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 Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 9:31 pm
There was a point in Yahya's day where he realized that he had no social life. He mediated between work and college, and if he wasn't at either of those places he was usually at home. He didn't really mind it so much, actually. He loved his work, and loved it even more now that he was actually being paid to help rather than just volunteering. Yahya still lived in the same, small apartment with his cat, and sometimes animals that needed special care. Some people could consider his life a little mundane, especially since he was a college student who should be out having fun, but he liked his life very much. Sure, there were some things he could do about, like being some sort of magical being in really short shorts and tights.
It did come with a cape, however...
The cape kind of redeemed his magical outfit.
Lately he had been thinking more about his senshi life, or rather the lack of it. Yahya had done a spectacular job of ignoring the fact that he was a senshi. Instead, he focused on the life he was familiar with and brought him happiness. Why should he try to be something, someone else, when he was perfectly happy with who he was now? He felt like he did good at the animal rescue center. This job made him feel important, made him feel like he was accomplishing something.
It was just past noon, and the blue-haired young man was in the front lobby, chatting happily with one of the volunteers. He was actually waiting for someone who was due to arrive at any minute. While the rescue center specialized in rehabilitating and releasing wildlife, they had another section of the building dedicated to finding homes for dogs and cats. A volunteer was supposed to take pictures of a few animals for the rescue center's adoption website.
Yahya intended to make sure that more than a few animals got photographed. He really hoped the photographer didn't have plans today, because there was so much to be done! He glanced towards the front door of the building just as a young man walked in, and the smile that blossomed onto Yahya's face was warm and charismatic. He saw a camera bag, and he was sure that he had found his man!
He excused himself from the conversation he was holding with the volunteer, and made a beeline to James. "Hello! James, right?" he greeted as he intercepted the young man who had barely made it through the front door. "I'm Yahya. You're here to take some pictures, right?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 9:58 pm
James had been struggling to find a sense of normalcy for months. Things hadn't been the same since the weird events that led him to being trapped into space, even worse had been when they had returned to Destiny City and no one believed anything the group of missing people had said. Needless to say, knowing crazy things were happening and he couldn't do anything made him eagerly search for something. Anything that would make him feel normal.
When the opportunity had come up to re-indulge in his passion for photography, in the form of charity work for the local animal shelter, he had jumped at the chance. Thrilled to do something he loved, and something that would keep his mind off of all the crazy, he took the gig with no questions asked. Photographing animals really wasn't his thing, he much preferred people, but he was sure it'd look great in his portfolio AND it was a nice change from just teaching.
He arrived on scene a few minutes late as he had gotten distracted when picking out a proper lens but he was prepared and ready none the less. His camera bag was strung across his chest, one hand wrapped around the strap near the bag, thumping against his hip as he pushed the door open. He was surprised by Yahya's speedy approach.
h
He stepped back, startled, when initially addressed taking a moment to clear his throat before answering. "Y-yeah," he mumbled giving the man a half-smile. "Sorry I got here late, took more time than I thought to find the right lens," he told him sticking out his right hand for a handshake. His photography equipment had been tucked away in a jumbled mess. He had been lucky to find any lenses without digging for twenty minutes. "Nice to meet you," he said adjusting the bag.
"Did you have specific ones you wanted featured?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 10:22 pm
Yahya belatedly realized that he had startled James with his speedy approach, but the time to apologize for his over-eagerness had passed. He'd probably get ample opportunity throughout the day to make up for that mistake. Of course, James probably didn't realize that this was going to turn out into an all day event. For a moment, even Yahya felt bad over his own mind's thought process. He really shouldn't be taking up all of Jacob's time, but it was for the good of the animals in this shelter! Yahya did want to find them all good homes, though he knew that he'd never get them all adopted out. That wouldn't stop him from trying, however!
James looked a little disorganized, but Yahya didn't blame him for it. He was sure that James just appeared that way because Yahya had started to harass him the moment he walked in through the doors. He extended his hand, quickly shaking James' hand in greeting. His grip was light, Yahya was far from being a confident, firm individual. James' hand was spared from having circulation cut off from it because of a handshake. "It's okay! You're really not all that late, and there's always something to do around here, so everyone's been fairly occupied." Yahya reassured the photographer with a smile, and then backed away to lead James through the building.
