lucy_thevaliant (lucy_thevaliant) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-02-22 21:35:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, anders, lucy pevensie |
Who: Anders & Lucy
What: Randomly running into each other
When: Mid February
Where: A Park
Rating: Low
Status: Complete
When Anders took Sir Pounce-a-lot for walks, he never held on to the leash particularly firmly. After all, Sir Pounce-a-lot was just a tiny kitty, and didn’t have much pull to him. He had had a repeat of his dream the other night - the one with a lot of kicking to the head, not the fun one (which also involved getting kicked in the head, but had far more fun in between), and while his headache was fading in the fresh air, it was still kind of there.
So, Anders didn’t think anything of it when he stuffed the edge of Sir Pounce’s leash into his pocket while he bought a bottle of water from a vendor in the park. Until, at least, Sir Pounce a lot caught sight of a squirrel and took off after it, leash dragging along behind him.
“Wha - Sir Pounce-a-lot!” Anders called. He almost took off after the cat, remembered he had to pay for his water, and slapped a five dollar bill on the counter before taking off after his cat.
He was too late. By the time he reached Sir Pounce-a-lot, the cat had already climbed a tree. Anders could see him. Anders could see the leash hanging down from the branch, but the leash was out of his reach and even if he could grab it, he wouldn’t want to pull Sir Pounce-a-lot down that way. He could hurt the poor thing.
“Sir Pounce!” he called, trying his sweetest voice. “Come here.” When that didn’t work, “Sir Pounce-a-lot!” in his sternest voice, “Come down here right this instance.”
Sir Pounce-a-lot was having none of it.
Lucy was walking through the park considering the job options she had now that she had attended a few interviews, though honestly she wasn’t sure which one to go for. Vladimir had been fascinating and she had a feeling it would be really interesting to work with him but the ranch was doing such good work, helping so many troubled kids. It wasn’t easy to know which way to go.
Looking up as she heard a man who sounded increasingly frustrated and possibly even upset she noticed he was trying to tempt down a kitty who was sitting in the tree.
Deciding it couldn’t hurt, and glad she was in her jeans, she headed over. “Hi” she said with a smile, “Do you need a hand?” she asked, fully prepared to climb the tree if he accepted her offer, not that he knew that. She hadn’t done it since she was a kid but she’d loved it. She hadn’t earned her reputation as a tomboy by doing girly things like her sister.
“Sir Pounce-a-lot decided to chase a squirrel,” Anders said, before taking his eyes off of his cat and looking at the girl who had joined him at the tree. “I definitely wouldn’t say no to some help, I’m not sure what you’ll be able to - You don’t have any dried mackerel, do you? He does love the stuff. I bet we could coax him down.”
What if Sir Pounce-a-lot’s leash got stuck in a branch, and then he fell out of the tree and was stuck dangling there? His leash was attached to a harness, not a collar, so at least he wouldn’t strangle to death, but the idea was still worrisome. “Or maybe we can call the fire department? This is their job, isn’t it?”
“Sir Pounce-a-lot is his name? That’s so sweet” Lucy said with a smile, before shaking her head at the mackerel question. Though she did check her pockets for cat treats since she sometimes kept them in there for Aslan but she was out of luck today. “No mackerel sorry” she said sadly.
“Oh don’t worry, we don’t need the fire department. Trust me” Lucy told him with a grin moving forward and after testing the first branch she swung herself up, climbing it carefully but with a certain amount of ease until she was level with the cat, “Hey, kitty. You’re worrying your daddy you know” she said to him, slowly extending her hand out, “Do you wanna come down now?” she coaxed.
Anders was surprised when she started climbing the tree, but she was pretty good at it. She’d obviously done this before. “Be careful,” he called after her. He wanted Sir Pounce-a-lot down, but not at the expense of someone getting hurt to do it.
Sir Pounce-a-lot eyed her warily when she climbed up onto the branch with him. After a moment he stepped forward to sniff her fingers. Then he butted her hands. He hadn’t been expected to get pets up in a tree, but he certainly wouldn’t be opposed to it.
Anders saw Sir Pounce-a-lot moving toward her, and let out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t realized that he had been holding his breath. He wouldn’t be entirely at ease until they were both out of the tree safely, but at least Sir Pounce-a-lot loved people.
Lucy had reassured the man that she’d be fine as she’d climbed, it felt good to be doing it again. She missed the physical activity, maybe she should join a gym or something. But she’d think about that later.
Right now she focused on petting the cat and letting him sidle up alongside her and trust her so that when she wrapped an arm around him he didn’t seem to mind too much. Just purred and nuzzled against her. He was an affectionate little thing. She unhooked the leash and made sure to tuck it around the animal before she started her descent. Slower and more carefully than before, since one arm was making sure Sir Pounce-a-lot was secure and safe. But eventually she was back on the lower branch.
“My hero!” Anders exclaimed in a mock swoony voice when she got near the bottom of the tree. He walked forward to take Sir Pounce-a-lot from her.
“Oh Sir Pounce, he cooed. You’ve been a very bad kitty. Running off and scaring daddy like that.” He nuzzled his fur. “Don’t you ever do that again. You could have been hurt. Or this friendly lady could have been hurt trying to rescue you.”
Then he turned to the girl who had helped. “Thank you so much,” he said in a more normal tone of voice. “Is there anyway I can repay you for helping?”
