welcome distraction

who: Annaliese, Antoinette and Alexi
where: campbell's gym
when: early evening

Annaliese led the way, which was customary when they were going somewhere with the pure intention of being social. Toni didn't really do 'scocial'. That was Annaliese's job. They were following through on the idea that they'd offer themselves up for any work that may need doing in the wake of the tragic events, that they were going to ensure they were still on people's minds. Alexi was a good way to go about that.

Smiling sweetly at some of the gym patrons (as well as getting looked up and down for her efforts), she glanced around for the man in question. "Alexi," she called, proper inflection of his name put into the word.

Alexi had finished up with Nate, making the boy promise to to stick to his training regimen, despite was going on with the family. As the day dwindled on, Alexi had set his father back in their apartment, giving him something easy to eat and take care of. The man could be left alone, but not for more than a few hours. For now he was back in the ring, opposite one of his fighters as he sparred with him, yelling out corrective moves. When the girls came in he lost almost everyone’s attention which had him sighing, stopping things with a wave of his hand. Shaking his head he pulled off his gloves, tossing them at a couple of gawkers and climbing over the ropes of the ring until he landed on the ground near them. “Well, well, well. To what do I owe this interruption?”

Objectively speaking, Antoinette knew she and her sister were attractive and sometimes it was a boon in their line of work. Most of the time however, she rankled at the attention it drew and this was no exception. True, Anna earned most of it with her easy smile but the odd gaze fell on her too which she was quick to respond to with a glare as they approached the ring. “We need to talk Alexi,” she replied, dark look still in place. “Why else would we be here?”

Annaliese shot a bit of a warning look over her shoulder at her sister. There were times she wished that Toni would learn how to be simply quiet, or the barest hint of at least 'tactful'. They weren't here to leave poor impressions, they were here to garner good will. Her attitude would certainly not help. So she smiled at who Toni had snapped at. "We're very sorry to interrupt." she apologized, both for the act itself as well as Toni's attitude. Then she focused on Alexi. "We've heard what happened and wanted to let people know if there's anything we can do..." she trailed off, leaving it vague in front of other people, but knowing that Alexi would know what she was talking about. She smiled at him warmly, like she was pleased to see him.

While others might prefer Annaliese over Antoinette, Alexi wasn’t one of those people. He’d actually always found himself equally enamored with both twins, for different reasons, but one was no more his type than the other. Annaliese appealed to the part of him, like most men, who wanted a sweet girl to fawn over him, to cuddle and be attached to. Antoinette on the other hand was full of spunk, the kind of spunk that aligned with the spunk in Alexi himself. “I keep thinking you’re gonna show up one day Toni and ask me to put you in the ring and teach you how to fight proper.” He mimed a few punches, laughing a little and giving Antoinette a smile, just for her.

Nodding towards Annaliese he started towards his office. It wasn’t much of an office really, more a room that he called an office and had a desk in. Alexi’s job was too hands on for him to consider himself in need of an office, but it was useful for the occasional conversation that didn’t need prying ears. It also housed a portion of his “collection”: the odds and ends that he considered trophies from his different takes. Most of it seemed like junk, but it all had meaning to Alexi. “Don’t think for a moment you aren’t a welcome interruption,” he told Annaliese. “Pretty boy was here earlier, we might have skimmed over that topic.” He perched on the edge of the desk once the door was closed behind them.

At the look Annaliese gave her, Toni rolled her eyes but stopped scowling, her expression turning to one of disinterest rather than hostility. “Unlikely Alexi,” she replied to his offer, crossing her arms over her chest. “I do fine on my own.” Which wasn’t entirely true, she’d just been incredibly lucky that the fights she’d been in were with people she’d been able to beat with her own mix of well placed hits and fighting dirty but she wasn’t about to admit that. Following him and Anna into the office, she was the one who closed the door and lent up against it, arms still folded. Her ears pricked up at the mention of ‘pretty boy’, the twins had learnt Nate’s nickname amongst the other men a while back, but she stayed quiet, letting Annaliese do the talking.

