(Untitled)

[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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[willimprovise]

"What the hell are you doing?" Sam asked on a laugh, pausing on the other side of the fence and leaning forward against it, eyebrows raised as he looked at Edward, expectant. Worried though he'd been when she'd broken her arm - and unlikely though he was to admit to that - it was more curiosity than anything else that prompted the question now. He could only imagine that it was something anyone else would probably call ridiculous, and potentially dangerous (really, what could anyone want with a bull?), but no stranger to doing things that could be categorized as both, he wasn't in any sort of position to judge. He would just have to look out for her. "Don't tell me that thing's your new friend."

[radical_cowgirl]

"Ed doesn't need a friend. Ed needs transportation."

With her free hand, she gave the pull an experimental push as she continued to explain her master plan. "Edward doesn't want to walk and the horses are too complicated. Ed will take a cow."

Except the cow didn't move, it just looked at her a huffed air through its snout. Loudly. Like it was insulted.

Unimpressed, Edward pushed it again.

"Moooooove, cow. Ed needs to get on you."

[willimprovise]

"You were planning to... ride the cow," Sam said, half a question, clearly dubious. Even if the cow seemed more intent on moving, he had trouble seeing that as an especially reasonable plan of action - which wasn't exactly surprising, per se, and nothing he would have held against her, but something that should probably be pointed out as implausible. "I'm pretty sure that thing's not gonna do what you want it to."

[radical_cowgirl]

"Yes. Ed will ride the cow. It's like a horse."

She pushed the cow again and it didn't move. Stomping a foot, she slung her good arm over its shoulder and pulled as hard as she could, almost falling over in the process. Why wouldn't it move for Edward?

"Ed will make it because Ed wants to gooooooooo."

[provincialbelle]

Belle had been trying to help out with some of the farming chores that morning when she'd come across Edward in a precarious situation. Unable to strike the horror and shock from her face, she must have looked a picture of comedy to anyone who found her. With a bucket of milk in both hands, she stood there and gaped. "Uhm..." was all she managed to get out. "Edward? What are you doing?"

[radical_cowgirl]

"Ed needs to get across the island, so Ed needs the cow to take her."

She pushed the cow-thing again. It really didn't seem to want to move, so she wrapped her arm around its neck and tried to pull. Still nothing.

What moved cows, anyway?

[provincialbelle]

Belle came closer and offered Ed a fond smile. "Do you want me to try and help? I know I'm not exactly the most talented, but there were cows in the village I lived and sometimes," she said, crouching down in order to yank a handful of grass from the ground, holding it out in her palm to the cow, "Sometimes, they just need a little persuading."

[radical_cowgirl]

Snuffing at the grass, the bull took the grass easily enough, but he stomped his foot in Ed's direction.

Not that she recognized the threat, Edward had practically zero experience with animals other than Ein. She just thought it was a another movement. A bored tic, after all, the cow-thing had just been standing there. It must be bored.

"How does Edward persuade it? Push harder?"

place holder

[spirited_lissie]

Felicity had gone to the barn to get some more cleaning supplies, looking just in time to see Edward..was she actually calling out to the bull?

She usually didn't really pay much attention to Edward: sure, she was eccentric, but she was otherwise harmless.

Seeing her like that Felicity wondered if she wasn't just eccentric, but mad to boot.

"Edward? What on earth are you doing?"

Re: place holder

[radical_cowgirl]

"Edward needs a ride." She looked back at the other girl, trying to place the name/face. She knew she knew her, but didn't bother to think about it long. Ed had more important things to do.

"Ed doesn't have the horse-things, so Ed wants to ride the cow. But the cow is tall and Edward is not, so Ed needs the cow by the fence." Struck by inspiration, she pauses and looks at the girl. "Does the girl-person know how to get the cow-thing to move?"

Re: place holder

[spirited_lissie]

The girl was mad, there was no other way to put it.

"That's not a cow, Edward!" She said, nearly dropping her supplies. "That's a bull, and they get mad very easily. If you try to ride him, he'll only try to toss you off and then try to stomp you."

That may or may've not been an exageration, but she knew bulls were very aggressive and may not take too well to Ed's way of movement.

"Anyway, you can't ride cows either. They're not very fast unless startled and you'll only be thrown off if you do manage to get one to move."

She said all this very quickly, not sure if the threat of the Bull would be enough: maybe Edward would listen to reason if she explained.

[radical_cowgirl]

"Cows get angry?"

Edward didn't understand that. They were big and slow and looked pretty dumb from what she saw. Not that Edward knew anything about animals. Except for Ein, but he wasn't a normal dog and didn't do normal animal things. Cows and chickens and birds and boars were all strangers to her.

But the cow just didn't look angry to her.

"But Ed needs a ride."

[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?"