Atlas Gym; Tuesday [04/18].

[sword_chocobro]

Even though it had been a little tempting to let himself go a little overboard at the bar last night, Gladio had been good and just kept it to his usual few drinks, because he knew he'd want to be focused and ready to sort of get things back on an even keel again after the weekend. And sort of leaning into an almost (almost) acceptance of his current lot in life by really taking some time to look at the gym with maybe some long term goals in mind and the perspective that he was probably stuck here for a while (at least ten years, if history was anything to go by!), so he might as well make the most of it.

Granted, he wasn't really one who could just sit in an office for an extended period of time, so he was frequently doing a few rounds about the gym to stretch his legs or maybe hit a few reps or laps in between some of the more administrative tasks, which actually worked out pretty great. Once the technicalities started to get to him a little, he could just go punch a bag or hit the treadmill for a while, and it worked as a nice kind of reset.

As long as he didn't let his mind trail too closely to the past weekend, he'd be fine, so the training space was getting a little bit more of a wider breadth than it might have usually had.

Atlas is open!

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie -- who had, weirdly enough, not had mysterious alternate-universe children show up this weekend -- actually, finally made an appearance at the gym this morning. An on-screen one and everything!

She'd finally bitten the bullet and bought some maternity wear, so while she wasn't exactly competing with anyone's Athleta and Lululemon fashion shows, ahem, she was at least presentable and cute in pastels and not worried about splitting her pants in a squat or something.

She threw a wave Gladio's way with her free hand -- she also had a truly ridiculously gigantic water bottle -- as she headed for a punching bag. "Morning!"

[sword_chocobro]

And look at that, Gladio was going to look both pleasantly surprised and approving when he spotted her coming in.

"Annie," he nodded, lifted a hand in a wave back. "Morning. Good to see you come in."

On screen especially!

[mylandmyrules]

Nell was here in her skirty-pants and ready to go through her forms and then do some weights. SHe smiled at Gladio as she came in. "Good morning!"

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie was totally in this gym so often on like...other days! Waving hands, et cetera.

"I got the official word from my doctor that I'm allowed to keep beating stuff up as long as it doesn't beat back," she replied with a grin, tilting her head towards the punching bags. "We're not having any kind of 'sentient punching bag day,' right?"

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio gave a nod and a faint smile back, feeling glad that at least today, there was nothing going on that didn't seem to make her want to immediately go scampering back through the door again. "Morning, Nell. How's it going?"

[sword_chocobro]

"Not today," Gladio grunted, shaking his head, "but now I'm going to be on the lookout for it eventually this month. I'll have to make testing them for that my new top priority when I come in now. Add it to the top of the check-list. With what some of these bags have been put through, I'm sure they're pretty ripe for some revenge."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer had almost thought about skipping today, since the weekend had been a lot, but then she realized she didn't really have much else to do that morning. So it was a later start for Summer, and she wasn't really sure what she was planning on doing; maybe she would just stick to her weight training and poke at Gladio about how his weekend had gone, but, what was most important was that she did have a yet another addition to her massively growing collection of workout clothes to show off as she breezed in with a "Hiiiiii, Gladio!" on her lips as she bounced over to do some warm ups and stretches.

[sword_chocobro]

You know, in a way, it was almost flattering, the way she seemed to think he could actually differentiate between one pink outfit and the next, because if that was a new outfit, Gladio definitely didn't recognize it as such. But she did get a nod and a lift of a hand in a wave, and a "Weight training today?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Sorry for jinxing it," Annie told him with a wince. "Though at least it's something everyone would already know how to fight, right?"

Unless punching became suddenly ineffective.

[sword_chocobro]

And should the punching cease to be effective, there were plenty of people running around with knives that'll reduce them to their stuffing pretty quickly. As well as swords bigger than most of the island's residents...

"Maybe you'll just have to really get in there and remind 'em what they'll be up against if they tried," he offered, but immediately followed it up with, "Don't overdo it, though. Not that I feel like I gotta tell you that, but..."

He was pretty much obligated to at least mention it and fuss over her about it a little.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Hey, Annie herself could probably start a pretty good electrical fire with those punching bags. Or at least singe the living daylights out of them!

She gave Gladio a mostly-teasing dismissive little wave. "I promise I'll say something if I need help," she assured him, which honestly was a little bit of a concession! "But man, Gladio, I'm gonna hit a point sooner than I like where I know all I'm gonna be up for is walking, so I gotta get it in while I can, right?"

All those pregnancy websites insisting she needed to nap a lot in trimesters two and three couldn't be speaking from a vacuum.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You look too adorable to sweat," Annie told her with a tsk when she spotted Summer, taking a moment to stretch and walk around a little between whaling on the punching bag. "Like, unfair."

