"They sure are beautiful right" said Jose while looking in the exhibit "yeah luckily they still have a perfect relationship after all these years" sighed drake as he also looked at the two giant ant eaters smashing some rocks for fun they put ants inside rocks so the anteaters have some fun they have already eaten "Jose what are the names of these two girls I've seem to not remember them having names" asked drake his parents didn't focus on this part yet they wanted the animals to feel at home before they start forming bonds with them although nothing was perfect right now drake believes as long as the zoo keeper forms a bond with the animal they'll treat them better not that he doesn't trust his staff but for later "oh we don't have official names but I have my own names for them the mother is called Elena and her daughter Lucia" said Jose as he said the names with a heavy accent infact Jose wasn't even speaking English as everyone has real time translation learning languages is super easy drake could learn a new language in a month with constant conversations with a native speaker and as drake been around these employees for years he knows a lot of languages, "so how was the feeding today was there any abnormality oh and those names are good make them official" Jose was excited hearing about his names being official afterall he has been caring for the girls for years he has a lot of emotions attached to those names changing them would be a little hard for him "haha thank you drake This means a lot and the girls are doing just fine they have a lot of space and some rocks to smash for fun" said Jose as he proceeded to invite drake to drink at his house "I'm telling you drake my wife makes some killer tamales and carnitas (confit pork meat)" drake just smiled and said "maybe another time you know I'm busy with the zoo now a lot of stuff I gotta do but you better not be shy for when I come when I'm free" said drake in a joking manner as Jose laughed aswell after a couple more conversations drake saw that it was already 6pm so he said "I gotta go check on the bears before it get completely dark" Jose understood but said "tell Nikolai to bring me some more blini tomorrow" said Jose laughing as they work very close together they have a close relationship but that doesn't stop them from fucking with each other for jokes and giggles "haha alright but you better bring more tacos or else he'll eat them all tomorrow" said drake as he turned to leave walking the trail again as he walked he could see parents and their kids or just lone adults making there way to the exit after all its pretty late and the drive to Appleton is decently far they were also close to Green Bay city but they have a zoo way bigger than his so not many come here but he wasn't stressing it as soon they will become the best zoo in Wisconsin then North America and then the world
As drake made it to the grizzly bear exhibit he saw that it was almost empty with about 3 adults looking into the exhibit and a man with blonde hair sat at front "so Nikolai how's it going?" Said drake making Nikolai who was staring into the exhibit look at him "oh if it isn't little drake how's it going I'm so glad you finally came out that office" said Nikolai extremely happy as if he knew drake for a long time and that he did he, Nikolai like many grew up hearing war stories and since Nikolai is 45 his father and even mother were in that infamous war he grew up hearing horrendous stories of war of the eastern front he grew up detesting it like every kid in his generation he detested it so much that when his father and mother died when he was 16 he moved out of Moscow to the Siberian wilderness to live alone in solitude he spent years alone of the grid with nothing but an occasional Siberian black bear that came for food he knew feeding wild animals was bad but he couldn't help himself he created a bond with it until the bear stopped coming leaving Nikolai alone once again it was either a stroke of luck or a coincidence but when Nikolai was getting firewood by a road that led to a village he saw a broke down van of a man and woman drakes parents at first he hesitated to help but he couldn't see them trying to fix the van in the cold so he went up and offered shelter as they got to know each other and talk they hit it off right off the bat they talked about bears, tigers anything there connection was so close drakes father even offered him a job of taking care of the new grizzlies they gotten at that time Nikolai been alone for years with his only friend the black bear disappearing so he accepted and the rest is history
"Hey I couldn't lay down all day I had to take care of the zoo" said drake with a fake sigh making it look like a sad thing Nikolai just smiled at him and said "good because if you didn't get out soon I would of kicked your ass" said Nikolai while laughing while drake put a fake crying expression and said "uncle Nikolai doesn't like me anymore?" Nikolai just looked at him in disdain and said "get your ass a wife and give me some grand children then I'll probably care" said Nikolai while drake started laughing, you may have found that interaction odd but drake didn't he has grown up with these people he considers them his family they have been here since he was a child and have watched him grow up especially Nikolai as his fathers best friend he was there the whole journey they were really close