Sandspire - Character Profiles and Q&A! (Patreon)

Been working on this for a while and ended up writing more than I expected, so I hope you guys enjoy this! I'd be interested to hear your thoughts, and whether anything about the girls surprises you.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask, I may answer in the replies, or possibly make another Q&A in future.

On another note, Part 2 of the Ellie story will be out next week, and I also have another alt to the previous Rachel/Amy picture coming soon!

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Character Profiles

Rachel

Age: 23

Height: 5'2"/157cm

Personality: A ball of energy ready to burst, Rachel can be hard to keep up with. Very friendly and talkative, often naively so. She is optimistic, stubborn and straight forward, although has a habit of not thinking things through. 

Favourite workout: L-Sit holds - Rachel's masochistic streak gives her a penchant and a love for any static holds that leave her fighting muscle exhaustion and her pain threshold over time. These also strain her legs and grip, leave her suspended and most importantly, burn out her core. Even better, they leave her in a position where she can keep her eyes on Amy (whether it's to simply watch her add more weight, or do anything else that comes to mind...) which is a big bonus.

Background: Rachel has two younger sisters who she loves more than anything else in the world. The youngest is ten years her junior, and studying overseas. Her middle sister, aged 20 was always the smart, responsible one, and has also left home to attend University. Rachel calls them as often as she can get away with. School was hard for her, as often struggled in lessons, finding herself easily distracted. Being the smallest person in every class didn't help, either. She had been taking gymnastics classes since she was twelve, but it was a few years before she realised she liked the conditioning aspect most of all, and started to focus on weight training and calisthenics.

Amy

Age: 26

Height: 5'10"/179cm

Personality: While she can share her girlfriend's joker streak, Amy is calmer and more measured. She doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve around most people, which makes it even more of a relief to let loose around her girlfriend. The woman is driven, sharp witted, successful and authoritative.

Favourite workout: Running - With a lean physique and tall figure, Amy was always a natural when it came to running. She jogs casually to keep in shape and finds the cardio work refreshing. It's also important to her to keep up her endurance, the athleticism of her always active girlfriend almost demanding it.

Background: Amy was an only child, and always studious. As a teen she was extremely prideful and self confident because of her natural looks and intelligence, but eventually simmered down as she matured and funnelled her dominant energy into... other activities. While studying at University she worked part time as a receptionist at a nearby gym, where she eventually met Rachel while working a night shift.

Ellie

Age: 18

Height: 5'5"/165cm

Personality: Despite the reverence bordering on worship she gets from some other students at the Academy, and the seething jealousy from others, Ellie is humble, hard working and modest. Whenever she isn't focused on her own training she is happy to help or advise others, regardless of their academy rank. She is friendly and charismatic but prefers her own company more often than not.

Favourite workout: V-ups - full core coverage, particularly when including modified movements and timings. Ellie prides herself on her legendary abs, and their prodigious strength is no coincidence.

Background: A gymnast through and through with the perfect, near unique blend of genetics mixed in with an absolute dedication to her training. Ellie took up gymnastics at 8 years old after getting obsessed with the sport while watching the Olympics, even digging out old footage of former events to study and admire. She eventually convinced her parents to take her to gymnastics lessons, and showed immediate promise even in the small, run down outfit that was local to her. She was a prodigy, brimming with natural talent, but quickly quashed any rumours suggesting that was all she was. Herculean efforts, gruelling consistency and endless willpower kept her development constant and led to astonishing results.

 At age 14, a viral video of one of her feats caused her to be scouted by the Athena Athletic Academy, and Ellie discovered that she had been a big fish in a small pond. More excited by the prospect than discouraged, she threw herself into harder and more elaborate training with help from other students and coaches alike. The work was gruelling but worth it, as she climbed her way up the ranks to become elite even amongst the best in the world.

Bonus fact: Ellie's favourite treat, and the closest thing she has had to "junk food" in ten years, is hot chocolate.

Athena Athletic Academy: An institution dedicated to the training and conditioning of young women of all disciplines and nationalities. The grounds are enormous, with fields surrounded by forest and the specific location is kept secret. The building is hundreds of years old but well maintained, with state of the art technology across much of the buildings. In certain parts of the Academy, particularly the basements, remnants of the oldest areas remain.

 Students' positions in the Academy are denoted by their collars, with the colours black, bronze, silver and gold. To advance, a girl must challenge a higher ranked student to a task of their choice, and if she wins the two must swap collars. The higher a rank a student gets, the more often they must compete against would-be usurpers.

 Academy trainers are elite athletes and experts in their own rights, often Academy graduates themselves. They make sure to enforce rules and punishments, as well as push the girls through some of the most brutal training imaginable - sometimes through group training sessions and sometimes in one-on ones. Students are also given time and freedom to do their own training. Black and bronze collars often do the grunt work of the school such as cleaning and playing assistant to higher ranked students and coaches. Gold and silver collars also get perks such as personal rooms and access to different parts of the campus.

 Even bronze collars are incredible athletes, enough to be in the top tier of most sports schools and universities across the world. Silver collars could go toe to toe with, and often become Olympians. Gold collars, who make up only a tiny percentage of the student base, are on another level entirely.

