Cut to the Chase

[Guy LeGrange]

Follow-up sessions were always better than the first. For Guy, this was mostly because he didn't have to be as much of a raging asshole to someone the second time around. He understood the student and the student understood him, more or less, by that point. So it was just a matter of moving along with the training, usually figuring out a few more limitations and beginning to push those. He also was in a much better position to actually set the session up for the maximum possible benefit of the person exposed to said session.

So this time, the dog toys and treats were mostly gone. The giant bone was still there, and Guy sat perched upon it. He wore a durable trainer's outfit which actually looked something like a uniform. It was padded and made in the Bellefonte school colors, black and gold. In this case, mostly black with gold trimming, which didn't look too bad on Guy. He also had a bag of jerky and a large bottle of Gatorade sitting on the ground besides the bone.

And, seeing as this was Guy, he had his phone out and was double-checking various notes. He was pretty sure he already knew what he wanted to do with Devyn, but he was double-checking a few notations he'd made after their last session, not to mention various updates he'd gotten from across the school. They did at least try to keep one another informed, particularly if there was anything needing informing. So far, there wasn't much on Devyn that Guy could see; he thought he saw something about being caught breaking curfew, but he usually didn't care about those. He saved them for detention sessions, whenever they actually went through with those.

[Devyn Solway]

Devyn was more than just excited for her follow-up session with Guy, she did love training after all. She honestly was looking forward to whatever he had planned and was just hoping he did not plan on taking any embarrassing photos or videos of her this time around. Devyn would not lie and say that she did not enjoy the whole playing with toys and chewing on the bone, but she did want to get out some of this pent up frustration. Frustration from many things. The nightmares, lack of sleep, and having lost control already twice (lucky not in a horrible way where she hurt someone or anyone noticed); all were leading to a frustration and an increase in her aggression. At least she felt like hurting or breaking something, she just felt all pent up and need to let go. bet sexual frustration is a little bit to blame.

Right! There was that last little thought in Devyn's head that reminded her of something she was going to need to ask Guy about. She was still figuring out how to ask it however. There had to be tact, and asked the right way. Devyn did after all have respect for Guy and didn’t want to use him so was trying to come up with a win-win for everyone involved. Her eye immediately went to Guy as she walked in, rolling her shoulders, then the bone, then the jerky, followed by the drink, the few remaining dog toys, and then back to Guy. "Hey, how you been LeGuy?" Devyn asked giving something of a wave as she moved over closer to him, not taking in what he was wearing and lets out a whistle. "Wow, snazzy. Looking all official and making me want one." Devyn said with a smirk as she chuckled a little.

She looked around the room once more before back to him, sliding her hands into her pockets. Green eyes locked on Guy, making a mental note to bring up Zoe to Guy. "So what do you have planned for us today? Oh, and I'll have something to ask you, but not yet." Devyn asked and then said, mostly to have yet another reminder to herself. It helped when she would say things out loud.

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy snorted at the comment, smiling a little at Devyn. "I'm alright. Been enjoying myself," and dealing with a few other students. This was one in particular that he actually happened to enjoy spending time with though, so he hardly counted that as work. It was definitely going to be though; he knew that, and he'd definitely make sure that Devyn was aware as well.

He also caught her little "gonna ask you about something" bit, which nearly made him groan. Those were never good. Ever. Most of the time they involved the students' love life in some form or fashion, and if it wasn't that, then it was some request to suppress their powers. The sad thing was that Guy usually ended up caving to whatever was asked of him, particularly when it came to suppression. He knew that some students had essentially gotten cursed with their abilities, and he had no qualms about helping them out with that.

Devyn did, however, ask about what they had planned today, and Guy nodded, hopping down to his feet. "Today's the shitty day," he informed her, "for both of us, but mostly for you. We need to test the limits of your power, and in particular, I want to see how many transformations you can do in a hurry. So it's going to be super boring and super shitty: you'll run in a circle, and whenever I tell you to transform, you switch, and you keep doing it till you literally can't do it any more. Oh, and I get to watch you the whole time to make sure that you don't go crazy and attack me."

