Is bigfoot out there? (Open)

[Victoria Alexander]

ooc: Ahh I havent posted in here yet. -stretches arms and then posts-

It seemed so serene. The trees have yet to start turning colors but the shifting sounds from the wind caught Victoria in the moment. Slit lines of light shimmered all over the ground as the sun light passed through the leaves. The rustling above making the area around her alive as if it were a breathing living being.

Stepping into the shadow of a tree, Victoria leaned against the rough bark as she took a good look around her her breathing labored. Trees for miles it seemed. All shapes and sizes surrounded her. It begged the question that if a tree should fall on the opposite side of the forest would the sound carry it for her to hear it.

Moving her hand across her damp forehead Victoria brushed her long slender fingers over her hair, slicking the black strands back as she took a breather. She had been jogging for most of the afternoon. It really didn't seem as if she had been gone too long but the cool breeze that shifted the trees and the fiery colors that danced above her with the clouds told a different story.

"Jeez, wheres a bench when you need one."

Her breathing started to calm as she slid her back against the tree as she slid to the ground. Pulling on her black tank top, it seemed soaked with sweat, even giving that slight slapping sound as she let it flop back on her belly. Her shorts, thou jersey, also felt heavy with sweat. what would she give for a lake or stream to just pop out of no where to at least cool her hot flesh.

"Okay, lets see. I've been heading west most of the time so I should probably head back after I catch my breath, can't wait too long or Ill get stranded in the woods."

She couldn't help but laugh at the thought of being lost in the woods. New York had its parks but San Fran had miles of wooded lands where streets would be miles away if one was stranded. If you got lost in New York all you had to do was listen real hard and hear the sounds of angry cab drivers and cursing riders. The silence of the woods seemed so different than home.

Turning her attention back to the area around her she brushed her finger under her nose as she looked around. She wasn't a nature person. Truth be told she would rather see concrete than trees. She could thank her dead parents for that one.

"Okay, enough rest. Come on old girl your out of shape. Lets get moving."

She coxed herself on as she rose to her feet and turned in the opposite direction that she had just came from. It would be a good haul back but who knows, the woods have a way of passing by just as fast if one was concentrated hard enough to finish.

-ooc: Its wide open for interaction. If you happen to be in the woods. -

[John Smith]

I sluggishly tripped out of the tent. I felt soar all over the body. I had a bruise on my right thigh, a bruise that looked like something straight out of a horror movie. I wouldn’t survive another late night hicking with my parents. And as I looked through my backpack I realized I was fresh out of pants. I had to wear shorts. With a sigh of annoyance I took on that pair of shorts, jeans, just cut off at the knees. At least my bruise was covered. I looked around a little. Thinking for a second about the odd place I was standing. A weekend trip they called it. We had been camping out here for a week now and I still hadn’t been told when we would go home again. Parents had gone off to work again. Be a part of nature they had said. Yay. Great. - How about being a part of the modern world. At least that way I could go showering or bathing in clean water. On the topic of bathing. I hadn’t bathed for almost 4 days now and it was due for a bath.

I figured I might as well try and bathe at the nearby lake. How romantic, a bath in the lake. Yeah, oh how romantic. If you think that a pond made out of industrial waste is romantic … then come and sway my feet away underneath me. Because this is darned romantic then. I dived below the water surface and instantly all my nerves shrieked in protest.

Yes. It was cold. Pretty darned cold.

I stumbled out of the water. Dried my hair and body. Found my boxers and shorts, took both on. I walked back through the forest, my torso bare to the world. My muscular arms were busy with a towel and attempting to dry my hair.

When I reached the path through the forest again, I saw a woman who turned around. It looked bizarre and because of her turning around I figured she was lost.

”Uhm… Hey there! Are you lost or something?” I said flashing a small smile. I wasn’t embarrased of my body, after all, I was quite muscular.

[OOC: Crappy opening line, but my mind went blank ]

[Victoria Alexander]

-ooc- could always be worse, it could be short like mine -.-' -

Victoria kept at a good pace before hearing the sounds just to her right. Stopping just as he asked her if she was lost she still bounced from foot to foot. Keeping the same bounce but staying in the one spot.

"Not that I'm aware of. I passed here about a quarter of an hour ago and just making my way back."

Her chest heaving as she took breaths in and out. Her legs tense from the long period of jogging. It didn't take her long to slow her pace and come to a complete stop. Sweat dripped from her nose. Truth be told her body was covered in sweat.

