How does this work? Read up about it here, and don't forget to R&U to that thread!

The Set-up:
Any character heading to their favorite gym/training room/park for a workout can instead end up here.

Setting:
A modern day, state of the art fitness center (where everyone who walks in is already a member). It's got rows of the latest in shiny exercise machines, a locker room, a weight lifting section, yoga mats, punching bags, and a small protein shake bar. Off to the side is a set of boxing rings that double as areas where two people can have a spar even while transformed.

Fitness Trainers On Duty:
Ganymede Knight, out of his suit of armor and dressed in a simple white t-shirt and silver and green sweatpants. His name tag says "Yuuta" on it, and he's sitting behind the front desk, ready to hand out extra equipment or assist in spotting anyone who needs help starting their work out. He appears almost bored, thumbing through a magazine as he watches the automatic doors.

So that's what a gym looked like from the inside. Though his first goal was to enter the building, Kynn found himself rather interested by the automatic doors. It wasn't that he never saw any before even if there was none on Kashyyk, it was that he liked them. He found them hilarious and so took the greater part of the next five minutes just entering and leaving for the sole reason of making the doors open and close without him having to touch them.

Then, bored with them, he finally entered.

He never went to a gym before, that's actually why he wanted to try one. This one seemed nice enough. Alright, it wasn't quite as cozy and luxurious as he'd like, but even a King couldn't have everything he wanted.

"You there!" He demanded, pointing the creature that was probably in charge of this place, the kid's accent cutting even through only two words. "I'm looking for somethin' that'd make me big and strong." He pointed to the mace he was holding. "That won't yield itself."

Yuuta was roused from his half-hearted reading by the sound of the front doors sliding open. A potential gym member? He quickly sat up and placed his magazine down, trying to look more professional. But before he could say his practiced greeting, he saw.... no one entering. 

"Hm?" The doors closed again on their own. What was that about? Maybe a cat passed by the sensors outside... He shrugged and was about to go back to the magazine when the doors opened again. And then closed. And opened and closed some more. Yuuta watched with rising irritation as it continued for the longest five minutes of his life. They better get that door fixed soon, before it drove him insane.

It finally closed and stayed still, and he sank back into his chair with a sigh. Only to get startled by Arkynn's yell. Yuuta stood up and leaned over his desk to see what looked like a child brandishing a mace. He raised a brow.

"What does a kid like you need to use that thing for?" he asked, unimpressed. "You're gonna hurt yourself with it. Children shouldn't be running around with weapons, you know." Who's brat wandered into the gym unsupervised?

Kynn offered a rather haughty look at the man in front of him. A child, right? He would hurt himself swinging this thing, right? A small smile stretched his lips slowly as he walked more in the desk's direction, an apparent confidence in his stride despite his very small body.

He brought the mace in front of him, the bells floating in the ball forming the tip of it softly ringing.

"Wanna try to show me you can swing it better, boy?"

He asked cheekily, tilting his head to a weird angle, his eyes not even blinking as he kept on staring the one that seemed to be in charge of this place.

"Cause y' seem really like the kinda man made for it, right?"

He extended his arm to offer his mace to the stranger.

"Boy?!" Yuuta huffed and walked around the desk to stand directly in front of this... arrogant pipsqueak. Yuuta wasn't a bodybuilder, but he was over 6 feet tall and was as solid as a brick, built more for power than speed or just looks. He could probably use him as a weight on the bench press. "Pfft, I bet this mace is just a plastic toy! I'll show you how it's done..." He snatched the mace from Kynn, and almost fell over forwards when it plummeted to the floor. 

"What the-" Yuuta caught his balance and strained to lift it, his arm muscles bulging with the effort he was making, but it failed to budge. It was like it was glued to the now cracked tile. "What kind of prank is this?" he sputtered, letting it go.

Arkynn let the overgrown giant come closer to him and let go of the mace when the stranger went to take it, grinning and showing teeth while doing so when the mace fell on the ground. Of course, Arkynn knew it wasn't a question of strength in this particular case and he was aware that man probably was strong enough to break his neck, but this small victory felt great.

"Why would I waste my time prankin' ya, eh?"

The small child laughed, taking the mace back as if it weighed nothing.

"Not everyone has the muscles, what can I say? Nothin' against ya, sir."

He gave a sweet, innocent smile.