"Umm..." Yahya had no idea how he should go about responding to James' question. He didn't want to have the other man tell him 'no', he was not going to photograph every animal in the building. He glanced over his shoulder and back to Jacob, and offered the man a sheepish little smile. "All of them?" his voice was pitifully hopeful, as if James would be breaking his heart to tell him no! "All the animals would have a much better chance of getting adopted if we had beautiful pictures of them up on our website..." he reasoned. "I mean, if you're not busy at all it would be really wonderful.
Please?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 10:35 pm
The young man had been in the mindset that he would come in, take a few pictures, and then leave to develop them. While he was thankful for the new opportunity to keep his mind off of things he had no intention of devoting his entire day to the shelter. That was, until Yahya sheepishly and effectively, gave him the puppy dog eyes. He wasn't very good at saying no to the puppy dog pout.
"Ah," he started trying to figure out the politest way to turn the other man down. His now free hand snaked through his tangled mop of hair as he frowned. A pregnant pause passed and the silence threatened to turn awkward when Yahya added the please. He should have seen it coming, really. He cleared this throat and rubbed the back of his head. "No, it's fine. I don't have anything else planned," he mumbled. "I guess I can take pictures of all of them."
Curse those puppy dog eyes, they got him every time!
"Wanna, uh take me to them?" He asked fiddling with his bag. He pulled the camera out and strung it across his neck. Not too long after that he pulled out a lens and attached it. "Probably need to get started, don't you guys have a lot of animals?" Sometimes he was good with people but other times he was quite awkward.
Now was such time.
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Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 10:50 pm
Yahya was starting to grow concerned as the second's passed and there was still no reply from James. He could practically feel the man stumbling over a response, and was beginning to believe that he asked too much from the photographer. How silly of him to try and get James to spend an entire day photographing animals when he probably had other things to do! It was terribly greedy, and Yahya did feel ashamed to ask James for so much... but it was necessary. Even if he felt bad about it, he was still going to ask the young man for his time if it meant he could find a few more animals some homes.
"Really?" there was so much hope filled in his voice that though he had given James the opportunity to change his mind, it was clear that it would be a very cruel thing to do. "That's great! Thank you. I know you probably didn't think you were going to take pictures of them all, but it'd be such a big help." Yahya definitely wasn't going to try and convince James to change his mind. He had the man's word and he was going to make sure that a lot of the animals got their pictures taken!
"We can probably take pictures of the dogs still in their kennels. It'd take too much time to take them all outside and get a variety of pictures that way. I doubt you'd like to spend a week taking pictures of dogs and cats. Oh, do you think we can take some photos of the wildlife we're rehabilitating? Just a few?" He had gotten James to agree to one huge thing, so what was one really little thing? If James was currently a little awkward with conversation, Yahya certainly made up for it. He talked with relative ease, and James' more awkward demeanor hardly seemed to effect him.
"Oh, yeah, we better get started. Follow me," he turned to one of the doors at the side of the lobby while he spoke and made a beeline for it. They had a section for the dogs, while the cats were kept in a couple different rooms further down the hall. The back portion of the building was dedicated to wildlife, which was the main purpose of the rescue center. It only took a couple of minutes to reach the kennels, and they were immediately greeted by barks and whines loud enough to drown most conversation. Trying to hush the excited animals wouldn't work so well since there was so many, so Yahya would just have to talk over the noise!
James would probably find it a little more difficult, but Yahya was used to it. "Sorry, they're a little noisy, aren't they?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 11:16 pm
His initial eagerness was nothing compared to the eagerness that flowed from Yahya. In many ways, James was envious of the abundant energy he seemed to exert. "Yeah, yeah," he replied sheepishly waving a hand back and forth to dismiss what concern may have lingered. "It wasn't exactly the plan but," he shrugged, "it's no big." It's not like he had anything else to do and the social interaction was helping him get out of his hermit stage.
The requests didn't seem to end however when Yahya proposed another thing he could take on. He fiddled with the lens cap, following quietly, as he contemplated the offer. "Depends on how long this takes." He looked up when the dogs began to whine. Green eyes scanned over the majority of the canines with a smile on his face. "Depends on the lighting too, it'd probably be best to get photographs of the wildlife early in the day when natural lighting favors them." He lifted the camera to his face and snapped a picture of the line of kennels.
