Damien pursed his lips for a moment before he smiled again. "Okay. We'll go see the lions this time. I think one of the females in there is pregnant, so maybe we'll have kittens in a few months." He unlocked the gate again, motioning for her to go first.

"I'll have to make sure to stop in to see them, then," Rose replied as she followed him. Kittens were always adorable, and she had a soft spot for them.

"Yeah. I'll let you know when we find out for sure," Damien said with a smile. "Come on, let's go see what they're up to." He led the way over to the lion exhibit, once again opening the employees only path and leading her down it so she could see the cage from the side.

Rose followed him, looking into the enclosures as they went by. She'd never been so close to wild animals before...

Damien let her observe everything while he watched the younger of the two lionesses. She was looking a little rounder, but he couldn't be sure. Not yet. He could always ask, of course, but not right now.

"They're both so beautiful," Rose murmured as she laid her hand on the glass softly. She would probably leave fingerprints on the glass, but she couldn't help herself.

"Yeah, they are." Damien smiled. "They're also really calm, and really lazy. It's hard to get them worked up over anything."

"I don't blame them," Rose said. "I mean, they're being taken care of and everything... My cat at home is the same way."

Damien laughed a little. "Yeah. They don't play very often anymore, but when they do it's a real treat to see. They tackle each other and slam into the walls and stuff."

"It must be nice to work with them all," Rose said. "My job is usually pretty quiet, unless it's story-day."

"It's nice but it can be a pain," Damien said, shaking his head. "Sometimes they can be very stubborn, and it can be hard to get them out of their cages on cleaning day if they don't want to be brought out."

"I can imagine," Rose replied. "Seems kind of like when Story Time happens to fall the day after a major candy-filled holiday... It's impossible to get the little kids to do anything."

Damien chuckled and nodded, absently glancing around to make sure none of the guests were causing trouble. He paused when he saw Sera standing alone in front of the tiger enclosure. "And there is your friend with the tigers."

Rose followed his gaze.

"I wonder what brought her back here," she said. "I thought she'd be all the way across the zoo by now."

"Looking for you, perhaps?" Damien shrugged. "I don't know. Do you want to go talk to her?"

"There's a simple enough solution to this problem," Rose said as she took her cell phone out of her pocket. It would be simple enough to send a text to Sera. Looking for anything in particular, Sera?

Not really, Sera said. Couldn't find my vet friend, though.

Damien chuckled as he watched the two, going back to watching the lions.

We could wander around for a bit, if you like, Rose replied. She felt bad about leaving Sera out if she had nothing to do.

Nah, I'm gonna go watch them feed the otters. Sera chuckled to herself.

"Should we go join her?" Damien asked, blinking.

You and your cute things, Rose teased. Let me know if you want to meet back up later, then. Putting her phone back into its 'hibernation' mode, she shook her head.

"Sera said she's going to see the otters for a while," she said. "I'll meet up with her later on."

"Okay, then." Damien smiled a little. "Anywhere else you would like to go?"

"I'm good with just following you around for now," Rose replied. She tried not to blush when he smiled at her. His smile was just so wonderful...

((sorry I haven't posted in a while. Life has been very hectic.))

He nodded and moved over to another exhibit to check on all the animals, doing his daily rounds of his area.

((It's fine, no big deal))

Rose tagged along with him, watching all of the different animals. They were all impressive in their own ways, and she would be prefectly happy not to leave for days.

Damien paused in front of the ocelot enclosure, looking around carefully. "There's one, in the back," he said quietly to her, gesturing to a ledge in the back. "He likes to hide back there. His sister is probably in one of the trees."