Day 22 - Growing Stronger

All of my chocobo's clients recieved their packages in a timely fashion. The 200g income takes the Chocobo Fund up to 63,503g. His strength and endurance are now both A Bit Deficient, and he remains focused and full of energy. He had another day of races, winning all three. I told him the story of the Happy Chocobo, and I watched over him 5 times. He ate three Vomp Carrots for dinner.

Day 21 - Package Delivery

NobleCrimson finally started work today, delivering packages and earning 200g. It's not a ton, but it brings my Chocobo Fund up to 63,303g. More importantly, it's good for him. Though he seems to have had his fill and calmed down today, he remains bright, focused, and full of energy. He raced Fast again today, winning the first race but losing the second. We then went on a regular walk together, before I watched over him five times. For dinner, he ate three Vomp Carrots.

Day 20 - A New Plan

Today was the last day of walking with Zopago, at least for a while. NobleCrimson seemed very interested in the Mines. He remains in a perky mood. He's also full of energy today, so now's the chance to get in some rigorous physical training! Furthermore, he seemed unusually bright and focused today, which would've been wonderful if we were doing mental training too. He raced against Fast four times today. To my amazement, he won three times and tied for the fourth! After his second win, Wahboud and Bashraf had an argument and Bashraf told me the Story Of A Happy Chocobo. He still had enough energy for me to watch over him four times without totally wearingh im out. I'm absolutely thrilled with NobleCrimson's progress already, and he seems in high spirits too.

For dinner he ate three Vomp Carrots. I'll admit, I was a little depressed he came out yellow, but now I'm extremely excited about this bird! Since carrying packages puts a lot of stress on a chocobo and may lower his affection toward me, I may consider working some Azouph Greens into his diet. But we'll see when the time comes. Tomorrow he starts his first package route.

Day 19 - Happy Birthday!

My harvest this morning brought in 14 Vomp Carrots. Also, I sold one ball of carrot paste on auction for 5k, bringing my Chocobo fund up to 63,103g. Finally I'm going to start making some money now!

NobleCrimson went on a walk with Zopago, and when he returned to the stable, I got to get my first look at his adolesence. Sadly, he's a yellow chocobo with white tips... I was very disappointed. But at least I can raise him to be a very strong chocobo. Zopago says he has a lot of energy, maybe even too much. His strength remains Substandard but his endurance has risen to A Bit Deficient. I've set up a week long plan of carrying packages.

First off, we took a regular walk to the Konschtat Highlands. We ran into Bashraf, Foundeel, and Wahbound with their black chocobo named Fast. After that, we had a race in town. It looked like Fast had the clear lead, but NobleCrimson pulled it out in the end and won! Unfortunately, I lost the rematch. I watched over NobleCrimson twice before dinner. It took three Vomp Carrots to completely fill him up.

He may not be going down the path I wanted, but he's still going to make for an excellent sire someday. When he grows up, I plan to find another red dame and try again. But in the meantime, I'm going to make him as strong and fast as I can!

Day 18 - Happy Starlight Celebration

Little was out of the ordinary today, for a holiday. The lost chick's owner came and picked it up. NobleCrimson went on his daily walk with Zopago. He's perked up, and recovered from his illness. We went on three short walks as usual. The first time out, we met Zopago and Chaos. The second and third walks were uneventful. I then watched over him six times before dinner. He ate two balls of carrot paste.

Tomorrow, he should grow into an adolescent. I'm greatly looking forward to the next stage in his life. We'll find out if the steps taken in breeding pay off.

Day 17 - Under The Weather

NobleCrimson walked with Zopago today, and was then feeling a little under the weather. We took three short walks as usual. The first time out, we met Zopago, who found out that the lost chick's owner is a watchman. That was all he could find, so the rest is up to me. The second time out, he found a Goblin Mask for me. The third walk was uneventful. I watched over him six times before dinner. For dinner, he ate two clumps of Tokopekko Wildgrass and a ball of Carrot Paste.

