dogs, dreams and a training lesson (guy)

[Andrew Wylen]

Andrew blinked awake, finding himself staring up at a blurred beige scape; fuzzy words scrawled in unreadable lines across the page. What the-?! He wondered, shaking his head; book falling from where it had lain open over his face and onto the soft green grass beside him.

Squinting for a few moments at the unexpected light, Andrew looked around the courtyard, confused, before remembering it all; the class; the fight; Drace; the academy… the nightmares. He swung his legs over the edge of the blue chrome bench, sliding upwards before cradling his head against one arm. He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night and even less rest, due to another one of the dreams, if you could call them that, Andrew wasn’t really sure what they were. He bit his lower lip. In all honesty, he was scared, he’d only had two, and already the dreams terrified him, true it sounded pathetic, getting worked up over nightmares though still… Andrew wasn’t sure what to do. Maybe its just the climate or something, He thought, not really believing it, but at least that got his mind of the subject as he began to slowly drift back into sleep.

What time is it? He wondered suddenly, peaking up for just a second to see a mounted clock on the wall, not too far away.
He jumped at the dial, instantly awake as he jolted upright, grabbing the book from where it had fallen, and stuffing it into his backpack that he had been using as a makeshift pillow. Throwing the pack then over his shoulder, he bolted across the lawn; a few people casting questioning looks from where they sat talking, or else walking slowly to their next class; Andrew didn’t really notice, already flying through the door into the building itself. I’m so screwed, he decided, feat hitting the tiled floor with an echo through the now nearly empty hall. He barreled past, almost running right into a couple; there lips locked together, one of them turning to give a snake like hiss.
“S- Sorry!” Andrew responded fearfully before careening down a side corridor, his legs feeling heavier and heavier with every step. Coming to a corner, he skidded across the slick floor while his pack nearly pulled of his shoulders, until, Finally, panting, Andrew reached the open training room door.
“h- here!” he gasped, eyes shut and head down as he leaned against the door frame, lungs burning for breath, “j- just dozed off sir, won’t happen a- again.” his hair matted to one side and stutter evident in his voice.

[Guy LeGrange]

"Where the hell is he?" Guy asked himself. He tapped his phone, which he'd had out anyway. It had originally had his new student's information: name, power, age, how long he's been in control of it; Guy preferred keeping track of it all on his phone. Now that technology had developed to accomplish such feats, he saw no reason not to abuse it as frequently as he possibly could. Plus, this way he could frustrate the academy by claiming that most of his phone use really did amount to job related functions.

The room had been prepared as well. Various toys and other objects generally reserved for dogs lay scattered around the floor. Next to a chair in the center, where Guy sat, was a bag filled with dog treats, mostly consisting of Beggin' Strips, because the idea clearly amused Guy. He'd been playing with one of the squeaky toys and reviewing the file when it occurred to him that he'd been doing this for quite a while already.

He was getting up when the door finally opened. He looked up at the panting, gasping young man. He waited while Andrew, and he sincerely hoped it was Andrew, puffed out a few words. "Clearly you were almost literally running late,' he said, his tone a strange mixture of jovial and irritated, "but you've already wasted..." he checked his phone again, "fifteen minutes of my time. I'm a very busy man," he looked up at Andrew, "so you should probably explain to me why it is that I should consider bothering with you?" And of course he was caustic; he always was to the first ones, and he didn't appreciate tardiness in these situations. He raised his brows, his lips pursed firmly together to further demonstrate his distaste.

[Andrew Wylen]

Andrew stood anxiously in the doorway, breaths beginning to even, his fingers fidgeting with the backpack straps when the instructor spoke.

