Owner	Pose
Brooke Harris	Yin has been away for a bit, in space. Now she is apparently trying to make up for lost time. Before she left, she had Carrie doing heavy duty meditation exercizes and standing meditative stances. Surprisingly strenuous, evolving toward deeper stance training stuff, and trying to build up some more self awareness. Today? Today is HELL. A long, long run, partly on rooftops, on all sorts of different surfaces, with climbing and some light weight free running type things. Barefoot. With lots of healing involved every time the strain gets to her. Which it is. Then? Then there was some heavy duty powerlifting. Leg day, core day, and upper body day, all at once. With lots of healing up in between to speed muscle development. Still, it adds up. And now? Now she STILL hasn't gotten her to go home, as she gets put through the Xingyiquan Five Elements linked form with exacting attention to detail, with Yin standing in front of her and forcing her fists to push against resistance to test her biomechanics.
Carrie Kelley	Carrie Kelley was expecting to make up for lost time when Yin came back, but this was ridiculous. A sheen of sweat had long since covered her leaving her feeling sticky and dust-clogged from the polution of the city she'd been running through. Her feet were blackened and caked with dried blood from the running, and by now her body was trembling from strain as well. The only motivational factor keeping her going was a simple chant she ran through her mind again, and again: Cheeseburger. By GOD she was having the biggest cheeseburger she could when this was over. After a shower, and collapsing for a nap. Hell just put the cheeseburger in front of her face while she sleeps it'll get eaten she's sure. But one more push... one more... Keep at it for now. "Think I'm at my limits, Yin," she finally blurts out breathlessly with a perplexed expression. Admitting defeat? Ugh.
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin lurches upright suddenly with a start, yelling the last half of a sentence in Cantonese, arms instinctively raised to fight with his hands turned inward, poised as if holding two small cups. He's sitting up in a pile of black garbage bags, and he blinks a little as he gains clarity about where he is. His hands drop, and he groans softly, lifting a hand to rub at his eyes. He mutters under his breath, leaning over to search around him for something. His hand lands on his hat, which he picks up, dusts off, and places on top of his head. It wasn't what he was looking for, though, and he continues searching until he finds the gourd canteen that often accompanies him. "Mmnh, there you are," he says, uncorking the canteen to take a drink from it.     Zhao Lin finally pushes himself to his feet slowly and with a groan. He sways unsteadily once he's upright, then coughs, and turns to spit on the ground. He wipes his hand on his sleeve, and then starts across the street towards the park, where he can hear voices. As soon as he steps into the street, an oncoming car comes screeching to a halt, stopping just before it hits Zhao Lin! The driver leans out the window, shouting obscenities at Zhao Lin, who shouts back at him. "Hei! Kan kan ni yao qu nali!" The snow leopard makes a rude gesture at the driver, and continues on his way across the street to the park, stepping off the road while taking another swig from his canteen.     When he reaches the park, that's when Zhao Lin sees Yin and Carrie, with the later progressing through martial forms. His brows lift, and he staggers in their direction, his tail flitting behind him helplessly as it tries to maintain his balance. "Excuse me," he calls over to them, his Chinese heritage very obvious in his accent, "Can you two tell me where I am?" He leans a hand against a tree not far from where the two are standing, eyes remaining on the pair while he leans his head back a bit to gulp down another mouthful of liquid from the canteen.
Brooke Harris	Yin nods. Examines. "You'll work your way up to more after a bit." She points at the picnic table next to the basketball court they are on, and slips the backpack she has been carrying off, looking through it as she walks that way herself. "Protein, sugar, salts, carbohydrates, liquids. Am I right?" She sets some sports drink, a small container of cold pasta - just pasta and oil really - and a small protein shake down in front of Carrie. "Slowly. You don't want to shock your system." Her ear perks slightly at the Chinese cursing. When the anthro cat asks for directions, she nods. "Nihao. West Chelsea Park, in Gotham City." In her costume, she has a mild practiced Mandarin accent. She stops, taking the time to look Zhao over more carefully, then slips into softly-accented Mandarin. "<Are you looking for somewhere, or someone?>"
Carrie Kelley	Carrie Kelley relaxes out of her stance with a low groan. So far she hadn't complained a word but she was silently doing so in her mind about now. The snacks brought out are eyed dubiously. Even so she snags the bottle of Gatorade to twist it open and take a long gulp. She slumps down sit on the bench when Zhao approaches, looking up toward him wearily. There's a hint of surprise at his features, but... she takes it in stride with another gulp of the drink. "What she said," she offers gesturing at Yin with the bottle. Her eyes descend to the pasta. Well, it's not as if she hadn't had such fare before growing up where she did.
