Atlas Gym; Tuesday [04/11].

[sword_chocobro]

Did Gladio just spend the night in the gym? No, actually, though it might have almost seemed that way, with how he'd closed up the place and then pretty much just showered, crashed, and came right back after the morning run with the boys. But it being Tuesday meant he was mostly here in a managerial capacity, which meant a little less time out there with the equipment and a bit more time in the office. Not too much, though, as he definitely didn't have the focus for it, and just thinking about how this was what he was doing instead of being back home, helping to rebuilt Insomnia, helping to rebuilt a new Eos...

Yeah, it was a good thing he was budgeting for plenty of punching bag replacements around here. He found himself in a bit of a viscous cycle of resolving to hunker down and get some administrative tasks finished, getting frustrated and impatient with it all, exiting the office to abuse some equipment, and then doing a check on everything to calm down enough to go back to the office, try to do some administrative tasks, getting frustrated and impatient...

Feeling a bit like a caged animal, which, really, he sort of was right now. Didn't matter that the cage was the side of a whole world; a cage was still a cage.

Atlas Gym is open!

Comments

[hasaknightjob]

Marc came by the gym around his usual time. He went for the punching bags himself. No particular need other than to keep in shape.

If Gladio passed by while he was there Marc might give a curious look but otherwise wouldn't stop him. Marc certainly understood the need for a good pacing back and forth.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell smiled at him when he came in. She wasn't doing anything very strenuous today, but she could still do the forms even if she was a bit more gentle about it. "How are the Passover things going?"

[hasaknightjob]

"All right," Marc said. He looked her over. "How's the healing?"

[mylandmyrules]

"Good," Nell said with a smile. "Feeling much more back to my old self again. I'll still be very gentle today, But it feels good to move."

[hasaknightjob]

"Can you do more with the... plants?" Marc asked. He didn't really get the ins and outs of how Nell's healing worked, just that plants were involved.

[mylandmyrules]

She considered that, but her face showed her uncertainty. "I don't know,"she admitted. "I'm not entirely sure how it works. I just knew that if I could get to my plants in the soil from Soulwood it would help. It's fixed small cuts and bruises mostly accidentally before."

Nell made a face. "I suppose I could try, but it feels a little like cheating. And it was exhausting."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc nodded as he took that in. "So the soil, not the plants."

He thought about it.

"You sure you're not a vampire?"

[mylandmyrules]

Nell looked at him in horror. "What? No!"

Vampire? One of those soulless creatures?

"No," she said more calmly. "I'm not. And those need to be created. They can't have children. So if I had been turned the church would have killed me for sure."

[sword_chocobro]

The pacing, if anything, was mostly just to fill a void before the other expected distractions, anyway, and besides, there were stickers that needed bestowing.

A gold star, extended out on a finger with a nod, when their various rounds seemed to perfectly align at some point for it.

"Marc."

[hasaknightjob]

Onto the water bottle the star went. Given the collection that was amassing, it might be reasonable to conclude Marc must be hand washing the bottle to keep the stickers from falling off it. Care for the process or did he just not want to deal with sticker paper coming off in the dishwasher? Hard to say.

"Gladio," Marc said. He gave one of those looks men gave to indicate they could see something was up but they weren't going to pry if the other guy didn't want to get into it.

[sword_chocobro]

Yeah, because that was definitely something Gladio was real worried about, from a guy like Marc. Always sticking his nose into everything and all.

"You make it in last week at all?" he wondered, since he'd pretty much missed anyone who did on account of the whole plant thing. Maybe he should have asked before going around doling out gold stars, but he figured last week was a good chance for a free week.

[hasaknightjob]

Too late, Gladio, no backsies. "Weren't you a plant?"

Did Marc remember because it was Gladio or because even on this island being a plant stood out? Another tough call.

[sword_chocobro]

"Yup," Gladio confirmed, expression going a little bit wry and amused. Because, you know what? Even on this island, being a plant did stand out, and he was weirdly proud of that fact, even if it was just probably the island horrible sense of humor.

Hell, even that, he was weirdly proud of.

"Kind of hard to lift weights with nothin' but stems and leaves, unfortunately."

He'd have tried, though, if Ignis had let him!

[hasaknightjob]

"Nell might've been able to help you with that," Marc said. He actually had no idea if she could but hey, she had plant powers. If anybody could help out there, it'd be her.

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio snorted a bit at that. "Yeah," he said, "maybe I'll have to ask her about that."

He could be the buffest flower in all of Fandom!

"But for now I think I'll just be glad to be human again and being able to pump iron on my own volition."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell was here, early, of course, arms filled with a basket for him, full of cookies, breads, teas, jams, a small cake, and a small plant. "Good morning, Gladio."

