Morning Workout (Yumiko, Meninas)

The organisation might have changed its name and location but for Meninas, nothing had seemed to change. She continued to work diligently as she always had, working hard on her skills and completing the missions that were given to her. Honestly, she felt more at peace now than she had for a long time and finally the Scottish giant felt comfortable in her own skin. Her relationship with Anis was blossoming, at least as far as she could tell. It always was difficult to read her blonde girlfriend’s body language and her mind was so quirky that the pink haired woman was still lost for words half the time but still.

The Sternritter was when she always could be found in the morning, performing her usual workout, lifting barbells that were many times her own bodyweight. They were the perfect size for her to get warmed up and the muscular woman was easily able to get them up without too much trouble. Ah, the simple bliss she felt from training her body could never be topped and she felt ready to try and break her personal record today, assuming she could find something heavy enough to lift.

The gym was fairly quiet that morning but Meninas didn’t mind as it helped ease the occasional pangs of awkwardness that she felt from time to time.

The only one to interrupt Meni's quiet day at the gym was a five foot tall, silver haired woman. Yumiko walked in calmly, as this wasn't her first time visiting the Wahrender's gym, and she went about her morning warm ups. She started with stretching, but soon worked into pullups, situps, and many other basic workouts that didn't require weights. Eventually, the smaller Quincy turned to using weights that, while quite heavy, weren't comparable to what Meni was lifting. Frankly speaking, Yumiko's build, which was obvious thanks to the tight fitting clothes she wore, was akin to a lighter build. Nice definition, especially upon her visible abs, but otherwise her muscles didn't exceed the bounds of her body. There was no doubting Yumiko was strong, but her small frame hid her greater strength.

After a bit of working out, Yumiko wiped sweat from her brow and moved to a separate part of the gym; one that was dedicated to light weapon work. It wasn't quite like the test ranges or sparring arenas, but it would work. Yumiko summoned her spear and slowly worked through forms and stances, her slow start soon accelerated with each step the woman took until her movements were but a blur; swift and precise. Every time Yumiko messed up, she slowed down to correct herself before she resumed her otherwise swift actions; showing a great deal of skill in those moments. Eventually, however, Yumiko would take a proper break.

The woman sat cross legged, while her ample backside was now hidden by the position, her legs, covered by her exoskeleton prosthetics, were feeling a bit sweaty... But Yumiko didn't want to take her exoskeleton prosthetics off around others. Instead, Yumiko silently accepted this small annoyance and allowed her body to recover before she performed more activities to keep her body well in shape. Despite Yumiko's small size, the woman was well proportioned, even if her chest was heavily restrained by a sports bra and her tight top. Otherwise, Yumiko's silver hair and silver eyes stood out like a sore thumb. If Meninas had ever been told anything about Yumiko, especially about what she looked like, such a thing could make who she could be quite obvious. Until then, or until Yumiko had recovered, the young Quincy sat and drank water. Truly, some cold water felt the best after such vigorous actions.

So lost was she in her own workout that the pink haired Quincy didn’t react all that much to the newcomer at first. Meninas might have been if it’d been a group but from what she was hearing, that didn’t seem the case so she was able to filter it out quite well. So, the giant would slowly start to increase the weight that she was lifting, feeling the pressure on her body as she did so. She barely reacted to the struggle though and simply pushed past it, her willpower more than enough to match her physical strength, allowing her to continue without complaint from her. At home, she’d been able to lift middle sized vehicles but as time had gone on, that had started to increase rather quickly.

After reaching the point where she needed to find something else to lift in order to keep going, Meninas would briefly take a few moments to pause and look around. The gym was still rather empty, except for the woman who’d come in while Meninas had been working. The giant didn’t recognise her although that wasn’t a surprise. There were a lot of people in the organisation that she still didn’t know and given her tendency to stick to her own company, it was nothing new.

That being said, when the Scot thought about it more, the woman looked awfully similar to someone that Nanaly had spoken of before. It might have been a coincidence and Meninas was briefly wary of embarrassing herself but eventually she’d try and engage the relaxing woman. “Are you by any chance Yumiko?”

During her time of rest, Yumiko had been somewhat lost in her thoughts. Frankly speaking, part of her was lost in concern over Nanaly. The woman was making amazing progress, but... she was just so worried about the woman. To know that she had an attack relatively recently, despite the gains she was making, it drew Yumiko's thoughts towards her beloved friend. However, her train of thought was sent spiraling out of control when she heard a voice; and the sound of someone walking closer. Her name especially caught her attention.

