3022/Asanas with Alex

Asanas with Alex
Date of Scene:	21 August 2020
Location:	Greenwich Village
Synopsis:	Alex decides that Dawn is weird, Dawn knows that he is weird. A detente.
Cast of Characters:	Alexander Aaron, Dawn Granger

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Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Philosophically this is not what Alexander's father brought him up to believe. The way the older woman with the greyish hair and the husky physique, the words she speaks from her place at the front of the class. They don't really jibe with the young Olympian's world view for various and sundry reasons. Yet it's there, at the head of the Yoga class, that the instructor speaks peacefully as everyone sits there in the lotus position, peaceful, hands upon their knees, breathing steadily.
    "Real peace is always unshakable. It is bliss that is changed by gain or loss."
    Which has the youth raising his eyebrows even though everyone has their eyes closed in that small side room with its humming metal fans running in one of the open windows. To be fair he's not unfamiliar with the techniques entirely, since many of them had been in some form co-opted by various forms of the martial arts. But these sayings...
    "Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realise. Be good, do good, be kind, be compassionate."
    Under his closed eyelids Alexander sort of rolls his eyes a little, shaking his head but trying to keep focused. This was supposed to be good for him. To steady him, but he's not exactly very... unsteady. So really there's no reason to do this.
    Then why is he here?
    He makes a face and grumbles to himself. Peer pressure probably as he peeks an eye open and peers sidelong towards one of his friends in that class. Bah.

Dawn Granger has posed:
Dawn's ribs move under the sheer fabric of her white tank top, rising and falling slowly in meditative breaths. She sits in a full lotus with the ease of the truly supple, her hands palm upwards, her eyes closed until she feels a change in the room. Back of the class and to the side of the room, she has a wall on one side of her and an empty space where someone left the class early. Probably the heat, tendrils of white blonde hair cling to her sweaty neck.

The woman's words disappear like foam on water, there and gone. Beautiful sentiments that no longer jive with the violence and weirdness of the world since she received her powers. Still, she longs for the peace or the promise of it knowing that if it exists, it is unlikely that it will be in her life.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    It's that disharmonic discordance that likely might be felt. It's understandable why such situations could arise, why the feeling might be a small tremor in the 'chi' of the room. The words are sentiments that don't work with the point of view of some of the people there. Well really two of them perhaps. Yet not enough to cause a cessation of the class.
    The time passes as they enjoy their meditation, as the class continues. And then there is the end of it with the instructor finally opening her eyes and smiling to them as she says, "There, open your eyes, we're all here now. Together. Though we were together in the cosmos just now. Thank you for attending my yoga class. Namaste."
    And with that the myriad of people start to gather their items, to roll up their yoga mats, pack their bags. Some people are smiling to each other, some people are touching each other with a sense of brotherhood and belonging.
    Ew.
    Alexander, for his part, rolls to his feet and starts to pick up his mat. He shoots a sidelong glance at Hunter and his girlfriend who are both there smiling at him, so he says. "Yeah, hope you guys liked this. This counts as your wedding present."
    They laugh.

Dawn Granger has posed:
The chubby girl in the middle row squatting to roll up her mat gives Dawn a perfect view to the front. She idly looks around the class, turquoise mat under one arm, waiting for people to file out of the room to get their shoes.

Mopping her neck, she unexpectedly sees the guy from NYU, she blanks on his name and then purses her lips when she remembers it. Alexander Aaron. AA. The pretty boy who didn't strike her as being too smart but it was like he was trying to act like a frat boy. It didn't fit. Her hand lifts before she has really thought it through. A flip of her wrist in the kind of hello that could be ignored if he wanted to blow her off. No makeup except for a bare gloss of lipstick, hair gathered into a mop on the top of her head, white shirt darkened with perspiration - she has a high school moment which quickly becomes a fuck it. It's not like she even had been thinking about him since they met. Much.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    It's a different way of seeing him, a bit. Since he's not quite that goofy affectation, fitting to the way he perhaps expected her to see him. Instead he looks a little snide, a little snarky as he makes a face at Hunter and Mindy, the young couple who are laughing and chatting with him a bit. While him... he's rolling his eyes and looking sidelong away from them as he holds up a hand.
    She'll likely see them say their farewells as the youth picks up his roll and tucks it under an arm. Only for him to look across the way... and see that little wave.
    Does he play it cool, act like he didn't even see it, feign confusion upon seeing her?
    No.
    For across the room she'll hear his voice lift, wryly, as he says. "Dondon!"

