Paul listening to thelittle monkey speak and listened closely to its advice and turned his head abruptly when Akemi entered the conversation. Paul nodded at the both of them and leaped out of the tree, he walked clowly and calmly to a isolated part of his cage and turned his back to the guests, they sighed in displeasure and some of them left, still a couple stayed patiently waiting for him to turn around. But soon they started to leave, wanting to explore the zoo some more. Paul flicked his tail back and forth in triumph, and grinned a cheshire-like smile.

[[Just made pancakes. Wee :D]]

Akemi smiled at Paul and nodded. "Good job. That's what you do when you get tired of them. Or you could hide in the other parts of your cage until they can't see you." Akemi grinned at Paul. He was a fast learner. "Hey, Paul.. How old are you, by the way?"

Conrad shivered a little as a little girl pulled her movie toward his enclosure and pointed. She babble some English he could catch the words 'cute' and 'ball' before she reached her hands through the bars toward him. Conrad allowed his hackles to rise and made a strange hiss-like noise from the back of his throat. The little girl's mother snatched her away and led her to another exhibit quickly, not looking back at him.

A guide came around then, several families following and listening while the children looked at him with their snotty noses and others hugging themselves to keep warm. The guide said a few short words about 'the arctic fox' while one child looked at him with a surprising amount of intelligence.

Conrad sneezed.

"I think he's sick," the little boy said dully. "He's not feeling well."

He felt a little warmth in his chest. This kid wasn't bad he decided. Conrad looked the child in the eye and didn't move aside from his faint shivering.

"No, I'm sure he's fine. His species thrives in this weather." Conrad broke eye contact to send the guide a scathing look.

Paul nodded back "I'm twenty one, I don't really act like it though." he said laughing, it was true though, most people mistook him for a sixteen year old because of how short he was and how he acted most of the time. "Why how old are you?" Paul questioned, his tail curling at the end forming a question mark.

Akemi was suprised. He'd guessed Paul was somewhere around nineteen, like seventeen or eighteen. "I myself am nineteen. I turn twenty in two months. I thought I was older than you for a second there." Akemi laughed nervously. Wow. He's older than I expected. Twenty-one! Grr.

"I thought you were the same age as me!" Paul said laughing. "My birthday was only a couple days ago though, so I guess that would make us about a year apart." Paul stated. "know that I think about it, really wonder how long we're going to be stuck here..." Paul said sighing and laying down. "I don't want to be a cat for my whole life..." he said to himself very quietly.

Akemi laughed. "I've been stuck like this for four years. It sucks, I know. But I actually kind of found some things that makes this form pretty okay. I think you can get yourself reversed. But thats something the zoo keepers and everyone else have to decide." He wondered if Paul liked men, or women. Maybe he likes both? Should I ask?

"Four years! Thats terrible!" Paul said sympathizing with Akemi. "I've only been here two days and i'm still not exactly used to it, maybe I never will be, i'll just have to find out how to change back other than at nightime..." Paul said and glanced at Akemi for a second "Are you okay?" he asked? pawing at his own cage a bit.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah.. I suppose so. It's not that bad. As long as you don't try getting out. I tried that once.. It wasn't pretty. Though they do have the shocks set very low, suprisingly." Akemi's mind started wandering. "Does that scare you? I'm sorry if it does, but the truth isn't always sunshine and peachy."

Paul had already knew about the shock and it still frightened him,but he tried not to think about it. Akemi's last comment gave Paul a cold shoulder thinking Akemi wanted to stay at the zoo. "Akemi...do you want to leave the zoo?" Paul asked curiously.

Akemi gave Paul an 'are you serious?' glare. "No. I want my old life back. I miss going to the movies at night, the beach early in the morning and surfing, laughing with my sisters and brothers, making sweets in the middle of the night, I miss it all. I want it all back." He sat up next to the bars and looked down at Paul. "Hey Paul.. do you like guys or girls?" Akemi would have blushed if they were human, then again they probably wouldn't know each other if they were both still human. But hey.

Conrad tilted his head to the side as the boy remained by his enclosure rather than following the group as it moved on. It appeared to be a class trip with a few parent volunteers, but none of them checked to make sure they had everyone with them. A brisk wind made the little boy shut his eyes and shiver, as did Conrad. But the little boy stayed so he couldn't just retreat into his den...

On a whim, Conrad inched forward and was leaning against the bars where the child stood. The boy's eyes widened a bit and the calculating look disappeared to be replaced with a look of childish delight as he let his fingers reach to pet the white fur.

