Players:
Summary: Leo and Owen are in the gym. They run into Dallas, who learns a little more about them.
Date: December 31, 2009
Gym-Time Fun! Or Something…
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Gymnasium
This big room with wooden floors is build with powered students in mind; the entire room is power proof. Blast the walls all you like, they are not breaking. The gym can either be one large room and it also has dividers to make it two smaller gyms. This large Gym has basketball nets, equipment to set up equipment badminton, volleyball, hockey, soccer, gymnastics, fencing, and everyone's favorite, dodge ball.
With the holidays and no classes in session, Leo is currently down in the gym. Wearing a pair of compression shorts and a matching tight shirt, he's near the actual gymnastics equipment. He's warming up off of it, stretching, and getting himself ready. Sure, his mutation prevents any serious injury, but he's got his way of doing things. He's ALWAYS been taught the right way and the wrong way.
Dallas wanders into the gym because it serves the same purpose for him that a zen garden would for a more meditative person. Dallas has always found his answers while doing something physical. He's dressed in his blue and white squad uniform which may be a bit odd but made sense for him this morning. He heads for the equipment closet and stops when he sees Leo and the gymnastics gear. He frowns faintly and watches but doesn't approach just yet. For one thing it might be rude to interrupt somebody else's workout.
Leo's not the only one in the gyn today. Owen's down there with him. He's in a tight t-shirt but has elected for baggy shorts today. In his fuzzy form due to a recent teleport, he's stretching near Leo but is going to leave the gymnastics to the Living Lighter. He's got a few laps around the gym in mind. Not noticing Dallas, he gives a quick smile Leo's way before switching to another stretch.
Fortunately, Leo is in Low-Glitter mode today. Rising, he leaps onto a beam, flipping onto his hands to stand, inverted, perfectly straight. Slowly, he lowers his legs to the side in an inverted splits. Opening his eyes, he remains there. "Oh, hi, Dallas. Didn't see you come in." He lowers down closer to the bar before shoving his arms out again and flipping himself upright. "What brings you down here? Usually, it's just me and Jared at this time of day."
Dallas musters a faint smile that becomes an actual one at Leo's display of agility. He says, "Hey guys. And nice!" He shrugs and says, "You're going to have to get used to some company then. I pretty much live in the gym and playing ball. No football here, so that means the b-ball court." He adds, "You're good at that."
When Leo leaps, Owen starts to jog. He blinks at the sound of voices, glancing over as he continues. "Howdy!" he calls, waving but still jogging. He finishes one lap and stops to rejoin the conversation. "B-ball, eh?" he asks, looking Dallas over. "Yeah, Leo's a great gymnast," he agrees.
"I know." Leo says simply. He's not bragging. He's just admitting. "If my powers hadn't kicked in… Before they started I was Olympic Training for 2012. I was already chosen to represent the US in Men's Gymnastics." He says, with a sigh. "Jared, another student here, was actually my best friend. He wasn't as good as I was, but he was also on my training squad. We've known each other most of our lives." He leaps up to the rings to set himself into an iron cross. "And with my powers, I'm better than I ever was."
Dallas grins at Owen at that appraisal and says, "Muggsy Bouges was around my height and he rocked. And I'm fast and can shoot like Jessie James." A little court braggadocio that is as instinctive as breathing, apparently. He looks back to Leo and his eyebrows shoot up. After a moment he says, "Wow. Ok, that's awesome." And then the frowns, "Sorry you didn't get to go." The idea that Leo was a potential Olympian seems more impressive to him than any mutant power discussion ever was. He watches with the kind of intense attention that Dallas reserves for sports related matters.
Owen laughs and nods. "Well, we'll have tah get some one-on-one in sometime then. Can' say Ah'm that good but Ah'd be happy tah test mah skills," he tells Dallas, slowly returning to human form. As Leo goes up, Owen turns to watch and nods slowly. He goes quiet, watching his friend's display of skill and thinking about how Leo would look on the Olympic stage.
