[Open] Twists and Turns

[Nico Tseng]

Nico had to count his blessings when it was overcast, enough to take the edge off the heat and humidity that battered the city most days. He had decided to take Julia out to the park instead of walking her around his neighborhood, reveling in the light breeze that swept past that morning. Thankfully he had gotten to the park before the usual crowds, knowing it would be packed nearer to the afternoon, and he allowed himself a light jog while the German Shepherd trotted alongside him. She had been trained well to stick by Nico's side and just as relaxed as he, so mornings out like this were very therapeutic for the man.

There were her moments, however. Julia was a sweetheart, but she was also protective and hesitant about new things. That was why when she paused in their pace to sniff the air a bit Nico blinked in confusion and reached his free hand down to pat her head a bit.

"What is it, girl?" he asked quietly, only able to get the last word out a half-second before the dog lurched forward and bolted. Nico, not being the strongest man and not having the greatest grip on her leash, jerked forward as well and near screeched at the force. Julia yanked the leash out of his hand and was now tearing down the park sidewalk, barking every so often as she followed whatever scent she had caught.

"Shit-- Julia! Get back here, what's gotten into you?!" Nico shouted as he righted himself, nearly falling over his feet. He could only hope that whatever had excited or troubled her that she would lose interest before she got too far. He broke into a run in the direction the dog had gone, rushing as fast as his legs would take him and shouting her name all the way. Where the hell was she running off to so quickly?

God, this was not the workout he had wanted today.

[Sati Beshara]

(OOC: I hope it's okay that I'm godmodding the dog, aqssuming she's friendly, etc. If not, tell me and I will change/fix it!)

Sati was heading back to her house from the Bayside Marketplace, and since Bicentennial Park bordered it, she was going through it as a shortcut. At this time, she would normally would be going to work, but today she didn't have to go in for another two hours. The schedule had been changed this week to allow for some repairs to be made to the, so she was squeezing in some shopping during the extra time she now had. She wished she could sleep instead, but this needed doing. Alas, responsibility and independent living and being an adult! She wasn't sure why repairs were needed this time, but had a feeling either a swan or pony or both might be involved...

And then speaking of animals, one was coming right for her. A more common type, to be sure, but no less menacing that the likes of Odile. Yes, sure, Juliawas in fact friendly, but Sati had no way of knowing that. All she knew was it was a big dog running at her and barking and oh my what big teeth you have--! However, when the teeth failed to make contact with her legs and a tongue did instead, leaving a big wet spot on her dark brown tights (tights...in summer...in Miami...mornings can't be THAT chilly, Sati!) it became quite clear to her that the only danger that there would likely be from this pup was if it was one of those ones that couldn't quite hold in its 'excitement' when it came to meeting people and getting it all over their shoes. She noticed it had a collar and leash, and so she crouched down, put her shopping bags on the ground, and began to finger the collar in search of the tags to see if there was a number she could call or something. It looked like she might not need to, though, for a fellow came rushing from around the same direction the canine had. Sati, presuming correctly that he was in pursuit of said canine, stood back up, holding the end of the leash in her hand and offering it out to the man,

"Is this yours?"

[Nico Tseng]

If he was lucky, Nico figured he could catch up to his dog if she became distracted by something. Julia wasn't by any means too gregarious so she wouldn't do anything too reckless. So when he saw a woman some feet away with the German Shepherd going about licking her legs and sniffing at her in rapt curiosity, Nico breathed a sigh in relief, put more at ease when Julia began barking in his direction. Seeing Sati holding the leash the man let himself catch his breath before he glanced down at Julia with a sigh, then looked up at the woman who had saved him further search for the dog.

"A-ah, yes," Nico responded quietly, taking the leash from her and regarding Julia with mild scolding. "Don't run off like that again, Julia, you'll get lost," he murmured, the dog sitting next to the two of them and lolling her tongue out, seeming proud of her find. Tail swishing, Nico figured that she was awfully proud of her little adventure and the new 'friend' she'd made. Julia normally didn't take as easily to new people, but Sati seemed to be an exception.

