In a Galaxy Far Far Away.....

DayDreamer

Badger Supreme
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Writing Levels
  1. Adaptable
It was far from the crack of dawn, but still 7am on a Saturday was early. It would have been hellishly early for him. The thought brought a mischievous grin on her face. Diana Smith was an early bird. She had to be if she wanted to ever keep up with her job without hybernating in her bed during weekends. Between a full time junior zookeeper job, a community center volunteer and a Harris Hawk of her own, it was a miracle she managed to find time to pester him as much as she did.

Her target's room was on the first floor and being relatively fit and a garage roof to work off, it was not that hard to reach his window. It had not been the first time to have done it either, but she always made sure to let enough time go by so the jumpscare would have maximum effect every time. Perching herself on the windowsill, her grin widened. "YO KNUCKLEHEAD! UP AND AT THEM! ON THE DOUBLE!" She called out, banging once on his window and then attempting to open it. With any luck, the idiot would have left it unlocked and she would be able to barge in and throw him off the bed military style.

They had places to be, though not so early in the morning admitedly.
 
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Though there was no response, make no mistake. Caius had heard Diana's call, he just wished that he hadn't. He'd only gotten to sleep a few hours ago, so the normally pleasant-sounding voice of his friend was more akin to nails on a chalkboard to his ears. "No, no, no...go away, I'm not ready to get up yet!" It was an attempt to sound frightening but he only came off as whiny. "I just got to sleep like....four hours ago! It can't be time to get up yet!"

In a pouty fashion, he pulled his blanket tighter around his shoulders and tried to cover his ears with his pillows. Sure, he seemed grumpy in the mornings, and he was, but he always kept his window unlocked for Diana. This was just routine, and if she couldn't get through the window, she'd probably go through the door. There wasn't any winning for him, but at least he wouldn't be bored the entire day. "Go back to sleep! We have all day!"
 
Oh so he had gone to sleep late. Again. Honestly Diana wasn't surprised, it was the weekend afteral. But then he shouldn't have scheduled to meet her for fun activities. Her fun always involved early walks and nature. He should have thought of that. An impish smile graced her lips as she stepped inside the room, seeing the guy tightly cocooned in his covers, trying desperately to ignore her. Even ordering her to go back to sleep.

"What do you get when you combine and early bird and night owl?" She questioned playfully as she approached his bed from the side he had his back turned to. She grasped the covers gently but firmly. She paused, lowering and spreading her stance, getting ready for what was to follow. "A very grumpy coffee owl and a maggot nomming Chirper!" She answered her own question and pulled at his covers at the same time, effectively exposing his body to the morning cold, threatening to tumble him out of bed with how hard she had pulled on the covers.
 
"Hey!" Caius shrieked the moment his source of warmth was ripped away and the cool, damning air of the open-world hit his skin. Immediately, he curled into a tight ball, hugging himself with his arms, but he quickly realized that was no substitute for his blanket. He had lost this battle. "Oh come on...I just want to sleep till the evening, is that so hard? Is that too much to ask for?"

Begrudgingly, and as brattily as he could, Caius sat up and looked Diana in the face, green and hazel eyes glaring tiredly. "This owl is going to need donuts with that coffee, just so you know." He told grumbled, stifling a yawn. "One of these days I'm gonna start locking that window!" The threat was both playful and empty. He enjoyed her company far too much for that, and if she couldn't wake him up, he'd waste the entire day away in bed, and the entire night getting into trouble. She was, in every manner of the word, a gatekeeper for him. "What are you here for, again?"
 
Diana snickered at his grumpy response. "Well, if you lock up the window then I will just play drums on the glass and you know it." She replied with a mischievous smile and folded his blanket before carefully placing it back on his bed. "We can go and get you some breakfast, then we agreed we would go to the zoo to see the baby leopards. You wanted to get the behind the scenes experience remember? And then we planned on hanging out the Youth center. They brought the new game console and Alicia is bringing her mom's cookie specialty to hit it off." She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head in mocking exasparation. "But if you dont feel up for it, I can just go alone and have everything for myself...."
 
"I'm up, I'm up! We can go, we can go!" Caius spoke hurriedly, wiping away as much grogginess from his face as he could. The leopards? They were cool and all, but there was no way he was going to miss out on those cookies. "You're lucky I'm going, in fact. Otherwise, you'd probably eat all those cookies, then you'd be one step closer to becoming the blob." He teased, lips curling into a smirk.

