Muscles & Manda [Zordon!] - CLOSED

[Rabbit]

Sweat rolled down Sheresh's forehead, as she completed her 16th lap around the training center's sectioned circumference. All total, she'd done four miles so far - 2 more miles and 8 more laps to go. She licked her lips as she slowed her pace down to a fast jog for a few steps; she could taste salt along the corners of her mouth.

She was wearing her full beskar'gam, sans buy'ce, and had her full medkit strapped across her back. Today was a "light" day - usually, she'd run 3 or 4 miles in full gear, weapons, medkit, helmet and all.

It wasn't that Sheresh was "hardcore" - far from it. But, the lives of her soldiers depended on her ability to move quickly in the heat of battle - when she was in encased in Mandalorian beskar from head to foot and weighted down with her gear. The young, half-Zeltron medic worked out at least three times a week - if not more - alternating her workouts with running, stretching exercises, and strength training. More than anything else, she focused on her endurance - her strength didn't always matter, but her ability to stay on her feet and push herself past all exhaustible limits, was.

The training arena was moderately busy - the late afternoon sun had started to stream through the windows along the top of the building. A lot of soldiers were getting off their day-shifts, others were getting ready for evening rotations. There was a mixture of bodies amid the sparing mats, weight benches, punching bags, and so forth. Sheresh started running faster again, as another Mando - dressed only in a pair of loose pants and boots - ran past her.

Sheresh admired the sweaty back that moved along in front of her. She was Mando'ad herself...and as practical as any other...but sometimes, she couldn't help her Zeltronian traits from surfacing. While she didn't move to the extremes of her mother's people, Sheresh was quite fond of "eye-candy" and thoroughly enjoyed the blatant displays of masculinity that were so readily available in the training area. It was one of the secret reasons why she bothered to come here to run, instead of running outside, around the base.

It was one of the far less practical benefits of being a Mandalorian, Sheresh couldn't help a goofy little smile to herself as she ran along. Macho men were inevitably attracted to the Mandalorian way of life - either that, or they were born into the clans and made that way. And while Sheresh usually bristled at men at first contact, she deeply enjoyed looking at them - as long as they didn't talk.

Her eyes wandered around the room in front of her, as she puffed along. Her legs were starting a familiar burn and the straps of her heavy kit was starting to make her shoulders ache. She took a deep breath, though, and pushed a little harder - Mishuk gotal'u meshuroke, pako kyore.

Pressure makes gems, ease makes decay.... she chanted in her head, as she lengthened her stride and breathed deeper.

And then her forward progression was stopped in mid-stride by the most amazing display of musculature that she'd ever seen.

Sheresh's jaw dropped and she stumbled a bit as she pulled up short. The medic blinked and stared in a sheer awe, at the gigantic hulk that was lifting weights across the arena, to her left.

Down, girl.... she thought and shook her head, bemused.

It really was rather inconvenient to be a Zeltron - even half-Zeltron. An impressive physique could distract her like no other - it really wasn't fair. Sheresh rolled her eyes toward the ceiling.

Why, Mother?

She couldn't help but sneak another peek, before she started running again - slower this time. She told herself it was to give her legs a bit of a break, but really, she was having fun watching the Mando hunk of muscles lifting in repetative motions. She was so enthralled, in fact, that she forgot to consider the other Zeltronian trait her mother had passed along - her pheromones.

As Sheresh jogged along, she failed to realize that now most of the males in the room were following her progression. She just trotted along, lost in her own little world, and pleased with the view that had made her workout that much more entertaining...

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[OOC: Don't anyone take this too seriously, for realz. ROFLMAO I'm just having fun with Sheresh, at her own expense.... ^_^]

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beskar'gam - armor
buy'ce[/b] - helmet
beskar - iron

[Sporky]

If there was anything Zordon loved, it was this. Working out . There was something...primal about it, that allowed him to really..connect with his own body, for lack of a better words choice. He couldn't explain it, but that was it.

But even he couldn't keep it up forever. Frell, he'd already been at it for most of the afternoon, just going from machine to machine, genuinely having nothing better to do. By now, he'd worked up a mighty sweat, and was panting and puffing like an overworked farm Reek.

