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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[Like working that out should have taken more than the first ten minutes the animals were on board, with the details freely available. But the rest of what she says is actually reasonable, and Heather's too goddamn tired to argue for the sake of arguing. So. Sigh.]

Don't suppose you could see your way to making sure anyone else who decides to try their hand at playing farmer is as... conscientious as you? And before you tell me to go fuck myself because it's me asking, it'd keep your girls safe. We don't have the time to spare to make sure it goes down that way.

[ It's tempting, but the woman's right -- and she does want to keep her girls safe. Besides... ] If they're not taking care of their animals, they shouldn't have them. I'll keep an eye out.

[ Pause. It's like a switch has been flipped, taking her from a bundle of blonde, freckled fury to someone fairly normal. ]

's Jaye, by the way.

[ Middle gears are for losers, okay. Even if you can just about hear the clunk in Heather's brain as Jaye says something she agrees with and the tension around her eyes fades. ]

Hi, Jaye.

[ Pause. ]

I'm not gonna cook your cow. And not just because I enjoy breathing.

[ It's true. ]

Thanks.

[ And she means that. ]

I mean, I know it'll happen someday, just... yeah. [ There's a scratch at the back of her neck. ]

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