TR: Puppy Faces (Kamillia and Jesse)

[Event !]

It’s not weird to hang out in the pet store, is it? Plus, it's an adoption day.

[Kamillia Engel]

Kamillia walked out of the house with her car keys, and a debit card. When you give a girl a credit or debit card, anyone would know where the first thing she was going to do. Shopping, that’s right, but this girl wasn’t going shopping for herself. Yes completely selfless, she needed to go to the pet store and pick up some things for her hoard of animals. If her animal collecting kept up, she would soon become an animal hoarder, which was not an okay thing; and she knew that.

Getting in her car and ridding over to the mall, of course the one pet store in town was in the mall; so she couldn’t bring a ‘friend’ to shop with her. Even so, she had to say it was probably easier and faster going by herself. Parking the car, Kam got out, locked, and closed the door. Sighing, and running her hand through her short red hair she made her way into the mall, and to the store she was meant to be in at this moment; without making any detours into other stores. She was quite proud of herself for that, too.

Kam looked at the sign that said ‘adoption day’ and sighed heavily. “I hate my life…” She said in a dry sarcastic tone. Repeatedly she told herself she wasn’t going to buy or bring home another animal, she had to keep her powers off, this so wasn’t the time to use it; because if she did she knew her heart would melt, and she would have to take home every single cat or dog in the store. She grabbed a basket from the front of the store, and started shopping, like she had came here to do.

[Jesse Adams]

Being off probation was both terrifying and… freeing. Jesse had spent nearly six months at Hammel under the strict watch of staff, being monitored and carefully analyzed. Apparently, whatever they’d wanted or needed to see from him, he’d done it. He’d finally been told he could go off the grounds on a trial basis. If he proved to be responsible, he might get all of his privileges back. It was a start, he supposed.

Since he’d missed his dog for the last few months, his first trip off the grounds was directly to the pet store in the mall. In part, he wanted to pick up some things for Gambit. He missed the hell out of the dog, even if he was in a good place.

He also missed the companionship the dog had offered him. There was no way he’d be allowed to have the huge Mastiff in the dorms, so he had to wait until graduation to actually get him back in his possession. That didn’t mean he could find something else to tide him over. Plus get Gambit some toys.

It had felt amazing to be behind the wheel of his Mustang again, even for the short drive into town from the school. Finding the pet store was easy. He’d been familiar with it when he was living with Max, and he knew one of the employees.

What he hadn’t expected was it being adoption day. Any hopes of returning to the dorms with anything other than a few toys for his dog were pretty much dead.

He started in the toy aisle, but kept drifting to the smaller adoptable animals. Something small he could get away with having in his dorm…

Animals had a soothing effect on him. It had always been that way. Because of them, he was actually relaxed as he stroked one of the rabbits, toys tucked under his arm. This could be trouble, but he was okay with that.

[Kamillia Engel]

Kamillia was glad she never got into so much trouble as to have the staff watch her every move. Nope, she just got into enough trouble to be sent to a different school. Granted Kam never did anything near what Jesse had done.

Taking out her ipod to look at her list, yes she had a list. Having five household pets would make anyone have a list when going shopping. She headed to the dog food first, it should probably be the last thing she got since dog food can be heavy but she was already near it. Kam grabbed a small bag of food; Her gramps was going to have to get a bigger bag. Because there was no way, she was going to drag a big bag through the store and to her car.

Kamillia was glad that she has to live with her gramps, so she always came home to her dogs. She knew it was a privilege that very few Hammel students had, and she never took that for granted.

As she walked over to the toy section, she had gotten a text message. Taking her phone out of her other pocket, to look at it and respond. Having to pass the rabbits to get to the toy aisle, she hadn’t realized she was about to bump into someone. Then again, she really wasn’t paying much attention to where she was walking either. Of course, she probably would have bumped into the person even if she wasn’t texting, just because she would be too caught up looking at the smaller animals.

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse could honestly only name a handful of other students who had gotten into the kind of trouble he had. Of course, one was in college now, and he wasn't sure he wanted to see the other. So far he'd avoided Levi, and he was more than okay with that. If he did run into him... he had no idea what he'd even say to the younger boy.

Avoidance was working pretty well. He'd just keep up with that.

His fingers glided over the soft fur of a little black rabbit. It wasn't even trying to sit with the others up for adoption, and he was starting to feel an odd sort of kinship with the little thing. He was the same, really. Unsure of how to interact with other people. Sure, he was working on it, but it was a slow process. His perceived lack of progress was starting to frustrate him, but he had to keep at it if he ever wanted to change, even a little.