Guy paused for a bit, then looked at Devyn. "I'm actually expecting you too. Don't worry: it usually happens to transformers during this session. But that's why I'm wearing this ugly ass uniform and have my healing buddies on speed dial."

[Devyn Solway]

"Good, all work and no play makes LeGuy have a bad day." Devyn said in a mused tone and chuckled at her little rhyme there. I'm a poet and I didn’t even know it. I could blame Zoe for that, but her poems are far better. Devyn thought for a moment as she moved closer, more so in the direction of the bag of jerky. Very tempted to grab the bag and make a run for it, but she had training to do. Training was far more important than satisfying her slight desired to chew on that wonderful dried meat. She still did want to allow Zoe to be able to touch things, so she kept it in the back of her mind, but she didn’t want to just use Guy. He was her trainer after all and she liked him a lot, wanted to hang out with him sometimes, but he made it clear she had to wait until she was older.

Shitty day? I thought we cleared up the whole I can’t use the whole bathroom thing. Devyn raised an eyebrow and tilted her head a little at Guy's comment, watching him hop down off the bone. She listened closely as he broke it down and explained what they were going to be doing today. "So you want me to keep changing back in forth between my beast form and this form?" Devyn asked just making sure she heard right, because it sounded like some death trap. Death trap for Guy...possibly even her. She never once tried to change back and forth between using her power, why would she need to? She felt like she was going to be starving and thirsty by the end up it, but Guy was already prepared for that.

"That does indeed sound like a shitty day. I'll do my best to not maul you too much." Devyn said in a slight teasing manner, even if she was feeling a bit bad. Her stomach feeling upset slightly at just the idea of her ending up mauling Guy. She preferred to hurt people with her fist, in her current form where she could stop herself from doing things for the most part. Not in that other form where the whispers would get louder and things would get darker. She rolled her shoulders and started to crack various parts of her body, stretching out, and getting nice and lose. Already working on her breathing and trying to go into this with a clear mind. "So just run around the room right? While I'm in this form too?" Devyn asked and went still for a moment...could she pull shadows to her while she was moving? She never tried, she should still be able to, but she just never tried before.

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy could practically feel the tension underlying Devyn's offhand comment. He knew that this session would suck, that it always sucked, and that she was at least putting on a brave face. Often the students who did that fared the best for this particular exercise, not that Guy was going to tell Devyn that. He liked the girl well enough, but he also wanted to teach her and make sure that she was in control of her power, not the other way around.

"Yes, while in your normal form," said Guy, making a circle with a finger. "The idea is for you to stay moving. We're going to be trying to exhaust you, test your endurance and all. So you're going to want to move for endurance, not for speed, just a steady jog. And if you can't transform in motion, now is the time to tell me. We'll alter things a bit, make sure that you can still do it," he paused for a moment, looking at the track, considering. He'd had to alter this test for shifters and the like before. It was taxing, asking them to alter their composition in mid-stride. Which was, of course, the point.

"If need be, we can set it up so you stop whenever I ask you to change, hold still, change, and then move again," he said, nodding. "It'll get us the same result," he turned back to Devyn, nodding, "whenever you're ready, start moving. I'll let you know when you should change."

And he'd wait for her to do a lap or two first, right about the time when she wondered if they were actually going to do any training, he'd ask her to shift.

[Devyn Solway]

Devyn gave a head nod to show that she understood now fully what it was he wanted her to do. It was going to be interesting indeed to see if she was going to be able to pull it off. No, I will be able to do it. Devyn reassured herself as she clinched her fist in determination. Only thing she needed to worry about was making sure to stay in control and not outright attack Guy. Even if he was expecting it and there was a high possibility that she indeed was going to end up hurting her trainer, she still was going to do her best to avoid that. Maybe she would be able to keep that sense at least strong enough the her inner self that wanted to take control and just become a wild beast, would still keep that in mind and not hurt Guy. Constantly moving, changing forms, and ending up exhausted, it was for sure going to be a shitty day indeed.

