You know, when dealing with teams - whether established or relatively new - it is not altogether a bad idea to occasionally take part in random yet fun trust and team building exercises. It helps to, as the very name implies, build trust with the one that you depend on to watch your back and to better assist you and said friend in establishing a more cohesive unit, two together working as one. And luckily when you have the world wide web and an active imagination, you could be spoiled for choices in how to go about this very idea.
There are Escape Rooms. Team Obstacle Courses. Scavenger Hunts. Tree Trust Walks. You see? The possibilities are endless! Of course, when you start to think outside of the box, one never knows what you might arrive at! Including…
“Yoga?” Kat said as more of a statement than a question in itself. She cast a sidelong glance at “her princess” and in a matter of days, tag team partner, as they stood just outside of the entrance to the Puppy Love yoga studio. Currently they stood inside of the lobby, which was meticulously clean and tastefully furnished with a single reception desk and plush chairs, not stuffy hardwood. Kat paid little attention to the name of the studio itself, but the fact Carter had told her to bring her workout gear and the view beyond the lobby through the glass doors; a large room that spanned the length of the building itself with yoga mats lined all along the room.
“Your idea of a team building exercise is yoga?” She asked, causing Carter to pause with a slight trepidation and sense perhaps he had made some mistake in assumption.
He asked, “You don’t like yoga?” He motioned toward her slim midriff.”I thought with that toned tummy, yoga was your best friend.”
“I don’t hate it.”Kat stressed, the smile on her face from his warm and genuine compliment being all too evident. She added, “But I had a bad stretching experience in yoga I’d rather not repeat.”
“I heard about that incident.” Carter shuddered, waving off her concern.”But don’t worry. I checked with the instructors and it’s just a twenty minute session and they don’t do the extreme stretches here. The only person I let stretch me in weird positions is Miles.”
“Again, TMI darling.” Kat then looked around and frowned.”Twenty minutes? That’s it?” She looked at Carter and shook her head, “That’s pretty short for a session, isn’t it?”
“Well it’s an hour long.” Carter answered. “But it’s twenty minutes of yoga.”
“You’ve lost me.” Kat narrowed her brow. “What fills the other forty minutes?”
“See,” He gave her a mischievous smile and nudged her shoulder. “That’s where the trust factor comes into play.”
Kat just stared at him until Carter huffed and exclaimed, “Will you just TRUST me???” To which Kat just rolled her eyes rather playfully, stating,”Fiiine!” and she turned to head for the women’s locker rooms to change…
Nearly twenty minutes later…
“Reclining spinal twist!” The overly perky yoga instructor – somehow aptly a young twenty-something blonde named Tammy, said just loud enough so as to be heard by all of her current students, Kat and Carter included. The class was only half full but at this time of day, it was not unexpected.
Kat in her black and silver workout attire, and Carter in his own colorful contrast, followed the example of the instructor and every other student as they laid flat with their arms out to the sides to form a T. They then bent their right knee, and lightly set the toes of their right foot on their left knee. Keeping their shoulders flat on the floor, they dropped the right knee over to the left side of their body, twisting at the low back and waist. They then turned their head to the right and looked down their arm at their fingers. All present held this pose for up to 10 breaths, then switched sides, stretching the back, hips and neck.
“Okay, everyone!” Tammy gleefully called out. “Rest pose! Happy Child!”
“Is it twenty minutes yet?”Kat stage whispered to Carter who was at her left, and he just smiled in return.He had watched the clock, knowing what was to come, and this last pose had landed at the twenty minute mark exactly. Despite the fact Tammy was cheerfully annoying to the point you wanted to drive an ice pick through her forehead, she was a consummate pro and timed her classes perfectly.
Everyone in class knelt on the floor with their big toes touching. They then sat up on their heels, knees about hip-width apart. They then laid their torsos down between their thighs, and let their arms lie on the floor at their sides, hands next to hips, palms up. They then let the back of their skulls pull up and away from their necks, and let the weight of their shoulders pull the shoulder blades wide. They were holding this pose for upwards of fifty seconds when suddenly Kat felt something soft and fuzzy nuzzling up against her…
She jerked her head upright in a start and was surprised to see the floor of the class was now swarming with a mass of bulldog puppies! The puppies were running in between all of the students and over them, running literally over their bodies and under! Everyone was laughing and enjoying the playful nature of the puppies as the one puppy in particular was practically demanding attention from Kat, attention that she was only too happy to oblige!
