Month Five, Day Three
"It hasn't changed at all!" Meva said with a big smile. She squeezed Cho's hand excitedly as they looked at the zoo gates. Large and imposing, the workers had swung the iron gates open to allow visitors to enter and leave.
"Really?" He said calmly.
"Yeah! Goodness, my parents used to take me all the time when I was small."
"I see."
The zoo was on the edge of the city, squished in between skyscrapers that shaded it and the waters edge. A spot that made the air a not so delightful mix between the outer city stink and ocean breeze. Something Cho knew not to mention. This whole thing was Meva's idea after all, a romantic day at the zoo. He certainly didn't want to come, but he wasn't going to ruin it for her. He couldn't.
"Well what are we waiting for?" She pulled his hand gently towards the gate, and Cho snapped out of his thoughts.
"Nothing, my dear! After you."
She rolled her eyes playfully at his chivalry, and the two finally entered the first courtyard. A large statue of a Wekel standing tall behind a zoo map stand greeted them, which only made Meva smile wider. Cho rolled his eyes at her reaction to a silly statue- while she wasn't looking. The creature was a dusky red hue, the paint chipping slightly as the sun's harsh rays reflected off the faux fur.
"Oh I'm so excited! What do you want to see first?" She said as they walked up to the map stand.
"Oh, whatever you want, my darling. You decide."
"Are you sure?"
"Quite sure."
Meva looked at the large map and hummed to herself in thought. Cho took the time to acquaint himself with it too. Birds right ahead, aquarium to the left, forest animals to the north, arctic -
"Why don't we just start with the birds? We can make a loop around the zoo after that!"
"Sounds like an excellent plan, dear."
Meva shook his hand again excitedly, something that caused Cho to suppress the urge to rip his hand away from hers, and she walked forward. Confidently leading them towards the aviary.
This wouldn't be so bad, Cho thought. Birds were loud, annoying little twerps, but they were little. He didn't have much to worry about with them.
"Oh! Honey look!" Meva excitedly pointed at a brightly colored bird with an armored head that was perched just on the other side of the wire enclosing the aviary.
"Isn't he beautiful?" She asked him.
"Absolutely stunning." Hideous, he thought.
"This says he's from Amneei," she read from a small plaque near where the bird was sitting.
"Amneei… where's that again?"
"Zerfik quadrant," she supplied happily.
"Ah." Zerfik quadrant… she had never even been to such a war torn place! She didn't know what she was talking about, he thought.
"It's called a Pol… Polike'ezekhen. What a mouthful!"
Cho looked up at the armored bird. It had a frightening looking beak, with large claws and hooked talons on the corners of its wings. Meva found that to be beautiful? It was colorful, sure, but nothing more going for it in the looks department.
"Indeed," he said.
"Oh, look, a Plek!"
He looked in the direction she was pointing at a small, dark pink bird. A native irken bird. Normally it blended in well with the plant life but this one was sitting on a brown stump, and stood out like a sore thumb.
"Huh. My aunt had one of those as a pet," he commented. It was an awful thing, constantly screeching and fluttering its feathers everywhere.
"Really? That's sweet…" Meva muttered as she got closer to the plaque for it. "Oh... It says it's endangered," she said sadly. Cho bit his tongue to stop himself from saying 'so?'
"That's terrible," he settled on.
"But they're trying to do conservation efforts! And- ooo! Look, it says that this bird first inspired Lak Orkheks to invent the airplane! By studying the aerodynamics of the bird's wings, he first designed a flapping machine, but that didn't work…" she turned to Cho, her eyes bright with excitement. "I read about this! His next plan was fixed wing flying, outsourcing the flapping to mechanisms designed for lift, propulsion, and control! The formula for it is L, for lift, is equal to CI times density times half velocity squared, times wing area!"
Cho hated when she started talking about all this math shit. It was excruciatingly boring. He hired engineers to do this work for him, for a reason.
"Of course you also have to factor in for wind speed, but that's-" she blushed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get carried away! I'm sure you know all that, aha."
