Ain't Nothing Like It

[Izaak Finch]

Standing in the pungent odour of dried sweat and old socks was admittedly, not very pleasing in the least. So as Izaak Finch twisted in the right combination for his gym locker he was adamant to make this a hasty operation. His hand dove into the storage space without so much as peering in and grappled around for the fresh gym towel he knew to be in there somewhere. Finding it past a spare pair of trainers, Izaak snatched it up in one hand, his water bottle in the other and closed the lockers door, eager to get out of this stuffy room and start his routine. The ocean aside, the gym was the only other place in the entire world that was reserved for Izaak’s time alone. Every other minute of the day he seemed to have to be somewhere or with someone if he wasn’t already. But here it was like his break from the constant rat race outside of his head, his zen hour. Keeping his fitness at its utmost peak seemed like just the added bonus when he thought about it like that. Still as much as it appeared not to be, his “me time” was very much a part of his career. Trying to be an athlete, any type of athlete, without your fitness was like a singer having their vocal chords cut – you’d be over with a click of one’s fingers. Izaak was just lucky he found it so immensely enjoyable.

The gym was almost empty, Izaak noted in passing, as he started towards his usual bench press. There were really only the diehard gym junkies here on a weekday afternoon, the rest of the general public were still in work hours, stuck behind office desks and probably guiltily sucking down a few greasy big macs too. Yes, this was when the top dogs came out to play. The twenty-three year old knew that there were probably more pressing matters to attend to – he still had a novel’s worth of reading to do of various contracts that were piling ever higher on his bedside table, he had to childproof his apartment before he babysat Jay this afternoon, book a restaurant for he and his fiancée to dine out in later tonight too. Not to mention all the other matters that would rise with tomorrow. But once he started working out, all of that seemed to dissolve into the depths of his mind.

As he reached the bench press, Izaak checked the disc weights on either side of the barbell and slung his towel over the head of the bench. Apart from balance, upper body strength was one of the most important qualities in surfing. The amount of time he spent paddling in to, out of and in between waves far exceeded the time he actually spent riding, so bench pressing his own body weight wasn’t just for show. Music, music, Izaak thought to himself as he loosened up his shoulders. He threaded his headphones through his shorts pocket and dug the buds into his ears far enough until even his thoughts were consumed by the rhythmic, motivating riffs of Van Halen. After stretching his arms, Izaak laid down onto the bench press and lifted the barbell from its rungs. Steadily he lowered it towards his chest, then pushed it back up into the air again as he put his upper arms to work. One rep, two, three... He counted out to the beat of Panama as it burst through his ears.

 

[Troian Pierce]

There were girls who loved dollies and make up who grew up into women who worked in fashion and there were girls who spent time with the boys, played football and got scraped knees like nobodies business and they grew up to be someone like Troian Pierce. With a budding career as a seeker for the Woolongong Warriors, she was the perfect picture of a tom-boy so it was hardly a surprise that she was in the gym. There were certain frustrations in Troian's life that only working out helped with, to her it had always been cathartic. While most would binge on unhealthy food in a time of crisis, she would put on her black sweat pants and trainers and go to the gym. This was exactly what she was doing today on the treadmill, even if she could put it off as a move for her career instead of enjoying a day off of games and practices for once. The clarity that she gained from a good session was more than flying could ever give to her in a time when she had to deal with a family like her own. So taking it out on the black conveyor belt, Troian let everything out, her speed going up and down with the songs until she came to a jog just as she had been in when her workout first started until she was off the treadmill and had wiped her forehead with a towel and was onto another part of her workout.

Normally at this point Troian would do calisthenics but instead she did not feel up to doing squats so she went over to the bench press section and re-adjusted her ear buds and tightened her pony tail before she sat down on the lightly cushioned bench. As she opened the lid of her water bottle she glanced around her and saw one of the few patrons of the gym at this time and took notice of the weight he was set at and rolled her shoulders in anticipation of doing the same. Once she was re-hydrated, Troian stood back up and took off the secures and added on sixty more pounds to the bar so she would be raising the barbell at 120 pounds and do several repetitions. Unlike most women she knew how to make sure that she was still fit but not as 'buff' as athletic men were so she was not afraid of what she was doing today. And with the perfect music blaring into her ears, Troian was ready for this, so laid down onto the station and then gripped her slender yet calloused hands around the silver grip section and raised it up above the holder. In the second it took her to get her body more aware, Troian was anxious because there were so many injuries that could happen just from this one station and yet she continued on with as much certainty as her body would let her.

The bar was lowered down slowly and carefully before Troian set a steady pace to her music and let her eyes haze and her mind and body work together to fix all the turmoil that had been going on in the Seeker's life recently. One might not expect that she had to go through so much because she would never tell anyone that her little sister had died and her mother was now going through a crippling depression because of it. She could ever tell anyone because it would get out to the Daily Prophet and doubts would come up as to whether or not she should take the season off to take care of her family when she had been doing so without taking any time off at all. Now it was just catching up to her, so she pushed the barbell up and down to solve everything.


laaaaaaaaame. sooo sorry em.​