So I went looking for the lost chick's owner. A Galka who's name starts with G, who is a watchman... He wasn't difficult to figure out. I found Gray Wolf behind the Auction House at the entrance to the residential area. He was thrilled that I'd found his chocobo, and went on about its big puppy-dog eyes, its sweet little chirp... He couldn't wait to see the "little featherball" again. To thank me, he taught me the Story Of A Diligent Chocobo, which he'd often read to his chick. An owner and chocobo, happily reunited!

Day 16 - What A Twist!

Unfortunately, due to a Christmas party and some degree of confusion and distraction, I forgot all about my crops. I woke up today to 10 pots of dead Wildgrass plants... On Itolie, at least. Meanwhile, Toku's 10 pots were still alive! Thank goodness I only lost half the crop.

NobleCrimson took a walk with Zopago this morning. He had his fill and has calmed down. We went on three short walks together. The first two were uneventful, but the third time he found a little worm for me. Not the best find ever, but it was still a sweet gesture. I watched over him six times before dinner. He ate two balls of carrot paste... I only had one, so I had to craft some more.

Unfortunately, there were no single Lizard Eggs available anywhere, so I had to drop 4k on a stack of them. While I was at it, I went and bought five bottles of distilled water for 55g; as many bottles as I had water crystals on hand. I also happened to have just exactly five bags of La Theine Millet stored away. This brought my Chocobo Fund down to 58,103g... But to my amazement, I HQ3'd my second attempt! I've never HQ3'd anything! Eight balls of paste instead of two! I also HQ2'd my last attempt, for six instead of two. This gave me a whopping 20 balls of carrot paste... Far more than Noble Feather will need. When he reaches adolesence, I plan to sell the rest to help recoup my Chocobo Fund. One more ball of paste filled him up... And what started out as a rotten day turned out very, very good!

Day 15 - Perky Days

Another day of walking with Zopago. He's also decided to perk up today. As usual, we took some more short walks together. Even with his raised stamina, he still can't manage four a day. But on the second time out, he picked up a clump of Tokopekko wildgrass. He seems to find all kinds of useful things for me lately. I watched over him 6 times.

We're drawing closer and closer to adolesence. On Day 19, my baby won't really be a baby anymore. That will mean eating a steady diet of whole Vomp Carrots instead of balls of Carrot Paste. For today though, one ball of paste was all it took to completely fill him up. I'm hoping he remains patient, because when he grows up, he'll be delivering a lot of packages and letters.

Day 14 - Search For The Galka...

Another day, another walk with Zopago. Luckily I had much more time today than the last time I checked on Noble Crimson. He had his fill today and has calmed down. We went on three short walks. The first time out, he saw something sparkly in the sand. The third time out, we met Zopago, who had more information on the lost chick's owner. The owner is a Galka. It's a start!

It turns out the item Noble Crimson found for me was a Beastcoin. I watched over him five times before dinner. Unfortunately, I had to go make dinner first. I needed a few groceries... 200g for the Lizard Eggs and 22g for the Distilled Water brought my Chocobo Fund down slightly, to what remains a respectful 62,158g. This left me with four balls of carrot paste, but he gobbled up two of those for dinner. His strength has risen to Substandard, matching his endurance.

I haven't gotten to try Camp Kweh yet. With the Christmas events going on, the stables are practically deserted. Here's hoping things will pick up soon!

Day 13 - Last Minute

I was forced to buy two balls of chocobo paste for 12k, due to a time limitation today. He took a short walk, and became perky today. We took three short walks. The first time out, he found an ear of millioncorn. The third time we met Zopago. He said the owner of the missing chick's name starts with G. He ate two balls of carrot paste.

I was in a major rush today!

Day 12 - Growing

Noble Crimson took a walk with Zopago today. He seems to have had his fill, and has calmed down. We went on three short walks. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the missing chocobo's owner today. I watched over him six times. When I checked on his stats, I found he'd made an improvement!

