The Street Rat

Tobias simply nodded as Robin declared that she was merely joking. He had gathered that, though there might have been a part of him that felt that she was in fact, being serious. Why wouldn’t she? After all, there were some insufferable people on this Earth that probably DID deserve a punch or two. Of course, he was a man of the law, so punching people was hardly something that he found himself involved in but the consequence of such violence may not be readily thought about amongst the every day people… Even if they did deserve it. Sometimes it was difficult to live by a code since he often found himself dealing with a madman, a woman with no remorse or a soul behind her eyes. He had come face to face with some of the most horrific people known to man. People who’s tongues formed the most disgusting of scenarios because they’d prefer to threaten and instil fear rather than be apologetic for the things that they had done. Those people - they deserved nothing more than a beat down… But his training did help Tobias maintain a level head. 

A smile fell on his lips at her teasing and he shook his head, “Well, like you said - I don’t know shit about you - what makes you think that you know shit about me?” He teased back, flexing his wrists to make sure that his wrists were suitably secure. “That I am. It’s not as fun as you think - I mean - I know how to speak a couple of languages from it - and I’m grateful that I got to see all these places but it’s kinda weird having to move around all the time.” He explained. It had certainly become a routine for him and his sister to move around every so often to suit their parents needs. That - and they didn’t exactly have much of a choice but to follow around. Some envied him for his well rounded travel but he did like having a place to call home when, finally, they settled in California. “Not to sound ungrateful.” He added, stepping forward now to have his own round on the punching bag. “My parents weren’t around much - you settle in one school and then have to rush off to the next and be the weird new kid again…” He trailed off, firing more punches at the bag. “I’m not here to judge you - not my business.” Tobias said honestly, only stopping his rounds momentarily upon her questions and he looked up at her. His hand reached out to steady the bag, he rose his brows at her, curiously, “What do you think I’m trying here?” He wondered in playful jest, “Maybe I just wanted to be a nice guy… We exist, you know? Believe it or not.” He teased. “Though I’m flattered that you want me to think so highly of you.” 

Her smirk widened at his words and she held her arms out breifly before dropping them back to her side. “Fair enough, but I’m not bad at reading people . . . Something tells me I got you pegged, kid.” She was only kidding, which was evident by the crooked grin spread over her cheeks as she watched him have at the punching bag. Listening to him talk about the life of a military brat, she honestly didn’t feel bad for him. Robin wasn’t an awful person, but she could lack in empathy at times, at being understanding of other’s. . . . Not that she thought she had it worse or that moving around couldn’t be rough, but to put it simply, it wasn’t her job to care or pity him. Robin pitied few people, and she wasn’t extending that to him anytime soon. “Yeah, I’ve lived in Detroit all my life.” She shrugged. “Might not be the nicest city, but it’s still my city.” She explained as she reached for her water bottle and unscrewed the cap on it. “Anywhere other than Japan you’ve been? What’s your favorite place you’ve gotten to live?” She asked curiously before tipping the bottle back and taking a sizable gulp of water. “I don’t know, you’re a guy helping a girl out, offering to teach me a new martial art, also we’ve never met before now . . . Seems obvious to me.” She shrugged and set the bottle back on the side table she had it resting on before sauntering over to him. “Oh so you’re a nice guy?” She asked, arching an eyebrow as a mischievous smirk crept upon her features. “That’s fun. Sweet too - Bet I’ll have you corrupted by the end of our first lesson here.” She said as she walked so she was closer to him, still leaving room so he didn’t accidentally elbow her in the face. “Now you gonna teach me to kick your ass or what?”

“Yeah, me neither,” Lydia replied simply, shrugging slightly, letting the topic of Lux die now. Her mind was preoccupied with just about everything else going on, that whilst she loved the distraction by talking about something – or someone – else, she could barely focus because her mind was whirling at a hundred miles a second. What to say, what to do, what if this, what if that. It was hard to focus on something that was supposed to be a joke or a distraction to evade the inevitable. Whatever it was, she was on tenterhooks and it was only a matter of time before push comes to shove. Everything was well beyond her control no matter what precautions (or more so, idiotic mistakes made in a panic) she implemented, no matter how careful she tried to be. Out of nowhere, something else would come along and make the situation worse. And the only action Lydia could take was to either let it get the best of her, or to do what she could to protect the people she cared about. But she knew that somewhere along the lines, she was bound to mess up. They always did.

