Mar 03 18:04:11 105 PA
From Chronicles
The gym. A perfect counterpoint to the Kingsdale Enhancement Center. In the one your sick and injured walk in and emerge superhuman, in another your fit walk in and emerge exhausted, and just a touch stronger. Maybe Sebastien is doing something wrong? Clad in tight blue trunks and a white t-shirt, the young man hangs from a pair of rings suspended from the ceiling. He wobbles back and forth, legs swinging front and back, and powers UP! and holds, arms outstretched. Slowly he climbs in an inverted pushup, arms below and legs above, all the way to his apex.
The Asian woman sniffs to the air slightly as she passes by Sebastien. The sniff followed by the glance. Does he smells so strange? Appearantly something has drawn the woman attention. She stops by, sitting in the near and stares at the man for a while. Strange woman.
Sebastien pauses there, peering down. He might well smell strange, if she's the psistalker she appears to be! He lowers himself so that his arms extend straight to either side, still inverted with toes high overhead, watching the asian woman right back. Though in that pose, he quickly begins to wobble!
Psi-stalker with hair? That would be very strange indeed, if someone knows about the stalkers. But his smell is still seems to be strange. She offers a faint smile to the man. "Hello there." Katsumi greets. "It is good to see that someone else doing his training. I felt a bit alone." she comments in her deep voice.
The young man bobs his legs back and forth, rocking until he falls forward over his head to flip and hit the ground on both feet. Slowly working his shoulders then, Sebastien looks up at the rings swinging above with an amused look. "Training. Oui, this I suppose it could be called. Myself, I call it flagellism, but if I do it every day?" He grins, and glances around. "It is amazing what the human body can do, non?" Offering the woman a strong hand, he greets, "Sebastien Dubois."
The Asian woman accepts the offered hand. She doesn't seem to be weak at all from her grasp, but nothing extraordinary. "Yes, it is. The human body is indeed amazing." she sits down at the front of the man, to the nearest object that she could find. Her smoldering grey eyes exloring the man's figure shamelessly. "You speak a strange version of the American. Where are you come from?"
Sebastien is built like a gymnast. The his chest, arms, and thighs are filled with out with lean, powerful muscles, but unlike a pure bodybuilder nothing pops grotesquely from the skin. The sort of man who could more easily run up and over a wall than through it. Bouncing on the balls of his feet, Sebastien waves at the stationary bikes. "After something like that I need to wind down. Join me?" Offering the tall Asian a flash of white teeth, he starts in that direction. "Here. Well, nearby. The Devil's Gate. But so many of us were from Ironheart, well." French Canada. Quebec. "For us, the old Quebecois is a second language. For some, it is the only language.
The woman nods, still keeping her eyes on the man. There is something in her eyes, which could be a lust. "I see!" she answers absend-mindedly. "I never was in Quebec, but I've heard about it. But I don't know anything about that French Canada. Does it a tribe of yours? Or an organization?" she asks quriously.
Hopping up on to a stationary bike, Sebastien flips dials to the appropriate low-resistance high-speed settings and begins pedaling, squeezing the handles to keep an eye on his heart rate. "Canada," he glances aside at Katsumi, follows her eyes, and grins. Ducking his head to meet her where she *was* looking, he peers up at the young woman. "French Canada is all that is left, now. The rest is full of bugs and monsters. So I suppose one may say that our superiority was proved in the end." He grins at his joke, as unfunny as it might be. "I am not so sure of this 'Free Quebec' movement however. But ah," he shakes his head. "It is all so far away. Enough happens here, I think. I am amazed that there may be this major city so close to the Devil's Gate and not be greatly effected, if only by the magical energy." His speech is soft, lilting a bit with accent.
Katsumi raises an eyebrow. "Devil's Gate? I never heard about it. Could you explain it to me? It sounds like a rifts name." she asks, scratching her nose. "And which major city are you talking? I am sorry, I am not to educated about the geography." she admits lightly with a shrug of her.
