Welcome to Gaia! ::

[This is a completely open RP -- anyone and everyone is free to join in! I am vaguely basing the layout of the zoo off my local one: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Visit/ZooMap/ (If you click on the map, it opens into a larger one in a PSD file. It is not very detailed -- it only lists the very major exhibits -- but it should give you a good idea of what's where. Since this is RP, of course, there's no need to be accurate, so feel free to throw in any kind of animals and exhibits you want!) ]

Rhine had recently decided that anyone wanting to go to the zoo in winter (albeit the last of the season, but still, it was winter!) was crazy. Apparently this accurately described a good chunk of the Gaian population. The National Zoo was bustling with activity and families -- not so many as to be comfortably crowded, but enough to make the young boy start to question the contents of the local tapwater.

The only reason he was here himself was that a certain someone had demanded it in her usual way: by running around the house repeatedly screaming at the top of her lungs that she wished to go to the zoo, pretty please! When this did not work, she subjected them all to puppet shows (the mere thought of them made his fingers start to twitch.) Their parents, of course, were the usual kind of 'busy' (said with a half-smile and a nearly audible sigh of relief) -- and Cianan, the ungrateful git, had managed to weasel his way out of it by hacking and coughing a lot until their mother had put him to bed. Which left him to be their unfortunate sacrifice to the neverending pool of energy this girl possessed.

The perpetrator in question held the sleeve of his coat in a tight grip for balance as she leaned forward to peer curiously at the slab of rock the zoo map was engraved into. Thankfully, it was not so cold that it required much bundling up; Taji wore thick, fuzzy socks beneath her bee boots, and tights, and a white fur-lined pea coat in a rose color and with a white bunny stitched on the lapel (made more properly hardcore by the haphazard addition of devil horns in uneven, black stitches), but was otherwise lacking the giant snowball of winter clothing she would normally be subjected to. She scuffed her boots against the cobblestone lining the primary road through the zoo, the Olmstead Walk; they were not very far from the Visitor Center.

"I want to see," she finally decided, accompanying this ensuing announcement with several hard tugs on Rhine's sleeve, "I want to see the panda baby, an' the tiger babies, an' the giraffes, an' the alligators, an'.. an' the... the elelelelephants."

Hn. Only two predators out of five -- and one of them was not yet big enough to do much preying. Well, it was a start. Rhine obligingly squinted down at the map, trying to determine the best route -- the giraffes and the elephants were next to one another, with the panda habitat on the way. The alligators and the tigers, however, were on the other side of the zoo; they could start there, cutting through the bird exhibit, and make their way back, but he was not sure if Taji would be up to so much walking. "What do you want to see first?"

Taji gave this due consideration, appropriately humming the Jeopardy theme music as she thought. "The polar bears!" She finally decided emphatically, accentuating this with a little hop. Rhine sighed torturedly as Taji twirled and leaped and began to sing a nonsensical song about polar bears and seals and making snowmen.

It might not have been ideal weather for a trip to the zoo, but Smerdle had promised, and Shye hadn't let her forget it. The two had spent the last hour watching hand-raised falcons and rehabilitated one-winged eagles flap around their humane prison, and even though Shye was no closer to figuring out how his own papery wings worked, he felt Empowered. It also helped that he was on a sugar high.

"Ma!" he shrieked. "Lookit!"

Smerdle looked and Shye leaped, his ridiculous wings wavering in a sudden breeze. Printed on the toddler's back in large, black capitals were the words FOR A GOOD TIME CALL DWAYNE followed by their home phone number. Deph, Smerdle's perpetually pissed-off housemate, had recently discovered the joys of Sharpie fumes and graffiti, and Shye's back now doubled as the tiny man's own personal faux Craigslist. The ink and paint - and, in one instance, jelly - faded into Shye's papery skin after about a day or so, and Smerdle had initially wondered what that much toxic marker would do to a person's bloodstream. Not much, if Shye was any indication.

"Where do you want to go now?" Smerdle asked. She secretly hoped he said 'home,' but understanding that was a statistical impossibility, she wasn't disappointed with his answer, no matter how vague it happened to be.

"Dunno," Shye said. He kept walking, bobbing up and down on his light-up shoes and waving to every fifth person he passed.

She understands...

Rei let a happy sigh slip out as she walked with Kimi-Ryu. Ever since hearing the advertisement for the zoo on the radio, Kimi had insisted on going. So of course it got put off till today because of the very busy schedule. "Where to Kimi dear?"

