Anything you can do...[open]

[Kasey Łukaczyński]

Kasey made it a point to get to the gym every day she didn't have physical therapy. It was important that she stayed in shape, not just to stay healthy but to make sure the rest of her body functioned well enough to make up for the lack of functionality in her lower legs. She had a habit of focusing on her upper body when she went to work out alone, even if she should make time to work on her legs as well. She just felt like everyone stared at her as she walked at a half a mile per hour on the treadmill before giving up after five minutes, out of breath and falling over. That was until she pulled her crutches out from against the wall and made her way back to the wheelchair that the employees let her keep behind the front desk while she worked out. 

Kasey had spent a lot of time at physical therapy yesterday, though, so felt that skipping out on the walking would be fine, and decided to work on the upper body strength that was becoming increasingly important in her every day life. She left her crutches leaning up against the wall, just next to place where she could do some pull ups. 

She couldn't jump anymore, meaning she had to use a pull up bar which was a bit to low for her - meaning she did have to use energy to keep her legs up off the ground. Though in this case she could still use the upper leg strength she'd been able to maintain in order to make sure her feet didn't meet the ground between reps. She rubbed her hands together before gripping the bar tightly, and lowering herself down, using her thighs to keep the lower half of her legs and feet elevated. Then she started her reps. 

1-2-3...10. It was then Kasey took a quick break, leaning against the wall, and grabbing the bottle of water she brought off of the top of a nearby machine (she couldn't bend down to pick anything up these days, either). And after a quick drink, and wiping her hands and forehead with the towel she had around her neck, Kasey turned back to the pull-up bar to do 10 more. 

[Deleted]

Xun had seen this girl before. Not that he'd made it a point to stare, or anything, but someone like her, well, she stood out. While some there might have seen the girl and taken pity on her condition, or perhaps scoffed that she was even trying, Xun had slowly grown a strong, silent admiration for the stranger. When he was working on his own reps, or taking a quick (and very high-speed) run on one of the machines, and she was around, he'd peek at her out of the corner of his eye, wondering how she mustered the will and energy to come and perform so well on such a regular basis. He was sure she had to be in some sort of pain, or at least feel self-conscious with those around her.

Xun wanted to talk to the woman. He really did. But he never knew what to say, or how to approach her. Would it be rude for him to go up and tell her that she inspired him to work harder himself? He was already awkward talking to people normally, he didn't know how to approach a stranger in such a situation.

Today, it seemed, she was doing pull-ups. Xun's eyes wandered over to watch as he did some leg presses and calf curls himself, amazed at the woman's upper-body strength. He wasn't sure how many pull-ups he could do; maybe the same, but he was skinny as a rod, so it didn't take much to lift himself.

Just talk to her, he urged himself. Before Xun could talk himself out of it, he pushed himself off of the machine he was on and meekly walked over to where she was working on her next set of pull-ups. When she was done, he tried to catch her eye and gave a shy, uncertain smile. "Uh, hi," he said softly. "I, um, I just... I wanted to, um, to say I admire you," he finally managed to get out. "I-I've seen you in here a time or two-" (okay it was more than that) "- but I never knew how to approach you." Xun rubbed the back of his neck, cheeks flushing slightly. "I-I'm Xun, by the way," he added belatedly.

[Kasey Łukaczyński]

Kasey was well aware that people stared at her. She knew she was getting all sorts of looks - both positive and negative - from the moment she rolled into the gym. She never payed any mind to it, though. It was life to her. People were going to stare. What Kasey wasn't used to, however, were people approaching her. It had happened a couple of times before, but it never got any easier to react to people's words, no matter how kind or supportive. Many people tried to tell her she was brave or amazing and Kasey just didn't feel that way.

So when the boy, whom Kasey had seen before running quite quickly on the treadmill, approached her, she wasn't sure how to react. She held onto the pullup bar as she stood, taking as much pressure off her legs as possible. (There was a bench nearby that she could sit on if needed.)She smiled at the boy as he spoke, because he seemed just as nervous to talk to her as she was to take the compliments.

