"Thanks. This - is really special."

Blushhhh.

Soon enough their seats start heading back down again.

Nausicaa's bouncing when the ride ends.

"Where to next?"

"There was supposed to be an ambassador bird exhibit today," she says.  "That looks fun."  She unfolds and frowns at her map.

"Sounds it!"

Kaylee leads the way to a flamingo pen with a line of people queued up by the entrance, grinning all the while.

Heeee.

Flamingos! They're funky little dudes. Nausicaa bounces a bit impatiently.

The line doesn't last for long, just until the next presentation starts, at which point everyone files in pretty quickly.  There's wooden benches around the inside of the fence for everyone to settle into.  (At the moment the flamingoes are all locked in an indoor section of the pen.)

She sits next to Kaylee, of course, close enough their shoulders brush a bit.

Kaylee bumps her shoulder, lightly, playfully.

A zoo attendant emerges from the indoor pen and outlines how the flamingo-feeding presentation works - you'll get a cup full of waterlogged flamingo feed and you'll sit on the benches and let them come to you.  She invites everyone to come grab a red Solo cup from a table opposite the indoor pen.

Nausicaa heads up, and then tries to sit very still once it's time to release the flamingos.

Lucky for Nausicaa they're not timid, marching slowly but confidently up to her and the rest of the patrons.  The presenter talks a bit about flamingo social behavior and habitats in the wild while the birds start snacking.  One approaches her and starts drinking out of her cup energetically, with an odd jittering motion of its head.

Cute!

She glances over at Kaylee to see how she's doing.

Kaylee's having the time of her life, looks like!  One of the flamingos nibbles curiously at her shoelaces, and she giggles.

Heeeee.

Nausicaa keeps sneaking glances at Kaylee. The flamingos are awful cute though...

As Kaylee's flamingo wanders away, she leans back a bit in her chair and puts her free hand down.  It winds up on top of Nausicaa's hand.  She starts a little when she realizes what she's done.

She leans into Kaylee a bit, grinning at her.

Well, okay!

Kaylee laces her fingers with Nausicaa's.

Eeee!

Grin and small squeeze.

She ducks her head even though she doesn't really know why, and smiles back.

She leans against Kaylee until the flamingo event finishes.

(Aaaaaa Nausicaa is leaning against her why is that so niiiice.)

After a little while the flamingoes are herded back into the pen.

She doesn't let go of Kaylee's hand right away.

"Where to next?"

"We could see some more birds!" she says.  The flamingo pen is indeed right by some more bird exhibits.

(Kaylee doesn't let go of Nausicaa's hand either.)

She keeps holding hands, tugging Kaylee excitedly towards more birds. (They're so colorful! And there's so many different calls!)