I love the zoo! And I hope you do too!

Pallas · May 5, 2018

Amber's face was practically glued to the car window as she could see the Mantra Carlos Zoo come into view as the car is parking. Each time her breath fogged up the glass she used the sleeve of her sweatshirt to wipe away the condensation. She had been excited for this trip ever since her mom told her all about the event the local zoo was hosting. Sure they had to arrive pretty early but that hardly put a damper on Amber given the promises of being able to feed some of the animals like the hippogriffs and the jackalopes!

"Ahhh! AHHHHH! Mom we are here! We're here we're here we're here!" exclaimed Amber, unable to contain her excitment for what was probably going to be one of the best days in her life. The moment the car was parked, Amber was quick to unbuckle herself from the seat and swings the passenger door wide open! As she was in her humaniod form, she leaps out of the car and lands on her two feet though she nearly loses her balance as she does so.

"W-whoaaa... WHOAAAA!" shrieked Amber as she extends her arms in an effort to hold her balance just long enough as she transitions from her humanoid form to her preferred spider form. As the extra legs give her balance, Amber breaths a little sigh of relief before turning her head to look at her mom, brimming a wide toothy smile to her mother with amber eyes that seem to sparkle with joy.

"Ohhh I am just so EXCITED! Where do we go from here mom? Straight to the entrance?!" asked Amber, followed by the soft rumbling of excited chittering that was almost reminiscent of a cat purring.

@Kait

Kait · May 5, 2018

Chloe basked in Amber's excitement. She had never been to the zoo here herself - if she was being honest, it had never interested her very much. Watching Amber's face light up gave her more joy than she ever could have expected.

She thanked their driver as they came to a stop near the zoo. Seeing Amber about to fall over almost gave her a heart attack. "Be careful!" She laughed it off as Amber regained her balance. Soon she would be taking hold of a chitinous little hand.

Chloe remembered a time that her daughter's chittering was a little unsettling - but now it was one of her favorite sounds. It grew on her. Chloe quickly spotted the entrance - a small group of people were standing outside of it. A few of them were staring at Amber and Chloe like they'd never seen a spider girl holding hands with her demonic teenage mother before. Tourists, maybe.

"The entrance seems like a good place to start." She would lead Amber past the small group of people, up to the windows where people normally paid to enter. Only one of those windows was occupied today. After Chloe presented their tickets, which she had printed at home and folded up in her purse, the middle aged woman gave them paper wristbands to wear and maps of the zoo, with instructions to head towards the restaurant called The Beastro.

Once they were past the front gate, Chloe felt like she had stepped into another world. Lush, exotic landscaping surrounded them. There was a bronze statue of some griffons straight ahead, and a plaque saying something or another about a donor. The map promised some pretty exciting attractions. "What do you want to see first?" She asked Amber. "After the jackalopes and the hippocampi."

Pallas · May 6, 2018

Amber was overwhelmed by the grandeur zoo upon entering, somehow being way more impressive then she ever thought this place to be. There was even statues of what looked to be griffins to greet both her and her mom! While impressive, Amber couldn't help but wonder if such griffins were on exhibit at the zoo. And if so... it struck her as weird as she recalls meeting a sapient griffin before at the school library that one time so... it made her wonder all sorts of things. But then again there is a lot variation of similar species such as the dragons, fairies, demons... heck even among arachnid people like herself there are tones of variation on everyone backstory. Lost in thought, it took her a moment to realize that her mom had asked her a question.

"Huh? OH! Ummm.... ummm... I dunno... everything?" sheepishly grinned Amber, this zoo was so huge that she honestly had no idea where to start. Looking around she notices a bulletin board with a large map and remembered the maps the nice lady had given them earlier "Oh, how about we take look at the map to get an idea!"

Amber then slips her hand from her mothers grasp in order to look at all of the attractions and exhibits that this zoo had to offer. The choices where... pretty overwhelming. As Amber tried to decide, she tagged behind very closely to her mother. So engrossed she was with the wonders of the zoo that she was oblivious to the leery looks she and her mom were occasionally getting.

