video | november 12, 2016

[inkulcation]

[Right off, what will be remarkable is that China has enabled video; those familiar with her network habits will probably recall she doesn't usually.]

[The second remarkable thing is the small fluffball she's holding cradled to her chest. It's a rabbit. It's small, it's white, it's adorable, and it's got a collar around its neck with a soul gem. Which means yes, the small animal China is cuddling is none other than Erskine Ravel.]

[She's stroking the bunny very nicely.]

I wonder. Wasn't some fine gentleman giving us updates on the weather, occasionally?

I find I miss his gardening tips.

[She sounds and looks entirely earnest, blue eyes wide, face innocent, and she pauses only a moment to scratch behind the bunny's ears very delicately.]

And some sort of a forecast would be useful, I think, as things turn cooler.

[This is completely and totally the only reason she's made this post. Really.]

Comments

[inkulcation]

Precisely. We are woefully uninformed without our weather-man.

[Still amazingly earnest. Anyone would believe she meant it, except perhaps people who know her.]

[China adjusts the rabbit where he sits on her chest slightly, strokes him to soothe away any disruption in calm.]

He does seem it, doesn't he? I certainly haven't noticed him shivering, and he's held often enough.

[solo_patria]

Under the weather himself, is he? How dreadful for us all.

[Enjolras CAN half believe it, actually. It's more the fact he's been around certain of his friends, good at things like this, that has him a LITTLE doubtful. Which amuses him no small end, honestly.

Whatever's going on with the bunny who appears to usually belong to the hotel in a different capacity, he's certainly following with interest.]

Perhaps somehow he was given tips to prepare for this weather. An odd circumstance, there.

[inkulcation]

[Ah, yes, the weather man under the weather. Apropos. China smiles a little.]

I wouldn't put it past him myself, to have found such a way to opt out of the weather, but for the fact he seemed so dreadfully angry about it at first.

[All that capslock.]

[solo_patria]

[Enjolras gives her a wry grin in return, studying the bunny to see how annoyed he must be by now. He does snort at the mention of the anger though.]

He did so, didn't he? Angry typing and the like...It must be quite the shock, but still.

[inkulcation]

[Mostly the bunny appears to be distracted by being so nicely petted. China keeps up the slow, gentle strokes down the bunny's back, the image of kindness.]

A shock, and I suppose it's no easy matter to type when one is so small.

Still, I don't think I'd ever seen a rabbit so angry.

[solo_patria]

And paws. Claws always were a challenge when Taraja was small enough to TRY using one of those, and she had a good reach. I can only imagine how annoying and tiring it must have been if our friend had needed to, say, hop his way across the keys.

It might make any rabbit angry.

I suppose the only thing worse if I were a rabbit, may be having my vegetables stolen by my woodland friends like in a children's storybook I found in the shops here, before the war.

[Now THERE is a mental image. The idea of the other members of that closeknit group as animals of their own. Enjolras takes a moment to enjoy it, then...]

He's calmed quite a bit from it now, has he?

[inkulcation]

He likely did.

[China indicates how very small Erskine has become before returning to petting him. Rabbits can get quite large; Erskine is not among the largest of his kind.]

The poor thing. At least he's in no danger of having his vegetables stolen. I suppose it's small consolation.

He's much calmer now, yes. He's been quiet all day, as it happens.

[A pause, considering. Taraja... hm.]

I take it your Taraja was no rabbit.

[solo_patria]

Poor thing indeed. [Enjolras nearly clicks his tongue, but there's a level he's not about to cross himself just yet. Not now. He's looking concerned at the size indication too. They can't have THAT!]

That IS a consolation. I know I would appreciate it a great deal. ...Tired out, maybe? It's quite a bit.

Ah no indeed. She was one of Asti's children. But paws themselves...that must be very hard indeed.

[inkulcation]

Ah, the turtles.

[China makes a knowing sort of a sound, a quiet hum, and she nods.] I can't imagine she'd have had an easier time with a keyboard. But paws...

[She touches one of Erskine's, smiles like she's amused.]

