Alana (athenacalled) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2009-02-20 23:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | alana kellings, herakles, teddy pullman |
Who: Alana and Teddy/Herk
What: Arguing Like a Couple
Where: Unnamed Gym
When: Right after the Alana/Atlas Scene
Warning: Alana continues to have language filter problems.
Of course, where there was a fight, there was a crowd. Teddy had been on his way to meet up with Alana when he saw the crowd outside as well as inside. Turning to a nearby member of the gym, he asked what was up.
Easy enough answer. "Big fight!"
Oh? Herk found himself very curious, even a little excited, now. But then he thought of Alana in there and suddenly was a little worried. She could take care of herself, yes, but... He began to make his way through the shorter people when suddenly Alana appeared with a... very big man. Even Teddy backed up with the rest of the mortals when he appeared and then disappeared. But his eyes moved from that to Alana, and took notice. Of her smile. Her laughing. Her hands on him. And he felt something nasty he'd felt too much of in the past year not too know what it was. That disgustingly hot, angry yet sad feeling in his gut. The beginnings of jealousy.
No. No no nonononono. He remembered all too well where that road had gone. Instead, he swallowed his pride and walked up to the mortal woman, saying simply, "Hey."
Alana had jumped out of the ring as the crowd broke up, most going off to gossip on their own and return to work outs they had left. She watched them escort Natal out of the building, and figured, really, it was probably for the best. Hopefully there wouldn't be an encore later when the pair of jackasses decided to leave.
But once she was in the clear, she started to head back toward the exit herself, needing ot find and reclaim her gym bag from where she had dropped it earlier. Of course, as the crowd cleared up, Teddy came into view and approached her. She looked up at him at the greeting, giving him a smile. "Hey Giant, was wonderin' when you'd get here. Catch any of the show?"
"No, what happened? Are you okay?" he asked, hoping his face wasn't nearly as red as he felt it was, even as he felt his body relax a bit at her smile.
"Course!" she waved away his concern. "Wall came in after runnin' inta to jackasses in the front. I almost called the cops on him when I saw what he'd done, but he didn't seem like he was gonna go psycho or anythin', so I let it go. Then the jackasses came back in and picked a fight with him, so it was brought here..." Ta-da! She gestured to the ring and the guy with the bloody face still in it. "Personally, I'd love to see him take you on. He seemed real disappointed to not get a real fight."
Wall?
"I... see..." he said, not really sure he understood. She looked really impressed by this guy. Manly envy began to seethe again. Dammit, no!
Alana stretched up on her toes so she could pat him on the head before shifting to move past him. "I gotta find my bag. I dropped it in the other room when I was tryin' ta make sure someone didn't commit murder in the gym."
"Oh, um, sure," he said, snapping out of his funk a little. "Wait, you knew that guy?"
"Not really. Walked inta him as I was headed out to my truck," she answered with a shrug, leading the way. "Why I call 'im the Wall. Fuckin' solid."
Oh, and he had a nickname too, now? Teddy's face grew a little red in the cheeks. Who did this guy think he was, coming into his gym, being all rough and tough, making her smile...
... Dammit!
"I can get your bag for ya, if ya want," he offered, hoping for a change in the conversation.
"It's just in the other room," she mentioned, heading toward the front room and the desk, starting to look for her mentioned bag. "Hopefully no one took off with it. Didn't really have anythin' in it though."
"Ah, kay," he said, sitting down on a bench to wait, putting his face in his hand to think. Yes, this was definitely jealousy he was feeling. He'd been around long enough to recognize it. But that was stupid. He didn't have to feel jealous about what Alana was doing around equally tall, buff, if-not-nearly-as-strong-but-looked-it guys.
... He didn't!
... Right?
Alana wander the space until she was able to find her bag, kicked off to the side and out of the way, but undamaged and with all contents still within. Hey! Her lock! Slinging the bag over her shoulder, she started to head back toward Teddy, then noticed someone just outside. Having a thought who it was, she jogged back to Teddy. "Hey Giant, fancy a fight?" she grinned.
He paused, then looked up with a blink. "What?"
"Wall's outside I think. He nearly lit up when offered the chance to fight, then the guy he was fighting he was able to knock out with one punch solid, and called it 'boring'. I bet any fight you give him wouldn't be boring, and it'd be harder for him ta take ya down with a single blow." She grinned and reached for his hand, ready to take it and give him a tug as if she could drag him to a fight. "He's all about fair fights."
"If they kicked him out of the gym, we can't fight in the street, that's disorderly conduct," he said, still stuck in place despite the tug.
"So we find someplace else," she remarked with an eye roll, giving another tug. It looked like she was pulling hard if you looked just at her, but Teddy made it look like bare any strength at all had been used. "I'm not tryin' ta sell tickets ta a crowd or make bets ont he side or anythin'..."
