uncertain_dume | The Maryland Zoo, Baltimore, Saturday

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!]

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Really, Kanan couldn't fault her for that. He chuckled, shrugged, and ambled along gamely behind her, waving back at the zookeeper as they approached. The zookeeper nodded and greeted them both, and then, after a brief explanation of how to feed a penguin - just hold the fish out to them and they'll take it - produced a pair of rubber gloves and a bucket with a few fish left in the bottom, holding it out to Rey.

Kanan was perfectly happy to just stand back and observe the penguin feeding. Because aw, penguins.

If you wanted to see Rey be cute, let her do this. She obeyed the instructions, giggling at the penguins' reactions. They didn't care about her in the slightest, but look how adorable they were!

"Want to try?" she asked over her shoulder.

"What, feeding the birds?" Kanan blinked and peered at the bucket for a moment. And then at the penguins. And then at Rey. "... Maybe just one."

He couldn't help it. They were pretty cute, weren't they?

She took off a glove to give him, holding out the bucket for him when he was ready.

Kanan shrugged, pulled on the glove, and then reached into the bucket for a fish. It was kind of impressive how quickly just doing that had resulted in a penguin making a beeline for him. These were clearly some food-driven birds.

"Okay then," he said, offering the fish to the little guy. "Down the hatch."

"If I had a free hand I'd have my phone out right now," Rey said.

"So I dodged that blaster bolt, did I?"

The zookeeper looked at Kanan, perplexed, for that one. Kanan just shrugged it off and let the penguin happily gobble up the offered fish.

"Penguin feeding for posterity? Take this glove back and I'll at least get some pictures of you, Rey."

"I'd say you don't have to, but they're really great," she said, taking the glove back.

"And sometimes you just need pictures of yourself feeding penguins," Kanan agreed, grinning as he pulled out his phone. "Besides, this is your zoo experience. I'll be able to visit here pretty much whenever anyway."

Maybe not to feed the penguins, granted.

"When you do, I expect pictures," she told him, pulling on the glove and then reaching into the bucket for another fish for the nearest penguin.

"There'll be some terrible selfies," Kanan warned, opening his phone's camera app and then taking a few photos. "Unless I can get someone else to come along, I suppose."

Really, what a hardship it would be, getting people to go with him to see penguins at the zoo.

"You know Summer," Rey said. She felt that was a safe bet.

"I know Summer," Kanan agreed. "She's not around these days either, but I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to coerce her into coming to the island for a zoo field trip, either."

"I've seen her about as often now as I did when she lived in the dorms," Rey said, finishing off with the last of the fish. "No more."

"She's hating it back home," Kanan supplied. "I think she's happy to take any excuse to hit the island when she can."

He watched the penguins look expectantly at the empty bucket, and made his way over as the zookeeper came to collect the bucket and the gloves, thanking them again for this opportunity. And then he looked back to Rey.

"... Well, it's going to be hard to top that."

"Think they'll let you feed the elephants?" Rey wondered.

The zookeeper just coughed, laughed, and then turned to walk away.

"I'm gonna take that as a no," Kanan mused, smiling faintly. "I guess I'm okay with that."

"Want to go anyway?" And maybe they could try there.

"Sure," Kanan replied with a nod. "It'll be worth checking them out, even if I don't get to feed them... whatever it is elephants eat."

More fish? Probably not.

The Maryland Zoo, Baltimore, Saturday

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