2019-05-27 - Spring At The Zoo

Doctor Baines is here. As on of the lead keepers she is in charge of making sure nothing goes amiss. That means she's strolling through the exhibits and tending to guest questions and needs should they have any. But when the peacock struts by her there is a glare given at it. The thing just spreads it's tail, fanning it out in all it's pristine white glory...and then he struts off, making little noises that sound like it's as pleased as punch to annoy her. "Decorative turkey." she mutters with a chuckle.

Entering the zoo with a large cup of coffee in one hand Easton looks like he may have just rolled out of bed. His gate is back to it's neat efficient and a little too fast military clip, now that his leg is mostly back to normal. There is still a bit of a hitch to his step but just a touch. He smiles as he takes in the zoo, remembering it from his childhood trips to Gray Harbor. He grimaces a bit remembering what a little douche he was to his mom about coming to visit this place, not that it was anything specific to the zoo, he was a little douche about a great many things. Most things.

Taking a sip of coffee, he shakes his head as if to clear away that bit of memory as he approaches the monkey enclosure.

"It was a nosebleed, Sutton. Not a medical emergency." Oh look, it's a Carver, gesturing in the direction of a small child with what seems to be a half-eaten ice-cream cone obtained by one of the more entrepreneurial town denizens and their cart. As always, waistcoat. As sometimes, full coat! Boy, he's dressed to the nines. "They happen. Look! That kid's scraped his knee. Do you want to go bother him for twenty minutes with a handkerchief, too?"

Apparently he and Sutton had something of a journey getting here.

So, the zoo. Apparently this is how Julia wants to spend her time off. She's already bought a little cup of feed, and with the resplendent king of the zoo in residence, she tosses out a few bits of peacock kibble toward the avian in question. "I thought there were gonna be goats." she sighs, but seems quite content to spoil the peacock.

Sutton wanders along with her hands in the side pockets of her cargo pants, roughly beside Carver. "Given the amount of alcohol you regularly have on board, Carver, it could very well have transitioned." She seems mildly annoyed, but who wouldn't be, honestly. "You consider yourself lucky I didn't make you sit for twenty minutes with a cube of ice pressed to your face with your head tipped back."

Sutton pauses in her lecture when she spots the messy kid and the ice cream. "Let's get ice cream." They wander along past the aviary, grousing like a pair of irritated cousins forced together for a day outing by annoyingly overbearing parents, except they're both too old for that. They do share similarities in accent, at least on certain words, though Sutton is clearly American-leaning with only the occasional slip into some kind of English(ish) accent.

Walking around the zoo, Officer O'Malley is in uniform and all that entails; his uniform neatly pressed, his shoes properly cleaned and polished. Finding a spot to stand somewhere near where there is coffee, he stands with his hands on his belt line and stares off into space. Just sort of passively observing without bothering or hassling anyone. He doesn't seem to have any particular person or thing he is looking for, just sort of watches everyone and everything.

Working park-adjacent is awesome sometimes. Alex leaves work and wanders right on through the park, bypassing all the Shakespeare stuff and waving away someone trying to sell him balloon animals with the assurance, "Thank you, I'm going to see the actual animals." He smiles a polite but tight smile at the guy, and then passes from the park to the zoo, hands clasped loosely behind his back while he strolls. The dude is a little overdressed for a walk in the park, in his shirt-and-tie, but whatever. It's a nice day, he looks nice, everything is nice.

Alexander emerges from behind a family that's clustered around the monkeys. The kids are making monkey faces and Alexander stops to watch the faceoff for a moment. He's under slept but clean and casual in tshirt and jeans. Not stopping to feed anything yet, but working his way towards the peacock.

Suriel gives nods of greeting to those that wander by, along with smiles. Remember to 'smile'! She's trailing the peacock today, making sure he doesn't get too antsy or go after anyone. "I've got a request in for maybe putting some goats in. I think kids would love them." she tells Julia. Her Alexander senses should be tingling, but they don't go off.

Seeing Alexander appear nearby, Easton looks at him curiously. It's been a while since he's seen the man, since the morning after the boat attack. He watches him curiously and decides to approach him. Easton is casually dressed as well, in a plain faded gray tee-shirt and dark jeans over a pair of beat up red sneakers. He tries not to startle Alexander, no offense but he seems easy to spook, saying "Excuse me. Alexander was it?" As he comes up alongside the other man.

Carver throws a dismissive hand to the woman walking beside him. And a dismissive eyebrow. And a dismissive "Ugh." Just to drive it home. There's a moment or two of rummaging around in his own completely screwed up idea of 'neatened' hair, (That is to say he probably licked his hand and ran some fingers through it this morning) to pull out, of all things, a half-finished, slightly battered cigarette. It's placed behind his ear, where it belongs. "I have no alcohol on board right now. It would have been fine." Is his coat clinking? Maybe. "I could do with some ice cream on board, though. You think they'd tackle me if I tried to feed the mo-Ooh! Peacock!"

He's easily distracted, that man.

Julia flashes a smile at Suriel. "That would be great. The town should really fund you for a little petting zoo, you know?" The peacock shrieks indignation at the delay in his food supply, and laughingly, chides him in Spanish before tossing another handful of feed.

"Honestly," Sutton mutters, as Carver's distracted by the giant white peacock. "You have the attention span of a -- " She trails off and then says, "Rainbow sprinkles or chocolate? You chase the bird, I'll get the sweets." Her path will eventually take her past the uniform pretending to be scenery, but she's focused on soft serve with extra sugar on top. "You are the monkey," is muttered once she's probably out of Carver's earshot. Maybe.

Alexander stops when he's addressed, pivoting to study Easton with wary, dark eyes. "Yes," he says, carefully "And you are Easton. Bartender. How is your leg?" There's a glance away, scanning the crowd, then looking back for the other man's answer.

"That would definitely be nice. I'd even toss some of my own money into it. I think expanding would be nice, but, money and funding is generally the thing board members start hemming and hawing about." Suriel nods to that. When the peacock shrieks, those gray eyes of hers look to him, "Oh my goodness she's just trying to talk, you aren't starving you big goose." she chuckles. "He is a real primadonna." she tells Julia.

May eventually arrives to the zoo, the crowd making her a touch more nervous than usual. Her arms hugging herself as she begins to slowly look about. On her form today is a A padded corset with lavender frills edging the top of the bust and following the traditional high waist and low front and back curve of such corsets. Black lace is also added to the bottom of the corset as well which extends below the lower lavender fringe. A high lace collar covers all from the base of the skull and under the chin down to fully drape he shoulders, and descending further in the front to meet with the top of the corset and preventing any cleavage from being seen. Accompanying it is a multi-layered skirts, all black, with opaque silks in the innermost layers, working out to ever more sheer lace. The skirt has a slight bell-shape to it as it descends from under the corset down to floor-length with a pair of black leather ankle high front lace boots peeking out on occasion as she walks further in, but stayying along the edges of the crowd, her gaze searching about for some familiar faces.

