Atlas Gym, Thursday Afternoon

[firstofitskind]

Right, so. Last week had certainly been A Thing.

Getting out yesterday and being a little bit social had actually helped kind of a lot, but Liam was still feeling a certain amount of restlessness, so by the time afternoon rolled around he was headed to the one place he knew he could work out that restlessness: the gym.

He spared a glance over towards the heavy bag, and then decided against it. That current of anger that he'd been feeling all last week had dissipated when the island changed again, but he wasn't willing to risk it bubbling back up to the surface again. Which meant today's workout of choice was Tai Chi, in an effort to center himself and his emotions once more.

[ooc: open, if slow until evening because work.]

Comments

[notallbluemonks]

Hey, guess who else was at the gym? And not just because she was mildly obsessive about her own workout routine?

From the way Beau immediately stopped doing her pullups when she spotted him and started heading in his direction, someone might think she'd been waiting for him to show up so she could check up on him.

[firstofitskind]

“Hey,” Liam greeted. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t been hoping to run in to her today. “How’s it going?”

Because you couldn’t just lead with ‘sorry for breaking equipment and generally being an asshole last time we talked’.

[notallbluemonks]

Wait, you couldn't? Like Beau was going to judge anyone for being an asshole, anyway.

"Not gonna lie, the lack of color thing is really throwing me," she said, hopping up to crouch on a stack of mats nearby. "But if that's the worst it's gonna get . . ."

A broad shrug, then she narrowed her eyes and gave him a scrutinizing look.

"So like, in retrospect, I think I can waive any damage fees due to island fuckery. You feeling better?"

[firstofitskind]

“I’m in one piece, at least,” Liam said with a shrug. “Did- you didn’t get hit with whatever was going around, did you?”

[notallbluemonks]

"Nah, I'm the asshole who keeps avoiding getting hit by that shit. Sorry," Beau said, and despite her flippant tone she really did feel kind of guilty about that.

Really though, nobody needed her turning into a literal monster and compounding her self-loathing issues any further.

[firstofitskind]

"Don't be," Liam shook his head. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

[notallbluemonks]

"Wouldn't wish it on you, either," Beau muttered in a strained, almost sulky tone, like someone who was trying desperately to feign nonchalance and instead failing miserably to completely conceal that she'd been worried. "You or Fjord, or anybody."

[firstofitskind]

"Got him too, huh?" Liam asked.

[notallbluemonks]

Beau nodded, scowling, and punched the stack of mats just to vent a little bit of her frustration."He bounced back pretty quick, though." Physically speaking, anyway.

[firstofitskind]

"That's good," Liam said, with a hint of a smile "I'm-" still having nightmares every time I close my eyes- "-just glad I didn't end up hurting anyone."

The same couldn't be said about the teal deer. Or the alot of monsters.

[notallbluemonks]

"Yeah," Beau said gruffly. "I also appreciate you not hurting anyone. So, extra reason for me to give you a pass on property destruction around here today, 'cause you know all that leftover monster pent up aggression, man."

She snickered briefly, but that was mostly at the realization that she'd been lecturing the fucking sheriff on property destruction.

[firstofitskind]

Liam couldn't help but laugh too, his thoughts heading in a similar direction. "What would you do, anyway, if I didn't earn a pass? Have me arrested?"

[notallbluemonks]

"I'm still working on that part," Beau said quickly, with a brief sheepish smile. "Community service maybe? Except technically you already do that, I guess."

[firstofitskind]

"Technically," Liam nodded. "Not that this place really needs all that much policing to begin with."

[notallbluemonks]

"Yeah, that's not a bad thing," Beau said, maybe a touch too quickly, but then again she'd grown up familiar with the stifling presence of the Empire's Crownsguard. "Or, here's a thought, I could make you work it off with more fencing lessons."

[firstofitskind]

Liam raised an eyebrow at the speed of that response. "That sounds fair," he agreed. Truth be told, he'd kind of missed those lessons himself. After a beat, he added: "You know I'm not, uh. A real cop, right?" he checked.

[notallbluemonks]

"I do now," Beau said dryly, but followed up soon enough with: "I kinda guessed, though. You don't really act like most of the law enforcement types I'm used to."

[firstofitskind]

"Given what I know of actual law enforcement, I'm gonna take that as a compliment," Liam said, absently rubbing at his shaqarava.

Which were a much more normal shade, today. Well, sort of, given the whole 'greyscale' thing. But the marks on his palms were only slightly darker than the rest of his skin.

[notallbluemonks]

"You should, because they're dicks," Beau replied, with some actual heat behind her usual sarcasm.

She glanced down toward his hands. "Do they, uh, usually function like a really fancy mood ring?"

[firstofitskind]

"Not exactly?"

Except for how they did kind of tend to respond to his emotional state. So... kind of, actually.

The gym today was fairly quiet, no other patrons around (on this level, anyway), and Liam did a careful scan of the room to make sure there were no nosy squirrels hiding nearby.

"Can I show you something?" he asked, tone hesitant, almost shy.

[notallbluemonks]

"Yeah." Beau dropped the sarcasm, and while she still sounded gruff and surly there was a whole different quality to her when she was being serious. She'd noticed the way he looked around, recognized it for exactly what it was, and was now doing her best to project the reassuring vibe of someone who was good with keeping secrets.

Which she actually was. That wasn't just an act.

"Sure, man. What's up?"

[firstofitskind]

He held out a hand, palm up, and after a moment, a swirling vortex of bright white light appeared over the burn-like mark on his hand.

After a few moments, he closed his fingers into a fist and dropped his hand to his side.

"Not a mood ring," he said. "But it is energy. Usually I can control it, but sometimes," he shrugged.

Bet those destroyed punching bags made a lot more sense now, huh?

[notallbluemonks]

They did, and Beau had just connected the dots on that line of thought, as evidenced by the way she glanced at his hand, then the punching bags, and nodded.

Then she ducked her head and laughed for a few seconds. "Of course you can do some cool energy shit too. Of course you can."

Eeeeeeeverybody got some kind of cool powers but her.

[firstofitskind]

"Trust me," he said wryly. "'Cool' was not the word I would've used when I was- younger," there was a weird, stuttering hesitation over that particular word. "It was just one more thing that set me apart from everyone else around me."

[notallbluemonks]

There had been a time, years ago, when Beau might have given anything for something that set her apart, made her special enough that her parents would actually notice her. Now? Whether they noticed her was nothing she cared about, but the sense of inadequacy had never gone away.

Still. She knew how people could be. And she knew what it was like to be isolated.

"That's fair," she conceded. "Because people are dicks. It's still pretty badass, and fuck anyone who gives you shit for it."