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

[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.

[betterthanaplan]

"Unless you're hustling me and you spend all your time on a balance board at home -- yeah." Duke dropped back out of tree pose to walk around her, eyeing her stance from all angles. "Most people are really used to always standing on a sturdy surface. They'd have trouble with even two points of contact. You're on one right now. And on one leg."

[thatwaslucky]

"Remotes shoot at me while I'm walking on a rope," Rey pointed out.

She was a little bit reminded of Kanan trying to tell her that the things she blew off weren't baseline normal. And since she'd learned from that, she said, "I'm just trusting how to do it."

[betterthanaplan]

"True. Which is why I decided to step things up a bit in the first place," Duke said. "What are you trusting?"

[thatwaslucky]

Rey had to think about that for a moment. Maybe it was Force-related, she really didn't know. And maybe there wasn't a difference there anyway.

"Me."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke smiled. "Good answer."

Even if it didn't necessarily help get to the whole floating thing.

"Try switching legs."

[thatwaslucky]

There may- may- have been a little tiny "ugh" from her as she slowly put her leg down, slowly scooting her other foot to the middle of the board until she could put both feet down, and then moving just as she had the first time to get the other leg up.

It was a very. careful. process.

Because maybe now she was showing off a little.

[betterthanaplan]

"Beautiful," Duke said. He wondered if Skywalker would let him borrow some of those remotes. "How does that feel?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Okay," she said, turning into the wobble a little to stay up. "It's easier this time, knowing how to do it already."

[betterthanaplan]

"Well yeah," Duke said. "Not knowing how is one of the biggest roadblocks out there." He stopped in front of her, folding his arms over his chest, and tilted his head. "Want to try a handstand?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Could be a disaster," she said, but she lowered her leg and stepped off the board, because why not.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah, but I doubt it," Duke said.

He was definitely going to make her try it without getting off the board first if she managed this on the first try.