Training Day

[Titania]

45 minutes. She doesn't need to look at her wrist watch to know that her time hasn't improved a bit.
A lost cause.
Her heart keeps pounding in her chest, with each thump her cheeks flush redder. She breathes heavily, propping one hand against the bark of a tree, the fresh morning breeze trying to quench her ignited skin.
She always comes jogging here, the California State Capitol Park. Sometimes she joins the larger groups of amateur joggers, but for the past few weeks she's been trying to improve her pace, from a walk to a brisk pace, no time for leisure walks. Looks like she isn't there yet.

[Titania]

Bookkeeping

[Ram]

Ram circled the memorial. Counting. Twenty-two slabs of black stone; hundreds of names on each one. All dead from war.

No, not all. Some were missing.

How many had he known before being taken? There were thousands of names. If he had come from California as his vague memories whispered, he had to know some of them. Right? Or maybe he had known them in Arcadia. The missing dragged across the Hedge to fight in the battles of the Kindly Folk. How much could he even relate to these white symbols carved into the granite?

He passed his hand over a blank piece of stone. Small nearly imperceptible scratches followed his stony fingers. War had made him this and while it had spared the mortal veterans, he knew war he changed the too.

He felt a strange urge. A desire to smash his fists against the polished rock. The outer circle was a lie. Sleek and refined. He wanted to tear down the walls to rumble. Expose what war really was.

Yet he didn’t. There were few enough memorials to mortals of the horrors of war. None for those lost to the conflicts of the Fey. They wouldn’t understand why he was angry.

Ram turned away and started plodding through the rest of the park, hands in pockets. Only to notice the woman running along the path. Pretty, bordering on gorgeous but what really caught his attention was the feeling coming from her. Like he knew her from somewhere. Like, at the very least, she was working for the enemy. Freeholder.

He smiled as she jogged towards him. “Hey,” he called out as she stopped to lean against a tree "You doing okay?" She was breath pretty hard.

[Titania]

There's only one thing a brawny man such as this one would want from a girl as pretty as herself. Perhaps she's being overly cautious - you can't blame her - maybe even more because of the recent issues with the gentry, but her default behavior is distrust.
Those arms though.

"Yes", she replies shyly, managing to not choke on her ragged breath, "thank you", all the while, she looks around. Scanning the area for potential helpers, should she need to call help.
"You don't look familiar, and I jog here almost every morning. New arrival in town?", she says, while propping her back against the tree. Sacramento is a big city. Not like London, but still big enough. So it's expected that she wouldn't know every jogger in this park by name.
It goes without saying that her last two jogging partners didn't fare that great. The park was cursed, or maybe she brought bad luck.

[Ram]

Ram didn’t seem to notice the discomfort he engendered, either because he was used to it or because Titania looked plenty discomforted from her run already. Though he did look around when she did out of instinct.

“Yep, new. Or at least, only recently came back,” he gave her a grin before stumbling over his words a bit, not sure where to go from here.

“I was, uh, visiting the memorial,” he said, indicating where he’d just come from “To pay respects. Didn’t expect to find another club member while I was here.” Rhodes had mentioned downtown was dangerous, it was why he had his Mask up. Probably same for her.

“Oh, umm,” he held his hand rather quickly as if he suddenly remembered “I’m Ram,” he said, still smiling “I go to the anger management meetings with the club.”

[Titania]

"Club?", she asks perplexed? If this isn't a hasty attempt at picking her up.
She's never seen this man before, and she's sure they don't share membership in any mundane society. Unless... unless he's one of them, able to pierce through her mask, or someone in the freehold casually violated her privacy by informing the newcomers of her private persona. She can already picture Sonja pointing at a poster of her wearing a bikini (a photomanip, of course).
She shouldn't rule out the possibility of enemy assault though.