Nico idly ruffled her ears before straightening himself and smiling hesitantly at Sati, looking a bit apologetic. "I'm sorry for the trouble, miss," he offered, the faintest blush on his cheeks. "I hope she didn't bother you or anything, I don't really know what got into her... she's normally very well-behaved," he explained. Realizing he was rambling a bit he cleared his throat some, awkward as usual with first meetings. "But thank you. I don't know if I would have been able to find her had she gone far. But she seems to really have taken to you." When he realized how much he was embarrassing himself he averted his gaze once again down to Julia, who looked as chipper as ever and continued to curiously sniff around Sati, tugging at her leash all the while.

"But, um... sorry for the inconvenience." Enough with the apologies, he mentally chided himself, even if it was second-nature. "She can act just like a puppy sometimes, even if she's big."

[Sati Beshara]

"No, she didn't bother me, Sati shook her head,

"Scared me a little though."

A millisecond after it left her lips (this is the usual moment when the realization one should not, for whatever reason, have said what one just did) she became a mite concerned that this choice of words might cause offense to the man, for people could be defensive about their pets and accusations of possible scariness of said pets. And Sati also didn't want to be accusatory. Or give him reason to be concerned about her, as she had no need of it and didn't like worrying people necessarily, especially apparently-nice strangers.

"I've never had a dog so I just don't know much about them, like how to tell if they're friendly or not. The lick was a good hint, though."

At being told that she--Julia, he said her name was--seemed to like her, Sati smiled,

"Well, I'm flattered then. No inconvenience."

Looking down at Julia, she asked

"This is as big they get, then? Too bad, she's JUST this close to where you wouldn't have to walk her at all anymore--you could just ride her like a horse!"

[Nico Tseng]

Nico chuckled gently, ruffling Julia's ears and getting a few licks to his hand as he did, settling her down some from her journey still sniffing about Sati before she tangled the leash around the woman. "It's understandable, she's a good guard dog most times... you wouldn't guess it with her looking so pleased with herself now. Most people look at big dogs, especially Shepherds, as frightening. She'd not make it in a police corp though, that's for sure. Total softie." He rolled his eyes when Julia settled herself down finally, paws draped without a care across one of Sati's shoes.

"And I guess she thinks you're her new best friend now. I didn't have pets growing up, so it was a treat to have a pet when I got out of college and got my own place. She's surprisingly not as big as they can get, either," Nico noted, managing a little smile. "That would be something, though, riding her around. It'd certainly beat traffic, right? No one would want to get in the way of the Canine Express. Then again, with her personality, she might just drag me into more mischief." Noting his few rather silly jokes, Nico hoped he wasn't embarrassing himself too much. Being social like this was way out of his element.

"She was actually really small when I got her, if you can imagine it. This little, all floppy ears and big paws." He moved his hands up to demonstrate the size, amused. "And just as quirky as her namesake." Nico paused in realization of something and looked sheepish once again. "I'm rambling though. Sorry if I'm keeping you or anything too... I didn't expect her to latch onto anyone." At this rate the man would have to pry Julia off of her new best-buddy-ever-who-smelled-nice-and-looked-interesting and he groaned when the dog pointedly flopped her head onto her paws and rolled it into Sati's legs. The look Nico gave her in turn was almost defeated. Dog 1, Human 0.

"Juliaaaa..."

[Sati Beshara]

"The original all bark and no bite, uh?" Sati quipped rhetorically as Nico described what a "softie" Julia was, which Julia herself was demonstrating to a T. As for why she would be shown such favor by the Shepherd, she had a suggestion,

"It must be something in the shopping bags, I did buy some chicken."

She laughed as he talked about riding Julia around, then asked, sounding somewhat surprised,

"Even bigger? Really? More than this? What does she even weigh now?"

A pet might be nice, actually. She'd been doing a good job taking care of herself for awhile now, she could probably manage to take care of a pet too. Heck, it might be good for her! She should probably start with something more short-term and low-maintenance like a gerbil, though.

She shook her head slightly at Nico's worries on rambling or holding her up, she didn't mind,

"No, it's no problem, I've got plenty of time before I go in to work. Who's her namesake?"

Speaking of names...

She crouched down again, this time to start scritching Julia behind the ears,

"I'm Sati, by the way, nice to meet you both."

