InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I have an itch."

Roddy Bonniman (occupycatacombs) wrote in yegods,
@ 2012-07-17 15:57:00

Entry tags:

!log, hector campbell, rodion bonniman

WHO Hector Campbell and Roddy Bonniman
WHERE A Park
WHEN July 17th, afternoon
RATING TBD
SUMMARY Dog walking and getting to know each other
STATUS Incomplete

Now that the weather had returned to warm, but humanly bearable temperatures, Roddy didn't mind getting out a bit more and walking Yulia. Who was still large and hairy and thought the heat was pretty annoying, but loved her regal walkies. Roddy was even feeling more sociable, after what felt like months of either being unbearably hot or getting people to confess at him. It had not been a big month for socializing, but Roddy thought that might be changing, and so wanted to take advantage of that. And he didn't really know Hector that well, but they had a mutual friend in Felix, had gone to Belize, and Roddy knew he had a dog. Or maybe a few. So Roddy had extended the hand of friendship and asked Hector if he and his dogs might like to go for walkies with Roddy and Yulia.

And maybe have his picture taken. Roddy did have his camera around his neck, not his best one but it was sufficient. He didn't think this project with Brady really needed clarity in the photographs. Roddy had spent the heat looking through his photos, and even some film from six years ago, and found pictures of soldiers that were as clear in the photographs as they were in Roddy's memory. He had even taken a few of himself, but he looked hot and miserable in all of them and thrown them out. He'd try again later.

What he needed, he thought, was pictures of friends now. Death and sacrifice then, and friends now. Roddy liked that idea. True, he and Hector didn't really know one another, but one of the points of this walk was to change that. Also... well if Roddy took pictures of a few of Felix's friends, it wouldn't be so weird to ask to take pictures of Felix's cute roommates. He was taking pictures of lots of people. Some of them were bound to be cute.

"I don't even know how long you've been in New York," Roddy said, walking along through the park, not having brought up why he had a camera yet, just trying to get to know the taller man a bit first.

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dustystallion
2012-07-17 08:51 pm UTC (link)

Hector didn't know why he agreed to meet with Roddy. It wasn't like he disliked the man. They both had activist minds. They both liked animals. He just usually felt a little on edge and down whenever his father visited him. And this last time, not only did his father scold him for not being evil enough... again... but he also came in on Hector's My Little Pony time. That just added embarrassment to his problems of all things. Why couldn't Set walk in when Hector was watching pornography?

However, he knew he had to get out of his apartment and perhaps he could stand a pet walking date. So, he got Sweetums and Nigel on leashes and met with Roddy. Both of his dogs liked the walkies, what dog didn't?

"I've been in New York for a couple years..." Hector admitted. "I really want to go somewhere else by now. Like work on a nature reserve in Africa or go back to Texas and buy a ranch."

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occupycatacombs
2012-07-17 09:56 pm UTC (link)

Yulia knew this park pretty well. It wasn't that Roddy had picked a place to give her a home field advantage, it was really just a park, but it was a park that Yulia knew. And she enjoyed how it still managed to smell differently each time. Drastically different. Sometimes the sidewalk smelled more like hamburger grease than french fry grease. Something like that really made all the difference. Only this walk she had three more scents following her around. Roddy's she knew, even when he'd been very sweaty, even when he was covered in sunscreen. She had even gotten used to the new leg over the months. But the other man was relatively new, though she thought she had smelled him before. She also thought she had previously smelled at least one of his dogs, though it was so long ago to tell which. Unfortunately, none of these smells, aside from being faintly familiar from a long time ago, were particularly interesting. She had given the man and dogs a brief sniff over, decided everything she needed to know about them, and got on with the walk. Though it was strange to walk and hear Roddy's voice at the same time. She kept expecting him to tell her to go a different way, or it was time to go home, or time for treats or water. But nothing he said so far was to her, which was rather aggravating. Why should he talk so much but not say anything to her?