He rolled out of bed and onto the floor, deftly falling on his hands and toes before performing a few pushups. After a few he jumped to his feet, letting out one final yawn. "Those kids are lucky too. They get to hang out with me today. Everyone gets to be a winner." He didn't mind the kids, in fact, he kind of liked them, but he was always grumpy in the morning, and it made a weird combination with his ego.

"So what are we going to do first, boss lady? You're taking point on today's expedition."
 
Diana smirked in knowing triumph and that smirked turned into an indignant "Hey!" once her tendency to get chubby when eating too many sweets was mentioned. "Working at the zoo is the perfect amount of exercise I'll have you know." She argued as he ignored her rolled to his side to do his daily dose of morning pushups. It would never cease to amaze her how fluent he was in his movements. Fair enough he had worked hard to get to that level, but she would be surprised every time regardless.

And of course his ridiculous self-confidence would do that as well. Not as often since they had practically grown up together, but it still had its moments. "I say we get you coffee and donuts and then we go to the babies. We got to be there before they allow them in the outer exhibit for the first time. If you're a good boy maybe they will let you touch them." She said with a mischienous smile on her face. This had not been the entire truth. She had arranged for a little bit of playtime with the cubs before they would be shown to the public for the first time. But he didn't need to know that. Not yet.
 
"I think I can turn on the charm for at least a moment. All it takes is the right words and hell, they'll let me cuddle them." Caius returned Diana's smirk. "I'm good with animals!" A statement that was, as far as he knew, not necessarily true. Dogs? He could get along with dogs just fine. But cats? They couldn't stand him, and as much as he liked them, most times he couldn't be bothered with them either. Perhaps they were too much alike, and that's why they never truly mixed. But maybe these big cats would be different.

"Anyway, coffee is on you!" He declared in a sing-song voice as he gathered his things, preparing to leave. He hopped in place, struggling to pull his shoes onto his feet. "The least you can do, for pulling me from the dark and loving embrace of sleep, eh?" He snickered,
 
Diana openly laughed. "Whatever you say big boy. Whatever you say." If there was one animal charmer in their little duo, that was definitely not him. Sure enough animals did not openly disliked him right off the bat and he did not feel disgusted or afraid by them either. It was just not as good as he made it sound.

She watched him wrestle with his shoes for a little bit. "I won't be there to buy you coffee forever Lover Boy. You need to adjust this unhealthy relationship you have with Lady Sleep." She snickered and lazily rested her arm against the strap of her sling backpack. "Think you are awake enough or do you need a ride?" She asked him, though she knew the answer to that already. He would never part with his engine. He was always awake enough to ride.

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One coffee stop later, the duo was parking their bikes at the back entrance of the zoo. Diana had taken her keycard with her, so they had no problem using the side entrance. A large box of donuts was tucked safely under her arms as she made her way to the locker room in the 'kitchen' area. She knew that every keeper had a soft spot for donuts and they would have been getting on their first break for the day soon. The least she could do was surprise them with donuts on the counter.

"Okay, you can leave your helmet and jacket in my locker." She told him and went over to it, opening it to reveal her working coveralls, boots, hat and pictures of her with her family and friends, including one of when she and Caius were showing off on their motrocycles the day she finished working on hers. Random pictures with her and the various animals at the zoo. It was like a little collage of her life so far.
 
"Hm," Caius mused aloud as he removed his helmet, freeing his messy hair from the confines of his head protection, "You got a lot of mementos in here, huh?" He looked through her locker unabashedly and without shame. He snagged the picture of them and their motorcycles with his free hand, using the other to store his helmet. "Ah, I remember this! Love at first sight!" He sighed, almost dreamily, as his mind drifted back to when he first got his beloved bike. As much as he'd like to reminisce, there was more stuff to rifle through.

Placing the picture back in the locker, he continued to peer through all the pictures, shrugging off his jacket in the process. "You know, I'm not gonna lie to ya, Di," He hung his jacket on the hook in her locker, "You've always had a crazy good streak with animals, it's actually pretty scary." He chuckled, innocently at first, but it quickly changed into a more sinister snicker. "Maybe you got a lot in common with them, you savage, you."
 
Diana smacked him playfully upside the head. "Then you should keep me in happy mood." She replied, giving him a toothy grin. "Here!" She said and tossed him a zoo volunteer's shirt that seemed to be more or less his size. "Wear that so we avoid any weird situations on the way to the cubs." She explained as she was quick to change her own shirt with one of her keeper's clean ones. She was not shy of Caius or any other male entering at that moment, seeing how she was wearing a sports bra underneath. Sports bras always counted as bikini tops for her so there was nothing to be shy about. Not to mention that she knew Caius so much already that it was almost as if he didn't count.

