11874/Morning cleaning at the Gym

Morning cleaning at the Gym
Date of Scene:	04 July 2022
Location:	Gotham Gym
Synopsis:	Boris declined saving the world from... cows?
Cast of Characters:	Boris Shostak, Valerie Killmore

---

Boris Shostak has posed:
Early mornings are always nice and quiet at the gym. An hour of peace before the customers begin rolling in. The perfect time to work out and have all the equipment available to you. After he was done, having cleaned himself up, Boris Shostak reached for the container of Lysol wipes as he hummed to classical music blaring from his headphones. Every morning he comes in, works out alone, before he begins wiping all of the equipment, organizing the dumbbells by size, making the place appear as clean as possible for the gym goers who are about to mess it all back up. He kneels down next to the squat racks to reach behind the metal bars to clean, unaware of what is about to happen.

Valerie Killmore has posed:
By the dumbbells there's a slight spark. That's right, a little point of light that could be easily missed, and some short quick electrical tendrils that ripple out from it. Then, a few more, more, and it grows quickly. Audibly becoming noisy and perhaps the most noticeable sign is the speakers in those headphones on Boris's head sudden have interference. It's not constant, a hiccup, then another one, and then just audible static sound when ... A woman falls into the gym from no where, well, from somewhere, that electrical spark that had been growing. And soon crashes into the dumbbells and as they break her fall they go scattering every which way. Grimacing some, she lays there for now, on top of heavy weights, legs and arms positioned in a way that almost looks like a cat lounging on a bean bag chair, "Nnnnh." Her voice makes note of her pain, then she slumps back looking to the ceiling, "Not a terrible ceiling, I'd give it a 4 out of 10."

Boris Shostak has posed:
Boris hadn't noticed the sparks at first, but when the relaxing music in his ears began to break by an abrupt static noise, he started to fidget with his headphones and let out an annoyed grunt, he had just bought those! Still hunched under the racks, he reached for the MP3 in his pocket to stop the song, when suddenly a new scent hit his nose, followed by the loud and sharp clanks of the dumbbells hitting the racks as they scattered around the place. He reacted and hit his head on the rack. "Tvoyu Mat!" he exclaimed in Russian before he got up to look at what was happening. "Hey!" he dropped the wipes to his side as he walked toward the strange woman. "What you doing? we don't open still!" he cried out with a thick accent. He brushed his hands through his hair as he examined the mess she had made, after all he had delicately placed all of the dumbbells in order - and now they're scattered all over the place!

Valerie Killmore has posed:
"Not open?" Hex exclaims and shakes her head a bit, "Clearly, you aren't opened yet, look at this mess?" She starts to try and get up, kicking at dumbbells to get them away from her feet, and things rolling out from under her as she manages to get out from the rolling weighty bed she's made. This scatters the equipment even more than it already was, but eventually she's getting to a standing position where she reaches up tall, to stretch, "I'd like to speak to the manager, unless you are them, at which point, I'd like to talk to you. What is this place, why am I here, and did I end up... across the world? That'd be pretty ... far." Her eyes get a bit wider, she's looking down at her waist as the belt buckle there 'cools', sparking a few times, as it curls back up, little tendrils of metal getting pulled back in by a complex series of clockwork and other mechanisms. Folding up to be just an intricate belt buckle with runes scratched into it.

Boris Shostak has posed:
"Look at this... mess?" Boris's expression was nothing if not astonished, flabbergasted even. This time of day was supposed to be part of his morning routine, a perfectly relaxing time before he had to deal with any of this 'fignya' as he would call it. He cringed as she got up and scattered the equipment even more, his finger curled and his eyebrows pulled closer together. A low growl could almost be heard as he tried to calm himself. But his anger quickly turned to confusion as she continued speaking, he had no idea what she was talking about or even had the mental capacity to guess. Boris wanted to grab her by the arm and drag her out of the gym, but then he noticed the strange mechanical parts moving on her belt. Boris stared at it for a moment, but he honestly couldn't even bother to ask what that is because he knew he wouldn't understand. Keeping his hot headed nature at bay, he pressed both his hands to his nose as he let out a sigh. "No manager." he started speaking,"Come back later, talk to manager then."

