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 Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:07 pm
There was something almost alluring about the smell that hits you when you open the doors to a gym, a lot of people may find the smell of sweat unappealing but to Aubrey it was comforting. Aubrey went straight to the locker room with her gym bag slung over one shoulder, she had come straight from work but really felt like getting a work out in today. She had little bags stashed in places for such an occasion, the one she had currently was from work since she didn’t have the car today and had walked directly to the gym once her shift was done.
Aubrey changed quickly, popping her neck and stretching lightly as she did so to start warming up. She rather liked this gym, due to the fact that it had a little running track that went around the outside of the building under an awning so that she could run outside even if it was raining, she much preferred this to treadmills.
Before she left the locker room she pulled out her ipod shuffle and a small water bottle then locked the rest of her stuff in the locker. Figuring a nice jog would be a good warm up Aubrey headed directly for the track shuffling songs absently until she found one she liked then started running.
Aubrey paced herself and felt her muscles warm up as she ran and couldn’t keep a grin from her face, it felt wonderful to be able to run off some of the stress from the day, and it would be even more wonderful to punch something for a while. After running for 30 minutes she did some more stretching before heading towards the section of the gym with the punching bags and nice squishy mats, there was even a small fighting ring, though there wasn’t anyone around that looked interested in sparing.
Instead Aubrey planted herself in front of a punching bag and alternated between simple punches and kicks to loosen her body more. Her world narrowed down to her actions and the bag of sand in front of her.
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 2:22 pm
It had been a few weeks since Camilla first started going to the gym. Her parents didn't feel like it would be good for her to be too bulky, but with the help of the Internet, Camilla had worked on strengthening her muscles, not making them any much bigger than they already were. She wanted to get stronger, not win the next woman body builder contest.
As Camilla opened the door to the gym she had been attending, the musk of the sweat of all the bodies working out hit her with a blast. Camilla coughed; it was surprising, but Camilla was still not used to the smell. In all honesty, she hated it and had learned to bring clean clothes in a gym bag as well as shampoo, conditioner, and soap so she could clean herself before stepping out again. She was unwilling to smell like the gym while going out with others.
Camilla was easily in and out of the locker room. She had rented a space and all she really needed to do was unlock, stick her stuff in and then re-lock again. When she saw the exercise machines, Camilla realized unsure of what she wanted to do today and instead wandered for a little bit. That was, until a girl caught her eye.
The girl had reddish hair and green eyes, but that wasn't what caught Camilla's attention. The girl was only working with a punching bag but the way she moved.. Camilla was jealous and wish she could do something like that. Another DMC member had been teaching her how to throw punches, but she was nothing like that girl. Yet, hopefully...
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 3:48 pm
Aubrey didn't notice that she was being observed, she just continued with her normal routine of combinations of punches and kicks moving with the momentum of the bag to keep her body limber and fluid.
After 30 reps of simple kicks and punches Aubrey switched to high kicks, ducking and swooping to avoid the more wilder swings of the punching bag. After a particularly hard kick Aubrey suddenly dived under the punching bags wide swing and rolled to the other side to deliver a low punch. It wasn't as efficient as sparing with another person, but it was the best she could do with this situation. She continued delivering high kicks on this side before rolling again to the other side.
Since she moved here six months ago she had worked on settling in, she found a place to continue her studies, found a job, even found a gym to work out in, but there were no active Aikido fighters, so all she could do was make do with the cards she had been handed. She would work on changing things later once everything had settled in more.
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 5:04 pm
Instead of picking up something to do, even just the small weights to workout her arms, Camilla sat down on a bench and watched the girl move. The movements looked both beautiful and deadly at the same time. "Mm... This girl would be a good addition to the DMC..." She had never really thought of possibly recruiting anyone until then.
Camilla had watched most of the girl's movements, but decided she needed some way to catch the girl's attention. She approached a punching bag nearby, and debated: should she do something good that she had been taught by another member of the DMC, or should she pretend she didn't know anything at all?
She smiled to herself, deciding that pretending she knew nothing would be more fun. Camilla approached the punching bag and punched it, her arm and wrists somewhat limp when it impacted. It hurt. Pretty bad. "Maybe that was a little bit too much," she thought, rubbing her wrist.
