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Cassandra had tried all of the machines on offer at the gym, and found most of them lacking. She had hardly broken a sweat since beginning her session. A waste of time, she thought. Time wasted on a warm up. Time that she could have been using for meditation, or catching up on her books. Maybe cleaning her rifle or sharpening her combat knives.

She sighed softly under her breath as she switched up her pose, having chosen to do some yoga quietly in one corner to relax her warmed muscles. Her pink eyes flitted from one patron to the next, merely observing. It was fascinating to her, how Terrans had to work for their strength and endurance. In a way, she admired their dedication to their fitness, to achieving their peak forms, but she also mourned for them. The Faraelyan body was a thing meant to begin at peak performance, her species the apex predators of their world. Save for perhaps some of the largest of creatures the wilds had to offer.

Once again she reminded herself that she wasn't a pureblood, that her father was a half-breed between the two. Still, her mother's dominant genetics seemed to override any Terran weaknesses. At least the physical ones.

Her gaze fell upon a particular individual, and not for the first time. A Terran boy. No, man. Adolescent? It was difficult to be certain. He was surely one of the trainers the receptionist mentioned two hours prior. His fur was a tan coloration, with brown stripes on his biceps, and striking blue eyes. His expression was always soft, a light smile on his face no matter who he was working with. In that sense, the boy reminded her of a Dawnrunner Faraelyan.

Cassy closed her eyes as she shifted her balance from paw to paw, entering a meditative stance as she thought of how best to utilize the rest of her evening. Certainly, she should tell Connor that she fulfilled her end, but then what? Maybe find a place to eat? Terran portions were so often small, and while her last few operations left her with a fair amount of credits to spend, she decided against eating out. What did she have in cryo at home, she wondered? Was she even hungry? She was sure that she was. Cassy eventually settled on looking at her cryo when she got home to see if anything sparked interest, and consuming whatever she found while catching up on the latest episodes of--

"Hey there."

The voice was smooth, almost silky. Confident, but soft. The white wolfess cracked one eye to peer at the intruder, finding that it was the boy. Both of her eyes widened, and her balance wavered. She planted one paw behind herself, inadvertently placing her into a defensive stance similar to what one might see in the Faraelyan martial art of Hammerhand. Her ears flattened, the girl embarrassed by this. She felt her cheeks flushing as she struggled to find a proper response.

"H-hello..." she offered at last, unable to meet his gaze, though she stood a full head and shoulders above him.

"You ahh..." the boy rubbed his chin. "You look pretty tense. Everything ok here?"

"Y-yes," she nodded awkwardly, frustrated at being so off her guard. "I was winding down."

"Good timing, too," he stated, those blue eyes never leaving hers. "We're gonna be locking up here pretty soon. Need any help cooling down before you hit the showers?"

Her cheeks flushed, a flare of irritation and some other unrecognized sensation flashed through her features. She was horribly confused, and didn't know how to proceed. Why was socializing so difficult? And what was it about this boy that made it so much worse?

"You're Connor's cousin, right?" the boy asked casually. "Cassandra?"

"That would be me..."

"He said you'd be by," the trainer continued. "He told me that if you showed, I was supposed to help you out."

Finally, she met his crystal blue gaze, her own eyes narrowing just slightly. Just what was her cousin up to here? She decided to interrogate him later.

"To be honest," the boy chuckled, ruffling his own hair. "I've been watching you for a bit. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to teach you. Hell, I barely do Connor any good, but you? Yeeeaaah, I don't think this gym is gonna do you a lot of good. You Faraelyans are just too damn strong."

Cassy hummed in thought as she studied this boy in greater detail. So he wasn't just a piece of Terran meat. This boy was wise enough to recognize when he was and wasn't needed, and was privy to his own limitations. Certainly in that regard, he was different from many Terrans. It was several moments before she realized that she was studying him more intently than she intended, noting the thickness of his arms and legs, the creases in his body revealed by his skintight workout clothing, the ease and confidence in his posture. Once she caught herself, and realized that she had not uttered a word for what must have been a very awkward pause for the boy, she cleared her throat and stood a bit straighter.

But her throat felt dry, and words would not come to her mind. The trainer seemed to recognize this as well, a look of concern and potentially trepidation toward her shifted his features.

"Are..." he muttered. "Are you alright?"

"Yes!" she blurted, a bit louder and more sudden than she intended, further deepening her embarrassment. "Yes, I... it's... warm in here, is all. I-I mean! We-- I-- Faraelyans are sus-susceptible to heat exhaustion in warmer, umm..."

