Everybody wants a montage

Posted on Sun Oct 20th, 2024 @ 9:30 by Claire Cavendish & Sarah Bright & Andrew Hallows & Cameron Johnston

Chapter: Besieged
Location: Avalon Institute, Gymasium
Timeline: Wednesday, 27th of January, 1993
3597 words - 7.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Having gone through the first bit of training to see where everyone was at, Andrew was able to set up three groups of varying skill levels, with a mixture of teachers and staff, as well as keeping the Knights mixed into the grouping as well. This would be interesting as what he would primarily be focusing on at least initially is the need for training in Self-Defense. The tactics side would come in the very near future, the tactics side was going to be tricking because as far as he knew he was the only at the school with actual tactics training. The gymnasium had been transformed into a tiny dojo, with mats on the floor and on one wall.

He had also modified one set of mats into a pair of striking mats. The training would be a mixture of cardio, calisthenics and martial arts. If something went down, he wanted those he worked with to at least in theory be prepared to protect themselves and the students.

It had been a couple of days since the introduction training and Claire was back in the gymnasium in what could only be described as her flashdance outfit. She regarded Cameron and Sarah who she was paired with. To anyone except her Sarah was just a regular human, and Cameron was a known quantity to her. So this was going to be very interesting indeed. She stretched and twisted a bit, loosening her muscles, joints and tendons. "Ready to get beat up by your boss?" She eyed the other two there, but especially Cameron, whom she knew would appreciate the jab more. She wasn't sure how Sarah would react, though. Even after having the woman there for several months now she had been difficult to read.

"Pfft." Sarah dismissed the taunt with a sharp exhale before issuing one of her own. "Competitive pay, Dental, and Beat Up Your Boss Day? Best job ever." Sarah said with what, depending on the person, might have been unexpected swagger. She'd already done her stretching beforehand, but hopped in place a little to shake out any lingering nerves. She'd subtly appraised Claire's repeat choice in training-wear. The leotard was always a bold choice... unless one was training for ballet; then it was the required uniform. Some days she missed ballet, but today she was definitely not dressed for it. Instead she wore the same pair of sport shorts as last time, paired with a thrift store tee that bore the logo of what she assumed was a local football club. She liked the colors, the red, white and blue reminiscent of the Red Sox, but she probably wouldn't wear it in public, as she was fully aware that sports rivalries existed and she was not keen on involving herself in one. She looked over to Cameron, arching an eyebrow. He seemed like the reliable sort for some Grade-A trash talk in a smaller grouping like this.

Having settled, at least for the time being, on an outfit that looked better suited to the cycling track, (after some extensive auditioning that had seen his gym shorts come in a solid last place), Cameron had arrived in a mixture of pensive curiosity and copious amounts of deflective humour. If he was honest, even after his chat with Jon, the speedster was concerned about his viability in battle, worried that there were still several kinks in the armour in regards to maintaining his powers under duress, and was vehemently hoping that Hallows intended to focus on at least an element of good old-fashioned fisticuffs because it might honestly matter how solidly he could land a left-hook in a tight spot. As an athlete, Cam's abilities were unquestionable and had been honed over years of pursuing sports that ultimately wouldn't allow him to seek a professional pathway. Combat-wise, he had a habit of rescuing spiders and putting them outside and had actually legitimately lost an arm wrestle against his girlfriend, even if she had cheated. He knew where his own deficiencies were.

"Beat up by my boss? Sounds like a Tuesday to me." Cam winked at Claire and then regarded Sarah, his head turned to the side to try and read her shirt. "Scouting the local talent, are we?"

There were cones set at each corner of the gymnasium. "There will be a series of 3 days of training, the first two will be very similar and the last will give those unaccustomed to it a taste of martial combat. To start out we will be running 5 laps around the cones I have set up here, next will be 25 push-ups and 25 sit-ups. Finally, I will be teaching you basic strikes by fist, elbow, knee and foot." He had said we, and the reason for this was the same, he would be doing all of this together. If he couldn't, then why would he be considered a trainer.

