Rose followed her, cooing slightly over a red-tailed boa. She may have been a cat person, but she had a soft spot for snakes, too.

"Not necessarily," Taylor replied. "Sera told me she works at another vet's office, so I'm betting she's pretty reliable herself." Still, he could tell that Rose would be good for Damien, if the two ever got anywhere. "Did you ever figure out what Rose does for a living?"

Sera grinned and wrote something else down on her pad of paper, still grinning in her slightly insane and very pleased way.

"Library, I believe," Damien said, glancing over at him. "And she must be much calmer at work, because otherwise she'd have all the animals going nuts with her energy."

Rose ignored Sera's slightly insane expression. She was used to it, and it would pass completely once Sera was able to get or do what she wanted. Rose just had to wait it out.

Taylor shrugged.

"I'm not the same at work as I am outside," he pointed out. "That would just be weird."

Sera had calmed down by the time they finished in the reptile house. "So, any ideas where we want to go next?" She looked at all three of them.

"For you, true." Damien grinned. "You're weird anyway."

He looked back over at Sera. "We have a nice bird house here if you want to go look. Some of them even come up to people."

"You had to say it," Rose said, watching the expression blossom over Sera's face. "We may as well, now."

Taylor just rolled his eyes at Damien in a 'you're one to talk' way.

"Is it one of the big houses?" Sera asked.

"The kind that children love because they can terrorize the animals? Yes." Damien rolled his eyes.

"Cool. Maybe we can find a bench and just sit and watch for a few minutes. Luckily for you I've never wanted a bird," she said to Rose.

Rose grinned.

"It wouldn't have lasted long, anyways, with my cat around," she replied. "Feathers everywhere."

Taylor just listened, waiting for a decision from one of the girls.

"No kidding. Come on, let's go pretend to go shoot some birds." Sera grinned and grabbed Rose, towing her along.

Damien chuckled and followed placidly.

"You are so mean, Sera," Rose said as she was pulled along. "It's a wonder anyone even let you into the zoo."

Taylor followed as well, not sure if he was tagging along so as motto be left behind, or out of some sort of strange fascination.

"That's because they don't know any better." Sera grinned and walked in through the first door, waiting until all four of them were in to shut the door and open the second door, meant to keep all the animals in.

Damien chuckled at the two of them, amused. He shook his head and held the door for them.

Rose just shook her head at Sera and followed her in, thanking Damien for holding the door, mostly out of polite habit. She was more concerned with keeping Sera from terrorizing the poor birds too much than anything else.

Taylor was the last one in, and closed the door behind them. He enjoyed the bird house, when he got the chance to go in.

Sera actually just found a bench in the back and sat down, sitting still and waiting to see what birds they could spot.

Damien leaned against the wall next to the bench, chuckling. This was going to be interesting, since Sera looked like a dog on point.

Rose sat down next to Sera, a little wary. She knew that look, and in a few moments it would be accompanied by either fidgeting or a terrified bird.

Taylor looked around. He could easily spot a few bird watching them, and ever-so-subtly used a little 'influence' to get some of them to come closer. Never let it be said that his 'talents' didn't have a few quirks to abuse.

Sera stayed still, watching the bird as it came closer to them. Then she just smiled and found a bread crumb on her jeans, tossing it to the bird.

"You know, you're not really supposed to feed the animals," Damien said, rather chastising.

"I didn't feed it," Sera said innocently. "There was a crumb on my pants and I brushed it off and the bird ate it before I could reclaim it. See, no feeding involved."

Rose rolled her eyes.

"That's just a technicality and you know it," she said. "That won't count again."

Taylor knew he should have said something about the rules, considering he worked at the zoo, too, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was too amused.

Sera just smiled innocently and settled back to watch the birds. She noticed crumbs on Damien's pants and flicked them off.

"Hey!" Damien managed to glare weakly at her.

"See, his fault, they were on his clothes." Sera smiled even more innocently.

Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Sera, remember that whole thing about personal bubbles?" she said. That was about as close as she could get to an actual reprimand. She didn't want Sera's mayhem aimed at Damien, but she didn't want to be in the line of fire herself, either.

Taylor couldn't quite cover a snort. Half of his lifestyle demanded a distinct lack of personal space, but he was fairly sure Damien was fond of his personal bubble.

Sera grumbled something about marching band and popping personal space bubbles but she settled down, leaning back and just watching the birds, relaxing for a little bit.

Damien took a little step away from Sera in case she decided to try something again, muttering to himself.

Rose rolled her eyes.

"My theater people can beat up your theater people, Sera," she said dryly.

Taylor couldn't help but snicker a little bit at the look on Damien's face.

"Eh. My theater people are whiny wimps." Sera shrugged. "Meh."

Damien leaned back and relaxed.

-one week later-

Rose pulled at her new uniform shirt, still slightly uncomfortable. How Sera had managed to get her to take this job was beyond her, but what's done was done. Tentatively, she looked around and tried to get her bearings. It didn't really help.

For some reason, Taylor had a terrible sense of foreboding as he walked into his office that morning. Somehow, he knew his day was going to get violently interrupted.

Sera was still working at the vet clinic, but she only had a half-day and had promised to go visit Rose at lunch time. She whistled to herself while she worked.

Damien paused in the middle o feeding some of the cats, glancing around. Something seemed different this morning. Something in the air, like a little electric charge.

Rose felt a bit shy amongst the rest of the people in the office, since she wasn't used to how things were run, yet. So she kept herself for the most part and waited for lunch to roll around so she could vent a little at Sera for making her do this.

The sense of dread Taylor felt when he walked into the office seemed to only intensify into a sort of paranoia as the day went on. He wasn't sure why he was so anxious, but there had to be a reason.

Sera managed to get backstage and found Rose, grinning broadly at her. "Lunch time!" she said in a sing-song voice, pulling her friend over to the nearest food place.

By the time lunch rolled around the animals could feel some of his sense of impending doom. The panther was pacing in his cage, and the lions were staying hidden in the back.

"Remind me again why I let you talk me into this?" Rose said as she let Sera drag her around.

Taylor finally gave up trying to concentrate through the odd anxiety and put up the sign on his desk that said he was out to lunch. Maybe the sense of doom would pass after he got something to eat.