His probation hadn't actually said anything about having pets in the dorms. In fact, he had to wonder if Dr. Neville would actually approve of it. Gambit had always mellowed him out, something he'd needed in the early days after his mentor's death. A small animal wasn't quite the Mastiff mix, but he'd be allowed to keep in the dorms. Even after he graduated, Gambit had been good with the smaller dogs. He'd be okay with something like a rabbit, he was sure.

He was so focused in on the little animal that he didn't see Kamillia until it was too late. His hand jerked at the bump, sending the black rabbit skittering away. Jesse bit down on his lip, feeling the familiar resistance of his lip ring before standing up straight and looking at the offender. "Watch where you're going," he grumbled, though there was very little bite to it. Maybe he really was improving.

Or maybe he was distracted by the fact she had dog food with her. Reining in his desire to say some less kind things than 'watch where you're going', he instead swallowed and lifted his hand in a small, almost weak greeting. "Sorry. Just, uhh... scared the rabbit I was looking at." Shuffling his feet in an almost awkward manner, he gestured to the food. "What kind of dog do you have?" He was trying to be nice, and he was a little worried it might backfire. God, what if she thought he was flirting with her? Ugh. This was why he was usually better with not talking to people.

[Kamillia Engel]

“I’m sorry! I really should…” She sent the text and then put her phone away. She then caught the rabbit that had hopped away. Kam looked at Jesse “Were you looking at the rabbits?” Some rabbits could be very skittish. She never thought about getting one, but she had way too many animals to even think about getting another one. Her gramps would kill her if she did that.

Kamillia shook her head “No, no, it’s fine, I’m sorry.” She looked at the black rabbit, “I could try to bring him back over?” She wasn’t sure if she could or not, there were a lot of animals here, and she was still working on only being able to talk to one animal at a time. But she would try for him, considering she was the one that scared the poor thing away.

Looking at the dog she chuckled at his question. “Ah, you really want to know?” She smiled at him “I have four dogs, Two Rottweiler puppies, one pug puppy, and an adult bearded collie.” So, maybe she did think he was flirting with her. Lucky for him she wasn’t the type to give her phone number out to complete strangers. “I also have a corn snake, and two horses.” She really didn’t realize how much of an animal hoarder she was till she said it out loud. She nodded to the dog toys he was holding. “What kind of dog do you have?”

{ooc: I'm sorry this took so long and that it's really short..}

[Jesse Adams]

As much as he wanted to scoff off the apology, Jesse knew that any misbehavior on his part could very well be a one way ticket back to probation. He had no idea if the girl was a Hammel student or not, but he supposed it was better to err on the side of caution. Just about anyone could tattle on him, and he wasn't going to risk his new found freedom on a stupid bump at the pet store. "Yeah. Sort of."

He looked back at the rabbit he'd been looking at and then back at the girl. "How're you going to do that? He's scared." He knew what it was like to be cornered and have someone coming at you. Oddly, he didn't want to scare the thing any more than it already was.

Yes. He wanted to know because dammit, he missed his own big lug. His pierced eyebrow climbed slightly at the answer. That was a lot of dogs. Not as many as Gabe had had, but still. A lot. "Huh." He tried not to react to the idea of having horses in the area. They were just yet another thing he'd been banned from dealing with growing up, and his excitement was quickly squashed. "That's a lot of animals," he allowed himself to say, softer than he normally spoke. As for the toys, he looked down at his hand and shrugged. "He's a mastiff mix. A... family friend is looking after him while I'm going to school." Jake was far from a friend, but it made the most sense to outsiders. "I miss him, though." A foot was scuffed along the ground awkwardly before he allowed himself to look up at her through his blond bangs. "Uh. What're your horses like?"

Well, so much for hiding that excitement.

[Kamillia Engel]

Kamillia smiled at him, “Oh I have a way with animals.” Kam focused on the little black rabbit, and active her powers, it took a lot of her concentration to only be able to target the one rabbit. She started speaking to him, in her native language, German. This way if people got curious they would think she was talking to the blonde boy, instead of speaking English and them knowing she was actually speaking to the rabbit; she rather not look like a crazy person. After awhile the rabbit came back over and headed toward Jesse. She turned her power off again, and motioned with her hand to the black rabbit. She didn’t say anything, because she knew if she did she would start stuttering, and she didn’t want to look like a fool in front of him anymore than she already had talking in German.



