ataraxion | video + conscription

[Passengers who've met Heather before might notice she's a bit paler and a bit darker around the eyes than usual. Passengers who haven't are about to get a charming introduction, if it's delivered in a slightly flatter, wearier tone than her usual.]

Been a while since I've done one of these, so I should probably introduce myself. Heather Mason. I'm a double-oh-two and I work in the gardens, which is why I'm speaking to you today.

The oxygen gardens are what keep us all breathing and eating stuff that doesn't come in a vacuum pack. They're not a petting zoo. There are four of us trying to keep that place running and it's hard enough without worrying about the crops getting eaten or kicked over or people's pets trying to kill each other. So here's the deal: You're keeping something in the gardens? Drugs, pets, livestock. Dinosaurs. Congratulations. Now you work there. I don't want to hear any bitching, either. We all depend on the oxygen gardens to keep us alive, so if you're taking more out of them than anybody else, you need to put more in.

Oh, and if what you've got in there might cause damage to what someone else has there? It's your job to make sure that doesn't happen, not anybody else's. Come on.

[She'd add that the people she's just conscripted should contact her for details but... well, they might take that as an invitation not to.]

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[Josias looks amused, more than anything, but it's more at her delivery than the idea itself. Though he can think of one potential problem:]

And what if they're already signed up elsewhere?

Then they can eat me.

Okay, I know I could have been more charming about that, but people can't just keep dumping stuff in there and hoping for the best. We're not pet groomers or babysitters, and I rank our ability to breathe slighty above Daisy's afternoon snack.

To be fair, Jaye does seem to be attempting to keep hers under control. And I believe she feeds them from the stores, rather than letting them loose on the greenery.

I don't know about the horse, though.

Are you defending her? [It's amused rather than offended, really.] I get the feeling she'd hate that.

That horse, don't even get me started. You'd think something that big would have a hard time sneaking up on a person. I don't know, maybe I'm just unobservant, but the number of times I've looked up from like, cleaning a row some dimwit's just thrown a plant in soil and all, and that horse is just... staring. All horsey. At this point I think it knows it creeps me out and it's doing it on purpose.

She hates a lot of things. An unfortunate issue with temper, it seems.

[But his smile makes it really evident he doesn't care.]

Are you trying to tell me the horse is stalking you? Perhaps it finds you especially appealing. A reminder of sunnier times and open meadows to frolic through. You're lucky it isn't lipping at you, or whatever that mouth thing horses do is called.

[The fact that she's exaggerating her shudder for comic effect doesn't make it any less valid, okay.]

Why would you say that to me? Listen, I have enough perfectly valid neuroses of my own without being afraid a horse is going to start lipping at me while I'm trying to work.

Nothing's harassing you while you're in there?

[She's only half joking. Volunteers are hard enough to come by that she's feeling a little protective.]

It's a possibility you're aware of now. It won't be such a surprise, should it start happening.

[His smile is completely unapologetic.]

Not unless you count the amount of lingering passersby I seem to accumulate nearby as harassment. And I don't.

You are the worst. Should it start happening, I'm gonna think you put the horse up to it. And it doesn't seem fair that I'm getting stalked by a horse and you get a fan club.

...you ever try to recruit any of them?

I can't say I've ever dealt with horses enough to have quite that kind of sway over them, but I suppose there's no point in attempting to defend myself now. Should it start happening, I'm sure you'll blame me.

No, I can't say I have. Most of the time they scatter like birds or appear very suddenly to be incredibly interested in a nearby plant should I even make eye contact. Attempting to speak to them might cause accidents.

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