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin's expression breaks into a broad grin when Yin speaks Mandarin to him, and he replies in kind. "<I was wondering how I got here, actually! I was in New York, last I recall, and now I am here. I woke up over there.>" He turns, swaying a little, as he points towards the alleyway where he woke up, then twists back around to face Yin and Carrie again. He walks towards them now, his steps unsteady. It's -pretty- obvious that he's intoxicated, probably from some weekend-long bender, from the looks of him.     He stops when he gets to the fence surrounding the court, leaning against it, one hand holding onto it while the other holds onto his gourd. "Did I see you practicing gongfu?" he asks, his brow arching slightly as he looks in Carrie's direction. His eyes shift between her and Yin, and he grins broadly at Yin. "Are you her Master, perhaps? What style was that? Wing Chun? Mok Gar? ...*hic*Praying Mantis?" As he names each of the styles, Zhao Lin adopts one of the basic poses of the style, though his footing looks unsteady, and he keeps leaning far too much to one side, like he might very well fall over if he tried to perform any of the maneuvers involved in those styles. "I am a gongfu Master myself," he claims, grinning broadly at the two women.
Brooke Harris	Yin nods. "I am.. somewhat skilled in neijia. Taijiquan, baguazhang, xingyiquan, qigong. I don't flail quite as clumsily as most people, at least." Undersell, undersell. "This is my tu di. Her body and mind seems best suited for xingyiquan right now. Very huo." She gestures playfully at Carrie's hair. Her eyes register your stance, noting the actual stability of the balance point under you. "It's a good list. I've learned some forms from those, but I never seem to use them when I need."
Carrie Kelley	Carrie Kelley takes a deep breath as she watches Zhao and Yin talk, her head tipped to the side. She really ought to learn more Mandarin apparently. Other than knowing how to order off a menu at least. It's tucked away for later follow up in her mind as she had enough right now to keep her attention for learning. "I'm not entirely sure. I just do what she tells me to," she teases back to Yin in retribution for the gesture to her hair. "She's a slave driver. But a good teacher," she adds with a little laugh. "I was doing the... five elements fist?" A glance is given to Yin to see if she'd said it correctly. "Otherwise I just do what she says for now."
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin grins broadly at them, and nods his head enthusiastically. "Of course she is," he replies, "All good Masters are. My Master was, as well. A good teacher, not because he was lenient, but because he was not. He used to tell me, "A mountain is not made in a day." It takes hard work and dedication to master gongfu." The snow leopard's tail twitches behind him, flicking to one side, then the other. His eyes shift back to Yin, then, and he smiles at her. "That is an impressive list of styles, yourself! I know some of them, I have mastered a few, but there is knowledge of others that still eludes me. I, myself, am a master of zui quan, the drunken fist. It is the greatest gongfu!" Lin gets another broad grin on his muzzle, before leaning his head back and pouring more of the milky liquid from his gourd into his maw.
Brooke Harris	Yin nods, gesturing with some magnanimty. "Well, of course! I do what I can with what I know." There's that Taoist humility, there. "She is working on strength, basic form, observation, and qi right now. I have some tools to help with the building part that I am using in her case. I haven't done as much with the practical application yet as I like, because I don't want her to perfect bad habits, but soon. Building a solid foundation to work from, first. She has a few applications at least, even if mostly I have her using them on bags. She makes the bag swing right now; I will work on how to fight once the bag stops swinging when she hits it." She stretches a little bit. "If you had any questions, I am happy to trade notes with a fellow practitioner. She might even pick up a thing or two."