"I'm Arkynn. Arkynn III, but you can call me Kynn 'cause Arkynn's kinda the name of my mother and my grandfather. Bit awkward ya see. You got a name? Or do I call ya sir 'till tomorrow?"

Yuuta frowned as he tried to wrap his head around this weird child's ability to lift that hunk of metal, but besides being rude, he seemed harmless. 

"Yeah, yeah..." Yuuta sighed and squatted down to Arkynn's eye level. He had a fancy name, if anything. Probably rich or something. "My name's Yuuta Tetsuryu. And don't call me Sir, I just work here." His different colored eyes looked away for a moment. 

"But then again I guess I am a knight..." he mumbled to himself and scratched his chin with a finger. "But I'm not in my armor right now, so Yuuta it is," he said, refocusing as he stood up again.

"Youta." He tried repeating, the name bumping against his tongue and coming out wrong, a grimace painting the smaller man's face. He wasn't exactly bothered by the man squatting down to his level (though it pinched at his ego a bit), his eyes finally catching the name tag. Oh so that was what these rectangular things were for.

"Kinda weird."

He admitted with all the ignorance of a child.

"You're a knight then? What you do in a place like this? Ya ain't getting any knighting done here." He looked around him. "Weird place, weird guy, weird name. Everythin' fits! Awesome!"

He gnawed at his lips with his small teeth, sighing.

"Kay, get this. So. I'm fast, really fast. Faster than you twice or more, even, and I like to run? Y' have somethin' for me here, Youta?"

Yuuta snorted in amusement. "Yeah, well... I'm not the average knight. And this place pays well enough. Hm..." He wasn't even gonna start with the heavy accent on his name. But there should be equipment for running here.

"You ever heard of a treadmill machine?" he asked. "We've got some of those, if you want to look at them." Yuuta turned and began moving further into the gym, assuming Kynn would follow.

"Ya get paid to sit on your bum all day? Woah, this place is awesome."

He commented to himself, innocently following Yuuta across the gym.

"Never heard of those. Gym ain't places I get to be a lot. Busy ya know?"

He was curious now, however, looking around him to try and guess where was this machine the knight spoke of. 

"Kindly show me the ropes? Kay?"

Ari found herself standing at the entrance to a gym with a scowl on her face. At the bequest of Bast, she had to start training her body even more physically than with their normal Sailor training. It wasn't like she was that out of shape or anything and that she wasn't used to the physical activity between her training as a Sailor Soldier and a druid but that didn't mean she had to like it.

She released a sigh, knowing she had to go in sometime. Procrastinating, she looked down at her body. She was only wearing gym shorts and a tank top, very different from her usual druid traditional wear, but it showed off more of her body than she was used to.  Well..this was what the "normal" girls did, right?  Ari pinched at the flab on her stomach. Well...they certainly weren't kidding when her parents joked about the 15 lbs lazy cat syndrome that happens when you start your higher education studies.  Students usually got lazy physically as they buried themselves in their books and magical practices, not to mention stress binge eating and lots of cat nip lattes and well..

Ari furrowed her eyebrows. That settled it. She had to go in. She walked through the automatic sliding doors and stopped in awe. She had never been in a commercial gym before...this was...amazing! It was so state of the art. Even for someone like her, who hated exercise, this gym was superb.  However what also caught her eye was the lack of...patrons?

Strange...you'd think in a sweet place like this there'd be more people here. There just seemed to be two people, a small child...and a large musclar man...which she soon noticed lacked the usual Bastien ears and tail. Ari cocked her head, that's odd...this is the coffee shop over again, wasn't it? Shrugging, she approached the desk, assuming that there had to of been more than one worker but found no one there...

"Um...Excuse me....?"

Today she had a few hours in-between several of her classes. Yesterday her pirouettes had seemed... lacking. The final rotation on her triples only barely seemed to make it all the way around. She knew that her teacher noticed this—it was evident from his solemn expression—even though he didn't actually critique her on it. She wanted to do something about it. She had already gotten in more turns practice that seemed to help somewhat, but maybe what she really needed was something more challenging. Miyu knew she could use several of the machines here for some focused work.

As Miyu stepped through the doors of the fitness club, she almost bumped into another teenager. The strawberry blonde quickly regained her own footing (one benefit of all that core strength) and immediately began apologizing.

