Third | Action | Three Parts

[strategic_guile]

Date & Time: Thursday, December 27th; Afternoon to Evening
Location: The Hold; then Apartment 207
Characters: Blaine Thorps + Lee Chaolan + OPEN
Summary: A bit of exercise, a bit of snark with dinner, then showtime at the Apollo
Warnings: Blaine himself counts as a warning, right?

[First part: Open to everyone in the Hold training room]

Blaine did most of his exercising in his room instead of the hold. It wasn't too cold for him to run, but after the snow and with risks of ice patches he didn't feel like falling and busting his ass. So he's using the treadmill to do a comfortable five miles. Once he's done, he'll leave and use the walk home as a cool down.


[Second part: Open to his roommates in Room 207, Gordon and Chloe]

Once home, Blaine cleared the table and couches in the living area so he could stretch while his muscles were still warm and flexible. He sat on the floor in shorts and a white, ribbed undershirt and took a good hour to stretch his legs and arms. He was more flexible than a man his size usually was and he had to work on it. The balance between flexibility and enough muscle was a line he carefully walked.

After he stretched, he settled for some push-ups and curl-ups, just to keep it light. Then he gave a final stretch and got a satisfying pop from his back before he ambled off to shower.


[Third part: Open to his roommates and Lee Chaolan]

Dressed in a comfortable, fitted t-shirt and shorts, Blaine is chopping up what passes for vegetables. He's sauteing them and adding seasonings and making the entire apartment smell amazing to entice his roommates to come out. Food will do that. It also looks like he's cooking for 6-8 people when it's really just three. Maybe four, if Chloe pops up.

[[OOC: Action or Log tags welcome! Anyone can feel free to catch him before, during, after, or even on his way back to his room after his run.]]

Comments

Part 3

[vaudevil]

He had to work out his cold fast since he felt it come on that day his snow making turned into slush making and he was was the snow cone. There was not enough coconut in the world to shake that humiliation off.

Hail cannons were not meant for making snow and that was a hard lesson learned. Well, at least he was able to make hot totties which kept him from getting worse. He managed to suppress it enough to pass as healthy with a lot of rest and a little TLC on his part.

He made his way to room 207 at the appointed time. He smiled to himself that he was actually going to be eating something that was edible and prepared by someone that cared enough to do a good job of it. Supplements did wonders for healing when he could afford to get them.

The week prior, he was flirting with Blaine and now it seemed possible that he was on his way to making new friends. Five minutes before the appointed time, he knocked on the door.

If he knew about the nickname, he might have laughed about it. Dressed in his leathers, the tight fitting clothing seems to make him appear as if he can't move in it at all but that certainly wasn't the case. The custom made outfit was made specifically to his body and he could move in them quite well. Hardly anything he wore was off the rack. Being here in the city, he had to make a few exceptions.

He waited patiently at the door.

[trustycrowbar]

Meanwhile, moments before and inside...

"Is... someone cooking?"

Your insidious plan worked, Blaine. The sheer novelty of someone formally preparing food in the place has drawn out your underfed roommate. He stops in the door to the hallway.

"Hm, I didn't know you could cook."

[strategic_guile]

"Usually you're at work when I cook," Blaine replied with a grin. No need to tell him that there was a reason this exception was being made in his afternoon cooking schedule. The blonde gave the pan a good shake and flip to prevent the vegetables from burning while he went to answer the door. "You can have some when it's done. Come on out of your room for a while."

At your own peril, Gordon.

Though Blaine knew all about 'not buying off the rack' he'd had to make some exceptions since he was kidnapped by the Initiative. He opened the door and his eyes took Lee in with one sweep of his eyes. "Well, hello there," he purred, stepping aside and waving him in. After he came in Blaine closed the door and made introductions.

"Gordon, this is Lee Chaolan. Lee this is Gordon Freeman. Play nice~"

[vaudevil]

He pulled himself from the frame with a grin and judging from Blaine's tone, he made a good choice. "Thank you." He nodded his head graciously even though his stance was more relaxed than formal which was highly unlike the presence he had at the Defense Meeting.