"I never did it before, but I still think I should be able to." Devyn spoke up, not wanting him to have to change plans, change in plans could mess things up and she didn’t want that. She closed her eyes for a moment and took another deep breath, figuring if she at least prepared herself enough that it should not be too much of a challenge. She felt like it would be a lot easier to start off in her other form and then pull the shadows off of her, but he was the trainer, he was in charge, and he was the alpha in a sense. Part of her wanted to growl at that, but she understood why and ignored that urge to try and be the one to really be the alpha behind things. She gave a nod and as soon as he gave her the okay she started moving, going for a steady jog as he suggested, doing her laps like he had asked. Not really building up a sweat or anything yet and was starting to wonder if he planned on making her jog around for an hour or something.

Well at least I'm getting a workout in. Devyn tried to think on the positive side as she finished her second lap, almost zoning out into workout mode but then he asked her to shift. She gave a nod and started to pull shadows to her, and it seemed to be going well at first, but as soon as the shadow smoke appeared she ended up stumbling forward and oddly enough the transformation happened a lot quicker now, looking more violent and it kind of hurt to feel the sudden rush of shadows quickly consume her and take over into her shadow beast form. The mist seemed to cling tight to her for a moment swirling around her as she moved around, spreading out the room slowly and making it feel a little colder. Devyn still felt in control and thankful even with the whole transformation going on she was able to still move, the front of her body forming first, legs first of course. She did let out a growl and her fur stood up however, yet she still ran around like she had been instructed. Alright, that was not so bad. Almost fell flat on my face and it kind of hurt, but not so bad. Devyn reassured herself, eyes looking over to Guy a moment, but she didn’t stop.

[Guy LeGrange]

It always intrigued Guy how different students reacted to and with him. Devyn struck him as being quite used to being in control, the one calling the shots. It wasn't simply her power or its natural tendency toward making someone like that, but it was her personality. Guy had the feeling that even if she somehow had the power to command butterflies, Devyn would still be in control of her situation. Yet she still followed his suggestions and commands without second-guessing him, at least aloud. That impressed him almost as much as her ability.

Almost, because he watched as she tripped, nearly sliding into her transformation. It was important that she did that though, and Guy was sure that Devyn knew it. Now she knew that she could transform while mobile, and that was something that could possibly save her life someday. Guy wasn't one of those extremists, one of the people thinking that someday mutants would be hunted, but he wanted to make sure that his students were ready for whatever life threw at them. Who knew what people would do? People were cruel.

She looked to Guy for a moment; he nodded, acknowledging both the look and her impressive act. His eyes continued following her as she picked up the pace again. She'd told him her limits with this, how long to stay in, but that wasn't the point of this exercise. The point was to leave Devyn a trembling wreck who regretted ever agreeing to continue training with Guy Legrange.

"Shift!" he called after Devyn had barely gotten a lap. He'd only give her a lap after that before calling again. No pattern; he couldn't let her get used to it, but he definitely wanted the breaks between to be frequent. All the while he kept notes, jabbing at his phone, alternating between watching her intently and measuring what he could.

[Devyn Solway]

Devyn was pleased that Guy didn’t comment out loud about her tripping, because if he did she would have for sure been upset and might have just attacked him out of her own choice. Well not really attack him, more so try to scare him and teach him a lesson for making fun of her when she had not done something like that before. However, she knew it had a good purpose, but if she didn’t have to, she would like to still change while being still. That way it didn’t hurt and well didn’t feel weird to just have the shadows basically swarm up at her like that. She liked it when she had control at the speed of which she pulled them in, not liking at all that they kind of moved on her own once she pulled them and had tripped. However that was in the past and she needed to focus on the now in order to achieve what Guy was trying to teach her and get her to improve upon.

She kept her steady jog even in this form, still getting farther then she would in her other form because large meant longer legs, plus wolves were designed to be long distance runners. Able to travel for miles on end and only for a quick burst of speed for a short distance when they needed to. She let out a sort of hiss/growl sound when he yelled out a shift. She didn’t like being commanded, but she worked at breaking free from the shadows, which did obey but the shadow smoke the always followed her did not go away however, seeming to spasm out for a moment and spread out through the room even more. She did end up tripping and falling this time however, able to catch herself by her hands and quickly get back to her feet and go back to her slow jog. Trying to time when Guy was going to ask her to use her power again, but he kept switching it up on her, making her growl louder each time she would manage to shift into her shadow beast form and start to breath heavier when in her normal form.

