Apr 18, 2022 17:14:22 GMT -5
Post by Anastasia on Apr 18, 2022 17:14:22 GMT -5
Thunk. Thunk. Thud.
Anastasia look over across the locker room to her old tag team partner. And older saiyan man by the name of Brute. He was missing one eye, and had a crooked nose from too many punches to the face. He claimed that it just made him roguishly handsome by saiyan standards. Anastasia wasn't sure how truthful he was being. It was hard to tell with people sometimes. Maybe it was a saiyan culture thing. They certainly do like their fighting, so maybe a sign of a life of fighting was attractive. Then again Brute's crooked nose and cauliflower ears seemed more a testament to fights lost than anything else.
Thud thud.
The sound was Brute's clothes hitting the floor. Each piece thudding on the ground with a sound louder than cloth should produce. He looked up when he caught Ana staring at him, and gave a smirk and flexed, "Like what you see?"
"A piece of meat past his prime? Not really," Ana quipped back, "No, I was wondering about your clothes."
"Oh! Ha! That!" Brute grinned and gave her a wink, "Trade secret."
Ana arched an eyebrow at Brute wordlessly and he just chuckled and shook his head, "On planet Vegeta the gravity is stronger. All that extra weight makes us tougher. But it's hard to recreate that here with out using super expensive tech. So what do you do?"
Brute paused for effect, he knew Ana wasn't going to say anything to his prompt, before continuing, "Weights."
Ana cocked her head then looked back down at the pile of clothes at Brute's feet. She stepped over and picked up a glove. It was indeed weighted, several pounds in fact. But it wasn't too terribly heavy, she knew Brute could carry more weight than this, she'd spotted him enough times with the barbells, "That's it?"
Brute took the glove from her and shook it a bit, "I have heavier stuff than this, but the more you add the slower you get. I can't afford to be too slow out in the pits. The heavier stuff I'll strap on when I'm training, but in a regular fight, I lighten the load so I can still keep my speed and agility."
"Why not just go with out the weights at all then?"
"If I have a serious fight then, sure, I'll take them off. But I like to keep an ace in my hole, so to speak. You never know when you need that last little surprise. Anything to give you an edge, am I right?" Brute started shoving the weighted clothes into his locker, the extra heft to the clothing making them take up more space than usual and this filling his locker up.
"Where did you get those?" Ana asked him, her mind already calculating what would be a good weight for her to try out during her next training session."
Ah, see, I knew I shouldn't have given away my secrets," Brute sighed dramatically, as if it were the greatest shame and inconvenience. Ana merely waited for him, "C'mon, I'll take you to the market so that we can get you a set."
Ana frowned slightly, just a crease of her brow, "You can just tell me where you got them..."
"And miss out on a chance for a day out with a beautiful woman?" Brute asked, affronted. Ana gave Brute a flat stare. "Hey, those are my terms, take it or leave it," Brute crossed his arms with a mischievous grin.
Ana internally rolled her eyes but didn't give anything away to Brute. She debated internally for a bit before turning away from Brute, "I'll find them on my own."
"Hey! That's cold!" Brute complained with a heavy frown.
Ana didn't respond as she walked out of the locker room leaving Brute to mutter and grumble about Ana's rude behavior. There wasn't any real animosity to it though. Brute hadn't really expected Ana to take him up on the date offer. But she didn't have to be so rude...
The shopping district was bustling, as usual on a weekend morning. Anastasia was jostled by passersby eager to get their various purchases and chores over with. It was a modern day bazaar. Instead of merchants verbally calling out to hawk their wares, there were build boards and signs doing essentially the same thing. Trying to entice people to spend their money. 'Come on in! We got the latest things! Give your money to us!'
The more things change the more they stay the same.
Ana's dark eyes flickered from shop to shop, assessing in moments whether they'd have what she was looking for and dismissing them if not. Clothes shops didn't. Yes, she was looking for items to wear on her person, but not for fashion. Restaurant. Restaurant. Toy shop. Curios. Clothes store. Restaurant. Clothes store. Supplements. Tattoo parlor. Restaurant.
What store would sell weighted clothing???
Perhaps some sort of sports store? The first sports store she visited seemed a good choice at first. They had boxing gear. Gloves, flex tape, and they did have weights, but not the kind she could wear like Brute had. Some how Anastasia doubted strapping barbells to her arms and legs would have the same affect...
