Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tuck waited, holding his breath as he braced himself for her charge.

...and then he was holding his hand over his eyes, shading himself from the dull sun as he watched the arrow sail off into the distance. He let loose a low, baritone whistle as the arrow disappeared before turning back to grin at Heidi.

"Well, short stack, maybe we should call it a day. You drink coffee? We could catch some lunch and talk about how amazing we are."

Tuck braced Herryk's hilt on the ground, leaning against the topmost part of the axe.

"I'unno about you, Heidi, but all this failure has got me awful hungry."

"I like the way you think," Tuck chuckled jovially, desummoning Herryk with a flourish. He probably looked ridiculous, but at this point he didn't care. It was nice to make new friends, and he truthfully enjoyed the playful banter that he shared with Heidi.

"You're right, y'know. Ain't no shame in failure, so long as you learn somethin' from it." He gave a very serious nod, twisting the silver ring that rested around his finger.

"You wanna grab that coffee now and wow me with some stories about your glory days, or you gonna hang around for that other dude that was gonna stop by? He's yours, by the way. I got about half an hour before pod duty."

"He thinks you're badass."

<Herryk did not say such a thing.>

"You surprised him, to be honest." Tuck grinned and shrugged, leaning over to glance at the wound she'd suffered. His eyebrows lifted and that white grin grew even broader.

"Sounds good to me. It'll be nice to get off the training grounds for a while. I think I spend too much time here," he finished with a chuckle, "not that I have any impressive stories to tell."

His grin faltered only slightly, and Tuck lifted his broad shoulders in a shrug.

"Ready?"

"Herryk kind of talks funny, too," Tuck started towards the cafeteria, broad shoulders lifting, "and he tends to call me Theodore. Only my mama called me Theodore, and she only did it when I was in a heap of trouble." He shot Heidi a wry smile, dimples flashing in his cheeks.

"I'm sure if I had more friends around here I'd spend a lot less time training. Ain't easy for me to get out there, sometimes, make new friends. Used to be, but I find the older I get the more difficult it is."

"Talks about himself in... what's it called, first person? Addresses himself by his own name. And you little brat," he chuckled, shaking his head. "My sister knows to call me Theodore when she's pissed at me, too. You met her yet? She's a sun. Twins. I ain't seen her much since I got here." Tuck shrugged.

"I think you're pretty cool too, short stack, but I won't lie, I never read the books," he laughed outright, a low belly laugh that brought out the impossible dimples in his cheeks, "not enough time for all that. And I'm twenty. Birthday rolls around in the summer. I hope I have some cash saved up by then, I'd love to get away from here for my twenty-first."

Grinning down at Heidi, Tuck lifted his brows. They weren't far from the cafeteria, and the small talk was welcome. "What about you. I know never to ask a lady about her age, but, well," his eyes crinkled in a huge smile, "fair play."

"Well happy belated birthday, I guess?" Tuck's face hurt from smiling so huge, but he couldn't help it. "I spent my eighteenth birthday prepping for college. So much to do in so little time. I was one of the lucky ones, I s'pose. Slipped in on a scholarship."

They'd drawn up to the cafeteria by this point, and Tuck held the door open for Heidi - old habits die young. He'd always been the sort of fellow who did that kind of thing without really thinking about it.

"When was your birthday supposed to happen? We're gonna have to do something about that."

"Football, short stack," Tuck grinned down at her, some strange emotion glinting in his eyes. Sadness? "Didn't get much of a chance to do much else. I left after too long. Joined the Army. Came here shortly after some... well, shortly after I joined the Army."

He was silent for a moment as he escorted her to a table before moving towards the coffee machine.

"Mmm. They got movies here? I ain't got friends in high places, but I'm willing to put down a month's pay to make sure you get the party you deserve."

"I spent some time in Georgia and then a little more time on the west coast before I was deployed overseas," Tuck offered her a tight-lipped smile over his shoulder as he poured himself a mug of coffee. "That's about all I've seen, to be frank - found my way here not long after."

His broad shoulders lifted in a shrug as he turned back around to pour a second mug of the bitter brown drink. Tuck wasn't keen on dredging up bad memories, and his final days in Afghanistan still haunted him.

"Movies? s**t, we might have to check that out, then," he chuckled dryly as he turned to carry the mugs back to the table. He smiled as he set the steaming mug down before her, gesturing at the sugar and cream that littered the tables. "It's black, didn't add no sugar or milk," he warned before seating himself.

"And hell yeah I mean it," he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Do unto others, mom always said. I'd like to think someone'd do the same for me, you know? Besides, we're both Moons. That means somethin', right?"