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 Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 2:55 pm
  The zoo was a bustling place, thick with sounds and smells and things that were way too big for Roulette's comprehension. He was wedged in between a large woman with a stroller and his Ma, who was gripping his hand a bit too tight. He winced, pursing his lips and looked around. Nev had wanted him to get out more, since he was becoming a couch potato, just watching TV all day. The zoo had seemed an ideal place to her, so she had driven them to the city zoo on a sunday, which now was rather busy and full.
There's too many people here... thought the child, grimacing slightly as another crowd of children and parents brushed next to him, trying to get a good look at some of the more dangerous sights. He would've rather stayed at home and watched some Vortex on YTV or something, but nooo, Ma just HAD to bring him here, with all these people that made his fur bristle violently. It was a nice day, actually, sun with a few clouds. No breeze though, and that was annoying.
"What do you wanna see?" Asked the girl, grinning as she looked around. Seeing her kid's frown, she squeezed his cheeks roughly. "Comeon Roule, I didn't bring you out here just to glare everyone to death.. You should've worn something more appropriate for today anyways."
Dusting off his jacket, the raven-haired girl cast a glance around, looking for the signs.
"Oh! See, there's the aquatic exibit.. The cats are over there.. And the bears are just around here! What do you wanna see?"
Roule thought about it for a few seconds before a bright food stand caught his eye. "Food." He said evenly, giving Nev a small smile. The mom sighed exasperatedly. "Anything besides that..?" She asked, chuckling at his reply. The weasel shrugged. The Zoo looked cool, but there were.. once again, too many people.
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 3:22 pm
 "Medusa, you have to watch where you're going," Murmured a soft voice, pulling a very blue girl out of the way of two talking women, who obviously weren't looking where they were going. The girl glanced up at the tall red-haired woman, giving a reassuring smile.
"M'fein, ma..." She trailed off, spotting the weasel boy and reaching out to touch a bit of his hair. His hair was so much different than hers, so smooth and silky!
She completely overlooked the fact that she might shock him, seeing as how she had tentacles on her fingers. Medusa had gotten used to the fact that she didn't hurt Kanth anymore with touching; Kanth had gotten used to it, and harmlessly forgot to warn the girl of anyone else she might encounter.
Of course, Kanth was too late to warn the other; all she could do was widen her eyes, and hope against hope that Medusa didn't touch the young boy's skin.
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 3:23 pm
 
"It's educational," Raven had said. "The child needs knowledge of animals, not only the fact that there can be sentient children that resemble them. Besides which, he's inside far too often for his own good." And so, they planned a trip to the zoo.
Of course, Raven had mysteriously taken ill on the morning they were to go, so the duty of watching Anoki had fallen to Mahou. The elf was well aware that there was no illness, but she didn't really mind. The trip was a bit of a vacation for her as well, and zoos were always fun. "Come on, Anoki. What do you want to see first?"
Clinging to Mahou's hand, Anoki looked around nervously. The first thing he wanted to see was the exit- there were too many people around for his liking- but he knew better than to say so. Even though Mahou was pretty nice, she reported everything to Mama Ray, who wasn't as gentle. "Umm. You p-pick."
Mahou sighed. "Well... how about we get a quick snack, while you think about it?" Since they had no car, they had to use other, slightly tiring methods of transportation. The food stall was a welcoming sight.
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 3:35 pm
Making their way to the happy-hotdog & burger stall, Roule felt a spark go through his body. Turning around, (and stopping Nev in the process of walking), he found himself about 2 inches away from an.. uh.. extraordinary blue thing.
"Woah." Was the only thing Roule was able to fit in before he started to inspect the thing. Not closely or anything, but woooow, it was so cool! It was kinda.. see-throughy too. Looking up and grinning and completely letting go of his ma's hand, the boy straightened. The spark had hurt a tiny bit, but it had twinged off now, replaced with a kind of not-so-silent awe. Nev had just noticed.. horns? A kid with horns? He or she was going to the food stall as well, and well, you didn't see kids with horns every day. D-corp spread through her mind. The thought was interrupted as she felt her kidling's hand slip from her's. Nev panicked for a moment before rushing back a few steps to see what was going on. Turning around, she spotted what Roule was fascinated with.
"Wha--hey, Roule! Stoppit, it's not polite to stare." She grimaced and nudged him gently and offering a polite apology. "Sorry, uh.. my kid likes staring, please excuse him.." The girl heaved a small sigh and offered a hand. "Uh.. I'm Nev, I guess. This may be slightly.. off-topic and completely nonsensical, but do you knows know of D-corp?" The horned child crossed her mind again. Darn. He probably wouldn't leave from the stall for another minute or so. Roule needs to meet more people, she thought erradically.
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:07 pm
Oh, good. Kanth let out a sigh of very visible relief, seeing that the boy wasn't harmed in the slightest. At hearing a voice, Kanth looked up and noticed another talking to her, and gave a smile. "Medusa doesn't mind being stared at, she's half jellyfish. She kind of enjoys the attention." Nodding, Kanth continued. "I have heard of Dcorp..." Eyes narrowed, "That's where I got her from. Don't really appreciate the blackmail, as it's unneeded, but what can you do." Giving a shrug, she flipped her hair over her shoulder, annoyed at it - she'd have to cut it again.
