#ode writes

   They ended up going to that new aquarium downtown that was getting apparently stellar reviews, the one that had critters from the ocean and the fresh water. There wasn’t much to do on an Autumn Sunday mid-morning to begin with. After figuring that out, the rest of the trip across town was pretty quiet. Zuko’s headache rendered him mostly unable to keep a normal small talk going, and Ozai wasn’t much for talk any way.

   The father and son got to the aquarium along the river and right away there were too many people for their liking, even on their way inside walking from the parking lot, they noticed this. They got through the double doors and Ozai automatically made his way to the ticket kiosk and got in line. Zuko stood by and waited, his hands were resting in the front pocket of his sweatshirt, his eyes wandered around the lobby, spotting all the things that weren’t people- The decorative vines coiling around the thick wooden columns that held up the walkways full of people the next floor up. They were all contributing to a collaborative chattering white noise which echoed through the Atrium. Trying again to pick out the things that weren’t people, he looked to the upper space of the Atrium to the wide skylights. Blank, gray overcast, it wasn’t people at least. Ozai finally bought the wristband tickets, and walked back over to Zuko, dodging the crowd. He bumped Zuko out of his daze of staring up at the overcast, and handed him one of the purple wristbands made of paper. They spent a few extra minutes in the lobby before making their way into the exhibits, all because Zuko couldn’t figure out how to get the wristband hooked and needed Ozai’s help. “…I figure you would know how to get these things around your wrist after all your late night outings…” Ozai muttered, annoyed, close to his son’s face. Zuko responded with an eye roll and a “Whatever man.”

  First were the sea shore and reef exhibits, which were glass tunnels arching over the walk way. The blue behind the glass was full of vibrant schools of fish and vivid clumps of coral. Ozai was enthralled with the mocked palette of the ocean’s ecosystems, silver mackerel swarmed past the glass,color-changing eels peaked out of their hidey-holes and ducked back in at bolting speeds, blue and yellow tangs fluttered above their respective reefs. Zuko had to whisper his father’s name if he stood in one spot to long staring at the plethora of colors on the other side of the glass. Zuko got the point of it and just wanted to push further on down the tunnel, and had to urge Ozai to keep moving with him.

   Today was about the fish, not about what he did last night, so he was trying to enjoy himself and not trying to converse with Ozai too much. They walked further down the way and approached a part of the tunnel that transformed into a larger space, or a large glass bubble that held people more like. Quickly, that bubble felt closer to a glass barrier when the silhouettes of sharks passed over them as the two entered the space. They trotted over to an open spot between crowds to peer up at the enormous creatures, that were, surprisingly, just large fish in the end. But those fish had rows of razor sharp teeth and streamlined bodies with sharp edges, their masses made of muscle. Hammerheads and bulls, mako and reef sharks, they hardly seemed to care about all the human eyes gawking at them from the other side of the glass bubble. 

   “That’s metal.” Zuko said, as fascinated as he could be despite his fading hangover.    “Powerful.” Ozai corrected him, with a small smirk.

   The crowd became too dense around them, and the two moved on from their fascination with the sharks, and went on into the next room after the bubble. It was barely lit, and had smaller more assorted tanks, tall square tanks along the walls and cylinder shaped tanks in the center. They started at the first cylinder tank, which contained seahorses. Zuko immediately adored the tiny, dancing and bobbing, almost alien like animals, they were clumsy and had to hold onto the plants extending from the bottom of the tank using their curly tails for support. Ozai just shrugged at the pitiful tiny creatures.

   Zuko spoke up. “Did you know the male seahorses are the ones that get pregnant?” turning his head to Ozai.      “Uh… No… That’s… pretty bizarre.” Ozai responded.     Zuko turned his face back to the glass and leaned in a little closer, “I support you, tiny water dads.” he cooed at the seahorses. Ozai shook his head and snickered at that.

   They moved on to the other cylinder shaped tanks, one supposedly had an octopus in it which neither Ozai or Zuko could find, and the next tank had spider crabs which Ozai was immediately disinterested in, so they pressed on to the next section of the aquarium which were the fresh water exhibits. They watched the fluffy otters play, and the fresh water crocodiles do the complete opposite, they mistook the snapping turtles for rocks a couple times, and made a few bets on which snail would get to the top of the glass in its tank first, but were eventually too bored to wait and see who the winner would be.