(OOC: Huurp, sorry this is a little...bland...I'm on the job hunt now and it kind of seems to be sapping my inspiration DX)

[Nico Tseng]

There it was, the wiggling 'thump-thump' of Julia's tail as soon as she knew she had Sati's attention, content with the scratching on her head and occasionally nosing her arm contently. Nico just scratched his head at this and murmured with a brow raise.

"Less bark, zero bite, all cheeky..." he sighed, at least glad that Sati wasn't minding this display from the dog. "She normally isn't so attention-needy, but she seems to think I need to be sociable," he chuckled quietly. "I'm sure the groceries aren't helping. She does like food, and she is admittedly spoiled," he noted sheepishly. "We're on walks like this a lot to keep her from getting too chubby." The man earned a snort from the Shepherd in response for this, as if offended by the remark. "She keeps her girlish figure. Isn't that right?" he added, grinning faintly. "She's maybe sixty pounds now? Probably will even out a bit more, but they can get bigger than that. She's dainty, like a lady, even if mischievous. Little dogs are nice too, but I'm not good with hyperactive. I need calm sometimes."

He fidgeted a bit with the leash as he spoke, still out of light nervousness. If only he had the simple confidence that Julia did... animals had it so much easier sometimes. The reassurance that he wasn't being a bother was nice, at least.

"Her namesake? Ah, funny thing, really..." Nico murmured, kneeling down to their level as Sati continued to placate the large dog, Julia rolling onto her back by then and looking as charming as she could. "Julia Child, the chef. I watched her programs so much in culinary school... she was whimsical, really. Looked up to her a lot," he explained. "I'm ah... a chef, one of the restaurants in town. Nothing too fancy." Rubbing the back of his neck Nico smiled faintly at the woman and extended his hand after some thought, in introduction. Polite, right? ...Yeah, he really did have to get out more. This wasn't some business meeting.

"I'm Nico. A pleasure." Formal again -- he'd get used to this sooner or later. Fumbling for what to say next, he finally managed, quieter, remembering something she'd said previously. "If you have groceries, though, they might spoil if I keep you too long. I could... maybe maybe walk with you, if you want? I'm sure Julia wouldn't mind the detour." He hoped that wasn't too forward with a stranger, or potentially embarrassing.

[Sati Beshara]

"Awww!" Sati exclaimed when Julia, as evident by her snort, seemed aware of Nico's remark. She thought they only did things like that in TV shows!

"She's a SMART lady too, isn't she?"

Sati had no idea; German Shepherds were a famously intelligent breed, ranking third behind poodles and border collies.

"Yes, if I were to get a dog, I think I'd like a calmer breed. Are all larger breeds good like that?"

Something beagle-to-lab size might be more her speed, but she liked the idea of a calm anything over a hyperactive anything. Not that she was seeking any sort of pet actively at the moment, and as mentioned it would be better to start with something lower-maintenance than a dog, but just thinking about down the road the info might be nice to have. Or just good to have for when she ran into random canines on the street like today! Animals tended to know when you were a shifter--she supposed they smelled it like other shifters often did--but they didn't seem to mind Sati most of the time. She supposed moths just weren't threatening enough.

"Ohhhh," she said when he explained her namesake,

"Yes, that does ring a bell. I don't know much about her, but I have heard of her. I think there was a movie about her not long ago?"

She'd seen the commercials, she was pretty sure. She didn't own her own TV, but there was one in the lobby of the complex where she lived.

"I'm, um, a cashier."

Much less impressive-sounding. But it wasn't a contest and Sati didn't regard it as such, so it didn't bother her to admit.

"At Mimir's Haunt, that cafe-bookshop in Downtown, do you know it?"

When he offered to walk with her, she smiled,

"I would love that, actually."

It would be a lie to say Sati never turned down company, but when it came to a non-loud non-group sort that she'd just happened across rather being forced into, she was quite happy for it. Sati was a lot more social than she seemed, it was just a matter of energy, not amiability. Sure, a strange man she'd never met before being led to where she lived was a danger, and Sati knew that, and her passively self-destructive nature made her fine with the potential harm he might bring. And if he didn't? She'd made a new friend, or at least had a pleasant encounter. Win-win. She really had to learn to start seeing the negatives of such a situation, but after a lifetime of negativity, she'd take her time with that.

She picked up her bags back up, began walking, and continued conversation,

"Did you have to go to a lot of school to be a chef? Some special cooking academy?"