Too Cute

[Annalyse Castova]

Ana had ventured into one place that she normally would steer away from. She knew that she traveled a lot, but when the shelter had posted that they were having a half off weekend, she knew she couldn't resist any longer. Now, the trick was to find a pet that would either a) travel well, or b) could be easily watched.

This ruled out dogs, and most cats, so she wasn't quite sure what to do. Anna loved all animals, except really, for reptiles. She knew it was irrational, but snakes scared her. She just didn't like reptiles in general. Something about them being major predators.

The fairly tall 26 year old ventured into the shelter and adjusted her sweater. She wore things that weren't going to be a problem for the animals and turned around, basically bumping into a well dressed man. "Oh I'm sorry." She grinned at the bespectacled man and tilted her head a bit. "I was distracted by the cute."

[Dr. Taylor Ward]

Taylor hadn't spent a lot of time at the shelter, but the veterinary clinic he worked for was contracted by the shelter to look after the animals, whether it was routine vaccinations, spaying or neutering, or checking them out when they were unwell. Today had been easy - examining and vaccinating a litter of puppies that had recently come in with their mother. Mom was doing well, and the puppies were all growing well. Now they'd had their vaccines, it was only a matter of time before they'd be adopted out.

With his work done, he'd lingered a little to look at the shelter animals. Now he had his own place, he was entertaining the idea of a pet. First he had to ensure he could still pay his bills at home, keep paying down his massive student loan, and still have money left over for things like groceries for himself, let alone a pet. Okay, so he had the advantage most people did not, in that most medical care for an animal would be cheap, but still. He wanted to be sure he could handle a pet financially before he pulled that particular trigger and adopted one.

But it didn't hurt to look.

It was looking that led to the small collision. He jumped a little and stepped back a bit to give her some space. "No, I'm sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." In particular there was a cat who was winding her way around her window, brushing her cheeks against the glass. "There's a lot of cute here. I don't blame you."

[Annalyse Castova]

Ana grinned as she looked up at the man whom she had bumped into. Wow. Speaking of cute... Ana’s grin grew larger as the man proceeded to apologize as well. “Hey it’s no problem. After all, distractions lead to chance meetings which lead to tall handsome strangers who seem to like cute things.” She winked at the bespectacled man and gave a small laugh. “I would say it just might be my lucky day.”

She glanced at the small black and white dog she had been enamored with, then back to the man standing before her. “I’m Annalyse, or Ana, or Anna, or Lettie, or... well anything really.” She figured it was polite to introduce herself, especially if she had been the one to bump into him. “Sooooo much cute.” she pointed gave him and up and down appreciatively before pointing to the dog that had distracted her. “Doesn’t it look like an oreo? Man, that would be a perfect name.” No. Ana, No. You don’t need a dog, you need something that can travel or be easily taken care of if you have to go.

Sighing she glanced up at the man who was obviously unaware of her internal struggle. “So whatcha here for? Cat? Dog? Elephant?” Grinning she tilted her head, and played with her necklace. “I travel a lot for my job so I need a pet that can either travel easily or be easily petsat.” She smiled and clicked on her camera vision. Man, all this guy needed was a kitten or a puppy. Perfect picture...

In fact... Smiling her most convincing grin Ana gave the guy another once over before putting on her biggest convincing voice. “Soooooo, would you be interested in maybe holding something cute for me, I mean that would be double the cute, so...” Grinning she glanced over to a cat that was weaving her way around a window. “How about that one?”

So much flirting was happening, though she really did want to take his picture.

[Dr. Taylor Ward]

Oh, wow. Taylor grinned and shifted to push his glasses up his face – a habit he’d learned was almost a nervous one. He did it a lot. He’d expected to come to the shelter and do his job, not run into a pretty young lady who seemed to be… oh. Color darkened his cheeks a little when he realized what she was saying. He hadn’t really flirted with anyone for a while, save for Sophie at his brother’s terrible Halloween party. And that had been… abysmal as far as flirting went. Beyond that, he hadn’t really had time in university to flirt. Studying had taken up much more of his time than he cared to admit. But it had gotten him where he was, so he couldn’t really complain much. “It’s hard not to like cute things,” he admitted. He saw them day in day out, after all.

Smiling at her introduction, he shifted his files and offered her his free hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Annalyse. I’m Taylor.” Despite it being official, he still felt weird introducing himself as ‘Dr. Ward.” Especially if it wasn’t with a client. Looking at the dog she indicated, he smiled and nodded. “It would be a pretty perfect name.” It didn’t help that if he could live off of Oreos, he probably would. Much like his twin would live off of Pop Tarts.

“I wish I was here to adopt someone.” Giving a slightly helpless shrug, he brought his hand up to touch the green stethoscope around his neck. “I was working, actually.” If she thought the black and white dog was cute, he wasn’t going to tell her that there were eight week old puppies behind the scenes at the moment. “Travelling with pets can be hard, but petsitting or boarding is a good option for them. Cats are pretty self sufficient, apart from the litter. Uhhh.” Most pets needed at least looking in on every day. “What were you thinking about? Pocket pet, or something bigger like a cat or dog?” He’d grown up with dogs, and due to his power he had a sort of kinship with them, but he also liked cats. “And, if I may ask, what is it you do that entails so much travel?” It would be interesting, but even the move from Montana to Vermont to Massachusetts and back to Vermont from high school to now seemed a lot.

Curious as to why she wanted him to hold something cute, Taylor couldn’t exactly say no very easily. Sometimes that got him into trouble. And the cat looked awfully sweet… surely no one would mind if he zipped her out for a quick visit. “Sure, I can get her out if you’d like to see her.” Setting his file on the floor near the kennel, he made quick work of the latch and after a moment of coaxing and letting her get familiar with him, he lifted her out to show Annalyse. “She’s very sweet.”