Boris looked over to the door as he pointed her to it, only now realizing it was still locked. "Wait." He began scratching his head, some of the stuff she was saying was almost piecing itself together in his head, though not quite, you could almost see the coin fall directly toward the slot and somehow still hit the mark. "How did you get in here?" He said with confusion in his voice as he rushed to examine the windows.

Valerie Killmore has posed:
The mess, Hex looks around as she's standing, done stretching a little bit, she nods and adds, "Yeah. It's pretty messed up. Are they supposed to roll like this?" She questions as she puts a foot on one and just pushes it back and forth. The growl goes completely unnoticed by Hex as she's standing there, in the middle of the mess she's made, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she made it. Or at least, not taking credit for it.

"Come back later? That seems like a very strange way to offer customer service." She shakes her head, rolls her eyes a bit, and then she offers a bit of a shrug to the question of how she got into this place. Instead she mentions, "I am not all that certain myself. I mean, how do people open doors, or walk through walls? The world is full of mysteries. And I don't like your accusatory tone." She takes steps towards Boris, pointing her finger at him, shaking it like someone going 'tsk tsk tsk'. And then she squints, looking up at the man in front of her, "How'd YOU get here? Hmmm. Answer me that!"

Boris Shostak has posed:
"Please stop doing that." Boris said as he began picking up the dumbbells off the floor. "I don't offer you costumer service, because we are not open." though he tried to keep his tone calm, it definitely came out snappy. Boris started placing the dumbbells back in order, trying to ignore her before respectfully kicking her out. His eyes still wandered to the windows and vents, trying to figure out how she got in. Then she walked up to him. His lips pressed and his eyebrows raised, he leaned back as she pointed at him. Her behavior was definitely throwing him off, he wasn't even sure if this was really happening right now.

"How I...?" for a moment there she really had him thinking, how did he get there? "The door?" He grunted and shook his head, trying to snap out of whatever confusing game she was trying to play with him and grabbed the arm she was pointing at him with. "That's it lady. get out." He growled as he started marching toward the exit with her, still holding his grip on her arm, he unlocked the door with the other. "Want to complain?" his accent somehow gets thicker when he's angry "come back later. Right now, I need to clean the mess YOU made."

Valerie Killmore has posed:
"That makes some kind of sense." Hex offers and watches as Boris sets about cleaning up. She was close now, and her question is still valid. She wants to know how HE got in here. Then she tilts her head to the side as Boris kind of upturns the words making it sound like a question. "You did, or DIDN'T use the door? You'd think someone would remember using a door." Then her arm is grabbed.

"Get out? But I'm still trying to figure out how YOU got in. Maybe YOU need to get out? Huh?" Despite her arm being grabbed she just starts using the other one to talk, leaving that one in the grip without much concern. "I didn't make the mess, it was here when I got here. I'd think you'd want to keep a cleaner spot." Then she turns her head, to no one in particular and nods, rolling her eyes, "Exactly." Then turning back to Boris she kind of head tilts quickly indicating someone, or something off to the side, like a person said something she agrees with, "Exactly. And a good point. So, how do YOU explain that this was here when I got here? Huh? Oh, I get it. You are trying to gaslight me. Make it so that when your manager walks in, they won't hear my complaint. Are you working with the cows? Huh? Tell me, you better tell me, right this second, or so help me. You don't want to see my kind of help." Her eyes squinting, she seems genuinely serious with her... threat? And cow fears.

Boris Shostak has posed:
"Why would I get out?" he asked frustratingly, "I work here." He raised her arm, almost lifting her off the floor and shook her a bit "and you DON'T. So YOU get out." But then he kind of stared at her in disbelief as she hung there unbothered, continued arguing about how she didn't make that mess. He let her arm go and pressed both his hands to his face. "o gospodi" he let out under his breath. "Please leave." he said muffled with his hands still covering his face.

When she started talking almost as if to someone else, Boris moved one of his fingers to the side to nervously take a peek. There was no one there with them. He knew there was no one there, he couldn't smell anyone but her, but she still made him look. Then she started making threats and talking about "cows?..." The entire interaction was a rollercoaster of emotions because what he was feeling now, was concern. He placed his hands on her shoulders and leaned to level his face with hers. "Are you ok, Lady?" He started to wonder if he needed to call an ambulance, or if in reality it was he who was having a stroke at the moment. This by far is the strangest interaction he had since he arrived at Gotham. "Look I'm not very... uh... smart. So I don't understand what's happening right now. But I walked through this door-" he said tilting his head to the door that was right next to them. "because I work here. Then I started to clean. And I KNOW I organized the dumbbells..." he said the last part almost unsure after this interaction "and then poof. You are here."

he glanced at the clock above the front desk, realizing he only had about 30 minutes before they had to open. He sighed. "I really need to clean."

