Your OC and the OC Above Go To The Zoo/Aquarium!

This is such a cool thread idea! I'll take the freeb :>! Bai likes most animals, so feel free to go crazy with this, will try to write a response later once I'm home 

V AA I love this so much!! They just vibing

Baisol

Admission for a ticket just to see fish was starting to get ridiculously high. Purchasing Bai's ticket was their good deed for today, but then again, the worry of not having money was well below the Legion. It wanted to see the exhibits just like everyone else, and therefore it was no exception to the rules. The mass condensed itself into a suitable form to walk alongside Bai, with a grin unmatched as it followed the anthropomorphized coral like her shadow.

Funny stares from other admissions brushed among to such drastically different beings, with sheer size differences. The collective was oddly enjoying itself as it stared behind the confine of glass that separated itself from enslaved marine life. It briefly recalled Bai mentioning that she was the result of parasitic coral, and it was intrigued. It was curious to find some answers while it was here, but until then, it was here to see the funni feesh.

With Bai assumingly glaring into some of the larger exhibits, a considerably large shoal of fish swarmed in a section of the tank, drawing Legion's attention to it. It tapped Bai's shoulder to draw her gaze. "Ah, little one, we did not expect a small aquarium like this to have species that are capable of schooling. The way they swim in unison. Did you know that certain individuals in a school have their preferred spots when they combine? Some are more drawn to be leaders. Followers. But, we believe you are familiar with aquatic life, considering your composition. It is something we felt compelled to share."

Perhaps the nature of the schooling is what lulled the collective into such a behavior. It was a natural feeling as it phased its own being through the glass to school itself. Bai was met with a rather large schooling of Legion as a result.

I don't think the admission for the aquarium allowed visitors to get in the tank..

{Two polymorphic entities in a zoo be like.}

The Zoo? To others, a self contained park that showcases protected animals for the lazy minded simpletons to gawk at their non whimsical existance. 

For Tenebris, it is simply a waste of his time. He'd rather cause widespread misery, death and fraughtful carnage. Not attend some... tourist attraction.

Though he might share some of his discomforts with a fellow patron in the art of collective intelligence, Legion.

After passing through the admission, the pair venture forth into the wildlife park. Though, he was feeling a bit sympathetic towards all the animals on display, as they pass.

"Its a shame that these humans are on the wrong side of the fence with these creatures. Humbly contained out of their free will. It is the humans who should be controlled... don't you agree comrade?" He asked Legion.

(this is the modern version of Lucius btw) 

     "Oh hi there!" Lucius looked up at the dark lord, standing several feet above him. "You look.... important. You're not one of those schmucks from management are you?" He grumbled something unpleasant about authority figures before smiling and sticking out his paw politely. "Well, let me give you the spiel. Welcome to the Human Rehabilitation Center, or HRC for short. Normal folks call this the Brookside zoo. Here we keep cursed humans until we can find a way to turn them back." Motioning for Tenebris to follow him, the cat led him through the crowds, past gaudy souvenir stands selling the finest African relics China could produce. Despite their strange appearances nobody seemed to notice them. 

     "As I said, nearly all of our "residents" used to be human." He gestured over towards a glass enclosure where a pair of tigers snoozed lazily in the sun. "But as you know humans are idiots, and love messing with things they're not supposed to. Breaking into temples, touching cursed artifacts, not knowing how to read...  and I swear they treat pissing off spirits like a sport. Henceforth this place was an unfortunate necessity, as I'm sure you'll agree..." the cat's voice trailed off as he picked up his clipboard, flipping through it with increasing concern.  

      "Wait, I didn't have any tours scheduled today." He glanced back up at Tenebris, then back at his clipboard. "Uhh, that's weird. With the outfit I assumed..." he muttered under his breath before turning back to the dark lord. "Uh.... who did you say you were again?" 

v     Lucius gazed through the glass, watching the fish swim around him. It was slightly discomforting being surrounded by all that water, and Lucius found himself feeling uneasy despite the serenity of the sparkling blue liquid surrounding him. Sure, he was immortal and could dry himself off in seconds if he ever got wet. But even after all these years he had an intense disliking for water. It was instinctual, he supposed. Came with the body. If those shimmering glass walls caved in he would be very, very uncomfortable. For some reason that frightened him more than death. 

       Aquariums are marvelous things. He thought to himself. The power of the ocean itself held back by a mere few inches of glass. He'd taken it for granted as a human, but several thousand years of life had made him appreciate the true scope of these structures. Before such a view would have been unthinkable, even for a cat demigod. Now he could enjoy the beauty of nature without getting wet. And the best part was, there were no crowds to bother him! Thanks to his teleportation abilities he could sneak in whenever he wanted. Now he could enjoy the aquarium in complete peace and qui-  

       Just as he finished that thought the squeak-squeak-squeaking of a wagon caught his attention. He ears flicked down the tunnel, moments before his head turned to see a man walking down the tunnel towards him. The man was dressed in a standard employee uniform, dragging a wagon full of what appeared to be fresh fish. His nose confirmed what his eyes hypothesized, as the mouth-watering scent of not-quite decayed meat wafted into his nostrils. 