Hearing Robin’s response to her questions regarding her going on the run, she sighed, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. If she continued pressing and reminding her that somewhere along the lines, something could mess up and implicate her. Regardless whether she’d been doing stuff like the for years upon years upon years, it didn’t change the fact that she could still get caught. She really couldn’t wrap her head around it. Any of it. What sort of life is that? The same question she recently asked her bounced around in her head. It wasn’t a life. And if it was? Then it was a miserable one to lead. If she continued to remind her of that fact, Robin would continue making justifications and explanations as to why it would work for her. Because she was used to it. What was the point in trying to drill an idea into someone’s head when they were fully adamant of something else? They would be going around in circles forever. But she’d make it clear that she disagreed, no matter what. Lydia will be just as stubborn; stubborn was her biggest personality trait, she imagined, after being reminded enough times by a countless number of people over the years. “Just because you’ve been doing it for a long time is nothing, Robin. It doesn’t change the fact that it’s risky and stupid for all I care. Don’t you get tired of it?” She asked, the question rolling from her lips before she had a chance to think about it. “Don’t you ever like, want to do something I don’t know – legal? Something you don’t have to worry about, when you don’t have to worry about potentially having to up and leave if things go south. I know you are going to disagree vehemently on this, and I’m not going to try and make you see otherwise because I don’t think I truly can.” She didn’t mean to sound blunt and harsh. Maybe it was the fact she had been constantly on edge since she found out about her father, or the fact that covering up what he did was also less than legal. Maybe it was the guilt eating away at her. Or maybe it was the fact she was just an irritable person. Yeah. Probably that, Lydia thought. She always did have a short fuse so honestly, the fact she wasn’t raising her voice or anything to try and coherently get across her opinions was a surprise to herself. “Look,” she stated calmly, “I’m trying to avoid that outcome for you, okay? I don’t give a fuck whether you’re used to running away or whatever shit like that. If I have anything to do with it, I would rather not have that outcome. And like I have already said time and again, I’m going to do anything and everything I can to ensure that it’s not the case. That it won’t happen. Nothing’s going to change that.”

All Lydia knew was that Robin deserved to know the truth about her cousin. What she knew and what evidence was pointing towards. When she got everything out of her system and explained what was going on, she knew there and then that it wasn’t going to end well. The stoic expression on Robin’s face made her insides turn, a nauseous feeling niggling in the pit of her stomach. She felt sick. That her father could even be capable of something like murder, let alone be responsible for the death of her close friend’s cousin. She could only hope that her friend believed in her enough to know that she would never be capable of doing something, of being involved in something like this. When asked the question about the other, inconclusive fingerprints, if they could be her father’s. And the truth was, it could go either way. “I don’t know,” Lydia said honestly, raising her shoulders in a small shrug. “I really don’t know. It could be. There’s a possibility, yes. But there is no way to prove it. There’s no way to prove that it is his or that they are somebody else’s.” Sucking in a breath, she fought hard with herself to calm herself down. What could she do to make this right? Solving it and clearing her father’s name would be a start. But there wasn’t enough proof. There wasn’t enough of anything and all she was capable of doing was filling in the gaps. Guesses, estimates. But she couldn’t do that either because she didn’t want to put something in said gaps that could be proven wrong at a later date. It was all a mess.  Letting Robin carry on, she let her say what needed to be said, asked more questions that needed to be asked, took everything as it came. When she told her to stop talking, she immediately obeyed, forcing a watery, humourless laugh when she said that it made no sense. “Yeah, you’re telling me.” Shaking her head when she asked why her father would be framed for her cousin’s murder, she could only shrug. “How am I supposed to know?” She asked weakly, feeling as the tears continued to brim in her eyes. Was this it? Was she truly losing her friend? Lydia wanted to beg her to believe her. She didn’t want to lose Robin’s trust in her over this. After all, she had no clue and was really messed up in her head as a result. Her breath hitched, catching in her throat when she asked another question: How do I know that you aren’t just taking this case into your own hands because you had something to do with it? She tried to think of something, anything, to clear her name. However, she reasoned with herself that no matter how she tried to put it, it will always seem like she was hiding something, or that she had something to do with it. If somebody remained certain about something, it was nearly impossible to get them to see things from a different perspective or through a different lens. But she had to try. The most she could do was try. “Why would I be telling you any of this if I had something to do with it?” Lydia asked, holding her hands up defensively, although she sounded more defeated than anything. Maybe she was already resigned with the knowledge that she wouldn’t believe her. “Why would I willingly tell you that my father may or may not be linked to your cousin if I have something to do with it, or if I am trying to cover for him? What good would that do?” Lydia wanted to ask her how the hell she could have had anything to do with it because as soon as those results flashed up on the screen, she subjected herself to a panic attack over it? That she was rendered incapable of moving due to the shock and she couldn’t breathe? That ever since she found out, she had been spiraling? That she was so damn fucking terrified of telling Robin this because she feared that she wouldn’t believe her, that she would turn on her? “No matter what I say or do, you’re never going to trust me. So why am I wasting my breath?” She felt… hopeless. Powerless. She couldn’t even persuade her own friend to believe her. If Lydia couldn’t even do that then what else could she do? Her hands were tied.

