However, as amusing as it is to find out that FB users were the subjects of psychological experimentation and willful emotional experimentation without informed consent, the incident has also caused a slight blip of mild discontent in my weary, wary soul.
And I know of at least one person who might need stuff to read and poke fun at, who does not use FB.
*waves*
In any case, I played Final Fantasy XIV for a bit. And it was fun and entertaining, but I have found recently that, not only am I now lazy, I am old, and get tired easy, and don't have as much energy to game 8 hours straight at the computer after putting in a full 8 hours of work in front of the computer anymore. So, MMORPGs are kinda too taxing right now, and so I am not playing the game anymore. But it was fun, and I did RP a tiny healer (I'm sure surprising no one who knew me in Final Fantasy XI back in the day) fully.
(No, Talathar the Lalafel did NOT have a tarutaru accent. I did not carry that part over. The people of Eorzea were not subjected to that. Except a few choice people, OOCly.)
Talathar the Lalafel was my only character to earn her own personal chocobo. You can actually name your chocobos in FFXIV. And, just as in FFXI, chocos scale to your character's size (Hallo?? Blizzard?? Ya see this right here! MOUNTS THAT SCALE TO YOUR CHARACTER'S SIZE?? Would be nice in that old game ya still got going... my gnome looking like she was about to fall off her gryphon into the nether void was always annoying to me...)
-ahem-
Sorry, momentary distraction...
ANYways, so Talathar the Lalafel named her chocobo. His name was Stalwart Soul. Stalwart for short. Stal for when Tala was shouting at him. Which happened a lot. Because Stalwart was roleplayed as well -- as a brave, loyal, somewhat bratty, independent-minded choco with a slight complex about his height deficiency. So, to compensate for his shortness of stature, he liked to climb things -- like buildings, and trees, and sign posts. And he didn't just run, he hopped and jumped about a lot.
...alright, maybe I just made up an RP reason to be on a chocobo's back while climbing up onto small ledges and seeing if could get on the roof of things... I STILL HAD RP JUSTIFICATION FOR IT IN MY HEAD! :P
And although I'm not playing the game anymore, I really liked Stalwart as a character. He was silly fun to write for. And I had this half-finished story I never posted anywhere... so for lack of better venue, I'll post it here.
Note: All references to Chocobos and Final Fantasy XIV belong to Square-Enix. I dun own nuthin 'bout dat. And I'm not looking to make any money off this either. Is just a creative little bit, that I had to get out of my system somewhere, to avoid creative asplodings.
Enjoy:
_____
A New Look for Stalwart
He didn't quite know what it was.
They were strange. These things the people put on top of their heads. It was a people thing.
It wasn't like what the trainers put on him sometimes, over his head, in that time before his little master had come to lead him away with her gentle hand. And it wasn't like the thing he wore with the saddle, on his head and beak, when he ran about, carrying his little master from one place to some other place.
That thing, he understood. It was so his master could better direct him where to look, when to stop, and where to run. (Or, sometimes, for her to cling onto desperately while yelling, those times he decided to jump about. Or run very fast. Or clamber up on top of things -- like tall rock formations. Or trees. Or buildings. Tall buildings.) That thing, it was a chocobo thing. He understood it.
This thing wasn't a chocobo thing. It was a people thing.
His master sometimes wore things like this on her head. Like when it rained. Or when it was hot. Or when they traveled out into the sunny-sandy place. She would cover her head-feathers with floppy things kind of like this. Or when she put on the heavy shiny things, with the pointy metal stick and big metal plank thing, she would put a metal bucket thing on to cover her face. Those things, he kind of understood. They kept his little master's head-feathers from getting wet. Or from getting too hot in the sun. Or kept her head from getting bonked by mean taller not-peoples and bad things in the forests and fields.
And this thing, this one thing that this new person was wearing, it was like his master's floppy things. But this thing was also different. It looked different. It even smelled different. It was new.
And he liked it.
It was kind of floppy, but not the same as what his little master wore. For one thing, it was a different color. More yellow. And it was shaped differently. Taller. Skinnier. More pointy. It even smelled different. Not like anything he knew. It was something new. Something different.
And he really liked it.
The person was talking to his little master, as she sat on his back, while they waited idly. He didn't know why they were waiting. He only knew they were waiting. Because she wanted to wait. It was enough of a reason for him -- at least, for now. Because this new thing was keeping him distracted. So instead of shifting about, or hopping from foot to foot, or puffing up at the taller chocobos, or looking for tall places to climb, or climbing up to tall places, he was eyeing this new thing this person was wearing.
He wasn't on his chocobo, the taller person. His little master was just about at eye level with the taller person, sitting on his back like she was. But that also meant that the new yellow-pointy thing was at his eye level. Or close enough to it.
So he reached out. And grabbed it. Took it in his beak and plucked it off the taller person's head. The person looked a little shocked, furry ears flicking a bit in surprise.
"STAL! No!"
His little master scolded him, but he pretended not to hear her. He had lots of practice doing that. She scolded him a lot.
"Bad Stal! Give it back!"
She tried to reach over and take the yellow floppy thing from his beak, but he turned away, keeping it out of her reach. She stretched out as far as she could to reach it, the floppy thing held firmly in his beak. But her short arms could not reach far enough. She leaned over on the other side, to try to reach the yellow floppy thing from that side, but he just turned the other way, and it was once again out of her reach.
By this time, the taller person was trying very hard not to laugh. And failing.
"It's fine, Tala," the taller person assured her, eyes alight with clear amusement. "Let him keep it, if he likes it so."
The wee Lalafel blinked. "But, is not Stal's hat ta take!"
"Then I will make it a gift to him," came the easy reply. With a gentle hand, the hat was taken from the rambunctious little chocobo's grip, only to be placed on his fluffy head. "There you go. Quite the dashing fellow you are, Stalwart."
The little beast look quite pleased with himself. He tried to flap his wings enthusiastically, which of course only caused his little passenger to be bumped about on the saddle uncomfortably.
He liked it. The nice taller person had placed the yellow floppy thing on his head. It was his now. And he would wear it to keep the bright sun from his eyes. And to keep the rain off his head feathers.
And to make him just that much taller, too. And that was the best part.