     Crap, busted! Lucius thought to himself. Looks like his revelry was about to come to an end. Animals weren't appreciated here, let alone cats. Everyone keeps thinking he wants to eat the exhibits. As if, he'd rather starve than risk getting wet. He was about to teleport out of there when the employee called out an exclamation in a pitch Lucius didn't know humans could make. 

       "Ooh, kitty cat!"  Escape out of the question, Lucius merely watched as the employee scampered up to him, crouching down so that the two looked eye to eye. Lucius felt a sense of unease looking into the man's eyes. He certainly wasn't everything he made himself out to be. Behind his expression of bewilderment were the cold blooded eyes of a killer. Even if the man hadn't hurt a fly yet. To his surprise, however, the man simply sat down next to him, watching the fish swim by. "Nice fish, huh?" 

         Lucius didn't respond, mostly because he wasn't quite sure what to say. Suddenly a seal swam up to them, pressing its nose against the glass. Lucius briefly jumped back in surprise. Normally sea life never got this close to him, showing the same attitude of wary avoidance that the humans did around cats. This keeper must be really fond with his charges. The keeper said something else, but Lucius was focused on the seal as she bumped her nose against the glass before swimming off and swimming circles around them. It was pretty incredible, like something out of a movie. If it hadn't just happened Lucius would have never believed it. He turned back towards the keeper who was now digging through his wagon. Every time he did a new scent hit Lucius's nose, each more tantalizing than the last. Now that he thought about it, he WAS hungry. Being immortal doesn't mean you never want food. Sure enough, the man asked him if he wanted anything. 

           Lucius was surprised. Normally the first thing people asked when they met him were fun ice-breakers like "How did you get in here?" and "Hey, don't you know animals aren't allowed?" He padded over to the wagon, glancing down at the fresh fare inside. There were so many options he wasn't sure what to try. Or what he was even allowed to try. He reached down and pulled out a piece of salmon. He's never tried that before, so why not? Despite the keeper's condescending attitude, (which he has to deal with a lot) Lucius figures it's not worth revealing his ability to talk. He simply points at it, hoping the keeper will understand what he wants. 

(Read in Lucius' profile that he appears like a normal cat to humans, so i tried to do something with that-- using modern Lucius for this. Also, this is past Junior during the times when he was a zookeeper instead of a Division Agent... probably stretching the objective of the forum game but lol)

Jackie had just clocked in half an hour ago, and was preparing to work maintenance on the aquariums. Barely any visitors inside, it's still a bit early in the morning anyways; most kids are still in school at this hour and adults are working. Nice and quiet.

Dragging a little wagon behind him, two sections of the wagon were filled with empty beakers on one side, and wrapped meats and vegetables on the other, Jackie began his journey across the aquarium tunnel to navigate to the smaller tanks. Collecting water samples for the weekly quality checks and feeding some of the larger aquatic creatures, that's all. Walking down the tunnel was the best start to his morning. Such a mesmerizing display. He could pass by the bigger fish, some of them he could identify by their name. Too bad he couldn't just take his time walking along the length of the tunnel like the sparsely distributed visitors were.

A glimpse of a grey-colored blob of fur, shimmering a blue-ish color under the blue of the aquarium tunnel caught Jackie's attention. Is that a... "Oh! Kitty cat!" He gasped, carefully stepping to the immortal (although he doesn't know that) feline. He crouched down to level with Lucius, puzzling together that the latter was watching the fish under the tunnel. "How'd you even get in here?" He asked. Normally, the other employees would escort wandering animals out of the zoo, but it seemed like this one has slipped past security. A curious encounter, for sure. Now the zookeeper had an excuse to sit back and watch fish. To watch fish with a cat, better yet, in the tunnel. Truly wondrous.

"Nice fish, huh?" Jackie asked the cat, not knowing whether or not Lucius could even understand him. "Oh, here comes Moon!" He points towards a seal, swimming up to the two of them. "Hi, Moon. See, kitty, this is Moon. She's a ringed seal. She's very curious; pretty sure she's never seen a cat before." The zookeeper explains, as the seal swoops down as close as she can get to Lucius, as if inspecting the feline. She bumps her nose against the glass, pulling back before swimming around in circles in front of them. Jackie chuckles under his breath, "That's what she does when she's happy. I think she approves of you."

