ArchivedLogs:Pets and People

Pets and People
Dramatis Personae Chloe, Corey, Kate
In Absentia	2014-06-04 Pets bring people together
Location <NYC> Central Park North
Central Park North is slightly quieter than its southern counterpart, being further uptown and slightly out of the bustle of the City - insofar as one can escape the bustle of the City even here, in the acres of green and blue that make up Central Park. The reservoir is in the northern half, providing miles of jogging and biking trails along the clear water, as well as benches for people to sit and rest. It's not exactly the /nicest/ of days for park-loitering, on-and-off rainy all day long -- but at the moment at least it's 'off'. Which seems to be the perfect opportunity for Chloe to let her overgrown canine companion stretch her legs. There's a large Rottweiler bounding along at the end of the leash held in the woman's hands, though the bounding is frequently interrupted to sniff at Every Passing Thing. Benches. Hot dog carts. People -- some who respond quite unenthusiastically to the large (/clearly/ totally dangerous) dog. Chloe /has/ been calling Saeta back from the worst of her intrusion but at the moment she's a little distracted purchasing a large pretzel for herself, leaving Saeta free to harass passersby with enthusiastically tail-wagging snuffles. Wearing a grey tank top, a pair of blue shorts with a silver stripe, and a pair of running shoes, Corey is making his way down the park's pathway at a good pace, just another jogger out as the weather moves closer to summer. The rain had slightly lowered the humidity at least, and either way he doesn't seem to have yet built up a sweat from the exercise. Offering a smile to those he passes, he chuckles as a snuffle monster suddenly appears. Coming to a halt, he chuckles and offers a palm for sniffing "Ey there boy, getting all the attention there huh?" his voice carrying amusement at the friendly puppyface. A little bit of rain has never really been something to keep Kate indoors, especially on an otherwise mild evening, and after a long day at work, a run seems like a good plan. Dressed in a black tank-top layered over a bright pink sports-bra, and a pair of neon blue workout shorts, Kate is making her way through the park at a steady pace. Her hair is pulled back from her face into a high ponytail that swishes behind her in time with her running. A faint sheen of sweat glistens on her face as she pauses to take a drink from the water bottle she carries with her. Spotting Corey, and the large dog he is introducing himself to, Kate walks over, offering a wave of greeting and a smile. "Hey there. Fancy running into you here. Making friends?" she greets Corey, holding her hand out to the dog and glancing up at Chloe, inquiring about the dog, "Is it alright to pet her?" Chloe's rather less work-out-y than the other two, in jeans and a black sleeveless blouse; at the moment she's trying to stop herself from dripping mustard off her pretzel onto her shirt as she turns around. There's still a trail of mustard at the corner of her mouth where she took her first bite and she wipes it off with a thumb, smile bright as she sucks the condiment from her fingertip. "Oh, yeah, definitely. Saeta's a sweetheart, she'll get slobber /all/ over you though." Which is already happening to Corey as the rottie thrusts her nose forward, sniffing at his hand first and then slurping his palm eagerly. "But she's /usually/ good about not jumping." "Heh, just a big lovey aren't you," Corey says to Saeta as he ruffles the dog gently, and smiles up to Kate and nods to Chloe. "Most animals tend to like me so I can't complain about making friends." He does wipe off a bit of the slobber on the grass then on his pants as he rises up to his full height, in a slightly towering moment. "I'm Corey, this is Kate," he says gesturing to the smaller woman who came up. "I'd offer to shake your hand, but between the pretzel and the lead you've kinda got your hands full." "She's a darling," Kate says, and at the assurance that the dog is friendly, she reaches out to pet the dog's back. "I keep meeting all these people with great dogs in New York. Makes me wish I'd been able to bring my dog with me," Kate says, smiling at the snorfling and slurped greeting. "Apologies for interrupting your snack," Kate says sheepishly when Chloe swipes the mustard from her mouth, "Your dog is quite visible, just had to come over and say hi. Though I imagine that happens a bit." Kate smirks curiously when Corey introduces her, offering a cheery wave, "Hello." "She really is." The big dog's tail is wagging harder, her body shifting to lean heavily up against Kate's legs so that she can revel in the pettings. "Can be hard to find housing but it's /so/ worth it. Come home at the end of the day and --" Chloe waves her pretzel towards the eagerly wagging tail. Her head tips back as Corey stands, eyes slightly widened once the man is fully upright. "Oh, right, /manners/, lo siento." She switches her pretzel to her left hand, dropping the handle of the leash to wrap around her wrist and free up her right to extend first to Corey and then to Kate. "I'm Chloe, and this is Saeta. No apologies necessary, I think Sae interrupted both of your runs. We both do love making friends though so." Nodding at the talk of leaving pets behind, Corey does smile and accept the hand for shaking. "Yeah, my apartment wont let me have anything, well outside of a fish or something. I think I might have been able to, but it would have doubled my rent or worse," he frowns and lets out a sigh. "Not that I would have been a good pet parent between work and classes." He glances down the the waggly happy dog though and grins, "Though yes, I agree it would be worth it on my part, but I would feel terrible for being so neglectful." "My apartment will let me have a medium breed, actually - so long as I don't try to keep a mastiff in the little apartment, the management are pretty okay with it," Kate jokes, petting Sae with a smile, "But my job doesn't let me have exactly regular hours. I'd feel horrible leaving a puppy alone in my apartment at odd hours. So until I can get some sane shifts and not be the low man on the totem pole, I might see about adopting a dog." Kate sighs