A Zoo on the Mainland, Tuesday Afternoon

[intraspective]

This... wasn't how she'd planned to spend her day, but spontaneity didn't hurt no one and Ino was in a great mood as she and Sparkle hit up the zoo, of all places. It was a hot, sunny day and the zoo was crowded.

But since it wasn’t yet school holidays and it was just a Tuesday, it wasn’t too bad, all things considered. (Ino was pretending that she hadn't noticed the number of children present on field trips.)

Ino peered at her map of the zoo grounds as they got through the front gates. "Where to first?" she asked. "You hungry? Guess I should’ve asked first."

She’d sent Silly home. It had seemed like a bad idea to bring a baby bird to a zoo.

[For Sparkle, yo! NFB.]

Comments

[myownface]

"Deal," Sparkle replied with a bright grin. "Anyway, I'm not gonna get chased off until we've had ice cream and seen little wild pigs."

They had a course set, here! A plan!

[intraspective]

"And made faces at the monkeys for an hour," she reminded him. "Did you want a drink too? I think I'll get one and a hot dog."

[myownface]

"Yeah, some kind of juice, maybe," Sparkle mused. "American soda is still super crappy."

It was flat. Even with carbonation in it, it was freaking flat.

[intraspective]

How even?!

"Fanta isn't too bad," Ino said. "I think they've just got the standard apple and maybe orange if you don't want that."

[myownface]

"Apple juice it is, then," Sparkle decided. "I've got a soft spot for sugar that pretends to be healthy for you."

[intraspective]

"Shut your face," Ino said, laughing. "Apple juice is totally healthy!"

No, no it wasn't.

[myownface]

"It might have, like, looked at an apple once or twice," Sparkle laughed, shaking his head, "but I promise, it so isn't a health drink."

[intraspective]

"I'm going to keep living in denial and you can't stop me," she said cheerfully, rattling off what they wanted in the next breath to the people at the stand.

[myownface]

"It's okay," Sparkle laughed, "I won't try too hard anyway. I still pass off Pop Tarts as a breakfast food, I mean."

It drove Dr. Lecter nuts.

[intraspective]

Ino paid and then glanced at him impishly. "You mean they aren't?"

[myownface]

"Well, I mean, not when you've got other options," Sparkle drawled. "You know, like Cookie Crisp and Captain Crunch..."

Breakfast of champions.

[intraspective]

"I usually just have a granola bar," Ino admitted shamelessly.

They could be terrible breakfast buddies at this rate.

[myownface]

"You are my breakfast hero," Sparkle gasped.

Somewhere, Hannibal was facepalming and didn't know why.

[intraspective]

"I've never been someone's breakfast hero before," Ino mused as she passed Sparkle his food. "Are there perks to that?"

[myownface]

"Only the coffee kind," Sparkle decided after a moment's thought. "Unless you don't like coffee. Then I'll steep you tea instead."

[intraspective]

"I'm more of a tea girl," Ino admitted. "Or a hot chocolate girl."

Well.

Mostly a whipped cream sort of girl.

[myownface]

"Is there such a thing as a hot chocolate perk?"

Sparkle asked the big questions here.

[intraspective]

"... maybe I can purchase it as an add-on?" Ino suggested.

[myownface]

"... Something like that probably exists out there," Sparkle decided. "And if it doesn't, we should patent that."

[intraspective]

"The real problem would be convincing people to buy it," Ino mused. "But I suppose we could drop it on someone with tech more advanced than us and see what they come up with."

[myownface]

"I mean, hot chocolate should be reason enough on its own, right?"

At least, Sparkle thought so.

[intraspective]

"You'd think so," she agreed. Since, well, hot chocolate. Ino was a fan. "But it's hard to tell, you know? Especially in the summer..."

[myownface]

"I was gonna suggest we just tell people to serve it iced," Sparkle noted, "but I'm pretty sure once you start heading in that direction, you just get chocolate milk."