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 Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:15 am
Who: Lucia & Zul
When: Early afternoon
Where: Gambino Aquarium
Weather: Moderately warm
Some days after the pool party, Zul had found himself unusually concerned. Sure, he had Alex to update him on Sevilin and he'd get a hold of LuLu himself, but those two hadn't been the only ones injured in the fray; it was this strange show of worry for his friend's well being that he had procured Yuurei's number and called Lucia himself. He hadn't had much time to chat, since he was at work with his woman at the Lab, but after a quick inquiry if he could meet her somewhere - the aquarium had come to mind since it was close - he had found himself leaving the Lab without his Guardian for the first time since the attack on the car earlier that year.
Alex had been hesitant, but he had won out in the end with his calm persistance that was far from his childish insistance before. Thus, he had traversed the sidewalks and now floated in front of the aquarium's impressively sized entrance adorned with vibrant and deep blues alike, a fine homage of the ocean's colors. The demon could have done without the gaudy crepe streamers and goofy looking reproductions of what a bug-eyed fish would look like, but all in all, he was relatively excited. He'd never been to an aquarium before! He knew that fish were kept here, but he truly hadn't the slightest clue what he'd find.
His Guardian had insisted that he pay for Lucia's ticket as well, and so, with tickets in hand and a small gaggle of people staring as they entered the building, the demon waited for his kitten friend to arrive. The Frei floated at a modest height just within the rays of the sun before the building's shadow reached him, setting his hair ablaze. Zul mostly kept his bone wings tucked against his back to keep from smacking some unsuspecting passerby with them, but he couldn't help to flex them behind himself time and again. The sun felt great, and closing his blue eyes, he absorbed the warmth peacefully.
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Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 5:04 am
Lucia was excited. She didn't know how extensive Gambino's aquarium was, but she was excited to meet up with Zul again. She didn't meet up with friends very often - or have many friends to begin with - so the outing was nice for her. She had researched aquariums before she left for the bus, and the images relayed in her mind as she took the ride to the building. While the fish looked kind of cool on the paper, she seemed interested in the possibility of seeing dolphins, whales, seals, and even the cute penguins! Their tuxedo look was too adorable. Dressing up for the outing, Lucia had even donned her own version of a purple and black tuxedo tie she had picked up somewhere and modded to be her own girly fun version. She applied lipstick and done her hair oh-so-carefully. Not only was the kitten excited about what they would see, she made sure she had looks to kill for.
Floating off of the bus in front of the aquarium, the frei was impressed by its size. The bug-eyed fish was funny-looking, and Lucia giggled to herself. She looked around the crowd looking for the fiery hair she had used to identify him so much at the pool. Her eyes caught sight and she floated straight towards him. "Zul!" she called out with a friendly wave of her fingers. "Are you ready to go in a quairum now?" she asked, giggling at her own very poor humor. "I'm so excited! I read they might have dolphins, seals and even penguins!"
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 1:09 pm
Clear blue eyes opened as he heard his name, his gaze falling upon Lucia as she waved. He lifted his own hand in greetings, a smile easily curving his lips at her approach, although it warmed into a grin at the little joke and her bubbling excitement. "I don't know what those are," he replied in earnest, shameless, "but that's what this will teach us, yes?" The place was near by, certainly, but it also had such a fun name to say: uh-qair-e-um. Couldn't go wrong, there.
His gaze dipped lower, extending his ticketless hand to lightly touch the modified tie with admiration. "You look very pretty," he commented with a tilt of his head, his smile a little lop-sided. Zul thought he just might be beginning to see the appeal in the hornless gender; they were all soft skin, round curves and appealing scents. The hand withdrew and lightly patted his own armband, where his little charm was secured; pretty they may be, but he had his Scorpion, who had more than 'pretty' to his list of appealing nature.
The demon took one of her hands and put his arm over hers, laying her lacy hand against his forearm before he floated towards the entrance, leading his lady. "How have you been, Lu-Cia?" he question in a slightly teasing voice from their first meeting with the exuberant LuLu. "I'm looking forward to this - and to see your special fish."
Zul was still slightly naive in some respects.
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 2:44 am
Lucia grinned as Zul professed his ignorance and nodded, sincerely excited about seeing the animals. She was excited and she knew that if they had penguins Zul would love them. How could he not?! As he fingered the tie she modified her eyes went round and she looked up at her friend. She had worked so hard on the tie, over the past day. Did he like it?
