New Beginnings (Jace)

[Taeyeon Kai]

It was just another ordinary day. Another ordinary sunrise, another long shift of ordinary people walking into the mall, another change of ordinary clothes from her usual uniform into a tank top and yoga shorts, and another ordinary walk through the park towards the lake. Weary feet clad in sandals carried a long and lean female body up the hill to the roots of the ancient tree there, its crowning branches spreading out like motherly arms to cradle the clouds. The breeze caressed a face that had seen love and betrayal, friendship and ended relationships. Her bag fell to the ground, carrying a towel, water, some snacks, and her tennis shoes.

Long fingers and hands that had seen better days landed on slim hips, mahogany hair pulled back into a ponytail whipping around her face and shoulders. Dreamer’s eyes, eyes of blue and green and brown, looked out over her spot. She came here to meditate, to practice her sets and keep her body in shape. She didn’t need to run or lift weights or go on any special diet; doing her martial arts kept her in shape. She spread her legs wide and began stretching, remembering the last time she was in this pose.

He had walked in the door of the dojo. She had been stretching like this, completely unaware of his eyes on her. The master spotted him and walked to him, talking about his acceptance here. He was tall and broad-shouldered, blue-eyed and blonde-haired. Those eyes had made something in her flutter, something that hadn’t moved since her break-up with Cole. Those eyes stayed with her as she sparred with the master in front of him, showing him exactly how good she was. She was a brown belt going on red, a couple of steps below a black belt. When she was done, she had felt those eyes on her as she had walked back to the locker room, and he was outside when she exited.

He had introduced himself as Jace Simple, which was unique in its own way. They had walked and talked, sharing some of the same interests. She had found that he played guitar, as she did now, and that he adored dogs. He also knew five martial arts, and while she had thought that that was a bit much, he knew two of the arts that she did, and she had told him that she was willing to spar with him if he wanted. After that, they had parted ways.

Finished with her stretching, Taeyeon took a deep breath and began the meditative exercises, going through her sets slowly as the sun shone on her body and began its descent into the horizon.

[Jason Simple]

*j*a*s*o*n*

Yes, it was an ordinary day. Too ordinary. Ordinary, boring classes, ordinary homework left half-done in his dorm, and an ordinary walk to the lake. Nothing extraordinary, not even power training! He needed more training, before a knife decided to fly across the room and slice him open again, or another spork stuck to his back. (Where did that old school of his get metal sporks? He kept forgetting to google it.) For now, he could at least go down to the lake to--do something. Maybe stretch. Maybe meditate. Maybe people-watch if someone was doing something distracting. Maybe even jump in, he hadn't tried that yet this year.

He had come prepared for any of those options, though, wearing simply a white t-shirt and a pair of shorts--good for anything and any weather. He had emptied his beat-up army backpack and thrown a water bottle and his wallet--then, when he reached the grass after walking the road, his shoes. He'd rather not have those items in his pocket or just laying around again if anything happened. It was inconvenient.

Just trying to enjoy the day--and it wasn't hard, Jace generally didn't stay in a bad mood for too horribly long--Jace was standing in the sun for a moment, just breathing, letting its warmth soak into his skin, giving his blonde hair a golden glow. His blue eyes were scanning the area when he noticed a sort of familiar form doing a very familiar set of motions. Approaching the girl, he paused a bit away from her to make sure it was who he thought it was. That would be nastily awkward to call someone's name and have it be the wrong person--he'd done it with someone before, and had learned to make sure it was the person before you called them. Just now, he was sure it was the girl from the dojo--the one with the amazing hazel eyes.

Jace grinned, walking until he was just a few feet from her and waving jauntily. "Hey." He said. "Taeyon? Er--Tae. Right?" He was unsure of the name entirely, but it was just such an interesting name he had to say the full thing, even though he corrected himself to what she had said to call her anyway. "Sets by the lake," He observed, if only for something to talk about, an excuse to stay for more than five seconds. "Not something everyone does." And it was true--as far as he knew, he was the only person who really did it so far.

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[Taeyeon Kai]

Her eyes were closed, her body warming under the shade as she began her motions, flowing like water under her gold-tinted skin. The breeze caressed her face like loving fingers, combing through her ponytail of red-brown curls like the hand of a man as he cradled her head close to kiss her. The nostalgic smell of smoke and something unique wafted to her nose and she opened her eyes in shock, realizing that she was remembering Cole. She had been horrible in the way she had broken up with him, via text, but she had panicked, and now she was still hurting over it.

Hearing her name being called, Tae straightened and looked around, landing on a familiar form with familiar blonde hair and searing dark blue eyes. A voluntary smile made its way across her face at the sight of his. “Taeyeon,” she corrected, laughing softly. “And yes, I’m Tae. We met outside of the dojo after you spoke with Master Williams. He told me you had potential.” She broke her set and went to her bag, grabbing her water bottle and taking a quick drink.