He stood, giving her a funny look. "Then why?"
"Do you, or do you not enjoy wrestlin'?" she asked bluntly.
"I do. But I like doing them for specific reasons," he replied. "For honor, between friends. Not with some guy who thinks he's tough because he put down a few thugs."
"Then make it a fight between friends. He likes a good fight, you like a good fight, and he gets concerned if there's no ref and shit. It's not like he's goin' around randomly pickin' fights for fuck's sake," she argued, debating if it was really worth trying to get to work or not.
He grumbled, "Not my friend." Turning the look to her, he asked without thinking, "Why do you like him so much anyway?"
Alana blinked, surprised, and released him. "Like him so much? I barely know the guy."
The man-god's face only grew redder as he tried to backtrack. "Then why are you so interested in it? You want to see him fight, just go tell him to find some bar or something."
"And risk people gettin' seriously hurt. Because that's exactly the responsible thing ta do," she answered with another eye roll, then let out a sigh, turning her back as she threw her hands up in defeat. "Fine, fuck it, see if I give a shit. I was just tryin' ta let ya have a match with someone who might not snap like a fuckin' twig because you poked them." She started to head toward the locker room so she could put her bag away. "Where do you want me ta meet ya?"
"I know plenty of people who I can fight," he retorted, feeling his pride surge up now. Was she calling him a coward? "Whether or not I choose to is my own business! I don't go asking you to go dance with other guys just 'cause I know you like to or something."
Alana rounded on him then. "Hello? That's exactly why I go to clubs and shit. To find guys that can dance, to have guys to dance with. That's the whole fuckin' reason I was teaching you! Because I enjoy dancin', and I want ta see others enjoy it too. The Wall just wanted an interestin' fight and he did some serious damage to the guy. He didn't seem like some bad crack pot, so I was just tryin' ta be nice and get one of my friends to give him at least one fun fight. But if you don't wanna fight? Fine, I won't fuckin' try ta make you fight. Just fuckin' forget the whole thing."
"FINE!" The yell was more than a yell, it was an explosion of air from his lungs as he stood to his full, very intimidating height. And maybe even more so. But that might have just been the clenched fists, the face red with growing temper and self-shame, and the vein sticking out just along his neck. The room fell deathly quiet with the eyes of the rest of the people moving between Alana and Teddy, caught between coming to her defense in case he lost it or doing to smart thing and staying out of his way.
... Woah. The smart thing would probably be to walk away and let angry Giant go find something to pound on. They were creating a scene, and the tension was rather easy to feel. However, Alana had her own pride issues, and was stubborn enough to not enjoy backing down, even if it wasn't really backing down. She let the silence sit for a few heartbeats before raising her eyebrows at him and crossing her arms over her chest. "Feel better?" she asked in an almost soft voice, compared to the volume of his. "Or do you need somethin' ta hit?"
Teddy didn't reply at first. He was too busy trying to remember the steps. One breath in, one breath out, two breaths in, two breaths out... Finally, he almost deflated as his anger seeped away, and he replied in the same volume as her, "Maybe... we shouldn't do this today."
"Ya think?" she answered in automatic sarcasm. What the fuck had been his problem? But clearly he was pissed off an angry, and it really wasn't the time to try and push his buttons. She shook her head a bit to clear. "Look, if we're not doin' this taday, then I'll clear out and get outta your hair. Let me know when you've cooled off."
"Yeah... whatever," he said. His tone was slightly deadpan, as it always was when he had a temper explosion. At least he hadn't hit her. Oh gods, if he'd had... He shuddered at the thought. "Sorry."
Alana waved a hand as if dismissing it. "No harm, no foul. just take care of yourself." She adjusted the bag on her shoulder and turned once more, intending to head out of the gym.
Blushing, Teddy quickly followed after her and grabbed her wrist. Gently, gently! "Hey."
She paused and glanced back at him. "Yeah?"
"I..." ... Oh, what was the use. He shook his head and shrugged. "Never mind. Just, sorry. I'll make it up to you."
"Bring me some beer then, and we'll call it even." Alana shrugged, trying to make light of it all. "I just thought that you and he would have a bit of enjoyment with a good fight, alright? That was it."
"Okay," he said, even if he wasn't sure he understood it, with a nod. "I didn't mean to yell. Not at you, anyway."
"I think I'll live Giant. 'Pology accepted." She reached up to try and pat him on the head. "We cool?"
He bowed his knees just enough to let her. "'Course. I'll... um, see you later?"
"Sunday. Beach day. Bring the dog." She tossed him a smirk then turned to head back out to the door. Ugh. She wanted to get into her truck, find some decent song, and blast it until she couldn't hear anything else.
(To Be Continued...)
Summary: Teddy catches Alana right after the fight at the gym. The two get into an argument.