Sisyphean Self-Maintenance

[Frozen Smoke]

((>tracert ParkerGreen.Pregame
2 | 78 ms 100 ms 86 ms Book of Sparrows█))

Parker had decided that this had been too ambitious on the third rep, but he'd kept going. He'd said, specifically, to himself that he was going to do 5 reps of the next weight up today. Not three, not four - five. So now, here he was, bar resting on his chest as he waited for his arms to feel the tiniest bit better so he could just force them up and claim victory of the task. The beat of Hot Pursuit by Tokyo Rose pumping through his earbuds feeling distinctly wrong as he concentrated on making his heart and breathing follow a deliberate, calm rhythm, but his hands being too occupied to change the track.

It was almost disappointing that unlike most of the guys who came here to lift from the school, the fact that his arms had failed him hadn't put his life at significant risk. That was just how little he could lift.

If he was going to be honest, he hated exercise. At least with cross country, he'd been able to get the necessity of it out whilst having the ability to think about something other than how much his body hurt doing it. It was almost relaxing. But after he'd messed up his leg, well, he'd had to find something else to do to stay in shape. Because, well, staying in shape was an important part of living a long life and he liked the idea of living a long life, so not staying in shape seemed counterproductive.

But fuck if it didn't feel useless to be lifting only a little bit more than he'd started with, and gaining pretty much nothing in muscle. He'd looked up all the guides and was taking all the things he could find recommended that didn't come with side effects or seemed super sketchy, mostly just the kind of supplements you'd shrug at someone taking. It did feel good to be on top of that sort of thing, but none of it was actually helping him progress towards his goal, which made this whole effort feel like wasted effort. It felt like he wasn't improving. It felt like he was failing.

And yet, here he was. Still doing it.

The brief moment of introspection was enough pause to give his arms time to recover, and he pushed the bar up with shaking arms and put it on the rack, making sure it didn't clang too loud as he put it down. He yanked on the cord to his earbuds, pulling them out of his ears so he could simply lie back and relax, a few beads of sweat rolling down his face as he stared at the ceiling, wondering if he should do something else or just call it quits here.

[backslash]

((Mercy Ames continued from Pretty Girl (420 Remix)))

La-la-la-la-la~

Something secret something something
Something something something
Something something hush
Mercy didn't know what any of these words meant in English~
Heart b-b-b-beat

Mercy mouthed along to the words to Red Velvet's "Russian Roulette", despite the fact that she didn't know what most of the words actually were. K-Pop got her pumped for the gym even if she didn't really know what it was saying. She'd looked up the English translation of the lyrics at some point, but she had forgotten most of it.

Today was a good energy day. She had MMA practice at the end of the week, and today just seemed like a good day to get some extra practice in with the school gym's punching bag. Even if she wasn't the best, everyone at the dojo should see that she had been putting in extra effort, right?

Even if she wasn't the best, Mercy just wanted everyone to acknowledge that she was trying. She wasn't going to wimp out.

She had entered the gym with the intent of making a beeline to the punching bag and going a few rounds, but was derailed pretty much immediately when she caught sight of Parker laying on the bench like a dead fish. For a split second, Mercy felt a jolt of fear that he might have actually hurt himself, but the weight bar was racked up all properly. Still though, there was nobody else in here. He should know better than to try out the benchpress all alone.

Mercy pulled her earbuds out and tucked her phone away in her gym bag, changing her trajectory to move to Parker's side instead of heading for the punching bag. "Hey, hey, are you lifting weights? You need a spotter."

[Frozen Smoke]

Parker lifted his head up awkwardly, looking down over himself and at the voice for a moment as he tried to identify who it was. One of... Beryl's friends, he thought. The name wasn't quite coming to him yet though. Best to just act as if he knew it and just avoid the topic until he did remember it. He slowly moved himself out from under the bar, arms feeling awkward without the weight compressing them now. He stood by the weight rack and held onto it for a moment to steady himself, legs still feeling shaky from the squat clean to press routine he'd done before.

He interjected as he moved, his voice changing tone a little with each small shift in position "Pretty sure that rule is intended for people who are lifting enough that they could actually hurt themselves." came his voice, trying to sound as dry as possible, accentuating his natural British accent for the associative effect. He was also proof positive that the rule wasn't enforced, as he'd seen many, many members of the sports teams working out alone when he ended up working out at some odd time. He had an odd amount of respect for them regarding that, at least they were dedicated to something, unlike most of the people in the school. Even if it was a completely useless ability in actuality.

