[PRP] Conquering New Hemisect (Sarcel x Aerona)

[Sypon]

A workout and friendly competition with Sarcel fires up Aerona!

 

[Sypon]

The chill air of New Hemisect’s streets meant wind, ice, fog and nasty rain incoming. What seemed reserved for Busthind sweep-long was finally in-season in the city, and it was only fitting that Aerona and other city-explorers utilize the last of the quickly fading dry season to take the city by storm. There was no need scaling an icy hivestem – Aerona didn’t have that much of a deathwish. Likewise, she managed to emerge lucky from the rebel assault: few lasting injuries, and an uncompromised identity. Aerona figured she didn’t need to press her luck, though. Picking up make-up tricks from Lorata had lead her to adjusting her appearance during every outing. Some grey foundation here, orange blush there, and it was hard to pin-point her hemotype. As long as she was yellow or below, no one looked at her anyway. Who knew being invisible was so useful?

Tonight’s hit was the New Hemisect Industrial Square. Perfect for parkour and climbing, large cranes and shipping containers made descending from great heights a thrill ride unmatched by any troll-made attraction—not to mention the break from the rather odd organic shapes typical of troll architecture. She zipped up the front of her yellow windbreaker and scoped the area. Very little traffic meant that the area was all to herself... And no drones in sight. Aerona kicked off her exercises with stretches and afterwards hopped up and immediately spotted a perfect brick wall to scale in the distance. She jogged towards it, analyzed the bricks and did a final stretch before swinging onto a low-hanging brick. Perfection. Aerona began to haul herself up, first using only her arms and then employing her legs to slip into the minute cracks of the beaten old building. It was no junk yard wall, but the exterior of this block was just battered by previous weather and disasters enough to be a piece of cake. It was almost a shame given that troll buildings tended to have more give in their design, but Aerona had few complaints. Reaching the top of the musty wall, Aerona sat with satisfaction for a moment and clapped the dust off of her hands. Queen of the Hill once again.  

[Melancholies]

It was a bittersweet reminder, but Sarcel felt it all the same. The chill in her bones brought forward memories of long since passed times. The only thing missing was the snow. She really needed to stop thinking about negative things on her runs; they only made it harder to push. At the same time, she utilized that anger. It was good stress relief. The contrasting burn in her muscles felt incredible.

She took a bit of a detour, ran by some places in the city that were still being built up. It was generally a little more solitary here, and if there was one thing Sarcel hated, it was constantly being cut in front of from ignorant idiots taking up the entire sidewalk. She didn't have that problem out here, not so much. Only problem was how far it was from home, and how long it took to get back, which meant less time spent here in the first part.

Also, it wasn't necessarily the most scenic thing ever. But it wasn't like she could hop on a train to run the Civisect coast line every evening.

Her wrist beeped, and she slowed to a brisk walk, finger clicking at a button on her wrist. 8 miles wasn't bad, but she knew she could push more. Reaching for the water bottle secured at her hip, she took a well deserved drink, taking in the industrial jungle beyond the fence. There had been a couple times—and they had been far and few between—but she'd seen distant shapes and shadows making a kingdom of this place before. Leaping from places, doing general crazy death stunts, s**t Sarcel normally wouldn't have considered. Course, she was considering a lot of things she never used to.

And it wasn't that it looked fun. It looked terrifying. Didn't mean she didn't crave that sort of rush. She'd tried that sort of thing out before but... she wasn't really good at it. She looked around.

She was alone, huh?

Clasping the water bottle back at her side, she felt her skin shiver. It wasn't from the cold; it was something a little more personal, something that felt almost second nature to her now. One second there, next second not. It didn't take long to scale the fence, hands easily clasping at the chainlink holes. At least she was building some different muscles this way!

Over the fence, onto the ground. Who knew invisibility was so useful! Sarcel was beginning to think she was the only one. Peering up at the asphalt maze, her eyes sparkled with something caught between nervous and excited. She rubbed her hands together as she sized up an impressive looking surface, battered by the weather and looking a little less new than some of the other stuff around her.

Turns out, trolls prolific at this sort of thing made it look entirely too easy. Sarcel struggled immensely as she tried out the wall, muscles in her arms straining. She was a runner first and foremost, and every other muscle in her body was a little in the lacking department, not to mention scaling this wall seemed almost impossible. How the hell did anyone get a grip in on these sorts of things? Doing the crazy cool backflip s**t with all the zooming and acrobatics was no problem—Sarcel had well enough confidence in herself for maneuvering—, but climbing buildings and structures, it seemed, still eluded her. She huffed, discouraged but not deterred.

