fandomtownies | The Park - Sunday morning

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The Park - Sunday morning

The island was calm. The people here were calm. It was weird, after being in a high-tension environment for most of his life. Fenris sought the unacknowledged comfort of trees. The bench was unoccupied, the ducks unspoken to.

He smirked a little. "Hello, ducks. Where's your human friend?"

The ducks didn't answer. He hadn't truly expected them to.

The bench was unoccupied, but why sit on a bench when that tree right there had a branch that begged? Catching it, he pulled himself up and took a seat. Leaning against the trunk, he pulled one leg up and let the other hang free.

[Open! Brooding McElfEars is in the tree looking elvish af.]

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"Now, sure," Zack replied happily, then crouched down to level with his dog for a moment. "Okay, Girl, I'm going to be swinging my sword around with my friend Fenris here, so I need you to stay right here, okay? Stay?"

... Girl really hadn't been planning on going anywhere.

Fenris shifted his weight and dropped from the branch, landing lightly on his feet in a moderate crouch. As he stood, he offered the dog his hand to inspect, in case she wanted some ear scritches. She was small and fluffy, bigger than the lap dogs he'd seen in Tevinter, but much smaller than a war dog.

Girl, being a good Girl, looked to Zack momentarily for his signal that it was fine to sniff, and, upon him giving it, stood up to investigate the offered hand, tail wagging behind her.

"That's Girl," Zack offered, smiling a little. "I think she's a working breed? But mostly she just uses that as an excuse to try to herd me places."

Fenris obliged the doggo by scritching her head tentatively. He wasn't terribly good with animals but he knew the things other people did to show..friendliness. Only for a moment, before giving her a final pat and walking over to an area away from her that would give him room to move. "She's pretty. I like the colors of her fur," he offered.

"I lucked out with her," Zack replied, smiling as he followed after Fenris, drawing his sword and giving it another spin in his hand. "She just sort of started sticking to my side at work. I work at the animal shelter in town. Lots of dogs and cats, mostly."

Fenris drew his own sword and took it in a two handed grip. He put his weight on the balls of his feet and took a calm, ready stance. "There is a shelter for abandoned animals?" Fenris was surprised and, oddly, pleased by that.

"There is," Zack agreed, smiling warmly. "I kind of inherited it when I came back to the island from home. Like I said, dogs and cats. But there are some rabbits, lizards, fish, birds..."

He gave a little bounce on his toes, almost as though he wasn't holding a sword at all.

And then, with a grin, he charged.

Fenris slid to the side and held his sword up in a block. "Sounds nice. How do you keep from taking them all home?"

He wouldn't have the faintest idea how to care for an animal.

Their weapons clashed, and Zack came to a stop with a grin on his face.

"Well it helps that I can go back to visit the any rime." He paused. "And that my finacee would probably kill me if I tried."

The weapons clashed and Fenris was able to absorb the shock of the blow. He considered it and nodded, "We can continue. If it gets too much, I'll call a halt."

"Felicitations on your betrothal," he said.

"Thanks," Zack replied, bouncing back a half step so that he could swing his sword again. "We've been together since just about forever, so it was proabbly about time, you know?"

Fenris rushed to meet it, metal clashing again. There were sparks. There shouldn't be sparks. He gave his blade a look, in case it was showing off.

Giving a small shake of his head, he answered politely enough, "I wouldn't know. It's not a life choice I've ever had to think about."

Slaves were rarely allowed to marry, and Fenris' master would never have allowed it for him.

It hadn't really occurred to him that he could do as he pleased now.

"Oh..." Zack tilted his head slightly, not seeming terribly concerned about the sparks, himself. "Sorry," he offered. "I get a little excited sometimes."

'Sometimes.'

"No need for apologies," Fenris said, moving in for a strike of his own, "It sounds like a happy occasion."

"We're both pretty excited," Zack replied, grinning as he brought his own sword up to counter, easily enough. Yesssss, he'd needed this, far more than he'd care to admit.

The only thing that could've made it more fun would've been people shooting at him.

"It's kind of been years in the making. I meant to ask her ages ago, but..." He lifted his shoulders a bit. "Life happens."

There was an understatement, Zack.

Fenris went at Zack in a pattern. He wasn't moving at his full speed, but he suspected Zack wasn't either from the deliberateness of his motions. They could work up to that.

"Life happens," he agrees, "At least you finally got around to making it official."

Which he hadn't done. Healthy relationships were not his thing.

And a block, and a block, and then Zack hit the ground in a roll and straightened up again and grinned, bringing his sword back down toward Fenris again.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I'm glad we finally got our chance."

... Whenever they married beyond that, who even knew?

Fenris blocked and dodged, juking to the left. His grin grew. It had been a long time since he could just enjoy a spar.

"How long have you had your dog?"

He spun and thrust.

"She's been my dog for almost a year," Zack shared, grinning a little more and bringing his sword up to clash against Fenris' one more time. "Officially, I mean. She's only about a year and a half old..."

Which was weird, it felt like he'd had Girl since forever.

"A friend of mine brought a bunch of pups like her to the shelter, and she kind of took to me right away."

Because they were therapy dogs, trained by Kindred Scelties, and Girl knew an emotional wreck when she saw one.

Another clash as the swords came together, parted, came together again. "Sounds like a good deal."

He dodged the next blow by spinning and coming back around with his sword.

And Zack in turn was once again hitting the ground in a roll, ducking under that sword and coming up again to bring his own toward Fenris in the same motion.

"It's been pretty great," Zack agreed. "She's been good for me."

Therapy dog. Huge damage. Yup.

Fenris' turn to roll under a sword, popping to his feet and blocking the next. "I would hope she hadn't been terrible to you," he smiled to show he was teasing, "She seems..very sweet."

He knew nothing of pets or dogs.

Zack laughed an easy laugh at that, grinning as their swords clashed again, and then stepping into it a little more, pushing against it.

"As far as dogs go? I mean, I'm probably biased, but she's the best there is."

Definitely biased.

But she was still a great dog.

Fenris grinned at the added weight, letting his blade slide along the other until he could dance out of the way again. Stepping to the side, he began a curving sweep toward Zack.

"I haven't met many that were kept as pets," Fenris allowed, "I've no comparison so your verdict stands."

Never argue with a man about his dog.

"You could always stop by the shelter sometime to meet the other dogs," Zack suggested brightly. "Most of them really like meeting new people. I take it the dogs you have experience are working dogs, then?"

He turned on his heel, his sword gouging a trench in the lawn as though the grass wasn't even there as he brought it around so that he could block again.

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