Stranger in a Strange Land [open]

[NATALYA BLACKMOOR]

After a solid twenty minutes of wandering, Natalya had to face it; she was lost. She'd been on her way from her quarters to the training room. This had become a near daily occurrence, this whole getting lost thing. She'd only been at the Institute here in New York for perhaps two weeks, and she hadn't quite learned her way around just yet. Why her fellow Shadowhunters had insisted on making their home bases so labyrinthine was beyond her.

She sighed in exasperation, pushing her hair back from her face in an irritated gesture. The young Nephilim was decked out in her full gear, the tough black leather armor and boots Shadowhunters were known for. Most of her dark hair was braided back from her face, but for those few stray strands that kept drifting in front of her dark green eyes.

Since she'd come, there'd been a distinct lack of demon activity, hence her need to get in some training. It was beginning to feel like she was dressed up with nowhere to go, however.

[JACE TAYLOR]

clink clink The sound of glass being shuffled around filled the kitchen area of the institute as one of its members searched for an afternoon snack. Jace Taylor stood in front of the open door in his jeans and button up shirt, with a dissatisfied look upon his face. There seemed to be nothing left in the fridge except for condiments and three week old sushi. How could there be nothing left? Finally after moving a jar of jelly and another takeout box, Jace spied a carton of pizza. Opening the lid, he smiled to himself as he pulled out a couple of pieces of pepperoni before returning the empty box to the fridge and pushing the door shut with his foot. 

Snacking on his new found treasure, the boy left the kitchen and headed to his room. He had been spending more and more time in there as of late, do to the peer pressure he had been receiving from a fellow Shadowhunter. Determined to stick to the promise he had made to his mother, Jace had found it best to avoid this particular young lady all together . So far it had worked well enough. Yet, Jace felt this constant urge for just one more party. He missed the lights, the dancing, and most of all the trouble that came with each event he attended. 

Lost in thought, Jace rounded a corner and ran into something solid standing in the middle of the hallway. Throwing one hand out to balance himself, his other piece of pizza slipped from his hand onto the unclean floor. "Watch were the hel..." stopping short, he spotted an unfamiliar girl standing in front of him. Eyeing her up and down, he noted her familiar black attire, but could not think of her name. Someone had mentioned that they had someone new in the institute. Perhaps this was her. 

Catching his composure, a smirk spread across the boy's face. "You're the new kid huh?" he asked taking another bite of his remaining pizza. He could tell, not only by her unrecognizable face, that she was new, but also because she appeared to be completely lost. He had been there once, but now he knew these halls well enough that he was able to tease anyone for forgetting their way around.

[NATALYA BLACKMOOR]

Natalya found herself brought rather suddenly and painfully out of her irritated reverie when she collided with another solid body. She winced and stumbled back a pace before regaining her footing, half heartedly muttered a curse in Russian, instantly brightening as her gaze moved to the person she'd run into. What luck! She'd thought she'd have been wandering alone for another half an hour, at least.

Her expression changed rather quickly to one of mild dismay, as she noted their impact had caused him to drop his other piece of pizza. "Oh, ah, yes." she replied, still a tad flustered. 'Kid' was certainly not the word that came to mind. She was, after all, an adult in the eyes of the Clave. These were stray thoughts, however. Back to the matter at hand! "Natalya Blackmoor. I'm sorry about your pizza." she said, and crouched momentarily to retrieve the fallen food item. "Perhaps you'd be willing to pick the carpet fluff off it and pretend it never fell?" she said with mock-hopefulness, waving the pizza slightly in what was meant to be a tantalizing manner while a grin formed on her face. Was she trying to hold off on pointing out how utterly lost she'd been? Oh yes. Though she suspected her cover had already been completely blown in that regard, judging by the look on his face.

[JACE TAYLOR]

Jace could hear the frustration in her voice, and he could only imagine how his labeling her a kid had affected that. Yet, Jace was never one to worry about how people thought of him. It was a trait he had picked up over the years after moving so much. People say stupid thing,you learn to ignore it. His mom had always worried about it because it meant her son was not afraid to tell people what he thought. 

Nodding to acknowledge that he had heard her name, the boy watched as she bent to pick up his dropped pizza. Jace snarled his nose as she waived the now dirt flavored pizza i front of his face. "Er no thanks." he mumbled pushing her hand away with a disgusted look. No telling how long it had been since some had come through here with a vacuum. Seeing how big the place was, there just wasn't enough time to do it all. 

Leaning his back against the opposite wall, the boy could see that she was not about to admit she had no clue where to go. That's when an idea hit him. Pushing away from the cold wall, the boy buried his hands deep in his pockets. "Well I better get back to my room then." he said turning away from her and started to walk off.   "See ya!" he added with a wave. 