His question left Andrew almost wishing he could become invisible, or at least, very very small… “I uhm- I uh-“Andrew stammered, words failing him as he stuffed both hands into his pockets, looking around the room desperately. 
Tossed about the floor, among various, scratches, nooks, and small burn marks, were all manner of dog toys, everything from Frisbees to a bright pink chew bone lying not far from where Andrew stood now; a fifty percent off sticker still clinging to its side. “I…” Andrew gulped, looking back at the man, scrambling to think of anything he could possibly say. “I- I don’t know sir” he finally stuttered, gaze falling for a moment, before, with a thought, added nervously: “t- though I’m sorry, a- and it won’t happen again, I- I swear…”

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy listened and watched as the boy stammered, panted some more, and then looked around the room. He raised his brows, waiting for at least some stammered answer. The boy did seem on the younger side of things, which made Guy feel a little less inclined to completely tear into the poor lad. The boy clearly struggled to come up with something, panic likely mixing with the exhaustion and such. His stammered non-answer made Guy sigh, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling, clearly asking some deity above why he had to deal with teenagers like this on a daily basis.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you won't," he said, waving a hand. "The first thing you should be doing now is sitting down and catching your breath. You're not going to be of any use to either of us if you're too exhausted. So sit your ass down and wait until you can actually manage a sentence without sounding like you're suffering an asthma attack."

Guy apparently took his own advice, moving back to his chair and positioning himself atop it. He got his phone out again, bringing up Andrew's file. As if he'd forget that he was dealing with a canine shifter; the entire room had been decked out to deal with precisely that. Guy apparently wasn't showing any interest in Andrew beyond a few glances every once in a while to check and see if the boy was still panting.

[Andrew Wylen]

It was a long moment until the man finally waved his hand dismissively, telling Andrew to sit down, before he himself sunk into the chair, a large bag of dog treats resting nearby. Not wanting to anger the teacher further, Andrew quickly did as he asked, though, with a startled whelp, he fell on a blue-red ball; the resulting squeak leaving him to hop back a few steps in fright; nerves already making him jumpy without the added start of sitting on a chew toy.

Blood rushed to Andrew’s face in embarrassment as he sat down again, more cautiously this time, feet sliding in front of him and pack giving a feint rustle as it hit the floor. Well, Andrew thought, trying to be hopeful, at least he’s not telling me to leave. He waited, in the center of the room the man fiddled with his phone, looking up every few seconds, as if checking to see that Andrew was still there, though otherwise remaining silent. Nearby lay a long tug-of-war rope, the toy brightly colored with a small pet’s mart label stitched to the side, Andrew wondered why all of the toys were in here, yeah, he got it, he could turn into a dog, though this seemed…kind of… just slightly… a bit… insulting? Taking in a fretful breath, Andrew continued to wait, breathing back to normal, unsure if the man would say anything.

[Guy LeGrange]

Well, this was a little awkward. Guy knew that he could sometimes intimidate students, but they generally didn't do absolutely everything he said without saying anything. Maybe Andrew was working through an intensive amount of guilt about being late or something. That would likely explain why he'd actually done it without protesting or even really saying anything. Guy was tempted to see just how long Andrew would sit without saying or doing anything, but he did figure that the kid was probably young and more than a little nervous.

"You're supposed to tell me when you're not a panting, wheezing wreck," he informed the student, looking over at him. Guy ran his eyes over the student, wondering. "And you can ask questions you know. I'm sure this whole process is scary as hell, and you're already worked up by the whole late thing. I promise that you'll get a full session, assuming you're actually capable of speaking and using your ability."

Guy then looked back at his phone. Time for the next part of his usual start. Without a word, he pulled up Angry Birds, Star Wars Edition, the theme blasting out from his phone in a not very quiet fashion.