From Remarque, Camilla had learned that her wrist and arm were supposed to be straight when hitting. It had caused her to hit with the wrong part of her hand too, causing her to frown. All she could do now was hope that her failure and pain would attract the attention of the girl.
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 6:06 pm
'When did this gym turn into a observatory?' Aubrey thought to herself as she completed another tuck and roll and noticed the same girl from earlier simply watching her from a bench, to be honest it was a little creepy.
Although Aubrey was mostly focused on her target, she did notice the other girl approach a neighboring punching back and smack it rather poorly. Aubrey completed a strong kick to the bag and then caught its back swing before it could hit her and leaned against it for a moment, then Aubrey sighed to herself and glanced over at the girl.
"You'll break your hand that way." Aubrey commented wiping sweat off her forehead and tucked loose strands of hair behind her ears. "If you're going to be punching things you should at least wear gloves to protect yourself." she commented, not seeming to care that she wasn't wearing gloves, but she knew how to strike an opponent without hurting herself more than the other person.
"Did you need something? If you wanted to get my attention you could have just said something earlier." Aubrey added dryly as she eyed the girl, having seen the girl watching her a couple of rolls ago.
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 10:37 am
"Well, you seemed very preoccupied and I didn't want to interrupt, Miss," Camilla said with a smile. "I was just admiring your skills and was kind of mesmerized by them." The quickness and fluidity of the girl's moves was something that Camilla had yet to gain.
"I was hoping to learn even just a little bit by just watching you." Camilla knew that she could learn by watching, but the other time, her mentor had repeated the moves many times and she had made sure to remember the movements so she could do them herself. The girl, although Camilla remembered some of it, was too quick for Camilla to remember it all just one time around.
Camilla then debated whether or not she really wanted to show the girl her true potential. She thought the girl might want to teach her more if she knew nothing. Or would it be better to know something and improve on that? Camilla decided that the latter was better. She took a small step back and released a punch with her wrist straight and hit the punching back with the front of her closed fist, just like she had been taught to do.
"So... I know more than I let out the first time," she said with a nervous laugh. "I'd hoped you would notice and possibly teach me some more."
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 4:06 am
Aubrey never really minded people watching her, she could be the center of attention if need be, and now knowing why the girl had been watching her made her feel a bit better, she didn't know that her skills looked good on the outside, she only knew she was internalizing every little mistake she had performed, not performing a proper punch, not tucking tight enough, little things.
Aubrey smiled slightly. "Next time just say something instead of hurting yourself to get another persons attention." Aubrey suggested dryly as she observed the girl, then shrugged, which turned into stretching her shoulder and arm muscles a bit to keep them loose.
"Alright, I'm game what do you want to learn?" Aubrey questioned, being a big believer in that teaching other people a skill helps keep your own skills fresh and can even improve them.
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 9:50 am
"Sorry," Camilla said as she scratched behind her head a little. She would have just genuinely felt bad if she interrupted the girl's moves. It probably would not have been the same if Camilla had interrupted the girl mid-fighting. But what was done is done and at least they were talking now! She held out the hand that she hadn't used to scratch her head. "Thank you for being willing to help me," she said with a small bow of her head. "My name is Camilla. And it's very nice to meet you."
Camilla then decided what she needed to know. That night on the rooftop, she had learned how to throw basic punches... What she wanted was the girl's quickness, really, but Camilla knew that would take time. "Hm... I would like to be quicker, but I'm not sure if that's something that you can actually teach... What about defense?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 12:30 pm
Aubrey took the offered hand, "I'm Aubrey, It's nice to meet you too." she responded with a friendly smile.
"Defense huh? Well you came to the right place, my fighting style is based mainly on defending yourself and not hurting your opponent" Aubrey informed her as she stretched her arms over her head. "Some people might scoff at this style, but I also know some boxing to do damage"
"I can teach you a few blocks and throws that will help you get out of a tough situation... Why are you wanting to learn anyway?" She questioned, the girl didn't seem like the type to be really interested in martial arts so there must be some other reason.
