The new day had brought with it the promise of clear, bright skies and lots of visiting people in the Honolulu area. The Zoo was running a special today, 2 for 1 admittance, so there were many people already starting their day long trek through the different areas of interest. Some veered off towards the mammals, leaving the amphibians and reptiles display for later when they'd want to cool down indoors, some went straight to the aviary to watch the display of thousands of birds enjoying the morning sun and their artificially induced mist-baths. All in all, a fantastic day for visiting the Zoo.
The sky is brilliant blue and cloudless, the sunlight is warm and bright, and a breeze blows from the coast. Fiery red, gold, and orange leaves rustle and blow past you, swirling in the wind. Those trees that never lose their leaves or change color remain verdant and lush.
Free day at the zoo, So Leif was here with the family. The P.I. for once had traded his backpack and camera for, well he still had his camera with him and his back pack. But instead of detective work, it's stuffed full of stuff for a toddler day at the zoo to be caught on camera. Leif was dressed in cargo shorts and a t-shirt. His ball cap and avator sun glasses hide his face partially. He studies the map for a moment. "The apes?" He says looking at Kilia. " I think they're about to feed them If I read this thing right." Who knows if Leif knows or not.
2 for 1 is, of course, only a deal if you have two people. Apparently Rick doesn't mind, though, as he's here, and alone at the moment. He has a hand in his pocket, and he's dressed more or less the same, up to and including the sunglasses. After all, it's bright outside. He comes to one of those posts that tell you which way to go, and his head tilts up as he studies the various markers.
While she's not a tourist, Noemi's only been in the islands for a couple of weeks, so she's still acting a little like a tourist between shifts at the hospital. She slowly walks through the exhibits, not really with any sort of intended path but rather just following along in an organic way. One hand holds onto a cup of coffee and the other a cell phone, kept handy for taking photos or if she gets called into work. She notices Rick and shakes her head slightly. "You're stalking me, aren't you? You should have stalked earlier, then we could have saved some money."
Kilia is pushing an empty stroller at this time, with one hand as the other hand is holding the ankles of the toddler who has opted for the shoulder perch to look around the zoo. Two little hands hold onto to the top of her head, and the little tan one with dark hair looks past her momma's head with blue eyes very like Leif's. "Aaaappsss," she agrees with her dad. Or maybe she's just trying the word out for herself. "Sure," Kilia agrees. "Here, you want to push the stroller? You can put your back pack in it while it's not being used." She grins at the pack that is undoubtedly heavier, now, with juices, snacks, plushies, and a couple emergency diapers and changes of clothes for the purple ruffled tee and legging set that's currently being worn. Kilia herself wears a pale blue tee with the billabong logo and cropped cargo shorts in a khaki color. Her flip flops slap lightly at the pavement of the walkway.
Joachim didn't have a two to go with his one, but he was one and one was fun at the Zoo. Dressed comfortably in a pair of old sneakers, long shorts and a breezey, loose shirt in light christmas colors with a very Jules Verne-esque rocket stitched on it, he padded along comfortably, a slushy in one hand, and a big, purple mylar balloon in the other with the zoo's logo on it giving his location as it floated overhead. His hair was somewhat combed, and he'd put on sunglasses and kept them on, even as he moved through the enclosures that were inside. He stopped to admire a large lion, grinning as it yawned toothily at him and waving before heading towards the big aviary. After all, you couldn't look up at the sky all the time before noticing the birds, if only because they were always in the dammed way! Among a sea of unfamiliar faces he did spot one he knew, even if it was only one conversation, and Joachim headed towards Rick, waving his drink. "Hey! Aloha. Rick right? How's it going?" He looked to Noemi and smiled brightly. "Aloha."
Isaac is continuing his sight-seeing tour, although given his current look of confusion, he might be here by accident. Sipping from a can of coke, he glances at the ticket in his hand and then at a nearby map that details the attractions on offer.
Dressed for warmer weather, his top is a rather garish Hawaiian shirt which he has buttoned up. Light beige khakis are held up with a thick black belt, an array of small pouches visible along with a bigger pouch at the back and to the left side. He wears desert style combat boots to go with the khakis and manages to look scruffy but still otherwise presentable.
Pushing away from the wall he has been leaning against, Isaac joins the crowd as they head towards the various attractions, raising a hand to wave as he spots Leif and Kilia but not moving up to join them, instead he idly follows the crowd as they go from attraction to attraction.
Lola walks arm in arm with a young man. He's casually dressed and has the look of a tourist about him. Lola herself is green and purple haired, her light sundress swaying about her as she walks, bare feet peeking out from underneath with each step. As they pass by one of the enclosures, the young man talks about the animals within, quite intelligently, showing off some knowledge of the animal kingdom. Lola herself peers over at them, her head canted slightly as she listens. At this moment her personality is placid and calm, her eyes wider and almost innocent. As he speaks, she looks at him and smiles, the expression simple and uncomplicated. "That's nice," she says to him, her tone genuine. Which seems to please him that she's been listening. And on they stroll, enjoying a simple, uncomplicated day out in public. That can't last.
Eve might surprise some for showing up at the Zoo, but she seemed to be in a pleasant enough mood to be there, if the knife-sharp smile that curved dangerously across her face in shimmering pink were to be believed. Her long hair had been pulled back into a severe ponytail, all of it flat and smooth along her head and the tail itself looked to be ironed and then given some sort of treatment to keep it looking quite precisely as it had the moment the iron had left it.
Instead of a dress, which might be more commonly seen on her, Eve had elected to wear a pair of khaki shorts that left the majority of her incredibly long legs bare, all the way down to her ridiculously expensive walking sandals, which were a rich shade of brown leather. For a top, a simple, deep mahogany colored, silk, tank top worn over what had to be a flesh-toned bikini top as it tied behind her neck. If it weren't for the precise lines of her clothing, hair, and makeup, and the way she walked with a surety of herself that defied any and all question, well, she might have almost fit right in.
Rather than simply wandering, Even had managed to make her way to the Hyenas almost immediately, and was leaned against the railing, looking into their enclosure with her eyes raptly on the lazy movements of the morning-sun woken creatures within. The amusement was obvious in her sharp, gray eyes as she watched the mild antics of the Hyenas.
Heath just stared at the zookeeper over his flask, "Don't bring me that fucking look, hair of the dog thins the blood... But you're right, what am I thinking?" The man rolled his tongue in his mouth to pick a pill bottle out of his pocket, popping the top to pour the contents into his palm. He actually had to sort through the variety of pills to pick up two, sliding the rest back into the container. "Forgot the antabuse." Heath rolled his eyes as he knocked back the pills and washed them with a swig of the scotch, exhaling and sticking his tongue out to show the pills were gone may to zookeeper's dismay. "Scotch doesn't fucking count as alcohol. And fuck you, if I wanted that look, I'd go see from my mother. Destroyed her pussy too--" There was a an echoing crack as Heath received a backhand and the zookeeper stormed off growling and ragefilled. Heath just stood there, smirking as his attention drifted to two pre-teens. "Lost her watch this morning giving an elephant a suppository, ask your parents about it." Heath spit on the ground, taking another drink from his flask before walking through the zoo.
A bright, cheery man's voice on the overhead speaker system called out a friendly greeting to those within the walls of the zoo "Aloha kakahiaka, beautiful visitors of the Honolulu Zoo!"
There were several raised 'Aloha!s' in reply to the male Zoo-Keepers welcome announcement, enough that it sounded almost like a chorus and caused several bouts of soft chuckles.
