driftfleet | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: The Heron crew + visitors
Broadcast: nope
Action: The Heron
When: August

[As the ship drifts on, what are you up to this month, Herons?]

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It isn't about being queen of them.

[Her expression sobers.]

I can't just abandon them. They're still foxes. They're my kin.

[Monty tries to place himself in her shoes for this. What would he do if he found people using 'domesticated' humans as pets?]

You're going to make this more difficult for me. [But he sounds resigned.] What would you actually like to do?

I wish I had a good answer for you. Or any answer at all, really.

[She shakes her head.]

We can't very well remove the foxes from that park. It would be unsafe. And we've got no way of going back to their home to return them, which is what we should do.

[Monty mulls that over, trying to think of a compromise.]

Is there any way you could teach them to be more like foxes again without being aggressive? Perhaps undo some of the conditioning?

I don't know. They've been selectively bred for who knows how long....

[But it's worth trying, isn't it? It's all she can do right now.]

I might as well try, though.

I'll help, if I can. You're free to teach them how to pester a human properly with me.

[Yes, he's offering himself for nips and snarls, but it's a small price to pay if it will keep Renard from tangling with Wrath.

Really? You're sure you'd be okay with that?

[Because she can't imagine any human being able to stand an entire skulk of foxes getting bitey.]

If you could keep it to under five after me at a time, that would make things more manageable, but I think I can handle foxes biting me.

[She chuckles.] They're smaller than I am, at least.

Praise god! I might have fingers by the end of this. [Fingers that he uses to pinch her bottom lightly, just to make her twitch.] What would you be teaching them, then? Just to bite at people who get too friendly? How to hunt?

[She jumps, reaching down to smack his hand lightly with an amused grin.] How to be cautious of strangers, for starters. Being friendly towards humans got you killed in my time.

[He shifts to stroking her thigh after being smacked. Monty wrinkles his nose at her.]

Doesn't your time span 900 years? O wise daughter of the fields and fens.

[Relaxing, she hums lightly.]

Humans have really never been fans of foxes, unfortunately.

And yet, the see fit to make pets of them?

[That doesn't entirely follow.]

That is a recent change. Only the last few decades, and as far as I can tell most if them still dislike us.

On the one hand, humans breeding foxes to be pets. On the other, still making a sport out of hunting us down.

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