Clothing, what is it for? (Yuros)

by **Alea Davenport** on March 2nd, 2012, 4:44 pm

Something was wrong. Usually her smiling was infectious, especially to Yuros, but today, every time she smiled at him, he looked miserable, and even a little angry. Eventually, she couldn't keep it up any more, and her face fell into an expression much less confident than her usual bravado. Did he really hate the shirt that much? Did he think she was annoying because she made him wear it and fussed over him and dragged him with her everywhere? Even the glow of pride she'd felt from having finally succeeded in forcing him to wear proper clothing had faded, and her victory felt hollow.

This was strange... Normally, Alea considered making another person unhappy as a sign of her triumph over them... but for some reason she couldn't understand, she didn't want to upset Yuros. His expression made her stomach churn with the rare feeling of guilt. She hated that feeling. She had to make it go away somehow. How could she cheer him up? Maybe she could challenge him to something that he would almost certainly win.

Plastering a huge grin on her face that was not nearly as convincing as she'd hoped, she said, "Bet you can't catch me!" Then she immediately took of running, making her way to more open areas. If she were really trying to get away, she'd take advantage of buildings and obstacles, and try to hide, but she was trying to give Yuros the advantage here. She didn't want to just let him win, so she ran as fast as she could pump her legs, but she knew he would catch her if she refrained from taking advantage of her other skills. Still, she hoped she could be at least fast enough to give him a good chase.

by **Yuros** on March 12th, 2012, 9:19 pm

The Huntress' sudden departure came as a great surprise to the Stag, and for a moment he was at a loss as to what he was to do. So there he stood for a few seconds, staring a bit dumbfoundedly after the fleeing form of the girl. It was then that Alea's words began to register, and so Yuros set off at a steady trot, following after Alea as she turned the corner down an alleyway.

It was strange, and yet exciting at the same time. For the first few minutes Yuros simply followed the Huntress, staying at a constant distance, altering speed as she did. The Kelvic simply watched the girl as she moved, took in her running form and light steps as she ducked and dodged around crates and obstacles in an attempt to throw Yuros off of her tail. This all brought a smile to the Kelvic's lips, and so he decided, Lets see how fast she can run.

With that Yuros picked up his pace, pumping his arms and moving his legs in a steady rhythm that quickly brought him within arm's reach of the girl. Upon seeing the Kelvic Alea's pace seemed to quicken, and all of a sudden she had ducked down another side street to evade the following Kelvic. Laughing aloud, Yuros made quick pursuit of the Huntress, the thrill of the run beginning to fill him.

For every obstacle Alea presented him, Yuros would leap or dodge around and continue his steady gain on the girl. In truth the stag was simply enjoying his time with her, the one whom had tamed his wild spirit, and so he allowed the race to continue on for some time, until finally the girl's breaths became heavy and labored and her movements began to slow.

Seeing his opportunity, Yuros leapt forward in a burst of speed, twice as fast as he had been even moments before. Within 3 strides he had caught up with Alea, and his arms found her under her thin form and he lifted her as easily as he might an infant. The Kelvic's breathing was deep and controlled, and for the next minute or so he continued to run with the girl, leaping over crates and obstacles with the grace of a deer in full charge. A smiled touched his lips as she finally slowed to a stop, looking down at the girl in his arms with am amused glimmer in his eyes, "I believe I have caught you. Shall we try again?"

by **Alea Davenport** on March 12th, 2012, 11:25 pm

When Alea began to be winded, she realized that Yuros was not chasing her as fast as he could. She slowed her pace a bit, frowning. Was he toying with her? She stumbled a bit as she developed a stich in her side from running too much. Trying to massage her side while running, she started doing cleverer things to put some distance between herself and Yuros. She'd never run for this long at once before...

After a few chimes, the stitch in her side had worked itself out, and despite being exhausted, she'd almost gotten used to running. It was a strange feeling that she couldn't quite explain...

As she turned a corner, she was distracted from these musings by the realization that Yuros was right behind her! Yelping in surprised, she put on and extra burst of speed, drawing air through an already burning throat. But she was already tired, and soon running was actually painful. Grimacing and panting, she just couldn't keep the pace up, and she began to slow. Moments later, she was suddenly flying through the air in Yuros' arms. She clung tightly to him, nervous of their speed. When he finally stopped, her heavy breathing was as much from sheer terror as from exhaustion.