The next bit of the announcement came with a similar, happy sound "I'm pleased to bid you all e komo mai on this glorious day, where we hope you've bround friends and family to visit the wonderous creatures and experience the habitats here with us. For those that are interested, we'll be starting our Avian Exhibition and Antics Show in just about 10 minutes! Come one, come all, and find yourself a comfortable place to sit and watch!" Then the overhead speakers clicked off.
Leif takes the stroller form Kilia. "Sure thing Ki." He dumps the backpack into the stroller and pushes it. "Yup Apes like Gorillas, Orangutans, and Chimpanzes." He catches sight of Issac waving at him and Kilia. He reaches up tappinb the brim of his Timberwolves ball cap to reply to the British man. Then at the announcement, "Oh that was yesterday." He looks up at Sanoe, "Pretty and funny birdies? Then the apes?" He says with a grin. Then back to Ki, "Lets go watch the show."
Rick tuns around as soon as he hears that voice, and then he laughs when he sees Noemi. "Girl, //you're// the one who found //me//," he retorts, "so if I'm a stalker I suck at it. Maybe I should be freaked out by now." He steps away from the post, though, and toward her. "I'm just here for the monkeys." But there's his name again -- twice in two minutes! -- and he looks that way, lifting a hand to wave a little lazily at Joachim. "Hey, man," he says with a nod, "that's right. Howzit? Noemi, Joachim." His hand moves between the two of them, and boom! Introduced.
He turns as the voice crackles over the speakers, and once it's over, he looks back between Noemi and Joachim. They didn't come together, but hey, they may as well hang out now. There's definitely nothing weird about three adults with no children hanging out together at the zoo. "You want to watch?" he asks, gesturing toward the seats.
"Well, no one said you were good at it," Noemi quips back, then turns when Joachim greets Rick and then herself. "Hi," she says with a smile, and once introduced, she slides her phone into the pocket of her shorts so she can offer a hand to shake. "Nice to meet you. Nice day for the zoo." She too listens to the announcement, and when Rick asks if they want to go, she shrugs in an amiable and easy going way. "May as well. All the animals I've peered at so far seem to be sleeping. Maybe the birds will be more lively."
"Aloha," Kilia replies to the speakers with a grin, and chuckles along with the others. "Are chimpanzees really a kind of ape?" the woman asks her man as they walk, and she tilts her head as much she can within the toddler grip to look up to him. The toddler seems to consider the change of plans, then gives a nod. "Piwty biwddies," Sanoe Sif agrees with Leif, and Kilia lets go of the stroller so that she can use both hands on the little ankles, one for each. She lets Leif get a handle of the stroller, and take the lead towards the Avian enclosure to carve a path for them to a couple of seats. She gives a little nod and smile to Isaac.
Joachim had aloha'd with everyone else, and grinned at Rick and Noemi. "Noemi. Joachim. Howdy." He looked from one to the other. "Going in to see the birds? Sure! I like them just fine, but what I admit I'm mostly looking forward to the cool mist for a while." He took the offered hand from Noemi, one firm shake and then release. "Nice to meet you. So you guys are stalking each other huh? You should exchange schedules to make that more efficient. I bet I could work up a good chart for you." He shrugged. "They certainly can be. My girlfriend told me I was acting like a flamingo, so I had to put my foot down." He paused, waggling his eyebrows at the two of them.
Isaac slows his step as he spots Lola, eyeing her carefully for a moment and noting her hair colour. Muttering to himself, he continues on his way, his gaze falling on Eve as he continues to scan the crowd. "Christ, they must kill the ugly ones or something." His accent is English and very much from the cities, although it doesn't have the cockney ring to it. Grinning, he watches Heath exchange with one of the zoo-keepers, wincing as he gets slapped and then shaking his head. "Smooth mate." Lifting his head as the announcement comes over the speaks, he shrugs his shoulders and then heads in the direction of the Aviary.
When the announcement happens, Lola and her companion both gaze upward. He answers with the chorus of Aloha's, seeming charmed with the whole thing. She just listens quietly. And when the impending show is announced, the young man looks to her. "Shall we go see what the fuss is about?" Lola smiles at him and nods her head slightly. "Sounds like fun," she says, as if that were the only thing to consider. And just like that they're off, arm in arm, to see what show awaits them.
Eve had her attention briefly captured as a woman stormed past in her Zoo-Keeper's outfit, her eyes sparkling like gleefully captured, cold fire for a moment. Turning her head, she watched the woman go, then shifted her attention to Heath, with his newfound handprint a vivid scarlet against his cheek. "I see you haven't fallen from your usual habits, Heath. Always good to know you can be counted on in a pinch." She pushed away from the bar she'd been leaning against while watching the Hyenas and sauntered over towards Heath with a dark grin. "Come on, let's go see the bird show while your pills hit, it should be entertaining at the very least while the announcer's microphone makes you wince." She waggled her dark brows slightly in an expression that really looked more like she was arching one, then the other, with that vicious smile of hers. When she spotted Isaac, her expression didn't change from that smile, but she did a once over of him and made absolutely no show of doing otherwise. Notably, she didn't take Heath's arm, but she did keep the ardent stride of her long legs slow enough that even if he were completely unable to walk in a straight line beside her he could keep up.
"That flower has wilted, trust me. And never leave to text what you can do in person with no regrets." Heath grinned, "And they just keep them chained in the backyard," Heath offered the suggestion to Isaac in passing. "It's that or to grape presses until they collapse, and are pressed themselves so someone can bathe in the blood of virgins. No better vitamin D ointment in the world." The man smelled like someone that had confused a brewery for a swim at the 'Y'. His mouth curved into a shit-eating grin as he continued to stare at Eve, "My dearest Eve, did you follow the trail of tears as some well-meaning parent literally dragged their child across the pavement or is someone behind on their bills?" Taking another draw off his flask, he closed it off and slipped it into his pocket and started following Eve, his eyes taking in the scenery. "My elephant traq supply may have dried up, but so is life."
The show area for the Avian Display was a nice, semi-spherical, indented sort of arena, with lots of solid, bleacher-block seats done in long curving lines and made of some sort of wood fastened to concrete step-levels. In front of the semi-circle of seats which could easily fit a couple hundred people, there was a large, white-cloth covered stage. On that stage were several different sized platforms and a center dias. Hung overhead of the platform were several bird swings at differing heights and with differing sizes of perch rods, demonstrating that there were likely to be birds of all sorts of shape and size performing this morning.
While people were filing in and taking their chosen seats, three zoo-keepers (two male, one female and likely familiar to Heath) were busy setting out boxes of different types of toys, bird treats, a huge collection of nuts and husked coconuts, and a stationary bird landing rods affixed to tall to moderate height stands made to look like tree trunks with bright foliage on them.
Leif shrugs, "I don't know. I guess. It says they're part of the Ape Enclosure. I don't think I have ever thought about it? What else would they be?" He says moving to a seat and parking the stroller nearby. He moves to help Kilia with Sanoe and getting the little girl settled. He sits on one side to make sure the little girl is in between. He sits back relaxing and watching the show get ready.
"You didn't," Rick concedes at Noemi's quip, as he turns with the others toward where the bird show is being held. "Guess I need to step up my game." He sidesteps some people who are going in the same direction, the bodies funneling into the arena making it a little bit more crowded than it just was. "Just make sure you cover your heads," he says, very helpfully, as he moves toward the stage and stops a few rows from the front, then starts into the center of the row, making sure that there are seats enough for all of them.
