The bottoms all I've found [ OPEN ]

[prorenataa]

Who: Adrien Arbuckal prorenataa & OTA
When: Various times all through November
Where: Prompts for Gym & Rec Room, MedBay, Observation, Residential - Halfway - Unit 9
What: Open Prompts for encounters in these areas. A few closed prompts in the comments
Warnings: Adrien's temper?



Note: For all these encounters people are free to note something new about Adrien. Namely he is wearing a uniform. Either in black or white, the top looks like this or this and the pants are the same either way. Overtop he has a cape with maximum swish factor trimmed in blue. There are 4 flat heptagonal pins on his shirt, they appear to be dull metal ... strange that he wears them.

Gym

[ While planetside Adrien had the orchard and the chore of tending his acreage to help keep him in condition. Now, once again stuck on a hurtling tin can, he recognized the necessity of taking time specifically to train.

So he could be found, regularly at the gym, executing a grueling combination of conditioning exercises and also training. Stamina and cardio was worked through running and intense core workouts, strength with pull ups, push ups and free weight (he winged the weights from anything laying around) and then balance and flexibility work.

Using his conditioning routine as a warm up, Adrien would move into his hand to hand exercises. This involved a lot of gymnastics and often Courser could be seen acting as a sparring partner. There was a sense that they could be a lethal combination, Adrien specifically moved with what might be surprising speed and deadly intent for a medical professional. Likewise, the bahari did not hold back, claws and teeth flashing as he made the doctor work for it and even as fast as Adrien was, sometimes he could be caught sporting a nasty scratch.

From a spectator perspective it might be fun to watch, but if you want to interrupt him, do so carefully. Some of his routines involve a a very big knife ]

MedBay

[ When the doctor wasn't exercising, showering or indulging in what laughingly passed as sleep, he was in the MedBay.

Usually he could be found working on restoring the equipment to it's full functionality, taking inventory or in the R & D area working with samples.

Sometimes he could be found actually sitting in a chair at a desk, reading books. The books ranging from medical texts to botany. Courser was usually nearby, sometimes asleep under the chair, other times lurking in a shadow just out of sight.

Either way, for the majority of his waking hours, the doctor was "in" and available. ]

Observation

[ While not a regular haunt, late in the station's cycle when most people were asleep, sometimes the doctor could be found here.

His hands folded behind his back as he stares out at the stars, lost to his own thoughts. Courser sits at his left leg, a silent sentry and constant companion during these still nights. ]

Residential - Halfway - Unit 9

[ Not that he spend a lot of time down here, but for a few hours out of the cycle the doctor might be found rustling about in his living space.

At odds with his otherwise spartan mannerism and life style, the man had what amount to a ridiculous amount of bedding, which he kept sorting around and rearranging into various configurations, looking for just the right blanket fort nest. Usually this meant that Courser was laying out in the hallway, muzzling on his front paws as he watched, and listened, to his companion muttering up a storm as he redecorated. There was a sense of long suffering tolerance in the bahari's demeanor and though he made give someone a baleful look, he would get up and move if asked.

One of them had to have some manners after all. ]

Comments

[prorenataa]

[ Adrien allowed himself a brief indulgence and actually rolled his eyes at the pair. ]

It's my uniform, from the CDC. [ He explained. ] The cape is a little ridiculous, I'll grant you, but it's also fireproof, waterproof, cryoproof, plasma and bullet proof.

[ Didn't explain all the jewelry on the left breast side, but at least it explained why he was swishing. ]

Apparently it came through one of those silver portals, however it wasn't the only thing and it is not why I summoned you both here.

[ Reaching into the pocket of his uniform, Adrien withdrew the box, complete with bow. ]

I apologize, for looking, but the box didn't give me any idea who this box belonged with and I had to check.

[ He held it out towards Nate. ]

[sketchycharacter]

[Huh. That so? He'd never given much thought to what the CDC crew wore, but if he had, Nate would have pictured them as more...sinister, maybe. Sharp angles and monochrome colors. Fashionably evil. But hey, with that level of protection, he could go for a swishy cape too.

Nate's train of thought is derailed when he takes the box and opens it. His eyebrows shoot up, genuine surprise showing on his face.]

This is my wedding ring. [He doesn't need to see the inscription to recognize it, but when he takes it out, it's there.] The original one. I came through the Moira's Ingress without it.

[tearsinajar]

So it's the cape of everything. Impressive. Where do I find me one of those? It sounds like it makes you invincible. [ Death proof.