[NATALYA BLACKMOOR]

At his disgusted reply, Natalya chuckled and with a flippant toss, returned the pizza to the floor. She'd get that later. Maybe. She dusted her hands off, removing any traces of food or dirt from her fingers and watching him as he rather casually leaned against the wall. Was he going to introduce himself?

It seemed not. Rather abruptly, he shoved his hands in his pockets and made to leave. Now she had to say something, or be left to wander aimlessly. Damn. "Not to fast." she said, moving quickly to catch up with him. "I don't suppose you could direct me to the training room?" she asked bluntly. Practicality beat out pride, which was a small price to pay when the alternative was an unknown amount of wasted time. She'd had enough of that to last one day.

Besides, she hadn't been making much of an effort to befriend her fellow Shadowhunters since arriving. What better time than now? Even if this one did seem to be yanking her chain a bit.

[JACE TAYLOR]

A sneer played across his face as she yelled after him. Slowing his pace so that she could catch up, Jace shot a glance at her while raising his eyebrows. “Oh you don’t know where the training room is?”he asked accusingly. “I think I would have made sure I knew where everything was before wandering off alone.” Setting a stern look on his face, Jace tilted his head to the side like a teacher scolding one of his students. Of course, he was just messing with her, and it took all he had not to break out in a grin.

“Anyway,” he added waiving his hand in the air as if to wave her off, “I can’t be bothered to show you around. I’m not a bloody tour guide after all.” Shrugging his shoulders, he stepped up his pace a little more and walked a head of her. It had been about a week since he had been in the training room himself. The lack of people to train with had driven his enthusiasm into the ground, and he found himself wanting to go less and less. He did keep in shape of course, but it had been a while since he had actually geared up so to speak. This would be a good opportunity for him to get some training in, and have someone to train with.

Nodding to himself, he slowed down until he came to a complete stop. Spinning on his heal, he turned to face her. “On the other hand,” he began, retracing his steps back to her, “I could use a little training myself. That is if you don’t mind that I join you.” He actually didn’t care whether she wanted him to or not, he just thought being polite would be the best way to go about it. If she didn’t want him to join her he could always just leave her there to find her own way around. Crossing his arms he waited for her reply.

[NATALYA BLACKMOOR]

Natalya seemed unaffected by his initial sneer. "Well, they weren't exactly handing out maps when I showed up." she said, and grinned. A stern look may have been on his face, but she could tell by his tone of voice that he wasn't seriously scolding her.

The grin dropped from her face as he waved her off and walked away. "Wha-?" She was totally at a loss, which was why she came to a halt. Was he serious? He didn't show any sign of stopping. She sighed in exasperation, resigned to simply find her own way. Maybe she'd run into someone else who could help her? Unless they were all like this young man, in which case she was out of luck.

And so it was a pleasant surprise when he turned around and walked back over to her, stating he was interested in training as well. "Sure, I don't mind." she replied, a little confused by the sudden turnaround.

[JACE TAYLOR]

Giving her a warm grin, Jace could tell she was confused by his sporadic change. “Sorry, I change my mind a lot. Lately no one has really had the urge to train, mostly because of the lack of demonic activity her in New York. So I thought I would jump at the opportunity.” Shrugging his shoulders at this point, Jace tilted his head towards the direction they should head. “The training area is down this way.”

Setting off at a slow walk as to not out run her, he made a sharp right around the next corner “I’m Jace by the way. Jace Taylor.” He had completely forgotten to introduce himself earlier, seeing how he was to busy giving her a rough time and thought it best that they knew each other’s names. He wasn’t big into introducing himself to others, he normally found it easier to let them figure it out later. However, since he was about to be training with this girl he thought it would be better to be able to call themselves by their first name.

Making another sharp left, Jace cast as sideways glance at Natayla. “So where were you from before you moved to the lovely state of New York?” he asked casually as they continued down the long corridor. He found it interesting to see where most of the Shadowhunters came from, seeing how almost none were actually born in New York. Sometimes he wondered if anyone else got home sick.

(Sorry horrible post! I do better next time! (: )

[NATALYA BLACKMOOR]

Natalya shrugged mentally at the erratic change, moving to fall into step beside him. He seemed nice enough, if a little arrogant. It didn't help that she was a tad gullible, making her very easy to mess with.

"Nice to meet you, Jace." And she meant it. Not just because he'd rescued her from an epic of time wasted, either. She was a personable sort; she liked meeting people, being around people, that sort of thing. But moving about so often, only just barely getting to know someone before leaving them, had taken it's toll. She had a long list of acquaintances, but she could count her friends on one hand, and she certainly didn't like that. The New York Institute was going to be her home for the foreseeable future, and she would get to know the people here if it killed her! Though she hoped it wouldn't.

