2019-10-05 - The Crazy/Hot Scale

The punching bag is paying for its sins. One might believe that a punching bag can't really be blamed for anything - but this is a morning that Poe has found plenty of crimes to set on the shoulders of the heavy bag. The flu, for starters. The fucking flu was miserable and he still isn't feeling quite normal.

His breathing comes hard, sweat running down his face while he keeps easy balance on the balls of his feet, twisting and shifting and then executing hard and fast combos against the punching bag, accented by grunts of exertion. The gym was pretty much empty and it had been too long away, he was letting it all out this morning as if he could make up for lost time.

Poe's dressed in knee length exercise shorts and a black muscle shirt. His hands are bare while he drives them into the bag and his long hair flies with the momentum of his body - no product in there yet to keep it in place.

Two noticeable things. The first being that when Everly makes her way into the gym she looks like she's dressed for an entirely different place in a pair of short black shorts, knee-high black stockings, black t-shirt with a bright red anarchy symbol on it and combat boots that aren't laced or tied on her feet. Secondly, she's got a plastic to-go bag in hand from the waffle place, and there is very much the smell of maple syrup and bacon coming from the bag.

Straight through the gym like she knows where she's going, then down the hallway to the employees only room. Only for her to turn back up a few seconds later to look around the pretty much empty gym, the hand with the bag in it lifting upwards, "Anyone seen a tall, dark haired Kelly with an attitude problem?"

If Poe notices when Everly comes through the front he doesn't pause to acknowledge it. It's not so uncommon for anyone to come and go from the gym and he's focused on hitting things right at that moment. Hitting things is important.

It's only when she moves down the hall and then resurfaces a few seconds later that she catches his attention and he takes a step forward to wrap his arms around the swinging bag to calm it, leaning forward against it while he works to catch his breath. One hand comes up to push his damp hair away from his face and he fixes is eyes on Everly before finally shaking his head. "Havent. Seen. Joey. Yet." The words come out slowly between breathing. He pushes away from the bag and takes up his water bottle, tipping it for a long drink, finally catching his breath.

"Likely still asleep if he has any sense. Not that he does. Have sense. But, likely asleep."

There is just a bit of a pause.

"Fuck. You're Everly Kelly."

"Shit...Am I? Fuck." Everly glances around, then points to herself with her eyes widening before she snorts, "Yeah, unfortunately. Right?"

It's at least sounding amused, except for the glance given to the bag in her hand, that is unamused. "Well...shit." She decides before moving over to where Poe is trying to work off calories, the bag of food held out towards him, "I brought him food, but if he's not here, I don't have time to go hunting him down for it...shit to do, people to annoy." No one really wants to have to reheat waffles and bacon, so it seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to just hand off to the nearest person, right?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

It isn't like Everly isn't a smart cookie, some might argue she's always been too smart for her own good, but the question that pops up is one of those questions that healthy, normal, well-adjusted people should never ask, "We never dated, right? If we did, I'm sorry...I can't put a name to the face." She gives him a bit of a squinting look, then goes from trying to place the face to looking at everything else to try and place that instead.

"You know, I get that a lot." Poe says with a brief grimace even has he reaches out to accept the bag of deliciousness from Everly. A thumb is pushed inside and he peeks in to see the contents. "He's going to be so pissed. Don't think he needs the waffle though. I'm looking out for him by eating this."

With that he drops down onto the bench and reaches into the bag to pull out a piece of crispy bacon, crunching it while he looks up toward Everly. "Never dated. Never fucked. Didn't really go in after my friend's sisters."

Maybe that was wise? Or maybe he just had a healthy bit of fear when it came to knowing who could kick the shit out of him and make his life miserable? Poe wasn't about to win any academic awards, but he was far from stupid.

"You don't remember me though? You haven't changed a fucking bit." He doesn't offer his hand because they're sweaty and bacon greasy now. "Poe Little." He offers his name.

Poe had changed. It was still the same guy, but he'd really filled out since the end of high school.

"Cousin."

It's the quick correction of someone that has probably been doing the correction game their entire life. It's possible even among the Kelly's that they get confused about how the entire clan is related.

"Poe Little." The name is rolled around, tried on for size, and measured up against her past. There is a very faint sound that might actually sound like agreement as she drops down in front of where he's sitting on the bench, sitting back on her heel, "I've changed. In some very big ways, in fact, since high school."

