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All of this trouble had begun a mere two or so weeks ago, when some of the louder manor residents were calling everyone into the dining room. Luchino was in his room at the time, hiding away the second he heard approaching footsteps and distant knocks on his neighbors’ doors. He had things to do! He did not want to be dragged away from his work for whatever reason his housemates decided was so important they could not just leave a letter on the door and call it a day.
At the moment he heard knuckles rap against the door, he paused, groaning as he focused on one of his tanks containing one of his prized specimens. If he stayed quiet, they could not just drag him out, no? Silence was more valuable than gold as he went over to his window, clipping off two prickly pear fruits using his forceps. Just as he went to set it into the tank of one of his most treasured pets, a Galápagos pink land iguana, he heard the knocking grow more intense, this time accompanied by a voice. He still took the time to gently set the pears in her tank, before giving his lovely friend a soft pat on the head. She, at least, was always grateful for his efforts.
“Mister Luchinoooo? I know you’re in there!” That voice did sound familiar-- almost surprising that it wasn’t someone else from the eternally optimistic crew that tended to terrorize his quiet time. From the sound of it, he had to wager that it was little Robbie White.
“In a minute!” Against his better judgment, Luchino slunk towards the door, sheathing his forceps in his pants pocket as he opened the door a crack, looking down at Robbie with a bleary-eyed expression. The younger hunter could hardly contain his excitement as he flung the door open, smacking Luchino in the face in the process.
“Luchino, come on out! There’s something really cool I want to show you!” Robbie grinned, grabbing him by the arm as he began to run for the door. Luchino, in comparison, tried his hardest to stay in place, pulling back from him.
“But just what do you want to show me?” Luchino was already glancing back to the various tanks still in need of care. This really was poor timing, and he resisted the urge to snarl at the small boy.
“It’s uh…it’s a frog that looks like a toad! I thought that you could look at me and tell me what it is—“ Robbie’s voice got higher towards the end of the sentence, which caused Luchino to narrow his eyes.
“I know a lie when I hear one, Robbie, and we’ve spoken about this before. A frog that looks like a toad might just be a frog . Do you have something to show me, or is this one of your little tricks?” Admittedly, Luchino’s definition of tricks by the youngster was more along the lines of Robbie clumsily lying about something or another. Most times, the clue in that Robbie was lying was the way his voice would pitch up at the end, corners of his burlap sack twitching while the mice inside tumbled about, likely scurrying as Robbie’s lips pursed in thought.
Robbie’s expression faltered, all of his cues that pointed to him lying his pants off were obvious now. However, the way Robbie was clearly squirming once he was in the hot seat made him feel guilty .
So, he interrupted his silent panic with a scoff and roll of the eyes. “Fine, fine , I will go with you to see our friend the ‘frog-toad’. I do hope that you come up with something more interesting the next time you want to lure me out, though. And Robbie? I am going to need your help cleaning up my cages.”
“Oh, sure! I’ll help you out!” Robbie’s expression brightened, and off they went, consequences to his routine be damned.
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Somehow, the meeting was one of the worst types of all. It was a meeting where they were asking him to do something. A meeting where groups of very different people were all talking at once about what they were going to do for this wonderful, amazing project— of a summer fair.
An end of season bash, closing out the Summer months with an evening of thrills, artistic talent, games, and to top it all off…
A petting zoo.
With all the hustle and bustle of the day, it was only fair that there would be an area for folks to decompress with a gaggle of roaming animals to offer niblets of feed corn to! His issues with feeding animals dried corn kernels aside, he wasn’t sure what they expected from them. He did have to give them credit, that it was something arguably in his wheelhouse. He used to go off and do live demonstrations with his reptiles, but that was for college aged students. That, and he was the only one to actually touch them, the others simply watched as he spoke about each. He was lukewarm to the idea, but that would have to wait as the blond acrobat pointed to the other two unluckily roped into this scheme.
“My brother Murro— you’ve seen him around, I’m sure, and Bane are also assigned to create our petting zoo! You are all just amazing with these critters— I’m sure that the three of you will work together just fine!” Mike slapped his back, pushing him towards the quiet duo before turning heel to his group, which appeared to have an acrobatics routine involving Violetta’s webs going on.
Luchino got along well with the other two, typically trekking into the forests with Bane , Memory, and Robbie to go seek out the wonders of nature. Usually, that meant stoking a love for animals to whoever was willing to listen. Murro, like himself, valued the concept of alone time. Still, with a family of performers, he imagined that this was something he was used to doing now and again.
“So, they want a petting zoo, hmm?” Luchino asked, his gaze flicking back towards the others to ensure that they weren’t picking up too much on what he was saying. “Just what sort of animals did they want us to have, exactly?”
Murro, at that question sighed, looking over to the boar he doted on. “I don’t really think that this would be much of a zoo now.”