Still pedaling, Sebastien chuckles and peers at the woman standing there speaking with him. "Perhaps you will also get on a cycle?" he wonders. "Or are you here to admire the view?" Leaning forward and lowering his speed a bit, Sebastien touches the metal contacts on the grips and watches his heart rate again. Good. He does seem to be winding down though. "Kingsdale is the major city of which I speak," he explains, "and the Devil's Gate is a nexus point here in Missouri. One of the largest ones in the world. The Coalition has tried for fifty years to close this rift, but to do so may be beyond the means of men. At the moment they safeguard this planet against what may come out. Perhaps it is the only reason they worry for the state of Missouri at all? To ensure that what comes from this rift may never threaten the inhabitants of Earth."
Katsumi blushes deeply, perhaps from the comment about the cycle or her lack of education. Yet she soon sits into a cycle and sets somewhere in the middle. "I don't think that it is the only reason. Missouri is also important because of it's farmlands." she comments, like if she would receive a sudden flash of knowledge. "I've heard about that nexus, but I wasn't aware of that name. We learnt about that battle, but I never interested so much about military history." she still keeps her eyes on the man.
Sebastien rolls his shoulders in a shrug, turning down his resistance once last time o let his heart slow of its own accord, lets seeming to simply move themselves. Beads of perspiration dribble down his neck, touching his collar and soaking through in little damp spots at his chest. "I grew up there," he speaks softly, eyebrows raising a moment. "My family kept this rift safe for two generations before me. But I, well. I had another path." He flashes the woman another small smile, letting his legs fall off the pedals and panting a moment before standing, still-straddling the bike, to stretch arms first far over his head, and then to the sides. "I think," he decides, "I am in need of a shower."
The Asian woman bites her lips and nods without any words. Her grey eyes is on the man, with that strange lust-like passion. She continues the exercise, fastening the pedalling a little.
Sebastien steps off the bike, stepping twice before glancing back and flashing Katsumi a quick smile. Rolling his shoulders as he turns around, Sebastien hides a triumphant grin. Yep. He's still got it. Bouncing a little as he goes, the well-built stranger patters off towards the changing room and showers beyond.
Katsumi waits the man departure, but soon decides to follow him into the men's dresser. Her hunger leads her act now. It is a luck that is so early, so no-one else in there except Sebastien. She searches the man location, sniffing into the air. Where could he be?
No surprises there. A pile of Sebastien-like clothes sit near a locker, and beyond a wall the sound of falling water and a tongue of steam lick the air. A tuneless sort of singing echoes through the room, repeating words by rote but completely missing the notes. A singer Sebastien is not!
Katsumi slowly stalks to the near of showering Sebastien, with a misty eyes of lust-like passion. She doesn't prowl, yet her bare feeted walk is quiet, almost soundless. The Asian woman doesn't want to stop in the area of the water, if she could reach that. Her target would feel something disturbing. A danger, but not immediate one. What could be dangerous in a woman in heat wearing only a swimsuit? Yet she could be the only source.
The shower is large, designed for a half-dozen occupants at least, but even so makes it one of the more out-of-the-way bathing facilities in the gym. Three shower heads spurt jets of steaming water making visibility an unsure proposition, and beyond on a dry patch stands Sebastien. Rivulets of water still run down his body, the whole of him as well-muscled as the display out front would lead one to believe. Hair touches his chest and his upper legs, and if he was excited by the display out front, well, it's passed. His singing falls silent as he spies an outline beyond the shower, face a smooth mask of calm. Beyond calm. It's like his emotions have already been drained, face a relaxed mask of complete acceptance of the world around him. He doesn't move, perhaps eerily so. No little twitches or shifting of balance so common in the anyone. It's as though he's forgotten to do them. As Katsumi's outline grows more distinct, Sebastien stage-whispers over the hiss of the showers, "Get out. Something's wrong here." More wrong than a woman in the men's room, apparently!
The Asian woman pauses in her move. Her passion fades from the suprise, raising an eyebrow. But only for a moment. She step closer the man "There is nothing wrong here." she whispers passionately, glancing up to the man's eyes. The danger is still there, yet it is more like a background noise - perhaps a bit less intense than before. It's like the dark grey cloudly sky before the storm. You could smell the tenseness in the air, but you could never sure that it would be a tempest or not. If the man's let, Katsumi arms would embrace him, aiming to caress Sebastien.
