Atlas Gym, Thursday Late Morning

[firstofitskind]

Liam had woken with a restless sort of energy today. His usual morning routine of gossiping with Verity's mice, going for a run, and returning to her apartment with breakfast had failed to burn much of it off.

So, eventually, he made his way to the gym and the practice mats, running through Tai Chi forms as a way to try and channel that energy in to something productive.

It was kind of working.

Comments

[notallbluemonks]

It wasn't Beau's day to work today, but when it was cold out and she had a mildly obsessive morning workout routine to keep up, of course she was going to take advantage of the facilities.

"'sup, dude who ruined the holiday for me," she said, using one hand to vault herself up onto a stack of mats to sit for a few minutes.

[firstofitskind]

Liam gave Beau a nod in greeting and had opened his mouth to offer a verbal one as well when her words registered.

"Wait, what?"

He hadn't even been here for the recent holiday!

[notallbluemonks]

Classy as ever, Beauregard. Good job.

"Oh, yeah. You're the one who introduced me to the most evil song in existence, remember? The one about --" She waved a hand vaguely. "You know, never mind. I'm just gonna sit here and watch for a little bit."

[firstofitskind]

Oh, right. That.

Honestly, he'd had a moment of concern that he'd somehow inadvertently insulted some holiday from her world, at some point.

"Sorry about that?" he offered, continuing to run through forms as he spoke.

[notallbluemonks]

"It's fine." Beau shrugged, and her casual posture belied her keen attention to the Tai Chi movements. "It was going to happen eventually, so this way I got that part over with sooner. Kinda softens the letdown later."

She trailed off and just watched for a few seconds before abruptly asking, "So is that just an exercise thing, or does it have practical applications too?"

[firstofitskind]

"Exercise is practical," Liam pointed out, just to be a smartass. He knew exactly what you meant, Beau.

[notallbluemonks]

"Yeah, obviously," Beau said, smirking as she flipped him off. "I'm just curious. I knew some people who were into that kind of style. Too calm for me," like that would surprise anyone who knew her for more than ten seconds, "and they were all into the philosophical shit that went with it, but has it ever, like, been really useful in a fight or something?"

[firstofitskind]

"Oh, definitely," Liam nodded. His own fighting style was a mixture of Tai Chi and the FBI training Sandoval had learned. "The 'philosophical shit' has it's place, sometimes." Like now, actually, for Liam in particular.

[notallbluemonks]

"Sure, sure," said Beau, sounding more like she was humoring him than agreeing, which was only partly true. "I kinda get that, like on an intellectual level, it's just not my thing personally so I've kinda never really tested out the theory, you know?"

[firstofitskind]

"Never would've guessed it's not your thing," Liam commented dryly. "Really."

[notallbluemonks]

“I know, right?” Beau drawled back, just as dryly. Anyone in the vicinity might experience a sudden desperate need for Chapstick, or a gallon of water. “‘cause I’m like so chill and zen all the time.”

[firstofitskind]

Liam snickered. "This is probably the longest I've seen you go without hitting something," he pointed out.

[notallbluemonks]

"I'm trying to be a spectator for once!" Beau objected. "Unless you want me to go and try to hit you."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan hadn't been to the gym in way too long. Jack was here to stay and just thinking about that gave him more nervous energy than his morning run could burn off.

"Hey Liam," he greeted, working the tape onto his knuckles and heading for the heavy bag, "How're you doing?"

[firstofitskind]

Liam lifted one shoulder in a brief shrug as he replied. "Fine. More or less." There was the restlessness he couldn't quite put a name to that he was trying to work through, of course, but nothing dire. "You?" Having someone from home here for more than just a visit was sure to be some sort of adjustment.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan thought about it for a good long minute while he finished taping up. "Can't decide between happy, scared shitless, or screaming internally," he finally answered. "Jack seems to be making friends though. In spite of her radio broadcasts."

So much beeping. Holy [BEEP].

[firstofitskind]

"... All of the above?" Liam offered, taking a moment to think about how he'd feel about, say, Street setting up shop in Fandom.

(She would never, she was too much a Fringer to ever take to small-town life, but still.)

"She gave me some good suggestions for a care package to send off to the Mothership and Ariel," Liam admitted. "Assuming the two Portal systems play nice with each other." They didn't always; though at least Liam had never actually been cut off from his reality entirely.

[spectre_alenko]

"All of the above is good," Kaidan agreed with a small grimace, "So far she's behaving. I think she actually likes her class. She's good with kids."

[firstofitskind]

"Teaching would be kind of an odd choice if she didn't," Liam pointed out. Liam himself didn't really understand kids, but he liked them fine.

... Though knowing Fandom, there probably were or had been teachers at the school who'd been doing the whole thing under duress. He wouldn't put it past the island. Jack at least seemed to be somewhat engaged in the whole process.

[spectre_alenko]

"Odd choices are kind of her stock in trade," Kaidan pointed out, "Along with 'bad life choices'. This one, though, yeah. She's doing ok here. Back home, she does really good but she's teaching kids how to use their biotics. Civics? That's a new one for her, but it's not like there's any biotic kids here right now who need those particular lessons."

[firstofitskind]

"There's no way Lili would've trusted her within two feet of Ariel if she didn't think she was good with kids," Liam mused. And he did tend to trust Lili's judgment in most things. "Conventional topic, but I'm sure the material is otherwise," he added with a grin. Yeah, he didn't know Jack particularly well just yet, but he'd known plenty like her in the Resistance.

[spectre_alenko]

"You haven't seen her syllabus, have you?" Kaidan asked dryly. "You should get ahold of a copy."

No, really Liam.

[firstofitskind]

"What, you're saying it is totally conventional?" Liam asked with a snicker. That was honestly about the only thing that'd surprise him about the content.

[spectre_alenko]

"I'm agreeing with you that it's not," Kaidan said wryly, "She's basically teaching the kids how to be adorable baby rebels and fight the power."

He deadpanned a stare at Liam. "That'd be you, Sheriff."

[firstofitskind]

... Yeah, that'd never stop being funny. Maybe sometime he'd actually explain to Kaidan the details as to just why.

"Right," he said, shaking his head. "Because that's definitely what I'm doing here, being an authority figure worth rebelling against." And not, you know, arresting raccoons.