She looked out at the lake, watching the people swimming, boating, or sunbathing on its shores. “It calms me, listening to natural sounds instead of noisy distractions,” she explained, looking at him. He wore a simple shirt and shorts, his feet bare, much like her attire. Was there something that they didn’t share in the way of interests and attire? He should see her when she would get all dressed up; she had a feeling that his eyes would fall out of his head. “Now, if I want to get in the mood to spar with someone, then I plug my iPod in and listen to some rock. It gets my blood moving.” She sent a wink his way and began her set again. “What brings you to the lake, Jace?”

[Jason Simple]

*j*a*s*o*n*

Jace was a bit embarrassed that he had gotten her name wrong, but he continued as if nothing was the matter. He nodded as she spoke--he remembered. Very well. "And of course I have potential. Not just that, I'm practically a master in these things." Modesty--definitely one of his strong suits. He should really work on that, and made a note to be humble. Like most of his mental notes, they were forgotten within moments.

Jace found himself nodding again at her explanation. That, he got. Trying to do meditative sets at home was hard--there was a main road practically right outside his window, so there was always an annoying mechanical sound or honking horn or screaming siren--and doing them anywhere at the institute was impossible--when was the last time Hammel was silent? Jace found himself with a slight blush that he hoped would not be noticeable when Tae winked at him. He gathered his reply and responded nonchalantly, though. "You know, meditative sets by the water, or jumping into said water, or something... different. Not much going on today, and I hadn't done anything in a while, so I figured, y'know, why not?" He was looking around casually as he spoke, his eyes jumping from one thing to the next to appear... normal?

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[Taeyeon Kai]

She rolled her eyes when he spoke with such modesty. Boys…some were just like that. She kept going through her set until she was finished, then sighed and shook out her limbs as he explained. She smiled and bent over to grab her water bottle, taking a long drink from it. “It’s always fun to do something different,” she said after wiping her mouth clean of water. “Me…eh, it varies from day to day. I work at the mall, I play with my dog, I come here…heck, sometimes I jump in the lake too.”

She looked at him, really looked at him, and liked what she saw. He had a good heart, and it didn’t turn her away that he had a little blush on his cheeks. She was on the other side of the “just pretty” line, and it didn’t help that she was hit on at work by customers as well as some of her more adventurous male co-workers. She just had that exotic look, she mused. “Show me how you do your meditative sets,” she asked him politely, running her fingers through her ponytail.

[Jason Simple]

*j*a*s*o*n*

He gave a cheerful "yep" when she said that it was fun to do something different, and then paused when he noticed her colorful eyes watching him. Was there something on his face? Or did he seem weird in some way? (He had not been deemed "hot" or "attractive" by anyone since he was fifteen, that he knew of, and then he was just a "Oh, you're cute. You'll do.") He thought it may have been a little out of nowhere when she asked him how he did his meditative sets, but he figured he may as well. "Okay." He closed his eyes and stood still for a moment, getting into the right breathing rhythm, then opened his eyes and began the familiar movements he had done every day or so for several years until arriving at Hammel. It felt good to get back into the routine, and he soon closed his eyes again and felt himself forgetting his surroundings, only feeling the movements and the slight breeze brushing against his skin.

When he finished, he opened his eyes, not having realized that yes, he did close them, and faced Tae, smiling a little in a bashful manner. He shouldn't have, really, but who could just say, "No, hot chick whom I am currently crushing on, I don't feel like doing sets in front of you because I get a little lost in my own mind when I do, and I'd rather be talking to you the whole time."? Not one person in the world.

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[Taeyeon Kai]

She watched him do his sets and saw he had good form. He would be a good sparring partner, she thought to herself as she undid her ponytail and ran her fingers through it. The bouncy curls held her fingers captive in their silken tresses, and she wondered what it would be like to have his fingers run through her hair. It had been some time before someone had done that to her, the last person being Cole. She shook her head gently to get him out of her head and realized that Jace had opened his eyes and was watching her.

She blushed softly. “Your form and sets look pretty good, from what I can tell,” she said with a grin, easing back into that playful manner she was in before. “I think you would be a good sparring partner, if you ever want to duel in the future.” A honking horn made her look towards the road and she saw her aunt’s car. “One sec,” she told him as she ran to the driver’s side. Moments later she came walking back, a little black-and-white-and-tan puppy pulling at his leash to meet the blonde-haired boy.

“This is Kuma,” she said with a blush. “I forgot I needed to walk him today, so my aunt dropped him off.”

