The inky blue began slowly being swallowed by the lighter shades of azure, eventually the starlight too, began fading till it vanished. Then suddenly warmer hues exploded over the ocean, the sky drenched and soaked in red.  Sunrises by the sand at her feet and the water gathering by her ankles never failed to lift the young girl's spirit. Her hand closed around her arm as the chilly breeze caused goose-pimples to erupt across her skin. Just as the water kissed her flesh, the freezing bite caused her to gasp softly and leap away from the assault of the waves.

A soft slightly disappointed sigh escaped her lips, condensing into a plume of white before dispersing. It was getting colder faster than she'd care to admit, the realisation elicited a gentle shudder, a shiver running down her spine. Winter is coming... she thought. Akira had definitely been partial to the warmer months. In general, much like most of the population, her favourites were the balanced seasons. A fair bit of the population favoured spring which brought with it the gift of life and the amber hues of autumn offered a last breath of warmth as the stole that life away. But between summer and winter, between fire and ice she definitely preferred the former.

She craved the warmth of the sun, hoping it'll fill her with the motivation to do what she'd actually planned for the day. She was out on the beach to take a jog. Her regime as a model had only further chiselled her lithe form and she sought to keep it that way at the very least. Additionally, it had forced the gift of discipline upon her, so she no longer could boast of her nocturnal instinct. So instead, she woke up in the wee hours of the morning. At least it still have her a couple of hours of peace and solitude that she still found herself craving and longing for. With that cold and cruel reminder she forced herself to begin her jog. It started slow, but she found herself picking up pace pretty quickly. Soon she was streaking alongside the waves, her own body having generated enough heat to help her bear the cold, which only got easier as the sun crawled out of the water.

Soon she felt accomplished at the speeds she was being able to achieve and began working on taking longer leaps and dashing swiftly to practice changing directions and such. The sand didn't make it too easy, but at least any stumbles and faults were not heavily punished. She must've looked a little strange, since she noticed a blonde guy staring at her with this slightly arrogant smirk. Usually she shied away from such moments, but overtime, she felt bold enough to handle a confrontation. She cleared her throat and with all the grace she could muster she walked up to the blonde, practising the walk she'd used on the ramp. His expression morphed considerably as she approached him. In fact, it betrayed shock.

'Oh! Its you!' he said exclaiming almost as though he was embarrassed. Suddenly he found the idea of maintaining eye contact with her very difficult. Given that he looked away, Akira missed the note of red that coloured his cheeks. 'Do I know you? And do we have a problem?' she asked, her voice sweet, but her tone rather dry. 'Oh no, absolutely not.' he replied, his hand reaching to scratch the back of his head, but it mostly looked like he was ruffling his mane. 'Do you lift?' he said, out of the blue and rather awkwardly, before Akira had a chance to respond he beckoned her to follow him, shamelessly drowning any protests by a slew of pleading.

Groaning softly she decided to follow. She had never really been the sort to try and get stronger, fitness was her goal, she was too practical to consider attempting knocking people out by physically attacking them. She definitely believed it'd be more practical for her to hone  her skills with her magic and work on ensuring she could dodge incoming attacks well enough to survive. However she considered humouring the guy who led her into the community gym by the beach.

Within moments, he was showing off by performing his bench presses. With the exertion his face displayed, she was pretty sure that he was soon not going to be able to handle the number her promised he'd reach. As he struggled, he revealed that he'd seen her at the fashion show and that he was a big fan. Akira wasn't quite sure how to handle that, but she offered a soft nervous chortle and made the mistake of asking if he liked it. He exclaimed that he absolutely loved it and went on to analyse each of the competitors and make bold proclamations about her being the best.

She wondered where he hoped he could go with this flattery, but in all fairness it seemed genuine and almost innocent. He explained that he was staring because he found the exercises she had in her regime a little strange and betrayed that he'd expected something more graceful, albeit rather guiltily. Like he ashamed of judging her choices at all. She merely shrugged and said she was practical and didn't really waste time in being perfect and poised all the time. Suddenly, he decided to passionately explain how she was so different because he'd apparently spoken to models before and they all acted so aloof and would never even engage him in a decent conversation.

He went onto explain that he found her far more real and that it was nice that she embraced her less poised side in favour of practicality. Apparently it made her more real. In his excitement, his hands got wobblier and wobblier while attempting to hold up the heavy weights. Akira didn't really know what to make of the rant, she wasn't particularly accustomed to compliments like this. But she noticed that he was really struggling and decided to give him a hand, which only made her realise how weak she truly was when it came to things that required raw strength. They did reach the number and by the end of it, they were both huffing and exhausted.