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Summary: Laura decides to do some training at Central Park Lake. Vincent falls out of a tree, and they get to talking.
Date: June 28 2010
Log Title Late Night Training
Rating: G
Central Park Lake
Bethesda fountain sits at the edge of the lake with a large terrace for people to hang out and relax. Benches sit under the trees creating a peaceful atmosphere. A dock stretches out into the lake for people to rent row boats to enjoy the entire lake. In the distance Bow Bridge can be scene crossing the man-made lake.
A sliver of moon hung precariously overhead, the inky night sky clung to it, with the threat of swallowing the little crescent of silver, it's hazy, unsubstantial light was more then enough for Laura to see by. She stood by the water's edge, the small bank clear of trees and foot paths that were usually bustling with people during the daylight hours. Laura was completely alone, as she preferred to be most of the time. Standing in a traditional Migi Zenkutsu Dachi stance, her right leg bent at a perfect ninety degree angle, while her left stretched out behind her. The petite ebon haired girl, donning something other then black for once, wearing a white snugly fitting tanktop and matching cotton shorts. Her breath came slow and steady, every muscle in her body taught as she stood, in the beginnings of Taikyuku Sono Ichi. A basic, beginners kata, but still a workout, even for her.
It seems like a normal quiet night, even a slight rustle in the tree line. Maybe a squirrel running the branches in a night jog. Maybe not, as a single large branch snaps and comes crashing to the ground with a loud thud and rustle. A moment later Vincent comes following the branch, landing on his feet and rolling to protect his bones. His roll stops when he gets to his feet and his hands, with a single bone blade a piece sticking through his fists, next to his face and torso in a basic defensive stance. Vincent sighs to himself and grumbles as he lowers his arms and looks at the branch. "They don't have hooks, stupid." He has yet to even notice Laura.
Slowly, moving through the beginning motions of the Taikyuku Sono Ichi, Laura executes each step perfectly. Putting tension into every moment, keeping her muscles rigid, as if she were really fighting an opponent, just slowed down to near snail's pace. With the loud snapping of a branch in the distance, her eyes snapped open. The jade orbs, washed out in the unsubstantial moonlight, looking more a pale green now. Her chin inclines up slightly, her nostrils flaring out as her senses go on high alert. She doesn't break her form, though. Probably just some stupid drunk vagrant. She thought to herself. Moving into the next position; Hidari Zenkutsu Dachi, her left arm moves forward in a slow, but solid punch outwards into the air. Her back to the rustling and the sounds of someone talking to themselves, but she could hear what was being said with perfect clarity. Silently her bare feet moved over the soft grass, her eyes closing once more as she continued with her training. If the bum decided to get curious, she could scare him off easily enough.
Vincent shakes his head, at the terribleness of his own ideas for training himself. He finally spots Laura out of the corner of his eye, and before he even moves to or away from her, he spins the blades down his wrist and back into his arm, cutting both his hand and arm open, but only for about a minute. Vince waits for his arms to stop bleeding before he starts to approach Laura, and before he speaks he notices she's working on a Kata. Not sure which one, he has the courtesy to stop himself from asking and simply watch, sitting down cross legged to study the young woman.
It wasn't the footsteps that were approaching that gave her pause. It was the distinct and very strong coppery smell of blood. Laura's back arched up, she was facing in profile from the direction that Vincent was approaching now. Her lips curled back, exposing a sliver of ivory behind, full lips. A few things happened at once, next. Firstly, er eyes snapped open once more, seeing the male clearly in her peripheral vision. Next, Laura altered the course of her form, turning to face him fully and boring an intense stare into the stranger. And last, a strange, unnatural muscle flexed in both of her forearms. And with a soft *shhkt* sound, following by a little spring of blood from two knuckles on each hand, her adamantium coated claws sprouted out from her knuckles. A pair in each hand. The metal gleamed dully in the gauzy moonlight, and Laura slowly straightened her body,her stands shoulder length wide, her knees slightly bent with both hands at her side. "You know, sneaking up on a woman in the middle of the night isn't generally considered a -good- idea." she spoke softly, though there was a rough, almost growling undertone to her words. "What do you want?"
