Walkabouts

Here is where all threads set in the past belong. This is the place to post your characters' memories, good or bad, major or insignificant. Handlers may have one active memory thread at the same time as their normal active present-day thread. Memory one-shots are always acceptable.
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Rorick Skyve†
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Walkabouts

#1

Post by Rorick Skyve† »

Rocks, rocks and more rocks. Back there, were those - yup, more rocks. Some bushes here and there. Lovely.

Yeah, Monolith Gardens weren't exactly high up on her list of favorite  hiking locations, she much preferred Hualapai Mountain Park, always had. More diversity in the landscape. Had been and still was the only thing she'd never agree with Keith on: He had loved Monolith for some reason, always tried to explain to her why it was the best place in all of damn Arizona to leave all one's cares behind. And now he had no more cares to leave behind. Fuck, she'd get fucking sentimental again, not now, not in front of Cris. Had to keep those goddamn waterworks in check.

She took her eyes off the horizon and turned her head towards Crisanto, who was walking next to her. He had been totally silent for a while now - yeah, no big news there, he never really was big on conversation - but right now, it felt like she was on a hike with goddamn Kimiko. What, had he swallowed his tongue or something? Nah, hadn't been that long, maybe ten seconds or so. She was probably only still pissed at him for suggesting this dump of all places. Couldn't blame the knucklehead for not knowing she didn't really dig the place, but she could blame him for having piss poor taste.

Eh, didn't matter. Whatever nice view this place lacked, he made more than up for. She still found it hard to take her eyes off him, especially now when he was all stubbly like that - shit, had to stop staring, or this would get awkward eventually. Maybe at least say something, make it less obvious. Yeah, he wouldn't mind her ogling him like this, but still.

"Hey, you gonna talk to me or what? If I had wanted to walk around in total silence, I'd have gone by myself." Bit too bitchy there, he'd think she was even more pissed than she really was. To kill that impression right away, Jane stretched out her hand and playfully poked his chest with her index finger, all while giving him a challenging look.
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Slayer†
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#2

Post by Slayer† »

"Maybe I thought listening to you," Cris poked Jane's breast, enjoying the soft give under his finger, and gave her a playful smirk, "was more interesting than talking."

Personally, he rather liked the Monolith Gardens, and more importantly, she'd done her whole giving-orders thing one evening and told him to pick a trail they hadn't hit together next time they hiked. This was one of the ones on the list; honestly, he'd just picked at random, and in the time they'd known each other they'd gone to most of the trails already anyhow. They'd been walking the lasso loop of a trail for a couple hours now, their pace easygoing and Crisanto holding the water in his pack, and for a lot of the first portion Jane had been ragging on his choice of trails.

The first time, he'd reminded her she said to pick a new trail, and this one came up almost by default, but after that he just let her rant. It was good for her, clearly, and she was fun when she was all fiery. As annoyed as she seemed now, they'd be enjoying themselves a lot more afterwards. The ridgelines and rock spires loomed above them while patches of wildflowers and desert grass swayed to and fro in the sparse summer breeze, and their voices carried into cloudless sky to evaporate in the heat. Somewhere in the distance there was the clatter of hooves, a horse and rider galloping further along the trail. The rider saw them and shouted a little greeting as his massive beast overtook them a while back, before passing off into the distance.

There was quite a bit to appreciate out here if you had an eye for it, even if it did all make him feel unbearably small in the world. Jane didn't seem to have that eye, though, which honestly surprised him given the gusto she hit other trails with. Less surprising was the way she kept turning to gaze at him and acted like he didn't notice, but that was fine. Their arrangement came with staring rights.

The rock face to his right had a little crack in it, dressed with lichen and a sprout of verbena that emerged from the fissure. His hand darted out and took one of the flowers by the stem, plucking it free before presenting it to her as a little peace offering.
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#3

Post by Rorick Skyve† »

Jane raised one brow and crossed her arms, giving Cris a both skeptical and amused look. Damnit, that was actually pretty sweet. Again with the smooth-talking, got her almost every time. Not this time though, that was just too easy. He was probably used to bitches swarming him and swooning over every word he said. If he wanted some sugar from her right now, he'd have to work for it some more. "Nice try Mister, but I can bullshit myself." She kept her arms crossed, an affected pout on her lips.

