Weight Of The World

[Valerie Law]

Even Valerie had to admit this was heavy. But that just made the challenge all the better.

So she pushed, muscles bulging against the strain Valerie was going through. Her muscles had always been evident to anyone who looked, even with her tiny overall frame. But right now they were pronounced, and the sheer strength of the girl as she fought against the machine showed. It was a machine quite like a compressor really, like a garbage truck. Only far more heavily and specifically designed for those with super strength. In fact their was a label on the machine that purposefully said 'For mutants with enhanced strength only.' Because not only did it look like a compressor, it acted like one and could crush a normal person pretty easily if the settings were turned up high enough.

Valerie had found out about it from Matt, and decided to try it. It was a lot like doing squats, only heavier. Valerie had been a little hesitant at first, but she was always willing to try out a new way to workout. So she had headed to the training rooms and found one of the machines quickly enough. After that, it was just a simple input on what amount of force she wanted the machine to push down against her with, and she began.

She pushed her legs all the way straight, holding onto the handles of the machine tightly so her grip wouldn't slip with how much sweat she had accumulated. I think it's time for a break. She decided, pressing a button on the machine that canceled the force. It lightened considerably and Valerie exhaled all at once, stepping away and slumping onto the ground nearby. Even exhausted as she was, she remembered to stretch. She didn't want her muscles locking up.

Still, that had been a lot more fun than Valerie had imagined. She even ended up smiling, wiping some of the sweat out of her eyes. As always, her confidence was soaring during or right after working out. There was something about it that just always managed to make her calm. Unlike doing basically anything else. That just made Valerie a nervous mess.

But it seemed like it was about to happen again, for after Valerie had reached for her water bottle, she could see someone coming over as she drank. Valerie almost choked on her drink in surprise, and just barely managed to catch herself before she started coughing terribly. She did cough a little, before looking at the person coming never her nervously. Did I do something wrong? Was I not supposed to use this equipment? She wondered as she flashed the person-- a girl-- a small, shy smile. "Um... Hello."

[Victoria Foster]

This week's project: take pictures of people doing something you don't like doing. The point was to get out of your comfort zone and find the art in things you don't normally find it in. In Tori's case, she would have to take pictures of people working out. People working out with weights, more specifically. Working out was the devil in disguise. Tori hadn't lifted a weight in her life without complaining so much nothing ever got lifted. She didn't see the point of lifting something for the sake of lifting. It was ust physical exertion that made you tired and sore. She didn't have time for it. And she certainly didn't have time to listen to people tell her "it's to build muscle. Muscles be damned. If she needed something lifted, she'd just bat her eyelashes and ask for help.

With camera in hand, Tori had made her way to the training room and stared at everyone doing, well, workout stuff. So many sweaty people. Tori tried not to show her disgust with the humidity that was thick in the air. And the smell of feet. Did this place get washed or was she just being a little bitch about this?

With a shake of her head, she turned to the weights section just in time to watch a petite- if you could call her that considering the impressive muscles she had- work at an incredibly heavy looking machine. Tori started to head over in her direction with a genuine smile. The blonde girl would be perfect to get a few pictures from. Tori would just have to think of a way to ask without making the girl uncomfortable.

"Hi!" Tori replied in a cheery tone. She looked the girl up and down; it was akin to checking her out, but Tori couldn't help herself. She actually was very tempted to reach out and squeeze one of the girl's arms. Swallowing, Tori turned her attention to the intimidating machine and motioned to it, "That's really impressive. How much weight is that?"

[Valerie Law]

The girl seemed pretty friendly, which did put Valerie a little at ease. Except for when it seemed like the girl was looking Valerie over. That only made her blush a little more in embarrassment and avert her eyes to stare at the floor. Valerie was definitely sweaty, and her shirt was clingy to her it was so bad. She probably thinks I'm so disgusting. Valerie thought, feeling embarrassed. Her confidence was already shaken and draining like water from a pricked balloon.

