The Long Way

Posted on 25 Oct 2021 @ 4:28pm by Commander Calliope Zahn & Jeestroyet Atraix - Spa & Wellbeing Center

Mission: M2 - Sanctuary
Location: Well Being Center, Promenade, OC
Timeline: MD07 ~1630
924 words - 1.8 OF Standard Post Measure

It began with breathing, all over again. She'd demonstrated what she had learned from Walker, the slow inhale, the measured exhale, the chasing around of the breath inside that visited each part of the lungs, the belly, the shoulders. The controlled limpness of the neck, letting the weight of the skull loll back and forth slowly back to the sky. The sky? At least the personal coordinate that should be sky.

Calliope listened to Jeestroyet speaking in an even tone of voice but somehow tuned out. She felt like there was an axis drawn through her into the universe. She was a top, mostly even with a wobble in it, like so many heavenly bodies. The wobble wasn't so much an error, as a feature, a description of her path, of the changes in her self drifting and snapping back, realigning.

Her magnetic center was flipping and she was migrating in the other direction, now, a flock of manta rays in the warmed ocean of stars.

She circumscribed the core of herself as it moved like a comet, forming a spiral jet, until she surfaced and inhaled again.

"Sorry." Calliope said with a bit of a startle, righting herself with her back better poised, as if suddenly at Star Fleet ready. "I... I think I zoned out for a moment. What was it you were saying?"

Jeestroyet had known she had zoned out a long time ago but had continued talking. The woman was in her own headspace, but she was still breathing in and out relaxing. "I was talking you through a breathing exercise. Something to ground and centre but I believe you went off. Did you go anywhere nice?" She offered wondering if the woman wanted to talk about where she had zoned off too.

"I..." Calliope couldn't pin down a specific thought or feeling. Finally she shrugged and offered a helpless smile. "Just spaced out. What comes after the basic breathing exercise?"

"The stretching." Jeestroyet rose gracefully from the floor and held out a hand to the woman to pull her up from the floor. Not because she needed it but it was natural to offer help to anyone.

Calliope accepted the help and came to stand. "Stretching." She repeated. She was already worried about her balance and strength. Subconsciously she maintained her grip on Jees' hand.

“I am not going to let you full on your face. Not why you are here.” Jeestroyet said gently as she led the woman to the chairs that were at the small bench. “We are going to do seated stretches. They will be nice for you to replicate when at work. Stretching at your desk can work wonders.” Jeestroyet was pretty sure the woman was not strong enough yet to do much stood up.

Calliope nodded along, although frowning involuntary at the fact she currently had no job that she didn't assign herself. No office, no title. "Okay, seated stretches." She took up a chair and observed Jees.

Jeestroyet sat down across from her the woman with the bench between them and sat up straight. “Begin by sitting with good posture in a sturdy, non-slip chair. This is the best chair in the center for this so none of your uncomfortable leather seats try something with a fabric on. Stretching helps ease some joint pain and muscle aches whilst also improving mobility, flexibility, coordination, and circulation. Why I am suggesting them as a starting point.”

“I could use that, all of that.” Calliope agreed as she paid special attention to her posture.

“I gathered,” Jeestroyet assured kindly. “So sit upright with your feet flat on the floor, cross your arms and reach for your shoulders...” She showed the process of doing several stretches that would not strain and build up strength slowly over time with repetition if done three times a week.

Calliope followed through on each one; she was a generally ready student, although internally she was trying to remain patient and not demand something with more of a promise to speed heal in some sort of magical aura, or divine rain. She smirked at her own silly internal dialogue.

Jeestroyet stopped and crossed her leg looking at the woman intently. “I do not need to be a telepath to know you are dissatisfied with this.” She commented kindly.

“No, it’s nothing. These are excellent. I can already feel the difference and I know they will help. It’s just that I can’t help wishing for the secret sauce. You know, the one where I can super charge my solar plexus with some crystal or fancy set of moves and get better overnight like something out of a movie or a spell book.”

“We do not really know each other enough for me to share my spellbook I am afraid,” Jeestroyet commented with a wink trying to lighten the moment. It would never go at the speed that Calliope wanted as she wanted into happened now.

“Eh. Forget it,” Calliope joked, straight-faced. “There’s never any short cuts that don’t have some damnable cost, anyway.”

“Afraid not Calliope. Nothing comes with shortcuts.” The Betazoid said sadly knowing her own issues with shortcuts and failing to achieve things with the attempts. “It is hard but it is worth it.”

Calliope made another effort to hold the stretch. She stared at her toes while she contemplated how much she was paying for her old easy-way-out as it was. As she exhaled in acceptance she gained another inch. "That's what I keep hearing."