The beach, Tuesday morning

[betterthanaplan]

Yesterday morning had been awkward enough that Duke wasn't entirely certain Rey would show today. But he'd never been one to let an awkward morning-after throw him too far off his game, so he was here anyway, setting up the platforms and rugs and running through a warm up flow.

Even if he did just end up practicing out here alone, it wasn't a bad spot for it. He'd always liked watching the water, even when he wasn't busy mooning over some imaginary duchy he'd imaginary inherited.

[IT'S TECHNICALLY STILL MORNING. Morning beach yoga is open!]

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

Rey was so good at repressing that an awkward morning wasn't enough to throw her off. It also helped that she actually looked like herself again today.

"Morning," she greeted him.

[betterthanaplan]

"Morning," Duke said, giving her a quick once over. She looked so much more comfortable. "You're really not a fan of dresses, huh."

[thatwaslucky]

"That was the first time I've ever worn one," she admitted, and tilted her head. "Was it that obvious?"

Yes, Rey.

[betterthanaplan]

"Little bit," Duke said with a small smile. "Almost made me wish I'd kept some of my ex's things, just so I could have offered you pants that might fit."

[thatwaslucky]

She paused, and said, "I'm not sure wearing your ex's clothes would have made any of yesterday better."

She could admit to the awkwardness

[betterthanaplan]

Duke tilted his head and shrugged. "Yeah, I get that. But hey, could have been worse, right? I mean, I don't have any direct examples, but from what I hear this weekend was sort of tame."

At least they hadn't been turned into teenagers. Or toys!

[thatwaslucky]

"We could have been children?" Rey would never be seven here. That'd be really sad. "I've always gotten off pretty light with these things. Till now."

[betterthanaplan]

". . . Wow. Yeah. I would not mind not being a kid again." Honestly, if he could avoid ever being younger than about 21 again, he'd be happy.

[thatwaslucky]

"Yeah. Me too." Older than five, younger than five, it would t be good. "I think it's mainly that and turning into other people. And we got through that one."

[betterthanaplan]

"How do people around here not just endlessly drunk?" Duke shook his head. "Or do way more yoga."

He was going to end up the drunkest yogi ever, sticking around here.

[thatwaslucky]

"You kind of get used to it after a while," Rey admitted. "One day it's weird and then of course there are children running around for some reason. Oh, we're overdue for something to invade."

[betterthanaplan]

"Something," Duke said, and shook his head. "Well, I guess that way people can get their aggravation and aggression out."

[thatwaslucky]

"It's actually great for that," Rey said with a smile.

There was like fifteen years of pent up aggression under those dimples.

[betterthanaplan]

"Wow, you are so not zen," Duke said, shaking his head and grinning. "I've got my work cut out for me here."

[thatwaslucky]

"You should see me with a lightsaber." Though she was actually figuring out the zen thing there, too. With a more aggressive form. "And I was zen enough last week."

She didn't really know what zen was.

[betterthanaplan]

"You couldn't stop giggling over the position names," Duke pointed out. "And got cranky about trying the handstand." He held up a hand. "But! The whole point of practice is progress. And everyone's got to start somewhere."

[thatwaslucky]

"I wasn't cranky," she argued, but would let the rest go.

'Inhale, cow' was never not going to be funny.

"But, okay, progress. What are we doing today?"

[betterthanaplan]

"A lot of what we did last time. We'll start in mountain instead of sitting, though, run through a couple sun salutations, and then we can start working on new poses."

[thatwaslucky]

"Sounds good. I even remember the mountain one," she told him.

The names were dumb, but yes, memorable.

[betterthanaplan]

"Since it's literally just standing up straight, I should hope so," Duke said. He nodded for her to take up her position and settled into his own. "Did I explain 'namaste' to you last time?"

[thatwaslucky]

"No," she said, getting into the position. "What's that?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Pretentious, mostly," Duke said with a shrug. "It's a traditional greeting in the culture yoga comes from, and a lot of yogis like to use it to begin and end their practice. Sort of a way of formalizing the whole thing. It means 'I bow to the divine in you'." He pressed his hands together over his chest and bowed slightly. "Namaste."

[thatwaslucky]

"Namaste," she repeated, following his movements. "'The divine in you.' That sounds... big. It's a nice thought, though."

[betterthanaplan]

"It's not bad," Duke agreed. Considering Rey could move things with her mind, he was reasonably certain she had rather a large share of divine in her. "And it's starts with breath." He closed his eyes. "Inhale. And tell me what you feel."

[thatwaslucky]

She still liked this part, focusing inward on herself, where her breath cane from and where it went. It was like tapping into the Force, but different, in a way she didn't know how to describe yet.

"Calm."