| Sweating It |
| Summary: | Carmen and Iosif do some low-intensity treadmill work and reflect on basestars and skinjobs and other such matters. |
| Date: | 24 March 2042 AE |
| Related Logs: | Enter the Swarm: And in the Basestar Bind Them |
| Players: |
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| Athletics Area - Deck 12 - Battlestar Cerberus |
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| A large pair of mats dominates the center of this room, their centers taped-out for a small area to practice boxing or other martial arts. Around the outside are treadmills, bikes, weights, and an impressive variety of gym equipment to help tone and shape the bodies of the crew. To one side of the room is the locker room while at the rear is a hatch that leads back to the oversized swimming pool. Off to the side is a rack that holds boxing gloves, pugil sticks, and the associated pads for the sticks. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #391 |
The rhythmic sounds of feet beating against the belt of a treadmill brings attention to where Carmen is, at a full run. By the look of her — red face and beads of sweat at her temple — she's been at this for a while now.
Iosif is just coming out of the locker rooms, changed into sweats, and he takes a gulp from a bottle of water he's carrying as he strides toward the exercise machines. He ends up not far from where Carmen is working out, and she's offered a friendly nod and half-crooked grin. "Where you running to, then?"
Carmen doesn't respond immediately, having to first decrease the speed of the treadmill so that it's a slow jog. "Nowhere…fast," she answers breathlessly, flashing a brief broad grin in Iosif's direction. The speed is decreased again until it's just a fast walk, the other hand reaching for a small towel to mop at her face and neck. "Always seems the way…in here."
"We ain't exactly got the terrain to run cross country, luv," Iosif observes, gulping some more water before capping his bottle and hopping up on the treadmill. He starts it out at a moderate pace. He's going nowhere not-so-fast. "Could try jogging out on that gas giant we're orbiting, but there ain't much to breathe down there."
"Sad but true," Carmen swipes her face one final time before she tosses her towel over the front of the machine. The fast pace eases into a slower, easy one to maintain, allowing her to better catch her breath. "Can't imagine that'd be too long a run out there. View might be limited, but I'll stick with the treadmill for now."
"Smart bird, you," Iosif says, continuing his power walk. "So…" A pause, and he takes a gulp of water. Not that he seems winded yet. "…you all right? After that mess of weird in that Cylon ship, I'm meaning. Got pretty hairy in there."
Carmen's response is delayed by taking a few gulps of water, and then a couple more, putting the bottle back in place a moment later. "I got out whole, so I think I'm one up on a few of them that went. Weird though, that place. Led to some interesting dreams as a result." She quiets, squinting over at Iosif. "How about you?"
"Got out whole. Like you said, about the best you could hope for, way things stood in that frakking place," Iosif replies, taking the speed up on his treadmill some. He's already starting to sweat, despite the leisurely pace of his workout. "Dreams?" A pause, like he's not sure if he should ask more or not. "You…want to talk about them? That why you're running?"
That casual pace is maintained for now as Carmen looks over at Iosif again, considering. "Just dreams about the place made even stranger by my imagination. Nothing too bad," she assures, smile returning abruptly. "Not cracking up or anything."
Iosif shakes his head quickly. "I didn't mean it like that. I mean…I think someone would have to be pretty cracked already, to be all cool after something like that." He keeps his feet moving as he talks, gulping some more water. "I keep thinking about what that…thing said. The bloke who…wasn't a bloke. The Three. Cylon. Whatever they are."
"Yeah, what they said, the one in the bath that was babbling and the other one, I keep thinking over it," Carmen confesses, brows drawing closer as the memory of those words return. "Do you think we can put much stock in it though? What was said? Or was it all just to mess with our heads?"
"I think it was all frakking weird," Iosif says firmly. "I don't put much stock in the rest of it. They are mussing with us. Like them mines on that ship. Traps and snares, trying to place them in our heads like them place them in front of them Marines. It does mess with you, though. The ones that look like us. I mean, a Centurion's a big walking chrome toaster. No mixing them up with the guy your bunk is next to. But that Three thing…" He swallows. "…I heard there was a copy of him they found down in Sagittaron. Back when this ship was doing rescue ops there. They found him, thought he was human, saw him die. Makes you wonder, don't it? Who else is out there that's a skinjob and we don't know it."
"That is enough to mess with the mind," agrees Carmen as she finally punches the button to stop the belt, but even with it stopped, she doesn't jump off. Instead she turns so that she leans against the front, facing Iosif. "Expect they'd like that though, knowing they're making us question everyone around us."
"And it's damned if we do and damned if we don't, then, ain't it?" Iosif asks, keeping moving for his part, though he's still not going too fast. Even this decidedly low-intensity workout is making him red-faced and sweaty. "I mean, like that Three monster. They're out there, and they look like us, and they're the enemy same as them Centurions over on that frakked-weird ship. But we can't just spot them out of a crowd, so we got to start questioning damn near everything. Can see why you're dreaming. Should give any of us nightmares, we stop to think about it for a minute."