Alea made a small noise of protest through her labored breathing at the suggestion they repeat this exercise. Forgetting that this was her idea in the first place, she whined, "But I can't run anymore! It's too hard! I can barely breath as it is!"

by **Yuros** on March 13th, 2012, 5:02 am

With a smile, Yuros set Alea gently on her feet, touching her shoulder as he did so, "To run is to allow yourself to be truly free. It is the ultimate expression of life within the Trees and Grass, and today you have experienced life as well."

Chuckling softly Yuros straighted, looking down on the Huntress with eyes that searched her with a purpose. It was almost as if he were looking for something in particular... but after a moment his eyes returned once more to her eyes and he nodded.

Bending his knees so that he could look her in the eyes, the Kelvic set a hand over her heart, feeling the thud of life within her. Closing his eyes, Yuros nodded and spoke, "Calm your soul, breath deeply through your nose and release through you mouth. Allow the breath to flow slow and evenly from you. Like the cycle of the world, allow yourself to fall into a steady rhythm of life."

Opening his eyes Yuros straighted, rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms high over his head. Finally his eyes returned once more to Alea's, "Come with me, and I shall teach you of our ways. The way of Hoof and Breath."

With that he turned and set off at a slow trot, a nice even pace that Alea would have little trouble keeping up with.

by **Alea Davenport** on March 13th, 2012, 10:30 pm

Everything philosophical about what Yuros was saying went right over Alea's head. But she did manage to comprehend the bit about breathing. She was still desperately gulping air, but she tried breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. At first, it felt like she wasn't getting enough air, so she breathed more deeply, inhaling as much as she could. After a chime or two of breathing in this new way, she noticed that she was feeling more calm, and her breathing had evened itself out.

She ran beside Yuros, confused at first, because she knew she could run much faster than this. But she had no breath left to point this out, so she fell somewhat awkwardly into the pace he set. She lumbered along, landing heavily on every footstep. Her legs still burned from before, and now there was a weak feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't understand. Before long she was barely keeping up, slumping forward in a fit of despair. The stitch in her side had come back, and she was on the verge of just giving up.

by **Yuros** on March 14th, 2012, 4:55 pm

The Kelvic watched the girl as she moved, taking in her form and posture and allowing for her to feel the rythem before he continued. When she began to sag, to fall forward in weariness and exhaustion, Yuros turned on his heel and trotted backwards, extending a hand to Alea for support.

"When you move," he instructed, "Do not allow your breath and hoof rhythm's to be separate. They should be one, and the same. An alternation of life and reaction, a steady flow from one to the other." Returning to her side, Yuros still held her hand as he continued to speak, "For every step, there should be a breath, and after every breath another step. Allow the movement of your hoof to dictate the cycle of your breath. Let them be one and the same."

In demonstration, Yuros lengthened his stride slightly, allowing for Alea to see that every time he stepped he would draw in a breath, and exhale in on alternating steps. Thus he would inhale and exhale in a steady rhythm that coincided with the pounding of his feet, and if one were to count one would notice that Yuros took the same number of inhales and exhales per steps in every cycle (3 steps to inhale, 3 steps to exhale).

Slowing his pace to match Alea's once more, Yuros continued his instruction, "We of the Hoof and Breath must live upon or rhythm, or beat of life and energies. Thus, we must always move forward, never worrying for what we pass, but always focused on what is to come. The Kelvic turned his eyes forward, searching out the distant horizon as he continued to speak, "To look back is to fear, to fear is to hesitate, and if you hesitate the breath shall be stricken from you. This is our way, and our life. Always move with your eyes forward to the horizon, and so you will see every obstacle long before it is a concern."

OOCIn the next post Yuros will teach Alea about proper running form, and how to control her speed and movements when running as well.

by **Alea Davenport** on March 24th, 2012, 2:09 am

Alea tried Yuros' advice, counting her steps while she breathed, three steps in, three steps out. It felt very strange at first, and Alea was tempted on the breathing out parts to give up and take a breath sooner. But Yuros would almost certainly notice and then she would feel awful, like she was too stupid to run. If she followed his instructions and failed, then she could claim that he had just been teaching her wrong, but if she had to be told everything five times, like a child, then she had no one to blame for her failure but herself.

