fandomhigh | Yoga; Thursday, Second Period [05/18].

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Yoga; Thursday, Second Period [05/18].

Well, it appeared to be another pretty good day for beach yoga, so they were back at it again that week, where Rosa was already there in the same spot from last time, sitting with her legs folded in front of her and focusing on the rain on the rooftop to help her channel out some of her more murderous tendencies before it was time to start. It was surprisingly effective, even if she did sort of sneer a little when she opened her eyes to see that people actually still came ~~presumably~~ to her class.

"Right," she said, sighing a little and unfolding her legs and rising with an easy, almost fluid grace, and just went right into it. "So last week, we went over some of the basic poses you'll find in yoga. This week, we're going to talk about sequences. Sequences are basically taking individual poses and stringing them together, hopefully in ways that transition smoothly and enhance the effectiveness of those poses. You can always put together your own sequences to fit your needs, but there are some pretty standard and typical ones, too. The most well known of these is probably the sun salutation, which consists of twelve asanas that flow into each other in sequence. Keep in mind, there are a few variations of this particular sequence, too, so if you're more familiar with another one....okay, whatever, stick with that...but this is the one we'll be learning today. You can take it or leave it."

And, with that, Rosa began a step-by-step break-down of the Sun Salutation and was just going to assume everyone was following along. They were all adults. They didn't need her to hold their hands.

And if they did, boy, were they ever in the wrong class.

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Gladio, far more used to being the one instructing these days rather than being instructed, glanced over at Nell with his scarred brow lifted slightly, though any attempt to come off as truly astonished by this bold and unsolicited advice likely failed due to the amusement underneath all of it. And by the fact that after that glance, he dutifully moved his foot as instructed and tried it out.

"Good call," he said, with an approving snort, and using that easier flow to sort of deepen the step a little more. "And good morning. Fancy meeting you here."

"It's like one of the movements in the Kwan Ping form of Tai Chi that I do," Nell explained easily. Did it bother her to instruct the instructor? Not at all. "Nine years of doing it at least once a day every day let me figure out how some things worked."

She smiled at him. "Such a surprise. Who knew?"

"The moose, probably," Gladio offered with a grin back, "when he put together the roster. But that definitely explains why you seem to take to this like a fish to water."

Him, not so much. Most of the moves he could handle just fine, it was just when he needed to shift his balance that he had trouble with. He could turn and flip on a dime in combat, but that was quick, impulsive, speedy. He relied a lot on momentum. Having to slow himself down like this was the real challenge.

"Bet there's a lot of similarities, between this and Tai Chi, huh?"

"There are," she agreed, "though some of the moves are rather tricky and different."

Nell tilted her head to look at him consideringly. Should she say something? Would he think she was too forward? He'd said he liked outspoken, but thinking you didn't mind and then being faced with it could be two different things. Her mother had sometimes encouraged her to speak her piece and then been dismayed by what Nell actually had to say.

But it would be a way, maybe, of giving back a bit. If he was interested and not offended. And didn't mind spending a bit more time with her. She certainly didn't mind spending more with him, maybe learning more about him and his life

And had she been basically staring at him for probably far too long a time? Undoubtedly. Which was why she might be coloring up a bit. And the only reason, obviously. Nothing to do with anything else.

"Um..." she finally said, and wasn't that eloquent. "Maybe I could..."

And then she hesitated, nerves getting the better of her for a moment.

Edited 2023-05-18 14:03 (UTC)

Gladio, of course, noticed Nell watching him, and he found himself a little torn, between his natural inclination to push through his forms with a little extra focus and oomph to make sure she got the most out of the experience, and just dismissing it as probably just being far more distracted about other things. Just because her eyes were on him didn't necessarily mean her mind was, though he'd be lying if he said he didn't kind of hope they were working together.

"Could what?" he prompted, when she trailed off, glancing over, with an open curiousness that he hoped encouraged her past whatever it was that had held her back in the first place.

"Hmmm?" Had she been a bit more distracted at that little extra effort he'd put in. Wel, he just looked so... she wasn't sure what and in any case, his prompt brought her back to herself.

"Oh! Yes. Well... you're doing some training with me to help me out and if you wanted, maybe I could help you with some of this, since it's so much like something I've spent a lot of time with. Only, if you want, though. And I don't mean to be overstepping or anything."

"First, it's step into it more," Gladio noted, after a moment, with a faint, quiet grin, "and now we gotta watch out for overstepping, huh? That's a tough line to balance."

