Do You Remember [Chelsea]

[Rude]

A day off was a rare thing. Rude had no excuse to miss work regularly. No family or other pressing need to attend to. Today was a special case. He'd received a call, telling him he didn't need to come in for work. Shinra had a full Turk office for the next twelve hours. Good enough. A break from a job that left him tangled up in most problems in and around Edge could save his sanity, especially with the advent of portals making the job more difficult. So today, he was heading to the gym for needed relaxation. He hadn't bothered to take off his uniform, having dressed before the call that had excused him, but was carrying some workout-appropriate clothes in the bag in his right hand. Rude wondered about Reno's reaction if he hadn't been given the same call to excuse him from work. The look on his face once someone told him Rude wasn't around would have nearly been worth the effort of going. Elena could describe it for Rude later. He'd be looking forward to that.

Rude continued down the sidewalk, paying no mind to the strange residents on this side of town. He pulled the cell phone out of his pocket and flicked it to silent, making sure there was nothing to bother him on his one day off. Drunk redheads came to mind. The one contact he left on vibrate was the President. He returned the device to his pocket. Over the years, paranoia seemed to have crept into Rude's state of mind. The whole walk over, he'd expected trouble to arise and keep him from his relaxation. Walking to the gym without a disaster happening was too easy for a Turk. After a twenty-minute walk, though, Rude hadn't been bothered at all, and the gym door was up ahead. Casting his reflection against the gym's large windows as he moved to the entrance, Rude turned his head to peer inside. Nothing bad going on inside. Just men and women in their workout gear, sweating profusely. Some read to find repose. Some went swimming. Some drank. Some even worked with children. Rude pumped iron. Didn't bother him if people thought putting forth effort to relax was odd. They could keep to their own hobbies, and he'd keep to his.

Pushing open the door to enter, Rude studied the people he passed on his way to the changing room. A few looked up at him, some recognizing him as a Turk and some not. Those that did dropped back under the weights, making sure not to stare. The others gaped, confused by the sight of a massive man in a full suit. Rude didn't pay them much mind. Instead, he turned into the changing room once he reached it without stopping, pushing open the door and stepping around a man standing just inside who acted like he would have complained when Rude hit him with the door...until he saw Rude was a head taller. Instead, the few men changing parted, letting Rude pass through until he dropped down on a bench at the end of the room and started unbuttoning his shirt, eventually ending up in the clothes he'd brought with him with his suit hung up on the wall beside his bag. Rude glanced from behind his shades at a man hanging his own clothes up. No words were exchanged, but Rude's gaze said all it needed to. Leave the suit alone.

Rude was out in the main room again a few steps later, only taking a second to decide where he'd start with his workout. Dropping himself onto a press table, Rude shook his head at a trainer who offered to put the bar in his hands. Starting up the headphones in his ears, Rude put his head against the rest and picked up the bar from above his head, going to "work." To Rude, it was the simplest thing he'd done in a week, and he was deaf and blind to everything around him as he went to pressing. It was nice.

Words - 733
Tagged - Chelsea!
Muse - Excellent!
Place - Edge's gym!
Outfit - Workout-y clothing
Notes - I thought this might be unique. XD But I dunno what it is.[/size]

[Chelsea]

Finally.

A day out of the WRO. Walking at a steady clip, Chelsea basked in the freedom. It didn’t seem to happen enough, what with the kind of job she had. Being a gatherer of Intel wasn’t always the best job, but it was what she was good at, and so she would stay doing it. Still, the week prior, in her dealings with Zeke and the group responsible for stealing the data of a new energy source, Chelsea had noticed some definite need to improve her efficiency. It had been a wake up call when you had a big man wrap his hands around your neck and throw you to the ground. Chelsea needed to get some more physical strength. And thus heading to the gym when she could be going through sales at some store and picking out bargain clothes to buy. The girly things. Well she had enough clothes, but she did want to get stronger. Of course, there was a perfectly good gym back in the WRO building, but that meant, as she had figured out, that Yuffie would plop her little butt down on whatever she could and talk nonstop until Chelsea was done.

Heavens but that girl was hard to get used to. Not being one to talk nonstop about worthless topics herself, the whirlwind of a superior she had now was something she didn’t know if she could ever quite get used to. When going in for the interview after applying for the job, Chelsea had been sat down in front of the hyper –to say the least- brunette and had thought it some sort of joke. Not only did she not look old enough to be out of high school yet, but Yuffie had done more talking then she had in the interview. Hardly someone fit for leading an Intelligence team. Despite her somewhat overbearing personality however, the girl had earned her respect through the months of working with her. Obviously dedicated, Chelsea had never seen anyone who could sneak around like that girl could. Odd, because when she wasn’t trying to be quiet, she was usually banging into almost every object within reach, muttering and carrying on while doing so. It was definitely something to get used to, but Chelsea normally couldn’t complain about her being the head of the department. At least not until she had work to get done and had to deal with the nonstop chatter that she could provide.

Finally spotting the gym, Chelsea glanced right and left and crossed the street, pushing open the big glass door and walking inside. With a bag of extra clothes to change into once she was done, Chelsea walked toward where the punching bags were. The men that were there at the moment, Chelsea swore looked like giants. Was it some sort of prerequisite that you had to be hulking to do this? With a raised eyebrow she set her bag down, adjusted her clothes and glanced from the punching bag laying on the floor, up to where it was supposed to hang. Well…she really didn’t think she could get it up there by herself. Built slight at her five foot four, she had never claimed to be the Hulk. Getting the bag up there to actually start hitting around was going to be a problem. Still standing there wondering what she should do, a voice startled her. “Ma’am? Ya need me ta’ fix ya up nice and proper with one?” Blinking, blue eyes turned toward the speaker and she nodded, a slight thankful smile up on her lips. “Yes please.” While watching him heft the bag up like it weighed five pounds, Chelsea studied him. After a careful scrutiny, she determined he had no neck, it all just sort of blended together, his face and shoulders, but for heaven sake, was he paid to work out?