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 12:38 pm
Camilla was glad Aubrey didn't seem as intimidating as she looked while she was attacking the punching bag. That would have been just a tad scary. She was glad to hear of another style that was more defensive; it would be a good tool in addition to what she already had. Though Camilla did have to admit that hurting people was fun... sometimes. "I think defense is a good thing too!"
At first, it was hard for Camilla to respond to why she wanted to learn more. She knew she wasn't a very good liar, so told her the truth with a bit of a twist. "You know all those people running around at night right? You'll never know when one will attack you. I'd rather be able fight then get into trouble with one of them!"
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 1:40 pm
"I honestly haven't seen any of them yet, but I've only lived here for 6 months and have been mainly focused on school and work, so I guess I never crossed paths with any of them." Aubrey responded with a light shrug. She couldn't exactly be frightened or wary of something she'd never seen, but she would be sure to keep giving the parks wide berths if there were weirdos running around them.
"But being able to defend yourself against weirdos who might want to attack you sounds like a good idea, I'd be happy to help... Are you speaking from experience?" she questioned curiously, not trying to pry.
Aubrey began walking over to the mats, figuring if they would be practicing any throws it'd be best to land in something soft instead of concrete floors under light carpet.
"Outside of these moves you will want to strengthen certain parts of your body so that you will be able to execute them properly, obviously arm muscles but also your back, shoulder, and core. Basically any sort of training you would do for sports would be a good idea for Aikido also. Build up your endurance too." Aubrey added glancing over at Mimi.
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 3:44 pm
"She's new! And hasn't seen any... That definitely would be a plus if she were to join the DMC..." Camilla would be glad to have another on the team that she could call a friend, both powered and civilian. Though, she definitely wasn't sure if Aubrey wanted to be called a friend in the first place.
Camilla smiled. "Since a friend taught me a little bit before, I have been working out my arms. The Internet told me just to do more reps of different workouts to strengthen muscles and not necessarily get them bigger... That is right, right? I can't say I've worked out much more than that. I do have a tendency to run a lot though. I definitely should look up some more work outs tonight!"
"I have ran into a couple. Some of them have hurt me while others were friendly. Oddly enough... The stuff that some people say about the 'bad' ones... They're nicer to me than those 'good' ones." Camilla shrugged just slightly. "I guess I believed the media at first, but there's always lies mixed in with the truth, I think. I hope you run into someone friendly, though."
Of course, Camilla had never met any of them prior to her own awakening. Though she had to admit to herself that she tried to be good to the White Mooners as well, but they were never polite back. It was kind of a disgrace in her mind.
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 1:10 am
Aubrey frowned upon hearing this. "Personally, I'd go with what you have experienced, you can't trust media to put out the truth as is, it's always going to be distorted in some way, maybe the so called good guys have the media in their pocket?" Aubrey shrugged, they weren't here to talk politics or good verses evil, just some good ole defense. "I think I'll be on my guard in case I run into any sort of strange people at night." Aubrey added to finish off that part of the conversation. "It sounds like you're on a good track to strengthening your body, so would you like to learn blocks, falls, or throws first?" Aubrey questioned giving the other girl the power to control how she was trained, it didn't really matter much to Aubrey, she was happy to help and get in some extra practice.
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 1:43 am
"Yeah... I definitely think that seems to be the case, at least for me. Though I haven't been too social until I switched schools, so maybe that has to do with something too." Camilla knew that right after she switched schools was when she first joined the DMC as well; the DMC definitely helped get her out a lot more.
Camilla thought hard about what she wanted to learn first. She wasn't sure of how much Aubrey knew and how much she'd be able to teach in the next hour or two, so Camilla had to make it count! It took a long silence before she decided. "Blocks would be the basic right? I think I should start out with the basics."
"Though I have to admit... Throwing sounds pretty fun. Though I imagine I'd have to be the person thrown by you as an example?" Camilla laughed nervously but jokingly.
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 2:38 am
"We don't have to cram everything into this time period, I'm here at least twice a week, but if you wanted lessons, I can be here more often." Aubrey informed the girl with a friendly smile. "And yeah to start off I'd be throwing you around, but once you learn the moves you get to throw me, but you'll have to learn how to fall properly first." Aubrey shrugged lightly. "We can start with blocks today and do falls and throws later." Aubrey said with a nod.
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