"How's he faring?" Annaliese asked, putting herself closer to Alexi, but not so close that it would be considered forward. There was also true concern in her tone. The loss of a parent was something that she understood a little too keenly, what with the both of theirs having been axed at the same time from the twin's lives. She'd get to asking him further on what possibly they could be of use with, but she didn't cut straight to business yet.

“Doesn’t mean I’m going to stop hoping,” Alexi told Antoinette, giving her another smirk. “And while I don’t doubt that? You’d do even better with me.” He kept his eyes on her until Annaliese moved closer and claimed his attention back. “He’s alright,” Alexi said, softening a little in the other twin’s presence. She could have come even closer if she wanted, he wouldn’t have cared about what was forward, what wasn’t. Social cues weren’t really his thing anyway. “He’s angry, hurt, but that’s how it should be. It was his dad after all. I can and can’t imagine that at the same time.” It was similar to what had happened with him, his father lost and yet not lost. There were still moments, fleeting and far between where the old man was lucid, but that was all Alexi had left.

While Antoinette’s eyes narrowed a touch at Alexi’s conviction about his ability as a trainer, she didn’t say anything and instead focused on Annaliese, recognising the true emotion in her sister’s voice and easily guessing it’s cause. Their parents death was something she didn’t allow herself to think about, it stirred up emotions she wasn’t comfortable dealing with, but Anna did and instinctively she went to stand behind her, arm slipping easily around narrow shoulders to provide silent support as the conversation continued.

Annaliese was grateful for Toni's support, and it was reflected in her posture. She also gave Alexi a soft smile of her own, for him. "How's your own father doing?" she asked. Annaliese did make a point to know things about people. Not only because knowledge was exploitable, but because she was genuinely interested. She liked to imagine what their lives were like when she wasn't there, when they were alone, what they thought about, dreamed about.

Alexi watched the sisters, definitely taking in the way they moved closer to one another. “He’s doing alright,” he told Annaliese, looking up to meet her eyes. “It’s been a decent week.” While the defensive tone was still there, it was eased with the twins. They weren’t the same. He didn’t feel like they were attacking him or threatening his father. “Pretty boy said he knew some girl who might be good with him, willing to sit with him. I don’t know if it’s worth it or not.” He hated the idea of admitting that he could use help with his father, but the truth was, it wouldn’t be awful.

“You should do it,” Antoinette said, not understanding his reticence. “Your father may be getting worse but he isn’t so far gone that he wouldn’t appreciate having a pretty girl keep him company.” Her tone was matter of fact, containing no cruelty but rather just the truth as she saw it. She actually quite liked the older Cusick, as much as she liked anyone who wasn’t Anna, who tried to crack jokes with her and told her she was pretty instead of just looking her up and down like the other men at the gym did.

"It could be worth it to try it out, see if it works." Annaliese said, taking the neutral ground while backing Toni. But then again, at the same time, she believed it. She considered for a moment that she could do the same, sit with his father--she could read to him, if she had a mirror. But that would probably be a little forward, as well as stepping on Nate's toes with his offer.

“No one said he was getting worse Toni,” Alexi corrected immediately. Didn’t matter how attractive the twins were, no one was speaking about his father that way. No one. “I’m still thinking on it. It’s not a bad idea, but it’s something I have to consider.” He didn’t even know who this girl was that Nate was considering anyway. He’d need to meet her first. Then maybe he’d consider it again.

"She didn't mean anything by it." Annaliese said, trying to ease that situation and she gave Alexi an apologetic look. "You know, if you ever need anything..." she trailed off there, putting the offer out there, but not trying to put out there specific things. She didn't know what he might need, or how he might take it so she wanted to leave it wide there, so he could take from it what he wanted. She was also not specifically stating that 'they' would be happy to do it. Most likely it would fall to her, not the both of them.

It was a good thing Anna had spoken when she did, otherwise Antoinette would have been quick to argue with him about his father; as much as the boxer might have wanted it to be the case, it was clear to her that the old man had deteriorated in the last couple of months even if he didn’t see it. But then that was why she and sister worked together and she watched with interest at the look Annaliese gave Alexi, the tone in her voice and stayed quiet; the actions of her twin making her own misstep abundantly clear.

