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

[ourearth]

Date: 25th of July
Characters: Open!

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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

[iamnotgod]

"Maybe when we're not, effectively, still in public," is the response.

Nodding, he moves - at a much more stealth-worthy pace - towards where Sadie points.

"I'll have to do a loop-around for this, and I'd rather not stumble on something," he explains over his shoulder.

Better safe than sorry; even with superior speed, he's not immune to injury!

[dragoonrouge]

"Yes!" The triumphant yes is hissed out as a whisper.

She steps back from Walter, gushing the peacock which has stated to complain about being held. "Oh! Is there anywhere you'd like me to stand or am I alright here?"

[iamnotgod]

"Whatever way prevents the peacock there from biting you," he answers, moving a few branches away from his face.

"Since the peahen might come to check on her compani-"

Unfortunately, he does not get to finish his sentence because, naturally, said peahen has launched herself at him.

From the top of a tree.

Excuse me whilst I go die of laughter

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie readjusted the peacock slightly, "I'm fine, I've got his feet pointed away from me."

The sudden peahen attack causes Sadie to jump with a shriek as - Remember to always check above you Little Sparrow. - it falls on top of Walter and her weird visions decide they apparently have a sense of humour.

She can't really help much except for the giggles that start up and build into full-on, tears in her eyes laughter.

I Google'd it, and it's totally valid, too! XD

[iamnotgod]

The peacock, which had been struggling, wasn't making nearly as much noise as the peahen was now.

"Little help?!" Walter manages to squawk, what with trying to get his hands around the body of the animal currently on his head, and trying not to lose any hair or skin in the meanwhile.

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie's still cackling away, vision blurring from the tears that she can't wipe away.

"Holy shit Walter!" Those are full on cackles now, "My hands are full, I can't do anything!"

[iamnotgod]

"Well- maybe if you bring him closer-"

More frenzied hand-scrambling later, and Walter's coaxed the bird into not holding his hair in a deathgrip. She is, however, still being terribly loud. And his hands may be the worse for wear.

"They'll both be calmer?"

[dragoonrouge]

"Okie dokie."

She moves closer and low and behold the peahen calms down and ceases its assault on Walter's person.

Sadie winces when she spots his hands, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. "Ouch, sorry I didn't help sooner Walter. Do your hands hurt a lot?"

[iamnotgod]

Which is much appreciated, if the set of Walter's shoulders is anything to go by.

"I'll be fine," he says, wincing again.

"I can wait until we drop these two off before getting patched up, at any rate."

Since he's not dripping blood all over the ground...

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie nods still eyeing his hands. "If you're sure..."

She makes sure to walk close to him as they make their way back to the main grounds and someone who would know where to put the birds.

"So how long did it take you to figure out the speed thing?"

[iamnotgod]

Walter took in a breath, held it, then exhaled.

"Took me the most of twenty-four hours after the Lights showed up before I could put together a full picture. Actually practicing the - enhancement - took longer. Being able to run or bike without having an accident was paramount."

And disentangling his own speed-of-thought increase from any possible anxiety attack, but he doesn't want to bring that up just yet.

The peahen coos, nibbling on his hair once more before turning to look at her partner.

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie grins at the peahen, "Aww, I think she likes you...Or she's trying to give you a haircut, one or the other."

She holds the peacock up slightly so that the bird was closer to the peahen and watches as the birds start fussing at each other as they walk. "That must have been disorientating," Her change certainly was and it certainly wasn't something as dramatic as super speed. "Did you crash into a lot of stuff whilst you practised?"

Sadie breathes a sigh of relief as they make it out of the grove and she catches sight of some of the petting zookeepers. The bird wasn't exactly light. "Almost done!"

[iamnotgod]

"Not the worst shape my hair's been in," Walter sarks, "And she probably just wants to be put down."

He makes a wry smile.

"Oh, it was. And yes- I was torn between practicing outside, where I'd be seen, or indoors."

Which alternatively meant either accidentally hitting Russell, or being in the gym, which was its own category of problems in potentia. Fortunately, he has a larger spread of things he could test than just running speed when it comes to staying inside.

In lieu of waving, which could be dangerous on at least two counts, Walter tries gesturing for help entirely with his fingers. It mostly just makes him look silly.

[dragoonrouge]

"I think even the peahen could do a better job styling hair than my worse haircut. My brother James decided to experiment with his first pair of clippers...on me. Waxed his eyebrow off in revenge though so we looked like wankers together."

She nods, "Potentially be seen or property damage? Not a great choice either way."

