Xaviers!

At around 5:30 am, there came a knock at Nika's door. Three solid raps, then a pause of about 10 seconds, and then three more. This continued until the door was opened.

A disgruntled but surprisingly awake Nika opens the door. She looks just about ready to go for a morning run.

Nika's roommate Jez was standing on the other side, dressed in her training clothes. Which might have been surprising since before they left for Symkaria the only time she'd ever seen the girl up this early was when Nika woke her up herself.

"Oh, good, you're ready already. I can join you."

"Since when is this a thing?" she asks flatly. Having spend at least some amount of time around Nika Jez might begin to get a feel for Nika's emotions and she's only this emotionless without being cold when she's trying hard not to be upset with herself.

"It should have been a thing months ago. That's a mistake on my part. So I have to start making up for lost time, starting now."

"So what, you're just going to take my place now? Protect her?"

"I can't possibly take your place, you're better than me. But what alternative do I have? Should I leave her to fend for herself?" Jez checked her smartwatch and began to jog in place.

"You can chastise me on the run, we're burning daylight."

Nika stares at Jez for a couple seconds.

"Fine. Let's go." she says and grabs a water-bottle before following Jez outside.

That Nika was following Jez at all was a good sign, or so the girl thought at least. The school grounds offered a variety of routes for runners to get their steps in, a few of which were also capitalizing on them already. Given how relatively alone they were together, it was somewhat odd that when the girl did speak again it was in Nika's native tongue. Crude, but understandable - not bad for only a month of more's lessons.

"You were correct about me."

Between the early morning workout and Jez speaking even some Symkarian Nika has to begrudgingly admit that she's putting in an effort. And if there's one thing Nika respects it's that.

"<That you're a spoiled and idealistic mriynyk?>" Okay maybe she's still not the biggest fan, but at least she's dropped the edge from her voice.

"<I know not what that means, but half maybe.>" Yeah, she still needed some work; which she was getting right then. "<I meant about when you first... what is word... confronted me, with suspicious. I should have told you all that I was hiding. Maybe if I had, we could have sooner started, and events would have been different.>"

"<No.>" Nika says, but it's with a hint of... wistfulness? Nuances are hard in a foreign language.

"<I was happy with how things were. Resigned maybe, but happy.>" she says, then switches to English for Jez' benefit. "I was her lytsar. Her knight. And I thought I was satisfied with that. It was more than I ever could have dreamed. But then you... took her from me. By dreaming of more. By spiting all I knew to be true about these things. I though it couldn't be true. I must be a mistake. She must be confused. All I needed was to shake her out of it. But I should have known better. I couldn't shake how I feel about her. Not really. So why could she. Why would she."

This is probably the most Jez has heard Nika talk in one go and she doesn't look at her once throughout, keeping her eyes fixed on the path ahead as they run.

Jez almost fell behind as she listened, a feeling of dread starting to overtake her. She pushed herself to catch back up before she spoke.

"Nika, I... I just want to be certain that I understand exactly what you're saying. Are you telling me that I took her away from you as a friend, or are you saying that I made you realize that you wanted her as more than a friend?"

"You didn't make me realize anything I didn't already know about myself but I would have never dared act on it. Her life is complicated enough already. But you didn't care about that and I guess you were right!"

Jez reached out and placed her hand on Nika's wrist. It wasn't nearly a strong enough grip to try and force the woman to stop, but it wasn't meant to do that. You didn't force someone you wanted to coax.

"Nika, I... we have a lot more to talk about than I realized. Can we find a bench or something more private?"

"What is there to talk." she says as she keeps running. "I did what I did. The why no longer matters and Katarina has relieved me of my duties."

Jez took a moment to catch up, and was silent for some time. Really, what was there for her to say? That if Nika had just told her the truth from the beginning that she wouldn't have pursued Katarina? That she would have tried her best to help the two of them get together? What good would that do for her to say it now, the prospect was virtually impossible. It would just be salt in the wound at this point.

"The Loud American strikes again, it seems."

"And gets what they want, consequences be damned. But who am I to talk now. What I did to her is worse than anything you might."

"Perhaps, perhaps not. But the past is the past and there's nothing either of us can do to change it, so now we have to look ahead. And since you're willing to help me, I should do my best to help you too."

"That'd be great if I knew what I'd want help with. I'm stranded, a soldier without country or cause. I have no place here or anywhere."