He was dressed very similar to how he had been dressed during the first training day, however, unlike last time he was barefoot. He walked over to the nearest cone and stretched a bit as he spoke. "If any of you would like more in depth training, I am willing to offer this."

Claire looked over at Cam again, "I'm sorry, I blinked, did you finish the laps?" She was a pleasant enough woman to be around, and very caring and warm, but when it came to competition something had been instilled in her at a very early age that she couldn't really take it well if she wasn't at least in a position where she could 'win'. This wasn't winning of course, but it was a situation in which she could show off her physical prowess. Running laps simply wasn't her forte. That said she simply started to jog to finish the five laps. She'd worry about the number of push-ups and crunches later, because there was no way she was going to be able to do those in one go.

"Hey, I left the taser at home today." Cameron held up both hands in a show of supplication, and also to prove that the kick-start his powers needed wasn't hiding in the palm of either hand. Without it, he was an above-average athlete who still could have likely piggy-backed her around the course without much trouble but at a pace that wouldn't induce instant motion sickness. Making his way to the first marker, Cam turned and started a side-step, flapping his arms up and down as if intending to complete the entire circuit doing jumping jacks. It cut his speed considerably but not enough to avoid slowly catching up to Claire if she persisted in jogging only.

Sarah listened and nodded to Andrew's instructions. They seemed straightforward enough. She did not consider herself an athlete, but she was physically fit, or at least fitter than her colleagues might think. Years of ballet training had developed strong core and leg muscles, along with enough stamina to withstand rigorous dance routines. She could run, and she could do sit ups. If anything push-ups might present a challenge, as ballet dancers did not utilize their arm and chest muscles like gymnasts did. She was going to find out soon enough.

The librarian's biggest concern is that she did not have a clear picture of how fit she was, and these exercises were unlikely to educate her any more on what she already knew. PE teachers and would-be coaches had tried to tease out her full potential, but her lack of motivation and competitive edge had always turned their attention toward more interested prospects. This however, was different from being scouted for the high school lacrosse team. This was the varsity team tryouts! Or something... like that. Sarah didn't actually know, but she sensed higher stakes than she'd ever faced.

Ignoring the banter of her colleagues, Sarah focused and took off full sprint, as fast as her worn out Converse and amateurish technique would allow. What she didn't know but other trained athletes had sensed, was that her body possessed a glycolytic energy system that was basically superhuman. She didn't really feel the burn from lactic acid buildup in her muscles the same way others did, which gave her the illusion of being able to endure high intensity workouts for an impressive duration. It was a scary power to have though, as her body gave her no sense of her limits. She couldn't see the brick wall until she was slamming into it. Eyes on some imaginary prize, she easily passed Claire, and wasn't even paying attention to what Cam was doing. There was no way she'd be able to match his speed--she'd seen it, after all--but that didn't mean she wouldn't give it the old college try.

Sprinting right out was never the best idea, but he was here to teach, it was only 5 laps around the gym. He was watching all three of his students for this grouping. He knew that Cam could just speed through this part and likely be done even before the rest of them got through their first quarter lap. The fact that even with everything going on the faculty could still make jokes was a good sign, though the next bits of training may wear on them. He would have to manage frayed nerves and sore muscles, hopefully the school nurse would be able to help them repair after all the stress of the training.

He started with a light jog and picked up the pace as he moved, he'd already had his daily five km run this morning. "Once we complete the run, we will take a few minutes to drink water and cool down before beginning again with the push-ups and sit ups. This is simply to get the muscles moving and loosen up, before I begin to teach you the punches and kicks."

Claire picked up her pace to keep up with Sarah who seemed to be competing for some sort of medal, Cameron who was definitely holding back, and Andrew that seemed to effortlessly just run away from her. In her experience it was a different kind of stamina that she tapped into for her powers anyway, so she didn't really fret it. But something in the back of her mind told her she'd have to be able to keep up with at least the librarian. So the steps followed each other more closely now as she tried to make her way back to overtaking the other woman.