“No I didn’t mean – I meant… I meant, show you everything I’ve got so far. What I’ve managed to decipher from all of this… from this mess.” She answered in between sniffles, trying to force herself to get herself together. Her shoulders slackened when the other woman confessed she didn’t want to know what she had. “Then I’ve got nothing else to say. Anything I say, you’re gonna distort or - come up with some other skewed excuse that would implicate me and make me seem like I’m in on this. Because your trust issues run so deep that you can’t even trust me, someone you’re supposed to consider a friend. What am I supposed to do to earn your trust, huh? Join that gang you’re part of? Go and kill someone with my own two hands?” She paused, forcing a bitter laugh. “Oh wait, no, that’s the best part: you already think I have. Or that I aided someone in doing so. My bad.” She didn’t know where her sarcasm came from. Even though she understood why Robin may have thought Lydia was part of this disaster, it didn’t mean that it hurt any less. Because it did. It killed her inside knowing that her own friend barely had faith in her. Especially when she had little faith in herself.  “You won’t find out that I’ve had anything to do with it. Because I haven’t. Innocent until proven guilty still stands, you know.” Lydia said flatly then in response. Innocent until proven guilty. That’s what Andrew reminded her when she came to him, mid breakdown, about her father. And she still stood by it even if some might argue that fingerprints on a murder weapon could be considered proof enough. Were they still friends? She couldn’t tell anymore. If she didn’t trust her… then Lydia didn’t know whether she was safe anymore. She had to believe that Robin wouldn’t hurt her… but emotions were running high and it must take a lot on someone with something like this. Push the wrong button and who knows how long it would take before they switch?  She had to agree that the best thing for her to do was to leave. But then she asked for her father’s name, leaving her looking at her with incredulity. She couldn’t be serious. “I’m sorry but I can’t,” Lydia said without a doubt. “It wouldn’t make a difference. You don’t have anything to go on which could prove anything. The only evidence is the stuff already obtained. Which is in my possession. But I can’t give you a name or anything because –” She swallowed thickly, momentarily contemplating whether or not to finish that statement. But she did. “– because, he’s still my dad and I still plan on figuring this out and… I don’t know what you might do with any information I give you. So, until we figure things out – I can’t tell you anything. I’m so sorry.” She bit her lip then took another deep breath, motioning towards the door. “I think it’s best if you go now. You already have a surname to go on. That’s all I can give you. I’m sorry.” 