Swinging his feet over the side of the weight bench, he stood, his knees popping and cracking a few times from not having moved in a good amount of time. Unfortunately, he'd also stood up a little too fast, and his vision blacked out for a second or two. Shaking his head and blinking a few time, he stretched and worked out the kinks in his arms, which also replied in pops and cracks.

He'd just sat back down and started rummaging through the bag of stuff he'd brought with him for a Nuka-Cola Victory when noticed pretty much every head in the room turn in sequence to look at someone. He, too, turned to look...oh my.

The clear plastic bottle dropped from his hand when he relaxed his grip at the sight of the female Mano strutting through the training area. It rolled along the floor, to her foot, then was kicked back towards him by one of her boots. He scrambled to regain his composure, pickng up the bottle from the floor and putting on his best nonchalanteventhoughthere'satotalhottieintheroom face, drinking the soda like nothing was going on.

[Rabbit]

Oh, now. That was just too funny.

Sheresh didn't need her empathy to know that the mountain of muscles was flustered. She'd started noticing that others were noticing her, as she finished her 17th lap, but it wasn't until she nearly tripped on a bottle of clear liquid, that she realized that maybe distracting every male in the room might be a bit of a problem.

Unfortunately, reeling in her pheromone levels was a bit trickier than her empathy and for some reason, it never seemed to work when she was out-of-breath and sweaty. Her boot caught the bottle and kicked it back toward the wide-eyed Mando, who picked it up and tried to look as if nothing was the matter.

Sheresh couldn't stop the corners of her mouth curling up into a mischevious grin. She still had seven more laps to go, but now she'd been thoroughly distracted. She slowed to a jog, then a trot, then a walk and with one--handed grace, she vaulted over the hip-high railing that seperated the running track from the rest of the gym.

Okay, so now, she was just showing off. But, she couldn't resist. It'd been hard work and no play for quite some time and she couldn't help poking a little fun at a big, manly Mando.

"Watch where you drop things!" she swaggered up to the hulking mass of man.

Hmmm...must be at least half Boltronian, she thought, eyeing his size and his face.

She poked him playfully in the chest with a finger and smiled brightly to off-set the sharpness of her tone.

"What's the matter? Togorian got your tongue?"

[Sporky]

Oh..great. Nice going, genius. You only got her attention directed towards you.

He played it cool as long as he could, gulping down the delicious orange joy that was his bottle of Victory.It certainly helped relax him and kept him from sputtering and stammering.

She would definitely cause it, too; flaunting her womanlyness all about. And there was a lot of it..this was the kind of lady that tended to only exist in the minds of boys just nearly of age. Dayum.

As she got closer, he got nervous. Nervous was bad. Nervous was unfitting. Was she there to chastise him for dropping his bottle, when it could have easily tripped up someone and led to an injury? Oh boy, he had a bad feeling about...

...Oh. She was just joking around. Good. It meant he could do the same. Clearing his throat, he put on his best thick Coruscanti impression and extended both of his little fingers. "I was simply holding my tongue to prevent myself from saying anything that might offend a proper lady such as yourself."

[Rabbit]

"I was simply holding my tongue to prevent myself from saying anything that might offend a proper lady such as yourself."

For a moment, Sheresh was caught up short and she just blinked, as her fellow Mando's words sunk in.

Once they had, she couldn't help it.

She burst out laughing.

"Now, that's rich!"

She laughed for several minutes, too caught up in the sheer ridiculousness of his words, to worry if he was offended by her laughter. It was simply too hysterical to take seriously - no one had ever called her a lady.

Except her father, once upon a time. He had called her his "little lady". The memory of her father cut Sheresh's laughter short, but she fixed a smile on her face and she tilted her head back to look at her new companion in the face.

He towered over her and between his height and size, she felt positively tiny. However, Sheresh wasn't the kind of woman to be intimidated by size and he seemed like the jovial type.

"You haven't been around Mandalorian females much, have you?" she scolded playfully and put her hands on her hips. "Good thing for you I have a sense of humor, I'd be kicking your shebs to the ground right about now."

She leaned forward and playfully poked him in the chest again. His face wasn't much to look at, but Manda help her, Sheresh was finding it a little hard to resist rubbing her hands over his muscles and purring.

She really was a sucker for the brutish type...... Especially when they felt as laid-back and good-humored as the hunk in front of her.

Not a bad sort at all....

