Through The Motions (Lucas)

[Serena Varsair]

This was gonna be a good afternoon, Serena was certain of it. Blood pumping, breath mild, she ran down the path toward the Pilot Ridge lake. Last week when she was running through the lake area, she had met a rather cute college boy (who happened to be a meta; though he hadn't mentioned his power yet). Lucas Blacke. They had talked a bit and had exchanged numbers. Serena had told him to give her a call if he ever wanted to go for a run (or to talk in general, of course), and yesterday, he had accepted her offer, calling to see if she wanted to run today.

Of course, she had said yes. She had to get a decent amount of exercise everyday just to keep her enhanced stamina from eating away at her. Not knowing how long they might be out, she made sure to eat a really large lunch a few hours before setting off for the lake. Serena, not a huge fan of water, didn't mind running by the lake if only because it was generally a bit cooler, and the aquatic life wasn't usually at the shore.

Wanting to impress her new friend, but not wanting to overdo it (too much), Serena wore a pair of her slightly longer (black) exercise shorts and a dark lavender tank top that accentuated the size and curves of her breasts, but also covered them from view. (She had opted to go without bra; it wasn't like she needed the visual boost, and it made the tight top more comfortable for the longer run the lake entailed.) She was wearing her hair down, with a simple white and purple sweatband and contacts in (she hated wearing glasses for long runs).

Serena jogged over to a small circle of rocks that they had designated to meet at it. Bringing her left leg up to stretch her arms (and the leg itself) she waited for her running partner to show up.

[Lucas Blacke]

New things were a pain to get used to. For Lucas they were anyway, and it wasn't like an entire new house was easy to get used to. Not only had he been away from Hammel but he had been staying in the new house which was a present from his parents and late uncle. Still, he made the best of it and knew it would only be a matter of time before he would actually get used to this, it was a new chapter in life anyway. A pretty much girl-less chapter of his life. Aside from two girls, really. Obviously one of them was Karalie, man he could not shake even the simplest thought about her, and here he was thinking that being in college meant having no more wrong thoughts about girls. Looked like he still had some time before he was really grown up.

The second girl was one he had met the week before and called the day before, seeing if she wanted to go running today. Of course she wanted. Which girl wouldn't want to hang out with him? Luke was a catch in any form, and having him as workout partner, or anything else partner was like being trained by the gods. But he was humble. Or trying to be. A smile crossed his face then as he was getting ready for a jog to the place he was going to meet Serena at. He wasn't really that full of himself, not anymore anyway. Ever since he had been contacted by his parents he found he had changed, people who knew him told him he had.

This was likely a good thing. He could argue that change was bad but he also knew it wasn't. It didn't happen overnight, but from all the girls in his mind he used to think about in that way he had gone down to only one, and that was quite the shift for the seemingly sex-driven Texan.

He also wore tank tops to his workouts now as he no longer felt the need to show his body off. Sure, girls were still cute, like that Serena kid, but he was done showing off his body in order to get a shot at getting in their pants. He just hoped he was also done with the flirting. Though calling Serena ''beautiful'' was to be expected. Old habits die hard, right?

Lucas went with black track pants this time, and earlier he would have argued he'd wear it because it was easy to take off. But now.. he would argue it was because it felt good.

Moving to the location they had agreed upon after the call he found a certain girl already standing there. Silver hair, black shorts and a.. colored top. Lucas quickly averted his eyes from that area and focused on her eyes as he cracked a smile.

''Well 'ello there gorgeous.'' He began even though he barely knew her. He knew she was a girl, liked running because she had a power that needed it and was called Serena. Nothing else. ''How're ya doin' today?''

[Serena Varsair]

Serena's heart did the slightest of flutters when she caught sight of Lucas approaching their meeting spot. She switched which leg she was stretching as he came toward her, and couldn't help but find herself smoothly arcing her body and the raised leg. Nothing sexual, just something that showed how flexible and smooth her body was. (Serena was mostly humble, but showing off the body that her powers naturally kept in beautiful condition was something she couldn't help; especially when faced with a cute guy)

He called her gorgeous. Serena immediately grinned, maybe there was a shot at something beyond running partners here. That would be a godsend to Serena, who found her...beyond friend schedule rather light. She let her French accent slip into her American accent a good bit; wanting to gently mix the tones for the pleasure of his ears, "Well aren't you just the best..."

She stopped stretching and added, "I'm doing great. Got some school stuff done, had a big lunch and ready to have fun. How about you?" She considered running fun (which was good, given how much of it she did), and the thought of doing it with someone like this was even better.