Annie's outfit was also cute, she felt, but maternity chic was a different beast.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Oh, shut up," Summer countered. "You look too adorable to be pregnant."

The incredulous with TWINS!!! went unspoken.

"Besides," Summer put a little extra arch in her stretch as she lifted her arms and took a glance over her shoulder in an attempt to locate the best way to angle herself in regards to a certain gym owner's rounds about the place, "the sweat is meant to enhance the cuteness."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"If you don't mind!" Summer chirped back brightly. "I think I'm really starting to see some results, too, just look at these gains!"

Was mentioning that just an excuse to pull out some cute flexing poses to show off the definition in her arms she'd been noticing these past few weeks? No, actually. Well, yes,mostly, but, legit, Summer kinda loved the little guns she could see on their way to bazookas, so she was kind of just proud of herself, really. The posing was just bonus.

[sword_chocobro]

"Not even asking for help," Gladio said, with a faintly apologetic chuckle and a lift of his hands as if already surrendering. "Just knowing when you stop or take it easy, especially before you get to the point of needing the help. Just, you know, it's important to listen to your body. And to the big lunk mansplaining that to you right now, but in my defense, I was a woman that one time, so, clearly, I'm an expert now."

He gave her another grin.

"But I'm definitely all for getting the most out of it while the gettin's still good."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Twins who were the size of limes this week, apparently! (Annie had also reached the stage of pregnancy where that chart routinely made her sort of hungry. Limes sounded great.)

"Strategic sweating," Annie observed, lifting her brows at that so, so subtle maneuvering. "It works for a certain demographic, for sure."

Gym owners, for example.

"Good weekend?" she prompted, raising her brows with an expectancy that probably signaled that she'd, like, heard radio and all that.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I don't think you get categorized as a mansplainer when you actively acknowledge in the moment you're doing it," Annie told him graciously, flashing a grin his way. "But I hear you, swearsies. The last thing I want is to have to get Will down here because I decided the babies aren't weighing me down and I find out some new limits the hard way."

That would be embarrassing, and Will didn't seem like the type to hold back from a big ol' doctor lecture, either.

"That being said, Diego and I totally fought a crazy scary samurai when I was, like, a month along," she shared, "and I already know I can't do that again." And not just because that samurai had been way too strong for either of them at full, non-pregnant power, too.

[grenadesandohana]

Steve caught Gladio on the treadmill and grinned. "Gotta admit that I don't see the appeal in running in place for an hour."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer grunted, at that, and followed it up with a roll of her eyes. "It was a weekend," she allowed, "that's for sure. A weekend I really should have been more prepared for, if I hadn't missed the prom-forest for all the prom-trees.

"What about you?"

Not gonna lie, she was a little curious if having actual prospective kids on the way somehow sort of meant you got a pass for certain things, like lambs blood on the weirdness door, or whatever.

[sword_chocobro]

"Yeah, well," Gladio grunted a little, "I figured, if my mind's trying to run off in all sorts of directions, might as well keep my body in place in the meantime, who knows where I'll end up then."

Then he quirked his chin at Steve.

"How's it going, man?"

[grenadesandohana]

"Pretty good," Steve said. "I had a visitor this weekend, so my workout schedule got a little out of whack."

And the visitor messed with his brain, so he needed a longer workout to stabilize. Normal things, right?

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You know, I was half-expecting them to show up and act all weird about how I'm pregnant with them, because that's the kind of thing they'd find hilarious in past years," Annie admitted, "but no, we got skipped. Maybe the island decided we've had enough alternate-universe kids for awhile."

Stanley was kind of a different thing, but still. She'd already done the weirdo stepmom thing in recent memory.

"At least," she added, in light of all that prom-forest and prom-trees and whatnot, "it's only a weekend, right?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Yeah," said Summer. "I guess you guys did get sort of the preview-pass with a side buffet of added apocalypse this year, huh? And honestly, I'm just glad none of them were giants or catboys or Radchaai this year."

She had such a low bar.

"I did," she revealed, because this was Annie, "name of them Casserole, though, apparently!"

Summer, you'd had a blood disease, a holiday pun, Seth Smith-Sith, and a Naruto. Don't even act surprised.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Well," Annie said slowly, digesting (bah dum tss) that information. "I'm feeling pretty confident in my baby name choices, now. Dude, I can't believe you topped Holly Ween, that's amazing."

And also very, very Summer, to have a child named Casserole.

"Poor kid, though. Imagine having to answer to Casserole in rollcall at school." It was bad enough growing up and having to correct Rebeccas whenever she had a sub.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Those are cute," Annie offered, catching sight of Nell's skirty-pants and giving an appreciative nod and smile. She could, for what it was worth, appreciate a need for modesty more than a lot of modern women, and now she was sort of considering whether leggings were the best choice for her moving forward as her body kept (persistently and frustratingly but also amazingly) changing by the week.