There was a decided chill beginning to settle into the air signalling that winter would be out in full force before too much longer. The ground was getting harder and colder and decidedly less pleasant to feel beneath his scales as he glided over it. There was less and less warmth to leech from it even on sunny days as the light grew colder and further away. People were starting to pull out their scarves and hats and swap their sweatshirts for heavier coats. Loathe as he was to cover his beautiful scales Aleksandr was putting off wearing winter clothing for as long as he could. Instead he'd started piling more and more blankets around his apartment and pulling spare space heaters out of where he'd stashed them.

Still, in spite of the cold he was determined to spend as much of whatever time he had left outside before he wouldn't be able to stand it anymore and had to shut himself away for most of the season. The Park was still his destination of choice, though he found himself enjoying his favorite spots less and less as the chill began to settle into his large body. He found the sunniest spots he could and settled himself either on patches of concrete or rocks to soak up whatever warmth they still had to offer.

Watching the people mill around the park was still mostly enjoyable, but seeing the ones that were all bundled up just served to remind him of how chilly his poor scales were. He shifted and curled at an almost constant rate, rotating his body to warm different patches of skin as they cooled in the crisp air. Stubborn as he was about trying to enjoy himself while he could he still found the temperature making him cranky but he be damned if he'd be chased inside any sooner than he intended.

Jay sighed as he pulled his jacket closer to his body; it was starting to be too cold for the thin sort of jackets he liked to wear. On top of that, the incoming cold was going to put off his usual pattern of shifting in the park. After all, it was hard for a dog to get in and out of his 'no pets allowed' apartment building in canine form. Not to mention he wasn't too keen on being naked in weather that leaves icicles dangling from your nose. And shifting clothing was...well, honestly, Jay had to admit he'd never met a fellow shifter who didn't shift naked.

Even still, he was in one of his favorite spots in the park, his jacket pulled tight and a gym bag with his clothes slung over his back. However, as he was heading to his usual shifting place, somewhere more secluded since it was still daylight, he'd noticed something odd. The snake-man himself wasn't so odd, considering the assortment of mutants he'd met; most of them in parks, actually. No, what caught the blond shifter's attention was the wallet tangled up in the man's...hair? Well, it seemed to function like hair, aside from the place to store your wallet. Since the sly dog wasn't one to pass up on a challenge, he carefully set his gym bag on the ground a fair piece away, then quietly made his way toward the snake-man.

Carefully, he eased up, finally reaching to untangle the wallet from its prison. Then, he planned to turn and sneak away for about ten feet before grabbing his bag and relying on his track skills to get him out of there. Only as a last resort would he shift; he kind of liked his current outfit, and didn't really want them blowing in the wind on account of a wallet that may or may not be worth the effort. But...he had to see, at least.

It was cloudier than he'd anticipated, the time the sun was able to break through being much too short for his taste. Anything but cloudless days weren't to his taste, really. Uninterrupted sunlight was one of the purest joys in the world and it seemed that the world was conspiring against him to leech away not only his warmth but his happiness. Whenever the clouds passed by again to dim the light Aleksandr found himself getting crankier and wondering if the outing had been worth it at all. Stubborn as he was about his time outside he was really only doing himself a disservice by trying to get his body to tolerate the seasonal change longer than he should. It would take him hours to soak up enough heat back at his apartment before he felt comfortable again. It might be time to throw in the towel and start hunkering down until spring came back around.

He was so absorbed with his unhappy internal back and forth that he barely registered the creeping vibrations from feet slowly stepping closer. Lazily his tongue flickered out, tasting a faint scent of cologne with an undercurrent of dog fur. He paid little mind to whoever it was, unbothered by the occasional bold stranger that would venture closer to get a better look at him. He couldn't blame them, after all who wouldn't want a better look at such a gorgeous creature? Normally he'd turn up the charm and flash a smile or a wink but he was much too occupied with his twisting and coiling to be bothered with entertaining anyone that didn't engage him first. Sometimes it was too cold for even him to be charming.

It wasn't until he felt the warmth from an errant hand brush up against one or two of the tails attached to his head that he really started to pay attention. The touch was only just barely there, but for someone so accustomed to seeking heat even a gentle graze in such chilly weather caught his attention. No doubt someone had reached out in curiosity and hesitated only for the squirming tails to coil just widely enough to collide with them. It wasn't unheard of for especially brave individuals to invite themselves to touch his tails, though they usually aimed for his body rather than the ones on his head. He couldn't say he cared for their lack of manners, but he usually let it slide. With such a tease of warmth this time though, and so briefly, he found himself feeling a little less forgiving.

"Is rude to touch without asking," he snapped out, turning his upper body over to locate the offending individual only to find the young man already starting to make a determined retreat. The snake man gave a huff and very nearly turned himself back around when he caught a glimpse of a familiar object it the kid's grip. His own hand quickly raked through the tails near the base of his skull, finding that he'd lost his grip on his wallet. The chill must have let his tails go just numb and slack enough that he hadn't realized it had been left loose enough to slip away from him so easily. Aleksandr simply stared after them man for a few more steps, floored by the sheer audacity of the action before his temper really flared and set him in motion.

As sluggish as he was feeling with the chill settling into his muscles he was still quick enough to close the distance between the two of them, coming up beside the stranger and turning sharply to circle in front of him. "It is not right to take things that are not belonging to you," he chided, his tongue sliding out in agitation as he held his hand out for his wallet. "I suggest you give it back."