Carrie Kelley	"Drunken fist?" Carrie looks quizzical at that looking him over. She could believe it, though... "I always thought that was just a kungfu movie trope. Though the more I'm learning, the more I can see that," she has to admit after a bit of thought on the matter. Shifting in her seat she stretches her arms out overhead with a little groan. "I was learning Krav Maga when I met her, but that's gone to the wayside for now. Not exactly an art in and of itself." No, it was a combination and a way of applying them. Dropping her arms down again she picks up the pasta container to flip it open, and pluck out a few noodles to slurp on. Ugh. Just oil.
Zhao Lin	"Of course," Zhao Lin agrees with Yin, in regards to her method of teaching. Far be it for him to tell another Master how to teach her Student! Besides, there is yet to be anything he disagrees with. "One cannot build a home on quicksand. Trying to do so will surely cause you to sink." He grins broadly. "I read that on a fortune cookie," he states, before giggling a little. He moves, then, to walk around the fence, to approach the two of them more closely, even going so far as to sit himself down at the table they were at. "Yes, drunken fist," he tells Carrie with a nod. He takes off his hat, setting it on the table. "It is the secret gongfu of southern China," he tells her, with another sly feline grin, "The movies had to get it from somewhere, did they not?" He takes another drink from his canteen, his tail twitching less so now that he's seated. It curls around his waist, and he draws it into his lap, holding it there with one hand. To Yin, he adds, "I am not certain what notes I would have to offer. I have not had any students of my own, and I would not wish to impose myself upon your... techniques."
Brooke Harris	Yin shrugs a bit at the obvious dissapointment. "We'll stop somewhere on the way back for something more filling. My treat. Right now you are still needing to recover from all of the strain, and I don't want to give your stomach too much to deal with until you have had a bit of time to come back down to your normal levels." She pulls out a small bottle of water and slides it over. She has more in there, but seems to be trying to ration it out. "One of the skills I have been trying to help her to learn is how to better observe and mimic how someone else moves. What muscles they are using. So all you would be doing is giving her a subject to practice her observation skills on. She might even prove she has been picking up a thing or two by finding a good question to ask. But of course, I would never want to impose or ask you to reveal anything you were given some responsibility to keep hidden." Yin inclines her head politely. "And I am happy to share a gem or two of knowledge if I have one you have not encountered yet."
Carrie Kelley	Carrie Kelley flashes a reassuring grin toward Zhao Lin when he joins at the table. "I think she just likes having someone to trade stories with," she assures in a quieter tone, giving him a wink. "I'm good though. I'm still a bit tired after the alien mushrooms the other night... Not that I was there," she's quick to add realizing what she'd said, and glancing aside at Yin. "Oh, the noodles are fine, it just reminds me of when I was a kid. This was usually dinner until I learned how to cook better." But man, did she want a cheeseburger right now.
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin nods his head with an elongated "Aaaahh" of understanding. "I would not mind, in that case, demonstrating zui quan for her," he says, before grinning at Carrie. "Though you should know, zui quan requires great strength in one's joints and fingers. Before I even began practicing the forms, my Master made me spend -days- doing nothing but cracking walnuts between my thumb and forefinger." He lifts one of his hands, holding it in that position that looks like he's holding onto a sake cup, and pinches his fingers together with a grin. "If you do not think you would be capable of that, I do not think zui quan would be safe to teach you."
Brooke Harris	Yin nods, unfased at the mention of mushrooms. "I will expect you to explain three things you learned about yourself and your skills from the mushroom encounter. I only mind you using your skills when I am not there if you can't express what you are LEARNING from them." She nods. "Right now, her muscles are so tattered from training that I am impressed she can even walk. That's why we haven't started on the twelve animals yet; those take a lot of dipping movements, strength and flexibility, and I want to give applications for them anyways. She isn't folding the bag yet. But I would hope she gets something out of seeing something unfamiliar, at least." She stretches and stands, stretching a little bit.
