rejam
“They’re all like. Twice as much as you’d pay anywhere else,” he explained in a low voice, making a face as he turned over a tag on a stuffed alligator. “But there’s some kinda - I don’t know. Gift shops ********’ rule,” he said sincerely. “They shouldn’t, since they’re just a money trap baited for kids. But they really do.”
He had actually considered avoiding the gift shop entirely, a little terrified of what he’d do if she asked him for anything. Shoplifting from a zoo gift shop might have been excusable at nineteen, but it would be truly pathetic at thirty. But he had been unable to resist the siren call. There was a bubble machine at the entrance. What was he supposed to do, in the face of that?
He had actually considered avoiding the gift shop entirely, a little terrified of what he’d do if she asked him for anything. Shoplifting from a zoo gift shop might have been excusable at nineteen, but it would be truly pathetic at thirty. But he had been unable to resist the siren call. There was a bubble machine at the entrance. What was he supposed to do, in the face of that?
Kalani nodded, brow furrowed as she leaned closer to hear his murmured explanation. She did not understand why things would cost more or less depending on their physical location, but that was Earth for you - arbitrary rules that everyone else just accepted.
The gift shop - which sounded like a place that should cost nothing, since gifts were meant to be given freely - was one of the more overwhelming aspects of the zoo, Kalani decided. Everything was brightly colored, and there were tiny stuffed cute versions of the very real, very un-stuffed creatures they’d seen, and many they had not. She picked up a creature - it was pink, and looked very much like the creatures called ‘snakes’, except it had four tiny feet attached to its up-and-down swirly body. It had fabric points on it, and large teeth. They had not seen this creature, Kalani was sure, because she would have remembered it. Carefully, she located the tag and squinted at the words, sounding them out in her mind before she tried to speak them aloud.
It was called a dragon. Except Kalani didn’t know how to pronounce that word, so when she looked back at Morgan, it came out like this: “Did we miss seeing the drajons?”
rejam
He reached down to casually flip over the tag as if to do nothing but examine the information on it that was not the price, the results immediately squashing a thought that he might possibly be able to swing a little souvenir for her. Well. If it was the thought that counted, he had certainly had the thought.
“God, I wish,” he said. “They’d be able to charge double for tickets at least. Do you have stories about dragons where you are? I thought dragons were one of those universal things that everyone had but I don’t even know where I got that idea. Dragons are big - like - ******** animals in fake stories, you know? Flying around, breathing fire.” He made a vague movement that might have been meant to recall the motion of flight. It was hard to say, though, since Morgan seemed to frequently be motivated to movement by some mysterious hidden lever, in what might have been called restless fidgeting had it had any air of anxiety about it at all. He dropped his voice, just in case, to add: “They exist other places. Not here, though. More’s the pity. I’d like to see a ********’ dragon.”
“God, I wish,” he said. “They’d be able to charge double for tickets at least. Do you have stories about dragons where you are? I thought dragons were one of those universal things that everyone had but I don’t even know where I got that idea. Dragons are big - like - ******** animals in fake stories, you know? Flying around, breathing fire.” He made a vague movement that might have been meant to recall the motion of flight. It was hard to say, though, since Morgan seemed to frequently be motivated to movement by some mysterious hidden lever, in what might have been called restless fidgeting had it had any air of anxiety about it at all. He dropped his voice, just in case, to add: “They exist other places. Not here, though. More’s the pity. I’d like to see a ********’ dragon.”
Kalani raised her eyebrows, looking back at the plush with no little bit of alarm - would this thing too breathe fire? She had no desire to get any closer to the beast it was based on, real or otherwise, so she put it back down carefully. “I do not think I would like to see a dragon, unless it was a friendly dragon,” Kalani mused, meandering further into the gift shop. Her eyes scanned over everything - candy, small brightly colored badgers, glittery accessories hanging from chains, and so many stuffed creatures. There had to be–
“Ah,” Kalani said, picking up her target with a pleased smile. She quickly made her way to the person who seemed to be in charge of the gift shop - the nice young human who had greeted them upon their entrance. “I do not know how many of this you need,” Kalani said, setting the stuffed animal down, along with a messy handful of the money Soren had given her. The woman laughed and picked up the stuffed animal, did something with what looked like a gun but that only emitted light and made a beeping noise which startled Kalani, and then began straightening out the special paper that meant ‘money’ on Earth. She took a few of them and handed the rest back to Kalani, then put the stuffed animal in a bag and handed it over to her.
“Thank you,” Kalani said, with a bright, beaming smile. Kalani felt a thrill of victory: she had made a purchase! All by herself! She returned to Morgan, nearly skipping, and removed the stuffed animal from the bag. “Here!” Kalani said, holding out the gift to him.
It was technically two stuffed animals - a pair of otters, held together with some strange scratchy material at the paws. “Look! It is like they are holding hands,” Kalani explained unnecessarily, grabbing Morgan’s hand to show, just in case he somehow didn’t get it. “You said this was your favorite thing to do, right?”
rejam
He looked up from being absorbed in the blurb on the back of a book of photography, startled by how much he’d zoned out and by this unexpected bearing of gifts.
“Oh,” he said, for a moment too blindsided to do more than have a distant and somewhat uncharitable thought that he’d rather she have paid for her own ticket. It was fleeting, swallowed up in a much better feeling almost immediately and helped along by her having taken his hand. “Oh,” he repeated, with more enthusiasm. “You didn’t have to do that.” He swung her hand in his, a childish little effusion of energy and goodwill and accepted the toy, although he was almost immediately prying the Velcro apart, which required him - tragically - to drop her hand. “You have to keep one, obviously,” he insisted. “That’s how things like this work.”
“Oh,” he said, for a moment too blindsided to do more than have a distant and somewhat uncharitable thought that he’d rather she have paid for her own ticket. It was fleeting, swallowed up in a much better feeling almost immediately and helped along by her having taken his hand. “Oh,” he repeated, with more enthusiasm. “You didn’t have to do that.” He swung her hand in his, a childish little effusion of energy and goodwill and accepted the toy, although he was almost immediately prying the Velcro apart, which required him - tragically - to drop her hand. “You have to keep one, obviously,” he insisted. “That’s how things like this work.”
Kalani blinked, then beamed. “If it is how things like this work, then I will do so,” she said, hugging her half of the pair to her chest. It was remarkably soft and squishy and snuggly, and Kalani was suddenly quite glad that this was the way things worked on Earth, because while her bed was also comfortable, none of the soft things there had a face. None of the soft things there reminded her of the Earthling standing in front of her, looking baffled but pleased, and that was what made the small stuffed otter creature matter.
“Thank you for today,” Kalani said, voice a little softer, eyes a little warmer. “Really and truly. It–I enjoyed zoo–the zoo–” she corrected herself, with a wry smile, “very much. And I do not think I would have enjoyed it or learned so much without you to show me what to do.” Kalani hugged the otter close again, a substitute for what she wanted to do, which was hug Morgan, but she didn’t know if that was allowed at times other than greetings here on Earth, or at least if it was allowed in a place like a gift shop, where they were watched over with passing disinterest by the Earthling behind the counter.
“Thank you.”
rejam
He gave her a smile of infinite sunshine. “Thank you,” he insisted.