"Hey there, ma'am. Can I help you find anything?" A middle aged alien asked Ana as he approached. He was a dull shade of lilac, with full lips, stoutly built, and had small spikes dotted along his crown and forearms. He had a pleasant enough demeanor, perfectly mastering that customer service smile.
"I'm looking for weighted clothing. Not just weights, but specifically clothing that is very heavy that I can wear while working out..." Ana explained quietly, and she gestured towards the collection of barbells, "Do you have anything else besides this?"
"Huh... weighted clothing," the salesman placed a hand on his chin and rubbed it in consideration, "Well, I'd hate to send you to a competitor, but we don't specialize in something like that. We have a few things like weighted wrist bands and ankle weights, but I get the feeling you're looking for a little bit more than that. Your best bet would be to head up to the north side of the shopping district. There's a place called 'Tortoise Sports and Martial Arts Goods'. They're a little more focused on the whole martial arts thing than we are here. I bet they'd have something closer to what you're looking for."
Ana nodded her head in thanks. She didn't want to leave without purchasing something, especially since the man had taken the time to help her in her search. So Ana went over and picked up a set of athletic tape, "I'll take this."
Twenty-five minutes later found Anastasia in front of Tortoise Sports and Martial Arts Goods. It had a it's name written in imitation asian calligraphy. The kind some tacky karate dojos used to seem more authentic. The large glass windows displayed martial arts gis, training dummies, and weights. This seemed like the place. Ana stepped inside and started browsing around. In spite of it's tacky dojo aesthetic, it did seem to have genuinely good wares. There were things that Ana actually might be interested in besides the weighted clothing she was looking for that she made a mental note to check out again at a later date. She moved to what looked like an apparel section and lo and behold there was a selection of weighted clothing.
Bingo.
Ana picked up what looked like a glove similar to Brute's in the saiyan style. She hefted it, appreciating it's weight, It was under a green colored sign that said "light". There was an orange section and a red one. Curious Ana moved to the red labeled weights and hefted up a similar glove and she was surprised at how difficult it was to lift, she could barely get her fingers underneath it, much less lift it up. Ana left it on the pile and mentally sat back and processed how strong some one needed to be just to carry something like this, much less wear it in their day to day life. A part of her found that exciting. She wanted to see that for herself... she wanted to become that.
A goal then. These weights would be more than a way to supplement her training. They could be milestones in her progress. She'll start with the basic set, and work her way up to the heavy set, slowly but surely. Anastasia went back to the pile of light weights and began to collect a set for herself, stacking them in the crook of one arm. By the time she had a complete set of weights it was a real struggle to hold all the weight in her arms. With a determined trudge Anastasia soldiered on to the check out line. The sound of the weights hitting the counter was satisfying, but also mildly alarming. There seemed to be the briefest concern on the cashier's face that the counter may be damaged. But all was well.The cashier didn't bother trying to bag the weights. It would have to be quintuple bagged to even hope to hold the items. So the cashier just shifted the gear to scan the tags, and left them on the table as is.
"2,000 zeni," she said.
Ana blinked in shock at the price. It was... quite the investment. This was going to take quite a chunk of her savings from her last few battles. With a mental sigh Ana gave the cashier her card and charged the purchase to it. It would be worth it in the end. She could build herself up to the stronger and tougher pit matches that came with greater prize money. With time, she would pay back the investment with the weights... but for now she better take a look at the cost of the other weights and budget accordingly.
The cashier handed back Anastasia her card, and Ana put it back in her wallet. Purchase complete Ana gathered up the weights again, hefting them. It was going to a be hassle getting these home unless...
"Now that I've purchased these, can I change into them in the changing room and leave with them?" She cocked her head in question.
"Uh... I don't see why not? Here let me give you a receipt to prove that you bought them, that way the loss prevention agent doesn't think you're trying to shop lift!" The cashier offered helpfully, pressing a button on the register that caused a long line of receipt paper to print out.
Anastasia nodded in appreciation for the cashier's thoughtfulness and then took the paper. Anastasia got directions to the dressing room and made her way there. It was only a few short minutes before she was adorned in her new weighted clothes underneath what she had already been wearing. Her usual outfit being loose enough to not impede her movement regularly was able to drape over the weighted gear, if only fitting just a tad too snugly for comfort. But it was only mildly distracting. She did a few test jumps in place, feeling the weight move with her and drag her back down with the gravity of it.
Anastasia was eager to try it out, she wanted to see what these new weights could do. Perhaps she would go see Brute and thank him for the new training tip.