"Ahhhh, I'm so sorry!" she stated, now formally bowing to the dark-skinned girl with the chocolate-brown hair. "I should have been paying attention to my surroundings. Are you alright?"

Ari was startled when she was almost knocked over by another girl who had walked in to the gym. She let out a shrill "Eep!" before she recomposed herself. When she turned, she saw a lovely girl, maybe close to her age apologizing profusely. She waved her off feeling her face grow red in embarrassment at the whole situation.

"It's okay! I'm fine! I was just a little startled," she shyly pushed the hair behind her ear, "Um...I'm new here and no one seems to be around...do you know anything about this place?"

It was only when that question was asked that Miyu glanced around at her surroundings, tapping a fingertip on her chin as she really looked at it. Somehow... she knew this wasn't exactly where she thought she was going... but it also felt familiar. Just enough to keep the girl from questioning it too much. She was at a gym, and she was a member here. Any impulse to investigate further was quickly squashed.

The student adjusted the weight of her bag over her shoulder and offered the other girl a welcoming smile. It was so nice to run into someone else roughly in her age group. Sometimes it could feel a little bit intimidating being at the gym among so many people so much older. Miyu could be equally serious when working out, but she always felt like an outsider due to her age.

"I think I could show you around," she offered hesitantly, the voice soft and sweet. "I spend a lot of time training. Are you looking for something in particular?"

Ari couldn't help but return the welcoming smile. She seemed nice at the very least and it made her feel more comfortable having someone her age show her around. Though..wouldn't she need to sign up?

"Well..my..er...mentor," that was the best word she could think of. Super cat deity Guardian would not have made much sense, "Wants me to become stronger... All over I guess."

Ari glanced over her body and already found herself comparing it to the other girl's. She as clearly more toned and lean. Her build came across as graceful and elegant, much like dancers and performers from Bastet but she too, lacked the signature ears and tail. For some reason that didn't quite bother Ari as much as the fact that she only wished she could have the physique of this girl.

She found herself hesitating to agree to enter right away, despite feeling like she could use this is she wanted to look like the pretty girl in front of her.

"Um...I don't have a membership here yet. Shouldn't I sign up first..?"

She glanced around, ready to reply to the girl's question, but her dark eyes spotted a sign near the empty registration desk: "Free Trial! No Commitment! Start Today!"

Miyu pointed at it. "I think you may be alright, for now. Until you know if you like it, of course."

Of course, anyone who walked into this particular gym was automatically a member. But they hadn't realized that yet.

Once again, she shifted her weight to relieve some of the pressure on her shoulder. As always, her dance bag was overstuffed with textbooks and pointe shoes, snack bars and toe tape, resistance bands and warm up clothing. It weighed a ton—something her teachers were always quick to caution her about. But if she took anything out, how could she be prepared for the day? The mysterious membership card for this strange gym was tucked in there somewhere, having conveniently appeared the moment she stepped through the doors—but it could take weeks before she ever discovered it, given the volume of baggage she carried.

"I'm Miyu, by the way," she briefly introduced herself, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Yuuta decided to graciously ignore Kynn's comment about sitting on his own bum. He walked over to a row of dark grey machines, a set of brand new treadmills with adjustable handles for different heights and multiple speeds that went beyond what a normal person was capable of.

"This thing is a treadmill," Yuuta said, pointing out one. "You basically stand on that pad right there, and it starts moving backwards when you turn it on. You have to run in place on it to stay on, and there's different speeds you can set it to."

"Well it seems so..." No excuses now. "I'm Ari...Thank you for helping me." Since nothing else was stopping them, Ari motioned to start walking into the gym. She noted the girls bag, which seemed over stuffed and maybe a tad bit too heavy for her. Better get into the gym so she could relieve her back and set it down.

"What do you like to do here? I've got no clue where to start."

"Nice to meet you, Ari," Miyu replied politely. She wasn't very good with names, usually, but hopefully she could do better this time. There was only one person: Ari. Surely she could manage that.

"First, we should change. And I need to stow this huge thing."

She gave the bag a playful poke, giggling as she did so. There was always so much she needed; being under-prepared was not an option.

Miyu led the way to the locker rooms. They were as spacious and well-appointed as the rest of the gym. It looked more like a spa area than a typical workout "changing room" in here. She appreciated that kind of touch; it brought up the overall feeling of luxury. That was a nice feeling when doing something as sometimes-difficult-to-truly-enjoy like exercising. She easily found a few available lockers, selecting an extra-large one for herself. She'd need it!

