182/Walk in the park

Walk in the park
Date of Scene:	30 July 2023
Location:	Penguin Park
Synopsis:	Chiyo, Coco and Hinoiri all run into each other at the park's zoo... And have some of the weirdest conversations.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Coco Kiumi, Chiyo Sakai

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Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was getting the hang of this world. She had come to a realization after all this time. Well, two realizations. Three, really.

First, this world was *weird*. Seriously. Just... weird. No fairies, no talking animals aside from the humans, cell phones. Those were cool, at least.

Second, there was something really... familiar about it. She couldn't quite place why. But every so often she swore she met someone and it was almost like she'd met them before. Which was preposterous.

Third, however... the most important of all. Not being able to do EVERYTHING with magic SUCKED. Still, she had a lot to learn. Today she was truly getting her hands dirty. And by getting them dirty, it meant... visiting the zoo. Seeing the animals up close and in captivity. And she was learning some other things. For example, bears were big. Bears were VERY big. She was standing behind the glass of one of their enclosures, just... staring at the massive polar bear within. Without magic, she couldn't help but feel almost... insignificant to such a creature. How in the world had humans managed to... capture such a creature?

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The sun is shining, and that means it's the perfect time for a walk! Coco was in a great mood after the talk with Cho went surprisingly well. And with the upcoming swimming hangout with her friend, her mood only soared further to the skies. And one of the greated attraction around here is the zoo, so off to the zoo she goes!

Passing next to the park gives her a reminder there are actually penguins in there. 'I wonder if they are bored all the time in there. Hmm, probably not: this zoo seems to treat its animals fairly well', Coco thinks. She is probably going to ask them later, though. Just to be sure!

The animals in there are amazing as always, from the huge giraffes that reach to sniff you and munch some leaves to the intimidating bears.

'Hello!' Coco communicates telepathically to the bears. The bear doesn't seem interested in a conversation, however, because he leaves her with a simple 'hi' before moving to another part of the enclosure. She starts chatting with another, who is resting there.

'Hello, is everything alright?' The bear raises the head with a bit of surprise. 'Oh, a mermaid princess. How is Noel?' Coco shakes her head with a bit of sadness. 'She is currently captive of Gaito, but I am doing my best to help her out of there.' The bear replies with a concerned 'please be safe' before going back to napping.

Left without anything in particular to do, Coco expresses a general "Bears can be really nice" out loud, not addressed to anybody in particular, though she suspects the girl next to her shares that sentiment with how intently she has been staring at them.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
The last time that Chiyo had visited the zoo was in elementary school. More than a few years at this point though she recalls always having enjoyed going there with her now deceased grandmother. The anniversary of that was coming up so she'd decided to take a day doing many of the things they had loved doing together in rememberance.

The old familiar path is followed while she moves from exhibit to exhibit looking for the ones that were always fun to visit. Her phone is in hand to take a photo here and there that she might print out later to put into a photo album. Or maybe leave at the altar for her grandmother along with some other offerings. Something to cheer her up on the other side.

Coming upon the two girls already here she pauses behind them to regard the polar bear with a small smile. Maybe she could ask one of them to help her.

"Excuse me," she speaks up in a soft voice. "Could I bother one of you to take a photo of me in front of the exhibit, please?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara jumped a little bit and turned towards the other girl. Who? What? When did she-- Oh. OH! She must have been an incredibly subtle, talented girl to sneak up on her like that. Because surely she, Hinoiri, would never have allowed herself to be so distracted as to not pay attention and then be snuck up on. Nope. Definitely not.

"Uhhhhh. Yes. They make great..." Blink blink. "Animals." She almost, ALMOST, said pets. But she managed to catch herself this time. Because she had no idea if humans could have them as pets. Could they? Some, maybe.

And then there was a third person. She glanced back at the girl and almost said 'Do I look like your selfie stick?' before biting her tongue.

"I'd be happy to," she said in a cheerful voice, putting on a small smile to the other girl. "You have your camera, right?" Because they couldn't just... magic up a camera, right? She held out her hand... Welp. Phone photos. That... that was at least something she knew existed, in theory. "What's your name?" she asked.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The girl next to Coco replies positively to her question. 'Why the pause, though? Does she feel pressed to like them?' It's not her job to check why strangers might profess to like something they don't. The girl is of a similar age, so her curiosity prompts her to ask the next question. "That they do, some even have a very kind temperament! By the way, I'm Coco, a student at Radiant Heart. Are you a student there too?"

Just then, a familiar voice makes itself heard. Coco turns towards its source, recognising the the acquaintance she met at Gullwing Coffee. "Oh, hi, Chiyo, how have you been doing?" Coco says, slightly waving her hand with a smile. "Do you like polar bears too? We were just saying how they are very nice." She is just about to offer herself as Chiyo's photographer when the other girl beats her to the punch.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
When Hinoiri offers to take the picture, Chiyo holds out her phone easily. There's a little Bao charm dangling off of it that bumps against her hand as it's passed over. "The camera's already up, you just need to aim and point. Thank you! I'm Chiyo Sakai," she greets forgetting to add her school affilation. At least until Coco speaks up.

