2019-09-19 - Sparring & Light-Up Shoes

The gym's not terribly busy at this time of day, which seems to suit Javier just fine. Most normal people are spending time with family, but he's pulled on a ratty Seattle PD tee shirt and pair of mesh training pants, as well as a set of lightweight boxing gloves before hitting the bag. Literally. Like it did him wrong. Three quick jabs and then a vicious cross with his right that jerks it back on its chain before being steadied. Then another set ending in his elbow smacking the pad, followed by his knee, in a move that would probably have his opponent revisiting their lunch. He backs off a couple of steps, panting, and gives his right shoulder a roll like it's bothering him.

Sutton pushes through the front door and into the gym without looking around, a pair of absolutely-stolen mirrored aviators staying in place until she's nearly through to the locker room, a small duffel in hand, shoulders tense. She's still dressed in the dark cargos & GHFD tee from work, a sheen of sweat along her face and neck. It's hot today. De la Vega is hard to miss, assaulting the bag like it stole something & called his mama something barnyardy. She slows. "You fuck up your shoulder again?"

Ruiz's dark eyes slide sidelong as someone else enters, then he does a subtle double-take at the blonde who steps inside. Because 1. hot. 2. those are his fucking aviators. He scowls slightly at her question, and runs his tongue along his lower lip like he's considering something she's said. Or not said. Finally, he moseys over to fetch his water bottle from the shelf it's parked on, putting his back to Sutton for a moment as he takes a long pull from it. "Si," is what he says eventually. "Late shift today, bebe?"

Sutton has absolutely stolen these aviators from Ruiz. She stands there right next to him wearing them like she hasn't done. "Fuck everything. Today's a steamy asshole." Succinct and completely not illuminating. "I'm just off. I took a half day. The new transfer is a disaster transport. I want Bennie back." Slightly more descriptive there. Seems Bennie and Sutton have been split for a while, perhaps to train a new EMT. "On a scale of sore to really fucking old, how messed up is your shoulder?"

Ruiz caps his water bottle and sets it aside, dragging the sleeve of his tee across his forehead to wipe off some sweat there. He turns when Sutton mentions the new transfer, and studies her curiously a moment. "Wait. What do you mean? Are you and Oakes not on the same rig anymore?" He doesn't tug the gloves back on yet. Instead he prowls in close, intruding well into her personal space, and touches his palm to her cheek before leaning in for a closed mouth kiss. If she permits. "It's fine. I'll manage." By which he means, ignore it and push through the pain.

The blonde watches the Mexican drink his water then prowl in with his questions. She reaches down to undo her belt in prep to hit that locker room and change. She could probably beat someone to death with that thing, also probably why she wears it. "We have to take turns herding the FNG so no one gets so pissed they kill him before he manages to graduate to a real boy." She reaches up to take his face in her palms once he's within reach, right when he goes for that kiss. Like she's going to hold onto him until he honests up about his shoulder. "I'll be back out in five." Her hands slip down to rest against his ribs.

For a moment there, he half looks inclined to follow her into the locker room. Which most definitely isn't going to result in her being back out in five. But in the end, he simply smiles a little, which can be felt where her fingers trace his bristly cheeks, and he lets her slip away. "Si," is murmured low, his commentary on Bennie and the FNG mostly forgotten. He'll wait until she's disappeared around the corner to rifle fingers through his sweaty curls, then fetch his gloves and tug them back on.

Sutton lingers a couple of beats, perhaps thinking about saying something else regarding his shoulder, perhaps having similar thoughts about the locker room. In the end, she nods, turns, and disappears behind the door. There are a few thuds from inside while she's in there, maybe the bang of a door smacking shut. True to her word, she's back in five, finishing up the wrap on one hand, her other already done. She's changed into shorts to go with her tee. She wears flip flops she'll kick off before getting into the ring. She probably has shin guards in her bag, but she didn't put them on. She makes her way back over to find Ruiz, leaning in. "Ready when you are." She hasn't pulled her hair up.