wistfully, nodding in agreement with Corey at the odd hours thing, "But for now, I just get to play with all the wonderful puppies around here." Kate stands up to her decidedly less than impressive height, especially when standing next to Corey, and accepts Chloe's handshake with a firm grip, her hands chapped and dry from repeated washing. "Pleasure to meet you, Chloe," Kate says to the other woman with a friendly smile, and then reaches her other hand out to ruffle-pet Saeta again in greeting. "Mastiffs are such total lapdogs, though," Chloe says with a grin, shaking hands with each person in turn with a light-quick squeeze, her own hands calloused-rough. "But, yeah, I can see how some apartment managers look at two-hundred-fifty pounds of dog and think -- just, no. Odd hours? What kind of job?" Her head tilts to one side as she looks up at Corey. "You could," she suggests lightly, "get a snake. They pretty much want to be left alone in between feedings anyway. Although I did have a friend with a very snuggly ball python." "Oh my hours aren't too entirely weird, I work in a coffee shop, but I've been studying for emergency services, so the class hours on that can be all over the place," Corey shakes his head, but smiles. "My ride alongs are getting scheduled though, so I'm almost done, and I'll have my certification. Then I'll have odd hours," he gives one of those such is life shrugs, then tilts his head at the snake idea. "Never really thought about a reptile pet. Kinda more used to having a golden retriever sprawled across my lap, or a cat pretending that it doesn't want me to pet em. Though a python gets pretty big eventually. Do ball pythons get that big too? " "They really are. Mastiffs and Great Danes are lap dogs, and no one can tell them otherwise," Kate laughs, "I had a part mastiff mutt back home. She stayed with my parents - far more room to run about in Oklahoma." She nods at the question about odd hours, tugging at her ponytail to adjust it a little better. "I'm an ER nurse, still /relatively/ new to the hospital, so I get the horrible shifts. Also had to take a few 'makeup' shifts to thank people who covered for me when I got sick a bit ago," Kate admits guiltily, offering a shrug. "It's Spring, so there will be new nurses coming through to foist the horrible shifts off on, as is the custom," Kate chuckles, grinning. "Ball pythons can get rather huge, yes. Maybe start with something like a corn snake, or bearded lizard," she says, wincing, "My sister studies herpetology. She delights in sending me photos of snakes larger than I am." "Oh, man, emergency medicine all around. That /will/ be a boatload of odd hours, won't it?" Chloe lifts her pretzel to take a bite from it, which draws Saeta's attention back; her tail thwaps against Corey's legs as she turns around to lean her /other/ side against Kate's legs so that she can face Chloe, looking up at the pretzel with imploring never-been-fed eyes. Chloe sticks her tongue out at the dog, then holds her arms apart -- wide and then wider, stretching about as far as they'll go. "Ball pythons can get -- four, five, six feet. They're not /small/. Beardies are adorable, they look like they're just /excited/ about the /whole/ world. More of a friendly sort of lizard." With the tail twacking from the dog, Corey leans over to apply much needed petting as he takes in the lesson on reptiles. "Something to think about at least. I mean, most of the smaller ones just need bugs and a heat rock right? The big ones need the frozen mice right?" Running his fingers through Saeta's fur thoughtfully, he shrugs. "I'll figure something out. I think I need to have time to think of other things to get lonely. Idle hands, etc, etc." He grins, and nods to the leash. "Course I couldn't take a snake out on a walk. Pretty sure they make poor jogging partners." Kate adjusts her stance at the lean from the large dog, reaching down to pet the begging puppy again. "Yeah, the hours are crazy, but it's fulfilling work most of the time. All that chatter about making a difference, it really does feel good to help people when they need it the most," Kate says with a warm smile. "Beardies really are cute. My sister had a pair of them when she was in high school. They'd just lounge on her while she was doing her homework, keeping her company," she explains, grinning. "Most of the little ones have pretty basic needs. Anoles and beardies are mostly insect eaters, and want a warm spot to nap," Kate muses, resting a hand on her hip as she talks. "Maybe the summer'll be quiet enough to actually consider getting a pet of some kind," she sighs, ruffling her ponytail, "I wish." "Snakes /are/ kind of lacking in one of the essential jogging components." Chloe rocks up onto her toes with a laugh, settling back down onto her heels. "That's -- pretty wonderful. Actually getting to help people. And if you moved up here from Oklahoma, that's even more -- I mean, New York lately has needed all the help it can /get/. Everything still kinda recovering from the plague -- we've needed good people. That's -- heartening." She takes another bite of her pretzel, and gently tugs Saeta back, stepping over the leash where it's managed to wind itself around her leg. "We should get on home before the rain comes back through. But, hey. Maybe until your schedules allow for pets you can just -- stop by the park and dose up on your puppy love when you need it." "Yeah, the rain probably will be back soon," Corey nods and looks skywards. "It was nice to meet you, and your snuffler," he says as grins down towards the dog. "I should probably get back to jogging. Kate, care to join my path?" Offering her a smile, he gestures the way he was heading before puppy petting. "Eesh, right they are calling for more rain again," Kate says, crinkling her nose as she looks up at the sky. A blush creeps over her cheeks as she nods to Chloe, "I saw all that had happened here during the plague, and it just felt like this was a place I could do the most good. So here I am." The nurse smiles brightly, and leans down to give Saeta one last solid pat before nodding to Chloe, "See you around, I hope. Have a good one! Hope you get in before the rain comes." Stretching her arms over her head, Kate smiles back at Corey, "Sure. Lead the way."