Joey'll probably yell at her for it, she'll probably yell back. Maybe he'll never know that she's doing it, but she's probably not that lucky. But it's a roll of the dice, a chance taken, as she shifts to reach into a pocket to pull out her cigarettes, one being tapped out before she catches it between her teeth as she pulls out a lighter to light it. Then she tosses the pack onto the floor in front of her, almost like she's putting it out there for him if he wants to take one after the waffle and bacon are done.

"I sort of remember you, yeah." She catches the cigarette between her fingers, pulling it from her mouth in a plume of smoke before she points out, "You really should rethink your rule...Is it a rule?" She waves her hand, then goes on, "Should reassess it, though. Everyone is a grown up now, yeah."

"Right." Close enough. He likely had a better grip on who was who a decade ago, but he'd taken a lot of blows to the head and done his share of drugs. A few holes in the memory.

The appearance of the cigarettes gets a tug of a smile from Poe - only at this gym could someone even think about getting away with lighting up right on the floor. He looks at the pack as though considering, but he's still busy with the delicious waffle delights right now. Besides, he likely wouldn't smoke in the middle of a workout.

"Have you?" He says around a bite at the talk of her changing since high school, dark eyes sweeping over her while she crouches there. "Suppose we all have, yeah? Ten fucking years. Hard not to change at all. Tell me what has changed with you, Everly Kelly." He asks, fingers digging out another piece of bacon while he watches the plume of smoke encircle the woman's face, head tilting to the side at her last comment as though considering it. "Likely different now that we've grown up." He agrees, then adds: "I'm seeing someone." He points this out in a way that makes it clear he'd have done quite a bit of rule reassessment had that not been the case. Maybe it's because he thinks he can take Joey in a fight these days.

"I can drink legally now."

Which is a really big change, honestly. It never stopped her in high school, but now she can do it without risking everyone going to jail, or the cops pouring it out. Well, unless she's drinking out in public and pisses someone off. Not the point, really.

The cigarette is lifted up for another drag off it, eyes squinting against the smoke before she reaches over and gently taps the ashes off the cigarette with the tip of a finger, "I work...like ten thousand jobs now because once you get past a certain age, or certain situation, you're forced to find ways to pay your own bills. Then there's the fact that between working a thousand jobs, I've got to arrange baby sitter, day care, transportation, food..."

Which leads her all the way around to a very brief pauses, eyes narrowing a moment as she considers his reasoning for rule reassessment being off the table before she shrugs, "And?"

"Being an adult can be a shitty deal. You finally get away from all the bullshit of putting up with someone else's rules just to walk into even more bullshit." Poe crushes the suddenly empty bag in his hands. The waffle and bacon had been consumed very quickly. Turns out being sick for a week and then spending an hour beating the shit out of a punching bag really worked up an appetite. "Drinking. That's something. But, you've got a kid? I guess that's a big fucking change. I guess dad isn't around?" It's likely a fair assessment given Everly's avenue about rule breaking, or maybe she just likes to enjoy herself on the side? No judgement in Poe's expression, just mild curiosity.

He narrow his eyes in return toward Everly and lets a few seconds of silence pass at her quick prompting before he finally shakes his head. "And I like her. Crazy, I know. I don't have a great track record with this kind of thing." Poe shrugs.

"What's with the ten thousand jobs? Always seems to be work around if to make enough green if you want to get your hands dirty. You're not pretending to be responsible?"

"Rules?" Everly shakes her head at that, "Never really had many rules, but yeah. Adult stuff. It's crappy." She takes another drag from the cigarette before flicking the ashes again, tilting her head back to blow the smoke upwards, "I do...and dad was a one week long ...something with a tourist. He fucked off back to nowheresville Alabama or whatever. So, not around."

The question, though about jobs, that is one that has more potential answers to it than either of them likely has time for. "Because minimum wage doesn't exactly pay for anything, and most places don't want to give you above that, or more than thirty hours in a week, so fuck getting insurance unless you come out of pocket. And fuck coming out of pocket, because you've got other shit to buy."

Which all that translates to there being nothing good about an honest wage.

"So, jaded response. Liking someone is nice, but who cares? Relationships are bullshit, and all end up in broken little pieces in the dumpster fire of our lives." Everly shrugs her shoulders at that, "But good luck trying to beat the odds. I'm rootin' for ya."

