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[radical_cowgirl]

Edward knew horses. At least she knew them from the books she'd read. Horses were for riding far and far away and right now that's what Edward wanted to do. Ride far. Go exploring. Stop being stuck at Faye-Faye's or the Compound where there were people that keep looking after her and worrying about her breaking her other arm. And she wanted to GO.

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[velation]

"Like hell you're going to make the cow-thing move," Faye called out from a distance, doing her best to catch up with Edward, trying to stamp down the immediate fear which gripped around her chest. She knew that Edward had a free spirit, she knew that Edward wasn't someone who could be kept happy and content all closed up in a room, but all the same, the sight of Edward's arm bound in a cast was too fresh for Faye to remain unaffected, for her to keep herself at a distance. Jumping over the side of the fence, walked up to Ed, reaching out to swipe with her hand, hoping to grab onto Edward's clothes and haul the teenager away.

"These bovines have more important of a job to perform than to entertain any of us," she went on.

[radical_cowgirl]

"Ahhh!"

Shrieking, Ed's arms pinwheeled a little as she tried to keep balance as Faye hauled her backwards. She managed it, finally digging in her heels after she'd been pulled a fair distance back. It wasn't fair, Ed had been sure she was close to making a breakthrough, Faye-Faye was ruining all her fun.

"But Edward wants to goooooooo. And she needs a cow-ride."

[velation]

"Uh-huh, just- ow, hold still- just like how you needed to go rollerblading without letting anyone know, right?" Faye bit out, frustrated as she nearly lost her own balance while hauling Edward away. (The girl, after all, was growing by the month, and wasn't particularly small for her age in the first place, even if she was mostly limbs and frenetic energy.) "You had your fun last time, now you're paying for it, because clearly you don't have the good sense to try activities that won't end up in dozens of broken. Bones."

Huffing a deep exhale once they were out of the bull's immediate vicinity, Faye shook her head. "Besides which, that's not a cow, Edward. That's the island's bull. A lot less sensible than its female counterparts, and twice as easy to anger."

[radical_cowgirl]

"A bull?" Ed looked back at the animal, paying closer attention to certain parts of the anatomy. Huh. Guess that made sense. "It's the boy-cow."

The rest required more thought because lots of people did things like the roller-shoes. People climbed in the trees and rode boards on the water, was that so different? Adult rules were strange, Ed always preferred her own.

"What can Ed do, then?"

[velation]

"A whole lot less now that you've got that cast on your arm," Faye replied at once, a frown furrowing her brow, lips pulled thin in exasperation. She knew that it wasn't Edward's fault, not fully- Faye should have been keeping a closer eye on the girl, but really, she wasn't made for that, wasn't the type of person who could patiently trail after a young teen for so long each day. "I would have suggested that we go swimming, but I'm pretty sure plaster needs to be kept dry, and it's not like we've got an infinite supply of bandages on the island."

Huffing, Faye searched her mind for anything else, fighting off the temptation to send Edward directly back to her room (what would that accomplish?).

"I don't know," she said at last, giving up. "What do you want to do?"

[radical_cowgirl]

Was Faye-Faye not paying attention? "Ed wants to ride the cow to the other side of the island."

Really, Faye was usually smarter than that. Just because she said Ed couldn't ride the cow, it didn't change the fact that it was what she wanted. She wanted to go to the other side of the island and she had wanted the cow to take her.

[velation]

"Obviously, I mean something other than that," Faye replied, arching a brow skeptically and barely keeping herself from heaving a deep sigh. Sometimes, Edward had a tendency of taking things all too literally, of not being able to see the subtleties in another person's words. On the whole, it was more of an advantage than a disadvantage, when it came to reading her moods and knowing what she was up to, but it required a lot of prodding, a lot of clarification, a lot of time.

Time that Faye was still, on the whole, unaccustomed to giving people.

"The cow can't be the only thing that's on your mind right now. Wouldn't you be just as happy... I don't know, finding a horse? Or finding an actual cow, and not the bull?" Faye asked, tone slightly impatient.

[radical_cowgirl]

"Edward doesn't have the horse-things. The ones that you need to ride. The books said Ed needed them."

Obviously, Faye knew that. She lived with Edward... most of the time. when Edward wasn't sleeping in a tree. She was beginning to wonder if this was another one of those adult things, one of those things that Edward felt like she was supposed to understand, but never did.

[velation]

"A saddle," Faye sighed, shaking her head and feeling more than a touch exasperated at it all. "Well, Edward, what I can definitely tell you is that a cow's not going to be any easier to ride bareback than a horse. And at least the horses are accustomed to carrying that kind of weight around here. Come on, Ed, can't we just have you do something that's both within our means and not so dangerous that it leaves you in the dust? There must be something."

Trying to call forth all memories of what she herself did at such a young age, Faye only shook her head again, marveling at how many opportunities she'd truly had throughout the years.

[radical_cowgirl]

Well that was no fun, then. Faye-Faye really didn't want Edward to adventure today, did she? With a slight pout, Ed turned to face her, trying to think of what she could do that Faye would deem okay... at least until Faye went away and Edward could try and find something to ride again.

"Can Faye-Faye take Edward to see the dinosaurs?" Maybe there was a small one there she could ride.

[velation]

Faye let out somewhat of a muffled groan at the thought. It wasn't that dinosaurs weren't exciting or worth the trek; even when Faye called forth every last drop of self-preservation running in her veins, still the thought of wandering that part of the island didn't scare a single part of her. But even then, she could think of a number of people who would be distraught at the thought of her being all the way across the island in the inarguably most dangerous of zones.

One person in particular.

"How about this. You go ask Dean if I'm allowed over there, then we'll talk," she huffed, mostly in jest, though it was true enough that Faye didn't want to be the one to break that particular news. If Rapture had scared him, well. Thoughts of dinosaur territory would earn her the most of his rage, she was sure.

[radical_cowgirl]

"Why do we need Dean's permission?" Since when did Faye-Faye ask anything like permission from anyone? She never asked Jet, or Spike or Edward permission for anything. Who was this mysterious Dean person and why did he have the power?

"Where is he?" Ed was already heading towards the fence so she could climb back over it. She had to know, she needed to meet him.

[velation]

"We don't need Dean's permission for anything," Faye protested at once, even though she'd been the one to suggest him in the first place. Having someone else voice it, however, and without that wry tone to make it clear just how much one believed their own words, only seemed to wear down at her patience and tolerance. "I don't need anyone's permission. But he'll whine and moan and all manner of other things that men do when they realize they're not in control. And I'm, frankly, tired of being yelled at by him."

[radical_cowgirl]

Edward had to consider that, because she'd never heard the Dean-person cursing and whining. She had, however, heard Jet and Spike comment about Faye-Faye more than once and she imagined it much the same. But Faye always came back to the Bebop, so it couldn't be that bad, could it?

"What does Faye-Faye want to do?" Sometimes that was just easier. Do what Faye-Faye wanted.

[velation]

Leveling Edward with a light, calmed look, Faye sighed again and pressed her palm to her forehead. She'd been trying her best to be more mindful of Edward's wants, even though a part of Faye couldn't help thinking that this was the opposite of what she was accustomed to, the opposite of what she was prepared to deal with. Maybe once, she'd been malleable enough to try. Now, however...

"Let's go find a horse. That's almost as good as a cow, and I'm willing to bet that someone's found a temporary substitute for a saddle, anyway," she decided with a firm nod.