Public Channel | forward dated to S2:D9, Morning

[genice]

Victor Nikiforov, new showman here. I have a question for anyone who has a few minutes to talk!

( There's a smile in his voice; entirely deliberate, and entirely gone once he gets to his question. )

What things do you wish you'd been told about or known from early on once you started working here?

Comments

[espigeon]

A couple of us got those but I think the Ringmaster just wanted us to have dæmons. It was kinda rad, I've gotta say. And definitely spell-dæmons were more interactive than glamour butterflies.

It does include haircuts! I was a hairstylist for about a year back in '09, I don't have a special genius on this but I can get it done.

[genice]

What was your dæmon?

Excellent! I'll have to come to you when my hair gets any longer than where I like it to be.

[espigeon]

She ended up a pigeon, so, that kinda says something about me doesn't it!

Of course! Your hair's a little closer to what I'm used to than on some of the others here, so it shouldn't even take long.

[genice]

That you're adaptable?

( Look.

... Pigeons are really freaking adaptable, at least in his opinion, so )

I'm not entirely convinced everyone even has hair here, and that's a fine thing, variety is the spice of life, but--good to know!

[espigeon]

Oh, that's a good one! Yeah, probably. I'd like to think so! And that, y'know, they're resilient and loyal.


Heh, well, I've got feathers, unsurprisingly.

[genice]

Resilient makes sense, loyal is new, but I haven't spent much time considering pigeons, I admit.

( He's fed them before in Palace Square, but he's also fed the gulls, and neither are exactly good habits, more... contemplative ones. #yolo He's more glad Makkachin usually didn't give chase. )

Feathers don't need trimming, do they? Don't they just... I forget the word. Shed?

[espigeon]

Oh, yeah, it's a whole thing. It's lots of why we domesticated them in the first place, the whole 'messenger pigeon' thing is because they want to get home.

[He still considers himself human, basically.]

Molt! It happens about once a year and sucks a lot but at least it's over in a month or two. I'm not looking forwards to next time it happens to me.

[genice]

Is it? I never knew! For whatever reason I thought it was more like salmon spawning... which sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud.

( Considering that's less about a drive home and more about a drive for reproduction. Ah... )

Oh, molt! Thank you, I'll try to remember that now. So it takes a month or two in total? Do you end up losing and replacing feathers simultaneously, or... I can't imagine any bird loses all their feathers at once.

( Then he wonders if Julien uses any molted feathers as quills or for making hats or costumes, but, well, opts not to ask that. )

[espigeon]

I mean there's some of that, but it's more flexible? It's kinda complicated.

No big deal. Uhh, I think there are some real birds that do, basically, but it's stretched out some more when I do it. It's very itchy and annoying and it means shedding so many more feathers, ugh. The rest of the year I'll just lose a bit of down, usually.

[genice]

Huh, still not anything I knew. I'm just impressed when my dog knows how to get back home after a day in a new city.

( Warmth creeping into his voice just talking about Makkachin... who he'd dearly love to curl up with on his bed and just try to process things, but good dogs are not trapped in crazy carnivals with their owners. )

Wow, that sounds really unpleasant! ( In a very "that's a bum deal" tone of voice. ) Is there anything that helps with the itching at all?

[espigeon]

Heh. Well that's not bad either! Must be a bright dog.

Lots of bathing, really, and sometimes sympathetic friends, but it's the bathing mostly. And just in water, you can't apply a lot of products to something like me.

[genice]

Makkachin is the brightest dog!

( The warmth in his voice comes right back, affection audible as he broke into a broad, unseen grin. He follows it up with a hum of consideration and acknowledgement, figuring it was sensible enough, and something like the birds he's seen bathing themselves in puddles in the summertime. )

Bad for the balance of skin and feathers, I'd think?

[espigeon]

Awww! Sounds like you really love him.

[Julien's not the biggest fan of dogs as a whole - he doesn't like the jumping, and when you're a bird sometimes pets think you're a big toy or a meal - but he has nothing against individuals, or people who like them.]

Aaah, well, soap kind of strips the oil off both, and then it gets trapped under feathers and it's a huge pain getting out. So yeah pretty much.