5/12/2003
01:09
PM
Logfile
from Chase.
The
Berkley Apartments - 302
Clearly,
apartment 302 is a bachelor's land that knows no womanly touch. While the
apartment is clean, even immaculate, it's hard to mistake the gender
preferences of the decor. The main room is painted a neutral creme color with a
tan border that displays many different kinds of fish around the world; On the
walls, glass-windowed storage cabinets hold poles, tack and bridle for horses,
nets, ropes, and any number of bestiary-related clutter, most of which can't
possibly be of any use in the city. Tools hang on a cork board on the far wall,
ranging from different gauges of wire to a welding torch. Contrastingly, the
kitchen is decked out in warm shades of red and white, with an expansive spice
set and expensive cutlery visible among the otherwise immaculate countertops.
Stranger yet is the complete absence of electronics; No clock, TV, radio, or
telephone grace the entire apartment, and both the table and the massive bed
that sits in the bedroom seem handmade, if awkwardly so.
Obvious
exits:
Exit
*Tap**tap**tap* Mina's knuckles graze easily against the
rough wood of Chase's door, announcing her presence. And she comes bearing gifts again, this time a Legolas binder and
pen and pencil set. My, the things she
comes across at the mall. And of course
a little doggie treat from the local pet store for Benito.
At the
knocking on the door, there is a rather loud barking in response, followed by
the skittering of something upon the floor. "Wait!..." *Thump*
*CRASH* "Awwwwww damn. Benito!" Suddenly there is one very loud thump
against the door, followed by another a little higher up. More skittering that
moves away. A moment later and Chase is opening the door, drenched nearly from
head to toe in wet-marks. Hair dripping, and a scrub brush in his hand. Wet
puddles also make pathways here and there across the floor. Oh, and if you look
towards one of the bedrooms, you might see Benito's face peeking around the
corner, even more wet than Chase. "Hey."
And
with a sight like this greeting her, what can Mina do but laugh. "Problems cowboy," she asks
archly, one eyebrow raised in askance.
"Hello Benny-boy," she calls to the dog, crouching down and
waving the dried pig's ear like a flag. "Giving poor Chase trouble, ne? Who's a good doggie, who," she reverts to baby-talk to
praise the canine. Giggling up at Chase,
she hands over the school supplies.
"For next term, you can use them in Professor Gordon's class,
ne?" And she'll be right there
with him to make sure that her present doesn't go to waste. "I think it's a very good picture of
him, looking rather lovely and elfish."
Yeah, it's the hair that does it for her, it has to be the hair.
Chase
rolls her eyes and waves Mina within. "Don't just stand there laughing at
my expense. Just trying to give him a bath. Have you /ever/ tried to give a dog
that big a bath?" Of course, the traitor trots right on up to Mina to
enjoy that ear, dripping the entire way. He takes yet another of her presents
with a wry glance, until he sees what is on it. "Oh, for the love of...
you really are obsessed with this guy. Do you drool when you watch the movies
too?" He closes the door after her, waving a hand to the kitchen, "If
you want anything, just go ahead and take it. I actually bought things last
night. Real food. The apples are great." Loves apples. Not for shooting
off of the top of people's heads, but for eating. "Maybe I need to get you
a Dr. Doolittle cd or something."
Laughing,
Mina heads towards the kitchen and the awaiting apples, tossing over her
shoulder, "You know, I've never really had trouble with dogs and
baths." Ah, the joys of being
Amefuri. "Even one as big as
Benny-boy here." Rummaging around
in his fridge, she comes up with a lovely red apple, biting into it with
something akin to bliss on her face.
"Mmmm... I adore apples."
Peeking out and grinning at Chase's reaction to her present, she shakes
her head, "I'm not obsessed with him, there's just something about him
that reminds me of you." Ducking
back into the safety of the other room, just in case Chase decides to
retaliate, she calls back towards him, "Mind if I take a soda?" Blink.
"Dr. Doolittle cd? The
recent version or the older one?"
Nope, she doesn't have the same hang ups as the Genbu does.
