Don't pet them, grab them! [Mingle]

[ourearth]

Date: 25th of July
Characters: Open!

---

I.

In the afternoon on the 25th, a network message alerts the Numbered to the fact that the petting zoo in Moss Manor's Menagerie is facing a major break-out: Someone has torn down the fences, and all the bunnies, sheep, and all the other animals typically found in petting zoos have decided to book it. They are now swarming the manor's grounds.

Due to the staff being nowhere near enough to catch them all, and due to the generally low threat level of the animals that escaped, visitors are asked to help catch them instead of being sent away.

And anyone who just happens to show up and help will be happily welcomed and included in the fort, without any question of who told them that help is needed.


II.

Afterwards, Lady Margaret Camilla Brassant invites everyone onto her patio and offers refreshments - tea, water, little sandwiches, cake and scones with clotted cream and jam. She retires quickly herself, but not before giving a brief speech thanking everyone who helped save the gardens from hungry mouths.

Comments

[blueskying]

"I'm not certain these are natural, but of course, my job is to love all life and not make such judgments," he jokes. "They're scared of my souvenir, so I don't think I can pick up more than one at a time. If they let me pick them up at all. I wasn't aware this was a formal occasion!" As a kid he'd caught them two-handed, and his hooks are better at a lot of things than the five-fingered hand he uses in fancier situations. Just not for grabbing birds.

Still, he gets his hand underneath the fluffy body of a bird that's just finished pecking up a sprinkling of corn. The silkie, a representative of a very docile breed, squirms a little as it's lifted and bukbuk buk buks more loudly, but doesn't protest very much.

[scarsolderthanyou]

If Sky can do it, so can Sam. He goes for one under each arm, since his own souvenir from the airforce is a bad eye and a handful of scars, not a missing hand. "There we go. Let's get these back to their pen. They're probably some of the least troublesome of the ones that got out. There's a donkey around here somewhere."

[blueskying]

There is some kicking from the chickens Sam selects, and some of the others covertly move under a topiary, but they are used to being handled. Sky picks his way through the rest of the flock, hoping that someone's got an area enclosed by now.

"Yeah, I thought I heard braying. I hope it's a miniature donkey." He considers. "Though that'd still be pretty strong, I expect."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"We'll just have to not make it angry," Sam says. "Donkeys like carrots, right?" Horses like carrots, so it stands to reason that a donkey would, too. Similar teeth and digestive systems.

[blueskying]

"I assume they do. They may also like biting, though. It might be best to leave that to the professionals." Sky's hoping that staff with that kind of skillset are present and not occupied by some even more rambunctious child-safe animal. Well, nothing for it now.

"I grew up on a farm - you ever have much to do with animals?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Hunting them," Sam shrugs a little, making the chickens under his arms squirm. They're almost to the pen, though. The birds didn't get that far away. "Grew up in rural New York, and we definitely didn't have a farm, just a lot of forest."

[blueskying]

The pen has low walls, suitable for birds that have even less flight ability than many other chickens. There are some silkies and other fat, fluffy breeds in there already. Either someone else is gathering chickens or not all the birds made a break for it.

"I did some of that, once upon a time. I'm still not really fond of deer, but they taste good." He grins lopsidedly. "Don't tell my congregation. The assistant minister loves them and it'd break her heart."

He comes to the edge and lowers the chicken he's got before dropping it. It chatters to itself or the others, shaking itself off.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Sam is slightly less gentle with his, dropping them in with a foot or two to spare, but the land just fine. "I don't even know who all is in your congregation," he answers with a lop-sided grin of his own. "But it'll be my secret. If anyone finds out, say they got you confused with me. There's only so many American ex-pilots around here."

[blueskying]

Silkies, Sky notes, still have some recognizable wing feathers, if not as well-formed as in other chickens. So they aren't entirely made of down.

"All old people look the same, anyway," he says, conspicuously covering his hooks with his left hand. "Much appreciated."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"So how you settling in, anyway?" Sam asks, turning away from the chickens in search of another animal or two that needs rounding up. "At the church." He knows he's still pretty new there, after all, and hasn't caught up much since he started actually preaching, or whatever they do at that particular church.