Animal Volunteering's Supposed to be Fun, Right?

[Levi Alexander Wolfe]

She was cute. That much was obvious. She was eccentric, he liked that about her. He laughed at her desperate attempt to let him know that she wasn’t squeaking. “I’d be concerned if it was you.” He muttered under his breath, as his hazel eyes shifted from her back to the broom.

Just as she approached him, he swept the broom one last time. “All ready for you madame!” He jested, as he bowed and swiftly re-positioned himself away from where she was going to mop. The floor was free of dirt and dust. The hair monster was no longer a threat. Levi stepped out of the cell and set the broom on the wall outside of it. There was no need for him to be taking up anymore space in there. He looked over at the dogs, then back to Charity. “You gonna need help with them too?” He asked, hoping that she did.

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Tag: Charity Croft

[Charity Croft]

Charity wheeled the sloshing bucket over. She was totally ready for this, could totally handle it. It was just cleaning up: people cleaned up all the time. She cleaned up nicely and everything. And there he was, sweeping with the broom and joking around. "Excellent! No lashes for you!" She declared, before pulling the mop out and letting it hit the floor with a wet slopping sound.

Charity began pushing it around, sort of kind of cleaning the area and at least getting the bits of dirt and debris moved around in a way that shouldn't result in anyone getting infections or something. She'd had to move past Levi to get into the room, but that wasn't really a big deal. He did ask the question which had her turning to look at him though.

"Uh, yeah," she said, pausing and leaning on the mop. She didn't notice it sliding away from her as she looked back at the dogs. "That's really something that should be at least a two-person job, since there's a lot of dog and only one of me. We're a little short on volunteers this time, but it should be--" the mop then slid again, leaving Charity to let out a yelp and begin flailing around for purchase, a process not helped by the now slick floor.

[Levi Alexander Wolfe]

Levi chuckled at her response, “Thank God.” He said as ran the back of his hand over his forehead, as to wipe off fake sweat. His eyes followed her as she moved past him. He watched her casually as she mopped.

His eyes moved away from Charity back to the dogs, but his ears remained attentive to her as she spoke. The dogs seemed to know what was coming next. He just hoped they would be gentlemanly about it. Levi nodded his head in agreement. It was a lot of dog. “Well, I’m sure we ca--” Levi’s thought was cut off by the sound of Charity’s yelp. He instantly turned around to see that she was struggling to keep balance on the wet floor she had just mopped. Levi swiftly made his way over to her, taking awkward steps to avoid him too losing his balance. He cautiously neared her, steadied himself, and reached out to grabbed one of her arms.

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Tag: Charity Croft

[Charity Croft]

So Charity was flailing about, again. Seemed like this was pretty much what she got to do whenever she was around a guy, particularly one that was halfway attractive. At least she got to see him slip and slide a little too, which made her feel marginally better. She managed to cling to his arm enough to maintain something like balance. This balance did entail her legs being splayed far apart and turned slightly inward, but it was definitely balance.

"Okay, so disaster averted," she said, laughing slightly. She tried to wiggle forward, finding that her legs seemed to want to just slide right back into position. Charity let a raspberry, looking around for a moment. "So, don't suppose you can move? Maybe walk us out of here? It's that or I just give up and fall and sort of scoot out in a totally dignified fashion."

Charity had to fight the urge to let out a laugh at just how strange this had gotten. And they hadn't even gotten to the part where they'd be washing dogs yet.

[Levi Alexander Wolfe]

Levi felt his knees buckles momentarily, and tried slightly shifting his balance carefully to allow his boots to gain some traction on the wet floor. Having Charity hold onto his arm helped him a little better, and it seemed she too was now somewhat better off. Good. He realized that the two of them probably looked completely ridiculous, like two people who were trying to ice skate but couldn’t balance and neither of them wanting to let go. It was actually kind of funny.

Levi let out a chuckle, “Yeah, for now.” He looked at the exit of the cell, then back at Charity. Although it was only a few feet away, it seemed more like miles. Having to bare some of her weight, and then his own would be interesting. He wiggled his foot back and forth on the floor, resulting in a squeaking sound. Levi laughed again, not at the sound his boot as making but at her comment. He couldn’t help but picture her on the floor scooting out. It was a cute image. “Well, I can certainly try. Although there is no guarantee. We may both be on our assess scooting.” Levi jested. He let out a small puff of air, preparing himself for the task at hand. He could just pick her up and walk out, but that was hard on a wet floor. Plus if the floor wasn’t wet, they wouldn’t have been in this position to being with.