[sword_chocobro]

The basket was getting a bit of a look, albeit an amused (somewhat reluctantly, but apparently, it couldn't be helped) one.

"New gym bag?" Gladio guessed. "I like it. Unconventional. Rustic. Could double as a picnic basket in a pinch..."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell never brought a gym bag, so this was particularly amusing. "I decided to try one for a change," she said with a grin. "But no, this is for you, to thank you for all you did for me after the fire. There are some baked goods and jams and teas and a little plant."

It was a pretty little succulent, not needing much in the way of care, but enough to brighten up a space.

"I'm sorry I didn't come by earlier, but by the time I felt better enough, you were a plant."

[sword_chocobro]

There were a couple of good responses Gladio could think of to that one, so he grinned faintly as he decided on the best one.

"Good thing for me, then," he said, "that you were feeling better by then, I might have been in trouble."

But, with the burst of amusement clashing up against his angry, bitter mood of the last few days, that grin softened, and he nodded a little. "But thanks. I don't think what I did really calls for all this," he breathed out a laugh, "but I appreciate it. Especially the plant. Good insurance, for next time. Or at least good company until then."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell tilted her head trying to parse his meaning, then her eyes went wide and her mouth parted on a silent 'Oh!' before she laughed. "I would never," she assured him through a giggle. But she had to tease him back a little. "Besides, you wouldn't have been planted in Soulwood soil, so you wouldn't have been nearly as tasty."

Then she stepped back and set her hands on her hips and gave him a Look. "You rescued me in the park, brought me my plants so I could heal, then carried me home and up the stairs. It's not like I'm a bag of feathers!" (So maybe to Gladio she wasn't much heavier, but it was the principle of the thing!)

"Then you fed my cats and made sure I was safe and didn't look or get mad when I yelled at you, and then you brought me enough food for a week!" She shook her head. "Pretty sure you deserve even more than this."

[sword_chocobro]

Despite himself (it had been a while since he just let himself simmer in a good, angry brood, alright? A part of him had been prepared to cling to it for a while), Gladio had to laugh.

"Yeah, well," he acquiesced, "when you put it that way, yeah, I'd say you're definitely a few baskets short. But how about you throw in a promise to not let something like that happen again, and we'll call it even. Deal?"

[mylandmyrules]

"I try not to make promises I might not be able to keep," Nell said, "But I do promise to try not to let anything like that happen again."

She hesitated. "Marc and I are going to be doing some baseball watching now and again," she said. "At my house. Might you be interested in joining us? I'm going to see if Lana might like to come sometimes as well. Nothing fancy, just a little food and baseball watching. But we'd be glad to have you."

Okay, Nell would be glad to have him, but she knew Marc wouldn't mind and for Marc that meant a lot. Also, had Nell ever watched a baseball game or had any idea what it was about? No, she did not.

[sword_chocobro]

"As long as there's an honest effort," said Gladio, with a nod and a warning look that he didn't really feel that Nell needed, but he was giving it anyway, "and you're not just paying me lip service right now, then..." A faint grin, "I think I can accept those terms."

And then, he had his own brief moment of hesitation, for a reason not quite the same, but somewhere in the vein of, his reasons for being here last night instead of getting Cup Noodle^TM cocktails out of Tiny.

"And sure," he said. "Sounds fun. If you think your chairs can handle me, anyway."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer was still coming into the gym that morning in another cute new outfit, but her entrance and arrival was far less bubbly and breezing and far more apologetic, as she gave Gladio a wave when she spotted him on her way to the punching bags this week.

"Hey..."

And before he could say anything else, she just rushed right in with, "I'm really sorry about my grampa, man, but I promise, I'm going to work on it, okay? Sometimes, it's just a matter of having to wear him down."

And, in this instance, for him holding the whole well, why don't you just ask your super-genius boyfriend to help? OH WAIT thing over her head.

Which...

...good thing you were comfortably set up here, Gladio, it was definitely going to take a while.

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio had been kind of wondering if Summer was going to be swanning in her again this week after their conversation on Sunday. He wasn't really sure he wanted to deal with all of it, but he was still glad that she looked like she wasn't here just to bring it up. Because of that, she got a faint, dry smile and a shrug of his shoulders.

"You tried," he said. "That's the important part. I know you didn't have any luck getting through to us then, I'm definitely not expecting you to be able to pull a miracle out of thin air now, either. But thanks, anyway."

Was he still simmering and mad and feeling pretty fucking pissed off right now? Yes. But he wasn't about to take it out on someone just trying to help, although he wouldn't lie and say didn't wish he had someone he could take it out on... It wasn't anyone here's fault, though.