Walking the Dog

[Javier Evans]

Jay was in New Zealand on business again as usual. He was beginning to feel like he lived in hotels more than his own home. Ever since Leia had come to live with him he considered just moving permanently to New Zealand, but he couldn't leave the beach, and besides, Leia was in school for the majority of the year, and during her breaks she liked to go to the beach too. So the move would be pointless, having a house for the sake of not having to live in hotels weekend after weekend however, did seem like a good idea to him.

Jay mulled over these thoughts as he exited the Leaky Cauldron where he was currently staying for a bit. In his hand he held a leash, tied to a small black toy poodle dog that desperately needed a hair cut. Leia had insisted she bring Shadow along to live with him and her, since her mother couldn't be bothered to take care of it back in New York, and true to his word, Jay was walking the little dog out daily like he promised his daughter.

The two hadn't gone very far yet but the harbor was full of people shopping or otherwise just enjoying the spring air. Shadow was always behaved himself, never barked at anyone, and was too cute for his own good. Jay's Veela blood and Shadow's petite adorableness as a dog was a bit of an unfair advantage to other men who were looking for a potential suitor because the two of them combined seemed to attract a lot of attention, not that Jay wanted it.

Out of nowhere, Jay felt a strong tug on Shadow's leash as Shadow began barking like crazy and trying with all his might to pull Jay in a certain direction. Jay obliged to his wishes and allowed Shadow to lead him somewhere, with utter confusion. Shadow really never barked at anyone, so to see him barking like crazy towards someone was unusual to him.

[Dogs act weird around werewolves right? ]

 

[Hazel Butler]

For once Hazel was out in Obsidian Harbor for no particular reason as aside from having to get something for the nursery, which was recently finished. Clothes shopping, she would pick back up on that later but they were set until they were around Three months old. Having to get herself clothes to accommodate her ever expanding stomach, or simply making her own bigger with he wonderful aid of magic. Something she had really came to appreciate over the past few months. How muggle women did it she would never know. Sure she was even more fatigued due to her affliction but luckily a Full Moon wasn't near yet.

The streets were alive with activity once again today. It seemed she always picked the busiest time of day to come out into the harbor, but it wasn't her fault. She had a job that had a fairly stable schedule. 7AM-30PM Monday through Friday with the exceptions of breaks. She found it still surprisingly easy to keep up with her students despite how fatigued she should be by this point. Just like before it all seemed to come at her in waves in the days before the full moon, which had been the week before. After a few more minutes of walking she had managed to find her way out of the throngs of people and over into a nice outdoor area of a shop she didn't go into.

Taking advantage of the lack of people at that particular moment and the beautiful weather on one of the last spring days of the year before they were headed into another balmy summer, instead of browsing the merchandise set up outside that was under the watch of the shopkeeper from inside, she simply leaned back against a wall and let the sun hit her face, letting out a breath of relief as she felt a tremendous load of pressure leave her back from not having to nearly bend over backwards to keep from tipping over due to her large stomach

But this sense of peace didn't last long as she soon heard one of the most annoying noises on the planet. The loud incessant yipping of a dog, more than likely barking at her. She sound pierced her sensitive ear drums and it was times like this that she especially hated her affliction, not that she ever liked it. But dogs went insane around her and the little ones barked at just the right frequency to drive her up the wall. She wanted so badly to clap her hands over her ears and get away as quickly as possible, but for some reason she stayed still. She instead turned her head to the source of the yapping and it was a tiny black poodle barking every breath at her, struggling against it's leash wanting so badly to attack her ankles.

Her eyes traveled from the noise box some people preferred to call pets up the leash to the owner of the dog, fully intending to ask as politely as she could manage if they could please walk their dog somewhere else or at least try to quiet it if they wanted to shop here. But as soon as she laid eyes on him her words were lost. This had to be one of the most attractive men she had ever seen. She didn't know what it was but something about him kept her from saying what she was originally going to, instead she heard herself actually talking to the man as if intending to start a conversation. "Does it bark at everyone or am I just special?" she asked lightly, her tone joking. Giving the man an uncharacteristically friendly smile.