Vincent seems unfazed by Laura's stare, and remains sitting. At her question he looks over his shoulder at the branch that he accidentally cut down "Maybe it's not obvious, but I'm not really the guy with good ideas." He doesn't even seem concerned by her claws. "And while you're asking me that you might want to ask yourself: being a woman alone in the middle of the night might not be a good idea itself." Vincent finally gets up and examines her claws from where he stands, "But you must be able to take care of yourself." He says before he smirks slightly with only half his mouth. "I don't want anything, really." Vince says before he laces his fingers behind his head, "I can leave if you want me to though."
Her own words turned back on her left Laura gaping for a moment, her mouth falling open slightly. She recovers quickly as he stands, a single nod given in his direction. "Yes, I can take care of myself." was the reply that followed. Her tone had lost some of the gruff edge, though it was still mostly monotone. Her gaze flickered back towards the tree that was now missing a rather large branch, and her brow furrowed over. Washed out green eyes refocused on his face, and slowly she retracted her claws, a slow trickle of blood falling in droplets at her feet, until her own healing factor took over and sealed the ever reopening wounds. "Night time is the only time I can be alone." she admitted after another long moment of silence.
"I prefer it to any other time of day.. I smell blood… Why are you bleeding?" Her shift in topic changing rapidly, as the faint scent of her own blood caught in her nose, reminding her why she'd been alarmed. though, it wasn't just that, Laura had been more on edge since returning to New York, and school. It had not been a smooth few days. "You don't have to leave. It is a public park, just don't do something stupid and make me kill you, alright?"
Vincent genuinely chuckles, then goes back to his trademark smirk. "If you didn't notice I feel from that tree over there. But it was a small cut." He lies, but she's got her metal claws out and primed. Not that he's worried. "Oh, I then I wont leave." He says before adding, "Just, make sure I don't have to keep you from killing me, I've got quite a few plans to go getting killed off at this point." Vince, always a slight sarcastic, but more charming that a certain masked vigilante.
Watching skeptically, her claws fully retracted back into her forearms for the moment, Laura strides forward. "Why were you in the tree then?" she demands, as she closes the distance between them. Her gaze leaving his face to study the rest of him for the first time, raking down over his form, looking for the injury that cause such a strong aroma of blood to fill her senses. A slender, dark brow arch up slightly, at his quip, though she didn't look amused or charmed. Most forms of humor were lost on her. "Who else wants to kill you?" she asked, her tone serious, but still curious. The man confounding her somewhat. Generally the people who were out this late in New York weren't the chatty, joking type. Standing maybe a foot away from him now, her eyes drop down to his hands, she can see the drying blood on his hands. She hold her own smaller hand out, "Let me see." wanting to inspect the injury herself, though it didn't look like there were any cuts on his hands for the blood to come from.
Vincent looks up to the near starless night, as only the brightest lights can pierce the lights of New York. "Just working on my free-running." The name for something he's been doing for year he just learned earlier that day. "Well, there's some people, but none that I can think of that are consistently trying to do so." Vince notes while looking to her feet, and then holding his hand up. Despite his healing powers, he is slightly worried about all the pain she could deliver to him. "Do you always assume that the people you talk to are wanted?" Vincent asks, not afraid to ask personal questions.
With a brow winging up once more as he answers, she looks back at the fallen branch then back to his face. "You're not very good at it." she observed, not meaning to offend just stating her personal observation. As Vincent holds his hand up, Laura reaches forward in an attempt to grasp him lightly, but firmly by the wrist and pulls hand towards her. Distracted with trying to discern where the blood had come from, his question confused her. "Wanted? I do not understand."
Vincent flops forward on his side as she tugs on his arm, but he doesn't bother getting back up yet, he simply puts his free hand under his head to hold it up. "Well, it was just that branch, at least I didn't hurt myself. "You know, if someone is trying to kill me, then I'm wanted, by someone at least. Am I right?" His hand is perfectly fine, except for the slight brown discoloration of blood in a perfect line on both sides of his hand and the underside of his arm.