Course, till she noticed something that definitely wasn't wall at the top. She squinted, trying to make out the details; she saw yellow at least. Was it another troll? Licking her lips in determination, she took a generous amount of steps back to try and get a clearer look, cupping her hands around her mouth like a makeshift megaphone, "Heeeey!" she called up "'The heck did you get up there?"

Sypon

SORRY THIS TOOK SO DANG LONG

 

[Sypon]

Reaching the top of any New Hemisect peak didn’t quite have the same effect as in Busthind… The air was still crummy, and there was always someone down below yelling at you. Some ant, construction drone, or whoever – telling you to get back in your place. Aerona blinked out of her fond stupor in response to some such sound down below. To her dismay, a troll was calling up to her. What did she want?

Aerona fastened her grip on her perch with both hands to lean forward. She hung over the sharp edge, craning her neck down to get a closer look at the newcomer. Upon quick inspection, the visitor was a blueblood. Fantastic. She didn’t appear to be with the military in an immediate sense, considering her attire… Though she could be on some military oriented physical training stint through the heavily patrolled city. Frankly, Aerona was too high up to notice anything else of use from her target – pity! At this distance everyone seemed small and plain. It was undeniably comfortable.

Sarcel’s question triggered a quick smirk on Aerona’s face. She swung her legs over the wall and spun to a stand on top of her victorious platform, arms raised in a victorious flex. “Nothin’ but these guns, babe!” She roared with a laugh. “Why, you think ‘cause I’m some lowblood I can fly or somethin’?”

The mere insinuation made her feel exceptional. A cocky smile spread from her smirk as she gave her sassy response. Aerona’s mind flickered to Odette. This was a highblood – tread carefully. As Aerona weighed her options, her adrenaline and height gave her peace of mind. This blueblood might still be trouble, but she had the higher ground – and it looked as though she had no means to get to her level in the first place. Ha! Aerona scanned the industrial terrain for a possible escape route in compromise with her conscience. There: an immense beam that was laying across her little sanctum. Safety secured, time to play.

“Or did you wanna learn from the best stegophile this side of New Hemisect City?”

Melancholies

SPLATS

 

[Melancholies]

Damn; they were cocky, whoever they were. Sarcel didn't mind it so much; being all the way up there, she'd be pretty damn cocky too. Maybe not outright, but there had to be some incredible sort of pride to making it up there. Sarcel wanted it.

Anyway, that wasn't what she meant at all, and she did in fact know a lowblood with wings thank you very much. It didn't really matter. Sarcel grumbled a little to herself inwardly, flexing one of her arms and touching the small muscle there with her hand. She had confidence in her legs, but damn was she lacking in this.

"I meeaann..." her voice trailed off awkwardly as she cupped her hands around her mouth again, "Some advice would be appreciated." she was frank, voice surprisingly even despite Aerona's smarmy tone.

She pulled her hands back, eyeing the wall again. Maybe she was missing something here; sure, her arms weren't strong enough to be an asset, but her legs were damn good, so there had to be some other route she was just overlooking... she could probably pull herself up if she had enough of a grip, but getting there...?

Sarcel eyed all the beams and half constructed surfaces. If she even got up there, could she trust her balance? There was a sinking feeling in her gut; now wasn't the time to back down. Sarcel had already made amends with herself to never back down again. Sucking in a breath, she ran at the wall again, shoes gripping up along the wall enough for her arms to catch a low ledge. It was a struggle, but she huffed herself up onto it.

Only what seemed like thousands more to go.

She frowned.

"There gotta be a trick!" or something like that. Well, practice was probably a huge part, so Sarcel was trying not to get too frustrated, but the point remained. Wobbling carefully, she rose to her feet. Despite any reservations, she did have good balance at least, even if she didn't have much trust in it hundreds of yards in the air. Not that she was anywhere close to that yet.

Sypon

sickly splats back

 

[Sypon]

Aerona looked, satisfied, at the blueblood’s lack of progress. “Hey – advice I can give, but there ain’t no trick. Only practice.” She’d quickly grown tired of the blueblood’s suffering (best not to agitate your betters, as they say). Aerona stood up on her post and spread her arms out to the side. “I wasn’t kidding about these guns!”

