The Gym: Wednesday Afternoon

[buzzkillcaptain.livejournal.com]

Dipper decided today to do something healthy. Like work out with the weight machine to try to perform a bench press.

It wasn't working well. He could barely push the bar up.

If one listen closely, they could hear him mutter "Stupid. Noodle. Arms."

Hopefully no one else would be around to witness his humiliation.

Comments

[dwarvenswagger]

They were indeed noodle arms if Thorin had ever seen them.

"Are you well?"

[buzzkillcaptain.livejournal.com]

"Fine!" Dipper grunted as he continued to push against the bar with a valiant effort. "Just. Exercising."

He quit for a moment to catch his breath. "I'm just not used to this amount of weight."

And it didn't take much to see that there was a minimal amount of weight on the machine.

[dwarvenswagger]

"...yes. I can see that."

It was almost adorable, really.

[buzzkillcaptain.livejournal.com]

Dipper took a moment to sit up on the bench and let out a sigh of exhaustion. "I'm Dipper by the way," he said flexing his arms slightly to release the tension. "Have we met yet?"

[dwarvenswagger]

Yes, those couple of pounds deserved a break from all the work he put them through.

"Thorin, son of Thrain. At your service," he replied with a slight bow.

[spin_kick_snap]

Oh! Newbie Kathy had somehow failed to meet, though she recognized him from Drivers Ed. Thorin was a source of some spectacular crashes, after all.

"Hey," she said, when she paused her routine to get a drink. "Thorin, right? From Mr. O'Conner's class?"

[dwarvenswagger]

His were the crashes that action movies dreamed of.

"That would be me," he replied, in clinic his head politely. "You are...?"

Look, you met a million new people When you got here.

[spin_kick_snap]

Michael Bay wrote odes to his explosions.

"Kathy Li," she said, not taking offense. She remembered her first few weeks here, when everything and everyone was new. "And genuinely impressed by the size of that fireball last class. Hi."

[dwarvenswagger]

"The cars are so fragile." And east to flip.

[kenselvren]

Ah, a face familiar from class. Jalian nodded to him as she set up.

[dwarvenswagger]

Thorin afforded her a nod in return, only giving her a sideways glance for the strange attire for a brief moment.

[kenselvren]

"You are a friend to Cassandra," Jalian noted. At least she'd heard their names together on radio a few times. Then she remembered in what context. "You've sparred. You can fight with knives?"

Far too few people here could, really. What was with all these industrial-society people?

[dwarvenswagger]

They were just weird. Fighting was a valuable life skill, okay? Valuable.

"I have," Thorin replied. "Though my weapon of choice is axe or sword."

[spin_kick_snap]

Sorry, Dipper. It just wasn't your day at all. A little after lunch, Kathy sauntered into the gym, preparing to work on a new routine. No, her powers made it impossible to compete (well, impossibly unfair anyway), but that didn't mean she had to give up on the sport entirely!

And, hey, at least this time she got to choose her own music and moves for whatever routine she was creating. That was cool.

"Hey!" she said, veering away from the mats when she spotted Dipper at the weight machine. "Dipper, right? The Ratman fan!" Of course she was going to remember the kid who liked comics!

[buzzkillcaptain.livejournal.com]

"Kathy! Hi," he replied, his voice cracking on the last word. "Yep. That's me. Ultimate Ratman fan, right here."

Was he doing a little arm flexing when he jabbed his thumb at himself. Maybe a little.

[spin_kick_snap]

Wait he was? Kathy...couldn't tell. Oops. Sorry, Dipper. But--noodle arms.

Kathy settled on a mat nearby, deciding to talk while she did a few warmup stretches. "I'll let you take that title," she decided. "I like some of the stuff in the Ratman franchise, but I'm a much bigger fan of the comics on the other side of the great divide. Give me Y-People or give me...well, I guess Revengers or meta for-Miss Marvel or a bunch of other titles I'd buy instead." She grinned up at him. "Have you been to the comic shop in town? I have a handwavy box there."

[buzzkillcaptain.livejournal.com]

"Totally! I actually work there," Dipper said puffing up his chest a bit because, yes, he had a job. "I'll be starting there tomorrow actually."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You do?" Kathy grinned, bringing up her hand for a high-five. "What's the employee discount there. Between my comics and my weakness for Sorcery: The Summoning cards, maybe I should think about working there, too."

Kathy more often played S:tS online than off, but the cards were just so pretty.

[kenselvren]

"Kathy." Jalian nodded to her and eyed her routine for a moment curiously. "This is your acrobatics?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy's music was blasting in her ears, so she didn't notice Jalian right away which is my explanation and I'm stickin' to it. She finished her flip with a back handspring, then pulled her earbud out and waved to Jalian. "Hey!" she said, jogging over. "Did you catch any of my routine?"

[kenselvren]

"Some," Jalian said. "You're very flexible! This is your acrobatics?"

[kenselvren]

Dipper's good luck was just...maybe it hadn't made it down the bottomless pit?

Jalian wanted to run through a few exercises, though, and the practice dummies would help, so she was showing up to do that.

In a white-with-silver-piping sports bra and biker shorts combo. Sorry? You're welcome?

She barely paid attention to Dipper, though, just nodding at him as she headed to the mats.

[buzzkillcaptain.livejournal.com]

Dipper was used to the lack of attention however he was slightly surprised by the nod. Thus his response was more of a question than a greeting.

"Um. Hi?"

[kenselvren]

"Hello." Jalian tested one of the dummies for weight. She glanced back at him for a moment. "You're new."

[buzzkillcaptain.livejournal.com]

Dipper paused a second feeling slightly intimidated.

Okay, very intimidated.

"Yep!" He said his voice cracking slightly. "That's me. New guy. Dipper Pines. That's me."