It was almost pitiful, to think of what a zoo they would have if they only had the boar sitting in the enclosure. He could lend a few of his own specimens out, for all their lovely qualities, but most were in the category that he’d prefer them to be looked at rather than touched . Leaving him with a particularly well-mannered ball python, an iguana, and a tortoise. That meant that they were going to need to supplement with something else— quite a few things, in fact.
So, his glance landed upon Bane next. Bane was a man he was glad to know, with gentle hands and a love for just about all animals. Outings before, like collecting tadpoles to raise with Robbie just that past spring, were incredibly pleasant. In fact, he already had just the right idea as he looked him up and down, gesturing to the greater wood line just outside the manor’s gate.
“You and I are going to be going for a hike— and as luck would have it, you’re all ready to go!” Luchino grabbed his hand, taking the first opportunity given to just run out of the room.
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The woods were just as Luchino liked it, quiet enough to hear yourself think, but loud enough to know that there was life just around the corner. Even as he lurked in the shade of an oak tree, just about everywhere were animals just ready for display. Well, they would be ready once he got a hold of them. Just ahead, a mere few feet away, was a Sciurus vulgaris— or rather, a Eurasian red squirrel, clinging to the bark of an oak tree, a yellow ribbon tied around a tree limb just a bit higher off the ground than he could reach. This was an area they were familiar with, having taken the time to mark a perimeter of the area a while before to scrub for traps that put the wildlife at risk, clearing up a shocking amount of hazards over the course of the summer.
Bane looked skeptical, his gaze also matching to the squirrel, before he gently slapped the back of his hand on Luchino’s shoulder, quickly writing on a sheet of paper.
You can not be serious, Luchino.
Luchino smirked, before holding up a handful of acorns.
“They weren’t exactly specific , though, were they? I might even be able to argue that as long as it’s able to be petted, I might even bring out a Theraphosa blondi. It is soft, it’s rather large —“
Bane’s reply is a distinct snort, a low chuckle clear as he continued to squabble with him.
That is a giant spider. There’s a difference between not having farm animals and just being careless.
Luchino narrowed eyes sharply at Bane with that, a hushed hiss rattling from deep inside his chest. In the heat of the moment, Luchino tossed the acorn in a wide arc over Bane’s head. It was another idea squashed down, although Bane’s criticism wasn’t exactly unfounded. Though, he had another bright idea as a badger poked its head out of its sett before shuffling out. Luchino had recognized this particular one from a notch on its right ear. He snuck up behind it, picking it up gently by the scruff while he supported its rump. “This is going to be easy, I’ve already found one of our old friends-- remember when we met this guy? He’s grown quite a bit since we last saw him.”
He was incredibly proud of the badger in his grasp, seeing how it had thrived in the woods since they’d last checked on it. The small boar had doubled in both length and weight, now being quite the healthy lad.
Bane was surprised to find that out, looking him over as he put his hand up to the badger’s muzzle, letting the badger sniff at it before he scratched beneath its chin.
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All things considered, the petting zoo hadn’t turned out quite as awfully as he thought it would go. It was late in the day, and the fair would soon be closing. Luchino had joined Bane and Murro in making a large enclosure to house the animals days before the event. At the entrance, a simple basin was set up for visitors to wash their hands after petting the tortoise or the iguana. Murro’s boar was the absolute center of attention most of the day, with many surprised at how sweet he was.
The crowd that filtered in and out throughout the day were better than he expected. Robbie and Memory were their most frequent visitors. Speaking of which, he sees them come sprinting up to the corral once again with different prizes —from the games area, he assumed— clutched in cotton-candy stained hands. Most of the animals, like the badger and even the little rabbit they had found had been tucked away and released long before the fireworks would begin later that night.
Luchino stepped in front of the pair, holding up his hands as he tutted. “You know the rules! Things left in reach of the animals might get shredded up. Set ‘em aside and go wash up, and then you can have fun!”
They set their trinkets to the side, washing up their grubby mitts before they ran up to greet George, his pinta island tortoise. Memory held a bunch of leafy greens in her hand while Robbie held up a brush for George’s scutes. Luchino watched from afar while holding a Python on his arm, scratching the top of her head as she wound up tight. Luchino sighs, placing her back into her tank and closing small curtains around it. At least then, she’d be able to calm herself down from all the excess excitement from the day with sounds muffled from the outside. The final touch was a sign saying that she was “out to lunch”.
“Mister Luchino!” Memory stage whispers from her seat on the ground as George nibbled on the kale she had in hand. “Can you tell Robbie how you found George?”
Right .
That was the one thing that actually surprised him today. He’s had multiple people, survivor and hunter alike ask him about specific animals he’s encountered. Where he’s traveled, all topics he was more than excited to talk about. He lowered himself onto the ground, and he tapped his chin.
“Well, back when I was doing field work, I went to a place called the Galápagos Islands. It’s all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, and…”