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 Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:12 am
It would be fair to say that it had been a trying day. A very trying day. Aulus was a man accustomed to being able to throw his weight around, and most unaccustomed to taking orders. Today the only people he'd been able to snarl at were other people in red, and people in black and white had mainly treated him like an insect. When he had reached the end of his working day he had really, really wanted to give some of those 'superiors' of his a beating. As this hadn't been an option, however, the scarred man had returned to his dorm and changed into a rather different uniform.
A couple of hours training down in the exercise facilities had made him feel much better. This was mostly because he'd been picturing the faces of people he'd taken against on the punchbags he'd been beating up with hand, foot, and staff.
Exhausted but satisfied, Aulus wandered in the vague direction of the recc. rooms, still clad in his gi (although he had put on a pair of flip flops) and still with his staff over his shoulder. The advantage of the karate uniform, of course, was that like casual clothes it gave no clue as to what his rank within Team Rocekt was; he could be a new transfer of any rank. It's current advantage - in his opinion - was the black belt with its dan markings that fastened the jacket, which might well discourage anyone from messing him about and making his day worse. Never knew your luck.
Running his fingers through his spiky hair, Aulus pushed open the door to one of the recc. rooms and stepped inside, hoping to find a place to sit and possibly a cup of tea or something.
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 1:33 pm
The room wasn't too occupied, lucky for Aulus, but it wasnt unoccupied either.
A dark-haired woman was sat, on the edge of a seat, staring forward at a tv that was currently emitting colourful, if /somewhat/ grainy, scenes of some vibrant contest on the tv.
"Sssh ssh sh!" Tam' didn't even look as the casually dressed grunt (jeans, blue sweater and sandals) waved her arms rather ungracefully toward Aulus' entrance. Not that the TV's volume was exactly turned to quiet.
~'And it's an impressive rollout for Elly the Phanpy, but will it be enough to impress and surpass the other entrants of this exciting contest?!'~
"Come on Elly!" The glasses-clad woman urged the TV image, her fists now balled on her knees as she leant forward; a temporarily abandoned book, red ribbon dangling to mark its page, sat closed upon the floor by her feet.
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:38 am
A scowl flashed across Aulus' face, and he muttered; "Shush yourself," although not very loudly; the shushing woman might not know his rank but he didn't know her's either, and while he wasn't about to just roll over on command he wasn't going to risk pissing her off too much either. Still, he had more important matters to see to, namely making a cup of tea. When he stepped into the tiny kitchen attached to the recc room, however, his expectations were not quite met.
Kettle and toaster were present, but there didn't seem to be much in the way of tea and or coffee. He splashed some water into the kettle in any case, and then began a more thorough search. "This place is a dump," he muttered to himself as he searched for a clean cup among the ranks of dirty ones. Eventually he just took one of the slightly less dirty ones (i.e. it didn't have anything growing in it) and washed that out. He then began the hunt for tea, and eventually located a box at the back of a bottom cupboard. It said 'Property of Frost, kindly do not steal' on the outside be he ignored that. He also ignored the writing on the inside of the lid which asked 'Can nobody on this base read?', and took the last tea bag. The writing on the inside bottom of the now empty box caused Aulus a snort of amusement; if 'You are extremely rude' was the worst this Frost guy could come up with he wasn't exactly worried.
He couldn't find any milk in the end, but a good shake of sugar from an only slightly questionable looking bag made up for that. The only clean piece of cutlery was a butterknife, and so Aulus stepped back out of the kitchenette he was stirring his drink with that. Leaning against the doorframe, he scowled over at the TV watcher, waiting for permission to un-shush.
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:00 pm
Tambrey didn't quite hear the muttering, though seemed aware something was said; she waved a hand at the man as if to shush him further, though she didn't tell him anything further until he was in the kitchen.
"Nothin' clean over there!"
The information came decidely after Aulus had made the discovery for himself, in fact, it was while he was searching for the tea.
Then her attention was pulled back to the television by something very colourful and rather shiny.
