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 Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:37 am
He hadn't told Paris where he was taking her when he'd convinced her to go for a ride that Sunday after lunch. Chris wanted it to be a surprise, and curiously glanced over to see his girlfriend's reaction when he pulled into a parking spot at the animal shelter he volunteered at on a regular basis. He didn't say anything to her, though, as they got out of the car and headed into the building, until they had to fill out the visitor form, which he handed to her and helped her fill out.
"I hope you don't mind," he finally said with a nervous little smile as he lead the way to a large, sunlit room, filled with cats. It had been set up so they could all interact with the visitors, rather than being cramped up in cages. It was also a good way to see their personalities — which ones were friendly and which were shy or preferred to be by themselves. There were various cat beds and carpeted shelves for the felines to perch along the walls, or even bathe in the light from the large windows that enclosed the room.
"You like cats, don't you...?" he checked, hoping he wasn't doing something stupid by bringing her into a place of animals that she was deathly allergic to or something. He was pretty sure she wasn't, but he wanted to double check.
Chris knew things had been rough for her over the past week, ever since finding out about her father's health problems. He hoped to somehow get her mind off all the bad things and maybe just... relax for a bit. And not by wasting away in front of the television or running until she collapsed. She needed a better outlet for all that pent up emotion.
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:47 pm
Paris noted the shelter for what it was as soon as they stepped out of Chris's car, smoothing out his black skirt as he glanced over the front of the building and saw that sign decorated with the silhouettes of cats and dogs. He followed Chris inside and signed what he needed to, though he let Chris take care of most of it since he knew what they were supposed to do. The process was not difficult, and soon they were entering an entire room full of cats.
"I do," he said, standing by the door and looking around at them all.
For the most part, he was telling the truth. He did like cats, or at least he'd liked them before one of them had talked to him and turned him into something other than what he'd always thought he was, but he was slowly getting over that and suspecting every cat less and less. Besides, the talking cats he'd encountered since then had been marginally nice and helpful, and so he was able to grow a bit more comfortable around felines again, without thinking they were all out to get him.
A few scampered over to greet them, meowing or curling between their legs and nudging them with soft, furry heads.
Paris could not stop himself from smiling. He moved a bit further into the room and found a chair to sit in. A few of the cats followed him looking for attention, and he leaned down to pet them in turn.
"They keep all the cats in here?" he wondered. There had to be twenty of them at least, perhaps more, but it was somewhat of a small shelter, so he supposed they could manage to keep a room like this. The only problem he encountered was that it smelled like twenty cats lived in there, but it was tolerable when you had all those sweet faces looking up at you wanting to cuddle or play. "Is this why people volunteer here? Because they can just come in an play? It doesn't seem like such a hard job," he said and smiled a little wider.
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:30 pm
Chris made his way into the room as well, making sure the door was shut behind him so there were no chance for the animals to escape. Sorry, kitties. He smiled as he made his way over to where Paris was sitting, before squatting down so he could pet the cats as well, and let one claw its way up onto his leg to sit.
"They're not always kept in here. There are cages, too. But they usually are out here so they can play with each other," he explained, thinking it was better for them, anyway. Yeah, there was a fight or two sometimes, but in all, it was a better situation than them all being caged and alone and frightened.
A particularly playful kitten decided to claw its way up Chris's back and sit on his shoulder, which he let it do, not minding even if he winced at its little claws digging into his skin. "And it's not all just playing, you know! Everything has to be cleaned and the cats brushed and fed and all that. They just get their exercise this way, rather than going on walks." It was a fair trade-off, he thought.
"I want to get you one," he said after watching how Paris reacted to the cats for a few moments. "Anyone you want. Cat, kitten, whatever," he further explained, not wanting Paris to think he was joking. He wanted her to have something to keep her company when she needed it, and when he couldn't be around because of school and knight business. "Would that be okay with you...?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:41 pm
One of the cats had jumped up into his lap, and Paris chose not to think about how much hair it was going to shed on his nice black skirt as it kneaded his thighs and made itself comfortable, while another climbed up beside him to nuzzle his arm. Paris pet them both and watched as a smaller one made its way up onto Chris's shoulder, thinking he could sit here all afternoon and be mostly happy. He liked all sorts of animals, but cats gave their own sort of comfort he didn't always get from Chris's dog, or his poor, dead fish.
"You want to... you want to get me one?" he asked, momentarily startled. He stared at his boyfriend, unable to do anything but smile and glance around as if he didn't really know what to do.
He wouldn't mind having a pet. He'd wanted one as a child, but his parents had never bought one for him. He'd had to settle for getting Alejandro a year ago, because fish were easy to take care of and no one really cared when they died. Except he'd cared, because even though Alejandro hadn't done anything but swim around in his bowl, it had been nice to have another living being -- however small and brainless -- sharing a room with him at night.
