"I don't have time to compete with anyone," Long explained as he stepped around Pepper.

Pepper snorted a little before reaching around Long and easily picking up the entire rack of weights, "But I'm bored," she complained.

"I don't entertain," Long replied, not too interested in Pepper's showing off.

Pepper tisked a little, dropping the weights back down, "You're boring," she informed him, still not leaving him alone.

Long seemed content with that as he finished putting the weights on and started lifting. He wasn't as strong as Pepper, but he could bench a surprising amount given his size.

"Impressive," Pepper said, sitting down hard on Long, right on his crotch.

Long clearly felt it, but somehow he managed not to drop the bar on himself and put the weights back on the stand. There were a few chuckles from bystanders. "Off," he told her simply when his breath came back.

Pepper wiggled around a little, "That was a disappointing reaction," she told him as she patted his cheek.

Just as it looked like Long was about to take action to force Pepper off, there was a loud grunt of laughter as someone new entered the gym near them. Pepper hadn't seen this tall muscular man around before, but everyone else seemed to recognize him including Long. "You can sit there all day, but nothing's gonna happen," he chuckled at Pepper.

Pepper turned, still not getting off Long, "Oh, I know," Pepper replied with a vicious grin, "I wanted the weight to crush his head."

"Dirt, that would have been funny," the man chuckled as he took off his shirt revealing an ambitious animal print on his chest. But what was perhaps even more interesting than the tattoo was a long scar that ran from the top of his chest, across his belly button, and probably farther.

"Off," Long warned one more time, interrupting their conversation.

"Oooh," Pepper said, genuinely a bit awed as he took off his shirt, "You going for the rabid panther look?" she asked still not getting off Long.

Just as Pepper finished talking, Long suddenly arched his body very quickly which sent Pepper a few feet up in the air. Long let her figure out how to land on her own as he rolled away from the bench gracefully.

"Close," the man explained as if nothing had happened. "More like a rabid saber cat since people call me Tusk."

Pepper did a front flip and landed gracefully before walking over to Tusk. "Tusk, huh? Guess that fits since it looks like a boar ran you through," she chuckled a little darkly, "I go by Pepper, and I must say, I'm very pleased to know that this place isn't entirely full of humorless lamestones."

"Pepper... spicy," Tusk noted as he decided where to begin.

Pepper shrugged, "I prefer firey," she explained as she watched him, "I cause reactions."