"I brought Medusa to the zoo so she could see jellyfish up close, instead of just in books."
Medusa smiled at the weasel boy, glad that he had noticed her. "Yew liek fssh?" She asked, pointing to the fish that was currently swimming around in her stomach rather proudly.
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:16 pm
"A bag of popcorn and two smoothies please," Mahou requested. Popcorn was standard fare for a concession, but smoothies were pretty upscale. The zoo must have been faring well. "One strawberry, one... Anoki, sweetie, what do you want?"
Anoki wasn't listening, his eyes instead on a flash of blue he'd glimpsed in the crowd. At first he thought it was someone in a suit, like the person dressed like a zebra at the entrance. But this person was way too short. Shorter than him, even. With someone who might have been a mom.
"Anoki? Smoothie?"
"Uhh... b-banana." Staring was impolite, so Anoki looked at the menu again and tried not to think about the blue person. It was difficult.
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:29 pm
Nev sighed in relief. "Haha, that's good 'cause Roule.. loves to stare. He doesn't really have a concept of personal space yet, and I'm not quite sure if he'll ever get one." She chuckled lightly and the weasel didn't even look up as he was again, checking out the blue thing.
Blackmail? Thought Nev, but didn't really inquire to it. It may be a touchy subject, and she had just met this woman. "Really? I got Roule from D-corp too, but he looks far too normal.. 'cept for the tail and ears. He just looks really pale."
Ears perking at the mention of talk of him, Roule looked up, his grin resurfacing from the look of curiousity that had aroused a few seconds ago. "Yuup! Imma weasel." He stopped the conversation at that though and bent down, inspecting the fish. Neee, why didn't he have one? "That's cooool." The weasel replied, using a word he had heard from Nara while watching it swim through her body. "Yor funny hehe.." he said, following the goldfish, and proceeded to reach out and attempt to prod it. Weird, he didn't have anything cool like that in his body... well at least he couldn't see if he did. It was all white down there.
Nev nodded before giving a quick glance to see if the boy with the horns had left yet.. And a person standing next to he or she. A parent? Nope, not yet. They looked like they may though. Turning back, she replied, "yea, that's pretty good. I don't think there's any weasel exibitions here though. Maybe?" She smiled warmly at Medusa. "What's her name? She's quite pretty."
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:36 pm
"Medusa," Kanth replied, glancing over to where the woman was looking. "Someone you know?"
"Wezel?" Medusa inquired curiously, letting him poke her stomach - after all, everyone else and their mother did, what was one more? So, if he was touching her, she could touch him back, right? Reaching out with her fingers, she prodded his stomach gently, eyes widening at the softness of the fur.
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:43 pm
It didn't take long for the smoothies to come, and once they did Mahou paid, handed Anoki's smoothie to him, and took her own and the popcorn in her hands. "Now, have you decided where you want to go?"
The first thing that came to Anoki's mind was "home," but that would be rude. The second was "to go see the blue person" but that would be even ruder. So he was stuck with his last answer. "N-no..."
"Here." Somehow while juggling the food Mahou stuck a straw in Anoki's drink. "No, huh? Do you want to see a map? You should really get to see what you want to, Anoki." The child really needed to take a more active interest in things. Then again, considering where some of his interests had taken him (the hospital for instance), it was really no surprise that he was so withdrawn most of the time.
Anoki looked at Mahou, instead of where he was walking. "B-but you c-can see t-t-too, and-" He stopped abruptly, having bumped into someone in front of him. The top of his cup came loose, and milky yellow liquid splashed everywhere, especially on Anoki's favorite blue shirt.
"Oh no... Anoki, you really need to watch where you're going!" Mahou's eyes widened, taking in the damage. "I'm terribly sorry about this. I have some napkins, please take them."
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:54 pm
(I'm guessing he bumped into Roule? XD No clue haha *cough*)
Roule squeaked, as sparks had momentarily ran up his spine. It stung but the surprise was furthened as something bumped into this back and yellow liquid splashed across his brown jacket. Turning around immediately, he squeaked and almost knocked headfirst into a brown boy with horns. Nev held onto him, preventing him from slipping but sighed and took the napkins with a thanks. "Geez Roule, I told you not to wear this jacket. I think it attracts stains." Removing it, she turned to the boy.
It was him! "Oh hey! Sorry about that, I guess we were just standing in the way.." The girl chuckled anxiously, attempting to make conversation. She sopped up the liquid from the thick jacket until she had drained most of the smoothie of it and draped it over her arm. Roule was wearing a simple black top now, and he looked as frowny as ever. That something had hurt before the brown thing knocked into him.. Uweh.
"Anyways, I'm Nev," she offered to the elf, a crooked smile placed on her face. Letting the horned boy clean up himself, the girl turned back to Kanth and shrugged apologetically. "Ha, no, I was intrigued.. Thought the kid looked a bit like a D-corp kid, don'tcha think?"
