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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:25:48 GMT -6
It didn’t take long for Avander to reach the first hurdle. Aster had put them at fairly regular intervals, and the track wasn’t long when you were that size. It was built for large creatures, but even so. Avander gathered his haunches beneath him and made a leap. He had to stop himself to do it; this wasn’t the sort of thing he normally did, and as he said, he wasn’t a Galabex. He didn’t land lightly either. But there was some chance that he would improve once he got more practice at it… And even if he didn’t, it was still tiring him out.
Worst comes to worst, they could always swap him to doing a different exercise. Aster had really only chosen this one because it seemed simple, and it made use of equipment that he already had.
Under Aster’s watchful eye, Avander completed a lap.
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:26:15 GMT -6
Avander didn’t feel very tired, Aster knew, both from their link and from watching Avander’s movements. But the link told Aster that Avander thought this was a pain, and it wouldn’t be long before the going got harder.
“Keep at it,” Aster said.
{Slave driver. At least give me a reward to look forward to if I do it,} the Wiurn complained.
“Alright, what do you want?” Aster said. Humoring him provided some distraction, and even Aster had to admit that this kind of work was pretty boring. Aster didn’t mind doing this much for Avander. The exercise was for the Wiurn’s benefit, sure, since Avander would be the one building up muscle and getting stronger, but in the end Aster also stood to benefit. After all, wasn’t he the one who called the shots? Wasn’t he the one who raised Avander so the Wiurn could protect him if the need arose?
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:26:33 GMT -6
Avander snorted. {A vacation,} he said.
“Forget it,” Aster replied immediately. “You get enough rest.”
{See? I knew this would happen. You tyrant,} Avander shot back.
“What would a vacation for you even entail? Geez,” Aster said, shaking his head. But he was only dismissing it because he could tell that Avander wasn’t saying any of this seriously. If Avander had really wanted a break from his role… Well, that was a complicated question, but Aster would have wanted to find a way.
Still, this back and forth got them through several laps. The more that Avander ran, the more Aster could see that the cumulative effort was tiring him out. His comebacks got less sharp, and even a little less coherent, but eventually Avander stopped talking rather than falling into nonsense.
It wasn’t that Avander was becoming delirious from exhaustion, but the more tired he became, the harder it was to hold a conversation like this in his head.
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:26:52 GMT -6
He wasn’t like Summer, and even Aster could get too tired to concentrate on more than one thing. Right now, Avander only really had the energy to focus on keeping himself going, not two things at once.
It wasn’t a bad sign yet. Aster was keeping a careful eye on the situation, and so he knew that much. Honestly, there was no point to the training if they didn’t at least get to this point.
But it was also when he reached a wall like this that they had to start pushing back even harder.
“Run one lap,” Aster said.
{What?} Avander’s response was a little hazy at first, as if he hadn’t heard clearly, rather than questioning Aster’s judgement. But the questioning would come soon enough.
“Run one lap. Not a jog, but a real run,” Aster said, clarifying the point just in case.
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:27:02 GMT -6
{You really are crazy, huh…} If Avander had been less tired, he probably would have appended a more spirited insult, or some back talk. Aster had heard him often enough that he could even fill in the gaps himself a little. ‘Do I look like I can sprint right now?’ Or something like that.
There were some advantages to having an Avander who was too tired to properly sass him.
Avander wasn’t doing as Aster said, so Aster said, “Come on. Just do it. I’ll… I don’t know, give you some more offal with today’s meal.”
{Am I Grunty?} said Avander. Concise, but to the point. A corner of Aster’s mouth quirked up at that.
“You don’t want it? Then nevermind,” Aster said. “You still have to sprint though, you know? The longer you put it off, the longer we’re stuck here, and if you slack off, we’ll have to come back more often.”
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:27:14 GMT -6
There was a pause during which Avander still didn’t start running any faster. It wasn’t like him to be quite so belligerent, but he must have been really tired. And it was true that Avander didn’t much care for the kind of work they did at the gym.
“You know that half breed of Rabbit’s? He comes to this place every day,” Aster said conversationally.
{Alright alright,} said Avander, and finally picked up the pace. Aster was relieved, but also a little amused… And a little sorry too. They would have to come back at least a couple more times, even with Avander’s best efforts, but eventually there would be an end to this. And in the intervening time, there would be other things for them to work on, though he didn’t know if Avander would necessarily find that kind of thing fun either.
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:27:28 GMT -6
More and more, it was complicated elemental moves that he had trouble conceptualizing, rather than simple physical combat maneuvers.
Then again, the gym was about as physical as things got, but Avander still didn’t like it. Maybe it was hard to say which things he would or wouldn’t enjoy learning.
Avander did as Aster asked and ran a lap around the course at a faster pace. It wasn’t what Aster would have called a sprint, but it was probably as fast as he could tolerate going without something more dire to motivate him. Aster didn’t give him any crap for it, since he could tell Avander was doing more or less his best. By the end of that lap, he was breathing very hard.
“Okay. Now walk the next one,” Aster said, deciding to give him something of a break after pushing him harder just now.
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:27:39 GMT -6
{It’s over?} Avander said. It was almost funny how much hope lay in those words, how much his head picked up at this possibility. Okay, it was a little funny. It would have been funnier if Aster hadn’t had to disappoint his hopes with the answer to that question.
“No, you run the one after this,” Aster replied. “We’ll alternate these for a while, then have you walk a cooldown, and then it’ll end.”
