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 Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 4:36 pm
Seren was standing at the door of the dorms, waiting for Rhys to show. She'd gotten up at 6, and most of the time had been spent braiding her hair, then pinning it up into a much more tightly controlled bun then the one she'd had on while cooking. Instead of her usual outfit, she wore workout leggings and a tank top, plus normal socks and sneakers, under her coat. She had her scarf tied around her waist, where it was out of her way.
In her hand, she had a reusable water bottle she'd managed to scrounge up somewhere, and was gently bouncing it. If some one saw her, they might think she was just as calm as could be, but internally she was having a panic attack, that she was going to find out she'd lost ALL her muscle except her jogging muscles, and she was going to have a s**t time doing this. Even if she had no actual reason to believe it, her gut had decided that's how this was going to go.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 4:48 pm
Rhys had gotten up before sunrise and, as usual, went out on his morning run. He was dressed in gym shorts, a muscle shirt and a thin jacket over that, and because of the rain he'd made it a habit to run with his sword out (in case a water golem decided to surprise him) so the added weight was a nice little addition; it made things at least a little more challenging, which was always a good thing. By the time he made it back to the dorms after his final lap he saw Seren standing there, bouncing a bottle and looking more anxious than he thought she felt about going back to working out based on how excited she seemed yesterday.
"Morning," he greeted, running in place once he got to where she was. His words came out short as he tried his best to keep his breathing even, but he was smiling. "C'mon, it's not that far," though he knew he was pretty far, "and around halfway I want you to summon your weapon and run the rest of the way holding it. Just to get your arms a little warm, too."
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 4:59 pm
Seren looked up, and her falsely calm face brightened into a smile. Even if she was worried, her friend's presence definitely was a bonus. And she knew he'd help her out. She just had her idiot gut arguing with her.
"Morning. Sounds good." She dug the pin that was Di's totem form out, and into her hand, so she would be ready when it was time to summon her. "Just give me the word when you want me to do it. You're the one in charge here." She calmly stepped out into the rain and began to jog towards the gym. She didn't challenge him on the 'not far', despite having gone over for the treadmills. In her mind, it honestly WASN'T that far, to be fair. Back home, her jogging path had been about 2 miles long for her normal runs.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 10:52 pm
It was a little different, jogging with a partner. Ever since he joined Deus he'd mostly been on his own when working out. There had been a potential gym buddy some time back--and yes, he actually remembered because he was hoping it would work out--but that never really happened so he was just...on his own. Which was perfectly fine, but there was something about working with someone else or with a group that helped to motivate him to work even harder. And it was nice to see that Seren was eager to get the work in even considering the hour. A lot of people backed out because of it, so it was nice to see that she wasn't one of them.
Rhys followed just a few steps behind her, Zephira still in his hand. He sort of carried her like a lacrosse stick, with his hand on the hilt while the other helped to keep the blade up. When it got too heavy he would switch hands; lather, rinse, repeat.
"Now's good," he eventually called out. The gym was actually already visible from where they were at, but it was still a good distance off. To Rhys it looked just far enough that she'll be completely warm by the time they arrive, and then she was de-summon her weapon and the real work can begin.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:20 pm
Seren was running happily, her face content. Jogging was probably the one thing in life she had never ever felt she was going to ******** up. She had a good form while running, and her muscles welcomed the burn. She gave a happy sigh, just before he spoke. His words caused her to tilt her head, and nod.
She summoned Diwata, and held her with care. Her right hand was very close to the lower star on the hilt, and her left hand balanced Diwa by supporting her underneath, as close to the blade as possible without risking chopping her own hand off but on the large star that seemed to be what passed for a guard on the blade. She made a slight huff sound, not at the weight, which she had already proven she could handle to some degree, but at how awkward this was. Nonetheless, she refused to give up, and kept going.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:28 pm
The sudden sight of a giant sword in the hands of the hunter ahead of him had him grinning. It was looked...strange, like she was running into battle but not really? It worked easier with Zephira because Zeph wasn't quite as big. With a grin, though still huffing, he caught up with her and kept her pace, each breath almost ringing in his ears now. He'd been running for a while, and the burn in his legs was starting to making them numb.
"That looks bad-a** on the field," he started, "not so bad-a** on a jog. You should do this whenever you go jogging though. Gets a good burn in your arms." With that he ran ahead and, when he finally made it to the gym, de-summoned Zephira and opened the door so she could go ahead and jog on inside.
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Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:59 pm
His words startled her, as she hadn't realized he'd moved up besides her, focused on both the good burning feeling and how she had to move her arms to balance the sword. She laughed a little, though, and replied "It feels way more bad-a** on the field too, and way less awkward. That's the one downside to this. But I'll do that." She shook her head at the pose she had to carry Di at.
When she got close enough to go through the door, she shifted Di's position into a charge pose, just so they could make it in, before darting through, and out of the path, before jogging in place to keep the muscles moving. She did unsummon Di again, however, at this point., because standing there holding her sword in the gym just made her feel stupid, and she stretched her arms out.
