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Post by Kai Carter on Sept 7, 2016 12:05:38 GMT -5
It had been a rather long week. Kai had taken a couple of extra shifts at the Fire Station over the last seven days resulting in a lot less sleep than he normally had. With the full moon, he and the crew had spent more time out of the station then in it which meant long hours actually working. He had hoped for at least one calm shift but they had back to back calls and very little sleep. None of the calls had been easy, especially those that involved alcohol and vane attempts at drag racing in cars ill equipped to handle collisions at higher than normal speeds. It was never easy to arrive first on a scene like that and it was even harder when you had to 'secure' the scene when arriving prior to police presence. Images that would haunt him for a few days of those victims who wouldn't be returning home on those nights, eyes wide open and pupils fixed. For each one, he'd say a prayer asking Buddha to gently guide them to their next journey. But even those prayers were sometimes not enough for him to get the images out of his head.
He had two days to recuperate from the longer than usual shifts, today though, he'd spend at the spiritual center, leading yoga and trying to relax. His shift had ended at 7 AM and he had taken time to get a healthy breakfast and some soothing hot tea at a local health food cafe called Harvest Moon. He was so thankful they were open so early. The smells of organic and natural foods cooking, helped soothe some of the achiness he was feeling between his shoulder blades. He made a mental note to schedule a massage the following day. After eating breakfast, he made his way to the spiritual center and entered through the front door. It was still early and his class didn't start till 10 AM. After that he had a break for two hours followed by back to back classes in the afternoon and into the evening. He quietly entered the yoga room, retrieving his mat from the large rack, he faced the Buddha statue, placing a small gift at the base before settling onto his mat to begin centering himself. He was quiet as he felt the tension begin to abate. Leaning forward, he began to stretch, his quiet focus more on stretching out still muscles then on quiet meditation.
Kai sensed someone else entering the room long before he saw them. They were quiet, obviously respectful of this space. He stood slowly and turned with a smile, "Good morning." He closed the distance between them hand outstretched in greeting, "I'm Kai Carter, the instructor for this morning's class. We have some time before we will get started but feel free to stretch and use this space."
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Post by Bethany Barker on Sept 8, 2016 15:27:54 GMT -5
Beth sighed as she pulls her hair back into a ponytail as she walked towards the room where the yoga classes were held. Normally she did yoga on her own but she'd figured a class might expose her to some different positions and challenge her.
She stepper into the class and her gaze was immediately drawn to the figure seated at the front of the class. Quietly she shut the door not wanting to disturb him but he was already pushing to his feet. Holy shit the guy was tall! He was a good foot taller than her.
Shaking her head, she flashed him a smile and reached out, shaking his hand. 'It's nice to meet you, Kai. I'm Beth. Does this class normally fill up?"
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Post by Kai Carter on Sept 8, 2016 18:37:08 GMT -5
His smile came easily enough. The petite blonde girl introduced herself and he honored her by bowing slightly, his hands pressed together in a traditional Buddhist greeting, "Namaste, Beth." He glanced around as it looking for others, "Yes, normally, the class is full. I'm glad you came early. Please make yourself comfortable. If there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to ask."
Gently he moved passed her to the back of the room where he adjusted the aromatic diffuser ensuring it would last the duration of the class. He then checked the thermostat. "Is the temperature comfortable for you, Beth?" He had already begun to relax and was looking forward to the first class of the day.
Once he had the thermostat set, he moved to sit back on his mat facing where the class would begin filling up the space. "Have you practiced yoga for very long?"
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Post by Bethany Barker on Sept 9, 2016 9:53:43 GMT -5
Beth nodded and moved to roll out her mat before she sank down onto it and stretched her legs out before her. She leaned forward, easily grasping the soles of her feet and stretched. "Uh... Yeah, the temp is fine. But thanks for asking."
She returned to her stretching and attempted to clear her mind. She paused when he started talking again. "Well.. About two years now. I uh, needed something to focus on that didn't involve alcohol and yoga seemed perfect."
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Post by Kai Carter on Sept 9, 2016 10:45:30 GMT -5
Settling onto his own mat, Kai nodded, "I understand." There was no judgement in his voice just a calm acceptance of her statement. "I'm relatively new in town and I haven't been teaching at this location for very long. Is this your first time at this Ashram?" He was sure he would have remembered seeing her if he had before. She had an almost natural beauty about her and he felt an interesting presence emanating from her.
He also felt something deeper from her as well, but he wasn't sure if it was sadness or a focus inward. She was guarded even in this place. "I will do my best to give you some degree of challenge today. Two years is quite some time to be doing yoga. Not many stay with it so long."
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Post by Bethany Barker on Sept 9, 2016 19:30:47 GMT -5
"Yeah it is... It's actually the first one that I've been to. Normally I just do it on my own." She'd figured that it was time to branch out a bit and try to attempt to be more social and maybe expand her social circle outside of Kate, Kris and Wes.
Twisting a bit, she glanced over her shoulder at him. "A challenge is nice but remember I've been doing this on my own so I'm far from mastering anything.... But, new in town huh? Where are you originally from?"