He went up to the first kennel, hand extending to allow the German Sheppard looking pup to get familiar with his scent. When the dog seemed receptive he slid a hand between the bars to lightly scratch beneath it's chin. He scooted back and squatted, camera lifted to his eyes to snap a few pictures. "But I can always come back and get those pictures later."
He turned his attention backed to the blue-haired man. "Easily excitable," he answered turning to sweep his gaze across the rest of the dogs. "They seem to be fairly well mannered though." He paused, an idea popping up in his head. "Would you want to be in a few of these. I get that we can't take them all out but maybe a few and get pictures of them interacting with someone?" He stood to move to the next kennel. "Be great advertisement.
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Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 10:32 am
"I think this may take a while, but if we have time I would really appreciate it. I'm pretty good at handling the wildlife here so we could get some really neat pictures." Perhaps after a while he could convince James that another amazing idea would be to come back again the next time he was free to take even more pictures. Right now, Yahya was fairly certain that he was overwhelming the other young man with his requests, so it was probably better to lay low on the ideas for a little while. James was likely receiving the impression that he had signed up for a permanent and unending task. So, Yahya decided that he needed to back off a little on pressuring James into doing more work for the rescue center.
It was free work, too, and since they ran mostly on donations it was valuable and vital to have a consistent flow of volunteers helping out. Thank god James offered to come back again! That made one less thing Yahya had to feel guilty about asking for. He hadn't put the idea in James' head to come back again, so if the man wanted to it was completely his decision. For some reason that put Yahya more at ease.
The young man moved down to the next kennel as James snapped pictures of the first dog. The dog in the kennel was rather... massive, a giant wall of white fur and what was probably fat rolls. It took some convincing to even get the dog to sit up for a picture, since Yahya didn't think anyone would want to adopt what appeared to be a giant misshapen carpet laying across the cement floor. "Most of them are really good dogs, but a lot of people would rather have a pure bred animal than adopt from a shelter." If Yahya could, he probably would have adopted them all and lived happily ever after with them! However, there was no humanly way he could afford to take care of so many animals, so he just had a cat.
And Columbus was spoiled rotten.
"Uh, me?" Yahya already sounded dubious. He was convinced that he looked terrible in pictures, and this was supposed to be about the animals and not some blue-haired overall wearing idiot! Naturally, James had to put his request in a reasonable manner, so much so that Yahya had difficulty reasoning a 'no' response to James' idea. "I'm sure some of the girls or volunteers would love to take pictures with the animals!" Hah, smooth deflection, Yahya Grant!
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Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 4:09 pm
James had no idea what he was going to get himself into with his offer. It would likely turn into a full time gig at this rate! He was unlikely to complain, if only for the distraction. "I'll have to take a look at my teaching schedule to see what days I can come by," he paused, looking over the kennels again. "Might even need to come back to finish this project." He did a slow circle before crouching and snapping a picture of the carpet dog.
"There are more dogs than I anticipated," he admitted lowering his camera. This was definitely going to your into an all day project. He should have come earlier. Then again he hadn't planned on photograph ALL the animals.
Damn puppy dog eyes.
"Maybe for a shot here or there," he agreed quickly to the conversation diversion, "but I'd like a few shots with you." He moved on to the next kennel. "It says more when it's a guy who works with the animals, girls love it." A shutter clicked. "And they're gonna be your core target. Few guys would tell their girl no."
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Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 5:44 pm
"We would be happy to have you here again," Yahya answered quickly to make sure that James felt welcome. He was also beginning to have the suspicion that he would have to drag the other young man back here in the future to finish up the task of photographing animals. Besides, there was always a constant flux of new animals coming in as old ones were adopted out. It would be a monumental task to take on photographing every single animal, so he definitely wasn't going to request it out of James. James probably had much more things to do with his life than photograph animals at a shelter.
"Yeah, we usually get more in than we can adopt out. It's a good thing our facility is so huge, or we would have run out of room a long time before now." Even though their focus was wildlife, there was adequate room for domestic animals. Yahya spent less time with the cats and dogs and more with handling wild animals, simply because he was good at reading and anticipating an animal's next move. But, even he would venture over to the adoption side of the building to help out if it was needed (and he secretly loved to play with the puppies or kittens - they were cute and squishy, and he loved cute things).