"I do," he said, and forced himself to smile. "But I love hearing you talk about your passions, dear."
"Oh, good! But, well… What did you think of this when you were studying? Or did you learn it for work?"
"I studied it in school for a bit, but frankly darling, I mostly focus on the business side of things at work. The engineers handle the math. I like to make sure that my ships are secure, safe, and stylish."
"Oh. I see."
"But it's a process, I have to be involved every step of the way. From when I first get a design-"
"You don't design them? I thought you did?"
He clenched his hands tightly, but resisted the urge to point out how she had interrupted him.
"I do assist with the design often," all lies. "But I have some very talented architects and artists that work with me, I enjoy giving them the spot in the limelight, as it were."
"That's sweet of you!"
"But as I was saying, I approve all designs then ship them out," he took a step back, and gently pulled on her arm to get her to walk with him, hoping it would have some sort of romantic effect. "The engineers and architects work together to create comfortable living spaces inside, and the builders do all the hard work to create the ships."
"Have you ever gone down to the shipyard and helped? Just to see what it was like for them?"
He paused. He honestly wasn't expecting that question, but he was so shocked by the audacity of it. Go down to the filthy shipyard with all those filthy people, only to get covered in dust and oil and grease? For what, to blow out his back? Or worse, go to the space dock? The gravity stabilizers didn't even work half the time!
"Once or twice," he said.
"Really? What was it like?" she smiled sweetly at him.
"It was difficult. But it made me appreciate even more all the hard work they do down there," he nodded, making sure he had a thoughtful expression on his face. "I think I gave them all a raise after that. They deserved it." More like the layoffs he threatened when they screwed up that custom job last year.
"Cho… That's lovely. I would love to come out one day to-"
"Oh no, it's no place for a lady like you. Really dirty work."
"But, if you did it, surely it can't be all that bad?" she said with a confused look on her face.
"My dear, I insist. How about instead I take you on a tour of the offices? You could meet my engineers and architects?" he smiled slyly at her. "Perhaps you could even help me design a ship? Something… Personal, for us?"
She blushed, and he noted the success in his mind.
"That sounds like fun…" she lowered her voice. "Anything in mind for this ship?"
"Oh, I have plenty of ideas. Maybe something just to get into the stratosphere? It would be a beautiful sunset view up there."
"That sounds wonderful!"
He grinned, and looked forward, only to halt in his steps in shock.
"Cho?"
What the hell was that? In the cage in front of them was a massive beast, with huge leathered wings and a long neck that had stripes going down the sides. It was three times his height at least, although the mere thought of that made him woozy. The way it craned its head to grab onto leaves from the tree above it was hideous and uncanny, unnatural.
"W-what- erm. What is that…?"
"I don't know. Let's go find out!"
Before he could protest, she had grabbed his arm and was yanking him towards the exhibit excitedly, towards that thing. So far it hadn't noticed him, thankfully, but he still didn't want to go anywhere near it! But he couldn't pull back. He allowed Meva to pull him closer to it because he knew he couldn't fuck this up. Why did she have to pick the zoo…
"It's beautiful!"
"It's large…"
"Hello big guy!" she grinned up at the monster before looking down at the plaque in front of it. "Fortei Seitoral, from Zakan. Must be new."
"Uh huh…" That thing was native to Zakan? No wonder the invaders there took their damn time! If that was just a sample- Fuck, he shuddered to think of what else was there.
"He's gorgeous…" Meva muttered. Even in the grips of stress, Cho held back a scoff. She really did have low fucking standards if she thought crap like that was stunning.
"I don't know," he managed to squeeze out. "Looks a little… wrinkly."
"Don't be rude!" she playfully scolded. "He came a long way here and it's not his fault he doesn't have feathers."
The beast made a noise, a low rumble that Cho could feel in his chest. It shook him to his core. What was wrong with him! He needed to pull it together. They're just animals. And they were locked up tight! Although wasn't there an accidental release last year…?
