[u]Codi Bailey [/u]

Judging from the recent turn of events, it looked as though Codi was losing her training partner, because even though she could tell he seemed reluctant to go along with it, the nice healer who had saved the injured patients in the jungle was seen as more preferable. At the same time, though, this allowed Codi to draw what she suspected was a strong conclusion: Jago was a person, who wanted to go ahead with whatever business he was conducting, but he also had an excessive amount of pride, to the point that it would work against him. The sudden way he had decided to take a break told her he had used it as an excuse to avoid any more blows that he worried would break his shield, and the warning he gave Nicholas told her he didn’t want that shield broken, even though it was clear that there was some sort of limit to what it could handle. He had dumped the urchin-girl because she was perhaps too strong, and might wound his pride. Ultimately, though, if Jago took that approach, his strength wouldn’t increase as much, because it didn’t matter if you worked until you were tired; in order to truly increase your strength, you had to break something down so it could be re-built, just as Codi had clearly done to whatever muscles were present in Reef’s arms.

In the end, if Codi wanted to train with someone, it was clear she needed to find a person who was like her, in the sense that they didn’t view training as some sort of ridiculous competition where you’d suffer if you lost. Codi didn’t care, because what visible or overweening pride could an urchin-girl have, when she had an enormous marine-themed parasite on her back, and a hunch as a consequence? Codi might have been beautiful, but her powers made people look at her, and completely ignore the features that would have been seen as pretty. In her mind, anyone who might have insulted her got belittled and peppered with mental derision, although she never outright said it; in reality, it was really just a way of coping with the fact that such treatment was extremely hurtful. She supposed she could cut training at this point, since she had successfully managed to wear out Reef, but she knew she would need to increase her overall physical strength, too.

She started walking out of the gym, whispering ‘Hi,” as she passed by Nicholas, aware that she would probably only hurt herself if she decided to say anything else in this decidedly awkward and uncomfortable situation. She then exited, with mental notes having been taken, and the urchin on her back twitching in a form of sore discomfort.

[u]Rosette Sauveterre [/u]

Just what Rosette had needed: someone poking fun at her because she had been unfortunate enough to lose the benefits of physically aging to her early-twenties. She was honestly worn out, regarding such things, “I can honestly tell you I have nothing pleasant to say to you in response regarding that comment.” She said, starkly, an almost tired look creeping into her eyes, mixing with the rancor, which had distinctly tainted whatever innocence could be present in a human being. “My childhood suffered a symbolic death at the age of eleven, I have had to act like an adult and be mature for eleven years since then.”