Getting a wary look is frankly better than what Easton was expecting from the man, so he tries to give his best friendly smile (though it's not well practiced). "Yea. It's doing better. Thanks." He seems caught off guard by that statement and it takes him a moment to get his bearings again. He asks, "How are you? I know a bunch of you got roughed up on that boat trip. I meant to ask if you were okay, or needed anything but y'all were gone after my smoke break." It's nicer to think of it as a cigarette break than a trying to avoid a mental breakdown break. It sounds better too.

Alex winds up lingering over by the monkey cages. Dawdling, even. While he contemplates the lemurs in their cages, only sparing half a glance for the peacock that everyone spends so much time fussing over. Not that he's an eavesdropping sort, but it's hard not to sometimes, so offers into the conversation between Suriel and Julia (the latter of whom gets a 'yes i see you there' glance), "Excuse me, do you work here?" He probably means Suriel, since he 'knows' Julia, but enh; he might be lumping her in that question, too.

"Sorry, what? I wasn't listening." Carver really does have the attention span of a --. He's side-eyeing the absolute shit out of that bird. "Rainbow sprinkes, of course." Like there's really an option.

And watch as those cogs turn in his head. Hell, they're probably audible. It's the gear-turning of a man working out what course of action he could undertake, including handing out bags of feed, that would have the quickest result in a child of say, 7? being accosted by a peacock. It's that or he's taking in all the people who seem to have been drawn to this area today. The first option's funnier, though.

"You need a good fundraiser." Julia suggests, expression thoughtful. "I used to do catering work for that kind of thing all the time in San Francisco. Get people who like to toss their money around to toss it in your direction with a couple of fancy plated dishes and a dance floor." Her gaze glides slowly to Alex. He gets an upnod of her chin, and a dismissive little chuff that apparently equates to a greeting.

Suriel straightens a bit when Alex asks if she works here and she smiles, "I do, what can I help you with?" she asks him with a warm tone. Then there's a look to Julia and a nod of agreement, "That's a good idea." she tells her. Then there's a smile, "We moved to San Diego from here when I was real small. I love California." she admits. Then she's looking back to Alex for the moment. Seeing how she can help.

Sutton waves a hand at Carver as he speaks again, moving over to the refreshment stand to queue up and await her turn to order. She leans on the counter and says, "Two small vanilla cones, rainbow sprinkles on both." She digs a little wad of bills out of one of her pockets, smoothes them on the counter, and hands them over as payment. When she learns the total for the two ice creams, her brows go up and she pulls another five out to hand that over as well. "Geez."

Alexander blinks back at Easton, as if the response was not one that he expected, either. He looks down at his feet, frowning at them as he thinks about it. Then looks up again. "I'm fine. That's healed, but for a bruise or two. What doesn't kill us," he doesn't complete the rest of the sentence. He stares at Easton instead. Then, slowly, a social neuron or two seems to fire. "Sorry. About leaving abruptly. It's difficult to talk about some things."

"I just had a couple of questions about the monkeys." Alex begins thoughtfully, tilting his head and looking from Suriel and Julia to the monkey cage in the background, to whatever monkeys do when they have guests. Swing around and eat monkey-food? Anyway, he turns a polite smile back to Suriel. "What's their natural habitat? If they escaped, would the weather wind up a problem for them? Or could they just survive in the park?"

Even computer nerds need fresh air sometimes. Or zoo air, at any rate. Hannah just seems to wander in, a small unobtrusive figure clutching a balloon animal resembling something between a dog and a giraffe in one hand. Her other arm is in a sling. She gravely inspects the finery and accepts a bracelet with good will before meandering towards the lemurs. Who doesn't love lemurs?

"I miss it." Julia confesses, and watches Carver with some amusement. "You want to feed the peacock?" She holds out her cup, which is maybe half full now with feed.

May lingers off where she won't be in the way of foot traffic and begins to tap on her phone. Her eye occasionally glancing up from the screen but for the most part, she is going to wallflower for the time being.

"I'd love to, pet." Carver looks down at the offered cup from Julia with a quick eye, then a slight shake of the head. "But it's a terrible idea for all involved. Believe me. Appreciate the offer, though!"

And then, just like that, with very little delay, he's up by where someone is complaining about prices. "What did you expect? There'a theater troupe and the zoo's all decked out in streamers." His arm reaches around Sutton's side with an impressive speed, making grabby hands towards one of the cones until she relinquishes the cold treat. "Someone offered me bird feed. It's like nobody in this town knows me." It's real hard to tell by his tone if that's good or bad.

It's probably both.

"Good t'hear. I know Geoff and Erin were worried about you." Okay, he doesn't actually know about Erin, but Geoff did seem concerned and to Easton's reckoning this looks to him like a dude that could use some help. Or at least someone asking if he's okay. Possibly he's mentally conflating Alexander's situation with that of veterans he knows suffering PTSD, but hell it doesn't hurt to be kind to someone who looks like they've had it rough.

"Don't worry about it. I get it, I needed air too. Maybe took a little longer getting back in than I thought." He smirks and says, "But I'm not sure I want to tempt anything here to make me stronger." semi-completing Alexander's though from earlier.

"Someone has a name, if you bother to ask." Julia says with a laugh, offering a wave to Sutton with her free hand.

Sutton jumps as Carver is suddenly just there. "What the shit, Carver. This is how you ended up gushing from your face the last time!" She blows out a breath and hands over one of the ice cream cones, already melting a bit. "You should have taken the bird feed," she says, nearly deadpan. "What's the worst that could happen?" It's like she wants Carver to end up hospitalized, really. She lifts a hand to wave to Julia as she catches that greeting.

Suriel gives a soft nod to Julia, "I agree with that." she tells her. Then back to Alex, "Ah, the Lemurs. Well...we've got Ring Tailed and We've got Idri. The ring tails are a more commonly shown Lemur for movies and things.Lemurs have low basal metabolic rates, which helps them to conserve energy during the dry season, when water and food are scarce. So if they ever got loose from us they would probably be able to survive on their own for a goodly time and in the forest more than likely. But we'd do our best to bring them back without harm to them or the town." she tells him.