Maybe Robin had overestimated how accepting Lydia had been of her whole lifestyle. Sure she realized the girl wasn’t going to support it, but she had hoped at least that she wouldn’t nag her about it. Robin was an adult and perfectly capable of making her own shitty decisions, thank you very much. Had she ever thought about putting her life of crime away? Of course. She didn’t want to still be living this way when she was say, in her fifties. Right now though? She was young and this was when she needed to be in the game, when she could make good money - She wasn’t quitting anytime soon, set for life had to happen before she would ever even think on leaving her gang. Even if she were to get to that point, it still wasn’t that simply, one didn’t simply enter and leave a gang. They were her family to begin with, she didn’t really want to and furthermore; they probably wouldn’t let her if she did. At least not without a fight, that is. Leaving her gang could very well be as dangerous as being in it, if not even more. They all knew where she was and who she really was, the police at least didn’t. “You’re right you really can’t. Not to pull the whole you don’t understand me card, because I don’t expect you to, but don’t talk about something you don’t know anything about. It’s not like I can just go straight one day whenever I feel like it. That’d be fucking peachy if it were the case, but I don’t even want to and if I did, I couldn’t get out that easy.” She explained. “I’m not going to do this forever, okay? Just get enough to be set for life and then . . .” She shrugged. “Then just find a way out if I really feel like going through the trouble just so I can make way less money.” She mused. Perhaps Lydia had underestimated how typical Robin really was as far as being a criminal went. She was cocky, pompous, hedonistic, and most of all she was greedy. Very little could motivate the street rat more than money could. “How, by hiding so much that the detective can’t do his work while also trying to hold me back from picking up his slack?” She sighed. The two were both very stubborn, and if they both chose to dig in their heals on this, they might wind up bickering for quite some time over it. 

Robin listened to Lydia as she spoke and she could tell that she’d upset her. Could she really blame Lydia, though? She’d risked so much to keep Robin in the loop about all of this and here Robin was practically accusing her of murdering her cousin. Which how was that likely at all given the situation? Yes there was definitely something fishy going on, but by accusing Lydia Robin was really looking the wrong direction. Hearing that there was no way to prove they weren’t her father’s, Robin felt her stomach sink more. Wasn’t it most likely they were his? She didn’t know. She just knew they had one fingerprint and it was her friends father, and she didn’t know how to process that without jumping to accusations. Robin of all people should have known better than to blame Lydia for the actions of her father, given her own rough bringing due to hers, but this was all too much for her to really think clearly. She was confused and pissed off and all alone as far as her family went - Of course this was a big deal to her, and Robin’s trust issues and lack of faith in others only made it all more difficult for her to accept and think diplomatically about the case. Why would I be telling you any of this if I had something to do with it? She scoffed, because she was very much wondering the same thing, but then she looked at her friend, saw the tears in her eyes, on her cheeks, how tired she looked . . . Was this what had her looking so out of sorts? Of course it was, but Robin could honestly be a little dense at times, especially if her emotions were all over the place like this. “Lydia . . .”  She stopped short and listened to her continue speaking, she crossed her arms and looked down like a guilty teenager that had just been reprimanded. She did feel bad, she knew she wasn’t the best friend in the world, she knew she didn’t deserve a friend like Lydia, hell she even knew Lydia probably was innocent - But she was so used to everyone she got close to letting her down, so why should this be any different? “I don’t know, I just . . . I don’t fucking know!”

Robin pursed her lips together, and wished now that she hadn’t just made all those accusations and promises, but when Robin dug herself a hole she rarely apologized for it. She didn’t admit to making mistakes often at all in fact. Robin remained silent as Lydia spoke, partly because she didn’t know what to fucking say now that she’d already said everything else and partly because she was afraid she’d start crying too if she opened her mouth straight away. Deep breaths, Robin. In and out. “I don’t know, okay? I don’t know what I believe right now, I don’t even know if I seriously believe you had a hand in this, but that’s the fucking point, I don’t know. Unlike you, I’m not ruling someone out just because I care about them or because I don’t want it to be true. A leads a lead and you investigate it, right? I’m on the other side of the law and I even know that.” Hearing her friend say that she couldn’t help her find her father, Robin nodded. “Right.” She said, frowning further when her friend started leading her out the door. She knew she fucked up here, and she wasn’t sure there was much she could do to fix that now. Of course there certainly was if she would let go of her damn ego for a second and apologize, but even though she knew she was in the wrong right now, Robin didn’t swallow her pride so easily. What gangster did? What gangster that went around apologizing for hurting other peoples feelings still earned respect or street cred’? But Lydia wasn’t apart of that lifestyle. Lydia wasn’t another gang member or someone she needed to get respect out of, she was her friend. Robin simply hadn’t had a friend outside of her life of crime in a while, not one as close as Lydia anyway - It was hard not to treat her with the same mentality she’d treat the friends in her clique. “Fine. Yeah, bye.” She said as she stood from the couch and walked out the door.