He must be tired, yes. Or perhaps rabbits simply sleep more.

[solo_patria]

Paws...

[Enjolras has to laugh, watching that touch.]

All of the nervous energy perhaps. I'd a friend like that once.

[inkulcation]

Wound up half the time, and dead to the world the rest?

[China laughs in return. Just a little, but the match to Enjolras'.]

Unless you mean a friend with paws, my dear, which would certainly be something.

[solo_patria]

Wound up and then dead to the world.

[Enjolras eyedarts a bit at the question.

Mine was human, though is that not many friends with paws as a description?

[inkulcation]

I suppose it is. I've never been much of one for pets.

[She's being very kind to the tiny rabbit, as if to belie her words.]

[solo_patria]

[Enjolras laughs at the statement and the gentleness in her touch.]

You seem a natural enough hand at it. Though, until here, I'd not spent much time with them myself. I rode a little, as a child, and they kept a cat at school, to catch stray mice, but it was not exactly personal before.

[If it can be personal, with animals.]

[inkulcation]

[Something in her expression turns a little more thoughtful. She clarifies.]

Well. Horses are somewhat of a different matter than most pets.

[They're useful. China actually likes horses. Unlike many other things, including the vast majority of humans.]

And hardly quite so small and fluffy.

[solo_patria]

They are a bit more of a useful animal companion, no? Strong personalities and likes and dislikes that are individual all the same, but I doubt many horses are invited into their owners' homes to sleep at night.

[There is a totally deadpan expression on his face as he says that, though he's thinking of a horse curled up on a bed's edge and giggling like a child, inwardly, at the mental image. Still.]

The other sorts of pets though..seem to be fairly useless...or does that sound too cruel? Many seem not to have much purpose but they make people happy. Perhaps even more, the smaller and fluffier they are. I had a creature called a tribble the first year and a half I lived here and smaller and fluffier I had not seen.

Camille DID have a way of making everyone happy. [Well, maybe not Marius. He did eat the man's mattress. But, otherwise, Camille had been a good tribble over all.]

[inkulcation]

[And China laughs.]

No. There is a line.

[And that line is drawn at horses in the house.]

Some would say making people happy is enough.

[Her tone implies some people is not her.]

A... tribble.

[Skeptical.]

[solo_patria]

And quite possibly breakable items in the way.

[He's laughing a bit now too, though when it comes to pets, he disagrees at least a bit.]

Some do. [There's the implication that it's him, in that.]

A ball of fur who did hardly anything but make noises and rock a little. It was a help actually. Slightly less socially awkward than talking problems out with myself.

[inkulcation]

[A living ball of fur. China has to consider that one for a few moments. It's not the strangest thing she's heard of, but...]

Slightly.

[A little teasing.]

A low-maintenance companion, I see.

[solo_patria]

Rather, actually. Very obliging and willing to be stuck in pockets for hours at a time as well. [There is a little wink/]

[inkulcation]

How convenient.

I could name several men who would not be nearly so accommodating. It's enough to make one rethink people in general.

[Still teasing. Definitely amused at everything.]

Though Erskine really is approaching that level, at the moment.

[solo_patria]

I have been informed by those in the know that they are difficult to find that way. Although, I have to say, odder things HAVE actually made me re-think people, so perhaps you have the right way of if too [There is a little bit of a smirk right there, teasing too.]

Hmm I do see where those qualifications ARE currently met.

[inkulcation]

[She laughs. Yes, indeed.]

It's just a shame I'll have to give him back, eventually.

[So she will make the most of petting the rabbit while she has him, and she suits her actions to that, rubbing gently over the space between his ears.]

[solo_patria]

I suppose devising a way to keep him in such form WOULD be unfair. [The glint in his eye says that's clearly a joke, at least, despite the fact it may sound a little suspect, given his tone makes it kind of hard to tell sometimes.]

At least you can make the most of just now, no?

[inkulcation]

So it would. Such a pity.

[A light sigh.]

Indeed, I shall simply make what I can of it while I have him.