greeting the sun, tag: janine federa

[pamela houston]

Her eyes twitched as the digitally enhanced beeps emitted from her iPhone that was vibrating madly on her side table. Opening her eyes, she rolled over sluggishly, her bleary eyes staring at the ceiling. She rubbed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose lightly. Her eyes were more alert now in the darkness. Quickly her left hand snatched at the twitching gadget and deactivated the alarm. The backlight shining on her face made it easier to read. 4:55 am She tossed it carelessly next to her. It landed haphazardly on the rose coloured quilt next to her. She paid little heed to it now. Like a cat, she stretched and yawned, the sheets bunched tightly over and around her. It felt wonderful to work out the kinks.
She dug out the phone again to check the time. 4:57 am. In a better frame of mind, she checked the calendar while simultaneously grabbing a memo pad and pen to use. The only item scheduled in the morning was a yoga session with Jani at 5:30 am. Thankfully, she was on downtime and planned to take full advantage of it. She would have plenty of time after breakfast to plan the rest of her day. There were some important errands to take care off. Putting aside her tools she stripped the quilt off the bed, fluffed the pillows, smoothed and tucked in the sheets and wool blanket. Beating the quilt, she placed it over the queen sized bed, arranging it properly until she was satisfied. Perfect, it looked neat as pin, as if done by a professional housekeeper.

It was 5:08 am now. Slipping into her house slippers, she plodded into the well stocked and spacious bathroom from her bedroom. The dressing room and closet could be accessed from the bathroom. She freshened up; brushing and flossing her teeth; washing her face and applying copious amounts of deodorant. Rushing into the dressing room, she brushed through her curls, till it fell about her face neatly. She shook her head slightly. No, better to keep them off her face and pulled them back by wearing a green headband. Since she had laid out her yoga outfit- black pants and magenta vest top- yesterday night, it took her a few minutes to strip off and hang her white spaghetti strap top and pink cotton pants up and get into the outfit. Grabbing the electric blue yoga mat, leaning against the wall, she quickly snapped up her phone and made her way to the living room through the heavy wood double doors of her bedroom. Even after five years, she could not believe she was living here. In the wing of the Buckingham Palace. Thank god, her identity as a costumed superheroine was a secret. If she told anyone, they would think it a bloody great joke and laugh their arses off.

She rolled out her mat by the windows. Hmmm….it was 5:20 am. Quickly, she shot off a small text message to Jani. She was ready and waiting. Putting it down in the windowsill, she started stretching the various parts of her body. Her eyes never left the main door to her suite.

[janine federa]

The ticking of the clock echoed through the small dark room, tick ticking away of its own accord. The only other sound in the room was slow breathing, originating from the form curled up on the bed. Or rather, the young lady wearing shorts and a tank top lying among a mess of bed sheets, pillow clutched to her chest and her mouth open. The clock beside her bed kept ticking, the clock hand getting suspiciously close to five a.m, a loud, shrill ringing starting when it finally clicked to five, the little clock practically jumping about thanks to its bells. The woman on the bed groaned loudly before she rolled toward the side of her bed, reaching out and swatting at the top of the alarm clock, shutting it off, before she sat up slowly. Janine was clearly rather groggy, her hair tousled and her clothes rather askew. Yawning widely she slid out of her bed, shoving her feet in her slippers as she shuffled toward the door to her bathroom.

Janine was not a morning person.

The room seemed uncommonly nice for an employee of a gaming company, given how Inverted Axis wasn't a big name company. It was a large room with a high ceiling and massive windows, the furniture all regally pretentious, although the decor looked rather ridiculous given the game posters taped to the walls, clothes strewn across the floor, and the rather impressive computer rig in a corner. It was all rather mismatched, not that Janine noticed as she shuffled her way across the hard wood and dragged herself into the bathroom. This room was just as fancy, all marble and fancy features. The electric toothbrush and other things strewn across the counter once again taking down it down a notch in regard to it being fancy. Dragging a brush through her hair while brushing her teeth, Janine slowly returned to the land of the living, tying her hair back with a hair tie before splashing her face with some warm water. It wouldn't do to go meet up with Pam and be half dead after all.

