xp_logs | (Set for 7:30 PM San Diego Time)

x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com posting in

As the days wear on, Wanda and Doug are called in to give a hand with the zoo. It appears that after saving people, there are still things to be done. And despite being near to the breaking point, the two fall back into old habits and get the job done.

When the rescue workers told Wanda to be careful, that the next place they were sending her to give a hand was a zoo, she thought they were trying to be amusing at the end of their shift, the end of some very long days. She didn't actually think they were sending her to the actual San Diego Zoo. The earthquake had caused quite a few inhabitants to panic and then escape from their cages and she'd been sent to give a hand, both with any injured humans and animals.

Though she could leave any of the flesh eating ones alone, she thought, heading towards a group of trees with a few worried looking zoo keepers underneath of it. Everything had fallen over and debris was scattered throughout, meaning there had to be a few animals hiding in the brush.

She just hoped that one of the folks she'd sent messages too--Amanda and Doug namely--would arrive shortly to give her a hand. She stopped next to the group and eyed the area. Something was moving.

One of the HMMWVs that the Marine Corps had provided from Camp Pendleton to assist the relief effort dropped Doug off at the main entrance to "The World-Famous San Diego Zoo", as the signs all proclaimed. Doug sniffed disdainfully in hometown pride. The Denver Zoo was better. Moving quickly through the gates, he found a zookeeper who brought him quickly to where Wanda stood. "What's the what?" he asked wearily. He'd say he had been ridden hard and put away wet, except he hadn't been put away yet.

He looked, Wanda thought worriedly, like shit. But he was here and she was glad because she really was not an animal kind of person. Give her humans over the ones that ate people on occasion and she was fantastic.

There was a reason she stayed away from cannibals on a general principle.

"We think a mother koala and her joey made it into this mess," one of the keepers responded, pulling back a branch. "But some of this stuff shifted this morning and their either stuck or scared to death. We could use a hand."

"What on earth took you so long?" Wanda asked Doug suddenly, remembering the easy banter in Las Vegas and knowing he'd know this dialog. They moved to start moving things around very, very carefully.

Doug rolled his eyes. Even as tired as he was, he knew the exchange Wanda wanted to riff. "What?" he asked innocently. "I stopped for coffee." Moving forward, he pulled a pair of heavy work gloves out of his belt and put them on, leaning forward to help the zookeepers move the debris.

Grabbing a piece of what used to be a park bench, Wanda heaved it off the pile, grateful she'd been doing heavy lifting before. It mean she didn't have to think about the gloves. "Get a receipt?" she responded, enjoying the insaneness of it all. It was familiar and right now, that was the important part.

Doug snorted. "Yeah, I got a receipt, and I got you one, too!" he quipped, ignoring the fact that he didn't actually -have- any coffee with him. That wasn't the point. The point was witty banter. Because if they didn't have witty banter, they'd just break down and cry from everything they'd seen in the interminably long day they'd been in San Diego.

When the keeper indicated that the koala, who would be attempting to protect her baby, probably had climbed higher in the debris, Wanda sighed and started to gently untangle things at her height. It did not pay to be tall right now. Turning her head, she beamed. "You're the best, Doug!"

Doug giggled. "You know what, Wanda? I'll even get you the money from Remy!" he retorted mock-cheerfully. Moving some more debris, he grumbled slightly. "Of all the jobs in this whole city, I'm stuck rescuing drop bears," he muttered jokingly. "I better get hazard pay."

One of the members of the group, an older woman who'd joined them halfway through Doug and Wanda's very witty banter, stopped and stared at Doug. "Drop bears?"

Oh, she really shouldn't...but she would. "Oh, yes," Wanda replied, peering through a branch on her tip toes, balanced so she wouldn't topple over. "Drop bears. They import them from Australia, you see, very carnivorous and very sneaky. They tend to drop out of the trees and onto your heads."

The woman kept staring, squeaking when they heard a slight rustling noise from above them.

Doug tried to stifle a grin, along with several of the zookeepers. Sometimes people were too gullible to believe. "They're almost indistinguishable from koalas," Doug continued. "Until they drop on your head and try to eat you, that is," he said with his best deadpan 'who me, lie?' expression.

Coughing to hide a sudden fit of laughter, Wanda tried to look through everything to see where the "drop bears" were. "It is amazing how fast that whole chewing on your head thing goes to helping clear up which is which," she responded, not looking at anyway in case she started laughing and couldn't stop. It was that kind of a week.

Doug coughed to cover a few guffaws himself at the wide-eyed look the woman cast at him and Wanda. The situation wasn't really that funny, except that when you were that exhausted and had seen as much as everyone working in San Diego had, it kind of was. Looking up into the rustling branches above Wanda, Doug chuckled. "Mind your head, Wanda."

As soon as he'd said that, Wanda jerked her head up and found herself staring up at a very angry koala. Who let out an ungodly growl that had her squawking and flailing backwards as she pushed away, tumbling down square onto her butt in the mud. She winced as everyone started to crack up, the tension and the absurd nature of the entire last few minutes.

"...I do not think I like koalas," she sulked at Doug.

Doug chuckled, and moved forward, making coaxing noises and unhurried motions with his arms. After a few moments of that, the koala hopped down into Doug's arms, the tiny joey clinging to its mother's neck. Doug let out an 'oof' at the weight, but managed to hold on to the pair. With a smile, he turned and handed the koalas to one of the waiting zookeepers. "Maybe they don't like you," he offered back to Wanda, along with a hand to help her up.

She stared for a second and then started to laugh, letting him haul her to her feet. She wouldn't bother cleaning off the mud since she was already filthy. "I wish I had my camera," Wanda huffed as they headed back to the securing area. "...shall I get you a name badge so people know who you really are, my dear Dr. Doolittle?"

Doug, too exhausted to actually make a comeback, merely quirked an expressive eyebrow at Wanda, an eyebrow that said 'you are not nearly as funny as you think you are, crazy gypsy woman'. "I was merely imitating the sounds it made," he replied with a scowl.

Clapping a hand on his shoulder, Wanda gave him a tired grin. "Of course you were," she soothed, envisioning a very nice bottle of water. "And we will completely forget the fact that I pretty much screamed like a little girl and that you might be able to speak fluent koala...or should I say drop bear...?"

If the exhausted laughter from both of them cracked a bit, there was no need to bring it up.