Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2016 10:49:18 GMT
The ground moved away; the ground moved closer. The dangling pendant across her neck brushed against the ground; it was pulled away. Push ups. A basic exercise which Tanis always seemed to cheat in. Not that she meant to, of course! Cheating during training is only cheating yourself after all! However, when the amount of space her chest occupied it felt like she couldn’t even bend her arms to a proper 90 degrees — not to mention with the layer of her body armor on top of that.
Once Alison grew tired of the exercise — she would sit down on top of her legs. She looked down at the puddle of sweat that formed over where her face had been. Tanis’ chest and arms felt tight — engorged with blood. She flexed them, examining the aesthetics of her shoulders and upper arms. Finely toned… But she wished they were bigger, not simply more beautiful. The disappointment left a frustrating feeling in her gut. She was glad her coat — which she wore for other reasons, such as temperature control and extra pockets — also hid the lesser appealing part of her upper body. She would’ve trained with it on, but alas she didn’t want to do laundry any more than she had to.
Jumping jacks were next. These were a bit more frustrating — for similar reasons than as the previous exercise, but they had an easy fix. Tanis took the pendant of her necklace in hand, before stuffing it in her cleavage. There. Done. Now it wouldn’t constantly hit her in the face again, and again, and again. That was the most obnoxious part of training, for her: the repetitive nature of it all.
Tanis’ thoughts wandered as she continued to profusely sweat amid the nothingness of the desert. She thought about all the extra water she had to carry just to continue her — often daily — exercise regiment. She thought of the great amount of time she lost, working long, long hours at her body and getting little out of it. Tanis thought and thought. Surely there must be a way — surely there must be some METHOD of training harder, but in much shorter time. Tanis was an experienced combatant; she considered herself a master of her own physical body at this point… Yet her exercises were still what she considered ‘basics’.
Maybe it was time to be done with basic exercises and basic swordplay drills.
Right after this one, of course!
Time elapsed. Tanis didn’t count how many jumping jacks she had done. Numbers were irrelevant at this point; what mattered to her was results. At the moment either dehydration or her limits were a close ceiling she rubbed against. Half a canteen of water and a minute of rest. She had earned that much.
She laid back against the sand. She didn’t mind that the dirt and dust would stick to her. She didn’t mind it one bit. It was going to be a long trip out of this place either way, right? Why should she try and look presentable — or not smell like death in the meantime?
Tanis watched as vague wisps of clouds rolled across the great blue skies. The little white wisps tainted by the orange glow of a setting sun. They looked like souls. Or, at least what Tanis imagined a ‘soul’ would look like. Her eyes narrowed; her brow furrowed. A cloud caught her attention. She stared long enough that her peripheral vision distorted and a mixture of pareidolia and the sheer heat got to her. For a split second Tanis saw the face of a man she once knew — a man who still visited her occasionally in her dreams.
The pendant buried in her chest grew heavier, resonating with the memory.
“Enough slacking off.” She spoke with no one around to hear. Her hands reached up and scratched at ‘sweat’ that pooled at the corners of her eyes — dealing with a weakness no one was around to witness.
Tanis sat up. She hugged her knees for a while. A yawn escaped her. The warm orange of the sun was slowly sinking — giving way to the massive shadow of the planet which beckoned the start of nautical twilight.
The duality of the desert was making itself known. Unforgiving heat during the day; all encompassing chill during the night.
Her knees remained up, but her upper body went back down. Tanis’ fingers interlocked behind her head — just above her ponytail.
“One.” She said.
“Two.” she repeated.
This time she counted. Every once the tip of her chest touched her thighs another digit was added to her numerical logging. Well, until her mind wandered again. Her muscles burned; her heart raced; her lungs ached. Many sensations for her wandering psyche to latch on, but the one it chose was that of the sweat trickling down every curve exposed to the chill of the air. She radiated heat, but the desert struggled to suffocate it with its own bitter cold. It helped her, to a degree. Aided her training — she felt as though in the cold she worried a lot less about things such a ‘heat stroke’ or ‘heat exhaustion’.
This exercise's end was signaled with a painful, gurgling, choking cry that squeezed itself from the ex mercenary’s throat. Her jaw clenched. She bared her teeth as her hands pressed hard against the multi-layered armor that covered her torso. She’d ignored her body’s signals for too long. She now had to endure the painful abdominal convulsions — the cramps that came with over training while under a deficit of nutrition.
“F- fuck!” She whined into the night sky, as the steady night wind wisped the words from her.
It felt as she’d laid there for an eternity afterwards. The pain eased over time, yes. Unfortunately for the one once called ‘Alison Wei’ so too did the heart of her body as well as the flame of the moment. She laid there in the afterglow of her training. She wasn’t sure if she had improved at all… She was sure of one thing though: She was cold, and she would like her jacket back on now.
At the very least she felt she grew as a person.
At least she felt as though she came a step closer to understand who she was in a spiritual level.
The ancient magic of the desert, its cruel elements, and isolation had on Tanis the same effect it had on her countless ancestors who had withstood their tests.
