Yoga in the McKinley Park

[Ram]

“Josh is lending me his mat,” Ram explained “Didn’t expect to see anyone here,” he said before stopping to consider. Maybe he should have, considering a park was where he’d first ran into her. And that he probably shouldn’t mention that to a stranger, mortal or not. Yeah Josh seemed cheerful, but there were more mundane threats than Them. Ram decided not to ask if she came here often until he knew she was comfortable. He wasn’t sure if he was worrying over nothing but better safe than sorry.

“Not with it being so early,” he gave a half smile “Figured I could work at being less of a… you know.” Walking engine of destruction.

He gave a short huff at the metaphor, knowing Josh didn’t know how fragile foundations of stone could be to a Render. However, he couldn’t explain the joke, so he did his best to work the laugh into his breathing.

Which actually worked pretty well. He tried to visualize letting his worries leaving with each breath. In fact, the thought that he might tear apart the soft synthetic plastic of a borrowed mat only reentered as he lost his balance while trying too deep a pose and the large Ogre’s thoughts of peace vanished as he tumbled to one side.

Meditation 2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-23 16:25:49	Ram rolls 4 to Comp+Wits (Curse)	8, 9, 7, 6	2 successes

Yoga pose failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-23 16:26:34	Ram rolls 5 to Dex+Athletics (10 Again)	5, 2, 7, 3, 3	failure

[Titania]

She had to stifle a laugh at the forthcomingness. "Yes", she says, "Don't worry. I'm not that great at yoga either. Actually I'm fairly terrible"

She adjusts her mat close to the men's so that the overbearing giant of a man wouldn't have to steal all of Josh's space. "I prefer jogging myself. I come here fairly often, I'm an early riser. But sometimes you need to change, right? Besides, the company is good", she smiles before following his pointers.
But there is something that is clearly troubling her. Because not only her mind can't get there. Indeed, she seems more interested in talking the guys. But her legs too, and she falls unceremoniously on her back. "Haha", she gives a small laugh.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-24 02:53:14	Titania rolls 6 to Meditation (wits + Comp) (10 Again)	6, 1, 6, 4, 7, 7	failure

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-24 02:53:58	Titania rolls 1 to yoga (10 Again)	1	failure

[Guru]

"You'll get there, just have to put in the time, both of you." He smiled and took a deep breath starting into the next post pushing his body to its limit and held it there, feeling that tension in his body hold and then he took his first breath and then the next and his mind slowly slipped away,


Ella's laughter catching his attention and he lifted his eyes and he craned his neck back. Eyes half dazed as he smiled sleepily. "That's right, it's no problem we just have to start again. Running...oh yea," his brain beginning to come back to the present moment of awareness as he blinked and continued, "Agreed there, prefer a good rooftop run but not always available." Legally at least. He turned and saw Andrew struggle but collect himself. "That's a good place to start from, all about finding your center. As Wook as that sounds."

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-24 15:40:44	Guru rolls 6 to Yoga (Dex + Athl) (10 Again)	8, 1, 4, 9, 10, 6, 9	4 successes

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-24 15:42:03	Guru rolls 5 to Meditate (Wits + Comp) (10 Again)	7, 4, 6, 8, 2	1 success

[Ram]

Ram made a guttural concerned noise when Titania fell but he relaxed when she laughed.

"You okay?" he still asked, since there seemed to be something bothering her. Or maybe she was just more interested in doing poses. Which... fair.

"Be careful," he warned Josh as the instructor moved into the strengthening warrior 1 poses "You go jogging with her and you'll end up owe her ice cream." Gave a knowing joking smile to Ellie.

The laugh helped him relax and keep him from butchering his yoga. However, it wasn't really conducive to 'clearing your mind'. Ram decided he didn't mind.

"Rooftop run? Sounds interesting," Unless that meant just running around in a circle on a roof. Ram had kind of assumed it meant from one to another. "That something they do around here?"

"And what's Wook?" he asked the pro-meditator.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-27 23:50:29	Ram rolls 4 to Comp+Wits (Curse)	1, 6, 3, 6	failure

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-27 23:48:28	Ram rolls 5 to Dex+Athletics (10 Again)	1, 9, 10, 9, 7, 2	3 successes

[Titania]

"Ooohm", she utters the mantra, imagining herself in her comfort cave, surrounded by her penguins.
Of course the enthusiasm is short lived, when she stretches her leg a bit too much and ends up on the ground... again
"We can go for an icecream after we've jumped off a few rooftoops", she suggests,
"or yoga too. Icecream is always good", she lowers her voice after being hushed by one of the elderly ladies at the front.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-28 19:50:03	Titania rolls 6 to Wits + Composure, Meditation (10 Again)	10, 2, 7, 5, 6, 3, 7	1 success

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-28 19:50:03	Titania rolls 6 to Wits + Composure, Meditation (10 Again)	10, 2, 7, 5, 6, 3, 7	1 success

[Guru]

Meditation, that center of being. The relaxing, rhythm of simply breathing. It was one of the few things that stilled his unmedicated ADHD. Unfortunately for the self-proclaimed Guru there was rarely stillness for his mind, but that was his challenge. Right now he was calm, thoughts clear and in the moment. "Owe? I mean a wager gives you something to push for, makes it more interesting." He smiled as he stretched forward, his frame definitely more lean than muscular as his muscles pulled and shifted and he pushed. He was sure Aurora would make this look like child's play.