Roddy nodded, having known Hector was not a native even without having heard his voice. He rather applauded the man for keeping hold of his accent, it was something that wasn't always easy to do, especially in New York City, where all the accents in the world came to mingle. "Would you want those to be permanent positions? Or just go into them and see long you feel like being there?" Roddy felt like living abroad might be something one does for awhile, years even, before homesickness won in the end. Of course it helped having a home to come back to.

He scratched at the back of his head and looked down at Sweetums and Nigel. Roddy was a progressive, but occasionally he had thoughts like 'why don't men have men type dogs anymore?' which was out-dated and a bit judgmental of him, but he still had the thought. Oddly enough the thought in his head sounded like Judge Bonniman, which was more frightening than anything. But between Felix and Hector, Roddy knew a lot of men with rather cute and cutely-named dogs. Certainly not a 'proper' dog for a man, like Roddy's ~~Princess~~ Yulia. "Would you bring them with you to Texas?" he pointed to Hector's two dogs. "Or what if you went to Africa?" They would not survive Africa. That was a given.

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dustystallion
2012-07-17 11:06 pm UTC (link)

Hector had well trained dogs. That was something his grandfather taught along with how to ride horses. Even though Nigel definitely could get into mischief, he still knew how to behave himself around other dogs. He knew there would be no treats if he did try to be big around other dogs. Sweetums wanted to play with the new dog, to which Hector had to pull her back gently.

"I think Africa would be temporary. I prefer working with large game. Like I originally wanted to be a vet for horses and cows and that sort of thing. I'm a Texas boy at heart."

At the mention of what he'd do with his animals, Hector looked a little bit sadly at his boys, "Well, I have a friend at work who has a big yard because he lives outside the city. He said he would watch them for the year. If I went back to Texas, I would bring them with me..." Of course, this was a lie because Hector didn't know if he would be able to escape. After all, his dad seemed pretty serious.

Besides, Hector expected Set to drag him in. He had a feeling Set had something planned. What it was, it couldn't be good...

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occupycatacombs
2012-07-17 11:36 pm UTC (link)

Roddy didn't really imagine cows in Texas got a lot of tender love and care from vets. He had more an image of the cure for every ailment being hamburgers, but that was just an assumption. He had never actually been to Texas. Or really around the United States at all, his parents took him around the east coast a bit or to other countries. Though he had been to California and Hawaii, so it was possible he'd been over Texas. Not really the same though, was it?

But he shook his head, because he did think it was good to have goals, and to work for them, even if they ended up not being where you really wanted to go. Even if you ended up some place entirely different anyway. "I always wondered. Animal Planet occasionally has shows that take place in animal preserves, and I always thought it'd be amazing to work there. To help bottle feed baby cheetahs twenty times a day or something. But I always wondered what kind of amazing licensing you need to run, or every work at a place like that. I mean you need to be qualified up the wazoo to even work at the zoo here, right? Working at an animal preserve must be very demanding." Roddy shrugged. "Though I suppose it would depend on what country you were in, they all have different laws and regulations. Was there a particular preserve you were looking at?"

Roddy did not mention that the programs on the Animal Planet that he watched, aside from a bit of Puppy Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday, were ones about baby animals. He shouldn't be ashamed, but there was something embarrassing in spending pretty much any length of time laughing at baby animals walking awkwardly around. He was a grown man, after all. He worked at the UN.

"If you work with elephants Felix will have to visit. You could try to name a baby one after him."

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dustystallion
2012-07-17 11:54 pm UTC (link)

Hector knew there were a lot of assumptions about Texas. Yes, there certainly was some crazy aspects to the state but it was still home. It was where he grew up and where he had his happiest memories. It was Set that sort of forced him to uproot himself to New York City, a place which was no doubt interesting and busy, just not really his style.

"That is something would be my dream to do..." Hector said as he looked up at the sky. "I am sure it is but it must be very rewarding..." Hector also watched Animal Planet but it didn't even come close to matching up to his My Little Pony obsession. "I'm currently looking at preserves in Kenya and South Africa."

