The Black Dirge [Sci-fi]

[accalia]

Zee smiles, so she does want to learn. Excellent. Most excellent.

"It's just Zee kid, like the letter. Go ahead and get changed into your workout stuff and meet me in that side room there (Zee indicates a room marked 'Storage') We'll want a little quiet today and i'm sure that Kenji's got his own workout to do while he's here."

Zee doesn't mention Shinigami's presence. No sense in frightening the girl right now. That would be soooooo counter productive to Zee's plans for today's session.

[Rednaxela]

Kenji just kind of shrugs and moves to lean against a wall, looking over the gym as a whole. It's a nice place, nicer than he expected, for a gym room anyway. He wasn't so fond of gyms in general. Bad memories.

[Hitoshirenu Shourai]

Kimiko stands up straight and nods, "Yes, Zee!" She makes her way to the locker room and changes into the spare jumpsuit designated for her, making sure to still change behind the curtain. After a few minutes, she comes back out, the outfit still looking awkward and baggy on the poor girl. "Um... is now a good time... to explain... why I'm like this? Because... Maa-kun and I... had a good chat..."

[accalia]

"You are you, and you do what you do. I don't really care about the whys."

Zee replies, closing the door to the storage room and turning the light off. It's not pitch black in the storage room, enough light leaks in through the door and there are enough status lights and such on the walls that it's merely very dim.

"You can explain later if you want to, but right now it's time for a very important lesson. One that will serve you well indeed to learn. come, have a seat, and learn."

Zee's voice is kind, but firm as she moves from the door to sit on the floor close to the center of the open area of the storage room.

[Hitoshirenu Shourai]

The frail girl looks both puzzled and curious, but nods, making her way into the specified location. A storage room...? What could she possibly need to do in there...?

[yamikuronue]

Shinigami reaches the top platform and tugs off her boots, letting herself finally feel the sheer power of her frustration. How was she supposed to succeed, to keep herself safe, to earn the Boss' trust, with a curveball like this? She was on the cusp of something beautiful, and now... and now!

With a soft grunt of anger, she runs three steps along the platform and launches herself into the air. Fearlessly, she grabs hold of the dangling bar, setting it into motion with her momentum even as she loops around it. It wasn't quite weightlessness, but it was a hell of a rush moving so fast. The skies were her domain, where she could be at peace, where nobody could follow her. Well. Mostly nobody.

[accalia]

"Well don't be shy. Come have a seat. I'm not going to bite you." Zee coaxes "You need to learn this, and it's easiest to do somewhere relatively quiet and dark. Less distractions that way, see?"

[Hitoshirenu Shourai]

"O-Okay..." the shy girl sits, her back straight, and awaits instruction. She was sure that all she was going to be taught was muscle training exercises... but now she's in a dark room, sitting on the floor with her senpai.

[accalia]

"So, the most important thing when exercising is self control. It's important in life as well, but that's your responsibility, not mine. What i'm going to teach you today is meditation, a way to gain conscious control of your body. something that's very important to have control of when working out."

Zee explains this calmly.

"For now, focus on your breathing. count your breaths. breathe in for a count of seven, hold it a beat, then breathe out for a count of seven. Nice and regular, not too rushed, not too slow. pick your pace, something you can sustain, and keep it regular."

Zee then falls silent, slipping into the breathing pattern she described, clearly wanting Kimiko to follow.

[Rednaxela]

Kenji just king of watches Shinigami from their place leaning against the wall in the gym. Hm... for some reason he felt like pulling a prank, but eh... no good ways struck him at this moment. Too high up to pull THAT one idea again... Another time Shin, another time...

[yamikuronue]

Shinigami flings herself from trapeze to trapeze, high above Kenji's head. Today, she avoids the platforms and more static obstacles, though she does fly through a couple of rings at one point. She just wants to be in motion, enjoying the freedom that comes with having a well-toned body she commands completely.

She's never had a top-tier power; she'll never be an Omega-class power, nor will she ever be the kind of rarity that Kimiko represented. She only had herself to rely on, her own muscles, her own ability. She was forever pushing herself to the limit to keep in shape, and it allowed her to make the most of her limited power set. That's how she got to the the team leader of a cell, one that she was sure was rising in importance to the big boss every day. This being a terrorist organization, she was never sure how many other cells were out there or what they were doing, but in her bones she knew hers was the best. One day, the boss would know that too. Maybe they'd be moved to his headquarters, becoming part of the elite few he trusted to be near his physical body.

Or maybe just her. That'd be fine too.

[Hitoshirenu Shourai]

"Um..." she paused a moment, then nodded quietly, "okay..."

Taking her teacher's instructions, she attempts to maintain a breathing pattern. Her lungs are a lot smaller than most, so her deep breaths were still rather short, maybe two or three seconds. She clearly couldn't do a seven count, but was able to maintain what she could do. Trying any harder would likely make her dizzy.

[accalia]

"good, good. As you get stronger, try for longer breaths like me, but don't rush it. consistency is more important than length. Now you have the rhythm. let your thoughts drift away. don't focus on anything, just breathe, don't think."

Zee's voice is softer, more unfocused as she speaks. the tone is encouraging. it's barely been a minute and already Kimiko has a solid rhythm, not as deep in the breaths as Zee would like, but the rhythm is solid and the deeper breaths can come later.

[Rednaxela]

After a moment, feeling bored, Kenji murmurs, "Suppose I should be training..." Let's see... time to make one nice warp-bubble... here.... and another one there.. He wasn't in the mood to be physically training his body, but... he could train with his power. When he first awakened to his power, he could only have the bubbles last for the very briefest of moments before they became unstable and collapsed. Over time, he's gained some more control, able to maintain them for longer. Over the same time, he's also been able to make them slightly larger, but not by much. It was tiring to maintain them for very long, but... it was satisfying, more satisfying than dealing with weights or stuff like that.

The two spheres Kenji had constructed this time, happened to be aligned juuuuust right, to create a very crude stationary telescope of sorts. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good telescope, rather blurry, with a large outer ring of distortion. Also such a mundane use for time-warping bubbles, but hey, it has it's uses. The bubbles happened to be positioned juuuuust so, such that he could get a closer (though somewhat blurry) view of Shinigami's acrobatics. One Mississippi... Two Mississippi...

[Hitoshirenu Shourai]

Kimiko's breathing is steady, focused, and she tries to clear her mind, think of nothing. Don't think. Just... be. Her eyes glaze over as she meditates, the world seeming to be far, far away, as though locked behind a door in her head.