Lie Ren (bringstheflour) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-01-26 15:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, caroline forbes, lie ren |
Who: Caroline and Ren
When: This evening, January 26th
Where: A park
What: Impromptu martial arts lesson
Rating/Warning: Low/none, Caroline has some introspection about her sick mother
Status: Complete
The park at dusk was a remarkably peaceful place. It was easy to forget that you were in the middle of a city when you were surrounded by greenery and the flowers
It had been a beautiful weekend, and Ren had decided to take advantage of the weather. Instead of going to the dojo to practice his forms, he’d decided to go to the park. He’d taken off his shoes so that he could feel the grass under his feet, and then he began to practice his forms.
Caroline had spent most of the day with her mother. Now though Liz was resting and Caroline, well she needed some fresh air. It wasn’t easy seeing her mother like that. Caroline tried her best to remain positive. Especially around her mother. She couldn’t show her mom all this was for her. But now that she was outside? Taking a walk around the park, all Caroline wanted to do was burst into tears.
A few tears did slide down her cheek as Caroline walked, but she refused to let more fall. Lucky for her she found a distraction. She saw a young man doing kung fu, at least she was pretty sure it was kung fu, in the middle of the park. Caroline stopped to watch for a minute, going up to him when he seemed to be done. Or at least taking a break. “Wow,” Caroline commented. “That was really good.”
Ren took a moment to centre himself, inhaling deeply, before he turned toward the girl that had come to him. She seemed sad somehow, and he hoped that he had brought her some pleasure. He knew he always felt better after watching others go through their forms. He gave her a kung fu bow, placing his fist in his open palm in front of his chest and lowering his head slightly.
“Thank you,” he said, giving her a small smile. “Were you able to see much of it?”
A bow and everything. Caroline wasn’t used to that at all. “I was yeah,” she replied giving him a small smile. “Sorry I know you weren’t exactly putting on a show, but I couldn’t help myself.”
“There is no need to apologize,” Ren assured the girl. “If I was concerned about people seeing me, I wouldn’t have decided to practice in a public park. I’m Ren.”
“Caroline,” she replied introducing herself as well. “It’s nice to meet you, Ren. How long have you been doing that for? I’m guessing it’s not just something you wake up and are magically good at.” In fact she knew that it wasn’t. Not that she knew kung fu but Caroline had been a cheerleader back in high school. It took a lot of hard work and practice, as did any type of sport.
“Since I was a child,” Ren said, smiling. “I have always found that going through the forms has a power that has always calmed me, no matter how distressed my thoughts.” He didn’t say it, but it seemed clear to him that Caroline could certainly use something to help calm her mind. “Would you like to learn a little?”
This outing was going differently than she had expected. But why not? She was always up for learning new things. And she did need a bit of a distraction. “Sure,” Caroline beamed. “I mean if you don’t mind?”
“Not at all. I actually teach it, so it is no trouble at all,” he said. He stood in front of her, his hands together in front of him. “First, you must focus on your breathing. Deep breaths, in through the nose, and out the mouth. In, and out…”
Caroline never knew she had a desire to try kung fu. But now that she was about to, she found herself oddly excited about it. She had certainly picked the right person to watch in the park today. “Thanks,” she replied with a genuine smile on her face, before she copied his form - which really just meant she placed her hands together. At his instruction she began to breathe deeply, in through her nose, out through her mouth.
Ren let her breath for a moment, feeling as though she probably needed some extra time to centre herself.
“Good,” he said. “Now, I will have you shadow me, just like playing Mirror when you were a child.” Slowly, he began to go through the form, making sure to do each of the motions backward so that Caroline could more easily follow him properly.
Ren was right. With everything going on, Caroline did need the extra time to center herself. Plus it wasn’t as though she spent much time centering herself anyway. This was all new for her. But then she did her best to copy Ren’s moves. She was able to get most of them, she just wasn’t very smooth.
“That was very good,” Ren said, smiling. Perhaps her movements weren’t quite fluid yet, but he hadn’t expected them to be. In fact, he he had taught for long enough that he hadn’t expected her to be able to hit most of the moves in general. “Would you like to try again?”
“Thanks,” Caroline replied tucking her hair behind her ear. Focusing on the movements, her breathing, it was relaxing in a way. And a distraction she didn’t know she needed. Well no, she knew she needed a distraction. She just didn’t know how good of one kung fu would be. But she also knew her mom would be up soon. And Caroline was all about spending time with her mom. “I would,” she replied honestly. “But I need to get going soon. Would you be willing to teach me another time?”
“Of course,” Ren said. “I teach a drop in class Monday and Thursday nights at [dojo]. Though if you would prefer to do something more like this, I would happy to meet up outside of those times.” She seemed as though she could use the extra distraction, after all.
“I’ll definitely try to stop by.” She knew he was good at kung fu from the few minutes she had already spent with him. She had certainly picked the right person to randomly learned kung fu from. “But in case something comes up,” she pulled out her phone so he could enter his number. Not that she was expecting anything to come up, but she never knew with her mom.
Ren gave Caroline a smile as he took her phone from her and entered his phone number. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Caroline,” he said as he handed it back to her.
“You too, Ren,” she replied as she accepted the phone. “Thanks for the lesson!”