Zoe frowned when Jay said that he was never going to look at a spider again. ”Hey, what happened to my guard dog being here to protect me?” She asked, only partially teasing. Were one of these spiders somehow to get out, she likely would hide behind him before running.

But Jay was in favour of hurrying past, and so Zoe sped up with him, and thankfully it didn’t take much longer for them to get past the spiders. Only for them to find themselves among snakes, lizards, and reptiles. Not great, not the kind of creatures Zoe had been hoping to look at while they were in here, but it was much better than spiders.

Hearing Jay speaking again, Zoe smiled as she saw him looking at her. ”You’re right, it is better,” she agreed, then shrugged slightly. ”I was kind of hoping for monkeys or something like that, though.”

"Your guard dog is now uncertain that spiders may or may not be psychopaths or sociopaths who like to bite people," he remarked, hugging a little closer. "Oh he'll still protect you, there just may be a lot more cursing than originally intended." And then, before he knew it, they were elsewhere, and he was thankful for that.

"Hey, reptiles are kind of cool. Even though I can't shift into them." He gave a little shrug, looking over at her. "There may be monkeys further in," he said with a smile as he kept walking with her, not exactly widening the distance between them.

Zoe smiled as Jay confirmed that he’s still protect her from spiders should the need arise, even if the little sociopaths caused him to swear more than he would have five minutes earlier. ”I’ll keep that in mind, and not let it cloud my judgment of your guard dog abilities,” Zoe told him with a grin as they started walking among tanks of lizards and reptiles.

Despite the fact that he wasn’t able to shift into a reptile, Jay still found them interesting. Well, that was good, Zoe reasoned. If he was really only interested in dogs and other canines, that would probably get old fast for her ”I really hope there are. I’ve always liked monkeys, and I can’t help but wonder if I’d be able to have more interesting conversations with them than other animals. But I’ve never really had the time to put in to learn how yet.”

He smiled, suddenly realizing they were really close. While that normally wouldn't bother him, he did realize that he wasn't single anymore, so he slightly moved over just a little, but just enough so it wasn't weird. He slowed his pace a little, stopping to look at some of the snakes and lizards as they walked by. After all, he did rather enjoy them. They were interesting, after all. "I'm not exactly a trained guard dog, anyway. But I can at least look intimidating."


Soon, they were past the reptiles, and there was a section of wall containing larger sized cages, and inside those cages were species of Asian-native monkeys. "Oh look, there you go," he murmured, looking at her with a smile. "You got your wish, anyway." He gave a small chuckle as he looked at them. Part of him wondered what other canines he might see, but it wasn't all about him, anymore.

Jay stopped them every so often, looking in this tank at a snake, then that one at a lizard. And, though they didn’t stop in front of each animal for long, Zoe was enjoying this. She’d never been given the chance to do something like this; the closest thing to this, actually being with someone friendly to her and looking at animals (or really doing anything), was when she was a kid.

Then Jay spoke, and Zoe laughed. ”I guess that would really depend on what form you decided to shift into,” Zoe teased with a smirk on her face. ”Cause I really don’t think a little Yorkie would be all that intimidating.”

Now that they had been in the building longer, Zoe was growing warmer, and so she unzipped her coat the rest of the way, revealing her khaki work shirt underneath. And then they moved into another area, and sure enough, there were some monkeys. Zoe smiled seeing them, then smiled wider as she heard Jay’s words. ”I guess I did, didn’t I?” she asked, looking up at Jay to see his smile before turning back to the monkeys. ”I just wish these guys weren’t behind glass…”

"Hey now, a Yorkie or a Chihuahua could tear somebody's ankles and feet to high hell," he joked with a slight shrug. He too unzipped his jacket, revealing one of his old band tee shirts as he removed his hands from his pockets.

He just stood and looked into the cage for awhile, listening to her words. "Yeah...that's one thing I'd thought about, but more so when watching the canines. Like, the zoo is fun for us, but...it can't be that fun for them. I know it applies to all animals, really, but I guess I'm just biased," he said with a shrug as he watched the monkeys. Sometimes he wondered what it'd be like if he could shift into more than just dogs. But then again...maybe it was for the best. A guy like him with a tiger shift would definitely not end well, after all.

"Let me know when you're ready to move on," he murmured, still watching.

Zoe laughed as Jay told her what a Yorkie or Chihuahua could do to a person’s ankles. ”I guess that’s true,” she agreed, still laughing a bit. ”But I think a German Shepherd, or even your retriever would do a better job at scaring people off.”

Glancing up at Jay at that point, Zoe saw that he had also unzipped his jacket, revealing a band t-shirt. That made sense, Zoe thought with a smile. Music and his dog shifts really were his life, weren’t they?