She shifted her legs around and crossed them and the puppy took that as an open invitation to crawl into her lap, it’s little tail going a mile a minute as Kat rubbed her hands along its little body and cuddling it. She looked up with a bright smile and said, “Puppy yoga!?”
To which Carter, with his own puppy in his arms and struggling to lap away at his face, just smiled and shrugged his shoulders with a faux air of innocence.
Turnberry Towers -
An hour later….
The front door to Miles and Carter’s condominium opened and Kat entered first, followed by Carter who shut the door behind them, locking it on pure instinct. As Kat had a seat on the sofa to rest and relax a bit, Carter walked into the kitchen area to grab both of them something to drink. He grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and then opened the fridge to retrieve his pitcher of fruit infused water, his favorite drink. Carter enjoyed experimenting with these healthy concoctions and this time, he had steeped strawberries, oranges and cucumbers in a large pitcher of ice water,resulting in quite the tasty and refreshing treat.
Carter filed both glasses and returned the pitcher before bringing the drinks back to the living room and handed one over to Kat. “So,” Carter started to say as he took a seat beside his friend. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Taking a cautious drink, Kat ‘sort of’ smiled in return and said, “It wasn’t altogether unpleasant.” But she turned her head and the smile spoke volumes. “It was fun, princess. Thanks.”
“My pleasure.” Carter said, satisfied and somewhat relieved the day’s activity was a success. He then said, “I was hoping you would - oh!” He started as the “lady of the house” aka Ms. Thang, hopped up onto the sofa and gave them both the once over, her nose twitching.
“Oh hey baby girl.” Carter smiled with the love he felt for his and Miles’s adoptive little girl, reaching for her to give her a scratch behind the ears when she uttered a low growl and she turned and walked away from them both, her tail upright and effectively mooning the pair of them.
Carter turned to Kat, aghast. “What was that about!?”
“She probably smells the puppies on you.”Kat pointed out. “She’s never taken to me because she could smell my dogs.”
“Terrific.” Carter mumbled as the doorbell rang, prompting him to stand to see who was calling. “She’s going to be a handful until I get the smell off me completely.”
Carter unlocked the door and opened it, and his smile brightened, “Olive!” Yes indeed, Olive as in Olive garden, Carter’s friend and fashionista drag queen. The one Carter went to when he had a desire for something new to wear and she always came through.
“You’re early!” Carter exclaimed as he allowed Olive to enter, carrying a garment bag on a hanger in her hand. They did the expected exchange of pecks on both cheeks before Olive said in her slightly nasal voice, “Oh I know, dear. But I had a dinner date for later so I thought I should hurry over and drop this off.”
“Don’t you lie to me.” Carter shook his finger at her as she placed a hand over her breast with an innocent, wide-eyed expression that nobody was buying. “You were hoping Miles was here!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”Olive protested, but then proceeded to glance around the condo as if looking for something or rather - someone. Playing with her red hair, she asked, “But since you brought him up, where is that handsome fiance of yours?”
“Still at the gym, apparently.” Carter answered, taking a somewhat delight in Olive’s shoulders slumping and her half muttering, “Oh.”The near sixty year old drag queen had a crush on Miles from the day she met him.
“But here…” Carter said enthusiastically, remembering his manners. “There is someone I do want you to meet.” He said, guiding her with a hand on the arm to the living room where Kat stood up. “This is my friend, Kat Jones.”Carter introduced. “Kat, this is Miss Olive Garden.”
Olive gave that comical squinty-eyed, scrunchy nose and toothy smile she was famous for, taking Kat’s extended hand. “Olive.” Kat said amicably.
“Oh well aren’t you just the cutest thing?” Olive said, keeping hold of Kat’s hand. “C’mon, give us a twirl.” Olive guided Kat in a gentle spin whether she wanted to or not, and Olive gasped, “Well you MUST be a runway model!”
