Welcome to Gaia! ::

As Fin unfolded himself from within Rowan’s car he savored both the freedom from those cramped quarters and the mercifully cold air that greeted the bare skin of his arms. The frogs might be hiding for the winter, but he would take the kind of sticky cold over the very sticky heat of that torturous summer. He suspected that there were only so many times he could get caught in the cold boxes of the “convenience stores” before some overzealous shopkeep called someone with more enforceable authority to remove him. His musings accompanied him past the gates and in the direction of where Yaboi and Izusa said they were to meet. He didn’t exactly know who they were looking for in terms of appearance but at the sight of a pair who looked like likely candidates he raised a long arm and waved. If they were the wrong people, well they could deal with the unsolicited greeting.

-----

Rowan was grateful to Cardinal for the opportunity to bring her less than healthy roommate along for a healthy activity, not to mention her own excitement at the prospect of seeing the animals. It had been a long time since she’d been to a zoo, so it was a nice excuse to go. Fin’s insistence upon leaving in a t-shirt was unsurprising, and she had to remind herself both that he was far more adapted to the cold than the average human and that despite her protective feelings toward the alien, she was not in fact his mother. She’d been called a “mom friend” more than once and the fact that he was more than forty times her age did very little to deter her from fussing over him. Scanning the crowd she spotted the others around the same time Fin did and walked toward them, hoping they’d guessed correctly.

“I’m not! This is great! It’s a lot colder…where I’m from. I don’t know how people here stand all that hot wet air.” He made a playfully dramatic face before turning his attention to the map.

“Which ones are reptiles again?” The number of animals on Earth was a bit overwhelming. Very overwhelming, and taking into account that after centuries he’d probably have a difficult time identifying animals from his own planet he decided that it wasn’t embarrassing that he didn’t know what “reptiles” were. “I want to see all of them. It’s been…a long time since I was around animals. Living ones anyway. It got pretty old after a while.”

As he spoke he scanned the area around him. Yeah, he had no idea what these things were.

-----

Rowan offered a Yaboi a friendly smile, glad to see that the deep space senshi seemed no worse for wear after the misadventures she was aware of. If their experiences were similar she suspected that there were more. There were always more. “It’s good to see you both again. Well not quite again because I haven’t seen you like this before, but you know what I mean.”

Delight suffused her expression at Izusa’s proposed route. “I love otters! Have you seen them before Yaboi? They’re adorable!” She knew that Fin liked them, though he might not remember what they’re called. She’d definitely seen him giggling at them in a nature documentary.

Fin nodded, uncharacteristically quiet for several seconds as he pushed aside an unexpected wave of melancholy. He hadn’t allowed himself to consider the idea that every other deep space senshi carried the same immensity of loss that he did. The impossible quiet of a dead world. <******** Chaos.

Ugh.

Nah. Not now. Not the time. Not ever. No time for this bullshit.

The grin never slipped from his face.

“The ones I’ve seen here are pretty funny. Except the little flying ******** at the ponds. You’d think biting would be enough without making you itchy. Fin ignored the glare of a mother as he expanded the vocabulary of her two young children. They’d have learned those words eventually, overhearing a stranger at this menagerie was hardly the worst way that could have happened.

“I think I’ll survive a bit of heat, the animals’ll make it worth it.”
-----

Rowan gave a slight, embarrassed grimace and mouthed an apology in the direction of the family. Still, her friend’s mouth was hardly the worst thing about his situation. Whatever he wanted to pretend she knew him well enough at this point to know that he was ruminating on what Yaboi said. It was difficult enough for her not to dwell on the idea, even knowing that she could never grasp anything close to their shared horror. Otters and penguins wouldn’t fix it, but reminders of the joy that was left in this galaxy would probably do their hearts good.

“Ooh, yes I can’t wait for them to see the penguins!”

The waddlers were always entertaining, after all.