Leo begins swinging back and forth, keeping his body as straight as he can until he's almost ready. Without warning, he flips in the air, landing in a rolling crouch on a balance beam before doing an entire show set between the triple beams. More than half the time, he's hanging in the air on nothing at all, just keeping his body ready to hit the next part before leaping or springing away again. When he's done, he lands in a perfect dismount. "Between that and yoga…" He says with a nod. "That's where I find my center when I'm about to lose it."
Dallas glances sideways at Owen and says, cautiously, "That would be good. And hey, you get better by playing against other people." That last has almost a defensive tone to it. He watches Leo's routine and nods in approval and admiration. "Good job. Looks tough but fun." He pauses a moment and adds with a certain amount of rueful amusement, "And I know what you mean about the centering thing. I do the same thing, just, um, different sport."
Owen nods. "Ah know. Ah play against Julian from time tah time but not too many others are intah the b-ball. Least not that Ah've met," he says. He watches Leo with the same admiration and approval as Dallas, always enjoying the show. "Same with me an' liftin' some weights," he says, still watching Leo.
Leo relaxes and nods. "Lots of people use the gym, just for different reasons. I know I see the entire Parker-Mayfair family down here from time to time. Dr. Mr. Eddie. Jared." Leo nods. He considers things, moving to watch Dallas for a moment before he starts snickering. "Wow. I feel like I'm so bright. Between the two dark people." He winks, teasing.
Dallas looks surprised again and gives Owen another look. "What do you bench? And if you need a workout partner, I'm looking. I, um, was starting to think everybody around here was too …relaxed… to really do sports and keep in shape." Leo's news gets another thoughtful nod and then a sudden grin. "I'm learning that just about everybody is bright around here compared to me." He doesn't sound upset, just that same tone of rueful amusement.
"Depends on how close Ah am tah overload," Owen answers idly. "Couple hundred pounds tah a handful of tons," he says, stretching his neck a bit. "Ah wouldn' mind workout buddy," he says, offering Dallas a smile. He arches both eyebrows at the relaxed comment. "Really? Never seemed that way tah me," he says, shrugging. Leo's teasing brings a laugh out of Owen and he reaches over to pat Dallas on the shoulder. "Don' worry, they're all brighter than me too."
"Nonono. I meant…" Leo extends his arms and REVVS up his glitter by a high amount. Sparkling and brightening the room by quite a bit. "Not intelligence." He dulls down his glow with a laugh. "Oh, some people can't really do gym work because of various reasons. I know July never comes in here, but her muscles don't work like ours. Instead, she focusses on learning to constrict and do things like that. Or Jared and I both work on our mobility, since we have naturally enhanced bodies. Intelligence, bah. I make enough to pass."
Dallas digests that bit of information from Owen and makes a mental note to step up his own lifting. He nods and says, "Sounds good. We'll figure out when works for us both." Leo gets a wider grin and Dallas says, "Yea, we know. We're not /that/ dim." At the mention of July his face goes stony and cold. "Well, she's coming down here now. Or maybe she just made an exception for me. Yay." It's probably the first time either of them has heard Dallas use the clipped, low tones of deep anger.
Owen laughs as Leo cranks things up, lifting his arm to shield his eyes. "Yeah, we know," he echos Dallas, quite amused. He doesn't seem happy when July gets mentioned either. "No offense tah your squad an' all but that girl's stretched her brain outta workin' order," he mutters, shaking his head. He does seem surprised by the anger though, looking over at Dallas curiously.
"She's got her issues, but she's not THAT bad. She sometimes forgets things. A lot of things." Leo says with a nod. "But, she's on our squad, so we gotta work with her. She actually did really well in the battle against Modok." He remembers. "But then again, I wasn't exactly myself then. I was all Darkforcey and all Leadery and Depressio. SO not me." He says with a chuckle. He winks at Owen, "I'll tell you later something ELSE I did during the power-switch time."