Wiping her arm across her forehead she looked around before turning her attention back on him. There really wasn't much around. With this guy in front of her wearing such clothing or rather lack of clothing. She should be asking him the same question that he asked her.

"If I didn't know better I would have to ask you such a question. I wasn't aware that people could camp out in the woods. Guess things are a lot different here then back home."

She gave him a once over look. She had never run into anyone that looked like him. With her always walking the hallways, she was good in keeping eyes out to remember student faces. He seemed kinda young even though he seemed to tower over her but she couldn't place him.

[John Smith]

Would you look at that, I just made a fool out of myself...

I thought when the older woman explained she was indeed not lost, and that she had been running by 15 minuttes ago. I had been fast asleep back then. The bath in the industrial waste pond, had worked like a charm. At least I didn’t smell like an ogre anymore. I noticed her sweating and her jogging from before was all I needed to figure out she was out running. Exercise. Good for you and your body.

"If I didn't know better I would have to ask you such a question. I wasn't aware that people could camp out in the woods. Guess things are a lot different here then back home."

As a direct response to what she said, I looked over to a hill, just beyond the hill was the campsite. Abandoned for the moment. I stopped drying my hair, it was dry now, and let the towel fall down on my shoulders and it was now covering my torso. Only my six pack with scars was in view now. I looked back at the lady and smiled.

”Yeah, neither was I until my parents decided we should camp out here. Our camp lies on the other side of that hill.”

I really had no idea what to say to the lady next. I would take another glance at her, well, she sure did look like someone I had seen before, it was just hard to remember where, after my accident almost a year ago, I had been having a hard time remembering even the most important stuff. Faces came and went in my mind, people I couldn’t remember some days and other days they were as clear as the day. It was annoying.

”You look like someone who could use a break, I got some cold beers at the camp. And some soda’s if you don’t drink.”

[Victoria Alexander]

Victoria contemplated his offer. She was never one to accept any offer from someone she was not acquainted with. Her years of experience of being cautious always served her well but made her distant to any other person.

She was a hard person to even try to get close to and in the end she wanted to change that. She wanted to shed her past and something this small, this insignificant as having a drink with some stranger may get her on the track that she wants to be on. To be able to take that risk was something she was not accustomed to.

"I wouldn't want to be intrusive but if you insist"

She would follow him towards the camp that he had pointed out. Victoria was now self aware that she was still sweaty and her clothing drooped. Her appearance was sad to say in the least.

When offered a drink she would opt. for a soft drink. She was never one for alcohol. She had one bad experience which ended in a stupid decision and a tattoo that now spanned half her torso. She never remembered half of that night and the drinking didn't solve her problem. So in the end she was going to stay away from the stuff.

[John Smith]

I smiled when she accepted my offer for a beer or a soft drink. It was nice with some company that wasn’t a rodent or my parents. I led the way to the camp and motioned for her to take a seat at one of the camp chairs. They were comfortable enough when you got used to them. But you should not lean too far in any direction or it might tip to that side and leave you on the ground. I found a beer and a coke. They were both cold. Very cold. I turned to my guest and handed her the coke.

”Welcome to my humble part of the forest.” I said with a small smile and a theater bow. ”My name is John, and you are?” I offered my hand for a hand shake, before I would find my own camp chair to sit at. This could actually get quite comfortable.

[OOC: Short.]

[Victoria Alexander]

As she received her beverage she exchanged it from one hand to another and wiped the palm of her hand on her shorts before extending and shaking Johns hand.

"Victoria" She did not extend her last name as it didn't deem necessary. What good would it do to know her last name anyhow.

Taking a seat in one of the canvas chairs she looked around at the camp site. Everything looked rather average. But what did she know. She had never went camping.

"So.."

Victoria really didn't know what kind of conversation to go into. John referenced his parents so he no doubt still lives under their roof. His size may be deceiving but Victoria would bet he was under the age of twenty.

"Have you been camping long? I mean..out here in general."

Taking the can of pop and moving it from one hand to another she let the cool metal seep though her hands. Not really helping with how hot she felt but if anything gave her something to concentrate on so she didn't stare or look on him too much to be rude.

"I wouldn't know how well anyone could stay out here without the necessities of everyday life."

Course she knew what it was like to be on the streets without the necessities but this, being out in the woods without anyone to rely on but yourself was different. There was so many possibilities of things going wrong and one loosing control over a situation.

