Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Great. Now it cools down," Stephan grumbled, leaning up against a low wall in the garden for a break. He had spent the better part of the day hauling boxes up the stairs, and the heat had shown him he wasn't in quite as great shape as he thought. So, instead of starting to unpack like he should, it had never been a favorite task of his, he had decided to go running. Best to get an early start. It was just starting to get dark, and since he hadn't seen hardly anyone around during the day he figured no one would be around at night either. With that in mind, the frat boy had donned his college track shorts, a bit shorter than he would have liked, and ditched his shirt. Who needed it anyway? Even though it was cooling down, it was still fairly warm, so natural had seemed the better option. After all, it wasn't like he was ashamed of himself, he'd managed to keep away from a beer belly. Though his mother still warned him that would catch up to him later on.

His breathing was harder than he remembered it being during the track season, for which he placed the blame firmly on final exams. Some people overate, underslept, but him? The stress from exams had gotten him smoking again. He had quit the year before, and with a lot of effort had gotten himself in track shape, but the temptation had just kept coming back at him. The thought triggering a sudden craving, he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his waistband and extracted the lighter he kept stuck in it, promising himself he'd quit again as he lit up. Calming. If only they weren't so damn calming. Blowing out a puff of smoke, Stephan closed his eyes, trying to remember why it was he had come here, the safe option, instead of trying to fight it out in the city. Opening one eye, he got his answer. The stars. Even at the university, set off from the more urban part of the city, he hadn't been able to see stars like this. Reminded him of home. Safe, stable home.

If he hadn't had to tap the ash off his cigarette, tapping it into the plants didn't seem like a bright idea, Stephan might not have noticed the woman near him. But when he looked down at her, one eye still closed, he was a bit relieved. Least it wasn't that mage, or that cold Natalie. Cold to him at least, and that's all that really mattered. "Yo," he said, opening his other eye. He wasn't particularly happy, or mad, she didn't exactly look like his type. And she didn't look like she wanted to run either. "You live here?" He questioned, before taking another drag. Dumb question, either she lived in one of the buildings or she was some psycho freak. But maybe she was an overly friendly psycho freak.

"Just moved in actually," he admitted, gesturing for a moment to the building by the lab. He tapped his cigarette on the side of the wall, watching the ash fall for a few seconds before he snapped back to attention. "I-uh. I'm Stephan. Stephan Abrams," He rushed, not wanting to seem like he didn't care what she had to say. After brushing the sweat off his left hand on the side of his shorts, he offered it to her for a handshake. Smooth, real smooth. Way to be socially inept. Way to listen to the voice in your head. Weeeooo. I am your conscience~ No, pay attention to the girl. No distractions. Kind of tomboyish, but overall cute.

The obvious question, so it wasn't just a guy thing as his mother insisted, put a smile on his face. But, to save her a bit of embarassment, he refrained from a sarcastic answer. "I think like would be pushing it a bit. It's more that I don't like being weak," he explained, stubbing his cigarette out on the wall. Someone'd probably get pissed if he just left the butt there though, so he stuffed it in his pocket, "So what're you doing out here by yourself? Don't you have to make dinner or something?"

Ouch. How medieval of him. He really hadn't meant it the way it had sounded, more assuming that she already had a child to take care of since she lived here and hadn't been there when he'd gone to see the souls. "I mean. That didn't come out right. So if you live around here, you must have a kid, right? What're they like?" So sue him, he was curious.

He shook his head, silently thanking everything that she hadn't just b***h slapped him on the spot. Or that his mother hadn't magically appeared and done it for her. "Nah, I went and saw it today though. It's a purple and silver little girl, if appearances are any indication," he offered, more than a little relieved that the kids didn't end up complete freaks. At least, hers didn't. He'd still have to do some investigating. After all, hadn't that guy in the building, Marc something, said his daughter was especially demanding? Sounded like a bit of a scary kid, and it turned out she was. And that purple haired one, equally weird. Maybe only some of them turned out weird. Hopefully.

Stephan cringed, remembering his first day and the sort of bad experience with the wolf girl and Marc's daughter. "I kind of hope not, for the sake of my face," he laughed, not really noticing that she wouldn't get the joke. Oh well, it was funny to him at least. "It's got a star on it, wonder what that means," he mused, then looked around. Hmm, not much to do here but sit and wait for it to get dark. Or in this case darker, "Anything fun around here?"

He gave a bit of a sigh, then showed a crooked grin, "Well, she and... Haki I think her name was, got into my apartment and decided they'd be the welcoming committee. Drew all over my face and the wall while I was... Indisposed." Indisposed being a nice way to say dead to the word passed out. Nothing to do around here huh? That'd have to change sooner or later. Well, he remembered seeing a diner not too far from here, that was worth a shot. "Want to go grab dessert? There's a diner just down the road, I'll drive." He offered, hoping she wouldn't be too worried to leave the complex. He probably had a tshirt in the car anyway, and some sandals. Hell, he probably still had most of his clothes in the gym bags he'd stuffed them in.

Where was his car? He'd had to move it a few times through the day when he was unloading it, to get it closer to the stairs for the heavy things and keep it out of the sun. Right, he'd ended up leaving it on the southern side of the apartment building. "Umm, this way," he answered, pointing toward the building. Without waiting for confirmation that she had heard him, he started to jog toward the vehicle, "It's kind of dinged up, I got in an acident on the way here so I need to take it into the shop, but it runs fine."