Mar 01 14:13:20 107 PA - An unexpected visitor
From Chronicles
Logfile from Rifts.
The current game time is: Wed Mar 01 14:13:20 107 PA.
Kingsdale - Harry's Gym
Harry's Gym is, not surprisingly, owned by a retired athlete named Harry. 'Gym' in this case is actually a misnomer and 'Sports Facility' would be far more appropriate. Almost a whole block in size it features all sorts of different facilities for those who are interested in such things. They include a full size basket ball court and weight lifting room but the real showpieces of the facility are its huge pool and sparring rooms. Inside, the construction is extremely spartan with blue-painted cinder-block walls and old, faded red carpets on the floor. Near to the entrance there are seperate men and women's changing rooms with MDC-reinforced lockers. These rooms lead deeper into the facility and are kept very clean despite the large amount of people coming and going. Admission to Harry's is a surprisingly inexpensive twenty credits per month. On the other hand, there is no day pass.
Players- Objects- Exits- Tirzah <O> Out Zero <1> Sparring Room
<2> Pool
A lot of people do a lot of things at the gym, but this afternoon, Zero is putting in some work at the basketball court that is part of the large complex. He's got some long shorts and a light tshirt on with some well worn sneakers and, for the moment, has one of the baskets to himself. The young man shows some pep. He's reasonably quick and handles the ball well as he dribbles between each of his shots. And more often than not he hits the basket when he hops and shoots. But he's no professional. Talented amateur, perhaps. But he goes about his casual exercise with a smile, his mood high and peppy.
Making her way from the change room to the mats Tirzah seems set on starting her work out right with some extensive stretches. She seems pretty flexible for a brawny woman, her boyish muscles unavoidably flexing as she starts the routine.
Likely having arrived with the other woman, Sage comes out of the change rooms shortly thereafter. Similarly, she moves towards the mats to stretch out. In her own right, she's muscular but she retains her womanly curves. She moves through well-practiced stretches and has a fluidity to the routine.
Zero takes a few steps to run down the ball after a missed shot, snapping it up and turning. His grin grows a little as he pops it up to spin on his extended index finger, managing to hold it for a few moments before it wobbles too much and slips off. But he catches it up into a loose, lazy dribble again after that. He turns and snaps up another hop-shoot. This time it bounces in, easier to recapture. He's been at it a little while, a light sweat on his forehead. But not too much as his pace isn't so vigorous. Not so much as the handful playing a half court game opposite him. He pauses in his shooting, resuming his casual dribble as he watches the game for a few moments.
"So how is your training with Erica coming?" Tirzah asks mid lunge as her gaze drifts over to the basketball court. She considers the action quickly noticing the objective to get the ball in the hoop though the other rules escape her. From the looks of it though it remains a purely mundane hman sport unlike many others in current times.
A brief pause before Sage resumes her stretching routine. "It seems to be going well enough... been expanding on the fundamentals bit by bit." She comments, "Might be a little bit longer before we can spar meaningfully, but I'll let Erica decide the when." She comments, "She wants me to teach her something in turn... she seems interested in learning boxing for whatever reason." She shrugs faintly.
Ahh, the purity of basketball. So simple, yet open to complexity. Which Zero indulges in as he grows tired of watching the others play. He focuses on his dribbling again, though he speeds it up and, after a moment to focus, starts to practice bouncing the ball between his legs. Not too complex for the first time. But as he starts to switch legs forward and back, it takes a bit of timing that he gets down well enough. Not so fluid as he might like, but he doesn't lose the ball. He's currently messing around on half of the basketball court while a half court game goes on at the other end. And nearby Tirzah and Sage are stretching out.
Tirzah nods as she finishes her stretches and rises to do a circuit about Sage to loosen up. "Maybe she wants the upper hand for a bar fight or something. Or just the upper hand in general, hard to say." She notes before deciding to indulge her curiosity about basketball and walk over. For the moment she does not interrupt the team that's playing. Rather she looks to the individual doing odd things with the ball. "Heya, whay are you playing with yourself?" She asks, her smirk carrying all the innuendo one could imagine.
The doors open - it's not unusual, nor is it usual for a person to come through a door ... but it doesn't take much longer than a minute for a lot of heads to be turned, and muttering to start. It's actually a bit of a mass stunning given the rumours that might have been going about - although one of two people high-five Alistair, welcoming him and of course, that welcome is returned.
Once she finishes up her own stretches, Sage springs to her feet. She walks with an exaggerating walking motion as she tries to limber up a little more. At first, she's following Tirzah towards the basketball court. Then, a commotion over towards the entrance draws her attention away. Her pace slows as she catches a glimpse of something familiar. She pauses all-together in disbelief. Then, a strange surge of joy. "Alistair?!" She calls out as she darts over towards where it seems the man has re-appeared.
Zero glances up, his between the legs bouncing paused, the ball caught and held for the moment. Well, held in so much as he lightly tosses it with the one hand as he considers Tirzah. "Ahh, you again," he says with a casual grin. "Because its relaxing. And I feel like a little relax before I go back to work." He doesn't catch on to the return at first, but when Sage makes noise, he looks over, a light bemusement coming to him as he cranes his head a little to get a better look. It doesn't help much, though.
