[video]

[candothat]

[There is a rather impressive—and impressively accurate—cross-section of the U.S.S. Enterprise, made wholly of Lego, directly in front of the device’s camera lens. This charming view is quickly replaced by Chekov as he picks the device up and sets it on a (remarkably tidy, for those few who have had the misfortune of experiencing Pavel in his natural habitat) desk, adjusting it for a moment before addressing the network.

He looks quite grim.]

One thing I will miss about that curse, I think, will be the horses.

The dirt, the guns and bullets—I am happy without those. Projectile weapons are clumsy and messy and not so kind as a simple phaser blast. But the horses! I was on a horse, once, in the City, and I did little more than fall off of it. Riding one without falling off was good. Better, maybe, than piloting a personal shuttlecraft, although I would not tell Sulu so.

I like machines, but I like animals better. Yes, ships have their personalities and attitudes and you need to learn what your ship is like before you can be very good at knowing what she needs, but they are not so affectionate as animals. I would be happy if I had a good horse—just like the one that I had when the curse was here—instead of a good ship. [After saying this out loud, he amends:] Only, of course, if I could take that horse to space in a ship. I miss space already and I have been gone from it for only 115 days. Being a cowboy—as much as I would like the horse, I would miss space too much.

[He’s not addressing the network anymore. In fact, he’s not addressing anyone. This doesn’t seem to bother him.] Maybe if I were to find a captain who would let me have a horse onboard… I think that that would be ideal, although there are rules regarding nonhuman lifeforms that would be hard to get around…

[And back to the network on a wholly different subject.]

I was thinking of things that science typically takes for granted today and wondering if they apply in the City. The law of conservation of mass… how would that work, here, in a place where new settings can appear overnight and new animals can show for a day and then be gone again? Settings, I understand; maybe the deities can alter what is already present to make their curse landscapes. Animals, though, cannot appear in a dimension and then—

[He pauses, train of thought apparently switching directions.]

There is the uncertainty principle. I usually think of it only as it relates to quantum physics… very small things. Not an entire horse, or entire people. Perhaps the City is a large experiment—Schrodinger’s paradox, that is what Mr. Laszlow mentioned not so long ago. It is not the same, of course, because all of this—all of what we are perceiving—is macroscopic, and it is very difficult to bring quantum theory to bear on such a scale.

Anyway, I do not feel like a collapsed wave function. That surely counts for something.

Also, I would like to have the horse that I had during the curse. I liked her, and I think that she liked me.


[ooc: Look, don't ask me. I was trying to do other stuff and he felt like posting about horses.]

Comments

[minigolfandsushi]

But horses shit.

[candothat]

I know that, yes.

[minigolfandsushi]

So why would you want one?

[candothat]

It would be a better pet than you are.

voice; you said you liked threadjacking

[mrsnose]

Well, if we went by that, we wouldn't keep you either.

voice; GIVE ME ALL THE THREADJACKING

[minigolfandsushi]

Haha, very funny. Horses shit way more than I do, even after tacos.

voice; peter gross

[mrsnose]

In that case you should've added more there, too.

[valentineluke]

[Laughs at your opinion on projectile weapons.]

[candothat]

What?

voice;

[mrsnose]

I take it you like horses, then?

voice;

[candothat]

I do now, yes. I had not been around them enough before to know that.

voice;

[mrsnose]

Maybe there are stables here, where you can go be around them?

voice;

[candothat]

[There's a certain dramatic tone to the following that strongly implies that Chekov isn't as broken up about losing his curse-horse as her might say he is.]

Oh, yes, stables, but none of those horses will be like this horse. This was a remarkable horse.

video;

[mintjulep]

She was a good horse, an' you were good to her.

Maybe she's still around, just up at the Barn.

video;

[candothat]

She behaved better than the one I attempted to ride earlier when I was not cursed. Still, I do not think that most ships would allow a horse on board.

video;

[mintjulep]

Most ships. Never know about our ship, though.

video;

[candothat]

Mr. Scott would not like that.

[hexuality]

Maybe it's a little less science and a bit more magic.

[candothat]

If it is magic, I will never be able to understand it.

[hexuality]

Magic has laws too, Pavel.

[candothat]

It does? Are there equations and theories explaining these laws?

[what_the_flux]

As much as one may devote one's life to scientific study and advancement, I cannot begin to fathom a philosophical viewpoint that values technology over a living creature. Every true scientist's primary focus should be on better grasping the fabric of the universe - which, certainly, includes marvels as immeasurable as space and as small as a horse.

Which is to say... I was rather fond of my horse, as well.

[candothat]

I did not know that you had a horse during the curse. What was it like?

[what_the_flux]

Quite a handsome creature! A dark stallion, obedient, patient - certainly the sort of horse I'd have liked to own had I lived in the old west. To be honest, I rather enjoyed a great deal about the curse.

[candothat]

I did, as well. I like space but, as you said, there are smaller marvels.