(no subject)

[is_the_motion]

Bonnie spent the afternoon carefully moving the chicks from the stables into their new Demon Bunny Resistant Heated Outdoor run.

Okay so she did make most of the thing herself, but the unclaimed chickens will come home with her at the end, so it'll balance out.

She's been pleased with how they're growing, and that the kids have been looking after them properly. Although one of the unclaimed chicks appears to have been tampered with, as he now has a tiny orange Mohawk and stars on its forehead, which he won't allow her to remove.

She puts him down and pauses to watch them all settle in.

Comments

[sunbaked_baker]

At some point, the ten year old Rae Seddon comes outside, bundled in coat and scarf. She spots Bonnie and waves, making her way over to her.

"They're doing good, aren't they?" she smiles.

[is_the_motion]

"They sure are, you've done a good job honey." Bonnie smiles at her.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Thanks - I'm lucky I'm a team, though," Rae says, coming over to peer in at the chicks, already noticeably bigger than they were three and a half weeks ago. "I wasn't around when they got here, but Fry let me know. Fractions - that's our chick - is growing so fast!"

[is_the_motion]

"Well it was kind of you to help Fry." Bonnie says. "Since he's only six and it's hard to do on his own."

She grins. "Fractions is a cute name. Did you want to name one of the others?"

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae nods. "Fry is very conscientious," the girl says, enjoying the opportunity to use one of her ten-point words in actual conversation. "I don't think I could've taken care of a chick at six."

"'m not sure I'd know what to name one," she grins back, liking the idea. "What do people usually name chickens? Like Fido or Spot for dogs, or Bessie for cows."

[is_the_motion]

"Well mine are named after motorbikes." Bonnie says.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Like 'Griffon' or 'Roc'?" she asks, grinning. Those are the only brands she remembers from seeing various motorcycles parked at the coffeehouse from time to time. "Those are big, winged names to sic on a tiny chick."

[herr_bookman]

"Achoo!" Autor sneezes. He raises his hand in a wave, his handkerchief out and rubbing his nose already. "Hello, Bonnie. How are you?"

[is_the_motion]

"Oh dear, you are real allergic ain't you?" Bonnie shakes her head.

"I'm okay, was wondering if I could ask you fer help with somethin'."

[herr_bookman]

"Absolutely, though I ask that you let me apologize for not building the chicken run," Autor says, inclining his head. He sneezes again. "I was indisposed, somehow, and if I could remember how it was, I'd tell you, but the point is I wasn't there and I am sorry."

[is_the_motion]

Handwave. "You don't need to apologise, it didn't take long and it used up some junk." Bonnie says. "Actually I was hopin' you might be tempted to come to my world and help me find my sister-in-law."

[herr_bookman]

The boy blinks. "Oh! Well, sure I could come. I don't know how much help I'll be, but I can certainly try," Autor says, nodding. "What language do you speak at home? And where are you from, actually?"

[is_the_motion]

"Outer Mongolia."

Beat.

"I kid, English, California."

[herr_bookman]

The boy's eyes widen momentarily, and he opens his mouth, but then she clarifies. "Oh! I speak English, though it's my worst language," he says, adjusting his glasses. "But we'll get by all right. I've never been to the States before. Is there anything I should bring? How can I help?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

How amusingly commonplace -- even here at the end of the world, where the dead walk, there is a woman keeping chickens.

Bonnie might find herself watched by a tall, blond Viking with a grin on his face and a somewhat mohawk-like hairstyle mirroring that of her unclaimed chick.

[is_the_motion]

"Well hey there." Bonnie says. "Chicken kinda looks like you, huh?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"If one sees that as shorn sides of its head, it really does!" Ragnar laughs. "Nice to see that even in this place of miracles, people still have to raise chickens."

[is_the_motion]

"Well if anyone starts shavin' the chicks, they'll definitely get confiscated." Bonnie says. "But mostly we're doin' this fer fun."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Confiscated by whom?" Ragnar asks, wondering whether these people have strange rules about chicken styling, for some reason.

[is_the_motion]

"Me." Bonnie says. "They need those feathers to stay warm."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Confiscated from whom?" Ragnar asks.

[fowl_beast]

A large hen with an impressive cockscomb sits hidden in a tree watching and listening.

The chicks are still a bit on the tiny side; maybe they need another month of feeding and growth. And magic lessons. Teaching the chicks how to defend themselves should be fun.

[is_the_motion]

When Bonnie has gone, the chick with the Mohawk goes to the edge of the coop and stares out in the direction of the hen.

[fowl_beast]

Oh! A perceptive little one. Good. It will be getting extra attention.

For now though, maybe some extra food. The hen abruptly vanishes from the tree, then reappears inside the run perched on an apple freshly picked off the ever fruitful anti-poison apple tree in the garden. Might as well temporarily inoculate the chicks.

The large chicken pecks at the apple to break its skin in several places and demonstrate that it is something yummy, and then disappears again with a *POOF* leaving the apple behind.

[is_the_motion]

There is a very enthusiastic PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP noise as the chicks swarm on the apple.

Mohawk chick perches on the apple and feeds beneath him.