Dawn Granger has posed:
Oh, god. What a jerk. Maybe she really has misjudged him. Now, she's done it and there is no escape because of the people jamming up at the door trading kisses, putting on their shoes, and making plans to drink kombucha at the nearest vegan restaurant. A smile sputters on Dawn's face.

"A. A.," she replies with a sardonic lift to her voice.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "That's A. A. Ron." He counters as he starts to get into line behind the myriad of people who are starting to head to the door and on out. Not that many people but he doesn't seem to be in too much of a hurry. Instead he just stuffs his hands in his pockets and waits, and once he gets near the place where all the shoes are set to the side he casually dabs at one with a toe, then pulls it on with a finger along the heel. His next shoe follows suit.
    Turning to look over his shoulder he murmurs in her direction, "Are you a Kremlin spy following me?" He asks that oh so casually, perhaps not realizing that in the past he actually has had TWO Kremlin or former Kremlin spies following him before.
    "Or just infatuated?" He asks that with such openness that one might almost think he's serious. Might.

Dawn Granger has posed:
A.A.ron pitched it just right and she laughs, much to her surprise. She slips into her mules and smiles sideways at him shaking her head until the spy business which ends in infatuation. Her face crumples into a look of disbelief and she laughs so loud the kombucha crowd turn their heads.

"What color are your eyes?" Dawn steps closer pretending to scrutinize them, grinning. "Nope, kind of blue with amber flecks. You are so full of shit, I thought they might be brown."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "So it's the latter, I knew it." Alexander says casually as he strolls to the door and then catches it with his shoulder, pushing it open as he leans and lets her precede him since he is so nice. But it's as he stands there that he tilts his head toward her and says, "If not, then it's just coincidence."
    Which has him talking as he walks out into the hallway of the civic center. Up ahead Hunter pauses long enough to wave back at him and he holds up a hand to wave him off as if letting him know it's ok that he's alright with Dondon.
    Which has the young Olympian smirking as he strolls along, tilting his head to tell her sidelong, "That's my friend, Hunter. He's making sure I'm ok with you being here, he probably thinks you're some kind of criminal and are going to mug me since you really look the part."
    He gives a nod of his head, twice as he strolls along.

Dawn Granger has posed:
"You know nothing but I'll give you points for imagination even it is a bit lurid," Dawn walks in front of him, making the quip over her shoulder. "It's got to be because we live in the same neighborhood maybe? But, what a coincidence."

She tiptoes to see his friend, waves, then glances at Alex, head nodding in agreement. "I do kind of have the look of someone belonging to a Triad, don't you think?" She sizes him up, "Do you need big guys to make sure you're not bullied on the way home from school? Shame."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Yeah, usually." Alexander strolls along, indulging in the casual interplay as he stuffs his hands in his pockets, that mat in his backpack and slung over his shoulder. He crinkles his nose again, perhaps a learned gesture or something else entirely, but it offers the sentiment he wants to give to her. "Greenwich is a rough neighborhood."
    They reach the double doors that lead to the outside and with a lift of his chin he gestures across the street. "In the long walk to my apartment over there, I usually end up getting handed some sort of pamphlet, a flower, and asked to sign some sort of petition. It's a madhouse."
    Though, to be fair, there's only one person handing out pamphlets in front of the civic center.
    Looking askance toward her he says, "So, you should know I'm something of a fatalist. This is our second time meeting, right? Third time implies something. Not sure what. Maybe we'll become nemesises. Nemeseses? Nemeses?"
    "Rivals." He settles on.

