1258/Youth Centre Calisthenics

Youth Centre Calisthenics
Date of Scene:	03 July 2017
Location:	Angel Grove
Synopsis:	Tommy and Kim meet at the Youth Centre
Cast of Characters:	Green Ranger, Pink Ranger

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Green Ranger has posed:
School was over for the day, and Tommy had come to the Youth Centre. He had arranged to meet Kimberly, who would be teaching him gymnastics. As athletic as he was, and he was in terrific form from being a martial artist and power ranger, he probably wasn't as flexible as he could be, and gymnastics was supposed to help. But really, as useful as it could be, it was just an excuse to hang out with Kimberly and take part in her interests. He wasn't really sure if it was just the two of them, or if more of their friends were going to join in, but he was there, resting against something called a horse, wearing a green muscle shirt and black tracksuit bottoms. They were loose enough that he could move effortlessly in them, but he wasn't sure what was going to happen. Was she going to try and make him do the splits? He knew Jean-Claude Van Damme could, but still, it looked painful in the movies.

Pink Ranger has posed:
Kimberly comes from the locker room right on time. She's wearing a pair of pink leggings and a multi-colored floral design leotard. She is carrying two towels. In preparation for the training, she had the horse, a balance beam and some tumbling mats put out. Depending on what he wanted to learn precisely. She had put out the offer to her teammates in the past but none really had taken her up on learning gymnastics. So when Tommy agreed, she'd been thrilled. In no small part because it was Tommy. The crush she'd had on him from day one had not gone away in the slightest although she tried to play cool. Which was difficult for her since she was like an open book to anyone looking her way.

Seeing him leaning on the horse, she smiles and gives a little wave of greeting as though they were some distance apart instead of ten feet. Then she closes the space. "Hi, Tommy! I need to warm up and stretch a little before we start." She motions to the mats.

Green Ranger has posed:
Tommy was too, but the problem was, everyone else could see how each of them felt, but they both were a little reluctant, a little worried, and nervous about the whole thing. They both liked each other. But neither one was entirely certain of how the other felt. He smiled broadly in greeting and opened his arms, which had been fold in front of him as he waited. "Hi Kimberly, you look great. I've warmed up already, but the way I do for martial arts training. Do I have to do other stuff to warm up? I suppose yeah, right, I might work muscles I'm not used to. So, you tell me what to do, and I'll follow your lead. Just... don't expect too much the first time, okay?"

Pink Ranger has posed:
At the compliment, Kim smiles in delight. Then she drops her eyes, realizing she's reading too much into a simple compliment. It was just him being nice. Don't be silly, girl. "It's really about the same. You need to make sure all your muscles are loose." She moves to the center of the mats and starts easy. Stretching her arm across her body, pressing with the opposite hand to pull the shoulder a little. The same on the next side. Rotation of the neck and shoulders. Bends to the sides then forward, her legs straight, feet shoulder width apart. "You mainly want to focus on tumbling or more balance elements?" She asks with her hands joined behind her back, the hands lifted and pointing to the sky while she's bent almost in half with her head near her knees.

Green Ranger has posed:
He follows her, moving to the mat, where he sits, seiza style, which means kneeling on the floor, folding his legs underneath his thighs, while resting his butt on his heels. It's a habit and definitely shows his background in Japanese martial arts. His hands rest on his lower thighs, as if he were about to hear something from his sensei. Then, he breaks the stance, following her movements, copying them. Flexing is easy, though he's not as limber as she is. Looking over at her bent almost in half with her head near her knees, he goes, "woah," and when he tries, he doesn't get nearly as far as she does, despite his overall fitness.

Pink Ranger has posed:
Kim giggles before she can stop herself when she hears the comment. "I couldn't do this on my first class either," she says as she stands upright. She bends a leg, bringing the foot up to her backside and pulling the muscles to loosen. Then the opposite leg. A moment later, she sits on the floor, folding her legs in front of her so her feet are flat together then pushing her knees down to the floor on either side. "Just like martial arts, the more you train, the better you'll be. Just depends on if you totally hate it after one session." She puts her legs out straight in front of her then bends, forehead to knees. Her head pops up a second later. "I know you kick high but can you do a split?" Uh-oh, maybe he wasn't far off on his concerns.

Green Ranger has posed:
"I... think I might be able to." He wasn't sure. He can high kick. He's kicked two putties at the same time on opposite sides of him, but how far did he extend his legs. It probably wasn't the splits, but it wasn't too far off. The test would be when he had to bend completely against a solid object like the ground. "You... you want me to try and do the splits on my first day?" He wasn't a quitter, so even if he hated it, he'd try it again until he did like it. But the idea of doing the splits, it made him nervous. He subconsciously looked down, wondering what the medical effects of men doing the splits were. Probably safe. Male gymnasts could do it. But still.

