cycleofages | 01 Bite ~ Ways to Cope ~ OPEN

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01 Bite ~ Ways to Cope ~ OPEN

Who; Elena Micheal & OPEN
What; Adjusting...
Where; Around HQ
When; August 6th - 12th
Warnings; Fighting. Will change if there is anything else.

This place was something new, something strange and it kept Elena on edge. She had been assured that things were fine and that her other nature was something that was known if not accepted by those in HQ. That didn't mean she wanted to talk about it. She'd been bred to keep her secrets close and losing them shook her deeply.

In short, she hated this place.

Sparring | Afternoons(8th,10th,12th) | Forest

She hadn't sparred since she left Stoneheaven but now that she's somewhere new she wanted to be ready. She borrowed a loose fitting pair of sweats and a top to use for the hours she spent training. Then she found a place in the forest with enough space to move around. She shifted from stance to stance hearing the grass rustle with the touch of the wind.

Elena specialized in grappling which would be easier to practice with a partner. For now she'll do what she can but she'll welcome anyone who would be willing to fight with her.

Running | Any Day Before Sunrise | Forest

Tension was something she was used to. She always tried to stop the changes, to keep herself human and that put stress on her body. Running was one of the few ways that she dealt with that stress. Each morning, prior to sunrise, she can be found running laps around the edge of the forest. The warehouse was large enough to give her to illusion of distance and yet her body yearned to run on four legs.

Elena was wearing the borrowed sweats and shirt with her golden hair tied back in a tight ponytail. She paused only to grab a drink of water and then began to run again. When the sun started to flicker in the odd sky she'd head back to her dorm to grab a quick shower.

It would be obvious to anyone passing by that she was tense.

Eating | Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner | Cafeteria

With every meal Elena had a cup of hot tea or coffee. The tea in her cup varied but it was always warm and steaming and a silent comfort. She liked ice tea but the AC in HQ always made a warm drink a welcome sight.

Elena was used to eating a lot of food, she'd subsidize her meals with protein bars or other high fiber supplements but that was harder now that the cafeteria was only open during certain hours. After a bit of pressure from Gus she'd begun to try and eat the appropreate amount without feeling self-conscious. She would get several plates of food of the course of the hour and sit alone, with a book, at a corner table.

Even when she was done eating she'd simply sit, drink tea and read before being kicked out of the cafeteria.

Swimming | Midnight(10th) | Pool

Elena had done what she set out to do but the after meeting she was feeling stressed and she wanted to cool off. Having no access to a bathing suit she used the next best thing; her underwear.

Her clothes were neatly stacked on a chair, her necklace resting on top of the pile. Her underwear was simple, black and a little lacy but it covered enough to count as a bathing suit. She swam laps pausing at the edge of the pool to catch her breath. The air felt thick and cool as she inhaled and the water felt inviting and strong as it held her.

She wasn't a big swimmer but the change was nice.

Pacing | All hours of the day | Moon Dorms (Wild Card Option)

Elena was having a hard time remaining still. She paced around her room and when that wasn't enough she'd pace within the moon dorm common area. If it was late at night she'd wander into the hallway and then through the available areas of HQ. Her hands were shoved into her pockets while a thoughtful expression masked her features.

She didn't know what to think but she knew what Logan would say and in a weak or two she'd have a problem. She would want to hunt but she couldn't do that down here. She'd gotten her physical and cleared with the request not to bite anyone but it felt far more complicated than that.

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Pulse exercised, a lot. He did parkour and regular running both, and here in the forest, he excelled at it. His body was built for gymnastics and acrobatics and he used that agility as he leaped across trees, dashed through clearings, swung around branches and moved with a grace usually reserved for animals.

He loved this!

But when he spotted Elena running and the way her shoulders were being held, he decided he needed a break, and went from parkour to running instantly, coming down out of the trees and beginning to run toward and to a pace near her, grin in place as he let himself get lost in the run.

It was easy to lose herself when running, to feel the rush of the wind as it passed over feverish exposed skin, the ground flying away beneath her feet, the freedom and excursion that pushed the body to it's limits and then further.

Elena wasn't human and running was something she excelled at. Feeling the presence of someone else in the forest made her pick up her pace, her muscles straining, her heart pounding, her breath quickening as he raced at her side. Watery blue eyes flicked towards him while a small smile pulled at her lips.

She couldn't help but feel a little competitive.

Pulse was nowhere near as fast as the nonhuman, and he didn't pretend to know how she was so fast, not knowing her secret. But he did try, and he enjoyed running near her, watching her, one eyebrow raised.

