Atlas Gym, Thursday Afternoon

[firstofitskind]

It was funny how the apartment still seemed a little too quiet, even three days later. Especially since the kids had only been there themselves for three days. And then there was the issue of William and if he did in fact exist already in this timeline. And what he ought to do about it if he did.

A lot to think about, and where better to do some thinking than the gym?

You know, for a value of ‘thinking’ that meant ‘punching things’.

[ooc: open, though SP until I’m home from work later this evening.]

Comments

[notallbluemonks]

Yeah. Definitely too quiet at Beau's place, too, and too much to think about.

So, funny thing, she was already at the gym by the time Liam got there, taking a few runs through the parkour course.

"I was wondering when you were gonna get here, dude."

[1000yearstoolate]

This week Seivarden definitely wasn't in the mood to start a fight with Beau. Should Beau look in her direction, she would just nod at her, not even bothering to look unimpressed.

[notallbluemonks]

Beau was too busy trying to recover from, you know, having a whole bunch of emotions over the past few days to pick any fights either, so when she did come out of a vault and roll to catch sight of Seivarden, she just nodded once, her expression neutral.

She couldn't help thinking that Jamie would've been nice to her. She kind of felt obligated to the kid, a little, to honor that in a way.

[firstofitskind]

Liam shrugged. "Had some stuff to do." Run around the island. Check to make sure the raccoons weren't giving Fjord anyone a hard time. Head out to Baltimore and check to make sure his emergency stashes of cash and weapons were still secure. You know, the usual.

[notallbluemonks]

"Gotta keep busy, huh?" As casual and disinterested as Beau sounded about it, the knowing look she gave him said otherwise.

[firstofitskind]

"Yeah," he nodded as he finished wrapping his hands and started towards the heavy bag. "Keep my mind off- things."

How nice it had been to be part of a family, if only for a few days.

[notallbluemonks]

Or how nice it had been to know your fucked up family history might not be something that got passed down like a terrible heirloom.

"That working okay for you?" asked Beau. "Or you need a little help with that?"

Which, you know. She'd be good to help.

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, Liam was also immensely glad that his possible-future-kids got the chance to be kids (even if Tyrus never really got to be a baby). And have parents who a) knew they existed, b) wanted them in their lives and c) didn't have any bullshit 'destiny' mapped out for them.

"Wouldn't turn it down," Liam admitted.

[notallbluemonks]

Yeah. Yeah, Beau was so glad of all those things for Jamie, too, that it actually physically hurt her to think about it.

"You know I'm good for it, dude," she told him, and reached out to punch him lightly in the shoulder just as a weird gesture of comfort.

[firstofitskind]

And it said a lot about what Liam felt about Beau herself that he didn’t instinctively duck away from the contact. Physical affection, even the gruff shoulder-punchy kind, was the sort of thing he still tended to avoid with most people. But somewhere in the months they’d known each other, Beau had graduated from ‘someone he knows’ to ‘someone he trusts’. Probably right around the time she’d listened to him talk about what had happened in Verity’s Baltimore.

He nodded. “Maybe in a bit?” wanted to get in a bit of a warmup first. He even promised not to punch the bag off the chain, Beau.

[notallbluemonks]

"Sure, man," Beau replied. "Whenever you're ready, right?"

She wasn't even being impatient today. Which said a lot about the last week and a half or so.

Also she'd appreciate if if he didn't break the bag again, yes.

[firstofitskind]

"... Who are you and what have you done with Beau?" Liam wondered, before taking a few jabs at the bag.

[notallbluemonks]

"Maybe she got switched out for that other version of me, I don't know," Beau said, snorting. "Man, being a parent is hard fucking work if you actually bother to give a shit about it. "

[firstofitskind]

"I'd say that last part should be a given, but..." Liam's smile twisted into something that didn't quite meet his eyes.

[notallbluemonks]

"It should be," Beau replied with equally forced breeziness, "sooooooooo you know, naturally, it isn't."