Strength: Poor
Endurance: Substandard
Discernment: Poor
Receptivity: Poor
He regards me as his parent.
He is starving.
It looks like his condition is stable. There have not been any changes worth mention.
He is a very patient chocobo, making him ideal for carrying goods.
He likes clear days.
He does not seem to know any abilities.

I was thrilled to see the sudden changes! With any luck, this means he won't drop packages or get lost when he gets older. He ate two carrot pastes for dinner, cleaning out the last of my stock. I'm going to have to prepare more tonight. Speaking of which, I also have a harvest coming in this evening.

Day 11 - Lost And Found

Noble Crimson took another walk with Zopago today. He's also still in his perky mood! When we went on our walk, we found a baby chocobo who appeared to be lost. Not knowing what else to do, I brought it back to the stable with us, of course. Zopago agreed to take care of it until I find its owner, and told me to bring any information I find to Gonija. Our second walk was uneventful, and on the third we noticed a small sparkle in the sand on the walk. Unfortunately, NobleCrimson was too tired to go investigating again. But when I watched over him, we saw something half-burried in the straw! It turns out he picked up a goblin mask for me, which he gave to me. I watched over him four more times before dinner. Once again, he ate two balls of carrot paste.

Strength: Poor
Endurance: Poor
Discernment: Poor
Receptivity: Poor
He regards me as his parent.
He is completely full.
He has been receiving plenty of affection, and seems extremely happy. He is in excellent condition now.
He has a very easygoing personality, making him easy to care for.
He likes clear weather.
He does not seem to know any abilities.

Day 10 - Perking Up

Another walk in town with Zopago, but everything still interests him. Noble Crimson was feeling very perky today, so hopefully he'll respond better to the daily routine. We went on two uneventful walks, and ran into Zopago and Chaos on the third. He still can't manage four walks a day. I then watched over him six times. He was certainly in high spirits.

He has his appetite back, and it took two balls of carrot paste to completely fill him. Looks like I won't be able to predict how much food I'll need afterall. I suppose I should just make two more every time he runs out... It's a good thing I still have plenty of cooking materials around. He's now down to four balls of carrot paste. Not that I'm complaining; afterall, more food means a greater opportunity for his strength to grow.

Day 8 - Walk, Walk, Walk...

Noble Crimson took another walk with Zopago today. I intend to keep up this daily care plan for the durration of his time as a hatchling. We went on three short walks as usual, and met Zopago and Chaos on the second walk. I then watched over him five times. Oddly enough, today, one ball of carrot paste was all it took to fill him up. I may not go through my supplies as quickly as I worried.

Day 8 - A Noble Lineage

My chocobo took a walk with Zopago again today, and was interested in everything. We went on three short walks today. The second time out we met Zopago and Chaos. Three walks is still all he can manage in a day. I watched over him five more times before dinner, and he seemed happy to see me. He had a ball of chocobo paste for dinner, and to my surprise, it didn't completely fill him! It took his father quite a bit longer to develop this appetite. I fed him a second to make sure he was completely full. This means I'll be going through my food supplies quite a bit faster than I'd anticipated. On the up side, it means he'll be able to get better nutrition for faster growth. He now regards me as a parent.

I decided to name my chocobo today. In the tradition of my first chocobo, Noble Feather, who was of course his sire, I decided to name him Noble Crimson. He seems to like his new name. I'm not sure if he'll turn out red or not, but I can always hope. I regret not having named him sooner... In the future I plan to name all of my chocobos as soon as they're hatched.

I've also decided on the naming traditions for my chocobos. All males in this bloodline will have names beginning with 'Noble', and all females beginning with 'Elegant'. If in the future I decide to start another bloodline in another town, I'll adopt a similar but different naming scheme to tell them apart. I've considered raising Jennets in Windurst for the purpose of digging, but only time will tell. I want to become more at-ease with raising a single chocobo well before I branch out.