At the mention of Felix, Hector laughed, "Oh I already told him I would name a baby elephant after him when I made it there..."

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occupycatacombs
2012-07-18 12:16 am UTC (link)

Yulia seemed to get a hold of a scent and tried to pull Roddy along in that direction. Subtly, so that Roddy could only feel it through the leash. Normally, he liked to let Yulia just go where she wanted to. It was all park, he wasn't vain enough to normally make her stick to the same path just because he wanted her to, though he had been told once it was good to do so because if the dog ever got loose, it might stick to the areas it knew best, and in theory you could just follow the course of the typical walk and find them. But Roddy liked to give his leashed pet a bit more free will than that. These walks were, after all, more for her benefit. True, they both descended from the wild woods of Russia (though Roddy's ancestors were more river dwellers... and gods and giants) but Yulia had a much more dire need for exercise than Roddy. A basic need. He walked around to and from work, and occasionally at work. He was normally tired by the time he got home. Also he weighed nothing, so walking and exercise was just to build those manly muscles that Roddy thought would only look silly on him anyway.

But, Roddy would only let Yulia follow her nose when they didn't have company, which did happen on occasion. Actually, Roddy and Yulia met a lot of people while going for walks, either on purpose or by accident. But since Hector was with them, and his dogs, Roddy did not give when Yulia tried to follow her nose. She obeyed him, and stayed on the path, but if she ever decided to investigate no matter what he said, then he would have wished he had manly muscles, as silly as they looked.

"Would they be different animals you would deal with? Kenya and South Africa are..." Roddy had to mentally picture Africa. "About half a continent away from each other." But both had coastline on the Indian Ocean. "Does the wildlife differ greatly in them?" Now he felt like he ought to know more about the environment in each country, but it was a big continent. Frankly, as an American, Roddy was already ahead most of the crowd by being able to name (although not properly pronounce) all of the countries in Africa. Unless the changed (as they sometimes did). But that was an educated perk of working for the UN. You learned the names of countries no one had ever heard of. "Do you work with animals of African origin at the zoo?" Roddy had never seen Hector at work. He had a sudden mental image of Hector in an ugly tan short-sleeved shirt with matching shorts, and then large white socks and boots. Maybe with a pith helmet.

"That would make his year," Roddy said, smiling. "Or, like, what, twenty years? How long do elephants live?" He assumed they remembered their birthdays.

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dustystallion
2012-07-18 04:18 pm UTC (link)

Hector preferred dog parks and letting his dogs run free. It was another habit he had growing up in Texas. He was able to just let the dogs go out and run free in their backyard. Of course, luckily for small breeds, they don't have to run far before they tire themselves out. Hector preferred labs and golden retrievers but he felt they were not best for city.

"They would be slightly different, yes. At least different species. Kenya is more Savannah and I get to deal with lions and probably elephants. I love elephants. And lions. So I think I will probably shoot for Kenya but South Africa is probably easier to get to."

He also saw himself in that outfit as well. Except he wanted to take care of the animals not hunt them, "There are some of African origin at the zoo. Like we have lions."

At the mention of elephants, Hector beamed, "50 to 70 years! They are amazing creatures with such intelligence. You know, they are capable of self-awareness, use of tools, and altruism? They also mourn their dead. I wonder what it would be like to be an elephant." He'd have a family.

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occupycatacombs
2012-07-18 11:38 pm UTC (link)

"They live longer than I expected," Roddy said with a nod. He adjusted his hold on Yulia's leash. The dog had forgotten the scent she had picked up on and was just walking along, tongue out but nose active. A dog's nose never rested. Roddy looked around the park, which was swollen with summer and other New Yorkers, some with dogs, some with children, some with ice cream. Roddy thought it was pretty much the hot part of the day, and therefore wasn't surprised to not really see anyone out jogging.

