Welcome to Gaia! ::

Maybe she had been a bit too hyper on the uptake, or maybe it was because she had been so gung-ho about seeing a city from the inside again -- or both, even. Either way, Margarita wasted no time in scampering off on her own once she was allowed into the urban environment, barely noticing that Nix was calling her to come back. She giggled instead, waving at him as she ran, as though he were telling her to have a good time. "See you in a few hours!" she barked back before switching gears, hitting a higher speed.

It wasn't the last time that Nix had lost her in the wilderness, though he had to admit that this was the first when the wilderness consisted of people rather than trees. He seemed frazzled, and mildly panicked, "She'd... behave herself, right?" He knew better than that.

However, it was a marvelously bright and sunny day, and the temperature had yet to rise to an uncomfortable heat. This was partly due to the fact that there was a pleasant breeze, which continuously tried to obscure Margarita's vision by tossing her frizzy bangs in her eyes. She snickered as she imagined veering off and into an onslaught of people, as though she were driving a truck, though there was a noticeable lack of carnage in the image -- rather, the people seemed more like rubber dolls.

Her eyes found another source of distraction before she attempted to mimic the imagery, and her footsteps found a full stop on the concrete sidewalk. She stared wide-eyed at the large sign strapped above the gated entrance for a few moments, but try as she might, no matter how much she willed it... it wouldn't tell her what it was supposed to say. It wasn't uncommon for her to make a mental sticky note in her mind about learning to read at some point, and she found herself doing the same thing yet again.

"Hey, you can't just waltz in here like that!" a uniformed man shouted at her, causing the grimer-girl to locate the source, befuddled. Responding with a questioning frown, the man continued (though a little confused as to her odd appearance), "You have to pay fare to get in. You know, get a ticket? The zoo isn't free."

Well... this was going to put a damper on things. Digging through her pockets, she managed to locate a half ball of lint, a blade of grass, and a salt shaker labeled 'Paprika.' Yeah... no way that was passing as any form of currency; she knew better. There must be an easier way in!

Margarita pouted a bit and kicked at a stray pebble, wondering if there were any openings in the walls where she could just... ninja her way in. She grinned at the thought; oh, that would be something worth trying, yes indeed. Unfortunately, the walls seemed very sturdy and, unfortunately, solid. There didn't seem to be much in the way of shrubbery around it, either, which meant that there wasn't any possibilities of hidden openings that had been carved out by another in her position. She didn't stop to wonder how ridiculous such a notion would be, for who in their right minds would want into a zoo that badly? Present company excluded, of course, but one could argue that she'd never been in her right mind to begin with.

Just then, another kid started calling over from the other side of the gate. She peered over, past her own elbow where her hands had been folded behind her head. The grimer-girl stared in surprise for a moment, for she wasn't sure if the boy was talking to her specifically, and she was trying to figure out what sort of pokémon he was. Those ears meant 'pokémon,' didn't they? She also didn't have a mom here, and she certainly didn't have a--

Her eyes lit up as she lowered her arms and glanced at the employee at the door, wondering if he'd believe the ruse. This was that thingamajiggy that Terpsichore liked to do, wasn't it? That-- oh, what was the word? 'Acting'! Yes, that thing! She beamed at herself proudly for remembering, before she also remembered that there was a play she had to finish producing. "Mom get the popcorn yet, then?" she asked as she casually wandered over, giving the man at the door a wary sideways glance. His confused frown seemed to ask, 'Did she come through here earlier?" However, he let her pass without a vocalization on the matter.

Once they had wandered out of earshot, she hopped once and giggled, "Ha! I really can be a ninja!" True, she wasn't under cover or anything, but being one in the open like that was more of an accomplishment, wasn't it? Spinning around on a heel to face the bunny-eared boy, she exclaimed, "Hey, thanks, by the way! You do that sort of thing often?" How exhilarating!

Margarita may have been decent at catching on so quickly, mostly because she had observed such behavior before, but she wasn't the best at keeping up with it; she kept finding herself glancing back at the employee to make sure he was still buying it. Luckily, the man was also much too busy to pay them much heed after they entered, so didn't keep an eye on them.