Dragging some warmups and worn-looking fitness attire from her bag, Miyu re-secured it and proceeded to cram the duffle inside the open space. She was careful to avert her eyes after this—being around others in close quarters was not at all unfamiliar. It was just a natural part of the before and after of ballet class and rehearsal. The lithe teenager was ready to go in a flash, now in comfortable fitted clothing with layers she could remove as she went along.

"Are you looking for muscular strength or something more along the lines of endurance?" she asked, preparing to walk back out onto the floor.

It took Ari a bit longer than Miyu to change as she was just in awe at how luxurious and huge the locker room was. This was...amazing! She wanted to just stay in here instead. Miyu broker her out of her awe.

"Oh...um...endurance?" She followed as the girl made her way to the floor, "I have a feeling that might be the most effective for me... I think."

She really had no clue. Always studying all her life and she now suddenly felt very uneducated and clueless when it came to working out. She would have to check out some health and fitness books from the school library next time she had the chance.

Miyu smiled as the pair exited back to the workout and equipment areas. Her shoulders felt so much better without the weight of that bag! She thought about her usual routine, and tried to consider what her new acquaintance might prefer. Ari seemed rather hesitant and unsure. Miyu tried to think back to some of the things teachers, trainers, and physical therapists had told her. She had to be able to take that information and use it, somehow.

"If you're not certain, why don't we do a balanced set with some of each?" she offered. "I'll do some other stuff that you won't want to follow along with, but I can help you get started."

She led them towards where the weights were set up, a combination of free weights and machines.

"Studies show that if you start with weights and move to cardio afterwards, you'll do more strength training than you would if you started with cardio," she explained, reciting something that had been on one of her exams last semester.

Ari's hesitation died off slightly as the mention of a "study" was made.

"Oh...really?" Her tail twitching slightly as her curiosity was piqued, "What else did the study say? For how long? What sort of strength training? What about cardio while strength training?"

Hmm, did she even remember that much detail? Miyu pondered for a moment.

"The study, if I recall correctly, had participants strength train, run and then strength train, or cycle and then strength train. And a different group later had people strength train and then run or cycle. People performed more repetitions when they strength trained first. Apparently doing the cardio portion first fatigues the muscles differently? And I think it was weight-lifting, but I don't remember if it was hand-held weights or machines..."

The last suggestion made her head spin, trying to imagine it. Of course it was entirely possible that such a thing could be done—she knew her stepmother had weird velcro ankle and wrist sand-filled weights that could be worn while running—but it wasn't something she had much experience with.

"I... I don't know about that last one. I think that might be too much to start with," she recommended.

Ari listened, fascinated in the facts that Miyu was giving her. She was so smart in a subject that Ari herself was not. Impressive! She nodded eagerly at her statements and then in agreement as if what Miyu said was wise and sage advice only a well studied and trained fitness expert would known (when it was clearly common sense). Being around a workout guru such as her, put Ari at ease with this whole work out thing. Now she was glad Bas had convinced forced her to go to the gym.

"I see! Very interesting!" Ari said as looked around at the dumbbells on their racks and then towards the machines. The machines looked quite complicated so she opted to pick up a couple of dumbbells. Both 20lbs each. She struggled to lift them and ended up dropping one to the ground. Laughing nervously, she put them back.

"Maybe I should try something lighter..." Opting for the 5lbs dumbbells instead and turned back to Miyu excitedly, "Ok, I'm ready!"

She giggled at the shorter girl's enthusiasm. Ari really went for it, immediately trying for the ones that probably accounted for 1/5th to 1/4th of her entire body weight! She'd have to do a lot of work to make it to that point. Plus, Ari didn't yet know the correct posture or motions. They couldn't rush into this; they needed to stay safe.

"Hang on a minute there," Miyu gently cautioned, encouraging Ari to set the dumbbells down. "Let's start this right, with a little bit of warm-up."

This was something the ballet student was extremely familiar with. She had recently switched, thanks to advice from a sports therapist, to dynamic motion rather than static stretching before classes, and it felt like it was making a difference! The session she taught Ari right now involved all of the things she was doing on a daily basis: foam rolling, mobility assessment, and alignment. This would get their muscles ready for action.

"Okay, now here's how you should hold free weights..."

