Namaste

status / closed @yaodaniels

Yao was happy to see Penny at his door. He was grateful too, to be in a much better emotional state this time around. Yao glanced down at the gifted goodies, grinning as he peeled the lid off and shifted to let Penny inside his cabin. "Penny.. you're gonna make me fat," he weakly complained, only to take a big inhale of the cookies right after. "You're amazing. Thank you. I swear I'll eat every crumb."

The adrenaline was drained from her body as she watched him stumble backwards. It was replaced with utter panic and a sickness that settled into the pit of her stomach. "I didn't mean to," she pleaded, though that should have been more than obvious. Her frustrations were with herself, not with him. "Can I get you ice? I'll get ice," she corrected as she carefully stepped closer to see the damage she'd caused. "We should have never done this. I'll drop the class."

Yao grimaced briefly as the surprise wore off and the sting of Verda's punch registered. He touched his face automatically, just to make sure she hadn't drawn blood. He was fine.. basically. "I don't think that's necessary.." he replied, catching up to the moment as Verda approached. "Ver.. I'm fine," he repeated. "You don't have to do that. I didn't know you had such a mean jab."

Of course no one thought about that; the whole point of going to the bar was so that one didn't have to think at all. Khalil cracked a smile at the other's educated guess, which, in all fairness, was a pretty damn good one, all humor aside. "You make a valid point. Maybe you're right." He often preferred his drinks neat, but the amount of times he'd heard on the rocks since he'd been setting made the guess check out. "Not a big fan of drinking, or just prefer root beer over the real thing?"

Yao smiled. "I'd like to think I am right.. I'm actually a little curious if there's some kind of research on that." Not curious enough to look it up, but curious enough to discuss with an acquaintance at least. "Uh.." Yao paused thoughtfully. He shrugged. "I'm sober. And I don't think I ever really acquired a taste for beer."

location — le cirque nightclub

"Uh.. not really." Yao replied honestly, glancing over at the man who'd started a conversation with him. A man he recognized from bootcamp class. "If I had to take an educated guess, I'd say they go through twice as much water. Ice cubes.." he smiled a little, sensing the other man was a couple of drinks in. "It's okay. I feel the same way.. well, I'm sure not the exact same way." He lifted his bottle. "Root beer."

"I think that I'll be back." Amara assured him because even if she found it hard and it wasn't something that she was used to, he had made her comfortable and that was most important for her. Laughing, she looked over at him. "Well, now I'm going to hold on my offer to pay for it as a thank you for a great class." She teased while she continued to walk. "I might give you my name, though. I'm sorry about that. I'm Amara."

"A mat will be waiting for you." He promised, letting the topic drop there. Of course, he had no expectation that she'd return to the class but he wouldn't mind seeing her face in the group again. "Oh really? Did I mess that up?" he laughed. "Is it too late to take my judgment back?" Honestly, Yao had figured he would offer to pay for her smoothie anyway. "Yao. It's nice to meet you, Amara."

Thea wasn't going to push further about it but she figured it hadn't hurt to be honest about her thoughts. "Well glad we can agree on that." She said between bites she moved back over towards him and handed Yao the bag of treats that had been made for him. "Well as long as your goats are happy." Thea teased him before looking around the farm for a moment. "We should hang out soon though, you game?"

"Of course." He smiled and nodded, wishing only well for Penny. He thanked Thea when she handed the goody bag back to him, the aroma of soft baked cookie pleasantly greeting his nose. "Best of friends, honestly," he chuckled. "Sure. I'll let you head on up to the house. See you, Thea."

Every ounce of frustration she had pent up within her was channeled into every swing. She was angry with herself, angry with Emmy, hell, even angry at the handsome and helpful man who had yet to shut her out in the way she deserved. Punch for punch, she put her everything behind her swings, only pausing mid-swing when the bag settled in his hands. "Yeah, okay, sure." Her hammering heart made it difficult to think, but she watched as he departed and within a minute, he was holding his padded hands up and directing her jabs. Left-right. Left-right. Left-left? She'd gotten ahead of herself, but rather than slap of the pad filling the air around them, it was the sound of her padded fist cracking against his jawline. "Shit," she half exhaled, half cried. "I'm so sorry. Oh my," she paused, a breath hitching in her throat as her lungs ached for air.

As Verda's practice punches continued, Yao could feel the impact on the pads grow more forceful with each turn. He shifted his hands faster to keep ahead of her pace, thinking that it might be a good time to call for a break. But Verda's jab to his face took him by surprise. Yao stumbled back on contact, nearly tripping over some equipment nearby. He caught himself and threw down the pads, instinctively reaching for his jaw. "Okay. I think we're done.." he groaned, rubbing his jaw. "I'm okay."