But then the girl turned to look at the machine and asked about it. That actually made Valerie relax a little. That was something she could talk about. "Oh! Um... It's somewhere around the, ah.... weight of a SUV." Valerie admitted, biting her bottom lip as she drank some more of her water before setting it down and continuing with her stretching. "Um... I know others who, uh, can lift more." Well, she knew one at Bellefonte so far, and there had only been very very few back at Acton Vale with super strength

[Victoria Foster]

An SUV? Yup, Tori definitely wanted to reach out and squeeze a muscle now. Just how solid were they? Obviously the adorable pixie girl had the super strength mutation. Obviously. It brought the curious question to Tori's head of how easy it would be for this girl to lift Tori up over her head. Would it be like a regular person lifting a cat over their head? Or something even lighter? Maybe a kitten?

"Uhm.." Tori cleared her throat, embarrassed by the fact that she had been distracted. The poor girl looked so uncomfortable. Tori shouldn't have let silence fall between them like that. Especially not when all Tori was doing was staring at her throughout it all.

Way to look normal, idiot.

"Sorry." A sheepish smile splayed on her mouth, her eyes softening in apology, "My name's Tori. And you are..?"

[Valerie Law]

The girl went silent after Valerie mentioned how much she could lift, and Valeire was half-afraid she had said something wrong. And then the girl seemed to be staring at Valerie, especially her arms. It just served to make Valerie blush more and avert her head, drinking some water simply to give herself something to do. She probably doesn't believe me. I'm so small. Valerie figured, putting down her water bottle to grab the small towel the wipe her face off. The girl cleared her throat, but didn't say anything just then.

Then there was an apology, which made Valerie glance back over. The girl was smiling a bit sheepishly, and she introduced herself as Tori before asking Valerie's name. Valerie ducked her head, biting her bottom lip as she finished wiping her face off. "...V-Valerie." The blonde responded

[Victoria Foster]

"Valerie. That's a pretty name. It's nice to meet you." The sheepishness in the smile transformed to a friendly one. Tori brushed her thumb against the top of her camera before looking down at it and considering how she should proceed. Well, there was no point making Valerie even more uncomfortable with small talk; Tori may as well either ask if the girl would model for her or just move on to find someone else who would. Perhaps someone who was more comfortable with strangers? That would probably be the best course of action, Tori felt bad for making Val this uncomfortable. It was never her intention to make anyone feel weird. But then again, it was Valerie's awkwardness that made Tori want to snap a photo of her. Funny how that worked.

With her free hand, Tori ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm going to be honest, I'm here for a class. I need to take a few pictures of someone working out for photography. Think you could help me? If you let me take a few pictures of you I'll buy you lunch. Where ever you want to go." 

Was that weird? If Valerie was feeling weird about Tori than the blonde girl definitely wouldn't want to spend an entire lunch with her. Crap. Well, it was too late to retract that statement. "Er, or whatever you want. Maybe I could get you a coffee instead. Or something."

[Valerie Law]

Valerie flushed a bit more at the compliment on her name.he managed to flash another small, shy smile the other girl's way before ducking her head and staring at the floor again. Valerie had to wonder why the girl was there, and why she would approach Valerie of all people. Valerie could see the camera, so obviously this girl was here to take pictures or something of the nature. But why was she here with Valerie? She probably just stopped by but she's taking pictures of someone else. That had to have been it. Right? Valerie's power wasn't flashy or cool. No, she definitely was just stopping by.

Valerie was staring at her own feet, so she missed Tori running her fingers through her hair. However, Tori confirmed that she was here to take pictures of people working out and that she wanted to use Valerie. This made the pixie blonde glance up in surprise. "M-Me?" She asked, her face reddening. The girl had to be kidding. But then she mentioned getting lunch for Valerie if she got pictures, although she quickly changed it to getting coffee or something else.

Valerie didn't know what to really say. She had never had anyone ask to take her picture before. Did this sort of thing happen at Bellefonte a lot? Even though Valerie was uncomfortable with it, she didn't want to push this girl away. Tori had to do this for a project. So if she really wanted.... Valerie guessed she could. "Um...I'll help." She managed. "A-although there are, uh.... a lot more, um, c-cool looking powers.... than mine."