Sam

Age: 21

Height: 6'1"/185cm

Personality: Sam barely spoke before there was nobody to speak to and in the forest, her only vocalisations are yells and grunts. She finds peace in her own mind and meditations.

Favourite workout: Log pulls - This training is difficult to set up, but all the more rewarding for it. Getting the right size of tree, weaving a proper harness and making sure there are replacements, and plotting a route with enough room through the brush are all deeper levels that make the ritual more elaborate than any normal workout. This keeps Sam's survival skills sharp as well as utterly devastate her body. It strains her every muscle, and has been part of some of the harshest training she has ever managed. The painfully slow progress when working with such a huge weight would be discouraging to most, but Sam has time, patience, and the discipline to work through day and night.

Background: Born to a privileged family in the lap of luxury, Samantha had everything a girl could want. As long as she behaved, as long as she studied, as long as she acted like the perfect lady. It was a cold world to be raised in, butlers and maids spending more time with her than parents ever did. But her mind was her greatest asset, Sam excelled in her studies with a near superhuman capacity for knowledge and memory. She used this to her advantage when she finally decided what she wanted to do, rejecting the life her parents had planned for her.

 The teen researched, finding the perfect area, the methods of survival, plant and berry types, hunting methods and more. For two full years, from age sixteen to eighteen she prepared, even training herself in secret, though frustratingly limited - if anybody noticed her muscle growth the plan could have been ruined. Eventually, she was ready. It was after the plan worked without issue that her task became harder than she could have ever imagined. It's a constant, ongoing struggle that she is grateful for every day.

Questions & Answers

Heaviest weightlifting feat?

Rachel: A lot of Rachel's training is in endurance and flexibility, with a focus on calisthenics. The most she lifts is in heavy squat sessions, and is extremely adept at it. It's hard to judge her record, because pretty often she finds Amy adding ad-hoc weight whether by normal means, or simply pushing down or climbing on.

Sam: Raw brute strength is something Sam regularly puts to the test in her training, and the heaviest things she can lift often depend more on how awkwardly they are shaped. Her greatest feats in deadlifting and overhead lifting have involved tree trunks, but she also keeps a collection of any large, well shaped rocks she finds, of steadily increasing size.

Ellie: One of the Academy's cable crunch machines is the tool for all of Ellie's heaviest lifts - her abs can curl more weight than she can lift or squat. Normally, Ellie goes for reps or static holds over pure weight, but has tested herself several times, be it through her own interest or by the demands of Academy trainers.

Amy: The most important purpose of weightlifting to Amy is being able to pick up her girlfriend. She gets plenty of practice in carrying Rachel to bed, or between exercise machines during particularly intense sessions and practices with similar weights to keep herself in shape. Rachel is surprisingly heavy for her height!

Methods for recovery or stress relief?

Rachel: For both, the answer is Amy. As well as being an expert in breaking her down, Amy is always there to help Rachel recover from a brutal training session, whether she needs food, rest, or her personal favourite - massage. Just as much, Amy is always there when Rachel is stressed or upset.

Sam: Through her studying before entering the forest and her trial and error Sam knows how to use certain leaves and balms to help her recovery. Her mental strength is near unlimited, forged by months of isolation in a harsh environment, but she has a few choice spots that soothe her when she visits them.

Ellie: The Academy has a very harsh outlook on recovery and stress relief - most students are more likely to get expulsion than assistance. Ellie's recovery is usually at best a brief period lighter than normal training. She finds relaxation in stretching, and in coaching and assisting lower ranked students.

Amy: As well as relying on her girlfriend, Amy likes to read. When in a certain mood, taking Rachel down to the basement is another good way to forget about her worries.

What's the first thing Rachel does when she gets up?

 After getting up bright and early each morning, Rachel goes for a run. Amy normally has breakfast ready for her by the time she gets back. If she doesn't, Amy might send her away to run for a while longer.

 Alternatively, sometimes Amy just drags her back into bed.

What did Ellie do to get her golden collar?

 To get her golden collar, Ellie had to challenge another student while she herself had a silver collar. The student was an infamous bully and narcissist, but such traits aren't discouraged in the Academy as long as the girls have the skill to back it up. After a multi-hour, gruelling super-set of competitive abs torture, Ellie came out on top.

What kind of tests does it take to enter the Academy?

 Potential Academy students are scouted by Academy staff, and only approached after an extended period of study. They're then offered rigorous physical and mental health assessments. If they pass those and accept the Academy position, their only task is to keep up with their peers and perform up to the standard the Trainers demand. Over 90% of black collar Academy students quit or are expelled within a month.

Has Sam ever broken a bone in the forest?

 Sam broke her arm three months into her stay in the forest, after exhausting herself during a superset of pull-ups while hanging from a tree branch. She miscalculated her limits, as well as the danger of her task and almost died for it. The following weeks of recovery were made even harder by the increased difficulty in hunting and foraging for food.

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 That's all for now! Thanks for reading and I hope this gave you some fun insight into the girls and the world they live in.