While the statement was arguably true, she knew it was also a weak excuse.

"Huh..." the boy mused aloud. "Connor and Candice don't seem to have this much trouble with it. Ah well. So did you want some help winding down, or should I start the lockup?"

After another long and excruciatingly awkward pause, Cassandra nodded, her pink eyes fixating on a non-specific point in space. The boy smiled and planted one hand on his hip.

"By the way, I'm Dallas," the trainer added, before gesturing at the yoga mat Cassy had been using. "Let's go ahead and start with lower body, why don't you go ahead and lay down on your back?"

The choice of wording immediately sent an alarm racing through her mind, but after a moment, she managed to calm herself enough to comply. Without looking at him, she quickly lowered herself to the floor, lying on her back, with her hands folded over her upper abdominals. She stared directly at the ceiling, noting the rise and fall of her own chest, her respiration quickening for a reason she could not discern. Though outwardly, her expression betrayed nothing but stalwart calm, internally, she wanted to scream.

Dallas knelt down beside her, sitting on his paws as he slowly reached for one of Cassy's legs. Her breath quickened even further, she could feel her body tightening as if expecting to take a blow. Then, his soft hands met the neoprene covering her shin and thigh. Even through the artificial fabric, his touch felt startlingly warm, the contact somehow causing her to tense even further.

"Jeez..." Dallas commented while his hands coaxed her knee to bend, and rise toward her chest. "Yknow, you already looked pretty jacked, but you're built like a brick wall. Your muscles are very hard, and tight."

Cassy's eyes squeezed shut at the sound of his externalized thoughts, trying not to take what he said out of context while he stretched the muscles in her leg. The internal desire to scream became louder, though she still couldn't discern the cause.

Indeed, Cassandra's body was six and a half feet of thick muscle, all equal measures of power and grace. She had been trained well, and continued her training on her own. She should be proud of the body she managed to attain. So why was she suddenly feeling so self conscious.

"So, Cassy," Dallas said idly as he pushed her knee closer to her chest, finding her more flexible than expected. "Can I call you Cassy? What do you do for a living?"

"I kill people," she blurted out casually, eyes widening as she realized her folly.

"Ahahahaaa..." the trainer nervously chuckled. "That's uhh... that's pretty funny."

"It was not a joke," she protested weakly, staring once more at the ceiling. "I mean! I... don't just kill people, I... it's sanctioned! It's... I'm..."

"Oh that's right," Dallas mused. "I keep forgetting that Connor has his own private military contractor thing going on. I... guess you work for him, huh?"

"Yes..." Outwardly, her expression remained stony and calm, but she wanted to cry on the inside now.

"Well I guess that's pretty cool," the trainer continued. "I mean, it's not something I like to think about, people killing people. But I've been hearing that your firm's actually managed to do a lot of good. At least for city 103."

To this, she said nothing, simply attempting to allow her leg to slacken so that Dallas could more properly do his job. Her muscles would not obey her commands. It was becoming increasingly frustrating. The trainer let her leg extend once more, before lifting it straight up into the air, and beginning to fold it back down toward her torso.

"So... What do you do when you're not, yknow..." he asked after a time. "Doing your job?"

"I mostly read," she answered after a moment. "Study."

"What do you study?"

"History, mostly," her brow furrowed as her mind was actually able to formulate a proper response. "Some basic physics. Weather patterns. Ancient literature. But mostly history."

"Huh," Dallas thought aloud, pushing her leg even further after an odd glance from her. "Why history?"

"It fascinates me," said in her ever soft and placid tone, eyes fixing on the ceiling yet again while her leg muscles stretched; it felt very pleasant, if she was being honest, to allow her body to breathe in such a way, certainly, but also his touch, on the back of her calf and underside of her thigh. It was very oddly satisfying, and equally worrying. "Both the pasts of this world and the one your people came from. How Terra fell, how the Terrans found Faraelya, the resource wars, all of the conflicts stemming from two cultures colliding. But mostly, I study the end of it. How peace was brokered, and how it has been maintained. Even to this day, the Accords are tenuous at best, though most individuals on both sides have little to do with it. It is the governments who disagree. Corporate entities as well. I find it all very fascinating."

As she spoke, Dallas had pushed Cassy's leg far enough that her toes touched the yoga mat above her head, not seeming bothered in the slightest. There was a silence between the two, which took Cassandra several moments to detect. When she did, she glanced at her new acquaintance, and found him staring at her intently. No, searching. But for what? She quickly looked away, blushing brightly and with ears folded against her head. To this, Dallas chuckled and slowly allowed her leg to return to its normal position.

