Gravity

[shewhocompels]

Who: Teyud za-Zhalt and you, the reader
When: You know, whenever. The first few weeks after Teyud arrived.
What: Adapting to living in 1G
Where: Cassia
Rarting: PG for now

[Regenerating]

The world Teyud had lived on until a week or two ago was known to her people as Zho'da, which translated in their language as "The only significant place" or "The Real World". Earthlings called it Mars. The thing about Mars, though, is that its surface gravity is only 39% that of Earth's. Teyud was finding adaptation a very tiring process. She was working at it with dogged determination, though. Whatever her course of action ended up being in this strange world, she wanted to be physically fit enough to survive it.

She's spent a good chunk of every day since she arrived relentlessly exercising, with weights (Never heavy weights. Not yet.), with jogging (or even just walking, when jogging is too exhausting to contemplate.), or with whatever else she can think of. She wants muscles.

So throughout your day, you can find a tired woman who looks like someone took a normal person and stretched them out about to a bit over seven feet tall at all kinds of weird hours, working out endlessly. There's no way any normal person could keep up this level of activity. It's almost as if she were subconsciously tapping into her small mana supply as a pawn to heal her body as she beat it up.

That can't be healthy, in the long term.

[Refueling]

The time she doesn't spend exercising or sleeping, she spends in the dining hall of the hall of heroes, shoveling down alarming amounts of whatever the order du jour is while reading books from the library furiously. She wasn't just a thug for hire, she was Thoughtful Grace, the warrior caste who's minds were weapons as much as their bodies were, and that meant she couldn't spend all her energy improving herself physically. She hacked at her ignorance of this world with as much determination as she would an opponent in battle.

The piles of food were because all the muscle mass she hoped to put on had to come from somewhere.

[Recuperating]

No one can keep that kind of pace up ALL the time, though. Eventually, Teyud needed a break. This particular time, she spent it sitting out in a shady spot in the courtyard of the Hall of Heroes with a pair of scissors, a pen, and a pile of poster board of some kind, which she was cutting out into what were clearly pieces for a board game of some kind. The game featured a large octagonal board and pieces marked with strange symbols that are vaguely reminiscent of chess pieces.

Though she's concentrating on her task, there's a certain eagerness about her that says "Please notice me. I want you to join in."

Comments

1

[suzinkazan]

[She vaguely recognizes that healing. She's heard of people doing that - using healing magic to extend their stamina and vitality far past any sane limit. She also knows it's probably not healthy. So 'probably not healthy' she previously thought only one person was dumb enough to ever do it.

Not that she hasn't been training since arrival either, just of the... more sane, sort. Sometimes she borrowed some of the lighter weights. Wordlessly, of course.]

...Are you alright? You're here quite a lot.

[shewhocompels]

I am extremely fatigued, but extensive goals require extensive effort.

[A conversation seemed as good an excuse as any to put down the weights and catch her breath. Her arms felt like they were on fire, but strangely not as much as she felt like they should be. She wrote it off as her training regimen working.

In other words, Susan, she wasn't even aware she was using magic.]

[suzinkazan]

[That would infuriate her, if she knew it was the case.]

If you're sure.

I've seen a lot of people get hurt over training, though. [She pauses.]

Did someone thump you, as well? [She rubs her forehead, a little annoyed.]

[shewhocompels]

I am in no condition for physical conflict, and have been taking all steps to avoid it.

So no. No one has "thumped" me.

[suzinkazan]

I wasn't looking for it either, I was sort of.

Mind controlled into attacking someone. [And she got thumped. Which she's still super salty about...she kind of trails off, too.]

So that's why you're so motivated, I guess?

[shewhocompels]

Ah, yes. I heard rumors about that, though it was hard to give them much credence at the time.

[Still working on the "Magic exists" bit, after all.]

I would not be a terribly impressive coercive for Blanc if I could not fight. If I am to achieve economic success, I must adapt my body for this world.

That means putting on a lot more muscle. Probably bone density as well.

[suzinkazan]

Are you unused to physical activity? [It's the 'bone density' bit that gets her - she has a hard time believing THAT would be an issue.]

[shewhocompels]

I am unused to gravity.

[suzinkazan]

....Do they not have that, where you're from?

[She's genuinely curious now.

Even if she said it in the most snide phrasing possible.]

[shewhocompels]

Less. A bit over one third of what they have here. I feel like I have two skinny sisters sitting on my shoulders at all times.

[suzinkazan]

...Oh, I see.

That's very interesting, I'm only used to places having more gravity...

...That I've heard of, I mean, I've never been.

[shewhocompels]

Do you originate from a version of Earth? My planet is near there.

[suzinkazan]

Ah, no.

Earth is...

It's complicated. I guess you could say Earth exists near it, but it is not the same. [There's planes and stuff, okay.]

[shewhocompels]

An alternate reality, much like the one we find ourselves in now?

[A few weeks ago, she would have been more dubious of such an idea. No longer.]

[suzinkazan]

I suppose that's the simplest way to put it, although I'm certain travel between this place and it wouldn't be nearly as simple as between my home and Earth.

[shewhocompels]

I suspect you would have left by now, were this the case.

[suzinkazan]

....No, no I likely wouldn't have.

Because I just know a certain fool I know who is also here would have chosen to remain out of his sense of Justice, or some such. [She grumbles.] Or just pure academic curiosity.

So I'd have to stay, to make sure they don't get slaughtered.

[shewhocompels]

Sounds like you'd be saving yourself a substantial amount of effort allowing him to be slaughtered. Does he owe you money?

[suzinkazan]

If someone else kills him, I can't do it.

[She says this entirely straight faced.]

And I can't do it HERE because it wouldn't mean anything.

[shewhocompels]

[Why must Earthlings be so weird?]

...I don't understand.

[suzinkazan]

[If only she knew, Susan wasn't from Earth, and is just a little nuts.]

He can't die before I pound his fluffy head into the dirt, and since neither of us have our magic here, I wouldn't feel satisfied. I have to beat him while he has his actual skillset.

[shewhocompels]

[Suddenly this all made more sense.]

Ah! It is a matter of personal pride, then.

[suzinkazan]

Yes.

Also ideology.

I refuse to submit to his blitheringly stupid combat philosophy.

[The salt is coming out in her voice just thinking about it.]

[shewhocompels]

Generally, in my experience, people with blitheringly stupid combat philosophies tend not to live very long. If he lives still, there must be something to it.

[suzinkazan]

He has effectively infinite energy, so it works out for him.

[And that INFURIATES her.]