Thanking him, Chelsea cocked her head to the side to fit in an earbud, setting her ipod to shuffle. After that was accomplished, she turned and searched to find gloves small enough to fit her dainty hands. It took her awhile, but finally she found a pair of women’s gloves. Sliding them onto her hands, what came into her gaze distracted her for a moment, almost causing her to drop the gloves in surprise. ’Rude?’, she asked herself, watching the tall figure for the instant she saw him before he was gone, dropping down onto a press bench. Standing there in surprise, Chelsea stood with her mouth partially opened, stomach in knots. No…Rude was a Turk, he wouldn’t just…show up at some random gym to work. It was that seeing his back briefly as he went into a bar, and exchanging words with Reno about it. No, she was just crazy. That man wasn’t Rude, couldn’t be. Realizing she was gawking over at the benches, she slid her second glove on the rest of the way, slowly, mind tangled up in confusion. Was she going to be this way over every tall, well built, shaved man she saw?

With a sigh, Chelsea finished putting on the gloves and stood in front of the bag. Raising her fists high, she muttered out a quick, “Stop going insane,” and slammed her fist into the bag before her. She hadn’t thought about him for months before seeing him that last time. Had tried not to dwell on it. And dang it, it had worked too! Not easy, but then again, what in life was? Her left fist followed up to punch the bag, a little grunt accompanied as she gave it her all. She knew some martial arts, not a master by any means, but enough to get by. She’d never had to be a master at it. After all, she had always been the one they sent on missions to get up close and personal, perhaps because AVALANCHE had figured out her acting skills and how well she did in that area. Putting on a façade and using people was what she had done, and pretending had come easily. ‘I wasn’t pretending that time,’ she thought angrily, following up her series of punches with a kick that knocked the bag to the left, leaving it swinging there back and forth. Panting lightly, blue eyes had turned stormy as she reached out a hand to steady the swinging bag, finding her eyes drawn to the place she had seen the tall man the last time, peeking to see if she could spot him again. Blowing out a breath in frustration, she determined it really was true.

She was going crazy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 1302
Muse:; Super o.o
Tagged:; Rude
Location:; Gym
Outfit:; Click Hur!
Notes:; \o/ Great muse is great
Listening To:;[/color] Wonderful - Everclear

[Rude]

Rude lost track of time, but not of reps, as he kept on with his pressing. His mind raced. It usually did when he was undisturbed, which was a rare thing. There were disturbances - a man or woman on or by another bench would move into his vision or say something loudly, but Rude's shades and headphones mostly nullified the threats to his peace. So he was allowed to think. There wasn't much to think about. Rude pondered on portals again and the fal'Cie that had branded Reno. Shinra would need to account for their people, or people in general, being branded sometime soon. Reno had gotten lucky. Someone else could turn into one of those Cie'th that were plaguing Edge regularly, or remain a crystal. That could happen to the president. Or Cissnei. Or anyone. Rude tried to solve his problems - in this case, everyone's problem - while he performed his workouts. Some of them were harder to solve than others. This one, for Rude, was unsolvable. If all of Shinra couldn't decide how to handle the fal'Cie, Rude had no chance to on his own.

His thinking about the foreign gods occupied him long enough for him to reach his usual number of reps. He strained to place the bar back before leaning up and moving both feet to the same side of the bench. With a breath or two and a dab of his bald head with his towel, he stood and left the bench to a man who sat down as soon as Rude was up. Rude was on to the next part of his workout. He didn't care much about other people in the gym, but his eyes moved over them anyway. Mostly men, some newer to the gym, some veterans that were broader than Rude. Though he didn't come here for watching women like some would, Rude's eyes settled on a brunette by the punching bags. They moved away without gawking. There were enough men staring at the women here, he didn't need to join. Rude wiped sweat from under his shades and moved to the next machine - ab crunches. Dropping into the last open machine, Rude pulled his towel around his neck and went to working again, eyes straight ahead.

Or meant to be straight ahead. Rude kept spotting the same woman with the same set of workout clothes in between the other people. Spotted the lower half of her at most. He couldn't tell what kept him looking. Could have been the other women looked manly and this one didn't. At all. The legs he could see weren't tree trunks. But Rude was losing count of his reps by being distracted. He thought he could see her walking in his direction, so with a shake of his head and a grunt at himself, Rude stared down at his knees and continued, starting to count again. As long as he kept his head down, no more distractions from his relaxing. Rude sighed in between his paced breathing. He had bad luck with women anyway.

Words - 546
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - If the godmod for her going generally in his direction isn't good, let me know. Or she can be going to a machine or whatever. JUST WHATEVER![/size]

[Chelsea]

Holding the bag steady, Chelsea peeked over her shoulder in the mans direction. After she had blown out the breath she forced her gaze back at the bag she now had her hand on. What was wrong with her? She wasn’t a silly school girl anymore; she didn’t have time to gawk at some man just because he had nice muscles and worked out. Rolling her eyes, Chelsea carefully avoided the fact that her attention had been captured not because of his build, but because he reminded her of someone that was in her past and belonged there. ’Belongs there,’ she chided herself and forced her concentration back to her workout, which she had come here for. Steadying herself, she raised her fists and measured the bag before sending her fist out to punch it, going back and forth and kicking it along with her hands. In the meantime she tried to let the music and workout take her mind off of anything else. Her mind was stubborn though, and she was having a hell of a time doing it. Finally with one more frustrated punch, Chelsea stopped herself, still lightly panting and glared at the bag. She was being ridiculous.

Peeling off the gloves, she went to deposit them back in the large box with gloves in it and walked over to her bag. Bending over it, a towel was brought up to press against her forehead, moping up the few drops of sweat that were there. Self consciously she found herself looking in the mirror and reaching to fix her hair, which had started to get messy in her pony tail, pieces falling out and strands coming down. Scowling at herself then, Chelsea forced her hands back down and reached for her water instead, another blowing out of her breath, which she tended to do while frustrated. She was here for a workout, not to preen herself for a man that she didn’t even care about! That was just some random built man, and so she stood and ignored her messy appearance. She was just going to stay the way she was, and that was that. She hadn’t come here to impress anyone, so why was she all of a sudden thinking of it?

