[Open]

[cmdreffingshepard]

Who: Shepard and YOU!
What: Various wanderings around Baedal. Specific threads for Kincaid's and the Arena.
Where: VARIOUS PLACES.
When: Various times, sukkardi/shundi.
Notes: All CR is welcome! I'll be putting up a couple of open thread starters but if anyone has ideas, just let me know and we'll get something going!
Warnings: Possible violence of the sparring sort in the arena; I'll update if anything else comes up.

Shepard is the kind of person who prefers a somewhat regimented kind of life - so it's no surprise that she quickly falls into a bit of a routine in Baedal. As long as she's not worrying about the basics - food, shelter and clothing - it's a matter of finding her way around and thinking about higher-order things - like keeping in shape.

Comments

Kincaid's - shundi

[cmdreffingshepard]

This gym is not as starkly utilitarian as what Shepard is used to. The Alliance military facilities she usually trains in have all the best, state-of-the-art workout equipment, but there aren't any day spas to be found, or juice bars, for that matter.

Still, a weight room is a weight room, no matter how many yoga classes there might be.

[controlledvariable]

Steph usually isn't much for gyms, but she doesn't have the luxury in Baedal of being able to duck into the Batcave whenever she needs a more heavy duty work out. So while she prefers to rely on other means of exercise, she's also not an entirely unfamiliar face at Kincaid's, enough that they've mostly stopped raising eyebrows at her when she goes for the heavy weights.

Currently, she's at a lat pulldown machine, and has apparently been at the gym for a while already, judging by how flushed and sweaty she is. She's as alert as always, recognizing Shepard from the network as soon as she sees her.

Steph doesn't stop working, but she does give a cursory, "Hey," in greeting.

[cmdreffingshepard]

When Shepard spots Steph, she doesn't look surprised. She's rather used to the disbelieving looks, herself, on occasion.

"Hi. This is a pretty nice facility," she comments, making for a leg press machine nearby. She already did her usual pre-workout stretch, so she gets right down to business, setting the weight.

[controlledvariable]

"I'm used to things being a bit more utilitarian," And, you know, being in a giant cave filled with bats, but she definitely doesn't miss the latter part (they smell).

"How are you settling in?" She knows how fortunate she was to have Babs and Tim already in the city, it would've been a lot harder to find her feet if they hadn't been there to help.

[cmdreffingshepard]

"So am I," Shepard admits, giving Steph a bit of a smile, then a shrug as she begins working on her calf muscles.

"Not bad. Garrus found some food he could eat, so that was a relief. And it sounds like Hellsing might be willing to take us on, so we'll have something to do and a source of income."

[controlledvariable]

Steph can imagine - she's never seen a military facility up close, but she doubts they have things like juice bars and yoga classes (not that she's knocking yoga, it's a good way to limber up).

"Hellsing are good people, from what I know," Except Alucard, that jerk, "I've got a couple of friends who work for them - I'll tell Martel to go easy on you, if you get him for your initiation."

Haha. Ha. As if Martel would listen to Steph.

[cmdreffingshepard]

Shepard smiles a little - but shakes her head. "I'm glad everyone seems to think so highly of them. Back home - I found myself backed into a corner, having to work for an organization that didn't have the greatest methods. But they were the only ones willing and able to help me do the right thing, or what I thought was the right thing, at the time.

"I kinda came to regret that decision."

[controlledvariable]

Steph gives a sympathetic wince - while she hasn't been in a situation like that, she can understand how awful it could get.

"I hope you got outta there eventually," Steph thinks so, considering the way Shepard is talking about it, "And I don't think you need to worry about that with Hellsing. My friends that are involved - I can't imagine them staying if Hellsing was shady, you know?"

Jim Kirk is like the male, space version of Steph, and if he works at Hellsing they must be The Good Guys.

[cmdreffingshepard]

"I did, but that doesn't entirely rule out guilt by association, you know?" Shep shrugs, thinking about Ash. It bothered her, that Ash didn't believe she'd really severed ties with Cerberus, but at the same time, if the situation was reversed, she's not sure she wouldn't have the same feelings.

She shakes it off, then. "Anyway, everyone involved with Hellsing here - and people who aren't, which may be more important - seems to think that Hellsing does good. So I'm willing to give them a chance, if they are."

[controlledvariable]

"Guilt's a hard emotion to shake. I think the best you can do is try to make up for it, in whatever way works," Steph is an expert on guilt, it's part of what drives her - trying to atone for her role in starting the gang war.

Steph nods, not answering straight away because she's finished her sets on this machine and moves to a nearby leg adduction machine so she can keep talking to Shepard, "I'd got for it. Though you'll have to live in Sobex Croix."

She doesn't know if anyone's mentioned that part.

[cmdreffingshepard]

"Oh, trust me, I was. Not that it matters anymore, now that I'm here," she says with a sigh. Stupid kidnapping city.