 

[Javier Evans]

Jay was completely surprised as he followed Shadow's insistent tugging that was pretty strong considering the tiny poodle's size. Jay was even more surprised to find the source of Shadow's barking, it happened to be no more than a normal, beautiful woman. Well, normal aside from the fact that she was very clearly pregnant. She looked like she was ready to give birth any moment now, but there was something different about her stomach, it seemed bigger than normal. Perhaps Shadow had sensed she was going to go into labor soon and had rushed Jay to the scene to help her? Jay nearly chuckled aloud at his thoughts, thinking they were foolish, but so far he hadn't been able to find any other reason why Shadow would react to the woman the way he did.

He had already looked at the scenery around the woman, or any other possible people he may be barking at, but it was clear that the barking was directed towards the woman. As he held the tiny dog back and scolded it for barking, it ceased its yapping just slightly, and Jay was able to hear the woman address him, playfully asking if Shadow normally barked at everyone or if she was just special. Jay smiled at her, finding the question to be quite comical, and replied, "No you're definitely special. He never barks at anyone." Jay looked down as Shadow quieted down more but continued to struggle against his leash. "It's odd really," Jay voiced his thoughts aloud, holding his reign on the pup. Jay looked up at the girl again, taking note of her beauty and smiled, not ready to leave just yet. "I'm sorry if he frightened you or anything," he added, chuckling lightly at the thought of this tiny pooch ever actually scaring anyone.

[Blegh lame sorry]

 

[Hazel Butler]

Hazel smiled at his response, making sure to keep the laughter bubbling in her throat from escaping. So the yapping ball of fluff was a docile thing then? Even though they annoyed her she was always amused at just how much dogs seemed to dislike her. Was the lycanthropy really that evident to the canine race? She had always wanted to get a puppy and attempt to raise it, just to see if the natural aversion would fade away with time. But of course she had never had the time to ever actually get around to doing it. Looking back up at the man from the little... poodle? She thought it was something like that, she decided humor would be the best response. "Well, I would say I feel honored. But somehow I don't think he's trying to be my friend." she responded, looking down at the dog who was barking, it's posture remarkably close to a poster of a muggle Halloween cat.

At his apology she shook her head and chuckled, "It's fine, I've seen worse." she said lightly, ignoring the small headache forming in between her eyes. She had definitely seen much...much worse in her lifetime. "What is it boy?" she asked, reluctantly taking her gaze off of the man with the shaggy blond hair and looked back at the dog. Feigning confusion as to why he would single her out to bark at. She suddenly remembered the snacks she had packed in her purse that morning in case she got hungry and wasn't near a restaurant at the time and smiled. "Oh I think I know what it is. You smell my beef jerky don't you?" she asked the dog as if it could understand her. Looking back up at the man she said, "Well... that may be why be hunted me down. These past few months I keep a bit to snack on in my purse..." she trailed off, feeling more embarrassed than she normally would about admitting such a thing. "But is beef jerky even safe for dogs to eat? Not that I'd feed a random guys dog without asking anyways. Just better to know before I got it out to see if that was why. Wouldn't want to get the little guys hopes up." she asked, stopping before she started to ramble. She was oddly talkative today.

[Your post didn't suck XD Also, Hazels being pulled in by the inadvertent veela magic ]

 

[Javier Evans]

Jay laughed lightly at the woman's response and said, "Don't worry, I can be friendly enough for the both of us." Though he was still wondering why Shadow had reacted the way he did to her, Shadow usually loved everyone, it wasn't very safe for a dog. If someone were to kidnap Shadow (though he didn't know who'd want to), it'd be the easiest thing in the world form them because Shadow would run right into their arms with no hesitation at all. The dumb dog was too friendly for its own good. Except well in this case, where he had thankfully ceased his barking, but the growl escaping his lips was still audible.

Jay watched as the woman began talking to Shadow, trying to get to the root of the problem, and offered him a snack. Jay looked at her as she confessed to carrying beef jerky in her purse, though with a hint of embarrassment. "What a relief to find a girl who isn't so afraid of eating every one in a while," Jay said with a smile. It was true, both Leia and Cynthia's mothers had both been obsessed with 'watching their weight' and how they looked. It made sense for Leia's mom, Leonor, since her entire business revolved around how a certain person looked, but he was tired of putting up with a self-conscious woman like that.

