Jan 07 23:05:47 106 PA
From Chronicles
Harry's Gym is, not surprisingly, owned by a retired athlete named Harry. 'Gym' in this case is actually a misnomer and 'Sports Facility' would be far more appropriate. Almost a whole block in size it features all sorts of different facilities for those who are interested in such things. They include a full size basket ball court and weight lifting room but the real showpieces of the facility are its huge pool and sparring rooms. Inside, the construction is extremely spartan with blue-painted cinder-block walls and old, faded red carpets on the floor. Near to the entrance there are seperate men and women's changing rooms with MDC-reinforced lockers. These rooms lead deeper into the facility and are kept very clean despite the large amount of people coming and going. Admission to Harry's is a surprisingly inexpensive twenty credits per month. On the other hand, there is no day pass.
It's evening. And it's cold. Pretty damn cold, actually. The windows out to the street are all fogged up from the heat and sweat on the inside of the gym. There are a few people working out on the various bits and peices here and there. Vargus is off along the weight bench side, pushing a big chrome bar with some free-weights clamped onto the ends. Looks pretty normal, except that there is a big greenish bird perched in the center. Occasionally as he brings the bar down to his chest, he blows at the bird to try and get it to move. "...would you get your big metal ass off of the bar?" The bird chitters something and Vargus grumbles. "Yes, I know I'm lifting weights, but, you're freaking heavy...."
On the exercise mats, Sage has been part out of a workout group that's formed. Music had been playing as an instructor was taking a group made up largely of woman through moves that were a cross between aerobics, boxing and dance-like moves. With the hours drifting towards evening, the group begins to break up now that the music has been shut off and encouraging words have been spoken by the instructor. Taking up a towel, Sage dabs places that feel rather moist as she walks away from the exercise mat. A voice off in a neighbouring area grabs her attention as her gaze shifts to notice the man struggling with the metal bird on the weigh bar. An amused smile taking her lips as she begins to wander over.
Tirzah emerges from the locker room in a pair of snug stretchy pants and dainty wifebeater. Not exactly sure what she's going to work on without a sword she pauses to consider her options. Noticing a familiar face at the wrestling mats she heads over there. "Hey Foster." She says, greeting a lanky man not much larger than her who kind of has the wiry build that shows he can take an unusual level of punishment. On the mat two more burly men squirm in an effort for dominance.
Noticing the man's concentration as he struggles with the weigh that's only increased by the bird, Sage decides not to interrupt the concentration for the time being. Instead, she opts for dumbells rack where she takes up a pair of modest ones to begin doing curls alternating between arms to avoid losing track of the counts for each arm.
"Did I miss anything?" Tirzah asks Foster in a private tone while gesturing to the grappling occurring on the mat. "Nah just a cuddling match. A lot of missed opportunities on both sides because their both too stubborn to adapt. You could beat either of them, despite being smaller simply because you never let a slip go unpunished. Not that your delight in punishment always works out but you get the idea." He explains and Tirzah nods. Smirking faintly, she recalls the first time she came to try out wrestling and Foster offered 'to go easy on her'.
When she gets into a rhythm with her curls, Sage lets her gaze drift around the room. Her gaze eventually falls on the redhead. A small smile comes to her lips, letting her mind slip into the other woman's mind leaving an impression of greeting behind. Gently in case the conversation she is involved in is important. Her gaze shifts briefly to the men grappling on the map. She doesn't really understand the finer points of the sport, and soon looks back to the redhead.
Waiting for the mat to be clear anyway Tirzah has no difficulty turning away to scan the room when she feels Sage's welcoming presence in her mind. Flushing slightly from the intrusion she eventually spots her by the weights and shoots her a mischievous smirk. Not feeling Sage's presence lingering there she simply waves, her thoughts unheard for now.
Vargus finishes his set and squirms out from under the bar and sits up on the bench, panting quite a bit. He turns and glares at the eagle, "Oh you think that's funny do you? Bah..." he gets up and wipes down the bench and the bar then flips the end of the towel at the bird, who doesn't seem to notice the attack at all. The end of the towel is now shreaded quite a bit, however. Vargus looks at the cloth and frowns. "You know it's really not fair that you're so blasted tough. You know that, don't you?" The bird turns and cocks an eye at the human. It doesn't seem to care.
Content with leaving the other woman's thoughts after the greeting, Sage pauses in her weigh lifting as she notices the redhead begin to look for her. She sets one of the weighs down to return the wave, with a faint smile. She seems content to remain where she is for the time being before her gaze drifts back to the struggle between man and metal bird. "If I didn't have the sense that it could communicate with you... I might have begun to wonder about you..." She notes with a small measure of amusement, as she speaks over to Vargus.
Tirzah turns back to the mat and her flush dissipates, but not before getting notice. "Who's that?" Foster inquires, apparently paying more attention to her than she realized. "A friend." She replies simply, her flush' fade aborted. "Do all your friends give you that dreamy look?" he presses and she blushes fully. "No, most of them give me this one." She states and her eyes glow red as touches her link to fire, but does not draw. Foster stutters something a drops the topic, turning back to the mat as one of the men wrestling runs out of stamina to continue cuddling and gets pinned.
