Jacky sighed, checking under the doorway as if his backpack would magically reappear from the last time he looked several seconds ago. There was no such luck - he'd stopped to take a leak around the corner for the absolute briefest of moments, and now his pack, sleeping bag, deodorant, and half a chocolate bar were gone. He put his hands on the back of his head as his shoulders slumped, at the very least glad that his guitar case was slung over his shoulder. To sleep halfway-decently tonight, he was going to need it.

An hour later, he found himself sat on a bench in Central Park with his guitar in his lap and his case open. He'd played a couple of songs, but there hadn't been much foot traffic so far. Still, he'd gotten a handful of change, and as much as a new backpack would be nice right about now, the sound of his stomach told him some food might be in order. Slowly, he got up and walked to a nearby street vendor. He smelled boiling hot dog water, and he knew what it was that he must do.

"There you go," the street vendor said, loading up some jalapenos and mustard onto the delicious meat product of undetermined origin, "Best hot dog in New York." Jacky had heard that at least twelve times since he'd gotten here from different sources, with varying results. He just absently nodded and forked over the change, settling back down on his bench as he took a bite. It was decent enough, but wasn't quite as spicy as he liked. He went to reach into his pocket for his little bottle of hot sauce before he swore under his breath, realising he'd left in his pack. Sighing, he went to take another bite before he heard a whine at his feet.

He leaned forward, looking down. A skinny, scruffy little dog looked up at him, panting with its eyes on his food. "Beat it." He said, waving his hand. The dog barked. He ignored it, and it continued to yap at him as he ate more of his meal. "Hey!" He said, pointing at it in a warning fashion. It opened its mouth and barked again... except there was no noise. It stood still a moment in bewilderment before just sitting and staring at him with wide, puppy dog eyes. "No... don't do that." The dog continued to stare, cocking its head. "No, that's not fair. I spent all my money on this." It stared harder, before sadly looking down at the ground. Jacky sighed, breaking off the end of his hot dog and throwing it on the ground. The dog happily picked it up and swallowed it whole. "Careful, that's spicy." The dog sneezed several times before lolling its tongue out of its mouth, panting with a stupidly satisfied expression on its face. Jacky couldn't help but smirk as he finished the rest.  

It had been a long day. Not necessarily bad, simply long, and Zoe was tired as she walked through the park on her way home from the zoo, still wearing her khaki uniform with her bag over her shoulder. At least it was finally starting to get warmer, so much so that she hadn't even brought a jacket with her that morning for her walk to work.

The other bonus with the weather warming up was that the zebras, all of them, were happier about spending the day outside. At least that made her job a bit easier, if for no other reason than she didn't have to argue with the older zebras about spending time outside. Literally arguing. That was one downside to her mutation. Another was the looks her coworkers gave her as she was arguing with the animals, looks that clearly said they thought she was crazy. But she was often able to coax the animals into doing things that the other trainers weren't, so they didn't actually say anything to her. Or to management.

But the zoo wasn't the only place that she heard animals speaking, and as she walked through the park she was able to understand the birds, squirrels, dogs, and cats that she passed. Most of these, she tuned out as she walked. One dog, however, suddenly caught her attention. Because the dog was very eagerly begging for food, and yet she couldn't audibly hear anything coming from the animal.

Zoe stopped on the path and just looked over for a few moments, seeing a man sitting on a bench eating a hot dog, with a rather ragged looking dog sitting in front of him. Still begging, albeit silently. Though Zoe could still hear it in her mind, asking for food as it gave the man puppy dog eyes.

And yet, despite his seeming reluctance, the man broke off a small piece of his hot dog and tossed it to the dog in front of him, who ate it eagerly. Even though he had spent all of his money on that one hot dog.

"How about I buy you another, then," Zoe offered as she stepped toward the man and the dog. "That way you both can have at least a bit more to eat."

Jacky started as the woman spoke, having not noticed her. She wore a full khaki uniform, which told him either that she was making a fashion statement (which you never could tell in New York), or she worked at the Central Park Zoo. Either way, he didn't mind what she had to say.

"How about I buy you another, then," She offered, walking towards them. The dog spun around and wagged its tail at her. "That way you both can have at least a bit more to eat."

"That would be mighty kind of you. Thank you." He said with an earnest smile. He'd learned long ago not to do the earnest 'oh no I couldn't possibly' routine when a meal was on the line, because they might just take your word for it the first time. There was only the usual slight suspicion in the back of his head when someone bought him food that they automatically assumed he was going to go buy heroin and shoot himself full of holes, but he dismissed it for the good-natured offer it seemed to be. 

He lowered his guitar back down in its case, locking the clasps in place as he got to his feet. "You know a good place to get something? The guy over there reckoned he had the best hot dog in town, but I think you might know better."

The dog was quicker to react than the man was to her offer of buying another hot dog, but they both appeared to be quite happy by her offer. He smiled, and Zoe returned it in kind. But the dog was not nearly as patient as the man was, the slight whining that the man would be able to hear sounding like literal begging for food to Zoe. "Oh be patient, you," Zoe shushed the dog as she watched the man packing his guitar away.

"For a hot dog?" Zoe questioned when she heard what he asked. "Honestly, not really. I generally cook rather than eat out somewhere." She paused, thinking.

Only to have the dog start sniffing around her legs, asking her, pleading with her to hurry up. "Oh, just relax," she said absently, leaning over slightly to scratch behind the dog's ears. "I think there's a guy just outside the park I've heard people at work talk about. At any rate, it's worth a try, right? I'm Zoe, by the way."

Jacky slung his guitar over his shoulder with a sniff. The woman had introduced herself as Zoe, and by his reckoning she seemed a nice enough lady - she was going out of her own way to get him and some mangy mutt some food, after all. She either had a heart of gold, or he was going to wake up in a bath tub full of ice with a kidney missing. Luckily, he had two.

"Nice to meet ya, miss. Name's Jacky." He said, offering a well-meaning smile. The dog barked at him to interrupt. "Needy little thing, ain't you? It's not mine, by the way. No collar, neither." He said, effecting a nod towards the panting canine as he looked back to Zoe. 

"Well, at any rate, let's get a move on before one of us fades away." He made to set off walking down the path, dusting himself off. "You work at the zoo?"

Zoe smiled slightly in greeting when the man introduced himself as Jacky. Only for the dog to interrupt. With what the dog said, Zoe couldn't help but laugh slightly as Jacky started speaking again. "Well, strays tend to be needy when they find someone who gives into the puppy dog eyes and gives them food," Zoe replied, her eyes moving up to look at Jacky instead of the dog once more. And yes, Jacky had told her some of it, but most of that information, Zoe had gotten from the dog. And some of that information allowed Zoe to make inferences about the man now walking along beside her. Like the fact that he had given the dog some of his food said that Jacky was likely a relatively decent man.

Then he asked the obvious question. "No, their uniform is just so awesome that I wear it around for the fun of it," Zoe said, teasing slightly. Then she shook her head and smiled over at Jacky. "Of course I do. With the zebras specifically. And you? What do you do when you're not attracting stray dogs in the park?"