A look of familiarity flits across her features as she recalls where she'd seen Coco before. "Ah! Yes, it's good to see you again. I also attend Radiant Heart Academy. Grade 10." Of course she and Coco were of a different age so that made sense.

She moves to step up to the side of the enclosure where she turns to face the pair keeping well to the side so the polar bear can also be in the photo. Her hands clasp in front of her while she smiles warmly. "Oh, yes. My grandmother used to take me here when I was younger. She always liked the bears, and the birds most."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times when Coco introduced herself... "Coco... what?" she asked. Radiant Heart? Then the other girl gave her introduction? RADIANT HEART?! BOTH WERE FROM RADIANT HEART?! Keep your cool, Hinoiri. Keep. Your. Cool. These two were.... think of them as a trial. Yes. A prequel. Don't act too weird. Don't let them know that you're NOT a human. They're probably... just normal kids. Likely. Coco. And Chiyo. Right. They could even be good... tools, for the future. Who knew?

"Yes. Bears are very... kind. Sometimes," she agreed with Coco. Because she didn't know any bears. They were bears. Why would she know a bear? Who knew bears? Weird people. That was who.

Also, why was the PHONE a CAMERA? Could her phone do that? Note to self, figure out how her phone worked beyond 'map' and 'call people'. Oh. And texting. Texting was useful. It allowed her to waste three seconds of her life she'd never get back sending a quick message, instead of having to waste three minutes of her life she'd never get back talking to someone she didn't want to actually talk to. Seriously. Entire conversations could have JUST been a text.

She moved opposite the two and held the phone up. "Yeah, birds are neat. I wonder what their griffons are like," she said before taking the picture. "And I'm Hinoiri Kirara. I'm transferring into Radiant Heart in a few weeks. I just moved here." Just keep it calm, keep things... subtle. Don't give too much information, don't draw attention to yourself. Then everything would be fine.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Oh, uhm" Coco esitates for a second when she realises she didn't include a surname again. 'I am gonna be stuck with that weird surname', she grumbles a bit to herself as nothing better comes to her mind before saying out loud. "Right, I am Coco Campus, nice to officially meet you now. Hehe", she replies, a bit embarrassed.

Coco mentally scolds herself. 'I could have avoided this had I taken the time to do some research on a proper name. The situation with Cho should have been enough of a warning.' Focusing her attention back to Kirara, she says "I am new to Tokyo too, how have you been doing? I hope it's not too disorienting."

As Kirara is about to take the photo, Coco moves just enough to the side so Chiyo has the framing to herself. And well, polar bears too. 'Oh, that sounds so heartwarming. Did she have a favourite kind of bears and birds? What about you?"

"Griffons?" Coco repeats with confusion as Kirara talks about birds, or so she should have at least. "Why are you bringing up dog breeds?" She is pretty sure birds have nothing to do with dogs, besides accidental prey, maybe? "Zoos don't house dog breeds, but I have met a few dog shelters ever since I came here if dogs are more to your taste."

'Wait, didn't I actually hear about that term in relation to bird?' She focuses a bit, before recalling what Kirara might have been referring to. "Wait, were you talking about the lion-headed avian? That's a mythological creature. I'm sure you won't find it here." Coco says, possibly the most ironic statement to ever come from a mermaid. "The dog shelter offer still stands if you want to go, though. Dogs are very friendly too" she offers, wanting to appear friendly to her future fellow student.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
The people that Chiyo had been meeting lately were very, very odd. Griffon? She merely stares ahead blankly for a moment while Coco starts to talk about dogs, then mythological creatures. She shouldn't speak up should she? It would be so rude, especially if Japanese weren't either of their first language being exchange students. Perhaps they were just saying the wrong word. That would explain everything... right? Not to mention Coco's odd surname.

Chiyo bites her tongue for a few moments while offering a pleasant smile toward the pair. "Ah... Well she liked polar bears because she said it looked like they were very cozy wearing a big white coat." And pandas were dumb as bricks according to Grandma but that wasn't really something worth repeating. "As for birds, she always liked parrots because they are so smart and colorful."

With a step forward she reaches out to take her phone back from Hinoiri with a quick nod of thanks. "Thank you for taking that for me. I... um..." Should she remark on the whole griffon thing? Looking between Coco and Hinoiri she finally nods. "Yes... I'm sorry, there's no such animal her. Unless you're pronouncing it wrong, maybe?" Ah now she felt so bad calling that into question though so she quickly offers, "It's nice to meet you both! I look forward to seeing you next year."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara paused and just glanced at Coco. "Coco Campus?" she asked. Eh. Wasn't the weirdest name she heard. CC, though. Nice. "Yeah, polar bears seem pretty comfortable out there like that. Swimming in their coats, as it were," she said.