Standing around, idle as can be, Officer O'Malley doesn't intrude on people's conversations or even seem to be listening overly much. In fact, he's mostly just idly checking his radio from time to time and occasionally even checking his cell phone, sending out a text here and there. Wandering a bit closer to where people congregate, he seems to be just checking to make sure everything is going alright, and then continues on his way.

Alexander's brow furrows at Easton. "I don't think either of them like me, so they were probably just relieved. And talking about Miss Addington learning to fight when I left." He glances towards the group around the peacock, then turns back to Easton. Something almost like a smile flickers to life on his face. "You won't have to. Tempt them." Then a nod peacock-ward. "Meet the bird. He is a very pretty bird. It's always nice when things know exactly what they are, and he does."

Violet drifts in from the direction of the carousel, tucking a few strands of frizzy pale gold hair behind her ears. She dressed in a lavender blouse and flowy skirt and flat-soled shoes, blue eyes owlishly wide behind a pair of oversized glasses. She stays on the fringes of the group, stepping up onto her tip-toes to peer through the crowd, and then quietly makes her way over to where she spies Alex by the monkey cages. "Excuse me, pardon me," she comments as she snakes her way through people. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Officer," she mumbles when she inadvertently knocks Michael with her elbow, her cheeks blotching with red.

"Interesting." Alex actually seems to mean that, too! Not just something he rattles off to be polite. He nods to absorb Suriel's information about the monkeys - or lemurs or whatever, hairy little tree-people. "Have you ever had one escape before?" He's not asking for any reason at all, don't worry.

"Worst that could happen-" Carver muses, ice cream smeared across one lip as soon as he's taken a taste. "Carnage and jail time." He seems pretty content with that solution, dragging a tongue over the stained vanilla to do his variation of tidying up before casting an eye back towards Julia. "Sorry! Didn't mean to dismiss you. S'just that usually people offer me things to make me go away."

Suriel gives a smile, "To my knowledge we've had no escapes in the time that I've been here and that's coming up on about ten years." she is honest with him. "Our escape artist tends to be the star of the show currently. He will run and flap and preen." she laughs. "He's a mess to catch." she adds.

Laughing in response to Alexander's comment Easton says easily, "Well I didn't say they wanted to snuggle. Just that they were concerned about you. People don't have to be besties to want to make sure yer okay." He does his his own glance around as the zoo continues to fill up with people, and quite a few that ping his radar and make him tense ever so slightly. He has thus far avoided very large crowds but things had started to get better, so he thought he'd give it a shot. There's a tension in his head sweeps though, as if he's trying to keep track of everyone at once.

Meet the bird Ooookay. Easton blinks and observes the peacock but Alexanders cryptic statement makes perfect sense to him. He nods and says, "Yea.. it is nice." With perhaps a touch more wistfulness than the sentiment or the bird deserves.

Hannah doesn't get the elbow, so there's that, but Violet's passing through the crowd by the lemurs does send enough ripples to get her attention and she just...stares. Straight up fish-mouth. It's an awkward-looking awkward-feeling span of time before she shakes her head and follows in the woman's wake, finally reaching out to very, very hesitantly touch the woman's shoulder.

Looking down and aside at Violet, the Officer says, "Quite alright," and gives her a subtle smile to let her know he means it. Continuing along his long arc through the crowd, he finds a new place to stand around and people watch. Hands going back to his hips.

Thankfully not arrested for assault, Violet tips her head to Michael and continues on her way. She sees Alex there by the monkey cages, and she's likely so focused on her destination that she doesn't notice Hannah and her fish-mouth. Nor does she notice the girl coming up beside her. But she does notice the hand on her shoulder. Which explains why she squeaks very loudly. Awwkkwwwwaard.

Alex turns just enough to notice whatever the peacock is doing presently, but it's clear that his interest in this bird is passing at best. "Hmmm." There's a brief moment when his brows pull together, perplexed, specifically when he's watching Violet and the cop over there talking - but nothing seems to come of that so. He lifts a wave to catch her notice, quietly gets aggravated at being the shortest guy around (AS ALWAYS), and back to his conversation. "Thank you. Just one last question. Do you think they're happy? The..." Things that aren't monkeys. He nods to them.

Alexander gives Easton a look that can only be described as 'skeptical'. But then he stares at the other man for a while, and social gears grind - slowly, but they grind - and he says, "I will apologize for worrying them when next I see them." He turns away then and heads for the peacock, leaving Easton to follow or not as he approaches the concrete walk. And Suriel. He pauses just out of reach of the crowd around her, and says right over Alex's question, "Suriel. Meet Easton. He's a bartender. He requires the peacock's certainty." Because that makes sense. And it will make /even less/ sense if Easton doesn't actually follow him.

"Jail time is optimistic." Sutton takes a bite right off the top of her soft serve, then immediately begins licking all the sprinkles off before they end up melting down her hand. "I think they'd just throw you into one of the large predator enclosures." She takes a few steps away from the refreshment stand, but lingers to make sure she has all the melt under control, watching the procession of people wander by. She glances over at the uniformed officer, and lifts a hand in a wave. "Remind me not to order any actual food here. The city doesn't pay me enough."

"Sorry! Sorry," Hannah burbles, jerking her hand back when Violet squeaks at her and holding it up in a placating gesture...which means there's a balloon animal along for the ride. Hello, Violet. "It's just..." She closes her eyes and shakes her head again, then offers a crooked little smile. "I think I know your sister."

"Mmmhmmm." Julia replies to Carver, rolling her eyes to Sutton with some sense of camraderie. Then, "I don't know that they have any predators here, but monkeys can be pretty viscious." She starts to say more, when a voice captures her attention, and she half-turns, looking toward Violet and the woman she's exchanging conversation with.

May seems to have the amount of people get the better of her and begins to make her way out. Her phone still in hand as she seems to be pondering something or another. But seems to be able to slip out without much issue.

Easton's face contorts in confusion as Alexander declares his intention to apologize. He tries to explain "Noo, you just-.." But then Alexander is walking away. No one said it was going to be particularly easy to be nice to the guy, but Easton's game at least. He follows after him, so he is there to be introduced. He blinks a little bit at being introduced as needing anything from the peacock, but what the hell. He's already tried to get answers from tarot cards, why not large resplendent foul. "Yup. That's true."

Violet blink-blinks, those huge eyes getting wider as she leans back from Hannah and the welcoming balloon animal. There's a glance to it, and then to the girl, and she's about as stiff as stiff can be. "Oh, no no. I'm sorry. I.." she starts, apologizing for nothing, and then sort of finds herself out of words. She glances anxiously over her shoulder, to where she knows Alex is, and then settles back on Hannah. "You.. you know Alice? From.." she swallows. "Recently?"

