Dedication ((LitShark & heartofcourage))

[LitShark]

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Outside the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, fresh powder was falling on top of the glittering layer of permafrost which coated the mountainside in all directions. Niccola leaned back in his leather armchair and lifted his coffee mug to his lips, bathing the lower edge of his moustache in the soothing warmth of the liquid.

In his lap, Nic flipped through his newest protégé’s medical records, several dozen physical examination reports and about six detailed reports of severe injuries and subsequent physical therapy notes. She’d endured her share of pain and suffering, it was true. The cumulative effect of these injuries had taken their toll on her confidence most of all. Once hesitation creeps into a gymnast’s delivery they can do themselves more physical harm than good seeking to avoid injuries.

Competitive gymnastic performance is a sport of mile-high stakes and razor thin margins for error, the consequences ranging from tenth-of-a-point deductions to career ending injury. It’s a delicate balance, best maintained by perfect timing and symmetry. Hesitation is the enemy of execution.

Nic sipped his strong coffee again, straining the remnants from his moustache with his bottom lip. Glancing out over the vast white landscape unfolding behind the glass walls of his office, Niccola pondered what was to come. Tawny’s age necessitated his involvement, her mounting injuries and increased body-mass made this the last Olympic cycle she would have any chance at medaling in. He would need to break her down before she could relearn how to execute without hesitation, rebuilding her as what she should be. Break her he would.

The pencil scraped over Nic’s leather-bound agenda book, filling in times and titles like “Resistance Bands: 8am-10am” and “Circuit Latex Cardio 10:15am-12pm”. After another long sip of coffee, he spotted headlights on the horizon, the SUV he’d chartered to transport his newest charge from the airport to his remote chalet. The vehicle wove back and forth, popping up and vanishing again as it ascended the icy, mountain road.

The last of the French-pressed coffee drained from the cup a moment before Nic rose from his chair. He turned back toward the glass wall which overlooked the full, competition-grade gym occupying the main room of his luxurious home. He shrugged into his blue and white track jacket, taking it and a polished steel whistle from a hook beside the door which joined the gym.

Moving toward the front of the house, Nic passed through a hidden door in the peg wall at the far end of the gym. He passed through the trophy hallway, cherry-wood lined shelves lit by track-lights. Coaching awards, international team medals, newspaper clippings with photos of gymnasts hugging him with medals hanging around their necks and pull-quotes like “I couldn’t have done it without Nic” or “I owe everything to coach. He broke me down and remade me what I needed to be.”

At the towering, hand-carved front door Nic pulled his rabbit lined parka from a hook and pulled it on, walking out to await the young hopeful who would occupy the next twenty months of his life. His breath floated from under his hood in thick, white clouds. Pale flakes continued to fall over the entirety of the mountainside.

 

[heartofcourage]

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Dreams were suppose to be a refuge. The place where she could escape from the pressures of everyday life that were pressing in on her from every angle. Tawny could only hear the disappointment in her parents' voice as the doctor told them she'd sustained a stress fracture of her femur. She could only see the horrified look on her old trainer's face as her knee buckled beneath her on that damned beam. She could only see the sixth place finish at her last competition. Sleep was a time of torture for her.

Tawny blew out a long breath, fogging up the window the SUV that had picked her up from the airport. At 23, she was past her prime, already older by a decade then most of the other girls that were entering the world of gymnastics. It wasn't fair. She still had the energy and the will to win. It was her body that was failing.

Her parents had paid an arm and a leg to send her a world away. She was use to South Texas, land of sun and heat, and here she was in a winter wonderland. She'd never seen so much snow in her entire life. It coated the ground, clung to the trees, swirled around the SUV...she had to admit that she kind of liked it. It was peaceful.

Niccola was suppose to be the best of the best. It had been explained that the facility he ran was isolated so not to deal with distractions. It was what she needed in all honesty. She was tired of people looking over her shoulder, telling her that she was done, that there was no future. She wanted to prove them wrong.

Her thoughts were broken as the SUV pulled to a stop outside an impressive home. A man waited outside the entrance, bundled up against the cold. This is it, she thought to herself as she zipped up her fur lined coat and reached to open the door, the wind instantly slapping her in the face the moment she did. It wasn't the most graceful she'd ever been...but then she supposed he'd understand that.

