Little lost cub

[Night Tenjo]

Night wiped the sweat from her brow as she dealt with the trash all over the zoo. "Some people have no respect for the animals." She said to herself sweeping the trash with a push broom and looking into an animal pen. "Trashing the zoo inside and out of the cages." She groaned looking up at the almost full moon. "Wonder if he's shifted before..." Night wondered out loud about Shay as she believed she was alone except for the animals. "I'd love to see what he turns into..." She said to herself looking at the animal choices around her.

Night smiled to herself still thinking about the boy werecat fledgling she bit. "He tasted so good and felt even before." Night blushed at her own thoughts and words as she remembered the sensations Shay stirred in her. The streak haired zoo keeper heard a small crack and crash near the petting zoo area. She could hear animals stirring and waking up. "Better not be some damn delinquent or frat boy pledge trial test crap!" She complained headin to the opposite area of the zoo slowly, examining all the habitats and exhibits as she made her way there. She was shocked to see a little girl in the petting pen.

[Grace Michaels]

Grace Michaels... or Grace Maylee Michaels-Josephine... had snuck out of the House of Night to visit the zoo. She was a big girl. She knew her way around! Her new mommy didn't think so but she found her way into the Zoo and straight to the petting area all by herself. She stride around petting all the animals while feeding them grains. She felt all grown up and mature making her way here, and she shown it through a little prissy diva walk.

She ran and played with all the animals, not even noticing all that people had aready left. She was having too much fun to pay attention to closing time. Night come around. She knew it because she was getting sleepy. Estelle told her she would be sleeping during the day and up during the night. She thought it was weird and she wasn't quiet used to it yet. She had only been with her new mom for two days. She should go back home now... but where was home? She found the zoo but getting back was another thing.

Grace stiffled a yawn and climbed into a pile of hay to nap. Her nap was peaceful... until a donkey nipped at her hair... The donkey lightly pulled out it thinking it was the hay. She woke up quickly a little wide eyed from the sudden hair pulling...

"Hey!" She said in a whisper. Even at a whisper the donkey got spooked and ran into the nearest fence post. The bucket of water setting near him tumbled and crash onto the floor making a loud crashing sound.

"Good!" She said angry standing up to face the donkey. "Zats vat you get for trying to eat my 'air!"

[Night Tenjo]

Night had never dealt with kids and wasn't sure how to deal with this child. But it would probably be best to be careful and kind. Treat the little girl like one of the baby animals she cared for. "Woo here!" She said stopping the donkey from injuring itself. "Hello?" She said gently walking toward the girl.

Night kneeled down while keeping a hand on the donkeys snout, keeping it calm and still even with the little girl that startled it near. "Are you lost?". Night asked slightly worried about the child and why she was here quite a bit after hours. "Maybe we should get you home, do you know where that might be? I can help get you there." Night said sweetly. "Heck maybe I'll help you make it up to the big guy here for spooking him." She said smiling as she pet the males donkeys snout. "Maybe if you feed him some hay he'll let you ride him home and you can show your mommy what a big girl you are for getting home safely?" Night said walking to the pile of hay picking some up and showing the girl how to feed the donkey. "What do you say?"

[Grace Michaels]

Grace tore her attention away from the donkey when she heard a woman's voice. She tried brushing out her tangled her while she listened to her talk... donkey spit, gross. Learning English wasn't too hard, but understanding other people speak it was another story. People sometimes talked too fast for Grace to understand. Luckily, this woman wasn't talking as nearing as fast as soon do.

"Bonjour." she said, lowering her hand from her hair. "I'm not making up to hem. He need to make up to me for trying to eat my hair." She crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly.

She ran over to the gates but they were locked. It didn't stop her from escape though. She climbed the fence with ease, dropping to the other side where Night stood. "I'm not lost. I found my way ere all by myself!" she smiled brightly, still very proud of herself. "I can find my way back."

Grace looked around then back to Night. "Uh, I'm...uhm...hu-n-gry. Can you get me chicken bites?" Bites were nuggets. She hadn't learned the word nuggets yet so she always said 'bites' because they were smaller than patties. After being locked up in an experimental building, Grace never learned proper manners. She also never learned to never ask strangers for food. "You feed, no? Please? And then take me to 'Ouse of Night? My Mommy is there." The word 'mommy' made her smiles from ear to ear, she liked the idea of having a Mommy.