Dallas shakes his head. "No offense, Leo, but if were up to me, I wouldn't be on the same squad with her this morning." He shrugs and says, "It's not up to me, though." He blinks as something sinks in and says, "Power-switching? Tell me that doesn't happen a lot?" Because all he needs is /more/ nosy telepaths in his life.
Owen shrugs. "Forgets too much…like how tah not be rude an' annoyin'," he says, shaking his head. He's no fan of her but he's not one to go on about it. "Wasn' mahself then either. Had that TK that didn' help much," he laughs. "Spent that fight perched an' snipin' with that laser thin' Ah stole from the beekeeper," he shakes his head. The wink brings a grin. "Ooh, Ah can' wait tah hear this," he says. "Naw, Dallas. Doesn' happen often."
"Not too often. But when you have a school full ofmutants, trouble comes. Quickly." Leo says with a chuckle. "I had Mr. Kenta's powers during that time. The exact opposite of my own." He looks around. "It was interesting, but I was angry and dominant. So much unlike my normal passive happy self."
Dallas chuckles at Owen's assessment of July's character and lets whatever story it is and the implications slide right over his head. Ignorance is bliss right now. He gives Leo a dubious look and says, "You don't strike me as being that much of a wallflower. But yea, having the wrong powers would suck."
Owen smirks slightly as Leo describes having Kenta's powers. He flashes the Living Lighter a grin and waggles his eyebrows a moment before going back to 'innocent' mode. "Ah may not have liked the powers Ah was stuck with then…but they let me fly an' Ah didn' turn fuzzy for awhile so it wasn' all bad."
"Oh, I'm not a wallflower, I just go with the flow is all." Leo chuckle, running ahand through his hair. "I kinda miss my blond, but it was platinum, so there's not that much of a difference." He sighs slightly. He pokes Owen. "I like fuzzy."
Dallas shrugs at Owen. "You could carry a cordless shaver. Or get a whole body hot wax thing. Plenty of people with super-strength around to pull it all off at once." He tries to keep his tone deadpan but the smirk and gleam of mischief in his eyes gives him away. He nods at Leo and says, "Well, here's hoping it doesn't happen again any time soon."
Owen sighs slightly when Leo pokes him and releases a little DarkForce to enter his fuzzy form. he then grabs Leo for a great big hug. "Ah know, Ah know," he says, laughing. THe laughing ends quickly as Dallas mentions a full body wax. "Okay…ow," he says, shuddering. "It'd jus' come back anyway…"
"Yeah, it's caused from his mutation. And they'd have to be strong enough to outdo him first. But then, I'm about the same strength range." Leo says, considering things. Pondering things. Such is life.
Dallas watches Owen go fuzzy and shakes his head, still smiling faintly. He watches them interact, that smile going a bit wistful before he turns away to look over the court. He says, "Seems like strength and speed are pretty common here." He shrugs and grins, "Which makes sense. Those are useful mutations."
Owen lets Leo go after some ruffling and then grins. He's just in 'roughhouse with the buddies!' mode for now. "Yeah, me an' Leo are at pretty much the same range. Jus' Ah'm a little bit stronger an' Leo's faster an' more flexible an' agile an' all that," he says, gesturing vaguely. Dallas turning away gets an arched eyebrow and Owen looks to Leo as if to ask 'What's with that?'. "Yeah, they are useful."
"Mine's because my body has life force running through it. Living Light is just that. The force that IS life. I just have more life than almost anyone out there, except maybe Dagger." Leo shrugs at Owen's look. "Did you like Nate's paintings?" He asks, suddenly of Owen. "I think he caught us spot on."
Dallas grunts. "Over my head. Darkforce, Living Light, psychic crap. I'm just going to hit things." He clasps his hands behind his back after straightening his uniform by tugging it down a bit. He glances back and then turns to face them again. "Another artist?"
"Mostly over mah head too. DarkForce does the other side of thin's…sucks the life outta stuff," Owen frowns slightly. "That's why it's so dangerous when Ah overload," he says. Ofcourse Leo gets a quick look when Owen mentions his overloading and then Owen smiles again. "Oh yeah, Nate did a great job. Ah got it hangin' in mah room. Definitely gotta thank him," he says. "Yeah," he begins. "Nate's a painter it seems."