She wasn't sure how to take the admiration except with a simple "Thanks," and a soft smile and a shrug. "It's nothing, really. Just... working out like anyone else," she explained, hoping the boy could understand what she meant. Frankly, she didn't do anything that other people couldn't accomplish. "I've seen you a couple times too," Kasey said. "You're fast kid," she added, wiping her brow with her free arm, realizing how weird that statement probably sounded without a 'the'. She let it go though. She had her own nicknames for people she saw often - at the gym, at physical therapy, in her apartment building, at the grocery store. Usually the nicknames were just obvious descriptions - fast kid, sweatpants, Mr. Sweat...

"I'm Kasey" the girl introduced herself in turn, offering her free hand to the boy, finally moving on from her little slip. "Nice to meet you."

[Deleted]

Xun hoped he hadn't made a bad decision by coming over to talk to the girl. What if she thought he was talking down to her by admiring her? Like her disability was what really mattered, and not the fact that she seemed incredibly strong and fit for any able-bodied person as well, if not more so? So she couldn't use her legs as well - she more than made up for it in pure, unbreakable determination. And that was the sort of will that Xun hoped he could have as well.

He just dipped his head at the thanks, scuffing one Feiyue-clad foot on the ground. "You do more pull-ups than I think I could," he added with a shy smile. Granted, he was built more for speed than strength, but he wasn't a weakling either. "And you have really nice form." That was incredibly important in the gym; so many people just worried about looking good, they did exercises wrong and ended up hurting themselves. Xun blushed as she returned a compliment, hiding his slightly larger smile behind a hand. "I, um, I'm a meta-human, so that helps," he told her, taking a risk and hoping she wasn't an anti-meta. "I'm, um, really fast naturally, I guess. But xie xie... Thank you."

He finally peeked back up to look at her eyes. "Nice to meet you too, Kasey," he replied quietly, taking her hand with a firm handshake that may not have matched his long, lanky figure. "I, um, I was actually wondering, do you have any tips for upper body strength exercises? I've tried to figure things out on my own, but to be honest, um, the weight machines aren't really my specialty." Xun hoped he wasn't bothering her too much by asking.

[Kasey Łukaczyński]

When Kasey realized the boy was a metahuman, her interest spiked slightly. She was always interested by the meta humans and their school. It took her a while to find out what exactly was going on at The Hammel Institute, but when she did she was fascinated, and slightly jealous. She wished that she could have had some sort of ability, instead of her disability. Or at least an ability to make up for the fact that she was disabled! That was a fair wish, right? "That's really cool," Kasey noted, suddenly understanding how the kid had been running so quickly all this time. "I wish I could run at all, let alone run as fast as you," Kasey said with a little chuckle.

She leaned over and grabbed her crutches upon realizing the conversation was going to last a bit longer than a few moments. This allowed her to transfer all of her weight onto her forearms and off her legs and feet - a much needed relief. She adjusted her body weight around a little to make herself comfortable, still keeping eye contact with Xun for the most part. She looked down a couple times to make sure her crutches weren't going to slip on anything.

She looked up and smiled when he asked about upper body strength. She couldn't help but laugh when she answered, "Try pushing yourself around in a wheelchair all day," she said, a bit of a teasing tone to her voice. She was constantly making fun of herself and poking fun at her own disability. Sometimes people didn't take it the way she meant, but she wasn't going to stop - it was her coping mechanism sometimes. "No, but seriously, I could show you some stuff I do sometimes. I'm constantly working on uppper body just because of what I have to do in daily life to get around and stuff," Kasey explained, figuring that it wouldn't be difficult to show Xun her exercises (even if some of them were just daily activities for Kasey).

[Deleted]

Xun had never asked for his ability, and he wasn't always happy with it, especially since it came with a decreased life expectancy due to the wear it put on his body (and he was forced to use it on a regular basis), but it was what he got, so he couldn't change things even if he wanted to. "Oh, um, thanks," he replied sheepishly, dipping his head. He felt a little bad, since apparently she wasn't a meta-human, but at least she wasn't an anti. He felt even worse at what she said next. "Uh, well... I mean, it's, um, it can be fun, but it is also painful," Xun tried to explain, hoping to dispel any bragging it might have seemed he was doing. "The side effects are... Not pleasant."

