A Kindling Rivalry

[Bare]

Finlay looked around as he entered the training facility provided by LAW to all its employees, the various machines, weights and other workout equipment shining both as a result of constant upkeep as well as with the aura of progress. For both the tech itself and the competitors using them to improve. As he looked around Finlay admittedly found himself out of his element, he was used to either working out with whatever he had on hand ir with beaten down, ‘old school’ equipment. So the shining, almost sterile envrionment he found himself in now would definitely take getting used too.

Shrugging his shoulders he shook his head of those thoughts, the equipment doesn’t matter, what it will does. Was the thought Finlay told himself as he meandered througb the training area. After a recent string of stinging losses he found himself wanting to train and improve himself as much as possible in whatever area he could. Hence him being here. His attire consisting of a sleeveless black fit shirt that clung to his body as a result of the fabric, with simple red gym shorts and matchint red and yellow sneakers, seemed to have drawn the gazes of some female occupants in the gym, and a occasional males as well.

Sighing to himself Finlay ignored it as he found what he was looking for. A simple bench with weights of varying sizes on a rack next to it for either sitting or standing reps. Reaching down he’d grab two dumbells that neared the limit of what he could normally lift. Grunting slightly as he hefted them off their place he turned and began lo lift each one up and down one arm at a time. Starting with perhaps the easiest, but in his mind the most relaxing work out.

[FinyBoy]

Today was a training day for Amy. She always tried so spend at least one day of the week working on weights, cardio, and other gym-related activities, simply just to keep herself in shape. She was young, and her body was in no danger of suffering from chronic pain, so she always tried to take advantage of that. She had been at this for about a good two hours or so when she finally got around to the weight benches.

She had chosen to wear a plain tank top and a pair of shorts for her tour of duty with this gym. She wasn't one for trying to attract attention, especially if she could help it. Many guys and girls often went to the gym fully with the intent to flirt or show off their body, but Amy wasn't interested in anything like that. As always, she was nothing but business.

That was the case, anyway, until she heard some familiar grunting coming from the bench next to her. Taking a break from her workout to peer over at the source of the noise, the blonde was surprised to see a familiar face.

"Oh! Finlay! Fancy seeing you here!"

[Bare]

As Finlay lifted the weights over and over he cleared his mind a d began thinking about his past matches, particularly the ones he had lost. He didn’t like losing, never have and never will, but he wasn’t a sore loser about it and he wouldn’t wallow in those defeats like a petty child. No instead he opted to think back and try to learn from what he did wrong and what he could have done better, how he could have turned those bouts around when they were at the razors edge of who could win or lose.

No other was at the fore front of his mind than his match against one Amy Henderson. It wasn’t the most embarassing loss, nor the most heated, quite the contrary he actually came out of that bout with great respect for the girl. But it was by far the closest match he had fought to date, the one that could have very easily ended in his favor if he got just one more move in. That small, very slight difference in potential outcome was stuck at the front of his mind like a pop song from the radio.

Blinking at the sudden call of a familiar chipper voice he looked up with a surprised expression. ‘Huh... speak of the devil..’ He thought to himself given the coincidence of literally having the blonde girl on his mind just before said girl spoke. Shrugging his shoulders though he nodded politely to her. ”Hello Amy good to see you. Getting a work out in as well?” He asked her in a stiff, albeit amicable tone, his lack of out of match social interacton shining through.

[FinyBoy]

Amy gave the other blonde a nice-sized smile. Despite the Kiwi's social awkwardness, the blonde girl didn't seem to notice, or at least wasn't drawing attention to it.

"Mmhmm! Can't really be slaking on a day off, you know? I end up feeling kind of bad when I squander a day like today. Then again, I wouldn't really call myself a gym fanatic either..." Amy caught herself rambling. "Anyway, it seems like you are having similar thoughts, if you're here, right? And how have you been?"

It wasn't like she was forcing herself to make conversation, but she felt bad just ignoring one of her toughest opponents as he was set up right next to her. She at least had to make some kind of small talk.

[Bare]

Despite feeling the awkwardness of such a unexpected meet up Finlay was doing his best to make conversation. After all Amy was one of the few people he seriously respected and appreciated among the people he met in LAW so far. Thud he would do his best to entertain the blonde, who for what it was worth didn’t notice any of afore mentioned awkwardness at all. Or if she had she certainly didn’t show it.

“I’ve been alright for the most part.” He said, though it wasn’t exactly true, he had been feeling frustrated due to a series of losses be had suffered, starting with Amy. But he was no sore loser, but it had motivated him to work harder, but he’d never admit such a thing to Amy. “As for having the same idea you could say that. I try to make it a habit of working out a few times a week. But I don’t normally ise official gyms like this.” He explained as he gestured with his head to the area around them.

If nothing else Amy certainly gave off a easy going aura that made her easy to talk too, his own social awkwardness aside as he explained his own situation to her, more articulately than he would habe thought. So if nothing else he definitely appreciated that aspect of Amy and would admit to liking being around her.

[FinyBoy]

"Well. I'm certainly glad to hear you aren't doing bad! Often times, I find that if I start feeling down on myself, it ends up spiraling out of control. So I do my best to stay positive."

Amy started focusing on her training regiment a little more. She needed to maximize her efficiency here.

"But you said you don't normally use official gyms. Is there some underground, black-market workout place that you usually use instead? Hehe!" Amy couldn't help but laugh a little at her own joke. She knew he didn't mean it that way, but she couldn't help herself from cracking the pun anyway. Something about him made her feel kind of comfortable to make jokes like that.

[Bare]

Finlay chuckled dryly at her pun, finding it genuinely funny to him as he temporarily set down the dumb bells and looked up at the female blonde. She really was a interesting person to him, not just for her strength but the general attitude she seemed to perpetually have and maintain. The fact she could illict a chuckle from him was proof enough that she could get through to him rather easily. ”Hehe... not exactly. I used to work out using pretty much whatever I could find around me in the city.” He explained to her before lifting the weights up again and continuing the process

[FinyBoy]

An improvisor, huh?

Amy thought that sounded like something someone in a comic book would do. It was kind of funny, really. Not in a bad way, per say, but more in an impressive way. Does that even make sense? Amy really didn't think so. Weird how her brain worked.

"So you bench-pressed a few trash cans here and there? Maybe even sparred with some homeless people?" Again, she meant it as a joke, accompanying it with a grin.

Seeing him pick up his weights again made her focus in on her own, putting some extra stamina into the exercise while she waited for his reply.

[Bare]

Finaly chuckled slightly at her response to what he said. He figured she wouldn’t quite get it but it was probably something pretty outside the norm. ”Not exactly. Think more along the lines of using flag poles for pull ups, flipping tires, and a lot of parkour.” He explained to her as he lifted and lowered his weights, aslo taking notice of Amy’s own chocie of weights. More specifically the weight number she chose

[FinyBoy]

"Oh, I see," she responded. It was definitely a unique training style, if she had ever heard of one.

The weights that Amy was using were single-hand dumbbells, taken from the rack behind her. They were the first ones that she picked out today. She seemed to be having almost no trouble doing reps with them. Perhaps she was using them as a warm up? Finlay wouldn't be able to totally tell, but what he could tell was the number that was labeled on the side of each dumbbell:

30 KG