"Well, I would hope that the school would offer you some ideas and opportunities, but if you're looking for something more concrete..." Jez hesitated for a moment. "I... might know something. But I don't know how much I'd really recommend it."

"Few people would recommend my previous career path either, so let me the judge of it."

Jez looked away as though she were reluctant to continue. "England is not a perfect country. Neither is America, or Symkaria. Part of being a patriot is recognizing your nation's shortcomings and taking action to improve it with your votes and your actions. For all the negative things I've said about Genosha... there would be a place for you there. With your training, experience, and power, I'm sure the powers that be would fast-track you through the Acolyte program. You would have status, and the privileges that come with it. You'd have a monarch to serve and people to protect." Perhaps some people more than others, that was one of the reasons she had left.

"I... would hope you'd consider it a last resort. But it is an option."

"I appreciate the thought, I suppose. I... don't exactly need a monarchy to support as much as... a cause I guess. Symkaria has had terrible rulers, I am -- was -- loyal to the Karkovs because they stand for the kind of leadership the country needs. And as proud as I was of my accomplishments, I don't care much for status or privilege. Genosha's leadership is... better than Latveria's from what little I know."

"Huh, I guess I never thought about it that way." Jez had assumed that Nika's loyalty was to her country first, further showing how little she knew the woman. "At the very least, it can good to know you have something to fall back on. That gives you some freedom to broaden your horizons."

"You're right, but I do not like it. At the end of the day there is no shortage of work for someone like me. Symkaria has a... healthy mercenary culture and not all of them are treacherous scum. Then again, that's what I technically am." she shrugs. While this is clearly bothering her she's also trying to deal with it in a very pragmatic way.

"You'd better be calling yourself a mercenary, because I don't wanna hear you talking down on yourself anymore. Or else."

"Sure, let's go with that, as much as I'm curious to see what you're trying to threaten me with."

"Perhaps you'll find out at sparring practice." Jez said matter-of-factly before she started to pull ahead in their run.

"<Oh I'm going to enjoy that.>" Nika says, mostly to herself as she picks up the pace to catch up to Jez.

The rest of the run was uneventful, it wasn't like they were going to talk about what shows they'd been watching lately or anything of that sort so it was mostly silent between them. Jez actually didn't talk again until they were back at the gymnasium and she was getting the mats laid out over the hardwood floors, her shoes kicked off to the side along with some of her other gear.

"No powers, okay?"

"Maybe I should allow you one copy. To make it fair." Nika says as she takes off her shoes and twists at the waist a couple times while stretching her arms. It might just be a very dry joke but it's hard to tell.

"If you are concerned that you cannot hold back your strikes then yes, it'd be better to let a copy take my place." Jez said as she started to do a few little stretches, apparently misinterpreting the offer. "But my reaction time is fastest with me. If you're going to evaluate me and show me where I need improvement, I should be showing you my best without any excuses."

The girl who had once been whining about having to get up early and seemed content to just be a couch potato... was kind of serious about this. She had even taken her glasses off.

"I was thinking more about giving you the numerical advantage but fine. You seem like you actually want to learn, as satisfying as it would be to wipe the floor with two of you. Come on then, let's see what you have." she says and steps onto the mat in a loose stance.

If Nika was expecting Jez to take a reserved boxing stance and be on the defensive, she had another thing coming. With one arm held high and the other low she came at the former bodyguard, her body also looking loose. This gave Nika just a moment to realize that this girl actually might know something about hand to hand combat.

Nika advances on Jez and then lunges forward to close the gap, left forearm poised to block Jez' high arm while her right hand aims to deliver a palm strike to her shoulder.

Jez took the strike to the shoulder, but rather than reeling back she turned with the momentum, putting her back in between Nika's arms as she tried for a backward elbow strike to the gut. It was a risky move, as she was turning her back to the well-trained girl and placing herself in grappling position, but it seemed like her best option.

Before Jez' elbow can connect she feels Nika's foot hook around her legs and with a push against her shoulder-blade she's send to the floor in a spin.

"Good instinct, bad execution. Don't turn your back on the enemy unless you know exactly what you're doing, but not flinching away from a strike is the right idea." she says, holding out her hand to Jez to help her up.

Jez hit the mats with a thud and a groan, and looking rather disgusted with herself. She looked up and took the offered hand, even as she was muttering curses at herself.

"I'm so stupid, I never should have stopped practicing. Now I've gotta try and catch up."

"I've been doing this for almost half my life. Again. I'll go slower and you try to find a good response." she says, throwing the same punch at Jez' shoulder.