"When I first heard about it, I started looking at everyone around me here, checking for faces that might be familiar," admits Carmen, nose wrinkling a moment. "Afraid I'd see people I knew, people I saw down on Tauron. One of those things where you want to spot it, but you're afraid that you might because of what spotting it means."
Iosif gets a chuckle out of that, nodding. "Checking for the familiar. Yeah, I can see that. It's funny. I was plucked off of Aerilon with my brother Iszak. When them Marines saw us, I swear they about popped us right there. Twins and copies and all that rot. If our sister hadn't been with us to vouch we was human, I'm not sure they wouldn't have left us to rot on that planet."
"I didn't say it, but I admit I thought that too, seeing two of you," Carmen's confession is followed by a little chuckle. "Glad to see they decided to bring you and your brother along though. Glad they found us too, as much as I miss there being a sky and earth beneath my feet, living as we were starts to wear on a person."
"You came from Tauron, yeah?" Iosif asks. "I didn't get planetside when we were down there. Was still a civ then. That was when they were moving us all over to the Elpis. Not a bad place. Didn't feel like I was making much of a contribution there, though. That where you're from original? Tauron?"
"It's where I was when it happened," Carmen says by way of answer, snagging the towel again to swipe it across her forehead. "Originally from Gemenon, I was just transferred to Tauron after…ah, a disagreement." Shoulders roll in a lazy shrug, not seeming to want to linger on that topic for too long. "It's weird to think of everyone on Gemenon being gone. Didn't have much in the way of family left, or even friends that I'd kept in contact with since leaving, but still. Sometimes I'll just… I'll remember these places that I used to go. Restaurants, or a park, or just a street that I used to walk down a lot. I'll see them /so/ clearly and want to visit, just for a split second, and then there's this jolt in my stomach when I remember that I can't. That it's… it's all gone."
Iosif nods to that, taking a deep breath that has little to do with exertion. "We never had much in the way of roots. My family and me. My parents had this old freighter. They used to haul cargo from colony to colony, never spent too much time planetside. My brothers and sister and me grew up there. That ship was home. Maybe that's why this whole battlestar hitch don't seem so strange. This is as much a place to call home as any. Just a Hells of a lot bigger than my Da's old freighter.
"Suppose that would make life here a lot easier to get used to," Carmen's lips curve into a smile, one that hints at amusement. "This place is huge. I can't even begin to count how many times I've gotten lost and turned around here. Think I'm going one way and walk into a completely different area, then I have to find my way back out and try to get where I was going origonally. It's gotten easier though, after three or four tours of the ship."
"Trick is to remember one thing that's on every deck," Iosif says. "That way, when you see it, you'll know where you're at. At least you got an excuse to go mucking about all over the place. You're an engineer, after all. I don't work many places other than the hangar deck, sometimes up in Fabrication."
"I've been trying to do that," answer Carmen as she finally steps off her treadmill, snagging the water bottle from it's holster and slinging the towel over her shoulder. Rather than head away, she moves to stand beside his treadmill instead. "Has been helpful, having to go all over to fix things. Hard at first though, I'd get told to go here or there, and it would take me twice as long to get there as it should." She shakes her head a little. "Good to have work though, keeps me busy. Out of trouble. From thinking too much."
Iosif nods to that, taking a deep breath and slowing down his treadmill even further. He's flushed now, more than his workout should've really left him. "Aye…that was the one good thing about them bloody Swarms, I guess. Kept our hands busy, kept us from having to think about the toasters out there every day, coming at us. Now…" He stops, leaning heavily against the bars and giving his head a slight shake. "Blimey…I think it's starting to catch up with me, all that work. I'm ruddy exhausted."
Carmen cants her head to the side just a shade, studying his face for a few moments before she gives a quiet laugh. "Well, I hate to agree and make you feel as if you aren't pretty," this word has the corners of her mouth twitching with restrainged humor, "but you do look a touch worn down. You should probably hit the showers and get some rack time before you clean fall over."
"Aye," Iosif says, with a nod as to the 'worn down' part. "Not a bad idea. I've still got some time down until I'm due back on shift again. Best put it to use." Off the treadmill he steps, gulping the remainder of his water. "Good talking with you, Beringer. Take it easy, yeah? Don't sweat your dreams. Figure it's just your mind's way of working it all out, y'know."
"Good plan." Carmen smiles up at him for a moment before she casts a look around, apparently intending on continuing this workout after he's gone. "Hope that it helps. Was good talking to you too, and… thanks. Always helps to have someone else tell you that you're not entirely crazy. See ya later on."