[YTMA] Do You Even Lift? [Leeroi + Hemera]

[Gl!tch~]

Seriously, bro?

 

[Gl!tch~]

Hemera never considered herself anything remotely unfit; the terrain around her hive was treacherous, and especially after the towers she really knew the importance of being able to pull her own weight. Literally. But, again, the area was treacherous. While being prepared was good, that was a little much as a workout plan. And doing it at home was...boring. Unsocial. There were few enough people in the mountains as is. Solution: going to a gym. And so here she was. Chittentown YTMA. She came out of the locker room in non-sandy gym attire, hair up, stomach and arms on display via a workout tube top (in tasteful colors of course) plus gym leggings, ready to face the challenge ahead.

First, she stopped at the progress board, towel over her shoulder, to check out what exactly that challenge would be. "...Hm."  

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi was in his element. Sure he had something of a home gym in his hive, but he was a social creature. Working out in a different town was the best way for him to make like-minded friends, even if some of the Chittentown lowbloods were put off by his blood. He hardly noticed their stares.

Dressed in a cut-off tank to show off his arm, Leeroi started off with some stretches before heading towards the task board. The sight of a familiar tealblood made him laugh. He clapped a hand on her shoulder.

"Need someone to spot you?" He joked, smiling toothily.  

[Gl!tch~]

Mera flinched at being touched, not used to it even at the best of times. And, often, not asking for it. Her hand immediately clawed around it to push it off, but she hesitated at hearing a familiar voice. Mera turned to see, of course, Furore.

She arched a brow at him. "Hm. I guess of all the places to run into you besides right outside my door would be here, wouldn't it?"

Then, finally, she pushed his hand away with the flick of her wrist. "I think you've seen how self-sufficient I am firsthand. The question is, do you?"

The tealblood sauntered over to the power rack set up with enough weights to equal her own. She draped her towel over the side. Mera slid under the barbell, found her position, found her footing, and picked the weights up to prove herself. It...started going up, as she grunted, but her arms wobbled a good bit. She had to place it back on the rack for a second to breathe. It would take another go was all. "S-see? I'm...fine."

45 +10 = 55  

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi eyed Hemera over. You always needed someone to spot you if you didn't want to cut your head off. Even Leeroi knew that. He shrugged, watching her take her first attempt with the weights.

"Oh, are we warming up with the easy weights first?" Leeroi smirked, taking his turn and lifting the weights with relative ease. He wouldn't admit he was rusty, not to Hemera.

43 + 10 = 53  

[Gl!tch~]

She looked over, prepared to comment. Oh. He was ribbing her again. Right. He did that. Mera just rolled her eyes, took a breath, and took another shot at a lift. Not as tough this time, and she lifted pretty high up...but not until her arms were completely straightened. She had to give up before that for another moment.

But she did look at Leeroi again with another arched eyebrow. He'd top that.
He'd have to. But if he didn't...well. That could be interesting.

71 +20 = 91  

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi was still warming up. At least that's what he would tell Hemera, if she bothered to say anything to him. He gave up halfway through his heavier weights, a bout of laughter overtaking him and making him shake. Quickly, he returned the weights to their resting place and took a healthy swig of water.

He shrugged over towards Hemera, letting her take her turn. He smirked, brushing the hair out of his eyes. He needed to remember to bring a headband next time.

56 + 20 = 76  

[Gl!tch~]

He didn't seem to be trying hard enough. Didn't he want to prove himself? Hm. Mera pushed again, just farther up than Leeroi did to prove her point. He was better than this, and needed to stop playing around. "Are you feeling the burn yet, Furore?" Mera didn't often call him that anymore, but in what felt like friendly competition...

"I don't think I do, personally. Hm."

49 +30 = 79  

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi locked eyes with Hemera. He knew his safe limits. He could work up to his ideal weight. Was she trying to intimidate him? One-up him? Leeroi couldn't contain his grin. "Hemera, if you don't feel it, I don't think you're putting in your best effort." He was genuine, but his natural rude tone made up for his lack of intentional goading.