“And you must be blind.” Kat said in return as she resumed her seat. Olive turned to Carter and said, “Oh hunny, I like her!” Just as the door to the condo opened once again, and in walked Miles. He was wearing blue and white spandex shorts that accentuated his backside and a sleeveless muscle shirt that showed off a lot of his tantalizing upper body muscularity.
“Hey luv.”Miles said as he set his gym bag down and gave Carter a kiss, before he looked at the gaping visage of Olive. “Olive.” he smiled as he walked past them and leaned over the coffee table to give Kat a hug. Noting both Carter and Olive’s eyes were glued to Miles’s backside as he stood upright but they managed to tear themselves away as he turned at the waist to address his man.
“I’ll go get changed.” Miles said as he jetted a thumb toward the hall and their bedroom. “Then we can all go grab dinner.” He then turned and walked off, Olive doing that Michael Jackson leaning pose before she almost fell forward were it not for Carter’s fast reflexes.
“Are you okay?” Carter laughed as Olive’s gaze switched back and forth between Carter and the direction Miles had vanished in.
“I think I came untucked!” Olive said, causing Kat to spew her water!
In an empty dressing room, Carter is seen fitting something into a locker, subtly shifting his body to keep whatever it was hidden from view. Sensing someone else present behind him, Carter glanced back over his shoulder and hurriedly slammed the locker shut, placing his back against it so there was no chance of the camera nor viewers getting a look at what he was keeping away from prying eyes.
“So!” He clapped his hands and rubbed his palms together, smiling in glee.
“Here we are! Blaze of Glory XII and me standing at the side of my Kitty Kat so that she can get her hands on SCW’s answer to a Karen, that two-faced shrew of a woman, Bea Barnhart. And to tell you the truth, from the moment Kitty Kat was looking for a partner and I accepted, I’ve been more excited because I’m experiencing something new. Ariana is my bestie, my sister and my forever tag team partner and always will be! But while she’s busy elsewhere, Kat needs me and I am going to be there for her. I get to experience something new in teaming with her, and to experience the familiar because I have been in the ring with the Bulldog before. But here’s where things have taken a slight detour, and we have the Barnharts to thank for that. Or at least, one of them. The Bulldog himself, Bill Barnhart.”Carter stood upright from the locker, but remained between it and the camera to prevent any looky loos from seeing what was behind closed doors.
“Now, last time around, Bill asked me a question, and he told me that I was free to answer or not. Well, you know me. I’d be likely to answer whether he gave me the green light or not. I’m opinionated, it’s just what my people do.”He winked at the camera.
“Now the question you asked me of me Bill, that we have the women start and every time one of them tags out, you and I abstain from wrestling and instead, we just tag right back out and let them resume fighting to end this little scuffle between them. Have I got that right?”He jetted out his lower lip, chin resting atop his curled fingers and he nodded.
“Well Bulldog - or if I can call you Bill? That is an interesting proposition, I grant you. A tempting one, even. But you see, whether I accept or not there is one little problem with that, that I think we should address. I guess the nicest way of phrasing it is…”He frowned and shook his head.
“What exactly makes you think both parties will agree to this? I mean, I’m certain Kat would be more than happy to stay in the ring to turn Bea into a can of Alpo, but Bea herself? Let’s not forget the reason why we’re here, Bill! It’s because Bea - your wife - was unwilling to face Kat one on one! She refused the option of being alone in the ring with Kat to the point the match makers had to satiate her with a mixed tag team match instead! She was willing to only sign with this match if it was a tag team match with you at her side.”He waggled his brow.
“Do you understand what I’m getting at, Bill? It’s right back to where we left off last time around. I understand as a married couple, you and Bea have to present a united front. I understand that as a loving husband, you have to support her - even when she’s wrong. You can ignore the facts but the rest of the world can not and will not give her the same luxury! If you and I tag in and then do as you propose and I tag back out, I am all too certain that Kat will happily accept! But Bea? If she wasn’t willing to face Kat one on one, what makes you think she’ll tag back in? Hell! What makes you think she’ll even be willing to start the match against Kat in the first place!?”Carter tilted his head and looked into the camera knowingly.
“Think about it, Bill. You’re a bright boy! This time, it seems that your wife just might have backed you into a corner that you won’t be able to get out of!”Arms held out wide, Carter walked forward, effectively ushering the camera out and shut the locker room door behind it.
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