Hungry. Thirsty. Pain. Cold. Those thoughts were repeating in Devyn's mind as she kept at it, not bothering to note what was really going on anymore, just listening to when Guy would call out for her to shift again. The shadow smoke still not going away and the room just getting colder and pretty much everywhere you looked the smoke was lingering, shifting even and starting to form letters.

S. T. O. P. N. O. U. S. E. L. E. S. S.

The letters were jagged and where appearing only faintly in even when Devyn would be in her human form. She felt sick, but she didn’t want to give up yet. She could push a little longer. However her body had other plans that were just waiting for Guy to speak in order to act.

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy was not heartless, nor was he cruel. It pained him to see his students in pain or dealing with inner struggles like this; it pained him, but he'd grown somewhat used to it. It wasn't that he didn't feel the pain; didn't feel a pang each and every time a student stumbled or showed signs of weakening or actual physical trauma; he just simply had grown used to it. He knew that his job was to feel that pain now, to make them experience it, for the inevitable time when they could deal with it in their real lives. most of them might never need it, but they would always live knowing that they could stretch their abilities, that they could do amazing things if pressured.

So Guy watched Devyn stumble, watched her struggle, read the letters she left behind her, and acted as though none of it mattered. "Change!" he commanded again, waiting until he saw her nearly falling over. This would have been the quickest change she'd done yet; he'd barely allowed Devyn to get down the stretch of the room before commanding the sudden alteration. He could tell she was about to give way, and he needed her to hit that point. "and don't you dare stop!" he practically snarled. "You're supposed to be one of my strong students, Devyn Solway!" he nodded. "So prove it and keep moving."

It had to be weighing on her though; even experienced shifters and manipulators would start feeling the more severe side effects of their powers being used like this. It was borderline abusing the ability; they both knew it, but it had to be done. Just a little more; just until she collapsed...

[Devyn Solway]

Devyn didn’t have any hate or didn’t doubt that this was all for the best, she trusted Guy. There had to be a point behind all of this, however it was getting harder to see as she was putting forth the effort, and changing back and forth. Like really she just ended keeping her human form eyes closed because the sudden rush of darkness and going back to the bright was starting to hurt a lot more than normal. Feeling something wet seeping out of her eyes, was she crying? Well kind of, but it was not composed of water, it was her blood. Her eyes were blood shot, the red being close the green iris. It was not like her eyes were bleeding profoundly, but a 'blood tear' did slip out of each eye and trickle down her face. However she was in her beast form so it didn’t really matter at the moment.

She let out a loud snarl, barring her sharp teeth at Guy when he gave her another order to change. Her dominate side wanting to shove him down at the ground and put him in his place. She even moved closer towards him, just bringing the circle that she was running in tighter circle now to be closer to Guy, having him in range. He said change! Devyn yelled at herself as she pulled the shadows off of her, this time however it was proving to be a lot more difficult than she was used to. The shadows clinging to her like tar as she tried to pull them off of her, standing still for a moment until Guy ordered her not to stop. Pushing herself to move back on track as she struggled against the shadows that seemed to really not want to let go. Hurts.

I'm trying! She wanted to yell it out but could not even find it in her to speak. He said she was supposed to be one of the strong ones. Was she really? She tried hard and had a decent amount of control, but was she really strong? Could she have been putting up the act the whole time? Was it all just for her dad. He thought taking a darker tone and the whispers were basically screaming now in their still whispered and rasped tone. She was really trying, trying so hard but as soon as she managed to break free of the shadows she hit the ground. Her clothing had a few tears in from the shadows clinging. Eyes and ears bleeding a little as her body shivered. She normally could tolerate the cold pretty well but he body would feel like ice if she was touch, thankful only giving her the shiver.

She tried to open her mouth to say something, anything, but she could not move and she hated herself for it. She didn’t want to give in yet, but she could not go on. Plus there was the fear now that if she pulled the shadows back that she would not be able to get them off that she was going to attack Guy. She would not have to as the shadows that had been on her tried to make a go at Guy, however without having Devyn to maintain and hold them all together they fell apart and returned to being normal shadows. Even still the shadow smoke lingered around the whole room, concentrated on Devyn, but even more so on Guy. Like it was trying to freeze him or suffocate him with its presence.