62 + 30 = 92  

[Gl!tch~]

"Hm." There was a point there. He was a shithead, but oddly not very competitive about it. Could a troll mellow out so fast? She had her doubts. She turned focus to lifting her weights. Up, up, up, arms so straight...

Mera looked to the instructor for confirmation. In return, a shake of the head. It took all her willpower to lower it slowly. That couldn't be right. She had felt done. Whatever, she knew she would get there.

But, Leeroi. Not much to say there. "Are you?"

59 +40 = 99  

[zeflamigo]

"Hey, I'm working up to it," Leeroi sneered, starting his next set. He didn't come all the way to Chittentown to embarrass himself pulling a muscle. Sure, his need for competition ran deep, but he already had the tealblood beat in overall weight. He dropped his set, turning to poke fun at Hemera.

"I can bench your weight easy. You try making up for all the metal," he waved his arm, prosthetics jangling. Not to mention, he had her beat in overall mass. That was obvious.

48 + 40 = 88  

[Gl!tch~]

"You sure are taking your time," she hummed. Next set wasn't as much progress. And yet...still close. Doing well for herself with little opportunity to prepare, really. Just a matter of not overdoing it. Mera agreed with herself that any plans to swim laps weren't going to happen.

"You might have to bench my weight, since you haven't gotten anywhere near to taking care of your own. Perhaps focus your metal on that a little more?"

45 +50 = 95  

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi sneered wordlessly at Hemera, placing the extra weight onto his bar. Finally, he was at his own body weight. Almost double that of his tealblood companion's. He wanted to laugh at how beefy the bar looked, but his focus prevented him.

Leeroi took in a deep breath. This would be the set, or else he risk embarrassing himself in front of Hemera. Taking in a deep breath, he let the weights drop, using every fiber of muscle to lift if back up into place.

Successful, he sat back up in place. He wiped his brow, taking a swig of water. "See, easy." He said, through panting breaths.

57 + 50 = 107  

[Gl!tch~]

"Ah. About time," she said, right before her own next go. Timed, surprisingly enough, right before pushing her barbell up to full arm length. finally. Almost as if planned. Totally wasn't, though, and Mera almost folded to mild shock that she had completed the requirement. She was so ready to be done, and nearly started to lower her arms.

Then, in that same second- No. Let's...play with this a little more.

Mera held the barbell up for a couple of more seconds, just before it really started to burn, then back down to gracefully set the barbell back in place. She slid out smoother than expected after pushing up her own weight so high up so many times and all. Mountain training working in her favor, she supposed as she took a few moments to breathe. Time to paw at her neck with her towel before tossing it over her shoulder. But she was still wary, wondering if she should just expect to be too sore to go out the following night. Was that not normal with overexertion? There was no way she would get out of this completely unscathed. She wasn't ignorant.

Mera sauntered over to Leeroi's set, then draped her arms over the weight bar, leaning on it. "If that's what you call 'easy', you must melt into an absolute puddle during hard sets. However. You're welcome for helping you along. I dread to think how much longer that warm-up would've been otherwise." She cracked a readable sly smile. See, it was possible to poke at people without having to be immature about it! Ha!

The tealblood pushed herself back up, then went on her way to find out when and where the next part of this class was. Part of her prayed for no more bench pressing, yet she wouldn't be surprised if it was something like doing double weight or something similarly awful.

72 +60 = 132  

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi was in workout-mode, his thoughts barely processing in his own head. His attention lazily fell back over to Hemera, because she was making noise in his direction. He watched her talk with a puzzled face.

"Well... yeah?" He took a messy sip from his water bottle. That was a lot of words. What the hell did she even want him to say in return? He went hard for his workouts. That wasn't a bad thing. And a good gym buddy was a valuable asset, he wasn't going to argue about that. Why was she acting so holier-than-thou?

Hemera cracked a small smile. Leeroi noticed that much, laughing back at the sight. He didn't have anything to say. He simply stood and left to get wipes to clean down the equipment.

Finished, he glanced at Hemera. "We moving on to the next thing, or...?"