Lucy laughed at his swoon and found it rather sweet the way the man was with his cat, he was probably worse than she was with Aslan. Which meant he must be a good person in Lucy’s eyes because anybody who loved their pet that much had a kind heart.
“You’re more than welcome” she said before shaking her head, “I’m just glad we got him down okay” she said, before holding out her hand, “I’m Lucy by the way” she grinned.
“Anders,” he said by way of introduction, taking her hand and shaking it. “Let me buy you some ice cream or something. It’s the very least I can do. Do you rescue people’s cats often?”
“Okay, but only because ice cream is a major weakness of mine” she smiled, before laughing, “Not usually but I did used to climb trees a lot when I was growing up. I was a total outdoor girl”
Anders attached Sir Pounce-a-lot’s leash to his harness again, and this time wrapped the end of it around his hand so he wouldn’t lose it. He kept the cat in his arms for now though, as he walked back toward the vendor that he had bought his water from. He wondered if he’d be able to get his change back from the guy.
“Well, thank goodness for that,” he said. “I would have had to call the fire department, and it would have all been very embarrassing.”
“I’m sure they wouldn’t have minded but actually it was quite fun. I forgot how much I enjoy being active like that” she told him with a smile, maybe the job with Neal would be the best one. It would certainly be the more active and varied of the two.
“I like his harness” she said as they walked, “I’m not sure my brothers cat would be as agreeable to wearing one though” which was a shame.
“I’m glad you had fun at least,” he said, smiling. “The harness is very handy. I tried walking him the first time in his collar, but he slipped right out of it. I’ve been making him wear the harness since he was a kitten, so he doesn’t mind it so much, but yeah, most cats aren’t a huge fan of it. Your brother has a cat though?” Anders loved talking about people’s cats. “What’s it like?”
“That’s a really smart idea” Lucy said, “And he does seem perfectly happy to be wearing it, even if he did sneak away to go tree climbing” she grinned. “Yeah he does. He’s called Aslan, the cat not my brother” she clarified, “And he’s a big orange maine coon”
“I like the name,” Anders said. He had loved reading the Chronicles of Narnia when he was a child. “And oh, a maine coon. A tabby? I love tabbys.” Given that Sir Pounce-a-lot was, in fact, an orange tabby (albeit a domestic short hair), it should have come as no surprise.
He made it to the snack vendor. “What kind of ice cream did you want?” he asked. He placed Sir Pounce-a-lot on the ground.
“Thanks, I can’t take credit for that. It was my brother and his boyfriend who names him” she said before nodding, “He is and he’s very affectionate. I talk to him a lot” she admitted, more so since the wardrobe incident over Christmas.
“Strawberry please” she asked politely, smiling as Sir Pounce-a-lot rubbed against Anders leg.
“I talk to Sir Pounce a lot too,” Anders admitted. Not that it was something that would have been particularly difficult to surmise. “He’s an excellent listener.”
Anders ordered a strawberry cone and a chocolate one for himself. He handed the strawberry cone to Lucy. “I’ve never met a maine coon before. Is he really big?”
“Thank you” Lucy said with a smile before nodding, “He really is but he makes a great hot water bottle at night” she grinned, “You should come by and meet him. Maybe they could have a play date” After all there was nothing to say it was only dogs that got to have playdates, cats could too.
"So long as he's not territorial," Anders said. Sir Pounce was excellent with other cats, probably because Anders took him everywhere with him when he wasn't at work. But he did know other cats didn't like meeting new cats that often. Still, the idea of Sir Pounce playing with a big old orange tabby maine coon.... "They'd be so cute though. Chasing each other and rolling around on the ground and chasing laser pointers." Oh yes, this was definitely something that had to happen. "Oh, they could be best friends." He looked down at the cat that was nuzzling his leg, and cooed at him, "You'd like a new friend, wouldn't you Sir Pounce-A-Lot. Oh yes you would. You could share all the interesting kitty gossip and groom each others fur."
Lucy laughed, “I think Aslan would love that” she said, “He’d definitely like a new friend to gossip with too” Aslan was probably one of the most laid back cats anybody would ever meet and Lucy knew he’d welcome any company especially if it came from a new friend of Lucy’s. And she had to admit the idea of Sir Pounce-A-Lot and Aslan hanging out together was pretty adorable.
“Oh good!” Anders said. He went into his rucksack, which he carried everywhere with him, and pulled out one of his business cards for his free clinic and a pen. Then he wrote his cell phone number on the back of it. “Here’s my number. I assume you need to talk to your brother before letting strange cats play with Aslan, but you should text me if we can set up a playdate.”
“Thanks” Lucy said as she took the card from him, “I’ll be sure to let you know” she promised, “I bet my brother will be happy to let Aslan make a new friend and I know Aslan will be excited” Or as excited as a laid back cat got anyway.
“That’s great!” When he had lived in Germany, Sir Pounce-A-Lot had visited a lot of his friend’s cats - at least, those who didn’t mind having another cat around. Anders had kind of missed having kitty playdates. Not to mention, he had kind of missed meeting new people and having friends. This was the purr-fect way to kill two birds with one stone. “I know Sir Pounce-A-Lot is very excited for it. Isn’t that right, Sir Pounce-a-Lot?” Sir Pounce meowed in response to his name, which was, obviously, an affirmative.