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Summary: Theo tries to work out late so nobody will see he's a wuss. Lucas comes to smoke a cigarette, and Tara actually does come to work out for real.
Date: April 8, 2010.
Log Title Reasons to Workout Late
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.
It's evening, most people aren't in the gym anymore, which is the exact reason that Theo has chosen now to work out. He sits at the machine weights, where he doesn't need a spotter, and he is on his back. He pushes up, doing a press. The weights which rise are not exactly impressive.
There is a sharp exhales as he throws his hands up, pulling on the cords to raise the weights. His face is a bit red, and sweat mats his long brown hair.
Lucas isn't expecting anyone to be in the gym this time of night either. He walks in wearing a pair of sweats and a wifebeater, barefoot but wearing a pair of white gloves on his hands that look like spandex. As he enters, he's tucking a cigarette into his mouth, and then beginning to pull one of the gloves back a bit, revealing a brilliant light of energy. He lights the cigarette on it, pulling the glove back over his hand, and then freezing, a guilty moment as he sees Theo. He slowly pulls the cigarette out of his mouth, exhaling. "Hey," he offers flatly, with a look that says go ahead, try to tell on me.
Theo hadn't seemed to notice Lucas before he pulls back the glove. He pauses in mid push, and raises his head up, then quickly lets the weights back down with a loud crash. "Hey," he says, not seeming to be bothered by the cigarette. He sits back up, a little short on breath. He stands back to his feet, and walks over to the bench where he left his towel.
"Thought everybody'd be done down here by now," his straight expression bursts into a grin. "Looks like you did, too." It's not a smile that seems to be seeking control, though, just amusement. He wipes his face and shoulders, leaving his hair a wild mess on top of his head.
Lucas takes a drag off the cigarette, and paces a bit, not paying a ton of close attention to Theo. He says, "Yeah, Ah reckon Ah did. So, if'n Ah find out you ratted me out, Ah'll kick your ass. Y'all got it?" His southern drawl makes his bully threat sound almost cute.
Theo's smile changes a little. "Well, it hadn't occurred to me, but now you sound nervous," he answers. "This is a mutant school, remember? Don't be so sure you can kick somebody's ass." Of course, Theo doesn't look like super durability is his superpower. He drops the towel on the bench again, and folds his arms. He doesn't look like he feels threatened.
Lucas rolls his eyes, "Whatever." He paces a few more times, chain puffing the cigarette like he's not had one in years. Eventually, he leans against the wall, putting one bare foot on the wall, his knee bent. He takes another drag, "What's your name, feller?"
"Theo," the dark-haired boy gives a quick response. He walks to another section of the machine weights to do squats. He places the weight that someone with twice his muscle mass would be able to do regularly, but for him, it's rather obvious he'll have some trouble. All the same, he sets the weight. He doesn't start lifting them yet. "How about you?" he asks, returning the question.
"Lucas," he says. "What are you in for?" He takes another long drag off his smoke, closing his eyes as he does so, and then exhales. Clearly enjoying it.
Theo's grin returns, "I haven't heard it put quite that way," he admits, "Though it's probably most fitting. We're all kinda stuck here." He doesn't answer the question. He chooses to also lean, against the machine that he looked like he was preparing to work out on. He doesn't look bent on working out anymore.
Lucas sighs, staring at Theo. He looks down at his own feet a moment, takes another puff of cigarette, and then looks back at Theo. He sighs once more, and shakes his head, "Why are you working out so late?"
Theo shrugs. "I dunno," he says. "Does it really matter when somebody wants to work out?" he asks. "There's no rule about when you gotta work out. Though if there is, don't bother quoting it to me, I'd rather live in ignorance."
Lucas chuckles, "Ah'm smokin' indoors," He shrugs, "Ah don't reckon rules are much matterin' to me, Theo. No quotin' 'em for me. So no worries." He smirks, "Though, it only matters in as much as you was doin' it now so no one was around to watch." There's a little shrug, "Ah reckon there's a reason for that is all."
Tara has arrived.
Theo's smile fades a bit, "Don't read too much into it," he answers. "I just don't like crowds." He doesn't ever start on the squats, but casually begins heading toward the treadmill, stopping by the bench he left his towel on in order to retrieve it.
Lucas is wearing a pair of sweats and a wife beater, his feet are bare, but his hands are covered in the thin white gloves he always wears. He's smoking a cigarette, leaning against the wall, watching Theo. "No? Why don't you like crowds?"
The doors to the gym open and Tara trots into the room, humming tunelessly to herself. Hearing people talking in here she raises a hand to them and says in a chipper tone, "Hey, guys!" and then moves over to an empty corner of the gym. She's dressed in her Paragons uniform, finding that it's comfortable and easy to move in, although she has made some modifications to it. Firstly, she's taken the sleeves off of it, and has used the material to make a purple blindfold for herself.
Theo is wearing an orange tank top, and he begins over to the treadmill. After stepping onto the platform, he begins to program it for fifteen minutes. "Because they're noisy," he says, beginning to sound a little annoyed. "Do you ask this many questions of everyone you meet? I'm not asking you why you like paying for cancer," he continues. Tara's entrance seems welcome.