Suriel gives a smile to Alex and then his question catches her off guard, "Well, Mister Pretty Bird there seems to be. We try to take good care of the animals and make sure that they have plenty of mental stimulation and things like that. Stagnation is the worst thing that could happen." she admits. "I try to make sure their exercises and foods will benefit them and that they get interaction." she looks towards the monkey cages. "I would hope that if they were unhappy they'd let me know." she adds. Then there's an Alexander and Easton. Alexander gets a warm smile from the woman, "Hello, Alexander. And it's nice to see you again and to get a name. Easton." she states. She was at his bar a bit as it was.

Rummaging around inside his coat, Carver just mumbles something about Seattle ruining Sutton's expectations for small town zoos. And people. Too many people. Fumbling hands pull out a pair of sunglasses that soon sit on his face. Skewed. It takes two attempts to right them. "Monkeys can be a bloody nightmare." He agrees toward Julia before her attention's elsewhere, then casting an eye over towards the park as he takes another mouthful of ice-cream in a manner that offends at least two parents with small children for daring to give them ideas. "Does that city budget cover balloon animals?" Back to Sutton. He has a plan.

"Hannah!" One top-speed Latina comes flying at the other woman, arms wide and promptly wrapping around the smaller woman. Gatlin gun paced rapid fire Spanish comes out of her mouth and Julia seems almost on the verge of crying. "Oh my god, are you okay? Look at you, tu es bonita!"

"The peacock enjoys being chased," Alexander offers. "You can tell, if you watch." He returns Suriel's smile with the faintest suggestion of one of his own. He turns to Easton. Stares at him. Turns to Suriel. Stares at her. Back to Easton. Two people who seem to actively tolerate his presence in the same small area. He seems to be contemplating some way to bodily smush them together and see if there's an explosion of some sort. All he says, though, is, "Nice to see you, too. This seems well-attended." He glances back at Easton and waits for another Small Talk neuron to fire. Which it does. "Where are you from?"

Sutton's smirking a bit when Julia rolls her eyes at Carver, because it's a sisterhood, really. "Monkeys can be vicious. Would you like a closer look, cousin?" This to the dark-haired Englishman eating the other sprinkle-topped ice cream cone. "Don't talk crap about Seattle. Why's everyone on about Seattle?" That's muttered too.

Sutton takes another bite of ice cream, then side-eyes Carver as he asks her a question in that tone. "... Maybe." Her tone suggests she's suspicious but ultimately on board. Just to see how this could possibly go wrong. "How many?" She digs into her pocket for a twenty, and hands that over to Carver. She blinks and watches Julia tear off. She nudges Carver. "Look. Feel good at two-o'clock." She smiles a bit at that.

It was on the tip of his tongue to say something, but then Alex is getting talked over the top of by Alexander, with Easton in tow, and whatever was on the tip of his tongue gets bitten back. Here, they can all have a socially correct smile to share, only a little tenser than it really should be, and he waits out the introductions to conclude to Suriel, "Thank you for the information." For which he has absolutely no plans, don't worry.

Hannah finally notices the balloon animal...look, having only one working arm is very difficult...and she hastily tucks the dogiraffe into the crook of her elbow. "Alice. Yes. So you're Violet. Um." She looks around at the pressing crowd with big brown eyes and replies carefully, "I haven't seen her in some time. We were-" Cue Julia tackle. Hannah freezes like a deer in headlights, but recognizes Julia just before impact and yelps, a startled happy noise. And she hugs back, an awkward but clearly heartfelt gesture. "What the shit, Julia?! What are you doing here?"

Realizing that Alex may have actually been in the midst of talking with Suriel about something, Easton winces and gives a tight smile of apology to him. "Sorry." But then a flash of recognition comes across his face. Bar stool. Gin and tonic. Alejandro. He smiles again, this time trying to force it to look at least somewhat friendly.

"Yes, I'm sorry I haven't caught yours." He says to Suriel as she seems to recognize him. Probably from the bar, but he can't place her face / drink. "Oh." Easton seems a bit surprised by the question from Alexander, "Out east. Pretty new here, but I actually used to come to this place as a kid. It looks a good deal nicer now." He says this to Suriel by way of compliment, though in truth he was so biased as little prick of a kid it's hard to tell.

"Oh, uh. Yes. Violet, that's.. me." Violet twitches awkwardly in her step, looking back over her shoulder to see if she can get eye contact with Alex. She folds her arm over her chest and awkwardly rubs her opposite arm with her hand. "I'm... sorry. If you were.. there.." she was trying to be discreet! "Are you hurt?" And that gets real compassion, a sad look given to Hannah's arm, which transforms abruptly into wide eyes all over again when Julia practically tackles Hannah. She takes a big step backward.

"Last time someone asked me that, I ended up in an ape enclosure at Chester zoo. Lovely orangutan tried to feed me." Carver's probably bullshitting, right? Right. "So no, I would not." There's a sigh. And a hair flip. "Hasn't the family done enough to me?" Check it, Park Players, you're not the only theatrical bastard in town. And he even got twenty bucks for it! "Won't be long. You get a bonus prize if you guess the animal before I bring it."

And like that, he's off parkwards, throwing a huge smile at the Julia-Hannah collision. Once he's figured out where 2 O'Clock is, at least.

An expression of bewilderment flits across Alexander's face at Easton's apology. He eyes the man, follows the wince and the apologetic look. Anyone watching can pretty much see him rewinding the last few minutes of interaction, and picking them apart until..."Ah. I interrupted. I apologize, Alejandro." He ducks his head, hair flopping forward a little. "That was rude." A sidelong look to Easton. "As a kid? You were summer people?"

"My mom - " Julia starts to say, and with an askance glance at Violet and her paramour, redirects herself. "We'll talk about it later. What the hell are you doing here, huh?" She gives Violet a careful nod, saying in a dry tone, "Yeah, it's what you think it is." Battle-buddies. Comrades in arms. All that sort of thing. The half-hug remains in draped around Hannah until she gives an indication that she might try to extricate herself.

Suriel gives a bit of a smile to Alex, "Just don't do anything to get them upset." she teases him. He wasn't doing anything suspicious. Not yet! Then there's a look to Alexander, "You doing okay?" she asks him. She then looks to Easton, "No reason to apologize, I'm Doctor Suriel Baines. Suri works just as well." she admits. "How are you settling in to Gray Harbor?" she asks him.

