| In Which Holly's Patootie Is Not Discussed | |||||
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| What: Roy and Don meet at a gym | |||||
It's late, so late that most of the restaurants, bars and the like have closed, leaving an insomniac Don with nothing to do but head for his gym, jogging the several blocks already dressed in his gym clothes, backpack slung over one shoulder as he scans his entry code at the door and heads into the locker room to stow his bag. Then, it's out toward the cardio equipment, the young man clearly intent on running off at least some of his energy.
The gym wasn't too far from where Lian and Roy lived. While Lian was capable enough of taking care of herself for just a few brief moments, Roy wasn't too eager to leave her alone, but there was just a few moments where he needed to get out for a bit. It wasn't as though chasing Lian wasn't good for cardio, but the oddity of running into a woman who apparently -knew- him and Lian... well, that had him thinking far too much than was good for his brain.
So burning off a bit of excess energy to prevent -thinking- was a good thing, and there Roy was, testing out the weight machines. "... bit late for you, isn't it?" greets Roy as he eyes the latecomer.
"Late, early... I can't really decide." Don flashes a smile at Roy, pausing to stretch before he steps onto the treadmill and fire it up at a low speed. "Personally, with classes starting soon, I find it impossible to get a good night's rest until I'm exhausted. If I exercise in the apartment, the neighbors will complain, so... Gym it is! How about you?"
"Too much thinking, can't make it stop" Roy grunts, as he tests the pull-up stations, before deciding to just go with it. Lifting his hands up and starting in on the chin-ups, Roy notes, "Got to do this here instead of waking up my daughter." There's a smirk. "'Course, got to get my thinking fixed before she wakes up and wonder where I've gone. And I decided to sign up earlier here." Mostly because there was a card with the gym's name on it, and because Lian was interested in the weekend events.
"My roommate got me a deal here, so..." Don shrugs with another smile, though there's a faint look of surprise at the mention of 'daughter' on his face. Not that there really should be, in this day and age... "Says if I spend all my time behind the computer or out in the park doing yoga, I'll never find someone interesting to date, and she's not going to live with me 'til I'm 80." He laughs at that, glancing over at Roy curiously. "How old's your daughter?"
"My daughter's five," Roy grins as he decides to go ahead and test the speed of his chin-ups. Mostly because the less he has to think, the better. He does slow down, though, long enough to eye Don. "Yoga? Huh. I tried that stuff once. Too slow for me. Gimme something I can hit hard."
Don Hall's speed has been steadily increasing until he's running at quite a decent pace, though he still doesn't seem winded. He may be on the thinner side, but he's definitely in good shape! "Now you sound like my roommate. She also hates Tai Chi and insists on eating her steaks nearly raw." There's another laugh, and then the treadmill is tilting back and speeding up just a touch more. "Aggression isn't good for the heart." Or the head, as Don well knows.
"But it's a lot more exciting," Roy laughs, as he drops the chin-ups after getting in his set quickly. "What's the point of extending your life another 5 years if you're going to live a quiet life?"
Crossing the area to the treadmills, Roy starts up and then falls in step. Yeah, definitely in good shape. "Besides, patience's an excuse to waste time."
"If I want excitement, I'll jog through Central Park after sundown!" Don responds, with another laugh. "I've just seen what too much aggression can do to a person, and intend to avoid it at all costs." There's a faint frown on his face for just a moment, and then he's smiling again. "There's a Chinese curse that goes something like 'May your life be exciting.' I think I'd like a quiet life... Not that I know what that's like, yet!"
"How can you not know? Your roommate keep you hopping?" Tilting his head, Roy shrugs. "Jogging through Central Park's not -too- bad, and it's certainly fun, at the least. There's something about the high of it..." Clicking a button, Roy aims for a quicker speed, as if to make a point about just going out for it. "Why not just join a monastery if you want a quiet life?"
"Holly's nuts." Don admits, shaking his head a little. "Thought about it. Dad would kill me. I'm already a 'long haired hippy liberal'." Don laughs, keeping at his steady but high speed. "You should have seen his face when I brought home a guy for the first time. He wasn't mad, just... so /confused/. I think I made it worse when I had a girlfriend after that."
"That's a commune, not a monastery, if your dad's so afraid of hippies. Can't talk, though, when you consider my guardian," Roy remarks as he falls in step. "Your roommate's named Holly? Funny, I met one the other day... she's the one who introduced me to this gym."
"It's all the same, to him. Trust me." Don shakes his head, but laughs. He's breaking a sweat now, at least. Luckily, Don doesn't HAVE to be in amazing shape for Dove to be. "Oh lord. About this tall, brown hair, Britishy?" He gestures for her approximate height, grinning now.
"Hnhh... well, confusion is normal, I guess, especially when you don't know what you want to be. Hell, I didn't know what I wanted to be till I got Lian, and then..." There's a brief moment, as Roy digests that, before nodding. "Yeah, actually. Uh... Holly Granger...?" The name was on the card, he wasn't too sure. "Just a bit shorter than me. You say she's nuts?"