[firstofitskind]

"Yeah," Liam sighed. "No kidding. Still, Jamie seemed like a good kid." With parents who'd actually put in that hard work, if the way they acted around the Beau and Karolina here had been any indication.

[notallbluemonks]

"You know, after about an hour of knowing that kid, I probably would've thrown down with total strangers for them," Beau admitted because she was that B99 meme personified. "Good thing they mostly take after Kar, huh?"

She kind of refused to give herself adequate credit.

"Yours were pretty cool too. Random fire issues and everything."

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, Liam was giving her a look that absolutely called bullshit on 'mostly taking after Karolina'. If nothing else, Jamie's vocabulary was proof that both their parents had a fair amount of influence on their personality.

"Hey, she didn't set anything on fire that she didn't mean to, so," Liam shrugged. "I'm calling that a win."

[notallbluemonks]

That, and how cheerfully Jamie would tell someone they were about to kick their ass.

". . . there was stuff she did mean to set on fire, though?"

[firstofitskind]

"How else was she going to show off how well she could control it?" Liam pointed out reasonably.

[notallbluemonks]

"Good point," Beau conceded. "You know, Jamie felt bad about making Hayley feel left out of the whole being able to fly thing?" Which was the sort of thing that couldn't possibly make it more clear that Jamie was Karolina's kid, really.

"Then again, they were also kinda jealous of the firestarting, so."

So, very clearly just as much Beau's kid.

She sighed. "Come on, get warmed up already so we can get to the hitting." And so she wouldn't have to feel so weird and conflicted about missing Jamie.

[firstofitskind]

It was too bad neither Hayley nor Tyrus had shown off the shaqarava, as those were probably close enough to Jamie's energy blasts that they all could've bonded over that. Then again, both of them had been aware of the fact that it wasn't really something you talked about outside of the family.

"Fine, fine," Liam said, shaking his head and stepping away from the bag and onto the mats. He dropped into a fighting stance and looked at Beau expectantly.

[notallbluemonks]

And Beau would have felt even more like the dumb boring human! Even though, unbeknownst to her, the version of her in Jamie's world had cool gloves that let her shoot lightning from her hands sometimes.

"We could both use this, huh?" she asked, before going all out into a full-speed attack.

[firstofitskind]

And Liam, who'd spent the first half of his life wishing to be nothing more than a 'dumb, boring human' would not have quite been able to understand why anyone would consider that a bad thing. On top of that, Beau was one of his favorite people, human or otherwise, so. Pfft.

"Yeah," he agreed, going on the defensive. "House is too quiet." Well, as quiet as it ever got with hyper-religious mice inhabiting the place.

[notallbluemonks]

"I hate when it's too quiet." If he was going on the defensive, then Beau was going to press the attack, even more aggressively. (Which left her more open to counterattacks, but she really didn't care right now.) "Could always play some really loud music, I guess, but this seemed like a better idea."

[firstofitskind]

Oh, did she want a counterattack? Because that’s what was happening now. You’re welcome, Beau. “Your neighbors probably agree,” Liam said dryly. Although... pissing people off as a defense mechanism was more or less in line with her modus operandi. Too bad for her that also applied to like, most of the women in Liam’s life, which meant he was pretty good at distinguishing ‘I’m pushing you away because I’m afraid you’ll just leave eventually’ and ‘I genuinely want to be left the fuck alone’.

[notallbluemonks]

Which was really fucking inconvenient, Liam! Okay, not really. Beau was actually pretty grateful that he understood that . . . and never outright said anything to her about it.

She found herself backpedaling a few steps, just trying to keep him from landing more than a few hits on her, then made a move to duck under his arm and try to get behind him.

"Yeah, that actually occurred to me," she admitted.

Which, what? She was taking other people into consideration?

[firstofitskind]

... He wasn't above teasing her a little about that though.

"Taking other people's feelings into consideration?" he grinned. "How very level-headed of you."

He twisted, keeping her from getting behind him- for now.

[notallbluemonks]

"Don't get used to it or anything," Beau said immediately.

[firstofitskind]

"I wouldn't dare," he deadpanned.

