2025-03-26 - The Siren Song of the Capybara and Other Rare Animal Facts

It's a beautiful day for going to the zoo...

That's a thing that Kavi Nath has never thought to himself, and yet for some reason it's been on his mind. He's only even been to Starlight Island to cook and oversee the meals for events that have been held there, and he never once stopped to peer at the animals, so engrossed in his work was he.

But today he's sans chef jacket and in street clothes -- Doc Martens, gray cargo pants, black hoodie, black sunglasses -- and departing the Lodge to start heading through the park. It's not a leisurely stroll -- this feels purposeful. It's not just a day in the park.

Walking through a zoo had never gotten old for Avery. No matter how old she was, she always loved a walk through a zoo, and she doubted that would ever change.

Walking slowly, pausing to look an animal here or there, an ice cream cone with what looked like Strawberry flavor was in her hand; she didn't look like she was in a rush to get anywhere. She also wasn't dressed for work, she was in a white short-sleeve cropped top, a pair of high-waisted fitted jeans, and a sweatshirt tied around her waist, just in case she needed it.

Pausing in front of the tiger, she looked at the plaque next to her but wasn't really reading it.

Coming down the other side of the path, Kavi slows when he sees Avery. His eyes narrow, first at her, and then the tiger, and the the plaque.

"Oi, lemme tell you about this large canine creature," he begins, like he works there and is meant to be giving a tour. "He may look like he's red and black, but it's just blushing because he doesn't like when birds like you look at him."

One hand comes up to the back of his neck and rubs there a moment. He looks back at the tiger and shakes his head. "Soz, mate."

Avery had stayed there long enough, watching the tiger move in its feline way, yawning and looking bored at all the people that started at him. So when Kavi starts to talk, her attention shifting to him, she listens to his little fun fact and grins.

"Is that so?" Turning just enough towards Kavi, "I don't think that's true. Because tigers are just like domestic house cats," They were not at all, "They will roll over and purr for you, because they love people so much." They did not, they didn't like being around people at all. "I think you might have your facts wrong."

...and so did she.

"Good to know. I believe they only keep 'em behind cages is because their saliva's a category 1 narcotic, and big pharma just can't have that competition," Kavi says as he turns away from their tiger friend to move along the path.

Eventually he stops to look at the next big cats in the leopard enclosure. Kavi's arms cross as he studies them a moment, then he glances over at Avery, one brow arching.

"These lads aren't spotted at all but our human eyes aren't equipped to see what the pattern really is," he begins. "If we could see them the way they see themselves, they're actually covered in tessellations, and no two are the same. Scientists think that's how they recognize one another so if you shaved them, a mum wouldn't even know her own babies."

"That so?" Avery looks from Kavi to the Tiger and back again, "I'd crawl over the cage, but they keep the cage electric to keep people from getting to the cuddle teddy Tiger cats."

As Kavi moved on, Avery follows not too close, but close enough to continue a conversation down to the next big cat enclosure. She tilts her head at the leopard as the next fun fact about large domesticated (not) cats is given. "Are you serious?" asks back, hmphing out a sound "I guess that's why they are masters at hide and seek. They have been undefeated champions for 3,000 years."

As they walk, Kavi nods as if this makes perfect sense to him. "The chameleons should have that one, but they simply can't be bothered to actually look for anyone else. They hide well, but never find anyone. Just sit there licking their eyeballs or sommat."

The Brit meanders, letting her choose the path this time. One hand pulls out of his pocket to offer it to her for a handshake. "I'm Kavi by the way. Is this your first time visiting the islands?" He doesn't know she's an employee, but that won't stop her from pretending to be a tour guide and offering fake animal news.

Somewhere above head, a hawk or other raptor makes a kree! sound and he looks up, shielding his eyes with his other hand. "Polar bear or brown bear, that?"

Avery take a moment longer to look at the leopard, the cat yawns as if bored with their presence in front of it and the woman takes that as a sign to move on. Falling back into slow pace to one of the next enclosures.

When the hand is offered, Avery could go the tourist route and really considered it. Even considering make up some other story about her employment of a zoologist.. Eh.. passing on that. Twisting it just a little, "Hi," taking the hand and shaking it, "Avery. I work here at the park," and instead of telling a lie says, "I'm that one that tells people fun facts about the animals here." Nothing about it being her first time visiting this area or that she has nothing to do with animals at all.

