Morning Routine

Huang Li Shen woke early, as usual. Thankfully, the night brought no dreams; the past's ghosts rested one more night and so did he. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, rolling his shoulders as he stood up. He thought it was early, relative to Persephone, but he'd slept later than usual, he could tell. Disregarding the prison issue shoes, he padded out into the hallway.

Surprisingly, no one was awake, but he supposed that was to be expected. They'd all had a difficult few hours, and sleeping in was understandable. He decided to forgo breakfast for the moment, setting out through the kitchen to explore the ship. Just beyond he discovered stairs leading down, into the cargo bay.

Smiling, Li Shen jogged down the stairs, all the way to the bottom of the bay. Pacing a few steps, he decided to use the space for his morning exercises. Closing his eyes, he extended his hands over his head then bent double at his waist. Several repetitions passed before he stood straight again in the mountain pose. Raising his arms, he intertwined them, one leg curling over the other as he balanced. His breathing remained calm...until a blue wig landed unexpectedly on his head. Startled, he managed to maintain his composure, reaching up to remove the errant hairpiece and looking up for its source.

Athena Liu had not slept. She never needed much sleep to begin with, but after the botched rescue she simply did not feel comfortable with lying down as if nothing had happened. There was too much guilt over not realizing sooner that everything had been too easy, so Athena fell back on old routines. There was code that needed to be optimized, valves and seals to be checked and primed, little glitches in the modulation tracks to ferret out and repair. Granted, she had been up for 26 hours and...19 minutes, but there was always something to do.

Fun fact about spirit glue - it wasn't designed to last for more then 24 hours of strenuous activity. This little detail didn't reacquaint itself with Athena's thought processes until she wasn't able to do anything about it. She was already hanging upside-down from a cargo bay catwalk with her legs hooked around the railings, tinkering away with the connections on the bottom of the catwalk when her wig suddenly flew away. "Shimatta!" She hissed as she grabbed desperately for it, tools swinging freely on their cords and voice echoing around her as her second favorite wig landed on a distinctly masculine head below. She stared back down at Mister Huang, one arm still outstretched, stricken with mortification. When the hell did he come in! "...Ah... Good morning."

Li Shen straightened, uncurling himself into a standing position.

"Good morning, Ms. Liu," he replied amicably. "You seem...occupied. Are you an early riser like myself? I can set this aside, or run it up to you, as you prefer."

Shrugging, which was a little odd when upside-down, Athena shook her head. Alarm at feeling the skullcap starting to shift distracted her busy mind from analyzing his voice. "Not particularly, just haven't slept yet. Oh, no need, Mr Huang. D'un yi shia." Retracting her tools back into their indentations on her harness with a click, she unhooked her legs from the railing and let go. Plummeting down from the ceiling, Athena came to a sudden jerking stop about five feet from the floor, bouncing and swinging a little on the safety line that tethered her to the walkway above.

Unable to suppress a little smile from the excitement of using the most expedient course, she grabbed the line and pulled herself upward just enough to get the slack necessary to disconnect, then dropped to the ground. Standing up straight again, Athena bowed politely and held out her hand for the wig. "Apologies for the inconvenience."

"None needed. It merely surprised me, even more so in that I didn't notice you. I suppose I was otherwise occupied." He smiled sheepishly and bowed his head momentarily. "I hope my exercises won't prove a distraction for you. I know how important maintenance is. What, ah, requires your attention so urgently as to require a loss of sleep?"

Athena smiled a little at his word choice, almost a good-natured smirk. She'd been a little too preoccupied to notice him either. "It's alright, I was a bit absorbed myself." Feeling around her hairline to make sure the skullcap was holding her short brown hair in place, she leaned forward to place the wig correctly and flipped back upright, tugging in places while she talked to make sure it was at least mostly secure. "I could use a bit of a distraction, actually. That-" gesturing upward with a thumb, "-was just fine tuning to keep myself busy. I don't sleep much at the best of times, and when my brain is buzzing there's no chance. What exercises were you doing, anyway? Do you usually get up this early for them?"