The hand was cold and it sent shiver up Conrad's spine but he didn't move; this kid proved to be descent so he'd treat him with a degree of respect.

Akemi's tail swished in the air as he waited for an answer from Paul. Just then, the same little boy who'd grabbed his tail ran to the cage and said softly, "Big Kitty! Big Kitty!" Akemi grumbled and moved slowly over to the side of the cage closest to the boy, looking into the kid's eyes. He reached out with his tongue and licked the boy's face, then backed away, getting into a cat-stretch form, waving his rear in the air like a dog would do when they want to play. He pawed at the air, attacking an invisible tiger, and heard the boy's laugh. Akemi stopped, the boy frowned, and his mother came over to take him away. "...Told you to stop... Big kitty!" He caught.

He moved back over near Paul. "So, Paul?" He grinned at the smaller cat, flicking his tail back and forth.

The little boy shivered again and turned around so his back was against the cage. He peered over his shoulder at Conrad before glancing around. He wasn't surprised that his class had left behind apparently.

Conrad supposed this kid was tolerable.

Paul turned red hasrhly under all his fur at the question "Err both." he said quietly. Paul's back legs started to tremble a bit 'is he hitting on me?' he thought in his mind shocked at what Akemi asked "Why? what do you like?" Paul asked Akemi still a bit wide eyed at Akemi's question.

Akemi shook his fur out, feeling a little weird. Maybe I shouldn't have asked. "Both as well. I tend to like males a little more, though, females are so.. moody. You know what I mean?" Akemi laughed. It feels weird talking. My voice sounds so.. so..

Paul nodded nervously, still appalled at what Akemi had asked "Yeah, i've had controlling sort of girlfriends in the past." Paul laughed feeling a bit more comfortable, in the back of his mind he was impressed that Akemi had the courage to ask a question like that. "I sort of wonder if animal girls are the same." Paul said awkwardly laughing, he gulped at the thought of some female animals, mostly spiders, he heard they bit off males heads.

Akemi thought for a moment. "Hmm. That'll be interesting to figure out one of these days. Ah, it's feeding time," Akemi said and got up, walking slowly away toward the zoo keeper who'd entered his cage. I thought they weren't supposed to enter our cages? The zoo keeper petted Akemi behind the ears, making him purr, and fed him before walking out. Akemi shook again and ate. These little bowls are degrading.

'Feeding time' ringed a bell in Paul's mind. "I haven't had anything since yesterday.." he mummbled to himself surprised that he forgot all about eating. The little cat calmly but cautiously walked near the raw meat that they had placed in his cage, he sniffed it and frowned, not wanting to eat raw meat. "I guess I should try it anyways..." he grummbled nibbling on a little piece of meat, it tasted fine Paul would have liked it warmed up but he tried to not be picky knowing he would have to get used to this sort of food for a while. While eating he looked over Akemi wondering how used he was to the food.

Akemi finished and walked over to the water, lapping it up. Very degrading. He was somewhat used to animal life now, but these zoo keepers were different. They never talked to you. Just walked in and out of your cage. Never did any tricks with them either like in the old zoo, where they had a painting elephant and made some animals high-five and flip around and roll over like crazy. He looked over at Paul and noticed he was nibbling little pieces. Then again, his little mouth is so small to where he can't eat it all like I could."Having trouble, Paul?" He teased, grinning slightly.

Paul perked his head up at Akemi's question and gave him a scornful stare "I just have a small little mouth in this form, theres nothing wrong with that!" He groweled. His tail fluffled up with rage but suddenly he thought about what he just said 'was I defending my animal form' he thought in his mind, he shoke his head thinking that it was only natural to defend yourself even if you look sort of different. Paul walked over to a bowl of water a calmly slurped some water into his mouth by picking it up with his tongue naturally like any other cat "Weird..." he mummbled, not used to drinking water this way. "I'm just really not used to this..." Paul grummbled feeling odd for eating like...well, an animal.

Akemi kind of flinched when Paul got angry. He laughed. "Just teasing you, Paul. No hard feelings, really." Akemi watched as Paul grumbled to himself about eating like an animal. "You get used to it. It'll take a few months but still."

Conrad lay contentedly. It wasn't as cold with another body to keep warm with. A zoo keeper came by and was about toss some meat into his cage but saw the arctic fox glowering at him and sighed heavily. It was always the same and that fox never ate it anyway. he tore a piece of the meat off and tossed it inside anyway. He didn't want to be fired for not doing his job...
Conrad lowered his muzzle to his paws and looked sideways at the boy.

