The last five hours slowed to a crawl, finding myself pacing around the back area as the minutes ticked by.
I had double checked the e-mail sent by Jeff, reconfirming the timetable that I was working with and ensuring that I was going to lead the nagas to the correct area. I had most of the aerial view of the map memorized, remembering some details of when I was brought back to the zoo from the hospital. I ran through imaginary situations in my head, coming up with problems that could possibly happen and figuring out how I would go about solving it before the nagas were discovered missing.
Another look at the clock told me that only two hours had passed since the last time I checked.
A deep groan rumbled through my throat, resigning to lay down on the bed and throwing an arm over my eyes in frustration. After a few quiet moments, I sat back up and walked towards Ichi's enclosure.
Pulling the door closed behind me, I sat on one of the 'logs' in his room before looking around. The substrate had been freshened up since I was in here last, probably something Sasha did during her volunteer time. The gentle splash of water could be heard throughout the room, much quieter than it was in the other enclosures.
"...are you just gonna sit there...?" Ichi's voice came from the back corner where the heating light was affixed.
"I was getting antsy on my own, so I decided to come in here," I responded before standing up and making my way towards the lavender corn naga, his head barely lifting up to watch me as I came closer, "If the other people need a reason for me being in here, then let them think I'm checking on the wound."
"You said that you wouldn't bother me about it ever again," His eyes partially narrowed, the irises growing thin.
"I'm not actually going to look at it, Ichi. I just...need to let out some pent-up energy."
"By talking to me...?"
"I don't know," I sat down heavily in front of him, my eyes following the line of his spine from his waist as it corded over itself multiple times before ending at the tip of his tail, "You're the only one I don't really know very much about, but I'd like to try and change that before this all happens."
"...my brothers put you up to this, didn't they?" Ichi sighed as he turned his torso to the side, ensuring that his back was facing me.
"No, they didn't. This is something that I've been meaning to do for a little while, but...events stopped me from doing so," I caught a glimpse of the knife wound in Ichi's side, satisfied to see that it wasn't getting worse.
"My name is Ichi and I'm a piece of trash. Fuck off."
"I will when I find out more about you," I laughed a little, "I already know your name, but didn't know that you were a piece of trash."
"Are...present-tense," His chest huffed as he gave a sigh.
"Sorry. I didn't know that you are a piece of trash," I corrected myself as my fingers began to play with the substrate by my crossed legs, "Well, my name is (y/n) and I take care of six nagas that I love. My favorite animals are cats and snakes, and I used to dream of opening a cat cafe before enrolling in college."
"Cats...?" Ichi slightly turned around to face me again, "You mean you like those big clawed beasts?"
"Big...? Oh! No, I meant the smaller ones. Housecats," I shook my head a little, "The big ones are cute, too, but I prefer not getting turned into mincemeat when I try to hug one."
"There are...smaller ones?"
"Of course! Humans bred the bigger cats until they thought they were small enough for people to have them safely in their homes. There are different colors and breeds now, but most housecats are small enough to fit in our laps," I used my hands to outline how big modern domesticated cats were, watching Ichi's eyes grow in fascination, "They still have claws and teeth, but they can't kill humans with a single swipe anymore."
"That's...so small."
"Yeah, they can be pretty small."
"Can I see one?" Ichi had fully turned around on his coils.
"Sure! I can show you when the people out there leave," I briefly motioned towards the black window, "I've got a piece of technology that'll let you watch whatever interests you, as long as you promise to not get it wet. I still need it while I'm here."
"...why? Is the technology allergic to water or something?" He raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"You can say that," Giving a small nod, I thought about how to describe the laptop in terms he would understand, "Have you ever encountered a thunderstorm on the island? Complete with lighting, or bolts of light every so often?"
"Yeah, a few times."
"Well, when that light bolt hits a puddle of water, the water becomes charged with the energy from the hit and messes it up. It's similar to what happens with this tech. If too much water gets into its system, the little lightning bolts making it run become disrupted and it won't function anymore."
"I think I get it...though I'm not sure why humans would want something that runs on storms..."
"Like with most things, we found that it could be useful to us and figured out a way to harness it," I shrugged. It wasn't the cleanest explanation of electricity, but if Ichi understood that water would fry the laptop, then my point got across, "We're not the smartest creatures on the planet."
"Clearly..." Ichi's dark eyes shifted towards the black window, "What is it like out there?"
"Out...there?" I nodded towards the silently mentioned area before receiving a nod, "Well...I haven't been out there yet, but I suppose that it's a dark area-"
"Not where we are right now," He cut me off, "I meant the world outside of this cramped place."
"Ah...sorry," Lowering my eyes back to the substrate underneath me, I began picking through the various leaves and bark, "We're in a country called the United States of America, in a state called California and within a city named San Diego. It's right on the western coastline of America and probably the best place for us to be during an escape, since we need to head west to get to your island."
My index finger began drawing out a rough map of the state, circling where we were on the south-westernmost part of the coast.
"There's a beautiful mountain range that you can see from here, but the city itself is like a metal jungle of taller buildings and wide roads that allow wheeled vehicles to drive down," I drew out a simple car and semi truck as I continued my explanation, "We'll be encountering two roads before I can get you to the safety of the helicopter."
"More small cages?"
"No," My answer was sharper than I intended it, softening my voice as I continued, "No...no more containers or chains. No more forced drugs that will make you sleep..."
"...and what about you?"