"Go Elly!" came her next cheer; clearly, in her head, she had left the room again for a few moments, cheering on the collection of pixels that represented 'Elly the Phanpy'.
As Aulus returned, he was just in time to witness Tambrey fistpumping as the contest program came to an end on the screen. Elly the Phanpy was through to the next round and Tam' was pleased.
She turned her head to see the man with tea, grinned at him and decided to inform.
"Sorry. Contest. Very important I watched it. Elly won." She bent to grab her book up into her lap, then tilted her head. "Hey, uh, if you're making teas, then I could go for one, ya know. I don't think we've met and tea's a good way to have a first meeting..."
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 4:38 am
"Good for Elly," Aulus replied with a scowl, "and if you want tea, come wash yourself a cup; like you say there's nothing clean in there. There's no milk, and no more tea bags either but this one should make another cup if you want. I'll even let you use this knife I washed to stir it." She was rather presumptuous, but not rude. He wished that gave him a hint as to her rank, but it didn't. Until he could figure out where he stood in comparison to her he couldn't be too rude; if he insulted her she'd probably turn out to be an elite or an executive or something.
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 7:03 am
The scowl was noted. Hm.
Tambrey decided to have a quick better look over the man who stood nearby.
She wrinkled her nose as she noted what must be some sort of martial arts clothing, though she'd never really paid very much attention to any of that.
Ah, right! It was the belt that was supposed to clue you in on these sorts of things wasn't it... She turned her gaze downward to look for the belt.
'Black... That's really high isn't it... I hope he's not an agent or worse.' She chewed at her lip.
He wasn't being too insulting, telling her off or threatening, but what if that was a test. She'd assumed he was just another grunt, but she'd not met a black belt before- maybe that meant his rank was higher too. After all, there were a lot of people she'd yet to meet.
"Heh. Uh. Very gracious of ya." She offered a smile as she rose, placing her book upon her chair as if to claim it as her seat.
"I'll just clean m'self a cup and then if I might be reusing the bag that'd be most welcome, thanks. Eh, don't worry about the knife- I know where the tea-spoons get hidden; I'll just wash one of them."
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 8:39 am
"Don't thank me," Aulus gave a snort of amusement and shook his head, "thank the guy who left his tea bags in there; it's obviously a dumb thing to do given nobody else has. Wouldn't worry about revenge from him either," the trainee sipped at his hot sweet tea and gave a very small sigh of contentment, "worst indignant note written on the box was 'You're very rude.' Anyway," Aulus hoiked the tea bag out of his cup in preparation for passing it over, "what's your name?... Or maybe around here it would be better to ask what you call yourself; I'm Aulus."
How many people around here used false names, he wondered? Maybe Claire was in the minority, taking a pseudonym for herself. Several pseudonyms rather. Still, if it was common practice he might have to come up with something other than Aulus given he used the peculiar nickname like an actual name... But on the other hand there wasn't much disguising him physically, so taking on an extra name was probably a lot more trouble than it was worth.
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:16 am
"Huh." She smirked at the idea of indignant notes left on tea-bag boxes.
"Given... this place, uh, yeah, not the wisest idea t' leave your own anything laying around if it's something like tea. I wouldn't know about revenge anyway- owner'd have to have a way of knowing who took it first."
She mused as she rummaged around and produced a cup, taking her time over washing it out.
"What I call myself? I'm just Tambrey; Tam for short. Certain people call me Tamie, but that's not really a common one." Only her mother and Acacia had ever called her those, and the latter way more than her mother had ever dared to try. She kind of liked it that way.
Cup washed, she began to look for a spoon, finding one hidden inside a box of cereal. She didn't explain how she knew to look there.
"Never really see the point in taking a codename 'less I'm actually on a mission or something. Not like I really care if anyone but family recognises me and I doubt that'll ever happen."
She held the now clean cup out to recieve the tea bag after she'd rinsed the spoon well.
"So... uh. You have a black belt thing there, Aulus; you're a master of... whatever thingy that get-up is for?" Maybe she'd have a better idea of his rank too if she probed like this.
