"Ooooh, you're adorable! Hi cutie! Ooooo! Aren't you the cutest little fuzzball? Yes you are! Look at those big eyes! Who's got the beady eyes? Who's got the pretty eyes? Yes you do!"

Every time Iris approached a pet store, animal shelter or breeder's home, she promised herself she would act like a mature, non-obsessive, normal-minded adult. She would behave properly, not buy on impulse, and stick her preset budget.

Every time she failed. Miserably. She simply had no explanation for why she became a goofy, baby-talking weirdo when looking in a cage or enclosure. It didn't matter if the creature had fur, feathers or even scales. Iris found herself reduced to a silly ninny.

The object of her current foolery was a big, fluffy-looking white bird. One big black eye watched her every move curiously.

"Can you show me your crest? Can you show me your pretty crest?"

It continued to stare, unmoving.

"Can you talk? Can you speak, pretty birdie?"

A blink, and a yawn.

"Awww, are you shy?"

It reached behind one wing with a foot to scratch the back of its head. Iris laughed. She wasn't fooled one bit. She knew that the aloof bird before her could shatter glass with its voice, or snap a broomstick in half with one bite. This one was playing to see how much of a fool Iris would make of herself first.

And Iris was quite willing to do so, despite who might be watching.

ooc: bored, and pets rule ^.^ hope ypu don't mind

IC:

Mettaliar walked the streets looking for something, anything, to do. He closed onto a corner, slowly approaching a large pet shop. Deciding that looking at dogs was a good idea, he put his hands in his head low, slowly walking through the door and looked around, finding the section with the puppies. He might seem and sound like a hard-ass, but deep down inside a dog could really touch his heart. They were the closest to the animal he fantasized about have; the wolf. But since he didn't want to be a criminal any longer, he decided that a good sized dog would do. Besides, he barely had the money to afford a pet, although he would die for a chance to have a dog of his own.

Upon looking around the cages of small dogs, he saw the one dog that made him all mushy on the inside. He walked over to it and kneeled down to look at it more closely. The huskie, in all of it's glory, was five feet away from his face. It's sky blue eyes stared up at him in that all too familiar puppy dog begging stare. Mettaliar considered trying to steal it for a good two seconds. He seriously wanted to break that dog free. They were meant to roam together. He knew it.

A voice suddenly struck his ear. An obnoxious, squeely voice that made Mettaliar shudder. He hated those voices of the obsessed pet-lovers who adore anything that wasn't human. He looked over to see who was making the noise. Suddenly he almost broke out laughing.

Iris was the girl making that noise. It surprised him deeply as he did not see her in that light. He saw her as the more calm-sided individual. He was wrong. Miserably wrong. For whatever reason. it made him laugh as quietly as he could. He got up slowly, taking a last glance at the depressed huskie, and crept up on her. With her being so perplexed with the bird, it was easy for him to close in quietly. Within a hairlength, he braced himself for her reaction.

"BOO!!!!"

The c0ckatoo bobbed its head slightly, which Iris took as a sign of interest. She had no clue anyone was behind her, and continued to make a fool of herself.

"BOO!!!!"

Had she been able to leap out of her skin, she would have. As it was, she managed a rather admirable 'duck and cover' maneuver, and made it to the far end of the isle before turning to see who was attacking her.

.... Or scaring her....

She felt her face grow warm. "S-sorry...." A puff of smoke accompanied the misplaced apology. Iris realized that the boy had literally scared her mutation active. Fortunately her hair was dyed blond, and the pale blue didn't show through. She took a deep breath, concentrated, and deactivated the Ice gem.

"Mettaliar.... That was cold." She was still embarrassed to no end, for more than one reason. To add to it, the bird suddenly began laughing loudly, and bobbing its head.

Iris shook her head. A small smile cracked her face, and she chuckled.

"Well, at least I know it speaks now...."

Mettaliar laughed along with the bird as Iris ran around like a scared little school girl. He slowly began to cease his laughing after he saw the small puff of smoke appear. He wanted to scare her, but not cause her to change into one of her forms. He had already had to deal with that, and it wasn't pretty the least bit. For now he noticed her lightning up and calming down. Mettaliar chuckled along with her as she commented on both his actions and the laughter of the bird.

