Chapter Text
Jon couldn't deny that he had begun to take notice of the art student who had started to visit the Magnus Animal Sanctuary at least once a week. How could he not? Especially considering the first time Jon had noticed him, it was the day he had spent over an hour tracking him over the entire sanctuary trying to return the others lost sketchbook. At that time… well, Jon couldn't help himself. He glanced inside the sketchbook and saw some very wonderful drawings of the animals at the sanctuary. While an incredibly detailed sketch of a tarantula from the insect and spider section of the sanctuary made him feel squeamish, Jon felt his heart stall when he got to the page that contained a drawing of one of the owls he had been showing off that day.
Still, Jon eventually got the sketchbook back to the art student, who was freaking out near the front of the sanctuary near the help area. He was panicking next to a man who was dressed in so much black that it made Jon feel warm as they both dug through a green lost and found bin. He made his way over to them, breathless after running around the sanctuary and returned the sketch book.
It was that day that Jon learned that the art student's name was Martin and that he had to study animal poses for his drawing class at the nearby Tundra College. Jon wished Martin luck with his classes and reminded him to keep a better eye on his sketchbook before returning back to the raptor section of the aviary portion of the sanctuary.
A few weeks passed by before Jon saw Martin again, but the next time he saw him, Jon found himself smiling. Martin was in the back of a sizable group that was huddled around Jon and the owl he was showing off. Jon also noted that Martin was with his black clad friend from the time before as well. Even at the back of the crowd, Martin stood tall above the mother's with their strollers and others who were also watching.
"This is my friend Reginald." Jon said. He extended his left hand where a small tawny owl stood perched on the heavy duty leather glove he was wearing. "Reginald is a tawny owl, but you might know him as a brown owl. Tawnies are very common here in the UK and across Europe."
As he spoke of Reginald the owl, every so often Jon glanced over at Martin. It seemed he and his friend were whispering about something. Jon continued on, giving the basic facts of what tawnies ate, the noises they made, and how they hunted. He even answered one young girl's question about why Reginald was up in the day if owls were 'noturnhal'.
"Well, care to answer that question for me, Reggie?" Jon asked the owl on his arm. Reggie only shifted on Jon's arm and blinked. "Looks like he's not in a talking mood." With his ungloved hand, Jon reached into his open fanny pack and removed a dead baby mouse. He held it out to Reggie who immediately took it and began to gobble it up at once. As the owl ate the treat, Jon spoke. "Reggie came to us here at the Magnus Animal Sanctuary because he was injured. As a young owl, we believe he was hit by a car. I was just promoted to the head aviculturist at the time, so I took care of him."
Once Reggie had finished eating and was satisfied, Jon held his arm out to the wooden perch he was standing next to where Reggie's jess was connected. Reggie flapped his wings and gave a little hop on to the perch.
Looking at the little owl, Jon smiled and continued. "Reggie really liked me. He preferred my care, and he remembered when I would come in to check in on him and to administer any medicine he needed at the time." He glanced back at the crowd. "Reggie does still sleep in the day, but his sleep is more like naps. He always wakes up when he knows I'm going to visit him, or when he wants to come out and see visitors. I'm sure he'll go take a nice lie down once I return him to his enclosure."
Jon loved talking about his birds. Birds had been one of his favorite things since he was a boy. Especially raptors. He loved getting to work with them every day and to tell people about them. He hadn't been the head aviculturist of the sanctuary's birds of prey for more than a year, but he always enjoyed it. Sure, sometimes the weather made things annoying, or some visitors couldn't take 'no' for an answer when it came to touching or feeding the animals. But Jon was happy with what he did.
The owl lesson ended after about 15 minutes and the crowd began to disperse. After Jon unclasped Reggie’s jess and coaxed him back onto his arm, Martin and his friend approached him.
"Oh, hello again." Jon said, standing up straighter. "I hope you haven't lost your sketchbook again."
Martin laughed nervously. "No- no, I didn't do that." He then produced his sketchbook from the tote bag he wore on his side and showed it to Jon. "I plan not to do that again."
"That's good, I'd hate to see your work get ruined or lost."
"Heh- yeah, um-" Martin began, but he was interrupted by his black clad friend.
"Hey, Martin, I'm gonna head on over to the maned wolves." He said. "I wanted to try sketching them again, see you there."
