“Alright, lad. The first step in your new strength training is to do some pull-ups,” Tygus announced. The dwarf was standing on a stump that made him just taller than Cillian. The two of them, along with Ravel, were behind the cabin. It was a warm morning.
“Okay, but where?” Cillian said, looking around.
“Oh, um…” Tygus scanned the forest floor. “Ravel, fetch me that stick,” Tygus said, pointing to a thick branch.
The tall tabaxi responded obediently. “Here you are, master.”
Tygus took the stick. He held it so that it pointed horizontally and then raised it high above his head.
“Are you serious?” Cillian asked.
Tygus only responded with a wide grin.
“Okay, you’re serious,” Cillian stretched his arms and grabbed the stick. It was just at the end of his reach. “Here we go.”
Cillian gently applied a pulling force to the stick. He winced in anticipation of the stick losing its sturdy anchor and him falling down. To his amazement, however, when Cillian put his whole weight into the branch, he just hung there. There was no sway or turbulent movements in the branch. It just hung there as if it were nailed into the air.
Cillian looked on at Tygus, gawking with his mouth open.
“Well, come on then,” Tygus said. Cillian couldn’t detect any strain in the dwarf’s voice.
The hanging boy listened and did his first pull-up. It was uncoordinated and Cillian could immediately feel the strain on his forearms, biceps, and back. He used the momentum created to propel himself through a second, third, and fourth pull-up. The last one seemed to fry his muscles and make his head feel light.
“That’s it, boy! One more, don’t stop!” Tygus cheered on.
Cillian struggled to lift himself, every centimeter was harder than the last. He felt a deep and sudden burn in his arms. Before he could even make it halfway, he felt his body start to give out on him. He let out a visceral groan as he hung in a semi-flexed position before letting go and falling to the ground.
“Ahh,” Cillian moaned as he rubbed his forearms. His hands seemed to be stuck in the closed position and he had trouble opening them.
Tygus lowered the branch. “Almost! Well done Cillian.”
He hopped down from the stump.
“You’re still skinny, even after all the feasts Ravel feeds you.” Tygus poked Cillian with the branch, then turned to address the tabaxi. “I don’t think you’re making him eat enough.”
“Or, it’s because you make me run for hours every day,” Cillian interjected.
“That could be it,” Tygus laughed. “I haven’t done pull-ups in some time. That looked like fun.”
Cillian laughed.
This is what Mr. Dronbar thinks is fun?
Cillian felt his heavy breathing and pulsating muscles.
Maybe this was fun.
“Okay, what’s next? More pull-ups?” He asked.
“Oh no, I still want you able to train tomorrow. That’s enough pull-ups. Next is push-ups,” Tygus said from his stump.
Cillian quickly got onto the ground and into his ready position. The snow sucked the heat from Cillian’s hands.
“Wait for me,” Tygus said as he jumped down and got into his own push-up position besides Cillian. He beckoned Ravel, “You too.”
All of them were aligned side by side, on their hands and toes. Cillian was excited about this. Push-ups were one of the only exercises Cillian did when he lived with Amalea. His father would do them in the living room to make his mother giggle. When he was still somewhat small, he would sometimes sit on his father’s back during the push-ups.
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“Ready? One,” Tygus said as he did a swift down and up motion. Both Cillian and Ravel were delayed in their movements.
“Two,” this time they were faster to respond.
After the count of three, they were all moving in unison. Together, they followed the rhythm set by the dwarf. He was moving with precision and speed like he was some kind of steam-powered machine.
By Tygus’ count of 15, both Cillian’s and Ravel’s movements had deteriorated to a large degree, with the human’s being the worse of the two. Ravel was still moving with a proper depth, but Cillian’s repetitions had become shallow and sporadic. They were drenched and dripping with sweat.
Every successive push-up fell further behind Tygus’ clock-like rhythm for Cillian until at 22 he fell flat onto the ground.