“Good, they don’t deserve the attention.” They hadn’t subjected him to their assault of itchiness lately, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t hold a grudge. Izusa might be a nature expert, but they didn’t deserve an interesting sounding name. His internal ramblings came to a skidding halt at the sight of the new animals. New to him, anyway. Mesmerized by the motions of their little bodies, fur sleek with water Fin stood silently as he tried to get as close as possible to the enclosure. The menageries in the Aurent cities were among the first things to vanish when the planet began to die. They were still foreign to him despite his rare visits, but it was…nice to see something akin to that on Earth. His lips quirked up in a smile, atypically soft as he watched the strange little animals.

He was pretty sure that lizards were the scaly ones. With the tongues. They were the ones with the legs too, not the slithery ones. He still enjoyed the slithery ones.

-----

Rowan had been right, the otters always delivered. The fact that it was snack time was only a bonus. She couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the clams, but otters need to eat and she was pretty sure that clams couldn’t feel pain. So it was a good time for the furry fellows and the way they ate was beyond adorable.

Yaboi’s question only made her more excited for them to see the penguins. She’d never thought that she would be able to introduce them to anyone. Maybe her own kids someday, but not somebody else. She hoped he would love them. “There are so many things that are special about penguins! They’re so cute! They’re birds, but they can’t fly, but they’re still great swimmers. They’re smart and funny too.” Maybe she was a little overly enthusiastic, but she didn’t think she could oversell them.

Fin managed to tear his attention from the otters long enough to focus on what the others were saying. “Aren’t beans food? Well I guess they do look like the food. Don’t think I’d eat them though.” He’d eaten worse, but nothing quite as cute. He counted himself fortunate that eating whatever happened to be around was no longer a requirement for staying alive. Yeah, he didn’t miss that.

The mention of frogs definitely perked him up, “Can’t wait to see the frogs, I’ve missed having them around.”

-----

“I don’t think I’ve ever noticed their beans! So cute! Tempesti all but squealed as she saw them.

Turning her attention to Yaboi, Rowan continued, “Oh there are a lot of flightless birds. There are a bunch of different kinds of penguins, then there are things like ostriches and emus which are taller than most humans, ooh and cassowaries! They live in Australia, and some of the other islands around there. Oh, that’s in the southern hemisphere so we don’t have to worry about them here. But cassowaries are really tough. They’ve got these big hard things on their heads that they can headbutt with and big sharp claws on their feet. I know there are more but I can’t think of any.”

“Kiwis,” Fin interjected. “I saw them in one of those “videos” on my phone.”

“Ooh, yes they’re little brown ones with long beaks.”

“They’re not so little. I mean, you can still carry them but they’re fat.” Fin nodded sagely as he spoke, pleased that he’d managed to pull out that bit of information.

“OHHHH, OK. Yeah, they do look kind of like that. Not going to try to eat them though. I’ve seen where Reginald puts his paws anyway.” Even if he didn’t Fin wouldn’t eat the cat, he’d become rather fond of him after all. A companion who listened to whatever he had to say with minimal commentary was definitely an improvement over his earlier situations.

“Er…hippo. Guess I’ll remember it when I see it.” Were they the ones with the long necks? Big claws? Who the ******** knew. Probably Izusa and everyone else here but with the exception of Yaboi they weren’t from other planets. Hmph. Maybe he should interrogate them with questions about his own animals. Not that he could remember many of their names by this point. Still.

OK, Yaboi knew about them. They were large and liked the water. That was a clue. Nothing to do but go see them.

Rowan smiled as the glamoured aliens watched the animals though she couldn’t help but wonder if seeing Earth’s biodiversity was a bittersweet experience for them. She knew it would be for her. She kept her musings to herself, concerned that they might mistake her sympathy for pity.

“Even if they’re not terribly active they’re always pretty cute. And dangerous. Not here! Not from their enclosure! But if you found one in the wild they would be. But they live on another continent so you don’t have to worry about that.”