Oh No, Not You Again (Jack Valentine)

The white gym uniform was starting to drench and stick to her body as her breathing was labored through her exercises. Every once in a while, she had to pull on the shirt to keep it from taking the complete outline of her torso. But she was alone at this very moment as far as she was aware. Other than doing handstand push-ups, she was taking care in running around the place for some speed rather than just strength. It was an empty place, but quiet enough to do some exercises on her own. Her talk with Lisa did pump her up a bit, making her feel more motivated in her training.

She honestly wondered if her Lamecia surname was the very same one as Isla's. It would be akin to meeting royalty to her, but even more that she met the daughter of the goddess of her religion. Now this was going to be awkward. Should she simply just ignore the fact or take a more humble behavior towards her? Maria couldn't make any sense of it. Were these meetings with other people omens for things to come?

Breathing was laboring and sweat started to drench more and more. She was just wiping off the right side of her neck with a nearby towel she had in place. The stickiness was unwelcoming, but she was feeling better refreshed from all that exercise. While wiping herself off, she nonchalantly replied, "Oh, thanks. I guess that's what happens when you exercis--"

She suddenly paused before allowing her eyes to widen in the size of saucers. Her blue head jerked towards his direction, causing her to drop her jaw to utter a surprised squall. What and why in the Hell was he doing here?


"Wh-what are you doing here?!" Maria managed to blurt out despite her shock while pointing a shaking index finger at him. She hurriedly tried to cover up her torso and the rest of the body with that small towel of hers, but clearly she was failing as it couldn't cover up everything. Maria had clearly expected to be alone. In fact, who else other than Lisa would come in here outside of class hours? She didn't expect any of this at all. But she soon recovered while looking to the side, clearly embarrassed.


She winced at the memories where Sister Louise put her in a literal "Training From Hell" at the nearby hills. Maria had wondered how she was able to last so long, perhaps it was because of her enhancements. But she couldn't bare to remember any more with a shudder.

"So, what brings you here, Jack?" she asked curiously while wiping off more sweat and pulling on her shirt in an in vain attempt to keep it from taking up the outlines of her body's outline.

If Maria wasn't already feeling despair already, she was feeling it now. Oh Isla. Now this creep had some kind of tracker on her person? No way. It can't be on her clothes, she just took them off to change into her gym clothes. A normal person probably would think he's joking. But she was clearly being naive here, not that she already wasn't to begin with. "...did you put it on my coffin?"

Her face was a mixture of annoyance, yet resignation as her face continued to redden. But ultimately, annoyance when she was noticing how he was looking at her. Great.  Note to self, it's better to invest in bigger towels next time. She plainly replied to him about her being a fitness trainer while pulling at her shirt again, "Well. I thought about it, but I don't know. I'll have to think about it."

There was no way she was going to do that. In fact, she had planned to work in an environment to fight the demons or even to better protect the populace. It was what all her five years are for and why she bothered to join the Orishiki dojo.

Honestly though, Maria wondered why he was here. But him forgetting didn't help her so she decided to not care either. It was a futile endeavor to understand him at all. There was a pained gleam in her eyes when he commented about her body as a weapon, but she quickly recovered with a chuckle before he could try to notice. She had to admit, it was a bit funny to see him falling after that attempt of a basic maneuver.


Why should she simply be a passive victim here? For once, a little bit of a jab here shouldn't hurt. If he was going to have fun messing with her, why can't she do the same?

OOC:

Maria wasn't sure what to be glad for, whether his inability to handle electronics or that he wasn't a stalker. Perhaps, it would be the latter. She heard a lot of disturbing rumors and gossiping of stalkers while working in the Church. Stories of unwanted eyes gazing at your every move and your most vulnerable moments. Maria was one that really didn't like the lack of personal privacy. She, like many other people, had things that they would rather hide away from others. Embarrassing details, mostly, but also the fact of why she has her Demon Weapon. Those were all she wanted to obfuscate. It definitely rammed through her comfort zone with an army of rampaging delivery trucks.


She was an absolute loss as she dropped her towel at her feet. Perhaps Maria should've seen this coming. She started to kneed the bridge of her nose in thought. Why should she stick to this guy? He's just all around weird and stuff. A rejection should be her answer, totally, given how she was probably going to be busy. Right?