[Night Tenjo]

Night smiled gently at the stubborn little girl but snickered a bit at the cuteness. "Sure we can feed you. But maybe something healtier than MacDonalds... I have some sweet orange chicken if you wanna try that?" She said still keeping a very soft tone as she continued petting the donkey. "As for this guy I think he just wanted to give you a new hair do to make a friend of you." The streak haired girl said smiling at the little girl. She started walking the donkey back to its stable and walked back to the girl. She kneeled down to the girls level and offered her hand. "My names Night what is yours?" She asked trying to get a little more aquainted with the girl. Night reach for the girls hand so she could lead her to the employ office to warm up the food and feed the girl she felt temperarily responsible for. "Your mommy is probably worried about you though... what's your mommys name? So I know who to ask for when we get you to the House of Night." She asked so she wouldn't have too much trouble returning the girl to her mother, escorting her the entire way back.

[Grace Michaels]

Grace lifted herself up onto the tips of her toes and rocked back down. She did this a few times before standing still. "Orange chicken? Like ze fruit? Th-at sounds nasty but I'll try it. My new mommy says it's good to try new sings... things..." Even though Night had told her the donkey may have wanted friend she was still mad from getting woke from her nap. She watched the woman take the donkey to the stalls curiously.

"I'm Grace!" she said enthusiastically taking Night's hand. "Night's a cool name. Where you named Night 'cause you work at night? Mommy told me my name's Grace 'cause I'm graceful and pretty." She twirled her bottom half happily knowing she would get some food to fill her up. She liked food... a lot. She also ate... a lot.

"'Er name is Estelle Josephine. She's part French like me! But I'm full French. She's only half. She's very pretty! She buys me lots of things and gives me lots of food. She adopted me unm..." She paused to count on her fingers. She lifted up two fingers to show Night. "Zis many days." She dropped her hand into Night's extended one. When they started walking Grace started her talking again.

"I like you, you're nice. You have pretty hair too. And you're tall. I'm little. But little is cute." she grinned a big dork-like grin. "Do you work 'ere?"

Grace finally stopped talking to let Night get a word in. She may be new to English but she caught onto it pretty quickly. The adoption agency said it was because she talked all the time and about anything that came to her mind. Of course, she still make mistakes... but she was doing well.

[Night Tenjo]

"Yes, like the fruit since the sauce is made with orange juice. It's sort of like sweet and sour chicken, has your mommy ever fed you Chinese food?" Night asked trying to keep things slow and simple for the seemingly foreign little Grace. "And your mommy is right. Its good to try new things. I tried something new not too long ago." She said thinking about Shay and how she acted and what happened with him as the new thing but not saying it. "Well your mommy has a pretty name too. But it's no where near as cute as Grace." Night laughed gently, playing with the girl a bit as they entered the employee's break room where she directed Grace to the little sofa as she opened the small fridge and got her Tupperware out with the Chinese she made before coming to work and popped it into the microwave.

"I'm glad you think my hair is pretty most people think it's weird." Night said with a grin as she watched the little girl sitting. "But they're probably just jealous." Night joked making a silly face as she spoke. "And no, my mommy named me Night when I was little because my mommy and daddy liked the night time, and thought the sky was so pretty at night. But Grace is such a pretty name. Your mommy named you very well." Night smiled taking a moment to look at the almost full moon out the window. For a moment she felt like crying, she missed them. "It's been so long..." Night thought aloud without realizing it.

The annoying beeps from the microwave broke her out of her daze at the sky. "Right, food." She said pulling the lid of the Chinese food letting steam out as she grabbed a couple forks. "Gotta let it cool a bit its really warm." She said setting it on the small coffee table in front of the sofa as she went to get something out of the vending machine. "What do you want to drink with your Chinese?" She asked as the girl smelled the food.

[Grace Michaels]

Orange juice sauce still sounded as weird as orange chicken. She would try it anyway because if she liked it she could get her Mommy to start making it. She wasn't sure what Chinese was... some type food apparently. Grace's little face blushed at Night's compliment. "Merci." she said shyly.

