The lion encounter had been memorable. Being alone in a room full of half-asleep lions was a little humbling, to say the least. It had taken him a moment to get up the courage to reach out and touch one, but he decided to do it before they really woke up and decided they didn't like him there. The particular big cat he'd acquired fell back asleep and purred loudly. He came out and locked the door behind him, shaking ever so slightly, and no one would probably notice.
He followed Chad to the monkey habitats. He wasn't exactly sure what use any of these small animals would be, but he figured 'why not?' He'd gotten pretty close before they woke up and began screaming at him, but he managed to catch hold of one, how he'd done it, he wasn't sure. He noticed that he had it by it's tail, which was white with black rings on it. The lemur actually fell out of the tree, and Sean had to lay it on the floor of the simulated habitat when he was done. Very frightened little creatures they were... He encouraged Jo and Olivia to take advantage of the easy DNA sample while the monkey was still dazed.
The group then wandered over to the reptile house. Sean was nervous about acquiring snakes and things, but it would surely prove helpful at some point. "Guys.. we need to be careful here. We don't know for sure if any or all of these snakes have had their poisons removed, so if anyone gets bitten, get away from it and morph. Morph anything, but get that venom out of your system." Sean faltered. "That would work, right, Tarry?"
<Yes. The morphing process will heal any injury, including bites and stings. By reconfiguring your organic structure each instance through - >
"Thank you Tarry. I'm glad to hear about that." Sean was hoping he didn't sound rude. He was just a little fidgety and wasn't able to really listen to his explanations right at the moment. The group walked through the doors marked 'employees only', and around the halls in the smallish building, which made a circuit. Black Mamba's, Cottonmouths, Australian Red-bellied Black Snakes, and many other creatures lined the walls in small terrariums. The lighting was dimmed, and it made it even more nerve-wracking to be sticking hands into the homes of deadly animals. Jo and Chad dared their luck with a few, though Sean was looking for one in particular. He choose the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, a Texas native. And of course, it was awake. As he opened the lid and tentatively stuck his trembling hand in, it began to rattle. He nearly shut the lid, but instead he continued. Slowly, Slowly... it struck! The two fangs punctured the tender area between his thumb and forefinger, but rather than pull back he grabbed it around the neck, er, body, and acquired it. Unlike any other creature, it continued to writhe and twist, trying to bite again. He screamed. Oh, how he prayed it wasn't killing him. He flung it back into the cage, shut the lid, and quickly morphed the squirrel. It was the only morph he had control of so far. In only a moment, he was a very small, very furry, very relieved woodlands creature. He only remained in morph to say <I'm okay> to everyone, and he then returned to his true form. Not an experience he wished to repeat soon.
Once the others were done, they began to walk out the door and explore the rest of the zoo. And right at the door, he noticed the biggest living reptile species in the world. The Saltwater Crocodile. Before he'd gone on the cruise, he'd seen a documentary on these awesome creatures. They normally weighed over a thousand pounds, easily grew to more than fifteen feet in length. They had the strongest bite force of any recorded animal, if he remembered right. He hadn't forgotten his desire to quickly leave after the rattler incident, but oh man... how much damage could that monster do? There was only one in sight, and it was sitting close to the six foot wall of the exhibit.So quickly, before he had a chance to talk himself out of it, he climbed on the plexiglass wall, and jumped right on top of it. He jammed both hands onto it's rough, scaly back, and hoped for dear live that it would slip passively into the acquiring trance. Please don't be a reptile thing... he wished. Fortunately, it wasn't. The salty lay still, unmoving, until he was done. It twitched. Sean jumped straight into the air, and hardly noticed if he even touched the wall on his way back over. He had done it. Take that, Steve Irwin...
