[right][img]https://i.imgur.com/LgbtnEJ.png[/img][/right]
Today, Imogen learned a valuable lesson: knowing an attack is coming doesn't always mean she can avoid it. Case in point, Professor Mik, who had technique and experience in spades. Every time she was able to dodge an attack, he repositioned himself so that she had fewer opportunities to avoid the next. Eventually, she had no choice left but to brace for the final sweep, pouting at the inevitability of her loss although she took pride in lasting against the merciless professor longer than most. She will best him one day!

With Professor Euphie, it came down to a battle of speed. Imogen was fast. In her village, no one can outrun her, not even Caius, and he had strides twice as long! She held the record time of going up and down the mountain, although she supposed no one actually bothered trying to best her time, those lazy butts. Anyway, however fast she was, Professor Euphie was [i]faster[/i]. Dogberry gave her just milliseconds to react, enough time to block (even if the professor didn't actually try to connect her attacks) but not to dodge. The challenge made her blood sing with excitement, fueled her even as every inch of her body protested its exhaustion. She never got the upper hand, but boy, did she move faster than ever before.

Magic seemed to be a glaring weak spot of hers. Dodging was easy when she didn't get distracted. Unlike most physical strikes, magic had an innate buildup time. It didn't matter if this accumulation lasted as fleetingly as a blink or a heartbeat; as soon as magic is being called upon, Dogberry doles out his warning and she gets more than enough time to scurry out of the way. She figured eight out of ten times, she'd be able to dodge. Twice she had gotten distracted and forgot to move out of the way—first by the neat glyph that appears when the magic was being cast, and then later by the shimmery lights that appear. Getting hit by a magical attack even once debilitated her much more than any regular attack, it seemed. It hurt worse than getting mauled by a bear eight seconds after having just been stomped on by a horse who just the night before, ate all the hay in town and so he barely fit in the stable. 

Professor Mal kept telling her to focus her magic, but how the heck do you do that?

Despite her usual surplus of energy, even Imogen was beaten into an exhausted heap of fresh bruises and sore muscles, barely able to trudge to the sauna along with the others after their training ended. Imogen tried to follow after Iz, but she seemed mad. Actually, she had seemed upset ever since their earlier discussion. She should probably ask her what's wrong. But later. Right now, all she could think of was a nice, hot bath. 

After an incorrect turn into the boys' side almost led to an awkward situation—luckily, a finicky fellow student dragged her out before anything scandalous happened—Imogen found the showers and cleaned herself as quickly as she could while still being thorough. She'd been caked in mud and sweat for a while now, and even she couldn't stand being filthy for too long. Usually, after a long trek through the mountains, she would just jump into the first body of water she could find to cool down and clean up, but she supposed she would get scolded if she did that here. 

That didn't stop her from diving in the bath anyway, though. As soon as she finished rinsing off, she made her way to the end of the bath, furthest away from the others already in it out of respect, and dove in, relishing in the relief the hot water brought. Imogen noticed Lin huddled in the corner a moment too late and could only grin sheepishly in apology after she had resurfaced. [color=ffb5c2]"Oops, sorry, Lin! Didn't see ya there!"[/color]

Of everyone in the Rose Unit, Lin seemed the frostiest—uh, no pun intended?—even around her fellow Lions. Always irritated, always hiding behind a wall. Imogen wondered if like Iz, she was just shy and unused to being around people. There hadn't been many opportunities for them to get to know each other, but Imogen could smell the mountains on her and she had quickly accepted her as a kindred spirit.

After the water settled from her disturbance, Imogen waded next to Lienna and gave a proper greeting. She could glean from how warily she scanned the room that she was on edge, although how she could be anything but relaxed right now escaped her. Leaning in close, Imogen lowered her voice to a whisper, guessing at the root of her concerns. [color=ffb5c2]"If you're worried about Ronnie attacking you or something, don't worry, I can give you a heads-up."[/color]