Get Some Gains [Esra]

There was a morning meeting that Maria had to attend to. But she just wasn't feeling it right now at the moment. The evening before had her feeling anxious about being a Cadet, but having gone through the obstacles and hardships, she felt more at ease. Like as if it wasn't as bad as once thought, but still possessing some confidence to a sliver of a degree.

The Gym was open as usual and it was one of the few places the Cadet liked to hang out at. Simply out of the fact that only the sporty-kind of people tended to hang out at the gym in the early morning. Maria merely walked around the area without bothering to take part in any exercises. She might've been a strange sight being dressed in her nun habit and with her coffin harnessed against her back. But after all, she just couldn't enter the Class Zero building all sweaty, right?

Esra bounced in place, again, again, again and again. Each time a plastic yellow rope clicked against the wire wool floor, sweeping in time for each bounce. Sweat beaded her, black hair sticking to an exposed neck. Arms came up and down again, legs crossing and back. A green tank top and black shorts she wasn't in the school PE kit. School hadn't started yet however and she needed a clean uniform for class.

Already she had gone through sit-ups, weights and once again she had run to school. She abused her body. Still she was human, she could not go forever and she knew the limits she could push to and still get through the school day. Red, hot and sticky that time was almost here. A final jump, her chest hammering and her legs almost giving out before she caught the rope in both hands and let it hang about her shoulders.

There was a small cut on her right armpit, not deep, already crispy with blood but there never the less. Black hair stuck heavily to her forehead, red eyes bleary. Fighting the urge to crouch down Esra seemed unsteady as she tried to force herself to breath deep. Generally she was alone when she went in for a morning, she liked the quiet.

Worn and weary as she was though, she could swear that there was a nun here. Esra was not religious and she didn't care to be. There were some sort of story and prayers, she'd never actually known anyone remotely religious. So she had no idea how to respond to the woman, she assumed woman, in front of her.

Maria was listlessly gazing around her surroundings while doing nothing much on her own. It was a common way to waste time, doing nothing. Her gaze included the empty space of the gym. Or at least, it was almost empty excepting a solitary young girl. The Cadet tried to be mindful of her presence as she tried to make herself scarce. But with a coffin stuck to her back, it might as well be an inevitability that it would fail.


Of course, she would be. Why else would she be here? Maria only spoke in this manner for the sake of pleasantries. It was a faint surprise to her that someone would actually bother waking up so early to hone their bodies. It spoke of dedication and commitment, something which a lot of people lacked and that's something she respected.

"Yeah, the perfect place to bury evidence right?"

Esra eyes the coffin that had to be a weird prop of some kind. What 80lbs of wood, maybe more? Double of triple if there was a body inside. What? The fact there was a nun here, dressed as she was with the chunk of wood was already strange enough. On top of that she was thinking of dead bodied, at school? Concerned for her own sanity Esra thrust her face into a towel and took a deep breath through the cotton.

3,2,1. Nope still there.

Rolling her lips together Esra stood there quite still for a several seconds. She had never seen this girl before, not that she could remember in the slightest. Yet here she was inside the school, it seemed wrong. Cursing the fact that almost every part of her already ached she took a hard cool breath, an inward sigh. "What's with the coffin?" Terse, slightly scared and a wash of uncertainty.

"Uh... No. That's not what I'm here for... at all."

Maria blinked at her question, almost blankly at first since she was taken by surprise. At one point she couldn't tell if that was a joke or not. But on the other hand, it's been a while since she met anyone that blunt about her coffin other than the other Cadet since she usually tried to avoid conversation with most people outside of the Church. The Cadet rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.


It's things like this that gave reason Maria why she hated going outside of the Church. But after meeting some decent people for the last few days, she forgot her reasons. Maybe it was better to stick around Class Zero from now on.

"It doesn't worry me,"

No no. As long as there isn't a body inside its perfectly normal for a nun to be walking around with a coffin over their shoulder. What sort of nebulous bizarre universe was this all of a sudden? Did this girl have no idea of exactly how completely weird this situation was? All of this was conveyed with a cock of the eyebrow and disconcertion that the girl seemed to have no intention of explain why she had a coffin at all. Maybe it was some punishment thing, religions were weird.

Sternness settling back in Esra looked around for her water bottle, hanging the towel around her shoulders. Her tone was more controlled now, somewhat less rough. Neutral was one word for it, maybe emotionally repressed another, "Did you need something?" The Gym wasn't on the way anywhere and the woman wasn't dress for anything close to exercise. Then again if she could lift a coffin, it had to be fake.

She was increasingly tempted to just leave and waste time elsewhere. Clearly Maria's presence didn't invite much acceptance on her part. Her fingers fidgeted with the steadfast harness around her shoulders. She tried to nonchalantly shrug her shoulders at the exercising girl, but only ended up being more awkward instead. "Not really. I'm just waiting before I have to attend a meeting, don't have much to do at the moment. Figured I could hang around here where it's usually quiet at this time of day."

