oh, love!

Her attention was drawn to the little path leading to a path inside the enclosure. They were inviting people inside? A short squeal presently followed this revelation and she bounced in excitement. "Can we go? Let's go!" Not waiting for an answer, she tugged her companion towards the security gates, excited to go see the penguins. Bouncing in place at the queue, she pounced Hadrian and hugged him tight. "I'm so happy!" It was a severe understatement to say that she merely liked penguins. If it wasn't so cold, she would have moved down to the Antarctic by now to become one with the penguin flocks.

A keeper that stood at the security gate waved them through and handed them each a small leaflet with penguin information on them. The words emblazoned on the front read Humboldt Penguins, with a picture of little fuzzy baby penguins. Hugging it to her chest, she bounced in place and couldn't contain her excitement. "Do you think we'll be able to go see the bears like this, too? Probably not ..."
They were led inside a little room, and it was significantly colder than it was outside. Pressing herself closer to Hadrian, she shuddered at the cold and struggled past her excitement to pay attention to the words of the keeper. He seemed to be telling them general facts and information about the penguins, and she quickly lost interest. Waiting for the briefing to be over, she leaned into Hadrian to keep warm. " You smell nice. "

Ania decided that Hadrian was probably right, the bears might not take too well to having visitors so close. Could be an interesting way to die, at least. The children would be able to say that you didn't die alone and old, no, you died feeding bears like some kind of hardcore ... bear tamer. She tried to listen to the words of the keeper, but quickly lost focus when she felt an arm around her. Surprised, she thought for a moment that it was a stranger, but remembered in time that she was with someone. Her shoulders relaxed, and she slipped an arm around Hadrian in return. He really did smell nice; he smelled better than most boys she had spent time with. It seemed that most males did not care to take care of themselves, and therefore reeked of sweat and food almost constantly. And they wondered why they were single.

It seemed that the keeper was finally done with the speech, and was letting them go interact with the birds under careful guidance from their keepers. A small, odd looking door was opened, and birds slowly came filtering in. A bit timid in the face of these odd looking birds, she pressed into Hadrian, as if she could merge into one and escape the situation. A penguin that looked to be female waddled over, and examined the pair with those black little eyes. She started to regret her decision to make penguins her favourite animal, when the thing stepped closer and began to peck and poke at her leg. It didn't hurt too much, the bird's rounded beak and her own clothing prevented any damage. Looking up at her companion, she was a little bit frightened at the thing. " What ... What's it doing...?"

The idea that it might be hungry terrified Ania for some reason. She didn't think penguins ate people, but who knew what these zoo keepers taught the things? She just wanted it to go away. Admiring penguins was much nicer from a distance, when they couldn't bite you. "Do ... you think it wants to eat me?" Her voice came out in a hushed whisper, just in case she gave the bird an idea. She jumped when it made a noise, and huddled closer to Hadrian. She didn't know that penguins could even make noise. It sounded like the call of a dying animal, the raucous and desperate squawk of a creature struggling for its last breaths.

A couple zoo keepers approached, and handed them each a small carton of fish, with about five fish per container. The penguins suddenly became more alert with the dispersal of food, and small flocks surrounded each person, screeching and calling out, demanding to be fed. The penguin that had been pecking at her legs suddenly stopped, and its beady little eyes focused on the carton of fish in her hand. Shaking, she slowly drew a small fish from the container and hurled it at the penguin, hoping that this offering would make it stop being so creepy. The fish made a wet smack on the bird's forehead and slid down. The bird, not liking his, flicked it's head and quickly ate the projectile. It advanced closer to the pair, and Ania dumped all her fish in one go on the bird, turning and stuffing the empty carton in the hands of a nearby keeper. Whether it was penguins in general, or just this one odd bird, she was beginning to rethink her favourite animal. "I didn't expect them to be so ... different from the TV penguins."

She didn't like this bird much either, and clung equally as tight into his hand. Why did they have to get the abnormal penguin? All the other penguins seemed to be normal and nice. Before she knew it, she was being pulled back through the way they came. She was mildly confused when they stopped, but when the situation finally hit her, she couldn't stop laughing. The penguin had made him bolt, hadn't it? It was a creepy and unnatural penguin, but a little flightless bird had made him run. "Are you okay?" She thought about suggesting that they see nicer animals, if he couldn't handle the penguins, but decided that perhaps that would be too mean. A bit awkwardly, she patted his arm. He should have said something earlier if he had a penguin phobia, poor thing.

Some keepers had trailed out behind them, and were watching curiously. They were probably wondering what happened, too. A couple were giggling with each other, casting amused glances at the couple that ran. Perhaps going to the bears would be less stressful of a visit. Bigger animals generally seemed to be kinder, too. "Um. Should we move onto the bears, then? Perhaps those will be less ... intimidating."

Ania fought very hard to hide her smile. The penguin did look evil, or at least mentally inhibited. She had never seen such an odd penguin like that before. Of course, she hadn't had much experience with penguins either. Maybe it was the king penguin, if there was such a thing, guarding his flock. To be perfectly honest, she was a little afraid of the thing, too. "It's okay. I didn't like it much, either." She supposed that stuffed penguins would be much nicer than the actual penguins, especially since stuffed ones couldn't make that awful dying noise.

She regarded the proffered hand for a second, and shook her head slightly, opting instead to nudge herself up under his arm, curling her arm around his waist. She liked to think that as long as she was tucked so close, the penguins would be so intimidated, even the demonic ones would scatter. The bears were a more interesting exhibit. There were two polar bears in the encloure, and they appeared to be having fun swimming around in their little lake. From their distance, the pair of bears looked fluffy and cute. Though she was sure up close, they wouldn't be so inviting. "Look how cute they are. It's too bad the island doesn't have native polar bears running around, too." After a moment of thinking about wild bears roaming the island, she decided to take that statement back. "Maybe not. I think the island is nice enough without them."