They needed to be mindful, after all, so they didn't tear something or accidentally stress some other part of their body. Some people let their bodies unintentionally compensate in ways that felt less difficult in the moment but could have serious repercussions later on. Miyu wasn't a qualified trainer, but she had worked with several, and she hoped that she was channeling enough of it now. Finally, it was time to actually pick up the weights. Miyu was likely to move to one of the machines, so she could get some specific resistance that she couldn't do at home.

"How does that feel? Okay?" she asked Ari, hoping to gauge the other girl's progress.

Ari followed along with Miyu's instructions obediently. She had been a little embarrassed by her obvious inexperienced behavior earlier but that was all forgotten now. She soaked up her teachings like a dry sponge, making mental notes on stretches, proper posture and why all this was so important. She was having lots of fun, it felt like a day in the library studying! Who knew that little book worm Ari could enjoy exercise outside of her druid training. Exercise that she chose to do.

When Miyu felt it was time to move on, Ari smiled as she took the weights, making sure to hold them just as she had been told.

"This feels fine! Thank you so much for helping me. This is way more fun than I expected!" She felt a slight blush of embarrassment from her eager outburst, "I didn't think I'd like exercising this much...It's as fun as a day at the library!"

There was no way to avoid giggling at Ari's comment. It was a lighthearted, warm sound—not mocking or harsh. To hear this girl announce that exercising was as fun as the library... well, that wasn't something likely to be said often in a gym! No, indeed!

"Well, I haven't heard that before!" Miyu said, still giggling. "I'm glad you like it!"

Personally, she loved exercising. It made her feel stronger and more in touch with her body when she was dancing. Her leaps seemed to extend into beautiful lines almost without any work from her. Her jumps moved higher, with less leg fatigue. Her turns felt centered and effortless, like she could execute the daring and challenging 32 fouettés from Swan Lake while remaining suspended and graceful.

"So..." the teenager continued, having reoriented herself to operate one of the weight machines. "I take it you really like libraries?"

This building had no parallel on her former planet, Vegeta. If one was not at his or her peak physically, then he or she would die during routine missions. Even those who did not have a combat-intensive role still maintained their physical health through rigorous training, spars, and missions. A whole building need not be dedicated to physical fitness in any of Vegeta's cities nor did it have a place within Frieza's empire. Ha! Why would Frieza waste his money on equipment? If someone was weak enough to need equipment to become stronger, then he would die soon anyway.

But, the planet she was on must approach matters differently. Which, wasn't a good sign for what she was about to do. She was so bored! And restless! Tobias was off-planet somewhere and she had no one to spar with. Gochi's blood was boiling and she needed to throttle something or someone. Supposedly, the building she stood in front of housed strong people, although she wasn't sure if they would be fighters or not. Eh, if not she could be pointed in the right direction.

Gochi pushed the doors open, each hitting the wall with a sharp smack. "I wish to fight!" She boasted, scanning the room as she entered. Internally she sized up each inhabitant as a potential combatant. Ugh, each looked weaker than the last. This was looking to be a horrible idea. Next time she would go with Tobias just to stave off boredom.

Unfortunately for the fighter, no one in the gym accepted her challenge. What a group of pathetic weaklings! A few fled from the immediate area, an employee in a uniform dove behind the counter, and several others could not hear her over the devices that had been placed into their ears. Taking a few purposeful steps forward, she opened her arms wide and welcomed any challenge. 

"Well?" She called questioningly. 

But, nothing happened. Gochi sneered in disgust. This was useless. Earth provided no ready challenge, not even one person. With a scowl, she turned and stormed out of the gym. The door hit the wall with a resounding crack and fractures splintered up the glass. Pathetic humans.

Ari had gotten so caught up in her exercises she had not noticed Miyu had been talking to her, much less asked her a question. She cursed at her absent minded nature. This always happens! She just gets so into her stuff it's like she's in another world. Ari felt the heat rise to her cheeks in embarrassment, again. She felt like such a space case sometimes and got easily upset at her aloof behavior. It was just so hard to socialize.

"I-I-I'm so sorry," she said, stuttering no matter how hard she tried to stop it, "I d-didn't mean to ignore you, Miyu. What did you say?"

She looked away and continued with her exercise, hoping the girl, who had been so kind to help her even though they had never met before, would not notice her embarrassment.