Giving herself another scowl in the mirror to show how annoyed she was at herself, Chelsea turned away and hesitated on what to do next, her water bottle held up to her lips periodically. For a moment she stood there, gaze scanning the gym and trying to keep her eyes away from a particular place. Why was she being like this anyway? Was she forgetting that the past should remain there, and that she had spent the last however many years by herself and perfectly, one hundred percent fine? Instead she forced her gaze on the no neck man subtly, who seemed to have the goal of either knocking that bag off it’s attachment or kill it. ’People here sure were serious about their training’, she thought with a raised eyebrow. Did they do anything but come and attack things to get more muscle? If that was even possible. Unattractive really. ’Necks are nice.’ What was she even thinking about? Shaking her head, Chelsea wondered how she had gotten on the subject of men with necks being nice. Her first thinking was right. She was going insane.

Despite the arguing with herself though, curiosity finally won out. Grumbling, Chelsea couldn’t help but glance over where she had seen him last. The problem was all the equipment and people in the way. ’Just one quick look,’ she lamented finally. Grabbing her bag with one hand, Chelsea glanced at the treadmills that were placed close to where she had last saw him, which had only been a glimpse as he moved and started to make her way over there, making it seem like she was just moving onto her second part of her routine. She was so busy telling herself she was just being plain stupid that she came a little closer then she had wanted to. Up close, she could see she had been right with her first assumption.

’Oh crap,’ came flashing through her mind. It was him. Standing there in surprise, she snapped her mouth shut and instantly whirled to escape. Escape him, escape the gym, escape the memories and run to somewhere. Running directly into a large man, who steadied her and then told her to be careful, a somewhat high pitched “I’m sorry, excuse me,” came out of her mouth. As she try to wade through the stream of people that had seemed to decide to all come at this exact moment to escape, they were pushing her closer. She didn’t have the heart to face him, and guilt hit her like it did whenever she thought of that last mission she had done in AVALANCHE. “Excuse me,” she kept whispering to keep her voice down, but she was dismayed to see the wall of human flesh just keep walking toward her. Fighting the urge to stomp her foot and order them to get out of her way, she tried to still her beating heart and searched a bit desperately for a hole to squeeze through that would keep her from having to go closer to escape.She was just being silly with this. She was a woman, not a child, but right then, she had never felt more like such a child trying to escape being caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

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Words:; 1139
Muse:; Great as always with her xD
Tagged:; Rude!
Location:; Gym
Outfit:; Click!
Notes:; Don't ask me what this was XD But we all know Chelsea is good at running away -*punched* x_o
Listening To:;[/color] Eye of the Tiger - Survivor

[Rude]

So much for relaxing. Even if Rude could stop looking up over and over, he couldn't stop his mind from running again. This was his time to think like he'd been thinking on the bench, but not about women. His mind didn't want to obey and give him something else to think about, though. Something in it told him the reason he kept glancing at the still-faceless woman was because he knew who it was. Rude was observant behind those shades. Good at picking up certain things about people. And he had a feeling... It wasn't wishful thinking. Rude wished it could be anyone but her, for today. Today could have been boring straight through and he wouldn't have minded. But his racing thoughts told him his chance at boredom would be gone if either he or the woman stayed in the same room much longer. Rude took in a deep breath in between his paced breathing, picking up the pace of his crunches. Just pay attention to his workout. All he needed to do. She might try to avoid him...if it was her. His will collapsed at his suspicion as to whether he was right or wrong, and Rude looked up.

It was her.

Only a few yards away. He looked her right in the eye behind his shades. Chelsea. Rude's arm was almost shoved out of its socket as he stopped and lost his grip on the machine. He grumbled quietly to himself, flexing the arm and looking away from Chelsea as fast as possible. She'd seen him too. Rude didn't know what he'd have to say or do if she came over. He glanced back up to make sure she wasn't to find she'd disappeared from where she'd been standing. He craned his head to the left and right to make sure she hadn't come up beside him or moved to another machine. Nothing. Fast as always. Moved to stand up for reasons unknown to him, Rude looked between the rest of the gym and the next machine he was going to use, trying to force himself to stay and not worry about where Chelsea was going or what she was doing. But his relaxing workout was over. Wouldn't do him any good to try to force himself to relax for the rest of the day after this encounter.

Dabbing at his forehead, now in a cold sweat, and removing his earphones, Rude pressed forward slowly before Chelsea's voice reached his ears from only a few feet away. Damn, he thought she'd have been further away than that by now. Rude tried to weave around a group of people gathering up that blocked her from his sight. He probably needed to just leave. As fast as Chelsea had bolted, she didn't want to see him. He...wasn't sure what he wanted. He could stay and think over it on one of the machines, but he'd be paranoid, wondering if she'd come up and have something awkward to say. It was best to just leave and fight her presence another day. An open gym wasn't the place for them to converse or try to avoid each other. Not that it would be any better when Rude was on the job and Reno was around. But staying would bother Chelsea as much as him. Time to leave this place.

"Excuse me," Rude said, quietly, as he angled his large form between two people and reached the doorway without issue. But then...he remembered. His back was still at the lockers. Rude paused with his hand on the door, forcing himself to turn around and go back for it. He spun around and tried to keep his head down as he went back for the bag. It would turn out to be a bad idea, not watching where he was going. Rude moved around a broad-bodied man and felt a smaller form bump headlong into him from inside the gathered group of men, now starting to dissipate. He didn't look up...but immediately he saw the same shorts and legs from before. Rude grunted and tried to steady her in the tight space they had before she fell onto her back or against the other men. All he could think to do, because he couldn't think at all. And shouldn't have been...

Words - 758
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - Lemme know if the godmod is okay![/size]

[Chelsea]

Chelsea wasn’t sure what to do. Standing and waiting her turn to be able to run out of the gym, never come back, hide in some closet an-…well escape anyway. She was over dramatizing this, but his gaze. Squeezing her own eyes shut, she pressed a hand to the bridge of her nose. He had been wearing those ever present shades, so how could she even know what he looked like. But he had seen her, must have, and that meant she had to go. ’Chicken.’ Well she was, what of it? He probably hadn’t even seen her anyway, after all, with his sunglasses on she couldn’t even tell if he had been looking at her or in a completely different spot. She hadn’t stuck around for long enough to know if he had reacted either, so here she was, doing her best to squeeze past the large men that just kept coming from every angle. To get past, Chelsea angled over toward the wall, thinking she could sneak around that way. Unfortunately, right as she went to sneak past she was boxed in by two giants of men having an in depth conversation about wrestling. “Great,” she whispered out, finding herself pressed up against the side wall. Poking and prodding the man who was trapping her there, he finally stopped jabbing the air to show his partner what he meant and glanced down at the disgruntled young woman glaring at him. Immediately he moved out of the way.