Just then, she noticed someone on horseback passing along the trail. Her attention was immediately diverted from her 'boyfriend', with her now admiring the mount of the distant stranger. She liked horses, always had, something about their natural elegance and strength. This one was a real specimen, dark brown with spotted fur. Jane wondered what it would have been like to be on top of that horse right then, riding off into the distance, with Crisanto riding at her side.

She looked back at Cris. A weird thought came to her mind, comparing him to said horse. They were kinda similar in some ways, exotic, sort of elegant, powerful too - oh, especially the latter. She couldn't help but smirk at the thought. Wasn't even that farfetched, was it? Except maybe for the fact that he probably smelled better than that animal. Well, most of the time.

Huh, what was the guy doing? Seemed to be busy with the rock next to them, like he was - oh no, he didn't. Offering her flowers like that, just random ones plucked from right there, but still. That was verbena, right? Looked like it, had all that lovely color going. Fuck, it was so cliché, she'd have sneered at any script including something like that, but still, this was even sweeter than before. Oh what the hell, she'd take it, he got her.

Jane kept up her sulky expression for about another three seconds or so, then smiled and accepted them from Cris' hand. "Cheap move, bronco, real cheap. But good enough for me." She stepped closer to him, then put one hand on his shoulder and leaned in to plant a kiss on his cheek, her skin brushing against his stubble. She winced slightly, then pulled back and barely repressed a giggle.

"Unrelated, but you still got that water in your bag, right? Feel like I could use some."
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#4

Post by Slayer† »

(Minor GM approved)

As Jane drew back from his cheek, Cris reached out to pull her into a proper kiss. He buried a hand in her hair and put an arm around her waist to hold her against him. The heat melted away as for a time the world was their lips moving together and their bodies pressing against each other. Cris forgot the sun and sand and the small trails of sweat from the hike, but he knew her body language enough by now to know when she wanted to break a kiss, so when he felt her starting to send those signals he slowly detached. He felt her breath on his skin as he pulled away, giving her a sly grin as if apologising for the surprise.

"Couldn't help myself."

Sure, he was like that with a lot of girls, but that didn't mean he didn't mean it. The separation reminded him of the heat, however, and he knew Monolith Gardens. No source of water to be found, little shade, which was why his pack had so much water in it. The weight of plastic and liquid wasn't any real burden to his strong shoulders, but it was still important, and after regarding her for a moment he slung it off with one hand.

"What do you think, hydration break? We've got a little shade."
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#5

Post by Rorick Skyve† »

She should have seen it coming. He always did that, give him the slightest opportunity and you'd have his face on yours in no time. Even with that knowledge, Jane was caught in surprise and uttered a brief gasp before she was completely silenced by his lips pressing against hers.

It was nothing new to her, of course, but she could always find some joy in it nonetheless, just with how different it felt each time. This time was no exception and for a brief moment, the warmth of his breath and skin and his everything against her made her forget time and all else around her and close her eyes to savor the sensation to the fullest.

This didn't last long though, as she was reminded just how goddamn badly she needed something to wet her dusty throat with. Her energy was almost completely depleted within the first few seconds, she was just too fucking tired for this now. Jane opted to push him away, but found it wasn't even necessary to do so, as he pulled back by himself. She stepped back a bit, her initial surprise not having completely faded yet.

Still, she gave him a smile in return, panting slightly. Fucking Cris, the heat was already bad enough, but this would just make her melt into the damn ground entirely. She really needed some water now.

Jane brushed away some loose strands of hair that had gotten ruffled and were now hanging into her face. "Hey, that was nice and all, but you need to-" She was cut off by him suggesting a break. Damn, the guy was actually thinking. Didn't even need to get all snarky with him, nice. "Why, aren't you a smart boy?" She gave him another teasing smirk, then nodded. "Yeah, definitely in favor of a break. I'm gonna fucking collapse and shrivel up like a mummy at this rate."
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#6

Post by Slayer† »

"And what a shame that'd be."

As casually as a game of long toss in practise, he fished out a bottle and flicked it to her, letting it curve in the air softly enough she wouldn't have any trouble catching it. Before it even finished its journey, he had one in his own hand and popped off the little plastic cap with a flick of his wrist. Water wet his lips and rushed down his parched throat in a great gulping torrent, while a sigh of relief could be heard even through the bottle.