He recognised that what he was lifting probably actually was enough to kill him if he dropped it on his throat. So, for optimal safety, he probably should have a spotter. But, well, he hated exercise enough and making it require scheduling with another person was adding an effort barrier to getting out there that he just didn't want to have to deal with. Beyond that, he also didn't really want to have to deal with someone seeing how pathetically he was doing at all this. It already irked him that he wasn't good at it, having people know about it would make that worse.

He looked at Mercy wonde-

That was her name, Mercy!

"Anyway, what are you up to, Health and Safety inspector Mercy? I just got finished with my workout here."

[Ruggahissy]

((Jonah Heartgrave continued from Walk Without Rhythm))

"Mhmm, so what were you thinking of instead? I'm game for anything if it gets us out of doing a boring essay," Jonah said to Morgan just before pushing down on the bar of the door leading to the school gym. He felt sheepish because he'd been distracted on the short walk and had taken more time than polite to respond to the first part of Morgan's pitch.

Inside the gym were two people. Jonah knew Mercy in a sort of casual way that one might know a storefront they saw everyday on their commute, but had never bothered to stop and go in. He had seen her over the years, but he hadn't really ever spoken to her at length. The other person was a boy that Jonah was considerably less familiar with, but after a quick study he concluded he'd seen him around. He swiveled and checked to see that Morgan was still with him.

[Cactus]

"No, totally. Like, fuck the essay, right? I don't have the energy to pound out another one. I just. Can't. Do. It." Morgan punctuated each of his last few words with a pronounced pause as he followed Jonah through the double-doors of the gym. This was not a particular area that he often found himself in; his less-than-admirable physique spoke to that, but it was just as well. Morgan's big mouth often made him an easy target for the walking slabs of beef that frequented these parts.

And he didn't plan to be the buns on anyone's sandwich, no thank you, very much.

((Morgan Dragosavich continued from Walk Without Rhythm))

Taking a quick scan of the room, he was relieved to find no one that might truly feel like shoving a dumbell down his throat - and hey, was that Parker over there? That was even more of a bonus. Coming to the gym and risking an encounter with the Bret Carters of the world was one thing, but actually seeing someone that he was reasonably friendly with in here was another all together. Parker Green was a good dude, if not a bit of an odd duck at times. So seeing him here rather than a ravenous gym-bro? It made the venture worthwhile. Not that he had voiced any opposition to Jonah's intent to find the owner of the sweater, it just... he couldn't imagine anyone doffing a sweater like the one Jonah was carrying to go and lift some weights.

"So I was thinking," Morgan started as he waved in Parker's direction, "that instead of writing the essay, which we're going to have to spend hours and hours researching shit, we take a trip out to the caves just outside of town. We take a few photos of some stuff in the caves, mock up a nice, fancy presentation and bang - not only are we out of an essay, we've got a shit-ton of points for initiative."

His attention turned to the second occupant of the gym, who his mind was now trying to place. Short, cute, and looked like she'd seen the inside of this place once or twice, and so - that's right, she was on the cheerleading squad. His stomach dropped a little. He'd dated a little bit within that group of people, as his shotgun dating approach had taken him to various corners of the social strata of the school, but never with a whole lot of success.

So he'd play it cool. Why not?

As he and Jonah approached the two gym-goers, he nodded to Parker as they got within earshot.

"Hey Parker, how's it going? Pumping some iron?" The incredibly poor Arnold Schwarzenegger impression notwithstanding, anyone with ears who'd been born in the twentieth century would have known where he was going with the gag. Aware of how bad the impression was, he flashed a grin at the two of them.

[backslash]

"Me? I was just going to go a few rounds with the punching bag, actually. Maybe go for a run out on the track afterwards if I've got the time." Mercy rested one hand on her hip as she looked up at Parker, now that he was standing. He looked a little wobbly. "You should drink some water before you get going again, or before you leave, anyway. You did bring some, right? It's easy to get dehydrated even if you're not doing anything that strenuous."

The gym did have a water fountain, but that was better for refilling your water bottle than trying to keep yourself hydrated all through a workout. Mercy could have imagined that Parker didn't even know there was a water fountain though, given how rarely he seemed to come by the gym. Maybe this was his first time ever? Benchpress might be a little ambitious for a first-time workout, but it also seemed like the kind of thing a guy would go for right away.

