[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/D9OBI9j.png[/img][/center]

[i]Bump.[/i]

[Colour=Pink]"Ow."[/colour]

[i]Knock.[/i]

[Colour=Pink]"Perhaps if I..."[/colour]

[i]Dink.[/i]

[Colour=Pink]"Rrrrgh."[/colour]

MacKensie Trydant moodily tried to rearrange the furniture in the tiny room so she had enough floor space to do her stretching exercises.  Spolier alert: It would not help.

[i]Creak. Scrape.[/i]

[Center]...a few moments later...[/center]

[i]Thud.[/i]

[Colour=Pink]"Sacre bleu! I give up!"[/colour]

After donning the leggings and undershirt of her Ranger gear, she slipped on her shoes and she marched out of her room with a face like thunder.  Thankfully she didn't bump into anyone.  After waking up in a foul mood due to unpleasant dreams, only to be trolled by the deceptive dimensions of the rented room, it was probably for the best that she take a walk outside and get some early-morning air.

The empty streets and cooler air did in fact help. As she walked along, one elastic band between her teeth while another was used to tie up her hair, her eyes shifted left to the magical gauntlet on her forearm and narrowed with disdain.  The gauntlet looked like the embodiment of her problems right now - the cause of her bad dreams the night before.  But really it was bigger than the gauntlet.  Nonetheless, she'd brought it with her this morning.  To start the process of conquering it, and thereby conquering her fears and misgivings.

She was on her way to find a nice spot by the river where she could do her streches, but found herself checking out the trees lining the roadside of the avenue she walked along.  One tree coming up, with sturdy looking limbs, finally got her approval and she'd built up enough courage to point and fire up at it.

The blue beam shot out, the grapplehook connected, and she flew... [Colour=Pink][i]Get ready! Look where your hands are landing!  Tuck your-[/i][/colour] [Colour=Pink]"Waagh!"[/colour]

She caught the tree branch all wrong, banged her chest and elbows, her legs flailing before she unceremoniously fell from the tree into the bush below.  It took her a second to clamber out of the bushes, flustered from the pain and embarassment.  First she checked the street to make sure no one saw her, then quickly brushed herself down.

This was going to take some work.

On the next street, she was forced to slow down and wait for the few citizens around to get about their business and disappear, before she ran at the side of single-floor building, jumped and wall-kicked herself straight up to catch the roof and pull herself up to her feet.  Then she walked quickly along the very edge, testing her balance.

[Colour=Pink][i]Be careful. Heel to toe. Arms adjusting to center of gravity.[/i][/colour]

She almost fell several times.  Such a simple test.  [Colour=Pink][i]What has happened to me?[/i][/colour]

As the early hours progressed and the sun gave a little more light, the streets became busier and MacKensie's little experiments were no longer appropriate (if parkour in public spaces was ever appropriate, at all.)  She found her way to riverside and ended up in a nice spot - a clean stretch of grassy riverbank behind a warehouse, out of sight of the main road.  There she spent an hour stretching her muscles and focusing on her breathing in a somewhat meditative process.  It was relaxing enough that her tension slowly dissipated and the heavy focus solely on inhaling and exhaling had quietened her mind of negativity.

A barge floated down the river past her, manned by a portly blue tiefling (she'd learned the name of that race yesterday.)  "Good morning there!"

MacKensie was in the splits pose, reaching to grab her toes as she smiled and waved.  [Colour=Pink]"Good morning to you sir!  How are you today?"[/colour]

"Doing just fine and dandy, miss.  Just come in from up west with our wares," he explained in a rather short summary as the barge was floating by and he was now moving away from her.  "Hope the Bazaar's buzzing!"

[Colour=Pink]"I hope so too!  Good luck!"[/colour] the volume on both of them was rising as the distance grew.

"Have a good day!"

[Colour=Pink]"You too!"[/colour]

MacKensie smiled to herself, glad to be rid of the dark cloud she'd woken up with.  It would be back at some point, for certain, especially now that she was even more unconfident about her balance and agility.  But she was determined not to be defeated.  She just needed to figure out what had gone wrong.  Until then, extreme caution would be required.

When she was finished, she went back to the Mended Drum, stopping by a fruit stall to purchase some apples.  She bought seven and ate one on the way back to the inn.  The rest were not for eating.