2019-08-15 - Weight Lifting. It's a thing.

At the rear of the gym, working out all by his lonesome, Tyrone curls a 35 lb. dumbbell with one hand, breathing purposefully with each rep. His phone chirps in the middle of his set, causing him to frown, but he finishes several more curls before he stops, dropping the weight and reaching for his phone. He reads it, types in a quick reply, then leans to the other side to start curling with his other arm. He's wearing a tank-top that shows he's clearly in pretty good shape. But, he's also sitting in a wheelchair.

Kelsey was a regular at most of the gym's in town. Because why just stick to one? Her hair was pulled back and she was currently running on the treadmill. Pale skin glistening with a thin sheen of sweat. Listening to something or other in her earbuds. Clad in typical workout fare - a pair of black cloth shorts and a matching tank top. Her face and throat show faint traces of scratches still.

Moments later though, she is slowing to a stop and getting off the treadmill. Wiping it down a bit before wiping her own face off with her personal towel. The gym isn't too crowded at this time, so there's not a whole lot to see on her cooldown walk. Except for Tyrone. A casually curious look because she hasn't seen him before that she can remember. "What's the heaviest you've lifted?" She asks when she gets closer to him on her walk, taking an earbud out and watching him with those dark blue eyes.

"Depends on what lift," Tyrone replies with a shrug and a grunt as he finishes the set of curls with his left arm. "I max out at forty-five on curls right now," he offers. He then finishes his set, as his phone chirps at him again. He then turns to properly assess who's speaking to him. "I try not to overdo it, though. I hurt an arm and I'm in big trouble."

"There's multiple lifts?" Kelsey asks, genuinely curious. She doesn't really do weight lifting. She's more about cardio and punching out her feelings. Not much room for weight lifting in between all that. She leans against a nearby weight machine carefully. "I'd imagine so." A wry smile touching her lips briefly. "You got a name? Mine's Kelsey. Haven't seen you in here before." Or she just never paid much attention. Normally she kept to herself, but she was trying to get better about that.

"Tyrone. Nice to meet you, ma'am," he says, extending a fist for bumping. "And ... yeah. There's tons of lifts. You're leaning on a machine for them as we speak," he points out, nodding to the machine in question. "How are you in a gym and don't know about lifting weights?" he asks, incredulous. He lifts the weight from the ground and sets it in his lap before he rolls back over to the weight rack, claiming a 40 lb. dumbbell in its place. Fancy enough, he's NOT wearing headphones or anything while he works out.

"Oof, I'm old, but I ain't that old. Kelsey is fine." The fistbump is returned without a bat of an eyelash! She looks over at the machine she's leaning against, blinks a little, and then looks to Tyrone with a laugh. "Shit. I mean, I guess...I kinda look at them all the same?" Shrugging. "Obviously I don't lift much," Her arms are toned somewhat, but not in a way that would suggest she lifted weights often, if at all. "I usually run, or assault a punching bag." Because that was the better choice than assaulting a person! "How long've you been in Gray Harbor?"

"Sorry, force of habit," Tyrone says, grimacing and shaking his head. "I've been here for a few months, now. Still trying to settle in. And ... well, punching is a good workout. But you may get better long term results if you diversify your workouts," he offers, before he starts doing his next set of curls. If Kelsey is counting, this set will finish at 18. And, from the bulge in his bicep and the way he has to breath a little harder, it's clear that this weight is definitely closer to his limit.

"Huh. Well, maybe I'll give it a try sometime." Kelsey offered. She might start trying to count but then her wandering thoughts would side track her. She's try to start over and then just give up because what did it matter? "What brought you here?" Of all places. Nosy thing wasn't she? She's listening to him still, but she's checking out the weight machine that had been her leaning post.

Tyrone doesn't immediately answer her question, finishing his set first and taking a few breaths, first. Hard work, curls! "I came to lift weights," he states, not sounding /annoyed/ by the curiousity, but also apparently unwilling to fulfill it. "Kinda the same thing brought you here, I'd imagine. Gyms are pretty good places to exercise, after all."

Kelsey cuts him a look in her peripherial vision. A somewhat amused little huff. "Right. Clearly." She is reading the little instructions of the machine. Seems easy enough. She adjusts the weight to 15lbs, figuring that's an easy enough starting point, and then slides into the seat. Focusing on Tyrone again a moment. "There are things I'd rather be doing than exercising, but such is life. I like it when it's like this though. Not really crowded or anything." Testing the resitance briefly before slowly starting to push her arms together via the handles on the machine, lifting the weights!