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Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 11:28 am
"Right, Tam then." No way he was going to call her anything as ridiculously cuddly sounding as Tamie. Made her sound like a six year old girl's favourite doll, but whatever, he was sure plenty of people found his nickname pretty laughable too.
"Anyway," Aulus dumped the tea bag into Tam's cup, "it's called a gi, if you care, not a get up, and I'm a third dan in karate. Don't know if you'd call me a master," he snorted amusement at that and picked up his staff from where he'd lent it against at wall, "but yes I'm good; been doing it years." Sipping at his tea again Aulus crossed the room and sat down on the sofa, leaning his staff against the wall again as he did so. "The big stick is a bo," he added with a nod to the length of wood, "it's a bit longer than standard, compromises a little speed in return for a little extra power." It was kind of nice that she was interested, even if it was only vaguely interested; he was only human, and humans liked talking about their passions. He was hardly going to get carried away though, he didn't want to seem too keen.
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Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:32 pm
"Dan? Thought ya said your name was Aulus?" Tambrey smirked as she worked with the tea bag that was now in her cup.
Water in, allow to steep... and what else could be added. She frowned; milk wasn't an option and the place never seemed to have lemon... No way she going to spoil it with sugar. She shrugged.
A plain tea it would have to stay then.
She turned, stirring before retrieving and dumping the bag, while Aulus explained the ghi and the bo staff.
"Aha! A bo staff I have heard of." Memories of cartoon squirtles and various other imagery snaked across her brain.
'Which one had the staff again? Donawotsit? Ah, he wouldn't like that nickname anyway...'
"Never really knew there was or wasn't a variation of lengths or whatever... And, uh, well... I just always heard black belts meant 'master' or something... Never heard the term 'dan' before outside of a name..." Tambrey mused as she raised her tea carefully to her lips.
He certainly didn't seem to talk how she imagined a high rank individual might, and surely they had a special common room of their own or something right? She'd never knowlingly seen one in here... She was starting to relax a bit, especially as he seemed happy enough to talk about his karate.
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 3:13 pm
"Ha. A comedian. Great." Aulus raised an eyebrow and sipped again at his tea; he hadn't really minded the joke, but simple reflex made him gripe mildly about it. "At least you know some stuff though," he conceded with a grudging nod, "had some people in the past looking around for a hair ribbon when I said bo..." Ah, well that explained part of Lucas' concussed ramble, not that it was really relevant anymore. "The most basic length for a bo is six foot," Aulus went on, "but if it's your own personal staff, the basic height is equal to your own height. My staff is six foot six, six inches taller than me; I had a standard length one up to black belt, but after that I started playing around, seeing what worked for me."
He'd gone through quite a few staves, and while they didn't cost the whole world a well crafted bo wasn't exactly cheap. He'd never really thanked his parents for paying for his whims like that, but then on the other hand at least his hobbies had been cheaper than his sister's and brothers'... Still, maybe when he got in contact next he'd mention something. Maybe. If he remembered. Didn't matter that much.
"Anyway," Aulus scowled at himself for getting distracted by family of all things, "dans. A lot of martial arts have ten dans, but what they mean and how tough they are to earn varies for sport to sport, sometimes even region to region. Where I learned, at first dan you're expected to have mastered all the basic techniques, and starting at third you're qualified to teach... Not that I have," Aulus gave a snort of amusement, "I'd probably scare off any pupils after half a session..." Maybe not here though. There was no chance a trainee would be allowed to teach anything to anyone if he understood how things worked within TR, but maybe as he advanced he'd be able to. Did he want to? Honestly, he couldn't say. He supposed that if it was for the good of the team and everything he might find it satisfying, and maybe people would respect him too. Worth thinking about for the future, certainly.
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 4:10 pm
"Eh. A lame comedian. It's what I do around new people... and people I know... It's what I do around all but family actually; it's like some bizarre kind of coping method or something to deal with people."
