Time to Relax (Open)

(OOC: Permission to GMod Shin and Thor, Shin will be posting tomorrow)

Glad it was such a beautiful day Sam decided to spend it some of the day running with his massive Saint Bernard who has of late has seemed to put on a little weight. He wasn’t a puppy any more and it was obvious the amount of time he spent sleeping opposed to playing and exploring seemed to increase. Too much of the dogs displeasure however Sam decided it was time for Bruno to start running, and not just a short walk up and down the halls but rather a run around the mansion. Something that Bruno made obvious he wasn’t a fan of at all the fact that Sam threatened to leave Bruno behind was the only thing that kept the dog moving.

Despite Bruno being so big he was about as big as a baby as any dog could get. The smallest stuff scared him, rain, flies and every once in a while strangers. The only time Bruno could be away from Sam was if he was in Sam’s room sleeping on his bed with a certain feline friend inches away from him. In fact the only reason he thought that Bruno willingly came out running with him was because both Shin and Sam’s old dog Thor happened to be running around the same time as them.

The constant sound of shoes or paws smacking against the cement made it clear that there was literally nothing going on outside on the mansion grounds. Looking around and deeming it eerie Sam looked over to Shin who had his dog keeping pace right by his side, “Why do you think the grounds are so dead today?” Sam asked Shin as there running had come near an end as the made it towards the area where the started close to an hour ago.

Glancing down to his other side Sam reached out and patted Bruno on the head as the large dog let out a loud panting sound only before laying down and sprawling out and squirming slightly in the cool grass.

Lexie bolted upright, her hands flying towards her face. A dog. It was only a dog. She blinked, confusion registering on her face as her gaze flickered back and forth between the two men. She wiped her hands across her face once more, trying to hide her look of disdain. After all, she was the one who had fallen asleep outside.

"It's alright," she smiled after a moment. "Seems like he was just trying to be friendly is all..." She reached a careful hand out to touch the dog, her gaze moving up to look Sam and Shin in the face. She stopped herself just short of petting the animal and allowed her hand to fall into the grass. "Nice dog..."

She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged herself for a moment before reaching for her shoes. A pink tint rushed to her cheeks, and she did her best to hide her face from Sam and Shin. "I uh...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep out here like this..." she whispered, her gaze directed towards the ground. "How embarrassing..."

"Alexis, huh? Thor says 'nice to meet'cha'." Shin added wryly as the husky eased back. He rubbed the dog's neck, and applied gentle pressure to his hind quarters, forcing him to sit down. Thor looked up at him, tongue lolling out loud in a bark. Shin smiled down at the dog and ruffled Thor's ears. "There, there. Calm down. She's new here. We don't need to scare her." Thor relaxed. Shin's eyes rose to meet Alexis's face. "Welcome to the mansion, Alexis. And like Sam said, no worries. I've tripped over worse."

Shin turned his smirk towards Sam, explaining. "One time, I caught Alexandra conked out on the kitchen table. And Ghost always seems to pass out in the strangest places... you know, I caught her snoring in the library once? Those comfy chairs must've done her in." Thor glanced back towards Bruno as Shin spoke, panting smugly as the big dog checked the girl suspiciously, as if she might suddenly sprout a cat's tail and ears.

Letting out a small laugh Sam nodded, ” There are a few that choose to sleep in weird locations Nika for example fell asleep in a tree until the branch broke, and for the life of me I still want to know how she landed on her feet, must be the cat in her?” Sam gave a small nod to Shin before patting Bruno on the head, ”She’s good people go say hello!” nudging Bruno a bit the large dog took a step closer to her sniffing the air once again until Sam nudged him yet again.

With the second nudge Bruno took to large steps and was already in the woman’s arm reach. Nudging Thor out of the way so he could be pet instead. Bruno always did like the attention. With a small teasing gesture Bruno wagged his tail in Thor’s face once and walked away as Alexis jumped up into the air and landed on her feet.

”It usually isn’t this quiet, in fact we were both surprised when we came out here,” Sam pointed to Shin then himself, ”Might have something to do with the classes, might be testing day or something.” shrugging slightly feeling that he should know if there was a large amount of testing of the students seeing as he was a teacher. ”Yeah you can tag along but try and keep up, Shin is faster than he looks!” grinning slightly and patting shin on the back Sam picked up Bruno’s leash and then tugged him along as Sam started up his jog once again.

Alexis was actually glad for something to do. Being the new kid was a pain in the butt sometimes, but everyone around here seemed so welcoming. It made her feel so much better about everything. Being here...being away from her family...all of it. She reached each of her hands forward, carefully petting each of the dogs to avoid any further favoritism. They were both adorable, after all. She ran a hand quickly through her hair and smiled at each of the men in front of her. After a moment, a tiny smirk came to her face, and she met each of their gazes in turn. "Hmm. I think I could keep up, actually..." she told them, stretching out again, just in case.

She wasn't quite expecting what happened next. She stood there for a moment, staring after them as they took off. She let out a soft laugh before taking off after them, breaking into a swift jog to try and catch up. They were right...keeping up was going to be a chore. It wasn't something she really minded, though. Either way, it was somehting to do, and she wasn't alone. Both of those were pluses in her mind.

"Do you guys do this kind of thing all the time?" she called out as she ran, finally falling into step with them. "Or just when there is no one else around?" That was how she'd found her way out onto the grounds, anyway. "Your dogs are awesome..." She sped up a little bit, but still couldn't manage to keep up with the fastest in the group. The wind felt good in her hair though, so it didn't matter.

"I hope I'm not...slowing you guys down..." she added, another blush coming to her cheeks.

Shin dropped back a few steps to match Sam and Bruno's slightly slower pace as they spoke with Alexis. Thor's paws padded along, one in front of the other. He smiled at the girl again, slinking back into petting range. Shin laughed. "Go easy on her, Sam. Not everyone trains with weighted clothing these days. Not everyone trains. And as far as we know, blushing may in fact aid in her speed." He hadn't seen her around before. Who knew what mutations the blushing girl was gifted with? Maybe there was some blood-related mutation that caused the face to become red as flow was regulated to the brain and legs to increase running speed and reaction times? Until such truths presented themselves to declare otherwise, Alexis had the benefit of the doubt.

>>"So Alexis what is it you do for fun, I know it’s not the best time to be asking but, it makes the run that much more enjoyable, you know two birds with one stone!" Sam asked.

Shin nodded. "Tell us about yourself. I haven't seen you around much. Are you new to the mansion?"

He nodded his head slightly as he continued running the pounding and panting of the large dog next to him drowned out most of the quieter sounds but he was glad it didn’t effect Alexis or Shin’s volume level at all, he could still hear he perfectly as someone who was running and listening could. A small laugh escaped as Shin commented on her blushing, ”It’s possible it could help…” Sam said as he stepped on a rock that shook his balance.

”Not to many residents that are gymnasts here though martial arts is pretty common, I happen to know Shin dabbles around with the arts.” neglecting to mention his own involvement in the arts or his position as the self-defense teacher. Sam tightened his grip on his leash as his dog started to slow his pace to more of a trot. Again he could feel the dogs need to go back inside but didn’t indulge the dog’s wishes Sam was after all trying to get him to be more active. ”Love to see what you can do sometime in the Danger Room, that place was built to perform in.” said Sam as he looked over to glance at Alexis.

”Home is where you make it, I personally never had a home as nice and as warming as this. I am sure you’d fit in well, have you signed up for any classes yet?” Sam asked changing the subject from home’s to classes in an attempt to get rid of her home sick feeling.