Claudia. (veterinary) wrote in invol_rpg, @ 2012-12-26 22:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log, allegra hawke, claudia corbett |
WHO: Claudia and Allegra
WHAT: 2 scenes from their holidays - the aquarium and dog walking
WHEN: 20th and 23rd December
WHERE: Sydney Aquarium & Balmoral
WARNINGS: None
STATUS: Complete
December 20 Despite the fact that they would have to contend with tourists, Claudia and Allegra had decided to visit the Sydney Aquarium. All the tourist attractions seemed more appealing when you had been stuck in the outback for months; dodging in and out of the crowds at Circular Quay, getting lollipops from people dressed as statues, taking the Ferry around the harbour, the Rocks Markets, etcetera, but the aquarium was a place Claudia liked to visit any time, touristy or not. She didn’t visit it as often as she did the zoo, mainly because she didn’t have Aquarium Membership that allowed her free entrance like she did for the zoo, but it and the Australian Animal Adventure wildlife center next door were still places she loved to spend time. “This is my favourite part of the whole aquarium,” Claudia commented as they entered the long tunnel and stepped onto the slow moving travelator that would take them to the other end, the curved walls and roof around them filled with water and sea animals. “If it was possible my bedroom would be like this,” she continued, adding to the chatter of the other tourists in the room. “How cool would it to be to wake up and have a shark swimming over your head?” Potentially alarming until you got used to it though. “Or a stingray smiling down at you,” she added as a giant one swum over her, temporary blocking out the light in that region. Stingrays had the friendliest faces! They always looked so happy from underneath. Conversely, Allegra, ever since she was 14, had found the tunnel a little strange. She liked animals and had no problems with walking through an underwater tunnel with sharks swimming over her head, but then there was the strange and awkward situation of also knowing their feelings. Not that their feelings were overly complex, but occasionally one or two tourists or visitors would panic at the sight, the second-hand feelings brushing over her as she watched the wonder of sea life abound around them behind the panes of curved glass. It was distracting. "That'd be really cool until it got to feeding time," she replied, eyes fixed on the stingray above as they passed each other in opposite directions. “Oh yeah,” Claudia agreed, obviously not having thought this dream of hers through very well. “Maybe I could have a special opening in my roof to drop their food into.” Except that would involve climbing onto a roof and that was a little too high up for her liking. “Or I could just sleep inside the aquarium,” she decided instead. "With all the tourists?" Claudia shook her head. “No, when it’s closed. They’ll give me a special key and it will just be me and the stingrays.” "I think I'd prefer to be above water," Allegra mused. "You know, one day we should go to South Africa! Do a safari!" “Yes!” Claudia agreed enthusiastically. “And see all the giraffes and lions and elephants and zebras and,” she stopped herself, knowing otherwise she would go on until she’d named all the African animals she could think of. “Tomorrow we should go to the zoo.” Allegra grinned. "Absolutely. I haven't gone since... before we went to IVI." “Same.” Though for her it had been a week or so before leaving for IVI. “Will you actually go into the reptile house now that you’re confronting your fear of snakes?” "No," Allegra replied firmly. She might be more okay with Shanti, now. But Shanti wasn't all snakes ever and there was no way she was going to go into a building full of them, even if they safely stored inside their little glass cages. “Fine,” Claudia said with a sigh. She was going skydiving for Allegra but she couldn’t even visit the reptile house with all the cute snakes and lizards? Worst zoo companion ever. They reached the end of the tunnel, Claudia disappointed, as always, that it didn’t go on for longer. “Let’s go find the touch pool so we can pat a baby shark.” **** December 23 George was tiny, Allegra mused as they waited for him to sniff at a tree before he would readily continue on their walk down towards Balmoral Beach. A tiny bundle of excitement and joy now that he had someone in the house that gave him real tummy rubs, unlike Talia who just ignored his pathetic head cocking as she tapped her foot along to One Direction. It was nice to know that, should worse come to worst, at least her dog loved that she was home. "Maybe as Vice President I should have campaigned for pets to be allowed on the compound instead of whatever the hell else we've done so far." “That would be the best,” Claudia agreed as she watched her own dog follow George’s lead, sniffing everything he sniffed as if she was trying to learn how to behave from the elder of the two. Having a pet was the number one thing on her very long list of things she’d missed while at IVI. She was lucky in that she got to see animals every training session but it was not the same as having her own dog there to care for and play with any time she wanted. “I would support that campaign one hundred percent.” "We can ask. You could find a study that says it's good to have pets around and we'll use it to back our request up," Allegra suggested. She wasn't a fan of science, but even she knew it was useful. When she remembered. Which, considering she was the best friend of Claudia Corbett, was shockingly not very often. “I read one a few months back about dogs being good for preventing allergies in children,” she mused. “There’s probably tons on why pets are good for you.” She would hardly mind having to do the research and find the studies either, it would be fun for her! “Do you think it’s safe to have animals around campus though?” she asked. As much as she wanted it she wasn’t sure it would be the best idea. When she’d temporarily adopted Leona the sausage dog she’d worried about her ending up on the wrong end of someone’s power. Accidents could so easily happen. "Unless we claimed Kody wasn't fully immunised, I don't think that one will help." Allegra thought of the animal shelter with all of the creatures safely locked inside it. "I don't know, but the ones we train with should be allowed out more often, I think." Except the snakes, she thought with a slight shudder. “Maybe we can arrange a dog walking program to let the dogs out more often,” she suggested. It wouldn’t be the same as having her own dog there but it would be nice anyway and she was sure other people would enjoy it too. “That way they’re supervised but still given more freedom and time outdoors.” George strained against the leash as another dog walker rounded the corner of the block, a labrador in tow, and began to yap excitedly. "Definitely," Allegra agreed a little distractedly as she frowned down at her dog. "Quit it, George." “Moxie, sit,” Claudia instructed, as the other dog turned the corner, stopping until it had passed. She’d spent a fair bit of time working on making sure her dog’s training had been done properly since returning home, not completely trusting her mother to have spent the required time on it, but, to her mother’s credit, Moxie was fairly well trained. “I don’t know about the other animals though,” she continued, “Play time with the cats?” She had known one cat who did like to be taken on walks but she didn’t think the ones at IVI would be like that. "Play time in general? Maybe students who are interested could sign up to help feed them? I don't know, we'll bring it up in Student Council when we get back." “Sounds good,” Claudia agreed, signalling to her dog that she was allowed to keep walking now the labrador has passed. “We need to work on our other fun stuff too, it’s going to be hard going back after a month of this.” Allegra sighed. She didn't want to think about how their holiday was already slipping away from them, day by day, crawling closer and closer to the time when they'd have to board a plane and return back to the hole in the middle of the desert again. "Later," she said dismissively, and pulled on George's leash so he'd hurry up his territory marking a little. |