 

[LitShark]

The moment that Tawny opened the door of the charter SUV, a frozen gust picked up and tossed the hood off of her head, whipping and spinning the loose strands of blonde hair up around her face and head like a yellow fire which was fueled by the cold. He moved at a jog across the icy driveway to take hold of her arm, hoisting her to stable footing less than gently.

“Come on, come on.” Nic barked against the howling wind, his heavy accent dripping from each word. “No time for frail, little girl-games. There is much to be done before dinner-time. Come.”

The driver went to retrieve Tawny’s bags from the trunk, hoisting them onto the frozen concrete. The driver moved to carry them into the house, but Niccola waved him off. Instead, the gymnastics coached slipped the driver a handsome tip in Euros and sent him back down the three-mile long, winding driveway. The heaviest of the young woman’s bags was thrust roughly into her slender arms, while Nic shouldered her smaller gym bag and led her into the house.

The heavy, hand-carved door slammed shut behind them, and Nic bolted it several times over, locking them both in together. Now freed from the relentless howling of the wind, Nic resumed his curt introductions in a more conversational tone—wasting no time in leading his young charge into the house, never looking back to see if she was keeping pace.

“Welcome to your new home for the next few years. This place will be cocoon for your final transformation, a shell behind which you will cease crawling and learn to fly. This is foyer, and trophy case.” Nic stated, dispassionately, blending the tour of his home with Tawny’s orientation to his program, gesturing to his accomplishments adorning the wood-grain walls. “These girls all began the same as you are now. Old, heavy, injured, timid. They all transcended their limitations, learned to become something great. All were broken and rebuilt within these walls. Come.”

Nic’s keys made a cacophonous jangling sound as he unlatched and opened the hidden door, built into the far wall of the trophy room, the heavy latch making a resonant thud as it was unlocked. The disguised door creaked as it opened inward to the massive, well-lit gym; overlooking the sheer cliff and expansive countryside below. Just in time to see the SUV’s brake lights winding round toward the main road.

“This room will become your home, this is where we train.” Nic said authoritatively, leading on. “All equipment is competition grade. Here is where you will train, relearn everything. We begin tonight, but first your room.”

Opposite Nic’s glass-walled office, there were three doors on the far wall of the high-ceilinged gym. Nic threw open the first of these and tossed Tawny’s gym bag inside. It resembled a college Freshman’s dorm room: a bed, a dresser, a desk and a tiny window—all pressed so close together that the corners nearly touched.

“This will be your room. Here you will sleep.” Nic stated matter-of-factly, leaving the door open as he moved to the next door, farther into the room. “This is bathroom, you may shit and shower here. Everywhere else is off limits unless I bring you. This is understood?”

Not really waiting for an answer, Nic left the two doors open and moved back toward his office to pour another cup of coffee.

“You may move in and change into competition gear.” Nic said casually over his shoulder. “Bring music for your floor routine. We begin in one hour, do not go slow.”

 

[heartofcourage]

Tawny barely got a word out before her gruff coach steadied her with a hand on her arm and then thrust the largest of her bags into her arms. She let out a soft grunt as the weight settled and she shuffled after him, a little stunned that he wouldn't take it from her. Instead, he had her tiny gym back, the one packed with her items that she used in the gym. Things that weighed absolutely nothing at all.

The door closing behind them made an ominous sound, made even more dark as he did all the locks which kept them securely inside his facility. Still, Tawny said nothing as she looked around the halls, following behind him as they started moving yet again. She barely had time to look around as he ushered her into a training facility that had an amazing view of the surrounding scenery.

"Wow..." She breathed out softly, watching as the SUV that had brought her disappeared into the distance.

The facility was impressive, set up for a champion. Even the gym she trained in back at home paled in comparison to what she had here. Then he was on the move again, his voice gruff as he opened a door and showed her a room that was minuscule. Her room was home was about three times the size, but he didn't seem concerned as he ordered her to get dressed and report for training as quickly as possible.

