[VIDEO] 📷 UN: quicksilver80

[photoshooter]

Look!

[Without further preamble, Prompto holds his phone camera back to show what he's got cradled in the crook of his other arm: an egg that looks bigger than a chicken itself, so he for sure didn't get it from inside the station.]

It's a chocobo egg! Chocobo, I just know it! And I did the trick with the shell and the light and there's a baby inside, it's alive!

[He sets the phone down standing up and hugs the egg carefully and happily to his chest, grinning fit to split his face.]

I'm gonna be the best. Chocomom. Ever! I gotta introduce them to the girls downstairs, catch me there if you wanna say hi to baby in person!

[And for those who prefer more action-based interaction, Prompto will, in fact, be in the floor 2 chicken room, his egg held protectively in his lap with an arm always around it while he feeds and chatters to the chickens.

He's also taped a note to the chicken room door:]

ADOPT A CHICKEN!

Chickens are cute and don't grow very big, unlike basilisks and cockatrices. We lay the eggs you eat for breakfast and cook with! So please don't think about cooking us! We love you! Give us names and love us, too!

♩ є(･Θ･｡)э ♩ ⋋(◍’◊’◍)⋌ ♩ є(･Θ･｡)э ♩ ⋋(◍’◊’◍)⋌ ♩ є(･Θ･｡)э ♩ ⋋(◍’◊’◍)⋌ ♩ є(･Θ･｡)э ♩ ⋋(◍’◊’◍)⋌ ♩ є(･Θ･｡)э ♩

Comments

[photoshooter]

Uhh.

[That's a no.]

My. Bed? Noct and I could take turns keeping it warm.

[dubiouslychthonic]

[Yeah that's about what she expected. She reaches over to lay a hand flat against the egg's shell, getting a rough gauge of its current temperature.]

Well, that's probably sufficient in the short term, but I'd really recommend some sort of artificial heat source if we can find something suitable. It'll help keep the temperature more consistent, and besides, trying to incubate if yourselves would be kind of hard on your social lives.

Bottom might have something that'll work, and if not, I can rig something up with supplies from the medbay.

[photoshooter]

Oh! Wow, that'd be awesome, I'll totally help build something like that if Bottom doesn't have something big enough.

[An idea strikes and he leans forward.]

Can it be portable so I can bring it with me places?

[dubiouslychthonic]

[She raises an eyebrow.] Would the older chocobos carry it around with them?

[photoshooter]

Nnnnnooo, but... [His arms tighten a little around his baby.] I don't want it to hatch all alone. ...And chocobos don't have arms, anyway, so of course they don't.

[dubiouslychthonic]

If we keep an eye on it, we should be able to tell when it's getting ready to hatch. The chick will start moving around more, and you'll be able to keep a closer watch on it.

Until then, it's going to need relative peace and quiet, along with warmth. It's not good for it to be moved around all the time. Too much opportunity for something to go wrong.

[photoshooter]

Oh. That makes sense.

[He's had this egg for less than a day and he already looks so reluctant to part with it. After a pause to come to terms with this, he picks his head up again.]

We can still at least incubate it in my room, right? There's space! [He can make there be space. He'll put his desk in the Armiger if he has to.]

[dubiouslychthonic]

I think that'd be a good idea.

[She draws back a bit, and withdraws her med kit from her sylladex with a brief flicker of an array of captchalogue cards. It takes a moment longer to rummage in the bag for what is unmistakably a stethoscope.]

Can I hold it for a moment?

[photoshooter]

Mm-hmm, sure.

[He hands his baby over with care, but he trusts Jetshard a lot.]

Will it already have a heartbeat, you think?

[dubiouslychthonic]

I'm no expert on birds, but if it's well developed enough that you could see it by candling the egg, I think there's a pretty good chance that the circulatory system is working by now.

[She takes the egg just as carefully, holding it steady as she holds the stethoscope to the side of the shell. After listening thoughtfully for a moment, she nods.]

It's a little quiet, but there's definitely a regular heartbeat.

[photoshooter]

Wow...

[He can feel his own heart in his chest. The mystery and miracle of a growing baby--it's incredible.]

That's good, right? Regular is good.

[dubiouslychthonic]

[She's a little leery of overstating her expertise - she isn't any too familiar with the health of birds, let alone bird eggs - but she's confident enough in her reading of the situation. She nods.]

Regular is good. It means the heart's strong enough to get the blood where it needs to go without using up too much energy.

[photoshooter]

Oh, man. [He pets the egg softly, as if the chick inside could possibly be aware of the touch.] You hear that, buddy? Not even born yet, and your heart's already that strong. Can't wait to meet you in person...!