Despite his misgivings about this job he’s been tasked with Gundham finds he enjoys it some extent. These animals aren’t like the ones that will be filling his growing sanctuary. They are calm, gentle beasts. Not the aggressive, blood thirsty monsters he created. And this is quite calming for him. A place to remind himself that his talent is no longer a weapon of chaos and suffering. A reminder that he wasn’t meant to harm the things he loves most.
So he takes a calming breath when he steps into the ranch, almost enjoying the smell of straw, cow dung and messy chickens. Before seeing to the chicken coop, the first stop in his chores, the breeder removes his coat and scarf, hanging them over a fence so they don’t get dirty. He then retrieves some gardening gloves and a small basket from near the coop. A pair of gloves are about to be handed to Chiaki but chaos ensues before he can even say anything.
He frowns at the panicked chickens, concern on his features. What could possibly be setting them off? Eyes flit to Chiaki. Could it be …? Actually that does make some sense. He remembers how he never used the Monokuma robots during the despair because they made his animals ineffective, but that isn’t the best way to come to conclusion so he needs to test it.
“Hmmm, I have a theory but it may upset you,” He says, putting down the basket. He waves her away from the coop. “Will you step back for a few moments, until they calm down, and then approach again. This … might be due to your … artificiality.”
it took a few moments for it to sink in, but once it does, chiaki’s face falls ever so slightly. having never interacted with animals outside of games before, she’s unaware of how they typically behave around unfamiliar machinery. yet she can understand, theoretically, why it might upset them. during discussions of her design, she heard souda and hinata occasionally reference the ‘uncanny valley’ effect-- something that looks human adjacent, just enough to unnerve people. they wanted to avoid it with her.
but animals’ senses are more keen. though it’s disappointing, she can’t blame them for being wary. in response to tanaka’s request, she simply nods and takes a few steps back. she goes just far enough that she’s out of the coop, but she can still see what happens inside. she’s still curious, after all. even if she can’t be nearby, she’d like to see what tanaka does to procure their eggs.
part of the reason for it is she actually doesn’t know where eggs come from, exactly. all she knows in her games is that if she remembers to put her poultry back in the coop before sleeping for the night, she comes back and there are eggs the next day. after that, putting them in an incubator ensures that a new chick will hatch after a little while.
“okay, tanaka-kun.” chiaki gives him a sad little smile, lacing her fingers in front of her. “is this far enough? i’ll move back further if i need to.” even her voice sounds synthetic in comparison to his. it’ll be a little while before she’s tweaked enough that she can leave the island without soon being recognized for what she truly is.
jacobvanloon
origamiaround
tangentwithtanner
