Sallie & Raguel's hot date

[un_fallen]

"I have to say, I'm glad that you chose the zoo," Raguel says enthusiastically, piloting the battered pickup along a climbing, winding road toward Griffith Park. "I spend as much time as I can in this area, but I don't get to wander that part of it much."

Once they enter the park, the road takes them through an area that has clearly been devastated by fire, now with signs of new growth here and there as the greenery starts to come back. Around and around goes the road, Raguel taking turns confidently enough but with no apparent reasoning. He points out landmarks as they go, some more recognizable through the devastation than others.

"There was a fire here last year," he says by way of explanation. "A few of these roads are still closed, but I think it's worth the detours to come this way instead of the freeway."

He glances over at her hopefully. Though at this point he should be mostly hopeful that she's not about to be sick.

Comments

[un_fallen]

"I don't know, but it smells so nice," he says. "The sign says--" he skims through. "--Eucalyptus. Must have some kind of fruit or something that - oh." He looks suddenly crestfallen.

"It's toxic."

Crushed!

[realmrsreynolds]

"Humans always get the boring end of the food chain."

One schoolchild overhears and gives Sallie a look that distinctly reads Time to get away from the weird old lady.

"They're just all...relaxing in the trees. Must be nice."

[un_fallen]

"Yeah. Must be," he agrees. "Can't be very comfortable, though, sleeping like that." One koala in particular is bent almost double, head resting on the same branch that its feet are gripping with powerful claws.

"None of them even look depressed."

[realmrsreynolds]

This wins Raguel a somewhat dubious glance, back and forth between the koalas and him, from Sallie.

"Are they supposed to be depressed? Or is that just the default emotion for anything sleeping in a tree?"

[un_fallen]

"Uh. It might be," he says uncomfortably. He watches Sallie looking back and forth between himself and the fuzzy creatures in the trees. Come to think of it, he's willing to bet that they're looking at him a little funny as well. It seems further explanation may be required.

"Milliways," he adds in a dark undertone.

[realmrsreynolds]

Sallie isn't following.

She is remarkably naive of some of the more transfiguration-like tendencies of the bar.

"What about Milliways?"

[un_fallen]

Raguel looks surprised, then distressed. He glances back at the koalas and could swear there are more of them awake now than there were five minutes ago. Watching.

"You, uh. You know how Bar likes to play strange tricks on people? Putting her patrons in funny clothes and stuff?

[realmrsreynolds]

"Actually...shi a."

Oops, she'd forgotten.

"My son got turned into a puppet, once. Bit Senator Tam."

[un_fallen]

"He bit him?" Raguel repeats, snickering right up until he realizes that his own experience is actually equally embarrassing. To him, anyway. He looks back at the koalas.

"It's a little fuzzy." No, that's not quite right. The fuzzy creatures stare at him balefully.

"Hazy, I mean. Bar was on an animal kick or something, maybe an object in the bar. Anyway, I was one of them for a night."

He jerks his head toward the trees. "It was, uh. Uncomfortable. And depressing."

[realmrsreynolds]

"He was a puppet. It couldn't've hurt."

Sallie listens to Raguel explain.

And does not laugh.

Really. She's enjoying the zoo too much.

"What do you say to an aviary or some such? I've got my koala pictures," Sallie attempts to be magnanimous.

[un_fallen]

"What kind of a puppet?" he asks with some suspicion. If Gabriel Tam had thought it would be amusing to stick a hand up Mal's... well. Raguel couldn't really blame him. On the other hand, it didn't really sound like the Senator's style.

"Yeah," he agrees quickly. "Yeah, let's get out of here. They're kinda giving me the evil eye."

[realmrsreynolds]

"Aviary it is."

As they leave, two schoolkids look at each other.

Did they really just say 'What kind of a puppet?'

[un_fallen]

They duck out of the marsupials building - Raguel with a certain sense of relief, though he'll miss that tantalizing scent of food. The nearest aviary isn't far; they find it easily by the sound of chirping, squawking and hooting that rises from the screened-in building.

"Sure you want to go in there?" Raguel asks warily.

[realmrsreynolds]

"Absolutely.




"Though if there's a reason why I shouldn't want to, you need to tell me."

[un_fallen]

"No, I'm sure it's fine," he says. "If anything supernatural got caught by mistake, it's long gone."

Why do I have bad memories of the entire animal kingdom? he wonders as they go inside.

[realmrsreynolds]

This does not do as much as Raguel might hope to ease any concerns on Sallie's part.

She opens the door to the aviary anyway, and spends a solid few minutes just staring upward.

"I have never understood why birds would ever be blue or red, or other colors that weren't nature-like."

[un_fallen]

"Got me," Raguel says, staring the same way from right beside her. "As long as they get you there, why do you have to have feathers in day-glow purple? 'Course, I guess it wasn't up to them."

[realmrsreynolds]

"Speakin' from experience?"

[un_fallen]

"Well, not really. I was never that flashy; had to keep a low profile, you know, even when there were feathers everywhere." He shrugs.

"I know a few with odd colors, but nothing that intense. Mine're gray."

[realmrsreynolds]

Sallie bites her lip, whether in thought or confusion is anyone's guess.

"I suppose...I suppose I hadn't really thought of you like that.

"Hidden...talents, I mean." She opens her mouth to speak again, but gives up whatever thought might have been uttered to plop her elbows down on the railing and stare up at a macaw that is appearing to pose for that bright yellow camera in Sallie's hands. "Rutting Milliways."

[un_fallen]

"Of me?" he says, still staring upward. "Hey, look at that one-- damn, it's flown away. I swear, it was electric blue."

His chin comes down for a moment and he rubs the back of his neck.

"Oh. You didn't know I was, er. One of the flying types?"

[realmrsreynolds]

"Not...not that I can be sure on?

"You folk really ought to come with some sort of educational material. A pamphlet? Data sheet? Somethin'."

[un_fallen]

"If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't a flying type till a year or so ago. Almost two, now. Well, once I was, I guess, but that was before there was a universe, and-- and I should just go back to bird-watching."

[realmrsreynolds]

"I'm thinking that'd be a good plan for the both of us, really."

Except, now? Sallie's still watching the birds go about their business.

But -- also watching Raguel.

More specifically?

His back.

She's not staring. Polite women do not stare.

[un_fallen]

Raguel nods, turning back to the birds, but Sallie's divided attention is hard to miss. He leans over to speak quietly.

"Kinda hard in here. But I'll show you when we get back, if you want?"

They were long enough coming, so it's not hard to get him to show them off.