"Yeah, he paints. And he's got decent fashion sense… which is unusual around here." Leo laughs. Of course, HE has fashion sense. But then, he's wealthy as well. "So, yeah. If you want workout partners, we're game. I'm not much on the lifting, but, I CAN do a little. About a ton or so." He says, thinking about it.
Dallas nods thoughtfully. "My shadow isn't anything like that, I don't think." He frowns slightly, "A /lot/ of artistic types around here. And non-competitive people as well. Takes some getting used to." After a moment he says, "Not that I really want to get used to it, to be honest. I'm getting a little tired of everything being so … soft." He looks back at Leo and says, "A ton is a lot more than I can lift without being powered up. I max out at about five tons right now. But my dad says he didn't get his last growth spurt until he was seventeen or eighteen, so when I put on more mass and muscle…." He shrugs.
Owen laughs slightly when fashion comes up. "Ah jus' dress the same way Ah always have. Keep waitin' for someone tah like…fashion ambush me," he laughs. He arches both eyebrows as Dallas mentions what he does. "Sounds like ya'll jus' haven' found the right stuff tah challenge people with," he says. "Not everyone's competetive 'bout everythin'," he muses. "But like Leo said, we'd be happy tah work out with ya," he grins. "An' if you're lookin' for a competition…name the game."
"Some of us can't practice without our powers though. Mine, for example, are always on. If they weren't, I could easily still compete properly. But…" Leo shrugs slightly. "Such is life. I live, I grow, I go on." He nods. "It's not that they're soft, it's that at school they try to take it easy, because the real world out there is amazingly harsh for some of us. We've been through Alternate Universe invasions. Power Swapping AIM creations. And just internal strife. We have problems already. So competition to some is just even more problem they can avoid."
Dallas grins at Owen and says, "Everything. Everything is better when you have to work to win. And just buy GQ and Maxim and stuff and stay out of Hot Topic." He looks back at Leo and just shrugs dubiously. "Everybody has trouble. That's no excuse for turning into somebody who gets mad at the /idea/ that competition is a good thing. And it isn't the same thing as danger or strife. It just makes you handle those things /better/."
Owen smirks. "Well, yeah..winnin's good an' all…but what's the prize?" he asks. "There are some people that wan' more than braggin' rights, Dallas," he points out. Leo then gets a nod. "Yeah. Same with me. Mah powers are always on even if Ah'm not fuzzy," he stretches. "Also some people have powers that are too dangerous tah be foolin' aroun' with friends with," he nods. "But Ah can see where you're comin' from, Dallas. But if ya'll ever jus' wanna compete…Ah can take ya on in B-ball, football, ultimate frisbee, wrestlin'…couple other thin's. Pretty sure ya'll can try tah challenge Leo tah a gymnastics match but Ah think he'd kick your butt," he teases just a little at that last part.
"Not for everyone. For some people, Competition when unnecessary makes you start second guessing yourself. Well, how could I get it better? What did I do wrong?I'm a failure. I've seen it happen too often in my father's business world. You gotta accept that it's not good for everyone. For some, yes. For all, no." Leo says with a grin. "Different ways for different people, yo." He pauses a moment to look at Owen. "You THINK I'd kick his butt. Please. The only person here who can give me a run for my money is Mr. Wagner." Yup. He's heard of Mr. Wagner. He REALLY wants to work out with him.
Dallas peers at Owen in surprise and answers in an incredulous tone, "The prize is being the best that you can be. And it isn't just about winning. It's about being willing to try. And keep trying, even if you suck." He shakes his head, trying to articulate concepts that he grew up with but never has had to lay out to other people. He looks at Leo and shrugs. "I don't see it that way. Not in people who want to be superheroes. If we don't sharpen each other up, who will? And what do we say when we let bystanders get killed? 'Whoops, sorry, I just didn't want to compete and get better.'"
