2017-12-31 - A Question of Circumstances

It's early morning and the gym isn't open. Yet through the slatted windows the blonde in a single-piece black leotard, apparently selected to be two sizes too small, along with the usual elbow, knee, and footbads, plus the leather anti-abrasion half-gloves, is hard at work. Close-in work on the wooden Wing Chun dummies, followed by distance work with foot and fist on the punching bags followed by agility exercises before returning to the dummies in an endless circular. She's obviously been at it a while, given the sweat staining the leotard in patches around her body and causing her hair to string and stick to her back.

A few early morning street dwellers are watching the show.

Early Morning is relative for some, The Mage was in Gotham a little hung over. He had ate some breakfast in old gotham, played a few hands of poker in the narrows, Almost never got stabbed. Figuring it would be a waste to head back to the big-city, he would hang out and wait for the gym to open, and there is crowd at the windows.. wait that is not good. Looking inside he can see why "Of course" he mutter rubbing the bridge of his nose before banging on the door. "Dinah! Come on open up, its cold as the grave out here" he shouts, bang bang bang.

Todd is the type to sneak in, even if he has keys. Particularly when he sees Dinah's busy with a workout. Given his upbringing, he tends to be hesitant about interrupting people when they're doing something. Particularly when it's something they're particularly intense about. Thankfully Dinah's too-small outfit doesn't have an affect on him, so he won't be staring. People can feel when they're being stared at.

So yeah. Todd is sneaking in, as a shadow, underneath a door. Though it doesn't look like he's going to be the one doing the interrupting. Once he's in, he turns first back to his three-dimensional shadow form, and then to his normal human form. "Want me to get that?" he asks.

Dinah spins in surprise, interrupting her routine in a way that involves a kick suddenly taking a speed bag off its mount and sending it flying across the gym. At Todd.

That's some kick.

"Oh, shit, Todd!" she says, adding, as the bag connects--hard--with the wall next to Todd's head, "Oh, man, I'm sorry. You surprised me."

She eyes the door, spots Grim, grins maliciously. "Wanna leave him out there with the winos a bit?" she asks, heading toward the door. "I mean they've had the floor show, so maybe he can be the main act?"

She unlocks the door.

"C'mon in Janus." Then, "Enjoy the show boys?"

"Yeah Thanks Dinah. Your audience seems rather pleased. Been at it long?" he says coming inside from the cold. "If I didn't think the Champ would knock my head off its block.. You know doors are optional for some" he says with a shake of his his coat before looking at Todd with a nod. He heads back into the locker room pauses at the entrance asking "You don't mind if I join you right?" before going into the locker-room, a little bit of time, sound of a shower, he comes back out in proper gym attire and not smelling like the narrows and wharf.

"So whats on the agenda today" he says rubbing his shoulder with a towel.

"Gah!" On instinct Todd jumps back, sort of merging with the wall again as a shadow. Fortunately to the onlookers, it just looks like he jumped back BEHIND the wall. He's still a shadow on the other side of where the bag connects though. Fortunately. He slides back around the wall so he can peel himself off it and change back to normal (again) without the onlookers seeing. "S-sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." He frowns a bit at the suggestion. "I wouldn't -- winos aside, it's cold."

He offers a wave at Grim as the door opens. "Morning," he greets, with a smile. He's not sure the question about joining was directed at him -- it probably wasn't, since he wasn't doing anything -- so he keeps quiet on that. Though he's also not sure if the question of agendas is directed at him. So he just shrugs. "I've got some stuff to handle with maintenance. I need to replace that bag." Dinah can answer for herself, she's a big girl.

"I'll do the bag, Todd. My bad, not yours. I'm on a hair trigger and that's not your problem."

"Been at it for a couple hours now, Janus. I've been training so hard for one opponent I embarrassed myself badly with Ted in a spar. I've gotta get back to an all-rounder in style." Not mentioned: the subsequent humiliation. That's best kept private.

"So the choice was the gym or I go out to biker bars again. Ted and Ollie both frown on my hobby of trashing those, and besides, the gym is tougher."

"If the agenda is keeping things in order, with Dinah here. Ted isn't paying you enough" he says to Todd, before tossing the towel into the towel bin. "You should be in great form, skills should be polished, muscles in good shape? You sure just isn't a little up here." he says pointing to his head before adding "I'm sure the bikers aren't too fond of it either.". "I'd say you have called me, but I know what your answer is already" he says looking at the available options with a curved grimace. "This headache just won't away" he says pinching the bridge of his nose.

