strangetrip | [GP] training day

Current Location: fitness center

Entry tags:

[GP] training day

There was a trope that in prison there wasn't much to do except work out or read. As colorful as Madonna Inn might be, it was still a prison. And look, somebody had put together a library.

Put fifty some people, many of them military, adventurers, vigilantes, or superheroes of one stripe or another, in a prison with none of the urgent missions or near-death experiences they were used to, the fitness center was going to be a popular place. Maybe almost as popular as the bar.

... Probably not quite that popular.

There were free weights and weight machines, treadmills and ellipticals, yoga mats and exercise balls. A room set aside for classes, if someone decided to lead. A large square had been taped over an area of the floor off to one side as a make-shift sparring space. Sports equipment had been brought back from Bonesville for those who preferred more organized games. And those who had been stuck here longest remembered there hadn't always been a salmon ladder.

In other words, something for just about everybody. And you could usually find someone in there if you were looking for a spotter, workout buddy, sparring partner, friendly competition too.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

At a barre near one corner was a girl with bare feet, flyaway hair and one foot in the air. Then without any warning other than a barely detectable tightening of muscles she whipped around doing what he probably wouldn't know was called a Fouetté. Then she did another and bent to touch the floor all without putting her second foot down.

It would probably have been more graceful if she hadn't been wearing a Madonna Inn sweatshirt that was big enough to be a dress on her. Better too if she had proper footwear.

Not that River noticed or cared.

The dancing from the girl caught Alec's attention. While he had seen her around before, he hadn't really interacted with her at all. She seemed kind of... odd. Still, she was also kind of cute.

He sauntered up, leaning against the barre. "The shirt looks a bit big on you."

She put her foot back on the floor and then bent the knee of her other leg so she was once again balanced on one foot and cocked her head.

"It needed to be adequately covering. A smaller shirt would have failed." She was also wearing leggings which had been as close to tights as had been available.

Alec thought how not having adequate covering wouldn't be necessarily a bad thing and then paused and wondered how old she was. Was she too young? Was he being a perv? Now he was trying to figure that out as he stared.

"Age is based on a vestigial mode of measurement linked to solar cycles." And at home, there wasn't a sun to orbit unless they were on a planet, otherwise days were arbitrary in space. So did they exist? And if they did exist did one age at a faster or slower rate based on how long the arbitrary accounting of day was?

"I lose track." She wasn't sure how long she'd been at the Academy, how old she had been when Simon had saved what was left of her. Then there was Serenity and now she was here. But how long had it been? It was possible she had missed a birthday in there somewhere and she was seventeen now.

Or not.

She honestly didn't know.

Confusion formed on his face. "Uh..." He did some calculations in his head, trying to figure out if he spoke out loud or not. He even looked behind him for some reason before back at the girl. "Did I say something out loud?"

"Yes," because he had in fact JUST spoken outloud.

The confusion seemed permanent on his face. He blinked. What?

"... Okay." He didn't want to admit he had no idea what was going on. "So, uh... I'm Alec?"

"River," she placed her foot on the floor but she didn't offer her hand. Nor did she attempt to make him less confused, she noted it but didn't try any explanation.

"I'm going to guess that's your name." And not just a designated name for a type of water flow.

And then he just had to try it. As he stared at River, he squinted a bit (as if squinting was necessary or helped someone project thought better) and thought can you hear me now?

Technically, it was both.

The look she gave him she he squinted at her clearly said: of course I can. But even then it wasn't the words so much as the question in his mind that she sensed.

"Not like a radio. Don't hear it. Feel it." All of it, it was like being a radio receiver that was turned on all the time. "Like static."

"Well that's just plain creepy - no offense." And he didn't really mean it offensively, but it did remind him of Psy-ops and what they did there. Mind stuff was freaky. "So... like, does that mean if someone feels like, turned on, you get turned on too?"

"If I could turn it off, I would." Offense wasn't taken though. Many people disliked the idea.

She ignored his question because it was an uncomfortable (occasionally) subject.

"That's fair." He ran into a few transgenics who hated their skillsets as well.

"I guess you'd be really good on a quiz show." She'd make a killing conning people as a psychic too.

She blinked, she would be good on a quiz show but not because of being a reader.

"Cheating would not be necessary. I am very smart." Though she might cheat, she wouldn't have a way to not cheat.

"How smart are you?" He wondered if it was something like him, where he had genes to make him smarter.

She considered that for a long moment, "There is no common parameters to judge from, any definition I gave would be meaningless without an agreed upon definition of levels of intelligence."

"Let's just go with you're smart." Anyone who would say something like that had intelligence.

"I'm Alec."

She didn't nod her agreement but her face clearly said she was fine with just assuming she was smart. His assessment though indicated that he was as well.

"River."

Well, if she ever fell for a guy who wrote poetry, at least he wouldn't have to work hard on making her name symbolic and stuff.

"You a fighter too, or just a dancer?" Because other than Peter, who was just so dorky, River seemed like the youngest at the gym.

"I..." she pulled a face and ducked her head as if shrinking away from a loud noise and her hands fluttered pushing away the images in her head, memories of hers or maybe not hers.

She didn't know.

"I'm not just a dancer," she said finally face concealed by a curtain of hair.

Alec could tell enough that that line of questioning was probably a no-go.

"I'm not just a cute face either." He offered a wink.

That more than anything else he could have said half shocked, half amused her out of the reverie or thinking about what she might be now instead of being a girl.

"Your face is aesthetically pleasing." She agreed finally, after an assessing look.

"Thank you." He was probably made that way, but he tried not to think too much on that aspect.

"Well, if you ever need anything, except maybe a dance partner, I don't dance." At least not anymore. "Let me know."

"Why do you no longer dance?" Because, nosy questions aren't really that nosy when you are in a persons head anyway right?

[GP] training day

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA