The Maryland Zoo, Baltimore, Saturday

[uncertain_dume]

After a conversation with Rey yesterday about how much longer before she had to head back to Jakku, Kanan had offered to show her a bit more of what was out there in the galaxy. They had about a month, after all, and it would be a month wasted if she didn't take advantage of the fact that portals and starships could get them to practically any kind of world she'd ever dreamed of seeing.

The fact that they'd wound up in Baltimore was kind of hilarious, then. She'd wanted to see a city, and there happened to be one right across the Causeway that she still hadn't been to. From there it had been a matter of figuring out something to do, and the zoo had seemed amenable, so... here they were, after a walk to catch a cab, because 'the zoo' was not exactly the ultimate city experience and Kanan figured that at the very least, they could stand to take in some scenery.

Buildings, people, traffic, litter... City life.

After the cab pulled in at the zoo and Kanan settled up with the driver, he nodded toward the front gate, feeling weirdly naked standing there without armor on his shoulder or a blaster at his hip. He did have his lightsaber, though, stashed in a bag over his shoulder along with a few extra bottles of water and his phone.

"Welcome to the closest thing to wilderness you can find in a big city," Kanan said, managing to not make a comment about how every city on the planet was actually kind of cute when your entire homeworld happened to be one. "Watch out for kids, we'll probably be tripping over them all day."

[OOC: For Rey!]

Comments

[uncertain_dume]

"Nah, he's totally a big pushover," Kanan decided, smirking in that 'I am completely full of shit and I know it,' way of his. "Who ever heard of bears being dangerous?"

Everyone. Everyone had.

[thatwaslucky]

"You see, this is why I wanted to meet the one in the freezer during the scavenger hunt," she said. "Totally harmless."

[uncertain_dume]

"Totally," Kanan agreed with a laugh. "Did you ever get to meet our freezer bear, anyway?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Didn't hey around to it I think," she said. "Still have a few weeks."

[uncertain_dume]

"True," Kanan allowed. "So if you still have a mind to after spending a day here, feel free to swing by for one of my Sunday shifts. We'll see if he's hanging out anywhere near the freezer door or not."

He was willing to take a peek, but wasn't quite about to commit to an actual expedition in there just yet.

[thatwaslucky]

"And if he's not?" Because if Rey would jump into a dark side cave more or less on a whim, she'd absolutely go into a freezer.

[uncertain_dume]

"Well, there's a trolley that'll take people farther in," Kanan said, a touch dubiously, "but it's colder than the poles of Polus in there. You'll want to at least bundle up, first."

... They did keep winter gear by the freezer for that reason, granted.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey stared at him. "What is going on at that diner?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Honestly, Rey, if I knew, I'd tell you." He shrugged. "It's Fandom. The freezer might be a pocket dimension of some sort. I don't know for sure. I just go in there long enough to dig out the berries sometimes."

[thatwaslucky]

"A freezing pocket dimension that needs a trolley," she said.

[uncertain_dume]

"I have yet to figure out where the back is," Kanan agreed.

Because Luke's.

[thatwaslucky]

"Your work is weird, Kanan."

Like he didn't know.

[uncertain_dume]

"My work is weird," Kanan agreed. And then glanced over to see a small crowd forming not far off. "Looks like the penguin feeding is about to start. Shall we?"

[thatwaslucky]

"We shall," she said, stepping away from the polar bear. "You don't have any penguins in a freezer, right?"

That would earn a weird look from someone passing by.

[uncertain_dume]

That was fine. Kanan was going to just give the passer-by a weird look right back before replying.

"Fresh out of freezer-penguins, as far as I can tell. There is a big thing with tentacles in there. I still haven't figured out what's up with that guy."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey frowned. "Are you being serious?"

Sometimes she had to check.

[uncertain_dume]

"Yeah," Kanan confirmed, sounding faintly apologetic. "I'm afraid I am."

Because his work was weird, yup.

[thatwaslucky]

"I have questions and I don't really want to ask them," she said. "Ever."

[uncertain_dume]

"Honestly, that's probably the right choice," Kanan mused, stepping up behind the crowd as the zookeepers took their places, buckets of minnows at the ready. "The less anyone understands about the Luke's freezer, the better."

[thatwaslucky]

She nodded, and privately decided she was going to end up in there at some point.

"And you choose to do work there," she said. "On purpose."

[uncertain_dume]

"Yeah, well. There's an employee discount and I don't hate my boss. I've worked worse jobs than that."

It was still leaps and bounds better than flying explosives for Moonglow.

[thatwaslucky]

"I guess if it pays." It was still better than her first job.

[uncertain_dume]

"A job's a job," Kanan agreed. "I have to do something to save up for that speeder I want."

And to eat and pay rent and feed his dog and such. But that just made him sound fiscally repsonsible or something.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey shrugged. "I just built my own. Much cheaper."

It was also a piece of junk, partly on purpose.

[uncertain_dume]

"Huh. That works too," Kanan admitted.

But then he couldn't fly around on a fancy green Joben T-85. And that would be a tragedy.