Owner	Pose
Phoebe Beacon	Phoebe's arrival back comes without fanfare, without a party, without much notice. This was somewhat by design.     Gone were her braids, replaced by a closely shorn cut. She wore an athletic top in plain gray, her left arm showing all its scarring, burns, and tattoo work. She was bare foot, showing the pale spots on her feet as she moves along the mats in an easy, flowing kata with a training staff in lieu of her extending or light staff.     There is music playing over the computer here, instrumental modern kodo music as she moves through the forms with a sense of familiar grace.     The odd addition is that she's wearing a wide collar with lace on the upper and lower edges -- it helps to hide bandages beneath it.
Gabby Kinney	If there was one thing Gabby was diligent on it was her training. It was the one habit she kept up with from the labs. The routine of getting up early to train to start her day out was actually a good habit after all, and one that had served her well even in the years after being forced to do so. It's no surprise that she comes to the training room then. The surprise is finding Phoebe there. A grin comes over her even as she pauses by the doorway to watch the other go through her movements silently. The differences in her are taken in with a sort of sad awareness that she'd been through a lot. Not all of it something she understood, either. After a moment she finally speaks, "Mind some company?"
Phoebe Beacon	Phoebe pauses, one hand curling in, her shoulders rising up a moment as her eyes turn to settle on Gabby. She gives a tight-lipped smile, and gives a nod, motioning Gabby into the training room, pausing in her kata a moment before she regards the clawful sister, and then raises her eyebrows, offering up the staff to Gabs.     Uncharacteristically, she's quiet.
Gabby Kinney	Gabby Kinney smiles back at Phoebe quiet as she might be. It did make her worry a bit, but she had been through the wringer herself a few times recently. Sometimes quiet was needed. When the staff is offered over she reaches out to accept it with a look of mild amusement. "I never really trained with a staff. Only a little bit, really. I'm probably way rusty." Raising her eyes back to Phoebe she asks, "Show me a thing or two?"
Phoebe Beacon	Phoebe raises her eyebrows in almost disbeleif as Gabby admits she's never trained with a staff, and then she gives a nod. She bends down, and retreives her own extending staff -- a gift from the Outsiders' head, and she pops its pin to extend it.     She rejoins Gabby, and settles into a 'horse' position, as if she were riding, and grips her hands along the metal of her staff, and motions that Gabby follow suite.
Gabby Kinney	That look gains a quick laugh from Gabby even as she shrugs. "I know, totally lacking there. Laura probably knows but we were mostly shown guns, knives, and swords. As for the school... You'd be surprised how few know any martial arts." Even if Phoebe wasn't speaking, Gabby could, and did. Just like nothing had happened to either of them at this point. This was just normal life. She moves to copy the pose holding the staff Phoebe had given her in the same place, and sliding her feet apart to get into the position indicated. Her gaze keeps going back to Phoebe watching her movements to copy them.
Phoebe Beacon	Phoebe's face, however, is expressive -- she gives a roll of her eyes, a smile, and a shake of her head. She mimes a gun with her left hand, and then an explosion near her ear and signs 'no!' -- generally too loud for her.     And then she takes up her staff again. She begins to move it, turning and twisting it, just sort of windmilling it around her.
Gabby Kinney	Gabby Kinney nods again in understanding. "Oh yeah. My hearing's gotten better too so it's not as appealing these days," she admits. Even if there were times it was necessary. Thoughtfully, more for herself than Phoebe, she mumbles, "Maybe I ought to get ear plugs." A wise decision she would look into later. For now she turns her attention back to Phoebe watching. That she could do. Right? Right. So she tries to do the same with her staff. It's a bit slower as her hands aren't used to the movements, and she bangs the staff off her opposite hand a time or two, but she gets right back into it without complaint. "So... How are you doing? I'm glad you're back."
Phoebe Beacon	Phoebe is going slow, taking her time to show how her hands move, the turn of her wrist, the exchange of the movement as the staff's inertia keeps it in motion, rolling over the back of her hand once, patiently showing Gabby how to move the stick.     But then she's asked a question, and she pauses, rolling the metal rod over the back of her hand a coule times so she can waggle her hand in the air. So-so. And points at Gabby, her eye brows raising in question before her hand snaps back to grab the staff, and then brings it up in a snap motion, meant for Gabby to follow. It would have been a motion to disarm someone, send their weapon back -- or really make someone with a pair grumpy.