Blowing out another frustrated breath, she inclined her head in a nod of thanks at his apology and skittered to continue on her way. If she could dart over to her bag, grab it, and then dart out, that would be lovely. A dream come true. Always running. Here she was, working for the WRO, a mature, adult woman, and yet she was running from a man in a gym. ’So very, very mature.’, she thought with a shake of her head. Why had he picked today, of all days, to get his once in a year day off from being a Turk to just happen to go to the same gym she had went to? Fate-…no, what on Gaia was she thinking? And arguing with herself to boot. Should have just sucked it up and listened to Yuffie go on and on and on and on for the entire time, that would have been a lot easier to deal with.

Every time. Every time she got to the point where she was happy and involved and totally on top of things, something like this would happen, or she would see a previous member of AVALANCHE, or something. Finally spying her bag, right where she had left it, Chelsea jogged over, quickly snatched it up and made a bee line toward the door. Trotting while holding her bag and avoiding people, she saw the door in sight and felt a little better. Alright! She would make it out of here without some awkward situation where she had no idea what to say an-“Ma’am! You forgot your mp3 player, ma’am!” Oh cuss it all, he meant her, didn’t he. Turning, Chelsea accepted the technology from the man, thanked him and turned back toward the exit. Glancing to the left and right, she busied herself with stuffing it back into her bag, not paying attention to where she was going.

Glancing up after she accomplished that, she was just in time to avoid getting plowed over by the same human wall of flesh she had been trying to avoid after first seeing him. With a tiny gasp, Chelsea ducked between two hulking men, craning her head around to look behind her shoulder at them, triumphant to have survived without being stomped on by any giants. It was at that moment, not paying attention, that she collided with someone. Another startled little gasp escaped her lips. Starting to reel backwards, Chelsea reached out hands to steady herself right as she felt herself being steadied. Hands covered very muscular forearms when she instinctively tried to make sure she herself would flop over. Blinking at how suddenly it had all happened, green eyes started to come up. “Thank yo-…” started on her lips, before her eyes settled on his chest, frozen there. Without glancing any further up she knew who it was, and her thanks died on her lips. Standing a bit rigidly, Chelsea felt a bit trapped. There wasn’t anywhere else to go, so what was she supposed to do now? ’Should have fixed your hair,’ came that voice she had begun to loath, a frown on her lips. “Rude,” his name came out slowly from her lips. She was sure the sweat on her forehead and palms wasn’t from working out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 993
Muse:; Great!
Tagged:; Rude!
Location:; Gym
Outfit:; That one
Notes:; Nothing!
Listening To:;[/color] Africa - Toto (XD now I had it stuck in my head and had to listen to it)

[Rude]

Rude had less of an idea on how to react than he usually did. That was saying something. He'd been successful in helping the person - whose arms he wouldn't look up from - from falling to the floor. That was where his success ended. He ended up retaining his hold on her for no reason, frozen. And she looked frozen too, only halfway giving him thanks. She probably realized who he was. And now there was nowhere for either of them to go. Rude couldn't keep just staring straight down if that was the case. He raised his head slowly, finally meeting her eye-to-shades. His arms fell from holding her up as he did so. He didn't want to admit it to himself. He set his jaw and fought it. But he failed. It was nice to see her. It always was, even if they were both scared to death of each other. Well...Rude wasn't scared. Hearing Reno ranting again about dangerous women was what started the problems when it came to Chelsea.. Knowing Reno was half-right was the part that gave Rude reason for concern.

"Chelsea," he grunted in response to her. He knew he couldn't leave it at saying her name. They were already stuck together now, in the same place and on the same spot. One acting like the other didn't exist was pointless. They should have tried that before running headlong into one another. But what would he say... "You...look nice." There were words he could add. He meant that she looked nice for being at a gym and for being terrified of him, and that she looked like she was doing well in life right now with...whatever she was doing. But Rude didn't bring himself to say any of those things, and immediately he was wondering if she'd take it as a pass or something else that would send her fleeing for the hills again. Maybe she would, maybe she wouldn't. Rude couldn't say which one would be better for him. He knew he wasn't going anywhere, for reasons he couldn't have explained if asked why, but he wasn't going to sway Chelsea. He was...stuck, basically at the mercy of whatever she thought of him on this particular day. He supposed this was why he'd never tried a relationship with a woman before her. Trying to figure out what he was supposed to do in relation to a woman was...troublesome. Very troublesome. And unfortunately, Rude's only source of advice on women was Reno, who was married now but still didn't seem to know a thing about what he was doing, in Rude's opinion. Plus, Rude didn't exactly have the exact same...charisma as his partner, which was probably what caused him to simply half-look at Chelsea and sway in place as he tried to think of a way to continue.

"Didn't know we used the same gym," he said, thinking it would do to deflect away from...comments about looking nice. Why did it need to be a gym...Rude was used to his suit, Chelsea's dressiness. He felt like they were naked standing here, which made it all the more awkward. Why could nothing be...comfortable right now? And why did he have to keep listing all the things that weren't comfortable? And why, he wondered, did he not particularly mind that things weren't comfortable? He shifted his bag from one hand to the other, avoiding Chelsea's gaze at the thought. Someone needed to write a book about these situations... Rude would read it.

Words - 653
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - I wasn't disgusted with this one. Yaaay![/size]

[Chelsea]

Great day.

Such a great day.

Why hadn’t she just stayed and listened to Yuffie? Gripping his forearms tightly without realizing she was doing so, Chelsea spoke his name without raising her gaze from his chest. It wasn’t that she was necessarily terrified. It was more, just, apprehension and guilt. People in her field really shouldn’t have guilt. It wasn’t good for the job. Not good at all. And just with him. She had never thought of anyone else she had pulled a job on with guilt. It was a way to make a living, and she was good at it. It was all just pretend then though. Like watching a skit. Nothing more, nothing less. It was easy to forget those. Once the heart got involved though, everything became clouded and harder to trudge through. She should know.