Vargus grumbles at his familiar and his ear quirks back and he turns toward Sage, "Eh... well. May not be that I can communicate with the beast. That's only possible with intelligent beings, after all." The last aimed at the bird itself, although it isn't paying attention again and seems to be watching Tirzah's wrestling match, it's head tilted to one side. Seeing that he's ignored, Vargus looks back to Sage. "Eh, anyway... how've things with you been? Don't think I've seen you since before that expedition for the cat-man's comrades."
With her muscles begin to burn lightly with the repetitive motion of the dumbells, Sage pauses in her workout to set them aside for the time being. She gives an amused look as she glances to the bird before looking back to the man. "Ah..." she says with a teasing quality, as she rises to her feet. She gives a faint nod to his comment. "Yeah, its been a while." She comments, "I've been doing fairly well. And, looks like I'll be having my own quest that takes me away from the city soon enough." She says, "But, the Kesslan's trip went well enough. Ran into some odd creatures, but we were able to fight them off and find at least one of his comrades." She pauses, before turning the question back on him. "How have you been?"
"You up for a match." Tirzah challenges Foster in a hyped tone. "Um maybe another time." He replies shakily, still wierded out by her flash a moment ago. Sighing she shakes her head slowly before stalking off. "Alright." She says, notable disappointment in her tone as she walks back towards the lockers, missing her sword again. She gives Sage a kind smile as she walks by, but isn't one for weight training. Most of them outweigh her...
Vargus moves over to a bench near where Sage is working and plops down. He doesn't seem to have much of an endurance and he wasn't working with too much weight. He picks up a squeeze bottle and drains most of it in a few large gulps, nodding as he finishes the last swollow. "Ohhh, I've been fine. Well, for the most part. This damn fog keeps messing with my dimension sense. Been poking around, but, haven't been able to find anything out thus far." He leans back and stretches a bit. "...so where are you heading off to?"
As if reminded of her own thirst, Sage takes up her own water bottle to quench her momentary thirst. She gives a faint nod to the man's words, "Well, its good to hear that you've been well enough." She says, as she settles back down on the bench to take up the dumbells once more to begin working on the triceps this time. "But, perhaps you should stop trying to use your dimensional sense at night.." She muses softly, before the musing seems to fade away. "Seems to be getting worse now, though." She adds before somberly before shrugging it off as the man asks about her quest. "Oh... going to try recovering an important journal that seemed to be lefted behind when we moved here."
Vargus shrugs his shoulders dramatically, "Not that I have much of a choice in the matter. It just works." he blinks a bit and eyes Sage, "Oh, you're not all that far from where you started, are you? So it shouldn't be that far of a trek for you, huh?" He smirks a bit and pulls his bag over and zips it up. "Going solo? Or getting a group together for it?"
Sage chuckles softly as the man reveals that it just works, "Ah... like some of my own abilities then." She replies, before giving a lower key shrug than the man. "It will take a few days to get there, depending on conditions." She says, "But, I have an idea of who may be coming along... not sure who all will be able to make it, though." She purses her lips as she finally lowers the dumbells once more. "What have you been up to - if you don't mind my asking, of course."
Vargus tilts his head slightly to the side as he eyes Sage, "...didn't we already do this one? I haven't been up to a whole lot. Tried to find out some information about the fog messing with my dimensional sense, but haven't picked up on anything yet. Other then that, just going through the motions for the most part." Another shrug. "How far away was your village? There a nexus nearby, by chance?
Sage gives a good-natured smile and a shrug, "In terms of the fog, yes... but I was thinking you may have done something besides hide somewhere since the last time we met." She raises a brow with a sparkle of amusement entering her eyes. "If I had a map, I could show you..." She says, before pausing to raise a brow. "Why do you ask?"
"Ohhhh, just curious." Vargus replies. "If it's not all that far, I could fly out there to the nexus and teleport anyone you wanted to go to that point, wander into the village and then teleport back. Might have to wait a bit between trips, but, would be about a days rest in between."
"Oh..." Sage replies, getting a thoughtful expression as she considers that option. "I could do some figuring ... but, how far would you be able to fly out?" She asks, "And, what would people you teleport be able to bring?" She considers the man, as she waits for his answer.
Vargus shakes his head. "Weight isn't really a factor for the teleport. I can take probably around sixty people three hundred miles in one jump. But, it has to be from nexus-to-nexus, and I have to have been to both nexus points. Flight is just via jetpack, so I can cover a pretty good distance with just a few hours travel time. It's too bad not everyone has one, they're so damned convienient for travel."
Sage hms softly as she considers the man's offer of potential alternative travel arrangements. "Well, let me do some figuring... and I'll be able to let you know if its possible." She comments, rising from her seat. "Is there a good way to get word to you?" She asks, raising a brow faintly.
Vargus nods and reaches up to his pocket, which isn't there, since he isn't wearing his nromal rig. He reaches down to his bag, unzips it and roots around inside before coming back up with a card, which he hands to Sage. "Radio and local comm numbers are there, as well as room number in the Caraffe."
Sage reaches over to take the card to give it a quick look over before smiling softly to the man. "Thank you." She says softly, "Perhaps I'll even come up with other things to talk about for next time." She continues, "But, I should get ready to head out. Take care until we meet again." She concludes, waiting long enough for the man to answer before she turns and heads for the change rooms.
Vargus grins and nods his head in agreement. "Yeah, seems we're always talking about going places." He checks his chrono at the mention of time. "Oy, later then I thought. Yeah, see you next time..." He gives a wave and picks up his bag, heading back to the locker rooms. Tags: sage, tirzah, vargus