"Quickest way to piss off a Mandalorian woman - call her a lady or call her 'delicate'," Sheresh poked him a few more times, just to make sure he got the point.

She batted her eyelashes at him and grinned - she was in a mood to flirt and she liked making him stutter.

"Name's Shereshoy Par'jain, by the way. Sergeant-medic-type. You?"

[Sporky]

When she laughed, so did Zordon. His was a deep, booming, hearty laughter that came straight from his diaphragm and echoed across the room. Yes, Zordon was quite amiable, and he was happy to meet another Mando'ade that could joke about and laugh just as well as him.

He was quite aware that there was a war going on. Frell, he'd fought in it, seen his brothers and sisters reduced to quivering piles of gore and entrails. He'd wept so many times since he'd become a fully-fledged Mando he feared for his tear ducts. But that was exactly why he had become such a joker. If you were completely serious all the time, you'd drive yourself mad. It was better to stay light and happy, save the growling and rage for the battlefield.

"I've met plenty of Mando women..in battle. Outside, not so much," he admitted, and it was true. Mostly, he stuck to hanging around with the other guys simply out of familiarity. Lia was the main exception that he could remember, and he'd only met her briefly.

"Zordon McNolastname the First, esquire.You may have heard about me in passing. The jolly green giant, the dragon guy, the dude that gave me these awesome cigars, the guy with the huge gorram minigun, stuff like that.."

He put an arm on her shoulder and leaned ever so slightly, flashing her a toothy grin."So howsabout we put down a few rounds of booze together and you teach me all about Mandalorian women, hmm?"

[Rabbit]

"I've met plenty of Mando women..in battle. Outside, not so much."

"Well, that sounds 'bout right," Sheresh meant to keep that thought to herself, but it just sort of slipped out.

She blushed a bit, the roots of her hair turning a darker shade of pink. The young medic cleared her throat and shrugged her shoulders, in attempt to play off her sudden slip-up.

"From what I've noticed, you Mando guys keep away from us gals and vice-versa," Sheresh titled her head to the side and smiled up at the looming block of moving muscle. "Seems like we all keep a healthy distance from each other, except when we all have particular activities in mind that require co-ed participation."

Her grin got even wider and she had to laugh at herself. Life really was too short to take ones' self too seriously. Her gigantic companion seemed to sense the same, since he was easy to laughter. It helped her from feeling too awkward - which she was want to do around males.

"Zordon McNolastname the First, esquire.You may have heard about me in passing. The jolly green giant, the dragon guy, the dude that gave me these awesome cigars, the guy with the huge gorram minigun, stuff like that.."

"Well, no, actually," Sheresh rocked back on her heels and pursed her lips. "I don't think I have heard of you. But, then again, I'm pretty new around here and I'm usually holed up in the medical ward. You folks are pretty short on medics around here, so there's plenty to keep me busy."

She paused and glanced around the arena. Her expression was a bit wistful, if only for a moment.

"Most days, I get up, go to chow, go to work, come here to workout, eat dinner, and go to sleep," the young medic paused and winced. "Guess that makes me sound pretty boring, huh?"

She glanced shyly over at Zordon and hoped he didn't think she was a stick-in-the-mud. Though, in retrospect, she supposed she was. Sheresh didn't really have any reason to party these days - ever since Saa had died, she'd focused her attention pretty much on life as a soldier as very little else.

As if reading her mind, Zordon put his hand on her shoulder and leaned in toward her. Sheresh couldn't help but flinch in deeply-ingrained reflex and she leaned a bit away from him out of old habit. She didn't feel any sense of threat off of the half-Boltronian, but she wasn't used to males getting up into her face - it still put her on edge.

"So howsabout we put down a few rounds of booze together and you teach me all about Mandalorian women, hmm?"

"Well..." Sheresh paused awkwardly and licked her lips; she wished Zordon would let go of her and go back to a comfortable arms' length away. "Um...that doesn't sound like a half-bad idea, but...um..."

She couldn't help it. She knew he was just being friendly, but Zordon's sudden demonstration of casual friendliness triggered old survival skills she had once needed as a cantina slave. Sheresh cleared her throat and tried not to panic - she knew it wasn't his intention to harm, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel distressed.

Finally, she blurted out the only thing she could think of and prayed it didn't sound too much like a lame excuse -

"I don't really drink, y'know..."