the elephant man

   Connor’s lips tug into a tiny smile as the cat begins to mewl, head tilting in amusement. Albeit at the prospect of adopting the cat, his lips purse in thought, eyebrows knitting together before dismissing the expression with a sheepish shrug. “For a while, yeah but… I don’t know much about taking care of them.” 

“Oh, right,” Jongdae would have rubbed the back of his neck then, if he could, but his arms being full he settled for a quiet sigh instead. The cat was beginning to settle - since when did he become a cat salesman? “It’s real easy, just feed it twice a day some nice can of cat food,” he shook his head, seeing the man’s doubt and dismissal. “Ah... don’t worry, I’ll try next door or something.” 

Thanking the cashier he turns his attention back to the male as he leads him out of the store and thanks the kind male as he opens the door for him. “Well, that’s the jest of it.” He shrugs his shoulders and nods. “Its basically comparing literature from different cultures. But it is also studying the language of said culture.” He stuffs his hands into his pockets and chuckles. “So what do you like to do in your spare time when you’re not working?”

“Oh, you must be pretty smart, I’m pretty bad at language,” Jongdae comments as he steps onto the street and starts following him. He shrugs, tapping a finger on the video game box. “Games, books, films - sleep,” he grins, nodding. Sleep was the ideal way to spend time, according to Jongdae. “How about you, when you’re not comparing literature?” 

He couldn’t fight the grin at the other man’s text.He could very well picture Castor, sulking away on the street, he had a pretty good knack for making him do that. He didn’t even bother replying - Hulk’s Gym. He’d noticed it before on account of it’s awful name and now knew where to go. It took a little longer than he expected, but he was soon pulling up outside of the building, eyeing the huddle boy outside hugging his legs, looking small and annoyed and Jongdae laughed obnoxiously, leaning across the passenger seat. He had the window rolled down, and yelled out at Castor, the clunky engine of his car still rattling around him. “Get in, you hopeless lad, you’re definitely taking me to lunch, Hulk,” he snorted, leaning back against his own chair.

“I can’t imagine why anyone would freak out,” he remarks, the sarcasm softened with a sly smile and a soft chuckle, that dies out when she moves closer. He fights the urge to both step closer or step backwards, and takes a shallow breath, quickly looking up away from her and past her shoulder, feigning thought as he scans the park’s pathway as if looking for something. “I believe the cubs are this way, we’d better hurry if we’re to catch them.” He lifts a hand to press it lightly to her shoulder to turn her around and nudge her in the right direction, dropping his hand again and walking companionably beside her. “I’m sure the park would be grateful if you took pictures,” he laughed a little, nodding to himself, “it’s good publicity for us, too. I’d be happy to take some for you, just make sure I’m not in any of them.” His eyes are trained on the enclosure of the okapi as they walk past it - the keepers have moved the animal inside by now, where it will be cooled down. One of the keepers nod to him and he lifts his hand in a small wave back before looking down to watch his feet instead. “No, they can cope a couple of hours without me, I’m fairly effecient with my duties. How about you? It feels odd to see you without your other members.”

Once he was given the permission to touch the young animal, Chansik’s smile widened almost immediately as his hand reached for the baby rhino. His skin touched with the rhino’s, and he could feel the rough epidermal layer of the animal, the developing thick skin which would get thicker as the animal grew bigger. It was fascinating, and Chansik would look up at his human companion in awe, and back at the animal. He almost didn’t catch the human’s question, because he was too busy being fascinated by nature, and what it could produce. “Oh – um, I’m twenty-three,” said Chansik, saying the age that a programmer had sent him. He couldn’t say that he was just about to turn one, from being activated just almost a year ago. So of course, he had to improvise.

The smile on his face reassures Jongdae somewhat - he looks happy, even if he does seem lost, and anyone who looks at animals with an expression like that, of awe, is someone Jongdae can agree with. He returns the smile with one of his own, and reaches over to pay Bab’s again for himself, watching the man curiously as he waits an answer he wasn’t expecting. He nods vaguely but can’t hide his complete surprise at the man’s age - he’s older than Jongdae? Not to mention the awkwardness, as if he’d forgotten how old he was. “Twenty three? Wow, you look... younger,” he chuckles and nods, “may I ask what you do? Student, working..?”