Avander groaned, which of course was a mistake in his current state, since it wasted valuable breath. It wasn’t easy to breathe when you were dog tired from running laps. Aster could feel the sense of regret emanating from Avander afterwards, but what was done was done.
At least he would have the opportunity to catch his breath on the walking lap. This was Aster’s concession to him, though of course he also didn’t want to push Avander more than was reasonable.
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:28:05 GMT -6
By the Wiurn’s reckoning, Aster had already pushed him to an unreasonable extent, but there had to be some discomfort if there was to be growth. That was, unfortunately for the Wiurn, how these things generally worked.
Avander walked slowly, and Aster didn’t chastise him for it. That was Aster’s consideration for him. But when it came time to run again, well… There was no avoiding that either. Avander soldiered on, even if Aster needed to needle him into it sometimes, and at length they completed the session.
“Okay, now walk two laps,” Aster said. Avander groaned again, and stared longingly at the floor. “No you don’t, you overgrown lizard. You’ve got to do the cool down laps. Come on.”
Under Aster’s prodding, Avander reluctantly did as he was told and began the process of walking those final two laps to cool himself down.
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:28:17 GMT -6
Aster watched him until he was sure that Avander wouldn’t just lie down as soon as Aster turned away. Once he had ascertained that, he went off to prepare a drink for Avander.
There was nothing stopping Avander from lying down the minute his cooldown laps were finished though. That was the sight that greeted Aster when he returned with a pail full of water. Aster looked down at the heap of reptile before him, and nudged Avander’s leg with a foot. “Aren’t you embarrassed, being like this?” Aster said, arching a brow.
{You run with me, then you can talk,} Avander shot back. {Slave driver. Leave me here to die.}
Aster reminisced for a moment about when they had actually trained Avander to fake dying, and again, he smiled. “Suit yourself,” he said, then sat down next to Avander, setting down the pail of water carefully.
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:28:38 GMT -6
“Can’t drink any of that til you get up though.”
{Can’t I?} Avander opened his maw. {Pour it in.}
“Yeah, right. It’ll get all over the floor if I do that.” Aster looked at the contents of the pail. “This is enriched water, you know. I spent good points on it at the gym gift shop.”
Avander knew this since he had had the stuff before, and Aster was pretty sure he was doing this just to be a brat, but he explained it again anyway because it had been a while. But past this point, he didn’t rush Avander. Eventually the Wiurn did rise to his feet, and once he did, he drank out of the pail of his own accord. “Don’t drink too fast,” Aster warned, but he could tell that Avander wasn’t.
There wasn’t much else to do but taking down the equipment.
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Post by Noa on Oct 29, 2020 23:28:54 GMT -6
Avander was occupied with drinking his fill, so Aster started in on the clean up.
Once Avander was finished drinking, he watched Aster with some measure of amusement, probably because it made him feel better now that it was Aster bustling around and not himself. Despite the radiating smugness, Aster ignored Avander, and focused on getting his work done. What was the point of getting riled up anyway?
Once he was done with that, it was just time for them to go.
{Good riddance,} Avander said to the gym.
“Don’t be too hasty,” Aster said. “We’ll have to come back later.” At that, a whole cacophony of grumbling and questions began - with accusations mixed in that he had said Avander would only come back if he didn’t work hard.
Aster sighed. It would be worth it, he told himself, but Avander sure didn’t make it easy.
20 (ending loyalty 108)
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Post by Noa on Nov 13, 2020 22:57:18 GMT -6
They were, unfortunately for Avander, back at the gym. Now that Aster had the ball rolling on getting Avander trained up some more, he felt like he should take it all the way and get the Wiurn into tip top physical shape. Avander was, as could be imagined of a creature who didn’t care much for the gym, less enthused about this than Aster was. Which wasn’t to say that Aster was particularly enthusiastic about it either; gym training wasn’t exciting or even particularly interesting a lot of the time. But even so, he wasn’t the one who had to put in the actual physical work, so he was better off than Avander in that respect at least. Avander breathed a sigh as Aster led him into the space. {The same thing as last time, huh?} he said, watching as Aster began laying out the poles. 1
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Post by Noa on Nov 13, 2020 22:57:49 GMT -6
Aster glanced back at him, one eyebrow arched. “You want to do something else? We can change it up if you don’t want to run.”
For a moment he could sense some excitement from Avander, but it didn’t take long for it to sour into suspicion. {That sounds nice,} Avander said, {but why do I feel like it’s a trap?}
Aster shrugged one shoulder. “You can take it or leave it. Just make up your mind before I set up the poles. In the meantime, you’ve still got your warm-up, so…” Aster motioned to the track, and made a shooing gesture with his hand. Avander sighed again, but went to it, and began a walking lap that would serve as his warm-up.
Since Avander hadn’t specified yet as to whether he wanted the same routine or a different one, Aster stayed back to watch for now.
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Post by Noa on Nov 13, 2020 22:58:01 GMT -6
There was no sense in laying out and organizing the poles if he was just going to have to put them away again in a moment. He wouldn’t have said he was lazy, but he didn’t like to do work only for it to go to waste either.
Avander did two walking laps around the track, then one where he moved at a slow trot. After that, Aster walked him through some stretches, which Aster had borrowed from Rabbit. He felt a little bad about it, but it honestly hadn’t occurred to him to incorporate stretching into their gym training until recently. Avander, for his part, found the whole thing quite absurd, but since it was generally neither particularly difficult or strenuous, he put up with it with relatively good humor. Snide remarks aside, of course, but those were pretty much par for the course for him.
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