[Andrew Wylen]

Andrew listened to the instructor speak, the words oddly reassuring despite their sting, all he could think of saying in response was
“t- thanks I guess?”
The man turned again, this time flicking a finger across the phone’s screen, a startlingly loud tune beginning to play out of the device that Andrew recognized at once from the last time he had seen his sister at thanksgiving, after all, she had played it under the table beside him the entire night. Andrew wasn’t sure what to do, eventually he just stood up, leaving the backpack where it was, and wandered across the room; an amplified whooping noise sounded, before a cartoon crashing came in return. Walking slowly, he glanced down, a claw mark the size of his head dragged across the surface, his eyes widened, though Andrew kept on walking, circling the room once then crouched down again where he had started, noise continuing to blast from the phone. Andrew had read somewhere about Chinese water torture, he figured this would be a much better way to make someone talk, just sit them in a room with the angry birds music until they either gave up and spilt there secrets, or they lost their will to live entirely.
A nervous smile touched his lips as he imagined telling his sister that, shed probably tell me to go and make up something actually funny… he thought, before blinking, looking around the room scattered with toys. Which brought him back to his original question: what are all these doing here? Gulping again, Andrew tried to ask. “sir-?” his words were cut off by the whiz of another projectile hitting its mark. He bit his lip, speaking a bit louder to be heard over the noise, his stutter just increasing the more nervous he became. “u- uhm s- sir-... w- what are these here for?” he asked nudging a chew toy with one foot.

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy nodded at the thanks, absently accepting it without thinking overmuch. Despite the noises coming from his phone, Guy still kept his attention upon the young man nervously circling the room. The boy seemed to be getting a feel for the place, looking at details and such. This was the same room Guy had used to test other shifters, though they did make sure to clean the place up afterward. Didn't mean that there weren't bits and pieces here and there that would give that away. Really, the various dog paraphernalia should have been the biggest clue.

Apparently Andrew did take notice of those. Guy looked fully at the student as he asked his question, his eyes falling to the various toys. "Ah, so you can speak. Was beginning to wonder there," he said. Guy then turned to face Andrew, wanting to yet again show his willingness to give the young man his full attention. This was Andrew's training session after all; Guy was just there to facilitate.

"Those are for when you shift," he said, pointing. "I like to take embarrassing photos of my students with various chewtoys in their mouth. Great fun," he looked back up at Andrew, studying him closely, "I'll probably have you romp around the room. We might play catch or something too. That's always fun. For me, mostly. It usually just gets students all riled up," which was the point of it all, after all. Guy was testing limits, wanting to see how the students reacted to this weird situation. That initial meeting could tell him so very much about a student, including where to go and how to handle things from now on.

So, the question was, how would Andrew react to his trainer playing games on his phone and taunting him with dog toys? That ought to be interesting indeed.

[Andrew Wylen]

Andrew blinked hesitantly for a second, not quite sure if the instructor was joking or not, though none the less, he still took half a step back from the toy as though trying to distance himself from it, face blushed, feat awkwardly shuffling beneath him.

Another semi silence dawned, broken only by the constant hollers, and miniature explosions that continued without pause from the phone as if the device held a personal vendetta against him. Andrew could almost imagine himself strapped to chair, yelling “I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Just don’t make me listen to it anymore!”… Seriously though, he wondered, why has no one looked into this as a valid method?

The seconds seemed to stretch into hours as eventually Andrew slumped down again, might as well do something useful, he figured glumly, closing his eyes. Dog! Nothing. Transform into dog! Again, nothing, he felt exactly the same. alright… he thought, squinting his eyes and trying to imagine himself turning into a Labrador, come on… he thought, pulling his brows together, fists clenched over his folded legs, come on… and… now! He shot his eyes open, though besides a dull headache, everything seemed pretty similar. If the teacher was even watching at all Andrew could almost imagine his amusement at the display. Feeling foolish he bent his head in concentration, trying anew.
Labrador! Shift! Poodle mode activate!-well… was worth a try-, canine! Turn! Ability! I don’t know! Something!? Gasping for breath, Andrew stopped, his entire body held tense and lungs begging for the air that had been denied to them, he obliged, shoulders sinking with defeat.  before finally, he stood up again,
“Uhm- h- how exactly, am I- uhm- supposed to transform?” he stammered after a moment, brow creased, and palms beaded with sweat from trying by himself.

