“Oh that’s funny. I’m Petunia Gardener and you’re Iris. I don’t suppose you’ve met anyone by the names of Daisy Flats, or Rose Wilburn.”

"Can't say I have." Iris gulped. Actually she did know someone named Rosemary, but her attention was focused solidly on the giant arachnid.

“You mean who, silly. This is Tobby-Twitter-Fluff. Tobby for short.”

"Tobby-Twitter-Fluff??" She parroted. Iris glanced up at the girl's face. Surely she wasn't serious. Weirdness of naming spiders aside, something that huge at least deserved a decent name. This reminded her of people who named their chiuahuas 'Spike' and their Rottweiler or Pitbull 'Buttercup'.

“You know some people believe that they make that sound when mating. Maybe they like you.”

Iris spared a glance back at the giant cockroaches, and unconsciously edged away. "Hehe.... yeah. Sorry, I'm not available. Um.... that- I mean, 'he', is going to eat those??"

She was begining to regard Petunia with a bit of..... unease. Someone who named their insects 'Bethany' and 'Tobby-Twitter-Fluff' had something seriously wrong going on upstairs.

"Can't say I have."

“Oh too bad. I think you would get along great with them. They are a lot like me.”


"Tobby-Twitter-Fluff??"

“Wow. This room seems to have some odd echoes when I bring people back here. Must be the acoustics with all the cages and aquariums.”

"Hehe.... yeah. Sorry, I'm not available. Um.... that- I mean, 'he', is going to eat those??"

“No silly.” Petunia strolled the cage of mice. She wanted to stroke Tobby but spider hair was an irritant and could dislodge leaving her little friend’s bottom bald. “He’s only going to eat on of the mice, and technically he slurps them. You know. Like this.” Petunia made a slurping sound as if she was trying to suck the last of a slurpy out of an imaginary glass and through a very thin straw.

“No silly. He’s only going to eat one of the mice, and technically he slurps them. You know. Like this.”

Iris grimaced visibly, and made an awkward 'uurk!' noise in her throat. She began looking around the room again, debating which creeped her out more; the slurping spider or the rest of the insect army. At the moment, both were tied.

She finally glanced at the short girl.

"You don't find any of this the least bit creepy, do you?" She had a feeling she was going to regret her next question, but she was grasping at anything to keep her mind off of 'lunch'.

"What- I mean, who is your favorite?" Honestly, who in their right mind refered to an insect as anything other than an 'it'??

"You don't find any of this the least bit creepy, do you?"

Petunia blinked and the smile that had been so tight across her cheeks from her sheer enjoyments, softened. “Creepy? Why would I find them creepy?” While Petunia had always enjoyed what her insects did, psychologically, to others, she had never thought of herself being creeped out. Then again, maybe she would be creeped out because of fear, if she were ever to loose control of them. However she had only ever lost control once, and that wasn’t big, the bugs she had been using at the time where ants and bees. Both of itch follow pheromone trains of those that cross before them working off their instincts. None had attacked her because none had left pheromones that indicated to the others that she was a threat. Instead, she still had her own pheromones that made them think of her as a queen. So she had been treated as an insect queen. Still it was a thought. Could she be creeped out if she were to loose control while handling something more deadly than ants and Bees?

Those were sertinly thoughts she should explore later, but for now she should answer Iris’s question. “To me, they are just like society. The insects. They have their worker who worship higher powers, (Ants and Bees) their lovers quorels, (Bethany and her boy friend) they have the slobs that live off of others. (The roaches) and then there are the predators.” Petunia’s eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment as her shance wavered. Oh yes the predators. That same smile creased across her face, as she sceeped up one of the mice with a card board box, then dropped the box one a cussion of ground cover in Tobby’s large aquarium. The spider dove off of the side of the cage as Petunia closed the lid and pushed him back in the row, and hid his hunt from sight. “Like us they have needs, the bare basics are food, air, water, and a place to deposit what their body doesn’t use. And if they feel they need to, they lash out. I have no fear for something so close to myself. I fear those around me with the power, and reason, to lash back at me. They don’t have reason, it’s everyone else.”

"What- I mean, who is your favorite?"

“Zip.” Well the things full name was Zippy-Doodle the second, but the full names seemed to bother Iris. Wow… Pix avoiding saying something because it might annoy people. Someone put that in a calendar. She’ll just have to make up for that.

Something on her back, under her camp uniform twitched as she thought, then scratched the back of her head. “Yeah I think Zip. May he rest in peace.” The smile widened and her hand stopped scratching. “Here you can meet a distant twin of his.” Her scratching hand extended from the back of her head, and there was a dragon fly perched on the tip of her finger.

“Creepy? Why would I find them creepy? To me, they are just like society. The insects. They have their worker who worship higher powers, (Ants and Bees) their lovers quorels, (Bethany and her boy friend) they have the slobs that live off of others. (The roaches) and then there are the predators.”

