Vaulting

[AnimeDutchess†]

It was a simple routine. Run towards the jumping board, use its spring as leverage, plant your hands on the horse, and you were posing on the mat before you knew it.

Sable Ruthers was used to it. She'd been doing gymnastics since she could walk. But still...

Coming back to it after three years was tough.

Sable stumbled a bit on the landing, but nevertheless, she posed, her chin high and face neutral. The gym was presently empty, but that didn't bother her. In fact, it was quite nice. No one there to nitpick her stance.

She took a deep breath before letting her pose fall, and slowly walked back around to the other side of the vaulting area. I should get in a few more of these...

[GameMaker†]

Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down.

Lifting was simple repetition. You didn't have to think. You didn't have to remember things you didn't want to. All you had to do was keep on lifting the weight.

There was no one at the gym- at least not in the weight room. It was a rarity, but it was the way JJ Sturn liked it. No one to stare at him, no one to point at him and whisper behind his back. Not all of them did, he knew- most of them ignored him. But the ones that did were near unbearable.

It wasn't as if he didn't deserve it- he did. Anybody who knew what JJ had done knew that he deserved it. Of course, that knowledge only served to make things worse, not better.

Things had changed for him a lot recently, but one of the things that hadn't changed was his love of weight lifting. It had always been a passion for him, one of the staples of his whole life. He loved the self improvement, he loved the fact that it took away all your other thoughts... and of course, he loved that he was good at it.

JJ racked the weight, and got up from the bench. He'd have to go home soon, he knew- he had homework to do, and besides he was getting tired. As he walked to the locker room to pick up his bag and change, he heard someone in the gym. Practicing some sport, he knew. Alone, like he was.

At the door, he watched as a skinny red haired girl landed into a gymnastic pose. He cracked a smile in spite of himself, watching the pride, happiness, and determination on his face. He had been like that once... but now he had changed, and he doubted if he would ever be like that again. He knew the girl a little bit, he thought... her first name was Sable, or something like that?

"You know, you're pretty good at this." said JJ, walking in through the door with a smile on his face. She was probably just going to give him a dirty look, or if she was a particularly courageous girl, a snide insult. But at this point, he didn't care. It had been pretty good, and he'd be damned if he'd go without saying anything.

"You're definitely better than me- I can barely jump into the air, let alone land like that." JJ grinned, and let out a little chuckle in spite of himself. Even if she did simply give him the cold shoulder, he would at least have a little fun today.

[AnimeDutchess†]

"Nn?" Sable looked towards the voice, and saw a guy. A big guy. His name was JJ, right? Yes, that was it...she'd seen him around.

Had she been who she used to be, her eyes would have widened, and she would start asking all kinds of questions, like, How did you get so ripped?

...Or something like that, anyway.

She just blinked, her eyes blank, and turned away. "Thanks," She said quietly, "And it's not that hard. The springboard does most of the work." She glanced back up at him. "Anyone could do it."

That had been the motto of her parent's old gymnastics school - Anyone Can Do It! Even with that school and those experiences in the past, Sable still believed it.

[landlocked†]

((Justin Corrigan continued from Watch the Sky.))

Fucking DONE!

It was difficult for Justin to put into words exactly how glad he was that school was out, but if he was forced to, he'd probably rank it below drug-induced-happniess, but definitely above most other kinds of happinesses. Gymnastics-team-winning-a-meet happiness miiight have ranked a little bit higher on the scale, but Justin didn't really take the time to plan the scale out very much. Either way, he knew he had to get some practice in before walking home, if only to stretch his limbs a bit after almost having them bored off of him.

He emerged from the locker room dressed in his usual gym attire, a plain white t-shirt and black gym shorts, and did a few breathing and stretching exercises in the corner. After all of the boring shit at school, it felt great. Justin would be the first to admit that the reason he joined the gymnastics team in middle school was because he liked the idea of impressing people with how flexible (Haha, oh god I keep doing that today...) and agile he was, but in recent years he found that concentrating on the physical challenge it presented was a great way for him to free his mind and calm down, and of course, the fact that it helped keep him in shape and looking good didn't hurt, either.