Ready when he is? That implies that, "You want to fight me?" He'd been in the midst of softening up that bag again, dull rattle of the chain as each hit connects, though it's aborted when Sutton strolls on over. He looks her up and down slowly, like he's assessing something. Whether she's still bruised up from that last bout in the ring. Whether she's favouring anything. He grasps his right tricep in his left hand and stretches out that shoulder, then gives it a roll. "Mantenlo ligero. I need to be on top of my game for the weekend." He doesn't precisely explain why.

There's still some tension in her shoulders. Sutton's hands rest on her hips while he's looking her over and considering. "It's a challenge finding a partner." After the last one, she probably means. After how that fight ended. She doesn't appear to be favoring anything, so that makes one of them. Keep it light, he says. She waits, but he doesn't explain. "Why's that?" She considers his stance, his stretch, but doesn't turn to the ring until he answers.

"Entiendo. So you're settling for me." That amuses him, dark eyes going a bit narrow and slanted when he briefly smiles. He finishes pacing in his slow circle, and releases his arm before shaking out both shoulders. The slight wince suggests it's still bothering him. But he'll manage. Then she's asking him questions. Because of course. Of course she has to ask. "I have something I need to take care of," he replies, low-voiced. "For a case. It might be dangerous." By 'might' he means 'will'. "Ready to go?" He keeps his eyes on the blonde's, only pulling his gaze away as he climbs into the ring.

Sutton looks at Ruiz for a long moment. It's like maybe she doesn't believe him, but Ruiz has a habit of clinging quite tightly to information whether he needs to or not. "It might be dangerous." Might. Might means will, she knows that. She watches him climb into the ring, and her eyes narrow slightly at his back. She was already in a mood. "Mm." The blonde kicks off her flip flops and climbs into the ring, electing to slip under the ropes. Hey, at least she wrapped her hands and paid special attention to the knuckles.

Ruiz appears entirely oblivious as to Sutton's state of mind at the moment. Is she upset? PMSing maybe? Ate a bad breakfast burrito? He'll probably never know, though to be fair, his focus at the moment is on her body and how it's moving. He strafes to the side - her right, which is her slightly weaker one - and warms up with a couple of easy jabs. He's not trying to score a hit, merely trying to soften her up. Rather than keep his eyes on hers, they focus on her cheek so that he isn't distracted.

Joey arrives at the gym late for him. He's got a very tiny person with him that might come up to hip height. Maybe. She's got a purple backpack on and is wandering around in Joey's wake looking around, and notably up at the lady throwing hands. She might be 4, maybe 5 years old.

Joey's leaving one hand in his pocket and withthe free one drops his keys in his coat pocket and loos around for the rogue tater tot. Head lifts, "Hey."

Shame is isn't watching her eyes, because her eyes would have warned him about the moment she decides to move, and the exchange of a few light jabs is quickly escalated to a jab, jab, upper from her right, which has historically been weaker. Seems like Sutton's at some point learned to keep that arm up a little better. She likes to roll her shoulder to block, so the time she doesn't probably catches Ruiz by surprise, and feeds him a light tap to the chest for his trouble. Light tap if she were wearing padded gloves. This puts her in close, and gives him a little opening to exploit. Or she's distracted by a little kid with a purple backpack.

Ruiz is wearing gloves. For now. And the decision to not watch her eyes seems intentional; the eyes can mislead, but the body doesn't lie. Even if the body in question is occasionally faster than his own, verging-on-50 and abused for roughly all four out of four decades of life. After a few light hits exchanged that don't make it past either of their guards, she manages to tap him with that fist. He grunts, drops to the side rather than away, and follows up while she's still at full extension with a knee aimed at her ribs. Smack, smack in quick succession. He notes the little girl, eyes lingering on her for a heartbeat, before dragging back to his smaller opponent.

