2024.05.12: Jogging therapy

At the appointed hour of the evening, at a park near the river, Marcus - uncharacteristically dressed in a black t-shirt and shorts - stands, stretching, and waiting for his running partner.

He doesn't have to wait long. Lizzy approaches shortly thereafter in a pair of capris, a black sports bra, a violently neon pink tank top over that, and sneakers. Her hair is up in a high ponytail to keep her hair off her neck. She also has a headband to keep the flyaway hairs out of her face. She waves at Marcus with a smile. "Hey there! Thanks for the invite."

He nods, and grins back "You're welcome - I'm glad you could make it. After the last few weeks... I thought you might want to get out."

"For real. I went out with Cerriphan, mostly because she wanted to, and I thought clubbing would be fun, but then..." She makes a face. "I should have put my foot down and insisted on anywhere but there."

He shakes his head, still stretching out "I'd call it a comedy of errors, if there were more humour to the situation."

She starts in on a few stretches herself, plunking down on a bit of grass spread-legged and reaching for one foot, then the other. "I hate awkward comedy."

Deadpan. "Never watch 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' then."

"Nope! Nope nope nope. Already made that mistake. But damn, that's an old show."

He laughs. "First thing that came to mind when you said "awkward comedy."

"Legit." She then starts to stretch her shoulders, extending one arm to cross her chest, then another. "How are you holding up?"

He straightens a moment and pauses "It's... complicated. How about you?"

"Somehow less complicated than you." She raised an eyebrow. "Wanna talk about it?"

His grin is sheepish, and he answers somewhat dryly "I suspect your troubles are far more complicated than mine. I'm simply troubled about a woman, and some of the music the other evening brought those troubles to the forefront of my thinking. Though it looked as though some of the music brought your troubles to the front of your mind as well."

"Eh." Lizzy shrugs. "I'm just trying to pick up the pieces, and then I swing my ass around and knock something else over that shatters. Those troubles aren't actually mine, but close enough to impact me. Yours seem pretty firmly your own, at least, and thus you have agency to resolve them, one way or another."

He nods with a smile "Quite right. Thus..." He gestures towards the trail into the darkness interspersed with lampposts. "I find it helps me to sort my thoughts more clearly."

"Entirely fair." Lizzy stands up, dusting off any dirt and grass that got on her butt. "Shall we?"

A smile "We shall. Are you good for ten?"

"Ten what? Minutes? Kilometers? Miles?”

"Sorry, kilometers. I've spent too much time in Canada these past few years."

"Uh..." Lizzy makes a slight face, as if she is not sure. "I've done mostly 5Ks in the past. I'm working UP to a 10K, though."

"Then we'll put down 5 and see how we feel." He takes a few steps towards the trail along the waterfront, waiting for Lizzy to join him before setting off at a brisk jog.

Lizzy heads toward the trail, starting her own jogging. She's not terribly fast, but she keeps a steady pace, breathing deeply. Marcus, cheater that he is, likely won't get anywhere near as winded. Ventrue, stamina, insert joke here. Heh. Insert.

Marcus matches his pace to Lizzy's - cognizant of her concern about running alone at night.

Lizzy smiles in gratitude as he matches pace with her. Fortunately for them both, the path is well lit, but not to the level of daytime brightness that some athletic fields can get to. After a moment, she asks a simple question: "How long?"

He looks over at Lizzy, not breaking stride "How long what, precisely?" He doesn't sound suspicious, just looking for clarification.

"Has this woman been causing you trouble, whether deliberately or not." She keeps her gaze focused on the path ahead.

He takes a few steps before responding "She's been on my mind for a while." He admits finally.

"And does she care for you in the same way, if not to the same depth?" Oof.

"I think she does. She seems to." His voice trails off "It's complicated."

"Is polyamory an option for you?"

"I hadn't considered it, really. Why, are you asking me out?" He chuckles as he jogs.

"Not yet. Don't know you well enough to think about it, and it would be kinda fucked up to take advantage of you like that. Clearly you're hurting."

