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"Oh stars, where have you brought us, Dogby?"

Standing like a librarian holding a corgi in the middle of a gym was not a saying, colloquially, as far as Tony knew but in that moment he felt it probably should be. He felt more out of place than even a fish out of water, and that poor creature could not even breathe. While he still could, he was not sure he wanted to, with all the strange scents that suddenly met his nose.

It definitely smelled far different to the library. It was far louder, too, with all the clanging and grunts of men and women improving their physical health and appearance through hard work and what appeared to be digital images of trainers yelling at them to do it better.

A gym. He had chased his ridiculous puppy into a gym.

Robed in the traditional apparel of his people, Tony immediately felt stuffy and awkward in his tweed jacket and vest. When was the last time he had been in a place like this? Not since he was in his teens, when he believed he was destined for some sort of occupation that allowed him to have his shirt off for long periods. Like a rock star, or a model.

He was very thankful his brain kicked in through his twenties, and he took a different route.

"Ah, is it that obvious?" Tony blushed, turning at the voice that was addressing him. Hopefully not some giant muscle of a man trying to throw him out of the gym, for clearly he had no place there.

Or worse, an employee looking to sell him a membership.

Looking sheepish, he glanced down at the puppy in his arms, who was looking content and oblivious. As always, he supposed. She could get into the worst of trouble, yet with one sweet look of that little face she could immediately get out of it. And he was left to sort out any of the lingering problems, of course.

She was too cute to ever really make anyone upset, clearly.

"My dog got away from me, and managed to slip in through an open door. I admit... it's been a while since I last visited a place like this. Ah... is it a membership thing? I don't mean to intrude."

Tony laughed at the kind offer, nodding his head and hugging Dogby to him a bit more. She seemed at ease, at least, looking curiously at Mathias and wiggling her butt. It was the best she could do, when she did not have a tail to wag. When she did this on the floor, waiting for food or when getting pet by a stranger, her little back feet would bounce back and forth.

It was not surprise to Tony that he was absolutely smitten with the puppy when she did things like that.

Less so when she got him into trouble, but still.

"I suppose a tour wouldn't hurt... I admit, I probably could use some more time in the gym than I get," considering all he got was zero hours a week, that would not be hard to do, "so perhaps a look around is in order. Thank you for not immediately attempting to bench press me, or whatever it is the more aggressive members might do... it's a very good first impression!" He grinned teasingly, mostly at his own sake, and Dogby lifted her head to look up at him curiously.

She could sense how embarrassed he was, and it made her floppy ears perk up and her tongue lull out happily.

"Steroids? Some things never change, I suppose," Tony said in wonder. Not that his experience with the work out world was extensive, but he had heard stories of substance abuse by those in pursuit of body perfection. The library, thankfully, never required that much upper body strength, even when carrying a stack of dictionaries, so Tony was pretty sure he did not have to worry too much about how visible his muscles were.

Tweed would look weird on a very fit man anyway, he was sure of it. Or at least, that was what he told himself.

Still, he did worry about his health, and thought he could be doing more to live better... maybe a work out routine would not be all that bad. He could at least get some ideas of what to do, outside of chasing after a puppy.

"Soccer moms? Really? I suppose everyone has to work out. Do they normally come in at a regular time? I wonder if that's planned..." Tony was mostly talking to himself, musing in wonder as if this place was somewhere to be studied. It was about as familiar to him as any wild habitat, anyway, so he was a little baffled. "This equipment looks expensive, at least. Some of the places I have seen tend to run theirs into the ground, and even then refuse to replace it."