"I couldn't choose," he said, looking from the cat on in lap, to the one next to him, to the one on Chris's shoulder, and then to the rest that played or slept around the room. "I'd feel too bad."
And he knew he couldn't take more than one of them. They were all sweet, all pretty, all ready to be pet and brushed and taken home, and he didn't trust himself to make the right choice, not when the rest of them would be left there, waiting for someone else to come along.
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:00 pm
He reached up to scratch at the cat's head as she kneaded into his shoulder. "Don't worry about that, Paris," he insisted, glancing around the room at all the cats there. "Pick which one you want... You don't have to do it right now if you want to think about it," he told her, not wanting her to feel pressured into picking one. Of course they couldn't get all of them, even though that would be nice.
If he could, he would get another animal for himself. Maybe one for Annabel to have as a friend while he was off at class. She was pretty good, even though she was still being trained, but it would be a lot of work training another dog.
"I wanted you to have some company if you needed it," Chris explained, rubbing the belly of another cat that laid down against his foot. "Maybe bring it with you to work to keep you company durning the boring hours. I don't know if you'd want to do that, though." He thought it might be nice to have a cat to entertain her in the long, lonely hours at the shop. At least it would serve as a good distraction, rather than having her think of sad things that she can't help.
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:46 pm
He'd been hoping Chris would respond with something, like, "Oh, this one's been here the longest, so she could really use a home" or "Why not him? He's really friendly and he loves to cuddle," but he received no such suggestions and he was left to look around at all the cats again, wondering which one he should take or if he should take one at all.
He wanted to. He couldn't lie and say it wouldn't make him feel a little less lonely. He'd have been happy with either a cat or dog, but he knew with his living situation a cat would be easier. Less work. Less mess (theoretically). Less worry.
It was sweet of Chris to do this for him. He thought he should have expected it. He hadn't let Chris offer his liver (and he would be absolutely certain until the day that he died that Chris would have if he hadn't told him not to), so naturally he would want to offer something, as small as that something might be.
Still, it was the first time Chris had gotten him any sort of present. He was used to being bought dinner, movie tickets -- "date" things. Simple things. But this was a gift. This was Chris's way of saying, "I care about you. I don't want you to be alone" without the heavy, cloying emotional displays that made everything so complicated. This was Chris's way of doing something without hovering or fretting, letting him do what he needed to do but making sure he knew that he was there.
He didn't know which one to choose. The black one with the white paws that slept by one of the windows? The large gray one in his lap? The orange tabby beside him? He thought he could be pleased with any of them, though he wasn't sure what age he should be aiming for. It'd be nice to give one of the older cats a home, though he liked the idea of raising one from a kitten.
Guiltily, he continued to pet the cats around him as he looked at Chris and asked, "Are there any kittens? I mean, little ones...?" The one on Chris's shoulder looked as if it were already a few months old. "If not, that's okay. I don't mind taking an older one. I just thought... it'd be nice to see them..."
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:38 pm
Sorry, but he didn't want to influence her too much. Chris wanted Paris to pick out what animal she wanted. Of course, he would tell her all the facts about them that she wanted to know! It was just that... she should be able to decide for herself. Or at least that's what he thought would be best.
"There are some kittens in the back," he said, carefully standing up from where he was and removing the cat from his shoulder to put her on the floor. "Did you want to see them? They aren't allowed to go home with anyone until they're at least six weeks old, but there are some..."
He figured she might want to look at the kittens, anyway. And that was fine with him! They'll be a bit more work than an older cat, but at least this way Paris would have the cat to bond with as it grew.
Chris held out is hand to help her up and then lead the way to the room where they had the cages for the kittens. "Here, use some hand sanitizer before you touch any of them... Just to keep them from getting sick." Because that would be bad. There was one cage with some really little kittens and their mother, and then there were a few more cages with a bit older, but still small kittens. "Maybe we can reserve one if you see one you like?" he offered, not knowing what Paris would like to do. He was glad that she was all for getting a kitten though! Or cat. Whichever.
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:44 pm
Gently, Paris pulled the cat off of his lap and set it down onto the floor with the others, standing back up to follow Chris back to where the really young kittens were. He rubbed the hand sanitizer into his hands as they entered the room, looking around at a few of the cages before stepping closer to one. He peered inside of the one housing the mother cat and her kittens, who were in the midst of nursing.
"They're so cute," he said. They were much too small to be taken home, of course, but he liked watching them. He couldn't even remember if he'd ever seen kittens so small before.
As wild and unrestrained and irresponsible as he could sometimes be -- what with his past in drinking and partying and sleeping around -- Paris found that he quite enjoyed small, cute things... kittens, puppies, babies. He couldn't really explain it, but they never failed to bring a smile to his face.