But with a breath he got into position and held it. "What better time for ice cream than after jumping over rooftops?" He couldn't hold back the laugh "Parkour? Oh yea, gyms for it everywhere too. Bit of running, bit of gymnastics, really gets the blood pumping. A wook is uh, a nicer word for a festival rat. If you have a picture of a stereotypical dirty hippy in your mind. That's a wook. Interesting folks just a little too much time inside their own minds I think." It was a personal conflict for Guru, given enough time and enough drugs he'd likely follow down that same path. Glad he had the sciences to keep him somewhat grounded in the material world.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-30 13:33:23	Guru rolls 5 to Meditate (Wits + Comp) (10 Again)	2, 5, 6, 3, 9	1 success

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-03-30 13:33:50	Guru rolls 6 to Yoga (Dex + Athl) (10 Again)	4, 1, 2, 7, 6, 8	1 success

[Ram]

Ram decided he'd leave the meditating for later and be present with the people he was with right now. Which, wasn't that what meditating was about? Being present?

"Rooftop parkour gyms?" The ogre was trying to imagine how'd that work. Probably some kind of set up with nets so people didn't plummet to their deaths. "Sounds cool and worth some ice cream after." Though he wasn't sure anything he did counted as gymnastics when there was a chance of breaking a beam.

"Ah," Ram said when described a wook. Though there was still a lot of variety in between festival rats and hippies. Though judging by context it was probably a mix of the two.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-07 22:00:29	Ram rolls 5 to Dex+Athletics (10 Again)	4, 5, 3, 6, 8	1 success

[Titania]

This morning session was starting to turn embarrassing.
She banishes the surroundings from her mind, but not the shame. Indeed she was more pretty than graceful. And indeed, it takes a pretty lady to fall elegantly.
"Never heard that word before. Suppose you earn new things everyday", she says, her eyes still closed. "it's always a good day for gelato. Besides, we can always train more to burn the extra calories"

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-08 17:46:31	Titania rolls 6 to Meditation (wits + Comp) (10 Again)	9, 8, 3, 5, 2, 1	2 successes

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-08 17:46:37	Titania rolls 1 to yoga (10 Again)	4	failure

[Guru]

"Nah it's a gymnastics gym so they have beams and foam pits you can practice your jumps and transplants safely." He shook his head and couldn't help but laugh as Ram understood what he meant by Wook or at had a semblance of understanding. "There you go, you got it. Don't forget to breathe."


He said to the both of them, being as encouraging as he could. Elanor at least was still willing to try, that being the whole point of exercise. He decided it was time to push himself too and attempted a more difficult pose that he couldn't always pull off. He closed his eyes, focused on his breathing and pushed until he got it and held it. He couldn't hold it for a long time but it still felt like an eternity.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-11 13:35:15	Guru rolls 5 to Meditate (Wits + Comp) (10 Again)	1, 7, 1, 4, 10, 7	1 success

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-11 13:27:09	Guru rolls 3 to Yoga (Dex + Athl -3 Difficulty) (10 Again)	2, 10, 3, 3	1 success

"Exactly. More motivation to train harder." He said as he struggled to catch his breath, letting his body relax again before trying the next one.

[Ram]

Ram did forget to hold his breath against the feeling of disappointment. He’d just been thinking he wasn’t a gymnast and would probably break a beam.

Still, being tense, especially around your core, could do wonders for your balance. So while his thoughts weren’t calm he did finish off the last form decently. Though he was still doing the beginner position. Joshed demonstrated what someone of dedication and dexterity could achieve.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-12 19:53:04	Ram rolls 4 to Comp+Wits (Curse)	1, 7, 7, 2	failure

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-04-12 19:54:11	Ram rolls 5 to Dex+Athletics (10 Again)	6, 5, 5, 8, 1	1 success

The Ogre gave a loud (slightly exaggerated) groan as he went back to a neutral position. It looked like the class was wrapping up and sunrise was on the horizon.

“Oof, that was a workout,” he said with a smile as he got up and stretched out the kinks from his stretching out. Yoga wasn’t the easy option for staying fit most people thought it was. “That was pretty impressive there at the end. Thanks for all the help, Josh,” he grinned as he rolled up the borrowed pad to hand back.

“So, either of you up for some early morning ice cream?” he asked his eyes sparkling a bit at Titania "I'll buy." It was a tradition he was willing to create. Work out around more attractive folk, get 'roped' into paying.