The rear grounds of the institute is and forever will be a hotbed of activity. Rain, sleet, snow, there is always someone out back doing something or other, and this time it's Jean playing with… you guessed it.. wolves.
Alright, to get one thing clear, they come from the same family of wolves, but they really weren't. Siberian huskies given to her by a college friend, in order to help train them before they were being sold. The term comfort animal wasn't available yet, but these dogs knew so much and did so much more. They were majestic. Brilliant. Lovely. And their inner-voice was mixed with a certain playfulness that reminded her of a child.
There were many yellow balls that littered the grass, Jean dressed in her X-Man uniform, her hands behind her back, pacing in a line back and forth as the ten huskies, yes ten, all lined up and at attention. Food bowls were stacked, as well as a big bag of dog food, the water? Well, that wouldn't come just yet. She was waiting on Trixie to drop it off.
"Alright. Listen up soldiers." Jean calls out, retaining that militant pace. "We are here to do one thing and one thing only. Can anyone tell me what that is?"
'I know! I know!' Says one pup.
'I gotta pee!'
'Pee on the trees!'
'My butt is itching, can we move?'
'SPIDER I SEE SPIDER'
'SQUIRREL!'
"Guys, focus! What did we come here to do?"
'MOMMY WE DON'T KNOW!'
"OH god guys, I told you this on the way outside, we came here to be great.."
Scott finds himself at the edge of the field, watching with a bemused expression on his face. He's wearing a shirt and tie, navy slacks. He's clean-shaven and well-groomed and smells pretty good, actually, although obviously not to everyone's taste.
"New students?" he calls out to Jean in amusement. "They're going to have trouble with the typing class."
'WHO IS THAT!'
'INTRUDER!'
'GET EM!'
"No! Stay. It's just Scott. He's another teacher here and he'll be helping us!"
'Aww.., his shoes look great..'
Jean shakes her head as she turns away from the crew, who begin to fidget once she wasn't looking. She does lift an arm and wave him over, her shoulders shrugging. "Technically yes. I'm helping John out with a little project. He thinks that huskies are great comfort dogs, for people with troubles. So, once I get them all trained and ready we're going to give them to the families and start our experiment. Of course, John has the control subject, he won't be trained."
Jean takes a whiff of the air if he nears, then shrugs her shoulders. "Since you're out here, might as well roll up the sleeves and start scooping. I pretty much had you at hello."
Scott looks at the dogs with a skeptical but friendly attitude. "Scooping? I don't know that I'm equipped for that at the moment," he says.
"I'm glad to see it, though. Anything we can do that's actually positive and not just putting a finger in the dyke is good to see. I'm not sure if I find dogs particularly comforting, but I'm not exactly normal," he says.
"The food. Scooping the food." Jean points out. "Alright pups, go pee and eat spiders for a moment, you have five minutes!"
Her fingers snap and the dogs disperse, carefully wandering around their respective places, a few of them retreating to the wooden areas to go and mark their special little spots as theirs. Instead of letting Scott do all the work, she moves towards the pans of food, getting upon her knees as she begins to shovel out the food. "Well, it's not like you're emotionally damaged, Scott." She says jokingly. "Plus, it's for people with obvious mental disabilities. Not.. mutant abilities, if that makes sense. The man that I'm helping doesn't even know I can do what I do. But that's par for the course, with as many hate groups there are out there."
"I don't know. The longer I do this job, the more damaged I feel," he says with a half-grin. "Herding cats, I think, is the cliche. Except some of the cats here can throw you through a wall. Or just have sharp tongues," he says.
"Yeah, best to keep covert if at all possible. I worry enough as it is that someone's going to call attention to this place. It's bound to happen, sooner or later. And it won't be pretty when it does," he sighs.
"Don't we all." Jean mutters beneath her breath. Once the food was finished, she stands and dusts her hands off to look around. "Come on, lets go for a walk." It was meant for everyone present, dogs included. As Jean begins her stroll, the dogs slowly begin to fall in line, each speaking to each other in yips often times, hip-bumps and tail wags. It looks oddly strange, them all following her.
"With as many people we do have coming and going, there's almost a need to tighten security around this place. As it stands, the Professor and I do have psychic defenses in place when we're near, and a few college students who are of the mind that we are adding to the queue, but it's not going to be enough." Hands behind her back again, walking as if she were an instructor. "With the man that Josh found to upgrade our Danger Room, I wonder if there is a thought to have him upgrade our security as well. It'll be a pretty penny, but I'm sure Charles can find the means if it means that we'll all be safe."
Scott Summers nods, "I think real security would be an excellent idea. I know the Professor likes to be welcoming. He wants kids to feel comfortable. And nobody knows better than me how bad it can be living in a place that seems like…well, an institution," he says. "But I think we can keep people safe and not turn the place into a prison."
He helps with the food, even reaching out and patting a few of the dogs warily once it's clear that they won't react badly to him.
"Oh, now you've done it. You've gone and made a few friends." The dogs weren't exactly flocking to Scott outright, but they did appreciate the distance and well, wanted to appreciate him more for that. So as they walk, the dogs follow behind both of them as if they both were alphas.
"Well, I suppose we can keep a dog or two around at least to help." She states. "With Darla and Wags mucking about, it wouldn't hurt to add more to the pack." She grins and looks back at the crew, then picks up her pace quicker. "Alright boys and girls!" Jean calls out. "First one to the lake is a rotten egg!"
Lets see if the huskies are smart enough to figure -that- one out.