Petting Zoo

"Petting Zoo?" Neo asked. She tilted her head and stared, curiously, at the sign before her. She tugged on Shachi's sleeve. "Shachi, what's a Petting Zoo?"

"Hm? Oh, it's just a place where people have animals that others can pet," Shachi replied. "Typically, they have animals that locate people don't have. But it looks like this place owns the Petting Zoo. Would you like to go check it out? We still have a while before we have to head back to the sub."

"Yeah." Neo nodded. "I want to go see this place."

"Let's go then," Shachi said. Neo nodded again and linked her arm with his. He led her through the town for about ten minutes before they finally came to the area where the Petting Zoo was. It was set just outside of the town on a little farm.

Neo squealed when she saw all of the animals. There were two donkeys, a pony, three horses, kittens, puppies, rabbits, a large tortoise and some goats. "So cute!"

"Petting Zoo's a horrible," A woman said as she walked by with another woman.

"I know. I can't believe those poor animals are being subjected to this," The other woman said.

"Shachi, is something wrong with this place?" Neo asked while watching the women pass by them.

"It doesn't look like it," Shachi replied.

"Then why did those women say that?" Neo asked.

"Some people don't think animals should be pets or confined like this," Shachi said. He looked around. All of the pins the animals were in were large enough to give them plenty of room to run around. Only the corrals with the donkeys, horses and goats looked small. But this place was on a farm. It was clear that the current pins and corrals that these animals were in weren't their constant homes. "I'm sure these animals are well taken care of."

"They do seem really happy about being here," Neo said. She looked around, clearly wanting to play with the animals, but obviously waiting to get more comfortable before walking over. There were about ten other people here.

"Well, you would know if they weren't happy," Shachi said. He waited about five more minutes before asking, "Would you like to move closer now?"

"Yeah." Neo nodded.

"All right," Shachi said. He started to lead her forward. While moving closer a couple more people left. He could feel Neo calming down. She completely relaxed when they got to the donkeys.

Neo quietly squealed again when one of them stepped over to her and nuzzled her arm. The donkey was white with a couple black spots hovering over her left eye. "You're so cute!"

Soon all of the donkeys had wondered over to her. She petted and cooed to them. Eventually, she wondered away from them and moved on to the rest of the animals. Shachi watched as she inspected and talked to the animals. Occasionally, he'd pet one of them himself when they wondered up to him.

Neo jumped into the pin corralling the rabbits. She lay down on her stomach. Resting her chin in her palms while kicking her feet in the air. She said, "And how are you all doing to day? That's nice. Do you like it here? Are you happy? That's good. I was a bit concerned for a while. But you all seem to be happy here. You seem to be well fed too. I'm glad."

Shachi leaned against a nearby tree as he kept an ever-watchful gaze on Neo. He crossed his arms and smiled. He kept his eyes locked onto her, only looking off when he saw someone else moving. Usually that was only when someone was leaving the Petting Zoo or coming into it. Once he registered there was no threat and Neo was fine, he turned his eyes back to her. Eventually, a couple other crewmates had happened to find them.

"We figured you two would be here," One of them said.

"Hi, guys!" Neo greeted before turning her attention back to the kittens and puppies. Just about all of the kittens and puppies were laying on her or climbing on her. One particular black and white puppy was trying to make a nuisance of himself by chewing and tugging on Neo's pant leg, but she loved it. Occasionally, she would move her leg in a game of tug of war with the puppy. She would squeal happily when the puppy started growling.

"Are we leaving?" Shachi asked.

"No," One of the crewmates said. "The captain is still getting our gold cashed in. There's another pirate captain in there. He was causing a bit of a problem. The captain had to intervene. He solved the problem immediately, but it's still going to be a couple hours before we can leave."

"That gives Neo plenty of time to play with the animals," The other crewmate said. He walked away from the two men to join Neo. He sat down and a white and light brown spotted puppy jumped into his lap.

"Aren't they just the cutest?" Neo asked. She was holding up a kitten with soft grey, light yellow and white fur. "I think I like this kitten the best. It's so cute."

"It is pretty cute," The crewmate said.

"And I like this puppy the best. He reminds me of Law for some reason," Neo said. She held up an all black puppy. The puppy's fur was sticking up in a very similar fashion to Law's. "I think it's because of his fur."

The crewmate chuckled. "He does look like the captain."

Neo nodded.

A couple hours later, Shachi noticed that the sun was starting to set. The owner, a grey haired man with glasses, just walked over to them at that point, he said, "It's about time I close up."

"Yeah." Shachi nodded. He turned back to Neo. The crewmate that was with her before had already left the pin and was standing with him. "Neo, it's time to go."

"No! I'm not leaving!" Neo protested. She then spoke to the kittens and puppies. "I'm staying here with you all! I know! I love you all too! I'd like for you all to live with me as well! I bet you could! The captain really wouldn't mind!"

"Is she talking to the animals?" The man asked, confused.

"Uh, yeah!" A crewmate said.

"She does that!" The second crewmate added, covering for their favorite girl. "She always pretends that animals can speak! It's actually really cute!"

"Uh, okay." The man nodded, but clearly wasn't convinced. "Look, I really need to put the critters up for the night. I'll start with the larger ones since she's still playing with the smaller ones."

"Right," Shachi said. "We'll get her out of there and get out of your way. Neo, let's go."

"No! I'm not leaving!" Neo said with a defiant air.

"Oh boy. We have a problem," A crewmate said.

"We better go get the captain," The other crewmate added.

"That's probably a good idea," Shachi said. "You two go get him. I'll stay here and see if I can extract her from this place. Although I highly doubt that I can."

"Right." The two crewmates nodded and dashed away from the Petting Zoo. Knowing he wasn't going to do much good, Shachi turned back to Neo and started talking to her again. But, no matter what he said, she refused to leave.

"Maybe I shouldn't have brought her here." Shachi sighed. He then noticed his captain coming towards them. "Oh, good, you're here. I can't get her to budge."

Law nodded. "You go on back to the sub. I'll get her and be right there."

"All right. But you might want to hurry," Shachi whispered. "I think the owner is getting aggravated with us still being here."

Law nodded again and walked over to Neo. He studied her position. He wasn't quite sure if she even sensed him beside her. She seemed so wrapped up in the animals. Without a word, he created a Room and warped her onto his shoulder.

"Huh?" Neo blinked multiple times when she found she was no longer with the animals, but slung over Law's shoulders like a sack of potatoes. "Hey! Why did you do that?! I was playing with them!"

"It's time to go, Neo," Law said. He calmly walked away from the Petting Zoo.

"But I want to stay!" Neo whined.

"No whining, Neo," Law said. He continued to calmly walk back towards the sub, trying his best not to let her influence his decision through her pouting.

"But they're so cute. I want to stay," Neo said.

Sighing, Law tucked them behind a house. He sat her back down on her feet. He tilted her eyes up to him, his resolution quickly fading at the water in them. But he knew they couldn't stay here any longer. "But if you stayed here then you would miss out on all of this…"

Law leaned in towards her. He captured her lips and kissed her deeply. She tensed up on him like always. He smiled when he felt her melt into his kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. A minute later, they broke apart for air. "Now, do you really want to stay here?"

"Hm, no," Neo drawled. "I really would miss that."

"Good." Law scooped her back up into his arms. "Let's get back to the sub then. I want to continue with this. Room. Shambles."