gym - saturday morning - 2/2/08

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Strange sleep and stranger dreams drove him from Andrew's bed earlier than he would have liked.

Any other morning, he would have settled in, awake as it was after dawn but still warm in the tangle of cloth and limbs and pillows of their cozy night-time nest. The whole of the experience had been brilliantly, beautifully novel and in some ways, he'd never slept more soundly. But visions of burning edifices atop shifting dunes, strange murky depths filled with noxious slimes...

His head was obviously in need of clearing and while he unfortunately had no chores that could do the job, he did have practice he should be doing; after all, his session with Ino would be tomorrow and he'd want to show her he'd made the effort to cement Wednesday's lessons by then.

As such, he was in the gym, stretching for the moment as he attempted to rid himself of a strange piece of music that refused to leave his mind. Because, really, why would someone sing about an 'annoying tongue' anyway?

[really most sincerely... open]

Comments

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

After his run, John stopped by the gym, hoping to get in some time with the speed bag.

"Morning," John said amiably, heading for the equipment.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir gave him a somewhat absent, but still mostly cheerful smile and waved one hand.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"How've you been?" John asked, stretching out his arms. It wouldn't do to pull something.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Strange dreams aside, his only association with John was through Andrew and thoughts of Andrew brought a positively goofy smile onto his face.

"I've been very well. And yourself?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I'm hanging in there," John grinned, moving into position in front of the bag and giving it a test hit. "Just getting some practice in. What're you up to this morning?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Stretching for the moment," he said with a small smile. "Then I'll practice my falls."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Practicing your falls," John repeated. "I guess that's one way to avoid injury in a fight."

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

Dawn probably looked liked she hadn't slept in days, and, well, there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for that--she hadn't. Her plan for the day was to work herself into exhaustion, hoping that would keep both her thoughts and nightmares at bay, at least for a little while.

She decided to start with five miles on the treadmill, then hoped someone would be in the mood to let her beat them up. And that they weren't a Winchester.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He watched her as she walked in, curious as to another sleepless gym-goer. After all, perhaps his dreams last night had been some of the madness of this place at work.

"Um, excuse me?"

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"Uh huh?" Dawn couldn't be rude to a new kid, that wasn't fair.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He stood up from his stretch and tried his best to give her a smile.

"You look..."

He knew enough not to tell a girl (of any age) that she looked horrible.

"As if you haven't slept. Are you all right?"

After all, asking directly might not work. He certainly wouldn't say anything if asked. It was madness.

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. Nice to know she looked like she felt. "Not really, no. I'll get better though."

"Uh, I'm Dawn."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He made his way to her and offered his hand.

He moved awkwardly, like a bird walking on the ground with legs too long and oversized feet; like a puppy, he had yet to grow into his size.

"Liir," he introduced himself.

There was a moment before he went on, as the curiosity overwhelmed what little manners he'd picked up.

"Bad dreams?"

There was something of unrest in his green green eyes as well.

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"Only when I sleep," she admitted, "So not so much right now, no. Why, you having issues?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Hey, Dawn," John greeted her casually, despite her look. He wasn't sure he wanted to call her out on that. "Good day for a workout."

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"Hey," she gave him a short wave as she started the treadmill. "Yeah, kind of the idea. You going to practice beating something up?"

After all, that was what boys did, right? Unbeknownst to her, she started mumbling under her breath, "Go beat something up and leave you standing in the doorway like a heroine in a romance novel, praying for their safe return. Fuck that."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"If only because there's no machine to practice being beaten up," he replied. "What's with the mumbles?"

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"Huh?" She had no idea what he was talking about. "I could try to beat you up, but I don't think that would work so well."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Thanks, Dawn," he grinned. It was nice that there was someone who didn't think they could beat him up. "You might be surprised. I seem to get beaten by girls an awful lot at this school."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

After a quick check of every common room in the dorm, the roof, a couple bathrooms, the laundry room, the pool in the basement, and a handful of other spots, Andrew found himself in the gym. He might have been touch worried when he woke up this morning and Liir was gone.

But here he was. Andrew breathed a small sigh of relief and mentally chastised himself for being so clingy.

He half hid behind a set of bleachers and just watched Liir, smiling and feeling very fortunate.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

It didn't take Liir long to feel the eyes on him, as unaccustomed to them as he was, and he turned to see Andrew with a bright smile. Stretching was forgotten as a pang of guilt slammed into him.

He should have stayed. He'd wanted to stay. He walked over now.

"Sorry," was the first word out of his mouth. "I had an itch to move, do something. I didn't want to disturb you."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Andrew shook his head. "No need to apologize. I figured I must have been snoring or something."

He scratched his head. "I wasn't, um, snoring was I?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shook his head.

"You weren't snoring."

He smiled.

"You were warm and very comfortable. I would have stayed if I hadn't wanted to get some practice in."

[wannabe-pan.livejournal.com]

Warm and comfortable! Andrew grinned.

"What ya practicing?" he asked bashfully, toeing the floor and sticking his hands in his pockets.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"For the moment, just stretches," he admitted. "Then I was going to go into my falls, some of the other things Ino has been teaching me so I'm ready for class tomorrow... and, er, someone said I might want to try hitting the bag. Apparently, it's helpful."