"Besides, I think he looks nice the way he is," Meva said.
"Ah."
"Aww look! He's trying to reach the taller branch."
Cho forced himself to look. The thing had lifted itself up on its hind legs, leaning against the tree to reach all the way to the top. The loose skin on its neck wobbled in a way that made Cho feel sick as it reached for the plants.
"Y-yes… Must be hungry…" Why did he say that! He didn't need to think about that. Thankfully the stupid plaque said it was a herbivore.
"It must be, I wonder…" her voice trailed off. "Cho, honey are you alright? You look a little pale."
"Oh. I- well, I suppose I uh… Just stressed about some upcoming projects. Some jerk wants us to build him a ship with a quantum engine rivaling the massive's, but on a ship one tenth of the size."
"Honestly? What an idiot! That sounds like a recipe for disaster," Meva said firmly.
"I know, aha, but the customer is always right and whatnot…"
"Ridiculous. Don't those people know how important safety is on ships," she said with a bitter expression on her face.
"Don't worry dear, I promise we take safety precautions seriously in our construction." 'Ignore the bird, ignore the bird…'
"Yeah," she looked away from him, towards the end of the aviary, and after a moment her face lit up. "Look! A petting zoo! Honey, that will take your mind off everything at work!"
"What a great idea!" There was nothing he wanted less than to get his hands all dirty touching insect ridden animals. But it was away from this hideous creature, so that was a win in his book. "Dear?" he held out a polite arm for her, and she took it gladly, the two of them walking towards the exhibit. Cho let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"It's so cute!" she said as they approached. Cho didn't find it cute. It was… Fine, he supposed, but it sure as hell wasn't anything nice for sore eyes like a beautiful woman or a full bar. No, instead it was a set of smelly enclosures filled with small animals, a larger pen further back holding some bigger animals. But the front ones were filled with little fuzzy things, surrounded by screaming children and their haggard adults, all trying to get their turn petting the alvo or the dekhir or the-
He froze when his eyes landed on one particular animal. A little baby nobi. It was small, like the others. A tiny, multicolored feathered thing that stood on spindly legs. Its wings were withered by eons of evolution, but still it paused to preen itself clumsily every time it got a break from the petting. Hard to believe this scrawny thing would grow up to be an animal irkens used to ride. Cho stared at it, all sounds of the park muffled to his antenna, and slowly, he looked up. Up above the first pen fence, towards the back… He felt his heart stop when he saw it. A fully grown nobi, staring at him from her pen. Immediately, he averted his eyes to look back at Meva, who was busy buying some feed from the vendor, and two tickets to get into the petting zoo.
"Uh-"
"Tadaa! Feed for the animals!" she said, cupping the dry pellets proudly in her hands.
"Lovely."
He didn't have a choice, he knew it. He was forced to go into the pen with the nobi baby.
"What a cutie!" Meva said as she leaned down to look at the animal. "Do you want some pellets?"
The creature let out a halfhearted whistle, before gently beginning to eat out of Meva's hands. She laughed happily, looking up to Cho with a big smile.
"Look darling! He likes me!"
"Aha, yes, that's wonderful," he muttered, but really he wanted to kick the thing away from him as hard as he could.
"Do you want to try feeding him?"
"Uh…" he looked around him in desperate search for an excuse, but his eyes landed on the adult. Oh fuck. It looked like it was glaring at him somehow. And had it gotten closer to the fence of its pen? No… Yes? He felt a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead.
"Cho?"
He snapped out of his thoughts and smiled at her.
"Ah, r-right. Sure…" he knelt down and allowed her to put some feed in his hand.
"Don't be scared, it won't hurt," she said gently.
"I'm not scared!"
"Okay," she giggled. "Go on!"
Hesitantly, he reached his hand out for the little gremlin, and waited patiently and nervously as it sniffed him. The baby nobi sniffed one more time and then turned back to Meva.
"What..?" Cho said. He was almost offended that the twerp didn't accept food from him.