Serena shifted her body in such a way as to let him know that as soon as he was ready to start running, she'd move too.

[Lucas Blacke]

Welp. Blame force of habit, something he needed to get rid of, but calling her gorgeous could be seen as just giving her a compliment where one was due. One she returned with an accent that sounded unlike any other he had heard, now the guy loved accents and knew his fair share of them due to his powers so he knew this one was French. And by god did it sound awesome. But she returned the compliment, and although not in the same manner Lucas had done it was still apparent. Pleasantries, he assumed. Same with the statement following it.

Not really caring about how she answered he simply nodded, it didn't mean he wasn't listening either way. He did take in her words, mostly those about schoolwork. Now she didn't say much, but Lucas had his fair share of it still. Big lunch though.. "Eh.. goin' through some stuff, ta be honest. Forgot ta eat, so if ya see me nomming on a carrot don't be alarmed okay? Or.. somethin' else, I dunno." If he had taken a carrot with him it would be true, too.

"So, French, huh?" He asked Serena as she visibly shifted her body to indicate her being ready to move. "Run 'n talk. I can do that." He added without finishing his previous thought. He did catch himself throwing a glance at her more.. fun assets, though. "Th' old me would've let ya go first just so I can take a look at yer ass. Th' new me, however..-"

Without as much as a word he bolted forward using his ability to jump into his last gear without stretching. "Try catchin' me an' I'll answer any one question ya want."

[Serena Varsair]

Serena was pleased with herself when it was clear that he took notice of her accent. She had been trying to hard to stay mostly American the first time they had met, so she did realize it was likely a surprise for the most part. But she loved bleeding it in when she was trying to be flirtatious, even as mildly as she was right now.

In a quick reply to his carrot comment (which totally made her smile), she said, "Well, I have to eat, or I'd be collapsing on you if we went for too long. Crazy metabolism. Though I doubt you'd mind catching me."

He actually recognized her accent. Before her brain had time to stop her, she was already talking with a grin, continuing to use the accent mix, "You should get a gold star. You're the first person here who actually knew my accent."

Within mere moments, his comment had her smiling with raised eyebrows, about to say 'Oh really', but he had taken the moment to begin running before she had a chance. She set off right behind him, using a short sprint to get up close to him within about five seconds; but not passing him. His pace was a bit ahead of hers, and while she could likely catch up with very little additional effort, she decided to hang back.

"Well, your ass certainly ain't bad," She called out to him, slightly mimicking his speech pattern with her hybrid accent. Serena had a teasing tone, but she had to admit, he kept his body in good shape.

[Lucas Blacke]

Well that metabolism explained her looks as well as the running, though Luke assumed the running wasn't as much for the looks now as for.. he had no idea. Muscle stuff? Wait, didn't they atrophy after a while of doing nothing? Or maybe she was just restless. In any case, she was a running partner and instead of trying to find her reason to run he should be thankful for it. Still, this hypothesizing of his was good for his schoolwork as well. For someone who had taken biology as a major it was helpful to wonder about these things, paired with his power it was a perfect combination. He'd really perfect his knowledge on this in no time through observing alone, even if he wasn't able to mimic anything other than people.

Speaking of, he turned around in mid run and made his legs carry him backwards as fast as they could, which was quite fast though not making it impossible for her to catch him as he shot her a smile. ''Sprintin' ain't fair. It's a run, not a race.'' He looked over his shoulder briefly to see if he was to bump into something and heard the crunch of twigs beneath his feet. Finally he turned his head back and laughed loudly as he mimicked a French accent perfectly while dropping his old one. ''Of course I know it's a French accent. There are nearly no accents I do not know how to mimic.''

He cleared his throat and went back to his old Texan accent which he only really used to let people know where he was from. ''As long as I know what muscles ta move an' when fer what word. I can't mimic yer way of usin' French, unless I shove a camera down yer throat. But lets not think 'bout doin' that.'' He added with a smirk.

''An' I know my ass ain't bad.'' He joked as he turned around and showed his posterior to her as he kept on running. ''Not fer you though.'' Lucas teased as he used a few nearby trees to use as stepping stones and get a bit of a boost, after which he turned around and ran back in the direction of Serena in a sprint, and yet again using the trees as stepping stones.

''Think quick!'' He yelled as he poked her in the shoulder with a single finger as he passed her in the opposite direction.

