The Picnic strolling through the park one day

Three days. That was what she had been promised, anyway, after listening to her friend beg and plead with her to care for his sweet, dear little pet while he visited an ailing relative in the next county over. Just three days! Three short days with his dear exotic pet, a kind she’d never even seen in person before, never mind cared for, but he was just so desperate for help and at such short notice, he could not for the life of him find anyone with suitable knowledge and she did care for exotics as her job - he would pay her triple! Triple! How could she ever refuse when his dearest great aunt was ever so ill and his dearest Saffron was in so much need of a lovely companion?

She must have been insane, or perhaps he did something to her. Some sort of hypnosis, maybe, or was he one of those psychics she’d heard about, dropping silly ideas into her head? Suddenly her home was full of feed she’d never seen before, with instructions plastered all over, and her whole garden was littered with toys. Thankfully her fences were already as high as they were allowed to be!

It was still only day one of three, and wrangling Saffron to slip her leash on had been an ordeal. And she was only nine months old! Not a fully-trained animal yet, mischievous and ready for a spar. The garden didn’t seem enough for her, and Ritchie had been adamant that his precious darling needed a walk about the neighbourhood, or maybe to a park! She'd tire of her toys and needed stimulation and socailising! So Marcie had to be a dear and do that for him, too. He promised she was a docile little one!

And so here she was, leash tightly wound around her hand with only just enough length to let the curious wallaroo bounce ahead, walking through the park as far away from people as was humanly possible. She only hoped this would wear Saffron out before she wore Marcie out.

She couldn't bear being trapped in her apartment all day. Lavender had been standoffish lately and Valerie chalked it up to her being way too warm.

It probably wasn't. But she would keep telling herself that.

Going to work on her morning off was tempting, since she had lost so much time. But in the end, her stomach beat her and she decided to head out to find a food truck.

And, hoo boy, find she did. A massive burrito wrapped in shiny foil was held tightly in her hands. She tried to pace herself with little bites. But it was so good.

And now she was out here, in the air, sweating, but less hungry, and trying to forget. Maybe she would run by the store today, grab a new phone...

Woah wait. What the hell was that? A woman was walking a funny looking animal on a leash. Admittedly, she looked like she was trying to keep her distance from people, but just because she had the threat of a scale-y beast over her head, Valerie was still a social butterfly.

Quietly, she walked over, trying to convey some level of interest on her face. Would it freak out if she spoke? Was it a wild animal? Why was it on a leash???

Saffron, being an energetic creature with powerful legs (and tail!), wasn’t entirely satisfied with Marcie’s pace, much more suited to a lazy Sunday afternoon ambling along the edge of a pond with a fat old Yorkshire terrier than to giving a wallaroo any sort of exercise. So the creature strained at her leash, bouncing and stomping impatiently. Marcie, to her credit, did try to speed up a bit so that the animal could get a decent bounce in here and there, so focused on Saffron that she hadn’t noticed the stranger creeping up to get a better look at the spectacle of a woman in heels and a dress half-jogging along with an Australian beast.

Saffron noticed the woman first, and took a strong leap forward to greet her, causing Marcie to topple in her poorly selected footwear, giving an anguished screech to the sky as she swayed and swerved to avoid falling flat on her face. The wallaroo didn’t seem to care much about what was going on behind her, sniffing cautiously at the weird, feverish-looking lady.

Oh. Oh no.

She'd been worried about startling the animal, scaring it, maybe, god forbid, being attacked by it. And instead it seemed excited to meet her! It seemed a lot bigger coming at her and Valerie stopped, taking a hesitant step back, and then forward as the woman walking the animal was pulled off of her feet. But there was a thing between them, so she could only really watch it happen.

The chance of her even being able to support the physical weight of another human right now seemed unlikely. Plus...This burrito, though.

"Oh, fuck, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize it liked people. I--" Valerie had to close her eyes for a second as a wave of nausea hit her. And then flattened out. Hunger rolled back in.

Marcie was trying her very, very best to be good and not yell at people over the most minor of minor inconveniences, but the stress of looking after an unfamiliar animal that required a lot more exercise than her owner cared to mention on top of the humiliation of toppling on a journey through the park on top of ‘didn’t realise it liked people’ just sent her over the edge. She didn’t even notice the peaky-looking stranger closing her eyes in discomfort of some sort.

"Didn’t realise it liked people?!" she started, dragging herself to her feet and pushing her hair out of her face. "What; you were hoping it was going to run off in the other direction? You thought you’d pick a fight with her or something? What is wrong with you?! Oh…!"

Now that her attention was fixed on the unfortunate lady, she did see it. That sort of universal pallid look of ‘I don’t feel all that great’. "Oh. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean that… are you okay?"

The reaction was justified. Valerie was flustered to begin with and, honestly, she didn't think she'd been close enough to get that kind of a reaction from the animal. It was thoughtless. But she hadn't thought the animal was dangerous. Why would she be walking her through a public park? But anyway. She had freed one hand from her burrito to place the back of it against her mouth for a moment. And then she gave it a little wave.

