Dite's Decadent Delights, Tuesday

[spin_kick_snap]

Her weekly delivery had included several copies of the Kama Sutra and a bunch about sexy yoga poses to improve your sexual health and spirituality. Kathy had leafed through the yoga books and spent most of her time giggling at some of the more outrageous claims before shelving them, but they reminded her how long it had been since she'd done any yoga. Which also meant that it had been a very long time since she'd done any meditation either, and, honestly, she could probably use a bit more of that in her life right now.

So she snagged a few copies of the books, displayed them prominently on the counter, and then settled into the first pose of her old routine. And promptly discovered that a year of shambling had not helped her remain limber, and neither had a half year of just...wandering around on the island. Hopefully no one wandered in and thought that wincing, groaning, and the occasional muttered swear were necessary elements of sexy tantric yoga or whatever.

Comments

[tigerundercover]

Raven definitely was not going to mistake it for the sexy stuff. She was, however, going to pause and watch for a moment or two before making her presence known, when she came to visit Kathy on her lunch break.

"I could have sworn you were bendier than that before," she said, when the watching started to feel creepy. Which maybe took a little longer than it would for most people.

What? She'd spent all morning listening to the Groovy Tunes' stereo's favorite bombastic shrieker. Creepy was relative.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I was," Kathy said with a grunt, standing back up and pushing her damp hair out of her face. "But I haven't done much bending or stretching for, like, fourteen months. So now I'm paying for it."

Someone was going to need a soak in a very hot bath tonight. Ow.

[tigerundercover]

"Maybe you need to ease back into it?" Raven suggested. "Specifically by taking a break now for food." She held up her bag. "I brought bentos."

Bento boxes, with their aesthetically arranged, balanced meals, were almost as perfect a food as hot pockets.

Almost.

[spin_kick_snap]

Bento boxes were pretty awesome. Kathy thought they were even better than Hot Pockets, but she was careful not to admit to such heresies aloud. "You speak truth," she agreed, waving Raven over to the couch shaped like a pair of lips that was pushed against one wall. "I'm starving and you're brilliant."

Bentos. Best idea.

"You ever think about doing yoga? You'd be good at it."

[tigerundercover]

"Not sure how much benefit you get if you can literally change the shape of your muscles to get into the postures," Raven said. Which was a 'no'. She joined Kathy on the couch and pulled out the bentos, passing one over. "Though . . . I guess that's technically a kind of stretching?"

Turning into an elephant had left her feeling all stretched out. Was there a 'turning into an elephant' pose?

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy had her bento open before Raven stopped speaking and had eaten about a quarter before she bothered to reply. She was dealing with her hunger better these days, at least.

"If nothing else, you'll learn the best way for those muscles to be shaped for each position," she noted. "Which might help with...other things? I don't know. But still, you'd be good at it."

More roomie bonding time!

[tigerundercover]

The most important kind of time there was!

"I'd make all the other yogis jealous," Raven said. Which was better than commenting on it being nice to have something non-lethal to be good at.

[spin_kick_snap]

"And it's the only way I can really meditate," Kathy noted. Idly. Totally idly. Look how idly she was poking at her rice in her bento! "I can't just, like, sit still and let my mind go blank. I'm terrible at that."

As Raven likely remembered from school. And she'd only gotten worse.

"But when I'm just moving from one pose to the other, the busy part of my brain has to focus on keeping everything perfect and that lets the rest of my brain just...go Zen, I guess?"

[tigerundercover]

Right. Their lessons on how to do nothing. Raven had a whole different perspective on that, now.

"That makes sense, I guess." She poked a little at her own food, not looking up. "I'm not sure I'd really want my mind to go blank anymore."

It might be too much like letting her feral, survivalist side take over again.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I..." Kathy fell silent for a second, thinking at over. Maybe that had been why she'd been so assiduously avoiding yoga for the past half-year? So she could avoid that. "Hmm. You might have a point about that. I was thinking it might be good for keeping me calm, but..."

[tigerundercover]

"You could still try it," Raven said. "Maybe . . . try for peaceful, but not necessarily quiet? Out in the woods, at least, a lot of the most peaceful places are actually pretty noisy."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Maybe the beach," Kathy mused, twirling a carrot stick between her fingers. "Still noisy, but not animal sounds."

Because if Kathy came out of her meditation to, like, snap her teeth at a squirrel or an alot or something, she would probably be broken for days.

[tigerundercover]

"Except seagulls," Raven said. "Or you could do a white noise machine or something."

[not_every_mage]

"I remember that pose," Anders said, after a moment of clearing his throat. "But I thought you were better at it."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I was, a year ago," Kathy admitted. "I'm dreadfully out of condition these days. No medals for me, even with my bounciness to cheat."

She straightened her legs and then flipped back over upright. "Still pay to watch me?" she asked, giving him a slow smile. "Even if I'm not as good anymore?"

[not_every_mage]

"I thought that one thing about officially being together was that I don't have to pay," Anders said, grinning crookedly right back at her.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hey, you didn't have to pay before, either," Kathy pointed out, leaning in to lay a kiss on his cheek. "But it was nice to know I was that good."

[not_every_mage]

"I know you always caught my attention," Anders said, leaning into the kiss. "Even now, when you're rusty, I'm not complaining."

[spin_kick_snap]

Her heart did that little flip it always did when Anders was being sweet and she followed that kiss to his cheek with one to his lips. "Happy birthday," she whispered when she drew away. "I should have started practicing earlier so I could have given you a non-rusty show or something."

[not_every_mage]

"You can do that later," Anders whispered back, her kiss spreading warmth through his body down to his toes. "I think I might follow you home to see it."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You just wanna follow me home because you know that's where your cake is," Kathy teased him, through she didn't move away. She liked being close to him. "I'm onto you."

[not_every_mage]

"Is there a cake?" Anders said, eyes full of innocence. "I'd forgotten."

He had not.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm sure," Kathy said wryly. "Well, if you don't remember it, that's all the more for me, right? I bet I could eat a whole chocolate cake by myself."

[not_every_mage]

"Depends how big the cake is, doesn't it?" Anders asked wryly, finally stepping back. "Or do I not want to test you?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I mean, I wouldn't test me when cake was on the line," Kathy said, instinctively shifting forward to close the distance between them again--and then shifting back just as quickly once she'd realized what she'd done. "You might be able to distract me, though."