[Sarah]

“You’re certain we’ll find it here,” Jasper asked. Medicai city was well known for being clean, at least within the circles that Jasper ran. The place was the epicenter for medicine and science. He really couldn’t imagine that a place so focused on health would be anything less than pristine. That they would find anything ‘wild’ made little sense to him. He supposed the wildlife could always encroach on the city, and perhaps it was difficult to keep them at bay.

[Sarah]

“That’s what all the reports say,” Luca replied. He’d been doing research on the area for a while. The wildlife was slowly coming into the city despite the best efforts of the citizens. Here and there a few wild creatures slipped in and made themselves home within the city. From what he had read they weren’t causing any problems for the people or domestic animals. With some luck they would be able to find one of the wild animals within the city and bring them somewhere safe.

[Sarah]

“How many reports?” Jasper asked. He wasn’t really trusting that Luca had done all of his homework on the matter. His friend was hard pressed to ever give anything one hundred percent. Even if he was passionate about the subject Luca somehow always managed to be lazy in his work. Jasper didn’t want to find out after all their travel that Luca really wasn’t sure they were in the right place. Almost nothing would be more annoying.

[Sarah]

“One… I could only find one report,” Luca admitted. “It was a good source though! A couple of professionals got together to write it, and even had it peer reviewed to make sure their findings were correct,” he defended. One report was not exactly faith-inducing of their quest, but Luca was certain he was not wasting time. Jasper was so picky about what adventures he would take with Luca that Luca couldn’t get him to go anywhere without at least something undoubtedly valid.

[Sarah]

Luca looked momentarily upset. “Next time I’m doing the research,” he grumbled. Perhaps Luca had found something credible, and perhaps all this wasn’t a waste of time, but Jasper wished that there was more than one thing to go off of. “What did the report say?” he asked. Better to focus them on their direction so Jasper could get back to his own work. Not that he was working on anything that important, but he knew how Luca could dilly-dally.

[Sarah]

“Come on – no – I actually worked hard on this,” Luca said. He’d searched everywhere for the information he’d acquired. He had definitely put way more work into this than anything else he’d done in a long while.

“It says to look in places with flowers and flowering plants. Their diet supposedly consists of nectar, and I think most of the wildflowers have lost their buds since its been cold. There are gardens in the city that have artificial heaters, it keeps the flowers in bloom for longer,” Luca explained.

[Sarah]

“Okay. What garden did you look up that’s heated?” Jasper asked. Knowing his luck Luca would have gone as far as one report and then left everything else up to Jasper. They would be wandering the city for hours looking for a garden if Luca was acting as he always did.

“There’s one near here. It isn’t too far from the forest actually,” Luca said. He began to lead them down the block. Jasper was almost too shocked to form a thought. He was glad Luca was ahead of him so that he couldn’t gloat about the work he’d done.

[Sarah]

“You really only found one report?” Jasper said finally. The city wasn’t actually unpleasant to look at and he’d gotten a little lost in thought as he was led through the city.

“Yes, but I promise I did look everywhere for it,” Luca replied. He knew the amount of times he’d totally annoyed Jasper with being unprepared, but it was a bit rude the lack of faith Jasper had for him. They’d gone on a ton of fun adventures even if they didn’t find what Luca was looking for.

[Sarah]

“You really want this thing then,” Jasper said. He could see the garden up ahead. It was a sort of grand thing, sitting out against the white of the city. The iron fence that surrounded it was covered in vines and the archways that acted as entrances were also green with leaves and plant life. It was a little hard to see into the garden just yet, but from what colors he could pick out this far away it did seem most of the flowers were still in bloom.

[Sarah]

“That’s why we’re here,” Luca said. “I’ve been wanting to add something like this to my collection for a while. They’re such an interesting species…” he seemed to get lost in thought for a moment. When he snapped out of it he said, “Why do you think I’ve put so much time into the garden this year? The new enclosure needed a lot of time to mature before I could even think about adding another species.”

[Sarah]

Luca’s home had a sort of zoo-like quality. It wasn’t an official zoo, but Luca had spent years of his life collecting and nurturing exotic species. He loved to watch them, and this new creature would be well taken care of. None of his other pets were badly treated, and his little private collection was an important part of a few scientific communities. Adding another part to it had been incredibly time consuming and they would both be quite glad that it was going to start housing something.

[Sarah]

“Will you be adding anything else to that garden?” Jasper asked. He really didn’t mind tracking down foreign species with Luca. He just required that they did actually track down and capture whatever it was Luca was looking for. Perhaps that was harsh, but Jasper’s normal work required he get results quickly, if he didn’t then it felt like a waste of time.

“Maybe in time. I plan on having a few nectarivores to the garden, but what comes in will depend on its temperament. I really struggle with the territorial and aggressive ones,” he said. Aggressive creatures were so much harder to take care of and keep happy. Their requirements were more specific and demanding and Luca didn’t really have the resources for something very finicky.

[Wild Pet Found]