Jay was basking in the sunshine in his favorite golden retriever shift. He was just sort of lazing around today, lying on the grass as the wind caressed his fur, blowing it gently as his tongue lightly lolled out of his mouth. It was late afternoon, and the sun was shining just enough to keep it from being a bitter cold. The park wasn't terribly busy, so it was nice just to be able to relax alone, enjoying the time to himself.

However, the thought hit him that he usually tended to run into trouble in the park, but maybe this time would be different. Then again, he usually tended to run into trouble everywhere, now that he thought about it. Besides, he wasn't doing anything, so maybe if he stayed still, trouble wouldn't find him. Maybe.

But then again, that likely wasn't going to happen. The guy was a trouble magnet, whether human, golden retriever, wolf or Pomeranian. That was just his cross to bear. As the wind began to blow again, he rolled over onto his back, showing off his white-furred belly to no one as he slightly closed his eyes. This was the life.

Zoe was making her way home from work through the park. It was definitely a cool day out, bit not as cold as it could have been. The zebras, however, hadn't felt that way. They had hidden in their enclosure all day, complaining about how cold it was. It was enough to give Zoe a headache.

But she was out now and what birds were still around New York city were not nearly as upset about the weather. Plus, they weren't yelling in the same way, so it was far easier for her to tune then out.

About half way through the park on her way home, Zoe saw a golden retriever laying on the grass. By himself. Zoe tilted her head, watching, as she walked along. She didn’t see anyone around who might be his owner, but that didn’t mean anything. As she got closer, Zoe took a couple steps off the path towards the dog, still looking around for an owner. And saw no one.

”Hey boy,” Zoe called over. ”Who are you here with?”

It wasn't long before a woman walked up to him, which wasn't unusual; women love dogs, after all. Even if this did make things harder on him; after all, he'd gone from a guy who played the field to a guy who was committed to one woman. And while he was very serious about Zelda, maybe even almost enough to use the "L" word...it was still hard, sometimes. Like right this moment.

At her question, he rolled to his feet, tail wagging and barking playfully. 'No, but I'd like to be with you if I wasn't taken,' he thought, getting these out of his system. After all, it wasn't like she could understand him, and he'd never actually act on these ideas that no one but him could hear, right?

Ugh, this relationship thing was hard sometimes.

Zoe honestly wasn’t sure what she was expecting as she approached the golden retriever. He looked far too clean, and far too relaxed around people, to have been a stray, but at the same time she couldn’t see anyone around who may have been his owner.

But it really didn’t matter what Zoe had expected to hear, because never even in her wildest dreams would she have thought she’d hear what this dog had just said.

Zoe stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the dog laying on the grass in front of her. ”What did you just say?” She asked. Maybe she had just imagined it. Maybe her headache was worse than she had thought.

He froze, looking at her when she asked what he said. Did she just...'Holy **** did she just understand me???' His tail drooped and his ears sort of perked up. He was sure she'd understood him, and that was...not a good thing. Or maybe she thought he was just a normal dog. Maybe. He hoped anyway. Even still...

'I'm happily taken I'm happily taken, I'm happily taken...' If she really could understand him, then that meant he couldn't hide behind his dog shifts to avoid temptation.

Attempting to play all of this off, he sat on the ground, wagging his tail and barking again.

The dog froze in a very non-dog-like way when she asked what he had said. At least it was very non-dog-like as far as Zoe was concerned. She’d never seen a dog react that way when she had spoken to it.

The frozen in shock act didn’t last long, the dog started freaking out. Well, sort of. As the dog started to move again, he looked like a normal dog, staring at her, wagging his tail, all that sort of thing. But what she was hearing was still not normal.

”Yes I can understand you,” Zoe said, slowly taking a couple of steps forward as she looked around. Even for her, this was a weird conversation to be having with an animal. One which she figured would be best to not be overheard if possible. ”And what do you mean you’re taken? You have an owner somewhere?”

'Holy ****...' He cocked his head to the side some more as she spoke; she wasn't supposed to know he had kind of hit on her, but of course she can understand him. Why wouldn't she? After all, karma had quite the way of biting him right on his tail. Or maybe it was just his bad luck, who could tell.

'Yeah. Let's just say I have an owner and leave it at that. Much simpler than me really being a mutant who can shape-shift into dogs, after all.' Okay maybe he didn't really know how this communicating thing worked while in dog form, but...as it stood, he'd much prefer that to the alternative right now.