Carrie Kelley	Carrie Kelley considers that as well with a sigh, letting herself slouch down into her hand. "I'm a college student and a drama major. I'm used to working till I'm ready to collapse. The show must always go on," she intones. "Without letting anyone see the toll it takes on you. But yeah if I weren't sitting right now I'd probably be shaking." Lightly clearing her throat she reachs for the bottle of water. "To be honest I didn't really use many of the techqniques you taught. I was trying to figure out a good way to kill them and brought things to test, and probably used more of the parkour than anything." Rooftop running for the win. "But I'll thik on things too." Another grin is flashed, before she tips back the bottle of water trying not to outright chug it. Even if she wanted to reeeally badly.
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin goes quiet for a moment while the two of them discuss the 'mushroom thing', as far as he's concerned with it. His brow arches slightly as he listens, and if either of them might notice, the clarity in his eyes sharpens up significantly when he's taking in what he considers to be important information about a situation that was, recently, all over the news. He takes another swig from his canteen while the two of them talk about it, falling back on his routine of looking like a homeless drunkard - naturally, no one would believe what Zhao Lin says about things happening in space, right?
Brooke Harris	Yin nods, "I didn't limit your answer to xingyi. And anyways, I was a little bit busy myself at the time. I could explain things I learned, but you wouldn't understand any of them yet. Not until you are better at biofeedback. Whenever you feel like it, we can go get some food that's tastier, but I don't know how long until you can walk. How has the meditation practice been? Are you getting much better at the standing practice and reading your own body?"
Carrie Kelley	Carrie Kelley nods a time or two in agreement with the questions asked. "Yes, and I've been doing the meditation. I just don't think I can really meditate yet. I usually end up daydreaming." At least she doesn't fall asleep during it. That's good right? Carrie's attention slips back to Zhao Lin though as their conversation has gotten off-track. "If you two want to spar or something though, I promise I'll watch and learn what I can."
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin's brow arches, and his ear twitches when Carrie suggests he and Yin spar. He grins broadly, glancing towards Yin. "I could," he says, "Though it sounds as though you desire to find something to fill your belly." The leopard-man rises up off the bench seat, swaying unsteadily as he gets to his feet. He grabs his hat, putting it back atop his head again. He grins broadly once more. "So I will leave you two to it." He giggles. "Hee. Too-too-it." He grins again and takes another drink, before turning as though to head off, before he stops and spins around again to face them. "Oh! I did not introduce myself. I am Zhao Lin." He places his fist against his palm and bows sharply. "It has been a pleasure to speak with you both. I hope we meet again."
Brooke Harris	Yin nods. "Yin. It's a pleasure, laoshi Zhao Lin. I am sure we will cross paths again." She returns the salute. "Whenever you are ready. If I would guess, you want a.. burger or something, I am guessing. Red meat. There is a place just down the street that hand makes them, they have a one pound cheeseburger. My treat. Then we can talk about how we are getting your training up to full speed."
Carrie Kelley	Carrie Kelley lifts a hand to wave to the departing Zhao Lin with a nod. "Nice to meet you! I'm Carrie," she offers lacking her last name for now. She wasn't being super formal after all. Another sip of water is taken before Yin mentions the magic words. "Ohthankgod I want a cheeseburger so bad."
Zhao Lin	Zhao Lin grins broadly, rising up from his bow. "Enjoy your meal," he says, giving them both a wave before he continues on his way, disappearing into the alleyways of Gotham.
Brooke Harris	Yin gives a thumbs up. "Great. Cheeseburger it is. Want to come visit Canada for a bit after that? All my training equipment is there. I'll show you around." She offers a hand to help Carrie make it to the Promised Burgerland.
Carrie Kelley	Carrie Kelley reaches out to take the helping hand. She didn't think she needs it, but the fact that she teeters forward unsteadily convinces her otherwise. "Ah... sure, I've got some time free. I've never been to Canada, either." That would be fun. Wait. Training. It's for more training. "Thanks," she mumbles for the assitance as they go off to food.