As the woman asked if beef jerky was safe for dogs to eat, Jay laughed and said, "I don't see why not, go ahead. That is if you don't mind sharing your beef jerky with him in hopes of a friendship," he grinned.

 

[Hazel Butler]

Hazel didn't know exactly what she could say in response to the mans comment so she just smiled at him before commenting, "You know, it may just be me... But I think a person just has to wonder what an animal could be trying to tell you when they bark like that... or whatever noise the animal in question would be making. Last time I checked, cats don't bark." she ended, looking back to the dog. "Don't worry boy, I wouldn't insult you that badly." she said quite truthfully, she preferred not to be around dogs to even have the chance to insult them, as if they could truly understand what humans were saying anyways. She didn't quite get why she was being so friendly to this one when it obviously wanted to bite her ankles off or something similar. But the owner seemed nice enough so she would keep on, it wasn't very often she had a decent conversation with a (rather attractive) man her own age.

At his comment about seeing a woman who wasn't afraid of food she laughed, "Dieting's never been my thing. I'd take a steak over a salad any day." she responded, smiling a bit. She was out and about enough to where she never really had to worry about gaining weight, the last time she had spent a whole day just lying about was probably while she was still at school. Hazel loved to eat, especially meat. Preferably raw but rare would satisfy her too. She did have self respect, she'd never let herself become the crazy cat lady that walked around in a mu mu eating ice cream and tipping the scale at three or four hundred pounds. But she wasn't going to starve herself either, even when she wasn't pregnant.

After getting the okay she nodded, unzipping her purse and finding one of the sticks of beef jerky she had thrown in there before she'd left that afternoon. "At his last comment she laughed, "I guess we all have to make sacrifices." she joked, ripping a piece of the stick off and offering it to the dog. "You want some jerky?" she asked it, pulling her hand back as the dog quickly snatched the bit of beef, nearly biting her fingers with his little teeth in the process. "Now to see if the bribe worked." she said lightly, ripping another piece off and laying it down in front of the little barking terror that she was for some reason trying to befriend, knowing full well that it wouldn't work.

 

[Javier Evans]

"You know I actually am wondering what his behavior towards you means," Jay replied, giving her a mock-skeptical look before laughing at her playful insults to Shadow, who remained oblivious and continued in his pursuits to attack her. In all seriousness, Jay probably should've been worried about Shadow's significant reaction to the woman, but he didn't think anything of it at the moment. He was enjoying his conversation with the woman so far, even if it was all centered around Shadow and not towards each other. Usually it was tough to know who got more attention when they were together, himself or Shadow. In this case he feared it was Shadow.

Jay chuckled when she said she'd prefer a steak over a salad any day. He was almost about to say 'That's my kind of girl', but refrained from doing so because he thought it would freak her out. Besides, the mothers of his two daughters didn't exactly prove that that was the type of girl he was interested in, but the girlfriends afterward were definitely an improvement from them.

Jay watched Shadow's reaction with interest as she offered him some of the jerky. He wondered if Shadow would reject it (not likely) or take it and finally calm down. Shadow at the first peace offering without hesitation, but once he was done with it he was still slightly snarling at her again. She laid another stick on the ground in front of him and Shadow ate it eagerly, his tail wagging again finally. This time no noise came out of the small pup, and he only looked up at the woman expectantly, his tiny tail wagging just slightly. "Tail wagging, that's a good sign," Jay looked back up at the woman with a smirk. "Maybe there's hope for you after all," he said in jest. Could Shadow's persistence to run and bark at the woman really have been for food? Surely she wasn't the only one with spare snacks in their purses. Jeez they're going to think I never feed the dog, Jay thought sarcastically.

