fandomtownies | Furnado Animal Shelter, Tuesday

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Furnado Animal Shelter, Tuesday

Another gift-giving holiday had come and gone, and Zack was low-key paranoid as he stepped into the animal shelter that they were going to be beset by another influx of unwanted animals. Apparently the vet on staff that day had similar concerns, so at least they weren't entirely unfounded. After all, they still had chickens from Easter earlier in the year, and a couple of black cats had come back to them after Halloween.

"So... what is it this time of year?" Zack asked. "I don't think we have room for reindeer..."

Zack still didn't entirely understand the holiday. The vet set him right before long, and the rest of the day was spent making sure there were a few free kennels and putting up signs reminding people that a pet was a commitment, and they weren't going to stay puppies and kittens forever.

[OOC: Open!]

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Seivarden was relieved that things had gone back to normal, or as normal as this place got. At least there were no walking lumps of snow or evil slugs. She knew there was a holiday, but she hadn't paid much attention to it, and hadn't noticed much of it apart from one or two entertainments she had come across.

Now, out for a walk, she passed the animal shelter and remembered Zack had told her he worked there. She entered, hoping he was around.

Kennels cleaned out, Zack was taking a little time up front, sitting with Girl, testing some of the new toys they'd gotten in. For quality! It was important that the dog toys were dog approved, after all. So it was both him and his dog who looked up when Seivarden game in.

"Oh, hey there!"

That was Zack talking, not the dog.

Seivarden wouldn't even have been surprised if it had been the dog, but she preferred to talk to Zack.

"Zack." She made a small bow. "I hope I'm not interrupting your work."

Was playing with a dog work here? Perhaps it was.

Zack gave Seivarden a little smile and shook his head.

"Not at all," he replied. "We were just taking a break, actually. What brings you by, Seivarden?"

Boredom and a need for company.

"No particular reason," she said. "I was just out for a walk and I remembered you told me you work here."

"Good memory," Zack replied, grinning a little. "And you're at the flower shop, right? I'm guessing it's pretty busy this time of year, huh?"

Hopefully less depressing than working at an animal shelter a few days after Christmas, too.

"As busy as it gets on this island, I suppose," Seivarden replied with a shrug, unaware that there were other holidays with even more demand on flowers.

She glanced at the dog, smiling a little. "And what about here? Are pets popular as gifts?"

Zack smiled a little himself, reaching a hand down to scratch behind one of Girl's ears.

"Apparently they are," he confirmed. "Not that giving a pet as a gift is a good idea. We get a lot of people bringing them in to surrender them to us because they weren't expecting an animal they have to train. It isn't like puppies are born knowing not to pee on the floors."

She wrinkled her nose a little. "That sounds familiar," she said. "I had a little sister who always wanted new pets."

Seivarden stretched out a hand towards Girl. "Is this one yours?"

At least it didn't look like it would attack her.

Girl, all fluff and happiness and a waggly tail, trotted over to sniff at Seivarden's hand.

"She sort of is," Zack admitted. "I haven't brought her home yet... I'd need to talk to my-" and he only hesitated a second before resolutely using the word, "-girlfriend about that, first. But she isn't up for adoption. We've kind of connected."

He smiled faintly.

"An old friend of mine brought her and a few of the other dogs over a few months back. Trained therapy dogs, because... if anywhere needs therapy dogs, it's probably Fandom."

Seivarden noticed the hesitation but didn't ask. It was none of her business. She scratched Girl's head.

"Therapy dogs?" she asked, looking up at Zack again.

Zack nodded a little, smiling faintly.

"They know when people are upset and they offer comfort," he explained. "They're trained to be extra gentle, especially because the people who need comfort might also be injured, or prone to panic."

It was really no wonder he'd taken to Girl so readily.

Seivarden blinked.

"There are no meds for that here?"

She knew that medical help was limited here, but that wasn't very complicated. As she didn't want to insult Zack and his dogs though, she added:

"But perhaps the company of an animal works just as well."

Zack blinked back.

"I mean, I'm sure there are," he replied. "But sometimes people want both. Not every trauma needs to be medicated away, you know? Especially right in the wake of a disaster. People might be lost and might just want something warm and steady to cling to for a bit."

Seivarden had no idea why you wouldn't want to medicate away trauma, but she wasn't going to start a discussion about it.

"I suppose... that could be the case, yes."

She patted scratched Girl on the head again.

Zack tilted his head a little, but shrugged and let it slide.

"Anyway, some people just need the company. Another set of eyes to make certain they're doing okay never hurts."

"They do need to be taken care of, though," Seivarden said, then added after a moment: "Perhaps that is partly the point?"

"Maybe it is," Zack agreed, after a moment's pause. "Some people find it easier to motivate themselves to get out of bed in the morning if they're doing it for something that depends on them, instead of doing it for their own sake."

"Or they get fed up and get someone else to do it," Seivarden said. "That's what my sister did. Not that she was traumatized, though."

"Yeah, I think that sounds more like a case of somebody just wanting something cute and then getting bored of the responsibility," Zack admitted. "We see a lot of that around here. Plenty of our animals are rescues from people who just didn't want to take care of them, anymore."

It hurt his heart, a little.

"Exactly that," Seivarden said with a nod. "Our mothers eventually got fed up with her leaving all the responsibility to the servants and forbade her from getting another one."

She continued: "What kind of animals do you have then?"

"Here at the shelter? All kinds... cats, dogs, birds, fish. Sometimes we get in rabbits and mice. And there are a bunch of chickens living in a coop up on the roof. Apparently people think it's cute to give their kids baby chicks for easter, forgetting that they grow up, too."

Because that was what babies did.

"Easter? Is that another holiday?" Seivarden asked. "I thought chicken was mostly kept for eggs."

She paused.

"Although I wouldn't know here."

"Easter's another holiday," Zack confirmed, nodding. "And... it's about eggs. So at least there's some consistency there, I guess."

He shrugged.

"I'm not really from around here, either. I know just enough about this place now to know that for some reason, people think that pets are good holiday gifts, and we get a lot of chickens and rabbits in the spring, and puppies and kittens the rest of the year. That's... about it."

"So you find new homes for the pets and then get them back a lot of the time?" Seivarden asked.

That sounded frustrating.

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