[Victoria Foster]

Valerie's reddening face indicated just how embarrassed and shy she was. Tori should have probably told the girl 'it's alright, I'll find someone else for my shoot. Good luck lifting things', but she could be very stubborn with herself. She wanted pictures of Val and of no one else. Hopefully that wasn't being too selfish. But hey, at least the pixie girl agreed to it! That was a good sign, right?

"What do you mean?" Tori's brows furrowed and she tilted her head to the side. She appraised Valerie and felt immensely more curious about her. And immensely more guilty she was pushing her to do a shoot she was obviously not comfortable with. Tori's argument was this: Val was a girl who could kill someone by squeezing their head with her bare hand. What else could be more cool and scarousing than that? It was just sad that she was so insecure. Maybe Tori could help with that. Maybe Tori could fix it.

"Your power is super bad ass. You're basically lifting SUVs. That's incredible, man. There's no one better or who I'd rather pick than you. Plus, the shoot only requires you to do the things you'd normally do during your training. Just pretend I'm not even here and it'll as easy as pie, yeah?"

Maybe that wasn't the greatest way to coax Valerie into the 'take it easy' zone. 

[Valerie Law]

Valerie's blush only intensified at the girl's question. "I-I.... well, ah.... I'm just, um, s-strong I.... I-It doesn't look, uh... as, um, flashy or...." She stammered, trying to explain why she wasn't the special. But before she could go on Tori was already speaking, praising Valerie's power and insisting there was no one she'd rather take a photo of. It made the blonde pixie flush even more, if that was possible, and duck her head as her shoulders lifted up to her ears.

"A-ah.... t-th-thanks. I'I mean if you, ah... r-really w-want to you, um, could." She said, fiddling with her hands before turning back to the machine. She did want to keep working out. I just hope she isn't disappointed. Valerie thought, biting her bottom lip nervously. She inhaled and exhaled slowly before heading back to the machine and getting into place. She lessened the weight just to start out before widening her stance and pressing go. As her focus drew back while the weight slowly added on, Valerie forgot about being shy and instead paid attention to pushing back against the compressor as it basically tried to crush her.

[Victoria Foster]

Tori smiled a toothy smile, hoping to whatever god was out there it was encouraging. She paid extra attention on how much she was blinking, and made sure to watch Valerie without staring. That was much easier said than done, that was for sure. Val was so terribly shy Tori wouldn't be too shocked if the pixie had a heart attack right in front of her. This was definitely a "proceed from this point on with a butt load of caution" sort of situation.

Thankfully, Tori didn't have to be mindful of how she was or was not staring for much longer. Val had turned back to 'the crusher' (as Tori thought of it) and got into a ready position. As she was doing so, Tori brought up her camera and made some quick adjustments before getting into a position of her own. She dropped to one knee, brought the camera to her face, and snapped a few shots. As Valerie kept going and adding more resistance, Tori moved around to get different angles. She thought about giving a few words of approval but decided it would be best not to break Valerie's concentration. Tori did not want to be the cause of someone's death. Death by distraction. Yikes.

Damn, this is good. I'm so smart for coming here. I get to watch this cutie lifting weights for homework? I wish that's how all my assignments would go.

[Valerie Law]

Luckily Valerie's focus was quickly tunneling to her just pushing against the machine and doing some squats while the weight rose, so Tori didn't have to worry too much about Valerie being shy at that moment. Valerie had to admit she was having fun as her muscles bunched and she held her own as the weight kept going. It was definitely getting back up to the weight it had been at when Tori first came in. Valerie's arms and legs were really straining now as she pushed against the compressor, halting the weight once she felt it was heavy enough and just holding it for bit.

Finally Valerie stopped the machine again and stepped out, wiping her face off before remembering Tori was there. She smiled sheepishly at the girl and looked at the floor. "Um.... I h-hope that was, ah.... g-good enough." She said. I hadn't even done anything that cool. She thought sadly.