Chachanji followed his mentor's gaze over to the two Lalafell as they approached the fence and the one named Gagari stepped up to serve as race official. It always amazed him how those he had come to call friends and teachers always seemed to know so many people. Leanne was probably the most notable of this, seemingly able to identify almost everyone they came across - Koporo's older "brother" being the only real exception that stood out for him. He remained almost steadfastly oblivious to the not insignificant number of people he had met during his relatively short time spent in and around the walls of Ul'dah. Instead, he seemed happily content to wonder just how many people Miss Roen might know in comparison to his nice-hat-wearing best friend.
While his rider's mind was fully off in la-la land (or perhaps Lala land?), Avenger was paying much more attention to the matters at hand. Despite not knowing the exact content of the babbling going back and forth between the small group of unfeathered ones, he knew that there was going to be running in the near future. So, while Chachanji silently tried to guess how many people Miss Roen knew, his mount fluffed up with anticipation and pawed at the dusty ground. The shout from one of the newly approached smaller ones startled Avenger a bit, but still sent him off running alongside the much larger Goldwind. The sudden burst to motion also helped to forcibly jostle the young Lalafell from his myriad musings and back to the important matter of the race.
"Ah! Wh-what what?" he yelped, instinctively grabbing on the reins and pulling back to slow his bird down. Avenger complied, albeit with a confused wark, and reduced his initial mad dash to a sluggish trot. Chachanji instantly regretted the decision once he realized that the race had started while he had been daydreaming. "Oh! Hey, I wasn't ready!"
With a childish grunt, the Lalafell goaded his mount back into motion to try and close the sizeable gap that had already been created from his momentary distraction. Goldwind was larger and had longer strides, and thus had been able to cross quite the distance in just those few steps. Avenger, while a decent bit smaller, had the benefits of being young, spry, and possessing almost as much energy as its rider. With Chachanji's silent approval to go all out, the young Chocobo lowered his head to assume a faster, more streamlined form.
"H-hey!" Chachanji shouted again over the whipping wind buffeting his face as he drew back into what he assumed was earshot of the lady Hyur. "Y-you better jump over stuff too! It ain't fair if'n only I hafta do it!"
As if to emphasize that point, the Lalafell yanked Avenger's reins off to the side to aim his bird towards the first of his obstacles. His game plan? To do all five of his "busywork" jumps right away so they'd be over and done with. That way he could focus on just going fast all the way to the Sultantree! It was the perfect plan!
His first jump, however, was merely a small rock that even his little Chocobo could easily step over without incident. Chachanji made a show of leaping grandly over it, though, as if it were some giant boulder instead of something he could probably fit in one of his belt pouches. Should Miss Roen question the validity of it, though, he was more than willing to state that it "totally counted." It was a rock after all, which had been on her short list of obstacles, and he had totally jumped over it as directed.
One jump down, four more to go! The youngest Gegenji guided his bird towards a more respectable obstacle next: a fallen log. And even with that more impressive threat coming up fast, Chachanji was already looking forward for the next one. His violet eyes alighted on the Dispatch Yard - surely there would be plenty of things to jump over there!
While his rider's mind was fully off in la-la land (or perhaps Lala land?), Avenger was paying much more attention to the matters at hand. Despite not knowing the exact content of the babbling going back and forth between the small group of unfeathered ones, he knew that there was going to be running in the near future. So, while Chachanji silently tried to guess how many people Miss Roen knew, his mount fluffed up with anticipation and pawed at the dusty ground. The shout from one of the newly approached smaller ones startled Avenger a bit, but still sent him off running alongside the much larger Goldwind. The sudden burst to motion also helped to forcibly jostle the young Lalafell from his myriad musings and back to the important matter of the race.
"Ah! Wh-what what?" he yelped, instinctively grabbing on the reins and pulling back to slow his bird down. Avenger complied, albeit with a confused wark, and reduced his initial mad dash to a sluggish trot. Chachanji instantly regretted the decision once he realized that the race had started while he had been daydreaming. "Oh! Hey, I wasn't ready!"
With a childish grunt, the Lalafell goaded his mount back into motion to try and close the sizeable gap that had already been created from his momentary distraction. Goldwind was larger and had longer strides, and thus had been able to cross quite the distance in just those few steps. Avenger, while a decent bit smaller, had the benefits of being young, spry, and possessing almost as much energy as its rider. With Chachanji's silent approval to go all out, the young Chocobo lowered his head to assume a faster, more streamlined form.
"H-hey!" Chachanji shouted again over the whipping wind buffeting his face as he drew back into what he assumed was earshot of the lady Hyur. "Y-you better jump over stuff too! It ain't fair if'n only I hafta do it!"
As if to emphasize that point, the Lalafell yanked Avenger's reins off to the side to aim his bird towards the first of his obstacles. His game plan? To do all five of his "busywork" jumps right away so they'd be over and done with. That way he could focus on just going fast all the way to the Sultantree! It was the perfect plan!
His first jump, however, was merely a small rock that even his little Chocobo could easily step over without incident. Chachanji made a show of leaping grandly over it, though, as if it were some giant boulder instead of something he could probably fit in one of his belt pouches. Should Miss Roen question the validity of it, though, he was more than willing to state that it "totally counted." It was a rock after all, which had been on her short list of obstacles, and he had totally jumped over it as directed.
One jump down, four more to go! The youngest Gegenji guided his bird towards a more respectable obstacle next: a fallen log. And even with that more impressive threat coming up fast, Chachanji was already looking forward for the next one. His violet eyes alighted on the Dispatch Yard - surely there would be plenty of things to jump over there!
~