“Aye, that’s no a problem I won’t tell no one Miss, doubt anyone would believe me even if I shouted it from the top of the giraffe house.” He nods hastily, his eyes darting to the hand on his shoulder, then to his feet, one of his hands rubbing his cheek distractedly. There’s heat on his face at the whole uncanny situation - wild animals with heat stroke he can deal with, no problem, but people - famous celebrity woman type people - that’s so far out of Jongdae’s comfort zone h can’t even feel his own toes. He scrabbles to cling onto the thing he is comfortable with - the animals.  “There are a few baby lion cubs,” a swift glance to his watch, his hand moving from his cheek to ruffle the hair at the back of his head: he’s pointedly avoiding her eyes now, and his nervous heart beat is beginning to return to a noral pace, “they usually get them out for a little walk about in about ten, fifteen minutes - we can wander down there and try get one for you to play with if you’re up for it? If not they’re always getting the snakes out for people to hold, stuff like that in the reptile houses - bunnies and all sorts over in that direction you can touch too.” 

Jonghyun raised an eyebrow at the male’s request and just shrugged his shoulders. “Well, if you want to, I can’t stop you.” He chuckled and stepped to the side a bit so that the male could pay for the other half of the game. “Animal care, that’s cool.” He nodded his head approvingly. “Comparitive Literature. Not the easiest major in the world but its interesting.” 

He chuckles as he steps forward, paying the remaining fee of the video game nd turning back to his new-found-friend, pressing the game’s box into his hands after thanking the cashier. “Comparitive literature, huh? What does that entail? Just, comparing literature?” He cocks his head curiously, heading towards the door and holding it open for him.

“A drink?” Jongdae looks momentarily perplexed as he shuffles into the elevator and once again uses his elbow to hit the 4th floor button. Did he mean that Jongdae owed him a drink for this? An alcoholic one? He stammered for a second, unsure about the whole thing - maybe the stranger meant the world owed him a drink, but Jongdae nodded, the same look of confusion washed over his face. “Sure, I can get you a drink.” His mind then turned the idea over a few times - what if he did mean just, water or something, and Jongdae brings out some kind of alcoholic beverage and looks like a raging alcoholic? Does he even have alcohol? He gnawed his lip a bit at the thought of it, bought out of his daze by the man’s question.  “Oh, no, well, been in Seoul for, uh, say, seven years now,” he nodded, eyes dropping to watch the way his fingertip drummed on the side of the lamp, then politely flickering back up to the man’s face. “Just new to the apartment complex - how about you?  I mean, you always lived in Seoul?”

Zoo Elephants | Rie & Jongdae

“Nah, it’s alright, I’m sure the zoo is both glad of the publicity and happy for free help. That’s Bab,” he smiles, glancing sideways to Rie when she joins him, but keeping his face forward and looks back to Dubu. “The name is courtesy of her previous zoo, but yeah, just making sure everything is all set up and ready for the night.”  As he talks, he’s still walking, out into the outdoor enclosure now and Dubu’s seen both of them, lifting her trunk in mild greeting, catching their scent in the air. She finds the scent of food there, too, coming from the bucket Rie is holding, and rumbles pleasantly, but stays stock still, happily flapping her ears to cool her body down. “She won’t come to us because she’s a bit of a primadonna,” he chuckles, “we’ll have to take the bucket of food to her, and slowly walk her back inside.”  As they get close, Jongdae’s mind begins to wander. He looks from Rie to the elephant, now within reach, and he gestures Rie forward, telling her ‘lift the bucket, so she can eat a little bit,’ and watches as Dubu doesn’t hesitate. She probably recognises Rie from earlier in the day, all that attention she got- she’s already associated Rie with something good, and associated her with Jongdae, too, a symbol of trust.  He reaches up to pat Dubu, then looks back at Rie. “Don’t suppose you’ve ever ridden an elephant, have you?”