Tobias listened as Robin spoke, understanding her reasoning for why she opted for boxing. That was another reason that he figured people took up boxing. The stress that they felt was only relieved physically and, like Robin said, it was frowned upon to punch random people for no reason. “Yeah - think punching people for no reason can probably end up with you having to deal with some shitty situation and no one has the time to be bailing you out.” He assumed. That was a call that no one wanted to receive. Tobias had to deal with it once before in his life - it was about four in the morning and his friend had ended up in some stupid brawl that ended up with the pair of them being thrown in a jail cell. Even though he wasn’t particularly good on sleep due to his workaholic nature, needless to say, Tobias wasn’t entirely happy to have to drive down to the station in order to bail him out and the have to deal with some ridiculous excuse on the way home about how he didn’t have any choice and that he ‘owed him one’ when Tobias knew damn well that there would be no repayment to follow. He had a good heart - probably too pure for his own good but that was just Tobias. He was a helper, a man who although appeared detached and preferred to be alone, he was always there to lend a hand. That was just his upbringing. With his parents being the type of people to give themselves to service, they were heroes in his eyes and following that admiration, the moment his house was broken in and he and his sister were essentially defenceless against those horrid people… He vowed to never be weak again. He wanted to be brave, lend a hand in any way he could - it was why the FBI service was so appealing to him. Selfless was the best way to describe him, even if on the surface, that didn’t appear totally obvious. 

“I’m not underestimating, just merely pointing out facts.” Tobias replied with a hint of amusement lacing his words, “But you’re right, I don’t know shit about you and like I said, maybe eventually you will. Would definitely take a couple of lessons of you going home sore though before that’ll happen - believe me.” He pointed out. Such was the nature of learning a new skill. You had to fall a thousand times before getting to your feet again. “I’m just saying… There’s a lot more to just punching - even in boxing. You might even enjoy it… Then again, I might be biased. I lived in Hiroshima for a time - actually I was born there but my parents moved myself and my sister back when I was eight.” He paused, wondering if that sounded a little random so he figured he’d clarify, “Army - they were stationed there. I’ve moved a lot in my time… Anyway, second time living there my dad enrolled me in jiujitsu. Did that for a year and loved it but only picked it back up again when we moved back to the States when I was fourteen. Like I said, we moved a lot - so it was pretty impossible to find a place that I could stay in for a long period of time… When we moved back I joined and have been in the sport ever since so… Yeah. Little fact for you there if you’re worried that I’d be a shitty teacher.” As they went on to discuss the car and specifically, what Robin did to get it, Tobias rolled his eyes again in playful jest, letting out a laugh in the process, “I’m not so sure luck has anything to do with it.” He said as he rolled his shoulders and walked away from the bag to pick up a set of boxing wraps that had been left. As he began to wrap his hands, Tobias continued to listen to Robin before responding, “Uh-huh, is that your opinion or have people actually given you a five star rating?” He scoffed, “Haven’t smoked before - least not since college. But I guess I can appreciate your attempt to ask me out.” He joked, eyes now falling to the wraps now to ensure he was protecting his wrist and thumb.

Robin raised her eyebrows and threw another punch at the bag as she listened to Tobias speak. “Well maybe I’m good at punching people without getting in trouble.” She joked. She’d actually gotten into a bar fight not long ago, and she’d been thrown out of the bar in result. She was just lucky that nobody decided to include the police in the brief spat. It had been a drunken altercation between her and another girl that had just been getting on her nerves that whole evening - So she punched her in the face once she felt the girl had bothered her enough to warrant the attack. “I’m only joking by the way, if I punch someone they have it coming.” Which that at least, she at least truly believed. It wasn’t always the truth, in fact more often than not it could have been avoided, but Robin decided when someone stepped too far and she never hit someone that she didn’t personally believe entirely deserved it. 