As they took turn after turn, she made note of each, eyeing the hallways themselves for details that would stand out in her mind. At Jace's question, her gaze returned to him. "Ah, I spent most of my life at the Institute in Minsk, in Belarus." she replied. She spoke with a slight accent, though most couldn't place it. She wondered if he'd been here his whole life; he certainly seemed to know the halls well enough.

[JACE TAYLOR]

Nodding as he listened to where she had come from, Jace continued his slow steady walk down the corridor before taking another turn. At the end of the long hall he could see the door that led to large arena like area that the institute used as a training place. There were to two doors on either side of it that led to somewhat of a dressing room for both males and females. This is normally where Jace left his training gear when he was done for the day. It made it easily accessible if he decided spur of the moment to begin training, rather than trekking back upstairs to change.

Leaning against the men’s room door, Jace nodded again, “Thankfully I’ve been here for a few years now. Probably one of the longest to live here actually,” he said wrinkling his forehead in thought. “I wasn’t born here though. My mum shipped me here after I got into some trouble in London. She said she couldn’t handle the stress anymore,” he added with a shrug. He was still reasonably close with his mother, but he was glad to be a way for a while. Sometimes he wondered if she had sent him away because he reminded her to much of his father.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, he tilted his head towards the door he was leaning on. “Let me grab my gear first,” he muttered before disappearing in to the large changing room. The walls were a bright white and the floors were covered in all white tile. In a way it reminded Jace of a hospital, cold and strangely empty. Grabbing the black clothes from the locker labeled with his swirly handwriting, the boy quickly slipped out of his jeans and button up shirt and into the less comfortable black outfit. Checking himself in the mirror, he ran a quick hand through his hair before returning to the hallway. “There,” he said with a grin, “Much better.” He held the door open, and waived her into the training room.

[NATALYA BLACKMOOR]

Natalya watched him exit to the changing room, waiting patiently before the door that led into the training room and she ruminated on what he'd just said. She wondered how long he'd been here, since he'd said he was one of those who'd lived here the longest. Did that mean this particular Institute had a high mortality rate? Or did it just mean that many of the Shadowhunters here came and went frequently? She hoped it was the latter; the thought that her kin died here with enough frequency to make one as young as Jace one of the more permanent residents was unsettling.

And she could only wonder what sort of 'stress' could be the sole reason that would cause a mother to send her child away. It certainly wasn't her place to pry, however; they'd only just met, after all.

As Jace exited the changing room in full gear and opened the door to the training room, she stepped in. You seen one training room, you seen'em all, though this one was a tad bigger than the one in the Minsk Institute. To the left was a rack containing an outstanding variety of weaponry, with much of the rest of the room left bare for the sake of space. She looked up, noting that past the rafters, the ceiling was indistinguishable from the gloom.

"Hmm...where to start..." she murmured.

[JACE TAYLOR]

“Hmm,” Jace began scanning the room with his sharp eyes for their first activity. He had spent almost every waking hour in this room when had first arrived at the New York Institute, training to be better than the rest was what it had amounted to, but lately his will to care had dwindled. He would come in here once a day still, but only for thirty minutes to an hour at most. He just felt that his time was better spent out of the Institute’s walls, however his mind set had changed a little after meeting his new partner. Phlox had inspired him into training even harder than before, seeing how the Asian boy was pretty good at what he did. It would be a nice change of pace however, to work with Natayla. Less stress as it were.

Glancing up to the rafter far above their heads, Jace smirked. His favorite activity in the entire room was practicing his flips. Not to mention it would give him room to brag about his cat like agility and balance. “How about some rafter walking,” he asked pointing towards the invisible roof. Before receiving an answer to strolled over to where the harnesses lay, and began fastening up. Hooking the final rope through its designated loop, Jace looked up at her with a smile. He couldn’t wait to get to the top.

Turning to the old ladder to his right, the young shadowhunter began the long climb to the top. Sweat began to perspire around his hair line, and he quickly ran a hand through his golden locks to keep them from his face. As he reached the top however, a slight breeze came from one of the windows lining the top of the ceiling. Taking a breath of fresh air he looked down his fellow Niphilim far below. “Come on,” he yelled down to her as he walked back and forth across the narrow beam

[NATALYA BLACKMOOR]

Natalya followed Jace's gaze to the rafters, a grin forming on her face. She too very much enjoyed practicing her flips, and it had been some time since she'd devoted some time to them. She was rather agile, and the flips came easily, so practicing them was more a joy than a training exercise. Jumping from so high, spinning madly, was quite exhilarating. Even while wearing the harness, she always felt faint apprehension, a fear that she may awkwardly and painfully slam into the rapidly approaching training room floor, a feeling that only added to the thrill.

And so there was no hesitation as she moved to where the harnesses lay and began to deftly strap herself in. Safety gear secured, she reached for the first well-worn rung of the ladder, ascending quickly as Jace called out to her from the top. The climb itself was a suitable warm up; she was a tad flushed as she lifted herself up to the first rafter, fastening herself securely to one of the lengthy cords.

