"Mmm. Morning, Sweetie." I wake to find the pixie laying on my chest with Amelia sprawled out next to us, still snoring slightly in the pre-dawn light.

"Hey." She shifts her head to look at me, letting me see the languid smile on her lips. "Thank you for last night... and for not asking."

"You'll tell us when you're ready to." I stroke her hair with a hand while one of my vines traces slowly along her spine. "Don't worry about it."

"Thank you." She snuggles into me, making herself more comfortable.

"Aren't I still too boney?" I ask, worried that I don't have enough cushion for her.

"You're fine, Sorrel." She snorts. "Well, this bit is a little pointy, but I don't exactly mind." Her smile turns sly as she reaches between us to guide my length into her.

Our gentle lovemaking is soon joined by Amelia, and the sun is fully risen by the time the three of us are satisfied.

...

"So, are you joining us for the run too?." I ask Amelia while playing with her flaxen locks.

"Uh, when exactly did I agree to go running with you?" Apricot cocks an angry eyebrow at me.

"You still haven't told me to set you down yet." I reply with a smirk, lifting her up so I can get into my chainmaille tracksuit. At the same time, I will fleece jogging clothes to knit themselves around her body; white with apricot-colored accents. "So, are you in? You can choose between me and Flicker as your mount. I can even make you a spiffy tracksuit to match."

"Tempting." Amelia snorts. "But, how about I stay behind and get breakfast ready for when you two get back."

"No fair." Apricot whines but doesn't ask me to leave her behind.

"Alright." I lean over so we can each kiss the lazy blonde. "I might go for a bit longer today to make up for skipping out last night."

"I'll be waiting." She pulls us back in for a deeper kiss before releasing us, watching us go with a lazy smile.

"Okay, you need to step this up." The pixie growls as I carry her downstairs. "The sooner you're happy with your body, the sooner we can stay in bed with that."

"Nnh." That exhaled grunt is all the assent I let myself show, knowing that I'm a hairsbreadth from rushing back upstairs for round two. "..." The sight waiting for us when I open the door drives not just that, but nearly all thought from my head.

"Sorrel!" Bruce jogs over, full of energy. He, Cobb, and almost a dozen other beastkin are doing warm-ups while taking turns tackling the climbing wall. "Great idea with the wall, I'm going to see if we can't get one added to the barracks. And, sorry for just dropping by like this, but Derby told us about that weird sail you were running with yesterday."

"Oh, the parachute, yeah." I nod and bring out the one I used yesterday, quickly duplicating it for each of them. "You guys want to join me for my run? I was planning for ninety minutes today."

"We were hoping you'd ask." The big Foxman grins. "We aren't on duty until noon, so ninety minutes is fine."

"Alright, just belt these around your waists while I get Flicker." They all fall in line behind me as I go free the horse from her pen. "So, you're all guardsmen?"

"Mal here is retired, but he always joins us to exercise." Cobb answers.

"Well, I hope you like running to music, and that you don't mind a little bass." I hand the speaker box to Apricot and queue up my [Get Pumped - Bass] playlist, starting with The White Stripes 'Seven Nation Army'. Because what else would I start with when running with the army.

"Hahaha, nice lyrics." Mal chuckles as we all settle in behind Flicker, letting her set the pace.

"The song is actually about the artist dealing with fame and people gossiping about him." I explain. "But, it's got a great beat and that's good enough for me."

We settle into the groove once Flicker gets warmed up and reaches her top speed. A couple of Gorillaz songs come up next while I'm fine-tuning everyone's parachutes. Using magic to keep track of a dozen runners pushing their bodies to the max turns out to be a great way to exercise that part of me while working on my own body.

I set 'Paint It, Black' by The Stones to let me know when to turn back, only to have a few of the guardsmen say "What, already?"

"Look how far we've come already." I chuckle and start handing out smoothies to everyone. "And, drink these. You're riding that runner's high right now, but you've been pushing yourselves to the max for the better part of an hour now." I've been helping out a little with magic, but these guys are just that tough.

"Can we run with you every morning?" One of the younger ones, a catkin by the looks of it, pleads.

"Yeah, seriously." A couple of others mutter their assent after sipping at the drinks.