Not much of a way to greet each other. Their names. Well, they already knew each others names. ’You’re being unfair,’ she chided herself. It was true. Besides, she hadn’t offered any other greeting beside his name, so she shouldn’t expect one in return. She was beginning to really hate that voice in her head. She had obtained a lousy conscience. So…what else was there to say? She really didn’t know where to go from here. Everything she came up with to say was on the border of being awkward. Why on Gaia’s name was the first thing she could think of to say was something about his neck? What was it lately with necks anyway? Yup, the best way to convince him she had stayed sane over the past few years was to make a comment out of the blue about necks on a male body. And besides that, she hadn’t even looked up at him to see his neck. ’Oh Etro, you really have gone insane.’ Well thanks to him, or perhaps it was having Yuffie as a supervisor. Something was getting to her. She wasn’t really sure what it was, but it was getting to her, and she was blaming it for her idiotic thoughts.

Before she could get her scattered thoughts organized and away from necks he had spoken. So abruptly that she almost missed it. It jarred her into looking up at him anyway. Giving him a slightly blank look, Chelsea couldn’t help the little smile that worked its way up to her lips. Well she could see he had obviously gone insane. She was sweaty, hair was a mess, and she looked like she had been in a gym, working out. So lovely. And then she batted away that same stupid little voice that kept telling her she should have taken that moment to fix her hair. Noticing her hands were still holding onto his arms, she forced her grip to relax and pulled them away, awkwardly resting them against her sides. “I think those sunglasses have effected your vision, but thank you.” After a pause she hurriedly added “And you do too.”, onto the end. At least she could be truthful now that she had actually looked up at him. Well then, those glasses sure did inhibit the ability to attempt at figuring out what he was thinking.

Frustrating.

Yes…the same gym. How fateful. Feeling a bit awkward still, Chelsea tried to relax, feeling self-conscious again. She still blamed the sunglasses. “I don’t normally come here. But, Yuffie has this way of jabbering nonstop when I try to use the gym at the facility, and I wanted some time to myself.” A second too late she realized she had given away where she was. Well…it wasn’t like it really mattered right now. It wasn’t like the WRO and the Turks were butting heads or anything currently…right? Why was she so jumpy lately? Glancing around them, Chelsea lowered her voice slightly. “And you don’t have a lanky red head following you around. Is this vacation for you?” ’Wrong thing to say.’ Shoot, she couldn’t think right now. At least she was a bit more relaxed in stance and mind, not having that startled deer in the headlights look. She was a confident, mature, adult woman, and she was being silly. Time to end her silliness.

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Words:; 910
Muse:; Great!
Tagged:; Rude
Location:; Gym
Outfit:; You know the one!
Notes:; I had to post with those I had muse for xD
Listening To:;[/color] Check yes Juliet - We the Kings

[Rude]

Good, finally. She let him go. Or not good. Rude didn't know which. He only knew it made him shift awkwardly and look away long enough to clear his throat before he looked back to Chelsea. The compliment seemed to please her, at least, so she wasn't pulling away out of disgust. Another good thing. She wasn't going to be annoyed by everything he said just because it was him saying them, then. Not that he would have expected her to, but, if she'd really wanted to get away and out of the gym without him bothering her, she may have rolled her eyes at everything he said. She even took the compliment with a few words and returned it, leaving Rude to shift awkwardly in place again and take a few seconds before he responded with his own "Thank you." He'd never been able to imagine what she saw in him those years ago if she'd been honest about their relationship being more than a job. To this day she was out of his league by a wide gap. Of course, Cissnei was out of Reno's league but they made it work. What were Rude and Chelsea trying to make work? Nothing. This was a random run-in. If they made it out of this without the conversation going to an awkward place, it would be as close to "making things work" as they would come. The thought disappointed Rude for a moment before he shook it off. He should have been happy he wasn't regarded as a plague by the young woman in front of him, and he was.

But he still wanted to learn how they ended up in the same gym on the same day. Rude's day off made things coincidental enough. Now Chelsea was saying she didn't use this gym. Rude brought a hand to his forehead and scratched there lightly. He wasn't high on blaming divine forces, but Gaia had something to do with this. And ah, right...Yuffie Kisaragi, the Wutai native. Daughter of Godo. Affiliated with Avalanche, and now...the WRO? Chelsea was working for them, then. Understandable. The WRO did good work now that the world was a different place than before, even if they weren't in line with the Shinra restructuring. The President had probably tried to absorb them back into Shinra. Hadn't worked, by Rude's assumption. At least it was Reeve basically in charge, not an idealist. And she came to this gym to escape Kisaragi's jabbering. Also understandable. Rude provided Chelsea with a slow, almost unnoticeable nod to show he understood what brought her to the gym today. Yes, this time, Gaia could be blamed. Some force had to have convinced the President to have Rude clocked out for today. Some force had to have given Kisaragi motivation to talk incessantly. Rude wasn't sure why that force liked putting him in awkward situations.

Then came the jab about Reno. Rude expected it without being aware that he did. It didn't bother him, either. Any day away from babysitting Reno was indeed a vacation. He wouldn't want to spend more than a couple of days away from his partner in case he get killed without him, either by enemies, co-workers or Cissnei, but a day away from him every now and then was good for Rude's mental health. Well, it would have been good, if he wasn't encountering old flames in gyms when both of them were barely wearing any clothes on those days away. The thought made him feel awkward again, but he spoke to cast the awkwardness aside. "Yes," he started, simply, almost making it seem like he was going to end the explanation there before he pushed up his shades a tad against his nose. "I received a call. The President didn't want to pay me today." It wasn't humor Rude was trying for, but if it managed to become humor in some way, good enough for Rude. Anything to break through this back-and-forth and make it lighter would make him happy.

Now what did he do, though? Didn't want to leave it like that. So was he going to do the one thing he'd planned to avoid when he saw Chelsea at first? ....Yes. Yes he was. He shifted again, nodding his head at some of the machines behind them. "We could talk more on the machines." He wasn't sure which might scare him more - whether she agreed or disagreed.