"Yes," he decided to add in, "it does seem like he can talk... or, at least, have a sense of humor. Nice bird you found there. You planning on buying it?" Mettaliar's eyebrows raised at that question as if she'd be able to read to true meaning to that question through his facial expression. "Why are you here?" was mostly the question he was aiming to ask. He waited patiently, his hazel eyes looking at the girl.

"Yes, it does seem like he can talk... or, at least, have a sense of humor. Nice bird you found there. You planning on buying it?"

Iris's heart slowed a bit now that the 'threat' turned out not to be a threat after all. She returned back down the isle, much slower than her departure.

"Well, maybe...." she replied, and glanced at the price tag. Past experience had taught her that buying a bird that big out of a corner pet store was usually a bad idea. With her luck, it had probably picked up cuss words from the patrons, or had some strange bird disease. Still, it was beautiful....

She shrugged, then smiled at Mettaliar. "So what brings you here? Planning on buying a friend yourself?"

This was the second time in a few days they'd crossed paths. At least time she remembered his name, and didn't have to pretend to be a mutant hater. It felt nice to be her normal, ditzy-seeming self again.

Mettaliar chuckled as Iris began to walk back towards him. He stood and looked at the bird she was adoring as well. It looked alright. not worth the price though. He didn't tell Iris though. He respected her enough to let her make her own decisions. Even if it was buying an over priced bird. He'd probably get a good laugh out of it anyway.

As Iris asked him about his reason for being here, Mettaliar stopped laughing. He was kinda shy about admitting his love for dogs. But he couldn't lie. He just couldn't

"Oh, nothing. Just, uh, checking out the dogs." He answered kind of looking away from her. His hair, which had grown about 4-5 inches since they last time he talking to her, draped his mouth around his mouth, so he blew it away. He finally tilted his head towards her, looking at her.

"Oh, nothing. Just, uh, checking out the dogs."

Iris embarrassment turned to curiosity at Mett's sudden shyness.

"Oh, I haven't been over there yet." She remedied that by walking by and over to the dog cages, and kneeling down to look. Most of them were puppies, naturally, and playful. They came to the front easily, jostling each other to get a look at the two-legged giants.

"Oooo! They're all so adorable! So cu-..... erm..." She caught herself before going on another cutsie tirade, and cleared her throat. "I mean, um, so many to choose from. So you're a dog person?"

Okay, she couldn't stop herself completely. She grinned and wrinkled her nose at the nearest pup. He was so fuzzy....

She smiled up at Mett.

<"I don't remember his hair being that long...."> Unconsciously she pushed her own, considerably shorter, hair back behind her ear.

Mettaliar began to laugh as she almost started up her little pet-love rant again. Mettaliar held it back, though. He held it back as much as he could. He walked over to the cage and knelt down again in front of the huskie. It was still there laying down looking up at Mettaliar with it's blue eyes. It's bright bright blue eyes. Mettaliar smiled at it.

He slightly heard Iris ask him a question and he jumped a bit in surprise. He looked over the her, a bit embarrassed and smiled. "Oh... yeah. I mean, I guess so. Dogs are pretty cool." He smiled again at the huskie, who had his head up and was looking and him and Iris. Mettaliar found it a bit cute. But he held it in. He wasn't that kind of guy.

"Oh... yeah. I mean, I guess so. Dogs are pretty cool."

Iris hadn't run an animal shelter for two years without learning to pick up on the unconscious hints animal lovers gave off. Like that little smile he quickly tried to hide. 'Puppy Dog Eyes' tended to do that a person.

She didn't know much about Mettaliar, other than he seemed to care about other people. Her memories were still a bit blurred, but she did recall him from KP, and as being one of the people that helped her during the Haywire crisis. The details were smudged, but she had the feeling she owed him quite a bit. It was a good start.

She decided to pull a trick that often worked back home, when she was trying to match up some of her orphans.

"Excuse me!" She called the store owner over. "Can we hold a couple of them? Like that one?" She pointed to the husky pup Mettaliar seemed to drawn to.

