She runs through the streets with eyes painted red

[undomesticated]

WHO: Riley and Balthazar
WHAT: Going for a run
WHERE: Around the town/possibly partially into the woods
WHEN: Day 65
WARNINGS: None. I'll be certain to update if required.

They hadn't set up a time, but she'd pinged Balthazar on the network, asking him if he could meet up with her outside her place. They could either run down to the lighthouse and along the beach, or they could go up towards the woods, though she wasn't sure how far she'd feel comfortable going into them.

She waited for him to show up, doing a few stretching warm up exercises. Accelerated healing or not, it didn't hurt to avoid having to deal with a charlie horse or any other kind of painful cramp. She hummed a tune to herself as she stretched, keeping her ears and nose open for her companion.

Comments

[tryingitall]

He appears around a corner with minimal fanfare, only a soft crunch of gravel to herald his arrival. It's a little funny that a human should be so quiet in his approach. Almost catlike. Still, he's not here to startle her.

"Hello!" He calls as he gets within a few dozen yards. He's dressed more or less as he always is, minus the blazer, which isn't exactly ideal running attire. He's even wearing dress shoes rather than sneakers.

He may need some instruction.

[undomesticated]

Their clothing options are somewhat limited here, so she's in her jeans and a tshirt, only wearing sneakers because that's what she normally wears. She straightens from being bent over at the waist, touching her toes, giving him a wide smile and a wave. "Hey! Is that what you're wearing? Jeez, Balthazar, your feet are going to hate you."

[tryingitall]

He looks down at his shoes, which he hasn't really thought much about. But for running, she has a point.

On the other hand, he did fine in them as a Leviathan. Maybe it'll be all right. "I hadn't even considered that, actually. They're not perfect for running, are they? You may have to give me a head start."

[undomesticated]

She smiles a she comes over, giving him a shake of her head. "We're not racing. We're just jogging. It's good for you. And in this place, being able to keep on your toes isn't exactly a bad thing."

[tryingitall]

"Wait, wait, you didn't tell me this was a healthy thing." He leans away exaggeratedly, hands up. "That changes everything. I'm going back to the bar."

He smiles to show he's joking. "What were you doing there, stretching? Should I be doing that?"

Look how cute he is; he has no clue what they're doing! Angels don't exercise like this.

[undomesticated]

She laughed, reaching over and hitting his shoulder lightly. "Running won't kill you, Balthazar."

Nodding, she gestured for him to stretch. "Might as well. It'll keep you from cramping at an inopportune moment and it doesn't hurt."

Silly Angel. Welcome to the real world.

[tryingitall]

He gives an exaggerated stagger at the smack, playful. "No, but you might. No hitting!"

Not it's likely she could hurt him that way, even if she were trying. Nodding at the suggestion, he tries to mimic what she was doing, bending to touch his toes. He's fortunate his vessel was in good shape when he picked him up (at least outwardly; there's some liver and kidney damage). He's reasonably flexible.

[undomesticated]

"That was barely a tap, you wuss." She laughed at him as she watched him trying to stretch. "Try to actually push past what you can comfortably do. That's sort of the whole purpose of stretching."

[tryingitall]

"I have sensitive skin." He grins at her, then nods and takes the advice, leaning over further until he's bent double. Straightening again, he looks at her expectantly. Now what?

[undomesticated]

She moves to lift her legs up by the knees, holding one pressed to her chest, then letting it drop and doing the same with the other. "It'd be no good to get a leg cramp in the middle of a good run."

[tryingitall]

He goes on imitating her, having no better idea how to go about this. He's never had a leg cramp, of course, or any other kind of cramp. Occasionally his vessel's joints go snap, but he doesn't much feel it.

"You're going to have to be my instructor, I think. I haven't done this in a while." Or...ever.

[undomesticated]

"It's a wonder you haven't gone and gotten a pot belly." She gives him a teasing smile as she jogs in place slowly. "Just try to get your body used to moving, then we'll head out. You in the mood for a woodsy view or something a little more waterside?"

[tryingitall]

"I have amazing genes." He winks and straightens, stretching his arms up over his head. "High alcohol tolerance, too. Comes in very handy."

Relaxing again, he tilts his head at her jogging in place, then gamely joins in for about two seconds before dissolving into jumping in place repeatedly, like an excited child. He gets some impressive height, too. "Woods. Definitely woods."

Not a good idea to get too close to the lighthouse.

[undomesticated]

"Woods it is." Watching him jump around like an overlarge Tigger, she shakes her head with a smile before setting off. "Think you can keep up?"

She doesn't wait for him, not at first. She's seeing how well he can run and if he feels like a bit of a chase. What can she say, it's part of her nature.

[tryingitall]

He grins and takes off after her. "We'll find out!"

If it were a matter of getting to a destination, he'd get there first, no question. Actually using his vessel to run around is less familiar. He won't tire, but he may have trouble matching her speed.

[undomesticated]

She laughs lightly as they run, setting an easy pace for him. She wasn't trying to outrace him or use her extra speed for any reason. She was just a normal human out jogging with another normal human, right?

[tryingitall]

He runs alongside her, able to match that pace, and occasionally swerving to one side or another like a child distracted by a butterfly off the path. Something sparks in his eyes; he seems to get caught up in the feel of motion. He should have done this before!

...yeah, just two normal humans out jogging. Totally.

[undomesticated]

Riley looks over to see him head off to the left again, shaking her head and grinning at him. "You're going to trip over something, Balthazar. Hey, do you have a nickname or something. Balty? Bal-bal? Zar?"

[tryingitall]

"I only trip on things when I'm drunk, and I haven't even had a drop today." He protests, bounding a few paces ahead of her happily, then resuming the steadier pace.

"Well, I've gone by Balth, Bal, and Balthy. I had someone call me Ballzy for a bit but I tried to discourage it. If you call me Bal-Bal I'm nicknaming you Whiskers."

Yeah, that's a threat.

[undomesticated]

"Then I'll make a note to make sure not to take you running when you've been drinking." He's like a kid in a candy store, leaping all over the place and excitable. It's kind of cute to watch.

She gave him a look, a sound of mock outrage coming free. "Whiskers? That's just ridiculous. It was the one time." That he knew of. She was hoping no other incidents occurred that might have her having to shift again.

[tryingitall]

He pauses to pluck a dandelion blossom and blows the seeds loose as they go on. "Early mornings are the best time to catch me, in that case."

"Only if you give me a ridiculous nickname," he replies, pretending to sound defensive. "It's better than Spot or Freckles, isn't it?"

[undomesticated]

"Hey, at least I'm not calling you Chomper." She stuck her tongue out at him in answer to his Spot or Freckles question, then pushed herself to run a little faster, passing him and heading up towards the tree line.

[tryingitall]

He picks up his pace in response, discarding the dandelion stem. "Oof. No, not Chomper, either. Wouldn't want to upset the people I chomped. Go a little to the left, there's a deer path or something about 100 yards down."

[undomesticated]

"Oh my god, Balthazar! Did you actually bite people? You're terrible!" She looked over at him, tsking softly. But she did swerve to the left as he'd directed, stretching her strides out.

[tryingitall]

He grimaces a little. It's a sensitive topic. But he started it, so he answers gamely, "I did, but I promise you, it wasn't for lack of trying not to. You're lucky you caught me in a peaceful moment."