£∃G↑∅∏ ♟ (legionnaire_) wrote in monte_logs, @ 2012-09-16 16:55:00 |
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Current mood: | calm |
Entry tags: | [event], legion |
Characters: Legion/Max (legionnaire_)
Date/Time: Sunday, September 16th
Location: Campus grounds.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Slight language.
Summary: Max has never really gotten to pet a dog before, and he may never get to again.
Something about the September air had beckoned him out the door, and onto the campus grounds. The people around him had already started donning sweaters and jackets, but Max, well, Max was content in a t-shirt. The slight chill was calming, almost peaceful. He really did prefer the chill, especially in favor of the heat of summer.
He'd settled in the grass somewhere, a notebook and a pen resting on his lap. He was out to sketch. What he wanted to draw, he wasn't sure of, but the dull, cold drone of the music in his earphones, and the sweet, cool air put him in something of a trance, pen moving quickly back and forth, scratching little ink lines into the paper. Black, then red. Then they came together into a wing, a form, an eyeball, a pattern here and there, lines leading into broken abstractions and great voids.
Doodles.
Max smiled, pleased with himself as his concentration zeroed in on those little lines. His hands weren't so untalented as to make him cringe, and he kind of…enjoyed this. Classes were starting again soon, and the mountain of things he had to deal with before then seemed to quickly dissipate as he let himself focus on something a little less intense. He flipped through some of the older pages. Rough sketches, notes to himself, Bethany's name framed in hellebore flowers. He could have blushed at that one. It was one of his better drawings, the ink steady and the lines curled and wisping in all the right directions. More of a thought process than an idle doodle.
Pretty. He looked at it for a moment, and quickly found himself flipping forward a few pages to find blank paper, popping the cap off of another dark pen with his teeth, and starting on another set of doodles. A flower here, a sketchy outline there.
And then, his vision suddenly darkened. What he could only perceive as a looming shadow crashed against him, sending the notebook onto the grass, and Max as well. Tackled, he thought. That's what had happened. Something was breathing on his neck and- oh god. He tensed, hands flailing to cover his head. He lifted up his eyes for a minute- coming about nose-level with a rather large black labrador, and immediately covered his head again.
Dogs. Dogs were bad. Dogs bit him at every opportunity, and this one was close, and Max couldn't work up the gumption to just skitter away. "Go away. Go away." he insisted, waving a hand out. Surprisingly, no teeth were digging into him anywhere. Curious. Maybe the animal was waiting for him to make some sort of move. But the dog wasn't barking at him, either. Curiouser still.
Max took a minute to regain his composure, but refused to look up. Maybe it was waiting to gouge his eyes out. Or bite him in the face. It took something strangely cold against the back of his neck to get him to finally look up, and realize the dog was nudging at him. Play with me!, the little nudge seemed to say, and Max finally let his guard down. Still jittery, still waiting for teeth or claws to sink into his body. It took him a moment, a lot of false starts, jerking whenever the dog moved, and inching away as much as he could without creating too much of a disturbance. The dog only followed him, and Max wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
He could pet the dog,
but he'd never really done that before.
He tried talking to it, first, his voice very level, very careful.
"What are you doing?" he asked. The absence of a response was to be expected. He looked down at the dog, and the dog just stared at him. Max, in spite of himself, smiled. It was kind of a cute dog. A deep black, with soft fur and big, expressive eyes, and Max finally reached out a hand to gently stroke down a little tuft of fur that had been standing up on the top of it's head. So this was what it was like. Max was still a little fearful, but that faded as the dog's tail started to wag. He was doing something he never thought he'd actually be able to do, and it was so simple, but it made him smile more than he had in a while. He contemplated what it would like to have a dog, for a minute. If it could always be like this, perhaps, it would be just fine.
He found himself quickly recoiling, as the dog seemed to decide that getting up onto Max was a good idea as well. It took him a moment to relax again, fearing that he was going to be bitten or scratched, or mauled somehow but-
instead, a pink tongue smacked against the side of his face. Max couldn't help but think it was a little gross, but that had never happened to him, either.
"Come on, stop. Aren't you lost or something?" he let himself almost laugh. Well, no, he laughed. Not heartily, and not very noticeably, but it was there. "Stop it."
And then, like the voice of God- a loud "MAX!" shook him out of his brief enjoyment. He looked around, quickly, and realized the state of his being. Notebook sprawled onto the grass, face a little wet, clothes a little disheveled and possibly grass-stained. He looked around in a panic, trying to see exactly who it was who was calling for him. Had he done something wrong? Was he not supposed to be out here? Was that someone's dog? His questions seemed to answer themselves as a young woman in a sweater came bounding up to him. He looked up at her, the dog licked his face, and she seemed to notice the fear in his eyes, as she asked him if he was alright.
"I'm okay. Fine." he nodded, smiling. "Is this- this is-" he gestured to the dog, and clicked his tongue, embarrassed that he couldn't catch his breath. The dog in his lap trotted over to her when she clapped her hands, and she brought out a leash, clipping it to the dog's collar. "I'm sorry. Sometimes he just runs off after people. He must really like you."
Max seemed a little dazed, but nodded. "Yeah. It's- no, it's fine. He wasn't doing anything." She smiled, and leaned down to rub the dog's head a little. "He's just an excitable little Max is all."
Legion blinked at her. "The dog's name is- My name is- I thought when you were yelling-" the sentences wouldn't come out, but he sighed, and she giggled. "Oh, your name is Max? I'm really sorry I startled you, then. I didn't mean to."
Legion waved her off with a smile, and finally stood up, brushing off his shirt and his pants. "Um. He's nice." he shrugged. "I mean, I've never-"
Never what, Max? Never touched a dog before? Never pet an animal? He cut the sentiment short, feeling embarrassed and stupid. She nodded, and tugged the leash, as little Max seemed a little distracted by some cricket hopping around in the grass. "He usually is really nice. I think he just gets excited." she explained, as the dog trotted back over to Max and sniffed at his shoes.
He couldn't help but smile, and reach down to pet him again. But the conversation was getting stunted and awkward, and she had places to be, of course. Walking she wanted to get done. They said their goodbyes, and Legion rolled a question around on his tongue, but it wouldn't come out. Instead, he just gestured to the dog, and made a sort of petting motion. God this was stupid. He was stupid. But having never experienced this kind of affection, not even as an infant, Max felt like he had to do something. "Er. You don't mind if I-?"
She shook her head, and Max knelt beside little Max, and pet his head for a while, scratching at his soft ears. He didn't say all of it, but his eyes and his touch seemed to convey it. Hey, you're the only dog I've ever gotten to pet. You're not so bad. My name is Max, too. That's kind of weird. But I like you anyway. Your owner seems like kind of a snob. If you were my dog, I probably wouldn't have named you Max- because really, who does that?
Max smiled, and the dog nudged at his shoulder, prompting both of his arms to wrap around the animal. Soft. Warm. He wouldn't have to say he never got to experience this, because there'd always be little Max. But-
he stood up, and smiled, giving him one last scratch behind the ear. Be good, okay?
Little Max trotted after his owner, who gave him something of a strange look, and another goodbye, and Max waved at her, before gathering up his pens and his notebook, and settling back down to draw something new.
'max' was the first thing to grace the page, and he quickly covered it in scrawling grass and fur.