About on cue, though, further delays to Mercy's workout introduced themselves. She wasn't in a hurry, or anything, but she had kind of expected to get right into things while she was feeling pumped up. But hey, she could talk for a little while. It would be rude to just leave at this point.

Turning to Morgan and Jonah, Mercy flashed the latter a bright smile. "Hey Jonah! Morgan." Morgan was... somebody. He was a goofball and Mercy didn't know him that well, but she'd seen him around from time to time whenever he managed to briefly snag the attention of a girl on the squad. He seemed harmless, if a little annoying.

Jonah, though. Jonah was a sweetheart, hardworking, and really cute. She was glad that he seemed to be recovering so well from the sickness scare he'd had last year. The athletic department hadn't been the same during the months that he was gone. Mercy was always glad to see him around.

"You two looking to, uh... "pump some iron" too?" Mercy gave Morgan a slightly doubtful look; he seemed more likely to drop something and hurt himself than Parker did.

[Frozen Smoke]

Parker's eyes flicked away from contact with Mercy's as he saw another pair approach. One of them was a face he recognised distinctly, but had no name to attach to it. Mustang boy, who'd managed to fix himself up a damn respectable ride, despite not being part of the spoiled twats car club. Even if his parents had likely helped him afford it, he could respect the work that went into restoring something like that, and he had the kind of tactile dexterity in shop class that made him jealous. Thinking about it, he hadn't seen him around in a while. He wondered what was up with that for a moment before shrugging it off as irrelevant to the here and now.

The other voice and face on the other hand, belonged to someone who he did know. Morgan was someone who he'd often sit next to in classes he didn't need to pay too much attention to, because whilst the kid might not be reliable, he sure as hell was talkative. Normally Parker would consider that a bad thing, but he actually talked about interesting shit, like chemistry and the latest PC hardware. So many hours of dry humanities lectures had been ignored over the years in his company. He couldn't help but feel a little mocked by that Arnie impression though, given how little iron he was actually pumping. He took a moment to remind himself that that was just the way Morgan was, and that he probably didn't mean anything by it other than just making a corny pop culture reference, thinking for a second before responding.

He smiled back at Morgan, trying to take the joke in his stride. "Yeah, y'know, preppin' for my run at Governor of California." he replied, voice deadpan but with enough of a smirk on his face as he caught his eyes that he'd hopefully be able to tell that it was a joke. He turned his head to face Mercy as she reminded him of the dangers of dehydration, like a living school PSA. She really was out here to be the health and safety inspector, apparently. Or trying to make sure he didn't hurt himself, which he supposed was objectively a nice thing to do, but he couldn't help but feel he was being babied here. He was completely capable of looking up all this advice online himself, and whilst he might have felt a little light headed, that had nothing to do with dehydration. That was all just the hard work, he was pretty certain, and it'd pass after a few minutes of rest.

"Yeah, I've got some of those like, rehydration drinks in my locker." he lied, recalling the bottles he'd seen a few other sporty types use "Just completely blanked on getting one out before hand, you know how it is." he added by way of explanation for his current, bottle-less condition. Hopefully that'd be enough to placate her.

[Ruggahissy]

Jonah found himself smiling when Morgan mentioned his lack of enthusiasm for writing an essay. He could relate, but probably wouldn't have said something like that out loud. His eyes brightened at the sound of the idea and the smile widened, giving his face a kind of low-watt excitement.

"If you can sell the teacher on it, I'm in. We can get a poster board and we can take pictures. Maybe some other kids would want to come too," he replied.

The two workout buddies looked to them with their sudden entrance and Jonah smiled back at Mercy, brushing some of his hair back with his hand that was free of the sweater he was holding.

"What a nice smile," he said without thinking. Hoping that wasn't too awkward, Jonah turned to the boy.

"You should definitely hydrate, but if you're gonna be the next governor I'm afraid I'm going to need your qualifications. We found this sweater outside and were wondering if it belonged to anyone in here," he said, holding up the sweater. "Since we're doing a pretty good deed and I need to check you've got the right stuff for government office, I expect a gun show," he said, nodding gravely but looking mock-grave.

[Cactus]

Before he could restrain himself, Morgan was already laughing out loud at Mercy's inquiry, shaking his head with widened eyes. He didn't mean to do so in a mocking kind of way, but he couldn't help himself. As far as athletic types went, that didn't describe Morgan whatsoever. There were girls in the class that had more muscle mass than he did who weren't members of the Amazon basketball team or frequent gym-goers. Holding his arms out, he gestured to himself, containing his laughter for a moment.