He could just pull her, and hopefully she’d just glide across the floor to the exit. No. He looked down at Charity’s legs, then back at her face. “Well, first let’s try to fix your stance, shall we?” He raised an eyebrow and slightly tilted his head. Levi took her hand that was on his arm and re-positioned it on his shoulder, it was sturdier than his teetering arm. With one hand he held on to her other arm, and with his free hand placed it carefully on the side of her torso. Hopefully now she’d be able to straighten her legs out by re-positioning her weight more comfortably. Or she’d get freaked out, push him away, and fall on the floor.

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Tag: Charity Croft

[Charity Croft]

Yep, stuck for now. At least they were both in agreement about that. Not permanently though: they definitely had a plan of escape. That was definitely a Plan B type of situation. Charity was still holding out hope that they'd manage to scoot out another way. Levi seemed willing enough to try, and she had to let out a light laugh at the image of his joining her on the floor.

"Something wrong with my stance?" Charity asked, slightly joking. She took his hand, moved to the shoulder, steadied herself, puling slightly already. She figured out what he had in mind before he could say anything, and she managed to slide her legs together. She did end up sliding forward slightly, practically colliding with Levi as she did. She ended up gripping his shoulders in something like a death grip, wincing as she saw her own hands digging in.

"Sorry! I'd totally release you, but then I'd be on my butt and we'd be right where we don't want to be," she gave him another apologetic look, already betting that he was definitely wishing he'd ran into someone else.

[Levi Alexander Wolfe]

It would be easiest to just walk and fall, and then scoot out. But to refrain from injury he opted for a slightly more cautious (maybe even a bit silly) procedure.

He let out a soft laugh, and assisted her as she re-adjusted herself. He watched as her legs straightened out and as her weighted shifted it sent her moving closer to him as he felt her hands digging into his shoulders. He felt himself begin to fall back slightly, but managed to catch himself before any real harm was done. In the attempt not to fall backwards, his other hand made its way onto the other side of her torso.

He shook his head, “Don’t worry about it. We don’t want you on your butt, and I don’t want to be on mine, so it’s quite fine.” He reassured her. He couldn’t help but let out another laugh. The whole situation was quite comical. It was probably one of the funniest times he has had since volunteering here. With her hands on his shoulders, and his hands on either side of her waist, he couldn’t help but think of a school dance where they make kids stand a certain distance apart, and had to keep their hands visible at all times. If only there was music.

Turning his attention to the matter at hand, he eyed the exit and mentally counted how many steps it would take to get to dry land. He let out a deep breath, “Alright, I think if we alternate and take small steps we should be fine.” He said hoping there was some truth to his statement. "Having something to hold onto definitely helps." He gave a small shrug. Levi raised his eyebrows and his hazel eyes met with Charity’s. “Ladies first.” He said as he nodded his head faintly in the direction of the exit.

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Tag: Charity Croft

[Charity Croft]

"Right, no butt falling," Charity agreed, letting out another nervous laugh. As usual, she'd managed to get the fairly cute guy who looked relatively her age at least laughing and finding the situation they were in somewhat humorous. That pretty well fit the norm for her interactions with the opposite sex. The whole awkward, sort of middle-school dance position didn't help matters either.

Charity watched Levi look toward the door, taking a glance that way herself. It really wasn't that far: the cage was meant for dogs after all. It was wettest right next to the door, but they could still probably manage the whole moving thing more or less alright. They might have to start walking together like some sort of special challenge or...

"Pretty sure they covered this during one of my training sessions," Charity agreed, letting out another laugh. "Right, so..." she took a few steps closer, edging herself, "actually, we should try, like, moving our feet together. Sort of like dancing only without music and a lot slower and more awkward. So practice dancing," she let out a laugh, then nodded. "So, like, left foot, right foot," she then nodded again, met his eyes, waited long enough for an agreement. "You start, then we'll get a rhythm and get out of here in two shakes."

[Levi Alexander Wolfe]

Levi let out another laugh, “No, no butt falling.” He repeated. He eyed the shiny floor near the door. He made a mental note of it for when, or rather if they make it that far. She really did a decent job mopping.