Joachim's joke makes Noemi groan and shake her head with dismay, though her dimples reveal she found it at least a little funny. "That's right, pal," she tells Rick. Her words are tinged with a bit of a Northeastern sort of accent, New Jersey or New York, probably. She follows Rick into the arena, glancing around at the set of the stage and the other zoo patrons. "Oh, very helpful," she says with a grin. "I knew I should've brought a hat today." Alas, she's traveling light, no bag or anything to pull tricks out of.
As they get settled in, a trio of people make their way to the row in front of them. "Puwple!" Sanoe Sif exclaims, her hands reaching up excitedly as she sees Joachim's balloon, although they are much to short to come anywhere close to said balloon. "Puwple, puwple, Mommy! See? Puwple!" "Yes, purple," Kilia agrees, giving a smile to Joachim if he notices and turns their way. "Maybe we can find one after we watch the pretty birdies?" she suggests, and makes sure that the little one is secured between herself and Leif. Then she leans back a little, her arm propping behind Sanoe Sif so that her hand can reach over and idle brush the PI's upper arm.
Joachim followed after Noemi and Rick, grinning the whole way. "Did you see the hippos on the way here? Do you know what the difference is between them and a zippo?" He caught up. "One's really heavy and the other is a little lighter." And so it was with a huge shit eating smile on his face that Joachim walked into the bird show, having withered the souls of all those in hearing distance. He passed the balloon off to a kid who was eyeing it, shrugging at Kilia. "Just don't take him to any french films. Might give him ideas about that thing." Finding a seat on one side of Rick, he gave the man a nod of thanks before taking a pull on his icey syrup concoction. "Birds are great right? What's orange and sounds like a parrot?" He hovered his finger over the launch button before letting fire. "A carrot." He winked at Noemi, having caught her reaction. "Just think about how much sweeter the sorrow of parting will be. I like to think I bring something to every aspect of a meeting." He chuckled.
Shrugging his shoulders, Isaac follows after Eve and Heath, the young man going to pains to make sure he isn't jostled as he heads to the display. When he gets to the arena, he makes a point of taking a seat at the back, one with no seats behind it and less chance for people looking over his shoulder. Settling in his chair, he sips from his coke as he watches the rest of the audience filter into the arena.
Lola and her companion enter the inset arena, he leading her down towards the front row, though they end up one row back. He letting her sit first, which she does lightly before he sits down next to her. She peers about as he sits, the people and layout drawing her attention. She peers at several of the somewhat and not so familiar faces around her, but he soon draws her attention back to him with a brush of her cheek, which prompts a glance towards the tourist and a wide smile before she leans her head on his shoulder, gazing down at the stage to watch the setup.
Eve moved through the thickening flow of people heading into the Avian display with the alacrity of one that didn't feel the desire to have anyone touching their clothing, her eyes watching everyone that passed her, or that she passed, as if watching for a wayward arm or foot. She didn't glance back to Heath with a wink that could have cut through cold steel until they were actually within the amphitheater. "You'll never know the bounty of the park unless you experience it with me, Heath." The chuckled that left her was oddly incongruous with her appearance, almost like it was from some time in her childhood and just wasn't used often enough to have grown up with the rest of her. It was undeniably happy, almost child-like in its enthusiasm, even if Eve's motions didn't convey it. As she passed the area where Joachim, Rick, and Noemi were taking their seats, Eve flashed the trio a wide, dangerous smile (perhaps in response to Joachim's dad jokes) and moved down closer to the front a couple of rows before taking a seat for herself at the very end of the curve. Naturally, there was space to the inside of the curve from her for others to sit, but it was clear the woman wanted to have no one on the other side. Her near 6 feet of height was seated rather certainly with poise and confidence, back straight, shoulders back, and she crossed her lengthy legs to seemingly give her hands somewhere to rest, then managed to look almost immovably relaxed. No foot kicking, just waiting for the show.
Heath kept his self-assured smile as he followed Eve into the amphitheatre, "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." A chuckle rose in Heath. "The artist formly known as Saul." And he moved along with her to take a seat up front. Setting into the seat, his heels drummed with restlessness as he leaned towards Eve, "I'd ask if you wanted a nip, but you are positively radiant in a way that I haven't seen since Aurelie's little party."
A bright, happy looking Hawaiian man in his zoo-keeper's uniform came up to the raised dias in the center of the stage and waved to everyone as he reached up to turn on the small microphone he wore attached to his ear. "Aloha kakahiaka again, everyone! I'm Zoo-Keeper Ka'Koa, but you can call me Ned if you like! I'll answer to it, but never to Ed, because Ed's a horse." He winked at everyone, garnering a few chuckles with likely his happy-go-lucky smiley face as much as his little joke.
"We're going to start today's show with a beautiful display of Parrots! We have a couple of gorgeous Blue Macaws and some Greenwing Macaws that will be coming out to introduce themselves, and today, you're going to have the good fortune of meeting our very special Eastern Rosella named Cricket. A little later, I'll introduce you to our Gorgeous Miss Daisy, who is a Quetzal from Central America, and we've got a couple of Toucans that are sure to make your day a delightful one!"
Ned motioned to the two other zoo keepers, and they opened a door to the side of the Amphitheater, allowing two gloriously blue Macaws to fly in, where they each landed onto one of the stationary log-style bird racks. The two greenwing Macaws that flew in with them went immediately to the higher swings, one of them pushing it like he was at a playground. A couple of moments after the birds flew in, all four of them chimed in with a chorus of "Do do dooo DOOOOOO!" Mimicking the horns that would sound a King's arrival.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you have here Mister Rossi, Miss Georgia." He motioned to the two blues. "And up here we have Miss Crystal and Miss Kai." He motioned to the greenwings. "They're going to give you a little demonstration of how they get their treats. What followed was a complex series of little tricks and leaps, jumps up from the ground to their setting bars, long winged flights around the Amphitheater, and a series of fruit pieces fed to the birds that had them chortle in happiness every time they were given. Ned didn't stop laughing or smiling almost the entire time, and he seemed very at ease while the other two zoo-keepers just waited at the little door to let in more birds.
Leif studies Joachim as he talks about French movies and gives Sanoe a baloon. "Thank you. She'll enjoy it." He says with a smile. Though he looks at Sanoe, "Say thank you sweetie." Then he looks over at Ki giving her a warm grin as he looks at her as she rubs his arm.
Leif then calls out, "Aloha, " to Ned. He leans forward to point at the birds for Sanoe. His expression changes and he looks to Kilia, "Do you hear buzzing? Off in the distance?"
"Man, that's bad," Rick says after the last punchline, but he does say it with a laugh. Okay, there may be a groan in there, too, but it's probably about half and half. He leans back in the chair, lacing his fingers behind his head and stretching his legs out in front of him. When the zookeeper comes on stage and starts to speak, though, he looks over at Joachim, and nudges him with an elbow. "Your brother from another mother," he says with a grin, perhaps because of the joke. He then turns back to the show, watching the birds as they fly around and do their tricks, and he watches for a minute or so, before the smile fades from his face. He turns his head around, craning his neck to look behind him, and reaches up to rub his ear with one finger.
"I know this one," says Noemi, but she lets Joachim tell it before groaning anyway. When the family sits behind her and the balloon is given to the toddler, she smiles, giving Joachim a 'aw, nice,' sort of expression. Grown men being nice to little kids is always adorable. When the show starts in earnest, she laughs accordingly, watching the birds with interest, but she too frowns when the sound starts up. "God, I hope they aren't going to have a locust swarm as part of the bird show," she says. "That'd be worse than seaweed," she adds with a smirk to Rick.