Finishing up his warm-up, Justin looked up to get a look at who he was sharing the gym with. It had been a while since Justin had seen Sable practicing - in fact, it seemed like she was avoiding the gym at all costs for a while - but it was good to see her in there again. The team would definitely benefit from having her. She didn't seem too happy about it, though, judging by the way she was looking at JJ. God knows I'd be happy if someone that looked like that was talking to me, Justin thought, smiling to himself a bit, and knowing JJ, I'm sure he's trying to find a way into her pants. Damn. Lucky her. Wanting to hear their conversation a little better without actually interrupting it, Justin moved to the other side of the gym, closer to the two of them, and prepared to practice on the balance beam a bit. He offered them a nod and a "Hey, guys," as he passed them.

[AnimeDutchess†]

"Oh, hey..." Sable turned and nodded towards Justin. He'd been on the team here longer than she had, and he was good. She could see that...anyone could. She then turned back to JJ. "Well? Did you want to try it or not?" She backed up a bit, giving the larger boy a better path to the springboard. Her voice was rather...flat, as if she didn't care if he tried it or not.

[GameMaker†]

"Hey, Justin." A nice kid, JJ knew. He'd seen him at parties a few times. From the looks Justin gave him, and the way he talked, JJ doubted Justin was one of the kids who thought he was an asshole. There were few of them, so it was always a pleasant experience to run into them.

"Well, did you want to try it or not?" JJ turned back to the red-haired girl, surprised. She actually expected him to do it? He was terrible at gymnastics... but he might as well try it. What's the worst that could happen?

"Sure, I'll give it a go." he said, smiling. He had seen her do the jump... he just had to do what she did. He ran at the mat, gaining speed as he went. He jumped onto the spring board, he was up into the air- and he was coming straight at the horse. His knee hit the side of it, and he fell down onto the mat.

"Ah, for fuck's sake!" The collision had hurt, and if there was one thing that JJ hadn't changed about himself, it was his cursing. He was used to cursing whenever something even remotely bad happened, and this was no different. The girl, though... she might think he was annoyed at her. He looked back and saw her standing there, looking at him.

"I'm sorry for cursing. It's just... I didn't expect that to happen." He gave her a bit of a goofy grin, and looked her straight in the eyes. His hand was on his knee, and it actually was hurting. "I told you I wasn't the best jumper, didn't I?"

[landlocked†]

Justin smiled at JJ bit as he climbed onto the balance beam, standing up straight and bending his legs a few times before doing a quick cartwheel across it. It wasn't especially challenging for him, but he didn't want to miss any of the conversation between him and Sable. It was always interesting to see how another guy played the flirting game, after all.

By the sound of it, however, that wasn't what JJ had in mind after all. For one thing, Sable definitely didn't seem too enthusiastic about having company - for Christ's sake, was she blind? But oddly enough, JJ seemed to just be making conversation. That was... unusual for him, to say the least. More unusual, however, was when he ran at the springboard and attempted to leap over the horse. Gymnastics wasn't his sport, was it? What the fuck? He completely abandoned the pretense of practicing, stopping and staring mid-beam as JJ proceeded to launch himself off of the springboard and slamming his leg into the horse - it was kind of like watching a train wreck. Justin couldn't stop himself from lacking at JJ's lack of grace, but that also didn't prevent him from unceremoniously hopping off of the beam and coming over to make sure he hadn't hurt himself too badly.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Justin asked, still laughing a bit, "Don't kill yourself!"

Seeing that JJ was smiling as well, Justin figured he must not have hurt himself too badly - in fact, he was joking around with Sable. Maybe he was trying to hit on her after all? "You all right? Sable, you trying to, like kill him or something?" he joked as well.

[AnimeDutchess†]

Sable winced when she saw how he lept off the springboard. Ooh, the form was all wrong...this wasn't going to end well...

And it didn't. JJ had banged his leg against the horse.

"Crap," She muttered under her breath, and for a moment, she felt like she was back in New York again, watching her gymmates in class tumble off or over the equipment. How aggrivated she had been then! It hadn't made any sense to her why they couldn't comprehend a simple move.

But she was older, and wiser, and much less inclined to an emotional response. She swiftly made her way over to JJ and kneeled down by him. "Yes, I suppose you did tell me. But you didn't actually have to go through with it." She then looked over at Justin when she heard his comment. "I just thought he might want to try. I didn't mean for him to get hurt."

