Kurt
Thursday, first week
The shaking from the landing plane made Kurt wake up with a startle.
"I can't believe we're here!" Tina grabbed his arm, sounding way too excited. They had just traveled for 34 hours, in three different airplanes, and it wasn't until now, on the last two-hour flight from Johannesburg to Windhoek, that Kurt had been able to slumber. Tina, on the other hand, had slept most of the way from New York to London, and almost all the way from London to Johannesburg. She was literally bouncing in her seat.
The people in the aisle finally moved, and they could reach their carry ons and exit the plane, straight out on a big airfield. The sun started burning Kurt's face as soon as he crossed the doorstep, and he reached for the tiny bottle of sunscreen in his backpack. This, of course, was unnecessary, seeing as he didn't even have the time to put it on before he was inside again, moving almost zombie-like in the line towards the passport control. It seemed never-ending.
A little more than an hour later, the heavy bag dropped to the floor and Kurt sighed with relief. They were in a shared dorm, where three bunk beds took up most of the space.
"Coffee or shower first?" Tina asked, as she sat down on her assigned bunk. Kurt put his carry on backpack on the one above.
"Shower", he replied without hesitation. He felt gross.
Tina had already found her stuff in her big hiking backpack, and headed towards the only bathroom while Kurt started going through his large suitcase for hair products and something to wear. The practical packing he had been forced to make left small opportunities for fashion, but he found a pair of black jeans and a white, fitted t-shirt. It was much less flamboyant than his New York self, but at least it was clean. After a short shower ("Maximum 5 minutes. Water is scarce!") they finally got some coffee, and Kurt could swear it was the best thing he had had in years. They found two-minute noodles in a department store close by and decided to have that for dinner – Tina was excited to see if she could find any more people going with them to the sanctuary, Kurt was just too tired to care – and called it an early night. Even though it was just after lunchtime in New York, Kurt fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.
Blaine
"Hey, Gabbana", Blaine cooed, as he came close to the enclosure gate. "Hey, boy, how are you doing today?"
Gabbana rubbed his side against the high fence, careful not to touch the electric wires at the bottom, and let Blaine fingers slide over the golden fur. Blaine pushed the gate open, forcing the leopard to take a few steps backwards, and slipped in. As soon as he'd closed it, Gabbana was rubbing up against his leg like a big house cat. Blaine took a deep breath and let his fingers stroke the leopard's back.
As soon as he sat down in the shade under the acacia, Gabbana sneaked up on him and play-pounced him from behind.
"Ugh, you've grown!"
The leopard looked up at him with big, innocent amber eyes, and then lay down next to Blaine.
"I can't believe it's almost been a year", Blaine said, scratching the leopard behind his ears as he kept talking. "You used to be such a tiny ball of fluff!" The leopard rolled over on its back, letting Blaine scratch his belly, as if to say "I still am!"
Something was going on outside the leopard enclosure. People seemed to be trying to catch the warthogs again. There were young adults from all over the world running around in different directions and hoping to herd the two young pigs back to the inside of their fence. At the same time, other people were carrying buckets full of meat and vegetables along pebbled paths, on their way to feed the various animals at the farm. They were all there to help, to make a difference for the injured or orphaned animals at the wildlife sanctuary. Barely more than a year ago, Blaine had been one of them.
"I was lucky, though", Blaine said to Gabbana, and rubbed his cheek and chin. Gabbana closed his eyes, and stretched his front paws across Blaine's legs. "I got to stay."
Because after his third time volunteering at the sanctuary, after spending nearly six months in the African bush during a two year period, he'd been asked to join the staff. Without a moment of hesitation, he'd accepted. He'd give up anything he'd pretended to care about in the U.S. for just an extra day in Namibia. The orphaned Gabbana had arrived to the farm just a couple of weeks before the end of Blaine's third stay, and Blaine had fallen for the leopard immediately. As soon as he was part of the staff, he'd been given responsibility for the tiny cat, as well as for Gabbana's sister Dolce. They were his favorite animals on the farm, and the gentle giant Gabbana had a special place in his heart.
"Blaine!?"
He looked up, and saw three more or less desperate-looking volunteers by the fence. "Could you help us, before they manage to get into the garden?"
"Sure!" he called, and was just about to move Gabbana from his legs when the leopard spotted the warthogs, and sprinted towards them, only stopping by the electric wires. "Just try to keep them away from the leopards so they don't freak out, alright?" Gabbanas sister was stalking the pigs too, staying low and almost crawling up and down the fence.
Blaine stood up. He wasn't surprised to find his break interrupted. That was life at Harnas. Sometimes sad, sometimes exhausting, but never boring.
Kurt
Friday, first week
"Harnas people? The bus for Harnas is here! Anyone going to Harnas?"
"Finally!" Tina bounced out of her seat by the pool, where they had been sitting the last two hours. "Kurt, that's us!"
"Huh?" he murmured, slumbering in his sun chair. Yes, he had had a full night's wonderful sleep, but it was still the middle of the night NY-time. "Are we leaving?"
"Yes! The bus is here!" Tina had already slung her big backpack on her shoulder, and Kurt saw two blonde girls in about their age do the same thing. He got his suitcase and dragged it through a gate towards a blue van with wild animals painted all over it. In the front seat there was a weird, not too pleasant-smelling cardboard box, and by the window, two girls were already seated.
"Hi", they greeted him cheerfully as he found his way to the back seats. One of them stretched her hand back to shake his. "I'm Carly, nice to meet you." He could hear an unmistakable Canadian accent.