"Oh- Gerry!" Martin's face became red as he sputtered after his friend who had already begun to walk away without another word. "I-" He looked at Jon with embarrassment as he replaced his sketchbook within his tote bag.. "Um… I like your little friend." He said, pointing to Reggie.
Smiling softly, Jon nodded. "Reginald loves the spotlight. He has a lot of personality and loves to show it off." It was easier to talk about the animals than himself. Since that was a part of his job, it worked out well for Jon. While he was good at talking when it came to birds, Jon knew could be a bit blunt or rude when it came to normal conversations. Not to mention the things he just didn’t understand or- for lack of a better phrase- the parts of conversion that just flew over his head.
Reggie gave a stuttering 'wh-wh-whoo!' And Jon laughed before placing him back on his perch.
It appeared that Martin relaxed some when Jon laughed, although Jon didn't notice it. "Do… Do you work with him everyday?" He asked. "I mean- well, do you bring him out here and let people ask questions and that?"
"Hm?" Jon looked away from Reggie to Martin. "More or less. Though, it's not Reggie who comes out every day. We switch around the birds that are best with crowds, and it really depends on if they want to come out." He shrugged. "But- yeah. I mostly do a little show with one of them every day, and in the fall we do special falcon shows."
"Oh, oh, that makes sense." Martin smiled at Reggie. "Well… I'll have to remember to swing by here next time I visit." He fidgeted with the small, cloud shaped necklace around his neck. "I uh- your lectures are fun. Plus, aside from the spiders, birds are proving to be some of my favourite animals to draw."
The image of the spider drawing Jon had snuck a peek at flashed in his mind and he suppressed a shiver. He wasn't fond of spiders, not the smallest bit, but he understood that people enjoyed them and how they were important within ecosystems (even if they were creepy, crawling things of nightmares). Jon wouldn't put them down if someone enjoyed them, hell, he worked at an animal sanctuary- he enjoyed animals. If someone started dunking on his birds, he'd be upset.
"I'm glad to hear that. We've got a few really good birds here." Jon smiled. "While a lot of zoos are trying to be more ethical, not all of them are the best. At our sanctuary, nearly all of our birds are rescues who wouldn't survive in the wild, like Reggie, or they're a part of breeding programs so we can raise their numbers." He ticked off a few species of birds in his head that he knew were involved in breeding programs at the sanctuary. "Most of the birds in the breeding programs the sanctuary is a part of aren't under my care, I only work with the raptors. But, I do have a few- a female sea eagle and a female hen harrier. Since these species are native to the UK and their numbers are dropping to a point where they might be extinct here given a few years, we're working to with other sanctuaries and conservatories to mate the birds we do have in captivity and to release their young to the wild once they're old enough to survive on their own."
Looking away from Reggie, Jon's smile fell some when he saw how Martin looked at him. The other man appeared a little lost. Jon knew he had the ability to ramble on, but he didn't mean to dip into it just then. "Ah, sorry." He bit the inside of his cheek. "I'm sure that's not the most interesting thing to people who are outside of animal conservation."
It took Martin a second to respond. "Ah- no, no!" He put his hands out in front of himself and shook them. "I-I think it's cool! Very interesting!" He said at once, his face going flush. "I mean- I didn't know that before. I swear I was listening- I was just- thinking… I suppose. About what you were saying." Martin slowly lowered his hands, like he might have to put them up to defend himself once more. "Breeding programs like that- they've never really crossed my mind before. When I think about animals going extinct, it's a worldwide thing. Like-” He huffed, “I don’t know, the last panda bear in the world or something. I never really thought about how animals could go extinct in certain areas alone."
"Oh- yeah!" Jon's smile fully returned. "Most people don't think of smaller scale extinction, but it's a big problem. It wreaks absolute havoc on local ecosystems and can even lead to other species going extinct in the area as well." He was just about to continue on and explain what could happen if a higher level predator such as an owl or hawk was completely removed from an ecosystem, when Reggie began to click his beak impatiently.
Jon, who had long ago learned to pick up on what Reggie's little mannerisms meant, shook his head fondly at the owl. "Sorry," He extended his gloved hand to Reggie and the owl immediately clambered on. "I should get Reggie here back inside. He's hungry." He carefully moved his arm to his side, holding it out but still close to his body. "Owls actually eat quite a bit a day, but considering what their food is- I don't like to feed them certain things when they're out here with me. Makes some people sick."