Glancing up at the question, shielding her eyes from the sun, "Brown bear, you can tell by the color." she says so matter of factly.

Moving on to the Capybara enclosure, she points at the animal, "Their fur is actually waterproof, it's part of why Spellbound has them here. Because they’re 12% mermaid."

"Pleasure to meet you," Kavi says, and smirks at the job description she gives for herself. She's certainly doing it at the moment, even if the word 'facts' might be disputed.

He makes a clicking sound with his tongue, as if to tsk himself for missing such an obvious piece of evidence in regards to the flying bear that can't be seen in the sky.

But his attention is brought to the capybaras, and his brows rise. "That explains so much. There's an island up in the UK just full of 'em. You can live in a tiny beach hut there but only for a month out of the year. Any longer and it becomes mad dangerous."

This was all fun and games until... "Wait, are you serious?" Cause Avery totally wants to do that. "I want to go there..." saying it in a longing manner, knowing deep in her heart it wasn't true, but wishing it was all the same while playing along with this little game they've created. "How does it become dangerous?" she asks, replacing the need to find out if he was serious or not.

Leaning on the fence that kept them from getting too close to the capybara, "I bet it's because of their siren song, isn't it? They seem the type of meranimal that would have a siren song that would lure you into your death."

"Ah, it's a lovely place. A bit of a land of the lotus eaters," he's beginning to say, just as Avery brings up the talk of sirens, and he taps his nose.

"Exactly that, mate. If you stay too long, you forget everything about your real life, and that might sound brilliant... but you basically become a slave to their every wish and whim, and they have a lot of them. So the government'll go extract you if you don't show up at the dock when the ferry comes by to pick you up," he explains, leaning against the fence and studying the rodents of unusual size.

"You can't hear the song because it's at a really low frequency, but it's always there, trying to brainwash you at every moment. You have a craving while you're watching them? It's probably them putting it in your mind."

"Huh," Avery sounds with all the information that Kavi has given her to consider - true or not - it was an interesting tell that had captivated her interest.

"I wonder if they have a spell on these ones here?" Gesturing to the ones in front of them, "I've not heard of any reports of tourist or the employees getting brainwashed or taken hostage by the mental requests of the animal. Considering all the people with abilities around here, there has to be someone that can put a block on the siren song."

Slowly her head turns and her eyes are wide, "Unless, they're doing it right now and I'm only thinking that because that's what they want me to think! We should get out of here immediately."

Kavi's eyes narrow and he looks around. "Might be wise. It could be just that you have to be in their presence directly for a certain amount of time, and maybe our employers here are wise enough to keep everyone's shifts short enough. But yeah, let's roll."

Long legs stroll slowly to follow the path, eventually leading them to the brown bear exhibit, where the mama bear and her two young cubs, approaching a year in age, are all hanging out napping in the sunlight. "Sneaky bear made it back in time, pretending like he wasn't just up in the sky a moment ago. They're very clever."

As they come to the brown bears, Avery seems to lose the ability to keep her straight face a little, snickering out a laugh at Kevi's attempt to explain why the bear is already back in its enclosure when it had just been flying above them. "Smarter than the average bear," taking a note from Yogi.

"How else is she going to provide for her cubs?" Gesturing towards the little ones padding around, swatting at one another, "She has to go catch fish in the lake and bring them back to the cubs. The only way to do that undetected is to fly."

Kavi breaks with the compulsion to lie for a moment, as he tips his head thoughtfully. "Wonder if any of the critters animals ever do or will get abilities, now that you mention it," he says, squinting at the bear as if he might suspect that is, in fact, the case. And if so, that bear can pop out at any time and find something else to eat, besides lake trout.

As he's considering this, his phone vibrates in his pocket, and he pulls it out to read the text that definitely brings things back to reality. "Speaking of fishing, looks like I have a bit of a shrimp emergency in the kitchen that I need to go deal with -- too much of one kind and not enough of the other with two shrimp-forward entrees on two different menus tomorrow. But..."

He turns to face her, bowing slightly, as if they were not walking around a magical zoo in the 21st century but along the promenade in regency-era London. "It's been a pleasure talking about the animals with you. I feel a bit less mad than when we started, like I might be able to focus on something besides coming out here on my off hours, so thank you for joining me."