She blushed slightly as Zul told her she looked pretty. It wasn’t that the kitten didn’t agree she looked pretty, but Zul was the only other guy to tell her so, and maybe it reflected on the tie too. ”Thank you”, she murmured. “Penguins are so cute! I looked up pictures of them after you suggested coming here,” she said with a giggle. ”They look like they have little tuxedoes on! That’s why I wore this! I kind of made it,” she grinned and her smile lit up her face because of the compliment and the thought of her modding being appreciated.
The kitten smiled as she was treated like a lady, her hand resting lightly on Zul’s arm. ”I’ve been good, Zul! How are you?” she said with a smile and a shake of her head remembering LuLu and the fight that occurred so soon after their meeting. ”I’m really excited too!” she giggled at Zul calling the list she had her special fish. She had read enough to know that all of the animals she had mentioned were mammals or birds, but she just nodded and said, “I just hope this aquarium has penguins. . . “
Lucia’s free hand discretely slid a finger between her bra cup and skin, pulling out the money Yuurei had told her to take. ”Where do we buy tickets?” she asked, glancing around her as they floated through main entrance.
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Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:13 am
The demon offered the Kitten a light, bemused sideways smile. "Ladies don't buy their own tickets," Zul repeated his woman's previous lesson, patting the arm on his tattooed forearm. "I invited you, I'll see your way in." The Frei wasn't entirely certain about the wording, but something about it settled well with him. The black Kitten was charming, and it felt good to be the one to take responsibility for their outing. It was nice, he reflected, to be on their own.
He procured the tickets to the slightly baffled looking doorman. Blue eyes gave the man a puzzled look as something was looped around his wrist - a blue band that was darker than his eyes - but since it didn't hurt or otherwise bind him, he wasn't too worried about it. As Lucia was given the same treatment, he took a moment to glance beyond the large, dark-windowed door.
The place was huge! There was a store immediately on their right and human facilities on the left, but beyond the muted grey walls that surrounded the structures was the real show. Where the walls ended, thick glass took over, reaching from the floor to a ledge in the ceiling; within the glass confines were more fish than he could count at a glance, each body only a flash of color and movement from where he was at the door. Sparse decorations could been seen around the floor of the tanks, along with plaques that he couldn't yet read, although he assumed it was information on the fish within. Most startling of this entrance display was a massive blue whale tethered to the ceiling, its large, unsmiling face pointing towards the doorway. It had a narrow underside with a fan of a tail and generally looked like something Zul would not want to meet or see in motion, ever.
The hallway continued onwards beyond what he could see, wrapping around to the side and no doubt leading to the rest of the aquarium. Light filtered through some doorway unseen beyond, eluding that some of the displays might have been outside. Zul turned his skeptical eyes back to the giant creature suspended from the ceiling, carefully leading Lucia in and pointing up at it. "That," he remarked calmly, "is not a fish." Perhaps it was obvious of him, but he didn't think whales were a part of the displays here! The thought of something so enormous behind glass...he simply couldn't fathom seeing something like that in captivity!
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Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:36 am
Lucia grinned happily at Zul’s chivalry. He had already bought tickets including one for her. Slipping the money back into its hiding place Lucia squeezed her friend’s hand in a “thank you” as she looked forward to their adventure. Lucia’s nose wrinkled slightly at the ugly blue color of the band, but decided to ignore it. Her date with Zul was going to be fun.
Glancing around the immediate interior Lucia’s breath caught in her throat. The sheer size of it was immense and overwhelmed her. Looking down the hall slightly her sharp eyes spotted fish, but instead of being stationary as they were during her research, they flew in the water!!! Her eyes followed a very pretty blue fish, the color, actually, of Zul’s eyes, until it swam out of sight. This place was even better than she thought originally!
She was eager to go see the fish and as the demon guided her in Lucia hoped their destination would be one of those cool areas with the fishies flying through the water. Normally Lucia wasn’t so excited, but she felt like a kid in a candy store. This place was amazing.
As Zul stopped and his other hand extended, she followed where he pointed and let out a slight yelp. She held her breath, waiting for the suspended whale to fall to the ground. ”That thing is huuuuge! I didn’t see that when I researched!” she said once she was sure that it was secure. Her eye looked up and searched the ceiling and the length of the big mammal, thinking that she could know what it is just by looking at it. The longer body reminded her of a dolphin thing she saw. But that and the blue-grey color was where the similarities ended. ”What is it?” she asked her friend after he asserted that it wasn’t a fish. Maybe he knew more about this aquarium business than he originally let on.