Kilia shakes her head and gives a chuckle at the zippo joke, although it's humorously pained chuckle. Her eyes widen a little as he offers Sanoe the balloon, and she helps the little girl take it, making a loop in the ribbon to put it around the little wrist as the little voice almost choruses with Leif's. "Tankew," she says, looking up with shining bright blue eyes. "Alright, Sanoe, let's hold it down on our laps for the show. We don't want it interrupting other people's view of the birdies." The little one seems happy to hug her new purple friend, and watches the show with delighted little giggles and squeaks, with the occasional sqwack as she attempts to mimic them. Kilia's brow furrows, and her head tilts, even as Leif is asking her, and she nods once to him. "Sounds kind of like a... power line? But there aren't any..."
Joachim returned Eve's smile with a grin of his own as she and Heath passed, nodding happily to Leif and Kilia. "Certainly. Hope she enjoys the show." He looked over to Rick, winking and laughing. "We certainly are a fraternal order, bringing joy and delight to all in hearing range. Like a mirth mortar." He watched the show for a while, oohing and ahhing with the rest, his frozen dessert drink partially forgotten in the simple pleasure of the tricks. He frowned slightly though, looking towards Rick and Noemi, and Leif behind him with a raised eyebrow. "Huh? I didn't hear anything..." He frowned, closing his eyes for a moment to try to listen for it.
Frowning, Isaac straightens in his seat, setting down his can of coke as the young man starts to scan the crowd. He starts to fidget as he continues to watch, the bird display all but forgotten now as he uses his right hand to loosen the buttons of his collar, letting a crude necklace fall through the gap. scanning the crowd once more, Isaac frowns and starts to look skyward, his expression only getting more tense as the seconds tick by. Starting to get pale now, Isaac gets to his feet, quickly making his way along the isle, ignoring the states of people he jostles in his hurry to get out. Finally getting to the end of the isle, he exits the arena at a brisk pace, the pace turning into a jog once he is round the corner.
Lola's head pops up when the show starts and as the birds fly out, she smiles brightly, clapping her hands, even if no one else is. Meanwhile her companion is mixing his attention between the show and her. Which means he notices when she seems to get distracted, her head turning one way, then the other. Looking up and around with a furrow of her brow. "Lola, wha's wrong?" The tourist asks her as she looks around with an openly curious and confused expression. "There is something," she says. "Not close. Yet." That gets him looking. "I don't see anything..?" He's bemused.
Eve grinned at Heath and shook her head. "Oh I'm good, I had a hearty breakfast this morning and a little dessert when I got here. Nothing like having a bite to eat of something delectable while waiting in line, hmm? Makes the time go so much faster." She watched the birds come onstage and seemed to be fascinated with them for a long moment, studying each one and checking out their colors with a detail oriented sort of perusal. After a few minutes of enjoying the show and watching the birds fly around for their treats, she turned a look on Heath and narrowed her eyes at him like she might start cooking him with a laser. "Is that you buzzing?" Her annoyance with anything interrupting her enjoyment during the lovely bird show was obvious, as she reached over to touch Heath's pocket to see if he was, in fact, the source of the buzz.
Heath's eyes were affixed on one of the green macaws, "I've known too many Crystals. All of them strippers." The man's mouth formed a frown as he attempted to concentrate. "All of them used with the hollow look in their eyes, praying for another hit of smack or hoping a knight in shining armor would save them. The daddy issues alone would mean hundreds of billable hours for therapists, but nope, none of the Crystals I knew would be able to afford that. Seriously, not one escort level in the whole lot." Heath shook his head slowly, and blinking the Eve's interruption of thought. "Maybe?" Patting his pockets for a phone, his eyes rolled back in his head. "I do not /have/ my fucking phone which means I'm going to have to run around a fucking zoo and try to apologize to a bitch whose bathroom that I left a complete disaster."
"Now, the best thing to do once you have some happy birds is what? That's right! Bring in some more, happy birds!" Ned called it out to the people in the audience, and then the door opened to allow in two Dusky Lory birds with their bright heads, a Golden Conure, and not one but THREE Turacos waddling across the stage towards the center dias.
"This beautiful yellow lad here is very special, he's endangered and came to stay with us to help keep him alive, and hopefully to encourage him to mate with a female just like him, he's a Golden Conure! So rare, meet Mister Chico!" The golden Conure flew right up to Ned and landed on his wrist, plucking a hunk of banana from his palm as he did so.
"Now, these two lovely men, with the bright yellow, red and green? They're Dusky Lorries, and the one on the left is named Le Tigre while the one on the right is named Alfonse." He chuckled as the two duskies immediately started talking to each other, in loud voices, about the weather no less. They were arguing with one another about the sunrise and whether it was orange or red today. All of this made Ned laugh heartily as he shook his head. "They're brothers, so they never agree on anything!"
The three Turacos were waddling along the ground showing off the most glorious blue, pink, and bright green plumage, looking like little waddling kings, when suddenly one of them turned its head to the side and let out the most hideously loud squawk. The sound shocked Ned as he turned to look at the Turaco and called out softly "Now, now Mister Hale, 'a'ole pilikia, brah." He attempted to calm the bird, but then the other two male Turacos started in with the alarming sound as well, giving a trio of voices to SQUAWK, SQUAWK, SQUAWK... repeatedly. For all the world it almost had the shrill vibrato of a fire alarm going off in a school, the amphitheater only enhancing the sound.
The rest of the birds in the show started losing their cool, fluttering from stand to stand, puffing up to turn their heads side to side, looking around. A greenfeather and a blue macaw took off and started circling above the amphitheater, letting out loud cries and diving down towards the other birds, as if attempting to get them to fly as well.
Notably, in the air, there came a soft buzzing noise. It was insistent, and oscillating as if it were coming closer, then going further away, then closer. It wasn't all that close yet, but it definitely was there.
Leif looks at Ki with a raised eyebrow, "Bees?" He says moving to lean over to his pack and unzipping it. Then quickly recovering the light blanket that they had brought for Sanoe and the water bottle packed away. It was a wide mouth Nalgen bottle. He tucks the blanket under one arm and then opens the bottle drink of the water. He looks to Sanoe, "Silly birdies. Aren't they pretty?" He cuts a look over to Ki with a concerned expression.
Rick is still looking around, trying to figure out where the noise is coming from. He chuckles absently at Noemi's comment, but he only has half his mind on it. No offense, Noemi. He tips his head to the side, still trying to clear out his ear, until the sound gets louder, and he definitely doesn't seem to be the only one who's hearing it. "There," he says as he turns to Joachim, gesturing around -- since it isn't clear where it's coming from. "You hear it now?" He's definitely uncomfortable, shifting in his seat and turning around to check the back of the amphitheater.
The birds squawking make Noemi's dark eyes widen a little. "The birds don't like it," she murmurs, when they start squawking. She turns to look around, searching for the source of the noise. "You wanna go?" she asks the two men next to her, even though they didn't really come together. They can certainly flee together, if it comes to that. "This is decidedly less fun that it was a few minutes ago," she adds. Thanks, Captain Obvious.
"Bees?" Sanoe Sif asks, and she looks up. Kilia meets Leif's eyes as he takes out the blanket, and she gives a nod, as if agreeing to something he's planning. "Whatever it is, it has the birds agitated, and creatures's instincts trump those of man every time." The arm that was reaching over to brush at Leif earlier drops a little to wrap protectively around their daughter. "I don't like this. Maybe we should head for the exit?" she shifts in her seat to get up and turns to Sanoe. "I think the show is coming to an end, iki kekahi," she murmurs, reaching her arms to lift the girl to her hip, rather than her shoulders. "Hang on tight to your balloon."