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Post by Kai Carter on Sept 9, 2016 19:42:45 GMT -5
Nodding he understood a bit better about her yoga experience. He'd watch and ensure she was executing the moves and stances correctly today although he could tell by looking at her that she was likely pretty good. She seemed to be flexible and her movements just in stretching looked correctly executed.
"I am glad you've decided to join us and I hope I continue to see you here." He leaned forward allowing the muscles of his back to stretch with him. "I grew up on Oahua."
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Post by Bethany Barker on Sept 10, 2016 1:30:12 GMT -5
"We'll see," Beth said, though surprisingly not unkindly. She just didn't want to make a promise and then get caught up with her designs and completely forget about everything - which was likely to happen.
Her eyebrows lifted in interest. "Why in the world would you move here?!" sh blurted out and immediately shot him an apologetic look. "Sorry. You don't have to answer that if you don't want to."
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Post by Kai Carter on Sept 11, 2016 10:24:43 GMT -5
Nodding lightly at her noncommittal response. "That's fair enough," He stretched forward again, pulling his toes back to meet him. It felt amazing to stretch out the aching muscles. The blood flowing more in those areas that needed it.
He released his hold and sat up laughing lightly when she asked why he left Oahu, "The educational opportunities there are not as abundant as they are here. In addition, having only been off the islands in an occasional family trip to the Pacific islands and Asia, I was curious about the mainland. I find the diversity here to be nice. It's very different here then on the island."
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Post by Bethany Barker on Sept 13, 2016 5:34:21 GMT -5
"Oh, you're going to school here?" School to her seemed like a lifetime ago - which in a way it was. Over 10 years now. She smiled slighty as she moved around repositioning her legs so she could go through another stretch.
"I guess I can get wanting to go some place new. I grew up some up north but moved all over when o was a kid. Settled here for school and then my career took off and I just stuck around. Sometimes I hate this city but a lot of the time I love it."
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Post by Kai Carter on Sept 13, 2016 5:44:22 GMT -5
Continuing his movements, purposeful and fluid, Kai gently corrected her, "No, I finished school some time ago. But like you, stayed once I was finished. I enjoy the city and having a career here doing something I love is a nice bonus for me. There is one thing I'd like to see that I've never seen before...snow. I would love to see it just once. I don't know that it's something I'd want to experience multiple times but maybe just once would be nice."
"Have you been here long? In this city I mean? Know of any good vegan restaurants?" He sat back studying her for a moment, "You are really quite good. Have you ever thought of becoming an instructor?"
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Post by Bethany Barker on Sept 13, 2016 6:48:07 GMT -5
"You've never seen snow?" Well she guessed that made sense since he was from Hawaii but still. "You should try to go up to Lake Tahoe during the winter. You'll see lots of snow and you can go skiing if you want. And it's really pretty up there."
Beth smiled. "I moved here when I was eighteen... So, uh, a little over sixeen years now." Wow, that was a long ass time and sometimes it hardly seemed that long. "Oh.. Oh no. I don't have the patience to do this as a job. Besides my job doesn't really leave a lot of free time." More so now when she was trying to finish her collection for fashion week.
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Post by Kai Carter on Sept 13, 2016 8:11:38 GMT -5
"I've heard a lot of good things about Lake Tahoe. I will have to check it out. Thank you for the suggestion," he stood and bent, stretching out the backs of his legs and holding the stretch. The ache in his muscles had started to dissipate with the stretching and he was feeling better already. Or maybe it was the unexpected company this morning.
Quick math in his head told him she was about 34. She didn't look a day over 25 - whatever she was doing was working for her. He smiled at her admission to not having a lot of patience. "There are times that many of us struggle with patience. I suppose that's why it's said to be a virtue."
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Post by Bethany Barker on Sept 14, 2016 16:19:27 GMT -5
He was so proper and nice, it was kinda weird. Not a bad weird but she just wasn't use to guys being that way in LA. It was kind of a nice change. "I've only been there once and that was about three years ago." When Mark had taken her as a surprise road trip for an extra long weekend.
She chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess it is." She supposed that she could have lied about it all, but Beth was honest, almost to a fault. "I should work on trying to build some but... Well sometimes it works in my favor. Granted I can't think of when it did but I'm sure it did some how."
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Post by Kai Carter on Sept 14, 2016 16:38:42 GMT -5
She was amusing. It was refreshing to talk with someone who seemed to get him in a way that the guys at the firehouse did not. He didn't blame them for being the arrogant assholes they typically were especially when they talked about women when it was 'just the guys'. They also didn't much care for the female fire fighters. They found it to be an encroachment of their male space. At least that is how Kai had come to view their disdain for their female counterparts.
"I learned a long time ago that patience is something that you learn and typically those lessons come as a result of being in situations that require it." He nodded and smiled, "Yes, I'm sure there are times when impatience or maybe it's urgency create a situation that works in our favor." He could probably name several times in the last week where having zero patience was a benefit. He wasn't here to judge her or anyone, but rather to reflect as much as humanly possible the peace and acceptance associated with Buddha.
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