[gathering] cardiovascular conditioning

[onlyapassenger]

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[curiously_cora]

If Coraline had have eaten that morning she probably would have thrown up by now. Instead she wavered, leaning to one side as she stumbled and caught herself before she fell completely. She'd felt okay at first, normal but then she'd started to feel light headed and dizzy. Now, she just felt awful and she wasn't sure her legs could keep moving.

Coraline was keen and fit but nothing could have prepared her for this. Nothing could have prepared her for Bucky Barnes. Bucky Barnes was quite possibly a monster. A monster with a pretty smile. Coraline shook as she gritted her teeth and took a couple more steps before she sagged and crumpled in the sand. She wanted to lie in the sand, she wanted to stay down but she wasn't going to. Coraline did not give up when things got tough, not when she was scared and tired and had the life drained away from her. She never gave up, she never gave in and she wasn't going to start now. She just had to get up first.

[lt_blade]

Sonya could only stare as she witnessed the end of-if she didn't know any better-looked almost like the drills for the ITF.

Then she saw Coraline stagger and fall in the sand and she just barely held back a curse as she went over to help her. If it was still class time she didn't care, fainting after this sort of workout and in this heat could only mean severe dehydration.

"Hey, Coraline." She gently shook her shoulder before trying to get her up: christ, she was almost all bones. "Come on, sit up. You need water."

Sonya said a silent thanks that she still had a water bottle (made from a hollowed out tube of bamboo).

[curiously_cora]

"I'm okay," Coraline said stubbornly. She was trying to get up on her feet to move. She was trying to finish like everyone else. Coraline was determined not to be the worst in the class even if she was years younger than everyone else. "I just need to get up."

Water sounded good though.

[lt_blade]

Hearing her speak, Sonya felt herself calm down a bit. Talking meant she wasn't fully unconscious.

She helped sit her up, thrusting the water bottle in her hands. "Don't drink too fast or it'll just come right back up."

"You gave it a good shot, but I think you're done for the day." Her muscles felt on fire and if she could even take a few steps it would be a miracle.

[arrownomore]

Cissie had figured this class wasn't going to be a walk in the park, exactly, but she hadn't imagined it was going to be anything quite like this. Swimming laps and running lines - it was like her mother all over again but worse if such a thing were possible. If she could still walk by the time class was over, it would be a miracle of biblical proportions, that was for sure.

Still, she wasn't going to quit or back down or anything like that. She'd been a superhero, she'd been an Olympic archer. She could do this and she was going to do it well. Her sense of pride depended on it.

By the time she was out of the water and starting to run the lines, her pride was the only thing keeping her upright. She'd lost track of time ages ago, but class was still going on, so she was still running.

[onlyapassenger]

She's one of the few faces he doesn't recognize, though the sign-up list was short enough that it's easy enough to pair a name with the girl regardless; she doesn't look like much of a Felix, after all.

"You Cissie King-Jones?" he asks, and maybe it's expecting too much to want an actual conversation in the middle of all this running, but he likes knowing just who he's meant to be working with, and he supposes a nod will suffice.

[arrownomore]

"That's me," Cissie said breathlessly, a little unnerved to be spoken to during the middle of class. She wondered if her form was all wrong or something - James just didn't seem like the type of guy to have a random conversation.

[onlyapassenger]

It's not that hard to tell that she's running on sheer force of will at this point, but the fact that she's still running at all is a point in her favor, as far as Bucky's concerned, and something worth investigating.

"What did you do back home, Cissie?"

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason can't help himself. Even when Bucky's eyes slide his way, he's fighting a grin, suppressing it not because he fears rebuke, but because this is Bucky's class, his new, slightly sadistic baby, and though Jason would never say so out loud, he wants it to go well for him.

And so he swims, and he runs, and he sweats and he pants and wants to throw up, and all the while he's happy. Really bone deep happy in a way he hasn't felt in a long while. Lux believes in him, and she knows a hell of a lot but she doesn't know how truly cruel the world can be, but Bucky does, and he still believes in Jason, still believes in pushing him to be better, and it feels...it feels good. Being on the side of someone good again, even if Bucky won't see it that way

[arrownomore]

Someone is going to have to carry her home, Cissie thought as she finished her last lap and toppled over gracelessly, one hand flung over her eyes to keep out the sun. Muscles she didn't even remember having were hurting but she couldn't deny that it'd been a really great workout.