Joachim blinked as he started to hear the same buzzing, covering his ears for a moment and wincing. "Well shhii..oooot that wasn't fun." He looked back to Kilia and Leif and smiled slightly before his attention was taken by all the birds going totally ballistic. "I think I'd rather have bees than locusts. No one ever makes movies about giant killer bees eating scientists and destroying Chicago." He nodded at Rick, pushing his sunglasses up to keep his eyes hidden. "Yeah I do. What the hell is that?" He stood in his seat, trying to get a sense of the direction it was coming from. He shook his head at Noemi. "Never mind the birds. I feel like I'm listening to 50 greatest root canals on cd or cassette. Ugh..."
Lola grows antsy as the birds do, squirming where she sits. Her tourist friend is concerned. "What's wrong, Lola?" She answers, "The birds know. Something.. its coming." She looks around again, curious. Apprehensive. But she doesn't seem about to try and run. Even after tourist wonders, "Would you like to go?" He glances down towards the stage, noting how agitate the birds are.
Eve shook her head and looked at Heath with a set of wide eyes. "I should come with you to get that, I imagine. You might need a ride after you're beaten to a pulp for coming back, and you'll be lucky if the phone even works anymore." Somehow, Eve had a pleased expression on her face for this thought, and she licked her lips like she'd smelled something delicious in the air. Perhaps she had, though, as she turned her direct attention to the stage and all the commotion being caused by the birds freaking out, the Zoo-Keepers running around after them and trying to calm them down. Of course, then there came the moment of realization that the buzzing sound was around them, and not next to her. That wicked smile of hers faded and became a straight, slash of pink across her face as her lips were pressed together tersely. "Well shit." Eve looked back at Noemi and nodded to her. "Self preservation instincts, those are always good to have." Turning her attention back to Heath, she hissed in a barely whispered breath "We should likely be leaving, I imagine. Not even your dear old dad sends nice things that sound like that as their herald." And with that, the lithe woman rose up to her full height and reached out to take Heath's arm, pulling him up with her and then dragging him after her as she started up the steps and made good use of her long legs doing so.
Heath's reaction to Eve was a chortled laugh, followed by him stuffing a fingertip into his ear and rubbing at his ear canal while opening and closing his jaw. "Holy shit, do you hear that?" He looked around bewildered, watching people react to the same thing he was hearing, then seemed to deflate. "Damn, I was really hoping it was a new effect of those pills I took this morning, I haven't had a good tinitus bender since... wow it's been fucking years." Heath's laughter was dry and almost mirthless as he looked at his arm where Eve had grabbed him, and then broke out into a boyish grin. "Why Dearest Eve, you only have to ask, but if you want to grab, you'd get my attention so much faster with the hand hold further south.... Whoa!" And then he was being hoisted to standing and dragged up the steps. "Hey, hey, I'm not one to tell someone there's no fire when they need it put out. Why not just go at it here on the steps if you need it so badly?" He took a pull from his flask of scotch while following Eve up the steps.
The stage was nothing but calamity now, Zoo Keepers attempting to wrangle the birds were mostly unsuccessful, as the fliers took to the sky to avoid them and started crying out their own alarms to fit in time with the Turacos.
The cry of the Turacos was now deafening, causing as much damage to the closer ears as a loud microphone with someone screaming into it would, and it was a harrowing sound indeed. They were running around, moving in a circle, and obviously freaked out.
The clear sky of the day slowly started to blot with dark, shadowy clouds. On closer inspection, though, they weren't solid forms. They looked black from this far away and were clumped together in huge swarms, coming from every direction. The buzzing sound only intensified to the point that it could rattle windows if there had been any nearby.
From inside the small door beyond the stage, the sound of more birds making noise could be heard, and the sound of talons scratching at the door to get out. One of the zoo keepers opened the little door, worry on his face. "Hey guys, it's ok, you're safe in the.... HEY!" He was utterly surprised as at least 10 birds bum rushed the opening and flew out in a colorful spectacle of feathers in a myriad of shades. More avians were added to the spiralling birds up high and more bird calls sounded into the air as they laid their warnings with the others.
Leif uses the blanket to cover up Sanoe and the baloon. "Head to the car. I'll get the stroller." He says to Kilia as hands her the water bottle "I'll be a few steps behind." The man rising calmly moving to shoulder his pack and get the stroller.
"Got no fucking clue, man," Rick says of Joachim's inquiry, and after a brief hesitation, he stands up, too, just in time for that ungodly screech over the microphone. "Shit!" he exclaims, clapping his hands over his ears. "Yeah, let's get out of here!" Of course, the attempt is only to be met with those little dark clouds that are now starting to block out the sky. He crouches down, his eyes on them. Or some of them. He clearly can't look at them all at once. "Do you see those?" he murmurs. Noemi is closest, so maybe he's talking to her. "You see those, right?"
"What is that?" whispers Noemi, which should answer Rick's question, as her eyes are on the sky. "I was only kidding about the locusts, I swear," she adds, beginning to move out of the aisle. It's hard to do so if you're not looking, though, and she ends up bumping into Rick, a little painfully even. Sorry, Rick. "We need to get somewhere with shelter," she suggests, but there's only so many places like that in a zoo, and only so many people can fit in them.
Kilia quickly wraps the blanket over Sanoe Sif as she hugs the girl close, a girl who is starting to squirm. "Mommy?" Then the squacks increase in volume, and she tries to cover her ears, starting to cry, adding her wails to the cacophony. She gives Leif a nod as she takes the water bottle, her arms keeping the wailing, blanket wrapped bundle safe. "Kala mai ia'u, excuse me, kala mai ia'u, excuse me," she murmurs distractedly to the people that she brushes against or pushes past as she makes her way up the stairs towards the door.
"Of course I see them! They're goddamn hornets! And they definitely shouldn't be massing like that!" Eyes wide, he stared up at the sky, crouch low even as he looked around. "I think I'd rather have locusts. I don't think they actually try to just sting the hell out of people." He shook his head. There's no way this is natural..." Casting his eyes about, they lit on the nozels filling the room with mist. "Worst comes to worst..." He started following after Rick, swearing softly as the egress was closing off. He called out. "Anyone got a fire hose? Or... just fire?"
Lola snaps up to her feet suddenly as the noise grows, startling the tourist. A great show of anxiety touches her features and she murmurs, "Sister.." He stands a moment after and she slumps against him, her head dropping. "Lola!" The young man startled. "Wake up!" Even as he speaks, her head snaps upward and her eyes open wide. Breath drawn in and released in a harsh rumble as her green and purple hair slowly changes color. An unnatural shade of red with black roots. The man's mouth opens and he stares at her, right up until the point her palm plants into the middle of his face. "Back up, loverboy," she rumbles, her previously high, girly voice replaced with something more feral. And he ends up sprawled back across the seats when she pushes him away coldly as she looks up at what's in the sky, eyes narrowing. Meanwhile, he stares at her, completely lost in that moment as to what is happening. Joachim's words draw a glance from her and after a moment she states towards him, "You're not as stupid as you look." Too deadpan to make a good jest, she turns, heading back up towards the entrance of the amphitheater. Her posture and stride completely changed with the color of her hair an timbre of her voice.
Eve hissed at Heath and pointed at the sky with the hand not around his upper arm. "A little self preservation from you might be nice, Heath. There's something terrible incoming, and we should not just be sitting here like ducks on a pond." Of course, now the steps were filling with people, lots of people, all attempting to get out, and Eve made a sharp, nasty sound as people converged and caused her to be pressed against the handrail up the center of the steps. "Oh for fuck's sake. Just walk out, we'll be fine." She looked up at the sky and shook her head. "Heath... Go tell that zoo keeper helping with the show that you're sorry and you love her, so she'll hide us in the bird holding room." And then Even started moving back down the stairs, towards the center of the Amphitheater and the stage.
