Examination [Lisa]

Even after being told to relax for the day, Maria would not skip a day of exercise. If she did, the Cadet would feel too restless. She got too used to moving her body and putting it under physical duress. There was that, but also some frustration from her recent capture of a Psyche-Terrorist. Maria didn't have any exercising clothes with her this time, but her dress in her Cadet garb would have to do.

That said, the door opened as she entered the gym. Maria appeared to be fidgety, but that's what she was here for, to let out some steam. She scanned the area for a familiar somebody that she once met before...

There she is.

It was strange how Maria expected Lisa to be there and she was. But at the same time, it was a cause to be sympathetic. She can only imagine how hard her fellow Cadet tried to prove herself to everyone. Her cocksure demeanor earlier was a symptom of this. But now, she just devoted herself to bettering everything she had in her arsenal.

Seeing how she was doing her push-ups with a bit of speed was a cause for worry. But remembering last time that she didn't want to be bothered, Maria only had to wait for her to stop. Though while it might take some time, she might as well take part in her own exercises anyway.

She took off her religious habit to throw it over her coffin, leaving her only in her Cadet uniform revealing her blue garb and the wrist/ankle weights clinging onto her. Maria looked somewhat sweaty from it, she was walking around the whole day with them on ever since she woke up.

While leaving the coffin to the side out of everyone's way, she was able to draw out a hefty-looking vest before putting it on. It was a weighted vest that clung to her person. Of course, she began to stretch first before truly beginning her session.

Maria walked towards the majority, being very silent and quiet along the way. She assumed position and began to do her own push-ups, with one hand. Her left hand was behind her back while her right propped her up with her weights still on her body. Normally she wouldn't mind doing hand-stand versions, but given that she was essentially wearing a skirt, it wouldn't be wise.


Unlike Lisa, Maria took it slowly. She was well aware that to do it slowly was more efficient and safer than doing it fast. She breathed quietly and slowly so as to not bother Lisa, but it would also work to make the most out of her own exercise. Hopefully Lisa will take that as a hint.

Rep after rep and set after set, Maria changed between hands with her single hand push-up. She could've sworn Lisa glanced at her, but maybe it was just her imagination. Nevertheless, she finally stopped to allow her muscles a break. She needed to let them rest or it might cause some pain and harm instead. Though it looked like Lisa wasn't going to slow down anytime now.  

Instead, she decided to continue. There had to be a limit for everything, even for Lisa. Maria first began shedding her weighted attire near the coffin. There was a soft audible thump with each piece of velcro ripped off. It felt rather refreshing to feel the accumulated weight get lighter after for so long. She spied a nearby pole/pillar in the gym and had an idea.

She positioned herself near the pole with her head near it while having her hands above hugging it as she laid down. With a steady breath, her legs, hips, and torso began to rise up like a flag. It was the dragon flag exercise popularized and supposedly invented by Bruce Lee. At first she held her legs in the air and slowly using her abdominal muscles to lower them before raising them back up. She started to continue on for a couple of reps...

It was beginning to hurt her core as she continued the exercise. But even at that moment, Maria never bothered to count until now. She remembered Father Jorge once saying to start counting when it feels like you reached your limit, attributing it some "obscure famous" boxer back in his day. She was starting to notice many of the students were beginning to leave and now they were the only ones.  

Nevertheless, Maria continued to take it slow and steady. She didn't need to prove to anyone about her own strength. Rather, she largely did it for herself for her own needs and goals. The Cadet did keep an eye on Lisa in case if she needed any assistance.

Maria finally spoke as she lowered her entire torso and legs down for another rep in the dragon flag, "You're... doing well."

It was good to hear she was sounding rather confident, cocky too. Unlike many others, Lisa wasn't going to be put down by the failure. Or perhaps was it just a facade she adopted to keep herself going as a Lamecia? Maria couldn't tell either way. She finished off a few more reps before finally allowing her whole body to rest on the ground. Tense breathing escaped her lips as she felt rather languid. The Cadet had been wearing weighted attire the whole day, so it explained why she didn't last too long. Even before stepping inside the gym, Maria put herself into training the whole time. She spoke rather sheepishly, "Unfortunately... that seems to be my limit, even after I took off my weights."

Her cerulean pupils eyed Lisa as she gently smiled, "But you know what they say, slow and steady wins the race after all. It's easy to injure and cripple yourself in training if you're not careful."

It was a relatively subtle hint from Maria to Lisa, but hopefully she could get the message without taking much offense. While she acknowledged that the Princess wanted to be left alone to her devices, there was that altruism in the postulant practiced when she felt like the Princess was going to hurt herself at this rate. Especially when she suffered earlier wounds.

She frowned in disapproval at Lisa and shook her head, "Perhaps that might be fine in an actual competition. But you are here to strengthen your body just as I am, aren't you? It is very counter-intuitive to make something like this a competition, you're more often than not to hurt yourself and delay any meaningful progress in the process."

She remembered watching a few of the priests do some questionable things that they should've had known better at their age and experience. Instead, one of the charlatans a few weeks ago was messing around with a leg press and put in too many weights on it surpassing its limits by a couple of times. With his knees extended and locked... it went as well as any person would've imagined. It was an image that even Maria cringed at when she remembered. That priest was transferred out elsewhere.


There were many things that Maria can tolerate. But every person had a few instances when they get angry. There were people that worked with her. Many of them had lives and risked their own for the purpose of protecting its citizens. To needlessly endanger her fellow teammates was no short of infuriating for others, even for Maria. She pulled up her knees to her chest before launching herself into the air back up on her feet. "Has it not occurred to you at all that the recent operations were meant to teach us to learn the value of working together... Your Majesty? No one in the Cadets has enough power to work alone at this point... barring our higher ups. I beseech you to acknowledge this not for just your sake, but for everyone else."

Even if Maria didn't want to be given more responsibilities, it didn't mean she was going to shirk them. If there was a member that was becoming a problem, it was her job to deal with it regardless if they were royalty or not.

She narrowed her eyes at her as she crossed her arms together underneath her chest. Had Lisa been in the Church, her punishment would've been severe. Maria remembered when the nuns in the Scriptures would dole out lashes in the basement for certain failures that the Agents garnered in their tasks.

"The reports from Cadet Shiina are all I need to know, and evidently your brother as well," Maria replied as her brows continued to furrow together, "Your attempts to work alone clearly jeopardized the entire mission for both evenings. You never bothered to regroup with the team and reorganize to take down Alice. All you did is bring in chaos to every ally involved and we now see the result of that folly. People paid their lives with that mistake, Lisa."

Maria was there in that morning with Lisa for the morning meeting. According to Shiina, Lisa was given that opportunity to work alone in the first night to retrieve the key. But she blew it and forced the team to return. Since the Princess didn't bother to challenge the account, there wasn't any reason why the Wild Card was lying. She knew from Serenity that Lisa was supposed to be resting, but yet the girl forced herself back into the field. And even then, there were no attempts for teamwork it seemed.

Maria continued as she placed a hand on her hip, "You're right. Bodyguards do work alone at times, but even they aren't so foolish to believe they can take on everything alone all the time. They do it because they must and have reached enough strength to reliably work in that manner. In this case, there was an opportunity to work together to make up for inexperience that you all had, and yet that was squandered."

She was unhappy, but at this point there was nothing else needed to be said since she couldn't reach Lisa. Maria closed her eyes and sighed, wondering about the ordeals ahead. She had little doubt that the Princess would continue to try to prove to herself and to her siblings of her own "strength". At this rate, this job was becoming more and more of a babysitting role...

Maria began to pack up her belonging and left, regardless. What is up with this day?

[Exit]