Crisanto was something of a religious water-drinker, to the surprise of some. Drink at a party? At least two glasses of water for every shot of booze. Coming down off a high? Break out the Poland Spring. Game day wraps up? Bet your ass he was hitting the water tank. Hydration was king, you could go weeks without food but only a couple days without water, and with his physically active lifestyle out in this damned desert his internals could dry up like the Sahara if neglected.

Besides, it meant that in all his parties, he'd not once woken up with a hangover. A real godsend, that, especially on rare pregame party nights. He'd coached friends through enough of those he wanted to make damn sure he avoided it himself. Within seconds, his bottle was empty, and rather than litter - what kind of animal did people think he was? - he stuffed it back in the pack and fetched another.

This time his sips were gentler, and he stepped into the shadow cast by the wall of rock next to them, letting out a contented little noise at the cool stone against his back. While he drank, his eyes roamed up and down Jane's body as they had done many a time before. He still wasn't at all bored of the view.

"Feel any better?"
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#7

Post by Rorick Skyve† »

Jane had her eyes fixed on the bottle as soon as it exited Cris' pack. Eyeing it greedily, she was almost ready to just rip it out of his hands right away. No need for that though, he was a speedy one, sent it flying towards her. She reacted, though sluggishly and thus it hit her in the chest, bouncing off and into both her awaiting hands. Didn't hurt, but must have looked pretty dumb, like she couldn't even catch a lax throw like that.

Still, she was thankful enough to have that water and began fumbling with the bottle's cap as soon as she got a good grip on the thing. Opening it didn't turn out as easy as she had thought though, since her first efforts - maybe caused by her impatience, maybe her overall dehydrated state, her sweaty palms or all at the same time - remained fruitless.

"Oh, you little shit..." Jane hissed to herself, inaudible for Crisanto or so she hoped. Who the hell screwed those things shut like that anyways? She sure hoped that asshole had gotten fired by now or died of thirst or something. Would have been sweet karma.

Finally, her fingers accomplished the seemingly impossible and the cap came off with a sound that was far less satisfying than it was probably intended to be, given all the trouble before. Jane sighed and looked over at Cris. Already guzzling his, of course. Not like he'd have any trouble opening that thing with that strength of his - hmm, no time to let herself be distracted.

With a sigh of relief, she tilted her head back and brought the bottle to her lips, downing half of it in one go. She would have kept going too, if not for Cris interrupting her bliss with his silly question. Though adorably silly, at least.

She lowered the bottle, her lips wet and glistening, then immediately wiped them with the back of her hand. "What do you think, you big dumbo?" She smirked at him, too content to get real snarky with him. Taking another quick sip, she starting walking towards him.

"I feel ecstatic. Like I could carry your whole sexy self all across this wasteland." She ended that sentence by poking him in the abdomen, once, twice and one more time for good measure, then let her finger trail all the way up to his chest. "That's not an offer though."
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#8

Post by Slayer† »

"Aw, c'mon. I've been good and everything."

He took the pokes to his abs in stride and felt a little shiver where her finger trailed up his chest. He even gave a little chuckle at that and her snarking, which might've gotten a faintly disinterested glare from him coming from anyone else. Somehow that fire she carried around inside her rarely failed to get him on his feet or at least thinking about something other than the black dog which tailed him every day. If she didn't have that, she probably would've been just another pretty girl with a nice rack he hooked up with at some party and whose name he then forgot, but instead she lodged in his mind.

Crisanto, unlike some, actually liked girls who had spirit. She had him actually joking with her, for one, and after his little mock-complaint he leaned down to kiss her again. Nothing too much this time, just a quick little peck on the mouth followed by gently nipping her bottom lip as he pulled away, but enough to keep her going despite the heat.

"I'd do it for you, you know."

Which he probably could. Baseball was far more physically demanding than most realised, and pitching in particular put enough strain on the human arm and shoulder that to keep at top form and avoid injury Crisanto spent as much time in the weight room as some of the wrestlers and football players, if not more. His max was somewhere north of twice Jane's entire body weight, and she was all soft curves instead of hard metal. She hadn't believed him when he said so, once, and so he'd demonstrated by lifting her clear off the ground in one smooth motion, with permission of course.