"I've got to say makes me feel a lot of things," she placed her hand on his arm before realizing it and then drops it by her side. "But I can't say that motivation is one of them. I feel like irritation, frustration, anger, and all those types of emotions first." She said with a laugh as she slowly stretched out her arms and legs before picking up her items that she'd laid on the ground to ensure she didn't forget them. "That's good to hear, hoping you'll pinpoint me in the right direction for smoothies and what are best for post-workout. Maybe you won't judge me too strongly for getting chocolate and peanut butter."

Yao glanced down briefly when Amara fingers grazed his arm. It was just a momentary touch, but it made his skin warm. "Right. I can totally understand that. That style isn't for everyone. So, I won't take it personally if I don't see you in my class for that." He teased, double checking that no one else had left any belongings behind. "Oh no, I won't judge you.. too much." He grinned, gesturing for Amara to walk with him out of the studio.

"For the record, the right way isn't the only way." He could teach all he want, but in a time of need, a punch was a punch. The only difference was if she hurt herself in the process of hurting someone else. "Well, if it gets the job done... does it matter?" Of course it did, which was why she gave a nod and stepped up, allowing him the moment to teach without an interruption of sarcasm slipping past her lips. Her dark hues followed every movement, the way his muscles tightened with every tap of the bag. After a few seconds, she cleared her throat and forced her head out of the gutter it had fallen into along the way. "Got it." Frustrated with herself, she sucked in a deep breath, lifted her chin, and threw a punch in the same way (sort of) that he had. "And then I just," she added, left foot stepping forward as she threw another punch and this time, the slap of the bag took her by surprise.

Yao wanted to teach Verda the right way to punch, so that she wouldn't harm herself. He simply smiled and held his tongue when she was sarcastic, knowing better than to man-splain to her. She was strong-willed and he couldn't stop her from doing things as she wanted to do. That much was clear to Yao. He moved aside when it was her turn to hit the bag, keeping watch over her form, offering words of encouragement with each strike. He swooped in when the bag swung a little more than anticipated, compelled by the force of Verda's punch. "Easy there, Rocky.." he chuckled, catching the bag from behind and steadying it. "Maybe we should try the hand pads instead." Yao scanned around briefly before locating them. He grabbed them and jogged back over to Verda, outfitting himself and lifting his hands for Verda to hit the targets. "Work those jabs again. Left-right. Left-right."

Thea laughed when he seemed curious as to what she thought might have been going on between the two. "Well, I mean I was more hopeful that something might have been, yeah. Penny is great all on her own, but I know she's also very gorgeous and deserves some fun." She shrugged, not feeling like she needed to be discreet about her intentions in wing-womaning the younger woman. "Do you have any interest in her or is it just purely platonic?"

"Oh," Yao smiled and laughed softly. "Well, I don't disagree with you. Penny is great, gorgeous and probably more deserving of good things than anyone else I know.." he nodded, wiping his hands on the sides of his jeans. "But I think I speak for both of us when I say it's mutually platonic between the two of us."

"Oh don't worry I make sure to tell her any time that I see her out and about. She's like a little sister to me." Thea had been serious enough with RJ that if things had continued on maybe she would be more than just like a little sister to her. It was funny how things worked out but she is glad that through it she could still keep her friendship with both of them. "Thank you." She said making sure she said it loudly enough so that he could hear it over the water. Putting her leg down, she shook off her boot to try and airdry it as best as possible. She listened as he explained the friendship that he and Penny had. "Your goats are really good friends." She repeated with a small laugh as she nodded. "Yeah that sounds about right."

Yao nodded in acknowledgment of Thea’s gratitude. “Anytime.” It wasn’t a huge deal really. He would’ve done it for anybody, but especially a friend. “Yeah,” he chuckled at how the phrase sounded coming out of Thea’s mouth. “Why? Did you think something else was going on?” he asked, his eyes narrowing with curiosity.

@yaodaniels REPLY from HERE

Yao smiled and nodded as he listened to Aydin share his previous workout routine. “Oh yeah. Well, it shows even if you don’t keep up with it.” He said, offering the other man a compliment on his physique. Yao listened quietly when Aydin talked about his experience as a father. He wondered what it would feel like to have a daughter, the corners of his mouth stretching in a hopeful smile. Maybe someday. “That’s.. well, that’s something to aspire to. Thanks for sharing.”