ArchivedLogs:Colourful Targets

Colourful Targets
Dramatis Personae Jax, Tian-shin
In Absentia	2015-04-12 "I'm working on getting more fangy myself."
Location <NYC> Harbor Commons - Fitness Room - Lower East Side
This exercise room is the epitome of 'intentional design'. It has been carefully crafted with the mutant physique in mind, which is saying a lot because physiques can vary so drastically these days. The room is a high-ceilinged cube allowing for extreme range of motion movements. And the walls are blissfully free of the floor-to-ceiling mirrors common in commercial gyms, having instead a couple of narrow mirrors off to the side if one needs to double check their form for a particular lift. Instead, the reinforced concrete walls are covered in resident paintings, the designs done in a graffiti style, changing over time as murals are modified or painted over. At the entrance one finds a few standard-looking treadmills and rowing machines for anyone needing an indoor cardio workout, from which the speed governors have been removed. They allow for anyone who would benefit from a more 'vigorous' pace, but they also operate perfectly well at more normal speeds. Past the machines, off to one side is a collection of large, rolled up mats to be deployed for light sparring sessions. A sign on the wall asks simply: Be gentle with our space! Further back in the space is a large collection of free weights lining the walls, dumbbells and bars with assorted plates. Most standard exercise machines would be too limiting for many mutants, but the free-weights can be used for any strength level. The room also features an expensive pair of shiny, Olympic class weight bars, capable of supporting up to a metric ton with a minimum of flex. Sitting with them is a matte black, custom-order bar rated to support four metric tons. On the wall near where the bars rest is a sign requesting: "Don't overweight the bars. Put away your plates when done." The weather has that ambivalent character more often attributed to March than April--bright and clear, warm in the sunlight but distinctly chilly in the shade. Inside, however, Tian-shin has worked up a sweat whipping about a pair of black kettlebells. She wears a close-fitting purple t-shirt with a big-eyed, big-eared cartoon bat emblazoned on the front, and black capris. Her hair she keeps bound up tight in a tight bun with no visible means of staying bound, and her sneakers look like they've splashed through a puddle of metallic rainbow paint. Or, more probably, they have spent some time in Tag's loving care. Jax looks like he's seen some of Tag's care, too. Not in his attire, maybe, but in his hair and goatee, its brilliant purple and blue shades dusted with a sheeny metallic silver that certainly wasn't achieved simply by hair dye. He's in black shorts, a grey Xavier's tee, black and silver sneakers. The tattoos on his arms and legs are faintly luminescent and also faintly mobile, pencils (perhaps somewhat jarringly) evidently worming their way in and out of his forearms, cartoon characters displaying considerably less body horror where they frolic against his shins. He stops just inside the door, head tipping slightly as he looks over Tian-shin, her swinging kettlebells reflected in the huge mirrored lenses of his sunglasses. Tian-shin finishes her set and returns the weights to their space on the rack. She picks up a big blue Nalgene bottle and a towel--the latter perhaps incongruously pretty for the purpose, decorated with a Chinese phoenix in rainbow colors flying amongst curls and drifts of flame. "Hello!" She drapes the towel over her shoulder and waves at Jax. "Oh wow!" Jax's face lights in a sudden smile. "Gosh, that's lovely --" He gestures towards the towel, a sudden flush in his cheeks. His fist lifts to circle his heart. "'pologies, I didn't mean t'stare. Or interrupt. Or stare -- wait I already said -- 'pologies. I jus' come to -- right, hi. Wait. Hi. 'pologies. I don't think we done met. Have we done met? I live here. Well not /here/ not like -- in the gym --" His blush is deepening, redder, darker. "...m'Jax," he mumbles, nose crinkling up. "No, we've never met, though I did recognize you." Tian-shin takes a long swig from her water bottle. "My brother talks about you...kind of a lot. I'm Tian-shin. Tag's sister." She shakes out the towel. "This is also his handiwork; he's been on a kick with fuzzy things, I think" Her smile flashes quick and bright, if a little thin, a little shy. "You didn't interrupt me, I was just finishing up." She sets down her bottle and stretches, one arm folded behind the back of her head and the opposing hand tugging at its elbow. "How's your day going?" "Oh!" The mention of Tag talking about him doesn't stop the blushing. It spreads, tinting the air around Jax with a faint pinkish glow. "Yeah, he done said. That you moved in, I mean. I mean /welcome/! S'good t'-- t'have you, I -- hope you're likin' it. I shoulda brung you some kinda welcome -- cookies or somethin', I jus' -- well I mean I brung cookies a few times since you been here I guess jus'. Never any welcome-cookies in /specific/." His brow furrows at this. Deep. Like it's a personal moral /failing/. "/Are/ you? Likin' it. Or settlin' in okay. Or -- or. Needin' -- anything. Not jus' cookies." "Wow." Tian-shin takes her own turn at staring when Jax's blush spreads past his skin and into the very air. "That's...probably reflexive for you, and I'm probably embarrassing you by finding it impressive." She shakes her arm out and stretches the other one. "Thank you! I have enjoyed the cookies, and certainly don't need /specific/ welcome cookies. I feel pretty welcome anyway." She shakes the other arm out too. "I love it here, the area, the people, the facilities..." This last with a nod at the free weighs near her. "I don't think I lack for anything; I'm still faintly nervous about our younger brother showing up again to pick a fight, but Dusk set it up so security will flag him