[notallbluemonks]

"Good, 'cause I was having an off day." Beau tried to kick his feet out from under him, at least throw him off balance enough to successfully get behind him. "Hell, a whole fuckin' string of off days, lately."

[firstofitskind]

"You and me- ugh-" and there went that stumble she was seeking, although Liam managed to right himself before actually falling- "-both." He admitted. The kids, and the week leading up to them, those had been great, this year. But the aftermath? 'Off' was about right.

[notallbluemonks]

That was fine; all she'd wanted was to get him off balance long enough to gain a more advantageous position.

"Always gotta be a catch, I guess," Beau half-grumbled, and went to punch him between the shoulderblades. "Consequences and shit, right?"

[firstofitskind]

The hit connected, pitching him forward. He managed to tuck himself into a roll and twist around to spring back up, though.

"Think that's what the island's trying to remind us of, with the kids showing up. Only..." he trailed off, sighing.

[notallbluemonks]

"Only that shouldn't even be a problem for me?"

Not the point, Beau.

[firstofitskind]

"You'd think," Liam scoffed. "But, one: alien biology is weird." And if it sounded like he knew what he was talking about here, well... he had three biological parents, Beau. He knew of what he spoke. "Two, if Karolina's world is anything like mine, medical technology can do some pretty interesting stuff these days."

Also, yeah. Not actually the point.

[notallbluemonks]

And now she was paranoid, Liam, thanks. Okay, not really; Beau was pretty sure Karolina would've said something if that was a concern. Still. Knowing the possibility wasn't entirely off the table didn't make it any easier to sort through her mess of feelings.

". . . we did make one hell of a cute kid, at least," she said finally, cracking a faint grin. "This is the kind of shit I wouldn't even think about if not for this weird-ass place."

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, alien biology or not, deliberate intent was probably a pretty important factor that your average heterosexual couple might not need to worry about.

(Liam, again, being something of an exception; intent was absolutely a factor in Kimera biology. Not that that was either here nor there.)

"They were absolutely adorable," Liam agreed.

[notallbluemonks]

"Great kid, and I'm saying that as somebody who never included any in my vague plans for the future," Beau said, much more casually than she felt about it. "Got along really well with yours, too. Maybe they're all, like, friends in some alternate future. That'd be cool."

And if you thought for a second she wouldn't try to make sure her kid had all the friends that she herself never did growing up, you'd be tragically mistaken.

[firstofitskind]

"It would be," Liam agreed. The Prices were pretty insular, and he honestly didn't know if that would extend to this potential next generation or not. Hopefully Fandom's influence would mean they'd get to grow up with other kids. "Be nice to give them what I couldn't have, you know?" Unknowingly echoing Beau's narrative, there.

[notallbluemonks]

"Yeah," Beau said in a low, raspier-than-usual voice. "Or . . . maybe . . . not give them what you did have, depending."

Not that she had anything specific in mind.

[firstofitskind]

“That, too,” Liam agreed vehemently. “I’m not going to expect them to-“ he broke off abruptly.

[notallbluemonks]

"I hear you," Beau said with a terse nod, not pushing for details; her way of letting him know she was pretty sure she knew exactly where he was coming from. "No bullshit expectations, any of that."

[1000yearstoolate]

And here was another one who had been thinking too much for the past few days, combined with watching entertainments and trying not to cry.

Seivarden walked into the gym, looked around and nodded at Liam.

[firstofitskind]

Liam looked up at the sound of someone else walking in to the gym, and offered Seivarden a small smile in return. "Hey," he greeted.

[1000yearstoolate]

"Hey," Seivarden returned, smiling to hide her mood. "Good day for a workout?"

[firstofitskind]

"Yeah," Liam nodded. Well, most days were a good day for a workout, but. Some days the workout was also a distraction. "Felt like hitting things."

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden could think of a few things lately that could make someone want to hit things, but assumed Liam didn't want to talk about them either.

"Sometimes hitting things is just what I need," she said, the cheerfulness a little excessive.