Sometimes it was fun to prove people wrong. It was certainly a story he liked to remember.
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#9

Post by Rorick Skyve† »

Jane kept her finger where it was, looking up into his eyes. With most other guys, she'd have assumed that statement to be nothing but macho talk, something like that. Thing with him was though, he probably could have actually done it. She already knew he could lift her without even having to put much effort into it. Hell, if she asked him to, he'd have probably carried her around for real. She wasn't going to though, that would have been silly.

"Thanks, but I can still stand on my own feet just fine." Jane lifted her finger up to bop Cris on the nose with it. She wasn't even sure if she did it out of affection or just to mess with him a bit, maybe both. Kind of reminded her of how she'd always bop her little Mr. Darling on the nose, that adorable mass of pink plush. Cris was obviously much bigger, less fluffy and decisively less pink, as well as not qualifying as a teddy bear. Still, it did sort of evoke the same feelings in her. Which was kind of weird, now that she thought about it,  seeing as they were mostly fuckbuddies. Eh, nobody said you couldn't be cuddly fuckbuddy.

"Anyway-" Jane clapped her hands, as if to spur both of them back into action. "Wanna keep going? I feel all fresh and alive already." She was far more motivated now then she'd have thought back when Cris suggested Monolith Gardens. Thought she'd spent half the trip sulking and giving him shit, even though he didn't deserve it. For once, she was actually glad she'd been proven wrong.
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#10

Post by Slayer† »

"Works for me."

A little quick, but whatever she was happy with. He finished his second bottle and stepped away from the rock face, giving her a little gesture as if to say "lead the way."

Whether she did or not, he got going himself, shrugging the pack onto his shoulder again with a nonchalant smile as he strolled back onto the trail. Sweat still trailed down himself but less so, as he walked back into the sun.
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#11

Post by Rorick Skyve† »

Jane brough the bottle to her lips once more, taking another long sip. God, that was so good. She sure hoped Cris had a whole more bunch of them packed away in his bag, one more for himself and about half a dozen for her to guzzle. He was a smart one, he probably had more than plenty in store. If not, she would literally force him to carry her back all the way, though that wouldn't have been that much of a punishment - for all she knew, he'd probably enjoy it. Besides, she knew he was reliable in regards to supplies and such, so that entire line of thought was baloney anyway.

She shook her head. Enough messing around in her head, Cris was already up and walking. Not like it was hard catching up to him, but she didn't want to look like a damn slowpoke. She licked her lips, then stashed her mostly empty bottle away in the small bag she carried with herself. A few hurried steps later, she was walking next to Crisanto again. The sun on her skin immediately made her remember why she'd been half parched just a minute ago.

"Jeez, how long do you think we've been going? Couldn't have picked a hotter day for this, eh?" Jane brushed some more loose strands out of her face, some of them already sticking to her forehead, which was wet with sweat. She smiled a little. It was really hard for her to stay grumpy even for a second right now. Couldn't be the trail itself, so it had to be because of Cris.

"Not that I mind though, as long as I keep burning those calories." She looked herself down, then turned her head to him, a somewhat more serious expression on her face. "You don't think I put on weight, do you?"
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#12

Post by Slayer† »

Cris paused mid step and looked over his shoulder at her, his gaze sweeping over her. Sweeping might have been the wrong term for a rather halting look-over that paused for several seconds each to linger on first her chest, then her hips.

"Nah."

Except maybe a tiny bit in the areas he liked most. If anything she seemed to be losing a little, her stomach steadily flattening bit by bit. He just hoped she wouldn't obsess over it.

For her earlier question, he turned away and for a long moment pretended to solemnly scan the horizon. He was keeping both time and the water so he already knew, but the sun was still high and he felt like having some fun with it.

"We're about halfway through. At our normal pace we have a couple more hours or so."
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#13

Post by Rorick Skyve† »

He was looking, oh, he really was taking a good look. Not even trying to make it less obvious where his eyes were going. Yeah, she had to admit, that had been part of her intention too. No compliment like a lover staring at you like that. That alone told her enough to know she was still in shape. Not like she had had any serious doubts about it in the first place.