Pink Ranger has posed:
That earns a shake of the head. "Only if you already could. If you can't, it'll wait. Once you can, you've gotten about as limber as you can be as a human being without being a contortionist." That's a visual for sure. She stands up and shakes out her feet then her hands, blood now rushing to her extremities in the best possible way. "We'll start yuo out a little slower. I know you can flip up when you fall in martial arts>" She's seen it when he's on the mats and in his costumed persona. "With that a back bend should be easy or do you already know how to do those? I'm not trying to be rude or anything by asking this stuff, I just am not sure what level you're at on the gymnastics sice. I know you can wipe the floor with me on your side of the fence with martial arts," she says in a light tone with a hint of laughter to her voice.

Green Ranger has posed:
Tommy does just that. From on his back, he bends his hands and rolls his back, pushing off with the hands and doing a sort of circular motion, landing on his feet. He's great at some things like the perfect kick up that he just performed. "A back bend, huh. What's that?" He knows it'll involve bending his back, but he's shaky on the specifics. "No, no, it's not rude." He bowed his head, bringing his hands together in an honourific. "I am but a humble student, eager to learn from a master." He was taking note of everything she did. "And don't sell yourself short. You're a tough opponent when we've sparred together."

Pink Ranger has posed:
"I do okay when we are sparring. I'm still not on your level and we both know it," Kim says with another smile. "A back bend is just what it sounds like. You are going to bend toward the back , bring your hands up over your head so that when you tilt far enough, you will land on them. So you end up with hands and feet on the floor at the same time. Here, it's easier to show you." With that she arches backwards but she doesn't rush the move. She takes her time so he can watch how she shifts her balance on her legs, center of gravity lowered then folds backwards and lets her hands slap to the mat and support her weight. From her position there, she glances over at him. "Back bend. Think you're up to trying it? I'll spot you."

Green Ranger has posed:
When Tommy figures out what a back bend actually is, he blushes. He's probably seen them on YouTube or somewhere on the internet. Maybe he's seen Kimberly doing it, but either way, generally, he's seen young, athletic women doing it. And then she does show him, which only makes him even more nervous. He looks at her, but tries not to check her out. He blushes some more, feeling hot suddenly. But to her, it's the most normal thing in the world. So he tries to focus, "okay... I can do this." And once she's up, to spot him, he'll try it, moving slowly, doing what she did, but how well he does is up for debate.

Pink Ranger has posed:
With a push up of her hands, Kim uses her core to bring her body back to an upright position. She moves next to him, her hand going to the small of his back. Definitely in his comfort bubble. Or discomfort if she were to notice all that blushing. But her eyes are on his body, not his face. Which isn't really a good thing because she's very aware of what he looks like and, with her hand on his back, what he feels like. "Make sure when you bend you have your arms ready to support your weight." As he bends, she places a hand to his chest as well, concentrating on the task at hand. He isn't as smooth as she was but he does manage to bend back and his hands find the mat. "See! Perfect!" Course, now he has to get out of it.

Green Ranger has posed:
As Kimberly helped guide Tommy into the position, he was now stuck in the back bend. He had good upper body strength, and he was flexible enough to hold it, but it felt very unnatural to him. Thankfully, he had an impressive core strength, so getting out of it proved to be far easier than getting into it. It wasn't too different from a kick up, just a kind of concave move rather than a convex move. When he did jump up though, she was close to him, and his body came up against hers. He ended up with an arm around her, pulling her in close, trying not to knock her down, and made an apologetic oof, "oh, sorry about that Kim." But he didn't immediately pull away either.

Pink Ranger has posed:
His recovery from the posture was more rapid than she had expected. Kim doesn't have time to step back, to clear the space for him. He's just there, blocking out everything with his taller frame, sending her half stumbling with the impact. If not for his arm around her, she would've landed on her butt. Instead, she is pulled closer, against his chest, one of her hands coming to rest on his shoulder, the other at his waist as she grabbed for anything to keep from going over. He feels--nice. Too nice. All firm and strong. She blushes, pink staining her cheeks as she peeks up at him through her lashes. "Oops," she says softly. She isn't stepping away.