Lee took a whiff of the air and closed his eyes at the comforting thought of a good meal. "Mm," he purred, "you've been busy."

Of course, he wasn't about to ignore Gordon. He looked to the other man at clinging to the threshold of the hall between the rooms and smirked. "It's a pleasure to meet your presence, Gordon. Don't worry, I don't bite."

He unstrapped the rapier at his side and placed it by the door before he crossed the room to take his seat. "Hm, it seems that we're in for some down time this time. It's actually quite refreshing. Those zombies really were a bit lacking and highly anticlimactic albeit a bit dramatic for the holiday season, I wager." Truth be told, he hit a few with a golf club.

[trustycrowbar]

[Oh hell. It's the highest form of entrapment: Luring him out with the smell of food and an amiable countenance and then springing his DATE on him! He looks something like a deer caught in headlights for a moment.]

I, uh... pleasure's all mine. [Somewhat stilted. BE BRAVE, MAN. The zombies didn't freak you out this much! Speaking of which, he regards the swordsman sidelong with a sympathetic smirk.]

The zombies? Hm. Don't tell me you went out there too.

[strategic_guile]

Blaine did a great job of not smirking at the startled and trapped look on Gordon's face. Aside from that, he looks at the rapier for a moment and then was walking swiftly back to the kitchen to prevent it from burning. It'd be bad to entice Gordon out of his room and then burn the food.

"If we went out there, I'm betting there were plenty of others," Blaine laughed. giving Gordon a smile as he manned the skillet again, quickly flipping the vegetables. Perfect color. "Seems like the activity picked up right after I got here. Even this place can't let me be bored."

[vaudevil]

Lee looked to Gordon and chuckled. "No, I didn't go out hunting them. I wasn't about to start that sort of engagement. They followed me to my little workshop and I started smashing fingers so I could close my door. Other than that, it was rather uneventful."

He looked to Blaine with a smirk. "I doubt we're allowed any time to be bored. So far, I haven't been entirely dissatisfied. Although, I must admit that I am wondering what the running price of the average life runs these days. It could take a lot more than a few low class zombies to bring down the whole."

Lee turned his head with a swagger toward Gordon and stopped about an arm's length away. "Mm, you're a shy one."

[trustycrowbar]

[Excuse you, he's being personable! See? Look at him NOT scurry back into his room because of that leer you just gave him...]

I, d-aum... You have to remember that death is not necessarily permanent here. However from what I've seen the process isn't foolproof... or pleasant. But that alone lowers the actuarial numbers quite a bit.

[strategic_guile]

"You didn't? Boring. I had to go to be Gordon's wing man," and he put the vegetables into a bowl. Then he dumped the thin strips of chicken into the pan to fry it really quick.

"Yeah, there have been a lot of people who have died recently. I don't know how it works, except they come back." He waves Gordon into the room. "Come on, sit." then he went into the fridge and pulled out a pitcher. What it was filled with, you'll never know until you try it.

[vaudevil]

Lee put his hands up. He didn't know about it and took a step back. "My bad." He was speaking more to Gordon and chastised himself mentally for his initial reaction.

He brought his hands down the moment Blaine spoke and turned his head toward the busy working blond. He took the cue and moved toward the table. The question now played on his mind how the whole thing worked. Gordon's complaint didn't go unnoticed and now it was time to think strategically as he lowered himself into the seat in a fluid manner that was characteristic of his movements.

"I hadn't realized I was so callous. I'm still uncertain about the process they use to determine resurrection. It's a curious subject. How do they manage to revive the dead here? In my world, we barely had begun to tap into the limitless potential of the brain and even then the results were less than pleasant. Genetics isn't my area of expertise. I'm more of a robotics expert myself with a touch of several years of experience in the field." Again he was ambiguous about the exact time he had knowledge in the field. It was more along the lines of 20 years.