Then... dog breeds? What? "What? Why would..." she trailed off for a moment, blinking. And then, fortunately, Chiyo gave her the perfect out. "Err. Right. That's just the nickname. Uhhhhh. The big ones. With... red feathers," she said. Shoot. What birds did they have here? THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE A QUIZ! SHE DIDN'T STUDY FOR A QUIZ ON THIS WORLD'S ORNITHOLOGY! THE POINT OF HER BEING HERE WAS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS WORLD TO BEGIN WITH! Did they not HAVE griffons in this world? UGH! What did they have? Phoenixes? Rocs? Hawks? Pigeons? Roosters?! WAIT! SHE SAW CHICKENS! They had chickens, right?! YES! She knew she'd seen those. "I also like the... chickens. They're nice," she said. No. No they were not.

"Ummmm... and no. I'm not... a real dog person. Honestly, I prefer cats." And even those she didn't like that much. She could just enjoy their independence. "Want to go see the birds? I bet they have lots of parrots." Yes. Parrots. She knew about parrots. Oh gosh but what if their parrots were different, too?!

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco nods as Chiyo explains her grandma's preferences. She really agrees with the motivation behind polar bears, though she really wouldn't need any protection from the cold in any situation she would ever find herself in the Artic. "I feel like I would have liked your grandma. She brought some very solid points. What about yours, though? What do you like?" She asks, putting a lot of emphasis on the you after Chiyo only replied to half of her questions.

She also tries to explain what a griffon is to her. "Uhm, maybe you know the term gryphon, then? It's the same creature still, a lion-headed eagle with four legs. Though, again, it's just a legend, like many others such creatures all around the world."

"Big ones? With red feathers?" Coco repeats, not sure about what she is talking about. 'Phoenixes, maybe? They aren't really that big relatively speaking, but red equals fire, no?' she comes to a conclusion. "Uhm, no, phoenixes aren't real either. Chickens are though, but you don't find them in zoos."

Sadly Kirara declines her offer of visiting to a dog shelter. 'Well, I tried. If only I had looked up on cat shelters instead', she thinks, but then again Hannah had a dog, not a cat, so there would have been nothing that spurred her to look up cat shelters.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai lifts her hand to poit back at herself a little surprised at Coco's question of HER likes. That wasn't something she'd thought about in quite awhile if at all. Usually she was too busy. "Oh, well, I guess I kind of like penguins, and kiwis. The flightless birds. I feel kind of bad that they can't fly but they're so cute and manage just fine anyway."

All this talk of red feathered birds does have her pause to consider. "There's the macaws here. It's a large type of parrot and it's usually either red or blue. The blue ones are endangered though, if I remember correctly." Maybe that's what Hinoiri had meant. That made a lot more sense than... "Chickens? Oh those are good too. Very useful."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times. Pheonix? Crud! Thank goodness she hadn't said it out loud. "Of course not phoenixes, they're not real. Don't be ridiculus, Campus-chan," she said before rolling her eyes. "You shouldn't say things like that, people will think you're weird. Obviously I meant macaws," she said. Once again, Chiyo had covered for her without meaning to. She made a mental note of that. Chiyo was very agreeable. Might make a useful assistant while she's here. Coco, on the other hand...

Coco kept poking holes in her stories. She was an inquisitive one. Obviously some kind of detective, or a wannabe. She wouldn't be surprised to discover the girl spent her off time reading detective books and the like. No matter, this sleuth wouldn't manage to figure her out. No matter how brilliant she was. "I was actually going to go see if I could find them now. You're more than welcome to join me," she said, giving as friendly a smile as she could fake.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Oh, I can accompany you if you want. Macaws are really nice too. After that, we can also see the penguins. They are really nice and they are birds too, though they can't fly." she asks with a genuine smile.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai smiles at the pair and the suggestion of going to visit the penguins. The phone she had been taking photos with is tucked into her purse again while considering this. "Ah, I may have to go on my own way. I've only got a bit of time left before I should be heading home to help my Ojiisan out with the store." Ducking her head low in a half-bow to them she adds, "I hope you both have a wonderful time though!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara nodded. "Oh. That sounds absolutely delightful. I--" Then paused before pulling out her own phone. "Oh, dear. Uhhhh. I actually have got to go. It--" And then it vibrated. "And there it goes again. I'm needed as well. It has been absolutely delightful to meet with you, Sakai-chan, Campus-chan. I... hope we can do this again sometime," she said before turning and quickly walking away.

Dang it. Dang iiiiiit. She'd need more work before she was ready to go to this school. Obviously the girls in this world were sharper than she gave them credit for. She couldn't risk getting found out if she was going to get the power she so desperately craved. Ugh. Griffons. GRIFFONS! Stupid. STUPID! Why couldn't this stupid place have griffons?!

SHE MISSED HER MAGIC! GAHHHH!

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco waves at Chiyo and Kirara, staying a while to look at the penguins. Eventually, she got to the dorm room herself, telling Cho about their future roommate.