Jon thought it was a valid gripe, too. He didn't imagine people took family outings to the sanctuary to watch birds eat piglets, just as much as they didn't come to watch a crocodile perform a death roll on some poor zebra. Animals still had to eat, but when possible the food they ate in their enclosures or in the view of patrons was a version visitors could at least stomach to look at. The meatier meals were for inner enclosures behind closed doors and away from the sensitive albeit, prying eyes of the public.
"That makes sense." Nodded Martin. He watched as Jon grabbed the wooden perch Reggie had been sitting on. "I- uh… I hope I can catch another one of your shows next time I visit!" He said quickly as Jon started to leave.
With one arm being occupied with Reggie, and the other working on carrying the somewhat heavy perch, Jon was a bit strained as he looked at Martin once more. "Well-" He puffed, struggling to hold the perch. His physical strength had never been anything special, but moving the perch and whatever bird he was holding at the moment always was a trouble. Reggie was one of the smaller birds he worked with, and while birds weren’t very heavy- hollow bones and all- it was still difficult to carry things when you had one of your arms indisposed with a bird. “You know where to find me.” He finished, trying to make his strained smile look friendly.
There were a few seconds where Martin just stumbled over his words as Jon continued to struggle with the perch. Finally, he moved around to Jon’s side and took the wooden thing in both of his hands. “Would you like some help with that? It uh- you’ve got your hands full and I’d hate for you to fall or something tugging this thing around.”
Opening his mouth, Jon thought of what to say. It really wasn’t allowed to ask visitors for help with the animals and the enclosures unless they were a certified volunteer or student taking an internship, legalities and all that. Too many sanctuaries and zoos have had too many people get hurt because they were being utterly stupid. Aside from the organizations losing money in those court cases, many of those instances ended with innocent animals being put down because of idiotic people. However, the perch was heavy and the raptor house wasn’t very far away. “Yes, please.” He managed finally. “If it’s no trouble, I know it’s kinda heavy.”
Martin’s face relaxed and he smiled as he picked up the perch and held it under his arm like it weighed nothing at all. “Oh, it’s nothing! Don’t mention it.” He laughed softly, “I like helping.”
Trying not to seem too impressed with how easily Martin picked up the post, Jon cleared his throat and glanced at Reggie, who was staring at Martin with his head cocked to the side. Owls were allowed to break the social rule of not being allowed to stare at people, and for what wasn’t the first time in his life- Jon was envious of that. “Right this way.” He nodded towards the raptor house and began to lead the way with Martin following close behind.
Martin carried the perch into the raptor house and placed it where Jon had asked him to, he didn’t even break a sweat lugging it around- something that could not have been said for Jon if he would have had to carry it by himself. While Jon returned Reggie to his enclosure, Martin admitted that he had better get looking for his friend, and left with a wave.
That interaction stayed with Jon the rest of the day. He played it through his head while he went through the job of feeding his birds, and during his lunch break he even relayed it to his friends Tim and Sasha who worked with the capybaras. They, however, seemed to gather something more from Jon’s story that he didn’t quite understand. When he told them how interested Martin seemed in what he had to say on bird conservation and how eager he was to help him carry the perch, they both grinned. He didn’t need to see it to know that Sasha kicked Tim under the table when Tim began to snicker.
When Jon asked just what they found so funny, Tim fell into a fresh peal of laughter and Sasha only shook her head at him before asking Jon if he wanted to see Martin again. “Of course,” Jon had answered. “It’s nice to be able to talk about the birds, and he seems nice. More people only take an interest in the more… Exciting animals here, so I’m happy he’s interested in me telling him what I can about my birds.” He then threw a crisp from his lunch at Tim’s head, which made the other stop laughing to pick up the crisp and hurl it at Jon with 10x the force Jon had originally used.
“Well, I hope you get to see him again.” Sasha said as Jon and Tim began throwing the crisp back and forth at each other in the most pathetic, but still very fun, form of a food fight.
And Sasha’s hope wasn’t wasted on Jon. He wanted the exact same thing- even if his reasons weren’t the same as Sasha’s yet.