"Nice day for a run, yes?"

Elena's smile grew and her pace began to slow. Her head turned towards him feeling the rush of the run tingle through her limbs. She inhaled the air of the forest and for a moment her other half was fooled in thinking that she was outside.

"It is. Do you run a lot?" She'd seen him from the corner of her gaze as he approached and she noticed the way that he moved over the obstacles littering the forest floor.

He matched her, with her slower, it being easier, now, to run alongside her. And made it more challenging as he dodged undergrowth to keep pace. He liked that. "I do, every day if I can. Either down here, or up in the trees."

He pointed upward at the plentiful treetops and branches he suspected might be thick enough to lay on in some places. Hmmm, he might do that, later.

Pulse was a consummate athlete, moving eyes and feet and body as one instrument. He enjoyed watching her grace and power as she moved, as well, and smiled more warmly and naturally than normal. "You?"

Elena looked up when he pointed and felt a alluring draw to the idea of moving to through the trees. Her 'condition' made her faster and stronger than an average human but for others of her kind she'd still been considered frail. That was why she trained. It took years but she worked her way up and now stood as one of the stronger members of the pack.

Wolves, however, do better on the ground.

"I run every morning." A smirk tease the corner of her lips. "I haven't been able to stop and the forest here is a great place for a run." Her breathing started to get heavier as they spoke. Running and holding a conversation was harder than just running.

"Yeah? Well, maybe we can run together again sometime." His own smirk grew as he worked to keep up with her, pushing himself, showing it with sweat on his brow and a slower speech. Yeah, conversing while running was harder for sure.

"I like the feeling of nature, but also of obstacles. It's nice to not just see the same surface everywhere."

"Think you can keep up?" Elena can't help but tease in return to his comment. Running was something special and while she didn't accept his invation she didn't say no either. It was too complicated to give him a straight answer.

Seeing the sweat drip flick from Pulse's brow made her pace slow to a stop. She allowed herself a moment to breath before turning towards her company.

"Obstacles? Why don't you show me? I'll follow you." It sounded like fun and if it meant another way to run then she was willing to give it a try.

"If you run full out? Not a chance. I'm pretty sure at full dash you could leave me in your dust, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy trying to keep pace, at least for a little while." He grinned.

"And up there?" He pointed upward again. "UP there, yeah, I could. But then I have the advantage of being very good at that, and having done it for a long time."

Pulse raised an eyebrow, then nodded. "OKay."

And with that, he pushed again, and leaped in the next moment, instead of dodging a large fallen branch, he used it to bounce off of, his feet using the surface as a springboard to let him plant a foot on the tree next to it, running, for just a second, almost perpendicular. And then back down again, one foot planting on a tree stump, and the next clearing a tangle of undergrowth in a full on hurdle. He concentrated as he found every obstacle he could, not avoiding them, but challenging them, as if thumbing his nose at nature. He led her for a few minutes, before he cleared one final obstacle and did a spinning flip, landing on one foot, one knee, and one gently planted hand, eyes and head coming up, facing backward toward her.

"Incorporating obstacles, instead of avoiding them can be fun."

Elena chuckled softly and then looked up as he pointed up. She might be able to figure it out, she was agile and quick but she also made mistakes. She would have to learn which meant that she'd need practice.

She practiced now.

Her motions were two steps behind his, her bright blue eyes took in his moments and then mimicking them enough to follow along. She wasn't nearly as graceful as he was, being the first time that she'd done this, but she didn't fall and by the end of the exercise she found herself panting softly. It was more fun than she had anticipated and she thought that she could learn to enjoy it as much as running.

Elena rolled her shoulders before stretching her arms over head. "I agree."

He began stretching and watching her. "This and swimming is what I do to relax and exercise. I love to get as acrobatic in my moves as I can, really pushing my body through its paces." He smiled again.

"And I like it for fun, too, amongst other things."

"Other things."

She raised an eyebrow before moving on to another topic. It wasn't as if she was asking him to elaborate.

"I don't usually swim but running feels natural." Elena rolled her shoulders in a shrug. "There is a pool here, maybe I'll try it."

"Yep." He grinned, not offering details, either, then nodded as she moved on, stretching as they talked. His body was in nearly top physical form for a not enhanced human.

"There is? I didn't know. I might have to check that out sometime." He liked swimming a lot.

"I wonder if when we go out to New York, there are any good lakes or such near."