He shifted slightly as the woman grabbed her crutches, resisting the urge to ask if she needed help. Xun was quite certain that would be met badly, and the last thing he wanted to do was offend her. He tried not to stare at them too much, but he wasn't the best at making eye contact anyway, so his gaze kept slipping around.

"O-oh, well, I'm sure that is great for developing arm strength," he stammered, caught off-guard by Kasey's statement. Xun held up his own bicep (he was wearing a tanktop, fortunately) and compared it to the woman's. Hers was definitely bigger. "See, I could, uh, use a little more meat up here," he chuckled awkwardly. Xun's eyes lit up and he nodded eagerly at her offer. "I-if you wouldn't mind, I would really appreciate it," he told her. "I, um, I don't want to disrupt your workout or anything, though." Xun gave a small, nervous smile and passed a hand through his hair. "Maybe I can follow along with what you're doing? We could, um, switch on and off for reps."

[Kasey Łukaczyński]

"Side effects are generally unpleasant," Kasey said sympathetically as Xun vaguely explained his predicament. Kasey didn't know a lot about meta humans, or abilities, but she knew enough to know that every ability had its downsides - some much more serious than others. She could only imagine what kind of consequence came with regularly running faster than man ever should. Kasey shifted a bit on her crutches - just so she wasn't slouching so much - she hated slouching while she was trying to talk to people.

Kasey laughed genuinely as Xun held up his bicep to compare to Kasey's. The girl leg go of the crutch in her left hand and held up her arm, flexing to show off her muscle - not something she did all too often. While Kasey's arms were far from perfect(at least in her eyes), they were much more toned than the average individual - and Xun's, if you didn't coun't a boy who could run at superhuman speeds as 'average'. "You'll get there if you work for it," Kasey encouraged with a smile, grabbing back onto her crutch.

"We could definitely switch on and off. I need to start giving myself longer breaks anyway," Kasey said, accepting the boys offer to work out together. She maneuvered herself over a couple feet to a stool in the corner of the room. She hooked the bottom of one of her crutches around the leg of the stool and pulled it over a bit, careful not to have it fall. She'd need somewhere to sit while Xun did his reps. And she figured he should probably go first if she was going to have any hope of helping him with his form. She wasn't even entirely sure Xun wanted her advice, but Kasey was a pretty forward person, and the boy was going to get some anyway. She scooted herself onto the stool, using her crutches to push herself up. "Let's see what you've got, kid," Kasey offered, gesturing to the pullup bars, knowing Xun would likely use the bar that was situated higher than Kasey's - what with legs that could jump up that far, and therefore not needing to worry about his feet hitting the ground during his reps...

[Deleted]

Xun's dark contact-clad eyes widened as Kasey flexed her arm. He'd rarely seen a woman with quite so much muscle built up on her upper body; he found that the opposite gender, in general, more easily built up strength in their core and legs. So he was even more impressed. "That is... Really amazing," he told her genuinely. "How long, ah... How long have you been working on your upper body strength?" Xun tried flexing his arm, but he had very thin, wiry muscles, so it wasn't nearly as impressive. "I hope so," he said sheepishly. "Muscles, ah, muscles get all the ladies, right?" he joked. It was weak, because a) he wasn't really interested in that sort of attention, from either gender and b) the only people he'd actually been attracted to in the recent past had been men. So... He blushed awkwardly. "Not that that's why I'm asking," he added with a dorky, crooked smile.

"Great," Xun replied with obvious relief and excitement. He'd been afraid he was asking too much. "And... Breaks are good, but I myself usually am bad at taking them too, so that's something we have in common." The Chinese boy waited until the girl situated herself (once again biting back the urge to offer help) and looked up at the bars before him, which seemed far more daunting in person. "I... Haven't done pull-ups in a long time," he admitted. Kasey's advice would definitely be welcome. Xun shook out his hands a bit before situating himself under one of the taller bars, as Kasey had suspected - being six-foot-one and skinny as a rod, he could jump a good height.