Roule had returned to inspecting both the boy and the blue girl as well, looking at them both, turning his head. It made him dizzy, but lookit that! 4 new people already! Ma must be ecstatic.
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 5:00 pm
So many new people, and so little time! Medusa was glad Kanth was packing around a lot of water; she wanted to stay here for a long while with her new friends. Stepping over to the new one that appeared, Medusa reached out and scraped off a bit of whatever spilled on the blue shirt, then brought it to her mouth and sucked on her fingers, as if experimentally tasting it.
It tasted good, she realized, as her eyes widened. Sorrowfully, she looked at the spilled drink, wanting more.
"You're right. I didn't see the boy at first," Kanth murmured, tapping her first knuckle against her lips in thought, then clapping her hands together softly. "Since we've all met up here by... oh say, fate? Why don't we explore the zoo together? It seems like our little ones are getting along fine," She offered, glancing to her little girl and smiling.
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 5:23 pm
"S-sorry." It was another mistake. Anoki was starting to get used to them. Without any real hesitation he bowed his head, just like he was taught. Then he let Mahou start to clean him up a bit. At least he knew the shirt was washable; it had come through mud and flour and painting with almost no trace. Which may well have been the reason it was his favorite.
While the sting of spilling the drink and inconveniencing everyone was starting to ebb, he did notice a blue hand touching his shirt. And he did NOT like that. Maybe if whoever it was asked, or they were talking about it, or something. Either way, Anoki knew better than to bring it up, especially after being so clumsy. Instead he maintained a somewhat sour expression, looking at the other kids less than happily.
Once Mahou had finished her job she handed her popcorn to Anoki, with a whispered "share." To the adults she smiled, though clearly embarassed. "Again, my apologies. If there's anything else I can do, please let me know." Normally if Mahou was dealing with strangers, that would have been that. The mention of D-Corp intrigued her, however, and she continued. "D-Corp? My mistress works there. She was taken ill today, and asked me to take Anoki Kenelm to the zoo. And yes," she said, turning to Kanth, "I think that they would have far more fun in a group."
In Anoki's opinion, the chances of that were slim. Still, he held out the bag of popcorn sullenly, after popping a couple kernels in his mouth.
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 5:35 pm
 
Roule immediately took a handful, since they had never even made it to the foodstall without getting interrupted by 2 other kids and their parents. The thought never occurred to him that it might be greedy to take a lot. Nev cringed but said nothing, turning to Mahou and Kanth. "Yea, me too. Roule might not 'cause he's such a lone wolf and all." She gave a small smile and Roule looked up, kernels in hand and mouth. "..or not?"
The weasel was inspecting Anoki fully now. His interest in Medusa was still rather vibrant like she was, but Anoki had this sourpuss look that rivaled his usual emotion. "Ne ne, don't feel like sharing?" The boy grinned, extracting more popcorn from the bag. The horned boy was weird, his skin was really dark and his eye colour really light... But he had pretty clothes at least. Roule reached out to touch the other boy's horns. Maaaaan, why does EVERYONE look cooler than he does? They had everything sticking out or in themselves and he was just normal. Go figure.
"..yeah, d-corp right? Go figure, we all meet at the zoo? It must be like Kanth says, fate." Nev grinned vulpine-like before looking around the vicinity. "So um.. shall we go somewhere? I'm not really sure where the kiddies would want to go look-see, though."
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 5:43 pm
Frowning at his reaction, Medusa prodded Roulette in the side, giving him a sour look. "Be neis," She ordered, before glancing to Anoki. "Eim M'dusa," She murmured softly, giving a small smile. "Who'er yew?"
Medusa's fingers wiggled as she looked at the juice on her fingers, then back to his shirt forlornly. Kanth caught this, and frowned.
"Medusa, you shouldn't touch things without permission." She said sternly, not minding that others were there to watch. "You have to ask." Glancing at Mahou, she smiled. "Your name is? I'm Kanth, forgive me for not introducing myself earlier." She smiled at Nev, as well. "What exhibit should we go see first?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 5:55 pm
"I d-don' m-mind sharing," Anoki returned. After all, he was only a little hungry, and spilling his drink had put a damper on his appetite as well as his mood. And at least this one wasn't touching him yet. However, it was as if that thought had jinxed him. "St-stop," he whined, batting the boy's hand away from his head. Would people stop touching him already?
Turning away from the adults for a moment, Mahou frowned. "Anoki, behave." Maybe the travelling together wasn't the best idea after all, but it was too late to get out of it now. "It may well be. My name is Mahou, Mahou Runako, and it is a pleasure to meet you. In regards to exhibits, Anoki did not have a preference, but I myself wondered if this zoo had something interactive, like a petting zoo or a show. The children might enjoy that more than simply watching."
More sullen than ever, Anoki turned to the blue girl. "'m 'n-noki."
"Anoki," Mahou said warningly.
Anoki took a deep breath. "I'm A-noki K-kenelm. N-nice to m-m-meet you."
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