Owen arches both eyebrows again. "Woah…cool it down," he says, surprised. "First of all…some people see a competition as pointless if there's no payoff. Met a couple," he gestures towards the ceiling and the school above. "Second…not all of us are tryin' tah be superheroes. Ah mean…Ah'll help if there's trouble but Ah'm not too interested in bein' someone that goes supervillain fightin'," he shrugs. "An' there are ways tah sharpen skills without pittin' against one another. Ah mean…the Danger Room is full of holograms of bad guys for us tah fight. An' competition does sometimes breed bad blood…not somethin' good tah have between teammates. Especially not out there where there's real trouble."
"Wait, who said everyone here wanted to be superheroes?" Leo asks, tilting his head at Dallas. "Some of us don't. Me, I admit, I Don't know what I want. Eddie Does. But some people just want to live a normal life. They just can't because their powers are so overbearing they need extra training. Robyn, for one, has no desire. He wants to sculpt. But if he doesn't learn to control himself, he'll be draining people's mental energy on a daily basis… unable to control himself. Like Owen's bat. It'll come out if he can't control himself. Or me, I'll explode and stun a crowd of people if I'm not trained." He shakes his head softly. "I mean, think about it for a bit. Try to see from other people's viewpoints."
Dallas looks surprised, "Why be on a squad if that isn't the goal?" At Owen's urging to cool down, he sighs and turns away again, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration and annoyance. He adds, "Bad blood seems to crop up on its own." He looks back to Leo, a flash of anger in his eyes and voice as he says, "And hey, just because I'm new and not the brightest guy in the world doesn't mean that I don't think about things. OR that I haven't done my best to 'see other people's viewpoints' since I got here. Trust me, in most of the rest of the country, /I'm/ the normal one." Why does he sound so defensive at that last sentence.
Owen tilts his head to the side. "The squads are a mandatory thin'. Don' have a choice in the matter," he points out. "It's a way for all of us tah train our powers an' have a teacher able tah work closely with us instead of jus' one big mass of students," he says. "An' so we work tahgether within our squads. Ya'll know…realize we're not alone, we got people goin' through the same kinda stuff we are that got our backs," he says. "An' even if we don' wanna be heroes, learnin' how tah use our powers tah defend ourselves is jus' common sense given' all the stuff that seems tah jus'…pop up aroun' people with powers. Ah mean, heck. Couple months ago Ah was jus' walkin' in the park when a giant snake showed up spittin' glue," he laughs a little at that. The anger and the defensiveness surprise Owen and he glances at Leo. "Dallas? What's wrong?" he asks, finding that last part out of place.
"Dude, calm down. Nobody's accusing you of anything. Stop flying off the handle. Squads are assigned by the school. We don't get to pick and choose whether we're on one or not. We simply ARE on them. We're here to learn so we can try to fit in to the rest of the world." Leo says shaking his head. "And I was plenty normal in my home in San Diego. It's just that I sparkle now. And my god, I avoid bookstores now. Stupid Twi-Hards." He blinks at Dallas's outburst. "Dude… what's the problem? I mean, why are you so defensive? We're all friends here. Nobody's attacking you."
Dallas takes a deep breath and then another, realizing on some level that's alienating people who don't deserve it. And getting near territory he doesn't want to explore. After a moment he shakes his head and says, "Sorry. Nothing. Just got detention for something. I guess that's putting me in a bad mood. Sorry." He summons up a small, obviously faked but cheerful smile and says, "I should go run it out. Get some fresh air and put some miles on the shoes. Catch you two later." And with that, he turns, starting to make a quick exit.
Owen gives Leo a confused look at 'Twi-Hards' but quickly turns attention back to Dallas. "Dude…" he begins. Dallas starts to leave before Owen can go on. The mutant from down south looks over at Leo. "What was that all about?"
"I don't know… it was really queer." Leo responds to Owen with a shrug. "I just don't get some of these new folks."