[Order of Strife†]

Adam Tenser walked into the Gymnasium from the boy's changing room just in time to witness the hapless man crash into the piece of gymnastic equipment and then come piling down into a twisted heap of assorted body parts. Adam managed to make out a grin spread wide across the face of the man, and with the girl by his side and the other guy on the way Adam saw no need for any help on his own part so he merely tossed aside his bookbag and set about his routine. Adam didn't know any of these people, and for the most part he didn't care to know, but he did recognise some of them from around the school.

Adam pushed the thought of them out of his head, he had come here to practice his martial arts before heading home. Adam's choice of workout attire consisted of a set of simple black and white robes and a white belt tying them snugly to his frame. They were custom made, very comfortable and pretty durable. Adam began to practice a couple of the more basic punches and kicks to loosen himself up before moving on to the more advanced tiers.

[GameMaker†]

"Dude, what the fuck? Don't kill yourself!"

JJ got to a sitting position, grimacing a little at the pain in his knee. What the hell did they make those horses out of anyway, fucking bricks? Looking up, JJ saw that the voice was coming from Justin, who was standing over JJ.

"You all right? Sable, you trying to, like kill him or something?" It was a joke, JJ knew. Hell, anybody would've known that. Judging from the look on her face, though, and her response, it had gone right over Sable's head.

"Justin, of course she didn't." JJ said. "Trust me: with someone as stupid as me, I'm more than likely to do it myself." JJ grinned, and got to his feet slowly. "This will probably be my last adventure into the world of gymnastics, though."

As he got to a standing position, JJ looked at Justin, and saw him looking from Sable back to JJ. Is he thinking... You know he is. Justin thought he was hitting on her! Well what else would you expect him to think? Of course. It was him, JJ. After all, what other purpose would he have in talking to a girl than trying to get into her pants? Oh, don't fucking mope, you little pansy.

[Jonny†]

What Julian Avery needed right now was a distraction.

It was maybe two weeks ago when, in the course of a 5-mile practice run with the track team, Julian had busted his ankle. There was a tight street corner they were turning, and somebody bumped into someone who knocked into Julian who promptly fell wrong and sustained said minor injury. Granted, it probably wasn't nearly serious enough to actually be granted a term more scientific-sounding than "busted", but coach's policy was that all runners with injuries should work in the weight room until it fully healed. And since the ankle technically was hurting enough that it made Julian's running style visibly different, he'd have to work weights while everyone else ran.

Or, y'know, find a distraction.

Julian hated the repetitive, monotonous nature of the weight room, and especially the fact that he just wasn't going anywhere. Just sitting in the same place, making the same motion ten times, twenty times, thirty damn times. No weaving through the streets and parks of St. Paul, no overwhelming sense of fresh air and speed, just sitting there with that cold metal. Alone. Wow, thought Julian, I really do need a distraction, else I'm gonna turn into emo pretty damn soon.

Luckily, he was pretty good at finding them, as there was usually someone to talk to in the gym for at least part of the two hours he was supposed to lounge around. Getting to talk to people- pretty much any people- was a far better use of his time than that damn room, so he usually tried to get as much of it done as possible before the other guy realized that they probably did need to get going. Thus, Julian was pretty confident when he opened the gym door that he'd be able to find a suitable distraction, and sure enough, he immediately saw-

-wait, what was that guy's name again? Tenser? Aww Jesus Christ, that is some shit luck. Tenser was, in Julian's opinion, perhaps the worst type of person: one of those cold emotionless guys who'd just react all blank and weird no matter how hard you tried to make friends. And judging from the fancy punching he was doing in his bathrobe, the guy apparently did martial arts too. I hope to God he doesn't grow up to own a multinational corporation, cause if you stick that together with the creepy attitude and the kung fu, you got yourself a James Bond villain.

Thankfully, there were other people in the gym. There was, let's see... JJ Sturn, all wincing in pain for whatever reason, then Justin Corrigan, and... and... some girl. Little mousy, wide-eyed gymnast girl that wasn't into the whole social game... Christ, what was her name? Sam? Sabrina? Something with an S, so... Fuck it, he'd figure it out by the time it became necessary. He'd sure rather talk to them than Tenser, whom he was beginning to suspect may be a Terminator.