Green Ranger has posed:
Holding her close, Tommy would be relieved if he knew that they were among of the few people at the Youth Centre. There were a couple of people eating at a table. Ernie was at the bar. There were three other people working out, though none terribly close, and none seemed to be paying attention to Tommy and Kimberly. But as far as Tommy knew at that time, they were the only people in the world. "So... what are you going to teach me next?" He asked with a smile, and no he did not pull away from her. If anything, he might have shifted his weight to be a little closer to her. This was nice. She felt nice. He liked her hands against him.

Pink Ranger has posed:
"Uhm." That was good. Very eloquent. She clears her throat slightly and tries again. "You already know how to take a fall and rolls, so that's not necessary. Handstands. Walkover from a back bend. Kicks are something you already know although as your flexibility grows, you'll be able to kick even higher than you already do." Why isn't she moving? Her hand at his waist shifts, sliding, a little caress before she forces her fingers to stop, hoping he didn't notice that.

Green Ranger has posed:
He did, and he liked it. His own hand around her contours to her form and begins to rub gently in circles. He smiles down at her, neither one of them wanting to break the contact. "Handstands, walkover from a back bend, huh?" He kind of wanted to see her demonstrate those, but then he asks, "so... how high can you kick?" Ah, ever the martial artist, always looking to better himself, or help others to.

Pink Ranger has posed:
That feels awful nice. She's aware of his hand and she is forgetting to listen to a thing he says. "Huh? Oh!" Kim catches up, forcing herself to take her hand off his shoulder. The other leaves his waist. She steps back, a hand touching his forearm then trailing down to his hand. "Put your hand here." She lifts his arm. His hand is bolded down, parallel to the floor, to his side. Then she moves, fast, precise. One instant she was standing there, the next, she has her foot flat against his palm. Her foot is literally pointing toward the ceiling while her other foot is on the floor, effectively doing a split in the air. "This high."

Green Ranger has posed:
Tommy is disheartened when she pulls back, but she does it only for a moment before stepping back in and doing a kick with his assistance. She was even more flexible than he had thought. "Wow," he says at first, "that's... that's incredible." She made it seem so easy. He'd struggle to do a split on the ground. She can do it while balancing all her weight on one foot. "Is there anything you can't do?" He wondered that, but didn't realise he had asked it aloud.

Pink Ranger has posed:
That earns a giggle from Kimberly as her foot resumes it's place on the ground beside her other one. "Don't even start. It's not like I was a natural at this. It took a long time to leran it." But she's blushing again, a pleased smile on her lips to get such a compliment from him. "I mean, I wish I was able to do what you can in a fight. Yeah, I can hold my own but we both know I'm a rookie compared to you." Then she gets an impish smile. "Is there anything you can't do? Well, other than a split at this point."

Green Ranger has posed:
Tommy thinks about that question. He's silent for a long time. When he does begin to speak, it's slow, nervous, as if he's coming up with the ideas as they come. He smiles back to her, more nervous than impish. "I can't beat BattleToads on Nintendo. I can't stand spiders. I can't drive a manual transmission. And I can't figure out how to tell a girl how I feel."

Pink Ranger has posed:
"Well, we have a couple of those in common. Battletoads and spiders. I do know how to drive a stick. My step-dad taught me," she says with a shrug. "It's an overrated skill set since you practically have to ask for a manual to get one instead of them being on the lots." She is a little oblivious sometimes and the words she gives out next prove it. "You just tell her. Say 'I like you' or 'I want to go out with you' or 'I hate your guts' if that's the feelings you mean," she says although there is a little drop in her smile. Just toned done from 100 watts to about 75 perhaps as she figures out that he must like someone. And here is is talking about it to his friend who happens to be a girl. Life is so unfair. "Uhm. Can I ask who it is? Maybe I know her and can give you some advice." See. She's a good friend.

Green Ranger has posed:
Tommy says, "maybe you could teach me. I kind of want to learn. In the movies, all the heroes drive stick. You can't be an action hero if you can't drive stick. It's neat that you can, drive stick, I mean." She does seem oblivious, but she hasn't really given him an opportunity to explain. Her response makes him wonder if she doesn't feel the same way about him. But, she did give him the advice, and it seemed like good advice. So, he answers in something of a reverse order. "Yes, you can ask, and you always give me the best advice. So..." he gulps, collecting his breath, "here goes. Ilikeyou. Iwanttogooutwithyou." He said it, he just said it really fast and it was kind of hard to follow along he said it so fast. He had just put his heart on the line. And while waiting for her response, time seemed to stand still. He could practically hear the flaps of a hummingbird's wings.

