Twain Sawyers

Participants:

sawyer_icon.gif veronica_icon.gif

Scene Title Twain Sawyers
Synopsis Veronica Sawyer meets Daniel Sawyer in a gym. They talk cell phones, injuries, and law enforcement.
Date August 10, 2009

24-Hour Fitness


It's Monday evening, and while most people are heading home to their families, cooking dinner, or perhaps out at Happy Hour, Veronica Sawyer is pounding the hell out of a treadmill in the 24-Hour-Fitness in SoHo. She's dressed minimally — tight workout shorts and a tank top over a sports bra, ankle socks and her Nikes. Everything's black or white except the neon green iPod and its earbuds that snake into her ears. Anyone walking by can see her programmed run — ten miles, and she's about six miles in. The progress is a jagged red line of hills and valleys; currently she's on an incline, with the treadmill's base angled up to give her calves an even harsher workout.

Daniel Sawyer isn't on speaking terms with his family, eats minimally and doesn't drink often. What he does, however, is stay in shape. Right now he's hitting the weights, working with a set of free weights located near the treadmills. One armed curls with a barbell, and judging by the pretty low weight of the barbell, he's toning up instead of going for 'the guns'. A thin veneer of sweat coats his body, damping his grey tank darker grey, while sweat from his brow drips on his cotton short sweats.

The whir of machines mixed with the grunts of the weight lifters and the pounding of feed on tread accompanies the various workouts — televisions are muted and put on closed circuit, and the only music is that coming from the aerobic class behind a pair of glass doors. The sound of The Killers' "Smile Like You Mean It" might be heard by some of the other gym goers, but Veronica is listening to her iPod and doesn't hear the ring tone coming from the phone that's stowed in the treadmill's cupholder.

Finishing the last rep of this arm's set, Daniel puts down the barbell and lifts the bottom hem of his tank to dab the sweat from his forehead. That's when he hears the phone, eyes scanning for it instinctively. When he notices the woman not able to hear the ring, he walks the few steps to her treadmill and stands in her field of vision, making a motion with his hands for her to take out the buds in her hears. "Your blowing up," he says pointing to the ringing phone.

Vee pulls the buds out, also reaching for the iPod to turn it down by habit. "Oh, shit, thanks," She says, and hits the pause button in her run. She picks up the Blackberry, her sweaty hand punching several buttons quickly but then sets it back down. "Nothing urgent," she says with a shake of her head. "Didn't mean to annoy anyone. I hate that." She gives a nod to Sawyer. "Thanks. Sorry for interrupting your set."

Daniel shakes his head, hair matted with sweat. It's clear he's been at it for a while. He waves a hand dismissively. "No, it's alright. I've been meaning to take a break anyway. Keep hydrated." As if to emphasize his point, he leans over on one leg, stretching to pick up his water bottle to take a few drinks from it. He nods at the phone now back in the cup holder. "That's a pretty nice phone."

"Is it? I'm not really a gadget girl," Veronica says, picking up her water bottle from the other cup holder, and taking a drink from it since it's apparently hydration break time. "It does the job. I need one of those that can check email and do GPS and all that noise, and this is the one that they said to get." She glances at the display, blinking "pause" then rotating through the various statistics of her run.

"Oh, yeah. I swear these cell phones today are more sophisticated than some of the equipment they had when I was in the army." Standing there pretty awkwardly, it's pretty clear Daniel hasn't taken the time to stop and speak with a good looking girl in a while. He looks around for a bit, fumbling in his mind for a new topic. He gulps down some more water, slowing his breathing before he points to the incline of the treadmill. "That's a pretty good incline. You run a lot?" Fit girl in a gym. Yeah, great question Dan.

The treadmill makes a beep of warning before counting down the end of the pause, and the end of the program, due to being idle. The machine reverts to starting position, the incline straightening out under her feet. "Was a good incline," Veronica says with a laugh. "Nice timing." She hops off the machine, now much shorter in comparison to his height. "Usually somewhere between five and ten miles a day. Looks like seven today." She grins and takes another sip of her water. "It's pretty insane what cells can do nowadays. My first phone was one of those Nokia bricks."

Daniel nods in understanding. "Yeah, those phones with the antennae longer than today's phones?" He takes a step over to his weights, picking up a towel to dab some sweat off of his arms, making sure his hands are good and dried before sitting back on the bench to lift the barbell to work his other arm. He begins his set, but keeps talking. "I'm Daniel, by the way."
WATCH> Ethan has connected.

"Right. Do these phones even have antennas?" she asks, peering at the Blackberry. She goes to the wall to grab some of the disinfectant wipes out of the dispenser, and returns to wipe down her machine. The phone gets tossed into a gym bag down at the base of the treadmill. She moves to one of the resistance machines, the kind that you tuck your legs over and bring up in a press. Leaning, she moves the weights to her liking and begins to do her reps. "Veronica. Nice to meet you. You were army?"

Nodding, Daniel breathes in time with his repetitions. He shakes his head at the question. "No, most don't. They have enough cell towers these days that it's not really necessary to increase the reception by adding an antennae." He watches your lifts out of the corner of his eye. Hey, he is a guy. "Yeah. I was. Served in Iraq. I was honorably discharged because of an injury. I'm actually still recovering from a back injury now."

