6 AM, Saturday Morning
Outfit

Kia was on cloud nine. Despite the chaos of the post-Memorial day wizarding world, she was in a great place. She had an excellent job with good pay, wonderful friends, a new place to live and best of all, a cute dark haired new friend. There was nothing better then waking up next to a warm body, getting a gentle kiss on the cheek and an energetic, albeit loud, welcome. It was a long time in coming, but she finally had one.

In fact, she was about to take a run with her new love now.

"Luuuuuna... Come on..." She called, stretching her hamstrings at the door of her new apartment complex. A loud noise down the hall signaled the coming of a second creature, followed by the crash of an awkward young body ricocheting off the walls. Seconds later the ungainly body of a young black lab skittered into the hall and after it's master, nearly knocking her over as it barrelled into her legs, barking excitedly. "Luna... Luna calm down..." Kia chuckled, scratching the dogs ears with one hand as she attached the leash with the other. Tugging on the leash, Kia ushered the dog out of front door and into Diagon Alley.

They took to a light jog, since Luna was too young to run without stumbling over her own four feet, and Kia enjoyed the cool crisp air of the London May rushing past her face. Ah this was life. A nice jog in the warmth of the morning, alone except for a friend who accepted you for who you were unconditionally and didn't talk needlessly. Closing her eyes for a moment, Kia took a deep breath of the cool air, only to have it yanked out of her when Luna suddenly bolted forward, barking excitedly. Caught off guard, Kia stumbled forward with a cry and tried to drag the young dog back without success.

Instead she ended up being pulled towards a tall figure walking the other direction, whose dog had caught Luna's youthful fancy. Slamming hard into the lanky figure, Kia lost control of the leash and stumbled back to the ground. Luna forgot her target immediately and ran to Kia's side, whining and licking her face. "Ow... dammit Luna..." Kia muttered, rubbing her lower back.

Fil had been sleeping quite comfortably, buried under the blankets with his head under the pillows, twisted up in sheets and dreaming like there was no tomorrow.  In his state, he was having a rather wonderful dream, and made some sort of husky sound that might have been a laugh or a yelp.  However, the smile that formed on his face indicated that the dream was a pleasant one, and he mumbled something in a low voice, turning over again, twisting once more in the already tangled mass of blankets.  He was about to wrap his arm around one of the pillows when a large mass jumped upon the bed and stepped directly on the inside of his thigh.

The man bolted up with a bark of pain and he shoved the furry beast off the bed.  Fighting the blankets off, Fillin scowled, looking a little worse for wear and rather upset that he had been pulled out of such a pleasant dream.  It was the one with the famous swimsuit model who wanted to go for a ride on his broom… Shaking his head, he ran his hands down his face, rubbing his eyes before he glared down at the dog.  Carlyle appeared all too happy to stand by the bed now.  “What do you want?” Fil growled: the dog knew full well he didn’t get up until at least ten, and realizing that there was no sun streaming in from the window – this was not ten o’clock.

In fact, turning to his nightstand, this was not even six o’clock.  Fil was going to strangle him.  Swinging his legs out of the sheets and over the side of the bed, Fil stumbled up and hit his alarm clock – he wasn’t going to be needing it, and looked down at Carlyle who was following close by, stopping and starting with him.  It was quite awkward when he tried to pull on a pair of sweats and a long sleeve t-shirt, the dog (far too large for this maneuver) tried to move through his legs.  “What?!” he asked again, agitated that he was awoken at this ungodly hour for the dog.  Carlyle seemed to have an idea though, and he trotted to the door, looking back at his owner to make sure he was following before continuing forward.  Fil, much like the morning zombie he was, followed with agitation.

Carlyle stood at the door, wagging his tale and nudging at the knob and Fil knew what that meant.  He wanted to go out.  Fil, grabbing the leash, grunted and sighed.  At least it was cool out.  Clipping the collar to the leash, he could feel the energy in the dog, and Fil rolled his eyes.  “You’re an ass,” he announced to the dog, who just nudged up against him and licked his hand.  Fil rolled his eyes and sighed.  “Yea, yea. Let’s go.”  He opened the door, put the keys in his pocket and left the flat at the base of Knockturn to exit into Diagon.  Thankfully there was no one out, so they could leisurely jog together.

Fil was still not happy about all of this, but the weather was nice and he didn’t mind being outside when it wasn’t too hot.  He could actually wear sweats and a long sleeve shirt and not worry about sweating too much.  Carlyle also seemed to be enjoying himself as they kept an even pace between the pair.  He was even starting to enjoy himself when the sound of another bark betrayed someone else in the alley and then before he knew it, he was slammed into, a body bumping off of his.  He managed to let go of Carlyle as well, though the dog did not wander, rather alertly looked at the other dog and owner.

Still partially asleep, Fil had to shake his head and catch his balance. “Are you okay?” he asked before he even looked over, offering his hand without a thought.  Of course, when he was able to see straight and hear her, Fil felt his gut drop.  Oh, if Carlyle wanted any bacon today – he was sorely mistaken, this situation was going to be awkward.  Blushing almost immediately, he did not retract his hand.  “Sorry,” he managed to say, “I hope you’re not hurt…”

“Are you okay?”

Kia didn't dare look up, afraid that the redness of her cheeks would give away that she was embarrassed at her clumsiness. What made matters worse was that it was definitely a man, that much she was sure of thanks to the lack of softness to the well toned body she had toppled into and the large masculine shoes she was currently focused on. The hand, however, didn't waver from it's position and she reluctantly started to slide her own into it when the man spoke. His voice caused a chill of recognition to run down her spine and she looked up to see, in horror, who was standing above her.