Moon takes one last glance at Lucius and Jackie, before swimming away, in the opposite direction of where Jackie was originally headed. "And there she goes." Jackie's head follows Moon's path, looking down back at Lucius once the ringed seal was out of view. "That was nice. Say, are you hungry or something? You come in here because you wanted food?" The zookeeper pulls his wagon closer to himself, filing through the various meals prepared for the other animals. "Well, I have... zebra meat for the alligators... fish for the polar bears... it's a lot of fish, actually..."

@np, I don't mind if you use Junior's zookeeper era or his Division Agent era. If you want, you can choose any character in this tag instead.

v PEAK OC INTERACTION

    With Junior's agent gear, Zack's scars, and their combined scowls, neither men looked like the types to come to an aquarium on their free time. They had a sinister air about them, as if there was a big fight brewing that caused them to come here. It was the reason most of the visitors avoided them like the plague. But despite all the looks, they came here, "buy one ticket get one free" coupon in hand, and had spent most of the day observing every single fish available.

     Zack liked mammals more, but fish had potential to be cute. What better guide for that than Junior? The agent was incredibly knowledgable about marine life, something the vampire appreciated. Despite his natural, deep frown, he listened to everything Junior said about the fishes, what they could do, his experiences with him. It was all fascinating, and he was glad that of all the people he could have used his coupon on, it was him.

     "Here." Zack handed Junior a paper tray of small fish then pointed at the dolphins. "You can feed them. My treat. Thanks for joining me today." He would, of course, get pictures for his blog.

ramyune pinging since it's been over a month hope you dont mind ;; also sorry if i got carried away BAHHAH

Lenka's eyes light up the moment she steps into the aquarium, taking in the sight. The blue light from the tanks surrounds her, filling her with joy she's never quite felt before. She had read all about places like these, as well as all the creatures her eyes could spot, yet to see them up close was something she could only ever dream of. Having run away from the facility, perhaps coming to a place like this was not the best idea, yet in that brief moment of joy she seems to have forgotten all about it. She runs up to one of the large tanks, hardly containing her laughter as she puts her face right against the glass.

"Wow...!" she smiles as she watches all the different school of fish swim past her, her eyes almost sparkling from excitement. "Clownfish, butterflyfish, dottybacks, and... and- ehh?!" Lenka's eyes widen at the strange sight her eyes fall upon as they trace the contents of the tank. It's... A woman. Inside the tank.

Lenka had never read or heard of any fish like this before. Then again, the books allowed in the facility weren't quite up to date... Lenka shakes her head. That's just crazy, there's no way. And yet, Dal was swimming with the fishes surrounding her so casually, as if she were one of them. Lenka looks around the aquarium, yet no one else seems to bat an eye. She seems to think to herself for a moment, before leaning in close to the glass once again.

"Are you... a mermaid?" She whispers, hesitating slightly. "No, no... Mermaids aren't real. You..." Lenka pauses. She takes a look around the aquarium once again, making sure no one's around to see, before pulling up the sleeve of her jacket and revealing what seems to be a trail of iridescent scales sticking out of her skin. "You must be like me...!"

She quickly pulls her sleeve back down, nervously looking around again. She wasn't sure if the woman in the tank could hear her, or even understand her at all, yet she continued to speak to her like she could. "Uhhm... I'm not supposed to show that to anyone... I'm not supposed to be here at all, actually. You won't tell anyone, will you..?" She chuckles nervously.

v AWWH THAT'S SO CUTE 😭🫶 lenka finally gets to infodump....

Frankly, 6s was surprised to receive a “you won!” e-mail that wasn’t a scam. She had dropped her contact info in one of those small boxes at a restaurant simply as a joke, not thinking she would win. Well, him and one other person had been the only ones to enter, and the restaurant would’ve felt bad giving both of their tickets to one singular person. 

So, here 6s sat, next to a complete stranger on the bus, who coincidentally happened to be the person who won the other ticket. 6s intently listened to Lenka’s infodump about the various sea creatures they might see at the aquarium— nodding along, and asking questions of their own. 

Thirty or so minutes later, they had gotten off the bus and were now inside the aquarium. 6s had heard about this place: a brand new exhibit, and one that wasn’t simply just a “influencer photo-op” as he deemed. The object mostly kept quiet; mostly to take in the scenery, but also to fully listen to the facts being shared to him by Lenka. Not even 6s knew that much about any topic, really, and she admired Lenka’s sheer knowledge. 

As the day passed on, it felt only like minutes. The two shared a lunch together, with 6s having brought a sandwich for both of them to eat. As the sun began to set, the two stepped onto the bus once more.

“Thanks again for today,” 6s began, “I enjoyed your presence.” As he stepped off his stop, he turned to face Lenka one last time. “Take care.”

