Would being around Jay in these new forms he was hopefully going to get actually help her learn to communicate? ”Honestly, I don’t know,” Zoe admitted with a shrug. ”On the one hand, since you can’t talk to other dogs, I wouldn’t think it would work. But it must work, because otherwise how would I be able to talk to you when you were a dog?”

Then Jay went on about a couple of his different dog forms, and Zoe listened carefully. Nodding as he explained the differences between the retriever and boxer. But as he explained that even though he was still him in his wolf form, it felt wilder than his other forms, Zoe looked over at Jay with her head tilted slightly. ”That is really interesting,” she said, looking at Jay as she pondered that. ”I wonder why that would be…”

He bit his lip as he considered her answer, and her followup question. "Maybe I'm just special. Or maybe mutations are weird sometimes. I do know certain ones react with other ones in weird ways sometimes. From what I've seen, anyway," he gave a slight chuckle, coupled with a shrug.

"I don't know; I do know there's this underlying sense of power that the domestic shifts lack. That unrestrained feeling of pure freedom," he murmured as he thought about it. It'd been awhile since he shifted into the wolf, but he'd never really had the opportunity to do so. At least when he was younger he could go play in the woods and it'd be okay.

"Thanks for doing this, by the way," he finally said after awhile.

Zoe seriously thought about what Jay had said about how she had been able to talk to him in dog form. To be honest, they all could have been true. ”The only way to know would be to see if I can learn to talk with the Fennec Fox by spending time with you in that form, I guess,” Zoe said slowly. Then she shrugged. ”It’s worth a try, isn’t it?”

Jay didn’t know why the wolf gave him such a different feeling than the domestic dogs did. But the way that he described it… ”Does the fox you shift into feel that way, too?” Zoe ended up asking. ”I wonder...will the Fennec have that same wild, free feeling, or is it just the wolf?”

Then she heard Jay’s thanks, and she waved him off slightly. ”This is fascinating,” she said, looking over at Jay again. ”I’ve been interested in learning about animals since I discovered my powers, but with you, I mean, you know what it’s like to be a dog. And a wolf, a fox. But you’ve got a human mind and can really answer my questions.”

"Well, that is true. I mean what can it hurt, right?" He couldn't be sure that it would work; he actually doubt it, but you never knew with mutations. It could work.

"The fox is a little more wild, but not so much the wolf. I think it's because the wolf is a more fearsome hunter, and dogs don't really have a worry," he theorized. "But that'd be something to take note of."

Then, she sort of shrugged off his thanks, but he figured it was because she was so intrigued by his powers. "Your gift is pretty amazing too, I mean...I never imagined actually getting to communicate with my shifts. But yeah, you totally scared the **** out of me earlier," he said with a soft laugh.

He was willing to help her out, give her time to try and learn to communicate with other animals once he learned how to shift into them. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long to learn.

The fox was more wild than the dogs, but less so than the wolf. That did make sense in a lot of ways, and Zoe nodded. ”Well, I look forward to hearing about what it feels like,” Zoe told Jay. ”I mean, I believe they’re pretty small, so I’m not sure how wild it’d feel, but it’s a wild dog…”

But then Jay went on to say that her power was pretty amazing, and she looked at him in surprise. ”All I can do is talk to some animals,” she said after a moment. ”I mean, I didn’t mean to scare you, I never expected to be able to...nevermind that, I never thought that I’d meet a mutant that can change into a dog. That is amazing.”

"I'm just kind of excited that someone else is interested in how my power works. I don't get that a whole lot," he said, "But yeah I think wild dogs have that feeling. Like some of my bigger dog shifts, you can feel the muscles rippling, ready for action. But the wolf...there's something more primal about it. My smaller dogs tend to have more bursts of energy, and while the red fox is similar, again it's more...wild. Like an adrenaline rush, but not really."

He smiled. "I think it's cool. And like I said, our powers compliment each other, which is also neat." Then he paused. "Never expected to be able to what?" he asked, looking at her.

”It’s how your power works and finding out about the animals you can turn into,” Zoe said as she looked over at Jay. ”I told you I became interested in animals after I got my powers. I studied biology and am working at the zoo to learn more about the animals.”

But then Jay continued telling her more about what it felt like when he was in dog form, and Zoe nodded. Watching dogs, she could tell some of this on her own, but actually hearing it from Jay, it was so interesting.