She scowls down at his hand and arm and the lack of injury there, though as soon as she confirms there were no wound she let his hand drop immediately. Turning away from him Laura padded on silent feet to the edge of the lake, bending at the waist to rinse her hands free of his blood and her's in the water. "I suppose so, yes." she agreed after a moment. "But, I am unsure of why you asked that. I don't think everyone I speak to his 'wanted', no." She straightened up and turned to face him once more, leaving out the fact that she rarely spoke to anyone unless absolutely necessary. Walking back into dryer grass, Laura knelt down into a low crouch, her elbows resting on her knees as she watched him curiously once more. "Do you?"
"It's just you asked if someone was tying to kill me or something like that." Vince says with a shrug as she walks away. He rolls over onto his butt and sits cross legged again. "Me, no. I don't assume everyone as someone trying to kill them. I do assume everyone has their secrets and things they don't want the world to know." He smirks once again. "But I assume your secrets are very, very dark, if you go around pointing your claws at random guys who fall from the trees in Central Park."
Her gaze paced his movements, following each shift in his body like a predator watching prey from a distance. A scowl tugged down at the corners of her mouth, and her chin inclined up a fraction of an inch. "No, I have just learned to watch my back." she replied. "You should not assume, it makes you look like a fool." she shot back quickly, annoyed how accurate he actually was. She broke her gaze from his, green eyes shifting to look out over the still lake, the distorted reflection of the moon shining in the center, a frown still coloring her expression.
Vincent shrugs at Laura's comments. "Smart thing to learn early on." He notes, "And yet somehow I'm ok with looking like a fool." before standing up and stretching his arms out above his head. "But I'm not gonna pry into your past or secrets. Not my place." the mutant says in a somewhat smug tone. Something about her is intriguing and really reminds him of himself, so he can't help but say, "Name's Vince by the way." with a slight chuckle breaking up his sentences, "I don't usually introduce myself right away but, something is telling me to. Not sure what it is. Maybe a psychic is fucking with me. Heh, who knows."
Laura snorts derisively, "That's absurd? Why would you be okay with looking like a fool?" she counters, her head snapping back as his movement catches in her peripherals. Not liking the fact he was pretty much towering over her, standing, Laura stood up as well. Not that her standing did much good, she was petite, five foot one on her best day, with combat boots on. Barefoot she was just shy of five feet. She hesitates for a moment, her brow crinkling some when he starts talking about psychics. "Er.. Laura." she replied after another moment's pause. Why don't you usually give your name?" Laura shifted in place, her right leg bend at the knee as her foot rested on the calf of her left. Sort of standing like a flamingo, but she didn't really care, it was comfortable. With her hands now resting on her hips she goes back to studying him, finding his mannerisms and personality odd, but at the same time interesting. "I think I should be going. I'm in enough trouble at school already, and I get caught out all night again..” She grimaced at the thought of another lecture from Professor Hilde.
Vincent nods to Laura, letting her examine him, feeling pretty used to it. "Alright Laura." He says, as if filing the name away in his head. "I just don't. Some comfort thing, some reason I felt safe… maybe it's your claws. I don't know." Vince says turning and pacing once, not really reacting to her stance, "Ha, I remember those days." Vince says with a smirk "I'd offer you a ride, but I'm pretty sure you'd decline and want to walk home, honing your skills as you go anyways." Vince says with that smirk again, before he turns and starts to walk away, waiving his hand over his head in farewell.
Laura said nothing else as Vince spoke, letting him prattle on for the moment, and then when he turned to go she too, let one hand rise up in a half wave. "Good night." she murmured quietly, waiting until he was out of sight before she took off at a sprint in the opposite direction. She'd already stayed later then she'd meant to, and hoped she'd make it back into as to not raise any alarms. What an odd meeting.. Vince was.. definitely something, she decided. Laura had never actually heard anyone say that her claws made them feel safe…