[Serena Varsair]

The funny thing about sprinting for Serena, she would barely notice that she was doing it when she did it. The motions, normally quickly exhausting for anyone without near-Olympian stamina training, were casual to her. It was common for her to switch between normal jogging/running and sprinting when she felt like it. Sadly, without a large amount of leg strength and lack of non-flexible agility, she was not all that fast. So no Olympics for her, even if she cared about that (which she didn't). The track team was more than enough.

Serena laughed to him saying, "If we were racing, I could've passed you already, come on now. Thought I'd be nice and let you set the pace this time." Truthfully with effort she could've passed him, but that wouldn't be any fun.

So that was his ability, mimicing? Shifting to a full French accent briefly, she said, "Wow. Quite a skill. Are voices all you can do...or is there more to it?"

In front of her, she shook her head as he was using trees to athletically fool around, before he was running back toward her. Her mind had been focused on him and his movements the whole time, so when he turned, it didn't take long for her mental gears to shift. As he poked her shoulder, she did a semi-skip, using the first tree to stop her movement and spring her backward. In the process of the turn, she stumbled forward a bit, but was able to get back up quickly and followed him, finally deciding to match his pace. She gained a little bit on him, but he was still in front of her.

"Was that really necessary?" She asked, with a fake whine to him. Her accent was back to the nice French-American blend.

[Lucas Blacke]

''Pass me? Pah!'' Lucas noted back as he turned around and ran backwards as he once did before. There was being full of yourself, and honestly, there was Luke. Still, he did have a point even if it did mean he'd burn out his muscles. But after years of playing around with his ability he was sure he could handle some fast running above that of everyone's skill. Obviously not counting those with super speed as he was unable to mimic what he couldn't see. ''Yer bein' nice an' let me set the pace? An' here I was holdin' back 'cause there was a cute French girl involved.'' He joked as he turned around once more and faced the ground in front of him.

A brief look over his shoulders and a smirk. ''Yes that was necessary. An' don't fake whine 'round me. Muscles give away lots, like that jolt o' happiness when ya saw me arrive.'' His head turned back again and his paces increased, his voice still controlled as he spoke.

''Ya can say yer able ta beat me all ya want.'' He started jokingly as he was sure the distance between them was growing larger and larger as he went into a certain sprint. ''But can ya beat my buddy Usain Bolt?'' He asked as he copied his style of running and, while looking like a complete idiot he would get a good amount of distance and use his momentum to run straight up a nearby tree and sit down on one of the branches as he looked down. ''Voices, people, anythin' I can see. Gimme a video of someone doin' somethin' an' I can copy it.''

Like that one time where he was dared to do a cheerleader routine. And nailed it.

''Ask me somethin' else. Not like yer ever gon' catch me up 'ere anyway.'' He mocked. ''Women're 'fraid o' climbin', aye?''

[Serena Varsair]

Well, at least in his arrogance, he thought she was cute. Not wanting to look like a complete weakling, she did increase her pace to catch up to him. "Well, I was giving you a chance since you were a cute 'merican boy."

Part of Serena was hoping he'd slip up in some way, but he hadn't yet. It was clear that his ability was more than just voices, the muscle coordination very well-tuned, even someone like Serena could see that.

"Because I can. Eventually you'll take yourself out," She said confidently before he broke out into a very hilarious, but admittedly very efficient sprint. Part of her wanted to break out laughing and the other was seriously annoyed at his capabilities. It wasn't as bad as running with speedster, but... "Fils de salope!"

Son of a bitch in French. Not meant for ill, but semi-casually. Her running partner literally ran up the side of a tree and onto a tree branch. There were moments in time, when Serena loved and hated her powers. This was one of them. As she got closer to the tree, she slowed and opted to lean against it rather than immediately go for trying to climb it. She decided to tease, "I imagine you've done some pretty stupid things, then."

To be fair, Serena had with hers. Her friends at Kocher made a bet for how long she could run on a height and speed-alternating treadmill. If she passed all of their bets, she got the money instead.

"Almost collapsed from deprivation one time myself. I had a really long session." She opted not to say what kinds of deprivation and session, and gave him a bit of smirk.

"I'm not afraid of climbing, move your nice ass over," She called up to him, before doing her best to find points in the tree where she could get up toward him without needing a large strength boost.

Besides, she wasn't worried if she got a tear in anything, she had gotten a nice amount of money from her friends before she left Kocher.

"So if I get up to you, I get to ask you any one thing?"