Chase
meant dvd actually, but we won't quibble, will we? "Both. All..."
Alas, apparently he'll have to give up on that track, seeing as mentioning it
didn't get the rise out of her he was hoping for. Durn. Benito is given a smirk
as he moves over to open the window that leads out onto the fire escape.
Obligingly, the dog trots over in that direction, but not before taking a
moment to shake from nose to tail and send even more water spraying everywhere.
Chase winces, lifting a hand to his face, but it pretty much well is a lost
cause. The dog hops out the window to happily chew upon the ear outside on the
fire escape. Wiping a droplet of water from his nose, he glances back to Mina,
"Hopefully it is a good reminding, even if he is a nancing elf."
Mina
can't help herself as she opens up the Genbu's fridge and helps herself to a
coke. "Good reminding... anou, you
could say that," she teases, sauntering back into the room with the soda
in hand. "You know, the nancing,
prancing bit," she adds with a giggle, plopping down on his sofa and
casting a sidelong glance in his direction.
Benny's watched with amusement and she offers, "I can help you bath
him, if you'd like. He just gets overly
excited at the attention." Still,
the big Rottie's looking good. Always a
plus in her book.
Chase
doesn't take a seat. No. He'll just stand there and drip. "I do not
prance. Or nance. Thank you very much." And that sounds just plain wrong
coming from him anyway. He sighs, heading to take up an apple for himself as
well, biting into it with a satisfying crunch. "Double-team him? Might
actually have to try that." Heck, she is the animal girl. "Either
that or he delights in making things all the more difficult for me. Ah well.
Maybe next time I should just dump him in a pond in Central Park."
"Suuuure
you don't," is Mina's expected reply, popping open the can of soda and
taking a deep swig before placing it on the coffee table, resting her
half-eaten apple on the top of the can.
Bending down to pull off her boots and setting them beside the couch,
she curls her legs up underneath her and reaches for her apple and Coke
again. "That probably won't be
necessary, Chase-kun," she grins over at the Genbu. "And you know, making things difficult
for you is fu-" Blink. "How
did you hear about the pond in Central Park.
Kenny-sensei told you, didn't he?"
Growl.
Chase
is fairly sure he doesn't prance. He blinks at her for a moment, and then
scowls. Rolling his eyes, he drops that subject because as far as he is
concerned, it really is rather pointless. Sure, he might bound on occasion, but
there is no prancing involved. He moves behind the couch, dropping down to fold
his arms over the back, peering at her, "Fun... like putting weasels in my
clothes?" He shakes his head from side to side, and then peers at her,
"Kenny told me what? What pond is this? I was talking about Dylan..."
Peer.
Mina
leans over to pat Chase on the cheek after he moves behind the couch. "You know that I'm only teasing about
the prancing bit, ne?" Her eyes
dance and she can't help but quirk her lips up in a rather impish grin. "Hai, hai, it's fun. Although... the weasels in the clothing...
well, most of the time you deserve that, too." Mina doesn't smack, so fuzzy surprises are her chosen form of
retaliation. "And admit it, you
kinda like it, cowboy." Her
teasing features flush as the Genbu peers at her and she focuses on her apple,
taking a bite.
"Mruffin." Her food
filled version of 'nothing'. Drat her
big mouth. What are the chances that
Chase'll believe her?
Chase
glances over his shoulder and towards the window to glance at the rott for a
moment, but then he is looking back to Mina. "You do put weasels in other
people's clothes as well, right? Sure, I'd much rather it was actually you, but
beggers can't be choosers." Okay, and now he'll quickly push away from the
sofa and ready for any retaliation. Oh, but she is blushing again. Amazing how
often she does that. "Kenny has been pushing more people into ponds? Oh...
come on. This sounds like a good story."
"Nope,
only in yours. Although I have
threatened more of the Genbu with it," Mina grins her retort before
coughing on her soda. Chase didn't just
say what she thought he did.
