Atlas Gym; Tuesday [08/15].

[sword_chocobro]

It felt good to be back in the gym again that Tuesday, and to see the staff again, and to learn that, in his absence, there had been no major issues with the equipment or anything like that, but the best thing at all with getting back to the gym was seeing the Cup Noodle^TM claw machine being an actual Cup Noodle^TM claw machine, which brought enough relief to see that he almost wanted to hug the damn thing.

He was just going to try to fish out some of the wasabi-flavored ones that had shown up in there.

Sure, he could just unlock the case and grab them, but kind of defeated the point, didn't it? Where was the fun in that?

Atlas is open!

Comments

[somethingwithturquoise]

Since the procurement of cute and eclectic workout gear had not exactly been high on Summer's priority list last week, her outfit today was a little standard and subpar, but certainly functional and something she was still rocking out, thank you. Besides, it sort of came with an accessory today, too, as she and Stark had shown up together, since, well, they were coming from the same place.

And that was clearly no excuse to miss workout day!

[sword_chocobro]

Arriving together was dully noted, but not commented on, and, if he were expected to give an opinion at some point, Gladio would likely just faintly smirk and emphasize that friends who gym-bro'd together, stayed together, right?

He did, however, have not one, but three stickers for Summer, to make up for the lost weeks, with an approving nod.

"Sonja said you didn't miss a beat this month. Good job."

[stykera]

Stark thought the outfit was nice! He might have been a little biased. Just a tiny bit. He was also perfectly content to be an accessory.

He did want to make sure he gave Summer some space, in case it was needed, but for the moment he was going to stay at least nearby.

But he wasn't letting house-induced trauma keep him from working out. He wanted his sticker and he wanted to do something that would distract him and he wanted to check in with Gladio.

[sword_chocobro]

Well, it had been Gladio who had been slacking off on the stickers these last couple weeks, so Stark was getting three passed on over to him now, too.

"Stark," he nodded. "How're you doing?"

It was a little strange, since the last time they saw each other, really, had been in the house...and Gladio still wasn't entirely sure that had even been real.

[stykera]

"Much better than I was," Stark said, glancing over at Summer with a ridiculous grin on his face which he very quickly tried to remove as he stuck all 3 of his stickers on his shirt. "And you? You look better than the last time. You're all right? After...all of it?"

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio followed that glance with a snort and a shake of his head, because, well, yeah. He knew the feeling.

"And yeah," he nodded. "I'm doing okay. Still a little...weird sometimes, you know? Like I keep still expecting things to take that sharp turn, like the place just really figured out the whole 'luring you into a sense of false security' thing so good that we won't know until the rug's pulled out from underneath us and our asses are all on the floor. But I think..." There was a small hesitation, but Stark had been in there, too, he'd totally get it, right? "...I think we're good. Things feel....right again, you know? Everything there was always just slightly off, at least..."

[stykera]

Stark heard that snort and flashed Gladio a tiny sheepish smile before nodding more seriously.

"Things do feel right. Things feel...good. I think it's all done. For now."

He frowned now. "It's hard to sleep though. I...wake up a lot."

Sorry, Summer.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell might just have slipped in quietly and watched as he tried to get the wasabi Cup Noodle from the machine. "A little more to your left," she said with a smile.

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio's attention shifted, slightly, a little toward Nell and over his shoulder with a quirked eyebrow, but he shifted his strategy to apply the suggestion by going...

...apparently a little too little to the left, as the claw descended into pile of Cup Noodle^TM, just skirted the side, and came up empty.

"I call sabotage," Gladio decided, turning toward Nell with a look that was maybe slightly too amused to really be accusing.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell gave him her best innocent look. "I didn't mention that I reprogrammed the machine to thwart you at every turn? Oh dear."

Yes, with her non-existent programming skills. Though she could have hired one of the raccoons.

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio took a moment to glance at the small tower of previous obtained Cup Noodle^TM sitting on the reception desk, then looked back to Nell.

"You know," he said, "I was thinking it felt a little off, but here I figuredt it was just that I was out of practice. Knew I should've suspected foul play instead."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell put up her hands helplessly. "Disappear for two weeks and strange things happen. What can I say?"