[Video, Wednesday afternoon]

[catchingflies]

[The shot opens on a slightly harried-looking Todd, who is still grinning a little bit, despite looking harried.]

Hey, so. Anybody got any ideas on how best to feed something like, uh... these?

[And now the camera swings aside to show two roly-poly andrewsarchus cubs, each about the size of a sheepdog, one tawny with darker stripes and one dark with lighter brindling. They're within a circled fence made of broken tree branches and rocks, but it looks like they might climb out at any minute. It's not a very tall fence.]

I've been tryin' birds and frogs and fish. And bugs, too, since that's what I'm best at, yo. Even tried some rice, but they didn't like that so much. Anybody know somethin' that'll stuff their faces for more than a couple hours? And, uh, maybe some better way of holding 'em in....

Comments

[catchingflies]

[He shoots her a grin through the network, looking somewhere between surprised and relieved at the offer.]

Yeah, sorry, they're still orphans! Maybe I can pawn 'em off on somebody back at the city, but here, we're all they got, right?

[Todd's serious about orphans, but that's probably about the only thing he is serious on. And it's possible it won't last until they get home, too.]

[redhat]

Well, this is a bit more serious than Stanley was. At least he wasn't likely to eat somebody! Still... that kid turned out to be one of our best operatives.

[She has her doubts about these baby animals, though.]

Just keep an eye on them 'til I get over there!

[Video => Action?] :)

[catchingflies]

Yeah, yeah, nobody's goin' anywhere. Are you guys?

[So maybe he's not as smitten as Kurt obviously is, but there some fondness there. Exasperated fondness, but still.

And that's where he's at when she shows up, trying to put branches over the top of his low fence. The baby andrewsarchuses keep trying to pull them down and chew on them, though.]

[Action!]

[redhat]

[It's a bit of a wait, but eventually she shows up with a stack of sturdy, similarly sized branches and a mess of vines.]

Well, it ain't exactly gonna be two-by-four technology, but we can improve on that... thing you made.

[Seriously, did he just stick some twigs in the ground and think that would hold them?]

We might need more pieces of wood like these, if you wanna look around. And some good-sized, heavy rocks. [She gestures to show show she's looking for them to be about the size of a melon.]

[Action!]

[catchingflies]

Yo, those're the biggest rocks I could find.

[And they are about the size of a melon, actually. But even then, the andrewsarchus pups are the size of a sheepdog, at this point. They can pretty much hop over those.]

I guess I can try'n find more....

Re: [Action!]

[redhat]

Hm. [Abby circles the enclosure, wishing that Numbuh Two were here. He'd have something foolproof whipped up in half the time it'd take her to jerry-rig a decent pen.]

They'll do for now. We'll need them as anchors, 'cause otherwise these critters are gonna figure out they can just push those sticks over soon. [She starts laying out her supplies and drawing a new outline for a pen in the dirt, slightly outside of the one they're already in.]

[catchingflies]

[Todd crouches down to watch, keeping half his attention on the critters, who are now chewing on the branches he's given up on using to bar them in.]

You do this kind of stuff a lot?

[redhat]

You could say that. You don't get made an operative unless you've got at least a basic understandin' of two-by-four engineerin'.

[And she was a fair bit better off than Numbuh Four, who could really only manage to use their weapons, but was hopeless at designing and building anything. Numbuhs One and Two were the real brains when it came to tech.]

A pen should be easy-peasy. We're gonna need to use the rocks to make a solid foundation, and if we tie the sticks like this...

[Abby starts working, putting together a sounder wall than the original, though it's not much to look at. She's clearly more than competent with the makeshift tools she's using, though.]

[catchingflies]

[Todd helps! Or, he tries to, anyway. Mostly he's only good for holding things, particularly the andrewsarchus cubs, since they keep trying to get into what she's doing. At least at this age, they aren't really dangerous. Not really.]

So this'll hold better, huh?

[At least it's right on the edge of camp. It doesn't look like it'll move easily. Maybe he'd better move his tent over here....]

[redhat]

Until they get bigger. And by then we'll either be back in town with more supplies, or you'll have come to your senses.

[She hoped the latter, but this guy was boneheaded enough to keep the little troublemakers.]

Why don't you find yourself some hamsters instead? They're a lot easier.

[catchingflies]

[Todd shoots her a little glare, hopping over the fence himself, now that it's supposedly sturdy enough that he can let the pups go. The pups try to follow, but, thankfully for all involved, don't manage to repeat the feat.]

Because we didn't kill any hamsters' moms, that's why. It's our fault they're orphans, so....

[He shrugs, looking uncomfortable.]

[redhat]

Yeah, yeah, Numbuh Five's got it. Just wouldn't be the first time I've seen a kid get into trouble doin' somethin' reckless.

[Because it was easier to treat Todd like a kid in some ways. He sure didn't act like a teen, half the time.]

Look, Numbuh Five'll help you out with the setup, but I ain't takin' care of those cubs, no matter what, got it?

[catchingflies]

Yeah, yeah, I know. That's what everybody's said so far. I'm on my own, nobody's gonna help out, whatever. I'll be fine by myself.

[Todd rolls his eyes. He's starting to feel awfully put upon, with all these people telling him he's stupid for doing this.]