Joey didn't miss that but to comment, "Keep your elbows in." It's hard to say who he is calling out without callign someone directly out but that happened. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! A sharp whistle calls the kiddo's attention back over to him and he points to the office. "You can drop your stuff in there." Light up sneakers carry her in an excited scuttle voer to him to tell him something as she finds a chain in the office to put her things down on. Joey frowns, "Yeaaaaah that's problematic. I got you. GImme a sec." And with that he wanders towards the employee only back room trusting the kiddo to mind herself familiar withthe office.

Erin had run a few errands but returns carrying a big box. There's another in her passenger seat just like it. It's heavy, yes it is, but once she gets to the door she drops it on the floor and pushes it inside a little further with a white tennis shoe clad foot. "Geez. I already had my workout for today." She leans against the door frame and smiles when she notices Joey and his niece as Joey heads into the back. She walks towards the office where the girl is, only a glance to see who is at the ring. A grin when she notices who it is. "Give him hell," she tells Sutton.

There's a grunt when Ruiz's knee comes up to make contact with her ribs. He seems to be keeping it lightish, at least given that contact. It doesn't quite wind Sutton, but the smack is solid enough that she's probably going to be feeling it for a bit. She pops up out of the slight bend that puts her in to remind Ruiz why introducing legs is so dangerous a move. The contact is not light when her leg pops up, the hard surface of her knee snapping hard against his lower outside thigh. If too much of his weight's on that leg, it might even go out from under him.

Ruiz doesn't go down, though Sutton must know. Must know that that's his bad leg, the one he wraps up tight in an athletic brace when he hits the gym. The kick that pops him in the thigh causes the leg to buckle slightly, but instead of going down, he comes charging in with a flurry of hits and a mean glint in his eyes. Jab, jab, hook, cross - it's that deep diving hit from his right that she has to watch out for; the rest are just designed to wear down her guard. The commentary from the peanut gallery, aka Erin, garners a quick grin but is otherwise ignored. Could be that the presence of that little girl here, though, has changed the game slightly. He doesn't run his mouth when children are around. And he's got half an eye on the door of the gym, in between hits being exchanged.

"Yep." Could be to Joey, could be to Ruiz. But there's a definite, "Working on it," in response to Erin without looking over. She took her eyes off the cop once and it already cost her, though her attention is still partially divided. It's the kid. She doesn't look at the little girl, but she fights it a couple times.

She knows exactly when de la Vega has engaged in this spar for real, because his eyes are telling her. His don't usually lie, not about this. Sutton blocks or turns into the first three, but the cross lands hard, maybe harder than intended. Maybe not. She bounces back a few steps. The feeling in her arm'll most likely be back in a couple of beats, and then start to hurt. That's fine. She has two legs. She feints a left and then snaps a hard kick to his ribs. Muay Thai seems to be the inspo for that move.

Joey has found a step stool and walks it into the back. A little one step ordeal. When he returns he tells the kiddo, "You can use the one in the back. Deeeefiniately wash your hands, missy. You're not back in five I'm a knock and make sure you aren't drown a'ight?" The little girl looks up to her Unc and blithely gives an "Okay!" and runs off to the back. It's his gym but the bulldog of a dude watches her head back there watching the step she's climbed down a hundres times before and when she's 40 he'll still be keeping an eye on her likely. That done he slides his coat off and goes to pick up the big ol box Erin is kicking around and manages it without pulling stitches out of whack. "Hey, trouble."

"I can take her.." Erin offers to Joey, but the girl seems to know what she's doing so she loiters there beside her boss. "Trouble. That's the first box of shirts. And you know what? You mentioned Little Mini was coming so there's one her size in there too. The other box is in my car. I'll help you carry it but I can't alone. I don't even know how they got both in there."

Ruiz's own style is dirtier. Street fighting, growing up around boys with too much testosterone and time on their hands, and too little regard for civilized rules. He bares his teeth slightly at that hit that lands, twists away from the feint, and is socked solidly by the kick aimed at his ribs. He hisses in pain, and moves in for a quick takedown while she's unbalanced - but something going on at the back between Joey and his niece drags his attention away, and his attempt is sloppy. Then abandoned entirely, gloves flung off onto the mat, both hands coming up in a motion of surrender.

