Cerin gave as natural of a smile as she could in front of the camera and tensed her core to keep her handstand steady.
To the side Serana watched on in half amazement and half worry while Ryella was performing a handstand of her own, trying to beat Cerin in endurance. The baby girl's forehead sweated and her brows tightened, showing much more of a struggle than her older counterpart did but because of her youth it only looked lovable rather than desperate.
The director wished he could have a few shots of the two young girls side by side but Cerin had strictly been against it, not wanting to have the young girl exposed to the general public quite yet.
" Okay, switch to a one handed handstand"
Cerin breathed in and out four times and then completely flattened her right palm and lifted her left towards her side. The soft flooring on the gymnasium floor helped ease the pressure off her palms but they made it harder to find a center of balance.
The various staff of the camera crew watched in awe as the somewhat frail looking girl managed to completely hold herself up with a single arm and barely even wavered.
She was clearly expending effort to do so, but rather than a painful expression on her face she only looked determined to succeed. Thin but defined muscles revealed themselves under the smooth skin of her arms and her smile had fallen off her face leaving only an intoxicatingly charismatic expression in its place.
The director in particular, who was the Manager's nephew was so taken in by the sight that he forgot to remind her to let go of the pose. It was only when his assistant sharply elbowed him in the ribs that he coughed out,
" Okay. You're good. Let's move on to the stunts."
In planning with the manager Cerin had managed to convince him to splurge on doing a few online classes to run alongside the ads that would play on TV. Having the Ad's focus on the intense side of the gym and the online classes show off the kinder and more instructional sides.
Despite how dire the manager had made it seem the gym was already quite famous with all the men that needed such a high intensity gym so they had planned to make a short movie like ad of about a minute to a minute and a half, showcasing Cerin and another male actor (a stunt man who regularly attended the gym) performing their most powerful performances.
The stunt man would be acting out a few fight scenes with other volunteers from the gym as that was what he was comfortable with… and as for Cerin.
In full costume of an armor like bodysuit, a cape and long flowing sleeves that looked like wings she swiftly moved up the ladder to the acrobatic obstacles and closed her eyes to center herself as different feelings rampaged through her.
On one side there was the adventurous Third who loved any sort of thrill seeking activity, be it skydiving or bear wrestling for fun and on the other side was the Second who generally detested any physical activity of any kind and thought that any time spent in the air would be better spent on the ground furthering their craft.
She, the ninth, was more inclined with the second, preferring to have her feet securely placed on the ground but in exchange for her online classes she'd had to agree to doing a short routine on the aerial set.
The crew on the ground looked upwards at the young girl who stood at the edge of the platform with her eyes closed and her brows slightly furrowed and waited to see what sort of performance she had prepared.
Bass heavy music, similar to an army march pumped through the speakers of the gym and a slender foot settled itself onto the rope, signifying the beginning of the show.
The camera men who were graduate classmates of the director handled their cameras like their lives depended on it, determined to record the whole scene within their memory disks. Although she hadn't done much yet the determined look on her face and the confidence in her movements was enough.
Cerin began to march across the rope like she was heading off to a war and increased in pace with every beat until she was less marching and more sprinting. Mid sprint she launched herself slightly into the air and performed a somersault before landing and continuing her running. She pulled a few other stunts as well, moving on the rope as if she was on solid ground and acted out a battle, sparring with an imaginary opponent with an invisible sword.
Her expression was fierce and intense like she really and truly couldn't afford to lose no matter what and sent chills down the viewer's spines.
From the ground the director and crew watched on admiringly but somehow couldn't help but be a tad underwhelmed. Yes it was amazing and they themselves would surely not ever be able to replicate her movements but he couldn't help but consider asking her to ramp up the theatrics in order to make a better ad.
Ryella was likewise underwhelmed by this performance, especially because she had seen the older girl do much much more impressive things. The child reasoned that perhaps Cerin had developed a form of stage fright and was about to give an encouraging yell but it came out as a disarming shriek when Cerin suddenly lost her footing as if she had been fatally hit and hurled herself head first off the rope. Spinning over and over in what seemed like slow motion.
She free fell for a few high tension seconds, as if she intended to complete the fall into the safety net that laid below. The music's intensity dialed down softening and softening as she fell.
The music suddenly switched from the heavy bass driven beat of before to a soft angelic harp, announcing the entrance of a bar that appeared out of nowhere; falling in front of her like a lifeline from the heavens.
She anchored her arms onto the bar and then used the momentum she had gained from falling to swing herself around it, temporarily defying gravity in order to alleviate some of the tension on her arms and shoulders.
As she was now simply catching herself may have ripped her arms out of their sockets so she had to get creative.
She pulled herself up to sit on top of the bar and then began to use it as a swing, using her legs and her core to propel herself back and forth. Once she had built up enough momentum she then loosened her arms from the strings and only held herself up with her legs, hanging upside down from the bar.
The music by now had slowed but intensified to more of a death march or a Valkyrie's last monologue and slow but intense music blasted as Cerin floated back and forth in the air.
She loosened one leg, sticking it straight into the air as she swung back and forth and only held herself on by the single limb as if to symbolize her last will to live.
The crew on the floor watched with bated breath as she slowly lost strength and her leg slowly loosened its death grip on the bar. Before it completely let go She suddenly drew an imaginary dagger and propelled herself upwards once more, stabbing it into the heart of whatever opponent had brought her to such a state before finally Cerin began to free fall once more.
One particularly quick cameraman zoomed in onto her face, showing off the satisfied expression on her lovely face right until she hit the safety net.
Although it was at the cost of her death, she had still secured a victory.
And with that the performance was over.