Todd tilts his head. "You sure? Sounds like you just need to work out some frustration." Sheepishly, he adds, "And it's not wholly your fault; I did sneak up on you. So..." He trails off. Grim's words about keeping things in order get a snicker. "I do what I can," he notes, sticking his hands in his pockets. The mention of a hedache gets a concerned look. "Oh... are you all right?" he asks.

"Problem is," Dinah says as she grabs the bag. She pauses. "Uh, Todd, I'm REALLY sorry man. I'll fix the bag, but ... I really don't know how to repair drywall."

She gestures to the distinct dent she left in the drywall from the flying speed bag.

"I mean I'm talented and gorgeous and all that crap, but ... drywall? That's for overweight men with no more than three brain cells. You may have to hire someone -- I'm pretty sure you're overqualified for the job too."

"Yeah so... I focused way too much on close-in work when dealing with our blue friend, 'cause that was the only way to survive him. And ... well ... going close in against Ted verges on suicide. I've gotta switch back to all-rounder stuff."

She heads over to the front counter and picks up a bottle from behind the counter, tossing them Grim's way.

"Pop a couple of Advil and man up."

"You ever do something that was fun when it was happening, but you pay for it later?" he sighs " Yeah I'm fine" before looking at Dinah "Most Tradesmen are decent people you know." he says with a sneer. Her explanation "The Champ is a boxer, he excels at anything within arms reach. But I understand, it's your tactics" he says catching the bottle looking at her as he shakes it. "You do know me right? What do think would give me a headache that this" he shakes the bottle "Would help?" that does not seem to stop from opening it and taking two before tossing the bottle back. "But it can't hurt to try" he says.

Todd smirks a little at Dinah's words, and looks at the damage. "I don't mind fixing it," he notes. Then he jokes, "I have at least twice that many brain cells, it just means I'll get the job done twice as fast." Though he does frown a bit at the reaction to Grim's headache, but he doesn't speak up. Grim's explanation to Dinah of where the headache came from gets a nod. "Oh. That... makes sense," he notes.

"Uh, Janus, I didn't say they were bad people. I said they're not bright. In my experience being thick usually makes you more pleasant on the whole, some exceptions aside, naturally."

She shakes her head, chalking Grim's sensitivity up to his headache. "Yeah, I never thought of that," she frowns. "What the Hell did you do that gave you a headache you can't cure? I mean ... you've cured near-fatal..." She pauses, her eyes snapping up to Grim. "Who did you fuck with?" she asks quietly.

"See that is the can do attitude. Don't listen her." he says to Todd. "Ah, you mean jovial and simple" he says with a thumbs up. "It's just taking me awhile.. I went to some club the night before, Punk Rock Night. Dinah you would have had a great time." before he looks at her. "Why do you say it like that? Since when I do just rub people the wrong way?" all the time, all -the- time. "No one" he says defensively moving over to a speedbag to avoid answering and begins punching.

The defensive tone makes Todd pull back emotionally from the line of questioning, and he nods. Nope, not gonna ask about it! "I'll go get on fixing that wall," he says, and then offers a pleasant wave and a smile as he makes for the back of the gym. He'll probably need to run to the hardware store to pick up some drywall anyway.

"Janus, talk, now." Dinah's voice is no-nonsense as she inspects the bag's mount and its snapped bolts. "Shit..." she murmurs. "That was a bit showy..."

"Look, Janus, you've talked me through rough times when I did stupid things. Time to return the favour. What the fuck did you do and to whom did you do it? YOU of all people shouldn't be suffering from random headaches. WHAT. DID. YOU. DO!?"

"You do good work, Todd. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise" he says giving the guy a wave. It was his firm belief that it took a miracle to keep the building standing with it's popularity with the masks and tights crowd. Not to mention forces of nature like the blonde whirlwind he's looking at.

Well was looking at, his eyes center back on the bag sending a punch into and stopping as she points out the weakness in his strategy he stops the bag "I was pissed after the dojo, I ate like two tons of waffles, and I wanted to blow off some steam. And I drank a little, sorry Dinah." he says moving in her direction because shouting across the gym was not in anyones interest. "I met a Lady there, We've got a little history inside the mask. We ended up taking it a little too far. You know" he says rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You don't just walk away from Psionicist unscathed.." he says.

"Thanks!" Todd calls back to Grim as he heads into the back of the gym. Also Grim's about to talk about something personal, so it's probably a good idea to give the two of them some time to talk this out between them, whatever it is.