Yumiko looked up at Meni, blinking in surprise and some minor confusion. "Yes... That's me." Yumiko continued to stare up at the six foot tall woman, but she eventually smiled gently to reassure the woman. Still, her confusion was palpable. "I guess that leaves me at a slight disadvantage, because I don't know your name. How do you know mine?"

Yumiko titled her head at Meni, not certain how the large woman would have found out her identity. She didn't know her name, but could this be the individual Naly had mentioned? The woman who had been helping Nanaly work out on the side, carefully of course, to help the woman strengthen her body. Yumiko didn't want to stop Naly, certainly she never would, but that didn't stop her concerns... After all, Naly could only make her heart so strong. Regardless, Yumiko would support Nanaly the whole way... and if this was the woman Nanaly had mentioned, Yumiko knew she was likely in safe hands.

At the very least, Meninas had avoided embarrassing herself horribly, a fact that brought her considerable peace of mind. Before joining the organisation and meeting Nanaly and Anis, the six footer probably wouldn’t have even had the mental strength to approach the woman, instead simply caving into her social anxiety and mumbling to herself. She’d come a long way, something that she was rather proud of deep down and while still struggling at times, Meninas hoped that most of her issues were now behind her and kept in check rather than hindering her.

“Nanaly talks about you all the time.” Meninas replied with a shy smile, taking a seat beside Yumiko if she was alright with it. “I’m Meninas, the Quincy who has been helping her with her physical training. I’ve never met anyone quite as cheerful as her before and I’m so glad that she’s been doing so well.”

Compared to Yumiko, Meninas probably looked like a giant and honestly that was partly why she wanted to sit rather than stand and talk down to the woman. The work she’d put into her own physical fitness would be clear to see, with the pink haired woman looking absolutely shredded so to speak. She couldn’t even remember when she’d started training now, it was simply something her father had encouraged her to do from her childhood years.

So this was the woman who Nanaly was referring to, and the one that Nanaly had told her she was with when she had her attack. She was certainly... a large woman. Six feet tall, Scottish, judging by the accent, and she did seem rather kind despite her potentially imposing frame; gentle giant, that's what she was. Well... A gentle giant unless otherwise proven. Yumiko gave Meni another reassuring smile when the woman sat down next to her, this was much easier than Yumiko looking up quite far to look the woman in the eye. This way, Yumiko only had to look up a little bit, and that was comfortable enough.

"She... She does...?" Yumiko blushed a tiny bit when she heard that Nanaly talked about her all the time. It wasn't a bad thing, per se, but to know that Nanaly had talked about her with others... It made her happy that she was that important to Nanaly. "I hope it was all good things~ It's nice to meet you, Meninas. You already know my name, but, I'm Yumiko Kamenashi~"

Of course, Meni already knew Yumiko's name, but this was more of a formal observance. It's the kind of thing you do even if the other party knows your name, it was kinda respectful. She was right, however, Nanaly was the most cheerful person in the world. Yumiko herself knew that Nanaly rarely cried, she certainly could get upset but the Young Quincy had only seen Nanaly cry twice; and those two separate occasions were quite far apart. Yumiko simply gave Meni a smile as she spoke, glad that Naly was doing well.

"She's always had such a strong will, despite everything. She's upbeat, silly, and the closest thing I'll ever have to a sister." Yumiko's soft gaze, which was turned towards the floor, sharpened slightly when she turned it towards Meni. "Please be careful... Don't baby her or anything, she hates that. Find her limits, fight them slowly, bit by bit. Her condition is... a delicate thing."

Yumiko's gaze softened once more, portraying the intense, immense worry that the young Quincy had for Nanaly. Yumiko and Nanaly's bond ran deep and Yumiko treasured it, she treasured it more than most of her worldly possessions. However, after a brief silence, in which the intensity in Yumiko's silver eyes diminished, the woman let out a small sigh; bowing her head apologetically.

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't be telling you what you should be doing; it's not right of me, especially when we just met. I'm just..." Yumiko paused, gazing down at the floor again as she thought, idly toying with the exoskeleton prosthetic on her right leg. "I'm really worried about her, but it is amazing to see her progress; her musculature has really grown. I just... I don't wanna lose her..."

“Never a bad word.” Meninas answered with a slight chuckle as Yumiko blushed slightly. Come to think of it, the giant couldn’t think of a time where Nanaly had said a bad word about anyone but that was her in a nutshell. Meninas considered herself lucky that the first person she’d met after leaving home had been the broomstick wielding Quincy, as Nanaly had certainly been able to puncture through the bruiser’s awkward shell easily enough. “My full name is Meninas McAllon, it’s a pleasure to meet you too.”