At fist Tirzah assumed she simply misheard Sage and thought nothing more of it as she gave Zero the courtesy of keeping her attention. However when he seems interested as well she can't help but turn and look. Once done though, nothing could have stopped her resulting charge and leap with pure intention to take the one looking like someone she called friend down. Her expression in all this looks focussed, like she might want a damn good explanation.
Alistair hears Sage, naturally, and turns his head towards her, leaning a bit to see if that's really her, and it is - then, he suddenly looks like a cat with his hair all up, yes - the -other- redhead is charging his way, and Alistair ... runs! "Haaaah!" Which results in a bunch of 'what the hells' and probably some laughing, right off with speculation about Alistair and redheads.
The reaction of the man that appears to be Alistair is mildly confusing to Sage, but she doesn't stop her approach. A faint frown flickers over her features. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices her partner converging on the man as well. Perhaps that's what ends up causing the man to turn as if to run. She has a ground eating lope herself. "Wait!" She calls, hoping to convey that she means no harm. Yet, she's unlikely to let the man get away if he doesn't pause. If necessarily, she'll jump on the man's back or try to get in front of the man. Failing that, she may resort to more... psychic means.
With people running off, Zero decides to be curious and wander over that way. It'll be a slower advance than the other two, bur he'll get there in time to get a sense of the juicy stuff. He keeps the basketball with him, casually tossing it between his hands as he comes near, but not too close to see just what's going on. A soft bemusement lingers for him, though as Alistair gets chased around, he looks towards someone nearby and wonders, "Should we do something?" He looks back then towards the two women who seem to be after Alistair. The person seens to have no guidance to offer, so Zero just looks back to the mess.
Tirzah isn't any where near the sprinter that Sage is. So when Alistair runs Tirzah does not immediately recover from her leap to pursue but rather draws on her link to the elemental plain to channel it into the air about Alistair. Instantly its density thickens several thousand fold until Alistair is left floating a few feet above the ground. Still Sage will likely catch up to him first so Tirzah casually walks the rest of the way, looking to consider her words.
As far as Sage goes, Alistair doesn't seem to have much of a problem to catch her on his back, he even slips his arms under her thighs to keep running, "His Miss Sage!" he smiles, and looks over his shoulder, his expression changing again. "Oh no! The crazy one is still after us!" though he's probably running nowhere at this point in time.
It is a little surprising when her weight landing on the man's back doesn't cause him to topple. Instead, he moves his hands to support her legs as he tries to keep on going. As events unfold, she can't help but chuckle at the silliness of the moment. She isn't too concerned about her partner's persistence. She has been floated enough to realize when they aren't likely to be going anywhere. As a result, she shifts her hold to more resemble a hug. "When did you get back?" She asks, before a brief pause. "Where were you? Where's Cali? I was worried sick about you two... How'd you get back?" She begins to spout of questions. She ignores her somewhat undignified position for the moment.
Zero decides to wander a bit closer, still lightly tossing the basketball between his hands as he does so. Curious. Nosey. Yeah. But not straight up rude as be doesn't interrupt for now. Noting the questions, then glancing towards Tirzah, wondering what she might do next.
"How are you sure he is who he appears to be love? He called me crazy. I though the real Alistair had more sense." Tirzah points out as she catches up to the pair. Lightly she kicks at Alistair's feet to cause him to invert and float with his head aimed at the ground.
"That shifter guy kidnapped us! ... sort of. We went to - " Alistair starts, and there's a pause, "Ummm ... that's a secret. But it's alright, it's good, and we're okay" and then they're floating upside down. "oooh!" he points at Tirzah, "Look, look! It's okay, I'll save you!" At this point the crowd is probably laughing. "Anyway" he turns his head to speak to Sage again, "It won't be long before she starts to show ... I um, came here with the shifter's help, to have a look at the garage, too... Cali would be really unhappy if it wasn't looked after. Didn't you notice it was rented out?" he smiles.
Under the circumstances, Sage let's her mind reach out to the man's to consider the surface thoughts to be gleaned. It may not prove to be conclusive about whether this is truly Alistair or not, but the nature of the thoughts would likely shed light on whether this is a human or something posing as a human. She considers the man's responses before she glances to her partner. "I'm not entirely sure... but there are things that seem right about him." She comments, before she turns her attention back to the man. "And, if he isn't who he claims to be... he can meet my temper." Then she prods the man, "As for the garage, you can tell her that it being rented out is incentive for her to show up sooner rather than later." Then, figuring she's likely only floated by being attached to the man, she'll see about wriggling free enough to roll herself to land on her feet on the ground. She should find herself floating instead, she'll revise her idea at that point.
