The Gym; Monday Morning.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Coughing a bit more than he would have liked, Cal found it a little difficult to drag himself into the gym that morning. As usual, none of the good writing seemed to have picked up until late last night, and that had really needed to stop. Seriously. He rubbed his eyes, ran a hand through his hair, and then reached up to start stretching, hoping it would wake him up because somehow being tired and potentially a little sick while running or lifting weights didn't seem exactly very safe.

[[ you know the drill; all your gymish neeeeds. ]]

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[endsthegame]

"Morning."

Before classes, before work, the relative quiet of the gym had become a part of Ender's routine at a rapid pace, whenever he found the time for it. He nodded at Cal as he came in, towel slung over his shoulders.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal jerked his chin up in greeting back, his hands readjusting on the weight bar in front of him. "Morning," he said, grunting it out a little as he pushed the weight forward.

[endsthegame]

Ender's eyes flicked over to Cal for just a little moment, taking in his general state, and most specifically his grip on the weights-- "Be careful with that," he said, shifting away to begin his own morning stretches.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal snorted slightly. "I appreciate the concern," he said, "but I do know my way around a set of weights, thanks."

[endsthegame]

"You never know when those rats will come back." He settled easily into now-familiar patterns of stretching, focusing only on the movement of his muscles again. Or trying to, anyway; while his mind had already catalogued the layout of the gym, it couldn't quite stop giving him constant updates. So be it. He was wired that way.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Last I knew," Cal commented, "the rats were more concerned with singing than messing up a guy's workout. And their singing wasn't that bad."

[endsthegame]

With his stretches now out of the way, Ender leaned back up right, rolling his shoulders. "It depends on who you ask," he said, his head turning towards Cal for a few seconds before his body moved with it. He headed for the weights as well, tossing his towel onto the bench.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal just grinned lopsidedly at the bar in front of him, with it's steady movements, an extension of himself, of his arms, his shoulders, perfectly paced like breathing.

"Doubt you could do much better," he pointed out.

[endsthegame]

"I could," Ender replied, his tone holding nothing but a calm statement of a fact. He checked the weights on the bar he'd chosen, choosing to lighten the load a little. He had no interest in beefing up-- just in exercise to keep him strong. "But that's not my aim here."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"You could?" Cal asked, his brow arching doubtfully. "Never pegged you as much of a singer, Ender. Whether it's your aim or not."

[solo_sword]

Before classes, Jaina found herself back down at the gym. She almost didn't know why, since she was getting so used to training with and against others and thought hitting a bag might be boring, but she didn't want to get in the habit of slacking when she wasn't at home.

"Morning," she greeted.

[endsthegame]

It hadn't exactly been what he'd really been trying to say, but Ender shrugged his shoulders lightly before slipping into place under the bar. "So what did you peg me as?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Morning, Jaina," Cal greeted her back with a nod of his head and deep exhale to match the effort of his current set of weights. "How goes it?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal shrugged a little under his weights. "It's easier," he said, "to peg people as what they're not than what they are. I don't try to assume on stuff like that, but, if I had to, I'd've pegged you as a kid who workout a lot and has a disturbing knowledge of what to do with cafeteria pudding."

There was a pause, an exhale to accompany his movements.

"So far," he added.

[solo_sword]

"It took some searching to find something that would be okay for a workout since my clothes are bepirated," Jaina said. "So... it's interesting. You?"

[endsthegame]

Ender moved to lift his own weights, and found he'd made something of a miscalculation. Nothing big, but the Earth's gravity was still a little tough, and he lowered them again, exhaling before answering. "That would about cover me," he said, some level of laconic amusement playing under his tone.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"...bepirated clothes?"

Alas, it had seemed that another detail had graciously, miraculously passed over Cal, as if he'd remembered to slather the sheep's blood on his door before the slaughter, and so, of course, he had no idea what Jaina was talking about.

[solo_sword]

"I have no idea. I was gone most of the weekend, and when I came back, I had pirate clothes," she said, getting into position to start with a simple punch to the bag. "They'd better change back, I hate shopping."

[*clings!*]

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I'm better at this than I thought," Cal grinned, not at all believing Ender for a second. He was probably the last person in the world to be so readily convinced that things were as simple as they seemed on the surface. A whole different world of organisms and plants could be toiling with life underneath even the calmest basin lake.

And, since, really, he had to ask and now his curiosity was tugging at his brain, he said, "So what about me? What'd you peg me as?"

[solo_sword]

Making sure they were there at the same time, Jaina nodded at him as she came in. "Haven't seen you here before," she said, making her way to the bag.

[endsthegame]

"I haven't been here for very long," Ender replied, dropping the bar back on its support. Foregoing the usual 'are you new' question-- he was learning already, and it was starting to get a little tedious. "Hey."

[endsthegame]

That he was hiding something. That he was quiet, a little pulled inward, a little jaded in a way he both did and didn't understand. Skeptic, and a little mocking in a way Ender could deal with. That he was a friendly face in an ocean of impossibly friendly faces, and Ender didn't quite trust it, but found enough ground to try making some tenuous, shallow connection.

"You're a kid who works out even more than I do," he said, imitating Cal's tone, "and isn't nearly creative enough about his food."

[solo_sword]

"Hi," she said. She was sort of tired of asking the question herself. She could assume, at this point. "I'm Jaina."

[endsthegame]

"I'm Ender," he offered, sitting up. He wiped the sweat off his face with his towel. Ender glanced up, considering her for a moment or two before he returned to his bottle of water, unscrewing the lid. He supposed he should add something more. The people here were friendly, and they seemed to expect some measure in return. "I'm here a lot."

[solo_sword]

"Then I really have been slacking if this is the first time I'm meeting you," Jaina decided, surveying the bag like she hadn't hit it a hundred times before. "For a while there I was down here just about every day."