"Oh they have a panda exhibit! I love pandas... maybe we can go their first? Oh wait, dwarf woolly mammoths? Eeeek I wanna see them first actually! No wait! They have a mom and baby chimera on display. Ahhhh sooo ccuuute!" squealed Amber as she looked over the list of creatures here at the zoo. With so many options it was hard to pick one to go see first. She had almost forgoten about the breakfast with animals that they were going to to until she looked back up from her map.

"OH wait, where is the place that going to again? The Beastro was it? Is that close mom?"

Kait · May 13, 2018

Chloe looked at the map. "I think that's it, actually." She pointed to a modern-looking building that was straight ahead of them. Once they had walked around to the front, they would see the sign confirming that it was the 'Beastro.'

A 30-something man wearing a tan zookeeper's uniform would greet them. "Hey!" He had a lot of pep. "Are you two here for the zookeepers' breakfast?"

"Yeah!" Chloe answered.

"Well, I'm Phil, and the other zookeeper inside is Lulu. She's our expert on Jackalopes. Help yourself to breakfast!" He would glance down at Amber and smile.

The breakfast buffet inside had all the typical breakfast foods, plus a few special Manta Carlos options. There was a small number of blood packs on ice, and some cloned human flesh prepared to look like sausage patties (but well-labeled to prevent confusion). Lulu sat alone at the end of a table with benches; she waved at them.

Chloe and Amber must have been early - there was only one other family there so far, sitting by themselves farther away from the windows. They smelled strongly of sunscreen.

Pallas · May 13, 2018

"Hi Phil! I'm Amber and I am really really excited to be here! I can't wait to meet the wonderful animals you guys have here!" greeted Amber as she puts on a wide smile on for Phil. Phil seemed like a really nice person and she was looking forward to meeting with Lulu for she had all sorts of questions about jackalopes.

Stepping inside, Amber was thoroughly impressed by the decor and the banquet of food laid out for the guests. It would appear the she and her mom arrived a bit early given how empty it was. The only other people here was a single family that was already seated away from the windows and person whom she presumed was Lulu whom waved to them as they entered the building. After taking in scenery for a moment, Amber ignores all of the food laid out and instinctively walks all the way up to where Lulu was and wastes no time striking up a conversation with them.

"Hello, my name Amber! Phil said that your name is Lulu and that your an expert on Jackalopes? Well I just... really wanted to say that I am really excited to hear you talk all about them! I always wanted to see a Jackalope!"

Kait · May 21, 2018

Lulu smiled at Amber and gave her a little wave as she approached. "I'm glad to hear it, Amber! Nice to meet you. And feel free to ask me questions here, too. I'd love to answer them. This is my favorite part of my job."

Chloe would come up right behind Amber and put her hand on Amber's shoulder. "I'm her mom, Chloe. How true are the stories about Jackalopes charging people, and hunters being advised to wear stovepipes around their legs?"

Lulu almost laughed, but didn't. "Almost completely fake, we think. A wild one might charge you if you corner it, but ours are too docile for that."

Chloe nodded and smiled. "I'm sure you wouldn't put kids in with them if they were a danger."

"Of course. And they're really patient creatures. Smart, too."

Chloe would move on to get breakfast. They hadn't eaten yet, and she was hungry. She would let Amber decide where to sit.

Pallas · May 23, 2018

The moment that Lulu invited Amber to ask questions, Amber wasted no time in bombarding the zookeeper with all sorts of mundane questions relating to jackalopes. Questions such as their native habitat, their preferred diet, if there was anything special about their antlers, and if they are a product of alchemy or a product of natural selection. She was ready to add what are the differences between male and female jackalopes to her list of questions when her mom came from behind and interjected with questions of her own. Chloe's questions were not the sort of thing she thought ask but quickly connected them to myths surrounding the jackalope.