"For, the next week or two, sure. Though, I'm going to need to make more smoothies." I reply with a laugh after a big gulp of my drink. "We're heading to the Capital for a bit after that. Now, come on! Or, are you going to let a twig of a Plantkin carrying a pixie on his back beat you to the farm?"

I step it up a notch by increasing the surface area of all our chutes by ten percent which earns me a muttered "Gods, he's worse than Sarge." from one of them.

A few struggle to keep up, but a little magic to wash away their fatigue and muscle stress lets them find their second wind. But, even as much as I was pushing them, I was pushing myself that much harder.

What they're feeling now is not even half of what I've been putting my body through, though. If not for the magic speeding my growth and restoring the damage as it's done, I'd be curled up in the middle of the road right now.

...

"You know, I think I changed my mind about running with you every morning." The one who commented earlier pants out after we come to a stop. I may have increased the wind resistance and pace again when we were about halfway back.

"Want another smoothie?" We all need another one after that.

""Yes, please."" About half the group beg for one, the others are too tired to do more than look pleadingly at me.

I hand them out and then start shedding my copper carapace. "Wait, you were wearing the full set?" Cobb gapes when layer after layer vanishes, leaving only the under padding to preserve my modesty.

"Not all of it." I shake my head. "Just three times my bodyweight, like I wore yesterday. I felt it was a bit light, but Apricot made up for that today."

"Hahahaha." Bruce just cracks up laughing. "You're supposed to triple your body weight, not add triple, plus a pixie. At least that's what the rest of us do." Most of them aren't even wearing that much; it looks like they only wore double today, likely planning to take it easy on me.

"Mhm." I just shrug and move my top out of the way. "Triple my bodyweight isn't exactly much right now. That, and I think I'm just built for running." I'm pretty sure that was a subtle joke on VeeGee's part based on my fateful encounter with Truck-Kun.

"Damn." Bruce swears, an envious look filling his face. "You've already filled out this much in just a day and a half?"

"Wait! He was skinnier before?" The young guard's mouth drops open.

"Gee, thanks." I laugh and put my shirt back on. "I've been sucking down smoothies as fast as I safely can, but I suppose I did skip on last night's workout. Though I was lifting Apricot all yesterday, so my arms at least got something."

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"All that is just from what?" Cobb asks.

"Two runs and just over an hour of overloading the main muscle groups." I reply with another shrug. "That was less than fun, it paid off, but it just hurts too much to do every day."

"Plus using me as a barbell for two days straight." Apricot chimes in with a laugh.

"You're insane." Mal states and the rest nod their agreement.

"You do tend to overdo things, Babe." Amelia says while walking over to us from the house. "You look fine as you are, there's no need to push yourself, not this hard at least."

"Maybe." I pull her in for a quick kiss. "But, the faster I get it over with, the faster I can spend lazy mornings in bed with you. I know I'm being silly, but it's important to me to look the way I feel I should. Don't worry though, I'll dial it back to a more reasonable level soon." It turns out that dying because of body image issues doesn't make them go away.

"Alright." She shakes her head with a rueful smile on her lips and an understanding look in her eyes. "Now, why don't you say goodbye to your friends so we can eat breakfast?"

"That's our cue boys." Bruce claps his hands and hops to his feet. The rest start groaning, but only until they actually move and find that all the pain and soreness they were expecting has vanished without their notice. "Hahahah. And, that is the only reason I'm letting him go forward with his crazy plan. I know some of you noticed that Cobb stepped up his curls a notch, that was all thanks to Sorrel."

"You all can pester him later." Amelia laughs at the longing expressions they send my way. "But, we haven't eaten yet and the two of us are starving." She tousles the pixie's hair when a rumble escapes from her belly.

"Sorry, boys." I say over my shoulder after scooping the blonde up and carrying her and Apricot to the house. "Your gains are just going to have to wait for another day." Bruce's laughter overriding their collective grumbles.

"You should have joined us." Apricot says when I plop us down in the breakfast nook. "It was funny watching Sorrel outpace all those guards who thought they'd have to take it easy on him."

"You noticed their chainmaille was a bit light too?" I smirk while grabbing a stack of flapjacks from the platter Amelia just materialized.

"Yeah, but I think those wind catchers of yours more than made up for it." She answers in-between bites.