"JJ, my man!" he shouted genially as he walked over to the trio. Since the three of them seemed to find what was going on somewhat amusing, Julian set a grin on his face and chuckled. "Heya, Justin. What's this fool done to himself now?"

... Sadie? No, that wasn't it either.

[landlocked†]

Sable didn't seem too amused by JJ's fall - Jeez, what was stuck up her ass? But JJ himself seemed to be in pretty good spirits despite the seriously weird angle he'd fallen at. Too bad Sable wasn't into him. But then, injuring yourself probably wasn't the best way to look good in front of a girl. "Whatever, guys, but if JJ just drops dead all of a sudden, I'll know who to blame," he continued joking, "But really, don't try that again. Not gonna lie, you kind of suck."

As soon as he heard his name, Justin looked up. "Heya, Justin. What's this fool done to himself now?" Julian... he was a pretty cool guy, one of those guys everyone seemed to know, although Justin couldn't say that he knew him particularly well - he just saw him around all the time. "I dunno, I think he's got a death wish," he replied to Julian. Looking a bit behind him, Justin realized that someone else had joined them in the gym, too, in another corner. Adam Tenser - another guy he saw around a lot but didn't know particularly well. He kept some pretty strange company, though.

"You need a hand getting up?" Justin asked JJ, "You can't have fucked up that badly, right?"

[AnimeDutchess†]

Sable's eyes flickered to each new person as they arrived.

First, it was Adam Tenser. Adam was...well, no offense, but she thought he was weird. She was pretty strange herself, she knew, but this guy was...kinda off in his own world. Huston couldn't even get through to check if there was a problem with this guy.

Then, there was Julian. Everyone knew Julian on site; he was so gregarious, so involved with the world. Sable didn't know him that well, but she'd heard of him.

She turned her attention to the fallen JJ. "Do you need to see the nurse?" She asked, reaching a hand out to help him. "She should still be in her office. I think she goes home late."

Sable was sorry, she was. It just didn't show very much on her face. It was strange, though, that a little thing like her could fly through the air, but a big, strong guy like JJ could be taken down by an inanimate object. It didn't seem to match up at all.

[Order of Strife†]

Adam kept an eye on the surrounding environment as he did his stretching movements. Everyone glanced at him momentarily but for the most part didn't pay much attention to him.

I don't often do much training in public. I wonder if I can get some manner of reaction if I pretend to be a showoff. Adam thought to himself as he finished his stretching routine. Stopping for a second to examine the surrounding terrain, Adam took a deep breath and lightly jogged toward the wall on the other side of the gym. Picking up speed, Adam bent low and swiftly crossed the gym floor. Passing the group of people, Adam jumped and planted a foot on the matted wall. Adam used his remaining momentum to take another two full steps vertically before kicking off. Backflipping for one full rotation, Adam landed square on his feet.

Turning around and facing the group, Adam crossed his arms and leaned his head to the side. "I suppose you all should be thankful that there is a pair of pants underneath my sparring outfit. Anyone care to top that?"

[GameMaker†]

"Damn, you guys are making far too big of a deal about this." said JJ, standing up. "The school nurse? She'd slap a band aid on it and tell me to be on my way... and Julian, all I did was slip and hit my knee on this piece of equipment."

JJ stood up, and slapped the pommel horse. "It's not exactly life threatening." JJ was glad to see Julian here- he was a nice guy, and one of the few that actually thought JJ had changed. Of course he did come off as a little fake at times, but for JJ to condemn somebody because of a small fault like that would be complete hypocrisy. Coming off as a little fake wasn't near as bad as hittin-

No. Not here. JJ had enough time to think of stuff like that when he was alone. If he was in the company of friends, he might as well enjoy it. These times seldom came around all that often.

"I suppose you all should be thankful that there is a pair of pants underneath my sparring outfit. Anyone care to top that?" JJ watched as the kid performed a backflip off of the wall, and then landed and said that. A little arrogant, dude... And what the hell is your obsession with your pants? JJ briefly thought of saying something insulting to the kid, but then decided against it. No point in getting in a useless argument.

"Nah, I can't top that man... That was a pretty nice backflip." said JJ, hoping nothing false showed through his voice. The kid was probably just looking for attention, and JJ knew exactly what that felt like. "I can't even do a normal jump properly, let alone something like that.