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 6:07 pm
Zul allowed himself a low, smoky chuckle, giving the hand against his forearm a gentle squeeze at his friend's yelp. He lead Lucia further into the main entrance of the aquarium, tilting his head back to smile up at the not-fish. "It's a whale," he answered, pride at being able to share the information making him preen just a bit. "We see them when they swim by, at home. They're this big, maybe bigger! And you can see them breathe." The demon found himself being careful with his vocabulary, wanting to impress Lucia - or at the very least, not come off sounding like he was still so very young.
"My woman, she studies animals and knows some of the sea," he explained, just in case Lucia thought he was joking. "Next time, when they come through, I'll invite you over to see." Zul gave her a bright smile, quite earnest and excited; Rivener and Sevilin had visited him before, but it would be fun to have more of his friends over! Maybe he could host a party--!
Not wanting to get off course of the purpose of their visit, he lead the Kitten towards one of the large tanks that flanked the walkway, blue eyes turning over the multitudes of fish within. The darts and sparkles of colors were almost too much for the Frei to keep up with, not used to seeing so much life and vibrancy contained to one area. "I wonder what we look like to them?" He posed the question both to his date and those around him, unaware of the double-meaning his words might have held. Zul extended his free hand and held his fingers just in front of the glass, not touching; he knew better than to do that from Alex's bristling. Some of the fish seemed to note his hand and swim closer to the glass, and some still paid him no mind. His interest was on an iridescent blue fish that had orange markings on its tail. They were far more attractive than humans, in terms of their unique appearances.
"Maybe we should get a map," he added as an afterthought. The demon's goal had just been to spend some time with his feline friend, but the goal changed; if the aquarium had penguins, he wanted to find them!
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Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 7:14 pm
”A whale?!” She had heard of whales at some time, but she couldn’t place where. Maybe in a book. Wasn’t there something about a man-eating whale? Lucia put it from her head. ”You actually live near those things when they’re alive! Isn’t it scary? What if they eat you!” The cat was impressed with Zul’s bravery and scared for him at the same time. If he lived near whales that were even bigger than that, there was no way that he could avoid being eaten. It killed everyone but Ishmael in that one book – Moby-d**k. The cat took a deep breath at his invitation. But if he could do it, and Alex could study them, then she could see them too. She nodded with a forced smile, ”That’d be fine. But you’d have to protect me!” The kitten giggled, trying to relieve some tension that thinking about the ridiculously large animal had caused.
As they floated towards the fish tank, Lucia’s jaw dropped open and she released Zul’s arm to move her face very close to the tank. Her eyes would jump from one fish to the next, following them intently. ”Oh. My. God. These are awesome!” She focused on the same blue and orange fish as Zul. Her eyes followed it as it floated across her face and then along the side of the tank. She floated after it, following it deeper into the aquarium. As it veered off from the side of the tank Lucia pulled away and pouted slightly, but her attention was caught by another fish. This was so yellow and orange that it could only be described as an iridescent gold. The kitten thought it was beautiful. Her eyes focused on it as it swam the other way. Floating back, following it, she bumped gently into Zul and her attention broke from the tank.
Lucia giggled. ”Sorry!” She slipped her arm into the crook of Zul’s elbow and hugged it close to her body. ”Yeah. A map might make things easier, but I’m not good at reading them. I can never figure out where I am” she smiled and giggled. The kitten, penguins or no, was having a lot of fun.
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Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 6:32 pm
Blue eyes slid to the side to watch Lucia as she observed the fish tank. She was different, he decided, in a good way; she wasn't quite the innocent and carefree of LuLu, nor was she the serious and nonsensical of Xiu, or even the flirty possessiveness of Rivener. Zul found himself wondering if they'd have more in common than the others, a smile tugging at his lips at the thought, the expression only growing as she approached him and bumped against him without meaning to.
The demon laughed, a husky, smoke-filled sound that made him sound a bit older. The Kitten was just too charming! Her questions were sweet and so honest, it was pure refreshment to have such friendly banter with her. "I will always protect you," Zul agreed with a warm smile, patting the hand that re-twined with his arm. He couldn't conceive letting anything ill befall the smiling female!
"Let's get one anyway," he offered, floating into the center of the walkway where there was a large sign with some confusing blocks and an arrow that said 'YOU ARE HERE' in red. He used his free hand to pick up one of the miniature versions of the massive thing, belatedly realizing that this was a map. "How does this help anyone find anything?" he murmured to himself, looking briefly between the surrounding area and the spot on the map that insisted that it was exactly where they are. It was entirely too flat to be accurate.