”I was thinking more along the lines of being able to hear them,” Zoe told Jay. ”Most of our animals were either born in captivity or were injured, so it’s not like most of them would survive in the wild, unfortunately. But we do try to keep them as engaged as we can.”

Letting things lapse into silence, Zoe continued to just watch the monkeys jump and swing around. After a few minutes, she heard Jay say to let her know when she was ready to move on. Instead of saying something, though, Zoe just shrugged. ”We can keep going whenever,” she told him. forestgreen]”I know you’re eager to see if we can find something else for you to shift into.”

"Yeah, you're right there. And retrievers can be downright scary when agitated," he remarked, then nodded as she continued. "Yeah, I understand that. I'm speaking from a rather unique point of view, anyway. I mean, while I like the human side of my life, I still can't get away from the raw freedom of being in shift. I feel like all animals need that sense of freedom sometimes." He shrugged lightly, still sort of smiling. He'd never really shared this point of view with anyone before, but then again, how often did this sort of thing come up?

He looked at her and gave another nod. "Okay, sure. I guess we can keep moving, then," he said, zipping his jacket again because he knew they were about to go into the bloody cold again. "I am eager, actually. It's been so long, I forgot how exciting this was," he said, his grin becoming more playful, almost childlike.

”Well, hopefully I don’t have to see you agitated, then,” Zoe said as she looked at Jay. He had said that his favourite was a golden retriever, afterall. ”At least not unless you’re protecting me from murderous spiders, anyway.”

But as Jay continued, talking about the freedom he felt while in dog form, and how he felt all animals should know that feeling, Zoe nodded. ”It would be great if they could all feel that,” she murmured.

Jay was ready to move on. She had figured that, and though Zoe would have liked to stay and watch the monkeys longer, she also knew that if they were going to be able to find something else for Jay before the zoo closed, they couldn’t stay here forever.

But continuing on at this point apparently meant heading back outside. Which meant cold again. So Zoe finally took her arm from around Jay’s so she was able to zip her coat up again. Only to hear an almost childlike excitement from Jay. ”I guess we should hurry up then, shouldn’t we?” She asked once she was ready to head outside once more.

"You should be fine, there," he replied with a smile as he walked with her. "If you do see me agitated you likely wouldn't be on the receiving end."

And then, he again held the door as they made their way outside and he stuffed his hands in his pockets and braced against the cold.

"Hey Zoe," he said after a moment of thinking, You think they have any jackals or wild dogs somewhere? It'd probably be a stretch to ask for a maned wolf, but I'm honestly not picky.Anything not native to New York that won't fit in somebody's pocket," he smiled at that last comment, As cute as the Fennec Fox is, it could probably fit in your purse."

As Jay held the door open for her, Zoe stepped outside. And immediately shivered in the cold air as it hit her. Maybe it was getting colder out, or maybe it was just because she had just been inside a warm building.

Or maybe it had just felt warmer because she had been walking so close to Jay as they had made their way from the hyenas to the Asia building.

Either way, Zoe made sure to pick the pace up a bit as they walked away from the door. Frowning in thought, Zoe tried to remember whether there were any jackals or wild dogs in this zoo. ”I’m realizing I’m a horrible employee here,” she finally told Jay, joking slightly. ”I’ve worked here for over five years, and I’m honestly not sure. But hopefully we have at least one of them.”

But then Jay made a comment about the fennec fox, and Zoe burst out laughing. ”That would go over well, I’m sure, me walking around with an exotic fox in my purse. Though, it’d probably be the warmer option for you. I, on the other wouldn’t be so warm since I’m guessing a fox that size doesn’t give off much body heat.”

"It's okay; you don't work all over the zoo, anyway. You know what you need to," he said with a friendly smile."Well, technically all I need is one."

When she responded to his purse comment, he laughed. "True, though I doubt I'd have as much fun in a purse, so we both lose out," he said with a chuckle as he kept his more... suggestive comments to himself. As hard as it was for him to do that, he wasn't doing a bad job.

Jay seemed alright with the fact that she didn't know everything about the zoo. It was true, she did know what she needed to know. In fact, she probably knew more than the others who worked with the zebras because of the fact that she could talk to the animals.

”I don't know, Jay,” Zoe said playfully. ”How do you know I don't have toys or something interesting in there.”

"I doubt you'd have anything in there more interesting than you," he teased lightly as he looked over at her with a sly smirk.

So...Jackals and wild dogs are both native to Africa. We passed the zebras, so....where would you suppose they'd be?" he asked. After all, even if she didn't know, she'd have a better idea than him.

”Depends on the day,” Zoe said, giving Jay a wink. Let him wonder.

But when Jay started talking about the jackals and wild dogs, Zoe looked over at him in surprise. ”And you said you needed to learn biology,” she teased. ”But honestly, they'd likely be back closer to where the zebras are.”