—

np: please ping!! 

vv AWWW 😭😭😭

cohost

An Aquarium wasn't a place the overlord would frequent, no not at all actually. She really didn’t like going out in public unless it was for formal business or if she wasn’t going somewhere so .. public. Though she’d make an exception since she did have a fellow AI with her, a familiar one nonetheless! She had been meaning to get in touch with some other robots that weren’t always by her side, even if it meant going out in public.

“..Y’know, as much as I don’t favor organics much, I must admit the ones that live underwater are quite fascinating.” She’d murmur, staring at the glass between the two bots and the fish before glancing down at 6S. “I am quite curious if you have a .. favorite one of these creatures .” She would say, proposing an answer from the other AI. She’d lean down slightly to attempt to look less threatening, though it could be argued it just made her more off putting. 

“I don’t have much specifics on which ones I prefer, but I know my wife is very fond of .. What are they again .. Octopi?” She’d ask aloud, furrowing her digital brow before looking back down at 6S and then back at the sea critters, which seemed so .. oblivious, so in their own world. She wouldn’t admit it but it picked at her motherboard, if only she could be that oblivious, floating around without a care in the world. Though, now wasn’t the time for an inner crisis, afterall she did have company. 

She’d clasp her hands together as her tail would twitch slightly, her expression seeming as if she was plotting almost . “..Y’know between you and me, I’m not sure if we’re both waterproof.” She’d start. “..And I don’t trust that glass, I’d advise we move further down, not just to get away from the glass but I’m sure there’s other sights to see.” She’d offer, attempting to give an opening in case 6s wanted to stay a bit longer. Though she hoped he wouldn’t wanna stay too long, the slight anxiousness of the glass suddenly combusting was lurking in the back of her motherboard and admittedly she did want to stop by the gift shop and see if they had any octopus things , y’know, for the wife. 

          This was unlike the doctor's menagerie. This was also not a regular visit. She had only learned of machines through the interdimensional Hell that was the forum games section, but though they were not so uncommon, they were... typically not as curt as PAL. She could respect that, on some level, though she thought of it as silly to put anything on humanity, as varied as it was. Sapience was an evil thing all around. She didn't have much faith in her companion. It was hard to trust the person who overthrew humans, after all.

         Which was super overdramatic to ramble on about when they were just hanging out at a penguinarium, but I digress.

         There weren't any hawks, of course, but surely these floundering little rascals were good enough. A crowd of Humboldt penguins waddled about aimlessly, some of them squabbling over a half-eaten fish left out by their keepers. Some slipped into the water, and were able to be seen more clearly swimming at the bottom of the other side. One nudged a big red ball sadly. This is stimulating. This massages the brain.

         Maribelle's brain? Super massaged. Whether it was the same for PAL, she could not tell -- the robot wore a bit of a poker face around her, but really Maribelle didn't pay it much mind. Though her mind was often foggy, she was more certain today than most others, in spite of that lingering, nagging, clawing paranoia always at the back of her mind. She knew were her misericorde was on her. Hidden on her hip beneath the stinking black cloak she wore. Not a good weapon for self-defense, but a weapon nevertheless.

         "They're not very hygienic birds." Maribelle spoke slowly to the robot beside her. She watched the penguins flop around. Cogs in the machine. Mere attractions.

         Maybe there should be a penguin uprising.

         "They build their nests in excrement, like that cormorants and gulls, and sometimes seals, or their own, I think. It keeps their eggs safe and their body temperature consistent." And in spite of all of this, she did not seem disgusted. It was just a fact about nature. Puffins were her favorite seabird, if she were held at gunpoint to pick one, but penguins were nearly as precious.

         "Their courtship rituals. They're also stupid." Stupid in the most affectionate way stated in a flat affect. For just a moment, she thought that PAL's marriage would be more interesting if she and her wife got together by making donkey noises and looking at each other just a few times. Just some cute date ideas.

         "If you want, they have a library in the main building." she then said, "I need. To think more about them. The penguins."

@ NP: maribelle can go to a zoo just for a visit or if you want, she's the [temporary] assistant of the proprietor of a menagerie. the menagerie is only for rich people but your oc can totally sneak in if they don't want to engage in capitalism just to look at animals stuck in tiny depressing ass 1800s traveling circus esque cages.

alternatively, if this is a regular zoo/aquarium/etc visit. go crazy. she loves everything that isn't mammals except for like dolphins and platypuses.

"Disappointing. They have quite a rich history. What animal would you not find boring to draw?"

His boss also owns a menagerie lmfao. It's all dangerous chimeras in there and he hates being around them for reasons ♡ if you want full dark he could be taking you there as prisoner instead of guest. Or just give him a nice little day at the zoo/aquarium buy him a balloon or something :) no need to match my length
(Or pls feel free to grab anyone else you want!)