Day 7 - Easygoing

My chocobo went on a walk this morning, and is feeling better now. He's developed a very easygoing personality like his father had, making him easy to care for. For starters we went on three short walks. The first two were uneventful, but we ran into Chaos and Zopago the third time. My chocobo and Chaos seem to be getting along well. I watched over him five times before dinner. He was quite hungry, but not starving today. He ate a ball of carrot paste, which completely filled him up. Now he wants to be with me all the time.

Day 6 - A Good Harvest

I harvested my sewn wildgrass crops today, and came away with 45 Vomp Carrots. I recieved no other profit from the matter, as the yellow rocks were sent to a goldsmith friend of mine, and the lightning crystals to an alchemist friend. This makes 64 Vomp Carrots at the moment, and another twenty seeds were planted today.

My baby chocobo went on a walk today with Zopago, and when he returned to the stables, he was feeling a bit under the weather. I took him on two short walks, meeting Zopago and Chaos both times. The second time out, Zopago taught me the story of the worrysome chocobo. I then fed my chocobo two Tokopekko wildgrasses, and a ball of carrot paste. At this point, he liked me a lot.

I took him on one more short walk, then watched over him three times. Aside from liking me a lot, none of his other stats have changed.

Day 5 - New Friends

Day 5 was basic care without concern. We went on a walk and met Zopago and a baby chocobo named Chaos. The two became friends right off the bat. We went on two more uneventful walks, then I watched over him five times before dinner. He ate a ball of Carrot Paste for dinner.

Today I noticed he's developed an enigmatic personality, making it difficult to know what he's thinking. Other than that, his stats haven't changed since yesterday.

Day 4 - A Bouncing Baby Boy

This morning, my baby boy hatched. I'm still deciding on a name. I took him on three walks today, then watched over him four times. These are his stats:

Strength: Poor
Endurance: Poor
Discernment: Poor
Receptivity: Poor
He likes me pretty well.
He is completely full.
He has a very easygoing personality, making him easy to care for.
He likes clear weather and doesn't seem to mind any kind of weather.
He does not know any abilities.

Day 3 - Just One More Day...

I watched over the egg today. The scratching is getting louder and the shaking more energetic. It would seem the chick is as anxious to come out and see me as I am to see it. Just one more day to wait before we finally meet.

Day 2 - Impatience

I watched over my egg again today, and judging by the scratching and slight rocking on its bed of hay, I'd say the chick wants out. Hopefully it will get that wish soon. Zopago doesn't know if it will be a boy or a girl, but we can still hope.

Day 1 - Patience

Well the first day has passed and my egg remains with Zopago in the Bastok Stables. There isn't much to do yet, and there won't be for a few days.

I planted twenty Wildgrass seeds yesterday on Iceday, under the Waxing Gibbous moon. I plan to feed them Earth Crystals on Darksday, as I was advised by a friend. With any luck I'll have enough Vomp Carrots to last a while. I have a dozen Carrot Pastes left over from raising Noble Feather, so I should only have to make 2-4 more to have my new baby well taken care of until they reach adolescence. I didn't spend a dime today so I still have 62,380g in Chocobo funds...

Now if only my other jobs and endeavours weren't bleeding me dry...

The First Step

I handed over the faintly warm egg to Zopago today in Bastok Mines, at exactly noon. I watched over the egg a while, as I plan to do each day. There's little else for me to do for the next three days except planting seeds and preparing for the new arrival.

The Faintly Warm Egg

Last night I spent some time shuffling items around. Toku and Itolie now handle all my storage and gardening needs; Itolie has ten brass pots, Toku has nine brass pots and a ceramic pot. I also invested in Wildgrass seeds while visiting in Whitegate. They were expensive, but hopefully Altana will smile on me and I won't have to buy materials from others.