He took a single step forwards, foot unexpectedly landing not on solid floor, rather the rubber side of a chew toy as his leg shot out from underneath, sending him slamming to the side.
Everything seemed to happen so slowly, the floor rushed up towards the side of his face, his heart flew alight, adrenalin coursed through him, right hand raced to break his fall, and then he hit the ground with a muffled groan. Though something felt strange… as though a wall he hadn’t even noticed in his mind had sprung a leak and he just stared at it, confused, before the entire thing exploded in his face. Muscles went rigid, legs pulled tight to his chest as a numbness spread from his fingers to his toes, that’s when things became painful.
Every bone felt as though it was glowing white hot, he gaged then went silent unable to make a sound, unable to even think of anything as a thousand, no a million, hairs dug their way through his skin sprouting like grass while the metamorphoses continued. Muscle almost seemed to break down, shifting and replacing themselves into the contorting frame, twisting like clay into the new form. It must have been only a few seconds though the pain made it all that much longer.
A Labrador now lay in Andrews place, clothes hanging loosely to its back as though someone had tried to dress up the family pet. The dog was comparatively small with a lean build and milky golden brown coat, its legs stretched out and tail splayed across the floor as it blinked staring up.
Well… that’s one way… Andrew thought, before he began to lose himself.

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy watched Andrew, though studied perhaps would have been a more apt term. There seemed to be something going on there, some sort of internal struggle. Guy had seen enough people struggling to transform, or attempt to transform, to more or less guess what was going on with the young man. It struck him as odd that Andrew would do so without a direct command from him, and he was tempted to reprimand the young man for it. However, that struck Guy as being at least a little counterproductive: they were here to train and use abilities. Besides, he knew that you often didn't want to interrupt a shifter in the middle of their process: it could sometimes be painful or result in strange combinations that were entirely unpleasant for everyone involved.

The question did make him raise his brows though. "How should I know?" he asked, crossing his arms. "I'm not a shifter; hadn't even asked you to shift---" he stopped as Andrew moved, tripping. Guy took a few steps forward, wanting to make sure that his student hadn't hurt himself. Andrew groaned as he hit, which was at least something, but as Guy began to ask if he was alright, he saw something else happen. Rigidity, convulsions, then the body shifting, taking on a knew shape. Then a golden lab was there instead of Andrew, looking up at Guy.

"Well, that was impressive," said the trainer, looking down at his trainee. "Though you should probably wait until I give you a definite signal. There's all sorts of complications that could happen," Guy paused, studying the dog he knew contained a boy. He knelt slightly, trying to meet Andrew-dog's eyes. "How much control over yourself do you have? Most people retain full human thought, but some give way to the canine. And no, I'm not thinking you can talk, but if you're still in there, Mr. Wylen, you can certainly demonstrate intelligence. I know you have at least some."

[Andrew Wylen]

The instructor walked closer, each footstep like a pin drop in an echoing room, reverberating as he stooped not far away from Andrew’s face- or was it muzzle? Andrew wasn’t really sure, even so, his gaze dropped, was just trying to help, he thought, tongue nervously darting out to lick his chops, mind feeling slightly different though he wasn’t really sure how…
Complications? Andrew wondered what the man meant by that, well, before that is, a breeze completely distracted him. He turned, coat ruffled by the sudden wind to see a tail wagging as if with a mind of its own. My tail? He thought, trying to reach back with his head across the ground to get a better look, paws pushing away until he was awkwardly sitting up, eyes fixated on the odd appendage.

Was that the instructor speaking again? Andrew’s head shot back, tail falling with a solid thump to the floor as he tried to commit his focus, it seemed strangely difficult. The man stared into his eyes and Andrew began to pant not really sure why, it just felt right, he smelled strange, how had he not noticed all this before now? Like old alcohol, dry leather and many, many, much more interesting, scents he couldn’t quite place-
Wait, what am I doing? Andrew asked, realizing with a start he had hardly listened to half of the teacher’s question, rather he found himself with his head bent, sniffing at the hem of the man’s leg, why was he doing that?

