The beach, Tuesday morning

[betterthanaplan]

So after running by the diner and being informed that he'd not just been left the keys, but also the payroll, Duke was more than ready to lose himself in some proper fucking yoga this week.

This island was fucking with his calm yogi center like crazy.

He sat down to meditate first, rather than diving right into his warm up the way he usually would. Facing the waves, he let the sound and smell wash over him, digging his hands gently into the sand by his hips. The waves were low and gentle here, soft and evenly spaced, and he slowly let his breath match their rolling tempo.

He made it through 21 years of Haven, Maine. He could manage at least a semester in Fandom.

[open! Mini-spam done for the day.]

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

Rey definitely recognized what he was doing by now, and her personal feeling was if someone was meditating, they didn't need you bothering them. So she just took a seat on the sand, not far but enough to give him room, and decided she could watch the water until he was ready for her.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke appreciated the spirit of the gesture, but even while meditating, he was far too aware of his surroundings -- and too paranoid after the last couple of weeks -- not to at least glance up and make sure she wasn't a killer clown or something.

He closed his eyes again, took a few more slow, easy breaths, then relaxed back onto his hands and nodded to her.

"Morning. How's it going?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Decently," she said, tilting her head at him. "How about you?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke tilted his head in a little shrug. “It has definitely gone worse.”

[thatwaslucky]

"Glad to hear that," she said with a smile. "Sorry if I interrupted."

By sitting there quietly when they had a weekly thing he would have been expecting her for.

[betterthanaplan]

“Not at all,” Duke assured her. “I’m not really the most zealous about meditation. Seemed like a good morning for it, was all.”

[thatwaslucky]

"You might as well when you're feeling it," Rey nodded. "I'm not the greatest st it, myself."

[betterthanaplan]

"I'm not surprised," Duke said. "I only got as good at it as I have because I've spent so much time alone at sea. Living around here? There are way too many distractions to really focus in on it properly."

[thatwaslucky]

"That part I never had a problem with." She messed up her own focus far more than anything else did. "But then I usually want more distractions in general."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded thoughtfully. “Well, what do you use to focus? Are you a mantra girl, or a breath-counter, or what?”

[thatwaslucky]

"Um. The Force?" she said with a shrug, because she hadn't even considered those options. "I don't know. I try to connect to it and I just... do it. And then I focus on that."

[betterthanaplan]

"That seems like . . . kind of a big focus," Duke said. "It connects everything, right? Maybe it might help to narrow down something within the Force to focus on?"

[thatwaslucky]

"That's the idea. I'm working on that part," she said. "Focusing on leaves, or on one question. It's just not my go-to."

[betterthanaplan]

"It's definitely something that takes practice," Duke observed. "That's part of why I like yoga, actually. Sometimes movement makes it easier to clear your head of all the other clutter."

[thatwaslucky]

"Every once in a while I think I need some clutter. Otherwise I think too much," Rey mused.

[betterthanaplan]

"Got things you need distracting from, huh?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Got things I don't want to think about that I need to think about," Rey said. "I'm going to head home for the week. Whatever home might be right now."

[betterthanaplan]

"Jakku, right?" Duke asked, frowning a little. (Oh hey, he was maybe seeing how she felt when he was like 'hey so I'm leaving for a week'.) "When are you heading out?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Not Jakku," she said quickly. "I'm leaving tonight, to meet up with the Resistance."

[betterthanaplan]

Well shit. If that didn't send a little trill of anxiety down Duke's spine. He did his best not to let it show.

"Got a mission, then? Sneak-attacking a target, maybe?"

[thatwaslucky]

"No idea. Whatever they need me to do," she said. "I might end up being bored."

There was zero chance of that. Too much to do.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah, pretty sure if they're calling you in, it's not going to be boring," Duke pointed out. "Or are you just getting restless around here, and heading out to look for some action?"

[thatwaslucky]

"It was my call," Rey admitted. "I have to re-evaluate some things, and it's better to do that there."

She really didn't mean to sound cagey.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah? Things like what?" Duke asked.

This was definitely not helping his worry any.

[thatwaslucky]

"So... I came back here to train, and the person training me is on an extended mission that I don't know how long it'll be." She wasn't thinking of the worst case scenario. "So I need to figure things out."