I set off for Jeuno this morning, to pick up my egg. When I spoke to Finbarr, I recieved a large chocobo egg covered by a thick shell. It was faintly warm to the touch. I'm really looking forward to Camp Kweh when it opens this month; it will give me the opportunity to survey the other chocobos being raised in preparations for the races in Aht Urhgan. I do wonder, though, how busy it's going to stay.

The Wildgrass seeds took a big chunk out of my funds, and I doubt I will ever make the money back off of my new chocobo. However, hopefully in the end I'll at least have the beginnings of a strong line of racers.

Funds at Beginning: 93,500g
30,720g for 8 stacks of Wildgrass Seeds
400g for travel expenses
Total expenses today: 31,120g
Total funds remaining: 62,380g

A Beautiful Friendship

I picked up ArashiSky's chococard from Chasya today. She only asked for 500g to cover the cost of the card, but I was so excited, I tossed her 700g as a small thanks for coming out to the Crag of Dem to meet me. I brought ArashiSky and Noble Feather's chococards to Jeuno, and purchased a "Jeuno Tour Plan" VCS honeymoon ticket. After their walk, Finbarr said that it looks like a beautiful friendship has been born. I should probably have a new egg tomorrow.

With the Jeuno Tour Plan, there's an increased possibility that the female's traits will be inherited. While ArashiSky's stats are lower than NobleFeather's, I believe it's more than worth it to try for a red chocobo chick. Only time will tell.

Funds at beginning: 100,000g
300g travel expenses
700g for ArashiSky's chococard
500g for NobleFeather's chococard
5,000g for "Jeuno Tour plan" VCS honeymoon ticket
Total expenses today: 6,500g
Total funds remaining: 93,500g

Blessings In Disguise

The best laid plans, eh? When Dragontaru went to get his card for his chocobo, he found that somehow after retiring her, he didn't retain a registration card for her... So he had no way of getting a breeding card for her. I was heartbroken. However, we got to talking about my goal of breeding red chocobos... He thought of something and passed me along to his girlfriend, Dragonwizz, who thought she knew someone with a red female chocobo. She then passed me along to a linkshell friend of hers, Chasya. Chasya was busy in a high-paced party in Caedarva Mire at the time, so I had to wait a while.

When I finally got to talk to her, she was very polite and friendly. She was going to bed soon, but tomorrow I'm going to make arrangements to meet her in San d'Oria and pick up a breeding card for her red female chocobo. It turns out that Dragontaru's lost chocobo was a blessing in disguise.

In the meantime, I go over potential Chocobo names... High on my list right now are Noble Crimson, Dancing Cinder, Elegant Phoenix, and Perfect Lady. Here's hoping this time I get a female.

New Beginnings

Well, I've passed Day 100 of my first Chocobo's life. Noble Feather has turned out much the way I wanted, and I'm now the proud owner of a yellow Chocobo with average strength, and his endurance is a bit deficient. Still, it's the best I could hope for my first foray into Chocobo raising.

My goal is to eventually breed and race red Cousers. I know that this is by no means a cheap endeavour. To start with, I've set aside a modest 100,000 gil for the raising of my next Chocobo. In addition to this, I still have some materials left over from raising Noble Feather. My materials are as follows:

• 7 San d'Orian Carrots
• 19 Vomp Carrots
• 10 Gausebit Wildgrasses
• 20 Tokopekko Wildgrasses
• 4 Sharug Greens
• 10 Gysahl Greens
• 9 Vegitable Pastes
• 12 Carrot Pastes

I also have ten brass pots in my own home in Bastok and ten in the home of my partner Itolie in San d'Oria. Itolie is also holding onto seven bags of La Theine Millet for me, and two bags of Wildgrass Seeds.

At the moment, I'm on my way to pick up a breeding card for Noble Feather's mate. She's a yellow chocobo with impressive strength and endurance. Her owner, Dragontaru, is only charging 500g for her card. This is truly the miracle I've been looking for.