ataraxion | 008 ☀ video ☀ look at this photograph

[ ~~Yes that's Nickelback don't judge me.~~

Up in the Oxygen Garden once again, Jaye's leaning on a tree near the pen for the larger animals. They're just out of sight, but the sound of the cow chewing cud can be heard if you really listen. ]

Well now that this piece of crap is back up [ she gives the comm a shake, making the image go blurry for a moment until she stops ] it's time for me to share what Mordecai, Lilith, and I found last month. [ Pause. ] We went wandering around the ship.

There are a bunch of super deep holes and a creepy painting with hands that follows you around. We took pictures, if you all want to go nuts.

And I guess this is the part where you can yell at me for going looking, too, but all of you people who were comatose -- if you don't remember the network being down and aren't new you were in a coma, by the way, or maybe just really stupid -- should know that I was trying to help you all. And I didn't go alone, like some people.

Anyway, pictures.

[ And now linked are several pictures of this and this. Enjoy! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You know her?

[ And then she grins, tilting the camera to capture the pen and the chicken coop. ]

A cow, a horse, some other people's horses, some chickens, and some chickens I hatched for other people.

[ She may be totally in over her head with the animals, but she still likes them. ]

We've talked a few times, yeah.

[ He whistles at that. That's a lot of animals he didn't realize were populating the gardens. ]

You takin' care of all of 'em?

Not everyone else's horses. I help with some of the chicks I gave to people, but mostly I just take care of mine or what's ended up as mine. Put the eggs and milk in the kitchens, pass the manure on for fertilizer, chase off everyone who tries to eat them, that sort of thing.

[ It's worse when you consider that she has to get them in the gravity couches every month. ]

I'd never really done anything like it before. It's kind of fun.

[ He can't blame people for wanting to eat the cow. It's been a while since he's caught and burnt up his own, settling instead for store-bought beef back home. And with only one, well. It's best to keep it alive and use it for milk. But Ladon's only eaten pancakes since he arrived here, so the craving is definitely there.

Thankfully, he's dealt with resisting that exact temptation before. ] Worked on a farm for a couple years 'fore this place nabbed me, yeah? S'good work. Never too little t'keep your hands busy.

[ Jaye can't really blame them either. She's just fiercely protective of her things. Still, when the day comes that the cow is too much of a drain on resources or is too old to be much use for milk production, they'll all have some beef. ]

Oh yeah? [ Hi new best friend. ] I'm a city girl, technically. I've done a lot of traveling since then but I never stayed in one place long enough to farm or anything. Not until here.

Grew up in the boonies, but I been livin' in the city for a while now. Time on the farm was kind of a vacation from city life, yeah? [ And a way to lay low long enough to dodge a murder charge. Details, details. ] S'nice, yeah? Animals an' plants live on a different kinda time table. Less fuss. Chickens make a mess and cows ain't always cooperative with bein' milked, but it ain't the same as rush hour traffic or squeezin' in meetings with everyone you gotta see.

Edited (Law low? What? /fixes >:I) 2013-01-08 07:14 (UTC)

Yeah, definitely. City's crazy. [ She laughs a little. ] Not that I had a lot of meetings to go to when I lived there, but still.

You ever want that time away from the ship, you can come up here with them, you know. I don't mind unless you fuck them up somehow.

Might take you up on that. Gets old, just hangin' 'round, an' I ain't really the take-orders-from-others type, so gettin' into one of the departments here ain't a good idea for anyone involved, yeah?

[ He's not going to pretend he wouldn't be a pain in the ass to keep in line in SEC or the gunnery, and he certainly doesn't have the scientific prowess necessary to be any use anywhere else. He's good at looking after his people, and they're not here. May as well spend that energy taking care of critters instead. ]

But I got no problem feedin' chickens an' makin' sure no one tries t'make hamburger outta Bessie there.

I didn't think I'd fit well either, but I was in the gardens so much anyway and kept adding more animals when people'd disappear, so I started doing general upkeep shit like cutting paths through the brush in the jungle. Ned's a good department head anyway.

[ Jaye's good at looking after her people too, but slowly she's started gathering people here. It's half their fault she ended up joining AG in the first place. ]

It's Jaye, by the way.

Rather not go officially joinin' the department if it's all the same. Just lendin' a hand where it's needed, yeah?

[ Blink, he scratches his head, pushing his hat back a little. ]

S'a weird name for a cow.

[ Ladon, no. ]

Hey, I don't mind.

[ ... snort. ]

No, that's my name.

[ The cow's name is Punk Rock but she doesn't tell people that because she tends to get weird looks. The rooster is named every variation of "Motherfucker" she can think of. ]

Oh, er. Sorry.

[ Smooth, Ceto. Ladon looks suitably mortified before tugging the brim of his cap at her politely. ]

Ladon Ceto. Good t'meetcha, miss Jaye.

Don't worry about it. And just Jaye is fine, seriously.

[ All you polite people she can't even. ]

Don't matter if I ain't very flexible, got a way of puttin' my own foot in my mouth anyway. [ He's almost used to embarrassing himself at this point. Any how, he smiles. ] All right, Jaye it is.

At least you just got names confused and not... I don't know. At least it wasn't an insult?

[ Give him time, Jaye. He'll eventually say something stupid enough to be insulting. ]

So you said you been hatchin' chickens for other people? Meanin', like pets?

[ They'll figure that out when it happens. ]

Yeah. Or food, or whatever. I mean, I'd rather they be pets, but... chicken also tastes really good, so I get it.

S'worth keepin' 'em 'round for the eggs, too. We got a lotta people on this ship t'feed, yeah?

Yeah. It's the eggs that have kept most people from trying to kill them anyway, I think.

That and the part where I'd fucking rip their head off.

Attagirl. [ Protect those chickens. ] We should be good, long as we don't go gettin' any foxes.

My dog would rip a fox to shreds, too. I wouldn't even have to lift a finger.

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