The owner nodded, and opened the cage. Two of the puppies tumbled over each other to get out. Iris picked up the more active of the husky pups, one with a black and white coat, and two different colored eyes. The other blue eyed pup snuffled at Mettaliar's shoes.

While she gave the black and white ear scratches and played with its paws, she watched Mettaliar out of the corner of her eyes, to see how he'd react.

Mettaliar continued looking at the huskie and gave little puppy dog his own form of little puppy dog eyes. He crossed his arms, staring at the little dog and not paying much attention to Iris's actions. He was more focused on the puppy rather than others. Who knows, maybe he was an animal lover. At least he didn't make it obvious, unlike someone else he knew. He shook his head to himself and continued watching.

Suddenly the owner came and opened the cage, letting the huskies out. Mettaliar gave a raised eyebrow, than realized it was Iris who asked for the dogs to be let out. He watched as she picked up the other huskie and played with it. Mettaliar started to chuckle as she caressed the dog like a baby and played with it. He than heard sniffing from below him. Upon looking down, there was the huskie he had been looking at the whole time. Right at his feet. Again, he held back the "awwing" and everything. Again, he felt the bond between him and the dog being apparent. Again, he thought of taking the dog and running. Mettaliar slowly lowered his hand and pet the puppy, than playing with it's ears. Mettaliar couldn't hold back a smile this time. It was too much.

<"Uh huh. I see that grin."> Iris kept that to herself though.

"Huskies make good pets," she remarked aloud. "If you don't mind the shedding. A good bath will help that though."

Then she added, "They make good friends. Always a plus."

She tilted her head slightly, and reached out to rub the pup's ears. "He kind of looks like a wolf, doesn't he? I think he likes you."

Mettaliar smiled as Iris talked about the huskies, nodding to every word she said. Mettaliar continued playing with the huskies ears before hearing the word "wolf." It caused him to look up and her and nod his head.

"Yes, they do. That's why I take fond to huskies more than any other dog. I think wolves are really cool, but unfortunately I can't really take care of one. But, huskies really take on the look of a wolf, so I guess that's why I like them." Mettaliar picked up the front paws of the huskie and started to make it dance. Mettaliar hid back a chuckle at how cute it was and sighed. He never really went into that kind of detail about his intrest in wolves with anyone else. He didn't even know why he continued going on after the first sentance. He just... did.

"Yes, they do. That's why I take fond to huskies more than any other dog. I think wolves are really cool, but unfortunately I can't really take care of one. But, huskies really take on the look of a wolf, so I guess that's why I like them."

"You should consider fostering for the zoo. Most of them have to hand raise at least a few of their wolf pups." Iris smiled. "They're cute, until they get about six months old. Then they become high-maintenance."

She watched him play with the pup for a bit. They seemed to get along well enough; it was a good start.

"Are you going to get him?" she asked nonchalantly.

Mettaliar played with the dog a bit and sighed when he heard Iris mention purchasing the doggy. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, looking through it's contents. Glancing on the pricetag, he quickly tensed and sighed with disappointment. He knew it; he didn't have the money. He quickly pocketed his wallet and looked down at the huskie and tried to hide it's disappointment. He quickly started petting the huskie and kept his face low.

"No, I can't. I don't have the funds for it." He kept his gaze directly at the puppy and had a stone face. Inside, he was burning, but he couldn't show it. He just couldn't. "What about you? Are you gonna buy that bird?" As he asked he glanced back at the bird and nudged his head towards it, reminding Iris.

"No, I can't. I don't have the funds for it. What about you? Are you gonna buy that bird?"

Iris sighed, and leaned her elbow on her knee, and her head on her hand. "No. I can't afford it either. Not right now. Besides," and she wrinkled her nose a bit, "she laughs funny."

She set her puppy down for a minute, and let it play with her shoes. After a moment, she spoke up again.

"I never did thank you properly. Or the others. You know, for helping me out, when I.... You know." She shrugged, and made a circular motion with her fingers beside her head, indicating when she'd gone crazy at the Mansion.

She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I still don't remember everything. It feels like a dream. Or a nightmare." She flushed red slightly in embarrassment, and scratched at her arm. "Anyway, delayed thanks."