"You sure? Maybe take another look, just to be safe." She flashed a short, contented grin, then indicated to him to keep going.

Oh shit, only halfway through though? Not like she minded Cris' company, not at all, but the sun seemed especially eager to drain the fighting spirit from her that day or rather the hiking spirit. Nah, that sounded dumb. Either way, looked like it was going to be a tough act to follow. Maybe that wasn't even so bad, provided her with a little challenge to take on. How long could she keep going before she needed another break? Sure, why not, had to do something like that every once in a while, make things more interesting.

She continued walking, taking a few moments now and then to halt and observe some of the rock formations more closely. Yeah, she had to admit, some of those looked pretty rad, she could appreciate that. Monolith wasn't entirely her cup of tea, but it had its charm, she wasn't going to deny that. Man, she really was feeling relaxed, wasn't she? Being lenient like that, it really surprised herself a little.

Still, she was feeling like maybe getting Cris to talk a little more. Had taken them all but a few minutes go all silent again and while that didn't really bother her as much as earlier - mainly since she was now refreshed by both water and the attention Cris had given her - she still preferred it when they interacted a little more than that. Maybe mention something she knew he was into, like-

"By the way, how are you and your baseball team doing?" Yeah, that ought to do the trick.
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#14

Post by Slayer† »

Cris had been contentedly humming along as he strolled until the question reached his ears, at which point he didn't stop but he did go quiet for a moment as if picking his words.

"Well, the seniors are gone. Some drafted, some not. Mets jumped on Taro like he lays golden eggs so he's off to Vegas. The rest of us have been practising, letting the whole 'state champs' thing sink in and figuring out who'll take over for captain. Coach says not to get lazy but a lot of us have been putting our feet up."

To be cliché, it still didn't feel quite real. They'd gone to Surprise Stadium and played their hearts out, bolstered by it being the first chance at state title glory for Cochise since 2011, and it turned out to be enough. Just barely. Hours after the final game his pitching arm had still been sore enough he could barely use it, such a slog it had been. Hadn't he told Jane about it when the Coyotes got back to Kingman? He couldn't remember. It probably didn't matter,  even if he found himself straightening with pride, his voice going up just a tiny bit in pitch, as he thought about what his team had accomplished. The rocks and sun and desert grass looked on, uncaring, but he could ignore the heat if they were like this.
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#15

Post by Rorick Skyve† »

Jane gaze lingered on the side of Crisanto's face for a moment, her pondering what to respond. "Huh, kay. Cool."

Yeah, not like she could say much more than that. She had never been big on sports other than hiking, especially not competitive ones thus why she never really bothered trying to keep up with the news surrounding the Coyotes. Though even she knew they had won state that year, just had sort of forgotten about it for a moment. She remembered Cris talking about it, him actually sounding proud about it, not often that happened. And that was about everything that was of any interest to her concerning baseball. Yeah, maybe she should have picked a different topic, but hey, got a little bit of a conversation out of him at least.

Still, looked like they had already reached a dead end there, kinda sucked. What else she got? Could try and ask him about family matters maybe but eh - she didn't really care about that either. Except maybe what Eliza was doing. She had sort of thought about maybe bringing her along for a hike some time, but not really - she'd rather her and Cris had the time to themselves.

Yeah, the more she thought about it, maybe they didn't really need to talk now after all, no big conversation at least. Really, it was enough for her to just be reminded of his presence now and then. It felt nice, just having someone be there who she knew sort of cared about her. Eye candy factor only helped his case, of course. Sure, she could live with the silence, no problem.

Flicking a single hair and some dust from her shoulder, she continued staring off into the distance, thankful that the sun had the courtesy to not be a bitch and blind her. Weird, the longer she spent here, the more she warmed up to this place. Literally warmed up, really. For all its bleakness, it was just really, really relaxing in its nature. Made her wonder why she hadn't been able to appreciate that until now. Probably because she had been too hung up and pissed about having to come here in the first place earlier.  

Only then did she notice that she had unknowingly walked a bit lopsidedly, stepping closer to Crisanto inch for inch during her walk. It felt appropriate, so she extended her hand and softly clasped his hand with hers - or rather, she cupped the back of his hand with hers.
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