Ravel kept his pace steady. His mouth was open panting, and his tongue stretched past his chin. But, even he couldn’t keep up with Tygus, and quickly was flattened out on the ground after the count of 35.
Seeing the other two no longer able to continue, the elder dwarf decided to pick things up. He sped up his motions till he reached 50 in less than ten seconds.
“I was just getting started,” Tygus said as he hopped up onto his feet. “Good job, both of you, but it seems like yall would benefit from doing push-ups more often.”
“I didn’t expect you to beat me, Ravel,” Cillian said sheepishly.
“I had quite an active young life, Sir Cillian. One it seems my body has failed to forget,” Ravel spoke as his panting slowed.
“Now that we are warmed up,” Tygus said as he pulled off his shirt. “Let’s get onto the main course.”
The dwarf’s torso bulged with thick muscle everywhere. His stomach was lean and showed off powerful abdominals, and his shoulders looked almost spherical. On his left pectoral was a strange black circular tattoo. It seemed to be inscriptions in a foreign language that wrapped around in multiple rings.
“Get up, both of you,” Tygus scolded.
The tabaxi and human rose to their feet and stood idly in front of Tygus.
“You wanted to learn to fight, Norwood? Let’s see what you got,” Tygus gestured his hands together.
There was a moment of confusion that washed over Cillian and Ravel.
“Wait, do you want us to,” Cillian said while pointing at himself and the tabaxi. “Fight?”
“Are you sure about this Master?” Ravel asked.
“Well don’t kill each other, but give it a good go,” Tygus replied to the two.
They both turned toward each other. Cillian stood tall and raised his fists up to his chin. Ravel crouched slightly with his hands outstretched.
“Okay, are you ready?” Cillian awkwardly asked his sparring partner. Ravel only responded with a nod.
Cillian charged forward and swung with a wild looping punch. The tabaxi swiftly ducked below the attack and repositioned himself to the side of Cillian. Then, he let out an agile kick, slamming his shin into the back of both of Cillian’s legs. The kick chopped Cillian’s base out from underneath him to fall violently onto his back.
Ravel crouched to the side of Cillian and primed his arm as if he was going to punch Cillian in the face. Cillian tensed up in anticipation of the strike. He stuck his hands out, hoping to mitigate some of the damage. Instead, he felt a furry hand clasp his and pull him back to his feet.
“Again,” Tygus ordered.
They got into their stances again. Cillian’s breath was elevated and he was doing his best to try to figure out what went wrong.
Maybe I wasn’t fast enough.
Ravel gave him a nod, indicating the start of their impromptu match. Cillian charged forward again, this time putting all his effort through his feet. He threw another one of his looping punches, but his opponent wasn’t in front of him.
Ravel had jumped to the side, balancing on one of his powerful cat-like legs, and coiling the other like a spring. From the new angle he created, he had a perfect opening to attack the charging boy. He unleashed his foot right into Cillian’s stomach.
Cillian was sent again to the floor, this time curled up, holding his stomach, and gasping. Ravel rushed over and put his hands gently on Cillian.
“Sir Cillian, are you okay?” Ravel tried to turn Cillian onto his back so he could see the damage.
Cillian gasped some more and tried to steady his breathing. Pain emanated from where he was struck, but it wasn’t debilitating. The sudden loss of air in his lungs is what he had to recover from.
“Yeah, I’m okay now,” he said after a few seconds.
Ravel helped him up to his feet.
“That’s enough sparring, let’s stop now,” the tabaxi said.
“No, I’m okay. We can keep going,” Cillian said as he separated from Ravel and walked back into his stance.
Ravel gave a worried look to Tygus, but the dwarf didn’t pay any heed as he was watching Cillian intently. Crouching low for the third time now, Ravel readied himself for their next bout.
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[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/601007576796233728/1012192980167307325/Nathanbro_tabaxi_yellow_fur_fantasy_f5717592-2be5-41c9-9545-77ef5a7c067a.png]
Ravel the Tabaxi