Heath stumbled right after Eve with the expression of someone that was still too hungover to give two shits even when the word hornets was mentioned. The fact he was looking up at the sky with the damn day star up caused him to growl as he was shoved around by people. "Hey-- HEY!" Heath stepped up on a chair and cupped his mouth to help project. "SINGLE FUCKING FILE! NOW! NO PUSHING, NO SHOVING OR HELP ME GOD IN HEAVEN I HOLD YOU DOWN AND WE'RE BOTH GOING TO BE STRUNG!" The man waved his arms like he was taxiing an airplane, "GIFT SHOP, SINGLE FILE!" He started staring at one guy, making a 'V' with his fingers to his eyes then pointing at the man. "Try me, buddy! I've seen more needles than Macton!"
From outside the amphitheater, people were starting to scream. The rumble of feet running frantically could be heard as the closer of the swarms neared the Amphitheater, but actually met the Zoo in general first. Babies were crying, children screaming at the top of their lungs, men and women hollering in fear and anger as they were engulfed by swarms of hornets.
Inside the Amphitheater, the zoo-keeper that had opened the door and been bowled over was unable to close the door to the holding area for the birds, and more of them streamed out. So many, it looked like a never ending procession of birds coming free of the room.
As the numbers of birds grew they started to fly in wider patterns around the top of the Amphitheater, moving in concert, several different species all making their alarm sounds and flying in rhythm in a circle.
And then the bees came over the sides of the Amphitheater in a black wave, the buzz now deafening as the swarms led their way into the area filled with so many bird-watchers. People at the edges of the amphitheater started to jump in surprise as the bees came closer, and others started screaming in fear, creating a mass hysteria as they climbed over other people to get to the doorway and exit the enclosure.
Despite the press of bodies and the rather close calls that people suffered at the rush of the crowd to the steps, people managed to stay upright for the most part, as if everyone had started figuring out ways to avoid suddenly being underfoot!
As the group makes it outside Leif gets caught up by the panic going on outside. The P.I. was not expecting the mass of humanity that washed over them. He and the stroller gets seperated for Kilia and Sanoe. Though as he gets pushed away there. There's an opening created by those listening to Heath and heading to the gift shop and Leif and the stroller wind their way back to Kilia and Sanoe. His stance changing slightly as he appears stronger and more certain. "We'll get out of this." He says reassuiringly to maybe himself more than the others.
"Whoa!" Rick nearly falls, but not quite, and he reaches out to catch hold of Noemi, partly to steady her, but partly to steady himself. "Hornets?!" Now that he's caught himself, he can move again, and he follows after Rick, though he's stopped in his tracks by Lola's transformation. He only catches the end, but he's seen her before, and he remembers the hair, and it is not the hair that she had before. "What the //fuck//?"
However, he doesn't have too much time to figure it out, because they're about to be crushed by the crowd. He manages to keep his feet, twisting to avoid a rather large man coming from behind him. He keeps his feet, checking to make sure Noemi and Joachim are still good before he continues.
Somewhere along the way she lost her coffee, but at least it wasn't very hot. Someone's likely got it all over their pants. Sorry if that's Joachim or Rick or anyone else with the bad luck to be near her. Noemi does manage to pull out her cell phone, dialing 9-1-1. "The zoo -- there's a swarm of hornets or bees attacking. Going to need paramedics, lots of epi, hurry," she manages to shout breathlessly as she tries to keep up with Rick.
As Heath bellows, Kilia takes advantage of his distraction to duck her way through the crowd. "If we get seperated again, I'll see you at home. She leans up to kiss Leif quickly as she puts the water bottle into the hand of the arm wrapped around her daughter. Then she takes a breath and steps out of the door towards the roiling of black biters. The palm of her other hand extends outwards towards the dark mass, and somehow they seem to part in front of her, like air moving over a car in a wind machine. The hornets part around her hand and then reform behind her as she makes her way steadily towards the parking lot and her orange car.
Joachim falls hard on his ass under the crush of people, going down hard despite his attempts at keeping his footing. Falling hard, he did his best to cover himself as he waited for the crowd to pass, watching the mass of hornets out of the corners of his eyes. Above the din he kept calling out. "Smoke! Water! Anything to drive them off!" As the swarm descended and started terrifying people, Joachim sighed, blinking now catlike eyes through his broken sunglasses. One of them slowly became a dark, bloodshot red as he started to chant quietly in another language, doing his best to control his breathing despite the situation.
Above the screaming crowd the water spraying out into the air suddenly took an odd turn. Where it was once liquid misting gently it became suddenly alive, brutally hard and incredibly pissy. Pissed mist. It hardened into a bouncing, billowing stream of water molecules as it battered the life from the swarm, the water doing it's best to catch and smash each and every individual bug. All around fell small, lifeless bodies, and Joachim let out a slow sigh of relief.
Lola finds what she's looking for near the entrance to the amphitheater. She lifts up the fire extinguisher she finds there. Taking a moment to pull the pin on it before turning with it held at the ready, The swarm of people that fight for the exit she manages to avoid partially, though she does shove one unfortunate who falls against her with the extinguisher, sending them stumbling. She happens to exit near the others, but doesn't pay them much mind as she peels off to the side, seeking a wall to block off one path of approach. She plants herself as she casts about with the extinguisher, targeting any knots of hornet that get near her. Which is easier said than done, the extinguisher an awkward weapon she's obviously unused to using. But she manages to surround herself with enough floating foam to give herself some room for now.
Eve had been moving towards the stage, but she slowly seemed to be losing steam forward as she turned to look at the group trying to crowd themselves out of the Amphitheater. Her stride became a meander towards the door she'd been so intent on before as her eyes took on the sheen of highly polished steel. "Oh... it's just too good." Her voice was now more of a purr than a knife's edge, and her smile was a thing of nightmarish glee as those pink lips of hers curled in utter contentment. "Perhaps I just need a tent." And then she moved over to the edge of the stage and lifted up the cover, thick and leather as it was, so she could use it as a defensive cover. "And it wouldn't do not to watch." Eve backed herself down to sit onto the hard concrete of the stage, and lifted the cover up over her head, coiling it around herself like a defensive blanket while she tucked her feet up underneath herself. Soon, only her eyes and the bridge of her nose could be seen from within the dark leather 'blanket' she'd made for herself.
Heath did his best to maintain order in the face of flying... Angry things. The man very calming withdrew the flask from his pocket, unscrewing the top and draining the rest of it into his mouth. "I got ya, Dad. Slick one too." He waved his index finger in the air, stepping on the chairs to get to the block in the artery? Vein? It's the out direction. "What the fuck did I just say!?!" He shoulder blocked the advantage to help someone to feet then move aside, "Yes, I'm talking to you, tubby! My lawyer is just waiting for a phonecall!"
The hornets are now without frightfully close range, and they began attacking. Small bodies came darting out of the sky, plunging their stingers into the arms, legs, and torsos of the people clamboring to get out of the amphitheater. As several of the fell and died, or seemed to fall with their wings covered in fire suppressant foam, more of them came in. The sky overhead was darkened with their heavy numbers and it brought an odd, twilit quality to the area within the amphitheater.
