Phys-Ed with the Big Ugly Guy [Caelen]

[Guest Estel]

Isha awoke just before the sun’s first rays poked over the horizon. It was the normal time he woke up- if anything about him could be called normal. With a sigh, he rolled out of bed and was once again cruelly reminded by certain sore joints that life would never be the same again. As if to rub it in his face, his mirror reflected back his face. Despite struggling against it, his eye was drawn to the gaping hole on his face that had once held his left eye.

 

Some time later, the giant man left his equally giant house- at least in comparison to most of the houses of his peers- in the direction of the training fields. Normally, the fact that he was doing physical training would have set a grin upon his scarred and twisted face, but those had become few and far between lately. He wore relatively loose black breeches and a white shirt he had cut the sleeves off of- there was no need to show everyone just how scarred his back was.

 

By the time he could see his pupil approach, the sun had been up at least an hour. “Good morning. I am Isha,†he left off his title as he had no intention of bogging this class down in formality “and we’ll start this morning off with a light jog.†With that, long legs took off down the hard packed dirt that had become known as the Koras Track which looped around the entire farm.

[TaeaDawn]

Caelen woke up feeling..well.. good. There really was something interesting about waking up in the morning and feeling..well.. good. He smiled. He laughed just for the sound of it. He stretched and remembered that he was going to be doing phycial training today. And probably every day in his life thereafter. OK, not ..well ...good... but he could manage it. Life was life after all and if you couldn't manage it..well he wasn't ready for the alternative.

 

He realized as he stood up and started moving around that the one thought was probably the defining truth of his life. Life is life and i'm not ready for the alternative. The thought made him whistle as he continued getting ready.

 

When he was done he walked down to the training field. He'd seen the other man around before, hadn't put together his name with this face though. Now that was a face only a mother could love. He stopped walking for a second to make sure he hadn't said that aloud and realized he wasn't being tackled so he probably hadn't.

 

His intructor started running laps so Caelen just shrugged and started after him. So much for the 'getting to know you' portion of class. He had the insane urge to sing as he ran but figured that would probably be a bad start.

 

 

[Guest Estel]

After a warm-up jog of about five laps, Isha stepped off the track and waited for the boy to catch up. Some time later, he stumbled up in better shape than he had seen many whom he had given this lesson to. ~Underestimating a man in dangerous~ 'So is overestimating' The Voice had no rebuttal.

 

"While we stretch, we can talk." Isha said, begining to work the muscles in his legs. "I am Attack Leader Isha Talcontar and to keep this lesson as devoid of needless formality as possible, call me Isha. "You would be?"

[TaeaDawn]

Caelen wished he was about 20 years younger. Then he could have given the man a run for his money! That's what happened when you were the oldest new person on the block. Well, he still had his sense of humor. And great legs. He still needed to show Jocelyn how he looked in a bonnet. There, that was the right thought! He smiled as his teacher began talking.

 

"Caelen Sarafayan. Pleased as punch to meet ya sir!" He said with a grin. "Soldier extraordinaire! Or..well... just Soldier at the moment. I'm working on the extraordinaire though. Think it would help if I added a musical number?"

 

[Guest Estel]

Immediately the mention of music set The Voice to humming. It was an old tune, older than the Age of Legends. ‘Age of Legends! How do you know a tune from before the Age of Legends?’ Instead of answering, The Voice kept humming. It was an old march and though the title was forgotten, it had something to do with a soldier.

 

At Caelen’s expression, Isha realized he was humming out loud again and stopped. Clearing his throat- and attempting to clear his head- he continued the class. “Now that we’re warmed up, let’s get some work done. Push-ups first, then sit-ups; fifty of the first, two-hundred of the last.â€

[TaeaDawn]

"So I guess that's a no to the musical number..." Caelen said under his breath. He wasn't about to push his luck any further though. Caelen might not be entirely normal in the head, but he knew how to read people and he figured this wasn't a good time to push on with his sense of humor.

 

Still in his head he began working on a tune, inspired by what Isha had been humming. What else could he do when he was doing enough push ups to make his arms weak and sit ups enough to want to throw up the huge breakfast he'd stupidly eaten this morning? Why, compose a musical about the Mad army and it's crazy escapades!

 

[Guest Estel]

Isha could have hit himself when he found himself harmonizing Caelen’s song. What in the Light was happening to him? Just then, Isha could really have used a drink. He didn’t like the implications of these strange occurrences.

 

“Now that we’re all warmed-up,†Isha said when the Soldier finished “we can get back to running.†But before the ‘boy’- who was actually older than him- could take off, the giant handed him a pole with two ten-pound sandbags tied to either end. Taking one for himself, he set off at a nice, gentle- for his long, powerful legs- run. “We’ll do another five laps now.â€

 

He slowed up just a bit to allow the Solider to fall alongside him. “So, ‘boy’.†the big man said with a now-rare grin. “What brought you here?â€

[TaeaDawn]

Boy? It was an odd thing to be called considering he was a bit older than the 'boy' beside him, but it was about rank now, not true age. Still, he could hum a good tune.

 

He took the pole with a nod and a grunt as he settled it across his shoulders. What brought him here? Now that was a great question!

