The Camp Gym; Monday Morning.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

It had been a bit of an effort, but Cal forced himself out of bed early that morning to get back on track of things. Well wrapped and with his loosely fitting clothes, he did a bit of stretching and then headed over to the little gym enclosure, spotting out some weights and hoping to get a really good set and workout in before he had to even start worrying about his workshop later on.

He didn't know exactly how he felt working out in a public spot like this, but maybe it would be early enough that the place didn't get much traffic. Maybe he should move his workouts to late at night. No one would workout at night, but then he lost the feeling he got throughout the day of having known he'd done the work and could feel out whether it was helping to make his body seem less...what he didn't want it to seem.


[[ this would be assuming there be weights and stuff like the school gym, la. Open, of course ]]

Comments

[solo_sword]

Between the wedding and moving, Jaina hadn't had a lot of time to do her usual training. Deciding to try out the camp gym rather than close herself in the salle again, she wasn't too surprised to find someone already there. "Morning," she greeted him.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Well, at least he'd gotten a few sets undisturbed by someone else coming into the gym. It would figure, though, that it would be a girl. "Morning," Cal grunted back as he lifted the weights and hoped his body didn't shift too noticeably as he was sprawled on the bench for his bench presses. Maybe just one more set of these; this position was far too vulnerable around other people, but maybe he was just being paranoid.

Or maybe a few more. He really liked the bench presses, liked what muscles they worked, and knew they were probably particularly good for the areas he wanted to work.

[solo_sword]

For her part, she wasn't paying too much attention, busying herself with putting on some gloves for a turn at the punching bag. She didn't usually need them, but still, better safe than explaining bruised knuckles. "One of the new kids, right?" she guessed. "I'm Jaina."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," he grunted again as he pushed another set up; he wanted to think that it was more his effort and the time off from his workout that had him sweating right now, but he doubted it. "Cal. Nice to...meet you."

[solo_sword]

"You too," she said, right before delivering an easy punch to the bag, just to make sure her form was correct. Pretty sure she was picking up a bit of an uneasy vibe, she assured him, "Don't worry, I won't be long."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal turned a little red, though not from the effort of being at the peak of his weight rotation. "It's no problem," he told her. "It's a free country."

Except that they were just off of Greece.

"...Kind of. I don't mind."

[solo_sword]

"Thanks," she said with a little smile, backing away from the bag just enough to get a good high kick in at it. Considering her height, she didn't have to move very far at all. "Are you in the gym a lot, Cal?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I try to be," Cal answered, trying to focus intently on his hands so he wouldn't be distracted by her movements. He tried to focus on the flex and pull of his own arms as he pressed against the weights, pressed against gravity. "Probably not as much as I should."

Which was probably going to turn out to be a lie; already, he could feel himself becoming obsessive about a routine. Obsessed over the fact that no matter how many times he did this, his body would remain tall and lanky and thin and unprotected with the firmness of noticeable muscle.

[solo_sword]

"That was me at this time last year," she admitted, steading the swinging bag before smacking it again. "And then with enough down time, it's really easy to turn it into a habit."

Which she was still happy she'd managed to do, and a little surprised.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal grinned a little at the bar between his fists at that. "And you're still here," he commented. "Good sign for me, hopefully."

[solo_sword]

Jaina shot a little lopsided grin over at him before turning her attentions back to the bag. "If you want an obnoxious wakeup call once a week or so just to make sure you're getting back here, it can always be arranged."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal got a lift and a half in before, grinning again, he asked, "Exactly what form would it come in? I mean, I know I just got here, but I do pay attention. I'm not going to say yet to something that'll turn out wee, tiny, and invading."

The next upward lift got a grunt out of him. "And potentially painful."

[solo_sword]

"I have no control over the small invading things," she clarified, and jokingly added, "Maybe someday. And I don't do potentially painful. I tend towards the annoying knocking and calling till you have to get down here just to shut me up."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

...he needed to work off some of his whateveritwas from earlier before class or, for all he knew, he'd either hurt someone or hurt himself. Or possibly explode.

So instead, he started doing his stances, shifting fluidly from one to another, throwing in a few 'falls' to get used to them in his routine.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

For the most part, since Cal certainly hoped other people would do the same with him, he tried to give other people in the gym when he worked out absolutely no acknowledgment what-so-ever, but, he had to admit, as he went to shift from his bench presses to working on his abs, he got a little caught in interest with the little routine that the other guy was doing. It was interesting, to say the least. Probably much more physical than Cal would ever be comfortable with, but it caught his attention vaguely as he toweled off his sweat, paused for a drink before switching up his routine.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir felt the eyes on him, or the interest, or something. However the signal got to his brain, he ended up looking back. And thankfully, he kept the whateveritwas out of his eyes.

Or the workout was helping. Either or. He wouldn't say either way.

He tilted his head up carefully. A question of whether Cal needed anything from him.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Caught in the act of interest, Cal shook his head a little, tilting back another gulp of water, and waved his hand. "Sorry," he offered. "Didn't mean to interrupt, but it was kind of hard not to notice."

It was the falls that did it. The stances were somewhat familiar from when Zora was really into tai chi, which Cal had tried but to not nearly the same effect as she could manage, but this pushed even more than hers did.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He could be sane. He could be pleasant and reasonable and sane and not go running to Ino when he got upset. Really, he could. Really.

"Oh?"

Thankfully, curiosity was one of the stronger urges in his repository.

"And it's no trouble," he said after a moment. Polite. Yes.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal shrugged a little. "You seem pretty good at that," he commented idly before rolling back down on the bench, hooking his legs into place against the sides before rolling back up, hands against his head, starting up sit-up routine. "Better than I could, anyway," he commented as he came up, after a firm breath of air, and rolled back down again, paying attention to how his abdominal muscles clenched and released with the movement, how they responded with the simple task of talking through the movements.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I've been taking lessons from another student," he admitted, "a friend of mine named Ino. And I practice a lot."

He watched Cal for a moment or two before speaking again, curiosity and interest both in his eyes.

"What're you doing?"

He knew about practicing for things, but straight out exercise was something he was still a little confused on. Or rather, something he'd never really been introduced to.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal snorted a little on the effort of pulling up a bit as he offhandedly commented, "She teach you to run down the sides of buildings yet?"

Back down and then, steadily, up again, and he continued, "Sit-ups. Working the abdominal muscles. Staving off the inevitable Greek pudge."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shook his head.

"No. Just stances and falling properly. And how to connect the two. We're working slowly since I'm starting very much from scratch."

He watched for a moment more, his lips quirking to one side.

"'Greek pudge'?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

And Cal imagined that running down the side of buildings was pretty advanced. Still grinning slightly, he shook his head. Ninjas. Maaaan.

"Greek pudge," he affirmed as he came back up again. "Runs in the family; damn genetics. It'll probably sneak up on my anyway in a decade, but if I'm sure as hell going to try to keep it off."

Genetics had screwed him over so much, anyway, that he figured it owed him at least the one.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Oh."

What was he to say to that?

"But what's a pudge? I know it's a kind of bird, but I wasn't aware of a specifically Greek one. Or what Greek is, other than--"

Well, he'd heard the announcement like everyone else.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal chuckled a little, and, realizing that it was impossible to chuckle and do sit-ups easily, he stayed up when he got there, leaning forward a bit and reaching for his water bottle. "Definitely not the bird," he clarified. "Fat, I mean. You know, pudge. Fat that kind of hangs on you like a spare tire. We get that in my family. I know, I'm thin as a stick now, but it catches up with you, trust me. You see it in my mom, and I bet it hit my grandma, too."