"Just... call me by my name," Maria finally sighed in resignation, "I'm honestly not great, myself. But if you're okay with some basic stuff, I guess. Sure. I might be busy at times. You alright with that?"

What the fuck, brain? How was a simple rejection this difficult? Right now, she wanted to rip and tear her little towel as she picked it right back up. Yet, she remained as composed as possible. Really. What the hell?

Oh Isla, why? Please no. Was he actually being serious about the stalker thing? She could feel her own face forming into an expression of horror right now... no. That was wrong. She was making a comical face that regarded him as some kind of threat or maybe a source of anger. Seriously, this guy needed some help. Maria wasn't feeling too pleased by this right now. Weird or not, he had to realize even tough women had their limits just as everyone else did. But she finally sighed while kneading the bridge of her nose again upon remembering back at Suzie Q with Shiina. She'd just let it pass, as usual. Perhaps it was her mistake in taking him too seriously. But it made her wonder when she'd actually have to at one point.

Maria took a glance at his scrawny body. While he was clothed, he seemed awfully average despite looking rather disheveled. Then again, upon that simple glance, he actually didn't look that scrawny either.


Forty seemed like a good number for her. Forty was like a light exercise. When serious, she mostly did those hand-standing push-ups. So how will Jack fare?

This guy, he really wanted to push all of Maria's buttons. After calling her a vampire, staring at her lecherously, acting a bit like a creeper, and even asking for lessons, he had the utter audacity to not want to do the first exercise Maria offered. Perhaps forty might have been too much, but to straight out not wanting to do it out of laziness? He has a long way to go. But a short way to really setting off the fuse in Maria's head. She calmly breathed in through her nostrils, reining in her anger. But not completely suppressing it. Oh no, she was at her limits alright.


She had a fearsome aura about her. Knuckles cracking audibly and fingers flexing, Maria seemed utterly calm, yet she seemed ferocious. At this point, perhaps Jack had realized he had made an awful mistake. Perhaps he would complain that she misheard him. But that is too late. The damage has been done. Nothing can be done to stop her fury.


She struck out a straight punch at his gut. While she wasn't really using her full strength, it would be hard enough to feel like a baseball bat hit him.

Singsong voice aside, Maria had to admit it felt cathartic to a significant degree. But she broke out in an amused laugh, failing to stay composed as she wanted. Oh she was horrible, alright. But that Jack guy really deserved it. So Maria didn't feel too bad right now and she wasn't going to say sorry... at least not right now. She offered a hand to Jack and brought him up on his feet.


Jack never seemed to be a tough guy anyway. Maria more or less expected him to keel over in pain, it was going to take something else to actually knock out a person. But a little white lie wasn't going to hurt here. "Need some water? I can go get you some if you want. Too bad the one from this morning isn't here right now."

She had to admit, Maria never expected him to take advantage of her offer to help him like this. He definitely took her off guard and that was definitely the scary part of him as she soon would find out. She reflexively blinked as his fingertips tapped against her glasses, almost lost in understanding what just happened at first. But what Jack said next caused her sigh in resignation.


Maria finally pulled him up and watched Jack. She stared at the thread-work on his arms. While the girl hadn't been paying much attention at first, the way how he nonchalantly treated the lines through his skin. The girl wondered if it was painful, but he didn't seem to mind. But when it came to homework, Maria did have one in mind, yet she didn't know if this guy will take it seriously. But that little slip-up about her biting him, while causing her to furrow her brows at him, didn't really help matters in Maria trusting him enough to take this seriously.

"Watch and take up this stance," she ordered while taking up a basic stance with her hands near her face, her chin was tucked in with eyes looking forward, her left leg leading forward and her back foot behind her with heel slightly lifted. It was clearly a basic guard taught to all beginners. "Remember to tuck elbows in and stay relaxed."

When all was followed by Jack, she extended her left arm completely and held it there for a moment, as if doing a punch, before pulling it back to the stance. She waited for a moment to see Jack doing it as she did. Once her "student" did as he saw, Maria pulled out a vicious jab in empty air and just as quickly returned her jabbing hand back into the guard.


Maria didn't bother to explain the full benefits of a jab. For someone like Jack, it would be better for him to figure out why this was useful through his own understanding. Not only would it make training meaningful than most, but it would probably garner  interest in him to figure it out on his own. This was pretty much her test to see how serious Jack was on learning.