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 12:07 am
Rhys followed her in, stretching a bit as he went, but despite the soreness and aches that were started to spread across his entire body now that he was more or less standing still he was still very, very focused. Whenever it came to fitness it wasn't hard to keep his head in the game. "Nice work," he said as he finally walked up to her. "Now that we're all warm let's get some stretching in. Have a seat."
He went ahead and sat down first, on his knees with his legs folded beneath him. "You're a pretty damn good runner," he started to say before lifting his arm and pulling it across his chest, adding pressure with his other arm to actually get the stretch in. "Did you do track or anything when you were in high school?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 12:12 am
Seren looked pleased at being praised and slid down to a seat on the ground. It felt good to know her gut was wrong, and those words were helping her quash the anxiety she had started out with this morning.
At his question, she sighed and shook her head. "Naw, no time for that, man. When I was still able to go, I basically studied and did my night job. I just... jogged, ran, whatever... Learned to do it so I could be as fast as I had to be... Just in case. I mean, my shifts often ended at like 10 or 11, and I didn't drive, so..." She shrugged, and just began some basic stretches that she knew. When he gave her guidance, she followed it. Finally, she sighed and stood again, knowing the hard part was coming next. "All right. Let's get the worst of it going." Her tone was light, joking, but she knew she was going to be working hard.
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 12:26 am
With the stretching out of the way (and serving as his cooldown), Rhys popped up off the ground with almost a renewed energy. The next part was probably his favorite part, so he had a big smile on his face as he led her toward the mats that were set up. They were probably disgusting because he doubted they were ever properly and thoroughly cleaned, but they worked and they were gonna hit the showers later so...whatever.
"It's not gonna be that bad," he said as he bounced a bit before starting. "Alright, so first thing you're gonna be doing is planking. It's pretty easy." He got down onto his stomach first, then continued explaining. "So you start here," and he lifted himself up off of the ground so just his toes and his forearms were touching the ground. "And end here. Notice my feet are together, my butt is down, and everything is tight. Your butt, your abs, your thighs--I mean, everything. And I want you to hold this until I say so."
At that point he got up, wincing a little at the bit of strain it put on his already tired body, and looked over at her. "Whenever you're ready, go for it."
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 9:27 am
She followed him over, her nose wrinkling a little at the not very clean mats, but dealing with what they had was part of life here, as she already knew. She found his smile a surprise, because it was quite clear he was having fun at least, and she didn't think he'd EVER smiled that big before, not even when she fed him last night.
She replied "So you say..." In a dour voice, because she had no idea how hard any of this was going to be, then added in a lighter tone "But it'll be worth it, even if I'm freakin' exhausted after. Long term goals over short term pain." She watched him do what kind of looked like a push up... Not her favorite, and the initial position looked like boob-smashing not much fun... And then when he said to hold the upper pose, her eyes widened, but she nodded, taking a slow, deep breath.
She got down on her belly, and welp yeah she was right about that initial pose, but then, slower then he had, pushed herself into the position he'd shown. She managed to hold it, fairly steady for a bit, but it was pretty clear that it was also a strain. She'd NEVER used her muscles this way, and some trembling in the muscles started. She frowned, feeling that, and concentrated, trying to control the trembling.
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 10:07 am
He watched her carefully, focus clear on his face as he looked over his posture. He tapped her neck lightly, saying, "Make sure you keep your neck neutral. Don't wanna strain it," then went about tapping her back and belly and the back of her thighs to make sure everything was tight and being used. He could see the trembling and he didn't wanna tire her out too much right away, so after about thirty seconds he told her to relax.
"Good job," he said as he sat down. "So that'll be your first movement. The next movement is a squat. It's not really core strength but I think balance is a good thing. You know how to squat?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 10:28 am
She nodded, and moved her neck into a better position, not wanting to risk a pulled muscle or some such. It felt a little strange, when her friend was tapping at her, but she didn't argue, assuming this was normal enough. When he didn't tell her she had to fix something, though, again she got a pleased feeling inside.
When he let her relax, she carefully untensed all her muscles, as she got up. His question, though, earned a head shake. "I mean I can squat down to pick stuff up, but I never was taught how to do a squat for exercise."
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 10:41 am
"That's cool," he said with a shrug before getting in position to demonstrate.
"Alright, for now just follow me. Feet are a little wider than your shoulders, pointed kinda outward. Weight on your heels, so when you're down you should be able to wiggle your toes, and you go down." He demonstrated a regular squat and waited at the bottom for her to join him. "See, my toes are wigglin'." He was wiggling his toes so she could see what he was talking about.
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Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 10:44 am
She nodded, watching and studying his pose. "Hmmm..." She murmured, shifting her feet until there were about what she thought was wide enough, then slowly lowered her weight onto her heels. She managed to get into position, but she found the balance on it strange and awkward, and wobbled for a good 10 seconds before managing to get her weight in the right place. "Uuuuuuuuh... OH. Ah!"
She sighed in relief, because she had honestly thought she was about to go down, hard, on her face. "Like this...?" She asked, uncertainly, trying to wiggle her toes without feeling like she was risking her balance.
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