"Flirt," she blushes again, shaking her head. "You're incorrigible." And now she'll take another bite out of her
apple, attempting an innocent look. Chewing
furiously, she swallows. "Kenny's
pushing more people into ponds? It's
becoming a habit with him, isn't it?"
Oh, she's so not going to reveal her embarrassment if she can avoid
it. "You should have a talk with
him, cowboy, it's not really polite to go pushing helpless people around."
Chase
finally comes over to climb over the back of the couch and then perch upon the
arm of it. He turns to face her as he sits there -this something his mother
would not take kindly to see at all. Furniture abuse. "You should be more
original with the others. Maybe the octopus." Well, that tentacle part
might be questioned wrongly. "Or a legion of fuzzy caterpillars. Can't do
the same for everyone that teases you mercilessly." He flashes her a broad
wink, taking another bite from the apple. "Is he? I have no clue. We
manage to miss each other half the time anymore. Why... he... he didn't push
you into a pond, did he?" Okay, now he'll just stare at her.
"Iie,
the octopus is saved for Lee."
Serves him right. Finishing off
her apple and looking around for some place to toss the core, she laughs, and
waggles her eyebrows at Chase.
"Fuzzy caterpillars, huh? I
could always experiment on you... wanna be my lab rat, cowboy?" Leaning forward and picking up her can of
soda, she finishes off the contents in a couple of really long gulps, very
unladylike, but hey it gets the job done.
Suppressing the resulting burp, she replaces it on the coffee table and
places the remaining apple core on the top again. "Push me into the pond?" Mina tries to feign innocence.
Course, chances are she's failing miserably. "Why would you think that, Chase? Iie, I'm studying self defense with him and he erm... pushes me
and throws foam balls and stuff."
Err... yeah, that's it.
Chase
reaches over to take the core from her and then pitch it backwards to the
satisfying thunk as it enters the wastebasket after the blind toss. "Any
time. Anywhere. But means that I get to do the same to you. Put things under
your clothes." A broad grin follows that one as he smiles down at her.
"I'll have to ask Kenny about that," he muses, giving her a skeptical
glance. "Oh? Are you? Really? Hey, that's great. It is about time you
learned more about self defense and such like that. Non-magically at least.
How's that going?"
"Nice
basket," Mina whistles, impressed, before she pushes suddenly at the
Genbu, hoping to catch him off-balance and topple him off the side of the
couch. "Put things under my
clothing, Chase? I'm not making that
deal with you, who knows what weird things you'd stick under my shirt." And now she's flushing and shaking her head,
trying to convince herself that the Genbu's just being his same old flirty
self, else she'd start getting skittish again.
"And don't you dare ask Kenny," she growls, trying to bluster
her way out of the situation.
"Because he... erm... might have confused me with another
Byakko." Or something. "Hai, hai, well someone else I know was
supposed to teach me how to shoot, but he welched, so I guess it's martial arts
practice for me. And it's going slowly...
and painfully," she adds with a wince.
"I'm covered in black and blue bruises all over my body." And no, she's not showing Chase.
Chase
isn't about to tumble off the arm of the couch. That would simply destroy his
whole nancing elf image. That -and look really dumb falling on his arse. So,
instead, he grabs at her wrists to try to keep his balance, or take her with
him. "Weird... or fun?" he counters with a wink. "Rather hard to
confuse you with another Byakko, Mina," he adds with a wry turn. "And
I have not welched. This and that has come up. Then there were finals. But, my
summer is now free. Your summer is now free. That means plenty of time to do
things like that." He frowns at the bruising comment though, "Kenny
isn't being too rough with you, is he?"
Mina
wasn't expecting to be used as a support and she was a little off-balance from
trying to push Chase in the first place.
Thus, she's easily dragged forward into the Genbu. Hopefully the rug's soft, because they're
both going down. "Oof," she
grunts before wincing again, "Itai, itai, itai..." Grumbling as she rises, her plan backfiring,
she dusts off her jeans. See, this is
why she uses weasels more often than not.
