Twigs, dead leaves and pine needles crunched underfoot, almost drowned out in Jeanvieve's head by her mantra and her heavy breathing. She felt a ringing in her ears, her heart pumping hard enough to kill a baseline human; she could feel the damned thing rattling her supernaturally strong ribcage. Vivi wove between trees, leapt over logs and danced between fallen leaves as if death itself had rose up to claim her. Far from it. Each step was heavy, determined. Purposeful. Of course the weights on her ankles, wrists and the military surplus backpack filled with an approximation of supplies, balanced as you could get it with a frying pan and a kukri of pure iron strapped to it, weighed her down more than usual.

Still...she appeared to float between the trees like a ghost, the sound of her movement was the only true testament of its existence. Sweat poured down her forehead, back, legs and arms, making the layers of warm clothing cling tighter than comfortable. The hiking boots made it hard for her to move like she wanted, she felt restricted and careless with each step - not that her movement reflected such a thing. She felt sloppy. Imperfect. 

Jeanvieve's breaking point hit instantly, she fell to her knees and gave her morning's sustenance back to the earth unwillingly. Droplets of sweat fell to the earth as she heaved, her stomach cramping and wrenching against the intensity of her seeming self-abuse. Slowly, carefully, she sat up, sitting back on her feet and taking a deep breath. She'd lost most of her friends, her team was either captured or dead - she didn't know which and that ate at her more than anything else. Not that she would tell anyone...no, the only one she would've told was gone. Some secret mission for the government. She spat bile onto the ground and gritted her teeth, the clearest display of emotion she may have ever shown, but if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it...does it make a sound?

V strode from the forest calmly, mostly glad she remembered to pack mouthwash this time. Her breathing and the beating of her heart had returned to normal, but she was a little shaky. At least...in as much as she could be. Her body required a substantial amount of food with this new regimen of hers, but that basically meant free rein on caloric intake. She liked that. Food was one of her very few vices, an indulgence no one could every truly deny having in some form or another. V finished off her canteen and let it fall, the strap snapping tautly as it fell into place on her shoulder. 

As she moved up to her mostly unfinished room to stow and care for her gear, she planned her meal. It would have to be something heavy to make up for all the lost protein. Steak and avocados? She gave a look that said "not too shabby" as she pulled the clinging, sweat-caked clothing off layer-by-layer. Her muscles ached, hot and pulsing as she switched to her typical workout gear. Before, of course...applying another coating of deodorant. You can train all you want, but God forbid you forget to cover up the scent of your humanity and people turn their noses up. A smile caught her by surprise as she pictured her old team leader's face. Her eyes closed tightly and she swallowed back emotional attachment like she was trained to do. [i]Food...focus on the food.[/i] She told herself, reassured herself really. Enabled herself not to feel anything but anger for those that destroyed her home. 

Was this her home? She paused to check her sense of loyalty to her family, an odd sense of conflict boiling up. Vivi passed it off as hunger and jogged down to find something to eat. Perhaps someone would need help afterwards, there wasn't a lack of anything to do and she [i]had[/i] spent hours doing push-ups, sit-ups, pull ups, swimming laps and going on her runs this morning already. She'd watched the sunset from a tree top and felt next to nothing, but it seemed like the thing to do. To her, the steam rising from the tea cup and the leaves steeping, reaching out into the water was every bit as beautiful. Of course it did resemble droplets of sanguine life-force overtaking water. Which only served to make her stomach rumble with hunger.

Jeanvieve's fingers twisted a medium-sized santuko knife around in delicate little arcs before decisively chopping into her lunch with a precise *schlik*.