Some Things Just Can't Be Understood

"Well, Rolly might take offense, but in general yeah," Maple went on. "Like those Jack Russell dogs. Little hyper yippy things that are so happy to see you they'd gladly bite your nose off. Neurotic pups."

Maple wandered off to where the prairie dogs were. They really were purple here.

"Yeah. The landlord had one. Nipped at my ankles." Pheobie stated.

"A fine way to attract customers," Maple remarked with a smirk. "Stay here and you get free nips on the ankles. As a bonus you get free barking at 3 in the morn' too."

"Nope. 8. better than an alarm clock." Pheobie giggled.

"Ah," answered Maple. "I guess that could be an actual selling point then."

The purple prairie dogs peeked out from their holes timidly, occasionally darting from one hole to the other. Some of them nibbled on carrots while staring out at the observers.

"...You know, I don't know why they're called prairie dogs. They don't look or act like any dog I know of."

"Because they lived on the prairies, and they sound like a dog when they give their warning that a predator is nearby" Pheobie supplied. "We had some in our parks" She smiled

"Well there you go. You know something I don't," Maple laughed. "Traveling's like that. You might learn a bunch of things all at once, but there's a lot you just randomly pick up like loose change. Sometimes the loose change is more interesting than what's important."

Maple noticed someone walk by wearing a cap shaped like a lion, complete with some fluffy mane. He would have to get one of those later.

"this is alot of fun" Pheobie smiled. "Let's go see something else!"

So they went over to the giraffes. People had to crane their necks up just to see the whole animal. There were three, all white with red spots. They also had an extra pairs of eyes and legs, which Maple hadn't expected.

Maple had heard Razekar was here, but he saw no sign of him, which was just as well. Maple wasn't in the mood for him right now.

Pheobie was so excited to see the new creatures that she was bouncing on the balls of her feet. "They're so cool!!" She would squeal from time to time. "Maple, you're the best for bringing me!!" She threw her arms around his neck in a hug before going back to leaning on the fence.

"...You're welcome, dear," he answered, a little dazed and surprised from the sudden glomp. He skimmed the fact area of the sign and learned that these giraffes were carnivorous. That was a first.

"How come they're so tall?" Pheobie asked.

Even though the number of young men looking at Pheobie had diminished, didn't mean that is had stopped completely. A group of boys standing a few feet away from Maple kept smirking and making comments among themselves about her thighs and the skirt.

Boys will be boys thought Maple, trying to ignore them. Do not use the GS to turn them into monkeys unless they get obnoxious

"Well, usually it's to reach the tallest branches of trees to get the leaves other animals can't get," Maple said, staring back up at the tallest giraffe. "But apparently these giraffes eat meat, so I'm not really sure. Maybe to drop small prey from a significant height?"

"I guess its a possibility" Pheobie stated. "So usually they eat leaves?"

"Usually yeah," Maple answered. "I remember one world where all the plants were carnivorous and all the predators were vegetarian. A pride of lions would have to gain up on a giant venus flytrap."

"A what?" Pheobie asked, looking at him blankly.

"Venus flytrap," Maple repeated, before realizing he needed to explain. "It's this plant that attracts flies, traps them, and eats them. Usually they're little things only flies have to worry about, but in that world that were about six feet tall and much more mobile. Well, they were still rooted, but they could lunge out at prey and stuff."

(any local listening to Maple must be like wtf?)

"Oh. okay" Pheobie nodded. "So what's next?" She asked with a smile.

"Well," Maple began, before his stomach growled loudly. "...Lunch, apparently. We need to find a vendor."

Pheobie giggled. "You should have let me make you lunch, but all you wanted was Ice cream" she smiled. "Well then, what do you want?"

"Hot dogs sound good right now," answered Maple. "Or hamburgers. Or fries. Doesn't matter as long as I can eat it."

"Not very picky are you?" Pheobie giggled. "Is there anything you don't like?"

"Pickles. Cabbages. Vegetables in general," replied Maple, sticking his tongue out in disgust. "I mean, I don't mind them mixed in with other food, but I can't stand them by themselves."

"But they're good for you!" Pheobie laughed. "how can you not like them?"

"The main reason why most people don't like certain foods: they taste awful," Maple answered. "I wouldn't last very long as a herbivore. So what food's don't you like?"