It's All An Illusion {o}

[Veronica Knox]

Sparing partners were few and far to come by. At least ones that were willing to have pain inflicted on them in concentrated, high volumes. Veronica stood panting, shaking out her hands as she smiled at the girl only five or so feet from her. “Thanks, that was really helpful.” V said, dipping her head to the girl as they parted ways. For the last hour or so they had been in a mock fight, trading blows and enhancing their understanding of powers. The redhead that Veronica had met had something along the lines of dulled senses which aided Veronica in seeing how high she’d have to ramp up the pain in order to break through it.

For the girl, it had only been a few tinges of pain here and there but that had been plenty to use as a distraction during the spar. It had also helped Veronica focus on which part of the body she was attacking instead of just sending pain their way. She was feeling much more satisfied with her gift as they parted. Taking a seat on a bench to far away, she concentrated on taking a sip from her water bottle. It was a tad difficult since she couldn’t shake the numbness in her hands. ’Maybe a side effect? The pain's just an illusion, right?' She thought to herself as her maroon gaze settled on her gloved hands, her brow pinching ever so slightly in confusion.

Deciding starring at her hands wouldn’t be the best use of her time, Veronica hopped up. She adjusted her grey tank top and sweat pants so that they were sitting correctly on her body again before headed over to the treadmills. V half hoped that a good run would clear her mind and keep the numbness at bay for the moment. There was nothing more annoying than not being able to feel with your hands. She paused as she came to a stop, noticing a person hanging around them. “Are you using this one?” She gestured to the open treadmill they were hovering next to.

[MaKayla MyKa]

MaKayla was at the weights, lifting what must've looked impossible for anyone, let alone someone her size. The thin and slightly toned prefect was well at work, trying to improve her strength and surpass her limit. Her breaths were heavy and her arms shook as she fully extended the weight. She puffed, gritting her teeth as she lowered the weight as slow and controlled as she could.

"Eight." She huffed, resting the weight on the reinforced notches of the bench. There she laid, catching her breath after the final interval. She moaned as she sat up, her arms feeling weak and numb. She sat up only to notice another student waiting to use it. "Oh," she scrambled for her rag, "sorry, um," she quickly wiped down the bench, seeing as it had gotten rather sweaty. "All yer's." She motioned, picking up her bag huffing a bit more as she made it to the treadmills.

She paused a moment, hanging around and catching her breath before losing it again on the treadmill. She closed her eyes, wiping her brow when the deep(er) voiced Veronica asked if she were using a treadmill.

"Oh, no. Well, um." she glanced from Veronica to the parallel treadmills, "not yet. . ." She looked to the girl again, "You could take. Still catchin' my breath." The prefect's accent revealed itself as she spoke. She lifted a bottle to her lips, taking a long drink, giving the girl a nod.

[Veronica Knox]

Watching the other girl she vaguely remembered her lifting weights. Weights that seemed to be way too heavy for someone with her body take. “Thank you,” She replied before hopping on the treadmill. For a moment or two she set up the pace and incline before the machine groaned to life. For the first minute she let it build up speed until she was at a steady job with a fair incline, something to challenge her a bit since she hadn’t been the best with keeping up her morning routine of running. She had to keep in shape so she could do her best not to be over powered in a fight.

After she adjusted to her speed, she quickly glanced over at the other girl again. Deciding it wouldn’t be a bad time to strike up conversation she called over, “So, super strength?” Normally, Veronica wouldn’t have bothered with a conversation. Normally, she didn’t want to speak with majority of the school’s population. However, she was aware that she needed to get better at splitting her focus to maintain illusions while she was fighting. If they weren’t in her hands or in her eyesight it was harder to keep up the illusion because it quickly fell away from her conscious mind. Holding a conversation and still running might not be on the same level but it was a start to getting to where she wanted to be with her powers.

“My friend has that, it’s a pain to spare with but rather useful in fights.” She kept her breathing as even as possible as she continued to speak, trying to spark up the conversation. In truth, she wasn’t the best at socializing as she never felt the need to break apart from her own small group. However, as she spent more time on the island she realized having a bit of a wider range in acquaintances probably wouldn’t be so bad, especially if they held positions of ‘power’ or had actual powers that could be useful in her escape. It might have been a bad move to make friends to use them later but this was supposed to be a temporary position if she had anything to say about it.