"Yeah, that's her... and not chop you up and eat your soul crazy or anything like that, she's just very... aggressive and tends to be a go getter, I guess." Don shrugs, "Which, for me, is nuts. She and my brother used to go toe to toe in high school all the time. You'd think they were about to kill each other... but I couldn't tell if they were about to go to jail for murder or start tearing at each others' clothes. Knowing Hank, both." He wipes at his face with the towel, now, but still doesn't slow. "You're not... interested, are you?" One eyebrow raises ever so slightly, and there's a twinkle of mischief in Don's eyes.
"Hnhh... I don't know her well enough to say," Roy admits. "She seemed pretty ... not-aggressive at the time I met her." Jogging along, Roy grins at Don. "Although Lian liked her, so that's probably a plus. So you're her roommate she was talking about?"
"... Depends what she said about the roommate. Did she mention how gorgeous I am or that I'm an amazing cook?" Don asks, still grinning. "She's not like... ovaries to the wall aggressive, but when she gets mad, she likes to solve her problems with her fists, more often than not. It's... I don't know. I find myself comparing her to my brother a lot, so maybe I'm seeing Hank when I should be seeing Holly. It's... awkward, I guess."
"No, and ... no." Now Roy smirks. "Ovaries to the wall. Hell of an image. Now you've got me curious. Though this notion of beating up things..." There's a tilt of his head, and then Roy slows down the pace so that he can walk it off. "Yeah... you got issues with your brother or something? I mean, usually, if you needed roommates..."
Don Hall slows down to match pace. "Well, that's disappointing, I specifically told her to mention those qualities to anyone she discusses me with." Another grin... which turns into a distinctly neutral expression that just doesn't seem right on his face. "My brother left town not too long ago. Long story."
"Well she wasn't exactly discussing her roommate at the time, since she was busy with Lian." There was an eyeroll and a shrug. "Sorry about your brother, though. Holly's okay with all this?"
"... I suppose I'll forgive her. Children are pretty awesome... as long as you can give them back to mom or dad at the end of the day." He's smiling again. "Okay with what?"
"Sadly, she's stuck with me at the end of the day, unless I find babysitters for dates and stuff. Then again, if Lian doesn't like whoever I'm dating, she's gone." Cooling down, Roy glances at Don. "Well, about being compared to your brother. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."
"I haven't actually said a lot about it to her, but I think it's understood. I should probably be a grown up and talk to her about it, though." Don looks thoughtful about that last bit for a moment, working toward cool down himself. "Mostly good. Hank's just got some problems he needs to work out, I think. A lot of external forces were pushing at him... Holly's got a lot of the same going on."
"I know how that is. A lot of things getting to you, and then you just end up getting all... self-destructive. Takes a lot to get out of it." With a shake of his head, Roy presses the stop, and then closes towards nabbing himself a towel. "Don't tell me any more, though - it'll probably be better if she tells me herself, whenever. I don't know -why-, but women always seem to like it better when they're the first ones to tell you."
Don Hall keeps walking for a few more moments, before stopping his machine, as well, looking a good bit more relaxed now. "Women are strange and confusing creatures... Of course, so are men, so there's that." He begins toweling off his face and shoulders while heading in the general direction of the locker room.
"Hey, men're not that difficult to figure out. Food, boob tube, drink. Oh, and lots of grunting. However you produce it, doesn't matter." Now Roy dries his face off, and then follows. "Exceptions are guardians and parents. They always are."
One eyebrow raises again and Don has to bite his lower lip to keep from making a comment, eyes bright with mischief again. After a moment, he gains control over it and simply smiles. "I think we're a bit more complex than that... most of us, anyway."
"Shhh, don't spoil it," Roy grins, as he heads for his locker, reaching to pull out his bag. "Better to have low expectations and beat 'em than to give them high expectations."
"A pretty face can only get you so far in the world, and while you have one... I also get the sense that there's more to you than beer, boob tube and... grunting. Not that there's anything wrong with any of those activities." Don's bag is also removed from his locker, then slung over his shoulder. "It has definitely been an interesting work out. I'm Don by the way." He extends his hand.
"Hnhh... there's babes-scoping. Definitely babe-scoping." The smirk that crosses Roy's face is gratingly insincere, though, as though trying to distract Don from pondering further. "Roy Harper. I'm guessing we'll meet again."
Don Hall laughs and nods. "Especially if you decide to give chase to Holly. By the by, it's Hall, not Granger. My last name, that is. Her sister's also a Don. It gets a bit confusing." He starts heading toward the exit at that point, looking a lot more relaxed than when he came in.
"Right. Hank and Don Hall. Holly and Don Granger. You sure it's not destiny?" Now Roy laughs, as he changes shoes, and packs, intent on showering back at his place. "Later, Don. Say hi to Holly will you?"
"I certainly will." Don drops a wink before heading out the door, having much the same thought on showering. Home, with his own towels, and no need for flipflops for fear of foot fungi or worse.