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[heiroglyphs]

VERA WEISZ

You have reached the voice mail box of Vera Weisz, heiress of Weisz Manufacturing. Please leave a message.

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[burndownforwhat]

In that case, this will probably come back to you in a bit. [ keeping her hands there, Jen goes through the instructions of how to breathe and when, letting the right muscles do the job and letting it become automatic instead of trying to force the air in and out with just one's lungs. she lets that go on for a bit, shifting a bit closer and her voice quieter for effect. ] Are you feeling it, now? [ Jen pulls her left hand around and places it high upon the center of Vera's abdomen, below her ribs. ] Right here.

[heiroglyphs]

I'm feeling... something? Is it supposed to be tight?

[burndownforwhat]

That's probably because you're still super tense. It'll feel better after a while. But let's move on. [ Jen slips her hands back and up to the outside of Vera's elbows. ] Bring your arms up over your head and put your hands together. Fingers out.

[heiroglyphs]

Fingers... out.

[Okay, so she'll sort of touch the backs of her hands together before bringing them both over her head, arms extended.]

How is this?

[burndownforwhat]

Good. Now just lean to the side a bit. Not super far, but just until you feel the stretch in your sides. [ Jen slides her arms down as a guide to how far Vera should go, and rests her hands flat at the side of her ribs. ] Right about... here. [ somehow, she's managing to be completely professional about this. though it's not without some color to her cheeks. it probably has as much to do with their familiarity as it does Vera's attitude toward her overall, keeping Jen's typical attraction reaction in check. ]

[heiroglyphs]

Ah...

[Vera exhales as Jen leads her into the stretch, squeezing her eyes at the sudden discovery of just how tight her body is. Who knew that fueling a body with caffeine and stress was a bad idea? But Vera is far too proud to admit that any of this hurts.]

[burndownforwhat]

Easy. Don't overdo it. [ she can feel Vera's tension. having a somewhat intimate knowledge of how she feels when she's relaxed may give her an unfair advantage here. it's still an odd thing to think about; that Jen even has that experience despite... not... really? ] Hold it for a count of ten then go the other direction. Don't forget about breathing.

[heiroglyphs]

It is hard to... [She shifts her weight slowly, leaning in the opposite direction.] ...Think about breathing when I do this.

[burndownforwhat]

Heh. I bet you thought breathing would be the easy part. [ Vera didn't say so, but she gave off that attitude. wouldn't be a fair bet for Jen. she's still holding on to the girl's sides, guiding her. ] It takes practice. I've got you on this, so focus on the breathing for a bit.

[heiroglyphs]

[She has her. That's... something, isn't it? That she's allowing Jen to have this control over her body. Vera Weisz doesn't just relinquish herself like this, and the act of doing so has started to feel rather intimate.]

Okay. [She exhales the word, focusing less on the positioning of her body and more on the expanding and contracting of her chest.]

[burndownforwhat]

There you go. Nice and easy.

[ Jen won't push Vera too hard with these stretches. the point was to relax, not make this a crash course in yoga. that's something she wouldn't be as qualified for.

when they're done with arms and her core, and spent some time on her legs, she steps around to Vera's side. ] How's that? Feeling limbered up yet?

[heiroglyphs]

I am feeling... something? A bit not as tight, but also strained.

[But at least she's a lot more relaxed, evidenced by her slumped shoulders and slower breathing.]

Should I open my eyes now?

[burndownforwhat]

Oh! Yeah. Go ahead, we'll take a break for a bit. [ Yin stepped back and did a few stretches on her own, as she was lost in helping Vera out. ]

All this may help, but it won't work miracles. You really do need to take better care of yourself in general, Vera.

[heiroglyphs]

I have a lot that needs to be done, in my job. Sacrifices must be made somewhere.

[She opens her eyes, craning her neck one way, and then the other.]

[burndownforwhat]

Don't people in your position usually just... delegate things to others? That's what managers and VPs and stuff are for. [ though her experience with what her own mother does in the realm of business is vague at best, that seems like a good guess to her. ] You won't get far if you just end up collapsing under the strain.

[heiroglyphs]

Tasks still need to be managed, even if it is from higher up. Plus there is also the attempts to break new ground and make the business stronger. No one will follow a weak leader.

[burndownforwhat]

No one can follow a strong one either, if they end up hospitalized for sleep deprivation and dehydration...

[heiroglyphs]

And what would you have me do, then? Who do I ignore to make my life easier?

[burndownforwhat]

Hell, Vera, I- [ sigh. ] I can't tell you how to run anything and you know it. I just think you should set some boundaries. Like... maybe no work emails after 10 PM or something. Give your mind some time to wind down so you can get some real sleep. Do some yoga, read a book, unwind however you've got to! There's, like, a million ways to tire yourself out without actually exhausting yourself first.

[heiroglyphs]

[Vera takes a step towards the kitchen counter, flipping open her schedule for the day. It is, predictably, packed to the gills, only dotted with small breaks of fifteen minutes or so.]

...Where is this coming from? Why do you have so much concern for me? It's not because of these dreams, is it?

[burndownforwhat]

It's... not the only reason. [ Jen's expression diverted from concerned to confused. ] Look, if it's that weird for me to be worried about you, I can just go.

[heiroglyphs]

That's not what I meant, Jen. It's not upsetting, I just... don't expect such things.

[burndownforwhat]

With the way you act sometimes, are you really surprised? [ wow, that sounded way harsher than she meant it to. but Jen was still being honest. she stopped stretching and moved over to place her hand to Vera's shoulders. ] Maybe if you toned things down a but, and didn't focus on your company at the expense of everything else, you'd see you had more people that cared about you than you think.

[heiroglyphs]

[Vera tries to act surprised, but drops it almost immediately.]

I wish you could understand my life, so you could see why I act the way I do. [Being dropped into a position of immense power as a child, being used and manipulated most of her life, feeling unable to trust anyone for fear of allowing it to happen again.]

I sometimes wish things could have been different. Had my father never died, maybe I could have been care-free person you wish I could become.

[burndownforwhat]

[ growing up effectively fatherless, and having her mom's expectations weighing on her every day of her life may not have been on the same scale as what Vera was going through. but it's not as if she doesn't understand the basics here. the pain may be different but the sentiment is similar enough. ] There's things you can change in life, and things you can't. [ subtle clicking of her fingers goes here. ] Just ... try not to think about the past too much. You should focus on what's ahead of yourself.