 

[Hazel Butler]

When the man voiced his curiosity as to why the dog seemed to dislike her so, Hazel had to keep herself from tensing up. She certainly knew why the dog wanted to eat her alive, or at least attempt to. All dogs did, she assumed it was because of her condition but she hadn't talked to the only other werewolf she knew, Deimos, about it. There had been no real need to at the time. For all she knew dogs just didn't really like her for some reason. Not wanting to stay silent for too long and arouse any suspicion the man may get she shrugged, looking down at the dog again. "I don't know... Dogs never have liked me. To be honest I can't say I'm too fond of them either. One bit me when I was about four and you know what they say about childhood experiences causing phobias. I wouldn't go quite that far though." she replied, finding it hard not to laugh at the very stretched truth she had told him.

She definitely had been bitten, but not by a Poodle or a Lab. Not that the man with the tiny poodle and amazing eyes needed to know that. She was glad when the subject seemed to be changed back to the beef the dog was currently devouring. "So easily swayed." she commented, chuckling as she did so. "Here's some more buddy." she said, laying another piece in front of him and chancing a light pat on the head. She had the opportunity in front of her, why not test the waters a bit? She'd probably like dogs if they wouldn't try to attack her whenever she was near. "I'd definitely keep an eye on him though, if he can go from hating me to that in a matter of two pieces of beef jerky I can imagine he'd hop into anyones arms." she said, "Though I don't really get who would want to steal a dog anyways. Seems kind of pointless when you can adopt one that doesn't already have a family." she said, She may not like dogs. But no one deserved to be waiting forever for happiness that might not ever come.

 

[Javier Evans]

Jay chuckled when the girl said that dogs had never really seemed to like her. "Well I heard that they can sense when you fear them, so maybe they can also sense when you don't like them or something?" he suggested with completely questionability. He had no idea if what he had heard and said to the girl was right so he might be looking like an idiot right now. Jay flashed a grin at her in distraction in case what he had said sounded completely dumb. "And don't worry, it's not like I love dogs so much and just had to get some tiny toy Poodle," he laughed, gesturing to Shadow as he mentioned him. "It's my daughters, and she made me promise I'd walk it every day while she was at school," Jay rolled his eyes playfully and shrugged with a 'Kids,-what-can-you-do' look.

Upon mentioning the subject of kids, Jay looked down at Shadow again as she fed him another piece, in an attempt to catch and see if the pregnant woman was married. He didn't seem to see any type of ring on her finger, which was a bit surprising to him, considering her state, but it wasn't like this was the old times where a woman had to be married to have children. Perhaps she was married but just didn't wear her ring, or said she had to be married at all, she was probably just in a steady relationship and they were ready to have kids.

Jay snapped out of his sort of inappropriate thoughts as the girl spoke up again, pointing out how easily swayed Shadow was at the sign of niceness from someone. He laughed at her comment of him hopping into anyone's arms. This was exactly what he had been thinking of earlier. "I know," he groaned lightly, bringing his hand up to ruffle his dirty blond hair with mock-annoyance and concern. "I have to always keep my eye on the damn pup, if I lost him my daughter would probably kill me," he said with a playful tone, though he was being serious.

 

[Hazel Butler]

Hazel listened to the mans explanation guess as to why the dog didn't like her and chuckled. "Sounds plausible, but I don't even know whats safe to feed them. Chances are I'd probably be wrong on this count too." she responded truthfully. She really didn't know much about dogs aside from the fact that they barked and didn't like her. When he mentioned the whole not buying the dog for himself thing she had to laugh. All males seemed to have to explain anything that didn't seem manly. That dog was definitely not what someone would consider 'macho'. When he explained that it was his daughters she nodded, knowing she was going to have to get used to things like that in a few years. Probably sooner if they were particularly demanding babies.

Luckily Hazel had not been paying too much attention to the man in front of her as his eyes scanned over her hands while she tended to the dog who was still ill at ease with her regardless of the tail wagging. Too many people had looked at her stomach and then immediately went to her hands in these past few months, she had already snapped at Deimos for it once and felt quite bad about it, seeing as he was a friend of hers now. But that wouldn't keep her from doing it again out of annoyance, the conversation was pleasant and it didn't need to be ruined.