She smiled to her fellow Shadowhunter as she nimbly moved to stand next to him on the beam. Her gaze shifted between him and the long drop. She was eager to begin, though she was also curious to see how skilled Jace was. It was always good to know the strengths and weaknesses of your peers, especially if one expected to be rushing into a fight alongside them.

"Would you like to go first, or shall I, my friend?"

[OOC: sorry for the late late late response x__x]

[JACE TAYLOR]

Watching as she made her way up the rickety ladder, Jace swayed back and forth on the narrow beam. He had never had a fear of heights, in fact the higher he was the better. For his fifth birthday he had asked his mother for a loft bed, and at first she had been wary about purchasing something so high off the ground for him, she was afraid he would be to scared and she would have wasted her money, however he had taken to it as a fish takes to water. He spent all of his time up there, reading and pretending to be somewhere high above a village. As he grew older, he began to sneak out of the institutes windows to sit on top of the roof and look over the busy night life of London. Once his mother caught him, however he was severely punished and forbidden from opening any window in the house. Thankfully she was a heavy sleeper, and the conniving boy would wait until she was fast asleep before unlocking his bedroom window and scampering up the shingled roof. He could never forget the rush of the wind through his golden hair, or the sound of the city far below.

Jumping across the beam to the one parallel to it, Jace practiced his balance by putting his hands down on the small wooden rail and slowly lifted his feet above his head. When he had first attempted this he had been on the beam closest to the wall so he could prop his feet against it to gain balance. Now he was able to do without the help of the solid wall, however it was extremely difficult. His arms began to shake, and sweat gathered at the end of his nose. Gradually lowering his feet back onto the rafter, Jace let out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t been so sure he could do it that time, having been so long since he had last practiced.

Glancing back over his should he realized Natalya had made it up and he leapt back to the previous standing point. “I’d love to go first,” he said flashing a grateful smile at being asked to go first. Turning his back to the open space behind him, Jace closed his eyes and scrunched his fist closed then open, closed then open. A peaceful look passed over his face right before he leapt into nothingness. Arching his back, he felt his feet leave the tiny beam and swing above his head as he plummeted towards the hard training room floor below, his stomach was already in his throat. Curling into a ball for his second and third revolution, Jace could feel the rushing air push his long blonde locks over his face and sweep it off again as he made a full turn. A smile broke out over his face, as this feeling brought back so many memories.

Knowing the ground was fast approaching, the boy opened his eyes and positioned his body into a dive like stance. Normally he would come to a halt feet first, but as this was his first jump of the day he felt like being a little more dramatic. Bringing his arms to his side, he watched as the dark tile came closer and closer to his face. At this point many would chicken out and bring their feet around in case the rope was to long, but Jace only widened his smile. This was the thrilling part for him, not knowing whether his face was going to plow into the hard surface.

Fealing a releaving tug, the rope attached to Jace’s harness pulled taunt catching him as his nose came inches from the floor. His stomach flew from his throat to toes and back again before coming to a rest in its rightful spot as the rope recoiled a little and then dropped him back into place. This had been closer than he was expecting, and the boy let out a hearty laugh as he dangled there. “Wow,” he yelled a little out of breath “It seems someone measured that just perfectly.” Swinging back and forth on the rope, he righted himself and dropped his feet to the ground. Looking up to the place he had been standing only a few seconds earlier, he could see Natalya waiting to jump. Placing his hands on his hips, he took a deep breath before shouting up to her. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”


(Sorry didn't realize you had posted (: )

[NATALYA BLACKMOOR]

Natalya raised a brow as she watched her fellow Shadowhunter do what could only be described as a handstand on the narrow beam. Dangerous and perhaps fool-hardy, but impressive. His balance was excellent, to say the least.

Now poised upon the narrow rafter herself, her eyes were on Jace as he made his leap. She watched him flip masterfully before the cord he was tethered to brought him to a safe halt. She grinned as he laughed from below, calling up to her.

Natalya nodded once to indicated she'd heard him, taking a deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth. She tensed, then threw herself into the void without hesitation. Her breath caught with excitement, the familiar feeling of exhilaration kicking in as adrenaline began to course through her veins. She fell rapidly, curling her limbs inward to complete a full spin, moving into a second and third. Time ran out, the training room floor hurtling towards her. She went for a fourth flip anyway, the rope becoming taut and suspending her over the floor with her back facing the ground, mid flip. Not knowing precisely when the harness would kick in had brought a faint rush of adrenaline fueled fear through her, a feeling which drained as she hung from the cord, spinning in slow circles, long braided hair grazing the ground.

The young Nephilim righted herself, letting out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as her feet touched terra firma. She grinned at Jace, gesturing to him. "Nicely done, by the way!" she said, slightly out of breath.