"Fun? Cowboy, as cute as
you are, I don't think anything you stick under my shirt would be
fun." And then she's blushing,
because she really should think before opening that mouth of hers. "Well, almost anything..." Eep, that's making things worse. New topic, new topic. "Iie, he's not being too rough on
me. I'm just terrible at
dodging." Remember the whole
snowball incident? It was that all over
again, but with foam balls that were thrown rather hard.
Ack.
Feeling of falling through the air. Feeling of hitting the floor, hard, and
unable to roll with the contact because of Mina being right on top of him.
Well, not that Chase would mind or anything. But he does let out his breath
with a dramatic whoosh as she lands on him, only to drag in another breath. So,
he'll just lay there, looking up at her. He arches his eyebrows at the 'under
the shirt' comments, not doing all that well in looking less than smug.
"Well, we could always... experiment." After all, she was the one who
brought up experimenting in the first place. "You just need to work out
more. Although, sometimes moving quickly to dodge and stuff simply isn't in the
genes. But, you are a seishi, so you should be able to make a good show of
yourself, eventually. If you want practice though, I'd love to help out. Like I
said, I haven't got anything else to do this summer. And you need the
work."
Pulling
down her shirt self-consciously, Mina flushes at shakes her head. "Experimenting with you would be
dangerous, Chase," is her soft and serious response. She stares down at the Genbu before prodding
him with a sock clad foot. "And
don't look so damned smug, you know that I'm attracted to you." Turning around and pacing towards the couch,
she sits down again near the arm and peeks over the side at the other
seishi. "Getting up any time
soon?" Frowning at the working out
comment, she lets her shoulders slump and nods her head. "Hai, that's what Kenny said as
well. And... I think I'll take you up
on both offers, to practice and to learn to how to shoot." And then she's frowning, "What do you
mean I need the work?"
Grumble. "You're so lucky
you're prone on the floor, Chase or else I'd..." Darn it, who's she kidding?
Leaping over the arm of the couch, she prepares to pounce on the other
teenager with a tickle attack. Bonzai!
Chase
watches her with faint amusement, "Nothing wrong with danger. Makes it
even more fun." But, he will move to fold both of his arms behind his
head, sighing softly. "Yeah, I'll just stay down here. If I wasn't used to
the floor by now... But yeah, it'll be fun. I'm also giving Brice pointers as
well. Heck... maybe I should just go legit and be a shooting instructor....
Naaaaah." Too boring. Hearing the creak of the couch, he is already
tensing for an attack, but he can't help but burst into laugher at the sight of
Mina launching over the sofa's arm and towards him. It really isn't often that
a person gets to see a sight like that. So, he will enjoy it, laughing, an
prepared for retaliation. Still, she tickles him, garnering quite a few
snickers as he throws his head back, hands trying to grapple with hers to stop
the young woman.
"You're
an adrenaline junkie, Chase," Mina comments between giggles. "That's why you liked Lexie, she was
nothing but danger, ne?" And she's
betting she doesn't know half of the stuff that the Genbu did with the former
Yin no miko. And she'll keep on
tickling, finding it easier to do from her superior position, sitting on the
other seishi's chest and letting her fingers attack those spots that he finds
so terribly sensitive. The good thing
about tickling Chase is that she's had lots of practice. "You know, this love of yours for
danger's gonna get you hurt or worse, some day." And then she's backing off, finally letting him catch her wrists,
as she stares down at him worriedly.
"You need to find someone who's able to handle your impetuousness,
cowboy."
Chase
does his level best to try to curl away from her hands, hitching from one side
to the other as her fingers change about. Aieee. She truly is evil, playing on
his weaknesses. Bad Mina. Bad. Inbetween gasping breaths and laughing, he
manages a few words, "Awwwww, don't turn this into a scolding session
now." Gasp, breath. Shaking his head from side to side to clear his vision
from his overly-long bangs, he blinks back up to her as she stops, taking this
time to drag in a few more breaths. "Like you?"