As his own balance maybe wavered, just a little.

"So I'm sure I could use all the help I can get."

Nell managed a little chuckle, then reached out a hand quickly to help steady him. Immediately after touching him she pulled her hand away. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I didn't mean. I shoudn't have just -"

"Anyway," she brushed her hands together as if she could brush off that jolt of electricty that has run through her when she touched him. "If you want, I'd be glad to help."

When Nell pulled hand away like that, Gladio couldn't help but frown, a deep, complicated, nuanced thing that would probably take a while to really pick through. At least it wasn't as bad as it had been last week, at the gym, with the drop, there was that. But he wished that her hand had stayed there, and then he was left having to contend with the idea that he wanted something that clearly made her so uncomfortable so badly.

"It's fine," he assured her, trying to pull a soft smile out from that initial concern, which got a little easier to do when he added, "I'd love to have your help, Nell."

"And I will not - just touch you without permission," she said, seeing and completely misreading his frown. Whether she liked touching him for some odd reason or not.

"Maybe we can work on it some when we share foods," she suggested. "Unless you'd rather do it separately. I sometimes work on my form in the mornings on my roof - oh, but I forgot it needs to stay quiet for a week for my new bees."

"You don't need permission," Gladio said, with a quiet firmness, and a very strong urge to make sure that was undeniably clear, before anything else. And then a faint smile, as it went much lighter: "But I'm not so sure working on it after food's going to be such a good idea; we might end up too full to even move. But that's right; you got your bees in, didn't you? How are they?"

Nell looked up at him seriously and nodded. "I just didn't want you to be up-" She cut herself off and smiled at him shyly. "Understood. Thank you."

Then she had to laugh. "Well, I was thinking of eating afterwards, but I'm happy to do it separately as well. I wouldn't mind that at all."

And then, oh, Gladio, you asked about her bees! "I did and they're wonderful! I just hope they think the hive and my greenhouse are as wonderful as I think they are! Steven came by and Lana, and I was more nervous than I'd thought I'd be - I mean, pouring bees into a hive? But I did and it all went well, but now I need to leave them strictly alone for a week to settle in before I check to make sure the queen is laying eggs."

And there was a lot more to unpack there in that cut-off word, but this was hardly the place or time for it. And maybe there wouldn't ever be one; Gladio certainly wasn't about to try to dredge up things Nell would prefer left alone, no matter how much it made him feel a thrum in his chest.

And that, he was sure of it would make him pretty upset, too, but not at all with her.

Better to just focus on the food right now, and the bees. Especially the bees, and the response it got out of her when he asked.

"Well," he said, "we can figure out the details, but if you're down a spot for your forms while the bees get settled, maybe that'll be a good opportunity. And I'm sure they'll love it up there. Hard to imagine you'd provide them with anything less than the best."

Nell was pretty willing to talk about it, just not in the middle of a yoga class. But whatever he thought it might be, it was probably worse. Of course, he owned a gym, so he could always go hit things afterwards. Marc would be happy to commiserate with how much he'd like to be devastating the God's Cloud of Glory church.

But bees and food, yes.

"I will need a place," Nell said. "I thought in the mornings after I run I'd head out into a clearing in the woods for that. You're welcome to join me if you'd like."

And then she was beaming again. "I hope they'll do well and I know it will be great for my flowers to have the bees there and vice versa. And I'm sure the Soulwood soil can only help, so there's that."

She blushed a little. "I do try to give them the best. I guess we'll see."

"I'd love to join you," Gladio said, with a simple, pleased smile for the offer. "Maybe I can just meet you there after my own run.

"And I bet those bees don't even know just how good they got it under your watch."

"That would work," Nell said, pleased that he wanted to join her for... many reasons.

She grinned at him. "I hope to make them so happy they stay forever and make lots of honey."

"Sounds like we've got ourselves a plan, then," Gladio decided. "And if that's what it takes for them to make honey, ypu're going to have so much you won't even know what to do with it all."

"We do!" Nell said , then smiled at him shyly. "Aw... you're very sweet."

"Nah," Gladio said, with a shrug and a smirk, before his attention shifted a little more into returning to some of the sequence. "Just honest."

That made her smile happily to herself as she moved into the next position and kept her smiling through the next few.

"When would you like to do this then?" Nell said as she slid into the next move.

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Yoga; Thursday, Second Period [05/18].

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