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The Park, Monday Evening

It was a fairly warm evening and Hinata knew that, with winter approaching, there wouldn't be too many more evenings where it was so nice. She'd left Yei back in her room, no doubt being a comforting nuisance in Warren's direction because he'd been… out-of-sorts for most of the day.

Hinata was relatively sure that, even if Yei could not solve what was bothering him—and she didn't know because she hadn't wanted to pry—her small white kitten would be able to lift his spirits at least a bit.

Shaking her head and determined not to dwell over much on what she couldn't help with, Hinata took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. The park was peaceful tonight. Not too hot, but quite comfortable, and the tea she'd bought at the Perk only served to add to the feeling of peace that had wound its way through the tranquil paths of the Park where she walked.

[Warren modded with permission, la! Ooopen as a park is!]

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There was a hamster ball rolling innocently along the pathway today, with a Zack trailing along casually after it. While Zack really didn't seem to be in any hurry to be anywhere in particular, Mr. Winkles, the gerbil inside the plastic spherical prison, certainly had his own ideas about their ultimate destination.

Unfortunately, all of his plans for a daring breakaway were thwarted each and every time, as Zack set him along the pathway time and again with a gentle, patient little nudge of his boot. Curse him. Curse him.

"I know, you're excited to be out and about, and you want to see everything, but if you don't stay on the path, I'm going to have to go foraging through the shrubs for you," Zack explained.

Infidel.

Hinata giggled, hiding her mouth behind her cup, but doing utterly nothing to stifle the noise as she realized that Zack was, well, talking to his pet.

Who was rolling around in a plastic ball.

She talked to Yei much the same way but it was always a little more amusing when someone else was doing the talking.

It was the giggling that grabbed Zack's attention first, belonging to a familiar face, and Zack turned a grin in Hinata's direction as they approaced her.

"Hiya! Nice evening, huh?"

Naturally, no sooner had Zack taken his eyes off of him had Mr. Winkles made another bid for freedom, a gerbil on a mission. Those waterfowl over there would serve adequately for his plans for world domination. Or, at the very least, destruction. One couldn't afford to be choosy.

"A very nice evening," she said, with a bit of a grin as the distance between them closed. "It is nice to see that--"

Please hold while Hinata notices the breakaway gerbil--

"--ano," she said, "sh-should he be, um..."

There was just no polite way to say his gerbil was on a course right for the birds, no.

Zack blinked, and watched Mr. Winkles make his great escape.

"... I guess so long as he doesn't get too close to the water, he should be okay. I was more worried about him getting into the roughage. There are waaaaay too many ducks in the way for him to manage a splashdown, anyhow."

Zack Fair: Totally not the world's greatest pet owner. It was a marvel that his rodent had survived this long.

... What was truly sad was that Hinata couldn't rightly argue with him. She knew nothing about gerbils and if Zack, who had owned the gerbil for so long, said it was alright then... surely it was?

Oh, Hinata. No.

"Does he d-do that often?"

"All the time," Zack agreed, nodding his head merrily. "He gets plenty of exercise this way!"

Meanwhile, the ducks did not seem too terribly impressed by the rodent in the sphere who was attempting to proclaim himself their new grand-supreme overlord.

"Is he very hyper?" she wondered, with a bit of a laugh. "The ducks don't look too pleased!"

"Ducks never look happy," Zack pointed out, smiling proudly over at Mr. Winkles. He'd made new friends! That was awesome! "But yeah, he's usually all over the place. I usually carry him around with me in my pocket, so that he doesn't get bored sitting in a gerbil habitat all day."

His pockets were surprisingly more spacious. It was best not to ask.

She deemed it best not to ask, really. And, truly, there was weirder in the universes.

"Do they get bored easily?" she wondered. "I've never thought of that."

"You'd be surprised," Zack replied with a nod. "I mean, he's got a bunch of things to do in his cage, and when he's in there, he's kinda running around and having a go at all of it. There's his wheel," stamina training, "and his chewy-log," sharping his vicious teeth, all the better for going for the jugular of his enemies, "and he's always digging around in the wood chips."

Building his evil base of operations. Same thing.

"A good thing, then, that he has his exercise ball," she observed. "I imagine he appreciates it."

"Oh, totally!"

Such as right that very moment, where Mr. Winkles came tearing back toward Zack as quickly as his wee gerbil legs could take him, being tailed by three quacking mallards and a psychotic goose.

Zack so very sacually stooped down to scoop him up, and levelled a weird little look at the birds.

"I should probably get him another gerbil to keep him company, though. He always chooses the weirdest playmates."

THOSE UNCULTURED BEASTS. THE HEATHEN!! Mr. Winkles would have his revenge. Oh, someday. Someday.

Hinata eyed the birds very dubiously indeed.

"Should he not be allowed to make his own friends?"

Though she wouldn't call those friends...

Zack peered into the hamster ball at the scrabbling creature within. Well...

"I guess so. I mean, he means well, right? Maybe if I take him to Everything But The Monkey, he'll meet another gerbil that he can get along with, or something."

Mr. Winkles stopped his escape efforts for a moment to consider. A minion would be useful...

"Oh look," she said, delighted. "Do you think he's listening, now?"

"Of course he is!" Zack smiled down at Mr. Winkles. Mr. Winkles blinked his little beady eyes up at the large face outside his ball, distorted in almost hilarious ways through the curvature of his plastic prison. "He's really smart, for a gerbil!"

... When Mr. Winkles ruled the world, Zack Fair would be the first to die.

But who, then, would keep him in a steady supply of food and bedding?

"I'm sure he is," she said lightly. "Perhaps he would get along with a companion, then."

Naturally, the rest of humanity would, as Mr. Winkles would be the unquestioned overlord of all the cosmos. Duh.

"I don't think it could hurt!"

That poor, poor prospective other gerbil.

Hinata tilted her head at him thoughtfully. "I have been meaning to go and pick out a few new toys for Yei," who really didn't need the toys but routinely got new ones anyway, "in the near future. If you wanted to simply see how he reacts to other gerbils, I would not... mind the company?"

Not to buy, no. But to simply see other gerbils? What harm could that cause?

Ooooh. Hey, that totally sounded like a plan to Zack.

"I'd like that," he agreed, grinning lopsidedly. "I mean, just to look, like you said. I'd have to talk to Ino about bringing another one home, of course!"

... Yeah. She'd be thrilled.

"That would be best," she said, lips twitching. "I do not think that doing otherwise would prove for a peaceful time."

"I think it'd be a good way to get one of them fed to Kusanagi," Zack admitted.

Mr. Winkles, in response, just twitched his whiskers disdainfully. Snakes. Bah. They'd be the next thing to die, after Zack.

Hinata winced.

"I cannot disagree with that assessment," she conceded. "Though I would like to think she'd feel sorry for it after."

No, no she wouldn't.

"I guess there's nothing stopping me from taking Mr. Winkles to the pet store for regular playtimes, though," Zack added, grinning a little.

Zack totally had ulterior motives. If he went there all the time, he could play with the puppies while Mr. Winkles ~~made evil plans with~~ got to know the other gerbils!

That was an entirely ridiculous ulterior motive, yes.

"So long as you get permission from the employees," she said, with a tilt of her head. "Wh-Which they might not care to give."

It was possible!

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The Park, Monday Evening

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