His voice is uncharacteristically soft from what you've heard "Don't worry, I was just making a joke." A smile "But thank you - you're one of the good ones, I think."

"Thanks. But note, I did say 'yet.'" She grins.

Maybe it's the run, or the friendly banter, or a bit of both, but a bit of tension seeps away from Marcus. "But to give you a more serious answer to a serious question - I genuinely hadn't considered it. Why do you ask?"

"Because you probably hadn't considered it." The talking has slowed her pace some, so she can get the words out without panting. "Then again, it's not for everyone. I'm not sure if Mr. Blackett would be okay with it."

He slows his pace to match hers, which is just as well, as he likely would have stumbled had he been running and Blackett's name escaped her lips. Instead, he looks at her, somewhat quizzically.

Lizzy looks over at him. "Oh, come on. You didn't see his eyes glaze over at the taproom when she took the stage? If you watch the two of them, it's hard to miss."

"Believe me, I noticed. Though it seems so did everyone else in the bar." He's being jocular.

"There were some other things too, but you weren't present for that conversation, and a lady doesn't share ladies' room gossip." She takes a few more steps at a slightly accelerated pace, almost a bit of a smug prance... which would totally have worked if she didn't accidentally catch one of her shoelaces when her foot came down and lose her footing.

Instinct takes over, and Marcus (ever the gentleman) reaches out to try to stop her fall.

He manages just fine, catching Lizzy before she completely goes ass over teakettle. There is a moment, however, when he does have to support her full weight. She's not terribly heavy, but physics is at play. Still, she manages not to fall and regain her purchase on the ground. The flush on her cheeks is a bit too red to be just exertion. "...serves me right, I s'pose." Just in case y'all forgot Lizzy has a proper Texas accent from living in the state her whole life.

"Are you alright?" He sounds concerned. "Sometimes the light plays tricks at this hour."

"I'm fine." She stands up, on her own two feet, and tucks an imaginary bit of hair behind her ear, completely forgetting at that moment that she has a headband for that. "Shall we?"

He chuckles "We shall. I saw nothing." A pause, after a few steps "How did you know?"

Lizzy grimaces. Her tone is a lot gentler now. "...bartender sense, darlin'. I gotta watch people to make sure I'm not overservin'. I see a lot of things. Also, workin' with Doris for a couple years, when ya got a big personality like that, it's hard to miss when somethin' big changes. Didn't help that you flinched a little when you saw him go all slack-jawed at the taproom. 'Sides, pretty sure you weren't nursin' drinks at the bar cuz of me."

He considers the body of evidence for a minute before responding "Guilty as charged, I suppose." A grin "Remind me never to try to put one over on a bartender, or the next thing you know, I WILL be nursing drinks because of you."

Lizzy laughs brightly at that. It's probably the first time Marcus has heard her laugh like this. "I don't think you were trying to do it intentionally." The smile fades. "The hardest lies to spot are the ones we tell ourselves."

He chuckles ruefully. "This is very, very true. Ever the perceptive one, you are."

Lizzy laughs brightly at that. It's probably the first time Marcus has heard her laugh like this. "I don't think you were trying to do it intentionally." The smile fades. "The hardest lies to spot are the ones we tell ourselves."

He chuckles ruefully. "This is very, very true. Ever the perceptive one, you are."

Lizzy smiles softly. "Occupational hazard."

A smile back, "I had noticed that. Thank you, by the way, for your intuition. It was good to unload."

"I've needed it recently, and I've had people who have been really good about it. It's the least I can do to pay it forward. Also, what better distraction from handling your own shit than helping others handle theirs?" She leans in with a gentle shoulder nudge, nothing rough enough to throw off his balance.

He turns to the young woman. "Well, if you ever need the favour returned, I'm here." With a smile. "I promise not to cause a fuss the next time. But if it’s a distraction you need, I can recommend your choice of vices." His voice takes on the tone of a cartoon demon perched above her shoulder and is clearly kidding.