*Ba-dump**ba-dump* Mina's heart pounds in her chest at Chase's
last words and then she's scrambling off the Genbu. "Iie, not like me," she denies with a shake of her
head. "You need someone who won't
encourage your impetuousness. That's
certainly not me. I'd probably drag you
into more trouble than you find on your own, cowboy." Kneeling next to the prone seishi and
brushing his bangs off of his forehead, she smiles softly. "You deserve better than me."
Chase
will not pout as she climbs off of him, but it takes an enormous force of will
not to. "No? Well, if you say so, I suppose it must be true," he
responds, an almost airy tone to his voice. He turns his head to the side to
look at her, smiling faintly, "Now... why did you have to go and say that?
Better than you? Doubtful."
Her
smile widening, Mina nods her head once, punctuating her words. "Hai, you deserve someone who's more
responsible, more decisive than me.
Someone who's free to love you the way that you deserve,
cowboy." Switching her position,
she lays down on the floor next to the seishi, propping herself up on her side
and pillowing her head on her arm.
"You really are a wonderful person, you know. I adore your sense of fun, you bring out my
own impulsiveness." She closes her
eyes and sighs, "But I think that's our Achilles heel, you know? We need someone to balance us out, just like
the Yin and Yang balance each other.
Someone to be responsible and remind us of the consequences of our
actions, ne?"
Chase
frowns in annoyance. Clearly she didn't hear the sarcasm in his tone. Goodness,
this girl doesn't take a hint when it is given. "That's what Hikitsu is
for," he mutters under his breath, peering across to her. Close proximity
= Intense desire to smooch the girl. Must resist. Again, he speaks wryly,
almost deadpan, "Please. Stop. You're going to make me blush." He
sighs softly though, looking over at her, "How about someone that I more
than like, get along amazingly well with, who /has/ managed to stop me before I
tried to go out on a killing spree... who I probably have more fun with than
anyone else, who has a slamming body, and doesn't take my crap most of the
time. How about that? Only thing is... she's stubborn. And she needs to make
her own decisions... but if that is the way it is going to be, then... I
suppose I'll have to live with it."
Mina
pokes Chase in the shoulder, "I'm being serious here," she frowns,
blinking over at the other seishi.
"And I see that you don't take compliments well. I'm not just saying them to say them, you
know. You're... you're my best
friend. I can tell you things that I
can't tell Ra- other people." But
now she's making things worse as she's wont to do, so she'll try to change the
subject. "Hey, you said Miaka had
a better body than I did, remember.
More curves." Grinning and
propping her head up on a hand, her elbow resting on the carpet, she teases,
"And you seem to be the kind of guy who likes curves." For all her lightening of the mood, there's
still a concern that echoes in her seafoam gaze.
Chase
sighs once more and nods his head. Nope, won't look annoyed, but he might look
just a little resigned for the moment. "Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I get it."
So he is resigned to be the sidekick (yet again) until she gets her head out of
her as...you get the picture. "Sure, but I can be appreciative of all
kinds of bodies, and not settle on one type. Like you.. lover of long, blonde
hair, tall and skinny girly-men. Why is it that the scrappy dark-haired guys
always get the short end of the stick?" But, he is smiling as he says it,
leaning over to give her shoulder a poke in return. "I've seen Miaka's
curves. The mystery is gone."
"He's
a pretty studly girly-man, Chase," Mina retorts with a giggle, her
blue-green eyes dancing. "And you
know, for all your dislike of the guy, I'd think you were jealous or
something. After all, he can slide down
on a shield and take out a whole orc army on his own. Now that's skill."
And now she'll prepare to roll away, just in case the Genbu tries to
come after her. "And you don't
always get the short end of the stick, you got Lexie. That has to be some sort of coup, ne?" Quirking up the ends of her mouth, she
teases, "So all it would take is to see my curves and the mystery would be
go too? I'll take you swimming
sometime, then."
The
only thing is, a /lot/ of people had Lexie. Chase just managed to stick around
long after any 'one-night stands'. "I'll have you know that I took out a
/good/ number of the Kutouese army from the top of a hill one time, and I
didn't have to resort to using computer animation to do it either," he
retorts. "Kutoese are as ugly as orcs too." Well, they are.