"You're here to pay homage?", she asks, the man looks obviously like a trained warrior. Could he outpace her though?
Funny, all the men she's ran into while in this park had anger management issues. Fawkes was a violent criminal, Abe too, he went down as a murderer. Doesn't bode well for this stranger.
At least this one was actively trying to solve his issues.
She ignores his hand, it's not proper etiquette, besides, if he was an enemy it'd be like inviting danger.
"Oh, so you did meet Mr. Wolf?", blame the blue smurf for the sudden Pulp Fiction reference. With that, she relaxes visibly. Her breath returning to normal, the redness in her cheeks subduing.

[Ram]

“Yeah, club. Is that not.. what you guys call it here?” He wasn’t exactly sure of the local Freehold’s mundane words for things. Or maybe he’d made a mistake in his feelings and it wasn’t the Wyrdstone at all.

Ram cleared his throat as he let his hand drop, a little awkwardly. Though he got it. Not everyone could handle a handshake after a Durance, or just bad life experience. “I, un,” he blew out his cheeks a bit, embarrassed “guess I should have asked before..” he raised his hand in a mock shake before dropping it again.

“Yeah, homage,” he said jerking his head toward the direction of the memorial. “I mean, didn’t fight in that war,” he stuttered out to make sure there wasn’t a mistake before realizing how weird that might sound but he couldn’t really clarify here. “I fought in… another war. Got recruited by a couple of kindly folks. Didn’t realize what I was getting into. You know how it goes?” At least he hoped she did.

"And uh, no. Don't know a Mr. Wolf. Met a Mr. Rhodes though."

[Titania]

She sees his hand raise and fall. It's always curious to see how a single setback can deflate even the most unabashed man. Still, she isn't one to ignore a courteous gesture, and so she treats him to one of her smiles.
"I see. It's an entertainment park, so a business metaphor is usually more descriptive", she looks around, as if to gain assurance there are no eavesdroppers. "Yes, Mr. Rhodes. You could say he's sort of a housemaster", she adds in a serious tone.
Sharing the details of one's Durance is at the same time a display of intimacy and a moment of painful recollection. Absent the first, and given the man's tone, she had to assume he was either lying or had solved the trauma - as far as one can address this kind of feelings - nevertheless, the man's build and his words strongly suggested he was a warrior, somebody who readily volunteered for a fight. She knows of the pain war brings, especially to women. She's experienced the loss and the grieving process that followed, it's still fresh in her mind.
So, this man was either ignorant, a junkie for danger, a liar, or inconsiderate. Pick one. There's another alternative, and that is that he wasn't boasting, but had really solved all his latent issues. In that case, he'd gain her admiration. As far as she was concerned, she still didn't remember 90% of her Durance.
She gives him an uncertain look, one full of skepticism.
"We always realize our mistakes when it's too late, I'm afraid. So, how's the city treating you so far?", and with that, she jumps on the trail again, motioning the man to join her jog.

[Ram]

It was hard to tell but Ram’s brow creased a little at her skeptical look, unsure how to take it. As well, as the fact that she abruptly started jogging again. Maybe he’d struck nerve accidentally? Of course he had. So, he let the conversation change as he leaped onto the path.

He barreled into step, first overshooting before slowing to a more regular gait. He wasn’t used to running at pace. Short sprints that ended with him head butting a wall were more his thing. He also wasn't sure how fast she normally jogged or how long and whether he should be going faster or slower to keep at her side. So he ended up short stepping for a bit, trying to match her stride length and rhythm, with the end product nearly tripping him up a couple times.

"Well, not bad so far. Not exactly good either. I was lucky enough to run into Rhodes but I haven't been able to find a job or place to stay yet. I get the impression that... our side of the business isn't entirely stable but I haven't run into any problems from that direction, so far." Between the talk of danger downtown and a Freehold pledge work-around; he go so far as to say unstable to actively crumbling.

Speed 12

[Titania]

It was meant to be a leisure stroll, not an olympic race, but apparently she had awoken the man's competitive streak. And thus, she finds herself in his trail, barely able to catch up.
"Last time I checked, there were several job openings. The park needs a handyman, security too". Oh oh oh, a handyman, she grins to herself at the pun. Here the trail becomes a bit spotty.
"I'm the creative director. You can call me Titania, or Eleanor", let it be known that her titles are self appointed.