"Oh yeah? What would you rather be doing?" Tyrone asks, an eyebrow raised in a smirk. He switches arms and begins doing curls on his other side, though he does keep a watch on Kelsey out of the corner of his eye. After all, if she's doing any kind of chest press ... ... .... Well, he /is/ a guy, after all! Definitely not his fault if Kelsey provides more cleavage with her arms pressed together. He can't be blamed.

"Getting laid would be more exciting than this." Kelsey says it with a deadpan expression. Though the amused look in her eyes betrays that she might be joking. Maybe. "Or getting stoned. Or getting hammered. BUT two of those three things not good and the other one requires putting in effort." Unfortunately for Tyrone, her tank top is a little loose and doesn't really show off her chest. Not that she's extremely well endowed to begin with. "You can't tell me there's stuff you'd rather be doing that lifting weights right now." She does five of the chest presses before she raises the weight up by another 5 and starts another set.

"Hah! Right," Tyrone laughs, obviously not taking her seriously. He has to concentrate on the rest of his set, though, as it's hard for him to finish. After he does, though, he continues. "And yeah, if you mean walkin', sure I'd rather. But, barring that, working out is pretty good." With both arms finished at the current weight, Tyrone returns the bell to its shelf and claims the next one up, a 45 pound bell. He struggles a little, getting it situated in his lap and not on his junk, before rolling back the other way. And, since there wasn't as much of a show as he anticipated, he doesn't bother trying to catch a peek again when Kelsey increases her weight.

"You think I'm joking." Kelsey laughed. "Well, I mean, the walking thing is a given I'd guess. I meant more like. I dunno. Well I don't know you so I can't begin to guess at any other hobbies you might have." She shrugs. Clearly not caring enough to try and clarify anything. Kelsey briefly eyes him to make sure isn't going to hurt himself. "I've got a collection I'm working on, things I'm researching - for example. But even I can't stare at books and computers all day I guess. So, until something more interesting comes along at least, here I am." One. Two. Three. "I think my arms are going to feel dead in the morning though. So I'll blame you for that."

The last place that one might expect to find Elias Weber is in a gym. He is lean, but not particularly athletic. He has some bit of definition, but is definitely not a gym rat by any stretch of any imagination. But there he is, wandering in with Tyler, who is significantly better built, which makes the contrast only that much more noticeable. "So long as we're clear.. that I have no idea how any of these things work.." he can be heard saying as they make their way in and he gestures toward the various machines.

"I do think you're joking," Tyrone agrees with Kelsey, as they work out by the free-weights and chest machines. "And, believe it or not? Working out /is/ one of my hobbies. So," he indicates, before he starts to do another set of bicep curls with a 45 lb. dumbbell. This is clearly very challenging for him and he just barely gets to 12 before he has to stop, his cheeks puffing out as he breaths through pursed lips. Not for nothing, but if Kelsey were paying close enough attention, she might notice a set of dog tags hanging around the para's neck. Or she might not. Who knows.

Tyler laughs as he guides Elias into the gym. Indeed, Tyler is quite muscular, as is easily seen from the skin tight under armour shirt he wears and the tight legged sweats. He shakes his head, "Relax, El. I'll show you. And who knows, you may even find you like lifting something other than a book." He scans his member badge and gets them into the gym proper, heading for the weights.

"Partially joking at least." While she would rather be doing all those things - she lacked the cash for the latter two and the desire to put forth effort into obtaining the first. So it was all Kelsey's fault really that she was here! As she relaxes back after finishing this latest set, taking a break and carefully stretching out her arms, she studies Tyrone once more. Moreso, the dog tags he wears. A thoughtful noise and it looks like she might ask about them, but then they have company. Raising up the weights on her machine one more level. "Tyler right?" Is offered to Tyler and to Elias "....you run Likely Stories yeah?" Kelsey was a frequent visitor of the library and local bookstore. Usually lingering in the mythology and occult-like sections.

"Lies," Elias says to Tyler. "I will never like weightlifting more than booklifting, but I might find my way to enjoying it." He seems willing enough to let Tyler guide him, though, and show him the ropes. He wears a pair of sweat pants. Who even knew he owned a peir of sweat pants? And a plain white t-shirt, both of which seem to swallow his lean frame. He lifts a hand and waves to Kelsey and Tyrone as they enter. "Yep.. Elias," he says to her when she asks if he runs the book shop. "Tyler's going to show me the art of getting ripped." He can't even keep a straight face when he says it.

