2024-12-04 - Polar Bears Hunt PEOPLE?

Iris has been looking around to see what she can find in the park.

She heard about the animals on Starlight Island, and she's not completely sure if she is allowed to be around here, but she's not trying to hide -- instead she's looking around quite a bit to see if she can find any employees who can tell her about this particular island.

She steps up to the bear enclosure, far enough away to keep the animal from getting annoyed by her presence, watching.

"Did you know polar bears are one of the few animals on Earth that will go out of their way to find, kill, and eat people?" Wash isn't that stealthy, but he also doesn't look particularly like a park employee at the moment (or ever, really). In his faded jeans, Bad Brains t-shirt, denim jacket, and assortment of rings, necklaces, and bracelets, he steps up next to Iris, a few feet away, glancing at the exhibit. "Just bloodthristy fuckers looking to carve us up. I love it."

Iris shifts her eyes toward Wash. "Yikes." She says, shaking her head back and forth. "I'm glad that you love it, really, but that is a fact that I could have gone a lifetime not really knowing about." She laughs softly, folding her hands behind her back. "I did some investigating of brown and black bears because I heard that people out camping up in this area might run into them." She shrugs, nodding toward the enclosure. "I would imagine that they don't have polar bears here."

"Sure we do." Wash walks behind her and points to the side of the enclosure further away; the Arctic display, which has a large pool for swimming and ice floes. "I think the bear's hiding out right now, though. The inside of the 'cave'," air-quotes, "is climatized, I suspect." He leans against the railing, looking over at Iris. "But the black bear's the one with the two cubs, so you get to see them out and about playing more often. The animal handlers in this place are really top notch, though I'm not sure how they manage with the polar bear," he admits, laughing.

"I hope they manage by feeding the polar bear and not getting too close. Especially since they go out of their way to find, kill, and eat us." Iris puts a little snark into those words, but she's not being rude, or at least she's trying not to be rude.

"Do you work at these enclosures, or do you do something else around the park?" She extends her hand for him to shake. "Also, if you do something exciting, would you like to be interviewed?"

Wash laughs. He doesn't seem to find her rude. "I do work here, but not at the enclosures, naw." He wrinkles his nose when she asks if he does something exciting. "Not really anything exciting, no. I write and direct players for the Lamplight Amphitheater, though I haven't had my first yet. I've only been here a couple weeks." Then he squints. "What do you do here?"

Iris blinks, hand moving to her hair as she shoves it away from her face. "What do I do?" She is stalling. "I don't do much of anything, to be honest. I've been riding a lot of roller coasters, and you know that swing ride that lifts up in the air and goes around and around, it's one of my favorites. The merry-go-round is pretty nice, but.. my goal lately is to find the best foods that I can. I really hope there is a place in this park that serves BBQ."

Wash squints again, and then smirks at her. "But you're asking people if they want to be interviewed?" He tilts his head. "That sounds like you do something, you just don't work for the park." He doesn't seem to care if she does or doesn't. "If you can't find a place for barbecue, just text me, I'll let you know when my brother and I are having one. We do it outdoor style, brisket, asado, patties, pretty much anything."

"I do YouTube and sometimes Twitch. I'm an influencer," Iris makes jazz hands, and shuffles a little jig before she realizes that she's being watched and she aims a grin at Wash. "I don't work for the park. No."

When he offers BBQ, she looks almost ecstatic. "I'm from Texas, so I need the occasional BBQ, especially if it involves brisket of any kind. The fact that you guys do that, that makes you top-notch." She arches a brow. "Is your brother a fun guy?"

"Not an influencer," Wash says, holding a hand up to his mouth as if to gasp. "I've heard about you people. Scurrying everywhere, tryna get us to buy things online." He's just poking fun. "Reggie? Yeah, he's a fun guy. Not as fun as me, obviously, but he's great." He pulls his phone out, swiping, and then turns it to show her a picture of him and Reggie standing side by side. "See, that's us. He's the ugly one."

"You look exactly alike," Iris remarks as she gazes at the picture. She gets a horrified look on her face, and she invades Wash's personal space, poking at his cheek. "Does this mean that you're ugly? Is this a mask??" Clearly joking. "Influencers are kind of a cancer, and sometimes I do take sponsorships, and I make some money -- but it's not that serious." She shakes her head and smirks at Wash. "What's it like being a.. twin?"

Wash looks aghast. "WHAT?" when she says they look alike. He looks at the picture. "OH MY GOD." But he drops the pretense pretty quick, swatting at her hand with a laugh. "It's cool. I don't think he thinks it's as cool as I do, but that's mostly because I make his life unbearable, but I'm the older brother, so that's my job. I don't make the rules, you know? What sort of content do you make?"

"Investigative, vlogs, sometimes reactions, but I don't like doing that. It feels fucky." Iris responds, shrugging a shoulder as she watches some bears amble around the enclosure, eyes narrowed. "I like vlogging the most because it's like a little peek into my life. I think that my life is really cool, but it's honestly just me having an adventure. I was going to buy one of those conversion vans and put a bed and shit into it and vlog my drive up here. I decided at the last minute I didn't want to have to find public showers the entire way."