"Oh, shit. You messed with the powered who mess with mind. Yeah, that was not smart, Janus." Dinah's voice is more compassionate now that she's not irritated by his antics. "I try to avoid that crowd. They're usually not very nice people on top of everything else. Just ... promise me you stay away from those X psychos. Have you seen that crowd? They make me look disciplined and calm under fire."

She starts remounting the speed bag, fumbling around Ted's "random spare parts" drawer trying to find the right bolts. And something that can extract bent bolts.

"They're almost as bad as those Asgardian guys."

"I don't mind them; Most of them enjoy my company. I'm a closed book in a concert of static for them." then he shrugs "That has benefits when they like the silence" he moves over to help her "You want me to remove this?" he ask pointing at the bent bolt. "Hey Dinah, that is not fair. Mutants are humans too." he says before growing silent, it wasn't like she wasnt' wrong, they were impulsive and their powers were usually uncontrollable when they emerge unlike the meta crowd. "I probably have bigger things to worry about, cause I wasn't the only one who left worse for wear." then he chuckles "You literally just listed like everyone I associate with beyond yourself." he chuckles before stopping pinching his nose.

"Mutants are fine. It's the X crowd that bug me. They ... there's something broken about most of the ones I've met. I guess ... Pixie isn't broken except her taste in men? But otherwise ... wow. Have you seen them in action? They make me look like an old-school sergeant major."

At Janus' last quip she chuckles. "You have bad taste in friends. What can I say? They cause you nothing but grief."

"Mutants, Asgardians: Aesir and Vanir, Meta-Humans, Atlanteans, Space Aliens." He pauses "Now that I think about it.. You and Ollie are my only Human friends" then he thinks about that. "I have not seen them do anything. I hear about it from time to time. But I also hear that alligators live in the sewers.. so I am suspect about the information" He holds out a finger and small blast of energy wangs the bolt loose. He picks it up, he was pretty sure he saw a guy eating one these is there a snack box for him. "That is what good friends do, you share in their misery and joy. If you only got to pick that wouldn't make you a very good friend" he says taking the bolt over to the counter and just leaving it there.

"I'm ... uh ... meta, Janus," Dinah says. She flicks a slight dose of Cry at his posterior, a sonic ass-slap. "You think this is normal?" she asks with a wink. "But as far as I know, Ollie's all human. Don't let the laid-back thing fool you. That's just a whole lot of ..." She mimes smoking.

Beat.

"I kid. Ollie's too straight-laced for that. Booze is his vice, like mine used to be."

Mournful tone there.

"So ... just be more careful when mixing with that crowd. I'm the suicidally self-destructive one, remember?"

"Are you? I" and he is hit with a sonic slap, and he straighens up "You all the look the same to me?" then he chuckles at her "I always wondered why Green was his color" he jests before he can see her frown. "Ollie is a great guy, I feel like he might not approve of all the time I spent with his wife." he says with a nod. "You are too hard on yourself. I've been beside you during your worst and your best of late. I wouldn't call you suicidal or self-destructive. You love the thrill, and despite how much noise you talk. You care about others, the innocent, the public." then he stops turning to look at her with a look like Don't murder me, he clears his throat "Bolt's loose. I don't uh really cross their paths much." he says.

"Ollie trusts me," Dinah says. "Sometimes I think a little too much. Ted apparently wants to have a 'talk' with him about letting me go wild like I did. I made him promise not to harm anything below the waist; a bit of brain damage is fine though." Amused smirk. "But yes, it's that love of the thrill that has Ted all upset. He thinks I've taken it too far. He may be right."

"I see one of the instructors at the bar in Salem, He's a pretty level headed guy, even if he likes that harry potter non-sense. No accounting for taste there" then he brightens up "If she hasn't told you yet, Ciara bought a house up there. So I guess your warning might be prophetic" he says looking at the floor before he conversation snaps his gaze back to her. "Don't damage the goods. Heh" he chortles. "Well it's far beyond me to get into your family issues, Dinah. That much I have learned, but denying yourself to be who you are, is a crime greater. But I know they all want the best for you, finding the path that satisfies both will be the adventure." before looking at her "I know we're having a moment but it doesn't feel right without a sandwich in hand. How about we head back to training? This isn't a social club" he says before going about finding his routine again.

"Yeah, you're right. Conversations like this don't feel right without a handful of juicy meat to be stuffed in my mouth," Dinah says. "And I'm here to unlearn all that close-in crap, not babble, anyway." She turns back to the equipment, ratcheting in the speed bag she broke before starting into her routine again.