Alex answers pleasantly, just ignore the tightness of the aforementioned smile, "No, don't." Apologize, he means. "I think we were just finishing up, Alex*ander*. I'll do my best not to upset them," he assures Suriel. "Again, thank you. Excuse me." And that's when persona non grata detaches himself from this little cluster, clasping his hands loosely behind his back and strolling a little ways over here. Where he's almost definitely eavesdropping on Hannah-Violet-Julia but he's not a Rudey McInterrupterface, sniff, so he lingers on the periphery of that conversation.

"Nice t'meet ya Suri." He smiles and gives a genuine laugh as Alexander refers to him as Summer People. "Oh fuck. Yea, I was for sure Summer People." He adds all the negative connotations possible to that phrase with his tone. He grimaces and says "Pretty sure I wasn't a big fan back then of here. Thought I was just coolest damn little shit." At least he can laugh at himself about it now, right? Suriel's question gets a nod and reply "Yes ma'am, good-" He is distracted by Alex's departure and the weirdness with Alexander. His eyebrows raise a bit but after a moment he recovers, "I think I'm starting to feel like it's home."

Hannah seems totally fine with the ongoing half-hug, though her wide dark eyes flicker from Julia to Violet and back again as she tries to process the last 30 seconds. "I just fell," she tells Violet, belatedly, to explain the sling, and then tosses out a tight little smile and exaggerated thumbs-up when Julia clarifies how they know each other and a certain other person. Back to Julia, "I moved here for work. Good lord, I can't even...how are you?"

There's a long moment after Sutton's watched her twenty dollar bill wander off in Carver's hand that she finishes up eating the ice cream down to the cone, and glances over toward where she last saw him. She squints. She rests a hand on her hip. "Yeah. You just gave twenty bucks to a guy who's definitely not coming back." She blows out a breath, crunches into the top of her crispy wafer cone. "Bloody Brits." It's funny, but when she says that, her accent sounds a lot more like Carver's.

"You'd better pray I don't find you first..." Sutton's saying that in low tone as she heads out toward the park, skirting a gaggle of happy children with their goodie bags. Nobody mind the vaguely annoyed looking brunette with faded PARAMEDIC across the back of her tee. She picks up the pace once she's out of the more crowded area, headed off, probably, to assault an English national.

"People keep asking that," Alexander mutters, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. His brow furrows as Alex detaches himself from the conversation. There's a moment when something bleak and sad flits across his expression, before his face settles in its typical impassive slump. "I'm sorry," he says, again, but quieter. "And I'm fine." That's even quieter and he falls silent to listen to Easton. "You were probably smart. As a kid."

"I.." Violet starts to reply to JUlia's 'this is what you think it is,' but she opts to say nothing at all and instead bite down at her bottom lip. "I'm sorry." That was probably to Julia, considering the direction of her gaze, though her focus flicks back to Hannah afterward. Her expression softens somewhat, her frown and sympathy genuine. "My.. ah.. Alex, is a doctor. If you need someone to look at it. Your arm, I mean. He's here. Alex. But I don't think he brought his medical equipment. That would probably be a lot, I.." she swallows, staving off the rambling. "I should go. Sorry to interrupt," even though she technically didn't. It was time to flee regardless! And she turns and almost runs straight into Alex.

"I'm okay. You know my family's fish place? I'm running it now. That's where you can find me. Girl, give me your phone." Julia adds, addressing Violet as well, "We're probably going to want to have a conversation at some point all together, that isn't you know, in the middle of screaming children, screaming peacocks, and screaming monkeys."

"No!" It comes out louder than she means for it to, so Hannah says it again, quieter and more politely. "No thank you. It's fine, it's been seen to." And then she focuses her attention on Julia so she can pretend she didn't just watch Violet walk head-on right into her Alex. "That's your family's place? I'll drop by! Or yeah, here." She winkles her cell phone out of her jacket pocket, unlocks it and hands it over. "I just can't get over the fact that you're here. And-" She cuts a look back at Violet but doesn't elaborate.

Alex jumps to conclusions: Violet is fleeing + Julia is standing there = Julia was mean again. This arithmetic plays itself all but visibly in the way he looks from the frizzy blonde that's bumped right into him to the fish fryer and her little friend. "Otra vez?" He must be talking to Julia, 'cause in Spanish plus he sounds irritated. He shakes his head all disappointed-dad-like, silly girls.

"Oh!" Violet squeaks again, startled, as she knocks into Alex, all ready to apologize when she notices it's him. And there's a distinct relaxation of whatever tension has creeped up to take hold in her shoulders. "Hi," she says instead of 'I'm sorry', her cheeks briefly dimpling with a smile that is promptly snuffed out at the Spanish-talk. "No, no," she can understand simple words, and she wraps her arm around Alex's own. "I just didn't want to be a bother. They.. are friends," she means Hannah and Julia. "I didn't want to be rude."

Julia curls a lip in disdain at Alex. "Ella estaba con nosotros, conmigo y Alice. No le hicimos nada a Violet, asi que retrocedemos, Alejandro." She looks then to Violet. "You're fine." she promises, calling out, "We should talk. Soon. Okay?"

Watching Alexander as he reacts to the whole business with Alex causes a slight furrow to Easton's face. He nods as Alexander is checked up on by someone else, he gives Suri a friendly smile the reasoning behind which is probably not terribly clear. But then Alexander asks if he was a smart kid and he shakes his head, "Like little assholes everywhere I thought so. Perspective is humbling. And goodness knows I needed some humbling." He can't help but have his eyes drawn towards the 'situation' with Julia, Violet and Alex. It's the same three from the bar the other night. He stops listening to the current conversation as he tries to figure out what is going on there, his brow furrowed.

"It's not good to get too attached to Gray Harbor," Alexander murmurs in protest to Easton's words. "It gets attached to you in return. Better that it doesn't." He follows Easton's gaze. "...Miss Whitehouse. She temporarily sold me a very interesting book about death here. It's been most enlightening." He sounds actually something approaching happy, recalling that.

Clearly strange things are afoot here that Hannah's just not up on yet, so she just makes herself look as innocuous as possible (this is very easy for her and the result is VERY innocuous). "I'm so sorry I startled you, Violet. I just couldn't...not say anything."

"I think that's wise." Easton agrees that getting attached to Gray Harbor is a bad idea, even if he does feel the need to be here. He asks, "You ever thought of leaving? Going someplace less ... here." He tries to think of a more vague way of saying massively fucked up but can't quite come up with anything. He's a little surprised at the details about the people he's watching and it takes him a minute to put the name to Violet. He nods and says "Temporarily sold? Like.." That's a weird policy / shop / thing. "Wait like deaths, here? Could I read that? I mean buy it less temporarily? Or more? I don't... I don't know what the means" He finally admits.