Jay was right, though, in that their powers really did seem to compliment each other. ”I guess you’re right, it is pretty cool how our powers work together, isn’t it?” Zoe asked. ”I never expected to come across someone like you, another mutant, and be able to talk to you like that.” Zoe paused, glancing over at Jay before looking back at the path in front of them. ”I mean, I haven’t met many mutants, never mind being able to actually talk to them. My family doesn’t even know I am one.”

He listened as she spoke, and it got him thinking. Once she discovered her mutation, it sparked an interest, and she used that to make a life out of. When he'd discovered his, he just went about his business, but used his new gift just for fun. He could have been a police officer or a detective or even a private investigator by now, but no, he was just a bassist and a conman. "That's cool...I just used mine to have more fun; never thought about making it a career," he murmured.

He nodded as she continued. "Yeah...I mean I've met plenty of other mutants, but I can't exactly say I'm friends with many--if any--of them. But this is kind of nice," he commented as the zoo finally came into view. He wasn't sure how long they'd been walking, but he was used to walking long distances, though when he usually did it, he was a dog.

Zoe nodded as Jay said that he simply used his powers to have fun. That made sense, she figured it would be fun, changing into a dog and running around. At the very least, Zoe figured it would be much more fun than what she was able to do, after all.

”But what could you do as a career with turning into a dog?” Zoe asked as she looked over at Jay. Especially since he couldn’t even talk to other dogs when he was shifted, Zoe wasn’t sure what would have been a good choice for him.

Then Zoe smiled at Jay. ”This is kind of nice,” Zoe agreed. ”I mean, most people just think I’m weird or strange, so I don’t have many friends in general.” About then, Zoe saw that they were coming up to the gates to the zoo, and she looked over at Jay again. ”How do you know if you’ve learned how to shift into a new animal?”

"Off the top of my head? I could have been a police officer and their canine unit. I could have been a private investigator, maybe. I could easily track someone down with the right shift, now that I think about it. But instead, I decided to play bass and spend my down time goofing off." He gave another shrug.

"It's hard to explain. It's like...something clicks. I don't want to say I just know, but that's kind of how it is," he tried his best to explain. "So, this is it. I find it hard to believe I've never taken the time to come here before. But at the same time, maybe that's not a bad thing." He smirked a little.

”Huh,” Zoe said Jay explained the different things that he could do using his powers. ”You play bass? That’s pretty cool. And there’s always time to goof off. But you know, you could always look into something like that now.” Zoe shrugged, glancing over at Jay as she spoke. ”Well, I can't really see you as a cop, but you could always look into being a private investigator.”

Something just clicked, he just knew that he had it figured out when he learned a new form? She nodded. ”Yup, this is it,” Zoe said with a smile as they came up to the employee gate, Zoe swiped her tag and led Jay inside. ”It is rather hard to believe you haven’t been here before. I mean, why not? It’s the perfect place for you to get new forms, isn’t it?”

"Yeah, I doubt they'd let me be a cop, anyway," he replied with a chuckle. "I guess I could look into stuff like that though. At least to get a main source of income that isn't exclusive to weekends." He gave another shrug as he followed her inside.

"I don't know. I haven't really gotten new forms lately, except for one I'd gotten in the park a few weeks ago, but that's just one I thought was pretty." He laughed a little, still sort of wondering what else they might run across in here. It would always be nice to stack the deck, so to speak. You never knew when some obscure form might prove useful.

”Why wouldn’t they...ah, right,” Zoe started to ask, and then she realized that it was likely due to his problems with having clothing available when he shifted back from his dog forms. Yeah, that might be a problem with becoming a cop.

Leading Jay through the zoo toward where the Fennec Foxes were kept, Zoe kept looking over at Jay. ”You got a new form a few weeks ago? What is it?” She asked with a grin. ”It’s pretty, is it?”

She thought she figured it out, but that was only part of it. Then again, she didn't need to know about his pick-pocketing or his conning. Though he was realizing he should probably stick to the latter; picking pockets never seemed to work out for him. Then again, neither did conning, more often than not...

"Yeah, I saw someone walking their dog in the park. I'm not sure what all is in it, but I know it's got some collie and some German Shepherd," he explained. "And yeah, I think so, anyway," he said with a smile as he followed her. "Maybe I can show you, sometime."

A mix of collie, German Shepherd, and Jay wasn’t sure what else might have been in the dog. And he had learned how shift into it because he thought it was a pretty dog.

A pretty dog that he was willing to show her at some point. Zoe smiled and nodded to Jay. ”I’d like that,” she said. ”I’m generally walking home at the time I ran into you, so it’d be pretty easy for you to find me to show me.”

About that time, they reached the Fennec enclosure. ”Here we are,” Zoe said, coming to a stop, looking in.