(no subject)

[hecu_marine]

[Upstairs: Order 47.]

Shephard's been busy upstairs, and he's going to be busy for a good portion of today- there are maps to be gone over and forces to be arrayed and all kinds of preparations to be made for the inevitable trip to Mongolia- but just for the moment he's got something of a tradition to uphold. "Hey, Bar?" he says. "Anyone comes lookin' for me for some reason, I'mma be outside, all right? Got me a unit run to do."

The Bar, despite being a piece of wood with no actual face to speak of, contrives to look skeptical.

"Might not be anybody else in it, but I'm still here and it ain't been disbanded, so HECU still exists," Shephard says, unperturbed. "It qualifies."

The air of skepticism fades, in favor of something a little more like resignation.

"Attagirl." Shephard grins crookedly and pats the bartop. "You just make sure'n have a proper cake waitin' when I get back, okay?"

He doesn't wait to see the response, but heads for the back door instead. Anybody who wants to catch him out on his extended run today, be our guest; or you can talk to him when he gets back inside. Either one works.



[OOC: Open until it scrolls off the page!]

Comments

[electro_kinetic]

On an ordinary day, in any ordinary world, any girl like Noriko wouldn't get close enough to a Marine to hit them with a stick. But there haven't been any ordinary days for Nori in a while, and her world--as well as Shephard's--is nothing close to ordinary at all.

So it happens that she's out running at the same time, behind him by maybe ten yards, and remembers what day it is. "Hey Marine!" she calls, "Happy Birthday!"

[hecu_marine]

...!

Not something he expected to hear around here from anybody other than maybe Chacon or Sully, or possibly Quaritch if the man were in. Shephard doesn't stumble, exactly, but his stride does go off for a moment before he recovers.

"Thank you kindly!" he calls back. "'n here I thought I was the only one lookin' at the calendar."

[electro_kinetic]

She grins: Nori looks a bit different today, with her hair now shorter and in a rather attention-getting style, but her grin is the same as she speeds up a bit to catch Shephard.

Really, she honestly is as far from military-material as one can get, but that doesn't mean she dislikes them. As things go, she generally finds Marines to be the most palatable of the Armed Services that she has to deal with. The Army, on the other hand. "Nah, I remember it. Used to live near Yokosuka Naval Base."

[hecu_marine]

"That'll do it," says Shephard, and slows down just a bit. It's only fair. He tends to run with rocks in his backpack for the sake of putting on the extra speed when he's not weighted down. "Sure do 'preciate the thought. You been out here long today?"

[electro_kinetic]

"Nah, not long yet," she says, shaking her head and still getting used to the bangs no longer in her face. "You?"

[hecu_marine]

"Had some shit to handle indoors first," says Shephard. "Figured I'd git out here'n do a couple miles. It's been... I'd say 'bout three-quarters of a mile so far. Nothin' big yet."

[electro_kinetic]

Nori shrugs lightly, shifting the citrus-yellow shirt with a simple circled X on her chest. "We used to do runs at the school of about three miles," she says, settling into a pace to keep up with Shephard fairly easy. "You know any cadences?"

[hecu_marine]

"Three's easy," says Shephard. He's not being derogatory, he's just commenting. "Far as cadences go, I got a few, yeah. You got a preference?"

[electro_kinetic]

"Not really," she confesses. "Don't usually use them. But then, nowadays I usually run alone, and there's not much of a point chanting to yourself." One slick silver-covered hand brushes over the spiked blue strip down the center of her head, yellow and black braided into the rows at her temples.

"You gotten cake yet?"

[hecu_marine]

Shephard nods. "Fair," he says. "Fair. Ain't much use when it's only the one. Got a couple of guys back at Greenbrier I work with these days, we use 'em when we run, but when it's just me- no."

"Naw. Gonna go for that when I get back. Don't much want it sittin' in my stomach when I'm tryin' to run."

[electro_kinetic]

"Think the last one we used was kinda stupid," she says thoughtfully. "But we're really not...military, you know? We were teenagers. Still are teenagers," Nori amends.