Li Shen nodded indulgently, understanding the need to keep busy. It was a concept he still struggled with. His voice was warmer as he responded.

"I'm not actually sure what time it is, but, yes, I do tend to get up early in general, and I often exercise in the morning. You might say it, too, is fine tuning to keep me busy." He smiled and settled back into tadasana, the mountain pose, flexing imperceptibly and regulating his breathing as he continued.

"This is yoga, or at least a form of it. Its been a part of my daily routine for years now. Back at the monastery, with the breeze across the plains, its quite pleasant. I could show you, if you're simply looking for something to do. I find it relaxing, mentally as well as physically."

Noting the change in tone, Athena figured that he was also familiar with the urge to DO, and so smiled back. "Should be about 4:30 LST, which translates to almost 7 in Persephone Standard if memory serves."

She tilted her head slightly to the side, watching in quiet fascination as she listened to his explanation. The confirmation of monastic living connected some of the puzzle pieces in her mind. Toeing her shoes and kicking them a little way behind her, Athena stood beside Li Shen and wiggled her feet into the mountain pose, turning her head constantly to make sure she had the spacing right. "Fascinating."

"Impressive, Ms. Liu. Its been some time since my system was so attuned to travel conditions." Li Shen smiled broadly as she kicked her shoes away and moved to stand next to him. Eyeing her posture, he noted she mirrored him perfectly. He made an approving noise and spoke, taking her through the muscle movements and steps of concentration for the basic pose.

"Very good. Now, take your left foot and slowly extend it behind you, so that it is perpendicular to your right. Bend you right leg at the knee as you do so, and bring your arms up parallel to your shoulders, fully extended. Your torso should face the same direction as your left foot. Put as much distance between your feet as you are able, but don't overdo it. Try keep your breathing as steady as possible." He took several deep, audible breaths, slow and steady, to demonstrate. Holding the position for several breathing cycles, he continued.

"Now slowly realign your body to its original position, drawing your leg back in and turning to face forward. That's called the warrior stance. Or, one of them at any rate. Then we do the same with the other leg and continue."

"I've always had a good head for it, that's all." Athena fell silent as he slowly talked her through the movements. The balance was a little tricky if she didn't keep her movements smooth enough, but didn't seem all that difficult. Being able to hear and watch simultaneously certainly helped.

As they extended the other leg, she felt comfortable enough with the motion for a brief comment. Athena had always been good at multitasking. "I think I can see how this would be calming. You said you do this every morning?"

"Every morning I'm able. Sometimes field work or suchlike would interfere; charity comes before enlightenment, I believe. Still, I try to exercise at least once a day. Certainly there are routines you adhere to as well."

Regret and pain flickered over Athena's face as she followed him out of the Warrior pose and into the next. "At the moment, bu goh. My routine used to be clocking in at nine and working on Deliverance until someone reminded me that I had missed lunch and dinner again. It's a little hard to have routines when your life revolves around things that don't have a set time frame anymore."

Empathy softened Li Shen's voice as he responded.

"That's a lot of dedication. You must be very proud of this ship, as you should be. She's very impressive, though I'm admittedly more of a planetside type."

He was silent for a moment, easing into the next pose.

"I've found that creating your own routine helps. Its certainly been beneficial to me." His tone turned regretful, a slight tremor in his posture.

She smiled proudly, wobbling a little from the distraction of Li Shen's praise.

"I wasn't either for a while, but she's as much my baby as Mei Xui's. Fenghuang always had a reputation for giving their development teams free rein to explore new technologies and usages, and the practical application of knowledge appeals to my ego in ways theoretical experiments never quite managed."

Athena's feet remained firm as she considered his words. "There is wisdom in this. Would you mind company in the mornings?"