He moved on to one of the other cages and looked in on a group of four kitten with mostly cream colored fur, except the legs, tail, ears, and face were darker brown.
"I like these ones," he said, sticking his index finger through the bars of the cage. One of the kittens came over to sniff at it. "Well, I like all of them, but these ones look so fluffy."
There were sheets of paper hanging from the cage, showing each kitten's gender, age, date of birth, breed, and adoption status. Three of them, two males and one female, were adopted. The last female was not.
"Do you know which one this one is?" he asked, showing Chris the form for the kitten who remained unclaimed.
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:12 pm
Chris thought a kitten would be good for Paris. Not only would it keep her distracted from the horrible things going on in her life, but it would provide company, as well as a stronger purpose to just... keep fighting, even when things sucked. A kitten would need her attention and care, and he knew Paris couldn't just abandon it if she owned one. She was too kind hearted.
"Let me see," he said, glancing over the sheet and then up at the kittens. It was difficult to tell with them all being the same age. "Let me get the scanner," he said after a few moments, not wanting to point out one and then tell Paris that, oops, it was already adopted.
He wasn't gone for more than a minute and had what looked like a barcode scanner with him. "Step back for a second," he requested, unlatching the cage door so he could reach in and carefully pick up one of the kittens. He held the scanner to the back of its neck and clicked the button before passing the kitten to Paris to hold. "This one is... adopted... must be the other female, then," he said, reaching into the cage again to pick up the other one and scanned her as well, just to be sure.
"This one hasn't been adopted yet," he said before a small 'oh' and then explaining. "They turn six weeks in just a couple days..." he said, looking at the chart as he passed the kitten to Paris and took the adopted one back to place in the cage. "Are you interested in that one?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 9:20 pm
Paris poked his fingers into the cage and let the kittens inside sniff and nudge at them with their furry little faces while Chris went out to get the scanner, standing aside when he came back and taking one kitten from him, then the other, allowing Chris to return the first to the cage. He felt bad for the other three that had to remain in there for now, but he contented himself with the knowledge that they'd already been adopted and would soon have a new, and hopefully better, home.
He smiled down at the kitten in his hands, lifting her up to eye level to get a better look at her as he answered Chris's question. "I think so. She's very pretty. She'll probably need to be brushed a lot, though, won't she? Since she's so fluffy? But that's not so bad. Look at how blue her eyes are!"
He gushed over her a little more, holding her with one hand and petting her little head with the other. She meowed at him but didn't seemed too displeased at being held and examined. She didn't squirm at all and she appeared content enough out in the open. He scratched under her chin for a bit and then brought her to his shoulder, where her little paws clung to his pink blouse without the claws digging in too far, just enough to keep her stable without her seeming frightened.
Paris held her there with one hand firmly in place, and riffled through the sheets of paper to find her information form again. "Sarsonette? What kind of name is that? I think we can come up with a better one," he said, glancing down at the kitten on his shoulder. She meowed at him again but didn't seem particularly perturbed.
A memory flashed, quick but clear, of standing in a kitchen in a warm house, making soup and chatting about the future.
"I want a fluffy cat, like that one from that movie with the talking pets who're lost and they're trying to get back home. I'd probably name it Rome. Get it? Paris, London, Rome."
He couldn't do it. He wanted to. It would have been perfect. The kitten was exactly like he'd always imagined. But it didn't feel right. Not with Chris here instead. It sort of felt like he was cheating on his best friend, like this kitten had suddenly become a secret lovechild in an illicit affair.
"Sarsonette..." he tried it again. He didn't understand where they'd gotten the name from, but it didn't sound horrible, he supposed. He could live with it. "I could just... call her Sassy."
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:46 pm
"Yeah, she'll probably need a lot of brushing, just so her fur doesn't get matted," he agreed, although he was sure there was hairballs to worry about, too. Chris smiled at Paris and the kitten, laughing lightly when she mentioned her name.
"I named her," he told his girlfriend with a small pout, but he quickly shook his head to let her know he was just joking. "Not really... I've helped name a few every now and then, though." It just depended on when he was volunteering and when an animal was brought in without a name.
"If that's the one, we can go and fill out the information for her. She should have all her shots already, but I don't think she's been fixed yet," he told Paris, reaching out to brush at the kitten's head, before turning to lead the way back out into the office, but down a side hall instead of back through the cat room.
"Why Sassy? Homeward Bound fan?" he teased, smiling in amusement. There was nothing wrong with wanting to name her Sassy. He thought it was kind of cute.
"Here, I'll fill this out if you want to hold her some more," he offered once he picked up a form from the front desk. "Name... Paris LeFay... Er... what's your middle name? It asks for an initial."