She turned back to the buneary-child, a confused glance at his actions after they were out of earshot that quickly turned into a bright grin. "Ha, you should try it more often! You're pretty good! He had absolutely no idea!" she stated with a triumphant laugh. This whole thing made her feel much more empowered than flinging random objects at family members!

Pausing briefly in her exuberance, she mulled over a previous thought, "Hey, have you ever had popcorn before, anyway? I heard it's pretty good... They sell stuff like that here, right?" It seemed as though, wherever many Gaians gathered in any sort of festivity, there always seemed to be some food item called 'popcorn' around. At least, that's how it was where she came from... this was some sort of festivity, correct? Her eyes scanned the area for any such stand before she realized how confused she was about... "Hey, what kind of place is this, anyway?"

Yes, she did just want to enter because it had an interesting gate, but now that she was here, it was time to do some exploring!

Margarita was completely unaware about how uncomfortable she may have been making her acquaintance with the compliments she offered in such a carefree manner. But, honestly, it had been a lot of fun! It wasn't very often anybody was willing to put up with her and have some fun. Granted... she did have a bit of a bad habit of making a horrible first impression, but the circumstances called for a different approach this time around. Perhaps it could work in her favor, if she could stop being so absent-minded.

Blinking, she shifted a hand into her own pocket at the mention of popcorn being salty, grabbing at the salt shaker in her own. Bringing it up to her face, she whispered to it, "You did that, too? Where haven't you been?" Stuffing the shaker back in her pocket, she took a glance around the area, as though she were attempting to display that she hadn't just done anything whatsoever. "Well, in that case, it sounds like it'd be pretty tasty, if a bit weird!" she replied, the grin replaced.

When the name of the place was offered to her, she could only stare blankly. Zoo? What a strange name for a place! She replied with a shake of her head, completely unaware a word like that even existed before she giggled, detracting the conversation a little, "Zoo! Pfff, that's a funny word!" Z's in general tended to be rather funny letters to Margarita, as they were hardly ever used; that, and they tickled her lips to say! They didn't do that before her transformation!

She was quite distracted by the word, in fact, that she was taken by surprise when she was tugged along once more by Blake. In fact, she was starting to find it a bit amusing to be led this way, as well as... probably rather efficient, given how much she tended to get herself lost in her mind. She peered at the bag of popcorn, pointing at it and then to herself, as though asking if she could try some, "Ohhh, I think I've seen that stuff littered on the streets before! That's what that was? And it was edible?" Margarita could have kicked herself for not trying it before when she had the chance, even though it would have been... well, off the streets. It's not like it would have made her sick, though; she was practically pollution incarnate.

Margarita flinched when Blake began laughing at her antics, unsure of what part of what she did was funny. Not only did that whole thing with the salt shaker not happen -- shh, she was convinced it didn't happen -- but it was very possible that anything she did could be found as amusing to some degree. Or annoying, that wasn't uncommon either. She just wasn't used to being able to interact with anyone without them running away from her odor! Okay, maybe Nix was right about something this time, as learning to control her scent was a pretty good idea.

Aaand now she was lost again. What were they talking about? Oh right, zoo! "People are weird sometimes, with their funny words and sound effects," she stated, folding her hands behind her head, "Like... food is kind of funny. And parallel. I think 'zoo' is funnier, though!" Blinking, she whipped her hands out and pretended she were an airplane for a moment, as though maybe that were the reason for the name, "Zzzzoooooooo!" The grimer girl came to an abrupt halt and shook her head, "Naw, there aren't any planes here, are there?" Weirdos.

"Why?" Margarita asked about not eating food off the streets, as though it were common custom to do so. Head tilted, she thought about the implications even as she motored her mouth, "Is there something bad about it? Is that str-- Ohhh... most people get sick from that, don't they?" Truth be told, she thought illness was kind of strange and didn't exactly understand it. Then again, she couldn't just absorb things into an amorphous body anymore, either, so she was beginning to have a thread of understanding on things that seemed to go way over her head before. She giggled at the shudder, spouting the first thing that came to mind in the context of the entire conversation, "You're funny!"