"Oh, maybe he just wants to finish his food here first? I'm sorry he didn't accept you."
"It's fine." Cho said quickly. He didn't want to feed that thing anyway so it didn't matter. He glanced up before he realized that was a mistake. That adult nobi… It was definitely closer. Almost to the fence of its cage. He felt a shiver go down his spine. It was glaring at him. Why? Why him? Why not Meva, she was the one feeding its damn kid! He fought the impulse to raise his hands in a surrendering like gesture. It's not like the stupid nobi would understand that anyway.
Meva giggled. "He tickles!"
"That's nice," he looked back down at her, seeing how her fingers twitched as the thing ate. He dumped his feed on the ground, and since she was so preoccupied she didn't notice.
"What a cutie…" she muttered, and against his judgment, he looked back up.
It was pressing itself against the fence now, a concerned zookeeper standing next to it, glancing towards Cho and back towards the nobi, clearly trying to figure out what was wrong. The thing wasn't budging. It was just glaring at him. Ominously. He wanted to shout at it, to tell it to fuck off, but he couldn't bring himself to move. The terror simply glued himself to the floor. He began to feel nauseous, all he could think of was the incident with his brother's nobi. He couldn't get it out of his head! That animal was one of pure hate, he was sure of it.
"Cho?"
He could barely hear her. He wanted to turn his head to look at her, but he felt if he stopped looking at the nobi something terrible would happen. He couldn't risk it. His stomach turned and flipped over and fuck was he going to be sick?
And then… In a clear attempt to calm the creature, the zookeeper pulled out a giant, pink dripping steak. And fed it to the nobi. Its beak chomped down on the meat, and it lifted a leg to hold the steak as it ripped it apart, all the while barely breaking eye contact with Cho.
He felt like he was gonna hurl.
"I-I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back!"
"What-"
He didn't stay to hear her protest. He walked as fast as he could, thankfully a small part of his mind was reminding him not to run, not to tip her off that he was a wimp around that thing! Not to ruin this day. He scanned the area desperately for- there! A bathroom! He made a frantic beeline for the structure.
"Out of my way!" he barked at a smaller who was attempting to enter the bathroom before him. The smaller quickly stepped back, allowing Cho to go inside first.
He refused to vomit. If he kissed her later that would ruin the date. He had to do something else. Cho rushed to the sink and desperately splashed the clean irken water into his face, trying to calm down the sweats he was feeling.
"Get it together!" he gasped out to himself. He still felt like he was trembling, so he cupped more water in his hands to splash it up.
Meva frowned. Why did Cho run off like that? Was he alright? She should probably go check on him. Oh goodness, maybe he was allergic to the feed? That would be terrible! She hoped not. She stood up to go after him, hoping for the best, but before she could-
"Miss?"
She paused and looked down at a child pulling at her skirt.
"Are you going to use that feed?"
Cho growled at his reflection. "It's just a damn animal! Nothing more! She's worth dealing with a beast for a day!"
He paused. Was she? As soon as that thought crossed his mind he wanted to slap himself. Of course she was! What was he thinking! Willing to drop everything he worked for over some animal?!
"No…" No. Of course not. He couldn't do something so stupid. But that nobi… His stomach turned at the thought of it again.
"Argh!" He splashed more water on his face, accidentally wetting the collar of his tunic, but he didn't care. He needed to cool down. He needed to focus. He needed a cigarette.
"You have got this!" he growled at himself in the mirror. "That bitch is a cakewalk! Just pull it together and you'll be fine!" he rolled his eyes. Now he just sounded insane.
"Just a nobi, just a nobi, just a nobi…" he took deep breaths over and over again.
Someone pounded on the door. "Hey, would you hurry up?!"
"Give me a damn minute!" Cho shouted back, completely enraged at the gall of that asshole. It actually helped calm him, taking his mind off the nobi. The reflection of himself in the mirror looked back at him and he sighed.