[hecu_marine]

"Yeah, that ain't no big thing," Shephard says. "At fifteen or sixteen you got to make allowances for talkin' like a jackass. 's why I stuck around to finish high school before even tryin' to join up."

[electro_kinetic]

"Yeah, it's kinda hard to finish high school when you're in the country illegally." There were so many other reasons she didn't finish a conventional schooling setup, but that was the biggest.

She thinks maybe the narcotics addiction didn't help.

[one_man_army]

He may be Army, but he still knows what day today is -- and it's not even just because he happens to be dating a Marine.

Ever since Trudy beat him in their race the other day, Carl has been out back doing miles whenever he has a chance, because she is not going to beat him again. (Even if it was close, he still lost.) Not if he has two legs that function like they should and two lungs that keep pulling oxygen into his chest.

Dressed in a faded grey PT shirt and desert fatigues (it's too cold to run in shorts, even if he is half-Scottish) he's getting ready to head out when he sees Shephard exiting the back door looking like he's set on a run himself. He raises a hand in greeting.

[hecu_marine]

Shephard returns the gesture. He hasn't got his usual backpack full of rocks for this run- just this once he's going easy on himself- but mask, helmet, PCV, sure. "Mornin'," he calls to Carl. "Didn't think there'd be nobody else out here just yet this A.M.."

[one_man_army]

"After the girlfriend bested me at an easy three-miler last week? I don't have an excuse." Carl smirks. "Even if she is a Marine."

He checks the timer function on his watch.

"Speakin' of, you plannin' on doing any celebrating today, given the occasion?"

[hecu_marine]

"It's what I'm out here for," says Shephard. "Bar's got orders for cake when I'm done. Ain't decided what I'm gon' do after that just yet."

He's got a couple of possibilities. Surprisingly, getting drunk and singing "Guantanamo Bay" at the top of his lungs isn't one of them.

[one_man_army]

"You mind company?" Carl shrugs. "I may not be the right branch of the service, but I'm not above promoting cooperation in the service."

[hecu_marine]

"Ain't your fault you're Army," Shephard says; this is what passes for gracious with him. "Come on along. I could use the company."

Besides, he does better when he's got someone he has to defeat.

"Missed a hell of a fight in my world a little while back," he notes as he indicates the planned course. "Combine're madder'n a beehive on fire, but we gave 'em a good piece of hell first."

[one_man_army]

Carl breathes a laugh at Shephard's comment -- just because some boys don't have the ability to land near their target (and instead have to slog through miles of muck and mud) via an air drop doesn't make them any less of a soldier after all -- and lightly shakes his head as they start out.

"You kick 'em in the teeth, then?"

(And he's not just Army; he's Delta.)

[hecu_marine]

(Which would be why Shephard didn't add the usual, "They got to let the soft squishy ones serve their country somehow" to the end of that sentence. As we said- this passes for gracious with him.)

"Took out one-sixth of their fuckin' combat terraformin' apparatus for the whole goddamn planet," Shephard says. "We got Dr. Freeman'n some alien egghead from here at the Bar for that. And yours truly managed to take out one of the chief fuckin' maggots in charge, all by his lonesome, thank you very much. Cost me my murderbird but shit, it was worth it."

[one_man_army]

"Well done," he says, and it's an honest compliment because Carl can't even imagine what the hell 'chief fuckin' maggot in charge' would entail when it came to aliens attempting to terraform the earth -- but it had to have been impressive at the very least.

But on a more serious subject:

"Are you going to be able to get another bird for the next round of attacks?"

[hecu_marine]

"Depends," says Shephard. "You ever been to the garage under the Bar?"

[one_man_army]

"There's a garage?"

That would be an no.

"Hell, I only found out about the elevator that goes upstairs a few weeks ago."

[hecu_marine]

"Shit yeah," says Shephard. "Got to find the elevator first. Fuckin' thing's hidden for some reason. Guess they figure there's gon' be trouble if too many folks git down there'n see it. Damn place goes on for goddamn miles. They got every kind of car'n truck'n motorcycle you ever fuckin' saw, and if you go far enough you start findin' motherfuckin' aircraft in there too. Serious aircraft. Ever seen Goldeneye?"