Oh no, you've unleashed a monster…
Also, I would love to hear more about your side plot, gimme all the juicy details.
Let's talk about Dakota's animals:
Dakota's an animal magnet, and they've accumulated a great wealth of pets and companions, all either strays or rescues. Whenever they find a new animal that's injured, abused, or abandoned, they just give a resigned sigh, because they KNOW they're going to end up keeping said animal forever.
Sheep: Four ewes and a ram. Ginger's the ram and Mary, Abby, Charlotte, and Anne are the ewes. The sheep love to follow Dakota around, and Ginger's forever trying to get Dakota to play with him by repeatedly ramming into them.
Cows: They've got six, no bull at this point, as their old one named Grand passed away and they don't accumulate animals on purpose. The cows are various breeds from beef, to dairy, to nagori to Scottish Highland. Mandy and Gracie are the beef cows, Maple and Finch are the two dairy cows, and then Flower is the nagori, and Appletree is the Highland. Appletree's blind, and also the one the other cows like to follow around for some reason, so Dakota's constantly having to hunt them down from some remote corner of the pasture.
Equines: They've got three rescues, a grumpy, ancient shetland pony who won't let anyone touch her named Rosa, a yearling hinney who was going to be sent to slaughter for her bad breeding named Knocked, and an abused Suffolk punch who used to pull carriages for tourists. Dakota occasionally rides Badger, their punch, along the fences to make sure they're all still up, but otherwise the horses are pasture pets. Rosa will hang out around Dakota, but hates being touched, which makes giving her the arthritis medicine she needs a daily struggle neither of them enjoy. Badger's spooky of just about everything, and most of Dakota's animal related injuries come from Badger and Rosa, from being trampled, dragged, bit, and kicked at. Knocked is super sweet and friendly, and follows Dakota around everywhere.
Birds: Dakota has six chickens and two roosters named Bully and Major. The hens are Miss, Lady, Madam, Queen, Ma'am, and Incompetent. (Don't worry, she earned that name for having absolutely no survival instinct whatever. Dakota keeps her with them mostly, since they've seen her walking towards a fox without a care in the world, and when they tried to make her an indoor chicken, she almost jumped into a pot of boiling water. She's had over ninety entirely avoidable brushes with death in her two years of life.) Dakota also has a parrot they found abandoned on their property they named Buzzfeed because she never stops talking, and she's pretty good at it. Dakota constantly complains about their birds, since the roosters are a tag-team of terror, and Incompetent and Buzzfeed are just constantly needing attention. The other hens' they quite like the company of, and again, most of them follow Dakota around in the yard.
Cats: Dakota can't really keep track of how many cats hang out at their place anymore, but every time they go out to feed them, they expect upwards twenty to show up to eat throughout the day. There are ten regulars who hang out most frequently, and though most of the cats are feral, a few will let Dakota pet them. There's Jade, Blueheart, Firefox, Fearsome, Fibalt, Xanthe, Wolfie, Pantheon, Grey, and Footer. Sometimes they have to trap the ferals to treat injuries, which requires wrestling them into the kitchen and getting many scratches.
Dogs: Several mutt have come and gone, but the current set are a kur mix, a shepherd thing, and a tiny pomeranian that likes to go ZOOM. They're named, in that order, Holly, Geiger, and Barracuda. Barracuda is a royal terror that will kill anything, so she's not allowed in the yard with the hens. The roosters, who travel around the farm, can fend for themselves, and it only took Barracuda two times to figure out not to mess with them.
Pigs: Only one, who hangs out with the sheep, named Hammer. Hammer is fat, happy, and is the only animal on the farm who stays in one pen constantly, simply because he doesn't care enough to move. Dakota figured out the hard way that he has a dream of being a lap-pig, as once they were crouched next to a ewe trying to figure out why she was limping, and Hammer completely bowled them over, before laying on top of them and falling asleep.
Other: They've got three rabbits named Tortie, Jax and Woah There. Woah There's been through a lot and is mostly wild, constantly looking out for danger. She's a pretty new addition, so she's still not the most comfortable around Dakota. Dakota is still earning her trust.
Bees: They've got a large hive they tend and maintain. They have been beekeeping their entire life, so they are a bonafide expert in keeping their colony alive. They obviously don't have names for all their bees, but if one hangs around long enough, they'll be dubbed Charlie.
Yep, that's all of Dakota's animals. Their entire life is spent caring for them, and even the the rare times they can work on other projects, the animals are constantly getting in their way.