Levi let out a chuckle. Funny. “I guess I missed that day.” He joked.

He raised an eyebrow when she mentioned moving like they were dancing. All he kept thinking about was the fact that they looked like children at a dance, and her comment just strengthened that thought. “I’ve never been much of a dancer.” He said with a smirk trying to peek through the corner of his mouth. Left foot, right foot, yeah, sure. She spoke soon after their eyes met. Levi let the gaze linger for a moment longer before speaking again. “Are we shaking or dancing?” He said playfully with a laugh. He shimmied his chest slightly in a sarcastic way. This was hilarious, and lasting much longer than it needed to. Though, he didn’t mind.

“Er, alright.” He said hesitantly. He readied himself, shifting his weight to his left foot, and attempted to move his right.

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Tag: Charity Croft

[Charity Croft]

"Was the best: you totally missed out," Charity replied, adding a slight shrug. The gesture didn't really help with the whole maintaining balance thing, and Charity was pretty quick in grabbing onto Levi to help steady herself a bit better. She licked her lips, adjusting her feet again. He admitted to a lack of dancing skills and that just had her letting out another snorting laugh.

"Oh, I'm totally just super graceful," she agreed. "That's me: graceful as a swan," she watched the shimmy and let out another laugh. Still, it was a plan, one that would get them out of the current mess. Apparently it was enough of a plan for Levi to go along with it. Charity took a breath, nodded, and shifted as he moved his right foot, moving her left. Then it was a matter of alternating, sliding forward. It was awkward, it was a bit ungainly, but it didn't take too long before.

"Dry land!" Charity cried as she felt her feet touch it. She practically skipped around Levi, letting out a little whoop of celebration and doing a bit of a dance. "HI five time!" Charity said, holding the hand up and turning to Levi. "C'mon, you don't want to leave me hanging. Plus, we got dogs to wash," yeah, they weren't stopping just because of the awkward. Or at least, Charity wasn't. Heck, if she stopped every time it got awkward she'd never do anything.

[Levi Alexander Wolfe]

Levi simply smiled at her laugh. He couldn’t help but sway a bit when she used him as her personal balancing bar. He chuckled again at her swan comment. They moved together quite well. Whether they looked ridiculous or not didn’t matter. They had managed to successfully make it to dry grounds, and that in and of itself was an accomplishment. A silly one, but one nonetheless. Luckily, they were unscathed.

The moment his boots made contact with the dry surface, he shifted them around, making sure there was no residual water on the soles of his shoes. It seemed sufficient enough. He watched Charity dance around him in celebration. It was adorable. A huge grin was planted across his face. Letting out a laugh, he threw up his hands. “Yay!” Was all that he could manage to get out between bits of his laughter.

His hazel eyes shifted from her hand, to her eyes, then back to her hand. There was a loud slap that sounded when Levi’s hand made contact with hers.

At the mention of dogs, his eyes darted over to them. “Alright, good luck with them! Bye!” Levi said, lowering his head in a poor attempt to hide his smirk yet again. Avoiding eye contact, he turned away from Charity and the dogs and started walking away towards the bags of food he had left on the floor. Once he reached them, he paused, and then turned back to face Charity. His pearly white teeth were gleaming. “I’m kidding obviously.” He said with a laugh as he shook his head. Levi thought back to the last time he had this much silly fun. There wasn't a single memory that came to mind at that moment.

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Tag: Charity Croft

[Charity Croft]

The yay just increased Charity's laughter, setting off another volley of it. She couldn't help but be utterly thrilled at the little victory. She was, of course, quite certain that there would be a fair bit of embarrassment to be had in what was to come. It was hardly likely that she'd make it out of bathing a set of dogs and not end up embarrassing herself in some form or fashion. Still, she couldn't help but be happy in the moment.

Though the smile faded into narrowed eyes and a raised finger as Levi teased her. "Hey now---" Charity started, realizing even as she began that Levi was playing with her. That made her reach out and give him a smack on the shoulder. "Bad joke! Bad!" Charity then let out another laugh and then jerked her head. "I wouldn't blame you though. We've got the biggest one left, since naturally nobody else wanted to handle him. He's a big sweetheart, because of course he is, but he's also about my size, I swear."

