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

[realmrsreynolds]

Sallie takes the flyer, but doesn't look down, not at all.






"Did you just say dragons. Like. Dragons, dragons."

[un_fallen]

"Well, yeah, but. I don't know, it might be the smaller kind," he says uncertainly. "That's what it said. We can go see, if you want?"

[realmrsreynolds]

Sallie nods, fervently.

"Do you know what dragons are, to the myths o' my where and when?" the woman asks, following Raguel through the beginnings of pathways, passing animals she doesn't quite take the time to look at yet.

Continuing, "Water 'n rain and such. Even on the churches sometimes you'll find dragons for luck and protection."

[un_fallen]

"Yeah?" he says vaguely as they go past an aviary full of squawks and whistles. He thinks he detects the hoot of an owl in all the chirping, and grimaces as they hurry past.

"On churches. Do they get to be some kind of sacred animal? I've seen some with doves on the windows. And then lions, snakes, that sort of thing."

They turn into a small circle with low buildings on all sides; two housing marsupials, one spiders, and one advertising Komodo dragons.

"Doesn't really look big enough," Raguel says doubtfully.

[realmrsreynolds]

"Not necessarily sacred, on churches, anyhow."

After eyeing the building, and wondering what the hell Komodo meant, Sallie looks to Raguel, attempting to sound hopeful.

"...maybe they're babies?"

[un_fallen]

"Maybe," he says, still sounding uncertain. "And when they're bigger they give them to the wranglers? We can check, anyway."

They duck into the building, narrowly avoiding a schoolteacher and a pack of fourth-graders.

[realmrsreynolds]

Sallie walks up to the first enclosure, and there's a textbook specimen relaxing on a large (artificial-looking) log, and Sallie tilts her head to match the tilt of the reptile's, staring back.

"Kind of looks like Malcolm, doesn't 'e?"

[un_fallen]

Raguel is frowning in confusion at the creature, but laughs aloud at this.

"I don't think we should repeat that where he can hear. Or at least I shouldn't. Think I see what you mean, though. Something about that stubborn look."

[realmrsreynolds]

"And the scales." Beat. "Joking! Promise. C'mon."

They exit the house again, staring at the remaining choices.

"I'm thinking on skipping the spiders, if you don't mind overmuch."

[un_fallen]

Raguel glances at the building labeled HOUSE OF SPIDERS warily. There are a lot of children going in, talking with a lot of gesturing about how cool this will be, and an equal amount coming out looking alternately awed and shaken.

"Yeah, I'm not really stuck on that one. How about the marsupials? You remember kangaroos?"

[realmrsreynolds]

"That I do -- lil' furry things, hopping and what not. I approve."

Old ladies are generally predictable, in the fight between furry creatures and...well, theoretically spiders can have something like fur, but Sallie doesn't equate the two by any stretch of the imagination.

[un_fallen]

"After you, then," Raguel says, grinning. They stroll into the building and blink around at the animal enclosures. A couple of kangaroos are visible already, one scratching its belly, unconcerned.

Farther over, there are also a few koala bears visible. Raguel stares at them.

[realmrsreynolds]

The kangaroo might be unconcerned with Sallie, but Sallie is staring quite intently at it, leaning on a post of the barrier between them.

"How neat. Like bein' born with aprons on."

[un_fallen]

"Yeah," he says, still distracted. "Think it's only the females that have them; gotta be convenient, though. Look at those, asleep!"

He gestures to three or four visible koala bears, most of them asleep in the trees.

[realmrsreynolds]

"Only the female humans with the aprons too, in my experience," Sallie jokes.

Sallie 'oooh's appropriately, then asks, "What's a capture look like, here? I didn't want to bring one from home..."

[un_fallen]

Raguel blinks away long enough to look confused.

"A capture? How do you mean?"

Something over there smells really good.

[realmrsreynolds]

"Um. Lord, how do you explain a capture?" There really needs to be an official introduction to Earth-that-Was written down someplace. "A machine, that captures images, so's to have them saved for later?"

[un_fallen]

"Oh, like a photo," he says, nodding.

"Well, I don't have a camera myself," he says, frowning, but his hands are in his pockets and he brightens.

"But it's possible I got a disposable one from the gift shop," he adds, and pulls out a bright yellow camera from one of the coat's pockets.

[realmrsreynolds]

:O!

"You are a wonderman." Sallie does wonder a second why the ... camera, has to be such a bright yellow, but it doesn't really matter.

There are marsupials. Malcolm'll never believe it.

[un_fallen]

"Sometimes it works out," he says with a modest shrug. "Too bad it's not that reliable. You look through there," he adds helpfully, "and you push that button."

Yeah, that's really all he knows. Fortunately, that's pretty much all this camera is capable of.

[realmrsreynolds]

"Works for me. Didn't think a capture would work here, though. I at least attempted to think ahead and what are they eating?"

Referring to the koalas, here.

[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?"