"It's in the rec room. I.." She paused and then frowned. "I saw it when I was looking around." It wasn't the truth, she'd smelled the water without even seeing it and it had drawn her into the rec room in the first place. She remembered what Gus had told her but she can't help but want to keep herself feeling as human as possible.

"New York is technically a peninsula. I don't think it's the sort of water you'd want to swim in."

Bay water never was and Elena's nose was to keen to want to go near the water that cradled New York.

Pulse noted the pause for later. Hmmm, secrets, eh? Well, that was okay. He had a few.

Pulse blinked at that information, then nodded. "Probably not. Oh well."

He grinned, then. "I'll just find other things to occupy my time."

"You keeps things vague but I get the feeling you never have any trouble occupying your time." Elena shook her head, allowing her arms to fall back to her sides. She wanted to grab a shower before it got to late though she didn't actually know what time it was.

"I plan to be here every morning." Well, she'll be here before dawn. "If you want to run with me you're welcome too."

It's an open invitation.

"I get bored a lot. And I keep things vague because I don't feel like intruding on you that much. And some subjects... well, a lot of people would rather not talk about them, especially with a stranger." Pulse spoke matter-of-factly, eyes on hers.

Pulse nodded, smiling. "I'll be here when I can be."

"I've noticed that too." Her head tilted to the side before moving to take a seat on a nearby rock. She drunk a little more water, enjoying the cold sensation running down her throat before speaking again.

"I don't really bother me." Elena really didn't care about most subjects. "Before arriving here I was a photographer. My subjects were, at most, in their underwear. It depended on the shot that I needed. I think there is something amazing about the human body."

She smiled. "Probably sounds worse than it is. None of my shots had explicit content in them." It was obvious that she was at ease when she spoke and that she missed Toronto. She was so close to having her own art show.

"Well, for fun, I am generally a gentleman thief, and I have sex, and I exercise. Since I'm not going to steal from anyone here, and the sex pool is somewhat limited, I have defaulted to exercising. A lot."

Pulse spoke quietly but matter-of-factly.

Her words made him grin. "I did that, too, back home. I posed both clothed and nude, for various classes and a magazine." There was no boasting to his words, just a proud grin.

"There's nothing wrong with explicit content, in it's proper setting."

"There is a whole city above us." She teased him suddenly being reminded of Nicky. His task list didn't surprise her nor did it phase her smile.

"Yes but I want to become renowned and that isn't the way I want to do it." She wanted to be recognized for her art and her art show was the chance to do that. She'd been so excited though it seemed as if those dreams would be on hold for the time being. "Maybe if I can get my hands on a camera I can ask for your help."

She let her eyes roam over his body then, not shying away as she inspected him. "You have the form for it."

"And I'll probably be back to old news, a little, once I am up there. But a new world means relearning things. And i won't make a rookie mistake." He nodded.

Pulse listened, then smiled. "I can see how that is. True. It's a lot harder, too, for women to break into any field." Sadly, sexism never died.

A smile tugged at his mouth. "Thanks. Ask anytime. I'm not exactly shy."

His comment about women breaking into a field was accurate but Elena was to stubborn to leave things like that. "I'm not letting anything stop me."

A smile touched her lips as she continued. "I'm counting on it. A shy model isn't very useful."

"What sort of mistake are you thinking you might make?" She'd traveled to a few different places in her time though most were more remote that New York City. It wasn't all that bad being in a new place, you just had to know what you were doing.

"Good on you." he smiled, then shrugged. "Then I'm your man." He winked at her.

He arched an eyebrow then. "None, that is what I am saying. A lot of newbies to an area don't do their research, take their time. which is why they get caught, and fast." He smirked.

"In several decades, I've never so much as been discovered, or suspected, much less caught. And I am not going to start a bad trend now."

Elena knew what he meant but it wasn't something she liked to think about. She'd tracked down the mutts who were too stupid to keep their cover. That's how she found them and that's why she had to find them. Clay would always finish it but she felt as if she'd been sentencing those men to their deaths by tracking them down.

"It's a good thing you are smart." She didn't let the memory touch her expression. She was good at keeping her past buried.

Elena put on a smile, her head tilting to the side. "Well, I'll make sure to give you a call. When I have a camera and a location."

"Not smart. Experienced." He smiled softly, then nodded.

"Sounds good to me." Finishing stretching, he waved. "I'm going to head to the showers and eat. See you around."

Running

defenderofmen - 2016-08-11 20:09 (UTC) - Expand

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