Elena directs her gaze over then from the jewelry at Adrien's breast, following the exchange of the box passing between the two men. She can't see what it is, just that it must be something important, with the way Nate's expression changes completely.

A breath pulls in when she sees the ring, the very same one she remembers vividly putting on his finger on the beach, almost like it was yesterday. ]

I remember that day...

[prorenataa]

[ The uniform itself was very monochromatic, but Ghost had always maintained a sense of whimsy, so the cape was very him.

But explanations like that could wait. For now, Adrien took a step back as he watched first Nate and then Elena start to weave their own personal world around themselves. One that they didn't need him nosing in on. ]

[sketchycharacter]

Yeah. Me too.

[His voice is the slightest bit husky...but not so fast, Adrien.]

It just showed up out of nowhere? Like the other stuff?

[Obviously. Why would the sudden appearance of their items of personal importance be different from the sudden appearance of anyone else's items of personal importance? But it's still surreal.]

[prorenataa]

[ Damn it, he'd almost made good on his discreet retreat. ]

I ... honestly I don't know? Rinzler was the one who found my uniform.

[tearsinajar]

[ Nothing gets past Nathan Drake. Apparently. ]

Just like you found Nate's ring. Well, I'm glad it fell into safe hands.

[sketchycharacter]

Seriously. Thanks, man.

[He gives Adrien a clap on the shoulder before turning back to his wife.]

Been a while since we've seen these, huh?

[Especially his.]

[tearsinajar]

Not really. I mean I continued to wear mine after everything. But yeah, it's... It's good.

[ Her mind goes back to when she'd really lost hers. A smile curves her lips, a sad one. Still, Elena's glad. ]

So... Which one of us is bending the knee?

I guess Adrien just scuttles away or something???

[sketchycharacter]

Still long enough.

[A few months is a few months too long. But she's right, it's been over a year for him. He didn't really expect to see it again.]

I don't mind. Like old times, right?

[That had been one of the scariest yet least dangerous nights of his life.]

[tearsinajar]

You sure you're up to the task? You're older now, you go down on a knee and you might not be able to get back up.

[sketchycharacter]

Oh, well in that case.

[He nudges her.]

You've got a youthful glow. Go ahead.

[tearsinajar]

When I go down on my knees, Nathan Drake, it's for one thing and one thing only.

[ She nudges him back. ]

[sketchycharacter]

[Nate snorts. Yeah, he knows.]

All right, then.

[He looks down at her ring for a moment, fiddling with it between his fingers, before dropping down to one knee and taking her hand.]

Up for another round with me?

[tearsinajar]

[ Watching him drop down, she hadn't been serious about it. Her throat goes tight. ]

Is this round three now?

[sketchycharacter]

[For her, he'll do anything.]

Depends whether you count them separately or as a continuous thing.

[His thumb traces the back of her hand.]

What do you say?

[tearsinajar]

I'd say I'm too far in now to even think about backing out.

[ It's a mouthful to say for even her as her tears are beginning to come through, her voice wavering. Elena shouldn't be crying over this but she is. She's emotional, it can't be helped. ]

[sketchycharacter]

[Nate lets out a huff of laughter. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but with her? He'll take what he can get.

Besides. He understands the deeper meaning behind the joke.]

I'm not gonna argue with that.

[He slides the ring on her finger, hands shaking nearly as much as they did the first time, and gets to his feet again.]

[tearsinajar]

I can't— [ He rises up and Elena immediately steps forward, hands at the crooks of his elbows. ] I can't do that to you, not again. I won't.

[ She's ignoring the tear trekking down her cheek, the rest gathered at her bottom lashes. This, what they have, she's in it for good. Whatever happens, they'll get through it.

Right now, however, it feels too good to have the weight of her ring back on her finger. ]

[sketchycharacter]

I know.

[He isn't sure what she's referring to, actually. Dying on Aioros, maybe, or just letting him doubt whether their relationship has a future. Doesn't matter. He knows. She won't.]

I love you, 'lena.

[tearsinajar]

[ Maybe it's both. Maybe it's dying on him and remembering how terribly he'd taken it. ]

Not as much as I love you, cowboy.

[ Bless her for she'd managed to say that without getting too choked up, stepping in to press her face hard to his shoulder. Her arms wound tight around him; she just wanted a moment to breathe him in on the deep inhale she took that was meant more to calm her down. ]

[sketchycharacter]

[Nate lets out a tiny huff of silent laughter. He doubts that, because it doesn't seem possible. But it's not a bad thing for each of them to be convinced they're right.

He rests his head against the top of hers, smiling into her hair, content to stay like this for a long moment.]