 

"I was actually out travelling the countryside. I've always hear it's beautiful here this time of year so I found myself a spacious room at the most expensive Inn and decided to treat myself to some luxury." He said with a crooked grin. "It is a far cry away from Far Madden and the Guardian, that's for sure."

 

[Guest Estel]

Despite his usually sober disposition, Isha couldn't help but bark a laugh. Light when had he last laughed? ~Not since that...~ 'Shuttup! I don't want to remember!' ~Avoiding it doesn't solve anything~ 'I don't care!' The Voice retreated back to the dark places of his mind which he dared not explore.

 

They finished their laps and Isha then set Caelen to doing repititions on the chin-up bar he had had to have built especially for him- after all, a bar built for a man roughly six feet high did not work for one an entire foot taller.

[TaeaDawn]

Oh, the sure joy of it... the cool touch, the feel of rippling muscles... alright, so he wasn't enjoying ths one bit, but he could pretend he was. In his mind, he was a great warrior competing in a great tournament. The three men beside him were the greatest warriors known to mankind and he was just a simple merchant, but one that could surpass them all, he just knew it! They were doing stamina tests and he watched as the others all slowed and fell from their bar, one by one.

 

It failed when he opened his eyes though and it was only Isha watching him. Closing his eyes again, the crowds roared around him as his last opponent collapsed from the bar and he continued to go, showing his adoring fans exactly what he was capable of.

 

[Guest Estel]

When Caelen finished, collapsing to the ground, Isha tossed a waterskin down at him. “You can stay down there while I explain your final assignment.†The big man remained standing, sitting wasn’t difficult but the standing afterwards brought its own difficulties. “I want you to organize your own ‘obstacle course’. Be as creative as you like, but I need the following things involved: running for at least five minutes, weight lifting, running with some kind of weight, climbing and crawling. You have the rest of the day to create it, at the end of the day I’ll return and compete against you.â€

 

With a smile, or at least what his face could manage, he strode off towards his house with the strange desire to play the harp.

[TaeaDawn]

It was a strange thing to have to do, but as Caelen surveyed his obstacle course he was quite proud of it. Why, the Creator himself just might want to come down and look at this thing himself!

 

The first part was weight lifting since he figured that would be the worst part for him. He'd rather get it out of the way first and work his way around form there. Next a small jog with the last weights he had been lifting. After that there was a nice mud puddle that begged to be crawled through with a decent hill to climb up after. And lastly, a suitable jog that would wind him back to the beginning.

 

His work done, he waited for his strange teacher to come back, all the while whisteling the tune that he had started in the first place.

 

[Guest Estel]

Isha nodded, looking over Caelen’s obstacle course, resisting the urge to add a counterpoint melody to the ‘boy’s’ tune. Weight lifting first, then running with the weights followed by crawling and climbing and last was another jog. Decent enough course, though the a smile twisted the big man’s already twisted lips. ‘He’s playing to my strengths. Too bad he didn’t put have us crawling through tight spots.’

 

“Alright Caelen, I’ll give you a ten second head-start.â€

 

Ooc: write him going through and then I’ll follow with Isha...

[TaeaDawn]

"Light, but you didn't tell me i'd have to go through the thing!" Caelen protested as he looked at the man before him. "I'd have made it easier if I'd known that part!"

 

He was about to say more, to elaborate on his ability to make a great looking obstacle course that would be easy but look hard. It involved a lot of mud in his mind but not a lot else that would really hamper you, but a look from Isha set him running. It probably wasn't a good idea to argue with the man that called him 'boy'. Besides, it might ruin a perfectly good friendship and he didn't have a good singing partner yet.

 

So he was off with the weights and working up a sweat before the big guy could get the jump on him. Still, it was an obstacle course and not, to his understanding, a race. He wasn't some young pup that could just up and go full out and not suffer for it later. No, he'd work at it hard, but he wasn't gonna try to beat out a young man that was in far better shape than he was.

 

With the weight done, he began the small jog and then into the mud puddle that was refreshingly cool at that point. Still, it got into places he was certain he didn't want mud in so he trudgeld through on his belly, then began to climb the hill. On the other side he began to jog back to the beginning to see what his trainer thought of his performance.

 

[Guest Estel]

Rather than giving the older man ten seconds, Isha waited an entire half-minute to make up for the difference in age. The big Asha’man wasn’t as fit as he had been just a few months before, but he was still easily the physically strongest man in the Black Tower.

 

Isha had already made back the head start by the time they had finished the weights. Arms the size of tree limbs made short work of the weights. Truthfully, running with the weights wasn’t that much different than running with them. Being big- freakishly big- had its advantages.

 

The crawling and climbing however were quite a bit more difficult. Certain things had been done to him that night not long ago and certain things had become more difficult. It was easy enough to long a short distance, but he could no longer run as for as he had and crawling certainly did not bode well he had found that dampness no longer agreed with some of his lasting wounds.

 

He made it through the mud puddle but he was significantly slowed as his wounds awoke and his groin began to ache. This, of course, made running more difficult and so he beat Caelen by only a little.

 

“Good job, that’s enough for today.” Isha managed before dismissing the other man silently and limping off towards his home to rest.

 

ooc: all done, I'll send this to Covai