"You can do this. Just go back out there, man the fuck up. You worked for this, you worked hard for this. You can do this." he clenched the sides of the sink, leaning his head down and making sure to breathe steadily. "Don't fuck this up…" Fuck he couldn't stop thinking about that damn nobi! How was he supposed to go back out there?
"Hey man!" the stranger yelled outside. "How long is this gonna take!"
Cho's antenna flattened against his head and all thoughts of the nobi went out the window. How dare anyone speak to him that way! He slammed his fists against the bathroom counter and stomped towards the door, ripping it open. He scowled at the man on the other side.
"Do we have a fucking problem?" he growled.
The stranger took a step back, glaring at Cho.
"Look man, I just want to use the bathroom. You gonna turn this into a whole thing right here?"
Cho glanced away from the man, towards the petting zoo, specifically looking for Meva and nothing else. Yep, there she was. Much too close for him to give this man a piece of his mind.
"No," he said, stepping out of the way.
"That's what I thought," the stranger snickered. Cho rolled his eyes, but he made his way back to the petting zoo.
Stupid asshole, he thought. Now, calm… calm. Stay calm. He approached Meva, who was leaning down, giving some random kid directions on how to feed that thing.
"Hey," he said, clearly startling Meva a bit. Ugh. Now he had to apologize. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
"It's alright! Cho, are you okay? You ran off so sudden-"
"I'm fine. Just a… Just the smell overwhelmed me a bit."
Her face softened into a look of understanding. "Oh… are you alright?"
"I'm fine now, dear," he looked around them, spotting the aquarium. "Just needed a breather. Would you like to go to the aquarium next?"
She blinked in surprise.
"Sure- are you sure you're alright, honey?"
"Perfectly fine. I swear it," he lied, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible. He could just feel that terrible nobi staring at him again. He didn't need to look, he knew it was there.
Don't panic again don't panic-
"Alright, if you say so," she stood up gracefully, using some of the provided hand sanitizer and rubbing her hands together to get clean- even though Cho didn't believe it was enough.
Cho held out his arm once again for her to take, already mentally promising himself to get the maid to clean his tunic immediately upon his return home. Her disgusting hand was about to touch his sleeve…
"If I may?" he said playfully to lighten the mood. She smiled at him as she delicately tucked her hand around his elbow.
"You may."
"Then I would be honored to escort you… all the way to the aquarium, aha," he said with a dashing smile, and the two walked away from the petting zoo. Not soon enough, he thought, but he was so grateful to be free and rid of that awful place. Even though he could feel the nobi still glaring at his back.
He shuddered.
"You alright?" Meva asked.
"Huh?"
"You shivered…"
"Oh. Just a chill, dear, nothing to worry about," he needed to keep it under control!
"Well the aquarium is going to be colder, are you sure you want to-"
"Yes I'm sure," he said. He could feel his smile faltering with his anger at her questioning him, but he kept it in check.
"Alright."
She fell silent, and Cho mentally sighed in relief. Sometimes she just wouldn't shut up and it was exhausting. Maybe he would be lucky and they could spend the rest of the day in silence. After what he dealt with today? He needed the fucking break. But as they entered the aquarium, his luck ran out.
"Amazing!" she gasped as they stepped into the great hall. "Look at that skeleton!"
Cho looked up, but quickly wished he didn't. Attached to the ceiling of the welcoming hall was a massive skeleton of some sort of sea creature. It was hard to tell details of it, but the one thing he was focused on was its giant mouth filled with razor sharp teeth.
"That… That thing is extinct, right?"
"I'm not sure," Meva said, pursing her lips together in thought. "Maybe? I don't see a plaque for it anywhere-"
"It's fine," Cho looked around for some sort of distraction from the ancient bones, and smiled when he saw his avenue. "Would you look at that!" he pointed at an entryway to a tunnel underneath the main tank. "Would you like to go for a walk?"
"I would love to!"
He grinned, and led the two of them over to the tunnels. "It's like a little tunnel of love," he said lowly, causing her to blush.
