The Salle, Sunday Crack o'Dawn Until Well Into The Afternoon

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

You got used to certain things, in Jaeger Academy. Like getting up at five sharp and spending the next fourteen hours in the Kwoon, working your arse off. Chuck didn't have any instructors now, or any fellow students to practice against-- didn't matter. He'd been slacking for over a week now, waiting for this new school, and it was time to pick things back up again.

Even if he was nursing a minor hangover. In fact, the hangover helped pick up the right level of aggression - that level that he was unleashing on one of the poor practice dummies right now. Going through the forms, hitting at least half of the major ones. Keep going. Keep working at it.

When he got back to the Academy in summer, he had to be in the same shape as everyone else. It didn't matter he'd be forced to stick to a crazy island boarding school, or that his father seemed to have lost his goddamned mind-- he was gonna keep working for it.

Max sat in the corner of the room, his leash tied to one of the benches. Training or not, there was no way Chuck was letting the pup out of his sight.

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Comments

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

"I am not," Chuck said, enunciating as clearly as his Australian accent could manage, "A mundie."

He didn't care if she wrote off the rest of the human race, mind.

[seveninchmotto]

"Yes, you are."

He'd dismissed the Shadow World as ren faire stuff. Clearly he was a mundane.

"Feistier than most, though, I'll give you that."

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

"Get out of my face," Chuck said.

[seveninchmotto]

"Give me back my whip," Isabelle retorted.

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

"I'll think about it," Chuck replied. "If you get out of my face."

[seveninchmotto]

"This is not a negotiation, Chuck," she returned sweetly. "Either you give me back my whip, or I stay in your face."

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

"You're going to stand here for a long time then, sweetheart," he replied. "How's that hip of yours?"

[seveninchmotto]

"Nothing I can't heal." Literally, with an iratze. "Besides, I'm patient, I can wait. The view's nice and I'm not in a hurry."

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

Chuck offered her a shit-eating smile and... stayed put.

In silence.

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle could do silence too. For a while, at least.

Looking him over, because Hodge liked to claim knowing your opponent was a good thing. Or maybe she just liked looking.

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

"Enjoying yourself?"

'Course Chuck knew when he was being looked over. He just usually didn't have the time to recognize it.

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle shrugged her shoulders. Just an idle little gesture, like there was no tension in this situation at all.

"Aren't you?"

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

"I've seen better racks," Chuck offered, "But I'll live."

[seveninchmotto]

"That's a lie."

Sorry, she was just effortlessly smug by nature. As if that had not become obvious already.

"The first part, obviously. The second only becomes a lie in the long run."

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

Chuck's ribs were starting to ache. Damn it. "You don't get out much, do you?"

[seveninchmotto]

"I bet I get out more than you do."

And now she was bored, so she was just going to go the simplest way and reach for her whip.

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

Chuck's hand shot out for her wrist. Not like he hadn't seen that one coming, after all.

[seveninchmotto]

She hadn't tried to be subtle about it, either. Still, she didn't attempt anything as obvious as trying to pry her wrist from his grasp.

But stomping on his foot probably wasn't very subtle, either. The heels on her boots were chunky, but they still put a lot of sudden pressure on one spot.

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

"Ow!"

Seriously. That fucking hurt.

He twisted his body out of her way, hip with the whip first, and took a step back.

[seveninchmotto]

And to think she would've done the same thing with stilettos, too!

"Has it occurred to you yet that not giving me back what's mine is only going to lead to more pain?"

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

"I've stood eye-in-eye with a kaiju and lived to tell the tale," Chuck said. At this point he didn't even care if she knew what that was or not. "I'm not going to be scared off by a posturing little girl in big shoes."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle was going to ignore that dumb insult, because something else had her attention. Her head tilted to the side.

"Kaiju?"

It was probably best to note that wasn't really a 'what the hell is a kaiju?' question. More like 'I have only ever heard one other person say that word, so I'm checking if I heard right' kind of thing.

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, kaiju."

Okay, different response than he'd been getting, which was, something.

[seveninchmotto]

Yeah, Isabelle entire demeanor had changed a little at this bit of news. A little more serious. Older, even.

"They had one of those where my roommate is from."

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

"Yeah? That would be the first one I hear about, outside of my old man," Chuck said, tilting his head. "--well, and Raleigh Becket, I suppose, but I doubt he's your roommate."

What with being an adult and all.