Which was a slight exaggeration for the Great Dane, but not by a whole lot. Charity had already looked toward where he was still being played with, knowing that they'd somehow have to wrangle him in. And she couldn't remember if he was one that loved baths... or hated them.

[Levi Alexander Wolfe]

The day had most definitely taken a left turn. Instead of lugging heavy dog food back and forth for a few hours, here he was helping an attractive lady clean, and now about to bathe dogs, big dogs. He left the dog food on the floor and made his way back over to Charity. Levi rubbed his shoulder, “Ouch.” He said sarcastically. It didn’t hurt, but he couldn’t help to pretend.

“Hmm.” Levi eyed the dog, and then Charity. “I think you can take him.” He said with a laugh. It was a large dog. He had never handled any of the dogs in the shelter during his time here. He recognized most of them, but he didn’t know their names, or more importantly their behaviors. Levi’s had plenty experience bathing his own dogs, but of course they were his and he knew them. This dog, he didn’t know. And even with his own dogs, they were still weirdos when it came to bath time. This should be interesting.

Levi made his way over to the Great Dane. “Hey buddy.” He said kindly, offering his hand up to be sniffed. The dog seemed happy enough. Levi felt the heat from the dog’s breath on the back of his hand. He moved his hand and started to pet the dog. “Maybe we should fill up the tub before bringing him over.” He suggested, he recalled how with Luna he would have to fill it up before bringing her in. She would freak out if she heard or saw it beforehand. Levi never understood that. “Just in case.” He added, with a shrug. He continued to pet the dog, “You really do stink don’t ya.” He said happily, as if he was talking to an infant.

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Tag: Charity Croft

[Charity Croft]

Charity eyed the dog as Levi did. She knew Lord Pawsome from regular experience, which is why she just had to laugh at his assessment. "You think?" she was already working at her sleeves and watching him. "Actually, he's Lord Pawsome, and, like, I said, total pushover. As in I could probably walk over to him, push, and he'd flop over for belly rubs."

Charity watched Lord Pawsome and Levi as the latter moved up. Pawsome definitely liked Levi, that was for sure, and he thoroughly enjoyed being petted. Charity had to stand still and watch for a bit, because there was definitely something to be said for a guy who was willing to give an ungainly dog scratches behind the ears and all. Not that Charity was caring about that sort of thing: they had a mission, a goal, and all that lofty stuff.

"Well, he's fine with the hose too," Charity pointed out. But she was already walking over to the dub, knowing they'd need to get some of it ready with the shampoo. She started dragging it over to where they'd filled things up earlier. The tub could go under easily enough, and soon it was being filled. Charity was grabbing the provided shampoo, looking it over for directions. "Just be careful with the petting: he'll either end up rolling on the dirt or trying to play..." if he hadn't already. Charity was sort of distracted getting things ready, so she couldn't say with anything like certainty.

[Levi Alexander Wolfe]

Levi listened to Charity while his eyes remained on the dog. He couldn’t help but to let out a laugh “Ha, most definitely.” Just the idea of it was quite comical. “Lord Pawsome is it?” He said, still petting the dog. What an interesting name. “By any chance are you awesome, Lord Pawsome?” He asked, with a laugh and a shake of the head. The fact that he was talking to a dog was nothing new. He usually talks to dogs more than humans anyway, but he’d never admit that.

Still with his focus on the dog, he turned his head slightly towards Charity at the mention of the hose. “Well that will be easier probably.” He said with a bit a relief in his voice. To have to wrangle such a large dog in a tube, regardless if he liked baths or not was a challenge alone.

Levi adjusted his weight, and squatted next to the dog. They were basically face to face at this point, with the dog having a little more height on him while he was in this position. Levi kept talking to him as Charity was preparing everything they needed for him. “Someone is gonna be squeaky clean soon. Won’t that be nice?” He said, still petting the dog, who was more than happy to have the company, and seemed to be getting more and more excited every time Levi spoke. “Such a good boy.” Levi said, just as he heard Charity speak once more, but before he could even pay attention to what she was saying Lord Pawesome pushed passed Levi almost knocking him on his ass. As soon as he got his balance back he tried to grab his collar, but it snapped off as soon as he got a hold of it and Levi wobbled back. It seemed as though he just wanted to play and was heading straight for Charity.

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Tag: Charity Croft
OOC: Just wanted to say loving the Lord Pawsome name.