Gym | Afternoon | Wednesday | January 5

[therewaslife]

Bod could count the number of times he'd been in the gym on one hand. All of one time. He'd been here all of one time and that hadn't even been to do anything but talk to someone who he wasn't currently really even talking to anymore. So, that was a memory he had to force down.

He'd come down there today on a whim. Bod loved his books and he loved his quiet time but he still felt like he needed to do more things. He needed to fill his time with activities and motion to stop himself from falling into too deep a funk.

He wasn't a fighter though so he was going to ignore all the boxing and fighting equipment. Instead, he grabbed one of the basketballs and started shooting around. From close distances, he found that he wasn't bad. The further he got, the worse his aim became so he made a note to work on that. For now, he was running up and down the court, alternating between shots at either basket and working himself into a nice sweat while he did.

It felt remarkably good.

[Open place, open post]

Comments

[vanillajello]

Kate rarely facepalmed in real life, but this? This called for it.

She'd meant to hit the gym in the morning, but that had been too optimistic a plan considering her tendency to sleep in, especially now when she still had trouble actually falling asleep. Hadn't mattered, though, since she'd figured she'd be just fine as long as she avoided the cheerleader practice.

And that was why she did notice there was someone throwing hoops when she arrived, but she'd wandered her way pretty far into the gym before she actually paid attention to who it was. And then came the facepalming and the wondering whether she should just turn around and try again later, because what this day didn't necessarily need was a sweaty ex boyfriend.

[therewaslife]

Well, at least he'd kept his shirt on, right? Even if it was sweaty too and clinging to him, he'd kept it on since he wasn't really one to just take off clothes.

He stopped at half court when he saw her come in and just held the ball, unsure of what to do. They both had a right to the gym but they both apparently hadn't expected the other to be there.

"Hullo," Bod said, moving the ball back and forth between his hands. He kept it at that in case she did turn and leave.

[vanillajello]

Well, since he'd spotted her, turning and leaving would've looked a lot like running away, which in turn would've made the next time of them running into each other even more awkward. So Kate stayed. Stayed, and found herself reaching to fiddle with the nowadays ever-present light scarf around her neck. She thought she'd managed to rid herself of that habit when she'd given up wearing her necklace but it had come straight back with the scarf.

She couldn't wait for the bruises to fade completely so she could stop wearing it.

"Hi. I, uh, didn't expect you to be here."

Which was probably both obvious and an understatement.

[therewaslife]

"I'd only been down here once before and I was looking for something to do," he explained, shrugging a shoulder. "I could say the same for you. I thought you didn't really dance anymore."

[vanillajello]

"I don't," she said, though the thought of starting again had crossed her mind. "I'm just down here 'cause Luke said I should train with the punching bags. And just generally work out."

[therewaslife]

"You're training to fight?" Bod asked, momentarily forgetting about the awkwardness to look and sound surprised.

[vanillajello]

Kate shrugged a shoulder. "Yeah, looks like." She would've asked whether he found that surprising, but it was obvious that he did, and she knew that it was.

[therewaslife]

"Oh."

Bod bounced the basketball a few times, coming up empty for things to say that weren't some kind of judgment. He knew she had reasons.

"How is that coming along?"

[vanillajello]

"I only just started two days ago," she said, and shrugged again, taking a few steps further into the gym, glancing around herself. "So, I'm just... getting to know my weapon, and stuff."

[therewaslife]

"Your weapon?" Bod asked, blinking a few times before he looked back at her. "What's...what's your weapon?"

[vanillajello]

"A knife," Kate replied, and briefly almost looked apologetic for how different she thought she must have sounded to him just because of this topic. "It's kinda cool. Y'know, in a... potentially lethal way."

[therewaslife]

She definitely did sound different but he did know her reasons even if he was having a hard time seeing her with any kind of weapon. He bounced the ball a few times more and walked towards one of the baskets, trying to find something to do with his idle arms and hands.

"Interesting," he said, glancing over at her and still finding this topic of conversation...difficult due to a few times. "And here I thought the tie someone gave me a few days ago was the coolest thing to have been given."

It was a weak attempt at a joke but still.

[vanillajello]

Kate answering ghost of a wry smile was kind of weak too. But still.

"Well, unless it's a tie that came from somewhere gods are supposed to live," she said, "I'm afraid mine's cooler."

[therewaslife]

"I don't know a lot about Zatanna's world but I believe it's just a tie," he answered, shrugging. "It's blue. I'll probably wear it to the next formal event. So, it's nice and special to me but nothing like a knife."

[vanillajello]

"A blue tie? I guess that's kind of... nice."

And look at Kate not asking what he'd done to get girls to give him ties. Because she wasn't wondering, and that wondering that she wasn't doing didn't cause any minor discomfort in the general area of her chest, either.

Instead, she shared, "I can't hurt myself with it. The knife, I mean."

[therewaslife]

"You can't?"

Bod pulled up short and looked surprised again, having no idea that he totally hadn't caused her some discomfort by talking about his new blue tie.

"How is that possible?"

[vanillajello]

"Magic?" she replied, spreading her hands some to show how much she didn't understand it. "It's made of this special bronze that apparently can't cut mortals. The blade just goes straight through me. It's freaky."

[therewaslife]

"That's helpful, I suppose," Bod said, looking momentarily impressed. "I've never heard of a metal like that but it sounds like a very safeguarded weapon. I hope you -- "

He paused and didn't really know what he wanted to say. "I hope everything goes well. I'm sure learning things like that will prove helpful."

[vanillajello]

At the very least, it gave Kate some confidence. But she wasn't stating that out loud, since she preferred to keep most lack of confidence a secret, and he'd fallen out of the slecet few who could get things like that out of her.

"Gives me something to do, at least." Now that... Yeah, that thought wasn't getting finished, either. "And Luke seemed pretty confident vampires fall into the category of monsters as far as the metal is concerned, so. I should be good."

[therewaslife]

"I'd like to hope that you won't ever have to use that training on anyone," Bod said honestly. Vampires or not, he hoped she didn't have to do things like that.

"There's a lot of time to fill, I've found," he said quietly, looking down. "I ended up getting a job and...I told Ariel I'd attend one of her clubs and venture out a little more."

[vanillajello]

Funny how just for a moment (before the whole tie thing) Kate had almost convinced herself that this didn't necessarily have to be utterly awkward.

That delusion was well and truly gone, now, though she was determined not to let it show. Too much.

"A job? Where?"

[therewaslife]

"Just at the diner," he said, shrugging. "A friend suggested I look for something outside my comfort zone and since I don't cook..."

He trailed off and shrugged again. "It's a good way to learn about food preparation, if anything. And it helps me earn money."

Bod bit down on the snippy part of that statement regarding 'earning money honestly' and thought he'd showed good judgment there.

[vanillajello]

Very good judgment. Saying something like that would've only gotten him an earful.

"Luke's? It's a nice place." A nice place she'd now most likely be avoiding, yes. "Good for you. It's... nice."

She knew that just sounded awkward, but couldn't come up with anything more.

[therewaslife]

"Thank you," Bod said, shrugging. "It's a nice place and the owner was very kind to give me the opportunity. I decided I couldn't really read all the time."

She did sound awkward and he wasn't sure if it was the topic or if it was him or just everything. "Ender suggested the idea of a job such as that. I was just lucky, I guess."

[vanillajello]

"Well, Ender is a very smart guy." Not that she'd ever even met the dude, but his sister had seemed intelligent enough, and Leto had liked him, so he couldn't be completely stupid. "I hope it's a... rewarding experience for you."

God that sounded stupid.