Pink Ranger has posed:
She has no idea what he just said. She's trying to put together all the syllables so she is watching him for a long time in silence. Ili...gout...wait no, go out. Want to go out? The moment it becomes clear to her is visible as she never could hide her feelings very well. Kim's eyes widen slightly in surprise. The blush is back, spreading through her face and down her neck. Then she gives one of the biggest and brightest smiles that's he's ever seen on her. "Really? You do? Cause I...I like you too." Her gaze flicks down then back up as she tries not to jump up and down and squeal. "I'd love to go out with you."

Green Ranger has posed:
"Yeah, I do," he said, trying not to sound too excited when she seems to like him back. "You mean that? It's... it's okay if you don't. But, if you do, that... it'd be great." He was usually so confident, but right now, with his heart on the line, well, he was just a high school kid trying to tell a girl he liked her. He had from the moment he met her. "I really do, and want to. I... I've wanted to ask you that since the day we met, but, you know, things kind of went haywire after that." Referring to how he got manipulated into being evil, but good did come of it. He became a Power Ranger.

Pink Ranger has posed:
Does she admit it? Does she say it outloud? It seems only fair since he did. "I liked you the first time I saw you," Kim says softly, her embarassment too much to keep looking at him while she's speaking. She ends up looking at the center of his chest instead. The blush hasn't really faded much. "And everything worked out," she adds, referring to the entire incident that she would rather not think about. It wasn't his fault, after all. That's why he became part of the team after. He had more of a reason to despise Rita than the rest of them and that was saying something.

Green Ranger has posed:
Tommy was gaining confidence by the moment. She liked him? She really liked him? And for that long. He was right about his feelings. But then, he thought that she liked him, and suddenly he worried about messing it up. He did his utmost to play it cool. "So, you, I, we... we've both been into each other for that long. Wow." He moved to give her a hug, hoping it wasn't uncalled for.

Pink Ranger has posed:
She's a little naive but she isn't stupid. She's not turning down a hug from him. Kim steps into the hug, wrapping her arms around his torso, hands flat on his back. She leans against him. Her cheek is pressed to his chest as she feels her heart beginning to thunder in her chest. He can't feel that, right? Because if he can, she's going to die of embarassment right there on the mat. Monsters and Putties haven't been able to take her down but him realizing how very excited she is to learn he likes her? Immediate doom.

Green Ranger has posed:
Tommy's hands pull her in close as they close in around her back, but rest low, just above her hips. He likes the feel of her cheek to his chest, which is only covered by the green tank top. He should be embarrassed about such an open display of affection, and in public, but he doesn't care right now. All that matters is that he is where he wants to be, with the girl he wants to be with. "I have a feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of time trying gymnastics."

Pink Ranger has posed:
At the comment, Kim has to laugh. She lifts her cheek from his chest, tilting her head to look up at him. "A lot, huh? I was thinking we could do other things to. Food. Movies. Y'know, normal things." Since their lives are so very not normal, that holds a lot of appeal to her. She hasn't taken her arms from around his waist, seeming content to remain there despite the people in the room around them.

Green Ranger has posed:
"That sounds great to me." He liked the idea of having food with her, seeing movies, hanging out at the mall, anything and everything. "What kind of movies do you like?" And he hasn't taken his arms from around her. He's still holding her close, his hands resting just above her hips. "We could go see one now." Though she'd probably want to change. Walking into a movie threate in leggings and leotard might not be the smartest thing, though he was up for it if she was.

Pink Ranger has posed:
"Anything really except dramas. Oh and no horror. Freaks me out and gives me nightmares." Strange when they fight monsters all the time. "Action, comedies, animated even. We...yeah, we could go now. I would want to change." She is not going to be seen outside a setting like this in her leotard. There are fashion rules that must be followed. "We going to save the rest of the lesson for tomorrow?" she asks teasingly.

Green Ranger has posed:
"It's up to you." He liked both ideas. He really enjoyed seeing her in that leotard, seeing her doing gymnastics, and maybe now, he can finally actually look at her and not try to hide it. He is free to flirt with her. "We could go see the latest romcom, explosion fest, Pixar thing, or you could show me how good you are at gymnastics, and how much I have to learn. I'm down for anything, as long as it's with you."

Pink Ranger has posed:
"Let me change. We'll pick when we get to the theater," Kim decides. But if she does that, she has to move. What a bad choice she made. Of course, teaching him gymnastics would require her to move too. She's almost afraid if she moves away, she'll wake up. It wouldn't be the first time she dreamed about him. She doesn't want to wake up. "There'll be time for more training tomorrow."