"Skinny dipping? Sure thing!"
.
Mina
happens to have a fondness for some Kutouese.
And heck, she's seen Nicholas.
Can't ever claim that he's ugly.
"Anou... not all Kutouese," she counters dreamily. "Kai's not a bad looking
seishi." Especially now that he's
come back with long hair. Speaking of
which, "Chase-kun, you knew about Kai and Lexie, ne? He... he knows about you and her as
well. I'd... I'd try to avoid him if I
could." And now she'll just wish
that the floor would open up and swallow her whole, such is her
embarrassment. "Iie, hentai,"
she screeches, pushing at her fellow seishi.
"Not skinny dipping... I meant with bathing suits and towels
and..." So flustered is she that
she can't even complete her sentence, much less look Chase in the eye.
"No,
but I've feathered a shogun or two that would make your toes curl," Chase
adds, flashing her a broad grin to go with the wink. He sighs though at mention
of Kai, shaking his head from side to side. But it is her dreamy look which has
him snapping his figures to get her attention again. Wake up, fangirl. Wake up.
But she is quite awake, pushing at him once more, and enough to cause him to burst
into laugher once more at her fluster. He rolls with the push only to come back
up and give her hip a push with the heel of his hand, "Oh, come on. After
you've seen me in only my shorts, you /know/ you want to see the rest so don't
try getting all maidenly on me, Mina-girl. You know, compare my rear to that
elf. Admit it." No, he isn't about to give her any mercy this time.
Mina
tsks, swiping at the snapping fingers.
She's quite awake, thank you very much.
And grumbling, as Chase pushes her back. He's not supposed to push back!
Flopping over on her back, she rolls her eyes. "I do not," she counters primly, staring up at the
ceiling. "How did we ever get on
this topic anyway? You really are a
hentai, Chase-kun. I'm going to tell
Lee-san that he's got competition in you." And now she's going to rise and pad over to her boots, slipping
them on because she's now well and truly embarrassed. "Anou, about Benito, just hose him down or something. Might be safer than trying to bathe him in
the bathtub." And he's just lucky
she's not on speaking terms with any of the Seiryuu... they'd probably take
offense to his comparison.
"We
got on this topic because..." Hrm, even Chase has to think about it now.
"Because you started getting envious of Miaka's curves, and then you
wanted to go skinny dipping." Listen as he twists the words, rolling over
to look at her -only that she is getting up. Hey now. He rolls easily to his
feet once more, crossing over to her, "First she says I prance and now I'm
a hentai. Anything else you want to add?" He moves over to sit up on
the back of the couch watching as she
puts on her shoes. "Leaving now? I'll call you later about that practice,
okay?" Beat. "Do I get a goodbye kiss?"
"I
said swimming, and I'm not envious of Miaka's curves." Much.
Mina flounces, yes flounces towards the door, blush riding high on her
cheeks. "And I only suggested swimming
because... Nevermind, hentai," she growls. "And hai, I'm leaving." Stopping at the door, she smiles over her shoulder at the
Genbu. "Iie, no goodbye kiss, but
I will leave you with something to remember me by." Yup, it's that same abuse of power. There's a subtle white glow about her and
then Chase has a little fuzzy friend to keep him occupied. "Jya ne!"
Two can
play at this game! Chase has held amazing restraint so far in concerning what
end up under his clothes when it comes to her, having not once used powers.
But, a guy can only take so much. And so, as soon as he feels the flicker of
chi from her, he is countering with a decided coldness to the young woman's bra
(gee, is she even wearing one?) Not frozen, but really, really cold. Of course,
in the next breath he is falling over the sofa, tugging at his clothing as he
gets a furry rush.
"Aiya!!!!" Can the whole building hear Mina's
scream? Probably. "Hen-hen-hentai!" But unlike Chase she isn't going to wiggle
around and try to remove the source of her pain. Yup, she's stalking home with a very cold bra and she's going to
plot her revenge the whole way there.
There's going to be one less Genbu to worry about after all this is
over.