Valerie Killmore has posed:
There's a few nods of Hex's head, as if she is agreeing with Boris about, you know, getting out of here. And then she mentions, "You should get out because you are the one who's upset. I find, that when I'm angry. I leave, the situation, and then come back to it. It gives me a new perspective." She says as she's dangling there, "And then boom!" Is that how that goes? And she shakes her head, "I decline your offer, but thank you for asking."

And then the man seems, distraught, she gets hands on her shoulders, she's pretty short and small framed. Very small framed, really, kind of athletic looking, maybe she goes to a gym? She then hears the question, "Yes, the cows. See Oh Dubbya Ess. Cows. Am I okay? OfCOURSEI'MNOTOKAY!" She lets out, and shakes her head, when those hands are off her shoulders she starts pacing, bringing her hand up to her chin in thought, tipped partially over as she walks back and forth only a few steps in each direction.

"So, they've enlisted an intangible man who can walk through doors. Well, then, I can't hurt you. I'd just punch right through you. You aren't bright, that's the tricky part, the cows sent a foe I can't reason with, and can't fight." She looks up and snaps, like a 'schucks', "Damn them, they've thought of everything." Her hands come up in frustration above her head, shake some, and then she letting them fall to her own cheeks and run down her face slowly. Her eyes get wide, and she turns suddenly in Boris's direction.

"Yes, see, now you've got it. There was a mess, it summoned me here, the organization of your dumbbells must've been a trap. Quick. Re-set them up, exactly as they were. How you did it, I'll watch. But do it quick, I don't have a lot of time to save the world..."

Boris Shostak has posed:
"Save the world?" Is she one of those heroes? Boris had wondered when he'd run into one of them. The cows must be an evil organization she's battling... maybe they're even connected to the Falcone family somehow! He really has no idea what she's talking about and is having a really hard time piecing it together, but somehow he manages to paint a picture in his head. As she blabbered on, he found himself nodding, then he just shrugged, he needed to organize those dumbbells anyway.

He spoke as he walked over to the dumbbell rack, picking up each piece and carefully placing it down in order "were you sent to find me? I was wondering if anyone knew about who I am..." He placed a dumbbell down "I'm sure I could be useful... But how would they know about me?" then he placed another down "does the Enterprise know about me?!" and another but this time in the wrong order "Wait, who even are you?!" he turned around abruptly, though the dumbbells were all back in place, they were not in the correct order.

Valerie Killmore has posed:
"Yes yes yes, save the world! Do I have to repeat myself, evvvvvry tiiime? Ugh." Hex complains, shaking her head, and then she settles onto a bench, one foot up on the bench and the other on the ground with her sitting. This gives her arm a great place to lean, right on her knee, making her look like one of those punk kids at a skate park who isn't skating but watching others skating and giving that look of - I could do that. And she watches as the dumbbells are re-organized back.

"Sent to find you? Probably, there's a lot of fate stuff, destiny thingies, and such I'm SURE I'm missing. But it was hard enough to track down the Cows, let alone whoever is leading them." Hex mentions, taking in a deep breath, and then out, "Who am I? I'm Hex. That was an easy question... and they probably know about you because they have spies everywhere. Everywhere." She gets up and walks, straight at you, and then leans in, quieter, whispering, eyes looking around in a paranoid way, "Everywhere." Then back a foot and she's loud again, "This IS NOT correct!" Talking about the dumbbells and she grabs one, and starts hitting the other ones, making them fly about the gym with a force not at all capable from the look of her skinny punk frame. Panting, after she's pretty much ruined the organization, and damaged some of the weights, she takes in a deep breath, "You know what, it probably wasn't the organization. Did you say something before I arrived? Listening to something? Did you feel a prickle on your neck? Maybe a tickle in your toes?"