"Sobex Croix?" Her head tilts a little. "I'll admit, I haven't been apartment hunting yet, so I don't know the different neighborhoods all that well. But as long as I can find a clean place, with reasonable rent, I don't suppose I'll mind that much." She thinks about it another moment, then pauses in her leg crunches. "Are there a lot of, uh, xenians there?"

[bodilesswarrior]

Barbara isn't entire comfortable in gyms, but it's not like she has her own training rooms any more. (She's working on it.) So she visits Kincaid sometimes, when a more basic workout just doesn't cut it.

She gets a few stares on her way to the weight room, but she's used to that sort of thing. She has to be.

She's heading to one of the stack machines when she catches sight of Shepard. With a faint smile, "Hey. Settling in all right?"

[cmdreffingshepard]

"Hey," Shepard says. She is a little surprised to see someone in a wheelchair here, but it passes quickly. It might not be feasible for Joker, but someone without brittle bone disease might want to maintain their upper body strength.

"I'm doing all right. Just need to blow off a little steam, you know?"

[bodilesswarrior]

Her smile deepens, taking on a wry edge as she nods. "Completely. I wish I still had punching bags in my house."

[cmdreffingshepard]

"A punching bag would be good," she says. "A house might be even better. Not that I've ever lived in a house before." Her statement is good-natured, but, well, Shepard is a spacer. She's never lived planetside for any appreciable amount of time. She'll have to adjust.

[bodilesswarrior]

"You've always lived in space?" Her eyes widen, more out of intrigue than surprise. "This must be a pretty big adjustment."

Her lips quirk in a wry smile. "At least I just traded one bizarre, violent city for another."

[cmdreffingshepard]

Shepard shrugs. "It's not as though I don't know anything about life planetside, I just get antsy when I'm not on a ship or space station." She paused a moment. "Military family," she finally said.

[nolimitation]

The gym is one of the few reassuringly familiar things here in the city. Sure, it's a little more upscale than anywhere she frequented at home, but the layout of the place, the setup, the general atmosphere is close enough to something she'd expect to find at home that, if she ignores some of the obviously non-human clientèle, she can imagine that when she walks out the door, she'll be on the street in Boston again. It's a nice illusion while it lasts, anyway.

She's running through a few cool down stretches when Shepard walks in. The military bearing catches her attention right away; she smiles a little, and gives a small nod of greeting. It's old habit - when you're one of the few women in a profession as male-dominated as the military or law enforcement, you welcome your comrades whether you know them or not.

[cmdreffingshepard]

Shepard has seen a few more women here than she might have at an Alliance training facility, but they're still rare enough - and the unspoken camaraderie that comes with being a woman doing a strength training work out and obviously in military or law enforcement - she knows it well.

This woman looks friendly, but Shepard can tell by the way she moves, the way she carries herself. She's done her time in service, somewhere. "Is it just me, or is this place a little anachronistic, given what I've seen of the rest of the city?" she asks pleasantly.

[nolimitation]

Olivia grins, pausing in her stretching to straighten again and shrug. "I guess that depends on your definition. I think everything here is a little out of place, but I guess this place does stand out a little more than most."

She tilts her head a little as she asks, "Are you new here? In Baedal?"

[cmdreffingshepard]

"Yeah, I am," she says immediately. No point beating around the bush. "I'm Shepard. I don't mean to interrupt your workout. I just... I was struck by it. The fact that there's a Roman coliseum across town, and then this place."

[nolimitation]

"You're not interrupting," she answers with a little shake of her head. "I was just finishing up, actually. My name's Olivia, and I'm fairly new too - been here a few months, but I'm still sort of finding my feet." Her smile broadens, and she adds, "I guess the whole patchwork nature of the place isn't helping with that..."

[cmdreffingshepard]

"Yeah, it's... pretty weird," she admits. "How are you handling it? Finding work okay and all of that?"

Among other things, Shepard is interested to know if it takes people a while to assimilate, or if there are a lot of transplants who fall through the cracks.

Not to mention - do people like it here? Is it considered a terrible place to be, or is it a positive experience overall?

[nolimitation]

There's a fleeting grimace, and then a smile as Olivia shrugs. She's not happy here. She misses her home, her family, her team, her job. Just the knowledge, the fact that she's been trapped in another strange universe yet again makes her furious when she allows herself to think about it. But she's surviving.

"It could be worse," she says, sounding rather more sanguine about it than she feels. It has been worse, for her, when it comes to being abducted to alternate universes. That doesn't make it good. "I've got a job, an apartment... They do make it relatively easy for us, at least."

[cmdreffingshepard]

"That's true enough. Small favors," Shepard says sympathetically. She knows the feeling. Her universe may not be in the best shape right now, but it's hers, dammit, and she was going to do her best to save it.

Now she's stuck here, and stuck trying to work off the frustration of not being there anymore.

"At least I'm not stuck sitting on my hands. I have to feel useful."