cape_kore | video/action ❆ day 129

[Poking around with Anita, and on her own, has yielded the discovery of a lab with decent skylights. As a result, it's less foreboding than the other labs. But only just. What helps further is a series of neat little raised beds — Meja found them in poor condition, much like the rest of the facility, but she's dedicated her morning to rejuvenating the soil and cleaning things off. There are now little carved runes on the side of the beds that should negate them needing to be watered — most of the time, at least.

And now that they look a little less like brown death, she's investigating in the cupboards. No matter how much that little voice says that maybe she shouldn't. And it isn't without a point: she finds a spider in one of the cupboards that's bigger than her own hand. For now, she'll leave it alone, but if it's poisonous she's not sure what to do with it. Someone else could get hurt.

What she's finding is definitely interesting. Unmarked containers of seeds, for another. The equipment she finds is completely foreign to her, for the most part. There are basic things she can guess about, but the technology is... well, it's beyond her. After gathering a small amount on an empty table that she cleaned earlier, she switches on her phone's video function.

Roland the white rat can be seen grooming himself on top of a raised bed. It seems that he's going to stick with Meja, at least for now, since she's feeding him regularly. He's steering clear of the spider; it looks like they know one another.]

I don't suppose anyone's feeling adventurous? Or knows what these devices are for? It seems some of our scientists were into plants... in their own way.

[For anyone wandering in the area, the door's open. When she isn't pondering the technology or rooting around in a cupboard, she's contemplating her notebook for ways to improve potential plant growth — sitting on the floor with her long legs splayed to the side. (Yet again. Maybe this garden will last longer.) ]

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Oh. I didn't think of it that way. Captive puppies! That's tragic.

Perhaps it's for the best that our closest animal companions are rats and spiders.

[Meja laughs quietly.]

The rats aren't so b... hey! [Roland has picked up a stray seed, but she picks him up and removes it from his paws. He squeaks violently in protest.] None of that. We don't know if any of these are good to eat, little one.

[She glances back to Balthazar.]

You don't seem to mind this place very much, lack of plants aside.

I rather like rats, actually, in the abstract. They're clever. [He snorts as she has to take a seed from Roland, and shakes his head.]

And troublesome.

[He sobers a little.] What I've got to go back to...isn't very compelling. And here I have family and a few friends. It's far from ideal, but honestly, it's better than my own world.

[Now that she's asked, it seems logical that one's reasons for preferring the Cape would be unpleasant in nature. But at least she knows, now. Meja offers Balthazar a sympathetic style. At least someone doesn't mind being here too much.]

I'm sorry to hear it. Having family around in a place like this must be... interesting, however.

[The white rat's still squeaking up an offended storm. She glances down at him.]

Hysj, Roland.

I know I'm not the only one. Rat said he had nothing worth going home to, and I suspect at least some of my brothers feel the same. [Gabriel does, he knows. Anna might have, too, before she vanished.]

And...yes. I get on well with most of my family here. There are one or two I'm trying to avoid. [It's a losing battle. Lucifer may never see fit to interfere with little brother, but it's probably just a matter of time before Michael's up in his face.]

Is he hungry? The rat, I mean. I'm sure we could find some bread or peanuts or something.

He must be. We've been in here quite a few hours, now.

[Though she'd fed him some crackers an hour or so ago, those are gone now. Roland pretty much inhales everything she gives him, and is learning to get her attention rather than look for food himself — the little glutton. Stealing a seed must be a sign of actual hunger.]

I'm glad that this place can function as a sort of... sanctuary, then, for some. [Meja smiles wryly.] Jo suggested I think of it as a strange vacation. I'm certain that back home, my løytnant isn't thinking of it that way.

[Eloise gets to deal with Realm politics in her stead. Fun!]

Well, we can't have him starving. Let me walk you to the kitchens, and we can make plans for testing seeds and storing vicious spiders over a cup of tea.

[Tentatively, he reaches out toward the rat, as if to let him smell his skin.] How about that, fuzzball? Care for a cup of tea?

[Roland leans out and sniffs in the direction of Balthazar's fingers, but evidently doesn't smell any food and loses interest. Instead, he attempts to bury himself in Meja's hair. She laughs quietly.]

Thank you. That sounds like a plan.

I'll come back for the spider later. I wonder what it's been eating?

[...Might be better not to know.

He stands and offers Meja a hand up, full of mock-chivalry.]

[Meja accepts the help up with a small grin, walking out in the direction of the cafeteria.]

I hope it's eating any 'friends' it has lurking around. [She really doesn't want a normal human bitten. It feels unpleasant enough for a Valkyrie immune to venom.] Though I think, from Roland's reaction, that it does go after rats. He wasn't pleased to be in here, earlier, until I made sure the cupboard fastened.