Sutton's breathing hard by the time Ruiz comes up and a push kick barely makes contact by the time his hands come up. She outright scowls at that. "Goddamn it, Javi." That's vehement and sharp. It's quiet enough that it probably doesn't carry to the little girl's ears, but the hiss of it's loud enough that the tone at least is clear. She thumps back a few steps and then comes forward one, clearly not through whatever mood she walked in here with. Which means she should probably get of the ring and go for a run. Finally, finally, she glances back to watch Erin and the little girl, her attention removed entirely, for a beat, from the Mexican in the ring with her.

Joey arches his eyebrow dropping then against the wall on teh outside of the office. "No shit you got a tiny lil slugger shirt for Jess? That's bad ass. Bonus gold star for you." Really that scores brownie points with the scruffy dude. He heads out to look at the box jenga and can be heard asking< "The hell they thinking using ninja wizardry to get this into your car. You need a black belt in origami to get it out." He pauses and says, "I have an idea, we'll open the side up and just collapse the box when we're done. We'll jsut make sure a spot is clean for... reasons." To not get the brand new shirts with brand new dirt on them. Jessie comes back up from the back, shoes sparkling light with every step and stops to just watch Sutton. Grown up lady fighting a big dude? Always a crowd pleaser. It's just not Ruiz's day where scoring a fan base is concerned. Hey, role models are important!

"I've been eager to meet her since you told me about her. She's adorable." Erin laughs, walking out with him to the car. "If I get in the driver side, I can push on it with my feet? Then we can both carry it in. These guys are heavy. I wasn't expecting it." His idea is better though, so she grins as she looks at the box. "I will go wipe the shelf in the office. I was already doing that before, but there may be more dust." She turns to head inside and to the office, giving Jessie a wave as she passes by, "Hi kiddo."

Maybe de la Vega doesn't want to beat up on a girl, with a little one watching. Maybe he's having an off day. Maybe he's just fucking distracted and out of sorts and Sutton looks like a shark who's out for blood tonight. "Tienes un problema, bebe?" The endearment could make the question a tender one, but instead his words are sharp, and he bends to snatch up his gloves mid-stride as he practically shoulders his way past the smaller blonde and out of the ring.

Sutton doesn't say anything in response to the question. It's probably rhetorical. That seems to be the way she's taking it, at any rate. Sutton stands there for a moment after Ruiz shoulders past, then reaches down to begin unwrapping her left hand, reusable wrap spiraling off quickly as she rolls it up on her other hand. She sits at the edge of the ring and unwinds the other in the same manner, slipping out of the ring after, ducking under the ropes. Her bare feet hit the floor with a slap, then she toes her shoes over and slips them on.

The blonde leans back against the ring and stacks her wraps, coiling them more more neatly. Her attention is again split between Javier and Jessie. "I love your shoes. I wish mine lit up."

Joey dimples a wry grin to Erin, "Yeah that's my lil ass-kicker. C'mon you can meet her." Looking to Jess he says, "Jessie, this is Erin. She makes sure my coffee pot doesn't burn the place down. Erin, Ms. Jessie Kelly, my social secretary."

Jessie waves to Erin and informs her, "You're doing a good job. The gym is still here." Joey points to her mouthing the word Truth. There are voices talking to her and while she doesn't look afraid she also doesn't move away from the 5' radius from Unca Joey. SHe looks back to the ring curious as hell at the lady fighting and beams a smile proudly telling her, "Mama let me pick em out!" Joey does the intro, "My neice Jessie. She's gonna be helpin me out a few days."

Erin walks back in with Joey and smiles at the little girl. "Do you think so? Thank you. Your Uncle Joey makes it easy. But I keep telling him him coffee is so gross for him." Crinkling her nose at the so gross part. "He just doesn't listen." She wears an indulgent smile and also looks suitably impressed with the girls light up shoes. "It's nice to finally meet you, Ms Kelly."