As the small door was now left open for however long this all would take and the Zoo Keepers were running away, more and more birds were coming out of the little avian holding room. There were literally dozens of birds now, flying and coming into contact with the swarms of hornets. They bit at them, hit towards them with their wings, but they hadn't gotten themselves together enough to really handle the multitude of stinging insects. They did, however, manage to get the attention of several hornets which were now swarming around the brightly colored birds and attempting to sting them.
Kilia and Sanoe safe and away from the swarms. Leif turns back to the swarm ready to stand his ground as the swoop down moving to attack, the private eye dodging out of the way. "How can I fi-- Ow, Son of a bitch." His right hand moving to swipe some hornets from his left arm. "To hell with you." Then a smile slips across Leif's lips as he lifts a hand mumuring a few words in Old Norse. Then like a double rainbow appears in the sky like Youtube, part of the swarm disappears into rift of the Never never.
Looking back, Rick sees Joachim go down. "Shit," he mutters, and he starts back for the other man, just as he sees his eyes go wonky. He stops up short, taking in a sharp breath as he sees Joachim's lips move in that chant. And then the mist starts, and it's even more unnerving. But he shakes it off. There are enough things to worry about right now. "Hey," he says, "you gotta get up, man. We gotta go." He reaches a hand down to help the other man up, though he has to duck a few times to avoid the hornets. The hand is still there, though. "We gotta go, let's go!"
Noemi slips out of Rick's grasp when Rick goes to help Joachim, and she doesn't notice all the strange around her -- she's more focused on those suffering and scared. She sees a frail old lady limping, blood rushing from her ankle, and she swiftly moves in to wrap an arm around the woman to give her a human crutch. The hornets come zooming by, and she swipes at them, getting several stings, but protecting the woman she's helping. Others fill in the gaps between herself and Rick and Joaquim, and she's no longer in sight.
Joachim took the hand offered and got to his feet, looking above. With the birds in the air clashing with the hornets, he sighed, shaking his head. "Not going to work a second time anyway..." He started moved after Rick, swearing as he saw the hornets filling the air. He spoke again, once more in a strange tongue, and gestured behind Rick's back. As he did so the mist again seemed to change above and around them, growing thicker and heavy, an extremely humid, muggy, awful experience for everyone involved, especially the hornets. As they start to fall, he let out a sigh and nodded to Rick, shrugging at whatever the man might have seen. "Alright... let's get them all out of here yeah?" He rubbed at his eyes and sniffed, wincing as light and sound made an apparently nascent headache that much worse.
Seeing others attempting to make their way out, Lola grunts, moving away from her entrenched position after a moment. Their own movements providing a chance for more cover for her departure from the area. Fortunately, the extinguisher makes for a proper tool to give herself some cover, waring off most than a small handful of the bugs. But more than that is hard for her. Aiming the stream properly not exactly her wheelhouse. But the cover she gave herself before lets her spend some extra moments dousing the path ahead of her, lessening the swarm in her path as she starts to make her way away from the zoo.
Eve remained where she was, watching. Her eyes were glowing brightly as she seemed transfixed by the events around her, all that dark leather keeping her mostly unseen and even mostly protected from stings. Her skin had taken on a very healthy pallor at the bridge of her nose where it could be seen, almost like she'd powdered it in something shimmery.
Heath kept trying to get more people to move the fuck on when the hornets started landing on him. The man watched as a few hornet dipped their stingers into his forearm and the man's face redden. "You little motherfuckers..." He exhaled a slow jet of breath. "Alright, time to be really fucking stupid and hate on the fact that these bastards don't drink out of their ass." Slowly he stepped back from people in general. "I'm thinking I'm at least 10 proof and feeling more than a bit numb and dead inside." CRACK! He smashed the first hornet on his forearm, grinding it there. "Did you fuckers hear that? I just murdered someone's brother or sister, so come at me!" And we just waited as more landed on him, and crushing them under thumb against flesh. "We can do this all day!" The man was almost jovial as he continued his war against the flyers. The building steam caused him to laugh as he glanced at Joachim, "You have no idea what country club dues are for exactly this same treatment."
Rather than attacking, the birds seemed to be changing tactics. Moving up to the stage again, each bird took a perch, either on the swings above or the heavier wood and stumps below. Or, for the more flightless birds, they stood in place. A few moments went by and then they all opened their wings, fluttering their beautiful feathers to gain attention to the brightest colors of themselves. All sounds of alarm from them stopped, leaving the eerie buzzing and flutter of wings amid the screams and cries of horror coming from the crowd.
As strangely as the birds began acting, another note of strangeness came. The scent of sweet, sweet flowers began to fill the air, and it seemed to be coming from the birds. Thick, like honey and sugar and brown sugar and syrup all had babies with the magnificent flora of the Hau'ula forest. The combination of all the bright colors and the sweet scents had the hornets confused, as their prime hunting ground for bees was definitely among the bright, sweetly scented flowers.
The hornets started moving in droves to the birds, leaving the humans alone for the most part. They were streaming in from outside the Amphitheater as well, making a long, stretched line as the swarms all drew together and began to converge on the myriad of beautiful creatures, slowly covering them in blackened insects.
The open doorway to the NeverNever that had been opened by Leif closed, shutting away a huge group of Hornets roughly the size of a human being. Many more had fallen to the ground with their wings soaked by water, and those were moving about, attempting to whisk the water off of their wings so they could take flight again, but it was difficult with the amount of water that had been poured onto them. Dead hornets littered the ground and bounced off of the crowd as they fell from the sky here and there, making the place look like it were covered in thick, black ash, but it was just Hornets. So many dead and barely moving hornets.
The few hornets that were still alive had, for the most part, stopped attacking the humans in favor of the birds. Outside the Amphitheater, the sound of sobbing was heard, but less so the sounds of screams of terror as the bugs flew in to the Amphitheater area towards the lure of the birds. The scent of 'HORNET KILLER HERE!' emitted by the dying body of the crushed Hornet on Heath's arm did grab the attention of a few of the bugs, and they flew at him, stingers at the ready. They struck as once, attempting to kill the one that killed their Hornet brethren.
The smell of the honey and the actions of the birds draws Leif's attention, his eyes hidden behind his sun glasses shown with all the stars of the cosmos. He stands there taking it all in. "Curious and Curiouser. The hornets are not natural and sickly green. The birds are bright but being guided by something gray. I wonder if this is the spirt of the island again like the turtles." He muses to himself.
Rick makes sure that Joachim is up on his feet, before he turns away, so he doesn't see that movement. He can feel the mist, though. "What the fuck," he murmurs, not for the first time tonight, but it probably can't be heard over all the noise of people, and bees, and birds. It's not meant to be heard, either. He looks back briefly to Joachim when he says this, and he nods, but he does say, "You don't look good, man. You look like you're gonna need help yourself." He starts to help anyone around him who's fallen as well. He might as well at this point.
Joachim nodded slowly, coming to a shuffling halt as the bees started to fall. "I'm gonna need you to help me get home Rick... I'll pay for gas." He coughed, looking a little green at the sudden flood of scent filling the room. He turned slowly, shaking slightly as adrenaline still coursed through him, but watching with absolute fascination as the bees began to stream towards the now waiting birds. "What the hell is this?" He blinked odd eyes, fascinated at what he was watching.
With the birds drawing off the hornets for the most part, Lola slows her retreat and glances back towards the Amphitheater. "Strange," she gruffs, yet with a distinct lack of curiosity. The way is open now.. except for people in the way, so she starts to head towards the exit of the zoo, only pausing to shove people who get in her way. So they get out of her way. She hangs on to the extinguisher for the moment.