His free hand went to his camera which bounced gently against his chest as the walked. It was not very heavy (not this one, but several of his cameras could get quite weighty, depending on the lens attached) but he attempted to walk so as to limit the movement of it. Walk with grace, if possible. As he looked around the park, Roddy tried to find some place that might be suitable for taking photographs. Some place calm, without a lot of people around, or nothing obvious (or copyrighted) in the background. Along the path ahead of them Roddy saw a few benches, behind which were some shrubberies that, although possibly filled with those little translucent insects that loved to live in bushes, would be a good background.

"So, Hector," Roddy started, the benches getting closer. "I'm working on an art project, and it's my job to take pictures of people. As many people as I can manage. Sort of a collage thing," though really more of a thing than a collage. "Would you mind if I took a few pictures of you? Nothing special, you could just sit down on that bench there and we could keep talking. You wouldn't need to pose or anything, just sit and talk." Roddy paused. "And maybe hold the dogs." He didn't think he could take pictures and hold Yulia's leash at the same time.

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dustystallion
2012-07-19 12:01 am UTC (link)

"They do live a long time. They are amazing creatures. I do love them a lot. That and horses. They are both my favorite animals," It occurred to Hector he probably sounded very childish but he would rather focus on things that cheered him up. And he needed to be cheered up. His father's image kept on coming back to his mind.

When Roddy asked to take his picture, Hector tilted his head to the side for a moment then shrugged, "Sure, you can take my picture. I can take Yulia..." He held out his free hand to grab a hold of the leash.

Hector didn't know how photogenic he was or if this would even look good in a collage. But why not?

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occupycatacombs
2012-07-19 03:17 am UTC (link)

The fact that Hector liked elephants and horses was now firmly set in Roddy’s mind. Hector had made that pretty clear, and Roddy could understand it must be one of the points that allowed for him and Felix to be friends. It occurred to Roddy that he and Felix didn’t have something like that, some major common interest (because elephants were a major interest for Felix). Still, they got along rather well, even if Roddy couldn’t peg down one thing they had really bonded over. It almost didn’t seem to matter, they were friends, Roddy was very fond of him and found Felix, in his own way, very interesting. Supposedly Roddy was also interesting, but he wasn’t entirely sure he believed that. Nothing about himself really struck out as being amazing, except the leg, which Felix never seemed that interested in. Or to care about at all, really. That was what Roddy liked about him, even if he didn’t share his passion for elephants like Hector did. A friendship could be built on a lot of things, Roddy thought.

“Maybe up by that bench would be good,” Roddy said, still holding onto Yulia’s leash until they got a bit closer. It was still mostly deserted, and luckily the bench didn’t have any garbage or graffiti or other gross things on it. Not that art couldn’t have gross things, but Roddy would have felt bad asking Hector to sit there, and maybe tried to find someplace else.

“If this works for you, you can just sit down and hold the leashes, Yulia isn’t likely to try and bolt on you. And feel free to tell me if you think she might, or if three leashes it too much for you.” First things first, Roddy handed Hector the leash and beckoned for him to sit on the bench. Then he turned his attention to his camera, removing the lens cap and sticking it in a pocket of his trousers. Even after as long as it had been since Roddy had used this particular camera, the lens cap had done its job of keeping dust off, so he only had to blow on it out of habit. Roddy flicked the camera on and held it up to his eyes, aiming it at a speck on the ground and getting a feel again for how the zoom and focus felt. The workings of a camera felt different for each camera, not just each brand, but each individual object. He wasn’t prone to thinking of objects as being like people, but he rather thought he knew that each camera was different. In their own way, they even had personalities, he thought, though film cameras more than this kind.

“So there are two kinds of elephants, African and Asian. Right? One is a lot bigger than the other, I know that. Does one live longer than the other, though? Dogs tend to live longer the smaller they are.” Yulia did indeed sit, just as Roddy had said she might, looking over at Roddy as he moved to stand more toward the middle of the path away from them. He kept the conversation going, camera still up to his face, because he wanted Hector to be relaxed. A lot of people got uncomfortable in front of cameras, or tried to pose and make everything look fake. Smiles would also be nice, and they were the hardest thing to fake, so Roddy thought talking about something Hector liked might be the right way to go.