Zul rolled his eyes and put the map back, again resting his hand over the arm holding his and leading the Kitten further into the building. They'd find everything, their own way. It couldn't be that complicated. "Let's see what's around here," he commented, thinking it'd just be an extension of tanks like the two they were looking at. When they took the curve of the hallway, he was completely surprised to find how wrong he was.
The curve lead to an outdoor portion of the aquarium! A quick sweep of his eyes immediately proved that first impression somewhat wrong; although the sky was overhead, the building wrapped around the central area as far as he could see, larger tanks and buildings within blocking his view. Apparently they held shows there, or so the sign claimed. There were multitudes of pools in the ground, stairs leading down to view the tanks, although he saw some humans reaching in to pet whatever was within the watery walls. There were vendors by some of the pools for feeding purposes, with several concession and novelty item booths smattered throughout.
"...ah. Wow. A lot, is...around here," he fumbled momentarily for the proper words, blue eyes wide. Where were they supposed to start in all that?
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 1:15 am
Looking at the map the kitten shook her head. No clue. How could they be the dot? They were under the giant whale! There was no giant whale on the map. ”Those things are useless.” Instinct always worked better for her anyway.
Following Zul’s lead Lucia’s eyes went wide as they went outside! ”Yeah. This place is huge!” Thankfully the weather was nice and it was warm out. Looking around she saw all of the different within view. The signs above the entrances detonated a general understanding of each area. Sea Lion Feeding. Seal Adventure. Beluga Whale Viewing. Then there were directory signs, mostly pictures. There was the silhouette of something that looked a lot like the fish they first saw in the tank. There was another with a seal on it and… ”YAY!!!! Look at the sign! It’s pointing to the penguins!” Maybe they could get to the rest of it later, but Lucia wanted to meet a penguin first.
Lucia lead the way this time, her excitement was as evident as the smile that lit up her face and the sparkle in her eyes. Her hand slipped from Zul’s arm into his hand. Around one large viewing exhibit, down a long walkway to the back corner of the aquarium, the white penguin silhouettes and black arrows showed the path that the frei were to follow.
”It’s here!” the kitten said excitedly as they approached the entrance. ”Let’s go in and see!” Pulling him into the exhibit excitedly, she saw they were at the highest level of an amphitheater. Lucia grabbed her date’s arm as her eyes went wide. ”There they are!” Looking down from the top of the theater, she could see three cute little penguins with only a few people near them: two in very official looking outfits and two small groups of visitors.
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 4:30 pm
A low, bemused chuckle escaped the demon as the Kitten took his hand, leading him deeper into the outdoor display of the aquarium. He floated slightly behind her as they traversed the knick knack vendors and feeding spots without so much as a second glance, following the arrows and indicators for something that looked like a black and white jelly bean to Zul. The closer they got, the more amused he became by the cartoonish depictions, Lucia's excitement only lending to his slight bewilderment of the creatures. Could they really look like that?
The exhibit cast some cool shadow over them as they passed its walls before the sun crested over them again, lighting the center of the great theatre. Though his 'date' was interested in what rested within the stage, Zul himself was in awe of the building. He'd never seen anything on such a scale! Sure, it wasn't the largest contraption in the world, but the way it was set up and simplicity of it impressed him.
His arm was grabbed, drawing him out of his reverie and tugging his attention back to the stage - and there they were...whatever they were! Zul stared for a few moments before blinking slowly, tilting his head this way and that to understand what the heck he was looking at. "They're...small," he commented in silent wonder. Resting his hand over Lucia's grip on his arm, he lead her down one of the many staircases that lead to the center of the threatre, approaching the small group of visitors though his eyes remained on the prize.
"...they're..." The demon found himself at a loss for words. How could he explain them? They looked like pillows that rolled in ink! They were rather thick and wet, though, and he wasn't entirely sure they'd be as soft as pillows. Nonetheless, he gave a short sound of laughter before grinning at Lucia. "They're cute! But," he leaned in, lowering his voice, "I think you wear the bow better." Zul was completely solemn in his statement, righting himself again and watching the three waddling birds with open curiosity.
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:08 pm
As Zul led the Kitten down towards the stage, Lucia's grin got wider. "They're adorable! Oh my god I want one!" The frei grinned trying to figure out how to smuggle one out in her bra or something. She could build a little frozen hut in her back yard! She had the ocean, she could get a pool. And ice. Lots of ice. The kitten was in love.