Night lead Grace into a room where she pointed her to a couch. Grace ran over, jumping on it with her legs sticking stick out. She was still to short to have them dangle. Her feet were the only thing that stuck off the edge. "People are weird." She retorted, hearing that people thought her hair was weird. It wasn't. It was awesome! Grace wanted two pinks streaks in her hair but Estelle said no. "I like the night too. I like to sleep at night. Mommy says I 'ave to sleep during the day now 'cause I live with vampyres. She says night time is better for us but I like playing during the day. My mommy is a vampyre. I sink...think.. zat's cool!"

Grace heard the ding of the microwave. She fidgeted in her seat more than ready to get something into her stomach. Excitement grew knowing she would be trying something new. Her head bobbed in agreement of letting it cool. She didn't like it when her mouth got burnt. "I can be... uhm... I don't know zat word. It's uh... I 'ave to wait and be uhm... wait." She couldn't seem to pick up the English word, patient.

"Can I have soda? I like Pe'si, Sprite, that one in a red can, Mountain Dew and...uhm... Every kind." She smiled at Night.

"We can be friends, right? I don't have zat many 'cause I'm new. Mommy won't mind 'cause you're nice to me. I'll even let you sit in my favorite seat at 'ome!" Grace crossed one leg over the other waiting on that food to hurry up and cool.

[Night Tenjo]

Night laughed as she grabbed a sprite and a mountain dew. For safety reasons go with the caffeine free soda for Grace and the caffeine for me.. Night thought setting the drinks on the counter and grabbing a cup and straw out of the cabinet and pouring her soda into the plain cup when she got a fun idea. "Sure we can be friends. Maybe if your mommy says ok if you want you can come by once in awhile and help the animals. Be an honorary junior zookeeper. Hey Grace what's your favorite type of zoo animal? Because I bet if you can be a good girl and wait here a moment I can go find a special cup with that animal on for you to drink your soda in... if you want. Because you did visit the zoo like a big girl and what fun is the zoo without a surveyor to remember it?" Night said asking the little girl.

She waited for a reply as she set her own soda down and thee unopened sprite in front of her. "The food should be cool enough so if I go get a cup for you, you gotta promise to leave some food for me ok?" Night said smiling at the girl as she waited for a nod and an animal answer so she could get the right cup for the little zoo explorer.

[Grace Michaels]

Excited over helping, Grace almost flipped herself off the couch. "On... Hon-raryyy junior zookeeper? Like... What you do? Help the animals? Okay! I be good. I promise." She straightened herself on the couch. "My favorite is, uhm, cheetah's. But I didn't see any cheetahs here. Souvenir? Does that mean gifts? Or does it mean nice things from special places?"

Her mind strayed to helping Night with the animals. As long as she didn't have to help that one donkey she was all for it! She knew it would be lots of fun to be able to play with Night at the zoo.

"I promise to leave some food. I won't eat it all even though I could." Grace jumped up and ran to the coffee table. She slide onto the floor the being even with it. She didn't like getting food stuck in her hair, so she flipped her chest length hair to the back of her. "I can eat now right? While you get my new cup?"

[Night Tenjo]

Night smiled at the girl. "That's because the cheetah's were sleeping inside. They have their own little beds to sleep in." Night said to the girl just before she headed out. "I think we have a cheetah cup, let me go get it. And yes it is a gift." She answered the cute little girl's multitude of questions. "And you have to get the OK from your mommy to be a zookeeper because we wouldn't want her to wonder where you are and not be able to get a hold of you. Or know where you'd be working so she can see what a good junior zoo keeper you are." The streaked haired girl said hoping Grace would understand that not letting her mommy know where she was wouldn't be a good thing.

"You can start eating if you'd like. I'll be right back with a cheetah cup." She said heading out to the gift shop which was very close to the employee break room they were in. The zoo had four break rooms one at every corner of the property. "Such a cute kid. But i hope her mommy doesn't get mad about this." She said to herself as she entered the storage room of the gift shop. Night knew this would be fine. It was one cup and she would easily pay for, though she probably didn't need to. Her "superiors" didn't mind what she did or how she worked with as much as she had contributed to the zoo. "Back, hope you left me some because this cup is pretty awesome." Night said teasingly walking to the counter and pouring the sprite into the cup and setting it in front of Grace before sitting across from Grace on the floor. "How's it taste?"