Words - 807
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - Another post I don't haaate! Muse is coming baaack![/size]

[Chelsea]

Well, at least Chelsea knew that they could still have a conversation, even if it didn’t make much sense. His complementing her on how she looked, that really didn’t make sense. At least for her telling him the same, it was the truth. He’d always looked good. At least that was her opinion. So she told him that, trying to alleviate the awkwardness. A lot had happened in the years that had passed, that was for sure. How was it, though, that Rude seemed...perfectly the same has he had before? Quiet, calm, intimidating. Well, enough thinking about that. It was over and done with, and here she was acting like some silly school girl. Whatever reason she had for acting like that, it really needed to stop. She would very much rather be the mature adult that she was. It suited her much better.

And she still had no idea what he was thinking. Chelsea had used to think that she had the ability to know what he was thinking fairly easily. Reflecting back, she realized that even back then, she hadn’t really had a clue of just what he had been thinking or feeling. Like how he had known what she was, and had continued to come see her. Chelsea just allowed for the fact that he would always be a step ahead of her. Yes, it was frustrating. Her entire job, her life, was reading people, figuring people out, and then manipulating them. (The latter, something she wasn’t entirely proud of) But with Rude, it was never easy. It had been her job, at first, to do the same thing with Rude. Really, she had been out of her league with that mission. Not only because he had made her desire to be free of the mission, but because she wanted to be truthful with someone for once in her life. Wanted to be truthful with him. And just like back then, currently, Chelsea really had no idea just what he might be thinking. Though she couldn’t, and wouldn’t, blame him for being repulsed at seeing her, she would like to think that he felt the same twinge of enjoyment at seeing her as she did with seeing him – even despite her panic. – She really was over thinking this. One little meeting, where they would talk and then go on with their lives as if it hadn’t happened. Wouldn’t they?

Chelsea also didn’t understand what made her be so honest with him. But, like years before, Chelsea just wanted to be honest with him. She wasn’t honest most of the time in her career, had to lie to a few too many people, but it was a way to pay bills, and to say that she wasn’t good at what she did was a lie. In another life perhaps she would have been an actress. Still, perhaps she shouldn’t have been quite so honest when it came to asking about Reno. Chelsea couldn’t say that she had any right to really dislike his red haired partner so much. After all, was it really Reno’s fault for trying to look out for his friend? But he had been wrong. It hadn’t just been a job…not later on. Or perhaps it was because his accusations were so close to the truth that it hit a sensitive nerve. Whatever the case may be, Chelsea got exhausted thinking about it, and so she put it to the back of her mind.

The ‘yes’ she got was all the answer that she expected. Even when they had been seeing each other, Rude had never exactly been a social butterfly. She would expect him to speak even less now. Except, that the moment she turned her head to look away, he had to go and speak some humor. Turning her head back a bit quickly, she studied his features, trying to figure out if he was being humorous or not. Finally she decided he was being humorous, a smile lifting onto her lips. As long as both of them were making an effort then perhaps they could keep the conversation as unawkward as possible. Really though, she had nothing clever to say back, so she didn’t say anything at all.

And the invitation caught her by surprise. Blinking, Chelsea looked up at him and then back to the machines, hesitating. Was he simply inviting her to be polite?-…not that it mattered what his motive was, really. Chelsea had always enjoyed Rude’s company, so she hoped that they could be friends, even if their relationship had been destroyed. She should say no-…but…she still had time, and she would rather not go back to the WRO headquarters and deal with Yuffie and her nonstop chatter. “Okay. I’d just like to warn you though, Rude. I’m up to bench-pressing more then you, I’m sure.” How she managed a straight face through that she’d never know. The more time that passed the more relaxed she found herself to be. She wasn’t so sure ‘talking’, was going to happen, but she had come here for a workout…so she decided that she would join him. If things became too awkward to handle, then Chelsea would excuse herself and leave. That sounded like a plan to her, so she shifted the bag on her shoulder and walked toward the machines.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 1110
Muse:; Great!
Tagged:; Rude
Location:; Gym
Outfit:; Click Hur!
Notes:; Tjanks :3
Listening To:;[/color] ...Do you really want to know? XD You're gonna think I'm warped when it comes to Chelsea muse. Shake your Rump - Beastie Boys

[Rude]

Ah, so he had managed some humor. The smile on her face was as pretty as it had always been. And as genuine. Rude didn't care that Reno didn't think Chelsea had ever been sincere. He still did, and probably would as long as he lived. Reno was paranoid, like a mother hen. Cissnei wasn't even as bad as he was with some things, since she handled them with civility. Rude did appreciate Reno's concern, but the last person Rude needed to "protect" him from danger was the redhead. Rude was mature. He'd seen plenty in his life, even before Zirconiade or the Genesis Army or Meteor or the Remnants. Even if Chelsea had wanted to sell him out in the end, he had known ways to cope and deal with it, both from a personal and a professional standpoint...or had he. Rude might have been giving himself too much credit. Most things he could react to by shrugging it off. He wasn't sure if he would have been as good shrugging off Chelsea's betrayal...because, though he didn't like to say it, his time with her had probably been the best time of his life. Some life.

She didn't say all that much back about his day off, but she did seem to be considering his idea to talk while they worked out. Again, working out was relaxing to Rude, so he hoped it would be relaxing enough to give him good sense in talking to the woman before him. She really did look good, even if she said he was crazy for mentioning it. Working out probably did that for her. As she turned herself to the machines, he had to stop himself from taking the opportunity to do any staring. The opposite wall became of interest, as he again shifted awkwardly. His eyes did move back to her, though, when she turned back and accepted...and made a funny. Or Rude thought it was a funny. His mouth twitched up with a sliver of a smile in the corner of it. If he was right, she still had a good poker face. Since she seemed to be in good shape, though, maybe she wasn't being all that sarcastic...

Rude remembered she barely came to his chest. No, she was being sarcastic.

