Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shina stepped out into the courtyard, the last remnants of some old building, now little more than a smooth, relatively flat clearing. Shina looked around to make sure she wouldn’t be disturbing anyone and decided she was far enough away from the rest of the group. She stretched out, then stood and cued her music player, the small speakers piping the music through the space. Shina began slowly, as strings played leisurely and a clear soprano began singing. Her arms and legs moved in smooth arcs as she tested her muscles. Then the percussion started, and with the driving beat a flurry of punches came. Kicks and knee strikes and elbow strikes began to show up as well as the song slowed slightly, the beat still strong. Eventually the song slowed, and Shina moved through a few throws for the brief time. The return of the percussion brought a return of blows, now with the occasional throw and trip move. The song ended, and Shina stood panting in the early morning air.

Shina whirled, eyes widening as she saw the other girl. “Oh! Please excuse me! I didn’t mean to bother you!” Shina exclaimed, bowing. She blushed a little that someone had heard her workout music. It was …rather aggressive, for her. She hadn’t started using that particular song until after the Eevee swarm. Fortunately the blush was probably hidden by her flush from the workout.

The chill of the light breeze reminded her she was also rather underdressed. She was clad in her normal shoes and loose black pants gathered at the ankle, and a fairly tight sleeveless red v-neck over a black sports bra. Entirely appropriate for working out, not so much for a conversation. Her red top was folded neatly on a rock nearby, but she didn't really want to put it on this soon after a work out. "Um, what can I help you with?" She asked hesitantly.

Shina blinked and tried to process the questions. "Um, well, thank you? I'm not an accredited teacher, but....I suppose if you wanted to get together in the mornings, I could teach you a little? Maybe? Um, how flexible are you?" Shina asked uncertainly. "I wouldn't want to try to teach you anything that you didn't have the flexibility for, you could pull something. Maybe we could start with stretches so I know your range of movement?"

(Oh god, I know. It's like "Yeah, you can't even hold the static resting poses required for this, how the heck do you expect to do something I've trained in for years with five minutes of demonstration? Really?" I mean, I know the idea is to make it look easy, but seriously folks, it isn't! Also, Shina's not trained in any particular school other than the "make them regret grabbing you" school of defense. She has a bit of this, a bit of that, and she likes stringing together moves to music as a way to make staying in shape fun.)

Shina raised an eyebrow. Okay, flexibility wasn't going to be a problem. "Okay, so we don't need to worry too much about flexibility. Or hearing the beat when working with music. Though really, I just use music to make it a little more fun. It has no practical purpose. Do you know how to fall?" Shina asked in what seemed to be a rather quick change of subject.

Shina nodded as River described what she knew. When River asked about her finances, Shina blushed a bright, rosy pink, but stood straighter and looked River in the eyes. "It is quite early. I imagine your manners are sleeping in," Shina said mildly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, River. I am Shina Kiremono. To answer your question, if my father stopped working this moment, and I never worked a day in my life, it would take until my great-grandchildren's children for the family money to run out, if we continued our current spending patterns," Shina answered plainly. She looked steadily at River, waiting to see what her reaction would be.

Shina was startled by River's response, but didn't show it. "From the Kingston dance family? I see. One of my dance instructors was trained by a Kingston," Shina said. With a deep breath, Shina abruptly relaxed. "Please, Shina is fine. I apologize for my abruptness. It seems my manners were also abed."

As quickly as that, Shina was once again cheerful and smiling. "You said you were studying Parkour, but you were still having a bit of trouble with your falls? Why don't we start there? After all, if I'm going to teach you throws, you will need to know how to hit the ground safely," Shina told River.

"You can put your shirt over there," Shina said, gesturing to where her own sat. Shina felt a little more comfortable now that they were in similar states of workout dress. "Basic falls. Um, why don't I just demonstrate, and if you know a fall, you can show me how you do it?" Shina said.

Stepping towards a particularly loamy spot, Shina said "Front fall," and toppled forward. She landed with a slap of her arms, making contact with her palms and entire forearms, her head turned slightly so she looked at her left hand. "Basic idea is to make contact with your entire forearm and palm, keeping your face turned to the side so you don't break your nose if you do it wrong."

Shina pushed smoothly back to her feet. "No, that looked just fine, River. You said you have trouble with side falls? Why don't you show me what you've been doing?" Shina suggested as she dusted the loam from her own arms. She didn't mind the dirt. You could have a good workout and get sweaty and dirty or you could stay clean and get out of shape. She had no plans on getting out of shape. She'd worked too hard to develop her skills to let a little grime get in the way of maintaining them.