Wandering back into her man room again, Janine ducked into her dressing room. Or rather, what was now partially a dressing room and partially a gaming center, given that it now had a high definition television replacing the floor to wall mirror that had been there previously. Her amount of clothing was modest, and so it didn't take long to find her yoga outfit: gray shorts and a blue tank top. Taking off her pajamas, she traded one pair of shorts and a tank top for another one, somehow reasoning that the two outfits were "different" with regard to more than color. Which they weren't, not really. Janine wandered back into her bathroom to put on some deodorant, grabbing her purple yoga mat from where it was propped up against the wall before strolling through her bedroom to the living room doors, straight past her phone which vibrated and jingled a tune to announce a text.

"Morning Pam!" she announced, swinging her door open with a bang, proceeding to hum an obnoxiously cheery song as she made her way over to the windows and rolled out her mat. Although she was trying to be at least the tiniest bit quiet, so she wouldn't wake up the others. As always, Janine arrived precisely on the dot, five thirty exactly. She was a good planner after all, and she knew how to take her own slow morning habits into consideration when making plans. "Lovely day for yoga, isn't it?"

[pamela houston]

Always careful in anything she undertook, Pamela concentrated in stretching her muscles in each part of her body. Starting from her feet all the way up till her neck; tightening, holding still and loosening them in a matter of seconds. Just as she had completed her warm up, a bubbly, excitable whirlwind burst in to her suite. The whirlwind went, by the name of Jani, and was in a decidedly good spirits. The older woman smiled, rallying herself upright, and crossed her arms. The teasing glint in her eyes would have gone unnoticed by a stranger. And Jani was no stranger.

By now, the pale blue-grey tones of the morning light had filtered through the windows, highlighting the living room with its dark pink fleur-de-lis embossed wallpaper. The dark burgundy gilt edged settees, sofas and chairs shone brightly. A few embers gleamed from the ashes of the ornate marble fireplace. She had always been wary of using the furniture and careful. She did not want to be responsible for footing an expensive bill if they broke. Not that she was careless, at all.

“If the forecast is right, it’ll be a beautiful day. Never mind that now.” Her voice had a teasing note to it, “You’re quite bright now in the morning, Jani. I’m so proud.” Pamela had always been a morning person, far more active during the day. Gesturing to the space made for the other’s mat, it was a silent indicative. She sat down on her mat, with a half-smile curving her lips, “Breakfast is on me. I was thinking of omelets.” Mixing kitchens and Jani was like mixing oil and water. Her legs were placed straight in front of her. Leaning back, she supported herself with her arms. “What did you have in mind for today?”

[janine federa]

The teasing glint in her best friends eyes did not go unnoticed, and Janine grinned wickedly right back at her. They were partners in crime after all, well, technically not crime but thats how the saying went, and Pam was probably her only dear friend on the team. Not that she didn't like the others of course, oh no. She liked them all well enough, but she wouldn't call them best friends. That pedestal was reserved for the one and only Pamela Houston, and no one else. And so when her friend crossed her arms in a leaderly manner, Janine crossed her own arms, sticking her chin dramatically into the air and putting on a humorously stiff air, although that didn't last too long.

Giggling often ruined her impressions of a serious person.

"Well of course it'll be lovely! Be downright gorgeous it will!" Her voice was cheerful as it usually was when she and Pam were having fun. Bright enough so that someone thought something positively wonderful enough was happening or made someone ill to think of someone that.. perky. "Pft. You should have seen me when I rolled out of bed Pam. I'm only bright because I splashed water on myself that was so cold I swear their majesties had it shipped in from the Arctic." With a snap she rolled out her mat next to Pams and sat down upon it, spreading her legs into a split as she did so. "You're a sweety Pam. I would offer, but, you know." The last time she'd offered part of the kitchen had caught fire.

Who knew that making toast could be so hard?

Stroking her chin in mock contemplation to Pamela's next question, Janine pulled herself out of her split and crossed her legs in front of her. "Just the usual, you know. Salutation to the sun, get my muscles all nice and warmed up, and then I thought we could go out for a bit today. I've been meaning to take Old Lace for a walk, so perhaps some.. mountain biking?" She said the last part hopefully, eyeing Pamela as if she was worried her friend would say no. Which she just might. Cycling was more Janine's thing than Pamela's. But perhaps she could get her to come in return for a trade. Maybe Janine would even agree to.. shopping.

[pamela houston]

Usually she preferred her yoga time as a quiet period of somber contemplation but since started to share that time with Jani, she had grown used to her company. It made for a far more interesting and fun time which would not be the same if it went back to the way it was before.

It never hurt to double check everything so she made a mental note to check the weather forecast. Not that forecasts could always be right. Maybe Jani’s bright attitude could liven up any gloomy weather.