Removing the towel from his shoulders, he followed her back towards the machines, dropping himself onto one of them as his bag and towel were delegated to the floor beside him. He brought both legs up - it was a leg press machine - and almost had to grumble at his height until he got into a reasonably comfortable position to do the workout. Then, it was time to get to work again. Rude glanced over at Chelsea long enough to gauge if she was settled in. What did he talk about now that he was here? There were some subjects he could bring up - plenty of them awkward and not at all appealing - but instead, he thought small talk was a good beginning. Adjusting his shades slightly with another push on the leg press, he finally spoke up, half-looking at her and half-staring into space. "How are you liking the WRO?", he asked, simply, before he decided he had something to add. "Aside from the Kisaragi girl."

Yep. This was a normal conversation.

For a Turk.

Words - 600
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - I hate that Rude posts end up so short. D8[/size]

[Chelsea]

As the time progressed and Chelsea talked to Rude some more, her muscles began to relax, and with that, her stance as well. Chelsea had always been able to draw Rude out somewhat. Back then she had pegged it as simply being good at her job. But-…no, it was probably that still. Regardless of why or if she indeed actually good at drawing him out or not, she found talking to him relaxing. And of course, she felt more at ease instead of thinking he was going to jump down her throat and be crabby about those years before. She should have been able to discern that he was much too mature to have such petty thoughts, but her judgment and thoughts were somewhat scattered right at the moment. It had taken a few moments longer than it should have to pull herself back together. What had happened to her control over the years that he could shake it so easily anyway?

The invitation was somewhat of a surprise, but Chelsea couldn’t say that she really disliked the idea of talking with him a bit more. He confused her a little bit, which was odd considering he didn’t seem quite so affected by this as she did. Of course he was a master at hiding his thoughts. Like she was, except, apparently when it came to meeting up with certain Turk men. She wasn’t proud that he could make her into such a nervous wreck, and she also wasn’t proud that Reno could get her hackles up so quickly, either. She found herself agreeing before she had really thought about it too much, but she had to give him a warning about how much she was benchpressing. It was far from the truth of course. Very far from the truth, but since she managed to tell him so with a straight face, she thought she might give him a bit to worry about. Because every large, muscular man worried that a woman that barely came-…okay didn’t come to his chin could benchpress as much as he weighed. Mhm, that was obviously going to concern him. Still, she couldn’t help but smile when she followed him back into the gym.

Dropping down herself to sit on one of the machines, Chelsea placed her things to the side and took a moment to organize them. Rude was the first to speak, which was good, because she was feeling somewhat awkward again. Though she was settled on the machine, instead of starting to work out, she drew her legs up and caught the edge with her heel to keep her legs up, wrapping her arms loosely around her legs. The WRO? So he knew where she was working. Not that it was a secret like it had been with AVALANCHE, so she didn’t have to worry that he knew. Still, she had to ponder slightly over the answer to that, resting her chin on her knees as she came up with an answer for him.
He caused the corners of her eyes to wrinkle slightly while laughing after his comment about Yuffie. “Oh Yuffie…is quite the girl. She can pick a pocket alright, but sometimes I wonder just how much is up in that head of hers.” Moving her eyes toward him and watching his movements, Chelsea watched for a few moments and then caught herself in time to make sure she didn’t stare or anything. Instead she went about fixing her hair by taking it out of her pony tail, finger combing it and then tying it back up. “I like it though, at least, generally speaking.” She was sure he understood that. “And, of course, there’s good things and bad, but that’s with every position in any job.” Chelsea felt a little embarrassed about her position, but she also felt like she wanted to be honest with him. “I’m still an intelligence gatherer, but,” Keeping her gaze directed on the wall behind him, she went on. “It’s different, then before.” What was it about her that loved to bring up these awkward conversations? Softly clearing her throat, she searched her mind for something else she could talk about. “If Yuffie doesn’t drive me insane, I think I might just do alright. And you? Have you been doing good?" Chelsea's voice was sincere.

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Words:; 918
Muse:; Goood!
Tagged:; Rude
Location:; Gym
Outfit:; That one!
Notes:; :3 I like the Rude posts?
Listening To:;[/color] Somewhere I belong - Linkin Park

[Rude]

Noticing that Chelsea wasn't going to go immediately to working out, anxiety hit Rude. If she wasn't working out at the same time he was, she would be there to inspect his own workout. Rude swallowed slightly at the thought, but put it out of his mind and just kept working. He wasn't ashamed for anyone else to stare at him while he worked out. Why should Chelsea be any different? He should be less ashamed since he knew her. Better than a stranger, right? No. Probably worse in a way. But Rude made sure no redness came to his cheeks - not that it could be seen through his tan - and looked ahead as she talked about how things were in the WRO.

Right, Kisaragi. Again, Rude didn't know her personally and didn't care to. He'd just read reports. Even those were annoying. Chelsea had to deal with the tangible girl every day, but she supposed she was probably more tolerant to those sorts of people than Rude was. Ironically, he was the one to spend most of his time with Reno...but not usually for an appreciatio of Reno's personality.

But he did notice she hadn't really talked about the job itself yet, just about Yuffie. Maybe she was hesitant to do so. Rude just kept pumping, making sure not to put too much pressure on her for an answer. He was sure he'd probably asked her when they'd been dating about her job. Right now, he couldn't remember what she'd actually told him to cover for herself. Hopefully she didn't have to do the same thing now that she was in the WRO. It wasn't as if they were trying to bring down Shinra...only cover for it while it had been defunct. Shinra might have been shouldering back in on WRO holdings now, but not much bad blood was shared. Maybe a few political arguments. Nothing more. But she did say she liked it...though there were downsides. "I understand that feeling," he said quietly in agreement. He just hoped her downsides now weren't...what they'd been the last time.

He slowed to look at her, though, at her mention that the work she was doing was different than before. It wasn't so much what she said, but the way she said it. Rude stared at her for a good few seconds until his eyes resumed their neutral position in front of him. "Different how?", he asked, figuring she'd know what he meant by the question....even if he didn't fully understand himself. Well, he did understand it. He just didn't know why he was getting any kind of hopes about what she meant by different...

Hmm, best not to think about it. Rude glanced to her again to answer her question, momentarily stopping his workout to let his legs drop down beside him and rumble out his answer. "Things have been better lately," he answered, patting his bald head a bit to get some of the sweat off. "Not as many bad decisions. Turks have been coming back." Rude shrugged his shoulder slightly. "I've enjoyed it for once."