As much as there was no realistic threat to his ability to place first several times before the others even finished, Cameron had caught the look on Claire's face and matched it with the furious and purposeful piston of Sarah's arms before wisely deciding this wasn't a race he really wanted to participate in. Adapting the situation to work on his dexterity, the speedster switched to one leg, an exercise in balance under speed that required finesse and agility rather than pure acceleration. Since the battle with the Sentinel, and subsequent decimation of a Duke's bedroom wall, it had occurred to Cameron that controlling himself in tight spaces was likely to be a more prevalent requirement than being able to run a marathon in record time. In his own time, he'd been working on that, but there was little doubt that having actual moving obstacles around was the next step to improving.

As hard as Sarah tried, she still came in last place. She'd taken the lead for the first few laps, but eventually Andrew and Claire passed her. As for Cameron, she just assumed he'd lapped her too quickly for her senses to even register. That was easier to stomach than the truth that he hadn't even competed with her to begin with. Her body still felt fresh enough to tackle another five laps around the gym, maybe even fifty, but she simply didn't have the leg power and technique that came with running at least somewhat regularly. Sarah couldn't even remember the last time she'd run like that. High school? That would've been ten years ago. The librarian didn't take the loss too hard though. She hadn't been expecting to win, she just wanted to show the others that she was willing to give her best effort. Even then, they still might doubt she had, considering she wasn't panting, or showing even a single bead of sweat.

"I'll win next time, you'll see." Sarah said, in a way that made it hard to tell if it was good-natured humor, or simply her being a brat. Still, she made a mental note to look for a pair of running sneakers, even though she knew she probably wouldn't. She was too cheap to buy them brand new, and she already knew what the local thrift store had in her size.

If Andrew knew what was going through Cam's head, he would be able to offer some advice when it came to training, being a soldier he had run several types of obstacle courses. In the run he hadn't been competing in any way, his goal was to make sure that everyone completed the five laps. With that in mind Andrew came in as the last to complete the laps. He was sweating a bit and his breathing was a little laboured.

Walking over to a bench where he had set various items he came back to the group with a plastic carrier holding four water bottles. He passed one to each of them. "Don't guzzle the water, sip it." He wasn't sure if he needed to say that but a lot of first-timers to training made that mistake. He took his own advice and took a few sips from the water bottle.

"We will relax for 2 minutes before moving on to the 25 push-ups and 25 sit-ups. Once that is completed it will be time for the harder part."

Claire wanted sarcastically to point out that the prospect of body-weight exercises were always super relaxing to her, but decided to not give in to her recalcitrant nature. Instead she took the 2 minutes they were granted to stretch her muscles, putting her leg on one of the benches up against the wall and leaning over until her nose touched her knee. She didn't want to tear anything as they progressed through this training.

"Show off," Cameron ribbed, opting to sit on the bench and spread his legs out in front of him in the true definition of rest and relaxation. He'd draped a towel around his neck but, not having really broken a sweat yet, the speedster opted to fold it into a makeshift pillow and tucked it behind his head. Eyes closed, he murmured to Claire, "Makes you wish you hadn't skipped leg day, right?" This from a man who quite clearly never skipped leg day, who found his excellence away from the eloquence of poetry or the foresight of history or critical analysis of ethics and morality. It wasn't often he got the better of his friends and, to his credit, he was trying not to enjoy it too much. Mostly.

Sarah sipped at her water, as instructed. She had no idea why it was better to take small sips after a workout... was it a cramping issue? She suspected this was something all the others knew, and she didn't want to admit her ignorance by asking aloud. Relax. That's what she was supposed to be doing, right? She tried to go through the motions by sitting on the bench near Cameron, but she just felt herself grow tenser with each passing moment as she considered the 'harder part' to come. She'd run the laps... no biggie, right? She looked not worse for wear, but she could already feel her legs turning into jello. The 25 push-ups were likely to be embarrassing. And according to Andrew, that wasn't even the hard part!

Well, this was the varsity team tryouts.

