Not the beach, Tuesday morning

[betterthanaplan]

It was finally cold enough to start giving Duke flashbacks to his childhood in Maine, so he figured he'd give Rey a break and handwavily let her know he'd moved their morning yoga to somewhere with walls and a heater.

Which meant, of course, that he wasn't going to follow through on his threat to make her do yoga on a rickety stack of rocks. Yet. But considering he'd moved them to a room on the Cape Rouge, it did mean that she was going to be doing yoga on a surface that was gently bobbing up and down, back and forth, with the rise and fall of the water in the port.

Not that he noticed the movement anymore, not unless he was specifically paying attention to it. So he also had that balance board he'd been talking about ready. . . .

[beach yoga is not on the beach, but it's still open!]

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

Rey blinked. "I need a belt? Isn't that constricting?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke laughed again. "You do not need a belt," he assured her. "It's a martial arts thing. They're into really brightly colored belts in the far east."

[thatwaslucky]

"Oh. Do they get bigger or something with each level?" Which also sounded inhibitive.

[betterthanaplan]

". . . I think that's more pro-wrestling's thing," Duke said. "No, the karate belts just change colors. White to black with a full rainbow in between."

[thatwaslucky]

"I don't get it, but I like the thought," Rey decided.

[betterthanaplan]

"Does that mean I should figure out prizes for when you make yoga progress?" Duke asked.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey might not get into a full good mood today, but she dhdlook really curious. "...Yes. So I can see what you come up with.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "Fair enough. How do you feel about stickers?"

[thatwaslucky]

"I... know what they are?"

Poor girl had gone her whole life without.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was just realizing how sad that was, yeah. "You have totally never experienced a good sticker, have you," he said sadly. "Peeling off the back and slapping it somewhere inappropriate. . . ."

He was not a 'sticker chart' kind of guy, no. But he did love him some easy vandalism.

[thatwaslucky]

"Is that what you're supposed to do with them?"

So, sge has not.

[betterthanaplan]

"I mean, some people have, like, sticker books and shit," Duke said. "But yeah. That's what makes them fun."

[thatwaslucky]

"Okay," she decided, nodding. "I can do stickers."

She'd be exactly the kind of sentimental dork who'd keep a sticker book as a record of her progress. And because she didn't have a lot of stuff.

[betterthanaplan]

"Glad we got that worked out," Duke said, wondering if he could get good stickers on the island somewhere, or if he'd have to head to the mainland for them. "Now, let's see what you've got."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey nodded and stepped on the board carefully, mainly so she didn't embarrass herself. It was easy enough for her to balance on two feet, and she looked at Duke expectantly. "Okay?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded, impressed, though he'd been pretty sure she'd do just fine in mountain pose.

Still, it'd taken him years to master just standing still on that thing.

"Good. You feeling steady? Well rooted?"

[thatwaslucky]

She was kind of like that.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm not sure what happens if I move..."

[betterthanaplan]

"Dunno," Duke said easily. "Give it a try."

[thatwaslucky]

"Like...?" she said, shifting her weight to tilt the board from side to side a bit.

[betterthanaplan]

"Well . . . let's see how easy it is for you to get into tree pose without tipping it over completely."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey frowned.

This was not going to be graceful. If she moved slowly enough she could scoot her feet closer together with minimal tilting. The first few tries of getting her leg up and shifting her weight to the other side ended with both feet down and a lot of wobbling, at which point normally she'd ask when these sticker rewards started. But if she could shift one leg further to the middle to compensate for one leg being up, she could sort of make it even?

It was a process.

[betterthanaplan]

The fact that the boat was still gently bobbing up and down probably wasn't helping. Or the fact that Duke, standing firm on the ground, had settled into a tree pose about as easy as breathing.

"You're doing good," he said. "Don't forget to watch all your axes -- that board can and will wobble in any direction."

He held off from actually telling her to cheat, but only barely.

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm okay," she told him.

She wasn't cheating, she just felt like this was the right way to do it, which seemed to be enough.

Actually she'd needed thjs today.

[betterthanaplan]

"You are," Duke agreed. "You're . . . actually doing kind of ridiculously well. By the way."

[thatwaslucky]

"Really?" she asked, leaning a little more to keep herself upright.