"Hey Tara," he says, happy to hope for an out from being drilled about working out. "Why do you have a blindfold?"
Lucas panics a moment when Tara enters, and he quickly puts the cigarette out, waving his hand in the air to clear it from smoke. He scowls at Theo, and then looks at Tara, "Hey hey… If it isn't the stare pupil," he says, chuckling at Tara. He looks at Theo, "She's got a blindfold because she's blind, doofus."
Tara opens her mouth to give Theo a snarky reply, but Lucas beats her to it. So instead she just adds, "Yeah. /Duh/." She drops the duffel bag on the floor and heads towards one of the storage closets. "Stare pupil?" she asks of Lucas. "Really? You need to hang out with James more," she chides at his lame pun.
Theo rolls his eyes, and starts the timer. The treadmill begins to move, "I know she's blind, numbskull," he retorts with his own insult, "that's why I asked why she has a blindfold. It doesn't really make a difference for her. Is it a fashion statement or something?" he asks. He begins to run with the pace of the treadmill, his footsteps easily heard from anywhere in the room.
Lucas sighs, "Okay. Ah reckon Ah'm done makin' friends for the day. You two lovebirds have fun spottin' for each other." He begins to head for the door.
Tara starts to pull out some mats from the closet. "Later Chernoboy," she says to Lucas, and begins to place the mats out on the floor. She, then, turns her attention to Theo. "Well, I figure that if I'm running around in tights, and I want people to know I'm blind, this is the easiest, and most fashionable way."
Theo grins, plodding along on the treadmill. "See ya," is his quick farewell to Lucas, not wanting to prompt any more conversation from him. He thinks for a few moments about what Tara says. "I guess, I dunno if I'd bother advertising it. I think I'd rather get a kick out of seeing how long it took people to figure it out." He considers his statement. "I guess not 'seeing'," he corrects himself. "But, you know what I mean."
Lucas just rolls his eyes, "Whatever." He heads off.
Once the mats are arranged into a square, Tara begins to stretch out, showing quite an amazing degree of limberness. "I've never hid the fact that I was blind," she says matter-of-factly. "In fact I had to hide my abilities from the world in general because Mom thought they would come and take me away if I didn't."
Theo makes a mock frown as he considers. "Fair enough, thought I didn't even know I had powers, and it didn't stop them from coming after me." he says. He hadn't been directly watching Tara, but then turns his head to watch her start her moves, continuing to run along, but slowing down. What can it hurt to stare a little, she's blind, right?
Unfortunately, it can hurt quite a bit. The treadmill keeps moving at the same pace, even if Theo doesn't. The boy suddenly finds himself plunging chin first into the treadmill with a horrible crash, and then is slid back and finds himself getting a harsh rub across his face. "Ow, sh-!" he exclaims, getting cut off as he makes contact.
"That'll teach you," she says in disgust, finishing up her stretches. "Perv." She, then, starts to do some simple tumbling routines to warm up, lithely bouncing across the mats.
The treadmill keeps moving, but Theo sits on the floor behind it for a moment, rubbing his face, "What? I didn't do anything!" he protests. "Jeez, that hurt." He shakes his head a little, trying to get his bearings again.
Tara pauses a moment to turn to Theo and give him a disapproving look… or the blind girl equivalent of it. "You were too busy ogling me to keep running," she says calling him out on it.
"I tripped, you're blind, how would you know?" Theo answers, getting back to his feet. "Though, you'd hardly blame me if you could see what you look like," he says, changing gears. "This school doesn't have too many that can compare with you in the looks department, and unlike most of them, you actually have personality." He eyes the treadmill a moment longer, and then hops back onto it, keeping his pace up once again.
"Oh /please/," says Tara. Even though rolling her eyes wouldn't do any good behind the blindfold, the motion is still there in her voice. "I'm /fifteen/. I'm too young for pervy boys to be ogling over." With that she goes back to doing a floor routine, but upping the difficulty level significantly.
"So?" Theo asks, as if it wasn't an issue. "I'm fifteen," he answers. "And just because somebody finds you pretty, it doesn't mean they're a perv. You mean to tell me there's never been a guy you liked?" Now it's Theo's turn to call bluffs. He doesn't know Tara, but he is willing to wager that there's been somebody. He watches with relative amazement.
"Where'd you learn to do that?" he asks. "I've never seen anybody outside of the olympics do that kind of stuff."
"Practice," says Tara, dodging Theo's first question by answering the second (although the blush on her face is answer enough.) "Lots and lots of practice. My coach thought he could get me to the Olympics, too," she says, smoothing out a mat that had gotten displaced with a foot. "But, then, they found out I was a mutant, so they disqualified me." It's surprising, but she doesn't actually sound too bitter about it.
Theo takes note of the blush, and grins slyly, but doesn't press the matter for the moment. "Well, it figures," he says. "People are all kinds of scared of us, wouldn't make sense if they didn't want to censor the olympics, too." He sounds a bit short of breath. It doesn't take sight to recognize that he's probably not much of an athlete himself.
He slides off the back of the treadmill, this time in control of his movement, and then grabs his towel. "Well, It's been grand," he says, short of breath. "But I think I'm gonna call it a night. See ya later."