Sebastien's eyes follows Katsumi approach, then focus beyond her into the empty room. He's still immobile, perhaps rooted in place. After several more moments he blinks, rocking back on his heels as he's embraced. Placing a hand naturally on the small of Katsumi's back, he narrows his eyes and watches the entrances. Well, he's not quite 'in the zone' any more, but her fingers still find plenty of tension back there! "This place is unsafe for you too," he declares after a moment's hesitation, gently pushing Katsumi away. "I will get you out of here. We need to get away from people. Something soon..." He frowns. It's been too long. Striding for the front of the shower, Sebastien looks out. Always happens immediately. Something's wrong.
The Asian woman steps back, and with that aim the danger vanishes. "Oh, interesting." the woman keeps her smoldering grey eyes on the man, with a smirk on her face. "Perhaps I am the danger." she puts her hand behind her back. "Did you consider that before? So you could sense danger. Here is the source in the front of your eyes. In other case I would sense the same." she confesses in her deep voice with a playful tone.
Sebastien's head turns, peering over one of those broad shoulders. He peers at the woman skeptically and laughs, a bit of tension visibly slipping from him. "More so than most?" he replies, frowning and peering around the corner before stepping back from the open door, realizing his nakedness. He steps back into the shower, stepping back twice and turning before nearly running over poor Katsumi, stopping before her and blinking. Yep. He *is* still naked. And why was she in the men's locker room, anyway? A bit of color touches his cheeks, and Sebastien grins and shakes his head, peering around for a towel. Somewhere, clothing! "I think this is unlikely," he replies. "You who can barely ride a stationary bike," he teases.
It seems Katsumi is envy of the flush of Sebastien, because her pale face also turns to red after the man's comment of her abilities. "Do you really think I am not dangerous?" Indeed, a hint of that stress returns to Sebastien now, showing that he could be in danger, but much less intense than before. Perhaps it is just an echo of the past experience. The woman seems to tense now, breaking that misty stare of her smoldering grey eyes. "I... I need you." she comments, staring at the man still. There is no hint of romantic attitude in her voice, just a state of her desire - straight and blunt.
Which is either incredibly hot or mildly creepy, and obviously on some level imbalanced. "I think I can hold my own," Sebastien replies evenly, quirking a hint of a smile. Stretching waaay over to his locker, the nude man begins punching in a code, perhaps a bit more quickly than necessary, to get at his clothing. "Perhaps we may spar sometime, but ah..?" He glances down, and then into Katsumi's eyes. His own widen a touch at what he sees there, tongue touching his lips. Creepy. "I tell you what," he offers, going for pants, "How about you give me your number and we may set something up." He nods once. That's ... safe. Se might get the sense that he's beginning to doubt her innocence.
The Asian woman seems to hesitate for a moment, staring at the man. "No, it doesn't need." she comments faintly. "It was a heat of passion, and nothing more." the woman licks her lips before she turns away from Sebastien. Her proper place is in the next door, in the women's dresser, so she aims her way out.
The young man climbs into his pants, going commando. Underwear can wait! There's something vaguely reassuring about pants. His lips purse as he watches the woman begin to leave, shoving soiled exercise clothing in with his cleans. "Wait." He speaks, falling silent a long moment after he does. "Something was wrong here. I don't know what it is. Listen, I -- I'm probably tired." He grabs for a small day planner, ripping out Tuesday and scrawling his name and number on it before taking the steps towards katsumi and thrusting it in her direction. "Here. We'll set something up. Maybe ah, bite to eat. Dinner or something." He offers her a reassuring smile.
Katsumi stares at the address, and then glances up to the man, followed by a glance back at the note. After a brief second a heartly laugh leaves the woman. "Sure, to dinner, and bite to eat." she winks at the man. "You have a good sense of humor, even that you doesn't know. Well, perhaps we manage. I would surely bite you today, but who knows about the future." even tears came out from her eyes, from the intense laugh. "Take care" she glances at the note once more. "Sebastien."
Sebastien laughs as well, though he isn't entirely sure what's so funny. "Call me then," he suggests, and nods at the paper. "You ah, did not say your name, mademoiselle?"
Katsumi glances back from the entrance. "No, I didn't. Katsumi." she comments before she leaves the dressing room.