Gabby Kinney	Gabby Kinney offers back a tight lipped smile that wasn't her usual cheeriness. Somehow she looks just a bit tired even if she were in decent spirits today. "Yeah, about the same." The motion is followed snapping the staff in the same manner. That one she knew well enough. It wasn't entirely disimilar to a sword motion. "I ran into some... people. That caused me to have some flashbacks to when I was younger. I'd thought it didn't bother me at the time, but I guess now looking back it did. Then another door opened and ran me through a mini-nightmare." "The others too. None of us looked very good after that encounter."
Phoebe Beacon	Phoebe looks over to Gabby with a look of understanding, and she gives a nod, and a roll of her left shoulder. Her gaze goes to something not quite fixated, but she stretches her fingers a moment, and then takes a step forward, and brings the staff around, up behind her and down with a strike.     Her hand gives a rolling motion, carry on? More information? Hard to tell.
Gabby Kinney	Gabby Kinney clenches her jaw tight enough it seems she may not speak further on it. She'd already had a few moments nearly breaking down with Rien, and Robbie. And then that time with Lydia when she'd just barely mentioned it. The trial the High Priestess door put her through had left her with more of a will to fight though and she finds that touching on the memory now doesn't sting quite so much as it had. A soft 'huh' comes as she steps forward to snap the staff down with perhaps more force than intended. She does continue though. "Not long after I escaped the labs, I and several other students and teachers were kidnapped by an insane mutant scientist. His goal was to force secondary mutations in us to 'bring us to our full potential.'" "I was just out of the labs. I was used to being locked up and tested on. I took it on myself to keep up everyone's spirits and look for an opening to escape. But he made us *watch* as he tortured everyone, one by one, and I couldn't do anything but take care of them after. My boyfriend had his hands cut off. Another had her ... Stomach cut open." Here she hesitates shaking her head. It wasn't an accurate detail but that was the most grisly of them all and speaking it aloud was a terrible thought. Stomach would suffice. "I came across some muggers the other week. I had one in a choke hold when this other guy shows up and killed him while I was holding him. It brought all that back."
Phoebe Beacon	Phoebe gives a nod, and then she reaches over, and very gently places her fingertips on Gabby's shoulder, and motions to sit down. She takes a breath, a moment, then brings her hand up to her throat.     "T-tu-rama... s'hard. Eas..shy to h-hide behind sssmiiiile." she states, and she takes a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling a moment as she gives a hard swallow.     "When you need... to not smile... I will be there for you."
Gabby Kinney	That was probably the most accurate assessment of Gabby that had ever been stated. She was always the one that kept smiling and trying to cheer others up after all. She sinks down to sit, going quiet while she listens to Phoebe struggle to talk. A concerned frown creases her eyebrows together even now while listening. Letting out a sigh she can only nod, instinctively smiling again even if it was just pointed out that it's not always necessary to. "Thanks. ... The same goes for you, you know. I don't know everything that happened, but you don't have to go through it alone." For a moment she pauses, then asks, "Do you want a hug?"
Phoebe Beacon	Phoebe's shoulders slack, and her dark eyes drop, She worries a bit at her staff, rolling it on her lap back and forth a little bit as her lips press together, and then she shakes her head. She did not want a hug. She did not deserve a hug, but she points lamely to the bandages beneath the collar she was wearing as an excuse.
Gabby Kinney	"Ah huh." Gabby regards her a moment at that excuse of the collar. So no hug is given, but she does reach out to give Phoebe a pat on the shoulder lightly so as to not potentially bump or press any other injuries she might have. "You know... We're all a bit screwed up. We take on more than we can handle because we think we're saving others from it. But, I think," she adds with a smile, "That even when we think we're too screwed up for redemption it's kind of amazing to find how many people still care for us. In spite of all our mistakes. We're still worth it."
Phoebe Beacon	Pat on the shoulder is acceptable. She draws up one leg, though, her face giving a very neutral expression, lips pressed together though she raises her eyebrows at Gabby's assessment of the situation, and then she sets her chin on her knee, listening but still with a look to Gabby.
Gabby Kinney	"I think not too long ago you were the one giving me the lecture about telling you all when something was happening to me," Gabby points out. "It's easy to get lost in the moment and in your own head. Easy to forget there are others you can rely on, too. There's always another way, and," she pauses to give a small shrug. "You've got more people who care about you than you realize."
Phoebe Beacon	Phoebe, just gives a nod, and she draws her arms around her raised knee, closing her eyes a minute. She looked so... tired. Just worn down. The edges of her eyelids were red and puffy. Her fingers curled a moment, giving a small shudder, but she doesn't talk.
Gabby Kinney	Gabby Kinney just sits there awhile beside Phoebe while she goes through her thoughts. Nothing more is said, or added in, she just makes sure she's not alone. And if she allows it she'll rub a hand up and down between her shoulders soothingly.