Then, she was left alone, her head spinning. What in the hell had she gotten herself into? She could barely comprehend, let alone process, what he was asking of her. She simply sighed, shaking her head as she turned towards her gym bag. She pulled out a turquoise leotard, one of her favorites and worked on getting herself ready to go. Her long hair was pulled back from her face, secured by a tie, before she stripped and slipped into her outfit.

 

[LitShark]

The grinder whirred as Nic ground a fresh cup of Peruvian coffee beans. Once the grounds were broken into a dense powder, they were poured into the glass cylinder of the French press. Hot water was poured over the grounds from an electric kettle and allowed to steep for a few moments before the hissing metal lid was lowered and the long plunger at the top pressed down to trap all the whole grounds at the bottom of the strong brew.

The coffee cup was filled, the overcoat was hung up, sneakers exchanged for cloth soled slippers and Nic was ready to begin. The first stage was very important, to gauge the readiness of the new student to receive Nic’s training. The performance was less relevant than their reaction to his feedback. Girls like Tawny had been diligent students of the sport almost since they could walk, prodigies who dazzled coaches and judges at every level with almost super-human innate talent. Before he could make her into a champion, he needed to break her of the notion that she was destined for greatness, that her talent entitled her to anything. A student must earn everything, all over again.

“Good, you are dressed.” Nic nodded at Tawny, returning to the gym to meet her, “Set your music on the arm of my chair and come to the mat for stretches.”

After a loud slurp of coffee, Nic set his cup on top of the music CD like it was a coaster. He walked casually out to the center of the mat, sitting down and spreading his legs. He held out his hands for Tawny to come join him for stretches.

“Hurry up, you’re already older than you were when you walked in. Spread your legs and give me your hands.”

 

[heartofcourage]

Tawny definitely thought that her coach was eccentric. He lived in the middle of nowhere, he didn't seemed bothered by his isolation, and it didn't seem to bother him that he only had her for companionship. She didn't like the gruff way that he spoke to her, but she had much worse in instructors along the way. They were all people that had what was in her best interests in mind when they coached her and it seemed like he was going to be no different.

Exiting the room, she taken back by his brief command to put her music on the arm of his chair before she came back to stretch. She simply nodded and turned to put the CD on his chair before she turned back towards the mats. She let out an audible gasp as he simply sat his coffee cup down on the CD and brushed past her.

What in the hell, she asked herself as he sat down and held out his hands to her, insisting that she needed to hurry. She was confused, everything around her spinning slightly as she looked between the coffee cup and him. Was this a game to him, she thought as she dutifully made her way to the mat and took his hands to start stretching.

"That's...um...it's a unique set up you have here." She said, simply trying to make small talk as they stretched out her muscles.

 

[LitShark]

“This gym is built to the exact specifications of competition. I check the exact dimensions nightly against the international standards requirements, tuning and adjusting if anything from the bounce of the mat to the tensile ferocity of the uneven bars is even one one-hundredth of a point off. Everything is exactly what you can expect at the Olympic Games. Now breathe.”

Nic took hold of Tawny’s hands as she joined him on the mat. The soft, flexible soles of his slippers moved swiftly to the insides of her thighs and forced her legs into a full split. He pulled with his arms, pulling her body forward. He leaned back, keeping his legs rigid against her inner thighs until her nose was pressed against the outline of his package in his sweats. Her long, blonde ponytail gathered like a pool in his lap.

“After today, you will not use this gym. This is a gym where champions train, you haven’t yet earned the right to touch any of this equipment. You’ve earned nothing. Your parents’ money can’t buy you respect. You must earn it, with discipline and dedication.” Nic went on, leaning back more until his shoulder-blades touched the ground. “Good, now breathe in.”

When it felt like any more “stretching” might dislocate the smaller girl’s hips, Nic sat back up. He did not, however, release her hands. Instead he helped her quickly back to her feet and tipped her to one side, over his knee. He released her hand at last, to wrap his arm around hers and pull back, stretching her right side without concern for her comfort.

“Keep your feet planted and breathe.” Nic said with authority, his lips close by her ear as he bridged her over his knee. “What song will you be performing to?”

Once the tension in Tawny’s body faded, when she felt like a bent branch more than a person, he allowed her to stand back up for a moment before switching his stance and bending her the other direction, his arm around hers and her left side exposed along his bent knee.