Kamillia nodded to his statement, it was a lot of animals. She figured it would be okay to talk now, “Mastiff’s are big dogs..” Ha, no stuttering, she was okay now. “I would miss my animals too.” If she couldn’t see every day, she would go crazy, her animals were her best friends. She didn’t have any human best friends.. “They are both gypsy vanners, and both rescue horses. The one is a gelding, and the other is a mare.” She shrugged “if you want I can take you to meet them?”

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse just arched a pierced eyebrow at her and watched her work. Funnily enough, he knew German. He'd studied it extensively during his time with his mentor, and he'd enjoyed how angry it sounded no matter what you were saying. Figuring that she was doing it to avoid being stared at, he just tuned it out and watched the little black thing finally move back to him. It was difficult not to smile as he reached back into the tank to stroke it. It only lasted a moment, though. He twisted to glance at her with a knowing look in his eyes. "You're meta," he murmured back in German, not bothering to hide the lazy smirk. Yes, he knew what she'd said to the rabbit.

"Yeah. He's a big lug." Gambit stood more or less to his hip. Good thing he was sort of dumb, and gentle as a baby as long as his master wasn't being threatened. "He's with his friends. It's not so bad." Seeing Jake was the worst part of visiting Gambit, but even that was starting to get easier. He was so going soft. "... I haven't been near a horse for a long time." Not since his father had sent him to expensive summer camps before Hammel and he'd gotten to do things like trail rides. "Maybe in a while." There was an awkward pause as he rubbed his neck. "I'm kind of just off probation. Sort of." He didn't want to explain it, so he changed course. "Do you know what I'd need if I brought this thing home?" He stroked the rabbit again. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to do it.

[Kamillia Engel]

Kamillia also raised an eyebrow, ”And you the first person I’ve met who knows German.” Glad they figured that out. ”So, what if I’m a meta? Are you like metaphobic or something?” She stared at him, waiting for his answer. She found it pathetic that people around here were metaphobic. She really wasn’t worried about what she had said to the rabbit, she loved animals, she didn’t think anything was wrong with that. Yes, she was so much nicer to animals than she was most humans, but that was because most animals didn’t have a mean bone in their bodies; especially rabbits.

“Aww, so cute.” She loved big dogs, they were easily cuddleable; though small dogs were great too, especially Yuna. “Alright, whenever is fine. If you want, the stable is just a ways out of town, it’s easy to find. They would let you ride the horses on trails.” She shrugged, he really didn’t have to go with her to the stable. He could go by himself if he was that worried. But she got the overall hint, he wasn’t interested in her, and she was alright with that. She really didn’t care. “Hmm, A cage would be a good idea.. Food, would also be a good idea..” She was trying to think, “Maybe a litter box? You can train Rabbits to go in the litter box, like when you have them out of the cage roaming around. Just don’t use kitty litter, use CareFresh pet bedding because it’s safer, and fresh hay.” She felt like there was more he had to get for a rabbit but that was the basics.

[Jesse Adams]

"It was a special interest, that's all." He shrugged. He'd taken a vested interest in Germany and the language when he'd learned about things like the Holocaust. Besides, German was an angry language at the best of times. "No," he said in English this time. "I'm meta too." And proud of it, if he was honest. He liked his powers, even if they'd once again been more or less sidelined. "Memory manipulation," he explained in short. There had been a time he might have even offered a 'demonstration.' Now he kept his hands to himself.

"Not cute. He drools a lot, and he's an idiot." Still there was the slightest shadow of a smile on his face after he said it. "Runs into walls all the time chasing his buddies." He felt a small squeeze of loneliness. How was he doing now, with Jake and the rest of the dogs? At least he was slightly distracted by the horse offer still being dangled. "... Maybe. When I'm more off probation." He was also a little nervous about the offer. He hadn't been around one for ages, and probably wouldn't even know what to do. His mentor had often dangled a horse for him as incentive to study and work, but that had never come to be. Gabriel had died, the only horse he'd left for Jesse in the form of his Ford Mustang. As for the list of things, he mutely nodded, rubbing the rabbit's ears between his fingers. ".... Would he even want to come back with me? How do I even know he likes me?" His tone was uncharacteristically unsure, but he didn't want to bring him back if he didn't like him, or didn't want to be caged. He could relate to that.