More swearing coming from the dog. That was...Zoe wasn’t sure she had really ever heard an animal swear like this before. In a way, it was actually kind of unnerving. But this guy sure seemed to be swearing quite a bit. Whoever owned this dog must swear on quite a frequent basis for the dog to have picked it up like this.

...Except that he wasn’t really a dog? Zoe closed most of the remaining distance between her and the dog. The dog that had said that he was actually a shape shifting mutant? But he had an owner?

”What do you mean you’re a mutant?” Zoe asked, now only standing a few feet away. ”You’re not actually a dog?”

He let out a whine, his version of a sigh, in this form. 'No. I'm not really a dog...I'm really a dude who can turn into dogs. I've also got a wolf and a fox.'

He lay down, looking up at her, though she was really close to him now. Not that it unnerved him, but most women didn't get this close to him while he was a dog, for one. And when he was a human and they got that close, well...yeah that wasn't going to end well.

'I'd prove it to you, but...Well, my clothes are in a gym bag under that bench over there, and it's broad daylight, and on top of that, it could get really awkward really fast...'

Zoe sat down heavily on the ground when she heard the dog say that he was actually a mutant, a guy, who could turn into a dog. No, into dogs, plural. Or into a wolf, or a fox. ”That is crazy,” Zoe said, not sure what else she could say to that revelation.

When the dog said that he had a bag with clothes under a bench, Zoe’s eyes darted over to said bench before turning back to the dog, a blush on her face as she realized what he was insinuating.

”And so you’re just laying around as a dog, and your clothes are under a bench?” Zoe couldn’t help but blush a bit more as she said it.

'Well, I've tried burying the bag, but I usually end up getting side tracked and forgetting where I buried it. And it's kind of hard to relax or blend in when you're a dog wearing a backpack...' He looked up at her with his still icy-blue eyes that remained no matter what form he took.

'Oh, I probably should have mentioned that my clothes don't shift, so we're probably just going to have to converse like this for awhile. We are in public in mid-afternoon, after all...' He still looked at her, though occasionally his eyes would drift back to his gym bag. In the meantime, he rolled over on his back again as he thought. Sure, this was awkward, but he'd been in a lot weirder situations than this.

Zoe nodded when the dog said that he tended to forget where the bag was when he buried it. ”Squirrels aren't much better,” she replied. ”That's all I hear from them for half the winter is that they can't remember where they buried their nuts.”

Then Zoe couldn't help but laugh at the image in her mind of a dog wearing a backpack. That was actually quite an entertaining image. She might even pay money to see that.

The next image, right in front of her, was not so entertaining, as the dog rolled back over onto his back as he informed her that his clothing didn’t shift with him. That was more than a little uncomfortable, and Zoe averted her eyes. ”Would you mind?” Zoe asked, still not really looking at the dog. ”I know you’re a dog right now, but some modesty please?”

'Okay, well it's nice to know I'm not the only one.' And then she got weird talking about dogs and modesty or something like that. He would have smirked, but he was a dog, so his tongue just lolled out of his mouth, coupled with a goofy dog-face.

'What? I am being modest; it's covered by like...three to four inches of fur!' he protested, though mostly joking. 'I'm more covered now than most people are during the summer.' But nonetheless, he rolled over onto his stomach, sort of wishing he had the means to chuckle, or at least give a grin. But alas he couldn't. 'For the record, I'm smirking on the inside,' he teased a little.

Despite his claim that he was being modest, simply because he was covered in fur, Zoe just shook her head. Sure, that could be said for a normal dog, or not because they really didn’t have any sense of modesty in the first place. But he wasn’t actually a dog, and humans (and mutants) did have a sense of modesty.

But at least he did roll back onto his stomach, so Zoe was able to at least able to look at him again without her face burning. ”You’re smirking, are you?” Zoe asked with a shake of her head.

Then she remembered one of the first things that he had said to her. ”Wait, you said you have an owner,” Zoe said, confused. ”But if you’re not actually a dog, why do you have an owner?”

'I might find this a bit amusing, yes. But all things considered, this is pretty freaking funny.' And then she went back to his crack about an owner.

'Owner...girlfriend...they're not that different, are they?' he asked, actually managing to get his dog form to wink. Then, he stood to his feet, shaking himself off a little. His tail started a slow wag as his tongue sort of hung out of his mouth, much like an actual dog.