Yahya could attempt one conversation diversion, but he was convinced that further evasion would probably be rude. If James wanted him in some pictures, why should he really say no? The other young man was correct, at least, they could potentially target an audience with the pictures. "Maybe we should find a guy who would drive the girl boy crazy..." he mused softly as he followed James to the next kennel. "But, uh, I guess if you want me to do it, I'll do it."
He slipped into another kennel as James finished taking photos of the dog he was on. In a matter of seconds he had scooped up a husky-looking pup and slipped back out of the kennel. He held the puppy up to his chest, the dog wagging its tail and eagerly trying to lick his chin. "How about you take a picture with this puppy, if you'll let me take it?" he suggested with a grin.
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Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 8:59 pm
"Yeah, yeah," he answered automatically while he adjusted the settings on his camera. He didn't see it as too big of a deal, but then again he really had no idea how many animals there were and just what he was getting into. Maybe after the next few visits he'd realize just how in over his head he was.
"Sounds typical," he responded absentmindedly. The setting were just right as he prepared to take the next picture. James himself had never owned a pet, because he hadn't had the time for one. Maybe spending time in the shelter would change his mind about that, after all he had more free time now than he knew what to do with. "I imagine people adopt a pet without realizing just how much work one is. Don't care for them right, then abandon them when it becomes too much." Fingers fiddled with the loose lens cap. "Shame really."
He cracked a slight smile at Yahya's insecurity. "Don't think you're good enough?" He laughed, "I think you'd be surprised." He had enough experience to know girls loved a cute boy who was good with animals. He couldn't ever figure out why but it was how it things were. Besides, James thought Yahya was a good-looking kid, why wouldn't girls? "You'll be great, really," he assured him.
Amusement shifted to skepticism when Yahya suggested he should be photographed with a dog. "Ah--" he stopped uncertain of how to respond so he reached out for the husky to take him. "I'm not sure, I don't photograph well." An excuse, a lie even.
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Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:11 pm
"I think the problem is that a lot of people today are always working. No one really seems to have a lot of time to devote to taking proper care of a pet. Whatever the case, people get in over their heads and we end up with a few more animals without a home." It was rather sad, especially since so many of these animals were good potential pets! Most would suit just about any type of home, though naturally there were animals that required more care or a specific environment. He still believed most of the problem could be prevented if animals weren't bred so often to make money. It was a trend that likely would not end any time soon.
"Oh, I just think somebody else would be better! I'm not very photogenic." Okay, so maybe he was a little insecure about having his picture taken and then plastered all over a website. "How about if you take a picture with this puppy I'll let you take as many pictures with me in them as you like?" It was a compromise, but he did want to see the actual photographer credited, and what better way to do that then have him in at least one picture. Besides, James had already taken the puppy out of his hands instinctively!
Since James' hands were suddenly preoccupied with holding the wriggling mass of fluff, Yahya reached over to the young man and snatched up the camera with care. He observed it for a few seconds, trying to fiddle with the lenses to get a good shot. He really didn't give James much of a chance to say no before he snapped a picture of him. All Yahya hoped to accomplish was get a decent shot without breaking the camera. "You know, I'm so used to having a camera on my phone. I have no idea what some of these buttons are." Which meant he didn't press them! At least he got the camera to snap a few pictures.
"I won't put them up if you don't want me to, but I do think you should be in one at the very least!"
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Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:25 pm
"There are often times," he paused because the puppy began licking all over his face. He couldn't help but chuckle as he leaned back trying to get out of the line of attack. It was then that the first picture was snapped and the sound of the shutter clicking made him frown. "Hey! I didn't consent to this!" He protested turning away as the puppy began squirming trying to lick his nose. There went the sound of the shutter clicking again.
"Knock it off!" He insisted but there was no bite behind his words, no real anger at the situation. He had, after all, put himself in such a situation. Finally he held the puppy at arms length and shook his head. "I know you're excited but you need to calm down," he told the husky firmly, then turned his gaze to Yahya. "That was sneaky," he said.
The puppy barked to get his attention again and wiggled about, paws flailing as he tried to snuggle back up with James. "Whoa, whoa! None of that!" He quickly offered the husky back to Yahya in exchange for his camera. "Okay, you've got your pictures of me, now I get to take pictures of you."