“The first elephant I ever saw was here in New York. Oh, must have been about… thirteen years ago, not long after I got here. Something we did as a family to help us bond, I guess. And I just remember thinking how big it was, the biggest living thing I ever saw.” Very smelly too, but Roddy didn’t mention that. “Even though I was pretty small back then, I think it was still rather impressive.” He smiled slightly, thinking about just what a shrimp of a boy he’d been at that age, just on the brink of puberty. It would have been nice if puberty had done more for him than it had. Some extra inches in height would have been nice.

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occupycatacombs
2012-07-19 03:17 am UTC (link)

Lens and everything perfectly in place, Roddy turned the face of it toward Hector, getting just his head and shoulders in the shot. Including the dogs didn’t seem like something for this project, really. Focusing in on Hector’s face, Roddy stood and waited for him to have an expression worth capturing. “Elephants exist in Russian zoos, I imagine.” He shifted his weight off his left leg to his right to be a bit more stable. “Every major zoo must have elephants, yeah? Like it’s some sort of zoo staple, either an African or Asian. Perhaps both. Helps not being a zoo in a place so cold it defeated Napoleon, I suppose. I just never really got a chance to go to any zoos in Russia. Might not even have heard of them until I came here, which is an odd but probable thought.”

Giving a slight press onto the button to take a picture, Roddy thought to what Brady had gotten done of this project already, and where pictures of Hector might fit into it. It might not need them at all, but Roddy wanted to take pictures of people anyway, just in case. Victory and loss both needed there to be people, and pictures of friends, or friends of friends, were important to both victory and loss. Even a single person could make either of those things feel greater. At least that was the conclusion Roddy had come to in his travels, and his trials. Doing something with someone was better than doing it alone. And doing it with a friend was better than doing it with a stranger. Maybe that’s why it was important for Roddy to get to know Hector, and for Hector to get to know Roddy. No need for them to be strangers, Felix could be the elephant, the interest they have in common.

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dustystallion
2012-07-19 08:44 pm UTC (link)

"Elephants, gorillas, and lions are necessary for zoos it seems. Oh and tigers," Hector said thinking about the animals in the Bronx Zoo. They had become like family to him, even if you don't piss off anything that is either twice your size or has a lovely row of teeth. He grew to respect their personalities, because animals did have personalities like people. He always found elephants to be gentle giants, except when in trouble.

"So this collage. What is the purpose? What is the theme?" Hector hoped it wasn't another diversity collage. He got roped in to brochure pictures at Texas A&M because of it. Also because he had a hard time saying no.

"Is photography a hobby of yours? Or do you need to do it at NATO? It's NATO you work for right?" Hector couldn't remember.

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occupycatacombs
2012-07-19 09:18 pm UTC (link)

Roddy wasn't entirely certain he wanted to tell Hector that he was working on a piece of art about war and loss and sacrifice. He wasn't embarrassed, it was a project worth contributing to, it was just something that was a bit hard to explain. And perhaps something Hector might not like the sound of. Actually, Roddy didn't think he could explain it properly, anyway. It was more something that needed to be seen. Brady had been very good like that. The best art was something that couldn't be explained, it needed to be experienced.

But Roddy wasn't about to lie to him. That just wasn't nice. "It's a collaborative piece, actually. I'm mostly just contributing pictures. It's sort of..." Roddy frowned and took another picture before taking a few steps to one side. "I'd say it was about the price of victory. The fellow I'm working with and I have... Well. Some things are hard, and much is lost, but sometimes a lot is gained in the aftermath."

That seemed vague and like it didn't make much sense, but it was the best Roddy could manage while also trying to take pictures. Apparently sometimes he could string some words together nicely, mostly rhetoric, a skill gained through work, spending all day translating speeches and official documents into things that sounded nice. But it was the really important, really Roddy things that he just kept messing up.

