For Grace - backdated to Monday afternoon

[cutslikeaspade]

The last Card exited the gym and Ethan took a moment to catch his breath, guzzle a bottle of water and mop his drenched face and neck, then plunked down on one of the benches and checked his watch. Almost four-thirty. He'd told Grace to meet him here then to begin her "training", or at least her education in the world of self-defense

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[dazzlingclarity]

Dressed in sweats, hair in a ponytail, she tentatively made her way down the stairs and towards the gym she'd been directed to. While she was eager to begin her training, the idea of being struck at - even to help her - had her stomach twisting slightly.

Entering the gym, she looked around, spotting Ethan quickly enough. Her brow quirked slightly. Well, he was certainly limber. "Two of Diamonds reporting for pummeling duty, Sir Spade."

[cutslikeaspade]

Ethan had to snort a chuckle at her announcement, straightening with a slight crack of tendon that had him rolling the offending shoulder as he turned around and smiled a greeting.

"'Pummeling', m'lady Diamond? Surely not. Well," he amended with a shrug, "not this early in the lesson plan." He waved an inviting hand. "C'mon in, do ya some warmups."

[dazzlingclarity]

Dropping her towel and water on a free bench, she found a place on the mat and began to run through the light warm-up stretching exercises she used before a performance. "You look like you've been at this for a while. Are you sure you're up for possible frustration at my complete ineptness?"

[cutslikeaspade]

About as limber as he was going to get this afternoon and still be able to stand upright entirely, Ethan simply moved to lean against one of the standing target dummies across from the floor mats. He crossed his arms comfortably and shrugged, saying, "A few hours. Doing a few workouts with the lower Cards."

To her question, he shook his head and laughed a bit. "Not at all. It'll probably be a wonderful refresher, actually. Not having to keep my guard up at every. Single. Moment." Because even "friendly" workouts were tense with more than two Spades in any confined space.