I flinched a little when Ichi's hand lifted up my chin for a brief moment, pulling away when he was sure that I was looking at him again.
"What about me?"
"Will you be in the helicopter, too?"
"I..." Turning away a little bit before holding his gaze once more, I firmed up my voice, "If you all want me there, then I will be."
Ichi looked like he wanted to speak before completely retracting, withdrawing from me physically and moving back to the heating lamp as I heard the familiar far-away chime of the closing announcement. I stood up with a glance towards Ichi, seeing his face shift in thought as he curled underneath the heat lamp.
"Let me grab the laptop and pull up some cat videos for you to watch," I offered him a soft smile as I pushed through the door, glancing at the rock resting on the prep table with the pair of gloves I borrowed on top of it. My eyes hardened a little bit before I continued to the room, unplugging the laptop and moving back towards Ichi's enclosure. As long as I took back the laptop before the zoo opened tomorrow, I shouldn't get in trouble for it.
With Ichi not really moving from the heat lamp, I set up the laptop as close as I could without it being directly under the heat source. I carefully walked him through how to use it and opened up the internet browser, showing him the various video sites that he was able to use, and bringing up a short video with different kittens and cats all interacting with each other.
The lavender corn naga was instantly enraptured by what he was seeing, coming closer and lightly touching the screen as the kittens tumbled about, pulling his fingers away when he realized that he couldn't actually touch the animals. I sat with him through a few videos, slightly leaning against his tail when Ichi shifted against me, his tail slowly curling up underneath him as he moved away from the heat lamp.
"I wish I could've had the chance to hold one or two..." Ichi quietly commented as he scrolled through the video media website, looking at the recommended videos.
"I'm sorry," I rested a hand against his scales, "If I was able to manage it without the people in charge freaking out about you eating them, then I would've tried sooner..."
"No, it's all right," He shook his head, "It would've just gotten you into more trouble."
"I know you can't eat the videos, so you're more than welcome to watch until you get tired," I moved to stand up, looking down at Ichi as he watched, "I'll just pick up the laptop in the morning when I wake up."
"Okay. I'll keep it away from the water."
Waving goodbye, I closed the door behind me and looked over to Choro's enclosure. Taking in a deep breath and fighting down the rising blush, I pulled open his door and walked into the humid 'jungle', keeping an eye out for his form in the branches above me. Standing on the edge of the 'river' bank, I rested my hands on my hips.
"Choro, I'm back," I called out into the near silence of the enclosure, hearing something shift near the heat lamp towards the back corner.
"You're back already?" Choro sounded tired. I frowned as the thought of waking him up crossed my mind.
"Yeah. Zoo's closed and I've got nothing else to do."
"Don't you usually sleep with Jyushi? Are you going to go back tonight?" He pushed through a large leaf that hid his form from prying eyes.
"I've slept with him the last two nights, yeah...but I've got a few other things to do before I can think about sleep at the moment," I relaxed my arms, "One of them is in regards to what you asked for earlier."
The statement seemed to wake him up, his dark green eyes widening a little before looking over to his left. A small tint of red began to color his cheeks.
"Ah, that...We don't have to do that if you don't want to," Choro's voice suddenly sounded unsure. I thought about the change in attitude for a moment before hitting on an idea.
"Choro...are you smelling Kara on me?"
"Yeah..." His eyes glanced towards me again, "It's a really upset scent."
"If the scent is worrying you, I can always go shower off and come back," I pointed towards the door with my thumb, "I can assure you that the scent has nothing to do with you. We were talking about him going into shed, and he's figuring out some new emotions in the meantime. He's not going to hurt you, I promise."
"No, you don't have to go," Choro finally made eye contact with me, coming a little closer as his lower half hit the water, "I just...wanted to make sure that it wasn't something that you weren't aware of."
"No, I'm fully aware of it," I watched carefully as he came closer to the shoreline I was standing on, the water washing over the back of his tail as it stretched out before curling up underneath him for stability, "Would you still like to kiss me?"
It sounded strange to ask someone that...the question brought me back to memories of middle school and how awkward it was for my first kiss. I translated the inner laughter into a smile.
"Yes," Choro leaned down a little from his position, lowering himself to my height, "I...just don't want to mess it up the second time."
"I doubt you will since we're not underwater like the first one. Just take in a deep breath, let it out, and follow my lead," I waited until his eyes focused back on me, leaning towards him as he mirrored my movement. Our lips touched for a brief moment, like two children not understanding what a kiss was, before Choro suddenly took the lead.
His hands shifted from his sides to my waist, holding me in place before I could pull away. His head tilted sideways a little and pried my lips open with his tongue, quickly raiding my mouth as the arms slid both higher on my back and lower on my waist. The feeling of the serpentine tongue playing with my human tongue was not what I was expecting, my hands quickly raising up to his shoulders and pushing back slightly to separate the kiss.
"Wait...hold on..." I gasped as Choro continued to hold me, his head dipping down to make sure that I was okay.
"Did I do it wrong?" He brought the hand from my back to my chin, keeping my head still for a moment as a worried look crossed his face.
"Not...not at all. I just wasn't expecting...what you gave me," I shook my head as he caressed my cheek. From the first kisses under the water to this, there was a huge difference. The first ones were needy, in the heat of the moment...this one was full of affection and tenderness, but with a small edge of heat.
Passionate would be the better term.
"May...I give you another one?"
"...yes..."