"You can get some with a shower attachment but you still kind of have to take a shower in the middle of nowhere with only a curtain to protect your modesty," Wash admits with a nod. "My family and I did the trailer life for a while. Van conversions are okay but I recommend an actual trailer. Airstream if you've got the dough." He pulls his phone out again. "What's your channel?"

"I do not have that dough, not yet at least, I'm hoping to go viral and get more subscribers so that I can do this full-time." Iris says, and she leans in slightly. "PhatandSassy." She spells it out for him and grins. "I named it after my dog at the time, she was Phat Sassy. I miss her so much, but she wouldn't do well on the road, she's almost fifteen years old."

Wash lets out a laugh at the channel name, but it turns into an aw when she explains about the dog. "I love Phat Sassy already. You should take her on the road anyway. Sometimes that sort of thing revitalizes older dogs, and she might prefer to spend her last years with you rather than really far apart, you know?" He shrugs. "But that's just me. We were on the road a lot and when we had animals we took them with us all the time." He subscribes to her channel and shows her, flashing her a smile. "So if you did interview me, what sort of interview would it be?"

"Well I'd ask you about your work, and why you find it so important. I'd ask about what brought you to the park and if you are thinking of settling. Stuff like that. I want to do pieces on as many employees as possible, give an idea of how they find the place." Iris shrugs, a grin on her face as she continues. "If the interviews are good, perhaps the park might want to purchase them to edit and use as part of their intake process. I've seen it happen in the past." She looks thoughtful on the dog talk, her brow furrowing slightly. "I'll talk to Mom and see how Phat is doing with me gone."

"That sounds cool. I don't know that my job's all that interesting, for interview purposes, but you know, you could interview my family as a whole. We all do backstage or production stuff. It's kind of the family business." He pockets his phone and smiles. "I mean, if Phat Sassy is okay with your mom, that's great. I'm just saying, sometimes it's about who you spend your time with, you know?"

"Oh, family as a whole? How much family do you have?" Iris might already be in interview mode, Wash might notice her patting her pockets -- is she looking for her phone to record? Maybe. Or she might be sending a text. "Could be that Phat is okay with mom, but if I reach out and I hear that she's struggling, I wouldn't mind bringing her here if they allow you to have pets at the resort. Plus, I'm not here for the long haul, I imagine that after a month, possibly, I might be moving on. You know?"

"There's a lot of us. Parents are back in Texas, but right now it's me, Reggie, Ari, Callie, Neve, and Lora. We all work at the amphitheater, so you know, you can come around whenever. Someone's usually there. That, or we'll eventually descend on you like a pack of extremely friendly hyenas."

Iris makes an O with her lips, blinking a few times. "Hyenas are pretty dangerous you know, you guys are just funny -- right? Friendly and funny, lots of laughter, not the type that hunts and eats people?" She is kidding, in case Wash can't judge her tone. She tilts her head. "Six siblings? Wow." She shakes her head back and forth. "I bet you had the most interesting childhood."

"Oh, man, hyenas are amazing. Did you know they're matriarchal. So are we, kinda. Anyway, like, yeah they're dangerous, but that's every wild animal, really. Even cows can be dangerous if provoked. But no, we don't hunt and eat people, that would make us cannibals." He grins at her, broad and sharp, but it's an act. "And yeah. Six here." Meaning there's more out there, maybe. "But yeah, we had a wild time. My older sister used to walk us on harnesses to keep track of us."

Iris snorts at that revelation and then covers her mouth. She didn't mean to snort. That isn't cute. "Walk you guys in a harness? For real?" She looks skeptical as she holds up her hands. "I'm glad that ya'll aren't cannibals. That would be an interview dangerous, and I don't get danger pay." She taps her fingers on her pants, considering. "What is the best way to get most of you into an interview?"

"For reals. When I wanted to get attention I'd run circles around the others and pull the leash in tight." Wash thinks this is hilarious, obviously. "Uhhh, you'd probably want to like show up at the amphitheater and hope for the best. Maybe bring some harnesses." He grins.

"Ah. I don't have any, but I'll look out for them when I go out shopping." Iris considers Wash for a few beats and then she nods. "I'll do that, happen by the amphitheater, and see who I can meet. I should continue on though, but first.." She glances around, her voice quiet. "Are tourists allowed around here, or should I scoot scoot?" She wants to be sure she isn't breaking any rules.

Wash blinks at her question, tilting his head. He looks around slowly, leaning back, sort of faux-surreptitious, and then he steps in close to her, offering her his arm to take. "You know what, I'm not sure, but if you get caught with me, I'll take the blame." He grins, the says in a mock-voice: "'Oh, man, for reals? I just wanted to show the hottie around, I'm sorry!'"

Iris blushes at being called a hottie, but she looks more relaxed. "My hero." She says with a thick southern accent, fanning her face as she pretends to swoon. She falls into that swoon just enough to slide her arm through his. "Well now that you've said that, you simply have to show me around. The places that you think are awesome. You have to have at least one or two, or.." She shifts her eyes, grinning. "...maybe we can find fun places together? Up to you."