Time in the sun,

[shadowed_scales]

Who: Gul Dukat, Eric Northman (open)
What: Eric accepts Dukat's invitation to see if exercise suits his new condition.
Where: Outside, hotel grounds
When: Backdated to just after the network posting  here.

Comments

[mr_fangtasia]

Eric had heeded the words that he'd been given on the network the day before. The hotel had provided him with a full wardrobe, and he'd selected some light and slightly loose shorts with a black tank. It was warm and dry out, as was usual for a desert environment. He'd made sure to drink plenty of water that morning, and had also managed to procure a bottle for during the run. He'd seen the amount of fluid living creatures could lose during strenuous activity, and while he wasn't looking forward to the idea of sweating, he had taken the necessary precautions.

He had hesitated momentarily at the threshold between the shadow and the bright sunlight. It still startled him to wake up during the daylight hours, and stepping out from under the shade caused butterflies to stir in the pit of his stomach. It wasn't natural to him yet, and still rustled a deep seeded fear. He reached his hand out, letting the light engulf it, and once it didn't begin to smoke in response, he left the haven of the shade.

Dukat had arrived ahead of him, though Eric knew he wasn't late yet. Telling time by the location of the moon (or sun in this instance) was a much older way, but one that he knew quite well.

"Good morning," he called, his expression friendly as he closed the distance between them. This man, or alien perhaps, was nothing like anything the Viking had ever laid eyes on. It spurred an interest inside of him, as it appeared there will still things he could learn. "It is a pleasure to finally meet in person, Gul Dukat." He hoped that was the proper way to greet one of his species or rank, or he hoped he would at least be corrected.

[ooc: not at all a problem, hun :)]

[shadowed_scales]

Movement at the hotel entrance caught his attention. He watched the approach of the man, finding him taller than he had expected. "Good morning," he replied, equally pleasant. "Likewise, Mister Northman. I'm glad you decided to join me. There are sometimes others. I always arrive a bit early and wait until the appointed time in case we get a new face in the group." He saw that the man had water, which was good. He hadn't yet had to haul any heat stroke victims inside and wouldn't like to start that trend with someone so large.

[medjaiardeth]

Ardeth stepped outside the hotel to, once again, find himself the third person to arrive for the desert run. He harboured a little hope that Rose might join them again, as she made a pleasant contrast to Dukat, though Ardeth didn't particularly find the man objectionable.

There was someone he didn't know waiting to start the run, as well.

"Good morning," he addressed them both, inclining his head slightly.

[raised_fromhell]

It was a really bad idea...but he had to do something to stay in shape. If it meant sucking it up and making nice with the guy who, unintentionally yes, beat him to hell...Dean was gonna do it.

He downed some aspirin with his breakfast, having used up all of the painkillers Owen had provided and filled his canteen with cool water. The hunter made his way through the halls, once again wearing a light colored t-shirt and loose long track pants, towards the front doors of the hotel.

Much to his surprise, Dukat appeared to have picked quite a following since their first day of running. The hunter stopped short as he passed through the doors and into the warm dessert morning, starting to pull his sunglasses down over his eyes.

"Aw hell." Dean muttered under his breath. He reached up to his chest and rubbed at it, now regretting the decision to show up. Had it just been Dukat, maybe the pace would be a bit slower. Now there wasn't a chance in hell.

The hunter sighed and made his way lazily down the steps towards the alien and his two new running mates.

[mr_fangtasia]

Eric watched with an inquisitive eye as the two other men joined them. They both appeared to be human, though in this place, who knew what they used to be. One spoke with an accent he couldn't immediately place as well.

The tall Viking began to lightly stretch in preparation for the run, more so because he'd seen humans do such things rather than because he thought he'd need to. He was fortunate that his body was in such good shape - he hadn't needed to do anything to maintain his physique in the past, but his current condition was still more than adequate for a breather's exercise routine.

"You seem to have started quite the trend," Eric commented to the Gul, smirking lightly before turning his head to greet the newcomers. "Good morning," he said, attempting to be sociable.

[shadowed_scales]

"So it would seem," the gul agreed. He was surprised to see Mister Winchester, but he gave no outward sign of it. It was better not to call attention to the fact that the man had been injured in front of people he possibly didn't know. He seemed to resent him enough for what had happened.