"I dunno, looked kinda crazy to me," Zero opines lightly. He then asks Alistiar, "You alright, man? Get the sense this is some kind of homecoming, but don't seem like any normal sort to me." He glances towards Sage and wonders, "Or is this how you and yours usually greet people you know? Cause if I'm ever going to get something like this, I'd like to prepare myself ahead of time." He talks to her with a casual familiarity and his grin comes up again as he continues to lightly pass the basketball between his hands.
Tirzah's eyes glow with intensity of sudden furry as she seems to accept Alistair's explanation for the moment. "So that primate did double cross you?! I knew it! I'm gonna go right back to that arcade and fry every last circuit board into oblivion." She threatens, already turning to make good on that threat..
"Waaaah!" Alistair spins a little, flailing, though he seems to be actually regaining proper attitude. "Oh, well, that is up to Cali" he points out, "If I tell her what to do she'll throw a wrench at me, but I'm sure she'd want to talk to you miss Sage ... I brought photos!" he says, and looks to Zero, "Oh, yeah, just fine, hust fine!" he smiles, and looks to Tirzah, "No, no, you should calm down Miss Tirzah! I don't even know if the monkey was in on it."
It takes a moment for Sage to recover from the motion of freeing herself from the floating man. Her gymnastic skills kicked in to allow her a safe enough landing even if being sure did cause the man to flail about for a moment. She glances about for a moment, before focusing on the man for the moment. "Alright, let's see these photos..."
Zero accepts Alistair's words with a nod, quieting down afterward. He decides to linger for a moment, but quietly so. And lightly active as he continues to juggle his ball casually.
Tirzah pauses, looking back to consider Alistair one more time. "You'll have to come with me then and we will find out." She decides, and instantly the spell suspending Alistair is gone while she makes her way to the change room.
"They're at my place. I want to go back though, I'll show you later, okay?" Alistair says, landing on his feet a few moments later. "Thanks" he says, fixing his jacket slightly, his demeanor upbeat. "Oooh! I remember you!" he tells Zero, "At the Alibi ... " he nods. "Anyway! Gotta go. Later!"
While the man seems to be her friend, Sage isn't quite sure what to make of all she's heard from him. She nods faintly to the question, but isn't sure whether to get her hopes up for a later. She makes no move to stop the man this time, simply giving a sigh as the homecoming hasn't quite lived up to her expectations. She ends up glancing to Zero, "Only people that disappear without any way to find them and come back just as unexpectedly." She says simply, before looking towards her partner. "Wait." She begins to walk towards where her partner is moving.
Tirzah waits for Sage, though she doesnt look overly patient.
Zero nods his head to Alistair, grinning lightly as he goes out, then Tirzah goes to the change room. He nods to Sage's words. "Ahh.. well, I'll try and call ahead if I come back after a mysterious disappearance," he replies with a light grin. As Sage goes after Tirzah, Zero watches her go and considers what he saw. Then he nods quietly to himself and turns, walking back towards the basketball court for now.
"You do that... but, I'm not sure we'd greet you quite that way even if you didn't." Sage replies with a glance back to Zero with a faint smile, before she focuses on her partner. "Let's talk about this first..." She begins, as she urges her partner towards the changing room.
Back in the changing rooms Tirzah heads straight for her locker. Apparently expecting Sage a to follow and say what she will as the tempered red head changes back into her leathers for the said walk down town.
Following her partner, Sage considers what to say as they approach the locker. "You know Alistair may be right about the monkey not being involved." She starts simply, "And even if he is... there's probably more going on than we know. I mean, why would the shifter suddenly let Alistair come back... something still doesn't add up." She comments, as she positions herself to make it a little more difficult for her partner to get back out of the locker room.
Tirzah nods, looking back to Sage with a smirk. "I know. We can either let the winds of fate blow away the silt that lies over the answers in its own time or we can get up and uncover them ourselves. I would think you would be all for knowing more sooner. I will start out on my best behavior, honest. And Alistair coming will add to that credibility. If we uncover what I suspect though, well the simian almost laid charges after my last visit.."
A faint sigh comes from Sage before nodding faintly. "I would like to know what happened..." She concedes, "...but, the way you sounded out there, it seemed like I was going to lose someone else close to me... even if I would know exactly where to find you." She gives a faint smile to that part. She takes a breath before letting it back out. "Should I come and see if I could make any sense of the monkey's thoughts or feelings... or would you work better without me there?"
Tirzah smiles as she slips her shirt back on and reaches to lift Sage's chin with her finger. "I don't work better without you love. Rather I know your not overly comfortable with the darker side of life. So if I can spare you of it I do." Tirzah clarifies before leaning in to embrace Sage.
"So, you want a potentially restraining force there..." Sage comments, "I'm sure you'll walk a dangerous line either way... but you are the roaring fire, after all." She lets out another breath as she's embraced. "Just try not to marry Butch when you're locked away." She teases lightly.
"When I'm locked away? They'll have to catch me first." She teases back before releasing Sage to finish changing and let her partner change as well since she has elected to come along
Not quite in the mood to tickle, Sage ends up prodding the other woman at the returned tease. "Imp." She murmurs quietly, before moving over to her own locker to see about changing.