Picking up her radio and keys just in case, she had him follow her as they navigated the paths to the leopard enclosure. It hadn't taken long but there was nobody there from the Big Cats team. So she pulled her radio and let them know they were there. It had only taken moments to get a reply and a few minutes later a cart pulled up to them, an older woman hopping off and cheerfully greeted them, leading the way to the inside enclosure that the babies had spend most of their time up until now.

Rubber balls, chewed up ropes and a pair of fluffballs were the most noteable features of the brightly lit space. The cubs' attention was drawn to the opening of the door and they were fast to approach Diana and the woman, but they seemed hesitant to approach Caius. "Well? Time to put those charms to work." Diana teased as she lowered herself to be less threatening to the cubs.
 
Once Caius laid eyes on the cubs, he failed to stop the gasp that escaped his mouth. He'd seen countless videos and pictures of them, but there was nothing like seeing the little fuzzballs in person. Even their hesitance to approach him made them all the more endearing. It took a moment for him to recompose himself. "Alright, I can do this no sweat. Everyone loves me." He told Diana, coughing into his hand.

He lowered himself onto his knees, getting lower to the ground to try and make himself seem less intimidating, not that he was sure it would work. "Hey little guys, it's alright! I'm not gonna hurt ya!" He spoke softly as he reached out to the nearest one with a hand, motioning for them to come closer. He was tempted to make a noise that he knew would work on a house cat, but he didn't want to insult them that way. They were so much more than common house cats!

"I'm much nicer than this scary girl! You can probably smell it!" He couldn't help but throw a teeny shot at Diana for his amusement. "I vibe with you guys! We're cut from the same cloth!".
 
Diana gave him a playfully angry glare at the mention of her scary smell, but otherwise just sat back and watched as the cubs played and pretended to ignore Caius' extended hand. Yet somehow their play bouts brought them closer to his hand and general direction, until one landed right infront of his hand at the tumble and sniffed it cautiously before licking and play-biting at him. "Remind me to get you a leopard jacket since you lack their kind of cloth." She laughed as the second cub approached his side and sniffed his shoes before attempting to climb on his leg.
 
"Oh then I can be a part of the pride!" Caius let the leopard cub nip at his hand for a little before moving to tickle the creature's belly, cooing softly. He was having the time of his life, he really was, but the look on his face would lead most to believe otherwise. It was a look total concentration as if he were trying his best not to mess up, as if he could.

"I mean, it looks like they love me already." He chuckled and began scratching the second cub behind its ears. "I bet I could get the mama to love me, too. I'm great with parents, I'll be like one of her cubs in no time!" The sad part was he actually believed that. "Take pictures, take pictures!"
 
Diana was smilling knowingly as Caius was having the time of his life. "Leopards don't have prides silly. That's lions you're thinking of." She said as she got her phone out, taking pictures and videos of him playing with the cubs. She would have to make sure he didn't post any of them in social media without the zoo's permission, but for now she let him have his moment.

The cub had managed to climb from his leg to his back, tiny claws grabbing onto fabric and sometimes the skin underneath as the adventurous cub continued his journey towards Caius' neck. It's sibling had a blast fighting and tumbling with the alien creature that was Caius' hand. "Yeah mama would love you to death." She replied sarcastically as she snapped a picture of Caius, before turning back to video once more.

Then something happened that caused both women present to laugh their hearts out. The little cub had landed on Caius' shoulder and was not licking his hair to the equivalent of a cowlick. "Oh this is definitely going to my blackmail files." Diana chuckled as she kept on shooting the video.
 
"Blackmail me?! You'll probably just make me look better, if that's even possible, Badass Caius lookin' all cute with a bunch of leopards? I'll be irresistible, plus one." He released the cub from the tickle torture if only so he could remove the one on his head, cradling the creature in his arms. "Man, I never really wanted a pet before, but too bad I can't have one of these guys as one."


After a few seconds of cuddling, he released the cub from his hold, setting the leopard down with its sibling. "Alright cuties, Caius time is over. Don't be depressed, maybe I can come back and see you again." He patted both of their heads, rubbing them with his index fingers. "And if not, you have the second-best thing, Diana, to keep you company. Even though she was threatening to blackmail me. Don't judge her for it, though. She's just jealous of me, it happens." He didn't even bother trying to hide the smirk on his face, snickering internally.