[Lucas Blacke]

''What do they say again..?'' He wondered out loud as he looked down from his tree branch and saw the girl trying to find her way up. She obviously could and would climb up just judging by her deliberate motions, and oddly she showed no signs of slowing down. Well, that wasn't as odd as she did mention her powers before. ''Somethin' 'bout bitin' off more then ya can chew or some shit.'' He mocked, knowing that he would only really succeed in getting her over to him faster, but he would only jump down if she was close. If his ability was good for one thing tree-related, it was knowing how to jump down from a high branch without hurting himself. Besides, it'd make for a fun joke to play on her. Never once did he acknowledge that if she got up there she'd get to ask him a question, what he said was that she could ask anyway. ''Now if only ya listened ta what I said. Things could be so much more fun..''

Their abilities differed. Sure she would be able to go on indefinitely, but so would Lucas, the only real and prominent difference, which was quite a huge one, was that the Texan possessed the skill required to copy movement from other people to the point of mastery. ''I said ye wouldn't be able ta catch me up 'ere.'' He said as he jumped down from the branch and landed perfectly, running over to another tree and nimbly climbing up with relative ease. ''Or up 'ere.'' He joked as he placed himself on a branch.

''Any one thing, aye.'' He nodded. Lucas had a slight wonder as to what she was going to ask, but decided not to dwell on it too long and let his body have a bit of a breather as he sat in the tree.

He could easily go on, but copying that much in such a short amount of time..? He figured it'd need a breather to function properly.

[Serena Varsair]

It was legitimately hard for someone of her body strength to find the right places to climb from. People thought she exaggerated her deficiencies in that department at times, and while it was true in her peak shape, she'd have normal body strength, her upper body wasn't in her peak shape, so she had the strength of an 11 year-old at a 17 year-old size. And unfortunately, she was taller now than at 11, and could not fit in certain spots as well. "I wasn't trying to catch you until now. Besides, I hadn't decided on a question yet."

She hadn't quite gotten to the branch when he had chosen that moment to make his exit. Sighing, Serena determined that she would still finish what she started, and climbed up a bit further, swinging her legs around and onto the branch, sitting up.
Serena was hardly tired, in fact this all hadn't really made a dent. Her elbow was slightly sore from the climb, but that, once again, was a strength issue.

If he could mimic people, that meant, at least as far she could tell, that he'd be able to mimic the efficiency of her muscle activity, but not her body's ability to generate energy for said muscles. Serena smiled, knowing that no matter what crazy things he did, eventually, she'd still be going, and his muscles would be crying.

Taking this opportunity to slow down her breathing from the running and climbing, she asked, "So, one question. How would your girlfriend feel if she knew you were running with a 'gorgeous' girl?"

If he at all had a brain, he'd know what she was actually asking, but she'd be satisfied with most any answer he gave as long as he actually answered the question.

[Lucas Blacke]

He let out a snort when she still continued climbing the one tree he was just in. She had perseverance, that much was sure. And she wasn't as daft as he originally thought she was too, she actually gave him a question without catching him, after telling him she wasn't trying to catch him. The mighty fall hard, Lucas supposed. She might have been good at running but she squandered the ability to catch him while he was in reach and now, now she was very much unable to catch him.

A girlfriend though.. what in the name of fuck was that for question? Of course he didn't have a- ''Ohoho, naughty lil' minx.'' He finally said with a mocking wave of his index finger in her direction. He did promise her she could ask any one question though, and he figured she earned it even if she did nothing he wanted her to do when he actually told her to. Fast on her feet, maybe, fast in taking orders? No. Both a good and a bad thing.

Lucas looked at the silver haired girl with a smile and shook his head. ''Y'know.. I dunno if I 'ave a girlfriend. I mean, right now I don't. But I do 'ave my eyes on someone.'' And as he would argue that he had changed he failed to pick up on what Serena was actually implying, if she even was. ''I'm a monogamous guy I am, even if she don't know it yet.''

But her game, two could play it as Lucas then fired a counter question. ''An' what does yer boyfriend think of handin' yer number over ta guys who randomly decide ta call ya gorgeous?''

[Serena Varsair]

Naughty little minx? Surprisingly not the worst thing she had been called. Though usually not in this kind of scenario. Serena decided to play things up a bit, "Well, I'm hardly little; but I won't argue with the rest...I deserve it with that question."