Oh…uhm… sorry… he thought, pulling back and giving a brief shake, shivering right from the brim of his nose all the way down to the tip of his tail where it ended in a quick wave, it felt strangely good, he tried it again, a little less enjoyable though that was because something seemed to be nagging at him, what was it? Oh- oh yeah! The question, how had he forgotten about that?! His paws skittered as he sat down again guiltily, tail swishing across the floor behind him while he tried a nod. I’m in control- uhm... yep completely in control of myself-
“Roughp!” the bark made him shoot his head down in fright, before realizing it was his own. Alright. kind of in control of myself.

[Guy LeGrange]

The dog moved closer to Guy's legs and the trainer tensed for a moment. He sincerely hoped that Andrew didn't decide to start humping away. That had happened before, and it was exactly as awkward as it sounded. Fortunately for both parties involved, Andrew instead opted to just sniff at the cuff of Guy's pants, likely drawn there and distracted by the multitude of scents that hovered around the short man's legs. Guy sighed and let the boy do it for a bit, knowing that sometimes you had to give in to these things. He did shift his phone to take a few snapshots first though, because it was clearly too good of a moment to pass up.

The dog stopped, seeming to realize what he was doing, and then gave himself a shake. That confirmed that there was still a human in control there. Said human clearly took a backseat when there was a shake though, which had Guy again sighing. "You need to work on your control," he said, not really caring how much of it Andrew caught. The statement was almost as much a note to himself as a note to the canine. "You can give into the dog from time to time; I'd encourage it as a matter of fact, but you'll want to be the one in the driver's seat most of the time."

A bark, one that apparently the dog was himself scared of. Guy again rolled his eyes. "Get it together!" he said, looking back down at the animal who was technically his student. "You're going to have to get used to your new form, or forms, if you turn into different types of dog. Now, can you change back?" he crossed his arms, raising his brows, "or is that going to be too painful. Ah, if you can, go touch that ball," he pointed, "and then work on it. If you can't, touch that chewtoy," he pointed at a ridiculous looking thing with rope. Then he got out his camera, waiting patiently to see how his student handled this one.

[Andrew Wylen]

Andrew flinched at the man’s words, ringing slightly, had the instructor always been that loud? He didn’t think so, still his ears drooped, tail falling back to the floor. Sorry… Andrew thought with a small whimper sounding from between the dog’s lips, for a moment, he even felt his tail tucked against his legs.

Change back? whoa The words seemed like a bucket of ice water leaving Andrew blinking, not really sure what was going on, but mind clear, even if for only a second or two. Can I even change back? Andrew wasn’t sure, he hadn’t exactly been thinking that far ahead when he had transformed, though now that he thought about it he couldn’t believe the question had not already crossed his mind, in fact he couldn’t understand a lot of things he had been doing. Alright… Andrew closed his eyes, trying to think back to when he had transformed, it had felt strange- and- pain- and- and- a wall! That was it; he remembered that at least, the feeling of it. Holding the feeling in his head Andrew fumbled about his mind, grasping for it, looking for the barrier, he tried to concentrate, he really really did, though he just- couldn’t… partially it was because his concentration seemed to be all but nonexistent and also though he had to admit… he was slightly scared to… not that Andrew particularly liked being stuck as a dog, it was just that the pain, while buried beneath a thousand thoughts, feelings, and impulses was still fresh in his mind, and Andrew did not want to face it again. The fear was foolish, childlike, cowardly and not at all unlike his fear of the nightmares, though still, he could not shake it.