She grins, clearly getting the joke. "Cute. May take you up on it. Now, if you were able to come into that with actually calling out my choice of vice, I'd be more impressed."

He stops, and looks at her, seemingly deadly serious "Give me your hand, Ms. McCrory."

Lizzy blinks, running a few steps ahead before she registers that he stopped. She looks at him a moment, narrows her eyes, then offers her right hand, palm up.

He holds her hand, palm up, and, with the utmost seriousness, gazes at her palm, slowly reciting "sex... drugs... rock and roll... speed... weed... birth control..." And looks up "That's all I've got." And breaks into a wide grin.

Lizzy stares at Marcus. If he is making a reference to something, she is clearly missing it, based on the blank expression on her face.

He grins sheepishly. "It's an old toast I remembered that I could turn into a gag. Nothing more."

"Oooooookaaaaaaaay... I'm more of a cheating, stealing, fighting, and drinking girl."

"Well, I'll certainly join you in the drinking. As you probably noticed."

"Well, if you like cheating death, stealing hearts, and fighting for a brother, you can absolutely drink with me."

His face gives away nothing. "I'll drink to that. Or... I would, if there was anything here."

"Let's see if we can get through the run before we start drinking. While drunken zombie shamble would be fun to watch..." Lizzy snickers. "I'd like to keep you in one piece for now."

He laughs "I'm a hard man to turn to pieces." But he gets up and takes a couple of steps onwards, waiting for Lizzy.

Lizzy chuckles, then resumes her run. "Puddle of goo a viable option?"

"Well, that's why I run at night." He quips, and lopes down the trail, keeping pace with her.

"To turn into a puddle of goo?"

He pauses and chuckles "The very opposite, in fact." An obvious reference to the temperature in Texas.

"I think we're thinking of different reasons for said sudden liquification, but sure." She grins a bit coyly at that.

He picks up her joke immediately and laughs "Turning me into a puddle of goo takes a fair bit of work too."

"Stoic is so last century." She winks at Marcus and picks up the pace a little. He can likely catch up pretty easily, as he doesn't have to worry about shit like breathing, exertion, or exhaustion.

He grins back at her and allows his stride to match hers "I HAVE been told I have an old soul."

"Which is fine. And to your credit, you do allow yourself to feel, far as I can tell. Points to you on that."

"Even my name's sake was, self-admittedly, a very poor stoic at times." He smiles as he says it.

Lizzy squints a bit, think of something. "...Marcus Aurelius? Or something a little closer to family?" The chatter has kept the pace a little slow, but they're starting to come up on that 5K. The riverwalk has been, as promised, quite lovely, and it's late enough that it's mostly quiet. The drunks aren't out of the bars yet, but every now and again, music from one of the nightlife venues filters through.

He shrugs expressively "My father was a history buff and named me after Aurelius." As they approach the end of the route, he slows down to a walk. "I told you - best place in the city to go for a run." With a smile "And thank you."

She slows down as well with a smile. "Thank YOU for running with me. I hadn't really done it since my brother died, and I thought it was going to be a lot more painful than it was."

"You're welcome. It's good to have company." A pause, and a smile "and a friendly ear."

"And this way, you know it's actually genuine and not just professional courtesy!" She busts out with a cheesy smile and gives him two thumbs up!

"So much better that way." He returns her smile "Need a lift back?"

"I... y'know, I wouldn't turn it down." She smiles sheepishly. She does sound a little winded.

He gestures towards a parking lot a a bit further down the path. There is a black Chrysler 300 waiting for them, and Marcus opens the passenger door for Lizzy.

Lizzy's eyebrows raise. "Huh. Didn't immediately figure out this was your car." Still, she gets in, smiling at Marcus for being the gentleman.

He grins as she gets in "Didn't you know? I moonlight as a car thief." He closes the door behind her.

She snorts as she holds back a laugh. "Let's see if you drive as well as you steal."