She moved her legs so that they gently hung, and her arms so that they supported her without making her slouch or otherwise hide her upper body from him. No girlfriend, but he has his eyes on 'someone'...Serena couldn't help but feel it wasn't her. No wink, nothing like that. She also couldn't help but feel her spirit dampen slightly. After all of the little bits, she had somewhat hoped he was single and maybe interested in her.

Oh and monogamous, even better. Serena let out an audible sigh at that, not really caring if he heard it or not. When he has asked about her, she laughed out loud and twirled some of her hair, "Oh hell. Never had a boyfriend, never intend to. I'm happy with having plenty of boys who are friends, especially close friends."

She chose to leave out the part at this time where she considered sex something that can be a friend thing; and not a boyfriend thing, because she really wasn't sure if it was even appropriate at this point. But still, a small part of her hoped..."I do quite enjoy boys who like to get physical though..."

Hopefully he'd take the hint. If not, then she'd probably beat him over the head with it later.

[Lucas Blacke]

''Not quite sure what it means, but if ya say ya deserve it I'll let ya 'ave it.'' Minx was just a thing he said as of late, and the word little was just so he could add power to his statement. Besides, she was little to him, of that he was sure. If not by posture then by seniority. Hell, she was still in Hammel! How did he know that? He'd never seen her around at college, but furthermore the fact that she said she was attending Hammel was a dead give away.

Ooh boy.. all of her body signed towards not liking his answer. Did she fancy him? He wouldn't blame her if she did as he was quite the catch, though if the past had told him anything it was that he was prone to fucking up stuff and he was not quite ready to do that yet. Maybe with ''her'', but not with a her he had just met. Besides, when he said he had his eyes on someone he wasn't lying, he did have his eyes on a certain someone for the longest time ever and had been trying to fill up the hole she had left behind by leaving him with random girls. Some of them nicer than others and just turning out to be great friends.

There was an audible sigh when he mentioned the word monogamous, something he had actually expected to happen. Someone that had should have guys lining up, but did she really date multiple men at once or did she hit it and quit it? Or have some sort of friends with benefits thing going, that could be the case just as well. Luke had done that, in a sense. But there had been feelings even if just one-sided from the start. In the end he got the girl to care for him though, just to have him fuck it all up by hanging out with one of his closest friends.

''Ya do, do ya?'' He asked as a reply when she said she liked boys who got physical. It didn't take a space engineer to figure out what she meant by that, she was obviously talking about sex. ''I'm not surprised, actually.'' She should have met him when he was still in Hammel, it would have been a match made in heaven to say the least.

He sighed as he looked her over a few times and briefly paused. ''Honey, ya couldn't even try ta resist my skills in th' sack. Muscle memory, ya know.''

''Sadly I 'ave ta decline.''

[Serena Varsair]

To say he wasn't surprised, made Serena laugh with a grin, picking up her slightly. "Well, that's good. Most other boys around here just seem to 'Uh...huh, sorry' around me."

She wasn't offended, hell, she was happy he said it. To Serena, she just loved having tons of people to know, care about, and hang out with. Whether they got physical in a bed, or like she was with Lucas here at the lake didn't matter in the slightest to her, and she decided to say as much, "I don't believe in love, or romance, Lucas. I believe in friendship and companionship. I don't date or whatever. I'm open. I get attached to every boy who is a good friend of mine in the same way, whether I roll in the sheets with them or not. I just want to have a good time doing whatever I'm doing and hope the other person does too."

Serena looked down for a moment, realizing she had essentially just said, 'I just do whatever I can to not be alone'.

She carefully swung herself down on the limb, and did her best to let herself go. She had done a lot of hiking (and thus tree climbing) when she was younger, she had always loved the outdoors. The jump wasn't her best, she hadn't done it in a long time, but she felt no pain afterward, so that was all that mattered to her. She casually strolled closer as he mentioned his skills.

"Well, I'm not too hard to please if you keep it interesting..." As soon as she said that, a tiny alarm rang for the briefest moment in her mind, and she quickly added, "I don't really go for weird stuff though."

Serena had just about resigned herself to the fact that the boys here weren't like the European ones she had known, and that she was going to have to get used to having less 'physical' fun. So him declining didn't really shake the smile she had gotten much. A slight weakening maybe, but it was more for her general situation, not for the specific one. "Well..."

Serena got to his tree once again, giving no indication she was going to climb up. All that she did was stare up at him with understanding eyes, and said, "I kinda guessed that. Well, I'm good for running too. At the very least, until you figure out what you're doing with 'her', you can entertain yourself with me."