28... 29... 30!
She lets go of the bar and drops to the ground. Wiping the sweat off her forehead, panting for air as she tries to catch her breath. She just did 30 strict pull-ups unbroken, finally finishing her monstrous workout.
She bent over and rested her hands on her thighs. Closing her eyes and focusing on her breathing. Then out of nowhere, a gruff hand grabs her shoulder and a booming male voice says, "Yo! Ishtar, how's it going!"
Breathing out deeply and standing up fully, she lightly removed the man's hand from her shoulder and turned around while stretching her arms. Interlocking her fingers and raising her hands far above herself to help get the ache out.
Once she finished, she leaned on one of the poles holding up the bar and scans the man's body. He was tall, probably something around 6'5(195 cm) opposed to her much smaller height of 5'3(160cm). He was packing quite bulky muscles, which was hard to do at that height. On his head was short brown hair, deep blue eyes, and a slightly pudgy face. One you'd call cute instead of manly.
The man was wearing a white T-Shirt that read 'AC/DC' which referred to electric currents for legal reasons. Matched up with some casual gray shorts, and some cheap looking running shoes. He grinned at Ishtar, waiting for a response.
She herself was very fit, tomboyish even. Though she wasn't bulky like the man in front of her, not even close. She had a lean muscular figure, toned abs, and long purple hair with a few highlights. Holding most of it back in a ponytail, she let a few chunks hang as some bangs. The longest of which was dyed white.
She met his oceanic gaze with her own emerald one. Then she said, "Sup' Gale, if you wanted to work out- why didn't you say so earlier? I just got done... and phew, am I spent."
Gale scratches his head and says, "We're good, I didn't come here to work out. It's a rest day, and I'm not overworking my muscles like you do."
Smiling as he spoke, he continued, "But- I actually came to see you!"
Ishtar smirked, he was her best friend and gym bro. The both of them were childhood friends for as long as she could remember. Being born at the same time and same hospital, living in the same orphanage, going to the same schools, graduating together, all of that helped to solidify their friendship. They were known by their old classmates as "The little big duo" because of how often they were together.
Smiling back, she said, "How sweet, any real reason or do you just wanna hang with me? Because I'm fine with that- as long as you pay, of course"
Gale sighed, then he said, "Yeah yeah, I know the deal. You don't have to remind me, but aren't you forgetting something?"
Ishtar raised her eyebrow and said, "I'm forgetting something? Huh? I'm pretty sure I have all my stuff with me..."
She patted herself down, she had her earbuds, phone, her water bottle was to her side, the community chalk was put back where it belonged, she had no idea what was missing. Raising her eyebrow and looking back at Gale, she said, "Yeah... I don't seem to be missing anything? What is it?"
Gale then shook his head and said, "No, come on, it's not a physical object. You should know this!"
Ishtar was thinking hard, searching for anything she could have forgotten in her mind. Still, in the end she caved after nothing came up, and she asked, "Just tell me, what am I forgetting?"
Gale then sighed and responded with, "You are quite the handful... Fine, I'll tell you. Our 20th birthday is tonight at midnight! Which means we could be awakening tonight!"
As soon as he mentioned it, she thought, '... How did I forget that... It's possibly a life-changing event...'
Gale, obviously unable to read her thoughts, continued, "We should totally go get some food, hang out till' midnight, something! I want to see if either of us manage to awaken something good. Imagine the team we'd make out there in those dungeons"
Gale let his imagination run wild, he thought of them both jumping into battle against a giant army of fully armored orcs. He imagined himself slashing through hundreds of orcs at a time with powerful blades, and he imagined Ishtar flying above him shooting magical beams of energy that ripped through the orc's numbers.
Back to reality, Ishtar seemed to notice Gale's thoughts got a little off track. Standing up from one of the pull-up bar's supports, she picked up her water bottle and slapped Gale's shoulder as she walked by. Snapping him out of his hopeful fantasies.
Now that she wasn't working out anymore, she wanted to get changed and shower. She turned around, walking backwards between the many machines and people working out in the gym. She beckoned Gale to walk with her before turning back around.
He jogged a bit to catch up. After he caught up to her, he said, "You could have waited for me! What's the rush?"
Looking over to him to meet his gaze, she smiled and shook her head while she lightly rested her hand up on his shoulder, "Looks like I'm not the only one forgetting something... heh"
Gale then took a moment to process it, then he sighed to himself and said, "Yeah yeah... anyways... need a ride home?"
Ishtar remarked, "Sure, only if your car has room for a bike. No way I'm leaving my bike here."
Gale slipped his hands in his pockets and said, "I'm not hauling anything this time, there's plenty of room for a bike"
As they passed the receptionist, they waved goodbye, and he said, "Have a good one."
Ishtar then looked back and said, "You too"
Gale responded to the receptionist with a simple, "See ya"
|―⋞A Little While Later⋟―|
Gale and Ishtar can be seen sitting together and laughing, the both of them are enjoying an expensive dinner. An early birthday present for the both of them. They were hoping to awaken in a few hours, ideally both of them, but if either one awakened they promised to haul the other up to the top of the food chain.
Excitement was brewing as they could hardly wait. They knew it was a low chance that they would awaken, but nonetheless they were hoping for something great to happen. Mentally, it was the possibility of actually awakening that excited them so much. It was the thrill of the game.
As the clock neared midnight, the two of them got more and more restless. Ishtar was trying to keep herself calm, but Gale was letting himself run wild. He was ranting on about how they could fight monsters, detailing everything he thought of.
Taking down a dragon with an army of hunters, finding precious treasures, everything you could ever imagine- he probably said. Ishtar was just listening as her heart was racing, getting hopeful was making her heart beat fast.
The exhilarating feeling they felt only got stronger. Two minutes to midnight. Ishtar's hand was shaking. She felt the adrenaline pumping through her veins. She thought to herself, 'This is it, it's almost time...'
The table which was once lively was now tense with a nervous aura and silent prayers. One minute to midnight. They were silent. A mutual wordless agreement as they both held their breath. Ishtar had her eyes closed as she wished for something. Anything.
Tick tock tick tock.... as she opened her eyes and stared at the clock, it felt like hours. The hand was slowly moving towards the final second of the day, her emerald gaze suddenly became sharp as the final TOCK happened.
An aura of power enveloped both of them. Both gale and Ishtar had awakened. She felt a surge of power race through her body as a mirage of colors flared off of both of them. The few people in the restaurant watched on in both awe and envy as they witnessed two people awaken at once.
The moment she awakened, she knew what to do. Almost biting her tongue out of excitement, she said, "Status"