fandomhigh | Fur, Feathers, and Scales: The Biology of Domestication, Thursday, Period 2

Class this week had been told to meet in one of the classrooms, which, like several other classes this year, had been stripped of desks and chairs in order to haul in a large assortment of cushions. And a couch. You better believe Zack moved that couch in all on his own, too.

It also had a playpen in the middle of the room, occupied with about a dozen wrestling, wriggling, happy little puppies.

The much larger puppy at the front of the room wasn't wrestling or doing much wriggling, but he certainly seemed pretty happy about the situation. Even if he had been told to leave his sword at home today.

"Hey, guys!" Zack grinned at the students as they made their way into the room. "I'm Zack Fair, and this is Biology!"

It was so not biology.

"This semester I'm going to pick a new animal every week that people have brought into their lives on the regular, either as companion animals, working animals, or food animals, and we're going to spend some time getting to know them! This week I figured I'd start with the pretty straightforward one. Probably the first thing anyone thinks of when someone says the word 'domestication' is dogs, right?" He moved his hand to the side, his palm resting lightly on the head of a sheltie-type breed who was sitting very politely beside him. "At some point in time, people took a look at an apex predator and said, 'hey, I want to have that wolf as part of the family.' And so... dogs!"

There you go, kids. That was your history lesson. Zack gestured with his free hand toward the playpen.

"We're going to take things pretty easy today," and every other day, "so let's do introductions. Your name, any animal allergies if you have them, why you took this class. And if you aren't allergic to dogs, you can totally introduce yourself while playing with them. They don't get nearly enough love or affection, really."

They got so, so much.

[OOC: Open!]

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And his dog, Girl. She is a very good Girl.

Of course Ino was going to show up when it was Zack's first class ever.

"Hey," she said cheerfully, leaning in the door. "You and the puppies all good?"

"Every single puppy is well and accounted for," Zack laughed, straightening up from his own puppy pile to give Ino a cheerful wave. "You're welcome to come join us! We have a wiggly bunch in here today."

"Oh, I don't know," Ino mused, wandering over to grin down at all of the puppies, including Zack. "All of you together might be too much for me."

"Even if I promise not to lick your face?"

Zack grinned, all innocence, really. Truly.

Yeaaah, she didn't believe that one bit.

Still, Ino climbed into the playpen.

"You could promise that," she said, picking up a wiggly bundle of fur that, yup, promptly tried to lick her face. "But these guys wouldn't."

"Sadly, management can't be held responsible for the actions of the puppies within the playpen," Zack laughed. "Look, he likes you!"

Dogs in general liked her.

She had a way with puppies, whether she wanted to or not.

She stared at him, then sighed, shooing puppies away from her log enough to sit down.

Ino was promptly swarmed.

"Yes," she said, glad these ones were at least small enough to be vaguely manageable, unlike some others she'd met. "I know."

But she smiled too. Okay, sue her, the puppies were cute.

"They're very very good dogs," Zack said, nodding solemnly.

Because all dogs were good dogs.

Fact.

... She couldn't exactly argue with that.

Except, wait, what?

"That's why they like me?" Ino asked, even as one promptly got all tangled up in her hair. "Hey, hey," she said, reaching behind her. "None of that now."

"Well, yeah," Zack laughed. "They know good people when they see them."

He was leaning forward too, to try to help untangle the pair from one another. "C'mere, buddy. If you get too tangled up in there, we're going to have to bring home another dog."

"Don't even joke about that," Ino said, laughing despite herself. "Here, you get him out, and I'll get my hair to braid itself up instead."

"What, you don't want... eight more dogs? Nine? I'm pretty sure we could fit a few more in there," Zack teased, trying to carefully dislodge the little spaniel from his blonde, blonde prison. "Oh man, he's a wiggly one."

... Because he was a puppy.

"Not for keeps!" she protested, still laughing, though she held still to make Zack's job a bit easier. "I'd never get anything done!"

She'd be buried under dogs from start to finish.

"But at least you'd be covered in pure joy," Zack chuckled, depositing the puppy in his lap as the last of her hair came free. "That seems like a win to me."

Edited 2018-08-31 00:13 (UTC)

"Thanks," she said, her hair lifting itself up and quickly beginning to form a braid. "And, honestly, Zack. How would I kiss you if I were trapped under puppies all the time?"

"Well, probably you'd have to kiss a lot of puppies first," Zack mused.

Accurate.

"Zack! Hello!" said Sidon, even though they clearly head already greeted each other earlier in the class, but whatever. "Excellent class, just as I suspected it would be! But may I ask if you need any assistance getting our wonderful furry visitors back home? I figured it would make sense for me to offer, as I'll be going in for my shift now."

"Oh! Actually, that would be great," Zack replied, smiling brightly as he ushered a couple of pups into one of the waiting carriers. "If you wouldn't mind helping me move the animals both ways, even better. Sooner or later I'm going to have to bring something extra squirmy, you know?"

Somehow more squirmy than puppies. They probably existed.

"It would be my honor!" Sidon announced. "And my pleasure! Truly, the least I can do, and it might make the animals feel better to be transported by someone already fairly familiar to them. I know, if anything, when you do a lesson on felines," and he had better be doing one on felines!, "I can get some of those little fellas to follow me anywhere."

Because they wanted to try to eat him, but...semantics.

"Oh, great!" Zack grinned and bounced a little. "Then how would you like to be my TA this semester? You might even get to teach a lesson of your own, if you want. About whatever you like!"

Fur, Feathers, and Scales: The Biology of Domestication, Thursday, Period 2

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