He crouched before quickly springing up, easily wrapping his hands forward on the bars and holding himself up. After a moment's consideration, he flipped his hands so his palms were facing towards him. "Does it make a difference which way my hands are turned?" he called down, but started to get into it anyway. He pulled himself up once with no problem, managing to reach his chin above the bar before dropping back down with his arms straight. The second one, there was a little burn, but still quite manageable. It was once he reached the fifth or sixth that his muscles started to ache more, and by the eighth he dropped down to the floor, shaking out his arms. "You make it look so easy," he panted, looking towards his new training partner. "How did I do?" Xun was sure he hadn't done them with as much grace as she had.

[Kasey Łukaczyński]

"I guess I've been working upper body since I was... fifteen maybe? So 10 years?" Kasey said with shrug. It had taken a long time to build up her strength, especially when she was really supposed to put so much more energy into her legs and her core. "It shouldn't take 10 years for you though. You'll have muscles for all those ladies in no time," Kasey said quickly with a laugh as the boy hopped up on the pull-up bar, not explaining further. She was just inconsistent when it came to her upper body workout. Unfortunately her physical therapy took priority. It was a much more frustrating work out, and frequently caused her to detest physical activity for some amount of time.

She watched as Xun completed his reps, taking small mental notes on his form and his technique. "Switching your hands just works slightly different muscles," Kasey explained as Xun continued, starting to struggle on number five. "I usually just switch my hands every few reps," Kasey said, as Xun finally dropped down from the bar by his eighth chin-up.

"That was good," Kasey said positively, with a smile, "But I will say that your technique is not the best... if you work on that you should be able to add a couple more reps before straining," the blonde explained, pushing herself up off her stool and reaching up for the shorter bar. She couldn't jump up as gracefully as Xun had, so it took her a moment to orient herself and get herself ready for her reps. "Every time you dropped down, you let your arms go completely straight like this," Kasey said, demonstrating - allowing her body to hang from the bar, elbows locked. She placed her feet back on the ground and reset herself. "If you keep your arms engaged through the entire motion, you'll eventually be able to do many more reps... even if at first you'll do a couple less," Kasey explained as she began to do her chinups again. Her upper arms remained flexed the entire time, and her arms never were truly perfectly straight. Her body never hung from the bar freely. She easily completed 10 pull ups - no hesitation between them. After 15, and feeling a slightly burn, she set her feet on the ground, and turned to Xun. "See?"

[Deleted]

“You are twenty-five?” Xun asked with obvious surprise. “I, ah, I thought you were younger. No offense,” he quickly added. She just seemed closer to his age for some reason, and he was only seventeen. “I hope it doesn’t, I would like to be stronger for my next competition, and that is less than a year away,” he chuckled. A little more than six months, actually. “Ah… I really was joking about impressing ladies,” he said meekly. “I am not really like that. Just… So you know.” Xun didn’t want her to think he was going to try to make a move on her or anything. Not that she wasn’t pretty but-

He needed to stop thinking so much and just focus on his arms.

“Switching makes sense,” Xun nodded as he shook out his arms and flexed and unflexed his hands, trying to relieve the tension. “I don’t know how many reps I could do now, though. Maybe three.” His arms were already fatigued, but the Chinese boy enjoyed the sort of dull pain that came from this sort of workout. He really needed to do it more often.

He was glad for the compliment, but blushed slightly at the criticism, even though he knew it was constructive. “Okay,” Xun said with a small nod, more than willing to get advice. He watched as the girl went to show him what she meant, eagerly waiting to watch her impressive muscles in action again. “Ahhh… I see my mistake now,” he breathed, definitely noticing the difference between his form and hers. She was so interesting to watch, he thought; Xun’s eyes didn’t leave her arms for a second. When she was done, he nodded again in understanding. “I see,” he agreed. “I will try again. Thank you.” Xun repeated the process as before, only this time taking Kasey’s advice and keeping his arms slightly flexed. Between that and the first rep, he only managed six pull-ups this round, but he still appreciated her help nonetheless. “I… I should let you get back to your training now,” he told her with a small smile as he rubbed out his biceps. “Thank you very much for your advice.”