Laying a few more pieces of the beef on the ground in front of the dog she stood back up and leaned against the wall once more. All of that bending down to the dogs level and getting back up to a standing position wasn't east when you had a stomach the size of a basketball and a half. "You know... This may seem horribly random, But one thing I never got. Why don't they just allow dogs at Hogwarts? Or whereever it is your daughter goes to school. The only really useful animal to be in a school is an owl yet they can have snakes, rats, toads, and cats as well. Yet no dogs..." she said, but if they did she wouldn't be having this conversation with him right now. So she wasn't really complaining, she didn't get enough people she felt comfortable with, and for some reason she was at ease with this guy, thanks to his little yapping poodle.

 

[Javier Evans]

[Sorry for the major delay, won't happen again! ]

Jay shrugged his shoulders when the woman brought up not knowing if beef jerky was safe to feed dogs. He himself didn't know if it was safe to feed Shadow that, but he figured it couldn't be too bad. He daughter only warned him against having the dog near chocolate because apparently it made them really sick. He figured if beef jerky wasn't too healthy it would just pass through his system soon and it'll be over with. "What my daughter doesn't know won't hurt her," he winked. It's not like he was going to tell her.

As she brought up the subject of allowable pets at Hogwarts, she'd guessed correctly which school Leia went to, he chuckled lightly. "You should meet my daughter, she has a lot to say on that matter," he said, not realizing that this indicated he would very much like to see this woman again. "Before her first year at Hogwarts she and one of her friends had thought up the idea of arranging a petition to allow dogs at Hogwarts. She even tried begging me into letting her sneak him in," he told her with an air of humor at his daughters attempt. It hadn't worked, since their plan hadn't been well thought out, but it was nice to see them try and care for something at the age of eleven. "I would chalk it up to allergies," Jay gave his opinion on the matter, "but that wouldn't explain why they let cats in," he added. "Maybe it's just their size?" he suggested. "Obviously excluding Shadow here, most dogs are way larger than him," he laughed, also finally revealing the black pup's name. After noticing that this was the first time he'd said Shadow's name to the woman, he realized he had yet to give his own name! "By the way, I'm Javier," he introduced himself, extending his left hand out for her to shake. "But everyone just calls me Jay. I figured since we've been conversing it only make sense to know each others names," he winked again before laughing.

 

[Hazel Butler]

When he made the comment about what his daughter didn't know wouldn't hurt her Hazel snickered a bit. "That's very true, As long as it doesn't seriously hurt the dog theres no need to worry her." she agreed with a slight nod of her head. "Though from the way you talk she probably knows a bit more about dogs and such than I could ever hope to. Well, her dogs anyways." she added with a chuckle. Some people were indeed big dog people, Hazel just didn't happen to fall into that category of people. Shifting a bit to make herself more comfortable after standing so long with her stomach sticking out a mile she smiled at the half Veela.

Hazel listened in silence as the man went on, talking about how he should talk to his daughter if she wanted to have an earful on the aforementioned subject. "I'm sure she would." Hazel agreed with a laugh, before listening to him talk about how his daughter had tried to petition Hogwarts to allow dogs inside, and even trying to get her father to let her sneak him in. In all reality that probably wouldn't work if there was a single werewolf within the school, the dog would go mad and bark like crazy. "Oh the joys of parenthood I have to look forward to." she responded, laying one hand on her overly large stomach. When the man gave his theories on to why only dogs seemed to be excluded from Hogwarts she looked back down to the dog who was wanting another piece of her jerky, ripping a bit off and handing it down to him she looked up back at the blond man and nodded, "Probably, I mean... It wouldn't be very good to have giant great Danes or St. Brenards running around the place making a mess everywhere now would it?" she reasoned, "Then again there's also the matter of walking them and such. Cats are free roamers while dogs like to be with you 24/7" she added, when he introduced himself to her she realized they hadn't actually gotten around to that. What was wrong with her? Her memory would get worse as she got closer to her due date but this was ridiculous. "Pleasure to meet you Jay," she started, using his nickname. "I'm Hazel." she introduced herself before reaching out to shake the extended hand.