Raising an eyebrow at Elias and Tyler, Tyrone smirks a little. "If he said there's an art, he's lying to you. This isn't art. It's hard work and dediation," he responds. And then, another smirk is offered in Kelsey's direction. "Uh. Huh," he responds, obviously still disbelieving Kelsey. "You keep telling yourself that." He then starts working on his next set of curls, visibly straining at the end.

Tyler rolls his eyes at Elias, "Please. The only time you'll ever get ripped is if you're at a bar." He grins and nods at Kelsey. "That's right. You're Kelsey, right?" He smiles, then notes to Tyrone, "Elias has fantastic, broad shoulders. If he did even just a little exercise, he might end up crazy popular around town." He waggles his eyebrows at that.

"Sure am." Kelsey that is. She offers in return to Tyler and Elias. "Nice to officially meetcha." She breathes out a chuckle. "Hey, art can take hard work and dedication too ya know." Not that she would know anything about that. "This one here," Motioning to Tyrone, "has been telling me all about the benefits of weightlifting. So I decided to give it a try." She settled back in her seat and flashed a brief grin. "So I'm gonna sleep good tonight I think."

"He didn't," Elias says to Tyrone with a chuckle. "I fully appreciate that one does not get ripped by accident." Which is what makes it funny. He is very much aware that Tyler is much closer to the truth about the likelihood of Elias ever becoming buff. "Nice to meet you, too," he says to Kelsey. Then he nods to Tyrone and says, "I'm just looking to maybe build some more definition and a bit of strength. I have no delusions of grandeur."

Running out of steam after 10 reps, Tyrone again has to focus on his breathing for a few seconds after he finishes. He then puts the weight back on the rack, turning to smirk at Kelsey. "See? Don't even need to get laid, now," he quips in response to Kelsey's last statement. Once the weight is replaced on the rack, Tyrone chuckles and pulls out a crinkled piece of paper, reading it for a few secodns before sticking it back into the bag that's hidden underneath his seat. "Well, I'm all done for the day. So! It was nice to meet you, Kelsey. Elias, Tyler," he greets, nodding to the individuals as he ssays their name.

Tyler gives a little wave to Tyrone, "Take it easy." He walks over to the weight bench, and runs his fingers over the bar. "So, you've really never lifted anything before, El?" He glances at Kelsey, then back at Elias. "You know Kelsey's new in town. She says weird things happen to her now that she's here."

Kelsey laughs at that and gives Tyrone a little two-finger salute. "Nice meetin' ya Tyrone. I'm sure I'll see you around." Starting on this next set of chest compressions. "Yeah, I'm not looking to get ripped really either." She offers idly. "Just good to have more variety I s'pose." But it seems she's had enough of that! Letting her hands rest back in her lap, taking another breather. Looking to Tyler. "I dunno if I'm still new after a year and a half." And weird shit happened to her before coming to Gray Harbor, but she doesn't volunteer that part. Instead she just considers the men a moment. "But yeah. This town is fuckey. Didn't take long to figure that out."

Elias glances over at Tyrone and chuckles, "Wait, getting laid /or/ working out is an /or/ thing? Why can't it be an /and/ thing?" He looks over at Tyler. "It can be an /and/ thing, right?" Because if not, he's starting to question his life choices. He waves to Tyrone when the man moves to head out, however. His attention is pulled back to Tyler and he says, "I haul around boxes of books, and cousins (not in boxes), and move furniture. But if you're asking if I've ever laid on a bench and hefted a metal bar with things attached to it, the answer is no." He then glances over at Kelsey and says, "Yeah? Welcome to Gray Harbor, home of weird things that happen."

"A year and a half?" Tyler asks of Kelsey. "Sorry, I got the impression from the other night it was more recent." He laughs, tossing a wink at Elias, "You're a adorable, El. An and thing. An or thing. A but thing." Or did he mean butt? "Whatever you want." He moves around to the side of the bench and he sets the weights on something light enough for Elias to bench press. "Lay down, princess." To Kelsey, he asks, "You never did really say how you got all scratched up. What REALLY happened?"