She put her fingers through her pockets before drawing out her rather antiquated flip-phone. The time was still too early to head out to the rest of the Cadets. But staying here might not be much of an option for much longer. Maria didn't want to make her too uncomfortable, especially with her rather bizarre appearance. And it isn't like the cafeteria wasn't open where she could gorge on all of its food. "Um, is my presence here a problem? I can leave if that's what you prefer."

"Don't let me stop you, it's weird is all," Esra drained a litre bottle of water quietly and quickly, the plastic making a loud pop when she broke the vacuum. Taking just a moment with a glance at the woman Esra started to stretch down. It would suck to have a muscle pull itself now hand haunt her for the rest of the day.

On one leg and with her right arm pulled tight across her body, "I'm Esra Dean." Just tight enough to strain, it was nice. After a few seconds she alternated before moving towards lunges. While she didn't stop she was trying her best to be polite, well not quite her best.

"Oh. Um... thanks." Maria felt somewhat more at ease now that it seemed as if the girl didn't have much of an issue of her presence. Of course, the nun was being weird just by existing and she really couldn't say much about it. She continued to watch the girl stretching and exercising without much of a fuss now. "Maria Woodsworth. Nice to meet you, Esra."

She began to unleash the harnesses from her body before lowering the coffin to touch the ground in order to lean against a wall. There was a loud thump which caused Maria to hiss out in embarrassment and annoyance. It was clearly taxing to normal people to carry such a weight, but it was more so that it was too tight for her to keep it on. Maria gave her a sheepish eye back at Esra, "Sorry about that."

Lunging close to the ground, first one way and then the other Esra eyed the nun as she settled against the wall. She had a name, didn't introduce herself as Sister and admitted that what she was doing was weird. Well that was progress at least, a few more lunges with breathing back to normal Esra stood up and wiped her face again. The tank top was slick with sweat and clinging to her, despite a few pinches she tried in vain. "What kind of meeting?" It seemed weird for someone to be having a meeting before school. By what she said the woman was here enough times to hide in the Gym.

There was about twenty minutes before the first bell would go, that was enough time for a quick shower and to change with a little bit left over. Running away too fast would seem rude, the woman seemed to want to talk to her. Esra was not exactly a wordsmith however. Sullenly she went on, "Not that you have to tell me."

Maria was scratching her head at this whole situation. It was already awkward enough that her appearance was bizarre, but it seemed like this Esra wasn't much of the type to talk amicably about stuff on a daily basis like most people. "It's for a club. Nothing really special, we tend to start very early in the morning."

She didn't like sharing her connections with the Cadets. After all, she wanted a kind of life of her own outside of work, a normal one. But then again, that was difficult when she was required to walk around with a massive coffin everywhere on her person. "So... are you the only one around here lately? You're the first I met in this kind of time."

There weren't that many early morning clubs, certainly not many that took place during first period. How, interesting. So there was a nun at the school with a large something inside a coffin that didn't want to say why she was here. Weird, Esra knew when not to push at least some of the time though. Standing there and feeling useless she frowned at nothing in particular, "Almost no one else does anything before school," Esra looked towards the window where there was at least some movement, "There will be students and teachers around though, someone will be in the gym office by now."

That might be a lie, Esra wasn't so sure. However you didn't tell a woman carrying a coffin who was acting weird that you were indeed, alone. "I come in and use the gym every few mornings, its easier when its quieter." When no one else is in the way. "I take a shower before class," Esra dropped a fairly large hint. Still she felt compelled to ask, "You never use the equipment?"

"I do, sometimes. But I like free weights better than machines. It's a personal choice for me," Maria replied back.

So in the end, it was mostly Lisa, Maria, and Esra that now usually came to the gym in the early morning as the Cadet could tell. It wasn't a big number. Maria glanced at the windows where there were now a number of students mingling about during P.E. Maybe it was about time for her to make her exit. She checked her phone one last time and that seemed to be the case.

She waved at her with a smile barely looking genuine considering how awkward their meeting was, "Uh... It looks like it's about time for me to leave. Can't be late with the... um, Club President present. It's nice meeting you, Esra. Enjoy your workout! Bye!"

And with that, Maria finally moved for the exit as she left her in peace at last.

There was certainly an urge to follow the woman, to find out about this mystery club that met during the school day. Not dressed like this though, covered in sweat, it'd cause no end of problems. There would be more chances if she would be here again, plenty more. Raising her hand Esra didn't wave, "Back at you, Woodsworth." Watching her go with little more reaction than that, it was certainly an upset to a boring morning.

Once the door closed Esra counted to ten, time to head for the showers. It wasn't worth thinking about the weirdness too much, was it?

Dried, fresh and ready for a day of learning she looked in the mirror. She'd ask around about this club maybe, it seemed the sensible thing to do. Scratching at her temple she sighed, yeah.

Ersa of The Emperor and Maria of The Chariot have established a Social Link...