Ruiz spots Erin as he ducks out of the ring, and goes to toss his gloves in the bin. His hands were taped up underneath, and the stuff is ripped off with quick, agitated motions before being crumpled up and pitched into the garbage. Maybe he's annoyed at his question to Sutton not gaining a reply. "Give you a ride somewhere?" he asks the blonde without looking over at her. It's Joey's niece he's watching, with an odd, washed out little smile on his face.

Sutton watches the little girl interact and when she turns to talk to her, the blonde wanders a bit closer and says, "You have very good taste, young lady. I think they're rad." She smiles, just a few words from the kid seeming to chase some of her mood away, though there's something else lingering in her eyes now. "You're a very lucky man, Joey." She looks to Jess. "It's not easy to find such accomplished help with exceptionally fine footwear. I'm Sutton, love." And there's the accent. "It's my pleasure to meet you."

The blonde glances up when Ruiz asks if she'd like a ride. She doesn't say anything for a couple of beats, and then: "Yeah. I could use a ride." There's a toss up whether it's going to be Bayside to rescue her blender or elsewhere. She smiles to Joey and Erin, then slips past them to head for the locker room. "Super jelly about your shoes!"

The kid takes great pride in this telling Sutton "I like them too." Looking to Joey she whispers loudly, "I think she beat that man up." Arching an eyebrow Joey gives a slow mmhmmm "Sometiems that happens. He gave her permission though so." That seems to be enough to sate her curiosity for now. It's when she slaps him on the wrong side his eye flinches, "I'm right here you got my attention. Sup?" SHe points and informs him she'll be in her office. She loves playing tiny gym owner apparently. He murmurs, "Thank you for letting me know. If I get any calls go ahead and answer em."

Erin laughs at the interactions and walks back over to the door to kick that box further inside and towards the office. "There's a shelf in there that's cleaned off. Just needs dusted now. I can arrange these on it and leave your niece's out for you to give her." Wanting it to be a gift from him. Hey, he bought the shirts. Mostly. She gets the box closer and stops, a glance between Ruiz and Sutton, just before she goes into the locker room. She tucks her hands in her pockets for now not exactly sure what else to say.

Ruiz waits for Sutton's confirmation on the ride, then collects his duffle bag and bottle of water, and shoves his feet into his boots before heading for the door. "Let's chat tomorrow," he tells Joey on his way by, meeting the younger man's gaze for a heartbeat. Erin gets a smile as she kicks that box toward the locker room that verges on actually warm, and then he waggles his fingers to Jessie and ambles for the door.

At some point not long after, Sutton emerges from the locker room with a small duffle bag stuffed with what were probably street clothes. She's wearing what she did in the ring, because it's hot outside. Her GHFD tee is a bit damp from where she splashed some water on her face, and she seems calm. Seems calm now. She misses out on all the coptastic staring and such, making her way out to catch up to Ruiz, insofar as casually wandering toward the door is catching up. A wave to Erin, then one to Joey, and she calls, "If you ever need a babysitter..." You can trust the paramedic with a kid, right? So long as she isn't drinking.

Joey can take that so many ways. Joey wouldn't exactly call the dynamic between them 'leeway' but he has put it under 'a certain understanding' and informs easily, "Well you know where to find me." Which is to say right here and a silent agreement to be present. At Sutton's offer he chuffs a slight grin, "Well that's up to my cousin, but I'll let her know to ask you if I'm otherwwise detained. She'll be up here all weekend." Looking back to Erin he murmurs to no one in particular, "Should put freewights in teh bottom of that box under the shirts and see if she notices or jsut thinks she's getting tired."

The box was close enough now that Erin could get the contents and unload them quicker. She doesn't do that yet. Instead, she remains standing nearby Joey with her hands in her pockets. She catches the smile he allows her and offers a brief nod in return. A wave is offered to Sutton in response, and she gives her a hesitant smile. "See you around." Walking over to the ring she starts collecting the towels hanging on the ropes by others earlier in the day, just getting some work done.