(Day 8, LE) Sweat in the Inner Circle (Open, Expecting)

[Asako Yuki]

Yuji sighed and then smiled at Butaj and decided to not press her already poor luck today.

"Good." She declared with a smirk, she paused for a moment and the smirk grew mischievous.

Yuki set down her bokken and started to stretch again. Well, stretch wasn't perhaps the most accurate word for it, the more accurate word was yoga. She paused, midway through one of the stances and glanced at Butaj. "Do they do yoga among the Unicorn?"

[Moto Butaj]

Butaj puts his bokken away too eventually but that's the last focused thing he does when Yuki starts... whatever she's doing. He looks mesmerised not even hiding the very physical fascination with her. Yet another harsh trial before they can hopefully, possibly, maybe become together for the rest of their days. "Yoga... Yoga... Sounds familiar but Butaj can't say why. Is yoga what Yuki's doing now?" He gulps.

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki turned away from Butaj to hide her knowing smirk. She'd seen the boys stare at the girls in class for this, but she hadn't realized entirely why until recently.

"Hai. It is a way to bring the mind and the body to oneness, as well as maintain ones flexibility." Yuki moved to the next pose and held it.

[Moto Butaj]

"Flexibility you say. Oneness of body and mind." Butaj flops on the floor wondering why she's trying him so. He closes his eyes for a moment, against the judgement of everything that defines his desire of her, and there's a lot of fibres in him that do take part in forming its definition. "Is yoga not... an Ivindi thing?"

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki stopped for a moment and glanced back at Butaj. "Ivindi? Is that one of the people out in the Burning Sands?" She moved to the next pose.

[Moto Butaj]

The temptation has won; he opens his eyes and decides not to care about the rhythm of the conversation but to take in the view he hopes to see many times again. "They live in the south, in the jungles. Butaj has not been there, only heard a few things. Strange dark-skinned people with strange gods. Call their lands the Ivory Realm. The Unicorn went there once, a few centuries ago, allied with some nobles against the other ones, but details are murky. Butaj knows only a dozen words in Ivindi or maybe two dozen. Spices come from there."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki paused. "Huh... maybe they somehow learned it from us? Or maybe it sprung up there independently." Yuki said, then moved onto the next pose. She turned away from Butaj so that he wouldn't see the growing blush on her own face at his very apparent staring.

[Moto Butaj]

"Maybe. There must have been some contact. This way or the other way. Yuzuki of the Mantis told Butaj. That here in the East you had contact with Merenae too. So maybe someone could have got to the Ivory Realm from here." Not only has her turn not diminished anything, it has improved it. Butaj feels a heatwave coming from nowhere. "However it has happened, Butaj... I am grateful it has... You look very... graceful doing... this."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki smiled and, feeling emboldened, decided to attempt one of the harder stances, rolling forward a bit to place her forearms on the ground she slowly tried to lift herself up into a supported headstand. Unfortunately, Yuki lacked the core strength to hold the pose and after only a second or two collapsed into a heap.

[Moto Butaj]

It doesn't look dangerous, more like cute. He doesn't know when he comes near and kneels by her. "Maybe you want your legs be held... for this?"

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki blushed a little as she disentangled herself. "I..." She thought long and hard about how to answer that, niggling a bit on her lower lip. "Hai, that would be most kind of you, Butaj-san." Yuki moved into a position to try again, this time she was a bit less showy though, perhaps understanding what she'd been putting Butaj through.

[Moto Butaj]

He takes position right behind her, prepared to catch her ankles as she pulls up. His mind incessantly produces fanciful scenarios how a yoga session with assistance could change into a yoga session for two but he tries to swallow those down. At this point she doesn't have to do anything special to send his thoughts down that path. Chopping daikon would be the sexiest thing in the world if she was the one doing it. "Ready."

[Asako Yuki]

He wasn't the only one to be thinking about it as Yuki slowly pulled herself up once more, her muscles straining under the movement as she lifted herself up and once more managed to get herself into position. Yuki kept her thoughts on the pose as best she could.

[Moto Butaj]

Her slender ankles get gripped, and breathing intensifies as his all attention is on her feet in tabi. He fears that wiggling toes might be too much but he steels himself preparing for the worst. And then he realises it's not the worst that can happen - hakama peeling itself off her legs would be beyond his ability to bear. Mood dampener, quick!

"I... spoke with Yogo Mizuki and Seppun Hitako today. Did you speak with Misa?"

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki froze for a moment at the question. "Oh? Ah, hai." Her balance wavered, but thanks to Butaj holding her she stayed upside down. "She, errm, seems nice. She was very eager to assist me." She frowned a little. A little too eager. "What about Yogo-sama?" That was her main concern right now, she didn't even know the Seppun.