“Sorry, I hope you’re not hurt…”

What did she say to that? Her first inclination was to snap that it wasn't the ground that had hurt her that she could get up on her own, thank-you-very-much, but somehow his blushing face and stuttered words made him too difficult to snap at. Sure she was upset on how coldly he had treated her in front of her father, but at the same time, she had remembered how gently he had held her before hand. His reactions to her had been painfully confusing and Kia hated not knowing why he had that effect on her.

His very presence confused every single one of her senses and that bothered her most of all. It was like she knew him nearly intimately, his smell... his touch... the sound of his voice... but yet she had no recognition of him at all. She wanted to ask him, point blank, who he was and why she felt like she knew him. But being frank had never been her strong point, that was more Maggie's domain. Kia investigated and observed. She just hoped she could figure him out before she went insane.

"I'm... fine... thank you" She said finally, settling on a simple response that was neither angry nor overly appreciative. Sliding her hand into his, she allowed him to pull her to her feet. For a moment, she stood there and stared up at him, trying to figure out his face. She wanted to touch him, but was scared to do so, the idea of him pulling away too painful. After all, as far as she knew,  she was a stranger to him.

Time dragged the seconds they stood there, hand in hand, out for an eternity before Kia realized the awkward silence that had settled between them. Pulling her hand away quickly, she bit back a blush and nodded politely at him, struggling to find something else to say before the silence got unbearable. Thankfully, it seemed that Luna understood her owners pain and started barking wildly, jumping on Fil and panting excitedly, her entire rear end waving back and forth with the force of her wagging tail. "LUNA! Bad! Down!" Kia said quickly, tugging on the dogs leash. Though her words were stern, she was actually inwardly thanking the pup for saving her.

Fil couldn’t help but be relieved that the girl was alright.  He didn’t want to see her hurt and most certainly couldn’t deal with the consequences if she were.  He couldn’t imagine her father would be very happy and then he would probably chew him out again over something he didn’t even do – again.  It was really ridiculous that he was being punished for something he couldn’t even control, something he didn’t do on purpose and wouldn’t have happened if his daughter hadn’t been like she was.  If she hadn’t been so nice and so friendly and so… everything, Fil wouldn’t have been in that predicament – he wouldn’t have fought in the first place and she wouldn’t have tried to help him.

It was partially her fault; he had to remind himself and sighed with a bit of a nod and exasperated sigh.  “Alright…” he replied gruffly, not sure what to do.  Carlyle was bustling about his legs, whining a little since his walk was interrupted and Fil was flustered enough that he didn’t know what to do.  His brain seemed completely blank, the kind of blank he felt when he smelled fresh bacon in the morning, where there was nothing wrong with the world – yet he knew he wasn’t content because there was something missing out of the equation.  In that instant, of course, it was the lack of actual eating going on, but here, he realized as she jerked her hand away just what it was.  He was so uncomfortable!

Coughing, he was going to make some kind of awkward comment about her sneakers or something, but found that was completely unnecessary when a large weight threw itself on him, knocking a puff of breath out of his chest.  Feeling the dog’s claws digging on him, he made a strained chuckle, rubbing her smooth, black head.  He was far more comfortable with a dog than he was with an owner any day.  “It’s okay,” he looked to Kia with a smile that he could no longer hold back, feeling a wet nose pressed against his neck before he gently set the dog back down on the ground, grabbing up Carlyle’s leash in the process.  

“Is she new?” he motioned to the lab, not remembering her at the clinic or any other time.  Of course, he didn’t really run into her – they weren’t exactly traveling in the same circles anymore, now were they?  The shady section of Knockturn he lived in was probably nowhere near where a girl like Kia would want to be, or should be.  It felt distinctly like that stupid muggle story his father had forced him to read – something to make him cultured or something, he had no idea.  

He began to fiddle with the leash, unsure of what to say or do.  Part of him was cursing himself for not taking a shower – though he was going on a run, what was better?  He didn’t know.  Why were girls, feelings, and all things seemingly associated with them so damned complicated?  If only they could be easy - like breakfast or a dog.  It was exceedingly frustrating.

“It’s okay,”

When the awkward silence that had fallen between them was broken by the young Lab, Kia witnessed something that made something in the vicinity of her heart seize up painfully. He smiled. Not a forced smile... not a shy smile... but a broad, toothy grin. Not only did the effect light up his rather gruff expression and transform it into an attractive one, but it also made warning signals go off in the back of Kia's head. It was like she knew that smile, as though she had seen it before. More importantly, the faint flash she saw in her subconscious had the gentle grin aimed at her. Instantly, she found herself flushing lightly, though she had no clue why.

“Is she new?”

It should have dawned on Kia that he shouldn't know that Luna was new, but she was so thankful for the subject change that she ignored the fact. "Yes.. Actually.. Uh.. She was a housewarming gift from my father... " She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, studying him. Aside from seeming nervous, he had an air of gentleness around him when looking at Luna and the large gangly Shepard at his side that she hadn't seen before.

The ice around her heart melted a little when she realized that he really must be an animal person. Most werewolves she had met in the past were uncomfortable around dogs, mostly because they showed their wolfish nature in their presence, but Fil was different. This fact struck a nerve in Kia and she suddenly wanted to do something she had never really wanted to do for anyone, she wanted to know his story.

Looking down at the two dogs, who were sniffing each other with tails wagging, Kia struck on an idea. "Hey... I am sorry I was so sharp with you... I was just surprised..." Not knowing what else to say to sooth his ego, she quickly went onto the next topic "... Are you hungry? I will treat you to breakfast to make up for it... Besides... the pups are getting along so well... it would be a shame to break them up..." She gave him an uncertain smile, her fingers knotting in the leash as she waited for his response.