Words - 580
Muse - Excellente!
Notes - Again, sorry for length u.u[/size]

[Chelsea]

Chelsea was facing similar circumstances as Rude. At least where actually working out came into practice. Though she had made the brag of being able to bench press as much as he weighed, Chelsea knew she was by no means anywhere close to that an-…well, it didn’t really matter much, did it? She just wasn’t quite sure when it boiled down to it that she actually wanted Rude staring at her while she was working out. Well that was childish of her; it was just Rude…the guy she had spent so much time with. But things were different, and that caused some apprehension, so instead she sat with her knees pulled up to her chin while she studied him.

When he started asking questions though, her attention deviated from him and she started intently watching the ceiling, as if it was the most interesting place on the face of Gaia. At the moment, it was. At first Chelsea kept it firmly on the lighter side, not wanting to delve into the deeper things, or perhaps simply unwilling to do that.

She didn’t doubt either that he knew what the downsides of a job were. He was a Turk after all. Though she wasn’t there to back talk them or anything, it wasn’t hard to notice that Turks had been involved in some shady acts in their existence. It didn’t take a philosopher to know that. Not…that she had any right to talk about organizations that had been involved in some shady acts with her past. But that chapter in her life was over and done with; couldn’t she let it rest in her background where it belonged? That would be nice, except that decisions and actions seemed to follow you your entire life. Another reason why being around Rude was nice. He didn’t seem to judge, even if he had the right. It was…refreshing, because she would love to let her past rest back there and move on.

Still, Chelsea seemed to be itching to discuss it. She hadn’t been able to face him those years ago, to try and explain when she had owed him that and so much more. It had haunted her conscience for the years to follow. Perhaps her explanation would be a bit delayed, years of delay actually, but didn’t they say better late than never? Chelsea hoped that was the case. While she debated on opening a can of worms she didn’t know if she wanted to, she toyed with the ends of her long brown hair, before finally pushing it over her shoulder and determined that she wanted to try and discuss it. If he didn’t seem to want to, she could always stop.

He seemed to catch onto her meaning too, which she wasn’t sure she was happy about or not. It would be easy to say she had tried to talk about it and he hadn’t allowed her. Taking in a deep breath, she noticed him watching her and quickly dropped her back down to touch the machine and stare at the ceiling, hoping no red was creeping onto her cheeks. “I told Kisaragi, when I joined, I would never complete a mission where I had to try and manipulate the emotions of another person.” Chelsea had folded her hands on her stomach and could'nt look at him when she said it. Shame crept over her again. “It caused more hurt then I-.” Stopping mid-thought, Chelsea blew out her breath and narrowed her eyes to study the ceiling some more. She was going to burn a hole in it if she continued to glare it down.

Thankfully she could put the focus on him and ask how things were going. Bad decisions…she knew a lot about that. Sitting back up, Chelsea studied him and then looked down at her still folded hands. She was thankful that they could actually talk again. She had missed him a lot; more then she wanted to admit really. For his sake, she was glad that he was enjoying his work again. “I’m glad you can enjoy it.” Softly spoken words were also sincere. Chelsea did, and had since she had figured out he was more than just a face on a file to her, care about what happened to him.

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Words:; 914
Muse:; Great!
Tagged:; Rude
Location:; Gym
Outfit:; That one!
Notes:; XD Oh stoooooop, I LIKE RUDE POSTS AND THAT'S THAT B|
Listening To:;[/color] One Night at a Time - George Strait

[Rude]

Rude doubted anyone would have bet against this conversation becoming awkward. Good thing for them..they would have lost a lot of money. He watched out of the corner of his eye once he'd turned away at Chelsea lying back on the bench, and for at least a few seconds, he tried to determine exactly what it was she was gaining by being in such a position. He stopped trying almost immediately, though. It was best not to add any more questions to his collection, which had already been growing enough today. Instead, he focused ahead of him again, ready to hear what her surely awkward answer was going to be to his question. He felt that he already knew, but it was better to hear it from Chelsea. He could be wrong, anyway. He usually was about matters like this...which had probably gotten him into the problem the two of them were now facing in the first place. For a split-second, Rude was jealous of how things had gone for Reno. Rude himself didn't get that lucky.

Then, she spoke. Rude kept working but wasn't paying any attention to what he was doing, probably only half-assing the workout...and picking up his pace in Rude's own form of anxiousness, too. Yeah, what he heard from her was...mostly what he'd thought, though maybe a little more sentimental. All in all, though, he only felt regret bothering him once she said it. At least, until the second part she added, which was briskly cut off. Rude stopped suddenly upon hearing it, turning to take a look at her as she lay there and stared at the ceiling. More hurt, she'd said... Hurt for her, or hurt for him? Rude would have never asked the question out loud, but in his own little world behind his shades, he watched her and wondered about it, trying to seem like he wasn't watching as he kept himself facing some point beyond her. Those last few words she spoke could have been exactly what he wanted to hear...in a way. Not maliciously, but hopefully. He thought, at least, that was the case. As with most things he was facing today, he couldn't be sure and likely wouldn't be sure, even after he'd thought about it later on, when Chelsea wasn't there with him.

Knowing he couldn't exactly keep himself going with the workout now that what was said was said - or at least, his current workout - he put himself facing her again, trying to add normalcy to their conversation with his answer about work. People talked about work every day...fortunately for them, those people were not intelligence agents. Hmm...hadn't there been a movie about two intelligence agents before who pretended that work was boring for their chats? It was a male and a female in that movie, too...Reno had likely made him watch it somewhere along the line, since Rude couldn't remember it, which meant it hadn't been his favorite movie. Still, the situation seemed to apply, and as Rude rubbed his face slightly with his towel and Chelsea responded, he decided they were actually very bad at making work seem boring. Between the two of them, at least.

Rude sat there, staring somewhere between Chelsea and the floor and trying to figure out where else to go with things. There was no right way to go...the boring work would have to persist. "What does the WRO have you doing recently?", he asked her, deciding it was as safe of a question as any...

Maybe.

Words - 639
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - Worst ending to a post ever! But, I figured it could kind of sort of lead towards their thread with Reno if he asked? Maybe? I guess. I dunno.[/size]