Dawn Granger has posed:
Dawn had stopped at the door to pull out a long open crocheted tunic to pull over her skin tight yoga pants and the revealing top. Yoga mat slung in a carrier over her shoulder, a woven leather bag tucked under her arm, she strides out after him.

Looking across the street, "No, seriously. I live like two blocks from here." She doesn't tell him where, having learned some caution in the big city. With wide-eyed innocence, she offers, "I mean, I can do bodyguard for you till you get into your front door. I don't mind. And, I don't know about coincidence. I kind of go more for things fitting together in ways that don't always seem apparent."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Could you?" He asks as he looks sidelong at her. "I'm very delicate." Since really, the two times she's seen him he's been doing what? Cheerleading and Yoga? Some people might make presumptions!
    But he starts to walk down those steps of the civic center smiling a little to a couple who are walking pu the steps, probably neighbors down the way or the like. But then he waits on the sidewalk for her, since if she's going to be guarding his body she'll need to be on point for it.
    "But yup, right over there, upstairs." He motions with a nod to one of the third floor windows where there's a black t-shirt hanging up in the window, "Where my Team Banzai shirt if drying." He gives a small shrug as he starts walking once she seems ready.
    "Nobody believes in the Fates, until you meet them." He says somewhat as he strolls along, as if he's had this experience before.

Dawn Granger has posed:
Giggling without pretense, she meets his eyes, "I could tell you were a delicate flower that would wilt at the tiniest hot breeze." Straightening her shoulders, she makes a show of looking both ways down the street before nodding gravely, the gravity ruined by the grin that keeps threatening to break out.

"We're safe. Let's get going," she says, walking up the street to the light. Pretense to spend more time with him or her being a good body guard that wouldn't consider dodging traffic with her client?

"The Fates?" She could hear the capital in the word as he spoke, her grin falters, smoothing into a more thoughtful expression. One of those moments of intuition that she still needs to learn to trust. "You mean the ones who carry a spindle and scissors. I forget what the other carries."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Hands still in his pockets, the youth strolls along with a casual stride, head tilting to the side as he moves. "Clotho, Atropos, Lachesis." He crinkles his nose and makes that casual stroll then breaks into a half-token jog across the street to make it to the other side, perhaps even against the wishes of his designated bodyguard! But once he's over there he waits, half-smirking.
    "I think they actually take turns sometimes." Depending on what their role is for the day when it comes to the weaving of the fates of mankind or whatnot.
    "I mean, I know if I was sitting there in a room dealing with the fates of everyone for all of eternity, I'd want to try other jobs if only for a change of pace." That said he smiles a little as he strolls, his gaze distancing a bit to that brownstone where his apartment resides, only a dozen or so houses down the way so an easy walk for now.
    "But don't make fun of them, or else you end up pushing a rock up a cliff or something."

Dawn Granger has posed:
"Crikey," Dawn mutters under her breath as she lengthens her stride, too proud to jog to catch up. A taxi slows her down.

Catching up to him, she lifts an eyebrow at Alex knowing the Fates' names. It surprises her. She had almost elected classical studies but her mother convinced her otherwise. "The Moirae. Dude. You know their names and their jobs. You think they'd get bored and do a number on me? The myth of Sisyphus would become the myth of Dondon." She looks up and spreads her arms, beseeching unknown figures in the sky, "I'm not making fun of anyone."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Yeeah," And for some reason he tilts his head at her and says with an easy smile. "They're my aunts." He tells her as if it wasn't that big of a deal, even as he slides his hands out of his pockets and spreads his hands wide in silent apology for that declaration, his smile turning more self-deprecating as he crinkles his nose.
    "So yeah. They can be jerks though." He starts walking along once again, hands returning to his pockets after he adjusts the hang of his backpack, strolling along with that easy stride. "But easy to believe in Fate when you know it's like, a real thing. Right."
    So there's that.
    "But like I was saying, they usually act in threes. The third time we met purely by coincidence it would signify something. So." The youth tilts his head toward her, "This is my little act of rebellion telling you before they get a chance to arrange their ducks in the proper rows. Yay me."