“Well you don’t look weak but let me just point out that I play dirty.” She smirked as she stepped back from the punching bag when he went on to talk about living in Japan and all over the United States. She hadn’t known much other than Detroit before she moved to Denver at the start of the year, but she was fully aware that most places had a lot more to offer than what her home town did. Japan seemed like a cool place to live, and how wouldn’t it be cool to travel across the world so young? “Wow, so you're a standard military brat, huh?” She teased with a crooked grin. “Good to know, I trust you can teach me then. But hey, that must have been cool right? Moving around all over like that, I mean. I just moved here from Detroit a few months ago, that’s about all the traveling I’ve managed so far.” She spoke as she grabbed a towel from off a rack and ran it down her face to wipe some of the sweat away. She smirked back at him when she heard him laugh, only assuming that he bought her story now. “Hey, let me tell people what I want. People get jealous when I tell them I won it fair and square, start wondering why they didn’t get it if it’s so easy. Now that shit cracks me up.” She explained. “Besides, saying I fucked a guy for it sounds too catty, don’t you think?" She asked, although she didn’t really care about what she sounded like, and that much was probably already evident. Robin very much did what she did for herself with little to no regard how those she didn’t know felt about it. Nobody could please everybody, after all. “Five stars, baby. You should pull up my Yelp.” She responded sarcastically with a shake of her head and roll of her eyes. “I know I’m a good time, I don’t need any ratings to prove it. I bet you know I am too, otherwise why would you waste your time teaching me some martial art and driving me around? Either you agree I’m probably a fun person or you’re trying something else here, right?” She asked, arching a brow, never failing to be a cocky little shit.

Tobias merely shrugged his shoulders at her question. He had certainly been around short tempered people in his past - boxing seemed like an appropriate outlet for them. At least it kept them out of prison and not only that, Tobias was pretty perceptive. As an agent, it was part of his training to understand those he associated himself with and further was a reason why he didn’t particularly like associating himself with those who were in the same occupation as he was seeing as they would probably be able to read him so clearly. “Alone in a vacant gym - not a class - people don’t generally opt for boxing right off the back either. Usually used as a stress reliever or for people who don’t have much control and want to learn how to discipline themselves.” He explained while watching her throw the punching as the bag and rolled his eyes playfully as a smile pulled on his lips, “I mean - you can try and kick my ass, I could even pretend that you did just to make you feel better.” He joked, “But hey - if you wanna learn… I don’t mind teaching. Besides age old saying is when the student becomes the teacher it’s simply evolution.” He straightened up for a moment now before responding again, furrowing his brows in disbelief, “Yeah? You won a Mercedes? What - did you butter up the manager or something to increase your chances of winning? Usually those kinds of competitions are just lies or at least a one in a million shot.” He mused, shaking his head at her, “I have a bike right now which suits me, actually just trying to sort out an old car a friend of mine gave me to work on - if it works out I might buy it off him.”

Seeing him shrug his shoulders she assumed that she must have seemed more irritable than she thought she did. Of course she was annoyed, between someone she was once friends with filing a police report about her after she’d saved his ass, a cousin she never met turning up dead, and one of her best friends father’s being a suspect in the case - She had a lot on her mind and plenty of things to be ticked off about. She’d punched a hole in her wall earlier last month, but she didn’t want to get her knuckles and wrist that swollen again for no reason. So there they were. “I just picked it up so I could punch something when I want to. I guess it’s frowned upon to punch random people for no reason.” She joked. Of course Robin had punched plenty of people, she’d in fact punched several of her neighbors in the three months she’d been in Denver, but only when she felt they had it coming to them. She smirked at his teasing and rolled her eyes. 