She analyzed the troll-made terrain around her. The way up wouldn’t work quite as well on the way down. To make the difference, she had to be discerning. Change plans quickly, and aggress. Aerona put one boot on the edge of the wall, rocked back and then launched herself outwards. She bounced off of scaffolding, swung around a pole and rolled onto a wooden support ramp half-way between her and Sarcel. Shooting the troll below her a (now visible) wink, she climbed down a craggy brick wall and – for no reason other than pizzazz – flipped backwards to land a few yards away. Aerona hopped over to her and sized her up. Damn, she was a lot better looking than she thought from up there, and better built. Aerona put a hand on her hip and extended the other.

“If you want I’ll trade you a lesson in parkour for a slice of pizza. Sound good, Shoes?” She grinned from ear to ear.

Melancholies

woo!

 

[Melancholies]

Built? Yes. Direction? Not quite there yet. Still, there was—and she'd admit it was somewhat childish—a high level of admiration for this lowblood, if only because of the simple fact that she looked really cool. Could parkour actually help her in a life or death situation? Alright, possibly, but the reality of the situation was that it looked neat. Sarcel was not usually a troll who wanted to show off, but...

"Deal." She slapped her hand right into Aerona's, shake firm, posture formal. The situation wasn't a serious one, but it was obvious that she wasn't taking it as just a joke. A lesson was a lesson and she intended to make something out of it; plus, she had enough humility to know when to ask for help. She wasn't about to let this lesson go to waste. "Hell, I'll throw in the whole damn box. Where're we beginning—uh—Guns?"

Sypon

 

[Sypon]

“Girl!” She laughed, pulling her hand back and in one motion tugging on her hat. “You’re serious about this. I like that.” She flexed her arms for effect. Shoes was cool for a blueblood.

She spun around and gestured to the area around her. “So, first thing’s first. You gotta get ripped. Can’t forget them legs, can’t forget anthing. Push-ups, pull-ups, squats, leg-lifts. Get your whole nubs and fronds into it. You look like an active chick.” She rolled her wrists and shrugged with a grin.

“Basically, parkour’s all about form or you’re gonna be a pulp at the end. Jumps, vaults, pulling up and rolls are what you’ve gotta be able to do quickly and seamlessly. Let’s start with jumps, ‘cos we’ve got some good stairs over here.”

The redblood paced towards a flight of stairs dividing one of the levels of the area. “Here we go. Stairs are perfect for training –here we go, watch this.”

Starting from the ground, Aerona hopped up two steps in one bound. “Did you see that?” She stepped back down, and on her second go cleared three steps in one. Again – three steps. Then four. Aerona counted off on her fingertips. “Start with one step. Land upright on your toes – soft, like a, uh. Like a purrbeast. Good form, right? You got this – show me what you got.”

Melancholies

parkour parkour

 

[Melancholies]

Sarcel flushed a light blue hue when Aerona laughed, but it dissolved when she saw it was in good humor, not any sort of... she didn't know. Aerona wasn't mocking her, and she was glad about it. She followed silently (but eagerly) as the lowblood found some stairs and began her... hopping. It looked pretty silly, but Sarcel knew it was important to start with basics, as mundane as they might have seemed. Besides, Aerona seemed like she'd been at this for a while. She wasn't going to doubt her judgement.

"Seems simple in theory." Sarcel noted duly. With a bit of a running start, she cleared one step easily enough, hopped down fine, repeated the motion without looking too winded. Aerona was at least right in her observations; Sarcel was pretty damn active. Landing properly seemed obviously knew, judging by how she wobbled slightly on her descent.

Still, her legs were her best asset, if they were talking about body strength. She hopped up two steps, down two steps, up three steps, switched it up between the two until she was comfortable enough to progress on. The backs of her calves burned pleasantly--at least, Sarcel enjoyed the sensation.

"How long have you been doing stuff like this?" She was trying to make idle conversation, sure, but she was genuinely interested too. Sarcel knew she wouldn't be leaping off of construction scaffolding anytime tonight, so she wondered just how long it took to build that skill.

Training the muscles would be easy. Sarcel could tell a lot of free-running and parkour probably came from training the mind. You couldn't hesitate. A valuable, if not dangerous skill to have.

Sypon

HEY WOW A TAG!

 

[Sypon]

“Yup! Pretty simple,” Aerona agreed. She continued for a while, doing some hops herself before standing back and watching Sarcel move. Aerona shifted her shoulders. Ack. She rolled her neck, extended her arms and legs and gave herself a good stretch. After a while of repetition, Sarcel had it down.

“Nice! Once you can do it without really thinking about it, you know you’re there. It’s all about safety, really. So, next thing! When you have momentum and need to leap, it’s really important to maintain that while also protecting your… Assets.” Aerona did a final hip twist before presenting her next move.