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:18 pm
"Not so much a fan, no. I just always thought the cat was cute. This one looks sort of like her," he said, running a hand down the kitten's tiny back to play with her tail. She meowed again and flicked it out of his grasp, though she had yet to try and get away from him. Paris took it as a sign that she didn't mind being held and petted.
"'D'," he answered, letting Chris deal with the paperwork, at least until he needed to jot down his signature. "For Donatien. I don't think Mom ever realized Dad took it from the Marquis de Sade. It was his idea of a sick joke or something. Mom was too impressed by his French roots to notice. She always looked at it as something classy and sort of exotic."
He didn't let thoughts of his parents bother him, distracted enough by the kitten on his shoulder so that talking about things like that became rather easy. Then again, it wasn't anything especially personal. A different topic with the same subjects might have been a little more difficult to discuss given the current circumstances.
Paris rattled off his address as well when Chris came to the appropriate section on the form. "I think I want to keep her as an indoor cat," he said. Looking down at her, he couldn't imagine letting such a small thing out into such a big city. "Although I guess I could take her out if she wanted to. I wouldn't want to let her out on her own, though. She'd probably get attacked by one of the strays in the neighborhood, and I don't want to risk her getting run over."
He frowned and considered the environment he'd be bringing her into and wished he lived in a better area. "Can I bring her over to your place sometimes? Like when I stay the night? I wouldn't want to leave her by herself. I don't trust Dad to look after her when he can barely look after himself."
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 4:36 pm
"Yeah, I understand how it is with the sneaky middle name, thing. Mine is Luke, and that's because both mom and dad are big Star Wars fans. They told the rest of the family it was named after the Saint, though. I guess Luke is better than Han... or Chewbacca," he said, making a face as he filled out the rest of the form for Paris, not minding at all. "Seventeen, female, Caucasian..." It wasn't like he was filling out medical records, at least.
"A lot of people get harnesses and leashes for their cats they don't want outside all the time, but still want them to be able to go with them without using a carrying case. Once she gets a bit bigger, we can get her one, if you'd like?" he offered, holding the form on the clipboard out and passing her the pen so she could sign.
"Of course she can come over. I don't mind at all. And Annabel is fine with other animals. I was thinking about maybe getting another dog or a cat to keep her company," Chris said with a small shrug. "But feel free to bring her over whenever you want."
He placed the form back on the counter once it was signed, passing it to the woman behind the desk who scanned it in to keep in their records. "We'll have to come back in a few days to pick her up, but as of now," he said, passing the woman the appropriate amount of cash, "She's yours."
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:29 pm
Paris was sure his middle named trumped Chris's in weirdness, but as it wasn't an important point to note, he said nothing more about it, merely smiled and laughed at Chris's response and thought he'd like it better if he'd been named after a Jedi instead of the man whose name had come to be used in a term to denote sexual violence.
He forced his smile to remain in place as Chris finished filling out the form for him, though he thought it might have become a bit strained as his boyfriend checked "female" and he did his best to hide it, lowering his head to glance back down at his about-to-be-adopted kitten. The longer he kept this going, the guiltier he felt, and the more he struggled to tell him the truth. He couldn't have done it before; he'd been having too much fun. Now... now he'd gotten himself too deeply involved and didn't know how to turn back without it being painful.
"Thank you," he said once they were done, having signed the form and allowing the kitten -- Sassy, as he would have to get used to calling her -- to be placed back in the cage with the other three, at least until he could take her home. "You didn't have to do this... you didn't have to do a lot of things, but... thank you..."
Paris showed him another small smile, and the motion was stronger and more genuine this time. He leaned up for a kiss and pressed his cheek against Chris's as he hugged him.
"I'll pay you back one day, for everything," he promised before he could stop himself, knowing full well that he may end up eating those words. He had nothing to give Chris in return, but plenty to hide.
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 10:17 pm
He knew he should have expected the kiss and hug, but he didn't think the gesture would mean more than usual. One of the things he liked most about Paris was her passion for things, but lately... that passion seemed to have faded. Now, though, there was a glimmer coming back.
"Don't mention it," Chris said softly, hugging her back once Paris leaned into him. "You don't have to pay me back for anything, Paris... seriously," he told her, pressing a kiss to the side of her face before pulling back to smile down at her.
He wanted to see her happy, and if doing something like this made her happy, well... he would have to start doing it more often.
"Come on... Let's get something to eat and then what would you say about going to my place and watching a movie?" he suggested, reaching down to take hold of her hand and lead her out of the shelter and to the car. It had been a successful trip for him. She got a kitten and he wouldn't have to worry about her being too lonely as she worked at the shop. It might not be much, but at least it was something, right...?
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