Her smile grew as Yumiko spoke more about her own experiences with their mutual friend, understanding all too well just how chipper she was. The world could burn and Nanaly would still see the bright side of it, such was her enthusiasm and love for life. Her expression changed slightly though as Yumiko altered her tone, almost lecturing the pink haired woman as to how she should help Nanaly with her training. Meninas was briefly caught off guard, the memories of Nanaly’s attack coming back in full force but she shook her swiftly, trying to push those thoughts away. She’d discussed that with Nanaly already and apologised more times than she’d needed to, even with her friend stating there was nothing for her to be sorry for.

“There’s no need to be worried, Yumiko, we’ve been going at a slow and steady pace. I’ve taken great care to make sure that Nanaly isn’t doing anything that will put too much strain upon her. She means a lot to me too and Nanaly was the first person who was able to get through to me. I struggle quite a lot when meeting people for the first time and she’s helped me so much with that. Believe me, I want nothing but the best for her.” She added after some thought, her tone gentle and tender.

Yumiko was gladdened by Meni’s understanding, even if the young Quincy had gone and told someone who was likely older than her what to do. Not to mention, it was overwhelmingly relieving that Meni had been taking great care in Nanaly’s training. The young Quincy was still a bit apologetic looking, but Meni’s understanding statements seemed to help Yumiko brighten up a bit. Yumiko was still worried, it was hard for her not to be, but to hear Meni speak about Nanaly in such a tone… She had a feeling that Nanaly was in safe hands.

“I’m glad to know she’s in good hands, Meni… I’m sorry again, for what I said.” Yumiko rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “She’s a genuine ray of sunshine, I’m glad she was able to help you open up, Meni~”

Yumiko smiled warmly at the woman before she contemplated their common friend. Nanaly… Such a terrifyingly delicate woman, and one whom Yumiko desired to protect at all costs; to lose her would be… No, Yumiko didn’t even want to think about such dour things. Yumiko shoved those thoughts away with a tiny shake of her head. Much like Meni, she had her own thoughts to shake away. However, the young Quincy soon directed her attention back to Meni, her eyes observant and curious.

“What all have you been working on with Naly?” Yumiko tilted her head some as she asked the question. “I’d like to help some, if I can. I may not be the most well-built, but I understand muscle structure well; and I also can help in other ways.”

“It was mostly simple stamina training at first and for the first few weeks it was mostly just jogging and stretching. I needed to get an idea of just where Nanaly was physically before I even dared to bring up the idea of lifting weights or anything like that. I’m not going to lie, it was slow progress to begin with, as I figured you already guessed but that was the general idea.” Meninas would explain with a small smile. “Once she was ready, we began to add some strength training to her routines and ever since then, she’s come on leaps and bounds although I always make sure I’m there to observe, even now.”

It was rather amazing to be honest at just how far their mutual friend had come and Meninas took immense pride in that. It was obvious that Nanaly was never going to reach the pink haired woman’s levels of strength but that wasn’t the point. “She’s most definitely come into her own and I certainly feel inspired whenever I watch her working so hard.”

Thinking about Yumiko’s offer, Meninas would soon answer sincerely. “Maybe you could teach her some of your fighting moves? I haven’t yet taught her any of the martial arts that I know and I noticed earlier that you can certainly handle yourself. I’m sure it’d make us both feel more comfortable if Nanaly could learn to defend herself without her broom.”

Yumiko listened intently to Meni’s explanation, her silver eyes barely leaving the woman. It was nice to learn what Meni was doing with Nanaly, all extremely gentle stuff. Yumiko figured that even the weight lifting was quite gentle. Additionally, Nanaly was making leaps and bounds recently thanks to Meninas’s workout regime. It was… it pleased Yumiko dearly to know that Nanaly could make such progress despite her condition. Yumiko knew, however, that Nanaly’s body had a limit… But they would fight it the best they could.

Yumiko soon considered Meni’s idea after Yumiko offered her help. It was a sound idea, and Yumiko had trained in combat for a large majority of her life. She… She didn’t know exactly how to teach, but she could figure it out. Additionally, it would be best for Nanaly to learn how to protect herself outside of her Quincy powers. Perhaps someday, she could use her Quincy powers to support such a fighting style.

“That sounds like a good idea, Meni. I’m sure something my mom or my Grandpa taught me could be useful for Naly. Maybe we can find her a normal weapon to carry around with her? I’d like it if she has other reliable methods of defense other than her Quincy powers.”

After Yumiko spoke, she did look rather contemplative. Her eyebrows furrowed and her gaze seemed to unfocus slightly as she considered what would be a good self-defense weapon for Naly… along with a style of close quarters combat that would befit the woman.