Jogging for no reason

Nicole stopped and bit her lip. "I... I'm sorry..." She began with a frown. She hadn't meant to offend him. But it was obvious to her that she'd gone too far. "I'll leave you alone now." She said politely and turned, walking away from him. Her heart sank in her chest. Nicole felt like she had made her first enemy... and it didn't feel good.

Seeing the girl walking sadly away, he decided to see of he could help. He ran across the gym and stopped in front of her, rubbing his arm nervously. 'Umm, hi. Is something wrong?'

Nicole gave him a reassuring smile. "It's fine. I just pryed where I shouldn't have. That's all." she explained. "Thank you for asking, though." She replied gratefully. "I'm Nicole." To Nicole, an introduction only seemed necessary as she could not recall meeting this individual before.

'I'm Stephen.' He decided not to ask her anymore. She seemed alright.
'So...uh. What brings you to the gym?'

She smiled brightly. "Well, I heard it was a good place to come and work out so I decided to check into it." Her eyes briefly scanned the large room. "It seems a good place for running around in circles but I think running outside is better. I find that if you feel as though you are actually running somewhere, then you can run faster and harder." she expalained in a quiet voice.

'Yeah, I like to run outside too.' He quiickly hid the humger on his face as he said the word outside. 'But..ih, I thought I'd run inside today. So I wouldn't slip on the snow...'

Frowning when the girl walks away, Aike wonders if he was too harsh. Yeah, peoplesuck, but he shouldn't have been that big a jerk. Chewing on his lip thoughtfully while unintentially overhearing the two's conversation. Sighing, he walked tward them. How troublesome....

"Hey, um... sorry for scolding, I'm just a little frustrated right now. If you like, I can "pave" a road through the snow for you. After all, the spirits are restless and need to torch something, if you couldn't tell from earlier," he said, glancing elsewhere.

She looked at Stephen strangely. "You...you're connected to the forest aren't you? Not directly, but I can sense some association." She remarked quietly. When Stephen approached she went stiff, expecting him to freak out or incinerate her for not fleeing the country fast enough but when he offered to pave a road, a smile alit her face. "Alright..." She began with a sly smirk. "But on one condition, you have to run with us!" She exclaimed, then, looking at Stephen she said, "Will you run with us outside? I could see the desire flash in your eyes just a moment ago. Comeon, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Er..." He coughs evasivly. "...I don't run."

Nicole frowned. "But why not? It's easy to do and with your abilities you could melt the snow and it would be a snap!" She added. "Besides, it's not like all we'd be doing is running. I'm sure I could pelt you two with snow a few times."