⇒ 43

[whatialways_do]

Who: Max Guevara and OPEN
What: Beating ... the holy hell out of a punching bag.
When: Late Wednesday night, possibly early Thursday morning.
Where: The Gym
Rating: PG-13

Comments

[painhumbles]

Don't mind Gabriel. Just passing through... Narrowly avoiding being attacked by a rogue punching bag. This was one place he probably should've thought twice about poking his nose in, but he was here now and... Well, hot girl and a tube-shaped excuse for a conversation. Thank you, gods of badly constructed exercise equipment.

He whistled once. It was both a gesture of how impressed he was and something to get her attention (although far from being a catcall- he wasn't that much of a slob, thank you). "Wow. You really showed him whose boss. Y'know, I hear the microwave's been getting a little saucy- might wanna teach it a lesson too."

[whatialways_do]

Max turned on him like he was an idiot. "You new? The microwave gets blown up every other week."

It's a sad fact of Paradisan life that the microwave in the kitchen is abused by the people who don't know how to use it. Max knew at this point that it was too much to hope that people might have a little common sense to not poke the strange looking box with a penchant for exploding. It just wasn't going to happen.

[painhumbles]

"Guess it wasn't just because it didn't like my face," Gabriel said with a shrug. He paid attention to the local news- sort of. Microwaves + Idiots = Boom, blah, blah. He ought to send that into Mark- give the kid something to riff on, but microwaves weren't the important thing here.

"Few months strong," he added, casually, kicking at the bag. "Just not that interested in Don Quixote tilting at appliances."

[whatialways_do]

"Most people aren't," she said with a smirk. "Curiosity just got the better of them. It kills cats, ya know."

She picked up the punching bag easily with one hand, hauling it up by the chain and dragging it back to where it was anchored to the ceiling. Normally she would fix something like that herself, but she didn't have the tools and she wasn't in the mood to go get them. "A little help?" she muttered at the ceiling, and in the blink of an eye, the punching bag was reattached and swinging again.

[painhumbles]

"Probably literally," Gabriel added. He wouldn't put it past some of the people in this place not to try to put a cat in the microwave at some point. "There's some sick, sad people in this joint."

...And that was a display of strength that was both sexy and a little mindblowing. There was some staring going on. Damn. "And a small child wasn't even trapped under it," he noted, shaking his head in mock-awe (the awe was genuine, but the sarcasm came naturally). "Guessing you do more than just work out, hm?"

He missed the days when he just knew. Humans are so limited that they have no idea of how fucking debilitating it is for someone like Gabriel to be put on their level.

[whatialways_do]

It's probably good you don't know what she is, Gabriel. Or that she doesn't know what you are. She's heard this funny little thing about genetically engineered people being abominations against nature ... or something similar.

"I have a few natural assets," she shrugged. "Helps when you need to do a little heavy lifting."

What she could tell, though, was that he definitely didn't smell normal. Grace or no grace, you can't get fake human. No matter how hard you try.

[painhumbles]

That's a lie. God loves everyone. Maybe. Well, Gabriel certainly didn't discriminate. Red, yellow, black, white... Sexy. All the same to him, really. He's hip to the times.

"And so modest," he said, slyly, sidling a little closer. "I like that in a girl."

No, he had absolutely no shame and was perfectly fine admitting it. It was just a natural part of 'being Gabriel.'

[whatialways_do]

It took Max a half a second for that to register. Then she turned on him, giving him a bit of a look. He was seriously not hitting on her right now.

"Are you serious? Cuz if you are, I think you might be in for a bit of disappointment."

[painhumbles]

Gabriel looked around to see if maybe she was talking to some other douchebag. Nope. Only guy here. Must be him. What a shame- not that he was gonna let that stop him.

"What're you talking about?" Said in a conspiratorial tone, like he honestly has no idea what she's getting at. When all else fails, play stupid.

[whatialways_do]

"Right." She rolled her eyes before turning to face him, arms crossed in front of her chest. "Hitting on me right now? Ain't gonna get you nowhere except maybe a punch in the face. And while the fact that you're not human might make that a problem for me, I've got enough anger right now, that I'm willing to take the risk."

Seriously, Gabriel, today's not the day. Your timing, as always, is fantastic. She also knew that she was probably giving away her own non-humanity right then, but the castle wasn't really one of the places where she cared.

[painhumbles]

"Oh, this is one of those straight tequila night things, huh?" He scoffed. "You're hot and, okay, there was some flirting, but come on. What's with all the hostility?" He held up his hands and gave her a perplexed look.

"I mean... Really? Do you treat all guys like that or am I just really special? He circled the gym out of boredom and then finally pivoted on his heels, the sound squeaky and irritating. "Here's the real question though. How'd you guess I wasn't human? One of those girls vampires always pick up in bars- can usually spot the type." He clicked his tongue. "You're not it."

[whatialways_do]

"It's been a crappy couple weeks. I'm not in the mood." Then there was a beat as she managed to drum up an apology. Because yeah, she did get a little snappy. "Sorry."

Then she wrinkled her nose. "Vampire? Seriously? Gross." She shook her head. "Transgenic. I've got a really good sense of smell."

[painhumbles]

"Really? Must've missed it while I was chilling on a cloud and drinking Mai Tais," Gabriel snorted. Apology noted, filed, and forgotten. "But hey, that's what punching bags're for."

Oh, so she was... A glorified science experiment. Not that he'd say that to her face. "Huh. Well, as an Angel of the Lord, I can tell you that Jesus loves all the little children- red and yellow, black and white... made in labs, so there's your good news for the day."

[whatialways_do]

"Oh, gee. That makes me feel so much better. My eternal salvation has been confirmed." She shrugged. "It was never my soul it was worried about. It was the people who thought they were doing God's work by scratching me out."

[painhumbles]

"Well, Daddy set a pretty bad example with all that genocide in His youth. We're past that these days, but, well, try talking down Westboro Baptist Church.... Not that I go around spreading the one true gospel these days." Gabriel leaned on the wall. "Far as I'm concerned? It's all a buncha holy BS."

[whatialways_do]

She shrugged. "People gotta have something to believe in. It ain't always tangible, but they're allowed to believe what they want. I'm not gonna knock somebody's faith, but I'm gonna kick their ass when they say I can't live because of it."

Then her head tipped. Because there's something definitely off here. "Wait. If you're some kind of major supernatural whatever, why do you feel like an average Joe?" One thing she's learned since arriving in the castle is that the supernatural has a way of making her kitty instincts go haywire, and this guy definitely wasn't fitting the bill.