"Oh, I'm fine. I think this, erm--" She pulled the foil wrapping up and over the remainder of her burrito so she didn't flap it everywhere. "I'm sorry. It was really thoughtless of me to just walk up. Curiosity killed the me."

It was pretty thoughtless to practically ambush an exotic animal, tame or not. But with her accidental assailant's sickly appearance, Marcie felt her anger dissipating, and she gave a sigh as she reined the wallaroo in a bit. Was it wise to let the lady closer? She did look awfully unwell, and she really didn't want to have to try to bathe Saffron if anything... came up

"She's a wallaroo," she muttered, reaching down to scritch between the marsupial's ears, showing her that, while bouncy and excitable, the creature was really quite docile. "A rescue from a family who thought they were somehow getting a mini kangaroo. Naturally when she just got bigger and bigger... she started wrecking the apartment. And so now she belongs to a friend of mine." There. Curiosity satisfied, both on the stranger's end and on the wallaroo's. Hopefully that was the end of the shenanigans.

Valerie resisted the urge to bend at the waist to get a closer look at the animal--Wallaroo. She'd already pushed her limits. But she did look down as the stranger pet her. How sweet.

"It's weird how people want to keep wild animals as pets. Why would you even want to keep a mini-kangaroo in your apartment?" Her apartment was tiny. Sometimes she worried Lavender didn't have enough space. This thing would destroy her apartment. And be incredibly cute doing it. She was fine with her cat, thanks.

Why would anyone want to keep a wild animal in their apartment? A lot of people so admired the beauty of nature and dreamed of owning that beauty for themselves. Some people bought fur coats and hats and stoles. Some people took deep interest in wildlife photography. And then there were those who trapped wild animals to breed them as pets, dangerous and untamed beasts that could, if they so wanted, kill you if you looked at them in a manner that did not please them. Marcie understood the allure, of course. The thrill of being able to own such a spectacular animal, as a status symbol, or simply because they seemed so fun from a distance!

People often didn't realise that these creatures should be kept at a distance. They would always be somewhat wild.

"In Saffie's case, it was a rather spoiled child getting their fascinations indulged," she sighed, rubbing one of the wallaroo's long ears. Saffron leaned into the touch, eyes closed in bliss. "I think they thought that, since she came from a line of pet wallaroos, she wouldn't be as wild, and would be more trainable. And the unscrupulous breeder told them she was a teacup kangaroo, and she wouldn't grow very big as long as they kept her in a tiny cage."

Valerie crossed her arms, trying to hide the burrito a bit. She felt strange just holding the half-eaten burrito. But she listened intently. This was not her area of expertise, and she had barely visited the zoo she lived so close to. Like most kids, though, she used to wish she could have a pet tiger or a pet penguin or whatever. Neither of those would make good pets.

The back of her hand slipped from under her arm and she placed it against her mouth to pathetically stifle a laugh. "A teacup kangaroo?" She looked down at the very-not-teacup animal. "And a tiny cage. God, people are insane." Teacup kangaroos in tiny cages. Giant alligators deciding it was cool to eat people. Women who couldn't just keep that news to themselves...Crazy people.

People absolutely were insane. Are insane. Continue to be insane. And quite awful, some of them. Trying to make a quick buck off of abused and tortured animals, lying to people who, in their ignorance, perpetuated the abuse of the animal sold to them as being small forever. How many times had people been surprised by pet crocodiles or alligators outgrowing their expected size? How many stories were there of "teacup pigs" being sold to unsuspecting families who wound up with full-sized adult pigs in their homes? Even relatively common snakes got this treatment, with people keeping them in Tupperware to try to stunt their growth. It was enough to make the blood boil.

But Marcie, simply brushed her hair out of her face and gave a sniff of disgust over the beasts who preyed on animals and vulnerable people, watching Saffron curiously sniff out the hidden burrito the other was holding. "I don't much blame the family, although a quick Google search would have told them enough," she bubbled, fury under her saccharine tone. "The breeder, though. I hope he gets what's coming to him."

Maybe she'd do some research into it when she got home. In between googling weird shifter things. Did they have blogs? Were any of them that bold? The internet could give you a certain level of anonymity. Maybe if she couldn't find one, she'd start one. Beginning to...eventual end. Could be a bad idea though.

"We have so much knowledge in the palm of our hands and choose not to use it." Valerie said, idly, watching Saffron sniff.

"What does she eat? Not burritos, I'm sure." She still had her eyes down, half talking to the wallaroo, eyebrows raised.

Ugh, so true. People had the world at their fingertips and used that power to spread fake news on Facebook. The tragicomedy that was life, she supposed.

Not that she verbalised any of this, lest she be called out for her melodrama. Again.

Happy with the shift in subject, she gave Saffron a gentle pull back and scratched behind one of her long ears. "Oh, well, they're herbivorous, so she loves to graze on grasses and shrubs, but she also gets specialist feed. Imported; her owner is awfully particular." And yet the wallaroo's favourite food was anything green and leafy she could steal from Marcie. And still she seemed interested in a burrito she wouldn't even eat, straining at the lead some more.

