03 - Public / Video

[domesheriff]

[Linda is sitting on a bench in the garden when she activates the feed. she's dressed casually in a coat and jeans, though her right hand visibly has a bandage around it. she looks tired, and she's obviously fallen in some mud at some point today as well]

Anybody else having trouble learning to ride their animals? [there's weariness in her tone. but a thought occurs to her then, and she adds:] Are many people going to be in the race? I know it's optional.

[while the mud is a result of her rocky attempts to learn to ride a "yoshi," her burned hand isn't. it's been a busy day, starting with testing forcefields with Agent K to try to find one like the dome followed by her riding session on the farm. needless to say, relaxing for a bit chatting with friends strikes her as a good way to end an exhausting day]

Comments

[domesheriff]

That sounds even worse than a yoshi. What do you have to ride? [she doesn't recognize Niles' face, but admittedly she's too caught up in the race at the moment to immediately start asking general questions]

[and she chuckles at that] I hope not for your sake. Honestly, it's not that it threw me so much as...it's kind of a mini-dinosaur with a really vertical back, and it likes to jump. [she wrinkles her nose. so far, the jumping is having the immediate effect of causing her to fall right off]

[truth_is_the_enemy]

Mine is called a Macrauchenia. It looks a bit like some crazed Indogene scientist decided to splice together a camel, a llama, and an elephant. Chief Kay said it's a prehistoric Earth animal. It looks like it's got a stable enough back not to cause too much trouble...if I can get on the beast.

[domesheriff]

Never heard of that either, but it sounds...big. [that's assuming the elephant influence is affecting its size, of course. but she can't really picture how those three animals could combine into one, so "big" is the best description she has at the moment] Is it fast or just too tall to get onto?

[truth_is_the_enemy]

It's about the size of a horse, maybe a bit stockier. But it has an odd little trunk slapped on a llama-looking head. It's the strangest animal I've ever seen, and I've seen some very strange animals on terraformed Earth.

It's not so much that it's fast, but it changes direction very very quickly and keeps doing so right when I'm trying to get on.

[domesheriff]

[she frowns at his explanation, not sure what he means by "terraformed," but she doesn't pursue that for the moment]

Okay, I can see how that would make it hard to ride. But is there any way to, like, lure it close to you long enough for you to get on? Food it likes or something?

[truth_is_the_enemy]

Lure it with carrots, you mean? Since it's a lot bigger than I am, that's probably safer than the stick option.

I'll try that next time.

[domesheriff]

If that's what it eats, sure. [considering his description of it, she doesn't feel qualified to guess about its diet]

[she nods] I hope it helps.

[now if only she had an idea to solve her own problems... but she'll work on that]

[truth_is_the_enemy]

It was a joke. You know, the carrot and the stick approach?

[He smiles slightly at her serious demeanour.]

[domesheriff]

Oh. [she cracks an embarrassed smile now, pushing loose hair behind her ear] I probably should have guessed that. But with things the way they are here, I never really know what to expect.

Still, whatever carrot you come up with? I bet it'll be worth a try.