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It was one of the rare days that Natalie didn't have two dogs following her around the school. The pair were too lazy this morning to get moving, and Nat offered them the chance to sleep in, staying home rather than coming to work for her. It was a break from the norm, and for it, the trainer felt herself a little lost without a companion or two at her side. Everything seemed so much more quiet.
Her day was coming towards an end, but while she had the spare time, the brunette headed for the library, interested in trying to find some cook books to bring home. There was always room for more meat-free recipes in her life, as long as she could find them. Her eyes were cast downwards to the ground as she walked the hallways in the direction of the library, unaware of her surroundings and without the aid of sensitive noses to warn her of anything she might have missed.
Or, in this case, anyone. There was the sudden force against her shoulder as she turned a corner, forcing Nat backwards from the impact until she fell. It wasn't a hard fall, but she immediately caught sight of bright blonde hair, and her eyes grew wide. "I- I am so sorry!"
Isaac had found himself in yet another quarrel with one of his fellow studens while in class. She was wrong and he was right and somehow, he'd been the one getting thrown out of class for disturbance.
With his hands in his pocket, he sulked as he rounded a corner. He didn't see the woman before he felt the force against his chest. Blue eyes blinked in shock and for a second, his tongue was ready to share the annoyance he was feeling.
He stopped last second, blue eyes landing on a startled face he didn't recognize. Immediately his hand went out to help her up. He was a gentleman, after all.
"Not to worry, miss." He offered, a bright smile on his lips. "You alright?"
The concern that left her lips was completely genuine, feeling more worried for the individual she ran right into rather than herself, despite her position on the floor. Bright blue eyes caught her own before they shifted down to the hand offered to her. She extended her own hand, fingers curling around the base of his as she used his weight to pull herself up and onto her feet.
"Yes, I am. Thank you." The concern slowly left her features as a soft smile took over instead. "I should've been looking where I was walking. Are you okay?"
Her skin felt soft against his hand. The corner of his lip quirked upward, the bright smile softening a fraction; she was pretty. The kind of pretty only reserved for the naturally so.
His hand brushed along the line of her fingers as he let go, straightening to his full length of 6'2".
"Ah." He shrugged. "I've had to deal with worse." It was true, after all. One didn't do what he did without breaking a few hearts along the way. "Not from one quite as pretty, though." His eyes slanted, smile softening further.
Her own height of five-ten had nothing on this man, and Natalie found herself looking up rather than down at an individual. The draw of contact between their hands lasted long enough for her to notice the slow connection. Once her hand was released, she pressed both palms against her legs, feeling a hint of heat rise in her features as she was called pretty.
"Oh, I'm sure that isn't true." Ever the modest one, and as if a nagging came from the back of her head that tried to push her for more social interaction, the brunette looked in the direction he had been headed, and then back at him. "Where were you headed?"
"Why, of course " He responded instantly. After all, the girl was gorgeous and he saw no reason to tell her otherwise. His head tilted at her question. "Nowhere interesting, I'm afraid." He offered her a simple shrug.
He wondered if she was a teacher or a different part of the school staff. She didn't look old, but she didn't look a college student either. There was a certain grace to her that most college students didn't have. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
Natalie could say that she didn't recognize him a fellow trainer, but with the large amount of staff running around Bellefonte, she couldn't be sure if he was a teacher or something other. He seemed older than even a normal college student, but she didn't ask.
"Oh, nowhere important." She replied similarly, though she lacked the natural coolness his tone offered. "I was just heading to the library before going home for the evening." The corner of her mouth rose upwards slightly. "Cookbooks."
A woman that could cook; or at the very least was interesting in learning to do so. That was something Isaac could get behind. Cooking had always interested him, though, his mother hadn't exactly been shy when it came to teaching her children the practical things in life.
"Ah!" A smile formed on his lips. "They have some really nice ones." He tapped a finger against his cheek, as if considering. "Depending on what you're looking for, of course." He wouldn't advice anyone to go anywhere near the fish cookbooks. From what he'd heard, they didn't end up nearly as good as the pictures suggested.
It surprised her to see his interest spark at the subject. Even more that he seemed to know what sort of selection was offered at Bellefonte's library. He didn't look like the sort of person that cooked - though she reminded herself that she shouldn't judge on appearances. If anyone should know that, it was her.
"Vegan." Nat explained, "I'm looking for some recipes to expand on what I have." There was never such thing as too many recipes to have around the house.
Seeming to have forgotten any sort of formalities, the trainer squeezed her eyes shut briefly, extending a hand out. "I'm Natalie. Nat. Arazi."
Genuine interest colored his blue eyes then. "Do you mind if I ask why?" He looked at her. "Why you're a vegan, I mean." He wondered if it was a mistake assuming that it was for her. He figured he'd find out one way or another. He was a meat eater himself, but always found the reasoning behind people going green interesting.
With a broadening smile, he clasped his hand against hers. "Isaac Williams." He even gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "No fancy nicknames on my part, I'm afraid."
Isaac Williams. Natalie's grip was just as gentle, never having been a person to believe in a firm handshake, and she was glad to see that his was similar. Her smile widened at the question. Most people judged her dietary choices before they could understand. It was a refreshing change to hear someone genuinely curious.
"I can communicate with animals," Natalie explained with a shrug of her shoulders. "It's hard to eat meat or animal byproducts when you can listen in on their thoughts."
It had to be the first time he'd ever heard an explanation to something like this that he found himself agreeing with, without a single doubt in his mind. "Oh, wow." He breathed, a small chuckle falling from his parted lips. "Yeah, that'd make me a vegan too." He added ruefully, a hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck.
"Well, then." He straightened. "Allow me to assist you in your quest to make the world a better place for animals everywhere, Mi'Lady." He offered, bowing his upper back as he moved his arm in a half circle.
This young man was quite the gentleman, and it drew a warm smile out of Natalie to hear pure acceptance on the other side. And suddenly, he was offering to walk her to the library in help of her search and putting an arm out for her. Big, dark eyes grew a little wide before her arm slipped around his, one hand settling at his forearm, while the other wrapped around his bicep.
A grin formed on the blonde's lips when the woman moved to take his arm. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to think much else would come of it, but still, it was a step in the right direction. Any step forward was progress, after all. He moved forward then, blue eyes attentive. "Do you have any animals yourself?" He asked. He wondered if they had the same kind of thought process that humans did - or if it could be considered at all similar.
He remembered his aunt's dog; He'd been a real piece of work and rarely wanted to do what he was told. He wondered if there was more going on underneath than simple disobedience. "Do they talk, or is it more intuition?"
Not often one for small talk, Natalie would have been fine walking in silence. Usually, she was better that way regardless; communication wasn't always her forte, but the young man did most of the hard work for her, asking questions and sounding genuinely interested all the same.
"Oh, several." Nat bobbed her head up and down, smiling. "I'm usually accompanied by my dogs, but they were feeling particularly lazy today." She smiled as she glanced up at him. "It's... not so much talking like people do, but I can basically have a conversation with them." She was never the best at explaining her own ability. "Everything's a lot simpler with animals."