[Guy LeGrange]

"Oh, fuck no," came out of Guy's mouth. He recognized a melt-down when he saw one. He'd noticed the blood flowing, of course, and had more or less dismissed it. That happened when he put the students through this; it was probably the part that the health staff hated the most. Side effects sucked, and you had to learn to deal with them. He noticed the struggling too, and the moment Devyn really started to strain, he locked his full focus upon the struggling girl, essentially locking in and readying.

The word finally left as the shadows started to move. Guy threw the full, relatively impressive, weight of his powers at Devyn. He didn't just plan on partial suppression; he planned on yanking the shadows away by sheer force, throwing them into a room, locking that room, and then throwing the key away. He threw all his effort into it. Devyn's powers were strong; they'd been out of control too. It was going to be like wrestling a bull to the ground, and Guy was doing it essentially by gripping that bull by the horns and forcing its head to the dirt. The difference here was that in that analogy, Guy was something of a bodybuilder, and the bull didn't stand a chance in hell.

"Calm your shit," he growled, walking closer to Devyn, "we're done now," this last was a command, a harsh one, and one that he threw all his weight behind. She would relax, her abilities would go back; Guy wasn't going to allow for any other alternatives.

[Devyn Solway]

Part of her still wanted to keep the shadows on her, to make Guy pay for putting her through this. She was hurting and this was not fun at all, the opposite of fun. she enjoyed training and working out and understood that there would be pain and that she would be sore after for a little while, but it still did not stop her from thinking it. From giving into the shadows a little, if not for Guy's power she for sure would have been consumed by them. The shadows had tried to put up a fight againts him and so did the linguring smoke but as Guy used his powers his years of exsperance surely where helping him out and the shadows broke down, returning to that of mostly normal shadows. Even the shadow smoke started to vanish under Guy's force and the whisspered where seemed to be shut up and surpressed away as if they had not been tormenting Devyn.

Devyn had her eyes closed the whole time, basically curling in on herself from teh combination of the physically pain that was all over her body, and the mental from feeling like she failed and feeling so weak and patetic in this state. Not even watching in paying attention to what was going on. Guy was in control, he was the alpha, Devyn sumbitted. She just wanted everything to stop and Guy was doing that, the shadow smoke practically gone and everything looking as it had when Devyn first showed up for her training seassons. The room temperature started to go back to normal even if Devyn was still shivering a little. She was still conciouse and after a moment her stomach gorwled. She was only able to managed to wipe the blood away from her eyes and ears, but not much else. Staying where she was on the floor, and trying to look at Guy, but he was pretty much a blurr and she had to close her eyes soon after since her eyes were still feeling really sensitive. "..so..rry..." Devyn managed to get out, words broken as she breathed heavily.

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy panted as he felt all the shadows slide away from Devyn and him, moving back into the shadows. He could still feel a creepy, crawly feeling, and his body ached from having to completely suppress a full out power like that. He could still feel a bit of Devyn's power pushing against his. He still managed to walk over to where she'd curled up, watching her closely. She didn't seem too shook up, but Guy was definitely going to suggest she head over to the medical office for a quick checkup after this. Better safe than sorry, especially when it came to powers and the like.

Convulsions and such, which Guy stood by, waiting. He moved to walk over to the water, grabbing it and holding it while Devyn finished wiping away blood. He saw her eyes looking over to him, and then averted. Probably an issue with the lights. Guy moved over, setting the bottle beside Devyn before heading to the lights. He hit a few, halving the amount of light in the room. He took a step back, looking about, then he nodded and again headed back to where Devyn was.

"What are you apologizing for?" he asked, looking down at her. "You did better than I expected. Relax, don't move. The water's right next to you, and I'm right here. If you need anything else: ask." he stood a little bit from Devyn, reaching out to gently rub her shoulder, more to let her know that he was within arm's reach than anything else. "Now you know your limits, and you'll be all the better for it," he said, nodding again. He'd sit and wait, knowing that even a hardass like Devyn would need some time to pull herself back together.