"I have to be honest," he said as he scooted himself above and then past her knees, so that he was on her other side. "When Connor was telling me about you, I was really expecting someone who was a lot more, well... like him. I wasn't expecting..."

'A social invalid?' she thought.

"An intellectual," he said, to her surprise. "Yeah, I kind of expected you to turn out to be a dork like him, or a wackjob like his sister. No offense."

"None taken," she offered. After a moment, she added: "Your observations are... not entirely inaccurate."

In the following silence, Dallas again took careful hold of her shin and thigh, just above the knee, and started to slowly fold her leg so that her knee nearly reached her chest.

"What about you?" she blurted out after a bit.

"Hmm?"

"Umm..." she struggled to find words yet again. "What do you do? When you aren't here?"

"Oh!" Dallas smiled, shaking some of his brown hair out of his eyes. "I don't get asked that one a lot. I'm actually in school myself. Not far from here, either. I actually just work here as a way to help pay for what the grants and financial aid doesn't cover. Forget student loans, I won't spend my life in debt."

"Hmm..." she thought, studying him again; it seemed that she was wrong about him, to a degree. "What do you study?"

"Ahh," he shrugged, letting her leg extend before folding it back, as before. "Mostly just general ed, majoring in nutrition and health. Also have a minor in psychology."

"That all seems rather specific."

"Well..." Dallas tilted his head in contemplation. "Let's face it, Cassy. The world is a messed up place sometimes. Not all of us get an easy start, or an easy ride after that. A lot of people struggle in this world. Yeah, I know I'm just one punk with big dreams, I know I won't accomplish a lot by myself, but... I want to see if I can start making a difference. To someone, or a few someones. I want to try to brighten this life up for people, and it starts with knowing how to take care of yourself. Physically, and mentally."

Dallas seemed to have mentally gone somewhere else during his speech, and was largely unaware of the way Cassy was staring at him. Her eyes had widened, her pulse quickening, something fluttering within her chest. What was that? That uncontrollable surge of... of what? Admiration? For a Terran, his goals seemed very selfless, and very noble. The boy seemed so sure about himself, as well. About his decisions. And now, she could see behind his veneer, ever so slightly, to see a thin veil of pain beneath the surface. She couldn't understand why, but she wanted to protect him from that pain. She also wanted to run as far away as she possibly could.

The fluttering inside of her ribs grew in intensity, beginning to incite a genuine panic attack within her. Cassandra was legitimately scared, now. Scared enough that even Dallas saw through her stony expression to the anxiety that was erupting just beneath.

"Hey," he said firmly, but with great concern. "Are you okay? Seriously."

"I-I..." She wanted to scream. Scream and run. Until her throat bled and she could rid herself of this horrific sensation. She pulled her leg out of his grip, quickly getting to her feet and stepping back. Her entire face burned, even her ears began to feel very warm. She had to escape this.

"I... left..." she wracked her brain for a good excuse, but was coming up empty handed. "I have to... I'm late for..."

Dallas continued to stare at her as he rose to his own feet, blue eyes narrowing as he tried to make sense of her behavior.

"Look," he started to say. "If you need a breath of fresh air, it's all good. It gets stuffy in here sometimes, I know. That bracelet'll let you back in if you--"

He never got the chance to finish his sentence. Cassandra stooped down to grab her duffel bag and walked as quickly as she could for the exit, feeling her heart hammering loudly in her ears. Though she didn't want to draw any excess attention to herself, it was difficult to ignore a six and a half foot stark white wolfess with black sclera panic-walking between the exercise equipment.

"Cassy!" she vaguely heard Dallas call to her from across the gym. "Did I say something wrong?"

And then, she was through the door to the lobby, past the confused receptionist, and out into the chilly night air beyond. She felt bad for Dallas. He may never know what caused the debacle. Cassandra didn't even understand it herself. But no matter how quickly she panic-walked away from the gym, the fluttering in her chest would not cease. Her walk broke into a jog, then into a run, and then into a full-blown sprint along the nearly deserted sidewalks along the magway.

Running did not help. She could not outrun this vulgar and intrusive sensation. Not even as she was nearly keeping pace with the repulsor cars travelling in the same direction. She could not outrun this. She could not understand it. She had to go to someone, anyone, someone she knew and trusted. Connor, she figured. The one who had set it all up. Surely he would have answers.

Cassandra adjusted her course and began to sprint in the direction of Connor Derrigan's home.