Once she got used to the breathing pattern, Alea decided it wasn't so bad. She wasn't gasping for breath quite as much, and to her surprise, the stitch in her side had not returned, as it usually did when she ran too long. She was starting to sweat under her cloaks, which shocked her a bit. Avanthal was still freezing, and yet she felt warm...

Alea tried to listen to Yuros' lesson about running and going forwards and not backwards, but most of it went over her head. She briefly wondered, since he'd warned her not to, what would happen if she looked behind her? As a quick experiment, she turned her head around, promptly lost her balance, and fell on her face in the snow. She stood up slowly, secretly using the fall as an excuse to rest for a bit. "Well," she said, panting, "now I know why you don't look back." She grinned jokingly, but the smile slid from her face when she noticed that Yuros was neither smiling nor laughing.

With a bit of a grimace, she muttered, "Yes, yes, more running," and pushed her legs into a faster-than walking pace. Though, as tired as she was feeling at the moment, she couldn't manage more than a slow trot, and she wasn't sure she wanted to.

by **Yuros** on April 9th, 2012, 1:40 am

In truth Yuros was slightly amused by Alea's tumble, but he felt that the girl would not appreciate a sudden laugh and did not trust him to smile overly much for similar reasons. The Kelvic rested a steading hand on Alea's shoulder, pulling her a bit closer and stopping her from setting off once more.

"You understand the ways of my kind, and that is a great accomplishment for a two-leg." Yuros' warm hand rested for a moment on the girls cheek before gripping her upper arm firmly, pulling her gently to walk beside him, "Let us walk for a moment. It does the hooves well to rest them in between freedoms. This is a teaching well known to those of the Trees and Grass as well."

The Kelvic released Alea's arm and began walking at a slow pace, his strides quite a bit longer than Alea's. As he spoke his eyes would stray over the Huntress, a small smile touching his lips that spoke of his own pride in her, "We of the Trees and Grass know that Breath depends on Hoof, and in turn Hoof on Breath. So we do not spend our energies frivolously." The crunch of snow was quite loud as they walked, and the chill in the air made Yuros begin to appreciate the warmth that the shirt brought with it, "We run for pleasure, yes, but we also know that it is something we must do sparingly. To run is to know one is truly free, cut off from all chains of mortality, but also, to run is to fight. When we run we are, in more ways than one, defending the very Breath that we take."

As he walked, Yuros' hand found Alea's shoulder once more, his grip firm yet not aggressive. It was as if he was loath to release this girl who stood beside him.

by **Alea Davenport** on April 14th, 2012, 8:22 pm

Alea was immensely relieved when Yuros told her they were done running for the day, and she positively glowed at his compliment. She wanted to impress him, and was glad she had, but she was utterly exhausted. She was a bit distressed that he was still making her walk when she just wanted to collapse and not move for about a year. She let Yuros talk, since (she noticed enviously) the stag-man still seemed to have breath left. She, for one, was goign to focus on the breathing technique he had just taught her; three steps breathe in, three steps breath out. Given that they were walking, her breathing was much slower, and that calmed her down as well.

She walked stiffly, her muscles aching. The sweat she had worked up while running was starting to freeze in Avanthal's harsh winter climate. She shivered, and when Yuros gripped her shoulder, she leaned into him, trying to claim his warmth. They walked companionably back to the Hold, and once they were back in her room, Alea plopped onto her bed gratefully.

She laughed as Yuros picked uncomfortably at the shirt he wore. "Oh, all right, you can take it off now. You're very good for tolerating it this long," she said with a playful grin, followed by a kiss on his cheek. She helped him out of the borrowed article, after which she left to return the shirt to her neighbor.

by **Warden** on May 20th, 2012, 8:01 pm

-Alea Davenport-

Skill Points:

Lore:

-Yuros-

Skill Points:

Lore:

Notes:

I gave you each 4 points in running because I really enjoyed the thread, and I appreciated the way you explained running and cardio, while still staying with the nature philosophies. Keep it up guys!