"I prefer film, actually," he answered simply. That was an easy one. "I used to be a cameraman in my youth. Then life and the leg happened and now I work for the UN as a translator. Don't get a lot of chances anymore to go out and film things."

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dustystallion
2012-07-19 09:39 pm UTC (link)

Hector wasn't an art person. His girlfriend enjoyed art and wanted to go to a big Art Museum and ponder every piece and what it meant. Hector, just wanted to watch football. He couldn't understand what made Picasso so amazing but he could see and appreciate what made each player and each team amazing in its own way. Unfortunately, Hector probably wouldn't be able to really grasp the meaning Roddy and Brady would be going for. Art wasn't where Hector saw beauty. He saw it in animals and nature. He also could see it in sports.

"Oh," Hector responded unsure what else to say. "As long as I don't have to take my clothes off next..." He laughed a bit nervously at that. It was a rather bad joke.

He nodded as Roddy said he used to do film, "I had a friend in High School who wanted to do film. I think he does documentaries now. Never been my thing. I always knew I would work with animals."

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occupycatacombs
2012-07-19 09:50 pm UTC (link)

Roddy had said he only wanted a few pictures of Hector, and he had meant it. Probably only one, if any, would make it into the work, and since Roddy had managed to take five or six already he thought it was probably enough. In the unlikely event Brady wanted to increase the amount of Hector in the work, Roddy knew where he could find him. So Roddy stood up straight, realized he'd been slouching to get a particular angle, and dug around in his pocket for the lens cap.

"No I think I've gotten enough. Thanks." Roddy found the cap, blew on it to get pocket fuzz off and reattached it to the camera, turning the machine off and letting it hang back around his neck like a tourist. He walked over to Hector and held his hand out for Yulia's leash. The dog herself had stood up and sniffed at Roddy's left pant leg, which smelled like fabric, metal, and her.

"I was president of the AV Club in high school," Roddy said with a smile and absolutely no shame. "Had a lot of fun putting my school years on film. After that I wanted to go out and use film to change the world. Maybe documentaries, something. I wasn't entirely sure, but I was eighteen." He'd been a bit of an idiot, but a rather successful idiot. Roddy had made short term goals and achieved them. And then the long run came and bit him in the leg. "But I still play my part in the world. I have my say in how the world treats itself."

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dustystallion
2012-07-20 09:05 pm UTC (link)

Hector relaxed a little before he handed the leash to Roddy, "Ah okay. So I have no hope of becoming the next Mona Lisa, do I?" He chuckled a little as he continued to walk along the path. His dogs sniffing the grass and other new smells.

"I didn't do AV Club. I was on the football team. Football is a huge deal in Texas," Hector smiled a little bit. "Our team one regionals one year. I also continued to play football in college. That is how I partly paid for it. The other half is when mom and I had to sell the ranch after my grandparents died..." He looked down sadly at his dogs. He didn't bring up that so often. It was a harsh memory to remember.

"It is important to let people know about issues they wouldn't consider," Hector replied with a nod.

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occupycatacombs
2012-07-21 11:15 pm UTC (link)

Roddy smiled back and shook his head at the Mona Lisa comment. It was far to easy to tell if Hector was smiling or not. And he lacked that grand sense of mysterious. Which was fine, Roddy did too. "I was never going to play football," Roddy said, which he felt needed to real explanation. It should have been pretty easy for Hector to figure out just by looking down at him. Roddy was closer in size to the ball than the football player. "Not that I'd heard of the sport until I was twelve, anyway." He never really took to it, though his father had taken him to a few games. Roddy was more cerebral. Clearly.

He nodded, though there was a problem with documentaries that normally the only people that cared about the subject already would watch them. Unless, of course, the filmmaker had done a good job of making enemies, because then everyone would watch them (*cough*Michael Moore*cough*)

"I think this project kind of does that. It's an important issue, and hopefully people that wouldn't notice it will take a look now."

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