Welcome to the Zoo

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The gate creaks a bit as you push it open, breaking the unnatural silence with its eerie lament. As you step further into the abandoned Zoo, you sense that you are not alone. From somewhere, someone or some thing is watching.

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A large section of the whitewashed wall detaches itself and stretches languidly, resolving itself finally before your startled eyes into the form of an abnormally large, albino tiger. He stares at you without emotion. No fear, no anger, not even curiosity is revealed in his posture or eyes.

He sighs, and sprawls on his side, still watching you as his shape blurs weirdly. In a heartbeat, the tiger is gone.

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The young man looks up at you for a moment, then with the same lazy grace as the great cat, he rolls to his feet.� He stands facing you, his face showing curiosity and perhaps some mild unease, but he neither runs nor threatens. Instead, he reaches for a tunic and pulls it on.

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"I don't know what brings you here, but I suppose you're welcome. I don't get many guests, so forgive me if my manners are lacking."

His voice is quiet and deep, as you might expect from such a build. His chest is broad and deep, and heavily muscled. His thighs and biceps too are muscular, with his calves and forearms being somewhat lighter.

As you stare at one another across the expanse of jungle green, where the habitat has gone to the true form it only mimicked when the zoo was in fact a zoo, you notice the odd tilt of his head, and you realize that he is blind, or nearly so. His pale, pinkish eyes aren't really on you at all---they're looking through you.

He shifts uneasily, then finally moves out of the sun to the shadow of a tree, and you can see the pink areas where even this short exposure has flushed his milky skin. He tosses his head, shaking back the unruly mane of white, wavy hair, and moves to step over the crumbling wall.

"Well, come on then. Let's at least move in where it's cooler, and there's water. I can't say I care much for the sun--" (here he extends an arm so that you can more clearly see where the bright midday sun has marked him) "---for obvious reasons."

He slips gracefully into the deeper foliage beyond the wall, and curious, you follow.

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