"Wind catchers?" Amelia raises an eyebrow and takes a sip of her tea. She really likes that matcha I made.

"Parachutes." I reply with the proper name.

"Is that Zerassian?" She tilts her head to one side. "Wait, I think I know that. It's something like falling armor, or protection from falls, something like that."

"Okay. So, Gift of Tongues can give me foreign translations for foreign words, but it can't handle scientific jargon?" I purse my lips in annoyance. "And, the second one is correct." I make a small chute attached to a wooden ball and toss it up to the ceiling so they can see how it works.

"Um, why would your people need something like that?" Amelia asks with a nervous gulp.

"I think you know why." My lips morph into an amused smile when she blanches at the thought. "The basic idea has been around for centuries, but it didn't really 'take off' -hehe- until around a hundred years ago when various aircraft and flying machines started to become common. But, I'm sure some air mage came up with the same idea here ages ago."

"And, I'm sure the people of your world are crazy." She shakes her head and starts back in on her meal.

"Not everyone is afraid of heights Amelia." Apricot looks like she's trying not to roll her eyes.

"Fears are rarely rational, Sweetie." I rub the small of her back. "I mean, just look at me. If anyone has reason to be afraid of heights, it me but I still want to build an aircraft."

"Hmm?" They both look at me in confusion.

"Oh, I guess I never mentioned it." I shrug and start telling them about all of my deaths. "I wasn't just ripped apart by wolves. I also died to clumsy fathers, malicious nurses, one improvised surgery gone horribly wrong, and when one particularly stupid woman who thought it would be a great idea to jump out of an airplane and give birth in mid-air." Their faces get paler and more shocked as I speak.

"Oh, Baby." - "Sorrel." They cling to me, twin looks of worry plastered on their faces.

"Shhh." I hug them back, gently rubbing my vines up and down their spine. "It's in the past now."

"But..."

"No buts." I seal Amelia's lips with a kiss. "I won't say its okay, because it's not. But, I am dealing with it. Now, eat up before your pancakes get all soggy."

"You stupid, stubborn, lunker." Apricot swats me on the arm. "Just let us worry about you."

"Can I eat while you do that?" I stick my tongue out at her. "I don't want mine to get soggy either."

"You're insufferable. You know that, right?" Amelia hits me on the other arm.

"Not as insufferable as soggy pancakes." I keep my vines wrapped around their waists, but move my hands back to the silverware. Its actual silver too, we have the money and magic makes cleaning a snap, so I figured why not.

"Nng." She just growls and starts shoveling the food into her mouth.

"So, are you looking forward to catching up with Helen at lunch?" I blatantly change the subject when she pauses to wash down a bite with some tea.

The wine shop was one of the many places we stopped at yesterday. Helen was too busy dealing with customers to chat, so they made a lunch date.

"..." Amelia glares at me before answering. "Yes, it's been months since we got together. And, this time, instead of me listening to her complain about her boyfriend, she can listen to me complain about mine."

"Hah!" Apricot almost chokes on her juice at the blonde's remark.

"Heheheh." I just chuckle and squeeze her a little tighter. "Well, before you go badmouthing me, do you want to help decorate? I'm already tired of the place-holder furniture I setup."

"Mhm." She nods before shaking her head. "I agree, but I want to go through those magic primers we picked up. It will be nice to have the place look a little less plain, though."

"What? Isn't the mana node nightlight classy enough for you?" I joke.

"I still can't believe you were serious about that." She shakes her head and finishes up the last scraps on her plate. "Give me the music box, I'm going to sit in the patio."

"Here, you go." I set it on the table and pull her in for a syrupy kiss. "And, thank you for not pushing. Come on, Apricot. I want to go meet Melanie's new helper before we get started." I sensed she had another person in the lab with her when we got back from the run.

Amelia mutters "Stupid, stubborn, man." under her breath and gets up from the table.

"Maybe, but I'm your stupid, stubborn, man." I stick my tongue out at her before saying. "I love you."

"You too." She rolls her eyes and moves into the patio.

"It's okay to talk about it... when you're ready, that is." Apricot adds quickly when I raise my eyebrow at her and the story she still hasn't shared.

"When 'I'm' ready." I nod and head for the door.

***