Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor [Mad Sweeney]

2017-07-12 01:08
priordivergence: (Shatter)
 I work at Off The Wall. It's a place where I learn as much as teach, becoming stronger, more agile, more mobile. It's a place where I go to keep balanced, to be called out when my limits are pushed too far. 

I come to Lorenzo's gym when no one's hosting Fight Club. Boxing isn't my preferred sport; there's no way for someone my size to win with fists alone but sometimes just the aggression feels good. There are regulars here who know me well enough but there's always someone who has to cat call, who either dismisses me as a weakling or thinks of me like some kind of prey. I've broken a few noses on people like that. 

I'm not looking for a fight, content to take out my aggressions on a speed bag or lifting some weights, but if someone challenges me, I won't back down. 
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So help my lifeless frame to breathe

2015-08-02 00:04
priordivergence: (Physical Preparation)
Athos has been good to his word, teaching me to fight with the sword. He has also been equally true in his promise to be a stern taskmaster. More often than not, I go home with arms that feel leaden, stiff from endless repetitions. I feel like a new Initiate all over again, my body as one big bruise. But now I get to go home and sleep in Tobias' arms. There's no looking over my shoulder for enemies who want to topple me for doing well, just my stern, but well-intentioned mentor.

This morning finds me up with the sun in the scant hours I have before work. By now, I've gained enough muscle memory that it doesn't ache to go to the gym afterward and teach. The first day had been awful and my teaching slightly diminished because my own learning impeded me. Today will be easier because my body is becoming accustomed and Athos drives me hard but never beyond the limits of what is safe.

I wonder if that's what Dauntless training should have been like, back when they began, rather than the hard and hateful group I joined. Initiation had been deadly, burning through our bodies and minds and leaving corpses in its wake.

"Good morning," I say when I see Athos heading my way.
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Away from all the fears and all the faults you've left behind

2014-10-21 00:41
priordivergence: (Physical Preparation)
In the gym, I know who I am. I know how to run a vault, how high I can jump from a standstill. I know how to keep my feet sure and steady as I scale up bars and mats that will, soon enough, be the city's terrain. Here, I can be Tris from Dauntless again. I am brave and powerful and I have a purpose. I can be strong again instead of weak and lost.

I'd hate to see my fear landscape now, how it's changed since I came here. Since I grew up into a killer. Maybe it's why I fight so hard to learn the shape of the urban landscape because that, at least, can always be conquered.

I'm so caught up in the movement that I almost don't hear the door open so I can go to the desk.

"Welcome to Off the Wall, how can I help you?"

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I see hope is here, in a plastic box [July 19, 2014]

2014-08-05 19:12
priordivergence: (Ravens)
Mo gives me a knowing smile when I walk in behind Peeta and I shrug back at her, as if I have no idea what she means. Already, just looking around, I'm wondering about the other tattoos I could get, thinking of the ones I already have and how they could be integrated into new work. My left arm has healed beautifully and I can't help raising it to show her.

"I'm here as moral support," I promise her.

Mo smiles and nods Peeta towards her chair, "Sure you are. Anyway, I'm Mo. Good to see you, Peeta." She holds out a hand to Peeta while I take a seat at the edge of the booth. This is Peeta's tattoo, his moment. Whether or not my skin craves more symbols can wait until he's done.

"You ready?"
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