Dawn Granger has posed:
Dawn feels the world wobble. One of her premonitions without the need to invoke the change that transforms her. She closes her eyes a moment to steady herself, opening them in time to catch his nonchalant smile, hands in his pocket. Her skin pales under her light tan. Mouth pressed into a straight line, she examines him, eyes narrowing. He really doesn't appear as crazy as his words.

Instead of attacking him for being a liar or fanciful, she listens to herself. "Ah, are you saying that even if we don't want to meet again, we will, if your," her voice rises into a question, "ah, aunts, will it? I could avoid you." Does she want to avoid him? She's not sure.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Depends," He says as he strolls along, footsteps casual as ever and his bearing the same as she's seen it mostly. It's as if nothing phases him, and he wanders along life more as a tourist than a native. His head tilts to the side as he pauses while she gets her bearings, his lip curving up a little. But not mocking her, more apologetic as he's likely had this effect on people before.
    "On how bored they are, or how much it might amuse them. They do sort of keep watch of family fairly closely to see if there's anything mean or nice they can do."
    A small shrug is given, "Again, depends on their mood."
    Then he cocks his head to the side curiously, "You ok?"

Dawn Granger has posed:
Waving her hand in front of her face, she nods, abashed at him having caught the wobble. He, no doubt, is going to wonder why she is going along with this so easily. But, being gifted with superpowers has changed her perspective radically.

She nods almost too emphatically, half trying to convince herself. After a deep breath she settles, "Sorry. Yeah."

Head tilted to one side, she asks, seriously, "If they are your aunts. Who are you? I mean, I'm trying to get my genealogy straight - they're the daughters of Zeus, right? It depends on the source," she half-whispers to herself. "They sound scary."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Mmm, main thing you should know about my family is that they are all almost universally jerks." The youth walks along but then they're at his house, stopping with one foot up on the first step of his stoop, pausing to lean back against the railing as he stands there, looking up and down the street then back to her.
    "Even the ones that people like to say are great and nice, like Athena? Still. Jerk." He holds up his hands and spreads them out, "I mean she'd agree with me on that, which puts her head and shoulders above most of my family. But she knows that even she has a temper and can be vindictive."
    Then his lip twists as he tells her, "In any case, I already told you who I am. I'm A. A. Ron." He folds his arms over his chest and considers, then adds. "But my dad is War. I'm Fear."

Dawn Granger has posed:
Dawn stops in the street and has to skip a step to catch up with him. "Jerks. Right. I'll try to avoid meeting them," she mutters after his description of Athena.

Athena? Athena! She is putting it together quickly. Athena is his aunt so that must make him an Olympian. Relief makes her shoulders drop, she takes a deep, long inhale - the yoga teacher would have been proud. He's /just/ a deity or something to that affect. It would explain why he is so handsome and why she is so attracted...She stops herself, interrupted by what she supposes is his other name. Something like her other name though she is no myth or deity for that matter.

"Ares? Phobos?" She looks stricken, for a moment. "I don't feel afraid around you. Why is that? What made you tell me?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Alexander smiles a little sidelong, "Spite, mainly." He remains there resting on the stoop with his back against the wrought iron railing. His eyes drift past her somewhat, "Or maybe I'm sort of acting out what they think should happen. Or maybe I'm just being a a butt, which is entirely possible. But I'm telling you as a sort of exercise in free-will I'm thinking."
    That said his lips twist a bit as he spreads his hands, "But yeah, Ares. And Phobos. But still, I prefer Alexander."
    A deep breath is taken as they get to the whole idea of her not feeling afraid around him. His lip twists up a little, "Well maybe because I don't want you to be afraid of me? I mean there's that. But also, well. You aren't really hugely afraid of things, or at least not the normal things people are. Your fear umm,"
    He crinkles his nose, "God this is going to sound weird, but your fear 'tastes' different. Not that I actually can taste it, more sense it but that's the easiest way to explain. There's a different flavor to it. There's something different about you. Which combine that with the coincidence of us meeting again makes me think."
    There's a grin as he murmurs, "Well it's like reading hundreds of mystery novels and then starting a new one. You start to recognize the beats that lead up to a thing. Right?"