if he comes." The smile grows a little thinner. "But thank you for asking." "It's -- it's a little reflexive, yeah, I --" Jax shrugs a shoulder, nose crinkling up. He glances around the gym, bouncing slightly on his toes. "Yeah. It's kinda great here, ain't it? Hive sorta -- outdid himself with awesome. He's a little bit'a a genius, you know." The smile dims after this. "Are you ready for a fight?" "Hive? Yes, he is..." Tian-shin looks down, slender black eyebrows knitting pensively. "Pretty amazing guy. There are a lot of amazing people here." Then, even more soberly. "I'm preparing for one, but I'm not sure how ready I'll ever truly be to fight our little brother. I hope he thinks better of it, for both for his sake /and/ ours, and anyway I'd hate to bring any trouble here." "I don't suppose it could ever be pleasant. Havin' t'be ready t'fight family. Hopefully y'all can work things out." Jax's teeth scrape against his lower lip, clickng against his lip ring. "... /why/ does he want t' --" he cuts himself off with another (slightly air-pinkening) blush. "Wait, lo siento, that ain't -- really none'a my business at all." "No, I appreciate that you're concerned." Tian-shin also chews on her lower lip, sans piecing. "It's just...kind of a long story? The short version is that he hates mutants, but..." She shakes her head. "I don't know. He is a dangerous man, but maybe he'll come around and at least keep to his own loathing, leave us be." Shaking out her towel, she mops the sweat from her face. "I didn't mean to be a downer. I just worry about Tag, given he works back in our old neighborhood." "Oh --" Jax's nose wrinkles up again, head bowing to spill colourful hair down over his forehead. "One'a those." He brushes his fingers through his hair, pushing it back. "I hope he does. Come around, I mean. That kinda hate --" A small shiver ripples through him. "No, it's okay. I mean, that's -- heavy t'deal with. An' I did ask. An' I worry, too. About Tag. I guess 'bout you by extension, now. I guess 'bout /everyone/ what comes t'live here. But it's been pretty safe, so far. Considerin' how many of us we got here. Sorta a curse an' a blessing, y'know? Like paintin' a big target, but --" His teeth flash in a crooked grin. "A big target armed with fangs an' lasers." Tian-shin nods, draping the towel over her neck. "That kind of hate eats people up." This softly, unhappily. "I don't think he'll come after the other residents here. I think it's personal with us--old grudges piled on new ones. But then again, I never thought he'd lay hands on us, either, until he did." Jax's analogy, or perhaps his grin, coaxes a smile from her. "Big /colorful/ target! I do feel much safer here, as much for the sense of community as the fangs and lasers, but those certainly don't hurt. I'm working on getting more fangy myself." "/Way/ colourful." This draws Jax's smile bigger; his hand drops to scrub against his multicoloured goatee. "We always make sure'a /that/. I mean if you gotta be a target y'may as well be a /stylish/ one, right?" This, at least, is cheerful. As is: "More fangy? How're you doin' that?" His cheeks are red again, though his smile is undimmed, when he adds: "You /know/ Dusk can't /actually/ spread the vampire thing, right? Not no matter /how/ much he done bite." "Well...I'm still coming around to this being-colorful thing," Tian-shin admits, looking down at her flashy rainbow sneakers with a smile both fond and rueful. "Oh, I didn't mean /literally/ fangy!" She blushes, as well, though the color does not show up quite so vividly on her skin, and certainly does not extend beyond it. "I meant learning to use my...powers." Half of her face scrunches up. "Wow, that still sounds weird. Joshua's been helping me with that." "Oh, good. There been a time or three where he done picked up a -- folks just got a midimpression -- an' he /do/ get real, uh. Bitey." Jax's expression lights -- once again, here, as vividly as his blushing, a softly luminescent glow flushing around his skin. "Joshua? Oh, excellent. He'll be -- he's great. He's got lots'a -- I mean, he do this a whole -- I mean, I'm sure he'll be so helpful, is that going -- good? Well? I jus' wish there was resources out there for, like, a whole /school/ of Joshuas." Tian-shin cocks her head at Jax. "I'm sure Dusk picks up a lot of people even without the ah...biting." She flushes even deeper red, but also quirks up a corner of her mouth, a fey smile that magnifies her minor resemblance to her elder brother for just a moment. "Oh, yes, Joshua has been worlds of help, and I agree with you. Though really..." Her head tilts in the other direction, more thoughtful now than quizzical. ".../any/ kind of organized mentoring system at all would be better than none, even if the mentors lack Joshua's gift. This mutant rights advocacy group I run with provides some informal mutual aid for ability management in one of their subgroups, and there must be others out there. What we need is better networking and better information dissemination for people searching for resources." She chuckles. "Sorry. rambling. Um, I should--let you get to your workout, probably!" "Hmm." This just puts a thoughtful look on Jax's face. "Yeah. Better networking would be -- hm." He shakes his head quickly, looking across to the weight bars. "Oh, gosh. /Right/. I come here for a reason I nearabout forgot. Was nice meetin' you, Tian-shin. M'sure I'll see you around." He lifts his hand -- a large silver-trimmed black Stetson appears on his head just long enough for him to tip it to her before the hat vanishes in a shimmer of silvery light. Trotting across the room, he starts to slide weights onto the bar to get himself set up. "Nice to meet you, Jax." Tian-shin has no emphemeral hat to tip--though the appearance of Jax's draws from her a brief expression of childlike delight--but she bows deeply. "See you around, and enjoy your workout!" With that she ambles out with water bottle swinging easily at her side.