“Hey, don’t go underestimating me like that. I could be a total bad ass and drop you in under a minute, you don’t know shit about me.” She jested. Of course she hadn’t ever tried Jiu Jitsu and really, the way she fought was like any other common street thug. No martial art to it, just throwing her fists around trying to fuck the other person up. “Wow, that’s deep. I mean I’m down but I didn’t even take karate classes when I was a kid. I learned how to throw a punch, okay? I mean I can throw a pretty damn mean one, but I’m no ninja.” She said, briefly putting her hands in the air before punching the bag again. Seeing him straighten up when she mentioned her car, she assumed that he was suspicious of her story, and the questions that followed confirmed that. Robin wasn’t bad at reading people either when it came down to it, it’s how she had been a con artist before getting involved with her gang. “I mean I might have been giving him the best sex of his life, but other than that.” She shrugged. “I’m just lucky like that.” She said, playing it cool rather than try and over explain it as she threw another heavy punch at the bag. “A bike? Bad ass.” She commented with a wry grin. “Maybe after we’re both done with our work outs we could hit up a dispensary. I’ll buy and smoke you out, I just want an excuse to ride on a motorcycle, it’s been forever. Or we could go to a dab bar, that’d be fun. I actually haven’t gone to one here yet, but I went to a few in Detroit and they’re pretty lit. You drive me around and you'll have a fun night, I promise. I'm a fun fucking person.”

Lilja had just finished letting the stopper to the amount of weights she was planning on using. She was going light for now, not wanting to strain herself too much with her leg still healing and having to go to see a physical therapist soon. She heard the woman’s question and looked to where she was motioning towards her leg. “Oh, I just had to have some surgery done on my leg.” She said before hearing the other mention stabbing herself a few months ago. Her brows shot up at hearing that. “You stabbed yourself in the leg? Oh no, were you alright? It wasn’t anything too serious was it?” She asked, concern lacing her voice. That sounded painful. “Thank you though. I am trying to just keep my mind off of it so I thought trying to still go about my daily routines will help…. well go about them as bast as I can.”

Robin raised her eyebrows, her punches slowing as she listened to Lilja explain that she’d had surgery done on her leg. “Really? Yikes, what for?” She asked, throwing another punch at the bag while still looking at Lilha. She nodded then as she asked about her own mishap. “Yeah, I mean I’m not limping anymore, that’s nice. It was a few inches deep, but it’s all healed now, that was a few months ago. I was walking down the stairs with a knife, missed a step, slipped, before I knew it I’d tumbled down and stabbed myself.” She explained. That was the story she had gone with, at least. “That makes sense.” She nodded. “I was just too busy being a bitch to do much other than a little work and a lot of drinking.”

“Fine by me,” Thor nodded as she mentioned keeping her music playing aloud in the gym. “I’ve got headphones so I should be able to cover it up,” he said as he dropped his bag to pilfer through it to find the headphones that he had tossed into it the last time he had gone to the gym. Heading to the gym was something Thor liked to do but he always stayed late and though there were many 24/7 gyms, Thor found it was better to get a few more hours of sleep then spending an hour or two in the gym. Plus he enjoyed running outside more but if it was under fifty then he’d rather stay warm and workout in the gym instead. 

Robin nodded when he told her he had his head phones anyway. The music was fairly loud, but not so much that he’d still be able to hear it with them in his ears. “Cool, that works.” She nodded before throwing another punch at the punching bag, causing it to swing forward and then back for her to hit again. Normally Robin was more social but she didn’t have anything to talk to him amount, she didn’t know him and he was putting headphones in anyway, so she’d just mind her own business and continue letting her anger out at the punching bag with her fists.

“I don’t have a hero. People are all shit, even good people do shitty things, everybody does. So I don’t see the point in seeing someone as a hero when they’re on the same level as me. We’re all just shitty people, right? Seems stupid to think that highly of a person. If anything I’m my own hero. In which case I'm not weird, so I have nothing to ask myself.”

“Royce Da 5′ 9″’s album Death Is Certain. His lyrics are insane, like he can rhyme an entire sentence with an entire previous sentence. Either that or Danny Brown’s album The Hybrid. Rep’ing that Detroit, you know we got the best rap.”