Crap. It seemed as though his target was sensitive to touch. That or he wasn't as good a thief as he liked to think. ...Nah, that couldn't be it. Either way, he didn't say a word, but turned to--oh, he was right there.

Double crap. ...Triple crap. He'd also seen the wallet. Though Jay would much rather go on thinking the guy was just super sensitive. He was good at what he did, damn it. However, that didn't stop the problem at hand. He'd been discovered by a very large, very pissed snake-man. He wasn't about to give the wallet back, not that easily. After all, he'd worked hard to snag this wallet.

Instead, Jay did something a little...unorthodox. He put the wallet in his mouth, biting down just enough to have a grip. Then, in the blink of an eye, there was a brindle-colored Boxer standing where the thief once was, a pile of clothes under him, and a wallet in his mouth. Then, he took a 'playful' stance, tail wagging. Suddenly, he turned around and bolted, taking advantage of the Boxer's sprinting abilities.

Not even two minutes had passed and this was by far one of the stranger meetings Aleksandr had gotten wrapped up in. He couldn't think of anything that might have prepared him for the sight of the kid stuffing the pilfered wallet into his mouth. His outstretched hand lowered a few inches in his surprise, his jaw working as if he wanted to say something but there just were no words to respond to that kind of action. Not that he would have had much time to reply anyway as the thief promptly disappeared and a dog took his place. Again unexpected, though it did explain the faint smell of fur he'd been tasting on the air.

The dog dropped, it's little tail nub made it's butt wiggle in an absurd kind of way, and then to took off. It took a moment to process everything that had just happened, but once the gears began turning in the snake man's head again a deep scowl settled onto his face before he took off after the furry criminal. He wasn't sure how fast the dog could go or for how long, but he was almost certain he could outpace the beast in the long run. Aleksandr's form sank, his torso hovering only a few inches off the ground as his tail lashed furiously and propelled him forward. He could outrun a human easily, but he'd never raced a dog before so this was going to be a bit of a learning experience for him. Either way he had the kid's scent and could track him for at least a short distance if he lost sight of him. If he had to he'd circle back to where the pile of clothes had been abandoned, figuring the thief wouldn't want to leave them behind before he tried to escape the park for good.

"You had better be praying I don't catch you!" he shouted in between hissing out a string of curses in Russian, "I eat things bigger than you for every meal!" Would eating a shifter as an animal still be considered murder? Probably, but only if he was caught right? Would anyone even be able to tell the difference between a dog and a mutant that looked like a dog? That was probably something to figure out once he actually caught the kid. He'd just have to bite first and argue the ethics of it before he unhinged his jaw.

It was at this point that Jay started to question his abilities as a thief. Sure, he had a wallet, but how much was in there? He didn't have time to figure that out, but not only that, he was basically risking his life for what could very possibly be a couple of old receipts and a picture of snake-man's grandmother. As interesting as that would be, is it worth the gain? At this point, he wasn't sure, but it crossed his mind that he could kind of be an idiot sometimes, and all things considered, could he afford to do this anymore?

All of these thoughts, of course were going through Jay's mind as he ran. The boxer's paws padded against the grass as he ran; the dog's speed coupled nicely with Jay's training. On the surface, he was just a running dog. But underneath that was someone who knew how to control his breathing, make the most of his speed, and make the sprint count. The problem was he'd never put his speed to the test against a ******* snake-man before.

He never looked back to see how far behind his pursuer was, he knew that would be stupid. But he needed someway to create distance...

Not far from him was a guy running. Tucking his head, Jay barreled between the guy's legs, sending him barreling head over heels as he kept going. He wasn't sure if this would work, but from the sounds of cursing in the background, he'd made another enemy today.

Aleksandr couldn't say he'd ever chased a dog for any kind of distance before, but he was fairly sure the ones that weren't used for racing only tended to run flat-out for relatively short distances. A mutant dog, on the other hand, might have been able to run for miles without slowing too much. He hadn't ever chased a mutant dog either, so there was really no way for him to tell. The snake man was fast himself, but he was no distance runner. He had enough speed and stamina to outrun most normal humans in a sprint, but even with all of his abundant muscle mass working for him snakes just weren't made for long distance pursuit.

He had gained on the canine initially, but when the mutt pulled that dirty trick and knocked the runner off his feet he'd gained himself a better head start. Aleksandr had been just close enough that he wouldn't have been able to swerve quickly enough to avoid the fallen man while still continuing on his current path. Even trying to stop short and curling back on himself he still managed to collide with the cursing man just hard enough to send him tumbling a few extra feet.

Offering apologies in between bouts of cursing in Russian he tried to help the other man back up onto his feet while the stranger also offered a selection of cursing in English. His assistance was understandably brushed off, but even if he understood the anger he was angry enough himself to engage in a short shouting match before the runner seemed to realize what he was yelling at and stormed of in a huff.

Fuming, Aleksandr turned his attention back down the path where the dog had headed. There was no way he'd catch up to him now and with so many scents in the air and the cold ground making it harder to leave paw prints it would be difficult to track the mutt down. Grumbling to himself he continue back down the path nonetheless, moving at a much more leisurely pace and trying to catch his breath. With any luck the fleabag had stopped to check the wallet once he'd gotten far enough away from the snake man and he'd be able to catch up. If not he'd try circling back to the pile of clothes like he'd planned earlier and hope the kid went back to fetch them as he hoped.