Dawn Granger has posed:
A smile nearly surfaces at the word spite. Family. How exasperating they can be! They are on common ground there. Dawn gestures agreement at that.

"What not A.A. Ron? I kinda like that." There is the quintessence of her fearlessness, making a quip to someone who, she imagines, if so inclined, could scare her to death. He's right. She is different.

She draws out, "Oooooh. You're comparing me to pulp fiction," shrugging, she adds with a wry lift of her chin, "I suppose that's better than porn."

Looking down at her feet, nodding, she says, thoughtfully, "I can see how you would start to worry about accidentally meeting someone twice with aunts like that." Lifting her eyes to look at him, "You've got good instincts. I'm just not good at talking about myself."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    When Dawn asks about pulp fiction his brow furrows and he asks blankly, "What's Tarantino got to do with this?" But then he just lets it slip past as he listens to her other words, still standing there outside his apartment building with that casual slouch of his.
    He crinkles his nose again, "Ehn, good instincts, or... I just might not care. Which is a thing, by the bye." Then Alexander takes that to segue into something else as he looks away and then back.
    "Which brings up another thing. By the bye."
    He takes a deep breath and tilts his head towards her, "There's no point in having like a God of War who can't fight. Or a God of Wine who can't hold his drink. So there's not much of a point of a God of Fear who... gets afraid." For a moment he tilts his head as if gauging if she's following him before he elaborates. "So be that as it may, it is kinda strange how that works out sometimes. Since fear sort of plays into a lot of interpersonal relationships between people. I find it hard to connect to folks for various reasons."
    His eyebrows climb, "Which makes it hard to keep friends sometimes. But also there's the whole thing sometimes when my family gets grumpy and weird things happen around me. Which can in turn affect my friends. So there's that too."
    And then he tilts his head to the side, "But hey, I have a magic sword. So I got that going for me, it's not all bad." His lip twists and perhaps at this point she might be getting that angle of Alex.
    When he talks, he's mainly talking to entertain himself. At least in the times she's met him. Perhaps moreso than that, depending on the people he's talking to.

Dawn Granger has posed:
Alex's whole self-description forces Dawn to sit down on the stoop, she holds her hands up in front of her, asking him to hold up, give her time to take this all in. First, she lays down her yoga mat but keeps her bag hugged close to her. It is New York.

"Mind if I check this with you?" She looks up at him, half-expecting him to say, 'What? Wasn't I clear?'

"You find it hard to connect to people because you're not afraid of them leaving you? Or you don't care if they do?" After a sharp breathe, "Never mind how weird your family is. There are whole books written about that."

Puzzled, one side of her mouth is pulled tightly to one side as she looks up at him. "And, you're telling me this because you think I'm weird, somehow, too?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "It's more that you taste weird." As he says that his lip curls up wryly, crookedly, amusing himself if no one else. But then he gives a small shrug of his shoulders as he decides to answer her earliest questions. "But it's that... you need to fear losing something to really... care about it I suppose you'd say."
    He hops down that stoop and then looks up and down the street, "Like, if a car came roaring down the street and I wasn't able to save you or whatever. I mean sure I'd feel bad but..."
    The Olympian youth looks down the way, then back. "But not that bad. I think. And I do sorta like you. I wouldn't just stand here, I'd probably try to save you, but it would be an inherently selfish act. More because I'm curious and want to see how the story goes."
    There's a pause as he crinkles his nose, "But also maybe in part because it'd be the right thing to do. Morality is kinda hard."

Dawn Granger has posed:
"Yeah, we don't agree on this at all. I'll get back to how weird I taste." She runs her hand through her hair, massaging her forehead as she tries to put her words together. The words come slowly.

"I don't love someone or something because I'm afraid to lose it. It's because I admire it, respect it, think it's intrinsic existence is worthy and beautiful and so then I try to nurture that. That can just be opening a door for someone or walking around a flower so I won't crush it out of existence or putting up with butts," she looks meaningfully at him, "or my mother because I value them. I feel good being around certain people. But, I don't walk around afraid I'm going to lose them. It's inevitable. We will lose everything when we die."