It was what the blue haired young man had offered him. "I never take pictures with my phone, not into all that smart phone nonsense. Rather stick with a classic camera," he explained. "The quality is never good enough on a phone."
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Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:40 pm
"You took the puppy! I assumed it was consent," Yahya replied sweetly even as he snuck in another picture with James' camera. The volunteer really didn't sound all that upset with the tables being turned on him, so Yahya took the few precious moments he had with the camera to take as many pictures as he possibly could manage. Most of them were terrible, especially since James was frowning in the first two of them! But, he thought he had gotten a few good shots in there. They were at least salvageable pictures.
The blue haired young man had a small, pleased smile on his face as James told him his actions had been a little sneaky. For a moment he was very proud of himself for managing to steal a few shots of James. Realizing that he looked self-satisfied, he tried to turn his expression slightly more innocent... even though he still looked rather happy with himself. :"I thought I was being rather straightforward."
He allowed the trade off for the camera and puppy. He cradled the husky against his chest, the pup calming down a little in his arms. "Yeah, you probably get way better quality with a camera, I just find it far more convenient to take pictures with my phone." Yahya placed the puppy back in its kennel and skipped down a few to one of the more energetic dogs. "This is Gatsby, he's fairly energetic so you could get some really cool action shots with him outside." He told the black dog to sit, and waited for the animal to calm down before slipping into the kennel and attaching a leash to his temporary collar.
The dog was clearly a shepherd mix, probably with lab but it was hard to tell. "Follow me, because I'm sure in a few seconds I'll be dragged outside." He kicked open the door to the kennel, and the dog immediately tugged on the leash and made a bid towards outside. Yahya, to his credit, managed to avoid getting pulled terribly hard. They made it outside without injury to Yahya, and after checking the fenced-in yard to make sure none of the other dogs were currently occupying it, he let Gatsby off the leash and allowed the dog to run around and burn off some much-needed energy.
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Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:55 pm
"I call foul-play," he countered grateful to have his camera back in his hands. Yahya didn't seem to do it any harm and he found himself briefly reviewing the pictures. They weren't bad, even if he hated all pictures of himself, but to the man's credit he did a decent job. He shook his head, lowering his gaze to try and hide the amused grin. He still needed to pretend to be irritated!
Yeah, that so wasn't working.
He slyly snapped a picture of him holding the husky and again when he put him away. He'd get his revenge. There would probably be a hundred of pictures of the bluette by the end of the session. More so if he got shots of the wild life.
"Gatsby, as in the Great Gatsby?" He asked, interest peaked at the literature reference. "Amazing work there," he commented strolling after him. He laughed as the energetic German Shepard dragged Yahya behind him. "You're so scrawny he'd overpower you quick. How'd you manage to stay on your feet?" He teased when they were outdoors.
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Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 5:33 pm
Yahya tried not to frown as James snuck in a picture of him with the puppy, since he knew that it was likely the picture with James in it that would go up on the site. However, he had no idea that James was sneaking in more pictures as he had put the puppy away and back into the kennel. Sometimes, ignorance was bliss... up until the pictures were uploaded onto a computer and he saw how many had him in them.
Yahya didn't quite get a chance to respond to James until Gatsby was unleashed into the yard. He might have been a little out of breath after being tugged down the hallway, though he liked to think that he held his ground fairly well. Gatsby was one of those dogs that would drag you along with him if you couldn't keep up - a lot of the volunteers were apprehensive when it came to handling such an energetic dog. "Yeah, one of the girls here named him. He was a stray - I think we picked him up ah, it's probably been around a year now."
He flushed a little bit with embarrassment as James noted how scrawny he was - he wasn't - okay, he was. "I've had... lots of practice. And he's not usually so bad with me - I think he just got excited since you're here too." He pinned the blame partially on James with a bright smile. Gatsby dragged everyone around, really. It was a fact of life by now. "I think it's why he hasn't been adopted yet, he's so high energy." The dog whizzed past them without a care in the world, reveling in its temporary freedom. Occasionally Gatsby seemed to remember people were nearby, and would frolic back over to them to lick Yahya's hand or try to jump up to lick James' face.
"So, I'm guessing this is the part where you make me take a picture with Gatsby," he announced with a pout, as if the pout would be able to get him out of the picture.
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