[Jason Simple]

*j*a*s*o*n*

He loved that hair.
How could he not? It was of the long, bouncy, wavy-curly variety, and it was attached to Taeyeon. That was pretty much everything he looked for in a girl's hair at this point in time. He wondered if it was soft, then caught himself. What was he doing, turning into a creepy stalker-type? Next thing you know, he would be putting their pictures into an internet "What-would-your-children-look-like" generator.

"Of course. Yes!" He said, nodding. Oh, yes, smooth. And very, very modest. Nice move, Jace. When the horn honked and Taeyeon ran off, he paused to take a deep breath. He really needed to balance himself more. Then, when the girl returned, Jace was prepared to smile at her, but there was a very tiny, very cute puff of fur at the end of a leash, and Jace melted, crouching down to pet the pup with both hands, making noises that probably qualified as "baby-talk" and saying things like "Whossa good boy, widdle Kuma with the cute name and cute face and cute cute...ness."
He wondered what could make this a better day.

((OoC: So it isn't great, but I was in a hurry to get it to you. x3))

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[Taeyeon Kai]

His reaction to her dog made her smile. Sure, there were some people who thought her dog was a rat, but she adored the people who loved her little puppy. There was just something about a Corgi that made people lose their façade and just want to cuddle the little dogs. She crouched down beside Jason and sat on the ground, watching Kuma licking his fingers.

“His name means little bear in Japanese,” she explained, petting the dog’s wriggly rump. He barked once and turned to face her, jumping into her lap and planting his front paws on her chest. He looked at her with his sparkling chocolate eyes, his butt still wiggling. “I got him about four months ago. He seems to be a good judge of character.” She grinned at Jace when Kuma spotted a butterfly and started chasing it. “He likes the people he deems good for me, so yeah. I’m glad he likes you.”

However, Kuma had also liked another boy she had gone out with, and look at what had happened. She shook her head mentally and forgot about it. She was with him. That was what she was focusing on.

[Jason Simple]

*j*a*s*o*n*

Of course he would react like that to the little guy! He wasn't soulless. And besides, he always loved any dog, and melted for the ones less than a foot tall. He grinned at the name, thinking that it fit very surprisingly well for the pup, and watched the wiggly little beast flail about and jump into his owner's lap.

"I'm glad he likes me. It'd suck if there was something I liked that didn't like me back. Or approve of me." He mentally told himself to shut up. Dropping hints helped him not. Sure, he liked the chick, but he didn't know her all too amazingly well. It could change, but it could take a while. Well, he was used to waiting for things, and what had he learned from all that Martial Arts training if not to be patient? Okay. He could do this, be her friend if she wanted it.
His internal ramblings were cut short by cute puppy yippings. He could never get a puppy--it would keep him from doing everything else, because he would stop to pet it and forget that he was supposed to be doing something, like he was doing now.

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[Taeyeon Kai]

His words struck a chord within her body as she watched Kuma chasing the butterfly, smiling as her puppy tried to jump and catch the bug. Was Jace telling her he liked her as more than a friend? It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened.

She quickly flicked her gaze to his face as he watched Kuma playing. He was a handsome boy, and it had been some time since she had broken up with Cole. Who knew what would happen? She shrugged lightly and whistled for Kuma. His ears perked, he came running and pounced in her lap, circling on her legs before plopping down on his stomach and laying there, panting softly.

She stroked his ears gently and looked at Jace, smiling. “Well, I’m glad he likes you too, since I tend to be spending a lot more time with you. At the dojo, I mean.” If he wanted to play, she would play too.

[Jason Simple]

*j*a*s*o*n*

Jace watched the puppy frolic, just sitting there and thinking random thoughts that popped in and out of his head for a little bit. He felt the girl's eyes on him, but kept himself from looking directly back at her. It was only when she whistled, shocking him completely back to reality, that he turned to let his eyes have the joy of seeing her full-on again. He smiled a wry smile, and said "Yeah, I can't wait 'till we get to see each other again. At the dojo, that is."

So playful banter was something he could handle, apparently. Just barely, but still.

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[Taeyeon Kai]

He made her laugh gently, the sound like silver bells in the air. Kuma looked up at his owner, tongue lolling and ears perked, and Tae couldn’t resist kissing his head. The puppy barked once and laid his head on her leg as she looked at Jace. “You’re cute, Simple,” she said simply, shaking her head in amusement.

She leaned in and kissed his cheek before standing, putting Kuma on the ground. Puppy in turn pounced on Jace’s lap, wriggling. Tae stretched and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, then walked to her bag and pulled out two snacks. Tossing one to Jace, she pulled everything back into the bag and zipped everything up.

“Well, I need to get going,” she told him, putting the bag on her back and clipping Kuma’s leash to his collar. She smiled at Jace gently, her eyes twinkling. “Thanks for a fun day.” With that said, she waved and walked off, the bouncy puppy walking beside her.