Arctic water, eh? She rolled her eyes but decided not to say anything. The Crown could afford water heaters along with the electricity bills that went with them. Her brow furrowed at that thought. Did they even need to pay their bills? She shrugged the thought off. In a voice full of mock disappointment she spoke softly, “So it was not even your sunny nature? Shame that.”

Nodding her head when the Jani went through her yoga technique listing and paused mid-nod, when Lace and Mountain Biking was mentioned. Winching, she sighed softly. “Since we are on down time and I don’t have work today, I was hoping to get some errands done today. Bank errands. Sorry about that.”

Time to get started then. She lowered her body into a squat with her back arched and her hands placed right on her thighs. Pulling in her abdomen she then pushed her back out, arching it and then repeating the steps all over again with her breathing relaxed. After repeating the technique fifteen times, she stood back up on top of the mat. Her shoulders and abdomen burned and tingled. She always preferred to start her exercises out with the standing cat stretch before the sun salutation.

[janine federa]

Janine had never been quiet while exercising. Being cheerful and loud and boisterous seemed to be her specialty, particularly when it came to things that normally asked for a degree of quiet. Life was a funny creature, something that some people didn't seem to be capable of appreciating, while Janine was more than happy to draw out every laugh she could. There wasn't much else she could do, after all. For while being a Visionary was grand and all that jazz, it was isolating. She could smile and act normal on the streets, but there would always be a line which she could allow no one to cross. A line which separated the true Janine from the public face. Not that the line was too far one way or the other, but she could never be truly honest with anyone.

And if there was one thing Janine had gotten good at, it was lying. While living in the palace was all very well and good, Janine had herself a nice apartment which she kept for appearances sake. It was always just a portal away, and she made sure to return there every evening, make it looked lived in, then return to the palace. Sure, if anyone got in and looked too closely they'd figure out it didn't look all that lived in (it was ridiculously clean for one, although she did artfully toss a few articles of clothing across the bedroom floor) but it wasn't like anyone was getting in there anytime soon. At least not anyone who'd be looking closely.

A smirk crossed her face when Pam made a comment about her "sunny nature", and she giggled. "My sunny nature takes a while to kick in I'm afraid. Its like those little time release capsules for medicine, you know the ones." Only Janine would compare her personality to medicine capsules.

The wince Pam made when Old Lace and cycling were mentioned did not go unnoticed, although it wasn't like Janine had been expecting her to be up for it. The smile on her face didn't falter and she simply shrugged. "Oh, no worries. I could tag along for your errands if you like."

While Pam did her standing cat stretch, Janine got started on the sun salutation. Rising to her feet and clasping her hands together, Janine raised her hands and bent herself backward before folding forward to touch her toes. Sinking to the ground she pushed herself up into a bridge, then lay on the ground and leaned her torso back, breathing out slowly. Yoga really was lovely for relaxation.

[pamela houston]

Her muscles stretched and burned all over. Yoga was more than just a daily regimen of exercise. It was a daily ritual undertaken to prepare herself for the coming day. Well, a way to prepare herself to face the world every day. And everyday was a new day. Along with being a Visionary- which was pretty cool- she had to deal with villains and rescue Queen and Country out of nefarious plots. That was usually the easy part. At least the costumes were a plus. Nothing flashy like the royal flush. Or like yellow spandex. No matter how much she liked fictional superheros, it would take some serious prodding to wear something flashy and gimmicky. The hard part was the aftermath. Especially the parts dealing with the consequences and the paperwork- mission reports, property damage estimates. Uggh

Though she was not the type to shrug off responsibility. She was almost glad that she was not involved with anyone. Seriously involved. Once was enough with that feckless bas- she drew in her breath deeply. No point in disturbing her peaceful time. She could not restrain her smile and a tiny chuckle at Jani’s comparison. Really, it was so priceless. And only Jani.

A frission of guilt ran through her when the other just shrugged and smiled. She did wish she had some time to go mountain biking. Since compromise was the foundation of nearly all relationships, Pamela decided to give it a try. “Actually, it might help. I have some things to deposit in the bank. Not cash, but certain documents. I do need to nominate someone else …just in case.” if I die went unsaid which was a possibility with the secret double life she held. “If we finish early we could take Lace for a walk then.”

She settled herself into a standing position called the Warrior. Her legs were spread apart, as if in a lunge. Only her upper body stretched and moved in time to her breaths.