Do You Even Lift?

[Roona Osmari]

The sun was just beginning to peek above the mountains of Kashyyyk.

Early morning was lovely here, Roona mused silently, watching as the light fell upon the base. Dressed in her PT gear, she felt the chill of the morning air. It was a nice way to wake up. With a towel and water bottle in hand, she walked out into their outdoor fitness area that many simply called “the pit.” There were raised weight lifting platforms, ropes for climbing, and a few well-beaten punching bags. While the base did have an indoor gym that was complete with treadmills, bikes, and other equipment, venturing into the open air of the pit was a good change of pace.

Glancing around, she found that she was quite alone. Roona had always been an early riser, but she had a feeling that others would soon be hauling themselves out. Setting her things down, she moved out into an open area to warm up. The rigors of being a ranger did require a certain level of fitness, but many also found that working out was an efficient way to blow off some steam, and Roona was no different. While missions were an exciting part of their job, they could also be very demanding. During this time, she could let go of some of the more difficult aspects of their duty and just be.

Standing up tall, she tilted her head slowly from side to side.

Silently, she wondered if any of the other Radama Raiders would be joining her this morning. And if not, perhaps this would be a good chance to branch out. It was true that Roona was not the most social, but she had decided to try and make an effort. But for the moment, she would pace the length of the pit, swinging her arms to warm up.

Spoiler

Open to the rangers! [member="Valkren Calderon"], [member="Sigrid Forsberg"], [member="Tyrell Caphey"], [member="Beltran Rarr"], [member="Vertigo"]

 

[Beltran Rarr]

Beltran awoke in a cold sweat, sitting bolt right up in his bunk. Next to him he could hear the rather obnoxious snore of his roommate, some Private whose name he hadn’t bothered learning. As he blinked away the sleep from his eyes, he forced down the powerful sense of fear that had followed him from the dream world.

You're going insane. A voice whispered in his ear. The Lorrdian didn’t need to look to know that there was nothing there.

“I’m already there.” He murmured quietly to the figment of his imagination. He could only remember fragments of his dream but what there was, was more than enough to chill the Lorrdian’s already cold blood.

Deciding that he’d slept enough, the Lorrdian got out of bed and dressed in his own Ranger PT gear-which consisted of a pair of shorts and a black tank-top. Stopping over at his computer terminal, he quickly double checked his duty schedule.

He wasn’t due in the armory until 09:00, which meant that he had a couple of hours to himself.

A moment later, he left the barracks and began to jog along the perimeter of the Ranger’s base. Soon, the fear from his dream was shed, as was the continuously annoying commentary of The Jester. Exercise served almost as well as combat for honing the Lorrdian’s mind.

He would spent the next thirty or so minutes jogging before he would, on his third passing of “The Pit” notice Sergeant [member="Roona Osmari"]-standing alone in the Rangers outdoor fitness area. Altering his course, he would make his way over to her.

“Good morning, Sergeant.” He said when he was close enough to be heard.

 

[Vertigo]

Three large Houks were mulling about. Did Houks have PT gear, well he had something that looked like slacks on, they were itching him and he rumbled a low grumble about it, scratching his back with a heavy hand and stomping on over. “Morning Sarge.” Dex had a grin, before he went back to grumbling and itching himself.

He loved working out, and his form of a warm up was a chest stretch or two, then bending over to touch his knee. No way Vertigo was reaching his toes with stomach, maybe some cardio would be a good idea! Nah. Houks weren’t exactly lean but even so. Picking himself on up “Rarr, how’s things with you.” He pulled himself up on a pullup bar to stretch out his arms and shoulders, letting himself hang there. The bar didn’t like the weight much but they’d had some special ones fitted for the Houk and his buddies, so they could take the strain.

If he had his way he’d of brought more of his buddies to join up with the rangers, but how many Houks could the rangers handle. Three were trouble enough!. He had a smug grin somewhere across his oversized head but not for long!

BURP

He lost his grip, dropping down and getting a roar of laughter from a couple of Houks. Tapping his chest loudly, “heh s’excuse me, last night’s third meal b’fore bed.” Dex got down off the bars and waited in line for the Houk weights bench, taking the time to do a few press-ups while arguing with another Houk about the finer points of slam tennis. Which involved using a large pole to hit a brick like ball as far as you could, before you broke the pole or the brick. It was all the rage back home.

[member="Roona Osmari"] | [member="Beltran Rarr"]​

 

[Roona Osmari]

Roona continued her warm up, preparing for her morning ritual of active stretching and some light lifting. While many of the others seemed to like hefting weights, she tended to favor mixed workouts that were completed in high-intensity intervals. It kept her light on her feet, and she felt that her reflexes benefited greatly from such activity. Taking a step towards the weights, she lifted a kettlebell in her right hand. Though the wound that she’d suffered on Trandosha had long healed, she found that she still favored her left side. It was a memory that she was still trying to forget.

Turning slightly, she saw Specialist [member="Beltran Rarr"] on approach. Offering the man a small nod, she gave him a simple greeting: “Good morning.”

