Dog Therapy [o]

[Bill Collins]

*~Disco
*~Lucy
*~Bernard

It probably wasn't the best idea to involve teenagers and easily excitable dogs, but Bill was starting to feel bad, by leaving them locked up in the house all day long (and if Disco knocks another picture off the wall, he would lose his mind). He watched as the dogs played with each other in the training field, he had several doggy bags on hand, should any one of them drop a gift for the lovely Hammel Students.

Bill had been at Hammel for a semester now, and he'd liked to think he was squirming his way into American every-day life quite well. The lack of his family's screaming voices sometimes caused his heart to ache, but the complete change in scenery had been what he needed. He put his thumb and pointer finger in his mouth and let out a whistle to call his dogs to attention. Disco had been crouched over Bernard, the two trying to go for each others neck, while Lucy scratched her back against the grass, the three of them froze what they were doing and looked towards him. At times, they weren't the best trained dogs in the world, but they did at least acknowledge him. He lifted the same hand he whistled with and beckoned for them to come.

It became a race between the three dogs to see who'd get to Daddy faster. Disco got ahead easily, because he was bigger than a miniature pony, but Bernard won overall because he was a speedy devil and the youngest in their pack. Bill passed each of them a treat from his pocket anyway, since they all obeyed him and then shrugged his arm out to check his wrist watch. Class was supposed to be starting soon, and he had a few students that needed training. His power over precognition put him in position to train others with his power, but he also worked with retro-cognition, and a general let-your-mind-be-at-ease something or other.

"You'll be good fer tha lads n' lasses, eh?" Bill had a thick Scottish accent--as was expected he'd spent thirty years there--and he spoke a bit gruffly to Disco as he scratched him behind the ears. Each one of his dogs were extremely sweet, Disco just had a gnawing way of showing his affection. He'd gotten better since Bill had him fixed, but he was definitely still the alpha male (well, second to Bill of course.) "Soon as they show up, a'course." Bill already knew they'd show up--at least a few of them anyway--he remembered what most of this class would entail and from what he remembered, it was going to be an alright class involving his dogs.

The idea behind bringing his dogs to his training session wasn't just because he felt bad leaving them locked up all day, but also because dogs responded to people with a calm and confident mind. He'd let the students work with them and try to get them to do tricks (they barely did them for Bill) which would help their concentration and determination to get what they wanted, which would ultimately help them control their powers. He hoped no one was allergic to dogs...

[/justify]

[Robbie Wilkes]

Two trainer transfers in three months.

Robbie knew he was a handful but he didn't realise he had gotten worst the past few months until he was sent to someone called Bill something or other. Every time he heard the name Bill, Robbie thought of Bill Clinton. Thinking that such a political figure couldn't actually be a meta and a trainer at that, Robbie skipped over to the training field to meet this non-political figure trainer Bill.

The first thing he saw were three gigantic dogs pacing quietly around a man. "Oh my God no way!" He jumped before making a beeline to the black and white border collie. "Hi big guy hi!" the excited teen greeted the dog who barked back excitedly, jumping around trying to lick Robbie's face. He laughed and avoided getting licked but the big dog managed to get a few licks in.

Robbie looked up at the man and waved. "Hi! Robbie. Weather manipulator. Don't actually know why I'm assigned to you but you've got dogs!" He laughed and scratched all three of the dogs' ears.

[Steven Lagenski]

OOC: My apologies for the sudden intrusion but I feel this would be a good thread for Steven to post in. If you do notwant me to be part of it just pm me and I'll delete the post.

Having been a resident of hammel for a few weeks Steven had gotten into the groove of things. New schools meant new classes and the only class he had chosen to go to was one for training. His reason for this was that for once he may finally run across some comic looking guy who would show him how to get in touch with Charles Xavier. Meta humans were a reality, but he had yet to come to terms wuth the fact that Hammel was not secretly the reason they made X-men.

He made his way into the training field with a smile on his face and an ACDC tee shirt. He did not know why dogs would happen to be there, he was actually expecting a dome and things to start shooting out, X-men lied again. "Maybe their gonna attack us?" he held close to this thought as he made his way to the dogs and the boy who had taken a liking to the collie. "So are we supposed to like pet them to death?" he looked confused while he scratched behind his ear like one would a dog. 

Steven had a dog at his house though it had recently been put down so the thought of hurting animals seemed like a blow to the face maybe he could just get them to play dead. He used his canine tooth to bite down on the purple ring that was poking out of the side of his lip, animal cruelty did not seem like a suitable thing to teach.

