If her parents had been at all surprised by her seemingly sudden decision to start using her dad’s little in home gym, they hadn’t showed it. And as Ieni mostly tried to use it either late at night or when her parents were out for the day, it wasn’t as if she was monopolizing or in the way. As she stood and rested, taking a sip of water, Ieni rather thought that her simply enrolling in a few college course had been way more shocking.

Fortunately, her professors had, on the whole, been super understanding of just how painfully shy she was. As far as classmates went, well. She was used to her peers being asses. Making a face, she capped her water and sighed. Back to practicing. She did wonder sometimes if her dad knew that she was using his punching bag more than the exercycle. Between trying to copy moves she remembered others using and some youtube videos she’d found, she was becoming less of an embarrassment as a fighter. At least she had a decent idea of how to properly punch now.

Hell, it was better than nothing.

And a decent punch combined with that weird magic overlay that felt like sharkskin was a better advantage than most normal people had. So. Time to get back to work. Pulling up the next video in her queue, Ieni watched intently, making careful note of how certain kicks and punches could be paired. And once she’d watched it through a couple more times, she went hunting for a sharpie, a piece of paper and some tape. A few moments later, she had a caricature sketch of that water lily senshi’s face slapped onto the punching bag. She’d have to remember to take it with her when she quit for the night, but for now, it was a helpful reminder that she needed to learn to protect herself.

Shaking herself out, Ieni positioned herself in front of the punching bag and started out slowly. First aiming her punches and getting used to how the movements went. Then, as she grew more comfortable, she sped up and added some oomph to her punches. By the time an hour had passed, she was drenched in sweat and the drawing was a crumpled, tattered mess. Wiped sweat from her eyes and grabbing her water bottle, Ieni couldn’t help but smile. She was learning. She wasn’t great, but she was learning. And the more she practiced, the better she would get. Sighing again as she rolled her shoulders and stretched out, she rather thought that she’d earned a bit of a break. She’d stop for the night and go have a hot soak in the shower.

Seizing what was left of the drawing, she wadded it into a ball and carried it out with her, along with her laptop. Passing by her mom, she smiled and gave a little nod.

“I’m all done tonight, Mom.” she murmured. “And I made sure to clean up after myself.”

She saw her mother smile back and made her way to her bedroom. Once there, the drawing went into the trash as the laptop landed on the bed and she went rooting for clean yoga pants and a tshirt. Oh, that shower was going to feel so good!