She jogged in a brisk pace up to the steps, and tested out the railing at the top. With a running start, she vaulted over it and landed with a deft roll on the ground. Aerona hopped up. “So that was two moves - a vault and a roll. I think starting out with a roll is proooobably more important. We wanna try that? We can do it from standing.”

Flexing her fingers in preparation, Aerona knelt and did a slow moving version of the roll she had just executed. “Ta-da! More easy stuff. Once you get the hopping and vaulting and rolling, that’s a good foundation. Hey, if you want I can meet you here same time next week.” She gave Sarcel a wink. Having a blueblooded student seemed like playing with fire, but hell, it was good to get back to her roots.

Melancholies

YEEESSSS!

 

[Melancholies]

"Really?" Sarcel's head snapped over like she was taken aback by the offer. "That... might be nice, actually." She was catching her breath from all the jumping around; rolls, she could roll, right? It seemed easy enough. Maybe. Probably. Sarcel didn't doubt her physical aptitude much.

"Definitely adds a little excitement into the training regimes." Sarcel knelt and did the same little roll. Watching it happen was easy. Doing it was a lot different, what with her world going topsy turvey for a brief moment. She could only imagine all the jumping and spinning and maneuvers in the real heat of the moment. Getting turned around was another challenge she'd likely have to overcome...

Man, she wanted to do this stuff because it looked cool. Then again, the adrenaline rush probably felt otherworldly. She hummed in thought before doing another mundane roll.

"I'm Sarcel, by the way. Cincil."

Sypon

 

[Sypon]

“Hmm, yeah, for sure. I’m Aerona. Nice to meet you, Sarcel.” Aerona clicked her tongue. “Training regimes, huh? You an athlete, or a military brat?” She moved to correct Sarcel’s movement a bit before giving her a thumbs up.

While Sarcel was practicing, Aerona skipped up and down the steps. Without the rate of her pusher beating hard, standing around and watching just felt awkward. She tried a running flip and caught herself with one of the rolls, rotating her shoulders as she got back to her feet.

Melancholies

short one for ya

 

[Melancholies]

Sarcel accepted the help without any sort of backlash. Military brat caught her a little sharp, and the look she gave Aerona was vaguely weary. Then again, most of the looks Sarcel gave trolls fell into 'vaguely weary' so it wasn't really that different than how she looked before. Maybe a little less awe-inspired.

She hummed, paused in all the rolling, and said "Both, I guess?"

She did another little somersault.

"I guess being an athlete comes before the military, though it gives me some extra incentive to stay fit. I've always liked working out though..." And it was one of the few things she took pride in to boot. "Good stress relief."

And boy did she have a lot of stress.

"I'm taking it you're more the former than the latter." Sarcel didn't sound accusatory though. After all the bullshit that happened with Schrad, she knew lowbloods weren't exactly the most fond of the service.

Sypon

 

[Sypon]

“That’s cool, that’s cool,” Aerona shrugged. “Nothin’ against you, but I’m no powered ruddy. It’s pretty much infantry for me, so I’m not jumping on the chance to enlist until I have to. Trying to get into mechanics in the meantime. Mechanics and climbin’ stuff.”

She sat down, placing her hands behind her to recline. “I love workin’ out though. Gotta keep my body active or else I go crazy.”

A pause. Aerona scratched her head, feeling the lull in conversation. Her adrenaline was starting to wear down, enthusiasm and cockiness slipping as her own insecurities began to crop up. She’d already invited the blueblood back, so she might as well do some vetting. Aerona cleared her throat.

“The military good for you? What do you think about the direction we’re going?”

Melancholies

rollercoaster vibe

 

[Melancholies]

Sarcel nodded fervently. She understood the stir-crazy sensation well.

"No offense taken." Sarcel shrugged. She understood it as well as a highblood could understand the trials and tribulations of a lowblood. "I do think the military is a good fit for me, though. Makes it feel like I'm actually... doing something, I guess?"

Sitting on the floor after all the rolling, Sarcel took it upon herself to stretch her legs out. She wasn't done working her muscles and she'd likely continue her way home with a solid jog, but the lull in activity meant she had to take some precautionary measures before she ended up with a nasty cramp. "But..." She narrowed her eyes as she reached her hand out for her toes, feeling the burn in the back of her knees, "I don't know. I think there direction that everything's going in has... potential." She didn't want to openly criticize anything, especially with a personal invite from Regina riding on her shoulders.

She shook her head.

"Thing's are changing. Just gotta make sure they're done right." With that, Sarcel shrugged.

Sypon