The staff see them with the peacocks and meet them halfway across the lawn, thanking them for their help and taking the birds off of their hands, although Sadie giggles when the peahen has to be unattached from Walter's hair.

"Well, that was fun..." Sadie looks about, checking to see how close anyone is to them. "So...The thing that happened to me because of the Aurora..."

[iamnotgod]

That makes Walter laugh outright.

"Don't suppose one or both of you insisted on photos, then?"

Not that he wants to see them - there are far too many examples he could name of the shenanigans he managed to get in with his own sister for him to insist on that - but it sounds like the sort of thing Sadie would try to hide evidence of.

"Exactly."

He heaves a very relieved sigh as the peahen is untangled (and apologizes for any potentially swallowed hair, just in case).

"You... don't have to share, if you don't want to."

But there's no crowd of people around them, so if she's going to tell, now's a good time.

[dragoonrouge]

She laughs with a light blush. "Well considering this was two days before GCSE results day about a year ago...my Mum has plenty of photos and James and I have a selfie or two. But if I showed you I'd have to kill you."

Sadie bites her lip but is otherwise determined. "No, I want show you. You showed me your speed thing...and-and the more of us I show it to, maybe the easier it will be to figure out what is happening."

She taps the side of her sunglasses, "It changed my eyes." And with another glance about for people, she removes the sunglasses to reveal slitted, amber cat eyes.

[iamnotgod]

"Ouch. Still," Walter says, shrugging.

"No hard feelings."

He holds his breath, but if Sadie's expecting a panicked reaction, or an immediate storm of questions, there isn't one.

'And it's all working correctly? It's got to be; she's had them for a month, she'd know...'

Instead, there's an offer of a hug.

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie will gratefully accept that hug even if she no longer finds the eyes as upsetting as she did.

"I spent a couple of weeks freaking out and didn't really talk to anyone." She admits, a little embarrassed before she blushes slightly. "Ben helped me thought."

"It-well it started with just my pupils reflecting light and the over a fortnight the pupil changed shape and the amber colour crept in. I took photos." She had in fact taken a close-up of her eyes each morning as the changes happened.

"The most recent change was going from being short-sighted to quite long-sighted."

[iamnotgod]

"Good on Ben, then," is his first out-loud thought after that. He feels the need to keep his voice down.

"So, these physical changes... they occur gradually," Walter murmurs, before pulling back from the hug a little to look at Sadie properly.

It certainly makes sense from his experience.

Then he smiles.

"So you'd make a good hunter with them...?"

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie nods, the traitor blush still in place. "I'm very lucky to have such a good friend here."

"It did for this at least, I don't know if anyone else has changed like me or if it'll be the same if I change further." She reasons, the sample size is too small to draw any decent conclusions yet.

"Maybe, they seem basically the same as cats eyes, down to the sensitivity to movement." Her nose scrunches up. "Funny you should say that though...When I felt that empty feeling, I saw something."

[iamnotgod]

Walter may be smiling because of the blush as well... not that he'll ever let it on, for Sadie's peace of mind.

"I don't think anyone else's yet mentioned their eyes changing, but both are good things to watch out for."

Once Sadie brings up the other thing, Walter stands up straighter.

"Something? Would describing it out loud help, or writing it down?"

Really, they should probably continue this discussion elsewhere.

[dragoonrouge]

"Describing it out loud would help...I'll write it down later..."

Sadie looks around again because they are essentially standing in the middle of one of the manor's large lawns and ridiculously easy to spot by anyone from a distance.

"Maybe we should go and sit down somewhere?" She suggests, unknowingly on the same wavelength as Walter.

[iamnotgod]

"As long as you do get to write it down," Walter says.

He spots a shaded bench a little ways off in the distance - not so far that if a staff member needs them to wrangle another animal they can't be found, but private enough.

"How about down there?" he suggests, half-turning away from Sadie and gesturing in the bench's direction with one hand.

[dragoonrouge]

"I will, I have a notebook at home." She assures Walter before looking at the bench he suggested.

"Seems like a good a place as any." She follows him over and sits down.

"So after the emptiness, I saw something. I wasn't next to you, I was hiding in a bush with a man following this sheep. The man then started telling me how to sneak up on the sheep and kill it."

[iamnotgod]

Wait, that's-

More hallucinations? Memories? Walter's feelings about reincarnation, along with other religion-associated matters, are ambivalent at best, but the thoughts and any sense of disbelief are processed too quickly to show on his face.

Instead, more notably, he blinks hard.

"A... flashback?" And to something you've never lived before, at that.

This Numbers business was just going to keep getting weirder, wasn't it?

"You didn't happen to see why it was a sheep did you? And not a bird?"