The man was still something of a mystery to Roona. Though she’d seen him and served with him a few times now, she felt that there was something… elusive about him. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Next, she spotted the group of Houks entering the Pit. Thundering footsteps brought [member="Vertigo"] over, and Roona offered a tight-lipped smile.

Lunging and lifting the kettlebell, she began her workout. Green eyes shifted towards Dex as he let forth a rather loud belch, but she said nothing. At this point, she would usually have just tuned everyone out and got on with her own activity. But today, she had decided to make it a point to get to know these two – even if that meant… small talk.

“I’ve seen you both around,” She spoke up, “But I don’t really know much about either of you.” Roona drew a breath, putting her other foot forward to lunge. “What did you do before you joined up with the rangers?”

 

[Beltran Rarr]

Beltran looked up at the giant Houk, [member="Vertigo"], and nodded. “I’m well enough, and yourself?” He answered with his usual soft-spoken tone. It was something of a lie. In the time since the Sith had attacked Kashyyyk, and then Roche in quick succession, the Lorrdian had settled back into military life here at the Ranger base. Things, for the moment, were quiet and quiet days were the worst for the Lorrdian. His mind had a tendency of doing…unpleasant things when it was too quiet. Exercise helped, but only for a bit.

As the Houk began to work out, Beltran wandered over to one of the heavy bags and began to punch it. As he settled into a routine of jabs, crosses, upper cuts, hooks and elbows, he didn’t bother wrapping his hands. Pain was also helpful in focusing him, and keeping the voices at bay. Beads of sweat formed on his brow and began to drip down his face as he worked, though his breathing never changed-no matter how hard or quickly he hit the bag.

A few moments later, when the soft voice of Sergeant Osmari spoke up, Beltran felt his brow raise with a sense of surprise. He didn’t claim to know any of his fellow Rangers all that well, but in [member="Roona Osmari"], he’d sensed something of a kindred spirit. She didn’t seem to enjoy small talk any more than he did, and even this attempt had a somewhat awkward feeling to it.

Stopping his routine, the Lorrdian turned to face the NCO. Unbeknownst to her, she’d asked an extremely complicated question and in the moment he would talk to formulate his answer-he needed to decide just how honest he wanted to be with her.

“Before I met the Colonel,” He began simply, deciding to come as close to the truth as he felt he could without jeopardizing his other interests. “I worked as a mercenary. Before that, I worked for a powerful man on Lorrd. He took me off the streets as a child, trained me and gave me a purpose. Then some people came to my world who took exception to my benefactor’s power. They killed him, and most of my companions, and drove me from my home. One day I will find them, and then I will kill them. Until then, I am here.”

Beltran would then pause for a moment before adding. “And what of you, Sergeant? What did you do before you joined?”

 

[Vertigo]

“Seventeen.” Dex announced, and the bar clanged down on the supports, shaking the bench. “Pffff lightweight.” One of them took his place “Seventeen’s enough.” Dex grumbled, rotating a sore wrist. Taking longer than usual for Houk over exaggerated muscles to respond well to exercise, meant they mostly had to train for strength rather than power. In between sets Dex was stretching, and came over to answer the sarge.

[member="Roona Osmari"] “Escort stuff mostly, chasing away pests,” Job could have been alright, “steady work”, but Dex was bitter about it, “worked for FFE, bunch of lunatics with guns.” The Houk grumbled. “Pay was good,” another remarked and Dex just grumbled again. The work wasn’t shady, but they had no safety standards at their testing facilities, or sometimes common sense about how they tested them. “One day they asked us to guard the explosives next to the ale, so we left.” He still hadn’t told them why, but that was one day of sitting on a powder keg too many. Made good guns, he'd say that about them, but that was all.

Then he answered Rarr, about how good he was. “Full.” Which to a Houk was a good sensation. You could go a long way on ‘full’ conquer a lot of mountains, bring down a lot of star destroyers, step on a few death stars. Another might find it questionable how clever it was to exercise while on ‘full’, but apparently it wasn’t slowing them down any. One of the Houks was actually still eating while he was training, and offered a bite of something very large and wrap like to [member="Beltran Rarr"]. Watch your rations folks! Dex made a note to offer some advice to Beltran after the Sarge had a second talking about herself, few people he could tap to help.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Morning workouts were something she was used to. With the Rogues they had group and individuals, but she rarely participated in the group events. Maybe that was why she never got too close to anyone there. Leaving wasn’t hard, a part of her believed that she was expendable to them. Either way, she wanted to move on. Allyson began her walk towards this place called “the pit” it was kind of spooky in a way. A towel draped over her shoulder, she walked in and saw that others were already here. She looked down at her comm and frowned, there was a hope that this hour everyone would still be asleep and she could have the whole place to herself.

With a soft smile, she walked in and kept to herself for the most part. Putting her water down and the towel, Allyson stretched her sore muscles. The rehabilitation she had been doing after her unlucky run in with the Sith was hard, but she was happy it was mostly over. She had been given a clean bill of health, mentally and physically. Pulling at the tank top she wore, she did her best to hide the scars on her back, it was a pain she didn’t like doing anything work out wise in a t-shirt.