"Sorry to hear you got injured, though glad you made it back," Vee says, breathing deeply after a set of reps, before starting a second. "Injuries suck. I'm getting over a dislocated shoulder." She doesn't add that an Evo healer finished the healing up for her. It's still true. "You just retired, then, or do something else now?"

Finishing up his set for this arm, he sets the barbell back down to exchange it for the towel. Dabbing himself off, he unfolds it completely and rests it along the back of the seat. He takes a drink before laying down, wrapping his hands around the bar resting above him. "I actually just left the FBI. Looking for something else, now. Not sure what. You mind spotting me when you're done over there? I try to not finish my workout with a crushed windpipe."

"That's a good workout tip, I'll have to remember it," Veronica quips, finishing her rep and wiping down the bench. She heads over to his, standing behind it, looking down at him, hands ready to grab the barbell if he needs assistance. "You sure you should do that with a bun back? And feeb, hmm? Small world," she says. "HomeSec." Or something like it.

Lifting the bar, he moves it forward so he can do his reps without the bar catching on its rest every time. "I'm keeping my weight light for now. My back has been healed for a while, just a bit sore now and then. Trying to work myself back up. Homeland, huh? What's your last name, maybe I got one of those e-mails from you guys we never read."

She laughs a little. Her name no doubt got tossed around a bit, back when they had goop with her DNA in it due to Tyler Case's power. "Sawyer," she says. "And just be sure you take it slow. Going to physical therapy and all that? This in the doctor's orders?" Her eyes track the bar and his hands on it, watching the rise and fall of his arms.

It definitely looks like Daniel knows how to do a benchpress, the way he's going. He doesn't look like he's in any pain, either. So he's either used to pain, or truly just feeling the good burns of a workout. "Sawyer? What a coincidence, my name is Sawyer too. And relax, I know what I'm doing. I won't hurt myself."

"Creepy," Veronica says with a chuckle. "Not that it's a totally unheard of last name. Your grandparents aren't Mitzi and Harold, are they?" she teases. "I don't think there's any cousins I've never heard of. Mostly because my dad was an only child." She leans back a little, so as not to hover over him quite so protectively.

It doesn't take long for him to finish his set, and he sets the bar back on its rest and shifts down the bench to sit back up without hitting his head. He pulls his towel out from under him, wrapping it around his neck. "Nope. Jacob and Anne. And I've done a pretty thorough background on my family recently." He dabs some sweat dripping off his forehead again with the one towel end. Eventually he stands up, beginning to pack up his own gym bag.

Veronica nods. "Well, good to know you're not a cousin I forgot because I got dropped on my head as a child," she quips, taking a long drink of water and then tossing her bottle into her bag. "Into geneology?" she asks, curiously, though she knows this might be a question that could be considered prying. Genetic issues often lead people to look up their ancestry, after all.

There's a long pause as Daniel finishes shoving his towel in the bag and zipping it closed, standing back up and hefting the bag via strap over his shoulder. Finally, he answers. "I'm Evolved." He opens a pouch on the side of the bag to pull out his registration card, handing it over. She did say she was Homeland Security. "I was checking to see if anyone else in my family was."

She takes the card and looks over it thoughtfully, before handing it back. "What sort of work are you looking for? If you're still interested in law enforcement, it's possible you could work for us. If you want, I could talk to my boss about it. No guarantees, of course. The fact you're a former feeb could go either way - help or hurt you," she says with a wink. The rivalry between the two agencies is no secret. "How's it work, your power? I mean, I get the gist, but everyone's different."

Well, since it's all going out on the table anyway.. "I was fired from the FBI. Misuse of government resources. I was.. well, I was helping Evolved on the side." He takes the ID back, stuffing it back in the pouch. "I don't think Homeland would want me, but I appreciate the offer." He looks around for something to display his ability with, but finds nothing. "I know how to use anything, if I get my hands on it. As long as I'm touching any part of it. Gun, guitar, fighter jet."

Maybe not so much the makings of a Company man. "Right. They might not like that," she says. "That's pretty useful though. Did you find out if anyone else in your family is Evolved, then? With all your research?" she asks, shouldering her own bag. "No one in my family that I know of. Including me. Plain Jane."

"I've given up on what I was doing. I think the best way for Evolved to get by now is to register and learn their powers so that nobody is a danger." He shifts the weight of his bag a bit to a more comfortable position, looking back a bit towards the exit. Might be time for a move on. "Not that I could tell, no, but you never know."

Veronica nods and begins to head toward the exit herself. "If you believe in that, they might want you after all. Here." She rummages in her gym bag until she finds her wallet, and thus a business card. She hands it to him. "If you think you might want to work for us, I can tell someone you're interested." She nods toward the women's locker room. "But, for now I need a shower." She grins. "Nice meeting you, Mister Sawyer."

Daniel takes the card, sliding it in the bag next to his ID card. "I'll have to think about it." He nods, giving an awkward sort of smile, though genuine. "Yeah. You too, Miss Sawyer."


Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License