[Devyn Solway]

Guy was moving, he was alive, and her shadows were kept at bay and put in their place by Guy's powers. Devyn's respect just growing more for the older man that was her trainer. Even if part of her wanted to still be the leader, she felt like she really could follow and obey anything he said. Well at least she would try to and not be so hesitant about it in her thoughts. He set something down close to her, but she didn’t look yet, eyes still bothering her. Her senses seemed to be even higher then they normal where, but still all about equal. She was thankful that one was not ruling over the others, something that did happen; rare, but still happened. More movement from Guy and the sounds of things being clicked. Lights? Devyn wondered for a moment as she slowly started to open her eyes, relieved that it was a little darker now.

"I...thanks sir..." Devyn managed to get out, kind of wanting to break down and cry for a moment. Well, not really, but she definitely wanted to let some frustrated tears out. She wanted to keep doing better, to really wow Guy, but she reached her limit and she just felt so pathetic as she worked on recovering. Yet that all washed away at feeling the touch to her shoulder. That was all she needed and she was fine, any emotions that wanted to slip out where erased and she was feeling like herself again. Reaching out for the water as she managed to sit up enough to drink it; well guzzle it down because man was she thirsty after all of that. Hungry too, man she wanted that jerky but she would get to that later. He said ask, right she had something to ask him? What was it? My head hurts.

She was silent for a moment, well other than the sound of her chugging down the water, choking on it for a moment, and then going back to drinking the rest. It was not good to just down water like that, but she didn’t care, she would be fine. She gave a small nod to his words. She did know her limits; she also knew that she could use her powers while moving, and that she still did not have full control yet. She still needed more training, and even if Guy said she did really need to get better. So that the shadows she controlled didn’t even dare try and harm the people she respected or cared for. That reminded her, right the thing she wanted to ask about something. "I wanted to ask if you could use your powers on a girl by the name of Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe. She can’t touch things without paralyzing them and I wanted to take her to a pet store so she could pet puppies and kitties." Devyn just came out and asked. Really she did care about Zoe being able to get to touch things more then she cared about Zoe being able to touch her, she would work that out herself.

[Guy LeGrange]

Guy nodded at the thanks, though didn't bother to say more. Mostly because he didn't want to stress Devyn if he didn't have to. He'd also pulled out his phone to enter data, noticing the patterns that appeared as he did so. So much there was actually pretty impressive. It could mostly be "blamed" on Devyn's dedication and willpower. This girl was going to become one of those mutants who had near perfect control of her power and knew exactly where her limits were and how to push past those in case of an emergency. Guy made a note to let Devyn know precisely that, though not right away. She needed to focus on recuperating; she could get praised for it later.

Right now, Guy was definitely thankful for the rather large water bottle. He'd have to double-back and grab the Gatorade and jerky soon enough. He wanted to make sure that she got back anything that she'd just lost. It looked mostly like Devyn had exhausted herself, sort of like the workout from hell, which was probably the lightest someone could get off form this. Guy was still betting that her side-effects were going to be eating at her.

"Slow down; I'm not going to take it away,' said Guy as Devyn choked. He kept his voice mostly serious, knowing that this was one of those situations where sincerity was needed over his usual witty banter. He was surprised, however, as Devyn looked up and actually asked. The question itself was surprising, though the situation wasn't that unfamiliar to Guy. He tapped a few buttons on his phone, soon pulling up the roster. "Wallerstein-Smythe, really? Let's see... British, and oooh," Guy looked up, raising his brows at Devyn, "she's cute," he commented, then looked down, "paralysis touch and... ah, I can see why you'd want to have her pet something fluffy," Guy tapped another few buttons on his phone. "It's going to be a bit before I can get a clearing in my schedule for that, but I can probably do it in a week or two,' he looked up at Devyn, smiling a little, "you're not the only one who wants me to remove somebody's powers for a touchy feely moment. Though if you're going to make out or something, I'm going to want pictures," he smiled and waved his phone a little, figuring that a little teasing about this would certainly be fine. What was that saying? Laughter is the best medicine?