"It certainly is- ohh…" she gasped softly as they walked in, looking all around her at the multicolored fish swimming over their heads. The sunlight from skylights far above refracting through the false ocean was to him, admittedly, nice to look at.
"Romantic?" Cho supplied smoothly, subtly pulling her closer to him. She didn't say anything, thankfully, just blushed softly. He took the opportunity to lay it on thick.
"You know… It is beautiful," at the end of the day it was just a tunnel of water. "But I don't think it's the prettiest thing I've seen here today," he smiled at her. "You always take that trophy, my dear."
"Cho…!"
He smiled at her reaction. See, he had this. That stupid nobi didn't ruin today, didn't ruin his charm. All he had to do was lie and say how smart she was, how funny, how much he liked that boring fiddly little book she gave him- blah blah whatever. Then she would swoon and sigh and- what was that?
He felt himself tense up as a dark shadow moved over him. He didn't dare look up.
"Wow! Look at that!" Meva said, tugging on his arm.
He didn't look up. He just wanted this nightmare to be over! He didn't deserve this shit!
"Cho did you see?"
Shut up! He screamed at her inside his head to shut the fuck up already! If he could smack her across the face to get her to shut her trap he would have already.
"No, I didn't."
Deep breaths, deep breaths. He needed to force himself to look up.
"W-where was it?"
Fuck, did his voice break? No, he was just imagining things. He needed to get out of this tunnel…
"Over there!" Thankfully she was too preoccupied with the stupid fish to notice. He followed her finger with his eyes… And there it was.
"I thought it was extinct," he whispered.
"I guess not? Which is good!"
"Uh huh…"
It was absolutely massive. The thing was covered in large armored looking scales, all a dark green color. Its teeth sticking out of a jaw that almost looked like a beak. The same creature that the skeleton belonged to, and it was even worse in the flesh. His stomach turned over, and he felt at that moment he could never eat fish again. Lest he becomes the one eaten.
Why did he think that…
"He's huge!" Meva said, grinning.
What was the matter with her? Didn't she see its massive teeth? What was wrong with her!
"A bit too big," he muttered, beginning to speed up his walking ever so slightly, pulling her along. He had to be careful to remember not to yank her, unfortunately.
"Wow look at those!" she said.
"They're beautiful, dear."
"I hope we will see some senas!"
Those stupid things?
"I hope so too!" he said with a cheerful voice, watching the monster carefully out of the corner of his eye. It was still a good distance away, and he'd like it to stay there. A small part of his mind worried the weight of the sea beast swimming over them would crush the tunnels… Fuck he needed to get out of there.
The tunnel exit was just up ahead. Fuck, they could make it.
"Cho, do you want to stop and take a picture?"
"Uh, how about we take a picture out by the senas?" Nice fast thinking, he thought.
"Do you know where the exhibit is?" she asked excitedly.
"Weelll, I'm sure I can find it."
"I see-"
And finally, they were out of the tunnel. Fucking finally.
"Where do you think it is?" she asked him. No. No. He had enough of this.
"Actually, darling, I'm getting kind of hungry. I saw a wonderful cafe across the street when we walked in, would you maybe like to call it a day today and get some lunch?"
She looked disappointed, and spoke softly. "Are you sure? I'd love to see the senas."
"I… Uh, I don't see an exhibit anywhere darling, I'm sorry."
"Oh," she sighed. "I am rather hungry, now that you mention it."
Cho resisted the urge to tell her how he could tell. She could do with skipping lunch honestly, but he didn't say that.
"Wonderful! Let's go get some lunch," he gently pulled her along, and they left the aquarium, heading for the front gates.
"Well, I wish we had gotten to see more, but I have some appointments this afternoon." Meva said. "Maybe we can come back?"
"Uh…" Oh fuck, he wanted to scream at her.
"I know! Why don't we bring the kids? They would love it!"
Nope. Nuh uh. He couldn't do that.
"Actually, Meva, they're both deathly afraid of animals. They really don't like the zoo."
"Oh… Poor babies! We can just make it an us activity then."