Get Buff or Cry Trying
@crunchmunchmunch
He would never, not ever, be caught dead saying such aloud, but Jakob--rarely, bordering on never--had moments where he’d catch himself measuring his talents up against those of others’ and find himself dissatisfied with his own results. He’d even find himself feeling slightly, just a little bit, envious as a result.
Effie in particular was the subject of such attentions on his part; it had been so easy initially to write her off as just a muscle-bound simpleton, but, frankly, the feats she accomplished defied the realms of possibility. All in the name of Lady Elise. Which compared to Jakob’s doing a variety of simple chores for Lady Corrin, made him look insignificant. Especially considering that, apparently, Effie worked her way up to that superhuman strength. Compared to all the effort he’d put in just to be the competent butler he was now...
He would not be satisfied with sitting idly around while others showed him and his loyalty to Corrin up, and so, he’d made his way to the training grounds in the hopes of actually attempting to compete with Effie.
Of course, the knight herself was there, already going through the motions of her own routine, by the time he’d arrived. Jakob was annoyed, but unsurprised. He decided that so long as he kept to himself, there was little reason to be particularly bothered by Effie’s presence; he rationally understood that Effie didn’t view him with the same competitive light he’d come to see her in, and he didn’t greatly care if she--or anyone, really--witnessed him train (unlike a certain prince). More to the point, Effie was rather aloof and tended to keep to herself, so there was little to fear in that regard.
However, Jakob had no idea where to begin building muscle, or, really, what sort of strength even mattered--he never found his strength lacking for housework, or battle, and, even for the latter, he was never trained with front-line duty in mind, but efficiently eliminating would-be threats to his liege in close, closed, quarters, preferably with the element of surprise. Jakob decided that, were someone to get the drop on him, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have more strength. It was a somewhat over-the-top scenario, unlikely to happen for a variety of reasons, but it was in Lady Corrin’s best interest that he remain prudent, after all.
Upon that self-reflection, Jakob realized another flaw in his plan and huffed, irritated that it failed to occur to him prior to now: as he’d stressed time and time again to others, solo training was worthless. Especially in areas one does not already excel. Taking a deep breath, he decided to swallow his pride, and called, “Excuse me, Effie?”