Sienna couldn't help but growl when the zookeeper entered her enclosure to give her a rather large clump of dripping, red meat. She vaguely wondered what kind of meat they'd be feeding them - she couldn't tell past all the blood on the lump of flesh - before retreating farther away from the keeper.

The keeper in question paused as she started re-filling the small pool of drinking water in the corner of the exhibit. She looked up from what she was doing, smiled (though the smile looked suspiciously put-on), and continued without a single flinch. Damn, Sienna sighed inwardly, I mustn't do a very good job at being imposing, huh... She huffed, and turned away from the young woman.

Sienna had been hosting a hord of worries and concerns about being a wolf during the day: what would she do when she needed to use a bathroom? She doubted they had anything other than a pooper-scooper available for her to use. What about food? After all, Adrian had warned her not to eat the food too lightly. What if, during some horrendous loss of mind, she hard the sudden urge to bay at the moon? Being a wolf was one thing, willingly making a fool of yourself in front of the other fused was another. One thing the girl hadn't expected was the killer boredom.

The normal humans gawking at her through the hard mesh on all sides of her exhibit all looked the same to her; they weren't very entertaining. There was nothing to do inside of her cage, either, except run or walk or think or sleep. Eating was out; she'd definitely consult the man she'd met earlier about his perspective on the food industry these days. She would have died if she were allowed to go swimming - despite the chill in the air, a combination of seasonably thick fur and warm sunshine made the girl excrutiatingly hot - but the tiny pool of water was just too darn small. Apparently it was drinking water only.

Sienna found herself pacing about her cage, sometimes running. Her ears would perk when she heard something that might relieve this monotenous boredom, but it always turned out to be nothing major. Nothing was major around here; the guests stared, took a few pictures, then moved on. Sometimes a disobediant child would throw a handful of something through the wire; Sienna would jump to attention, sniff at it, then turn her nose and move on. It was almot always a licked lolipop or half-eaten cookie. Not really something she found appetising in this form.

The meat remained in the corner of the den for the all the time she was stuck musing, wondering, sulking... it also remained untouched. Bah. What what was so bad about having a few bites, no matter what it was? The odd thing was, the stuff actually seemed appealing in her current form, even though it had been sitting out for however long.

Sighing with boredom, Sienna cntinued her monotenous route around the cage. Around, and around, and around....

((Hey, sorry for the wait. I've been really busy with work and setting up the game in my thread. I also haven't had a whole lot of inspiration for this game, lol, but I think I can manage something.))

Adrian had managed halfway decent sleep until the guests arrived. Sighing, he rolled over, trying to ignore all the disappointed complaints from the children outside.

"Where is it? I don't see anything!"

"Moooommy, I'm bored, let's go look at the tigers!"

"What kind of animal just sleeps all day, this is lame!"

"Make it come out! I wanna see the monkey!"

Groaning, he shifted, got to his feet, and walked to the farthest corner of his den, as far from the insistent whining as he could get. When the sound still nagged at him, he gave up, walking out of his den into the bright sunlight. Choosing a tree, he scurried up it, glaring down at the visitors with his dark, beady eyes. He kind of wished he was a cat, he could really go for a good hissing and spitting right now. And claws. That'd be nice. His were good for climbing and digging, but not as formidable as a lion or bear's. His only real defense against the little bundled up brats was his eerie screech that usually sent them running. It was very grating on human ears and if he ever did get to go to a zoo again (He doubted it, he had quite enough of zoos to last him a lifetime thanks to this), he would be sure to have earplugs if he crossed into the fisher section.

From his perch, his eyes scanned the surrounding areas. He could see many normal animals, either ignoring the guests or wandering their enclosures listlessly. Some of the Changed he recognized; a monkey, a fox, far off was a tiger and some strange sort of cat. He climbed higher, trying to find the enclosure that would contain Sienna. If the arctic fox was kept over here, maybe the wolves were nearby.

"Sienna!" he called out, as loud as he could. The people below were pointing, their children clapping gleefully at the sound, but he knew they couldn't understand him. It didn't matter much to him. He was hoping that over the din, maybe Sienna could hear him. Maybe it was easier to get through the day if you had someone to talk to. He wouldn't know, he had never spoken in this form to anyone. He was surprised he was able to at all.