Alex's, "Me disculpo," might as well be 'still hope you diaf' for as much actual apology as there is in his tone. There's a bit more Spanish which is too fast for Violet at this point, and it ends with another tight but extremely polite smile at both Hannah and Julia. He casts a quick glance across the arm of the former, brows knitting, but he doesn't get all up in her business (yet). Instead, he repeats more authentically, "I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions."

Suriel's mic on her radio starts going off and there's an apologetic look to the group, "I apologize, but I have to go. Feeding time for a few people. Thank you for coming out though Alexander, Easton and others." she gives a wave. Then she's taking long strides to make it to the enclosures and disappear.

Gold star for Violet because she understands the 'me disculpo' even if there's a hell of a lot of blinking at everything else. Rapid fire Spanish is not her speed, clearly, and so she keeps herself close to Alex, raising up on her tip-toes to murmur something to him. Whatever is said, leaves her with a faint smile for him, before she looks back to Hannah. "You don't have anything to apologize for, I should be apologizing, I didn't mean to be so startled. And ruin your .. reunion, it seems," she tips her chin to Julia. "She said she fell," she adds to Alex, perhaps noticing the look he gives to Hannah's arm. She's not yet picked up on all the other people staring at her, she might faint if she does.

Alexander brightens considerably at Easton's interest. His shoulders straighten and he actually looks his full height. "It's fascinating. I am digitizing it with a hand scanner, but it's delicate work. Rare book, don't want to damage it just to archive it. There's a...well. Some of it probably is crazy. I'm sorry." An apologetic. "I'm trying to not be crazy today." He jerks his head in a nod towards Suriel, watching her go. Before glancing back at Easton. "And I bought it. But I'm going to sell it back to her. Maybe she will let you buy it permanently." Only after all of that is addressed does he circle around to the rest. "Yes. I left for a while. It was easier. But it has to be...if I'm not lost, maybe other people are lost. Maybe they don't survive it. So far, I have. And things /stand out/ here." He looks down at his feet, then back to Easton. "Why did you come?"

Julia has relaxed her arm on Hannah's shoulder and isn't really interested in a fight, so when she replies to Alex (also in Spanish), while she is terse, she's not angry. "You didn't ruin anything." She assures Violet, before murmuring to Hannah, "You got a place to stay? If you don't, come stay with me."

Hannah perks the faintest little frown at Alex, but it's become a small but genuine smile when her gaze falls on Violet again. "Maybe we should just accept that neither of us were ready for this and stop feeling sorry. Julia's right, you didn't ruin anything and it's nice to meet you. I'm Hannah Butler." Because she forgot that bit. She shakes her head to Julia with a dry little laugh. "Thank you, but my new job set me up with a place. Hi, Alexander." And the greeting encompasses Easton as well...but she doesn't know his name.

Following along with Alexander as best he can, Easton nods and listens to the tales of the book. He shakes his head and smiles at Alexander apologizing for sounding too crazy. "It's a good goal my friend. Me too." And he doesn't mean it in any way to be patronizing. He really is trying. The scanning of the crowd, the looking for signs of danger, the clenching of his jaw, fists, etc. is all something he's trying to tamp down. And that doesn't even get to his issue with ghosts.

At the part about him being lost and others maybe not, he nods and says "I get that." And damn, that's some noble hero shit right there. Maybe not the best idea, maybe not even true, but Easton smiles a little in appreciation anyway. "Because I got a feeling this place had some answers I need. And like you said, things stand out here."

Oh, there's a little more of that Spanishing going on, with Alex at least managing to sound slightly less like he's wishing Julia would die by the time he's done. Probably, Violet being pleasant goes a long ways toward calming the flash of temper. Also, the way his eyes widen a moment afterward plays into that, and he tilts his head curiously askew. "She said she - " Dude. Alex. She's standing right there. "You said you fell? Onto...?" The brows are up, Hannah. He's onto you.

"Miss Butler." Alexander starts a little at being addressed, and turns to stare at Hannah a bit warily. His gaze takes in the others with her, then falls to her arm. "You're injured. What happened?" Easton gets another sidelong and wary look at his easy acceptance of Alexander's answer. But, after a moment, he seems to accept it for what it is. As if in return, he says, "I'll let you see the book. If you want. Do you like autopsy photos?" That is a genuine, even hopeful, question right there.

Julia rolls her eyes at Alex, but the Spanish speaking stops, so it seems the two have reached some kind of grudging pax. With all of the people now making inquiries to Hannah, she goes quiet, but she's watching with a little frown. If she gets the slightest hint of the notion that Hannah feels pressed upon, like as not Hurricane Julia will come sweeping in.

"You're probably right," Violet agrees to not being ready for this. Which is why she follows up with another: "I'm sorry." Her teeth bite down into her lip, and she glances straight down at her feet. Violet is not a very pretty blusher; her cheeks are all blotchy and red. She tucks herself into Alex a bit more comfortably. "Maybe we .. could have tea. At my shop. Another day," she offers to Hannah. "But it's.. nice to meet you, Hannah. I'm Violet," because she's awkward and reintroduces herself 😕

There's a Miss Butler to wave to, though really it's more of a nod of the chin and a lift of the coffee cup that Easton's holding. He is about to say something when Alexander asks him a little more hopefully than one might expect if he likes autopsy photos. His mouth opens as if to answer and it stays half open for a moment or two. His head tilts and he squints at Alexander as if trying to figure out why he's asking. ".. It.. depends. If they're interesting cases, yea. But normally I keep my porn more vanilla, save those for special occasions."

"The ground," replies Hannah evenly to Alex, and then repeats in its entirety to Alexander. "I fell on the ground. But it's fine. The sling is mostly just so I don't forget it's injured and flail it around." Violet's extra apology is met with a faint but forebearing little sigh. "Tea sounds lovely."

Julia still has Hannah's phone, so she quickly taps her deets in and offers it back. "Sounds good, Vi." She's still slightly tense, like a jaguar waiting to jump at prey.

Alexander has done it again. He clearly /recognizes/ that something he's said has not gotten the reaction he was hoping for. Another blank stare as he rewinds the interaction of Easton and works it out. "You're being sarcastic," he offers, after a moment. "You don't like autopsy photos. I'm sorry, Easton." He ducks his head a little, and looks back towards Hannah. "Ah." There's another long stare, brow furrowed. Alexander's mouth opens. But, you know what, none of his conversational gambits have quite worked out, so he closes his mouth and shakes his head with a frown. "I hope you feel better," is what eventually comes out. And then he checks the faces around him for whether that was the right thing to say or not.

