Lions and Tigers and Bears. Oh my! (Jami and Liet)

[saveadrum]

Reggie was bored. And by bored, hea meant bored. Allie was off doing her hero thing on some project with the Belorussian boy (where the hell was Belarus, anyways?), Elek and Willem were nowhere to be found, and no one had texted him for any bud. He and Toris were the only two people in the room and his fellow sidekick was being pretty quiet, as per usual.

He was at a loss for what to do to cure his boredom. He could go to the library, maybe. Bu that didn't appeal to him right now and he didn't really have any work to do. He didn't particularly like to fight, so the combat dojo was out. Where else was there? Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. He hadn't gone to the zoo yet! In all his years here, he'd never gone to the nearby zoo. Mostly because he was content to stay on campus with his friends and his plants, but it couldn't hurt to go and try.

So he got up off his bed and headed for the door. He had just reached for the handle when he paused. Maybe he should ask Toris? He was probably just as bored as he was and it would be kind of nice to get to know his roommate better. After all, they would be living together for the rest of the year. So he put on his most welcoming island hospitality smile and turned to the Lithuanian boy.

"Hey Toris. You want to go t the zoo with me, man?"

[stomachpains]

The room was... quiet; yes, perhaps that was the best word to describe it. His German-speaking friend, Elek, had left the room for a spell, the taller man, Willem, had gone out too... Perhaps as heroes they were doing something; Toris wouldn't know, being a side kick and all... Regardless, it had left Toris alone with Reggie who, much to Toris' shock, was a rather silent individual when many people weren't around... or at least it seemed such at the moment.

Toris was, actually, rather grateful of the little while of silence that the room had, that time to himself. He didn't have any school, having finished it already, so he was free to do as he wished. The horribly difficult decision between reading a familiar book or studying his English... The decision was clear that he should study his English. The grammar was the worst, the pronunciations were odd, and the letters just threw him off... especially the letter "see", or "tsay" in his own language... It made such weird sounds in the English language, it was always changing! Why couldn't it make up its mind and stay one way...

Toris had just begun doing one of the practice exercises in his English workbook, translating sentences from Russian into English, hating the Cyrillic text on the page. The sentence said "The girl walks store" No, no that wasn't it, there was supposed to be a transition word in there... "The girl walks TO store." Still not right though... Right when Toris was about to fix his mistake one last time, Regi's voice called into the room. Toris' head perked up quickly, blinking twice in confusion.

"Ze... zoo?" Toris repeated, wracking his brain for the translation... Zoologijos sodas? Toris smiled and nodded once, affirmatively, to Regi. "T-Taip! Yes, sounds berries~"[/color] Toris closed his books and fumbled to his feet, walking over to Regi's side. He was a kind man, hopefully they could get along... "I did not know ve 'ad, eh, zoo here!"

[saveadrum]

And once again, there goes the Engrish. Poor kid was horrible at it, but he wasn't going to hold that against him. He had a horrendous accent himself, after all. So he just nodded and waved him over. "Yeah, it's not too far, mon. I've never been dere, but people tell me it's fun." He told him, still giving that warm smile to try and help make him feel more at ease. He'd noticed here lately that the kid was rather skittish.

Opening the door he went through, leaving it open for his companion and heading out of the dormatories and onto the main campus. They only had a bit to go, but it was hot (Florida at the beginning of the school year, afterall) and rather muggy. "So, Toris, what are your powers? I don't think i asked." He asked, slowly and clearly so the boy would have an easier time understanding. He even tried copying an American accent to make it easier.

He turned down the street heading towards the zoo, wiping a bit of sweat from his forehead. He liked this weather, it reminded him alot of home. Blue skies, sunshine, waves, and sand. It was almost as good as if he'd never left. The restaurant around the campus could never compete with his Mama's jerked chicken, of course. But it was close enough to stave off the homesickness

[stomachpains]

Toris was thrilled. It showed clearly in his eyes, though his face seemed to have a simply pleasant demeanor. It was so much that he was hiding his enthusiasm, he was just a calm person in that respect. He didn't get over emotional about things, unless he was worried or frightened, but anyone who knew him well enough could read his emotions like a picture book just through his eyes. Perhaps that's why Toris didn't meet people's eyes very often when he spoke-- he was afraid that people would be able to see right through him.

"A-ah... Vell... dėkui... er, thank you~ For, eh, inviting me to be coming along!" Toris said, a large smile coming to his face, his eyes closing pleasantly, his head turning to Regi before looking forward again, eyes fixed downward again. He was a little bit shy, but in this case more embarrassed of his inability to speak properly. He knew that his English was terrible; in his own defense, it was the, what?, sixth language he was learning... But he loved the English language... it was so interesting, how it adopted words from all different languages. He could recognize the French inspiration in some words, and the Germanic rooted words; it was so curious... And there were so many different accents...

Take Regi's for example... Toris loved it. He wouldn't say anything, not immediately, just admire it from afar, but it had a certain... charm to it. It was so unique, unlike any accent he had before; it was musical, smokey, but clear in its own way... But the next time Regi spoke, he changed his accent. Or maybe it was in Toris' mind? Odd.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, ze powers..." Toris paused a moment, looking up to the sun, letting the sun shine on his face for a moment, appreciating the warmth and letting the memories of rye fields come to his mind, the memories of that day when he discovered this amazing factor of his life... "I can summon zings... ser-eh, serpents specifically..."[/color] Toris smiled over this, considering himself blessed for this ability. Of all things, snakes... how lucky could he be! "I 'lso have ze, eh, heal power? Eh, make ozers not, eh, in pain an' suchch."[/color] Toris paused a moment, lightly gripping his stomach. "An, eh, vhat of you power?"

Toris walked along beside Regi, a little bit behind him to be able to follow where he was going. Then, a bit in the distance, Toris noticed a sign. "zee oh oh" Toris read in his mind, "zoo". There was another word on the sign, probably the name of the zoo, but he couldn't read that from the angle he stood. A smile grew on his face, his step lighter, his eyes shining. "I-Is zat it, up zere?"[/color]

[saveadrum]

"That's a cool power. It's kind of weird that you're a sidekick if you can do something like that. That would be damned useful in a fight." He told him with a shrug. It wasn't that hard to understand what he was saying, so he didn't see what the kid was so shy about. He'd just have to practice more. He was about to tell him so when he was asked about his own powers and lit up like the lights on a Christmas tree. He forgot that he was even trying to imitate an American accent as he launched into his answer.

"Oh I be a chlorokinetic, mon. I be controllin de plants hereabouts. Like de trees. I like de trees here, dey remind me of de palms back in Jamaica. Plants be just like people, mon. Dey can tell when ye be wanting ta hurt 'em and when you be wanted to help 'em. Dey just can't do nothin bout it like we can. So I help dem, yeah? If dey be scared of some logger, I kin help dem drive 'em out, yeah?"

It was obvious he was passionate about this, it really showed. his eyes lit up and he couldn't help but grin. One day he was going to go around saving the forests and other plant species. If humans had all these superheros, why shouldn't plants? It was only fair. And besides, there were probably even super heros looking out for animals. He was just doing his civic duty.

He was interrupted in this train of thought when Toris pointed towards the zoo and asked if that was it. "Yeah, mon, dat be de zoo. Maybe we can stop be de snakes and you kin say hello, yeah?"