"I'm afraid not. One doesn't manage to maintain this kind of physique without a strict avoidance of any and all gym-related activities. I can't put on too much weight, it'd fly in the face of my graduation trick - catching a strong breeze and flying away." He was in full jester-mode right now, a fact that he subconsciously knew was the result of the cute gym goer standing in front of him. It was a very typical track that his mind went. When in doubt? Self-deprecating humour was sometimes the way to roll.

Turning his attention momentarily back to Parker, he nodded at the boy as Jonah continued on with a few bad jokes and governator-ial puns of his own, holding up the sweater and explaining their reason for venturing into the testosterone-laden den of sweat and over-exaggerated grunting. "This," he moved his gaze to Mercy one more time, trying extremely hard to make eye contact and not obviously give her the elevator stare, "doesn't seem like it'd be any of yours, but Jonah's right. It's probably expensive, and who likes losing expensive shit?"

He shrugged.

"Besides, karma's only a bitch when you rub her the wrong way. I know I'd hope that if I lost something, as good a guy as ol' Jonah over here would be the one to find it. So what d'you say - either of your wardrobes feeling particularly light this afternoon?"

Morgan clapped Jonah on the shoulder, shooting the boy a grin. He was still over-posturing a little bit, trying to convey a sense of confidence in a place he felt totally out of place in. As he looked away from Jonah, back to Mercy and on to Parker, he allowed himself a quick glance.

Damn, she was cute.

[backslash]

A nice smile. She had a nice smile? Mercy wasn't sure she'd gotten a compliment like that from anyone other than old people at church before.

Her ears started to burn even as she shot Jonah another, smaller smile before turning her attention to the sweater in his hands. She even giggled a little at Morgan's joke; he was a clown, for sure.

"It's definitely not mine," she confirmed about the sweater. "Can't say it looks familiar." She didn't have much in her closet that was red, now that she thought about it. Didn't look good with her skin tone, in her opinion. Cooler and lighter colors were better.

She turned her gaze from Jonah and Morgan to Parker, who was still looking sweaty and tired, as expected. He'd gone and forgotten to even bring his drink with him, huh? Rookie mistake, she supposed. It was easy to underestimate how quickly you got dehydrated when you weren't used to working out. She'd remind him to grab it when he left, so that he didn't end up getting sick on his way home.

"I guess if you don't find whoever it belongs to, you can stop by the office and leave it at the Lost and Found," Mercy added as the thought occurred to her. She glanced back up at Morgan and Jonah's faces. Was Morgan looking at her? Well of course he was looking at her, they were talking to each other, but was he looking at her? It kind of seemed like he was, but that could just be her self-consciousness talking, feeding off of what she knew about his dating habits. She was probably projecting.

[Frozen Smoke]

Parker had to stop himself from rolling his eyes as Morgan used Mustang boy's compliment to launch into one of his typical flirting sessions, throwing out a little routine of self-deprecation to lighten the mood. Whilst he had to admit it had it's charms, and he certainly didn't doubt it's efficacy, Morgan already had his wingman in Mustang boy, who seemed to be happy to play along with it. There was no need for him to stick around to spectate, or be the third wheel.

Fourth wheel. Whatever.

He gave the sweater being presented to the two of them a cursory glance, but he already knew it wasn't his. He recognised what he owned, and he didn't own that. Still, he felt obliged to noted that he was not in fact, bereft of a sweater, even if the question was more directed at Mercy than him.

"Not mine, I wish I was Steve Jobs enough to pull the sweater look off." he noted in reply to their question, trying not to kill the jovial tone of the conversation for Morgan. He stayed silent after that response, mulling over options in his head as he nodded along distantly with the conversation, only half paying attention to it. He mostly just wanted to leave, because - well frankly, he had shit to do that was more rewarding than watching Morgan fail at hitting on a chick that was way out of his league - but he didn't want to leave a bad impression on anyone as he left his exit. Morgan was friendly, after all, and he'd rather keep it that way.

[Ruggahissy]

Jonah grimace-smiled at the mention of himself from Morgan, but the expression was knocked off him when he was clapped around the back. He winced a bit and looked back at Morgan with a short laugh. He stood up straighter and gave Parker a small two fingers salute from his temple.

"Anyone can pull off anything with the right attitude, I think. But yeah, I guess we'll keep looking. Thanks for helping out and sorry for interrupting your iron pumping!"

