How Green Becomes Wood

After the lettuce was eaten, Dark lifted Ivy and helped Daizi to her feet to lead them out.

"Am I misremembering, or were you wanting to visit the aviary?" Daizi asked Alec, "I thought I remembered someone talking about it."
 
"I totally want to see the birds!" Alec chirped. "Milo has a pair of... little ones, I forget what they are called, and they are so cute! I want to see more."

"Don't forget the penguins," Xander said, checking his feet just in case.

"We'll just try to see it all," Alec said with a grin as he led the way toward what he hoped was their next destination.
 
"The sign said they'd be feeding the penguins here in a little while, so if we loop around the bird section and go back through the penguins, we should be able to see them being fed," Xander explained. "Plus, if we loop through the birds toward the penguins, it's the fastest way to get to the big cats."
 
"It was posted on one of the signs around the enclosure," Xander told him.

The bird section was noisy and very feathery. Alec was absolutely in love with the birds, but he quickly realized birds were a pet he'd rather visit than own. Not to mention Kiki would love having a bird around. He had a lot of fun showing Ivy the birds and telling her all about them as he read off the information signs.

Xander found the birds overstimulating. He still had trouble communicating the fact that he was overstimulated when he was overstimulated, so he mostly just shut down and fell silent. He was trying not to be distracting for the rest of his family. Ivy seemed to be enjoying herself, and the birds had to be more fun for his mother since she could hear them. He was looking forward to being done with the birds.
 
Daizi did like the birds, especially when they were in a fly flying room and felt one pass by her. It wasn't overstimulating for Dark, but he didn't love the free-flight rooms because it filled him with fear that a bird would come and defecate on him.

Ivy did enjoy them, but her enjoyment was mostly just pointing and saying, "Bird!"
 
Eventually, they made it out of the bird room and passed by the penguins, where the keepers had just started feeding them. There was a crowd, so it was hard to see anything, but they were able to watch a few of the penguins being fed before moving on toward the big cat area.
 
One of the great benefits of having a giant for a father was that when the crowds were blocking most of the penguins eating, Dark was able to lift Ivy up onto his shoulders while standing all the way at the back, allowing her to see everything. Naturally, at his height he had no problems seeing them.

At the big cat section, some were moving up and about. The lions especially were active, and the two cubs were playing with a stuffed highland cow they had in their enclosure. They were adorable, but naturally there was quite the crowd surrounding them, so they couldn't stay for too long. The snow leopard was sleeping, her white tail flicking slightly, and was so high up on the rock she was difficult to spot. The amur leopards were both active and moving about. One was being graceful, behaving very much like she knew exactly how majestic she was... and in true cat fashion, the other one was playing with an enrichment toy and making a fool of himself.
 
"Cats are cats no matter how big or small," Alec grinned, watching them. "That is so adorable! I wish Kiki could meet them. Safely."

"I saw a video once where a stray cat met a lion and boxed its nose when it got too sniffy," Xander commented.
 
Unlike with the African dogs, Ivy didn't immediately recognize these animals as cats like Kiki. Still, she was very happy to see them. At the next exhibit, it seemed like the tiger wasn't around, until Dark noticed a crowd at one part of the glass. They had to wait at the back for a while until it was their turn, and then, right there against the glass, was a tiger sleeping right on his back!
 
"What is it?" Daizi asked.

"A tiger, sleeping right up against the glass," Dark explained, "We can see its paw pads, I believe they are larger than my own hand."

"That big? Really?" Daizi asked in shock.

"A sign says they are the largest cats in the world," He replied, and as he did, Ivy toddled up to the glass, putting both hands on it and looking in at the kitty. The sleeping predator absolutely dwarfed her, and as the tiger rolled over to change position, and involuntary shudder ran through Dark. Some primal part of his brain recognized his small child so close to a predator and wanted to whisk her away to safety, despite the logical part of his brain knowing she already was safe. This sleeping tiger could not break through the glass: it was only unconscious, primordial instinct.
 
"Wow. Ivy is right up next to it, and it looks like it could eat her," Alec said, feeling suddenly very nervous. Logically, he knew the same as Dark: there was no way it could get through the glass. Yet he, like Dark, had the desire to snatch her away.

Xander watched closely, but not nervously. His logic was overriding any instincts, and he mostly wanted to make sure Ivy wouldn't bother the tiger. He doubted it would appreciate a tiny human pouding on the glass.
 
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