She shrugged a little, maybe that was too much information, maybe it wasn't- she had tea and he seemed kind of blunt; it was rather refreshing so far and almost surprisingly less intimidating than she imagined he could be.
She listened and smirked as he described people thinking of ribbons at the mention of 'bo' and then listened politely.. and not without genuine interest as he revealed not only information about said bo, but 'dans' and his martial art too.
"Wow. So... It's not just coloured belts and... stuff... Well, I mean; that's like the basic knowledge I got from... multiple sources. And, hey, if you can teach, why not? I mean, why haven't you yet? I bet a lot o' people around here'd like to learn; if they're not scared by the elites around here, I bet they'll be fine with you." She sipped her tea and grinned a little. "Ya don't seem too scary to me."
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 10:02 am
"I'm not scary because I've had a decent evening, and now I have a decent cup of tea," Aulus humphed. "Hate to be cliché, but you wouldn't like me when I'm angry... Still, actually beating up fellow rockets probably isn't allowed so I guess there's only so much scary anyone can pull off... Except for elites and executives, I expect they do whatever the hell they feel like to whoever they feel like doing it to."
Not scary. He supposed that was... good? People didn't like scary people, but who said he wanted people to like him?... Well if they did like him the fine, but mostly they didn't and if they didn't he wanted them so be scared so... so... Egh, whatever, didn't matter anyway. For now he was getting on okay with the girl, and they were talking about stuff that interested him rather than her rattling on about that contest she'd been watching or whatever. He should count his blessings rather than worrying about not being as terrifying as he might be.
"Anyway," Aulus gave another slight scowl, "of course it's not just coloured belts. There's a school of thought that says coloured belts are pretty useless, because up until black belt you're still really just learning the basics. My club used them though, and most do, partially to tell apart just how little people know, and I guess to give people a sense of achievement too." He'd always been elated when he earned a new belt, so frankly in his opinion people who disliked the system could shove it up their elitist arses.
"Reason I never got around to teaching," the red-eyed man gave a slight shrug, "positions were full, as it were. My local club had a perfectly good sensei, but I did start helping her out and covering for her when she needed time off... Oh, right," a sneer spread across Aulus' face once more, "lack of positions, and lack of patience for pretentious little kids who don't actually take is seriously and who for some reason you're not allowed to hurl across the room. Mostly the second one actually."
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Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:27 pm
"Not many people like very many people when either party is angry... " Tambrey noted, airily but quite seriously, smiling as she sipped at her own tea. "Hm. I guess this tea is, actually, decent. It's better than it is a lot of the time around here."
She seemed happy enough to be leaving the subject of the contest back behind the screen of the television; she was perhaps, even, slightly embarrassed about being caught out watching such an event, especially for a first meeting.
Besides, the martial arts talk actually seemed to interest her, and she seemed to be less intimidated and a little more attentive in response to the patches of gruffness that appeared around certain points of the conversation.
"Hm. I kind of like the idea of the belts- seems a bit like those badges the Gym Leaders give out- well, to me anyway." She mused, holding her tea cup just under her chin with both hands as she continued to stand where she was; she seemed to be happy to drink her tea while standing.
"Ah. Hm. I suppose ya'd have to own the... you said it was a club?... to be able to do stuff like hurling people... I guess it might, ya know, be considered assault or something too... 'M not sure whether such a thing'd be frowned at here or not- probably though." She actually seemed to be thinking it out. "Because ya can't really have team members getting hurt and being unavailable for missions and such... Hm. Still, probably worth looking into?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:46 am
"Well. I guess that's true. Anger isn't really a likeable emotion..." She was a very reasonable young woman. Aulus attempted to hate her for it, but barely even managed to get as far as mild annoyance.
"Maybe I should find out who this Frost person is and thank him," he went on with a snort, deciding that he could substitute being rude to Tam for being rude about somebody else, "and then when he tries to beat me to death with another peeved note I can show off my amazing martial arts skills and I'll be promoted on the spot, plus allowed to fling all the annoying children I like on my time off. They'll ship them in specially for me, probably all the way from Unova."
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