[John Smith]

I took a mouthful of beer and tasted it the whole way down my throat. The taste of beer was a pleasant one. I placed it in the cup holder in the arm lean. Perfect. Victoria. That name didn't ring any bells. It probably should have, but it did not help me to place her anywhere in my memory.

"We've been out here for a week now and beyond the few trips to a store, then I have barely left this forest for that whole week. It has been pretty dull at times, especially without hot running water or a tv." I poured some more beer down my throat. I took a glance at the two tents in the camp just to make sure that no snake or critter would decide to sleep indoors tonight. Then at the fireplace, I had been asked to start a fire and keep it going until they came back. With my little inspection of the campsite done, my gaze returned to the short haired woman. The only person I had really had a conversation with, beside my parents, in this past week. ... I longed for civilization.

"It feels like I have seen you somewhere before. Do you run by often or ... hell, might as well ask you directly, what do you do for a living?"

[Victoria Alexander]

Victoria placed the pop into the cup holder that was part of the camping chair. She hadn’t opened it or take a drink. She knew that she could cope without the necessities but she wouldn’t blindly go camping as if it were fun.

“I haven’t been here long. Six maybe seven months now, I don’t take a specific route when I run. I find that rather boring when your in a new place. This gives me a chance to take a look around while Im working hard.”

She paused. She didn’t know how to get around answering what she did for a living. He no doubt being a student. Even worse, if that of the new school Paragon would create some friction for Victoria. That of course being the worse case scenario. She didn’t know how he would handle her answer for what she did for a living but she figured. What the hell. She had nothing to lose.

“I’ve done a lot of things. But currently I have been in charge of numerous students over at Hircine High School. I have taken over the position of Principle.”

She waited for any outburst. Maybe laughing. She didn’t know what to expect from the kid sitting in front of her. In her current state it probably didn’t look as if she could handle anything. Her tank top clinging to her skin. Her hair still damp from sweat, she looked like a rag muffin not someone that could be in charge of a whole school. She couldn’t help but take her hand and rub just below her shoulder at the peeking tattoo that she had found that she did when she was unsure of what was going to happen or nervousness. She made sure her uneasiness didn’t show on her face though.

[John Smith]

"I generally find running boring and with my injury on this calf-" I tapped my left leg "- then I can't run for long before pain forces me to stop."

I had grabbed my beer when I was done talking. It would be nice with some beer, or so I had thought. Because when she explain what her job was, the surprise had me swallow in the wrong way, and some beer had gone down the air tube. I coughed immediately after her saying she was the principle. I got the beer up again and spat it to the side, some tears had gathered in the corners of my eyes from the feeling of being choked. It wasn't pleasant. In the corner of my eye, I absent minded watched her rub below her shoulder. While I was thinking this through. The only word that escaped my lips was a low: "Principal?" Another couple of seconds passed before I found the female last name and added it to the title.

"Principal Alexander, I assume. Well, this is certainly a surprise. I guess I am one of your senior students." This did not make things awkward, not at all. End of sarcasm. "You certainly seem young for a principal, you don't look like one much older than I am. You must be quite talented." Was I unintentionally sucking up? Probably. But I didn't notice it myself.

[Victoria Alexander]

She couldn’t help but watch as he struggled with his swallow. She knew there would be some shock but she didn’t expect the guy to choke to death on it. People or rather student do seemed to get intimidated by her position she was used to it from her previous life but never expected it to happen as much now as before.

“I’d like to think of it as being in the right place at the wrong time. There is not much else I can say other than I never fully wanted the position when it was presented to me on a previous occasion some years ago. But I feel that things should not be as they are now and am forced into the predicament again in benefit that things should improve and another school will be saved from itself. Age is irrelevant as the more older that partake in this position fail to improve on its conditions if it doesn’t benefit them directly.”

During this time she had held eye contact with the senior student her body stiff as if to defend herself. Releasing the fist that she unknowingly made she eased back into the chair. She had always felt strongly that what she did years ago was the right thing to do. Course now she felt that she said a little too much. She took the coke that she had in the cup holder. Grabbed it and opened it with a flick before putting it up to her lips to shut herself up.

Nice way to go Vic shut your trap..

She thought to herself as she took a big gulp of the carbonated drink.

[John Smith]

"I was under the impression that Principal Macmillan, if that is who you refer to, did a good job at keeping Hircine in one piece. Until his unfortunate accident last year, and now the school is more chaotic than I have heard in years."