Alexi was still fighting it but Annaliese had her ways and he was a sucker for it. Looking over at her, he nodded slowly. “I know,” he said to the first statement, losing the rest of his anger to the offer. “Is that so?” he asked with a gentle tease, smile on his features. “I’ll have to keep that in mind.” He knew better than to get too deep into what he might want that she could provide. There was no promise that he’d get it. “Anything else I can do you two for?”

Annaliese shook her head. "No. We just wanted to offer our condolences, and see if there was anything we could be doing." she told him. "Plus it's nice to get out of the house sometimes." she said, an easy smile on her lips. They didn't really talk about the fact that they were homeless. The less people knew that the better.

Resisting the urge to scoff at how easily Alexi was appeased, Antoinette couldn’t help but smile faintly with pride at her sister; Anna’s way with people was something she could barely understand let alone replicate and it always a delight her to watch her twin work her magic. She didn’t particularly share Annaliese’s sentiment about getting out, she could quiet happily spend her time making her way through the library’s book collection, but she hummed in agreement anyway; it was only a trivial thing and not worth bringing up in front of company.

Alexi reached out squeezed Annaliese’s shoulder lightly with a smile. “It’s appreciated. I’ll pass the word on and you two know you’re at the top of my list when I start looking for a crew.” There wasn’t always something for the girls to do, but if he could find a way, Alexi would get them involved. “For the next few days we lay low, but I think something’s brewing.” He mimed another punch in Antoinette’s direction, but not close enough to touch her. “And I’m always here if you two need anything.”

"Thank you." Annaliese said, entire demeanor emanating warmth towards Alexi. "For everything." she added. "We'll be in touch, most certainly." God, she hoped he'd need them soon. She would grow so bored if there was nothing going on. Maybe it was time to look into the play. She'd need something else to focus on. When she didn't have outlets, she didn't do so well. Left to her own devices, Annaliese tended to start...fraying.

As soon as Alexi had reached forwards, Antoinette had shrunk back; even if the touch, friendly as it was, hadn’t been intended for her, it was too close for comfort. She watched him levelly as he mimed a punch, and only when she was sure he wasn’t going to touch her did she relax, even managing to summon a smile though it didn’t reach her eyes.

It was a contrast that Alexi picked up on, even if he didn’t comment on it, the way one sister was all warm and the other was all cold. “I look forward to the distraction,” he told Annaliese, pushing up from the desk and holding open the door to his office for them. Somewhere he’d learned one manner or two. His mother would be proud. “And I mean it about those lessons Toni. I bet we could have you beating up on the guys if we tried.”

Annaliese led the way back out into the main gym, mostly because he was addressing Toni again, and she figured her sister would have a comment there. Likely not a positive one, though she personally wondered if it might be good for her to do something like that. It would force her to be social on some level, and beyond that, it would be much more the kind of interaction Toni could handle--a fight, even if it was something different. She would need to discuss it with her twin when they were away from everyone else.

“I doubt I’d need help to beat some of them,” Antoinette replied with a shrug. “They’re far too easily distracted.” As if proving her point, a couple of the men training had stopped what they were doing to watch the twins progression through the room. “But thank you for the offer.” She might not have any intention of taking him up on it but she could tell it was a genuine one, not something just said to flatter her.

Alexi noticed what Antoinette meant and waved for his guys to get back to work, which they did, but slowly. “Well there you go, natural advantage and with me in your corner, you’ll be unstoppable.” He grinned, something that came easily. “I’ll see you two soon,” he added with a hint of a promise behind it, that he’d find work for them.

Huffing with what could have been exasperation, amusement or a mixture of the two, Toni pulled open the gym door not seeing a need to say anything else and ducked outside, holding it open behind her so Annaliese could follow.

Annaliese glanced back at Alexi before she left, giving him a soft smile, and giving the impression that she might have been just slightly loathe to leave. Just a little. She waved, then was gone, off with her twin.