UNIVERSE / BTS.

68: escaped cub / namgguk

ESCAPED CUB

WORD COUNT 2.6k
OVERVIEW jeongguk and the new falconer, sitting in a tree, losing hyena cubs wooo
FOR arne (love u bro)
NOTES what the... fuck .. is this... up to u to decide.... i'm tired

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A GOLDEN SMILE IS PLASTERED, as always, on jeon jeongguk's lips when he approaches the animal preservation park where he works, the sounds of all the animals already making him feel like he's home now. the new zealand muggy weather makes him sweat a little, but he removes his coat once he's inside the air conditioned space and feels relieved.

"hey, jeongguk," jooheon, the carer for the marine life smiles at him once he reaches the locker room, already changed into his various shades of blue uniform. "the hyena cubs are missing you, bro."

jeongguk laughs, pulling off his sweatshirt and changing into his light camouflage uniform. he works with some hyena cubs that the park rescued from hunters who wanted their pelt or people who wanted to sell them to the black market as "exotic pets". he's had them since they were bottle feeding-that was an... experience-and now they're being hand fed bits of steak or pork by jeongguk himself. "good luck with the new eels i heard the boss got in. endangered because of sushi production, i think."

jooheon places a hand on his chest, shocked. "oh god-do i have to stop eating sushi? i love that stuff!"

jeongguk laughs, rummaging in his locker to find his hat and nametag. "you should be fine. it was just the one restaurant in tokyo, said it was a "delicacy". read the news, jojo." he places his sand-coloured cap over his current pink-dyed hair, and clips his "jeon jeongguk, hyena carer" nametag onto his chest, waving a goodbye to jooheon and heading toward the desert animals section of the park.

the habitats the animals are in are as realistic as possible, their head habitat woman, amber, having done hours of research and trying her hardest to make sure the animals are comfortable. the hyena and lion cubs are obviously in separate enclosures, with at least five square feet for both of them, as they're small and will be released back into the african savanna when they're fully grown. they house the falcon and eagles close to the desert animals because they like the warmth that the african mammals need, so jeongguk gets huge birds circling over his head while working-the birds of prey allowed to fly free in the tall ceilings, with various rungs to perch on if they want and food three times a day. there's also baby antelopes and they even had a zebra family the first year jeongguk worked there, and, according to the lion trainer matty, they're expecting possibly a giraffe or a leopard, both equally desired by poachers for their pelts.

jeongguk loves working at the animal shelter, grinning widely when the three hyena cubs starting making funny noises he assumes are loving when he opens the door and steps carefully into their enclosure, sand hitting his desert boots and cubs jumping at his legs. he's named them; the smallest of the three is simba, thanks to the boss's kid that visited the place and loved them so much, saying the lion king's hyenas were her favorites. the girl is jackie-a running joke with jackson, the lion carer-and the bigger boy is spike, which jeongguk finds funny, because he's actually quite sweet. they nose incessantly at jeongguk's legs, and the boy sits down, letting them lick all over him.

"hey guys," he coos, scratching behind their ears. they're basically dogs to him, rather than the vicious animals a lot of people see them as. they yip and make their strange laughing noises, jackie choosing to stay in jeongguk's lap while her brothers chase each other around the pen.

"morning jeongguk!" amber, with her usual clipboard and pen, walks past, registering any changes and any progress, and behind her is josh, the feeder, who carefully opens the door and passes jeongguk a bucket of roughly chopped pork-castoffs from the local butcher, fatty bits and bits people didn't want, cheap cuts that hyenas guzzled like prime meat.