After a few moments of lying there, dead to the world, she realized she'd landed near someone and sat up with a groan. "I seriously can't remember the last time I had a workout like this," she said. "Or class like this, for that matter. I may never move again."

[prodigaljaybird]

"You'd better," says Jason, finally giving in to his body's insistent need to sit down. He lands with a small flurry of sand to herald him, tipping a half-exhausted, half-amused glance Cissie's way. He isn't afraid of her or the others from his world, but he is wary, has avoided them all since his arrival, but Jason opts for some friendly advice all the same.

"Next class'll be worse. Trust me, he gets off on this shit."

[arrownomore]

Cissie groaned at the thought, though she was careful not to do it too loudly just in case James overheard and decided that called for push-ups or something worse. That would mean moving and moving was very bad right now.

"Oh great," she shook her head wearily. "At least I'll be better prepared next time. I hope. I'm going to stick with this class even if it kills me."

[lonewolflives]

Arya had been assured of her own fitness. She trained every day, without fail, and had felt confident she was about as fit as a person could be.

She had been deeply, deeply wrong. She was a strong, adept swimmer, fast and nimble in the water.

By the time she got out, she regretted how fast she'd swum the first few laps. She was going to have to improve on that next time. She supposed it was fortunate the laps towards the last part of the half hour had been substantially less exuberant. And then came the running.

She'd started out with some of Syrio's mantras in her head, some adaptations she'd made herself. Swift as a deer, strong as an ox. Steady as the tide, that had seemed a good one. Some time in, all she had was keep going keep going, and by the end she wasn't really thinking in words at all, and could only attribute the fact she was still going to momentum and determination not to be in a category with the thirteen year-old. Her running was close to being a controlled fall in the right direction; her jumps barely put her in

[noblerworld]

A bottle of water dropped in front of where she was slumped on the ground.

If she followed it's movement back to his source, she would see Seifer standing a few yards back, looking neat and full of energy and very much not like someone who'd just ran themselves into exhaustion. And smiling smugly.

"Hey, I thought you were meant to be tough."

[lonewolflives]

She wasn't sure what rude gestures they used in Seifer's world, so she settled for one of the easier to execute, raising a very unsteady middle finger in his general direction before lowering it and seizing the water bottle, tipping it back without much finesse, pouring it over herself as much as she was gulping from it.

"I didn't see you out there," she said, after several long moments of this.

She had been very thirsty. And still was. Not to mention, even just holding the water bottle up was not the easiest of things.

[noblerworld]

Seifer laughed in response to the gesture.

"Didn't want to show you up, is all."

[exweapon]

Now, this is what this island's been missing. Forget that play of Madrox's, this is what I call live theatre. I even have a cigar to go with the entertainment.

Part of the fun of calling them teenage girls is taken out of it when they are teenage girls, admittedly, but it's still fun to watch them stumbling around like a little exercise has got them all forgetting how to walk.

"Hey, Bucky," I call, the question directed as much towards the poor schmucks as much as anything, for all that it's addressed to him, "when's the warm-up finish?"

Maybe one of them will pick up on it and start calling him Bucky. I figure that can only make my day more entertaining.

[onlyapassenger]

It's a public beach. There were always bound to be spectators -- and maybe he does get a perverse sense of joy out of that much, but he meant what he said before, about them all being willing participants. Even so, seeing Logan, complete with his frigging cigar is like the icing on the cake that's been a pretty good morning. Maybe he's not Bucky's favorite person in the whole world, but it feels almost fitting, in a way, that he be one of the bystanders.

"Why, you want to show 'em how it's done?" Bucky asks, that same grin as before tugging at his mouth as he heads on over to say hello. "They're kinda pathetic, aren't they?"

[exweapon]

"Little bit," I say, shooting him an answering smirk, shifting the cigar to one side of my mouth. "I'm tempted, but I don't want to discourage them on their first day. There's still a chance one or two of 'em might even come back."

[onlyapassenger]

"Oh, I don't know about that," Bucky replies, eyes narrowing, slightly, in thought. "Then again, after watching you botch that boar, maybe you're right. I mean, jeez, if the mighty Wolverine can't run it, what are the chances these poor saps could, right?"

He doubts that's what Logan meant, but the way Bucky figures it, there's no harm in taking the piss out of the guy. That's what friends are for.