The 7th Heaven back in Midgar. If ever you're in the neighborhood, be sure to pop in. Right! While you two finish off your food, I'll go grab us some rooms."

Tifa stood up and walked over to the counter and spoke to the woman there, a few moments later she returned with 3 room keys. She tossed the boys one each and smiled "I'm going to go lay my weary self down on a nice comfy bed and I will see you both down here first thing in the morning." With a new skip in her step, she took to the stairs and set about finding her room, determined to soak away the remnants of the bumpy chocobo ride in a very hot bubble bath.

As Fukuro spoke, Zack bit into the thick portion of his crispy second tail, resounding in an audible crunch. "Yeah, Tifa runs the hottest bar in Midgar, family friendly too" Zack said with a smile before moving his lips to a playful frown from Tifa's rejection of his lizard tail idea. "But they grow back! You can just have a few lizards..." Zack began to say before imagining an army of amputated lizards invading Tifa's establishment, causing him to chuckle lightly to himself. Zack threw up his hand in a thumbs up as Tifa left to grab their room keys, now that he thought about it his shoulders and legs felt like heavy stones at this point.

Half a lizard tail still in his mouth, Zack had to lean back in order to catch his key, which nearly knocked him off of his chair. A quick nod of Zack's head as Tifa stated her departure for the night and she was quickly gone. "So Fukuro, what do you think about that trip to the edge of the continent? We could maybe head out there tomorrow if you'd like." Finishing his second tail, Zack laid the stick on his plate and proceeded to stand up, letting out a large yawn as he stretched his rather tired muscles. "Then again, you know the area better than the two of us so we'll follow your lead pal." Zack said, giving Fukuro a quick smile and a wave before placing his key in his pocket and walking towards the stairs, once there hopping up two steps at a time before retiring himself to his room.

"I guess when I have a little more free time on my hands I'll head over there." Fukuro said making it sound like he had something a little more important to do then head to a bar... Which was a lie. Fukuro leaned back his chair just a bit to far when he went to catch his key and ended up falling, no real harm done though, he did catch his key. Fukuro stood his chair back up and sat back up before answering Zach about seeing the edge of the continent. "Well you both seem pretty set on seeing the edge it'd probably just be better to head there when everyone's rested. Don't want anyone falling off now do we?" Fukuro chuckled at his own joke before seeing Zach head off to the stairs. Fukuro finished off his second steak and before long headed up the stairs himself to head to his room.

Tifa shuffled her feet on the threadbare carpet as she sat at the table waiting for the boys to come down. She had ordered breakfast for them all, a selection of most things on the breakfast menu, and sat nibbling on toast and marmalade made from some native fruit she had never heard of. It was delicious. She heard a commotion coming from the staircase and presumed it was Zack coming down the stairs, however, she was wrong this time. The stablehand she had met yesterday blustered his way in and careered towards Tifa. He stood in front of her and looked down at his feet as he muttered an apology and confessed that her chocobo had escaped during the night and was last seen heading towards the tree line. She giggled and reassured the young man that she wasn't angry, just then she heard another commotion. This time it could only be Zack, she recognised the singing.

Zack had awoken with a yawn early in the morning, the upper half of his body laying on the floor, while his legs remained on the bed, half covered by light blue sheets. Zack sighed as he moved his feet to the floor and slowly picked himself up before proceeding to stretch and warm his body up with a few squats. After his morning routine, Zack walked with heavy eyelids out of his room and was quickly overwhelmed with the smell of food. He quickly wondered if the others had awoken, but figured he would allow them to rest, besides he would prefer no one heard his shower singing. Entering the bathroom, Zack headed straight to the shower and turned the hot water knob to a full tilt, quickly jumping as cold water sprayed against him instead. "False advertisement!" Zack said as he quickly turned the other knob, the freezing water quickly heating to a comfortable warm. Relaxing his muscles, Zack grabbed the bar of soap and after a couple of mumbles began to sing.

---Some time later---

Stepping out of the bathroom, clothed and towel over his head, Zack skipped down the steps towards the dining area, still rubbing the towel over his overly damp hair. "How can it hold so much darn moisture?" Zack asked aloud before he absentmindedly knocked into an empty chair. "Im sorry mam...cowgirl?" Zack said as he lifted up the towel and saw Tifa sitting across the table, which itself was stacked with food, some he had never seen before. Grabbing a piece of toast, Zack popped the corner into his mouth before smiling at his companion. Taking a seat, Zack hung the towel over his neck and began to fill his plate with bits of every dish present before digging in. "Thanks for the meal cowgirl..." Zack said between bites, grabbing a piece of bacon and chomping it in half. "So, how has your morning been so far? Im guessing Fukuro is still snoozing." With that Zack shushed and gorged himself with food and drink, his time at SOLDIER had built a powerful appetite in him. Looking up towards Tifa, a sudden thought caused him to shut his eyes in shame. "Did she hear me sing? Oh gods, lets hope not" An awkward laugh escaped his lips for a moment as Zack popped a straw into a cup of juice and began to take a long drink.

Fukuro was pretty dead asleep, until he heard Zach yell 'false advertisement' through the wall that is. "Geez... why is he so damn loud.." Fukuro said wanting to go back to sleep. It took a few minutes before Fukuro conceded that he couldn't fall back into sleep. Fukuro sighed and sat up in bed and pulled his jacket up off of the floor and pulled a comb out of one of the pockets. He combed his hair for a bit before getting dressed. He headed for the stairs.  
Before too long he was down the stairs and saw Zach and Tifa chatting at a table that might as well have been food heaven for Fukuro. Fukuro headed to the table and took a seat. "Nice hair." Fukuro commented about Zach's still mostly damp hair. Fukuro took a piece of ham and started to eat almost as if he hadn't seen food before. He got food when he could, but with the low paying jobs he mostly had to take, it was a rarity he saw so much food. He finished the slice of ham he had and soon started to eat quite a bit more before taking a drink of Juice.