Survival Of The Fittest

Marybeth found it easy to follow the two boys without being noticed. It was a valuable skill she had honed through her years of rumour-mongering. The best source of good gossip was directly from the source, and one needed a way to get to the source without arousing suspicion.

She wasn't close enough to hear what Julian was saying to JJ, but that wasn't all that important for the sake of the story. ‘Actions speak louder than words' was something Marybeth used commonly in her stories. She could make out Julian saying something about letting JJ do what he wanted. Boo, that was boring.

Julian turned to head back to the weight room, but was stopped by JJ saying something. JJ dropped his cigarette to the ground and was saying something without really looking up at Julian. Probably apologizing or something. He said a few things, then reached over and wrapped a big burly arm around Julian's shoulders.

This was pure gold.

The moment lasted for only a short moment. That could easily be fixed with some stretched version of the truth. JJ and Julian walked off back to the weight room. Marybeth could follow them, but she already had plenty of material to use for writing something nice and fluffy for the J3 pairing.

Right after she finished the Kaitston project.

((Marybeth Witherspoon continued in Rumormonger)

Nathan always felt that time would move slower when he worked out. There was a certain knack to training. The key being to keep a constant rhythm, you could keep your mind off everything all you had to do is keep moving.

One, two, three, one, two, three...

The athlete caught something out of the corner of his eye, and the rhythm was gone. He began to slow as the figure walked to the front of the machine. He finally let it go gently as the figure became known to him.

Standing before him was his good training buddy Jason Harris. Among all the people on the track team, he was the closest friend he had on it. The guy was one of the few people who didn't automatically associate him with his brother and one of the few perks of ceaseless training all for a mere eleven and a half seconds. He just wished to see him do well in track, which was better than most.

He removed the ear buds from his lobes and smiled thinly.

"Dude," he said between panting breaths, "If I even was close to eleven flat I'd be on cloud nine."

He wiped a thin layer of sweat, trying to regulate his breathing. It looked like he may have overdone his warmup...again. It hurt like hell, but that was what it was supposed to be like right? Train, train, train, that's all he had to do. It was all about turning that 11.27 to 11.20 and then turning that into 11.10 and then crack that stupid barrier and catch up to his brother. It was all worth it, in the end...

"Hey uh Jason," he began, slowly rising up to his feet, "I think I need a cool down walk outside...If you want, I could use a partner today."

He made a motion over to the door and slowly led his feet over to the exit, waiting outside to see if he wished to join him.

((Nathan Choultard continued in Walking Amogst Ghosts))

"Hey uh Jason," he began, slowly rising up to his feet, "I think I need a cool down walk outside...If you want, I could use a partner today."

Jason turned, glancing to the treadmill, still empty to the left. Real life was better, plus having someone to talk to was a great boon. Nathan was always training, putting closer and closer to that goal of his. In truth Jason knew Nathan wasn't close yet, but pushing yourself was always good.

"Yeah I'll tag along, the gym smells like crap today anyway, and fresh air's already good."

Grabbing his bag he hoisted the pack over his shoulder and headed towards the door. Nathan was a champ, Jason could never catch him, every time he got close, Nathan pulled away once more, which was the best thing, it let them both get better. A lot of the other members on the team would always talk about Nathan's brother, and how Nathan was getting closer to his scores. Jason didn't worry about it, truth be told he always focused on the times, it was about self improvement, who gave a shit about someone else. Which in the end is why Jason never talked about Nathan's brother.

Jason followed Nathan through the door, it's all about self improvement and improving the ones around you.

((Jason Harris continued in Walking Amongst Ghosts))

Today was a quiet day in the gym, Ma'afu observed as he finished off with the weights machine and pushed himself onto his feet. While Maf had acknowledged the few people who had come through - he'd nodded to Nathan, done the same to Jason Harris, a soccer player he knew fairly well and liked, and it had been hard for him not to ignore Drew - the gym had been almost deathly quiet.

Maf was happy for this, as it meant his workout had been a lot more rigorous than in recent days. Maf hadn't found a lot of time to exercise lately, what with the schoolwork piling up and the first anniversary of that match approaching. While everyone else was starting to forget that game-winning tackle, Maf didn't, and neither did Bret Kross and his pals, and Maf knew better than to presume that Bret wouldn't be doing something to commemorate the match in his own little way. After all, Bret had been on the receiving end of that life-changing tackle.

Maf walked over to a locker on one of the side walls and opened it, pulling out his small sports bag. He pulled his water bottle out of it and took a deep gulp of the chilly liquid inside.

Something was going to happen. And it wasn't going to be something good.

((Maf Tuigamala continued elsewhere))

"Ah, fuck working out."

JJ walked out of the gym.

((JJ Sturn continued elsewhere)