This probably could have been something she'd learn from Animal Planet if they actually talked about animals anymore. Imported feed and herbivores and wallaroos.

"I bet she loves it out here. Plenty of stuff for her to eat. We're just walking on it." It was fairly nice grass though. They really liked their parks around here. Valerie withdrew her hand slowly, trying not to startle her. "If you're going to own a, uh, walleroo, might as well feed her the best."

Valerie thought idly about a container of stale, rock-like rice in her fridge at home. Imported.

Marcie was actually starting to enjoy this conversation with a stranger. Who would have known that walking an unusual animal with a penchant for mischief would lead to flexing her knowledge in a most educational fashion? It gave her a (probably undeserved) sense of pride. Here she was on an off day still able to spread awareness about the plight of exotic pets. And to such a receptive student!

"Oh yes; one must certainly be prepared to more or less spoil a pet like this," she agreed, managing to tame the savage Saffron into holding still for a minute. "People don't seem to realise that exotics need a lot of devotion. Ah, but where are my manners? I'm Marcie, and this hellraiser is Saffron." She was sure she'd already introduced the wallaroo but it bore repeating.

"I'd imagine. I have a kitten and she's a handful on her own." Poor Lavender. Was was Valerie even going to do with her? Return her to her original finder, she supposed. But, that was a worry for later. Well, she was worrying about it now. But it was something to handle later.

"And very spoiled." She'd never be able to handle an exotic pet. "I'm Valerie. Are you from around here?" If people trusted her with their expensive pets, maybe she was a local. Finally.

A kitten! Well, any baby animal was certainly going to be a handful and a half, but it was good that this girl - Valerie, she knew now - recognised that. She showed many signs of a responsible cat owner for sure! And it usually took a lot to impress Marcie, so points to Valerie!

"Well, I live in Hawknell," she said, which sort of confirmed that yes, she was a local! A transplant, perhaps, but a local nonetheless! "I don't usually venture much further, but this place seemed a good spot to take fussy little miss Saffie for a bounce. She needs a lot of space and new experiences as a growing wallaroo, after all." She would definitely need to get used to all sorts of new sights and smells, even if she wasn't ever really going to be tame, as such.

"I live in Hawknell, too!" Valerie grinned. Not that Hawknell was a small neighborhood, but, still. It was nice to have something in common. Kitten, Wallaroo. Hawknell, Hawknell. Valerie didn't really consider herself "local" yet, but, well, all things considered, maybe soon. Or maybe she'd just go hide in the woods forever. Hm.

From where the burrito was hidden behind her armpit, she wiggled it. "Like burritos and inconsiderate strangers." Valerie chuckled unfortunately.

Oh, another Hawknell resident! What were the odds? She wouldn't have expected it to be super high. But definitely not improbable. Not some reality defying miracle, but mildly interesting all the same, and she reacted accordingly with a little 'ahh!' noise and a wider, more friendly smile. Her posture even relaxed ever so slightly! And as a bonus, she'd rather got over that moody introduction from moments ago. See, she could be nice!

"Well, yes; she really needs to get used to surprises more than anything. Her owner expects to be able to take her on walks about town so. I suppose people are going to have to get used to seeing this one around here a lot more." But not with Marcie! She really hoped her friend wasn't going to take longer than a few more days to take her back...

"I'm sure she'll get plenty of surprises." This city was crawling with them.

Her eyes fell to the wallaroo and wondered for a moment if she smelled different -- Valerie, not the animal. Probably not. It was just the burrito. "I hope to see her around more then, or maybe you'll be walking something different next time." Valerie tittered, making a more serious mental note not to run at strange animals anymore. "But, I won't keep you any longer. I'm not a surprise anymore." And she very much wanted to finish her burrito.

It seemed a good point at which to separate from the stranger for sure. No doubt Saffie would get ornery if they hung around in the same spot for too long, and she was probably due a feed fairly soon, so she would have to bid farewell to her maybe-neighbour and be on their way. But first. "It was charming to talk with you," she said politely and a little strangely, a curtsy hinted at in the tip of her hips but not followed through. "But you know, if you ever need help with an animal, I actually run an exotics kennel." It some some juggling of the leash and her other effects, but she managed to find a little post-it note to write her name and number on. Might as well get the word out! "But I'm sure I could find safe accommodation for your kitten if you ever planned on taking a vacation or such like."

Valerie took the post-it and gave it a once over before she tucked it next to her burrito. An exotics kennel. She wondered how Lavender would feel around a bunch of Wallaroos. Poor thing. It felt so unfair. Her smile faltered for a moment, before she looked back up and it slid back on. "Thank you! I really appreciate it. I'd been thinking of taking a little trip soon, actually."

"But it was nice to meet you and Saffron." Valerie gave the smallest of waves before taking a few bouncy steps back and then turning away, shamefully getting back to her burrito.