Easton looks uncomfortable for a bit as Alexander tries to process that. He grimaces slightly and says "No, I meant it. That if they're for a purpose, I'm down. I just.. not something I peruse as a rule without reason is all I meant." But he couldn't help crack the joke, which is obviously tough for Alexander to process. He wants to try and work on that. Again there's a lot of sympathy for Alexander probably mixed up in the type of veteran he reminds him of, even if he never served. He really doesn't want to know Alexander's answer to if he likes looking at autopsy photos, considering that hopeful question is about all the answer he can take.

"Interesting." Alex says this of Hannah's 'fell on the ground' comment, and he starts like maaaaaybe he'll say something - then doesn't - then retools what he was going to say with another even smile. He has a lot of them. "Well, you should be careful when you," enunciated super-carefully, "fall on the ground. There's a hospital right over there," he points, "in case you ever find yourself falling on the ground again." Ahem. In case everyone managed to miss it: he thinks Hannah is lying and is not even trying to pretend otherwise. Violet probably knows this better than anyone else, 'cause he says something to her (which you can almost all assume is about this lie).

There's a hurried whisper back from Violet to Alex, lashes fluttering behind her thick framed glasses. She bounces a not-so-subtle look from him to Hannah, and squints. "I.." she clears her throat, and starts again. "Yes. Tea. At my shop. Would be nice." She lingers a look at Hannah, before she frowns and shakes her head, distracting herself with - oooh, Alexander! There's a quick wave with her hand. "Hi Alexander. How is the reading going?" it's the sort of polite thing that people say. But Violet follows up with: "Did you get to the chapter about the part about all the people who keep hanging themselves on the bridge?"

"Oh," Alexander says, thoughtfully. His chin jerks in a nod. "There's always a reason, Easton. It's too easy for people to be forgotten when they're dead. People look away, want to forget them. Lock them up in little metal cabinets, just like the mad are locked away in little padded room. Even when the dead - and the mad - have their own stories, and those stories matter. If you understand the end, then you can work backward. This one crushed by a Ferris Wheel. That one with their head caved in and the blood pours down the inside of their eyes and in their mouth and down their throat and no one who cares. Someone should care." He's animated, even passionate, now, Hannah's injury forgotten as he tries to /explain/ to Easton. Thankfully, the bartender is saved by Violet, and Alexander turns a full bright smile on her. "I did. The author is occasionally a bit more emotional than I might like about the whole thing, but I've been able to develop some interesting hypotheses! I just need historical records. I have someone looking into it. How are you, Miss Whitehouse?"

Hannah taps out a quick text so Julia has HER number, and then tucks the phone away in her pocket. "Thank you, Alexander, it does feel better." There's a certain conscientiousness to her manner...that doesn't get transferred over to Alex. No, Alex gets the narrowed eyes. "I appreciate it. I'll keep that in mind for next time." More lies, but she doesn't seem to care if he's onto her.

Easton actually appears relieved by that explanation. It makes sense! Wait, is it bad that the town loon is making total sense to him? Maybe that should be concerning. But he doesn't interrupt Alexander's rant, just nods along thoughtfully. "I get that." He nods a few times and then he frowns, "Yea, no I agree." I ... still don't want to look at the photos, he doesn't add. But then again, he's seen more dead bodies than he ever wanted to.

"Do you fall on the ground often?" Alex looks at Hannah's arm, then at her eyes, then back at her arm, then shakes a finger to suggest that she needn't answer that question, despite his having just asked. "That's none of my business." But he's still going to tell her wtf to do, so he does that: "Clean it twice a day. And you might think about getting a prescription for antibiotics. Bul-ahm, that is, injuries from ground-falling can get infected." He passes a nice smile to Hannah, duty dispensed, makes an, "Mmmhmm," noise at Violet, and shuts up to attend all this talk about murderbooks.

Julia looks back to Hannah, somewhat knowingly. She seems at ease with Hannah's lie - she's not oblivious, she knows it's bullshit - but she's not going to call Hannah out on it here in front of people. So instead she notes to Hannah, "If I'm on duty you don't pay at the shack, and you're coming over for dinner a lot." Alex's diagnosis and prescription for care is noted with a mild expression. The mildest of expressions. Ever.

Violet leans forward so she can have this little murderbook conversation with Alexander around Alex, while Alex dispenses medical advice. There may be a hearts-in-the-eyes look cast upward for Alex, before she offers a faint smile back to Alex*ander. No hearts there. Sorry Alexander. "I suspect the emotion comes largely from the fact that he knew his book would never get off the ground. People didn't quite like what he had to say, though I guess that isn't very surprising. But I'm very glad you are enjoying it! And maybe you can share your historical records in return?" As for how **she* is doing? She almost looks caught off-guard by the question. There's a blink, and her smile brightens. "I am.. good! Alex and I were going to see the monkeys, but we've not gotten that far yet. Or.." she looks back up to Alex with raised brows. "Perhaps you've already gotten there and I missed out?"

"You do?" Alexander asks Easton. And then he repeats the question when Easton says he agrees. He just looks...bewildered. There's a wary scan of everyone in reach, then a larger scan of the surrounding crowd, as if waiting for the candid cameras to jump out so that everyone can laugh. His eyes are dragged back to Violet by her response, and he relaxes a little. "Of course. I need to find early Baxters. They seem to be missing."

Easton smirks as Alexander seems befuddled by his agreement, "Yea. After all. It's memorial day, people tend to forget why they throw zoo parties and close offices. It's important to remember the dead. And their stories." Of course it helps when you have a dead person 'living' with you. It'd be nice if it were optional to remember them maybe. Shit, that's kind of selfish. Oh well. Easton kind of trails off and says, "But bring that book by the bar sometime. I would like to hear more about it." He glances over at Violet, definitely intrigued by the chapters and topics she mentioned. He just nods at her with a "Ma'am" and takes his leave though.

It's cool, Hannah wasn't going to answer that question anyway. "Thank you for your advice." The words are neutral with a veneer of pleasant. Her words to Julia are actually pleasant, suffused with warmth. "You don't have to do that, but thank you. And I will be coming over for dinner a lot. And if you ever have any computer issues hit me up, okay? I guess that's a weird thing to offer but you do not want me cooking."

That flat expression breaks into a broad grin at Hannah's reply to Alex, and replies to her fondly, "The hell I don't have to do that. Shut up. We're family. Family doesn't pay. And I sure will. Especially if the internet goes out in the shack. Such a pain." She looks around. "So where are you working, anyway?" A hand is raised in silent goodbye to Violet when it seems she and Alex might be moving along.