Kimi skipped along beside her mother in her froggy coat humming happily. She had rather enjoyed seeing the elephants, and was sure she had decided on what was next. She ran slightly ahead and jumped in front of her mother. "Lets go see the zebras next!"

"Alright, they are pretty close, so thats good." Rei grabbed onto Kimi's hand and began to skip along with the young one. Whenever she was with Kimi, she felt like a kid again. She wanted to have fun and act silly, which was done when together. She didn't care if they were getting looks from those around. The two were having fun.

...But she does not comprehend.

She understands...

Kimi leaned against the fence of the zebra section and gasped at how odd their markings were. Sometimes, out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw the black and white stripes switch. She would giggle everytime this happened, and tug on Rei's sleeve to look. After repeating this a few times she turned and looked at Rei. "Mommy, can we go see the cheetahs next?"

"The cheetahs? Sure, why not. they are right next door." Rei held her daughters little hand and made her way through the small crowd towards the cheetah habitat. Upon rounding the corner so they could see better, Rei noticed many faces that were familiar.

Kimi jumped up and down excitedly and waved. "Hi Elazu!" She went running towards the two leaving her mother tagging behind.

However, Rei also noticed the other two. "Rhine? Taji? Is that you? Haven't seen you in a good while. Taji you've gotten so big!"

...But she does not comprehend.

Elazu's pointed ears perked up at the mention of his name. With his hands gripped onto the top of the gate he leaned back, craning his head backwards to see who had called him. His green eyes immediately lit up at the sight of Taji.

" TAJI!" His hands suddenly became fluid and he jumped down from the gate, landing solidly on the concrete. He skipped up to meet Taji half way before his mother finally caught up with him, grabbing hold of the back of his shirt and tugging him to her side. He grinned widely at Taji before finally taking notice of another familiar face. " Kimi!" He grinned widely, clapping his hands together excitedly.

Risika smiled toward the familiar faces, but was curious about the one attached to Taji's arm. " I've met Taji, but not you." She extended her hand toward Rhine, smiling warmly. " I'm Risika, Elazu's....Mother." She waved happily toward Rei with her other hand. Coming the the Zoo was surely a good idea.

She understands...

Kimi twitched her tail after Taji let it drop. "I like your boots." She smiled sweetly and turned to mom. "Mommy, am I an animal?"

Rei raised an eyebrow. What an odd question, though of course she would be curious after Taji's comment. "No dear. Your special, but not an animal. I have animal ears and a tail, but am I an animal?"

"No mommy, you are not an animal." She turned back to Taji. She lowered her head and pointed to her horn. "I remember you wanted to touch it before. Go ahead, I don't mind. You can too Elazu."

"Hey Risika." Rei waved. "Umm, Rhine where is your brother? And your parents?"

Rei then stepped closer to Risika, and said quiet enough so the others wouldn't hear. "Hey, has Elazu been acting odd lately? Like talking to himself or just spending time alone?"

...But she does not comprehend.

Taji leaned up on tiptoes to very delicately take a slippery grip of Kimi's horn and tug firmly on it. Determined that, no, it would not detatch from her head, she let go and let her arms drop, satisfied. "Do you do magic with it?" She wanted to know, "Like lazer beams an'.. an' thunderbolts!" A horn could be very useful -- perhaps she should look into growing one herself! She had never seen a horn seed before, but surely one had to exist!

"Cianan is sick," Rhine said carefully, a little sulky he was apparently being excluded from the 'big kids' conversation, "And my parents are very busy with various affairs." He idly scratched a non-existant itch at the back of his head, hoping they'd soon be doing something far more interesting than grabbing at each other and whispering behind hands. There were animals eating other animals out there to see!

"What kind of nanananimals do you like best?" Taji asked curiously to the other two children, rocking on her feet.

Gabrielle was quite taken with the red panda bears. They had such sweet faces and were so lazy, draped all over each other in big, comfortable heaps.

Her attention was drawn away from the fuzzy looking critters when she heard her illustrious nickname being called out. Chubby hands clapped together in glee when she caught sight of Shye, her almost frantic movements nearly toppling the stroller. Freak wasn't thrilled, though, and eyed the boy warily.

"Mommymommymommymommy no no no no! Shhhhhyyeeeee! We luuuubs him, gogogogogogo!" Each 'go' was punctuated by Gabrielle rocking back and forth in the stroller as if she could propel herself towards Shye by her own actions.

Rome caught sight of the winged boy, a grin crossing her features. She lifted Gabrielle out, and the babe (with wobbly, hesitant steps) slowly clomped her way over to her friend, proudly showing off her newly attained walking skills.