Iris blinked in surprise. As weird as that sounded, it made sense. A pensive, and slightly curious expression crossed her face.

“Like us they have needs, the bare basics are food, air, water, and a place to deposit what their body doesn’t use. And if they feel they need to, they lash out. I have no fear for something so close to myself. I fear those around me with the power, and reason, to lash back at me. They don’t have reason, it’s everyone else.”

<"How odd,"> Iris thought to herself. <"I use that same speech when talking to kids about conserving wildlife. I never would have put insects on the same level though...."> A slight shudder rippled through her, when she glanced at the scorpions again.

“Zip. Yeah I think Zip. May he rest in peace.”

Again she gave the girl a somewhat incredulous glance. But Petunia's wide smile seemed serious enough.

“Here you can meet a distant twin of his.”

Anticipating something even more exotic, and creepier, than she'd already glimpsed, Iris winced and tensed. But the little dragonfly came as an immense, and pleasant, surprise. She gave a soft, "Ooooh!"[/i]

Dragonfly sightings were few and far between back home, but always met with fascination and a camera when they visited her Butterfly garden or the Lake. This one seemed perfectly content to stay on Petunia's finger, so Iris worked up enough courage to lean down for a closer look.[/color]

Petunia smile dulled as she looked at the dragonfly that was on her finger. The smile that was across her face, softened as she held the little her finger out. The little blue dragonfly perched on her finger time. It fanned it’s wings once and petunia blinked.

It was one of her first forms that the had figured out how to become. She was holding something that she was. A copy of a friend that she once had, back in her garden, when she was little and the times with her brother were still happy. Zip was beautiful close up. Just like his copy that Petunia could hold, and his copy that Petunia could become.

For a moment, Petunia slipped into her old days. Zip on her finger, perched there like a pet bird. Right hand moving over the dragonfly, at first as if to pet it, but her brow wrinkled, when she saw the size of her hand. The few scares she had from rose bushes and garden shears. This wasn’t Zip. Zip wasn’t around anymore so what she did, in fooling herself, was wrong.

Her fingers pinched closed over the dragonfly’s body. There was a twist of her fingers and little critter was broken into two. Then crumbled like a loose piece of paper, and tossed into the closest cage. She turned to lean against the counter, combing her fingers through her hair.

Iris inhaled sharply and flinched back as Petunia crushed the little creature suddenly. Her gaze widened as she stared at the petite girl.

Something was just not right with this girl. Though she couldn't place whether or not it came from the whole creepy-crawlie fest, Iris just kept getting bad vibes from her. She began edging toward the door.

"I-I think I'd better go. You look really busy. And tired."

She felt a slight tingle in her back, and for once she wasn't overly worried about one of her gems activating.

Petunia lifted her head as Iris was edging away. Her head tilted taking a step forward to follow, and keep the distance between them the same. A smile formed across her face. Wiping away the any notion of a different emotion with the tugging of her hair behind her ear.

“Oh no.” Petunia said. “But if you must. You’ll come visit again right?” Petunia’s face was creased again. “That wasn’t Zip you know. It was just a copy. It was his twin.”

You’ll come visit again right?”

Iris gulped, and nodded. "Yeah. Sure." She didn't qualify that she'd return to the zoo, for sure, but not necessarily to the Insect Room.

“That wasn’t Zip you know," Petunia claimed. "It was just a copy. It was his twin.”

She looked at the cage, and the tiny mangled body within. "It sure looked real...." she murmured. Of course, it did seem to come out of nowhere. Maybe it was just a paper copy, or plastic toy.

Maybe....

"It sure looked real...."

“It was… is… I mean was…” The dragonfly, that petunia had crumbled, twitched it’s wings. Then it’s little legs wiggled as it tried to untangle it’s self from the crumbled ball.

Petunia’s smile turned in a snap to a grimas. She yanked the cage where she had thrown the dragonfly, away from the wall, and her fist came down. Finishing Zip… No not Zip… Finishing her minion off. “There. Now it’s was.” She whipped Zippy minion residue off of her hand, onto a napkin, and carefully returned the cage to it’s rightful place.

Turning, pix’s face snapped back to it’s bright smile. “Come bye any times.”

“It was… is… I mean was…”

Petunia's sudden action truly freaked Iris out. An involuntary squeak left her throat, and she jumped back, nearly tripping over the tank of cockroaches.

“There. Now it’s was. Come bye any times.”

"Um.... yeah...." Her heart beat way fast now, partially due to Petunia's bright smile. Forget the whole 'creepy crawlie' surroundings. That smile was waaaaaay creepier.

<"Is this how serial killers start out?"> Surprised at her own unbidden thoughts, Iris's eyes widened even further.

"I-uh, g-gotta go. Bye, Pet-tunia.... And Bethan-ny...."

She couldn't leave the room fast enough. Once outside, she took a deep breath, and tried to slow her heart rate.

"That was t-too creepy...." she murmured to herself. She needed to calm down, and so went searching for the lion house.