Andrew looked up glancing between the two toys before padding guiltily towards the second, noticing, out of the corner of his eye, the teacher pulling a camera into his hands. He moved a bit quicker, not quite sure what the man was doing, just wanting to get this over with. Andrew stopped moving his nose down near the strange thing; it was a pink and purple chew toy with putrid yellow green ropes sprouting from it sides like the tentacles of some washed up sea creature. He looked back at the man, eyebrows pulled together like, really? Before he pushed the toy with his nose. There, Andrew thought, that’s it… I’m not putting my mouth around that thing… he turned his gaze back to the instructor again, pleadingly, as if saying please?

(ooc note: I’m very sorry for how late this is, with the end of the school year coming up my postings are becoming even slower than normal, though I hope it’s alright.)

[Guy LeGrange]

{pfft, no worries. I totally get having troubles balancing out finals and all that stuff. And I'm sure you've noticed that I waited about the same amount of time you did, so definitely no big deal. Just don't abandon me, and we'll be fine.}

Guy nearly rolled his eyes at the apology. Yes, Andrew had messed up, but the kid didn't to berate himself to quite this extent. The puppy seemed to get even more hurt with the next comment, making Guy slightly worried. Surely Andrew could change back? Guy hadn't heard of any one way transformations before. He did know that for some, particularly the young, changing back was quite a process, oftentimes painful. Andrew's eyes closed, and Guy waited, hoping that the young man wasn't about to torture himself. Nothing was quite as horrible as listening to the screams of a student trapped in the form of a dog.

Guy watched as Andrew padded over, heading toward the ridiculous thing. Guy mumbled protests under his breath, hoping against hope that Andrew was playing a joke or possibly colorblind or something, anything that meant he wouldn't be stuck with a dog-student for the time being. And the dog touched the toy, making Guy sigh.

"So you're stuck," he said, rubbing at his face. "That's definitely the first thing we'll work on. Don't worry," he waved it off, fighting against the worry that had started to bubble up within himself, "this happens with new shifters from time to time. The power is a tricky one to master for quite a few people. You'll get better with practice, and trust me, we'll practice."

He paused then, studying Andrew, wondering what he could do now. Guy knew he could use his power on the young man, but he didn't think that suppressing Andrew's shifting would do much of anything. It would, most likely, make it so he couldn't shift back. Only on rare occasions did it actually revert anyone. Well, Guy didn't see any point in not at least trying. So he focused, focused and waited to see if anything happened to Andrew. No need to put the kid through more stress if he snapped right back to normal, after all.

[Andrew Wylen]

The good news? Andrew didn’t yet have to find out what putridly colored plastic tasted like, bad news? Well, he was still a Labrador for starters…
Andrew watched, as the man ran a hand across his brow, telling him not to worry, trying to keep him calm, though he lowered his head, perhaps even more uncertainly, staring at his paws with wide brown eyes. It’s nothing to worry about… I changed back last time didn’t I? No reason a cant again? Right?- something began to feel off- like a hand was gently pressing against the sides of his skull, Then, Andrew couldn’t really recall, how was he stuck? Had there been something wrong? He couldn’t exactly remember right now…
Snap out of it! He wanted to yell, shaking his head as he slowly pulled back. How could he not remember that, the dog wondered? Wait who was he? Andrew! How did I-? His mind was getting murky, well, er, even more murky then before, that was, as, with a growing pressure, every thought almost seemed to be slowly pressed into nothing.
Sir?!- He thought with a sharp whine, looking desperately around, panicked, paws skittering beneath him to see the man concentrating intently- or- or- something, Andrew wasn’t sure anymore- in fact what had he just been wondering? Why was it important? What is going on?... that was one of his last coherent thoughts before…

The dog stared about, its thoughts were not in the form of coherent language, rather more so as emotions swirling through the creatures mind, mixed every once in a while with the spark of one of the boys. It was afraid, it was exited, it was-

And the pressure eventually released, leaving Andrew slumping down, panting, gasping for breath, he could think again, thoughts still shared with the dog, though he could think again! His dry tongue hung out of his mouth and he closed his eyes, not sure what had just happened, but finding himself suddenly and utterly exhausted