[trustycrowbar]

His eyebrows climb at that last remark. "No need to apologize." He says, now finally introducing himself into the room to take a seat. He'll even grab plates and silverware on his way past the kitchen.

"It hasn't happened to me yet, but I figure it's only a matter of time. It's less a resurrection and more of a temporo-spacial do-over. They pull your body from just before the worst of the damage and then funnel the quintessence garnered from the recovery into the body. Hell if I know the specifics of that last part... I've been working in theoretical physics for the better part of ten years - twenty, technically - and never before working at the Labs here, had I figured there'd be a quantification of the soul."

[strategic_guile]

Yes, good Gordon. Recruit yourself to help with the dinnerware. Blaine wasn't going to ask, but he'll take the help anyway. Besides, the meat was almost done already because he had sliced it thin to cook fast so the vegetables wouldn't get cold. All he needed to do was make a sauce and he'd be done at the perfect time. He took the pan off the heat for a second to grab three glasses and take the pitcher out to the table. He set them down and filled them up as he listened to the conversation steer sharply into scientific territory.

"I'd rather not think of dying here as something that's a matter of course," the blonde said, "since I have no idea how that would effect me when I get back home."

He left the pitcher on the table and returned to the stove, using a wooden spoon to push the chicken around to prevent sticking and putting it back on the burner. Back in front of the stove he smiled again, looking between them. "So I have a physicist and a robotics engineer? My, don't I get the pick of the litter."

[vaudevil]

A smirk crept on his face. He loved these kinds of talks when he could manage to squeeze them out of people. The facts that Gordon was throwing out didn't seem all that far fetched now and it seemed to make sense now that they had a topic to use. "Oh, Blaine, I'm only just starting."

He looked to Gordon and that smirk grew into a somewhat knowing grin. "I would suspect the use of that time device could have something to do with the revival process if they are able to pull a person from a point of near death for reanimation. I am almost certain that is how they are able to keep us from dying off completely although the process is still relatively painful." He hoped he hit the nail on the head with it but again, this was only speculation on his part.

Grey eyes watched Blaine work with a soft chortle from his throat. "Don't you agree?"

part 1!

[charming_jerk]

[Johnny's also at the training room, practicing some of the martial arts moves he's been taught recently on a training dummy. It's clear he's new at it, but he still moves pretty fast. He'll give Blaine a nod in greeting when he comes in, though.] Hey.

[strategic_guile]

Hey, Johnny. [Blaine paused a second to watch.] How's it going?

[charming_jerk]

Eh. As well as fightin' a stationary target can go. Dunno if this actually helps or not.

[strategic_guile]

It should. Getting the form down is the first step so you don't hurt yourself later on a moving target. Even if it's boring as hell punching bags.

[charming_jerk]

Ugh. I dunno. This is borin' as hell. I can see why I never bothered with it before. [He gives the dummy an idle punch.] getting hurt never bothered me before.

[strategic_guile]

[He snorts.] Alright, how about I get some pads and we'll try.

[charming_jerk]

[He shrugs.] Sure, if ya didn't have plans. You any good?

[strategic_guile]

Yeah, I'm good. [Good enough for this, anyway. He gets some pads for his hands and is back in a minute. He adjusts them then holds them up.]

[charming_jerk]

Let's see how fast ya are, then. [Johnny will start throwing some punches. He is pretty fast, but his accuracy needs some work. He hits pretty decently hard, and definitely isn't holding back on Blaine.]

[strategic_guile]

[There's a brief moment where Blaine is catching it just barely, but he gets used to the speed after a few punches and is handling the punches just fine.] Less hard hitting and more hitting the center of the pad. Strength doesn't matter if you miss.

[charming_jerk]

[Johnny frowns and wants to make a snide remark, but bites his tongue since he knows Blaine is right. He tries to slow it down a bit.] Right, right.

[strategic_guile]

[He waits to see if that snappish remark comes out, but when it doesn't he puts away his own retort and holds the pads up. He's moving as well, though not so fast that Johnny can't track him properly for learning.] Who's been teaching you?