Timeline: Current.
Clarice: Clarice held onto Wilbur's leash tightly as they wandered through the petting zoo, she and her roomie had been given a tour by a volunteer before being left to thier own devices before deciding if they wanted to donate the pig, "Well ... what do you think Mel?"
Melati: "I don't know," Melati said to that, trudging along by Clarice's side as they wandered through the zoo. "Don't you think they were a little too eager to accept Wilbur? For all we know, they'll feed him to their tigers as soon as we're out of here."
Clarice: Clarice gave Mel a look of pure horror, "You don't really think that, do you?" She squeaked, picking up Wilbur to cuddle him.
Melati: After giving her roommate a look and sighing inwardly, she shook her head. "Nah, probably not," Melati replied. "Wouldn't be popular with their visitors, would it? So, I doubt they feed live food to their animals. Well, except for mice. You're shit outta luck when you're a mouse."
Clarice: "Oh ... okay," Clarice let Wilbur wiggle free and he went back to sniffing everything, "I think he really likes it here, the other piggies don't seem to mind him that much, do they?"
Melati: "If the excited squeaking by the little ones was any indication, I'd say so." Melati gave Clarice a smirk. "There's no denying that he'd have porky playmates here. That's something we could offer only if we stole more pigs, and I don't really want to imagine how long we'd have to scrub the jet for that."
Clarice: "Yeeeah, I guess trying to keep a secret pig wasn't our smartest move ever," Clarice shook her head, "and they did promise that he'd never be slaughtered for meet or anything, and have lots of kids petting him, you like pettings, don't you buddy?" She patted the piglet.
Melati: "Speaking of, looks like the petting zoo is lying ahead there." Melati nodded in the direction of the large, fenced in area, filled with a wild assortment of little animals, both conventional and human. "What do you say, Wilbur, wanna bother some bunnies?"
Clarice: Wilbur looked up at her and snorted, Clarice chuckling as they made their way over, "Oooh look! Lambs!" She pointed at the bouncing, white fluffy things.
Melati: "Lambs?" Melati frowned at the bouncy balls of white fluff before taking a cautious look around. "Watch out, then. There might be goats nearby, too." She wrinkled her nose and grimaced. "Oh, yeah, definitely goats. I gotta say, that's not the best place to go when you have a fine sniffer like mine."
Clarice: "... Oh yeah, eww," there were several squeals of delight from small children when they arrived with the pig, and Wilbur was quickly surrounded, "do you wanna wait outside or something?" Clarice asked, holding her hand out to a lamb for it to sniff.
Melati: "Nah, someone has to defend you from all those little poop factories, no? And some of those animals might be bothersome, too. Besides, I might not even faint when I breathe very shallow."
Clarice: Clarice winced but still chuckled, handing Mel the leash so she could kneel down to play with the lamb, drawing the attention of a few children herself, "Wooooooow! Are you really pink, lady?"
Melati: Melati chuckled when Clarice was surrounded by curious kids, ogling her as if she were part of the menagerie. Until she attracted her own crowd of little squirts, anyway. The reptilian mutant frowned deeply when a little kid started petting her tail. "Mommy, look at the big iguana!"
Clarice: Clarice snickered at Mel before answering all the kids questions. Yes, she really was pink. No, she did not taste like strawberries. No, they weren't allows to lick her to check."
Melati: "What do you want, kid," Melati asked the little boy standing in front of her, silently looking up at her. He didn't say anything, merely staring at the green girl. Eventually, he raised his hand to offer her his box of animal feed.
Clarice: Clarice picked up the lamb to snuggle it, the little critter bleeting, before extracting herself from the group of children to check on Mel, snorting as he caught her interaction with the little boy, "Awww .... if they were nachos you might have a better chance, sweetie."
Melati: "Jake, that's impolite," the boy's mother rushed to her son's side to intervene. "You don't give feed to people." She gave the mutant girls an apologetic smile and dragged her child away.
Melati: "Can you believe that," Melati asked, turning to give Clarice a perplexed look. "She didn't even ask me if I wanted some."
Clarice: Clarice snickered, "Some people are just so rude, arn't they?" She let the lamb chew on her fingers, nodding at Wlbur who'd rolled onto his side to be scratched by the kidlets, grunting happily, "He seems to be enjoying himself."
Melati: "Yeah, looks like there'd be a lot worse places for a little pig to be," Melati said, slightly tilting her head as she watched their happy pet enjoy himself. "You know, if you could get kids to bring you food like this, instead of having to feed them yourself, I might even revise my stance of spawning offspring."
Clarice: Clarice giggled, "Send them foraging for you? I could see that, a teeny, green scaley baby crawling around with a crate on it's back," she eyed up Mel's tail, "though if they were born with a tail like your I'd hate to think how you'd sort out the diapers."