"Kurt", he said, as Tina climbed in next to him. "Nice to meet you too."
The other girls introduced themselves as well. There were Angelica from Sweden and Mila from Germany, they were the blonde girls who had stayed at the same hostel as Kurt and Tina. Then there was Lisa, who was Norwegian but must have had her roots somewhere in the Middle East, judging by her dark eyes. After about an hour's drive, they picked up Philip, another German, at the airport. Apparently, according to the driver, seven people were fewer than usual. The car felt way too crowded.
"So, what are you guys most looking forwards to?" It was Carly speaking. "I mean, I've been there once before, so I kind of know what to expect, but for you all it must be so great to try to imagine everything! I know I sure had a lot of thoughts and wishes about it before my first time"
"I've read a lot about it", Angelica said. "The Soul of a Lion, tons of blogs and stuff, and seen a couple videos too. I am really hoping I get to go on some kind of walk, that sounds incredible."
"It is", Carly confirmed, "and you probably will. I was on both baboon walks and cheetah walks last time I was there. Baboon walks are interesting, you never really know what to expect, and the cheetah walks are truly amazing. I think they are probably my favorite activity."
Next to Kurt, Tina looked starry-eyed. She really had been looking forward to this for ages, counting down the days for months.
"What was your favorite animal last time?" Angelica asked, and Carly started talking about a baby caracal, or something like that. Kurt wasn't even sure what kind of animal a caracal was – a bird, maybe? – and found himself drifting off. The car was hot, and because of the dusty dirt roads they couldn't use the air condition without having to inhale a sandstorm in every breath. Staring out at the widespread bush, he slowly fell asleep with his head against the window.
Blaine
"Hey, go away!" Blaine turned around in the chair and raised his hand. He found Quinn staring at him with a surprised smile. "Oh, sorry, I thought you were an ostrich."
"I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment, or...?" They both laughed.
"I only saw a shadow, I thought they were back to try and steal my food again", Blaine explained, as Quinn sat down across from him.
"They really are becoming a pain", she agreed. "How is their enclosure going?"
"We finished digging down all the poles this morning, it just needs a fence and a bit of wire, I guess. Hopefully we'll have them in there by Sunday or so, and then we can eat in peace."
Quinn nodded. "That will be nice. I'm pretty tired of-" She spun around, and slapped the ostrich behind her gently on the beak. "Hey, leave my sandwich alone!" The ostrich bent his long neck and glared at her before running in its awkward way over the grass, catching up with its flock under the big tree.
"So, how was research?" Blaine asked her. "Is Pride still doing okay?"
"She was fine, it was a good morning." Quinn smiled. "Her cubs were really active and Amanda forgot to close the car window, so Merci was exploring the driver's seat." Blaine laughed.
"I hope someone got pictures of that, a young cheetah in the front seat must have looked hilarious", he said. Quinn laughed too.
"Well, Andrei was there so I'm expecting at least a hundred pictures on facebook tonight. I think he got a few good pictures of Max and Mauritz as well, they had just had a kill and were about to rip up the stomach of a wildebeest."
There had been a time when talking about ripping animals open at lunch would have made Blaine's stomach turn, but he'd gotten over that long ago.
"Wow, a wildebeest", he said instead. "That's a bit larger than normal for them, isn't it?"
"Well, it was a young one, not much bigger than a springbok. But it is their third kill in a week now, they are doing really well."
Blaine had finished his sandwich and emptied the last of his coke. Quinn mimicked his actions.
"What are you doing until the meeting?"
"I'm not sure", Blaine said. "I really should catch up on some laundry…"
"I guess I really should too", Quinn agreed. "But I was thinking about going past the baby babies, I haven't been in there for a few days. Want to come?"
"I'd scare them to death", Blaine chuckled. "But I could play a little with Ronnie, Rika and Rosie, that was a while ago."
After putting their empty plates and cans at the bar, they walked off towards the farm's youngest baboons.
Kurt
Kurt woke up startled, again – there was something moist and furry in his face. More or less panicked, he opened his eyes, but couldn't make sense of what he was seeing.
"What is that?!" he exclaimed, and whatever-it-was disappeared with a small yelp. Kurt dried his face on his hands and blinked a few times, questioning once again what on earth he was doing here.
"It's a baby jackal", Tina said, and held the little creature up for him to see. It was furry, red-grayish and resembled a tiny fox. Currently, it was biting Tina's pinky, which made her look down at it with a soft smile.
"Isn't it adorable?" she asked, petting it on the head. "Apparently they were abandoned, so Harnas took them in." Not until then, Kurt realized there were three more jackals in the car, all sitting in the other volunteers' laps. They were kind of cute, he had to admit. He just didn't like having them in his face when he was sleeping. He put his finger up to it, so that it could smell him, and it stopped biting Tina's hand. Tina gave Kurt a look. "Do you want to hold him?"
Kurt shrugged, and Tina put the little jackal in his lap. It walked around for a few minutes, its tiny claws prickling through his pants, before curling up and falling asleep. Kurt scratched it gently behind the ear.
A/N: So, this is the first part of the (sometimes a bit absurd) multi-chapter I've been working on for the past two years or so. I'm so excited to finally share it with you guys! The fic is finished, which means I will post weekly (probably Sundays) until all the chapters are up. Hopefully, you'll stay with me until then. There will be angst, but also relentless flirting and tons of fluff (and monkeys, too!)
The biggest thanks to my girlfriend for giving me ideas to the fic and for betaing, but more importantly, giving me the motivation to finish it.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Glee characters. Sadly, neither do I own the animals mentioned.