[Bill Collins]

Bill often times forgot that other people didn't love dogs as much as he did, or that people are allergic or really scared of them, but now that he had thought about it, all he could picture was the students he got would be scared to death of Disco for his size and deep bark, or allergic to Bernard's long hair. He looked at his children and felt a pang of unease towards the class that was definitely on the way there. But he still remembered having a good class, so it was a short lived unease.

He looked up when after Disco let out a warning bark and he ruffled his ears. He spotted an approaching student and was glad that someone was going to show up. "Behave, yeah," he patted Disco on the side as he spoke to him in an order. Lucy ran around his ankles, but Bernard took to the blond boy instantly. Bill liked the kid already, as he petted Bernard and then rest of them.

"Nice ta meet ya, lad," he said as he ruffled his own hair, "I'm Mr. Collins. Thas Disco, Lucy, and Bernard there." He gestured to his children and the looked back at the boy with a small smile. "Tadee, we'll be workin' on keepin' calm and controlll." Bill made a fist as he spoke and looked up a the approach of another boy. "I'd be right put off if yah hurt one of me dogs." Actually, Bill would be devastated. They were all he had left of Blair.

"They are gonna help us with meditation, laddie." He gestured for Lucy to go to the new arrival and he scratched the ears of Disco. "Tha main principal of this lesson is ta keep a level head ta maintain control. Control yerself, and ye can control tha dog. But first, we're gonna get them excited, not so easy to control." Bill reached into his bag next to his feet then, and produced a smaller bag of dog toys, all freshly bought but he knew his dogs favorite toys. Inside were tennis balls, bits of rope, frisbees, and squeeky little things. He gestured for the two boys to take something from the bag while he took out a tennis ball. He tossed it into the air and grinned when all three dogs followed the movement with their heads.

[Robbie Wilkes]

When Bill introduced himself as Mr. Collins, Robbie shook his head. "Sorry, man. You're Bill Clinton in my head now. Or Bill Gates. But Bill Collins is just not a name I would call you." Robbie grinned up at Bill before continuing to play with Bernard. "Can I call him Bernie?"

The new arrival was ignored at first until Bill alerted Robbie to his sudden appearance. He looked up and saw a vaguely familiar looking kid. "Sup," he held up a hand before straightening himself up. "Okay wait, calm and control?" Robbie raised an eyebrow before chuckling. "I can...do that." He grinned before grabbing a chew toy and frisbee from the bag.

Bernard barked loudly at Robbie who petted the top of his head. "Alrightie, pup. Soon." Robbie said. He thought this would be a piece of cake. Zeus had twice the energy Bernard seemed to have and Robbie knew how to calm him down.

"Hey dude, you're not from around here are you?" Robbie asked Bill.

[Alexander McKenzie]

Though Alex disliked switching trainers, it was part of life as a student within Hammel. Sometimes, you could only go so far with a certain trainer, and it was time for a change. He’d hit that wall at least a month ago. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t quite refine his powers as much as he wanted to. His hearing still felt muffled after he’d used his power for any extended length of time. Though he was glad the rest of his senses returned immediately, and were stronger now behind his protective field, his control still wasn’t perfect. His hearing still felt like he’d been standing in front of a too-loud speaker for too long.

That was why he was here now. He’d put in his request for a trainer transfer. Given his reasons, he’d been allowed, and now he was heading to the field, dressed in jeans and a light hoodie. The weather was finally giving them a break, which was nice. It was also nice that the hoodie allowed him to hide his tattoos. While he certainly wasn’t ashamed of his artwork, it made first impressions a little difficult. He was fairly certain new trainers never knew what to think of him when he first showed up. Probably expected a fight out of him, or something to that effect.

Ha. They couldn’t be more wrong. Alex was actually a good student. He paid attention, and actually enjoyed learning. He couldn’t hide everything, though, that made him, well… him. His piercings were still all in place. He sighed and rubbed his hands together. Hopefully this new trainer, Mr. Collins, wasn’t quick to judge.

The senior shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets as he joined the rest of his new classmates on the field. He didn’t see the dogs right away, but when he did, he lit up like a kid at Christmas. His family had never had dogs. He’d been enough responsibility for his parents. But he’d always liked dogs. Gently, he crouched and held his hand out to the brown lab before glancing up at his teacher. “Um… hello, sir. I’m new to your class. Transferred.” He looked a little unsure, which wasn’t unusual with new people. “I missed what the lesson plan was, sorry.” At least he was apologetic for being a bit late.