Word Count: 1,916
Anastasia look over across the locker room to her old tag team partner. And older saiyan man by the name of Brute. He was missing one eye, and had a crooked nose from too many punches to the face. He claimed that it just made him roguishly handsome by saiyan standards. Anastasia wasn't sure how truthful he was being. It was hard to tell with people sometimes. Maybe it was a saiyan culture thing. They certainly do like their fighting, so maybe a sign of a life of fighting was attractive. Then again Brute's crooked nose and cauliflower ears seemed more a testament to fights lost than anything else.
Thud thud.
The sound was Brute's clothes hitting the floor. Each piece thudding on the ground with a sound louder than cloth should produce. He looked up when he caught Ana staring at him, and gave a smirk and flexed, "Like what you see?"
"A piece of meat past his prime? Not really," Ana quipped back, "No, I was wondering about your clothes."
"Oh! Ha! That!" Brute grinned and gave her a wink, "Trade secret."
Ana arched an eyebrow at Brute wordlessly and he just chuckled and shook his head, "On planet Vegeta the gravity is stronger. All that extra weight makes us tougher. But it's hard to recreate that here with out using super expensive tech. So what do you do?"
Brute paused for effect, he knew Ana wasn't going to say anything to his prompt, before continuing, "Weights."
Ana cocked her head then looked back down at the pile of clothes at Brute's feet. She stepped over and picked up a glove. It was indeed weighted, several pounds in fact. But it wasn't too terribly heavy, she knew Brute could carry more weight than this, she'd spotted him enough times with the barbells, "That's it?"
Brute took the glove from her and shook it a bit, "I have heavier stuff than this, but the more you add the slower you get. I can't afford to be too slow out in the pits. The heavier stuff I'll strap on when I'm training, but in a regular fight, I lighten the load so I can still keep my speed and agility."
"Why not just go with out the weights at all then?"
"If I have a serious fight then, sure, I'll take them off. But I like to keep an ace in my hole, so to speak. You never know when you need that last little surprise. Anything to give you an edge, am I right?" Brute started shoving the weighted clothes into his locker, the extra heft to the clothing making them take up more space than usual and this filling his locker up.
"Where did you get those?" Ana asked him, her mind already calculating what would be a good weight for her to try out during her next training session."
Ah, see, I knew I shouldn't have given away my secrets," Brute sighed dramatically, as if it were the greatest shame and inconvenience. Ana merely waited for him, "C'mon, I'll take you to the market so that we can get you a set."
Ana frowned slightly, just a crease of her brow, "You can just tell me where you got them..."
"And miss out on a chance for a day out with a beautiful woman?" Brute asked, affronted. Ana gave Brute a flat stare. "Hey, those are my terms, take it or leave it," Brute crossed his arms with a mischievous grin.
Ana internally rolled her eyes but didn't give anything away to Brute. She debated internally for a bit before turning away from Brute, "I'll find them on my own."
"Hey! That's cold!" Brute complained with a heavy frown.
Ana didn't respond as she walked out of the locker room leaving Brute to mutter and grumble about Ana's rude behavior. There wasn't any real animosity to it though. Brute hadn't really expected Ana to take him up on the date offer. But she didn't have to be so rude...
The shopping district was bustling, as usual on a weekend morning. Anastasia was jostled by passersby eager to get their various purchases and chores over with. It was a modern day bazaar. Instead of merchants verbally calling out to hawk their wares, there were build boards and signs doing essentially the same thing. Trying to entice people to spend their money. 'Come on in! We got the latest things! Give your money to us!'
The more things change the more they stay the same.
Ana's dark eyes flickered from shop to shop, assessing in moments whether they'd have what she was looking for and dismissing them if not. Clothes shops didn't. Yes, she was looking for items to wear on her person, but not for fashion. Restaurant. Restaurant. Toy shop. Curios. Clothes store. Restaurant. Clothes store. Supplements. Tattoo parlor. Restaurant.
What store would sell weighted clothing???
Perhaps some sort of sports store? The first sports store she visited seemed a good choice at first. They had boxing gear. Gloves, flex tape, and they did have weights, but not the kind she could wear like Brute had. Some how Anastasia doubted strapping barbells to her arms and legs would have the same affect...
