Abel crossed his arms, staring at the fresh and new recruits (for this area) from across the yard. Among them half were slacking off, a quarter looked scared out of their wits and the rest were a mix of excited or proud. He smiled to himself slightly. These were much better than the last batch. Most of the time you'd be lucky to have just one who looked like he was happy to be there! In a good mood now as he watched the trainer try to get them all to do an excessive amount of push ups, he decided he would begin his morning exercise as well.

Abel, a chaotic and freegoing soul, was not really one to have a routine. Exercise was an exception. Not only was it good for his goals and his job but it also kept the higher ups off his back - at least he was following ONE of their instructions. He wandered down towards the training building, thinking of the other benefits of traning. It certainly made him live longer and was no doubt an asset when it came to his interactions with women. But was it really worth the routine? There were upsides but it wasn't nice having to do it every goddamn morning, minus the rest days they all took twice a week. Abel failed to realize that he went through this exact train of thought every time he was about to do this. Nothing changed then, nothing changed now. He changed into his training clothes (a tight tank top and longish, baggy shorts) and made his way into whatever mess of equipment the Rune Knights generously called a gym.

Of course this was far from their main headquarters or anything but Abel would have hoped that for such a major city Magnolia would have at least a bit more. Unfortunately what they had was only about as impressive as any of the gyms in the city of Magnolia itself - not that it was horrible, but he would have certainly expected better for the main force of the law in Fiore. Perhaps all that bribe money wasn't being used effectively. Sighing, he decided he'd leave his internal jabs at the organization for later and changed into his gym clothing. He went for simple and effective, a somewhat tight t-shirt and a basic pair of shorts. Best to leave the dressing up for later. And so Abel's eyes scanned the gym, looking to decide which machine to take on first. It was a tough choice to make - which one had a crowd? Which were in use? Which looked like they hadn't been cleaned for a month? Which were beside people he'd prefer to stare at for motivation? Choices, choices...

Among the many faces in the gym one caught his attention, the one of the blonde elven woman who seemed to be scanning the room in a similar way to him. There was a sort of cold intelligence to her, an air that she was more concious than the rest of him. Of course that wasn't how Abel NOTICED her or anything. No, that would be her rather eye-grabbing outfit combined with the extremely eye-grabbing yoga poses. But he was only paying attention to her now for her implied intelligence. No, seriously.

The yoga mats were not far from a sort of mana testing device - one would exude their mana into two bars, then the machine would refill their spent mana soon after. It was meant to help people with their control over their mana, with the device requiring those who used it to output only certain amounts. It was useful to know where those thresholds were. Abel placed both hands on it, side eyeing the nearby woman. She was within speaking distance now. Why not give it a try? "You eyeing the new recruits too, huh?" He asked her, though it was really only a guess. "Are you like me, worrying a little for their next few months? Or did you simply find one that looked handsome?" He teased, his breath slightly held while he pumped mana through the bars. "Either way you're certainly distracting them. Might want to temporarily switch your pose lineup while these young, hot-blooded types are around." He was only able to barely hang onto those last words before he felt that deep exhaustion that this machine sometimes caused. He tried his best to not show it but everyone did just a little.

After a few moments the mana started to come back to him. "Name's Abel." He said, turning back to the machine and exhaling deeply. This thing wasn't easy. He leaned against the device for a quick rest, though his real reason was to talk to the lady. "You've the look of someone who's been around even longer than I am. Do I know you, by any chance?" She had the look of someone who would be relatively well known - no national celebrity or anything, but certainly someone who people would talk about within the Rune Knights.