   On the other end of the room was an enclosure with the walls of it coming up to about their waists, inside was an imitation of a pond and what you’d find in it. Some turtles and small frogs and lily pads. Small patches of dry surfaces the semi-aquatic creatures could rest on. There were koi fish floating patiently at the bottom of the pond, waiting to be fed by the guests. Most importantly, there was a family of ducks. A couple and their two ducklings. The couple bobbed in the water and quietly honked to each other like they were discussing something important, while their ducklings squeaked and wiggled and paddled their little webbed feet as hard as they could to keep up with their parents.

   Zuko leaned over the railing, almost as far as he could to get a better look at the koi fish looking back up at him as if it expected him to toss it some food pellets. They were locked in an intense stare down. Ozai kept his attention on the family of ducks bobbing across the pond. The bigger of the ducklings began nipping at it’s sibling and the smaller one squeaked in distress and paddled away to the other side of their mother, the larger sibling pursued it. The mother dipped her head in between her feuding offspring, and nudged the perpetrating duckling with her beak. Ozai almost heard his own wife saying ‘Knock it off.’ when she was trying to keep their own children settled down, and he chuckled at that thought. 

   Apparently the father duck didn’t like the sound of Ozai’s laugh because he launched himself out the water at Ozai’s face, squawking and wings flapping. Water splashed, Ozai yelped, the father duck honked in earnest. Ozai ran backwards at the sudden force of feathers attacking him and tripped, falling on his rear end, while the duck snapped his beak at Ozai’s nose and ears and eyes. It rapped its feet against his chest, and slapped its wings around his face. Ozai cussed and hollered, trying to pull the attacking creature off of him. It got a hold of his eye lid and he shrieked, the commotion him and the duck were creating was certainly the center of attention at that point. Zuko was pulled away from his stare down by the uproar and rushed to his panicking father, struggling on the floor with a face full of feathered fury. Zuko rudely pushed the man trying to assist his father off to the side because he was taking too long. He kneeled down and grabbed the duck’s legs, pulling the beast away from Ozai, and carried it back to the artificial pond, to it’s family. The duck protested with honks and flapping wings and Zuko made it to the edge of the pond and gave the animal a good toss back into the enclosure. It smacked the surface of the water creating a splash, regained his balance after a few more flaps and casually swam back to his family like nothing had happened.

   Some of the aquarium staff finally arrived at the scene, and one of the female workers offered her hand down to Ozai and she helped him back on his feet. Ozai, his hair ruffled and no longer perfectly straight, with bruises and red marks on his face, looked at the woman and politely and quickly thanked her before stomping off to the edge of the pond. Zuko turned around to his father making his way to the enclosure, probably seeking his vengeance on the duck by hollering at it from the railing. His son stood in his path to the pond, his hands up with an awkward smirk on his face.

   Ozai halted in front of his son, “Zuko, I’m ready to leave.”    “Huh, I think I am too.” Zuko grinned.

   As compensation for their troubles, the aquarium management gave them a full refund, and Zuko asked for a duckling plushy he saw at one of the kiosks along their way through the exhibits, which they graciously gave to him. Then the father and son exited the establishment and made their way back to the car, Ozai sulking and Zuko held the plushy at his side, and watched his feet step one in front of the other as he followed his father, replaying the event in his mind. Ozai tapped the unlock button on his car key, and the locks snapped open in the doors. They opened their doors and maneuvered into their seats. Ozai fiddled with the keys and put them into the ignition and turned the car on… And then he let out a tired sigh with a tinge of annoyance, and the two sat there in silence for an awkward minute. Zuko shifted his eyes back and forth between the plushy and Ozai who had his hands resting on each side of the steering wheel and his head between them. Ozai closed his eyes and shook his head from side to side and let out a throaty snort that turned into a low chuckle and looked back up at Zuko holding his duck plushy to his chest and Zuko began to giggle along with him.