Sarah found herself staring at Claire doing her suggestive stretch. Cam had directed her attention to her with his off-hand comment, and then Sarah had just tuned out into her own thoughts. She hadn't meant to stare. Under normal circumstances she could definitely manage a stretch like that, but she didn't really want to get into some kind of ballerina rivalry with her employer, however entertaining their other colleagues might find that to be. Plus her legs were kinda... liquefying. Best not attempt to show off any more than was absolutely necessary to get through the tryouts alive.

Feeling confident that she was warmed up and stretched out, Claire stepped away from the side of the room into the middle where the mats had been laid out. "When do I get to hit Cameron?" She threw a mock punch or two, trying to look semi competent in doing so.

"Steady on," Cameron called out, "It's not Friday yet."

Andrew just shook his head. "Day two will include sparring, I have planned out three days of training for each group." He was glad to see that people's motivation wasn't dead, this was a good sign. "You won't be combat experts, but you will have the basics to protect yourself and others after I have whipped you all into shape." He dropped to the ground after sipping some water and began pushing out the push-ups.

They wouldn't be as trained as he was once the crash course was complete, but they would be competent and that was the key aspect of this training.

A certain degree of self-preservation kept Cameron from complaining that he'd been placed in a group with two people he was in no hurry to rough up. Any gender specification wouldn't have been wise, particularly in the event that it got back to a certain mechanic that he was playing the unwarranted gentleman card. Pushing himself up off the bench, he squirted a parting mouthful of water and then pulled his best backwards jazzercize knees-up fist-bumps towards Claire. "We must be up to the dramatic entrance training then. Or the Broadway-number montage sequence?" Determined to get a grin out of the worried (and overly-competitive) head mistress, he continued the dance move in a full rotation around her and then sidled up alongside to bump her hip with his. "They're holdin' out for a hero, after all, right?"

"We're rising up. Back on our feet." Claire teased back before going to the mat and forcing out five push ups with what was possibly the worst form seen north of the wall. She was clearly not built for push ups. After the first 'set' she moved into sit-ups and with the core strength required from most of her dancing training she was able to simply pump out fifteen of those before having to give that a rest. She alternated between the two exercises until she had done twenty-five push ups and almost sixty sit-ups. If it was worth doing, it was worth overdoing. After the final set of crunches she lay on her back, just taking a moment to let her body recovered from this assault. "Eye of the tiger." She panted.

Sarah had decided to keep her mouth shut, as Cameron's levity seemed like the perfect smokescreen with which to hide her own physical shortcomings. If Andrew and Claire were focused on Cam being Cam, then they might miss her pitiful displays at athleticism. With this strategy in mind, she chose to do her push ups first while the others horsed around. She quickly regretted the decision when, after thirteen pushups in rapid succession, her arms abruptly gave out and she was barely able to turn her head in time so that she didn't crash nose-first onto the floor.

"Ooooofff." Sarah said from the floor, seemingly incapable of a more dignified response as she struggled to flip onto her back to attempt sit-ups with useless arms.

As Andrew was finishing his repetition of sit-ups he saw Sarah hit the ground hard. On many occasions, he had seem muscle failure/exhaustion. He hopped up quickly and stepped beside her. "Miss Bright, are you alright?" He knew that the next part of the training was going to be a bit tougher, so he might need to modify what he would teach them to not cause more trouble.

"Never better." Sarah lied through her teeth with an awkward smile as she finally got herself into position. Her arms did start to feel better once she stopped forcing the pushups, but she knew better than to think she'd be finishing the rest of them anytime soon. Her body might recover from overexertion more quickly than the average person, but it was hardly a flashy superhuman power like Cameron's speed. It was more of a long-game ability, really, and it had made her many rivals and borderline enemies back when she practiced ballet. She'd never been a particularly skilled dancer, but her ability to quickly recover from blisters, sprains and all manner of foot-related injuries and discomforts got her more than her fair share of attention from her instructors and fellow dancers, and in the end little of it had been good. She suspected that learning to hold back was a lesson most everyone at Avalon had had to learn in their own way.

Sarah groaned as she proceeded with a few sit ups. She didn't know if she'd complete the set of 25, but hopefully with a more realistic pace she'd get at least a bit closer to he goal before ending out with another dramatic fail.