I was rarely one for an argument, especially not with someone who could influence my grades. But, she talked about a man who had kept a school tightly knitted together for a long time. But last year, before I had started at Hircine, it appeared that he had died from a single insane student. The school I had started at, was a bit more violent than I liked it, but it was still a relatively peaceful school to attend. Paragon on the other hand, was nothing more than barbarians from what I had heard. I pushed aside those thoughts. I hated thinking complicated thoughts. They were always irritating to say the least. I gulped down some more beer to push aside those thoughts. While I wondered what she would say in response to my rather, ill thought remark.

"Baah, politics. Makes me feel all yucky on the inside. At least I don't get much of that out here in the forest." I remarked on a lighter tone. Hoping she would not have taken my former remark too personal.

[Victoria Alexander]

"Everyone always wants something in return for their services whatever those services might have been. Politics are always heartless."

Victoria turned her head and looked towards the trees. It was not like she had a dislike of all men. Sure with her past history she should hate men. Her skin should crawl with the very hatred of them. But she had learned that the male species not all are the same. Her Banger Boys had helped her come to terms that not everyone is the same. Not all men are cruel. She had found that those with power, that those that seek everything for themselves. Those are the cruel ones. Those are the ones Victoria dislikes. And it really didn't matter what sex they were, a Miss Hunter would have proved that so.

Turning her face back to him she cleared her throat.

"I hope things are going well with you then, after you get some relief from camping that is."

Victoria tapped her index finger on her pop can unsure of what else to say. Their conversation up to this point was rather poor. She didn't want to talk about the school to make him feel uneasy. She had nothing in her arsenal of topics that he would or might relate to. It was hard to think of something when she might not be able to relate to the guy in front of her.

"Sooo...Do you fish?"

[John Smith]

"True, true..." I politely remarked to her saying politics was heartless. From what I knew, that was true to the word. That was why I didn't care much for politics to begin with, it was, as I said, yucky business. You had to remember every single person you had met and place them somewhere in a large catalog. But I was still smiling a mild smile, perhaps this beer was going straight to my head, or else I was having a good time. The first in a while. I needed another beer. Without a thought of the company I was in, I reached into my sports bag and conjured forth another beer. With a well trained motion, I opened the can and poured out some beer.

"Fish? I was out fishing the day before yesterday. I didn't really manage get anything hooked. Why? You wanna go out and fish? I got a spare rod somewhere around here."

Just like an old fart getting excited about something,-I placed the beer in the other cup holder in the chair. - Brilliant people who had designed these chairs. - and I looked underneath a large plastic cover to shield our stuff from the rain. I found my own rod fairly quickly, but the second rod took me additional seconds to find and get out. It was a good rod, some would probably call it a sin leaving it out in a forest like this. I turned around to face the principal again and held the rod so she could see it.

"A good rod. The reel might act up a bit if you are not gentle, but it should be alright." I said with a smile.

[OOC: Sorry for the wait, been having a lousy block]

[Victoria Alexander]

Ooc - No worries. I had power go out for three days and been busy so I should be the one apologizing. Not to mention I hadn't a clue what to post -.-'

Victoria looked at the rod and then shook her head.

“I would have to decline on the offer. Its sad to say that I have never fished before and truth be told I rather have a squeamish stomach towards touching slimey things. Don't get me wrong it seems like a fun past time for those that get into that sort of thing. But me... Im a city girl through and through and that's just not something that seems enjoyable to me.”

The thought of touching worms or handling fish was not something on the top of her list. She was a girl after all and even she some things she just couldn’t do. She can handle tuning a motorcycle or getting her hands dirty but squirming worms was disgusting.

Looking around she could tell that a little time had passed, in which rose the question of when his parents would be joining him within this forest of trees. Leaning to one side of the chair she reached into her pocked and withdrew her cell phone. Wiping the screen on her still slightly damp shirt she pushed the side button watching as the screen posted the time.

A quarter after seven.

It was getting late and she did still have a good half an hour jog back in the direction of home. Not to mention her clothes still clung to her and she was rather uncomfortable. A shower seemed like a logical choice at the moment.

"I'm sorry if I have to cut this short. But I should be heading back, I still have a walk ahead of me and it wouldn't be a good idea to try and find my way back in the dark."

She laughed slightly at the thought of her getting lost among the trees. She only had her phone and even that seemed useless since she had no clue who she would be able to call.

Rising from the chair she finished off her pop by tipping her head back and taking the last swig.

"Thank you for the drink and the conversation. Im sorry if it lacked on my part I haven't the right mind lately. I seem to forget how to interact sometimes."

She moved her hand to the back of her head and scratched at her hair.