Polite Alex answers, "You're welcome," with a perfectly nice little nod at Hannah. They are clearly almost as BFFie as he and Julia are. 😃 One more look is given to her sling, and then he drags his attention away from it resolutely, tuning back in to hear Alexander talking about early Baxters. There's not so much as a flicker of recognition for the name from him, he's so totally clueless about what Alexander and Violet are discussing here. His only contribution is to add, "Only enough to ask the zookeeper how they would fare in the wild. She said they would probably be just fine if they somehow escaped."

"I...I will," Alexander says, in very much the tone someone might use if they were invited over to receive a Brand New Car or some other completely unexpected and not entirely trusted piece of kindness. He stares at Easton's back, his brow furrowed, until the man disappears into the crowd. He turns back to the others. And stands there, as awkward as a puppet whose strings have been temporarily abandoned.

"They are?" This earns a raise of Violet's pale gold brows atop the frame of her glasses, at the talk of the early Baxters having gone missing. "Oh," she frowns. "I hope you find them," she says to Alexander. Because that's the normal thing to say, when someone suggests dead people have gone missing, right?! Right! Anyway. "What?" she blink-blinks up to Alex, and stares at him. "You... you asked? About the monkeys?" If anybody in this room ever wondered what a puddle person looks like, you're about to see it right now. Violet was getting all fluttery.

"Yeah, call me for any of that, internet outages, spill some coffee on your keyboard, whatever. The people running tech support most places can't find their asses with both hands and a map." Hannah proclaims this with utter confidence, which wavers at Julia's next question. "Um...IT security for the Firefly Club, actually. And some associated businesses."

"Thank you, Miss Whitehouse. I hope I do, too." Alexander's eyes shift back to Hannah, as if reminded of something. He stares at her, thoughtfully. Then at her arm. Then back at her. And then? Then abruptly turns on his heel and leaves, without so much as a 'goodbye' to anyone.

"The Firefly Club? Seriously?" Julia's eyes go wide with delight. "Girl, you need to get me on the list." Because there's always a list. "That sounds like a great job. I'm glad you're doing okay here. And you just made my being here ten times better."

Alex is not following at all. "Who are the Baxters and where have they gone?" He glances around the immediate vicinity, in case one of them is about to pop out and yell 'boo!' (or something worse). No? That doesn't happen? Okay, well. "Yes," he asked. And smiles, briefly pleased with himself for making Violet all fluttery (like it's difficult). "But you should know, she also said she thinks they're happy and get plenty of exercise and proper food. So...?" Alexander having just walked off makes him blink, like weird people are still a novelty for him. Hmm.

"The Baxters were.. oh, okay. Goodnight, Alexander!" Violet pauses in the middle of her explanation to throw Alexander a wave, before she folds herself back into Alex. Continuing on.. ".. One of the oldest families here. The first family, actually. But then the Addingtons came, and the Baxters left." Her voice grows quiet as she leads Alex towards the monkey cages. One ring-tail scrambles up the branches upon seeing Violet and starts making aggressively loud noises. "Ohh, I'm sorry. I don't have food," she frowns, looking very disappointed in herself. "Do you have any bananas or oranges in your pockets?" This is asked to Alex, of course. You know, on the off chance that he just randomly carries a banana in his pocket. Here, she'll reach her hand in to see.

Hannah laughs, a surprised little noise at Julia's reaction. "I think I can do that. I'm friends with the bouncer." She scuffs a hand through her hair awkwardly as Alexander wanders off. "Yeah, I couldn't really turn it down. I'm just...I can't believe you're here. Definitely ten times better for me too. I should probably head home, but I'll come pester you at the fish shop all the time." She'll have to read about the monkey liberation on FaceHood or BookDoor or whatever.

"I see," says Alex in a tone that says plainly that he does not see. The Addingtons and the Baxters, very sordid, he has no fucking clue why that's even important, that's how far removed Alex is from the heart of this fucked up town. "He's very odd." That much, though, he's caught onto, and tells Violet this without reservation now that Alexander isn't around to hear it. Which isn't the best segue for having his pockets ransacked by his Violet, but it's not like he's all NO STOP, just holds his hands up in front of him like this is a stick-up. "I have some gum."

"Sounds good." Julia says, and makes a face. "Yeah, me here...that's a story. We've got time for it." There are cheek kisses and a hug, and off the ladies go.

"He is," Violet agrees to Alexander being odd, but there's a soft sort of tone to her voice. It's almost as though being 'odd' in this case is something that Violet admires. "He reminds me of me. I think we are friends." And then she's rummaging through Alex's pockets for bananas or tangerines, and comes away empty handed. Yet.. perhaps not disappointed? "Oh well. I think the zookeeper's wrong," she fits her empty fingers through the cage, so the monkey can lean in and nuzzle. "They are very sad, Alex. They want to be free. No one wants to be caged."

There's a brief brow-twitch from Alex when he notes, "Noooo, eso no es chicle," and then laughs briefly before Violet goes off to stick her fingers into the monkey cage and talk about how sad they are. Ahem. He isn't quite so brave as to stick his fingers in there, he needs them for things (like being a doctor and other stuff), so he just stands next to her, rests a hand at the small of her back, and watches the monkeys for a moment. "She called them lemurs." Like that's somehow relevant. "She said they would go and collect them if they ever escaped."

"No quiero chicle," Violet replies, though her pronunciation is god awful. She's trying though, and it makes her giggle before she turns away to pet the monkey. There's a few quiet moments, but the sad state of the lemurs does not seem to dampen Violet's brightened spirits from the laughter. "I'll come back with food," she whispers into the cage, a quiet promise, before she drops her hand away and takes Alex's hand back. "Mm," the sound rolls on her tongue, as she leads Alex away, and down the path towards the pond. "I suppose then, if they ever got out? Someone would have to make sure they never were found."

"No?" With the gum conversation. Well, at least they're on the same page, since, "Igualmente." Does she know that one? Or will the hand-squeeze brow-lift suffice? Regardless, Alex is leaving the sad-monkeys behind and wandering down the path with his novia and her very, very poor Spanish pronunciation. "That is exactly what I was thinking," he says of the monkeys. "As entertaining as it might be to watch the zookeepers chase down the monkeys - " He glances back to the looming hospital-building that overlooks this whole park-zoo area. " - it would be very sad if they escaped only to wind up caught again."

Bye, monkeys! There's a very good chance Alex and Violet are going to wander off toward the pond and, uhm, chew gum together. <.<