After the small warm up she made her way over towards the free weights and began to look around for something light to start off with. Her ligaments and such were still strained and would need time to build back up, so anything heavy would just reverse any progress she had made.

[member="Vertigo"] [member="Beltran Rarr"] [member="Roona Osmari"]

 

[Sigrid Forsberg]

Like her fellow Rangers, Sigrid arrived at the 'Pit' with a few other Valkyri in tow for some exercises. With their large stature and practice weapons in hand, they definitely stood out.

"Ah, nothing like dishing out few ass beatings to start the day!" Sigrid exclaimed in her native tongue, stretching and giving her hammer a few practice swings as she took her place on the dirt clearing.

"Such confidence," Arvid sneered, hoisting up a dulled sword in a two-handed grip.

Technically, the rival Captain wielded a greatsword but in the hands of the bald giant, it looked like a normal blade in his hands.

"Such truth," she gently corrected with a grin. "Now, come and get it."

She raised her shield, beckoning him with the tilt of her hammer. Arvid snorted, then charged at her with a mighty swing of his blade.

A deafening clang reverberated through the air as blade met shield. Then two and more as other Valkyri paired off and began their spars. While great in size, each moved with the grace of seasoned fighters that had trained and warred since childhood.

[member="Allyson Locke"] [member="Vertigo"] [member="Beltran Rarr"] [member="Roona Osmari"]

 

[Roona Osmari]

Roona’s eyes found Dex over at the weightlifting benches as he answered her question. Giving a nod, she set down her kettlebell and traded it for a pair of light weights. Continuing with lunges and alternating single-arm presses, she kept her breathing even and deep. “I see,” She said, once Dex had finished providing a bit of backstory. It seemed that there may have been some details that still needed to be filled in, but she wouldn’t press.

Next, she turned her head slightly as Specialist Rarr spoke up. Her brows lofted when he mentioned meeting the Colonel. She had to wonder if there was a story behind that meeting. Nevertheless, she knew that Rarr’s background as a mercenary would likely come in very handy as he served with the Rangers. And when he turned the question back around, she canted her head to the side slightly.

“I spent some time living with the Ysannan tribes of Ossus -- my people, my home-world.” She said with a nod. Roona’s father had wanted his children to experience the best of both worlds, so they had lived near the capital city, but took plenty of trips into the jungles of their ancestors. “The Rangers had a strong presence there, I grew up seeing them. And when I had honed my marksmanship skills enough with the Ysanna, I joined.”

It was a fairly straightforward story. However, the thoughts of her home caused a bitterness rise in Roona. It was just a reminder that her family had been forced to leave it all behind after the battle with the First Order. But before she had the chance to dwell for too long, she noticed a few more newcomers to the pit. There were unfamiliar faces, but there was one that she recognized -- Sigrid Forsberg. She and her Valkyri counterparts were certainly hard to miss. As soon as they entered, there was the sound of swords on shields.

Roona stopped to watch for a brief moment, brows rising again curiously.

It was an uncommon sight here, where most worked out with weights. “Interesting…” She remarked, glancing for a moment to her fellow rangers.

[member="Sigrid Forsberg"], [member="Allyson Locke"], [member="Beltran Rarr"], [member="Vertigo"]

 

[Beltran Rarr]

Beltran listened quietly as Sergeant Osmari and [member="Vertigo"] spoke about their pasts. He remembered learning about Ossus while in basic and knew that the world had a long and intricate history with the Jedi.

When both of his teammates had finished speaking, he nodded. The truth was, he didn’t really have much to say beyond what he’d already said. He was used to keeping his life a secret from those around him, and he had little reason-even now-to change that way of thinking.

When he’d joined the Antarian Rangers, he’d seen the organization as just a stepping stone.
A place for him to hone his skills while he prosecuted his continuing war with his enemies. He still saw it that way, though he was beginning to realize that good allies were hard to come by. The time might come when he would include some, or all, of his Ranger companions in his other dealings but that time was likely still a ways away.

As their conversation settled into a lull, Beltran noticed that a few others had arrived. One woman, seemed to be beginning a fairly basic workout. From her body language, Beltran could see that she was nursing something of an injury.

The people who truly piqued his interest, however, were the group of women who were practicing with sword and shield. Looking back to Sergeant Osmari, Beltran nodded and replied. “Very interesting, indeed. I’ve always wanted to learn the sword. I wonder if they would be open to sharing some of their expertise. Care to join me?”

With that, Beltran would approach Sigrid and her Valkyris. He would wait until the two who were fighting concluded their practice match before making himself known. He would then speak, his tone soft but his voice-as always-carrying easily on the air.

“Greetings,” He began. “I am Specialist Rarr, attached to the Third Infantry. I have never fought with a sword before and was hoping that perhaps one of you would be willing to show me the basics?”

[member="Roona Osmari"] [member="Vertigo"] [member="Sigrid Forsberg"] @Alyson Locke