sirenspull_logs | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Rochelle and Gilbert Nightray.
When: 2/24
Where: The zoo!
Summary: Gil and Ro hang out and do stuff.
Warnings: NOTHING.

Despite the Infection, Rochelle was still a pretty good driver. Ellis was the one who insisted on driving any time they actually HAD to take a car during the apocalyse anyway. But regardless, Gil was still... Gil. It hadn't suprised her, and she expected it coming.

That's why she made sure to drive EXTRA careful for him, just in case, to hopefully show him it's not so bad.

"How you doing?"

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Ro leans out and notices there's a glass down at the bottom, and people on the other end of it were looking. There must have been some stairs down below where you could watch them swim around the pool. That was kind of cute.

Then at the question he looks up. "Oh--south pole." Pause. "And whatever other places they can be."

He glances back over the pool again, takes note of the ice that the other ones are perched on. And hey, let's go over here and look in the window. If it's good enough for kids, it's good enough for two grown adults.

"It's somewhere cold?" he guesses. There are probably places like that back home, but he's never seen them.

Oh, whoah. Gilbert must have noticed it too, because Rochelle could guess where he wanted to go. She shifted her bag on her shoulder (not like it was heavy, the strap was just slipping), and followed.

"REALLY cold. Like, humans-could-barely-live-in-it cold." There's a pause, and she shrugs. "This is assuming I got all my old high school knowledge right."

"Oh! Mm, there's a place like that back home."

Still unnamed and uncharted, but somewhere north of the great chasm between the two countries, if he remembers the stories correctly. But geography was never his strong subject. That one belonged to Oz too.

Since he's technically too tall to enjoy this little window, Gil has to kneel down with one knee on the ground so that he can look in properly. But when he does, it's clear he's as interested in it as any of the other children. When you could sit and let your mind wander away from work and stress...there really were things like this in the world.

Huh.

"Is your guy's geography about the same as ours?" From everything else Gil and told her about the Chains and all those other things, Ro definately knew it wasn't the same world. Or even the same dimension. God, some days she still wondered why she was so used to this shit by now. Then again once you've grasped zombies, everything else isn't as much as a struggle. ... Keywords are "as much".

But whatever similarities and differences her world (or what it used to be) from other people's had her curious.

After following him down to the bottom, Rochelle only had to bend down to see what was going on. She nowhere near child sized but dang, this woman was still short. It had been a long time since she had been to any kind of zoo. It was fascinating for her to watch them swim around. She was grinning as she watched. It wasn't the same as Gil's childlike fascination, but she was still having a damn good time.

"It really has been a while."

"No...the maps are completely different. The country and city names are all changed, rearranged, or were never there to being with," he answers, half-distracted by watching a few penguins chase each other past the glass.

"The stars are different too."

Which he hadn't noticed for a while, since one generally doesn't look to the sky after the sirens go off and the city rots.

Rochelle blinked as she glanced at him. "Shit. I guess we literally are from different worlds then. Not like most of us are."

His last mention her her pause. "Yeah... you know, that's the one thing I miss about not going out at night. 'Cause even when home went to hell for me, at least looking up at the sky at night hadn't changed." A beat. "... You know, if you didn't have to look out for anything sneaking up at you from the ground."

It had to be a comfort, to have that one constant. He hadn't really thought about it much before now.

"...Have you been able to sit and watch the sky since you came here?" he asks, turning away from the tank to look at her properly.

"Not exactly. Remember what comes out at night?"

"I know, I mean..."

He turns back to look at the penguins.

"If you ever wanted to...I can take us up somewhere high and keep you - er, keep things safe...for a while..."

Which is the best use for his newly regained powers, definitely.

Whoah, what.

Now Gilbert has her full attention. She looks at him.

"Wait, really?"

His eyes move down to rest on his left hand; the hand that the Chain has been resealed into.

"Ever since I got my Contract back, I feel like I've had better control over Raven," he mutters, idly. You know, that big black bird that took them to the hospital that one time.

"He would keep us safe for a while."

Her eyes slowly followed his hand. She didn't quite understand why, not knowing what chains were, but for now she was just following her eyes.

"The big black bird thing that took us to the hospital, right...?"

She looked back at him. "Didn't it mess you up pretty badly after you got me there?"

He shakes his head and stands back up, brushing his gloves off on his jacket sleeve.

"I'm fine if I don't overdo it."

"Oh! Are you sure?"

Though she was more concerned for his well being if he went through it again--her only experience with his Raven thing was being taken to the hospital, it was obvious she liked the idea of being able to look up at the stars in peace again.

"Mm. Positive."

He'd been frantic last time and hadn't paced himself. Plus, he's been powerless for so long, he'll take any chance he can to reconnect with the power that he'd worked so hard to obtain.

Rochelle straightened up with him. A shrug of her shoulder shifted her purse strap back in it's place. She grinned at him, obviously pleased by the prospect.

"If you say you can handle it and it's safe? I trust you. I'd seriously LOVE to see the stars in peace for once in my life."

She started walking along--the seal exhibit was actually pretty close to this now.

Onward to seals!

"Then...please let me do this for you. Sometime."

Ro looked over her shoulder at them as they kept walking back up to the ground floor. Area. Thing.

"If you can do it now? I'd LOVE to." She nodded. "Sometime."

Oh, and BY THE WAY. Seals. There were otters too, seperated by a thick piece of glass despite the fact that technically, they were in the same pool. With minor adjustments so each animal could function comfortably in it.

And Rochelle lit the fuck up.

"Hey! There's the babies."

LOOK AT THOSE BABY OTTERS PLAYING AROUND.

LOOK AT 'EM.

That's all it takes to make his shoulders relax and a small smile to tug his lips into a happier position. It's been so long since he's been able to feel useful outside of simple things like keeping the store running or making dinner. The number of people that he's responsible for keeps dropping, leaving holes in his day that are otherwise filled with bouts of anxiety and thoughts of Oz and Jack.

At least this way he can do a job that few others can do, for an outcome that will make someone else happy. That's all he's ever wanted.

...Wow, oh my god, baby otters are the cutest things ever. We'll just be over here PRESSING OUR FACE TO THE GLASS LIKE A CHILD. Well, standing close to it at least because d'awwwww.

"O-oh...they're cute..."

The otters were in the water, one baby swimming around with it's mother. The baby looked a little reluctant, as the mama was teaching it how to swim. But every time the baby tried to get out, she dragged it right back in until it was accustomed to the water.

Rochelle laughed at the sight and made a 'awww' as she stood next to Gilbert.

"That's adorable."

He laughs along with her and watches the baby start to paddle lopsidedly while the mother floats along at their side to help straighten them out.

"It is."

Ro leaned on the railing now, one arm resting on it.

"Poor little guy. If I got to learn to swim like that?" The pup attempted to make another escape. Mama got right in and dunked him underwater. "I don't think I'd ever wanna swim."

Speaking of that, Rochelle doesn't know how to swim. This is canon.

"You never learned?"

He directs the question to her, but he's still watching the little pup try to surface.

Which the pup does. He's learning, but any escape attempts are being thwarted by mom. He seems to be getting accostomed to the water, at least.

Rochelle, meanwhile, looks just the tiniest bit sheepish. "Not... really."