[Kamillia Engel]

Kamillia nodded, it was rare to find someone who was just interested in German. He did say it was a special interest, which led her to believe it was an interest for a certain reason. It was rare that she found someone who was interested in German, purely because they liked the country. It was always either, German was in their blood line, they were born there, they had a friend or partner who was German, or born there. That or their interest had been from world war 2. “Good, because if you were I would have had to kick your ass.” She was half serious, and half joking. “Memory manipulation? That’s impressive.. More impressive than most powers.” If she could have the ability to forget her parents, and adopted sister she would jump at the chance. However, if his ‘demonstration’ was to scare her, she liked being scared. “So, that means you go to Hammel right?”

She crossed her arms over her chest “He’s probably a lot smarter than you think.” Even though the guy had just called his dog an idiot, she could tell he still loved the him. “Alright.” She wanted to ask him what he had done to be on probation, but knew it was none of her business, so she wasn’t going to ask. “I can ask? Though I’m sure he would love to have a home…” She had empathy for the creature, she felt the same way he probably did, watching everyone love all the other bunnies and take them home instead, because he wasn’t what they ‘wanted’. Though he didn’t have to cage the rabbit, all he had to do was make it look like he did… That’s what she would do.

[Jesse Adams]

The Germans and their ideas circa WWII had tied nicely with the ideals of the group Jesse had then been a part of. It had been a real interest that had inspired him to start learning the language, and he'd gotten quite good at it. Not quite fluent, and he still needed to think a bit about certain translations, but all in all he had a good grip on it. "Yeah, I'd like to see you try." It was more a taunt than an actual invitation. Though he hadn't shown it lately, he was a decent fighter, which also meant he was good with defending himself. Not that he really thought she was going to do anything, metaphobe or not. As for her comment about his powers, he just shrugged. "It's nothing special. Be better to talk to animals. Then I'd know what goes on in my dumb dog's head." Not much, he suspected. "I.... yeah. I do. Just transferred back." It wasn't a complete lie. He had. Sort of.

"You wanna prove that, be my guest." He didn't think Gambit thought of more than eating and sleeping. Maybe drooling, if that required thought. Besides, it was hard to think about Gambit when he dog wasn't with him anymore. He'd rather sort of think about the rabbit he was maybe thinking about taking home. Maybe. If the thing even wanted to live with him. "... Would you?" Who knew? Maybe the creature liked females better than males, or something like that. He didn't want to make it miserable. He did a good enough job of doing that to himself.

[Kamillia Engel]

Kam chuckled “Hey! I can hold my own thank you.” The girl knew how to fight, and defend herself. Granted most of the time she was too lazy to pick fights with anyone, but if someone tried to attack her, she would be able to defend herself pretty well. Not to mention guys had more weak spots than girls did. Though he was right, she wasn’t going to do anything, she had just been kidding. “I guess it is nice to talk to animals. But I can only talk to mammals, I can’t talk to the snake I own, which is kind of disappointing for me..” It wasn’t after she started babbling that she realized the guy didn’t seem to be the type who cared… Oh well. “Awesome! I go there to.” Maybe they would be seeing more of each other, then again maybe not.


“I would love to prove it.” Jesse was probably missing one key thing about what Gambit thought… And that was probably how much he loved his owner.. If anything. “Sure.” She was going to have such a headache after this. She re-activated her powers and looked at the black bunny. ”Hello, there, again… I hope I’m not scaring you too much. But would you like a home?” Vague question, and she already knew the question to, but she figured it was a good starting question. Again, she was talking to the little bunny in German.

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse was actually surprised by her confidence. Weren't girls supposed to be... meek and shy away from conflict? Not threaten random guys in pet stores? Huh. "Right. I'll remember that." Maybe. He honestly didn't care. If she really felt the burning need to try to attack him, he could handle himself. He'd spent hours sparing with Lala and Reese to know his way around a fight if push came to shove. "Still," he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Be nice to know what's going on in their heads." Like Freddy, and what the hell made him hate everyone. "It's not awesome, it's frustrating." He had committed himself to it, though. He'd had a choice, and that was what he'd picked. He was stuck with it now.

"Yeah, maybe next time I visit him, or something." He was purposely vague because he didn't know when it would be. As for her speaking to the bunny, he listened in on her half of the conversation. The bunny in question twitched his nose and looked up at Kam. "Yes. With who? The boy? I like the boy. He's gentle." Which was more than could be said for many of the people that came by.