Melati: Melati frowned, her expression darkening as she let her mind process that idea. "Yeah, no," she said, sounding much less excited already. "Maybe I'll just get a pet gecko instead." She hadn't noticed how a small goat had sneaked up on her roommate and started nibbling on the hem of her shirt.
Clarice: "Might be less messy," Clarice nodded, then frowned feeling something tugging on her back, she turned to look, "Hey!" She exclaimed, trying to get her shirt away from the goat, "shirts are not for eating!"
Melati: Too busy laughing at her pink friend getting munched on, Melati was utterly taken by surprise when her own stalker revealed itself. "Motherfucker!" She spun around, fully expecting one of the kids to have stepped on her tail, while the parents around them cast angry glares in response to the loud cursing.
Melati: Instead of a clumsy kid, however, Melati faced an angry goose happily snapping at the tip of her tail.
Clarice: "I think maybe we should perform a tactical retreat here, Komodo," Clarice suggested, having to tear her shirt to get it out of the goat's mouth.
Melati: "Who in their right mind put geese into the petting zoo? Don't they know how evil those things are!?" Melati fought the urge to swat the angry bird away, when its friends waddled over, making upset noises as they prepared to gang up on the two mutants. "You might be right, there. Quick, before we're surrounded!"
Clarice: "Fall back to the entrance!" Clarice ordered, picking up the piglet and making a break for it, persued by the goat who obviously had developed a taste for her shirt.
Melati: "Don't let them get our piglet! I'll guard the rear!" Melati tried to keep the goat from chasing down Clarice, shoving it gently but firmly. Soon enough one of the horned sheep decided to join the fray, uttering its challenge in the form of a penetrating "Bah!"
Clarice: Clarice hopped the face as all the assembled children cheered, turning back to Mel, "Uh-oh! Mel! Watch out for that ram!"
Melati: "What the hell? Oh, you can't be serious." Melati glared back at the fluffy, horned animal with a stern face. "Don't worry, I got this!" Her eyes narrowed. "Alright, you want some, woolball!? Let's do this!" The ram was already stepping back, preparing to charge, while Melati did the same, when one of the zookeepers came rushing over, alerted by the parents.
Clarice: Clarice turned to the zookeeper solomly, "Your sheep picked a fight with an X-Man, sir," she said in explanation as the children whooped and cheered, telling Mel to rip the sheep's head off, to the horror of their parents.
Melati: There was a loud smack, accompanied by the crowd cheering and gasping in equal parts, as the green-skinned mutant and the wooly ram clashed, their skulls slamming together. Both staggered backwards, eyes focused on their rival. "Is that all you got," Melati asked, shaking her head, but otherwise clearly ready for more.
Clarice: Clarice winced at the clash and covered Wilbur's eyes, "Don't worry," she told the keeper, who was watching in amazement, "I'm pretty sure all the beer she's pickled her brain in has formed an extra protective layer."
Melati: "Hey, you're supposed to pet our animals, not fight them," the keeper protested, just when the two clashed again. Both fell nearly over, but this time, the ram gave Melati a cross-eyed look, before trudging off with another indignant "Bah". The reptilian girl nodded triumphantly. "Yeah, though so, wool-head."
Clarice: "He started it, and he probably won't mess with anyone else again after that!" Clarice whooped, "Go Komodo! Mightly vanquisher of mean sheep!"
Melati: "Now you know who's boss of this herd," Melati taunted, planting her fists on her hips. "That's right, I'm queen of the petting zoo! And don't any of you dare mess with our piggy, or I'll have to come back to teach you another lessen."
Clarice: "Yeah!" Clarice whooped! Wilbur wriggling to be put down on the floor again, she turned to the zookeeper, "I think our piggie is gonna be happy here, shall I just let him loose?"
Melati: After thinking about it for a moment, Melati smiled and nodded. "Yeah, might as well," she said, stepping over to scritch the little animal in Clarice's arms. "I think he'll like it here."
Clarice: Clarice held up Wilbur and gave him a kiss on the snout, "Now you be a good pig, Wilbur, and behave in your new home, and me and your other momma will come and visit you as often as we can, okay?" The piglet snuffled her face happily before she put him down to take his harness off. Once free he circled thier feet once, grunting cheerfully before running off to bully the sheep.
Clarice: Clarice sniffled a bit and wiped her eyes, "Come on," she told me, "let me get you a coffee and we'll sign the papers for him, and you can help me think of names for the frogs Remy got me."
Melati: Melati had a proud look on her face as she watched Wilbur chase after the other animals, squeaking and grunting. "Ah, think I taught him well," she said, almost sounded sentimental there. Turning to leave with Clarice, she gave her roommate a look. "We have frogs now?"
Clarice: "Two little frogs in a tank, Remy got them for me to cheer me up ... do you want an advil as well?" She checked her friend's head.
Melati: "Well, at least we don't got to potty train those, right?" Melati chuckled and rubbed her head. "You know, think I won't say no to that."