Eve turned slightly, twisting the leather around her a little tighter as her eyes took in what was happening on the dias behind her. Her eyes widened in surprise and she let out a shuddered breath. "Oh my." She closed her eyes, taking slow, deep inhalations to try to chill out a bit. A few moments later, she was slipping free from the leather enclosure she'd created for herself and righting her clothes, somehow looking much the same as she had when she went in. All clean lines and precise angles. Taking long, sure steps, she walked towards the stairs leading up and out of the amphitheater, and took up stead at the back of the line leaving, her velvet grey eyes watching the ground as if she were expecting the hornets to leap back up and start stinging again.
Heath was busy thumbing, slapping and otherwise murdering the shit out of hornets that landed on him or stung him. The man was entirely too calm and collected about it to the point it was disturbing when he crushed one against the bridge of his nose. But it seemed like he was more than happy being a target.
The hornets made sharp, disastrously quick work of the birds. As they took multiple, deadly stings, they fell one by one off of their perches and down to the hard surface of the stage. Beautiful feathers fell from them, scattering as the bodies of the hornets fell with them, crushed, or simply dead from heaven only knew what.
The sweetness of the bird's smell only increased as they died, leaving all of their feathers to fall out completely and create patterns outlying their dead forms.
Sobs could be heard through the microphone that was on Ned's face, and as he was stung multiple times, welts were showing up all over him. "Someone bring me a firestarter, we need to make sure they're dead. Someone has blessed us and we cannot give away the blessing foolishly." And then the man began praying in Hawaiian, all while crying.
The others working with him limped around, looking for something they could use to set flame to the dead birds and the hornest still writhing on them. Looking up, the other young, male zoo-keeper called out "Does anyone have anything to start a fire? We need a lighter... and something to douse them with!"
Leif doesn't have a lighter on him or anything as fuel. Though he moves to silently observe and pay his respects. He does not move to get in the way of the cremony. He lets Ned complete the offering.
"Yeah, sure," Rick says, and he takes a couple of steps toward Joachim, offering him a shoulder. "No problem." He can't help but smell that smell too, though, and see the birds, and the hornets that are being inexorably drawn to them. It's not the weirdest thing he's seen today. And then the prayer starts, and the tears. He reaches up to rub his head, but then sticks a hand into his pocket. "Yeah," he says, and he pulls out a lighter. He raises a hand, and when the other zookeeper looks at him, he tosses it to him. "Just keep it, yeah?" he adds, then turns to Joachim. "Let's get you home."
Joachim shook his head, looking to Rick. "Nah I uh... gotta douse. Can you give me a second?" When Rick nodded and waited, the man shuffled slowly over to Ned, stepping carefully through the sea of dead and unmoving hornets. He got down next to Ned, speaking quietly. "There's your fire. I can douse. Do what you have to do alright man?" He cast his eyes around, looking about and smiling softly at the zoo-keeper. "Buddy... I think you might be right."
Lola doesn't seem to have much concern for the dead birds. Or ceremonies. As she nears the front to the zoo, sh drops the extinguisher to the side and departs the zoo.
Eve naturally heard the words over the microphone as Ned spoke them, and stiffened slightly, looking thoughtful. "I can help! At least with part of it." Almost grudgingly, the woman slipped her fingertips into her short's pocket to pull free a vial of what had to be crazy expensive perfume. "This will burn like napalm, so don't get any on you." She took long steps over towards Ned, holding it out to the crying man with what could pass for an apologetic smile on her lips. "They were beautiful, and now they'll roar to life with fire again." She looked over at Joachim and nodded to him, having delivered a rather excellent accellerant, and stepped back, obviously ready to watch the flames, but from a safer distance, as a large number of the hornets on the birds were still writhing and alive.
"AH!" Heath screamed as he dug at his ear, "Crossing a line!" He shook his head wildly and growled, only to pause and roll his saddled foot to step on one. "Right in the fucking ear canal-- Mother--" The man muttered in a language born of pure cursing and foul language. "Fresh out of scotch, but that doesn't burn well at all." He grunted as he dug in his pocket, and threw a plain silver zippo onto the stage that went clattering. "I want that back after you roas-- OW! FUCK!" The man picked at the band of his shorts and slapped at the falling hornet several times. "How the fuck did you get into my pants!?!"
Ned smiled sadly to Joachim, then to Eve and accepted the vial of perfume. He motioned to the lighter that clattered to the stage and the young male Zoo keeper that had been helping him moved over to pick it up, readying the flame.
Continuing his prayer in Hawaiian, Ned opened the perfume and started dripping it across the birds as best he could, though it was nowhere near enough to cover them all liberally. He looked over to Joachim and motioned to the mounds of dead avian he couldn't coat with accellerant. "If you could, there. They need a little more so they light faster than they can run away, then we'll send them up to Rangi in smoke so he can hopefully diminish their hatefulness." He cleared his throat then, and took the lighter from the younger zoo keeper.
Leif watches quietly. His expression somber as they ritual goes on. He is forever the outsider on the island. He watches quietly. Though when the scene is over. He will leave to find his way home to check on Kilia and Sanoe.
Joachim smiled softly at Ned, shaking his head. "I can't offer fire but I can ensure that your birds find peace, and nothing remains of them." He slowly got off the dias, looking to the others. "I'd get off that thing. Otherwise it's going to get really nasty." He patted Ned on the shoulder, waiting until everyone departed it before he began. The already exhausted looking man took on something of a pallor as he concentrated, hands out as he spoke in another language, head bowed. Slowly the bodies on the dias seemed to soften as the concrete itself took on an odd, unsettling shimmer. In seconds the organic material had been reduced to nothingness, and Joachim flopped onto his ass on one of the benches. "I hope I didn't offend. But it was the best way I could think of to ensure them true peace." He shrugged, shaking his head as stared at the space above the now murderous dias.
Eve watched as the dias seemed to dissolve and the lye from within the concrete came up to devour its way through the animals that had been left there. The Hornets not having time to flee was only further emphasized when Ned leaned forward and struck the lighter, sending everything up into a plume of flame along with being eaten away by Lye. "Oh my goodness. That's a very handy trick." She looked at Joachim for a long moment, a spark of curiosity in her velvetty grey eyes as she nodded. "Well done. Everyone, I'm impressed they didn't kill anyone in here." She looked around to the rather emptied amphitheater and stepped back from the noticeable heat and stench of lye eating bodies. "I hope you have plenty of people coming in to clean up." Eve patted Ned softly and took the zippo from his hands, so she could carry it up to Heath and hand it over to him. "Shall we? You look like you might be tired of being a pincushion.. and I believe you've killed all of them lively enough to do you any harm." She eyed Heath, looking him over for any moving bugs.
Heath didn't show the least bit surprised by chanting calling corpse and hornet dissolving material, it was comfortably in range of normal. It may have been fine up until the point he started laughing. "Dude... Where the fact were you on my 16th birthday? There were so many drugs in the house that could have been disappeared before the cops showed up..." The man had a couple of a dozen of stinger and bite marks on him and he was still laughing. Shaking his head as he took his zippo back and pocketed it as he gave Eve a look. "Sweetheart, you read my fucking mind. I need some many drugs right now, the island may be dry tomorrow."
The fire was left to burn as people watched it, and then the two assisting Zoo keepers went to go fetch large brooms out of the room where the birds had been stored so they could sweep the rest of the dead and dying hornets up and get them into the lye and flame mixture. It was likely to be terrible work, and the sound of at least 2-3 separate ambulances along with a fire truck could be heard pulling into the Zoo from the emergency entrances to start treating the people that had been attacked by the hornets.
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