[ Closed ]

[onewiththewild]

WHO: Toboe and Suzuya
WHERE: Zoo
WHEN: Today
WHAT: Making friends at the zoo
WARNINGS: None for now

[ There is a lot about humans and this world Toboe doesn't understand and the Zoo is probably the most puzzling of them all. He doesn't understand why people would put animals inside a mini-park that pretend to be a mini-forest (or mini-desert, or mini whatever the animals' habitat was) and they leave them there while people come and visit them. These animals are not pets, but they are also not wild.

When he asked why they kept them there, they told him that the animals' living habitat in the wild was getting smaller and this was a way to protect the animals. Toboe doesn't really understand why the place is getting smaller, everywhere he looks he sees just SO MUCH space around. it's a whole world!

Of course Toboe's vision on things are pretty naive.

In any case, because he doesn't understand much he often decides to ask the animals. What they are doing, if they enjoy being there. The ones that did speak to him and didn't panic because he is a wolf, didn't know how to answer half of Toboe's questions and were pretty confused to why the heck was he on the other side of the fence.

That's what he is talking about right now, with a lemur. He is trying to explain to the animal that being outside is the normal thing to do, while the lemur insists Toboe is the crazy one to want to be out there. He can't touch the fence, but they are still pretty close to each other regardless, and anyone passing by must think Toboe is pretty crazy since they see a boy talking to a lemur, and don't really know Toboe can listen and talk to animals. ]

You are so stubborn...!

Comments

[quinque]

[ Suzuya has been watching. He often people watches in a place like this, but Toboe caught his eye instantly when he started chatting to the animals and having pretty animated conversations with them. It's not something Suzuya has seen anyone above the age of 5 do, and apparently it isn't that normal for the other zoogoers either, judging by the wide berth they give Toboe like he's diseased.

Suzuya doesn't have those same fears though, and where everyone else is parting and avoiding looking at the crazy boy talking to the animals, Suzuya approaches behind him and crouches down, eavesdropping for a long while in dead silence before he tilts his head on his knees, squishing his cheek into his kneecaps. ]

Are you crazy?

[onewiththewild]

[ the question comes as a surprise, not because Toboe expects everyone to know he talks to animals, but because he didn't expect someone to be standing so close to him. He jumps a bit, his cheeks get red from embarrassment, but he manages to pout a bit ]

... I'm not crazy. [ that's rude! ]

[quinque]

[ Suzuya is unsurprisingly used to that reaction. Why do people constantly jump away from him when he stands uncomfortably close behind them without saying a word?! A true mystery.

He doesn't seem offended by Toboe's recoil though, staying stock still in the exact same place he'd been the entire time, balancing on the balls of his feet and somehow not swaying even a little. ]

You are talking to a lemur...

[ Sounds pretty crazy to him. Then again he is the guy who sits in front of the animal cages obsessively trying to capture their likeness onto a page. ]

[onewiththewild]

I can talk to them. And understand them. [ humans are the ones who don't listen to any animal at all.

And since Toboe is now talking to a human, the lemur will take his leave. Though Suzuya can't hear it, the animal says goodbye and Toboe waves back at him ]

I can talk to all animals. - I'm not crazy!

[quinque]

Hoh, really? You can talk to them? All of them?

[ That seems really cool. He's always wanted to know what animals are thinking.

He stares uncomfortably at the lemur as it leaves, with big empty eyes to match it. ]

What did he say?

[onewiththewild]

[ Toboe nods ] yeah-

[ he looks back at the lemur for a moment. He doesn't usually tell people what animals say, out of privacy, but just this once- ]

He says being outside is dangerous and that I should ask to be inside like them. [ Toboe looks a bit frustrated ] He is weird. Who'd want to be locked up.

[quinque]

[ That sounds boring. This city would be way cooler if there were lemurs walking down every street. ]

I bet he just doesn't know. We should let him out.

[ There's no possible way that that could end badly for either of them. ]

[onewiththewild]

[ RIGHT? Toboe thinks all animals should roam around, but he knows humans would freak out and try to hurt them, too. ]

I tried to do that, before. Everyone got really angry at me. [ and he was also fired from his job when he released all the dogs, once ]

[quinque]

Why would they do that? Lemurs are cool. Let's let him out.

[ Look at this shitty influence right here.

He can't open this cage with just his bare hands however, so he reaches into the hammerspace void of his coat, clutching something in his palm and dragging it out--all good 6 feet of it; a giant scythe that stands far taller than Suzuya is. This is going to go well. ]

[onewiththewild]

They don't want to get out - I have been trying to convince them to.

[ but those strange rodents (?) are very stubborn. However, Toboe tilts his head curiously, looking at the other reaching for his coat and his eyes go wide when he sees the weapon ]

W-wait-! What are you going to do with that?!

[quinque]

They just don't want to get into trouble.

[ He can tell. He would be the same, probably. Maybe? He wonders what it would be like to be a lemur.

His head is still idle as he considers it, gripping Jason with one hand and swinging it back to cleave the cage into two--until Toboe stops him, and he pauses to blink a few times, pointing to the cage. ]

I'm going to let them out.