The zoo Sun Fang went to at ten in the morning on a beautiful Tuesday was one of the smaller ones in the city. It didn’t have the rarer animals that the bigger zoos had, but it was perfectly serviceable and the animals it did have were all very cute. Even the tigers were adorable. Sun Fang had been here for a good hour now, and had just purchased a very delicious ice cream cone.
Because Guillotine’s sun hated humans, he was carrying a parasol over his head to protect him. He was, of course, also covered in sunscreen, because sunburns weren’t fun. They itched. And stung. And were just plain annoying.
But his parasol was a custom-made item that would keep his delicate human skin safe, eighty percent guaranteed. (If he didn’t use sunscreen, it went down to a five and a half percent guarantee.) So he could rest assured that nothing bad would happen to him while he walked around the zoo, keeping his eyes on the animals behind the glass enclosures.
The ancient earth crocodile he was looking at right now were the most adorable. There was even a few babies in the enclosures, waddling after (presumably) their parents in the shallow water. Sun Fang licked at his cone and expertly used his other hand to snap a few pictures.
”Having fun, Young Master?” Ivy asked from his side, also taking pictures with its phone. The phone was a garish yellow color, the phone case a present form Sun Fang about forty years old now. He’d been in a phase where he’d though that that yellow color was the best color ever, and so had gotten everything he could in it. His pictures from that time all featured him wearing at least one clothing item in it.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Needless to say, Sun Fang had regrets.
”Yes,” he popped, hurrying to a bite into a piece of the ice cream before he fell over the cone’s edge and abandoned him to a dark, hopeless world without it. He could scarcely picture it, so dreary was the mere image. He shuddered. Smiling, he glanced at Ivy, envious that it didn’t need the same kind of cumbersome protection from the sun as he did. Though, he supposed, Ivy also suffered from the risk of overheating.
Ivy asked, ”Do you not wish to see any other animals? Perhaps the pandas?”
Sun Fang’s lips turned downward. He huffed, ”Crocodiles are cuter,” and pouted, licking at his ice cream again. If he didn’t pay attention to it, the whole creation would melt in his hands, and no one wanted that. That would be a true tragedy. It would be akin to a comet hurtling through space and deciding that hey, that planet looks good, why not settle down there? Everybody needs a home, after all!
No, everyone did not need a home. Everyone needed a place that made them feel safe, and most times that was a home, but it wasn’t necessary. Some people felt at home sleeping on the ground in a forest, which actually, maybe kind of made it a home? So everyone did need a home? Okay, Sun Fang was just making himself confused now.
The point was, his ice cream melting would be a damn shame, and so he should really stop making funny faces at it and actually get around to eating it sometime soon. Preferably before the sun destroyed it.
Guillotine’s sun was evil like that.
The ice cream was gone before he knew it. Ivy had already left then, wandering off to the take thousands of pictures of other animals. Sun Fang really didn’t get why the crocodiles weren’t enough; they were clearly the number one attraction here. Well, them and the tigers. Anyway, this meant that Sun Fang was walking around alone again when he ran into that stall owner from Ivy’s favorite farmers’ market.
The man was clearly with friends, all of them talking and laughing and pointing at the animals intermittently. When the beta saw Sun Fang, he lit up and waved. ”Ivy’s friend!” he called, startling a few of his friends. But they didn’t seem to mind, just watching him go with a pat on the back.
Sun Fang smiled. ”Seller of horrible fruits,” he retorted, ceasing his walking so that the man could catch up with him.
”Poppy Jenkins,” the beta said, holding out his hand. He was grinning, his hair drifting slightly in the wind.
Laughing a little, he responded, ”Sun Fang,” and clasped that hand. He shook it, pulling his hand back as soon as he was able. He wasn’t used to shaking hands; it just wasn’t something his family did. They were so proud of their heritage, and so wealthy, that they could effortlessly bend social norms to their will. Most people would be embarrassed, if they even made the suggestion to shake hands with a person from the infamous Sun Family.
The man scratched his nose and grinned, ”Did you see the tigers? I saw two little babies basking in the sunlight, it was the cutest thing ever. One laid on top of a big one! Just laid on it, here you wanna see, I have pictures?”
Sun Fang nodded, immediately being shown about two dozen pictures of the aforementioned baby tiger. Poppy was right—the baby tiger lying on t he big tiger made such an adorable image that he instantly asked Poppy to send him copies. He would use the best one as a background image on his computer, absolutely. He must be able to see this thing every day, or he might just suffer withdrawal from this sudden and new addiction.
”Have you seen the crocodiles?” Sun Fang asked when they’d finished looking at the pictures, after a solid fifteen minutes. There were a lot of pictures, okay, and they each deserved careful study.
”No, not yet,” Poppy answered, putting away his phone.
Sun Fang grinned. ”Come,” he said. ”I will show you the cutest animals here.” Poppy’s look showed that he severely doubted that.
as a person who loves cats and reptiles, these are my people. I also think crocodiles are cute!
thanks for the chapter <3
Poppy looks friend shaped!
Sun Fang’s thoughts go so fast, how did he get from his ice cream to a definition of home? 😂
Happy Late New Year….
And thanks for the chapter ne ~
Thank you for the chapter 💜