"Ohhh... and they are tame enough that it would be safe to hold them?" inquired Amber, waiting for Lulu to give a response. Once Amber had her answer, she was ready to ask Lulu another question relating to jackalopes when Lulu pointed to her mom dishing up on food and asking Amber if she was hungry.

"Oh, yeah I guess I am... alright well I will ask you more questions when you bring out the jackalopes! That way everyone can hear what you have to say about them, you really seem to know a lot about jackalopes but... I guess thats your job~" chimed in Amber, giving Lulu a friendly toothy grin before joining her mother at the buffet.

"Hey mom, did you know that jackalopes originate from the western parts of the United States? That's where your from right? Were jackalopes common where you lived?" piped up Amber, whom in her mind is imagining the American Southwest as an exotic land teeming with frolicking jackalopes.

Kait · May 29, 2018

"Yeah," Chloe said, "I grew up in New Mexico, but I've never seen a jackalope in person before. It would make sense if that was because they were too rare for most normies to see, but..." She stopped and thought about the possibilities for a moment, then shrugged. "Maybe we should ask the expert." She smiled.

Lulu seemed to enjoy Amber's enthusiasm, as far as Chloe could tell. It seemed natural enough that they would go back to sitting next to the jackalope expert and asking her more questions - just as soon as they had their food.

So the next question they asked Lulu was about why normies wouldn't run into them. Apparently wild jackalopes were extremely good at hiding from humans, unless those humans had the proper equipment. They could also sense the presence of batteries and electric currents somehow, which Lulu believed was related to the reason they could only mate during thunderstorms.

As they talked, more people came in to join them. Some of them almost seemed to be staring at Amber and Chloe, though most of them had the decency to try to hide it. "Must be tourist season or something," Chloe would mutter.

Pallas · Jun 9, 2018

“Oh wow! I didn’t know they could do that!” piped up Amber whom was too enthralled with all of the things about jackalopes that she was oblivious to judgemental stares of the parents.

“So how is that jackalopes are able to sense elecrtricity in the air? Does it have something to do with their antlers? Or do their antlers have a different usage? Also do both the boy and girl jackalopes have antlers ?” continued Amber with her questions. As she popped a forkful of food into her mouth, she heard her mom mutter something that she didn’t quite pick out. She turned her head to her mother and ask, thinking that she had a question for Lulu.

“Did you have a question mom? I could barely hear you” piped up the spidering, looking up innocently with her large golden eyes.

Kait · Jun 14, 2018

Lulu answered almost all of Amber's questions. Some of them, she admitted she couldn't yet - but they were working on it! There was still a lot of research to be done. Chloe recognized that Lulu was definitely enjoying answering all these questions, and honestly, she got a little jealous. Was there anything she could explain to Amber with the kind of enthusiasm Lulu had for Jackalopes? Maybe dark magic - would it even be a good idea for her to start teaching Amber about those things? She tried to push the idea from her mind.

Soon, they stopped to address her mumbling. Chloe took a sip of her coffee, to buy herself a couple seconds. She shouldn't have said anything. Even if some other people thought the two of them looked freaky, Chloe knew Amber was adorable, and she was Amber's mother, so, frankly, Chloe's opinion was the only one around here that mattered.

"It wasn't a very interesting question." She smiled. "But I guess I'm a little curious. Do we get a lot of tourists here, Lulu?"

"Yes, actually." Lulu said. "It's apparently one of the more popular places for people from off island to come. And the summer tourist season just started. Did you know: there are places in the narrow reality where schools have summer vacation now, and it lasts all summer."

"I actually went to one of those schools. Like I was just saying to my daughter, I grew up in Jackalope territory originally, around Albuquerque."

"Hey, that's where my parents are from!"

This would turn into a brief conversation about living in the Narrow reality and ending up on Manta Carlos. Lulu still visited her family back home, apparently.

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I love the zoo! And I hope you do too!

Pallas

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Kait

Gay Idiot

Pallas

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Kait

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Pallas

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Kait

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Kait

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Kait

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