"I dunno. Is that jaded? Pretty sure I agree and I'm not trying to beat the odds. Everly. That's fucking well asking to end up on fire. Shit comes at me every day and I take it as it comes." Poe pushes up from where he's sitting having cooled off a bit, walking over toward a waste bit and tossing out the garbage. "Looking ahead isn't my style. Spent too many years down in LA just piecing together how I'd make it from one day to the next. Never in my life been able to look ahead a year and figure I'll be alive let alone where I'll be." He shrugs, looping back around to where Everly is perched.

"People are important though. Learned anything is you do what you can to help people and they'll help you too. Think that's the only reason I'm still alive." He wraps an arm around the punching bag, leaning some of his weight against it. "Keeps feeling so strange to see old faces from high school. Like I blinked out and just walked back in and so many people still here. Need to remember it's not the same as ten years ago even if people look the same." He shakes his head. "How old is your kid?" He asks.

"Jesse? She's five." Everly pushes herself back up to her feet when he gets up, her feet shaking before she bends down to pick up the pack of cigarettes off the floor, tucking it back into her pocket before she takes a final drag from her cigarette. Then she lifts up one foot to put the cigarette out on her shoe, making sure that the entire thing is out before she heads towards the trash can to toss it in.

Fingers crossed it was really, really out.

"Some of us never leave, some do..." There is an absent shrug to that before she moves back over, hands reaching out to grab the bag in case he wants to get back to his work out. Twenty bucks says that a solid hit would probably knock her on her ass, though. "You know what I learned? People will fuck you over, it's just a matter of time, so always watch your back. Unless you're family...family is everything."

Kelly brand loyalty, everyone else ranks slightly lower to her.

Let's hope it was out. The gym already had one fire in the last few weeks.

"Five? Shit. Bet that's a handful. She as much trouble as you?" Poe asks, watching Everly walk over to take the bag. Seems like an invitation, so he steps back and starts to ease some punches back into it. Perhaps he's well aware that she might not stand up to the full force of his strikes, but there is plenty that can be done with just light hits. He focuses on footwork and the movement of his own body more than the force of the actual blows.

"Feels like even those of us that leave end up coming back. Get here for just long enough and then remember why we left. But, not so easy to pack up and leave again." Thud. Thud. Thud. "I know people will fuck you over. Doesn't take much at all for them to do it. But, I can't go through the days worrying about that. Would drive me crazy. I give people a chance and hope that they can see that working together can do good things. If they want to fuck me over? Well, I deal with that when it comes."

He drops back from the bag, nodding his head. "Pushed my family away - Joey has always been good to me, though. Too good to me, honestly. Owe a lot to Kellys."

Consider who she's related to, Everly probably knows the possibilities of falling on her ass. Which might explain why she leans into the bag, bracing it with her shoulder as she plants her feet, "Five. Yeah." It's fond agreement. Dad gone or not, she at least seems to not blame the kid for any of it. "She's amazing, honestly. Joey and Jaime help out a lot, usually between the three of us I don't have to get outside babysitters...Usually. It cuts down on the cost of it, at least. But she hasn't figured out how to light shit on fire, drink, smoke, or do drugs...I give her at least four more years for half that."

"Wish I could think that way."

But does she? By her tone she does not actually wish she could be that positive and hopeful about things. Instead she sounds like she is pretty comfortable expecting the worst of people. "I don't worry about it, just expect it." But there is almost an unspoken admission that she probably self-sabotages things by being ready to fuck other people over first.

When he steps back from the bag she sways forward before easing out of her lean some, but she doesn't take her hands off the bag. "Joey is great, and if you're someone he gives a shit about he'll go to the ends of the earth for you." But then she circles back around to an earlier thought, "You should still reassess your rule, because I'm fucking amazing."

"That's the problem, right. They get a mind of their own and it all gets messy. Look back at myself and I was a decent kid and a terrible teenager - wasn't even my parents fault. I don't know. You've got good people around her, Everly. At least the right people to teach her which drugs are the good drugs and that's something." Yeah, maybe not the best environment to grow up in, but maybe not the worst either? It's a weird world sometimes.

He returns to tapping at the bag, a smile tugging at this lips at Everly's final words. "Yeah? I'm sure you are. But I can enjoy that without actually sleeping with you." Poe points out, driving his fist a bit harder into the punching bag. "Or are you only fucking amazing when fucking? 'cause I'd be missing out on that bit I guess."