She shrugs. "Glad you'd make the effort to try to save me. Whatever. Doing the right thing is not all that easy, anyway. Hey, not being afraid of things must be just amazing. We could talk about this for days. That's not the half of it."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Maybe," He offers as his point of view, perhaps ceding some of her point but not entirely embracing it. Instead he looks past her and then back to her as he says, "I think it's capable of having a strength of conviction, and to have strong affection without fear. But what we think of as the traditional Western Civilization Romantic notion..."
    He tilts his head to the side as he considers, "Well that inherently involves loss, and fear, and how it is impossible to go without or survive said absence."
    Alexander smiles a little, "I mean, I can feel sad, and melancholy. And I didn't... always feel like this. In my youth before I became Phobos I knew what fear was. So I have a unique point of view. I think."
    Then his shoulders lift and lower, "But could also be my own mental make-up that causes this point of view. I think it more makes me look at things through a closer lens to see if perhaps I am feeling a noble emotion, or more if it's selfish."

Dawn Granger has posed:
"You do make it hard on yourself. I'm sure I don't feel noble or ask myself if I'm acting out of nobleness. Sometimes it's just duty or necessity. Helping someone is not done out of fear or nobility, you know."

Conscious of how often she has been shaking her head but unable to stop herself, she throws her hands up in the air,"Lots of love songs written about longing and wanting that particular person in your life, thinking they are irreplaceable. The one true love. I don't know about that. I just don't but I don't think that wanting to be around someone for long periods of time is that common, either. You've never been in love or thought you were?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    His reply is a concise, "Ehn."
    Which might be all the more maddening as he consigns love to its fate with that uncharitable sound. Yet he smiles a bit back at her and he says, "I was in a long term monogamous relationship once and it was nice. I think I did everything like I was... you know, supposed to. I mean, you know. Be there, be supportive, try and help them achieve their goals, be affectionate." Then he adds with a smirk, "And, I mean of course, be amazing in bed."
    But then he pushes right past that comment to perhaps preclude her from giving him guff about it as he adds, "But it didn't turn out well. I think she could kind of tell I couldn't reach that... level of connection she was wanting. So I've sort of avoided that since. I don't like making people feel bad."
    Another pause then he adds blithely, "Unless it's for a good reason."

Dawn Granger has posed:
"I can get with you on that. I try not to make people feel badly unless they merit it." She grins, ignoring the comment about how amazing he is in bed. A question remains, a shadow of doubt about the guy but it's not like they are dating or even thinking about it, so what matter. School term will be starting soon and even though he is in the city they won't have time to run into each other. Puzzled why he would reveal his identity to her, she blinks looking up at him, a faint smile pulling at her lips.

"Guess you're not afraid of me calling the newspapers up and outing you?" Pure provocation on her part.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    A small shrug is given, "A fair amount of people know. And if people want to dig they can find out. SHIELD might come and talk to you and be all, 'Why you wanna do that, man, antagonize the god of fear? What's up with that?'" And as he says that he actually seems like he's affecting a nasally tone of voice of someone in SHIELD that he might know.
    But then he looks back at her, "I mean in this day and age, most people will be like, 'So?' and it'd make it tougher for me to finish school. And I don't think you'd be a jerk like that."
    Another shrug is given, "Though there were some youtube videos once, and I got hassled because of that some. But yeah." That said he waves a hand, "So do whatcha want."

Dawn Granger has posed:
Shouldering her mat, she stands, "Thank you for telling me who you are, A.A. Ron. I wouldn't do it. I was being...a jerk, I suppose. Who needs SHIELD on them, anyway? They might know about both of us." She nods as if to say, 'See, I do taste funny.'

"You look like you got home safely. I will try to avoid you if I ever run into you again. Tell your aunts that it's nothing personal."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    A wry grin is given, "Ok, seeya later, Dondon." And with that he turns and starts to walk back up the steps to his apartment. A few moments are taken fiddling at the door with his keys but then the next... he's gone.