"I was telling him I'd rather be getting laid than lifting weights, or running on a treadmill." Kelsey offered with a grin. "Sex is a great workout. More entertaining than this, no offense." But she'll watch the eye candy for a little longer. Tyler seems to trust that this Elias guy knows what up. So the blonde relents, "Was on the carousel at the park. Me and some others...got sucked in to the other side. There were literal ear worms singing It's a A small world." She shuddered. "They were in my throat and..ugh. It was fucking disgusting. And then of course, I couldn't breath - so I was panicking and-" She motions to the scratches which are nearly almost healed thankfully. "And then I was still hearing the song even after it was all over. No more though. It's all over, and I'm avoiding the park like the plague for a bit. Lest I feel the urge to toss the Carousel across the city."

"Alright, as long as it's still a thing," Elias says, reassured, and settles down on the bench as instructed, not even batting an eyelash at being called princess. He glances over toward Kelsey curiously when Tyler mentions her getting all scratched up, curious. But then he returns his attention to the bar and he reaches up and puts his hands on it like he's seen done in movies. "So I just.. lift it up and put it down again?" He laughs and says to Kelsey then, "Sex is my favorite workout, truth be told. But I'm willing to give this a shot." Though when Kelsey goes on to describe what happened, he frowns, "Ugh.. worms /inside/ you? Gross."

Tyler makes a bit of an unhappy face. "Gross is right." He lays his hands gently on the underside of the bar to make sure Elias can lift it okay, spotting him. "That's what I was talking about last night. The curtain between here and there is weak in this town. We're trying to figure out more about it. Keeping an eye out for the dark people." He smiles at Elias, "Your favorite workout..." He rolls his eyes again at that.

"It's mine too Elias, but it requires far too much effort to get going." Kelsey laughed softly. Then she was explaining what happened. "Yeah, I know. Super grosss." Kelsey stands up finally, wiping down the machine and stretching some. "I've been venturing in the Veil. Exploring a bit, researching the creatures. It's a fascinating place, but dangerous." Brow furrowed briefly. "Anyway, I should be heading out myself. Good seeing you guys. Don't have too much fun." Flashing a wink before grabbing her towel and turning to head out.

"What?" Elias asks Tyler, all innocence. Then he focuses on the bar and he lifts it. With the amount of weight that Tyler's put on it, it doesn't take too much effort. He does have some bit of strength to him, even if it's nothing compared to Tyler. He raises the bar with the weights, holds it there for a little bit then lowers it again. He takes a couple of breaths, and then he does it again, saying, "I've always been fascinated with it and learning more, exploring more. Though I could definitely do without the worms. My last time involved a sloth and a museum. It's actually a fascinating place." Then he says "Later," to Kelsey "Nice meeting you!"

Tyler gives a little nod at Kelsey, "Take it easy." He waits until she's gone, and then he smiles down at Elias. "She knows things. There's a little secrecy to her. Like a holding things back like she's got some insight that's pretty valuable. I'm gonna find out what. Somehow." He helps spot the other man as he lifts. "Have you talked to Frankie yet? About crossing over?"

Elias nods his head and says "Seems like she does," in agreement. He then nods again and says, "Well, let me know what you find out, or if you want help talking to her." He doesn't want to impose, it seems, or insert himself into that conversation if Tyler wants to handle it himself. He shakes his head and says, "I was going to.. but then when we last talked, she was going through some stuff. She'd just found out who her father was, and that he was dead.. so I kind of put my stuff on the back burner."

Tyler furrows his brow a little, "Her father?" He considers that for a minute. "What's the story there? I didn't know she didn't know him. How is she handling it?" He purses his lips, then asks, "Do we need to go crossing over on our own for now?"

"No," Elias says as he lifts the bar again, holding it, and then lowering it after a little bit. It seems he's more than capable of lifting what little weight is on it, but he isn't fully paying attention to it either. "Her mom never told her before she split, so she didn't know who her dad was. But I guess he did, because he left her a bunch of money when he died. That's how she found out he was an Addington. Which is really not a good thing considering that there's a serial killer killing Addingtons right now. But she didn't want to come and stay at my place, either." He raises the bar then lowers it again. "Maybe. I'll ask her before we go. If she's not up for it, we can go."

Tyler nods. "Well, good for her being rich now?" he says, with some uncertainty. "Silver lining?" He agrees then, "Okay, let me know. I'm ready whenever you are."