(D1, LA) Meeting New Friends

[Thimacek]

There was an underground tunnel indeed.

It was not well lit. At all.

The only sources of light were a few dark red bulbs, kept very dim.

Some sounds coming from near the glass over the muffled silence of the tunnel among the few visitors walking through suggested one of the denizes of the enclosure shouldn't be too far, however.

[Kitsune Kiyoshi]

The Detective didn't much care for the dark, leaping onto Kiyoshi's back and holding onto his shoulders.

"Sounds like we'll see something over here..." the Fox said, leading the way.

[Asahina Hinata]

"Ugh red lights. Typical Scorpions. What's wrong with blue?"

He stepped into the tunnel, only safely behind Kiyoshi because the Fox had gone first, honest.

[Thimacek]

Finding one's way through the tunnel is not particularly hard when there are not many people around to bump into, even though the faint illumination, reminiscent of rooms for handling light-sensitive materials, make moving around a bit awkward. It's clear the creature's comfort is deemed more important there than that of the visitors.

The noise seems a bit more distant for some time, then closer, then more distant again...

Then, all of a sudden, the dark red light seems to glint off something a short distance ahead in the tunnel.

It seems like a minor thing for a moment, but soon the whole dark tunnel lights up as a large being moves through a tunnel right besides the glass, just past where Hinata and Kiyoshi are, before digging deeper and disappearing.

[Asahina Hinata]

Hinata just stares, big eyed at the pangolin.

"Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!"

[Kitsune Kiyoshi]

The Kitsune blinks a few times. "That was amazing!"

[Asahina Hinata]

"Sooo much bigger than I expected!!"

Hinata put his arms wide and realised he couldn't reach far enough.

[Kitsune Kiyoshi]

"So much brighter than I expected." he chuckled. "I wonder how it does that."

[Asahina Hinata]

"So sparkly . . . "

He was right up against the window now.

"I wonder what they feel like to touch . . . ?"

[Kitsune Kiyoshi]

"Oh, that's a good question." He touched the glass where the creature had passed. "Are they warm to the touch? Is there heat that comes with the light? Or, are their scales cool? This planet has some very interesting animals."

[Asahina Hinata]

"I hope they have a plushy of him in the gift shop. I want one!!!!"

The most important part of Winter Court. Expanding the plushies collection.

[Kitsune Kiyoshi]

"They have one. I saw it at one of the kiosks." he assured the Crane. "Not life size, though, or as bright."

[Asahina Hinata]

"Awww, surely they could get it as bright as the real thing??? Oh well, as long as it's bright enough!"

He was still glued to the window hoping for another sighting.

[Kitsune Kiyoshi]

"The plushie might be brighter in the dark." he suggested. "That would be special."

He too was waiting for another glimpse.

[Asahina Hinata]

Now that pulled Hinata's attention away from the window.

"A glow in the dark plushie?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Really?!??!?! I must have one!!!!!!!!"

[Kitsune Kiyoshi]

"I don't know if it does glow, but I hope it does," he smiled. "Would you like me to show you the kiosk?"

[Asahina Hinata]

Now he was torn between chance of a glow in the dark plushy and chance of seeing the actual beastie again.

"Umm would you? I don't want to disturb your visit if there's more to see."

[Kitsune Kiyoshi]

"Oh, I wasn't going to see all of the sanctuary today. I'll likely come back several times in the next few days." he said. "It's just nice being in an area with animals."

[Asahina Hinata]

"Oh as long as you're not missing anything!"

He did keep looking for another sighting of the rainbow pangolin though.

[Thimacek]

The dark tunnel had been much quieter for the last few minutes, suggesting the Pangolins were likely digging in another part of the enclosure - perhaps closer to another of the tunnels.

Right before Hinata and Kiyoshi are nearing the exist, however, they hear some rumbling they'll recognise.

This time the armoured creature's shyer, though. It stops digging just short of reaching the glass wall of the tunnel, and there's silence for a moment. Then some more noise.

Then it appears again - apparently a younger one this time, sticking only its head out, quite close to where the two are talking. It's enough to lighten up the area around them again, although not so much as the last time. The creature looks around, seems to have its eyes on the Crane and the Fox for a moment - they were probably the visitors closest to it, after all - but is then gone again.