He waved a short wave to both of them. He'd wait a few extra seconds outside just in case Morgan wanted to (and was able to) collect Mercy's number.

((Jonah Heartgrave continued elsewhere))

[Cactus]

Morgan shrugged as both Mercy and Parker denied ownership of the wayward garment, and couldn't help but wonder if their little trek was more an exercise in futility than anything else. Nonetheless, he found himself turning back to Mercy, with the same stupid smile on his face, unable to form any thoughts of substance except for those which ruminated on her really rather cute visage. Thankfully for him, Jonah's exit snapped him out of his trance, and he looked back at Parker, who seemed more concerned with his workout than continuing any kind of chat.

In that case - it was probably time for him to depart.

"It, ah- you guys enjoy the rest of your workout! Have fun, Parker." Looking back to Mercy, he couldn't muster very much.

"I- we, uh, see you around!"

Ouch. It wasn't his smoothest exit, but my goodness, there was just something about a pretty girl working out that made Morgan's heart go aflutter. Not that he'd ever do it alongside of them, but he'd definitely stopped to watch the girl's yoga classes as he'd passed by before, and would have no particular qualms about doing it again. What guy didn't like a girl in yoga pants?

Managing a half-hearted wave, he turned and walked back towards the doors, trying to leave without seeming as though he'd ended up too flustered. He was deep in thought as he pushed the double doors op-

Oh no. OH NO. They were pull doors.

"For fuck sakes," he mumbled to himself as his shoulders sagged slightly in embarrassment. Adjusting his grip, he pulled the doors this time, flinging them open and basically running through them, only pausing for a moment to motion to collect the patiently waiting Jonah, heading off to wherever the search managed to pick up next.

((Morgan Dragosavich continued in The Red Sweater Conundrum))

[backslash]

Mercy couldn't keep herself from genuinely laughing a little at Morgan's struggle with the gym door. She wasn't sure if he was putting on a show or if it was an actual mistake, but there was a chance that it was the former so she only felt a little bad for laughing at him. He wasn't so bad in small doses, she supposed. What a goofball.

With Jonah and Morgan departed, she turned back to Parker with an absent smile. "...So! I'm gonna go punch stuff now, I guess. Don't forget to grab your drink out of your locker and rehydrate! It's getting pretty hot outside."

She turned away and headed to the back of the gym where the punching bag hung, calling a "See you later!" over her shoulder. She popped her earbuds back in after allowing enough time for a reply, flipping through her playlists on her phone until she found one that was appropriately pumped up.

Then, she let the punching bag have it. It put up a decent fight, but Mercy was undoubtedly the one who came out on top.

((Mercy Ames continued in High-Flying))

[Frozen Smoke]

Parker looked away from Morgan as he struggled with the mechanics of opening a door, pressing his mouth into a tight, firm line to stop the corners of his mouth twisting into a smile. He could give him the courtesy of pretending he hadn't noticed, at least. It seemed Mercy wasn't quite willing to do that, as a few peels of laughter escaped her. Before turning to him and announcing her plans to go hit things - presumably as a workout, not as a forewarning of her being about to go assault someone. Though perhaps it helped her not do the latter, after all, that was supposed to be a benefit of working out - having a place to work out your frustrations.

As quickly as it had came however, the storm of social interaction subsided, and he was left with only Mercy's farewell to contend with. He offered her a half-hearted wave that was more out of habit than effect, as her back was already turned, adding a simple "Peace" in response. She'd believed his white lie at least, unless mentioning that was intended to hint that she didn't find his story believable. He pondered which of those was more likely for a moment, before shrugging it off. It wasn't like it mattered anyway, she was already walking away with her earbuds in. He did wonder why she seemed to be so insistent on him taking care of himself though, trying to make sure he hydrated, worrying about him lifting rather pitiful weights on his own. She'd never struck him as a control freak before, but perhaps that just showed how little he knew of her.

He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment as he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to figure out what to do next and clear his mind of all the thoughts that that little distraction had stirred up. He took a few breaths, and made the decision to begin unwinding the nuts that held the grey plated metal weights that hung on the bar in place. He wouldn't be able to squat clean and press this heavier weight, he was fairly sure of that - But he could work up to doing more reps than before. That would be something, at least.

He made a note to stop by the water fountain before he started though. Just because Mercy's advice had been annoying, didn't mean it was wrong.

((Parker Green - GOTO thread/Exodia Destroys- Wait, this isn't right█))