《Dan》<br/>Location: Abendblume<br/>Present: Roman<br/><br/><div class="bbImageWrapper bbImageAligned--left js-lbImage" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-single-image="1" data-src="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/attachments/large-1474549850-8556ed949db23ac5ebadb1bd61a9efc6-jpg.138971/" title="large-1474549850-8556ed949db23ac5ebadb1bd61a9efc6.jpg">
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</div>What Dan<i>heard</i>was "My dad works in some kind of money thing, and money was never a problem for me, so I played sports." He looked over to Roman and tried to figure out if he really didn't like his fancy schools, or if he was just trying to be relatable.<br/><br/>In the meantime, it was pleasant to watch the man thinking and to hear his voice. The way Roman condensed his life into a few, artful words made Dan wonder if this was the first time he had told his story, or if he had thought about it on long nights when he could not get to sleep. There were better ways of getting to sleep than reminiscing.<br/><br/>Dan could imagine Roman as that young college student just trying to fit in, and then later finding himself in the Minor Leagues but always longing for home. He had a good relationship with his mother, it seemed, and Dan felt guilty that he remembered her passing as just another event in the history of Abendblume. Dan had not known the woman, and her death had not affected him much.<br/><br/>But it had obviously affected her middle son. His remembrance of her making time to see his games seemed to have meant a lot, and Dan wondered if Roman regretted those years he had been away.<br/><br/>"Me?" Dan jerked himself back to the present and looked at the man he had been tasked to partner with, wondering how his life could ever compare to the other's. "Well, I grew up in the Humboldt area of Northern California, lived there until I was about sixteen. Dad and Mom ran a health clinic and I spent a lot of time playing cowboy and doing outdoors stuff."<br/><br/>He shifted in his seat and pulled leg cup, resting an arm across his knee. "My parents went to Brazil for a year and I stayed with my uncle. He taught me a lot about hunting and living off the land. When my parents returned we moved down to San Diego, and I spent a lot of time on the ocean. Sailing, surfing, checking out the eye candy," he chuckled. They had military bases in the area so there were no shortages of healthy, gorgeous people to look at.<br/><br/>"That led me to go to school and I got a degree in nutrition and physical fitness. I started a couple of boutique fitness outlets that got bought out by a larger chain, and I took that opportunity to come up here." He shrugged. "Working at Abendblume was really for research; I wanted to see if there was a way to combine a healthy vacation resort with fitness goals, and I was planning on taking what I learned here and writing up a business plan for a health retreat spa, someplace where people could come and focus on themselves for a week or a month and get some holistic healing."<br/><br/>He gave Roman a sheepish grin. "I guess it saved my life; my condo in Seattle was in one of the first areas to get cordoned off and declared a No-Go Zone, so it was a good thing I was here and not there when things started to get out of hand.<br/><br/>"So, you know – if you ever need to meditate or do some deep stretching, I'm your huckleberry." He reached over and gave Roman's shoulder a pat. "So think about helping me with this project of Alvaro's, okay? I'm off the outside patrol so getting this training program up and running is my number one focus."