Her eyes scanned the bag of popcorn as they moved through the tourist-laden pathways, taking note almost immediately to what was different about this bag of freshly-popped corn and the stuff that littered the streets a day after an event. For one thing, it was still warm, and had a much more pleasingly-fragrant smell to it. It hadn't been sitting out in the sun or rain for hours, soaking in whatever was around it. Grabbing a handful, she popped a few in her mouth and gasped after a few bites, "Tiny, crunchy clouds!" She wasn't expecting there to be so much air in them! "Oh! Ohmygosh, that was so cool! Lookit this!" she practically bounced in place. Tongue sticking out, she set one of the popped kernels on it and wiggled her tongue gently. It stuck for a second or two before falling, Margarita attempting to catch it only to have it bounce from a wrist. Taking no time in grieving over the fallen piece, she explained, "It's... sticky, but not!" What a strange, strange snack-food!

The purple-skinned child was completely oblivious to the stares she was gathering her way, just as long as they didn't near her. It didn't seem like any of the passersby were daring enough to do such a thing, though. Maybe they thought they'd catch the crazy, who really knew? At least one person was sticking around, and that's what mattered!

Rocking on her heels, she glanced skyward, only to be temporarily blinded by the sun. "Ack!" she yelped, but continued to look up with a more skillfully placed arm blocking the rays. Aww, she didn't see any planes in the sky... "They must have been on lunch break," she concluded. Oh well, animals were good enough! Though... what sort of animals were here? Were there any interesting ones that lacked the label of 'pokémon'? Huh, that conceited thought came out of the blue. Of course, she completely forgot that just glancing around could give her the vaguest ideas for answers she had been seeking. Margarita's mind was much likened to that of a grasshopper, however, and the curiosity was temporarily put on the back burner. She just had to make sure she didn't forget about it, since leaving anything on a burner was asking for trouble. She wouldn't get the smell out for weeks! And that was why her trainer banned her from ever trying to cook anything again...

Oh good grief, she was lost again. Her eyes showed severe bewilderment for a moment before she found that salty taste on her tongue again and grinned. That must have been what Blake was responding to. "You have any yet?" the girl asked, "I didn't, um, make a mess of it." She seemed compelled to add that last bit in, just in case people weren't aware that she didn't constantly pollute anything she touched anymore. As though a simple glance wouldn't have done the same.

Margarita whipped her head around to where Blake had indicated, hopping over to the barricade to investigate what such a thing looked like. As she did so, she couldn't help but, yet again, giggle at the strange name. Once she actually saw them, her giggles increased, "They don't look like peas!" She knew what peas looked like! They were really pretty, sure, but she had been expecting sentient green spheres!

Margarita had pouted about the sun attacking her like that. After all, she had been in a couple of pokémon battles in her life, but she was always able to hit back if she really wanted to. "Well the sun doesn't play fair!" she retorted a complaint, "Punching people in the eye is not good sportsmanship when I can't punch it back!" Once her head had been turned from the sunny sky, she was rubbing at her affected eyes. Her vision was blowing shiny bubbles! How distracting!

At least she could still see past the bubbles in her eyesight, and she was used to working past distractions. Or, at least, working the distractions into her thought processes. That wasn't always a good thing, but at the very least... she was consistent? Suppose that wasn't a very positive idea either, but it worked for the grimer!

Glancing down at the bag of popcorn, she stared at the contents with wide eyes, then turned back to Blake. "Really? You sure? I thought you were just letting me try it!" she stated. It didn't seem to register to her that 'sharing' could also mean 'giving,' or that 'share' could also be used as a noun. Come to think of it, had he actually said that word, or was she putting words in his mouth? Well, regardless, there was something that one was suppose to say in situations, wasn't there? What was it? Oh yes! "You're welcome! Ack, wait..." -- no, that wasn't it; that just sounded weird -- "Thank you! Yeah!" Much better!

The girl squinted at the birds in the pen, trying to think of what made people call them peacocks. "Well... they're green?" she attempted, but even she could tell that that didn't make sense. They were also blue and black and white and yellow and... She snickered, "Their tails are bigger 'an they are! That must get annoying, dragging it everywhere. What if it got caught on something?"