With her jacket on she would stretch, walking with a slight gait from her abdominal injury. She fixed her pendant. Absent mindedly fingering the heirloom as she wandered on.
She needed a place to sleep.
GIMME ALL THE PL!
Power level, PLEASE b0ss!
Once Alison grew tired of the exercise — she would sit down on top of her legs. She looked down at the puddle of sweat that formed over where her face had been. Tanis’ chest and arms felt tight — engorged with blood. She flexed them, examining the aesthetics of her shoulders and upper arms. Finely toned… But she wished they were bigger, not simply more beautiful. The disappointment left a frustrating feeling in her gut. She was glad her coat — which she wore for other reasons, such as temperature control and extra pockets — also hid the lesser appealing part of her upper body. She would’ve trained with it on, but alas she didn’t want to do laundry any more than she had to.
Jumping jacks were next. These were a bit more frustrating — for similar reasons than as the previous exercise, but they had an easy fix. Tanis took the pendant of her necklace in hand, before stuffing it in her cleavage. There. Done. Now it wouldn’t constantly hit her in the face again, and again, and again. That was the most obnoxious part of training, for her: the repetitive nature of it all.
Tanis’ thoughts wandered as she continued to profusely sweat amid the nothingness of the desert. She thought about all the extra water she had to carry just to continue her — often daily — exercise regiment. She thought of the great amount of time she lost, working long, long hours at her body and getting little out of it. Tanis thought and thought. Surely there must be a way — surely there must be some METHOD of training harder, but in much shorter time. Tanis was an experienced combatant; she considered herself a master of her own physical body at this point… Yet her exercises were still what she considered ‘basics’.
Maybe it was time to be done with basic exercises and basic swordplay drills.
Right after this one, of course!
Time elapsed. Tanis didn’t count how many jumping jacks she had done. Numbers were irrelevant at this point; what mattered to her was results. At the moment either dehydration or her limits were a close ceiling she rubbed against. Half a canteen of water and a minute of rest. She had earned that much.
She laid back against the sand. She didn’t mind that the dirt and dust would stick to her. She didn’t mind it one bit. It was going to be a long trip out of this place either way, right? Why should she try and look presentable — or not smell like death in the meantime?
Tanis watched as vague wisps of clouds rolled across the great blue skies. The little white wisps tainted by the orange glow of a setting sun. They looked like souls. Or, at least what Tanis imagined a ‘soul’ would look like. Her eyes narrowed; her brow furrowed. A cloud caught her attention. She stared long enough that her peripheral vision distorted and a mixture of pareidolia and the sheer heat got to her. For a split second Tanis saw the face of a man she once knew — a man who still visited her occasionally in her dreams.
The pendant buried in her chest grew heavier, resonating with the memory.
“Enough slacking off.” She spoke with no one around to hear. Her hands reached up and scratched at ‘sweat’ that pooled at the corners of her eyes — dealing with a weakness no one was around to witness.
Tanis sat up. She hugged her knees for a while. A yawn escaped her. The warm orange of the sun was slowly sinking — giving way to the massive shadow of the planet which beckoned the start of nautical twilight.
The duality of the desert was making itself known. Unforgiving heat during the day; all encompassing chill during the night.
Her knees remained up, but her upper body went back down. Tanis’ fingers interlocked behind her head — just above her ponytail.
“One.” She said.
“Two.” she repeated.
This time she counted. Every once the tip of her chest touched her thighs another digit was added to her numerical logging. Well, until her mind wandered again. Her muscles burned; her heart raced; her lungs ached. Many sensations for her wandering psyche to latch on, but the one it chose was that of the sweat trickling down every curve exposed to the chill of the air. She radiated heat, but the desert struggled to suffocate it with its own bitter cold. It helped her, to a degree. Aided her training — she felt as though in the cold she worried a lot less about things such a ‘heat stroke’ or ‘heat exhaustion’.
This exercise's end was signaled with a painful, gurgling, choking cry that squeezed itself from the ex mercenary’s throat. Her jaw clenched. She bared her teeth as her hands pressed hard against the multi-layered armor that covered her torso. She’d ignored her body’s signals for too long. She now had to endure the painful abdominal convulsions — the cramps that came with over training while under a deficit of nutrition.
“F- fuck!” She whined into the night sky, as the steady night wind wisped the words from her.
It felt as she’d laid there for an eternity afterwards. The pain eased over time, yes. Unfortunately for the one once called ‘Alison Wei’ so too did the heart of her body as well as the flame of the moment. She laid there in the afterglow of her training. She wasn’t sure if she had improved at all… She was sure of one thing though: She was cold, and she would like her jacket back on now.
At the very least she felt she grew as a person.
At least she felt as though she came a step closer to understand who she was in a spiritual level.
The ancient magic of the desert, its cruel elements, and isolation had on Tanis the same effect it had on her countless ancestors who had withstood their tests.
With her jacket on she would stretch, walking with a slight gait from her abdominal injury. She fixed her pendant. Absent mindedly fingering the heirloom as she wandered on.
She needed a place to sleep.
GIMME ALL THE PL!
Power level, PLEASE b0ss!
