The gym, Sunday afternoon

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Fight Club being canceled for the evening, Dinah decided to step up her workout that afternoon. After a session with the weights, she was now pummeling the punching bag. Kick-punch-strike, punch-punch-punch-kick!

Hm. And maybe some TK weight lifting when she was done with this.

[open like an open thing]

Comments

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime was just sort of wandering around the school grounds. And now he had found the gym. And there was a rather good-looking girl working out. "What'd that bag ever do to you?" he teased.

Then, belatedly, it occurred to him to wonder if she was the type who liked teasing.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

He was lucking out today, as Dinah grinned over her shoulder at him. "Right now, it's a guy who mugs tourists in New Gotham. In a minute, it'll probably be my fencing coach."

Kick! At a very particular height.

"...not that he's not a good guy. But you know how it is."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Well... I've never had a fencing coach..." But... yeah. The mugger thing he understood. And... yeah... when he'd be training with Peacemaker he'd wanted to beat things up too.

"I don't think he's getting up from that," Jaime winced.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Not if it managed to connect," Dinah said ultra-cheerfully. Then she stopped to catch her breath, and smile at the new guy. Cute. And funny. "Hi! I'm Dinah Lance. Senior and aspiring mugger-repellant."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Jaime. Junior. Newbie. And now? Thoroughly intimidated by you." He didn't sound all that intimidated.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Awwww! No, don't be," Dinah teased back. "Or you're never going to survive the other people at this school." She snickered, and went back to elbow-strikes and light punches as she talked to him. "So where are you from, Jaime? And what do you think of the place so far?"

[weldedtomyspine]

"El Paso. And let me tell you this place is not like El Paso at all." He wandered farther into the room and then stopped abruptly. The Scarab was now babbling in his ear.

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

The gym was not a place Eleanor went to often, but she had discovered that she liked the floor. It was interesting and the place was large and open. A great place to go for a bit of privacy.

She hadn't been expecting to find anyone there. Especially not Dinah.

"Oh. Hello. I...can come back later if you want."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah met her eyes in the wall mirror, then shook her head, smiling. "Hey. No, it's good, c'mon in." She turned around, and jerked her head to the surface behind her. "A good reminder of who you really are, you know?"

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"The mirror?" Eleanor walked over to study it for a minute then glanced at Dinah. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"You're you. Not Other-you." Dinah shook her head. "Never mind, it's been weeks since the other Fandom. How've you been over the last couple? I've been too busy or out of town to hit the Magic Reserves meetings."

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"Oh. Yes, of course. I've been...keeping to myself mostly. Doing a lot of reading." That other Fandom was the reason she'd been hiding herself away.

"I heard that you were out of town. I saw Karla yesterday during the picnic."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah immediately brightened at the mention of her trip, and nodded. "We went to my hometown. Well, hometown now. New Gotham. Had a blast. The boardwalk, and borrowing my sister's motorcycle for runs around town... Sometimes I forget how much I like big cities because this place makes its own bizarre kind of fun." She smiled and gave the bag another punch. "Do you need the bag? Or are you going to work on some weights?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Without much pomp, circumstance, or introduction, Cal came down to the gym and almost immediately went over to the weight bench where he had grunted and sweated away so many hours, giving it a little affectionate pat.

"Oh, gym. How I have missed you."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah snickered. "No weight machines in Turkey?" She grinned, and crescent-kicked the bag, watching Cal in the mirror. "Or did you get enough exercise building all those churches?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"No gyms, no barbers," Cal said, grinning at Dinah's reflection in the mirror. "Although, trust me, walking around everywhere in hot Turkish summer weather is enough to work up a sweat for anyone. Still," he carefully slipped the hair tie on his wrist off, gathering up his long hair to tie it back, "I've really got to get back into my routine here. If I slack off, I'll never get on track."

Which, really, was a reason that he just made up on the spot. The real reason had something more to do with a conversation held yesterday with a very hot chick in red leather that ended up on the gym and punching bags.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Suuuuure," Dinah teased. "Give you three months off, and you'll never regain that muscle definition." She raised an eyebrow at him in the mirror. "Sooo. Did you end up with a Turkish girlfriend while you were there?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal snorted, shaking out his arms before reaching them over his head and starting to warm up. "Girlfriend?" he asked. "More like a harem."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

More punching of the bag, and a smile and roll of the eyes. "How did they ever let you leave?" Dinah smirked, then grinned. "Cal, you cad. Playing the American adventurer overseas. Tch tch."

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

A gym. Exactly what Azula had been looking for. She congratulated herself for achieving her objective.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah looked up from her punching, and gave Azula a smile and a nod. "Hey." And waited for the new girl to make the next move; hard to guess what any new kid might expect when saying hi.

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"Hello," Azula returned. Politeness is a marker of good breeding in the Fire Nation. Fire Lord Sozin probably said 'hello' before he set about conquering the other nations. Right when his armies were at their shores.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah would've been glad about the politeness and tried to be equally polite while working with the rebellion. Civilization made everything easier, right?

"I'm Dinah. Are you one of the students who just arrived yesterday, or one I just didn't manage to meet over the last couple months?" she smiled, and threw another punch at the bag. "I haven't seen you around, but I don't want to assume."

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

Just because people were at war doesn't mean they have to forget politeness. One can always politely stab people in the back.

"Yes, I'm a new student," Azula answered, studying her punch. "I'm Azula."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Nice to meet you. Welcome to Fandom." Dinah held up her gloved fists and said, "I'd offer a handshake, but." She grinned and shrugged, then did another one-two combination at the bag. "Do you need the bag? I'm almost done." Kick!