"Hey there, ma'am. Can I help you find anything?" A middle aged alien asked Ana as he approached. He was a dull shade of lilac, with full lips, stoutly built, and had small spikes dotted along his crown and forearms. He had a pleasant enough demeanor, perfectly mastering that customer service smile.
"I'm looking for weighted clothing. Not just weights, but specifically clothing that is very heavy that I can wear while working out..." Ana explained quietly, and she gestured towards the collection of barbells, "Do you have anything else besides this?"
"Huh... weighted clothing," the salesman placed a hand on his chin and rubbed it in consideration, "Well, I'd hate to send you to a competitor, but we don't specialize in something like that. We have a few things like weighted wrist bands and ankle weights, but I get the feeling you're looking for a little bit more than that. Your best bet would be to head up to the north side of the shopping district. There's a place called 'Tortoise Sports and Martial Arts Goods'. They're a little more focused on the whole martial arts thing than we are here. I bet they'd have something closer to what you're looking for."
Ana nodded her head in thanks. She didn't want to leave without purchasing something, especially since the man had taken the time to help her in her search. So Ana went over and picked up a set of athletic tape, "I'll take this."
Twenty-five minutes later found Anastasia in front of Tortoise Sports and Martial Arts Goods. It had a it's name written in imitation asian calligraphy. The kind some tacky karate dojos used to seem more authentic. The large glass windows displayed martial arts gis, training dummies, and weights. This seemed like the place. Ana stepped inside and started browsing around. In spite of it's tacky dojo aesthetic, it did seem to have genuinely good wares. There were things that Ana actually might be interested in besides the weighted clothing she was looking for that she made a mental note to check out again at a later date. She moved to what looked like an apparel section and lo and behold there was a selection of weighted clothing.
Bingo.
Ana picked up what looked like a glove similar to Brute's in the saiyan style. She hefted it, appreciating it's weight, It was under a green colored sign that said "light". There was an orange section and a red one. Curious Ana moved to the red labeled weights and hefted up a similar glove and she was surprised at how difficult it was to lift, she could barely get her fingers underneath it, much less lift it up. Ana left it on the pile and mentally sat back and processed how strong some one needed to be just to carry something like this, much less wear it in their day to day life. A part of her found that exciting. She wanted to see that for herself... she wanted to become that.
A goal then. These weights would be more than a way to supplement her training. They could be milestones in her progress. She'll start with the basic set, and work her way up to the heavy set, slowly but surely. Anastasia went back to the pile of light weights and began to collect a set for herself, stacking them in the crook of one arm. By the time she had a complete set of weights it was a real struggle to hold all the weight in her arms. With a determined trudge Anastasia soldiered on to the check out line. The sound of the weights hitting the counter was satisfying, but also mildly alarming. There seemed to be the briefest concern on the cashier's face that the counter may be damaged. But all was well.The cashier didn't bother trying to bag the weights. It would have to be quintuple bagged to even hope to hold the items. So the cashier just shifted the gear to scan the tags, and left them on the table as is.
"2,000 zeni," she said.
Ana blinked in shock at the price. It was... quite the investment. This was going to take quite a chunk of her savings from her last few battles. With a mental sigh Ana gave the cashier her card and charged the purchase to it. It would be worth it in the end. She could build herself up to the stronger and tougher pit matches that came with greater prize money. With time, she would pay back the investment with the weights... but for now she better take a look at the cost of the other weights and budget accordingly.
The cashier handed back Anastasia her card, and Ana put it back in her wallet. Purchase complete Ana gathered up the weights again, hefting them. It was going to a be hassle getting these home unless...
"Now that I've purchased these, can I change into them in the changing room and leave with them?" She cocked her head in question.
"Uh... I don't see why not? Here let me give you a receipt to prove that you bought them, that way the loss prevention agent doesn't think you're trying to shop lift!" The cashier offered helpfully, pressing a button on the register that caused a long line of receipt paper to print out.
Anastasia nodded in appreciation for the cashier's thoughtfulness and then took the paper. Anastasia got directions to the dressing room and made her way there. It was only a few short minutes before she was adorned in her new weighted clothes underneath what she had already been wearing. Her usual outfit being loose enough to not impede her movement regularly was able to drape over the weighted gear, if only fitting just a tad too snugly for comfort. But it was only mildly distracting. She did a few test jumps in place, feeling the weight move with her and drag her back down with the gravity of it.
Anastasia was eager to try it out, she wanted to see what these new weights could do. Perhaps she would go see Brute and thank him for the new training tip.
Word Count: 1,916
