The gym, Friday morning

[can_be_more]

Aeryn's in the gym even earlier than usual today, due to the fact that it was the second night in a row she hasn't really slept, and there comes a point when trying to sleep becomes annoying. It's also the second week in a row she's down here beating the hell out of the punching bag.

[For tatooine_doofus, but open. Aeryn herself is not huge on talking, though.]

Comments

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler went down to the gym and nodded a greeting to Aeryn as he stretched out, waiting for Rory.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory bounced into the gym, gave Aeryn a careful once-over because she'd barely seen her in Ethics, and went over to join Tyler. "Morning, master!"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Morning, apprentice," Tyler answered, sizing Rory up. "Take off your shoes and stretch out. I'm going to pull my punches" -- which he never did, but if he was supposed to be teaching her it would't kill him to go easy -- "but get some protective stuff too, if you want. Let me know when you're ready."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory obediently did as told, and when she was ready, she curiously asked, "Why no shoes?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Couple of reasons," Tyler said. "For one, bare feet have better balance. With shoes, your shoelace comes untied, you slip, you're out, bam. You want to be able to flex your feet if you need to kick. But you don't want some jackass coming in with steel-toed boots kicking the crap out of you. So no shoes levels the playing field."

He steeled himself, arms crossed. "Now. Fist thing, I want you to hit me as hard as you can."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke came into the gym a few moments later, carefully avoiding Rory's eyes as he walked over to Aeryn. "Hey," he said quietly.

Definitely not a bouncing Luke today.

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

Billy needed to beat up on something inanimate before making another escape attempt. Therefore, he went to the gym and started hitting the bag like it had complimented his father.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory looked nervous. "Any, um, preference as to where?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler shook his head. "Go with your gut. The first time I did this the swing went wild and I hit the guy in the ear."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

When she had finished with Tyler, Rory watched carefully until it looked like Aeryn and Luke were done, and scurried over him. "Hi," she said hesitantly.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory nodded, studying him for a moment before going with what had worked for her the only other time she had intentionally hit a guy.

She aimed her fist straight at Tyler's eye.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke wiped the sweat out of his eyes and gave her a wary look. "Hi."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Why are you mad at me?"

Being blunt couldn't hurt at this point.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler had decided he would take the blow, whatever it was, so he let her hit him square in the eye.

Which didn't stop his hands from flying up to the socket, a curse word muttered under his breath. "I think you gave me a black eye," he said. "Um, nice. Good job."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory winced. "Oh, crap. Tyler, I'm so sorry. Do you want some ice?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"I'm not mad," Luke said, concentrating on his boots. "Just confused."

And hurt. The way he was kind of curled in on himself made that part pretty obvious.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Why are you upset and confused, then?" she amended quietly. "I'm not stupid, Luke, and I spent the better part of last year learning to read your father. He acted the same way when he was hurting."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke was quiet for a long moment. "I thought you loved him," he said to the floor.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"No, no, I've had worse done. I'll take care of it after the session," Tyler said, pulling his hand away from his eye slowly. "At least I know you know how to throw a punch."

"How do you feel?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Ow. That had hurt more than any damage from the sparring session.

"I do," she said hoarsely. "And I'm not stopping, Luke. But he's not here anymore."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Guilty," Rory said immediately.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke looked up at her, still looking wounded. "I understand."

He really, really didn't.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

That was ... not an answer Tyler had heard before.

Then again, he had technically started by beating up on himself, which probably had limited guilt potential.

"Okay, why? I asked you to do it. You're here to do things like that."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"No, I don't think you do," Rory said, taking a step closer. "I want you to listen to me, okay? I love your dad very, very much. I love him so much that when he left, I wanted him to take me with him. I miss him so much that sometimes it hurts to breathe. And when I found out he died, I had to stay in my room for a few days to try to remember what's so great about living, anyway. If you hadn't shown up and made me think I really, really had to look out for my health, I wouldn't have gotten out of the slump for awhile."

She fixed Luke with a look, obviously close to either tears or yelling. "So don't you accuse me of not loving him. You have no idea. If things were right, Anakin would be here, and I would be happy. But that's not reality. Reality is that Bridge is one of my dearest friends, and I deserve to be happy even if it's not with Anakin. I have no idea what's happening with this, but don't you doubt for a second that I've stopped caring about your father, Luke."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Because I hurt you," Rory answered as though this was very, very obvious.