"It looks like introductions may be in order," he said pleasantly. "Eric Northman, Ardeth Bay and Dean Winchester, both regulars to the group. Mister Bay, Mister Winchester, this is Mister Northman, a new arrival." Or sort of, according to what he had read on the network, but there was no sense in confusing the issue.

[medjaiardeth]

Ardeth gave a small nod to each of the two men as they were introduced. As he had the last time he ran, he'd already performed his morning warmup in his room, so he moved away from the steps, ready to begin running when the rest of them were.

[raised_fromhell]

Dean was glad he was wearing sunglasses. He could let his eyes do whatever he wanted while he could fake his way through any other number of emotions. The alien introduced him to the new runners and the hunter extended his hand to each in kind saying "How you doing?".

His eyes did a once over of Eric and his hunter sense started to go off. From the man's stance, the way he carried himself...oh a number of little tiny subtle things screamed at him that while the man in front of him was human (and mostly likely was now because of the hotel) he was anything but.

God, Angel, Vampire, Fairy. Dean checked through his own mental list and figured he needed a bit more information to get a better read on the guy.

The man in black though, with the tattoos across his face was human. "You must have been the guy looking for the horse." Dean said after a moment of through. "Haven't seen one in the garage yet."

[mr_fangtasia]

Eric gave a nod to Ardeth before taking Dean's hand and giving it a firm shake. "As well as can be expected, given the circumstances. And yourself?" He was given a pause as the man gave him a once over - even with his sunglasses on he could tell that he was being inspected.

Fortunately, that was something he was quite used to. Just because the hotel had made his body human didn't mean he was actually human. No doubt some of the inhabitants would be in tune to his differences other than what was one the surface. Still, he couldn't be too careful.

"A garage?" he repeated, curious. Eric wondered if his red Corvette might be down there.

[shadowed_scales]

Dukat stayed out of the other men's introductions, contemplating the course of the run for the day. As he had with Mister Bay, he thought perhaps letting Mister Northman see for himself what happened to those who ran off into the desert with company was in order. It was far better than just telling someone and impossible to disbelieve when experienced personally.

[medjaiardeth]

Ardeth turned when Dean addressed him.

"Yes, that was me," Ardeth confirmed. "You say 'yet'. Is the garage so large that you could be down there and not see a horse if it was there?" he asked.

[raised_fromhell]

"Garage's got decent enough acoustics. Someone would have noticed something by now...myself included and I'm down there a lot." Dean said. He was trying to get a read on the tattoos on the man's face. His Egyptian was terrible...but not many monsters from the Nile turned up in central USA.

Dean glanced at Eric. "Yeah, its under the hotel. You come in a car?" He asked.

[mr_fangtasia]

Eric shook his head. "No, I simply appeared outside," he said, his eyes flicking over to the area where he had first encountered the sun. "It is likely that I was teleported by a specific witch, though it doesn't seem as if she has followed me or is even responsible for this place." His voice sounded a bit irritated at that, even if his expression remained stony.

"I was just curious, since having a garage and cars gives one the illusion that they could simply drive away, though I doubt escape is nearly that easy or many would have done so already."

[shadowed_scales]

"I believe that's something best seen for yourself, Mister Northman," Dukat said. He glanced sunward. "It's time. We'll do our usual formation, all abreast, no one left behind. That way," he pointed out into open desert. "Very soon you'll understand just how useless those vehicles are."

[medjaiardeth]

Ardeth was still determined to look himself, if he managed to find the garage, but he said nothing further about it to the others. He nodded when Dukat went over the formation and looked out towards the deceptive horizon, ready to begin the run.

[raised_fromhell]

So where ever and when Eric was from, there were witches...and one sent him here. Just dandy. Dean filed the information for later, planning on making a note in his journal.

Dean looked nonplussed at the idea of running all together and side by side. There was no way on earth he was going to keep pace with these guys, not for long anyway. That had to be Dukat's idea of a joke.

He bit back a discourteous 'Fuck You' that was on the tip of his tongue and came to stand next to Ardeth and at least one personal physically away from Dukat.

"When this is over, I'll show you how to get to the garage" He offered.