Boris Shostak has posed:
Boris yelped as the dumbbells were tossed about, he had managed to catch two of them, but the rest landed harshly on the ground and other equipment. He quickly spotted a dent in the squat rack and rushed to it to examine it with his fingers. "Why would you do that?!" he grunted and looked back at the clock, now with even less time to clean this up. "What? No! I didn't feel anything I just..." he stood upright and placed his hands on his hips as he swallowed. "I was listening to Mozart." he reluctantly admitted as raised his shoulders to indicate at the headphones resting around his neck.

He sat down at a near bench and rested his arms against his knees. "Is any of what you're saying even true? I don't believe in destiny. What I do believe, is that I need this job. And this..." he said pointing at the dent on the squat rack "could get me fired." the r on "fired" rolled hard as he spoke in frustration. He sighed, and pointed at the door once again. "Come back later... then we save the world." He said that, sure, but he wasn't sure how serious he was being. All he knew is that the place is a mess, and he needed to clean.

Valerie Killmore has posed:
Ignoring the man's clear frustration, Hex shakes her head, "No, Mozart never did anything worthwhile enough to catch the attention of the cows." She comments and then when, asked, if any of this is real. Her jaw drops, her eyes widen, and then she slowly brings her eyes into a squint, "Real?! Is it REaL?!" Her voice gets a little angry as she starts walking toward Boris again, "Let me TELL YOU, what's real."

"If it weren't real, would I be teleporting all about this city? In, what, Ukraine? Russia!? No, no I wouldn't. If it weren't REAAAAAAL" She puts up finger quotations as she says the word, "Would I be about 80 percent of the way done with an Anti Cow laser turret? No. If it weren't REAAAAAAAL" she does it again, "Would I be here, right now, willing to get you fired over the world ending?" A pause, and she thinks about that one, putting her lips together in a bit of a thoughtful pout for a moment, and then her eyes are looking upwards and back and forth a bit, as she backtracks through her words.

A quick shake of her head, "Whatever. I'll leave if you don't want to save the world. I'm gonna do it." She starts walking toward the door, looking over her shoulder at Boris, "If you don't stop me, you're out. Got me? No saving the world for you, mister, miss out on your fate, your destiny, your 2 o'clock after lunch meeting at the cafe just down the street with the extra foam drinks. That's right. NO Foam for YOU!"

Boris Shostak has posed:
At this point his expression lacked impression. Boris just watched her blabber once again, even as she came close to him. "We're in Gotham, lady." She teleported here... alright, that solved that mystery. At this point that shouldn't be that shocking. Though he wasn't even sure if she was a hero, or if the cows organization are even real. He realized now, she never even mentioned knowing his name, so she was probably not sent here on purpose.

In truth, Boris didn't care much about saving the world. He thinks he would be nice to, but he in no way got the right equipment to take on something like that, especially when he doesn't know the details. He half raised his hand about to ask her more about it, but as thickheaded as he is, he knew well enough at this point she wouldn't give him a straight answer. "Okay, alright" he said waving "be safe out there, it is Gotham after all." he faked a smile, whatever he could do to get her out of here and prevent anymore damage.

Valerie Killmore has posed:
Squints, and more squints, then Hex shakes her head, "You are just going to let me leave? To Gotham? How did the Ukraine get into Gotham, it's waaaaaay bigger, I thought." This is clearly not to Boris, even though she's looking right at him, more thinking aloud. And Hex walks to the door, then presses her hand against it to make sure it's solid, "Alright, mister ghost man who ... can pick up things. If I find out that you are working with the cows, I'm coming back here to ... finish the job." She tries to say it menacingly, but she's pushing instead of pulling on the door and it kind of doesn't let her go. Then she pulls, swinging it open, and turns back, pointing. "You missed out. Cow or no cow, you had a chance to do one good thing in this world. Murder, torture, and probably eat, cows. Try doing THAT on your lunch." Then she heads out with a quick spin and walking off.

Boris Shostak has posed:
"This is not Ukraine, it's Gotham!" he started but then flipped his hand over "Eh whatever."

Boris watched the door close behind her and then threw his head back in relief. What even was all that? He looked around at the dumbbells still scattered all over the place, with about 15 minutes left on the clock. He put his headphones back in his ears, and let Mozart take the stage once more.

Under his breath, he spoke in Russian. "God I hope I don't get fired."