[Grace Michaels]

Get an okay from mommy. Sounded easy enough. Her mommmy hasn't said no to her much besides pink hair and going out to meet the fledglings. She wasn't allowed to meet them yet. Something about informing the school all at once or something. She didn't really understand it but listened to her anyway. The only thing she didn't listen about was escaping her room and mommy's room to go to the zoo. The nice ladies at the orphanage told Estelle Grace liked to sneak off... At least she was for-warned.

"Okay." she said watching Night leave the room before splitting the orange chicken in the container. If she hadn't split it she would have probably ate it all. There was an odd number so, being the smart little girl she is, cut it in half with her fork.

By the time Night come back Grace had ate all of her half. It was good! It tasted different than what she was used to but she still liked it. In fact, she wanted more. She didn't ask though because Night had been nice enough to share. "I like it!" she bobbed her head in a yes motion.

"I split it, see? You gots half and I gots half. And a half of one because there wasn't another one." she beamed all proud of herself. "Thanks for my cup."

Grace picked it up and chugged all of it down. Being locked up for so long, added with not being around people long enough, meant she didn't have the manners she should have.

She sat the empty cup down, taking her sleeve across her face to clean off. "I'm only going to drink out of zis cup always. No other cup. Mommy will have to wash it lots!" she giggled.

[Night Tenjo]

"Well now that we have you fed should we get you back to your mommy?" Night said watching the as she beamed with cuteness and pride over dividing the Chinese evenly. "And it does look about half, but i can reheat it later when i get back because I'm sure your mommy's quite worried you've run off." or became the snack of some blood lusty fledgling. Night thought regretting the mental image going through her head. Goddess forgive that one, it's a simple worry and a very possible scenario. The streak haired girl thought putting the lid on her half of the food an putting it back in the fridge for later. "I'm sure your mommy won't mind washing your cup since it is an awesome cup." She said picking the newly empty cheetah cup and giving it a quick rinse so it wasn't all sticky when they got to the House of Night.

Night quickly dried it off and handed it back to Grace as she grabbed her keys and locked the small break room when the exited. "You sure you don't wanna ask Mr. Donkey for a ride? Or am i going to become the ride?" She asked playfully. "I warn you I'm not very good at playing horsey." She laughed hoping Gracie wouldn't think she was too weird.

[Grace Michaels]

"Okay! Mommy might be mad at me." she frowned for a split second but quickly vanished. Her mommy couldn't stay mad at her long, she knew that. She might be just a little bit in trouble but it was worth it! She made a new friend and got to see the animals. She even got a present from her new friend that had her favorite, dangerous, animal on it. If only her day would continue to be so good...and that meant her mommy not getting onto her too bad.

Following Night out of the room with her cup in her had, she finally noticed that she had been gone awhile. "You!" she answered with a giggle, handing her cup back to Night. "I'm a good climber."

Grace walked to the back of Night then jumped as high as she could. Her arms clung around Night's waist. "Almost there. I got zis." Her arms moved up little by little until she reached Night shoulders. She hoisted her small body up to slide her arms around. Now that she had her legs wrapped around and steady she was ready to take off. "I'm ready!"

[Night Tenjo]

Night easily handled the girl on her back. As Gracie mention she was little and little was cute. "Ok, monkey girl if you're ready." Night said carrying off the girl through the zoo. Doing her rounds as she headed out of the animal park and locked the gate behind her hoping no one was dumb enough to go in there at night.

"So I must ask, Miss Gracie... are you fond of tea parties?" She asked with a grin. "And monkey's?" Night continued as she walked the bit of a distance not quite a marathon away from the zoo to the House of Night. This little girl was impressive getting her all by herself. Such a long walk for anyone.

"I know a cut capuchin monkey who loves tea parties and banana scones. He even has a little top hat for only the fanciest occasions." She said wrapping her arms behind her back to make sure Grace wouldn't fall down. "His name is Jack. Quite the charmer, great host and guest at parties. He's a well mannered proud capuchin." Night said laughing about the monkey she had on her back and the monkey she was speaking so highly of.