He drives a few more harder punches into the bag, seeing as Everly seems to have her weight pressed fully against it. "I'm not sure really where I land. Few notches below fucking amazing, though."

If it's weird, Everly is weird, because it makes sense to her. Considering who she is, who she is related to, and her own environment....well, no one is surprised. "And how to hot wire a car, which ribs to slide the knife through for maximum effect, how to pop open a register to get the cash..."

Life is rough, and this is how some people have fun. Right?

When he starts to punch the bag again she leans into it, cheek resting against it for a moment as she gives the amazing situation some heavy thought. "So you know that chart of crazy/hot...and where you land on it, and if the hot out weighs the crazy. Right?" She totally assumes he's aware of this, because it is a thing. "Pretty sure the crazy out weighs the hot in the long term, but the short term it is a hell of a ride."

Which she seems to give it a second before pointing out, "It's alright. I know you're wanting examples now. I'm willing to give vivid descriptions of things."

This gets a laugh from Poe between punches. He's not working out as hard as he was before she'd come into the gym, but he's certainly still putting some effort into it since he has someone there to kindly hold the bag for him.

"Don't forget I spent a decade in LA, Everly. I've seen some crazy. Fuck, it's all crazy. That's just the table stakes. Everyone antes up with fucking crazy and it just spirals out of control from there." Poe throws a hard jab, grunting when it lands. "Not that this place doesn't have it's own bit of fucked up going for it. But, different here. "

He grins around the punching bag, catching her eyes for a moment and shaking his head. "Examples and vivid descriptions? I don't doubt you know how to have a good time, girl." He steps back from the bag again and finds his towel, wiping it over his face. "And maybe relationships are bullshit. I know it doesn't go like the movies. But, I've got someone I care about and don't want to hurt. Right?" The muscled man is clearly more comfortable hitting things than talking about feelings he has.

"I'd put money on shit being more crazy here than LA." Everly straightens up once more, releasing her hold on the bag before she steps back, pulling her phone out of her pocket, checking the time on it. "Different or not, the level of fucked up and crazy here out ranks anywhere else...."

Not that anyone asked her opinion on the crazy, and not that she can really say. She never left, after all.

"Whatever you say, Poe Little. You keep repeating that to yourself as much as you need to, it won't bother me none at all." Whatever time it is, it doesn't seem to send her racing off into the street. The cigarettes are pulled out again, and she repeats the ritual with getting it lit before she moves towards him, stopping right in front of him in a cloud of smoke, "When that little mantra stops working, offer is on the table."

There is a tilt to her head before she gives him a once over, brows lifting a fraction before her eyes settle on his face, "Welcome back to town. Poe. Try to not get into the wrong kind of trouble."

"Like I said, I take things by the day. Not thinking about too far ahead." Poe says those words, but something brief in his expression may betray them as not being entirely true. As though it's usually true but in some matters he might be thinking a bit further down the road than he normally would. He pushes a hand back into his hair and leans heavily into the wall behind him while he looks up at Everly. "Guess it's just like we were talkin' earlier, Everly. I have a feeling things are going to go well until they don't and when they don't I'll deal with it. You're just expecting them to go south without giving any chance for the good."

He taps his knuckles on the bench and shakes his head. "I don't know which is better. Guess it's two sides of the same fucking coin, it all ends up doing what it's going to do."

Poe reaches out and takes up his water bottle, opening it and taking a long drink before setting it between his legs. "Thanks, Everly. It's good to be back. Real good. No promises on the trouble though. Was never good at avoiding it before and haven't gotten better since I left. It tends to find me and pays too well to ignore."

"As long as the trouble pays well." Everly shrugs her shoulders with an absently amused smile, the ashes from her cigarette gets flicked into the air before she glances towards the hallway in back, "If you see Joey before you leave, tell him I'm looking for him."

Which seems like that might be the last of everything she's got to say, the hand with the cigarette between her fingers is lifted up, and she gives a bit of a salute, "Later, gator." Then she turns on her heel before heading towards the door. It's not until she's almost out it before she calls over her shoulder, "If you wanna talk again, you can find me at Platinum Cabaret."

"Take care of yourself, Everly." Poe says, raising his hand when she makes to leave. If he's surprised to be told he can find her at the strip club he doesn't show it, just nods. "I'll be out there this week. Maybe catch you then."

He slowly draws himself up from the bench and starts to gather his things. Likely enough hitting things for one day.