#and a personal vendetta against the people who led to Lucy’s death

[clownjacket]

If Kipperlilly DOES end up betraying Porter/Jace as part of a secret other scheme she has (whether good or evil) and it has to do with saving Lucy, I just know she’s going to be a bitch about it and pull a ‘sorry, I only save High Five Heroes’ before leaving her other friends to die or some shit. And then she will take her final form: Magic Betty from Adventure Time, betraying her allies and saving her frost gf at the expense of the world. It would also parallel what Ankarna is going through (‘your girlfriend’s out of town, it sucks’, becoming a little imperialist rage machine under the influence of Porter/Sunstone but not being able to fully turn on Lucy despite going against her values and turning into a violent weirdo). This is my wish. My dream. I am manifesting it. Magic Betty Kipperlilly I believe in you.

[emilyrigbymv]

Day 6: After the Storm

The sun is shining! The birds are chirping! California has returned to normalcy! Despite the fact that the skies have cleared, I still spent a decent amount of time indoors. Today marks exactly a week since my independent study begun, and my days have officially adopted a [rough] routine. This morning, I arrived at the office at 9 AM, made myself a cup of coffee (to which I added vegan caramel creamer), and sat at my desk to work on the volunteer spreadsheet (a continuation of yesterday). I kept myself busy for a while, since Kiera didn’t get to the office until about 10: She was busy tending to a cow at the Healing Center who was limping for unknown reasons. I am beginning to think this volunteer document might just be the death of me: After two days of working on it, I’ve only made my way through last names beginning with A, B, C, and D. It’s crazy how many volunteers The Gentle Barn has hosted throughout the years. Those four letters alone encapsulate about 400 people. Insane.

I was soon relieved of my office duties, however: Today, Lucy and Ferdinand’s Barnyard Buddy was unable to make her shift, and she canceled last minute. This was good news for me: I got to cover for her, and spend nearly two hours just hangin’ with the cows. They were pretty mellow today (Guess it was nap time!), and Ferdinand appeared to be a bit less timid than he was yesterday. So there’s some progress! (To be honest, it hurts my heart a little bit — I so badly want him to love me.) I didn’t get any good pictures of Ferd, but I got a few of Lucy; I’ll attach them in the post following this one. Side-note: Did you know that there are specific sounds that a mother cow uses exclusively for her baby? Well, there are, and Lucy uses that sound for Ferdinand. Her capacity to love, and his ability to accept love blows me away. They are so sweet together.

Let’s get into updates relating to some of the other animals: First, Sun and Alice. (If you don’t remember them from my Day 1 entry, they’re both lady turkeys who spontaneously developed personal vendettas against one another.) It’s been a week since the initial attack, and they’re still fighting. No progress. The situation is looking a bit hopeless at this point, especially given that nothing can be done beyond allowing them to work it out themselves. It’s interesting, actually: You’d assume that, if two animals are fighting, it is logical to separate them to discourage and prevent aggressive behavior. In reality, this is the least productive approach one could take. At least in the case of turkeys, it is encouraged to allow the birds to approach one another, fight verbally, and puff their tail feathers — but they must be separated as soon as the interaction becomes physical. At this point, the aggressor should be led to the complete opposite site of the enclosing. This immediate separation serves as somewhat of a “reset.” Kind of cool, right? Apparently hasn’t worked yet, though; I guess the reset button isn’t all that magical, after all. Anyway, there’s my turkey psychology tangent. That’s about all for that update. Moving on: Lance is still at the hospital, and we haven’t heard anything regarding his biopsy. Well, that isn’t entirely true: The results came in inconclusive, so they are redoing them. Meanwhile, they did manage to remove the entire mass from his nasal cavity, and he seems to be feeling much better as a result. As I mentioned before, Lance has daily visits from various Gentle Barn workers. He’s enjoying frequent walks, carrots, and cookies, so he knows he is loved. Let’s hope he comes back soon — healthy and happy! What else? I visited the Healing Center again today with Kiera. The ground is soaking wet after two days of heavy rain, and there are massive puddles everywhere. While I wasn’t a huge fun of the mud coating my shoes, the cows seem to be loving it. They were all just standing around, wading in the water… Living a life of luxury. Super cute. Well, that’s that for today. Kiera and I are going out to get some vegan Mexican food for lunch tomorrow, so that should be fun. Until then!