As the demon laughed Lucia realized that her arm was still wrapped around his, he was still there with her. She turned her head to him, and smiled as he grinned at her. The kitten giggled happily at the compliment and hugged his arm to her body. "Oh I bet it'd look pretty cute on them!" She pictured one of the little black and white penguins with the purple and black tie around its neck.
At they stood at the edge of the stage, the one penguin without a group of people huddling around him waddled towards the two frei. "Oh my gooddd!!" She wanted to -- was she allowed to? Reaching her hand towards the penguin it waddled towards them further. "Can we touch him? I mean he came over here on his own. . . " Lucia wished they had a fish or something -- could they get one from that tank at the beginning of their visit?
The frei kept her fingers together and flat so that the bird wouldn't think her appendages were flopping delicacies. Leaning towards the black head, she softly pet the penguin. "It's soft! And pretty warm!"
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Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 10:10 pm
The demon stifled a bit of laughter at Lucia's excited claim and grin, watching her out of the corner of his blue eyes. He didn't really know what she'd do with a penguin, unless it was for a bit of a snack; the things still looked like a ridiculously deformed jelly bean to him, and he couldn't help but smile at the way the things waddled and looked around with such vacant stares. Even Alex's stuffed animals seemed to have more going on behind their beady eyes than these things!
"Yes," Zul answered the Kitten's question, not knowing if it was the right answer but not particularly caring. If the humans could be around the deformed beans, so too could the Raevans. "It likes you!" The comment was filled with amusement and a bit of pride as Lucia pet the silly creature, a grin slowly dominating his features. Her exclamation made him laugh in earnest, though he kept his smoky tone quiet and tamed. He didn't want to scare the penguin! "Warm? Soft? They look...slick and cold." Master of the obvious, he was, but he also was exceptionally guilty of judging many a book by its cover.
Releasing their touch so Lucia could more easily interact with the penguin, he looked around towards the humans and then back to his friend. "Do you have a camera?" he inquired, his grin settling into a light smile. "This is worth remembering." Coming from Zul, it was as much of a compliment as the funny looking birds were going to get.
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:54 am
"Yeah his feathers are just shiny. I bet if he was wet he'd be slick. But right now he's really soft." The frei stroked the penguin who was obviously used to attention from humans and humanoids. Lucia gently rubbed her fingers down his back. The penguins head turned left and right looking at everything around him. He seemed to especially like Zul's ribbon as he stared at it and looked up to the face that accompanied the floating swirl.
At the mention of a camera, Lucia immediately dismayed -- she didn't have a camera. "I don -- Wait Wait!" she said as she had an epiphany. "My phone has a camera on it! But you need to be in it too." Lucia grabbed Zul's hand with a smile and pulled her camera out of her bag with the other hand. She brought up the camera function with the one hand.
"Let's get around him and I'll just take the picture." Pulling Zul down as she floated closer to the ground, Lucia slid her arm around the demon's ribs as they floated right behind the penguin. The Kitten held the camera up and out in front of them, a smile lighting up her face. "1, 2, 3, Smile!" she said as she pushed the button to take the picture. Releasing Zul and flipping the phone around, Lucia brought up the picture and grinned. She had captured herself, Zul and the penguin in the frame. "We look so cute!" she exclaimed, showing him the image. With one last pet to the penguin, she watched him waddle back to the trainers. It must be feeding time, the penguins seemed very excited.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:46 pm
Zul found himself suddenly grabbed and tugged down next to the bean-bird and Lucia. He gave the Kitten only a briefly bewildered look before looking to her phone, its back facing them. The demon wasn't so technologically challenged that he didn't know about camera features, but it still amused him, how silly it looked. His arm slipped behind her wings, fingers against her side as Lucia counted down, giving a quirked smile for the camera. The audible *click* signaled their success, allowing the male to float upright again.
He moved behind her to see the picture, immediately grinning at what he saw.
 (( Placeholder until I doodle another one I'm satisfied with! DX ))
"Very cute," the demon agreed with warmth in his voice, eyes flicking over the phone and towards the penguin as it waddled away. Keeping near, he inclined his head towards the birds, asking, "Stay for feeding, or was there more you wanted?" Zul was all for spending the rest of the day with the Kitten, but he knew tracking time was not a strong point; more than that, he wanted the day to be enjoyable and memorable for Lucia. What she wanted was ultimately what she would get. He didn't know how much time she would need to look around or get back home, and the last thing he wanted to do was fail to be a gentleman - to fail being a friend.
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